Arthur Fleck, played by Joaquin Phoenix, wears full clown make-up in an elevator in 2019’s Joker.Image via Warner Bros.
This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.
The Batman: Part II is finally in production, and news about the sequel to the 2022 superhero hit has been flying like a winged mammal. Writer-director Matt Reeves is slowly revealing the film’s cast via social media, and he’s just announced a notable name who has yet to be connected to the franchise. The Batman: Part II will be released on October 1, 2027.
Advertisement
Reeves’ Twitter account has been welcoming new and returning cast members to the long-awaited superhero sequel since yesterday, and the latest newcomer is Atlantaand Dope Thief star Brian Tyree Henry. It’s the latest role in a superhero project for Henry: he played Arkham Asylum clerk Carl in 2019’s Joker, lent his voice to Miles Morales’ father Jeff in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its sequels, and played the immortal engineer Phastos in the MCU film Eternals. There’s no indication of what role he’ll be playing in The Batman: Part II so far.
What Do We Know About ‘The Batman: Part II’?
Robert Pattinson will return as the Dark Knight in the film, which will pick up after the deluge unleashed by the Riddler in the climax of the first installment. Also returning from the first film are Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon, Batman’s staunchest ally on the Gotham City police department; Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne’s faithful butler; Jayme Lawson as newly elected Gotham City mayor Bella Reál; Colin Farrell as grotesque Gotham gangster the Penguin; and Gil Perez-Abraham as Officer Martinez. New additions to the cast include Sebastian Stan, who will reportedly be playing District Attorney Harvey Dent, a noble prosecutor who is doomed to become the disfigured Two-Face, and in unspecified roles, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Koch, and Charles Dance. There’s no word yet on whether the Riddler (Paul Dano), Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz), or the Joker (Barry Keoghan), who all appeared in the first film, will return for the second. What we do know, from the one snowy image that Reeves posted to kick off production, is that part of the film will apparently be set during the winter.
Advertisement
This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.
But some tidbits were dropped on a recent episode that tease an epic twist that could be coming when Steffy has had enough of all of this.
So, we’re going to talk about what insane shakeup might happen that could change Forrester Creations forever. All because Hope is playing these little games.
Steffy Has Been Unpleasant But The Business Decision Makes Sense on Bold and the Beautiful
So, to be clear, I absolutely agree that Steffy has been unpleasant in the way that she talked to Hope about shelving her line. However, focusing on Eric Forrester‘s (John McCook) new collection makes sense for the company. Back in 2024, when Hope for the Future was shelved, even Carter Walton (Lawrence Saint-Victor) agreed that it makes sense and everybody else agreed.
Advertisement
But Hope freaked out back then and she manipulated Carter into the coup. And now, because of Eric’s new collection, Hope for the Future is on the back burner again. And even Brooke agrees with that decision. However, Hope is ticked off again and refuses to accept it. And she’s pulling almost the same stunt with Brooke. A coup slightly more legal this time, but still.
Steffy Appalled on B&B
Steffy, of course, didn’t react well when Ridge Forrester (Thorsten Kaye) trotted over to Forrester Creations this week and suggested that Steffy give her job to Brooke after she guilted Ridge and seduced him and told them they would be the new Stephanie Forrester (Susan Flannery) and Eric. In the end, it’s Hope who is selfishly manipulating things again. And that sets the stage for this possible twist that I want to talk about.
So, Ridge has to go home and tell Brooke that Steffy will not step aside. And Ridge probably thinks, “Okay, that’s the end of it.” But Bold and the Beautiful spoilers for later this week say Hope and Brooke make a new path forward. The only path really is to get Eric on their side.
I expect Brooke to go play on her history with Eric and convince him to agree to make Brooke co-CEO. And with Eric on her side with his shares, basically Ridge can’t refuse. And Brooke wouldn’t let him. So, I suspect Ridge and Eric have to tell Steffy to step aside. And I suspect that she’ll ask Eric and Ridge, don’t do this to me. She’ll probably trash talk Brooke. But I think Eric and Ridge are thoroughly under Brooke’s control and won’t back down. So, now we get to the point of the epic twist that I anticipate could happen.
Advertisement
Steffy Foreshadowed What Could Happen on Bold and the Beautiful
So, it was actually Steffy who foreshadowed what could happen. When Ridge admitted that if not for Steffy, Forrester Creations wouldn’t be where it is and would have been absorbed by a big conglomerate, she agreed. She told Ridge, “Yeah, like Spencer.” Steffy reminded Ridge that if not for her, Bill Spencer (Don Diamont) would own Forrester Creations. And Steffy said she saved the family business and made sure it stayed in their hands, which is true.
Then she also told Ridge she’s the one with relationships with influencers and buyers and vendors while Ridge focuses primarily on design. And then Steffy said that he needs to show her respect as co-CEO. Now, that was a valid argument because it was about business, not about being Ridge’s daughter or trying to guilt him, you know, put me first. The problem is Brooke is in Ridge’s bed and also in his head. And Brooke’s got a lock on Eric, too.
Bold and the Beautiful: Steffy Makes Huge Move
So, here’s the twist. Steffy was talking about how Spencer almost owned Forrester Creations. So, I could see her making a huge move to undo what Brooke did and regain control and make sure Ridge and Eric can never push her aside again. Remember, while Steffy and Ridge were debating, there was a lot of stress over at Spencer/Logan.Liam Spencer (Scott Clifton) told Katie Logan (Heather Tom) and Bill about Brooke’s move.
