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Kiborg is a fast-paced action roguelite set in a grimy dystopia. With its crunchy melee combat, gritty visual style, and addictive gameplay loop, it manages to punch well above its weight as a budget title. It isn’t completely flawless, but for what it is, it is an impressive showing from Russian developers Sobaka Studio.

Hitting the Ground Running

The game opens with no airs and graces, launching you straight into a basic tutorial that gives you all of the tools you need to succeed. Kiborg makes a solid first impression. Instead of forcing players through rigid skill tests before letting them properly get into the action, it offers a forgiving introduction that still sufficiently teaches players the essentials of survival.

The short, simple tutorial is complimented well by the game’s learning curve, which feels fair and satisfyingly challenging. Harder difficulties can also be unlocked to encourage replay-ability. The...

I love bad movies. I don’t think they’re bad—they are very beautiful to me—but I am aware that many of my favorites were absolute flops with both critics and general audiences. I’m convinced I’m one of three people who earnestly enjoyed The Turning. There’s something profound about so-called bad cinema, especially bad cinema made with earnest intentions. A bad thing made with love will always resonate more with me than an okay or even good thing made to simply sell tickets.

Often, those bad movies have a smattering of fans, though little revisionism. I’m not going to sit here and sing the high praises of the Amanda Seyfried vehicle Gone, even if I do think it boasts one of the most chilling final acts of the century. So, it’s always fascinating to me when a certified dumpster fire is contended to...

“Chicken Jockey” has become a public trigger for kids thanks to A Minecraft Movie, with the reactions sparking the target audience of the literal blockbuster to go absolutely insane when the scene arrives. And while some of the kids are just having fun and giving a little audience participation, others are raising hell and even being escorted out by police, forcing some theaters to enact a “no unaccompanied minors” policy. So what does the movie’s director think?

But just in case you haven’t seen A Minecraft Movie yet, here’s a little context: The scene in question occurs a little more than an hour in, with a Frankenstein-styled zombie boy dropping from a box and landing on a chicken inside a ring with Jason Momoa (keeping up here?). At that moment, Jack Black’s character shouts, “Chicken Jockey!” That’s when all hell breaks loose in the theater,...

One of the prominent figures from previous Avengers who was notably absent in the announced Doomsday cast was Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel. Her post-Endgame career in Marvel hasn’t been so great, with her film The Marvels becoming the lowest-grossing film in the MCU. Larson is back on her socials, and it’s good news for her fans, though not because of Captain Marvel.

Larson is not ready to talk about her future in the Captain Marvel role. However, we will be seeing her talk a lot about other things like her workout routine, what she ate, the places she visited, and her experiences. Larson is back with her social media show, Brie is Online.

Brie Larson in a still from The Marvels | Credits: Marvel Studios

Her latest Instagram post was a reel shared from London, in which she was seen playing her own version of the internet game This or That.

The cast has been revealed for Lake Vernon, a new psychological thriller movie that's in the works. Among the cast members is Tommy Wiseau, the eccentric filmmaker and actor best known for his unforgettable performance in the 2003 movie The Room.

Per Variety, Lake Vernon will feature Wiseau as part of the ensemble cast, joined by former NFL star Vernon Davis (The Ritual Killer), Malcolm Goodwin (Reacher), David Anders (The Vampire Diaries), Olivia Grace Applegate (Love and Death), and Andrea Sixtos (Arrow). The cast members are currently filming the movie in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Lake Vernon comes form a story by Davis and Tiffany Toney, while director Aaron Jay Rome (End Trip) co-wrote the screenplay with Isaiah Laborde. Davis is also serving as a producer on the project for Real 85 Productions, joined by Rome and Laborde. Additionally, Davis is also executive producing. Oscar-winning editor Scott Conrad (Rocky) will edit the movie.

Every now and then, rather than outright failing, a film fails so spectacularly and so dramatically that it wraps all the way around the rating scale and becomes good. Since the days of Ed Wood and the likes of the immortal Plan 9 From Outer Space all the way to audiences throwing spoons at screenings of Tommy Wiseau's The Room, viewers have turned these kitschy failures into cult classics complete with their own fan base, celebrations, and oral histories. And while the bulk of true so bad it's good classics came out much earlier, the new millennium presented a unique opportunity for the corner of society that appreciated cringe and ambition.

It’s been a big wait for Big Shark.

Tommy Wiseau first announced the project as his long-awaited follow-up to the cult hit The Room back in 2019. It finally premiered in 2023, but it’s been unavailable outside of a handful of screenings.

A wider theatrical release seems to be in the works, however, as the film has received a PG-13 rating from the MPA for “bloody creature violence and some strong language.”

