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04 Jun

Bad Boys: Ride or Die Review – Out-Bayhems Michael Bay

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Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, the Belgian directing duo behind Bad Boys: Ride or Die, are what people are really talking about when they speak of Michael Bay. In these dark days of anonymous blockbusters with no personality or pop, it is indeed common for people to wax nostalgic about Bay, wishing that Bayhem would one day return to American screens in its full glory. It’s a weird sentiment though, and not just because Bay hasn’t gone anywhere (in fact he continues to release movies every two or three years, most recently 6 Underground in 2019 and Ambulance in…

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04 Jun

Alien: Romulus Confirms a Call Back to an Iconic Alien 3 Moment

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The first full teaser for Alien: Romulus contains lots of nods to Alien and Aliens. Not only does it integrate the famous tagline for the first film, but we get plenty of cool guns, facehuggers on the attack, and even a xenomorph rising from the water. In other words, all things that made Aliens great. The connections between Alien and Aliens make sense. Director Fede Álvarez and co-writer Rodo Sayagues have made clear that Romulus takes place between those two landmark films. However, the standout, most shocking scene pays homage to Alien 3, a movie so divisive that even director…

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04 Jun

7 Things Godzilla Minus One Can Teach American Blockbusters

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Godzilla Minus One is a rare beast. Despite being derived from a franchise that’s nearly three-quarters of a century old, and which has had more installments than there are days in a month, Takashi Yamazaki’s latest reinvention of the Big G feels fresh. It’s a true spectacle of emotion and cultural angst; a film that remarkably takes a piece of pop culture furniture like the giant irradiated lizard and makes him scary again. In Godzilla Minus One, the titular creature is not only a dazzling sight of cinematic carnage candy, but he’s also a potent metaphor about war, destruction, and…

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04 Jun

The Movies That Define The Kids On Bikes Adventure Genre

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Within the wonderful world of kids’ movies lies a subgenre that doesn’t get discussed enough: the “Kids on Bikes” adventure movie. A combination of early adventure movies and the “latchkey” kid culture that afforded teens and pre-teens incredible new freedom, these movies occupy a unique space. They’re often intended for audiences in the same young age ranges as their protagonists yet they explore more adult themes and genuinely dangerous situations through the lens of an often wistful version of a particular kind of childhood. And yes, they explore those topics with the help of bikes. Some are scary, some are…

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03 Jun

Captain America 4 Set Photos Trigger Theories About Giancarlo Esposito’s Surprise Character

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This article might contain potential spoilers for Captain America: Brave New World. Who is Giancarlo Esposito? Okay, we know who Giancarlo Esposito is. He’s best known as Gus Fring from Breaking Bad and Moff Gideon from The Mandalorian. Meanwhile to some of us old people, he will forever be Buggin’ Out from Do the Right Thing. But who is he in the MCU? Esposito has long been rumored to join the gargantuan franchise, something made more real when the actor shared to social media some of his recent talks with Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige. However, we now have more…

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03 Jun

Venom 3 Trailer Teases We’ll Finally Learn the Villain’s Origin Story

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“Eddie… my home has found me,” the symbiote Venom warns his host Eddie Brock in the first trailer for the third Venom movie, Venom: The Last Dance. For the longest time, that statement wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense. After all, Venom’s “home” was Battleworld, the planet where the Beyonder took a cadre of heroes and villains in the 1984 Marvel Comics crossover Secret Wars. When Spider-Man’s costume was ruined, a machine on Battleworld created a new one for him, which later revealed itself to be a malevolent symbiote. When Peter abandoned the suit, it bonded with the equally…

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03 Jun

The Search for Spock Expanded Star Trek Canon in Huge Ways That Changed the Franchise

