They say comedy ages faster than any other genre, yet Charlie Brown remains youthful and hilarious. The tragic protagonist of the Peanuts franchise has been dispensing wisdom in the form of wry one-liners for over seven decades now, and he still stands out from all the imitators. Author Charles Schulz was groundbreaking in the 1950s for ascribing deep thoughts to child characters, and over the years that characterization has resonated with people more and more. By now, nearly all modern fans can say they “grew up with” Charlie Brown, no matter when they started, but there are still comic strips and animated specials to see.

Peanuts began as a comic strip about the social lives of small children, where adults are rarely seen or heard from. The characters are all insightful and philosophical, even if their concerns are childish. Charlie Brown is often characterized as an anxious over-thinker, and whenever he builds up some courage he tends to find himself punished in an ironic way. Decades of slapstick gags haven’t hardened him, however, as you can see in the five beloved Charlie Brown quote below.

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“Who Reassures the Reassurer?”

Image via Peanuts Worldwide

These days, everyone from marketing interns to content creators know that the easiest way to tug at an audience’s heartstrings is with a dog. Schulz was ahead of his time in this regard when he paired the anxious Charlie Brown with the bold Snoopy. A 1993 comic strip captured this dichotomy perfectly, as Charlie Brown goes out of his way to comfort and reassure Snoopy that everything is right in the world.

The strip shows Snoopy waking up from his dog house and seeking Charlie Brown out, apparently after hearing something or having a bad dream. In just a few panels, Charlie Brown provides hyperbolic reassurances that everything is right in the world — not just in their small suburb. “The flood waters will recede, the famine will end, the sun will shine tomorrow, and I will always be here to take care of you. Be reassured!” However, back in his own bed alone, Charlie Brown hides under the covers and wonders who will provide the same comfort to him.

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“I Don’t Know, What Are The Side Effects?”

A Peanuts comic strip by Charles Schulz

If there’s one character who brings out Charlie Brown’s philosophical side, it’s Linus. The younger Peanut tries harder than anyone to lend Charlie Brown some courage and point out his logical fallacies. In this strip, he goes so far as to say that Charlie Brown is “afraid to be happy,” and suggests that he should just stop resisting and take joy where he can get it. “Don’t you think happiness would be good for you?”

“I don’t know… What are the side effects?” Charlie Brown responds. This is a clever play on words that has only become more relevant over the years. These days, anything that’s “good for you” seems to come with a catch — from health food trends to pharmaceuticals, and even various forms of exercise. Charlie Brown’s paranoia extends even to the emotions he’ll let himself feel, which is a sadly relatable sentiment.

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“I Only Dread One Day at a Time.”

Image via Peanuts Worldwide

Sticking with Linus, another short comic strip by Schulz finds the duo putting a sardonic twist on an old chestnut. When Linus remarks that “life is difficult,” Charlie Brown announces that he has a “new philosophy” for dealing with challenges. “I can only dread one day at a time!” This is a pessimistic inversion of the classic advice to take life “one day at a time” in order to avoid being overwhelmed.

This duo actually had a similar conversation in a 1966 strip, where Charlie Brown updates his philosophy. He says: “I used to try to take each day as it came… You know, live one day at a time… My philosophy has changed. I’m down to half-a-day at a time!” Charlie Brown’s capacity for challenges may be shrinking, but at least he’s moved on from “dreading” days here.

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“Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder, But it Sure Makes the Rest of You Lonely.”

Image via Peanuts Worldwide

Charlie Brown is at his best when he’s deconstructing the advice children often hear from adults when life gets hard. In this singular classic panel, he captures how hollow this particular idiom is. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder, but it sure makes the rest of you lonely,” he remarks. This is the kind of quote that would sound rude and snarky from any character besides Charlie Brown. Instead, he makes it sound earnest. There’s something Sisyphean about the way he gets back up no matter how many times the football is pulled away from his kick at the last moment.

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“What Did I Come This Way For?”

Image via Peanuts Worldwide

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Charlie Brown really tackled the biggest question of all in these two panels, which are eerie palette-swapped versions of each other. “Life sure is strange… And they say we only come this way once,” he muses. “What did I come this way for?” It’s exactly the kind of thing a child might think about as their consciousness develops and they gain awareness of their mortality. Life is finite, and it’s never quite clear what we’re meant to do with it. However, we can all take heart that if Charlie Brown hasn’t figured it out, we’re not doing so bad.

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“In Life, It’s Not Where You Go — It’s Who You Travel With”

Image via Peanuts Worldwide

Finally, Charlie Brown is at his best when he’s with Snoopy. Seeing these two smiling together was always the Peanuts equivalent of a resolution, and this singular panel captures their dynamic perfectly. The caption has become one of Schulz most beloved quotes, and with good reason. It reads: “In life, it’s not where you go — it’s who you travel with.”

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Release Date

1965 – 2005

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Directors

Phil Roman

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  Ann Altieri

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  Violet (voice)

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  Cathy Steinberg

  Sally Brown (voice)

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  Christopher DeFaria

  Peppermint Patty (voice)

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  Christopher Shea

  Linus van Pelt (voice)

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“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is facing backlash after viewers raised concerns over its alleged use of artificial intelligence in its concept art.

One of the most noticeable pieces that users have claimed was created using AI is “Big City, Little Spider,” a concept drawn by artist Scott McInnes. Marvel has yet to publicly address the backlash and has faced AI-related controversies since 2023.

Despite the excitement surrounding Spider-Man: Brand New Day, newly released concept art has prompted inquiries about whether artificial intelligence played a role in the film’s development.

Much of the speculation centers on the “Big City, Little Spider” concept, with reports pointing to unusual distortions in several parts of the artwork. Some of the most noticeable examples appear on the taxis, particularly two vehicles traveling in opposite directions that seem to warp into one another.

The fire escape on one of the buildings was also associated with AI-generated imagery, as the stairs appear distorted and oddly shaped, unlike typical steps in the city that inspired the concept.

Fans Blast Marvel Over Alleged AI Use

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Although Marvel has yet to confirm whether AI was used in creating the concept art, netizens have already subjected the project to considerable criticism.

One wrote, “Using generative AI to concept design a real-life city like New York is wild lol. like… it’s NYC. Just look out a window or take a photo??”

