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The Batman Review: The Dark Knight Returns In What May Be The Best Bat-Movie Yet Warner Bros. By Chris Evangelista/Feb. 28, 2022 12:00 pm EST Do we really need yet another “Batman” reboot? The answer, after watching Matt Reeves’ tremendous “The Batman,” is apparently a resounding yes. The story of the Dark Knight has been told and retold again so many times that you might think there’s nothing left to do with this character, and yet, Reeves and company have crafted a sprawling, ominous, dreamy epic; a mash-up of action-adventure, mystery, horror, noir, and even a little romance thrown in for good measure....

The return of James Earl Jones Disney+ While the term “iconic” is often overused in popular culture, this is exactly how one would describe Darth Vader, who emerges more than an anti-hero or villain in the stereotypical sense of the term. Vader’s telltale breathing is enough to induce chills during key moments in the canon, such as his sudden arrival during the final boss fight in “Jedi: Fallen Order,” in which the dude does not even have a health bar, or his particularly brutal entrance in “Rogue One....

The Best Part Of The Boys’ Herogasm Was A Pounding (No, Not That Kind) By Jamie Gerber/June 27, 2022 5:27 pm EST Not the kind of pounding fans imagined Don’t get me wrong, there’s definitely some pretty wild stuff happening in “Herogasm,” but honestly, it’s more sordid than sexy. Plus, it ultimately serves as the backdrop to an episode centering more on the relationships between our core characters and the widening chasm between them....

The Breakfast Club Scene Molly Ringwald Wanted John Hughes To Cut Universal Pictures By Witney Seibold/April 29, 2022 6:02 pm EST John Hughes’ 1985 teen drama “The Breakfast Club” was released in theaters to very positive critical response. Hughes’ film was praised for its focus on conversation and character, as opposed to falling into the lazy screenwriting tropes connected to sex and violence. As time passed, “The Breakfast Club” only grew in estimation, eventually becoming a regular watch at suburban sleepover parties....

The Daily Stream: Guillermo Del Toro’s Carnival Noir Nightmare Alley Is Now Streaming (In Two Places!) Searchlight Pictures By Chris Evangelista/Feb. 2, 2022 3:38 pm EST (Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they’ve been watching, why it’s worth checking out, and where you can stream it.) The Movie: “Nightmare Alley” Where You Can Stream It: HBO Max and Hulu The Pitch: Guillermo del Toro takes William Lindsay Gresham’s novel (previously adapted into an excellent film in 1947) and works his dark magic....

What Is The Terminal List? Atria/Emily Bestler Books Based on a best-selling series of novels written by author Jack Carr, “The Terminal List” has been described as “…a conspiracy thriller that combines elevated action with deep psychological questions about the cost of pushing our nation’s highest trained operators too far. The series follows Reece (Pratt) after his entire platoon of Navy SEALs is ambushed during a high-stakes covert mission. Reece returns home with conflicting memories of the event and questions about his culpability....

The Witch’s Dread Comes From Its Puritanical Origins A24 By Devin Meenan/May 16, 2022 8:41 am EST Robert Eggers’ “The Witch” is the scariest horror film of the 21st century; it’s to the 2010s what “The Shining” was for the 1980s. “The Witch” uses many of the same terrors as Kubrick’s film, such as paranoia born from isolation to the dissolution of the family unit. Both films have a malignant supernatural force acting in the background that only becomes undeniable as the story progresses....

Why Little Miss Sunshine Writer Michael Arndt Was Fired And Then Rehired Searchlight Pictures By Sandy Schaefer/March 23, 2022 9:27 am EST “Little Miss Sunshine” may be the epitome of 2000s indie quirk (in ways both good and bad), but its true legacy lies with the effect it had on the careers of its cast and crew. After all, it was the first movie to really showcase Steve Carell’s range as an actor, proving he could play roles that weren’t just variations on Brick Tamland and Michael Scott....

A24 Greenlights Its First R-Rated Musical With Adaptation Of F***ing Identical Twins Hulu By Shania Russell/Feb. 17, 2022 7:28 pm EST Imagine if “The Parent Trap” was an R-Rated musical comedy about two grown men starring a famous hip-hop songstress like, say, Megan Thee Stallion. That would be weird, right? But that’s never stopped A24 before! The production company just greenlit its first-ever musical, a subversive spin on the familiar long-lost twin story, but with a title that’s deeply unsafe for search engines: “F***ing Identical Twins....

Agent King Footage Reaction: Elvis Becomes A Secret Agent And Fights Charles Manson In Stylish Animated Show For Netflix [Annecy] Netflix By Rafael Motamayor/June 15, 2022 4:00 pm EST The King of Rock and Roll is having one hell of a great year, even 45 years after his supposed death. While Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” is a maximalist musical extravaganza, the new adult animated show from Sony Pictures Animation and Netflix wants to show a very different side of the king with “Agent King” — one with lots of guns, bloody action, face-kicking Charles Manson, and a machine-gun-wielding chimp that loves snorting coke....

