There are some movies where you can feel the tension building with every second, and then there are movies where you spend most of your time wondering why the characters haven’t simply turned around and gone home. Fall 2: Deadpoint definitely knows how to make you uncomfortable with heights, but unfortunately, it doesn’t quite reach the dizzying heights of its predecessor.

Following the events of the first Fall, this sequel introduces us to Jax, played by Harriet Slater, who is dealing with the death of her sister, Shiloh. She meets Shiloh’s adventurous friend Luce, played by Arsema Thomas, and the two decide to take on an incredibly dangerous climbing adventure in Thailand. Their destination is Mount Kwan, where they attempt to navigate a terrifying plank trail thousands of feet above the ground.

Naturally, things don’t exactly go according to plan.

A rockslide leaves Jax and Luce stranded high above the ground, and from there, the movie becomes another battle against the elements, gravity and, apparently, common sense.

And this is where my biggest problem with Fall 2: Deadpoint comes in.

We’ve already seen this movie.

Well… not literally this movie, but we have seen the basic concept. Two people get themselves into an incredibly dangerous situation at a ridiculous height, they become trapped, and then we watch them desperately try to survive. The original Fall took a very simple concept and managed to squeeze an impressive amount of tension out of it. The sequel changes the location, changes the characters and adds some twists, but it still feels like we’re watching the same movie trying to climb a different mountain.

The biggest problem is that the danger doesn’t always feel as fresh or as frightening as it should. There are certainly some moments where the heights will make your stomach drop, and the cinematography does a good job of reminding you just how high these characters are. Looking down from those planks is enough to make anyone’s palms sweaty.

But once you’ve established that falling equals death, there are only so many times you can show someone almost falling before the effect starts to wear off.

And unfortunately, that’s where the movie starts to lose its grip.

Harriet Slater does a decent job as Jax, particularly when the story focuses on her grief and the emotional connection to her sister. Arsema Thomas also brings some energy to Luce, and the two leads do what they can with the material they’re given.

The problem is that the characters sometimes make decisions that had me sitting there thinking, “Why would you do that?!”

When you’re watching a survival thriller, you want to be shouting at the screen because you’re scared for the characters. Here, I was occasionally shouting because I couldn’t understand their decision-making.

The movie also tries to compensate for its fairly predictable survival formula by throwing in some twists. Unfortunately, some of these twists feel more ridiculous than shocking. Instead of making me gasp, they occasionally made me raise an eyebrow.

And then there is the ending.

Without getting into spoilers, let’s just say the movie clearly wants to leave the door open for another instalment. Considering how this sequel already struggles to escape the shadow of the first movie, I’m not sure another climb is necessarily what this franchise needs.

The original Fall worked because of its simplicity. Two people. One tower. Nowhere to go. A terrifying situation.

Fall 2: Deadpoint tries to build on that formula, but in doing so, it makes the story more complicated without necessarily making it more interesting. Some of the twists feel unnecessary, while the emotional story doesn’t receive quite enough attention.

That doesn’t mean the movie is completely without merit.

There are still some genuinely impressive visuals, and if you suffer from a fear of heights, there are moments where you will definitely feel uncomfortable. The setting gives the filmmakers plenty of opportunities to create some spectacular-looking sequences, and there are times when the movie succeeds in making you feel just how isolated these characters are.

Unfortunately, for me, those moments weren’t enough to carry the entire film.

Fall 2: Deadpoint isn’t a complete disaster, but it feels like a sequel that was made because the first movie was successful rather than because there was a truly compelling story left to tell. It takes the basic formula and stretches it further, but bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better.

I wanted more tension, more believable character decisions and a stronger emotional connection. Instead, I got plenty of climbing, plenty of screaming and plenty of moments where I was wondering how these people managed to get themselves into this situation in the first place.

⭐ My Rating: 2/5

Fall 2: Deadpoint had me looking down, but unfortunately, it wasn’t because I was impressed by the view. The movie has some decent thrills and uncomfortable height sequences, but it spends too much time trying to recreate the magic of the original instead of finding its own footing.

In the end, this sequel falls short of the original and leaves the franchise dangling somewhere between suspense and silliness.

Hopefully, if there’s another Fall movie, the filmmakers can finally give the audience something to climb on board with.

Former “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star NeNe Leakes recently returned to Bravo by appearing in multiple episodes of “Ultimate Girls Trip: Roaring 20th.” However, after the much-talked-about appearance, the “RHOA” alum is painting a grim picture about potentially returning full-time. This comes after Andy Cohen seemingly shot down the idea of casting the 58-year-old in the show.

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Leakes was interviewed on the “Big Tigger in the Morning” show in September 2026, where she mentioned Cohen’s recent comments that the show currently has a great cast when asked about her potentially returning.

According to the “RHOA” alum via a clip from the full interview, “I think Andy has come out and said publicly that – I don’t think that he actually said the exact words, but I think what everybody took from it is NeNe won’t be back. So, NeNe won’t be back.” After that, the host asked Leakes how she felt about Cohen’s comments.

