Why Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Is the Perfect Fourth of July Movie
Every year when the long Independence Day weekend comes around, cinephiles and theater programmers across the United States try to work out the perfect movie to watch. The perfect Fourth of July film needs to be one that’ll invoke that vital feeling of celebration and nostalgia, with an exciting edge, and maybe even a little subversive messaging too. Classics like Jaws or Independence Dayhave long been lauded as must-watch flicks over the holiday weekend, but today I am here to propose a new tradition, one that will see the Ewoks take their rightful place at the top of the July 4th movie pyramid, singing and dancing “Yub Nub” all the way to victory.
When you think of the 1983 entry into George Lucas’ space opera saga you might not immediately think of the warm beaches, summery vibes, and fireworks that are usually associated with America’s birthday. As the final movie in Lucas’ original trilogy, Return of the Jedipicks up around a year after the end of the shockingly somber Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. The filmoffers high octane adventure, nostalgia, and super cute critters. But it also has some poignant parallels and deeply silly similarities to American history and cultural traditions that make it a great holiday weekend watch.
Just like with the rest of his original Star Wars trilogy George Lucas fills Return of the Jedi with a deeply satisfying anti-fascist adventure as the now-thriving Rebellion fights a nightmarish Imperial power that won’t stop exploiting the people it’s supposed to serve. Sound familiar? Historically there are many parallels that can be made to the politics of Star Wars but the one that cannot be denied is the fact that the film centers on a violent rebellion filled with direct action that destroys the iron grip of an authoritarian leader. What better film to watch on the Fourth of July as we remind ourselves what it means to live in America?
One of the best parts of any holiday is the chance to gather with loved ones and eat all kinds of delectable dishes. Of course on July 4th that is often a barbeque with roasted meats, burgers, hot dogs, and all the sides your friends can bring. While Ewoks aren’t chomping on Nathan’s and drinking a light beer, Return of the Jedi does feature one of cinema’s most iconic epic cookout scenes that takes place on the forest moon of Endor. Just as Americans around the country are prepping to feast over the weekend by smoking meats, visiting the supermarket, and buying produce from their local street vendors, in Return of the Jedi we see the Ewoks too spend time preparing their sacrifices for their banquet to celebrate the godly golden robot known as C-3PO.
If you’re more of a raucous partier then don’t worry because you can simply take a raft over to the Northern Dune Sea and enter Jabba’s palace. There you can choose between delightful dancing with Twi’lek beauties, or do some Sarlacc spotting from Jabba’s beautiful barge. If you’re more the kind of person to spend your Saturday watching sports then don’t worry as there are plenty of athletic and very dangerous fights to enjoy from lightsaber battles to Rancor ruin. There’s something for everyone and holiday celebrators of every stripe in the galaxy far, far away.
While some prefer to stay cozy in their home for the holiday, others want barbeque and to indulge in beach action and of course Return of the Jedi can sate those needs too. In addition to the barbecuing of Jabba’s barge, the movie stars one of the most iconic bikini babes of all time: Hutt-Slayer Leia. Yes, her beach body is ready to do damage both by its sauciness and the literal chains that allow her to kill Jabba.
Celebrating American independence and understanding the reality of what that has cost and what it means for the indigenous people of Turtle Island is deeply complex. It’s not entirely unlike trying to smooth out your brain and enjoy watching a beloved movie that is owned by a massive corporation. In that way Return of the Jedi is a perfect holiday watch. And as the Ewoks defeat the Empire with nothing but sticks and rocks, it’s a good reminder that anything is possible if you’re cute, angry, and work together with your allies!
If you’re like… but what about the fireworks? Every good holiday movie needs some good fireworks. Well, what better way to celebrate than to watch an entire genocidal starship and its fascist inhabitants get blown up? Great news: that’s how Return of the Jedi ends as the Rebellion destroys the Death Star II and the galaxy rejoices.
So this July 4th may the Force — or Fourth— be with you and your loved ones!
Great Movies to Watch Where the King Loses
This Fourth of July weekend, some Americans will spend their time at the beach, some will host barbecues, and still others will be watching dinosaurs on screen. No matter what the activity, one phrase will be in the American imagination: No kings!
And yet, unless you count the recording of the stage production of Hamilton as a movie, cinematic depictions of the American revolution are pretty bad. So anyone who wants to celebrate the establishment of the United States is out of luck.
However, Americans wanting to celebrate the downfall of the king will find some enjoyable movies, provided they do a little creative stretching, because stories about the downfall of a powerful figure are a favorite at the cinema.
So let’s describe that creative stretching. For this list, we’ll define “King” fairly broadly, not limiting the term to just males or to those who hold a particular title. Anytime one person holds the majority of the power, even if they don’t call themselves a monarch and even if they insist that they represent “the people,” that person will be a king for our purposes.
That said, this is an inherently democratic list, which means we are not including movies where a bad king loses, only to be replaced by a “good” king. So that means you won’t see The Return of the King or The Lion King, no version of Robin Hood and absolutely, positively noDune.
And in the spirit of democracy, feel free to mention any movies we missed in the comments. After all, not even the writer of this article wants to lord over others, but would rather build a community with others.
The Great Dictator (1940)
As the name suggests, the king in question in this 1940 Charlie Chaplin classic The Great Dictator is a dictator, namely Tomainian ruler Adenoid Hynkel (Chaplin). As Hynkel builds his massive military empire, a barber (also Chaplin) deals with trauma from World War I while living in a Jewish ghetto governed by his wartime ally Schultz (Reginald Gardiner). As Schultz earns the ire of Hynkel, the barber gets drawn into the larger political milieu, leading to the movie’s most famous scene. At Schultz’s urging, the barber, disguised as the dictator, pretends to by Hynkel and addresses the crowd.
The barber’s speech urging for peace and human connection across borders was as inspirational as it was surprising. By 1940, talking pictures had dominated Hollywood for more than a decade, but Chaplin had been a silent holdout, making his spoken lines a shift for the actor. Chaplin was also a public anti-war crusader (despite agreeing to make the patriotic film Shoulder Arms (1918), and his words carried more strength as Hitler and Mussolini waged war across Europe. Finally, there’s the dark reversal of The Great Dictator, in which Hynkel himself gets mistaken for the barber and sent to a concentration camp, a bleak, but ironically fitting, end.
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
The Wizard of Oz doesn’t have a proper king, but it does have not one, not two, but three bad leaders who get deposed over the course of the classical musical. The first, of course, is the Wicked Witch of the East, who dies in a housing crisis. The second is the Wicked Witch of the West, who shares the same weakness as the aliens from Signs.
The third, of course, is the Wizard himself, who insists that he’s a very good man, despite operating as a despot in the Emerald City. So when Dorothy and her coalition of rebels finally challenge him, the Wizard repents and decides to join them, stepping away from being a monarch. Sure, he pronounces the Scarecrow as a new “ruler,” which does bump against our rules against movies in which kings replace kings, but we’ll let that slide, hoping that Scarecrow learned a lesson about the power of the people while paling around with his friends.
Spartacus (1960)
“I am Spartacus.” That thrilling sequence at the end of Stanley Kubrick‘s costume epic captures the anti-kingly spirit of Spartacus. The story of a slave (Kirk Douglas) who rebels against Rome, Spartacus is both a thrilling adventure and a stirring story about the power of the community against the leader. So powerful, in fact, that the movie belongs on this list, even though leaders Crassus (Laurence Olivier) and Julius Caesar (John Gavin) remain in power by the end of the film.
Spartacus makes its case for inclusion in the aforementioned “I am Spartacus” scene. It occurs late in the film, when the slaves have been captured and face death unless they reveal the leader known as Spartacus. Before Douglass’s character can speak, the slaves all identify themselves by that name, proving the power of solidarity even in the face of an Empire like Rome.
Star Wars (1977)
Okay, the empire doesn’t fall for a couple more movies (at least until Palpatine somehow returns), but the end begins when a couple of droids land on a backwards desert planet in Star Wars. Some have grouched about the chosen one narrative of Star Wars, complaining that the movies are all about how people fight in vain until the one special boy gets into the fight.
But that critique doesn’t really hold for the first three films, and definitely not for Star Wars. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) doesn’t enter the battle as a master ready to save the galaxy. Rather, he’s a stumbling kid who relies on his pals to get anything done, whether that’s his mentor Obi Wan (Alec Guinness), rogue Han Solo (Harrison Ford), or the fiery Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher). By the time Luke does see the death of the Emperor, he’s simply followed the path set out for him by the rebellion.
Labyrinth (1986)
Labyrinth protagonist Sarah Williams might be a snotty teenager and a terrible babysitter. But she does understand the most important truth about kings, a truth that allows her to stand up to Jareth (David Bowie), the Goblin King. After making her way through the a magical maze to rescue her infant brother, Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) stands in Jareth’s court and declares, “You have no power over me!” With that realization, the King realizes that he’s lost and, indeed, must free Sarah and her brother Toby.
Directed by Jim Henson and written by Monty Python alum Terry Jones, Labyrinth is about as political as it is tightly-plotted. The joy of the movie comes from Henson’s fantastic puppet work and Bowie’s surreal performance as Jareth. And yet, Sarah’s realization of where political power truly lies makes Labryinth just as revolutionary as any other entry on this list.
Snowpiercer (2013)
Mr. Wilford (Ed Harris) certainly would not describe himself as a king. He simply sees himself as an innovator, a free thinker who saw a need and filled it by creating a perpetually-running engine, which drives the train that holds the last humans on Earth in Snowpiercer. But given that Snowpiercer comes from director Bong Joon Ho—who co-wrote the screenplay with Kelly Masterson, itself based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Benjamin Legrand, and Jean-Marc Rochette—Wilford’s opulence means he needs to go.
Snowpiercer follows Curtis (Chris Evans) as he leads a group from the oppressed back of the train to the front, where they confront Wilford. Along the way, they see just how segmented their society is, which lends itself to a simple socialist allegory. But director Bong has never been about simplicity, leading to a complicated and surprising final confrontation between Curtis and Wilford.
Maleficent (2014)
Like The Wizard of Oz, the Disney reimagining Maleficent does run a bit close to being a movie about a ruler replacing another ruler, as the movie ends with Aurora (Elle Fanning) being crowned. However, director Robert Stromberg and screenwriter Linda Woolverton are playful enough in this prequel to Sleeping Beauty that the ending could be read as the beginnings of a new system instead of just the next in a succession of monarchs.
Moreover, Maleficent is very much about a woman bent on bringing down the king, namely Stefan (Sharlto Copley). Once her childhood friend, Stefan maimed Maleficent as part of his quest for conquest. Her personal mission gained social importance as she works to take down Stefan and remove his ability to harm anyone else in the same way.
The Tragedy of Macbeth (1905-2021)
One of Shakespeare‘s great tragedies, Macbeth has been adapted for the screen countless times, first in a silent short in 1905 and most famously by Roman Polanski for his surreal 1971 version. In 2021, Joel Coen made a stirring black and white version with Denzel Washington giving an Academy Award nominated turn as the ill-fated monarch and Kathryn Hunter as a unique take on the Witches.
Different as all the various movie Macbeth’s are, they all tell the same story, that of a king whose lust for power is he and his wife’s undoing. While Macbeth does close with Malcolm becoming the new king of Scotland, the Bard’s famous nihilism prevents it from feeling like a celebratory occasion, leaving the audience with the sense that he too is only one “untimely ripped” person away from his own downfall.
The Bear Season 4 Finally Lets Richie Shine
This article contains spoilers for The Bear season 4.
The Bear has so many characters that it sometimes feels like creator Christopher Storer is performing a high-wire circus act, trying to give everyone the proper amount of screentime in each 30-ish minute episode. The series’ lead is Jeremy Allen White’s Carmy Berzatto, but much like some of the show’s spiritual predecessors, the supporting stars are often the ones who produce the most visceral emotional connections between the story and the audience.
Carmy’s cousin (this term being the Berzatto family’s loose description for every close or even not-so-close friend or acquaintance), Richie Jerimovich (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), is the most compelling and relatable person in the restaurant show’s canon of lovable misfits. Richie originally worked with Carmy’s brother, Michael (Jon Bernthal), back when the outfit was just a modest sandwich joint. Richie is the awkward connective tissue between Carmy and his brother, the person who knew Mikey better than Carmy.
Richie’s journey often gets overlooked in the show or sidelined for someone else’s story, but when the series decides to let him become the main event of an episode or a scene, it usually produces some of the most magical TV we’ve seen in recent years. Moss-Bachrach portrays Richie’s trauma with a healthy dose of reserved chaos, so to speak, especially since he went to train at a fine dining establishment in anticipation of the Bear’s opening at the end of season 2.
“Forks” was the episode in which Richie’s potential was realized, but his scenes since that powerhouse half-hour have been a mixture of bottled-up anxiety and quick retorts to those who have more important things to do, both in the restaurant and outside of it. Richie’s story asked us a lot of questions, but it rarely provided the answers we were looking for throughout season 3.
Much like the series did for a lot of its ambiguous plot lines in season 4, The Bear gave Richie the requisite time to work through his past and look to the present with greater focus. Richie’s ex-wife’s wedding is a main focus throughout the first seven episodes, culminating in a therapeutic marital super-event with nearly every character that has ever been involved in the Berzatto family’s inner circle.
Richie still loves Tiff (Gillian Jacobs), but sometimes that isn’t enough to make a relationship work. Seeing Richie support his former partner and encourage her to find happiness in a new marriage was a mature and thoroughly satisfying development for Richie. The scene in which he tries to help Tiff’s groom, Frank (Josh Hartnett), find common ground with his own daughter elevates the character into a grown adult. Richie often behaves like a kid, whether it be yelling when he doesn’t agree with someone or undermining Carmy for a petty or resentful reason. He doesn’t want to see another man steal his child, but he can let go because he’s much more secure in himself than he was back in season 1 or even season 2.
Richie’s progression into one of the main cogs in the restaurant has coincided with his ability to look inward and take pride in his own growth. He has confidence in himself now, and he’s a perfect encapsulation of how a man can use self-esteem to treat himself and others with the respect they deserve. But despite how far Richie has come, his relationship with Carmy was still holding him back heading into the season 4 finale.
“Goodbye” is a good episode for the first half of its runtime, but the second Richie comes out to the back of the restaurant to find out that Carmy is leaving the Bear, is when the finale explodes into something truly memorable. So much has gone unsaid between these two in their love-hate interactions for the past couple of seasons. They usually decide to just stay silent for the sake of not screaming their heads off, but an admission from Carmy that he attended Mikey’s funeral is enough to both hurt and then heal something deep within Richie’s soul.
Richie feels everything and wears so many emotions on his face (this is true of many of the characters, but the most so with him). Moss-Bachrach lets us inside Richie’s rainbow of emotions by swearing his allegiance to Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) at the end of the scene. He forgives Carmy for his past sins, but also is able to slay that dragon in his mind because he’s been freed from Carmy’s shadow. Richie is a follower, but now he can lead in his own way without Carmy commanding him or lording over the business.
The Bear’s decision to thrust Syd and Richie into the dynamic duo that will carry the restaurant into its final form is a brilliant one that understands just how vital these two secondary characters are to both the people in the series and to the viewers watching. Richie fans sometimes felt left out last season, but season 4 resulted in a long-awaited payoff for the show’s lovable underdog. The buzzer may have sounded as the credits rolled, but Richie’s revitalization is just getting started. Are we thrilled about this? Hell yes, chef!
All 10 episodes of The Bear season 4 are available to stream on Hulu now.
Where Does the Jurassic Park Franchise Go From Here?
Back in 1997, audiences shuffled out of theaters with one thought on their minds: “I guess not even Steven Spielberg can make a good sequel to Jurassic Park.” The Lost World: Jurassic Park failed to match the quality of its predecessor in every way, setting off a series that would be nothing but lackluster entries. Even Spielberg’s previous mean-spirited follow-up to a beloved adventure film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doomat least had moments of cinematic excellence, but The Lost World has a dull New York sequence and an ill-advised raptor versus preteen gymnast scene.
And yet, like InGen, ParkerGenix, and all of the other companies in the Jurassic universe, Universal Pictures seems determined to keep churning these movies out. Sometimes, the results are fairly entertaining (see: Jurassic World Rebirth); sometimes, they’re disastrous (see: Jurassic World Dominion).
So with that in mind, let’s pretend we’ve been hired by Universal to serve as advisors, offering our opinions on how the franchise should proceed. We’ll put on our cool glasses, don our leather jackets, and ignore the question of whether the studio should make more Jurassic movies and tell them how they could make better Jurassic movies.
We’re Not Bored of Dinosaurs
One of the strangest threads in the movies that follow Jurassic Park III is this idea that we’re bored of dinosaurs. Let me say that again, just so it can sink in. The Jurassic World movies think that people find dinosaurs boring.
To be fair, the idea that dinosaurs are old news kind of worked as a metacommentary in the first Jurassic World. It had been 14 years since the last movie and that fictional world had moved on while we weren’t watching. Maybe people within that universe would get bored (though Disney adults still seem pretty jazzed to hug some actor in a Mickey costume, and that’s been going on for decades).
But here’s the thing, we—the people in the real world, the people in the audience, the people actually watching the movies—are not bored of dinosaurs. We love dinosaurs. That’s why we’ve come to watch the films.
More than anything else, the Jurassic movies need to remember this fact. Dinosaurs are cool and everyone in the audience wants to see them. A love of dinosaurs should be the first thing that drives their movies, even if the characters in the film don’t share that feeling.
No More Mutants
If only Wanda Maximoff existed in the Jurassic universe, then we wouldn’t have so many problems. Again, it’s slightly forgivable that Jurassic World included the Indominous Rex because it was a type of metacommentary on the franchise’s absence. But even that movie understood Indominous sucks, which is why it gets taken down by classic dinos at the end.
