Entertainment
10 Most Universally Beloved Epic Movies of All Time, Ranked
Epic films survive for a different reason than most classics. While scale gets them in the door, it’s never alone enough to keep them alive. And therefore, the ones people keep carrying with them are the ones that take all that size, war, history, landscape, spectacle, and then pin something painfully intimate inside it: grief, vanity, sacrifice, obsession, revenge, survival, the terrible cost of wanting to become larger than an ordinary life.
That is the real thrill of the best epics. They let private emotions detonate across giant canvases. A man loses a family and topples an empire. A woman clings to love while history keeps burning down the room around her. A visionary crosses a desert and slowly starts believing the myth of himself. These ten films make the human heart look tiny against history, then somehow turn it into the biggest thing on the screen.
10
‘Braveheart’ (1995)
Braveheart grabs people so fast since it does not begin with strategy or nationhood in some abstract sense. It begins with theft. Wallace (Mel Gibson) loses his father as a boy, grows up under occupation, finds a sliver of peace with Murron (Catherine McCormack), and then watches that peace get ripped from him with public cruelty meant to humiliate the entire village into obedience. That is the emotional lock. The rebellion does not rise from rhetoric first. It rises from grief curdling into rage after the one private life Wallace wanted gets crushed under a system built to make ordinary tenderness impossible.
That is why the big speeches land. They come after the film has already shown what English rule looks like on the ground: fear, violation, the stripping away of dignity. Wallace turns personal devastation into a national cause, and the movie understands how intoxicating that can feel. Each victory feeds the fantasy that courage and moral clarity might actually outmuscle corruption. Then the betrayals arrive, and the film gets even stronger. Wallace becomes larger in death than he ever was alive, which is exactly the fantasy epic audiences love to hand over to when a story earns it. It lets one wounded man stand in for a people refusing to kneel.
9
‘Doctor Zhivago’ (1965)
Doctor Zhivago devastates people since it traps a delicate emotional life inside a historical earthquake that has no patience for delicacy. The film follows Yuri (Omar Sharif) as a poet, a doctor, a man drawn toward feeling and beauty even while Russia is turning into a landscape of ideology, deprivation, shifting allegiances, and brute survival. That alone gives the film its ache. He is the wrong kind of soul for the century he is living through, and the movie never stops punishing him for that mismatch.
Then Lara (Julie Christie) enters, and the story locks into something even more painful. Their connection never gets the luxury of a clean beginning or a stable middle. It keeps forming in fragments while marriages, war, class upheaval, and political terror keep cutting across it. The scenes between them hurt precisely since they are so restrained. The film does not rush toward romantic release and keeps showing how history can force two people to live in the shadow of a life they can glimpse and never properly claim. By the final stretch, with Yuri reduced, exhausted, and spiritually hollowed out, the entire movie feels like one long argument with loss. People stay haunted by it. Doctor Zhivago understands a particularly cruel form of heartbreak: not losing love quickly, but watching the world slowly make it impossible and that’s why it’s so loved.
8
‘Titanic’ (1997)
Titanic stayed lodged in people’s nervous systems since James Cameron built the first half like a seduction and the second half like a nightmare you cannot stop trying to outrun. Rose (Kate Winslet) is introduced in a gilded cage, dressed in wealth, moving through first-class spaces like a possession being prepared for permanent display. Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) crashes into that arrangement with the exact energy the story needs, not polished, not strategic, simply alive in a way nobody around her is allowed to be. Their early scenes matter so much since the film makes freedom feel tactile: running through steerage parties, standing at the bow, drawing, laughing, choosing feeling over decorum one reckless moment at a time.
Then the iceberg hits, and the romance changes function. It stops being fantasy and becomes the emotional mechanism that carries Rose through terror. The ship’s sinking works so brutally since the movie has spent so much time mapping its spaces. When the tilt grows steeper, when corridors flood, when families separate, when musicians keep playing and the wealthy keep bargaining for a little more privilege against the cold, the disaster gets personal in every direction. Jack dying, with that final transfer of life, drags her into a version of herself that survives him. That is why the ending has wrecked people since forever. Although the film’s themes of cheating are controversial, Titanic is one of the most widely loved epics.
7
‘Ben-Hur’ (1959)
Ben-Hur follows Judah (Charlton Heston) and Messala (Stephen Boyd) as boyhood friends, which is the detail that makes everything afterward feel poisoned in a richer way. Messala returns to Jerusalem carrying Rome inside him, all appetite for order, loyalty, and domination. Judah still believes some part of their former bond might survive the uniform. Then one act of political suspicion, one refusal to betray his own people, and the film starts crushing him piece by piece. His mother and sister are taken. He is sent to the galleys. Friendship becomes state violence in the space of a few scenes.
That emotional break powers the whole film. The sea battle, the adoption by Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins), the chariot race, all the spectacle lands with force since it is tied to a very specific wound: Judah wants to confront the man who converted intimacy into punishment. The chariot race is legendary on its own terms, though it lasts in the mind since it is not just action. It is years of humiliation, survival, hatred, and memory slamming into the arena at full speed. Then the film does something even more enduring. It refuses to let vengeance be the final spiritual answer. By the time suffering circles back through his family and into contact with Christ’s crucifixion, the movie starts pulling Judah out of rage toward something more difficult, the release of carrying it.
