By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 33 seconds ago

One of the things that made Ronald D. Moore’s Battlestar Galactica reboot so successful is that it was basically everything that Star Trek wasn’t. While Gene Roddenberry’s classic show was all about the hopeful exploration of the cosmos, Moore’s series focused on humanity’s frantic fight for survival after a genocidal attack by the Cylons.

Despite the differences between the franchises, Battlestar Galactica was actually inspired by Star Trek to create Cloud 9, a civilian fleet vessel whose interior looks like a lush, outdoor planet.

How Star Trek Created The Cloud 9

The Battlestar Galactica reboot introduced Cloud 9 in the episode “Colonial Day,” a very political episode that called for a slight change in setting. Showrunner Moore wanted to introduce some outdoor environments to the show to keep it from feeling too claustrophobic, but he also wanted to avoid having the Galactica visit a new planet each week, a la Star Trek. The solution was to introduce Cloud 9, a civilian ship whose interior conveniently looks like the exterior of a planet.

At this point, you might be asking yourself why the Battlestar Galactica showrunner and other producers thought the series needed Coud 9 in the first place. The short answer is that if the show never takes its characters to new locations, viewers will eventually start going stir-crazy as their favorite characters do. This is one of the big reasons that Galactica, a show about characters who live in space 24/7, still found so many opportunities to visit Caprica and other planets.

Much of that exploration came later on as Ronald Moore became more comfortable with having these characters explore strange new worlds. However, the Battlestar Galactica showrunner wanted to create Cloud 9 in Season 1 so that the writers didn’t necessarily have to take the main ship and its heroes to a new planet every week, like in Star Trek: The Original Series or The Next Generation. Thanks to Cloud 9 (a vessel whose interior looks like that of a planet), the show could provide a visual change of pace as needed without forcing the title vessel to make any detours.

If the showrunner had been anyone else, we likely wouldn’t have gotten a new ship. Our heroes would simply visit a new planet each week, a formula made popular by Kirk and Spock. However, Ronald Moore got his start in show business by writing for Star Trek: The Next Generation, and he landed that job in large part because of his great passion for The Original Series (he even became TNG’s Klingon expert because of his love of TOS). Once he began running his own show, Moore seemingly wanted to do something different, so Battlestar Galactica introduced Cloud 9 so he wouldn’t have to bite Trek’s style. 

As hardcore Battlestar Galactica fans know, Cloud 9 didn’t make it to the end of the series. Instead, this unusual ship was destroyed by a nuclear device at the hands of a version of Six whose breakup with Dr. Baltar led to some very literal fallout for our heroes. But we would never have had this ship in the show at all if not for Star Trek and its “planet of the week” trope that Ron Moore desperately wanted to avoid. He was ultimately successful (so say we all!) in creating a standalone sci-fi series that boldly went where no Trek had gone before.

Cassidy Clarke is raising questions as she steps forward to address her past connection with D4vd. The actress, who once appeared in his ‘Here With Me’ music video, is now speaking out as online discussions intensify around comparisons involving Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Her comments revisit a brief professional interaction that has recently resurfaced across social media.

RELATED: Social Media Is Reacting To Apparent Resurfaced Clip Of D4vd Being Told On Livestream He’s Assaulting Kids (VIDEO)

Cassidy Clarke Addresses Past With D4vd

Actress Cassidy Clarke, who played D4vd’s girlfriend in his ‘Here With Me’ music video, took to TikTok to address the growing speculation. She revealed she met the singer — whose real name is David Anthony Burke — when he was 17 and spent time around his family during filming. While the two followed each other on social media after working together, Cassidy emphasized their connection never went beyond that project.

Cassidy Clarke Cuts Ties, Calls D4vd “A Monster”

She stated she plans to remove him from her socials entirely and is cutting ties, while also responding to the flood of messages linking her to current controversy. According to Cassidy, “I have nothing to do with it. I don’t associate with D4vd by any means,” adding she only took the role “for a check.” She also opened up about their on-set dynamic, claiming they didn’t get along and often clashed, describing their interactions as “bickering.” Cassidy didn’t hold back in her remarks, saying he deserves “even more than what’s happening to him right now” and going as far as calling him “a monster.”

