Cardi B is celebrating her daughter, Kulture, who turned five years old. In a sweet new Instagram post, she shared some tribute pictures and videos to her — along with a sweet caption.
The first photo in the slideshow is of Kulture recently, rocking a super adorable pink outfit, complete with a tutu. She also matches with a piano that she sits down at.
“My baby is five….Happy birthday to my pretty princess.It’s beautiful seeing my girl grow yet makes me a lil sad that my baby is not my little baby no more,” Cardi wrote. “light lil turn up today till the weekend.”
The specific turn up invites were Super Mario-themed, as Cardi also shared they looked like on Twitter. Pulling inspiration from the video game franchise, the invite sees Kulture dressed up as Princess Peach, with a swirly pink background.
“Noooo cause how cute is Kulture’s Birthday party invite !?” Cardi B also captioned.
On Cardi’s Instagram Story, the family went to celebrate at the American Dream Mall with decorations that were fit for a princess.
Fans are loving how special Cardi made Kulture’s big day yesterday. “Awww, can’t wait to see the decorations I know you snapped like always,” one fan commented.
“Such a great idea!!!” another added in the replies.
Check out both of Cardi’s posts about Kulture’s birthday above.
Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Jack Black had the biggest hit of his career with “Peaches,” Bower’s yearning ballad for Princess Peach from The Super Mario Bros. Movie (coincidentally, the biggest movie of 2023). Over the weekend, at the Game Awards’ 10–Year Concert, the Tenacious D member performed the song live for the first time.
Black was accompanied by a full orchestra, but no Toad on the maracas. A real missed opportunity there. Still, you can watch it below.
Black was initially hesitant to sing in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which is maybe the first time he’s ever be hesitant to break into a tasty jam.
“We had already had a few sessions; I think we were a year in when [directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic] first sprung it on me,” he told IGN. “They were like, ‘How would you feel about Bowser singing a song?’ And I was like, ‘Ooh, I don’t know.’ I’m very protective about my singing career with my band, Tenacious D.” But once he heard “Peaches,” Black “couldn’t deny that it was funny. I was like, I get it. I see why you want Bowser to do this, tickling the ivories and singing a love song to Peaches. It was undeniable.”
Also undeniable: “Peaches” deserving an Oscar nomination. Tenacious D was robbed once before; don’t make it twice.
Jack Black, born Thomas Jacob Black, is a California actor, musician, and comedian. Black has had an extensive career in music, television, and film. He’s a celebrated creative in Hollywood, and his comedic takes have made for classic cult lines that fans still say today. He’s also worked with his band Tenacious D, and on the silver screen, Black has been featured in the Jumanji franchise, Kung Fu Panda blockbusters, and dozens of other hit features.
With a decades-long career under his belt, Jack Black has more than enough fan favorites. While our list isn’t necessarily exhaustive, we’re diving into a few noteworthy Jack Black movies that can’t be ignored. From his recent appearance in The Super Mario Bros. Movie to jammin’ in School of Rock, here are my favorite Jack Black films.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
Black lent his voice to the new Super Mario Bros. film alongside Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, and Seth Rogan. Jack voices Bowser in the film. He is also the main antagonist. The film also features the origin story of brothers Mario and Luigi. These two characters are quite popular in video gaming, with several best-selling games. The film’s plot follows the two as they are transported to an alternate universe and become entangled between two kingdoms. One of the kingdoms is Bowser’s. The Super Mario Bros. Movie generally received positive reviews upon its release. It has so far grossed over $377 million in worldwide ticket sales. Additionally, the movie is currently on its theatrical run.
The House With W Clock In Its Walls (2018)
Jack Black plays the warlock Jonathan Barnavelt in this fantasy comedy based on the 1973 novel of the same name. John Bellairs wrote the original novel. The plot follows the adventures of Lewis Barnavelt, an orphan who moves in with his uncle Jonathan. The movie further explores the relationship between Lewis and his uncle as the 10-year-old learns magic. He would eventually help Jonathan uncover the mystery of a magic clock. From a $42 million production budget, the film grossed over $130 million at the global box office.
