We need to say something disloyal about Steve Carell, a man we would defend in almost any court. The Four Seasons is better without him. At the end of Season 1, Nick (Carell) dies in a car accident just as he was starting his shiny new midlife crisis with Ginny (Erika Henningsen). On paper, this seemed like an insane decision by Tina Fey and company. You don’t cast the most recognizable face in the TV comedy pantheon and then write him out after eight episodes.

Except Fey and co-creators Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield did exactly that. With Season 2, there might’ve been some second-guessing. A finale without your biggest star is one thing; a whole season is another beast entirely. And yet the show’s sophomore outing, which hit Netflix on May 28, doesn’t slump; it soars, making comedic work of grief in a way few shows would dare.

‘The Four Seasons’ Season 2 Builds Its Best Vacations Around Nick’s Death

Season 1 of the Four Seasons was a pleasant, low-stakes hang. Three couples, four trips, one divorce bomb. As far as comedy premises go, it’s a goldmine. But Season 2 came with baggage, and not the kind you can tip a bellhop to carry. The first episode opens with the surviving friends hiking up a mountain to scatter Nick’s ashes. (As if we could forget this hedge-fund executive died doing DoorDash duty for a roomful of millennials he was trying to impress.) Every quarterly trip now has a ghost on the itinerary, and that turns out to be exactly what this ensemble needed.

Somehow, grief doesn’t suck the air out of the funny moments; it pressurizes them. Kate (Fey) and Jack (Will Forte) keep failing to comfort each other because they’re mourning at completely different speeds. Danny (Colman Domingo) and Claude (Marco Calvani) handle their grief the way plenty of couples do: by floating the baby question. The debate is hilarious and a little heartbreaking because we all know a baby has never once fixed an existential crisis, and on some level, so do they. When they bail on the idea and move to Claude’s hometown of Trento, Italy, instead, you get it. Sometimes the only answer to death is a dramatic change of address. And then there’s the odd couple nobody asked for: Anne (Kerri Kenney-Silver), the ex-wife, and Ginny, the girlfriend, stuck haggling over Nick’s estate before baby Gino turns them into reluctant co-parents. It’s the season’s strangest, sweetest pairing, and the show is smart enough to know it shouldn’t last.

‘The Four Seasons’ Season 2 Belongs to Will Forte and Kerri Kenney-Silver

Forte has spent his career being the weirdest guy in the room, so watching him play the season’s most grounded tragedy is a small revelation. Jack copes with Nick’s death the way a lot of mild-mannered men cope with anything: by holding everyone else together while privately falling apart, with a little help from a robust personal weed regimen and a newly-picked-up marathon hobby. Episode 8 is his season-best, and on paper it’s pure sitcom: Kate strong-arms a clearly not-okay Jack into running an Italian marathon to “turn this year around.” It’s two people having the fight they’ve been dodging for seven episodes, except now they’re having it mid-race, sweaty and furious, while strangers in foil blankets cheer them on. And Forte sells every second of it as a guy who can’t pinpoint when he stopped being okay. If we complain too much about fragile masculinity and men who can’t express their feelings, his Jack is the answer to that. But he’s not the only supporting player who finally gets their due in Season 2.

The Four Seasons’ first outing mostly used Anne as the wronged woman, the wife Nick discarded on the way to his new life. Season 2 hands Kenney-Silver the keys. Anne and Ginny start by squabbling over Nick’s estate and end up co-parenting baby Gino. Then, in the move that gives the finale its spine, Anne does the last thing anyone expects from her: she stays. While the rest of the group flies home from Italy, Anne volunteers to housesit Danny and Claude’s place in Trento… alone, in a country where she knows nobody. Then David Tennant strolls in as a charming local stranger, and the show closes on Anne flirting in broken Italian with the energy of a woman who has finally remembered she exists. It’s the most satisfying cliffhanger Netflix has produced in ages, and it belongs entirely to a character who spent her first season as collateral damage in someone else’s storyline.

For a while now, Netflix has been positioning The Four Seasons as its cozier answer to The White Lotus, but Season 1 never had the stakes to back that up. Season 2 does, and it gets there without a single murder mystery. Even when Carell returns for a flashback episode, the show resists the urge to build a shrine. Nick shows up as he actually was: charming, selfish, beloved, and, in a way, already gone. By killing him off and sticking to that choice, The Four Seasons didn’t lose its biggest star; it let him go and found its best self on the other side.

Though he first got some attention with Following, and then quite a bit more with Memento, Christopher Nolan is best known nowadays for making films on a massive scale. Those two early films of his weren’t really epics, by any means, and neither were Insomnia nor The Prestige, even if they got a bit bigger in scale, and had larger budgets. It wasn’t until Nolan started making some superhero films that he began leaning more towards crafting epics, and it’s that zone he’s generally stayed in for almost two decades now.

The Odyssey is about a month away, at the time of writing, and looks set to continue this trend of making epic movies, what with its runtime that comes in at just eight minutes shy of three hours, and a budget of approximately $250 million used to bring the whole thing to the big screen (hopefully, the biggest screen you can possibly see it on). The only fairly recent movie of Nolan’s that’s not being considered here is Dunkirk, which is almost an epic, but isn’t long enough to count in the traditional sense. It’s under two hours, whereas all the movies here hover around the 2.5-hour mark, and one is even right on three hours. This is a ranking of all Christopher Nolan’s epic movies to date, starting with the flawed yet interesting and ending with a couple of films that are pretty darn close to perfect overall.

6

‘The Dark Knight Rises’ (2012)

Image via Warner Bros.