Interestingly, the Class and Rating Administration bulletin notes that the film is animated. It’s likely an error, as the previously released trailer below is very much live-action (sans the CG shark), but we’re looking into it.

In addition to writing, directing, and producing, Wiseau stars alongside Isaiah Laborde and Mark Valeriano. They play firefighters tasked with saving New Orleans from a gigantic shark.

The eccentric filmmaker will appear in-person for Big Shark screenings at The Landmark Westwood in Los Angeles,...

On the mysterious planet of Ash, Riya (Eiza González) awakens to find her crew slaughtered. When a man named Brion (Aaron Paul) arrives to rescue her, an ordeal of psychological and physical terror ensues while Riya and Brion must decide if they can trust one another to survive.

That's the premise of the aptly titled Ash, a new sci-fi horror movie directed and composed by Flying Lotus. The movie debuted to glowing reviews - 86% on Rotten Tomatoes - after premiering at SXSW last week and is perhaps best described as part-Alien, part-The Thing.

We recently got to sit down with lead stars Eiza González and Aaron Paul and learned more about what drew them to this movie and how they approached their respective characters.

They also reflect on the unique challenges presented by working with Ash's gnarly prosthetics and share insights into the experience of getting to don...

From The Shining to It's a Wonderful Life, many of the most influential films in history were savaged by critics upon their release. These films prove that bad reviews alone don't mean a movie is destined for doom. In fact, sometimes critics can entirely miss the point of a film or overlook its most charming aspects.

In the early 2000s, franchise films had yet to establish their stranglehold on Hollywood, and theaters were filled with countless original and unusual movies. Whether it was rom-coms or action blockbusters, the aughts had a fun and light style that was often overlooked by the critics. And many films that were not exactly Oscar-worthy, nonetheless helped define the era, being fondly remembered by their fans decades later.

Critics Were Never The Target Audience For Jennifer's Body Tomatometer: 46%

The comedy-horror film Jennifer's Body sees popular high school girl Jennifer (Megan Fox) become possessed by a...

Stars: Katie Ford, Will Conway, Nick Field, Tim Cummins, Alfie Waters, Lyla Tolan, Gerry Conway | Written by Gary Redwin | Directed by Mark Adlington

The Whisper Within the Woods is the feature debut of director Mark Adlington and screenwriter Gary Redwin. It was filmed on what looks to be a super-low budget, which unfortunately shows through every frame of the film. That’s a shame, as the film has a decent idea at its core – if not a New idea.

Opening with a pre-credits sequence, The Whisper Within the Woods follows two school kids, brother and sister Sarah and Daniel who, after reading a story about a local witch in the woods head off to see if they can uncover the truth. But there’s a problem. Two local knife-wielding bullies are looking for them too, finding them on the woodland path and threatening to cut them. What follows is either...

As of today, a staggering 611 films have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. That’s a lot of movies. And after nearly one whole century of Oscar ceremonies, only 1.3% of those Best Picture nominees were in the horror genre — including this year’s “The Substance.”

That’s a low number by any estimation, and it says a lot more about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences than it does about the horror genre. Although horror movies have long struggled to gain recognition of their artistic achievements, there has never been any shortage of ingenious movies that explore our deepest fears and anxieties.

And if you’re thinking to yourself “Hasn’t there been a lot of dreck too?” then hey, guess what? You’re correct. And you could also say that about dramas and comedies and documentaries while you’re at it. Most of the movies...

The ever-growing cultural footprint of The Roomhas transcended cult classic status and vaulted into the mainstream. From "Oh hi, Mark" to "You're tearing me apart, Lisa!", everyone knows you're quoting Tommy Wiseau's 2003 disasterpiece when you repeat these lines. The widespread embracing of The Room and the mysterious Wiseau peaked in 2017 when a feature-length film, The Disaster Artist, was made to honor the bizarre legacy of The Room and the sincere admiration towards its DIY free spirit. What if we told you that, only a year after the release of James Franco's biopic, Wiseau and Room star Greg Sestero reunited after all these years? Most people are oblivious to this reunion, a two-part film called Best F(r)iends, and while it is more assured and dignified in its craft, it nonetheless taps into the peculiar energy that inspired the 21st century's totemic midnight classic.

When it comes to "so bad it's good" movies, there's a small but elite group that transcends their bad writing, stiff performances, and technical ineptitude to become something greater than the sum of their incompetent parts. Some, like Tommy Wiseau's infamous The Room, miss their intended mark so widely that they hit another, completely unintended mark. Others, like 2019's Cats, have all the resources and star power in the world, but are so spectacularly ill-conceived that they succeed in spite of themselves.