She responded, “NeNe won’t be back. I don’t feel anything. NeNe won’t be back.” Regarding where she stands with Cohen, Leakes stated that she doesn’t hold any animosity or grudges against Cohen, saying, “I don’t have any beef.”

She added, “What happened happened. They did what they did, and I did what I did, and that’s it.”

NeNe Says She Wouldn’t Be Against Appearing In A Limited Capacity

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Elsewhere in the interview, Leakes says that while she’s closing the door on a full-time role on “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” she wouldn’t be against making appearances or maybe even hosting a trip.

The mom of two said during the interview, “I would go and play with them, but as far as me actually holding a peach and all over here sitting on the couch, no. I can’t do that. That’ll drive me crazy.” From there, she reiterated that she has no “grudges” against the franchise after her 2020 exit and subsequent lawsuit against the network.

Leakes continues, “At first I felt some kind of way for a while because you have to get over things, right?” She went on to say that she has “healed from that” and “moved on.” She then said she’d “love to go over and host them on a trip.”

Regarding her overall future with the franchise, Leakes doubled down, saying, “I don’t see myself ever sitting on a couch doing a reunion.” As for her reasoning, the former “RHOA” star cited “alliances” and “ganging up,” claiming, “I don’t wanna be a part of that. I’m just not that right now in my life. I’m not there. That’s not where I wanna be.”

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Entertainment Tonight interviewed Cohen in September 2026. During the interview, the reporter mentioned Leakes’ “Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: Roaring 20th” appearance. This led to a question about her potentially returning to “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.”

He responded, “You know, I have to say, we just finished the reunion, and the cast is so great, and we have eight housewives right now, so it seems like we have a pretty stacked lineup.”

After that, he praised the former Bravo star, saying, “But I loved her return to ‘Ultimate Girls Trip.’ The fans were so excited, and I was just as excited as the fans because I’m a fan.”

Previously, on SiriusXM’s “Andy Cohen Live,” the “Housewives” executive producer shot down rumors of Leakes’ return, as well as claims that two current cast members were not being asked back for season 18, which production has begun.

He said in August 2026, “There are a lot of casting rumors online, which came out over the weekend, and I’m gonna tell you that they’re not true.”

Cohen continued, “If you want a preview of next season of Atlanta, look at this cast. This is the group, guys. I mean, we love this group.”

NeNe Leakes Previously Questioned Being A Friend Of The Show

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Leakes appeared on Cynthia Bailey and Crystal Kung Minkoff‘s “Humble Brag” podcast in July 2025. During the episode, Bailey, currently a friend of the show on “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” asked Leakes if she would consider taking on that role if the network offered it.

She expressed hesitation, saying, “I’m not mad at the ‘friend’ role. I just think, answering your question, if I were to ever step back on that platform and would I be a friend, I really feel like, I don’t know that I would be a friend.”

Leakes went on to explain her thoughts, saying, “I like the ‘friend’ role; I like the capacity; I don’t have a problem with it at all. I just would think, NeNe, season 1, the first Housewife, and I’m a friend? I don’t know.”

The ‘RHOA’ Alum Continues To Pursue Acting

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Leakes launched her acting career while appearing on “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.” Some of her most notable roles include “Glee” and “The New Normal.” More recently, she appeared in Prime Video’s “Clean Slate” and Netflix’s “The Upshaws.”

According to Deadline, Leakes appeared in BET+’s “Ms. Pat Settles It” as a celebrity juror.

Remember the Fast and the Furious movies? Ever since Fast X hit theaters in 2023, fans have been anxiously awaiting the next installment in the saga. In an interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub in studio at the Toronto International Film Festival, fan favorite Fast family member Sung Kang talked about the “little tidbits” he knows about the hopefully-still-upcoming Fast Forever and the future of the Fast franchise.

Kang is attending TIFF to premiere his sophomore feature as a director, Drifter, which in and of itself should be of great interest to Fast fans. Drifter is an original street racing sports action movie–the perfect thing to tide us over until Fast and Furious officially returns. Kang also stars in it alongside Tamara Braun, Gregory Cruz, Emelia Hartford, and Shane Johnson. Even those who aren’t familiar with street racing outside the cinema know what drifting is largely because of Kang. His character in the Fast franchise, Han, was of course introduced in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

Famously, Han was so popular that even though he [spoiler alert] died at the end of Tokyo Drift, subsequent movies went back in time to make sure he could still be part of the plot. Later, they ret-conned his death from an accident to a murder. (The family may have forgiven Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), but the North remembers! Eventually, however, F9 went full soap opera and revealed that his death had been faked. Han returned alive in Fast X as well… but what about the next one?

Vin Diesel recently shared that he’s looking to start filming at the end of 2026, and that the most recent version of the script, written by Michael Lesslie, made him cry. Director Louis Leterrier, on the other hand, told Polygon that he has yet to read a script. Meanwhile, Paul Walker‘s brother has been in the news talking about how generative AI could bring his character Brian back to the movies. Remember that while Walker died in 2013, the character is living just slightly off-screen. Must we change that? Sure, Roman (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej (Ludacris) may have gone to space, but that doesn’t mean we need to go to the Uncanny Valley next.

