Landman‘s Ali Larter weighed in on how creator Taylor Sheridan has written female characters on his shows.

“I love that he creates dynamic and powerful women,” Larter, 50, recently told Us Weekly at the Newport Beach TV Fest sponsored by Visit Newport Beach.

Larter was excited to see what Sheridan, 56, created for her character, Angela, in season 3, adding, “With someone like Angela, she’s someone who loves her family, loves to have a good time and she has this big, huge heart.”

She continued: “For me, it’s been a dream getting to play her. I never know what’s going to come out of her mouth — but we figure it out on set — and it’s always a joy and a blast to play her.”

Based on the “Boomtown” podcast, Landman is Sheridan’s newest hit series, joining the ranks of Yellowstone, Mayor of Kingstown, Tulsa King, Lawmen: Bass Reeves and Lioness. The hit Paramount+ series introduced Billy Bob Thornton as a corporate fixer working for an oil titan in a West Texas-set drama with life-and-death stakes.

Larter, meanwhile, plays Tommy’s (Thornton) wife alongside their onscreen daughter Ainsley (Michelle Randolph). Before filming began on season 3, Larter teased what might be explored in future episodes.

“I really can’t even assume or try to guess what Taylor is going to imagine for season 3,” Larter shared at the event. “One thing I know is that to be able to get this far into our story lines, we all know each other. So the characters really understand what their dynamics are.”

Larter teased that Sheridan will “just lean into that,” adding, “And I think what’s nice is that it’s not the first time. So when you’re going back down, it’s not the anxiety and the nervousness. You’ll get a little bit of the jitters, but to be able to go down and just do what we love [is wonderful].”

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Related: What Has the ‘Landman’ Cast Said About Working With Creator Taylor Sheridan?

The Landman cast has often spoken about their experiences working with Yellowstone’s Taylor Sheridan on his new hit series. Sheridan’s work started in front of the camera before he transitioned to writing credits on Sicario, Hell or High Water and Wind River. From there, Sheridan created Yellowstone, which broke records at Paramount Network. The hit […]

Her costar Andy Garcia revealed he was just as in the dark about what is still to come.

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“I’m in Taylor’s hands. I’m in it to win it. So, whatever he wants or has plans for me, I’m ready to execute,” he told Us. “It all starts from the writing. He’s the writer — and he’s the storyteller — and I think he writes all the characters in a very specific way. They are very well rounded and the stories are intertwined in a way that’s very engaging and he has a flair for the dramatic.”

Garcia, 70, continued, “He also [has] an understanding of humanity and empathy and he has an insight into relationships that are very keen. Whether it’s husband and wife, or father and daughter, or father and son, or in case maybe a businessman. It’s a privilege. When you have great writing, it’s always a privilege.”

Landman is streaming on Paramount+.

By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 14 seconds ago

Star Trek has always had, at its core, the belief that humanity will come together over time, see past manmade differences, and approach the stars as a unified species. Gene Roddenberry’s series includes plenty examples of that not happening, but the basic tenet is the same, while J. Michael Straczynski’s  Babylon 5 starts off with a different belief: humans are humans, we’ll argue, fight, disagree, and always find a way to separate ourselves and others. In the case of Season 1 Episode 7, “War Prayer,” it’s the introduction of the Homeguard, a militant anti-alien group that reveals humanity still has its bad apples. 

The War Prayer Introduces The Homeguard

“The War Prayer” kicks off with a string of alien attacks onboard the space station with the expected response from the different ambassadors. Deleen (Mira Furlan) wants Sinclair (Michael O’Hare) to investigate, while G’kar (Andreas Katsulas) is rallying the aliens demanding more be done to keep them safe and punish those responsible. At the same time, and completely unrelated, Ivanova’s (Claudia Christian) former lover Malcolm (Soap Opera star Tristan Rogers) arrives on Babylon 5. 

Jeffrey Sinclair and Ivanova are one-step ahead of the attackers, purposely putting on a public display of anti-alien sentiment to gain their trust, which works. Malcolm reveals that the use of Earthforce stealth technology lets his group get close to the aliens with the goal of killing the ambassadors, thus kicking off an alien race war. It didn’t work when Charles Manson tried it in 1969, and it still didn’t work in 2258. What it does succeed at, is reinforcing the underlying currents of “Infection,” and “Mind War,” by showing viewers that there’s a dark side to the world of Babylon 5.

