Spielberg and Ford Fought George Lucas on the Worst Indiana Jones Sequel (and Lost)

It’s no secret that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull faced resistance from star Harrison Ford and director Steven Spielberg on the long road to its 2008 release, and that George Lucas’ insistence that aliens could be a viable plot device in the movie was a big part of that resistance.

Lucas had been pitching Indy vs aliens since the 1990s, and after various writers had worked on scripts for the belated fourquel, David Koepp’s screenplay about Indy reuniting with Marion Ravenwood from Raiders of the Lost Ark and discovering he has a son while searching for an alien skull in Peru finally took Lucas’ idea from seed to fruit. But even Koepp admits he took the job with “some trepidation,” and a new oral history of Spielberg’s movies reveals more of the behind-the-scenes battle among the director, Lucas, and Ford.

Noting that Crystal Skull was a “tough production” for cinematographer Janusz Kamiński, Lucasfilm’s former president Kathleen Kennedy recently told Vulture that “Steven was struggling with that movie. Harrison was struggling with the movie. They didn’t want to do a Raiders movie that involved aliens, and they kind of got into a fight with George about it.”

Lucas noted that he had wanted Crystal Skull to be “kind of a War of the Worlds sort of thing,” but that Ford and Spielberg both said they weren’t going to do another sci-fi film, with Spielberg already having dabbled with alien shenanigans in 1977’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind and 1982’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Ford having already done Lucas’ Star Wars trilogy and Blade Runner. Still, Lucas was convinced that a fourth film in the franchise would be the perfect opportunity for everyone’s favorite fedora-wearing archaeologist to do something different. “I said, ‘Steven, this is perfect because it’s the 1950s, when flying saucers were a whole thing,’ but he said ‘no.'”

Eventually, the pair compromised, with Lucas suggesting that the aliens might be from another dimension instead, though that aspect of the movie was somewhat lost in the execution. “Steven put that last shot in, where they get into a flying saucer and take off,” Lucas explained. “He was rationalizing it by saying, ‘Well, they’re going to another dimension. They have to get there somehow.’ I said, ‘It looks like a flying saucer.’”

It’s hard to argue with him there. Crystal Skull’s interdimensional beings both look like traditional grey-faced aliens and set off on their journey in a saucer-shaped ship through a portal. Lucas got his way in the end, which ultimately convinced Ford that a fifth movie in the franchise was necessary.

“They ended up all of them doing what George wanted to do, which was probably the right thing,” Kennedy added. “But Harrison and Steven were not 100 per cent on board. That’s why the movie, out of the four that Steven made, is the weakest. And that’s why Harrison was so deeply committed to [Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny]. He didn’t want [Crystal Skull] to be the end.”

Gladiator Is a Movie for Women, Argues Russell Crowe

If you’ve ever watched Letterboxd’s Four Favorites video series on social media, you’ll be more than aware that a lot of men really love Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, which remains understandable in a decade where “my Roman Empire” has been trending.

Scott’s crowd-pleasing, awards-hogging, fist-pumping action-adventure flick explores themes of honor, courage, loyalty, and brotherhood, and its central character, Maximus Decimus Meridius (portrayed by Russell Crowe), remains true to his principles and fights for something greater than himself until he becomes a true “soldier of Rome” in death.

The 2000 epic also has a really strong fan base among women, and that’s by design rather than accident, argues its star. In a recent appearance at the Taormina Film Festival (via Deadline) Crowe explained that Gladiator is actually a movie for women, not men.

The actor contextualized his conclusion by discussing the battle he once had with the movie’s studio over its eagerness to get Maximus involved in more sex scenes as Gladiator’s story played out.

“I just kept pushing back. I said, ‘This is a story about a man who’s avenging the death of his wife and his child. There cannot be a moment on that journey where he stops and has sex with somebody. It doesn’t make any sense… that destroys the journey,’” he said, adding, “They fought me, they sent me letters about it and everything, and I just stuck to my guns. Luckily for me, Ridley, even though he would have loved to write a sex scene with me and Connie Nielsen, he agreed with me back then, and that that was the moral core of the film.”

Russell Crowe talks pushing back on studio pressure for sex scenes in Ridley Scott’s ‘Gladiator’ and says ‘Gladiator II’ failed to ignite audiences in the same way as the original film because it lacked a “moral core” – Taormina Film Festival pic.twitter.com/Yh7iQ7cmk2
— Deadline (@DEADLINE) June 13, 2026

Calling Gladiator “really old-fashioned” and noting that the studio didn’t really understand why they were shooting for that vibe, Crowe felt his pushback was justified after seeing so many women turn out for the movie upon its release. He also voiced his opinion that Scott’s underwhelming sequel, Gladiator II, “destroyed” the first film’s moral center.

“On the surface, Gladiator is a movie for men, but if it was a movie for men, it would be about revenge,” Crowe explained. “But it’s not about revenge. It’s a movie for women because it’s about vengeance, and this is a subtle difference, but it is a difference. I needed the character to stay on that track. So for them, in a second movie to destroy that moral center, it’s very interesting because the second movie barely took the same box office that the first movie took but that’s 20 years later, and when you apply how much of a change there’s been on the value of a dollar, they failed, and they failed because they didn’t understand why it was successful, because it had a moral core.”

In the decades since its release, Gladiator has arguably proven to be popular with people in general (at least those unconcerned with historical inaccuracies) often ranking highly on lists of the greatest movies ever made.

Widow’s Bay Creator Reveals the Show’s Origin Story

In the wake of Widow’s Bay’s much-deserved season 2 renewal on Apple TV, series creator Katie Dippold has been discussing the horror-comedy show’s evolution from script to screen.

Dippold, who accidentally became internet famous a decade ago after posting an image of herself dressed as the Babadook at her friend’s Halloween party (which unfortunately “had more of a grown ups drinking wine vibe”) revealed to Deadline that Widow’s Bay originally had more of a Parks & Recreation spec script vibe, rather than the deft mix of comedy and geniune scares we’ve come to know and love today.

“I wrote [Widow’s Bay] as a spec script for Parks & Recreation, but that version was much jokier,” she said. “It was more comedic, and I think it gave a good idea of my sense of humor. But I don’t know that I would have watched that show, because I think it could have felt more like a spoof, and as a horror fan, I just wanna be immersed into the island.”

Dippold added, “I wanna feel like I’m in New England. I wanna feel like I am isolated, and I wanna feel like I could go explore this island and find all the little nooks and crannies and terrifying little spots. That’s my dream, but I’m strange. So, that’s sort of how it started.”

Widow’s Bay follows Mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) as he comes to accept that his New England island town is suffering under a pact once made between its founder and a demonic entity, but not before he’s been successful in his efforts to turn it into a trendy tourist destination. Loftis and his colleagues at the Mayor’s office are then subject to a range of horror tropes as they try to break the entity’s curse, including visitations from a local sea hag and a slasher killer called the Boogeyman. Against all odds, these encounters are both terrifying and hilarious.

Dippold told the outlet that her efforts to capture the show’s delicate balance of laughs and frights began at an early age.

“I would say the initial spark is a feeling I’ve been trying to capture ever since childhood—I always talk about going to this this boardwalk in New Jersey in Long Branch,” she explained. “Once a summer, I would go with my family, and when I say I was way too young for it, I mean I was like 6, and this place was lawless and terrifying. But I loved it. I was just so giddy, the anticipation of going in, and I would scream and I would laugh.

“And then once we left, I’d run out screaming, but then I would immediately want to go back in again. It was almost kind of a dangerous excitement. I used to get into all sorts of antics when I was young, me and my friends going to check out the abandoned house and then running off, and I just love that feeling because you’re so scared, but you’re laughing so hard, and I just wanted to get that feeling on television. So, that’s sort of where it started.”

Widow’s Bay concludes its first season on Apple TV on June 17.

15 of Our Shortest Celebrities

Hollywood has a way of making everyone look larger than life. Between camera angles, carefully staged photographs, and larger-than-life personalities, it’s easy to assume many celebrities are taller than they really are.

In reality, some of the biggest names in entertainment are surprisingly short, often standing well below average height while still commanding enormous attention on screen, on stage, or in the public eye. Their success proves that charisma, talent, and confidence matter far more than a few extra inches. These celebrities may not be the tallest stars around, but they’ve built careers that tower over most of their peers.

Danny DeVito

Standing at roughly 4’10” (147 cm), Danny DeVito is one of Hollywood’s most recognizable short celebrities. His height has never limited his career, which spans decades of acting, producing, and directing success.

Kevin Hart

Kevin Hart is often listed at around 5’2″ (157 cm). The comedian regularly jokes about his height, turning it into part of his public persona while becoming one of entertainment’s biggest stars.

Kristen Bell

Kristen Bell stands about 5’1″ (155 cm), making her noticeably shorter than many leading actresses. Despite that, she has built a career spanning television, films, voice acting, and Broadway.

Reese Witherspoon

At approximately 5’1″ (155 cm), Reese Witherspoon is considerably shorter than many audiences realize. Her commanding performances and producing success have helped make her one of Hollywood’s most influential figures.

Bruno Mars

Bruno Mars is generally reported to be around 5’5″ (165 cm). His energetic stage presence and massive catalog of hit songs make him seem much larger than his actual stature.

Salma Hayek

Salma Hayek stands around 5’2″ (157 cm). Whether appearing in dramatic films, action movies, or red-carpet events, she consistently projects a presence that far exceeds her physical height.

Seth Green

Seth Green is often listed at about 5’4″ (163 cm). The actor, writer, and producer has enjoyed a long career in film, television, and voice acting despite being shorter than many co-stars.

Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga stands roughly 5’1″ (155 cm). Her elaborate costumes, towering footwear, and larger-than-life performances often make audiences forget how relatively petite she actually is.

Martin Scorsese

Legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese is around 5’3″ (160 cm). While he may not be physically imposing, his influence on cinema is enormous and continues to shape generations of filmmakers.

Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande is widely reported to be about 5’0″ (152 cm). Her powerhouse vocals and global popularity have made her one of the most successful pop stars of her generation.

Emilia Clarke

Emilia Clarke stands approximately 5’2″ (157 cm). Many viewers were surprised to learn her height after seeing her command armies and dragons as Daenerys Targaryen on Game of Thrones.

Daniel Radcliffe

Daniel Radcliffe is about 5’5″ (165 cm). Although audiences watched him grow up as Harry Potter, many are still surprised to discover he is shorter than the average leading man.

Jada Pinkett Smith

Jada Pinkett Smith stands around 5’0″ (152 cm). Her confidence and screen presence have allowed her to thrive in action films, dramas, and television throughout her career.

Patton Oswalt

Patton Oswalt is generally listed at about 5’3″ (160 cm). His successful career as a comedian, actor, and writer demonstrates how little height matters when it comes to talent.

Kylie Minogue

Kylie Minogue stands roughly 5’0″ (152 cm). Despite her small stature, she has spent decades as one of the world’s most successful and recognizable pop stars.

Steven Spielberg’s Alien Movies Are Really a Lifetime of Telling Us His Dreams and Fears

Steven Spielberg believes in UFOs, UAPs, and whatever else you might want to call the strange lights in the sky. The so-called “alien movie” is almost as old as accounts of unidentified flying objects, with The Flying Saucer coming out just three years after Kenneth Arnold coined the term based on what he claimed to see outside his plane’s window. Yet unlike many of the filmmakers of his parents’ generation, Spielberg has sincerely believed the truth is out there ever since he first took up the cause and a camera.

