Connect with us

Entertainment

Kevin Costner’s Love Life Takes A Complex Turn After His Divorce

Published

on

Kevin Costner attends the 2025 Fanatics Fest- Day 1

Kevin Costner has reportedly been playing the field since his divorce drama, spending time with an Arizona lifestyle influencer, McKenna Wesley, while being linked to two other women.

The 71-year-old actor and Wesley, 39, have been seen together on several occasions, including a lunch outing in Santa Barbara this summer.

The reported relationship adds another chapter to Kevin Costner’s post-divorce love life, which has drawn attention since his split from Christine Baumgartner.

Advertisement
Kevin Costner attends the 2025 Fanatics Fest- Day 1
RCF / MEGA

According to sources cited by Page Six, Costner’s love life is at an interesting and complex state as he’s linked romantically to multiple women.

The actor recently sparked relationship buzz after he was seen being “extremely affectionate” with Jennifer Milburn, a lifestyle coach more than 30 years his junior.

Prior to that, Costner was rumored to be in a casual relationship with 47-year-old socialite Kelly Noonan Gores, the ex-wife of billionaire Alec Gores. Insiders last year even described their connection as incredibly “grounding” for him.

Now, it’s been revealed that the Oscar winner has also been spending time with influencer McKenna Wesley, whom he met in Scottsdale, Arizona, about a year ago. The city is Wesley’s hometown, and the pair reportedly connected through their shared interest in golf.

“They met in Scottsdale about a year ago. They both love to golf,” a source told the news outlet.

Advertisement

The first public sighting came in October 2025, when they were photographed together at a screening of Costner’s “Field of Dreams” at Scottsdale Stadium.

Costner hosted the event after the sixth annual Western Wiffle Ball Classic tournament. The appearance did not initially establish a romantic relationship, but the pair have reportedly remained in contact since then.

“She has been his guest on multiple occasions at his Santa Barbara and Aspen properties,” another source noted about the pair.

Kevin Costner’s Relationship With McKenna Wesley Has Stayed Private

Kevin Costner at the 2025 Santa Barbara International Film Festival
ZUMAPRESS.com / MEGA

The duo’s growing connection has largely unfolded away from the spotlight. According to Page Six, Costner and Wesley have been seen together more than once, but neither has publicly confirmed that they are dating.

They were reportedly spotted having lunch together in Santa Barbara in August, a moment that was captured by a local resident and shared on Instagram.

Advertisement

The sighting added to the indications that their connection had continued beyond their initial Scottsdale appearance.

A representative for Wesley has addressed speculation about her and the Hollywood actor, stating that she “doesn’t wish to comment on her relationship with Mr. Costner.”

Reps for Costner have yet to respond, leaving the nature of their relationship officially unconfirmed, even as sources describe the two as having spent significant time together over the past year.

More About Kevin Costner’s Rumored Love Interest, McKenna Wesley

Kevin Costner attends
KCS Presse / MEGA

Wesley is described as a lifestyle influencer and content creator who uses the social-media name @thebubblyblonde.

She has 421,000 followers on Instagram and identifies herself as an influencer and lifestyle content creator, with a focus on fashion, beauty, and luxury travel.

Advertisement

She is 39, making her 32 years younger than Costner. Her connection to Arizona is also significant because Scottsdale is where the pair reportedly met and where they were first publicly photographed together.

Beyond their shared interest in golf, little has been publicly established about how the relationship developed.

Neither Costner nor Wesley has offered a detailed account of their private life, and the available reporting comes primarily from sources and public sightings.

The Actor Has Also Been Romantically Linked To Hollywood Stars

Hollywood star Kevin Costner at the Blythswood Hotel, Glasgow, and almost hit by a bus while out in Glasgow. 21.08.2023.
News Licensing / MEGA

The actor, often regarded as one of Hollywood’s heartthrobs, has been married twice and has seven children from several relationships.

The recently reported relationship arrives after a turbulent period in Costner’s personal life. He divorced his second wife, Christine Baumgartner, following nearly two decades of marriage.

Advertisement

Baumgartner filed for divorce in May 2023, and the divorce was finalized in 2024.

The former couple shares three children: Cayden, Hayes, and Grace. Costner also has four other children from previous relationships, giving him seven children in total.

Besides his rumored romance with Wesley, Milburn and Goores, Costner has also been frequently linked to various women in Hollywood since his divorce.

Last year, he was linked to actress Sharon Stone when insiders claimed that they had a “flirty” interaction at the Governors Awards. He was then said to be getting close to singer Jennifer Lopez after they were briefly spotted together in Aspen. However, these rumors were quickly debunked.

Advertisement

Kevin Costner Continues To Balance His Complex Love Life With His Hollywood Career

Kevin Costner at the Golden Globe Awards
MEGA

Costner’s reported connection with Wesley comes as he continues balancing his Hollywood career with a life spread across several properties.

He owns a large ranch in Aspen and a coastal compound in Carpinteria, California, while maintaining ties to Santa Barbara.

His homes provide a natural setting for a relationship that has so far remained private.

The Page Six source’s comments about Wesley being a guest at his Santa Barbara and Aspen properties suggest that their connection has extended beyond occasional public appearances.

Their reported history stretches back roughly a year, making the latest sightings part of a longer relationship rather than an entirely new one.

Advertisement

However, for now, the true state of things between the pair remains uncertain, with no confirmed announcement from either Costner or Wesley.

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

Entertainment

The 6 Most Perfect Thrillers Released Since 2010, Ranked

Published

on

Josh Brolin sitting in Sicario

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.

Advertisement

6

‘Sicario’ (2015)

Josh Brolin sitting in Sicario
Josh Brolin in Sicario
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.

Advertisement

5

‘Nightcrawler’ (2014)

Jake Gyllenhaal stares blankly ahead in front of TV screens in 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.

Advertisement

4

‘The Handmaiden’ (2016)

A man leaning next to a young woman in The Handmaiden 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.











Advertisement









Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes
Which Coen Brothers Movie Would You Thrive In?
Lebowski · O Brother · Fargo · No Country
Advertisement

Nobody writes people like the Coen brothers. The decent ones. The talkers. The ones who stopped trying years ago. And the ones who can already see how bad this is going to get. Four films, four completely different ways of handling trouble. Eight questions decide which one you would actually walk out of.

🎳Lebowski(1998)

🎸O Brother(2000)

❄️Fargo(1996)

🪙No Country(2007)

Advertisement

01

Advertisement

A bag of money lands in your lap. What happens next?
Every Coen film starts roughly here. It never goes smoothly.




02

Advertisement

Somebody is being completely unreasonable with you. How does it go?
Coen dialogue is mostly people failing to understand each other.




03

Advertisement

What is your actual relationship with work?
Everyone in these films is either working far too hard or not at all.




04

Advertisement

Long drive, bad weather, nobody else on the road. How are you?
There is always a drive in these films. It is never a good drive.




05

Advertisement

You are offered a shortcut that is not quite legal.
This is the moment where the Coens find out who you really are.




06

Advertisement

The plan has fallen apart completely. What is your move?
In a Coen film the plan always falls apart. That is the genre.




07

Advertisement

Which of these sounds most like something you would say?
Nobody writes a line quite like the Coens. Which one is yours?




08

Advertisement

How does your film end?
Eight questions in, this is the one that decides your movie.




The Verdict Is In
Your Coen Film Is…
Advertisement

Four films, four completely different ways of handling money, trouble
and other people. This is the one you would survive, why it suits you, and what it would cost you to
be there.


The Big Lebowski · 1998

Advertisement
The Big Lebowski

You have quietly arranged your life so that very little can get
to you, and a surprising number of people find that infuriating. You would be completely at
home here.

