There was a stretch of time when a Matthew McConaughey movie felt less like an event and more like a coin toss you were probably going to lose. Rom-coms, half-baked adventures, and paycheck gigs piled up, often coasting on his grin and easygoing swagger rather than strong material. Then came The Lincoln Lawyer — the movie that figured out exactly how to weaponize that swagger, from the creator of Bosch.

In the 2011 legal thriller, McConaughey plays Mick Haller, a slick Los Angeles defense attorney who operates out of the backseat of his Lincoln Town Car. He’s not the kind of lawyer with a fancy downtown office, but he knows the system inside and out, greasing the wheels with clerks, bailiffs, and courtroom regulars who help keep his cases moving. Where The Lincoln Lawyer separates itself from your average courtroom procedural is in how it turns the legal system into a trap for its own hero. Mick prides himself on knowing every angle of the law, but that expertise starts to box him in once he realizes he may be defending a truly guilty man.

The cast also includes the likes of Ryan Phillippe as Louis Roulet, Marisa Tomei as Maggie McPherson, William H. Macy as Frank Levin, John Leguizamo as Val Valenzuela, Bryan Cranston as Detective Lankford, and Shea Whigham as Jesus Martinez.

Is ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ Worth Watching?

Collider’s review stated that The Lincoln Lawyer succeeded largely because McConaughey finally found a role that played to his strengths, turning a familiar legal thriller into a slick, entertaining ride. As fast-talking defense attorney Mick Haller, who works out of the back of his Lincoln, McConaughey’s natural charm and swagger energized a story that might otherwise have felt routine.

“McConaughey owns the film, but the majority of the supporting cast is equally terrific. I can’t believe it, but after MacGruber and now this, I’m starting to become a fan of Ryan Phillippe. He holds his own against McConaughey and clearly is having some fun playing the villain without chewing the scenery. McConaughey’s giant grinning mug on a movie poster is usually a warning sign, but The Lincoln Lawyer finally offers him a character that suits his irascible persona in a way that feels fresh and exciting. Let’s hope it doesn’t take McConaughey another ten years to find a leading role that plays to his strengths.”

The Lincoln Lawyer is streaming for free on Tubi.

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Release Date

March 17, 2011

Runtime

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119 minutes

Writers

Michael Connelly, John Romano

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Producers

Gary Lucchesi, Richard S. Wright, Sidney Kimmel, Tom Rosenberg, Scott Steindorff

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By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 1 minute ago

“Crazy thing is, it’s true,” Han Solo memorably utters in The Force Awakens. “The Force, the Jedi, all of it. It’s true.” To a younger generation of would-be heroes, this smuggler legend was casually confirming that the most fantastic tales they had heard about space wizards and magical energy fields were completely true.

Ironically, though, the actors behind your favorite Star Wars characters typically have the opposite experience: fans have developed so many tall tales about the production of these iconic films that the stars spend their whole lives trying to debunk various myths. For Mark Hamill, the biggest myth in question is that he accidentally blurts out Carrie Fisher’s first name in the penultimate scene of the first Star Wars movie. Fortunately, the Jedi Master has taken to social media on many occasions to explain what really happened and why so many fans are wrong about this iconic scene.

Brother And Sister Hug It Out

The scene in question occurs after Luke Skywalker successfully blows up the Death Star, saving the Rebels and, by extension, countless billions of lives. Back on Yavin IV, he hops out of his X-Wing and fiercely hugs Princess Leia. At this point, Luke says something that fans have been debating about for nearly half a century.

You see, many fans are absolutely convinced that he blurts out “Carrie,” calling his costar by her first name rather than her character’s name. If true, this would mean that there is an insanely blatant mistake hidden (and not hidden very well) in the most influential blockbuster ever made. Furthermore, it’s a mistake that would make Mark Hamill look bad for making it and make director George Lucas look bad for not actually catching it.

A Smuggler And Secret Hugger

However, Hamill is adamant that he never said the word “Carrie.” Previously, the Star Wars icon has taken to the social media platform X to set the record straight. According to him, he says “there she” (a partial phrase, as in “there she is”) before he is cut off. He also told the fans who think that he says “Carrie” that this is absurd because 1) the lines were dubbed, so it’s not like he suddenly flubbed anything during filming, and 2) George Lucas would have instantly caught such an error. 

Normally, the mystery would end there; Hamill is the man who said the line, and he would know better than any fan what did or did not happen on set. However, even with the actor’s correction, many Star Wars fans admit that what Luke Skywalker is saying doesn’t really sound like “there she.” Among these skeptical fans, the general consensus is that Luke is saying something more monosyllabic, like “hey,” or giving an excited shriek.

Dazed, But Not Confused

Ironically, the fact that this line is so hard to make out is a big part of why this lie about Mark Hamill has stayed alive so long. It’s all about the power of suggestion: since the line in the final film isn’t very clear, it’s easy for pranksters to tell gullible fans, “here’s what he really said.” Those fans are likely to believe the tale and spread it to others because, no matter how many times they rewatch the scene, it’s difficult to independently confirm what the actor is saying.