And he’s spent his career using the little space guys as a muse to discuss his vision of the world, and himself, as much as any sort of boogeyman or stuffed animal. In the same way that a Carl Foreman Western could be about more than just the bad men coming on the 12 o’clock train, a Spielberg alien flick is often better concerned with the humans.

His first (and I’d argue best) UFO feature is of course 1977’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Taking its title from the research of real-life Project Blue Book scientist J. Allen Hynek, the movie was rife in the real accounts and theories of the day about unidentified objects allegedly flying over the heartland. Yet as spectacular as the film’s vision of alien encounters were, the picture was still very much rooted in the 1970s New Hollywood movement Spielberg came up in. Like Jaws before it, there’s a naturalist’s concern with characters in the film, as well as anger, resentment of authority, and a maniacal belief in one’s talent and vision being secondary to nothing.

Famously, Richard Dreyfuss’ Roy Neary abandons his wife and children to go on a starship cruise into the unknown with little gray men after he ignores the naysayers, the skeptics, and his own wife. Just as many Americans became disillusioned in the shadow of Watergate, Nixon, and Vietnam, Roy stopped buying the “official story” and valued the truth—and perhaps his own individual satisfaction—over everything else.

It’s no secret Spielberg had a complicated relationship with his own father. He even made a movie about it late in life via The Fablemans. That (apparently misplaced) apprehension colors Roy Neary, just as it shades the entirely absent father figure in the director’s next alien flick, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982). If Close Encounters reflected a young man’s indifference to parenthood and marriage after his own unhappy childhood, E.T. was that same man reluctantly remembering the joy of childhood. Spielberg’s said more than once that making E.T. with a young Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore prepared him to be a father.

It also reconfigured an entire pop culture that in the 1980s shifted and moved in response to Spielberg’s own inclinations. For a time, he was the maestro of the American zeitgeist: Walt Disney, L. Frank Baum, and Willy Wonka all rolled into one. And whereas in the ‘70s this reflected a sense of disillusionment, in the ‘80s it became wholesome, family-friendly, and incredibly merchandisable. While there was never a sequel made to E.T., much of pop culture in that decade could be considered the film’s progeny.

In the years and decades since ’82, Spielberg has been more aware of that influence—and perhaps eager to hold onto it or renew it as time passed. If 1998’s Saving Private Ryan was a successful command to honor and even lionize what became known in the same year as “the Greatest Generation,” then his return to alien iconography in War of the Worlds (2005) was an attempt to use familiar sci-fi trappings like H.G. Wells’ novel (and the 1953 movie that is a personal Spielberg favorite) to express a profound sense of mourning and grief after 9/11.

Not so subtly, War of the Worlds taps into 9/11 imagery to express despair and fear for America enduring the same kind of existential, refugee nightmare that so many of Spielberg’s ancestors knew on another continent and in another century. The film is also one of the filmmaker’s darkest and angriest, making for grim bedfellows with Munich in the same year, which was a thinly veiled reaction to War on Terror overreach.

Spielberg has spent much of the last 20 years continuing to use his films to try to speak with his audiences about what’s on his mind, be it a belief in our Better Angels during the Obama Years via Lincoln, or a clarion call to protect the press during the late 2010s as pressure on the First Amendment from a different White House intensified. The cinematic bard has used his movies to speak with us, and increasingly ever on matters of greater collective, civic importance than one man’s mad need to be proven right on the top of Devils Tower. The trick is do the audiences still listen? Do the younger ones even know who Spielberg is?

We’re about to find out this weekend with the release of Disclosure Day, a film that continues a filmmaker’s dialogue through the greatest metaphor he knows: aliens. The film is his fifth about UFOs (or sixth if you count Firelight, which he made as a teenager). And it’s as much or more about how humans react to each other learning we aren’t alone in the universe as it is the actual disclosure that aliens exist.

If War of the Worlds was full of dread of the unknown, Disclosure Day literally begs us to treat the stranger with wonder and curiosity, as opposed to suspicion and hatred.

“It’s a bookend to Close Encounters in that that movie came out in ’77,” Disclosure Day screenwriter, and longtime Spielberg collaborator, David Koepp told me. “The ‘70s were the era where we started to say, ‘Gee, I don’t know, do you think the government might be lying to us?’ Cut to 2026 where we know the government is lying to us. Of course they’re lying to us! They lie about everything.”

Nonetheless, the screenwriter, like his director, is asking for a moment of comity and trust to return to the audience.

“It feels so terribly precarious right now and divisions are so sharp, wouldn’t thinking about things from the other person’s point of view help?” says Koepp. That includes the little gray men and the folks who chase them.

15 Iconic World Cup Moments Even Non-Soccer Fans Should Know

We’re all feeling the soccer spirit with the World Cup fever going all around the world, even if this is the first one you seriously think about watching. The event, happening once every four years, has already had its fair share of legendary moments, from incredible saves to questionable moves.

To know what to expect when watching the greatest at their best, we’ve compiled the most iconic moments of the World Cup’s history, since they are basic know ledge for any soccer fan. While many of these moments were made by players either gone or retired, they still mark a precedent for what to expect from their respective countries.

The Hand of God

In the 1986 quarterfinal against England, Diego Maradona punched the ball into the net. The goal stood, and his later description of it as the “Hand of God” became soccer folklore.

The Goal of the Century

Just minutes after the Hand of God goal, Maradona dribbled past five English players and the goalkeeper before scoring. Many still consider it the greatest goal ever scored at a World Cup.

Zidane’s Headbutt

The 2006 World Cup final took a shocking turn when Zinedine Zidane headbutted Italy’s Marco Materazzi in extra time. It was the final match of Zidane’s legendary career.

Brazil’s 7-1 Collapse

Host nation Brazil entered the 2014 semifinal expecting glory. Instead, Germany scored five goals in the first 29 minutes and won 7-1 in one of sports’ greatest upsets.

The Miracle of Bern

In the 1954 final, underdog West Germany defeated heavily favored Hungary despite trailing 2-0 early. The victory became one of the most celebrated moments in German sports history.

The Impossible Save

England goalkeeper Gordon Banks somehow stopped a powerful header from Pelé during the 1970 tournament. The save remains one of the most famous in soccer history.

Pelé Announces Himself

At just 17 years old, Pelé scored six goals in the knockout stages of the 1958 World Cup. The tournament launched one of the greatest careers in sports.

The First Golden Goal

During the 1998 World Cup, the golden goal rule was still in effect. Fans became fascinated by the possibility that a single sudden-death strike could instantly end a match.

The Vuvuzela World Cup

The 2010 World Cup in South Africa introduced much of the world to the vuvuzela. The constant buzzing sound became nearly as memorable as the tournament itself.

Iniesta Wins It for Spain

In extra time of the 2010 final, Andrés Iniesta scored against the Netherlands. The goal secured Spain’s first World Cup title and became a defining moment for a golden generation.

The Suarez Handball

In 2010, Luis Suárez deliberately blocked a goal-bound shot with his hands against Ghana. The controversial play helped Uruguay survive and remains fiercely debated.

Roger Milla’s Corner Flag Dance

At age 38, Roger Milla led Cameroon on a remarkable run and celebrated goals with a dance by the corner flag. The celebration became instantly iconic.

The Maracanazo

In 1950, Uruguay stunned host nation Brazil in front of nearly 200,000 spectators at the Maracanã Stadium. The defeat remains one of the most painful moments in Brazilian sports history.

Messi Finally Lifts the Trophy

After years of near misses, Lionel Messi captained Argentina to victory in the 2022 final. The triumph completed one of soccer’s most celebrated careers.

The Greatest World Cup Final

The 2022 final between Argentina and France featured dramatic comebacks, extra time, a hat trick by Kylian Mbappé, and a penalty shootout. Many regard it as the greatest final ever played.

15 of Horror’s Most Helpless Victims

In horror movies, we see characters deal with unspeakable terrors of varying degrees of power, most of which we wouldn’t want to have to deal with. Since these aren’t action movies, the characters don’t have tools to properly fight back, but some plots give even less to their protagonists.

These are, from what we could see, the characters that were doomed from the start. Don’t consider this a spoiler: not all of these movies end with the main character perishing. But even when they win or survive, it feels more like luck or circumstance than anything they could’ve done on their own.

Christine Brown

Christine spends most of Drag Me to Hell desperately trying to escape a supernatural curse. Despite consulting psychics and making sacrifices, she never truly gains control over her fate.

Katie

Katie faces an invisible demonic force that grows stronger every night. Traditional defenses prove useless, and the entity’s influence steadily removes any chance she has of escaping.

Carol Anne Freeling

As a young child trapped by supernatural forces, Carol Anne has virtually no ability to defend herself. Her survival depends entirely on the efforts of adults trying to rescue her.

Danny Torrance

Danny possesses psychic abilities, but they offer little protection against the horrors surrounding him. As a child trapped with an increasingly unstable father, his options are severely limited.

Regan MacNeil

Regan spends most of the film possessed and unable to control her own actions. She is arguably one of horror’s most helpless victims because the battle occurs entirely within her.

Rosemary Woodhouse

Rosemary slowly realizes that nearly everyone around her is manipulating her. Isolated, dismissed, and deceived at every turn, she struggles to find anyone willing to believe her fears.

Sally Hardesty

Sally spends much of the film running, hiding, and screaming as she faces overwhelming terror. Against Leatherface and his family, she possesses almost no means of fighting back.

Barbara

Barbara enters the zombie apocalypse in a state of shock and remains largely unable to influence events. While others attempt survival strategies, she becomes increasingly overwhelmed by the situation.

Suzy Bannion

Suzy finds herself trapped within a conspiracy she barely understands. Surrounded by witches and hidden dangers, she spends much of the story trying to uncover threats she cannot directly confront.

Jay Height

Jay becomes the target of a supernatural entity that can never be reasoned with, stopped permanently, or escaped forever. Once the curse is passed to her, every decision becomes a temporary delay rather than a real solution.

Jess Bradford

Jess is stalked by a killer whose identity remains largely unknown. With little information and few resources, she is forced into a terrifying situation where every choice feels inadequate.

Helen Lyle

Helen becomes the target of a supernatural legend that defies logic and evidence. As her life unravels, she finds that reason and determination offer little protection against Candyman.

Grace Le Domas

Grace is resourceful, but she enters the film completely unaware that her wedding night will become a deadly hunt. She spends most of the story desperately reacting rather than controlling events.

Sarah Carter

Trapped underground with limited supplies and no easy escape, Sarah faces impossible odds. The environment alone would be deadly before the monstrous creatures even enter the picture.

Thomasin

Thomasin is isolated by her family’s paranoia, religious fears, and suspicion. As events spiral out of control, she finds herself blamed for forces she has little power to influence.

15 Outlandish Conspiracy Theories That Many People Still Buy Into

What is the truth of the universe? Who’s out there, pulling the strings of society as we know it? Are they at fault for everything bad that happens in my life? People who want answers for the first two questions, and want the third one to be a ‘yes,’ will believe any conspiracy theory you throw at them.

As such, here’s a few to try their way, see if they either buy it, already know about it, or are loyal believers of it. Nothing is too outlandish, for everything is possible in this world, and the truth is out there. While we are obviously trying to have some fun, there are people who truly believe the following theories.