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In Simon Pegg’s immortal comedy series Spaced, his character Tim declares: “Every odd-numbered Star Trek movie is shit.” This is, of course, hilarious today, because Pegg was in two odd-numbered Trek films, and even co-wrote the 13th movie, 2016’s Star Trek Beyond. But, the fandom myth of the odd-numbered Star Trek “curse” almost certainly begins with 1984’s Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Released in movie theaters on June 1, 1984, the third Star Trek feature film was really the second part of what would become a trilogy of films, concluding with The Voyage Home in 1986. But, more…

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03 Jun

Making Fans Wait for Godzilla Minus One on Streaming Was a Great Thing

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As of this past Saturday, Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One is officially on Netflix in North America, and millions of subscribers are getting the chance to learn why kaiju fans and beyond have been losing their minds about the movie with a giant irritated lizard. Seriously, no less than Steven Spielberg is reported to be a great admirer of Minus One, with the Jaws filmmaker telling Yamazaki he’s watched the film three times. There is of course a sound basis for this (and not just because Godzilla Minus One in part alludes to Jaws). Not since perhaps the original 1954…

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01 Jun

The Most Underrated Action Movies of the 1970s

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Put on any action movie made between 1903’s The Great Train Robbery and 2017’s John Wick, pay attention to the risks playing out before you, and you’ll never stop asking why the hell aren’t stunt performers lauded for their efforts by the Academy Awards. In the 1970s, one of the greatest and most underrated decades for action movies, you could still see every danger to life and limb on screen. CGI wasn’t around yet, and the law was barely paying attention. The result is an era where bloody martial arts imports and Blaxploitation commentary blended with tight-wire action and terrifyingly…

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01 Jun

Amazon Prime Video New Releases: June 2024

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Oi there, listen up! Amazon Prime Video’s list of new releases for June 2024 includes another season of its biggest, bloodiest hit. The Boys season 4 premieres its first three episodes on Thursday, June 13. Based on the trailers, The Boys is really leaning into the political side of its social satire with a presidential election underway and Homelander on trial for the small matter of killing a guy last season. The season will continue to air on Thursdays, culminating with the finale on July 18. Amazon is really leaning into its sports offerings this month as well. Fans will…

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01 Jun

Netflix New Releases: June 2024

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Netflix’s list of new releases for June 2024 look suspiciously like last month’s. That’s because the biggest item on the schedule is Bridgerton season 3 once again. The final four episodes of Bridgerton‘s third season will premiere on June 13. Polin fans everywhere, rejoice! Other TV items of note this month include the third and final season of Sweet Tooth (June 6), Worst Roommate Ever season 2 (June 26), and That ’90s Show Part 2 (June 28). Bridgerton aside, Netflix’s original movie options this month might be even more impressive than the TV slate. Richard Linklater’s Hitman, which stars Glen…

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01 Jun

Disney+ New Releases: June 2024

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With its list of new releases for June 2024, Disney+ isn’t going to beat the “only a Star Wars and Marvel streamer” allegations. That’s because there is just one major new release and it’s of the Star Wars variety. Thankfully, Star Wars: The Acolyte, premiering on June 4, sounds pretty good! This series from Leslye Headland (Russian Doll) is set during the end of the High Republic era and will follow a respected Jedi master (played by Squid Game‘s Lee Jung-jae) investigating a crime that brings him back into contact with his former Padawan (Amandla Stenberg). Aside from that, Disney+ has…

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01 Jun

HBO and Max New Releases: June 2024

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With its list of new releases for June 2024, HBO streamer Max is finally headed back to Westeros. The highlight of this month is undoubtedly the premiere of House of the Dragon season 2 on June 16. Episode 1 will drop on both HBO and Max that Sunday night at 9 p.m. ET. With the infamous Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons now underway, the next batch of episodes for this Game of Thrones prequel should be truly epic. Arriving before House of the Dragon season 2 is another story of a fraught succession. Ren Faire,…

