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Before sci-fi television became all about grim philosophy and prestige reboots, there was the original Battlestar Galactica. Premiering in 1978, it was a chrome-plated fever dream that combined ancient astronaut theories, genocidal robots, Shakespearean villains, and disco-era hair all played completely straight.

Born out of perfect timing, Galactica was ABC and Universal’s response to the Star Wars craze. They poured money into the project, tapped effects wizard John Dykstra, and even released the pilot theatrically (Saga of a Star World) to emphasize its blockbuster ambitions. George Lucas saw the similarities and sued.

It only lasted one season, but Galactica still lives rent-free in the pop culture memory bank.

On Tuesday August 12 2025, History broadcasts The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch!

Behind the Gates: Weird Science Season 6 Episode Summary

The upcoming episode of “The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch,” titled “Behind the Gates: Weird Science,” promises to delve into some intriguing discoveries at the ranch. This episode features Matty Blake as he engages with scientists Erik Bard and Dr. Travis Taylor. Together, they will explore a mysterious ceramic material that has been extracted from the Mesa, a site known for its strange phenomena.

Viewers can expect an in-depth discussion about the properties of this unusual ceramic material. Erik Bard and Dr. Travis Taylor will share their insights and findings, shedding light on what makes this substance so fascinating. The episode aims to uncover the science behind the material and its potential significance in understanding the mysteries of Skinwalker Ranch.

As Matty Blake interviews the scientists, the episode will likely include demonstrations and...

Image Source: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

Released on August 2, 1985, Weird Science is pure mid‑’80s mayhem. It was a time when John Hughes ruled teen cinema. Synth music echoed in every mall. Nerds dreamed big on clunky home computers. In this wild fantasy, two misfit teens decide to play God. Their creation comes with heels, a pink Cadillac, and a theme song by Oingo Boingo. Before Iron Man and the MCU, Robert Downey Jr. was just Ian. He played a smirking high school jock tormenting the underdogs in Hughes’ gloriously weird teen fever dream.

Behind the Scenes: Hall & LeBrock Reflect

At a AwesomeCon Weird Science reunion panel, Anthony Michael Hall and Kelly LeBrock shared their memories of making the movie. They talked about how they were cast and what the film meant to them. (Click the media bar below to hear Hall and LeBrock discuss their experience. It’s a...

Summer is rapidly heading toward its end, but we’re not quite there yet. There’s still plenty of time to rot on the couch and watch Netflix.

And, like any new month on the streamer, there will be new options to choose from. Beginning August 1, new movies and shows will hit Netflix, including their next Sofia Carson-starring original, “My Oxford Year.” Of course, there will also be some comfort favorites, like “American Pie,” “Rush Hour” and more.

You can find a full list of what’s headed to Netflix in August below.

Aug. 1

“My Oxford Year”

“Perfect Match,” Season 3

“American Pie”

“American Pie 2”

“Anaconda”

“Clueless”

“Dazed and Confused”

“The Departed”

“Despicable Me”

“Despicable Me 2”

“Fast Times at Ridgemont High”

“Fire Country,” Season 2

“Groundhog Day”

“Journey 2: The Mysterious Island”

“Journey to the Center of the Earth”

“Jurassic Park”

“The Lost World: Jurassic Park”

“Jurassic Park III”

“Megamind”

“Minions”

“Pawn Stars,...

As the calendar page turns from July to August, the looming dread of the back-to-school season returns. But Netflix has the cure for that seasonal angst in the form of its "C's Get Degrees" collection. Debuting on August 1, the streamer has a collection of classic movies centering around "school days, teenage angst, and first-of-their-kind adventures." The C's Get Degrees collection features a number of classic films, ranging from the 1980s, the 1990s, and the 2000s.

The collection's 1980s fare includes the John Hughes classic Ferris Bueller's Day Off, in which the title character (Matthew Broderick) plays hooky for a day with his neurotic best pal (Alan Ruck) and his girlfriend (Mia Sara) for an adventure across Chicago; another Hughes comedy, Weird Science, about a pair of goofball nerds (Anthony Michael Hall and Ilan Mitchell-Smith) accidentally create the perfect, and all-powerful, woman (Kelly LeBrock) via a scientific experiment; and Amy Heckerling...

It is hot, hot, hot out there, so why not stay inside where it’s cool? And there are few better ways to enjoy the comforts of A/C than with an engrossing movie or binge-worth TV show. August has plenty of new movies and shows coming to the major streaming services, and we’ve compiled a complete list of everything new to streaming this month.

That’s right. Below you’ll find an all-encompassing list of the movies and TV shows that are being added to Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, HBO Max, Paramount+, Peacock and Tubi in August, and when you can expect each title to arrive. A ton of them hit streaming on August 1, so get ready.

See our complete list of everything new to streaming services in August below.