Concluding what ended up being a pretty massive blockbuster trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises is certainly flawed, though it would be a stretch to call it an outright terrible comic book/superhero movie. Batman Begins wasn’t quite an epic, while the second movie in the trilogy does count (and will be talked about more later on), but for better or worse, The Dark Knight Rises feels the most in line with what you usually find in the epic genre. It’s the closest to three hours long out of all the Nolan Batman movies, it feels like it juggles the most moving pieces narratively, and it also seems to cover a decently long period of time.

Bane is the main villain here, though there’s also some stuff relating to a past foe of Batman’s that’s a little silly, yet does at least kind of tie the events of Batman Begins to the events of The Dark Knight Rises, with an almost full-circle sort of thing achieved. There are parts of this trilogy-capper that are thrilling and successful at capturing some kind of spectacle, and then there are other sequences that feel hammy and goofy in ways the other two movies in the trilogy mostly avoided. At the end of the day – and at the end of this trilogy – The Dark Knight Rises is a bit messy, and definitely inconsistent, but still has enough to offer, as an epic, to keep it from being outright bad. It’s probably more the case that it’s just disappointing by the rather high standards of Christopher Nolan’s filmography.

5

‘Tenet’ (2020)

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

There’s also a messiness to Tenet, yet it’s an admirable movie, too. Christopher Nolan clearly had a weird vision here, and a desire to top some of his previous psychological thrillers, action movies, and sci-fi films, doing all that while also making the most spy/espionage-heavy flick he’s done to date. To try to summarize what’s going on here, Tenet is about a man known only as “the protagonist,” and he gets tangled up in a complex plot that involves objects that are able to travel backward in time. In time (ha), it also turns out that people can go backwards, like the objects, and then things get progressively wilder.

Tenet has a lot of fun with set pieces that feature things going backwards and forwards simultaneously, and it’s also not really a movie that cares about whether you’re keeping up and having fun alongside it. You get what you can get out of Tenet, and hopefully, that’s a pretty decent amount. It’s always there to be rewatched, if you think it’s the sort of puzzle that might well come a little closer to being solved on repeat viewings, but there’s never any real guarantee of clarity. It’s a mind-bender, to put it mildly, and comes close to feeling like a parody of a Christopher Nolan movie at times. For the stuff that works, though, and the parts that are thrillingly strange rather than outright confusing (probably not as many parts cause confusion as you might fear), Tenet is still very much worthy of your attention.

4

‘Oppenheimer’ (2023)

Image via Universal Pictures

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Oppenheimer is huge, standing as Christopher Nolan’s longest movie to date, and also being the only one to hit the three-hour mark (even The Odyssey is confirmed to fall a little short of that). That might make Oppenheimer the most traditional epic of Nolan’s, with the content of the film also supporting that idea. It’s got so many different characters, the narrative spans a great deal of time, and Oppenheimer is also attempting to do a lot as a character study and a historical film at the same time. It’s about J. Robert Oppenheimer, and there’s a particular focus on his involvement with developing the first atomic bomb.

This makes Oppenheimer a World War II movie of sorts, but not one with any scenes of combat, since it’s more about making a weapon that’s intended to bring about a close to the war. But… it’s also about the aftermath of making such a weapon, and the consequences that might not have been fully appreciated until it was too late. Oppenheimer jumps around in time a lot, and spends a good deal of its runtime on certain things that happened after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is almost too much movie, but also, so much of this too-much movie is great. It might seem low on this ranking, but it should be stressed that it’s quite a bit better than both The Dark Knight Rises and Tenet.

3

‘Inception’ (2010)

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

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While Oppenheimer might’ve felt the most like a traditional epic, out of any Christopher Nolan movie, Inception probably feels the least like one. Some of that comes down to the runtime, as it’s the only movie in this ranking that’s technically just short of 2.5 hours (by only two minutes, but still). Also, Inception races by in what feels like under two hours, since it is a phenomenally paced movie. You don’t really feel as though it has a runtime that could be considered epic, since everything is very finely crafted, there’s a generous amount of action, and the film never really stops being intriguing and/or surprising.

It is technically a heist movie, albeit in an unusual way, a bit like how Tenet was an unconventional spy movie. Inception has its main characters taking part in a heist that involves infiltrating someone’s subconscious, and there are a few different levels of dreaming that have to be traveled to, to carry out this plan. It’s a film that begins confidently, lays out exposition in an entertaining way, and then delivers some serious action and spectacle in its back half. Inception sees Nolan operating quite perfectly in blockbuster mode, so it also being something of an epic is really just icing on the (very, very layered) cake.

2

‘Interstellar’ (2014)

While it doesn’t span as much time as 2001: A Space Odyssey (which has the room to, since it’s a bit more abstract and mostly has different characters in each of its different segments), Interstellar spans about as much time as you could expect a sci-fi movie to, while focusing mostly on the same characters throughout. Admittedly, that’s partly because Interstellar involves different people experiencing time at a different rate, so maybe it doesn’t span a ton of time, depending on the perspective… but on Earth, decades and decades do pass.

This is a reliable source of drama for the film, and something that gives it a greater emotional punch than most other Christopher Nolan movies. On top of being moving, Interstellar is also spectacular to look at and listen to, all the while having a largely exciting story about going into deep space to ensure humanity can find a planet that’s not Earth to live on into the future. It begins with confidence, ends extremely well, and then, in between, distinguishes itself as one of the finest sci-fi epics of the century so far.

