The 2026 Sundance Film Festival was a particularly bittersweet entry in the long-running cinematic event. Not only was it the first iteration since the death of its legendary founder, Robert Redford, but it was also the last to take place in its long-time home of Park City, Utah, with next year moving to Boulder, Colorado. However, the spirit of Sundance was not dampened, as critics and other attendees were treated to an impressive selection of features from new and established voices alike, from the acclaimed Grand Jury and Audience Award winner Josephine starring Channing Tatum to the starry The Invite, which A24 snapped up for a pretty penny. Among the standouts was the feature directorial debut of Paloma Schneideman, Big Girls Don’t Cry, which still owns a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Set in idyllic rural New Zealand in 2006, Big Girls Don’t Cry tells the coming-of-age story of a 14-year-old named Sid Bookman, played by newcomer Ani Palmer. During a summer break in the age of instant messaging, Sid finds herself seeking the validation and attention of a group of older girls amid her own blossoming sexual curiosity, losing sight of who she really is at heart in the process. Enter The Summer I Turned Pretty star Rain Spencer, who plays her older sister’s new American friend, Freya, who has a unique understanding of Sid and notices the path of destruction she’s going down in trying to get in with the cutthroat clique. Ahead of its theatrical release, Collider can exclusively share the official trailer, teasing the growing pains ahead as Sid explores her desires.

At the start of the footage, Sid looks lost in her rural New Zealand home, unsure of what to do with her Christmas break. Her desire to mingle with the cool, wealthy, out-of-town teens hanging out at the pool and having fun in the sun spurs her to message her crush, imagining herself as part of her circle. Once the effortlessly captivating Freya arrives, though, she starts to break out of her shell, finding someone willing to get to really know her even as she starts wading into the party scene where she’s pushed into uncomfortable territory. While she undoubtedly makes memories, Sid also finds herself up against her artist father, who struggles to understand what’s going through her head, and her own queer adolescent awkwardness and recklessness, as she embraces other identities to fit in and creates chaos along the way. It’s Freya, however, that reminds her who actually cares about her. Between her best friend, Freya, and the vicious crowd she falls in with, she’s bound for a transformative, messy summer wrestling with who she is and who she pretends to be.

‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’ Has Been a Darling on the Festival Circuit

Rounding out the main cast of Big Girls Don’t Cry as Sid’s father is Game of Thrones alum Noah Taylor, with Beatrix Rain Wolfe, Ngataitangirua Hita, and Sophia Kirkwood Smith among the supporting group. The LGBTQ+ drama emerged from the A Wave in the Ocean program created by two-time Oscar-winning The Power of the Dog director Jane Campion, who also served as an executive producer. Since its Sundance debut, it has only continued to make a splash at other film festivals, even winning top honors at the Biarritz Film Festival. Collider’s Taylor Gates hailed Schneideman’s debut in her 8/10 review, highlighting Palmer’s breakout turn and saying “The performances, combined with the dreamy score and stunning visuals, elevate the coming-of-age tale into something special.”

Big Girls Don’t Cry arrives in theaters this October. Check out the exclusive trailer in the player above.

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Release Date

January 24, 2026

Runtime

100 minutes

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Director

Paloma Schneideman

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Writers

Paloma Schneideman

Producers

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Vicky Pope, Thomas Coppell

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Hercule Poirot has been solving mysteries now for over a century, and he has become exceedingly efficient at it. As you’d expect. If you’re not good at something after 100 years what’s even the point any more? Well, he must be bored because the world’s most famous Belgian detective is preparing to solve mysteries once again in an ambitious new reboot that plans to introduce him to a generation that may only know him as the fella with the funny mustache.

Created by Agatha Christie in 1920’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Hercule Poirot went on to appear in 33 novels, two plays and more than 50 short stories, becoming one of the most celebrated detectives in literary history. BBC‘s synopsis of the new series states:

The series is an intimate study of Hercule Poirot the man and an epic portrait of Britain between the wars. The series will centre around three of Christie’s early stories, while also introducing Hercule Poirot to future friends and allies and one particular nemesis…

Reports had suggested that it could stretch to three seasons, while Benji Walters (Obsession) is attached to write the series. No plot details as yet but it’s not like there’s a dearth of Christie novels from which to pillage some kind of story.

Poirot is a fixture of stage and screen, and has been for decades now. Most famously, he was played by David Suchet, who portrayed Poirot on ITV between 1989 and 2013. More recently, Kenneth Branagh brought Poirot to the big screen in Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile and A Haunting in Venice, while John Malkovich offered a darker interpretation in the BBC’s The ABC Murders.

