The 98th Academy Awards ceremony is just around the corner, and so far during this awards season, we’ve been treated to a real rollercoaster. It’s usually the case that something of a pattern emerges across other ceremonies, but not this year.

While Sinners leads the way with nominations – a record-breaking 16, no less - there is widespread belief that it will be One Battle After Another and Paul Thomas Anderson could take the top prizes on the night.

Over the last few months, though, different names have been bagging the awards in the acting categories, making it very difficult to predict. To get to the bottom of things ahead of the ceremony on Sunday, we take a look at the odds for each of the major categories and see if a pattern emerges.

Best Picture: One Battle After Another

This is the fourth time a Paul Thomas Anderson movie has been nominated for Best Picture, but it might finally be time for a win. Indeed, across the board, One Battle After Another is the overwhelming favourite to scoop the top award.

In fact, the film is so clearly out in front that you cannot avoid an odds-on bet with this one. BetFred, Sky Bet, and Paddy Power are offering 1/5, while the shortest odds are 1/3 at BoyleSports. It seems the blend of socio-political commentary, intense thrills, and moments of humour will win the day for PTA this time around.

Sinners is the closest rival in this category, but Ryan Coogler’s sumptuous, visceral vampire thriller has an average of 3/1, and it would be a real shock for it to swoop in and take the win now. Still, stranger things have happened, and the Academy voters clearly love Sinners.

There are a few anomalies in the markets, too. F1: The Movie, for example, is sitting anywhere between 100/1 and 200/1 with most bookmakers, but Betfair has shortened the odds to 7/2 for some reason. This may be due to some of the voter intentions leaking in the press, with more casual viewers opting for this very safe, easy watch.

Best Lead Actor: Michael B. Jordan

Just a month ago, it seemed Timothée Chalamet had the Best Lead Actor gong sewn up. His superb work on Marty Supreme, twinned with a very active and passionate campaign in interviews and at other awards ceremonies, had him way out in front. But that’s all changed recently, with a fascinating two-horse race emerging.

Michael B. Jordan pulled out a surprise win at the 2026 Actors Awards and is now the odds-on favourite to take home the little gold statue this weekend. Most bookmakers have the Sinners star at 8/15, while 1/2 and 4/6 are the best odds you can get on him for his blistering dual performance as Smoke and Stack.

It’s arguably the fact that Jordan plays two characters and makes them so distinctive that has now handed him the advantage. Chalamet is still second-best in the market, but it now looks like he peaked too early and has run out of steam – his comments about ballet being a dying art probably haven’t helped his cause all that much, either.

Best Lead Actress: Jessie Buckley

One category that has felt pretty much nailed on for months is the Best Lead Actress award, which Jessie Buckley would appear to have in the bag thanks to her heartwrenching, poignant portrayal of a grieving mother in Hamnet.

Despite some concerns that her part in the much-maligned Maggie Gyllenhaal movie The Bride! could cost Buckley her crown, she is still far and away the favourite with every single bookmaker. A lot of outlets, like BetMGM and BetVictor, are offering 1/100 while Star Sports is even more certain Buckley will win, with odds of 1/200. 

It says it all that the best price you can get on Buckley right now is 1/40. Meanwhile, her closest rival is probably Rose Byrne, for If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. She’s as short as 10/1 at Sky Bet and Paddy Power, while Emma Stone is third in the rankings, with Bet Victor offering 18/1 for her performance in Bugonia.

Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

We will almost certainly see history made in the Best Director category at the Oscars this year. Paul Thomas Anderson has never won an Academy Award before, so this could be his first, while Chloé Zhao could become the first woman to win the prize twice (she previously won for Nomadland), and Ryan Coogler could become the first Black filmmaker to take the award, which is crazy.

However, if you trust the bookmakers, it looks pretty unanimous that PTA will finally get his flowers. Bet365 have him at 1/33 while BetMGM go as low as 1/40, and the best price you can get on Thomas Anderson and One Battle After Another here is 1/16, with a few different places offering that.

Coogler is a clear second-favourite, with odds ranging between 7/1 and 10/1, while Bet365 gives Zhao the best chances of a win at 14/1. It’s interesting, really, as you’d find it hard to argue that Coogler did the best job in terms of technical filmmaking and, to me, at least, feels like the one who actually did the best directing this past year. But Thomas Anderson handled his sweeping, epic story masterfully, which counts for a lot. Plus, we can’t rule out the fact the Academy does like to give awards to people they feel are ‘owed’ an accolade.

Best Supporting Actor: Sean Penn

The supporting categories may not be quite as prestigious as the leads, but these races have been the most exciting over the past few months, especially Best Supporting Actor. While Jacob Elordi won the Critics' Choice award for his role in Frankenstein, and Stellan Skarsgård won the Golden Globe for Sentimental Value, it’s Sean Penn who has now risen to the top of the rankings at the perfect moment.

Penn won at the Actors Awards, and there’s often a great deal of overlap between that awards body and the Oscars. Clearly, the bookmakers agree: He’s the odds-on favourite with every single outlet we looked at, with odds of 3/10 and 1/7 standing out. To be fair, he would be my personal pick: his performance as Colonel Lockjaw in One Battle After Another is terrifying and mesmerising in equal measure. It’s very much a role he got lost in; he’s so convincing you forget he’s even acting at times.

Meanwhile, Skarsgård could still spring a surprise, with odds of 7/2 popping up here and there. Delroy Lindo’s odds range from 13/2 to 9/1. It’s very likely both Elordi and Benicio del Toro are out of the race, with longer odds of 25/1 and 33/1, respectively.

Best Supporting Actress: Amy Madigan

One category that may finally throw up a winner from outside of the big three of One Battle After Another, Sinners, and Hamnet is Best Supporting Actress, where Amy Madigan is now a hot favourite for her performance in Weapons.

Throughout this awards season, we’ve seen Teyana Taylor pick up the Golden Globe for her fierce and formidable display in One Battle After Another and Wunmi Mosaku take the trophy at the BAFTAs for Sinners. However, after winning at the Actors Awards, it’s Madigan who looks like she might just get her nose in front now. Bookmakers like Ladbrokes have her at 10/11 while William Hill offer the longest odds at a measly 6/5.

Both Taylor and Mosaku are close behind, though, and you can get 2/1 on either of them at Sky Bet and William Hill, respectively. Could this finally be the year that the Academy recognises a horror performance and gives Madigan the ultimate reward for her unnerving depiction of the evil Aunt Gladys in Zach Cregger’s dark horror-thriller? After snubbing Toni Collette for Hereditary and Lupita Nyong’o for Us, it feels like it’s about time some justice was served.

This may well be Paul Thomas Anderson’s best shot at Oscar glory, with One Battle After Another one of the frontrunners for this year’s awards season. With 13 nominations from the Academy, and big wins already at the Critics' Choice Awards, the Directors Guild of America, and the Golden Globes, momentum is certainly with PTA’s team right now. 

If you’ve already watched One Battle After Another and you’re craving more of the same sublime blend of intense thrills, dark humour, and exhilarating character arcs, you could just rewatch the movie one more time before the big night. And honestly, we wouldn’t blame you.

But if you want to try something a little different and broaden your horizons, we’ve lined up 10 epic recommendations that would even get the seal of approval from Sensei Sergio.

1. La Haine (1995)

One Battle After Another is both surprisingly funny and incredibly violent at times, not to mention very chaotic. If it was that particular side of the PTA flick you enjoyed the most, then you’ll love Mathieu Kassovitz’s French thriller, La Haine. While the action in One Battle simmers over the course of many years, a similar level of tension is packed into a brutal 24-hour period in this 1995 cult hit.

There’s also a similar theme of questionable law enforcement and societal rebels in La Haine, as three young men contend with the volatile post-riot streets of Paris. It’s explosive, gripping, and a truly thought-provoking dissection of the wildness of youth. Don’t worry about the subtitles; this is a very visual story, and you can catch it on BFI Player.

2. Eddington (2025)

If you want to lean more into the political themes at play in One Battle After Another, you could take it to the extreme with Ari Aster’s genre-mashing Eddington. While Paul Thomas Anderson was more concerned with the wider ideological battle between the far right and liberal left, Aster really hones how that clash affects communities on a smaller scale.

Eddington has the star power of Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, and a fascinating supporting role for Emma Stone, as a race to become mayor turns nasty. The intense rivalry between Sheriff Joe Cross and his counterpart, Ted Garcia, may be more of a war of words than the very visceral conflict between Bob Ferguson and Colonel Lockjaw in One Battle, but it leads to an equally savage conclusion. You’ll have to pay to watch Eddington at the moment, with a £4.99 rental fee on Apple TV, and while I would say this is a very divisive film, it’s well worth a try.

3. The Order (2024)

Narratively speaking, there is no film on this list more closely related to One Battle After Another than The Order. In this cat-and-mouse thriller, a law enforcement officer (played by Jude Law) is hunting down domestic terrorist Robert Jay Mathews (Nicholas Hoult), which would be identical to Thomas Anderson’s epic story, were it not for the fact that, in The Order, the man in the uniform is actually a good guy.

I watched this film when it first dropped on Prime Video, and it seriously struck a chord with me. With a captivating story, big action set-pieces, and a rural American setting, it’s got all the ingredients of a hit. It’s a lot like Hell or High Water, in tone and style, which is always a good ballpark to be in, IMO.

4. Catch Me If You Can (2002)

Let’s be honest, a lot of people will have rushed out to see One Battle After Another purely because of Leonardo DiCaprio. He’s certainly one of the few true movie stars out there, and someone who I will always make the effort to see on the big screen whenever possible. If you too can’t get enough of DiCaprio, dipping into his back catalogue is never a bad idea, and Catch Me If You Can fits the bill here.

This somewhat underrated Steven Spielberg effort is the ultimate cat-and-mouse story, based on the (allegedly) true exploits of Frank Abagnale – a man who was so good at being a fraud that even the FBI struggled to put a stop to his antics. Seeing Hollywood heavyweights DiCaprio and Tom Hanks go head-to-head here is so much fun. Watch it all unfold on Netflix now.

5. After Hours (1985)

After Hours has that same frantic energy that is bubbling at the heart of One Battle After Another, and in many ways, Paul Hackett’s ordeal is just as turbulent as Bob’s attempts to rescue his daughter. Everything quite literally goes against Paul as he tries to escape his mundane existence through a madcap night of sexual misadventure – it’s a bit like Uncut Gems on acid.

This taut, tense Martin Scorsese film goes under the radar due to his incredible prolificacy when it comes to mobster movies. At just 97 minutes long and with a raw, surrealist vibe, After Hours is well worth checking out if you want to see another side to Scorsese’s work. It’ll cost you £3.49 to rent from the Sky Store, but that’s definitely money well spent.

6. Oldboy (2003)

There are a few factors that drive an intriguing narrative as well as revenge. That’s very much a part of One Battle After Another, but it’s absolutely crucial to the Korean cinema classic, Oldboy. This is what most consider to be the best Park Chan-wook movie, which is quite the feat given his filmography includes the likes of The Handmaiden, Decision to Leave, and the brilliant new release, No Other Choice. 

I would genuinely go as far as to say this is the best foreign language film ever made; it’s the kind of film that everyone has to watch once in their lifetime, even if they don’t usually give subtitles the time of day.

To say too much about Oldboy would spoil what’s to come, but just know it features an astounding plot twist, some phenomenal fight sequences, and is not afraid to go to bold, disturbing places. 

7. Kill Bill (2003-2004)

If you didn’t look up who the director of One Battle After Another was, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a Quentin Tarantino movie. The way the story meanders between different characters and settings, the overt violence, and the slick camerawork are all trademarks of Tarantino’s work, and they give Thomas Anderson’s latest a real sense of urgency and energy that may be lacking in his other projects.

The final third, with the epic car chase sequence and the culmination of Bob’s mission, is particularly reminiscent of Kill Bill. And you get two recommendations for the price of one here, as you obviously need to see Kill Bill: Vol. 2 as well. This hyper-stylised two-parter takes massive inspiration from classic martial arts movies while also packing in typical Tarantino twists, outstanding fight choreography, and a host of gory, graphic deaths. You can watch it all, believe it or not, on Disney+.

8. The Nice Guys (2016)

I loved all the serious stuff in One Battle After Another, but I’d be lying if I said the dynamic between Bob and Sensei Sergio wasn’t my favourite element of the film. Bob’s frenzied energy, combined with Sensei’s super chill, pragmatic aura, delivers comedic moments of an almost slapstick variety, which you’ll find plenty of in The Nice Guys.

To be honest, I think The Nice Guys is the funniest movie of the past decade, and it’s not even close. Ryan Gosling is operating on a different plane in this 1970s-inspired detective comedy from Shane Black, while Russell Crowe supports him with a more gruff, subtle approach to the humour. There are one-liners, physical gags, references and call-backs; it’s got everything! You can find this laugh-a-minute hit on the MGM+ Channel.

9. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

While One Battle After Another takes us all across America, Sidney Lumet’s crime drama Dog Day Afternoon is a riveting single-location piece, but it’s every ounce as tense. Based on a true story, this Oscar-winning flick sees Sonny (Al Pacino) and Sal (John Cazale) hold up a bank, but things don’t go to plan, and they end up with a hostage situation, plenty of police attention, and a media circus watching their every move.

Much like One Battle After Another, this is another tale of how powerful law enforcement agencies deal with rebellious rogues, and it throws up just as many moral dilemmas as the Paul Thomas Anderson movie. The direction from Lumet is superb, as always, but it’s the performance of Pacino in the lead role that really elevates this to the status of being one of the finest pictures of the ‘70s. Find it on Now TV Cinema if you’re keen. 

10. Three Days of the Condor (1975)

1975 was a pretty great year for film – so much so that Three Days of the Condor manages to fly under the radar a bit. If you want to see a young Robert Redford trying to figure out why a group of mercenaries want him dead – all while wearing the coolest coats and sunglasses known to man – then you’re in for a treat.

There are strong political themes that’ll resonate with anyone who appreciated that element of One Battle After Another, while all the clandestine meetings and talk of conspiracy align perfectly with the world Thomas Anderson built in his story. Be warned: there is a fairly iffy romantic sub-plot, but putting that aside, Three Days of the Condor is an engrossing high-stakes thriller that really should be on your hitlist.

Most famous for playing Stu Macher in Scream and Shaggy in Scooby-Doo, Matthew Lillard has a legion of devoted fans. Whilst he might not be at the top of the A-list acting pile, and Quentin Tarantino has spoken against him, there is no denying that Lillard is a cult hero. 

A regular fixture on the convention circuit, the announcement of the actor’s presence triggers chaos as fans desperately try to book a photograph or autograph with him. Lillard’s sway does not simply apply to convention appearances; his fans rally around everything that he does, most recently making his range of Ghostface Vodka sell out in mere minutes. But what is it about the star that has fans so enraptured? 

A key aspect of Lillard’s cult appeal is that the actor seemingly favours roles in projects that are slightly more niche. Even his bigger hits of Scream, Scooby-Doo, and Five Nights at Freddy’s don’t have too broad an appeal, and it seems that Lillard is never going to be the blockbuster star, but it is his work with this cult world that has rightfully earned him the adoration of the masses. For those not indoctrinated into the Lillard cult and curious as to how the actor has come into such prominence, here is a round-up of his journey so far, in chronological order. 

1. Ghoulies Go to College (1990)

Right from his first IMDb credit, Ghoulies Go to College, Matthew Lillard was embracing the cult movie. The third entry in the comedy-horror Ghoulies series, Ghoulies Go to College, does not have a reputation for quality, but it is worth seeking out to see Lillard in his first on-screen role. 

He plays Stork, a member of the fraternity that gets mixed up with the chaotic ghoulies, and although he has no lines, his screen presence is undeniable, Lillard drawing the eye each time he pops up on screen. 

2. Serial Mom (1994)

Lillard’s second movie credit came four years later, and once again is a movie that has long-standing cult appeal. Directed by cult cinema king John Waters, Serial Mom provided Lillard with his first speaking role. 

The film itself is a delightful dark satirical comedy in which Kathleen Turner’s suburban mother begins hacking her way through the community whenever mildly inconvenienced. Lillard is present as her horror-loving, video store clerk son, Chip, who must come to terms with his mother’s homicidal tendencies. 

3. Hackers (1995)

Is there a film that screams ‘90s technology more than Hackers? The film follows Jonny Lee Miller’s child prodigy hacker, Dade Murphy, who, along with a group of like-minded teens, sets out to cause all kinds of chaos on the internet. Very much a film of its time, Hackers is a wonderful time capsule looking into the early days of the internet, its nostalgia appeal making it a worthy movie to still seek out today. 

Also present alongside Jonny Lee Miller are Angelina Jolie and Matthew Lillard, who plays one of Dade’s hacking team members, Cereal Killer. Lillard has rarely played a character as stylistically ‘90s with Cereal Killer’s alt-punk aesthetic, a far cry from Stu Macher’s white jumper. 

4. Scream (1996)

Already having built up a strong list of credits, it was Scream that pushed Lillard into the zeitgeist. One of the two original Ghostface killers, fans immediately fell hard for Stu Macher, and by extension, Matthew Lillard. What makes Stu such a fascinating character is that the unmasking of him as Ghostface was a genuine surprise at the time. Billy Loomis had been pretty obvious all the way through, but when Sidney is confronted with Stu and the voice-changing machine, everyone’s collective jaw dropped. 

A witty and ever so slightly highly strung individual, Stu Macher is one of the reasons that Scream works as well as it does, and without Lillard, we wouldn’t have the iconic delivery of the line: “My mum and dad are going to be so mad at me.”

5. The Curve (1998)

The Curve, also known as Dead Man’s Curve, is an underseen cult thriller that features an intriguing premise. A pair of struggling college students discover that there is a clause that states that anyone whose roommate dies by suicide will be granted an automatic passing grade. Inspired by the news, the two friends plot and kill their roommate, staging his murder as suicide. However, once the police begin their investigation, the pair find themselves in over their heads. 

Matthew Lillard is in fine form in The Curve as the more maniacal of the friends, Tim. Whilst protagonist Chris feels immense guilt and fear over their actions, Tim is less sympathetic, and as the two turn on each other, The Curve gets really fun. 

6. She’s All That (1999)

She’s All That is a ‘90s teen movie institution. The teen comedy reworking of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion made stars out of its leads, Freddie Prinze Jr and Rachael Leigh Cook, but a closer look at the ensemble proves She’s All That was packed full of stars. Also on the cast are Paul Walker, Jodie Lyn O’Keefe, Kieran Culkin, Anna Paquin, Milo Ventimiglia, an uncredited appearance from Sarah Michelle Gellar, and, of course, Matthew Lillard. 

Although only playing a small role, Lillard shines as reality star Brock Hudson, who starts dating O’Keefe’s Taylor Vaughan, which in turn causes Prinze Jr.’s Zack to take a bet that he can transform anyone and make them Prom Queen. Lillard clearly had fun on the project as he was one of the cast members who returned for the belated sequel, He’s All That, in which he played school principal Bosch. 

7. Finder’s Fee (2001)

Having made a career playing high-school or college students, Finder’s Fee marked one of Matthew Lillard’s first ventures into playing a character close to his own age. Upon initial release, Finder’s Fee flew under the radar, but due to an early career appearance from Ryan Reynolds, the film has found itself on several prominent streaming sites over the last few years. The premise of Finder’s Fee revolves around a game of poker between friends. 

What starts as a fun evening of guys catching up with one another takes a dark turn when a stranger (played by James Earl Jones) arrives to claim his lost wallet, which contains the winning lottery ticket. It then becomes every man for himself. A great ensemble piece that also features ER’s Erik Palladino, Romeo + Juliet’s Dash Mihok and Robert Forster, Finder’s Fee is well worth your time. 

8. Thir13en Ghosts (2001)

Whereas Scream was worthy of garnering attention, 2001’s Thir13en Ghosts is a truly terrible horror that really should be forgotten. Had it not featured Matthew Lillard in the cast, it likely would have been. Thir13en Ghosts screams early ‘00s horror and has somehow become one of those films that is so bad, it’s good. 

In it, Lillard plays psychic Dennis Rafkin, who, along with several others, finds himself trapped inside a strange mansion, tormented by a series of depraved ghosts. Proof that not every cult movie is a winner, Thir13en Ghosts nonetheless has a strange charm to it. 

9. Scooby-Doo (2002)

In 2002, the live-action Scooby-Doo movie arrived in the world, and Matthew Lillard was present as the real-life variant of Shaggy. Those who grew up on the cartoon could not deny that Lillard had been perfectly cast as the scaredy cat BFF of canine detective Scooby-Doo. Much like Stu Macher, the role of Shaggy has become synonymous with Lillard. 

It is also a role that the actor obviously adores, as in addition to returning for the sequel Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, he has voiced the character in a plethora of video games, cartoon series, and even provided his Shaggy vocals for the Scooby-Doo episode of Supernatural ‘Scoobynatural.’ 

10. Twin Peaks: A Limited Event Series (2017)

After getting somewhat lost on screen due to his career in voice work, in 2017, Matthew Lillard returned to prominence when he starred in Twin Peaks. The third season of David Lynch’s magnum opus, for the Twin Peaks outing, Matthew Lillard portrayed William Hastings, a character featured in the South Dakota storyline who becomes entangled with Cooper’s doppelganger. 

The decision to join the cast was almost certainly inspired by the opportunity to work with cult directing legend David Lynch, and once more demonstrated Lillard’s love of the more niche properties. 

11. Bosch (2016)

Over the course of three different seasons and nine episodes, Matthew Lillard became a recurring character in the crime thriller series Bosch. He stars alongside show lead Titus Welliver as undercover FBI agent Luke ‘Lucky’ Rykov, who periodically helps Bosch solve several cases. 

A more subdued Lillard than his reputation dictates, seeing Lillard in semi-regular employment was enough to keep his fanbase tuning in. 

12. Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023)

For the older horror generation, Matthew Lillard is Stu from Scream, but to the younger genre fans, he is Steve Raglan / William Aftron / Yellow Rabbit in the Five Nights at Freddy’s film series. Beginning life as a survival horror game, Five Nights at Freddy’s has become a global phenomenon, and so all eyes were on the movie adaptation. 

While critics were left nonplussed by Five Nights at Freddy’s and its sequel, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, fans of the game adore them and have claimed Matthew Lillard as one of their own. This surge in popularity definitely caught the attention of those working on the newer Scream movies, and the team made sure to cash in on that…

13. Scream 7 (2026)

With Stu Macher an evergreen source of fan conspiracies, and with Matthew Lillard proving to still be bankable thanks to the popularity of the Five Nights at Freddy’s movies, the actor was brought back for Scream 7. Despite Stu Macher having his head caved in during the climax of Scream, for 30 years, fans have argued that Stu survived. 

This was further bolstered by Lillard having a sneaky cameo during a Scream 2 party scene, and the actor also lent his vocals to the 2022 Scream’s Flamethrower Ghostface (featured in the in-universe Stab 8). For Scream 7, Stu Macher returns, though, without giving away too much, potentially not in a way that many envisioned. Either way, the return of Stu and original Final Girl Sidney Prescott has fans racing into cinemas with the film having the highest-grossing opening weekend of the entire franchise. 

14. Carrie (2026)

Although not yet released, Matthew Lillard will next be seen in Mike Flanagan’s Carrie. Wherever Flanagan goes, a cult follows, and combining that with Lillard’s own hoard of devotees already means that this adaptation of Stephen King’s first novel is going to be a success. 

Full details of how this new adaptation will play out remain shrouded in secrecy, but we do know that Lillard has been cast as Principal Grayle.

A year ago, Wunmi Mosaku probably wasn’t a name on many people’s radars. Five years ago, even the most devoted cinephile might have struggled to pick her out in a crowd. But now, the actress is up for an Oscar for her work on Sinners, and she’s finally getting the flowers she deserves.

It may seem like this success has happened overnight, but Mosaku has been grinding away tirelessly for 20 years in this industry, with a load of background roles in TV shows and bit parts in underseen movies. She’s had to stay committed to the cause, but we’re sure Mosaku will now have her pick of projects for the foreseeable future.

With 60 credits to her name, you’re bound to have seen Wunmi Mosaku somewhere before she rose to prominence, so let’s take a look back at her career so far, in chronological order.

Philomena (2013)

Mosaku only had a very brief role in Philomena – so much so that her character wasn’t even given a name. But this still marks a significant moment in her career. She played a young nun in this heartwarmingly emotional dramedy starring Steve Coogan and Judi Dench from 2013.

While Mosaku’s part is small, this film is packed with charm, and the fact that it’s based on a true story just adds to the weight of it all. The performances of Coogan and Dench, in particular, are absolutely fantastic, and it’s worth watching for those alone. If you like films such as Small Things Like These and Belfast, you’ll love this one.

Batman v Superman (2016)

Mosaku may not have been given superpowers for Batman v Superman, but she still managed to inflict a heavy blow to the Man of Steel. Unfortunately, it does see her side with Lex Luthor, or at least, be manipulated by the rich and powerful megalomaniac, to lie about Superman and cause chaos in the courtroom.

This film gets so much criticism, but I’ll always defend it. Yes, the plot and some of the dialogue are messy and a little bit dumb, but the action set-pieces are blistering, and Ben Affleck makes for one hell of a badass Batman. Don’t listen to the haters – load this up on Prime Video and judge for yourself.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

From rubbing shoulders with superpowered alien gods to handling magical creatures in the Wizarding World, Mosaku was given more franchise work in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Admittedly, this was another small role, but clearly, Mosaku was getting recognised and earning her place in huge movies by this point. Here, she plays a character called Beryl, who works for the Magical Congress of the United States of America, if you were curious.

While the Fantastic Beasts movies do lack the energy and intrigue of the main Harry Potter series, this first entry in the spin-off timeline is perfectly serviceable. It’s got a load of cute animals, opens up new corners of the Wizarding World, and has some truly spectacular visuals and CGI work – ideal for any younger viewers who have already completed the Potter series and want more magic.

Luther (2010-2019)

She was only in one-fifth of the episodes of Luther, but there’s no denying that being part of an acclaimed and popular BBC series can do wonders for your career. There must be something about Mosaku that just screams police work, by the way, because between this, The End of the F***ing World, and National Treasure: Kiri, she went on a great run of playing detectives over the course of a couple of years.

Luther is gripping stuff, with Idris Elba bringing a special gravitas to the titular role, while the crimes and mysteries he’s tasked with solving are guaranteed to keep you hooked. It’s a bit like a more violent, gritty, action-packed version of Sherlock, which is never a bad thing.

His House (2020)

Despite all her earlier work, it was actually His House that first drew my attention to the actress. This eerie little horror movie, set in the urban jungle of working-class Britain, is a clever blend of social commentary and a creepy ghost story. Mosaku and her screen partner, Sope Dirisu, are phenomenal in the lead roles, bringing a haunting believability to this harrowing tale that’ll get right under your skin.

This was a Netflix production, which makes it really easy to track down. Nevertheless, while plenty of critics raved about His House at the time, I still feel like not enough people are aware of this special little film. When you see this, you’ll know exactly why Mosaku is a star these days.

Lovecraft Country (2020)

2020 was quite the year for Mosaku. After earning praise for her role in His House, she also played a key supporting role in the hit TV show, Lovecraft Country. Much like that film, actually, this series masterfully blends horror and real-world issues to paint a stylish and provocative picture of man-made terror with a monstrous underbelly. The production design on this show is out of this world, with vibrant colours, amazing costume work, and convincing CGI. It’s an absolute must-watch, especially if you enjoy things like Crimson Peak, or funnily enough, Sinners (more on that later).

While Jurnee Smollett and Jonathan Majors are the stars of the show, Mosaku’s turn as Ruby Baptiste cannot be ignored. She puts in a terrific performance while tackling a complex character arc that really challenges her on a physical and emotional level as an actress.

Loki (2021-2023)

There’s a very simple rule in Hollywood: if you want to become a household name, you just need to bag a role in the MCU. Mosaku did just that when she was cast as Hunter B-15 in the small-screen phenomenon, Loki. While it’s always going to be hard to go toe-to-toe with Tom Hiddleston, Mosaku certainly holds her own here.

Loki is arguably the best Marvel TV show to date, with high-concept ideas, mind-boggling visuals, and a story that expands the movie timeline in special ways. This is not some meandering side-plot that you can take or leave – it’s essential viewing, and a joy to watch, too.

Mosaku later reprised this role in Deadpool & Wolverine, which speaks volumes about the impact she had as the character. You can watch her and the rest of the TVA taking down anti-villains in both of these projects on Disney+ now.

Sinners (2025)

Mosaku has now well and truly hit the big time, after earning an Oscar nomination for her supporting role in Ryan Coogler’s epic vampire movie, Sinners. And rightly so, too. While Michael B. Jordan may be the main man (or men) in this film, the women around him – including Hailee Steinfeld, Jayme Lawson, and Li Jun Li – are all putting in incredible work, and Mosaku’s performance as Annie is so nuanced, delicately balancing a fierceness with an endearing vulnerability that she fights to keep hidden.

The fact that this movie has become the most-nominated in the Academy Awards’ history speaks volumes. You really should need no more convincing to watch this if you haven’t already – and if you have, go ahead and watch it again, because it’s a beautifully crafted, powerful, soul-stirring picture.

If you need solid proof of a change in mood around an Oscar campaign, look no further than what the bookies are saying. As recently as February 21, betting aggregators were giving Timothée Chalamet, star of Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme, a 78% chance of winning Best Actor for his performance in that mid-century ping pong prodigy joint. 

After the remarkable events of the last two weeks, however, that number has plummeted by more than half, with Sinners star Michael B. Jordan now the unlikely front-runner coming into the final furlong of a particularly tumultuous awards season.

In the explainer below, we’ll look at the timeline of Chalamet’s eventful Oscar campaign and try to get to the bottom of how Hollywood’s golden boy went from Oscar favourite to, potentially, this weekend’s biggest loser. 

Where Did Chalamet’s Oscar Buzz Start?

If a book is ever written on this story — and trust me, books have been written on far less eventful things — it will likely begin in the late Autumn of 2024 and the premiere of A Complete Unknown. 

Almost immediately after reviews started coming out for James Mangold’s biopic, critics were falling over each other to praise the lengths that Chalamet had gone to perfect Dylan’s guitar playing and idiosyncratic singing voice. Naturally, Searchlight Pictures went on the full awards offensive, with Chalamet seemingly ready to throw everything at the wall in pursuit of what looked like a very winnable Best Actor award.

This included an Instagram livestream that resembled a piece of performance art and a rare dual host and musical guest role on SNL, on which he performed a few of his favourite Dylan tracks. This led to a surprise win at SAG, where the actor was commended for speaking candidly about wanting to be one of the greats. Still, when Oscar night came around, it was Adrien Brody whose name was called out for The Brutalist — a twist of fate that simultaneously denied Chalamet his final chance of breaking Brody’s long-standing record as the youngest actor to ever win the award. 

What Can A Complete Unknown Tell Us About Marty Supreme’s Oscar Chances?

If you were to write this story as a great American tragedy, that night would surely be its “Rosebud”. You can almost picture the Hollywood sports movie version: the dead-eyed closeup as Brody ascends to the stage and the fade to black, then “eight months later”, then the buzzy reports as the impossibly hyped golden boy makes his comeback with another mid-century biopic of a gifted American striver, this time without the added baggage of Dylanite nay-sayers and, with Safdie, one of the trendiest and most sought-after filmmakers on the planet. 

We see the electric atmosphere at the surprise NYFF premiere as the film quickly rises to an ecstatic 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, an 83% audience score, a 4.1 on Letterboxd, and many critics naming it among the best of the year.

Outside of all the acclaim, the actor was commendably determined to make the $70M-budgeted film a financial hit with regular audiences — indeed, everything about the Marty rollout seemed to take what worked with Chalamet’s previous marketing strategy and pumped it to 11. Brat co-creator Aiden Zamiri was brought in to lead the charge and effectively did for the movie’s orange ping-pong balls what he and Charlie XCX had done with that now-iconic shade of green. 

A zippy was launched that became the must-have clothing item of the year, one that Chalamet managed to get into the hands of everyone from Michael Phelps to Tom Brady to Susan Boyle. Timmy stood on top of the Las Vegas Sphere and rapped with EsDeeKid. He worked it and worked it and worked it, seemingly managing to keep things always, just about, on the right side of palatable — until all of a sudden, he didn’t. 

Where Did Chalamet’s Marty Supreme Oscar Campaign Go Wrong?

Honestly, given that we’ve now been living on the Chalamet campaign trail for what basically feels like a year and a half, it’s almost surprising that a bog-standard over-saturation backlash didn’t come sooner. 

What saved it was Chalamet’s nose for when to fire the thrusters and when to cool things down. Indeed, having successfully helped to make the movie a genuine hit, the actor was quick to switch from mimicking his character’s gnawing braggadocio in public appearances to, gratefully, return to his typically thoughtful and forthright yet relatively modest self. Around that time, he won the Golden Globe for Best Actor: Musical or Comedy and followed it up with an expected Oscar nomination. Only then did the wheels come off. 

First came a brief scandal involving Safdie’s alleged treatment of a young actress on the set of Good Time in 2016, but for some reason, even in what was by then a relatively smooth awards season, it didn’t seem to hold. The next snag came when Chalamet lost Best Actor at the BAFTAs to Robert Aramayo for I Swear — a huge shock that most pundits chalked up to a case of a charismatic local star with home advantage managing to nip through in a tightly run race. 

That weekend, in hindsight, turned out to be far more consequential for the actor's appearance on CNN for a candid with his Interstellar co-star Matthew McConaughey, during which Chalamet once again spoke up about his ambitions, though this time with a decidedly misjudged comment that immediately enraged the ballet and opera communities before gradually seeping out into wider online visibility. 

As that clip continued to gather steam online, Oscar voting opened on February 27, just two days before Chalamet lost — again, in an enormous upset — to Michael B. Jordan at the Actor Awards (formerly SAG), prompting his Oscar odds to go into freefall. 

Are Chalamet’s Missteps Enough to Tank an Entire Oscar Campaign?

At the time of writing, it kind of looks like it might be. By the time Oscar voting closed last weekend, Chalamet had become the internet’s main character in all the wrong ways — with everyone from Whoopi Goldberg (an Academy voter, lest we forget) to his former high school principal taking turns to hang him out to dry. Whether it was a case of oversaturation or simply another example of the Internet’s love of a good schadenfreude pile-on, it seems to have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. 

When these races come down to the final stretches, narrative is what tends to decide the outcome — and Jordan’s genuine shock and humbled acceptance speech at the Actor awards might just have been enough to turn a number of those wary Chalamet voters (many of whom were already caught up in the surge of momentum behind Coogler’s movie) to his cause. 

All, of course, will be revealed in the wee hours of Monday morning. To quote the heroine of the 76-year-old movie that Sinners only recently surpassed as the most nominated in Oscar history: “Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night.”

Of all the performers nominated at the Oscars 2026, Renate Reinsve is probably the biggest unknown. But she’s already put together an impressive filmography in the early days of her career.

Reinsve is nominated for Best Lead Actress for her stunning turn in Joachim Trier’s meditative family drama, Sentimental Value. She’s in great company there, too, with the likes of Stellan Skarsgård and Elle Fanning also recognised by the Academy for their roles, as well as newcomer Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas.