Babylon 5 Is About Hope For Tomorrow

The Homeguard remains in the background of Babylon 5 but it was only the precursor to something worse in later seasons: Nightwatch. Under the reign of President William Clark, the paramilitary group conducts a reign of terror that doesn’t differentiate between aliens and those insufficiently loyal to Clark. To the Nightwatch, Homeguard is where the misfits who couldn’t hack it in their ranks go. 

Looking back at “The War Prayer,” Malcolm’s plan is quaint compared to what happens with the Earth Alliance. It also sticks out as an early example of Babylon 5’s cynical worldview which exists, not to be the status quo, but to highlight the work of Sinclair, John Sheridan (Bruce Boxleitner), Garibaldi (Jerry Doyle), and Ivanova in working for a better tomorrow as a sign of hope that eventually humanity can change. Instead of Star Trek’s optimism tempered by later signs that not all is right with the Federation, Babylon 5 goes the opposite direction, and by the end of the series, there’s no doubt that humanity, and the universe, is in a better place.

Babylon 5 was one of the darker sci-fi series of the 90s but that’s what helped it become a huge hit with a rabid following to this day. The world-building on display within the first season pays off throughout the rest of the series with intricate, character-driven storylines and elaborate political machinations that have their roots within the first few episodes of Season 1. It’s a masterclass in writing science fiction and “The War Prayer” is only one example of creator JMS lanting seeds that pay off later.

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 32 seconds ago

What do Warner Bros. executives and DC fans have in common? Simple: they are all looking for a scapegoat to blame for the box office failure of Supergirl. There are some obvious contenders here, including director Craig Gillespie (who made this cosmic road trip film look and feel excessively bland) and DC Studios CEO James Gunn, who insisted on making this the second film in the DCU. However, the internet’s preferred scapegoat right now is Ana Nogueira, the woman who wrote Supergirl. Some fans sounded the alarm when she was first hired, noting that the actor and playwright had written literally zero movies or TV shows before getting hired by James Gunn.

Still, that’s not exactly a dealbreaker. Curry Barker had not written or directed any feature films until Obsession, a movie made for $750,000 that ended up making more money than The Mandalorian and Grogu. Plus, geek icon James Gunn said that Nogueira’s script was one of the best he had ever seen, causing him to move Supergirl’s production schedule up and make it the second film in the DCU. Now that the movie is a critical and commercial dud, though, fans are worried about the DCU as a whole. That’s because Nogueira is also set to write Teen Titans and Wonder Woman, two of the most highly anticipated DC films.

An Inexperienced Screenwriter

Before writing Supergirl, Ana Nogueira established herself in Hollywood in a different way: as an actor rather than a screenwriter. She had recurring roles in popular shows like Blue Bloods and The Vampire Diaries; more recently, she had a meatier recurring role in Hightown. As a writer, she has mostly written for the theatre. When Lin-Manuel Miranda was still workshopping Hamilton, it was Nogueira who originated the insanely popular character Eliza Hamilton. She went on to write two plays of her own: Empathitrax in 2016 and Which Way to the Stage in 2022. Therefore, it’s disingenuous to say that she has no experience as a writer.

The problem, however, is how little experience she has in screenwriting. Previously, she was co-writer on a short film, We Win, in 2018. Otherwise, she has no prior writing credits for any feature films or TV shows. Previously, she submitted a horror script to Warner Bros. that never got made into a film. However, the studio was impressed enough to hire her to write a Supergirl film for the DCEU. She wrote two scripts, but neither saw the light of day before the DCEU imploded. When WB decided to move forward with Supergirl for the DCU, she was asked to pitch and ultimately hired for the job. The rest, unfortunately, is history.

One Movie Down, Two To Go

Clearly, Warner Bros. thought Ana Nogueira was a talented writer. DC Studios CEO James Gunn agreed, praising her script as one of the best he’s seen in a long time. It impressed him enough to accelerate Supergirl’s production schedule, making it the second feature film in the DCU. Even more notably, Nogueira’s script impressed him enough that she was chosen to write two more films: Teen Titans and Wonder Woman. Now that Supergirl has become a critical and commercial flop, though, fans are understandably worried that her next films will similarly underperform and effectively destroy the DCU.

That’s not guaranteed to happen, of course: Nogueira may learn from her mistakes and craft much better scripts for Wonder Woman and Teen Titans. Or maybe her writing is better than cynical fans think, and she just needs a better director than Craig Gillespie. If the studio gets nervous enough, they might give her the boot and hand those films to someone else. Bottom line? If some major changes happen, then the DCU can still be saved, especially if James Gunn’s Superman: The Man of Tomorrow is a huge hit. If no changes happen, though, Ana Nogueira may go from being a beloved Hollywood wunderkind to the woman who killed the DCU.

