The ending sequence of "Avengers: Infinity War" was an extremely shocking twist for Marvel Cinematic Universe fans. During the last minutes of the film, the evil Thanos manages to obtain all of the Infinity Stones, allowing him to snap his fingers and immediately wipe out half of … | Continue reading
September 2022 was a downright abysmal month at the box office, for the most part, but if there was perhaps one bright spot, it was "Barbarian." The brilliantly marketed horror flick from director Zach Cregger, a founding member of "The Whitest Kids U'Know," managed to top the ch … | Continue reading
When Daniel Day-Lewis announced that his final film before retirement would be Paul Thomas Anderson's "Phantom Thread," he picked the perfect place to bow out. In a career studded with powerful performances and three Oscar wins for Best Actor, he has portrayed few characters as f … | Continue reading
For the many actors who have taken their turn portraying British superspy James Bond in his numerous films, the job can sometimes be nearly as dangerous as Bond's on-screen escapades. Whether it be Roger Moore being injured doing a boat crash stunt or Daniel Craig hurting himself … | Continue reading
This post contains major spoilers for the latest episode of "House of the Dragon" and the book "Fire & Blood." If there is one thing we know about "House of the Dragon" and its predecessor, "Game of Thrones," it's that endings for characters are rarely happy. Weddings, which are … | Continue reading
At face value, it sure seems like David O. Russell's new film "Amsterdam" must be swinging for the rhetorical fences. The film boasts an A-list cast, lead by three very bankable stars in Christian Bale, John David Washington, and Margot Robbie. It's lensed by repeat Oscar winner … | Continue reading
It's one of the coolest fights in movie history. In Steven Spielberg's "Raiders of the Lost Ark," archeologist-adventurer Dr. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) has escaped from the Egyptian Well of Souls, linked up with partner Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), and plans to escape from … | Continue reading
If you thought maintaining a romantic relationship was hard, have you considered the pain and trauma involved in a platonic friendship gone sour? Director Martin McDonagh has lent his uniquely sharp sensibilities to all sorts of tricky subject matter over the years: the masterful … | Continue reading
Florence Pugh has established herself as one of our most compelling actresses in a relatively short period of time, with awards-worthy performances in movies like "Little Women" and "Midsommar." But it's not just "Don't Worry Darling" that will give Pugh the spotlight this year a … | Continue reading
"I won't get the time back," the artist laments. Alas, a day off from work should have been a sacred loss of productivity. But little worries slip through the cracks and nag at her. In the hands of a less astute director, a portrait about a distressed artist — a sculptor in this … | Continue reading
Mike Flanagan is a master of horror. In "The Haunting of Hill House," the filmmaker crafts a deeply personal tale of intergenerational trauma and confronting the horrors of your past. With "The Haunting of Bly Manor," Flanagan unravels gothic romances and relationships as a visce … | Continue reading
Get ready for the next stage of the anime streaming wars, because Disney+ has now entered the race. While Crunchyroll continues to dominate via a monopoly, Netflix releases banger after banger, HIDIVE keeps releasing niche and weird shows, and Prime Video all but exits the fight, … | Continue reading
The first season of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" was lauded for its back-to-basics approach. Every episode was just that, an episode, with self-contained stories, characters' journeys, and messages. This episodic approach mixed a healthy dose of optimism brings the series more … | Continue reading
This post contains spoilers for the latest episode of "House of the Dragon." "Game of Thrones" is known for shocking its viewers, a trait that can be traced back to George R.R. Martin's source material. I still remember shouting out a string of expletives as the Red Wedding unfol … | Continue reading
"Peaky Blinders" creator Steven Knight has lined up his next TV series with "Rogue Heroes," a World War II drama with attitude about the founding of the Special Air Service (SAS). The series is coming your way this fall on EPIX and BBC One, and now the first trailer for it is her … | Continue reading
(Welcome to Under the Radar, a column where we spotlight specific movies, shows, trends, performances, or scenes that caught our eye and deserved more attention ... but otherwise flew under the radar. In this edition: "Athena" juggles eye-popping filmmaking with harrowing violenc … | Continue reading