So, reliable and consistent updates about Fast Forever are a bit difficult to come by. Kang was, for the record, even surprised to hear from Collider that Fast Forever allegedly has a release date of 2028. “You know more than I do,” he told Weintraub.

Kang’s Not Convinced That ‘Fast Forever’ Will Be the End of the Franchise

Image via TIFF

When asked about his personal hopes for what is meant to be the final film, Kang offered:

“Well, I can say this: the little tidbits that I do get from the Fast Family is that I know that they are so appreciative of the audience that has been supporting us over the years, and so they want to make sure that they honor that community, and they are doing their best. I have faith that Universal and all the producers, the writers, the filmmakers, they’re going to put their heart into this film. So, if that’s a testament to what the movie’s going to be, I feel like it’s going to be something that is fitting for a finale — if it is a finale.”

Back it up! What did that last part mean? Is Fast Forever not going to be the end? There have been rumblings about other franchise installments, including a sequel to Hobbs & Shaw titled Hobbs & Reyes that would presumably star Jason Momoa alongside Dwayne Johnson and an unnamed all female spin-off. That’s always gone over well for big franchises like this one, historically…

But if Kang thinks that Fast and Furious‘ main canon will continue beyond Fast Forever, or knows something that we don’t about future films, that’s pretty interesting. They should probably make the dang eleventh movie first, and then worry about what’s next, but it’s cool to think about! Despite the occasional production drama, this one of the silliest, goofiest, most joyous franchises in Hollywood and we need it back ASAP.

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Fast Forever

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Release Date

March 17, 2028

Director

Louis Leterrier

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Writers

Christina Hodson, Michael Lesslie, Oren Uziel, Gary Scott Thompson

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Prequel(s)

The Fast and the Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7, The Fate of the Furious, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, F9: The Fast Saga, Fast X

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Fast & Furious

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After seven years focused on making documentaries, Werner Herzog has finally returned to the world of narrative film with Bucking Fastard. Herzog, who serves as both writer and director, spotlights Kate Mara and Rooney Mara in this film, which is inspired by the real-life story of sisters Freda and Greta Chaplin. Kate plays Jean Holbrooke, while Rooney plays her sister, Joan—two characters who are so in sync with each other that they finish each other’s sentences, speak in unison, fall in love with the same man, and struggle to find their own individual identity outside their duo. Caught in a scandal after falling for the wrong guy, Jean and Joan somehow find themselves digging a tunnel inside a cave in Ireland, in a bizarre and surreal tale that ultimately struggles to find its proper footing.

‘Bucking Fastard’s First Half Is a Weird but Hilarious Good Time

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The charm of Bucking Fastard comes in the form of the Holbrooke sisters and their unconventional bond. While they’re not actual twins, they act in a way that goes beyond the limits of identical twindom, seemingly sharing the same thoughts, dressing in the same clothes, and speaking the same words. But their connection moves far beyond that into the realm of the incestuous and inappropriate when it’s revealed they also share a lover—their neighbor, Gareth Mulroney (Orlando Bloom).

Herzog’s film begins like a legal drama, with Joan and Jean in court facing off with Gareth, who is asking for a restraining order against them. What might have seemed like a freaky interlude for Gareth feels like true love for the sisters. And when Gareth decides that it’s time to get married (to someone else), the sisters not only become wildly possessive, but seek their revenge on the man they once professed to be their true love. The legal case ends up becoming a media sensation—as it did for the real-life Chaplin twins—and launches Jean and Joan, unwillingly, into the public eye.

Much of the appeal of the first half of the movie comes from watching the two Holbrooke sisters try to navigate a modern world. From pervy creeps who are obsessed with them to onlookers who see them as an odd novelty rather than human beings, Joan and Jean might seem a little weird, but it’s impossible not to feel a bit protective of them. Their innate naïveté is endearing, even when it’s overdone.

It’s hard to understand how the sisters have remained so sheltered their entire lives, but the world Herzog creates is admittedly surreal, and it’s that combination of surreality and humor that makes the film unique. The fact that Herzog dedicates the film to David Lynch might explain some of that, but Lynchian or not, it doesn’t excuse the inconsistency that begins to poke out of the film’s seams upon closer investigation.

‘Bucking Fastard’ Fails To Make an Impact Halfway Through the Movie

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Bucking Fastard‘s problem is not one particularly unique to this movie: there are simply too many ideas. The first half feels like a small-town dramedy. Caricature-like background characters pass through the sisters’ lives, nearly as odd as they are. Save their lawyer and their Aunt Louise (Marion O’Dwyer), every character in the film is male, and they either fetishize or infantilize the sisters.

On one hand, Herzog might have been better served trying not to explain the quirky world that the Holbrooke sisters live in; lingering in the weirdness could have given the film a folktale-like quality. The problem is that Herzog does poke at the elephant in the room, trying to pop the bubble of the Holbrookes’ connection with a dose of reality. After their trial, the sisters meet Timothy (Domhnall Gleeson), a social worker who has been assigned to help them find their independence from each other. It’s in these moments that it becomes clear that Joan and Jean’s synchronicity isn’t just a fantastical trait, but more likely the result of loneliness and a fear of abandonment.