And Katie and Bill realized with Brooke in the co-CEO seat, she may bring back Hope’s line, so she would have no reason to come over to Logan. Katie’s frustrated and was telling Bill about another bad portfolio from a designer. And Katie definitely needs a designer. And remember, Hope isn’t a designer. Now, neither is Steffy, but she knows a lot of designers across the industry. She is extremely well-respected.
Advertisement
Steffy Could Convince Zende To Follow Her To Logan on Bold
Plus, Zende Forrester (Delon de Metz) is ticked off this week and ranting to Carter about designing a line that is on the shelf. Because even with Brooke as co-CEO, I think Hope for the Future will stay on the back burner for a while because of Eric’s new couture line. Brooke agrees with Ridge on that point. So, Brooke may tell Hope she has to be patient and wait, and she probably will because she knows her mom won’t leave it on the back burner forever.
But Steffy might be able to convince Zende to follow her over to Logan and be a lead designer there. He’s never had a lead designer gig. I think he’d love it. He’s certainly talented and he respects Steffy. Also, honestly, it’d be nice to see more of Zende. And from there, Steffy could bring in other designers. She could use her influence to get Logan the best materials. And she’d be in a position to sabotage Forrester Creations because of all of her contacts.
Bold and the Beautiful: Steffy Forrester – Brooke Logan – Ridge Forrester
Bold and the Beautiful: Steffy Could Get Bill on Board
Now, I don’t think Steffy would destroy Forrester Creations, but I could see her aligning with Bill and conspiring to cause a lot of problems with Forrester Creations to destabilize it so that Spencer could take it over with the promise that Steffy could be the sole CEO and that Forrester Creations would remain under the Spencer umbrella, but with her running it. If she dangled to Bill a way to permanently crush Ridge, I know for a fact he would jump at the chance.
And Katie might be hesitant at first, but honestly, she might be secretly thrilled because it wasn’t Steffy who sidelined her at Forrester Creations. It was Brooke and Ridge who went and hired that outside PR firm that basically made her obsolete. So, I could actually see Katie agreeing to be co-CEO with Steffy at Logan with the long-term goal of taking over Forrester Creations and Steffy being the sole CEO there while Katie then resumes being the sole CEO at Logan and Steffy could really help her make it happen. And her walking away from Forrester Creations would cause a huge issue.
Forrester Creations Can’t Function Without Steffy on B&B
So, if this happens, I’m sure Brooke would tell Ridge, “Look, it’s fine. We can do this without Steffy,” but I kind of don’t think they can. As she reminded Ridge, he’s primarily a designer and Steffy makes all the deals and she keeps the wheels turning. Now, Carter admittedly does some of that, but Steffy is a huge part of the company’s ongoing success, and Brooke doesn’t have any clue how to do what Steffy does. As Ridge was saying, Brooke is more of the face of Forrester Creations for the bedroom line primarily at this point.
Advertisement
And yes, it would get a lot of PR if they announced Ridge and Brooke Forrester are running Forrester Creations together. But if Steffy walks out because Brooke got Ridge to push her out of her position, the negative PR might outweigh the positive, especially since Brooke and Ridge pushed Eric out and that was a PR nightmare, and Bill made sure that the fashion press knew that they had forcibly retired Eric. And Hope pushing Brooke to push Ridge honestly could be the end of Forrester Creations as we know it.
There is no way that Steffy’s going to take a backseat and answer to Brooke and let her take her job with no consequences. And I could see a world where she and Bill conspire with Steffy and make sure that long-term it’s better for Forrester Creations to be in her hands rather than Ridge and Brooke’s hands. So, we’ll see what happens, but I think this would be a really cool twist.
Former NFL player Jaire Alexander is pulling back the curtain on his decision to step back from football at age 28.
In an emotional essay for The Players’ Tribune, published on Wednesday, May 13, Alexander, now 29, recalled being traded from the Green Bay Packers to the Baltimore Ravens and facing off against Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills while recovering from a knee injury. That game, Alexander said, was “brutal.”
“Following that Bills game opening weekend, that was the first time in my life where it’s ever crossed my mind like, I don’t know if I can continue to play football anymore,” he wrote. “I’d been looking forward to that game for so long. Been telling myself I was gonna go out there and dominate. And then … it just didn’t happen.”
Alexander recalled losing “trust” in himself as a player after the game, sharing that he “lost faith in everything and everybody.” While dealing with the aftermath of his performance against the Bills, Alexander was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles and felt the need to “prove something.” At the time, the Eagles were gearing up to play the Packers and Alexander recalled “freaking out” about his knee “getting worse.”
Jason Kelce has been a fixture of the Philadelphia Eagles offense for more than a decade, but he was realistic about the idea of retirement prior to officially stepping down in March 2024. Kelce was drafted in 2011, becoming the first rookie in Eagles history to start all 16 regular season games at center. He […]
“I went home the night before we were supposed to be flying out to Green Bay in the morning, and I didn’t sleep a wink. I’m tossing and turning in bed nonstop. I’m worried and anxious and unable to stop all the negative thoughts from creeping in,” he wrote. “I couldn’t do it anymore.”
Advertisement
He continued, “At like 3 or 4 a.m., I sat up in bed and texted everyone with the Eagles. It was like…. ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’m going to do this. I can’t keep playing like this.’ Then, a few hours later, I went down to the facility and told them all in person. I was done.”
