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Entertainment

Forget ‘Chernobyl’ — Prime Video’s 3-Part Political Thriller Is a Near-Perfect Weekend Binge

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Rafe Spall in the Salisbury Poisonings series

On March 4, 2018, Sergei Skripal (Wayne Swann) and his daughter, Yulia (Jill Winternitz), were poisoned with Novichok, a Russian nerve agent, in the quiet, sleepy town of Salisbury, England. The attack took place just months before Russia hosted the World Cup, an event overshadowed by the international crisis, and saw Russian diplomats expelled and numerous world leaders weighing in. Fear and paranoia were heightened to a level few had seen in a long time, as it appeared a nuclear power — Russia — had committed a chemical attack on a fellow atomic power — Britain — to assassinate a former Russian spy. Yet, for the people who directly suffered as a result, these emotions were more devastating than anyone could imagine, and that is exactly what the three-part miniseries, The Salisbury Poisonings, portrays so poignantly.

Now, with the three-part documentary Salisbury Poisonings: The Untold Story surging up streaming charts and featuring previously unheard testimonies from those involved, there’s renewed attention on the case — making it the perfect moment to revisit the earlier dramatization.

Through The Salisbury Poisonings, we primarily follow Tracy (Anne-Marie Duff), the head of public health for Salisbury and wider Wiltshire, and Nick Bailey (Rafe Spall), a police officer who accidentally became exposed to the nerve agent whilst investigating. Not only does this miniseries show just how large a task was undertaken to prevent further contamination, but the focus on Bailey, Tracy, and other victims, such as Dawn Sturgess (MyAnna Buring), empathetically portrays the suffering ordinary people faced in a far larger geopolitical game that governments and world leaders, on both sides, seemed somewhat unfazed by.

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‘The Salisbury Poisonings’ Uses the Stories of Average People to Portray Devastation

What can always be difficult in weaving a narrative through real-world events is making the audience care about something when they know the outcome. Many might not know about the Novichok poisonings, but they do know there hasn’t been a war between Russia and the UK, so it can be argued that, on the international level, the stakes aren’t high for the viewer. That is where the genius of The Salisbury Poisonings shines through, as it uses individuals’ stories to make us feel the emotional stakes of fear, loss, and paranoia.



















































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Collider Exclusive · TV Medicine Quiz
Which Fictional Hospital Would You Work Best In?
The Pitt · ER · Grey’s Anatomy · House · Scrubs

Five hospitals. Five completely different ways medicine goes sideways on television — brutal, chaotic, romantic, brilliant, and ridiculous. Only one of them is the ward your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out exactly where you belong.

🚨The Pitt

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🏥ER

💉Grey’s

🔬House

🩺Scrubs

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01

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A critical patient comes through the door. What’s your first instinct?
Medicine under pressure reveals who you actually are.





02

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Why did you go into medicine in the first place?
The honest answer says more about you than the one you’d give in an interview.





03

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What do you actually want from the people you work with?
Who you want beside you under pressure is who you are.





04

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You lose a patient you fought hard to save. How do you carry it?
Every doctor who’s worked a long shift has had to answer this question.





05

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How would your colleagues describe the way you work?
Your reputation on the floor is usually more accurate than your self-image.





06

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How do you feel about hospital protocol and procedure?
Every institution has rules. What you do with them is a choice.





07

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What does this job cost you personally?
Nobody works in medicine without paying a price. What’s yours?





08

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At the end of a long shift, what keeps you coming back?
The answer to this question is the most honest thing about you.





Your Assignment Has Been Made
You Belong In…
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Your answers have pointed to one fictional hospital above all others. This is the ward your instincts, your temperament, and your particular brand of dysfunction were built for.


Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center

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The Pitt

You are built for the most unsparing version of emergency medicine television has ever shown — one that puts you inside a single fifteen-hour shift and doesn’t let you look away.

  • You need your work to be real, not romanticised — meaning over drama, honesty over aesthetics.
  • You find purpose inside the work itself, not in the chaos surrounding it.
  • You’ve made peace with the fact that this job takes from you constantly, and gives back in ways that are harder to name.
  • Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center demands exactly that kind of person — and you would not want to be anywhere else.


County General Hospital, Chicago

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ER

You are the person who keeps the whole floor running — not the most brilliant in the room, but possibly the most essential.

  • You show up, do the work, absorb the losses, and come back the next day without needing the job to be anything other than what it is.
  • You care about patients as individual human beings, not as cases to solve or dramas to live through.
  • You believe in the system even when it fails you — and you understand that emergency medicine is about holding the line just long enough.
  • ER is television about endurance. You have it.


Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, Seattle

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Grey’s Anatomy

You came to medicine with your whole self — your ambition, your emotions, your relationships, your history — and you have never quite managed to leave any of it at the door.

  • You feel things fully and form deep attachments to the people you work with.
  • Your personal and professional lives are permanently, chaotically entangled — and that entanglement drives both your greatest disasters and your most remarkable saves.
  • You understand that extraordinary medicine often happens at the intersection of clinical skill and profound human connection.
  • It’s messy at Grey Sloan. You would not have it any other way.


Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, NJ

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House

You are drawn to the problem above everything else — the symptom that doesn’t fit, the diagnosis hiding underneath the obvious one.

  • You’re not primarily motivated by the patient as a person — though you are capable of caring, even if you’d deny it.
  • You work best when the stakes are highest and the standard answer is wrong.
  • Princeton-Plainsboro exists to house one extraordinary, impossible mind — and everyone around that mind is there because they’re smart enough to keep up.
  • The only way forward here is to think harder than everyone else in the room. That is exactly what you do.


Sacred Heart Hospital, California

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Scrubs

You understand that medicine is tragic and absurd in almost equal measure — and that the only sane response is to hold both of those things at the same time.

  • You are warm, self-aware, and funnier than most people in your field.
  • You use humour to get through terrible moments — and at Sacred Heart, that’s not a flaw, it’s a survival strategy.
  • You lean on the people around you and let them lean back. The laughter and the grief are genuinely inseparable here.
  • Scrubs is a show about learning to become someone worthy of the job. You are still very much in the middle of that process — which is exactly right.

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Through Nick’s poisoning and recovery, we see how his family is put through an emotional wringer, constantly terrified of losing their husband and father as well as being shown Nick’s horrifying symptoms, such as driving a car before blacking out for a few seconds, which the real-life Bailey told an inquiry made him feel like his life was “in frames.” Furthermore, the subplot of Dawn’s struggles as a mother in shared accommodation builds our connection to this woman who only wants a better life for her and her daughter, only to be killed when, in the most unlikely of circumstances, she comes into contact with the nerve agent. It’s heartbreaking because we see these people, with their own lives, families, and dreams, being dragged into a geopolitical conflict they had no intention of ever joining. They weren’t killed because they did something wrong. They were killed by accident as collateral damage by people who didn’t care who else got hurt.

‘The Salisbury Poisonings’ Shows Unsung Heroes Who Deserve the Most Credit

Rafe Spall in the Salisbury Poisonings series Image via BBC
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With all the tragedy, one could be forgiven for refusing to watch The Salisbury Poisonings because they worry it would be overwhelmingly depressing. However, the strength of our protagonist, Tracy, and her willpower in the search for the source of Novichok and her commitment to making Salisbury safe again for its inhabitants are key to giving us a character whom we can admire and root for. Far from being an archetypal detective/investigator, Tracy is not some kind of confident veteran, nor does she have some kind of dark past where she is fighting inner demons. She is just someone trying to do the best she can.

In the show, she admits she has never done anything like this before and might not be qualified, reminding us of the scale of the issue. Working to decontaminate the sites identified by Tracy, where Novichok was found, took so long to clear that officers got hyperthermia. Scenes such as Tracy having to brace herself in front of a mirror before giving briefings or her constant fidgeting remind us of how this is a normal human being with flaws and anxieties of her own. Yet, this only makes the character more likable, and the final scene, where it is stated and reaffirmed that she is a hero, makes for thoroughly satisfying moments where we can choose to still believe in humanity, even after what has happened.

‘The Salisbury Poisonings’ Focus Means It Slightly Downplays Government Failings

By focusing on the victims rather than turning this into a geopolitical thriller, The Salisbury Poisonings emphasizes the personal human cost of the attack. By doing so, they engage audiences on a far more emotional level. However, for those who might not do their own research, the show does not truly cover the ways governments responded or the failings that occurred. On the latter, both in the case of the Skripals and Sturgess poisonings, the UK government certainly failed to act as it should have. Speaking at a 2024 inquiry into the matter, it was heard that police investigating the incident found that counter-terrorism was “dismissive” of claims that a Russian spy had been poisoned, and they even told them there was no Russian spy living in that area.

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Furthermore, in the case of Dawn Sturgess, The Salisbury Poisonings displays how members of Whitehall, a government agency, are mostly focused on reducing panic and moving on from the incident, and in real life, people were not given a warning to not pick up discarded waste, despite health officials at the time considering this to be done. Though The Salisbury Poisonings acknowledges these failings through its portrayal of Whitehall characters, it could have delved deeper into the government’s shortcomings.

Going beyond the UK government’s response, The Salisbury Poisonings also put limited focus on Russia or other allies’ responses to the incident. We are only told via radio and news channel clips, and we are shown Americans heavily sympathizing, while Russia reportedly denies it. Putin not only denied involvement but also called Sergei Skripal a “scumbag” and a “traitor”, highlighting the animosity held and showing why it was so likely civilians like Yulia, Nick, and Dawn would become victims. The Salisbury Poisonings tried to present the West as united in its opposition against Russia.