After two full weeks of release in theaters, Steven Spielberg‘s Disclosure Day is on the verge of hitting its first domestic box office milestone. The movie registered another hefty drop this weekend after an unexpectedly soft hold in its second frame. But it exceeded expectations in its opening weekend by grossing almost $45 million, and that’s what has pushed it toward the $100 million mark in two weeks. Disclosure Day should be able to hit this coveted milestone in the next few days, or perhaps its third weekend at the latest. However, this is likely as far as it’ll go. The movie has been slowing down significantly in recent days, and with fresh competition around the corner in the form of Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey, there’s only so much further Disclosure Day can go. That said, the movie overtook a fellow sci-fi title this weekend — a 2013 film starring Spielberg’s former collaborator Tom Cruise.

Spielberg and Cruise worked together on Minority Report and War of the Worlds, which grossed a combined total of nearly $1 billion worldwide. Both movies also received positive reviews, as has Disclosure Day. However, Spielberg’s new movie has left audiences underwhelmed, going by its so-so B CinemaScore grade. The film holds a “Certified Fresh” 80% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “A humanistic variation on one of Steven Spielberg’s most revisited themes, Disclosure Day‘s breathless pursuit of optimism in an age of conspiracy gets its biggest boost from career-highlight work by Emily Blunt.”

‘Disclosure Day’ Has Surpassed Tom Cruise’s Overlooked Sci-Fi Spectacle

Also featuring Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, and Colman Domingo, the movie grossed around $8 million in its third weekend, taking its domestic total to around $95 million. Disclosure Day has now surpassed the $89 million lifetime domestic haul of Oblivion, the 2013 sci-fi film starring Cruise and directed by Joseph Kosinski. The two would go on to work together on Top Gun: Maverick, which grossed nearly $1.5 billion worldwide in 2022. Also featuring Andrea Riseborough, Olga Kurylenko, Morgan Freeman, Melissa Leo, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Oblivion grossed nearly $290 million worldwide against a reported budget of $120 million. The movie holds a 53% score on Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “Visually striking but thinly scripted, Oblivion benefits greatly from its strong production values and an excellent performance from Tom Cruise.” Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

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Release Date

June 12, 2026

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Runtime

145 Minutes

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Katy Perry was left heartbroken after being forced to cancel a highly anticipated festival appearance just hours before she was set to perform. The “Dark Horse” singer revealed that her headlining set at Belgium’s Werchter Boutique festival was scrapped due to severe weather concerns, leaving both the pop star and her fans disappointed. Katy Perry shared the news on social media Saturday, explaining that organizers had no choice but to pull the plug on the event in the interest of public safety.

In a message posted to Instagram, Perry revealed that she was already backstage preparing for her performance when she learned the festival had been ordered to end early. “Sadly, my set @WerchterBoutique tonight can’t happen due to a government-mandated cancellation because of the incoming inclement weather and crowd safety concerns,” she wrote.

The singer stressed that the decision was entirely out of her hands. “I am just as unhappy as you are,” Perry continued. “They gave me no choice.”

She added that while she wished she could change the outcome, the safety of fans had to come first. “This is beyond my control,” Perry explained. “I am sorry I can’t change the weather, and even sorrier that all of us can’t be together tonight.”

The Singer Had Planned A Special Return To The Festival

The cancellation carried extra disappointment because the performance would have marked Perry’s return to the Belgian festival stage for the first time since 2009.

According to the singer, she had even planned a nostalgic surprise for longtime fans. “I was even gonna wear the same outfit from that 2009 show again,” Perry shared, ending her message with a heartfelt note to concertgoers, writing, “I love you all, and please get home safe.”

Alongside the statement, Perry posted a photo of herself sitting outdoors wearing striped sweatpants and a white robe while smoking a cigarette. Nearby sat what appeared to be the outfit she had planned to wear during the show.

Severe Thunderstorms Forced Organizers To End The Festival Early

Festival organizers announced that the event would conclude at 9 p.m., one hour before Perry was scheduled to take the stage.

Officials cited forecasts calling for severe thunderstorms and dangerous weather conditions in the area. “The safety and health of everyone present is always our top priority,” organizers said in a statement.