1

‘The Dark Knight’ (2008)

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

You can’t really go wrong with The Dark Knight, since it’s an amazingly well-written comic book movie that does a lot more than just feel like another comic book/superhero movie. It’s the perfect filling between the two pieces of (fairly good quality) bread that are Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises. Within the trilogy, The Dark Knight does the most by way of interesting things, and it also has the most compelling conflict out of any of the three movies, thanks to a perfectly cast Heath Ledger as a particularly engaging version of the Joker.

You can also compare The Dark Knight to Inception in the sense that it’s a long movie, yet it passes by in what feels like a flash, being a movie that never really slows down. You probably knew all that already, because most people seem to love The Dark Knight, and it doesn’t feel controversial to call it pretty much a masterpiece, but there it is anyway; there it is, being said again. It kind of is just that good.

Editor’s note: The following contains major spoilers for Your Fault: London.

While the second installment of the trilogy is called Your Fault: London, there is plenty of blame to go around, as miscommunication drives Noah (Asha Banks) and Nick (Matthew Broome) further apart and pushes their relationship to the brink. Just when they thought they were stronger and more in love than ever, life tested them with Noah pursuing her studies at Oxford and going to parties with friends while Nick juggled the demands of work and celebrated with a colleague. Small cracks start to fracture into feelings of doubt and jealousy, and Noah and Nick find themselves having to decide whether their love is still worth fighting for.

Co-stars Banks and Broome recently sat down with me to discuss the wild ride of Noah and Nick’s romance in this second installment of their love story, and how fans can rest assured that they’ll get to see more in the already shot Our Fault: London. During the interview, they discussed having fans embrace their Noah and Nick, the challenge of bickering in a car during a race scene, dressing up like a Spice Girl, whether Michael (Joel Nankervis) was manipulating Noah, the fight that turns into a moment of passion, Briar’s (Scarlett Rayner) history with Nick, that moment Nick realizes what happened between Noah and Michael, and the light at the end of the tunnel coming for Noah and Nick in the third film.

‘Your Fault: London’ Stars Asha Banks and Matthew Broome Are Happy That Fans Have Embraced Their Noah and Nick

“We wanted to do the second book and movie as much justice as the first.”

Image via Prime Video

COLLIDER: How has it felt to experience the fan reception to your version of this story? When fans start saying you guys are the best Nick and Noah ever, does that make you more nervous or more excited to hear what they will have to say about this film and about the next film, Our Fault?

MATTHEW BROOME: The fans have their preferred, or they like both, or they like none, or whatever, but it’s nice to know that we have people on our side. At the beginning of the first film, we were coming into a fan base as strangers being like, “Please like us.” It’s nice to be putting something out there for people who really want to receive it.

ASHA BANKS: I think it’s equally daunting and nerve-wracking coming back, knowing that people responded well to the first one. It’s amazing. It’s the best. We’re so lucky that people loved it and that people allowed us to exist with Nicole [Wallace] and Gabriel [Guevara], who did such an amazing job of the characters already. They’ve all been very lovely and very receptive. But you’re so right, that almost made it more nerve-wracking coming back, because we had to deliver, and we wanted to do the second book and movie as much justice as the first.

I also feel like this is the movie where some fans are going to get a little upset.

BANKS: Yes. We’re like, “Stay on our side, please! Stay with us!”

There’s a moment in this film when Nick has to race for Lion, and Noah gets in the car before the race starts. What was it like to shoot that scene, with the two of them bickering while also trying to win the race and being trapped in the car together? What is it like to do all of that in such a confined space?

BANKS: It was so hard. That was the hardest one of the second movie. Like you said, there were so many things at once. With the first film, we’d done a lot of driving, but alone in the car with each of us separately. And we’d done a scene in the car, but it was very stable, normal driving around London. And then, suddenly we were like, “Oh, damn, now we have to do our racing, but together in a scene where we’re bickering and it’s so fast-paced.” It’s so silent when you film. Obviously, our job as actors is to bring the stakes, but it feels so silly being in a car surrounded by screens, and we’re fighting and pretending to race.

BROOME: With the crew shaking the car and spraying water on it.

BANKS: That was really one where we had to hold each other and be like, “We’ve got this. We can do this.”

It looks cool. Even if all that silliness is going on, you would never know.

BANKS: Exactly. The VFX and the crew are basically what makes that amazing, and we were thinking too much about ourselves.

Asha, how was it to dress up as one of the Spice Girls and figure out exactly what that would look like?

BANKS: Oh, my goodness, it was amazing! That was the first thing I did in my fitting when I came in for the second film. They were like, “By the way, you’re going to be Posh Spice.” And they whipped out a wig, a bob, and tried to fit my amount of hair in a wig cap, which was quite difficult, but it was so much fun. I stopped myself from asking the question of how it was such a fantastic costume for a uni party. I was like, “You know what? This has to be iconic.” I loved it. It was so much fun.

There’s a moment when Michael is talking to Noah about her relationship having to be kept a secret and about Nick’s insecurities. Do you think he’s manipulating her in that moment, or do you think he’s just being honest with her in that moment?

BANKS: I think Michael was just being honest. Especially in that moment, he comes in with his heart on his sleeve. He does fall for Noah in ways. He can see that Nick isn’t being the man that he would be to her in that moment. I think that he’s being honest. I don’t personally feel like, in that moment, he’s manipulating her. But of course, she is in a vulnerable spot, and she’s going through ups and downs in her relationship, which is what makes it so interesting. It is a debate for both of them, and for Sophia. For a lot of this film, there are a lot of questions and a lot of debate about people’s intent. That’s what makes it so interesting.

Asha Banks and Matthew Broome Discuss That ‘Your Fault: London’ Fight That Quickly Turns to Passion

“I love that scene.”