Who Stars in ‘Hercule’?

Edward Bluemel (Killing Eve) is taking on the role of Poirot for this saga, while he’s joined by

Henry Ashton (A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder), James D’Arcy (Oppenheimer, Constellations), Calvin Demba (Supacell, Life), Phil Dunning (Smoggie Queens, Am I Being Unreasonable?), Jack Gleeson (House of Guinness, In the Land of the Saints and Sinners), Tamsin Greig (Riot Women, Friday Night Dinner), James Nesbitt (Cold Feet, Run Away), Guy Remmers (The Buccaneers, Lessons), Rebecca Rittenhouse (His & Hers, Maggie), and Mawaan Rizwan (Juice, The Split Up).

Production is set to begin on Hercule shortly in Liverpool, England, with BBC aiming for a 2027 release.

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Release Date

February 9, 2022

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Runtime

127 minutes

Writers

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Michael Green

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“Real Housewives of Atlanta” alum Kandi Burruss shared a heartwarming message for her ex-husband, Todd Tucker, on his 53rd birthday. Burruss’ special post comes months after the pair finalized their divorce after 11 years of marriage.

Burruss took to Instagram last week to shout out her ex-husband, Tucker, for his milestone birthday. The post featured images of Burruss and Tucker posing with their children and a separate photo of Tucker cheesing wide on the red carpet. “Happy birthday @todd167!!!!! I pray this next year brings you joy & success! Keep living your best life,” she captioned the photo.

Tucker reshared the photo to his Instagram Stories and created a post of his own. “My life is like a new album, a range of emotions!” he wrote. “I hope you have enjoyed sharing my journey. I’m not perfect, but I’m working at it! Live, Love, Laugh!”

Kandi Burruss Announced Plans To Divorce Todd Tucker In Late November 2025

Burruss announced her plans to divorce Tucker in November 2025, per The Blast.

“I’m stepping into a new chapter pouring into my work, my family, and my own growth. I’m grateful to everyone who supported us throughout the years, and I ask for privacy, grace, and understanding as we navigate this transition with our family,” she said at BravoCon.

“To Todd, thank you for surviving the blogs, the shade, the rumors, the lies, the truth, the almost fights, the actual fights, the reunions,” she added.

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The pair were married for 11 years before divorcing; however, things weren’t always sunshine and rainbows. Over the years, fans saw their ups and downs play out before the camera, leading to drama and tears.

Kandi Burruss Admitted That Things Were Getting Ugly Between Her And Tucker

During their divorce, Burruss and Tucker made headlines after reports revealed the pair had reached a crossroads over their signed prenuptial agreement. During a livestream, Burruss answered a fan question about Tucker and revealed she saw him in a different light after going through this.

“I hope. I hope we get to be friends,” she said. “That would be my goal.”

“But you know when you’re going through the divorce, people get on your nerves, and you really start looking at them differently,” she added.

Burruss Talks Co-Parenting With Tucker

Since their divorce, Burruss and Tucker are on good terms, and the former “Real Housewives” star spoke with the media about how she and Tucker have handled co-parenting.

“We co-parent well,” she said. “Whatever’s gonna make the kids happy. Like, they wanna ‘Oh, why can’t we all take a trip together?’ OK, you want us both on the trip? We gonna figure out how to do this co-parenting thing on a trip. Now, I ain’t ever think I would have said, like, back in the day if you would have asked me, I would have been like, ‘What?!’ But now I’m like, ‘OK, let’s keep it friendly.’”

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Burruss Is Still Rooting For ‘The Real Housewives Of Atlanta’

While some details about Burruss’ divorce from Tucker leaked online, it remained largely private, as the Xscape singer departed the show a year earlier.

“It’s been 14 seasons, and they allowed us to sit around for a little too long, but during that time I had started working on a lot of other things, and I got some nice big projects coming soon, so I’m super excited about those things,” Burruss said, per The Blast.

But even though she’s left the show behind, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t want it to do well. She said during a recent podcast interview that even while she’s off the show, she’s rooting for its continued success.

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“I think it’s important to continue to support the franchise even though I’m not there because I was there for 14 seasons, and I want them to be successful,” she said. “I want ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ to continue on another 15 years.”

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for ‘The Last House’

Coming off his Oscar nomination for The Secret Agent, actor Wagner Moura took some time to promote his upcoming Netflix thriller, The Last House, from director Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk, Fast X). Moura’s well known for his heart-pounding work in action and drama like Narcos, The Gray Man, and Civil War, but in a conversation with Collider’s Steven Weintraub, he admits this single-location mystery gave him a run for his money.