Alexander went on to have a “very emotional heart-to-heart talk” with Eagles defensive backs coach Christian Parker, recalling that he was “basically crying [his] eyes out.”
“I remember telling Coach Parker in that moment: ‘My head’s messed up right now. My head is truly messed up. I don’t know what to do anymore,’” he wrote. “Deciding to step away from the game was one of the toughest things I’ve ever had to do. But I absolutely did have to do it.”
Jason Kelce isn’t afraid to show his emotional side, on and off the field. During the Wednesday, January 17, episode of his and Travis Kelce‘s “New Heights” podcast, Jason, 36, opened up about playing in what was likely his final game with the Philadelphia Eagles after 13 years. Jason’s team faced the Tampa Bay Buccaneers […]
Advertisement
When news broke that Alexander would be stepping away from football, he shared that it felt like “the weight of the world had been lifted off [his] shoulders.” He added that there were “no regrets,” and he has since been able to recover his knee, sharing that it “actually feels great.”
“People still sometimes ask me if I’m ever gonna come back and play. And, you know what … I’ll never say never — I still work out, and the knee’s fine now, so I’m in good shape. But for me, right now, the most important thing really is just to be in a good place overall. To be happy,” he wrote.
He concluded, “If there’s anything I’ve learned over this past year, it’s that life isn’t always gonna go perfect. There will always be ups and downs. And sometimes just being able to say that you’re in a good place, and just being happy overall ….That really is good enough.”
A leaked song from Drake’s upcoming album seemingly has several Hollywood A-listers in the crosshairs.
Clips of Drake’s new song “1 a.m. in Albany” surfaced on social media on Wednesday, May 13, leading fans to attempt to piece together the lyrics.
“Muggsy Bogues dunked for once, even I’m a bit amazed, someone give the kid a raise,” one lyric read, referring to the retired point guard that had fans believing was a dig at Kendrick Lamar. (Bogues was famously the shortest player in NBA history at 5-foot-3, while Lamar stands at 5-foot-5.)
While Drake, 39, and Lamar, 38, were once friendly peers, they’ve been embroiled in a back-and-forth rap battle for years.
Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s rap feud is so heated that it may burn the hip-hop world to the ground. Lamar, 36, and Drake, 37, have been waging lyrical war with increasingly personal diss tracks released over the last several days. Drake’s “Family Matters” song accused Lamar of being a “make-believe” activist, claimed Lamar got physically […]
“I don’t ever want to get into responses,” Drake told Vibe in 2013 when asked whether he had written “The Language” about the drama. “ It’s just me talking my s***. I never once felt the need to respond to [Lamar’s ‘Control’]. The sentiment he was putting forth is what he should have.”
Advertisement
He continued, “Of course you wanna be the best. Where it became an issue is that I was rolling out an album while that verse was still bubbling, so my album rollout became about this thing. What am I supposed to say? ‘Nah, we’ll be buddy-buddy?’ Mind you, I never once said he’s a bad guy [or] I don’t like him. I think he’s a f***ing genius in his own right, but I also stood my ground as I should.”
Lamar, for his part, released a song called “6:16 in L.A.” in 2024 that has parallels to Drake’s “Albany” title. (However, Drake has dropped several tracks with times in the titles, including “5 a.m. in Toronto” and “4 p.m. in Calabasas.”) The next year, Lamar headlined the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show and invited Drake’s ex Serena Williams to join his performance of “Not Like Us,” which was also about the feud.
Drake seemingly slammed the song in his 2025 track “What Did I Miss?”
Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s feud has become one of the most storied rap beefs in history, but their relationship wasn’t always so fraught with tension. Before Lamar made his major label debut with 2012’s Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, the Compton native and Drake were on good terms. Lamar made a guest appearance on Drake’s 2011 […]
“I don’t give a f*** if you love me, I don’t give a f*** if you like me / Askin’ me, ‘How did it feel?’ Can’t say it didn’t surprise me,” he began, appearing to reference peers who took sides. Later in the song, he rapped, “It’s love for my brothers and death to a traitor, let’s go / She might decide to say no to me now, but say yеs to me later, let’s go.”
Thank You!
You have successfully subscribed.
Advertisement
In another “1 a.m. in Albany” lyric, Drake appears to call out J. Cole as a “married rapper” before going after LeBron James for siding with Lamar in their now-viral beef.
“I shouldn’t even be shocked to see you in that arena, because you always made your career off of switching teams up,” the lyrics read. “Please stop asking what’s going on with 23 & me, I’m a real n****, and he’s not, it’s in my DNA.”
Drake’s album Iceman will be released on Friday, May 15.
The Gundam franchise is weird, and that’s mostly due to the fact that it seems to distance itself from the very thing that would make it awesome. Trained humans pilot skyscraper-sized giant mobile suits called Gundams, so naturally, what you’d want to see in a new Gundam film is a bunch of Gundam action: flying around, destroying stuff, and possibly doing battle with other mobile suits.
What hinders a lot of these newer Mobile Suit Gundam films is that they are supposed to be about some sort of ongoing war, but you typically don’t see it. Instead, the films are going to be spending more time on the political portion of it, which means a whole lot of lengthy-ass dialogue sequences you couldn’t give two craps about.
2021’s Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathway is currently streaming on Netflix, and it’s decent. It’s still way more verbose than it needs to be, and you generally don’t care that much about any of the characters, but there are at least a handful of action sequences that make it worthwhile. Hathaway opens fantastically to an airplane heist. There’s a sequence of people trying to run and find cover while mobile suits battle nearby, it’s destructively amazing, and the flying sequences are killer. The Gundam pilots can see everything in front of them with nothing blocking their vision. Everything feels open like an IMAX screen, with every explosion or incoming enemy as visible to you as it is to them.