Netflix Aug. 1

“My Oxford Year”

“Perfect Match,” Season 3

“American Pie”

“American Pie 2”

“Anaconda”

“Clueless”

“Dazed and Confused”

“The Departed...

A few weeks ago, we launched a contest inviting readers to submit personal essays about what’s gone wrong with the movie business—and how it might win back the audiences that seem to have largely abandoned it. We received many excellent entries, but five stood out as the best. We’ll be publishing one each day this week.

Here’s the fourth, courtesy of Mr. Nicholas Mountjoy!

The biggest focus of the movie industry today is to “put butts in seats” and “give the people what they want.” The problem is that the butts aren’t going to the movies, and the people aren’t (seemingly) getting what they want. For the movie studios, I’d say that’s a big problem.

I’ve thought about this at length, and I have several theories as to why this is happening—and how it could potentially be rectified. Movies are...

If there's one thing the '80s were known for, it's for their excellent teen movies that seemed to capture the sensibilities of a youth generation. John Hughes' contributions alone make this genre memorable. Between falling in love for the first time, desperately trying to fit in at their local high school, and dodging the occasional serial killer, the teenagers in '80s movies have a lot going on. Yet even at their most absurd, films about them feel deeply relatable.

In addition to well-written stories with characters that endear themselves to audiences immediately, '80s teen movies have a lot of style going for them as well. Killer soundtracks define the decade's films, connecting teenagers with the greatest hits of the day, and trendy fashion that serves as a time capsule abounds. 

Are you a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, or a criminal? Find out as...

The late 2000s changed everything for comic book movies and TV shows, as the world entered the golden age of programming for the genre. From "Legion" to "The Boys" and "The Penguin," you would be spoiled for choice to pick the best TV shows based on comics now, but what about the time before the big boom? What about the 1990s?

It might seem like a period of famine rather than feast in retrospect, but there were a number of live-action comic book TV shows released in the same decade as the "Macarena" and Tamagotchi. You had "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman," "The Flash," and even "The Crow: Stairway to Heaven" to name but a few. Do these series hold up like their modern successors, though? Eh, probably not, but there's still a goofy charm to them that makes them fall firmly into the so-bad-it's-good category of entertainment.

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Robert Downey Jr.'s talent was always obvious, but his appetite for drugs and alcohol made it easy for studios to deny him work throughout the first few decades of his career. The son of trailblazing independent filmmaker Robert Downey (whose "Putney Swope" is one of the most scabrous pieces of pop cultural satire you will ever see), Downey fils popped up on the periphery of 1980s favorites like "Weird Science" and "Back to School" before delivering his breakout performance as the redlining addict Julian Wells in Marek Kanievska's adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' "Less Than Zero."

Downey had the gift. He had it all. He was always the most exciting person on screen, which probably cheesed off some of his co-stars, but the kid couldn't help it. Like Eddie Murphy or Robin Williams, you were primed to laugh...

Who Was Robert Downey Jr.’s First Onscreen Tech?

Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark is synonymous with genius, swagger, and tech wizardry, designing Iron Man suits, AI companions, and holding court in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the Avengers’ resident futurist. But long before J.A.R.V.I.S., his first onscreen brush with artificial intelligence came in a wildly different form.

In the 1985 teen comedy Weird Science, Downey played a high school bully who mocked two nerds for being virgins — until they outdid him by creating a voluptuous, hyper-intelligent android woman. A far cry from Stark’s lab-grown armor, this woman wasn’t built for battle but for pleasure, dominance, and teenage wish-fulfillment. The result? One of the most bizarre and oddly charming teen fantasies of the ’80s!

What’s The Story Of Weird Science?

Like the MCU, Weird Science is also based on a comic story,...

Alf Clausen, the veteran composer who scored The Simpsons for 27 years, and also provided music for Moonlighting, The Naked Gun, and Alf, has died at the age of 84 after a near-decade-long battle with Progressive Supernuclear Palsy (PSP). His daughter Kaarin Clausen shared an Instagram post to confirm that her father had "passed peacefully" on May 29 "after a long and valiant struggle with Parkinson's." Alongside a carousel of photos, she fondly recalled some of her favorite memories with her Dad, writing in the caption:

"I will always remember his silly jokes, the smell of his music charts in his studio, when he stood up in our Rabbit Convertible to hold up the lowering railroad crossing gate after I stalled the car on the train track, his phone calls that always started with 'Hi, Dudette,' and the million big and little ways in which he supported me. He left a huge...

Alf Clausen, the longtime composer of The Simpsons who scored more than 560 episodes of the animated series, had died at the age of 84.

Clausen died after a decade-long battle with Progressive Supernuclear Palsy (PSP).

A two-time Emmy Award winner with 30 additional nominations, Clausen provided the music for The Simpsons for 27 years, composing a unique piece each week accompanied by a 35-piece orchestra.