Now streaming on Netflix, The Last House is a sci-fi slow burn about a family of four trapped in their home as a mysterious threat waits outside. Moura plays opposite Past Lives standout Greta Lee, and Gabriel Barbosa (May December), Emma Ho (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds), Noah Alexander Sosnowski (Section 8) and Riley Chung (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes).

In this interview, which you can watch in the video above, with a transcript below, Moura discusses why The Last House was an unexpectedly demanding shoot, and reveals his thoughts on the ending and who really survives. He also teases one of his many upcoming projects, working alongside Kristen Stewart (Love Lies Bleeding) in Panos Cosmatos’s (Mandy) next horror, Flesh of the Gods.

Wagner Moura on the Challenges of Filming in One Location

“This was the most physically demanding thing I have ever done before.”

COLLIDER: After watching the movie, I realized I do not have enough water and food in my place. I’m just curious if after making this you had an epiphany of, like, “I need to keep more shit at my house?”

WAGNER MOURA: No. You know what? The kind of epiphany that I had was kind of the opposite. I think that I thought, “I don’t need half of the things that I have in my house.” We have too many things. I love the fact that these characters, especially Greta [Lee]’s character, recycles things. I think that we have too much stuff. We have to get rid of it and give it to people that need it. I think that we have too many things.

I always remember the line from David Fincher’s Fight Club: “The things you own end up owning you.”

MOURA: Exactly. That’s right.

One of the things that’s really interesting about the film is that it takes place in one location, but this had to have been a challenging shoot because of how much stuff you go through when you’re working with kid actors. Where does this rank in your filmography in terms of difficulty making of it?

MOURA: Dude, believe it or not, I think this was the most physically demanding thing I have ever done before, and I’ve done films like Elite Squad or Narcos, or even Civil War. This was unexpectedly hard. When I read the script, it’s a film with four actors in a house, and we were shooting in a soundstage, and then we’ll have our trailers outside. [Laughs] It was very, very physically demanding. Either that or I’m getting old, or maybe both.

Especially the part in the water. We shot the film chronologically, and so the water was the last part of it. Like, it was the last two or three weeks. Oh man, that was challenging. That was very challenging, demanding. Very physically challenging.

When I saw the water, that’s when I realized I can’t be an actor. I can’t be any part of this.

MOURA: Bro. Yeah, man. And again, I read the script, like, “Oh, this can be fun,” but it was very, very hard. We had to hold our breath in the water and spend the entire day in the water, with the water, like, here, and our skin… Oh, it was hard. It was very difficult.

Again, that’s not for me. Do you think the family are the only survivors, or do you think other people survived this?

MOURA: I think there are other people that survived, as well, and that’s interesting. I mean, I hope the film does well and then we can have a sequel to that, either with our characters or not. I’m very curious to know how the world is after they get out of the house. And the creatures, I would love to know more about those creatures, and how the world is now.

I do like that Louis [Leterrier] did not try to explain everything. It’s just what the characters could see is what they understood.

MOURA: Yes. That’s right.

Wagner Moura Teases Working With Kristen Stewart in ‘Flesh of the Gods’

The upcoming film comes from ‘Mandy’ director Panos Cosmatos.

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Before I run out of time, I’m really looking forward to Flesh of the Gods. For people that don’t realize who this filmmaker is, what can you tease people about it, and how does it compare to Mandy?

MOURA: Dude, Panos [Cosmatos] is one of the most unique artists I have ever met in my life. He has a very particular aesthetic. I had never seen anything like Mandy before. And then, this film has such a great script. Also, Kristen Stewart, she herself is a major creative force in the film. I was very, very happy with everything we did there.

The Last House is available to stream on Netflix now.

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Release Date

August 7, 2026

Runtime

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110 minutes

Director

Louis Leterrier

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There has been no shortage of massive gaming releases this year to enjoy, and one of the first that won fans over earlier in the year was 007 First Light, the James Bond game starring Patrick Gibson as the titular spy. Developed by IO Interactive, the same studio behind the Hitman games, 007 First Light was a massive success, and the developers have already confirmed that a sequel to the game is officially in the works. The next big release on the schedule is Marvel’s Wolverine, the new game from Insomniac, the same studio who previously released all three beloved Spider-Man games on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. Wolverine is setting the stage for one of the biggest gaming launches in history, Grand Theft Auto 6, which has reportedly already earned over $1 billion in pre-orders.