  • The Dude is the only person in the film with no ambition, and the only one who comes out
    the other side undamaged. That is not an accident.
  • You do not chase things. You let situations arrive and you deal with them at your own
    pace, which is a genuine skill however lazy it looks.
  • This is a full crime plot happening around a man who mostly wants his rug back, and that
    is exactly the energy you would bring to it.
  • Everything goes wrong. You abide. The film ends.


O Brother, Where Art Thou? · 2000

Advertisement
O Brother

You talk your way through life and it works far more often than
it should. Give you a bad situation and an audience and you will find a way out of both at
once.

  • Everett never has a plan that survives contact with reality. He has something better,
    which is the ability to keep talking until a new one turns up.
  • You are the optimist in the group, the one who makes a ridiculous idea sound reasonable
    at two in the morning.
  • This is the warmest film the Coens have made. It is a chase, a comedy and a musical at
    once, and nobody in it is quite beyond saving.
  • You would end up famous entirely by accident, and act like you planned it all along.


Fargo · 1996

Advertisement
Fargo

You would survive Fargo because you are the only kind of person
who does: patient, decent, and completely unimpressed by anybody trying to be clever.

  • Marge Gunderson solves the whole case by being polite, thorough and unhurried while
    everybody around her panics. That is the entire argument of the film.
  • You do the boring parts of the job, which is precisely why you would notice the thing
    everyone else walked straight past.
  • Fargo is about ordinary greed causing enormous damage, and about one person who simply
    refuses to be corrupted by any of it.
  • You would go home at the end of it, have dinner, and sleep perfectly well.


No Country for Old Men · 2007

Advertisement
No Country

You do not expect the world to be fair and you stopped being
surprised about it a long time ago. That clear-eyed quality is exactly what this film asks
for.

  • No Country is the Coens at their coldest: a film where being smart, fast and careful
    might still not be anywhere near enough.
  • You plan for the worst, you keep your own counsel, and some part of you is already
    working out the exit.
  • Llewelyn Moss is competent, prepared and resourceful, and the film is honest about
    whether any of that is ever sufficient.
  • You would see it coming. Whether that helps is the one question the film refuses to
    answer.

Advertisement

3

‘Gone Girl’ (2014)

Rosamund Pike smiling gently in Gone Girl
Rosamund Pike smiling gently in Gone Girl
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.

Advertisement

2

‘Prisoners’ (2013)

Hugh Jackman as Keller Dover standing in the rain in Denis Villeneuve's Prisoners
Hugh Jackman as Keller Dover standing in the rain in Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners
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.

Advertisement

1

‘Parasite’ (2019)

Park So-dam and Choi Woo-shik check their cellphones in a scene from Parasite.
Park So-dam and Choi Woo-shik check their cellphones in a scene from Parasite.
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.

Advertisement


01295258_poster_w780.jpg

Advertisement

Parasite


Release Date
Advertisement

May 30, 2019

Runtime

133 minutes

Advertisement


  • instar50296004.jpg
  • instar43929669.jpg

    Lee Sun-kyun

    Advertisement

    Park Dong-ik

Advertisement


Advertisement

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Entertainment

9 Sci-Fi Video Games So Good, Hollywood Needs to Adapt Them Now

Published

on

Samus Aran face to face with giant alien monster Kraid in 'Super Metroid'

Science fiction video games have always been some of the most popular in the medium, and for very good reason. The worlds they bring to life and let players explore are gorgeous, intriguing, and epic. The characters within said worlds can be truly unique and great, especially when they’re characters that the player genuinely enjoys controlling. Not to mention, they can also make good movie and/or television adaptations.

Adapting a video game franchise to film or television is quite difficult and doesn’t always end up well — some may say that it’s just not possible. This has led to a very understandable stigma, with people pretty much begging film studios not to adapt more video games. However, there are some video games out there that genuinely — if done right — could make for some awesome television or movie projects.

Advertisement

1

‘Super Metroid’ (1994)

Samus Aran face to face with giant alien monster Kraid in 'Super Metroid'
Samus Aran face to face with giant alien monster Kraid in ‘Super Metroid’
Image via Nintendo

When it comes to the merging of Nintendo and sci-fi, it doesn’t get much better than the likes of Super Metroid. Samus Aran is one of the most badass female video game protagonists, taking down crazy aliens with her awesome Power Suit. With Nintendo clearly investing more in films, with The Super Mario Bros. Movie franchise being a huge hit, and The Legend of Zelda flick on the way, Super Metroid feels like the next step if they want to continue to diversify their genres.

Samus Aran is a character who has more than deserved her time in the sun in the way that Mario has, and a movie would do just that — especially one based on such a great franchise. What makes Super Metroid a great game to adapt is the fact that it doesn’t have a defined story, which would give a filmmaker a great chance to have some fun with the story while still keeping the basic progression of the game. The world of the Super Metroid franchise is expansive, unique, and an all-around visual marvel, which means the film would look great as well.

Advertisement

2

‘NeiR: Automata’ (2017)

Main character fighting a robot enemy in NeiR: Automata
Main character fighting a robot enemy in NeiR: Automata
Image via Square Enix

The 2017 title known as NeiR: Automata is an extremely beloved modern RPG, and the discussion surrounding whether the game should ever get an adaptation is something that has been a bit controversial within the fandom. There’s a masterclass story at play here, with a world surrounding it that is visually unique and engrossing. While it has had an anime adaptation in the past, the idea of a film adaptation has not escaped the fandom.

Some fans would say that NeiR: Automata would be hard to adapt to film due to the way it relies on being an interactive game. That shouldn’t mean that it should be robbed of a good adaptation, though. Just because it’d be hard doesn’t mean it would be impossible, especially with the right director at the helm of the project. If a NeiR: Automata movie was done right, it would be game-changing.

Advertisement

3

‘Destiny’ (2014)

destiny-2-cayde-6-in-forsaken-expansion.jpg

After working on the ever-popular Halo series, Bungie separated from 343 Industries — rebranded as Halo Studios recently — and went on to make an all-new franchise titled Destiny. While it had an explosive start, it did lose a lot of steam over the years due to people being pretty unhappy with the fact that everything had to be online to experience the story. This, however, doesn’t stop the story from being genuinely great.

The fact that there are many people who have never truly experienced this plot but know what Destiny is makes this game a perfect opportunity to have a great movie or television project. Destiny is a wonderful space opera that, if done right, could genuinely be the next Star Wars. They just need to find the right director and writer.











Advertisement









































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

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

💊The Matrix

🔥Mad Max

🌧️Blade Runner

🏜️Dune

Advertisement

🚀Star Wars

Advertisement

01

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





Advertisement

02

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





Advertisement

03

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





Advertisement

04

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





Advertisement

05

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





Advertisement

06

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





Advertisement

07

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





Advertisement

08

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





Advertisement
Your Fate Has Been Calculated
You’d Survive In…

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

Advertisement


The Resistance, Zion

The Matrix

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

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

Advertisement


The Wasteland

Mad Max

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

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

Advertisement


Los Angeles, 2049

Blade Runner

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

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

Advertisement


Arrakis

Dune

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

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

Advertisement


A Galaxy Far, Far Away

Star Wars

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

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

4

‘Titanfall 2’ (2016)

titanfall-2-key-art-ultimate-edition.jpg
Advertisement

Despite not getting the love it deserved at the time, 2016’s Titanfall 2 is commonly known as one of the most underrated single-player gaming experiences of all time. The emotional bond between the protagonist and their mech is one that serves as an extremely strong and emotionally resonant anchor of the story.

Titanfall 2 is a project that would adapt to film or television quite well. Everyone loves a good mecha project, and that continues to be true in the case of Titanfall 2. This project is unforgettable for anyone who has played and enjoyed it, and every reason that makes it so serves as a reason for it to be a potentially amazing movie or show.

