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Max Schindler

3107 Posts
13 May

The Punisher: One Last Kill Review – Marvel Gets Grim, Gritty, and Dour

Max SchindlerNew DVD release
This article contains spoilers for The Punisher: One Last Kill. It takes less than five minutes for The Punisher: One Last Kill to kill a puppy. The second scene follows an unhoused veteran (John Douglas Thompson) sitting down to enjoy a meal with his dog. That’s when a group of young men arrive to punch him in the face, steal his hat, and toss his pet in front of an oncoming truck. Thematically, the scene exists to demonstrate that the world is an ugly, cruel place. But if, by chance, you happened to look down when the dog met its…
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13 May

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey Will Take a Creative Approach to Gods

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Some reactionary types have long charged the movie business with being godless. But when it comes to Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey, they may be right… more or less. In a Time profile about the director and his take on Homer’s epic, Nolan revealed that he decided against casting for Poseidon, Zeus, or other gods who intercede in the affairs of Odysseus, Telemachus, and Agamemnon. “I became more interested in the idea that to people in that period, evidence of gods was everywhere,” Nolan admitted, pointing to the power of modern cinema. “The wonderful thing about cinema, and IMAX in particular,…
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13 May

Marvel Pitches its Own Absolute Universe With the Midnight Universe

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Stop me if you’ve heard this one. One of the big two comic book publishers is launching a new imprint, one that puts a dark spin on existing characters. Living in a world driven by a fundamental evil, these heroes lack some of their defining features. And yet, the contrast only gives the heroes a chance to restore hope. Up until recently, that description fit only the Absolute Universe, DC Comics‘ wildly successful spinoff. But yesterday, Marvel announced the Midnight Universe, a new take on some of their most important heroes. “The Midnight Universe draws in longtime fans and newcomers…
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12 May

Black Zombie Director on Decolonizing the Horror Icon

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Everybody knows about zombies, right? They’re flesh-eating monsters, reanimated corpses that rise from the grave to devour the living, feasting especially on their brains. But every horror fan can tell you that version of the monster came from George A. Romero, whose 1969 Night of the Living Dead defined the zombie genre—even if he intended his monsters to be ghouls. Director Maya Annik Bedward wants to set the record straight with the documentary Black Zombie by exploring the phenomenon’s roots in Haitian culture. “In Haiti everyone knows about the zombie, and what it represents for them. Stories of zombies and…
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12 May

15 Character Deaths That Took Us Totally By Surprise

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Some character deaths are heavily foreshadowed, giving audiences time to prepare for what is coming. Others hit you like a punch in the gut. The shock comes not only from losing the character, but from realizing the story is willing to take risks. Here are fifteen character deaths that took us totally by surprise. IMDb Ned Stark – Game of Thrones The character seemed positioned as the long term lead of the series. His sudden execution completely changed audience expectations about who was truly safe in the story. IMDb Newt – Alien 3 Revealing the character’s death at the beginning…
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12 May

A24’s Crystal Lake Series Needs to Explain What Is Up with This Weird Town

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It might not quite be Friday the 13th, but Thursday the 15th will be a homecoming for the Voorhees brood after nearly 20 years in the wilderness. Indeed, it’s now been confirmed that Oct. 15 will mark the return of Jason Voorhees—or at least the community that made him, including dear old mamma via the new A24-produced television series Crystal Lake. The show, which appears to be a prequel/reimagining of the harried “lore” we ascribe to the Friday the 13th franchise, is confirmed for that October launch on the Peacock streaming service, and furthermore has announced Linda Cardellini in the…
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12 May

Fast & Furious Learns Nothing From Franchise Fatigue, Launches Four TV Series

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We all know that the Fast & Furious franchise is about family. We all also know that too much family can be a bad thing. But Vin Diesel is not, nor has he ever been, like the rest of us. As befitting a guy whose character Dom Toretto has an ever-expanding family tree, Diesel clearly thinks that big family is big fun. That’s why he appeared on stage for the NBCUniversal upfronts to announce that Peacock will stream four television shows set in the world of cars that can go to space. “For the last decade, we have realized that…
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12 May

