Chile, Converse has some explaining to do after two separate campaign images had social media doing a serious double take. The brand is now speaking out after folks online had some serious questions about the visuals. And once you see what had people talking, you’ll understand why the internet wasn’t letting this one slide.

RELATED: Converse Ad Sparks Controversy As Internet Users Say It Appears To Show KKK Imagery (PHOTO)

Converse Addresses Backlash Over Controversial Ad Images

Converse has apologized after photos from two ad campaigns drew criticism online, with social media users comparing elements of the images to Ku Klux Klan hoods and lynching imagery. In a statement, the Nike-owned brand acknowledged the backlash and said it understood why the image was “deeply upsetting.” Converse also said it removed the image from its channels and was working to remove it everywhere it appeared.

“We’re sorry. We understand why this image is deeply upsetting and recognize that we got this wrong. We removed it from our channels and are working to remove it everywhere it appeared. This should not have happened, and we will do better.”

Wait, What Exactly Went Down With The Converse Ad?

As previously reported, one of the images features K-pop star Karina of Aespa, who appears as the face of a campaign highlighting the Chuck 70 X and Run Star Crush sneakers. In the photo, Karina stands inside a large Converse star while wearing a white skirt and holding two sneakers. Some viewers said the lighting and positioning created a white triangular shape they felt resembled a KKK hood. While many think the shoes appeared to resemble dangling legs.

The Comments Were Split

Folks quickly ran to The Shade Room’s Instagram comment section, and chile, the reactions were definitely split. Some felt people were reachingand reading too much into the campaign imagery. While others pushed back, saying that dismissing the comparisons is part of the problem and that the imagery should have been caught before the ads went live.

One Instagram user @theealvingray said, “Can y’all bully FASFA some kinda way and make them come off as racist , so we can get a refund or something”

This Instagram user @bibbs.__ claimed, “Corporations really be trying to see what they can get away with…the “we’ll do better” message was already made just in case 😂”

And, Instagram user @chefjohncartel shared, “I Been Black 37yrs Did I Miss The Meeting Or Something??? All I Seen Was A Lil Wednesday Girl Holding A Pair Of Keds Well Chucks & A Star ⭐️”

Meanwhile, Instagram user @ocst_ar87 commented, “That’s why diversity is important. They need people of color in these marketing rooms.”

While Instagram user @poseidon__1995 wrote, “It really wasn’t that deep yall just love to make something out of nothing”

Finally, Instagram user @guardian.network said, “People who’s saying it’s not deep is part of the problem 🙄”

RELATED: Coca-Cola Pulls Ja Morant Powerade Advertisements After He Brandished Gun On Instagram Live

Tiffany Haddish is clearly not letting anyone forget who’s bringing the heat! The comedian and actress had the timeline doing a double-take after stepping into a whole new vibe for her latest Instagram post. And judging by the reactions, the look definitely had folks talking.

RELATED: Revenge Complete?! Tiffany Haddish Gets Real About Why She Chose To Defecate In Her Ex’s Shoes (VIDEO)

Tiffany Turns Up the Western Heat

On Friday, Tiffany shared a fresh set of photos that showed her channeling some Western-baddie energy. In the snaps, she rocked a dark cowboy hat, an open denim jacket with nothing underneath, and a red bandanna tied around her neck. She kept the beauty look relatively natural, letting her face and nails complement the sultry, country-inspired aesthetic.

Tiffany’s Caption Doubles Down On Her Baddie Energy

And if the outfit wasn’t already making a statement, Tiffany’s caption made it crystal clear how she was feeling. “I’m the only baddie in the room,” she wrote alongside the post, adding the caption, “Daddy said shoot 🐄🌵.”

Folks Had Plenty To Say

Folks quickly ran to The Shade Room’s Instagram comment section with plenty of thoughts on Tiffany’s latest look. While some commenters said she looked cute and loved the Western-inspired vibe, others weren’t feeling the outfit and made their opinions known.

One Instagram user @weluvyazli said, “She’s beautiful but I’m sure ya’ll will find something negative to say 😒”

This Instagram user @ray__bandsss joked, “She look tired of ts on every photo 🤣😭”

And, Instagram user @gotaprilshowers added, “🔥🔥🔥”

Meanwhile, Instagram user @shopwithaspenelise wrote, “This is me when i think im being sexy 😑”

While Instagram user @sunniemurphyx shared, “Someone come get her”

Finally, Instagram user @shaehollywood commented, “She looks good”

RELATED: Aht Aht! Tiffany Haddish & Jason Lee Speak Out After Folks Thought They Welcomed A Baby Together (WATCH)

Belly Gang Kushington has social media talking after sharing a throwback photo from his childhood amid ongoing online conversations about his race and identity.

RELATED: YK Niece Spills Tea On Awkward Onstage Reunion With Pluto Da Brat During NBA YoungBoy’s Concert (WATCH)

Belly Gang Kushington Digs Into The Archives For Childhood Throwback

Belly Gang Kushington is taking a trip down memory lane, and his childhood throwback photo has social media taking a closer look. On Friday, Sept. 18, the Atlanta rapper took to his Instagram Story to share a childhood photo. In the snapshot, Belly appears to be a young child wearing denim shorts and a denim shirt, standing alongside several other children. While the photo gives followers a glimpse into Belly Gang’s younger years, the rapper’s caption quickly caught attention as well.

Alongside the throwback, he wrote, “They ain’t know I was Black, but only God know what I did with the White 🍴”

The post comes as he has continued to face online conversations surrounding his racial identity and his use of the N-word in his music.

Social Media Has Plenty To Say About The Throwback

The photo quickly sparked an online conversation, with some social media users questioning the rapper’s appearance and identity, while others pushed back against the criticism.

Instagram user @nyzaiiii wrote, “Everybody ina comments got so much to say but still gone listen to this man music he everywhere you can’t tell me you’re not listening 😂”

Another Instagram user @fatbellyjam wrote, “Every neighborhood had a ‘Red’ lmaoo. Lighter than the rest, but was somebody’s blood 😂”

While Instagram user @lovemee127773 wrote, “He’s just very albino n that’s ok 😂😂”

Instagram user @jakaylasa wrote, “I’m still not convinced.”

Another Instagram user @localfattty wrote, “Biracial ppl making being biracial their whole personality.”

While Instagram user @popit.peezyp wrote, “Where is this in Atlanta? I need to get to the bottom of where this man is from.”

