This post contains spoilers for The Marvels. For a variety of reasons, The Marvels left a lot of lingering questions in the minds of viewers. One of the biggest concerns the movie’s MacGuffin itself, the bangle that the villain Dar-Benn uses to fight the heroes and restore her home planet Hala. In the climactic scene of The Marvels, the central trio defeats Dar-Benn and Ms. Marvel takes her bangle, pairing it to one she received from her grandmother. But when Kamala returns to Earth and hugs her parents at the end of the movie, she’s only wearing one bangle. She…

Creepy noises. A distorted voice booming from speakers. A solitary girl walking into the night. These sorts of things are a dime a dozen in horror trailers, and can be used in even the most inconsequential straight-to-Tubi fare. But when those same elements come in a teaser for an upcoming Neon release, we have to take notice. Neon just dropped the first teaser for Cuckoo, directed by Tilman Singer and starring Euphoria‘s Hunter Schafer. As you can see in the video below, the trailer truly does tease the viewer, giving us little go on. Schafer’s character slowly makes her way…

Young Paul Atreides strides across the sands of Arrakis, the planet that will become the setting of his ascension. Although he has never before left his watery home planet of Caladan, the Fremen of Arakis seem to know him. “Lisan al-Gaib,” they shout at the sight of him, calling him a messiah. Although the Mentat Thufir Hawat dismisses the Fremen’s behavior as “Harkonnen’s rules,” Paul suspects the truth. His mother’s religious order, the Bene Gesserit have been seeding prophecies about him, preparing them for allegiance. Although the above scene occurs early in Dune, it also points to a major theme…

In August 2011, rioting broke out on the streets of Huddersfield. Bricks were thrown at shopfronts, windows were smashed and CCTV cameras were destroyed. The cause of the violence wasn’t explicitly the rickety Yorkshire accent of Brooklyn-born Anne Hathaway in recently released film One Day, but we can’t rule it out as a contributing factor. Hathaway’s accent in One Day wasn’t as much bad as it was senile, forgetting for large chunks of the film who it was and what it was supposed to be doing. It went up hill and down dale with all the control of Compo in…

This post contains spoilers for The Marvels. With the exception of maybe Avengers: Endgame, no MCU movie just ends. Borrowing from the comic book medium in which its characters were born, MCU films end with cliffhangers and portends, mid- and post-credit scenes that tease up the next movie or storyline. That’s certainly the case with The Marvels, the latest MCU entry and latest indication that the superhero boom is now a whimper. The post-credit scene offers yet another nod to the X-Men, but that’s not the only question viewers have after watching The Marvels. As David Crow put it in…

The opening of the cheekily-titled Lisa Frankenstein tells you all you need to know at the start: After a Tim Burton-esque credit sequence detailing the short, sad, tragically unmarried lifespan of The Creature (Cole Sprouse), we flash-forward to today—that is, 1989—where sparkly goth teenager Lisa Swallows (Kathryn Newton) traces an etching over his gravestone. Like one of her peers doodling an imagined married name in her notebook, she caps off the “Frankenstein” with her own name scrawled in fuchsia lipstick. All this is set to When In Rome’s yearning banger “The Promise,” an ambitious needle drop that director Zelda Williams…

New Yorkers minding their own business when aliens attack from the sky? That sounds like a Cloverfield! Well, the first Cloverfield from 2008, anyway. The teaser for the film promised hip New York teens filming themselves during an alien invasion. Between the Escape from New York homage and the name “J.J. Abrams” — better known at the time for Alias and Lost instead of Star Trek Into Darkness or Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker — the Cloverfield trailer created a buzz that concealed the finished product from director Matt Reeves and writer Drew Goddard. Cloverfield left viewers hungry for…

While the horror film Jennifer’s Body was met by a lukewarm reception when it was first released in 2009, it has undergone a renaissance of sorts in recent years. People have realized that behind the inaccurate marketing of the movie lies a campy, yet powerful, story about two teenage girls whose relationship is forever changed by a group of young men seeking power. There are a few things, like certain lines of dialogue, that haven’t necessarily aged well in the 15 years since the film’s release, but overall the movie has been reclaimed as a queer horror classic. Alongside people…

The Marvel heroes have been defeated. Captain Marvel and her fellow heroines didn’t have the power. Thor lies on the ground, embarrassed. Ant-Man and the Wasp, unequal to the task. Through the wreckage strides the Mad Titan Thanos, ready to reclaim his position. “I am inevitable,” he declares. That scene from Avengers: Endgame feels more and more prophetic as the MCU’s popularity continues to slip. Decreasing returns have plagued the franchise since Endgame, with audiences showing less interest with characters both new (Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel) and familiar (Ant-Man, Captain Marvel). Even strong post-Endgame entries, such as the second season…

While those who constantly champion the value of physical media can sometimes come across as old-timers flailing their arms against the inevitable, there is a tragic truth at the heart of their arguments that keeps their feet planted in their ways. While the average person may have access to more media than at any other point in human history, countless titles remain unavailable to stream, rent, or buy via modern digital platforms The extent of this problem isn’t always fully appreciated. When we talk about those lost movies, we’re not just talking about shot-on-video obscurities that went out with the…