The decision was made to ensure attendees could leave the venue safely and return home before the worst of the weather arrived. As a result, Perry’s headlining performance was canceled entirely.

Katy Perry’s Summer Festival Run Continues

While the cancellation was undoubtedly a setback, Perry isn’t slowing down. The singer remains scheduled to perform at several festivals and events throughout the summer, including a stop at Depot Live in the United Kingdom on June 30 at Cardiff Castle.

The canceled appearance comes during a particularly eventful period for Perry, who has remained in the spotlight following her recent split from Orlando Bloom and the release of a music video that sparked significant online discussion.

“In ‘Watch It Burn,’ I am wrestling with my darkness, but last year was pretty tough,” Perry said of her new song and video. “I have not given myself permission to be angry my whole life over things where I should be fucking angry about. What I’ve done is I pushed it down, but I should be fucking angry. I’m allowed to be angry for a f-cking moment.”

Fans Believe Katy Perry’s New Lyrics Reference Orlando Bloom Split

Adding fuel to the speculation surrounding Perry’s personal life are the emotional lyrics featured throughout the track.

In the song, Perry reflects on feeling undervalued and emotionally drained in a relationship before ultimately deciding to walk away. “For years, you fed me only crumbs / You paid me only dust,” she sings before later declaring, “You know I gave and I gave / Now I’m giving up.”

The chorus marks a dramatic turning point, with Perry shifting from heartbreak to empowerment as she sings, “Tonight’s the night, I light a match / Throw it hard behind my back / Gonna try to forgive and forget / Light a cigarette, and watch it burn.”

While the singer has not publicly confirmed who inspired the track, many fans have interpreted the lyrics as a reflection on her split from Orlando Bloom. The former couple, who share daughter Daisy Dove, ended their engagement after nearly a decade together, prompting widespread speculation that Perry’s latest music may be drawing from the emotional fallout of the breakup.

Lizzo released her third studio album, “B-TCH,” on June 5, 2026. Sadly, the new LP not only failed to deliver any significant hits but also missed the Billboard Top 200 album chart altogether, selling under 3,000 copies in its first week. Now, the “Truth Hurts” singer is opening up about the failure as she begins recording new music.

Lizzo appeared on an episode of the “Proto Pop” podcast in June 2026. In a clip released ahead of the full interview, the host, Zachary, also known as The Swiftologist, asked the singer how she would describe the state of her career amid the release of “B-TCH.”

She said, “I think right now, dropping the album, I took it to heart really, really heavily.” From there, Lizzo went on to share her “non-PR” response, saying, “I hurt my own feelings, and I was really stressed, and I was really sad for a few days because I just was like, ‘Wait a minute, this is like some of my best stuff.’”

From there, the songstress discussed being forced to “come to terms” with the fact that the music industry landscape has changed “in the last three years.” She added, “But also, my relationship and my connection musically with the world is different, and I think I kind of had to mourn that.”

Lizzo Knew Her Album Might Struggle Three Weeks Before Its Release

The interview continued as Zachary mentioned Lizzo’s social media posts in which she claimed her record label, Atlantic Records, wasn’t promoting her album properly. Regarding the promotion for the music, she stated, “I kind of like took control a little bit.”

After that, she reflected on the attention she had received in the past when announcing new music and compared it to the reception of “B-TCH.” Specifically, she mentioned presales and presaves for the album. However, this time around, three weeks before the album’s release, she learned that the presaves on streaming platforms were far lower than expected.

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She recalled her reaction, saying, “Let me go full force, and I went out, and I was hanging up posters, and I was talking to people, and I was connecting.”

Lizzo then said about the album sales, “And I had all of these high hopes for what we would do the first week, and it didn’t match. I was so excited because I met my presave goal and then it dropped, and I was like, ‘Oh, okay, this isn’t what I kind of thought it would be.’”

In reflecting on the days after the album was released, Lizzo noted, “24 hours of my life where I based my success and my worth on a number, and I think that was soul-crushing.” Toward the end of the clip, she revealed that SZA had called to check on her and asked her fellow singer, “Am I a failure?”

Fans Are Weighing In

Following Lizzo’s comments about the failure of her latest album, fans are sharing their opinions. In many cases, the “Truth Hurts” singer is receiving support, with many social media users acknowledging that most musicians experience failed projects at some point in their careers. However, others say she’s dodging blame, claiming her new music isn’t up to par.

One person said, “I love that she’s brave enough to talk about this.” Another social media user observed, “More people liked this video than bought the album.” Someone else stated, “It has nothing to do with the radio, Lizzo. The music is not good.”

