News

Adam West's classic 1960s series wasn't the first live-action "Batman" adaptation, but it is the one most people think of when remembering the old days of the character on the screen. In the decades since, shows like "Batman: The Animated Series" and the many critically acclaimed Batman films have built the Caped Crusader into arguably the most popular superhero in the U.S., if not worldwide. But when it comes to camp and silly charm, nothing beats the '60s series.

Sadly, most of the folks who made that show what it was are no longer with us, including Adam West himself, who passed away in 2017. Other prominent co-stars like Burgess Meredith (The Penguin), Cesar Romero (The Joker), Alan Napier (Alfred), Neil Hamilton (Commissioner Gordon), and Yvonne Craig (Batgirl) have also all passed on.

Only three major stars from the series are still with us today, carrying on the...

The classic Batman villain, The Penguin, has recently been getting a lot of love from fans, new and old. Colin Farrell's take on the character, introduced in Matt Reeves' "The Batman," led HBO Max's critically acclaimed series, "The Penguin." While Farrell takes the villain into gritty new territory by reimagining him as a seedy mobster climbing the ranks of Gotham's underworld, many fans will always consider Danny DeVito's gothic take on the character the definitive version of the Penguin.

Danny DeVito brought the Penguin to life in Tim Burton's second Batman movie, "Batman Returns," in 1992. True to Tim Burton's supremely stylized vision of Gotham City, the Penguin of that movie was imagined as an abandoned child born with a long hooked nose and flipper-like hands, giving him a penguin-like appearance. In private and in his battles with Batman, DeVito's Penguin was almost bestial, while in public,...

Before everyone started talking about glitches in the Matrix to describe spooky goings-on, anything weird or potentially inexplicable was like entering "The Twilight Zone." Some old timers still use this comparison, possibly humming an annoying rendition of the theme tune for extra effect. You can't blame them, really, because few TV shows have created a cultural footprint the size of Rod Serling's visionary series. Three revivals, a patchy anthology film, and a range of other media have kept the show firmly in the public consciousness, but none have quite matched the quality of the original hosted by Serling himself. With Serling's assured presence and teleplays from some of the best writers of sci-fi and speculative fiction of the day, "The Twilight Zone" was packed with iconic episodes. 

"Twilight Zone: The Movie" opened with two guys (played by Dan Aykroyd and Albert Brooks) chatting about their favorite episodes, and they...

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

"The Twilight Zone" ran for 156 episodes total, and that's not even counting the extra backlog from the three attempts at rebooting the series. That long, television-defining legacy all began in 1959 with the first aired "Twilight Zone" episode, "Where Is Everybody?"

An amnesiac man (Earl Holliman) awakens in the desert and walks to a seemingly abandoned town. Soon, he's asking the question that gives the episode its title.

The twist? Our lead is actually astronaut Mike Ferris. He's undergoing a training exercise in an isolation chamber to see if he can handle a trip to the Moon by himself. When the episode began, he'd been in the chamber for three weeks. The town was a hallucination because the isolation had finally gotten to him. The episode ends with Ferris being "rescued," still intending to go to the Moon.

"Where Is Everybody?...

Sylvester Stallone recently took to social media to look back fondly and celebrate the 43rd anniversary of his film, Rocky III. The film premiered on May 28, 1982.

Stallone posted on Instagram, sharing a heartfelt message reflecting on filming Rocky III, saying: "I know its been said many times before as time flies by. But the time we did Rocky three was a glorious moment that I love sharing with all the loyal fans...Keep punching!" He also shared multiple images from the Rocky film, including one with Mr. T, who starred as James "Clubber" Lang in the film.

As the third installment in the franchise, Rocky III saw Stallone reprising his role as "the Italian Stallion" Rocky Balboa, the heavyweight champion of the world. In the film, he continues to defend his title against a myriad of other fighters, including Mr. T's Clubber. The movie also saw Rocky turning to his old adversary,...

It's hard to imagine where the world of superheroes would be without the classic Batman TV series. Airing on ABC for three seasons between 1966 and 1968, the show starred Adam West and Burt Ward as the Dynamic Duo (adding Yvonne Craig to the line-up as Batgirl in its third season) and it had a meteoric rise to success during a time when superheroes weren't the heavy-hitters that they are now. It's also renowned for introducing the characters of Batman, Robin, and Batgirl to mainstream audiences, helping them transcend the genre of comic books and become pop-culture phenomenons.

West and Ward also exploded onto the big screen at the height of the show's popularity, with Batman: The Movie arriving in movie theaters between the first and second seasons. Although its popularity eventually declined, it kept the Batman franchise in the public eye for many years until its inevitable reinvention in the darker...