There were a few big releases this summer to keep fans occupied while they were inside escaping the summer heat, and one of the first that comes to mind is Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced, which dropped on July 9. The ground-up remake sold over three million copies, and fans around the world have been eager for more out of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, especially content that feels more familiar to the franchise’s older days. It was confirmed this week that the story of Edward Kenway will continue through the fourth Volume of Assassin’s Creed: Forgotten Temple manga, which is now available for pre-order from Amazon. The full release for the new sequel is coming on September 24, and the official description leads fans to believe that it will be the last chapter in Edward Kenway’s story.

“Edward Kenway, the infamous pirate and Assassin, must complete one last swashbuckling mission! Shifting allegiances, new allies, deadly battles with the scheming Templars, and all-new enemies are going to put all of Kenway’s skills to the test in Assassin’s Creed: Forgotten Temple!

Exploring Kenway’s memories is having a strange effect on Kim. He’s suddenly capable of things he could never do before, like fearlessly leaping off a roof and landing on both feet, or fighting three men all alone and coming out unscathed. Could his ancestor’s memories be changing Kim for the worse?”

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What Do We Know About the Next ‘Assassin’s Creed’ Game?

Assassin’s Creed Codename Hexe is confirmed to be the next mainline Assassin’s Creed game from Ubisoft, and it will be set in the 16th century Roman Empire during the Witch Trials. Codename Hexe will deliver a much darker, more stylized Assassin’s Creed game than entries of the past, one with a much more ritualistic tone as it takes the franchise back to its roots, more focused on stealth than open combat and RPG elements. No word yet on when Assassin’s Creed Codename Hexe will be released, but it was revealed all the way back in 2022, and rumors indicate that it could come out as soon as 2027. It’s now been well over a year since the release of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, and fans are eager for the next brand-new release from the franchise to continue the story of the Assassins and the Templars.

Stay tuned to Collider for more updates and coverage of the Assassin’s Creed franchise.

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Release Date

December 21, 2016

Runtime

116 minutes

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If a book’s about young people, and they either end up not young by the end, or learn something about eventually becoming an adult, then it’s probably a coming-of-age book. That change doesn’t have to be physical, and a coming-of-age story doesn’t have to span years, though it can very much be about literally growing up, and some of them do benefit from spanning a good deal of time in the life of a character (or the lives of some characters).

Also, some of them are aimed at younger readers, intended to be relatable and all, while others are more mature, and are probably more aimed at adults who remember what it was like to be a kid or a teenager. In any event, these are some of the best coming-of-age books ever written, with a combination of very old works and a few (slightly) newer ones.

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‘The Body’ (1982)

Image via Simon & Schuster

Ranking this low because it’s kind of a novella, rather than a novel, but still, The Body is essential as a coming-of-age story. If you’re more into movies, there’s a good chance you’ve experienced this story as Stand by Me, which is up there among the best film adaptations of any Stephen King novel, novella, or short story. There are also differences between the original novella and the movie, making them both worthy of one’s time.

Narratively, The Body concerns a group of young boys going on a morbid journey to see a dead body that one of them heard about. And then they learn about themselves and face hard truths and all that, with added emotion coming about because one of them’s looking back on the whole experience as an adult (and an author… one of many Stephen King protagonists who’s themselves a writer).

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‘The Wanderers’ (1974)

Image via Mariner Books

All the growing up stuff in The Wanderers is exceptionally rough and honestly kind of brutal at times. That realism is its most striking (and maybe even most admirable) quality, even if it’s also the thing that makes it a bit harder to recommend than most of the other books here. There’s an aimlessness to so much of it, too, reflecting the lives its disaffected young characters live.

Some of them mature in some ways, though lots of The Wanderers is about immature and clearly troubled people, and they talk and act in ways that are pretty crude/crass. But hey, there are a lot of strong emotions and even danger involved with being a teenager, and The Wanderers either tells it like it is, or it tells it in a slightly more heightened way than it actually is. Either way, there’s definite grit and realism to be found here.

8

‘Jane Eyre’ (1847)

Image via Penguin Classics

You might see Jane Eyre referred to as a bildungsroman, which is really just a fancier-sounding name for a “coming-of-age story.” The titular character is introduced as a young girl who lives a challenging childhood, though it’s far from exclusively about her younger years, considering the length of time the whole psychologically tense and dense novel ends up spanning.

But since those early years are so significant to what happens later, it makes that coming-of-age component of the novel very necessary. Also, plenty of good stories about not only growing up, but emotionally maturing, center on characters who are young adults, just because it’s a reality of life is that people don’t always mentally/emotionally mature right when adulthood hits. If only it could be like the flip of a switch, but if it were, then the world probably wouldn’t have nearly as many coming-of-age stories.