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Lastly, a different person wrote, “Love her, but I feel like she doesn’t take accountability for the music not being up to par and instead blames it on changes in the music industry/radio?”

How Many Copies Did The Album Sell?

Given that Lizzo’s “B-TCH” missed the Billboard Top 200 chart, the exact number of albums she sold wasn’t immediately clear. It was initially understood that the album moved under 5,000 units. However, Rolling Stone UK confirmed that the album sold only 2,500 copies in its first week.

For comparison, according to Entertainment Weekly, her previous album, 2022’s “Special,” sold 69,000 total album equivalent units. It debuted at number two on the Billboard Top 200 chart.

Lizzo Recently Confirmed She’s In The Studio

Lizzo took to her private TikTok page, LizzoIRL, on June 19 to confirm that she had returned to the studio. She did so by posting a clip of herself standing behind a microphone, with what appears to be a new song playing in the background. She used a text overlay that read, “Making new sh-t.”

After that, she responded to fans, insisting that the “B-TCH” era had not ended and that more promotional efforts were on the horizon.

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While impressive new shows are coming out all the time, many series that have already completed their run are impossible to beat. Fortunately, in the age of binge-watching, streaming services allow subscribers to access and fall in love with shows long after their conclusion. This enables such shows to remain relevant and, in some cases, gain an entirely new audience. The phenomenon can be seen in the reemergence of series like Gilmore Girls, Suits, and, more recently, Las Vegas has joined this group. The NBC series may be 23 years old, but even after all that time, it is a popular purchase on the Apple Store, proving that this five-season show has a lot to offer.

The comedy-drama is NBC’s most ambitious story, as seen by the massive cost of the pilot alone. Premiering in 2003, Las Vegas explores the staff of a fictional casino in the famed city. The series initially met strong viewership, but that gradually declined throughout its run. However, Las Vegas has received a second chance through streaming, opening itself up to a new audience who can enjoy all the shocks and drama of the series despite the decades since its release.

What Is ‘Las Vegas’ About?

There are many shows about a workplace, but Las Vegas is unique because its setting offers a rare level of drama. The series follows the security team of the Montecito Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. As you would guess, the glamorous background of Sin City makes for plenty of stories, as the characters deal with everything from power outages to rival casinos to bomb threats. While this concept has potential on its own, the characters and the constant drama in their lives make it that much better. Las Vegas primarily follows the head of security and surveillance, Ed Deline (James Caan), and his protégé, Danny McCoy (Josh Duhamel). As the former director of counterintelligence for the CIA, Ed can be strict, but he’s also a father figure to his employees, particularly Danny, who has his own past as a U.S. Marine. With exciting character backstories and pasts that always seem to resurface, Las Vegas creates an endearing cast.

Part of what makes Las Vegas such a memorable series is the constant drama between the characters. Danny is often the center of this as he develops an on-and-off romance with his coworker and childhood friend, Mary (Nikki Cox), and also a similar dynamic with Delinda (Molly Sims), Ed’s daughter. These relationships add plenty of drama to the already fast-paced story, but that isn’t the only source of tension. Throughout its run, Las Vegas takes several shocking twists, ranging from the hotel changing owners to murder cases. Though it occasionally ventures into soap opera-like territory, Las Vegas‘ exciting story and lovable characters make for the perfect guilty pleasure watch.

NBC Took a Risk on ‘Las Vegas’

Its five-season run and recent streaming success prove that Las Vegas was a good idea, but the series was a risky move for NBC. The pilot was an expensive endeavor, costing the network five million dollars for just one episode. With the advent of streaming, TV series have become more costly, but at the time, this expense made Las Vegas NBC’s priciest pilot (though it has since been dethroned). Ultimately, that risk paid off, delivering an exciting show, until it was canceled rather abruptly. Though declining ratings, high production costs, cast departures, and the 2008 Writers’ Strike ended the series too soon, Las Vegas is still worth watching, as many are discovering.

Las Vegas is available to purchase on Apple TV, and it is gaining attention there, and rightfully so. With its lovable characters, shocking twists, and constant drama, the 2003 series is a perfect binge-watch. There is no show quite like Las Vegas, and that’s why it has stood the test of time, remaining relevant 23 years later.

Las Vegas is available to buy on Apple TV in the U.S.