Instagram user @theyenvy_.steph wrote, “How does this prove you black? 😂😂 where the parents and grandparents.”

Another Instagram user @nuuu.lii wrote, “Having a picture hanging around black kids don’t make you black 😂😂😂”

While Instagram user @nenetheegoat wrote, “If his dad is black who are y’all to tell him he isn’t black? What y’all want him to do? Show y’all his genetic codes or something jeez.”

Belly Gang Kushington Previously Opened Up About Being Biracial

The latest conversation comes after Belly Gang Kushington previously addressed his mixed-race identity and the backlash he has received over his use of the N-word in his music.

During a January interview with ‘The Breakfast Club’, the rapper discussed growing up mixed and said he was raised by his Black side of the family. He also explained that he sometimes felt “too Black for the white kids” and “too white for the Black kids.”

When asked about criticism over his use of the N-word in his music, Belly Gang Kushington compared his experience to Drake, who is also biracial. He said he has not felt the need to explain his identity to people online and described the way he speaks and raps as part of who he is.

Related: Oop! Bunna B Responds After Trim Claims She Ran Into A Female Rapper At Atlanta Airport And Left “Untouched”

Ed Sheeran‘s Loop Tour has become the center of a major music-industry controversy after Macklemore was dropped from the lineup following a pro-Palestine chant during his opening set.

Fallout from the situation has since sparked chatter from the likes of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, Pink and a string of other artists.

Scroll down for a breakdown of the situation unfolded and where things stand now:

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Related: Finneas and More Acts Exit Ed Sheeran’s Tour After Macklemore Is Dropped

Finneas and other musical acts are showing their support for Macklemore — and the Palestinian people — by exiting Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour amid the controversial decision to drop the Seattle rapper from the show. “Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed,” Finneas, 29, wrote via Instagram on Tuesday, September […]

Macklemore’s ‘Free Palestine’ Moment 

While opening for Sheeran at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on September 4 and 5, 2026, Macklemore chanted “Free Palestine” and denounced genocide in all forms before performing his protest track “Hind’s Hall” in opposition of Israel’s war in Gaza. During his set, the rapper claimed one of his primary reasons for signing onto the roster for the stadium shows was to advocate for Palestine amid the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Pink’s Involvement in the Backlash

Days later, Pink reposted comments from StopAntisemitism, accusing Macklemore of spreading “anti-Israel propaganda” that soon sparked backlash. She addressed the controversy in a statement that month.

“I was born a Jew. I didn’t pick it, and I’ve never hidden it,” she wrote in an Instagram statement shared on Rosh Hashanah, the start of the Jewish year, claiming that, “Hamas is a terrorist organization” but “Palestinians deserve a future that honors their humanity and their aspirations.”

Of her reaction to Macklemore’s speech, she added, in part, “A repost isn’t a statement, and a meme isn’t a spine.”

Macklemore Removed From Ed Sheeran’s Tour

News broke on September 14, 2026, that Macklemore would not perform at Sheeran’s remaining U.S. shows. Concert promoter Messina Touring Group told Rolling Stone in a statement that several venues had notified the company they would not allow concerts to take place with Macklemore on the lineup, “which would result in the cancellation of the tour and impact hundreds of thousands of fans.”

Sheeran addressed the decision via Instagram on September 15, writing, “After Macklemore’s performances at my New Jersey shows, venues on my upcoming tour dates communicated that they would pull the shows if he was still supporting.”

He added that “Macklemore coming off tour was the promoter’s decision, it was not mine” and stressed that he respects Macklemore “as an artist.”

Sheeran continued: “I have spent this week trying to build bridges, to find a solution and unfortunately, was unable to do so. I know who I am, both as a person and as an artist, and those who know my heart know my values too.”

Macklemore fired back on Instagram, alleging, “I didn’t need 10 shows from Ed. I needed 2. Two chances to stand in front of 90,000 people and say the words that somehow became too dangerous to say. Free Palestine. But if those words cost me the stage, while turning the conversation back to Palestine, then it was the most successful tour I’ve ever been on.”

Macklemore also described Sheeran as a  friend of 13 years and hoped that the disagreement would not end their friendship.

“I am not a victim. Ed Sheeran is not a victim. Pink is not a victim. We have careers, money, opportunities, safety and audiences around the world,” he added in his statement. “Whatever consequences any of us face for what we say, we get to go home to our families.”

Other ‘Loop Tour’ Acts Withdraw

Since Macklemore’s exit, additional Loop Tour acts — Finneas, Lukas Graham, Aaron Rowe and Beoga — have dropped out. Kehlani, who was not affiliated with the concerts, voiced support for Macklemore in the comments of his Instagram post, writing, “A LOT of the venues / owners are rallied together this way. Honored to know you brother. Adore you. Behind you!!!!”

Robert Kraft Weighs In 

Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, was partially blamed for Macklemore being removed from the Loop Tour bill. 

In a statement, Kraft told ESPN that Macklemore’s participation in the September 25 and 26 concerts at Gillette Stadium “would cross that line” following an alleged “broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery.”

Macklemore’s $1 Million Donation Challenge

Macklemore announced on September 17, 2026 that he planned to donate the $1 million he earned from the Loop Tour to six organizations that support Palestinians.

“I invite Robert Kraft to match my donation,” he wrote. “Whatever we disagree about, perhaps we can agree on this: Palestinian lives are worth protecting.”

Kraft responded the same day, sharing in a statement of his own, “Earlier today, before Macklemore challenged me to match his donation, Ed called me and asked me to commit $2 million to match his donation to aid in the region to fight this humanitarian crisis.”

According to Kraft, Sheeran reportedly “plans to reach out to other venue owners” to continue “to work together to build bridges.”

“I have dedicated much of my life to building bridges between all people,” Kraft added. “I believe deeply that all lives are worth protecting.”

Ed Sheeran Cries as He Addresses Controversy at Philadelphia Concert

All eyes were on Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on September 19, 2026, as Sheeran returned to the stage for the first time since the controversy with Macklemore erupted.

Ahead of the show, his management changed the start time from 5:30 p.m. ET to 8 p.m. ET to account for support acts dropping out. Ticket prices also took a hit, with some seats dropping from $100 early to as low as $42 on Saturday.

Sheeran made the decision to drastically alter the format of the Philly show, removing the B-stage where he traditionally took song requests from fans.

At showtime, Sheeran got choked up as he addressed the events of the past week, explaining to fans that he was used to his “music being criticized” but never his personal beliefs.