This post contains plenty of spoilers related to weddings and funerals in "Game of Thrones" and "House of the Dragon." Proceed as you would down the church aisle, at your own risk. In the world of Westeros, to paraphrase Billy Idol, it's always a nice day for a Red Wedding. You m … | Continue reading
Movies don't get much tighter than John Hughes' "Planes, Trains & Automobiles." It's a brisk 93 minutes crammed with chaotic incident, hilariously quotable dialogue, clever turnabouts and loads of heart. There's not an extraneous moment to be found. Though Hughes will forever be … | Continue reading
This post contains spoilers for the latest episode of "House of the Dragon." It's easy to forget that "Game of Thrones" once had a main protagonist, since his head got lopped off before the end of the show's first season. But Ned Stark (Sean Bean) was there alright, grounding the … | Continue reading
This post contains spoilers for all recent episodes of "House of the Dragon." "House of the Dragon" has a lot of characters on its roster, and not all of them seem to matter in equal measure. But just as Bran ended up winning the game of thrones after spending a whole lot of that … | Continue reading
It's high time that someone rewrote Andy Williams' hit single "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" to be about Halloween instead of the godforsaken hellscape known as Christmas. With October officially in bloom and everyone currently scrambling to figure out what to wear th … | Continue reading
Major spoilers for "Smile" follow. "Smile" is an unsettling new horror film from writer and director Parker Finn. Sosie Bacon stars as Dr. Rose Cotter, a dedicated emergency room psychologist who meets a graduate student unnerved by the violent suicide of her professor and tormen … | Continue reading
"Big Mouth" is one of the only shows on TV that understands how truly weird it is to come of age. Over the past five seasons, the series has seen the teens of Bridgeton Middle School grow from shame-faced seventh graders to slightly more confident — if just as cringe-inducing — e … | Continue reading
Before she stars in her own Disney+ series, Dominique Thorne's Riri Williams will be introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever." Previously, we've gotten glimpses at this new character in the first trailer for the follow-up to Ryan Coogler's a … | Continue reading
In a week where horror folks will be overloaded by the return of Pinhead ("Hellraiser"), Art the Clown ("Terrifier 2"), and Chucky ("Chucky" season 2), the people at Marvel Studios have decided to endow upon us a television special that harkens back to the days of early sound mon … | Continue reading
The original "Quantum Leap" is an award-winning and widely beloved science fiction TV series, centering on physicist Dr. Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) as he slides through time. In his journey he must make right what once went wrong in various situations, all the while trying to fin … | Continue reading
When the marketing started for Amazon's billion-dollar gamble, "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" I was underwhelmed, to say the least. I always had hope that I'd dig the show, but my expectations were pretty low going in, which is shocking considering how much I revere … | Continue reading
The historically fantastical world created by George R.R. Martin has always been riddled with violence, with some of the most memorable episodes of "Game of Thrones" centering around legendary battles and wedding night massacres. Thus far, the spin-off series "House of the Dragon … | Continue reading
As Daniel Craig's tenure as 007 has come to an end, it is now time for people to wildly speculate on who the next James Bond will be. Most of the casting choices brought up by fans of the series will never come true, for a myriad of reasons. The actor could be too old, too famous … | Continue reading
Television these days has a bit of a morality problem. It's not that shows are afraid to have morally dubious anti-hero characters, but more that they feel the need to explicitly and repeatedly remind viewers that the main characters are bad, and that we shouldn't be rooting for … | Continue reading
Shinichirō Watanabe's "Cowboy Bebop" defies genre expectations. It is a sci-fi ballad and a space Western with noir elements, sporting themes that are hopelessly bleak and existentialist. The anime's protagonist, Spike Spiegel, is not your conventional hero: he's a green-haired s … | Continue reading
There are plenty of lessons to learn from the '60s anthology TV show "The Twilight Zone." Lessons like "don't judge a book by its cover," and "make sure you have a second pair of glasses." Perhaps more noteworthy was the way it used its speculative elements to tackle larger socia … | Continue reading