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Release Date

2003 – 2008-00-00

Showrunner

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Gary Scott Thompson

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By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 24 seconds ago

Show of hands, who cheated while playing Battleship? If your hand is down, you’re lying. Cheating your friends playing Battleship is a rite of passage which is why, somehow, Hasbro thought it would be the perfect property to cash in on the rise of Transformers back in 2012. 14 years later and it’s one of the top streaming movies on Amazon Prime, finally achieving its destiny: guilty pleasure Dad movie. 

Top Gun By Sea

You can tell Battleship is from the early 2010’s because it stars Taylor Kitsch back when Hollywood was trying to make him the next big action star. If John Carter received the support it needed, it could have worked, but instead he starred in one box office bomb after another through no fault of his own. As Naval Officer Alex Hopper, Kitsch does a great job channeling Tom Cruise’s Maverick in Battleship, right down to trying to impress the Admiral’s daughter. 

Where Battleship gets weird is when the alien spaceships land and isolate Hawaii from the rest of the world under an impenetrable force field. That and the alien weapons look a lot like the pegs from the game Battleship. Outgunned, outmanned, and with no one coming to save them, it’s up to Alex to lead the survivors of the American and Japanese Pacific Fleets against the alien invasion. And by now you’re wondering how this corny sounding sci-fi movie is a massive streaming hit, well, it’s because of what comes next. 

The Greatest Final Act In Movie History

For the entire first two-thirds of Battleship it’s an incredibly corny movie where everyone, from Liam Neeson as the Admiral to Jesse Plemons and Rami Malek as sailors, understood the assignment and is chewing up every bit of scenery. Then, with no ship left, Alex says “we have a battleship,” and the camera pans to the U.S.S. Missouri docked at Pearl Harbor. In case you’re wondering what makes this a modern classic Dad movie, it’s this scene. Get your parents, get your grandparents, have them watch the movie, and wait until they reach the Missouri. 

Onboard the ship-turned-historical museum, the survivors have no idea how to run an analog, old-school ship. That’s when the veterans appear, one by one. Played by the real veterans of the Missouri and other ships of the era (there’s a U.S.S. Carolina cap in there too!), the veterans get to work teaching the kids how the ship works, all set to the sounds of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck.” This is catnip for boomers, and if you know any old seaman who haven’t watched this, you owe it to them to share it. 

Battleship Is A Streaming Success Wherever It Sails

Battleship may be one of the biggest box office flops in history, losing both Hasbro and Universal roughly $150 million each after earning only $300 million at the box office, which after theatrical cuts and marketing, wasn’t enough for anything resembling a profit. It’s also one of the greatest streaming success stories in history. Every time Battleship arrives on a streaming service, it’s in the top 10 for weeks. No one wants to admit they love this movie, but it’s okay, you can admit that once “Thunderstruck” hits you are locked in. 

When the final battle hits, if you aren’t having the time of your life with Battleship, you don’t love movies. Find a boomer, sit down, stream it on Amazon Prime, and remember how much fun you can have when a movie doesn’t take itself seriously.

Over the course of 50 years, 25 movies, and seven different actors, the adventures of James Bond have been a constant on the silver screen. But Bond’s also seen plenty of competition in the action world, whether it’s the brutal beat downs of the John Wick franchise or the cold, calculated carnage of The Equalizer trilogy. Luckily, Netflix has the perfect movie for fans of both approaches, as it not only features enough bloodshed to rival Wick’s exploits but also stars a Bond alum. It’s also a breezy 90 minutes, making it the perfect pick for a weekend watch.

What movie might this be? Fast Charlie. Based on the novel Gun Monkeys by Victor Gischler, Fast Charlie stars Pierce Brosnan as highly skilled mob fixer Charlie Swift. A job gone wrong brings him into the orbit of Marcie Kramer (Morena Baccarin), who also happens to be the ex-wife of his target, Rollo. While sparks fly between the two, they find themselves on the run when up-and-coming crime boss Beggar (Gbenga Akinnagbe) starts murdering all of Charlie’s old acquaintances. What follows is a white-knuckle game of cat and mouse as Charlie and Marcie try to stay one step ahead of Beggar’s forces while finding out why he wanted Rollo dead.

‘Fast Charlie’ Is Crafted By Filmmakers Who Have History With the Crime Genre

To bring Charlie Swift’s tale to life, Fast Charlie couldn’t just rely on a star-studded cast but also on a crew experienced in delivering the kind of blood-soaked, mile-a-minute storytelling that comes with the crime genre. It lucked out with both its director and writer, as Phillip Noyce helmed the movie while Richard Wenk penned the screenplay. Both men are experts in crafting action-packed stories, as Noyce directed the iconic Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, both starring Harrison Ford and adapting Tom Clancy‘s titular novels. Wenk is best known for penning every installment of the Equalizer trilogy, as well as the Jason Statham action vehicle The Mechanic and Antoine Fuqua‘s remake of The Magnificent Seven.