And yet, the movies keep coming back to mutants, whether it’s the clone kid from Fallen Kingdom or the Distortus Rex from Rebirth. At best, these things feel like crass toy tie-ins from the era that spawned Jurassic Park, like when Batman would get a new, increasingly esoteric suit every twenty minutes of his latest movie.
But in most cases, the mutants feel like distractions. None of them have the majesty and wonder of the real dinosaurs. Most of them seem like the product of executives and the least talented designers… which, they are, of course. But that doesn’t mean that we want to see them on screen, not when there are real dinosaurs to watch.
Pulp Adventure Only
Without question, Owen Grady is the worst character in the Jurassic franchise. All of the self-depricating humor that makes Chris Pratt so much fun to watch in other things went out the window for a pompous tool who felt like a twenty-something who ends up at way too many high school parties.
Yet, despite the disastrous execution, the idea behind Owen Grady is the right one. There should be old-school, lantern jawed men and steely women in these movies, because they are fundamentally pulp adventures.
The most consistently effective scenes in Jurassic movies understand this. The tall-grass raptor attack in The Lost World, the rappelling sequence in Rebirth, the opening of Fallen Kingdom: all of these moments feel like they came out of a cheap paperback from a century ago.
Not every Jurassic film can achieve the level of mastery that Spielberg brought to the first entry. But it’s not unreasonable to expect every film to be exciting, and pulp adventure is a way they can achieve that.
Don’t Overdo the Kids Stuff
There’s no getting around the fact that Jurassic movies appeal to children, and that’s a good thing. Nobody loves dinosaurs more than kids, and a sense of wonder is built into the franchise. However, even as the films tend to be more cynical and mean (as we’ll discuss in a minute), the Jurassic franchise has also become almost cloying to children.
The most obvious example occurs in Rebirth, in which Isabella Delgado (Audrina Miranda) gets a cuddly animal sidekick in a baby triceratops mutate. But the problem goes back earlier, to raptors that can be stopped through gymnastics and Owen Grady’s buddy Blue.
All of these attempts to make dinos into puppies fundamentally misunderstand why kids like dinosaurs. It’s not just that they fill children with awe; it’s also that dinos scare them a little. That wonder diminishes when kids aren’t as frightened as they are amazed. This doesn’t mean that the next Jurassic movie needs to have scenes of a stegosaurus impaling junior on its spiky tail. But we do need to see kids in danger, just like Lex and Tim in the first movie.
Wonder Over Cynicism
Quick, what’s the best scene in any Jurassic Park movie? The T-rex’s arrival? Tim scaling the fence? Raptors in the kitchen? All great moments, but without question, the best moment is the first reveal of the dinosaurs, when John Hammond welcomes us to Jurassic Park. Spielberg’s ability to capture awe is in full effect, as is one of John Williams‘s best scores, filling us viewers with a wonder that remains even after multiple viewings.
Since then, the Jurassic movies have only occasionally replicated that feeling, which makes a certain amount of sense. The dinosaurs were new back in 1993 and nobody does awe like Spielberg. But instead of even trying for awe, the films have gone for meanness and cynicism, even Spielberg’s own The Lost World.
Certainly, there’s a place for meanness in a dinosaur movie. These are, after all, cold-blooded creatures. But the Jurassic franchise wants to be a series of PG-13 crowdpleasers, which takes away the edge needed to make meanness interesting.
The recent films have occasionally achieved this sense of wonder, as in the sequence of the dinos collapsing into the sea as Isla Nublar burns in Fallen Kingdom or Dr. Loomis’s (Jonathan Bailey) delight in Rebirth. But these moments have been few and far between, buried under sequences in which dinosaurs team up to kill a babysitter or compies attack a little girl.
Wonder, even imperfectly realized, better fits the Jurassic Park tone and therefore should be the focus of the series.
The Ironheart Finale Introduced an MCU Villain We’ve Waited 13 Years For
This article contains spoilers for the Ironheart finale.
After fans were fooled one too many times before,Ironhearthasfinally brought a major addition to the world’s highest-grossing franchise via another Hollywood megastar. While Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams led Ironheart as something of a throwback to the Iron Man movies, the inclusion of Anthony Ramos’ Parker Robbins teased that we’d be delving into the darker magical side of the MCU. Although the rumor mill had gone into overdrive that Sacha Baron Cohen would be playing the maleficent Mephisto, fans would have to wait until the show’s sixth (and final) episode to see him revealed as the one pulling the strings after he was first mentioned 13 years ago (yes, really).
Ironheart was littered with references to Mephisto and deals with the Devil, including an early inclusion of a disembodied voice asking The Hood about his darkest desires. The Ironheart finale then fleshed out the backstory of Robbins, revealing that Mephisto rescued him during a heist and offered to make him more powerful than the father who abandoned him. Those up on their Marvel Comics will know that Mephisto’s Faustian bargains are something of a Monkey’s Paw situation, and although Robbins gets his cloak, he’ll be inflicted with much pain and haunting voices when he’s without it. When strutting around as The Hood, he’s easier to control and is addicted to his power. Mephisto confirms Robbins wasn’t the first to make a deal, name-dropping everyone from William Shakespeare, to Forbes’ Top 100 richest people, to three popes, to even Ringo Starr.
There’s no word on a potential second season of Ironheart, and with it billed as a limited series alongside the likes ofAgatha All Along andSecret Invasion, its cliffhanger ending will likely have to be picked up elsewhere. What consequences Riri will face remain unclear, and although she’s got her BFF back, we don’t imagine Aubrey Plaza’s Death will be too happy that Lyric Ross’ Natalie is back in the land of the living.
Speaking of Death, she was notably introduced in Agatha All Along, which is when Mephisto last got a wink in the MCU. This came after fans relentlessly theorized the demon’s arrival in WandaVision. In reality, Mephisto was first canonized in the MCU way back in 2012’s The Avengers. Although not a direct mention, that film referenced how Mephisto had been aiding S.H.I.E.L.D. while dabbling with the Tesseract. After Mephisto was considered as a potential Deadpool & Wolverine villain before Hugh Jackman suggested Cassandra Nova, the bargaining Beelzebub has been a long time coming.
Introduced in 1968’s Silver Surfer #3, Mephisto has had run-ins with everyone from Spider-Man to Doctor Strange. He was notably responsible for turning Harry and Norman Osborn, Otto Octavius, and even Phil Coulson into villains, also being involved in Wanda Maximoff’s descent into madness when he absorbed the souls of her children before “House of M.” This meant many expected him to pop up in bothWandaVision andDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Elsewhere in the comics, original Ghost Rider Johnny Blaze got his powers by striking a deal with the horned menace, which is why he appeared in both the Nicolas Cage-led Ghost Rider movies – played by Peter Fonda in the first movie and Ciarán Hinds in 2011’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Finally, his love of bargaining saw him strike a deal with Peter Parker’s Spider-Man to save Aunt May at the cost of his marriage to Mary Jane Watson in the controversial “One More Day” arc.
It seems as though MCU is giving us its own take on Mephisto this with the Ironheart finale, although a more traditional version of the character’s origin could still play out in the upcomingSpider-Man: Brand New Day. Early reports suggested Tom Holland’s fourth Spidey outing would be a street-level affair with Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk/Kingpin as its big bad, until wild rumors claimed it would be a more magical outing with Mephisto and Ghost Rider.
An already stacked cast for Avengers: Doomsday suggests there might not be room for someone like Mephisto as the Multiverse deals with the threat of Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom, but assuming the MCU isn’t reset, Mephisto could be a solid antagonist for something like the long-rumored Midnight Sons project or cause Riri more headaches in a Young Avengers outing. It just so happens there’s a Champions arc where he strikes a deal with various young heroes, while his son, Blackheart, possesses Riri.
Even though some are worried we won’t see Mephisto again for a while, his potential to be a Thanos-level big bad means he’s more than worth the wait.
All six episodes of Ironheart are available to stream on Disney+ now.
Ironheart: Riri Williams Deserved Better Than Iron Man’s Shadow
Legacy has become an integral kernel of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s storytelling since the Infinity Saga concluded withAvengers: Endgame in 2019. New heroes have suited up to replace their predecessors and save the franchise from its drawn out identity crisis as the original Avengers – that they’d built a 21-film franchise upon – retired.
Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) is the latest victim to the burden of succession. It’s been three years since the teenage genius first hustled her way onto the scene in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, as an MIT student who built a vibranium detector for a class project and caught the eye of Wakanda’s resident scientist super inventor Shuri (Letitia Wright).
When she first took flight on the silver screen, Riri had a notable spark and sass as an upcoming leader in her field. Confident in her abilities, Riri offered a young, fresh energy to the film, which many were hoping would translate into her standalone series.
In Ironheart, Riri’s identity shifts as parallels are made between her and the former iron-suit inventor in the franchise, Tony Stark. Similar to Stark’s early days in the MCU, Riri struggles with her mental health, adopting a single-minded obsession with modifying the suit whatever the cost.
Yet, Riri isn’t afforded the same charisma, playfulness, or charm that Stark possesses, which strengthen and balance the audience’s investment in a more three-dimensional character. It’s hard to root for a character who shows no signs of remorse for abusing her skills to “lie, cheat, and manipulate” people, as Zeke Stane (Alden Ehrenreich) says, for her own personal gain.
Even by the end of Iron Man, Stark has a significant redemption arc as he toes the line between good and evil and finally takes a definitive stance as a force for good, imploding his own billion-dollar business in the process. While Riri is billed as a wannabe superhero without billion-dollar backing, she consistently acts only for her own self-interest with little to no signs of hero material, even in the brief CGI battles.
There’s a constant element of comparison that isn’t as prevalent in other comparable passing-of-the-torch Marvel series such as Hawkeye or Ms. Marvel, to the extent that Stark becomes a looming presence and notable absence to the series that leaves the audience waiting for his arrival – which never comes.
If the focus had been on Riri’s journey out of the self-destructive elements of her grief, to finding more passion, joy and purpose through her revolutionary suit, she would have made more of an impact in her own right.
In the comics, Riri has a similar backstory to the miniseries as before she reverse engineers her own spin on Stark’s iron amor. Once the prototype is up and running, she takes flight testing her suits capabilities and stops any criminals that cross her path. Riri becomes a hero in her own right and catches the attention of Stark to team up with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
In Ironheart, Riri loses all sense of curiosity in her abilities and the impact they could have, alongside the empathy and heroism she demonstrates in Wakanda Forever. Even in the MCU’s heavier series such as WandaVision, there are moments of light relief and self-reflection to break through the red-rage-hex that Wanda has produced in her grief.
There’s no sense that Riri ends the series with more clarity on her position in the MCU or as a hero either. Riri deserved better than being positioned as Stark’s successor and being weighed down with the responsibilities and expectations of filling a billionaire philanthropist’s shoes, before the age of 21.
The MCU arguably already lined up whizz-kid Peter Parker as Stark’s prodigy too (even if his internship was fake) as their relationship and shared interest in science and technology led to close collaborations and Stark even coming out of his off-grid existence to snap the blipped world back to life.
Riri might fly the suit, but she’s lacking the playfulness and moral compass that heroes need to ground the show in any reality and motivate the audience to invest in them. If Riri returns, it has to be on her own terms, as a genius in her own right who serves as more than a bridge to prop up someone else’s legacy.
All six episodes of Ironheart are available to stream on Disney+ now.
This Is Spinal Tap Director Rob Reiner On The Real Story of a Mockumentary Classic
A 4K restoration re-release and a long-awaited sequel to This Is Spinal Tap, a mockumentary about a very punctual band, are arriving in the nick of time. A single pierce from an amplified instrument can infuse musicians with the blood of rock and roll. Director Rob Reiner’s sonic infection took a lumbar puncture. In his 1984 full-length directorial debut, he exposed the world to Spinal Tap. Reiner, the groundbreaking director who played the fictitious fledgling filmmaker Martin Di Bergi, spoke with Den of Geek about the joys of making a movie about a fake group.
“Everybody turned it down,” Reiner tells us. “I’d been turned down by everybody.” How many now-classic rock groups made the same complaint, only to expand the boundaries of music? This Is Spinal Tap went on to change cinematic comedy, creating a new genre of improvisational mockumentary filmmaking. The heavy metal satire was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress, and made guitarists David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) and Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), and bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) legends in their own mythos: A fake metal group still holding the title of England’s loudest band.
From July 5 through 7 only, The Golden 41st Anniversary 4K restoration of This Is Spinal Tap will play theaters. This re-release will include a special intro from Reiner, and feature the first look anyone dares take at the upcoming sequel, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues. There is no word yet on whether the 4K restoration will replace the print in the National Film Registry. But when the first Spinal Tap riff was recorded, Reiner, the future director of The American President could not pass his agenda, no matter how loud the argument. Even armed with two Emmys for his role on All in the Family.
Norman Lear, the creator of the nationally acclaimed sitcom, saw something in the demo reel Reiner pitched in place of a screenplay. “[Embassy Pictures] the company he [Norman Lear] bought, they turned it down,” Reiner tells us. “I begged [Embassy Communications Chairman] Alan Horn to let me come in there and pitch it to him. And I did. And to Lear and [Tandem Productions President and CEO] Jerry Perenchio, and I was so crazy and angry and mad. I left the room and [Lear] apparently said to everybody else in the room, ‘who’s going to tell him he can’t do it?’ I mean, he basically trusted me. He had faith in me.”
Reiner is also a true believer. There have always been whispers that the actor best known as Mike Stivic turned to directing to avoid sitcom stereotyping. “I didn’t do it to get stopped being called Meathead because that’ll follow me the rest of my life,” Reiner laughs. “To this day, they call me that.” He made the film to face the music.
“I’m the first generation that grew up on rock and roll,” Reiner says. “So, in the ‘50s, I loved Little Richard, Chuck Berry, the Everly Brothers. There’s a list of people that I love. Then into the ‘60s, I was a big fan of Buffalo Springfield, The Doors. I loved Crosby, Stills, and Nash. I was a big fan of Janis Joplin.”
The actors inhabiting the band Spinal Tap are renowned for their commitment to musical integrity. Reiner also has a deep appreciation for the roots of rhythm. “I also was a big lover of blues. I loved Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson, and on through, even the Chicago blues. Then there’s Buddy Guy, there’s Stevie Ray Vaughan, there’s Clapton, I loved Eric, I loved Mike Bloomfield, who played with the Butterfield Blues Band and also played with a group called the Electric Flag. Most of my life, those are the things that speak to me the most.”
In This is Spinal Tap, Di Bergi discovers the band Spinal Tap playing a Greenwich Village club called the Electric Banana. The fictitious venue is set in a variation of the real location. “I was up in Haight-Ashbury in 1967, during the summer of love,” Reiner clarifies. “I went to the Fillmore, not the Fillmore East, the Fillmore. I used to see Big Brother and the Holding Company, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, I saw all these bands.”
This is Spinal Tap was pitched to movie executives on the merits of rock and roll, drugs, and especially sex. The kids eat that up, Reiner promised in an early pitch. He’d also experienced true rock star liberation, first or second-hand.
“A friend of mine was going with Janis Joplin at the time,” Reiner says. “They had an apartment across the street from Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco. I had the distinction, and I put it at the top of my resume, of overhearing some love making between Janis Joplin and my friend. I use that as one of my big credits.”
Bands get nowhere without radio play, and Spinal Tap debuted for the most mythical of all classic disc jockeys. “Well, Wolfman Jack,” Reiner enthuses, breaking into an underplayed yet overenthusiastic impression: “Wolfman from X-E-R-B. He used to come from Tijuana. He was on a 50,000-watt station from across the border, and he boomed out everywhere. You can see him in American Graffiti.”
The elusive Wolfman Jack had a distinctive voice, perfect for platter-patter or mimicry. “I did him in The T.V. Show. This was in the late ‘78, ‘79. The show was a satire about sitcoms, TV shows, commercials. And it’s [got a parody of] Midnight Special, a late-night rock show [Wolfman hosted]. I played him introducing Spinal Tap for the first time on television. They played ‘Rock and Roll Nightmare,’ an MTV video kind of thing. That was the first time you saw Spinal Tap.”
Reiner’s gamble is like George Martin signing the Beatles to a comedy label after Decca laughed at their demo. In many ways, the Spinal Tap project was as much like starting a band as making a film. The entire project was collaborative, and every cast member was fluent in several instruments, and gifted with a natural gift for songwriting.
TV audiences probably first heard Michael McKean sing as Lenny of Lenny and the Squigtones on Laverne & Shirley. Guest played guitar as “Nigel Tufnel” on the Squigtones’ 1979 live album recorded at The Roxy in Hollywood, and on American Bandstand, but not on the series. Mentored by legendary voice actor Mel Blanc and now most beloved in multiple roles on The Simpsons, Harry Shearer came up through the Los Angeles radio comedy group, The Credibility Gap, which also included McKean.
This Is Spinal Tap created an extended cinematic improv troupe. Guest, a lifelong musician who’d performed with The National Lampoon Radio Hour and the off-Broadway revue National Lampoon’s Lemmings, directed a string of satirical mockumentary works of sublime genius, including Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), and For Your Consideration (2006). His 2003 folk music sendup, A Mighty Wind, featured a trio called The Folksmen. The group was played by Guest, McKean, and Shearer.
This Is Spinal Tap’s effect remains hilarious to music fans, and terrifying to musical artists. Ozzy Osbourne doesn’t see a comedy when watching This Is Spinal Tap. He flashes back to past tours. It is hard to satirize musicians who ask what’s so funny about things that always happen when Judas Priest plays Detroit. In spite of the warnings, some bands never learn. Pearl Jam has already gone through five drummers.
Reiner directed a string of classics in every genre that audiences recite back to the screens in appreciative memory. This Is Spinal Tap is Reiner’s only film as an underground director, but he maintains the original sense of creative abandon.