5

‘inFamous’ (2009)

Cole McGrath wearing a yellow jacket and surrounded in lightning on the cover art for 'InFamous' (2009)
Cole McGrath wearing a yellow jacket and surrounded in lightning on the cover art for ‘InFamous’ (2009)
Advertisement

Superhero projects are all the rage these days, and while they’ve taken over cinema and television, they have some incredible games, too. One of the best that isn’t from the big two (Marvel and DC Comics) is the one and only inFamous. Following the story of Cole MacGrath (Jason Cottle) as he explores his new superhuman powers as a Conduit, inFamous is a great journey that spawned a beloved franchise.

In 2009, people fell in love with inFamous, and they continue to enjoy it to this day. The only thing holding audiences back from fully investing in the idea of an adaptation of this series is the fact that the game’s mechanics and story have two different options: good and bad. However, the “good route” is commonly considered the true one, so it wouldn’t be hard for the adaptation to simply adapt the story from that route. With how big superhero movies and shows are, this feels like a hole in one.

6

‘Halo: Reach’ (2010)

emile-in-halo-reach.jpg
Advertisement

Halo has had some great games over the years, but none match up to the masterpiece known as Halo: Reach. Taking a step away from the iconic Master Chief (Steve Downes) and jumping into the past, Halo: Reach tells the tragedy that is the story of Noble Team, a Spartan squad that had one goal: defend the world of Reach during its fall to the Covenant (an evil alien race).

This prequel title is considered by many fans to be the best of the best that Halo has ever had to offer. The story is simply masterful, following this team as they slowly fall to… well, the fall of Reach. The characters at play are excellent and have a plethora of depth — not just being random super soldiers for the audience to watch aura farm — and would make incredible protagonists for a project outside of gaming. Plus, Halo could use a win after the conflicting feedback on their television series.

7

‘Dead Space’ (2008)

Dead Space 2008 video game Image via EA Redwood Shores
Advertisement

Combining genres is always fun when making content, because it allows the creatives behind said projects to really get experimenting with how to execute their stories and worlds. One of the best examples in gaming is the one and only Dead Space, a 2008 horror sci-fi game from Electronic Arts (EA).

Dead Space became a very popular franchise because of how well it blends these two genres, using the wacky, out-of-this-world style that comes with sci-fi to craft unique horror elements for players. While there have been some gigantic hits over the years, like the Alien franchise, the world could definitely use some more sci-fi horror, and the perfect place to find it is in the world of Dead Space.

8

‘Mass Effect 2’ (2010)

blood-dragon-armor-mass-effect-2-cropped.jpg
Advertisement

The Mass Effect franchise is one of the most popular sci-fi game franchises of all time, and for very good reason. The stories present in these games are exceptionally well-written, with some of the best characterization out there. Yes, the plot is amazing, but these characters are so great in almost every way, and there’s no Mass Effect game where this is more true than the sequel, Mass Effect 2.

What makes this sequel the best is that it decides not to go into a full-force space opera — intergalactic battles with massive spectacle — and rather opts to give players a far more intimate and grounded story. This makes the story beyond emotionally compelling and honestly perfect for a film or series adaptation.

9

‘Portal 2’ (2011)

A robot jumping between portals in Portal 2
Portal 2
Image via Valve
Advertisement

Portal 2 is known worldwide as simply one of the best video games ever made. People everywhere adore this game. While there was an adaptation announced back in 2013, it’s been in “development hell” ever since. So, until there’s any true confirmation that something is actually moving forward, there may as well not be one in production.

Portal 2 has become a genuine pillar of gaming, and people want to see a Portal film. Recently, Backrooms director Kane Parsons said he would love to do one, and that has people begging for it. Parsons would do an incredible job, and his directing prowess combined with the Portal 2 story would be pretty much the perfect combination.


vpknmkbisv5ctaifczuduyzxnjb.jpg
Advertisement


Backrooms

Advertisement


Release Date

May 27, 2026

Runtime
Advertisement

110 minutes

Director

Kane Parsons

Advertisement

Writers

Will Soodik

Advertisement


Advertisement


Advertisement

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Entertainment

Melissa Barrera Supports Macklemore Amid Ed Sheeran Drama

Published

on

GettyImages-455844780edsheeranticketprices.jpg

Melissa Barrera has compared the reaction to Macklemore being dropped from Ed Sheeran’s tour for taking a pro-Palestinian stance to her own firing from Scream 7.

“It made me emotional, you know,” Barrera, 36, told The Associated Press in an interview on Wednesday, September 16. “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.”

Barrera was reportedly dismissed from the cast from Scream 7 in 2023 for taking a vocal pro-Palestinian stance in the wake of the October 7 terror attacks and subsequent Israeli military operation in Gaza. (She “condemn[ed] anti-semitism and Islamophobia” in a statement issued at the time.)

Scream’s production company Spyglass denied that Barrera’s support for Palestinians was behind her departure from the franchise, though a statement from the organization said it had “zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech.”

Advertisement
GettyImages-455844780edsheeranticketprices.jpg


Related: Ed Sheeran’s Tour Ticket Prices Drop, More Seats Available Amid Controversy

Shortly after Macklemore was dropped from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour concert for his unapologetic support of Palestine, ticket prices for the singer’s upcoming Philadelphia show have dropped by at least 50 percent. According to recent TickPick data, the get-in ticket price for Sheeran’s Saturday, September 19, show at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia has plummeted, […]

In May, Barrera was asked whether she’d compare costars who ultimately returned for Scream 7 to scabs crossing a picket line during a strike.

Advertisement

“Oh, one hundred percent,” she told Variety. “I think they all are. And they have to live with that.”

Scream 7 star Matthew Lillard said this month that he regretted taking part in the film, adding that Barrera is “on the right side of history” for her humanitarian stance.

As for Macklemore’s situation, the “Same Love” rapper, 43, was kicked off Sheeran’s Loop Tour as a support act after shouting “Free Palestine” at two concerts at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey earlier this month.

Sheeran, 35, allegedly received pressure from promoters and venue owners — including Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft — that they would not move forward with Loop Tour shows unless Macklemore was dropped. The “Shape of You” singer’s management officially dismissed Macklemore as an opener on Monday, September 14.

Advertisement

Other scheduled Loop Tour openers — such as Finneas and Lukas Graham — quit in solidarity with Macklemore, causing drastic changes to the start time and format of future concert dates. Sheeran later released a statement in which he denied personally removing Macklemore as a support act.

Melissa Barrera Hails Support for Macklemore Amid Ed Sheeran Drama

Ed Sheeran and Macklemore perform onstage during the 2014 iHeartRadio Music Festival.
Christopher Polk/Getty Images for iHeartMedia

“Ed Sheeran and his team have made the decision to remove me from the Loop Tour. I am not a victim. Ed Sheeran is not a victim,” Macklemore wrote in his own statement on Monday. “We have careers, money, opportunities, safety and audiences around the world. Whatever consequences any of us face for what we say, we get to go home to our families.”

He continued, “[Ed] told me that the words ‘Free Palestine’ and the image of the Palestinian flag were hurtful to a lot of people he spoke with. I hope this isn’t the end of my relationship with Ed. Thirteen years of friendship doesn’t disappear because of one painful disagreement. I hope we both continue listening, studying what is happening in Palestine and wrestling with what neutrality means in a moment like this. My door will always be open to continuing that conversation.”

Speaking this week, Barrera argued that Sheeran should have stood firm behind Macklemore to silence critics of free speech.