One user, in particular, criticized the artist behind the “Big City, Little Spider” concept, which was the only piece of the artwork that allegedly showed the most telltale signs of AI use.

“Scott McInnes got caught slipping with the AI assist on the Big City Little Spider piece. Respect the craft or don’t put it in the official book,” said the individual.

Marvel’s AI Controversy Dates Back To ‘Secret Invasion’

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Back in 2023, Marvel also faced significant criticism when its “Secret Invasion” series prominently featured AI-generated imagery in its opening titles.

Director Ali Selim later confirmed in an interview with Polygon that AI was used for the opening credits. He said the decision was made because the visual style fit the project’s theme.

“When we reached out to the AI vendors, that was part of it — it just came right out of the shape-shifting, Skrull world identity, you know? Who did this? Who is this?” Selim said at the time.

“We would talk to them about ideas and themes and words, and then the computer would go off and do something. And then we could change it a little bit by using words, and it would change,” he added.

Marvel Denied AI Use In ‘Fantastic Four’ Posters

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In 2025, Marvel also faced backlash over the alleged use of AI in the posters it made for the Fantastic Four movie.

Eagle-eyed fans of the franchise spotted inconsistencies, such as people with four fingers instead of five and two women with the same face in the posters.

Marvel did not issue an official statement denying the use of AI, but a spokesperson confirmed to TheWrap that it was not used in creating the posters.

Russo Brothers Say AI Has ‘Value’ In Filmmaking

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Even with the criticism surrounding the use of AI in filmmaking, some Marvel stakeholders are not opposed to it.

In a 2025 interview, the Russo Brothers, who are directing Marvel’s next major project, “Avengers: Doomsday,” described AI as a valuable tool.

“We have to approach AI the same way we approach all technological innovations,” they said after being asked whether they see a role for AI in filmmaking.

“It’s potentially a valuable tool, but it’s the kind of tool that artists always have to remain in control of, but there’s going to be some valuable role in the creative process and the filmmaking process,” the duo also noted.

It’s always a little subjective when someone calls a movie a 10/10, no notes kind of experience, but there are quite a few Netflix originals that make that argument easier than others. Those types of fantastic Netflix films feel carefully created from beginning to end, whether due to their sharp storytelling, emotional power, visual style, strong performances, or rewatch value.

Movies like the underrated action masterpiece The Old Guard, which transforms an immortal warrior action story into something with real depth, and Beasts of No Nation, which stands as a truly devastating war drama, are two Netflix originals that deliver so strongly on what it sets out to do that defending the film as genuinely masterful is quite easy. Compiled on this list are brilliant Netflix movies that are 10/10, no notes required.

‘Roma’ (2018)

Image via Netflix

Roma is a pretty defensible movie as a noteworthy 10/10 experience, simply because of its control and ability to never lose its emotional humanity. Set in early-1970s Mexico City, the historical drama follows a domestic worker, Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), who’s being kept busy caring for a middle-class family as they practically disintegrate against the backdrop of political upheaval all amid her unexpected pregnancy.

Roma wields dynamite control over its cinematic space. From the movie’s black-and-white cinematography, which doesn’t merely beautify memory but also gives everyday life a striking sense of importance and intimacy, to its carefully constructed compositions and patient camera movements, nearly every frame of the 10/10 experience feels significant. Roma is an emotionally cumulative and technically extraordinary film that stands strong as a Netflix masterpiece with a well-deserved reputation for being absolutely fantastic.

‘The Ritual’ (2017)

Image via Netflix

This Netflix movie may look like a regular lost-in-the-woods horror movie, but its masterful execution makes it a great standout that is arguably one of the best 10/10 watches on the platform. The Ritual focuses on a group of friends whose trip hiking in Sweden after a tragedy turns completely awry as strange and terrifying things begin to happen.

The Ritual is a perfect film for viewers who desire a story with plenty of psychological unease and also value atmosphere. With the movie’s use of trauma, isolation, friendship, and folklore to create a sense of dread that quite steadily grows without relying on cheap scares, the film easily stands as one of Netflix’s most defensible horror gems. The Ritual is careful enough that its monster story never feels separated from the characters’ emotional trauma, and with its horror tropes, it’s arguably one of Netflix’s greatest films in the genre.

‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things’ (2020)

Image via Netflix

Few selections in Netflix’s movie catalog test the idea of a 10/10, no notes film harder than the 2020 watch, I’m Thinking of Ending Things. The Charlie Kaufman-directed drama, adapted from the book of the same name, focuses on a young woman who’s on a strange trip through a snowstorm with her boyfriend to meet his family at an isolated farmhouse.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things is definitely a movie that’s received a very mixed bag of compliments and critiques. Some call it boring, while others dub it an extremely clever watch. Kaufman doesn’t offer a simple mystery that rewards audiences with a literal solution; instead, the film quite deliberately blurs fantasy, reality, memory, and identity, which forces viewers to piece together the movie’s emotional meaning rather than search for one straightforward explanation. For those who connect with I’m Thinking of Ending Things, the film definitely stands as the perfect 10/10 experience that’s worthwhile.

‘Beasts of No Nation’ (2015)

Image via Netflix

This movie is an emotionally brutal artpiece that is definitely one of Netflix’s most devastating original films. Beasts of No Nation follows a young boy who is forced into becoming a child soldier after war destroys his life and separates him from everything he knows.

Beasts of No Nation can be defended as a 10/10, no-notes kind of watch because of how uncompromisingly it tells its story. The film is a standout that masterfully focuses on a child’s experience of violence without transforming his suffering into a cliché, massive spectacle. It may be a war drama, but its real force comes from watching innocence be tainted and stripped away as the protagonist delves deeper into a world of manipulation, survival, and fear. Beasts of No Nation is painful cinema, but the film is no doubt an exceptionally controlled Netflix-quality masterpiece.

‘The Mitchells vs. the Machines’ (2021)

Image via Netflix

The Mitchells vs. the Machines is an underrated animated movie that deserves far more attention than it’s received. The sci-fi comedy centers around Katie Mitchell (Abbi Jacobson), an aspiring filmmaker, whose father turns her trip to college into a family getaway in order to grow closer and bond, only for their attempt at reconciliation to be met with a full-blown robot uprising that forces the dysfunctional relatives to be unlikely heroes.