The Mandela Effect Cover-Up

Some believers insist that collective false memories are proof of alternate timelines, parallel universes, or reality changes. Rather than accepting faulty memory, they argue history itself has somehow been altered.

Birds Aren’t Real

What began as satire has attracted genuine believers who claim birds were replaced by government surveillance drones. The theory’s popularity exploded online, blurring the line between joke and conspiracy.

The Montauk Project

An offshoot of the Philadelphia Experiment legend, this theory claims secret government research at Camp Hero in New York involved mind control, time travel, and psychic experiments on unwilling subjects.

The New Coke Plot

According to this theory, Coca-Cola intentionally launched the unpopular New Coke in 1985 to boost sales when the original formula returned. Many people remain convinced the backlash was planned.

The Phantom Time Hypothesis

This bizarre theory argues that hundreds of years of European history never happened. Believers claim the years between roughly 614 and 911 AD were invented by medieval rulers.

Finland Doesn’t Exist

Originally started as an internet joke, this theory claims Finland is actually a fictional country invented by governments for geopolitical reasons. Surprisingly, some people eventually began taking the idea seriously.

The Titanic Never Sank

Some theorists argue that the Titanic was secretly swapped with its sister ship, the Olympic, as part of an insurance fraud scheme. Historians have repeatedly debunked the claim.

The Wyoming Doesn’t Exist Theory

One of the internet’s strangest modern conspiracies claims Wyoming is not a real state at all. Supporters jokingly argue that nobody has ever met someone from Wyoming, though some people now repeat it seriously.

The Moon Is Hollow

A fringe theory claims Earth’s moon is an artificial structure or hollow shell built by an advanced civilization. Supporters often point to misunderstood seismic data from Apollo missions.

The Great Reset Conspiracy

This theory claims world leaders are secretly coordinating economic and social changes to establish centralized global control. The idea gained significant traction online during the COVID-19 era.

The Dead Internet Theory

According to this modern conspiracy theory, much of the internet is now generated by bots and artificial intelligence rather than real people. Its popularity has grown alongside advances in AI.

Weather Control Programs

Many people believe governments can secretly create hurricanes, droughts, or storms using advanced technology. These claims often resurface after major natural disasters despite a lack of supporting evidence.

The Melania Trump Body Double

A surprisingly persistent theory claims that First Lady Melania Trump was frequently replaced by a body double during public appearances. Side-by-side photographs are often cited as supposed proof.

The Mud Flood Theory

Believers argue that a mysterious global catastrophe buried entire cities in mud during the nineteenth century. They point to partially buried buildings as evidence of a hidden historical event.

The Black Knight Satellite

This theory claims an ancient alien satellite has orbited Earth for thousands of years while monitoring humanity. Supporters often cite misidentified space debris and misunderstood photographs as evidence.

My Adventures With Superman and the Anti-Cannonical Fun of Supergirl

This article contains light spoilers for My Adventures With Superman season three, episode one.

As its name suggests, My Adventures With Superman isn’t just about the titular hero. Each episode gives just as much time to his pal Jimmy Olsen and to his girlfriend Lois Lane, a place of honor illustrated by the end of the opening credits. Right before the episode proper begins, we see Jimmy and Lois steel themselves against some upcoming threat, standing on either side of Clark as he removes his glasses to become Superman.

Season three adds a fourth person to the circle of friends, Clark’s Kryptonian cousin Supergirl. The cynical viewer would dismiss Kara’s inclusion as a cheap tie-in to Supergirl, which hits theaters less than two weeks after the new season drops. But anyone who comes to My Adventures With Superman looking for the superpowered party girl played by Milly Alcock will be surprised. The Kara here, voiced by Kiana Madeira, is just as kindhearted but more alien than her cousin, less self-assured than the version played by Alcock.

So which is right? Who has the canonical Supergirl? The answer is: both! Supergirl has been reinvented time and again since her first appearance in 1959’s Action Comics #252, with each new version revealing the richness of the character.

In her first adventures, Supergirl was little more than Superboy in a miniskirt. Writers rarely gave her the self-confidence afforded Superman, and her adventures were more adolescent: she worried about dates with boys, spats with friends, and spent time with the futuristic teens in the Legion of Super-Heroes. Like most of DC’s characters in the Silver Age, she had few discernible character traits beyond “teen girl.”

That began to change with her first solo series in 1972, which gave her a more modern costume—a blue blouse and red shorts instead of the more obvious spin on Superman’s costume—and a grown-up identity. She was a modern woman, who tried to balance her job and love life with her responsibilities of being Supergirl, kind of like a Kryptonian Mary Tyler Moore.

Since then, Supergirl has been a shapeshifting blob of goo, a human teen with magical abilities, the daughter of Darkseid, and—most recently—a young woman dealing with mixed emotions as she returns to her hometown. All that doesn’t count out-of-continuity stories like Tom King and Bilquis Evely’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, the inspiration for the movie, nor Power Girl, an alternate reality Kara who has long been integrated into the mainline DC Universe, with her own personality and complicated background.

Even on My Adventures With Superman, Kara has been on a journey. She played an antagonistic role in season two, where she had been tricked by the evil AI Brainiac into fighting against humanity. She found her way back to heroism thanks to her connection with Superman, Jimmy, and Lois. By the end of the season, she had exchanged the imposing black and red costume she was wearing for more a brighter blue and red outfit.

In the opening of the season three premiere “Into the New World,” Supergirl does away with Brainiac, saying goodbye one last time to the creature she called “Father” and establishing her own identity. What is that identity? Judging by this first episode, Kara has chosen to become a sweet, silly teen. She flirts with Jimmy, had fun participating in the Smallville fall festival, and jumps right into a mystery that even gives Clark pause.

This Supergirl has none of the wry cynicism of the character we see in the movie. But she isn’t as naive as the original Silver Age version, nor as grown up as the character that Melissa Benoist played for six seasons on TV. She’s her own version of Supergirl, and that’s Supergirl too.

At her core, Supergirl is a woman with incredible powers, who lost her family and arrives in a world where Superman already exists. Every version of Supergirl, no matter the medium, has had to find her own identity separate from her cousin. And, as just My Adventures With Superman and Supergirl shows, she sometimes comes up with differing answers.

That’s not a limitation on the character. Instead, it’s a strength. It shows a character who isn’t defined by her cousin or her past, nor other versions of herself. She gets to make her own way, experimenting with different ways of being a hero. My Adventures With Superman is just one of those ways, and it might be the most fun way—precisely because she gets to figure out her identity with the help of her friends.

My Adventures With Superman airs new episodes every Saturday at midnight on Adult Swim.

Kenan and Kel Discuss Fizzy New Mobile Game and Expanding Their Brand

Iconic Good Burger comedy duo Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell have been captivating audiences since 1994 when they debuted as cast members on Nickelodeon sketch series All That. Now, after more than three decades of partnership, they are expanding the Kenan and Kel universe; introducing a mobile game, Orange Pop!, and working on their own remake of the classic “Abbott and Costello Meet Universal Monsters” movies. The venerable pop culture pair stopped by the Den of Geek studio in Manhattan to discuss all upcoming projects.

“Cool kids sitting on a couch again, that’s what this is,” Thompson remarks as he and Mitchell sink into a sofa.

Orange Pop! includes original voice performances from Thompson and Mitchell, who also serve as executive producers. The mobile game includes personalized reactions, jokes, and commentary as players travel through a colorful, orange-soda-inspired puzzle adventure. This also incorporates specialized matching icons that trigger an orange soda rocket that blasts away pieces from the board. Mitchell’s character’s love for orange soda in the pair’s Nickelodeon series Kenan & Kel is the inspiration for Orange Pop!’s visuals and namesake.

“It’s a classic three-match game, and when you get a bunch of good matches, there is an orange soda in there that explodes and knocks out everything,” Mitchell says. “That is really fun; I love the orange soda.”

Combining a ’90s-inspired art style with modern gaming sensibilities, Orange Pop! — which is produced by Thompson’s Artists for Artists, an independent studio built by artists for artists that Thompson co-founded with John Ryan Jr. — takes on the creativity of Thompson and Mitchell to create a new experience for fans. In tandem with the expansion of the “Kenan and Kel” universe, they are committing to supporting charitable causes.

“For the first 100,000 downloads of our game, we are donating $1 toward our favorite charities. Donating $50,000 each, basically,” Thompson says. “So, we want everyone to get to it, so we can get to giving.”

Developer and distributor of Orange Pop!, Staple Games has also agreed to donate $1 for every download within the first 24 hours of the game’s launch as well. The charities they are donating to include the National College Resources Foundation and the Kenan Thompson Family Foundation Corporation.

“I love the National College Resource Foundation. We give scholarships to kids from HBCUs, providing many different resources for them. It’s just a great organization,” Mitchell says.

“I went with my own foundation, but we support other foundations. I work a lot with the Cristian Rivera Foundation … Ralphie’s Rescues is another we work closely with.” Thompson said. “Yeah, a whole bunch of other ones. Giving some scholarships to some kids this year. The goal is to shine a light on other foundations that may need a platform like mine.”

The release of the game marks the first step in the two-man comedy troupe’s franchising of their beloved brand that started in the early ‘90s.

In January of this year, Thompson and Mitchel announced their upcoming film, Kenan & Kel Meet Frankenstein, a horror comedy that will begin production this summer. The film is being produced by Artist for Artist and Range Media Partners. The witty dyad will star as two delivery drivers on a routine drop-off that takes a terrifying turn, literally, as they find their destination to be a hair-raising castle in which they awaken the frightening creature of Frankenstein’s monster — turning their casual delivery into a fight for their lives.

“There have been a few different ideas, and we feel that the [concept] is definitely a version we can execute without a lot of interference, as the monsters are public domain,” Thompson says. “Frankenstein is a hot boy these days. He’s in a bunch of different things, you know what I mean. So that’s fun.”

“And comedy duos — Abbott and Costello, those types of movies. We are getting in that lane,” Mitchell adds. “You get to see us in a different genre. It’s going to be great because when a lot of people hear it, they thought it was like ‘Kenan & Kel the TV show,’ but this is going to be very different. Kind of like a Get Out meets Shaun of the Dead.”

Thompson and Mitchell are also expanding into the comic industry with their first comic, Kenan & Kel Meet Zombies, a tentative title published by Range Comics, as the duo finds themselves fighting undead miners, cowboys, and settlers after a chemical accident reanimates a long-buried Old West town. Blending horror, comedy, and adventure, readers follow Thompson and Mitchell as creatures crawl in search of blood to terrorize whoever they find.

Also expected from the team this year is the release of a lifestyle collection, which is currently in development with acclaimed designer Sean Wotherspoon.

Beginning in 2003, Kenan and Kel’s creative partnership took a hiatus until 2023’s Good Burger 2, as Thompson embarked on a Saturday Night Live career that saw him become the longest-tenured cast member in NBC’s comedy institution. Now, however, the duo is here to stay – their consistent and strong partnership is continuing to grow in innovative and creatively unexpected, yet on-brand ways that are keeping long-time fans and new audiences on their toes.

“You know we’re just very familiar. Similar upbringing, a lot of characteristics in our family are very similar. Chicago and Atlanta are two very loyal hometown-y kinds of towns,” Thompson says.