Ms Rachel Vows to Match Macklemores 1M Donation to Palestinian Charity


Related: Ms. Rachel Vows to Match Macklemore’s $1M Donation to Palestinian Charity

Children’s entertainer Ms. Rachel has vowed to donate $1 million to charity in the wake of Macklemore being dropped from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour over his public support for Palestinians. “I will match Macklemore’s donation and I invite every white celebrity to match and speak out against the genocide in Gaza,” Ms. Rachel, 43, announced […]

Advertisement

“I wish that the people that have power understood the power that they have,” she told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “ 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.”

Sheeran will bring the Loop Tour to the Kraft-owned Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Friday, September 25, and Saturday, September 26.

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Entertainment

Jon Bernthal’s Forgotten ‘Sopranos’ Spin-Off Officially Surges on Streaming

Published

on

1ukbpqsppbq1fpbfp4vv1elcfsn.jpg

Few stars are having as successful a year as Jon Bernthal, who has headlined some of the biggest movies and TV shows on streaming and in theaters. Bernthal began 2026 by teaming up with Tessa Thompson for the Netflix original series, His & Hers, which earned millions of views during its initial period on streaming. He then reprised his role as Frank Castle in The Punisher: One Last Kill before returning to the role in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which has grossed well over $2 billion at the global box office. The fourth MCU Spider-Man movie wasn’t the first box office hit of the summer for Bernthal, though. Two weeks before its premiere, he made his debut in a Christopher Nolan movie by starring as Menelaus in The Odyssey, which is set to arrive on digital platforms in November.

Jon Bernthal has been one of the biggest actors in the world for a while now, but that doesn’t mean every project he’s been in was a smash hit. Back in 2021, Bernthal starred as Johnny Soprano in the polarizing prequel film, The Many Saints of Newark, which is set around 30 years before the events of the famous Sopranos TV series. The Many Saints of Newark cost around $50 million to make, but the film was released in theaters during a tough time in the business, where many fans didn’t have access to screens due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This led to it grossing only $13 million at the global box office, but it’s since found a new life on streaming, where it’s become one of the most popular movies in the world.











Advertisement









Collider Exclusive · Universe Personality Quiz
Which Iconic Universe Do You Belong in the Most?
Star Wars · Lord of the Rings · Harry Potter · Game of Thrones · Star Trek
Advertisement

Five legendary universes. Five completely different visions of what the world could be — or already was. One of them is the world your instincts, your values, and your particular way of existing were built for. Eight questions will tell you which one.

🚀Star Wars

💍Lord of the Rings

🧙Harry Potter

👑Game of Thrones

Advertisement

🖖Star Trek

Advertisement

01

What gives your life its deepest sense of meaning?
Every universe is built around a different answer to this question.





Advertisement

02

Which kind of world do you most want to inhabit?
The environment shapes who you become. Choose carefully.





Advertisement

03

How do you prefer your conflicts resolved?
The shape of a world’s conflicts tells you everything about its soul.





Advertisement

04

Who do you want beside you when things get difficult?
Your ideal companions reveal the world you were made for.





Advertisement

05

What is your relationship with power?
How you seek, wield, or resist power is the map of who you are.





Advertisement

06

How does your universe treat good and evil?
A world’s moral architecture tells you more about it than any map.





Advertisement

07

What role would you naturally fall into?
Every universe has archetypes. Which one fits you without trying?





Advertisement

08

What do you ultimately believe about the future?
The answer to this is the clearest window into which universe already lives inside you.





Advertisement
Your Universe Has Been Chosen
You Belong In…

Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose.

Advertisement


A Galaxy Far, Far Away

Star Wars

You believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast.

  • You are drawn to the moral clarity of a universe where hope itself is a form of resistance.
  • You’d find your people in the Rebellion — a ragtag coalition of true believers held together by conviction more than resources.
  • Star Wars is fundamentally a story about ordinary people choosing to matter in an extraordinary conflict — and that is exactly your kind of story.
  • The Force may or may not be with you. But the will to use it for something larger than yourself certainly is.

Advertisement


Middle-earth

Lord of the Rings

You understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world’s beauty is worth protecting even at great cost.

  • Middle-earth is a world of ancient wonder, deep friendship, and a darkness that only retreats when enough small acts of courage accumulate.
  • You would thrive here because you value the fellowship more than the glory — the road more than the arrival.
  • Tolkien’s universe rewards patience, loyalty, and the willingness to carry something heavy across a very long distance.
  • Those are not burdens to you. They are simply how you move through the world.

Advertisement


The Wizarding World

Harry Potter

You believe that love, loyalty, and doing what’s right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise.

  • The Wizarding World is a place of wonder hidden in plain sight, where learning is transformative and the bonds you form at school follow you into every battle.
  • You would flourish here because you take both the magic and the friendships seriously — and you understand that one without the other is incomplete.
  • Harry Potter’s universe ultimately rewards those who choose to stand for something even when standing is terrifying.
  • That choice — made quietly, without guarantee — is something you understand completely.

Advertisement


Westeros · The Known World

Game of Thrones

You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it.

  • Westeros is a world that rewards intelligence, adaptability, and the willingness to understand that every alliance is also a negotiation.
  • You would survive here — possibly thrive here — because you don’t confuse the world as it is with the world as you’d like it to be.
  • Game of Thrones is a story about what happens when the idealists and the realists collide. You are sharp enough to know which one lasts longer.
  • Winter always comes. You are already prepared.

Advertisement


The United Federation of Planets

Star Trek

You believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation.

  • Star Trek is a universe where the questions matter as much as the answers, and where encountering something utterly alien is cause for wonder rather than fear.
  • You would belong here because you are fundamentally optimistic about what intelligence and decency can achieve — while being honest about how hard that achievement is.
  • The Federation is the universe’s most ambitious thought experiment: what if we actually got better?
  • You don’t just hope that’s possible. You think it’s the only thing worth working toward.
Advertisement

Here’s How To Watch ‘The Many Saints of Newark’ on Streaming

The Many Saints of Newark is not available to watch on streaming at the time of writing, but that hasn’t stopped fans from revisiting the movie all these years later. Sopranos fans around the world are renting and purchasing The Many Saints of Newark at such a high clip on VOD platforms like Prime Video and Apple TV that the film has resurfaced in the top 10 in several countries around the world. The official synopsis for The Many Saints of Newark, which was directed by Alan Taylor, reads as follows:

Advertisement

“Young Anthony Soprano is growing up in one of the most tumultuous eras in Newark’s history, becoming a man just as rival gangsters begin to rise up and challenge the all-powerful DiMeo crime family’s hold over the increasingly race-torn city. Caught up in the changing times is the uncle he idolizes, Dickie Moltisanti, who struggles to manage both his professional and personal responsibilities — and whose influence over his impressionable nephew will help make the teenager into the all-powerful mob boss we’ll later come to know: Tony Soprano.”

Check out The Many Saints of Newark on VOD platforms like Prime Video and stay tuned to Collider for more updates and coverage of Jon Bernthal’s future projects.


1ukbpqsppbq1fpbfp4vv1elcfsn.jpg
Advertisement


Release Date
Advertisement

September 22, 2021

Runtime

120 minutes

Advertisement

Director

Alan Taylor

Writers
Advertisement

Lawrence Konner, David Chase

Producers

David Chase, Lawrence Konner, Nicole Lambert

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Netflix Officially Kills Sigourney Weaver’s Sci-Fi Classic Ahead of Reboot Series

Published

on

7e8nlijs9awwuepu2ofyovkhdfa.jpg

Of all the beloved sci-fi movies from the 1980s, few have proven more enduring than Ghostbusters. Four decades later, the ghoul-catching franchise is returning for more. Ghostbusters: Night Shift, as announced at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, will make its big Netflix splash in 2027. In reference to the events of 1989’s Ghostbusters 2, Ghostbusters: Night Shift is said to take place in 1994, “five years after the Ghostbusters took the Statue of Liberty for a walk.”