You may not know much about Reinsve just now, but she’s likely to explode later this year when she appears in the movie Backrooms from A24. Until then, you can see what the Norwegian actress has been up to previously with this rundown of her five most important projects to date.

1. The Worst Person In the World (2021)

Believe it or not, this is not the first time Reinsve has been part of an Oscar-nominated movie. She collaborated with Trier on The Worst Person in the World in 2021, and the film earned nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature Film. It’s quite surprising Reinsve herself wasn’t given a nod for her scintillating and stirring portrayal of a woman struggling to find her purpose in life.

Her character Julie is self-destructive and a lot of internal conflict, which Reinsve has to portray with a lot of nuance; she embodies a confident outward persona while delivering on the emotional moments behind closed doors. The movie itself is a fascinating character study, but it’s also a little bleak at times, so make sure you’re in the right mood before you give it a watch. You can find The Worst Person In the World on MUBI.

2. Handling the Undead (2024)

2024 was a phenomenal year for Reinsve, with a number of projects hitting the big and small screens. The one that proved her range as a performer the most, though, was the very underrated zombie movie, Handling the Undead. This is not your average flesh-eating flick, though – it’s more a depiction of grief and desperation than any of the more stereotypical survival stories you normally find in this sub-genre.

If you enjoy watching emotionally disturbing zombie movies like Cargo and Train to Busan, you’ll get a lot out of this gritty, raw Norwegian effort. I think it’s the kind of film that, weirdly, might be a very cathartic experience for anyone who has suffered loss and is still trying to deal with those feelings. Regardless, it’s a lovely-looking film that has splashes of more gruesome imagery to keep you on your toes, while also leaving you with plenty to think about afterwards.

3. A Different Man (2024)

Away from films in her native tongue, Reinsve played a key role in the dark mystery thriller, A Different Man, from A24. The movie sees struggling actor Edward (Sebastian Stan) take drastic measures to change his appearance in order to improve his chances of success. He strikes up a relationship with playwright Ingrid (Reinsve) and lands an interesting role, but the emergence of a charismatic outsider, Oswald (Adam Pearson), causes everything to unravel.

This is probably Reinsve’s most accessible film to date. Although there are quite ambiguous moments and surrealist imagery, it’s still a fairly manageable story that most people will find intriguing. A Different Man is like a crossover between American Psycho and The Elephant Man, with plenty of rich thematic discussion to be had about the motives and actions of the characters. If you have Now TV Cinema, it’s well worth checking out, but I’d even urge you to rent it for £3.49 on YouTube if not.

4. Another End (2024)

Reinsve stepped into the sci-fi realm with Another End, which gave her the chance to flex her chops in a romantic context while also pushing further into experimental, high-concept territory. With AI at the core of this story about moving on (or not, as the case may be) after a loved one has passed away, it’s also even more topical now.

It’s in the same vein as films like Her and Ex Machina, but has a much more tender and sentimental vibe to it. There are subtitles, and I know some folk are averse to that kind of thing, but this film leans heavily on visual storytelling, so please don’t let those little words put you off. You will have to pay £3.99 to rent Another End from Prime Video, but if you like diving into underseen gems, it’s well worth a shot.

5. Presumed Innocent (2024-)

Not content with making a name for herself on the big screen, Reinsve has started her assault on mainstream television, too. To round out her incredible 2024, she starred alongside Jake Gyllenhaal in the Apple TV show, Presumed Innocent, where she’s had some really complex, intense scenes to sink her teeth into. This legal thriller takes place over eight engrossing episodes, with plot twists aplenty and some outstanding performances from a very talented ensemble cast.

This is the kind of show you simply will not want to stop watching – I binged all eight episodes over two nights with my partner, and we both found it supremely satisfying. If you’re keen on procedurals like The Night Of and The Sinner, where all is not as it seems, you’ll relish seeing this mystery unfold.

During the 1930s, Universal became known for its monster movies. The studio helped establish some of the iconic classic monsters, from Dracula and Frankenstein’s Monster to the Mummy and the Wolf Man. Whilst these depictions are a key part of movie monster history, in the intervening years, there have been many re-imaginings of all of these key characters, and due to fresh ideas, bigger budgets, and better effects, sometimes these newer monster adaptations are better than their source material. 

Whether it be a slight tweak to the story or a complete overhaul, these newer movies pay respect to their lineage whilst giving the audience something new to think about. We’ve taken a look at the Invisible Man, Dracula, the Mummy, the Wolf Man, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Frankenstein, and his Bride, and found examples of modern adaptations that might just be better than the originals. 

1. The Bride! (2026)

Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Bride! places Frankenstein’s bride at the centre of her own story. This in itself already makes it superior to the first outing of the character, who appeared in only a couple of scenes in Bride of Frankenstein. Although named in the title, much of the story focused once more on Doctor Frankenstein and his male creation, now, though it is Frankenstein, or Frank, that moves to the sidelines as the Bride steps into the spotlight. 

A fun riff on Bonnie and Clyde, The Bride! is likely to upset as many people as it delights. In telling the story of the Bride, Gyllenhaal is unafraid to get weird, and although the tonal swings take a little time to settle into, once they land, it is full steam ahead. The Bride! explores female body autonomy and identity whilst wearing a wicked whiplash smile upon its face. Never has a female ‘monster’ been more Riot Girl and endearing. The Bride! blows Bride of Frankenstein out of the water. 

2. Depraved (2019)

Mary Shelley’s classic literary tale, Frankenstein, has been adapted many times for the big screen, most recently by Guillermo del Toro, whose version of Frankenstein earned several Academy Award nominations. As great as del Toro’s film is, it does stick very faithfully to the source material, and what makes adaptations most fun is when they deviate in some new or interesting way. 

Larry Fessenden’s Depraved is one such reworking of the Frankenstein story. Set in modern times, Depraved follows a former combat doctor, Henry, who is trying to find a way to save the lives of frontline soldiers by cheating death. The result of his hard work is Adam, but when faced with his wide-eyed and childlike creation, Henry realises that he has accidentally become a father figure, and desperately tries to shirk the responsibility.  

What makes Depraved interesting, outside of its modern setting, is that it skips over all of the resurrection experimentation. The film instead opens with the death of Adam’s brain donor, and fully starts as Adam himself wakes up. Depraved then spends the bulk of its time with Adam as he explores the foreign world around him, and has his innocence tainted by those around Henry, before morphing into a visceral display of anger. Director Larry Fessenden is a lover of all movie monsters and also has vampire movie Habit and werewolf film Blackout in his arsenal. His love of Frankenstein shines in Depraved. During the finale, Adam’s design features nods to so many famous screen creatures that have come before, and it is this reverence that really helps sell this as a great reimagining of Shelley’s tale. 

3. The Invisible Man (2020)

Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man took the character from the Universal classic and made him truly monstrous. In the original films, he was portrayed as either an anti-hero or villain, but mainly a man driven mad by his scientific experiment. For the 2020 version, Whannell completely unpicked the story, twisting the character into the essence of toxic masculinity as abusive husband Adrian. The film opens with his tormented wife, Cecilia, finally escaping him. Her decision to leave allegedly causes Adrian to kill himself, but Cecilia becomes convinced that not only is he still alive, but that he’s also using some newly developed tech to mask himself and continue his agenda of abuse. 

The techsuit angle is the perfect way to modernise The Invisible Man, and one that makes more sense than simply drinking a potion. Whannell also creates some exceptional moments of tension, shooting negative space in such a way that it feels oppressive and sentient, which makes it easy for the audience to side with Cecilia’s apparent delusions. The Invisible Man also features one of the best WTF just happened sequences in recent history. No spoilers, but pay close attention during the restaurant scene. 

4. The Mummy (1999)

The original The Mummy film, although popular, never quite reached the heights of its peers. Something about an ancient Egyptian being brought back to life didn’t properly gel with the horror crowd. Then, in 1999, Stephen Sommers had the idea to push the horror elements to the back and instead make his version of The Mummy an action-adventure movie. The result was a film that made household names out of Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, and a lot of money at the box office. The Mummy even managed to hold its own against the first Star Wars prequel, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, with both movies in cinemas at the same time. 

Set in Cairo during the year 1926, The Mummy follows the escapades of treasure hunter Rick O’Connell, librarian Evelyn, and her brother Jonathan as they track down the mythic Hamunaptra. During their adventure, they uncover the Book of the Dead. When it is unwisely read, it summons forth Imhotep, an ancient Egyptian priest driven by his need to destroy everyone and everything. As well as being a loud and fun summer popcorn movie, The Mummy still managed to generate a few scares; an early sequence featuring some burrowing scarabs is utterly sickening.  

5. The Shape of Water (2017)

Of all the Universal classic monsters, it is The Creature from the Black Lagoon that has had the fewest adaptations. The story, which sees a research team cross paths with an aquatic humanoid Gill Man, is a hard one to replicate, and typically needs a reasonable amount of money to do the creature justice. James Wan has been rumoured for years to be working on his own update of the Universal original, but until that comes to pass, audiences can enjoy Guillermo del Toro’s fantastic The Shape of Water. 

A film that was nominated for 14 Academy Awards, and went on to win four, including the highly coveted Best Director and Best Picture. It does not take long to understand the accolades that the movie received, as The Shape of Water is simply stunning. The story tells of a mute cleaner who falls in love with the amphibious man locked up in the facility in which she works. Their love story is bittersweet, devastatingly romantic, and just a touch NSFW, granting it the ability to appeal to a wide variety of viewers. 

6. Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

On the surface, Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula feels like a very faithful adaptation of the original text. The truth is that whilst most of the key plot points in the novel are present, his version shifts the source material into a sweeping Gothic romance. For many, Coppola’s film is as close as they come to reading Stoker’s book, and so assume that it is a love story. In reality, the Dracula of the book is nowhere near as charming or lovelorn as Gary Oldman’s portrayal. Morphing the story into an aching tale of yearning across the centuries is a bold and smart move, as it makes Dracula more interesting than merely a two-dimensional monster. 

As a movie, Bram Stoker’s Dracula is beautiful to look at; the sets and costuming conjure up the Victorian era in which the story unfolds. It is also unafraid to splatter blood and viscera across the screen when needed, and has one of the most sinister portrayals of Mina Harker’s poor best friend, Lucy. The image of a newly vampiric Lucy carrying a child back to her crypt chamber is chilling. 

The film also features a stacked cast including Anthony Hopkins, Richard E. Grant, Winona Ryder, and Keanu Reeves. Coppola committed to authenticity by casting a real priest to marry Ryder’s Mina to Reeves’ Jonathan, to the point that they may actually be legally wed. Less authentic is Reeves’ butchering of the British accent with his pronunciation of the country Budapest, but somehow even this can’t taint this near-perfect adaptation.

7. Wolf Man (2025)

Having proved himself very capable of reinventing a Universal monster, Leigh Whannell was let loose with another of their icons - the Wolf Man. The original werewolf story, The Wolf Man, has inspired countless werewolf movies over the years, with Whannell’s version just one of the most recent. His variant makes some intriguing decisions, and whilst for many it was a step too far, it is actually worth another look. 

Starring Julia Garner and Christopher Abbott, Wolf Man forgoes the typical long timeline of a werewolf story and sees Abbott’s Blake go from gentle father to hideous beast overnight. Treating the affliction as a disease is nothing new, but the expedited timeline is, and the urgency ups the stakes, especially as Blake’s wife and child are trapped in the wilderness with him. Whannell also had a lot of fun playing around with Blake’s transformation, placing the audience in his soundscape in places, leading to a fun scene involving an excessively loud spider, and later the demonstration of Blake losing his grasp on human language. 

The film was originally meant to have Ryan Gosling playing the Blake character, but he left due to other commitments. Fortunately, Abbott has proven himself time and again as being the go-to guy for a stressed and sweaty character having the day from hell, and so he fits into Blake’s skin beautifully. 

Some absolutely huge names have ended their Oscars curse in recent years, with the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Downey Jr. and Will Smith all finally getting their flowers from the Academy.

Yet, for every winner, there are many, many losers. Obviously, having a little golden statue on your mantlepiece is not the be-all and end-all, and plenty of esteemed actors have done more than enough in their careers to be deemed successful regardless of their Oscar record.

However, there are some stars for whom it just feels wrong that they’re still waiting for their first-ever Academy Award. Here are the seven best actors who have never won an Oscar, and why we think they deserved to claim the top prize in the past.

1. Tom Cruise

Many would agree that, without Tom Cruise, the movie industry might never have recovered from the global shutdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Top Gun: Maverick got bums in seats and showed us all why going to the cinema is so special, and the action movie was justly rewarded with a nomination for Best Picture, Cruise’s first as a producer, and fourth nomination in total. Frankly, I think he should have gotten a nod for his performance in that film, too, but it wasn’t to be. He may have received an honorary award this year, but to be honest, that’s nowhere near enough to celebrate what this man has achieved.

During a long and very successful career, Cruise has also picked up nominations for his work on Magnolia, Jerry Maguire, and Born on the Fourth of July. Those are incredibly diverse roles which highlight just how adept he is at switching up his on-screen presence while still being utterly captivating; whether he’s playing a crazed war veteran, a romantic sports agent, or a troubled guru, Cruise will always entertain, guaranteed. 

2. Edward Norton

Edward Norton is one of the most underrated actors of his generation. He’s quietly turned out astonishing work for the last 30 years, hitting such a consistently high level every time he’s put on screen. The Academy has certainly taken notice of Norton, with four nominations to his name so far, but he’s never taken those final steps onto the big stage to claim the ultimate reward.

Norton was first nominated for a supporting role in 1997 for Primal Fear. He was back just two years later for his lead role in the blistering portrayal of a reformed neo-Nazi, American History X. That was a phenomenal performance in such a challenging part, but he was up against Tom Hanks for Saving Private Ryan and eventual winner, Roberto Benigni, for the mesmerising Life is Beautiful. Since then, Norton has bagged nominations for his roles in Birdman and A Complete Unknown; both were marvellous performances, but admittedly, Norton was never going to win for them. If he was going to win for anything, it should have been Fight Club, but he wasn’t even recognised for that thrilling David Fincher flick.

3. Jake Gyllenhaal

Two Oscars snubs have left me absolutely bewildered in the past decade or so. One is Amy Adams failing to be nominated for Arrival, and the other is Jake Gyllenhaal not getting a look in for Nightcrawler. How the Academy could look at that transformative, sociopathic turn as Lou Bloom and think that Gyllenhaal wasn’t one of the best actors that year is beyond me. SAG, BAFTA, and the Golden Globes all saw it, but alas, no glory at the Oscars.

Gyllenhaal, somehow, only has one Oscar nomination to date, for his supporting role in Brokeback Mountain. Again, that’s another one that he probably should have won, with George Clooney getting the award on the night for his work on Syriana. Both Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger were overlooked for their performances in the iconic cowboy romance story, and while Ledger lost to a fantastic Philip Seymour Hoffman performance in Capote, there’s no way Gyllenhaal should have gone home empty-handed.

4. Hugh Jackman

Speaking of Gyllenhaal, I believe his co-star in Prisoners, Hugh Jackman, should have received some Oscar love for his wild performance in that Denis Villeneuve movie. In the detective story, Jackman goes from being a concerned father to losing all control and taking the law into his own hands. He’s so convincing as a broken, desperate man who will stop at nothing to save his daughter; it’s a genuinely terrifying turn from the usually so charming actor.

Believe it or not, Jackman still only has one nomination from the Academy Awards, and that was for Les Misérables in 2013. He’s one of a handful of performers who need an Oscar to achieve EGOT status, and you have to imagine that he will eventually get it one day – if he’s not too busy still playing Wolverine, that is.

5. Mark Ruffalo

Don’t tell Marvel, but maybe the role of the Hulk is cursed; Ed Norton can’t get an Oscar, and neither can Mark Ruffalo. Of the two, you’d have to imagine Ruffalo is the one who came closest to breaking his duck. He was first nominated back in 2011 for a supporting role in The Kids Are All Right, but since then, he’s really taken his career to the next level.

Ruffalo was nominated in 2015 for Foxcatcher, but was trumped (rather deservedly) by J. K. Simmons for his monstrous turn in Whiplash. A year later, Ruffalo had what I would say was his best chance with Spotlight, which earned critical acclaim across the board. The cast even won ensemble awards. It wasn’t enough, though: Mark Rylance took the win for Bridge of Spies. Then, in 2024, Ruffalo’s hilarious performance as the bitter, twisted antagonist of Poor Things, Duncan Wedderburn, bagged him his fourth nomination for supporting actor. He was beaten by MCU co-star Robert Downey Jr., who finally won his first Oscar for Oppenheimer, and to be fair, that was absolutely the right decision.

6. Ralph Fiennes

He’s become a pop culture sensation over the past year or so by playing Dr Ian Kelson in 28 Years Later, and its sequel, The Bone Temple, but Ralph Fiennes will always be remembered most for his role as the evil Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter series. Away from his franchise work, Fiennes is one of the most revered actors of his time, and yet he still doesn’t have an Oscar to show for it.

No offence to Tommy Lee Jones, who won for his role in The Fugitive in 1994, but Fiennes should absolutely have taken the prize for supporting actor after his menacing turn as Amon Göth in Schindler’s List. Shortly after, Fiennes was up for the prize again, this time for a leading role in The English Patient, but he was beaten to the punch (as was Tom Cruise) by Geoffrey Rush for Shine. Fiennes had to wait a long time for his next shot at glory when he was on the campaign trail in 2025 for Conclave. However, if you ask me, he should also have been given more love for his clever, comedic portrayal of Monsieur Gustave in The Grand Budapest Hotel.

7. Willem Dafoe

Willem Dafoe is one of the most beloved actors working today. He’s a regular fixture in most people’s most-watched stats at the end of each year on Letterboxd, and that’s largely down to the fact that he’s always booked and busy with a wide range of roles. Superhero movies, brooding dramas, religious epics, and war movies; Dafoe has done it all, and he always knocks it out of the park.

Despite all this, he still hasn’t won an Oscar after four nominations so far. His first was in 1987 for a supporting role in Platoon, and he probably should have won. Dafoe had to wait 14 years for his next nomination, with Shadow of the Vampire earning him widespread praise. 

However, his strongest shot at glory was arguably at the 2018 Academy Awards, when he was up for his supporting role in Sean Baker’s gritty coming-of-age drama, The Florida Project. I’m sure he wouldn’t begrudge Sam Rockwell winning for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, but it’s still a shame. Still, Dafoe seems to have so much fun playing weird and wonderful characters, diving into indie projects and genre movies, that he probably doesn’t lose much sleep over whether the Academy likes his work or not.

With Naked Gun and Spinal Tap making their own surprising returns in 2025 and a new Spaceballs on the way next year, we can safely say that spoof movies are back in fashion. 

Horror fans in particular have been counting down the days until the release of the new Scary Movie this summer — a legendary spoof franchise that, if the trailer is anything to go by, certainly hasn’t lost its nerve since Scary Movie 5 was released 13 years ago.

Along with all the bad taste and profanity, the trailer also confirmed the return of many of the surviving (and non-surviving) cast members from the 2000 original. For some of them, the franchise remains their defining role, but many have gone on to have quite interesting careers. In the list below, you can learn what the original cast have been up to since 2000, use our guide to find some of their best-known work on services like Apple TV, Netflix, Prime Video and elsewhere. 

Anna Faris

For Anna Faris, her starring role in Scary Movie — as Final Girl Cindy Campbell — basically kick-started a banner decade in her career. In that time, Faris reprised her role as Cindy a further three times while also starring in other comedies like The Hot Chick and The House Bunny. In between, she found the time to take on some smaller parts in movies that went on to become Oscar-nominated classics: namely, Lost in Translation and Brokeback Mountain.

Faris also landed a recurring role on the final season of Friends and, in 2009, entered what became a ten-year marriage to Chris Pratt. During that time, they acted together on three occasions, including in the impressively deranged (and impressively lambasted) Movie 43. Along with all that, Faris has lent her recognisable voice to several animated movies, like Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and its sequel. Listen out for her later this year in Toy Story 5. 

Marlon Wayans

Looking back, the year 2000 now looks like an interesting crossroads for Marlon Wayans. A few months before the release of Scary Movie, the actor, co-writer and producer gave what is probably still his finest dramatic performance in Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream.   For better and worse, however, the actor took the success of Scary Movie and ran with it, basically becoming the Alfred Hitchcock of 21st-century spoof movies as a result.

Wayans had already written and starred in Don’t Be a Menace… in 1996, but Scary Movie took things to a whole new level. Since the original, he collaborated with his brothers on 50 Shades of Black, A Haunted House, Dance Flick and White Chicks, while playing a version of himself on his semi-autobiographical sitcom, marlon. However, the last few years have seen a slight change of pace, with the actor picking up roles in movies like Air, Respect and Sofia Coppola’s On the Rocks. Let’s just say, he keeps things unpredictable. 

Regina Hall

Weighing up the careers of the various Scary Movie alumni, nobody from the original cast has appeared in more movies I personally love than Regina Hall. In the same year that she burst onto the scene with her performance as Brenda Meeks, the actress also appeared in the Sundance classic Love & Basketball — suggesting a career balance between high and low-brow entertainment that she’s mostly managed to sustain. 

Outside of starring roles in hugely successful comedies like Think Like a Man and Girls Trip, Hall has found the time to appear in micro-budget indies like People, Places, Things and the excellent 2018 movie, Support the Girls. Last year, despite having one of the quietest roles, she stole every scene she was in in Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another and was unlucky not to be recognised by the Academy for the performance. Look out for her opposite Marc Maron in the intriguing-sounding In Memoriam next year. 

Jon Abrahams

Since playing Cindy’s boyfriend, Bobby Prinz, in the original Scary Movie — a role he is set to reprise this year, despite apparently dying in that movie —  Jon Abrahams has continued to work steadily in the business, picking up roles here and there in everything from House of Wax (that horror movie with Jessica Simpson in it) to the more recent Terrifier 3 — a movie that, according to the trailer, is set to be parodied in Scary Movie 6.

Looking back, 2000 looked like it was going to be a real launchpad for Abrahams — after breaking out with small roles in the ‘90s classics Kids and The Faculty, that year saw him appear in both Meet the Parents and Boiler Room as well as Scary Movie — but it didn’t quite work out. With his recent turn as Frank Preminger in Wonder Man and his upcoming role in SM6, however, who knows what the next few years might bring.

Shannon Elizabeth

After working in the industry for a few years, Shannon Elizabeth had a small (and very late-‘90s coded) career breakout when she played Nadia, the horny Czech exchange student, in American Pie. Soon after, she landed the role of the doomed prom queen, Buffy Gilmore, in Scary Movie and basically continued from there.

Since then, Elizabeth reprised her role as Nadia in two more Pie movies and has continued to work steadily ever since — though I doubt you’ve seen too many of the movies. If you remember her from anything other than those early projects, it will likely be her small part as Harriet in Love Actually — one of the comically beautiful women whom Colin meets on his trip to America.  

Shawn Wayans

Despite being the slightly less well-known of the Wayans brothers, Shawn has basically worked in tandem with his brother (both as an actor and writer) on many of Marlon’s most successful movies. 

Since playing the jock, Ray Wilkins, in Scary Movie, however, Shawn (the elder of the two) hasn’t really strayed from their collaborations — think movies like White Chicks, Dance Flick, and Little Man. He will, of course, be reprising his role as Ray in the upcoming sixth instalment and will also be reprising his role as Kevin in an apparent upcoming sequel to White Chicks. 

Dave Sheridan

When Dave Sheridan returns to his role as Doofy Gilmore in Scary Movie 6 this summer, it will mark a long-awaited return to the big screen for the actor. Don’t get us wrong, Sheridan has continued to pop up in several Wayans projects since the release of Scary Movie, but the majority of his output in the intervening years looks decidedly straight-to-VOD.

He did land a few small roles in significant movies in that time, however, like playing a cop in The Devil’s Rejects and a bartender in Horrible Bosses. To most movie fans, however, he will always be Doug, the moustachioed asshole in Terry Swigoff’s late Gen-X classic, Ghost World. 

Lochlyn Munro

The problem with landing your first named role in a Clint Eastwood flick (especially if it happens to be an Oscar-winning classic like Unforgiven) is that it’s always going to be hard to top it. Indeed, Lochlyn Munro admittedly never quite reached those heights again in his career, but he’s worked more than steadily in the years since on both the big and small screen.

Outside of his continued collaborations with the Wayans (including playing Buffy’s boyfriend Greg in both Scary Movie and the upcoming sixth instalment), Munro has amassed a whopping 289 credits on IMDb — with, according to the site, another 15 set for release in the next few years. If you know him from anything from that time, it’s likely for his 51 appearances as Hal Cooper, the newspaper editor and husband of Alice, on Riverdale. 

Carmen Electra

To borrow a Ringer-ism, Carmen Electra is probably the most 2000 thing about Scary Movie. From that movie on, the Playboy-model-turned-Baywatch-star continued to regularly pop up — playing a kind of exaggerated version of herself, and being a very good sport about it — in comedies like Starsky & Hutch and basically every spoof from Meet the Spartans to Epic Movie.

Now widely regarded as a ‘00s cultural icon, Electra continues to appear as herself on a wide variety of reality and scripted TV shows.

While the Academy Awards are the big one that every actor, crew member, and movie fan eagerly awaits every year, there are plenty of other award bodies that are worth paying attention to.

This has been one of the most unpredictable Oscar races in years, and the 2026 Actor Awards (formerly known as the SAG Awards) threw up a few surprises to really keep this awards season rollercoaster ride moving in the worlds of both film and television.

Here, we break down all the winners from this year’s ceremony to tell you which of them are unmissable, which are worth checking out, and which you can take or leave.

Sinners (2025)

One of the biggest shocks of the night was Michael B. Jordan winning the Best Lead Actor award for his dual role in Sinners over favourite Timothee Chalamet. Until now, many suspected he was just there to make up the numbers, but there’s a real chance he now takes the top prize at the Oscars. And he deserves it: His performance as both Smoke and Stack was fantastic, not least of all because he made the two characters so distinctive.

Jordan wasn’t the only one in the Sinners cast to impress, though. The whole ensemble was recognised for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture by the Actors Awards, with the likes of Delroy Lindo, Hailee Steinfeld, Wunmi Mosaku and newcomer Miles Caton earning praise for their roles. You can see them all in this visually stunning, thematically rich vampire movie on Now TV Cinema.

Our verdict: Unmissable

Hamnet (2025)

While Michael B. Jordan’s win was a surprise, Jessie Buckley taking home the Best Actress award was far from it. She was absolutely breathtaking in Hamnet, and, if the Academy does the right thing, she should be in line to take the same award at the Oscars. As a mother suffering extreme grief, Buckley hits formidable heights as she pours her heart out on screen in a raw, visceral performance.

The film itself is brutal but beautiful. When I went to see this at the cinema, I sobbed at three different points, but the last of them was a cathartic, spiritual kind of pain that I’ve rarely felt before. Chloé Zhao has crafted something truly special here, and you can see it for yourself by renting it from Apple TV for £15.99 now.

Our verdict: Unmissable

One Battle After Another (2025)

The other major frontrunner in this year’s awards season is Paul Thomas Anderson’s wild ride of rebellion and revenge, One Battle After Another. We’ve already seen wins for Teyana Taylor at the Golden Globes, but at the Actors Awards, it was Sean Penn’s turn. In his supporting role as Colonel Lockjaw, the veteran star brings an unerring, menacing energy to every scene he’s in. It may just be his best performance to date.

Not only is One Battle After Another an exhilarating, politically-charged thriller, it’s also very, very funny. Between Leonardo DiCaprio’s frantic vibes as Bob Ferguson and Benicio Del Toro’s calm, happy-go-lucky approach to playing the brilliant Sensei – complete with the best line of 2025: “A few small beers” – this PTA effort will have you laughing out loud one moment, and then recoiling in shock the next. You can rent it on Sky Store for £4.99 ahead of the Oscars.

Our verdict: Unmissable

Weapons (2025)

Amy Madigan may be the dark horse in the Supporting Actress race at the Oscars, and she just added another trophy to her cabinet at the Actors Awards. Zach Cregger’s thriller-horror hybrid, Weapons, rides or dies on Madigan’s performance as Aunt Gladys, and she gives it her terrifying, nightmare-inducing best from the moment she first appears on-screen to the last.

For me, Weapons as a whole is a case of good, not great. It starts promisingly, with lots of tension and mystery, but by the end, I felt that too many questions were answered. Some will appreciate the lack of ambiguity, and there’s no denying that every step of the journey is very entertaining, with moments of genuine dread sprinkled throughout for good measure. It’s another rental job at the moment, but for £4.99 on Amazon Prime Video, I’d say it’s worth a watch.

Our verdict: Worth a watch

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025)

Few actors have done for the movie industry what Tom Cruise has, and specifically, he has pushed endlessly for the recognition of stunt performers. It’s nice to see his team rewarded for their work on Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, then, with the film picking up the prize for Best Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture.

As the title suggests, this was the last chapter in the Mission: Impossible franchise (although we’ve heard murmurs that Cruise wants more). To really appreciate this film, you’ll need to have seen the other seven movies in the series, and even then, you might be left wanting. While the action set-pieces are, obviously, unbelievably exciting – particularly the scene in the submerged submarine – the plot is a little convoluted and guilty of being bogged down by callbacks to previous storylines of years gone by. See for yourself on Paramount Plus.

Our verdict: Take it or leave it

The Pitt (2025-)

The Pitt has taken America by storm since it first aired last year, and one of the main reasons we can’t wait for HBO Max to hit the UK is that everyone here will finally be able to check out this intense hospital drama series. With each episode detailing an hour in the Pittsburgh Trauma Centre with Dr Robby, viewers get a front row seat to the chaos in real-time. While it’s a stressful watch, it’s also absolutely riveting.

This show picked up the award for Best Ensemble in a Drama Series, while Noah Wyle, who plays the main man Dr Robby, bagged another win to add to his recent tally, for Best Actor in a Drama Series. It’s quite surprising that Wyle has been getting so much attention for this role. Not because of his talents – he’s truly great in The Pitt – but because the show is pretty close to soap opera territory. Still, if all soap operas were as good as this, the world would be a better place!

Our verdict: Worth a watch

The Diplomat (2023-)

Keri Russell is no stranger to award nominations, but winning is a rarity for her. Over the years, she was recognised for her roles in TV shows like The Americans and Felicity, while her work on The Diplomat has seen her nominated year after year. Now, she finally won one, getting up on stage to collect the award for Best Actress in a Drama Series. Russell is the heart and soul of this blistering political drama, and it’s great to see her finally getting her flowers.

If you’re into shows like Homeland or The Night Agent, you’ll find The Diplomat fits the brief perfectly for you. There are three seasons to dive into already, and you can find them all on Netflix, which makes it super easy to access.

Our verdict: Worth a watch

The Studio (2025-)

If you’ve ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes in Hollywood, The Studio might just be able to offer some insight. While it’s largely satire, you do get the feeling this crude comedy is actually, probably, pretty accurate in representing some of the top dogs in Tinsel Town. With Seth Rogen at its core, this show was always going to be a laugh riot, but the star power packed into those first ten episodes is incredible. Martin Scorsese, Kathryn Hahn, Bryan Cranston, Ron Howard, and Zoe Kravitz all show up for the party, but all those cameos and bit parts never feel gratuitous.

It’s not surprising, then, that The Studio won the award for Best Ensemble in a Comedy Series. We also saw wins for Rogen as Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, while the late Catherine O’Hara won the Actress equivalent. Rogen is fantastic as he navigates the chaos of his newfound position as the head of a movie studio – it’s a bit like watching a grown-up version of Evan from Superbad trying to do the job, and it’s hilarious. If you’re looking for a new binge-watch and have access to Apple TV, then look no further.

Our verdict: Worth a watch

Adolescence (2025)

Of all the winners in this list, I’d say none have had quite the widespread impact as young Owen Cooper. To think he was just 14-years-old when he filmed Adolescence is mind-blowing, with the teen offering up one of the most powerful performances of 2025, in one of the best shows of the year. His win at the Actors Awards for Best Actor in a Limited Series was a no-brainer, to be honest.

This Netflix show is a must-watch for any parent. It’s a stark and brutal depiction of the radical damage that bullying and toxic masculinity can have on fragile young minds, and hopefully carries a message that plenty of viewers – both parents and teenagers – can take into their own lives. My partner and I watched this together and, as mortifying as it is, we couldn’t take our eyes off it. With Cooper and Stephen Graham putting in top-drawer performances, Philip Barantini employing his signature one-take style, and a hard-hitting story that takes shocking turns, you’ll fly through these four episodes.

Our verdict: Unmissable

Dying For Sex (2025)

Another woman who is no stranger to award success is Michelle Williams, and she just picked up another with a win for Best Actress in a Limited Series for her role in Dying For Sex. Her character, Molly, deals with a life-shattering cancer diagnosis by ending her marriage and going in search of sexual fulfilment, and the show is an emotional yet uplifting journey.

Williams is superb, as she always is, in a series that needs nothing short of perfection from its star to tread that tightrope between bleak and horny. If you enjoyed films like 50/50 and Paddleton, you’ll find this a meaningful experience. It’s not an easy watch, but if you’re feeling strong enough for it, you can find it on Disney+.

Our verdict: Take it or leave it

The Last of Us (2023-)

Rounding out the winners from the Actors Awards, the team behind The Last of Us took home the award for Best Stunt Ensemble in a TV Series. If you’ve seen this apocalyptic survival series, you’ll understand just how hectic and ambitious the set-pieces are, so it makes sense for the HBO hit.

The first season of The Last of Us was gripping stuff. It was scary, it had heart, and the characters were brilliantly adapted from the video game. However, if we’re being honest, the show has taken a dip in Season 2. It feels like everything was diluted and the edge was taken off for the more gory moments, while stuffing this dense story into seven episodes was surely a mistake. If you’ve played the game and want to see how it plays out here, then it’s worth watching on Now TV, but it’s not something you necessarily need to rush to.

Our verdict: Take it or leave it

After being away for what feels like forever, the live-action series of One Piece is finally back. Season 1 debuted in 2023 and was an immediate success for Netflix, with fans of the anime and newbies alike helping get the total number of views to almost two billion. Now back for Season 2, the show looks set to do it all over again, but just how crazy can it get? 

During the promotion for One Piece’s new season, JustWatch sat down with several key cast members to uncover the moments of Season 2 that will break the internet. 

WATCH - One Piece Cast Predicts the S2 Scenes Fans Will OBSESS Over  

What is One Piece and Why You Should Be Watching It?  

Beginning life as a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece was later turned into a popular, still-ongoing anime. Whilst the fanbase for the anime is vast and loyal, it was the arrival of Netflix’s live-action version that took the world by storm. The story follows swashbuckler Monkey D. Luffy and his ragtag crew as they quest to find a mythical treasure known as ‘One Piece.’ Along the way, the group must do battle with rivals searching for the same artefact. 

If you’ve yet to catch the first season of One Piece, you are missing out on one of the best manga adaptations out there. An intoxicating mixture of action, heart and comedy, One Piece is a super special show; let’s face it, the estimated 1.7 billion people who caught Season 1 can’t be wrong. 

How Season Two Is Going to Break the Internet

First up to tease what to look forward to in One Piece’s sophomore season was Mackenyu, who plays the show’s loyal First Mate, Roronoa Zoro. 