“We got the sauce, man,” Mitchell agrees.

“We just like to have a good time. We make each other laugh. That’s a big part of it.”

Orange Pop! is now available on iOS and Android, in both the Apple and Google Play stores.

Krypto and the Superpets We Want to See in the DCU

In the latest issue of Empire Magazine, Supergirl writer Ana Nogueira identified Krypto as the key to unlocking the movie. Not only does the Krypto’s connection to her own dog help Nogueira find the emotional center for her superhero movie, but an injury dealt in the movie’s first act gives Supergirl a reason to go on her adventure.

In this way, Supergirl follows the lead set by Superman, which also turned Krypto into a household sensation. But really, both movies are just applying the lessons learned by DC Comics, when the company started giving all of its major heroes animal friends, most with incredible powers of their own. Given the popularity of Krypto and DC Studios co-head James Gunn‘s general love of animals and goofy comic book concepts, the time is right for more super-pets to invade the cinematic universe.

To be clear, we’re talking here only about specific pets, not just about animals or animal-themed characters from DC Comics. We realize that we sometimes run into Disney logic here, where Pluto’s a pet and Goofy is not—and Comet’s backstory further complicates things—but you won’t find Detective Chimp, the Green Lantern Ch’p, nor any member of Captain Carrot’s Zoo Crew on this list.

Comet the Super-Horse

Our first entry might also immediately render this list out of date, but we need to start with Supergirl’s pet from the comics. Comet the Super-Horse has not only been part of Supergirl’s story since 1962, when he made his first appearance in Adventure Comics #293, but he’s an integral part of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, the comic series that inspired the new film. But so far, we haven’t seen any evidence that Comet will be in the movie.

We can understand why producers would be hesitant to include Comet, because he’s not actually a horse. He’s a centaur from ancient Greece, who fell in love with the sorceress Circe. Due to Greek god shenanigans, Biron was transformed into a horse and given superpowers. In horse form, Biron spent centuries in the cosmos, finally meeting Supergirl, where she adopted him as Comet the Super-Horse—a name she kept even after he briefly took on human form and romanced her.

Ace the Bat-Hound

In 1940, DC Comics scored a massive hit by working Robin Hood into their comics by giving Batman a teen sidekick modeled on Errol Flynn’s laughing swashbuckler. In 1955, Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff tried again, this time pulling from Rin Tin Tin and Ace the Wonder Dog, the stars of adventure serials to introduce Ace the Bat-Hound.

Ace’s first appearance in Batman #92 follows a standard animal adventure plot, in which he helped Batman and Robin find his master. However, after he became Bruce Wayne’s official dog, Ace started assisting in fights against supervillains, wearing a bat-mask the entire time. Ace never was as prominent as he was in the first decade of his existence, but he would be a perfect fit in the DCU’s animal embrace.

Beppo the Super-Monkey

As we saw in Superman, the new DCU’s Jor-El isn’t quite the benevolent paterfamilias we’ve usually seen. Tough as that revelation was for Kal-El, it does open a way for Beppo to enter the cinematic universe.

Introduced in Superboy #76 (1959) by Otto Binder and George Papp, Beppo was a chimp that Jor-El used for scientific experiments. He escaped his cage during the destruction of Krypton and slipped into the rocket that took Kal-El to Earth. Like the humanoid people of Krytpon, Beppo’s cells reacted to Earth’s yellow sun, gaining all of the enhanced abilities of Kal-El, without losing any of his monkey mischievousness.

Flexy the Plastic-Bird

Popular as they were in the 1950s and ’60s, super pets were among the first to go when the Bronze Age of comics took a darker, grittier turn. Some were reinvented as regular pets, and others appeared in imaginary tales, but they were most often handled with embarrassment, a relic of a sillier, less important era.

However, as creators such as Grant Morrison began to bring Silver Age concepts back into the mainstream, a space opened for super-pets. So in 2018’s Super Sons Annual #1 by Peter Tomasi and Paul Pelletier, the Legion of Super-Pets reformed, complete with a brand-new animal: Flexy the Plastic-Bird. Like his human counterpart Plastic Man, Flexy can stretch into any shape or form, a great ability, but one that’s only netted him three appearances so far.

Itty

Now it’s time to get weird. So far, the pets on this list have been superpowered versions of Earth animals, but that’s not the case with Itty, the little friend of Green Lantern Hal Jordan. A starfish-like alien that Hal met on one of his adventures, shown in 1975’s The Flash #238 by Dennis O’Neil and Mike Grell. After helping Hal get out of a trap, Itty became a constant companion, sitting on Hal’s shoulder, even out of costume.

Itty stuck around when Green Lantern reunited with Oliver Queen aka Green Arrow for a second round of more gritty, grounded adventures in the later ’70s, but he eventually changed form, first growing into a strange white thing with tendrils, and later into a gas creature. In this last form, Itty had matured to adulthood and left Earth to go find a mate, a decision that both Hal and Ollie fully supported.

Jumpa

Wonder Woman sometimes gets the short shrift when compared to Batman and Superman. But when it comes to super-pets, Diana beat the guys by more than a decade. In 1942’s Sensation Comics #6 by William Moulton Marston and Harry G. Peter, Wonder Woman got a ride from Jumpa, a Kanga living on Paradise Island. Kanga’s do indeed look like the more familiar kangaroos, but their proximity to the Amazons makes them larger, and gives them the ability to jump incredible distances, perfect for Wonder Woman.

Sadly, Jumpa was a bit before her time, and only had a handful of appearances, until her last story in 1949. Since then, she’s only been mentioned in non-canonical stories and especially kid-focused spin-offs.

Koko the Space-Monkey

Most other pets on this list belong to heroes, but even bad guys need furry friends. Case in point: Koko the Space-Monkey, the original companion of Man of Tomorrow big bad Brainiac. A white, short-haired simian with two antennae sprouting from his head, Koko made his debut with Brainiac in 1958’s Action Comics #242, by Binder and Al Plastino.

In his first appearances, Koko largely functioned as a sounding board for Brainaic, giving the villain someone to whom he could monologue. Brainiac went on, but Koko more or less disappeared from comics, outside of the occasional homage (see: the space-monkey pet of Legion of Super-Heroes member Brainiac 5). But Man of Tomorrow would be a perfect time for Koko to return, perhaps as one of those internet monkeys still running free after Superman.

Proty

Speaking of the Legion of Super-Heroes, meet Proty. As fitting the Legion’s setting in the 30th century, Proty belongs to an alien race called the Proteans, a shapeshifting blob of goo that can form telepathic bonds with its master. Proteans can also shapeshift, which makes Proty a natural choice to pair with Chameleon Boy, the Legion’s resident shapeshifter.

Proty was introduced in 1963’s Adventure Comics #308 by Edmond Hamilton and John Forte, a story that dealt with the death and apparent resurrection of Legion co-fonder Lightning Lad. That story had a goofy, sci-fi tone, but it sets the stage for future Proty adventures, in which the lil’ blob takes the form of Lightning Lad, first to prevent the hero’s death and later to replace him altogether.

Streaky the Super-Cat

As any cat owner can attest, cats do their own thing and don’t care about anyone else, human or otherwise. So it’s somewhat fitting that Supergirl’s cat Streaky, created by Jerry Siegel and Jim Mooney for 1960’s Action Comics #261, doesn’t follow the model of other superpets. Streaky is not a cat from Krypton. Rather, he’s from Earth, and only got powers after being exposed to an experimental form of Kryptonite.

Streaky had a few adventures alongside Proty and Krypto in the Legion of Super-Pets, and initially disappeared around the time that animal sidekicks fell out of favor with comic book readers. Once again, though, Streaky had to do things his way, reappearing in the form of a regular (if someone haggard-looking) cat that gets adopted by Power Girl (who is also Supergirl, but we don’t have time to get into that here).

Topo

We end with perhaps the biggest cheat on this list, because Topo has in fact appeared in the DCU… sort of. After a cameo in Aquaman, Topo gets a bigger part in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, helping Arthur and Orm complete their mission. But as Jason Momoa‘s recasting as Lobo shows, this version of Aquaman belongs to another universe, making room for Topo once again.

Hopefully, the new DCU will follow in the footsteps of the previous Aquaman movies. Since his first adventure in Adventure Comics #229 (1956) by Ramona Fradon, Topo has been more of a sidekick than a pet, helping Arthur solve difficult puzzles and even getting into the fight. Later incarnations reimagined Topo as a sea monster, but Topo works best when he’s just a friendly octopus. Perhaps he can hang out with one of Lobo’s space dolphins, bringing everything full circle.

Let George Miller Finish His Mad Max Saga

For lovers of cinema, few things are as depressing as a franchise that extends itself into too many sequels or, worse, into a television series. One need not look far into the history of genre cinema to see later entries that devolve into self-parody, and the MCU Disney+ shows have shown that too much of a good thing can dilute the power of the original property.

But such mundane rules don’t apply to George Miller. So if he wants to make one more Mad Max movie and a Mad Max TV show, as Matthew Belloni suggests in his latest rumor newsletter, then he should absolutely get the chance to do it. Because George Miller has always beat the odds, especially where Mad Max is concerned.

The original Mad Max movie from 1979 came out of the Australian New Wave, a renewed period of creativity that also launched the careers of Peter Weir and Gillian Armstrong. A small, gritty tale about a policeman standing off against a biker gang in the new future, Mad Max was a hit in Australia and gained attention in the United States. That was even more true of the 1981 sequel Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, which was a global hit, despite the inclusion of incredibly weird characters like Lord Humungus and the Feral Kid.

The surest sign that rules don’t apply to George Miller came in 2015, when the then 70-year-old director released Mad Max: Fury Road. Despite being in development for decades, despite the thirty-year-gap between this and the previous installment, despite the recasting of the main character, Fury Road was a sensation. It was both a box office hit at the time and remains in conversations about the greatest action films ever made.

Even outside of those mainline movies, Miller has an untouchable record, creatively if not always financially. He produced and co-wrote Babe and made Happy Feet, both incredibly successful children’s films, and earned an Academy Award nomination for Lorenzo’s Oil. Babe: Pig in the City didn’t win over audiences like its predecessors, but many consider it a weird classic today. Likewise, his Fury Road follow-ups Three Thousand Years of Longing and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga may not have been what people initially wanted, but they’re both interesting in surprising ways, and their reputations will only grow.

Clearly, Miller works on a different level than most filmmakers. That doesn’t mean we don’t have some concerns. Part of Fury Road‘s power comes from its intense pace and massive scale. It feels like something that can only exist on the big screen. Shrinking it and cutting it up for streaming TV feels like a sacrilege. Can Max be just as mad in smaller, bite-size forms?

If anyone can answer that question, it’s George Miller. And his answer will probably be wildly different, and wildly more exciting than anything we had in mind.

We Played Alien: Isolation 2 and It’s Utterly Terrifying

Among the most tantalizing reveals from Summer Game Fest 2026 was a more in-depth look at the upcoming Alien: Isolation 2. First announced in 2024, the sequel to Creative Assembly’s 2014 survival horror hit looks to escalate the tense gameplay and mounting dread as the game’s new protagonist is stalked by an iconic xenomorph. While attending this year’s Summer Game Fest, Den of Geek not only got an extended preview of the eagerly anticipated title but also played an early build of the game.

