By Chris Snellgrove
| Updated 5 seconds ago

The ‘80s is the decade that just keeps giving, with its countless colorful franchises being reinvented for the modern day. This is especially true of IPs that were originally made to sell toys, which is why beloved cartoons like Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have been repeatedly remade into live-action movies. However, He-Man failed to make the leap into modernity: after the 1987 live-action film featuring Dolph Lundgren became a critical and commercial bomb, the franchise steered clear of the big screen, with only a few controversial animated revivals to keep the brand alive.

Now, though, a new Masters of the Universe movie has hacked and slashed its way into theaters. When news of this movie was first announced, even the beefy barbarian’s biggest fans were worried it would be a disaster. Given how badly most Hollywood revivals go, it was easy to imagine that this film would change up crucial lore fans loved about the original show, or maybe transform the cartoon’s legendarily campy tone into something so grimdark only edgelords could enjoy it. 

Fortunately, we had nothing to worry about: Masters of the Universe is the new gold standard for franchise revivals, one that will leave old-school fans grinning while winning over new audiences with a sexy, silly, and utterly spectacular sci-fi thrill ride.

A Bone To Pick With He-Man

The premise of Masters of the Universe is that when Skeletor (Jared Leto) and his evil army attack the city of Eternos, its only prince (Nicholas Galitzine) is sent to Earth for his own safety. He brings with him a sword filled with magic power, but he loses it almost as soon as he arrives. Fifteen years later, he’s close to finding the sword, a weapon that can transform him into a hulking He-Man and, even more importantly, transport him back to his home world of Eternia.

However, this hero will need all of the sword’s power and all of the help he can get from his old mentor (Idris Elba) and childhood best friend (Camila Mendes) to defeat the combined forces of darkness and lead the world of Eternia into a new golden age. Along the way, he will need to learn more about what it means to be both man and He-Man, the wisdom necessary to rally a battered-down rebellion into a fighting force that can take Skeletor down for good.

The Most Faithful Designs

As an ‘80s kid who had way too many He-Man figures, the first thing that pleasantly surprised me about Masters of the Universe is how faithful the character designs are to the original cartoon. He-Man’s iconic look is replicated so faithfully that Nicholas Galitzine (a great comedic actor who sells the transition from puny prince to battling barbarian) looks like a walking, talking action figure. The same can be said for Teela, and Camila Mendes imbues this character with the perfect balance of grace, strength, and beauty. Familiar villains like Beast Man and Evil-Lyn are scarier than ever before, and I was particularly impressed by Trap Jaw, whom the movie transforms into a one-man walking army.

But the wildest character to behold is, without a doubt, Skeletor. He is the perfect live-action incarnation of his iconic cartoon design, one whose skull-faced visage expresses a surprising range of emotion. The CGI used to do so is very effective, and it helps bring to life some of this character’s most gloriously goofy faces straight out of the ‘80s. In his own way, Skeletor symbolizes the greatest selling point of this movie to the franchise’s older fans: this is the cartoon brought to life, full stop, with no fussy concerns over modernizing the designs or sanding off the adorable cheesiness of the characters.

Between the accurate costume and the unrestrained, gonzo performance from Jared Leto (who is almost shockingly good here), the movie has everything you could want from this iconic villain. The sneers, the monologuing, the humor, it’s all here, and Skeletor is simultaneously the funniest and the scariest character in the movie. At times, this can create a slightly distracting tonal whiplash. Overall, though, Skeletor will please the fans who wanted him to be a pastel goth meme king and those who wanted an intimidating villain who is as ruthless as he is relentless.

Crude And Campy, Through And Through

Speaking of humor, it’s worth noting that almost everything in Masters of the Universe has its tongue firmly in cheek. There are occasional serious moments, like when He-Man has heart-to-heart conversations with his dad about being a good son and with his old mentor about what it means to be a man. For the most part, though, the movie is in the vein of a Guardians of the Galaxy-style irreverent sci-fi adventure. Between the steady supply of jokes, the film is a breezy thrill ride, one that goes by remarkably fast despite the two-hour, fifteen-minute runtime. 

Some humor is aimed squarely at adults, and not everything lands. For example, this adaptation of an old kids’ cartoon has a lot of jokes about fisting, and there are some sexual innuendoes Skeletor tosses to He-Man that are sure to raise a few eyebrows. In one of the movie’s crudest moments, Teela jokingly calls Cringer (He-Man’s talking tiger who hates fighting) a “p*ssy,” getting an accordingly shocked reaction from He-Man. It got a relatively shocked reaction from my theater, which is fair: for a film being marketed as a family-friendly sci-fi blockbuster, there are a lot of things in Masters of the Universe that you probably wouldn’t want your kids repeating. 

At the same time, it’s pretty refreshing to see a blockbuster refuse to play things safe, and like Marvel’s Guardians movies, it’s fun to see good guys who are rough-around-the-edges instead of squeaky-clean exemplars of morality and goodness.

An Action-Packed Fantasy Epic

Masters of the Universe packs in far more action than I was actually expecting. Unlike the 1987 movie, this latest film spends only a small fraction of time on Earth, and those scenes are worth it because they crescendo with a nerve-wracking fight scene with Beastman. Honestly, while the new He-Man movie doesn’t break the sci-fi mold, it does deliver many different kinds of battle scenes sure to get your heart pumping. 