@funfilipinogirl

I do not associate with David Burke. Justice for Celeste Rivas Hernandez and her family

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♬ original sound – Cassidy Clarke

Resurfaced Clip Of D4vd Fuels Backlash

Meanwhile, D4vd’s past is continuing to resurface in ways that are intensifying the backlash. A recently circulated clip from an old livestream shows the singer sitting in what appears to be a kitchen beside another individual as comments pour in. During the exchange, he can be heard saying, “I media-trained you,” before the person pushes back and replies, “No, you didn’t.” He then responds, “That’s controversial,” prompting a shocking comment from the other person referencing “r*ping kids.” The resurfaced moment has sparked strong reactions online, with many viewers revisiting the clip and questioning the context, further fueling ongoing scrutiny surrounding the singer.

RELATED: D4vd Accused Of Having “Significant” Amount Of Child Sex Abuse Images On Phone

Young and the Restless spoilers for next week reveal Nick Newman (Joshua Morrow) overdosing while Matt Clark (Roger Howarth) watches and laughs like the twisted maniac that he is.

We also have Chelsea Lawson (Melissa Claire Egan) terrified. Noah Newman and his mom Sharon Newman (Sharon Case) are panicked, and Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford) is scrambling. We’re going to get into the latest Y&R spoilers for the week of April 27th.

Young and the Restless Spoilers: Phyllis May Have To Give Everything Back To Victor

All right, so first of all, we got to talk about Phyllis Summers. She may have no choice but to give everything back to Victor Newman (Eric Braeden). So, at the end of this week that we’re in, Phyllis is in her office at the Newman Tower, vowing to her own portrait that she will never give up and smack talking about Victor having met his match in her.

And then while Phyllis is, you know, villain monologuing, Victor and Victoria Newman (Amelia Heinle) walk in and they both laugh at her. They tell Phyllis that they have a deal for her that she cannot refuse, and she reminds Victor that he screwed her over the last time she made a deal with him. That is accurate.

Y&R Spoilers: Phyllis Faces Prison Time

So, that’s when Victoria drops the bombshell that Christine Williams Romalotti (Lauralee Bell) is the district attorney again. And we know how she feels about Red. And Victor had his AI invent some fairly compelling evidence against Phyllis that they’re ready to hand over to Christine so that Phyllis can be prosecuted for criminal charges. So, Victoria shows Phyllis the evidence and she says, “Okay, it looks fake.” But Victoria thinks Christine will be happy to prosecute Phyllis and will see what she wants to see.

So, Phyllis is calling them hypocrites after them stealing the company from Cane Ashby (Billy Flynn) and then kidnapping and drugging Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) and just all the horrible stuff that Victor was doing with the AI. And then they showed the second part of the plan. So, Victor has bribed a bunch of managers to say that Phyllis confessed to these criminal acts.

So, they have the trumped up evidence and then some trumped up witness statements. And she tells Victor and Victoria that she’s going to call their bluff. She’ll see them in court. And Victor threatens and says, “Phyllis better drop the papers to give it all back.” They storm out. Michael Baldwin (Christian LeBlanc) and Lauren Fenmore (Tracey E. Bregman) comfort Phyllis, who of course wants to fight. Michael thinks it’s not going to go well.

Young and the Restless Spoilers: Phyllis Grows Desperate

So, next week’s Young and the Restless spoilers have Phyllis scrambling to keep what she stole because the last thing that she wants is to admit defeat and cave to Victor freaking Newman and give him back anything. I mean, it’s kind of a toss-up for me because they’re both villains and I’d like to see somebody else wind up with all this stuff.

So, if Phyllis doesn’t give Victor what he wants, then Phyllis could face prison time. And Christine might actually enjoy threatening to prosecute Phyllis, although I’m not sure that Cricket would actually move forward if she heard the rumor that it was AI evidence based on what’s happening. Michael could probably, you know, talk to her about it.

Matt Clark Versus The Newmans on Y&R

So, let’s talk now about the May sweeps dust-up with Matt Clark versus Adam Newman (Mark Grossman) and Nick Newman and their family and this tragic overdose. So, at the end of this week, Adam and Nick and Chelsea are trying to convince Riza Thompson (Tina Casciani) to turn on Matt and help them. So, they promise Riza millions of dollars. She’s interested, but she’s upset that Adam was using her, so she wants cash up front. And he reminds Riza of their past. That kind of bothers Chelsea. And finally, Riza tells them Matt’s going to be at this old abandoned gas station where he keeps his drug inventory.

So, Nick’s worried that Sharon and Noah are walking into a trap because Matt took their phones. And I don’t know why those people that know that didn’t call Sharon like on Chelsea’s phone or you know a hotel phone or buy a burner phone and call Sharon, call Noah, tell them. Anyway, they got Riza calling Matt and they want her to tell him that Adam and Nick have given up and just went back to Genoa City. So, Adam and Nick take off for the gas station while Riza makes the call.