Jumanji Film Series (2017 – )
The Jumanji series is a movie franchise based on the children’s books Jumanji (1981) and its sequel Zathura (2002). The movie revolves around people being mysteriously sucked into an enchanted video game. Finishing all the game levels is the only way to get out of the game. Jack Black stars alongside comedian Kevin Hart and franchise magnet Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. The actors have also starred in two out of the four live-action Jumanji films. Jack plays Professor Sheldon ‘Shelly’ Oberon, an expert scientist, and is the avatar of Bethany (played by Madison Iseman).
Gulliver’s Travels (2010)
Gulliver’s Travels is a fantasy adventure comedy film where Jack Black plays the role of Lemuel Gulliver. Lemuel is a struggling news reporter sent on a mission to uncover the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle. After arriving in the triangle, he is mysteriously sucked in by a water spout and magically transported to an island of tiny people. The themes lightheartedly revolve around love, envy, and acceptance. Emily Blunt, T.J. Miller, and Amanda Pete also star in the film.
Kung Fu Panda Film Franchise (2007 – )
Jack has consistently reprised his role as the voice of Po in the DreamWorks animated franchise Kung Fu Panda. The franchise includes films and television spin-off shows. Generally, the plot follows the adventures of Po, the Kung Fu panda, with his friends and fellow warriors in different quests. DreamWorks has officially announced Kung Fu Panda 4, slated for 2024. Jack Black is expected to continue voicing Po in the new sequel. The Kung Fu Panda movies have, over the years, seen massive box office success. The franchise is estimated to have grossed over $1.8 billion across the three released films. Jack Black has also been consistently lauded for his incredible voice acting in the franchise.
King Kong (2005)
King Kong is an epic adventure monster film and is also the eighth sequel in the King Kong movie franchise. King Kong follows the unsanctioned adventures of film director Carl Denham (Jack Black). He lies to his crew and actress Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) about shooting a film in the SS Venture ship. However, Carl intends to film the mythical Skull Island.
SS Venture coincidentally shipwrecks on Skull Island, and the crew encounters savage natives of the Island. King Kong, a 25-foot-tall ape, also lives on the island. The natives periodically offer human sacrifices to the ape. The film then dives into the relationship between King Kong and actress Ann Darrow. The relationship is juxtaposed with the efforts of Jack and company to free her from the monster. Kong is eventually killed in a confrontation with the Navy as the movie concludes. The film succeeded at the global box office, raising over $560 million in its theater run.
School Of Rock (2003)
School of Rock is a 2003 comedy film featuring Jack Black alongside Mike White and Sarah Silverman. The movie grossed $131 million at the global box office from a $35 million budget. Black stars as a music teacher who is set to turn a young group os students into a full-fledged rock band. The film largely received positive reviews, with critics praising Black’s performance. It is one of the highest-grossing music-themed comedy films of all time, sitting behind 2015’s Pitch Perfect.
One of the surprise delights that awaited viewers of The Super Mario Bros. Movie was another classic Jack Black musical moment — one that has the internet’s attention in a chokehold. “Peaches,” a power ballad sung by Black as the film’s villain Bowser, who secretly pines for the Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom, has quickly become a fan favorite on social media.
Well, here’s some good news for those fans: According to Variety, “Peaches” will be eligible to win a Best Original Song Oscar at next year’s Academy Awards. Which, if you ask the legions of newly converted Bowswer fans, is an award it already has in the bag.
Universal appears to know this as well; in addition to highlighting the song on social media, the studio even commissioned a music video featuring Jack Black directed by hip-hop’s go-to director Cole Bennett, who applies his signature colorful aesthetic to the video.
The music in The Super Mario Bros. Movie has turned out to be an unexpected star with both classic pop needle drops and not one, but two notoriously bad Ninento-related raps of the ’90s returning to introduce heroes the Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong. The cast even made an appearance on late-night TV to perform an acapella version of the game’s iconic theme song.