The Mitchells vs. the Machines may be a pretty underwatched film, but it is a true masterpiece that features tons of humor, heart, and creativity. It’s a film that’s remarkably rewatchable, with its jokes that move quickly without ever feeling empty, animation practically bursting with personality, and its heartwarming family story that gives the madness a real emotional core. The Mitchells vs. the Machines is a peak hidden gem that can easily be defended as a 10/10 animated masterpiece.

‘They Cloned Tyrone’ (2023)

Image via Netflix

They Cloned Tyrone is a Netflix genre experiment that definitely lands. The standout science-fiction conspiracy comedy focuses on the trio — Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx), Fontaine (John Boyega), and Yo-Yo (Teyonah Parris) — after an impossible event leads them to uncover a conspiracy beneath their neighborhood.

With its rather strange premise, They Cloned Tyrone is actually a crazy funny, sharp, stylish, and politically charged film. What makes the movie such an arguably 10/10 noteworthy experience for most isn’t that it creates something the conspiracy genre has never seen before; it actually takes those familiar tropes from science fiction, social satire, blaxploitation, and conspiracy thriller, and reshapes them into something that feels genuinely funny and distinctly its own. They Cloned Tyrone is a confident, strange, and boldly unique kind of film that definitely stands as one of Netflix’s smartest originals.

‘Rebel Ridge’ (2024)

Image via Netflix

This recent Netflix thriller is a quality film that truly understands the power of patience. Rebel Ridge follows Terry Richmond (Aaron Pierre), who enters the corrupt small town of Shelby Springs to post bail for his cousin, only to have police seize his funds.

Rebel Ridge was definitely a welcome surprise upon its release. For such a thrill ride, the movie surprisingly doesn’t just rely on nonstop violence; it instead also builds its tension through restraint, procedure, intelligence, and the slow realization that the system itself is the true threat. Rebel Ridge is a really defensible film because it actually lands its delivery as a grounded thriller. It’s a truly gripping 10/10 watch that wields action with a clear purpose, making it quite easy to add to this list of Netflix cinematic jewels.

‘The Old Guard’ (2020)

Image via Netflix

The Old Guard is an action masterpiece that most Netflix subscribers who have actually seen it never expected to be as good as it is. The movie centers around a team of immortal warriors who have spent their centuries alive fighting in secret to protect humanity, only for their existence to be threatened by a new and unexpected foe.

The Old Guard is an incredible superhero-style movie with a surprisingly emotional core. It can be defended as a 10/10 viewing experience simply because of its ability to balance its pretty brutal, expertly choreographed action with characters who actually feel real and human despite their immortality. The Old Guard offers humanized heroes who have suffered through centuries of complicated relationships, grief, and emotional exhaustion, making it a rather captivating action movie that’s capable of winning over any skeptical viewer.

‘KPop Demon Hunters’ (2025)

This Netflix animated original is one of the most recent iconic watches on the platform and is quite genuinely beloved. KPop Demon Hunters follows pop star girl group Huntrix, whose mission is not only to produce hits but to also secretly protect humanity from demons, which only gets tougher when an existential crisis and a rival demon boy band get in their way.

No notes are necessary for a watch like KPop Demon Hunters, as the animated knockout is an actual 10/10 masterpiece. The film blends colorful animation, concert energy, demon-fighting spectacle, and team-centered emotion into a story that feels genuinely original. The Netflix animation could have easily been a gimmicky musical fantasy, but instead KPop Demon Hunters succeeds as a well-balanced good time with no notes needed.

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KPop Demon Hunters

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Release Date

June 20, 2025

Runtime

96 minutes

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Chris Appelhans, Maggie Kang

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Hannah McMechan, Chris Appelhans, Maggie Kang, Danya Jimenez

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Long before George R.R. Martin began penning his high fantasy powerhouse, A Song of Ice and Fire, he wrote a Southern Gothic, gory standalone vampire book. Fevre Dream, published in 1982, is one of Martin’s earliest novels and has largely slipped under the nose of most Game of Thrones fans. A historical horror story set primarily in 1857 on steamboats cruising the Mississippi River, Fevre Dream is a forgotten classic in the beloved fantasy author’s oeuvre. Martin notably singled out Fevre Dream for a potential movie adaptation, calling it a “dream project” of his.

The plot of Fevre Dream is focalized through Abner Marsh, a down-on-his-luck riverboat captain who accepts an irresistible offer from the mysterious, wealthy, and pale-haired Joshua York. York, the transfixing aristocrat with very Targaryen-esque features, offers to finance a magnificent steamboat for Marsh to oversee. However, there is a nonnegotiable condition: Marsh must not inquire about his strange sun-avoiding sleep schedule or his strange band of equally pale traveling companions. Naturally, Marsh can’t honor that promise for long. He starts to ask questions and does some harmless rummaging through York’s room, setting the stage for a twisty descent into a rather unconventional vampire tale.

George R.R. Martin’s Historical Horror Runs Deep

Image via Poseiden Press

If there’s one thing that Martin is widely renowned for, it’s world-building. The second is his penchant for brutally memorable character deaths. Fevre Dream upholds both of these author associations and proves that Martin had a gift for bolstering his fantasy with the weight and texture of real historical horrors, long before he created Westeros. Being set in the antebellum South leading up to the Civil War, the horrors of chattel slavery are interwoven into Fevre Dream‘s supernatural premise. Martin recognizes that ships, including steamboats, were vessels of enslavement. The real-life violence of the time period is what really gives the narrative its teeth, horror-wise. Markedly, the introduction of supernatural villains in the Deep South setting is used not just for scares, but as a lens through which the institutionalized evil of the human world is called out.

In other words, Fevre Dream never glamorizes the plantation landscape, the muddy bayous, or the river itself. The pivotal port stop in New Orleans is described at length as a stifling, ill-fated place. Those expecting an Anne Rice-style New Orleans vampire romp will be thrown by Martin’s sobering reading of the city, where yellow fever is a rampant, widely feared foe. The setting is less a Gothic dreamscape and more an intricately researched backdrop befitting a work of historical fiction. Martin certainly doesn’t cut any descriptive corners, so do be warned: the first quarter of the novel is a bit slow, and heavy on steamboat particulars, before the supernatural lore is divulged and kicks the plot into high gear.