Although coy, not wanting to give away too many spoilers, Mackenyu teased, “One thing I do need to say is the introduction of Miss All Sunday and Smoker. That was crazy!” Those familiar with the original anime will know that Miss All Sunday has an important part to play, so confirmation that not only is she present, but that her arrival is “crazy,” is especially exciting. The arrival of Smoker, a well-known foe of Luffy and his crew, also looks set to generate some sparks. 

For Taz Skylar, who plays Straw Hat chef Sanji, the thing that he believes is going to send fans wild is the behind-the-scenes footage, “I think some of the BTS is honestly going to blow up.” He continued, “I think some of the processes to make certain things happen were way crazier than people would necessarily think in the first place.” One Piece has been praised for its action sequences, and with most of the cast doing their own stuntwork and fight scenes, that footage certainly sounds interesting. 

Finally, Miss Wednesday herself, Charithra Chandran, was honest about what is going to go viral, and it isn’t stunts or character arrivals: “It’s probably going to be Kiki and Taz topless, let’s be real.” Were this the ‘90s, Iñaki Godoy, Taz Skylar, and the rest of the One Piece cast would be adorning the walls of teenagers across the globe, so Chandran’s observation feels 100% accurate. 

Chandran also tapped into the other thing that the internet loves: cute animals. Moving the discussion on from her attractive co-stars, Chandran turned her attention to the new cast addition, Tony Tony Chopper, “or it’s going to be the unbelievably cute little reindeer that we have in the show.” Guardians of the Galaxy and Superman star Mikaela Hoover has joined the cast as both the voice and facial capture for Chopper, and the reindeer is definitely cute enough that Pikachu and Grogu should be worried. 

We can’t wait to see which of these highlights wins out at breaking the internet, and what other moments will join them that were too insane for the cast to share.

The new, on-screen DC Universe is expanding further this year with two projects on the horizon. On the big screen, Kara Zor-El will take centre stage for Supergirl, but perhaps even more exciting is the upcoming TV show, Lanterns. 

With rising star Aaron Pierre playing John Stewart and the brilliant Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan, the show already had our attention. Throw in a recent intriguing teaser trailer and the promise of a gritty buddy-cop vibe, and we couldn’t be more sold.

However, the trailer also raised some questions, in particular, about the look of the new Green Lantern suit. Superhero costumes are always likely to spark debate, and this one is no different. Let’s break down this newly-glimpsed Green Lantern costume, and its possible inspirations from the comics.

Why Green Lantern’s Suit in HBO’s Lanterns Looks So Different

There are two key elements to the Green Lantern suit in the Lanterns that have got people talking. First of all, the colours are quite muted, with darker greens as opposed to the more vibrant, bright green that we normally see in the comics and other iterations.

One answer to this diversion from the norm could be due to Hal’s power levels. The trailer makes it clear that he is “old” and “tired”, and we know from comic book history that his Green Lantern ring (through which he channels his powers) and the suit are very representative of the mood and strength of its user. It figures, then, that the suit in the show is only temporarily darker, and that new recruit John Stewart could renew it with his fresh injection of willpower and energy.

The other, more literal aspect to consider is exactly where this suit has come from. You’d be forgiven for thinking that the Green Lanterns always produce their suit from the superpowered ring they wear. However, in the trailer, we see Hal’s suit hanging in his wardrobe.

While that is unusual, it’s not entirely new territory. In Green Lantern Vol. 2 #6 (1961), titled ‘The Secret of the Flaming Spear’, a member of the Lantern Corps called Tomar-Re is seen with a suit hanging in his wardrobe, too.

We’ve also seen similar situations in alternate reality comics wherein the ring and the suit are not wholly connected. Both Superman: Red Son and Green Lantern: Earth One are examples of this, and the latter has specifically been cited as an inspiration for this new show.

Is Lanterns Overcorrecting After Ryan Reynolds’ Controversial Suit?

While a lot of these discrepancies in the character and the suits can be put down to different eras of comic books – the Silver Age led to all kinds of variances, for better or worse – Ryan Reynolds may also have inadvertently inspired this new Lanterns’ look.

It’s well known that his Green Lantern movie from 2011 was a bit of a disaster. Besides the convoluted plot and cheesy acting, one of the biggest gripes for comic book movie fans was the terrible visual effects. I actually don’t mind this film all that much – I think it’s moderately entertaining and I’d even watch it again – but there’s no denying that his CGI mess of a superhero suit was a real problem. 

Could it be that James Gunn and his burgeoning DC Universe are trying to steer as far away as possible from that look? Quite possibly. If so, though, it’s ironic that the Lanterns trailer has fans taking to social media to apologise for ever criticising Reynolds and his suit. 

Clearly, they’re not happy with the duller, neutral tones of the new suit, but there may be a very practical explanation for this particular palette.

What the New Costume Means for the Green Lantern Corps in James Gunn’s DC

If we look at Guy Gardner’s outfit in Superman, we can see that his Green Lantern suit is indeed something he puts on in the morning rather than something his ring produces for him.

It’s worth remembering, though, that Gardner is very much a hero for hire. He’s the leader of the Justice Gang, a team funded and assembled by Maxwell Lord. It figures, then, that this particular iteration of Gardner would wear the suit he is given – one that matches his role in the superhero world.

We can probably assume, then, that Hal Jordan’s suit in Lanterns is more of a standard-issue costume he would have to wear while on duty. Remember, Jordan has a background as a test pilot, so wearing a sort of crossover between a bomber jacket and a military outfit makes a lot of sense.

In addition, there’s always a chance that John Stewart, who looks set to take over the reins as Earth’s designated Lantern, could end up with a more traditional suit that is closely connected to his Power Ring. However, with Stewart also having a history with the military, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him stick with a similar vibe to the suit Jordan has in his locker.

Fans may not like the more grounded appearance of the suit, but it not only feels logical to these particular iterations of the characters, it also corresponds with the more realistic, gritty tone of the show.

The horror genre is a wonderful place to find interesting and original stories that can both shock and entertain us. It’s a terrific way to address challenging themes and wrap them up in an unsettling, creepy narrative. But, of course, the world of horror is also home to trashy, very silly B-movie flicks. And look, we love it all (mostly), but I’d say it’s pretty obvious what most people would rather watch, right?

With the announcement that a Pinocchio horror movie is on the way, it would be fair to assume that it will fall into the latter category. But there’s just something about this project that suggests we might have a surprise on our hands.

What is Pinocchio: Unstrung?

Later this year, Pinocchio: Unstrung will become the fifth movie in the growing The Twisted Childhood Universe. If you’re not familiar with the burgeoning franchise – also known as the TCU – it’s basically horror remakes of your favourite children’s stories.

These have been happening a lot over the last few years because certain characters (in certain incarnations) have entered the public domain, allowing anyone to do whatever they want with them. It all started with Winnie the Pooh, who got the horror treatment in Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, and the folks at Jagged Edge Productions have not taken their foot off the gas since. 

Peter Pan and Bambi followed, and now, the classic tale of the little wooden boy is next in line. In a twist on the original story, this movie will see Geppetto gift his grandson a magical doll. But as their friendship blossoms, Pinocchio develops a distaste for the world around him and embarks on a mission to eradicate everything he deems to be bad.

Why a Pinocchio Horror Remake Actually Makes A Lot Of Sense

While the premise of Pinocchio: Unstrung may sound a lot like M3GAN, based on the trailer and what we know about the original story from Italian author Carlo Collodi and its 1940 Disney counterpart, I do wonder whether director Rhys Frake-Waterfield might be on to something here.

For a start, this new film actually looks like it’s of a higher quality than the rest of the TCU by quite some distance. The production design and visual effects are great; there are some gloriously gory kills just in the trailer alone, and with talent like Richard Brake and horror movie legend Robert Englund on board, there’s a real credibility to this one.

More importantly, though, Pinocchio: Unstrung is the first of these films to make sense, thematically. If there’s one thing Blood and Honey, Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare, and Bambi: The Reckoning all had in common, it’s that they were all shoehorned into horror more as a gimmick for shock value.

Making a body horror movie about Pinocchio, though, is a fitting move. The story is all about a doll who longs to be a real boy, whose body is cursed to mutate when he lies, and who is figuratively and literally tangled up in strings as he finds himself manipulated by those who want to take advantage of his naïve mind. Talk about a Kafkaesque existential nightmare!

In many ways, we’re lucky that the classic Disney movie wasn’t more anxiety-inducing and creepy, but it certainly leans into it enough. Indeed, of all the older Disney animated films, it’s surely Pinocchio that has traumatised the most young viewers, thanks to its scenes of naughty children being turned into donkeys, and the climactic Monstro sequence – the 252-foot sperm whale who devours Geppetto and Pinocchio.

Likewise, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio was exceptionally bleak and thematically heavy. The master filmmaker drew heavily from Collodi’s original narrative while also injecting a dose of socio-political dread by setting his story against the backdrop of Mussolini's Italy. Not to mention the fact that the titular character also struggles with feelings of inadequacy and even confronts issues of mortality.

While Pinocchio: Unstrung is unlikely to dive quite as deep into those high-concept ideas, it seems it certainly will not hold back on terrifying audiences. It could well end up being one of the biggest surprises of the year in the horror genre. Or, if nothing else, it’ll probably easily be better than the live-action Disney remake from 2022.

Life’s just not fair sometimes, is it? You work hard, you master your craft, and you deliver top-tier work, and yet the powers that be simply don’t recognise how brilliant you are.

This happens in everyday life for us regular folk who work the 9-5, but even actresses living among the glitz and glamour of Hollywood are unappreciated from time to time.

For any performer, being able to step up on stage at the Academy Awards and take home a golden statuette is the ultimate goal, but these seven incredible actresses have never tasted that glory, even though they’ve absolutely deserved to.

1. Judy Garland

We’re taking it way back for this first entry. Legendary actress Judy Garland failed to win an Oscar on the two occasions she was nominated and was massively snubbed for her role in The Wizard of Oz. That incredible, vibrant technicolour dream of a film is rightly regarded as one of the greatest musicals ever made, and a young Garland was at the heart of it. How she didn’t even pick up a nomination is beyond me.

Later in her career, Garland would gain recognition for her leading role in A Star is Born and her supporting role in Judgment at Nuremberg. Granted, she lost the latter to Rita Moreno, who was superb in West Side Story. However, Garland’s moving portrayal of Vicki Lester in A Star is Born was head and shoulders above Grace Kelly’s performance in The Country Girl. It should have been her getting up on stage to collect the award.

2. Glenn Close

Glenn Close has the unwanted record of currently being the actress with the most Oscar nominations and no wins. Honestly, it just feels cruel at this point. She has eight nominations in total, four of which have come in the supporting category for roles in The World According to Garp, The Big Chill, The Natural, and, somewhat surprisingly, the Netflix movie Hillbilly Elegy. Close was also nominated for leading roles in Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons, Albert Nobbs, and The Wife.

Now, should Close actually have won any of those awards? Maybe not. Hillbilly Elegy in particular was an odd one, with the film itself getting panned by critics at the time for its use of harmful stereotypes and questionable political motivations. Close’s performance in that movie was something of a caricature, really, and shouldn’t even have been nominated. Still, for the otherwise stellar performer to come so close on eight occasions and never win must be so painful.

3. Sigourney Weaver

She’s been involved in two of the biggest, most popular franchises of all time, Alien and Avatar, and she’s also joining the world of Star Wars thanks to The Mandalorian and Grogu. But that all counts for nothing when it comes to the Academy. Incredibly, Sigourney Weaver could have ended up with three Oscars if things had gone her way in the late 1980s, but she went into the ‘90s and beyond empty-handed.

Weaver was nominated for her role as Ellen Ripley in Aliens, but lost out in the lead actress category in 1987 to Marlee Matlin for Children of a Lesser God. Two years later, Weaver got two nominations: one for her supporting role in Working Girl and one for her lead role in Gorillas in the Mist. To have two horses in the race and still lose must be so frustrating, especially given just how much of a good run Weaver was on at the time. Sadly, she’s been nowhere near since.

4. Angela Bassett

Angela Bassett goes under the radar sometimes, but she really shouldn’t. The formidable actress has given some incredibly powerful performances over the years, and it feels like a real oversight that she’s never been handed an Oscar. She did get an honorary award in 2024, but that consolation prize doesn’t change the fact that she’s been snubbed a couple of times for the big awards.

Bassett was nominated in 1994 for What’s Love Got to Do With It. Her portrayal of legendary musician Tina Turner earned critical acclaim, and we know how much the Academy loves a biopic, too. Alas, it wasn’t enough, with Holly Hunter winning for The Piano instead. Almost 20 years later, Bassett was back on the campaign trail once more, this time for a very different project. 

Everyone was backing her to win for her supporting role in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, where she unleashed all her emotions in a poignant depiction of a grieving mother. In a huge shock, it was Jamie Lee Curtis who won the award for her role in Everything Everywhere All At Once, which still doesn’t feel right to this day.

5. Amy Adams

I will never forgive the Academy for failing to nominate Amy Adams for her role as Dr Louise Banks in the phenomenal, thought-provoking sci-fi film Arrival. It’s widely regarded as one of the most egregious snubs in Oscars history, and rightly so. Adams absolutely broke my heart with her performance in this Denis Villeneuve movie, and I know I’m not alone in feeling the emotional weight of this profound story.

Even putting Arrival aside, Adams has six nominations to her name, and yet she’s never gone all the way. Five of those nods have been for supporting roles, with Adams recognised for her work on Junebug, Doubt, The Fighter, The Master, and Vice. Of those, her work in Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic The Master was surely the closest she came to nabbing the top prize. Adams also has a nomination for leading actress in American Hustle, though to be fair, she was massively outdone in that film by the brilliant Jennifer Lawrence.

6. Carey Mulligan

Why does it feel like Carey Mulligan has already won an Oscar? She’s the kind of actress who gives off the vibe of being an awards darling, and yet she’s actually won very few big gongs in her illustrious career. She does have three Oscar nominations, for her roles in An Education, Promising Young Woman, and Maestro, as well as a handful of BAFTA nods, but her one win at the latter is the main major accolade she’s picked up.

Mulligan’s performance in Promising Young Woman was a truly special one. In my opinion, that film was one of the best of its year, but it really faded in popularity as time ticked on and never really stood a chance at the Oscars. Still, Mulligan can be proud of her work there, and also in Drive. She didn’t get any attention at the Oscars for that one, but it’s a fantastic movie that gave Mulligan a lot of work to do opposite a subdued Ryan Gosling.

7. Saoirse Ronan

Saoirse Ronan has been an acting sensation for a very long time now, having earned her first Oscar nomination at the age of just 13 for her breathtaking role in Atonement. She lost out there to an equally brilliant Tilda Swinton for Michael Clayton, but she’s been in the spotlight plenty of times since. Ronan was recognised in the leading actress category for Brooklyn in 2016, then two years later for Lady Bird, and again in 2020 for Little Women.

Clearly, working with Greta Gerwig is a lucky charm for Ronan, but not quite lucky enough. Still, Ronan holds the record of being the second-youngest actress to acquire four nominations, after Jennifer Lawrence managed the feat (and won a couple, too). 

Of all her losses, the one for Little Women was the most surprising, with Renée Zellweger taking the award for her role in Judy. Ronan was absolutely captivating as Jo March, from her tender, emotional moments to those of fierce defiance as the leader of the family and a strong-willed, talented young writer. Ronan’s time will come, that’s for sure, but she should already have at least one Oscar on her mantle.

Few actors working today can inject a project with the kind of infectious screen presence Sam Rockwell does. And thankfully, he’s back on the big screen with his new movie, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die. On the back of the release of this wild sci-fi thriller, Rockwell has not only proven his acting talents but has also shown he’s pretty good at recommending films to watch, too.

When discussing Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die with JustWatch, Rockwell referenced five other films that audiences will probably vibe with, which we’ve listed below. You can only watch Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die in cinemas for now, but you can (and should) dive into his other movie recommendations from the comfort of your own home – here’s why.

1. Back to the Future (1985)

Time-travel comedies don’t come much more iconic than Back to the Future. Robert Zemeckis’s incredible film is so influential that it has been parodied and homaged countless times in the 40 years since its release. Rockwell’s new project similarly borrows aspects of the classic, especially with his portrayal of an eccentric, prophetic time traveller who feels very similar to Doc Brown.

From the tiny details in its clever and cool production design, to the excellent comedic dynamic between Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, to the big, bold visuals for the science fiction moments, most folk would agree that Back to the Future is pretty much flawless. If you want to see the film that inspired Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (and so many others before it), then hop on over to Disney+ now.

2. Time Bandits (1981)

While Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is all about one man on a mission to save the world, Time Bandits goes for a more rogue approach, with a group of time-travelling thieves hopping through history to nab valuable treasure from under the nose of a mystical deity. It’s far bigger in scale than Sam Rockwell’s latest film, but it still has that same playful, high-stakes tone.

This one comes from the mind of Terry Gilliam, and it’s the first of a few films of his on this list. He’s a filmmaker who loves crafting surrealist stories that play around with colourful, quirky visuals. Time Bandits may not be his best or most vibrant work, but it’s certainly among his most universally entertaining; suitable for kids. Catch it on Channel 4 now.

3. Twelve Monkeys (1995)

Another one from Gilliam, and a far darker version of the time travel conceit. Twelve Monkeys is an apocalyptic thriller from the ‘90s, and given that it has the combined star power of Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt, and Christopher Plummer, it really does deserve more attention. It’s the story of a man sent back in time to warn of a deadly virus that will decimate the human race, but the twist is he’s sent back too far, and everyone simply thinks he’s lost his mind.

I remember watching this a long time ago, and I’m pretty sure I was too young to actually watch it, but I was mesmerised by the high-concept story and the gritty, visceral feel to the film. It’s like a blend between the raw, unsanitised feel of 28 Days Later and the twisting narrative of Looper, with a healthy dose of violence on the side. You can watch this gem on BBC iPlayer for free.

4. The Fisher King (1991)

Maybe Sam Rockwell is a little obsessed with Terry Gilliam, but to be fair to him, these are all bangers. The Fisher King is another film from the auteur boasting big screen royalty, with Robin Williams and Jeff Bridges joining forces for this modern fantasy with a comedic twist. As you’d expect, they absolutely light it up.

The similarities between The Fisher King and Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die are clear: they both feature a crazy incident in a diner and centre around a man on a quest, though it’s arguably less virtuous than what Rockwell’s futuristic hero is trying to achieve. What’s really special about The Fisher King is that, behind all the humour and silliness, there’s real heart here. It’s a poignant study of grief that tackles the issue with sincerity, and is well worth the £3.49 rental fee on Apple TV.

5. Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

For something more modern and flashy, Everything Everywhere All At Once will certainly satisfy anyone craving a madcap mission into the multiverse. The Daniels brought a superb blend of creative visual flair, phenomenal production design, and genuinely laugh-out-loud humour to this awards darling that swept the Oscars in 2023.

Come for the bizarre hot dog fingers and weaponised sex toys, stay for the heartfelt depiction of family and the idea of knowing when is the right time to let things go, and when it’s better to pull someone close and hold them dear. It’s a truly beautiful film in both a thematic and technical sense, but more than anything, it’s just incredibly fun. You’ll have to pay to rent it from Prime Video and other platforms, but in my humble opinion, this is the best film on this list and is the kind of movie that’s almost impossible not to love.

We are heading back to a galaxy far, far away very soon, with the release of The Mandalorian and Grogu, the first big-screen Star Wars adventure since 2019.

This is also just the third movie away from the Skywalker Saga, and the first to almost definitely not feature any version of the legacy characters from the Original Trilogy. While this will largely be a standalone film unburdened by the weight of franchise references, there is still a little bit of preparation you’ll need to put in before you embark on this mission.

Fear not, though: you will have a very wise guide to help you through this. No, I’m not talking about Master Yoda; JustWatch has broken down everything you need to watch before The Mandalorian and Grogu, in order of release. This is the way!

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983)

Admittedly, this is not necessarily the most essential viewing ahead of The Mandalorian and Grogu, but does anyone ever really need an excuse to watch Return of the Jedi? The main benefit of this rewatch – aside from seeing Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader’s epic showdown – is that you’ll get a good feel for the state of the galaxy as the Empire falls.

That post-Palpatine world is the era in which Mando is operating. Indeed, the various challenges and nemeses he faces in the upcoming film (and in his TV show) all exist because of the collapse of the Empire’s rule. It’s a nasty place out there, and someone has got to clean it up!

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008-2020)

There are 133 episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars over the course of seven seasons, but don’t worry, you don’t need to watch every single one of them – though I do highly recommend you do anyway, as it’s an excellent show. However, anything from the animated series relating to Mandalore and the character of Bo-Katan Kryze is pretty essential contextual viewing. 

Specifically, I would take a look at Episodes 12-14 from Season 2, Episodes 5 and 6 from Season 3, Episode 14 in Season 4, and the final four episodes of Season 7.

The history of Mandalore is obviously a massive part of who Din Djarin is and what he believes in. So much is made of him having his helmet removed, for instance, and the whole lore around that concept and much more is explored in this show. 

While you’re at it, it’s probably worth watching The Clone Wars movie; the plot revolves around Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano rescuing Rotta the Hutt, a character who will feature heavily in The Mandalorian and Grogu. This is technically a prequel to the series, so watch this before you dive into the episodes mentioned above – it’s on Disney+, like the rest of these titles.

Star Wars: Rebels (2014-2018)

Another past character who will pop up in The Mandalorian and Grogu is Zeb Orrelios. While it’s unclear just how much of a role he will play in the film, he’s been shown in the trailers and given his popularity among the more devoted fans of the franchise, it would make sense for him to play a substantial part.

To learn all about Zeb, you need to watch Star Wars: Rebels. He’s one of the core members of the Ghost crew, alongside Ezra Bridger, Kanan Jarrus, Sabine Wren, and Hera Syndulla. Those are all names you should at least have some knowledge of if you want to really immerse yourself in the wider galaxy. It also doesn’t hurt that this show delves into further context around Mandalore, and in particular, the mystical powers of the Darksaber that Din Djarin wields.

The Mandalorian (2019-)

Time for the most obvious recommendation on this list: yes, if you want to watch The Mandalorian and Grogu, you are absolutely going to have to watch The Mandalorian first. When this show first hit Disney+ back in 2019, it was a revelation. Star Wars fans had been crying out for an episodic, lighthearted adventure series that broke away from the main movie timeline, and it turned out to be the perfect respite for anyone who was feeling fatigued by the density of the franchise.

As time went on, however, The Mandalorian started to incorporate various characters and storylines from other sections of the galaxy. By the time we got to the end of Season 3, the likes of Boba Fett, Ahsoka Tano, Bo-Katan, and even Luke Skywalker had appeared, and the scale of the story ended up being big enough to warrant a whole movie. Mando and Grogu have been on quite the journey so far, and I’m afraid you won’t have a clue what’s going on in the film unless you watch all 24 episodes first.

The Book of Boba Fett (2021)

The bad news is, The Book of Boba Fett is honestly not a very good TV show. There’s no way to sugarcoat that. It’s a series plagued by a messy and rather dull plot, and even the technical side of things, namely the CGI and production design, is pretty subpar. But the good news is, you only really need to watch Episodes 5-7 if you want to be suitably prepared for The Mandalorian and Grogu.

It was a really odd decision to break up this show about Boba Fett, completely sidelining him for three episodes to focus instead on Din Djarin reuniting with Grogu. But in fairness, this was the most interesting part of the series. If you’ve been a fan of Boba since Return of the Jedi, though, you’ll still get more out of this show than most.

Now 25 years old, Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy changed the landscape of cinema. The epic movies were filmed back-to-back and revolutionised New Zealand’s tourism as fans flocked to visit Middle-earth in the real world. The trilogy also made stars out of its cast. Whilst several cast members, such as Elijah Wood, Sir Ian McKellen and Sean Astin were already familiar faces, The Lord of the Rings properly launched the careers of Orlando Bloom and Viggo Mortensen. 

Having spent a quarter of a century with this particular fellowship, it is hard to imagine any other actors in the roles, and yet there were so many possible combinations that could have happened. For example, the likes of Vin Diesel, Warwick Davis, Kate Winslet, and Russell Crowe are just a handful of famous actors who were considered for parts. These names, however, are just the tip of the iceberg of those who were rejected. After some lengthy studying of the scrolls, here is who else could have been on that perilous trip to Mordor. 

1. Sir Patrick Stewart as Gandalf

Sir Patrick Stewart is an acting institution and an icon of both stage and screen. Made famous for playing the beloved Captain Jean-Luc Piccard, in the ‘00s, he reached a whole new audience when he began playing Professor X in the X-Men films. 

However, if Peter Jackson had had his way, Stewart would have taken on the role of Gandalf. Sadly, Stewart wasn’t fully won over by the script and passed, leaving the part open for one of his closest friends, Sir Ian McKellen. 

2. Jake Gyllenhaal as Frodo

Although Jake Gyllenhaal is now a very well-known name, during the audition process for The Lord of the Rings, he was an unknown. Donnie Darko had not yet been made, and the actor was still very fresh in his career. His anonymous status did not deter the young Gyllenhaal, though, and he auditioned for the part of Frodo. 

Unfortunately for Gyllenhaal, the audition did not go well at all, with Jackson rumoured to have told him that he was the worst actor he had ever seen. Given Gyllenhaal’s incredible career since, those words clearly just spurred the actor to improve.

3. Lucy Lawless as Galadriel

If there is one criticism about The Lord of the Rings, it is that there is a distinct shortage of female characters. As such, competition for these roles was even fiercer than for the male characters. Before the part of Galadriel was eventually won by Cate Blanchett, several other names were considered, including Xena: Warrior Princess star Lucy Lawless. 

Thanks to her work on the show, the audience would have easily believed in the character’s strength, and although Peter Jackson was keen to use as many New Zealanders as he could, Lawless couldn’t make the audition timings work. 

4. Liam Neeson as Boromir

Now better known as the father with a particular set of skills from Taken, when The Lord of the Rings was casting, Liam Neeson was just coming off his stint in Star Wars. In Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, he played Qui-Gon Jinn, the teacher of Obi-Wan Kenobi, who ultimately meets his fate at the hands of Darth Maul. Interestingly, it was this death that caused Neeson to pass when he was approached to play Boromir in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. 

Having just died during the climax of the first episode in a trilogy, he didn’t want to repeat history once again. Instead, the part went to Sean Bean, an actor well-renowned for dying in pretty much everything he stars in. 

5. Leigh Whannell as An Elf

Although better known as a writer and director, Leigh Whannell is also an actor, most famously having played Adam in the first Saw movie. That isn’t the actor’s only credit, though, and long before he got sucked up into the world of Hollywood in the wake of Saw’s success, Whannell attended the open casting call for Peter Jackson’s trilogy. 

Whannell has spoken about the experience in interviews, sharing that not only did he audition, but he went the extra mile to get his own custom elf ears made. Disappointingly, his dedication to the cause didn’t yield results, but he would later appear in another big trilogy when he starred in The Matrix Reloaded. 

6. Nicolas Cage as Aragorn

Nicolas Cage is one of the most exciting actors of modern times. A performer seemingly without ego, Cage is quite happy to star in both big-budget projects, such as National Treasure, and much smaller independent and weird projects like Mandy. A quick look through his back catalogue also reveals that the actor isn’t afraid of wearing a hairpiece to help get into character. 

However, there was one wig that Cage did turn down, and that was the flowing locks of Aragorn. He was offered the part, but didn’t want to commit to three years with one character, not surprising given his prolific movie output. 

7. James Corden as Samwise

Before Gavin and Stacey was even an idea, James Corden auditioned for the part of Samwise in The Lord of the Rings. Whilst so many other famous faces auditioned and fell at the first hurdle, Corden got through a couple of rounds before losing out to Sean Astin. 

Realistically, there is no one else who could have played Samwise as well as Astin, and it isn’t as though Corden’s career has suffered without the role. 

8. Uma Thurman as Éowyn

The character of battle-savvy Éowyn arrived during The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. A brave and formidable shieldmaiden who knows how to wield a sword. Peter Jackson originally wanted Uma Thurman for the part, but having only recently given birth to daughter Maya Hawke, the actress didn’t want to uproot her life to New Zealand for three years. 

It’s a shame as Thurman would have been great in the role, but audiences were still treated to her sword-fighting skills in the Kill Bill films. 

9. Ethan Hawke as Faramir

At the same time that his then-wife, Uma Thurman, was approached to play Éowyn, Ethan Hawke was being courted for the part of Faramir. The two characters wed during The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and so casting an actual couple made sense and would have saved some money on accommodation.

Unfortunately, Jackson didn’t snag either. Hawke came closer to signing on than Thurman, but eventually pulled out, leaving Faramir free for David Wenham.

10. Stuart Townsend as Aragorn

Stuart Townsend wasn’t merely almost cast in The Lord of the Rings; he did actually win the coveted role of Aragorn. However, it quickly became apparent that Townsend was not the right fit for the part after all. The details are somewhat sketchy as to exactly when Townsend left the film, but Sir Ian McKellen shared during a recent convention appearance that he at least made it to New Zealand. Rumours are that Townsend wasn’t a fan of all the training needed for the ranger. 

Viggo Mortensen had no such worries and happily stepped in when Townsend parted ways with the project. The film made Mortensen’s career, whereas Townsend’s next project, Queen of the Damned, essentially put a nail in his own coffin. 

After being left out in the cold for years, horror fans finally have a reason to follow this year’s Academy Awards. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners has received a record-breaking 16 nominations, but it isn’t the only genre film to be in the running for an award. Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein has been nominated for nine awards, and both Weapons and The Ugly Stepsister have received one nomination apiece. With so many nominations across all the categories, we can only hope that horror finally gets some of its hard-earned flowers. 

Contrary to popular belief, this year isn’t suddenly a miraculous upswing in the quality of horror; the genre has always been strong, it has just found itself unwelcome. Rather than a sudden change in the genre, the shifting tides of Academy acceptance of horror are more likely linked to fresher blood joining the voting committee, and it has been desperately needed. 

Despite being one of the highest-earning genres, often being relatively cheap to make (especially when compared to superhero blockbusters), and having a devout legion of fans, the horror genre has always been treated as the weird cousin by the Academy. Many, particularly those within the older community, view the genre as being low-brow and not intellectual enough. It was because of these people that the term ‘elevated horror’ entered the lexicon, the moniker allowing more snobbish viewers an excuse to watch films such as Midsommar, The Witch, and The Babadook. In reality, these more emotional and disturbing genre films have always existed – see Possession, Repulsion, and more. 

The historic derision towards horror cinema has led to some incredible award season snubs, particularly within the performance category. Whilst it is heartwarming to see the genre embraced (at least for now) by the powers that be, cinema history is littered with horror movies that were worthy of recognition. Here are just a few of the snubs that made genre fans furious. 

1. Hereditary (2018)

Ari Aster’s debut feature, Hereditary, was an instant hit with the horror community. The film is drenched in uncomfortable tension, and the story is rife with grief, trauma, and the occult. Hereditary also features a stunning performance from Toni Collette, and it is her snub from an Academy Award that cuts the deepest. Her character, Annie, is thrown through the emotional wringer as she tries to come to terms with the loss of one child at the negligent hands of the other. 

Colette’s ‘I am Your Mother’ speech has spawned memes, t-shirts, and more; that scene alone should have at least earned the actress a nomination. 

2. The Shining (1980)

Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is a regular entry into ‘Best Film’ lists. Whether those lists are focused specifically on horror or opened up to all genres, voted for by critics and industry professionals or the general public, The Shining is almost always positioned somewhere within the Top Ten. 

Yet upon release, it didn’t receive a single Oscar nomination. Even non-horror fans have to concede that The Shining has impeccable cinematography and production design, and yet the film didn’t even get a look in at the technical awards.  

3. 28 Years Later (2025)

Whilst most of the bigger horror films of 2025 have representation at the 2026 awards, there is one big name missing: Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later. Since he directed 28 Days Later, Boyle has gone on to have a strong relationship with the Academy, winning an Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire, and yet this year, he has been left out in the cold. 

A 28 Days film that no one was expecting, 28 Years Later is an exceptionally emotional film, featuring some devastating performances, with Jodie Comer, Ralph Fiennes, and newcomer Alfie Williams all deserving to be contenders in the acting categories. 

4. Us (2019)

Coming hot on the heels of Get Out, which earned Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Actor, Director, and Original Screenplay, and a win for the latter, all eyes were on Us. A creepy tale of the have and the have-nots that included eerie doppelgangers, Us was not just a horror film, but provided commentary on the state of America. Us also featured one of the more compelling horror performances in recent history with Lupita Nyong'o playing not one, but two characters to perfection. 

With Nyong’o herself a former Oscar winner, and director Jordan Peele being a darling of Hollywood, genre fans were left stunned and confused when the film failed to receive a single nomination. 

5. It Follows (2014)

When even big studio horror films worthy of praise struggle to get anything from the Academy Awards, it is no surprise that it is near impossible for independent projects to make waves. Once, such an indie horror that should have walked away with an award or two is David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows. 

For horror fans, the film is viewed as a modern masterpiece; it made a star of Maika Monroe (who incidentally should have got a nomination for her work in Longlegs as well) and features one of the best scores of the new millennium. Composed by Disasterpeace, the music in It Follows acts as the pulsating heartbeat of the movie, as well as being a conduit for the ever-present, but not fully seen, ‘it’. 

6. Pearl (2022)

When talking about fantastic horror performances of the last decade, Mia Goth is always mentioned. Across Ti West’s trilogy of X, Pearl and MaXXXine, Goth played both aspiring starlet Maxine Minx and downtrodden farmer Pearl, which was a surprise to a lot of people: Audiences were unable to recognise the young actress under the make-up for the elderly Pearl, but it is in the prequel Pearl that Goth truly shines. The story tells of wannabe star Pearl’s descent into madness and murder, and Goth holds the audience in the palm of her hand throughout. 

Playing like a dark, twisted variation on The Wizard of Oz, Pearl is beautiful to look at and could have been a contender for Best Cinematography, but the biggest snub is Goth for her turn as Pearl herself. The movie features a ten-minute monologue delivered straight to the camera, and is a masterclass in acting that many of Goth’s peers would baulk at.  

7. Titane (2021)

Films that win the Cannes Palme d’Or often find themselves nominated again come the big awards season. Unfortunately, this rule does not appear to translate when the winner is a horror film, with Julia Ducournau’s Titane being cruelly rejected by the Academy. In reality, Titane should have swept the nominations on a similar level to Sinners, as every element of the movie screams perfection. 

The story itself was perhaps too ghastly for some of the more sensitive Academy members to stomach, but not getting a single nomination after clearly being good enough to wow Cannes is outrageous.  

8. Shaun of the Dead (2004) 

Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead introduced the director and his lead actors, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, to the world. The horror comedy was a resounding global crowd-pleaser, and the three men behind the project are now a regular feature of Hollywood movies both in front of and behind the screen. 

While Shaun of the Dead getting a nomination for Best Picture would have been a stretch, how Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s script missed out on a nomination for Best Original Screenplay is mind-boggling. 

9. Smile 2 (2024) 

After having starred in remakes of Charlie’s Angels and Power Rangers, as well as the live-action Aladdin, audiences were under the impression that Naomi Scott wasn’t a strong performer. The truth, however, is that the star just needed the right project to shine in, and that came in Parker Finn’s Smile 2. A sequel to Smile, Smile 2 saw Scott’s popstar Skye Riley as the new recipient of the series’ deadly curse. With the camera never far from Scott, the performer gives everything to the role, and the result is a performance that turned the horror crowd’s heads. 

