Alex Murphy is back. According to Deadline, director James Wan will produce a new RoboCop TV series for Amazon and MGM, with Ladder 49 creator Peter Ocko as showrunner. Some people might roll their eyes at that idea, and not just because every RoboCop entry since the original movie has been various degrees of disappointing. They roll their eyes because they think Alex Murphy’s story came to a natural close at the end of the 1987 film. They see the final conversation as a fairly happy ending, in which Murphy (Peter Weller) recovers his identity and gets to be a…

James Bond’s loss is John Wick’s gain judging by the first trailer of Ana de Armas in Ballerina. Nearly four years after the Cuban actress stole the show in No Time to Die, de Armas will finally be getting her own spinoff… but not in the series you might have expected. Like Daniel Craig’s 007, Keanu Reeves’ beloved John Wick character appears to have been given a permanent dirt nap after the events of John Wick: Chapter 4. Nonetheless, the series lives on with a new lead played by de Armas. And she still appears to kick plenty of ass…

“You’ll believe a man can fly,” boasted the famous tagline for Superman: The Movie. And to its credit, the film pulled it off by delivering state-of-the-art special effects. But as time goes by and technology improves, it’s increasingly clear that the flying scenes aren’t Superman’s true special effect. Rather, it’s star Christopher Reeve, who gives the greatest performance in any superhero movie. Period. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the oft-shared clip from Superman, in which Reeve’s Clark Kent considers revealing his identity to Lois (an equally great Margot Kidder). In one shot, with absolutely no special effects, we…

In HBO miniseries The Penguin, what is the name of Colin Farrell’s character?Oz CobbOswald Chesterfield CobblepotMr. BonifaceOzzie CosbourneWhich of these is NOT one of the Infinity Stones, as collected by Avengers villain Thanos to bedazzle his Infinity Gauntlet?DreamRealityTimeSoulWhich 2022 comic book movie was labelled by critics “ludicrously pointless”, “a heartbreaking work of staggering idiocy” and “a monstrous union of bottom of the barrel intellectual property and fiscal year planning”?MorbiusThe BatmanBlack AdamThor: Love and ThunderBritish actor Nicholas Hoult played Beast in the X-Men franchise. Which famous comic book villain is he due to play in 2025?Lex LuthorGalactusSamuel Sterns aka The LeaderBob…

Megalopolis looks nuts. But anyone following Hollywood news knows that things were pretty nuts behind the scenes of Megalopolis as well. In May 2024, The Guardian reported on director Francis Ford Coppola‘s purported bad behavior while shooting the reality-bending epic, from basic disorganization to allegedly sexually harassing an extra. Ever since a stream of accusations, lawsuits, and competing narratives have clouded the publicity around the film. But in the same way Megalopolis seems to encompass the entirety of Coppola’s six-decade career, behind the scenes stories, legends, and reported craziness is also part and parcel for the director’s work. Here are…

To young and struggling actors hopeful to be taken seriously in the world of American theater, John Houseman was as much a god as an instructor in the 1970s. Before he was 40, Houseman helped mount productions in the Federal Theatre Project opposite Orson Welles, co-founded the Mercury Theatre, and even contributed to the screenplay of Citizen Kane. He also won an Oscar for The Paper Chase (1973), appeared in Seven Days in May (1964), and wrote and produced plays on Broadway. So when he told Christopher Reeve, “Mr. Reeve, it’s very important you become a serious classical actor,” the…

“Be careful who you assemble,” reads the tagline in the first trailer for Thunderbolts. On one hand, the statement tracks with the ramshackle—dare we say “Suicide Squad-esque”—nature of the trailer. The Thunderbolts trailer shows a group of down and out villains and losers, all with red in their ledger and all willing to kill one another, forced to work together. In fact, the entire start of the trailer consists of a comedy scene involving Black Widow standouts Red Guardian (David Harbour) and White Widow (Florence Pugh) having a less than auspicious reunion. Yet, the most compelling part of the trailer…

It was announced Monday that director Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman and Saltburn) will next direct an adaptation of Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel, Wuthering Heights. The film is set to start shooting in 2025 with Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi playing the novel’s iconic lead characters, Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff. No further details regarding the film’s cast, release date, or plot have been confirmed at this time.  When it comes to Wuthering Heights, though, the devil is always in the details. While it is generally considered to be a classic of Western literature, the Gothic novel has long divided critics…

Amadeus, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1984, is about as perfect a film as there is. A combination of historical(ish) drama, palace intrigue, psychological tragedy, and bedroom farce, it is a sublime confection that’s anchored by two of the finest performances in modern cinema and scored by some of the greatest music of all time. To this day, director Miloš Forman’s screen adaptation of a Peter Shaffer play by same name remains a monumental piece of work. The movie was largely recognized as such, too, when it was released in September 1984 at a running time…

As a franchise about human progress and the values of cooperation instead of competition, Star Trek is more about its heroes than its villains. We tune in to see how Kirk will inspire his crew or to watch Picard call upon logic and empathy to solve problems. That focus might be why Trek has had some awful villains over the decades, stinkers like the Ferengi in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Armus, or the Kazon. But when Star Trek does introduce a character who truly challenges our heroes, not in terms of might or even cunning, but in terms of…