But there are other movies that fail on pretty much every level imaginable, from acting to cinematography to sound design, creating a symphony of pain and discomfort that's like catnip to any lover of bad cinema. Movies like these are rarer than one might think, but one of the most infamous examples is celebrating its 15th birthday this month. That film is 2010's Birdemic: Shock and Terror,...

Denzel Washington’s movie John Q makes its way to Netflix ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

Denzel Washington’s legendary career spans over 60 films and four decades, making it nearly impossible to label any one project as his “most underrated.”

However, ‘John Q’ has resurfaced as a strong contender for that title after landing on Netflix, where fans are once again praising Washington’s gripping performance as a desperate father willing to do anything to save his son.

John Q: A Powerful Story That Resonates Years Later

The film tells the emotional story of a man who, after being unable to afford his son’s heart transplant, takes a hospital hostage in a last-ditch effort to get him the care he needs.

Trending Ariana Grande’s Wicked Success Comes At A Cost: Inside The Stress Behind Her Shrinking Physique & Personal Struggles

Justin Bieber Has Heated Exchange With Paparazzi After Breakfast Date...

The 39th Goya Awards, Spain’s equivalent to the Oscars, came down to a photo finish, with two films: Marcel Barrena’s true-life drama El 47, and the thriller Undercover from Arantxa Echevarría sharing the top prize for best film.

El 47, the story of the bus driver who helped create modern Barcelona, led the Goyas going into the event, which was held Saturday night in Granada, with 16 nominations. It ended up with five trophies, including both supporting acting honors for Salva Reina and Clara Segura. Carolina Yuste took the best actress for Undercover, where she plays a police officer who infiltrates the Eta terrorist group.

Eduard Fernández won best actor for his leading role in Aitor Arregi and Jon Garaño’s Marco, the true-life tale of Enric Marco, a Spanish trade unionist who falsely claimed to be a concentration camp survivor.

Isaki Lacuesta and Pol Rodríguez won the best director for Saturn Return,...

Exclusive: Fusion Entertainment has signed actor, writer, and director Mary Neely for management, Deadline has learned.

Neely rose to prominence during the Covid lockdowns with her viral reenactments of love duets from classic musicals. Singing both the male and female parts, her lip-syncs caught the attention of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Andrew Lloyd Webber and were named by The New York Times and The Washington Post as among The Best Theater of 2020.

Neely most recently completed production on 20th Century Studios’ untitled Bumble Movie opposite Lily James, Myha’la, Jackson White, and Dan Stevens, which is slated to premiere on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ in all other territories in 2025. She will also appear alongside Bob Odenkirk in Acting for a Cause’s rendition of Tommy Wiseau’s cult classic The Room.

Next month, Neely will see the SXSW premiere of Stars Diner, an indie TV pilot that she co-wrote...

Ever since it took unsuspecting moviegoers by surprise in 2003, The Room— directed by, produced by, written by, and starring the enigmatic Tommy Wiseau — has become the flagship of "so bad they're good" movies. To this day, people fondly quote the movie's most infamous lines, reference its most iconic scenes, scrutinize its weird filmmaking choices and celebrate Wiseau as something of a cinematic iconoclast.

All these reactions are perfectly understandable, especially for a cult film as legendary as The Room and for a filmmaker as idiosyncratic as Wiseau. However, the harsh reality is that most of the movie's fans haven't even watched it. It endures thanks to nearly 20-year-old reviews, reactions and memes more than anything else. Which is a shame since, when watched in its entirety and engaged with as intended, The Room is even more unintentionally funny and bizarre than even its biggest fans may recall.

The Room Is...

For those who decided that studio flicks like "Madame Web" or "Rebel Moon" were among the worst film of 2024, do I have some good news for you: they weren't even close. Some brave critics, or even braver explorers of the deep trenches of 2024's cinematic offerings may have much more dire stories for you, telling tales of Neil Marshall's dumb actioner "The Duchess," or Sean McNamara's embarrassing deification of Ronald Reagan in "Reagan." Have you even heard of the Nick Frost horror sitcom spoof "Krazy House," or the Netflix Biblical drama "Mary"? 

The above-mentioned films all have one thing in common: they were voted among the ten worst films of the year, as gauged by Metacritic. Metacritic, for those who don't visit the website, is a film review aggregator. The site gathers together multiple professionally written reviews and boils each one down to a score of one to...

London’s iconic Prince Charles Cinema (Pcc) has launched a petition protesting against the break clause in its landlord’s latest contract, which would allow the cinema to be closed with only six months’ notice.

