There isn’t a single defining quality that marks the difference between a great movie and an all-out masterpiece. The latter transcends the boundaries of its genre entirely, delivering groundbreaking truths about the human condition that remain timeless across generations. But often, no matter how much of a masterpiece a motion picture is, it’s still so heavy that it’s undeniably tough to get through.

Likewise, there are many factors that can make a cinematic masterpiece feel heavy. Whether it’s because it’s emotionally devastating, because it has a runtime and sense of pacing that demand patience, or because it’s bleak and pessimistic, a heavy film can nevertheless be counted among the greatest masterpieces in movie history. These ten gems, ranked from worst to best, prove it.

10

‘An Elephant Sitting Still’ (2018)

Image via KimStim

Nearly four hours long, the Chinese arthouse drama An Elephant Sitting Still is definitely not for everyone; but all those looking for an absolutely fascinating slow-burner ought to give this masterpiece a chance at least once in their lives. It’s also, however, one of the most depressing movies of the last 10 years, which adds another layer of challenge to an already impenetrable movie.

Even still, the inaccessibility of this slice-of-life anti-drama is the whole point, since the film is all about the suffocating sense of meaninglessness and isolation of life with depression. Directed Hu Bo, who was only 29 years old when he finished the movie, suffered from depression himself. Shortly after finishing the film, he took his own life. It’s a background that only adds further weight to an already incredibly heavy movie, but it also adds another reason to witness the incredible legacy that Bo left behind.

9

‘A Woman Under the Influence’ (1974)

Image via Faces Distribution

Though he was also an actor, Nick Cassavetes was particularly important as a director, one of the most important voices of independent cinema during the New Hollywood movement. His biggest masterpiece from that period is almost undoubtedly A Woman Under the Influence, one of Gena Rowlands‘ most essential movies, where she delivers what’s by far one of the greatest acting performances of 20th-century cinema.

It’s largely Rowlands’ powerhouse performance as a housewife exhibiting signs of severe mental distress that makes A Woman Under the Influence such an emotionally heavy film. Its depiction of mental illness, marital troubles, and the pressure of patriarchal societal expectations on both men and women is so raw, exhibiting Cassavetes’ usual commitment to realism, that it’s not an easy feat to get through all 2-and-a-half hours of this masterpiece’s runtime.

8

‘Incendies’ (2010)

Image via Entertainment One

By now, Denis Villeneuve is widely praised as one of the greatest filmmakers currently working in Hollywood, but even the greats have to start somewhere. In Villeneuve’s case, that was his native Canada. There, he made Incendies, one of the greatest Canadian movies of all time. It’s the country’s highest-rated film of all time on Letterboxd by a decent margin, and for good reason.

A harrowing exploration of the cyclical nature of violence and trauma, complete with one of the most shocking plot twists in the modern history of cinema, Incendies is not for the faint of heart. Far more than just a family mystery, it’s a thematically sharp and emotionally profound experience that you just can’t shake, one of the films that best depict the brutality of war.

7

‘Oldboy’ (2003)

Image via Tartan Films

Park Chan-wook is one of the greatest filmmakers in the history of South Korean cinema, and his Vengeance Trilogy is one of the best R-rated movie trilogies of all time. As phenomenal as its predecessor and successor are, however, there’s really no question regarding which is the best installment of the three: It has to be Oldboy, based on the Japanese manga Old Boy by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi.

This action thriller is packed with some of the most thrilling action set pieces and most shocking plot twists in the history of the genre, but one of those twists is particularly brutal. It’s a reveal that recontextualizes the entire film, making rewatches more of a daunting challenge—however tempting—than an inviting comfort watch. As brutal and emotionally heavy as the rest of the film is, it’s that final twist that really makes Oldboy such a relentlessly gut-wrenching experience.

6

‘There Will Be Blood’ (2007)

Image via Paramount Pictures

Paul Thomas Anderson has been making some of the greatest motion pictures of his generation for years, but when the conversation is about what his best work to date is, there tends to be agreement: It has to be There Will Be Blood, the period drama where Daniel Day-Lewis delivers what some still think is the greatest acting performance of the 21st century thus far.

Even aside of its exceptional cast, however, There Will Be Blood is one of the most perfect movies of the last 30 years, with some of the strongest writing and most impressive production values of any PTA masterpiece. But with its slow pacing, oppressively dark atmosphere, unrelenting misanthropy, and Day-Lewis’ terrifying performance, it may also very well be the heaviest movie in its director’s body of work.

5

‘Se7en’ (1995)

David Fincher is the modern Master of Suspense, and he has directed several of the greatest thrillers of any filmmaker from his generation—chief among which is Se7en. In almost 30 years, it hasn’t ceased to be deeply admirable that such a bleak and pessimistic movie became a blockbuster that grossed over $300 million dollars at the box office worldwide. Indeed, it’s one of the scariest mystery movies ever made.

It’s such a terrifying film, in fact, that some may even consider it part of the horror genre, placing it next to icons of the genre like The Silence of the Lambs as one of the best crime horror movies ever. At no point does Se7en give the audience room to truly breathe; on the contrary, it only keeps growing more oppressive and cynical as the runtime keeps progressing, concluding with one of the most harrowing third acts in the history of Hollywood cinema.

