News

The way a plot twist is executed can make or break a TV show, as it adds new layers to a preexisting plot. The best twists are ones that are carefully woven into the overarching narrative and themes of the show, enhancing audience engagement and enjoyment rather than stifling it.

While many twists have left viewers confused, angry, or disappointed in the direction the show took, these twists were expertly implemented, elevating an already captivating show. Though there's nothing like witnessing the reveal of a twist for the first time, it can be just as rewarding to rewatch the show and see how all the little details add up.

Frank Turned Out To Be Sam's Son How to Get Away with Murder

The promo for Season 6, Episode 13 of the hit ABC drama How to Get Away with Murder was marketed as containing "the biggest plot twist of the entire series,...

This third collection of the Macanudo daily strip – by the Argentinian cartoonist known as Liniers – is in the same style and closely follows the first two books, Welcome to Elsewhere and Optimism Is For the Brave . So, normally, I would struggle to say something different here, when the underlying work is the same kind of thing – more penguins, elves, Olga and her boy, Henrietta and her cat, two witches, Mysterious Man in Black, and so forth.

But I read this book two weeks ago, before a major vacation (my first getaway vacation in about five years), so I would already struggle to remember or think of things to write about it. And having a built-in excuse that comes with links to two long posts about basically exactly the material in this book gives me the warm and fuzzies, this morning when a major snowstorm threatens to drop six or more inches later in the day.

With increasing class disparity, the pervasion of hyper consumerism, and corporate control over every sphere of life, it’s no wonder that in art and literature, eat-the-rich has become a subgenre in itself. The existing inequality, the negligence of the so-called one percenters towards the plight of those in need, and the inevitable conflict between different strata of the economic hierarchy make for relatable, engrossing narratives. But the issue is, among the numerous movies released nowadays that deal with this particular topic, only a few actually manage to ask the right questions with an understanding perspective. Unfortunately, Netflix’s German drama, Delicious, isn’t one of those, and despite having the right intention to portray the ever-growing and persistent class divide, it ends up demonizing the oppressed class in the most weird way possible. The characterization feels largely derivative as well, and the narrative as a whole is very predictable.

It’s official! One of the things I’ve been hoping for will happen for Blue Bloods‘ Jamie and Eddie before the series wraps up.

It’s still heartbreaking that we only have a few episodes left with these two and with the rest of the Reagan family, but at least Blue Bloods will get the strong send-off it deserves.

Plus, there still could be a spinoff even if that’s all talk right now (and not the same as more Blue Bloods!)

(CBS/John Paul Filo) Jamie And Eddie’s Final Storyline Is Everything I Dreamed Of

It’s been several years since Eddie and Jamie got married, and they’ve spent less time together ever since.

Law & Order: Svu Season 26 Episode 5 Spoilers Promise One Of The Most Intense Stories Yet As Benson Stands Up To Sextortionistsby Jack Ori Aisha Hinds & Dennisha Pratt Talk Denny’s Big 9-1-1 Episode,...

If you’ve been paying attention to the 9-1-1 fandom for the last seven years, you’ll know that there’s one particular couple fans can’t get off their minds: Buddie.

At least, we wish they were a couple.

That’s right, folks. In the midst of bee-nados, children copiloting airplanes, and Bobby’s new Hollywood gig, we’re still thinking about our favorite firefighter ship.

(Hulu/Screenshots) Who is Buddie?

Buddie is, of course, the nickname fans have affectionately assigned to the Evan “Buck” Buckley and Eddie Diaz ship.

In a major win for LGBTQ+ representation, we learned that Buck is bisexual during 9-1-1 Season 7 Episode 4.

Before that, there was technically no canonical reason to believe he or Eddie might belong to the LGBTQ+ community.

(Heavy emphasis on “technically.”)

Still, the subtext has always been there, and Buddie fans are tired of waiting.

(Disney/Mike Taing) It...