Ben Hibon, Elliott Kalan, Jason Reitman, Gil Kenan, Amie Karp, and Dan Aykroyd will executive produce Ghostbusters: Night Shift. This animated rendition of the sci-fi juggernaut isn’t the first of its kind. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters proved favorites of young audiences. But for every great (or not so great) entry into the Ghostbusters franchise, nothing can really compare to the original. The story of Peter (Bill Murray), Egon (Harold Ramis), and Ray (Aykroyd), as they are fired from Columbia University and eventually join forces with Winston (Ernie Hudson), is the stuff of cinematic legend.

Released in June 1984, Ghostbusters was a huge hit with critics upon release, with most of the praise going to the film’s comedy, horror, and special effects. After admitting that the film is a clash of approaches that normally wouldn’t work, critic Roger Ebert admitted that this blockbuster was the exception, writing, “It’s (1) a special-effects blockbuster, and (2) a sly dialogue movie, in which everybody talks to each other like smart graduate students who are in on the joke.” Four decades on, the film is still a must-watch for all generations. However, you’ll have to hurry, as Ghostbusters is being officially removed from the Netflix catalog starting October 1, 2026.

Advertisement



















Advertisement
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz
Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like?
Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky

Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.

🏜️Paul Atreides

🖖Capt. Kirk

Princess Leia

Advertisement

🔦Ellen Ripley

🔥Max Rockatansky

Advertisement

01

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





Advertisement

02

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





Advertisement

03

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





Advertisement

04

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





Advertisement

05

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





Advertisement

06

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





Advertisement

07

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





Advertisement

08

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





Advertisement

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

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

Advertisement


Arrakis · Dune

Paul Atreides

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

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


USS Enterprise · Star Trek

Captain Kirk

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

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


The Rebellion · Star Wars

Princess Leia

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

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


The Nostromo · Alien

Ellen Ripley

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

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


The Wasteland · Mad Max

Max Rockatansky

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

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

Advertisement

How Much Did ‘Ghostbusters’ Make at the Box Office?

Not just a big critical success, Ghostbusters was also a massive hit commercially. Against a reported production budget of $30 million, the film made a total of $295 million at the global box office, split between a domestic haul of $242 million and a further $53 million from overseas markets. The movie was one of the highest-grossing of 1984, coming second in the domestic charts behind Beverly Hills Cop.

Ghostbusters is being officially removed from the Netflix catalog starting October 1, 2026. Stay tuned to Collider for the latest streaming stories.


7e8nlijs9awwuepu2ofyovkhdfa.jpg
Advertisement


Advertisement

Release Date

June 8, 1984

Runtime

107 minutes

Advertisement

Writers

Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

Entertainment

The 5 Greatest 3-Season HBO Shows of All Time, Ranked

Published

on

Dafne Keen and Amir Wilson in His Dark Materials Season 3

Three seasons can be a strange amount of television. It is long enough for a show to establish clear stakes and get the audience attached to its characters, but short enough for every single episode to matter. HBO seems to have mastered the art of the three-season format because the network has proven, time and again, that a show does not need endless time on air to remain memorable.

These shows know exactly what kind of story they are telling, even if that story changes dramatically along the way, which is why they never feel restricted or incomplete. The HBO shows on this list may differ in tone and scale, but they all know how to make three seasons feel like just enough.

Advertisement

5

‘His Dark Materials’ (2019–2022)

Dafne Keen and Amir Wilson in His Dark Materials Season 3
Dafne Keen and Amir Wilson in His Dark Materials Season 3
Image via HBO

His Dark Materials had a difficult job from the beginning because adapting Philip Pullman’s work that features parallel worlds, talking armored bears, soul-like animal companions, and some very heavy ideas about religion and free will is no easy feat. The series handles all of that surprisingly well, though. The story follows Lyra Belacqua (Dafne Keen), a young girl living at Jordan College who discovers that children in the town are mysteriously disappearing. Her search eventually leads her to Mrs. Coulter (Ruth Wilson), a powerful and deeply unsettling woman with ties to the Magisterium and knowledge about Dust, a mysterious substance that the authorities are desperate to understand and control. As the story expands, Lyra discovers that her world is only one of many. She eventually meets Will Parry (Amir Wilson), who becomes the bearer of the Subtle Knife, a weapon capable of cutting openings between realities. From there, His Dark Materials grows into a much larger conflict involving angels, witches, armies, and Lord Asriel (James McAvoy), whose war against the Authority begins to reshape the fate of every world.

The great thing about His Dark Materials is that it never lets all this mythology overwhelm Lyra and Will’s personal stories. The show gradually expands its scale, but the emotional core remains intimate till the very end. His Dark Materials goes bigger every season without ever getting lost in its own world, and that is the true mark of great storytelling.

Advertisement

4

‘The Deuce’ (2017–2019)

Maggie Gyllenhaal in HBO's 'The Deuce'
Maggie Gyllenhaal in HBO’s ‘The Deuce’
Image via HBO

The Deuce is one of HBO’s most underrated gems. The show, created by David Simon and George Pelecanos, begins in 1971, when sex work, organized crime, bars, and the emerging adult film industry all overlap around 42nd Street, Manhattan. The story centers on bartender Vincent Martino (James Franco), who gets pulled deeper into the neighborhood’s nightlife while also dealing with the messes created by his reckless twin brother Frankie (also Franco). The show also follows sex worker Eileen “Candy” Merrell (Maggie Gyllenhaal), who gradually sees filmmaking as a way to gain more control over her own life.

What makes The Deuce especially interesting is how much the world changes between seasons. Season 2 jumps ahead to 1977, when pornography had taken a much more commercial turn, and shows Candy as she begins directing films herself. Season 3 then moves forward again to 1985, when Times Square is starting to transform, AIDS has changed the community, and the city is becoming increasingly determined to clean up the neighborhood that these characters helped build their lives around. The show is essentially an entire history lesson. However, instead of following one rise-and-fall story, it shows the transformation of an entire ecosystem. The series can be compared to the likes of The Wire in terms of its scope and patient storytelling that gives bartenders, sex workers, cops, pimps, and every other major player enough space to feel like the same complex world.

Advertisement

3

‘Deadwood’ (2004–2006)

Timothy Olyphant as Seth Bullock in a hat and tie with an angry expression in Deadwood.
Timothy Olyphant as Seth Bullock in a hat and tie with an angry expression in Deadwood.
Image via HBO

Deadwood deserves a lot more recognition because it goes beyond just the gunfights and violence to tell a story that truly matters. The series, created by David Milch, is set in the lawless mining camp of Deadwood, South Dakota, in the 1870s. The story largely revolves around Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant), a former marshal who comes to Deadwood to open a hardware store, and Al Swearengen (Ian McShane), the ruthless owner of the Gem Saloon who already has a firm grip on much of the town.

Deadwood begins with the rivalry between the two men but gradually expands beyond that as prospectors, businessmen, criminals, and drifters all arrive hoping to make something of themselves before the town is fully brought under government control. The series doesn’t behave like a conventional Western show because its most important battles are psychological as the camp begins transforming into an actual town with laws, offices, and institutions while the locals are still stuck in their old ways. That narrative about civilization being built in real time is what makes the series feel much bigger than a simple story about the Old West.











Advertisement









Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes
Which Western Icon Are You Most Like?
No Name · Doc Holliday · Wyatt Earp · Mattie Ross
Advertisement

Pick your name, your gun, your horse and how you spend a night in town, and we will tell you which legend of the Old West you would have been. Four icons are waiting at the end of this: the stranger who never gives his name, the gambler who would die for a friend, the lawman who never wanted the badge, and the girl nobody has ever talked out of anything.