There is perhaps no TV show from the classic era that has stood the test of time better than "The Twilight Zone." Despite its black-and-white coloring, limited budgets, and retro sci-fi stylings, the Rod Serling series remains one of the greatest, most influential shows ever put to American television. Though there have been many attempts to reboot the series, none of which have been as successful as less direct successors like "Black Mirror," the original series from the late 1950s and early '60s remains the best one to watch. Thankfully, its greatest episodes also hold up incredibly well.

Picking just five "Twilight Zone" episodes to recommend is a challenging task, as all five seasons are loaded with classics. Commentaries on war, death, greed, adventures in space exploration, a surprising number of Western-themed "Twilight Zone" episodes, monsters, ghouls, ghosts, deals with the devil, red Scare metaphors -- it's all there and well worth watching.

Joe Don Baker, the broad-shouldered Texas tough guy who portrayed characters on both sides of the law, most notably Sheriff Buford Pusser in the unexpected box-office hit Walking Tall, died May 7, his family announced. He was 89.

Baker first attracted mainstream attention in 1972 when he starred as the younger, business-minded brother of an aging Arizona rodeo rider (Steve McQueen) in Sam Peckinpah’s Junior Bonner (1972), then portrayed a sadistic mob hitman named Molly in Don Siegel’s Charley Varrick (1973), starring Walter Matthau.

In James Bond films, the 6-foot-3 Baker played a villain, the megalomaniacal arms dealer Brad Whitaker, in The Living Daylights (1987), starring Timothy Dalton as 007, then returned as a good guy, CIA agent Jack Wade, opposite Pierce Brosnan in the 1995 and ’97 movies GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies, respectively.

As former professional wrestler Pusser — based on a real-life sheriff who cleaned up crime in his Tennessee town — Baker survives a series...

The 1960s "Batman" television series can be pretty zany, but for many of the actors who appeared on the show it was no laughing matter. Incredibly talented character actors like Frank Gorshin, Cesar Romero, Eartha Kitt, and Julie Newmar all brought intensity to their roles as various members of the caped crusader's rogues gallery, taking their performances deadly serious despite the show's ridiculous levels of camp. Among the great "Batman" television villains is Burgess Meredith as The Penguin, the arctic bird-based baddie with designs on taking over Gotham through political avenues. Meredith was no stranger to really giving a role his all, even allowing himself to be lit on fire for an episode of "The Twilight Zone," and he approached the Penguin with just as much pride in his work. 

In an interview with James H. Burns that was reprinted in Joel Eisner's "Batman" explainer, "The Official Batman Batbook...

"The Twilight Zone" is one of those shows so ingrained in popular culture that it's become synonymous with anything mysterious or spooky, even for people who have never seen an episode before. Conceived by Rod Serling as a method of exploring social commentary and often controversial ideas that are still relevant today, the original series first aired in 1959 and ran for five seasons. Serling wrote the bulk of the teleplays and narrated in his own inimitable way, sometimes inserting himself into an episode while dangling an ever-present cigarette. "The Twilight Zone" was also a showcase for some great actors: William Shatner, Burgess Meredith, Buster Keaton, Lee Marvin, Peter Falk, and many others made memorable impressions in classic episodes.

10 years after Serling passed away in 1975, CBS decided to resurrect the show. Although 1983's "Twilight Zone: The Movie" was a disappointment, the '80s "Twilight Zone" TV revamp was still able to...

Buried somewhere within the 90 stolid minutes of Abby Brenker and Ellyn Vander Wyden’s Voices Carry, there’s a decent Twilight Zone episode. Not from Rod Serling’s iconic original, mind you, but one of the long-forgotten reboots hosted by Forest Whittaker or Burgess Meredith. Voices Carry, which premiered at Cinequest 2025, takes a germ of an idea about generational trauma and then steadfastly refuses to develop it, preferring an M. Night Shyamalan-style approach that turns the screws so lightly and with so little technique that the ending — which felt like it was conceived first and everything else was written to get us there — generates neither sympathy nor catharsis.

Such a slow-moving and uninvolving story needs a star-making lead performance to keep us in the game. But top-billed Gia Crovatin, while holding the film together nicely as a suburban woman who uncovers centuries-old secrets while staying in her family’s lakeside cottage,...

For someone who only started directing 10 years ago, Osgood Perkins has done incredibly well for himself. Longlegs was one of the best movies of 2024 and in 2025, the actor-filmmaker is once again ruling the world with The Monkey. The film has been received well by critics and is set to push the collective gross for Stephen King adaptations past the 3 billion dollar mark. But Perkins’ brilliance shouldn’t come as a surprise. The horror gene has always been in his family. His dad, Anthony Perkins, will forever be appreciated for his performance in Psycho.

The Monkey, adapted from King's 1980 short story of the same name, follows twin brothers Hal and Bill Shelburn (both portrayed by Theo James) whose lives are changed forever when they chance upon their father's old toy monkey in the attic. Little do they know that it has dark powers. Whenever it beats its drums, someone ends up dead.