According to the Pcc, Zedwell Lsq Ltd, owned by Criterion Capital, has demanded the inclusion of the break clause in the latest lease.

“This could leave us homeless with only six months’ notice should they receive planning permission to redevelop the cinema,” said a statement published by the cinema on its Instagram page today.

“We feel that this demand amounts to a clear attempt by...

The 2010s were an underrated decade when it comes to movies that are so bad that they're amazing, with multiple strong contenders for the specific subgenre of awful movies that are impossible to look away from. When it comes to the best "so bad they're good" movies, the 90s and early 2000s tend to dominate, with classics like Troll 2 and The Room being classic examples. But more recent years have proven that such delicious garbage never stopped being produced.

Laughably bad movies from the 2010s tend to come in two primary flavors; big-budget studio investments that were huge misses and poorly-conceived indie movies made for pennies. Both offer their own unique brand of potent failure, from major decisions that were bafflingly agreed upon by huge studio executives to single-minded visions of bizarre cinematic auteurs that give Tommy Wiseau a run for his money. For those that can appreciate a uniquely terrible film,...

Certain movies have earned global fame for being awful. Flicks like The Room, Battlefield Earth, and Birdemic have become iconic precisely because they're so bad. However, they barely scratch the surface of the fathomless ocean that is atrocious cinema. While many readers will be aware of the more popular disasterpieces, there are plenty of more obscure stinkers that they find ironically entertaining. They range from misguided biopics to sluggish monster movies and everything in between.

"There are bad movies, there are really bad movies, and then there’s Lumina," writes film critic Brian Tallerico for RogerEbert.com in his 0-star review, just one of many critiques of what may be the worst film of 2024. The sci-fi movie Lumina ostensibly follows Alex and his friends after flashes of bright lights lead to the disappearance of Alex's girlfriend. The group journeys through the desert and an underground military base, realizing that they're getting closer to a big alien conspiracy. Of course, it's difficult to parse this out from the incoherent filmmaking.

Tallerico continued in his review of Lumina, saying, "[It's] a film so breathtaking in its overall incompetence that one starts to wonder if it’s not intentionally so in the hope of being the next The Room or Birdemic. How else to explain some of the laughable shot choices, inconsistent characters, nonsensical plotting, and dialogue that sounds...

For obvious reasons, most people prefer to watch movies that are actually good. Those familiar with the cult appeal of "so-bad-they're-good" movies, though, are well aware that there's a unique kind of charm in a film so silly, nonsensical, and ineptly made that it's impossible not to have fun with it. Tommy Wiseau's passion project, The Room, is perhaps the king of such films.

Politics and the apocalypse collide in Rumours – a horror satire that threatens to steal Megalopolis’ crown as 2024’s most eccentric movie.

When Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis came out earlier this year, opinions were somewhat divided as to whether it was a grand folly, a visionary masterpiece, a piece of demented high camp, or a mixture of all of these.

What most could agree on was that there was nothing else quite like it in 2024’s line-up of movies, whether it was in its unnatural dialogue and bizarre character names (Aubrey Plaza as financial TV reporter Wow Platinum) or its incredibly uneven visuals, which veered from the captivatingly imaginative to the embarrassingly kitsch.

For better or worse, Coppola had managed to finally achieve his goal of creating a vision of the USA as a late Roman empire in danger of tipping over into facism. Which, as 2024 nears its end, now...

After the dust settled on the 2025 Golden Globes nominations, Gold Derby’s editors got together to dish all of our favorites from this year’s crop of movie and TV contenders. Which nominees surprised and delighted us the most? Who are we going to be rooting for during the Sunday, Jan. 5 ceremony?

Our choices run the awards gamut, from first-time nomine.e Pamela Anderson (“The Last Showgirl”) to 14-time nominee Kate Winslet (“Lee”), from a creepy kidnapper who loves blueberry pie to a pair of TV political thrillers, and from drama star Sebastian Stan (“The Apprentice”) to … comedy star Sebastian Stan (“A Different Man”). We also write about the Golden Globes’ embrace of performers over 70 years of age

Scroll through our gallery above (or click here for direct access) to see Gold Derby editors’ favorite Golden Globe nominations from the 2024 calendar year. The 82nd annual ceremony will air live on...