Dennis Haysbert as David Palmer in '24'

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However, the then-president, Donald Trump, greatly downplayed the significance of the incident. According to the BBC, at a meeting in Chequers, Trump and Theresa May’s team “were arguing about how bad and destabilizing that was – he asked why,” and when the point was made, it was chemical warfare between two nuclear powers, Trump only quipped, “I didn’t know the UK had nuclear weapons.”

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This isn’t to say that The Salisbury Poisonings failed in its mission. It succeeded in what it set out to do. This was to make people understand the human suffering that occurred because of an international incident, displaying how civilians live every day with the fear they may be accidentally targeted in a far larger game than they even know is at play. The Salisbury Poisonings display the victims and heroes of the ground level brilliantly, and that makes this a show more than worthy of a watch to truly understand what happened in Salisbury that fateful day. However, viewers must understand the wider context surrounding these events. The tension between English local and national services, as well as international enemies and allies, skyrocketed in the wake of these poisonings, and in all of this lie the innocent victims we witness suffer because of this tension.

The Salisbury Poisonings is available to stream on Prime Video.


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Release Date

2020 – 2020-00-00

Network
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BBC One

Directors

Saul Dibb

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Writers

Declan Lawn

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  • instar51866046.jpg

    Anne-Marie Duff

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    Tracy Daszkiewicz

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Duncan Pow

    Dr James Haslam

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    Rafe Spall

    DS Nick Bailey

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    MyAnna Buring

    Dawn Sturgess

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Jason Statham’s 4-Part Action Saga Is Leaving Netflix Soon

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Some movies should employ a bit of subtlety in order to work properly. On the other hand, some films should stay as far away from subtlety as humanly possible, and this franchise is the exact kind of series that needs the deft hand of a sledgehammer. If you like watching action stars blow stuff up, exchange quips, and shoot big-ass guns, this is the one for you. Just one problem: The clock is ticking.

Netflix is losing all four Expendables movies on June 20, meaning subscribers don’t have much longer to stream the billion-dollar action saga. The series began in 2010 with Sylvester Stallone putting together a cavalcade of past and present action stars as a team of elite mercenaries taking on dangerous missions around the world. Over the next three sequels, the cast kept growing, pulling in more legends, more villains, and increasingly nonsensical assignments. And that’s exactly why we love it.

The Expendables movies star Stallone (First Blood) as Barney Ross, the leader of the mercenary team; Jason Statham (The Beekeeper) as Lee Christmas, Barney’s knife-wielding right-hand man; Dolph Lundgren (Rocky IV) as Gunner Jensen, the team’s unstable heavy hitter; Randy Couture (Setup) as Toll Road, the crew’s demolitions expert; Terry Crews (White Chicks) as Hale Caesar, the team’s weapons specialist; Jet Li (Hero) as Yin Yang, one of the original team members; Arnold Schwarzenegger (Terminator 2: Judgment Day) as Trench, Barney’s rival and ally; Bruce Willis (Die Hard) as Mr. Church, a CIA figure; Jean-Claude Van Damme (Timecop) as Jean Vilain, a ruthless enemy.

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Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz
Which Action Hero Would Be
Your Perfect Partner?

Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt

Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.

🎖️Rambo

🍸James Bond

🏺Indiana Jones

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🔧John McClane

🎭Ethan Hunt

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01

You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner?
The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.





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02

You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel?
How you get there is half the mission.





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03

You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do?
This is when you find out what someone is really made of.





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04

The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest?
Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.





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05

How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission?
Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.





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06

Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them?
The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.





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07

Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do?
Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.





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08

What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace?
A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.





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09

Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with?
No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.





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10

It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now?
The last question is the most honest one.





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Your Partner Has Been Assigned
Your Perfect Partner Is…

Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.

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Rambo

Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.

James Bond

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Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.

Indiana Jones

Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.

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John McClane

Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.

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Ethan Hunt

Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.

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Were the ‘Expendables’ Movies Successful?

The series started out like a house on fire, with the first one grossing $268 million worldwide against an $82 million budget, while The Expendables 2 did even better with about $312 million worldwide against a $100 million budget. Then things started slipping with the third outing, which grossed $209 million worldwide against a $100 million budget. Not a nightmare by any means, but there’s a clear drop in interest, especially domestically, where it only took in about $39 million. Then Expend4bles pretty much died on arrival. This was a full-blown box office bomb, as it cost around $100 million and grossed only about $51 million worldwide.

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The Expendables, The Expendables 2, The Expendables 3, and Expend4bles leave Netflix on June 20.


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August 13, 2010

Runtime

103 minutes

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This Trench Coat Style Is a Blake Lively-Approved Wardrobe Staple

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Taylor Swift

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While it may feel like your options for a lightweight spring jacket are endless, none is as tried-and-true as a simple trench coat. Even statement lovers like Blake Lively are fans of the classic piece. In fact, the actress just wore the timeless layer for her latest night out — and it’s a style that you can add to your closet for just $35.

While attending Fendi’s Baguette handbag relaunch party in New York City, Lively dressed down in a black tank top and high-waisted jeans. Her casual look was instantly dressed up, however, with a versatile beige trench coat that she nonchalantly draped over her shoulders. The collared outerwear featured a double-breasted silhouette with glossy black buttons and adjustable buckled cuffs, a look also seen in a similar budget-friendly style from Walmart.

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Get the Canis Long-Sleeve Trench Coat for $35 at Walmart! Please note, prices are accurate as of the publishing date but are subject to change.

The crisp, clean silhouette of the sharp jacket style is known for its versatility and ease. Light, thin textures and subtle accents allow the piece to be worn with virtually any outfit, no matter how formal or casual. Plus, a smooth finish makes the piece windproof — a practical detail that will keep you protected on gusty spring and summer days.

Taylor Swift


Related: Taylor Swift Wore the ‘It’ Girl Leather Trench Coat Style of Our Dreams

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You can always count on leather jackets to bring a cool factor to any look — just ask Taylor Swift. The star’s latest date-night outfit included a sophisticated take on the rugged outer layer, which we duplicated with a budget-friendly style for less than $32. During an evening in London with fiancé Travis Kelce, Swift […]

Trench coats’ layering potential also makes the classic outerwear style perfect for color-blocking or framing your outfits. Lively used her piece as a lighter contrast to darker staples, which she spices up with black patent leather pumps, colorful rings, sparkling earrings, a gleaming gold watch and a diamond collar necklace. Of course, the Gossip Girl star also carried a black version of Fendi’s iconic Baguette shoulder bag, which was covered in small, rounded mirrors for a high-shine finish.

As Lively proved, there’s no outfit too casual to pair with a streamlined trench coat. Like the actress, you can easily wear the piece with basics or a denim silhouette. Still, the style looks especially chic when paired with a knee-length or mini dress, and while pumps will certainly match the sophisticated feel, classic penny loafers or low-heeled boots provide an elegant complement. Low-top sneakers are also perfect for adding a cool, carefree finish to more casual trench ensembles.

Aside from its fashionable elements, a crisp trench coat is a practical piece you’ll reach for constantly. As seen on Lively, the style’s sharp details and classic silhouette make it an elevated addition to any look. Truly, there’s no limit to the layering abilities a trench coat can bring to your wardrobe this season.

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Get the Canis Long-Sleeve Trench Coat for $35 at Walmart! Please note, prices are accurate as of the publishing date but are subject to change.

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Related: Blake Lively’s Outer Layer Is Perfect for Casual Nights

Even stars need a casual outing now and then, including Blake Lively. While on a rare off-duty outing, the actress layered a casual outfit with a soft jacket style we instantly loved — and found a similar take for less than $35. While stopping by the newly opened Go Greek Yogurt in New York City, […]

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Bringing Up Bates’ Warden Bates and Kaybrie Patterson Marry

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Bringing Up Bates alum Warden Bates and Kaybrie Patterson have tied the knot.

In a joint point shared via Instagram on Thursday, May 28, the couple announced they have officially married just two months after debuting their romance on social media in March.

The couple announced they were engaged on May 2, while their wedding took place just days later on May 5.

Patterson, 19, explained in Thursday’s post that she and Bates, 22, were compelled to bring forward their wedding, which was originally slated for September, so that her late father could attend the nuptials before he died of Stage IV colon cancer.

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Related: Bringing Up Bates’ Warden Engaged Nearly 2 Months After Debuting Courtship

Bringing Up Bates alum Warden Bates and his girlfriend, Kaybrie Patterson, are engaged after a whirlwind courtship. “The easiest yes 🤍💍,” the couple captioned joint proposal photos via Instagram on Saturday, May 2. Patterson shared more photos from the romantic moment via her Instagram Stories, writing, “I cannot wait to be your wife. I love […]

“I am learning that even in the midst of sorrow, there can be joy. I don’t think I ever truly understood that until recently,” she wrote.

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Patterson shared that her dad had been diagnosed with the disease three years ago and fought to survive until treatment “was no longer an option.”

“And yet, right in the middle of all that heartbreak, one of the happiest moments of my life happened. I got engaged to the love of my life, and we began planning our big wedding celebration for this September,” she wrote.

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Kaybrie Patterson and her dad.
(Photo courtesy of Kaybrie Patterson/Instagram)

Patterson continued, “As my dad continued to decline and we were faced with the reality of hospice care, I came face to face with something I had never allowed myself to imagine. I could not picture a life where my dad was not the one to walk me down the aisle. So we decided to gather our immediate families and share a small, private ceremony together while we still could.”

Patterson shared her gratitude that she was able to include her father in her special day before his death, creating a “beautiful” memory that will last a lifetime.

“On May 5th, my dad walked me down the aisle. It was simple, emotional and beautiful in a way I will spend the rest of my life trying to find words for,” she wrote. “The next day he became unresponsive, and three days later he went home to be with the Lord.”