‘Fevre Dream’ Reinvented the Vampire Myth

Image via Avatar Press / Cover art by Rafa Lopez

The vampire genre has become increasingly crowded, populating serial television, YA fiction, and horror movies alike. To some degree, each iteration of vampire fiction actively comments on or chides the mythical baggage associated with this supernatural being. There’s always a scene of clarification where the vampire confirms or denies a checklist: coffins, garlic, holy water, mirrors? Comedically, in the popular teen vampire drama series, The Vampire Diaries, Damon Salvatore openly mocks the Twilight novels, asserting “I live in the real world, where vampires burn in the sun.” This self-referential quality of vampire fiction, drawing a line between the real and the fake supernatural, is now a genre convention. In Fevre Dream, Martin uses this convention to truly throw out the vampire rulebook, rather than to tweak its stipulations.

Stripping away the usual mystique of the undead predator, Martin’s vampire characters aren’t particularly troubled with the folkloric checklist because, as far as they’re concerned, that checklist doesn’t apply to them. Martin’s vampires don’t even refer to themselves as vampires; they’re dismissive of the term. In Fevre Dream, the pale band of men and women we meet through the eyes of Abner Marsh aren’t vampires exactly, but a separate species, whose biology gives them superhuman capacities and an appetite for blood (dubbed the “red thirst”). They are not immortal in the way the archetype has been popularized. These “vampires” are humanoids with their own history, legends, customs, and internal divisions, living not as reanimated corpses but as their own increasingly endangered species tracing back to the dawn of time.

George R.R. Martin’s Most Disturbing Villain Isn’t In Westeros

Image via Avatar Press

Fevre Dream introduces a truly no-holds-barred villain in Damon Julian, who is the most ancient “vampire” still alive. Damon Julian, which sounds a little too blatant a villain name, is purposefully heavy-handed, as it’s an alias rather satirically donned by a man who has had manifold names: Giles Lamont, Gilben d’Aquin, Philip Caine, Sergei Romanov. As Abner Marsh meets the eyes of the book’s big bad, “a thousand other men fall away, and behind each one was another, older and more horrible, layer on layer of them each more bestial than the last.” It’s an appropriate moniker for a villain whose entire identity is based around concealment and implacability.

Martin wastes little time in establishing Julian’s monstrosity in the novel. He lords over a plantation house, using humans as disposable tools to do his bidding. His big entrance onto the lavish steamboat to meet the idealistic vampire Joshua York is shockingly grotesque as he casually slays an infant at their dinner party. What’s especially distinctive about Julian as a villain is how little Martin tries to complicate or humanize him and his motives. In Game of Thrones, many of the characters who do morally reprehensible things are still offered redemption arcs or some glimpses of humanity and vulnerability. In Fevre Dream, there is no morally gray territory to explore with the antagonist. Martin writes a villain who is not merely mad or a victim of his superhuman inheritance. He is impassive, eerily tranquil, and fully at ease with the system of predation he chooses to operate within.

For all its differences from the world of Westeros, Fevre Dream bears many of the same markers that would eventually make Martin a high-fantasy legend. Power, politicking, fire and blood, morally complicated alliances, and some climactic action sequences all fuel the vampire narrative’s engine. Although Martin has had less luck heretofore with feature film adaptations of his work, Fevre Dream has the clearest potential voyage to the big screen. The project doesn’t need the Game of Thrones legacy to justify its existence, standing on its own as a strange, atmospheric, brutal, and historically grounded reinvention of the vampire story. Part period piece, action-adventure, and horror, Fevre Dream still has plenty of life left in it almost 45 years after its publication, plus a completed screenplay waiting in the wings. And if Martin gets his way, Guillermo Del Toro would be the director steering this dream adaptation to fruition.

Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster have been one of Hollywood’s most talked-about couples since their relationship was confirmed last year.

However, the Marvel star’s ex-wife of 27 years, Deborra-Lee Furness, is reportedly not convinced that their love story will have a fairy-tale ending, as she casts doubt on the longevity of their relationship.

The claim comes as Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster continue to publicly display affection for each other, showing no signs of slowing down in their romance.

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Reports have surfaced claiming that Furness isn’t particularly impressed with Jackman and Foster’s public show of love. The 70-year-old reportedly doesn’t believe the gestures are evidence of a genuine romance between the couple.

According to Globe Magazine, a source revealed that Furness sees the Broadway star as being “all about the cameras and putting on a show.”

She doesn’t buy into his “performative” displays of intimacy and believes the relationship is not some destined pairing that would last for eternity.

“She doesn’t see these big public displays as any sort of evidence that he’s madly in love. She says it’s just Hugh doing his usual over-the-top performative schtick,” the source notes.

The insider added that, “it’s going to take more than Hugh and Sutton singing love ballads to each other for her to believe this is the real deal or some match made in heaven that’s going to last forever.”

Deborra-Lee Furness And Hugh Jackman Were Married For Nearly Three Decades

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Furness’ reported skepticism regarding the authenticity of Jackman and Foster’s relationship is given weight by her decades of experience with the actor.

The former couple was married for 27 years before they announced their separation in 2023 with a short statement, before officially divorcing in 2025.

Jackman and Furness first met as co-stars on the set of the Australian TV show Corelli in 1995, shortly after Jackman had left drama school.

According to People Magazine, the “The Greatest Showman” actor said, “I knew two weeks into meeting Deb that we were going to be together for the rest of our lives.” They eventually got married within a year of their meeting on April 11, 1996.

The pair would later adopt their son Oscar Maximilian in 2000 and daughter Ava Eliot in 2005 after struggling with miscarriages and IVF.

Writing on Twitter (now X), the actor called his ex-wife his “greatest gift.” He said at the time, “I believe in life we need to see and truly be seen by the most important people in our lives. Deb, from day one, we had that.”

He continued to say that “it only gets deeper. You and the kids are the greatest gift I will ever receive. I love you a gazillion times around the world.”

The Actor And Sutton Foster’s Public Displays Of Affection

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Jackman and Foster’s romance has been marked by increasingly public displays of affection. They reportedly hit it off after they were cast in “The Music Man,” with sources claiming that the couple was already romantically involved around this time.

Regarding the affair rumors, an insider told Us Weekly in 2024 that “a lot of people on Broadway knew, and we kept it quiet because both of them are so nice and great people.”

“Everyone respected their privacy. But there was an affair and overlap,” the source added.

Their romance was finally confirmed in January 2025 when they were photographed holding hands at a dinner outing in Santa Monica.