“This week, the criticism was about something much more important, and I’ve had to take [it in] and make difficult decisions, and I am making mistakes, and I’m so so sorry,” he said from the stage.

Sheeran reflected on being placed “in the middle of an important, passionate argument about freedom of speech.”

“This is a humanitarian issue [in Palestine] and I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore,” he acknowledged. “What happened in Israel on October 7 was horrific and compounded centuries of pain. What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable — and disproportionate. … The systemic injustice we see unfolding in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.”

The singer-songwriter thanked his fans for standing by him, telling them he was “honestly so grateful” that they’d come out to support him after such a tumultuous week.

Melissa Barrera Compares Her ‘Scream 7’ Firing to Macklemore’s Situation

Melissa Barrera spoke to The Associated Press on September 16 about how the support Macklemore was receiving from fans and fellow artists differed from her own firing from Scream 7 after making pro-Palestinian statements.

“It made me emotional, you know,” Barrera said. “I didn’t get that when it happened to me. I didn’t have any of that happen. It was too soon. People were too scared. But it’s good to see that almost three years later, at least things have changed.”

The actress was infamously dropped from the cast of Scream 7 for showing support for Palestinian causes in the wake of the October 7, 2023, terror attacks. (Production company Spyglass has maintained that her support for Palestinians was not the reason for her departure from the franchise.)

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Speaking about the current situation, Barrera suggested Sheeran should have sent a powerful message about free speech by standing by Macklemore.

“I wish that the people that have power understood the power that they have,” she told The Associated Press. “ I think that the problem is that there’s a lot of people that actually have a lot of power; they think that they don’t, and they’re operating out of fear, and it’s just a shame because, you know, we just saw what happened — the support that rallied behind Macklemore — and I think that’s a big step. I think that what we’re seeing, what we’re witnessing, is going to inspire real change, and I’m very hopeful about that.”

This story was compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. 

Baseball has a long and important history in cinema, with an exciting new addition to the genre coming next year. Directed by Dave McCary and written by Patrick Kang and Michael Levin, The Catch is a star-studded rom-com scheduled to be released on May 21, 2027. The film features a selection of Hollywood favorites, led by Emma Stone following her recent flurry of performances for Yorgos Lanthimos, which included an Oscar win for Poor Things. She is joined by the likes of Chris Pine, Tim Robbins, Irina Shayk, Chris Fleming, and more in the exciting new sports movie.

But if The Catch is going to make its name as an all-time home run in the baseball movie genre, it’s going to have to live up to the best of all time: A League of Their Own. Penny Marshall‘s sports classic was released in 1992 and dramatized the founding of the AAGPBL and the pivotal women who revolutionized the sport. The brilliant Geena Davis starred alongside Tom Hanks in the film, just a year after she brought to life her best and most famous performance as one half of Thelma & Louise.

A League of Their Own is today considered a classic, but also earned great reviews at the time of its release. “The movie has a real bittersweet charm,” Roger Ebert wrote in his review at the time, noting that the movie “follows many of the time-honored formulas of sports movies.” The film is “certified fresh” on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, unsurprisingly boasting strong ratings by both critics and audiences. 34 years after it first debuted, A League of Their Own is still a big hit on the streaming charts. However, in a sad twist, it is being removed from the Netflix catalog on October 1, 2026.

How Much Did ‘A League of Their Own’ Make at the Box Office?

Released in early July 1992, A League of Their Own proved a big hit at the box office, turning a reported production budget of $40 million into a global haul of $132 million, with the majority of this total, unsurprisingly, coming from domestic ticket sales. The film opened at #2 in its first weekend, falling just short of Batman Returns. However, with just a 15% drop in ticket sales for weekend #2, A League of Their Own ​​​​​​climbed to first place.

A League of Their Own is leaving Netflix on October 1. Stay tuned to Collider for all the latest streaming stories.

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Release Date

July 1, 1992

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Runtime

128 minutes

Director

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Penny Marshall

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Movie taste would be unbearably dull if everyone behaved themselves. Sometimes the film with the cleaner reputation loses to the one that makes you feel eight years old again. Sometimes a supposedly messy movie gets defended for twenty years because one scene lives in your bloodstream. And sometimes a director’s most important work has to sit politely in another room while the movies with dinosaurs, pirates, treasure maps, flying bicycles, and gloriously stupid danger take over the evening. Today I want to dig into Steven Spielberg’s most vibrant takes from that angle.

There is a little narcissism in loving movies this way. Of course the scene that worked on you feels like the scene everybody should understand. Of course the adventure that rearranged your brain at twelve still seems objectively superior to whatever respectable answer somebody brings to the table. Fine. Let taste be irrational for once. Something impossible appears, common sense leaves the building, and suddenly watching a movie feels like the only sensible thing to be doing. Here are 8 most fun Spielberg films that people have all the right to be irrational about, and they’re ranked.

8

‘Ready Player One’ (2018)

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

Ready Player One is probably the easiest Spielberg movie to roll your eyes at and one of the easiest to have a blast with once you stop resisting it. Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) lives inside a miserable future and escapes into the OASIS, where an entire civilization has turned nostalgia into currency. Then James Halliday (Mark Rylance) leaves behind a contest for control of the whole virtual world, and every obsessive pop-culture nerd suddenly has a reason to treat obscure trivia like military intelligence.

The references can absolutely become too much. That complaint is fair. But when the movie stops showing off what it recognizes and starts using the OASIS as a giant playground, it becomes ridiculously enjoyable. The opening race is pure controlled chaos. The trip into The Shining is even better because half the characters have no clue why entering the Overlook is a catastrophically bad idea. Spielberg takes somebody else’s nostalgia obsession and occasionally turns it into genuine movie magic. Eighth place feels right. Dismissing it completely even if I’m not a fan would be a bad take.

7

‘Catch Me If You Can’ (2002)

Image via DreamWorks

Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio) discovers something incredibly dangerous while still a teenager. Adults are often bluffing too. That realization powers Catch Me If You Can. Frank walks into rooms wearing the correct uniform, sounds confident enough, and watches people supply the rest of the illusion for him. Pilot. Doctor. Lawyer. He keeps building identities faster than anyone can expose them, while FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) stays behind him with the patience of somebody who knows charm eventually runs out of road.

Watching Frank talk his way through impossible situations is pure pleasure because every lie feels like a high-wire act. Yet the movie never lets the confidence become the whole person. Christmas phone calls, motel rooms, and the wreckage of his parents’ marriage keep slipping through the glamour. That little sadness makes the con more addictive rather than less. Frank is having the time of his life and trying desperately not to notice why.