As for us, though, we’re more than content to take Mark Hamill’s word for what he said while shooting this legendary film. Hopefully, we’ve done our own small part to destroy the lie that has been vexing the actor for nearly 50 years. Should that lie come back to life like Palpatine, though, we’ll just have to leave its fate in the hands of the Jedi Master!  

In the 80s, TV was ruled by action series with cool heroes, from Magnum P.I. and Miami Vice, to The A-Team and Simon and Simon. The most unique of all was MacGyver, starring Richard Dean Anderson as the titular protagonist. A member of the Phoenix Foundation, MacGyver spent every week on ABC battling various bad guys by using his brains instead of violence, which often saw him escaping capture with nothing more than normal items like a paperclip and a piece of gum. MacGyver was the last name of the hero, and that’s all he went by for the first six seasons, with his first name unknown. However, that was finally revealed in a bizarre Season 7 episode, but if it had been up to producer Henry Winkler, Mac would have had a different moniker.

Henry Winkler Wanted MacGyver’s First Name To Be Stacey

Richard Dean Anderson was the star of MacGyver, but he wasn’t the most notable name involved. That distinction went to Henry Winkler (yes, the Fonz himself), who got a production deal with ABC and Paramount after Happy Days went off the air. This led to him being an executive producer of MacGyver, which debuted in 1985. For every season until the last, MacGyver’s first name was kept a mystery. Then came Season 7, where the decision was made to reveal who he really was.

In an interview with MacGyver Online, Anderson recalled how the first name came to be. “We didn’t have a first name for him for the longest time, and Henry tried to straight-out name him after his wife. It was Stace for a while, but that just didn’t fly.” Instead of MacGyver being Stacey, in honor of Stacey Weitzman, it ended up being Anderson who found the first name when he attended a show honoring police and firefighters in Vancouver.

“It was at a big stadium and there was a huge LED board screen that was flashing what I think was the mayor’s name – Angus Reid. I got mesmerised by it and realised that had to be MacGyver’s first name. I ran it past our executive producer and his jaw dropped. It was the perfect name – Scottish and proper.”

MacGyver’s Name Was Revealed as Angus in a Season 7 Episode

In November 1991, MacGyver aired a two-part episode over consecutive weeks called “Good Knight MacGyver”. The play on words had a double meaning, because not only would Mac’s life be in danger again, but this is where the audience learned more of the backstory behind the show’s hero. After years of characters asking his first name here and there, and MacGyver only offering that he didn’t like it, Part 2 of “Good Night MacGyver,” which aired on November 11, 1991, went for it.

Part I, airing the week before, was a strange one, as MacGyver finds out more about how his ancestors were treated in the Middle Ages. When he’s knocked out, he has a dream that takes him back to the era of King Arthur. He then sets out to find his family and battle knights in an episode unlike any other. Part 2 has MacGyver fighting alongside the wizard Merlin. He finally meets one of his descendants, a Scotsman named Ian M’Iver (William H. Bassett), who has a child named Angus. It’s then that MacGyver acknowledges Angus is his first name too. In an era before the internet and leaks being the norm, viewers were shocked by the unusual selection. Anderson told MacGyver Online, “Yeah, I don’t think it got sprung anywhere.” But does it work?

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Angus Fit the Unique Protagonist of ‘MacGyver’

Image via ABC

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Although MacGyver’s first name is finally given to the audience, the series didn’t change. In the second half of MacGyver‘s seventh and last season, he still went by his famous last name. Angus comes back around though in the series finale, “The Mountain of Youth”, when a twist ending introduces Sean Malloy (Dalton James), the son of MacGyver. And what’s his middle name? Angus, of course. He has the same resourceful nature and love for adventure like his father does, signifying that MacGyver’s efforts will live on in some way.

Angus is certainly a weird name to give MacGyver, but that’s why it works. It fits because Mac is a bit of an eccentric genius. WIth his mullet and good looks, he seems like any other guy, yet his actions prove otherwise. MacGyver is a selfless man who feels deeply and cares about saving others above all else. Imagine if MacGyver got to the pivotal moment, only to name their hero something like Ron or Jeff. What’s so memorable about that? He’s a unique character who required a unique first name. Angus MacGyver fits perfectly.

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 1 minute ago

Even though adult me realized that the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers were a gestalt of many existing pop culture ideas (most especially Voltron), they seemed like a revelation of innovation to my childhood self. After all, what could be cooler than a bunch of high school superheroes who got to kick butt and take names in their own iconic mechs before merging into a super-robot and putting the villain in his place? As it turns out, the only thing cooler than our original crop of heroes was the Green Ranger, and you can now stream Green With Evil (which collects the five-episode miniseries that introduced this mysterious character) for free on Tubi. 