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Patterson added that she and Bates plan to still hold a bigger wedding celebration in September, knowing that her dad will be looking down on them.

Bates and Patterson announced their engagement on May 2 by sharing joint proposal photos via Instagram. The post was captioned, “The easiest yes 🤍💍.”

Patterson shared more photos from the romantic moment via her Instagram Stories, writing, “I cannot wait to be your wife. I love you more than words.”

Warden is one of the 19 children of Bringing Up Bates couple Gil and Kelly Jo Bates.

Following their son’s engagement, the proud parents wrote via Instagram, “We’re beyond thrilled to see the smiles they’ve brought each other, & we’ve already all fallen in love with Kaybrie’s sweet, fun, enthusiastic personality! Couldn’t feel more blessed!”

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8 Greatest Fantasy Series to Binge on Netflix

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Jacob Anderson as Daniel, the new Dream of the Endless, wearing all white in The Sandman Season 2 Vol 2

The fantasy genre has long been a fan-favorite, providing escapism for those who want a momentary reprieve from the mundane and predictable. For fantasy fans ready to step beyond the ordinary into places where magic hangs in the air, Netflix might be the gateway, especially as it is packed with more than a handful of series that spark the adventurer, dreamer, and curious seeker in all of us.

These shows, whether they are ethereal animation works or Gothic mysteries, offer a dazzling escape into worlds both familiar and strange. So, whether you crave something majestic and poetic or perhaps darker and more intense, these binge-worthy Netflix shows are guaranteed to cast you under their spell. Join us as we unlock the doors to eight of the most binge-worthy fantasy series streaming now.

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1

‘The Sandman’ (2022–2025)

Jacob Anderson as Daniel, the new Dream of the Endless, wearing all white in The Sandman Season 2 Vol 2
Jacob Anderson as Daniel, the new Dream of the Endless, wearing all white in The Sandman Season 2 Vol 2
Image via Netflix

While only two seasons long, The Sandman is arguably one of the most exciting and visually stunning fantasy shows currently streaming. This dark fantasy epic, based on Neil Gaiman‘s comic series, follows the enigmatic Lord of Dreams — portrayed by Tom Sturridge, the personification of dreams and nightmares and ruler of the dreaming — as he breaks free from capture that lasts 106 years and embarks on a quest to restore order to his kingdom.

Far from just your regular fantasy show, The Sandman is an evocative experience that delves into existential themes such as faith, desire, death, and identity, compelling character dynamics, and enchanting production design. From the richly imaginative realm of the dreaming to the blending of historical and supernatural elements, this visual feast is guaranteed to keep audiences of all ages stunned throughout. In addition to its breathtaking cinematography, what arguably distinguishes it from other shows of the genre is its almost poetic storytelling and philosophical approach.

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2

‘Locke & Key’ (2020–2022)

locke-and-key-jackson-robert-scott Image via Netflix

Locke & Key is what you get when you imagine moving to an ancient ancestral mansion that holds magical keys, each with a unique power, and discover that you’re suddenly part of a centuries-old battle between light and darkness. Equal parts family drama, dark mystery, and thrilling treasure hunt, this Netflix series keeps audiences hooked from the beginning. At its center is the Locke family: mother Nina (Darby Stanchfield) and her three children, Tyler (Connor Jessup), Kinsey (Emilia Jones), and Bode (Jackson Robert Scott). After the murder of patriarch Randall, the family relocates to their colonial-era home in Massachusetts, where Bode soon stumbles upon a hidden magical world inside the house.

Locke & Key draws the excitement and creativity of children’s fantasy classics but also explores mature themes such as healing, family dynamics, and loss, which help elevate it from a mere supernatural romp to something with heart and capable of touching audiences. For viewers who are into beautifully shot Gothic shows, this dark fantasy might be the right pick (though arguably not the eeriest of the genre). While there has been some criticism regarding its pacing, it’s safe to say that Locke & Key has generally earned praise for its creative concept, engaging storytelling, and even character chemistry, making it a bingeable, heartfelt journey.

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3

‘Sweet Tooth’ (2021–2024)

Gus (Christian Convery) and Wendy (Naledi Murray) in Sweet Tooth.
Gus (Christian Convery) and Wendy (Naledi Murray) in Sweet Tooth.
Image via Netflix

Sweet Tooth is the pick-me-up for viewers who want to watch a fantasy show that feels like a warm embrace, even amid all the chaos. Based on Jeff Lemire‘s comic, Sweet Tooth whisks audiences into a post-apocalyptic America where hybrid children, part human and part animal, struggle to survive in a fractured world. Specifically, the story follows Guz, played by Nixon Bingley, a sweet and curious boy with fierce antlers who lives in a hidden sanctuary with his protective father before tragedy forces him into the wider, dangerous world.

Sweet Tooth shines in its ability to blend childlike wonder and the grimness of reality, featuring a heartwarming central relationship between Guz and Tommy (Nonso Anozie), a good-hearted loner who becomes both protector and surrogate father figure. The kind of show that will make you laugh one minute, cry the other, and cheer for hope all in one episode, Sweet Tooth does not shy away from exploring weighty issues such as environmental collapse, fear of the unknown, and the question of what it means to be human — yet, it approaches them with a delicate and gentle touch, remaining optmistic without ever feeling naive.











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Collider Exclusive · The Sorting Hat Awaits
Which Hogwarts House Are You?
Gryffindor · Slytherin · Hufflepuff · Ravenclaw
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Four houses. One destiny. The Sorting Hat has considered thousands of students — now it’s your turn. Answer honestly and discover where you truly belong at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

🦁Gryffindor

🐍Slytherin

🦡Hufflepuff

🦅Ravenclaw

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01

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What quality do you value most in yourself?
Answer as honestly as you can — the Hat always knows.




02

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A friend is being treated unfairly. What do you do?
How you protect others says everything about who you are.




03

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What does success look like to you?
What you’re working toward defines who you’re becoming.




04

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What is your greatest fear?
Fear is the most honest thing about a person.




05

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The rules say no. Your gut says go. What do you do?
Every institution has rules. What you do with them is a choice.




06

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What kind of friend are you?
Who you are to the people you love is who you really are.




07

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You look into the Mirror of Erised. What do you see?
The mirror shows the deepest desire of your heart.




08

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The Sorting Hat pauses. It whispers: “You could do well in any house. But what matters most to you — truly?”
This is your tiebreaker. The Hat always listens.




The Sorting Hat Speaks
Your House Has Been Chosen
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After careful deliberation, the Sorting Hat has made its decision. This is the house your values, your instincts, and your particular way of being in the world were made for.


Gryffindor Tower · Scarlet & Gold

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🦁 Gryffindor

You have nerve. Not the reckless kind, but the deep, quiet courage that shows up even when you’re terrified — especially then.

  • Gryffindors don’t act because they’re fearless — they act because they understand that some things are worth being afraid for.
  • You stand up for people when it would be easier to look away.
  • You charge toward what’s right even when the odds are terrible.
  • Harry, Hermione, Ron — the heroes of Hogwarts’s greatest chapter — all called the tower with the scarlet and gold home. And now, so do you.


Slytherin Dungeon · Emerald & Silver

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🐍 Slytherin

You are driven, sharp, and utterly clear-eyed about what you want and how to get there.

  • Slytherin has long been misunderstood — painted as the house of villains when it is, at its best, the house of those who refuse to accept limits placed on them by others.
  • You are resourceful, strategic, and you play the long game.
  • You know your worth. You protect your own fiercely.
  • The dungeon common room with its view of the Black Lake is yours — and the ambitions that will take you further than anyone expects are yours too.


Hufflepuff Basement · Yellow & Black

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🦡 Hufflepuff

You are the kind of person that makes the world genuinely better just by being in it.

  • Hufflepuff is not the “safe” house or the “leftover” house — it is the house of those with the greatest heart and the most unwavering integrity.
  • You show up. You work hard. You don’t need glory or recognition — you do what’s right because it’s right.
  • Your loyalty never wavers, even when tested.
  • Nymphadora Tonks, Cedric Diggory, Newt Scamander — some of the wizarding world’s finest. And now you join them.


Ravenclaw Tower · Blue & Bronze

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🦅 Ravenclaw

Your mind is your greatest gift, and you’ve always known it.

  • Ravenclaws are the thinkers, the questioners, the ones who find a puzzle irresistible and a good book better company than most people.
  • Ravenclaw is not merely about intelligence — it’s about the love of learning, the pursuit of truth, and the rare courage to admit you don’t know something yet.
  • You see the world with unusual clarity and depth.
  • Luna Lovegood, Filius Flitwick, Rowena Ravenclaw herself — all extraordinary, all original. And so are you.

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4

‘Shadow and Bone’ (2021–2023)

A young man has his arm around a young woman and she smiles at him as they both walk together in Shadow and Bone.
A young man has his arm around a young woman and she smiles at him as they both walk together in Shadow and Bone.
 
Image via Netflix

Based on Leigh Bardugo‘s fan-favorite Grishaverse novels, this Netflix adaptation puts everything on the table: epic battles, forbidden magic, and electric love triangles, encapsulating all these elements into a narrative that’s as sprawling as it is intimate. At its center is Alina Starkov, played by Jessie Mei Li, an orphan and mapmaker thrust into the brutal world of the Grisha, powerful magical warriors, after discovering a rare light power that could be the key to saving her war-torn country. Alongside her, of course, are an ensemble of unforgettable characters, including the brooding and dangerously charming Darkling, brought to life by Ben Barnes.