“I miss just being around people who inspire you, and you collaborate, and all of a sudden something better comes out that you didn’t even imagine would happen,” Reiner says. “I love working with the guys because that’s what happens with them. But it happens with any film where you get really great creative people, and you wind up with something better than you could ever have imagined. I don’t know how to make films, except to approach them as something that is an extension of something I love, or something I can connect to myself emotionally. So, when I find those things, I go ahead and do it.
“Then, if you’re lucky, you get with people who know how to do it. I just did three episodes on The Bear. I really liked doing that because Christopher Storer, who creates it, he’s great. He creates an atmosphere very much like what we do when we make our improvised movies: He lets you be free. It’s like the best sandbox you can play in. You’re transported back to your youth. And if you work well with others and play without, and don’t stick a thing in some other kid’s eye, it can be fun.”
But not as fun as overloading a stack of Marshalls. This Is Spinal Tap finds the sweet spots of monster sounds reserved for rock gods like Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page. Playing the guitar with a violin is genius, but Guest pausing to tune that violin is physical comedy at 11. “Well, you have to, if you want to get the right tone,” Reiner asserts. “You can’t just take a violin and do that. It’s going to hit the wrong notes. You got to just make sure you get it right.”
Fans of the film are intimately acquainted with the band’s backstory. Nigel Tufnel and David St. Hubbins, from London’s Squatney District, merged their skiffle bands, the Creatures and the Lovely Lads into a new band called the Originals. They weren’t the original Originals and changed their names several times before charting as Spinal Tap in 1967. Derek Smalls joined shortly after. Live recordings cemented the band as a top concert act. The music business being what it is, things went sideways. The band approached Martin Di Bergi, whose backstory is less well-known.
“Marty looked at this as a tremendous opportunity for him,” Reiner explains. “The guy had been working in industrial films, and some local commercials for delis and mattress things. Spinal Tap was his favorite band, and when he got the chance to actually document them, that was like heaven to him. And he thought it would be a stepping stone to have a real career with the movie studios and get to make a movie. And he actually did.”
In Reiner’s version of Di Bergi’s backstory saga, the initial film didn’t match the Spinal Tap vision. “Even though the guys didn’t like the movie that much, they thought it was a hatchet job, he got a chance,” Reiner explains. “Because they were doing a sequel to Kramer vs. Kramer, which was a big Academy Award-winning film with Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman, called ‘Kramer vs. Kramer vs. Godzilla,’ and Marty got a chance to direct that. He thought that was going to be his way in. But they didn’t take to it.”
Cast back into the job pool, Di Bergi regressed. “He had to go back to doing commercials for Chuckwagon dog food and certain things,” Reiner says. “He tried to find himself. He went to a commune. The guru was a guy named Baba Ram Dass Boot. One day after meditating and having his morning spirulina smoothie, he read in Deadline Hollywood that Spinal Tap was going to reunite for one last concert. And he thought, ‘Oh my God, if I can only get a chance to do this.’ So, he put Enlightenment on hold to see if he could get that job again. And luckily, he did. And the second film comes out in September.”
Spinal Tap II: The End Continues is set long after the band’s best days, a time when some musicians, like The Smith’s Morrissey, age into conservatism or even fascism. Does any Spinal Tap member change the way they lean? “You won’t see them go MAGA in the movie,” Reiner assures us. “But you never know what happens afterward. They say something bad and they could come after you. So, I hope they stand their ground.”
Capcom Is Poised for a Stellar 2026 With Pragmata and the Return of Onimusha
While Capcom’s most hype-inducing announcement at Summer Game Fest 2025 – indeed, arguably the biggest announcement of the whole weekend – was the official reveal of Resident Evil Requiem, it brought plenty of additional heat to the multi-day event. The Japanese publisher also provided an extended sneak peek of next year’s hack-and-slash samurai title Onimusha: Way of the Sword and a hands-on demo of its upcoming science fiction action game Pragmata. Den of Geek was invited to witness both firsthand, sitting in on gameplay for Way of the Sword while playing an early build of Pragmata, with the latter’s surprising blend of puzzle-solving and third-person combat.
Way of the Sword comes as Capcom continues to revive its fan-favorite Onimusha franchise, following an impressive remaster of Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny earlier this year for modern gaming platforms. First announced at 2024 The Game Awards, Way of the Sword is the first all-new mainline game in the series since 2006’s Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams. Judging by what we saw, Onimusha: Way of the Sword is worth the wait, not only completely reviving the venerable franchise but reminding everyone of its leading place in the growing pantheon of hack-and-slash games with a gorgeously rendered new adventure.
Eschewing modern trends for hack-and-slash games with Soulslike gameplay mechanics and open-world exploration, Onimusha: Way of the Sword leans into what the franchise has always done best, with accessible fighting mechanics and difficulty that still reward timing and strategy for adept players. The sneak peek at SGF 2025 had protagonist Miyamoto Musashi demonstrate a variety of moves to cut through different types of supernatural enemies, known as Genma, preying on a medieval village. This culminated in a fierce duel against Musashi’s recurring rival Sasaki Ganryu, a maniacally twisted swordsman with his own variation of Musashi’s magical Oni Gauntlet.
Based on what I saw, there is a graceful flow to the way that Musashi moves in combat, evoking the classic Onimusha games of 20 years ago, but with the finesse of a modern hack-and-slash title like Ghost of Tsushima and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Running on modern hardware, the game looks incredible, with its haunting environments and a highly detailed and expressive render of Musashi, with his likeness based on legendary Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune. The sneak peek teased a game that not only offered seamless and precise combat, but looked incredibly good doing it, with a cinematic visual flair as the camera intuitively panned in close or wide depending on the scope of the battle.
And then there’s the matter of Pragmata, a sci-fi action game first announced in 2020, quietly declared as being delayed indefinitely in 2023, and surprisingly returning at SGF 2025 after an extended period of little word on the project. Not only given a new release window of 2026, Capcom offered selected SGF attendees a hands-on demo of the game to play, which I eagerly accepted. After playing Pragmata for about 20 minutes, I can not only confirm that the game is real but unlike any other sci-fi title in recent memory.
Set in a futuristic environment that feels in line with genre counterparts like Mass Effect, the game’s protagonist Hugh is accompanied by an android of a small girl named Diana riding on his back. The game’s handling feels like any modern third-person adventure title, with Hugh able to seamlessly switch between weapons as he navigates the space base around him. But it’s in combat that Pragmata truly feels unique, incorporating on-the-fly puzzle-solving in the midst of fast-paced over-the-shoulder shooter action.
As Hugh faces shielded robots in the demo, Diana accesses their systems, with players performing what is essentially a pipe puzzle which successfully exposes enemy weak points upon completion. The mechanic is more seamless than one might think, especially in the heat of battle, and punctuating the successful completion of a puzzle with a shotgun blast to a menacing robot’s glowing weak point feels particularly satisfying. The puzzles in the demo gradually introduced new wrinkles, like incentives to keep robots vulnerable longer, but were never overly complex or intrusive to the combat gameplay.
The Pragmata demo ended with Hugh and Diana about to engage in a boss fight, wrapping on a big cliffhanger which I can genuinely say whet my appetite to keep playing. Time will tell if Pragmata has been worth the wait, but the demo was polished and responsive while the visuals looked on par with most modern sci-fi games. And in a field full of third-person shooters, the presence of Diana and her accompanying puzzle-solving mechanic certainly sets the game apart from its contemporaries in an interesting (and good) way.
Capcom really stole the show at Summer Game Fest 2025 offering sneak peeks and demos of three distinctly different titles, each exciting in their own way, ranging from hack-and-slash action to survival horror. All scheduled for releases in 2026, Capcom is poised to release Resident Evil Requiem, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, and Pragmata throughout the coming year. And based on its various presentations at SGF 2025, the Japanese publisher has a strong library of new and varied titles to look forward to.
Pragmata and Onimusha: Way of the Sword are both expected to release in 2026 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
The Forgotten James Bond Book That Influenced the Movies
Remember the James Bond movie in which 007 teams up with an enemy agent to defeat a megalomaniacal supervillain? Of course you do. How about the one in which M is kidnapped and Bond must save his boss’s life at all costs? Yeah, that sounds familiar too. And let’s not forget the rogue North Korean military leader who turns up in one of the more over-the-top Bond adventures — we’re sure that rings a bell.
But can you remember the book from which all these elements were taken? Here’s a clue: it’s not one of the 12 original Bond novels written by Ian Fleming. Nor are they inspired by one of his relatively few short stories. No, the plot points above were all borrowed from Colonel Sun, the first original James Bond novel written after Fleming’s death.
Published in 1968, Colonel Sun was written under the pseudonym Robert Markham by the esteemed British author and critic Kingsley Amis, who was a fan of Fleming’s novels (he wrote a book-length critical analysis of them called The James Bond Dossier) and had even been asked by the late author’s publisher to consult on the completion of Fleming’s last 007 novel, The Man with the Golden Gun, which was released after his death in 1964.
A New Sun Rises for James Bond
With the Fleming estate and the publisher, Jonathan Cape, both interested in keeping the Bond franchise going in print (even as the movies were rolling out year after year), Amis was commissioned to write a new book despite the objections of Fleming’s widow Ann. Taking place about a year after the events of The Man with the Golden Gun, the book starts off with the kidnapping of M by agents of the sadistic Colonel Liang-tan Sun from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army – the military arm of the Chinese Communist Party.
Bond tracks the kidnappers to Greece, where he liaisons with Soviet spies and learns that Colonel Sun is planning – with the help of a Nazi war criminal named Von Richter — to disrupt a major peace conference hosted by the Soviets and incite a world war. After the Soviet agents are all killed in an attack, Bond must team up with a Greek Communist (and sole surviving Soviet agent) named Ariadne to try and stop Sun and Von Richter, while also rescuing M.
A quick reading of the plot makes it clear that Amis had the 007 template down, although whether Colonel Sun could pass for a Fleming book is debatable. The Bond in this book is the battered agent of Fleming’s last several adventures and fairly humorless, which is how Bond started out in the first few Fleming books. He’s also quite violent, and is the recipient of violence as well, with Colonel Sun – who enjoys inflicting pain on people — brutally torturing him at one point.
Reviews of the book upon its release were mixed, with some critics saying that Amis captured the flavor and darker edge of the character, while others thought that his Bond was just a diluted copy, missing some of the sexiness and hedonistic lifestyle that Fleming deployed. Amis did not return to the series after his single outing.
Why No Colonel Sun Movie?
Colonel Sun sold well, both in the U.K. and the U.S., although strangely no other original Bond novels followed until author John Gardner began his series in 1981 with License Renewed. Colonel Sun itself stayed in print for many years and was considered part of the 007 literary canon alongside Fleming’s works. But even though the film rights automatically went to Eon Productions – the company founded by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman that produced every James Bond film right up through 2021’s No Time to Die– Kingsley Amis discovered that Eon had no intention of adapting his book to the screen.
The reason? A couple of years after Fleming’s death, Harry Saltzman brought his own writer, a South African journalist named Geoffrey Jenkins, to the Fleming estate and the publisher with the intention of having Jenkins pen a new Bond novel. But Jenkins’ manuscript was rejected; according to U.K. magazine Infinity, it was dismissed either because the quality of the writing was subpar or because the plot was too similar to earlier Bond stories. An incensed Saltzman later reacted by reportedly swearing that Colonel Sun would never be adapted to the screen.
And yet Colonel Sun did find its way into theaters – as part of other James Bond movies. As 007’s screen exploits grew less and less faithful to the original source material, Eon Productions would cherry-pick elements of one book for use in a different movie – for example, the keelhauling scene in For Your Eyes Only (1981), in which Bond (Roger Moore) and Melina (Carole Bouquet) are dragged behind a boat, was taken from the novel Live and Let Die. In such fashion, plot points from Colonel Sun surfaced in a number of Bond pictures – all the way into the 21st century.
Colonel Sun Lives
Perhaps the most obvious example is the teaming of Bond with a Communist agent, which was the crux of 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me. In that movie – which has almost nothing to do with the book of the same name – Moore’s Bond goes on a mission with KGB spy Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) in which the two share a wary attraction as well as a mutual distrust, just like Bond and Ariadne in Colonel Sun. Meanwhile, Pierce Brosnan’s third film as 007, 1999’s The World Is Not Enough, featured the kidnapping of M (Judi Dench) as a pivotal plot point – the motivation is different, but it was no doubt inspired by the same idea in Amis’ tale.
The two biggest lifts from the book, however, concern its villain. For 2002’s Die Another Day – Brosnan’s fourth and final turn in the role – Eon actually wanted to use the name Liang-tan Sun for the primary antagonist, a North Korean colonel (Will Yun Lee) who uses gene therapy to transform his features and takes on the identity of British tech billionaire Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens). But Ian Fleming Publications demanded a higher royalty rate for the use of the name, so it was changed to Tan-Sun Moon – with a nod to Colonel Sun still in there.
Finally, a climactic scene in Spectre (2015), in which Bond (Daniel Craig) is tortured by Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) through the use of neurosurgery, was almost directly taken from the scene in Colonel Sun in which Bond is brutalized by the colonel, even down to some of the dialogue (some things are different: in the book, a masseuse slips Bond a knife with which to kill Sun, unlike the exploding watch of the movie). As Infinity noted, Eon Productions actually acknowledged the Kingsley Amis estate in Spectre’s end credits.
So while Colonel Sun never officially made it to the screen, its DNA is spread out among several of the James Bond movies like the nanobot weapon in No Time to Die. And who knows? With Amazon MGM now taking full control of the Bond franchise and Denis Villeneuve winning the coveted directing job for the next movie, they might turn to Colonel Sun again at some point.
James Bond will return.
Link Tank: Ryan Gosling Goes Solar and Jennifer Aniston Gets a Major New Role
Ryan Gosling Is Earth’s Last Hope in Project Hail Mary
A trailer for Project Hail Mary, a film adaptation of Andy Weir’s sci-fi novel, dropped on Monday. Ryan Gosling will star in the film as Ryland Grace, a science teacher who is tasked with saving the planet from a mysterious substance that is seemingly destroying the sun, alongside Sandra Hüller, who recently starred in Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest. Directed by the team behind 21Jump Street, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Project Hail Mary is set to premiere on March 20, 2026.
“Science teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) wakes up on a spaceship light years from home with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory returns, he begins to uncover his mission: solve the riddle of the mysterious substance causing the sun to die out. He must call on his scientific knowledge and unorthodox ideas to save everything on Earth from extinction… but an unexpected friendship means he may not have to do it alone.”
Jennifer Aniston Set to Star in Adapted Dramedy, I’m Glad My Mom Died
In 2022, iCarly star Jennette McCurdy shocked the world with her memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died. The book followed McCurdy’s complicated relationship with her mother, who according to McCurdy, pressured her to start acting and enabled and praised unhealthy habits related to eating and working. Though the book’s title ruffled some feathers, McCurdy’s account of childhood fame and emotional abuse sparked wider conversations about child actors and parental abuse.
Now, Apple TV+ has announced a 10-episode series adapted from the memoir, which Jennifer Aniston will executive produce and star in. This collaboration furthers Aniston’s partnership with Apple TV+, as she currently executive produces and stars in a popular drama for the streamer, The Morning Show, which will embark on its fourth season in September.
“Apple has given the show a 10-episode order. The official logline for the series states that it is a ‘heartbreaking and hilarious recounting of Jennette McCurdy’s struggles as a former child actor while dealing with her overbearing, domineering mother (Aniston). The dramedy will center on the codependent relationship between an 18-year-old actress in a hit kid’s show, and her narcissistic mother who relishes in her identity as ‘a starlet’s mother.’”
The 2025 edition of the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival a.k.a. Frameline (which is the largest and longest-running LGBTQ+ international film festival) came to close after 11 days, resulting in 50 sold out screenings in the Bay Area.
If you’ve seen the 1990 documentary, Paris is Burning, you know the story of Venus Xtravaganza, a ballroom icon whose murder in 1988 remains unsolved. Filmmaker Kimberly Reed puts the spotlight back on Venus and her family in I’m Your Venus, which won Outstanding Documentary Feature at the festival. The Librarians, Kim A. Snyder’s documentary about libraries under attack by right-wing conspiracies, was awarded as an Honorable Mention in the category.
The Nature of Invisible Things, directed by Rafaela Camelo, won Outstanding First Narrative Feature by the San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle. At Frameline, audiences can also vote for films of each category. Audience Award winners this year include: Wicket, directed by Lily Plotkin; Castration Movie: Pt. I, directed by Louise Weard and Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day, directed by Ivona Juka.
“‘Festivals like Frameline are the vanguard of independent cinema,’ [Allegra] Madsen, [Frameline’s executive director], commented. ‘We’re changing the face of art and culture at large, no matter the odds. Frameline49 spotlighted filmmakers who are committed to making their stories in the face of a harsh political and financial landscape. As a film festival, and a queer organization, Frameline is tasked with not only showing crucial works, but bringing filmmakers and audiences together to create community.’”
Neon really wants another Oscar win. After securing the rights to the Palme d’Or-winning, It Was Just An Accident, the independent film studio adds another movie, alongside The Secret Agent, to its fall movie lineup; Joachim Trier’s new film, Sentimental Value, which premiered at Cannes and is heading to theaters on Nov. 7, gets a trailer.
The Worst Person in the World star, Renate Reinsve, will play Nora, a stage actress who reconnects with her estranged father (Stellan Skarsgård), as he stages a career-comeback. After rejecting a role in her father’s new film, he casts an eager up-and-coming actress, played by Elle Fanning, who is placed in the middle of the family’s messy rekindling.
The Bear: Mr. Clark Lines Up A Major Potential Season 5 Storyline
This article contains spoilers for The Bear season 4.