As a recap, the original Alien: Isolation took place in between the events of the seminal 1979 sci-fi horror movie Alien and its action-packed 1986 sequel Aliens. The 2014 game’s protagonist is Amanda Ripley, the daughter of franchise mainstay Ellen Ripley, who is investigating what happened to her mother on the ill-fated Nostromo. This leads to her own harrowing encounter with the xenomorph aboard Sevastopol Station, an orbital space station which crashes into the nearby planet KG-348 by the game’s ending.

Just as the game’s Summer Game Fest reveal trailer hinted at, the early build of Alien: Isolation 2 that we played featured a mix of the claustrophobic environments from the first game and open-air planetary landscapes. This doesn’t make the game any less suspenseful and, if anything, being out in the open gives the player the unsettling feeling that there may be nowhere to hide compared to interior settings. That said, we didn’t encounter any xenomorphs outside in the preview build that we played, but the threat of the voracious extraterrestrial hung heavily over the proceedings knowing the sort of game that we were playing.

The sequel appears to begin right where the original Alien: Isolation left off, with the wreckage of Sevastopol Station crashing on KG-348, albeit from the perspective of characters on the ground. It’s currently unknown if Amanda Ripley appears at all in Alien: Isolation 2 but she certainly did not resurface in the build of the game that we got our hands on, which makes sense given where the demo picked up. Instead, we controlled a new protagonist named Blake, who is described by the other characters as a recent arrival on the colony, with her colleagues still getting to know her.

As Blake and her team are trying to return to the colony ahead of a massive rainstorm sweeping through the area, they witness the Sevastopol Station crash out in the wilderness. Despite her colleagues’ concerns, Blake descends to investigate the wreckage despite the impending storm poised to completely wash out the surrounding area. It’s in this lead-up to the site that the game’s tutorial takes place, with the familiar gameplay mechanics returning in full, familiar to returning players and accessible to newcomers as they traverse the precarious terrain.

Inside Sevastopol Station, it’s back to the claustrophobic experience that made the first Alien: Isolation such a standout horror game, made more sinister by knowing what’s lurking in the shadows even if Blake doesn’t. With the power initially offline because of the crash, we tensely explored the wreckage, dreading the fact that using our flashlight could inadvertently alert the xenomorph to our position. That we needed to scour debris for spare parts capable of making repairs to proceed deeper into the grounded station heightened the mounting feeling that we were poking our nose in somewhere we shouldn’t.

And then the xenomorph showed up.

This was an inevitability that all we knew was going to happen, it was always just a matter of when and how. Though there was a jump scare or two before this, the xenomorph’s debut is appropriately the most frightening and in-your-face moment of the demo. And much like the first game, the xenomorph wastes no time in prowling the halls of the grounded Sevastopol Station, hunting for the prey it knows intuitively is somewhere in the immediate vicinity.

It’s here where the Alien: Isolation 2 demo excels, showcasing that Creative Assembly hasn’t lost a step in the cat-and-mouse suspense from the first game. Even in this work-in-progress build, the xenomorph is a terrifying force of nature, leaving us cowering in various hiding spots, like darkened corners and ducts under the floor as we tried to escape the wreckage. The sound design is still very much a highlight here as well, holding our breath to hear in our headphones what direction and how close the xenomorph was before even trying to make a move.

We did manage to successfully complete the demo, with the whole experience a taut twist on hide-and-seek with one of sci-fi’s greatest movie monsters. The developers hinted that while our skills in evading the xenomorph in the wreckage served us well this time, we’d have to completely rethink our approach when being stalked by the creature on the planet’s surface. And that distinction captures what Alien: Isolation 2 is gearing up to be – a familiar threat that is no less scary, but in a different environment that makes them more formidable than ever before.

Sign us up.

Alien: Isolation 2 is developed by Creative Assembly and published by Sega. An official release date has yet to be confirmed, but the game will launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.

The 15 Most Boring Movie Titles Ever, if Taken Literally

Movie titles don’t often describe what the movie is about, but transmit a feeling or vibe. In Fast and Furious, the title doesn’t immediately translate to illegal racing, but it does transmit the sense of velocity and wild natured rebels that the movie intends. At least if you take that name literally, it can be about wild cats hunting.

Other movie titles, taken literally, are about things that we wouldn’t really want to watch. This is not just an exercise in silly thinking, but it’s also for us to not judge a movie by its title alone; the rest of the promotional material is there for a reason. These are what the plots of these movies would be, should we take the titles literally.

Mission: Impossible

Taken literally, this is the shortest movie ever made. Someone announces the mission is impossible, everyone nods in agreement, and the team heads home instead of spending two hours hanging from airplanes.

The Silence of the Lambs

Viewed literally, the title promises a documentary about unusually quiet farm animals. Audiences expecting suspense instead get several minutes of sheep standing around not making any noise.

The Rock

It’s a rock. Not a prison, not an action movie, just a large geological formation sitting completely still. The most exciting scene would probably involve mild erosion.

Fifty Shades of Grey

A film entirely devoted to comparing paint samples at a hardware store. The central conflict revolves around whether one shade of grey is slightly darker than another.

Meet Joe Black

A title that suggests a brief social introduction. You meet Joe, shake his hand, exchange pleasantries, learn where he works, and then everybody goes home.

Silent Hill

A movie about a hill that doesn’t make much noise. For two hours, viewers watch a completely normal hillside quietly existing without causing any disturbance whatsoever.

Rush Hour

Instead of a high-energy buddy-cop adventure, it’s ninety minutes of people stuck in traffic. The climax is finally getting through a particularly annoying intersection.

The Men Who Stare at Goats

The title already sounds like a joke, but taken literally, it becomes exactly what it says. Several men gather in a field and spend the afternoon looking at goats.

Gone in 60 Seconds

A remarkably short film. The opening credits finish, something disappears, and the movie immediately ends before anyone has time to become emotionally invested.

Law Abiding Citizen

Based solely on the title, this sounds like a man who follows all applicable regulations. He files his taxes correctly, obeys speed limits, and recycles responsibly.

The Green Mile

An entire movie about measuring a mile-long stretch of green-colored pavement. Surveyors arrive, confirm that it is indeed green and roughly a mile long, then leave.

Milk

A feature-length exploration of a dairy product. It begins in a refrigerator, occasionally gets poured into a glass, and offers absolutely no dramatic tension.

A Quiet Place

A family finds a reasonably peaceful location and enjoys the silence. There are no monsters, no danger, and no reason for anyone to whisper dramatically.

Ordinary People

Hollywood usually promises larger-than-life characters. This title promises the exact opposite. The plot consists of average individuals having uneventful days and discussing routine household concerns.

Waiting…

A movie entirely dedicated to waiting. Nobody arrives, nothing happens, and every major plot development is delayed until a sequel that never gets made.

15 Celebrity Deaths That Could Bring Michael Jackson Level Devastation

It’s likely that nothing will compare to the cultural impact Michael Jackson had on the world, both because of how much of an icon he was, and how the world was back then. But there are still people that are known in enough parts of the world that, should they perish, it would certainly be felt.

These are the cultural icons that we know and love today, and it would be devastating to see them go. All that remains is, in each of their cases, if their legacy will remain spotless as they show it, or if we will find some dirty laundry once the casket is closed.

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift’s global fan base spans generations and continents. Between record-breaking tours, chart dominance, and cultural influence, news of her passing would likely trigger one of the largest collective reactions in modern entertainment history.

Beyoncé

Beyoncé has spent decades at the center of popular culture. Her influence extends beyond music into fashion, business, and social issues, making her loss feel significant to millions of people worldwide.

Tom Hanks

Often described as one of Hollywood’s most beloved figures, Tom Hanks enjoys a rare level of public goodwill. His death would likely generate an outpouring of tributes far beyond the film industry.

Paul McCartney

As one of the surviving members of The Beatles, Paul McCartney represents a direct link to one of the most influential acts in music history. The global response would almost certainly be enormous.

Dwayne Johnson

Dwayne Johnson’s popularity crosses multiple audiences, from wrestling fans to moviegoers. His combination of worldwide fame, social-media reach, and generally positive public image would make such news especially impactful.

Leonardo DiCaprio

Few actors have maintained Leonardo DiCaprio’s level of fame for as long. Decades of acclaimed performances and international recognition would ensure widespread media coverage and public mourning.

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey’s influence extends far beyond television. Her role in media, publishing, philanthropy, and American culture means her passing would be treated as the loss of a major cultural institution.

Mick Jagger

As the frontman of The Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger remains one of rock music’s most recognizable figures. His death would mark the end of an extraordinary chapter in music history.

Rihanna

Rihanna’s impact extends from music to fashion and cosmetics. With millions of devoted fans and immense cultural visibility, any news of her death would dominate headlines worldwide.

George Clooney

George Clooney has remained a major celebrity for decades through acting, directing, and public advocacy. His combination of fame and popularity would likely produce a massive international reaction.

Eminem

Eminem is one of the best-selling artists in music history. His influence on hip-hop and popular culture has been immense, making him one of the few musicians whose death could dominate global news cycles.

Keanu Reeves

Keanu Reeves has become one of the internet’s most universally admired celebrities. His popularity spans generations, and the public response to his death would likely be both immediate and emotional.

Elton John

Elton John’s decades-long career, countless hit songs, and philanthropic work have made him a beloved global figure. His passing would undoubtedly be treated as a major cultural event.

Morgan Freeman

Morgan Freeman’s distinctive voice and decades of acclaimed performances have made him one of the most respected actors in the world. His death would resonate far beyond Hollywood, prompting tributes from multiple generations of movie fans.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s influence spans bodybuilding, action movies, and politics. Few public figures have remained culturally relevant across so many decades, making his eventual passing a major global story.

14 Movie Geniuses Who Made Incredibly Dumb Decisions

We don’t want characters in movies to have all the answers; after all, without conflict and mystery, there is no plot. But the problems they face should match their abilities. A character who can fly shouldn’t forget they can just because a chase scene needs them to run.

Well, that’s the feeling we got from these fictional characters and their incredible brains. They are experts in their fields, but don’t manage to foresee outcomes we could’ve told them, all so the show can go on. It’s hard to suspend your disbelief when the actions of the characters are less than believable.

Tony Stark

Tony Stark is one of the smartest people in the Marvel universe, yet he creates Ultron without adequately considering the risks. The resulting disaster nearly destroys humanity and creates problems that haunt multiple films.

Bruce Wayne

Christopher Nolan’s Bruce Wayne prides himself on preparation and strategy. Even so, he willingly gives Lucius Fox the data needed to recreate a citywide surveillance system he previously admitted was dangerously invasive.

Dr. Alan Grant

As a respected paleontologist, Alan Grant immediately recognizes the dangers of Jurassic Park’s cloned dinosaurs. Nevertheless, he repeatedly returns to dinosaur-infested islands despite every prior visit ending in catastrophe.

Peter Venkman

The Ghostbusters are scientists who understand the supernatural better than anyone. Yet Peter Venkman casually agrees to shut down the containment grid, unleashing New York’s trapped ghosts and nearly causing a citywide disaster.

Dr. Ryan Stone

Ryan Stone survives one life-threatening situation after another in Gravity. Still, several crucial moments involve her making risky decisions that seem questionable for a highly trained astronaut and engineer.

Robert Langdon

Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is portrayed as exceptionally intelligent. Across multiple films, however, he repeatedly trusts suspicious strangers and walks directly into obvious traps that a more cautious expert might avoid.