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Beyond its well-written characters, what catapults Shadow and Bone above many fantasy adaptations is, of course, its ambitious Russia-inspired universe. Central to its charm, too, is the incredible chemistry between the characters and its approach to interweaving multiple storylines (something that doesn’t happen in the book), dueling the novels into a cohesive narrative and balancing action sequences with character-driven drama that persuades audiences to care for its characters. Despite its cancellation, it’s fantasy done right: large in vision, rich in characters, and brimming with magic.

5

‘One Piece’ (2023–Present)

A boy and a girl tied up with rope in One piece Image via Netflix / courtesy Everett Collection

You’ve probably heard of Eiichiro Oda‘s legendary, generation-defining manga and anime, and the Netflix live-action take has propelled it into even greater recognition. At its center is Monkey D. Luffy, played by Iñaki Godoy, a boy blessed with the powers of the Gomu Gomu fruit, which renders his body rubbery and practically indestructible. Luffy’s dream? Why, of course, to find the elusive One Piece treasure and become the Pirate King, a title that promises ultimate freedom. Alongside him is a vibrant crew of friends, each with tangled pasts and hopes. Their journey is an entertaining blend of drama, humor, and intense battles in a fantastical ocean.

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Keeping the spirit alive while carving a fresh course for newcomers and devoted fans alike, One Pieces live-action brilliance lies in how it manages to capture the fantastical whimsy and emotional heft of Oda’s sprawling universe without losing its soul to excess. It is visually striking, with amazing practical stunt work and chemistry. And despite walking a delicate line by adapting decades of beloved anime lore, One Piece has impressed critics and fans alike for its faithfulness to the source material, strong performances, and overall joyous spirit. It’s no wonder, then, that it makes for a fun, binge-worthy show.

6

‘The Witcher’ (2019–Present)

Henry Cavill as Gerard of Rivia in The Witcher
Henry Cavill as Gerard of Rivia in The Witcher
Image via Netflix

If swords, sorcery, and swagger are your fantasy essentials, chances are you’re familiar with this Netflix original, based on Andrzej Sapkowski’s beloved book series and popular games. The Witcher plunges viewers into a world both brutal and beautiful, where choices are grim and consequences are deadly. At the center is Geralt of Rivia, played by Henry Cavill (a role that was passed down to Liam Hemsworth in the upcoming season), a monster hunter genetically enhanced to slay terrifying beasts. Along the way, Geralt finds his path intertwined with the destinies of Yennefer of Vengerberg, a powerful sorceress with a tragic past, played by Anya Chalotra, and Ciri, a princess with a mysterious destiny that could change the fate of the world, brought to life by Freya Allen.

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The Witcher fascinates by boasting lush cinematography with dark forests, medieval castles, and brutal battlefields that feel lived-in and palpable. Anchored by Cavill’s beloved portrayal of Geralt — equal parts stoic and subtly humorous, with vulnerability hiding behind his tough exterior — the series also thrives on a multi-timeline narrative that weaves present and past seamlessly, gradually revealing character backstories and motivations. Add in incredible chemistry between the three lead characters, and it’s no wonder that the series has earned tremendous praise for strong performances, action sequences, and sprawling worldbuilding. Still, Cavill’s departure has cast uncertainty over the series’ future.

7

‘Wednesday’ (2022–Present)

Jenna Ortega as Wednesday staring into the camera in Wednesday Season 2 Part 2
Jenna Ortega as Wednesday staring into the camera in Wednesday Season 2 Part 2
Image via Netflix

When it comes to recent fantasy must-sees, Wednesday takes the crown. This Gothic Tim Burton-directed series invites audiences to step into the shadowy corridors of Nevermore Academy — a school that welcomes outcasts, monsters, and misfits — providing a strikingly fresh take on a classic character who’s been stealing scenes and hearts for generations. With Jenna Ortega‘s incredible performance at its center, Wednesday is an immersive dive into mystery, wit, and supernatural high school drama, all laced with the unique depth and charm of the iconic Addams Family character. In the show, Wednesday not only hones her psychic abilities but also tackles a slew of mysteries, from local murders to her own family’s enigmatic past.

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What makes Wednesday binge-worthy is its amazing blend of horror, humor, and heartfelt coming-of-age moments. It is also a visual feast: stunning architecture, shadowy forests, and quirky supernatural elements are wrapped in cinematic and stylish cinematography. It’s no wonder, then, that Wednesday, with its witty writing that dances effortlessly between creepy trills and sharp comedy, has become a fan and critic favorite. In true Tim Burton-esque fashion, it not only perfectly captures the spirit of an iconic character but also makes her fresh, funny, and utterly fascinating for a whole new generation.

8

‘Arcane’ (2021–2024)

Hailee Steinfeld as Vi in Arcane Season 2 Finale
Hailee Steinfeld as Vi in Arcane Season 2 Finale
Image via Netflix

If Wednesday takes home the award for the most binge-worthy Gothic fantasy series in recent memory, Arcane is the animation king of streaming. Inspired by the popular video game League of Legends, it rises beyond just a cartoon show: it’s an epic visual symphony that redefines what fantasy animation can be, plunging viewers into the divided world of Piltover and Zaun, where cities are locked in a delicate yet dangerous dance between technical marvel and gritty survival. At its heart are sisters Vi and Jinx, whose complicated relationship sets the emotional core of the series.

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Arcane provides audiences with breathtaking artistry and storytelling sophistication, marrying hand-painted textures with 3D modeling in a way that feels almost painterly and undeniably alive. It isn’t just eye candy, though — narrative-wise, it’s a tour de force that explores memorable characters, moral ambiguity, and even social tension. Plus, it delves into hardship, loyalty, and revolution, resonating with mature audiences while maintaining accessibility for newcomers. For those who appreciate animated TV as an art form, the groundbreaking show is a dazzling and heart-pounding journey.


03178198_poster_w780.jpg
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Release Date
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2021 – 2024

Network

Netflix

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Showrunner

Christian Linke

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Directors

Barth Maunoury, Marietta Ren, Christelle Abgrall

Writers
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Amanda Overton, Nick Luddington, Mollie Bickley St. John, Ben St. John, Giovanna Sarquis, Henry G.M. Jones

Franchise(s)

League of Legends

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10 Forgotten Steamy Movies That Are Actually Great, Ranked

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Susan Sarandon and James Spader in a scene from the 1990 romantic drama film White Palace

Erotic cinema gets flattened more cruelly than almost any other kind of film. If it is explicit, people reduce it to heat. If it is elegant, people call it stylish and move on. If it is dangerous, they remember the scandal more than the craft. And if it is genuinely great, if it uses desire to expose grief, class shame, self-invention, power, loneliness, rot, fantasy, or the humiliating distance between what people want and what they can safely admit they want, it still somehow ends up being treated like a side corridor of film history instead of one of the genre spaces where filmmakers have often been bravest.

That is why lists like this matter. Not because these films need pity. They do not. They are alive. They are sharp. They are often smarter than the movies that overshadowed them. But they do need rescuing from the lazy idea that erotic films are only about surface. These 10 films are erotic and they’re actually great with substance and plot and everything. Lock in.

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10

‘White Palace’ (1990)

Susan Sarandon and James Spader in a scene from the 1990 romantic drama film White Palace Image via Universal Pictures

What I love about White Palace is that it understands sex as class collision before it understands it as romance. That is the thing people miss when they treat it like some vaguely “unlikely couple” drama. Max Baron (James Spader) is grief-stricken, polished, educated, younger, and moving through a world of upper-middle-class taste and coded restraint. Nora Baker (Susan Sarandon) is older, rougher, louder, more direct, more alive in a way that threatens every defensive layer he has built around his bereavement and his social identity.

When they come together, the film is asking whether he can survive being stripped of the superiority and control his whole emotional life is leaning on. And Sarandon is extraordinary because she never lets Nora become a fantasy of earthy authenticity for some younger man’s awakening. She is sexual, yes, but also embarrassed, proud, wounded, funny, defensive, and fully alert to how the world judges her body, her age, her background, her appetite. That makes the film much more painful than its premise sounds. Every tender moment is brushing up against humiliation or social violence or the possibility that attraction is not enough to bridge the lives around it. White Palace matters because it knows desire does not level class and shame. It exposes them.

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9

‘Dream Lover’ (1993)

Mädchen Amick in a still from the 1993 thriller film Dream Lover Image via Gramercy Pictures

This is one of those erotic thrillers that feels like it should be mentioned much more often than it is, because Dream Lover understands the core pleasure of the form better than a lot of bigger titles do. It is not only about sex, and it is not only about deception. It is about how erotic obsession makes people willingly unreadable to themselves. Ray Reardon (James Spader) falls for Lena Mathers (Mädchen Amick) with the exact kind of hungry certainty that thrillers like this need. He wants her quickly, confidently, and with just enough self-satisfaction to make the audience nervous on his behalf. That nervousness is where the movie lives.

And then Amick starts doing the real work. The film keeps letting Lena stay slightly ahead of definition, in a way that makes desire itself feel complicit. Ray keeps treating intimacy as knowledge, as if sleeping with someone, marrying them, possessing access to them, must eventually stabilize who they are. Dream Lover knows that is fantasy. It keeps turning marriage into a hall of mirrors where sex, money, suspicion, and self-invention get knotted together until trust itself starts looking like an erotic mistake.

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8

‘Sirens’ (1994)

Elle Macpherson as Sheela, Portia de Rossi as Giddy, and Tziporah Malkah in a scene from the 1994 Australian film Sirens Image via Roadshow Film Distributors

There is a softness to Sirens that makes people underestimate how sly it really is. On the surface it is all sun, skin, art, teasing, pre-Raphaelite beauty, and social comedy. A young clergyman and his wife visit an eccentric painter in Australia and step into this sensual, half-mocking, half-seducing world built around the body and image and temptation. That sounds light, and in some ways it is. But the film’s intelligence is in how it turns erotic energy into a test of temperament rather than a cheap moral provocation. Everyone is exposed differently by the atmosphere of the place.