The thing about FX and Hulu culinary classic The Bearis that there is no “big bad” to conquer. Despite Richie Jerimovich actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach donning the orange rocks to play Ben Grimm a.k.a. The Thing in Marvel’s upcomingThe Fantastic Four: First Steps, there is no Galactus waiting in the Chicago sky at the end of The Bear. The only demons the Berzatto family and their associates have to confront are the ones in their own heads.
Still, that’s not to say that The Bear isn’t building up to something. Carmy and company very much have their eyes on a prize, a goal, a … star. As the show frequently articulates, nothing boosts a restaurant’s profile like a Michelin star. Handed out by the Michelin company as part of their Michelin Guide books for travel, a single Michelin star (or two, or three) can instantly change a chef’s life. It did so for Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) as he toiled away in the kitchens of New York’s finest establishments. Now he needs one again to save The Bear. Even his benefactors Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt) and The Computer (Brian Koppelman) agree that a star would be enough to keep the floundering business afloat.
Should The Bear receive a fifth season, the quest for that star that will undoubtedly drive much of the conflict. A careful viewing ofseason 4, however, reveals that the conflict won’t be over whether The Bear gets its star but how the staff reacts once they inevitably do. That’s because The Bear almost certainly already has a Michelin star. And we know that thanks to the presence of an enigmatic guest named “Mr. Clark” in season 4’s third episode.
After Carmy announces his intention to once again pursue the favor of the Michelin Guide, Chicago restauranteur Donnie Madia gives the kitchen staff a crash course on how to spot a member of the Michelin team in episode 2. This is particularly important after The Bear dropped the ball with a Chicago Tribune reviewer. According to Madia, Michelin representatives operate secretively – often giving a pseudonym based on a local neighborhood name or something similar.
Sure enough, a well-dressed mystery man named Mr. Clark (Gary Janetti) stops by The Bear for a solo dining experience in the very next episode, with “Clark” happening to be the name of a prominent Chicago street cutting through Wrigleyville. Though the viewer has been primed to spot someone like Mr. Clark from a mile away, Richie and the rest of The Bear hospitality staff don’t seem to clock him as a VIP. Thankfully, however, their new strategy of treating every diner like a VIP pays immediate dividends.
Mr. Clark looks on in genuine joy and astonishment as a nearby guest is gifted a bespoke Chicago Beef dish to celebrate being cancer-free. After the meal, Mr. Clark follows the guest’s family out into the restaurant’s lot where Richie and company have arranged for a snow machine to blanket the outdoor seating, creating a wintry Chicago experience they’ve always dreamed of. Combined with Clark’s glowing review of Chef Sydney’s (Ayo Edebiri) scallop dish, it is a stone cold lock that The Bear just earned its first Michelin Star. Hell, it might have gotten two of them for that display!
In case you missed it, The Bear is absolutely getting it's Michelin star next season after that guy ate Sydney's better than perfect scallop and saw their magic snow moment for the other guests. Clark Street is right in front of Wrigley Field. Homerun baby. ⚾️💫 pic.twitter.com/1J6js7yOFw
Notably, The Bear has not yet been renewed for a fifth season yet with FX chairman John Landgraf telling Variety that the show’s future comes down to whether creator Christopher Storer feels he has more story to tell. It’s possible then that Storer simply decided to covertly stick a happy ending for the series into season 4’s third episode. Should The Bear continue, however, the arrival of a Michelin star won’t necessarily mean an end of drama.
That’s the thing about goals: life continues on even after you reach them. If Carmy couldn’t achieve inner peace after earning stars at previous restaurants how will he or Syd do so after earning one at their own spot? Compound that with the fact that Carmy has already “quit” The Bear and you have the potential for all sorts of complicated feelings and responsibilities to come.
All 10 episodes of The Bear season 4 are available to stream on Hulu now.
What We Want from The Batman 2
“I’m starting to see I have had an effect here, but not the one I intended” monologues Robert Pattinsons‘s Bruce Wayne at the end of The Batman. Over shots of Batman carrying a child from the wreckage of the Riddler’s attack, Wayne describes a change in methods. “I have to become more. People need hope. To know someone’s out there for them.”
Bruce’s change in heart isn’t as a juicy lore tease, like the Joker reveal at the end of Batman Begins, but it’s no less delicious. We’ve just spent three hours with a dark and angry Bruce Wayne, one driven only by vengeance. What will he look like as a hero? How will he inspire hope?
But that’s okay, because it just gives us more time to speculate! How do we want to see Bruce Wayne bring hope to Gotham City? What story threads do we want picked up and which ones should flap away into the night? What do we want from The Batman Part II?
Bruce Wayne, Gotham Playboy
One of the biggest changes that The Batman made to most stories about the Caped Crusader was its treatment of Bruce Wayne. In most stories, Bruce distracts from his Batman activities with a public persona as a galavanting playboy, a spoiled rich kid who no one would confuse for a brooding creature of the night. In The Batman, however, Bruce is almost a recluse, who only begrudgingly makes a public appearance for a funeral, and even then sulks the whole time.
It makes sense that Reeves would shy away from this take on Bruce Wayne. Wayne’s double life was such as key part of Christopher Nolan movies that Christian Bale was cast for his ability to play a charming socialite with a dark secret in American Psycho. Ignoring Wayne’s public persona helped Reeves distinguish his take.
Then again, Bruce was more reclusive in The Dark Knight Rises and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, so the time is right for a new version of this classic trope. Moreover, it would be fun to see Pattinson, a traditionally handsome man who has his own weirdo public persona, put a 21st century stamp on a rich kid. Would a spoiled rich kid buy banks on a whim and whisk away Russian ballet troupes, as did Ben Affleck and Bale’s Waynes? Or would Pattinson just get to be himself, wearing designer T-shirts and vaping in inappropriate places? Whatever it is, we want to see it!
More Emo Noir
The Batman showed Bruce gaining emotional maturity, so he should be a different person in The Batman Part II . That can include his adopting a carefree public persona, but he shouldn’t suddenly be well-adjusted. More importantly, he shouldn’t abandon the his brooding journaling from the first movie. The Batman‘s mix of hard-boiled narration and images of Bruce’s piercing, make-up stained eyes peering through locks of dark hair fully brought the noir tropes that birth the Batman into the 21st century.
More than anything else, that mixture of emotional vulnerability and biting purple prose made set The Batman apart from any other take. So as Part II finds Bruce trying to figure out how to be a different type of Batman, the voiceover will be essential, a way for him to air his grievances to the audience without betraying his various exteriors. And if it can be set to another Michael Giacchino reworking of a Nirvana classic, all the better.
Cool Commissioner Gordon
In the same way that Pattinson would make for a weird playboy Bruce, Jeffrey Wright would be interesting Commissioner Gordon. His Lieutenant Gordon made for one of the more delightful parts of The Batman. Wright played Gordon as a sardonic gumshoe, someone who knew that Batman made a great asset, but didn’t take the whole “creature of the night” thing too seriously. Moreover, Wright was willing to cross his fellow cops, recognizing that many of them were dirty.
So how does a guy like that run a department? The boring answer is just that he tamps down his eccentricities once he gets the big desk, but it’s hard to imagine Wright not overdoing it in even when playing a desk jockey.
Reeves has shown a willingness to diverge from established canon, but it’s hard to imagine that Gordon won’t become commissioner at some point. Let’s throw him into the job and see what Wright comes up with!
Sofia Gigante
Colin Farrell‘s scenery-chewing, prosthetic-assisted take on Oswald Cobblepott Oz Cobb was a delight in The Batman. But he proved too big to make the transition into the more grounded, Sopranos-inspired television show The Penguin. Fortunately, The Penguin had an ace up its sleeve with Cristin Milioti, who stole the spotlight as Carmine Falcone’s beleaguered daughter Sofia.
By the end of the series, Sofia had transitioned into a full supervillain in her own right, Sofia Gigante, an important part of the Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale comics that inspired The Batman. So it only makes sense that she would finally run into the Dark Knight in The Batman Part II.
Even more than the Penguin, Sofia Gigante represents the connection between gangsters such as her father and supervillains like the Riddler. She can gesture toward the more outlandish aspects of the Batman mythos, while still allowing Reeves and co. to stay in their relatively grounded world. Plus, we just want to see Milioti tear it up again as Sofia.
New Goofy Side Villain
That said, we do need another goofy side villain, and Sofia may not make sense that role. Of course, Part II can bring back Oz to irritate “Mr. Vengeance” once again. But it would also be nice to see Reeves pluck another character from Batman’s rogue’s gallery and let them be a larger-than-life part of the story.
While an established figure like Two-Face would make sense, as he’s close to Penguin’s stature in the canon and has no powers, it would be fun to see Reeves go deeper. Maybe the Ventriloquist and Scareface can be performing at one of the gangster’s clubs, needling Batman from the stage every time he comes in for information? Maybe former Russian agent KGBeast is bumbling around Gotham, making a mess for Batman to clean up. Heck, let’s get Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum in there somewhere, doubling the first movie’s number of heavy set loud guys.
New Big Bad
The Batman Part II will need a new major villain for Batman to fight. One would think that super-powered villains would be off the table, ruling out guys like Mr. Freeze or Man-Bat. But Reeves has shown he’s willing to redefine some characters, as when he made Riddler into a Jigsaw-style killer and with the odd Hugo Strange/Scarecrow riff on Dr. Julian Rush in The Penguin.
Given the debt The Batman owes to the Loeb and Sale comic The Long Halloween, Two-Face seems like an obvious example, even if his inclusion feels a bit derivative of The Dark Knight. A fun twist might involve Harvey Dent’s wife Gilda, who has her own murderous arc in The Long Halloween. It would be fun to see Poison Ivy as more of a sympathetic environmentalist crusader or to bring in Hush as another dark secret from the Waynes’ past. To that end, the Court of Owls would make sense for Part II, given the first movie’s emphasis on the hidden parts of Gotham City.
At the very least, the upcoming Mike Flanagan penned Clayface movie is purported to take place in The Batman universe, so maybe the shapshifter will be the next Batman baddie.
One thing we do know: do not bring back Barry Keoghan as the Joker. We’re sick of the scarred, twisted Jokers.
More Selina Kyle
Batman Returns may not be the best Batman movie, but it is the best movie with Batman in it. Part of the appeal comes from the electric chemistry between Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne and Michelle Pfeiffer’s Selina Kyle. The Batman is the only movie to match that dynamic, as Pattinson and Zoe Kravitz transformed the flirty antagonists into doomed lovers, building to a heartbreaking parting of the ways.
For that reason alone, Kravitz should come back for Part II. Her return would complicate the second movie’s probable theme about Batman trying to bring hope instead of fear. Catwoman‘s quest for vengeance went further than even Batman at his angriest was willing to go. The contrast will only be greater when she returns to find the new, more hopeful Batman, but the longing between the two of them certainly has only grown. If Bruce got a more respectable girlfriend along the way, say a Silver St. Cloud or a Julie Madison, then we could have a classic noir love triangle, with Selina serving a femme fatale.
Of course, the story reasons for Selina’s return present a bit more of a challenge. Not only did her mission of vengeance against Carmine Falcone end with his death at the end of The Batman, but her half-sister Sofia destroyed the remains of the Falcone empire in The Penguin. Perhaps that is exactly what draws her back, giving us fun Sofia and Selena team-up?
No DC Connections
For the most part, we’ve been talking about what we do want to see in the next Batman. But, given the fact that The Batman 2 will come in the midst of the James Gunn’s reimagined (and hopefully successful) DC Universe, we do have to point out this restriction: The Batman Part II should not crossover into the larger DC Universe. No references to a kaiju attack in Metropolis. No Amanda Waller showing up to recruit Bruce. No knocking out Guy Gardner with one punch.
First of all, the beauty of The Batman movies have been the way they tell self-contained stories that reinvent well-known characters. We accept bold changes like Martha Wayne’s trouble past and Oswald Cobblepot’s new name because The Batman doesn’t feel like it’s setting rules for a larger shared universe. It’s telling its own story, on its own terms. To have Bruce enjoy a Big Belly Burger with a Justice Gang prize would be a compromise in those terms.
Moreover, it’s unnecessary. Gunn has made clear that The Batman exists in its own world, and that the mainline DC Universe will have its own Batman, already teased in Creature Commandos and to be fully revealed in the Andy Muschietti-directed The Brave and the Bold, featuring Batman and Robin. For decades, DC has had Elseworlds, One Shots, and Imaginary Stories about Batman that did not affect mainline continuity. The same can be true here.
The Batman Part II is currently slated for a 2027 release.
In Gareth Edwards’ mind, it does not get better than Reservoir Dogs. The debut film from Quentin Tarantino which revolutionized indie cinema is also one of those movies you can’t help falling in love with the first time you see it. Actually, the way Edwards tells it, it might have started before that—back when it only existed in the mind’s eye as a handful of clips on film critic Barry Norman’s BBC review series, Film. At the time, Edwards was 16 years old and already transfixed. Going to the theater only affirmed the glory he already knew was to come.
“I wasn’t educated in world cinema and a lot of the exploitation moviemaking that Quentin Tarantino was inspired by,” Edwards explains while stopping by the Den of Geek studio. “It opened a door to a type of filmmaking that I just ignored by being a fan of blockbusters like Star Wars and Spielberg.” In his estimation, Reservoir Dogs even holds “the high score” for the movie he’s seen most in a cinema with seven viewings. (By comparison E.T. and Back to the Future only got three viewings a piece.)
“Reservoir Dogs was seven probably because they wouldn’t release it on video in the UK,” Edwards says, noting how despite the movie making a big splash in the UK, Tarantino’s first film became such a lightning rod of controversy due to its use of violence that it spent years barred from home video VHS. This was because, at the time, the UK government was debating a bill that would require the censors at the BBFC to tighten their rules over what could be released on the home video market, leaving RD in limbo. Ironically it also led to the film spending nearly two full years in movie houses where audiences could see it again and again.
“It was considered a Video Nasty or whatever, because it was gruesome, which I totally disagree with,” says Edwards. “Basically you can have two types of films. You can have a film where there’s a lot of violence, and the character gets back up like nothing happened or doesn’t seem to care, which I think is a bad lesson for kids. Or you can have a film where if you shoot someone in the stomach, they squirm and cry for two hours straight before they die, which I think is a better lesson for guns.”
Be that as it may, it had a profound impact on Edwards’ own adolescence, decades before he would go on to make plenty of blockbuster movies set in the worlds of his own childhood favorites—worlds like Godzilla, Star Wars, and even Jurassic Park, as seen in this holiday weekend’s new release, Jurassic World Rebirth. Yet each of them featured an added sense of gravity and sobriety compared to what came previously. Consider the weight of Ken Watanabe saying “let them fight” in 2014’s Godzilla, or Rogue One being the only Star Wars film where most of the good guys die.
Before any of that, however, Edwards was a kid in the ‘90s who had his mind blown by Tarantino’s first movie. It would also prove serendipitous since before becoming a professional filmmaker, he would get a chance to meet QT in a fateful encounter where young Edwards would be christened… Mr. Purple.
The name should be familiar to anyone who’s seen Reservoir Dogs, a picture where a band of professional criminals get together to do a job. In the film, they’re wisely encouraged not to share their real names, so they instead go by color-coded aliases: Mr. Orange and Mr. White, Mr. Brown and Mr. Blond, and then of course there’s Mr. Pink—a moniker Steve Buscemi’s wiseacre malcontent fights like hell from being called.
“Why am I Mr. Pink?” Buscemi famously whines. “Why not Mr. Purple? That sounds good to me.” The cantankerous answer from his boss is he can’t be Mr. Purple. There’s some other guy on another job who’s Mr. Purple already.
And for a while there in Edwards’ young mind, he was that other guy. At least this was one takeaway from his meeting Tarantino at a Nottingham film festival while in university. At the time, Tarantino had come to town to screen his still quasi-forbidden Reservoir fruit in the UK, but he also was hanging around at cafes, talking shop, and watching any and everything else with a bunch of slackjawed film nerds—including Edwards and his mates.
“I just got in the car and I went up to Nottingham and I just booked tickets for the next movie that was on,” Edwards reminisces with a smile. “It was Le Samourai, this French film, and we were just hanging out in the lobby, and there [Tarantino] was.” By his own sheepish admission, the future Rogue One director was geeky enough to get Tarantino to sign a postcard before Le Samourai started. And afterward, when he and a pal realized there were two seats left open in the auditorium next to the Reservoir Dogs director, it became a battle of wills over who would sit next to QT.
“We were falling down trying to push past each other so we could sit next to Tarantino during this film. But we eventually sat there, and he goes ‘have you guys seen this?’” They hadn’t. “‘Ah you’re going to love it,’ he says. So he introduces the movie, comes and sits back in his seat and then seems to spend the rest of the movie watching our reactions. He just sits there watching our faces, so I was overreacting like ‘OH MY GOD!’ It was a very surreal thing.”
Following the screening, he saw Tarantino one more time that weekend: at the director’s Q&A for Reservoir Dogs. It was also an opportunity to get one more signature.
“I had bought a poster, and I put it down [because] he was signing stuff, and I said, ‘I already got something signed by you ‘to Gareth,’ so I was wondering, could you write something else?’ So he wrote ‘to Mr. Purple, aka Gareth.’ And I’m like ‘I’m officially Mr. Purple!’”
For the next 20 years of Edwards’ life, the poster where QT christened him Mr. Purple held a framed pride of place in his bedroom. It lived there as he finished college; it hung there still after he got his first professional directing jobs on television shows like the 2000s’ Perfect Disaster and Heroes and Villains; and it most definitely was on his wall when Edwards finally got to make his feature debut on a groundbreaking indie that he also wrote and masterminded the special effects for: 2010’s Monsters. In other words, it followed him all the way until he got the chance to meet Tarantino again in LA.