Dr. Stephen Strange

Stephen Strange possesses one of the sharpest minds in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In Spider-Man: No Way Home, he casts a reality-altering spell before fully discussing the consequences with Peter Parker.

Dr. Ellie Arroway

As a brilliant scientist in Contact, Ellie Arroway dedicates her life to careful research and evidence. Yet she boards an alien machine built from mysterious instructions with remarkably little hesitation.

Reed Richards

Reed Richards is often described as Marvel’s smartest human. In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, however, he reveals Black Bolt’s powers to a dangerous opponent moments before disaster strikes.

Dr. John Hammond

John Hammond is a visionary entrepreneur who spares no expense creating Jurassic Park. Unfortunately, he repeatedly ignores expert warnings about safety, security, and chaos theory until his entire project collapses.

David Levinson

Jeff Goldblum’s David Levinson helps save Earth in Independence Day. His plan works, but uploading a computer virus into an alien mothership using human technology remains a leap of logic many viewers question.

Professor Xavier

Charles Xavier is one of the world’s greatest telepaths and educators. Despite that, he repeatedly keeps vital information from his students, a habit that often makes already dangerous situations much worse.

Dr. Henry Jones Sr.

Indiana Jones’s father is an accomplished scholar obsessed with the Holy Grail. Yet his lifelong pursuit repeatedly puts himself and others in extreme danger for an artifact whose existence was never guaranteed.

Sherlock Holmes

Even brilliant detectives can make mistakes. Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes often rushes into dangerous situations with minimal backup, relying on his intellect to save him from problems that better planning could have avoided.

Disclosure Day Ending Explained with Screenwriter

This article contains massive Disclosure Day spoilers.

It’s a single word with profound implications. On a night where the world feels like it is on the eve of WWIII, and the media breathlessly follows reports of geopolitical turmoil coming out of the Korean peninsula, all of the petty problems of humanity seem suddenly mooted by a sequence that is pure Spielbergian magic.

Driven by—or possessed—by her connection to extraterrestrials that dates back to a childhood abduction, Emily Blunt’s Margaret Fairchild is able to commandeer her local new station in Kansas City, and soon enough the entire planet, and reveal we are not alone: not in this universe, nor in our shared ability to be awed, as indicated by a cornucopia of Steven Spielberg’s patented “gaze up in wonder” shots. Around the globe, families and friends, neighbors and strangers, stop in their tracks to greet the news on their screens in stunned silence. Yet unlike so much of the real-world’s daily news, the ending of Disclosure Days offers glad, if enigmatic, tidings.

The aliens are here. They have always been here, and in the movie’s final moments, a gray, tortured, and aged extraterrestrial is wheeled into the newsroom by a team of true-believers led by Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo). Suddenly, it’s clear how Hugo knew all along about Margaret and Daniel (Josh O’Connor), two adults who were both taken at a young age to be test subjects, or perhaps ambassadors, for what comes next: worldwide first contact.

The details are deliberately vague, but the implications are vast as Blunt translates the beleaguered gray’s first televised comment to the world: “Listen.”

This stunning finale to Disclosure Day is the first scene that Steven Spielberg wrote when he dreamed up the story for the film. However, the final line was an invention of his longtime screenwriter and collaborator, David Koepp, who we spoke with at length about the ending of the movie.

“[The last line is] in my very first draft,” says Koepp. “As I typed and was reaching the end, I knew she was going to face the camera. So I wanted her to say something and I wrote the first word of the line because I thought it represents quite a bit. She’s saying ‘listen,’ because the space boy just told me a bunch of interesting stuff, and she’s saying ‘listen to one another,’ which is the heart of the message.”

Koepp also adds the word has a lot of meaning throughout fiction and human history: “It just so happens to be the first word of one of my favorite books, Slaughterhouse-Five,” notes the screenwriter. “It’s also the first word of numerous Hebrew prayers. So I wrote ‘listen,’ and then I just typed a period, because I think when you have one word that says everything you want to say, you should stop talking.”

This sequence was, again, always the ending, dating back to the 40-plus page script treatment that Spielberg first emailed to Koepp while asking for notes. The rest of the movie was in essence reverse-engineered to reach this point. According to the writer, there was never any doubt it would end at the very moment the world saw a living extraterrestrial with their own eyes.

“We always wanted to stop that night in the control room or in a studio, in part because the movie is called Disclosure Day,” Koepp explains. “In the beginning, we’re told that this information is super important, and it needs to get out, and at the end of the movie, the information gets out. That is your story. If you continued, you could never stop. If the movie was called ‘Disclosure Day and the Subsequent Week,’ then you know you got a lot of explaining to do. But our story was accomplished and it was time to end it.”

The final line is designed to leave the audience wanting and wondering. If you’re interpreting or projecting what comes next after the credits roll, you’re continually involved with the film, which is a win for Koepp and Spielberg.

But it’s more than just the final seconds of Disclosure Day that leaves the mind racing. There’s also the technology and the implications of its effect. In a movie rife with Christian imagery and teases that the aliens in the film have been visiting Earth since the dawn of history, it seems even open to interpretation how much the extraterrestrial influence is responsible for the religious variety. There are especially notes of Christlike empathy and persecution when Blunt’s Margaret, first “awakened” to her otherworldly knowledge, is able to get strangers and even antagonists to repent, at last seeing the redeeming qualities of their fellow man. Eventually, this culminates in the deeply cynical and misanthropic Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth) seeing the light. Elsewhere in the movie, Margaret is chilled when one believer makes the sign of the cross after witnessing what could be called one of Margaret’s miracles.

For his part, however, Koepp remains coy on whether the film is suggesting Christ or other religious figures throughout history might have an alien connection in the film’s universe.

“I do think there are references and I do think that there are visitations that occurred for thousands of years throughout human history, and there are references if you choose to interpret it that way in the Bible and other historical works,” Koepp cryptically allows. “But my reading of it is not that human events on Earth were affected, or that they built the Pyramids.”

Still, he ultimately concedes, “I think you can’t talk about outer space and possible extraterrestrial life without talking about God. They just go hand-in-hand because they question our place in the universe.”

There are a lot of ideas in Disclosure Day, a movie its director and writer hope acts as a “unifying theory” for every close encounter and alien abduction story you’ve ever heard. In this film, it’s true. All of it. But it’s the filmmakers’ job to confirm this reality, not to necessarily explain it. This extends all the way down to the bizarre alien contraption that one character compares to a “magic wand” in the film, and which everyone else simply calls the Device. By design, its powers are inexplicable, including to the screenwriter.

“If it had even one more power, it would be too much,” says Koepp. “It becomes the magic wand. So the humans in the film don’t understand how it works, and we’re comfortable that we also don’t understand how it works, except for these two things that it seems able to do.”

It’s a mystery, not necessarily based on any actual alleged UAP sighting or close encounter, but on the filmmakers’ own desire to “make a fun movie.” Still, if that fun leaves you pondering what comes next, either between our relationships with each other or the little green men out there, then it’s done its job of living past Disclosure Day.

Disclosure Day is in theaters now.

The Death of Robin Hood Review: Hugh Jackman Leads a Beautifully Brutal Elegy

The earliest surviving narrative text featuring that rogue we now know as the Prince of Thieves, the Fox of Sherwood, the guy with the bow, is the ballad of “Robin Hood and the Monk.” Our copy is believed to date back to around 1450, although the tale is likely older. But even that long ago, many of the elements we associate with Robin Hood are already in place: the Merry Men, Little John, and an antipathy toward the Sheriff of Nottingham.

Yet if you actually go back to dust off the stanzas and verse of that tale, the details can be disquietingly unique. Robin robs from the rich, yes—or at least the clergy of the title—but it’s not at all clear if this is for his own pocket or anyone else’s. Also when the monk of its title gets Robin Hood arrested, Little John and the Merry Men respond by executing the friar and his page both, beheading them like a farmer culls wheat. It offers an altogether bleaker vision of the Middle Ages; and likely a more honest one too since England really hadn’t left that era by the 15th century.

It’s also a world that the writer-director of Pig, Michael Sarnoski, seeks to capture with unrelenting verisimilitude in his new A24 picture, The Death of Robin Hood. Given its title and Hugh Jackman’s severe gray beard in the marketing, the extreme violence likely will not surprise many. The film’s quiet and even stunning sense of grace, however, could be an outright revelation for those willing to endure the early medieval hack-and-slash carnage.

Pulling loosely from several 16th century ballads about Robin Hood’s death at the hands of a wicked prioress, Sarnoski’s The Death of Robin Hood in many ways resembles the simple, yet often moving, adult dramas of the 1970s (albeit not, ironically, that decade’s own death of Robin Hood movie starring Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn). It is a straightforward character study told in two parts. The first is about the reality behind the myth of Jackman’s Robin Hood; the second accounts for the absolution of this monster at the hands of a genuine hero: Sister Brigid (Jodie Comer) and her priory on the Irish Sea.

This parable kicks off properly when an old and grizzled Robin is found living alone in the wilderness by his former compatriot, the much younger Little John (Bill Skarsgård). Whether any other Merry Men existed is ambiguous, but based on the fact that John still wears green while Robin is bundled up in blacks, grays, and the red of those he’s killed, it’s clear which of them actually believes the legends that have already begun to spring up along the countryside like dandelions. John romanticizes his past, even as he finds some semblance of peace for the future with a wife and young daughter, Margaret (Faith Delaney). Alas, the past isn’t done with him. Relatives of a nobleman he slew some years back have taken his family hostage, and John wants Robin to go on one last adventure to free them.

The aftermath of that quest is so cataclysmically violent that our wounded folk hero is forced to seek shelter in the aforementioned priory on the sea. There, Comer’s Prioress has built a bucolic Eden separate from the medieval miseries across the waterway. She takes in orphans, loners, and even a leper (an endearingly aloof Murray Bartlett). And now she has taken in Robin, albeit the leper warns the brigand not to reveal his famous identity to the others. So things grow complicated when John’s little girl Margaret also arrives on the island, recognizing Robin as her father’s friend. Meanwhile others likewise approach, searching for the outlaw.

Seeing Hugh Jackman play another legendary hero at sunset after the also quite poignant Logan nearly a decade ago might cause some viewers to suspect this is familiar territory for the Australian star. Yet the tagline “he was no hero” proves to be more than just a marketing gimmick. It is difficult to think of a recent protagonist more challenging or potentially despicable than this Robin Hood. It is, indeed, the first movie I can think of with a scene where the protagonist of your film considers whether they may, or may not, murder a child—depending on if Margaret knows him by the name Robin. Frequent Sarnoski cinematographer Pat Scola even shoots the queasy scene by torchlight, casting ominous red pits in Jackman’s eyes.

There will be some viewers who will simply recoil at the prospect of such a depiction of a classic hero—and others who don’t want to see any feature with a hero (in the loosest sense) who is so broken and flawed. But for those up for the challenge, the emotional resonance of the piece unfurls a profound beauty that’s survived in the most perilous of contexts. It’s like a flower that’s somehow bloomed in the grays of January.

Part of this is obviously Jackman’s undeniable charisma as a performer. A born showman with a penchant for soulfulness, he exudes a humane intelligence hiding behind a beast’s fixed grimace. I do not think this Robin can be redeemed, but he can atone, which is where the real heart of the film comes into focus.