🚬No Name(Dollars Trilogy)

🃏Doc Holliday(Tombstone)

Wyatt Earp(Tombstone)

🐎Mattie Ross(True Grit)

Advertisement

01

Advertisement

The town is about to learn your name. What do they call you?
In a Western, what people call you is already half the character.




02

Advertisement

What are you carrying?
Everything out here is character, right down to what is sitting on your hip.




03

Advertisement

What are you riding?
A hero and their horse is one of the oldest relationships in cinema.




04

Advertisement

You have got one evening in town. How does it go?
The saloon is where these films quietly tell you who somebody really is.




05

Advertisement

A stranger offers you money for a job that sounds like trouble.
Somebody always turns up with a full purse and a bad idea.




06

Advertisement

Somebody is waiting for you in the street. What does the town see?
Two people, an empty road, and everybody else watching from behind the shutters.




07

Advertisement

What is the one thing you will not do out here?
The code is about the only thing west of the river that actually holds.




08

Advertisement

The job is finished. Where does the story leave you?
Eight questions in, this is the one that decides your icon.




The Dust Has Settled
Your Western Icon Is…
Advertisement

Four icons and four completely different ways of walking into trouble.
This is the one you would have been out there, why it fits, and what it would have cost you.


The Dollars Trilogy · 1964–1966

Advertisement
The Man With No Name

You have never explained yourself and you have never needed to,
because people work out fairly quickly that you are the most capable person in the room
without you ever having to mention it.

  • Eastwood built the character out of everything he refused to do, stripping away the
    backstory, the speeches and every bit of reassurance until only the competence was left.
  • You keep your own counsel, and while other people occasionally find that unnerving, you
    have never felt any real need to fix it for them.
  • The Dollars films work because he genuinely is in it for himself right up until the
    moment he is not, and he never explains that part either.
  • You would be gone before anybody got a chance to thank you.


Doc Holliday · Tombstone · 1993

Advertisement
Doc Holliday

You are the funniest person in most rooms and the most loyal
person in all of them, and you would be genuinely insulted if somebody suggested those two
things were in any tension.

  • Doc has no real reason to be in this fight beyond the fact that his friend is in it,
    which is the only reason he has ever needed for anything.
  • You lead with wit, and it does a very effective job of hiding how seriously you take the
    handful of people you actually care about.
  • Val Kilmer’s performance is the most quoted in the entire genre because the jokes keep
    getting sharper as the situation gets worse.
  • You would spend everything you had on this and still describe it as a good week.


Wyatt Earp · Tombstone · 1993

Advertisement
Wyatt Earp

You never wanted this job, and you took it anyway because the
alternative was standing there watching somebody less careful do it badly, which is the most
Western reason there has ever been.

  • Earp is the reluctant authority figure, a man who came to town specifically to be left
    alone and somehow ended up answerable for all of it.
  • You are protective by instinct, so when something goes wrong your first thought is who
    is exposed rather than who is to blame.
  • These films understand that keeping order costs far more than breaking it, and that the
    person holding the line almost never gets thanked.
  • You would do the whole thing again, and you would complain about it the entire time.


Mattie Ross · True Grit · 1969 & 2010

Advertisement
Mattie Ross

Nobody has ever successfully talked you out of something you had
already decided was right, and a long line of grown adults has found that out the hard way.

  • Mattie is the most relentless character in the Western canon and she manages it through
    argument, paperwork and flat refusal rather than a fast draw.
  • You have no patience for being managed, so you negotiate, you check the details and you
    turn up exactly when you said you would.
  • True Grit is the rare Western where the moral centre is the youngest person on screen
    and every adult around her has to catch up.
  • You would get what you came for, and the film is honest about what that takes out of
    you.

Advertisement

2

‘Somebody Somewhere’ (2022–2024)

Bridget Everett and Jeff Hiller stand together at a ballpark in Somebody Somewhere Season 3
Bridget Everett and Jeff Hiller stand together at a ballpark in Somebody Somewhere Season 3
Image via HBO

Somebody Somewhere proves that an HBO show does not need a massive high-concept mystery or political stakes to be completely absorbing. The series, created by Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen, follows Sam (Bridget Everett), who has returned to her hometown of Manhattan, Kansas, and is still struggling with the death of her sister Holly. Sam feels completely disconnected from both her family and the town she grew up in until she befriends Joel (Jeff Hiller), an upbeat coworker who introduces her to a group of outsiders who have created their own little community in a place where none of them completely fit in.

Somebody Somewhere keeps its story refreshingly small. The audience follows Sam as she tries to reconnect with her love of singing, deals with her complicated relationship with her sister Tricia (Mary Catherine Garrison), and slowly becomes more comfortable letting other people into her life. Most episodes of the show are built around dinners, awkward conversations, and people spending time together, and that simplicity is its greatest strength. Across just three seasons, Somebody Somewhere becomes less about Sam finding a grand purpose and more about realizing that a meaningful life can be built from much smaller things. It is definitely one of HBO’s less intense shows, but that also one that feels more relatable than any other.

Advertisement

1

‘The Leftovers’ (2014–2017)

Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux) stands outside in his police uniform in The Leftovers
CHief of police Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux) stands outside in his police uniform, eyes down at a red book he is clasping in ‘The Leftovers’ Season 3, Episode 1 “The Book of Kevin”.
Image via HBO

The Leftovers isn’t the breeziest show to watch, but its ambition is what makes it stand out. The series, created by Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta, begins three years after the Sudden Departure, an unexplained event where 2% of the world’s population vanished without any explanation. Now, most shows would focus on that mystery and uncover what really happened, but The Leftovers chooses to focus on those who were left behind and the different ways they try to make sense of this new world they are in. The Leftovers Season 1 follows police chief Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux), who is desperately trying to hold his family together while his wife Laurie (Amy Brenneman) has abandoned them to join the Guilty Remnant, a silent cult dedicated to remembering the old world.

The show also follows Nora Durst (Carrie Coon), whose husband and two children disappeared in the Sudden Departure. Now, Season 2 is when The Leftovers really picks up because it relocates its characters to a town where nobody disappeared. The first installment of the show is deliberately bleak and unsettling, but the show becomes increasingly confident as it progresses. It expands beyond Mapleton while taking bigger creative risks with its structure, tone, and mythology. By The Leftovers Season 3, the show has covered everything from grief to humor, religion, and even the supernatural without overstaying its welcome.

Advertisement


The Leftovers tv series poster

Advertisement

The Leftovers


Release Date
Advertisement

2014 – 2017-00-00

Showrunner

Damon Lindelof

Advertisement

Writers

Damon Lindelof, Tom Perrotta

Advertisement


Advertisement


Advertisement

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Entertainment

Ed Sheeran Makes Change to Tour Amid Macklemore Controversy

Published

on

Ms Rachel Vows to Match Macklemores 1M Donation to Palestinian Charity

Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour looked very different from what fans may have expected when the singer-songwriter took to the stage in Philadelphia.

On Saturday, September 19, multiple fan accounts revealed the staging for that night’s gig at Lincoln Financial Field would not include a B-stage.

Sheeran, 35, has traditionally performed fan requests on this secondary stage during a portion of his Loop Tour concerts. (No song requests were taken in Philadelphia, as of publication.)

It has unquestionably been a tumultuous week for Sheeran in the wake of the controversy over Macklemore being dropped as a Loop Tour support act.