The Couple Faced Backlash After Kissing During A Joint Performance

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The relationship would become “Instagram Official” on November 25 when the actor shared a video of Foster performing at New York’s Café Carlyle, calling her “truly magical.”

On August 3, 2026, the couple performed a surprise duet of “A Million Dreams” from “The Greatest Showman” at a benefit gala in Ogunquit, Maine, which ended in an on-stage kiss.

The performance drew sharp criticism on social media for being “cringey,” with one commenter writing, per News 24, “This is beyond off-putting for both of them.”

Another said, “It’s not easy to watch,” and lamented the actor’s decision to end his 27-year marriage. Others called it “horrendous” and “off-key”. Some comments were warmer, with one fan saying, “Love them together. Life is short, people. They look happier than I see most couples.”

What Happens Next For Hugh Jackman And Sutton Foster

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Jackman and Foster now face questions on whether their relationship can survive the allegations of an affair before ending their marriages and establishing a genuine love that can stand the test of time.

Furness reportedly believes that their relationship isn’t built to last as Foster “has her work cut out for her” because of how supposedly difficult it is to live with Jackman.

Other accounts, however, have described the couple as being “madly in love”, and it has been noted that they spend a significant amount of time together.

Currently, the couple has not shown any sign that they intend to end their romance anytime soon.

The late Hayden Panettiere’s mother, Lesley Vogel, responded to accusations that she pressured her daughter to become a full-time actress from a young age.

“I was strong, definitely, but I was not abusive by any stretch of the imagination,” Vogel, 70, told The Daily Mail in an interview published on Saturday, August 22.

Vogel signed Panettiere up with the famed Wilhelmina modeling agency at 8 months old and the future Heroes star shot her first commercial three months later. At 5 years old, Panettiere was cast in her first recurring TV role as Sarah Roberts on One Life to Live. (Panettiere worked on the daytime soap from 1994 to 1997. Vogel was her daughter’s first talent manager.)

“She started with Wilhelmina at eight months old because she’s a beautiful baby. I mean, really beautiful baby,” Vogel recalled. “My thought then was, let her do some stuff, we’ll put it in her college fund, and she’ll go to college and she’ll have this. I never expected her to be a professional actor, never.”

Related: Holly Robinson Peete Calls Out Hayden Panettiere’s Mom After Actress’ Death

Holly Robinson Peete is backing Gayle King after the morning show host called out Hayden Panettiere’s estranged mom, Lesley Vogel, following her statement on the actress’ death. “She’s not wrong,” Peete, 61, wrote via X on Wednesday, August 19, alongside a link to a story about King’s remarks in which she said that Vogel’s statement […]

During a May 2026 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Panettiere insisted that she’d been “groomed” to work for as long as she could remember.

“I was like a little soldier and I always have been. ‘No’ was never an option,” Panettiere alleged. “It was just, ‘Here are your scenes, here’s your dialogue, memorize it, hit the marks, do what your director tells you to do.’ I took my marching orders.”

In her latest interview, Vogel denied that she was responsible for any pressure that her daughter may have felt around her career.

“I think that Hayden put a pressure on herself,” Vogel said. “I know that she has mentioned, you know, [that she] ‘always had to please Mom,’ or make sure it was, you know, I succeeded or whatever. I didn’t put that on her. I think she put that on herself.”

Vogel also rejected the idea that Panettiere was unhappy in the earliest days of her child stardom.

“Try making a 2-to 5-year-old child do something they don’t want to do,” she declared. “Are you going to be successful? No, you’re not. Probably 99 percent of the time.”

Panettiere was found dead at age 36 in South Carolina on August 16 by her ex-boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother, Zach Hickerson. Emergency service workers performed “advanced cardiac life support measures” but Panettiere was ultimately pronounced dead of a suspected overdose that afternoon. (Authorities reportedly found Narcan — a life-saving over-the-counter medication that can reverse the effects of a drug overdose — at the scene.)

An autopsy found “no signs of trauma that would have contributed” to Panettiere’s death at the scene but deferred determining a cause of death “pending further investigation and the completion of additional studies,” per the coroner’s office.

Vogel initially broke her silence about her daughter’s death with a public statement that proved to be extremely controversial.

“I think Hayden was an amazingly talented person in so many departments, and I think young people who grow up in the entertainment industry — it is a struggle and it’s a very challenging industry and it’s not unusual for them to sadly find the wrong path,” she said on Tuesday, August 18.

Related: Hayden Panettiere Shared Update on Relationship With Her Mom Before Death

Hayden Panettiere shared an update on her relationship with her estranged mom, Lesley Vogel, months before her untimely and shocking death. “Unfortunately, we don’t have a relationship right now,” the Heroes alum exclusively told Us back in 2025. “But that doesn’t mean that I don’t leave the door open for the opportunity to present itself […]

Those comments were widely condemned by a wide range of entertainment figures, from TV hosts Gayle King and Megyn Kelly to actress Holly Robinson Peete.

Vogel delivered a scathing response in her Daily Mail interview, saying. “I was very, very hurt and deeply disappointed in the lack of professionalism, the lack of compassion in slamming someone who’s lost two children, without even a modicum of consideration. No one reached out to me before. It’s shameful. It’s unconscionable to me.”

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Prior to Hayden’s death, Vogel lost son Jansen Panettiere at age 28 due to an undiagnosed heart condition in February 2023.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Currently climbing the Prime Video streaming charts is the simply titled horror-thriller Wrong Turn. Ostensibly a straight slasher flick from the description and poster art, it actually takes more risks than one may expect, with multiple twists and an end credits sequence that’s an essential part of the film. However, despite the growing number of eyes on it, many viewers may miss the fact that Mike P. Nelson’s gruesome 2021 blend of folk horror and cult thriller is actually a complete reinvention of a slasher series that dates all the way back to 2003.

Wrong Turn (2003) was a modest hit in theaters, earning $29 million, but really took on a life of its own on home media, where its throwback The Hills Have Eyes–style inbred splatter thrills found a new generation of fans — and spawned a seven-film series. Viewers taken by the bloody thrills of the 2021 film should absolutely see where the series began — and can, today, with it streaming free over on Plex.