It’s intriguing that Mobile Suit Gundam Hathway: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe is made by all the same people as the previous film because it’s somehow even slower and more boring by comparison, and the character arcs are all over the place. The Sorcery of Nymph Circe is directed by Shuko Murase, who directed the entirety of the anime series Witch Hunter Robin and Ergo Proxy, as well as single episodes of Samurai Champloo and Michiko & Hatchin.
Complimenting Contrasts Were Better Done In The Past
The film is written by Yoshiyuki Tomino, who has been writing for the Gundam franchise since its inception in 1970. Before that, Tomino was also a writer for the original Astro Boy in the 1960s. The Sorcery of Nymph Circe is also written by Yasuyuki Muto, who helped write the adult animation series Bible Black, Afro Samurai, Afro Samurai: Resurrection, and Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn.
The involvement of Murase, Tomino, and Muto is notable because, by now, these guys seem to know what makes an interesting Gundam film. In The Sorcery of Nymph Circe, the animation blends traditional and computer animation. Sometimes the CGI is so realistic that you think you’re looking at actual footage. Most of the water in the film looks real, and the title sequence featuring a white curtain appears genuine for a moment. The contrast also seemed to work better in Hathway, with the traditional animated sequences looking incredible and the CGI complementing them. The mobile suit battles were CGI during intense action, but hand-drawn when they were idle.
Advertisement
Embracing The Darkness In All The Wrong Ways
More often than not, though, the CGI sequences are pure trash in The Sorcery of Nymph Circe. Most of the ships look flat, blocky, and unfinished. There are also at least two instances in this film where major sequences take place in almost complete darkness. It’s just voices in the dark in an animated film for up to five minutes at a time, and it’s during crucial times where it seems like they’d want to show something.
Maybe it was meant to be realistic if you were standing there with no light source, trying to decipher people blobs in the dark. Or maybe it’s an instance of censorship where they’re trying to mask whatever blood or violence we may have seen with the lights on. Honestly, we’ll never know, and the dialogue doesn’t help much despite taking up 90 minutes of the 105-minute duration.
A Disjointed Continuation
Chronologically, Hathaway follows Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative and is the second work in the UC Next 0100 Project. Both come after Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn in the Universal Century timeline. Hathaway and The Sorcery of Nymph Circe are two-thirds of a new Gundam film trilogy, which is connected to the 1988 film Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack. Hathaway introduced us to Hathaway Noa. He pretends to be a plant inspector while traveling to Earth to retrieve the new Gundam.
On the plane, he meets Gigi Andalusia, a young 20-something mistress who has the gift of intuition, and Federation Colonel Kenneth Sleg. Kenneth’s defining quality is that he’s a womanizer. Hathway spends the most time with Gigi; he shares a room with her, sees her naked, and saves her life. But she still runs off with Kenneth at the end. The most important thing to happen is that Hathaway gets his Gundam.
Despite the five-year gap between Hathway and The Sorcery of Nymph Circe, not much happens in the film. Hathway is pulled between three women in the film: his actual girlfriend, who he’s been having issues with, a mechanic who likes to wear overalls and nothing else underneath (he compliments her breasts), and Gigi, whom he now suddenly can’t stop thinking about despite the two of them bitching at each other whenever they were on screen together in the last film.
Gigi is still under Kenneth’s protection throughout most of the film, but she goes back to the count’s place briefly. She’s been seeing an old man who’s wheelchair bound and is probably the reason she’s wealthy. She redecorates his house, then leaves him to return to Kenneth, but spends the entire film obsessing over Hathaway. Her intuition proves useful upon her return to Kenneth, but she’s passed around like a hot potato so often that you don’t care.
A Wordy, Self-Absorbed Drama
Meanwhile, Kenneth has become the commander of The Federation. He was seeing a woman closer to his age, but Gigi ruins that, and he’s into it. The anti-Earth Federation group Mafty is what Kenneth has been chasing in these two films. Hathaway was secretly working with them the entire time during the previous film, and now Kenneth is attempting to find Hathaway, his Gundam, and whatever Mafty hideout he can get his hands on.
There is one flying sequence about half an hour into the film, and about ten minutes of the finale are a Gundam/mobile suit battle, but that’s it. The rest of the film is literally just people talking. It’s also weird that The Sorcery of Nymph Circe features two montages: Gigi’s interior decorating montage and Hathway’s broken relationship montage. Then the end credits play over “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns ‘N Roses.
Advertisement
Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway has some hiccups, but ultimately shows promise with its action sequences. But Mobile Suit Gundam: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe is so dull, feels tortuously long, and all of the characters are selfish a-holes. The sequel feels uneventful, and its strange use of almost absolute darkness and bizarre montages only sours the fact that you could be watching mobile suits pound each other stupid in the sky instead.
Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe SCORE
You literally don’t care about anything they’re talking about. Unless the third film is somehow able to distance itself from being a wordy, self-absorbed drama, then these new Hathaway films are only worth putting on if you’re in need of a good nap.
Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe arrives in US theaters on May 15.
Superhero movies are not a product of the 21st century, by any means, but they have become particularly popular over the past couple of decades. X-Men (2000) and Spider-Man (2002) were big in that regard, for helping elevate the genre, and then both those movies had sequels that were even better. And that’s before getting to 2008, which saw the release of The Dark Knight (maybe one of the best movies, superhero or otherwise, of the past few decades) and Iron Man, which kicked off the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.