Am I OK? Review: Dakota Johnson And Sonoya Mizuno Carry This Tale Of Self-Discovery [Sundance 2022] Sundance Film Festival By Ben Pearson/Jan. 25, 2022 5:40 pm EST Actors (and married couple) Stephanie Allynne and Tig Notaro have stepped behind the camera to make their feature directorial debut with “Am I OK?,” a lovingly crafted ode to female friendship and the idea that it’s never too late to embrace your true self....

Brad Pitt and Joseph Kosinski Team Up Universal Pictures The news of Apple circling this Formula One racing project along with producer Jerry Bruckheimer comes courtesy of Deadline, who describe the plot of the film as, “Brad Pitt playing a racer who comes out of retirement to mentor a younger driver and take his final stab at glory on the track as the younger driver’s teammate.” However, the project doesn’t even have a completed script at this early stage, only an untitled pitch....

Cardboard Cinema: Fans Of Batman, Dune, And The Great British Baking Show, Rejoice Monolith Board Games LLC By Matthew Monagle/June 9, 2022 10:09 am EST (Welcome to Cardboard Cinema, an ongoing series where we look at board games inspired by or connected to our favorite media. In this edition of our monthly round-up, it’s all about “Dune,” Batman and … quaint reality shows about baked goods?) The IP gods giveth, and the IP gods taketh away....

Casting Tommy Lee Jones Caused Some Behind-The-Scenes Headaches For Men In Black Sony By Sandy Schaefer/April 8, 2022 1:48 pm EST Tommy Lee Jones is an Oscar-winning talent who’s starred in such classic films as “The Fugitive,” “Men in Black,” and “No Country for Old Men.” He was also referred to as a “fabulous” actor but an “a**hole” by his “The Client” and “Batman Forever” director Joel Schumacher and was notoriously unimpressed by his “Forever” co-star Jim Carrey’s antics as the Riddler, informing him matter-of-factly, “I cannot sanction your buffoonery” (or so Carrey tells the story)....

Daily Podcast: Mini-Water Cooler: Fantastic Beasts, High Sierra, The Adam Project, Defending Your Life Warner Bros. By Ben Pearson/April 14, 2022 3:51 pm EST On the April 14, 2022 episode of /Film Daily, /Film editor Ben Pearson is joined by /Film editor Brad Oman to gather around the virtual water cooler and talk about what they’ve been up to. Opening Banter: At The Water Cooler: What we’ve been Doing: Brad went to Houston for a wedding...

Daily Podcast: Mini-Water Cooler: Peacemaker, Stranger Things 4, RRR, And More HBO Max On the June 2, 2022 episode of /Film Daily, /Film editor Ben Pearson is joined by editor Jacob Hall to gather around the virtual water cooler and talk about what they’ve been up to. Opening Banter: At The Water Cooler: What we’ve been Doing: Jacob started co-hosting an RPG podcast called Shelbyville. What we’ve been Reading: Jacob read Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer....

Fate Seemed Determined To Keep Mad Max: Fury Road Trapped In Development Hell Warner Bros. By Witney Seibold/March 21, 2022 10:36 am EST Equal parts oil-slicked, dusty post-apocalyptic chase thriller, and half-forgotten ancient myth, “Mad Max: Fury Road” opened to enormous critical acclaim in 2015, and was quickly canonized into the action film firmament by its many fans. The film follows Max (Tom Hardy) as he is kidnapped by an evil car-obsessed cult led by a villainous harem-keeper, and who then becomes involved in a scheme by the heroic Furiosa (Charlize Theron) to rescue the harem-keeper’s wives....

Horror Movie Spinoffs You Didn’t Know Existed Warner Bros. Home Entertainment By Chad Collins/June 20, 2022 11:49 am EST The horror movie universe is vast. Beyond franchise stalwarts like Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers, there is a vast landscape of genre properties that continue to stretch the boundaries of what a horror movie can and should be. Some are beautiful, some disturbing, and most curiously, some are bonafide spinoffs — horror movies with the innate swagger of a pre-established property....

Joe Vs Carole Trailer: The Tiger King Story Gets The Limited Series Treatment Peacock By Valerie Ettenhofer/Feb. 3, 2022 11:30 am EST Nearly two years after the world emerged from its “Tiger King”–watching fugue state, a fictionalized portrayal of the Joe Exotic/Carole Baskin feud is coming to Peacock in the form of a limited series. A new trailer digs into “Joe vs Carole,” showing off the series’ fantastic cast and a story that seems poised to go deeper than the Netflix docuseries ever did....

Pop Culture Imports: The Hand Of God, Dr. Brain & More Foreign Movies And TV Streaming Now Netflix By Hoai-Tran Bui/Dec. 22, 2021 11:00 am EST (Welcome to Pop Culture Imports, a column that compiles the best foreign movies and TV streaming right now.) We’re nearing the end of 2021 (!) and it’s time to play catch-up on all the movies and shows you missed in the final months as we head towards another new year....