6
‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’ (1957)
The Bridge on the River Kwai gets under the skin since it turns discipline into a form of madness so gradually that the viewer can feel it happening and still get trapped in its logic. Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) begins as a prisoner of war determined to protect the dignity of his men against Saito (Sessue Hayakawa)’s abuse. On that level, he is admirable. He refuses humiliation, invokes military rules, takes punishment rather than surrender authority.
Then once Nicholson gains control over the bridge project, pride begins feeding on itself. Building the bridge well starts to feel, in his mind, like proof that British order and competence cannot be broken even in captivity. That rationale is insane, though terrifyingly understandable in the moment. He needs purpose, superiority, and the illusion that his suffering has shape. Meanwhile, Shears (William Holden) and the commandos move through a completely different war movie, one grounded in survival, exhaustion, and practical sabotage. The collision between those plotlines is why the film hits so hard. Few epics cut this deep into the human need to find meaning inside captivity, even when that meaning starts eating your judgment alive.
5
‘Gladiator’ (2000)
Gladiator 2 was good. Gladiator remains catnip for audiences since its revenge engine is so clean and its emotional wound is so raw. Maximus (Russell Crowe) is introduced as a man tired of war and ready to return home. That matters. He is not craving conquest. He wants his wife, his son, his farm, the ordinary life battle delayed. Then Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) names him protector of Rome’s future, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) murders his father, and Maximus rides home only to find his family butchered and hanging where his future used to be. The movie earns every ounce of his fury before it ever asks the audience to cheer for blood.
From there, it keeps layering power into the obvious revenge structure. Slavery strips him down. The arena rebuilds him. Each fight becomes more than survival since it lets Maximus weaponize spectacle against the empire that destroyed him. Commodus is a perfect epic villain for one reason above all: he is starving for love he cannot command, so he keeps reaching for domination instead. That makes every confrontation between them feel personal and political at once. It’s the OG story of a grieving man who keeps moving through degradation without surrendering the part of himself that loved home more than power.
4
‘Gone with the Wind’ (1939)
Gone with the Wind endures in part since Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh) is such a thrillingly difficult person to sit with for this long. She is vain, selfish, manipulative, resourceful, terrified, magnetic, and almost impossible to reduce to one moral note. The movie’s emotional grip starts with her refusal to accept that the world she knows is about to disappear. At Twelve Oaks, desire still feels flirtatious and petty, Ashley (Leslie Howard) still feels like the prize she can organize her life around, and the whole Southern social order still imagines itself permanent. Then war arrives and starts tearing the fabric apart faster than she can emotionally process it.
The Atlanta sections are where the film really hooks people. Scarlett claws through it. She survives childbirth, hunger, ruin, and the burning city with her fear exposed and her will hardening in the same motion. “I’ll never be hungry again” lands so hard. Then romance becomes tangled with appetite, status, and the refusal to be powerless again. Her relationship with Rhett (Clark Gable) works so explosively. This film is a grounding tragedy about mistaking obsession for destiny while history remakes the ground under your feet.
3
‘Schindler’s List’ (1993)
Schindler’s List does not belong to the same emotional category as crowd-pleasing epics, and that is exactly why its place this high feels right. The film starts in moral grayness. Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) here is opportunistic, stylish, socially agile, a businessman reading war as a ladder. He sees occupied Poland, sees cheap Jewish labor, sees profit.
That beginning is crucial since the film’s power depends on watching human conscience form under pressure rather than arrive prepackaged. Schindler changes scene by scene as the machinery around him gets more impossible to look away from. The liquidation of the Kraków ghetto, though, is where the movie sears itself into people. Chaos floods every corner, families are split in seconds, hiding places fail, old people are shot where they sit, and the whole apparatus of extermination stops being a distant fact and becomes a series of immediate violations. From there, Schindler’s relationship to his workers deepens from utility into responsibility, then into desperate protection. Then Steven Spielberg lands the knife with Schindler’s breakdown at the end. It’s an epic epic.
2
‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ (2003)
The perfect film to circle around after The Hunt for the Gollum got announced. The Return of the King works on the soul in a way very few blockbusters even attempt. Now in LOTR’s journey, by this point, the story has earned every ounce of scale. Frodo (Elijah Wood) is no longer an eager hobbit on an adventure. He is spiritually worn down, suspicious, physically failing, and carrying the Ring like a wound that keeps deepening inside him. Sam (Sean Astin) has become the emotional backbone of the whole trilogy, not through grand speeches alone but through action after action that proves love can remain practical under impossible conditions.