6

‘Hook’ (1991)

Image via TriStar Pictures

Yes, Hook is excessive. Yes, it is sentimental. Yes, it sometimes behaves as though one more set, one more costume, one more emotional swell, and one more shouting child might finally satisfy it. Good.

Peter Pan becoming Peter Banning (Robin Williams) is such a wonderfully mean idea. The boy who never wanted to grow up has become a stressed lawyer who cannot even watch his son’s baseball game without checking his phone. Then Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman) drags him back to Neverland and forces him to confront the embarrassing possibility that adulthood has made him boring. The imaginary food fight still rules. Rufio (Dante Basco) still feels impossibly cool if you first met him young enough. Hook still acts like every minor inconvenience deserves Shakespearean outrage. And Peter remembering how to fly works because the movie commits to the emotion without flinching. Plenty of people consider this minor Spielberg. Plenty of people are also wrong in exactly the way childhood nostalgia permits.

5

‘The Adventures of Tintin’ (2011)

Image via Paramount Pictures

There are stretches of The Adventures of Tintin where the camera behaves like it has just been informed that walls, gravity, and basic physics are optional. Tintin (Jamie Bell) buys a model ship, stumbles into a mystery involving hidden treasure, and ends up traveling with Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis), whose relationship with alcohol and common sense is already complicated before anybody starts shooting at them.

The Bagghar chase is the sort of action sequence that makes you grin simply because of how many things it refuses to stop doing. Streets collapse, vehicles change, objects keep passing between hands, and somehow you never lose track of the goal. Haddock supplies most of the human chaos because he can turn a family legacy into an argument, a disaster, and eventually a reason to keep going. Snowy remains suspiciously competent throughout. Motion capture never became everybody’s favorite visual language, but freedom suits Spielberg here. He finally gets to stage adventure without asking whether a camera could physically survive the shot. You can practically feel him enjoying the loophole.

Image via Universal Studios

The beautiful thing about E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is how quickly Elliott (Henry Thomas) stops treating an alien like an alien. He finds a terrified creature stranded near his home, hides him from adults, feeds him whatever a child thinks an extraterrestrial might enjoy, and starts loving him before he understands anything about where he came from.

That relationship is why all the famous stuff still works. Reese’s Pieces. The improvised English lessons. E.T. (Pat Welsh) getting drunk and Elliott feeling the effects elsewhere. The wig. “Phone home.” None of it feels like iconography while you are watching because the friendship underneath it remains so weirdly intimate. Then government agents close in and the movie turns neighborhood bicycles into escape vehicles. The moon shot has been copied, parodied, printed, and referenced into cultural oblivion, yet the actual scene still gets you. That is irritatingly impressive. It should have become wallpaper decades ago. Somehow it still feels like a kid discovering that the impossible can love him back.

3

‘Jurassic Park’ (1993)

Image via Universal Pictures

There are adults who can watch a brachiosaurus appear in Jurassic Park without feeling anything. Those people are fascinating and should probably be studied. The movie understands exactly how long to let wonder breathe before turning the same idea against you. First comes the awe. Then the goat disappears. The water trembles. The fence is no longer a fence.

Suddenly the T. rex is standing in the rain and every beautiful promise John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) made about the park has become hilariously irrelevant. The raptor kitchen scene later turns stainless steel counters into childhood nightmare architecture, while Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) keeps finding time to be amused by everyone’s confidence in a system he already knows is doomed. What makes the movie so much fun is that terror never replaces wonder. They keep feeding each other. You are scared because the dinosaurs feel real, and you are thrilled for exactly the same reason.

2

‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ (1989)

Image via Paramount Pictures

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade understands that the funniest possible person to embarrass Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is his father. That choice changes the whole adventure. Indy can punch Nazis, escape burning rooms, leap onto tanks, and bluff his way through ancient mysteries, yet one disapproving look from Henry Jones Sr. (Sean Connery) can make him feel twelve.

Their relationship gives the movie a warmth the first two films approach differently. Henry is scholarly, stubborn, distracted, and somehow completely unimpressed by the fact that his son has become one of cinema’s greatest adventurers. The Grail hunt gives them castles, catacombs, motorcycles, zeppelins, and one immortal exchange about sleeping with the same woman. Then the final trials strip everything back to faith, trust, and whether Indy can let go of the thing he has been chasing. It is hilarious, ridiculously rewatchable, and dangerously close to number one.

1

‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ (1981)

Image via Paramount Pictures

The opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark is almost rude in how quickly it establishes the fantasy. Jungle. Temple. Darts. Golden idol. Betrayal. Giant boulder. Escape. Plane. Snake. And that is before the movie has really started. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is great because the adventure never treats him like a superhero. He gets punched, dragged, bruised, annoyed, exhausted, and occasionally solves a problem by deciding he has absolutely no patience left for it.

Hence the swordsman. Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) makes the movie better because she can drink, argue, fight, and call Indy on his nonsense without becoming an accessory to his adventure. The truck chase is absurdly good. The Well of Souls remains a nightmare for anyone with basic feelings about snakes. The Ark carries enough mystery to make the final act genuinely eerie. Raiders has been imitated so many times that its rhythms can feel familiar before you remember it helped invent half the language everyone copied. Then you watch it again and, annoyingly, it is still that good.

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Raiders of the Lost Ark

Release Date

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June 12, 1981

Runtime

115 minutes

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Writers

Lawrence Kasdan, George Lucas, Philip Kaufman

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At this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Oscar-winning director Peter Farrelly’s I Play Rocky World premiered, with rising star Anthony Ippolito (The Offer) headlining in a career-making performance as a then-unknown Sylvester Stallone. The movie chronicles the unbelievable true story behind the making of one of the greatest underdog stories of all time as one man defied all odds.

Before he became an action icon and Hollywood multihyphenate, Stallone grew up poor and dreamed of becoming an actor. By his twenties, the closest he’d gotten was a porno and a job as a theater usher, but a fight between Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner sparked inspiration that drove Stallone to pen one of the silver screen’s all-time greats: Rocky. When he presents his screenplay to studio executives, they can’t wait to get their hands on it, but Stallone’s one stipulation — that he play Rocky Balboa — is a hard no. But no matter how much they offer him, Rocky and Stallone are a joint deal. When they finally cave, Stallone’s impossible journey from script to screen has only just begun.