Young and the Restless Spoilers: Matt Snatches Sharon & Noah

Meanwhile, Matt creeped up on Sharon and Noah at the old gas station. Just slid into their car. I guess they don’t keep the doors locked. And Matt pulls a gun and he forces Noah and Sharon into the dusty old garage. And Matt promises it’s going to be a nightmare. Noah’s trying to talk them out of it, offering bribes, yada yada. Riza calls Matt. He’s pretty sure she’s lying about Nick and Adam leaving town. And then Chelsea and Riza are kind of having a tense conversation about Adam.

Adam Worried about Nick on Y&R Next Week

So, in the car, we’ve got Nick and Adam speeding to the old gas station to save Noah and Sharon. Adam thinks Nick is looking rough, and he’s let him get behind the wheel. And then Adam confronts his brother about lying and says he’s seen his bags of pills and he thinks Nick needs to admit that he’s messed up. But of course, he’s not going to do it. And Adam keeps at it and tells Nick that he’s putting them all in danger. Meanwhile, things get deadly in the garage as Matt tells Sharon and Noah one of them will die while the other watches. So, that’s where this week’s cliffhanger leaves off.

Matt knows from Riza’s clumsy phone call that Nick and Adam are still around, probably getting closer to him, and there’s going to be more danger before they even make it to Noah and Sharon. So, next week’s Young and the Restless spoilers have Nick finally in the passenger seat. So, clearly he’s in worse and worse shape. He’s twitchy.

He’s sweaty with withdrawals because he’s been doing cocaine and fentanyl. So, Adam’s driving, but he worries about his brother and tells Nick it’s obvious he needs his drugs. And Adam tells Nick, just go ahead, do what you got to do. So Adam is encouraging Nick to take a hit so that at least he’s functional and not in DTs while they are confronting Matt.

Young and the Restless Spoilers: Nick Overdoses

So, looks like that he’s going to lure Nick and Adam into the same garage where he’s got Sharon and Noah pinned in. And it looks like Sharon and Noah are still handcuffed and chained together up against a big metal beam. Next week things turn really bad because Nick and Adam wind up locked in with Sharon and Noah and Matt takes off and leaves them there.

And Nick, of course, has taken more of the drugs he got from Matt’s dealer to take the edge off. But it goes really badly and Adam rushes to help Nick who is overdosing next week. He’s on the floor. He’s in distress. Adam’s trying to help him while Sharon and Noah desperately try to get loose of their handcuffs so they can try and help Nick.

Young and the Restless Spoilers: Does Psycho Matt Get Away with It?

Meanwhile, horrible, horrible Matt is watching all of this go down. He left surveillance cameras in there. So, he’s on the road in his car watching this go down and he’s mocking Nick’s overdose. He says little rich boy Newman finally hit on the bag with the bad batch. Remember he had tainted fentanyl so he obviously had his dealer give a tainted baggie hoping Nick would overdose. Matt already told Nick he planned on him to overdose.

So, it looks like things get sorted to some extent because next week Adam makes it back to Chelsea at the hotel. Now Adam’s looking scruffy and a little worse for wear and Chelsea’s freaking out saying thank god you’re okay but she wants to know where’s Nick and Adam looks very upset about that question. So, I’m guessing Nick is at the hospital with Sharon and Noah hovering over him. But the question is, does Matt Clark live to fight another day?

Brit Eady is throwing a lil’ shade at Kenya Moore after footage showed items getting removed from her hair spa. Eady shared a video of herself driving past Moore’s salon on social media alongside a caption that has fans saying she basically just got her lick back!

RELATED: Andy Cohen Speaks Out After Brit Eady Files $20M Lawsuit Against Bravo Over Explicit ‘RHOA’ Posters 

Brit Eady Drops A Message After Clip Shows Items Getting Removed From Kenya Moore’s Hair Spa

Okay, so BOOM! If y’all recall, in 2024, Kenya Moore was accused of allegedly putting up explicit photos of Brit Eady during a private event at her spa. The situation even pushed Eady to file a $20 million lawsuit against Bravo. Now Brit is serving a lil’ clapback. She hopped on Instagram and shared a video of herself driving past Moore’s hair spa while items were being removed from the space. She basically gave “what goes around, comes around” energy as the footage sees her shaking her head while boxes sat outside the salon. In her caption she wrote, “Never win when you play dirty.” 