“There exists no separation between gods and men; one blends softly casual into the other.” So reads the epigraph to the second chapter of Frank Herbert’s Dune Messiah, a quote attributed to the fictionalp Proverbs of Muad’dib. The same might be said of the separation between entries in the Dune saga, at least the first three books: Dune (1965), Dune Messiah (1969), and Children of Dune (1976). These three books tell the story of Paul Atreides, the man who becomes a leader, a messiah, and a tyrant. For his adaptation of Dune, director Denis Villeneuve already separated the first book…

Watching the extended director’s cut DVD of Kingdom of Heaven nearly 18 years after its release (and nearly 20 in the case of the film’s original theatrical run) is a curious thing. Among Ridley Scott’s many insights into what may still be his most beautiful looking historical epic to date, the director muses on the commentary track that the home media market is something of a godsend. Because even two decades ago, the modus operandi was “faster and simpler.” “I think the value of this digital market is people are more willing or more ready to sit at home and…

The conclusion of Star Trek: Picard was perfect. Say what you want about the series’ first two seasons—and there’s plenty to criticize, trust me—its third was the show we all wanted it to be from the very beginning. A deeply satisfying exploration of who our favorite characters from The Next Generation had become in the decades since the original series aired, Picard concludes by both embracing the legacy they share and looking toward the future they’ve helped to forge. It’s an ending that’s hopeful, heartfelt, and just a little bit bittersweet, in all the best ways. But it’s a peace…

This article contains Past Lives spoilers. Nora and Arthur are both writers, though chosen mediums diverge. She is a playwright who once dreamed of a Pulitzer but would now settle for a Tony; he is a novelist whose books sell well enough to help afford an apartment in the eye-watering real estate of New York City’s Lower East Side. But not a big apartment. Both know what makes a good story, and yet one of the most intriguing aspects of their marriage is that only Arthur sees—or perhaps is the only one who allows himself to see—the literary sweep of…

Carl Weathers passed away peacefully in his sleep on Feb. 1, 2024, leaving an indelible mark on our pop culture. Weathers, who most recently joined the Star Wars galaxy as both a talented director and as the charismatic magistrate Greef Karga, is a legend whose years as a performer on both the big and small screens are worthy of celebration. Weathers originally made his name in college football, but when his NFL career didn’t pan out, he moved into acting. His linebacker physique made him perfect to play heavyweight champion of the world Apollo Creed in the first Rocky film, and his…

This article contains full spoilers for Argylle. Early in the Matthew Vaughn spy thriller/comedy Argylle, actual secret agent Aiden (Sam Rockwell) needs to calm writer of secret agents Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard). Aiden leans in and calmly tells a story about a mission that required him to scale a tremendous height. Rather than look down, Aiden explains, you just have to look at what’s ahead. “What’s right in front of you, Elly?” he asks, staring directly at the camera. Argylle might not have the same bratty sense of humor that marked Kick-Ass or Kingsman: The Secret Service, but audiences…

“No ma’am, we don’t need Hollywood,” would-be movie producer Wayne tells his crew at the start of the horror film X. “These types of pictures turn regular folks into stars.” The type of pictures in question are pornographic films, for which Wayne (Martin Henderson) has assembled a small cast and crew and brought them to a secluded Texas farmhouse. Set in 1979, the slasher X not only pays homage to the decade’s grisly and low-budget horror movies but it also captures a moment in which loosening obscenity laws and increased home viewing options make pornography a profitable business.  A few…

What does it take for a movie adaptation to transcend its source material? Many a filmmaker uses a book as a blueprint (whether or not they read it in its entirety) but take creative license to put their own unique stylistic and/or thematic spin on what is necessarily a much more visual story than the original one on the page. Often that’s taking a key character—whether a comic book antihero or an unnamed book protagonist—and giving them an entirely new backstory or quest. Or choosing a different point of view that opens up new storytelling avenues. In some cases, book…

This article contains Oppenheimer spoilers. It can be said that Christopher Nolan has always known how to end a movie. From Leonard Shelby concluding his journey where it began and asking “now where was I?” in Memento to the topper that wouldn’t stop spinning in Inception, this is a filmmaker who looks for the most potent image that will burrow its way into audiences’ heads. Yet the final scene of his most ambitious film to date is something more impressive, if altogether disquieting. Oppenheimer definitely implants a grim idea in the viewer’s mind, but it does so by giving the…

“You have a choice,” super spy Aiden (Sam Rockwell) tells novelist Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard). “You can either come with me and live, or you can go back and get your cat.” It’s a hard decision for Elly to make. She loves her cat Alfie, her companion not just on lonely nights when she writes the latest entry in her hit spy novel series but also her passenger on a trip across the world, courtesy of the backpack carrier she wears throughout the film. But as Aiden points out, another wave of bad guys are on their way. And…