This includes one-on-one showdowns (like He-Man and Skeletor, or Man-at-Arms and Trap Jaw), big group battles (like the initial attack on Eternos and the later, desperate assault on Castle Grayskull), and even multiple, high-flying scenes of starship combat. This variety helps keep things fresh, while witty writing and wonderfully earnest acting help to ground every CGI-laden fight scene with humanity.

Not Too Woke, Not Too Weird

Speaking of humanity, the movie walks a very fine line between being an ‘80s homage and being a modern action opus. There are some very 21st-century lessons here about the need to temper power with empathy and the importance of solving the occasional problem without violence. Nonetheless, a brief scene at Prince Adam’s Human Resources underscores how mind-numbing touchy-feely mantras can be and how many of those touting them are secretly control freaks relishing in the surprisingly robust power they have over others. 

Throw in He-Man’s early worries that he isn’t manly enough and some Man-at-Arms speeches about how wars are won by soldiers and not poets and you have a movie that will mollify just about anyone who worried it would be too “woke.” At the same time, Masters of the Universe stays mercifully clear of politics, presenting itself as an epic clash of good versus evil that you can enjoy regardless of who you voted for.

Easter Eggs As Far As The Eye Can See

If you are a big fan of He-Man from way back, you’ll probably love one aspect of Masters of the Universe more than anything else: the Easter eggs! There are practically too many to count, including a cameo from Dolph Lundgren (the original live-action He-Man) and several references to the 1987 film. At one point, Prince Adam tracks his sword to a comics and collectibles store called the Fright Zone, which is named after Hordak’s base of operations in She-Ra. That store also prominently features Big Jim, the toy line that preceded He-Man and provided the mold that would become Cringer.

There are multiple great music drops, including the original cartoon theme and, hilariously, Four Non-Blondes’ “What’s Up,” which was featured in the greatest He-Man fan video ever made. 

Plus, without spoiling things, there are two different mid-credits scenes and one post-credits scene sure to make older fans grin harder than they have in decades. In short, the more you know about this sprawling fictional universe, the more you’ll enjoy this ambitious new film.

Notably, these Easter eggs are inserted pretty seamlessly into the film. Masters of the Universe is very accessible to complete newbies, and you can enjoy all of these weird little moments at face value, even if you don’t know what they are homaging. When you do get the references, though (“whoa, did He-Man just thunder punch Skeletor?!?”), it just makes some already-awesome scenes that much cooler. Careful, though: the more you recognize, the more likely you are to speed home and bust out all your favorite childhood He-Man toys.

Nostalgia You’ll Feel Right In Your Bones

Collectively, these Easter eggs help to cement something that becomes apparent very early into the film: Masters of the Universe is a true labor of love, made by a director (Travis Knight), writer, and producers who have a clear passion for the source material. It’s not perfect, but this movie is leaps and bounds better than most sci-fi revivals, and it’s infinitely better than The Mandalorian and Grogu, the new Star Wars movie oozing its way down the box office ranks with the slimy tenacity of a Hutt.

Against all the odds, this revival of a classic ‘80s property is better than fans could have possibly hoped for. It’s full of dynamic action, fun characters, witty dialogue, and one gloriously scenery-chewing performance after another. Totally, this is basically the love child of Conan the Destroyer and Thor: Ragnarok, which is fitting for a franchise that has always blended sci-fi with fantasy. Masters of the Universe is an unrelenting thrill ride of action and adventure, one that winks at the camera a little more aggressively (and a little more infectiously) with every scene.

Looking for an unapologetic love letter to a bygone decade that served as the perfect intersection of action schlock and action figure? Good news, kiddos: for the first time since the ‘80s, He-Man has the power!

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (2026) SCORE

Kelsey Asbille is making her return to acting in her first role since the Yellowstone finale — and the shocking death of her character, Monica, in the Marshals spinoff.

Deadline confirmed on Thursday, June 4, that Asbille, 34, will star opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger and Liam Hemsworth in The Kellys. The action film has been acquired by Amazon MGM for worldwide release on streaming but character details are being kept under wraps.

Production is currently underway with The Kellys following Jack Kelly, a disgraced New York City cop whose wife, Molly, is taken hostage by terrorists inside an old armory building.

“Subsequently, he’ll have to join forces with the people he fears most to save her: His family,” the official synopsis read.

The Kellys is Asbille’s first role since Yellowstone wrapped in December 2024. The Paramount Network series, which aired from 2018 to 2024, introduced Us to Kayce (Luke Grimes) and his wife, Monica, who remained at the center of the show until the finale.

After teaching at a local school on the Broken Rock Indian Reservation, Monica went on to become a professor at Montana State University while navigating life with Kayce, who moved them back to the Yellowstone Ranch following his past tension with dad John (Kevin Costner).

Following John’s death, Kayce, a former U.S. Navy SEAL, became the new owner and operator of the Yellowstone Ranch. Kayce and Monica ended the show alive — and were still together — before Marshals began.

When the series premiered in March, however, fans learned Monica had died after battling cancer.

“Kayce had such a perfect ending in Yellowstone,” showrunner Spencer Hudnut told TVLine at the time. “His dreams had finally come true. As we were trying to figure out how to tell the next chapter in Kayce’s story, it felt like he really needed to be shaken out of that. Unfortunately, tragedy tends to find Kayce, so something bad was going to happen for him one way or the other. It just sort of played out that it was going to be Monica.”