Together, Noyce and Wenk craft a movie that’s one part mystery, one part action thriller, and one part love story. Most of Fast Charlie is dedicated to Charlie avenging his fallen comrades, while also trying to figure out why Beggar wanted him dead. He also starts to connect more with Marcie, and the two both realize they could have a life together rather than just trying to survive alone. Noyce and Wenk also know when to time their action sequences for maximum impact, including a moment where Charlie gets the drop on two assassins sent to take him out. They also don’t shy away from the bloodshed; bullets pierce through brain matter and nearly everything gets turned into a weapon, with gruesome results.

Pierce Brosnan Shows He Hasn’t Lost His Bond-Era Charm with ‘Fast Charlie’

The best reason to watch Fast Charlie, other than the carefully crafted story or the action sequences, is Pierce Brosnan’s performance as the titular character. Brosnan brings plenty of the charm and calculating menace that defined his role as James Bond, especially when facing off against people he wants to kill or who want to kill him. A great example comes early in the movie, when Charlie meets Beggar; from the start, you can tell there’s no love lost between them, thanks to the thinly veiled disgust that crosses Brosnan’s face. Brosnan also has electric chemistry with Baccarin, and some warmer moments with James Caan, who plays Charlie’s old boss Stan. Given that this was Caan’s final movie role before he passed away in 2022, the moments between Charlie and Stan hit harder than expected.

Netflix viewers also seem to be taking to Fast Charlie, as it made its way onto Netflix’s Top 10 list earlier this month. Whether you’re a fan of Brosnan’s turn as Bond or like a breezy, bloody crime thriller, Fast Charlie should definitely be on your watchlist. It’s proof that even though he’s hung up Bond’s tuxedo, Brosnan can still play a charming yet dangerous antihero.

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Release Date

December 8, 2023

Runtime

90 Minutes

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The 1980s gave horror fans slashers, splatter, video-store trash, punk energy, monster suits, synth dread, practical-effects miracles, and the kind of cheap weirdness that can make a terrible movie lovable. So when an ’80s horror movie actually turned out bad, it had committed a special crime.

It had the easiest decade in horror history to be entertainingly stupid and still found a way to be dead air. The movies on this list, therefore, are not the fun-bad legends you defend at 2 a.m. with pizza and friends. These are the ones that test your soul, your patience, your eyesight, your hearing, and occasionally your belief in editing as a human invention.

6

‘Monster Dog’ (1984)

Image via Union Films S.A.

Monster Dog is basically Vince Raven (Alice Cooper) starring in a werewolf-adjacent horror and that should be impossible to fully waste. Give him fog, dogs, a cursed family past, a creepy mansion, and a music-video mood, and even a weak movie should at least stumble into cult pleasure. But Monster Dog, oh boy. It somehow takes all of that and makes it feel like someone left a haunted-house attraction running after the staff went home.

The strangest thing is how little danger seems to live inside the frame. Cooper has presence, obviously, but the movie keeps trapping him in scenes that move like wet cardboard. The dubbing gives everyone that disconnected dream-mouth quality where emotions seem to be happening three rooms away from the actors. The dog attacks rarely have bite. The mystery feels like it was assembled from leftover Gothic scraps. Even the rock-star angle barely gives the movie juice, which feels insane considering the man at the center literally built a career out of theatrical horror. The movie is sleepy, murky, and weirdly allergic to its own best selling point.

5

‘Don’t Go in the Woods’ (1981)

Image via Seymour Borde & Associates

This movie feels like a slasher made by people who heard about suspense from a guy at a gas station. Don’t Go in the Woods follows a group of campers wandering through the wilderness while a wild killer picks off random people, and that sounds like perfectly usable early-’80s forest-horror material. Woods, screams, isolation, bad decisions, cheap gore, lost hikers, dirtbag survival panic; the genre practically builds itself.

Then the movie starts moving, and the whole thing becomes a punishment hike. Characters appear with the personality of disposable paper plates. Victims seem dropped into the film just so the body count can keep coughing. The killer has none of the creepy backwoods presence that makes this kind of thing work. The editing feels allergic to geography, so the forest never becomes a place, just a pile of trees the movie keeps pointing at. There is a strange anti-rhythm to it, like every scare happens half a thought after it should. Even the title starts to feel less like a warning and more like a review: don’t go in the woods, and maybe don’t press play either.