The Original ‘Wrong Turn’ Is a Very Different Kind of Horror Film

Director Rob Schmidt’s 2003 slasher is part of the early 2000s studio-horror period when, for a time, it seemed like 1980s-style gore-for-gore’s-sake was making a comeback. And coming out the same year as Platinum Dunes’ stylish, grisly Texas Chain Saw Massacre remake and a year before Saw kicked off the so-called “torture porn” era, Wrong Turn itself was a throwback to an even less reputable slasher subgenre: inbred backwoods killers.

Drawing on imagery from classics like The Final Terror, Deliverance, and Just Before Dawn, Schmidt made no bones about the film’s objective: throw a group of attractive, naive city-dwellers into the mountains of West Virginia, and have most of them graphically slaughtered by cackling maniacs. Wrong Turn had an ace up its sleeve, however, with its gruesome makeup and practical effects handled by the legendary Stan Winston (who also executive produced).

Winston’s genius work, even on a tight budget, results in a gritty physicality and thickness in the film’s gore sequences. Most memorable is a “half-decapitation” with the top of a woman’s head balancing on an axe embedded in a tree, while her body falls. Winston partner Shane Mahan explained in a Winston School video that budgetary limitations forced the FX whizzes to go back to the drawing board from animatronics and draw on a far simpler whip-pan technique popularized by James Cameron to get the gruesome scene looking just right. Everything from the makeup of the mountain men to the death scenes oozes with craft and care — something today’s CGI-laden action and horror distinctly lacks.

‘Wrong Turn’ 2021 Is a Fresh Take on Backwoods Horror

With original creator Alan McElroy returning to write, the 2021 film starts off with a good old bait-and-switch, lulling audiences into believing they’re about to get more of the same backwoods mutant mayhem. A mid-film twist, however, takes things to a darker, slightly more believable and contemporary place, as Jen (Charlotte Vega) and her friends find themselves captured by mask-wearing cultists who have created their own twisted utopia in the woods.

The film doesn’t skimp on the gore (highlights include a character blinded by a hot poker and a skull-crushing), but notably focuses more on tension, believable characters, and the growing horror of a desperate situation. And even more surprisingly, the film shifts gears yet again to focus on Matthew Modine, playing Jen’s father, as he searches for his missing daughter. What he finds, and where the film goes from there, deserve to be left unspoiled, but Wrong Turn (2021) does not skimp on surprises or macabre subject matter.

With the reboot performing so well on streaming, it would make sense if a sequel were in the works, but so far, nothing has been announced. However, Wrong Turn (2021) deserves credit as a complete, bold overhaul of a successful franchise — and one made by its original creator, no less. It’s a tense, professionally mounted thriller that takes a stab at a slightly more mainstream audience, while leaving none of its twisted roots behind. And over on Plex, the original splatter classic is still available to stream for free.

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Release Date

February 26, 2021

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Runtime

84 minutes

Director

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Mike P. Nelson

Writers

Alan B. McElroy

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Producers

Aaron Ryder, Brian J. Gilbert, Don Carmody, Erik Feig, Patrick Wachsberger, Robert Kulzer, Stan Winston, Sven Ebeling, Hagen Behring

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  Charlotte Vega

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  Chris Flynn

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  Adain Bradley

  Jessie Burlingame

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After three major projects were scuttled — including a third Wonder Woman movie, a Cleopatra epic, and a sequel to Red Notice — Gal Gadot appears to have pivoted to a smaller-scale project. Gadot was also the face of two significant misfires, the streaming tentpole Red Notice and the theatrical bomb Snow White. Her pivot comes on the heels of a similar shift in strategy executed by streamers. Netflix, in particular, has had exceptional success this year. The platform seemingly moved away from mega-budget projects such as Red Notice and concentrated on mid-budget genre movies instead. This has resulted in hits such as The Rip, War Machine, and the recently released The Last House. Gadot’s new movie, which marks her first headlining role since 2023’s Heart of Stone, is right around the corner.

Unlike Heart of Stone, which was released to poor reviews on Netflix three years ago, Gadot’s new film will debut on Prime Video. The streamer has also had success with mid-budget genre movies in recent months, with The Devil’s Mouth, Pretty Lethal, and The Bluff drawing strong viewership. Prime Video would hope to keep the streak going with Gadot’s new movie, which has been directed by the versatile Kevin Macdonald. A prolific documentary filmmaker, he’s best known for the Oscar-winning biopic The Last King of Scotland, and the star-studded political thriller State of Play.

Gal Gadot and Alan Ritchson Are Headlining Two Action Movies with Near-Identical Titles

Macdonald and Gadot’s new movie, an action-thriller, is The Runner. It shouldn’t be confused with Runner, which is an action movie starring Alan Ritchson and Owen Wilson, due out in theaters in the same month. Gadot’s movie follows a London-based attorney whose son is abducted by a mysterious man who sends her on a chase across the city. The premise makes the film sound like a cross between the Liam Neeson blockbuster Taken, and the 2002 thriller Phone Booth. In fact, Neeson himself starred in a movie with a similar premise a couple of years ago. It’s called Retribution, and it follows a man who must protect his two children after he receives a call warning him that his car will blow up with them in it if he tries to get out. The Runner also features Damian Lewis, and will be released on Prime Video on September 2. Later this year, Gadot will appear in Doug Liman‘s artificial intelligence-powered movie Bitcoin, also starring Casey Affleck and Pete Davidson. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

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Release Date

September 2, 2026

Runtime

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84 Minutes

Director

Kevin Macdonald

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Jon Lucas and Scott Moore are a dynamic duo. They have a long history of churning out some of the wildest, funniest comedies in the past couple of decades, penning everything from The Hangover to Four Christmases and serving as both writers and directors for both Bad Moms movies, Office Christmas Party, Jexi, and more. Add in Emmy-nominated producer Suzanne Todd into the mix, whose resume includes the Oscar-nominated Memento, Ridley Scott’s G.I. Jane, and the Austin Powers films, and you have a truly unstoppable trio.

The three of them have once again teamed up for their newest project, Spa Weekend, which follows in the tradition of several of their previous films by letting the women take center stage. The movie sees a group of four very different high school friends — sensible mom and lawyer Jane (Leslie Mann), underappreciated Sophie (Anna Faris), bitterly separated Coco (Michelle Buteau), and unfiltered Mel (Isla Fisher) — going on a relaxing trip for Jane’s birthday, only for increasingly wild situations and deep-seated wounds constantly threatening to make them more stressed out than ever.