In a cost-cutting measure, Fox fired Clausen in 2017, leading the composer to sue the network for ageism and disability discrimination two years later. He later dropped the suit, and Simpsons producers recognized in later seasons as “composer emeritus.”

“I think that’s one of the reasons they’ve kept me all these years: they were looking for somebody who could score all those different types of music in small clip-form,” Clausen reflected in a 2017 interview with Consequence. “That’s what’s been fun for me. I think that...

Award-winning composer Alf Clausen, best known for his work on the hit animated series The Simpsons, has passed away. He was 84 years old.

Per Variety, Clausen died on Thursday after living with Progressive Supernuclear Palsy (PSP) for the past decade. No other details were divulged about the circumstances of his death.

Clausen became a part of The Simpsons when the show was still in its second season 1990, spending nearly two decades as its composer until 1997. During that time, he won two Emmys, and with 30 total nominations, he is the most-nominated composer in the history of the awards. Clausen also won five Annie Awards for The Simpsons. Altogether, he crafted almost 600 orignial scores for different episodes of the show, believed to be a record for the most ever written for a single TV series in America.

From the start, Clausen conducted a 35-piece orchestra to compose music for The Simpsons. He...

Actor Ed Gale, best known for portraying the iconic characters Howard the Duck and Chucky, has passed away. He was 61 years old.

Per Variety, Gale's death was announced by his niece, Kayse Gale, with a post shared on social media. The specific cause of death was not named, though Gale's death was said to be "sudden." She also included a statement looking back at the life and career of her "fun uncle," who managed to find success as a working actor in Hollywood when he arrived in California with big dreams early in life.

"It is with a heavy heart and a surprisingly light coffin (see what I did there?) that we announce the sudden passing of our uncle, Ed Gale," the statement reads. "Ed Gale has taken his final bow and is now headlining in the afterlife. Ed hitched a ride to California when he was twenty years old,...

Exclusive: Vanished, the indie action thriller from Randy Charach, is leading Glass House Distribution’s Cannes Film Festival slate.

The pic comprises one of three Glasshouse has acquired in a worldwide rights deal with Charach Productions – the other two being David Lynch-inspired horror Texas Nightmare and action drama Clutch. Charach produces all three, with Michael Merino or Jared Cohn attached as directors.

Vanished, which we told you about in February, stars Charach (Hunting Games), Rampage Jackson (The A-Team), Richard Grieco (21 Jump Street), David Chokachi (Baywatch), Natalie Burn (Black Adam), Al Sapienza (The Sopranos), Laurie Fortier (The Walking Dead), Robert Lasardo (Nip/Tuck), Vernon Wells (Mad Max 2), and James Pratt (Malibu Crush), with Cohn the director. Charach Productions is the producer in partnership with Traplight Pictures.

The film follows Jack (Charach), a high-level defense contractor whose life is thrown into chaos when his daughter is kidnapped and held for ransom.

I like to think that every filmmaker loves movies, but few filmmakers express their love of movies quite like Kevin Smith. Thanks to the success of "Clerks," he's arguably responsible for the frequency of characters discussing, debating, or simply referencing pop culture in film and television. (One of his jokes in that film even circled back and inspired the very franchise it alluded to in the case of "Andor.") He's also constantly popping up in documentaries (not to mention his podcast with Marc Bernardin) to give his thoughts on the intersection of art and culture. Smith is unapologetic in his acknowledgement of the art that shaped him, as well as the art that he thinks ... well ... sucks.

Of course, opinions and taste can change over time, but the blessing and curse of film is that whatever is recorded and makes it to the final cut is permanently frozen in time.

Season 2 of Netflix and Tim Burton's hit supernatural series, Wednesday, continues to build out its impressive cast. Jenna Ortega leads the series as the titular Wednesday Addams, with a supporting cast that includes Emma Myers, Fred Armisen, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Luis Guzman. Some beloved actors, like Steve Buscemi, have already been added to Season 2's cast. But the latest addition, Reacher star Anthony Michael Hall, marks a long-awaited Edward Scissorhands reunion.

The casting report comes via Variety, who confirmed that Anthony Michael Hall will appear in Season 2 of Wednesday. His character remains a mystery. It hasn't been revealed if Hall will play a long-running part, or if he will guest star in the second season. Younger audiences likely know Anthony Michael Hall best for starring in Prime Video's hit action series, Reacher, starring Alan Ritchson. Hall played Zachary Beck in the recent third season.

But, Anthony Michael Hall's filmography is very impressive.