4

‘Schindler’s List’ (1993)

Image via Universal Pictures

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As well-known as he is for his work in the realm of blockbusters, which he pretty much brought to life, Steven Spielberg happens to have made his magnum opus in the form of a World War II drama that’s not a blockbuster at all. Because as enormous of a box office hit as it was, Schindler’s List was clearly not designed as a crowd-pleaser, and it still remains the most depressing movie that Spielberg has made thus far.

Nevertheless, it’s one of the best biopics of all time, with one of John Williams‘ most haunting scores and a phenomenal cast whose every member is at the top of their game. Films about the Holocaust are always incredibly heavy and harrowing movies, but Schindler’s List in particular is so raw and relentless in its depiction of the subject matter that it stands out among its peers. It’s not all doom and gloom, however, with Spielberg being able to find surprising amounts of humanity and hope even in such a dark story.

3

‘City of God’ (2002)

Image via Miramax Films

The world of Latin American cinema is one filled to the brim with underappreciated masterpieces, and Brazil’s filmography is no exception; but City of God is no underappreciated masterpiece. Rather, as one of the highest-rated films of all time on both Letterboxd and IMDb, it’s almost universally recognized to be one of those crime movies that are perfect from the first scene to the last.

City of God shows life on the slums of Rio with unparalleled rawness, finding ample shock value to barrage the audience with. At the same time, however, it never feels like it’s sensationalizing its subject, but rather treating it with all the sensitivity and realism that it deserves. As brutal as it is emotionally weighty, City of God is nevertheless one of those masterpieces that every film fan should watch at least once in their lives.

2

‘The Passion of Joan of Arc’ (1928)

Image via Société Générale des Films

Learning to understand and appreciate the silent days of cinema takes time and some degree of work; but once you get there, the window opens up to several of the most artistically gifted filmmakers in the art form’s history. One such artist is Carl Theodor Dreyer, whose The Passion of Joan of Arc is far and away one of the most intense silent movies of all time.

The story of the titular saint was already an incredibly dense, intense, and heavy story on paper, but the many ways that Dreyer finds to elevate all of those qualities in his 1928 masterpiece is truly admirable. Visually striking, perfectly paced, and anchored by Maria Falconetti delivering what may very well be the greatest female acting performance in cinema’s history, The Passion of Joan of Arc is unexpectedly moving for a movie that has no dialogue.

1

‘Come And See’ (1985)

Image via Sovexportfilm

Calling Elem Klimov‘s gut-wrenching Soviet masterpiece Come And See one of the heaviest World War II movies of all time would be kind of an understatement. The fourth-highest-rated feature film of all time on Letterboxd, this war drama is one of countless films that depict how war destroys innocence through the eyes of a child protagonist; but no movie with such a premise executes it with quite as much quasi-surreal horror as Come And See.

Indeed, this may not be a horror movie, but it sure feels like one more often than not. Loud, nightmarish in tone, and unrelentingly committed to the utmost realism, the film is absolutely relentless in its barraging the audience with constant noise, pain, death, and trauma. It’s definitely the kind of war movie that demands a strong stomach, but those courageous enough to watch it will be treated to one of the most admirable cinematic masterpieces in history.

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Come And See

Release Date

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October 17, 1985

Runtime

142 Minutes

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Director

Elem Klimov

Writers

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Elem Klimov, Ales Adamovich

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The iconic comedy that gave us “bend and snap!” lives on!

Released in 2001, Legally Blonde follows Reese Witherspoon‘s Elle Woods, a sorority girl who is dumped by her boyfriend who thinks he’s too good for her. In an effort to prove him wrong and win him back, she hits the books and is accepted to Harvard. Luke Wilson (Emmett Richmond), Jennifer Coolidge (Paulette Bonafonte), Selma Blair (Vivian Kensington), Matthew Davis (Warner Huntington III) and many more appear in the now-iconic film.

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Two years after the release of the original film, Witherspoon returned in Legally Blonde 2, which followed her character’s journey as an animal rights activist. A musical adaptation hit the stage in 2007 and Witherspoon coproduced a spinoff called Legally Blondes, starring twin sisters Milly and Becky Rosso playing Elle’s younger cousins.

Plus, Legally Blonde 3 is underway. Written by Mindy Kaling and Dan Goor, very little details are known about the future film besides the release date of May 2022. Witherspoon is set to return as Elle Woods once more.

Remembered for the optimistic protagonist and a message that digs below the surface, Legally Blonde has remained relevant for years. While waiting for the release of the third movie, keep scrolling to see what the cast has been up to since the original film.

Books certainly aren’t restricted the way movies generally are, though there are definitely experimental films that run for far longer than two hours. But books can be hundreds and hundreds of pages long, and some are in the 1000-to-2000-page range before the notion of splitting things into volumes has to be considered, which makes the time commitment to reading some books much more like watching a multi-season TV show or a lengthy video game than watching a film.

So, there are probably more ambitious and overall gargantuan books than there are movies. Some are classics, including a bunch below. There’s a mix of older and some slightly newer works here, but they’re included because they’re all among the most ambitious books of all time, with a lot of ground covered, so many words to read, and – for most of them – approximately 1000 or so pages you’ll need to physically turn to get through everything.