The 2025 Golden Globes ceremony is set to be hosted by Nikki Glaser and will air live on CBS (and the Paramount+ streaming service) on Sunday, January 5th at 8pm Eastern – and this morning, the full list of nominations has been announced, letting us know who we’ll be seeing in the competition next month. While there has been a lot of talk about Anora being the favorite for Best Picture and other categories at the Academy Awards this year, and the film did earn several major Golden Globe nominations, it did not earn the most nominations in the film categories. That honor goes to Emilia Pérez – and it’s interesting that one of the first news articles I read this morning dealt with the fact that Selena Gomez had to speak up after Eugenio Derbez criticized her performance and her Spanish in the film (Gomez took six months of Spanish...

Except perhaps Souleymane’s Story‘s Abou Sangare biking away with the European Actor award (beating out Conclave‘s Ralph Fiennes) there were no surprises at last night’s European Film Awards with Jacques Audiard‘s Emilia Pérez winning four of the five prizes it was nominated for. Karla Sofía Gascón won Best Actress, Audiard won Best Screenwriter and Director while the film the top prize of the evening. Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal’s No Other Land continues to dominate the docu awards circuit which means here is a legit shot at a future Oscar. Here are the noms and winners:

European Director:

Winner: Jacques Audiard for Emilia PÉREZ

Andrea Arnold for Bird

Pedro Almodóvar for The Room Next Door

Mohammad Rasoulof for The Seed Of The Sacred Fig

Maura Delpero for Vermiglio

European Screenwriter:

Winner: Jacques Audiard for Emilia PÉREZ

Magnus von Horn & Line Langebek...

The European Film Awards is taking place in the Swiss city of Lucerne tonight (December 7) and Screen is revealing the winners live from the ceremony, which kicked off at 20.00 Cet.

Scroll down for winners

To read the winners as they are announced, you can refresh the page and scroll down to the full list below.

The ceremony is also being live-streamed below.

Emilia Pérez and The Room Next Door are the front-runners for this year’s awards with four nominations apiece.

Fifteen features compete for the best European film prize, up from five last year. This follows a recent rule...

Comedy is one of the most popular movie genres, and it's still churning out great films, such as action comedy The Fall Guy, and throwbacks like Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. Ben Stiller has also made a welcome acting return with the warmly received Nutcrackers. However, during the development process of a movie, the best intentions to make a serious film can turn it into an unintentionally hilarious comedy.

There are always deciding factors for this. Perhaps the script needed another draft, or the director should have had more control over the actor's performances. The problem is, that such movies were never meant to be comedies. There would have been humorous sequences to add levity to the script, but the intention wouldn't be to make an out-and-out comedy. Unfortunately, many movies with the best intentions are hilariously bad.

The Room (2003) Directed By Tommy Wiseau

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To describe Tommy Wiseau as an enigma would be an understatement. Despite receiving attention for writing, directing, and starring in the cult classic The Room, little is known about Wiseau's background, including his net worth. Since its release in 2003, The Room has become the epitome of a movie that's so bad it's good, spawning midnight screenings, goofy parodies, a book, and a narrative film chronicling its troubled production. To this day, The Room continues to dominate internet memes with its outlandish performances and nonsensical script.

The most interesting, albeit mysterious, aspect of The Room’s allure is Wiseau, the man behind it all. Wiseau is adamant about keeping his personal life and finances extremely private, which has led to a curious few poking into the background of the Room icon. Wiseau has no known romantic partners nor children, though one relationship is public knowledge: Wiseau is famously close friends with...

From a perspective of simple dollars and cents, cinema can be a seriously unforgiving endeavor. Many factors have to fall in place for a film to be successful in theaters, let alone garner a positive reception from audiences. Even with a hefty budget, great concept, and thorough marketing, their performance is still a gamble. Over the years, there have been many movies that witnessed terrible initial reactions from economic and critical fronts alike. However, once they had ample time to marinate, the public attitude toward them changed entirely.

For example, Ridley Scott's 1982 neo-noir Blade Runner was a box-office disaster, yet remains so iconic today that it warranted a second sequel 40 years later with the upcoming series Blade Runner 2099. Most are familiar with Dennis Villeneuve's 2021 rendition of Dune, which is receiving its third installment in 2026 with Dune: Part Three. The lesser-known 1984 version is a cult classic, even though it...

"So bad it's good" is thrown around alot nowadays. Whenever a new superhero flop like Madame Web or Morbius hits screens, "so bad it's good". When the 250 million dollar Red One barely makes 1/8th of that on opening weekend..."so bad it's good". The desire to see a bad movie with friends, have some laughs at its expense, and ultimately justify the time spent at the cinema is a tempting and powerful allure. Unfortunately for audiences, however, most movies given the title of so bad it's good these days don't live up to the gold standard set by such classics as The Room, many of them are simply...bad.