Just one week after the trailer debuted, the folks behind Wednesday have announced another addition to the cast. The latest performer to join ranks with Jenna Ortega in what will be the second season of the hit Netflix series is Anthony Michael Hall, who returns to the spooky scary genre following his 2021 appearance in David Gordon Green’s Halloween Kills. Those in the know will spot a reunion brewing between the newly added actor and the show’s executive producer and director, Tim Burton, as the pair previously worked alongside one another on the filmmaker’s iconic 1990 film, Edward Scissorhands. Hall’s role on Wednesday remains undisclosed at this time.

Since 2022, audiences have been waiting for the continuation story that follows the Addams Family's daughter as she strikes out on her own to Nevermore Academy. This time around, she won’t be completely by herself, as her younger brother and her favorite torturee,...

The Breakfast Club is widely considered one of the best teen films of all time, and it's a movie that has certainly gone on to live beyond the time it was released in 1985. It defined a generation in the '80s and has spoken to generations that have discovered it since its initial release. A film of its stature, especially in this Hollywood climate obsessed with established IP, seems prime for a modern-day reboot, but one of the film's stars,Molly Ringwald, believes it's such a product of its time that it couldn't be remade. Mostly because it's a little too white.

The entire cast of The Breakfast Club reunited for the first time in 40 years at the C2E2 fan convention in Chicago, via Variety, and Ringwald, as she sat with her co-stars, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall and Ally Sheedy, revealed that she believes the film's...

As Rolling Stone noted in our 10 Essential Movies list, Val Kilmer was a “Juilliard graduate, a movie star, an actor who could play anything from fantasy heroes to flyboy villains, bank robbers to superheroes, dashing lead roles or demented sidekicks — Val Kilmer was all of these things, and way, way more.”

But before any of those roles, there was Chris Knight, Kilmer’s endlessly wisecracking character in 1985’s Real Genius. Playing the role as a combination of Will Hunting meets Bluto Blutarsky, Kilmer infuses Knight, who leads a bunch of...

Anthony Michael Hall may not be getting any younger with each passing day, but his incredible performances over the years have most certainly cemented a legacy that very few could overpower; one that will live forever. In fact, his early roles in the entertainment industry among pieces like The Breakfast Club (1985) even had the actor cum producer recognized among the ‘Brat Pack.’

Anthony Michael Hall | Credits: Reacher / Prime Video.

So when it came to the 2024-released documentary on the same, titled Brats, Hall was expected to grace the screens with his appearance alongside Demi Moore and Rob Lowe as well. And, for the record, he was asked to be a part of the project. But Hall turned down the chance of starring in the same of his own accord as he wanted to move forward in life instead of looking back.

Anthony Michael Hall deliberately opted out of Brats of...

In Hollywood, stars often bring some of their personal life experiences to the television screens. As Bryan Cranston detailed in an interview, on how he used the characteristics of his father to play the antagonist Walter White. The same is true for Anthony Michael Hall as well, who used his real emotions in Season 3 of Reacher.

Anthony Michael Hall in a still from Reacher | Credits: Prime Video

Known as one of the most popular stars of the ’80s Hall has a plethora of projects to his name. And in a recent chit-chat, he detailed how growing up without his father helped him shape his character on screen and bring out a powerful performance.

Anthony Michael Hall’s personal story that makes his character even more powerful in Reacher

Starting his career as a beloved teen star in The Breakfast Club and Weird Science and moving on to more intense and complex roles,...

David Steven Cohen, the Emmy-nominated writer and producer who helped turn Courage the Cowardly Dog into a beloved hit, has passed away. He was 58 years old.

Cohen's passing was announced by Cartoon Network in a post on Instagram. Including an image of Cohen, the caption noted, "The things we do for love. Thank you, David, for your work on the strangely beautiful world of Courage, lovingly adding to our childhood trauma while teaching poignant life lessons. How you've brought to life a scared but courageous little dog reminds us that we can do anything, even if we're afraid. Rest well."

View this post on InstagramA post shared by Cartoon Network (@cartoonnetworkofficial)

Cartoon Network also added a comment to the post that reads, "There's no such thing as perfect, you're beautiful as you are, Courage. With all of your imperfections, you can do anything you want to do!"

Cohen's passing...

George A. Romero's 1982 anthology horror flick "Creepshow," scripted by Stephen King, was an homage to the roundly gruesome EC horror comics of the 1950s. EC was overseen by William M. Gaines, and he published titles like "Tales from the Crypt," "The Vault of Horror," and "Shock SuspenStories." They also oversaw sci-fi books like "Weird Science," war comics like "Two-Fisted Tales," and parody comics like "Mad." For those who think media of the 1950s was square and tame, reading a single issue of "Tales from the Crypt" will prove how sick and depraved writers could get.

Stephen King was a reader of EC Comics, and "Creepshow" was his attempt to bring their twisted, violent sensibilities into the Reagan era. Although there had been "Tales from the Crypt" movies prior to "Creepshow," the 1982 film was the biggest yet, boasting an all-star cast and salacious, energetic direction. It made $21 million on an $8 million budget,...