7

‘His Dark Materials’ (1995–2000)

Image via Scholastic

If it’s wrong to put a trilogy here, then just consider Northern Lights in this spot, because that probably feels the most like a coming-of-age story of any of the books in the His Dark Materials trilogy. It’s certainly about a loss of innocence, and a girl realizing truths about her parents and place in the world, with her venturing out into the world, and then having to venture out a bit further (beyond her world) in later books.

In that way, you do get a more complete character arc for Lyra if you read The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass, and then a young boy named Will also has an arc that mirrors Lyra’s, in some ways (he’s only in books #2 and #3). His Dark Materials, as a trilogy, feels aimed at younger readers, though not the youngest of young readers, and the whole thing plays out in a way that proves more than readable if you’re not a kid, too (the experience can be likened to a top-tier Pixar movie or something, being great when you’re young and then arguably more interesting – or emotionally engaging – once/if you’re older).

6

‘Harry Potter’ (1997–2007)

Image via Bloomsbury

Like His Dark Materials, you have to consider a few books here, for the whole story about growing up and everything, but that is very much what the Harry Potter series does. You probably know the deal with a series this famous, but it’s about the titular character (and some other magical folks) going through a witchcraft/wizardry school, and each book is focused on a different year of that whole process.

So, you start with characters who are about 11, and then they’re almost adults by the time the series wraps up… at least the ones who survived the surprisingly deadly final few books are adults by the time the series concludes. It makes a certain amount of sense for the series to get more serious as it goes along, though, mirroring the way one’s pre-teen years can be nice and carefree, at least in comparison to being a teenager (and then a TV show like Buffy the Vampire Slayer pushes that kind of idea even further, making a tense high school experience look like Disneyland compared to the horrors of genuine young adulthood).

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‘The Secret Garden’ (1911)

Image via SeaWolf Press

The Secret Garden is straight up aimed at children, but it’s one of those essential classics you sort of have to consider if you’re talking about coming-of-age books. That does make it one of the easier ones to have younger readers tackle, for obvious reasons, though it deals with some heavier themes regarding things like grief, death, and prejudice, just not in ways that are too difficult to understand.

There are some things here that might not have aged the best, but the book is also well over 100 years old, so stumbling across a few parts that are questionable by modern standards… eh, it happens, when you’re dealing with pieces of entertainment that were made so many generations ago. What The Secret Garden has to say about maturing and realizing the world is much bigger than you initially might’ve thought, as a child, is the stuff that matters most and still holds up.

4

‘The Catcher in the Rye’ (1951)

Image via Little, Brown and Company

Holden Caulfield is up there among the angstiest protagonists in literary history, being a teenager who feels detached from – and despondent about – the world. He goes around internally complaining about things and not really getting on all that well with most people he comes into contact with, and that’s sort of just The Catcher in the Rye. And it’s a classic, so it turns out, that’s all it really needed to be.

You can read it when you’re roughly about Holden’s age, and get something out of it that way, or you can tackle it as an adult, and not necessarily find it nostalgic, but get more complex feelings out of the whole thing. It’s a book that has caused frustration among some readers, but it’s worth tackling regardless, so you can have some kind of view on it, be it positive, negative, or a bit of both (growing up – and stories about that process – being complicated and all).

3

‘The Outsiders’ (1967)

Image via Viking Press

It feels a little unnecessary to say The Outsiders is an easy read, and an essential one, because it’s the kind of book most people are probably familiar with, thanks to it often being assigned reading at school. Plenty of other books associated with English classes prove divisive, but The Outsiders does go down a little smoother, perhaps thanks to it being written by a teenager (S.E. Hinton was 18 when it was published).

The drama here mostly concerns a gang conflict between two groups of youngsters from different backgrounds, though speaking of “backgrounds,” some of that stuff feels kind of in the background, because The Outsiders is mostly about the characters and growing up and all that. Lots of it feels natural and not at all hard to get swept up in emotionally, making this, again, one of those quintessential “can be recommended to just about anyone” books.

2

‘IT’ (1986)

Image via Viking

There are similarities between IT and The Body, but this Stephen King book is a whole lot longer, and it certainly attempts more than “just” a coming-of-age story. It’s also a horror epic about kids battling a demonic entity that can shapeshift and inspire fear rather effortlessly, and then, at the same time as that childhood episode plays out, so too does a narrative about the same characters as adults.