Collider got the chance to speak to the creative team behind the movie. During the conversation, they discussed the challenges of shooting elaborate stunts, finding their incredible cast, bringing back the blooper reel, and more.

‘Spa Weekend’s Directors Talk the Unique Challenges and Perks of Filming in Australia

“We like our Aussies.”

Image via Black Bear

COLLIDER: First of all, congratulations.

JON LUCAS: Thank you. We enjoyed chatting with you on the carpet. That was fun.

Oh my gosh, thank you so much! I absolutely loved it. Of course, your lead cast is incredible, but I was also really struck by your supporting cast, especially the spa workers. I’m curious if you can talk about finding all of them.

LUCAS: Oh, right on. This is a great question. We haven’t gotten this question. We shot in Australia, so all the cast is Australian, outside of our lead four, and it was pretty simple. It’s just auditions. What’s interesting is that Australia has a lot of great actors, but they’re all over. The country’s enormous. There was a lot of, “We’re going to get these great actors,” but we were shooting on the Gold Coast, which is kind of far away. Anyway, there were people who were, like, 3,000 miles away who were “local Australians.” We’re like, “Oh, that’s going to be a bit of a trip for them to get to set.” [Laughs] But they were great. It’s probably one of the more comedy-oriented countries. People like comedy down there. They’re really a lighthearted culture, so finding comedic actors there was not hard.

SCOTT MOORE: It’s pretty great. All of them were super talented, like Erica and Dominic [Ona-Ariki]. Dominic had won a ton of awards, and it was weird to have this experience where you have someone who’s a day player behind the counter doing this, and then you’re driving down the street, and she’s on all these billboards. She’s in these two shows, and you’re like, “Wait, what is going on?”

SUZANNE TODD: She’s super Australian famous.

MOORE: Super famous, super talented, so it was a luxury to have so many talented people.

TODD: And obviously Isla and Adam are also Australians, so a wealth of riches there.

LUCAS: We like our Aussies.

We love the Aussies.

LUCAS: Yeah, they’re good eggs.

TODD: They really are a good time.

‘Spa Weekend’s Directors Discuss Filming Those Wild Stunts

“When I see a great stunt in a trailer, I’m like, ‘I gotta go see that movie.’”

Image via Black Bear

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There were some pretty elaborate stunts in this movie, from the golf cart chase to the goats on the loose. How do you approach these huge moments of physical comedy as a director and then producer as well?

TODD: Jon and Scott hate those scenes. [Laughs]

LUCAS: I actually love them! They take a lot of work. When it’s the four women sitting around a table at a cafe, you’re like, “Oh, this is gonna be a great day. This is easy. [Sing-songs] Da da da da da da ta ta.” And then you’re like, “I got to jump a golf cart over a sand dune, and it’s got to land, and the people who own the beach are not really psyched about what you’re doing.” There are a lot of ins and outs, but I love that stuff. We always talk about it in terms of, like, there are some scenes that just have to go into a trailer. And those stunts, to me, are kind of what sells the movie. When I see a great stunt in a trailer, I’m like, “I gotta go see that movie.” There’s something about the appeal of that — “someone really went for it.”

MOORE: And some, like the golf cart, you really do a lot of previs, and you really think about, “How’s this gonna work?” Some of it, like the goats or the mud bath scene, you’re like, “Just put a ton of cameras in there, and just go. See what we get, and hopefully, it’ll be something.” I remember the mud bath scene because there’s no reset in that, right? So we shot the dialogue, and then we’re like, “Okay, we’re going to get one take of you guys cutting loose.” Thankfully, Michelle could do the whole movie in one take. She’s so talented, and so funny, and so creative that we were a little stressed out during that scene, but it turned out great because she’s awesome and so willing to play and do whatever.

LUCAS: I will say, one of the challenges of working with women — the only one — is hair. You can’t fuck up someone’s hair. If you mess up my hair, you wash the mud out, and you’re shooting five minutes later. Michelle has beautiful long hair, and you cannot mess that up.

TODD: Michelle’s was the toughest reset of all four.

LUCAS: It’s like a three-hour reset.

MOORE: Especially if you put mud in it.

LUCAS: So we’re like throwing mud around like, “Oh my god. How are we gonna do this?”

TODD: But I feel like we also had a little PTSD because we had some mud in a scene in Bad Moms Christmas. We had a different mud bath scene that was equally hard to crack the logistics of the mud. Mud is harder than you think — the movie version of mud.

LUCAS: It worked out, but to Scott’s point — largely because Michelle nailed it in one. If she hadn’t — if she wasn’t doing it the way she was doing it — it would have been a long day. It would have been really bad.

‘Spa Weekend’s Directors Are Bringing Back the Blooper Reel

“We did argue a bit about whether it’s hacky to have bloopers.”

Image via Black Bear

I feel like we’ve really lost the art of the blooper reel, so I was so excited to see that during the credits.

LUCAS: We’ve been talking a lot about the bloopers. Maybe it’s time to bring bloopers back.

I agree! Why do you think it’s gone away?

LUCAS: I think people see it as hacky, and they’re not wrong. It’s a little hacky. There’s a period where, like, every movie did it.

TODD: It was done a lot.

LUCAS: I think the first one I ever saw was like the Jackie Chan movies when I was a little kid, and he would, like, die. He’d, like, fall off a train, and you’re like, “Oh my god.” And then he’d pop up and be like, “Ha ha ha ha!”, and you’re like, “Is he okay? Have we lost Jackie?” I love that stuff. I think that stuff you watch when you’re a kid, you never really shake, do you know what I mean? It’s always in you. We did argue a bit about whether it’s hacky to have bloopers, and the answer is yes, it is hacky, but we love it.

MOORE: We just had so much good stuff that we couldn’t not share it with the audience.

LUCAS: Those girls breaking? I mean, there’s so much stuff. And frankly, there’s some stuff that we didn’t put in the bloopers, or we put it in originally, and they were just too disgusting or crazy. I can think of two moments.

TODD: Not to really just talk about Isla.