Prime Video's hit Reacher is in the middle of its third season. As with the previous seasons, the new outing brings a host of new main characters. One of these is rug importer Zachary Beck, who offers Reacher a job after he saves Beck's son Richard. Beck is played by Anthony Michael Hall, who's enjoyed a nearly 40-year career in the industry.

That's right, Gen-x readers, the 1980s were four decades ago. Take a minute to process that if you need to. Hall was one of that decade's biggest teen stars, with appearances in Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Weird Science. He was a frequent collaborator with John Hughes, the king of '80s coming-of-age teen comedies. That partnership set Hall up for lifelong success, which is still an impressive feat in today's industry. Of those early parts, Sixteen Candles really gave Hall his breakout role. He followed that...

The third season of Reacher recently arrived on Prime Video, and once again trouble has found the show’s titular character. This season follows Reacher as he infiltrates the nefarious rug business of a man named Zachary Beck. Acting undercover as a man on the run, Reacher is tasked with locating a missing DEA informant while he works to uncover how his old foe Quinn is mixed up with Beck’s business.

As is the case with every season of Reacher, its cast of characters always changes. While a few characters have made various appearances here and there throughout the series, the show’s core characters each season are always different. Given Reacher prefers to travel from city to city with nothing but a toothbrush in his pocket, he always encounters a brand-new set of allies and enemies. Below is the cast of Season 3 and where viewers have seen them before.

This article contains spoilers for "Reacher" Season 3.

One of the recurring aspects of "Reacher," apart from bad guys with short lifespans, is middlemen who get involved with the wrong people. In Season 3, this position is filled by Bizarre Bazaar CEO Zachary Beck, who has already seen his family suffer at the hands of his "business partner," Julius McCabe, formerly known as Xavier Quinn (Brian Tee). To make matters worse, all this corruption and illegal activity has caught the attention of DEA agent Susan Duffy (Sonya Cassidy), who, following a botched undercover operation, sends in our boy Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) to keep tabs on what's happening. After Reacher poses as potential muscle for the businessman, Beck's world soon gets turned upside down as traitorous activity begins to reveal itself, deals go south, and the bad guys closest to him end up very, very dead.

Understandably, it's a stressful situation to be in,...

Anthony Michael Hall has spent his career pursuing roles that allowed him to empathize with all kinds of characters. He’s always looking for that depth, that drive — that hook that inspires him to dig his teeth into a script, and defy expectations — and to prove he’s much more than the nerd from ’80s Brat Pack movies like “The Breakfast Club” and “Sixteen Candles.”

His newest role is playing an arms dealer on the third season of “Reacher,” the hit Amazon Prime Video show about an ex-military police drifter who travels the United States, busting up increasingly outsized criminal enterprises. For any actor, “Reacher” is a huge platform, but Hall was laser-focused on the complexity of his character, Zachary Beck, who poses as a humble rug importer.

“It’s a very rich character,” he says. “He has a cover for his life, and is operating within this framework of a criminal network.

“Reacher” is back.

Based on the book series by Lee Child, the Prime Video series once again finds our titular hero (Alan Ritchson) getting off the bus and getting into trouble. This time he is in Maine, recruited by local DEA agents looking to bust a bad guy – and get back an informant who has gone missing. And wouldn’t you know it, this seemingly random encounter ties back to a case from Reacher’s past?

If you want to know more about this season, we will happily delve deep into the colorful cast of Season 3 characters.

Alan Ritchson as Jack Reacher in “Reacher” Season 3 (Credit: Amazon Studios) Alan Ritchson as Jack Reacher

Jack Reacher, or, as he insists everyone calls him, just Reacher, is a former military police major. These days, though, he’s what you would call a drifter – all he carries is his Atm card, the clothes...

Anthony Michael Hall’s career spans four decades, beginning with his unforgettable roles in iconic 1980s films like Pretty in Pink, Weird Science, and The Breakfast Club. While those early performances cemented his status as the typical dorky average-Joe teen, Hall evolved into a versatile actor who has played heroes, villains, and everything in between.

Now he’s joining the third season of Prime Studios’ Reacher, about the military cop turned vigilante hero of Lee Child’s famous book series. In this latest installment, Hall portrays Zachary Beck, a wealthy...

John Hughes was the patron saint of adolescents who found great success with a series of hit comedies, most of them centering around the plight of teenagers. Yet how many of those titles remain classics? Let’s take a look back at 12 of his greatest films as both a writer and director, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1950, Hughes first came to the attention of Hollywood as a writer after penning “National Lampoon’s Vacation” (1983) and “Mr. Mom” (1983). That financially successful one-two punch landed him his first directing gig: “Sixteen Candles” (1984). A tender coming-of-age story about a teenage girl (Molly Ringwald) suffering one indignity after another on her sweet sixteen firmly established him as the premiere helmer of adolescent comedies, leading to “The Breakfast Club” (1985), “Weird Science” (1985), and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” (1986).