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Related: ‘Yellowstone‘ Cast: Where Are They Now Amid Multiple Show Spinoffs?

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The Yellowstone cast has continued to find success after the hit Paramount Network show came to an end — with some even scoring spinoffs. Yellowstone, which ran from 2018 to 2024, became an overnight success for its story about the conflicts along the shared border of a large cattle ranch, the Broken Rock Indian reservation […]

Hudnut said Monica’s death will continue to drive Kayce, adding, “To me, Monica is really guiding Kayce through this first episode, trying to help him find his new path. And if you actually break it down, Tate is at that rally to honor his mother, and Kayce goes there to protect Tate. So if not for Monica, Kayce never would have been in that position and may not have found this path.”

He concluded: “We really wanted to be respectful of the way that we said goodbye to her. I also didn’t want to step on the ending of Yellowstone, because what they had was a beautiful ending. Unfortunately, real life intervened.”

Asbille has not yet broken her silence on Monica’s onscreen death. She did grant access for her likeness to be used on the show, which allowed Marshals to include photos of the fictional character on screen.

OnlyFans star Lena the Plug denied that she filed for divorce from her husband, podcaster Adam22.

“I’m here to address the chaos,” Lena, 35, announced in a video message via X on Thursday, June 4. “Last month, I went to check my mail and I had all of this rejected paperwork from a courthouse. Somebody has been trying to file for divorce on my behalf.”

Per documents obtained by Us Weekly, Lena (real name Lena Nersesian) seemingly filed for divorce on her 35th birthday on Monday, June 1, citing April 15 as the official date of separation in court documents. It appeared as if she asked a Los Angeles Superior Court to grant her legal and physical custody of her and Adam22’s (real name Adam Grandmaison) daughter.

“[Someone] has all this information and they attached a check for $435,” she told followers on Thursday. “I look at the name of the check and I start to freak out a little bit because I remember the name … The name of the check matches the name that police gave me when they arrived at my house two different times doing a wellness check … Somebody called and claimed I was being abused by my husband.”

Per Lena, she assured cops that she did not make the emergency call and the matter was apparently resolved.

“I remembered the name. The name was hard to forget,” she said.

Lena explained that she was alarmed to see the name pop up in connection with a divorce filing so she alerted both police and the local court.

“The courthouse said there’s nothing under [my] name. They were not able to make the filing,” Lena recalled.

When she spoke to police, Lena was warned that it was a “weird situation” because “this person is forging your signature, claiming they are you.” She said she was advised by police to file an identity theft report, which she said she did on May 6.

“I thought it was over,” she admitted.

The issue resurfaced this week when Adam22 informed Lena that the media was reporting “on our divorce.” Lena insisted she called the courthouse back, though she was told this time that was now an active divorce case on the docket.

“They’re like, ‘We don’t know [what to tell you]. We’ve never been in this situation. Technically, you have filed for divorce,’” Lena said. “Now I have to hire an attorney.”

She went on, “My theory is that this person is being spoken to by a catfish who is pretending to be me online. This person is trying to get money … They’re claiming Adam abused me. They’re claiming everything that [is in the reports], all of which is not true.”

The OnlyFans content creator closed the video by addressing the state of her marriage to Adam22.

“I’m not divorcing at all,” she declared. “I love my husband. We’ve been together for 10 years. I know that all of you are plotting on our downfall but it’s not happening. That day has not come.”

She concluded, “I found out I was getting divorced when you guys found out I was getting divorced. This is such a weird situation. Honestly, if it didn’t happen to me, I wouldn’t believe it.”

Adam22 shared Lena’s statement via Instagram, along with writing, “I love my citch. Could never turn my back on her.”

Lena previously promised fans on Thursday, June 4, that she planned to address the divorce “soon,” while denying that it was merely a “publicity stunt.”

The OnlyFans star and “No Jumper” host, 42, have been married for three years and share a 5-year-old daughter.

In her initial court filing, a person claiming to be Lena stated that she does not currently have a job and depends on $3,000 monthly spousal support from Adam 22.

“I have no access to any financial resources in this marriage or actual financial information, so all amounts entered are estimates,” the person wrote to the court.

Subsequent financial disclosure forms obtained by Us Weekly included someone claiming to be Lena asking to keep around $730,000 in marital assets, including half of the couple’s $1.152 million in real estate holdings. The filer also requested to retain $50,000 in household appliances and $20,000 worth of jewelry, art and collectibles on Lena’s behalf.

The filer suggested an equitable split of the $100,000 in their savings account, plus half of the $40,000 valuation of their two podcasts, ”No Jumper” and “Plug Talk.”

However, Lena clarified in Thursday’s response video that none of the financial information in court documents was accurate.

The matter is all the matter unusual since Lena seemingly referenced changes in her personal life in a message celebrating her 35th birthday, also marking the same day as she allegedly filed for divorce.

“A few years ago, I was terrified of turning 30. I thought getting older meant something was ending. Instead, it’s been the opposite,” she wrote via Instagram on Monday. “I’ve learned more about myself, built a life I’m proud of, and found a level of contentment I didn’t know was possible.”

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Lena went on, “If my 30s have taught me anything, it’s that life keeps getting better. Here’s to the next five years. And thank you for being part of the journey.”

Adam22 took a more sarcastic tone when addressing his supposed divorce, asking via his Instagram Story on Wednesday, June 3, “All Black women who want to date me please DM me. I will buy you a car.”