As Timothy encourages them to do things on their own, we finally see some friction between the sisters. Ironically, it’s this move to “explain” their codependency that ruins the narrative. During the second half of the film, Herzog throws a bunch of concepts at the wall, hoping that one of them might stick. Though the film is beautiful, with Herzog using his experience as a nature documentarian to capture the majesty of rural Ireland, once the movie reaches this point, it also begins to lack any real substance. Rather than leaning fully in, Bucking Fastard vacillates between absurdity and a more sobering reality. This then leads to glaring inconsistencies with tone and pacing that bring the momentum to a screeching halt.

Despite All of That, ‘Bucking Fastard’ Allows Kate and Rooney Mara To Shine

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What ultimately makes Bucking Fastard work is the dynamic between Kate and Rooney Mara. It’s a testament to their performances that it’s actually not difficult to see the distinct traits unique to each character, even when they act and look like carbon copies of each other. Rooney delivers a just-slightly-better performance as the more emotive of the two sisters, but it’s her natural chemistry with Kate that creates the magic. At the same time, their ability to speak in unison, adapting the same staccato tone, is genuinely impressive, and the Maras deserve all the flowers for the complicated performance.

Another standout comes in the form of Bloom, who plays the cavalier, flirtatious, and ultimately disloyal neighbor who the sisters first fall in love with. It’s odd that Bloom hasn’t played many characters like this, because he excels at embracing a smarmy attitude, one that makes him utterly punchable but also endlessly entertaining. Compared to some of the other completely one-dimensional characters, Bloom is the source of much of the film’s humor, and it’s a pity we didn’t get more of him.

Although Herzog’s script could have used a lot more refining, Bucking Fastard is visually sumptuous and warm. The costuming, visual landscape, and camera angles all evoke a sense of the fantastical without bringing in any true elements of fantasy. Toward the end of the film, Herzog dips back into a bit of magical realism, but due to the pivoting back and forth in tone, it doesn’t land nearly as hard as it should. At the end of it all, the Maras remain the best part of the Bucking Fastard, but even they are occasionally overshadowed by a concept that needs a bit more sharpening and refining.

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Release Date

September 5, 2026

Runtime

109 minutes

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Director

Werner Herzog

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Writers

Werner Herzog

Producers

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Agnes Chu, Ariel Leon Isacovitch, Clara Wu Tsai, Werner Herzog

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Cast

• 
• 

  Rooney Mara

  Joan Holbrooke

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Pros & Cons

• Kate and Rooney Mara excel at playing the odd Holbrooke sisters and acting in sync.
• Orlando Bloom is perfect as a smarmy antagonist, a role we rarely see him in.

• The first half of the film and the second half feel too tonally different to mesh together.
• In trying to explain the sisters’ bond, the movie loses some of its charm and mystique.
• Herzog loses some of the absurdity that would have gone a long way to making this a winning film.

N.O.R.E. has responded to the sexual assault allegations made against him in a new lawsuit. The complaint was filed by Carmen Bryan in New York City on Wednesday, September 9. The rapper, whose real name is Victor James Santiago Jr., denied the claims on Thursday, September 10.

RELATED: New Details Emerge About Sidney Starr’s Alleged Sexual Assault Of Underage Boy At Hotel (UPDATE)

N.O.R.E. Responds To Lawsuit — Denies Sexual Assault Allegations

The Shade Room reported that Bryan filed a lawsuit accusing a drunken Santiago of sexually assaulting her at a nightclub back in May 1999. Bryan is the mother of Nas’ daughter, Destiny Jones. According to Rolling Stone, the ‘Da Hustla‘ artist was allegedly “visibly intoxicated” when he approached her inside a Manhattan nightclub. N.O.R.E is accused of committing an “act of nonconsensual digital penetration” in the lawsuit.

The rapper denied the claims with a post in his Instagram Stories, and he also accused Bryan of lying while bringing up her memoir about her sexual escapades with celebrities.

“The allegations by Ms. Bryan about invented interactions with Mr. Santiago from nearly three decades ago are entirely false,” reads the post. “It should be noted that Ms. Bryan has a long history of making salacious and contested claims about public figures.”

“This includes a 2006 ‘tell-all’ book where she provided excruciating detail about her personal vendettas and sexual encounters with celebrities. Yet nowhere in this ‘tell-all’ (or her 2018 book, Life After Child Support: When The Checks Stop Coming) did she mention Mr. Santiago or anything resembling this alleged incident. We will defend Mr. Santiago from this legally groundless lawsuit and look forward to exposing Ms. Bryan’s fabrications in court as we clear Mr. Santiago’s good name.”

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Bryan wrote the 2018 book “LIFE AFTER CHILD SUPPORT: When The Checks Stop Coming,’ A short cautionary tale about overcoming financial dependency and creating your own wealth.” She also wrote the 2006 book ‘It’s No Secret: From Nas to Jay-Z, from Seduction to Scandal–a Hip-Hop Helen of Troy Tells All.’