Image via Prime Video

There’s the fight that you guys have at Nick’s place, after he shows up at Oxford and finds Michael in Noah’s room, that ends up getting heated. When Nick tells Noah that she’s his, they go from fighting to undressing each other pretty quickly. How was it to find that shift? What was it like to figure that moment out and to work that scene out because it does get a bit physical too and it shifts quite a bit throughout that whole sequence?

BANKS: I love that scene.

BROOME: It’s the release of tension. It’s like a musical where when words are not enough, you start singing. They’re either going to fight or …

BANKS: The other.

BROOME: … the other.

BANKS: We worked so much on that scene, in terms of the script as well. That was so important, making the shift feel like it made sense, and it only really made sense if the argument comes to a point of such intense passion.

BROOME: At the end of the day, they just want each other. That’s all.

BANKS: That’s what they’re saying.

BROOME: They just want each other.

BANKS: It was actually such a fun scene to film.

BROOME: It was.

BANKS: They do go through so much in such a short space of time and the stakes are so high. “Fame is a Gun,” by Addison Rae, is the song that is over the scene in the film, and we were playing that song as we filmed it.

BROOME: I feel like it was our first heightened, intense argument. We talked a lot about how, by this point, Noah and Nick have argued loads. They know how to push each other’s buttons. They know what each other’s going to do to piss each other off. So, we were like, “How do we incorporate that into it?” They attempt to talk like adults before they end up screaming at each other and taking each other’s clothes off.

My mind immediately went to what might have happened behind the scenes. Whenever there’s a scene where somebody has to pick someone else up, I’m always like, “Please just don’t let him have dropped her in that moment.”

BANKS: I know. Thank you! I was safe.

Matthew, knowing how Briar is and the history that Nick has with her, why do you think he believed her when she tells him that Noah has moved on and is happy without him and is with Michael?

BROOME: Because I think that’s everything that he is worried about happening and thinks is happening. He’s driving himself insane with this idea of, “Something is going to go on there. If I don’t stop it or if I stray too far, then that’s what’s going to happen, inevitably.” There’s probably a bit of ego involved with him going, “I knew it. And also, that’s the worst thing I ever want to hear.” I think the weight of, “I saw the threat coming and let it happen,” stresses him out.

The Chaos of ‘Your Fault: London’ Continues To Build Until the Cliffhanger Ending

“There’s so much that has to happen in a short space of time.”

Image via Prime Video

So much happens at the end of this, with Nick and Sophia kissing where Noah can see them, Briar dropping the bomb that she used to be with Nick, and Nick learning that Noah and Michael aren’t actually together. What was all of that like to play out, having them be so at odds with each other and having all of that spiral all at once?

BROOME: That was a really tough day. I struggled with that day because you are having to get all the reveals happening at once on this staircase, and you have to play that beat and that beat.

BANKS: Yeah, that was definitely a challenging day because it’s such an important scene as well. There’s so much that has to happen in a short space of time, and each moment has to be given its own spotlight of explanation. As an audience member, you have to be able to pick up each piece in order to track what’s happening, so it was definitely a hard one to figure out. And then, add a grand staircase to it, which is where we played the scene. It was difficult. It’s hard in moments like that because you have such a gut instinct for what your character would do and how they would react, but it’s in those moments where you remember the technicalities of filming and where you have to step yourself back from your character a bit and remember that each person’s moment is integral in making the puzzle of the scene work, especially when you watch it in the edit. So much happens on the day and you remember the chaos. And then, you watch the edit and you’re like, “Oh, it makes complete sense.” The directors are amazing and they know what they’re doing, and they can piece together something and so seamlessly make it feel impactful, but with the chaos, that is true to the scene.

And yet somehow it doesn’t just stop there. This whole thing just keeps spiraling. Asha, how hard was it to shoot the moment when Nick realizes that Noah was with Michael? So much is going on, but you’re not saying much in that scene. It’s all just coming from your reaction.

BANKS: It was hard, emotionally, but it was easy. By that point, we’d filmed a lot of the film, and I find it easier sometimes to feel the emotions and react when that’s all you’re doing. I know Matt so well now. Watching Matt as Nick discover this is heartbreaking because I feel like you get to a point where you just are the person.

BROOME: It’s the moment that is so close. If that didn’t happen, they would probably have spoken it out. But it’s just the final, “Oh, no.”

BANKS: And it was exhausting to film, which was helpful, ultimately. I think we did [Matt’s] coverage first. And by the time that they turned around onto me, I was exhausted and I was like, “Oh, my goodness, this is heartbreaking.” But it was a lovely scene to film.

Do you think Noah felt guilt in that moment? Do you think she blamed Nick? What do you think was going on with her in that moment?

BANKS: Oh, God, I think all of it at once. She has a numbness just overriding everything because it’s too much to handle in that moment. I think that a lot of their trouble comes from miscommunication, and that is one of the biggest moments of that in the film. She knows Nick and she knows that there’s nothing that she can do in that moment to talk him ‘round. She has ultimately made a mistake because of a miscommunication of what she thought happened with him and all the chaos. I do think it’s one of the only times in the film, probably, that Noah gives in. She can’t take it, in that moment.

Matthew, what was it like to have that moment between Nick and Michael? Was it hard for you to justify that level of violence from Nick, or do you feel like everything was just building up to that?