When you purchase through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Black Mirror is a British sci-fi thriller drama anthology series created by Charlie Brooker. The episodes of Channel 4 and later Netflix series feature self-contained stories that revolve around a new piece of technology and explore how that technology affects the people around it. Black Mirror stars Bryce Dallas Howard, Cristin Milioti, Hayley Atwell, Jon Hamm, Michaela Coel, Anthony Mackie, Jesse Plemons, Toby Kebbell, Alex Lawther, Jodie Whittaker, and Hannah John-Kamen. So, if you loved the inventive stories, sci-fi elements, and compelling characters in Black Mirror, here are some similar shows you should check out next.

The Twilight Zone Credit – CBS

The Twilight Zone is a sci-fi fantasy horror drama anthology series created by Rod Serling. The CBS series’ episodes feature self-contained stories that revolve around seemingly ordinary people as they find themselves in extraordinary situations. The Twilight Zone stars Serling,...

The original G.I. Joe toyline was conceived in 1963 by designer Stanley Weston and was meant to serve as a more "masculine" counterpart to the female dolls designed for girls. Indeed, the word "doll" was used by marketers to describe babies or dress-up miniature women, not soldiers or men of action. Hasbro came up with the term "action figure" to refer to its G.I. Joes, and the term stuck. For several generations, children's toys were heavily gendered along those lines, with "girl" toys encouraging motherhood, domesticity, and fashion, while "boy" toys encouraged combat and violence.

By 1982, the G.I. Joe brand had become moribund and was in need of a sprucing up. A new line of toys was launched under the new name G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. These figures were only 3.75 inches high (the older ones were 12 inches) and were composed of 11 cartoony characters. They were American soldiers ... kind of.

Jeff Bridges is set to release a new album of archival recordings titled Slow Magic, 1977-1978. It drops in full on April 12th via Light in the Attic, but you can hear the previously unreleased song “Obnoxious” below.

The 11-track collection pulls from a recently unearthed, decaying cassette, which was simply labeled “July 1978.” Bridges started working on the songs at a house in Malibu with a group of high school friends including guitarists Stan Ayeroff and David Greenwalt, bassist Matthew Bright, and drummer Steve Baim.

He then rented a warehouse in Venice, California after filming 1976’s King Kong for recording sessions that produced “Obnoxious” and the title track. These sessions were overseen by Bob Dylan collaborator Ken Lauber.

“Pretty wild that this thing that happened around 50 years ago wants to bloom,” Bridges said in a press release. “I guess weirdness is what’s happening these days. You never can tell what’s gonna happen.

Jeff Bridges is set to release a new album of archival recordings titled Slow Magic, 1977-1978. It drops in full on April 12th via Light in the Attic, but you can hear the previously unreleased song “Obnoxious” below.

The 11-track collection pulls from a recently unearthed, decaying cassette, which was simply labeled “July 1978.” Bridges started working on the songs at a house in Malibu with a group of high school friends including guitarists Stan Ayeroff and David Greenwalt, bassist Matthew Bright, and drummer Steve Baim.

He then rented a warehouse in Venice, California after filming 1976’s King Kong for recording sessions that produced “Obnoxious” and the title track. These sessions were overseen by Bob Dylan collaborator Ken Lauber.

“Pretty wild that this thing that happened around 50 years ago wants to bloom,” Bridges said in a press release. “I guess weirdness is what’s happening these days. You never can tell what’s gonna happen.

In Jeff Bridges’ 1977 Rolling Stone cover story, the actor plays “Kong” — a truly wild and oddly impassioned song he wrote and sang, inspired by the lead creature of the King Kong remake Bridges was filming at the time — for writer Tim Cahill. Nearly five decades later, the world is getting to hear that long-lost track and 10 others, all recorded by Bridges and a musically gifted group of friends from high school. Bridges’ Slow Magic, due April 12 in record stores and April 11 online, is a deeply enjoyable collection that unearths the...

While boxing is a famous solitary sport, ultimately boiling down to a competition between two individual competitors, the close relationship between a pugilist and their trainer is tough and intimate, perfect material for a dramatic feature. Rocky's Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) and Mickey Goldmill (Burgess Meredith), Million Dollar Baby's Maggie (Hilary Swank) and Frankie (Clint Eastwood), or Claressa Shields (Ryan Destiny) and Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry) in The Fire Inside all highlight both the fiery aspirations and the dangerous pitfalls of the boxer-trainer relationship. Uppercut, by director Torsten Ruether, benefits from Ving Rhames' strong screen presence, but a lack of believability in both character development and plotting keep the character study from working.