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01 Jun

Hulu New Releases: June 2024

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Hulu has to be pretty pleased with its list of new releases for June 2024. That’s because it’s about to be the summer of The Bear once again. The Bear season 3 premieres all of its episodes on June 27 on Hulu. This FX dramedy has proven to be one of the most successful shows of its era. Jeremy Allen White stars as Carmy Berzatto, a world-famous chef who returns home to Chicago to help his floundering family restaurant after the death of his brother. Season 2 saw The Original Beef of Chicagoland crew transform the spot into fine dining…

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31 May

Twin Movies of the ‘90s: The Winners and Losers of When They Made the Same Movie Twice

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Twin movies. Doppelgängers. Rapid fire remakes. Whatever you want to call them, Hollywood studios have a long and painful history of rushing concepts that run the gamut from similar to identical into theaters at virtually the same moment. Oftentimes the belief is if you get before the cameras first, the competitor(s) will throw in the towel and cancel production. Yet once in a while what seems like a turf war played out in industry trade papers, where the disputed territories are overlapping ideas or historical personages, spills out into the multiplex as “the same movie” comes to cinemas weeks or…

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30 May

The Bikeriders’ Jodie Comer on Motorcycles, Austin Butler, and Nailing That Chicago Accent

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When filmmaker Jeff Nichols finally saw Jodie Comer on the London stage, one thought kept racing through his head: this might be the greatest actor he’s ever seen. In retrospect that’s a bit ironic since by the time the English-born Comer starred in Prima Facie, a searing one-woman play about a rising barrister in the British legal system, she’d already met and agreed to star in Nichols’ passion project: The Bikeriders. And the writer-director had of course seen her before, be it in Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel, BBC’s Killing Eve, or even opposite Ryan Reynolds in the high-concept comedy,…

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29 May

The Movies That Could Still Save the Summer Box Office After Furiosa Misfires

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So you might have heard: despite being a fantastic spectacle and exactly what you want out of a summer post-apocalyptic race into the Wasteland, Furiosa had a rough opening weekend. Like worst opening weekend for a Memorial Day chart-topper since 1984 “rough.” And a mere four days after this stumble began, the debate’s already arisen on whether this was a one-off disappointment due to being a recast prequel movie, or if it’s a sign of larger systemic issues in the industry. Either way, it’s part of a May which has sent a chill down studios’ spines. Generally considered the launchpad…

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29 May

The 11 Movies That Paved The Way for Ridley Scott’s Alien

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Alien didn’t just spring fully formed out of the heads of director Ridley Scott and writers Dan O’Bannon, Ronald Shusett, Walter Hill, and David Giler. Its combination of “monster on the loose” and “haunted house in space” scenario was perhaps the ultimate distillation of a long line of sci-fi and horror pictures that had come before it, from quick B-movie cheapies to some of the genre’s most elegant offerings. What Alien did under the visionary hand of its director, however, was meld all those influences together in a way that transcended the schlockier elements of the film’s influences and elevated…

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28 May

The Newest Star Trek Origin Movie Rumor Makes This Film Feel Even More Unnecessary

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Every April 5th, Star Trek fans celebrate First Contact Day. As established in the 1996 movie Star Trek: First Contact, First Contact Day celebrates the anniversary of Vulcans establishing contact with humans, after the latter launches their first warp-capable vehicle. From that moment, humanity took its first steps into the wider galaxy, establishing Starfleet and then exploring the cosmos, as documented in the prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise. But apparently First Contact and Enterprise weren’t enough to tell that Star Trek origin story. According to a report by THR, the first film in production will be an origin film “set…

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28 May

The MCU Rebrand Shows Marvel Is Finally Learning From the Comics

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“You break the rules and become a hero,” Wanda Maximoff tells Stephen Strange at the start of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. “I do it and I become the enemy… doesn’t seem fair.” That line from should confuse some viewers. After all, such rule breaking didn’t occur in 2016’s Doctor Strange, to which Multiverse of Madness is a sequel. It happened in Avengers: Infinity War. And Wanda’s rule-breaking happened in WandaVision. During the drive to Avengers: Endgame, this type of comprehensive world-building was a feature and not a bug of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But it’s become a…

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