Alicia Vikander and Jude Law in FirebrandImage: Roadside Attractions

The physicality of the relationship between King Henry VIII (Jude Law) and his sixth and final wife Catherine Parr (Alicia Vikander) is strongly present throughout director Karim Aïnouz’s Firebrand. This is a couple that’s always sparring, whether when having sex or fighting.

by Chad Kennerk

Jude Law as Henry VIII and Alicia Vikander as Katherine Parr.

Photo credit: Larry Horricks. All images courtesy of Roadside Attractions

Based on Elizabeth Fremantle’s 2012 novel Queen’s Gambit, Firebrand follows the story of Katherine Parr, the sixth (and ultimately last) wife of Tudor dynasty monarch King Henry VIII. During the film’s development, director Karim Aïnouz and writers Henrietta and Jessica Ashworth honed the story down to focus on a period four years into Henry’s final marriage. Queen Katherine has been named regent while Henry fights overseas. When the increasingly ailing and paranoid King returns, he turns his fury on the realm’s religious radicals, charging Katherine’s childhood friend with treason. Katherine soon finds herself fighting for her own survival in an increasingly oppressive palace. On the hope of a hereafter free from the tyranny that has defined blood-soaked Tudor England, Katherine uses...

Some comic strips have ongoing stories – adventure strips are rarer these days, but long continuities still exist, here and there. Some have recurring gags, done slightly differently each time – Lucy and the football, the possibly imaginary Ernesto Lacuna, a sergeant viciously beating a private.

Those are things to grab onto, when you are, as I am now, trying to write about a new book collecting that comic strip.

Liniers’ Macanudo is a wispier, quirkier, more variable thing – it does have recurring characters, but their interactions are oddly both more and less templated. The elves always talk about the same kinds of things, ditto the penguins. Olga and Martin have imaginative adventures, usually outside. Henrietta reads books, and does other little-girl things. But what they each do is more intellectual, more about the life of the mind, and less “little Billy draws a dotted line through the neighborhood again” – it’s more patter,...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (Raven Jackson)

A film that feels uprooted from deep beneath the earth, Raven Jackson’s poetic, patient debut is a distillation of cinema to its purest form, a stunning patchwork of experience and memory. Tethered around the life of Mack, a Black woman from Mississippi, as we witness glimpses of her childhood, teenage years, and beyond, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt becomes a sensory experience unlike anything else this year. Shot in beautiful 35mm by Jomo Fray and edited by Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s collaborator Lee Chatametikool, there’s a reverence for nature and joy for human connection that seems all too rarified in today’s landscape of American filmmaking. – Jordan R.

Where to Stream: VOD...

New Zoo Revue was a groundbreaking children's show that tackled important issues using original music and lovable characters. The show's success was due in large part to the chemistry and communication between Douglas Momary and Emily Peden, who played a crucial role as zoo helper Emmy Jo. The impact of New Zoo Revue was recently recognized through a Facebook page dedicated to the show, and there is now interest in reviving the series using modern animation techniques.

Though it ended in 1977, the half-hour children's program New Zoo Revue is still revered today for its fearless and innovative tackling of issues that children need help dealing with. The show was musical in nature, with creator Douglas Momary writing over 600 original songs for the 196 episodes that aired. The series came into being with the help of Barbara Atlas, a toy company executive who commissioned Momary to craft a show around Freddie the beanbag frog.

9-1-1 season 7 will most likely begin production in January or December, with March a potential release window. The show is also moving from Fox to ABC for the upcoming season. While there's no news on when the spinoff 9-1-1: Lone Star will resume filming, the original 9-1-1 is a priority for production restart.

9-1-1 season 7's potential release window is discussed in a detailed new report. The long-running first responder franchise, which was created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Tim Minear, experienced a big change back in May when it was announced that 9-1-1 had been canceled at Fox and would instead move to ABC. Despite its strong ratings, the show was costly for Fox. However, since then, due to the dual strikes, there has been virtually no news on the franchise's future.