LUCAS: [Laughs] Why do you think Isla? Why would you say Isla’s name? We’re like, “This is hilarious. The crowd is gonna eat this up.” You get all the way through your movie, you’ve worked so hard on the movie, and you get to the end of the test screening, and there’s one joke at the very end that they’re like, “No, that’s not okay. I want to take my mom to this movie, and I can’t do that if [this is in there].” You do find that, even though the bloopers are pretty fun and a little more outrageous than the movie, there are lines. There are certain things that audiences are just like, “Dude, come on — let us drive home in peace.”

Can you share them with the class, or is this sworn to secrecy?

TODD: We call these movies lightly R-rated, right? We’re staying away from the harder R-rated.

LUCAS: Find me outside. I’ll tell you all the stuff we can, but I cannot do it on camera.

I feel like the bloopers also showed that there was a lot of improv in this movie. Do you feel like you hire actors who are naturally skilled at improv?

LUCAS: Yes, 100%.

Okay, I didn’t know if it was a coincidence or if you looked for that.

MOORE: We love working with actresses or actors who can riff, who have comedic timing, who can generate comedy, and who can ad lib. Because there’s nothing better than that. It feels real. It feels funny. And we tend to shoot the script once — we’re like, “Let’s just put it on camera” — and then we allot time for them to riff, and run, and dodge, and weave, and do whatever magic it is that they do. That’s often where you get the best stuff.

LUCAS: We were just writers for like 10 or 15 years before we started directing, and when we made that transition, a lot of directors told us, “When writers become directors, they’re often so excited that they finally get to be in charge that they’re like, ‘You have to say it exactly. I wrote a period, and you gave that a semicolon.’” And actors are like, “What is going on?” So we really didn’t want to be the directors who were obsessed with their own writing. All the best jokes in all of our movies — I’m not saying this to be humble — literally are [improvised]. We started with something we had, so it wasn’t like we weren’t part of it. But often the best stuff is like, we had this idea, and then someone came in, either put a spin on the ball, or added something entirely, or said it in their own little weird way that makes it funny. We’re especially conscious of not being too precious with the words.

‘Spa Weekend’s Directors on the Movies That Scarred Them for Life

“Please don’t watch it.”

One of my favorite moments in this movie is when Jane walks in on her young kids watching Pulp Fiction. Is there a movie you remember watching way too young that either scarred you or inspired you?

LUCAS: Everyone does, by the way. Every single human on Earth, especially nowadays, has seen something where you’re like, “Why was I allowed? Who thought I was allowed to watch that?” I saw Hot Dog. You’re too young. You’re very young. Do you know the movie Hot Dog?

I don’t. I’ll look it up after.

LUCAS: No, don’t. Please don’t watch it. Hot Dog is a very ‘80s skiing movie. It’s a sex comedy, and everyone just has sex. It’s one of those very ‘80s…I’m not sure there’s even a plot. Maybe there’s a ski race at the end to give yourself a third act. It is just sex, and I watched it when I was, like, seven because I was like, “Oh, skiing.” And my parents are like, “Go ahead — enjoy Hot Dog.” And I was like, “[gasps] Oh, is this what adult life is like? Is everyone just fucking?” The whole movie is just like sex. That was one of those movies where I don’t remember anything about it other than the second I got out, I was like, “I should not be watching this.” That’s why Pulp Fiction was perfect because that’s, to me, the most ‘you really don’t want your kids to watch this.’ Your children should not watch the Gimp. They’re not ready for that yet.

MOORE: I’m glad you flagged that scene because it’s one of my favorite shots: the kids’ faces, right when she comes in, their eyes are like, “What is going on?”

TODD: Mine would definitely be a scary movie from when I was young — maybe Halloween or something. There was a guy with a knife, and then all I could think the whole night was that the guy was outside my window. I was up for days, terrified.

LUCAS: Premature horror. When you’re not ready for horror, and you’re too young.

TODD: No, because, of course, I thought it was real. I was too young to watch that. I was like, “Oh, there are guys with a knife outside my window.”

‘Spa Weekend’s Directors Reveal the Scene They Had to Cut

“Audiences were like, ‘This is not funny.’”

Image via Black Bear

There is so much editing and shaping of a movie that happens with the writing, then the filming, and then the editing. What is the biggest change from the first draft of the script to what we see in the final cut?

TODD: There are three versions of a movie: there’s the version they write, and then you shoot it, and everything changes, and then you take everything that was shot, and you go into the cutting room, and everything changes probably as much again. It’s almost three completely different things. Especially in comedy, as [Jon] pointed out, we always try to build the time for the girls at the end to have improv. And the guys, in addition to the script that they write, they write an entire book of what we call alts, which are at the ready. You have the funny version, and then you have 17 other funny versions. There’s so much material from where you started with the script to when you get into the cutting room that it’s just about this finesse of what joke leads into the next joke playing bigger. It’s probably more complicated an editorial than people think.

MOORE: We make these movies for the audience. We love test screening because you’re like, “Okay, let’s see what jokes are working and what jokes aren’t working.” It’s not like, “I love that joke, so I’m gonna put it in the movie.” There was actually a whole scene that we shot at a funeral, which we thought was hilarious — it was sort of dark and weird — and audiences were like, “This is not funny.”

LUCAS: The first note on that test screening was like, “The funeral scene isn’t funny.” I’m like, “Look at that sentence. Of course, it isn’t! What were you thinking?”

TODD: It wasn’t a funny funeral — it was funny things that happened at a funeral that were funny to us, but it didn’t seem as funny in screenings.

MOORE: Test screenings are important because we want to know what people think of the movie, and it was very clear that they did not like that scene.

TODD: They didn’t want to laugh at the funeral.

LUCAS: I’m always jealous when directors do these things, and they’re like, “I’m cutting in my head the whole time. I know the whole movie while I’m shooting.” I’m like, “That’s so cool. That would be so nice. I don’t do that.” [Laughs] We shoot everything, and we really hope there’s a movie in there at the end. I think that’s the difference between comedy and most other genres. I think in other genres, you kind of do have to know every beat, because there’s not as much room, but the tone of the comedy in this movie can get broader or more dramedyish, depending on how you cut it. There are lots of different zones — the comedy world is pretty wide — and which jokes and takes really affect it. So I never know. I exude confidence on set like, “We got this,” but in my head I’m like, “I don’t know. I think we got it. I don’t know. We’ll find out in like six months.”

Spa Weekend is now in theaters.

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Release Date

August 21, 2026

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Runtime

97 minutes

Director

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Scott Moore, Jon Lucas

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