Not only does Scott prove that she can sing and dance as Skye Riley, but Scott also portrays the unravelling of a paranoid mind expertly. She also nailed downing litres of water, which is a specialist skill that most Oscar nominees can’t claim on their CVs. 

10. It (2017)

Tim Curry traumatised a generation with his portrayal of Pennywise the Clown in the ‘90s miniseries, It. His performance was so good that news of a movie adaptation of Stephen King’s bestseller was met with upset, but the resulting movie, It (later titled It: Chapter One), proved those naysayers wrong. The film, set purely with the younger version of the Loser’s Club, captured the tone of King’s novel beautifully and gave a new generation a very different Pennywise to be afraid of. 

Given the attention to detail and respect that was paid to the source material, director Andy Muschietti’s film should have been present in the Best Adapted Screenplay if nowhere else. It’s a similar story this year, with The Long Walk also being shut out of the adaptation category.

The movie industry is very different to what it was just a quarter of a century ago. In fact, we didn’t know it at the time, but Netflix well and truly changed the game when the streaming service exploded just 15 years ago, in 2010.

For better or worse, we are now spoiled for choice with various streaming platforms housing countless films and TV shows at our fingertips. Cinemas, meanwhile, are struggling, but can you really blame people for wanting to sit and watch movies in the comfort of their own home?

However, a new problem is emerging in this increasingly digital world, and it means some people aren’t even watching the films they press play on, at least not properly.

What is ‘Visual Muzak’, and How Is It Linked to Smartphones?

Whether I’m showing my fiancée the latest new releases or introducing my teenage daughter to Star Wars for the first time, I can see them checking their phones sporadically and losing track of what’s going on. And I know it’s not just them: some viewers pay even more attention to their phones and barely even glance at the TV screen throughout a film or TV show. That’s where ‘visual muzak’ comes in.

Visual muzak is a technique used by storytellers in the digital age to ensure that even if you’re not giving a film or TV show your full attention, you can still follow, by and large, what’s happening. This is done by characters very plainly explaining what they are doing and what their plans are. They’ll do this a few times, too, just to really make sure the subliminal message is delivered to second-screening audiences at home.

Netflix Wants Creatives to Second-Screen Proof Movies & Shows

We’ve heard about the second screen issue regularly over the last year or so, but Matt Damon spoke very openly about the concept around the release of his new movie, The Rip. Turns out, it’s not just dialogue, it’s also the way movies are constructed that has changed due to this cultural shift.

On the Joe Rogan Experience, Damon said: “The standard way to make an action movie that we learned was, you usually have three set pieces. One in the first act, one in the second, one in the third. You spend most of your money on that one in the third act. That’s your finale. 

“Now they’re like, ‘Can we get a big one in the first five minutes? We want people to stay. And it wouldn’t be terrible if you reiterated the plot three or four times in the dialogue because people are on their phones while they’re watching.’”

Clearly, even A-list superstars like Damon and Ben Affleck are not immune to these rules. We also witnessed this with Stranger Things Season 5, too. If you missed it, go back and rewatch the episodes and count how many times the gang spell out their plot to take down Vecna in the simplest terms imaginable.

Streaming Has Also Changed the Visual Side of Films & Shows

Perhaps even more worrying is that the visual quality of films and TV shows is declining on streaming platforms. That’s also down to smartphones because more and more people are using those devices to play content, which means the likes of Netflix know it can reduce bitrates and increase compression on its products without the majority of viewers even realising.

Leaning even further into this smartphone-obsessed era, we’re going to see more vertical videos landing on streaming platforms. Indeed, Netflix, Disney+, and Peacock are all planning to ramp up their output in the 9:16 aspect ratio, which will make our streaming libraries look more like a TikTok feed.

Like it or not, streaming services are no longer a hub for cinephiles. Instead, they are progressively transforming into just another app that the smartphone generation can passively play around with or use as background noise. Hopefully, there’s still enough room for high-quality movies and easily digestible content to keep both sides of the coin happy.

He’s one of the greatest actors of his generation, and a large part of what makes Christian Bale so compelling to watch is that he throws himself entirely into every single role he takes on.

Be it superheroes or psychopaths, politicians, criminals, or literal monsters in his latest film, The Bride!, there’s seemingly nothing Bale can’t do. His versatility is second to none, and his level of commitment goes hand in hand with that.

One thing he’s particularly renowned for is his physical transformations. This is a man who has been shredded, skinny, fat, bald, bearded, and endured extensive prosthetics and make-up work to capture the essence of the characters he plays. So, here are Christian Bale’s most shocking transformations to date, ranked from the least to the most shocking.

8. Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

Years on from his work with DC (we’ll get to that soon), Bale dived into the MCU to play Gorr the God Butcher in Thor: Love and Thunder. Truth be told, he was the best thing about this film, too. Sporting a skinhead and a gaunt, grey look, Bale was terrifying to look at, and he brought a fierce, very menacing energy to the role that made him absolutely captivating.

Unfortunately, the rest of the movie suffers from bizarre CGI work and a very odd tonal imbalance. It’s a story of great tragedy and loss, and Taika Waititi’s offbeat comedic vibe just didn’t work as it did in Thor: Ragnarok. Still, it’s worth watching for Bale’s performance alone. You can catch this film on Disney+ along with all the other Marvel movies.

7. Batman Begins (2005)

I told you we’d talk about DC soon. When Bale stepped into the dual role of Bruce Wayne and the Caped Crusader for Batman Begins, it was not as simple as just putting on a superhero costume. He went through an intense training regimen, piling on 100 pounds of muscle to go from the frail physique he sports in The Machinist (coming up later) to the bulky beast of a vigilante that Gotham City needs. 

While The Dark Knight gets most of the praise from this trilogy, there’s something really special about Batman Begins. It’s more grimy and gothic, and while Heath Ledger’s Joker is formidable, we really don’t appreciate the level of horror that Cillian Murphy brought to the Scarecrow here. Prime Video is where you can swoop in on this film, where you’ll also find the two sequels.

6. American Psycho (2000)

In a similar vein to Batman Begins, Bale sculpted his body meticulously for the role of Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. The character simply doesn’t work unless he is absolutely perfect in every way, physically, and Bale put in the hours to make that happen. He completely changed his diet and spent hours in the gym to give Bateman the requisite athleticism, but it’s what he did with the mental side of the character that really stands out.

This Mary Harron horror-thriller depends entirely on the madness Bale brings to Bateman. At times, he’s hilarious; at others, he’s horrifying. Either way, it’s a sublime display from Bale, and the film itself is such a thought-provoking, sharp commentary on consumerism, classism, and social conformity. If you like movies like Nightcrawler and Memento, you really need to catch this on Netflix now.

5. American Hustle (2013)

Bale went to extreme lengths once more to take on the role of Irving Rosenfeld in American Hustle, although, to be honest, his diet in this case sounds like my dream. He gained 40 pounds by eating, in his own words, "doughnuts, a whole lot of cheeseburgers, and whatever I could get my hands on". He also shaved half his head so he could have a comb-over and altered his posture, so much so that Robert De Niro couldn’t even recognise him on set.

If you want to see how that worked out for Bale, you’ll have to rent American Hustle on Apple TV. I would say it’s worth the £3.49, too. While it’s ever so slightly too long, there’s plenty of entertainment value here, and the cast is ludicrously good. Special shoutout to Jennifer Lawrence, who absolutely steals the show.

4. The Bride! (2026)

Bale’s latest project is The Bride!, a fresh take on the classic Bride of Frankenstein story. Starring Jessie Buckley and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, this film takes a cue from epic crime-thrillers like Bonnie and Clyde and True Romance, and looks stylish as hell. You’ll only be able to see this film in cinemas for the time being, but it’s one that I am desperate to get to as soon as possible.

To get into the character of Frankenstein’s monster, Bale had to endure six hours of make-up each day. Speaking to Variety, he detailed how this was his most challenging transformation to date, and that he ended up “screaming like crazy” while sitting in the chair in an attempt to cope with the “despair.” Still, apparently, other crew members started joining in with his ritual, so at least he had friends around him who were also losing their minds.

3. The Fighter (2010)

For this earlier collaboration with David O. Russell, Bale really put his body through the wringer. Indeed, to take on the role of Dicky Eklund in The Fighter, the actor dropped around 45 pounds through intense running sessions. He wanted to capture the frail, unnerving disposition of the character, and even studied how the real Eklund moved with a fused spine to achieve his gait and posture.

Bale has been known to go method to get into a role, and he did so here by starting fights and getting kicked out of bars (as per SlashFilm). Still, he won an Oscar for his troubles, so I guess it was worth it. The film is gritty and raw, and features some very cool fight sequences. If you enjoy movies like Warrior and A Prayer Before Dawn, this will be right up your street.

2. Vice (2018)

I do wonder whether Bale just really likes eating junk food, because five years after he beefed up for American Hustle, he went one step further for Vice. After chowing down on pies and burgers, Bale gained 40 pounds before shaving his head and bleaching his eyebrows to capture the look of former Vice President Dick Cheney, with a little help from some cumbersome prosthetics that took four hours to apply each day.

I’ll be honest, this movie is an acquired taste. It’s not one that I would be in a rush to watch again, but there’s no denying the performances are excellent, and it does tell an important, morally challenging story. I think director Adam McKay can do better, personally, but it’s free on Rakuten TV at the moment, so why not take a look?

1. The Machinist (2004)

The first real instance of Bale taking things to the extreme was in his preparation for the role of Trevor Reznik in The Machinist. Quite frankly, he ended up dangerously thin and frail, having lost a whopping 60 pounds in just four months, hitting a weight of just 110 pounds by the time of production. Eating nothing but apples and tuna, with a little help from black coffee, Bale became so emaciated that he could barely even walk up sets of stairs. What really underpins this wild transformation is that he reversed it all almost immediately to get ready to play Batman!

Did he need to do all this? Probably not. But there’s no arguing that The Machinist is an engrossing psychological thriller that really does deserve to be heralded in the same bracket as films like Fight Club and Donnie Darko. It’s got a real haunting quality to it, with cold, clinical cinematography and a slow-burning mystery at its heart. I’ve not seen this in years, but I’m so ready for a rewatch. If you’re equally intrigued, you’ll have to rent it on Sky Store for £3.49, but it’s well worth your time and money.

If you’re anything like me, at the start of each year, you probably make a few lists of the films you want to watch over the next 12 months. At least, I hope that’s not just me, anyway. And even if it isn’t, any cinephile worth their salt will always want to tick the greatest movies of all time off their watchlist.

Countless movies have been made over the decades, with new releases flooding the market every week, available across a range of different streaming services. This means it can be difficult to keep up. Well, that’s where JustWatch comes in.

If you really want to dig into the crème de la crème, we’ve got ten must-see masterpieces you can watch using JustWatch TV that’ll help you become the ultimate film fan. The following movies all have a score of at least 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, and they’re bona fide hits with both audiences and critics.

1. The Godfather (1972)

I mean, it doesn’t get much better than this, does it? The Godfather is widely regarded as the greatest film ever made (although maybe The Shawshank Redemption would like a word). This Francis Ford Coppola epic tells the tale of the Corleone family, one of the most powerful American-Italian dynasties in cinematic history. Set across ten years, this mobster movie features the incredible star power of both Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, with support from James Caan and the late, great Robert Duvall.

It’s a bit of a cliché to admire The Godfather, but sometimes, films absolutely deserve the hype. The brooding, tension-filled story is so absorbing, while the moments of violence and action are absolutely blistering. All of the great crime movies you’ve seen in the past 50 years have taken something from this masterful Coppola picture, and now you can take something from this, too.

2. It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)

Very few films can make me cry quite like It’s a Wonderful Life. This stunning Frank Capra classic plucks the best bits from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol to craft the most beautiful, heartwarming tale of how one man can make a difference to the lives of so many around him. It all relies on the performance of James Stewart, and he nails it.

It’s probably best to wait until December to watch It’s a Wonderful Life, given it’s so heavily intertwined with the Christmas period. However, no one would hold it against you if you did dive into this sweet story a little earlier in the year. 

3. There Will Be Blood (2007)

Paul Thomas Anderson is pushing for his first Oscar later this year thanks to One Battle After Another, but one of his most impressive pieces of work is still There Will Be Blood. This is a devilish story of ruthless greed, complex familial relationships, and problematic preachers, and it produced one of the most memorable movie moments of the 21st century. Let’s just say, Paul Dano did not enjoy his milkshake at all.

There Will Be Blood is visually astounding, with Oscar-winning cinematography from Robert Elswit and a powerful score from Jonny Greenwood. However, the main man who deserves the most praise is Daniel Day-Lewis; in a career full of phenomenal performances, this may very well be his best.

4. No Country for Old Men (2007)

Incredibly, we got two all-timers in 2007, with the Coen Brothers bringing Cormac McCarthy’s enthralling crime story, No Country for Old Men, to the big screen. If you like films like Hell or High Water and Heat, you’ll love the cat and mouse action that unfolds as Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) tries to keep himself one step ahead of the relentless killer, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem).

I’ll be honest, I do have one major gripe with No Country For Old Men – without spoilers, something happens very abruptly and doesn’t really get the level of detail or time to digest that it deserves. But everything up to that point is an exhilarating thrill ride, and Bardem’s performance is truly one for the ages.

5. To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)

We’re going back to the good old days again now, with a cornerstone of 1960s cinema, To Kill A Mockingbird. There’s a high chance that most of you have read the novel by Harper Lee, probably when you were at school. If you have, the story will very likely have stuck with you, and so it should. It’s a fascinating tale of social injustice and racial prejudices that I wish were a thing of the past, but are sadly still very prevalent today.

Gregory Peck is outstanding as the inspiring, benevolent protagonist Atticus Finch, carrying the weight of this provocative courtroom drama on his shoulders. This film may be pretty old now, and it’s very simple in its execution, but without the frills and excess of modern cinema, a truly important and powerful story gets the chance to thrive here.

6. Good Will Hunting (1997)

We have Good Will Hunting to thank for the careers of both Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. If that’s not enough of a reason to rush to see a film, I don’t know what is. The pair made waves with their Oscar-winning script for this Gus Van Sant classic, while Damon also put in a fine performance in the titular role. He was so good, in fact, that he just about matched the inimitable Robin Williams, whose turn as Will’s professor is absolutely mesmerising. 

If you like the work of Peter Weir – particularly Dead Poets Society – or more modern flicks like Lady Bird and Submarine, you’ll love this meditative story of a young man desperately seeking purpose in his life. It’s the kind of film that brilliantly blends being entertaining while also having plenty to say, and is sure to leave you with some pretty deep thoughts once the credits roll.

7. Saving Private Ryan (1998)

As far as war movies go, there is almost nothing that can compete with Saving Private Ryan. From the very opening moments of this Steven Spielberg hit, you just know you’re about to watch something special, and it does not let up from there. The scenes on the battlefield are big, loud, and utterly brutal, while the more dramatic, grounded portions of the film are deeply emotional.

Tom Hanks is excellent as ever in the lead role, but this movie is an absolute star machine, all around: Vin Diesel, Matt Damon, Paul Giamatti, Tom Sizemore, and Giovanni Ribisi all play key roles, too. And, as if it even needs saying, Spielberg directs the hell out of this. The fact that he won the Oscar for Best Director says it all, and I’d argue this is perhaps one of the most deserved recognitions of his work to date. To manage a story of this magnitude is no mean feat, and Spielberg knocks it out of the park.

8. Metropolis (1927)

To think that Metropolis will soon be 100 years old is mind-boggling. Yes, of course, the visuals are a little outdated now, but the scale of this sci-fi classic remains astonishing. It’s believed Fritz Lang employed as many as 37,000 extras over the course of a 310-day production to bring this story to life, and for me, it’s one of the greatest examples of genuine movie magic. It’s a film way ahead of its time, and one that has influenced just about every science fiction story since. Without Metropolis, there would be no Blade Runner, that’s for sure

Now, time for some caveats. If you’re totally averse to silent films, you may want to avoid this (although you’d be so wrong to do so on that basis). You should also be prepared for some very old-school, theatrical acting. However, the story at the core here – one of social hierarchies and prophetic visionaries – is truly timeless. We can learn a lot from history books, but perhaps even more so from a film like Metropolis.

9. Paddington 2 (2017)

It feels funny to be speaking about a 1920s silent movie in one breath and then move on to praise a 2017 film about a talking bear who loves marmalade sandwiches, but hey, Paddington 2 absolutely deserves to be in these kinds of conversations. This Paul King movie is so universally beloved that you’ll often hear even the most high-brow film fans admitting it’s a modern masterpiece. Paddington 2 is just too charming, fun, and genuinely exciting not to love.

You should watch the first film beforehand so that everything makes sense, but that’s certainly not an arduous task, given that it’s equally as sweet. With a star cameo from Brendan Gleeson and Hugh Grant having the time of his life as the pantomime villain here, you’ll soon find yourself absorbed by the shenanigans at the heart of this flawless family movie sequel.

10. The Truman Show (1998)

We all know Jim Carrey as a wacky comedy guy, but he’s more than capable of taking on a more serious role from time to time. In The Truman Show, he does just that – while the film is still fairly light for the most part, his part in the story demands a complex range of emotions, and he more than delivers.

Inspired largely by the concept of Big Brother from George Orwell’s formidable dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Truman Show is a fitting foreshadow to the rise of reality TV. We, the audience, join the show as we watch the titular character slowly discover his life is not as it seems. There are some fantastically funny moments of satire that Carrey and the rest of the cast eat up (Laura Linney nails it as well as he does), but more importantly, it presents genuine moral dilemmas that will strike a chord with everyone.

Finding a great movie to keep your little ones entertained is hard. Between increasingly shorter attention spans and the rise of YouTube, making sure something captures their imagination is no mean feat.

When you start throwing into the mix the problem of picking a film that’s actually age-appropriate, things get even more complicated – especially when you consider that the PG rating we rely on so often was far less strict in previous decades. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom changed the game in 1984.

That Steven Spielberg hit was so intense for younger audiences that the US PG-13 rating was created, and the rest is history. Still, before those rules changed, some pretty wild movies were given the PG rating. Find out what they are below, plus two others that managed to arguably slip through the net in the years following, too.

1. The Graduate (1967)

Having been released in 1967, a year before the MPAA rating system was introduced, The Graduate didn’t actually receive an official rating until ten years later. Incredibly, when the decision was finally made, the Mike Nichols romantic drama was handed a mild PG. Considering this is a story about a young man who is seduced into a sexual relationship by an older woman, that’s pretty shocking by today’s standards.

Admittedly, there are no explicit sex scenes in the movie, but there is brief nudity and a whole host of sexually-charged language, as well as the odd bit of blasphemy, too. While The Graduate is a fantastic film, combining clever comedy, a killer soundtrack, and a tremendous breakthrough performance from Dustin Hoffman, I certainly wouldn’t be showing it to my kids before they became teenagers, at least. Still, the film was eventually upgraded to a 12A in the UK, which feels about right.

2. Jaws (1975)

From the sexually sordid to the downright terrifying, Jaws was somehow given a PG rating when it first hit the big screen back in 1975. Surely anyone could see that was a mistake from the first few moments of the film: As that poor girl swims in the sea at night, gets thrown from side to side by the malignant beast underwater and washes up on the shore, it’s clear this is not going to be a fun, breezy trip to the beach for anyone.

Everyone should see Jaws as soon as it’s actually age-appropriate to, which, based on my experience of watching it with my daughter, would be around 13 years old. She absolutely loved it, and now even suggests we rewatch it at least once a month. And it’s so good that I never say no! Not only is Jaws quite horrifying at times, especially when kids are attacked, but it’s also quite a nuanced and surprisingly sophisticated story that demands a more mature mind to truly appreciate it. Thankfully, the movie was re-evaluated by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) in 2021 and upgraded to a 12A.

3. Watership Down (1978)

Forget killer sharks, there is nothing that will traumatise children more than Watership Down. I remember watching this as a kid; I must have been around eight years old, and I was absolutely petrified for weeks. It may be an animated movie about rabbits on the surface, but in reality, it’s a brutal tale of animalistic survival with crazy levels of graphic violence that make it pure nightmare fuel. Once you see those feral, bloody-faced, wild-eyed bunnies, you’ll never get that image out of your head.

Even more shocking is that Watership Down was only recently upgraded to a PG rating from its original U rating. If you think your children are ready for a gritty, hard-hitting lesson in the savage nature of the animal kingdom, then go for it, but I’d recommend films like Isle of Dogs or even Animal Farm instead; both of those options have an important message behind them, without scaring the life out of your young ones.

4. When the Wind Blows (1986)

Even after Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom made Hollywood think twice about the way it rated movies, films like When the Wind Blows were still deemed suitable for a PG rating. This is another animated movie that is more than a little deceptive, with the charming hand-drawn visuals and endearing characters lulling audiences into a false sense of security. 

What’s really at play here is a bleak story of an elderly couple trying (and, spoilers, failing) to survive a nuclear apocalypse. It left viewers mortified back in 1986, and When the Wind Blows has found a new audience in the modern era after trending on TikTok. Not only is this film grim and depressing, but it’s also just too heavy and serious to ever be considered suitable entertainment for younger viewers. Truth be told, I don’t even think I would ever watch it again; I prefer my Raymond Briggs stories to be quaint and cute, like The Snowman.

5. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)

What is it with animated rabbits getting PG ratings they don’t deserve? If blood-curdling bunnies weren’t enough to put you off, how about a cartoon critter who’s constantly making sexual jokes and ends up crushing his nemesis with a steamroller? Yes, I’m talking about Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, which remains a PG movie to this day, despite its unsavoury undertones.

Admittedly, I love this film and always have. The good thing about Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is that kids could watch it and not understand the crude humour. Sure, when they get older, they’ll clock on to the adult appeal of Jessica Rabbit, but they’ll forgive you, I’m sure. However, it’s the evil Judge Doom who might be more of a problem. A sinister bad guy who will have smaller viewers cowering throughout, by the end of the film, as his skin is melted off by his own wicked concoction of paint thinner, acetone, and turpentine, I’d be very surprised if your children aren’t screaming in horror. A much safer option for this kind of vibe would be Space Jam; nothing bad ever happens when Bugs Bunny is around (excusing his cameo from WFRR?)!

When Eloise Bridgerton returned from Scotland in Bridgerton Season 4, she had a certain knowing smile that usually only happens when women in the ton get married. Only, for her, it was the opposite. During her mother’s masquerade ball, she made a startling declaration to best friend Penelope Bridgerton — she was now, officially, “on the shelf.”

In Regency terms, this classifies Eloise as an official spinster, and while you might think 20 is a bit young for that, she was actually pretty old to be unmarried within the context of that time. While she seems pretty elated by the status, a lot of evidence points to her being the next lead in Bridgerton’s Season 5.

We already know this: Bridgerton has been renewed for two more seasons, and showrunner Jess Brownell has confirmed that Francesca and Eloise’s stories are next. As for the order, she’s kept it schtum — but if you were paying close attention to Season 4, you would have seen a subtle shift in Eloise that puts her in the perfect position to fall in love. 

Eloise’s Evolved Perspective on Love and Marriage

First and foremost, one thing I want to note is that, in terms of book order, Eloise’s is next. While Shonda Rhimes and Co. swapped the order of books in the past, this was because the Lady Whistledown drama necessitated it. Along with everything else that happened in Season 4, Eloise getting her time to shine feels like the most logical next step.

But logic isn’t the only reason why I think this — as I mentioned, we see her views on marriage and love change this season.

She says this herself while visiting the new Lady Penwood, who is none other than her frenemy Cressida Cowper. While she is initially there to distract Cressida so that Sophie can sneak off to find her father’s will, the two actually end up having a pretty insightful conversation about love and marriage. When Cressida tells her that love “has the power to change one’s life,” Eloise responds, “Yes, I am starting to see that.” This throwaway comment is really indicative of how Eloise is changing, perhaps after witnessing so many of her siblings finding much-sought-after love matches. It’s a slow process, sure, but it’s happening.

To avoid the marriage mart, Eloise agrees to help chaperone sister Hyacinth’s finishing classes. However, she spends most of the season mocking her sister’s more traditional interests and outlook on life, to the point where a disappointed Hyacinth bans her from her lessons altogether. While things were tense between the sisters for a while, Eloise eventually won back her favour after sneaking her into a ball. 

But the stand-out moment is when Hyacinth, haunted by John Stirling’s sudden death, decides to delay her debut and avoid love (and the possibility of heartbreak) altogether. It is Eloise who encourages her to believe in love again, noting how, without marriage, the Bridgerton brood never would have existed. She even goes as far as to say that marriage has certain “advantages,” which is something Season 1 Eloise would never have said.

Finally, during Benedict and Sophie’s wedding, Eloise admits that, to the astonishment of those around her, she does “love a wedding” — although she clarifies that this is only as an attendee. While she might not be making her wedding vision board just yet, the fact that Eloise is actually embracing the idea of wedding ceremonies shows a clear change in her values. Again, Season 1 Eloise would never say something like that in a million years — and, let’s be honest, nor would the Eloise at the beginning of Season 4.

Is Bridgerton Season 4 a Turning Point for Eloise?

Ultimately, I believe Eloise will be the next sibling to marry because, by the end of Season 4, she is at a crossroads. Her brother Benedict went from being a notorious rake to being happily married, meaning that she’s effectively lost her partner in crime.

“They allow each other to avoid that whole difficult process of falling in love and getting married, and they think, 'That would be truly awful, it's everything we hate!' And that's great; it deepens their relationship,” Benedict actor Luke Thompson said in an exclusive JustWatch interview.

“But it’s funny because in a way, it’s like they’re holding each other back,” he added. “During the scenes where they’re talking on the swing, they’re nurturing and cradling the idea of ​​their own unhappiness, in a way. They’re talking about the things that bother them and the things that make them sad. And it’s good to have those kinds of affinities in the family, but sometimes it can prevent us from moving forward and starting the next chapter of our lives.”

Without that shared distaste for marriage with both Benedict and Penelope, with nobody keeping her company as she tries to evade tradition, Eloise isn’t just stunted — she’s alone. Life is going on around her, and yet she remains static. However, as Season 4 demonstrates, something has changed inside Eloise — it just remains to be seen whether these internal changes will translate into external action. 

Individually, these clues might not look like a lot, but when we add them together, they paint a pretty clear picture. Marriage is coming for Eloise, but it might not be the looming threat she thinks it is. 

Finding genuinely funny comedy content these days is tough. I can count on one hand the number of films that have truly made me laugh in the past five years. Thankfully, there are a lot more sitcoms and dramedies being produced on the small screen to fill the gap.

However, beyond the breakthrough shows like the feel-good Ted Lasso and the sharply witty The White Lotus, or classics like The Office and Friends, it can be hard to know what to watch next. Well, if you’re looking for hidden comedic gems, you came to the right place.

We’ve scoured the streaming services and put together this list of the best, most underrated comedy TV shows of the past five years – be it series we didn’t expect to be so funny, or shows that simply haven’t gotten enough attention.

1. Mythic Quest (2020-2025)

If you like office-based sitcoms and enjoy Rob McElhenney’s work in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, I would say Mythic Quest is an absolute must-watch. It focuses on a group of video game developers who have built one of the most successful fantasy multiplayer games in the business, but who just can’t seem to go a day without chaos breaking out in the workplace.

While Mythic Quest is not quite as rude and wild as It’s Always Sunny, it’s still definitely one for maturer audiences, with lots of coarse language and a few sexual references here and there. It’s not necessarily a comedy you’ll find yourself laughing every minute at, either, but it’s a really easy watch. And, as the show has wrapped up now, you don’t have to worry about any threads left hanging. Check it all out on Apple TV now. 

2. Shrinking (2023-)

I know Shrinking isn’t exactly the best-kept secret when it comes to current-day TV. The award-winning series boasts star talent like Harrison Ford and Jason Segel, but the reason I’m including it on this list is that too many people forget just how funny this drama actually is.

While much has been said about the more emotional moments in Shrinking, make no mistake, humour is at the heart of this brilliant show. Segel in particular is at the top of his game when it comes to line deliveries and moments of physical comedy, while it’s simply impossible not to laugh at a grumpy Ford slowly softening over time. It’s also on Apple TV, and it’s genuinely one of the best things the platform has to offer.

3. Trying (2020-)

Apple TV may be more US-centric in its streaming content, but you may not know that the platform has also produced one of the loveliest British sitcoms of recent years. Trying is, as you may have guessed, about a couple who desperately want to have a baby, but it’s just not happening. As they turn to adoption, they must prove they’re up to the challenge, but their chaotic lives make that difficult.

While this is mostly a feel-good comedy full of sweet, uplifting moments, it also tackles some more serious themes, too. Some viewers might be sensitive to these if they’ve ever struggled to conceive a child. Still, the balance between humour and the more emotional moments is handled really effectively here, and it’s the kind of show with universal appeal. 

4. Loot (2022-)

Maya Rudolph is comedy royalty. After her brilliant run on Saturday Night Live and involvement in hit movies like Bridesmaids and Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, she deserves all the attention in the world. And yet, her comedy series Loot has largely gone under the radar despite having three seasons packed with hilarious gags and meaningful character moments.

It all hinges on Rudolph, too. This may be a dramedy, but that doesn’t stop her from giving what I would say is her best performance to date. As divorcee and philanthropist Molly Novak, Rudolph crafts a character who is charming, fleshed-out, and whom you can’t help but root for. The supporting cast around her adds a fantastic dynamic, not least of all Michaela Rodriguez’s Sofia. It’s also worth noting that this show just looks phenomenal, too, thanks to its focus on high-end fashion and lavish set design.

5. Murderbot (2025-)

Don’t let the title of this show deceive you. While Alexander Skarsgård’s character is designed to destroy anything that stands in his way, he’s actually just a really anxious robot who wants nothing more than to watch TV and stay out of trouble. Murderbot blends science fiction with dark comedy and surprisingly chill vibes in a perfect adaptation of its source material.

We should have known Skarsgård would nail the humorous, deadpan qualities of his character after seeing him excel in Succession. The show itself is also really easy to binge, given the episodes are no more than 30 minutes long, and it’s got a bit of an episodic feel to it – a nice change of pace from all the cumbersome, more complex sci-fi series out there at the moment.

6. Stick (2025-)

Am I biased about this show because I love golf? Maybe. But the truth is, you really don’t need to care about golf at all to get hooked on Stick. In fact, if you like any kind of underdog story, from Hustle to Creed to The Colour of Money, you’ll lap this up. Seeing Owen Wilson play a washed-up golfer who just wants to help a young kid make it in the game is such an easy sell, and the fact that it’s just ten half-hour episodes should convince you to make this your next feel-good binge watch.

We already know Wilson is a very funny man; here, he proves he’s still very much got it. If you do happen to be a golf fan and found yourself disappointed with the lacklustre Happy Gilmore 2, this will be the ideal remedy. 

7. Platonic (2023-)

Seth Rogen. Rose Byrne. Enough said, right? Both these actors have done plenty over their careers to prove they’ve got the comedy chops to carry a sitcom like this. Platonic is all about two former childhood friends who reunite years later and attempt to resolve the fallout that ruined their relationship. It’s a simple premise, but the chemistry between Rogen and Byrne elevates it way beyond what mere mortals could achieve.

If you’ve seen them in the movie Bad Neighbours, you’ll have a good idea of what they’re capable of when working together. But it’s great to see a story like this avoid the temptation to fall into romantic territory, too. We’ve seen that so many times in sitcoms, and these characters deserve better than to become a tired trope. Platonic is a very subdued, relatable show that’s perfect for older Millennials.

8. Palm Royale (2024-2026)

We’ve already mentioned two members of the Bridesmaids cast, so we may as well make it a hat-trick and look at what Kristen Wiig has been up to lately. Turns out she’s done great work on the dramedy series Palm Royale. It was unfortunately cancelled after two seasons, but don’t let that put you off!

This is a fascinating trip back to the ‘60s, with wonderful production design and costume work that gives it a real luxurious and playful feel. In Palm Royale, Wiig plays Maxine, a woman who tries to worm her way into the upper echelons of society at an exclusive club. The way the show addresses the idea of the social ladder and the greed and envy that consume people on it makes it feel almost like American Psycho, but with a lot less murder and slightly more glitz and glamour. 

9. The Rehearsal (2022-)

Nathan Fielder is a bit of an acquired taste. He’s similar in many ways to Tim Robinson, not in terms of their comedy styles, but in the fact that you really have to be in the right mood to buy into what they’re selling. To me, Fielder is a mad genius, and The Rehearsal is his magnum opus.

In the first season of the show, which can be found on Now TV, he runs a bizarre simulation to see whether he would be a good father by fostering random children of various ages. Fielder blurs the lines between reality and experiment, while also trying to help other socially awkward test subjects along the way. It’s super uncomfortable yet totally absorbing.

Things really step up a notch in the second season, as Fielder aspires to get his pilot’s license and fly a commercial plane. Every single episode of watching this crazy stunt unfold left me speechless, but with a huge smile on my face. It’s one of the boldest TV shows I’ve ever seen, and it’s as funny as it is ludicrous.

10. Beef (2023-)

If you like your comedy served with an intense slice of drama and a soap opera-esque feel, you’ll relish what Lee Sung Jin cooked up with Beef. The first season of this Netflix series stars Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, two hotheads who develop an explosive hatred for one another after a random encounter in a parking lot. From there, both their lives unravel, creating a thrilling, winding web of a story that’s driven by a razor-sharp script and hilarious, high-stakes twists.

Season 2 is on the way this year, with a fresh cast that includes Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan, and it promises to be just as scandalous and brimming with satirical comedy. If you’re into shows like The White Lotus, Fleabag, and Atlanta, you’ll love the energy flowing through Beef.

It doesn’t take a movie expert to name a dozen Disney movies. The House of Mouse has produced some of the most beloved and brilliant animated movies of the past, with countless sequels and live-action remakes to boot.

While classic tales like Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Pinocchio, and Peter Pan dominated the first 20 years of Disney’s rise to fame, it was the Disney ‘Renaissance’ period that really hammered home the studio’s incredible knack for delivering hit after hit.

The likes of The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Aladdin, and the landmark success at the Oscars for Beauty and the Beast truly put the studio on the map in the late 1980s and early ‘90s. All in, including Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar collaborations, there have been over 800 Disney movies to date. 

It figures, then, that there’s a handful you might not have given a proper chance, but we’re here to change that with this rundown of the most underrated Disney movies of all time, from cult vault picks to some you may even never have heard of.

1. A Goofy Movie (1995)

The Walt Disney Company owes everything to Mickey Mouse. But it’s one of his best buddies, Goofy, that makes it onto our list here, in a film that has plenty of ardent supporters, but still gets lost in the shuffle of the tail end of the studio’s Renaissance period. 

The big dog is usually associated with silliness and slapstick humour, and there’s plenty of that in A Goofy Movie. What makes this flick so special, though, is the deep emotional core that runs through the father-son story. Part-road trip movie, part-coming of age tale, A Goofy Movie is the perfect film to satisfy both younger viewers and their parents. Just be prepared to get a little bit teary as Goof and his son, Max, open up to one another. If you’re into the likes of Finding Nemo or even The Pursuit of Happyness, you’ll love this one.