Carmen Bryan’s Sexual Assault Accusations

Carmen’s complaint states that the artist “physically overpowered” Bryan as N.O.R.E. allegedly ignored her instructions to stop until he was pulled off by other guests at the club.

“Santiago’s conduct constituted nonconsensual sexual contact, offensive touching, assault, battery, sexual assault, and gender-motivated violence,” alleges the lawsuit.

In addition the complaint claims that the rapper followed Bryan after she left the club while allegedly stating, “Don’t you know who I am?” Furthermore, the lawsuit claims that the rapper apologized once he recognized Bryan under a streetlight.

“Carm, I didn’t know it was you,” he allegedly said. “You’re always doing something different with your hair.”

Bryan also claimed in the lawsuit that he apologized again at a Father’s Day/birthday party for Nas and Destiny.

“Santiago’s repeated explanation that he had not known it was Ms. Bryan did not make the assault consensual, accidental, or lawful,” the lawsuit states. “It reinforced that Santiago understood he had crossed a line and sought to excuse his conduct only after recognizing who she was.”

Fans Respond With Mixed Reactions

Fans reacted to the lawsuit and N.O.R.E.’s denial after it was shared on TSR’s Instagram page, and many were skeptical of Carmen Bryan’s claims. However, others wondered if it was true.

@woman_lucid replied, “19999999999999????? Ninnnnnnnnnnnee??? Ninety ninnnnnnnne?????”

User @guggyisawesome added, “Nore was never that kind of person. He never carried himself in that way. I stand with bro.”

@princedagreatest wrote, “What else is he supposed to say? Yeah I did it?”

@_thebaddievault_ added, “Hell, listen to the name of the book 😂😂 you already know this a money grab!”

User @quis.szn wondered, “So she just picked you out of everybody, huh? 😭 and I hate to defend her, mind you because of the Nas/Jay Z thing. But I believe her… but with her track record, there’s a motive begind her waiting damn near 30 years to say something.”

RELATED: Photo Of Sidney Starr In Court Surfaces As Judge Denies Bond Following Arrest On Child Sexual Assault Charges (UPDATE)

There is no point in watching a great thriller if you’re not calculating all the time. You start calculating. Who has the gun? Who knows more than they are admitting? How long until somebody makes the choice that ruins everything? The room around you becomes irrelevant because the movie has quietly turned you into another nervous participant. That is the standard here. Not merely suspenseful. Not merely dark.

And the best part is how differently they do it. One weaponizes an empty room. Another turns Los Angeles traffic into a death clock. The tension changes shape every time. The grip does not. These are 8 most exciting thrillers of the 21st century and they make sitting still feel strangely difficult.

8

‘The Invisible Man’ (2020)

Image via Universal Pictures

Cecilia Kass (Elisabeth Moss) escapes an abusive relationship in the middle of the night, convinced that Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) will never willingly let her go. Then Adrian is reported dead. The Invisible Man immediately understands the cruelest possible question to place inside that relief. What if Cecilia is right to remain afraid even when nobody else can see what she sees?

The movie gets enormous mileage from apparently empty space. A doorway held in frame for slightly too long becomes suspicious. A chair seems occupied even when it is not. A breath, footprint, or minor movement suddenly matters because Cecilia’s safety depends on proving the existence of something designed to leave no proof. The restaurant sequence is especially vicious because it takes a public place, somewhere that should feel safe, and turns one impossible act into instant catastrophe. The sci-fi hook is clever, but the real tension comes from everyone around Cecilia deciding that fear itself is evidence against her.

7

‘Collateral’ (2004)

Image via DreamWorks Pictures

Max Durocher (Jamie Foxx) thinks he is picking up one more passenger during another long night driving a cab through Los Angeles. Vincent (Tom Cruise) gets in, offers him a large fare for several stops, and seems unusually composed. Then a body crashes onto the roof of the taxi.

From there, Collateral turns the city into a route Max desperately wants to escape. Vincent has a schedule to keep and several people to kill before sunrise, which gives every delay a strange double meaning. Traffic can save Max or trap him. A nightclub becomes a maze of cops, targets, and gunfire. Even the quieter scenes feel dangerous because Vincent can switch from philosophical conversation to lethal efficiency without changing his tone very much. The coyote crossing the empty street briefly stops both men and somehow makes Los Angeles feel even stranger. By dawn, the entire city seems to have become part of the chase.

6

‘Gone Girl’ (2014)

Image via 20th Century Studios

Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike) disappears on her fifth wedding anniversary, leaving behind blood, an overturned living room, an anniversary treasure hunt, and a husband who looks increasingly terrible on television. Gone Girl spends its first half asking whether Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) killed his wife. Then it becomes far more entertaining once you realize that question was only the entrance.

The media circus is almost as dangerous as the marriage itself. Nick’s smile beside Amy’s missing-person poster becomes national evidence of guilt. Amy’s diary provides one version of their relationship, while reality keeps exposing how carefully both spouses curate themselves for other people. Then “Cool Girl” arrives, not simply as a speech but as a brutal explanation of the performance Amy believes women are expected to maintain. The movie is wickedly funny because Nick and Amy understand each other better than anyone else ever could. That mutual understanding is precisely what makes the marriage terrifying.