At the Collider Media Studio, presented by Campari and The Cayman Islands, Steve Weintraub sat down to chat with Farrelly, Ippolito, Stephan James (If Beale Street Could Talk), who plays Carl Weathers in the movie, and Kiki Seto (The Studio), who plays Talia Shire, to discuss the film. In this interview, they discuss how the script and cast came together, why Ippolito was the only person they considered for Stallone, and how the young star prepared to portray the action movie icon. James and Seto talk about joining the project, playing characters within characters, and the team discusses what they chose to include, what they’re excited (or nervous) for Stallone to see, and tons more. Check out the full conversation in the video above, with a transcript provided below.

Get to Know the Cast and Director of ‘I Play Rocky’

Anthony Ippolito also jokes which iconic actor he’d like to play next.

COLLIDER: I watched a lot of movies before I got here, and you guys are one of my favorite films of the year. It is just a fantastic movie, and you’re going to have an amazing night at your premiere.

PETER FARRELLY: Can’t wait.

ANTHONY IPPOLITO: Thank you. Me too. Yeah, it’s going to be crazy.

FARRELLY: It’s 2,000 people, I think, in that room. It’s going to be fun.

You’re going to have an amazing night. Let me just say it like that.

IPPOLITO: I’ve never seen a movie with that much of an audience, ever, period. Any movie.

I think this is going to be one of those life moments for you where you will remember it for the rest of your life. Before we get into the movie, I’m doing a supercut, and the supercut right now is: Where do you like to sit in a movie theater?

FARRELLY: Aisle, halfway down. I like an aisle seat.

IPPOLITO: Back middle.

KIKI SETO: Middle aisle.

STEPHAN JAMES: Yeah, all the way in the back, middle, probably.

The last row?

JAMES: Last row. Me and Anthony will be fighting for that seat.

It’s so interesting. A lot of filmmakers recommend sitting where the frame is to your left and right, where you can’t see the wall, but then a lot of people like sitting in the back. Is it because you use your phones during the movie?

IPPOLITO: No.

JAMES: You got us. [Laughs]

IPPOLITO: No, no, no. You just get it. You’re centered. My neck hurts too close to the front.

Of course. So the other thing I’m doing before we get started is something called Get to Know Your Cast Member/Director. What’s your favorite failure?

FARRELLY: Wow, that’s good. I will say this: I love failure. I have a lot of failures, and they’ve helped me throughout my entire life — I think my entire youth — because I got into my 20s and I had nothing going for me, so I thought, “Well, I’m going to try making movies.” And if I had been successful in anything, I don’t think I would have done that. So, I always tell people failure can be really good. It pivots you and finally pushes you in the right direction.

It’s very true, though. If you’d been very successful when you were 18…

FARRELLY: I always tell the story where I had a friend who I went to high school with; he was captain of the hockey team, he went to Yale, he was captain of the hockey team at Yale. He became a lawyer, and he worked for a bank. We were at one of my premieres, and he goes, “Man, are you lucky.” He goes, “You could screw up.” He goes, “I was on a track.” He said, “I couldn’t get off that. If I wasn’t a lawyer, doctor, NBA, Wall Street guy, everybody would have yelled at me. You, they were like, ‘Whatever. Try whatever you want.’”

I’m very happy it worked out and that you’re sitting right here. What do audiences misunderstand most about your job?

IPPOLITO: Oh, great question. I think a lot of people kind of miss the work element, the homework element. People know between action and cut, and this stuff, which is very foreign to me, by the way, which is very cool, but something that I’m not very familiar with at this point. But yeah, there’s a lot of homework, and it’s kind of a lonely ride. You’re kind of by yourself with a lot of it, and a lot of that’s captured in this movie. But yeah, I think a lot of people miss that part of it.

If you could have a song play when you enter a room, what song would it be and why?

SETO: I like listening to Chinese healing music. That’s what I type into Spotify. So whatever comes on shuffle when I type that in.

Sounds great. If you could redo one scene from your career, what would it be and why?

JAMES: Jeez Louise. It’s a good one. I can’t pick one. There’s probably a thousand that I wish I could redo, as most actors do. They judge themselves pretty harshly. This is a really good question.

FARRELLY: That’s a real tough question.

IPPOLITO: It could also be a redo if you want to do it again, as well.

JAMES: Anything to do with you guys, I think. I’ll say that. I had so much fun working on this film and working with these guys that I would redo any one of those scenes just for fun.

You played Al Pacino in The Offer, and now you’re playing Sly in this. Who is the next ‘70s star that you are going to capture on a movie or TV show?

IPPOLITO: Got any ideas?

I do not, but I figured you do.

IPPOLITO: It’s a good question. No, honestly, I don’t really have an answer. I’ve just been so privileged and overwhelmed by both of these opportunities, and it’s really been something else. I’ve had the pleasure of really going through a lot of ‘70s cinema because of it, in doing the homework for both of these, so that’s really been a privilege. But I couldn’t give you another name.

FARRELLY: Travolta.

IPPOLITO: Hey, maybe.

FARRELLY: Stick with the Italians.

The real question is, can you dance?

IPPOLITO: No, so maybe we figure that out.

That’s why you do the homework.

FARRELLY: But he’s an athlete.

IPPOLITO: The homework. This is the homework part.

“He’s the only person we looked at for the role.”

Image via TIFF

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Exactly. So as I said before, I love the movie. How did this one happen? Was it tough to get off the ground, or was this one where everyone saw, “Oh, this could be a really good movie?”

FARRELLY: Every movie’s hard to get off the ground. It’s shocking to me. You can’t believe. Like you have a really good movie, it does well, and the next one is hard to get off the ground. So, yes, it’s always hard.

But this came when I read a script by Peter Gamble. Toby Emmerich gave it to me, and I was like, “This is the best script I’ve ever read.” I immediately wanted to do it. The hard part was going to be: How do you find the Stallone character?

We were planning to do a worldwide search, and all of a sudden, my casting agent called me, and he goes, “I got our guy.” I go, “What are you talking about?” He goes, “Kid sent the tape in.” He heard about the movie, somehow tracked down the script, put himself on tape — in your apartment?

IPPOLITO: Yeah.

FARRELLY: He had three scenes he put down, and he sent it to us before we even started casting. We looked at it, and we’re like, “Yeah, that’s the guy.” We never looked past it. He’s the only person we looked up for the role. And then the studio loved the script. Amazon MGM, they loved the script, and they said, “But how are you going to find Stallone?” And we said, “We already got him.” They said, “What are you talking about? You haven’t even started casting.” I said, “I know, but we got him.” I sent them the video that he sent us, and they called 10 minutes later and said, “Yeah, okay, we’ll do this.”