2. Oliver & Company (1988)

Thinking about this movie always hits me with a big wave of nostalgia. I remember watching Oliver & Company on repeat as a kid, getting all the toys of the cats and dogs and even the taxi from the film. And I definitely remember being terrified of the villain, Bill Sykes, and his scary hounds. Yes, this is an anthropomorphic adaptation of the classic tale of Oliver Twist, and it’s one of the best versions of that Charles Dickens story.

The beauty of this one is it’s only 74 minutes long, so it’s a nice, easy watch that’ll keep kids entertained. Plus, the soundtrack is put together by none other than Billy Joel, with some absolute bangers on there.

3. A Bug's Life (1998)

Incredibly, two movies about talking bugs came out at the same time back in 1998, but only one is worthy of standing the test of time. A Bug’s Life wipes the floor with Antz, honestly, and that’s largely down to the brilliant array of quirky characters assembled by the hero, Flik, as he looks to take down Hopper, one of the greatest animated villains of all time.

It’s not like this early Pixar-helmed movie is a hidden secret or anything, but it really does feel like A Bug’s Life is slept on when it comes to Disney movies from that golden period. Granted, there were some outstanding releases around that time, but this film has it all really: colourful, poppy visuals, fantastic humour, and a thrilling story of the masses rising to topple evil dictators. If you love the kind of rebellious spirit you find in films like Chicken Run and Fantastic Mr Fox, you’ll definitely vibe with A Bug’s Life.

4. Flubber (1997)

I could sell this one to you with just two words: Robin Williams. The late, great, legendary comedian stars in Flubber as madcap scientist Phillip Brainard, who spends most of his time obsessing over new inventions in his lab while life passes him by. He’s a bit like Tony Stark, but less rich and obnoxious. When Phillip stumbles upon a groundbreaking discovery, the titular green goo, his life will change forever.

As you may have guessed, this movie is a laugh riot thanks to the physical comedy and sharp wit of Robin Williams. And, like most of the family movies he worked on, there’s so much tomfoolery for young viewers to enjoy, while double entendre jokes lurk in every scene. Millennials will likely have fond memories of it – I spent most of 1997 wishing I could have my own Flubber, and I’d still give anything for a little slice of that green slime now – but younger generations may have yet to discover it.

5. George of the Jungle (1997)

Yes, Tarzan is great, but there’s something really charming and eccentric about this live-action version of that iconic story. It’s wild to think that Brendan Fraser went from this to becoming an Oscar-winning actor, but I’ll tell you what… I would much rather watch George of the Jungle than The Whale. 

This flick, which is overshadowed by Fraser’s iconic Mummy movies around the same time, has a similarly wonderful cast, with the likes of Leslie Mann, Thomas Haden Church, and John Cleese in support. I’d also like to give a shout-out to the fact that the props, costumes, and fake gorillas are so unashamedly cheap and simple, but it really doesn’t matter when everything is this fun. If you like slightly surreal family movies like Stuart Little, Dr Dolittle, and Babe, you’ll buy into George of the Jungle.

6. The Great Mouse Detective (1987)

If you’ve ever read or watched a Sherlock Holmes story and been hooked by the mystery and sharpness of the titular character, you simply have to give The Great Mouse Detective a go. It’s a quaint little animated movie with all the intrigue of an Arthur Conan Doyle novel, only this time, the master sleuth is a mouse. Sounds perfect, right?

I remember my daughter being obsessed with this movie when she was little. We’d watch it every weekend, and yet somehow she never got tired of the mystery despite knowing exactly how it was going to play out. It’s another 74-minute blast of fun, though, so who could blame her? Again, this one has its fans, but not nearly enough of them.

7. The Princess and the Frog (2009)

As far as Disney princesses go, Tiana is so often overlooked, and it’s really not fair. I’m not about to say that The Princess and the Frog is a masterpiece or anything, but it’s a wonderfully dark and quirky tale that, at the very least, tries something out of the ordinary. Gone are the bright, poppy visuals we usually get from Disney movies, replaced with a more dusky, mysterious vibe. 

It’s more akin to films like Pan’s Labyrinth, The Black Cauldron, or Coraline, so if you’re into spooky stories dealing with magic and the occult, The Princess and the Frog will be right up your alley. What’s interesting is that this is pretty much the only Disney princess movie my young sons want to watch, and that’s because they’re obsessed with Halloween – read into that what you will.

8. Pete's Dragon (2016)

From dark and brooding to bright and beautiful, this modern and unfairly forgotten remake of Pete’s Dragon is utterly delightful. There’s a lot less singing and dancing compared to the 1977 version, but that’s definitely a good thing. Make no mistake, though, this David Lowery effort is brimming with heart and charm. Very few films can make me cry, but I’m not ashamed to admit that this one does.

The cast for Pete’s Dragon is fantastic, with Robert Redford the shining light, obviously. Bryce Dallas Howard and the young Oakes Fegley are sublime in support, too. Of all the live-action Disney movies in the last decade, Pete’s Dragon is head and shoulders above the rest. If you or the children in your home can’t get enough of dragons and mythical creatures, this is a must-watch.

9. Christopher Robin (2018)

Winnie the Pooh has always been a firm favourite in my family for generations. My brothers and I grew up loving the A. A. Milne tales, and I’ve been lucky enough to pass that on to my children now. I may be too old now to truly appreciate the original stories, but that’s where Christopher Robin comes in.

Ewan McGregor stars as the grown-up version of the iconic character, but Christopher has now lost sight of the magical childhood he once had. Thankfully, Pooh and the gang pay him a visit for one last whimsical adventure. It’s such an endearing story that feels like a big, warm hug to the heart, and the fantastic visual effects to bring the characters into the real world add another brilliant layer to the appeal.

10. Chip ‘N’ Dale Rescue Rangers (2022)

If you’re not looking for something quite as cute and fluffy, you’re probably better off with Chip ‘n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers. Don’t be fooled by the playful animation style or what you thought you knew about these characters; this is a crime-comedy laced with adult humour and references that will permanently alter your innocent perceptions of the likes of Peter Pan and the Seven Dwarves.

It’s not wholly inappropriate for younger viewers by any means – more like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and The Mask than it is your standard family flick. All I’m saying is, get ready to answer a few questions, and I’m not talking about murder mystery-related queries… This film was chucked straight on Disney+ and consequently, forgotten about pretty quickly, but it deserves more attention for boldly going where very few Disney movies dare to venture.

If you were given the job of filling the distracted boyfriend’s thought bubble in that meme of the couple lying in bed, I think a safe bet would be to simply write “Michael Mann’s Heat.” No movie in the last 30 years has cast quite the same spell on the male psyche as Mann’s 1995 crime masterpiece, and at the rate that heist movies seem to be getting greenlit these days, no movie appears to have been so influential on the current generation of filmmakers. 

Two months into 2026, we’ve already seen Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in Netflix’s The Rip, a pretty decent Miami-set thriller that came with a serious helping of Michael Mann overtones; and now, with the recent release of Crime 101, we’ve got our first fully-fledged post-Heat movie of the year. If we also take into account David Leitch’s How to Rob a Bank, which is scheduled for release this September, it feels like as good a time as any to round up the best Heat homages of the last three decades—which I’ve arranged below in ascending order. 

Read on to discover more and use the guide below to find them on services like Apple TV, Netflix, Prime Video and elsewhere. 

10. Wrath of Man (2021)

Making up the numbers somewhat on our list of Mann impersonators is Guy Ritchie’s 2021 heist thriller Wrath of Man. Told over various interweaving timelines, this is a movie, in which Jason Statham plays a security guard out for revenge, that builds to a heist on Black Friday weekend.

As Mann impersonators go, Ritchie can’t boast the director’s icy cool aesthetics, but he did manage to get a good chunk of this movie shot in L.A., so there are definitely some Heat points for that. If you usually enjoy the vibe of Ritchie’s work on movies like Snatch or any of his other collaborations with Statham, you’ll probably have a pretty good time with it. 

9. The Score (2001)

Frank Oz’s wonderfully entertaining 2001 movie The Score is probably better than some of the later movies on this list, but as it takes place in Montreal it’s not exactly trying to tick all those Heat boxes off. 

What it does have is Robert De Niro as its central, honorable criminal—a guy so refined that he runs a jazz club in his downtime and has even managed to get Angela Bassett to fall in love with him. Bonus points here for delivering some Heat-style showdowns between legendary actors—both an up-and-coming Edward Norton (although his mimicking of a differently abled person has aged atrociously) and an on-the-way-out Marlon Brando, appearing here in his last ever role. 

Check this one out if you’re partial to the classy crooks of movies like The Thomas Crown Affair or Ocean’s Eleven.

8. Ambulance (2022)

Ambulance is kind of what it might look like if Heat and Speed had a baby—and if that baby for some reason then had the energy of Michael Bay’s Pain & Gain. The story follows a heist gone wrong—after which two thieves (played by Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) end up making a getaway (with a wounded hostage in tow) through the streets of Los Angeles, iconic storm drains included, in the vehicle from which the movie takes its ‘imaginative’ title.

All of which is to say: if you like a heist with a little more ‘Bayhem,’ this one delivers. 

7. Collateral (2004)

Granted, including Collateral (another Mann banger) on this list is kind of cheating. It’s also not really a heist movie, but this 2004 tale about a hitman, a cabbie and the fateful night they spend together, is such a quintessentially Michael Mann L.A. movie that I think it still warrants inclusion. 

The driver here is the protagonist and is played by Jamie Foxx, but the movie is really the property of his co-star, Tom Cruise. If you like the actor’s work from that incredibly unhinged period (think movies like Magnolia and Eyes Wide Shut), this is one you need to see. 

6. Crime 101 (2026)

To be fair, Crime 101 is not on the level of Collateral or The Score, but when it comes to straight-up Heat knockoffs—ie. movies about honourable criminals set in L.A. that feature robberies and car chases and brooding synth music—it really does tick all the boxes.

It also boasts a quite astonishing cast, with Chris Hemsworth (in Blackhat mode), Halle Berry (in overdue career comeback mode), Mark Ruffalo (in Task mode) and Barry Keoghan (in freaky weirdo mode) alongside Monica Barbera, and even Nick Nolte all on top form. It probably could do with being a little shorter and a little smarter, but it’s a solid, muscular, and well-acted crime movie that more than lives up to its title. 

5. Inside Man (2006)

Inside Man is the kind of movie that makes me wish that filmmakers like Spike Lee would take the time to make more genre movies. The story, of course, is set in New York, but the movie’s style, pacing, characters and themes offer a delightful combination of Lee’s singular approach and Mann’s aesthetic DNA.

If you’re a fan of Lee’s work from those post-9/11 years (think The 25th Hour) you’re in for a treat.  

4. Den of Thieves (2018)

The most surprisingly successful Heat impersonator of the last few years was easily Christian Gudegast’s Den of Thieves, a 4.5* heist flick (starring a never-better Gerard Butler) that looked, at first glance, like a straight-to-streaming movie. 

There’s the dishonourable cop, the honorable robber, the moodily lit streets, the brooding music, the car chases, the cool lines of text before the opening title cards—Den of Thieves has it all and more. 

Oh, and don’t sleep on Pantera—it might be slightly goofy, but this Riviera-set sequel is never less than entertaining. 

3. Ronin (1998)

I was in two minds as to whether I should include Ronin on this list. The 1998 Robert De Niro movie—which concerns an international group of thieves (Stellan Skarsgård and Jean Reno both feature) who are hired to steal a briefcase on, once again, the French Riviera—perhaps came a little too soon after Heat to really be considered an acolyte of Mann’s movie. 

Whatever the case, it certainly arrived in Heat’s slipstream, following Mann’s near-spiritual approach to the crime genre and even bringing the samurai themes into the actual text of the story. If you vibed with both Heat and The Score, and appreciate a phenomenal car chase, you’ll love it. 

2. The Dark Knight (2008)

It might have come 10 years after Ronin and taken place in Gotham City (and shot quite clearly in Chicago), but no movie in the last 30 years has done more to burnish the reputation of Mann's film than Cristopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.

Just look at how Nolan directs the electric opening heist scene, the way that he lets the skyscrapers glisten, the way that Zimmer’s score throbs with brooding intensity. It’s Mann all over, and it knows it. 

1. The Town (2010)

Coming up to the last two movies on this list, it was pretty much a dead heat between Nolan’s superhero classic and Ben Affleck’s The Town—but seeing as this one ostensibly takes place in the real world, I’ve allowed it to stick its nose in front, if only by a few millimetres.

Aesthetically, Affleck’s movie arguably drew just as much from Katherine Bigelow’s Point Break, but the writer-director must have had Mann’s work coursing through his veins when he sat down to write it. Affleck, Hamm, Lively, Hall and Renner make for a formidable central cast, but if there’s one reason to see it, it’s surely Pete Postlethwaite—who gives a career highlight performance in what turned out to be his last great role. That the Academy decided to nominate Renner instead remains a glaring mystery.

If I had to take a ranking of the best Hollywood nepo-babies, Cooper Hoffman would likely end up somewhere near the very top. There’s just something endearing about the way that the actor has followed in his late father’s footsteps—the generationally talented Philip Seymour Hoffman, who tragically passed away in 2014 when Cooper was just 11 years old. 

The younger Hoffman was, of course, given his first break by Paul Thomas Anderson, one of his father’s most frequent and loyal collaborators, who cast the young actor in the lead role of Liquorice Pizza, his wonderfully nostalgic gem from 2021. Since more than rising to the occasion for that part, Hoffman has been quietly honing his craft with a selection of slightly off-the-grid movies in which he’s had the opportunity to work with some of the best up-and-coming actors and directors around—as well as, increasingly, a few notable arthouse stars. 

In the list below, you’ll find info on all five of the actor’s movies thus far, as well as a little bit on four hotly-anticipated titles that he’ll be appearing in later this year. Read on to discover more and use the guide below to find out where to stream them on services like Apple TV, Netflix, Prime Video and elsewhere. 

1. Licourice Pizza (2021)

If you’re looking to dive into the world of Cooper Hoffman, there’s no better place to start than Licorice Pizza. This was the movie that introduced Hoffman (who was just 17 at the time of the shoot) to the world and—through the character of Gary Valentine—established his screen persona as an endearing and unconventionally charming hustler. 

The movie itself is an absolute delight and a showcase for Paul Thomas Anderson’s most joyous, nostalgic and mischievous tendencies—think roughly two parts Boogie Nights, one part Magnolia. 

2. The Long Walk (2025)

Cooper's biggest role since Pizza came in last year’s The Long Walk—an old school-feeling Stephen King adaptation that felt closer in spirit to the original Running Man than even Edgar Wright’s recent remake. 

The movie boasts a dystopian setup characteristic of the writer’s best work—a televised last-man-standing walk across America where the penalty for falling behind can be fatal. Check this one out for Hoffman’s co-star, David Johnson, too—another incredible actor (Rye Lane, Alien: Romulus) who we will likely be seeing a lot more of in the next few years. 

3. Saturday Night (2024)

It’s a shame that Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night ended up getting a little too deep into the lore of SNL and its original cast members to really satisfy the not-so-informed. Indeed, most casual viewers (myself included) were left a little alienated by the movie, which is unfortunate, as Reitman had managed to put together one of the most exciting casts of young stars that we’ve seen in recent years.

There was Gabrielle Labelle (The Fabelmans) as Lorne Michaels, Rachel Sennot (Bottoms) as Rosie Schuster, Cory Michael Smith (Mountainhead) as Chevy Chase and Dylan O’Brien (Send Help) as Dan Ackroyd, alongside screen veterans like J.K. Simmons, Willem Defoe, and Tracy Letts. Then, of course, there was Hoffman as Michaels’ right-hand man, Dick Ebersol. Needless to say, he held his own.

4. Wildcat (2023) 

In 2023, Hoffman followed up his dazzling debut with a smaller role in Wildcat, an inventive biopic about Flannery O’Connor directed by Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon) and starring his daughter (and Hoffman’s fellow nepo baby all-star) Maya Hawke, who, if you know her from anything, it’s playing Robin on Stranger Things.

Hawke stars as the legendary author of Wise Blood, but she also plays a selection of other characters in the writer’s most celebrated short stories. Hoffman appears in one of these as a bible salesman and gives a brief but memorable performance. 

5. Old Guy (2024)

Old Guy is definitely the weirdest title in the Cooper Hoffman oeuvre so far, but if you’re interested in seeing him in something a little different, it might be the movie for you. Released in 2024 to little fanfare, we can probably look back on it now as the actor trying his hand at a totally different genre.

The movie is a Northern Ireland-set action comedy in which Hoffman plays a young hitman opposite Christoph Waltz’s (Inglorious Basterds) seasoned pro. Lucy Liu (Kill Bill) rounds out the overqualified cast.

6. Upcoming: Poetic License (late 2026)

If Hoffman is making a point of working with other talented offspring of stars, he certainly seems to be picking the good ones. Premiering to acclaim at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, Poetic License (set for release sometime this year) is the debut feature of Maude Apatow, the multihyphenate daughter of Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann. 

In the movie, Mann plays a soon-to-be empty nester who ends up in an unlikely love triangle with two college seniors—played by Hoffman and Andrew Feldman (a fellow Saturday Night star). Imagine a comedic and less overtly sexy cover version of Y tu mamá también, and you’ll have some idea of what to expect.

7. Upcoming: I Want Your Sex (late 2026)

The next upcoming Hoffman movie to look out for is I Want Your Sex, the long-awaited twelfth feature of queer cinema legend and provocateur Gregg Araki, who you might know as the director of the 2004 Joseph Gordon Levitt movie Mysterious Skin.

For this one, Hoffman is starring as Elliot, the assistant and muse of a provocative artist played by Olivia Wilde. According to reports, both Johnny Knoxville and Charli XCX feature in the cast—to which I say, Sign me up! 

8. Upcoming: Artificial (late 2026)

The most high-profile gig on Hoffman’s upcoming schedule is without a doubt his supporting turn in Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial—the first straight-up biopic from the genre-bending director behind such beloved movies as Challengers, Suspiria, and Call Me By Your Name.

Starring Andrew Garfield as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Hoffman as his co-founder, Greg Brockman, and apparently Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk, this ripped-from-the-headlines project looks like it will be putting artificial intelligence firmly in its crosshairs, as well as the tech bro culture surrounding it. Expect a Venice premiere and plenty of awards chatter.

9. Upcoming: The Chaperones (late 2026)

The last movie on Hoffman’s upcoming slate is India Donaldson’s The Chaperones, an A24 crime comedy that will see the actor reuniting with David Johnson, his Long Walk co-star, in an enticing cast that also features Paul Dano (The Batman), Danielle Deadwyler (The Woman in the Yard), Alfred Molina (Love is Strange) and Dolly de Leon (Triangle of Sadness). 

Naturally, not a huge amount is known about this one at this point, but given how much I loved Donaldson’s debut Good One, you can basically put me down for a seat on opening night.

I have something to say, but some of you aren’t going to like it. Despite being a huge Bridgerton fan, I’ve never really cared for Lady Whistledown. But before you get out your pitchforks, let me preface something. 

First of all, I love Julie Andrews. Her voiceovers are brilliant for framing the show and are genuinely a delight to listen to because, again, Julie Andrews. However, the Netflix series has a Whistledown problem. Like Eloise, the show is way too obsessed with the gossip columnist. And honestly? It suffers for it.

Bridgerton Works Best With Lady Whistledown in the Background

At the start, Whistledown was this omniscient entity that struck fear into the hearts of everyone at the ton. We never quite knew what her next move would be, where she got this gossip from, and which families would face ruin in her column. At the time, the walls really did have ears, and whenever a new Lady Whistledown column arrived, we were just as on edge as everyone else on-screen. Then, Whistledown’s identity was revealed to be “insipid wallflower” Penelope Featherington. That was the moment everything changed. 

From then on, Lady Whistledown became a lot more tedious. Instead of being used as a framing device and unpredictable additive to the main story, the show suddenly became all about her. Instead of devoting time to other subplots or other Bridgerton siblings, Bridgerton Season 2 had, in my opinion, more of a 50/50 split: Half the time, the show was about Kate and Anthony. The other half? Whistledown central — whether that be Eloise’s pursuit, Penelope’s panic about getting caught, or Penelope calculating her next move. By the end of Season 2, I had had quite enough of Whistledown.

Given that Season 3 focused on Penelope herself, having a Whistledown-heavy plot was kind of expected. But even that went too far. In my opinion, the love story between Colin and Penelope in that season was greatly overshadowed by the Whistledown secret, leaving Colin’s developing feelings for Penelope feel a little random at best. Only two episodes of yearning were not nearly enough for a show where yearning is basically its bread and butter. The truth is, their relationship was rushed to make room for half a season of agonising over the Whistledown secret, and if you’re going for a friends-to-lovers dynamic, that just doesn’t work. 

So, when Penelope revealed herself at the end of Season 3, I genuinely thought that this was the end of Whistledown — at least, of a Whistledown that dominated so much screentime. How wrong was I?

Season 4 Nearly Fixed the Whistledown Problem

In Season 4, Whistledown is still limping on, and ironically, it feels like Penelope is just as tired of it all as viewers are. Given that Bridgerton is, in some ways, an ensemble show, it was rather frustrating for so much time to be dedicated to Penelope’s adjustment as a public Whistledown. Sure, it was an important evolution and deserved exploration. But not at the expense of other characters and plotlines. When Anthony and Kate appeared in Season 3, they didn’t feature as prominently as Penelope did in Season 4. The general rule is this: once you’ve had your season, you effectively pass on the torch to the next couple. But sadly, because of the Whistledown plotline, it felt like that torch was never really passed on. 

So, imagine my joy when Penelope decided not to do Whistledown anymore. This excitement, however, was short-lived when it was revealed that another anonymous Whistledown had taken the reins. 

Can Bridgerton Move on From the Whistledown Crutch in Season 5?

So, where do we go from here? Unfortunately, it looks likely that Season 5 of Bridgerton and beyond will be back in the Whistledown saddle. But what producers might not realise is that the show doesn’t actually need this. The cast, love stories, and leads are actually incredibly strong — and that is why Bridgerton has survived longer than most other Netflix shows. It really has nothing to do with Lady Whistledown. After all, multiple Bridgerton books survived without Whistledown, as did the TV show spin-off Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. 

At its core, Bridgerton is a story about love, not about Lady Whistledown. If anything, I feel like the producers should back themselves enough to feel confident in moving forward without her. 

Since the explosion of the MCU, shared universes have been all the rage in the movie industry. Step into your local movie theatre, close your eyes and point at a poster in the foyer – you’re likely to pick out a film that’s part of a huge, interconnected franchise in some way, shape or form.

However, one man you rarely see involved in that line of work these days is Steven Spielberg. In decades gone by, the master filmmaker brought two of the most iconic franchises to life with his work on the Indiana Jones movies and Jurassic Park. Now, though, he’s more concerned with crafting original dramas like The Fabelmans and The Post, or adapting the likes of West Side Story and Ready Player One.

However, he might have secretly broken that run without any of us even realising, as his latest movie has some fairly distinct links to another fresh release. Here’s what we know.

What Are Cold Storage and Disclosure Day About?

In cinemas right now is a film called Cold Storage. It stars Stranger Things hero Joe Keery as well as screen veterans Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville, in a story about the outbreak of a zombie apocalypse caused by mutant fungi from outer space.

Meanwhile, later this year, Spielberg returns with his intriguing alien invasion movie, Disclosure Day. This Emily Blunt vehicle asks the question, what would happen if the human race learned we are not alone in this universe?

It’s closely linked to the documentary The Age of Disclosure, which centres on the idea that the US government is withholding definitive proof of the existence of UFOs. But Disclosure Day may actually be an even closer relation to Cold Storage, believe it or not.

Why Both Films Could Share The Same Universe

One is a wacky, R-rated comedy horror from a relatively green director. The other is a cerebral sci-fi thriller from one of our greatest living filmmakers. And yet, both films have one crucial thing in common: they are both written by David Koepp.

Koepp’s past credits include Jurassic Park and War of the Worlds – both Spielberg flicks – as well as huge hits like Spider-Man and Mission: Impossible. Clearly, he knows a thing or two about worldbuilding and franchise work. Is it too much of a stretch to imagine that Koepp has played a part in linking Cold Storage with Spielberg’s latest effort?

The most telling clue to this is not in the credits section of these two films, but staring us in the face in the trailer for each. Cold Storage features gruesome body horror and mutant animals, but one that really caught our eye is a freaky deer with creepy growths all over its face.

Deer imagery also features prominently in the marketing for Disclosure Day. They’re in the posters, and we see a deer acting rather unnaturally in the trailer when it visits a young girl in her bedroom.

We know that the zombie outbreak in Cold Storage is caused by some kind of parasitic alien fungi. Could it be that the extraterrestrial visitors who visit our planet on Disclosure Day are the same ones who bring that deadly biohazard with them? It would be an incredible secret to keep, and quite the far-fetched plot twist, if we’re being honest, but the evidence is oddly compelling.

Deer Are In Movies All the Time – Here’s Why

It is worth noting that deer have a long and storied history in cinema, especially in films of Disclosure Day’s genre and tone. Ordinarily, deer are known as gentle and gracious creatures, much like in Bambi. They’re scared easily and are perceived as fragile, while the male of the species have a mythical quality about them – almost akin to a unicorn – due to their unusual and very striking silhouette.

On a more spiritual level, deer are considered to be divine messengers with an otherworldly origin. However, in a more literal and savage sense, many would associate deer with hunting and violence.

Within the last decade, we’ve seen a deer used as a pivotal and foreboding omen in Jordan Peele’s Get Out. When the animal smashes into the windscreen of Chris and Rose’s car on the way to the Armitage household, we should have known something messed up was about to happen. Indeed, Chris had far more in common with this deer in the headlights than he realised, and it’s no coincidence that he ends up being hunted by the end of the film.

Likewise, Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Killing of a Sacred Deer, a retelling of the Greek tale of Iphigenia in Aulis, may not feature a deer directly, but has clear connotations with the animal. In the original work by Euripides, the character of Iphigenia is hailed for her willingness to sacrifice herself, and is therefore protected, with a deer taking her place. For Lanthimos, this concept was taken in a much more sinister direction, with Colin Farrell’s character forced to make an awful decision regarding which member of his family to submit for sacrifice.

If we’re looking for the otherworldly aspect of deer, you may look no further than Alex Garland’s sophomore picture, Annihilation. The animal appears only briefly, but when Lena (Natalie Portman) sees a resplendent, pure white deer with chrysalised antlers and another with rotting flesh, it’s an implicit warning to the character, and to the audience, that all is not well in this distorted animal kingdom.

It will be fascinating to see exactly how Spielberg utilises this magnificent and mystical animal in Disclosure Day, but one thing’s for sure: whenever a deer is around, something strange is usually bound to happen.

In 2016, when the world was still young, I went to a music festival in Barcelona and splashed out on a night in a swanky hotel. Heading down to the lobby on the day I arrived, I managed to catch a departing elevator thanks to a hand that generously appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and held the door open. As I turned the corner to enter, I recognised the owner of this hand to be none other than John Carpenter, the legendary composer and filmmaker behind Halloween, The Thing, and They Live, who had a slot on one of the main stages that evening. 

In a state of mild shock, I sheepishly said “oh, thank you” and made my way to the back corner. I wish I’d thought of something else to say, but it was a really fast elevator.

I use this anecdote as a way of explaining that my respect for Carpenter is basically unassailable and always will be, regardless of whatever bozo takes he comes out with—and there have been a few that fit that description in recent years. 

The following list—which I’ve arranged in alternating order—contains four films that the great man loves and four he’s said he’s not so fond of. Some takes I agree with, some not—what can I say? It’s a subjective artform. Read on to learn a little more and use the guide below to find these movies on services like AppleTV, Netflix, Prime Video and elsewhere. 

Hates: Barbie (2023)

Anthony Lane once compared the opening half hour of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie to being waterboarded with Pepto-Bismol—a take that I’m still pretty sure was a kind of compliment. Either way, Carpenter was not quite as witty when, in an interview with the LA Times in 2023, he explained that the movie was “not” his “generation” and that the movie’s feminist subtext went “over” his “head.”

He did, however, compliment Robbie’s performance, saying that the I, Tonya and Birds of Prey actress (who also produced the movie) was fabulous. We are inclined to agree.

Loves: The Exorcist (1973)

It’s not surprising that Carpenter is often asked for his opinion on the world of horror cinema—a genre that certainly does not go “over” his “head”. The director basically helped revitalise the slasher genre with Halloween in 1978, so I wasn’t surprised to learn that Tobe Hooper’s Texas Chain Saw Massacre was on Carpenter’s top horror list—game does recognise game, after all.

Outside of similarly thrifty filmmakers, however, Carpenter has always shown an appreciation for the generation that blazed a trail before him in Hollywood during the early ‘70s – especially William Friedkin. The maverick director was responsible for classics like To Live and Die in LA and Sorcerer, but it’s his 1973 masterpiece The Exorcist—which is arguably the most successful horror movie of all time in terms of box office and awards—that Carpenter loves.

Hates: The Substance (2024)

You would think that the man behind movies like Christine and The Thing would have a natural appreciation for all things gooey and gruesome—but you would apparently be wrong. At a FanExpo in early 2025, Carpenter asked an audience member what she thought of The Substance, the Demi Moore-starring body horror about an ageing star. When the fan returned the question, Carpenter tersely remarked that he liked nothing about it. 

This one feels especially unkind as Coralie Fargeat, the French director of The Substance (which was, lest we forget, a massively successful movie), had cited Carpenter as a major influence (alongside the more obvious David Cronenberg) in several interviews. It’s also awkward that Carpenter’s two most prominent recent disses are for movies directed by women. Let’s hope the director can discover a little more self-awareness in his 78th year.

Loves: Chinatown (1974)

In Carpenter’s submitted top 10 for Sight & Sound’s recent poll of the top 200 movies of all time, the director cited a number of classic crime films, including early Howard Hawks classics like Scarface (1932) and Only Angels Have Wings. He also noted Roman Polanski’s 1974 masterpiece, Chinatown—a film that reimagined the tropes of those earlier movies to express the anxieties of the present day.

If you can bring yourself to watch something by that disgraced director, I can’t recommend it enough—especially if you liked the recent LA epic One Battle After Another or the similarly slippery Under the Silver Lake. 

Hates: Oppenheimer (2023)

As it turns out, Carpenter wasn’t hedging his bets regarding the biggest movie phenomenon of the last couple of years. In an interview with the music journalist Larry Fitzmaurice, the anti-Barbie director said that Oppenheimer, Cristopher Nolan’s biopic on the godfather of the atomic bomb, was merely “Okay” before going on to praise Bradley Cooper’s Maestro instead. 

Granted, “hate” is probably a strong word for this one, but the director was certainly put off by the hype surrounding Nolan’s epic: “Everyone’s praising it as the movie of the century,” he went on, “I don’t know about that.”

To be honest, I probably wouldn’t go that far either, but if you liked Nolan’s Batman trilogy or his other war movie, Dunkirk, you definitely should see for yourself what all that fuss was about. 

Loves: Rio Bravo  (1959)

It’s probably no surprise that a master of genre like Carpenter would show so much love for Howard Hawks—Hollywood’s first great shapeshifter—in his top ten for S&S. Having a whopping four of the director’s movies is interesting, but it’s especially notable as Carpenter chose the best Hawks movie for each different style: Only Angels for noir, Scarface for crime, Bringing Up Baby for screwball comedy, and Rio Bravo for the western.

If you’re new to classic westerns in general, this is a great entry point for the genre, as it shows a passing of the torch from an older generation (personified by John Wayne's character) to the younger and more dynamic style of Montgomery Clift. The sequence when the men set off on their journey—with Hawks filming them in low-angle closeups as they whoop and holler—is one of the greatest moments in any western.

Hates: Every Halloween Sequel (1981-2022)

If you’re starting to think of Carpenter as a bit of a hater, at least you can rest assured that he’s just as scathing with his own body of work. The director has gone on the record calling The Thing a “failure”. He also famously took no pleasure or satisfaction from writing the sequel to his smash hit, Halloween. And when it comes to the later movies in the franchise, you won’t be surprised to hear that he’s not so keen on them, either—not least the two Rob Zombie movies from 2007 and 2009. 

At the time, Carpenter complained that they were too much of a departure from the vibe of his movies (probably accurate), which led to Zombie complaining that the director had been “cold” to him from the get-go. Carpenter countered that by saying he had been “nothing but supportive”, but later called Zombie a “piece of shit.” The pair have apparently since buried the hatchet—whether that’s meant figuratively or in the more Myers-coded sense of the phrase, however, I am still not sure.

Loves: Vertigo (1958)

Horror fans might have been expecting at least one movie from the genre to make Carpenter’s S&S list, but it wasn’t to be. The closest is probably Alfred Hitchcock’s San Francisco-based, anxiety-fuelled masterpiece, Vertigo. This is a great one to watch if you appreciate that era of Hitch—movies like North By Northwest and Rear Window—when the gorgeous Technicolour images only seemed to make the mood more eerie. 

The slippery tale follows a retired policeman (played, of course, by Jimmy Stewart) who is hired by an old friend to follow his wife. Carpenter was 10 years old when the movie was released, and while it may have taken a few years for him to see it, it’s clear that the movie’s style and score proved to be a huge influence on him as a filmmaker.

When Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was released in 2018, one of the biggest surprises (amongst its many great surprises) was hearing the reassuring and unmistakable voice of Nicolas Cage as Spider-Noir. Along with the Looney Tunes vibes of Spider-Ham and the anime stylings of Peni Parker, Cage’s brooding, black-and-white, 1950s-coded hero helped to take what was already a pretty great movie and turn it into one of the most fun and inventive superhero movies ever made.

Now, that character is finally getting his own live action show on Amazon Prime, with Cage reprising his role as Spider-Noir (and his alter-ego, a P.I. named Ben Reilly) in what looks likely to be a street-level superhero tale—and one that apparently will be available in both colour and black-and-white when it drops in May. Unsurprisingly, the Phil Lord and Chris Miller-produced series already boasts a strong supporting cast—one containing fan favourites, an Emmy winner, and even some Hollywood royalty. 

Read on to discover more about them and use the guide below to find out where to stream some of their best-known work on services like AppleTV, Netflix, Prime Video and elsewhere. 

Nicolas Cage as Ben Reilly/Spider-Noir

The first star on our list probably doesn’t need any introduction. Whether you know him for his unhinged performances in movies like The Wicker Man or Mandy, or for his action hero days in movies like Con Air and The Rock, or his romantic lead roles in movies like Leaving Las Vegas, or his artsier stuff, like Wild at Heart, or even just know him as the nephew of Francis Ford Coppola, let’s just say that if you have any interest in movies you’re probably as in love with Nicolas Cage as we are.

In Spider-Noir, Cage plays the title role—a film noir-style private investigator who used to fight crime as a hero called ‘The Spider’ back in the 1930s. You can probably see where this is going…

Lamorne Morris as Robbie Robertson

To most TV fans, Lamorne Morris will always be remembered for playing Winston Bishop over 145 episodes of New Girl, but the actor has actually gone on to have an impressive and varied career since that show wrapped up in 2018.

Naturally, Morris has continued to work in comedy, with memorable roles in movies like Game Night and the SNL biopic, Saturday Night, but it was his performance as the quietly brave state trooper in Season 5 of Fargo that won him the most acclaim, even picking up an Emmy for the role. In Spider-Noir, the actor plays Robbie Robertson (not that Robbie Robertson), a close friend of Cage’s hero who also works as a journalist for The Daily Bugle.