Silent Hill has made a welcome return to the horror franchise with its release of the Silent Hill 2 remake, developed by Bloober Team, who were known for atmospheric horror games such as Blair Witch, Layers of Fear, and Observer. However, while the studio has proven to be masters of atmospheric horror, many fans of the Silent Hill franchise doubted their ability to recreate Silent Hill 2 successfully, especially after the combat trailer was released.

Silent Hill 2's remake not only reviewed well, but has seemingly gone on to be a commercial success, and generally hailed as a wonderful reimagining of the original. This kind of success is a relief to horror fans everywhere, as this means that the curse that has plagued Silent Hill seems to be over with Bloober developing Konami's popular franchise. Perhaps all that was needed was a look into why Silent Hill was originally popular and beloved.

What makes a film "bad?" Well, for starters, these kinds of movies fail to have any redeemable qualities or their flaws prominently outweigh everything they have to offer. In fact, some legendarily bad movies are widely known because they're so terrible. I'm talking about the likes of Tommy Wiseau's "The Room" or 2010's "Birdemic: Shock and Terror." However, movies in this vein still offer something meaningful despite their nonsensical nature, as there's fun to be had with an egregiously bad premise. For example, a franchise like "Sharknado" induces plenty of unintended laughs, where the escalating events are so baffling and cringe-worthy that the films become an outlet for mindless entertainment.

But what about a movie that is insufferably, irredeemably bad? As in, so bad it's currently the lowest-rated film on IMDb with a rating of 1.9 out of 10? If you've never heard of 2008's "Disaster Movie," you're probably better off not knowing,...

John Oliver took a close look at the results of the 2024 presidential election on Sunday’s Last Week Tonight, diving right in to examine how Donald Trump beat Kamala Harris.

Obviously, that was not an outcome Oliver had hoped for, having spent the end of last week’s show arguing for undecided viewers to vote for Vice President Harris, the Democratic nominee.

“[O]n Tuesday, Trump won re-election,” he said at the beginning of Sunday’s show, to boos from the audience, “which is, to put it mildly, not what I was personally hoping would happen. And honestly, in Trump’s victory speech, he couldn’t seem to believe it either.”

The HBO host then showed a clip of Trump’s speech, in which the former president and current president-elect said: “We overcame obstacles that nobody thought possible, and it is now clear that we’ve achieved the most incredible political thing,...

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Art is subjective, and whether a film is "great" or "terrible" depends on the tastes of each individual viewer. Similarly, the intent of the writers and directors who tell these stories can be wholly irrelevant to how their work affects the audience. A bold artistic statement on the social condition can go over the heads of the viewers as they imbue the story with their own, more individualized meaning. Still, this doesn't mean every opinion about cinema is correct. In fact, some of the most popular and enduring movies of all time are completely misunderstood by the audience.

One does have to be careful when talking about the meaning of certain stories, especially when the films themselves are ambiguous. However, people who argue that Star Wars shouldn't be political are gravely misunderstanding foundational elements of the reason these stories exist. Some films...

Star and co-director Crystal J Huang plays a ballroom-dancing geisha assassin in this preposterous LA melodrama

If the erotic thriller’s task is to seduce its audience, this preposterous film instead subjects you to a sexy ordeal that your mind will attempt to blot out later. It’s almost a match for Tommy Wiseau’s infamous The Room in the car-crash Californian melodrama stakes. But a kind of visual floridness, resulting from its penchant for the unspeakably kitsch, nudges it vaguely in the direction of competence and away, sadly, from unmitigated disaster.

Kate (played by co-director Crystal J Huang) is a modern-day geisha in Los Angeles assigned assassination jobs by a Japanese secret society. Prolonged meditation would be needed to divine what the poor souls have done to deserve it. Or how anyone could be driven to kill themselves, as is apparently the case with the first victim we see,...

Before 2018, you couldn’t go more than a few months without at least one James Franco project hitting theaters or TV. The guy was a workaholic and was everywhere. Just as his career seemed to be hitting its peak, with his movie about The Room, The Disaster Artist, being tipped for Oscar nominations and his HBO show The Deuce a hit, his career hit the skids. After appearing at the 2018 Golden Globes wearing a “Time’s Up” pin, accusations of sexual misconduct were lobbed at the actor, and suddenly he was persona non grata, with everyone, including his former pal and co-star Seth Rogen, seemingly cutting ties with him overnight.

After many years of lying low (although he did film two more seasons of The Deuce), Franco has re-emerged, with him acting now mostly in European fare, such as the Italian-language film Joe, plus a sequel to the French film Largo Winch,...