5

‘Sicario’ (2015)

Image via Lionsgate

The convoy into Juárez is where Sicario announces the kind of movie it intends to be. FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) sits inside an armored vehicle surrounded by men who seem completely comfortable with a level of danger she is still trying to understand. Bodies hang from an overpass. Traffic slows near the border. Everybody starts watching the surrounding cars.

Nothing explodes for several minutes, yet the scene is almost unbearable. That is the movie’s specialty. Kate is constantly entering rooms where the rules have already been agreed upon by people who did not bother telling her. Alejandro Gillick (Benicio del Toro)’s calm makes him difficult to read, while Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) treats the entire operation with the casual confidence of someone who has accepted moral compromises Kate is still discovering. The tunnel raid pushes that feeling into literal darkness. You are not excited because you understand the plan. You are excited because Kate does not.

4

‘Prisoners’ (2013)

Image via Warner Bros.

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Certainty is the most frightening thing in Prisoners. Two little girls disappear on Thanksgiving. Their families remember a suspicious RV parked nearby. The police find Alex Jones (Paul Dano), but there is not enough evidence to hold him. Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) hears him say just enough to become convinced the answer is standing right in front of him.

Keller kidnaps Alex and begins trying to force information from him, turning a father’s desperation into something the audience cannot comfortably endorse or dismiss. Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal), meanwhile, follows clues through abandoned properties, old cases, mazes, and people whose connection to the disappearance keeps changing shape. The movie thrives on the gap between what Keller believes and what Loki can prove. Rain seems to fall constantly, rooms feel airless, and every hour lost feels catastrophic. Even before the case fully reveals itself, the pressure has already done damage nobody can undo. Not to mention that Jackman’s acting was so intense, and at one point he punched so hard in improvisation that his co-stars got scared.

3

‘Uncut Gems’ (2019)

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As funny as it sounds, Uncut Gems is a brilliant thriller. Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler) is the only person in Uncut Gems who seems to believe Howard Ratner is one smart move away from fixing everything. That belief survives gambling debts, furious collectors, family problems, business trouble, and every previous smart move that made the situation worse.

The black opal gives Howard a new obsession because Kevin Garnett (Kevin Garnett) becomes convinced it has special power, and suddenly jewelry, basketball, debt, and superstition are all part of the same frantic calculation. Howard keeps borrowing against things he does not truly control, then using the temporary breathing room to make another bet. Doors jam. Phones ring. People shout over each other. Even a Celtics game becomes difficult to watch because Howard has built a wager complicated enough to make every possession feel life-or-death. The remarkable thing is that you eventually start wanting his insane plan to work. That is how completely the movie traps you inside his brain.

2

‘The Departed’ (2006)

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Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) is working undercover inside Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson)’s organization. Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) is working inside the Massachusetts State Police for Costello. Both sides know they have a rat. Neither side knows exactly who.

That setup gives The Departed a wonderful cruelty because almost every conversation contains information somebody is not supposed to have. A phone left vibrating on a table can become more frightening than a gun. Billy is being crushed by the strain of living among criminals who would kill him immediately if they knew the truth, while Colin keeps improvising ways to protect a secret life that looks increasingly impossible to maintain. Costello enjoys making everyone around him uncomfortable, which makes even casual conversations feel unstable. Then the movie reaches the elevator, and if you know, you know. Few thrillers are this funny, nasty, and committed to reminding you that one bad second can erase a very careful plan.

1

‘No Country for Old Men’ (2007)

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Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) finds the aftermath of a drug deal in the Texas desert, discovers a case containing two million dollars, and takes it home. He knows exactly what kind of trouble that money represents. He takes it anyway.

The chase that follows in No Country for Old Men feels terrifying because Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) barely seems to participate in ordinary human urgency. He moves at his own pace, uses a captive bolt pistol like something borrowed from another nightmare, and occasionally lets a coin toss decide whether another person gets to live. The gas-station scene contains almost no action, yet “call it” becomes unbearable because the man behind the counter slowly realizes the stakes before he understands the reason. Moss is resourceful enough to make the pursuit exciting, especially during the motel and border stretches, but the movie keeps widening beyond hunter and hunted through Sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones)’s exhausted perspective. That is what gives the tension such unusual weight. You are watching a chase, but you are also watching an older man realize the world no longer behaves according to rules he recognizes.

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No Country for Old Men

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Release Date

November 21, 2007

Runtime

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122 minutes

Director

Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

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Writers

Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

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Director Quentin Tarantino frequently shares his list of favorite movies, ranging from broad best-of-the-year lists to breakdowns of more obscure genres. His favorite movie of 2026, for instance, is the Netflix crime-thriller The Rip, starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. His favorite spaghetti Western, on the other hand, is Sergio Leone‘s epic The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Tarantino has also made his love for grindhouse cinema quite apparent over the course of his career. Around two decades ago, he collaborated with Robert Rodriguez on a grindhouse double-bill released theatrically; his installment, Death Proof, is widely regarded as his most minor work. Unsurprisingly, Tarantino has a list of favorite grindhouse films, and the highest-rated movie on it is currently streaming on Prime Video and Shudder. In his book “Cinema Speculation,” Tarantino described it as one of the few “perfect” movies ever made.