Per Variety, which examined when television shows could return now...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Birth/Rebirth (Laura Moss)

Likely a film that some will find underwhelming due to its lowkey, mostly affectless style, it’s a rather impressive feat of narrative economy that manages to separate itself from the seemingly endless indie horror crop. Directed by Laura Moss, there’s the sense they either don’t have much of a feel for the genre or rather harbors a general disdain for the shorthands it’s fallen into (hopefully they don’t get absorbed into bad studio product soon), the film’s tendencies refreshingly feel free of the trappings of calling-card cinema. – Ethan V. (full review)

Where to Stream: Shudder, AMC+

The Curse (Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie)

Following up the discomfitingly brilliant The Rehearsal, Nathan Fielder...

Seven years after creating his Academy Award-nominated darling Lion, director Garth Davis has brought to life another book with his new sci-fi thriller Foe. Based on the 2018 novel by Iain Reid, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Davis, it tells the story of husband and wife Junior (Paul Mescal) and Henrietta (Saoirse Ronan), aka Hen, whose peaceful life on a farm in the near future is interrupted by a stranger with a huge opportunity that will put their marriage to the test. There's a focus on Junior as an AI version of himself is set to stand in for him during his years-long mission in space, but during an interview with Collider's Steve Weintraub, the director expressed that Hen was the true soul of the film.

Director Garth Davis wanted to explore the complexities of the human condition in his latest film, Foe, which is a science fiction thriller adaptation of Iain Reid's novel. Davis praised the small cast, including Saoirse Ronan, Paul Mescal, and Aaron Pierre, for their professionalism, creativity, and willingness to go beyond the script to explore their characters' emotions. The opening scene of the film, in which the characters display various emotions without revealing vital information, was the most challenging for the cast and required extensive rehearsals. The scene sets the stage for the complexity of the story.

Director Garth Davis sat down with Screenrant to discuss his latest film and working with Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal.

After directing Lion (2016) and Mary Magdalene (2018), Davis wanted to try his talents with a science-fiction film.

I was desperate for it. I mean, in a way I can do these big sweeping things,...

The year is 2065. Earth is dying. Somewhere in the blighted midwest, our story begins. A squat trapezoidal car pulls up to a house, not too close, but close enough to wake up the man who's been sleeping on the couch, Junior (Paul Mescal), who is on the outs with his wife, Henrietta (Saoirse Ronan) – who goes by Hen, for short. A man appears at the door. With a rifle in hand, Junior wants to know who he is and what he wants. Hen says to let him in.

The film is Foe, directed by Garth Davis, with a script co-written by Davis and the original novel's author, Iain Reid (I'm Thinking of Ending Things). It's a lovely, sensitive, character-driven story with an extravagant setup that more or less mines the same subjects that have been the heart of storytelling since time immemorial. That is until its biggest reveal is that...

The upcoming “Killers of the Flower Moon” is bringing the Western genre back into center stage this October.

The film took the top spot on Whip Media’s Movie Anticipation Report for the month, based on viewing intent data from TV Time, Whip Media’s TV and movie tracking app with more than 28 million global registered users. Not only that, the crime drama has already received mass critical acclaim, perhaps making up for its various production complications for distributors Apple and Paramount.

Stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert de Niro, and Lily Gladstone play the leads of the highly anticipated film, which is an adaptation of the 2017 book of the same name by author David Grann. Serving as both director and producer, Martin Scorsese also co-wrote the screenplay alongside Eric Roth, marking his latest in a series of collaborations with DiCaprio and de Niro.

Following September’s horror releases, “Five Nights at Freddy’s” takes the No.

The film Foe explores the tumultuous relationship of a married couple set in a desolate future, posing philosophical questions about love and humanity. The visual contrast in the film between a rural setting and futuristic machines reflects the stagnation in the couple's relationship and the resistance to change. The production designer, Patrice Vermette, drew inspiration from Andrew Wyeth's paintings to create a setting that symbolizes a refusal to adapt and change, ultimately leading to the couple's downfall.