“I ended up having to screen [Monsters] in LA,” Edwards remembers. “I took it to an agency called WME, and they said ‘can you go down there and introduce it?’ So I go down there, and it’s a really nice cinema but quite small. And I go in, and I’m like, ‘Hi, I’m Gareth’ and I start to talk about it.” As he gives his remarks, however, he starts recognizing some familiar faces in the industry: a producer here, a future disgraced executive there… and then there’s Tarantino. Suddenly that old surreal awe came back, and Edwards’ pulse is racing.
“I ended up doing this quick introduction, leaving, running around the back, and going into the projection booth and just watching him the whole movie—watching to see what his reaction was,” says Edwards.
At that moment, he’d come full circle from the time Tarantino was studying some young kid’s face while watching Le Samourai for the first time. Later Edwards was able to go up to Tarantino again, but this time meeting him as a peer instead of a fan. The details of that conversation are a blur, but Edwards is certain that at the end of it, he finally brought up that time QT called him Mr. Purple.
“I said, ‘You actually signed my poster ‘to Mr. Purple,’” Edwards remembers telling him. “And I think, like an idiot, he’s going to remember. ‘Ah, finally, we meet again!’” Tarantino was polite but clearly had no idea what Edwards was talking about.
“He probably wrote ‘to Mr. Purple’ to about 10,000 people,” Edwards laughs now. “It’s like George Lucas writing, ‘The Force is with you.’”
Nonetheless, it was a moment that helped put Edwards on his path to become the filmmaker he is today: the one who made Monsters seem epic on a budget almost comically small (according to The Guardian it cost less than $500,000 to produce), and who would introduce the world to Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor in Rogue One. Even now he’s trying to bring ‘90s blockbuster storytelling back in Jurassic World Rebirth.
“My dream is we make a film that feels like it had been made in the early ‘90s and Universal had forgotten they made it,” Edwards recalls of his initial pitch to the studio. “They had put it on a shelf somewhere, and then like last year, they were just going through their library and they’re like ‘what is this?’ and they blew the dust off and it says ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ and they go, ‘We don’t remember doing that!’ And they just decide to release it this summer.”
That recovered dino adventure is in theaters now. Meanwhile you can see the rest of our conversation with Edwards about Tarantino, dinosaurs, and Mr. Pink the video interview above.
Disney+ New Releases: July 2025
The three-episode season finale of Marvel’s Ironheart is the biggest release on Disney+ this month, premiering on July 1. After being expelled from MIT, genius inventor and tech prodigy Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) struggles to find a way to still use her skills to help people. When she crosses paths with the mysterious vigilante The Hood (Anthony Ramos), she learns that maybe they aren’t so different after all.
For younger Disney+ viewers, ZOMBIES 4: Dawn of the Vampires premieres on July 11. The fourth movie in the hit musical franchise follows Zed and Addison as their summer road trip takes an unexpected detour. Tensions flare as they find themselves caught up in a rivalry between Daywalkers and Vampires, and the couple must find a way to unite these warring supernatural factions before it’s too late.
In preparation for the new ZOMBIES movie, sing-along versions of the first three films will be available on Disney+ starting July 2.
July 6 Investigation Shark Attack (S1, 6 episodes) Shark Quest: Hunt for the Apex Predator (S1, 2 episodes) Sharks of the North Sharks Up Close with Bertie Gregory Super Shark Highway (S1, 6 episodes)
July 9 Ancient Aliens: Origins (S1, 12 episodes) People and Places: Shorts (Premiere)
July 11 Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story ZOMBIES 4: Dawn of the Vampires (Premiere)
July 17 America’s Funniest Home Videos (S13-15, 67 episodes) Disneyland Resort P.O.V. Walkthroughs (Premiere)
July 18 Megastructures: Real Madrid Super Stadium
July 22 Mickey Mouse Clubhouse+ (Premiere)
July 23 Kiff (Season 2 Premiere)
July 26 BBQ Brawl (S1-2, 14 episodes) Theme Song Takeover (S4, 6 episodes) Ultimate Summer Cook-Off (S1, 4 episodes)
July 28 Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time (S1, 5 episodes)
July 30 Big City Greens (S4, 10 episodes) StuGo: Shorts (S1, 6 episodes) StuGo (Premiere)
July 31 Project Runway (S1-4, 51 episodes) Project Runway (Season 21, Two-Episode Premiere, Episode 1 at 9pm PT, Episode 2 at 10pm PT)
Hulu New Releases: July 2025
Will Momtok survive this? The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Season 2 Reunion arrives on Hulu July 1 and it promises to give us all the insight into the drama we saw this season. The first reunion special for the reality series, the season 2 reunion is bringing back all of Momtok and Dadtok to uncover secrets, reveal never-before-seen footage, and give the fans a surprise announcement.
Season 17 of FX’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia premieres on July 9 with two episodes, starting with the second part of the Abbott Elementary crossover.
Movies coming to Hulu this month include the recent spy thriller The Amateur (July 17) starring Rami Malek and the psychological thriller The Assessment (July 19) starring Elizabeth Olsen and Himesh Patel.
Here’s everything that’s coming to (and leaving) Hulu in July.
Hulu New Releases – July 2025
July 1 The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives: Season 2 Reunion Premiere Lies Hidden In My Garden: Complete Season 1 (SUBBED) Adam (2009) Alita: Battle Angel (2019) Bride Wars (2009) Bridesmaids (2011) The Bounty Hunter (2010) The Call (2013) Catch and Release (2007) The Comedian (2017) Country Strong (2010) Daddy Day Camp (2007) The Day After Tomorrow (2004) Dear White People (2014) Demolition (2016) Dirty Dancing (1987) Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights (2004) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004) Easy A (2010) The Equalizer 3 (2023) Flight Of The Phoenix (2004) Ford v Ferrari (2019) Friends With Benefits (2011) Fruitvale Station (2013) Garden State (2004) The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy (2005) Home Alone (1990) Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (1992) Home Alone 3 (1997) Honest Thief (2020) The Internship (2013) “I Love You, Man” (2009) I Origins (2014) I, Robot (2004) I Saw the Light (2016) King Arthur (2004) Kingdom Come (2001) Kingdom Of Heaven (2005) The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) The Longest Yard (2005) The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997) Mission To Mars (2000) Pixels (2015) The Pledge (2001) Prometheus (2012) Puss In Boots (2011) Real Steel (2011) Ruby Sparks (2012) The Sandlot (1993) Shanghai Knights (2003) Shanghai Noon (2000) Sisters (2015) Sugar (2009) Sunshine (2007) Tammy (2014) Taxi (2004) Ted (2012) Ted 2 (2018) The Way Way Back (2013) Wrath Of Man (2021)
July 2 Dragon Ball DAIMA: Complete Series (Dubbed)
July 3 The American Soldier: Complete Season 1 Aaron Hernandez and the Untold Murders of Bristol: Complete Season 1 America The Story Of US: Complete Season 1 America: Promised Land: Season 1 Barack Obama: Season 1 Black Patriots: Heroes of the Civil War: Season 1 Black Patriots: Heroes of the Revolution: Season 1 Codes and Conspiracies: Complete Seasons 1 and 2 Community: Complete Series Dan Da Dan: Season 2 Premiere (Subbed & Dubbed) Days That Shaped America: Complete Season 1 The First 48 Presents Critical Minutes: Complete Season 3C The Proof Is Out There: Coomplete Season 4B The Secret History of Air Force One: Complete Season 1 The Secret History of the Civil War: Complete Season 1 761st Tank Battalion: The Original Black Panthers: Complete Season 1 Who is Luigi Mangione?: Complete Season 1 Mia and Me: The Hero of Centopia (2022)
July 4 Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) The Abyss (1989) The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008) In the Lost Lands (2025)
July 5 Cold Case Files: The Grim Sleeper: Complete Season 1 The Idaho College Murders: Complete Season 1 The Lake Erie Murders: Complete Seasons 1and 2 The Perfect Murder: Complete Seasons 1 and 2 Untitled Maxine Project: Complete Season 1
July 6 Cults and Extreme Belief: Complete Season 1 Killer Cases: Complete Season 6a Toilet Bound Hanako-Kun: Season 2 Sequel Premiere (SUBBED)
July 7 Such Brave Girls: Complete Season 2 Deep Sea Detectives: Complete Season 1 Travel Texas: Complete Season 1
July 8 Bachelor in Paradise: Season 10 Premiere Born to be Viral: The Real Lives of Kidfluencers: Complete Docuseries Marked Men (2025)
July 9 FX’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 17 Premiere Ancient Aliens: Origins: Complete Season 1 Insomnia (UK): Complete Season 1 Matched in Manhattan: Complete Season 1 Team Players: Complete Season 1
July 10 Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations: Complete Seasons 5 and 6 Extreme Road Ragers: Complete Season 1A Summer Baking Championship: Complete Season 1 Suspicious Minds: Complete Season 1 Parkland (2013) Buffaloed (2019)
July 11 Celebrity Family Feud: Season 11 Premiere Mountain Men: Complete Season 13 Big Momma’s House (2000) Big Momma’s House 2 (2006) The Hot Chick (2002) LOL Live with Chico Bean (2025) LOL Live with Chinedu Unaka (2025) Marmaduke (2010) MR-9: Do or Die (2023) Riff Raff (2024)
July 12 90 Day Fiance: Complete Season 6 90 Day Fiance UK: Complete Season 3 Prison Wives Club: Complete Season 1 A Quiet Place Part II (2021)
July 13 Deep Sea Detectives: Complete Season 2 Dumb Money (2023)
July 14 Fugitives Caught on Tape: Complete Season 1 Stags (UK): Complete Season 1
July 15 Her Last Broadcast: The Abduction of Jodi Huisentruit: Complete Docuseries Rachael Ray’s Holidays: Complete Season 1 Get Away (2024) SAS: Red Notice (2021)
July 16 Rachael Ray’s Meals in Minutes: Complete Season 2A Unexpected Loves: Complete Season 1
July 17 Baylen Out Loud: Complete Season 1 Jake Makes It Easy: Complete Season 1 My 600-lb Life: Complete Season 3 My 600-lb Life: Where Are They Now?: Complete Season 2 Polyfamily: Complete Season 1 Snake Eyes G.I. Joe Origins (2021)
July 18 High Rollers (2024)
July 19 Homicide Hunter: Lt. Joe Kenda: Complete Seasons 6 and 7 The Assessment (2024)
July 20 Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017)
July 21 Trophy Wife: Murder on Safari: Complete Docuseries
July 22 Red Eye (UK): Complete Seasons 1 and 2
July 23 Washington Black: Complete Season 1
July 24 Match Game: Season 6 Premiere Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Season 4 Premiere Bakeaway Camp with Martha Stewart: Complete Season 1 Mad About You: Complete Seasons 1-7 Summer Baking Championship: Complete Season 2
July 26 BBQ Brawl: Complete Seasons 1 and 2 Chopped: Complete Season 61 Tournament Of Champions: Complete Season 6 Tournament of Champions VI: The Qualifiers: Complete Season 6 Ultimate Summer Cook-Off: Complete Season 1
July 28 The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball: Season 1A Operation Fortune (2023)
July 29 Dope Girls (UK): Complete Season 1 Memoir of a Snail (2024)
July 30 Mr & Mrs Murder: Complete Docuseries The Bachelor (Australia): Complete Seasons 3-5 The Bachelorette (Australia): Complete Seasons 3-4
July 31 Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives: Complete Season 5 Guy’s Grocery Games: Complete Seasons 21, 22, and 38 Mad About You (2019): Complete Series
Leaving Hulu – July 2025
July 1 Asking For It (2021)
July 6 Ultrasound (2021)
July 7 Minamata (2022)
July 12 Vesper (2022)
July 14 Supercell (2023)
July 15 God’s Country (2022)
July 17 The Hater (2022)
July 18 The Cursed (2021)
July 19 Old Man (2022)
July 20 You Are Not My Mother (2021)
July 21 American Night (2021)
July 22 All My Friends Hate Me (2021)
July 23 My Happy Ending (2023)
July 24 Topside (2022)
July 25 The Lair (2022)
July 29 Hatching (2022)
July 30 A Day to Die (2022)
HBO and Max New Releases: July 2025
Ryan Coogler’s Sinners arrives on Max July 4, just in time for the holiday weekend. This vampiric horror movie set in 1930s Mississippi has been making waves, so whether you missed out on its theatrical run or simply want to relive the thrills and impeccable performances by Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Wunmi Mosaku, and the rest of the cast, Max has you covered.
Another recent horror film coming to Max this month is A24’s Death of a Unicorn (July 25). Starring Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega, this dark comedy-horror follows a father and daughter (Rudd and Ortega, respectively) who accidentally hit and kill a unicorn on their way to a weekend retreat. A bloody fight for survival ensues as they realize this unicorn wasn’t alone, and its family wants revenge.
July 1 Annabelle (2014) Better off Dead… Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me Canyon River Carol Chopped: Volume 4, Season 61 (FOOD Network) Cunningham Dames Dances With Wolves Dances With Wolves: Extended Cut Film Geek Get Out Get Shorty (1995) In Time Insidious Jewel Robbery Jimmy the Gent Lady Killer Lawyer Man Life as We Know It Love & Other Drugs Love Crazy Moana with Sound (1926) Mortal Kombat (1995) Mortal Kombat (2021) Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind Mortal Kombat: Annihilation Napoleon Dynamite One Way Passage Other Men’s Women Picture Snatcher Private Detective 62 Red Dawn (1984) Shadow of the Thin Man Shaun the Sheep Movie Showgirls Sinner’s Holiday Smart Money Snatched (2017) Song of the Thin Man Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay Taxi! (1932) The Amityville Horror (1979) The Amityville Horror (2005) The Big Lebowski The Brink (2019) The Great Wall The Kennel Murder Case The Key The Last House on the Left The Meg The Public Enemy The Road to Singapore (1931) The St. Louis Kid The Strawberry Blonde The Thin Man Goes Home The Three Stooges Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am Torrid Zone Two O’Clock Courage Tyrel Valentine’s Day Valley of the Sun (1942) What’s Your Number? What’s Your Number? Ex-tended Edition Winner Take All (1932) Woman at War
July 2 Dear Ms.: A Revolution in Print (HBO Original) My Big Fat Fabulous Life, Season 13 (TLC)
July 3 Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League The Deep Three, Season 3
July 4 On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (A24) Sinners (2025)
July 7 90 Day Fiance: Happily Ever After?, Season 9 (TLC) Wardens of the North, Season 4 (Animal Planet)
July 10 Back to the Frontier, Season 1 (Max Original, Magnolia Network) Celebrity IOU, Season 10 (HGTV) Isadora Moon, Season 1B (Max Original)
July 11 Chasing the West, Season 1 (HGTV) House Hunters International: Volume 9, Season 202 (HGTV) House Hunters: Volume 10, Season 243 (HGTV) Opus (A24) Rage (Furia), Season 1 (HBO Original)
July 12 Gold Rush: Mine Rescue with Freddy & Juan, Season 5 (Discovery)
July 14 Evil Lives Here, Season 18 (ID) Naked and Afraid: Last One Standing, Season 3 (Discovery) Two Guys Garage, Season 24
July 15 A Killer Among Friends, Season 1 (ID)
July 16 911: Did the Killer Call?, Season 1 (ID)
July 17 Beat Bobby Flay, Season 38 (FOOD Network)
July 18 Billy Joel: And So It Goes (HBO Original) Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, Season 51 (FOOD Network) Family Recipe Showdown, Season 1 (FOOD Network) I Love You Forever (2024)
July 19 Guy’s Ranch Kitchen, Season 7B (FOOD Network) Zillow Gone Wild, Season 2 (HGTV)
July 20 Shark Week 2025 (Discovery) Teen Titans Go!, Season 9C (Cartoon Network)
July 22 Eva Longoria: Searching For Spain, Season 1 (CNN)
July 23 Welcome to Plathville, Season 7 (TLC)
July 25 AEW Special Events, 2023C (2023) AEW Special Events, 2024C (2024) Care Bears: Unlock the Magic S1F: The No Heart Games (2024) Death of a Unicorn (A24)
July 26 The Pioneer Woman, Season 39 (FOOD Network)
July 29 Worst Cooks in America, Season 29 (FOOD Network)
July 31 Don’t Hate Your House with the Property Brothers, Season 2 (HGTV)
Netflix New Releases: July 2025
The final season of The Sandman arrives in two parts (and a bonus episode) this July. Part 1 premieres July 3, Part 2 premieres July 24, and the bonus episode drops on July 31. The story begins only a few weeks from where season 1 left off as Dream (Tom Sturridge) looks to rebuild his kingdom in the Dreaming and leave the past behind. Though the past, and his family The Endless, have other plans.
The long-awaited sequel to The Old Guard premieres on Netflix July 2. The Old Guard 2 follows Andy (Charlize Theron) and her team of immortal warriors as they face off against a new foe who might be even older than all of them.
The unexpected sequel to Happy Gilmore, Happy Gilmore 2, premieres on July 25, with Adam Sandler returning in the titular role.
Here’s everything else coming to Netflix this month. Note that Netflix marks its international offerings with that respective country’s two-letter country code. You can find a list of those abbreviations here.