Yet Hughes also excelled at entertainments outside the classroom, including the road trip farce “Planes, Trains & Automobiles” (1987), starring...

This article contains spoilers for "Companion."

In 1985, John Hughes directed the off-beat sci-fi sex comedy "Weird Science," about two teenage boys who use a supercomputer to generate their ultimate dream girl (played by Kelly LeBrock). The following year, Wes Craven put out "Deadly Friend," where a teenage boy refused to accept that the girl he had a crush on had become brain-dead, and implanted his robot's processor to bring her back. The year after that, Pamela Gidley starred in the titular role in the sci-fi action flick "Cherry 2000," where in the at-the-time-not-so-distant future of 2017, society has become hypersexual but so averse to intimacy that gynoids have become the dominant substitute for wives.

Robot girlfriends are nothing new, with "The Twilight Zone" even examining the psychology behind human beings finding romantic connections and emotional fulfillment with androids in the 1959 episode, "The Lonely." But as technology continues to advance and we...

Last weekend, we celebrated 10 years of fears at the 10th annual Tampa Bay Screams horror convention. Our afternoon was spent at the Occ Roadhouse and Museum in Clearwater, Florida. Despite the rainy, chilly, weather the pavilion hosting the dealer’s dungeon, panel stage, and film festival was lively and attendees were in good spirits.

While last year’s convention showed the resilience of the Tampa Bay horror communities in the face of seemingly endless budget cuts, this year radiated a sense of confidence and air of “we aren’t going anywhere.” After the Tampa Bay area was hit with two devastating hurricanes in late 2024, events like this are more important than ever as they bolster relationships and support systems in the arts community.

Seeing the menagerie of subgenres and fans is always a treat at conventions like this. There is just as much enthusiasm for the high-concept, high-budget, classics as...

Marvel icon Robert Downey Jr. has revealed one of his famous friends helped him land an early job on Saturday Night Live. Downey was part of SNL’s cast during its 11th season, from 1985 to 1986.

The story of Downey’s single disastrous season on SNL is told in the new Peacock docu-series SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, where producer Lorne Michaels admits he “perhaps went too young” in casting Downey and Anthony Michael Hall for his return to the show in 1985. SNL’s 11th season was dogged by negative reviews, leading to Michaels dropping Downey and most of the cast before the next season.

Robert Downey Jr. Joined Saturday Night Live in 1985

'I Was Scared S—less': Mike Myers Reveals First Reaction to SNL Co-Stars

Mike Myers says he had an anxiety attack when joining cast members like Phil Hartman and Dana Carvey.

In SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, Anthony Michael Hall...

After 50 years of pushing the boundaries of network television, Saturday Night Live has birthed countless talents across multiple generations.

Robert Downey Jr. and Anthony Michael Hall recently looked back on their brief run on the NBC sketch comedy show during the infamous Season 11, which ran from 1985 to 1986 and served as creator Lorne Michaels‘ attempt to refresh the show after Eddie Murphy‘s exit.

“I’m proud to be a part of it. It was like an out-of-body experience,” said Hall on the Peacock docuseries SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, recalling “just being shocked” at being the show’s youngest cast member at 17 after SNL “meant so much to me as a kid growing up in New York.”

Downey Jr. recounted his best friend and Weird Science co-star bringing him the opportunity. “Michael Hall said to me, I’m gonna go do SNL. I’m gonna get you an audition and I...

You may have noticed an increase in the amount of feature films with AI as a subject — whether it’s Jennifer Lopez finding a friend in Atlas or Megan Fox going evil in Subservience, it’s something clearly weighing on screenwriters’ minds. But it’s curious that most of them tend to lean toward the prospect of dating robots. Renner is another one. The title isn’t the name of the AI, it’s the name of the guy who made the AI — like how you expected “Atlas” to be the name of the robot, or the planet, but it was the woman. Renner is a computer genius who can solve any complex problem, except how to relate to a female of his species. But wait…if he Is a computer genius, can’t he just Build the perfect coach to teach him how to date girls? If those dopes in “Weird Science” did it,...

Teen comedies have been part of cinema since the 1980s. John Hughes elevated the genre with The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, and Weird Science. There was also a crop of fun teen movies in the '90s like She's All That, 10 Things I Hate About You, and Clueless. Audiences undeniably love these films because they're relatable and show a glorified version of high school, one where all the problems can be solved by the prom. Of course, not all teen movies are so wholesome and cookie-cutter.

Some teen movies go for broke with raunchy humor and nudity. R-rated teen comedies, which seemed to be the most popular in the 2000s, are arguably even funnier for certain viewers because they're not limited when it comes to sex and profanity. The best R-rated teen comedies offer self-aware commentary on what it means to be a teenager—and hold little back in the process.