That is ba-effin-nanas. So I have to ask you, who is the person that you owe a birthday gift to for the rest of your life? Who got you that info to do this?

IPPOLITO: Interesting. I mean, I had just seen an article, honestly, and then a bunch of people sent it to me because I had talked about Stallone’s story and been inspired by it. But when I saw that article that he was doing this movie with Toby Emmerich, I just knew that I had to try to get in front of them.

I knew it wasn’t necessarily going to be easy. As an actor, trying to get in front of people in a timely way before things go in a different direction isn’t always the easiest thing, but I just really felt that at least if I was seen and I could present my interpretation, then I’d be able to live with it even if it didn’t go my way. I just really had to try to get in the door.

My question is, had you had a Stallone, not impersonation, but a version of Stallone that you’d already been working on?

IPPOLITO: No.

How quickly did you develop his accent, his mannerisms, to be able to self-tape and then send it in?

IPPOLITO: It was a lot, and it happened very fast. It was similar to Pacino; so much of the homework had to be done prior to even submitting the tape, that you already have a pretty good understanding of what you want to do prior to even getting the part. But yeah, a lot of work went in even before the audition.

FARRELLY: And by the way, after we got it, the one thing he wasn’t was he wasn’t buff like Stallone. So luckily, he got to us beforehand, so we had him working out for a year and learning how to box and doing everything.

IPPOLITO: Yeah, like a year and a half.

FARRELLY: And how many pounds did you gain? Like 40?

IPPOLITO: Something like that, yeah.

FARRELLY: And he’s, by the way, since then taken off most of it, right?

IPPOLITO: Yeah. It’s a lot to maintain, and it’s not my natural. You mentioned the Pacino part; I was kind of normally like that. So, it was a lot.

FARRELLY: This was like a Raging Bull thing to me. It’s like De Niro in Raging Bull where he just transformed into Jake LaMotta. That’s what he did for Stallone.

People don’t realize that to maintain that kind of weight, you have to be eating all the time.

IPPOLITO: It was an entire lifestyle shift and a really disciplined, regimented thing, day in, day out. Consistency. It was a lot, but it was worth it. We knew we had to do it that way.

FARRELLY: By the way, you asked was it hard to get made? Yeah, it was. We went to a couple of places before we found the right place, and the whole time all I could think was, “We’ve got to get this made because this kid’s been getting his face punched in for a year, I swear to God, and working out.” I was like, “We can’t stop. He’s been killing himself!”

IPPOLITO: We were in too deep at that point.

​​​​​​​Kiki Seto and Stephan James Dish on Playing Talia Shire and Carl Weathers

“There’s intrigue because you understand how beloved this franchise is.”

Claire Folger / © Amazon MGM Studios

For the two of you, a script like this doesn’t come along all the time. When you read the script, and you were auditioning, or however you got it, how much did you want these roles, and what was it like reading the script for the first time and seeing what you were going to be a part of?

SETO: Reading the script was surreal. I went to a coffee shop and sat down and read it there, and I was just like, “Wow, this is absolutely incredible.” I was laughing, I was crying, I think people around me were like, “What is going on with this girl?” I could tell that it was going to be an incredible film just by reading the script.

JAMES: Initially there’s intrigue because you understand how beloved this franchise is, this IP is. When you get the call, like you’re going to play someone like Apollo Creed, at first there’s a daunting feeling of like, “Oh, shit, that’s Apollo Creed,” and understanding just the lore that exists and the weight of that name in this franchise.

So I think the first feeling is a little bit daunting, but then the second feeling is you’re so excited, and you know that the source material, the script, is incredible, so you can trust that there’s at least that on the page and lean into it and just have fun. So, I think that’s the way I approached it. But just nervousness, excitement, but the kind of nervousness that you need, I think, in going into something like this.

Something about Rocky is that for many people, it’s their favorite movie, and you are recreating scenes from Rocky. What was it like on set when you needed to film something that needed to be frame-accurate for all the diehards who are like, “Well, that’s not how the camera moved.” How many takes had to be redone because you missed a tiny little bit?

FARRELLY: Not as many as you’d think because we had our director of photography, Sean Porter, who’s a genius, and he had studied and done his homework. Everybody has to do homework. Like these three showed up and they had their characters down. I direct them, but they’ve already found their character. I never have to say, “No, no, Apollo Creed, that’s not what he would do.” He did everything Apollo Creed would do when he shows up. But my thing would be, “Just take a second. Take more time.” Timing issues, that kind of thing.

But Sean Porter showed up and he knew what this movie was going to look like, and he had those things. On set, he had the actual Rocky shots and then what we were doing, and he matched them. You match the lighting. If you look, there’s a scene where he’s in his apartment and he’s got his hands on the pipe up above, and the shadow is going across his face exactly in the right place that it did in the movie. It’s identical.

And in fact, when we did the first test screening, people afterwards were asking, “Okay, how many of the shots in the movie were actually Stallone?” I was like, “None.” They’re like, “Some were. I mean, there were some that were Stallone.” I was like, “No.” They go, “What about when he’s walking down the street outside his apartment?” I was like, “No, that’s the actor.” They’re like, “What?!” We just matched it perfectly.

If you’re sitting next to Stallone when he’s watching this movie, what is the scene you cannot wait for him to watch and what is the scene you are very nervous for him to watch?

FARRELLY: That’s a good question.

IPPOLITO: That’s a really good question. The whole thing, in terms of this, is very much his story, and it’s something he spoke about on talk shows countless times, and it’s like mythic in its proportions. So many incredible things happened, and he had to overcome so much adversity.

Maybe the writing of it, probably. Like that sequence where something clicked into place. Because he wrote that initial first draft in three days, so to think of that whirlwind, he was probably so inside of it that it would probably be pretty interesting to see that.

FARRELLY: In fact, I asked him while we were shooting, I said, “What music were you listening to back then?” Because he told me he loved music. He said, “Buffalo Springfield.” He said, “In fact, I listened to Buffalo Springfield the whole time I was writing the movies. For three and a half days, I just kept rolling it back and forth.” So, we have “Rock & Roll Woman;” Buffalo Springfield is playing while he’s writing it, and some people have asked me, “Why that song? That’s 1969.” It’s like, “Because that’s what he listened to.” There was a lot of early Hall & Oates in there, stuff like that, Procol Harum, all that music that he liked.