Not every movie with a vaguely exploitation-cinema vibe can meet Tarantino’s guidelines for what qualifies as grindhouse cinema. Number-one on the list of requirements, he explained in a 2008 interview, is that the movie in question must have played in an actual grindhouse — that is, not a mainstream theater. “Halloween could be on here, but Friday the 13th couldn’t, because that was a Paramount movie,” he explained. Tarantino’s favorite grindhouse movie is an 83-minute horror classic that spawned a franchise that continues to this day, and is about to be rebooted by Curry Barker, the director of this year’s smash-hit Obsession.

Here’s Where You Can Watch Quentin Tarantino’s Favorite Grindhouse Movie on Streaming

We’re talking, of course, about The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Director Tobe Hooper‘s controversial slasher movie was partially inspired by the crimes of serial killer Ed Gein and was banned in several countries for its graphic content. The movie was produced on a shoestring budget of $140,000, and it went on to gross $30 million. It now holds a “Certified Fresh” 85% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “Thanks to a smart script and documentary-style camerawork, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre achieves start-to-finish suspense, making it a classic in low-budget exploitation cinema.” The movie launched a franchise that has survived decades, and was most recently rebooted by Netflix in 2022. A new movie, directed by Barker, will be produced and distributed by A24. You can watch Hooper’s 1974 original on Prime Video, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

In fantasy, villains are beloved characters. All readers need is an evil sorcerer, a cruel king, or a tyrant who only wants to gain more power, and they have plenty of good reasons to hate any of them. Still, some of the most interesting villains in fantasy literature make their readers’ relationships with them complicated. This can happen when villains commit awful deeds but justify their actions; they may be cruel, but they have also suffered cruelty at the hands of others; or, in some cases, they are such unique personalities that readers feel sorry for them when they fail.

The five fantasy novels discussed below show that a villain can be cool even if they’re completely unlikable. They need to give readers a reason to understand them. Before long, that understanding can turn into sympathy, sympathy can turn into investment, and suddenly you’re cheering for someone you probably shouldn’t.

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

Image via JungShan Chang / Harper Voyager / HarperCollins

The Poppy War is the debut novel by author R.F. Kuang. It follows the life of subdued Fang Runin, also known as Rin. After hardships as a war orphan, she wants to fight the arranged marriage set for her, and her only escape leads to the dangerous Keju exam, a difficult national test that grants her admission to Sinegard, an elite military school in her nation. The book starts as a run-of-the-mill fantasy novel, but gradually grows darker and more twisted as Rin learns about her shaman powers tied to the Gods. Once the war breaks out, her academics become purely practical, and she has to face the reality of war.

Rin is the type of character who proves that the term villain does not fully encompass her complexity. Her actions turn out to be more reckless and more extreme, and her rage ultimately pushes Rin to commit a horrifying crime. Nevertheless, throughout the story, Kuang helps readers understand why Rin has become such a person. She has been the victim of severe violence and discrimination, had to face manipulations by those in power, and had to endure all these terrible events of war. None of that excuses what she does, but it makes her choices understandable. Her rage becomes a source of power, and Kuang makes it increasingly difficult for readers to separate Rin’s violence from the world that taught her violence was the only language anyone respected.

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

Image via Will Staehle / Tor Books

In Vicious by V.E. Schwab, Victor Vale and Eli Cardale are college roommates who become fascinated by the possibility of creating superhuman abilities. Their research reveals that near-death experiences can transform ordinary people into ExtraOrdinaries, and the two decide to test the theory on themselves. It works, but the experiment destroys their friendship. Ten years later, Victor has spent years in prison, while Eli has reinvented himself as a celebrated hero with a very different mission: eliminating other ExtraOrdinaries. Victor escapes prison with his new friend Mitch and sets out to find Eli, turning what began as a scientific experiment into a deeply personal revenge story.

Victor is ruthless, calculating, and perfectly comfortable hurting people if he believes there’s a reason for it. He also has absolutely no interest in pretending otherwise. Eli, meanwhile, has convinced himself that killing other ExtraOrdinaries makes him a hero, giving Vicious a deliciously warped take on the superhero story. Victor’s desire for revenge isn’t noble, but Schwab makes his perspective increasingly persuasive because Eli’s supposed heroism is built on hypocrisy. Victor also develops genuine attachments, particularly to Sydney, that complicate the idea that he’s simply a cold-blooded monster.

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

Image via Gollancz/Spectra/Benjamin Carré

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch features Locke Lamora, a thief, a con artist, and an exceptionally talented liar. He also happens to be the leader of the Gentleman Bastards, a gang that specializes in elaborate schemes designed to separate wealthy nobles from their money. Their home is Camorr, a sprawling fantasy city inspired by medieval Venice, where the criminal underworld runs by its own rules. Locke and his crew technically maintain a respectable reputation as petty thieves while secretly pulling off enormous cons. That arrangement works beautifully until a mysterious criminal known as the Gray King begins dismantling Camorr’s criminal hierarchy.