New on Netflix – July 2025
July 1 Attack on London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers (GB) — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY Trainwreck: The Cult of American Apparel (GB) — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY 17 Again Annie (1982) Blow Born on the Fourth of July Captain Phillips The Deer Hunter Friday Night Lights Here Comes the Boom The Hitman’s Bodyguard The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard Horrible Bosses The Karate Kid The Karate Kid The Karate Kid Part II The Karate Kid Part III Mission: Impossible Mission: Impossible II Mission: Impossible III Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation Mom: Seasons 1-8 The Notebook Pacific Rim PAW Patrol Seasons 2-3 Portlandia: Seasons 1-8 The Sweetest Thing Tangerine V for Vendetta White Chicks Yellowjackets: Season 2 Zathura: A Space Adventure
July 2 The Old Guard 2 — NETFLIX FILM Tour de France: Unchained: Season 3 (GB) — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY
July 3 Countdown: Taylor vs. Serrano — NETFLIX SPORTS SERIES Mr. Robot: Seasons 1-4 The Sandman: Season 2 Volume 1 — NETFLIX SERIES
July 4 All the Sharks — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY
July 5 The Summer Hikaru Died (JP) — NETFLIX ANIME
July 8 A Star Is Born (2018) Better Late Than Single (KR) — NETFLIX SERIES Nate Jackson: Super Funny — NETFLIX COMEDY SPECIAL Quarterback: Season 2 — NETFLIX SPORTS SERIES Sullivan’s Crossing: Seasons 1-2 Trainwreck: The Real Project X (GB) — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY
July 9 Building The Band — NETFLIX SERIES The Gringo Hunters (MX) — NETFLIX SERIES Mad Max: Fury Road Under a Dark Sun (FR) — NETFLIX SERIES Ziam (TH) — NETFLIX FILM
July 10 7 Bears (FR) — NETFLIX FAMILY Brick (DE) — NETFLIX FILM Leviathan (JP) — NETFLIX ANIME Off Road (IL) — NETFLIX SERIES Sneaky Pete: Seasons 1-3 Too Much (GB) — NETFLIX SERIES
July 11 Aap Jaisa Koi (IN) — NETFLIX FILM Almost Cops (NL) — NETFLIX FILM Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano 3 — NETFLIX LIVE EVENT Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Destination Wedding — NETFLIX FILM
July 14 Apocalypse in the Tropics (BR) — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY SAKAMOTO DAYS: Season 1 Part 2 (JP) — NETFLIX ANIME
July 15 Entitled: Season 1 Jaws Jaws 2 Jaws 3 Jaws: The Revenge Trainwreck: Balloon Boy (GB) — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY
July 16 Amy Bradley Is Missing — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY Mamma Mia! Wanted
July 17 Catalog (EG) — NETFLIX SERIES Community Squad: Season 2 (AR) — NETFLIX SERIES UNTAMED — NETFLIX SERIES
July 18 Almost Family (BR) — NETFLIX FILM Delirium (CO) — NETFLIX SERIES I’m Still a Superstar (ES) — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY Superstar (ES) — NETFLIX SERIES Vir Das: Fool Volume (IN) — NETFLIX COMEDY SPECIAL Wall to Wall (KR) — NETFLIX FILM
July 19 Eight for Silver
July 21 The Hunting Wives: Season 1 The Steve Harvey Show: Seasons 1-6
July 22 Trainwreck: P.I. Moms (GB) — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY
July 23 Critical: Between Life and Death (GB) — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY Hightown: Seasons 1-3 House of Lies: Seasons 1-5 Letters From The Past (TR) — NETFLIX SERIES
July 24 A Normal Woman (ID) — NETFLIX FILM Hitmakers — NETFLIX SERIES My Melody & Kuromi (JP) — NETFLIX ANIME The Sandman: Season 2 Volume 2 — NETFLIX SERIES
July 25 Happy Gilmore 2 — NETFLIX FILM Happy Gilmore returns! Trigger (KR) — NETFLIX SERIES The Winning Try (KR) — NETFLIX SERIES
July 28 The Lazarus Project: Seasons 1-2
July 29 Dusty Slay: Wet Heat — NETFLIX COMEDY SPECIAL Trainwreck: Storm Area 51 (GB) — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY WWE: Unreal — NETFLIX SPORTS SERIES
July 30 Conversations with a Killer: The Son of Sam Tapes — NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY Unspeakable Sins (MX) — NETFLIX SERIES
July 31 An Honest Life (SE) — NETFLIX FILM Glass Heart — NETFLIX SERIES Leanne — NETFLIX SERIES Marked (ZA) — NETFLIX SERIES The Sandman: Season 2: Special Episode — NETFLIX SERIES
Leaving Netflix – July 2025
July 1 13 Going on 30 28 Days 3 Ninjas: Kick Back Annabelle Colombiana Constantine Couples Retreat Crazy, Stupid, Love. Do the Right Thing Draft Day Dune: Part Two Friends with Money Geostorm Get Him to the Greek Hotel Transylvania Hotel Transylvania 2 I Know What You Did Last Summer Loudermilk: Seasons 1-3 The Net The Nun Obsessed Ocean’s Eleven Ocean’s Thirteen Ocean’s Twelve Resident Evil: Retribution Runaway Jury Sicario: Day of the Soldado Sisters Twilight The Twilight Saga: New Moon The Twilight Saga: Eclipse The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 1 The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 2 The Wonder Years: Seasons 1-2
July 3 Insecure: Seasons 1-5
July 4 80 for Brady
July 5 The Addams Family
July 8 This Is Us: Seasons 1-6
July 13 Life or Something Like It
July 15 Barbie
July 16 Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
July 22 Call My Agent!: Seasons 1-4
July 25 Scream VI
July 26 Wynonna Earp: Seasons 1-4
July 28 Sonic the Hedgehog 2
July 30 The Kingdom
TV Premiere Dates: 2025 Calendar
Wondering when your favorite shows are coming back and what new series you can look forward to? We’ve got you covered with the Den of Geek 2025 TV Premiere Dates Calendar, where we keep track of TV series premiere dates, return dates, and more for the year and beyond.
We’ll continue to update this page weekly as networks announce dates. A lot of these shows we’ll be watching or covering, so be sure to follow along with us!
Please note that all times are ET.
Note: These are U.S. releases. For upcoming British releases, head on over here.
DATE
SHOW
NETWORK
Thursday, July 3
The Sandman Season 2 Volume 1
Netflix
Thursday, July 3
DAN DA DAN Season 2
Netflix | Crunchyroll
Thursday, July 3
The Water Magician
Crunchyroll
Thursday, July 3
Welcome to the Outcast’s Restaurant!
Crunchyroll
Thursday, July 3
KAMITSUBAKI CITY UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Crunchyroll
Friday, July 4
All the Sharks
Netflix
Friday, July 4
Secrets of the Silent Witch
Crunchyroll
Friday, July 4
Arknights: RISE FROM EMBER
Crunchyroll
Friday, July 4
Watari-kun’s Is About to Collapse
Crunchyroll
Friday, July 4
Betrothed to My Sister’s Ex
Crunchyroll
Saturday, July 5
The Summer Hikaru Died
Netflix
Saturday, July 5
My Dress-Up Darling Season 2
Crunchyroll
Saturday, July 5
Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus
Crunchyroll
Saturday, July 5
With You and the Rain
Crunchyroll
Saturday, July 5
The Shy Hero and the Assassin Princesses
Crunchyroll
Saturday, July 5
Scooped Up By an S-Ranked Adventurer
Crunchyroll
Saturday, July 5
Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter
Crunchyroll
Saturday, July 5
Scooped Up By an S-Ranked Adventurer
Crunchyroll
Sunday, July 6
Gachiakuta
Crunchyroll
Sunday, July 6
Nyaight of the Living Cat
Crunchyroll
Sunday, July 6
Toilet-bound Hanako-kun Season 2
Crunchyroll
Sunday, July 6
Hotel Inhumans
Crunchyroll
Sunday, July 6
Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra: World Conquest Starts with the Civilization of Ruin
Crunchyroll
Sunday, July 6
Ruri Rocks
Crunchyroll
Sunday, July 6
Cultural Exchange with a Game Centre Girl
Crunchyroll
Monday, July 7
Jim Thorpe: Lit by Lightning (8:00 p.m.)
History
Monday, July 7
Bachelor in Paradise Season 10 (8:00 p.m.)
ABC
Monday, July 7
Grand Blue Dreaming Season 2
Crunchyroll
Monday, July 7
Dekin no Mogura: The Earthbound Mole
Crunchyroll
Tuesday, July 8
Turkey! Time to Strike
Crunchyroll
Tuesday, July 8
A Couple of Cuckoos Season 2
Crunchyroll
Wednesday, July 9
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 17 (9:00 p.m.)
FXX
Wednesday, July 9
The Rising of the Shield Hero Season 4
Crunchyroll
Wednesday, July 9
I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince So I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability Season 2
Crunchyroll
Wednesday, July 9
Dealing with Mikadono Sisters Is a Breeze
Crunchyroll
Thursday, July 10
Too Much
Netflix
Thursday, July 10
Leviathan
Netflix
Thursday, July 10
7 Bears
Netflix
Thursday, July 10
Suspicious Minds
Hulu
Thursday, July 10
Dr. STONE SCIENCE FUTURE Cour 2
Crunchyroll
Thursday, July 10
Solo Camping for Two
Crunchyroll
Thursday, July 10
Big Brother Season 27 (8:00 p.m.)
CBS
Thursday, July 10
Celebrity Family Feud Season 11 (8:00 p.m.)
ABC
Thursday, July 10
Press Your Luck Season 6 (9:00 p.m.)
ABC
Thursday, July 10
Electric Bloom (8:35 p.m.)
Disney Channel
Friday, July 11
Rage
Max
Friday, July 11
Foundation Season 3
Apple TV+
Friday, July 11
The Wild Ones
Apple TV+
Friday, July 11
Dexter: Resurrection
Paramount+
Sunday, July 13
The Institute (9:00 p.m.)
MGM+
Sunday, July 13
Love Island: Beyond the Villa (9:00 p.m.)
Peacock
Monday, July 14
Sakamoto Days Part 2
Netflix
Wednesday, July 16
The Summer I Turned Pretty
Prime Video
Thursday, July 17
Homicide Squad New Orleans Season 2 (9:00 p.m.)
A&E
Thursday, July 17
Untamed
Netflix
Thursday, July 17
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3
Paramount+
Friday, July 18
Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical
Apple TV+
Saturday, July 19
Kaiju No. 8 Season 2
Crunchyroll
Tuesday, July 22
Welcome to Plathville Season 7 (10:00 p.m.)
TLC
Wednesday, July 23
Acapulco Season 4
Apple TV+
Wednesday, July 23
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Season 4 (8:00 p.m.)
ABC
Wednesday, July 23
Match Game (9:00 p.m.)
ABC
Wednesday, July 23
South Park Season 27 (10:00 p.m.)
Comedy Central
Wednesday, July 23
Digman! Season 2 (10:30 p.m.)
Comedy Central
Thursday, July 24
The Sandman Season 2 Volume 2
Netflix
Thursday, July 24
My Melody & Kuromi
Netflix
Thursday, July 24
Let’s Go Karaoke!
Crunchyroll
Wednesday, July 30
The Challenge: Vets and New Threats (8:00 p.m.)
MTV
Thursday, July 31
Leanne
Netflix
Thursday, July 31
Twisted Metal Season 2
Peacock
Thursday, July 31
Project Runway Season 21 (9:00 p.m.)
Freeform
Friday, August 1
Stillwater Season 4
Apple TV+
Friday, August 1
Chief of War
Apple TV+
Monday, August 4
CoComelon Lane Season 5
Netflix
Monday, August 4
King of the Hill Season 14
Hulu
Tuesday, August 5
Las Culturistas Culture Awards (9:00 p.m.)
Bravo
Wednesday, August 6
Wednesday Season 2 Part 1
Netflix
Wednesday, August 6
Eyes of Wakanda
Disney+
Wednesday, August 6
Platonic Season 2
Apple TV+
Friday, August 8
Outlander: Blood of My Blood Season 1 (8:00 p.m.)
Starz
Wednesday, August 11
Irish Blood
Acorn TV
Tuesday, August 12
Alien: Earth (8:00 p.m.)
FX | Hulu
Wednesday, August 13
Fixed
Netflix
Thursday, August 14
She the People
Netflix
Friday, August 15
The Rainmaker (10:00 p.m.)
USA
Sunday, August 17
Women Wearing Shoulder Pads (12:00 a.m.)
Adult Swim
Wednesday, August 20
The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox
Hulu
Wednesday, August 20
Captivated, By You
Crunchyroll
Thursday, August 21
Peacemaker Season 2
Max
Friday, August 22
Long Story Short
Netflix
Sunday, August 24
Barbie Mysteries: Beach Detectives
Netflix
Sunday, August 24
Professor T Season 4 (8:00 p.m.)
PBS
Sunday, August 24
The Marlow Murder Club Season 3 (9:00 p.m.)
PBS
Sunday, August 24
Unforgotten Season 6 (10:00 p.m.)
PBS
Wednesday, September 3
Wednesday Season 2 Part 2
Netflix
Sunday, September 7
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon Season 3 (9:00 p.m.)
AMC
Wednesday, September 17
The Morning Show Season 4
Apple TV+
Thursday, September 18
Black Rabbit
B
Friday, September 19
Haunted Hotel
Netflix
Friday, September 19
Lego Star Wars Rebuild the Galaxy: Pieces of the Past
Disney+
Tuesday, September 23
The Lowdown (9:00 p.m.)
FX
Wednesday, September 24
Slow Horses Season 5
Apple TV+
Tuesday, September 30
Chad Powers
Hulu
Friday, October 23
Nobody Wants This Season 2
Netflix
Thursday, November 13
Unicorn Academy – “Winter Solstice”
Netflix
Monday, November 17
Gabby’s Dollhouse Season 12
Netflix
Thursday, November 20
Jurassic World: Chaos Theory Season 4
Netflix
Wednesday, November 26
Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 1
Netflix
Thursday, December 25
Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2
Netflix
Monday, December 1
CoComelon Lane Season 5
Netflix
Monday, December 15
The Creature Cases: Chapter 6
Netflix
Wednesday, December 31
Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 3
Netflix
If we’ve forgotten a show, feel free to drop a reminder in the comment section below!
Want to know what big movies are coming out in 2024? We’ve got you covered here.
Squid Game Season 3 Has a Perfect Ending…For Now
This article contains spoilers for Squid Game season 3.
All Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) wanted to do was save lives.
That is Player 456’s singular focus from the moment he wins the 33rd edition of the titular games in Squid Game season 1 and persists through the 36th edition of the games in season 2 and season 3. Though he could have easily absconded to Los Angeles to reunite with his estranged daughter, Gi-hun uses his ₩45.6 billion prize winnings to establish a sophisticated surveillance apparatus to find the mysterious Recruiter (Gong Yoo) and infiltrate the contest. Upon donning his “456” green tracksuit once again, Gi-hun does whatever he can to convince his competitors that he’s “PLAYED THESE GAMES BEFORE!” and that they really need to listen to him to save their own skins.
Of course, humans are … well, humans are complicated and none of Gi-hun’s fellow humans heed his warning. The candidate pool of lives to be saved shrinks from round to round as the piggy bank prize pot grows. By the time the Squid Game competitors respond to the introduction of a literal infant as Player 222 into the game with murderous rage, Gi-hun knows he has to switch tactics. He was never going to be able to save everyone and perhaps not even most of them. The best he can do now is to save someone. So he does exactly that, making it to the very last round of the games once again and sacrificing himself to save the most vulnerable soul.
And that’s why Squid Game has a happy ending! OK, that’s obviously not quite true. As we mentioned in our season 3 review, Squid Game is one of the most intensely dark and cynical pieces of popular mass media ever produced. No story boasting close to a 99.8% morality rate could ever end “happily.” Still, that doesn’t mean it can’t end with at least some semblance of victory or hope.
Whether the dumbass VIPs who watch these deadly games realize it or not, Seong Gi-hun won the 36th Squid Game competition. Sure, his name won’t go down in the ledger of winners and his next of kin won’t receive any additional prize winnings (beyond his 2021 purse, of course) but he won them all the same. That’s because he did the one thing that the game is designed specifically to discourage: he made a sacrifice.
Time and time again in Squid Game, players are given the opportunity to make the selfless choice – from offering mercy to a wounded opponent to voting to end the contest altogether – and every time they balk at the chance. This is not because they are bad people. It’s because they’re simply people. The same circumstances that made them desperate enough to enter the games in the first place persist throughout and make them desperate enough to continue. The game’s creators, now represented by Front Man Hwang In-ho (Lee Byung-hun), understand that dynamic and design the games to exploit it. It’s not enough for a rich VIP to torture some poor wretch. They could do that in the privacy of their own mansion. What’s truly satisfying to them is to put on a grand, expensive production in which people are prompted to torture themselves.
Gi-hun’s sacrifice, however, breaks that kayfabe. He opts out. He doesn’t play the game. And for that, he “wins” even as he dies. The Front Man, who like Player 456 has also “PLAYED THESE GAMES” immediately understands the impact of Gi-hun’s choice in a way that the other observing VIPs don’t. As the arrival of the Coast Guard triggers an evacuation sequence, Hwang In-ho goes through the motions, a defeated man. He barely even responds as his brother Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) appears and trains a rifle on him. Instead he silently exits the island, “winner” 222 in tow, and heads off to safety.
Later on he takes the extraordinary measure of breaking into Seong Gi-hun’s motel hideout and stealing what remains of his original ₩45.6 billion to gift to his surviving family in Los Angeles. This is almost certainly not standard operating procedure for Squid Games. Surely, the Front Man’s responsibilities don’t extend to finding the next of kin for every former winner and delivering them in a bespoke Squid Game-branded box upon their passing. This seems very much like a freelance operation and it’s an acknowledgement that something has changed here.
Seong Gi-hun not only “won” the 36th edition of Squid Game, he introduced doubt into the system that could one day provide kindling for the games’ ultimate demise. After all, the number of folks who are aware of the games existence and are invested in their destruction has now grown from roughly one (Jun-ho) to many (Park Gyu-young’s Pink Guard 011 No-Eul, Jun Suk-ho’s Woo-seok, Lee Jin-uk’s Player 246 Gyeong-seok, and presumably Player 222 herself eventually). That’s not enough to mark the end of the games, but it just might mark the beginning of the end of them.