Check out Bowser’s “Peaches” video above and try not to get it stuck in your head for the rest of the day.
The character of Mario‘s storied history has spanned over 200 video games, several animated adaptations, myriad comics, and now a trio of feature films. Since his creation in 1981 by legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, a gaming figure hasn’t been as recognizable as the red overall-wearing plumber. Like characters such as Superman and Mickey Mouse, Mario is part of the cultural zeitgeist due to the sheer volume of media output featuring his likeness and his innate charisma. With The Super Mario Bros Movie, directed by filmmaking duo Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic (Teen Titans Go! To the Movies), the omnipresence of the titular turtle-stomping elder brother continues to grow, for better and worse.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie, produced by amination powerhouse Illumination (Minions, The Secret Life of Pets), manages to distill over forty years of pop culture into a tight ninety-two-minute run time. This truncation sacrifices any meaningful storytelling to please the broadest of audiences. The film’s plot centers around a pair of scrappy Italian American plumbers struggling to make ends meet in modern-day Brooklyn. Meanwhile, the villainous Bowser (Jack Black) is ravaging through a fantastical realm to court Princess Peach (Anna Taylor-Joy). After a botched job back on Earth, Mario and Luigi (voiced by Chris Pratt and Charlie Day, respectively) find themselves entangled in the conflict.
“Super Mario Bros” Was All Vibes; No Filler
The soon-to-be super brothers are separated early in the film, leaving Luigi stranded in the Dark Lands. Mario trains to become a hero to help Peach defeat Bowser, save her Mushroom Kingdom, and reunite with his brother. It’s all pretty textbook stuff. There isn’t going to be much in the way of shock and awe here. The Super Mario Bros Movie might be rote and simplistic, but where it lacks creative storytelling, it more than excels in charm and wit.
The film appeals to fans no matter when they may have fallen in love with these characters. Sadly, this appeal is often akin to rattling keys at an infant. You can be a 10-year-old who brags about the number of moons they have acquired in Super Mario Odyssey. Or rather, an aging millennial who knows every word of “The Mario Rap” from the 1989 animated series The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! The film provides something here for everyone.
Myriad callbacks aside, a few sequences are clever from both a narrative and visual standpoint. Illumination’s soft-edged animation style lends itself well to the plush visuals of Mario’s world (both the grounded and fantastical). The film takes moments to illustrate how the once 2D environments of Mario and Luigi would play out in the real world to houmous effect. There are wonderful creative side-scrolling cartoon gags employed that are fast-paced and beautifully rendered. Yet, some viewers well-versed in the franchise may find these segments a bit grating or downright silly…even if that’s the point.
Introducing The Cast
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 01: Chris Pratt attends special screening of Universal Pictures’ “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” at Regal LA Live on April 01, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Leon Bennett/FilmMagic)
The voice cast here is mostly solid. Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Charlie Day (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) as the titular brothers are charming, if not terribly inspired. Keegan-Michael Key (Key and Peele, Schmigadoon!) is almost unrecognizable as the pint-sized hero Toad. Additionally, Seth Rogan (Pineapple Express, This is the End) is infectiously hilarious as Donkey Kong. The only weak link is Anna Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit, The Menu) as Princess Peach. She comes off as disinterested and somewhat bland, which is a huge disappointment considering her immense talent and captivation as an on-screen presence.
Jack Black (School of Rock) as Bowser is the biggest standout in the voice cast, who gets to flex his vocal range by growling through insane dialogue. There are even a couple of musical numbers that might take some fans out of the film but will delight most movie-goers. The other vocal highlight is Khary Payton (The Walking Dead) as the adorable Penguin King. There’s something magical about Payton’s stern timbre coming out of the mouth (beak?) of an adorable blue flightless bird. It is immensely charming and magnetic…but when is Payton’s presence not charming and magnetic?