Waning: contains spoilers for Deep Impact, Moon and Ex Machina. We may be dropping out of the Golden Age of Prestige Television (1999 – 2023, RIP), but while we may mourn the slow decline of mega-budget peak TV, take comfort – there is beauty in lower-budget productions. You might think science fiction would be particularly hard hit by a reduction in the amount of money available for VFX, sets, models, and so on, but over the years there have been plenty of examples of extraordinary science fiction films and television series that have been produced on low (or lower than…

Joaquin Phoenix’s Emperor Commodus from the original Gladiator movie remains one of the most memorable depictions of onscreen villainy this century. A portrait of what happens when immense insecurity meets unchecked power—plus a twisted riff on an Oedipal complex by way of his older sister and the father who never loved him—it was a thrill when this fiend finally entered the arena and faced Maximus. We wanted to see Russell Crowe bloody his toga. Now 24 years later, Gladiator II promises to have its own epic showdown between Paul Mescal as Lucius, our heroic and insubordinate gladiator champion, and Pedro…

Sometimes stars are “born” in the gauzy Hollywood daydream of the word, with a big-time producer or director played by Warner Baxter grabbing you by the shoulders and promising, “You’re going out there a youngster but coming back a star!” Sometimes though—more often, in fact—it isn’t nearly so glamorous. Sometimes you’ve got to audition, scrape, claw… and still not get the part. … But then fate steps in! And whoever was offered the role over you, or whoever was cast before you, ends up dropping out at the last minute. In those instances, it would seem that providence itself lends…

Despite sharing a vehicle with three veteran journalists, young aspiring war photographer Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) cannot help but break down into tears. The quartet just drove away from a gas station held by attendants who may, or may not, be combatants in a conflict that’s gripped the entire United States. They’re certainly armed when they show Jessie and her more experienced hero Lee (Kirsten Dunst) three looters they captured and have been beating for days. In that moment, the gunman also gave Jessie a choice, offering to either kill the looters now or let them go after a few more…

In October 2019, master filmmaker Martin Scorsese famously opined that movie theaters had become diluted. With the rise of franchise films and a heavy emphasis by Hollywood studios on intellectual property, the director of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull lamented that cinemas “have become amusement parks.” He made the comments while speaking of his new four-hour epic, The Irishman, which was then playing at the BFI London Film Festival before premiering where most people would be able to see it: on Netflix. It should be noted that while he is obviously not a fan of superhero movies and the like,…

Lee Hoi-Sang is a venerated star of classic Hong Kong action cinema, but only hardcore fans of the genre know him by name. With well over a hundred roles to his credit, he’s easily recognized despite never being a leading man. Typically, he was the lead’s adversary. To make a strong hero, you need a strong villain, and Lee was perfect for that role.  Lee was a genuine master of Wing Chun Kung Fu, which earned him the title of “the King of Fighters.” He was a direct pupil of Grandmaster Ip Man, the same mentor who taught Bruce Lee…

Only Murders in the Building season 4 is proving to be a particularly dark one for Charles Haden-Savage, Steve Martin’s lovably tone deaf TV star of yesteryear. Of course things have always been somewhat grim for the character. In the first season, his girlfriend tried to kill him, and in the third his big Broadway break went up in smoke. Still, Martin usually plays Charles’ missteps as a source of comedy. But when the first episode this year ended on an unshakably tragic note, with Charles holding the ashes of his best friend of 30-odd years, it hit differently this…

This article contains spoilers for Transformers One. As a cartoon series designed to sell toys to kids in the 1980s, there was a time when the lore featured in Transformers was a simple one. The good guys were called Autobots and helped humans. The bad guys were called Decepticons and did not. Easy. However, in the new prequel film Transformers One, it turns out that those names have more than meets the eye. Written by Eric Pearson, Andrew Barrer, and Gabriel Ferrari, and directed by Josh Cooley, Transformers One takes place three billion years in the past when the robots…

There is a wonderful scene midway through Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie. In one of the quieter moments between the soaring action and groundbreaking VFX, the most impressive effect occurs as Christopher Reeve’s nebbish and hunched Clark Kent decides, briefly, to unmask himself before Lois Lane (Margot Kidder). It’s a beat that would be echoed in a million other superhero movies in the following century, but unlike those caped do-gooders, Reeve didn’t need to remove a mask or garment, a cape or cowl. Instead the posture of Reeve’s Clark simply changes, his voice drops, and his very presence in the…

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, which movie song is the best-selling single of all time?White Christmas by Bing Crosby(Everything I Do) I Do It For You by Bryan AdamsI Will Always Love You by Whitney HoustonYou’re the One That I Want by John Travolta and Olivia Newton John“Laura’s Theme” by Angelo Badalamenti features on the soundtrack of which US TV show?Twin PeaksBattlestar GalacticaLittle House on the PrairieInvitation to LoveFour animated Disney movies won the Oscar for Best Original Score between 1990 and 1995. Which of these movies did NOT win it?PocahontasThe Little MermaidBeauty and the BeastAladdin Before…