Li Jun Li as Cat Hardy

Born in Shanghai and raised in the United States, Li Jun Li began picking up tv roles around 2010, but it wasn’t until Damien Chazelle cast her as Lady Fay Chu in Babylon that her career started blowing up—and in all the right ways.

Last year, Li followed up that success with another wonderful turn in Sinners, as the shop-owner Grace Chow, but her character in Spider-Noir, Cat Hardy, a night club singer and femme fatale, sounds closer in tone to that earlier role.

Karen Rodriguez as Janet

The second-billed female role in Spider-Noir is being played by relative newcomer Karen Rodriguez, an actress whose biggest roles to date have come on series like The Hunting Wives (where she played Deputy Salazar) and the Apple TV+ show Acapulco.

In Spider-Noir, Rodriguez plays the assistant to Cage’s P.I., Ben Reilly—a role she has compared to Effie (the Lee Patrick part) in The Maltese Falcon.

Jack Huston as Flint Marko/Sandman

And speaking of The Maltese Falcon—if you’re looking to invoke that Hollywood classic, why not cast the grandson of its legendary director? Jack Huston (grandson of John and nephew of Angelica) came into most of our lives with his performance as Richard Harrow, the polite and masked sharpshooter in Boardwalk Empire. Since then, the handsome star has gone on to appear in everything from American Hustle to Season 4 of Fargo.

In Noir, Huston is set to once again play a disfigured killer—but, unluckily for Ben Reilly, it looks like he’ll be fighting for the bad guys.

Brendan Gleeson as Silvo Manfredi/Silvermane

Like Cage, Brendan Gleeson—the actor who played Mad Eyed Moody in the Harry Potter films, appeared in everything from Gangs of New York to Paddington 2, and recently got a long-overdue Oscar nomination for his supporting turn in The Banshees of Inisherin—probably needs no introduction.

In Spider-Noir, Gleeson is set to put on his villain hat again to play Silvermane—a philosophical New York mob boss—so expect something like the energy he brought to Mission: Impossible II all those years ago. 

Lukas Haas as Unnamed Silvermane Henchman

The last name actually connected to a character (at least that we’ve heard so far) from the Spider-Noir cast is that of Lukas Haas—an actor a lot of viewers were probably first introduced to in the 1985 classic Witness—a role the actor played when he was just nine years old. As an adult, Haas gave a great performance in Rian Johnson’s incredible debut feature, Brick, before going on to pick up roles in as wide-ranging movies as Inception and Lincoln.

For Noir, not a huge amount of information is available about his role, but it looks as if Haas will be playing one of Silvermane’s main goons. 

Cameron Britton in an Undisclosed Role

There’s still no information on who Cameron Britton is playing in Spider-Noir, but fans of Mindhunter will likely recognise him for his recurring role as the serial killer Ed Kemper on that popular Netflix show. Outside of that, Britton has picked up smaller roles in movies like The Girl in the Spider’s Web (coincidence?) and Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17. 

In terms of who he’ll be playing, we will have to wait and see.

On a perfectly respectable Monday evening recently, the Scary Movie 6 trailer dropped online with a message to say “We’re baaaaaack” along with a characteristically groan-inducing gag about pronouns straight off the bat. 

Fans of the spoof comedy franchise—or at least, cinema-goers nostalgic for a time when a new one of these was released every two years or so—would be well within their rights to snag on that joke, yet the Wayans brothers' alarmingly successful and influential string of horror comedies have never flirted with respectability—so why start now?

The other (much better) thing that the trailer delivered was a reliably delirious mix of horror references—some that call back to the 1970s, others to movies released as recently as last summer. As horror fans who’ve been patiently waiting for this latest instalment will know, it’s been over a decade since Scary Movie 5, which means that the brothers have an entire bloody era of horror to dunk on. 

In the list below, we’ve rounded up the most important ones to catch up on, based on the Scary Movie 6 trailer. Read on to discover more and use the guide below to find them on services like Apple TV, Netflix, Prime Video and elsewhere. 

Scary Movie 1-5 (2000-2013)

We’ll start things off with a no-brainer: if you’re planning on watching Scary Movie 6, it’s well worth going back to watch at least a few of the original movies—all five if you have the time and aren’t particularly worried about sacrificing a few good brain cells.

The series basically reinvented a spoof genre that Hollywood was known for in the 1980s—think movies like Airplane! and Naked Gun, only, well, much stupider. 

M3GAN (2022)

The trailer’s opening sequence, which takes place on what looks like a New York subway, is a literal murderer’s row of movie references. First, we see Leatherface from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, then Jason from Friday the 13th, then the killer from Heart Eyes. Sharp-eyed viewers (or anyone with a pause button) might have also spotted Pennywise from It, Pinhead from Hellraiser, another person dressed as Chucky, and another as Michael Myers from Halloween. In other words, a bunch of horror legends as well as, well, Heart Eyes. 

The first recent horror thing that the trailer references is the iconic dance scene from M3GAN—a surprise crossover AI horror hit from 2022 that’s well worth checking out if you like your horror low on gore and high on camp. Also, don’t listen to the haters, the sequel’s pretty good, too.  

Wednesday (2022-2025)

Watching the trailer on Monday evening, I got my first real belly laugh from seeing the braided girl who Ghostface calls “Tuesday”, which is, of course, a delightfully dumb reference to Wednesday—the Jenna Ortega-led Netflix series that sparked its own M3GAN-like viral dance in 2022. 

If you haven’t seen it, the gothy, Adams Family spin-off show is typical of the recent work Tim Burton has either directed or produced—like 2024’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Halloween (2018)

The next clear reference appears to be to the 2018 reboot of Halloween—a movie in which the franchise’s Final Girl, Laurie Strode, can be seen with the same frazzled blond hair and military jacket that Anna Faris sports in the trailer. 

The movie itself probably isn’t anyone’s favourite instalment in the long-running slasher franchise, but it did manage to bring Jamie Lee Curtis back into the fold after the scream queen passed on Rob Zombie’s attempted reboots. 

Ma (2019)

Outside of its heavily remunerated creators, the biggest success story of the Scary Movie franchise thus far has undoubtedly been Regina Hall—an actress and comedian who has enjoyed a varied career since bowing out after the fourth instalment and was even a little unlucky to miss out on a nomination at the Oscars this year for her performance in One Battle After Another.

Given all that, the actress would have been well within her rights to give Scary Movie 6 a pass. Instead, she’s thankfully returned to play Brenda once more, and this time with a look cribbed from Octavia Spencer’s Ma—a 2019 horror about a woman who invites some teenagers into her home only to end up terrorising them. 

Sinners (2025)

If anyone wondered if 16 Oscar nominations and $400 million at the box office were enough to shield you from the Wayans’ crosshairs, think again. In fact, if the trailer is anything to go by, Sinners might be the most parodied movie in Scary Movie 6—which, knowing director Ryan Coogler, will likely be taken as a badge of honour. 

If you’ve yet to see it, imagine what it would look like if the Black Panther director made a version of Near Dark or From Dusk till Dawn, only with lots of blues music and creepy Irish people. 

Get Out (2017)

Scary Movie 6 prognosticators (ie, people like me) have been mulling over which of the last decade or so of so-called “elevated horror” movies the franchise would look to skewer. After watching the trailer, we’re yet to see any mention of movies like Pearl, Hereditary and Midsommar—all of which I still fully expect to land in the upcoming movie—but thanks to a scene in which someone is swallowed up by a chair—sunken place style—we do at least have confirmation that Get Out will feature.

Given the cultural footprint of Jordan Peele’s debut (not to mention its easily satirised liberal fanbase, who would likely have gone to see it five times), this one always looked like a sure thing.

Scream (1996)

Okay, so Scream might be another no-brainer, but given that the franchise’s versions of Gale Weathers and Dewey also pop up in the trailer, it might be a good time to catch up on the original Woodsboro movie. 

And, to be fair, it’s really never a bad time to revisit Wes Craven‘s meta-slasher classic. 

Smile (2022)

If I had to pick, I’d probably say that Smile and Smile 2 are easily the scariest studio horror movies of the last ten years. Also, in terms of effects and costuming, it’s not exactly going to cost you an arm and a leg to spoof them—so yes, there is, unsurprisingly, a brief Smile joke in the Scary Movie 6 trailer.

The movies themselves are incredible, trippy, and horrifying. If you’re looking for something scary to watch with a room full of pals, I can’t recommend them highly enough.

Weapons (2025)

Another movie that seems to be getting a solid pasting (or homaging) in the new Scary Movie is Zach Cregger’s beloved 2025 release, Weapons. This is a particularly impressive feat, as Cregger’s movie (a wonderfully entertaining Stephen King-coded suburban creeper) only came out in theatres less than two months before the Wayans started filming.

This is probably why Scary Movie 6 only seems to be referencing the iconic running sequence that featured heavily in the Weapons trailer—but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone resembling Aunt Gladys (twigs and all) makes it into the final movie.

Longlegs (2024)

Another familiar visage that we briefly spot in the Scary Movie 6 trailer is that of the unhealthily pale killer (played in the original by Nicolas Cage) from Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs—a stylish, Silence of the Lambs-adjacent horror procedural that admittedly never quite lived up to the potency of its own viral marketing.

Check this one out for Cage, of course, but stick around for Maika Monroe in the lead role—the It Follows star remains one of the most underappreciated of our modern scream queens. 

Malignant (2021)

I’m not sure I can fully confirm this one, but some horror sites are suggesting that the fight scene between Faris and Ghostface—the one where she’s brandishing the two dildos—is a reference to James Wan’s Malignant. 

The underappreciated 2021 movie follows a woman whose night terrors start to materialise in real life. Shudder.  

The Substance (2024)

Unless I’m mistaken, Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance looks like it’s about to become the first Palme d’Or nominee to be parodied in a Scary Movie—and in what looks like one of the movie’s most elaborate send-ups. Not bad for a French filmmaker’s first English-language feature. 

Fargeat’s body horror gem stars Demi Moore as a fading star who decides to take a drug that promises to make her youthful again. Naturally, it’s not that easy.

Terrifier 3 (2024)

The next most elaborate setup we see in the Scary Movie 6 trailer is a direct pull from one of the most notorious scenes in Terrifier 3—a sequence in which Art the Clown blows up a bunch of kids while pretending to be a mall Santa.

Given the audacity and incredibly poor taste of that scene, it will be interesting to see how the Wayans plan to make it any more offensive than the original. But hey, if there’s anyone up to the task…

Originally meant for release in 2025, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! is finally coming to cinemas in 2026. Exactly why the film was delayed is uncertain, though chances are that the studio wanted to give it some distance from the release of Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein. 

If anything, separating the two films by a few months will likely help the film. Audiences, critics and awards bodies alike loved Frankenstein and had everyone clamouring for more Gothic horror. Despite it switching up its time period to the ‘30s, The Bride! looks set to feed the hungry hordes, but this time will throw the bride of Frankenstein’s creature into the spotlight. 

Although the creation of a mate for his creature is discussed in Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, it never comes to fruition. Doctor Frankenstein has a change of heart and destroys the body prior to its reanimation. The idea stuck, though, and the bride character has popped up in a variety of films and television shows over the years. She has, however, almost always been a side character, such as in the Hotel Transylvania series. But in The Bride!, she will rightly take centre stage. 

Considering that the original story was written by a woman, it feels only right that there be a film exploring the female variant. There have been films that have dealt with female Doctor Frankensteins, like The Lady Frankenstein and Birth/Rebirth, but fewer with a female creature. Here is a round-up of those rare examples – some directly lifted from the source material, and others that merely use the concept as a jumping-off point. 

1. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

The character of the Bride first arrived on screen in the 1935 film, Bride of Frankenstein. The film took inspiration from Shelley’s novel and built an entire movie around the creation of a mate for Frankenstein’s creature. And, as with the creature himself, the Bride of Frankenstein’s name is misleading. 

Frankenstein is the creature's creator, and the Bride is made to be the creature's companion rather than for the maniacal doctor with a penchant for reanimating corpses. The title of the film is further misleading as the Bride herself, played by Elsa Lanchester, features very little. Arriving during the climax, the Bride has a rather short stint on screen, but thanks to her iconic look, instantly solidified herself in popular culture. 

2. Poor Things (2022)

Although not strictly an adaptation of Frankenstein, there is no denying that Poor Things shares a kinship with the source material. Instead, based on the book by Alasdair Grey, the story follows Bella Baxter, a young woman who is the result of some extreme experimentation. After a pregnant woman commits suicide, Doctor Godwin Baxter brings the body back with the mind of the fetus inside it. The result is a creation that looks like an adult female, but acts like a child. As Bella’s maturity quickly advances, she navigates the world around her with fresh eyes, instilling her own sense of curiosity into all those that she meets. 

A fantastic spin on the Frankenstein framework, through Bella, themes of body autonomy, sexuality, and more are explored. Emma Stone is exceptional as Bella, and her hard work was rewarded with the Best Actress Academy Award.   

3. Frankenhooker (1990)

Frank Henenlotter’s Frankenhooker offers a comedy horror parody of Mary Shelley’s novel. Switching the time period and location to ‘90s New Jersey, Frankenhooker finds amateur scientist Jeffrey Franken become obsessed with saving his recently deceased fiancée, Elizabeth. To achieve this goal, he sets about collecting the body parts of local sex workers, using them to create the perfect body for Elizabeth. However, upon animation, his creation defaults to the factory setting of her new parts and hits the streets for work. 

Camp and kitsch, Frankenhooker is a far cry from the Gothic story that inspired it, but plays perfectly to the Troma crowd. 

4. The Bride (1985)

Starring Sting, Clancy Brown, and Jennifer Beals, The Bride is one Frankenstein story that you might not have heard of. The story sees Sting’s Baron Charles Frankenstein successfully create a female creature, Eva. A perfect recreation, Eva is not marred by the scars that afflict his original creature, and as such, Frankenstein determines to take her for himself. 

Part My Fair Lady, part Beauty and the Beast, The Bride is a wild interpretation of the story, though we have a feeling that Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! will be wilder still.

5. Bride of Chucky (1998)

The original trilogy of Child’s Play movies is genuinely unnerving. The escapades of serial killer Charles Lee Ray trapped inside the body of a Good Guy doll were chilling to watch unfold. Then, in 1998, director Ronny Yu overhauled the series, leaning into the post-modern humour of Scream, and injecting fresh life into the plastic-clad villain. The resulting film, Bride of Chucky, also introduced Charles’ girlfriend, Tiffany Valentine. After tracking down her man, Tiffany found herself transported into the body of a doll. Rather than panic, Tiffany embraced her new skin and joined Chucky for a killing spree. 

Giving Chucky a bride and naming the film Bride of Chucky is a clear homage to Bride of Frankenstein, but thankfully, Tiffany gets a lot more to do. A now-staple component of the Chucky-verse, Tiffany is a modern variant on the Bride, whose sassy nature is adored by horror fans everywhere. 

6. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)

Until the release of del Toro’s Frankenstein, for many, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was the definitive adaptation. Directed by Kenneth Branagh, who also stars as Victor Frankenstein, this version of the story expanded on Shelley’s concept of a bride. Rather than create the woman for his creature, Frankenstein does it for himself. During the story, his beloved Elizabeth dies. Consumed by grief and aware of his powers of resurrection, Victor brings Elizabeth back. As he does so, his creature arrives demanding a mate. The newly ‘birthed’ Elizabeth realises what has happened to her, and she flees. 

What happens next is a horrific tragedy that gives this version of Frankenstein a lot of bite, reworking Shelley’s story into something filled with even more anguish. 

7. Penny Dreadful (2014-2016)

Released ahead of its time, if Penny Dreadful to be made today, it would have everybody talking. Sadly, the TV series arrived in 2014 to little fanfare. The show had a passionate audience, though, and managed to get three seasons, during which characters from Gothic literature such as Mina Harker, Doctor Jekyll, and Dorian Grey lit up the screen. Also present was Harry Treadaway as a very sweaty Victor Frankenstein who, after making Rory Kinnear’s creature, was ordered to make him a mate. 

Billie Piper’s street woman, Brónagh Croft, was used for the experiment, but the reborn Lily caught her maker’s attention. Lily was not content being one half of any pairing and sought to build an army to take on the tyrannical men who had made her human life miserable. 

8. Bride of Re-Animator (1990)

Released in 1985, Re-Animator was based on the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. This story from Lovecraft was, in turn, inspired by Mary Shelley’s novel. Given a modern update, Re-Animator followed med student Herbert West’s dangerous experiments in human reanimation. After the success of the film and its sequel, Bride of Re-Animator continued the story. 

Following the death of his girlfriend in the first movie, Herbert became hellbent on bringing her back to life, clearly having learned nothing from his first dalliances with resurrecting the dead. His bride arrives during the final act and contributes to some of the movie's bloodier massacres.  

9. Weird Science (1985)

In Weird Science, friends Gary and Wyatt are inspired by the 1931 film Frankenstein to create their dream woman. Rather than using body parts of the dead, the duo instead create her with pixels on their computer. They then hook electrodes up to a doll, and after infusing it with a ton of electricity, she comes to life, helping the boys go from bullied losers to high school hits. 

Although a staple of the ‘80s, Weird Science doesn’t give Lisa the autonomy that she deserves, but she certainly gets more screen time than a lot of Bride conduits. 

10. Monster High: The Movie (2022)

After the rule of Barbie and the Bratz, Monster High became the next series of fashion dolls to capture the imagination of little girls. The perfect playmate for children more attuned to Wednesday Addams, each doll took on the traits of a popular horror icon. In 2022, the dolls got their own movie, with one of Monster High: The Movie’s main players being Frankie Stein. 

The non-binary child of Frankenstein’s creature, Frankie Stein is on hand to help new kid Clawdeen Wolf navigate the titular school. A perfect gateway into the world of monsters, Monster High is a live-action musical that will have tweens utterly bewitched. 

Thanks to her starring role in the new The Strangers trilogy, Madelaine Petsch is the latest actress to ascend to the title of Scream Queen. In the threesome of movies, she plays Maya, a young woman who finds herself enduring a hellish nightmare after staying in a remote holiday property. Maya’s tenacious nature and ability to maintain an immaculate manicure make her a formidable foe for the masked strangers pursuing her, but which Final Girls did Petsch look to for inspiration? 

Speaking to JustWatch about The Strangers: Chapter 3, Petsch revealed that her guilty comfort movie is backwoods slasher, Wrong Turn. 

WATCH: Madelaine Petsch Falls Asleep to WHICH Movie?!

Given the rural location of the Strangers films, Wrong Turn is the perfect film for Petsch to have locked in with. Released in 2003, the film finds Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Eliza Dushku and a pre-Dexter Desmond Harrington as members of a group of motorists who become stranded in West Virginia woodland after taking a supposed shortcut. As they set out in search of help, they find themselves the target of a vicious family of inbred cannibals that will stop at nothing to make them dinner. 

Wrong Turn borrows from classic cannibal and ‘torment in the woods’ movies such as Deliverance, The Hills Have Eyes, and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It might not be a film for everyone’s horror tastes, but apparently, Madelaine Petsch can’t get enough of it. 

She admitted that the film isn’t perfect, but shared that she “rides hard for them” regardless. So what is it about Wrong Turn that she enjoys? “I like the concept. I think the concept is really f***** up.” It isn’t just the first Wrong Turn film that Petsch enjoys either, “I love one, two, three…I’m talking deep cuts.” 

Her affinity for Wrong Turn is not one shared by those around her, and during the interview, Petsch recalled her epic fail of getting a friend to watch it with her during a trip to London. “I put it on, and she’s like, ‘What the hell is this?!’” Petsch continues, “I fell asleep, and she woke up to bones clanking, and she was, ‘Are you okay? You’ve got a serious problem!” 

Why Wrong Turn Is The Best Kind Of Twisted Comfort Movie

Having a horror film as a comfort watch is nothing new, but Wrong Turn is certainly not the cuddliest of selections. That Petsch uses the movie as something of a sleep aid may sound disturbing, but it kind of makes sense. 

Set in the rural environment of the West Virginia woods, the first half of Wrong Turn has a fairly serene soundscape. Away from the city, the only sounds to hear are the rustling wind through the trees, bird song, and silence. These sounds have a soothing quality to them, and one could be forgiven for having a little snooze during these moments. As for later on, when the bloodshed starts… Well, the constant screams and shouts of terror become white noise that can easily be tuned out to assist a deep slumber.  

Why To Watch Wrong Turn (And What To Watch After) 

Personally, I’m with Petsch when it comes to Wrong Turn, but she is right when she says, “I do think everyone hates that.” Coming just a few years after the boom of the Scream and fun horror movies, Wrong Turn took audiences back to the cruelty and despair of genre films of the ‘70s. This more serious tone, coupled with its brutality, meant that the initial reaction to the film was not great. Given the films that came after, however, such as Saw and Hostel, Wrong Turn is relatively tame. Modern audiences have therefore come around on Wrong Turn, and rightly so. 

Wrong Turn is also absolutely worth a watch, especially for those brave enough to dig into the franchise, as this first film sets up the world brilliantly. Petsch is correct that Wrong Turn 2: Dead End and Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead are worth watching. After that, the series falls off a cliff, but the 2021 remake is vital viewing as it takes the concept into a very different environment. 

Once you’ve done being ‘comforted’ by Wrong Turn and its villainous trio of Saw Tooth, Three Finger, and One Eye, why not try fellow 2003 horror, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a remake of the 1974 movie? 

Another solid remake from that era is The Hills Have Eyes, which sees a family tormented in the desert by a clan of mutated, inbred hill folk. 

And for those wanting a more current spin on the Wrong Turn formula, there’s Butchers, which doesn’t hold back on the gore. 

However, for anyone wanting to conjure up the dread of Wrong Turn without all the body parts flying around, The X-Files episode, ‘Home’, is a must-watch. It pitted Mulder and Scully against an isolated, inbred family and had one of the most disturbing endings in the TV show's history – so much so, it was banned for a time shortly after its airing.

Now in its fourth season, Bridgerton was — and still is — a smash hit for Netflix. It’s one of the most popular shows on the streaming platform, and needless to say, it has become a pop culture phenomenon. But what some people might not know is that Bridgerton is based on the novel series by Julia Quinn. 

She has written a book for every single Bridgerton son and daughter, and in turn, each season of the Netflix show focuses on adapting one of these books. Given there are eight of them, that’s a lot of books to get through, so there’s plenty of scope for future seasons. That being said, Netflix and showrunner Shonda Rhimes have taken some serious artistic license when it comes to adapting the novels.

So, my gentle reader, allow me to go through some of the major changes from page to the silver screen. I might not have any high-society gossip, but this is the next best thing, isn't it?

1. The Show-Only Bridgerton Characters

Many of Bridgerton’s most intriguing characters weren’t actually in the books. Characters like the Mondrichs, Theo Sharpe, Madame Delacroix, Siena, Cousin Jack, Lord Featherington, Lady Tilley Arnold, Lord Debling and Queen Charlotte were not in the novels. 

While many of these characters were clearly added for plot purposes, Queen Charlotte’s inclusion may well be born of a desire for some (albeit rare) historical accuracy, with the monarch playing an active role in the real-life Regency social season, especially when it came to young women making their debut.

2. ‘The Great Experiment’ and Race-swapping

Because Shonda Rhimes led with colourblind casting for the show, many characters, like Kate and Edwina Sharma, are of a different ethnicity in Bridgerton than they are in the books. Spin-off series Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story digs into how this is possible, with Charlotte’s arrival sparking a new era where non-white people were granted titles, land, and the same societal benefits as everyone else. 

In the show, this integration is known as ‘The Great Experiment.’ By the time we meet the Bridgertons, it’s been decades since that experiment and society is now fully integrated.

3. Lady Whistledown’s Identity

While we only had to wait until the end of Season 1 to know who the real Lady Whistledown is, readers had to wait until the fourth book, Romancing Mister Bridgerton. I have to admit, I quite enjoyed not knowing who Lady Whistledown was, and I definitely think that the show would’ve benefited if they kept that quiet a little longer. The subplot of Eloise’s mission to find Whistledown started to wear thin by the time she discovered the truth.

4. Daphne’s Plan

One of the most controversial aspects of the first season of Bridgerton was Daphne assaulting the Duke by preventing him from ‘pulling out’, as it were, to get pregnant. Unfortunately, in the book, this chain of events is worse: She plies Simon with alcohol before coercing him to have sex with her without his usual precautionary measures.

5. There Was Another Featherington

There could have been a lot more citrus around the ton, as there was originally another Featherington daughter called Felicity. The character shared Penelope’s intelligence and was also meant to be a huge beauty. She was a friend to Hyacinth and the youngest of the Featherington brood. That being said, Lord Featherington was already dead in the books.

6. Edwina Wasn’t Emotionally Invested in Anthony

While Edwina fell hard for Anthony in the TV show, making for a love triangle-like dynamic, this didn’t happen in the books. They still courted, but neither of them really cared that much. Anthony never proposed, and there was no wedding day confrontation. She was really just not that into him.

7. Anthony and Kate Are Forced to Marry

While we don’t get to see a ‘Kanthony’ wedding at all in the show, in the book, they get married halfway through. But it isn’t necessarily by choice. When Kate got stung by the bee in the book, Anthony tried to suck out the venom through his mouth (... I know). 

This leads to the pair being caught in what appears to be a very compromising position. The decision to change this in the show was definitely the right one — it made the scene a lot more powerful.

8. Eloise Didn’t Know About Lady Whistledown Right Away

At the end of Season 2, Eloise finds out that her best friend Penelope was Lady Whistledown all along. However, it’s not until near the end of Romancing Mister Bridgerton that Penelope reveals all about her double life. 

The biggest difference? Eloise isn’t even mad — she, in fact, says: "Of course you should not have told me. I could never have kept this a secret." Colin also finds out before her.

9. The Lady Whistledown Revelation

The revelation to the ton that Penelope is Whistledown goes down in Season 3 with an impassioned speech by Penelope herself — in front of the Queen, along with the rest of society. However, in the novel, Colin is the one to reveal Penelope’s identity to everyone, saying: 

“You might say that my wife has two maiden names. Of course, you all knew her as Penelope Featherington, as did I. But what you didn’t know, and what even I was not clever enough to figure out until she told me herself...' He paused, waiting for silence to fall over the room. '...is that she is also the brilliant, the witty, the breathtakingly magnificent—Oh, you all know who I am talking about,' he said, his arm sweeping out toward the crowd. 'I give you my wife!' he said, his love and pride flowing across the room. 'Lady Whistledown!'"

10. Colin Doesn’t Deliver Charm Lessons to Penelope

Season 3 of Bridgerton starts with Colin and Penelope hatching a plan where he ‘coaches’ her on charm so she can try and wangle a marriage proposal. None of this happens in the book, perhaps because it’s a bit too similar to Daphne and Simon’s plans in The Duke and I. 

Moreover, in the book, Penelope is firmly on the shelf, while the series’ Penelope is proactive in wanting to take a husband. Romancing Mister Bridgerton is also the fourth novel in the series, meaning that it’s some time after Anthony, Benedict, and Daphne’s marriages that this all takes place. 

11. Gender-Bending Michael Stirling

With her disdain for marriage and society in general, many fans thought that Eloise would be the Bridgerton to end up in a sapphic relationship. However, it was confirmed that they were doing a queer storyline for Francesca when they made her book's love interest, Michael Sterling, a woman named Michaela. The circumstances of their meeting are broadly similar: Michaela is John’s husband’s cousin, and the pair bond after John’s untimely death. This decision, however, will likely end up diverging from the novel further. 

In the novel, Francesca struggles with her fertility before having children with Michael. In the show, she struggles to conceive with John, but it seems likely that her fertility won’t be a big plot point moving forward. 

12. Benedict’s Bisexuality (and Coming Out)

Francesca isn’t the only queer sibling in Bridgerton. In Season 3, Benedict is confirmed to be bisexual after having a threesome with Lady Tilley Arnold and Paul Suarez. Then, in Season 4, he is shown kissing a different man and eventually comes out to Sophie. While this doesn’t happen in the book, this narrative choice feels like a natural progression of Benedict’s character on the show.

13. The Reality of Sophie and Benedict

In Season 4, My Cottage is something of a safe space for Sophie and Benedict. The secluded countryside is where they fell in love, and at one point during the series, Benedict plans to live there with her as his mistress. 

Both book and series end with Benedict and Sophie married, but in the series, they can remain in society because, after a bit of scheming, Sophie is seen as an actual legitimate match for Benedict, which is also technically true because her father left her a dowry. However, in the book, Benedict marries below his station, and as a consequence, the pair live a rather isolated life in the countryside.

14. The Return of Cressida

Bridgerton’s mean girl Cressida Cowper was sorely missed in Season 4, which made her arrival in Part 2 all the more satisfying. Towards the end of Season 3, the plan was for Cressida to marry a much older man after she failed on the marriage mart. 

This ended up happening in the book — he later dies and leaves her with no fortune. Her grand (and very pink) return as the new Lady Penwood was a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one. 

15. The New Lady Whistledown

The ending of Bridgerton Season 4 is one of the most surprising moments of all. It revealed that Lady Whistledown is back, except this time, it’s not Penelope. 

When Penelope decides to retire in the books, future novels stand by that decision. So, this mystery is unique to the TV series, which is especially exciting because it means that, for the first time, we have no idea where things will go from here. 

Since its first series in 2022, we’ve all been a little bit obsessed with The Traitors. Hosted by Claudia Winkleman (and her fringe), the game show is underpinned by three values: deception, strategy, and backstabbing.

The reality series is, in essence, a modern murder mystery and an exercise in reason and deduction. What makes it most interesting is the different approaches players have: while some will do anything to look out for number one, others will remain determined to preserve their integrity. But let’s face it — the ruthlessness of this game is what makes The Traitors such a compelling watch.

The latest civilian series, which had a peak of 9.6 million viewers during its finale, came to an end earlier in 2026. And, to be honest, nothing has really hit since. But what you might not know is that there are plenty of other reality shows out there to fill that void; it’s just a matter of finding them.

So, we’ve gathered them all up for you for your convenience. To learn more about how to fill that void (and a little bit more about The Traitors itself), keep reading.

The Traitors (2022-)

Let’s start with the OG of this list: The Traitors is set in the backdrop of a stunning Scottish castle where a group of contestants set out to win a cash prize. The majority of players are labelled ‘Faithfuls,’ while a handful among them are labelled ‘Traitors.’ 

To win the prize fund, the Faithfuls must figure out who the Traitors are. Meanwhile, the Traitors must avoid detection while “murdering” other players and secretly sabotaging the challenges they undertake to build said prize fund. If the Traitors, in turn, reach the end without being caught out, they are the ones who go home with the money. 

To uncover the Traitors, the group will engage in daily roundtable discussions, and it’s here where the fun really begins. It’s lies, betrayals, and backstabbing galore, and even the most seasoned players can lose their composure by the end of it. Fundamentally, The Traitors is a game of psychology — it’s all about who gets psyched out first. 

The Mole (2022-)

The Mole originally aired on ABC in the 2000s before being brought back by Netflix — and it’s safe to say that it is pretty similar to The Traitors. The game effectively involves 12 contestants working through several challenges to build up a cash prize. 

But the twist is that among these players is a secret Mole, whose goal is to sabotage the challenges. One-by-one, these players get eliminated until only one remains — the question is, will it be the Mole? The one major difference between The Mole and The Traitors is that the Mole’s identity is also hidden from viewers, which, in my opinion, makes it a hell of a lot more exciting. 

Million Dollar Secret (2025-)

In a way, Million Dollar Secret is basically The Traitors in reverse. The American Netflix show consists of twelve contestants living in a fancy lakeside estate, and right from the outset, one of them is awarded the $1 million prize. The thing is, the contestant, dubbed ‘The Millionaire,’ has to try and keep it hidden from the other players. The other contestants take on the role of ‘Hunters,’ and must work together to work out who the Millionaire is: voting to lock them out in an evening ‘Elimination Dinner.’ If the Millionaire is discovered, the same process happens again. 

The game adds to this tension by making contestants undertake trust-related challenges. If they win, they will get a clue about who the Millionaire really is. The Millionaire, in turn, has their own ‘Secret Agenda’ they must complete each day to arouse suspicion in the house and gain an advantage. It’s deception and strategy galore in this game, and it may well be right up your street if you’re a The Traitors fan.

The Circle (2018-)

The Circle, which originally aired on Channel 4 in the UK, is all about a particular kind of deception: catfishing. The contestants all live in the same block of flats, but never actually see each other. Instead, they stay in their own individual flats and communicate with each other via messaging profiles. Here’s where the deceptive part comes in: some of these contestants’ profiles aren’t exactly genuine. They may present a slightly changed version of themselves or play as another person completely. 

Throughout the game, the players rate each other, with the higher-rated players becoming ‘Influencers.’ Meanwhile, players are eliminated via ‘Blocking.’ The highest-rated player at the end wins. While The Traitors might seem more ornate, The Circle is extremely modernised – but it still comes down to trust and deceit. So, think of it as The Traitors with a little bit of Black Mirror thrown in. 

House of Villains (2023-)

What happens if you put all of reality TV’s biggest baddies together in one house? In House of Villains, a US reality show, we find out. The series, which includes the likes of Tiffany Pollard as contestants, is effectively a hybrid of The Traitors and Celebrity Big Brother. In order to be named America’s Ultimate Supervillain (and win $200,000), these bona fide bad guys must compete with each other in weekly Battle Royales, which test both physical and mental strength. The winner is named ‘Supervillain of the Week,’ is granted immunity, and can choose three villains for ‘Banishment.’ 

These villains will then compete in a ‘Redemption Challenge,’ the winner of which is taken off the Supervillain’s ‘Hit List.’ The fate of the remaining two is then determined in the ‘Banishment Ceremony,’ while the ultimate winner is decided by a jury of eliminated contestants. 

Being only villains, there’s plenty of room for drama, so if it was that aspect of The Traitors that appealed to you, House of Villains would be a good choice to check out next. 

Squid Game: The Challenge (2023-)

Let’s get the obvious part out of the way first. No, there isn’t any actual murder in Squid Game: The Challenge. Yes, it is ironic that a reality show was made from Squid Game. Still, the Netflix reality show is pretty faithful to the source material, with 456 players undertaking games like ‘Red Light, Green Light’ and the Dalgona challenge, to win $4.56 million. 

Mirroring the OG Netflix series, these players aren’t immune to a little bit of double-crossing and betrayal to get ahead. In one especially outrageous moment in the second season, a man even lied about having a baby on the way to elicit sympathy. It’s a moment that’s almost on par with Charlotte’s fake Welsh accent, and it’s this kind of ruthlessness that makes the show perfect for The Traitors fans. 

The Devil’s Plan (2023-)

This South Korean game show is very heavy on the strategic side of things. Over an intense seven-day period, the celebrity contestants must compete in a range of puzzle-based games for the chance of winning 500 million won. On the surface, the game is pretty simple: the contestants begin with one ‘Piece.’ By participating in two daily matches, the ‘Main Match’ and the ‘Prize Match,’ the players will have the opportunity to win more. If a contestant is left with no Pieces, they are eliminated. 

The Devil’s Plan puts a huge emphasis on intellectualism, and the contestants really have to use their brains not just in the games themselves, but in how to win the show as a whole. This means there’s a lot of plotting, strategising, alliance-making and betrayals going on. 