But enough about good superhero movies. What about the bad ones? Actually, not the bad ones, but the genuinely terrible ones? Here are eight that are all-out awful. They are not the only awful ones, and they might not even technically be the eight worst, but they are eight that are consistently very bad, and most don’t even have the decency to be bad in fun ways, either.
Advertisement
8
‘Supergirl’ (1984)
Helen Slater stands in the Supergirl suit in Supergirl 1984Image via Cantharus Productions
At the time of writing, 2026’s Supergirl movie is not yet out, but even if it’s bad, it’s unlikely to be as bad as the 1984 film of the same name. This one just does not work on any level, not at all doing justice to its titular character the way Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980) did justice to their titular character. It’s also probably a little worse than the divisive Superman III (1983), but as to how it stacks up against that fourth film… well, the fourth movie will be gotten to. You’re not off the hook yet, man who is super.
As for girl who is super, movie about girl who is super is anything but super. It wastes an impressive supporting cast that includes Faye Dunaway, Peter O’Toole, and Mia Farrow, while it’s hard not to feel bad for Helen Slater in the central role, because it was her first proper movie, and it was not good enough to kickstart a career the same way Christopher Reeve’s role in the first Superman movie did.
Advertisement
7
‘Blade: Trinity’ (2004)
Wesley Snipes, Jessica Biel, and Ryan Reynolds walk with loaded weapons on a street in Blade: TrinityImage via New Line Cinema
For a few pleasant years, the Blade series was going pretty well. The first movie was honestly somewhat groundbreaking, in hindsight, doing the whole R-rated superhero thing long before it was cool (unless you count The Crow, but that’s a little different), and then Blade II was arguably even better, or at least it felt a bit more cinematic and stylish, thanks to it being an early Guillermo del Toro movie.
All of it came crashing down, though, with the release of Blade: Trinity. The good times lasted from 1998 to 2004, as far as the Blade film series was concerned. 2004’s Blade: Trinity was bad enough to make the whole trilogy feel kind of shoddy, and not worth engaging with as a trilogy. You’re better off treating the first two movies like a duology, and then when Wesley Snipes shows up again in Deadpool & Wolverine… eh, do what you want with that movie. This writer can take or leave it, but at least it’s not as bad a third movie in an overall trilogy as Blade: Trinity.
Advertisement
6
‘Guardians’ (2017)
Bear/man creature firing a minigunImage via Turbo Films
If you get Guardians (2017) mixed up with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) and pick the former to watch when you wanted the latter, you’re probably going to be disappointed, unless you really like schlock. Guardians is pure schlock, and schlock that looked like it cost about $500 to produce, being a very generic superhero team-up movie that’s not really anything more than a mockbuster.
Even if it’s possibly technically even worse than Suicide Squad (2016), it is at least a lot more entertaining than Suicide Squad, because of how amateurish it is.
Advertisement
Despite the title, it feels most like a riff on The Avengers, just without anything very good. Still, even if it’s possibly technically even worse than Suicide Squad (2016), it is at least a lot more entertaining than Suicide Squad, because of how amateurish it is. In fact, if you’re going to subject yourself to any movie in this ranking, you’re best off making it Guardians. It’s the shortest of the bunch, the most chaotic, and possibly the one that comes closest to situating itself in that fabled “so-bad-it’s-good” territory.
5
‘Justice League’ (2017)
Image via Warner Bros. Pictures
Advertisement
Since Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021) exists, there is no reason to watch Justice League (2017) anymore. Basically, Zack Snyder was the original director, but stepped away from the project for personal reasons late in production, and there were extensive reshoots and re-editing that led to an absolutely butchered final product, which was devoid of pacing, fun, and anything even remotely engaging.
2017’s Justice League is one of the most baffling and shoddily put-together movies in recent memory, occupying the same award territory as The Mummy from that same year, in terms of movies that really tried to speed-run the process of establishing a Marvel-level cinematic universe. The DC movies before Justice League, though flawed, were doing a slightly better job of establishing things, but this one really tripped the whole thing up. Even if the Snyder cut is twice as long, and technically not perfect, it’s still so much more worthy of your time than the 2017 version.
4
‘Catwoman’ (2004)
Image via Warner Bros. Pictures
Advertisement
Talking about Catwoman (2004) is like beating a dead cat, and people aren’t used to that saying, compared to the somehow more gentle-sounding “beating a dead horse,” so it feels bad drilling into it like that, but it deserves the scorn. Horse or cat, you have to beat it, and the thing’s dead, because there isn’t anything all that nice that can be said about Catwoman, beyond it maybe sometimes having laughable moments.
There aren’t as many funny-bad moments as there were in Guardians, though. Again, you should watch that, if you really have to watch a movie in this ranking. But if you somehow have to watch two movies in this ranking, make the second one Catwoman. It’s a hell of a time capsule for the mid-2000s, that’s for sure, for better or worse (mostly worse).
3
‘Venom: The Last Dance’ (2024)
Tom Hardy in a still from Venom: The Last Dance.Image via Sony
Advertisement
Like with the Blade movies, you can sort of defend the first two Venom films if you’re feeling generous, but the trilogy ends with something beyond a whimper, with Venom: The Last Dance. This is a feeble, lazy, abysmally edited, and genuinely disrespectful movie. This movie thinks you’re an idiot. This movie does not like you. This movie nakedly wants your money and literally nothing else to an honestly ghastly extent.