Mike Flanagan is working on a new horror TV series based on a classic Stephen King novel, and its the perfect follow-up to his next King adaptation. Ever since his breakout hit Hush, Flanagan has been one of the most sought-after horror directors working in Hollywood. Hes helmed acclaimed movies like Geralds Game and Ouija: Origin of Evil, and from 2018 to 2023, Flanagan had an impressive run of five great horror shows on Netflix. Hes not slowing down any time soon, since he has a wide variety of new movies and shows on the docket.

Flanagan has a bunch of exciting upcoming projects on his slate. Following the dismal reception to The Exorcist: Believer, Flanagan has been tapped to direct a reboot of The Exorcist franchise thats set to be released on March 13, 2026. Hes in the cast of The Room Returns!, a remake of Tommy Wiseaus The Room, alongside Bob Odenkirk and Bella Heathcote.

Those who were driving through the intersection of Highland and Fountain in Los Angeles in the early 2000s got to know Tommy Wiseau very, very well. It was at that intersection that Wiseau chose to buy a billboard for his then-new film "The Room," and it featured a rather unflattering closeup of the man, staring directly into the camera, one of his eyes half-closed. The billboard stayed up for five straight years, costing Wiseau $5,000 a month.

It worked, though. Enough Angelenos drove past the billboard to become curious about "The Room" and seek out a screening at the Sunset 5 theater nearby. Those who saw it in those early days were utterly baffled. "The Room" is an intense infidelity drama about an all-around good guy named Johnny (Wiseau) whose fiancée Lisa (Juliette Danielle) instigates an affair with Johnny's best friend Mark (Greg Sestero). The film, however, is so weirdly scripted and...

While it may be one of both the filmmaker and star's worst-reviewed movies in their careers, The Happening is starting to get a second chance at success on streaming. M. Night Shyamalan's 2008 movie starred Mark Wahlberg as high school science teacher Elliot Moore as he and his wife, Alma, race around the Northeastern United States region in the hopes of escaping the mysterious mass suicides affecting the area. Also starring Zooey Deschanel and John Leguizamo, The Happening was widely panned upon its release, holding just an 18% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, but was a modest box office success.

Just a couple of weeks after finding a new streaming home on the platform, Shyamalan's The Happening is climbing Hulu's charts. At the time of writing, the 2008 horror movie sits in the No. 3 spot on the streamer's Top 15 Movies Today. The movie is currently sitting behind two new Hulu Originals,...

Fans of country music have had their eyes set on superstar Garth Brooks over the past week. News broke that a former employee, a hair and makeup artist, is suing Brooks for sexual assault and battery. Her allegations are very serious and disturbing. Brooks has responded to the claims and has adamantly denied the allegations against him. He continues to do his best to carry on with normal everyday life. So, during a recent live stream with fans, Brooks flat out said he was going to address the ‘elephant in the room.’ What did he say? Keep reading to find out more.

Garth Brooks Addresses ‘Elephant In The Room’

Garth Brooks has his work cut out for him legally. He has been accused of sexual assault and battery by a woman who is only being identified as Jane Roe. She filed a lawsuit against the country music star alleging he...

Sadly, it seems that Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis isn't as fun to watch as it is to say, because the movie's second box office weekend has been nothing short of disastrous. Despite its all-star cast, including Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia Labeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Jason Schwartzman, and Kathryn Hunter, and boasting the creative talent of writer/director Francis Ford Coppola, the movie has failed to capture the attention of audiences, thanks to its polarizing, and divisive reviews and online reactions. Megalopolis was already in for an uphill box office battle after a lackluster opening, but its sophomore weekend was far worse than anyone was expecting.

Set against a budget of around $110 million (all of which was self-funded by Francis Ford Coppola), Megalopolis made a meager $1 million domestic during its second weekend at the box office. Tally this with the $4 million from its opening weekend,...

A Marvel executive has explained how Agatha All Along was made more affordable through its use of practical effects rather than CGI.

Earlier this week we covered a report which estimated that Agatha All Along was Marvel Studios’ cheapest TV show yet, with its price tag coming in at even less than Echo. That’s the Hawkeye spin-off that is believed to have cost around $8m an episode. That might sound like a lot to you and me, some estimates have shows such as The Falcon And The Winter Soldier coming in at twice that amount. She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, meanwhile, reportedly cost as much as $25m per episode – partly because bringing the big green lawyer to the screen required so many effects shots.

Speaking with Variety, Marvel Studios’ head of streaming, television and animation, Brad Winderbaum has been chatting a little about this new direction, telling the outlet,...

Britcom Goes To The Movies, all about British sitcom spin-off movies, is the latest addition to the Film Stories Podcast Network. Links and details here:

We’re thrilled to announce the arrival of an established show to the Film Stories Podcast Network… Britcom Goes To The Movies.