I’ve been very fortunate in my career here at JoBlo to chat with various actors for extended times about their careers. Getting to go over Weird Science with Anthony Michael Hall is still a life highlight. Getting to talk about a wide variety of projects versus just the most recent one that they’re promoting provides insight that we otherwise wouldn’t receive. So I was very grateful to be able to sit down for an interview with Mike Flanagan regular Molly C. Quinn to talk about her unique career.

Being a massive Flanagan fan, Molly and I geeked out a bit about the sheer brilliance of the writer/director. Really, this was just a great excuse to be able to gush about a filmmaker I admire with someone who knows his work on a personal level. Molly gives some really insightful answers and this feels far from the...

It’s 1985, and a lanky 17-year-old is nervously pacing backstage at NBC’s Studio 8H in New York City. In just a few minutes, he’ll make history as the youngest cast member ever to grace the stage of Saturday Night Live. This isn’t just any teenager – it’s Anthony Michael Hall, already a bonafide movie star thanks to his work with writer and director John Hughes, about to take on one of the most prestigious (and pressure-filled) gigs in comedy. As the familiar strains of the SNL theme song begin to play, Hall takes a deep breath, knowing that his life is about to change yet again. But did it change for the better? Did this skinny, awkward dork continue to bless us for decades with great cinema and comedy? Or did he take a darker, more difficult path of self-destruction and/or self-discovery? Did he spend the...

Ever notice how the young thespians portraying Audrey and Rusty Griswold in the Vacation movies kept getting yoinked and replaced? It wasn’t because they were terrible actors. The problem was the movies’ infrequent release schedule, meaning the actors always aged out of the parts before they had a chance to film another one. Here’s the definitive ranking of the five pairs of Audreys and Rustys rolling around the comedy multiverse.

5 Vegas Vacation

Ethan Embry and Marisol Nichols are older, more jaded versions of Rusty and Audrey — which makes sense, given the film’s location. With the help of a fake ID, Rusty somehow wins five cars playing slot machines. And Audrey gets sexualized for the first time in the series, landing a job as a go-go dancer after visiting a strip club with her pole-dancing cousin. Yuck.

@novaluxurious 4 National Lampoon’s European Vacation

Dana Hill (not to be...

Rusty and Audrey Griswold were famously played by a different actor in each of the National Lampoon’s Vacation movies, and that included some huge stars. The Griswold family’s patriarch and matriarch, Clark and Ellen, were consistently played by Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo across the whole franchise — even in the 2015 reboot, two decades after the last movie — but the kids were always replaced with new cast members in each subsequent sequel. It practically became a running joke throughout the series that Clark and Ellen’s kids looked totally different and aged inconsistently from movie to movie.

Part of the reason for casting new actors as Rusty and Audrey in the National Lampoon’s Vacation movies is that child actors age a lot faster than their adult co-stars. Whereas Chase and D’Angelo looked more or less the same in the 14 years between the original Vacation film and the fourth one, Vegas Vacation,...

Michael Keaton's most iconic roles include Bruce Wayne, Betelgeuse, and Jack Frost. He also played Jack Butler in 1983's Mr. Mom, a domestic comedy that leaned heavily on the role reversal movie trope.

Michael Keaton's first comedy Mr. Mom is now streaming on Pluto TV. It's the best movie to watch before Goodrich, where the actor plays a character in a similar predicament. Keaton's first seven movies were comedies, from 1982's Night Shift to 1988's Beetlejuice. That year was also a career milestone for Keaton, who broke out of the genre to star in a drama (Clean and Sober) about substance abuse. He has since proved his range in films like Jackie Brown, Birdman, and The Founder, but fans still credit his success to his earliest works, especially Mr. Mom and Night Shift.

Related Michael Keaton's Best Movies & TV Shows, According To IMDb

Beetlejuice and Spider-Man: Homecoming are...

Comic book movies can often be quite contentious when it comes to casting, with fan uproar frequently being unleashed on up-and-coming superhero actors despite only sometimes being justified. The reception of a casting announcement can have big implications on the success of a given comic book movie, sometimes riding on a single amazing superhero casting. Public outcry from fans can sometimes be indicative of a poor upcoming performance, but in many cases, hesitations about certain actors stepping into comic book roles end up being completely unfounded.

Actors can be considered unfit for superhero roles for a variety of different reasons. Some casting choices could see actors playing against type, or entering a big-budget superhero film despite little to no experience in blockbusters or action movies. Regardless of whether or not their gambles end up paying off, movie studios often take huge risks with controversial casting decisions for their valuable comic book IPs.