Anthony is playing Stallone, who’s playing Rocky, and you’re playing Carl [Weathers], who is playing Apollo. Does it become almost three layers of a performance? You’re layering. What is that like as an actor?

IPPOLITO: It’s also, there are layers in any performance. We’re layered people. I mean, hardly are people ever fully one-dimensional or two-dimensional. If you’re playing a character and they’re sick, now you’re playing that character with that condition, you know? So, that’s something you absolutely have to take into account.

But they also kind of put a lot of themselves into the role. So sometimes it’s interesting to kind of blur the lines a little bit, but you definitely understand there is a delineation between the character that they’re playing and the actor themselves.

JAMES: That, to me, honestly was the most enjoyable part of all this. I think that a quality of this film is it has a voyeuristic quality to it, right, where you feel like you’re a fly on the wall getting to see something that other people haven’t seen yet. And so I think that that always intrigued me to be like, I know what people expect from Apollo Creed, but how can I show them just a little bit of a different shade in Carl, whether it be an insecurity, whether it be a moment of humor? I think that audiences really enjoy that sneaky feeling of, “Oh, wow, I’m getting to see someone when they’re not on.” And so I think that that dynamic is something I really leaned into and relished in, to be honest.

FARRELLY: It’s fun, actually. You did like three layers because he comes in as the actor who’s trying to be confident, and he’s not Carl Weathers’ real personality — he just comes in very cocky, very sure of himself — then becomes Apollo in that scene as he reads for the role. But then later we see that Carl Weathers is actually quite a different guy. He’s just kind of sitting there, just taking it all in, figuring it all out.

JAMES: It’s very meta, but very, very cool.

​​​​​​​How ‘I Play Rocky’ Captures the Highs and Lows of Sylvester Stallone’s Life

“Stallone’s life mirrors Rocky’s life so much during that time.”

Image via Amazon MGM Studios

I don’t want to be specific, but there’s very, very funny stuff in this movie. You guys really pulled it off. It’s really hard to do what you guys do. I’m so curious, though, if you don’t mind, I like talking about editing and how the film comes together, so what did you learn from early screenings that maybe impacted the finished film?

FARRELLY: My early screenings were always in the editing room, and I’d invite 20 or 30 people in.

You have a big editing room.

FARRELLY: Well, we rent it. It’s sort of like this room. Actually, this room is way bigger. But we jam everybody in there, we watch it, and you learn a lot constantly. By the time we did our first official test screening, we’d worked it all out and it did well, so we only did one test screening.

Did you score in the 90s?

FARRELLY: Yes.

So they’re like, “Okay, we’re done.”

FARRELLY: Yeah. So, what I learned was, I mean, I learned a lot of things. I could go on and on, but one thing was that Stallone’s wife, Sasha [Czack], is pregnant in the movie, a large part of the movie, and then at the end we show them watching the movie when the movie opens and she’s not pregnant anymore. I just figured people would be okay with that, knowing she had the baby, but every woman in the room was like, “What happened? Is the baby okay?” I was like, “Well, yeah, she had the baby.” They’re like, “How come they’re not mentioning the baby? Did she give it up for adoption?” It’s like, “No, she had the baby!” So we had to put in a thing, you know, “10 months and one baby later…” Just calming every woman in the audience to know that everything’s fine, their baby’s good.

And there were a lot of other things, like the very end. We had a whole different ending where we do show the big fight at the end, but we cut it differently. It’s because we realized at one point there’s a point where he’s running up the stairs where you’re never going to get there again. That point is such a high that we just stop it there. But then we, over the end credits, show the fight it. It helps it a lot.

One of the things about the making of Rocky and Stallone’s story is there are so many unbelievable things, from him turning down the money, and how without a Steadicam being invented this movie doesn’t happen. So for each of you, what is something that you learned about the making of Rocky that really just floored you and has really stuck with you?

IPPOLITO: For me, that shot at the steps is such a miracle, and Garrett Brown with the Steadicam was there on the day that we shot that stuff in Philly.

That’s amazing.

FARRELLY: He invented the Steadicam.

IPPOLITO: Yeah, he invented it and shot the hell out of that scene. And to think that that was all shot so perfectly, like the alignment and the symmetry of the frame for that shot, I didn’t really understand, as well, until we really dove into it, and you really appreciate it more.

FARRELLY: What I didn’t know was that they only put the stairs in because of Garrett Brown, because he showed them how a Steadicam works. He had shot his wife running up those stairs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. That wasn’t in the movie, but when they saw it, they said, “Could you do that for us?” He goes, “Yeah.” And they were like, “Where is that?” They go, “It’s in Philadelphia.” They said, “Let’s do it.” That never even made its way into the script, actually. If you read the Rocky script today, that’s not in there. They just put it in because of that.

SETO: I would say the producers taking out mortgages on their homes to fund the film and keep it running partway through the film. I thought that was incredible, and I don’t think the film would have been made without that type of emotional backing.

JAMES: Yeah, that’s a good one. For me, and I’m sure it’s probably a famous story but I didn’t know it, is just when Sly had to sell his dog, and what a heartfelt moment in the film, a moment that genuinely made me cry. You know it’s happening, you know it’s in the film, but when you see it, it’s just like, wow, the sacrifice that he made in that moment in time so he can make this thing that we’re all here talking about 50 years later is kind of unreal.

The other thing that I wasn’t sure you were going to do, and I’m so happy you did, is Sly really led a tough life before when he was living in the city, and he was on the street. I don’t want to be specific, but he has an adult past. Was it tough to put that in? Because, again, I don’t know how involved Sly was.

FARRELLY: It was a debate, and the studio at one point was like, “Do we really want that in there?” I said, “100% because that’s where he came from. That’s the low.” To me, this is what I love about this movie: Stallone’s life mirrors Rocky’s life so much during that time. But to me, this is even a better story, and here’s why: At least in Rocky, when Rocky starts, he has a job — he’s breaking bones, but he has a job. Stallone’s homeless. He’s selling his dog. He’s doing things he wishes he didn’t do. Rocky doesn’t win; he lasts through the fight. Stallone wins. They win the Best Picture. Rocky is fiction, this is true.

I Play Rocky opens in select theaters on November 6 before releasing nationwide on November 20.