What’s The Tea On Kenya’s Hair Spa?

Kenya’s salon clear-out comes after TMZ reported that she owed $87, 976 to her landlord. In April 2025, landlord Northland Chamblee LLC filed an eviction lawsuit, seeking $30,000 in backpay and claiming payments had stopped in December 2024.. By October, that amount had increased to more than $44,000. Kenya Moore Hair Spa pushed back on those claims and said the landlord failed to make promised improvements. A Georgia judge later gave Kenya two deadlines to repay the money — $43,988 by the end of February another $43,988 by the end of March. The judge also ordered her company to repay about $5,500 a month in rent unless she vacated the space. After she missed the court-mandated payments, the eviction of her business moved forward. Based on Brit’s video, it appears the process unfolded this week.

Kenya Denies Claims Of Owing Her Landlord

As mentioned, in February of this year, Kenya denied owing her landlord money. She shared a post on Instagram saying the landlord actually owed her. She also claimed that she spent six figures building the salon and said her landlord never reimbursed her.

“The reports about me being behind on rent are false. As I have stated before, my company is in an active lawsuit against my salon landlord for failing to pay nearly $80,000 in tenant improvement allowance OWED TO ME. I invested over $300,000 of my own money to build out my salon in a commercial space from a white box. When the landlord failed to reimburse contractual expenses, I withheld rent in an effort to reach a fair settlement, and subsequently filed a countersuit for the amount they failed to reimburse.”

RELATED: Kenya Moore Denies Owing More Than $80,000 In Unpaid Rent For Her Hair Spa (UPDATE) 

We’re well over halfway through this decade, which means that many film watchers are starting to look back at all the films that have been released to take stock. There have been plenty of great films and a few masterpieces in the 2020s, with more still likely to come. Every genre has gotten its fair share of new classics, and the action genre has been particularly potent. There have been installments in franchises new and old, bold originals and everything in between. They haven’t all been perfect, but many have been good, some great, and a select few are absolute masterpieces. Opinions are always going to vary on what films can be classified as true masterpieces, with debate still surrounding awesome action movies from this decade like Furiosa, John Wick: Chapter 4, and Tenet. While time may tell on those movies, and a handful of others, at least five action movies from the 2020s can currently be certified as masterpieces.

Every action fan has their favorite era of movies, whether it’s the bombastic blockbusters of the ’80s, their high-concept cousins of the ’90s, or the grounded and gritty efforts of the 2000s. There have already been a few apparent trends for the 2020s, but the action genre has shown a lot of diversity so far, and the five action masterpieces of the decade offer a wonderful cross-section of it. We’ve got a superhero sequel, an Indian epic, and no less than two Best Picture winners. Add to those one of the best franchise legacy sequels ever made, and there’s no doubting that these five films represent the best of the best of the action genre for the 2020s so far. When this decade has come to a close, there’s no doubt that these action movies will be counted as true masterpieces.

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ (2022)

Image via Paramount Pictures

The decade got off to a slow start thanks to COVID. The pandemic pushed the releases of many movies and caused others to struggle at the box office when it finally opened back up. There were a number of movies credited with bringing audiences back to theaters, but the big blockbuster that truly got butts back in seats was the long-awaited legacy sequel Top Gun: Maverick. While the Tony Scott-directed original is certainly a favorite for some action, it could hardly be considered one of the best of the ’80s or even in the careers of Scott or mega-star Tom Cruise. This sequel, helmed by Joseph Kosinski, rose higher and faster than its predecessor, thanks to some astonishing aerial action sequences. Those sequences, which were shot with the actors in real jets in the sky, gave audiences all the action they’d been craving, and the young cast proved proper copilots to Cruise, who was still firmly in the pilot seat.

Picking up decades later, the film finds Maverick (Cruise) still feeling the need for speed and pushing the buttons of his superiors with his devil-may-care attitude and reckless flaunting of safety measures. That gets him a one-way ticket back to the Top Gun flight school, now to serve as an instructor for the young blood cadets, including Rooster (Miles Teller), the son of the first film’s ill-fated Goose (Anthony Edwards), and Hangman (Glen Powell), who clearly takes after the antagonistic Iceman (Val Kilmer). Kilmer himself shows up for a surprisingly emotional cameo that sees the once-bitter rivals embrace as old friends. While the action is superlative, it’s scenes like that between Maverick and Iceman that epitomize the effectiveness of this legacy sequel, which pays homage to what came before but isn’t afraid to chart its own flight path. Top Gun: Maverick succeeds where so many belated sequels failed by bringing in a solid new cast of characters, tinging itself with nostalgia without ever basking fully in its glow, and featuring action that will pin you to your seat.