10

‘Les Misérables’ (1862)

Image via Penguin Classics

To start with an easy and obvious pick, here’s Les Misérables, which is famous for being very long and very heavy-going. There are almost two decades covered, with fictional characters existing and struggling during a tumultuous time in French history; namely, from the mid-1810s until the June Rebellion in Paris, which took place in 1832 (so not part of the French Revolution of the late 1700s, though that mistake does sometimes get made).

If you want to be flippant, you could also say Les Misérables is a novel about a guy who steals a loaf of bread, and then miserable (or misérable?) things happen. There are some tangents, lots of side characters and subplots, and just a lot of stuff that feels sprawling in general, but it is all rewarding and interesting, even if there are parts that don’t necessarily focus on the main plot, nor the truly “main” characters. It’s a classic for good reason, and one of those books everyone seems to agree, uncontroversially, is an essential one as far as world literature is concerned.

9

‘House of Leaves’ (2000)

Image via Doubleday

House of Leaves is written and presented in a way that’s meant to make you feel like you’re going more than a little mad, and it’s also impressively layered, to say the least. There are a few different accounts of a documentary called “The Navidson Record,” with analysis of the contents of said documentary being covered throughout, and it’s mostly about a house with a mortifying secret (or some kind of portal) inside.

There’s a lot more to it than it being a haunted house novel, though, with some parts of House of Leaves also being weirdly funny, other parts being just weird, and even more parts that manage to be scary in ways that aren’t necessarily related to “The Navidson Record.” It’s a probably unadaptable beast of a book that finds so many interesting and unique things to do with certain horror conventions, and stands as the kind of thing you do need to read if you want to believe it (and even then, believing might remain somewhat difficult).

8

‘Underworld’ (1997)

Image via Scribner

If Underworld progressed in chronological order, it would still qualify as quite ambitious, what with it being dense, covering a great deal of history (much of the second half of the 20th century), and being lengthy, at over 800 pages. Structurally, though, it’s all those things plus something told largely in reverse, starting with a story about a prized baseball from a match in the early 1950s, and then jumping forward to the 1990s.

It’s about people who had – or wanted to have – that baseball in their possession, but everything keeps jumping back, and though there are some people in it who are sort of main characters, Underworld goes off on tangents fairly often. It does so in a way that works unusually well, with there being something powerful about the novel overall, even if it sometimes feels hard to say just what exactly makes it feel such a way.

7

‘The Second World War’ (2012)

Image via Weidenfeld & Nicolson

The ambition here goes a little further than you might expect, since The Second World War covers some events that happened in the lead-up to 1939, which was the “official” start of World War II. It’s a way to set things up before the bulk of the book focuses on a very complex, sizable, and world-shattering event, with about as much detail as you can get when you’re doing only one book on the whole subject.

There are 50 chapters all up, and they’re about a whole range of different battles, events, and developments within the overall conflict. If you want more than an overview, it would, naturally, be better to find books that focus on a more specific part of the Second World War, but for a breathless recount of so much that happened during the biggest – and most impactful – event of the 20th century, you do get that here, condensed into a single book, which is undoubtedly impressive.

6

‘Against the Day’ (2006)

Image via Penguin Press

Having a one book per author limit here makes things a bit difficult, because there’s an argument to be made that Gravity’s Rainbow is Thomas Pynchon’s most ambitious book, owing to it being his densest, or maybe Mason & Dixon, since that one is so stylistically surprising and singular. Both of them are long and sprawling for sure, but Against the Day is longer than either, and it feels like more of a conventional epic.

Well, a conventional epic in the sense that it spans a good deal of time and has many characters, but then the rest of it’s quite unconventional in the way you can usually rely on a Pynchon novel to be. It’s a work of historical fiction that spans 1893 to 1918, and has countless characters, some borderline fantasy/sci-fi elements, and cameos from real-life figures throughout. Against the Day is often bewildering and a bit exhausting, but it’s also extremely impressive and, for the most part, rather rewarding, if you’ve got the time and patience for it.

5

‘Infinite Jest’ (1996)

Image via Little, Brown and Company

Infinite Jest is a psychological something of a novel. Not really a psychological thriller, but maybe a psychological dramedy would be the best way to describe it? Even then, it’s kind of a mystery just because of how confounding it is, and how little certain things seem to line up with everything else. You’re also dealing with non-chronological storytelling here, and a massive number of characters, with some of them being residents at a drug and alcohol recovery program, others being members of a tennis academy, and some other people being radicals/revolutionaries.

And that’s before getting to the fact that Infinite Jest is over 1000 pages long (the font is small, and the style is such that most pages are filled with text), plus there’s all the footnotes to take into account, because they’re about the length of a short novel on their own. You need two bookmarks and probably about 30 hours (at a minimum) to read a book like this, and then re-reads are necessary if you want to even come close to getting a grip on most of it. As for understanding all of it… if you want to dedicate your life to reading and analyzing Infinite Jest, sure. No, not sure. Maybe. Godspeed.

4

‘Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy’ (2007)

Image via W. W. Norton & Company

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Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy is the longest book here, at over 1600 pages, and it’s also a hefty-sized book with so many words per page. By comparison, the Kindle version of Reclaiming History (which doesn’t have to worry about being bound), is 5,919 pages, though that surely includes the approximately 1000 pages of footnotes. If you want to see them after buying a physical copy of the book, you can, but they come on a CD with each physical copy.