BROOME: As me, Matthew, it’s hard to justify that. But as Nick, everything up until that, with the amount of times that’s what he’s wanted to do, if he was film one Nick, he would have punched him, probably immediately. But he’s tried to do the good thing every time and not do it. That is the last straw before it explodes. With all that pent-up anger and frustration, the old Nick just comes out. He’s like Hulk in that moment. He can’t control that anymore. It’s gone. And I do believe that Michael is triggering him in that moment. He’s saying the things that he knows are going to get to Nick. It’s almost like a mutual understanding for both of them that this is going to happen. Not to justify violence, but playing Nick, I get it at that point.

Fear Not, Noah and Nick’s Story Will Continue in ‘Our Fault: London’

“You’re going to get to watch us again in a whole different phase of our lives.”

Image via Prime Video

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Because fans are obviously going to be left crushed at the end of Your Fault, what are you most looking forward to them getting to see with Our Fault? And how does it feel for you guys to have been able to actually complete the trilogy?

BANKS: It feels great. It’s really nice, knowing how crushed fans are probably going to be at the end of this movie and how much they’ve been through, for us to be able to say, “There’s another one. The story is not over. There’s more coming.”

BROOME: You’re going to get to watch us again in a whole different phase of our lives. The characters are older and moved on and more mature. We get to watch them handle it differently.

BANKS: There’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

BROOME: Or is there?

BANKS: Or is there?

Along with returning to Nick and Noah for these movies, you guys each have TV series that you’ve gotten to do for two seasons, with A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and The Buccaneers. Having done it with these movies and with your TV shows, what have you found you each most enjoy about getting to return to a character that you’ve already played and that you already know? How different has that experience been?

BROOME: I love the fact that I, as an actor, have grown and I can put that into my character growing up and also just evolving as a human. I find that really exciting. In that year, I’ve absorbed so much in my day-to-day and in my life that I can now use as experience. It gives me an opportunity to show a side of me and the character that I’ve not got to before, and I find that exciting instead of going for the same. You’re not going, “I must react exactly how I did in the first.” It gives you the space to evolve, and I find that really exciting as an actor.

BANKS: Yeah, I agree. I had a bit of a strange experience because I returned to both Cara, in a Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, and Noah, in Your Fault, basically at the same time. We were filming Season 2 just before I filmed the second My Fault movie. Before that, I knew that they were both coming again, but I had never returned to a character, so I think I was very nervous. Coming back to a character, you that thing of, “Do I know how to come back to this and play this character again? Who is she? What did I do? How did I speak?”

BROOME: And then, you realize you are her, which makes it easier.

BANKS: Yeah. Going back to Season 2 of Good Girl’s made me realize that immediately. And then, I felt much more relieved about coming back to Noah and feeling very excited to grow. We felt that being able to play a new Noah and Nick, where they are very comfortable with each other and know each other very well, as we do, was so much fun. In the first film, there wasn’t able to be as much of Asha and Matt within our characters.

BROOME: Yeah. I’m really excited for fans to see that side of our dynamic because it might, at times, be like, “Is this Nick?” You’ve never seen him in a year relationship. He’s never seen himself in a year relationship before. This is all new to him, and [the fans]. That’s fun and exciting.

Thank you guys for talking to me. It was fun to take the ride with this movie. Even though I knew what was coming, essentially, I still kept forgetting that there was more to keep spiraling.

BANKS: There’s always more. Thank you!

Your Fault: London is available to stream on Prime Video.

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Release Date

June 17, 2026

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Director

Charlotte Fassler, Dani Girdwood

Writers

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Bella Heesom, Melissa Osborne, Mercedes Ron

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Steven Spielberg’s latest UFO blockbuster is generating debate far beyond extraterrestrials and government secrets. 

“Disclosure Day,” which has already attracted more than two million moviegoers, centers on a world-changing release of classified UFO files and the fallout that follows. 

However, while the film explores whether humanity is alone in the universe, it also tackles a more controversial question: what happens to religious belief if proof of alien life finally arrives? 

That premise has sparked renewed discussion among Christians, UFO researchers, and disclosure advocates alike.

Spoiler Alert: This article contains major plot details and ending revelations from Steven Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day.” 

Unlike many alien-themed films that focus primarily on science or invasion scenarios, Steven Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day” directly confronts the question of how the confirmation of extraterrestrial life could affect Christianity.

The story unfolds after the Donald Trump administration releases previously classified UFO files containing new evidence that humanity is not alone. 

One of the movie’s central figures is Jane Blankenship, a former nun played by Eve Hewson, who fears the revelation could fundamentally challenge her understanding of faith.

Blankenship worries that the disclosure might force believers to reconsider everything they know about God, Jesus, and the Bible. 

According to UFO investigator Chris Ramsay, the film touches on a genuine fear shared by many Christians who believe confirmation of alien life could raise difficult questions about creation, humanity’s role in the universe, and God’s relationship with other intelligent beings.

‘Disclosure Day’ Is Built Around A Former Nun’s Crisis Of Faith

Blankenship’s struggle becomes one of the film’s emotional anchors. She is the girlfriend of cybersecurity whistleblower Dr. Daniel Kellner, played by Josh O’Connor, who joins efforts to expose decades of hidden evidence about extraterrestrial life.

After the couple become targets of the mysterious WARDEX corporation for leaking classified information, Blankenship seeks refuge at her former convent. There, she reconnects with Sister Maura, played by Elizabeth Marvel.

Rather than reinforcing Blankenship’s fears, Sister Maura encourages her to adopt a broader perspective about faith and the universe. As the story progresses, the main character begins to reconsider her assumptions. 

Instead of viewing extraterrestrial life as a threat to religion, she ultimately concludes that a vast universe filled with life could strengthen belief in a creator rather than weaken it.

Steven Spielberg Addresses Concerns Shared By UFO Researchers

Ramsay praised Steven Spielberg for tackling a subject many disclosure advocates have discussed for years.