Calling Locke a villain isn’t quite accurate, but calling him a hero would be even harder to defend; he lies constantly, steals for a living, manipulates people for money, and has no problem bending or breaking rules when it benefits him. Yet Lynch gives him the qualities that make a morally questionable character impossible to resist. When the Gray King destroys Locke’s carefully constructed world and murders members of his crew, Locke’s desire for revenge becomes nonobjective. Locke is the sort of character who can walk into a disaster of his own making, somehow make everything worse, and still have you desperately hoping he gets out alive.

The Young Elites by Marie Lu

Image via Kip Rasmus / Penguin Audio

A decade after a horrible blood fever ravaged the kingdom, many of the survivors bear the marks of their ordeal in The Young Elites by Marie Lu. The malfettos are treated like dangerous outcasts, and a smaller group emerges from the disease with wondrous powers and becomes known as the Young Elites, while the Inquisition Axis fervently hunts them down, fearing they will destroy the kingdom. Adelina Amouteru is one of those malfettos. After years of abuse from her father, she kills him by accident after her powers awaken, leading to her being sentenced to death. She is saved by the Dagger Society, a group of Young Elites who oppose the kingdom, although joining them is far from helping Adelina become a true fantasy hero.

Adelina’s narrative gets interesting precisely because she becomes less likable while always remaining understandable. The protagonist is paranoid, selfish, cruel, and increasingly full of rage and fear. Her illusion abilities are tied to these emotions, and the feelings that make her dangerous also make her powerful. Lu shows that Adelina’s bad traits aren’t hidden from the reader; instead, she describes the abuse and suffering that made her who she is before showing that she has gained the power to fight back.

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

Image via Gollancz/Chris McGrath

Joe Abercrombie’s The Blade Itself doesn’t bother with the traditional fantasy distinction between good guys and bad guys. Its world is packed with people who are compromised, selfish, violent, or all three, and the story follows several of them as political conspiracies, wars, and old grudges begin colliding. There’s Logen Ninefingers, a notorious Northman trying to outrun his bloody past; Jezal dan Luthar, a vain nobleman obsessed with fencing and status; and Sand dan Glokta, a former war hero who has become a torturer for the Inquisition after being brutally crippled. Then there’s Bayaz, an enigmatic wizard who claims to be the First of the Magi and quickly becomes entangled in the others’ lives. The result is a fantasy story where almost everyone has a reason to make you uncomfortable.

Glokta might be the clearest example of why Abercrombie’s characters are so difficult to categorize. He’s a torturer. He extracts confessions through agony and works for a deeply corrupt institution. By any conventional standard, he’s a villain; yet Glokta is also one of the most perceptive people in the story, and his investigations expose corruption that the supposedly respectable members of society would rather keep hidden.

After the success of Tim Burton‘s Batman in the late 1980s, studios across town dedicated themselves to producing movies based on other pulp comic strip characters from the 1930s and 1940s. One of the most prominent superheroes of that era had already been featured in a short-lived television series in the 1960s, around the same time as the Adam West and Burt Ward Batman series — in fact, both shows were created by the same man, William Dozier. However, the other property didn’t get a proper film adaptation until much later, during the second wave of superhero cinema in the 2010s. The movie’s production was riddled with problems, and its star later described the experience of making it as a “nightmare.” Now, the movie is streaming for free in the United States, so if you haven’t checked it out, now is your chance to do so.

It was released in 2011, just a year before Marvel’s The Avengers and during Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Interestingly, the movie didn’t follow the path established by the MCU, nor was it a grounded epic in the vein of Christopher Nolan‘s The Dark Knight Trilogy. One of the many reasons behind its perceived failure was that it refused to be put in a box. Appearing on Marc Maron‘s WTF Podcast, Seth Rogen shared stories about the making of the movie, and said that the script was under constant scrutiny from the studio, while the expensive action sequences were not paid attention to at all. “What we spent literally $50 million dollars on, no one checks out. And that’s what’s crazy. The way the money was spent and the way the money is spent on a lot of these movies is crazy,” Rogen said.

Here’s Where You Can Watch the Failed Superhero Franchise-Starter for Free

We’re talking, of course, about The Green Hornet, also featuring Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz, Christoph Waltz, Tom Wilkinson and a pre-Stranger Things David Harbour. The movie was directed by Michel Gondry, and his inexperience at tackling big-budget projects quickly became an issue. “It was his first movie with more than a $20 million budget and this was a $120 million budget,” Rogen said, citing his own shortcomings in the action genre as well. The movie ultimately grossed around $230 million worldwide. The movie now holds a 45% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “It’s sporadically entertaining, but The Green Hornet never approaches the surreal heights suggested by a Michel Gondry/Seth Rogen collaboration.” You can watch The Green Hornet for free this month on Pluto TV, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

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Release Date

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January 14, 2011

Runtime

119 Minutes

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