Foe is a new sci-fi thriller set on a desolate version of the Earth in 2065, wherein a married couple's already tumultuous relationship is pushed to the edge by AI. Based on a book of the same name by I'm Thinking of Ending Things author Iain Reid, the film explores philosophical questions about what it means to love and to be human. The film has a very small cast, with only three main...

Foe is a sci-fi thriller that explores marriage and humanity, set in a desolate world in 2065. The film follows a couple whose lives are disrupted by a stranger's request and raises questions about what it means to be human. The cinematographer focused on creating a sense of melancholia and claustrophobia through the visuals, while working with the talented cast.

New sci-fi thriller Foe offers an exploration of both marriage and humanity, following a couple whose lives are thrown into turmoil by the request of a mysterious stranger. Based on a novel of the same name by I'm Thinking of Ending Things author Iain Reid, the story is set in 2065 in a desolate world where many have relocated off of Earth due to climate change. The film features Little Women's Saoirse Ronan, Normal People's Paul Mescal, and Brother's Aaron Pierre.

Mescal stars as Junior, who's informed by a man...

Amazon Studios' new sci-fi drama Foe accidentally retreads an acclaimed episode from Charlie Brooker's Netflix series, the one starring Domnhall Gleeson as a human replicant. With science fiction, it's probably inevitable that story elements overlap between different projects, but the problems with Foe don't stop there. Oscar nominees Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal give it their all, but the plot falls victim to clichés and underdeveloped twists and turns that often lead us scratching our heads.

Friend, Foe, or Femme Fatale?

Friend or foe? That seems to be the question at hand in this new sci-fi thriller from director Garth Davis, though it's not the only question we'll be asking ourselves by the end. This is not a galaxy far, far away, but rather a dystopian planet Earth, reminiscent of Christopher Nolan's vision in his 2014 film Interstellar. It's indeed the future, year 2065 to be exact, but Junior (Mescal...

You have an Oscar-nominated actor who’s played everything from queens to killing machines. You’ve paired her with a performer who is arguably the hottest, most in-demand next-gen leading man of the moment. The source material is the second novel from an acclaimed writer, whose first book (I’m Thinking of Ending Things) was one of the more intriguing page-to-screen adaptations in years. He co-wrote the screenplay with the director, whose previous work on Lion (2016) and the limited series Top of the Lake (2013) suggests he knows how to helm left-of-center journeys both accessible and moving.

Ossie Davis’ play Purlie Victorious premiered on Broadway as a drama in 1961 when the vestiges of America’s Jim Crow caste system were still alive and well in the South. Even with 60-plus years of distance, it’s hard to believe how resonant the play is today with the hilarious Broadway revival that premiered last week at the Music Box Theatre.

Leslie Odom Jr. stars in the title role as a smooth-talking Georgia preacher trying to get a $500 inheritance left by his Aunt Henrietta from Ol’ Cap’n (Jay O. Sanders). Purlie comes up with a crackpot scheme to hire Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins (Kara Young) to pose as Henrietta’s daughter, Cousin Bee, to get the money from Ol’ Cap’n. Purlie wants the funds to buy Big Bethel church, where his dad once preached. High jinx ensue – but amid all the slapstick comedy, a much more profound story...

Foe and a Black Mirror episode share similarities in exploring the concept of replacing loved ones with lifelike artificial beings. Foe focuses on the before aspect of this concept, while the Black Mirror episode focuses on the after. Foe may better explore the idea of being replaced and the complexities of loyalty and marriage when dealing with artificial beings.

There are always new and interesting ideas floating around Hollywood. However, sometimes, they are picked up by more than one studio at a time. This is often called “parallel thinking”. Now, the film Foe is being released by Amazon Studios.

The problem is that it looks quite a bit closer to a recent episode of Black Mirror than Netflix probably likes.