“If you’re faced with this brand new truth… that here are other beings, it puts into question a lot of the things that people may have read in the Bible,” he told the Daily Mail.

The issue has gained attention from politicians and commentators alike. Some have suggested that concerns about religious disruption are among the reasons governments have been reluctant to fully release UFO information.

Ramsay believes Spielberg intentionally included the faith-based subplot because many Americans could view disclosure as an existential challenge.

“He obviously understands that a vast majority of the American population, specifically being Christians, might see disclosure as this existential sort of problem that they have to inevitably face,” Ramsay revealed.

The researcher argued that the filmmaker’s message was ultimately one of reassurance rather than conflict.

“I think that was Spielberg’s way of softening the blow,” Ramsay continued, adding, “Just because there might be life out there, or even visiting us, doesn’t mean God doesn’t exist. He would have created them too, right?” 

Spielberg Packs Decades Of UFO Lore Into ‘Disclosure Day’

Beyond religion, Ramsay was impressed by the sheer scope of UFO topics covered in “Disclosure Day.” “I think it was an absolutely Herculean task which was set before him,” he said.

The researcher noted that Steven Spielberg incorporated ideas spanning nearly 80 years of UFO history, including crash retrieval claims, alien contact reports, psychic phenomena, remote viewing, and telepathy.

Remote viewing, which gained notoriety through the Cold War-era Stargate program, is also referenced in the film. Ramsay appreciated that Spielberg acknowledged government interest in psychic research, even if the abilities were dramatized for Hollywood audiences.

The film also explores the world of UFO experiencers, individuals who claim direct encounters with non-human intelligence. 

Ramsay pointed to scenes involving unusual animals and alleged psychic aftereffects as examples of concepts frequently discussed within UFO communities.

‘Disclosure Day’s’ Most Chilling Scene Left Researchers Talking

One sequence in particular stood out to Ramsay. The scene follows Emily Blunt’s character, Margaret Fairchild, as she trails a series of animals through a snowy forest toward what appears to be a comforting home. 

As she gets closer, the illusion suddenly vanishes, revealing a sterile white room where a child lies on a floating metallic slab under the watch of a gray alien.

“When that transition happened, I got the chills through my whole body,” Ramsay said, further noting, “I thought that they landed that was very, very accurate [to reports].”

He also pointed out Fairchild’s sudden psychic abilities after her encounter. She begins speaking Russian, appears capable of reading minds, and experiences episodes resembling clairvoyance.

“That’s something that’s actually been documented quite extensively with experiencers,” Ramsay told the Daily Mail.

Although he questioned Spielberg’s portrayal of extraterrestrials communicating through clicking sounds rather than telepathy, Ramsay left the theater impressed. 

The film concludes with media clips featuring unexplained sightings and conspiracy theories, leaving him wishing the 79-year-old had gone one step further.

“How amazing of an opportunity would that have been for disclosure? For people gathered in the theater, eating popcorn and being told… this movie features footage from a real, live, non-human crash retrieval. For me, that would have been disclosure – and in the most American way,” he said.

Jon Cassar’s no-frills western drama, Forsaken, follows John Henry Clayton, played by Keifer Sutherland, a former hot-shot gunfighter, who returns home seeking redemption and reconciliation. However, upon his arrival, Clayton quickly realizes things aren’t quite like he left them. An old love lost to time, new ruthless land-grabbing antagonists, and his estranged father force this homeward-bound cowboy to question whether he can truly leave his violent past behind. Ten years later, Prime Video’s well-loved western picture is still celebrated by critics and audiences alike.

Many say the film benefits from the expertly cast on-screen pair of real-life father and son, Donald and Kiefer Sutherland. Additionally, the film includes a further star-studded cast, including but not limited to: Demi Moore as Clayton’s forlorn old flame Mary Alice Watson and Brian Cox as an unscrupulous land baron and Clayton’s primary antagonist. This, combined with the classically riveting grit of an old western, makes for a truly incredible watch.

‘Forsaken’ Embraces Traditionalism for Unadulterated Western Fun

Image Via Momentum Pictures

To state it plainly, this film makes no attempt at reinventing the wheel, per se. However, within it’s traditional western attributes belies its defining strengths. Take the premise itself, for example. How many old, warn out, morally-grey-hero-returning-home flics have audiences seen? More likely than not: infinity. Tons of so-called reinventions of this classic premise have been slapped across silver screens worldwide. However, Forsaken digs into this cliche with reckless abandon. In fact, the script even begins with a classic: “Well, well, well…” Upon Clayton’s fateful return.

John Henry Clayton, a lone gunman, attempts to leave his life of violence behind in hopes of appeasing his preacher father, Reverend Clayton. As he returns home, he is met with an unexpected threat. A railroad is coming, and a ruthless property developer, by the name of James McCurdy, expects each townie in its wake to close up shop and ditch the place. To say the very least, he’s willing to resort to just about anything to make it happen. As McCurdy and his gang begin to resort to violence, Clayton finds it increasingly difficult to let sleeping dogs lie, as his violent past creeps its way to the present. This, combined with the wonderful depth captured between each of the lead characters, allow the film to rise from a boring remake, to a classic benchmark.

The Characters that Truly Make ‘Forsaken’

Image via Momentum

In a film such as Forsaken, expert characterization and portrayal are each essential qualities for success. In each respect, this picture did not disappoint. In particular, both Moore and Cox’s performances struck as rather convincing and, more than that, truly entertaining.