‘RRR’ (2022)

While Hollywood was patting itself on the back for remembering how to make great sequels, out of India came a film that showed everyone in America that the country was still outpacing us with original filmmaking. RRR, a Telugu-language historical epic with musical numbers and characters that rival superheroes for their athleticism, took international audiences by force with its blistering action set pieces. Directed by S.S. Rajamouli, who has been making films for two decades, including the two-part action epic Baahubali, the film is a non-stop thrill ride through its period setting. It combines history with folklore and wraps it in an over-the-top action style that makes it one of the most original action masterpieces of the 2020s or any other decade.

Set in India in the early twentieth century, during the British Raj, when the country was under British colonial rule, the film follows two fictionalized versions of revolutionaries. Tribal guardian Komaram Bheem (N.T. Rama Rao Jr.) is brought into the action when a young girl is taken prisoner by the callous British Governor and wife, who enlist Imperial Officer Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan) to help fight him off. The two go from adversaries to allies as they join forces to take down the oppressive regime in some of the most kinetic and riveting action sequences to come out of any country. RRR put Hollywood on notice and made international stars out of its creative team, paving the way for more Telugu cinema and other Indian action masterpieces to break through to Western audiences.

‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ (2022)

Image via A24

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Maybe it was the year of COVID lockdown or the tumultuous politics that led to a flourish of creative energy, but 2022 was a banger year for action movies. Even that year’s big Oscar winner was the martial arts extravaganza Everything Everywhere All at Once. Though Top Gun: Maverick was also nominated for Best Picture, and RRR should have been, it was this wickedly entertaining multiversal action-comedy from Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert that took home the gold. It’s truly one of the weirdest films to ever win Best Picture, but it richly deserved the award for its elaborate visuals, clever script, fantastic performances and wild action sequences. It made history with its award wins and proved that action movies don’t have to cater to more pretentious tastes in order to receive accolades.

Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) is a laundromat owner who is struggling to balance her deteriorating marriage, estranged relationship with her daughter, and an IRS audit. Things get multitudes more complicated when she discovers that many parallel universes exist, and she may be the key to saving all of them from an alternate supervillian version of her daughter. That overloaded premise is only scratching the surface of the oddities that exist in the film’s many different realities. An Oscar-winning Yeoh is as dynamic a protagonist as ever, and she’s ably supported by her supporting cast members, including fellow Oscar winners Jamie Lee Curtis as a vindictive IRS agent and Ke Huy Quan as Evelyn’s husband. Everything Everywhere All at Once‘s balls-to-the-wall, absurdist approach isn’t for everyone, but it’s got more ideas in single scenes than many blander action films have across their entire runtime.

‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ (2023)

Image via Sony Pictures Releasing

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Everything Everywhere All at Once was far from the first film to make use of the multiverse concept, which had already broken through to the mainstream several years earlier in the animated action masterpiece Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. That invigorating comic book movie’s sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, expanded exponentially on its predecessor’s bold visual style and universe-jumping action to become the best superhero action movie of the 2020s. Introducing hundreds of new Spider-Heroes into its universe, Across the Spider-Verse broadened the creative possibilities of what a Spider-Man movie could be. It opened up a whole host of new avenues for potential future exploration, and while a third film is on the way, along with a live-action Spider-Noir streaming series, there’s no telling where else the franchise could go from here.

The film picks back up with Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), who is struggling to balance his personal life with his superhero activities, longing to be reunited with his fellow webslingers. Meanwhile, Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) has been recruited into a league of multiverse-defending Spider-People, including clever cameos and full supporting characters like Spider-Punk (Daniel Kaluuya) and Spider-Man India (Karan Soni), who bring even more diversity into the wonderfully colorful world. The animation pushes more boundaries than before, mixing media and radically different art styles for each universe and even individual characters. Like Miles, the movie does its own thing and manages to beat its live-action counterparts with more creativity and inventive action.