In this fun film podcast, hosts Guy Walker and Rob Heath delve into the world of British sitcom movie translations, with a few additions along the way, breaking them down in detail scene by scene and uncovering the comic moments, great performances and shall we say, dated social mores along the way!

Previous seasons have covered everything from The Inbetweeners Movie, Porridge, Steptoe And Son, and even a few of the Carry On pictures. Season 3 begins next week with a look at On The Buses with Smersh Pod's very own John Rain. Cor blimey!

Find all the episodes here on Spotify or...

There’s a wealth of things to listen to on the Film Stories Podcast Network, from critiques of Agatha All Along to dissections of The X-Files. Here’s what’s new this week:

This week on the Film Stories Podcast Network, our shows have been busy bringing you an array of film and TV conversation. Here’s what we’ve been up to…

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Marvel have kicked off a brand new series in Agatha All Along, and our all-purpose MCU podcast is bringing the party to you, as hosts Hugh McStay and Ashley Thomas discuss the first two episodes. Don’t miss Hugh with guest Rob Turnbull chatting episode three too…

ChuckyVision

Sadly, Chucky the TV show was cancelled this week but our dedicated coverage of all things killer dolls will endure, as hosts Mark Adams and Dev Elson here discuss The Garbage Pail Kids Movie from 1987…

The Magic Box...

Filmmaker Mike Flanagan may not go back to the well that created his horror hit Midnight Mass for quite some time. The show, which he created and directed, was a horror miniseries that starred an ensemble cast that included Kate Siegel, Zach Gilford, Igby Rigney, Kristin Lehman, Samantha Sloyan, Rahul Kohli, Annabeth Gish, Alex Essoe, Matt Biedel, Michael Trucco, Henry Thomas, and, Hamish Linklater, many of whom have collaborated with Flanagan on other projects. Midnight Mass was a critical smash success, earning a Certified Fresh 87% score on Rotten Tomatoes and going on to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy.

The Mike Flanagan Netflix horror project is one of many well-regarded works the filmmaker has helmed over the course of his career, the majority of which have been in the horror genre. In fact, over the course of his career, he has never directed anything that has earned a splat on Rotten Tomatoes,...

Production is currently underway on the psychological creature feature thriller The Room Below, which has Alyssa Sutherland of Evil Dead Rise and Jonathan Rhys Meyers of Mission: Impossible III in the lead roles. Bobby Gilchrist (The Invisible Raptor) and Gilbert Bradman (Transfusion) are also in the cast. Filming is taking place in Sydney, Australia.

Written and directed by Kurt Martin, who trained as a lawyer before shifting focus to directing and producing short films, building up to his 2020 feature debut with the road trip adventure Moon Rock for Monday, The Room Below centers on Mia, an expectant mother and acclaimed author of children’s books, who encounters strange occurrences in her home when a boy, who strikes a remarkable resemblance to her dead son, goes missing. As grief begins to consume Mia, her suspicious behavior attracts the attention of a retired detective intent on solving the missing boy’s case.

Mark Wahlbergs controversial 2008 survival movie, The Happening, is officially coming to streaming. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan, the movie followed a world in which mysterious and self-inflicted deaths plagued the world. Mark Wahlberg stars as Elliot Moore, a teacher desperately trying to survive and to uncover the truth behind the horror. The movie succeeded at the box office, where it earned $163 million on a $60 million budget. Despite achieving a profit, however, The Happening received horrible reviews and contributed to Shyamalans ongoing fall from grace.

According to a report by Collider, the much-maligned movie will officially be coming to Hulu on October 1. After the success of Shyamalan's Trap (2024), the streaming platform hopes to draw some of the newfound respect for Shyamalan's work by returning to one of his least respected movies. It was previously only available to purchase or rent, so this will be a triumphant move for The Happening.

Mark...

In the gaming industry, very few titles hold as much reputation and prestige as the Silent Hill franchise in the survival horror genre. The game has captivated players’ hearts with its unsettling atmosphere and psychological depth. However, the series is still haunted by the ghost of a highly anticipated project that died in development and was canceled after releasing just a playable teaser: Silent Hills.

Fans still remember the brilliance of the P.T. and compare it to newer titles. | Image Credit: Bloober Team Sa’s Silent Hill 2 Remake

The game was set to bring together two of the most renowned people: game director Hideo Kojima and popular filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, promising the fans of the franchise that the series will make a return to form. Instead of reviving the series, the title became one of gaming’s most infamous cancellations in gaming history, leaving a dark history...