So, 2600 pages, and those pages have the number of words you’d probably find on two pages of a more regularly formatted book. And so many of those pages exist to refute every single conspiracy theory regarding the assassination of John F. Kennedy, with a decent chunk of those pages also serving as a comprehensive overview of the event itself, and the chaotic/eventful days that immediately followed. It’s exhaustive, but perhaps the ultimate resource for covering just about everything you could want from a book on the subject (there are fictional and even sci-fi-related stories about it, sure, but this is arguably the definitive non-fiction book about the event).

3

‘The Stand’ (1978/1990)

Image via Doubleday

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There are two versions of The Stand, and they both tell the same story, but the 1990 uncut version is much longer, and it shifts the events of the story forward by a decade. You got either an 800-ish-page-long book about a flu wiping out most of humanity and a battle for the human race’s future, or a book that’s about 1200 pages long about the same thing.

Stephen King went all out for both, since The Stand (1978) was easily his most ambitious book at the time, and remained so until arguably IT (1986), but then The Stand (1990) outdid IT, in terms of page-count and scale, so it’s about as big as a Stephen King book has gotten. There are other beefy ones, of course, and if you were to count The Dark Tower as one cohesive story, then that would technically be his biggest and most sweeping epic to date, given there are seven main books that make up the overall continuous story in that series, all of them published over a period of a bit over 20 years.

2

‘The Lord of the Rings’ (1954–1955)

Image via HarperCollins

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The one book that will rank ahead of The Lord of the Rings here is a work of historical fiction, but then again, The Lord of the Rings almost is, too. It’s just a history that’s entirely fictional, and there’s an argument to be made that J.R.R. Tolkien inventing it all and planning everything so thoroughly, all the while doing more by way of world-building than just about anyone ever, is more astounding than doing a more conventional work of historical fiction.

There’s a narrative here about a war that’s building while two Hobbits undertake a dangerous journey to destroy a very important Ring, but there’s also so much more to The Lord of the Rings than just the main narrative. It could be only the narrative, and it would still be a classic, but it’s the way Tolkien makes Middle-earth feel so convincing and tangible that makes The Lord of the Rings particularly special. As corny as it might sound, you can almost believe that Middle-earth did really exist, at some point. Tolkien does an outstanding job at maintaining – and building upon – that illusion, so to speak.

1

‘War and Peace’ (1869)

Image via Wisehouse Classics

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War and Peace feels a little in line, ambition-wise, with Les Misérables, and they were both published in the same decade, too. War and Peace involves Russian history, though, even if France does factor into the plot and some of the conflict, seeing as War and Peace takes place during the Napoleonic Wars, and there’s a similar amount of time covered in Les Misérables, going from about 1805 to 1820, rather than that previously mentioned novel’s span of 1815 to 1832.

There are stretches of War and Peace that aren’t too narrative-focused, with Leo Tolstoy using some of his 1200+ pages to unpack history and philosophical ideas, too. Like with Les Misérables, it’s all compelling and well-written, so he more than gets away with it. War and Peace is famously huge, and beyond iconic, as an epic… maybe even the ultimate epic, so here it is, trumping all the other books, and standing, arguably, as the most ambitious piece of literature of all time.

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War and Peace

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Release Date

March 14, 1966

Runtime

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393 Minutes

Director

Sergey Bondarchuk

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Writers

Sergey Bondarchuk, Vasiliy Solovyov, Leo Tolstoy

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By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 12 seconds ago

For most DC fans, the critical and commercial failure of Supergirl comes as quite a shock. After all, last year’s Superman was the breakout blockbuster of the summer, earning more at the box office than either of Marvel’s films (The Thunderbolts and The Fantastic Four: First Steps). It was directed by geek king James Gunn, the same man who runs DC Studios. He absolutely loved the script for Supergirl and pushed the movie’s production schedule up. With Gunn’s seal of approval, the spinoff featuring Superman’s cousin seemed destined for greatness. But as the opening weekend projections plummeted and the critical reviews came in, it soon became clear that this movie was a failure. 

What we didn’t know was how much of a failure. Now, we have the answer, and it’s actually much worse than you thought. According to Deadline, the movie is currently set to lose Warner Bros. a cool $125 million. That would be bad news for any blockbuster and in any circumstance. However, Supergirl bombing is that much worse because it’s not just losing the studio plenty of cold, hard cash; it’s also shaking confidence in Gunn’s ability to lead the DCU in its fight with Marvel for box office supremacy. Now, a sobering fact emerges: the DCU may implode long before we even see the new Justice League onscreen.

Playing The Blame Game

Right now, some of the film’s biggest fans are trying to make the movie into another culture war flashpoint. The more militant fans are claiming that Supergirl’s critics are misogynists and incels who just weren’t ready to see a strong woman on the big screen. However, it genuinely seems like Supergirl was doomed more by the forces of apathy than misogyny. The low opening weekend (lower than Morbius, yikes!) is an indicator of how few people actually bothered to see the movie. Plus, in a bit of Morbin’ (er, morbid) irony, Supergirl undermines much of its girlpower street cred because of a very prominent storyline about sex trafficking.  