From the moment Jean-Luc Godard returned to commercial cinema with his self-proclaimed “second first film” Every Man for Himself, he devoted himself to crafting a kind of holistic film, one rebuilt from the supposed “end of cinema” represented by his caustic 1967 feature Weekend. It was a goal he pursued until the end of his life, constantly revising his methods with new editing and video technology while finding new ways to illustrate the intersections of moviemaking, artistic representation, and the political histories that art both reveals and obscures. His first major summary of this method was 1987’s King Lear, a nominal treatment of Shakespeare’s tragedy that’s a total deconstruction of the prospect of adaptation.

Godard’s avant-garde approach and totalizing ambitions are obvious from the outset. The first thing we hear is a taped phone call from producer Menahem Colan berating Godard for taking too long with the project...

Academy voters had no love for Joker: Folie à Deux, but Batman leads the pack when it comes to comic book movies at the Oscars.

Many months ago, Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux seemed a likely Oscar contender at this weekend’s Academy Awards ceremony. Breaking the Batman mould, the 2018 original remains the most-nominated comic book movie to date with 11 nods, including Best Picture, Best Director, and a Best Actor win for Joaquin Phoenix.

With the addition of Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, the meta-fictional musical sequel came with more awards hype. This evaporated on contact with the movie’s lacklustre opening weekend, not to mention the disappointed reception from critics and fans.

(Full disclosure – I am blissfully ignorant of Phillips’ Joker movies, so won’t comment on either of them. Wherever you stand on them, it should suit everyone just fine if the worst movie that gets made...

The Twilight Zone is one of the best series ever put on television, with its sharp storytelling and signature twists elevating it to a perennial evergreen. The anthology format gave it a good deal of creative flexibility, exploring everything from comedy to horror during its run. Creator Rod Serling possessed the precise kind of mind to package it for television at that time. Many of its episodes have become pop-culture staples, and even the fair-to-middling ones still carry a punch that's hard to beat. The series' influence continues to be felt today, though no one has yet succeeded in recreating its formula.

The question of which episodes rank as the best will always be the subject of heated debate among The Twilight Zone fans, and everyone has their favorites. There are more than enough strong episodes to keep that argument going indefinitely. The best of them, however, combine a strong...

Few television shows have stood the test of time like The Twilight Zone. Created by the legendary Rod Serling, the anthology series was more than just eerie sci-fi and horror -- it was a masterclass in social commentary. Serling, a decorated World War II veteran and staunch advocate for civil rights and racial justice, used the show as a vehicle to discuss real-world injustices in a way that network executives would accept. When he attempted to write a script about the murder of Emmett Till, he faced censorship at every turn. Realizing that his message would only reach audiences if it was cloaked in allegory, he turned to science fiction and fantasy.

The result was The Twilight Zone, a show that challenged viewers to think critically about society, often sneaking hard-hitting truths past censors. Over its five-season run, the series tackled racism, authoritarianism, conformity, and the horrors of war -- sometimes subtly,...

When you purchase through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Love, Death & Robots is an adult animated anthology series created by Tim Miller and David Fincher. The Netflix series is a collection of various animated short stories from different genres, including sci-fi, dark fantasy, horror, and mystery. Love, Death & Robots’ voice cast includes Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Michael B. Jordan, Topher Grace, Elodie Yung and many more. So, if you loved the imaginative stories, anthology format, and compelling plots and characters in Love, Death & Robots, here are some similar shows you should check out next.

Secret Level (Prime Video) Credit – Amazon MGM Studios

Secret Level is an adult animated anthology series created by Tim Miller. The Prime Video series consists of fifteen standalone stories set in the universes of different video games, including Armored Core, Concord, Crossfire, Dungeons & Dragons, Exodus, Honor of Kings, Mega Man, Sifu,...

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Batman has one of the most enviable ensembles of recurring villains in superhero comics. Look back at the 1960s "Batman" TV series starring Adam West, though, and not a lot of those now familiar evildoers are there.

Oh, for sure, the Joker (Cesar Romero), the Riddler, Catwoman, and the Penguin (Burgess Meredith) all frequently guest star. It's because of the West series that this crew was long considered the Big Four of Batman villains; it's no coincidence that they were also the first four villains to star in the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher-directed "Batman" films.

Then you had some other comic villains, like Mr. Freeze and the Mad Hatter, put in a few appearances too. But many episodes of "Batman" instead had West's Caped Crusader and Robin (Burt Ward) face villains created specifically for the show, including wannabe pharoah...

The Twilight Zoneis one of the most influential and culturally significant pieces of art or media from the 20th Century, coming to redefine how American television storytelling worked and inspiring countless science fiction and horror storytellers. From Jordan Peele to M. Night Shyamalan, from Black Mirror to Love, Death, and Robots, the influence of The Twilight Zone can be felt in every corner of the modern entertainment industry.

Because the series is so ubiquitous, episodes of the show have seeped into the viewing public's consciousness whether they know it or not. Some of the best and most influential episodes of The Twilight Zone have had an incalculable impact on culture, so much so that many viewers may be aware of a given episode even if they have never seen the series themselves.