The premise of Green With Evil is that when a cool new kid (Tommy Oliver) with mad martial arts skills shows up, Rita Repulsa does the unthinkable: she transforms him into the Green Ranger, making him her ultimate emissary of evil. He quickly proves himself more than equal to the task of defeating the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, utilizing both the Sword of Darkness and his own iconic Dragonzord. Still, the other rangers sense the good in him, and the story soon turns into a race against the clock to save the Green Ranger’s soul before he destroys everything and everyone the Rangers hold dear.

When Evil Goes Green

While there’s a lot to love here for anyone hoping for a serious dose of ‘90s nostalgia, Green With Evil will resonate particularly well for longtime fans of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. For example, this is the first and only multi-episode story in the entire series, which helps to give it a kind of epic grandeur not found anywhere else in the show. This is also the first story to introduce the notion of new Rangers joining the team in the middle of a season, something that would later become a staple of the original Power Rangers and its many fan-favorite spinoffs.

Speaking of fan-favorites, the most notable thing about Green With Evil is that it introduced Jason David Frank, the Green Ranger, to the Power Rangers canon. He quickly established himself as the bad boy of these otherwise squeaky-clean heroes, giving him the cachet needed to headline multiple different spinoffs. In this way, he became a kind of franchise spokesman, and he continued in this capacity until his tragic death in 2022.

Have Zord, Will Travel

For me, returning to these classic Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episodes (in a convenient movie format, no less) unlocked a nostalgia that had been lying dormant nearly as long as Rita Repulsa herself. The show really is the opposite of modern superhero media in almost every way: it’s bright instead of murky, it’s heartfelt instead of ironic, and it’s gloriously self-contained instead of shoehorning itself into a cinematic universe. Streaming Green With Evil made me feel like a kid again, and before the credits rolled, I found myself trawling through eBay, hoping to buy the Dragonzord toy I coveted as a youngster. 

Of course, the simplicity of the Power Rangers is a double-edged sword: the story is nice and straightforward, but that also means it offers no real layers for fans hoping for anything deeper. You’re either all-in on the show’s campy glory (which includes goofy rubber-suited baddies and laughable special effects) or you’re not, and if you don’t love the endless “masks vs. monsters” fights, you may quickly run out of patience. Conversely, if these kinds of goofy action/comedy shenanigans are your jam, you’ll likely find Green With Evil to be a veritable feast of early ‘90s awesomeness.

Looking Your Childhood Hero In The Eyes

Back in the day, I aged out of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers fandom fairly quickly, so I never really checked out the spinoffs, many of which were headlined by the late, great Jason David Frank (one of my childhood heroes). But this first show was a huge part of my childhood, and I remember entire classrooms full of sugar-laden children who couldn’t wait to re-enact their favorite episodes on the playground. Rewatching Green With Evil, it’s easy to see why everyone was so hyped: with its blend of monsters, mechs, and martial arts, the Power Rangers had everything anyone could want from a superhero show.

Will you agree that Green With Evil is a perfect tribute to Jason David Frank and the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, or would you rather fight an army of Putties than watch the whole thing? The only way to find out is by grabbing your remote and streaming it for free on Tubi. Just be prepared for the nostalgia overdose, and do your best not to wake the family when (not if) you end up shouting, “It’s Morphin time!”

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Before cinematic universes and endless spy franchises took over multiplexes, mid-budget action thrillers like The Italian Job ruled weekend movie nights — and now one of the slickest is making a comeback on free streaming. The 2003 remake updates the classic British caper with a glossy Hollywood edge, centering on a team of professional thieves pulled back together for one last job — this time, for revenge.

The story kicks off with a gold heist in Venice that goes sideways when one of the crew betrays the rest and vanishes with the loot. A year later, the surviving members regroup to track him down in Los Angeles and pull off an elaborate plan to steal back what’s theirs. That setup may be familiar heist territory, but the execution is where The Italian Job finds its groove.

The film stars Mark Wahlberg as Charlie Croker, Charlize Theron as Stella Bridger, Jason Statham as Handsome Rob, Edward Norton as Steve Frazelli, Seth Green as Lyle, Mos Def as Left Ear, Donald Sutherland as John Bridger, and Franky G as Wrench. Long before he was headlining franchises, Statham was already radiating the cool intensity that would make him feel like a rougher, street-level cousin to James Bond. As Handsome Rob, he’s the team’s wheelman and resident ladies’ man, all sharp suits and sharper driving skills, even if he has a surprising amount of hair on that dome that we’ve become accustomed to.

Is There a Sequel to ‘The Italian Job’?

Sadly, as of 2026, there are no more Italian Job films. Back in 2009, director F. Gary Gray spoke with Collider’s Steve Weintraub about the prospects of a sequel, but those appear to have fallen by the wayside:

“You know I’d love it if they were to come up with a concept that tops the first movie. That’s the goal, to make sure that whatever the sequel is that it’s as inventive, as creative as the original….if not better. That’s where all the energy is being spent, making sure you don’t do a sequel for the sake of doing a sequel. You want to make sure you top it.”

The Italian Job is streaming for free on Tubi.

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Release Date

May 30, 2003

Runtime

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111 minutes

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