‘One Battle After Another’ (2025)

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

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As unusual and idiosyncratic as one would expect for an action film from arthouse director Paul Thomas Anderson, last year’s Best Picture winner One Battle After Another gives you everything you might expect and then so much more. Based on Thomas Pynchon‘s novel Vineland, the film mixes social commentary with stoner comedy and propels it all with some of the most inspired action set pieces, including a climactic car chase that does more with a low-angle camera and a long stretch of road than many other modern blockbusters can with mountains of CGI. When it doesn’t have you laughing at the insanity of its characters or incensed at the social inequalities that surround them, One Battle After Another keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Former revolutionary Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio) lives under an assumed identity with his daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti) in California. He is shaken out of his weed-induced fog when a dangerous figure from his past, the hardline Colonel Lockjaw (Sean Penn), comes looking for Willa. So ensues a feature-length chase plot involving white supremacists, revolutionary nuns, and a super-chill karate sensei named Sergio (Benicio del Toro). While the film’s themes of social unrest, generational political movements, and authoritarian governments were developed before they became dishearteningly relevant to the current political climate, they will likely always resonate with audiences. Even if you don’t get down with the film’s messy politics, there’s no denying it’s an action masterpiece.

When Michael first hit Rotten Tomatoes with a brutal 27 percent critics score, it looked like another high profile biopic was about to crash under the weight of expectations. Then audiences showed up. And everything changed.

The film has now surged to a staggering 96 percent audience score, instantly flipping the narrative and putting Michael in rare territory as one of the highest rated musical biopics ever from a fan perspective.

So what happened?

Critics vs Audience A Familiar Divide

Early critic reactions focused on pacing, tone, and the film’s approach to controversial moments in Michael Jackson’s life. Some reviews called it uneven, others said it played things too safe. But audiences saw something completely different.

Fans praised the performance, the music, and most importantly, the emotional connection. Social reactions have been flooded with comments about how the film captures the energy, pressure, and genius of Jackson in a way that feels authentic and powerful. For many viewers, it is not about perfection. It is about feeling. And Michael delivers that in a big way.

The Power of Music and Nostalgia

Musical biopics live and die by one thing more than anything else. Connection.

From the moment the first iconic track hits, audiences are pulled into a shared experience. With a catalog as legendary as Michael Jackson’s, Michael had a built in advantage that critics may have underestimated.

The film leans heavily into that legacy. The performances, choreography, and stage recreations are being called some of the best ever put on screen in this genre. That alone is driving repeat viewings and word of mouth momentum.

Jafaar Jackson, Michael [credit: Lionsgate]

Audience Scores Are Becoming the Real Indicator

We have seen this trend before. Critics analyze. Audiences react.

And in the era of social media and instant feedback, audience scores are increasingly shaping a film’s reputation in real time. A 96 percent score is not just good. It signals strong emotional resonance and mass appeal.

That kind of response can extend box office legs, boost streaming performance, and even reshape award season conversations.

One of the Biggest Turnarounds in Recent Memory

Going from 27 percent to 96 percent is not just a rebound. It is a complete narrative reversal.

For Michael, it means the film is no longer defined by its early reviews. It is being defined by the people actually watching it. And right now, they love it.

The Bottom Line

Michael may not be a critic darling, but it is becoming a fan phenomenon.

And in today’s landscape, that might matter more than ever.

This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.

This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.

While the most popular titles about World War II are movies, including classics like Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List, a handful of TV shows have gone on to also portray the dark chapter in world history. Among them is World on Fire, a BBC series that first released in 2019 and was abruptly cut short after two seasons. The series, led by The Little Mermaid‘s Jonah Hauer-King, depicted a series of compelling and at times heart-breaking storylines from the early days of the war.

In its two-season run, the series received some major critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, World on Fire not only has a 92% average score from critics, but received an impressive 100% for Season 2. So, while the series has yet to receive worldwide recognition, there’s no doubt that it’s one of the most ambitious, and critically acclaimed, WWII TV shows out there.

What Is ‘World on Fire’ About?

Set in the earlier days of WWII, World on Fire follows the intertwining fates of ordinary people in Britain, Poland, France, Germany, and beyond, as they grapple with the effects of war on their everyday lives. Among them is Hauer-King’s character Harry Chase, a British translator working in Warsaw when the war breaks out. In addition to his convoluted love life, the series follows his character as he’s recruited to become a soldier, and later rises through the ranks of army intelligence. Other important characters include Kasia Tomaszeski (Zofia Wichłacz), a Polish waitress who joins the Polish Resistance against Nazi occupation, and Helen Hunt‘s Nancy Campbell, an American journalist risking her own life to expose the Nazi truth and propaganda in Berlin.