He cooks, carries, defends, pleads, refuses to leave. That matters. The film’s biggest emotional triumph is that amidst armies, kings, and collapsing cities, its deepest bond is still the friendship crawling one step at a time toward Mount Doom. Then everything around that central journey starts cresting. Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) accepts the kingship he once hesitated to claim. Théoden (Bernard Hill) rides toward almost certain death with the dignity of a man choosing courage over survival. Éowyn (Miranda Otto)’s confrontation with the Witch-king lands with such force since the whole film has kept showing her caged by the dismissals of men who cannot read her hunger to matter. And then the ending keeps going, wisely and at the end, what hits me the most is that victory often does not ensure a ditto restoration as old times.
1
‘Lawrence of Arabia’ (1962)
Lawrence of Arabia sits at the top since almost no other epic understands greatness as a seduction this dangerous. T.E. Lawrence (Peter O’Toole) enters the film already restless inside conventional military life, brilliant, insolent, impossible to fully contain. The desert first offers him scale, freedom, and self-invention. Crossing the Nefud, rescuing Gasim (I. S. Johar), winning over Sherif Ali (Omar Sharif), orchestrating Aqaba, all of it feels like a man discovering the version of himself ordinary structures could never hold. The film lets that transformation feel exhilarating. That is crucial. You have to understand why Lawrence falls in love with the myth of Lawrence before you can feel the horror of what that myth starts doing to him.
And it does start doing something terrible. Violence changes flavor. Public triumph makes him bolder, stranger, more detached from ordinary limits. He moves between British interests and Arab hopes, between genuine idealism and narcissistic intoxication, until the two become inseparable. The scene in Deraa cracks him open. The massacre at Tafas finishes exposing how badly the role has corroded him. By the end, Lawrence is still legendary and already spiritually ruined, a man who touched the sublime and came back unable to live inside ordinary humanity again. That is epic cinema at its highest level: not just vast, not just beautiful, but deeply alarmed by the human craving to become bigger than the self can safely survive.
Lawrence of Arabia
- Release Date
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December 11, 1962
- Runtime
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228 minutes
- Director
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David Lean
- Writers
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Robert Bolt, Michael Wilson
Entertainment
Russell Brand gets roasted after struggling to find Bible passage during awkward Piers Morgan interview
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The actor spent more than a minute looking for the section he read at a court hearing addressing the allegations of rape and sexual assault against him.
Whew, Roomies! The internet is popping off with reactions after Megan Thee Stallion seemingly implied that she and Klay Thompson have parted ways. Meg sparked breakup speculation after sharing an emotional post on Instagram Stories, and now fans are flooding Klay’s social media with reactions.
RELATED: It’s Over? Social Media Users Think Megan Thee Stallion’s Emotional Post Has Exposed Klay Thompson For Cheating On Her & More
Fans Drag Klay Thompson After Megan Thee Stallion Seemingly Accuses Him Of Cheating
Folks online are telling Klay Thompson to go ahead and deactivate his social media after Megan Thee Stallion confirmed their breakup and seemingly accused him of cheating. After Meg dropped a subliminal message on her Instagram Story, fans flooded the comment section of Klay’s latest post on IG with reactions. Klay shared the post on April 5, and it features a carousel of photos from a Dallas Mavericks game against the Los Angeles Lakers. See the post and reactions below.
Internet Goes IN On Klay In The Comment Section Of His Latest Post
Fans didn’t hesitate to call Klay Thompson out in the comment section of his last post. Plenty of folks said they were rooting for him to hold the Hot Girl down, while others said cheating on Megan Thee Stallion is just crazy work! Peep more reactions below.
Instagram user @dimeontv wrote, “WE WAS ROOTING FOR YOU.”
Instagram user @fionarosesolis wrote, “aaaaaand you’re done.”
While Instagram user @moneybaggredz wrote, “Come outside klay, we just wanna talk.”
Then Instagram user @cheetahda1__ wrote, “She made that 🔥lover girl video and this the payment she get 😭”
Another Instagram user @niisouul wrote, “Klayyy are we serious rn ?????????”
Instagram user @yasminfromthebratz wrote, “You had us allllllllll fooled.”
Then another Instagram user @_eazyybreezyy_ wrote, “Boooooooooo cheating on Meg is crazy work 🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅”
Instagram user @myaaloll wrote, “now yk why we here right now.”
While another Instagram user @evathebeauty wrote, “We here to jump you.”
Instagram user @themisssavannah wrote, “We ride at dawn for Meg 😐”
Finally, Instagram user @themainwo1f wrote, “Gone head n deactivate they coming for u 😂😂”
Meg Confirms Breakup With Klay In Official Statement
Megan Thee Stallion had the Hotties in complete shock when she dropped a bombshell post about cheating and getting treated poorly during basketball season. She didn’t name anyone, but fans quickly assumed that she was putting Klay Thompson on blast.
“Cheating, had me around your whole family playing house…got ‘cold feet’ Holding you down through all your HORRIBLE mood swings and treatment towards me during your basketball season now you don’t know if you can be ‘monogamous’???? b*tch I need a REAL break after this one..bye yall,”
Along with her IG post, the rapper also shared an exclusive statement with TMZ confirming that she decided to end their relationship because fidelity and respect are non-negotiable for her.
“I’ve made the decision to end my relationship with Klay. Trust, fidelity, and respect are non-negotiable for me in a relationship, and when those are compromised, there’s no real path forward.” She continued, “I’m taking this time to prioritize myself and move ahead with peace and clarity.”