But how did Deadline arrive at the conclusion that Supergirl will lose the studio $125 million? They looked at factors such as the production cost (somewhere between $170-$186 million) and the movie’s opening weekend box office ($68 million). They also considered how much the domestic publicity and advertising budget was ($120 million) and how much the movie needed to make in order to break even (about $315 million). Throw in the estimates for declining weekly box office, and you get a bleak conclusion: Supergirl is going to lose somewhere around $125 million, making this a very public, very expensive failure for Warner Bros.

The Canary In The Coal Mine

With this kind of box office loss, it’s unlikely that Supergirl will ever headline another future film in the DCU. However, there may be a downstream effect where this impacts larger projects in the future. For example, Supergirl is supposed to be a major character in Superman: The Man of Tomorrow; if audiences hate that film because of her presence, it could spell bad news for James Gunn. If that Superman sequel is a hit, then it will pave the way for Wonder Woman, The Brave and the Bold, and, eventually, a Justice League film. If it bombs, though, the DCU could die before the JL even team up onscreen.

All DC fans should care about Supergirl’s failure because this movie is effectively the canary in the coal mine for the entire cinematic universe. Considering how many skipped seeing Supergirl, how much worse will it be for future projects featuring even more obscure heroes and villains? DC Studios has already shot a Clayface film, and they are currently working on a Deathstroke and Bane movie and a TV show that pairs Jimmy Olsen up with Gorilla Grodd. These are big creative swings, and they might all connect. But even if they all turn out to be excellent, that won’t matter if hardly anybody is watching them.

It’s worth noting that while critics dragged the DCEU for years, it produced about five commercial flops before Warner Bros. pulled the plug. Therefore, it might not be the end of the world now that James Gunn’s DCU has only produced one flop. However, superhero fatigue is dragging down box office earnings, and Gunn is facing stiff competition from Marvel in the form of Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday. Supergirl losing $125 million right before WB gets new leadership potentially changes the game for Gunn, and not in a good way. He’s not going to get five strikes; in fact, he’ll be lucky to get more than one! 

Affordability isn’t just a political buzzword — it’s a reality we all have to live in right now. Everything costs too much, from gas to mortgages and even subscription services like Netflix.

You know what doesn’t cost a single cent? Samsung TV Plus. Less well-known than other free streamers like Tubi and Pluto TV, Samsung TV Plus has a killer library of movies from different genres like action, thrillers and sci-fi.

This July, the platform added several cult classics that are worth watching, either for the first time or for the hundredth. From a haunting coming-of-age story starring River Phoenix to a ’90s comedy featuring Steve Martin and Diane Keaton, these films are perfect to stream on a lazy July afternoon.

‘Stand By Me’ (1986)

We recently ranked Stand by Me as one of 1986’s best movies, and one could easily argue it’s one of the best films of all time. It’s that good, and it remains the picture the late director Rob Reiner is best known for to this day. While it’s set in 1960s Oregon, Stand by Me has a timeless quality to it that makes it universally appealing — and endlessly enjoyable.

Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O’ Connell star as four childhood friends who hear about a dead body lying near some train tracks just outside of their small town. Believing they will be considered local heroes if they locate it, they set out on an adventure to find and retrieve it. But their journey brings them unexpected perils and surprising revelations, some of which will change their lives forever.

‘Father of the Bride’ (1991)

We all could use a laugh nowadays, and there are no two men better suited to do it than Steve Martin and Martin Short. The duo is currently killing it — sometimes literally — on the hit Hulu TV show Only Murders in the Building, but they’ve collaborated a few times before. Their best team-up occurs in Father of the Bride, a 1991 remake of the classic 1950 film starring Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor.

Martin stars as George Banks, a family man who must come to terms with the fact that his firstborn child, Annie (Kimberly Williams), is getting married. He also has to accept the fact that, as the father of the bride, he has to pay for her wedding, including hiring a very expensive wedding planner, Franck, who wants to spend George’s money to realize Annie’s dreams. Not everything goes according to plan, but George will do anything — including hold the wedding afterparty at his small Pasadena house — to make sure his little girl gets the send-off she deserves.

Diane Keaton stars as George’s exasperated wife, Nina, and Kieran Culkin appears as the Banks’ young son, Matty. Directed by Charles Shyler and written by Nancy Meyers, Father of the Bride is a heartwarming comedy about a dad saying goodbye to his child and welcoming the adult woman she’s about to become. It’s funny, it’s sweet and it’s perfect to watch during the idle days of the summer.

‘Molly’s Game’ (2017)

Jessica Chastain won an Oscar for her performance in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, but she deserved one for her terrific work in the poker thriller, Molly’s Game. Chastain stars as Molly Bloom, a former professional skier who gets involved with illegal gambling when an injury sidelines her athletic career. At first, she partners with Dean (Jeremy Strong) and helps him run his illegal side hustle, but soon, she’s operating her own backroom poker games that attract the enigmatic Player X (Michael Cera) and various members of the Russian and Italian mafia. Molly makes a lot of money very quickly, but she also gets into trouble with the FBI, who want to put her away for a long time. Is this one game she can’t win?