Estella Campion (Tara Fitzgerald)’s awakening feels like the film recognizes that repression and innocence are not the same thing, and that beauty can destabilize people not because beauty is evil but because it reveals how frightened they are of desire once it stops being abstract. The painter’s household has this languid, unserious surface, though the movie is quietly doing something deeper underneath, asking what forms of purity are actually just fear in ceremonial clothing. Sirens seduces and laughs at the same time. That is a hard balance, and it makes the film linger.

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7

‘The Duke of Burgundy’ (2014)

Sidse Babett Knudsen in the 2014 film The Duke of Burgundy Image via Artificial Eye

This is one of the most exquisitely made erotic films of the last few decades because it understands that ritual can be both erotic structure and emotional prison. The setup sounds simple enough, a relationship between two women involving elaborate dominance-and-submission routines, but the film is so much more than a “BDSM drama.” It is about repetition. It is about maintenance. It is about how desire can remain real while the performance of desire starts exhausting the person trying to keep another person’s fantasy alive. That is such a sad, adult thing for an erotic film to understand.

And because the movie is so beautifully tactile, the fabrics, the rooms, the sounds, the little ceremonial humiliations and corrections, the ache gets stronger, not softer. Cynthia (Sidse Babett Knudsen) and Evelyn (Chiara D’Anna) negotiating love through power, and those negotiations are full of disappointment, tenderness, resentment, caretaking, longing, and the unbearable knowledge that what turns one person on may be what quietly tires another person out. The Duke of Burgundy is erotic in the deepest sense because it treats desire as a pattern with emotional consequences. That addition gives it depth.

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6

‘Swimming Pool’ (2003)

Charlotte Rampling in Swimming Pool
Charlotte Rampling in Swimming Pool
Image via Focus Features

This is one of those films where the erotic charge is inseparable from authorship and envy, which is exactly why it is so rich. Sarah Morton (Charlotte Rampling) arrives in France blocked, controlled, chilly, and faintly contemptuous, a writer whose relationship to sex seems more observational than lived. Then Julie (Ludivine Sagnier) blows into the house like a deliberate disruption, all appetite, noise, danger, body confidence, and narrative instability.

The obvious reading is older woman versus younger woman, repression versus freedom, watcher versus exhibitionist. The film keeps giving you that material and then making it slipperier every minute. What I adore is how mercilessly Swimming Pool links erotic fascination to creative theft. Sarah is magnetized by Julie. She watches, judges, absorbs, rearranges. The sexual atmosphere becomes inseparable from the artistic one. Is Julie a real person? A projection? A fantasy of everything Sarah cannot admit she wants, fears, or envies? The movie never locks the door neatly, and that ambiguity is the whole seduction.

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5

‘In the Cut’ (2003)

Meg Ryan as Frannie wearing a police jacket and sitting at a police station in In the Cut
Meg Ryan as Frannie wearing a police jacket and sitting at a police station in In the Cut 
Image via Sony Pictures Releasing 

I will defend In the Cut forever because it is one epic New York erotic thriller and was punished, in part, for how completely it refused to flatter anybody. Jane Campion made the city feel bruised, sweaty, literate, dangerous, and uncomfortably intimate. Frannie Avery (Meg Ryan) is not written as a glossy thriller heroine drifting through a sexy mystery. She is solitary, observant, turned on by danger in ways she does not fully respect in herself, and moving through a story where language, violence, and eroticism keep sticking together in ways that feel dirty rather than sleek. That dirtiness is the point.

What makes the film so good is how little distance it puts between desire and vulnerability. Frannie’s attraction to Giovanni Malloy (Mark Ruffalo) is not romanticized as “bad-boy chemistry” in the cheap sense. It feels like compulsion mixed with curiosity mixed with self-endangerment. Ruffalo gives him exactly the right kind of rough, unreadable pull, and the movie keeps asking whether Frannie is moving toward him because she sees something true in him or because truth itself has become erotically fused with threat. The murder plot matters, yes, but less than the atmosphere of female subjectivity under siege by its own appetite. In the Cut is messy, feverish, and emotionally exposing. That is why it is great.

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4

‘Damage’ (1992)

Juliette Binoche in Damage (1992) Image via Entertainment Film Distributors

This film is so punishing and so elegant that watching it can feel like being trapped inside a confession somebody should never have made out loud. Louis Malle strips the affair down to something almost ceremonial in its inevitability. Stephen Fleming (Jeremy Irons) and Anna Barton (Juliette Binoche) are not simply in love and not simply behaving recklessly. The movie treats their desire like a force that humiliates ordinary language. Politics, family, adulthood, social roles, parental obligation, all of it starts looking flimsy the moment they enter a room together.

That kind of fatal eroticism is very hard to pull off without becoming ridiculous. Damage pulls it off because it never blinks from the destruction. Anna is not a simple temptress figure and not a solved psychological profile. She carries silence like a weapon, and the film is wise enough to let that silence keep its danger. Irons, meanwhile, understands Stephen’s collapse not as romantic liberation but as something much more degrading. He becomes smaller under the appetite, less articulate, less dignified, more frighteningly willing to destroy everything that once told him who he was. That is what makes Damage so powerful. It does not treat passion as noble.

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3

‘The Last Seduction’ (1994)

Bill Pullman looking intently ahead in The Last Seduction (1994) Image via October Films

This is one of the sharpest erotic thrillers ever made. This film, for once, shows that sex and intellect can be fused into the same predatory style without softening either one. Bridget Gregory (Linda Fiorentino) is the center of everything, of course, and she is so good that she almost broke the category around her. She does not play femme fatale as some old-school decorative danger but like an appetite armed with contempt. Bridget is always reading people, always measuring weakness, always two moves ahead, and the movie’s whole pleasure lies in how ruthlessly it lets her stay that way.

What makes the film more than just a deliciously evil ride is the precision of its social understanding. Men keep misreading Bridget because they want to, because desire flatters them into believing they are the one player in the room who cannot possibly be handled. That makes their downfall feel less like plot mechanics and more like character truth. The eroticism in The Last Seduction is inseparable from power’s theater. That is hard, bright, vicious filmmaking.

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2

‘Bound’ (1996)

Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly in Bound Movie smiling.
Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly in Bound Movie smiling.
Image via Gramercy Pictures

I love Bound because it is one of the sexiest films ever made about competence. Not just bodies, though it has plenty of charge there. Competence. The Wachowskis probably understood that erotic thrillers become transcendent when desire and plotting start feeding each other, and Bound does that with an almost impossible amount of confidence. Corky (Gina Gershon) and Violet (Jennifer Tilly) are hot together, obviously, but what makes the movie truly intoxicating is the way attraction sharpens into strategy. Every glance becomes a transfer of information. Every seduction becomes a practical maneuver. Every intimate moment deepens the con. That is movie pleasure at a very high level.

And the film is so beautifully engineered. The apartment geography matters. The money matters. The mob pressure matters. Caesar (Joe Pantoliano) is all sweat and unraveling masculine panic, which gives the film this deliciously claustrophobic counterpoint to the cool, lucid charge between Corky and Violet. One is grounded, tensile, built for action-space. The other is breathy, performative, slippery, and much smarter than the performance first suggests. Bound is one of the purest examples of how sex, suspense, and formal precision can make each other smarter.

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1

‘Exotica’ (1994)

Mia Kirshner in the 1994 erotic thriller film Exotica Image via Alliance Communications Corporation

Atom Egoyan’s Exotica is not great for an erotic film. It is just great. Full stop. The club itself is one of the most beautiful and sorrowful locations in modern cinema, all ritualized desire, repeated music, controlled fantasy, and private damage humming under every performance. People go there to look, yes, but also to mourn, to displace, to rehearse, to punish themselves, to sit inside longing without naming what the longing is really for. That is such a devastating thing for a movie to understand.

And the film’s whole structure deepens that insight. Christina (Mia Kirshner) is not just an object of desire. Francis (Bruce Greenwood) is not just a lonely man with an obsession. Eric (Elias Koteas) is not just a jealous DJ. Thomas (Don McKellar) is not just a pet-shop owner with his own clandestine life. Everybody in Exotica is trying to manage pain through ritual, and the erotic atmosphere makes that pain visible rather than hiding it. The film keeps rearranging who knows what, who wants what, and why desire in this world is so knotted up with memory and guilt. It makes erotic performance feel unbearably sad without draining it of its charge. That is true magic. That is why it belongs at number one.













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Collider Exclusive · Oscar Best Picture Quiz
Which Oscar Best Picture
Is Your Perfect Movie?

Parasite · Everything Everywhere · Oppenheimer · Birdman · No Country
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Five Oscar Best Picture winners. Five completely different visions of what cinema can be — and what it can do to you. One of them is the film that was made for the way your mind works. Ten questions will figure out which one.

🪜Parasite

🌀Everything Everywhere

☢️Oppenheimer

🐦Birdman

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🪙No Country for Old Men

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01

What kind of film experience do you actually want?
The best movies don’t just entertain — they leave something behind.





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02

Which idea grabs you most in a film?
Great films are driven by a central obsession. What’s yours?





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03

How do you like your story told?
Form is content. The way a story is shaped changes what it means.





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04

What makes a truly great antagonist?
The opposition defines the protagonist. What kind of opposition fascinates you?





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05

What do you want from a film’s ending?
The final note is the one that lingers. What do you want it to sound like?





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06

Which setting pulls you in most?
Where a film takes place shapes everything — mood, stakes, what’s even possible.