"A Game of Pool" Proves Being the Best Comes at a Price This Episode Marks a Classic Deal...

Not every horror movie needs a sprawling franchise to leave its mark on audiences. While some of the genre’s most iconic films have given rise to sequels, prequels, and entire cinematic universes, others succeed as powerful standalone stories. These films don’t rely on follow-ups to expand their terror. Instead, they deliver a complete and unforgettable experience, packing their supernatural scares into one self-contained narrative that lingers long after the credits roll.

Standalone supernatural horror movies often benefit from this focus, creating intricate and haunting tales that don’t need to stretch their mythology or recycle familiar tropes. They offer fully realized stories, unique atmospheres, and devastating climaxes that remain effective without the promise -- or threat -- of a sequel. And when one-off horrors really master the art of supernatural dread, they don't let you go.

The Tension Is On Fire In Burnt Offerings 1976 Image via MGM

A keystone of '70s horror,...

The banning of books in school libraries, an especially hot topic in 2022/23 news cycles, may not feature high in the headlines recently given the new presidential administration’s tsunami of rights-snuffing, Constitution-flouting executive orders. But it’s still going on. That makes the debut at Sundance of The Librarians, a scrupulously assembled feature documentary by esteemed, Peabody-winning director Kim A. Snyder, all the more welcome. (It’s extra timely given since Snyder was just Oscar-nominated, alongside producer Janique L. Robillard, for her documentary short Death By Numbers, which concerns a school-shooting survivor.)

Seamlessly assembling a wide variety of material, including vintage film snippets mixed in with the archival and original footage, The Librarians observes a clutch of educators, almost all women, fighting on the culture-war frontlines. Their opponents are legion: conservative school boards, members of the recently scandal-ridden right-wing organization Moms for Liberty and publicity-hungry Republican politicians, among others.

Snyder...

Hollywood is full of what-ifs, and none are more fascinating than when big-name directors almost directed movies that went on to achieve massive success. These instances get viewers thinking about alternate histories and questioning if some of the biggest franchises of all time or the most inspirational sports movies would have had the same impact with a different director at the helm. There are plenty of movies that have left their mark on popular culture, and it’s impossible to know how they would have turned out with a different creative voice calling the shots.

Many of the best films of all time were almost directed by a different filmmaker, as greats like Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott, and Quentin Tarantino have turned down more movies than they ever made. Iconic series like James Bond, Harry Potter, and Star Wars were offered to plenty of big-name directors who ultimately decided the project wasn’t for them.

Untold stories written by the legendary Rod Serling may finally be revealed. While the beloved host of The Twilight Zone passed away in 1975, he'd come up with several stories that were never adapted into episodes of the show, and now it's looking like that will finally change.

Per Syfy Wire, Serling was the driving force behind the immense success of The Twilight Zone, personally writing 92 of the original 156 episodes. Famously, he also served as the narrator for the series, and his presence helped give the show a unique feel that has never been replicated. Following Serling's death, his life story was explored by author Marc Scott Zicree, who collaborated with the family to publish The Twilight Zone Companion. For his research on the book, which is now in its third edition, Zicree poured through Serling's personal belongings, uncovering a plethora of never-before-seen material.

Related 20 Most Disturbing Twilight Zone Episodes, Ranked...

There's no denying that Batman has transcended his original status as a comic book character and is now a cultural icon. Ever since the character first appeared in an issue of Detective Comics in 1939, there have been several adaptations for film and television. When Tim Burton's vision hit theaters in 1989, Batman took on a darker tone. Whether it's The Animated Series, the Dark Night Trilogy, or even the graphic novel and animated adaptation of The Killing Joke, Batman now caters to a more mature audience.

The polar opposite of these modern depictions of Batman can be found in the television series that ran from 1966 to 1968 and featured Adam West in the title role. The show was campy, clever, and colorful, with Batman (West) and Robin (Burt Ward) protecting Gotham City from a rogue's gallery of iconic villains. In 1966, Batman: The Movie saw the series come to life on the big screen,...

The best Twilight Zone episodes offer a strong mix of sci-fi, horror, fantasy, and speculative fiction shorts that often play out as morality tales. The series was one of the original anthology television shows and is easily the most influential. Every anthology series that followed owes a lot to Rod Sterling's masterful collection of thought-provoking, often frightening, and disturbing tales of terror. Whether it was horror, sci-fi, or the fear of an unknown future, The Twilight Zone mastered it all.

There have been a few reboots of the series, including a critically acclaimed one by Jordan Peele. However, the original remains the best, and that series alone (running from 1959 to 1963) created some of the most haunting, frightening, scary, and sometimes hopeful and empathetic short films in genre television history. With major celebrity names like William Shatner, Jack Klugman, Burgess Meredith, and Jackie Gleason, the best Twilight Zone episodes are...

Danny DeVito and Colin Farrell are among the actors who have brought the iconic Batman villain, Penguin, to life in live-action.