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Related: 5 Must-Watch Tubi Movies to Stream Right Now (April 2026)

Tubi might just be the best ad-supported streaming platform, with such an impressive library that you might start rethinking your Netflix and HBO Max subscriptions. In April 2026, Watch With Us has added three new selections to our list of the best movies you can watch for free on Tubi right now. Our first pick […]

Molly’s Game is a lot of things at once: a sports movie, a crime thriller and a family drama about an estranged father and daughter. Kevin Costner stars as Molly’s distant dad, and his scenes with Chastain are the best ones in the movie. The film was written and directed by The West Wing and The Social Network‘s Aaron Sorkin, and his screenplay has his signature quick wit that won him multiple Emmys and an Oscar.

Samsung TV Plus’ free July content isn’t just limited to cult classics. Below is a full list of all the movies available to stream this month at no extra cost:

Patriots Day
Midway
The Best of Enemies
La La Land
Tombstone
Father of the Bride Part II
Godzilla 91998)
The Descent
The Descent Part 2
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
The Internship
That Awkward Moment
Pride
Kick-Ass
Gremlins
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Reign of Fire
Underwater
Exodus: Gods and Kings

There’s a reason why Taylor Sheridan‘s television empire has become so expansive. The tentacles of Sheridan’s artistic vision, notably the various spin-offs of his crown jewel, Yellowstone, have ostensibly become the backbone of Paramount’s entire streaming library. Regardless of his political beliefs, Sheridan has tapped into the American Midwest in a way that is often ignored by prestige TV. One of his most recent triumphs on the small screen, Lioness, sees Sheridan tackling a familiar sentiment in American media throughout the century: the war on terror. Initially positioned as a new take on government intervention in the Middle East, Lioness, starring Zoe Saldaña as the leader of a CIA program to thwart terrorist plots, focused on the drug cartel and its intersection with government affairs overseas. Without trying to predict the future, Sheridan’s writing has eerily mirrored real-life headlines involving U.S. action against the drug trade.

‘Lioness’ Season 2 Inadvertently Predicted Real-Life Political Events

Season 1 of Lioness follows Joe McNamara (Saldaña) as she leads a covert CIA unit comprised of women to thwart terrorist groups in the Middle East — a familiar concept, given the typical Sheridan touch, that makes it feel fresh and revelatory about top-secret military operations. Now heading into its third season, premiering on August 2, Lioness has unexpectedly embraced a new kind of drama thanks to its timeliness. Centered around the international drug trade, Season 2 features the Lioness squad embarking on an extraction of a kidnapped high-ranking government official and infiltrating cartels to serve the interests of political forces domestically. The squad’s target is Alvaro Carrillo (Marcus DeAnda), who becomes the focal point of the government’s various espionage tactics and their broader attempt to control economic interests internationally.

Season 2 debuted on October 27, 2024, over a year before the United States launched a military strike in Venezuela and apprehended President Nicolás Maduro on charges of drug trafficking, a striking turn of events that has been one of the many political disputes dividing the nation. For those catching up with Lioness before its Season 3 premiere, Season 2 appears to be a dramatic reinterpretation of events ripped from the headlines, but Sheridan actually beat the political cycle to the punch.

Taylor Sheridan Taps Into the Heart of the Contemporary U.S. Military in ‘Lioness’

As a guest on The Joe Rogan Experience, Sheridan discussed his writing process for Season 2. However, he denied any attempt to predict the future and said the decision to center the season around such eerily timely matters was purely coincidental. If anything, his scripts were merely an educated guess about the current state of political affairs overseas. Despite his prominence in television as a voice for middle America, particularly audiences in red states, Sheridan has vowed that he approaches his work without a political agenda, with Lioness meant to be a literal dissection of the relationship between intelligence agencies and the military.

There’s been plenty of discussion surrounding Sheridan’s alleged political beliefs and how they are reflected in his Westerns, crime and war thrillers, and dramas about oil tycoons. Regardless of where he stands or whether he sympathizes with his characters, there’s no doubt Sheridan resonates with the mainstream public, and his wealth of new shows on Paramount speaks to the demand for more of his stories. Although it has been proven to predict real news stories, Lioness is rooted in an understanding of modern U.S. history and the nation’s dealings overseas, as the series echoes 2000s-era media coverage of the Iraq War and the murky divide between patriotic vengeance and the protection of the oil trade.

Whatever your preconceived notions of Sheridan’s work, both seasons of Lioness end not with a sense of rah-rah jingoism, but instead with a sobering indictment of the American military-industrial complex. In Season 1, our idyllic heroes realize they’re only fighting over oil, and in Season 2, the grueling labor and hardships to overthrow the cartel are futile, as someone else on the ladder will take over Carrillo’s throne. Conservative or not, Sheridan has tapped into the cynicism of the American spirit in 2026.

There’s something undeniably classic about a denim button-down — but not when it feels stiff, bulky or boxy. If you’ve ever peeled off a rigid jean shirt after a few hours, you’re not alone. That’s exactly why chambray has become a wardrobe staple: it delivers the same timeless look with a softer, lighter feel that’s actually comfortable to wear.

Think of chambray as denim’s easygoing cousin. It layers effortlessly over tanks in the summer, under sweaters in the fall and even doubles as a lightweight jacket when the office AC is working overtime. Whether you style one with white jeans, linen pants or a breezy midi skirt, these versatile shirts make getting dressed feel refreshingly simple. Ahead, we’ve rounded up 11 comfortable chambray shirts that give you the denim look without the stiffness.