He also shared the word “freedom” over an Instagram Story set to Jay-Z’s hit “Girls, Girls, Girls” that same day.

OnlyFans star Lena the Plug denied filing for divorce from YouTuber and podcaster Adam22 — revealing that she may have been the victim of “identity theft.”

Per documents obtained by Us Weekly at the time, the content creator, whose real name is Lena Nersesian, seemingly filed for divorce on June 1, 2026, which also happened to mark her 35th birthday. However, she later clarified via an X video on June 4, 2026, that the documents were filed fraudulently on her behalf.

“I’m here to address the chaos,” Lena announced. “Last month, I went to check my mail and I had all of this rejected paperwork from a courthouse. Somebody has been trying to file for divorce on my behalf.”

Earlier the same day, Lena insisted that the drama around her marriage was not “a publicity stunt.”

Keep scrolling for all the details about Lena and Adam’s divorce drama:

Related: OnlyFans’ Lena the Plug and YouTuber Adam22’s Relationship Timeline

Lena the Plug and Adam22 were together for years before news broke of their split. Us Weekly confirmed in June 2026 that Lena the Plug (real name Lena Nersesian) and Adam22 (real name Adam Grandmaison) filed for divorce. In an interview with VladTV one year prior, Adam22 got candid about filming NSFW scenes together. “I’ve […]

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When Did Lena the Plug and Adam22 Separate?

According to Lena, someone claiming to be her filed the paperwork on June 1, 2026, listing April 15, 2026, as the couple’s official date of separation — meaning the pair had quietly parted ways nearly two months before her filing.

In her petition, the alleged filer requested legal and physical custody of the couple’s daughter, Parker. The alleged filer also claimed that Lena is currently living in a Studio City home with Parker.

Lena the Plug’s Financial Requests

Court documents obtained by Us Weekly lay out a detailed financial picture of the influencer couple’s assets, of which someone allegedly claiming to be Lena is asking for a substantial portion in the legal proceedings.

The alleged filer requested roughly $730,000 in assets, including half of a $1.152 million entertainment studio, $50,000 from a $100,000 savings account and half of $5,000 in cash on hand, per the court docs. They also asked to keep all $50,000 in household furniture and appliances. The documents value the couple’s two podcasts, “No Jumper” and “Plug Talk” at a combined $40,000, to be split equally, plus an estimated $20,000 for her own social media presence and $20,000 in jewelry, art and collectibles.

According to the court documents, she doesn’t have a job and allegedly is dependent on $3,000 in monthly spousal support from Adam, whose real name is Adam Grandmaison.

“I have no access to any financial resources in this marriage or actual financial information, so all amounts entered are estimates,” she claimed in the filing.

In her X video, Lena insisted that the financial disclosure forms were filed without her permission and thus were not accurate.

Adam22 Breaks His Silence

Adam appeared to make light of the split through a series of social media posts just two days after Lena filed for divorce.

“Freedom,” he wrote via Instagram Stories on June 3, 2026, which was set to Jay-Z’s “Girls Girls Girls,” before reposting news coverage of the breakup adding, “All Black women who want to date me, please DM me. I will buy you a car.”

Adam later shared Lena’s denial video via Instagram alongside a comment, writing, “I love my citch. Could never turn my back on her.”

How Long Have Lena the Plug and Adam22 Been Married?

The pair’s relationship has played out largely in the public eye. Lena and Adam first started dating in 2016, one year before they started collaborating on adult content. They welcomed daughter Parker in November 2020 and tied the knot in May 2023.

“Oh by the way … we got married,” he wrote via Instagram at the time, sharing photos from their Italian wedding. “Almost 7 years strong and more in love than ever.”

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Lena the Plug Denied Filing For Divorce

While coming forward with the “identity theft” allegations, Lena insisted that she had no actual plans to get divorced.

“I’m not divorcing at all,” she declared. “I love my husband. We’ve been together for 10 years. I know that all of you are plotting on our downfall but it’s not happening. That day has not come.”

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

Ellen Pompeo is returning to television in a new capacity with the upcoming show Chicks.

Multiple outlets confirmed in June 2026 that Hulu ordered a pilot for the Chicks. The dramedy will star Pompeo. She will also serve as an executive producer on the series alongside collaborator Laura Holstein via Pompeo’s Calamity Jane production company. The Hulu show is based on an original idea from writer Katie Robbins.

Robbins reportedly was inspired to create the show after having a conversation with Pompeo on the set of Good American Family. The limited series, which premiered on Hulu in 2025, was Pompeo’s first major project after the actress reduced her role as Dr. Meredith Grey on Grey’s Anatomy. Pompeo joined the medical drama when it premiered in 2005. She remained a full-time cast member up until season 19 which aired in 2022. (Pompeo, who also serves as an executive producer, has continued to make guest appearances on Grey’s Anatomy since then.)

According to Deadline, Robbins created the concept of Chicks specifically with Pompeo in mind.

Keep scrolling for everything to know about Pompeo’s involvement in Chicks:

What Is ‘Chicks’ About?

According to the family drama’s synopsis, Chicks will tell the story of two sisters as their lives change amid the rapid gentrification of neighborhoods in old Boston. (Pompeo grew up in Everett, Massachusetts which is north of Beantown.)