After the finale of The Penguin, Colin Farrell received widespread praise for his portrayal of Oz and is likely to earn a Golden Globe nomination. But what does the original Penguin himself, Danny DeVito, think of Farrell’s take on the character?

In a recent interview, Danny DeVito discussed how his portrayal of Penguin differed from Colin Farrell’s, noting that while the characters were distinct, both performances were effective in their own way.

Oh, Colin’s giving me a run for my money. And it’s totally different. I’ve been watching it. I haven’t watched the whole thing, but I watched most of what was out… and you know, it’s really good.

I understand the trauma of going through, like, hours and hours of makeup,...

Danny DeVito and Colin Farrell are just some of the actors who played the iconic Batman villain, Penguin, in live-action.

Following The Penguin‘s finale, Colin Farrell was praised for his performance and will probably earn himself a Golden Globe nomination. But what does the iconic Penguin, Danny DeVito, think of Farrell’s performance as Oz?

In a recent interview, Danny DeVito explained how Farrell’s and his Penguin were quite different characters, but they both did the job well.

Oh, Colin’s giving me a run for my money. And it’s totally different. I’ve been watching it. I haven’t watched the whole thing, but I watched most of what was out… and you know, it’s really good.

I understand the trauma of going through, like, hours and hours of makeup, and you’re transforming yourself. It’s different with me, because wherever I go, I’m Oswald Cobblepot,...

The Max series The Penguin has just aired its season finale, and it's the most heavily streamed title on the platform at the moment. That's for good reason Colin Farrell is phenomenal in this follow-up to Matt Reeves' The Batman, and the show has a secret weapon with the staggeringly good Cristin Milioti. It was a bold direction to take The Penguin character in an extremely different from previous depictions of the character, especially the most iconic one Danny DeVito in Batman Returns. His raw fish-eating, long-nosed, terrifying take on The Penguin remains one of the best portrayals of a Batman villain. So how does Farrell hold up to that? DeVito spoke with MovieWeb about it while promoting his warm new family comedy, A Sudden Case of Christmas.

"Oh, Colin's giving me a run for my money," said DeVito with a smile in his trademark growl. "And it's totally different.

The Penguin very quickly went from being just another cash grab spin-off to one of the must-watch shows of the year. Now, the final episode of the season has one of the highest IMDb ratings for a TV series with an incredible 9.7. This puts it in the same league as the likes of The Last of Us and Breaking Bad, which temporarily swapped places last year, and certainly vindicates Matt Reeves expansion on The Batman.

The Penguin has brought the iconic comic book villain to life in a much more grounded way than the usual depictions of an umbrella-carrying, bird-like character that has been previously depicted on screen by the likes of Burgess Meredith and Danny DeVito. Playing out like a version of The Sopranos with Batman characters thrown in the mix, the series hit the ground running and hardly missed a beat throughout its run.

Now, as the show...

The Penguin episode 7 sets up Oswald Cobb's comic-accurate DC appearance ahead of The Batman - Part II. Before The Penguin season finale wraps up Oz Cobb's solo series, The Penguin episode 7 offers a glimpse of Oz's childhood, revealing where his ruthless, back-stabbing reputation came from. According to episode 7's flashbacks, Oz killed his two brothers by trapping them in the Gotham sewers during a storm. From that moment, Oz took a liking to murder and swore to protect his mother at all costs.

Among every live-action adaptation of the Penguin, Colin Farrell's and Burgess Meredith's seem to be the most faithful to the comics, as Danny DeVito's and Robin Lord Taylor's iterations took several creative liberties in order to portray the Penguin as a more extravagant villain. Colin Farrell's Penguin, in particular, focuses on the character's most realistic characters. The Penguin's Oz Cobb is a theacherous...

While director Matt Reeves was developing “The Batman,” his epic superhero movie starring Robert Pattinson as the Dark Knight, he ran into a problem — he had too much story.

At the time, the filmmaker asked Warner Bros. if perhaps they would instead want a miniseries. “What could be really cool is an HBO series – ‘Batman: Year Two,’ solving this crime,” Reeves remembered telling his executives. What he was told in response was, “We have nothing to do with HBO.”

But as Reeves was finishing the script for “The Batman” and gearing up for production, he met with Wbd and said, “Look, I know these things are connected, but it’d be really exciting to do an HBO show where you can investigate these characters in a way that HBO would,” Reeves recalled to TheWrap. “And they were like, ‘We want to do exactly that.’ And suddenly there was this moment...