The adaptations of IT to date have been done in a way where the first half is more of a coming-of-age thing, and the second half feels more like a retread with older characters, but taking in the source material – with it being both at the same time – proves more interesting and emotionally rewarding. King’s tackled stories about growing up since IT, sure, but it’s unlikely he’ll ever do something as impressive about this particular topic ever again. IT does just feel kind of unbeatable.

1

‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ (1960)

Image via J. B. Lippincott & Co.

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There’s a bit more at play with To Kill a Mockingbird, compared to some other coming-of-age books, since this is perhaps more of a period/legal drama where things are observed through the eyes of a child. Said child, nicknamed Scout, is living and growing up during the Great Depression, with much of the book being about her father taking on a legal case that involves defending a Black man in a Southern town, which creates controversy and further conflict.

What it has to say about prejudice and not judging people is broad, but the message does continue to ring true nonetheless, and To Kill a Mockingbird… well, it’s To Kill a Mockingbird. It’s been discussed and praised to death, and even if it’s boring to put such a well-loved book here, it feels like it earns that regardless (or, put another way, it’d probably make some people angry if any other book took its place here).

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To Kill A Mockingbird

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Release Date

December 25, 1962

Runtime

129 minutes

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Director

Robert Mulligan

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Writers

Harper Lee, Horton Foote

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The wife of Dukes of Hazzard star Ben Jones has announced her husband’s sudden death.

“I lost the love of my life today. Ben passed from a massive heart attack. He was home resting in his favorite chair waiting for the Braves to come on and whoop the Yankees,” Alma Viator wrote via Facebook on Sunday, August 9. “Ben had the most amazing, rich, full life. He loved and was loved by so many. He will be missed. I loved him so, so much.”

Jones, best known for his portrayal of mechanic Cooter in the original 1980s action-comedy series, was 84 years old. He and Viator were married for nearly 34 years.

After his time on the show wrapped in 1985, Jones moved into a career in politics. He won the race for Georgia’s Fourth Congressional District in 1988 and was re-elected in 1990, per reporting by Deadline on Sunday.

Jones also served as president of SAG’s Georgia branch, per the outlet, and as chairman of the Georgia Film Commission. He was also a writer; IMDB attributes 1987’s CBS Summer Playhouse and 1998’s Primary Colors, starring John Travolta and Emma Thompson, to his body of work.

During a 2023 interview with Georgia Public Broadcasting, Jones reflected on his many achievements with a trademark sense of humor. “Sounds like a guy who can’t hold [down] a job to me,” he joked at the time.

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Jones also reflected on his time as Cooter, a fictional character widely adored for his crazed energy. “When we started filming that show, I was a child actor at the time. Actually, I was a childish actor. We were just making it up,” he recalled. “It was a wild, crazy show and I was cast for it because I was what they were looking for physically and … I just made it up. I had fun with it, it was hard not to have fun doing what we were doing. I am crazy Cooter.”

The actor starred opposite Catherine Bach, who played Daisy Duke, John Schneider, who played Bo Duke, and Tom Wopat, who played Luke Duke. Wopat, 74, took to Instagram on Sunday to share a tribute to his friend and former costar.

“Ben Jones was a fine friend and a fierce advocate of all the best things we can offer in the entertainment business. He will be sorely missed … Denver Pyle [who played Uncle Jesse Duke on the show] frequently said to Ben, ‘I’m not your Uncle Jesse!’ But I feel like we lost a Duke cousin today,” he wrote.

Hilaria Baldwin is not presenting her marriage to Alec Baldwin as a relationship untouched by difficulties. 

After more than 15 years together and raising seven children, she instead believes their ability to keep choosing one another has mattered more than having a perfect partnership. 

In a candid conversation, Hilaria opened up about the principle she considers essential when relationships hit rough patches, while also revealing how parenting seven children has changed the way she and Alec spend time together. 

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For Hilaria Baldwin, commitment is not something that should disappear when a relationship becomes difficult. 

In a chat with Fox News Digital, the 42-year-old said the advice she gave friends navigating new relationships or problems in existing ones was straightforward: both people have to want the relationship genuinely.

“Oh, it’s been more than 15 years. We met February 2011. You both have to want to be there,” Baldwin said per Page Six.

She expanded on the idea by explaining that a relationship cannot depend on one person continuing to fight for it while the other has already checked out.

“Whenever my friends are coming to me, and they’re like it’s a new relationship, or they’re having a bump in it, I say, if both people don’t really want to be there through your difficult moments, through your best moments, then it’s just not going to probably work out,” she explained.

Baldwin acknowledged that her own marriage has had its share of complications, describing the couple’s experience in terms of “ups,” “downs” and “sideways” moments. What she believed had made the difference was that neither she nor Alec stopped wanting to be together.