Black Mirror and Beyond the Sea

Beyond the Sea was the title of episode three of season six of Black Mirror. The show, known for delving into psychological issues through the medium of future technology,...

While Ash Williams killed a lot of Deadites throughout the original Evil Dead trilogy and Ash Vs Evil Dead, not all of his weapons were equally suited to this task. Bruce Campbell’s Evil Dead hero Ash Williams has an interesting history. In 1981’s surprisingly dark The Evil Dead, Ash was a relatively grounded, ordinary guy who was thrust into a nightmare when a possessed book turned his friends into murderous Deadites. In Evil Dead 2, he was a far cartoonier figure, a clumsy but tough hero who attempted to defeat his Deadite attackers with a combination of ingenuity and brute force. By 1993’s Army of Darkness, he was an action hero.

However, TV’s Ash Vs Evil Dead changed Ash’s Evil Dead franchise role again by introducing an older version of the character. In this TV show spinoff, Ash was a tired, underemployed hero who simply wanted to be left alone.

Expect a twisty, apocalyptic mindbender upcoming apocalyptic thriller Foe, based on best-selling author Iain Reid’s (I’m Thinking of Ending Things) novel. Today, Amazon Studios announced a Halloween season release for the adaptation.

Look for Foe to arrive in US theaters on October 6, 2023.

Saoirse Ronan, Paul Mescal, and Aaron Pierre star in the twisty apocalyptic marital thriller. The first look image above previews Ronan and Mescal as the central married couple.

The film is described as “a haunting exploration of marriage and identity set in an uncertain world. Hen and Junior farm a secluded piece of land that has been in Junior’s family for generations, but their quiet life is thrown into turmoil when an uninvited stranger (Pierre) shows up at their door with a startling proposal.”

Directed by Garth Davis, and co-written by Davis and Reid, “Foe’s mesmerizing imagery and persistent questions about the nature of humanity...

Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan are tasked with finding out who is friend or “Foe” in Garth Davis’ upcoming dystopian drama.

Writer-director Davis co-adapted the screenplay from Iain Reid’s novel of the same name; Reid also penned “I’m Thinking of Ending Things,” which Charlie Kaufman previously adapted to the big screen.

Oscar-nominated stars Mescal and Ronan portray a married couple living 40 years in the future where an environmental crisis has made their farmland almost uninhabitable. Mescal’s character is ordered to leave his home to help pilot a space program while his wife, played by Ronan, would be looked after.

Per the official synopsis, Hen (Ronan) and Junior (Mescal) farm a secluded piece of land that has been in Junior’s family for generations, but their quiet life is thrown into turmoil when an uninvited stranger (Aaron Pierre) shows up at their door with a startling proposal.

Aaron Pierce,...

Earlier this week, we were devastated to hear that Paul Reubens, the actor and comedian best known for playing the character Pee-wee Herman, had passed away at the age of 70, following a six year private battle with cancer. Among the many people who took to social media to mourn the loss of Reubens was special makeup effects artist Mark Shostrom, whose long list of credits includes The Slumber Party Massacre, The Beastmaster, The Mutilator, From Beyond, Witchboard, Prince of Darkness, Poltergeist III, Phantasm II and III, the first three Nightmare on Elm Street movies, and Evil Dead II. And while paying tribute to Reubens, Shostrom revealed that an iconic effect from Evil Dead II drew inspiration from an iconic effect in Pee-wee’s Big Adventure!

Shostrom said, “Paul Reubens provided huge inspiration for my work on Evil Dead II. I had been watching Pee-wee’s Big Adventure on VHS on repeat while sculpting.

The late, great Paul Reubens was an artist of incredible duality, a quality embodied by his most famous character, Pee-wee Herman. With his neatly-cropped hair, snazzy red bow tie, and stylin' grey suit and pants, Pee-wee looked like a member of The Little Rascals who had inexplicably grown up overnight. He wasn't all childish innocence and mischief, though. More than a bratty streak, there was something undeniably twisted about Pee-wee, even if, as a kid, I could never quite place my finger on what it was. I just knew that I liked it.