A deeply thoughtful and often understated performer, Jodie Comer’s Sister Brigid proves the true core of the film. Despite Robin not living up to the legends that strangers spin about him, Jackman’s character is in many ways an open book. The Prioress, on the other hand, is warm and empathetic, patient and forgiving. Nonetheless, Comer imbues the woman with just enough mystery to hint at layers and motivations left unseen, and perhaps a journey far grander than even Robin Hood’s. His is a world of gray, hers is awash in natural light, offering the only green in the movie not worn by Little John. Hers is the actual story of redemption for a land, if not a man.

The obvious inversion of the legend, where Robin is the fiend and the Prioress the hero, amounts to a classic kind of revisionism that used to be commonplace in Hollywood. Nowadays, though, it’s faintly heretical to find a film so willing to dwell in deep shadows and wallow in the mess of the human experience instead of sanitizing it. The fact Sarnoski does this with what is essentially intellectual property via Robin Hood is shrewd. By adapting one of the most famous characters in the English language, Sarnoski creates a mythic stage to put on a show every bit as big-hearted, and curiously innocent of guile, as Pig was four years ago.

That it achieves this after the first half hour borders on medieval snuff cinema—with Robin and Little John rolling in the mud of their soon to be murdered attackers—is a kind of tonal magic trick. It also is a credit to the dignity of all the performances.

Together they and their director, perhaps aptly in the 21st century, reject one of the great cinema quotes from a previous one. “When legend becomes fact, print the legend.” The Death of Robin Hood would seem to argue when fact is concealed by legend, tear down the myth before it deludes and poisons the soul. The Death of Robin Hood guards its own soul jealously before finally expressing it with deep equanimity and fellowship.

The Death of Robin Hood opens on Friday, June 19.

How Eraser Director Chuck Russell Challenged Arnold Schwarzenegger

By the time Eraser released on June 21, 1996, Arnold Schwarzenegger ruled Hollywood. It’s not just that he was a giant man, the former Mister Universe. Arnold had already done all-time classics like Predator and Terminator 2. He knew what he was and he got his way. So when he wanted to make a movie about a U.S. Marshal who defends a whistleblower in witness protection from a government conspiracy, most would just follow orders.

Not Chuck Russell. When the script for Eraser hit his desk, Russell—fresh off horror classics A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and The Blob, as well as The Mask—thought the former Mister Universe could do more.

“I liked the idea of an Arnold film,” Russell recalls to Den of Geek. “But Eraser was a minimalistic Arnold film. That’s a cool movie to make, and he’s made some like that. But I’m not going to step in after True Lies and Terminator and do the same thing. So when Arnold brought me the script, I told him we could do it together if we could jack it up and make it a little wilder, a little hyperreal.”

That’s exactly what Russell and Schwarzenegger did with Eraser. Schwarzenegger plays Marshal John Kruger, a specialist in “erasing” people and putting them in witness protection. Kruger’s latest task involves Lee Cullen (Vanessa Williams), a weapons company employee who works with the CIA to reveal plans for an illegal rail gun. But when he learns that his superior Robert DeGuerin (James Caan) is involved in a conspiracy to control those plans, Kruger must protect Cullen’s life as much as he must erase her identity.

Working from a script credited to Tony Puryear and Walon Green, Russell punctuates the material with incredible, over-the-top set-pieces. Arnold does battle with rampaging crocodiles, shoots down a jet while dangling from a parachute, and dodges enemies with high-tech weaponry.

“I knew the basic story was really good, but it needed a rewrite to do two things,” explains Russell. “One, we needed more from Arnold’s relationship with Vanessa’s character. And, two, I felt three setpieces were missing from the movie.

“The original script was straight-up handguns and fistfights. And I’m like, ‘Guys! This is two years after True Lies! We’ve got Arnold Schwarzenegger! Come one, we need crocodiles! We need an airplane jump! We need railguns!”

Those aren’t just big demands, they’re expensive demands. And to get the funding for those set-pieces, Russell needed his star on board, which meant convincing Schwarzenegger to deviate from a script he loved.

“I told Arnold this was a great movie, but we had to make it better. I knew what I had in mind, but it wouldn’t happen unless he the one was telling the studio that he wanted it,” says Russell. “Those kinds of things can be tricky, and Arnold and the studio don’t want to make each other uncomfortable. I had to convince him that it would be good for his brand to make these changes, and that I would protect his brand.

“But I wanted to make Eraser crazier and more hyperreal. He liked what I told him, and he’s a man of his word, so he started campaigning with me to take a little more time and spend a little money on some of these scenes.”

He admits that “the studio was slightly uncomfortable,” but he hastens to add, “They were very happy with the film. So everyone was happy in the end. It doesn’t always end that way, but it did with Eraser.”

While some might be intimidated by the prospect of challenging a superstar and a huge movie studio, Russell says it’s all part of the appeal of making movies.

“I liked him,” Russell says of his star. “There’s a reason he’s Arnold in person, and he definitely uses that persona. He’s got the cigars, and he’s very competitive, man to man. But if you respond to Arnold fearlessly and with humor, he’ll love you. So we got along very well.

“He can be intimidating when he cares about something. But like a lot of powerful men, he’s actually a sweetheart. So I enjoyed him, and I enjoyed how much he wanted to make this film. We had each other’s backs in getting the best version of Eraser made.”

Schwarzenegger’s not the only intimidating figure in the Eraser cast, which includes James Caan, former Miss USA Vanessa Williams, and screen legend James Coburn, all of whom Russell picked because “they’re not traditional for an Arnold movie.”

That desire to fill out the cast with interesting people came from his beginnings working with stunt people, which also gave him the confidence to approach people like Schwarzenegger without fear.

He points out, “When I first came to LA, I was sweeping stages and doing gigs, and one of the first things I did was become a sort of mascot with Stunts Unlimited. I ran around with the stunt team with a mentor named Alan Gibbs. These were the people who did all of Roger Corman‘s movies, The Cannonball Run, Smokey and the Bandit—all the top stunt drivers at the time. It was a wonderful education.”

“I love stunts,” he declares, a statement that might seem surprising coming from the man who directed the early CGI triumph The Mask. “I still believe in physical action, because it creates suspense that all the technology in the world can’t duplicate. If an actor in a horror film is coming down a hallway, and they know a door is going to explode out, they’re actually scared. Even though it’s safe, and even though I walk them through it personally, and show them how to do it, there’s a different tension in their performance.

“There’s a different tension when the principal actors are in a stunt fight. When I was making The Scorpion King, I told Dwayne Johnson the he needed to kill his enemy with his heart. ‘Yeah, you’re going to close in with a sword, and I know you can do the physical stuff, but remember why your character’s doing this.’ We would go over that part first.”

For all the talk about dealing with tough guys and doing physical stunts, Russell sums up his role in simplistic terms. “I’m a cheerleader as a director, honestly. It’s a little corny, but it helps. I’ll make a fool of myself sometimes,” he confesses.

Clearly, the cheerleader approach works, especially when working with big-name stars. “I’m grateful for my career,” he reflects. “I’ve had the opportunity to direct Patricia Arquette‘s first movie, Cameron Diaz‘s first movie, Dwayne Johnson’s first leading role,” he points out. “It’s very fun as a director, very satisfying. I’m grateful these films are entertaining beyond the year that they were made.”

And if it took challenging Arnold Schwarzenegger to put more crocodiles in Eraser to give those films such staying power, then it was clearly worth it.

Eraser re-releases in 4K UHD on June 16, 2026.

The Batman 2 Is Taking the Right Approach to The Penguin

Batman‘s always had a villain problem. Not just because they keep getting out of Arkham Asylum every time he puts them in, but also because they keep overshadowing him in movies. Even The Batman, which gave plenty of time to Robert Pattinson‘s emo take on the Dark Knight, also featured the Riddler, Catwoman, Carmine Falcone, a cameo by the Joker, and Colin Farrell as the Penguin. The Batman: Part II seems to be following the same model, with Sebastian Stan, Scarlett Johansson, and Charles Dance playing Two-Face and members of the Dent family.

Yet, in an encouraging report, Farrell has revealed that his character Oz Cobb will have limited screentime in the Matt Reeves-directed sequel. After praising the quality of Reeves’ screenplay, Farrell admitted to ScreenRant, “I’m only in two scenes, which is great because it means I can enjoy the rest of the film.” That’s great not just for him, not just for Batman, but also for the Penguin. Because too much of Farrell’s Penguin can absolutely be a bad thing.

Need proof? Look no further than the HBO series The Penguin, which put Oz Cobb in the center role. The Penguin often wanted to be a gritty, realistic crime drama in the vein of The Sopranos. The Penguin had as its star an actor just as nuanced and multilayered as James Gandolfini. But where Gandolfini made Tony Soprano into a three-dimensional character through his facial expressions and body language, Farrell had to work though not just layers of makeup and prosthetics, but also an over-the-top accent. The series didn’t find its footing until it gave more attention to Cristin Milioti, who had more to work with in Sofia Falcone.

Conversely, Farrell worked great in The Batman, and stole everyone from his scenes. His barking about “Mister Vengeance” or Batman’s ability to “habla español” injected just the right amount of cartoon energy into a film that could sometimes get self-serious. He leveled out the tone of the movie, helping Pattinson craft his human, neophyte detective.

Farrell’s comments promise a sequel just as rich in psychological depth. “I got to read from the first to last page and it’s really magnificent,” he gushed. “I just think Matt Reeves is brilliant and he wrote, not only tonally, a really kind of dark and at times terrifying piece, and not only psychologically weighty and nuanced, but really… full of feeling.”

Certainly, Batman has proven to be the rare superhero who can handle such thematic depth. But Batman stories are fundamentally about a guy who dresses up like a bat to beat up outrageous villains. For that reason, there’s room in even a psychologically weighty Batman movie for a cartoon gangster who waddles and shouts. But only a little, something The Batman: Part II seems to understand.

The Batman: Part II releases in theaters on October 1, 2027.

Gary Vee Follows Jim Henson’s Example With VeeFriends

Ask entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, better known as Gary Vee, about his goals for the more than 200 characters he’s created for his VeeFriends brand, and he won’t just talk about the comics or stickers in which they’ve appeared, nor the newest set of VeeFriends trading cards released by Topps Chrome. No, Gary Vee wants VeeFriends to “bring balance to the world.”

Such a monumental goal requires an even greater guide, and Vee thinks he’s found one in Jim Henson, specifically in Henson’s pitch for the 1983–87 series Fraggle Rock. “Henson gave his creative team a brief when they were trying to figure out Fraggle Rock,” Vee explains to Den of Geek. “Normally, these things are 10 pages, 15 pages, or five pages. This one was literally two words. Jim Henson wrote to his creative team, ‘End War.'”

The 2026 Topps Chrome VeeFriends set releases with a roster of 200 characters and a variety of insert styles, including special cards from internet content creators such as Kam Patterson, Jake Paul, and Livvy Dunne.

Despite the emphasis on YouTube stars, Vee finds his inspiration in his own childhood. He recalls, “I grew up in the ’80s, where we had Transformers, Go-Bots, Thundercats, He-Man, Max Headroom. And I have a brother who’s 11 years younger, and he was very affected by Pokémon. So I grew up at a lucky time when an extraordinary amount of intellectual property was invented from scratch, in video games, cartoons after school, or trading cards like the Garbage Pail Kids.”