“It follows Chickie and Doreen, two estranged half-sisters who are both struggling to get by when their wise guy dad unexpectedly kicks the bucket,” the synopsis read. “Their only inheritance is a legacy of two-bit crime that inspires them to run increasingly audacious frauds. As their con grows, so does their odd-couple bond, as they each start to fill the father-shaped hole in the other’s heart.”

What Is Ellen Pompeo’s Role in ‘Chicks’?

Pompeo will play Chickie who is one of the leading sisters in the series. She is also an executive producer on the project.

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Who Else Has Been Cast in ‘Chicks’?

Pompeo is the only confirmed name attached to the project. Details of additional cast members have yet to be revealed.

When Does Production for ‘Chicks’ Start?

Deadline reported in June 2026 that production for the pilot is expected to begin in New York City in September 2026.

Will ‘Chicks’ Interfere With Ellen Pompeo’s Role on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’?

Since Hulu has only ordered a pilot for Chicks, it should not prevent Pompeo from appearing on Grey’s Anatomy as she currently has a recurring role. However, things could change if the streamer orders a full season for Chicks.

You could be someone who’s largely apathetic to movies in general and still be, in all likelihood, at least a little aware of how superheroes have been kind of a big deal lately. Maybe the 2010s was the golden era, and there was also a fruitful 2000s leading up to that next decade’s dominance, but you can’t rule out the 2020s when something like Avengers: Doomsday is still pretty hyped (at least at the time of writing, because time will ultimately tell whether it’s any good or not).

Doomsday seems like it’ll be pretty darn ambitious, so looking at superhero movies that have already come out – and focusing on ones that were impressively ambitious – feels like it could be worth doing. These aren’t necessarily the best superhero movies of all time, but more ones that did something new, started some kind of trend, successfully threw together countless iconic characters on screen, or even did all of the above, to some extent.

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‘Spider-Man’ (2002)

Image via Sony Pictures Releasing

Sure, X-Men (2000) and Iron Man (2008) are worth shouting out if you’re talking about superhero movies that helped kick off some kind of overall trend. X-Men was a flawed but solid movie for its time that showed you could make something with tons of superheroes work on the big screen, and then Iron Man ultimately served as the first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, albeit in a way where it didn’t feel like dozens of later films were part of the plan (at least not at first).

So, why not include them while including Spider-Man? Maybe because Spider-Man (2002) is a better film, and also because it’s hard not to be fond of it, if you’re one of those people who can remember it being the first big superhero/comic book movie you ever saw. It’s not a perfect film, but it gets all the basics right and hits all the beats it has to quite effortlessly, as an origin story, paving the way for various Spider-Man movies – and other superhero fare – to come.

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‘Watchmen’ (2009)

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

With Watchmen, there was an attempt to get some very beloved source material (to say the least) adapted into a single movie, and that attempt was, honestly, a mostly successful one. There are things to nitpick here if you want, and like just about any adaptation, it’s not a one-to-one thing, but Watchmen does look and feel like the graphic novel series of the same name.

It’s also a film that gets across the deconstructive elements of the source material, being like a psychological drama with superheroes, and also having some distinctive sci-fi elements, plus a sense of brutality that, even nowadays, you don’t see much of in comic book/superhero movies. Watchmen is a better adaptation than some give it credit for, and there’s a lot here worth celebrating and admiring.

8

‘Superman’ (1978)

Image via Warner Bros.

Superman wasn’t the first superhero movie ever, but it was the first big-budget one, and also arguably the first superhero movie about a recognizable character that did such a character justice. Like 2002’s Spider-Man, Superman (1978) does what you’d expect an origin story to do, but the ambition here comes from when you consider the time in which the film came out.

It was a risk, and a lot of money was spent on the whole thing, and the movie had a tagline it really needed to live up to, since that tagline was “You’ll believe a man can fly.” If Superman hadn’t made people believe, and if it had been a failure in other ways, the whole future of blockbuster cinema (especially blockbusters involving superheroes, for hopefully obvious reasons) might well have looked incredibly different.

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‘The Dark Knight’ (2008)

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

The Dark Knight is one of Christopher Nolan’s biggest movies, and it’s probably also his best film overall, too. It comes in the middle of a trilogy which is made up of two other movies that definitely aren’t bad, and then The Dark Knight in the middle of them, which doesn’t really have anything bad in it, delivering everything you’d want out of a comic book movie, plus some things you might not really expect to see in a comic book movie.

It’s that quality which makes it feel extra ambitious, since The Dark Knight manages to work exceptionally well as a fairly action-heavy crime/thriller film that just so happens to have Batman – plus some other associated characters – in it. There is also an argument to be made that The Dark Knight Rises is more ambitious, but that film sort of collapses under its own weight (even if it’s not bad overall), so The Dark Knight feels more worthy of a shout-out. It’s just cleaner, more well-crafted, and overall quite a bit more satisfying.

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‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ (2014)

Image via 20th Century

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The first X-Men was promising, then the second was an improvement in pretty much every way, and then things got a bit messy, what with a third movie and a solo Wolverine prequel, neither of which were particularly well-received. But then in 2011, there was X-Men: First Class, which was a better prequel, and then a few years later, X-Men: Days of Future Past came out, and it was a grand old crossover between the “original” X-Men movies and First Class.

There’s a time-travel plot that gets everyone on the same wavelength, more or less, having to team up to prevent a dystopian future that seems otherwise inevitable. And maybe it was inevitable, since the world of Logan is pretty desolate, but then again, the X-Men have now joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Logan might not be canon, and so it’s all very confusing. Eh, plenty of movies in the series are still good. Maybe time-travel is going to muddy any timeline, but still, what a time-travel movie this one is.