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Release Date

November 20, 2026

Runtime

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127 minutes

Director

Peter Farrelly

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Writers

Peter Gamble

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Producers

Toby Emmerich, Michele Weiss, Peter Farrelly, Christian Baha

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Related: Nicole Kidman Wore the Loose, Slimming Jeans That Flatter Women Over 40

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The easiest way to tell if a thriller has completely won is when somebody pauses it and the room gets annoyed. Not because a twist is coming. Not because the movie is loud. You simply do not want to be pulled out of whatever terrible situation these people have created for themselves. Every conversation feels loaded, every harmless object starts looking suspicious, and suddenly you are mentally solving problems for characters who absolutely did not ask for your help.

And honestly? Perfect is a dangerous word, but nonetheless, thrillers invite it because their machinery is so exposed. One lazy coincidence can wreck the tension. One stupid decision can turn fear into frustration. But a truly perfect thriller avoids that scrutiny. Below is a very well-filtered list of the 6 most perfect thrillers released since 2010.

6

‘Sicario’ (2015)

Image via Lionsgate

Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) joins a federal operation expecting a recognizable law-enforcement mission and quickly discovers that everyone around her seems to be working from a rulebook she has never seen. Sicario uses that confusion brilliantly. Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) treats the whole operation with disturbing casualness, while Alejandro Gillick (Benicio del Toro) remains so controlled that Kate cannot tell whether he is protecting her, using her, or simply waiting for his own objective to become possible.

The Juárez convoy is a masterclass in making almost nothing happen for several unbearable minutes. Traffic stops near the border, suspicious cars surround the team, hands start moving, and everybody except Kate seems to know exactly when violence will begin. Later, the tunnel raid strips away even more certainty. The music from Jóhann Jóhannsson feels like pressure building underneath the road itself. The movie never gives Kate enough authority to make the audience comfortable. That helplessness is the point. She walked into a system where legality is already being treated as an inconvenience.

5

‘Nightcrawler’ (2014)

Image via Open Road Films

Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) sees a freelance cameraman filming a car wreck and immediately recognizes a career opportunity. That reaction tells you almost everything you need to know about Nightcrawler. Lou has no journalism background, no meaningful ethical limits, and an unnerving ability to absorb the language of ambition from business books and motivational slogans. Los Angeles gives him exactly the market he needs.

Soon he is moving bodies for better compositions, withholding information from police, and pushing Nina Romina (Rene Russo) toward footage gruesome enough to protect her ratings. The really uncomfortable part is how well Lou understands the incentives around him. He sounds ridiculous when he talks about growth and professional development, yet the television station keeps rewarding the behavior those words disguise. Even his relationship with Rick (Riz Ahmed) becomes another business arrangement Lou believes can be optimized. The movie is funny in a deeply sick way because corporate language keeps getting used to describe increasingly monstrous choices. Lou is horrifying. The culture around him keeps proving he learned the correct lesson.

4

‘The Handmaiden’ (2016)

Image via Amazon Studios/ CJ Entertainment

A pickpocket named Sook-hee (Kim Tae-ri) enters a wealthy Japanese household in Korea under Japanese occupation, pretending to serve the sheltered Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee). The plan is to help a con man seduce Hideko, marry her, steal her fortune, and have her institutionalized. That sounds complicated enough. The Handmaiden then changes perspective and starts revealing how badly everyone has underestimated everyone else.

Park Chan-wook turns deception into pure pleasure because the same moments acquire completely different meanings once another person gets to tell them. A glove, a bath, a reading session, a whispered conversation, even who appears nervous around whom can shift once the hidden agenda becomes visible. The mansion itself feels divided between cultures and secrets, while Uncle Kouzuki (Cho Jin-woong)’s library gives the household a far uglier purpose than its elegance suggests. The erotic material has actual dramatic function because intimacy becomes another place where power can change hands. Watching this with somebody who knows nothing beforehand is ideal. Watching their face is half the fun.

3

‘Gone Girl’ (2014)

Image via 20th Century Studios

Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) comes home on his fifth wedding anniversary and finds his wife missing. There is blood in the house, furniture has been disturbed, and Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike) has left behind the annual treasure hunt she always created for him. Then Nick goes on television and smiles beside her missing-person poster.

That smile alone could sustain half an episode of cable news, and Gone Girl knows it. The movie turns marriage into evidence, performance, and eventually warfare. Amy’s diary gives the public one version of their relationship while Nick keeps looking worse every time another detail surfaces. Then the perspective changes and the entire movie becomes nastier, funnier, and much more honest about how both people have performed identities for each other. The “Cool Girl” monologue became a cultural shorthand because it names a very recognizable kind of relationship performance. After that, even breakfast between these two can feel like mutually assured destruction. Few thrillers make marriage this entertainingly terrifying.

2

‘Prisoners’ (2013)

Image via Warner Bros.

Two girls disappear during Thanksgiving, and Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) quickly decides that Alex Jones (Paul Dano) knows more than the police can prove. Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) keeps investigating. Keller decides waiting is no longer acceptable. That split gives Prisoners its moral pressure.

Keller’s fear is completely understandable, which makes his treatment of Alex increasingly difficult to sit with. Every new hour without the girls gives him another reason to believe brutality is justified. Loki follows a slower path through old cases, strange suspects, abandoned buildings, mazes, and clues that keep refusing to organize themselves fast enough. Roger Deakins fills the movie with rain, gray skies, dirty snow, and rooms that seem permanently short on air. The tension comes from wanting an answer while becoming less comfortable with the methods used to reach one. That is a much harder feeling to shake than a simple whodunit.

1

‘Parasite’ (2019)

Image via NEON

The Kim family lives in a cramped semi-basement, folds pizza boxes for money, steals nearby Wi-Fi, and understands immediately when a better opportunity appears. One tutoring job inside the wealthy Park household becomes another job, then another, until the entire family has quietly inserted itself into the house under separate identities.

Parasite is so entertaining that the precision can almost hide in plain sight. The scholar’s rock, the smell Mr. Park (Lee Sun-kyun) notices, the stairs connecting different levels of the city, the enormous window in each family’s home, even a night of heavy rain all keep changing meaning depending on who has money and who does not. Then the house reveals something the Kims never knew was there, and the movie shifts without losing control for a second. Bong Joon Ho lets comedy, class resentment, suspense, humiliation, and violence occupy the same story without forcing any of them to wait their turn. You can laugh through one scene and feel awful about having laughed five minutes later. That is thriller control at an almost unfair level and that’s why this sits at the top for me.

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Parasite

Release Date

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May 30, 2019

Runtime

133 minutes

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• 
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  Lee Sun-kyun

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  Park Dong-ik

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