11 Comfortable Chambray Shirts to Replace Stiff Denim Tops

1. Our Favorite: Tired of denim tops that feel like cardboard by hour three? The soft chambray on this ruffled puff-sleeve top solves that, and the ruffled neckline does the styling for you.

2. Runner-Up: Stiff denim tops pull and pinch in all the wrong places. This soft chambray blouse keeps the western look but drapes like a favorite cotton tee, so you actually want to wear it.

3. Summer Style: Heavy denim shirts ruin a summer outfit faster than humidity. This soft jean alternative has a light, airy feel, so you can layer it over a tank in July without sweating through it.

4. Budget Pick: You don’t have to spend a fortune for the timeless denim-shirt look. This relaxed button-down delivers classic Western-inspired styling with a lightweight chambray feel, making it easy to wear tied over a tank, tucked into white jeans or layered with leggings for an effortlessly put-together outfit — all for just $14.

5. Editor’s Pick: This breezy button-down is what we’d call boho boutique perfection. With its sun-inspired embroidery, relaxed fit and lightweight feel, it looks like something you’d stumble upon in a chic beach-town boutique. Still, it’s versatile enough to wear open over a tank, tied at the waist or with linen pants all summer long.

Related: Yes, Cameron Diaz‘s Exact Birkenstock Sandals Are Still in Stock

Cameron Diaz has spent the last few years quietly perfecting what the rest of Us are still trying to figure out: how to look effortlessly pulled-together without trying too hard. For summer, we’re recreating her effortless vibe, starting with her beloved Birkenstock Arizona slides that she has been spotted wearing in California. Of course, she’s […]

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6. Hampton’s Chic: Skip the stiff trucker-style shirt that wrinkles if you blink. This collared denim top keeps the clean lines but moves with you, which matters when you’re actually wearing it all day.

7. Year-Round Staple: Need something to throw over a tank when the AC kicks in too hard? This western chambray shacket handles summer evenings and over-conditioned restaurants without committing to a real jacket.

8. Total Classic: Plain denim shirts can read a little tomboy. The ruffles on this frilly jean shirt keep the look easygoing while adding the softness that stiff denim never manages.

9. Center of Attention: If you’ve sworn off rigid jean styles that never soften no matter how many washes, this embroidered oversized shirt is the antidote. It’s drapey from day one, with embroidery doing the heavy lifting in terms of style.

10. Designer-Looking: If you’re after that effortless coastal-grandmother or Hamptons aesthetic, this linen button-down is an easy win. Crafted from breathable European flax linen in a soft chambray hue, this pick has the relaxed, borrowed-from-the-boys fit that looks just as chic with white denim as it does layered over a swimsuit or tucked into tailored shorts.

11. Everyday Essential: Every wardrobe needs an effortless denim shirt, and this oversized Madewell version checks every box. The relaxed silhouette, patch pocket and workwear-inspired details make it easy to style tucked into white jeans, layered over dresses or thrown on with shorts for an instantly polished look.

Related: I‘m Always Hot — These 15 Amazon Finds Keep Me Cool in the Summer

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I run hot. Like, fan-on-all-year-round hot. As such, after years of living in Pennsylvania (where July humidity hits like a wet wool blanket), I’ve gotten ruthlessly picky about what I’ll put on my body when it comes to summer clothes. The good news? I spend most of my days perusing Amazon, and the online mega-retailer […]

British pop star Lily Allen has a few words to say to her critics. 

The singer is defending her current live concert series against complaints regarding ticket prices and the total length of the event, making it clear that she put a lot of work into it. 

The singer has been traveling since the spring for a special concert series centered completely on her most recent musical release, “West End Girl.”

Allen is standing up for her live musical production after an audience member openly complained about her short set on social media. During the show, she sang all fourteen songs from the record back-to-back while delivering a solo dramatic performance on stage. 

However, a fan who went to her London arena show expressed disappointment over paying £86 for a seat to see a performance that lasted under an hour without any crowd interaction or an opening musical group.

The pop star quickly fired back online to clear up the misunderstandings. Taking to X, she clarified that the event has always been explicitly promoted as a full performance of the specific album and also explained that she was a few minutes late due to a wardrobe emergency. 

Addressing her silence toward the crowd, Allen noted that keeping the imaginary barrier up is a deliberate creative choice that helps her act out the emotional themes of the music. 

“It’s my artistic choice not to talk to the audience; the fourth wall helps with the storytelling,” she explained. 

The artist concluded, stating she never wants her audience members to feel cheated, writing, “I don’t want anyone to feel ripped off; everyone on this tour is working really hard to give people the best show we possibly can, and I’m extremely proud of it.”

What David Harbour Said About His Former Partner’s Newest Project

Allen’s statements came a few weeks after her former partner, David Harbour, broke his silence on how he feels about “West End Girl.” He addressed the public chatter surrounding the record, which many listeners believed directly detailed the breakdown of their marriage. 

Listeners quickly pointed out a specific track describing a distant and unfaithful partner, leading to internet rumors about the television actor. However, the star admitted that while the situation felt “weird,” every creative individual has the right to use their personal hardships to make art.