In each of the intertwined stories, not only does World on Fire paint a picture of what the war meant to all kinds of people, but the series also shines a light on some of the lesser known and overlooked moments of the war, including the Battle of Danzig in Poland and the Battle of the River Plate near Uruguay. In Season 2, World on Fire kicks off in the chaos of October 1940. This time around, viewers see how the Great War makes its way to Britain with Harry and other pilots like him revving their engines to defend the skies over Manchester. The series, created by Peter Bowker, also stars Lesley Manville, Sean Bean, Eryk Biedunkiewicz, Julia Brown, Yrsa Daley-Ward, and Parker Sawyers.

‘World on Fire’ Is a Must-Watch Historical Drama

Image via PBS/BBC

From the critics’ reviews alone, World on Fire surely joins the list of must-watch TV. Among the highlights in the reviews are the performances on the show, notably Hauer-King, Bean and Manville. “Sean Bean has made a career out of playing noble leaders like Boromir in Lord of the Rings. But he’s wonderful here as a working-class pacifist whose mind World War I shattered,” writes one review. “The best thing about the show is the great Lesley Manville’s performance as Robina,” asserts another review. On the show, The Crown actress plays Robina Chase, Harry’s mother. “A believable and craftily comic portrayal of a woman who reluctantly lets down her guard in response to the war.”

Most of all, critics praise the series’ perspective of showing individual emotional stories from their characters, and letting their experiences depict the atrocities of the war. After all, while statistics can go long in describing the horrors that happened during that time, the personal, heartfelt stories show them expertly instead. “World on Fire is, at times, unbelievably cheesy – but the characters’ broad strokes make for high-drama entry points into the true horrors of the historical narrative,” wrote one review.

With all that said, while World on Fire came to an end after Season 2, the series remains as one of the BBC’s most ambitious and critically acclaimed series on WWII. By using heartfelt character arcs to tell multiple stories, the series succeeds in not only being an emotional drama, but also an action-packed war series about the atrocities and realities of war.

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Release Date

2019 – 2023

Network

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BBC One

Showrunner

Peter Bowker

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  Jonah Hauer-King

  Harry Chase

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  Zofia Wichłacz

  Kasia Tomaszeski

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Bold and the Beautiful has a stack of plots that is irritating viewers right now. And I tend to agree with most of the fan opinion on this. From RJ Forrester‘s (Brayan Nicoletti) abrasive attitude to Taylor Hayes (Rebecca Budig) happily never after just evaporating and a few other things on B&B that are just not proper. Not proper at all. And we’re going to discuss five of the worst plots on the CBS soap right now.

So, I see a lot of fans ranting on soap social media every day about the nonsense that we’re seeing on Bold. Some viewers are extremely ticked off. So, we’re going to talk about RJ, Electra, Taylor, Steffy, Hope, and some others.

Electra And Will’s Letter Situation on Bold and the Beautiful

So, the first thing we’re going to talk about is this whole thing with Electra Forrester (Laneya Grace) and Will Spencer (Crew Morrow) and the whole letter situation. And honestly, the whole scope of this storyline. We’ve seen how pouty that Electra has been. How she has no problem with somebody that she says is her friend living on the street eating out of dumpsters. And also, we’ve just seen her and Will and others that just won’t communicate clearly. And of course, we got RJ’s holier than thou bullcrap.

This could have all been cleared up if Electra had just asked Will why he ignored her letter or sent an email or a text or just had a conversation face to face or if Electra had actually listened when Will tried to explain that Ivy was lying about him. But Electra gave him no oxygen to even hear him. None of the people speak plainly and none of them listen. And on top of that, it feels like, and this is not just for this storyline, but across the board, almost every episode repeats the same exact conversation we heard the last time those people were on screen.

If they’re on Monday, and then we see them Monday, we see them Wednesday, same conversation again. And the main criticism I see about Bold is storylines don’t move forward. It’s repeat, repeat, repeat. And then every three episodes or maybe once a week, something moves forward a little.

We’ve been on the same calendar day on Bold for a week of episodes. If you look at the outfits that Electra and Daphne and others are wearing, it is literally not moving forward. I see this same criticism on most plots on B&B. Repeat conversations day after day and then you pile in unneeded flashbacks to make it even more stagnant.

Ivy’s “Not Proper” Thing on B&B

Another thing really bugging fans for a while now has been Ivy and her whole “It’s just not proper” thing. Brad Bell has done some bizarre rewrite on her. This is nothing like Ivy ever was before on Bold and the Beautiful. I don’t ever recall her even using the word proper before all the years she was on.

Ashleigh Brewer’s character has been twisted around to make her an uptight helicopter aunt manipulating Electra. And frankly, it’s not a well-written storyline. If you have to have a character acting totally out of character to make it work, that’s not good writing.