RELATED: Future Wife Energy!? Megan Thee Stallion Wows Klay Thompson With Star-Studded 36th Birthday Bash (VIDEOS)
What Do You Think Roomies?
After years away from Hollywood’s spotlight, Ellen DeGeneres is stepping back into a familiar role that once defined her film career.
The unexpected return comes after a turbulent period marked by controversy, public scrutiny, and a major career shift, setting the stage for what could be one of her most closely watched comebacks yet.
The longtime television host and comedian is set to reprise her beloved role as Dory in a new short film connected to the “Finding Nemo” universe.
According to Deadline, the project marks her first film role in years, bringing her back to a character that resonated with audiences worldwide.
DeGeneres originally voiced Dory in 2003’s “Finding Nemo” and returned for the 2016 sequel “Finding Dory,” which became a massive commercial success, earning over $1 billion globally.
That sequel ultimately marked her last appearance in a feature film before stepping away from Hollywood projects.
Her return to the animated franchise signals a full-circle moment, especially given how closely her voice became tied to the character’s identity and charm.
Ellen DeGeneres Faced Career Fallout After Workplace Allegations
The comeback follows a difficult chapter in DeGeneres’ career that began in 2020.
The controversy gained traction after a viral tweet invited people to share negative experiences about the star, quickly drawing widespread attention.
Soon after, an investigation was launched following allegations from former employees of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” who claimed there were issues involving workplace culture, including bullying and misconduct.
The fallout led to major internal changes, including the removal of key executive producers.
DeGeneres later issued a formal apology to staff and addressed the situation publicly, but the damage to her public image lingered.
Her daytime show eventually came to an end in May 2022 after nearly two decades on air, closing a significant chapter in her career.
Ellen DeGeneres Reflects On Controversy And Personal Growth
In the years following the controversy, Ellen DeGeneres opened up about the experience and how it affected her personally.
She described the period as both challenging and transformative.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in 2022, she said, “I have to just trust that whatever happened during that time, which was obviously very, very difficult, happened for a reason.”
She continued, “I think that I learned a lot, and there were some things that came up that I was shocked and surprised by. It was eye-opening, but I just trust that that had to happen.”
Despite the setbacks, DeGeneres has maintained that the experience offered her valuable perspective, even as it reshaped her place in the entertainment industry.
Return Attempts Draw Mixed Reactions From Audiences
Following a period away from the public eye, Ellen DeGeneres attempted to reconnect with audiences through her 2024 Netflix stand-up special, “Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval.”
The project marked her first major on-screen appearance since stepping back from daytime television.
However, the reception was far from unanimous. The special received mixed to negative reviews, with critics and audiences divided on its tone and content.
The response suggested that rebuilding her public image might take time, even as she works to reestablish her presence.
The reaction reflected the complexity of her comeback, with lingering perceptions from past controversies still influencing how new projects are received.
DeGeneres Splits Life Between UK And California
Outside of her professional life, Ellen DeGeneres has also made notable changes to her personal lifestyle.
She and her wife, Portia de Rossi, spent time living in the United Kingdom following political developments in the United States.
Reflecting on the move, DeGeneres shared per the Daily Mail, “We got here the day before the election and woke up to lots of texts from our friends with crying emojis, and I was like, ‘He got in.’ And we’re like, ‘We’re staying here.’”
She also spoke warmly about her experience abroad, saying, “It’s absolutely beautiful. We’re just not used to seeing this kind of beauty. The villages and the towns and the architecture – everything you see is charming and it’s just a simpler way of life.”
Continuing her thoughts, she added, “It’s clean. Everything here is just better – the way animals are treated, people are polite. I just love it here. We moved here in November, which was not the ideal time, but I saw snow for the first time in my life. We love it here. Portia flew her horses here, and I have chickens, and we had sheep for about two weeks.”
Despite her appreciation for the UK, DeGeneres has since expanded her presence back in the United States, purchasing a high-value home in Montecito, California.
The couple now appears to divide their time between both locations.
As her return to the “Finding Nemo” franchise approaches, all eyes are on whether this new chapter will redefine her legacy or simply reopen conversations about her past.
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Wedding season is upon us, and that probably means you need to find a formal dress for at least one special event. As someone who has been to more than my fair share of weddings, I know the struggle of shopping for luxe-looking dresses that also fit the dress code, season and overall vibe. But after dozens of weddings, I’ve become a pro at finding stylish picks that are guaranteed to get you compliments.
From long and glamorous gowns for black tie affairs to short and flirty cocktail dresses perfect for a daytime wedding, there’s something for every wedding goer below. The best part: you won’t have to spend your entire paycheck to get one.
17 Wedding Guest Dresses Everyone Compliments
1. My Favorite: Elegant and sophisticated, PrettyGarden’s maxi dress works for a few different dress codes and looks so much more expensive than it is. The silky look and draping in the torso make it extra special.
2. Runner-Up: I love this mermaid maxi dress for a black tie optional affair or even something slightly less formal. The ruffle is fun, and the material is thick, stretchy and surprisingly comfortable.