So, if you consider yourself a smarty-pants and really enjoyed the cutthroat aspect of The Traitors, The Devil’s Plan might be for you. 

It says everything you need to know about the botched theatrical cut of Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons that, a full 84 years after its original release, some of the most advanced technology in the world (and a whole lot of money) is currently being used to bring it back to life. 

At the beginning of February, the author and journalist Michael Schulman wrote a fascinating piece for the New Yorker detailing the efforts of one Edward Saatchi—heir to the Saatchi & Saatchi advertising fortune and a lifelong Welles obsessive—to recreate the film’s lost footage using a combination of actors and generative AI.

In the piece below, I’ll give a brief rundown of how Saatchi plans to do this, as well as a quick explainer of what happened to Welles’ original vision for what was meant to be his Citizen Kane follow-up—a now lost movie that he would later describe as being the better of the two. Lastly, we’ll imagine, with increasing levels of horror, some of the other so-called ‘lost’ movies that AI might one day bring crawling—with 15 fingers and an uncanny smile—back from the dead.

Read on to discover more and use the guide below to find all the films I reference in the piece on streaming services like Apple TV+, Netflix, Prime Video and elsewhere. 

What Happened to Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons

The story goes that in 1942, just one year on from the critical success of Citizen Kane, Orson Welles decided to adapt Booth Tarkington’s The Magnificent Ambersons—a 1918 novel about a monied family that goes from riches to ruin over the course of a few decades. 

Welles, who was still only 26 at the time, had always welcomed a bit of controversy in the early days of his career. His 1938 radio broadcast of War of the Worlds is still legendary, and Kane had been seen as a transparent satire of William Randolph Hearst, the Rupert Murdoch of his day. So, when the studio voiced their concerns that the film might be seen as unpatriotic (and a bit of a downer) in a country that was then at war, Welles thought little of it.

Unfortunately for him, the director was on a shoot in Rio de Janeiro at the time, making movies to help the war effort, and was thus kept in the dark when the studio screened the film, which received negative responses. 

This happened again when they decided to cut more than 40 minutes of material from its two hour plus running time, again when they chopped and changed the order of certain scenes, again when they bolted on a happy ending, again when they decided to release it that July; and, most notoriously of all, again when they decided to destroy the reels of film they took out. 

By the time Welles heard anything about it, it was already too late. 

How Edward Saatchi’s AI Company Is Attempting to Bring Welles’ Film Back

Of all of R.K.O.’s poor behaviour during that time, the decision to go full scorched earth with the original reels is the thing that has caused the most anger and frustration among historians and cinephiles—but it’s also inspired literal decades of research on what Welles’ original intentions for the film were. 

Because of this, we now have almost a century of studies and dissertations on the subject, including original set pictures and script notes. Thinking of all this information one day, or so Schulman’s article goes, Saatchi started to imagine what it would be like if there was a machine that could just swallow all that information up and spit the original cut of Ambersons out. 

With the recent exponential rise in AI’s ability to do such things, Saatchi has taken it upon himself to produce what he believes will be Welles’ original vision for the film. To do so, he’s started to reshoot the lost footage using a combination of analogue cinema tools—sets, actors, props, costumes—and later, mapping the finer details of the original film on top, up to and including the faces of long-dead actors like Anne Baxter, Tim Holt and Joseph Cotton. 

At the time of writing, Saatchi still hasn’t cleared the rights for any of this—meaning that for now, the project is strictly academic. But by the sound of Schulman’s article, the Welles estate (which backed Peter Bogdanovic’s project to complete The Other Side of the Wind for Netflix as recently as 2018) sounds vaguely on board despite some early vocal apprehension. At this stage, nothing would surprise me.

What Other Lost Films Might Saatchi ‘Save’?

Given that the movie industry ran on highly flammable celluloid for the first 80 years or so of its history, and only really started worrying about preservation near the end of the 20th century, there is, of course, no shortage of movies that have disappeared over the years—whether through fires, negligence, or simply falling into disrepair. Because of this, there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of movies that could be considered ‘lost,’ but among them, there are a few legendary cases worth spotlighting.

One of the earliest and dreamiest to historians is the mythical nine-hour cut of Erich von Stroheim’s Greed. The director, who was in some ways a proto-Welles, submitted his monster epic to MGM in 1924 only for the studio to chop it down to 140 minutes without his input. Whether or not the same details are available from its production as those of Ambersons, however, even Saatchi might see this one as a little too ambitious. 

Completely lost movies, like Alfred Hitchcock's second feature, The Mountain Eagle or F.W. Murnau’s Four Devils, would really have no aesthetic ingredients for the AI to work with—making those kinds of movies non-starters. More likely would-be projects like Francis Ford Coppola's Cotton Club or Paul W.S. Anderson’s Event Horizon, both of which were chopped up without the directors’ knowledge, but even those feel more like restoration jobs. In truth, nothing really comes close to the specific circumstances of Ambersons, which, of course, is why it’s always been so tantalising. 

Is Using AI to Bring Back ‘Lost’ Films a Net Positive or Negative?

At the end of the day, aside from buying himself some kind of reflected glory, what Saatchi is attempting to do here is, I think, symptomatic of another modern and very human flaw—i.e., our obsession with wanting to know everything; that awful need to leave no parts of the map unexplored. 

In an era of almost no cultural scarcity, I consider any ‘lost’ film to be an impossibly romantic thing to think about—and the mere thought that an unblemished copy might still be out there somewhere (like the missing scenes from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis that turned up in an archive in Argentina in 2008) should be enough to at least keep that dream alive. 

Bringing any of those movies back using AI not only constitutes a betrayal of the people (living and dead) involved, but it also risks snuffing out something that has lived in the imagination of cinema lovers for decades. Whatever Saatchi ends up producing, I can guarantee you that it will not be the original Ambersons that Welles intended. Nor will it likely be as magnificent as what we can simply imagine when we lie our heads down at night. 

In 2024, it was announced that Dolly Alderton—the former Sunday Times columnist and best-selling author of Everything I Know About Love, a Millennial memoir that the writer helped to adapt into a miniseries in 2022—was developing a new adaptation of Pride and Prejudice for Netflix. The upcoming series will be the 13th adaptation of Jane Austin’s timeless 1813 novel and the first since Joe Wright’s beloved 2005 feature.

That movie’s simmering central pairing of Kiera Knightly and Matthew McFadyen (as Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, respectively) was always going to take some beating, but Alderton and Netflix certainly haven’t sold themselves short when it comes to casting—last year, the announcement of the series’ roll call of stars (topped by Emma Corrin, Jack Lowden and Olivia Colman) was met with plenty of excitement.

We’ll have to wait patiently for the show to drop this year, but until then, you can find out everything you need to know about the main players in the piece below. Read on to discover more about them and use the guide below to find some of their most popular movies and shows on services like Apple TV+, Netflix, Prime Video and elsewhere. 

Emma Corrin as Elizabeth Bennet

Emma Corrin has been picking up all kinds of roles over the last few years—but it’s fair to say that most viewers first got to know Corrin for their remarkable portrayal of Princess Diana in season three of The Crown. 

In the years since, Corrin has picked up interesting parts in everything from Black Mirror to Nosferatu and Deadpool & Wolverine and even appeared opposite Charlie XCX in 100 Nights of Hero last year—but landing the lead role of Elizabeth Bennet in Alderton’s series feels like a significant and well-earned moment for the 30-year-old star.

Jack Lowden as Mr Darcy

When he’s not being Mr Saoirse Ronan, or being suggested as the next James Bond, you can usually find Jack Lowden strutting his charming stuff in the ace Apple TV+ spy series, Slow Horses—where he’s been playing River Cartwright (opposite Gary Oldman’s wonderfully gaseous Jackson Lamb) for five seasons and counting.

That show has elevated the Scottish actor to a different level of fame that’s seen him land leading parts in movies like Ella McKay and Benediction in recent years. Before Slow Horses, however, you might remember seeing him play a fighter pilot in Dunkirk, appear as Nicolai Rostov in War & Peace, or perhaps for his role in the Mangrove episode of Steve McQueen’s Small Axe. All that said, his upcoming portrayal of Mr Darcy will likely take that stardom to a whole new level. 

Olivia Colman as Mrs Bennet

At this stage, the three-time Oscar nominee and one-time Best Actress winner Olivia Colman needs less than no introduction. The certified national treasure began her career working on comedy shows like Peep Show and The Office, but really only blew up after her appearances in Fleabag and The Night Manager a decade later. Indeed, just two years on from those, she was on the stage at the Dolby Theatre collecting an Academy Award for The Favourite.

Since then, Colman returned to those awards with The Lost Daughter and The Father, but she’s also been a regular feature on some of the biggest productions of the last few years—notably Wonka, Secret Invasion and The Bear. Her casting as Mrs Bennet, a classic role of English literature, feels almost inevitable. 

Rufus Sewell as Mr Bennet

Rufus Sewell (the soon-to-be Mr Bennet) has one of those faces that you probably recognise from all kinds of things. For me, he’ll always be the villainous Count Adhemar in A Knight’s Tale, but you might also know him for the similarly slippery performance he gave as Count Armand in The Legend of Zorro, or Jasper Bloom in The Holiday, or, most slippery of all, as the former Prince Andrew in the 2024 movie Scoop.

On the small screen, he’s brought his classical training to no shortage of period dramas—but his central roles in The Man in the High Castle and The Diplomat are probably better known. 

Freya Mavor as Jane Bennet

Of the central cast members of Pride and Prejudice, Freya Mavor is probably the least recognisable. She got her break playing Mini McGuinness in the lesser-seen third generation series of Skins on E4. Since then, she steadily picked up roles in both French and English language movies and TV shows, but only really returned to the mainstream when she landed the role of Daria Greenock on the first season of HBO’s Industry.

From there, she made the jump to period frocks, playing Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy on the BBC’s Marie Antoinette, and now as Elisabeth’s sister, Jane, on Alderton’s upcoming show. 

Louis Partridge as George Wickham

Looking like the most handsomely foppish private school boy imaginable does have a way of landing you tasty period roles—such as the elusively attractive George Wickham in the upcoming adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Louis Partridge started as a child actor (you can spot him in Pan and Paddington 2), but it wasn’t until he appeared as the love interest to Millie Bobby Brown in Enola Holmes that his career took off.

Since the first Enola movie, Partridge has played Sid Vicious in Pistol and Edward Guinness in House of Guinness on the small screen and played young versions of both Billy Culdrup and Henry Cavill in Jay Kelly and Argyle, respectively. 

Fiona Shaw as Lady Catherine de Bourgh

Similar to Colman, Fiona Shaw has gone from being an always-welcome presence in movies like Anna Karenina and the Harry Potter franchise (where she played Aunt Petunia) to becoming a certified star and national treasure (in her native Ireland and abroad) in the last few years.

This late career surge was set in motion by her incredible portrayal of Carolyn Martens over three seasons of Killing Eve. From there, she went on to give a devastating performance in season one of Andor before moving on to recurring roles in True Detective: Night Country and Bad Sisters. Look out for her in Pride and Prejudice as the haughty Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

Jamie Demetriou as Mr Collins

The actor, writer and comedian Jamie Demetriou might not be as well known as his sister Natasha—the actress who played Nadja over six seasons of What We Do in the Shadows—but their collaboration on Stath Lets Flats led to Jamie leaving the 2020 Baftas with three awards.

Outside of that celebrated project, Demetriou’s best-known part was probably his role as the colourfully named Bus Rodent on season one of Fleabag—but you might also recognise him for his brief appearances in mega-budget movies like Barbie and Cruella. Aside from playing the pompous Mr Collins in Alderton’s show this year, fans can also catch him in his role as Charlie XCX’s hapless but well-meaning manager in The Moment. 

Anjana Vasan as Mrs Gardiner

Outside of her many appearances on stage in the last ten years—she notably played Stella Kowalski to Paul Mescal’s Stanley in a recent and acclaimed production of Streetcar Named Desire—Anjana Vasan has been gradually putting together an impressive CV of screen credits.  

You likely know her for playing Pam in Killing Eve, or for her various parts in Black Mirror over the years. In terms of cinema, she had a micro role as a reporter in Spiderman: Far From Home, but you can see her in juicer parts in movies like Wicked Little Letters (alongside Colman) and Cyrano. For Pride, she will likely steal a few scenes as Mrs Gardiner. 

Daryl McCormack as Mr Bingley

Last but certainly not least on our list of Pride and Prejudice cast members is the soon-to-be Mr Bingley, Daryl McCormack. The 33-year-old Irishman, like others on this list, started as a regular player on the theatre scene before making the jump to TV and movies—getting his first big break with a recurring role as Isaiah Jesus on Peaky Blinders. 

Since then, he’s gone from strength to strength: receiving wide acclaim for his starring role, opposite Emma Thompson, in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, in 2022; landing a recurring role in Bad Sisters; and appearing in some smaller parts in Hollywood movies like Twisters and Wake Up Dead Man. This year, along with playing Mr Bingley, McCormack is amongst the all-star cast of Tom Ford’s hotly anticipated Cry to Heaven.

No sooner had the dust settled on the fantastic Game of Thrones spin-off, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, than a new trailer for Season 3 of the franchise’s other prequel show, House of the Dragon, dropped, exciting us for another return to Westeros in a different time and place.

When we last left this show, the Dance of the Dragons was poised to explode. With Alicent Hightower and the Greens desperately clinging onto the throne and Rhaenyra fighting to take back what is rightfully hers, the tug-of-war has already cost plenty of lives, and so much more carnage is still to come.

We know the key figures from Season 2 will be back for the next instalment, while a few new faces will be joining the House of the Dragon cast for Season 3. With all that in mind, here’s all you need to know about the actors bringing these complex characters to life.

The Main Players in the House of the Dragon Season 3 Cast

Emma D’Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen

Emma D’Arcy hadn’t done much in the industry before landing this career-changing role as the heir to the Iron Throne, Rhaenyra Targaryen. Fairly prominent supporting roles in TV shows Wanderlust and Truth Seekers are certainly worth a mention, though. D’Arcy performed alongside Toni Collette in the former and Nick Frost in the latter.

There is one exciting project on the horizon for D’Arcy, too. They are appearing in the upcoming Alejandro G. Iñárritu movie, Digger. It’s a currently unknown role for D’Arcy, but we know they’ll be rubbing shoulders with the likes of Tom Cruise, Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, and Sandra Hüller in what could be one of the most interesting projects of 2026.

Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen

From one performer who hasn’t really forged much of a career yet to another who has absolutely dominated for the last decade: Matt Smith is a bona fide star. Before playing the nefarious Daemon Targaryen, the British actor made his name when he took on the iconic role of the Doctor in Doctor Who.

That took up a good few years, but since then, Smith has been in gritty indie movies like Lost River and His House, as well as appearing in franchise blockbusters like Terminator: Genisys and Morbius – though the less said about those two, the better… More positively, he’s also had the privilege of working with acclaimed filmmakers like Edgar Wright and Darren Aronofsky on Last Night in Soho and Caught Stealing, while also finding time to star as Prince Philip in The Crown.

Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower

For me, Olivia Cooke is the best actor in the House of the Dragon cast. Not only is she fantastic as the emotionally conflicted Alicent Hightower in this show, but she’s also displayed outstanding range across her career in several very different roles outside of the world of Thrones. For a start, you should check out her breakthrough in 2015’s Me, Earl and the Dying Girl – it’s a really sweet, sad young adult dramedy, and the first time I really paid attention to Cooke.

From there, she’s taken on much darker roles in films like Thoroughbreds, Sound of Metal, and the TV show The Girlfriend. But that doesn’t mean she’s stopped having fun with her work. Cooke also had a big role in Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One and featured in the hit Apple TV show, Slow Horses. One underrated gem she’s also been in is a film called Little Fish, where she and Jack O’Connell played a young couple destined for tragedy.

Ewan Mitchell as Aemond Targaryen

Giving Daemon Targaryen a run for his money as the nastiest man in Westeros, Ewan Mitchell has seen his career skyrocket since appearing as Aemond Targaryen in House of the Dragon. However, he’d done some really interesting work before this, and has so much potential for more, too.

You may have seen Mitchell in the Robert Pattinson-led, dark sci-fi thriller, High Life. More likely – especially if you’re a fan of Thrones anyway – is that you’ll recognise him from another historical epic TV show, The Last Kingdom. Since catching the eye as Aemond, Mitchell has collaborated with Emerald Fennell twice – first in the divisive Saltburn, and then more recently in a supporting role in the even more controversial “Wuthering Heights”.

Tom Glynn-Carney as Aegon II Targaryen

He may be the current king, but Aegon II has largely been pushed out of the spotlight by his mean-spirited brother. However, in real life, actor Tom Glynn-Carney has been in a handful of really great movies, which is the least he deserves given he’s such an impressive actor.

Very early on in his career, Glynn-Carney bagged a role in Christopher Nolan’s war movie, Dunkirk, where he played Peter, who you may remember being on that little boat with Mark Rylance and Barry Keoghan, wearing a lovely turtleneck jumper. He’s clearly got a thing for period pictures, having also popped up in Tolkien, The Book of Clarence, and the Netflix movie The King, where, ironically, he was very much against the ruler of the kingdom.

Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower

We round out the main cast of House of the Dragon with a man who really needs no introduction. Rhys Ifans has been in film and television since the early ‘90s and has now amassed over 80 credits. He really came to prominence around the turn of the millennium, though, appearing in the rom-com Notting Hill, the hilarious Kevin & Perry Go Large as Eyeball Paul, and in the Adam Sandler flick, Little Nicky.

After that, he really proved his range, going from the period drama Vanity Fair, to the horror movie Hannibal Rising, to the sci-fi flick Mr Nobody, and the family movie Nanny McPhee Returns. There’s really nothing this guy can’t do, whether it’s playing a man-lizard hybrid in The Amazing Spider-Man or doing his best Russian accent in The King’s Man. He’s an actor who always seems to throw himself into a role, and none more so than when he’s playing the scheming Otto Hightower.

Other Returning Cast Members for House of the Dragon Season 3

Outside of the main players, there are a whole host of familiar faces returning for the action once again. Judging by the trailer, Steve Toussaint appears to be taking on a more important role as Lord Corlys, but he’s had quite the small-screen run before this, appearing in the likes of It’s a Sin, Small Axe, and Before We Die.

We’ll also get more of Fabien Frankel as Ser Criston Cole, Matthew Needham as the sneaky Larys Strong, and Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria. The latter has been in a lot of brilliant films and TV shows – she’s a frequent collaborator of Alex Garland’s, having appeared in Ex Machina and Annihilation, as well as bit-part roles in La La Land and Beauty and the Beast.

Young actors Harry Collett, Phia Saban, Bethany Antonia and Phoebe Campbell will all return to play Jacaerys Velaryon, Helaena Targaryen, and Targaryen sisters Baela and Rhaena.

New Faces in the House of the Dragon Season 3 Cast

As any good show should, House of the Dragon will also keep things moving forward with a bunch of new characters and actors joining this season. 

James Norton, who you’ll recognise from Little Women, is playing Ormund Hightower. Meanwhile, Dan Fogler, who had a key role in the Fantastic Beasts movies, is on board as Ser Torrhen Manderly.

We’ll also see screen stalwart Tommy Flanagan join the cast as Ser Roderick Dustin. You’ll almost certainly have seen him in something before, with key roles in the likes of Sons of Anarchy, Power Book IV: Force, and supporting roles in big screen classics like Braveheart, Gladiator, Face/Off, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

Other new actors involved include Annie Shapero, Tom Cullen, Barry Sloane, and Joplin Sibtain, who was absolutely excellent as Brasso in Andor.

House of the Dragon returns in June 2026. You can watch it on Sky Atlantic or with a Now TV subscription.

We’re all for movies pushing boundaries and doing something fresh and exciting – it’s what makes the film industry so special. However, we can’t pretend it’s not fun when filmmakers really lean into those genre-defining stereotypes that just won’t go away.

People might grumble about clichés, but they are used time and time again for a simple reason: because they work. Indeed, you’d be hard-pressed to find a single great, good, or bad horror movie that doesn’t utilise those motifs and plot devices we’ve seen countless times.

Truth is, we wouldn’t have it any other way. We love the ridiculous horror movie tropes, and the rare times they’re pulled off as well as they are in the films we’ve listed below, we always will.

1. Evil Doubles: Possession (1981), Us (2019)

The only thing more terrifying than ghosts and monsters is seeing a twisted and uncanny version of ourselves reflected at us. And no, I’m not talking about the deep, philosophical kind of self-reflection; I mean genuinely evil doppelgängers coming to get us.

In 1981, this phenomenon took centre stage in Possession, a wild psychological horror thriller from director Andrzej Żuławski. It’s been a couple of years since I first watched this bizarre and unsettling flick, yet I can still remember it so vividly. The mystique around Isabelle Adjani’s dual role in that film is scintillating stuff; the kind of performance that gets under your skin and leaves a lasting impression. It’s on Prime Video now, so dive into the madness if you dare.

More recently, we had the unbridled joy of seeing malignant doubles in Jordan Peele’s sophomore hit, Us. I wasn’t so keen on this film when I first watched it; it certainly didn’t grip me the way Get Out immediately did. But with each rewatch, the rich thematic layers in Us reveal themselves brilliantly. It’s a far more aggressive and visceral approach to the whole ‘evil version of yourself’ trope, and one which makes for a truly thrilling ride.

2. Mothers Are the Root of All Evil: Psycho (1960), Hereditary (2018)

Most people love their mothers. But in horror movies, that maternal adoration can go a bit too far. The classic example of this is Alfred Hitchcock’s sublime Psycho. The 1960 film is a staple of the horror genre and influenced so many others – from the iconic shower scene, to the shocking plot twists, and of course, the theme of the matriarch’s obsessive hold on her son. Problematic as that relationship may be, it gives us one of the greatest endings of any horror movie.

The destructive mother trope goes in the complete opposite direction in Ari Aster’s Hereditary, though. The problem there is, Annie – played with ferocity by Toni Collette – doesn’t feel respected or loved by her kids at all. Granted, her perception is somewhat skewed by the whole demonic possession thing going on in the background…

3. Why Would You Go in There?: The Descent (2005), The Blair Witch Project (1999)

One of the most infuriating yet weirdly satisfying horror movie tropes is the moment a character enters a situation that we, the viewers, can see is a disaster waiting to happen. Take The Descent, for example. Even without the horrifying reveal that comes later in the film, the idea of cavediving and crawling through tight spaces in the dark is just ludicrous. The less said the better about this one, as I would hate to spoil the big horror moment; just get yourself signed up to BFI Player and watch one of the most bone-chillingly scary movies of the 21st century unfold.

There are countless haunted house movies where we scream at the screen, “Don’t go in there!” The same also applies to something like The Blair Witch Project. It makes no sense for that group of young students to venture into the creepy woods, and yet they do it all the same. We all know something horrible will happen, but isn’t that what makes horror movies so exciting?

4. Playing With Cursed Objects: The Evil Dead (1981), Talk to Me (2023)

Reckless decisions don’t just come in the form of going into spooky places; we also see horror movie characters messing with items they really shouldn’t. Most folk, if they stumbled across a mysterious book that looked like it was made out of skin, would leave it be. Heck, we’d all probably run a mile and never look back. But for some reason, the kids in The Evil Dead think it’s a good idea to not only open up the Necronomicon, but to read out its incantations and unleash the hellish Deadites. I’m not a big fan of Sam Raimi’s cult classic – it’s a little too rough around the edges for my liking – but there’s no denying it’s the prime example of this delightfully dark horror trope.

In recent years, another fantastic, very unique version of this trope features in the Philippou brothers’ superbly sinister Talk To Me. If you’re averse to graphic and grotesque imagery, then I recommend you avoid this one. But, if you’re into movies like Oddity, The Ring, and Hellraiser, you’ll love seeing Mia and her friends tap into the supernatural as they connect with spirits via their new bodily party trick. You can catch it on Netflix right now, so it’s really easy to access.

5. Final Girls: Scream (1996), Ready or Not (2019)

Perhaps the most famous and successful horror movie trope of all time is the final girl. As much as we love a nefarious villain, we need to see them get their comeuppance. That means we need a survivor, and since the 1970s, horror filmmakers have leaned into the idea of flipping the old stereotype of the damsel in distress to give us a last girl standing that we can root for. 

While the original final girl was arguably Sally Hardesty in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the most famous is undoubtedly Laurie Strode, Wes Craven really helped this archetype evolve in the ‘90s with Sidney Prescott in Scream. Over the course of the series, she grows so much as a character to become a truly resilient and resourceful protagonist. Most importantly, she never lets villain Ghostface’s actions define her.

One of my personal favourite final girls is Grace MacCaulley, played by Samara Weaving in Ready or Not. What’s really special about her is that her wedding night, a moment when she should be at her happiest, descends into absolute terror. But she survives the chaos in the most surprising and gratifying fashion. You can watch Ready or Not on Disney+, and now that I’ve raved about it, I think I’ll be joining you!

6. Creepy Kids: The Omen (1976), The Shining (1980)

We’ve already covered devilish doppelgängers, meddlesome mothers, and inanimate objects causing chaos, but is there anything scarier than a child? Sure, some of them are cute. But hey, I’m a parent, I know how frightening the little things can be! 

Probably the most iconic depiction of this horror trope comes in The Omen, where young Damien causes all kinds of problems after the Thorn family adopts him. This movie not only features one of the most nightmare-inducing children in movie history, but it also gives us one of the most shocking death scenes in any horror film.

If one scary kid isn’t enough, you could double your money with Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. There are plenty of creepy ghosts in the haunted hallways of the Overlook Hotel, but it’s the Grady twins who have stood the test of time. What happens to them as young Danny Torrance watches on is horrible, but it’s their eerie voices as they try to lure him in that really sets your hair on end. For my money, this is the greatest horror movie of all time. Give it a watch on Now TV Cinema and tell me I’m wrong.

7. Invincible Killers: Halloween (1979), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Where would the horror genre be if it weren’t for slasher movies? We’ve already talked about how important it is to have a top-tier villain at the heart of any horror film, and the most enduring of them all have overcome some incredible – and frankly unbelievable circumstances – to keep driving huge franchises.

Michael Myers in Halloween, for example, has 13 movies to his name now. Throughout that time, he’s survived gunshots, fires, falls, stabbings, attacks by angry mobs, and has even been frozen solid. And if you thought he was invincible, Freddy Krueger is already dead before A Nightmare on Elm Street even begins. This gives him a huge advantage, in that he generally exists in the dream world and cannot be killed (or re-killed) there. A purely supernatural being, Freddy is never truly gone for long.

While their constant returns are predictable, if these formidable foes had been killed off straight away, we would never have gotten guilty pleasures like Halloween H20 and the brilliantly subversive Wes Craven's New Nightmare.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze will be celebrating its 35th anniversary soon. But one thing you’ve probably forgotten is Sausagegate.

Indeed, the movie, which received mixed reviews from critics, was actually censored in the UK because the character Michelangelo used sausages as makeshift nunchucks. No, we aren’t kidding. As ridiculous as it sounds, this actually did happen. 

Why Were Sausages Censored In TMNT II: The Secret of the Ooze?

This censorship was implemented by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), which claimed that the scene should be cut in case “streetwise eight-year-olds” viewed the sausages as weapons. 

Great Big Story reports that while the scene was allowed to remain after the movie’s distributor insisted that it “involved sausages not sticks,” James Ferman, the BBFC director at the time, remained concerned that this use of sausages glamourised the use of weaponry. So, in his cutting list, he ordered that this scene be “reduced.”

“After turtle takes down sausages and uses them as a flail,” he wrote. “Reduce to a minimum dazzling display of swinging sausages indistinguishable from chainsticks.”

The UK’s Crackdown on Violent Films in the 1980s & 1990s

Back in 1982, there was a moral panic about violence in film — especially when it came to certain horror movies. Imported VCRs of European and American horror films began to proliferate in what The Independent called an “unregulated rental market,” with the outlet noting how these films were dubbed “video nasties” by The Sunday Times in a 1982 article entitled: ‘How high street horror is invading the home.’ The name stuck. 

The following year, the Director of Public Prosecutions drew up a list of 72 of these films that potentially violated the Obscene Publications Act, and the year after that, the UK introduced the Video Recordings Act (1984). According to The Independent, this law gave statutory power to the BBFC. It made it illegal for people to sell or distribute films that the Board hadn’t classified or examined. 

Tribune Magazine details that the rise of “video nasties” led to “renewed concern” over ninja-style weapons and their portrayal in popular media. This concern had actually been around before all the “video nasty” drama, with the outlet pointing out that when Bruce Lee’s Enter The Dragon was re-released in 1979, BBFC Secretary James Ferman requested that scenes containing nunchucks be removed. 

But in an age defined by various moral panics, this pathological fear of everything ninja was hugely amplified by the mid ‘80s. So new guidelines were issued prohibiting the sale of martial arts to minors in 1986.

Two years later, numerous martial art-type weapons were banned under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) Order 1988. While nunchucks weren’t explicitly banned under this law, they remained heavily censored.

Even the word “ninja” was considered problematic under this age of moral panic. When the BBC bought the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series in the ‘90s, The Washington Post reported that the UK TV giant renamed the show Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles. Den of Geek also notes that the theme song and opening sequence of the series were dramatically altered to remove all traces of ninjas, and that the BBC painstakingly removed every mention of the word “ninja” in the series. As well as this, Michelangelo, whose primary weapon was nunchucks, was heavily cut from the show. 

This censorship also impacted the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie (1990), with Den of Geek highlighting how one minute and 51 seconds of footage — primarily of Michelangelo using his trusty nunchucks — was cut. However, confusingly, the word “ninja” in the title was allowed to stay. Adding to this confusion, the movie’s soundtrack song, ‘Turtle Power’ reportedly removed all mentions of the word “ninja” and replaced it with “hero.”

That leads us back to The Secret of the Ooze, which has gone down in history as one of the most pathetic attempts at censorship of all time. 

The Weirdest Examples of Movie Censorship, Worldwide

This is far from an isolated incident. There've been plenty of other frankly bizarre censorship decisions made across film. 

In 2018, live-action Winnie the Pooh spin-off Christopher Robin was banned in China because internet users couldn’t stop making memes comparing Pooh to President Xi Jinping. Years before, in Scandinavia, under-11s were restricted from watching E.T. because it portrayed “adults as enemies of children.”

Meanwhile, Iran banned Zoolander for “homosexual themes” even though the film didn’t actually have any — the idea of flamboyant male models was enough in and of itself to elicit a ban, which, to say the least, is more than a little homophobic. Zoolander was also banned in countries like Malaysia because assassinating the Malaysian Prime Minister is a major theme — but that’s a little less surprising. 

Over in Myanmar, The Simpsons Movie was banned because of its prominent use of the colour yellow (obviously). For the country, this was problematic because yellow, along with the colour red, heavily features in the National League for Democracy flag, so there were fears that it might incite rebellion. Films with a lot of yellow and red in general were banned in Myanmar for this reason. So, more than a little outlandish, but I suppose Spider-Pig would probably make a cracking revolutionary icon. 

Wes Craven first attempted the post-modern horror movie with his A Nightmare on Elm Street movie, New Nightmare. Although a great film, its 1994 release was a tad too early for audiences to embrace. Undeterred, Craven continued to explore the idea of a self-referential genre movie, and after linking up with Dawson’s Creek creator Kevin Williamson, found the magic formula: Scream was unleashed into the world in 1996; now, 30 years later, comes the seventh movie in the series, Scream 7. 

The marketing for Scream 7 has embraced the idea that it will be the final film in the popular franchise. Posters and trailers alike have been pinned to the concept of burning it all down, a clear nod to the series cleaning house and putting the Ghostface saga to an end once and for all. Scream 7 has been clever, however, to not brandish itself with a ‘the final chapter’ subheading, conveniently leaving the door open for yet more films should this seventh adventure prove popular. 

Although even if it did, let's face it, having a movie in your horror franchise titled ‘Final Chapter’ never actually means it. Jigsaw, Jason Voorhees, and Freddy Krueger all happily returned after their own ‘final’ instalments. But having been around for three decades, now seems like the perfect time to end the Scream series, even if it probably won’t be.

Why Now is the Perfect Time to End the Scream Franchise

From the point of view of keeping things nice and neat, there is something appealing about ending the series during the original's 30th anniversary year. Thirty years is a massive landmark, and with plenty of other slashers such as Terrifier waiting in the wings, now would be a perfect time for Ghostface to step down. But there are far more reasons why Scream 7 should be the final chapter. 

One big component that makes now feel like the right time to draw a line in the sand is the return of original writer Kevin Williamson. The last time that Williamson wrote a Scream script was Scream 4, and so his return as scribe is a big deal. Not only is Williamson on hand as writer, but he also serves as the film’s director. With the passing of Wes Craven in 2015, having Williamson at the helm is as close to the original creative team as we can get, and who better to close out the series than a man who was integral to its creation? That Williamson is in the director’s chair at all points to something big, as although having written and created many films and TV shows, he only has one other directing credit to his name, and that was for Teaching Mrs Tingle way back in 1999. 

Williamson is not the only person from the original to make a return; Neve Campbell is back, too. Having sat out of Scream VI, Campbell returns as Sidney Prescott for what surely has to be one last time. Having played Sidney now in six movies, Campbell is rivalling Jamie Lee Curtis for having played the final girl the most times within her franchise. Curtis has played Laurie Strode across seven different Halloween movies, meaning that she still retains that crown, although the Halloween movies have less direct continuity than the Scream movies. Bringing Sidney back feels like the perfect opportunity to close her story off once and for all. The character has had peace teased several times within the series, and how much can one woman be expected to endure before she is left alone? 

Helping Sidney once again is intrepid reporter Gale Weathers, but there is another original cast member returning who seemingly underpins the demise of Scream. Matthew Lillard famously played Stu Macher, one of the original Ghostface killers in Scream, and when his return was announced, the internet almost broke. For years, fans have been theorising that Macher somehow survived the blunt head trauma of a television to the face, and the announcement appeared to prove them right. His return to the series might not be as clear-cut as many are expecting, but his inclusion, like the return of Williamson and Campbell, brings everything full circle. Watching Sidney face down with Stu after having exorcised her demons with Billy Loomis in the 2022 Scream would be a solid conclusion to her story. Any attempts to unpick the story thereafter would weaken the character. 

The final reason why now is the perfect time to end the Scream series is that, as a seven-film franchise, Scream is really pushing its luck. For most horror franchises, there are diminishing returns right from the sequel; what worked well in the original often fails to translate to a second go around. Even those that do manage a strong sequel typically fall in quality quickly, and horror franchises are littered with casualties and inconsistencies. 

In contrast, up to now, there has not been a terrible Scream movie. Granted, there remain people who are anti-Scream 3 and Scream 4, but objectively, when compared to the other horror film series around, the quality of these two movies is vastly superior. This trend, however, cannot realistically continue, and it would be wise for the series to bow out before the bubble bursts. It is far better to go out on a high note than to needlessly string something along. 

Why Scream 7 Won’t Be the End

As much as Scream 7 should mark the end of the franchise, it almost certainly won’t. From a financial perspective, the Scream movies make money. Scream is one of the few horror franchises in which all of its entries have garnered a cinema release, and they always perform well, with audiences repeatedly happy to flock to the big screen to watch Ghostface hack through a fresh batch of fodder. 