Despite how little screentime was afforded to Demi Moore’s character, her portrayal of Mary Alice Watson was poignantly modest and understated in a highly believable manor. The essence of her character is her wistful, barely there, almost ghostly presence. She is a past love, whose flickering flame still seems to haunt Clayton, with whom she has wonderful chemistry with. Flowers are certainly deserved in respect to her bittersweet realism. And despite her “B-plot” title, it woudlve been nice to see more of her. Cox, on the other hand, is perfect in opposition to the almost translucent quality of Watson. Cox provides a truly menacing presence to the screen. And that very realistically grounds both the film and the town’s defining threat. His authoritative control and humorous, hammy, depiction push the film even further into the classic southern archetype. He creates a truly palpable tension on screen through his sharp conviction and pure villainy.

In summary, Jon Cassar‘s Forsaken is a film for those looking to indulge in cliche western entertainment. The unrelenting revisiting of classic tropes makes for a truly fun watch, and the expert portrayals of each player involved ground the film expertly. This terribly underrated western is often forgotten and left out of conversations for one possible reason. The genre of western dramas has become so convoluted, audiences have lost touch with classics. Filmmakers are throwing far too many overly modernized twists at what could already be considered enough respectively. Forsaken digs into the beauty of sticking to what the genre knows, and executes it perfectly.

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Release Date

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September 16, 2015

Runtime

90 minutes

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Director

Jon Cassar

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2026 marks the 60th anniversary of Star Trek, yet the iconic franchise is approaching a crossroads. The trailer for Season 4 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is a grim reminder that the series is slated to end next year. Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, a series meant to carry the Star Trek franchise into the future, is being cut short after two seasons. While Paramount has said it intends to keep the franchise going on the silver screen, Star Trek‘s future on television is looking fairly bleak. There is one creative voice who could help steer the ship in the right direction, and it’s a figure who has a long and surprising history with Star Trek.

That figure is Terry Matalas, who shouldn’t be a stranger to Trekkies. Matalas got his start in television working on Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise, and cited Star Trek: The Next Generation as one of his all-time favorite television shows. His biggest claim to fame, though, is serving as showrunner on Seasons 2 & 3 of Star Trek: Picard, which remains one of the most beloved entries in Star Trek’s modern era. But there’s another aspect of Matalas’ work on Star Trek: Picard that makes him a perfect fit for the franchise, especially as Paramount is undergoing a major shift in priorities.

Terry Matalas Can Deliver a ‘Star Trek’ Show That Doesn’t Break The Bank for Paramount

Image via Paramount+

Those not in tune with the major business decisions behind Hollywood’s major studios probably don’t know that Paramount was recently acquired by Skydance Media, leading to a major shift in what movies and TV shows are being made. That shift was deeply felt after the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, but other television ventures across Paramount’s vast library have been feeling a financial squeeze. Chief among them is Star Trek, as sets are being dismantled and even sold off. Any future show would have to work on a reduced budget, which is where Terry Matalas comes in.

During his tenure as showrunner on Star Trek: Picard, Matalas was responsible for Seasons 2 and 3 filming back-to-back in order to help with cost control and cast schedules. That approach also shaped Season 3’s story, which saw Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) reuniting with the former cast of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D. Despite the first two seasons of Picard introducing a whole new cast of characters, Matalas had to write them out to accommodate the legacy characters, which he admitted was a hard decision.

“I think probably it’s a bit more difficult to go to the studio and say, ‘Great, we’re doing this, we need to make deals now with all of these legacy characters, and financially what can we afford and what does that mean for some of the new cast?’ I think that was probably the hardest thing is that we just don’t have infinite cash or run time to do justice to the characters.”

Should Matalas take up another creative position on a Star Trek project, he’d more than likely have to deal with similar constraints due to Paramount’s potential acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. Should this merger be finalized, it means that Paramount will have to cut even more costs…and that’s not even considering the fact that Paramount+ and HBO Max could merge, leading to yet another seismic shift in programming. Yet Matalas managed to deliver a season of Picard that was both a hit with audiences and critics, proving that you don’t need a blockbuster-sized budget to tell a good story.

Terry Matalas’ Work on ‘Star Trek: Picard’ Set Up The Perfect ‘Star Trek’ Spinoff

While a common criticism of current Star Trek shows is that they haven’t been able to attract new viewers or exclusively cater to longtime Trek fans, the final season of Star Trek: Picard offers a solution to both problems. Throughout the season, Picard learns that he has a son, Jack (Ed Speelers) and must deal with the resurgence of the Borg. In the series finale, “The Last Generation,” Jack becomes an officer on the U.S.S. Enterprise-G, which is captained by Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan); he’s also visited by the extradimensional being Q (John de Lancie), who frequently appeared to torment Picard during Star Trek: The Next Generation. This all but hints at a potential spinoff, which fans have dubbed Star Trek: Legacy and cast members have said they’d love to be a part of.

Getting Matalas back to helm Star Trek: Legacy would be tricky, as he’s currently working on a wealth of genre projects. In addition to the upcoming VisionQuest, Matalas is also developing a Magic: The Gathering animated series for Netflix and a remake of the sci-fi classic Enemy Mine. Still, if Paramount is looking to give Star Trek a new lease on life, it should reach out to Matalas.

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Release Date

2020 – 2023

Network

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CBS All Access, Paramount+

Directors

Jonathan Frakes, Hanelle M. Culpepper, Akiva Goldsman, Joe Menendez, Lea Thompson, Michael Weaver, Terry Matalas, Deborah Kampmeier, Dan Liu

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Writers

Matt Okumura, Kiley Rossetter, Christopher B. Derrick

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Jon Bernthal is on a ride this year. 2026 started for the fan-favorite with Netflix’s His & Hers, a murder mystery where he stars opposite Tessa Thompson. The miniseries proved a big hit for the streamer as it broke into its all-time top 10 list with 98.2 million views. Then he inflicted some emotional damage with The Bear’s surprise prequel, Gary, which he co-wrote with co-star Ebon Moss-Bachrach.