3. Short and Sweet: This mini dress is a versatile pick that would work as cocktail attire for a wedding or even as a cute dress for a different special event. I appreciate the arm coverage and flattering wrap-style top.
4. Tummy-Hiding Pick: While Nia’s strapless dress has a more body-con fit at the bodice, the rippled ruching throughout makes it extra flattering. The chiffon skirt also allows for plenty of movement.
5. So Versatile: A staple in my closet, this tie-strap dress can easily be dressed up for a wedding, but can also work for other special events. I love the feminine details, like the bows at the shoulder and ruffled hem.
6. Florals for Spring: They might not be groundbreaking, but florals are always a classic go-to print. This maxi dress has the prettiest silhouette with a flattering halter neckline and on-trend drop waist.
7. Open Back: Show a little skin with an open-back maxi dress. The slinky look, feel and unique floral design are guaranteed to get you tons of compliments.
8. Little Black Dress: It’s hard to go wrong with a timeless option like this black bodycon dress. The ruching helps to hide your tummy while the flowy sleeves balance out the plunging V-neck.
9. Black Tie Ready: Adrianna Papell’s high-low gown is a stunning option for your fanciest affair. With a ruffled hem, tighter fit and flattering draping at the belly, this will look good on anyone.
10. So Many Options: Snag this convertible gown while you can. The adjustable ties mean you can wear it so many different ways, so it can be a new dress every time you put it on. And the stretchy mesh material is super comfy too.
11. Ruffled Perfection: Trust me: the color of this midi dress is even brighter and more beautiful in person. The tiered ruffled skirt makes it feel just dramatic enough, and the plunging necklines are worthy of a special occasion.
12. Worth the Splurge: If you’re going to spend a lot, do so on a classic dress you can wear more than once. This sheath maxi fits the bill, with a gorgeous fit and details that make it feel so high-end.
13. Long Sleeves: If you prefer to keep your arms covered, this maxi dress is a stylish option. The sheer sleeves keep it from being too much fabric, and the floral design is so pretty.
14. Hollywood Glam: Reformation’s silk maxi dress is glamorous enough on its own, but when you add the sheer cape that comes with it? It’s basically red-carpet ready. And the cape can be removed when you want to shed your layers.
15. Tried and True: A black maxi dress like this one is always a go-to in my closet. The pleating throughout makes this stand out, and it has a beautiful fit.
16. Slinky Slip: Made of the prettiest ribbed fabric with a silky soft feel, this cowl neck dress is rich, mom-approved. It also has a perfectly stretchy feel, making it surprisingly comfortable.
17. Looks Expensive: A sculptural and unique pleating makes this formal gown look like it came from a high-end designer — but it’s actually under $100. This is a standout look that works for formal and even black tie affairs.
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Critics of the portrayal of Jin Chao reacted angrily to a clip she appeared in with Anne Hathaway’s Andy.
By Jennifer Asencio
| Published
Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans has continued to bring innovation to the season, for better or for worse. “I Deserve All Of This,” the episode that aired on April 22, 2026, continued this trend with two historic Survivor firsts, both of which came from fans of the show. Voting was open before the season was filmed for fans to decide some elements of the game, like how hard the challenges would be. Meanwhile, celebrity fans like Billie Eilish and Zac Brown have had suggestions and appearances that have changed the game.
That influence hit its peak in this episode, where even host Jeff Probst stepped into the game, while a separate twist led to fan-favorite Christian Hubicki’s painful elimination.
Jeff Probst Puts His Money Where His Mouth Is
The first of the two historic events was during the immunity challenge. Fans of the show should recognize the competition in which individualized buckets representing each castaway’s weight at the start of the season are tied through a pulley to rolling metal bars. Contestants have to hang onto the bar and keep their bucket from crashing to the ground. This challenge has been a Survivor staple for many seasons.
The new twist borrowed from another Survivor staple: bartering for rice. Typically, if the tribe needs rice, host Jeff Probst offers to trade a bag in exchange for some number of contestants sitting out of the challenge. This time, though, Probst put his money where his mouth is and turned the rice barter into a side bet between himself and four castaways (who turned out to be Jonathan Young, Tiffany Ervin, Ozzy Lusth, and Joe Hunter). Everyone still participated in the immunity challenge, but so did Jeff, and the castaways would win the rice if the four volunteers could outlast him.
They did. Handily. In fact, most of the tribe did as Probst struggled with this well-used challenge of the show, shocked at how difficult it was. The competition only got more hilarious when the first three contestants to lose the challenge were Rick Devens, Emily Flippen, and Rizo “RizGod” Velovic, all three known for their flamboyant senses of humor. Devens put his news anchor skills to work, taking over for Probst by making commentary that was augmented by the other two.
Christian Was Done Dirty
In addition to besting Jeff Probst in the challenge, Joe won immunity. Part of his prize was to select someone to go on one of Survivor’s infamous journeys. Ever fair to a point that would make Ned Stark blush, Joe had the remaining contestants play a game of rock-paper-scissors, which ultimately saw genius Christian Hubicki go on a journey that would be a second, tragic instance of new Survivor lore.