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‘The Batman’ (2022)

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

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Now, The Batman is ranked higher than The Dark Knight here, but that’s not a suggestion that it’s a better Batman movie overall than The Dark Knight. Ambition is what’s being focused on, and The Batman is a hugely ambitious movie, with the runtime standing out as the first thing that feels notable, given it’s just a minute or two shy of three hours, in total.

Also, it introduces a new Batman without doing it as an origin story, and then it also ventures outside of expected territory by de-emphasizing action more than just about any other big-budget superhero movie in recent memory. The Batman is all about the quieter and moody side of Batman, with detective work being highlighted more than fight sequences, and all in a way that gives this version of Batman a genuinely interesting character arc, too. Like a certain Spider-Man movie that’s about to be mentioned, it’s a shame that, at the time of writing, the wait for some kind of follow-up movie set in a world this interesting has been more than four years (and counting).

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‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ (2023)

Image via Sony Pictures Releasing

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After Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse came out and more or less blew everyone’s minds, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse had its work cut out for it, needing to live up to the first. Thankfully, it did that and then some, going above and beyond in the sense that it felt much bigger, and ran for a fair few minutes longer, and increasing the scope of something that was already about the multiverse can’t have been easy.

Things overflowed when it came to this movie, because it really doesn’t conclude, and there’s been one hell of a prolonged cliffhanger because, at the time of writing, it’s been three years since Across the Spider-Verse came out. Still, it’s an easy movie to rewatch and pick up details or isolated jokes you might’ve missed the first time around, so that’s nice, at least.

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‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’ (2021)

Image via HBO Max

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2017’s Justice League was possibly ambitious, but not in a good way, since it was really quite a mess, owing to how it tried to do way too much in too short a runtime. Maybe 2021’s recut, called Zack Snyder’s Justice League, is a lot spread out over too long a runtime, in the eyes of some, but it works a whole lot better than the 2017 cut, and it’s hard not to be at least a bit impressed by the grandiosity of it all.

At the time of writing, it’s the last superhero movie Zack Snyder has directed, and it feels like it could be a grand finale of sorts to that part of his filmography. It is the most Snyder-ish of all the Snyder movies, and, in all likelihood, very much the movie he wanted to make (hence his name being in the title and stuff). It’s a four-hour-long superhero epic that’s overflowing with ideas, but that’s not really a problem for most of its runtime (it’s only the endless set-ups for movies that’ll probably never come, in its final 20 to 30 minutes, that’s a bit hard to defend nowadays).

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‘Avengers: Infinity War’ (2018)

Since it got labeled – both sincerely and ironically – as “the most ambitious crossover event in history,” it feels more than fitting to mention Avengers: Infinity War whenever you’re talking about extra ambitious superhero movies. There was an attempt at getting most of the main heroes who’d appeared in a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie in this one film, and said attempt was a largely successful one.

Certain characters do get more screen time than others, and anyone rocking up for Hawkeye or Ant-Man specifically might’ve left disappointed, but the size of this film still feels impressive. Avengers: Infinity War does all that while also being the movie that made Thanos perhaps the most memorable villain of the MCU so far, after earlier films had shown him kind of hovering in the background. There’s also the rather bold way this movie ends, which, of course, leads into…

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‘Avengers: Endgame’ (2019)

Image via Marvel Studios

…Avengers: Endgame, which may or may not be even more ambitious than Avengers: Infinity War. That 2018 epic ended with Thanos actually winning, and half of all life in the universe disappearing in an instant. Avengers: Endgame picks up with all that life being avenged, albeit emptily, and then there’s a big time-skip before those who are left devise a time-travel-related plan to get the disappeared people back.

And it all sounds a little silly when you lay it out like that, but this was a logical continuation of the events depicted in Infinity War, and a film that did a lot to pay off – or have callbacks to – various movies that came before. There’s also a dramatic and cathartic final act to Endgame that future Avengers movies will probably struggle to exceed, as far as spectacle and sheer emotion go (still, never say never).

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Avengers: Endgame

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Release Date

April 26, 2019

Runtime

181 Minutes

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Writers

Keith Giffen, Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck, Jim Starlin, Joe Simon, Steve Englehart, Jack Kirby, Steve Gan, Bill Mantlo, Stephen McFeely, Christopher Markus

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  Robert Downey Jr.

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  Tony Stark / Iron Man

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  Chris Evans

  Steve Rogers / Captain America

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I’m one of those people who rarely rewatches a show. Once I watch it and have enjoyed it, I’m done. Maybe I’ll rewatch a show decades later, like Beverly Hills, 90210, to recall pivotal moments I completely forgot about. There’s so much great TV and so little time that you likely want to use your time to see new shows anyway. This means that when someone watches a show a second time, it’s a good indication that the series is absolutely perfect and worth the investment in time.

HBO has shows you want to watch once and bank in your memory, but also ones with great rewatch value. These series, which date all the way back to the origins of HBO as a provider of quality TV, changed the game for television and entertain throughout every episode of every season.

‘The Righteous Gemstones’ (2019–2025)

Image via HBO

Recently ending after its fourth and final season, The Righteous Gemstones is more relevant than ever with its themes of religion, corruption, and family dysfunction. The crime comedy drama follows the Gemstone family of televangelists who spread the word of God. But what their church seems to worship is the almighty dollar: they are living large thanks to the kindness of their parishioners.