With one episode, the emotional framework for The Bear’s final season changes as we get to see more of Mikey’s (Bernthal) internal state and his friendship with Richie. The 100% Rotten Tomatoes-rated special will tug at your heart and give a glimpse of the character that casts a long shadow on Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and the restaurant. In the same week, Bernthal also came out with the highly anticipated MCU Special Presentation, The Punisher: One Last Kill.

While we have been on a journey with The Punisher since his Netflix days, his standalone MCU entry meant a lot for longtime fans. Frank Castle was first introduced in Daredevil: Born Again Season 1, but The Punisher: One Last Kill gives him a fresh start before we meet him in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Just like how Gary gave us a peek into Michael’s troubled life, the MCU entry gives a Bernthal character a chance to heal with Frank Castle. One Last Kill finds Frank after he has avenged his family, but as it happens, grief takes its own course, and in the end, vengeance leaves you empty. The special brilliantly showcases a Frank who finds a reason to keep going after he has fulfilled his long-term goal, and with him, fans too move on. The R-rated, pared-down, no-holds-barred actioner was something both fans and the character needed to make an impression in the MCU.

‘The Punisher: One Last Kill’ Has Cemented Itself on Streaming Charts

And indeed, The Punisher: One Last Kill has wowed the fans worldwide as it has cemented itself on Disney+ top 10 charts for over 30 days, as per FlixPatrol. While many new and old movies keep finding and losing the spot over the last month, Punisher has maintained its position, which is a testament to fans’ love. Bernthal will soon reprise Punisher in the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day, dropping on July 31. But before that, both Tom Holland and Bernthal will share screen space in The Odyssey, coming out July 17.

Meanwhile, The Punisher: One Last Kill is streaming on Disney+.

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Release Date

May 12, 2026

Directors

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Reinaldo Marcus Green

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Tom Holland is gearing up for the release of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” marking the fourth time he will appear as Peter Parker’s alter ego in a solo film. The actor has weighed in on who should take over the role, mentioning an Emmy-winning actor as his potential replacement.

Tom Holland was in his late teens when Marvel Studios cast him as Spider-Man, and at 30, he is thinking about potential actors who could take his place in the future.

In an interview with Esquire, Holland said Owen Cooper would be an “awesome” Spider-Man. “Obviously, he’s super talented and the talk of the town right now,” the actor said.

Cooper, a 16-year-old British actor, gained fame for portraying accused killer Jamie Miller in the Netflix series “Adolescence.” He made history in 2025 by becoming the youngest male actor to receive a Primetime Emmy Award at just 15, winning the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series category.

Holland said he would love to be involved in the franchise’s next stages as a mentor. “In the way that Robert Downey was such a mentor for me in my first three movies, I would love to be that person for whoever is next,” he shared.

The Actor Was Hesitant To Go Back To The Role

Elsewhere in the interview, Holland said he was “on the fence” about returning to his Spider-Man role, adding that the contract he signed at 18 years old expired after the third movie, “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” released in 2021.

In fact, in an interview that year, the actor famously said, “If I’m playing Spider-Man after I’m 30, I’ve done something wrong.” He’s now looking back at his statement, saying it was “really stupid.” He changed his tune after his 30th birthday. In early June, he told GQ, “I think the point of it is that I would love to pass the baton on, and I haven’t achieved that yet… So maybe I need to change the quote to 37.”

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” director Destin Daniel Cretton spoke about Holland, saying that while some actors become “jaded” with the filmmaking process after playing a character several times, “Tom is the opposite.” Cretton added that they had a lot of fun filming that it “almost seems criminal.”

Tom Holland Was Heavily Involved In The Fourth Movie

According to the actor, he was more involved in the making of the fourth movie, including the pre- and post-production stages.

Holland shared that he spent hours scouring the internet, watching videos, and listening to podcasts to learn what the fans wanted to see in the next installment. For instance, Spider-Man’s new suit was redesigned to take into account viewers’ thoughts from past Spider-Man movies.

Moreover, he was able to pitch his ideas. As he told Empire, he was given the chance to share his thoughts with the writers. He went with what he called “Spider-Puberty,” raising the question, “What happens if Peter Parker is losing control and things are changing?”

Holland said the studio didn’t like his “Spider-Puberty” tagline, but was intrigued with the idea, which later evolved into the plot of “Brand New Day.”

The Actor Delayed The ‘Spider-Man’ Filming

The original filming schedule of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” coincided with Holland’s other film, “The Odyssey,” directed by Christopher Nolan. The actor said he had an “uncomfortable conversation” with Sony after asking them to delay filming so he could work with the legendary director. The studio agreed, but Holland said, “Any other director, it might have been a slightly different conversation.”

It all worked out in the end, as the Spider-Man franchise had extra time to develop and improve the script. The actor believes the fourth installment is the “best version” yet, adding, “While it was a tough pill to swallow for Sony, I think in hindsight, they’re very grateful that it happened.”

Tom Holland On Playing The Superhero

While Holland is already thinking about who should replace him as the web-slinging superhero, that doesn’t mean he has closed his doors on portraying Spider-Man. As he told GQ, “I think the truth is that playing Spider-Man has been the joy of my life. I now kind of stand on the plinth of like, I’ll do it for as long as they’ll have me.”

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is slated for release on July 31.