Christian was tasked with putting together a puzzle while timed anchors dropped into the ocean around him. Once they all dropped, they would pull the puzzle with them. The stakes were set by late night talk show host Jimmy Fallon, whose contribution to the game was the consequences, win or lose. If Christian succeeded in putting together the puzzle, he’d win an extra vote that he could make right then, causing someone else to walk into Tribal Council with one vote against them. If he lost, he had to read a sinister letter to the rest of the tribe.
Shockingly, Christian just couldn’t get the puzzle together before it, and his hopes of an extra vote, were whisked away into the Pacific. The letter was even worse: it revealed that Christian would be voting for himself at Tribal Council. Since the entire tribe knew Christian’s vote had to be for himself, a coalition was formed against him, and he became the show’s latest victim and newest jury member. Thanks, Jimmy Fallon.
Jimmy Fallon Continues His Villain Arc
Fans were split about this twist, noting that both winning and losing might not have been advantageous. A win was a double-edged sword in that, without knowing who his allies were voting for, Christian’s vote would dictate to the rest of them. However, almost all the fans, even those who don’t like Christian, were angry at the way he went home and the fact that he was forced to vote for himself. Christian himself was extremely displeased as he wrote his own name down, directing some commentary at Jimmy Fallon in the voting booth.
In a twist worthy of the show, Fallon not only had Christian on The Tonight Show but also took the opportunity to publicly apologize to him. While the late-night host was impressed with his idea for a twist, he admitted that he was sad that it fell upon one of his favorite players in the game.
Who will be the newest twist victim next week as the classic Survivor auction is joined by the long-awaited Mr. Beast? Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans airs Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. on CBS and streams the next day on Paramount Plus.
By Jennifer Asencio
| Updated
The Owens family is back. In a new trailer for Practical Magic 2, the all-female family is still practicing the family tradition of witchcraft in their small Massachusetts town. The curse that Sally (Sandra Bullock) thought she broke in the first movie seems to still be in full swing for all six Owens women, but there is a new generation entering the family business.
The one thing the trailer lacks is plot. Viewing it will not tell anyone what the movie is about. There is a lot of travel and a lot of scenes of witchcraft being practiced, as well as references to the events of the first film, but interested fans need to resort to IMDb to tell them that the family is once again trying to break the curse that leaves them all unable to keep the romance they find in their lives.
A Spellbinding Ensemble Cast
Of course, love exists everywhere else for the Owens family. Returning to the movie in addition to Sally are Nicole Kidman’s Gillian and both the Aunts, the more reserved Franny (Stockard Channing) and the former wild child Jet (Dianne Wiest). Also joining the cast are Sally’s two daughters, all grown up and played by Joey King as Kylie and Maisie Williams as Antonia, who are replacing Evan Rachel Wood and Alexandra Artrip from the first film. The majority of the trailer is focused on combinations of these six, especially in pairings as sisters. We get a lot of Sally and Gilly working together as they did in the first film. And it looks like Sally still can’t lie.
Notably absent is Aiden Quinn, who played Sally’s love interest in the first film and presumably broke the Owens curse by bypassing it through Sally’s childhood spell. Based on the plot synopsis given on IMDb, it would seem Sally didn’t break the curse after all, but here’s hoping that Texas sheriff Gary Hallet didn’t meet the same end as other men associated with the Owens women.
Someone else frequently in the trailer is Lee Pace, whose unnamed character resembles the villain of the previous film, but who doesn’t seem to be antagonistic to Sally or Gilly. Pace’s character seems set up to fill Gary’s shoes, even though he seems to have a lot more in common with the sexy but abusive Jimmy Angelov. In one scene, Sally quips about their experience fighting Angelov’s zombified reincarnation in front of Pace’s character. Whether he is a love interest or a secret antagonist, he is in quite a few scenes in the trailer, indicating his importance to the plot.
More Roll Call Than Synopsis
I personally have long been awaiting a sequel to the Owens family story, although I’m disappointed to imagine that Gary might be out of the picture because he fell prey to the Owens curse. As a fan, the trailer was exciting to me. The problem with the trailer, though, is that if you didn’t see the first movie, not a lot of it will make sense. It’s just a collection of female stars in an ensemble cast that doesn’t seem to have a story. And it’s a little weird to have Joey King and Maisie Williams play a pair of girls who would be in their 40s in 2026, based on the ages of the characters in the 1998 original, I wonder if the Owens’ herbal youth magic is working overtime on them.
Fortunately, this is also just a teaser trailer, rather than a full trailer. It is entirely possible that it was meant to provoke fans into excited word-of-mouth advertising and inspire new fans to catch up on the 1998 film, which is showing with a subscription to HBO Max.
If the idea of Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Stockard Channing, and Dianne Weist playing Salem-style witches all together in the same movie is interesting enough, go watch Practical Magic and prepare to be blown away. Then the trailer to Practical Magic 2 will make a little more sense and amplify the ensemble with two more talented young actresses in King and Williams. Maybe the full trailer will show us more than just a collection of great actresses by showing us what their movie is actually about.