Vee turned toward those childhood memories when he wanted to expand his market in 2021 by creating VeeFriends. Citing his own “entrepreneurial ambitions” and looking at “AI and blockchain, and “the trend of collectibility,” Vee saw “an opportunity to build something very meaningful.” But that meant changing his approach.

“My personal brand started getting bigger and I, as Gary Vee, was becoming popular because I was spreading love and accountability, and I talked about stuff that was impactful on me,” he explains.

Vee sees VeeFriends as a way to speak the language of children and families. As evidence that he’s found that language, Vee points to his characters such as Patient Pig, a cartoon swine who advises children, “Patience isn’t complacency… it’s the ultimate ingredient for long term success.”

For Vee, those teachings set VeeFriends apart from other collectible card sets. “At first, I thought I was making something more like Disney or Pokémon,” he admits. “But as I went through my journey, I realized I was building more of a Jim Henson-like business. Yes, I would like to be as commercially successful as The Muppets or Sesame Street. But I do want to have a positive impact and help parents navigate this challenging parenting ecosystem.”

Even conceding that that Pokémon “is the biggest intellectual property in the world” and that he aspires “one day to have people care about VeeFriends even half as much as they care about Pokémon,” Vee thinks that there’s room for another card game next to monster franchise. “I do feel that, over time, it will become obvious that there’s more meaning and deepness to VeeFriends,” he ventures.

As an example, Vee points to his character, Reliable Rat. “As you know, being a rat is not a good thing. That means you’re stabbing someone in the back, you’re doing the wrong thing by them. You also know that ‘reliable’ is one of the most admirable words. With VeeFriends, I’m desperate to change perceptions.

“When a kid falls in love with [VeeFriends character] Authentic Anaconda, that seven-year-old is going to go up to their mom and ask, ‘What’s authentic mean?’ I’m providing emotional value to families, allowing a mother or a father to have a conversation around authenticity and why it’s important.”

Vee’s already seen the fruits of his labor. “I get three to five to 10 messages a day via DM or email from girl dads who thank me,” says Vee. “It’s the same email every time, just written differently: ‘Hey, I’ve got a son and a daughter, I’ve got two sons and a daughter, or I’ve got three daughters and a son, and I’m really into card collecting. Every Saturday, my son and I go to the shows or the card store, and my poor daughter has to get dragged along with us because we’re letting mom do XYZ. Thank you for creating VeeFriends, and especially thank you, Gary, for creating Ambitious Angel and Fearless Fairy. It’s given me something to start collecting with my daughter.’

“It feels good to be part of something like that,” Vee declares.

Jim Henson didn’t quite end war with Fraggle Rock, but he certainly inspired plenty of letters like that one. Gary Vee hopes VeeFriends can do the same.

Topps Chrome’s second VeeFriends card set is available now via Topps and Fanatics, and at retailers Dick’s, Target, and Gamestop.

10 Photos from When Entertainment Involved Real Danger

Articles that talk about how back in the day, the danger was real for the performers on stage, tend to sound like they miss those days. We don’t. We believe we live in an era where safety needs to come first, and where animals aren’t exploited. It isn’t a perfect world, but we’re trying.

Instead, we are focusing on these images to remember the strange things we thought were fun. Dangerous stunts still happen, but with a much more dedicated medical staff. Animals are still used in entertainment, but with far more laws protecting them. These are the windows to a past we won’t be returning to.

Polar Bear Chorus

Training a bear to do something is one thing, training a whole group of them is quite another. These bears had to balance on balls, look cute, and jump over rings of fire just to earn a meal and go back to their cells.

Basketball On Wheels

Perhaps one of the more quaint auditions to the list, here we have some players of basketball with an additional difficulty spike: balancing on monocycles. It’s hard to imagine any dribbling taking place.

Elephant Parade

While the animals here seem to be treated better than the bears (and better than in Dumbo), these poor elephants must have been scared of being around so many people. And believe me, a scared elephant is one of the most dangerous things in the world.

Balancing Without A Net

Yes, seeing acrobats doing their craft without need of a safety net is impressive, but only because you fear for the poor person’s life. Is it really all that less impressive if you know the artist will survive at the end?

Monowheel Confidense

Riding a monocycle is already hard, but it is harder if you also need to balance someone on top of you. Fortunately, the audiences will be focused on the person on top, since the one below will be too focused to be charismatic.

The General

Moving on to films, The General featured one of the most expensive and dangerous stunts of the silent era when a real locomotive was sent crashing through a burning bridge.

Ben-Hur

Ben-Hur used a massive practical chariot race involving real horses, real collisions, and significant risk to performers and stuntmen.

The Man with the Golden Gun

The Man with the Golden Gun included a record-setting corkscrew car jump performed for real, requiring precise calculations and leaving little room for error.

Police Story

Police Story featured Jackie Chan doing many of his own stunts, suffering burns and injuries during one of cinema’s most famous scenes.

Roar

Roar was filmed with dozens of real lions, tigers, and other big cats. More than 70 cast and crew members reportedly suffered injuries during production.

14 Actors Who Looked 40 Their Entire Careers

As actors and performers grow in age, the roles they can play change dramatically. Child actors grow into teen dramas, who later play adults and veterans until only elderly roles are left. But not everyone functions that way, since not all bodies grow in the same manner; some people are eternal children, while others look 40 from before and after they turn that age.

Chalk it up to a receding hairline, a weathered face, or simply an unusually mature screen presence, these actors often found themselves playing authority figures, parents, and grizzled professionals long before their actual age suggested it. Looking back, it’s hard not to wonder whether some of these actors were somehow born looking 40 years old.

Wilford Brimley

Wilford Brimley is the patron saint of this category. He was only 49 when he played a retiree in Cocoon, and generations of moviegoers have joked that he looked 65 for roughly half a century.

Tommy Lee Jones

Even in his younger roles, Tommy Lee Jones carried the weathered face and stern expression of a veteran lawman. Fans often remark that he seemed middle-aged from the very beginning of his film career.

Richard Dreyfuss

Richard Dreyfuss was only 27 when Jaws was released, yet many viewers assume he was at least a decade older. His mature appearance became a frequent topic of discussion among movie fans.

Christopher Lloyd

Christopher Lloyd somehow looked elderly for decades without appearing to age much further. Many viewers remember him as an old man in the Back to the Future era, even though he was much younger than they assumed.

Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson had the receding hairline, grin, and world-weary demeanor of a man well into middle age long before he actually got there. Even his early breakout performances projected a surprisingly mature image.

Michael Shannon

Michael Shannon built a career playing authority figures, hardened criminals, and intimidating professionals. Fans frequently joke that he looked 45 at 25 and has barely changed appearance ever since.

Gene Hackman

Gene Hackman rarely looked youthful, even during his earliest major roles. His rugged features and serious screen presence made him seem like a seasoned veteran long before he reached that age.

Walter Brennan

Walter Brennan made a career out of playing grizzled old-timers and elderly sidekicks. Audiences often assumed he was much older than he really was, even during the height of his popularity.

Paul Giamatti

Paul Giamatti has long looked like somebody’s experienced accountant, coach, or neighbor. Fans frequently joke that he arrived in Hollywood already looking like a dependable forty-something character actor.

Jonathan Banks

Jonathan Banks became famous as tough authority figures and hardened criminals, but his weathered appearance had people assuming he was older than he actually was for much of his career.

George C. Scott

George C. Scott possessed a stern, commanding presence that made him seem older than many of his contemporaries. Even in earlier films, he projected the authority of someone decades older.

Abe Vigoda

Abe Vigoda became so associated with elderly characters that many viewers are surprised to learn how long his career lasted. He looked old, played old, and somehow stayed looking old for decades.

Edward Asner

Ed Asner’s balding head, deep voice, and serious demeanor gave him the appearance of a much older man early in his career. As a result, he slid naturally into elder statesman roles.

Donald Sutherland

Even in films from the early 1970s, Donald Sutherland carried himself like a seasoned professional rather than a young leading man. His distinctive look often made audiences assume he was older than reality.

Actors Who Were Somehow Cast as Teenagers for Way Too Long

Some actors seem to maintain the face and physicality of youth for longer than other people, letting them play young adults or even teens well into their thirties. Emphasis on some, since there are other actors that simply don’t look the part. Adults act better than teens, but they need to fit the bill.

We’ve gathered here a few actors that played teens for a bit too long, traversing high school halls looking more like teachers than students. Some of them were able to trick us for years, but not forever; at some point, it’s time to pass the torch to the new generations.

Bianca Lawson

Bianca Lawson is the gold standard for this topic. She played high school students in Saved by the Bell: The New Class, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dawson’s Creek, Pretty Little Liars, and Teen Wolf well into her thirties.

Nicholle Tom

Nicholle Tom was in her twenties for part of her run on The Nanny, yet Maggie Sheffield remained a teenager for much of the series. Her youthful appearance helped extend the illusion longer than most actors could manage.

Stacey Dash

Stacey Dash spent much of the 1990s and early 2000s playing teenagers. She was 28 in Clueless and continued portraying high school-aged characters long after most actors had moved on.

Gabrielle Carteris

Gabrielle Carteris was nearly 30 when she started playing Andrea Zuckerman. She remained a high school student for multiple seasons despite being significantly older than the rest of the teenage cast.

Jason Earles

Jason Earles was almost 30 when Hannah Montana began and continued playing teenager Jackson Stewart throughout the series. He may be one of Disney Channel’s oldest “teen” stars ever.

Michael J. Fox

Michael J. Fox spent much of the 1980s and early 1990s playing characters significantly younger than himself. Between Family Ties and the Back to the Future films, he remained Hollywood’s go-to teenager well into adulthood.

Rachel McAdams

Rachel McAdams wasn’t alone in being older than her character, but she became one of the most famous examples. At 26, she played Regina George so effectively that few questioned it.

Charisma Carpenter

Charisma Carpenter was 27 when she began playing Cordelia Chase on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Even after graduating the character, she spent years playing someone who had only recently left high school.

Ben McKenzie

Ben McKenzie was 25 when he starred in The O.C., joining a long tradition of twenty-somethings portraying troubled teenagers. The role helped define an entire era of teen television.

Trevor Donovan

Trevor Donovan joined 90210 at age 30 while playing high school student Teddy Montgomery. Few actors have stretched the definition of “teenager” quite so far.

Tom Welling

Tom Welling was 24 when Smallville began, and the series spent years depicting Clark Kent’s adolescence. By later seasons, viewers were watching a man in his thirties play a very recent high school graduate.

James Van Der Beek

James Van Der Beek was 21 when Dawson’s Creek began and spent six seasons playing a high school student and recent graduate. Like many teen drama stars, he stayed younger on screen than in reality.

Chad Michael Murray

Chad Michael Murray was in his early twenties when he started playing Lucas Scott. After previous teen roles in Gilmore Girls and Freaky Friday, he became one of television’s most recognizable perpetual teenagers.

Sara Rue

Sara Rue was 20 when Popular premiered and spent multiple seasons playing a high school student. While not as extreme as some examples, she became part of the late-’90s tradition of adult actors filling teen roles.

Keiko Agena

Keiko Agena played Lane Kim throughout Gilmore Girls, beginning the series at age 27. She spent years portraying a high school student and later a young adult while remaining far older than the character.