4

‘Blood Lake’ (1987)

Image via United Home Video

Some movies are amateur in a charming way. Blood Lake is amateur in the way a family vacation tape becomes unbearable after the fourth minute and then somehow keeps going. The setup promises lake-house slasher trash, the kind of thing where teens drink, flirt, water-ski, ignore obvious danger, and eventually learn that cheap summer freedom comes with a body count. That is a perfectly fine formula. Horror fans have forgiven much worse when the vibe has a pulse.

The problem is that Blood Lake has the dramatic urgency of people waiting for someone’s uncle to fix the boat motor. Scenes sag. Conversations stretch into nothing. The characters talk like the script was discovered under a cooler. The lake barely feels threatening, the killer barely feels present, and the horror barely feels like a priority. It is one of those movies where the dead space becomes the main character. You keep waiting for the grimy home-video texture to become part of the charm, but charm requires at least a little rhythm, a little madness, a little accidental poetry.

3

‘Zombie Nightmare’ (1987)

Image via Shapiro Entertainment

A zombie revenge movie with Adam West (Adam West), Tia Carrere (Tia Carrere), a heavy-metal soundtrack, and a dead man rising to punish the punks who killed him should be gloriously dumb. That combination should deliver at least one perfect video-store fever dream. Instead, Zombie Nightmare has the energy of a movie that keeps forgetting revenge is supposed to feel satisfying.

Tony (Jon Mikl Thor) is a good-hearted muscle guy whose death leads to voodoo resurrection and shambling payback. On paper, beautiful nonsense. On screen, the zombie lumbering is so stiff, so slow, so weirdly unthreatening that every kill feels less like supernatural justice and more like someone missed their bus and decided to murder time. West wanders through the police material with the glazed confidence of a man who knows nobody can hurt his legacy now. The soundtrack keeps trying to pump blood into a corpse the movie itself has already abandoned. It has metal. It has zombies. It has revenge. It has almost no pleasure in any of those things. That is unforgivable.

2

‘Things’ (1989)

Image via Intervision

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Things is the kind of movie that makes you question whether cinema was a mistake. Calling it badly made almost feels too polite, because “badly made” suggests recognizable pieces failing to connect. This thing feels transmitted from a cursed basement through damaged cables into the softest part of your brain.

There is a plot somewhere involving an experimental fertility procedure, disgusting little creatures, and people trapped in a house, but plot becomes irrelevant once the movie starts attacking basic human comprehension. The sound is legendary for all the wrong reasons. People speak like their dialogue was recorded inside a shoebox during a power outage. No dig intended at technological limitations of that time (think about The Godfather that came 17 years before it). Scenes drag past the point of awkwardness into a new emotional climate. The creatures look absurd, but the real horror is the dead time between them. Then there is the random newswoman material, the endless wandering, the feeling that every cut is a cry for help. Most bad horror movies fail to scare. Things feels like it was made by fear itself, specifically the fear of being trapped forever in a conversation you cannot hear properly.

1

‘Hobgoblins’ (1988)

Image via American Cinema Marketing/ Shout! Factory

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Hobgoblins is the grand champion on this list because it manages to be cheap, ugly, irritating, unfunny, lifeless, and smug about its own nonsense at the same time. Little alien creatures escape from a film studio vault and mess with people by making their fantasies come true in dangerous ways. That concept could have been nasty fun: fake glamour, sleazy dreams, puppet chaos, ’80s trash culture eating itself. Give that premise to the right maniacs and you get a filthy little cult gem.

Hobgoblins gives you puppets that look like carpet samples with eyes, characters who make every room worse by entering it, and comedy that lands with the force of a damp sock. The nightclub scenes feel like time has been legally frozen. The phone-sex subplot is painful in a way that bypasses laughter and goes directly into spiritual fatigue. The creatures barely function as monsters, yet the humans are so unbearable that rooting for anyone becomes work. Plenty of bad horror movies are incompetent. This one feels like it is actively wasting the viewer’s night while grinning from behind a pile of lint. A true 0/10. No scare. No fun. No mercy.

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Hobgoblins

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Release Date

July 14, 1988

Runtime

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68 Minutes

Director

Rick Sloane

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Writers

Rick Sloane

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