The only question now, however, is if Netflix will ever let that end arrive. The streamer, bless it, has been accommodating and patient about allowing Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk to refer to season 3 as the ultimate end of the story. Because it is for him. Give or take a prequel or two years down the line, Hwang has expressed that season 3 represents the conclusion to this saga even as a glance at Netflix’s earnings results reveals there’s no way that that can be the case. The presence of a certain Hollywood megastar in season 3’s final scene makes that extra clear.
Interestingly though, the gobsmacking inclusion of Cate Blanchett as a new recruiter in the final moments of season 3 appears to have been a Hwang-led choice and not a Netflix one, with the writer/director telling The Hollywood Reporter:
“I didn’t end it on that note in order to deliberately leave room for further stories to happen. Gi-hun and Front Man, through these characters, the Games in Korea have ended. And because this story started out with me wanting to tackle issues about the limitless competition and the system that’s created in late capitalism, I wanted to leave it on a note highlighting the fact that these systems, even if one comes down, it’s not easy to dismantle the whole system — it will always repeat itself. That’s why I wanted to end it with an American recruiter. And I wrote that scene wanting an impactful ending for the show, not in order to open rooms for anything else.”
The presence of a recruiter in Los Angeles presumably recruiting for an American Squid Game doesn’t immediately repudiate Gi-hun’s victory. As Hwang himself says “it’s not easy to dismantle the whole system.” Gi-hun’s sacrifice won’t immediately bring the games to a halt. Hopefully, however, it will be the opening salvo in a grander political awakening that will one day take down that system. Maybe a contestant in the Cate Blanchett games will pick up the torch and continue the mission. Or maybe they won’t. What matters in the moment of Squid Game‘s ending is that the games’ demise is a distinct possibility for the viewer to dream upon.
But of course, the rest of the story won’t reside in the viewer’s imagination forever. As sure as the sun will rise tomorrow there will be more Squid Game on the way. Even if Cate Blanchett doesn’t make her way into David Fincher’s rumored American Squid Game, there will be an American Squid Game and that will undoubtedly be followed by titles like Squid Game: London, Squid Game: Paris, Squid Game: Tokyo, and gods knows what else.
Squid Game going global coincides with the series’ themes nicely. After all, it’s not like the vagaries of modern capitalism are isolated only to Seoul. At the same time, however, Seong Gi-hun’s sacrifice will become more and more diluted as fresh iterations of Squid Game arrive without a clear ending in sight. Perhaps that was always the fate of a global phenomenon on a streaming service. For now though, the show’s ending works and Gi-hun’s sacrifice matters. Let’s try to remember it while we can.
All six episodes of Squid Game season 3 are available to stream on Netflix now.
Jurassic World Rebirth Review: Nearly a New Beginning
In its first two scenes, Jurassic World Rebirth doesn’t feel very much like a rebirth at all. In the first, a mutant hybrid dinosaur called the Distortus rex gets loose from its pen and wreaks havoc on a bunch of scientists. In the second, New Yorkers complain about a traffic jam caused by a dying brontosaurus.
Both the idea that humans have grown tired of the dinosaurs who were resurrected in 1993’s Jurassic Parkand the flashy mutant dinos created by scientists were major parts of the Jurassic World trilogy masterminded by Colin Trevorrow. By the time that cycle concluded with Jurassic World Dominion, released just three years ago, we were inundated with bland mutants, little girl clones, and giant locusts, all a far cry from the original premise of dinosaurs in the modern world.
Fortunately, Jurassic World Rebirth bucks that trend with a pulpy adventure that (mostly) focuses on classic dinosaurs doing dino things. Of course Rebirth never reaches the majesty of Steven Spielberg’s original film, but it is never as crass as the Jurassic World movies were. Instead Rebirth understands that cool set pieces and awesome dinos are all we really need for an entertaining couple hours out at the park.
After a bit of place-setting, Rebirth kicks in when smarmy pharmaceutical exec Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) hires adventurers Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) and Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali), along with paleontologist Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), to sneak onto a dino-infested island to take samples from three specific species, which Krebs’ company can use to make expensive heart medicine.
Also in tow are Kincaid’s crew (Ed Skrein, Philippine Velge, Bechir Sylvain), each of whom are so marked for death that it’s shocking they never wear red shirts. Along the way, the team picks up a stranded family consisting of loving, if unwise, father Rueben (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), his daughters (Luna Blaise and Audrina Miranda), and the older girl’s doofy boyfriend (David Iacono).
If that sounds overstuffed, that’s because it is. Rebirth marks screenwriter David Koepp’s return to the franchise after Koepp co-wrote the 1993 film with Michael Crichton and has a solo credit on The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Koepp has also worked on some of the biggest blockbusters of the past 30 years, including 1996’s Mission: Impossible and 2002’s Spider-Man, and he clearly has the chops to craft a propulsive popcorn film. Yet he remains an incredibly uneven screenwriter, as he reminded us in his two collaborations with Steven Soderbergh released this year, the dull Presence and the thrilling Black Bag.
Rebirth finds Koepp at his best and his worst. The plot has video game clarity and the dialogue is functional, with most of the gags and one-liners landing. Most importantly, the script leaves ample room for strong set pieces in which people scramble to stay atop a boat capsized by a mosasaur, evade a T-Rex while riding the rapids, or dodge a quetzalcoatlus while rappelling down a cliff.
These sequences also show off the talents of director Gareth Edwards, who proved his ability to shoot massive figures in Godzilla (2014) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016). In Rebirth, the mere sight of the mosasaur’s back emerging from the depths is enough to fill the viewer with terror. Later in the film, a T-Rex rises from his slumber and moves toward a potential meal, looking bigger and more menacing that it did even in Spielberg’s movies.
So great is Edwards’ ability to capture scale that Rebirth’s best callback to the first movie actually works. When the team finds a pack of massive plant eaters in a field, we viewers once again get that sense of awe, and not just because composer Alexandre Desplat (whose solid score is strangely underutilized in the movie) reuses John Williams’ Jurassic Park theme. Between Edwards’ camera and the elation of Bailey’s Loomis, we once again are reminded that dinosaurs are amazing.
Sadly Rebirth doesn’t always have the wisdom to stay focused on dinosaurs. Despite the big names in the cast, none of the human characters stand out. In and of itself that isn’t a problem; we’re here for the dinosaurs. But Koepp constantly pauses the story for long stretches so Johansson and Ali can share their traumas, and Bailey can lecture the audience about medical ethics. The latter is forgivable because Bailey sells his character’s wide-eyed conviction, making his performance—along with those of Garcia-Rulfo and Iacono—the best in the film. Ali and Johansson, however, could not be less interested in their one-note characters, a point underscored by the latter’s strange decision to play the supposedly troubled Zora like a chipper Midwestern mom.
And then there are the mutant dinosaurs. To its credit, Rebirth builds most of its adventure scenes around traditional dinos or chimeras whose mutations aren’t terribly important (see: the whip-like tails added to the bronto-types in the aforementioned field). But it can’t keep the mutants off screen forever, and they all converge with the humans in the movie’s climax.
For the most part, the climax is well-choreographed and well-conceived, save for a couple unnecessary winks to the first movie. But no amount of visual storytelling fundamentals can make up for the fact that the mutant dinos are ugly and uninspired. The finale includes several winged creatures with raptor talons and big, stupid bullfrog necks. Worse is the much-hyped Distortus rex, a lumbering doofus with a bulbous head and extraneous arms. Edwards has talked about the creature’s classic horror inspirations, and the D-rex does feel a bit menacing when obscured by red smoke. But once viewed in full, the D-rex disappoints, looking less like any of its antecedents and more like a bunch of clay dinosaurs smushed together by some glue-eating dimwit in kindergarten class.
The mutant-filled climax frustrates not just because the D-rex is an excessive and ugly monster; it frustrates because it succinctly captures everything wrong with Jurassic World Rebirth. There is an excellent B-movie dinosaur picture here with functional characters, clear stakes, and fantastic adventure set pieces. These moments understand that dinosaurs are cool, raging rapids are cool, and jungles are cool—all time-tested truths that go back to the early days of cinema. But the movie constantly stops so Duncan can remember his dead kid (as if he needs motivation to not let the family get eaten?), or so we can see some uninspired new mutant.
If we take the movie’s name literally, then most of its missteps can be forgiven as the mess that comes with the birthing process. Perhaps the movie’s use of mutant dinos and its bloated story with too much non-character development are the shell from which the true thing emerges, the pulp adventure that these movies are meant to be. Hopefully, when the inevitable sequel comes, it will follow Jurassic Park Rebirth‘s march away from the problems of the previous Jurassic World movies and back to the fun, dinosaur-centric heart of Jurassic Park.
Jurassic Park Rebirth opens in theaters on July 2, 2025.
Hideo Kojima Games Ranked from Great to Masterpiece
Making video games very much requires a team effort, but there are still a few creators whose vision and innovation is unmistakable. These are directors who are household names almost on par with film legends like Steven Spielberg and Guillermo del Toro. And in the video game world, there is perhaps no bigger name than Hideo Kojima.
While mostly known for his work on the Metal Gear Solid series, Kojima has led development of more than a dozen titles during his legendary career, receiving universal acclaim for his work. With the impending release of his latest game, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach finally here, we figured it was time to look back at these titles. These are the games directed by Hideo Kojima ranked from worst to best.
Honorable Mention: Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand (2003)
Boktaiwasn’t actually directed by Kojima, so it doesn’t quite qualify for this list, but Kojima did design it and act as producer, and his fingerprints can clearly be seen all over it. Essentially a stealth action game (like most of his titles), the pull ofBoktaiis the light sensor included on the Game Boy Advance cartridge. You need to actually go outside during the day to charge the solar weapons in the game used to slay the undead, which makes it much easier to play.
Yeah, it’s gimmicky but also really fun, and given the current trajectory of handheld gaming, we’ll probably never see another game quite like it. Even if emulators can take away the need for the light sensor, it’s still worth tracking down a GBA and an original cartridge to experience this one as it’s meant to be played.
12. Metal Gear (1987)
Kojima’s very first game is by no means bad, it’s just a little dated, which of course isn’t surprising given that it came out in 1987. And hey, something has to go at the bottom of this list. The graphics and music is actually still pretty good, and the stealth gameplay is easy to pick up. This is, after all, the foundation that pretty much all stealth games are still built around.
It’s just that it’s easy to get stuck at times. Some clues about what to do next are almost impossible to figure out without looking them up. And if you do use a guide, it’s a pretty short game. Still, the game is now readily available in the recently released Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection, so it’s worth checking it out there.
11. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1990)
What’s really impressive about Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake is just how much more advanced it is over its predecessor, even though it also released on the underpowered MSX2. Enemies can now spot you more readily and follow you between screens and there are a lot of options to evade and distract them as well.
Then there’s the story, exploring the nature of warfare which is a common theme for Kojima games, is surprisingly mature for its time. Despite the constraints of being made for an eight-bit computer in 1990, Metal Gear 2 felt years ahead of its time and is truly one of the best games of the era.
10. Policenauts (1994)
More than 30 years after its initial release, Policenauts remains Kojima’s only game never officially released in the West. That has nothing to do with its quality though. In fact, it features some of the best writing of any of the games he’s directed. Best described as a visual novel or an interactive movie, the game is a hard science fiction story about a police officer returning to Earth after more than 20 years in cryosleep.
It’s kind of like Blade Runner but with a lot of Lethal Weapon sprinkled in for good measure. A Sega Saturn version was announced for North America in 1996 but apparently the way it was programmed made the translation from Japanese to English too difficult and costly. While there’s certainly still some interest in seeing the title here, it doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen any time soon.
9. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008)
Every single Metal Gear Solid game that Kojima has directed has been hailed as a masterpiece, so it gets a little tricky to give them any sort of ranking. Still, Metal Gear Solid4 is just a bit below the other titles in the series. While currently stranded on the PlayStation 3, the game is still an incredible showcase for what that console was capable of, with stunning graphics that still hold up well today.
The problem is that Guns of the Patriots is a little too self-indulgent. Kojima wanted this to be the most epic of conclusions to Solid Snake’s story, which meant tying up every last loose end in the convoluted story. There are some very unnecessarily long cutscenes here to the point that they get in the way of the game’s pacing. It’s still a great finale. It could just use a little trimming.
8. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001)
Metal Gear Solid 2 is still somewhat divisive among fans. When it was released, a lot of people wanted a next-gen version of Metal Gear Solid, which had come to define the first PlayStation. And that’s exactly what they got at the start of the game. Then comes the infamous protagonist switch. It turns out that Solid Snake isn’t actually the star of the game. Instead it’s Raiden, a character who was brand new at the time.
But once you accept Sons of Liberty for what it is, and not what you might have wanted it to be, it’s one of the most prescient games ever made. Released in 2001, years before social media took over our lives, it predicted the rise of echo chambers, how they could be used to manipulate public opinion, and even warned of the dangers of AI. Even in 2025, there are few games that feel as relevant.
7. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain/Metal Gear: Ground Zeroes (2014)
Yes, we’re going to lump Ground Zeroes together with The Phantom Pain, as it’s really more of a prologue than an entirely separate entity, and the gameplay is largely the same. Luckily, the gameplay really is the star here. The Phantom Pain and Ground Zeroes feel like titles that pushed the longstanding ideas of the series forward. There are numerous ways to tackle each mission, and somehow, the enemy AI always seems to adapt to your choices. These are the most open ended Metal Gear games to date.
But what’s really incredible about The Phantom Pain in particular is just how good it is given that it appears to have been rushed through the final phases of development due to the crumbling relationship between Kojima and publisher Konami. If the game was closer to Kojima’s vision, it might even be a little higher on this list.
6. Snatcher (1988)
Another visual novel, Snatcher was the first title that really allowed Kojima to explore the close relationship between video games and cinema. The tale of robot “Snatchers” that kill and replace humans was remarkably mature for the era, and didn’t even change much for the Sega CD release in North America, which was a common practice at the time.
Yes, it can get a little tiresome to play a game that’s largely a text-based affair, but the writing is so strong, and the cyberpunk atmosphere is so moody, that it’s easy to get hooked on this one. It’s just a shame that it’s not more readily available on modern platforms, especially with a completed English language translation.
5. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (2010)
To be perfectly frank, the PSP was home to a lot of half-assed spinoffs of major franchises. And initially Kojima planned to step back as director from Peace Walker. We’re glad he stayed on though, because the final result is an interesting mix of ideas from the later Metal Gear Solid titles, along with a design that takes full advantage of the strengths of a portable.
Gameplay is somewhere between the fourth and fifth MGS games, focusing on shorter missions, but with the addition of co-op for most of them. Yes, it gets a little grindy toward the end, but at least it’s playable in smaller chunks. And it’s really worth checking out to better understand Big Boss and his motivations in the entire saga.
4. P.T. (2014)
I can think of exactly one time that a demo that was only officially available for a few months has been called one of the greatest and most influential games of all time, but P.T. is just that amazing. Playing with perspective, and the nature of time, P.T. (short for “Playable Teaser”)is meant to constantly disorient the player. It is remarkably simple in its gameplay too, only allowing for walking and zooming in on the scenery. Yet it’s also consistently terrifying and unnerving as you never quite know what the game will throw at you next.
All of this was meant to get people excited for a Kojima-directed Silent Hill game starring Norman Reedus as the protagonist. Unfortunately, Kojima and publisher Konami parted ways a few months after P.T.was released exclusively for the PSN. The game was canceled, and you can’t even redownload P.T. if you didn’t snag it for the few months it was available in 2014 and 2015. But from the ashes of P.T., we ended up getting an even better Kojima game starring Norman Reedus…
3. Death Stranding (2019)
Death Stranding is admittedly not a game for everyone. Certainly it contains some stealth elements but it’s not fully a stealth game like other Kojima titles. There’s multiplayer, but it’s also unlike his past work. There’s a lot of walking from place to place, but it’s not really fair to call it a walking simulator. The best description is that this is a wholly unique action-adventure game with invisible enemies, the need to balance the packages, and the all important “bridge baby” along for the ride.
The story can be borderline incomprehensible at times, even if you’re paying close attention, and yet there are unmistakable themes. It especially hit home after the COVID pandemic began just a few months following the game’s release. Death Stranding may not click for you, but if it does, it’s one of Kojima’s best and most addictive games yet.
2. Metal Gear Solid (1998)
You can actually divide the video game industry into everything that came before and after Metal Gear Solid. Before Kojima’s PlayStation 1 masterpiece, video games tended to lack in the presentation department. You’d get told where to go, maybe a little cutscene would play (usually with poor voice acting), and you’d be on your way. But Metal Gear Solid was among the first titles that really invested in voice acting and direction to prove games could be just as cinematic as the best Hollywood movies.
There’s a real sense of urgency to Snake’s mission, and some pitch perfect pacing. This is Kojima as a storyteller at his most disciplined. And then there was the gameplay. Much of it was evolved from the first 2D Metal Gear titles, but the little meta touches, like needing to look up a Codec frequency on the back of the game’s case, or switching controller ports to defeat Psycho Mantis, demonstrated a level of ingenuity and understanding of the medium that’s still far beyond most developers today.
1. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004)
Most Kojima games explore near future settings and question the trajectory of technological advancement. And yet, his very best game is set in the 1960s during the Cold War and strips away the sci-fi trappings for a powerful tale about loyalty, sacrifice, and the nature of patriotism. In Snake Eater, you play as Big Boss back when he was known as “Naked Snake,” and indeed this is Metal Gear Solid stripped down to its bare essentials.Instead of relying on high-tech gadgets, you’re crawling through the jungle, camouflaging yourself and hunting wildlife to stay alive. It’s a raw and memorable experience, and the best possible prequel to the entire Metal Gear Solid. Maybe one day Kojima will top this epic, but after two decades it still remains his very best game.