Advertisement
Ms Rachel Vows to Match Macklemores 1M Donation to Palestinian Charity


Related: Ms. Rachel Vows to Match Macklemore’s $1M Donation to Palestinian Charity

Children’s entertainer Ms. Rachel has vowed to donate $1 million to charity in the wake of Macklemore being dropped from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour over his public support for Palestinians. “I will match Macklemore’s donation and I invite every white celebrity to match and speak out against the genocide in Gaza,” Ms. Rachel, 43, announced […]

The “Same Love” rapper, 43, ignited controversy while opening for Sheeran at two concerts at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey earlier this month when he declared “Free Palestine” during a performance of his protest track “Hind’s Hall.”

Advertisement

Sheeran allegedly faced pressure from tour promoters and venue owners — including Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft — over allowing Macklemore to continue performing at upcoming shows. Macklemore was ultimately dismissed as one of Sheeran’s openers on Monday, September 14.

“Ed Sheeran and his team have made the decision to remove me from the Loop Tour. I am not a victim. Ed Sheeran is not a victim,” Macklemore wrote in a statement on Monday. “We have careers, money, opportunities, safety and audiences around the world. Whatever consequences any of us face for what we say, we get to go home to our families.”

The hip-hop star added, “[Ed] told me that the words ‘Free Palestine’ and the image of the Palestinian flag were hurtful to a lot of people he spoke with. I hope this isn’t the end of my relationship with Ed. Thirteen years of friendship doesn’t disappear because of one painful disagreement. I hope we both continue listening, studying what is happening in Palestine and wrestling with what neutrality means in a moment like this. My door will always be open to continuing that conversation.”

GettyImages-455833432 ed sheeran macklemore

Ed Sheeran and Macklemore perform onstage during the 2014 iHeartRadio Music Festival.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartMedia

Sheeran broke his silence over the brewing scandal on Tuesday, September 15, denying that he’d personally decided to remove Macklemore from eight scheduled concerts.

“I spoke with the venues at length all week to try and build a bridge. … I have spent this week trying to build bridges, to find a solution and unfortunately, was unable to do so,” Sheeran wrote in a statement. “I know who I am, both as a person and as an artist, and those who know my heart know my values too.”

Advertisement

Macklemore has continued his advocacy by donating his $1 million Loop Tour salary to Palestinian organizations. He challenged Kraft, 85, to do the same — with the New England Patriots owner later confirming he’d matched Sheeran’s own $2 million donation to support humanitarian aid.

Ahead of Saturday’s Loop Tour stop in Philadelphia, fans were advised that the show would start at 8 p.m. ET, rather than the traditional showtime of 5:30 p.m. The change was likely caused by support acts Finneas and Lukas Graham dropping out of the tour in solidarity with Macklemore.

Ticket prices on the resale market also seemingly took a hit prior to the Philly gig, as seats that were listed at $100 on Tuesday dropped to as low as $42 on Saturday.

For his part, Sheeran opened up the Philadelphia show with a lengthy statement about the events of the past week.

Advertisement

“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 told fans.

Sheeran said he’d been placed “in the middle of an important, passionate argument” — before condemning both the “horrific” violence unleashed on October 7, 2023, as well as the “catastrophic and unjustifiable” loss of life in Gaza. (The United Nations issued a report in June stating that 20,000 children have been killed and more than 44,000 have been injured in the region since hostilities escalated on October 7, 2023.)

Advertisement

“I’m listening and learning. I do not know enough [about the conflict],” he acknowledged.

Sheeran is next scheduled to play at the Kraft-owned Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Friday, September 25, and Saturday, September 26.

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Ryan Reynolds’ $176M Action Smash Is Officially Making Its Last Stand on Netflix

Published

on

Samuel L Jackson stands next to Ryan Reynolds in The Hitman's Bodyguard.

It seems everyone with even the slightest association with the MCU is joining the team for the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. However, one name is still missing from the official lineup: Ryan Reynolds. Although it has been heavily teased by the man himself and reports from different outlets offer conflicting stories, there is not yet any official word about Deadpool’s involvement following the huge billion-dollar success of Deadpool & Wolverine.

Will Reynolds join Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Florence Pugh, Pedro Pascal, and more in Doomsday? That remains to be seen, but there are plenty of other Reynolds movies to keep us entertained as we wait to find out. One such film is The Hitman’s Bodyguard, a 2017 actioner starring Reynolds as the man in charge of protecting Samuel L. Jackson‘s Darius Kincaid, one of the world’s deadliest assassins. Described as a “Hail Mary” by Reynolds in a previous interview, the film proved a success, scoring a global box office haul of almost $200 million against a budget of just $30 million.

It might’ve earned mixed reviews from critics, but a positive audience reception and impressive theatrical run earned The Hitman’s Bodyguard a sequel, inventively titled Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, which was released in 2021. Both films were directed by Patrick Hughes, who previously worked with Jason Statham on the 2014 threequel, The Expendables 3. If some bonkers action-comedy from Reynolds and one of Hollywood’s biggest names sounds like your cup of tea, then you’ll have to hurry, as The Hitman’s Bodyguard is officially leaving Netflix next month.

Advertisement































































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

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

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

🎖️Rambo

🍸James Bond

🏺Indiana Jones

Advertisement

🔧John McClane

🎭Ethan Hunt

Advertisement

01

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





Advertisement

02

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





Advertisement

03

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





Advertisement

04

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





Advertisement

05

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





Advertisement

06

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





Advertisement

07

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





Advertisement

08

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





Advertisement

09

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





Advertisement

10

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





Advertisement

Your Partner Has Been Assigned
Your Perfect Partner Is…

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

Advertisement

Rambo

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

James Bond

Advertisement

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

Indiana Jones

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

Advertisement

John McClane

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

Advertisement

Ethan Hunt

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

Advertisement

Could Another Ryan Reynolds Gem Make a Surprise Comeback?

Samuel L Jackson stands next to Ryan Reynolds in The Hitman's Bodyguard.
Samuel L Jackson stands next to Ryan Reynolds in The Hitman’s Bodyguard.
Image via Lionsgate
Advertisement

As one door closes, another might be opening for Reynolds fans. Back in June, during a panel hosted by Collider’s Maggie Lovitt at the Indiana Comic Convention, Amy Smart delivered a hopeful sequel update for the hugely underrated Just Friends, a comedy gem released in 2005 that co-starred Smart and Reynolds. “I hope that we do a Just Friends 2. I just want that one,” Smart said, adding that she thinks “Chris and Jamie got married, I think they have kids, but I don’t know what kind of drama ensues.”

The Hitman’s Bodyguard is leaving Netflix in October 2026. Make sure to stay tuned to Collider for the latest streaming stories.


01397210_poster_w780.jpg
Advertisement


Advertisement

Release Date

August 18, 2017

Runtime

118 minutes

Advertisement

Director

Patrick Hughes

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Martin Scorsese’s Favorite 1963 Classic Officially Departs HBO Max

Published

on

Italian filmmaker Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni) drifts off while reading the newspaper in '8 1/2'.

James Cameron‘s The Terminator is immensely influential on movie-making as a whole, but do you know which other film has left an even bigger stamp on cinema over the years? We’re talking about a 1963 Italian-language classic that has inspired everyone from Woody Allen to Ridley Scott, and became one of Martin Scorsese‘s all-time favorites. It inspired a movie that served as Daniel Day-Lewis‘ follow-up to his Oscar-winning performance in There Will Be Blood, and was paid homage to in a sex spoof film about the inner workings of the porn industry. As you can tell, the classic’s impact was felt far and wide. It’s currently streaming on HBO Max in the United States, but only for a little while longer.