“I do believe that it is the privilege of every artist to use their experience to create art, and so I respect her for doing that,” he said, per The Blast. 

Lily Allen’s High Spending Sparked Fan Backlash

As Harbour defended Allen’s creative liberty, the singer found herself on the receiving end of more backlash from fans who shifted their criticism from her music to her spending habits. 

According to The Blast, a video surfaced showing the pop star pulling stacks of money directly from an expensive handbag to buy a $15,000 bracelet and $25,000 diamond earrings. 

This lavish shopping spree heavily frustrated social media users, especially since the musician previously confessed to entering professional therapy to treat a serious shopping addiction where she spent money recklessly.

Disappointed fans flooded the internet to label her behavior as deeply insensitive to regular working people given the tough global financial climate. 

Lily Allen Appreciated Fans For Supporting Her Newest Release

This financial controversy and the criticism of her shopping habits occurred just months after the performer openly expressed her appreciation to her followers for supporting her music during a deeply painful period in her life.

Late last year, she revealed that the massive public reception to her heartbreak project offered a true sense of comfort as she processed her emotional wounds, per The Blast. 

The singer confessed she felt overwhelmed and thankful for the viral success of the tracks, while also disclosing that the painful separation had originally driven her to check into an expensive recovery clinic that cost thousands of dollars per week.

David Harbour’s Alleged Fling Was Reportedly Booted From A Party

While Allen was focused on recovering from the emotional damage caused by her failed relationship, she was seemingly surrounded by close friends who went to great lengths to defend her even in her absence. 

According to The Blast, a woman associated with Harbour following his split from Allen was reportedly asked to leave a private party full of Allen’s closest friends. 

Although the pop star herself was not present at the gathering, her tight-knit circle of allies quickly recognized the uninvited guest, and she was reportedly told to leave.

YouTuber Connor Franta came out to his hundreds of thousands of subscribers over 10 years ago, and today, he’s reflecting on the moment and sharing how that shaped who he is. In a new interview, the “A Work in Progress” author looked back on his video—which has over 12 million views today—and got candid about how the support from his family, friends, and the online community helped him navigate a challenging time in his life.

Speaking with PEOPLE, Franta, 33, looked back on his coming out video, saying that he told his audience of subscribers shortly after telling someone else in his life for the first time that he was gay. He called the experience “a very fast-tracked process,” adding that his coming out was very reflective of who he is as a person.

“I mean, in many ways that is kind of who I am as a person that once I want to go for something or once I accept something or I have a goal or a mission, it’s kind of hard for me to not just seek it out. So I think once I’d come out to one person and then my family and then my friends, it was like, ‘Well, why wouldn’t I just come out to everyone? This is just what it is,’” he said.

Why Did Connor Franta Choose To Come Out In A YouTube Video?

By the time Franta came out, the content creator had been making videos online for years and had a dedicated group of fans. He told PEOPLE that keeping this part of himself “hidden” didn’t really make sense, adding that his “life was my career.”

“I think it was the perfect combination that everything was growing — content was king,” he said.

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Reflecting on it today, Franta is glad he chose to speak freely about his life, saying he was met with “unfiltered joy and support” from those around him, including his family, friends, teammates, and subscribers.

“The fact that I was welcomed, I think that shaped who I am today in many ways, and that my experience could have been completely different,” he said.

“I remember receiving not only positive from the community, but the gay community at large. I got a lot of messages and a lot of people offering me support or friendship. I remember I was five trending Twitter topics at the same time,” he continued.

Connor Franta’s Coming Out Video Has Millions Of Views

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For those who haven’t seen the video yet, Franta’s coming out post has racked up millions of views and nearly 160,000 comments since it was first posted over 10 years ago.

“2014 is truly the year that I have accepted who I am and become happy with that person, so today I want to talk to you guys about that and be open and honest and tell you that I’m gay,” the influencer said on camera.

He captioned the video, “I hope this doesn’t change a thing.”

And it clearly hasn’t, as the content creator has 4.73 million subscribers on YouTube and 3.8 million followers on Instagram.

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His loyal fanbase has only provided the YouTuber with more opportunities, such as partnering with Apple to run in the London Marathon, where he completed the trek in 3:30:42.

This Reality Star Recently Came Out As Bisexual

Speaking of coming out, The Blast reported on “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star Layla Taylor recently sharing with her followers that she’s “gay and bi.”

On Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” podcast, the mother of two said that she’d been living with the secret for some time, but finally felt confident enough to share it with others.

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“I’ll be d-mned if I’m not able to fully be who I am,” she said.

What Prompted Taylor To Speak About Her Bisexuality?

As the conversation continued, Taylor told Shetty that although she had previously only dated men, her recent breakup with Mason McWhorter prompted her to explore a new side of herself.

“Honestly, I went through a breakup at the beginning of this year, and I feel like for just a long period of my life, I was constantly living my life for other people,” she said. “Whether that was being a mom or I was in a marriage at one point, I was married. And I just feel like I was always fulfilling other people around me. And it honestly just caused me to never really focus on myself and never be able to really just sit alone with who I am as a person… And I think honestly that breakup was like a blessing in disguise because I feel like now I’ve been fully able to just focus on Layla. And yeah, just focus on who I truly am.”