Tribeca Festival 2025 Round-Up: Everything We Saw
The 2025 Tribeca Festival might have been the busiest and most power packed it has been in the last 10 years. As it inched closer to its quarter decade of existence, the Tribeca Festival has been a successful melting pot of film, music, sports, and video games. While the 2025 edition had all these avenues of entertainment available for the viewing public, its film offerings were jam-packed with big premieres and top tier talent.
Den of Geek was privileged to have a smattering of some of our favorite stars and talent join us in our Manhattan studio to discuss their movies, shows, and favorite things about the industry in general. You can find clips and videos of all these wonderful interviews on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, or wherever you find your favorite media clips of the day. But we’re also pleased to share with you some choice highlights below from our guests’ stop over at the Den of Geek Studio.
Long Live the State
Guests: Thomas Lennon, Kerri Kenney-Silver, David Wain, Todd Holoubek, Ken Marino, Michael Patrick Jann, Michael Ian Black, and director Matthew Perniciaro
These days, members of comedy troupe The State are probably more well known for projects like Reno 911!, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Wet Hot American Summer, and many, many, many other beloved comedy titles. But they all got their start creating and starring in the MTV mid-’90s sketch comedy show, The State.
That is certainly where this writer knows them from and the same goes for the director of the new documentary about the show, Matt Perniciaro. “Everyone knows members of this group, but they don’t necessarily know where it all started,” he says. Their style of comedy also grew from a place that most comedy groups don’t jump start their careers from. David Wain explains, “We came up as a sketch group made up of film students at NYU. It wasn’t an improv group. We were as much about making film shorts, as we were about creating sketches.”
While their style may be well known and almost mainstream to many viewers now, that wasn’t the case when they first started. It was almost as if they were the punk rock kids of comedy. “We thought we were really cool. We started out of the gate with this anti-establishment mentality,” Kerri Kenny-Silver says. “I think it’s possibly from high school and feeling like you don’t necessarily fit in here and then you find this band of weirdos.” Fellow cast member Todd Holoubeck follows up, “Nobody asked for The Sex Pistols but they got The Sex Pistols. Nobody asked for The State, but they got The State.”
Whether you’re a massive fan of The State or just someone who recognizes some of the most well known faces in comedy, you’re doing yourself a disservice by not checking out Long Live The State once you can.
Rosemead
Guests: Lucy Liu and Eric Lin
Modern day perceptions of mental health care are much kinder and more open-minded than they once were. Still, too many stigmas persist throughout the general public. Based on real events, this directorial debut of cinematographer Eric Lin focuses on the lives of Irene (Lucy Liu), and her son Joe (Lawrence Shou), a diagnosed schizophrenic who battles with his condition since the passing of his father. Hiding her own terminal cancer diagnosis from many, including Joe, Irene fights to take care of Joe as his mental state spirals out of control.
While the themes of Rosemead are universal, Lucy Liu reports that the film speaks directly to some stigmas that perpetuate the Chinese community. “It is a stigma that is very current…a lot of times people say there is just a lot of pressure and stress from school; it’s going to be fine. Just keep pushing through it,” Liu says. “And I think that is what this movie is trying to bring to light. The idea that it’s something we sweep under the rug and we find embarrassing and we try to create a face that is different from what is reality.”
Portraying schizophrenia in a realistic way was also on the forefront of everyone’s minds when making this film. As director Eric Lin puts it, “We did a lot of research on people’s experiences with schizophrenia and I will say that maybe one of the positive things about YouTube is that a lot of people record their psychotic episodes and put it online to talk people through it.”
Rosemead is prepped to both impress audiences with its realistic depictions of life and its overarching themes of both the light and the dark.
It would be safe to say that Mandy Patinkin and Kathryn Grody are two actors you never thought would become social media stars. Thanks to their son Gideon Grody-Patinkin (and Covid in a strange “Thanks, Covid” moment), however, Mandy and Kathryn’s social media profile become a thing of beauty and now has now led to Seasoned, a new TV show that had its pilot play at the 2025 Tribeca Festival.
Seasoned is not merely the Mandy and Kathryn TikTok show put into a half-hour format. And thankfully, it isn’t what a lot of people pitched to the family first. “We were getting approached a lot for reality television shows and we had no interest in that,” explains Gideon Grody-Patankin. While this is a scripted show and not reality television, the way director Ewen Wright describes it, it is still very much Mandy and Kathryn. “The script is in their bones, but they’re dancing on top of it with the way they’d like to say something or add a line there,” he says.
Adding on to what is already there seems to be part of Mandy Patinkin’s work ethic, too. As he likes to tell it, while there is always pressure to get things in on time, he wants to get as many options out into the air as possible, “My attitude is give them every possibility I can before we leave that angle. The clock is ticking, the sand’s running through the hourglass, we’ve got to move on.”
Though not exactly in the same realm, once Seasoned hits that airwaves, it will be a perfect replacement for people who want more Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Paradise Records
Guests: Logic and T Man the Wizard
Paradise Records is not a biopic but it is in many ways based on the life of its writer/director/producer/star Logic. Some may wonder why, on his first film ever, Logic would put the weight of all those jobs on his shoulders. The performer has always known what he is capable of because he’s hit those barriers from others in the past, “I’ve been told ‘NO’ a lot,” he says. “And I get it. I’m like, ‘hey man, I rap, but I got this idea for a movie and I wrote the script and I want to direct it and I want to star in it and I want full creative control.’ You’d be like, ‘fuck you.”
And this is not a one time outing for Logic, either. Movies are just as important to him as music. He also is going to keep giving roles to people you may not expect to see cross over into acting, “As long as I’m blessed to keep making movies, I’m going to keep taking people that you might not typically see or may have never seen in a film and shed light on them.”
One of those people is his best friend, Tramayne Hudson, a.k.a T Man the Wizard. And while Logic (whose given name is Sir Robert Benson Hall II), had a lot of top tier talent to work with on Paradise Records, T Man knew he had something special none of those other actors had, “I had a cheat code because Bob is my best friend. So he could talk to me a little differently than he could talk to everybody else on the set.”
Fior Di Latte
Guests: Tim Heidecker, Marta Pozzan, and Charlotte Ercoli
Sense memory can be quite strong. We’ve all had those moments where a single scent (good or bad) unlocks a memory or state of being. For Max (Tim Heidecker) though, a single scent has overtaken his life in the new comedy written and directed by Charlotte Ercoli, Fior Di Latte.
“If you point to any corner of this movie it’s either something that I’ve experienced or something that I’m interested in,” Ercoli says. And even though the lives of the film’s characters may be a little out there, they still remind the actors of themselves. Lead Marta Pozzan puts it best by saying, “I actually feel like Francesca’s a younger version of me. I don’t know if I’ll ever be that girl again but it was lovely to play her.”
For as important as it is to have people like Marta and Tim carry your film, it also is a great honor to have the great Kevin Kline take part in the process as well; a joy that isn’t lost on sometime likeTim Heidecker, “Kevin Kline was one of my heroes growing up, one of the greats. To work with him, it was a dream come true.”
The Sixth Borough
Guests: Jason Pollard, Julian Petty, and Andrew Theodorakis
Fact: Hip-Hop was born in the South Bronx. You’d be hard pressed to find anyone who would say otherwise…and if they do, they’re wrong. And while the art form grew and evolved in other areas of the world, there is one spot of the globe that doesn’t get credit for birthing some of the most important artists; Long Island.
Producer Julian Petty puts the blight of Long Island’s recognition pretty succinctly, “One of the most famous songs, ‘The Bridge is Over,’ is KRS-One and Boogie Down Productions talking about the Bronx, and this is where Hip-Hop originated and they were dissing MC Shan in Queens. So that whole concept of where you’re from defines you and defines your importance in Hip-Hop. And, Long Island just got ignored and left behind.”
Through the vision of director Jason Pollard, The Sixth Borough documents the history of some of the most important rap acts that were birthed in Long Island. So many people will know the names Public Enemy, De La Soul, EPMD, Eric B. and Rakim. But too many people don’t realize they all grew up and started their careers just minutes from each other in different Long Island towns. As Jason puts it, “Rakim is the godfather of lyrical dexterity…without Rakim you don’t have the artists that you have now, expanding the art form the way they are. So he deserves all the props we can give him.”
Oh, Hi!
Guests: Molly Gordon, Logan Lerman, and Sophie Brooks
Relationships can be hard. That shouldn’t be a shocking statement to anyone. Yet, we still live in a world where playing weird relationship games/being woefully non-committal is a thing. And when Isaac (Logan Lerman) drops the bomb of how he sees his relationship with Iris (Molly Gordon) whilst in a very compromising position…things don’t go the way anyone planned.
From a script co-written between Gordon and director Sophie Brooks, Oh, Hi! takes a high concept look at relationships. While the situations are heightened, everything starts from a real place for its creators, “The true jumping off point for this was that Sophie and I had relationships in our 20s that ended and we weren’t able to have a conversation that we wanted to have with them,” explains Gordon. Expanding on top of that, Sophie Brooks describes how that blossoms into what we see on screen, “There was certainly an element of wish fulfillment: In our darkest moments what would we do to try and keep someone’s attention?”
It also may be hard to find the right tone for telling a story like this. Do you go for the over the top comedy? Or do we make this a horror film? Sometimes these decisions come out of the shooting and editing process and not just the script. As Logan Lerman puts it, “There’s so many movies you could make out of the stuff we shot. Went in so many directions with it, tonally.”
No matter what you personally take away from Oh, Hi! you’re in for a treat because no character holds back in this one. Just take Molly’s word for it, “It was so fun to get to play a character that would say some of the things that I would actually say because I have a very dirty, wild humor.”
Man Finds Tape
Guests: Peter Hall and Paul Gandersman
Man Finds Tape isn’t necessarily a found footage film but rather a faux documentary about a man who notices some very strange things around his town, all compounded by a mysterious tape he finds in his basement.
Though it is in essence a mockumentary, most people would think of a comedy when you use that term. Co-director Peter Hall explains how he and Paul found their footing for this film’s presentation, “The way we wrote this movie was we wrote essentially the events that happen. Then we had to reframe it as if documentarians found that footage. How would they go about making a documentary about it? This would be the found footage version of it.”
The film also has some very familiar names attached to it as producers such as C. Robert and Jessica Cargill as well as Justin Benson and Aaron Moorehead. “Justin and Aaron flew from the set of filming Daredevil: Born Again straight to us. It was crazy that they left Daredevil, came straight to us and they were doing things like carrying gear and ripping gaffer tape up.”
But Justin and Aaron did have suggestions, they weren’t there just to break down a set, Peter continues, “They really wanted us to lean into the weirdness of the film, to keep things enigmatic. Anytime we thought we had to over explain or pander to the audience, they were like, ‘no guys.’” Paul follows up with just how important it is to have great collaborators, “It was incredible working with producers that just told you to make it weirder and answer less.”
When Man Finds Tape finds its way onto your screens, you’ll have to tell Peter and Paul if they answered too much, or they followed Benson and Moorhead’s advice to a T.
How Squid Game Season 3 Honors The Series’ Breakout Character
This article contains spoilers for Squid Game season 3.
By the show’s very nature, Squid Gameis no stranger to ripping beloved characters from our grasp just as we’ve come to appreciate them. Even the characters we love to hate tend to come and go just as quickly, forcing us and the other players to leave them behind and move forward. But with season 3 picking up where the game left off in season 2, it’s not quite as easy to leave some of these fallen players behind, especially not a personality as big as Thanos (T.O.P.) was.
Thankfully, season 3 finds some unique ways to carry on the complicated legacy of Player 230 Choi Su-bong a.k.a. Thanos. Nam-gyu (player 124) and Min-su (player 125) both handle their “grief” with markedly different approaches. In episode 1 “Keys and Knives,” Nam-gyu (Roh Jae-won) tries to appeal to Min-su (Lee David) as Thanos did, even going so far as to do an impression of his fallen friend to try and lighten the mood.
In the next episode, Nam-gyu takes his Thanos mimicry to another level by spending the entire game getting wasted on Thanos’ drugs and doing yet another impression of his friend, as though embodying his personality is enough to bring him back to life. He says “I’m Thanos. Let’s go another way. We’ve got to kill half of humanity, but we’re running out of time,” which is surprisingly layered for someone high out of their mind. It’s not only a commentary on the Hide-and-Seek game they are currently playing, but also refers to the ethos of Marvel’s Thanos, the character that his friend named himself after.
A few episodes later and it’s Min-su’s turn for a drug and grief-fueled spiral. Min-su finds himself in possession of Thanos’ drugs in episode 4 and spends the rest of his time on the show zooted and paranoid, just as Thanos was before he was killed (the Squid Game Thanos, that is – we don’t know what kind of drugs the actual Mad Titan was on, if any).
But whereas all of these callbacks to Thanos and his big personality have been done by other characters, the legend himself finds a way to make an appearance in episode 5. High on the mysterious pills, Min-su hallucinates Thanos and T.O.P. actually returns to reprise his role for this brief cameo, telling Min-su “My brother, I missed you.”
No matter your feelings about Thanos as a character, his presence – literal, imagined, and otherwise – is important to the final two seasons of the show. Losing him affects Nam-gyu and Min-su profoundly and influences their decisions moving forward.
In a show that usually forces us to move on from one gruesome death to the next in rapid succession, bringing Thanos back (among others) in these various forms was a welcome change of pace. It lets us see that these deaths do affect the players – even those who seem to relish all of the bloodshed and the money it brings them. We’ve seen the grief of the games in the aftermath through Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), but now we get to see how grief manifests while the games are still happening. It reminds us that even the “villains” of the games care about each other in their own strange ways.
Level Infinite Introduces Warhammer 40,000: Darktide’s Very Good Doggy
Level Infinite definitely came to play at Summer Game Fest 2025, boasting one of the larger areas at the Play Days campus, with multiple stations for both of the titles it was highlighting. These games were the upcoming tactical extraction shooter Exoborne, developed by Sharkmob AB, and ambitious updates to the popular cooperative shooter Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, developed by Fatshark. Den of Geek got to play both demos available at SGF 2025 and spoke to the developers of each title about their respective projects.
Exoborne takes place in a near-future ravaged by extreme weather, most notably powerful cyclones that can form and tear across the landscape in a given moment. Players choose between three distinct classes as they load up their customized exo-rigs that allow them to not only brave the elements but give them an edge as they battle hostile rival factions across the rapidly changing conditions. For Sharkmob AB, creating the world and gameplay of Exoborne deftly threads the needle between more realistic extraction shooters and their deliberately cartoonish counterparts.
“We see a lot of either very stylized games out there or very realistic games out there. What we’re trying to do is something that involves fantastic realism, where you have a grounded element. You have this world that you can recognize and know and, on top of that, we sprinkle these fantastical elements,” explains Sharkmob art director Erik Nilsson. “It creates this interesting visual where there’s familiarity, but there’s also this new thing that you want to explore. It’s the same thing with the characters. We didn’t want to do mech suits where you don’t see the person. We wanted to see that there’s a person inside of there.”
In sitting down and playing Exoborne, the game’s unique ways to navigate its wind-swept open-world environment were not only easy to learn on the fly, but quickly proved fun to execute. Using grappling hooks from the exo-rig, I was catapulting myself into the air and deploying my glider to catch winds from nearby cyclones to traverse the map before landing into a firefight and catching my enemies off-guard. This process is not only seamless but really rewards players while adding a sense of unpredictability to how fights can go, with players able to use the shifting weather conditions to their advantage in combat.
“There are different layers in it,” observes Nilsson before giving an in-game example. “You’ll have events, like three tornados coming in and going towards as you’re trying to extract and get to the dropship. One of the tornados picks you up and throws you away from the dropship. Suddenly, one of your enemies throws an incendiary grenade in front of the tornado and it turns into a fire-nado.”
With both the online functionality working well in the demo and the game just easy and fun to pick up and play, Exoborne is shaping up to be a solid live game experience when it makes its full launch. Meanwhile, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide has recently unveiled its latest update and it’s a doozy, including the addition of a fifth playable class, the Arbitrator, who has their own weapons and combat pet, a Cyber-Mastiff. For inspiration, the development team looked not only at the extensive Warhammer lore but also the game’s sister title Warhammer: Vermintide 2.
“We knew from Vermintide that the pet class was very popular,” explains Darktide design director Victor Magnuson. “The Necromancer character is one of the most popular characters in Vermintide. We thought a pet class would be cool and we started to look at what we could do. We found the Arbites and thought him with a Cyber-Mastiff would be a really cool combination.”
In addition to re adding a new character class, Darktide has significantly refined the overall gameplay experience since its launch in 2022, reworking talent trees and adding the Havoc Game Mode that noticeably raises the game’s difficulty. In addition to the team’s hard work, Magnuson credits coordinating with community testers, a small group of hardcore players, when trying out new content and changes to Darktide to see how they’ll connect with the larger population. This has led to the game building from its launch to developing a stable and growing player base as it approaches its third anniversary.
“We’re in a really good state. Players are generally quite happy with what we do, which is really fun because then it doesn’t feel as hard to do stuff,” reflects Magnuson, who has been working on Darktide for the past seven years. “It’s about coming up with fun ideas rather than working on fixing problems.”
Working closely with longtime Warhammer writers Dan Abnett and Matt Ward, Darktide celebrates the legacy of Warhammer 40,000 with action-packed missions, brutal weaponry, and character classes true to the lore. And even if you missed Darktide at launch, the game has only become more accessible to new players, with a whole host of new content and the tightest the gameplay and technical presentation has ever been.
There is currently no release date for Exoborne, but it is slated for release on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is available now for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5.