Bane and Deathstroke Movie Can Move the Batman Villain Beyond Tom Hardy

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In The Dark Knight Rises, Bane tells Batman that he was born in the shadows. Which is, of course, a lie. Bane was born in the comic books, specifically Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1 (1993), by writer Chuck Dixon and artist Graham Nolan. That comic established Bane as a revolutionary from the Latin American island Santa Prisca, a tactical genius in a luchador mask who augmented his remarkable strength with the drug venom. But The Dark Knight Rises remade Bane into a slightly different character, one mostly defined by the incredible vocal decision made by actor Tom Hardy. Drawing inspiration…
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12 May

Rachel Mason Helps Solve Cold Case Murder Through New Documentary My Brother’s Killer

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My Brother’s Killer solves a murder case gone cold. The documentary, directed by Rachel Mason, traces the 36 years since the brutal murder of 25-year-old William “Billy London” Arnold Newton in West Hollywood.  Mason is an Emmy-nominated director known for Circus of Books, a 2019 documentary featuring her parents’ experience owning a gay pornography bookstore in West Hollywood. She first learned about Billy from a 1990 article in The Advocate.  “I couldn’t let it go in my own mind,” Mason says. “While I was pursuing this documentary, I learned about a podcast called The Dinner Party Show with Christopher Rice…
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12 May

Punisher: One Last Kill Star Teases Nasty New Baddie

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The Punisher is one of Marvel‘s most popular and complicated heroes. Driven by his trauma in the military and the murder of his family, Frank Castle lives only to deliver (capital) punishment to the guilty. With turns on series such as One Life to Live, Who’s the Boss?, Ugly Betty, and Poker Face, Judith Light is a television darling. In short, the two seem to have little in common. And yet, Light will not only appear in the Marvel Special Presentation The Punisher: One Last Kill, but will also play one of the most unpleasant villains in the antihero’s rogues…
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11 May

Rivals Season 2 Review: TV’s Most Unapologetic Guilty Pleasure Is More Entertaining Than Ever

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This Rivals season 2 review is Spoiler-Free. There’s no other show on television quite like Hulu’s Rivals. An unabashedly over-the-top 1980s-set drama that gleefully embraces the idea that there’s no such thing as a guilty pleasure, it’s a series that, at its heart, is about indulgence, both for its characters and for those watching along at home. Though it boasts a prestige cast, lavish sets, and a story that’s grounded in class tensions among the British society elite, it’s a show that determinedly refuses to take itself too seriously, and one that is deeply uninterested in lecturing its viewers about…
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09 May

Mortal Kombat II: All Fights Ranked From Babality to Brutality

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This article contains spoilers for Mortal Kombat II. For all that the 2021 movie Mortal Kombat did right, it did forget to include the actual Mortal Kombat tournament. Director Simon McQuoid and screenwriter Jeremy Slater more than make up for the lack in Mortal Kombat II, filling the screen with martial arts action. Mortal Kombat II delivers all the bone-crunching action you could want. But not consistently. In the same way that not everyone who gets the Sega Genesis controller passed to them can hit →←←←X, not every fight in MKII is equal. So let’s take a look at all…
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09 May

Sara Dosa Talks Finding Meaning in Nature in New Documentary Time and Water

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“The future we were warned about is no longer distant, it is here.” This is the message that Oscar-nominated director Sara Dosa shares in her newest documentary Time and Water. Through archival material and the writings of Icelandic author Andri Snær Magnason, Dosa puts together an expansive story focused on generational memory and humanity’s relationship with nature. Dosa was previously nominated for a BAFTA and the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film for directing Fire and Love.  Centered on Magnason’s own family ties, Time and Water captures the vast existence of Icelandic glaciers and the tremendous loss felt by…
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09 May