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07

What cinematic craft impresses you most?
Every great film has a signature — a technical or artistic element that makes it unmistakable.





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08

What kind of main character do you root for?
The protagonist is the lens. Who you choose to follow says something about you.





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09

How do you feel about a film that takes its time?
Pace is a choice. Some films sprint; others let tension accumulate slowly, deliberately.





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10

What do you want to feel walking out of the cinema?
The best films leave a mark. What kind of mark do you want?





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The Academy Has Decided
Your Perfect Film Is…

Your answers have pointed to one Oscar Best Picture winner above all others. This is the film that was made for the way your mind works.

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Parasite

You are drawn to films that operate on multiple levels simultaneously — that begin in one genre and quietly, brilliantly migrate into another. Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite is a film about class, desire, and the architecture of inequality that manages to be darkly funny, deeply suspenseful, and genuinely shocking across a single extraordinary running time. Your instinct is for cinema that hides its true intentions until the moment it’s ready to reveal them. Parasite is exactly that — a film that rewards close attention and punishes assumptions, right up to its devastating final image.

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Everything Everywhere All at Once

You want it all — and this film gives you all of it. The Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All at Once is one of the most maximalist films ever made: action comedy, multiverse sci-fi, family drama, existential crisis, and a genuinely earned emotional core that sneaks up on you amid the chaos. You are someone who responds to ambition, who doesn’t want cinema to choose between being entertaining and being meaningful. This film refuses that choice entirely. It is overwhelming by design, and its overwhelming nature is precisely the point — because the feeling of being crushed by infinite possibility is exactly what it’s about.

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Oppenheimer

You are drawn to cinema on a grand scale — films that understand history not as a backdrop but as a force, and that place their characters inside that force and watch what happens. Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is a film about the terrifying gap between what we can do and what we should do, told with the full weight of one of the most consequential moments in human history behind it. You want your films to feel important without feeling self-important — to earn their ambition through sheer craft and the gravity of their subject. Oppenheimer does exactly that. It is enormous, complicated, and refuses easy comfort.

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Birdman

You are drawn to films that foreground their own construction — that make the how of the filmmaking part of the what it’s about. Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman, shot to appear as a single continuous take, is cinema examining itself through the cracked mirror of a fading actor’s ego. You respond to formal daring, to the feeling that a film is doing something that probably shouldn’t be possible. Michael Keaton’s performance and Emmanuel Lubezki’s restless camera create something genuinely unlike anything else — a film that is simultaneously about creativity, relevance, self-destruction, and the impossibility of ever truly knowing if your work means anything at all.

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No Country for Old Men

You are drawn to cinema that trusts silence, that refuses to explain itself, and that treats dread as a form of meaning. The Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men is a film about the arrival of a new kind of evil — implacable, arbitrary, and utterly indifferent to the moral frameworks we use to make sense of the world. It is one of the most formally controlled films ever made, and its controlled restraint is what makes it so terrifying. You want your films to haunt you, not comfort you. You are not interested in resolution if resolution would be dishonest. No Country for Old Men is honest in a way that most cinema never dares to be.

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exotica-1994-poster-2.jpg
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Exotica

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Release Date

March 24, 1995

Director
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Atom Egoyan

Writers

Atom Egoyan

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Only 8 Anime Series Are Better Than ‘One Piece’

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Edward and Alphonse Elric in 'Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood'.

The anime community as a whole cannot decide on the best anime, which is only natural since everyone has different tastes and preferences. However, one of the most popular anime series ever is One Piece, which still hasn’t hit its peak at over a thousand episodes. The anime still has a bunch of time left with plenty of storytelling potential, but its expansive world, engaging characters, intriguing themes, creativity, and entertainment value have established it as an anime juggernaut.

One Piece may be a lot of fans’ favorite anime, but it isn’t the best, and while others think there are many better series than it, there may only be 8 anime shows better than One Piece. This list will highlight anime series that most fans can agree are better than the biggest thing on TV based on writing, animation, originality, lack of flaws, popularity, fan opinion, critical acclaim, and overall quality.

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Edward and Alphonse Elric in 'Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood'.
Edward and Alphonse Elric in ‘Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood’.
Image via Bones Inc.

Let’s get the obvious entry out of the way, because many consider Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood the best anime of all time, and therefore, it is most likely better than One Piece. After Ed and Al lose parts or all of their bodies in a taboo experiment, they go on a quest to restore these lost parts with the philosopher’s stone. However, when they uncover a government conspiracy, they must now stop it before it consumes the entire world.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is hailed as the best anime ever because of its wide appeal, from the engaging characters, riveting story, mystery, lore, worldbuilding, comedy, drama, romance, and action. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood didn’t need thousands of episodes to create a magnificent world that is ripe with well-written characters and profound themes. Only a series such as this can compete with One Piece, and in this case, excel above it.

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7

‘Steins;Gate’ (2011)

Cast of Steins;Gate looking at a phone
Cast of Steins;Gate looking at a phone
Image via Whit Fox

This list tries to feature anime that are similar to One Piece so that they can easily be compared, but certain series are so good that they had to be featured here, including Steins;Gate. When a self-proclaimed mad scientist accidentally creates a machine that can send texts into the past, he and his friends must now correct the timeline before it collapses on itself, while also battling a secret organization.

Steins;Gate and One Piece don’t have much in common, with each having its own strengths. However, the former is tightly written with no plot holes, and that is rare when dealing with time travel. Steins;Gate is a psychological masterpiece and a profound thriller that delves into the philosophical side of time travel. Its narrative structure is phenomenal, and the direction is incredible, creating an all-time great that is better than most shows, proving to be a genre-defining anime series.

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6

‘Gintama’ (2006–2021)

The main characters in Gintama
The main characters in Gintama
Image via Bandai Namco

There are a decent number of long-running shōnen anime on this list, and one of the most underrated is Gintama. Set in an alternate universe in feudal Japan where aliens have taken over the world, Gintoki is a former samurai who now works odd jobs to keep the lights on. Alongside Kagura and Shinpachi, the trio take on whatever job comes their way, whether it involves aliens, terrorists, police, or space pirates.

Gintama takes a very different approach to other anime, focusing mostly on episodic comedy episodes. However, the handful of times it had a serious arc, Gintama wowed with its marvellous storytelling, fantastic fights, and renowned cast of characters. Gintama excels at keeping its characters relevant, with plenty of side adventures and serious plot lines, handling those aspects much better than One Piece.

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5

‘Mob Psycho 100’ (2016–2022)

Mob (Shigeo Kageyama) from Mob Psycho 100
Mob (Shigeo Kageyama) from Mob Psycho 100
Image via Bones

ONE is an iconic author who has made a couple of the best manga and anime series in the world, including Mob Psycho 100. Shigeo is the world’s strongest psychic, but he only wants an average life and to impress his crush. Unfortunately, because he suppresses his emotions, they come out through an explosion of uncontrollable psychic powers, which makes life difficult for him, his friends, and his enemies.

Mob Psycho 100 is one of the best anime of all time, and it does this by creating a gorgeous character study where each episode is a different descent into the ego and self-improvement. From some of the best characters in anime to top-tier humor, incredible rewatchability, remarkable animation, and riveting fight scenes, Mob Psycho 100 is better than almost every single anime out there, not just One Piece.











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Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz
Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like?
Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky
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Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.

🏜️Paul Atreides

🖖Capt. Kirk

Princess Leia

🔦Ellen Ripley

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🔥Max Rockatansky

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01

How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher?
The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.





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02

What is your greatest strength in a crisis?
The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.





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03

What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for?
Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.





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04

How do you relate to the people around you?
Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.





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05

You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do?
How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.





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06

What has your heroism cost you personally?
Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they’d pay it again.





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07

How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in?
Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?





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08

When everything is on the line, what keeps you going?
The answer is the most honest thing about you.





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Your Hero Has Been Identified
Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…

Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.

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Arrakis · Dune

Paul Atreides

You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.

  • You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
  • You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
  • Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
  • That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.

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USS Enterprise · Star Trek

Captain Kirk

You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.

  • You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
  • Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
  • Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical — it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
  • That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.

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The Rebellion · Star Wars

Princess Leia

You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.

  • You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
  • You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
  • Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
  • That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.

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The Nostromo · Alien

Ellen Ripley

You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.

  • You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
  • Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
  • You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
  • When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.

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The Wasteland · Mad Max

Max Rockatansky

You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.

  • You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
  • Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
  • Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
  • That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.
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4

‘Cowboy Bebop’ (1998–1999)

Two men fighting in a church in Cowboy Bebop - Ballad of Fallen Angels - 1998
Spike and Vicious facing off, with weapons pointed at each other
Image via Sunrise
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As mentioned, not every anime on this list is like One Piece, and Cowboy Bebop is another distinct masterpiece that has cemented itself in history. Spike Spiegel and his crew of bounty hunters make a living by cleaning up the scum of the galaxy, taking jobs every day that lead them into danger. However, when his dark past catches up with him, Spike must face it or risk losing everything.

Cowboy Bebop uses its unique blend of noir, jazz, and lived-in sci-fi to create a philosophical space adventure. Each episode is a masterpiece in this series, creating a distinct aesthetic and narrative architecture that is much better than what One Piece has built. It is hard to compare the two, but Cowboy Bebop has a lasting legacy and made Westerners realize that anime has rich storytelling potential.

3

‘Hunter x Hunter’ (2011–2014)

Cast of Hunter x Hunter posing during the Chimera Ant arc
Cast of Hunter x Hunter posing during the Chimera Ant arc
Image via Madhouse
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One Piece is a legendary series, and therefore, there are a lot of series that will feel similar to it. One of the most similar anime series to One Piece is Hunter x Hunter, which follows Gon, an optimistic child who wants to find his father. To do so, he follows his father’s path, going on an adventure to become a hunter. Little does he know that this journey will put him through hell and back.