Ultimately, The Super Mario Bros. Movie manages to be entertaining despite not being terribly engaging. There isn’t a lot of depth here. The film relies mostly on nostalgia and pretense from audience members of all ages. Casting such a wide net makes it a great time for kids and a sweet, albeit vapid, experience for more discerning fans. It’s hard to call this one a wash, but it is far from being a benchmark for video game adaptations. It suffers from the same rudimentary trappings as films like Uncharted and Sonic the Hedgehog, which came before. However, if you can look past the simplicity of the film’s narrative and predictable plotting, you might just find yourself “h-hooked on the brothers.”
Chris Pratt says that the original voice he tried to use as the titular character in the new film, The Super Mario Bros., sounded too much like Tony Soprano. The directors, Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, told him he had to switch it up as to not sound like he was copying James Gandolfini’s character in the iconic HBO series.
“For a minute, I walked in and they were like, ‘That’s a little New Jersey. You’re doing a Tony Soprano thing,’” Pratt said during a new interview with Entertainment Weekly. “[The voice] was a really exciting and daunting challenge. Talking to these guys, they say, ‘You wanna do the Mario movie?’ I think both [Charlie Day and I] said yes. Didn’t even ask, ‘What’s the deal? What’s the story?’ ‘Yes, I’m in.’ And then we had to really dig in and figure out…are they Italian? Are they American?”
Chris Pratt & Charlie Day At A Screening Of “The Super Mario Bros.”
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 01: (L-R) Chris Pratt and Charlie Day attend a Special Screening of Universal Pictures’ “The Super Mario Bros.” at Regal LA Live on April 01, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images)
Pratt added: “We know a little bit about Charles Martinet’s voice that he’s sprinkled in there with the ‘Wahoo!’ and ‘It’s-a me!’ and these Mario things, but how do you craft a 90-minute narrative with an emotional through-line and create a living, breathing person about who you’ll care?” Pratt’s costar, Charlie Day, who voices Luigi, added: “We tried different things, different voices. Every now and then they would say, ‘Charlie, maybe a little less ‘Goodfellas’ in this one’ — I’m like, ‘Alright! I think you’re wrong, but fine!’ — until they landed on something they liked.”
The casting of Pratt in the lead role originally received backlash as he is not actually Italian. Horvath defended the decision to Total Film magazine, last month. He argued: “For us, it made total sense. [Chris is] really good at playing a blue-collar hero with a ton of heart. For the way that Mario is characterized in our film, he’s perfect for it.”
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is just a month away from hitting theaters and the Nintendo/Illumination PR team is going all-out to promote it. In addition to crafting an interactive website for a hypothetical Mario Bros. plumbing business and releasing a new, final trailer yesterday showing off even more of its Mad Max-inspired Rainbow Road sequence.
this tweet to Power-Up with exclusive updates from The Super Mario Bros. Movie! pic.twitter.com/r8pAexzfMz
— The Super Mario Bros. Movie (@supermariomovie) March 9, 2023
The cast and crew weren’t done yet, though. The film’s voice actors — consisting of Chris Pratt, Jack Black, Anya Taylor-Joy, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, Fred Armisen, and Charlie Day — stopped by The Tonight Show for a musical sketch in which they sing the iconic Super Mario Bros. video game theme song acapella alongside the show’s host Jimmy Fallon and house band The Roots.
In a Brady Bunch-like sequence, each singer appears in their own squares, which slide and shift across the screen while scenes from both the video game and the movie scroll by. Jack Black appears to be having an utter blast, especially when the game’s underground theme kicks in. Then, as they all reach the “end” of the level, they’re joined by a few more special guests: Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Illumination founder Chris Meledandri (who gets vocal backup from the Minions, naturally).
It’s a cute bit, which is to be expected from The Tonight Show, but it’s also a testament to how truly iconic and generational the Mario brand has been for the past four decades.
pic.twitter.com/ysdn8FVZ5q
this tweet to Power-Up with exclusive updates from The Super Mario Bros. Movie! 