The Righteous Gemstones is so funny, so quirky, with engaging characters played by talented actors that it’s worth rewatching to enjoy the laughs a second time around. What’s so wonderful about rewatching The Righteous Gemstones is that you can witness the show get better and better, going from a 76% Rotten Tomatoes critics score in Season 1 to perfect scores for its third and fourth seasons.

‘Sex and the City’ (1998–2004)

Image via HBO

The preeminent female-led romantic comedy drama, and the show that put HBO on the map even before The Sopranos arrived, Sex and the City is definitive viewing for any woman in her 30s, 40s, even older. It’s an expression of the challenges of being mature, single, honing your career, and looking for love. Of course, it’s also a fashion show every episode as the ladies at the center, notably Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), wear elaborate outfits and drool-worthy shoes they pull from their insanely enviable walk-in closets.

A show about friendship, fashion, love, dating, careers, and life’s challenges from the female perspective, Sex and the City defined a generation. If you watched it when you were too young to really understand and relate to the women and their situations, it’s a great show to re-watch once you’re older and wiser. If you don’t want to re-watch the entire thing, you can also just catch the essential episodes.

‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ (1999–2024)

Image via HBO

Much like Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm is the type of show where you can catch any episode at any time and enjoy it without worrying about continuity of the story. The Larry David mockumentary style comedy is, similarly to Seinfeld, about the mundane doings of daily life. Each episode follows David as a fictionalized version of himself involved in situations that showcase his grumpiness or disdain for those who feign enthusiasm or social interactions.

Featuring a long list of guest stars playing exaggerated versions of themselves, Curb Your Enthusiasm earned 55 Emmy nominations throughout its run, a testament to the witty writing and great acting. It’s a show you don’t necessarily need to sit down and watch all 12 seasons back-to-back, but can toss on an episode here and there when you need a good laugh.

‘Six Feet Under’ (2001–2005)

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Widely considered to be one of the best shows ever on television with the most satisfying ending, Six Feet Under follows a family that runs the Fisher & Sons funeral home. It includes the challenges they deal with in daily life, alongside the difficult nature of a job helping people through their saddest times.

The drama, which aired for five seasons, has an incredible cast that includes Michael C. Hall, Peter Krause, Frances Conroy, and Lauren Ambrose. Each episode dives into the complex, existential topics of life and death. But it’s also a standard family drama tackling tough topics beyond death, like sexuality, religion, and familial dysfunction. Death is at the center, but it’s also used as a vehicle in each episode to shed light on reflections of life.

‘Veep’ (2012–2019)

Image via HBO

As we deal with a challenging political landscape, a show like Veep is worth a rewatch to enjoy a little political satire, even if some of the storylines might hit a little too close to home today. Earning Julia Louis-Dreyfus a record six consecutive Emmy wins, she plays Selina Meyer, the fictional Vice President of the United States who wants to make her mark but keeps getting entangled in ridiculous political games.

Politics has become frightening and worrisome, so a show like Veep is a great rewatch to lighten the mood and explore the inner workings of politics, even if the stories in this show come from a place of satire. The show comes into its own through each season, a satisfying watch all the way through.

‘Silicon Valley’ (2014–2019)

Image via HBO

We live in a world led by technology, and Silicon Valley humorously pokes fun at the inner workings of this space from the biggest hub in the world where start-ups go to get their ideas off the ground. The comedy begins with programmer Richard Hendricks (Thomas Middleditch), who develops a game-changing program. But when he leaves his conglomerate company to try and develop it as a start-up, he realizes the game of tech is not an easy one to win with so many dominant players looking to crush you.

The series, one of the funniest HBO shows of all time, features characters who are clear parodies of real-life figures, from Peter Thiel to Mark Zuckerberg, as well as companies like Google, Facebook, and Uber. Every person and company is an exaggeration, but you can’t help but wonder how far an exaggeration they might be. The series, which also stars Martin Starr, Kumail Nanjiani, Jimmy O. Yang, and Zach Woods, will have you in stitches.

‘Entourage’ (2004–2011)

Image via HBO

Celebrity culture persists and is even more in the spotlight today thanks to social media. Entourage is an early 2000s satirical comedy drama that provides a glimpse into the life of a young man who suddenly catapults to fame, and how he and his pre-fame friends deal with this massive life change. The series is executive produced in part by Mark Wahlberg and is loosely based on his own life, career, and rise to fame.

Told across eight seasons, Entourage has so many guest stars playing themselves and a relatable story about being in the public eye. It’s about experiencing fame at a young age when you don’t really know what to do with all the money, attention, and influence. Most notably, the show follows newly famous actor Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) and his insistence on keeping his hometown friends close, which seems to lead to a never-ending frat party. Jeremy Piven is a stand-out as Vinny’s arrogant and stereotypical agent Ari Gold.

‘Da Ali G Show’ (2000–2004)

Image via HBO

Going way back, Da Ali G Show originally premiered on Channel 4 in the UK and moved to HBO for its second and third seasons in the U.S. Sacha Baron Cohen‘s beloved characters like Borat and Brüno gained widespread attention with his later movies. But it’s in this satirical sketch comedy series that they first appeared, along with his interviewer persona, Ali G.