And yeah, it’s the closest thing to a hot take this ranking has. People don’t detest Venom: The Last Dance enough, though there is some comfort to be taken from the fact that, in place of hatred, it has been forgotten. It’s basically dropped off the face of the Earth, in that no one really talks about it anymore. That’s saying quite a bit, actually, considering late October 2024 was not all that long ago, in the overall scheme of things. Still, a month to live on in infamy, as it marked the first time Tom Hardy looked genuinely checked out and not even remotely committed to a role (and you can usually rely on him to at least try, even in the overall less-than-great movies he’s appeared in).
2
‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ (2022)
Whatever the opposite of a magnum opus is, that’s what Thor: Love and Thunder stands as, within Taika Waititi’s filmography. An agnum mopus? Yeah. It’s his agnum mopus. It is the fourth of the Thor movies, and it’s somehow a good deal worse than the second one, because its crime was being perhaps the most forgettable movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, while Love and Thunder stands out as the franchise’s single most annoying movie.
Advertisement
It also sours Thor: Ragnarok, in hindsight, because that was also directed by Waititi and had a similarly anarchic tone, and was fun back in 2017, but now feels like a warning/omen for further escalation into nonsense, come 2022. If this one killed your interest in the MCU as a whole, that’s fair enough. Thor: Love and Thunder is that bad, and landed Waititi a very brief but deserved stint in director’s jail (2023’s Next Goal Wins was mostly filmed before, and he’s since been paroled for long enough to direct the upcoming Klara and the Sun, so we’ll see).
1
‘Superman IV: The Quest for Peace’ (1987)
Image via Warner Bros.
As promised/threatened before, when talking about Supergirl (1984), here’s Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, which could well be the most joyless, lazy, and generally disheartening superhero movie ever made. Everyone in this film looks some combination of tired and painfully aware of how bad the material is that they’ve been given, and it’s easy to feel empathetic, because you’ll feel like you want it to be over as soon as possible, too, just like all the people on-screen.
Advertisement
Probably. This was a movie that people probably hated working on. It has an abysmal reputation that it more than earns, and it’s saddening to watch nowadays, knowing it was the final Superman-related movie Christopher Reeve appeared in during his lifetime (though his likeness being used in 2023’s The Flash might not be much better). It’s just a miserable time all around, and anyone who’s not seen it is best off staying away, even if you’re making your way through all the Superman movies and want to be a completionist. Seriously, just rewatch the 1978 film, or its 1980 sequel, instead.
When it comes to movies, there are two things I love more than anything else: thrillers and short runtimes. While scrolling through Netflix for a quick late-night watch, I stumbled upon 2017’s Wheelman, which checks off both of those boxes. Some movies just don’t have a lot of story to them, but instead give you a quick glimpse into a day in the life of their characters.
In Wheelman’s case, it’s about a getaway driver who finds himself in an increasingly sticky situation after the bank robbery he helps facilitate, almost as if he’s being set up as the fall guy or diversion for a much larger crime about to unfold. This doesn’t need to be a long, involved story, so it isn’t. The entire movie takes place almost entirely inside a car, with our protagonist trying to figure out in real time exactly what’s going on through frantic phone calls, most of which go straight to voicemail.
There’s no worldbuilding or deep lore in Wheelman. It’s just a guy in a car who knows he’s in trouble, and, even worse, knows he doesn’t have a lot of options, or time, to get out of it. Sometimes, that’s all a movie needs to be, and whenever that’s the case, I’m always here for it.
The Entire Plot In 4 Sentences
Frank Grillo is a getaway driver for hire known only as Wheelman, and he’s instructed by his handler to ditch the bank robbers he’s supposed to help escape after they load the money into his trunk. Thinking that Clay (Garret Dillahunt), the partner who arranged the robbery, has something to do with this setup, Wheelman tries to reach him by cellphone but can’t get a hold of him, all while receiving menacing texts from an unknown sender. Wheelman worries about the safety of his 13-year-old daughter, Katie (Caitlin Carmichael), and, to a lesser degree, his ex-wife Jessica (Wendy Moniz), because they’re mentioned by name and he has no idea who he’s dealing with. As the night progresses, Wheelman learns that Clay is tangled up with competing crime families, putting him in the kind of situation that doesn’t come with a clear-cut exit strategy.
Like I said, Wheelman is a relentlessly tight thriller, mostly involving a guy on the phone trying to figure out his next move. In this case, there’s gunplay, dangerous people, and no obvious solution to our protagonist’s problems. As the film barrels into its second and third acts, the stakes continually rise because we learn more about who’s involved, what they want from Wheelman, and exactly how his family factors into all of it if he doesn’t do everything they say.
The film’s tagline is simply, “Drive Fast. Think Faster,” and there’s really no better way to sum it up. As an avid advocate for shorter runtimes and smaller budgets, I’m here to dispel a very important myth: short runtimes are not for short attention spans. Wheelman is one of those “blink and you miss it” films where every single second counts. Every turn signal, cryptic message, voice in the background of a phone call, and all 286 F-bombs carry weight and continually add to the tension. For $5 million, you really can’t beat a movie like this because it’s an exercise in constant escalation, but it still paces itself in a way that keeps everything grounded in reality.