“Both Alec and I, through our ups and our downs and our sideways, we’ve wanted to be there. And I think that that’s what’s kept us strong,” she remarked.

Hilaria’s Date Nights Look Very Different With Seven Children

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The reality of raising seven children means romance in the Baldwin household does not necessarily resemble the traditional image of a couple enjoying an uninterrupted evening together.

Hilaria Baldwin offered a particularly relatable example when describing a recent dinner with Alec. Rather than arranging an elaborate night away from their children, the couple simply brought their youngest child along.

“Well, last night it involved taking our youngest with us to dinner because that’s what it was,” she said.

The podcaster explained that while she had a babysitter during the day, their nighttime arrangements were different. When she and Alec decided they wanted to go out, their baby became part of the plan.

“So, I brought my youngest. … And I have a babysitter throughout the day, and then at night, no, so we’re like, we want to go out to dinner. And so, the baby comes with us,” she explained.

Hilaria Baldwin Embraces Being A ‘Fun Mess’

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That willingness to adapt also appears to extend beyond Hilaria’s marriage and family life. She rejected the idea that women are always carefully calculating how they present themselves, arguing that people could be far less controlled than outsiders assume.

“I think that people think, especially women, are very calculated. I think that that’s something that’s universal around all of us,” she revealed.

Hilaria described herself instead as curious and eager to experience different things, even when she does not know exactly where they will lead.

“I want to try everything, I’m curious,” she said, adding that she would rather be viewed as “She’s kind of a mess, like a fun mess.”

That attitude came through during her experience filming “Nation’s Dumbest,” where she said she often did not know how she would approach a situation until she was already in it.

“That was always fun about the first part of ‘Nation’s Dumbest,’ … Some of the moments — I’m like, I don’t have a plan, but sometimes whatever I’m doing, it works out,” Baldwin said.

Hilaria Has A Funny Response To ‘Gold Digger’ Claims About Alec 

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Hilaria Baldwin has previously described her marriage to Alec as anything but perfectly polished, and she has also learned to laugh at some of the assumptions people make about their relationship. 

Among them is the long-running suggestion that she married the actor for his money. Speaking recently on SiriusXM’s Page Six Radio, Hilaria explained that the idea initially bothered her because she did not believe it reflected her intentions when they met. 

The yoga instructor recalled that Alec tried to buy her things early in their relationship, but she deliberately turned them down because she wanted to be certain she was with him because she genuinely liked him. 

“I was like, ‘I don’t want you to buy me something, because I want to know that I like you for you, because I don’t want to be a prisoner either,’” she said. 

Looking at their life now, Hilaria joked that having seven children hardly made the marriage look financially convenient. “Don’t have seven, cause they’re very expensive,” she added. 

Alec Floats The Idea Of Another Baby With Wife Hilaria Baldwin

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With seven children already keeping their household busy and Hilaria joking that raising such a big family is hardly cheap, Alec appears to have a playful solution to the situation: add another baby. 

In a joint Instagram video posted August 3, Alec jokingly suggested that Hilaria have another baby with him. 

Sitting poolside, Hilaria mouthed, “I would do anything for you,” prompting Alec to grin and reply, “Have another baby with me.” 

Her expression quickly changed to apparent disbelief before she pushed the camera away and walked off. 

The clip was set to a version of Olivia Newton-John’s “Hopelessly Devoted To You,” while Hilaria captioned it, “When ‘I’d do anything for you’ meets reality with its terms and conditions.”

Final Fantasy and Nintendo have a rich history together, even if their paths haven’t always intertwined. Hironobu Sakaguchi‘s long-running fantasy RPG series began on the original Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987, serving as a watershed moment that would influence future generations of turn-based RPGs to come and laying the groundwork for future installments to build on. In the years since, however, the franchise has branched off and grown in other places, releasing its most well-known installment, Final Fantasy VII, on the original PlayStation and remaining attached to the Sony console family in one way or another since. The last mainline entry to appear on a Nintendo console, not including the FFVII remake series, was Final Fantasy XII, thanks to The Zodiac Age.

That hasn’t been for a lack of trying, though. Naoki Yoshida, the director of the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV and the action RPG Final Fantasy XVI, expressed last year that Square Enix and his team, Creative Business Unit 3, have been determined to get both games on the Nintendo Switch 2 at some point. The latter hasn’t manifested yet, but this week finally saw the land of Eorzea brought to life on the handheld hybrid. Players can now jump in with a purchase of either the Starter Edition, which includes all content up to the third expansion, Shadowbringers; the Complete Edition, featuring all current expansions; or the Complete Collector’s Edition, also featuring all digital bonus items. Each comes with a free 30-day subscription, but for the first month, all fees are waived, and any game time will not be used as the developers look to ensure a stable experience for Switch 2 users. After that, users will have to purchase FFXIV Coins through the Nintendo eShop to pay for more game time.