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

To this day, Rod Serling's sci-fi anthology series "The Twilight Zone" regularly tops lists of the best TV shows of all time. Serling, and a team of some of the best sci-fi authors of the 1950s and 1960s, conceived of 156 miniature morality stories, usually with a supernatural bent, and in so doing changed the very face of television. Sci-fi and horror were considered more commercially viable, inspiring a new slew of imitators and a shift in the public's attention. Serling also introduced a unique form of storytelling efficiency with "The Twilight Zone," proving that an entire, closed morality fable could be wrapped up in a mere 25 minutes (or 51 minutes in the show's fourth season). Serling was also careful to explicitly state a moral in every episode, making "The Twilight Zone" a fantastic social commentary. 

"The Twilight Zone" ran from...

Oz Cobb is unlike any Penguin that DC fans have seen before. With a feature-length movie and an eight-episode limited series under his belt, Colin Farrell has shared what separates his Penguin from past live-action incarnations.

In an interview with Collider, Farrell opened up about how his perception of the iconic Batman villain has changed now that he has played him across multiple projects. "I suppose its the difference between reading a mass card and reading the King James Bible. The film was a mass card," he explained. "I was there to be a red herring. ... It was more fun in the film, but it was just that." With The Penguin, Farrell was able to "get under that hood of this character." He added, "There are some flashbacks to events that happened in his childhood, that articulate in a very clear way, why he is the way he is and...

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Joker: Folie Deux!With a new live-action Batman set to debut in the Dcu's The Brave and the Bold, there could be a new star joining the ranks of actors who've portrayed the Joker. As one of the most iconic Batman villains of all time, there have been multiple actors who have portrayed the Joker in numerous live-action films and TV adaptations. The Clown Prince of Crime remains a DC fan-favorite, regarded as being among the greatest comic book characters of all time. Naturally, he has been re-interpreted by various actors throughout his long history, dating all the way back to 1940.

Every Joker actor has brought something new to the role, and the next one will join a storied legacy. Many actors have embraced the character's humorous tendencies, while others have made him a nightmarish character. In various Batman movies and shows, some...

‘Tis the season to draw viewing inspiration from all things Halloween, and haunted houses are one of the key staples of the holiday. And for good reason, too, as few things are as inherently terrifying as an invasion of the very place where you’re meant to feel safest: your home.

Dealing with a paranormal presence isn’t quite as easy to deal with as masked maniacs or a more tangible threat. It’s often a fear of the unknown that induces the most nerve-fraying anxiety, and a haunted house is full of unknowns. This week’s streaming picks are dedicated to one of horror’s most foundational subgenres: the haunted house movie.

These five titles range from classic haunted house fare to modern frights that reinterpret what a haunted house can be. All aim to induce maximum frights, perfect for this Halloween season.

Here’s where you can stream them this week.

Thanks to Colin Farrells powerhouse performances in The Batman and, most recently, The Penguin, DC fans are now engaging in serious discourse about who the best live-action Oswald Cobblepot (or Cobb) is. Like Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, Farrell has put in a ton of effort to make his character as perfect as possible. But in a world where some fans still feel Jack Nicholson was the best Joker, some believe that Danny DeVitos performance in Batman Returns can never be topped. But is that the case? Thats a topic worthy of hours of debate.

Batman Returns Release Date June 19, 1992Director Tim BurtonCast Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Michael Gough, Michael MurphyRuntime 126Main Genre Action

In 1992, Danny DeVito wowed audiences with his horrific version of the Gotham criminal. His Penguin was not a scheming Cosa Nostra seeking to create institutional cracks in the biggest crime family in the city.

Hulu’s boxing series La Máquina begins not with glimpses of in-ring action, but with the drama taking place immediately around it. The camera whips through the crowds of entertainers, security guards, and personnel found backstage, all desperately trying to get things in order before the lights go down and the entrance music for the fight plays.

Eventually, we’re brought to the main man himself, Esteban “La Máquina” Osuna (Gael García Bernal), a veteran boxer known for his grit and determination. La Máquina carries itself with the same relentless energy: From the movements of the camera to the colors and the outsized personalities of the characters themselves, everything about it is vibrant and alive.

Esteban looks the part of the perfect prizefighter, though his hair is graying around the temples. He has the slightly gawky, boyish charm you find in many top athletes, perhaps the result of a life...

The 1980s were a true golden era for action movies, producing some of the most iconic, adrenaline-fueled movies in cinematic history. Larger-than-life characters came face-to-face with evil villains, in battles with high stakes and incredible settings. The action movies of this era pushed the boundaries of what was possible to achieve on screen, and have produced some of the most unforgettable and intense action scenes of all time.

From a tense dogfight in an F-14, to a fight with the Clown Prince of Crime, there is no denying the impact that these scenes have left on the genre. Whether it's a one-on-one fight, a massacre, or a chase scene, these moments pushed characters, and film-making, to their limits and kept viewers on the edge of their seats. These scenes not only defined their movies, but set the standard for action cinema to follow in the years after.

Predator vs. Dutch...