Like Eiichiro Oda, Yoshihiro Togashi is a legendary manga author, and these two series go hand in hand as some of the best series ever. Hunter x Hunter is also a master of worldbuilding, and while it may not reach the heights of One Piece, it has plenty of other aspects that rise above it, including pacing, character development, tight storytelling, and memorable moments. Hunter x Hunter has a grand sense of adventure that explores the world and the characters inside of it.

2

‘Monster’ (2004–2005)

Dr. Tenma confronts Johan in 'Monster.'
Dr. Tenma confronts Johan in ‘Monster.’
Image via Madhouse
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Naoki Urasawa is a prolific author with some of the best manga mysteries of all time, and his magnum opus is Monster. Tenma is a surgeon who chooses to save the life of a child instead of the mayor. However, when that same child becomes a serial killer, Tenma takes matters into his own hands. But will he be able to kill Johan when he learns of his dark past?

No anime creates as big a mystery and rising tension as Monster, which uses its slow-burning, suspenseful story to ignite an inferno of a writing masterclass. This philosophical battle between humanism and nihilism creates an unwavering triumph of narrative prowess that no shōnen anime can compare to. Monster is better at most things than most anime, and One Piece is no different.

1

‘JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’ (2012–Present)

Promotional image of all the Joestar protagonists in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Promotional image of all the Joestar protagonists in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure
Image via Warner Bros. Japan
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For some fans, there are a lot of anime better than One Piece, and for others, there are none, but either way, viewers can acknowledge a series such as JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure for its creativity. Each part follows a new character in the Joestar lineage, fighting a variety of villains with varying goals, from becoming a vampire to taking over the world.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’s best attribute is its variety, using new protagonists, side casts, and villains to create a new spice every season. Whether it focuses on a globe-trotting adventure with engaging fight scenes or finding a serial killer in a small town, each journey is magnificent. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is a tense and wildly imaginative series that mixes storytelling with absolute surrealism, making the new season one of the best anime of 2026.

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13 Years Later, the Biggest Zombie Blockbuster in History Is Crushing Paramount+

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Daniella Kertesz in World War Z

It’s safe to say 2025 was one of the most successful years of Brad Pitt’s career. He starred in F1, which went on to become the highest-grossing movie of his career with over $600 million at the global box office. Following a successful run in theaters, F1 has gone on to become the most-watched movie on Apple TV by a mile, even outlasting newer arrivals like Eternity (starring Elizabeth Olsen). Pitt is also back in the spotlight in 2026 with the release of his new action-adventure movie, Heart of the Beast, which comes from director David Ayer. The film was recently set for release in theaters on September 25, and if it’s any indication about how good the cast and crew feel about it, David Ayer chose to work on Heart of the Beast over reuniting with Jason Statham for The Beekeeper 2.

Before F1 arrived in theaters last year, Brad Pitt’s highest-grossing movie of his career was World War Z, which scored over $540 million at the global box office. Not only was World War Z the highest-grossing movie of Pitt’s career, it’s still the highest-grossing zombie movie ever made. World War Z was recently added to Paramount Plus around the world, and the film wasted no time jumping to the top of streaming charts as one of the most-watched movies in the world. The film holds average scores of 67% from critics and 72% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, but that didn’t stop fans around the world from going to see it in theaters upon its premiere in 2013. What makes the success of World War Z that much more impressive is that Brad Pitt is the only major star in the film — James Badge Dale, Mireille Enos, and Daniella Kertesz feature alongside him in the post-apocalyptic thriller.

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Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz
Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive?
The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars

Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you’d actually make it out of alive.

💊The Matrix

🔥Mad Max

🌧️Blade Runner

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🏜️Dune

🚀Star Wars

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01

You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do?
The first instinct is often the truest one.





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02

In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely?
What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires.





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03

What kind of threat keeps you up at night?
Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.





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04

How do you deal with authority you don’t trust?
Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.





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05

Which environment could you actually endure long-term?
Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.





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06

Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart?
The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are.





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07

Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all?
Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they’re actually made of.





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08

What would actually make survival worth it?
Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another.





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Your Fate Has Been Calculated
You’d Survive In…

Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.

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The Resistance, Zion

The Matrix

You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.

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  • You’re drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it.
  • You’d find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines’ worst nightmare.
  • You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it.
  • The Matrix built an airtight prison. You’d be the one probing the walls for the door.


The Wasteland

Mad Max

The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.

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  • You don’t need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon.
  • You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you’re good at all three.
  • You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider.
  • In the wasteland, that distinction is everything.


Los Angeles, 2049

Blade Runner

You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.

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  • You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer.
  • In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional.
  • You’re not a hero. But you’re not lost, either.
  • In Blade Runner’s world, that distinction is everything.


Arrakis

Dune

Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.

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  • Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they’re survival tools.
  • You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory.
  • Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You’d learn its logic and earn its respect.
  • In time, you wouldn’t just survive Arrakis — you’d begin to reshape it.


A Galaxy Far, Far Away

Star Wars

The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.

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  • You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion.
  • You’d gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire’s grip can be broken.
  • You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn’t something you’re capable of.
  • In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference.

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What Is ‘World War Z’ About?

World War Z follows a former United Nations employee, Gerry Lane (played by Brad Pitt), who travels the world in a race against time to stop a zombie pandemic that threatens to destroy the entire world. World War Z is based on the novel of the same name by Max Brooks, and a talented team of scribes consisting of J. Michael Straczynski, Damon Lindelof, Drew Goddard, and Matthew Michael Carnahan wrote the script with Mark Forster directing. Forster recently worked with Tom Hanks on the 2022 film, A Man Called Otto.

Check out World War Z on Paramount Plus and stay tuned to Collider for more streaming updates and coverage of Pitt’s future projects.


01472159_poster_w780.jpg
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Release Date

June 21, 2013

Runtime

116 minutes

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Director

Marc Forster

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Writers

Damon Lindelof, Drew Goddard, Matthew Michael Carnahan, J. Michael Straczynski, Max Brooks

Producers
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Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Ian Bryce, Jeremy Kleiner

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Bear Brown Says Brother Matt Struggled Before Disappearing

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Matt-Brown-Alaskan-Bush-People

Bear Brown has shared details of his brother Matt Brown’s past struggles amid the Alaskan Bush People alum’s disappearance.

Posting via TikTok on Thursday, May 28, Bear, 38, claimed that Matt, 43, had been grappling with some tough situations in his personal life.

“He has been struggling for a long time, you know, with alcohol and with drugs and stuff,” Bear claimed. “He has other issues and stuff, too. He has done a lot of stuff that people like, don’t even know about.”

In the video, Bear recalled the last interaction he had with his sibling, explaining that he ran into Matt at a Walmart and they spoke for a few minutes.

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“That was the last time I saw him, you know, and he called me after that, and he said that he had fallen off the wagon, and I was like, ‘Well, get back on it, man, you know, everybody falls off, you know, just get back on it, rehab if you’ve got to, you’ve got this, you fought it a lot before,’, and that was the last call I had with him, and that was a little bit ago.”

Bear added that Matt had also been dealing with a relationship breakdown at the time.

“He was going through like a really bad breakup, apparently,” Bear said. “There was this girl that he really liked, and I guess they, like, broke up, and I guess he’d been drinking too much and stuff, and I don’t know all the details to it.”

Matt-Brown-Alaskan-Bush-People
Matt Brown/Instagram

There are grave fears for Matt’s wellbeing after witnesses claimed that they had seen Matt floating in a river. Bear addressed these claims in the TikTok video, clarifying that he couldn’t confirm the speculation was “100%” accurate but it was “likely.”

TMZ reported that the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office received an anonymous call on Wednesday, regarding a man sitting in the shallow waters of the Okanogan River in Washington. The caller claimed to see the man lying face down in the river and being swept away by the current. Emergency responders searched the area but have yet to find a body.

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Bear Brown Condemns 'Hateful' Comments Amid Fears for Brother Matt


Related: Bear Brown Condemns ‘Hateful‘ Comments Amid Fears for Brother Matt

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Bear Brown slammed people leaving disrespectful comments about brother Matt Bear amid the family’s concerns for his well-being. “First off, I’m not just making a video on rumors. It’s a very, very, very, very small chance it’s not him. It’s like 99 percent him,” Bear, 38, said of the family’s fear for Matt, 43, in […]

A source close to the Brown family told Us Weekly, “The family is not sure what to believe right now. They are not sure where Matt is but they are hoping that he is OK and that the information is wrong. They are all in contact and speaking to police and waiting to hear. They have had their issues [with Matt] and Gabe has been the person most in contact with him.”

Bear and Matt both appeared on the Discovery show Alaskan Bush People. The series aired from 2014 to 2022. Matt quietly exited the reality show in 2019.

If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or considering suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

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Rebecca Ferguson’s Addictive Thriller Gem Is the Perfect Late-Night Streaming Watch

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01393966_poster_w780.jpg

After Gone Girl arrived like a whirling dervish and messed up viewers all over the place, studios were desperate for the next big “there’s a woman in trouble and she may be an unreliable narrator” thriller. This particular film arrived right in the middle of that wave, and while it never became quite as memorable as some of the more successful movies of that time, it’s the perfect kind of movie you’d stick on late at night on a Saturday with a glass of wine and end up hooked. And nobody would argue with that for a review.

The Girl on the Train is pulling into the Netflix station on June 1. The film is based on Paula Hawkins’ bestselling novel, and follows Rachel Watson, a recently divorced woman who becomes obsessively fixated on a seemingly perfect couple she sees during her daily train ride. But when the woman she has been watching goes missing, Rachel becomes far too entangled in the investigation, even though her own memory is all over the place, and her connection to the case is far messier than anyone could possibly imagine.