In each episode, one of these three characters interviews a celebrity or known person, including important government officials. But they don’t realize he’s in costume and putting on an act. He asks them ridiculous questions and makes inappropriate comments, much like in the movies. There are some memorably hilarious moments throughout the three seasons, like when he interviews David and Victoria Beckham and asks the latter if their child wants to be a soccer player like their dad or a singer like Mariah Carey (they both took the moment in stride). With more than 20 years having passed since the show ended, it’s a fun one to check out again.

‘The Comeback’ (2005–2026)

Image via HBO

The Comeback has fittingly had its own comeback, recently returning for a third season more than a decade after Season 2. It’s for this reason that re-watching the first two seasons, which themselves had almost a decade between them, is worthwhile. The mockumentary satirical sitcom stars Lisa Kudrow as Valerie Cherish, a sitcom actor trying to get a TV pilot off the ground. Shot in found footage style, Valerie works with reality TV producer Andy Cohen, who plays himself, to create content that she hopes will help get her concept sold.

Praised for its writing, acting, and story, The Comeback is a peek behind the curtain of the TV business from an actor who knows a thing or two about being a sitcom icon. The series also covers the topic of aging in Hollywood and struggling to find meaningful roles in an industry that values youth above all else.

‘Succession’ (2018–2023)

After watching Dynasty: The Murdochs on Netflix, I recognize just how closely Succession, a satirical black comedy drama about the Roy family and their media conglomerate, mirrors stories from that real-life media family. It’s enough to make me want to re-watch the brilliant series. The story follows Logan Roy (Brian Cox), the patriarch and head of the company, as he goes through the grueling process of trying to figure out who should take over once he retires.

Ideally, Logan would keep things in the family. But which of his arrogant, spoiled grown children is capable of taking over? Logan isn’t so sure any of them are, despite each one pleading their case and believing they have earned the position and can do the job. The story of a fractured family, shady business practices, and backroom deals of manipulation and betrayal, Succession is engaging throughout with memorable scenes that highlight the absurdity of society’s one-percenters.

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Succession

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Release Date

2018 – 2023

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Network

HBO Max

Showrunner

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Jesse Armstrong

Directors

Mark Mylod

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By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 11 hours ago

Before he was Fox Mulder, David Duchovny was Jake, a heartbroken man whose fiancée commits suicide and leaves behind a diary detailing her innermost thoughts, feelings, and the details of multiple affairs. Jake ask women to send in their stories of love and betrayal. That’s the basic premise for Zalman King’s Red Shoe Diaries, the anthology that brought softcore to premium cable networks and re-launched Showtime for the 90s. No one would have guessed how amusing it would become only a year after it launched in 1992, to have The X-Files Fox Mulder acting as the Cryptkeeper of Erotica. 

Red Shoe Diaries Set A New Standard For Cable

Duchovny’s role in the series was the same as the Cryptkeeper in Tales from The Crypt, or Rod Serling’s in The Twilight Zone: briefly introduce the story, then get out of the way. His narration plays out over recycled footage of walking with his dog, getting an envelope, and opening it up as new narration brings us into the upcoming story. All of which are as barebones as you’d expect and exist as an excuse to get to the erotic part of the erotica. 

Red Shoe Diaries is, looking back, quaint. The stories all follow the same formula of woman meets man, falls for his (or him for her) charms, the enjoy their time together, and most of the time, part ways. A newly divorced woman falls in love with a hometown cowboy, a model rediscovers her love for life thanks to a cabbie, business rivals become lovers, the early seasons are filled with the type of trope-filled story you’d find in any romance section. 

It’s a little later on that Red Shoe Diaries gets weird, though the soft-lightning, awkward music ripped straight from Pure Moods, and Duchovny’s narration remain, when the stories are about trapped astronauts having fun before they die, a Mexican luchador, a sci-fi tale in the future where love is forbidden, and a fallen angel. None of which reached the spice level of a dark romantasy novel you can buy from Barnes & Noble. But in the 90s, this was groundbreaking. 

The Ex-Files

Red Shoe Diaries ushered in a wave of similar artistic erotica shows on premium cable, including a revival of Emmanuelle, Women: Stories of Passion, and even faux-reality television including Taxicab Confessions. Before Showtime struck gold with Dexter, the network was mostly known for this type of softcore show. 

The success of The X-Files helped raise the profile of Red Shoe Diaries, especially once fans learned David Duchovny starred in the Season 1 episode, “Jake’s Story.”  This was long before Californication was even a passing thought. In Germany, the series was rebranded as Foxy Fantasies, heavily implying Duchovny was playing Fox Mulder instead of Jake. 

Looking back from 2026, the other enjoyable part of Red Shoe Diaries is a few of the guest stars you’d never expect, including a pre-Friends Matt LeBlanc, a post-Star Trek: The Next Generation Denise Crosby, both of whom appear twice during the show’s run. 

Prior to the Golden Age of Cable, following the launch of The Sopranos, premium cable was kept afloat through movies and shows like Red Shoe Diaries that could get away with far, far more than the broadcast networks. It’s an evolutionary step from the avant-garde wild west original cable shows of the 80s to the first massively successful original Showtime series, Stargate SG-1. Without Zalman King’s soft focus lighting, David Duchovny’s Jake, and Playboy Productions, we might live in a world without Teal’c and the Goa’uld, Dexter Morgan, and cannibalistic girls’ soccer teams.

As further evidence that television culture has changed, today you can stream Red Shoe Diaries for free on Tubi.