Advertisement
The Perfect “Guy In A Car” Double Feature
While Wheelman earns its keep as a neo-noir action thriller, it shares a similar setup with 2013’s Locke starring Tom Hardy. In that film, which was also produced for around $2 million and clocks in at just 85 minutes, Hardy plays a construction foreman ditching work the night before the biggest concrete pour of his career because a woman he had an affair with is about to give birth. The entire movie is him driving, calling colleagues and city officials, and making increasingly desperate phone calls home as he breaks the news to his wife and sons.
As boring as Locke sounds on paper, it’s a captivating watch because it’s about a man trying to do the right thing after making a massive mistake. His life as he knows it is over, and he understands that, but he still keeps his composure while flying down the highway, determined to be present for the birth of his child for reasons that don’t initially make total sense, but become clearer as his late-night drive progresses.
Both films are cut from the same cloth, but operate on completely different frequencies. They’re also both streaming on Netflix, so my recommendation is to check them out the next time you want something a little different. Watch Locke for the emotional weight, then pivot over to Wheelman for the thrill of being on the run with a trunk full of money while your family waits on the sidelines, hoping you get to them before some unknown assailant does.
Nicki Minaj is finally spilling the tea on why she decided to publicly support Donald Trump and fully embrace the MAGA movement. In a new interview, Nicki made it clear she’s always rocked with Trump, but got tired of hiding how she really felt. Now, she’s reached a point where she wants to keep it real about why she’s decided to not only stick with him, but beside him!
Nicki Minaj Keeps It Real About Why She’s Been Team Trump From The Jump
The rapper recently spoke exclusively with Time and kept it real about why she decided to publicly back Donald Trump. Nicki said she’s always thought Trump was solid, but stayed quiet because she feared backlash. Additionally, she said she thinks many celebrities support him privately but won’t say so publicly.
“I felt that way already about him, just that I didn’t dare act like that publicly. It’s been ingrained in everyone’s brain in the music business that we are supposed to be a Democratic family. I just knew they would not like me supporting Trump.” Minaj continued, “Many celebrities feel the way I do, but they don’t say it.”
Still, Nicki said she wanted to stand ten toes down in her truth and speak up to spark change, rather than hide how she really feels. “Sometimes you just need one brave person to get the brunt of the impact. I think I am the catalyst for that change.”
From there, Minaj said she hopes her honesty pushes people who support him to stand up and speak out. She said there’s nothing to be afraid of and wants people to stop hiding their true feelings.
Advertisement
“Hopefully when they see me and hear me speak and feel my energy that will make them say, ‘You know what: Who am I afraid of? What am I afraid of?’”
Nicki Says The Hate Makes Her Want To Support Donnie Even More
Despite hesitating at first, Nicki Minaj hasn’t held back in recent months about standing with Donald Trump. In January, she spoke at his Account Summit in Washington, D.C. She made it clear that she’s always been his “number one fan” and the hate he gets doesn’t bother her — it actually makes her want to support him even more.
“I’m probably the president’s number one fan. And that’s not going to change,” she said. “And the hate and what people have to say, it does not affect me. At all. It actually motivates me to support him more. And it’s going to motivate all of us to support him more. We’re not going to let them get away with bullying him and, you know, the smear campaigns — it’s not going to work… He has a lot of force behind him and God is protecting him.”
Minaj Gives Trump His Flowers During AmericaFest Interview
Nicki originally made her stance clear at the end of 2025 at AmericaFest. She sat down with Turning Point USA and the late Charlie Kirk’s wife, Erika Kirk. During the chat, Nicki praised Donnie and gave him credit for staying strong through the backlash and shade.
“I have the utmost respect and admiration for our president.” Nicki continued, “I don’t know if he even knows this but he’s given so many people hope that there’s a chance to beat the bad guys, and to win and to do it with your head held high and your integrity intact.”
Young and the Restless hints about Matt Clark (Roger Howarth) and whether he’s about to be Phyllis Summers‘ (Michelle Stafford) next romantic mistake. We know Matt’s not going anywhere anytime soon. And that means there’s all kinds of possibilities ahead, including a sizzling fling with Phyllis. And I’m going to tell you why I know he’s not going anywhere.
We’re going to get into how and why Y&R may have a long-term strategy to keep Matt in Genoa City despite his long list of crimes and how Phyllis may play into all of this.
Matt Clark Remains Mentally Lost on Young and the Restless
So this week, Matt remains mentally lost with no idea who he is other than his name and the fact that Noah Newman and Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) hate him. Although Matt did get back sort of a shadowy memory of Nick Newman (Joshua Morrow) punching him in the face, but he doesn’t know who that guy is either. But once Phyllis realized she was talking to the Matt Clark, the guy that the Newmans are desperate to locate, Phyllis knew she was sitting on huge leverage.
She stashed Matt this week in a room at the GCAC and she warned him, “Don’t go wandering off.” And then Phyllis and Michael Baldwin (Christian LeBlanc) went over to the Newman ranch and they dangled the offer of Matt in their faces. Phyllis demanded that Victor call off Christine Blair Romalotti (Lauralee Bell) and make sure she doesn’t prosecute her for stealing Newman using that fake AI generated evidence that Victor created.
Advertisement
Victor Wants Matt on Y&R
So, he is interested in getting his hands on Matt, especially since Nick is getting high again and running around plotting premeditated murder with the insane idea that he can get Detective Burrow (Matt Cohen) to side with him on it being self-defense when it’s clearly murder one. That’s what it is when you’re plotting ahead to kill somebody. And Victor agreed with Phyllis that she could trade Matt for dropping the charges against her. However, he also wants Newman Enterprises back.