Fall under the spell of Practical Magic 2 when it is released in theaters on September 18, 2026.
By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Sydney Sweeney is a strange place in Hollywood. She’s a star. People devour every bit of news they can find about her, but she’s still trying to find her footing. The Housemaid was a hit, Euphoria Season 3 finally arrived, but the jury’s out on how it sticks the landing, which means all eyes are on her next major project for Netflix: a live-action Gundam adaptation. After years of rumors, the film has entered production. Sydney Sweeney’s Gundam movie is on the way.
Sydney Sweeney Overshadows Massive Mecha
It doesn’t matter what the actual name of the movie is, or what part of the long-running franchise is being brought to live-action, because it’s going to be referred to as Sydney Sweeney’s Gundam Movie across social media. Netflix has come out and clarified that this won’t be tied to any specific era or sub-series, so it’s not adapting Gundam Wing, Char’s Counterattack, The Witch From Mercury, G-Gundam, or any of the other fan favorites going back decades. That’s either a smart decision, as nothing could compare to the fan expectations for an adaptation, or an early setup for failure, since there are great stories and characters already out there that may not get used.
Joining Sydney Sweeney in Sydney Sweeney’s Gundam Movie are Noah Centineo as the male lead, Michael Mando (from Better Call Saul) who’s likely going to play the slightly unhinged psychotic villain, and Jason Isaacs, who’s likely going to play the evil authoritarian figure orchestrating the attack against the Earth/Colonies, depending on which side this version of Gundam wants to paint as the heroes.
Gundam Fans Have Good Reason To Be Nervous
The basic plot of Sydney Sweeney’s Gundam Movie is again centered on the conflict between the forces of Earth and those of the Space Colonies. Netflix’s brief summary mentions a “high-stakes race across the stars” which could be a hint of a technological discovery, or a rare resource, that both sides want to retrieve. Given Netflix’s recent track record with live-action anime adaptations, with One Piece hitting and Avatar missing, Gundam’s live-action debut could land on either end of the spectrum.
Jim Mickle, who worked with Netflix on bringing the graphic novel Sweet Tooth to life on the platform, will direct the upcoming Gundam film that honestly, as more information is coming out, sounds like it might be closer to the Americanization of Godzilla in 1998 than it is One Piece. Which is a shame, as Gundam is one of the most popular anime in history, and Gundam Wing is widely credited for popularizing the entire medium thanks to its prime spot in Cartoon Network’s Toonami lineup.
Netflix already hosts the Gundam Seed series (the original, Freedom, and Destiny) alongside Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway, and the CG series Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance, which turns the giant mecha into horror monsters. Bringing Gundam to live-action is a no-brainer that countless studios have attempted over the decades. Could this be the film that lets Sydney Sweeney reach a brand-new audience and cements her career? Or will this be another misguided misstep similar to Christie? No matter what happens, you’re going to hear about it.
By Robert Scucci
| Published
It really takes a lot for me to sit through an entire movie without knowing what the hell it’s about, and I most recently experienced this with 1996’s Savage. There are so many unrelated storylines that feel like they should connect and lead to a satisfying payoff, but they never really do. My experience with the film made me want it all to make sense, but I had to read detailed plot synopses on both Wikipedia and IMDb just to make heads or tails of the thing, and somehow I ended up even more confused.
Normally when I write reviews, I open those tabs to get the character and talent names straight because I’m great with faces but terrible with names. In this case, I had to SparkNote my way through the plot because Savage is profoundly nonsensical, to the point where I think it should be studied.
Savage is a sci-fi action film, but also a revenge film, but also a film about ancient aliens, super-powered cavemen, and an evil virtual reality game company, all of which are completely at odds with each other. Visually, it’s an absolute feast of low-budget special effects, which is what drew me to it during a late-night Tubi scroll in the first place. I don’t regret watching it, but I can’t speak for how you’ll feel about this one, dear reader.
Hell Hath No Fury Like An Alien Caveman Hellbent On Revenge
Here’s where I try to explain what Savage is all about. A man named Alex Verne (Olivier Gruner) gets committed to a psychiatric hospital after his family is randomly murdered. One day, two years later, he decides it’s time to escape. Wandering through the desert, he hears a voice that leads him to a cave. Inside are paintings of ancient aliens. Alex lives like this for an indeterminate amount of time until he encounters an alien apparition that first takes the form of his dead wife, and then the killer. The alien tells him he has to get revenge because the killer will do it again to “millions of others.”
Alex gets electrocuted and suddenly has superhuman strength, which pairs nicely with the caveman skills he developed while living out in the desert. He wanders the streets naked and gets taken into police custody, where he meets Officer Nicky Carter (Jennifer Grant), who’s put off by his strange behavior but still somehow finds him irresistible enough to become a valuable ally by the third act.