Directed by Federico Fellini, the film starred the iconic Marcello Mastroianni as a filmmaker riddled with self-doubt. The movie was an instant classic, emerging as both a critical and cultural hit. It won the Academy Award in the category formerly known as Best Foreign Language Film, and has since cemented itself as one of the greatest movies ever made. In the Sight & Sound poll published every 10 years, it ranked fourth on the list selected by filmmakers from around the world, including Scorsese. In his citation, the Taxi Driver director described the movie in question as “a touchstone for me, in so many ways—the freedom, the sense of invention, the underlying rigor and the deep core of longing, the bewitching, physical pull of the camera movements and the compositions… But it also offers an uncanny portrait of being the artist of the moment, trying to tune out all the pressure and the criticism and the adulation and the requests and the advice, and find the space and the calm to simply listen to oneself.”













Advertisement



















































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

Parasite · Everything Everywhere · Oppenheimer · Birdman · No Country
Advertisement

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

🪜Parasite

🌀Everything Everywhere

☢️Oppenheimer

🐦Birdman

Advertisement

🪙No Country for Old Men

Advertisement

01

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





Advertisement

02

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





Advertisement

03

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





Advertisement

04

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





Advertisement

05

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





Advertisement

06

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





Advertisement

07

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





Advertisement

08

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





Advertisement

09

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





Advertisement

10

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





Advertisement
The Academy Has Decided
Your Perfect Film Is…

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

Advertisement

Parasite

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

Advertisement

Everything Everywhere All at Once

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

Advertisement

Oppenheimer

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

Advertisement

Birdman

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

Advertisement

No Country for Old Men

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

Advertisement

Here’s How Long You Have Left to Watch the Classic on HBO Max

Italian filmmaker Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni) drifts off while reading the newspaper in '8 1/2'. Image via Colombia Pictures
Advertisement

We’re talking, of course, about Fellini’s metafictional classic , which inspired everything from All That Jazz to Nine. The movie now holds a “Certified Fresh” 97% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “Inventive, thought-provoking, and funny, represents the arguable peak of Federico Fellini’s many towering feats of cinema.” You can watch the film on HBO Max until September 30, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.


015032_poster_w780.jpg
Advertisement


Release Date
Advertisement

February 14, 1963

Runtime

139 minutes

Advertisement

Director

Federico Fellini

Writers
Advertisement

Brunello Rondi, Ennio Flaiano, Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli

Producers

Angelo Rizzoli

Advertisement

Advertisement

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Marcello Mastroianni

    Guido Anselmi

    Advertisement
  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Anouk Aimée

    Luisa Anselmi

Advertisement


Advertisement

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Entertainment

Ed Sheeran Speaks Out at Concert After Macklemore Drama

Published

on

Finneas and More Acts Exit Ed Sheerans Tour After Macklemore Is Dropped for Free Palestine Remark

Ed Sheeran returned to his Loop Tour after opening act Macklemore was dropped from the lineup for making pro-Palestinian remarks onstage.

“Before I play some songs tonight, I hope it’s okay if I say a few words about this last week,” Sheeran, 35, told fans during the Saturday, September 19, concert at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, per widely-circulated videos via social media. “I’m used to my music being criticized, and I’m always happy to take that because I’m lucky. A lot of you like my stuff, and to be honest, I’m surprised. I’m not surprised that I’ve even done it. You know, it’s normal.”

He went on to say, “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.”

The singer-songwriter explained that he never wanted to “disappoint fans,” adding that he never intended to “be an activist.”

Advertisement
Finneas and More Acts Exit Ed Sheerans Tour After Macklemore Is Dropped for Free Palestine Remark


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 […]

“This has put me in the middle of an important, passionate argument about freedom of speech on the most complex issue on the planet,” Sheeran noted. “[My music] has always been a safe space for everyone. That matters hugely to me.”

Advertisement

He added, “Honoring my commitment to my fans is also completely essential to who I am. That is why I’m here tonight — on my own — continuing my own tour.”

Sheeran addressed promoters who allegedly threatened to cancel his concerts if he’d kept Macklemore on the bill for his Loop Tour, saying he was “deeply worried” about interference in freedom of speech matters.

“It should never happen in the free world,” Sheeran insisted.

Admitting that he’s never wanted to be “a political commentator of any kind,” the four-time Grammy Award winner said he wanted his shows to be about “unity, not division” and “humanity, not politics.”

Advertisement
GettyImages-2251931025 ed sheeran

Ed Sheeran performs at KISS108’s Jingle Ball 2025.
Scott Eisen/Getty Images for iHeartRadio

“But this is a humanitarian issue [in Palestine] and I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore,” he told fans. “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.”

A report issued by the United Nations in June stated that 20,000 children have been killed and more than 44,000 have been injured in the region since hostilities escalated on October 7, 2023.

“I’m listening and learning. I do not know enough [about the conflict],” Sheeran said from the stage on Saturday.

As he seemingly broke down, Sheeran told fans, “I’m honestly so grateful that you’re here tonight with me.”

Sheeran headlined two concerts at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey earlier this month, where Macklemore, 43, was one of three opening acts alongside BIIRD and Lukas Graham, respectively. During both of the “Thrift Shop” rapper’s sets, he chanted “Free Palestine” and played his 2024 protest song “Hind’s Hall.”

Advertisement

After alleged pressure from stadiums hosting Loop Tour concerts this fall, Sheeran’s tour promoter dismissed Macklemore from the lineup ahead of his remaining eight scheduled gigs.

“Ed Sheeran and his team have made the decision to remove me from the Loop Tour. I am not a victim. Ed Sheeran is not a victim,” Macklemore wrote in a social media statement shared Monday, September 14. “We have careers, money, opportunities, safety and audiences around the world. Whatever consequences any of us face for what we say, we get to go home to our families.”

Describing Sheeran as “my friend” that he’s known for 13 years, Macklemore claimed that they had “difficult conversations” about the tour’s future.

“He told me that the words ‘Free Palestine’ and the image of the Palestinian flag were hurtful to a lot of people he spoke with,” Mackelmore alleged. “I hope this isn’t the end of my relationship with Ed. Thirteen years of friendship doesn’t disappear because of one painful disagreement. I hope we both continue listening, studying what is happening in Palestine and wrestling with what neutrality means in a moment like this. My door will always be open to continuing that conversation.”

Advertisement

The “Thinking Out Loud” artist issued a statement the next day, decreeing that he still respects Macklemore and denied the responsibility of dropping his pal from the Loop Tour roster.

GettyImages-2280382231-pink


Related: Pink Addresses Reposting Criticism of Macklemore’s Pro-Palestine Speech

Pink has broken her silence regarding the backlash she faced for reposting criticism of Macklemore’s pro‑Palestinian remarks at Ed Sheeran’s MetLife Stadium shows. “I’ve been quiet in my own words for a week, which you know isn’t like me. So here they are,” Pink, 47, began in an Instagram statement on Friday, September 11. The […]

Advertisement

“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,” Sheeran wrote in his Tuesday, September 15, statement. “I was informed that this stance was based on how Macklemore conveyed part of his message during his performance, rather than on everything that was said. I spoke with the venues at length all week to try and build a bridge.”

The British singer-songwriter further stressed that he hopes to use his platform and music “to bring people from all backgrounds and cultures together.”

“Those who have been to one of my shows will know that they are about unity, joy, escapism, love and a place for everyone to feel welcome,” he added at the time. “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.”

Days later, Sheeran’s fellow Loop Tour openers Graham, 34, and Finneas, as well as guest band Beoga left the concerts in solidarity with Macklemore.

The “Can’t Hold Us” rap star has since remained committed to sharing his message, announcing on Wednesday, September 16, that he would donate his $1 million Loop Tour salary to Palestinian organizations. After challenging Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft to do the same, Kraft, 85, announced that Sheeran pledged $2 million to provide humanitarian aid that the businessman matched.

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2025