Quick Links DC Comics and the Original Batman Show Gave Penguin His First Look Tim Burton Refashioned Penguin With a Darker Look The Matt Reeves/Colin Farrell Penguin Brought Back Realism

When the Penguin character, also known as Oswald "Oz" Cobblepot, was reintroduced into the DC Universe in the 2022 film The Batman, the character underwent a major transformation. The Penguin's appearance again veered heavily away from its original comic book concept, introduced in Detective Comics #58 by creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger in 1941. In The Batman, actor Colin Farrell was given a heavy makeup transformation but appeared to have shed many of the Penguin's previous calling cards like his monocle, morning suit, and heavily weaponized umbrella. Interestingly, though, in HBO's new series The Penguin, some of those signature accessories have crept back into his physical presentation, even though the character has gone from "Gentleman of Crime" to a mob associate...

Comic book movies are famously littered with Easter eggs referencing the original comics, the artists behind them, and past movie adaptations. Kalina Ivanov, the production designer on The Penguin, has revealed the secrets behind the show's production, including how the team hid dozens of Easter eggs in plain sight. Oswald Cobblepot, a.k.a. The Penguin, made his DC Comics debut way back in 1941. Since then, the character has appeared in various live-action TV shows, and in Tim Burton's Batman Returns, opposite Michael Keaton's Batman. With the character's rich history, Ivanov and the team had decades worth of material to pull from when hiding secret details.

The Penguin 4/5 TV-MACrimeDrama Where to WatchSeasonAllSeason 1streamrentbuy

Not available

Not available

streamrentbuy

Not available

Not available

Not available

*Availability in US

Created by Lauren LeFranc, The Penguin is a crime-drama spin-off television series of 2022's film The Batman. Set shortly after the events of The Batman,...

Every crime lord needs a right-hand man, and in the case of Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell), the titular villain of HBO's The Penguin, he's got someone on his pardon the pun wing, young Victor "Vic" Aguilar, played by Rhenzy Feliz. Over the course of the first episode, Aguilar goes from teenage delinquent to seizing the opportunity to work on behalf of Oz, pushing the limits of what he's willing to do for his new boss... and it's not sweeping up what remains of the Iceberg Lounge. If you know the Penguin exclusively from the pages of DC Comics, or even from his portrayals in media Burgess Meredith's campy take in the 1966 Batman series and Danny DeVito from 1992's Batman Returns you may not remember Victor. You're not being gaslit: Victor hasn't appeared before The Penguin.

When you purchase through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Apartment 7A is a psychological horror thriller film directed by Natalie Erika James who also co-wrote the film with Christian White and Skylar James. Based on the 1967 novel titled Rosemary’s Baby by author Ira Levin, the Paramount+ film serves as a prequel to the iconic 1968 film by Roman Polanski. Apartment 7A is set in 1965 in New York City and it follows the story of a young dancer who rents a room from an elderly couple after suffering from a serious injury that ends her career. Apartment 7A stars Julia Garner, Dianne West, Kevin McNally, Jim Sturgess, Marli Siu, Rosy McEwen, Amy Leeson, Scott Hume, and Andrew Buchan. So, if you loved the psychological horror, edge-of-the-seat thrills, and compelling characters in Apartment 7A here are some similar movies you should check out next.

Rosemary’s Baby Credit – Paramount Pictures

Rosemary’s Baby...

With The Penguin introducing a new version of Oswald Cobblepot to the realm of live-action Batman adaptations, some viewers may be wondering who the most comic-accurate version of The Penguin is. The Penguin debuted in the Golden Age of comic books, appearing in the 58th issue of Detective Comics as the latest adversary of Batman and Robin. The Penguins gentlemanly demeanor and high-tech umbrella weapons combined with his thuggish brutality and clever criminal leadership quickly made him one of the most famous members of Batmans iconic rogues gallery. Unsurprisingly, The Penguin has appeared in numerous Batman adaptations due to this.

The Penguins live-action debut was in the 1960s Batman TV show, with Burgess Meredith bringing the character to life in the shows intentionally campy take on the Batman mythos. Merediths iteration of Penguin would be both the first televised and cinematic version of the character, with the 1966 Batman movie (set...

Quick Links Ozs Origin Is Different in the Matt Reeves Universe Matt Reeves Used The Riddler's More Realistic Name The Penguin Is an Elseworld Story

The Batman in 2022 launched another cinematic approach to The Dark Knight from writer and director Matt Reeves. Like Christopher Nolan, Reeves grounded Batman in the real world, but his approach maintained a different style fresh for audiences. Reeves' vision was a success and led Warner Bros. down the road of crafting a shared universe set in the new Gotham City from Reeves. The 2022 film also reinvented some famous villains from Batman's lore, like The Penguin, who served a small yet standout role. A series centered on The Penguin, played by Collin Farrell, would eventually find its way to HBO, with the show already living up to the standard set by The Batman in the eyes of critics and fans following its recent premiere.

Starting in The Batman,...