Meanwhile, and completely out of nowhere, we’re introduced to Reese Burroughs (Kario Salem), the corrupt chairman of the Titan Corporation. He specializes in virtual reality video games and has hilariously named henchmen Marie Beloc (Kristin Minter), Edgar Wallace (Sam McMurray), and Allan Poe (Herschel Sparber) following him around wherever he goes. As luck would have it, Reese has been waiting a long time for a police report about a weird naked caveman type getting arrested, and now he has to track down Alex and eliminate him for … reasons, I guess.
Alex, now referred to as a savage by Reese and his goons due to his alien caveman abilities, escapes the holding cell, hellbent on breaching the Titan Corporation for … other reasons, I guess, as the home viewer (because this is obviously a direct-to-VHS effort) tries to piece these plot points together. You’re left wondering how the final showdown between these characters will play out in both the real world and the virtual one they occupy.
Thematically Bankrupt With Plenty Of Visual Bangers
Most reasonable people will read the above synopsis of Savage and decide not to watch it. I don’t blame them. However, for a direct-to-video sci-fi B-movie, it has tremendous visuals. The virtual reality sequences are immersive. The aliens are corny but cool, and they perfectly capture that “waking up at 3 am and this is what’s playing on TV after I passed out watching something else” vibe that I remember so fondly from my university days.
If you can get past the fact that the plot makes no sense, Savage is tremendously fun to watch. Personally, I treated it as a series of vaguely related vignettes occupying the same universe, which allowed me to appreciate the visuals without scrutinizing the storytelling too much. That said, it feels like there has to be a director’s cut floating around somewhere because the connection between Alex and Reese is vague at best until far too late in the runtime.
Savage, in all of its insane glory, is currently streaming for free on Tubi. Throw it on when you’re looking for something different because there’s nothing quite like it. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you when you get halfway through and realize that so much has happened without telling anything close to a coherent story.
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
The Star Wars sequels are very different from the prequels in writing, tone, characterization, and more. But these newer movies have one thing in common with older films like The Phantom Menace: they are best enjoyed ironically. For example, The Rise of Skywalker may have failed to deliver organic storytelling or satisfying character arcs, but it did give us hilariously bad lines such as Poe Dameron’s “Somehow, Palpatine returned.” It took fans no time at all to make endless memes of this silly dialogue to make fun of how poorly thought-out the sequels are.
Recently, Josh Horowitz interviewed Oscar Isaac, and the Poe Dameron actor actually spoke about the infamous line of dialogue. In the interview, Isaac revealed that this line was added at the last minute as part of reshoots for this final film in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy. He also gently called the line of dialogue out, revealing that he was surprised that it became his most famous line, and that when he rewatches the scene, he mostly focuses on how good his wig looks.
He’s Just A Poe Boy
In The Last Jedi, Kylo Ren surprised us all by killing Lord Snoke, the mysterious First Order leader who had been set up to be the franchise’s newest Big Bad. Instead of giving us a new villain for the sequel, J.J. Abrams brought Emperor Palpatine back for The Rise of Skywalker. This was understandably confusing for fans because we all saw him die in Return of the Jedi. His body seemingly blew up after Darth Vader threw him into a Death Star shaft. Shortly thereafter, the entire space station exploded. How the heck could anyone, even someone with the power of Emperor Palpatine, survive all that?
Well, The Rise of Skywalker didn’t bother to explain something so fundamental to Star Wars lore. Instead, the beginning and end of the explanation were given to Oscar Isaac, whose Poe Dameron character reveals to his fellow Resistance members that “somehow, Palpatine returned.” The dialogue is frustrating in its vagueness, and it arguably highlights the core problem of the Sequel Trilogy. Namely, the seeming belief among writers, producers, and directors that nothing has to make sense and that fans will show up to blindly support anything with the Star Wars name on it.
How Palpatine Got His Groove Back
In Oscar Isaac’s interview with Josh Horowitz, he was pretty blunt about the circumstances that led to this infamous line of dialogue. “Yeah, those were reshoorts … those are like surgical strikes where you come in and try to make sense of it all while they’re scrambling to get everything done. That line was a new addition, right at the end.” While Isaac didn’t directly criticize how bad the script for The Rise of Skywalker was, his words emphasize the haphazard nature of the entire film. Apparently, JJ Abrams and his team forgot to explain how Palpatine came back to life, and having Isaac’s hotshot pilot blurt out “somehow, Palpatine returned” was the best thing they could come up with.
Plus, there’s a bit of ambiguity (intentionally, I imagine) in his phrasing of reshoots as “surgical strikes.” He could simply be talking about the actors who come back for reshoots trying to understand what has changed since they were last on set. Of course, he could also be talking about how Abrams and his team used last-minute reshoots to make their botched story line somehow make sense. Either way, he’s calling out The Rise of Skywalker for being a movie so crazy that even those who spent months making it had no idea what it was really about.
Now, Disney is hoping that the upcoming film The Mandalorian & Grogu will help reignite fans’ passion for this dying franchise. Unfortunately, after a decade of executive mismanagement, most of the fandom no longer trusts the creators involved to deliver a quality product. If the film somehow blows us all away, though, fans may finally put a positive spin on Oscar Isaac’s most infamous line with their own ironic twist: “somehow, Star Wars returned.”
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