The whole storyline was not only dragged out, but after all this time, it’s frustrating to get a character that people actually used to like, Ivy, back on the scene, only to have her behave like an uptight, controlling weirdo. They brought her back, but made Ivy entirely unlikable. We were supposed to be getting her back to, you know, do something with Liam, maybe even with Thomas because they’re not related, something interesting.

Instead, she’s stalking Will and Dylan when she was supposed to be sick while Electra was out of town. And even now, Ivy remains unapologetic. She’s still rambling, hoping Electra doesn’t go back to Will. That’s on Friday’s episode after Ivy’s basically agreed it’s time for her to leave Forrester.

Everything With RJ Forrester

So, the next hot mess plot to talk about is everything with RJ Forrester since the recast with Brayan Nicoletti. It’s nothing to do with the actor. He’s fine. Handsome young guy. It is how Brad Bell is writing RJ. He used to be a much more likable young man. And he’s been a jerk from about five minutes after he walked through the door.

He was nice to Will for like a second and said, “Let’s not act like our dads Bill and Ridge. Let’s put that animosity behind us.” Will agreed. And then what does RJ do? He actually immediately started acting like his dad, Ridge Forrester (Thorsten Kaye).

Because RJ latched on to the idea of being with Electra. And that was back when she and Will were doing great. They were totally happy. And Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang) even told him, “Don’t go there. She’s with Will.” But RJ did.

And then he is just doubled down and tripled down. He’s 100% unlikable. He has not been a big hit with the fans. I think he’s the worst nepo baby that Bold and the Beautiful has ever had. And honestly, I think the writers need to completely rehab RJ if they ever want fans to like him.

Bold and the Beautiful Fans in an Outrage

Some recent comments on soap social media about him. This one I like. Can they please ship RJ overseas and bring back Thomas? Another said, RJ and Ivy are total garbage. And another said, RJ’s such a weirdo. Other comments flat-out call him a dumbass. Somebody else posted a long line of laughing face emoji’s over RJ saying his life hasn’t been as easy as Dylan thinks. RJ actually told that to a young woman who lived in her car and ate from a dumpster. What? Did he not get the jacket he wanted from Neiman Marcus? Come on.

Where are Deacon & Taylor on Bold?

Another thing bugging fans is the lack of follow-through, next steps, or any kind of closure on Deacon Sharpe (Sean Kanan) and Taylor. Everybody’s asking, “Where’s Deacon and Taylor? What happened?” Last we saw, they’re at Deacon’s place. They’re kissing. Sheila Carter (Kimberlin Brown) is stalking and smirking, saying she’ll be back.

You know, we had Deacon and Taylor finally get together, but they still didn’t actually get together. They didn’t make love. You know, they were interrupted before when Sheila came in with the knife. And then we had that, you know, them kissing on the sofa and then the Sheila cliffhanger. Will she kill them or won’t she? And then all of them disappeared.

So, are we going to circle back around to Taylor and Deacon? Has Taylor moved into Deacon’s little apartment? Did they get a house? You know, they didn’t even get a big pinnacle moment. Like, here we are. We can be together. He picks up Taylor in his arms, carries her to the bedroom, nothing. We got a very lackluster climax and then no climax. And they’re just on the back burner. Fans aren’t loving that.

Steffy And Hope Are MIA on B&B

The last thing to talk about is the fact that Steffy Forrester (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) and Hope Logan (Annika Noelle) are pretty much MIA these days. Bold fans are ticked about this, too. After Hope reconciled with Liam Spencer (Scott Clifton), we never see them. Basically, they show up to make commentary on other storylines, like talking about Taylor and Deacon or the Logan Fashion House. I was hoping to see Hope and Liam expanding their family, getting a place of their own. They don’t even show them in the cabin anymore. It’s Brooke’s living room.

Then, we got Steffy and Finn Finnegan (Tanner Novlan). We see them every once in a while, usually for sofa sex, and that’s it. They also were mostly side items in the Taylor, Deacon and Sheila drama and then they evaporated. I saw a comment on social media where a fan asked if anybody remembers Steffy and Hope. One fan asked, “Where is Steffy? She needs to kick her loser brother RJ’s ass.” That made me laugh.

So, I understand that Bold wants younger folks center stage trying to bring in a younger demo, but they also don’t need to neglect their other fans and their other characters. You know, Hope and Steffy and that generation should be center stage, not the barely out of their teens crew.