Reubens' brilliance in the art of dark absurdism made him a perfect match for Tim Burton, another artist who appealed to my off-kilter sensibilities before I was old enough to understand why. The pair would join forces multiple times over the course of Reubens' career, beginning with Burton's feature directing debut, "Pee-wee's Big Adventure," in 1985. Looking back now,...

The Evil Dead franchise has gone from horror to horror comedy and back to more gruesome stories, but in every phase, it has featured some truly brutal deaths. Back in 1981, Sam Raimi brought his feature directorial debut The Evil Dead, a supernatural horror movie that introduced the world to the Necronomicon and Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell). The Evil Dead was a critical and commercial success, and in addition to launching the careers of Raimi, Campbell, and producer Robert G. Tapert, it made way for a very peculiar franchise.

The Evil Dead was followed by Evil Dead II, a retcon of the first movie which also changed the tone to horror-comedy, establishing Ash Williams as an incompetent, yet lucky and charming Final Boy. Ash’s trilogy was completed with Army of Darkness in 1992, after which the franchise got the reboot treatment twice: first in 2013 with Fede Álvarez’s Evil Dead and...

Tudor, or not Tudor. That is the question in “Firebrand,” a revisionist royal portrait of Henry VIII’s last wife, Katherine Parr (played here by Alicia Vikander), that features all the pageantry you’d expect from a lavish costume drama, while showing the a historical audacity to call “Time’s Up” on the gluttonous king (Jude Law). Never mind that Henry VIII died — of very different causes than the movie depicts — all of 476 years ago. When it comes to art, there’s no statute of limitations on taking toxic masculinity to task, which can be both encouraging (since history has excused no shortage of monsters) and frustrating.

There’s a big difference between exposing the truth and rewriting what came before to suit a contemporary political agenda, the way “Firebrand” does. Liberally adapted from Elizabeth Fremantle’s fast-and-loose historical fiction “The Queen’s Gambit,” director Karim Aïnouz’s tony yet dull...

Actor Ted Raimi loves horror so much that he’s dedicated much of his career to it, providing fans with an endless array of memorable characters from Evil Dead II’s Henrietta to last year’s morally complex Travis Hackett in video game The Quarry.

Up next for the horror stalwart is Failure!, an ambitious, violent thriller premiering this Sunday under the Fantastic Pavilion at this year’s Cannes’ Marché du Film.

In Failure!, Ted Raimi produces and stars as a man forced to choose between financial ruin and murder with little time to process, resulting in a crime thriller that delivers on violence. That’s burying the lede, however, as Raimi’s latest takes on the daunting task of capturing this moral conundrum through one single take.

Ted Raimi exclusively spoke with Bloody Disgusting about Failure!, detailing the challenges of making a single-take feature-length thriller.

The producer/actor shares how Failure!

Bohemia Media will release in the UK and Ireland.

US director Jaclyn Bethany’s The Invisible Girl has been acquired for world sales by UK-France outfit Alief.

The dark fairy tale has sold to Bohemia Media for UK-Ireland distribution, and will be released later this year.

It is inspired by the Mary Shelley short story of the same name about a secret relationship between a pair of young lovers, but told through a queer lens.

A young woman, Henrietta, returns to a small town she once lived, and revisits the complex story of her relationship with Rosina, her best friend,...

With its third-to-last episode ever, CBS’ NCIS: Los Angeles this Sunday night made headway in answering Callen’s lingering questions about his childhood as a Drona subject.

This week’s episode saw Callen get invited to a meet-up with Harold Pembrook (played again by Jere Burns), though the elusive and infamous Drona shrink went to great pains to make sure that he and Grisha were alone and not surveilled. To that end, he led Callen into a swimming pool… a change of clothes… and then a van (inside of which Pembrook was crouched with a pistol). Pembrook then directed Callen...