George Lucas didn't set out to create a merchandising empire with "Star Wars," that's just the way it worked out. Lucas wrote and directed "Star Wars" in 1977, helping shape Hollywood's blockbuster era. He took an age-old story of good versus evil, sprinkled in some World War II … | Continue reading
When it comes to werewolf transformations on screen, it's hard to top the one featured in "An American Werewolf in London." The scene has it all: magnificent practical effects, unbridled anguish, and Sam Cooke's version of "Blue Moon" playing comically in the background. While ma … | Continue reading
Over four decades since its release, Tobe Hooper's "Poltergeist" still has scare power. Written and produced (and perhaps a bit more) by Steven Spielberg, the paranormal horror story about a haunted suburban family home is filled with incredible sequences and meticulously-crafted … | Continue reading
"The Twilight Zone" is an absolutely foundational piece of American media. Its influences on the science fiction and horror genres are incalculable. The show, which ran on CBS from 1959 to 1964 in its original run, was the brainchild of Rod Serling, who served as both the host of … | Continue reading
If you're a James Bond fan, you have a favorite 007. That's just the way it is. Sean Connery's original depiction of the alluring spy typically tops the list as "most beloved." Still, there are those who prefer Roger Moore or Timothy Dalton as their agent of choice. '90s kids wil … | Continue reading
Stanley Kubrick was famously a tough director to work with. This was mostly because of his poor treatment of his actors, which I believe was an aspect of his almost pathological perfectionism. Kubrick had to get every detail in every film he made exactly as he envisioned it in hi … | Continue reading
A decade after Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) set himself and Michael Myers ablaze at the end of "Halloween II," a comatose Michael Myers finally awakes during an ambulance transfer from Ridgemont Federal Sanitarium back to Smith's Grove Sanitarium in 1988's "Halloween 4: The Retu … | Continue reading
"The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" has been keeping some of its J.R.R. Tolkien connections under wraps throughout its first season, leaving viewers to speculate about exactly who characters like Adar (Joseph Mawle) and the man from the sky (Bridie Sisson) really are. Whi … | Continue reading
Anyone who's watched "Peaky Blinders" knows that the Shelby clan lives fast and dangerous. From drugs to alcohol to sex and violence, there's nothing that this family won't try to do at least once to take the edge off of the demons that haunt them. Who can blame them, especially … | Continue reading
Warning: Spoilers for "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" episode 6, "Udûn." You've likely seen the social media reactions to this week's "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power," calling it the one episode to rule them all. Entitled "Udûn," this chapter didn't have an … | Continue reading
Known for his high-flying kicks and flexibility, Belgian actor Jean-Claude Van Damme is trained in kickboxing, taekwondo, and kung fu. As a teen, he won the European Professional Karate Association's middleweight championship. Hoping to use his unique skillset to become the next … | Continue reading
Ridley Scott's sci-fi slasher-in-space "Alien" recently celebrated its 40th birthday in 2019. The 1979 classic is not only hailed as one of the scariest films of all time, but boasts one of the most impressive casts in a horror movie. A mishmash of personalities and temperaments … | Continue reading
Hollywood really likes making movies about Batman. The appeal of a super-rich guy wearing all black going around and beating up annoying villains is pretty clear, so it's no wonder Hollywood has gone through so many iterations of the Caped Crusader. The various Batmen have had va … | Continue reading
No one expected "Cowboy Bebop" to be a major success — especially not the people that were bankrolling the production. The series creators actually stretched their budget so thin that they angered executives and shareholders. The studio was concerned that "Bebop" wouldn't resonat … | Continue reading
Marilyn Monroe has never quite left our cultural stratosphere due in part to her tragic death and other elements. With the upcoming controversial film "Blonde" about to be dropped on Netflix on September 28, interest in Monroe has once again skyrocketed. And rather than focus on … | Continue reading
The movie: "Postcards from the Edge" Where you can stream it: HBO Max The pitch: Based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by Carrie Fisher, "Postcards from the Edge" follows actor Suzanne Vale (Meryl Streep) as she deals with substance abuse issues that land her … | Continue reading