The Girl on the Train stars Emily Blunt (A Quiet Place) as Rachel Watson; Rebecca Ferguson (Dune) as Anna Watson, Rachel’s ex-husband’s new wife; Haley Bennett (The Magnificent Seven) as Megan Hipwell, the missing woman; Justin Theroux (Mulholland Drive) as Tom Watson, Rachel’s ex-husband; Luke Evans (Beauty and the Beast) as Scott Hipwell, Megan’s husband; Allison Janney (I, Tonya) as Detective Riley, the investigator on the case; Édgar Ramírez (Carlos) as Dr. Kamal Abdic, Megan’s therapist; and Lisa Kudrow (Friends) as Martha, a woman from Rachel and Tom’s past.

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Collider Exclusive · Oscar Best Picture Quiz
Which Oscar Best Picture
Is Your Perfect Movie?

Parasite · Everything Everywhere · Oppenheimer · Birdman · No Country

Five Oscar Best Picture winners. Five completely different visions of what cinema can be — and what it can do to you. One of them is the film that was made for the way your mind works. Ten questions will figure out which one.

🪜Parasite

🌀Everything Everywhere

☢️Oppenheimer

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🐦Birdman

🪙No Country for Old Men

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01

What kind of film experience do you actually want?
The best movies don’t just entertain — they leave something behind.





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02

Which idea grabs you most in a film?
Great films are driven by a central obsession. What’s yours?





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03

How do you like your story told?
Form is content. The way a story is shaped changes what it means.





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04

What makes a truly great antagonist?
The opposition defines the protagonist. What kind of opposition fascinates you?





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05

What do you want from a film’s ending?
The final note is the one that lingers. What do you want it to sound like?





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06

Which setting pulls you in most?
Where a film takes place shapes everything — mood, stakes, what’s even possible.





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07

What cinematic craft impresses you most?
Every great film has a signature — a technical or artistic element that makes it unmistakable.





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08

What kind of main character do you root for?
The protagonist is the lens. Who you choose to follow says something about you.





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09

How do you feel about a film that takes its time?
Pace is a choice. Some films sprint; others let tension accumulate slowly, deliberately.





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10

What do you want to feel walking out of the cinema?
The best films leave a mark. What kind of mark do you want?





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The Academy Has Decided
Your Perfect Film Is…

Your answers have pointed to one Oscar Best Picture winner above all others. This is the film that was made for the way your mind works.

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Parasite

You are drawn to films that operate on multiple levels simultaneously — that begin in one genre and quietly, brilliantly migrate into another. Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite is a film about class, desire, and the architecture of inequality that manages to be darkly funny, deeply suspenseful, and genuinely shocking across a single extraordinary running time. Your instinct is for cinema that hides its true intentions until the moment it’s ready to reveal them. Parasite is exactly that — a film that rewards close attention and punishes assumptions, right up to its devastating final image.

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Everything Everywhere All at Once

You want it all — and this film gives you all of it. The Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All at Once is one of the most maximalist films ever made: action comedy, multiverse sci-fi, family drama, existential crisis, and a genuinely earned emotional core that sneaks up on you amid the chaos. You are someone who responds to ambition, who doesn’t want cinema to choose between being entertaining and being meaningful. This film refuses that choice entirely. It is overwhelming by design, and its overwhelming nature is precisely the point — because the feeling of being crushed by infinite possibility is exactly what it’s about.

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Oppenheimer

You are drawn to cinema on a grand scale — films that understand history not as a backdrop but as a force, and that place their characters inside that force and watch what happens. Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is a film about the terrifying gap between what we can do and what we should do, told with the full weight of one of the most consequential moments in human history behind it. You want your films to feel important without feeling self-important — to earn their ambition through sheer craft and the gravity of their subject. Oppenheimer does exactly that. It is enormous, complicated, and refuses easy comfort.

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Birdman

You are drawn to films that foreground their own construction — that make the how of the filmmaking part of the what it’s about. Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman, shot to appear as a single continuous take, is cinema examining itself through the cracked mirror of a fading actor’s ego. You respond to formal daring, to the feeling that a film is doing something that probably shouldn’t be possible. Michael Keaton’s performance and Emmanuel Lubezki’s restless camera create something genuinely unlike anything else — a film that is simultaneously about creativity, relevance, self-destruction, and the impossibility of ever truly knowing if your work means anything at all.

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No Country for Old Men

You are drawn to cinema that trusts silence, that refuses to explain itself, and that treats dread as a form of meaning. The Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men is a film about the arrival of a new kind of evil — implacable, arbitrary, and utterly indifferent to the moral frameworks we use to make sense of the world. It is one of the most formally controlled films ever made, and its controlled restraint is what makes it so terrifying. You want your films to haunt you, not comfort you. You are not interested in resolution if resolution would be dishonest. No Country for Old Men is honest in a way that most cinema never dares to be.

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Was ‘The Girl on the Train’ Successful?

Commercially, it was a big hit, which is no surprise because the book upon which it was based was a runaway success. It grossed about $173.2 million worldwide against a reported $45 million budget, including $75.4 million domestic and $97.8 million international, so financially it did well. It also opened at No. 1 in North America with around $24.5 million, which was a great result for an adult psychological thriller in general. Critics did not dig it though. The movie has a 44% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 48/100 on Metacritic. While critics thought Blunt was outstanding, they thought the film was too melodramatic and not as sharp as the original novel.

The Girl on the Train comes to Netflix on June 1.


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Release Date

October 5, 2016

Runtime

112 minutes

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Writers

Erin Cressida Wilson

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Producers

Celia D. Costas, Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy, Marc Platt

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Taylor Sheridan’s Addictive 3-Part Neo-Western Is the Perfect Binge for ‘Yellowstone’ Fans

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Bobbi Salvör Menuez as Paigyn Meester in 'Landman'

Taylor Sheridan fans are on top of the world right now after the neo-Western scribe has delivered several new shows to start the year. Sheridan got the ball rolling with a new Yellowstone spin-off, Marshals, which brought back Luke Grimes to play Kayce Dutton now that he’s left ranch life behind. Around the same time that Marshals was unleashed into the world via CBS, Paramount Plus subscribers were also treated to the first season of The Madison, the heartfelt neo-Western led by Kurt Russell and Michelle Pfeiffer. The Madison has already been picked up for second and third seasons, so the show isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Sheridan has a few other shows set to return later this year, including Tulsa King (starring Sylvester Stallone) and Mayor of Kingstown (starring Jeremy Renner), but they all fall under the shadow of his biggest hit since Yellowstone.

Taylor Sheridan’s most popular series by a mile to emerge in the last few years has been Landman, the neo-Western oil drama starring Billy Bob Thornton and Ali Larter. The show first premiered at the end of 2024 around the time that Yellowstone was ending, and it scored millions of viewers week after week, leaving Paramount with no choice but to renew it for Season 2. Landman returned for Season 2 almost exactly one year after the premiere of Season 1, earning even stronger viewership despite a much more polarizing reception from long-time Sheridan fans. Paramount has picked up Landman for a third season, which is confirmed to start shooting in August. The series is surging on Paramount Plus streaming charts before its inevitable return, making it one of the top 10 most-watched TV shows in the world right now.

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Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz
Which Taylor Sheridan
Show Do You Belong In?

Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown

Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn’t write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for.

🤠Yellowstone

🛢️Landman

👑Tulsa King

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⚖️Mayor of Kingstown

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01

Where does your power come from?
In Sheridan’s world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind.




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02

Who do you put first, no matter what?
Loyalty in Sheridan’s universe is always absolute — and always costly.




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03

Someone crosses a line. How do you respond?
Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it’s crossed.




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04

Where do you feel most in your element?
Sheridan’s worlds are as much about place as they are about people.




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05

How do you feel about operating in the grey?
Nobody in a Sheridan show has clean hands. The question is how they carry the dirt.




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06

What are you actually fighting to hold onto?
Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they’re defending.




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07

How do you lead?
Authority in Sheridan’s world is never given — it’s established, maintained, and constantly tested.




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08

Someone new arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction?
Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you.




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09

What has your position cost you?
Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal.




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10

When it’s over, what do you want people to say?
Sheridan’s characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind.




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Sheridan Has Spoken
You Belong In…

The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you’re complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.

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🤠
Yellowstone

🛢️
Landman

👑
Tulsa King

⚖️
Mayor of Kingstown

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You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the modern world’s indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you’re willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family’s weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what’s yours, you don’t escalate — you finish it. You’re not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone’s world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn’t make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it.

You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are thin, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You’re a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: sharp, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they’ll do to get it. You’re not naive enough to think this world is fair. You’re smart enough to be the one deciding who it’s fair to.

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You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you’re not above reminding people that the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they’d be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they’re more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don’t need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land.

You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you’re the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky’s world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You’ve made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless.

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Is ‘Landman’ Season 2 Coming Out This Year?

Paramount has yet to announce a release date for Landman Season 3, but now that the start of production has been pushed to August, it may be tough for the show to secure a 2026 release date with filming starting this late. Still, it would be surprising if Landman Season 3 premiered anytime before the end of this year, but there will be plenty of Sheridan shows to keep fans busy in the meantime. His latest series comes in the form of Dutton Ranch, another Yellowstone spin-off starring Cole Hauser and Kelly Reilly.

Check out the first two seasons of Landman on Paramount Plus and stay tuned to Collider for more updates and coverage of Season 3.


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Release Date

November 17, 2024

Network
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Paramount

Franchise(s)

Yellowstone

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