Ah, October. The magical time of year when even the most horror-averse moviegoers pop open their watchlist in search of some new scary thing to watch. And while "Terrifier 3" will certainly be the highest-grossing horror film of October, the early contender for October's best new scary movie is "V/H/S/Beyond," the latest entry in the "V/H/S" series. With the introduction of a cohesive central theme — and a handful of emerging horror directors giving each segment their all — "V/H/S/Beyond" has restored the franchise to its former glory and reminded us why horror anthologies can be such a fun way to tell a story.

But if "V/H/S/Beyond" represents a resurgence for the cinematic horror anthology, it's not the only one. This has been a banner year for horror anthologies across all mediums, with new collections and series dominating the shelves of your local comic and book stores. In fact, let's make a...

Writer-director Mike Young’s action-comedy feature Stealing Jokes is set for release next month from Freestyle Digital Media.

The company, which is the digital film distribution division of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, has acquired the movie and will release it via digital platforms and DVD on Nov. 1. The ensemble cast includes Jeff Dye (The Wedding Year), Dustin Ybarra (Easter Sunday), HaHa Davis (Domino: Battle of the Bones), Michael Rapaport (Beautiful Girls), Luke Null (Saturday Night Live), Ryu Go Eun (Everything’s Trash), Al Madrigal (Night School) and Michael Manasseri (Weird Science).

Stealing Jokes centers on a comedian and his friends who, after setting out on a comedy tour, get bilked out of their promised fees on the first night. They decide to rob the venue, leading to a heist involving the underworld of the comedy scene. The trailer, which is exclusive to The Hollywood Reporter, can be seen below.

The 1980s were a great decade for science fiction movies in general, and this included some great sci-fi comedies. With Blade Runner, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and two classic Star Wars movies, the 1980s was filled with classic sci-fi movies that changed the genre forever. This change was reflected in some great comedies too, many of which spoofed the genre's many tropes.

Movies like Back to the Future and Ghostbusters showed that sci-fi could be hilarious while still telling fascinating stories. Some of the best sci-fi comedies of the decade would still be just as compelling with their humor ripped out, and this is often what separates a good comedy from a great one. Many of the decade's funniest sci-fi movies started long-running franchises, while others have a distinctly 1980s feel that gives them a nostalgic quality.

Related 10 Best Sci-Fi Comedies Of The 1990s

Some of the best comedians of the era,...

Bloody Disgusting is deeply sad to learn the news that a member of our community has passed away this week. A longtime Bd writer, Felix Vasquez Jr. was just 41 years old.

The website Cinema Crazed, which was founded by Felix, reports this week, “Felix Vasquez Jr., the film critic and publisher of the Cinema Crazed website, passed away today at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, New York, at the age of 41 after a brief illness.”

Cinema Crazed’s Phil Hall adds, “A native of the Bronx, Felix first came to prominence as a member of the Film Threat team of critics and wrote a column on the Bloody Disgusting horror film site. He also contributed to Cinema Blend, Crave and Screen Anarchy before launching Cinema Crazed in 2005, which celebrated horror, science-fiction and cult movies.”

Felix began writing for Bloody Disgusting back in 2018, primarily contributing the monthly “TV Terrors” column to the site.

Paramount+’s Peak Screaming collection returns to the service today with a monster-sized lineup of thrills for audiences to enjoy this Halloween season. The popular Peak Screaming collection expands each year and features more genre-defining hits and classics than ever before, with over 450 new originals, fan-favorite horror movies, and iconic Halloween episodes from beloved series.

The seasonal collection will include the debut of the Paramount+ original film Apartment 7A (September 27), a haunting prequel to the cult classic Rosemary’s Baby, and SpongeBob SquarePants: Kreepaway Kamp (October 10), a new hour-long special where, while at Kamp Koral for a reunion, SpongeBob and the gang are stalked by a mysterious figure lurking in the shadows as campers start disappearing one by one.

The curated Peak Screaming collection brings the household together by providing a scare for everyone with terrifying thrillers, spine-chilling films, and frights for the fainthearted, with 25 expertly curated carousels. New and returning...

Just in time for the Halloween season, the Peak Screaming Collection from Paramount+ has returned to the service today with a monster-sized lineup. The collection expands each year and this year features more genre-defining hits and classics than ever before, with over 450 new originals, fan-favorite horror movies and iconic Halloween episodes from beloved series.

The seasonal collection will include the debut of the Paramount+ original film Apartment 7A (September 27), a haunting prequel to the cult classic Rosemary’s Baby; and Spongebob Squarepants: Kreepaway Kamp (October 10), a new hour-long special where, while at Kamp Koral for a reunion, SpongeBob and the gang are stalked by a mysterious figure lurking in the shadows as campers start disappearing one by one.

The curated collection brings the household together by providing a scare for everyone with terrifying thrillers, spine-chilling films and frights for the fainthearted, with 25 expertly curated carousels. New and returning subgenres include the...