I mean, it seems a foregone conclusion that Phyllis isn’t going to be able to keep the Newmans’ company. So, she might negotiate some sort of buyout. You know, Victor gets Matt and Newman and Phyllis gets the charges dropped and a couple of million dollars. You know, we’ll see how that negotiation goes. But from there, you would assume that Matt would be taking a dirt nap or would be sent off to prison. However, there’s some new information saying it’s not going to go that way.
Behind The Scenes Info Says Matt Is Sticking Around Young and the Restless
With May sweeps wrapping up next week on Wednesday, May 20th, you would expect to see Victor get Matt and then boom, it’s all over. But here’s the new information. All right, so last week on May 6, Michelle Stafford posted a video from Hair and Makeup at Y&R behind the scenes and it was showing her getting ready to film that day.
So, stuff taping on May 6 would air sometime in early to mid June because they film roughly about 4 weeks ahead. And that’s fine. We obviously expect Phyllis to be around then, of course. But then she flipped her camera and said, “Look who’s here with me.” Michelle said, “Here I am with the great Roger Howarth.”
Advertisement
And then she said, “There’s many, many things to come.” So that means Matt is around for at least 3 weeks to a month more, and possibly longer. And when Michelle posted the video, she added the caption, “Let the games begin.”
Young and the Restless: Michelle Stafford Drops Huge Hint
So, if you happen to also watch General Hospital, you might know she played a character over there, Nina Reeves, who was romantically involved with Roger Howarth’s character, Franco Baldwin. He was an artist and a serial killer who was later reformed. So, there’s already a proven chemistry test on a soap for these two actors. And with Matt sticking around and Phyllis stumbling into his storyline, it feels like there’s more to it. With Michelle Stafford saying there’s much more to come, that seems like a huge hint.
Victor Cannot Let Nick Kill Matt on Y&R
Victor just told Nick flat out he cannot kill Matt. But also this week, Nick is buying more opioid pills from a dealer in the park, which means he will be high and out of control. And I mean, we all know Nick’s already a violent hothead. Plus, he’s really mad that Adam Newman (Mark Grossman) told Victor he’s using again on Young and the Restless.
That led to a really sweet scene this week with Nick hugging Victor and saying he wants to get clean, but until he gets into actual rehab, all bets are off. I suspect that Phyllis hands Matt over to save herself from prison and then Nick is high and his self-defense murder plan goes awry. Victor and Adam and everybody else told him not to do it. Only Noah Newman (Lucas Adams) is in support of Nick’s plan. And frankly, Noah’s an idiot.
Advertisement
Young and the Restless: Matt Clark – Phyllis Summers
Young and the Restless: Matt Remains a Free Man
Also, Matt was released from Genoa City police custody before he took off for Vegas because he didn’t do anything that they could hold him on. And after that, Matt didn’t commit any more crimes in Genoa City. So, Detective Burrow has nothing to arrest Matt for that was done in their district. As to any crimes in Las Vegas, there’s not a lot of tangible proof. Sharon Newman (Sharon Case) and Noah went to the old gas station of their own accord, and nobody else saw Matt there.
So, it’s a he said she said against Matt who will claim innocence or simply can’t remember. Nobody saw him blow up the place. Sienna did, but she’s his aggrieved ex-wife who attacked him. And in fact, the only thing that they might be able to prove is that Sienna violently bashed Matt in the head. You know, she might have left some DNA on him or they could find the rock with his blood and her DNA where she attacked him. And bottom line, none of the Vegas stuff is going to help the Newmans get Matt arrested in Genoa City.
Matt Could Press Charges Against the Newmans
So, when Sharon says she wants the cops to handle it, the question is handle what? I don’t think they’d go get Matt. And at this point, he’s an innocent amnesiac with some unprovable accusations against him from across the country. And when Phyllis hands him over to Victor, I absolutely think things are going to go sideways.
If the Newmans do anything to Matt, if they hurt him in any way, like if Nick violently attacks him like he’s planning to do, it’s actually Matt who could press charges. So, there is room in the storyline for Roger Howarth to stick around even if the Newmans hate it. And yes, Matt would probably be annoyed at Phyllis for handing him over to Victor, but he’d get over it, especially if she wound up with a pile of cash.
Young and the Restless: Phyllis Needs a Man?
Now, we know Phyllis usually needs a man in her life, but no sensible guy in Genoa City would go near her, but Matt would. And I expect that he may get his memories back, but keep faking amnesia. Or maybe they don’t come back. But the bottom line, Y&R might be planning to keep Roger Howarth around. He is an amazing actor.
Advertisement
If you’ve never seen him before, he’s doing great on here and I have years of watching him on General Hospital. He’s fantastic. So, Matt could stick around and be an ongoing sore spot for the Newmans and Phyllis would love that. The larger problem is his history with Sharon because Matt raped her back in the day.
However, if he keeps pretending he’s got amnesia or if that amnesia is long-term, that’s a possible way around this. If you remember, he asked Phyllis, “If you can’t remember the crime, are you redeemable?”
They were talking about Crazy Patty Williams (Stacy Haiduk) at the time, but Matt was clearly thinking about the villain that Noah accused him of that Matt just can’t remember. So, yeah, there is a chance Phyllis’s new man could be Matt. Even worse, there could be a Phyllis, Matt, and Patty triangle. Talk about a three-way match from hell. Genoa City would never be the same.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login