Avengers: Doomsday Is the Perfect Place to Bring She-Hulk Back Into the MCU

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Jennifer Walters belongs in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And if you don’t believe it, just ask Bruce Banner, Wong, and Daredevil: all important Marvel characters who got to know Jen (some better than others, in the case of Matt Murdock) in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. But for She-Hulk star Tatiana Maslany, Jen works best when people come to visit her and become part of her story. “There’s something about She-Hulk being the star of her own show that makes sense,” Maslany said on the Bingeworthy podcast. “Because of the direct address, she is our narrator. So, I think it would…
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08 May

5 Lessons Superhero Movies Need to Learn From the Video Game Movie Boom

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If you’re a certain type of geek, then 2026 is shaping up to be a banner year for cinema. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is the highest grosser thus far, Markiplier’s Iron Lung was a surprise indie success, and Mortal Kombat II and Street Fighter are poised to be major hits. For another type of geek, 2026 feels like the nail in the coffin. Marvel slouches toward Avengers: Doomsday with a giant shrug, all familiar faces and promotional chair videos, Daredevil: Born Again struggles to find an audience, all while Spider-Man: Brand New Day threatens to overwhelm its central character…
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08 May

’80s Action Movies That Barely Had a Plot, and Didn’t Care

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There’s a style of film known as the 80s action movie, where the plot is minimal, the hair is voluminous, and the action and one-liners are non-stop. They still exist to this day, albeit in different forms, but their name shows their origin: incredible action-packed movies that were about that action and nothing else. We aren’t making fun of these movies, since they took their craft very seriously. Many of the scenes shown in them required true craftsmanship, they just weren’t aiming to be historical dramas or winning any Oscars. These are the films that put action on the forefront,…
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08 May

The Terror: Devil in Silver Creators On Why Season 3 Was Almost an Entirely Different Story

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AMC’s The Terror has never been particularly subtle about its messages. While its first two seasons told very specific stories set on a doomed 19th-century sailing expedition and in a haunted Japanese internment camp, the franchise’s larger goals were much more expansive, using horror as a lens to explore the worst aspects of the real world we all know. And though its third outing, Devil in Silver, may be the horror anthology’s first contemporary tale, its themes still reflect those of the larger franchise, which loves to poke at the ways humans themselves are often the only monsters a story…
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07 May

15 Movies That Care More About the Action Than the Plot

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Some movies are built around tight storytelling and carefully layered plots. Others take a very different approach, focusing almost entirely on spectacle. In these films, the narrative is little more than an excuse to bridge one explosive sequence with the next. Here are fifteen films that clearly cared more about the action than the plot. Armageddon (1998) High intensity sequences and emotional moments dominate, with logic often taking a secondary role. Commando (1985) A classic example of a simple setup followed by nonstop action and one liners. Crank (2006) Pure energy and nonstop escalation drive the film forward with almost…
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07 May

The Pirate King Tells a Very Personal Story Through an Unlikely Community

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The Pirate King is very close to its director’s heart. Josh Plasse’s uncle, Captain Todd Willis, was the inspiration for the new movie, which follows Marine veteran Todd Gillis (Rob Riggle) struggling with PTSD and addiction after serving in Afghanistan. Hitting rock bottom, Gillis suddenly finds an unlikely community in a group of pirate reenactors. It’s Plasse’s first feature film, but he says tackling such personal material elevated his work ethic, despite its tricky balance of comedy and drama. “It has a difficult tone to capture,” he tells Den of Geek at SXSW. “Because you need to have the levity…
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07 May

15 Photos Telling the Story of the Career of Helen Mirren

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Helen Mirren has built one of the most versatile and enduring careers in film, moving effortlessly between prestige dramas, historical epics, action franchises, and comedies. From her early work in British cinema to major Hollywood productions, she’s consistently brought authority and nuance to every role. What makes her filmography stand out is both its longevity as well as its range, with performances that span decades without losing relevance. Looking at her career through individual stills shows how she evolved as an actress while remaining unmistakably herself, adapting to changing eras without ever fading from the spotlight. IMDb Age of Consent…
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