However, with the Switch 2 release also comes the game’s famous free trial, which players can take part in without having to purchase the game. For newcomers to Eorzea, FFXIV allows progression up to level 80 and through the entirety of Shadowbringers with no restrictions on play time, albeit with some other caveats. Some of the most notable restrictions are that free trial players can’t use the in-game marketboard, form parties outside the Duty Finder, earn more than 300,000 of the in-game currency gil, hire retainers, use certain chat commands, or join Free Companies, the game’s version of guilds. Story progression, however, is completely unlimited, as are many of the side activities like raids, crafting and gathering, deep dungeons, the Gold Saucer, and more.

What Is ‘Final Fantasy XIV’ About?

Final Fantasy XIV is a bit of a love letter to the entire franchise, often taking elements from other Final Fantasy games and reimagining them within its original story and world. The story begins on the vibrant planet Hydaelyn, where, in the aftermath of the Seventh Umbral Calamity that devastated the continent of Eorzea, the Warrior of Light is beckoned by the source of all life itself, the Mothercrystal. Tasked with saving the planet from eternal darkness, they begin a journey across the land, uniting nations, making allies, and fighting back the encroaching Garlean Empire, which seeks to capitalize on the divided and recovering Eorzeans. Players join forces to battle literal deities summoned back to life, dark ancient forces, and more to rid the planet and beyond of the threat that looms over it. Switch players are also joining at the perfect time, with the latest expansion, Evercold, due to launch in January.

Final Fantasy XIV is now available on Nintendo Switch 2 in addition to Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5.

Gisele Bündchen opened up her family photo album in celebration of Father’s Day in Brazil.

“Happy Father’s Day! We love you,” the supermodel, 46, wrote over a Sunday, August 9, Instagram Story photo of her husband, Joaquim Valente, and their one-year-old son wearing matching jiu-jitsu uniforms.

In the adorable snap, the couple’s son, whose name has not been publicly confirmed after arriving in the world in February 2025, was seen sprawled over his father’s stomach while Valente, 38, stretched out across a padded floor. Flashing a broad smile, the self-defense academy co-founder locked eyes with his child, who appeared to be grinning right back at him.

The post comes just one day after Bündchen, who married Valente in December 2025, shared an earlier glimpse of her youngest son via social media. (Bündchen also shares son Benjamin, 16, and daughter Vivian, 13 with her ex-husband, Tom Brady.)

Related: Gisele Bundchen Shares Rare Family Photos With Baby Son on Father’s Day

Gisele Bündchen has so much love for her husband, Joaquim Valente, on Father’s Day 2026. “Happy Father’s Day @joaquimvalente! Thank you for leading by example, and for the values you embody, love, humility, integrity, discipline, kindness and consistency,” Bündchen, 45, wrote via Instagram on Sunday, June 21, alongside rare family photos of the couple and […]

While keeping the toddler’s face covered behind a white heart emoji, Bündchen shared a photo of him joining her in a workout aboard a luxurious yacht. As mom raised a leg in the air while leaning atop two hand weights, the youngster was seen mimicking her pose.

“It’s so sweet to see how little they are when they start watching and emulating what we do. They’re learning from us even when we don’t realize it,” Bündchen captioned the sweet snap. “Moments like this remind me that my actions matter more than what I say, because so much of who they’re becoming is shaped by the example they see every day. What a gift and a beautiful responsibility it is to be a mom.”

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Last month, fans caught a rare look at Vivian via an Instagram post shared by Brady, 49, that showcased the family’s favorite moments from the FIFA World Cup. In one photo that featured within Brady’s July 20 carousel, Vivian appeared to be the spitting image of her famous mom, even sporting a similar signature hairstyle with her long locks parted down the center and falling over her shoulders.

In another carousel photo, Vivian was seen hugging her dad while dressed in a Brazil football jersey to represent her mom’s native country.

Prior to Bündchen publicly marking Father’s Day in Brazil, she paid tribute to Valente on Father’s Day in the U.S.. “Happy Father’s Day @joaquimvalente! Thank you for leading by example, and for the values you embody, love, humility, integrity, discipline, kindness and consistency,” she captioned her June 21 post alongside several family photos. “You are an incredible role model. We are all so grateful for you, and we love you so much.”