This makes the property profitable, and it wouldn’t make good business sense to shelve a product that makes money. Presales for Scream 7 tracked exceptionally well, and should it perform well at the box office, an eighth film is almost inevitable. 

If an eighth movie happens, Scream 7 should at least mark the end of Sidney's involvement. The film ties up the character’s arc in a way that doesn’t warrant any further exploration, and in many ways is the story that the first requel should have been. Instead of introducing a new crop of characters and final girl in the guise of Sam Carpenter, only to then shoehorn Sidney into the plot as they did, Scream 7 makes more sense as a passing of the torch. 

Here, the baton is passed along to Sidney’s daughter, Tatum. The events of Scream 7 perfectly set her up to become the new face of the franchise, and should an eighth film be greenlit, Tatum should be the character the franchise continues with. That being said, some clever work would still be required to prevent trapping Tatum in the same trauma cycle as her mother. 

Other Horror Movie Franchises Waiting in the Wings

Ghostface has held court within the horror genre for three decades, and whilst that is commendable, there are plenty of other franchises waiting in the wings. 2025 saw the return of I Know What You Did Last Summer, a requel to the 1997 movie of the same name. The original I Know What You Did Last Summer – also written by Kevin Williamson – was the first in a slew of movies to try to replicate the Scream formula, and its return suggests history is trying to repeat itself. That movie ended with the original heroine, Julie James, enlisting the help of Brandy’s Karla Wilson for a mysterious quest, one that could make for a fun continuation to that story. 

For some, Ghostface and the Scream movies are past their prime and have instead found themselves under the spell of Art the Clown. The silent character is the antagonist in the Terrifier series, but you will need a strong stomach to last through any of the films. Directed by Damien Leone, the soon-to-be four-film franchise has a well-earned reputation for its graphic sequences of gore. The Terrifier movies are not as easily accessible as the Scream series, but die-hard horror fans will find plenty of silliness and bloodshed to keep them happy. 

Finally, if you’re after films that embrace Scream’s fun side, you should definitely seek out the Ready or Not movies. There is direct connective tissue between the two franchises, with directing duo Radio Silence having directed the fifth and sixth Scream films. Scream 6 star Samara Weaving also plays the lead in both Ready or Not and the forthcoming sequel, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. Plot details remain under wraps for the sequel, but the first film finds a bride receiving more than she bargained for when she agrees to play a game of hide-and-seek with her new in-laws. Cue lots of tongue-in-cheek humour and exaggerated violence as she battles to survive the night, not unlike the iconic Sidney Prescott.  

If you thought you already had enough streaming service subscriptions, think again: HBO Max is coming to the UK very soon, and it might just end up being a game-changer.

On March 26, folks who subscribe to the HBO Max service will get access to a whole bunch of US TV shows that were previously either restricted to Sky Atlantic or occasionally other services for a limited time, or were simply not available in this country at all.

There’s also a wide range of Warner Bros. movies that’ll flesh out the platform, plus live sports, and a bunch of other content that will be exclusive to HBO Max. So, what’s coming to the UK’s newest major streaming service, and is it really worth signing up for?

New & Old Classic TV Shows That Will Be HBO Max Exclusives

If you want a really short answer to that question, I’ll tell you this: HBO is the undisputed home of some of the best TV shows of all time.

Having HBO Max in your life will mean you get unrestricted access to classics like The Sopranos and The Wire. If you were putting together a Mount Rushmore of TV series, it’s very likely these two crime dramas would be on there. Gritty ‘00s series The Wire keeps things fresh by focusing on different criminal enterprises each season; The Sopranos is a masterclass in character work, with the late James Gandolfini embodying the troubled mafia boss, Tony Soprano, perfectly.

The HBO hit machine has continued to produce impeccable content for the small screen in recent years, too. Obviously, Game of Thrones is ideal for fans of historical fantasy, and with ongoing spin-offs like House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms to explore, you could get lost in this world for months.

For those who love trying to solve crime mysteries, there’s True Detective. The first season of that show, starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, is, for me, the greatest single season of television ever made. It’s as stylish as it is shocking, with gruesome murders, epic camerawork, and world-class performances from its leading men.

Another top drawer TV show, Succession, will be on HBO Max, too. While some series can lose steam and fall at the final hurdle, Succession is one that never drops its standards – every single episode is flawless. If it’s family drama, high-stakes, and jaw-dropping plot twists you’re after, get stuck into this.

Or, for something far lighter, you’ll always be able to find some Friends on HBO Max. Unfortunately, I don’t think this streaming service can offer you real-life buddies, but it can keep you entertained with the sitcom that defined a whole generation. With 236 episodes, you’ll be able to comfort-watch to your heart’s content… And then binge it all over again.

The Biggest Shows Coming to HBO Max in 2026

It’s not just the HBO archives that you’ll benefit from. In 2026 alone, there are going to be some huge, ongoing and brand-new TV shows that are sure to become your next obsession.

For a start, I’m sure I’m not alone in being very envious of those in America who have been able to watch The Pitt each week. The hospital drama got audiences hooked from its first few episodes, winning plenty of awards, and now you’ll be able to watch it from the very beginning, plus new episodes airing weekly from March.

There’s also the long-awaited return of Euphoria to look forward to. After two intense seasons of teen drama, sexual antics, and hedonistic behaviour, the whole thing was put on hold for quite some time. In the interim, Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, and Jacob Elordi have absolutely dominated the big screen, but they’re all back for one last chaotic adventure in April.

Beyond that, there’s the upcoming Harry Potter TV series, which will be eagerly awaited by anyone who’s a fan of the Wizarding World. Or, if you prefer superheroes, you will probably have DC’s Lanterns on your watchlist already. Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre playing intergalactic cops Hal Jordan and John Stewart sounds like a winning formula if I’ve ever heard one.

Film & Franchise Highlights From the Warner Bros. Library

It goes without saying that Warner Bros. has produced some all-time movie greats over the years. With HBO Max UK, that whole back catalogue will finally be in one place rather than spread over various platforms. Now, there’ll be such a wide range of options in front of you that the only problem you’ll have is deciding which to watch first. 

You could go for a standard romantic movie like The Notebook, or a more unorthodox love story like Her. For action, Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt’s Edge of Tomorrow is a high-octane thrill ride, or add a sci-fi twist with the classic Ridley Scott movie, Blade Runner. If you’re feeling really brave, you could try some iconic horror, like The Exorcist. (Don’t worry, you can still log it on Letterboxd even if you watch it with your hands over your eyes.)

There will also be epic fantasy franchises to dive into. The obvious pick is Dune, especially with the third movie on the way later this year. The visuals and technical elements of these Denis Villeneuve flicks are quite literally out of this world, while Timothée Chalamet is absolutely captivating as the problematic protagonist, Paul Atreides.

Fantasy aficionados will surely relish watching (and rewatching) The Lord of the Rings trilogy, while for something weirder and wilder, you could rev up Mad Max: Fury Road and the rest of the George Miller saga.

You’ll also find every DC superhero movie, new and old. Going back to Zack Snyder’s era could be fun, but if you’re thinking more about the future, starting with James Gunn’s 2025 Superman would be a logical choice.

Speaking of more recent hits, you’d be crazy not to sink your teeth into Sinners. Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler teamed up once again for this period vampire movie, which is an absolute treat for all the senses. With sublime visuals, an engrossing and visceral story, and soul-shaking music, it’s no wonder this film has gotten so much love from the Academy this year.

Major Sports Tournaments Coming to HBO Max

If all of that wasn’t enough, and you want to take a step back into the real world, HBO Max will also serve up plenty of live sports throughout the year. It’ll cost £30.99 per month to add this package to your plan, which is the same as the current price for a TNT Sports package.

Football fans will get access to Premier League matches, as well as FA Cup action in both the men’s and women’s games, plus fixtures from across Europe, including the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League.

It may be the most popular sport in the world, but football isn’t for everyone. That’s fine, though, as HBO Max will also offer every single Gallagher PREM Rugby match, live coverage of the Australian Open and the French Open in tennis, and more than 1,000 cycling events, including the Tour de France.

Still not impressed? There will also be snooker and Moto GP. Or, if you want to plan even further ahead, the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles are on HBO Max UK’s schedule, too.

Is an HBO Max Subscription Worth Your Money in 2026?

With all that content included in your HBO Max subscription, and so much more, this is a streaming service you have to consider adding to your roster.

As a bonus, it’s also very affordable. The basic package will cost only £4.99 a month, which includes ads, but you will be able play content on two different devices. In comparison, Netflix’s basic package with ads costs £5.99, so you'd be saving a quid there, even if Netflix may offer more variety in its roughly 8,000 titles from multiple sources beyond HBO and Warner Bros.

Price plans for HBO Max vary from there, with a £5.99 option that offers an extra 30 downloads, a £9.99 package that removes ads, and a premium plan that allows you to expand to four devices, plus the ability to stream in 4K with Dolby Atmos.

You can find out more about the various options available and how to sign up to HBO Max UK here.

If Elvis Presley were alive today, he would’ve just turned 91-years-old. If you consider that someone like June Squibb is still performing on Broadway these days, at a sprightly 96, it really does put into perspective just how much we lost with his untimely passing. Still, with the time he had, Presley left an almighty legacy in the world of music and, to a lesser extent, the world of cinema—a place where he continues to inspire all kinds of filmmakers to this day.

In 2022, while gathering footage for his biopic, Elvis, Baz Luhrmann discovered a treasure trove of 35mm film consisting of outtakes from two classic Elvis documentaries, as well as footage of a legendary “gold jacket” performance from Hawaii in 1957. After painstakingly sourcing the audio from that concert, the film is now being released as EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, which promises fans a transportive experience, much like the one that Peter Jackson offered with The Beatles: Get Back in 2021.

With all that in mind, it feels like as good a time as any to round up Elvis’ ten essential movies. In the list below, arranged in release order, you’ll find films that Presley starred in, documentaries and movies about him, and even a few that were inspired by his mythology. Read on to discover more and use the guide below to find them on services like AppleTV, Netflix, Prime Video and elsewhere. 

1. Love Me Tender (1956)

Elvis’ big screen debut is always going to be an essential watch. It came thanks to a supporting role in Robert D. Webb’s Love Me Tender, a tragic Western romance that focused on a love triangle between a girl and two brothers—one who goes to war and the other (Presley) who stays at home. Elvis had idolised James Dean growing up, so it was fitting that his first movie would be released on the same day as Dean’s swansong, Giant.Elvis landed the part just after Jailhouse Rock began its run at Number one on the charts, prompting record numbers of presales for his follow-up single, Love Me Tender, and led to the studio using it as the title of his debut film.

2. Jailhouse Rock (1957)

Jailhouse Rock is an essential Elvis watch if you want to see The King at the height of his early fame and in his absolute pomp. The musical movie was basically retrofitted around the titular song, with a plot about a prison inmate (Presley) who learns to play the guitar and becomes a star after being released.

Jailhouse Rock was made at MGM as one of the last of director Richard Thorpe’s 190 movies. If you’re a fan of '50s nostalgia movies like Grease, you’ll probably enjoy it. 

3. King Creole (1958)

Given all he did for the world of music, fans of Elvis have often overlooked how good an actor he was—at least whenever he had the opportunity to show it. King Creole was one of those occasions—a Michael Curtiz (Casablanca, Mildred Pierce) classic about a teenager who gets mixed up in the wrong crowd.

If you’re a fan of Hollywood movies from that era that focused on troubled youths, like Rebel Without a Cause, this is one you need to see.

4. Blue Hawaii (1961)

By all accounts, Elvis’ dream was to make movies like King Creole, but due to pressure from the studios and his manager, he ended up leaning into his stardom with a series of feel-good musicals and romantic romps with titles like Fun in Acapulco and Girls, Girls, Girls. 

One of the earliest and best of these is Blue Hawaii, a story about a young army veteran named Chad who goes to work on the beach in Hawaii. You can probably guess the vibe.

5. Viva Las Vegas (1964)

A year after having a surprise hit with Bye Bye Birdie, George Sidney returned with the Elvis classic, Viva Las Vegas, another flashy, romantic musical in which Presley plays a race car driver who’s about to compete in the Nevada city’s first Grand Prix.

Naturally, Elvis provided the songs, including the now timeless title track, which quickly became the gambling town's unofficial anthem.

6. Elvis on Tour (1972)

Elvis on Tour is the first great Elvis documentary, and it features a ton of incredible footage from that time. It’s also the production that Baz Luhrmann has been drawing on for both of his Elvis movies for both footage and inspiration—so if you like their look and feel, this is one you could be particularly interested in seeing.

The King had appeared in the documentary That’s The Way it Is just a couple of years before, but Elvis on Tour proved to be a far more stylish production, with no less than Martin Scorsese coming on board to help out with the editing.

7. Heartbreak Hotel (1988)

After Presley died in 1977, the mythologising around him pretty much started immediately. This 1988 movie from Chris Columbus, titled Heartbreak Hotel, follows a young guy in 1972 who kidnaps Elvis to try and impress his girlfriend, but ends up learning some life lessons from the King in the process.

This was Columbus’s second film as director, so if you’re a fan of his later work on movies like Home Alone and Mrs Doubtfire, it’s well worth going back to check it out. 

8. Finding Graceland (1998)

Another theme you often see in Elvis movies after his death was the wishful theory that Presley was still alive somewhere. In Finding Graceland, a 1998 film from David Winkler, the King appears in the form of a drifter who hitches a ride with an Elvis fan as he makes a pilgrimage to the Presley home in Memphis.

It’s a goofy and nostalgic movie that features a soulful performance from Harvey Keitel (Mean Streets, Pulp Fiction) as you know who. 

9. Elvis (2022)

The first thing most people remember about Baz Luhrmann’s bombastic biopic, Elvis, is that the film’s star, Austin Butler, had a hard time losing the accent. If you can forgive the young man for that (and look past Tom Hank’s unhinged performance as his manager, the Colonel), this movie is actually a blast. 

In many ways, it’s your standard musical biopic, but it comes with that unique Luhrmann flavour. If you appreciate movies like Moulin Rouge! and Romeo + Juliet, it’s well worth seeing. At its best, it’s just as dazzling.

10. Priscilla (2023)

The most recent Elvis movie to break through was Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, a film told from the perspective of Presley’s first wife, who came into the King’s orbit when she was just 14. Told with Coppola’s signature blend of style, texture, melancholy and modern music (think movies like Marie Antoinette and Lost in Translation), Priscilla is the perfect bit of counterprogramming for any Elvis movie marathon.

The film is also known for introducing Cailee Spaeny to the world, who gives a wonderful performance as the young Priscilla, but it also features a great Jacob Elordi performance as the man behind her. 

My nan will hate me for saying this, but she absolutely loved Cliff Richard — to the point that I distinctly remember watching VHS tapes of his various exploits growing up (my favourite, obviously, was Summer Holiday). 

But I think even she can’t get him out of this one. With Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” surprising, delighting, and downright traumatising audiences, one of our Cliff’s lesser-known hits has scrambled its way to the surface. I am talking, of course, about Heathcliff — the 1996 musical starring Richard as the titular character.

Serving Face on the Moors: 1996’s ‘Heathcliff’ with Cliff Richard

The production, which even tapped in the likes of Tim Rice and John Farrar for the musical side of things, tried to boldly go where no Wuthering Heights adaptation had gone before – reportedly filling in some of the gaps of Heathcliff’s backstory in chronological order. Needless to say, there was serious artistic license taken with this story, with multiple scenes including (Heath)Cliff on a boat (?), clutching onto a rope for dear life while being blasted by a wind machine, yelling to Cathy in a downright diabolical Yorkshire accent.

Other notable scenes include Cathy’s father dropping like a fly after slapping her, some masked hairy monster-looking things surrounding Heathcliff as they leap around on-stage, Cliff’s peculiar delivery of the line “I’ll be as dirty as I please,” and his voice literally cracking as he clings to the clump of rock representing Cathy’s grave, howling that he “cannot live without [his] sooooooooul.”

A compilation clip of the musical’s VHS release on YouTube also suggests that fans were treated to scenes of Heathcliff lurking around the moors, serving face — because you can’t have Wuthering Heights without the moors, right? Adding another layer to this hidden gem is the fact that, according to Gold Radio, all the dialogue from the show was actually directly from the novel — although it was transposed here and there to fit the musical. 

While an attempt was made with the outfits, nothing compares to the makeup Cliff is wearing in this production. I’m no expert on the 1700s or 1800s, but I’m pretty sure that thick fake tan, eyeliner and a seemingly drawn-on beard weren’t a thing back then. And sure, stage makeup is meant to be intense, but when one character is practically glowing, it takes you out of the immersion a little bit. 

Critics and Fans Were Just as Divided on this Version as Emerald Fennell’s

But don’t get me wrong — there’s no hatred here toward Heathcliff, just pure astonishment at how unhinged it all is. At the time, it might not have surprised you to learn that it was critically panned. But rather than shy away from the media storm, the people behind Heathcliff actually quoted critics’ reviews in newspaper advertisements, with The Independent reporting that phrases like "This Wretched Show,” “It Was Like Watching The Pope Smoke Dope", "The Bad-Taste Theatre Event Of The Decade", and "Withering Rather Than Wuthering” were used. The best part? This was all Cliff’s idea.

However, these reviews didn’t stop the show from becoming an extraordinary success, with the ad also including a statement which read: “Every box-office record smashed. Half a million tickets and 320,000 Heathcliff albums sold.” 

Despite its divisiveness in the ‘90s, netizens in the YouTube comments agreed on one thing: it is absolutely hilarious. “I can't stop watching,” one wrote. “Please send help.”

“Emerald Fennell wishes she could produce quality like this,” another added. A third opined that “this masterpiece needs a 4K release,” while a fourth quipped: “Jacob Elordi, eat your heart out.”

In my opinion, this is a case of something that is so bad, it’s actually good. The sheer amount of campiness is almost unprecedented, and quite simply, whatever you think of Cliff Richard, you can’t deny that this is totally iconic. 

Thanks to her heartbreaking, utterly perfect performance in Hamnet earning her a Best Actress Oscar nomination, Jessie Buckley is finally getting the flowers she deserves in 2026. She’s in a fairly tough category this year, but given she’s already won the Critics’ Choice award and the Golden Globe for her role as Agnes Shakespeare, we wouldn’t bet against her bagging the big one.

Incredibly, Buckley is still a bit of an unknown entity. While well-appreciated by critics and film fans, she’s not quite a household name, or someone your average moviegoer would be totally familiar with, which is a travesty, to be honest. An impending Oscar win could change all that.

Until then, though, we’ve put together a list of the five key roles she’s blessed us with over the past few years. So, dive into her filmography with the list below, and hopefully you’ll agree with us on how much she deserves the Academy Award.

1. Beast (2018)

Aside from some TV work in the early 2010s, Buckley’s first real rise to any kind of prominence – albeit on the indie side of things – was in 2018’s Beast. It’s a fascinating little film from director Michael Pearce starring Johnny Flynn, and a great vehicle for Buckley’s talents. This was certainly the first movie I had ever seen her in, and I knew immediately that she was someone whose career I should keep a close eye on. 

The story, which sees Moll (Buckley) develop a problematic relationship with suspected serial killer Pascal (Flynn), feels almost Hitchcockian in tone, but far more raw and rough around the edges. Beast is great at lulling the audience into a false sense of security and making us root for the on-screen couple while always threatening to spill over into seedy, twisted territory. If you liked watching the dangerous dynamics evolve in films such as Drive or Enemy, you should give Beast a go.

2. Wild Rose (2019)

You might not know this, but Jessie Buckley has a phenomenal set of pipes, and she put them to great use in Wild Rose. As troubled but talented country singer Rose-Lynn Harlan, Buckley shines as she lets out her more playful side here. With a young family to raise but big ambitions to fulfil, there’s a fascinating dilemma for Rose-Lynn to solve. Regardless of which way she turns, though, this is a relentlessly charming underdog story that succeeds thanks to Buckley’s screen presence.

Just like American Honey or The Worst Person in the World, this is a movie that relies so heavily on the lead actress and the journey she takes us on. Thankfully, you can’t help but be captivated by the endless energy and authenticity of Buckley steering the ship. And as a bonus, the brilliant music is a real treat, too.

3. I’m Thinking of Ending Things (2020)

We go from the understated Beast and the unapologetically brash Wild Rose, to the downright crazy, surrealist vibes for I’m Thinking of Ending Things. Anyone who has seen the likes of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Being John Malkovich will be well aware of just how weird a Charlie Kaufman story can get, and this is no different.

Buckley is joined here by the equally fantastic Jesse Plemons for a road trip movie like no other. A violent snowstorm, bizarre in-laws, and a thought-provoking visit to a mysterious high school; I’m Thinking of Ending Things is a madcap adventure that will well and truly break your brain, but in a good way. Buckley delivers a reading of a poem in this film that has stuck with me ever since; it’s the foundation for one of her very best performances to date.

4. Men (2022)

I was tempted to talk about The Lost Daughter here, as Buckley actually nabbed an Oscar nomination for her supporting role in the 2021 film. However, I felt Alex Garland’s Men provides better insight into what the actress is capable of. Part folk horror, part mind-bending mystery, and part black comedy in places, Men is very much a one-woman show in which Buckley excels, showcasing her impeccable range and depth as an actress.

Harper (Buckley) is dealing with the fallout of a tragedy that destroyed her marriage and decides a country retreat will be the perfect tonic. However, when strange things start happening around her, she ventures down a rabbit hole she might not make it out of. If you love movies where all is not as it seems, like Mother! or Speak No Evil, you’ll be positively enraptured by this A24 picture. But, be warned, it’s highly divisive. When I went to a screening of this at the time, half of the audience left bemoaning the ending, while the other half (myself included) were dazzled by what Garland and Buckley cooked up.

5. Wicked Little Letters (2024)

Buckley and Olivia Colman teamed up again after The Lost Daughter to bring a more fun and lighthearted story to life here. Wicked Little Letters is a genuine laugh-out-loud comedy, with both actresses clearly having a riot putting this one together. Their chemistry and timing are tremendous, and it all feeds into what is a truly intriguing tale, too.

Much like The Favourite or Withnail & I, this is a period comedy that is not without its dark undertones, but it also has enough humorous profanity, slapstick moments, and smiling faces to make it a delightfully warm watch. I watched this with my fiancée, and she loved it, probably more so than I did, which is saying something. If you enjoyed what Buckley did in Hamnet but can’t bear something so bleak (and who could blame you?), this is the ideal tonic.

When you think of Star Wars, you probably picture blue and red lightsabers, cool cloaks, very fast spaceships and Stormtroopers being absolutely useless with their blasters. But away from the Jedi and the Sith and the endless struggle for peace in the galaxy, there is another common theme in these iconic movies.

They may be lurking in the background, not doing much. They may be brief supporting characters who make a relatively big impact. Or, in the case of Grogu, they may absolutely steal the show. Yes, we’re talking about cute ‘baby’ alien creatures.

We’ll see a whole lot of the adorable green fella in The Mandalorian and Grogu later this year. But based on the latest trailer for the upcoming spinoff movie, it seems another mini version of a classic character could be about to steal our hearts – for better or worse.

The Mandalorian and Grogu Features ‘Baby Greedo’

Not only did that new trailer finally give us hope that The Mandalorian and Grogu might actually be a good movie, but it also gave us a glimpse of a character fans have dubbed ‘Baby Greedo’. 

Wrapped up in a blanket and sitting in one of those handy floating baskets, this delightfully tiny dude is a blink-and-you ’ll-miss-it tease in the trailer. Indeed, we might not learn much more about him in the actual film. Likely, we’ll just have to call him Baby Greedo forever, even though, like Baby Yoda, he probably has a real name.

Regardless, he’s yet another example of the obsession the Star Wars franchise, especially in the Disney era, has with making audiences coo over precious, pint-sized life forms. Aside from merchandising opportunities, what can we glean from this, and is there a risk of baby saturation?

Disney Has Upped the Cute Critters in Star Wars

During the Disney era, The Last Jedi introduced us to the bird-like creatures, Porgs. They may have made a bit of an annoying noise, but their expressive eyes and quirky behaviour captured our hearts – they even managed to turn Chewbacca into a herbivore, which is no mean feat.

Then, in The Rise of Skywalker, Babu Frik was the life and soul of the party. His chaos and enthusiasm, plus his trademark hooting and hollering, made him an instant hit. Even those who were frustrated with the film itself (me) couldn’t deny that this good little droidsmith was worth the ticket admission alone.

However, it is of course Baby Yoda (or Grogu, if we really have to call him by his official name), who helped Disney strike gold. Even the designers and execs who created him had no idea how popular Grogu would be, leaving a dearth of merchandise that should have been readily available when the show first aired. There’s no doubt that The Mandalorian wouldn’t have been anywhere near as successful without him.

Too Much Nostalgia Baby-Bait Will End Up Pushing Fans Away

Of course, this is not exactly a new trend. Long before Disney bought Lucasfilm and the Star Wars IP, we were gifted some of the most lovable furry friends we could have asked for in Return of the Jedi. Yes, the Ewoks.

However, at the time, audiences were pretty negative about the natives of Endor. Fans insisted they were too cute, and merely a commercialised ploy that undermined the gravity of the fight against the Empire.

In a way, they were absolutely right. I love the Ewoks, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with inserting a token teddy bear or baby-faced extraterrestrial into the story. But they have to serve a purpose.

I’d say Disney got very lucky with Grogu. The fact that he’s a miniature version of the already diminutive Yoda obviously helped raise his appeal, but he’s a genuinely interesting, fun character in his own right. Whether he’s doing Force tricks or munching on smaller aliens, Grogu is endearing and entertaining, and he’s the driving force behind the story he’s involved in.

What audiences won’t put up with – at least not if it keeps happening – is Disney creating these baby versions of existing characters just for the sake of it. We don’t want to watch films or TV shows, and just do the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme at the things we recognise. Nostalgia-bait rarely works long-term. It just leaves a product feeling hollow and unoriginal, and that is never something we want to say about Star Wars.

Baby Greedo, you get a pass for now… but you better do something useful soon!

Wherever you land on “Wuthering Heights”, the current box office dominance of Emerald Fennell’s latest movie is reminding the world that sex not only sells, but that people are still more than willing to sit in a room full of strangers to watch it. When it comes to tastefully directed smut, we are all, as it turns out, still degenerates—and we know it.

If you need further proof of this, it’s worth reading some of the more disappointed critics of Fennell’s movie—some of whom were apparently quite let down that it failed to deliver on the suggestive promises of its trailer. If you happen to share that opinion, or are simply thirsty for more, the following list offers a selection of some of the hottest and heaviest movies of the last ten years—ranked in no particular order and all primed for your viewing (dis)pleasure. 

Read on to discover more and use the guide below to find out where to stream them on AppleTV, Netflix, Prime Video and elsewhere. 

1. A Bigger Splash (2017)

In all honesty, we could have put almost all of the seven movies Luca Guadagnino has directed in the last ten years on this list (Call Me By Your Name and Challengers in particular). However, there’s just something so fun and joyful about the sensualism of A Bigger Splash.

Set on a sun-kissed Italian island, the film stars a rarely better Ralph Fiennes alongside Tilda Swinton, Dakota Johnson and the extremely beefy Matthias Schoenaerts. Indeed, this is the kind of movie where someone gets murdered along the way, and it only adds to the tension. 

2. All of Us Strangers (2023)

Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers is a devastating film about what it might be like to visit the ghosts of one’s long-dead parents, but it’s also a film that oozes sexual chemistry between its two central characters—who are played by Andrew Scott (Fleabag) and Paul Mescal (Hamnet).

This was Haigh’s third jagged love story after Weekend and 45 Years, but it was also his most explicit to date and, with respect to Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling, his hottest. 

3. The Handmaiden (2016)

“Wuthering Heights” fans who enjoyed that film’s kinkier moments will likely have a whale (or perhaps some other sea creature) of a time with the many sexual transgressions in Park Chan-wook’s 2016 masterpiece, The Handmaiden.

The film is based on Sarah Waters’ Victorian-era set novel, Fingersmith, but Park adapted the story to 1930s Korea, when the country was still a Japanese colony. Get ready for uneasy power dynamics and various slippery things in a gothic world reminiscent of Guillermo del Toro.

4. Benedetta (2021)

On another day, we might have included Paul Verhoeven’s Elle here, but in the interest of safety, let’s go for his 2021 follow-up, Benedetta, instead. This film is set in a 17th-century Italian convert and stars Virginie Efira as a nun with some new ideas of how best to praise her lord and saviour.

Nobody did horny and provocative quite like the Dutch icon in the 1990s (think movies like Showgirls and Basic Instinct). With Benedetta, Verhoeven basically showed everyone that he still had it. 

5. Red Rocket (2021)

With movies like Starlet and Anora, Sean Baker has basically made his name as an auteur of sex workers’ stories. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the frankness in his work about that profession has meant that his films are rarely the kind of things you would describe as “horny”—that is, aside from his 2021 film Red Rocket.

Starring Simon Rex, this is a film about a washed-up porn star who returns to his hometown in Texas and starts dreaming up ways to relaunch his career. 

6. Love Lies Bleeding (2024)

Love Lies Bleeding is a queer love story with a B-movie sensibility—the kind of A24 production that mashes together a lot of things that make people happy. We’re talking ‘80s music, Kristen Stewart, bullies getting beaten up, lots of lust and desire, and so forth and so on.

It’s a story about an introverted gym manager (Stewart) who falls for an ambitious bodybuilder (Katy O’Brien). It’s fun, gross and sexy and has a batshit finale. What’s not to like?

7. Passages (2023)

It shouldn’t be surprising that most of this list could be described as queer cinema. As mainstream rom-coms have mostly disappeared or at least lost their confidence, LGBTQ+ filmmakers have continued to push the boundaries of the genre on the film festival and arthouse scene. 

One of the best in recent years was Ira Sachs’s Passages, a movie set in Paris about a self-centred, bisexual movie director (Franz Ragowski) who ends up in a love triangle with his long-term partner (Ben Whishaw) and a young actress (Adele Exarchopolis).

8. X (2022)

Moving to another genre entirely, Ty West’s X trilogy is probably what it might look like if Sean Baker and John Carpenter (Halloween) decided to direct a few horror movies together. Personally, I think Pearl (the second part) is the best of the three, but the series originator, X, feels like the most appropriate for this list. 

The film follows a ragtag crew of porn filmmakers (the cast features Mia Goth and Jenna Ortega) who check into a remote accommodation to film a dirty movie. Naturally, it does not go to plan. 

9. God’s Own Country (2017)

After All of Us Strangers, the second modern queer classic of British cinema to make this list is Francis Lee’s God’s Own Country. Released in 2017, this is essentially the film that introduced Josh O’Connor to the world—and if you liked the actor in recent movies like Challengers and The History of Sound, I highly recommend giving it a watch.

It’s the story of a Yorkshire sheep farmer who starts to have an affair with a Romanian colleague. Be prepared for lots of rolling in the mud. 

10. Love (2015)

Similar to Verhoeven, Gaspar Noé has spent much of his career making movies that became famous (and infamous) for their explicit and sexual content. And similar to Guadagnino, we could have put a number of his films on this list—I was particularly tempted to go for Climax in this spot, but it just felt a little too on the nose.

We will instead punt for his 2015 movie Love—a project that caught a lot of people’s attention when it was billed as Noé’s three-hour sex film. In the end, it was actually one of the director's most sentimental movies, but it is still way hornier than almost anything else out there.

While America’s Next Top Model was iconic, it was certainly a product of its time. Back when the first season aired in 2003, the fashion industry had a very particular idea of beauty — namely, tall, white and blonde.

Undoubtedly, with supermodel Tyra Banks’ commitment to more diverse casting (at least, to an extent), America’s Next Top Model revolutionised the industry. Yet, as these girls soon learned, the world of fashion and modelling can be cutthroat. But they also learned a second, much more important lesson: nothing compares to the brutality of reality TV.

Put the two together, and you have the recipe for success. But also, disaster. Reality TV was essentially a free-for-all in its infancy. The idea of aftercare, boundaries, and on-set safety was almost unheard of. Netflix’s new documentary series, Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model, examines the implications of this, and needless to say, there are plenty of jaw-dropping moments.

Here, we’ve rounded up some of the most shocking, and let me warn you — you might want to sit down for this one. And those who are especially sensitive to discussions of depictions of sexual assault, gun violence, racism, eating disorders, addiction, fatphobia, and homophobia should proceed with caution.

1. The Controversial Photoshoots, From Race-Swapping to Dead Bodies 

One of the most problematic aspects of America’s Next Top Model was the photoshoots. Just when you think they surely can’t get any worse, they do. A lot. In one photoshoot, they depicted models ‘glamorously’ suffering from bulimia and drug addiction. In another, they styled a model to appear as if she were shot in the head — a model whose mother was previously shot and paralysed, no less. 

They also had the models pose with unhoused people in an ill-guided attempt at raising awareness, but the most egregious is arguably the “race swap” photoshoots, which included putting white contestants in black and brown face. This happened not once, but twice. 

2. The Shandi Sullivan Incident

The most disturbing incident highlighted in the docuseries happened in Cycle 2, when the contestants were sent to Milan. They were introduced to local Vespa drivers, who were later invited to have dinner with the girls at their accommodation. During the evening, contestant Shandi Sullivan, who was 21 at the time, recalled how she got progressively drunk before blacking out. “I just knew sex was happening, and then I passed out,” she recounted. 

This event was presented on the show as Sullivan “cheating” on her boyfriend, with Banks even having an on-camera conversation about infidelity with the contestants in the days following the incident. Moreover, when a visibly distressed Shandi told her boyfriend about what happened (he called her a “b***h”), it was all documented for the show. When asked about how production handled the event during the documentary episode, Banks simply said it was something she couldn’t speak on because production wasn’t her “territory.”

3. Sexual Harassment — and the Show’s Mismanagement of It

The incident with Shandi wasn’t the only example of alleged sexual misconduct on the show. In Cycle 4, contestant Keenyah Hill alleged that, during a photoshoot, one of the male models kept “flirting” with her and touching her inappropriately. 

While she asked to stop the photoshoot to voice her discomfort, she noted how people seemed irked by this decision. Banks later told Hill to use her “feminine wiles” to establish boundaries. During that documentary episode, the supermodel said she did “the best [she] could at the time,” but acknowledged that perhaps this wasn’t enough.

4. ANTM’s Rampant Fat-Shaming

During the docuseries, Hill says she was also targeted on the reality show due to her weight. She claimed that some scenes, such as her eating a bagel, were edited to make it look like she ate more than she did, while, in another scene, a fellow contestant commented about her eating habits. 

Being cast as ‘Gluttony’ in one photoshoot about the Seven Deadly Sins and as an elephant in the other only added to the pressure. Banks herself also told Hill that they had to edit her stomach post-photoshoot, and advised her to make better “choices.”

5. Tyra Banks’ Legendary Meltdown: ‘I Was Rooting For You!’

This moment on America’s Next Top Model has been heavily memed — but the story behind it is a lot sadder than you might think. Also in Cycle 4, contestant Tiffany Richardson returned for a second attempt at the show. She had previously scuppered her chances on the series after being involved in a fight during a night out. 

Things were going well for Richardson up until a teleprompter task, where she gave up halfway through because, as she said at the time, she didn’t want to humiliate herself. This ultimately led to Richardson being sent home, with Banks launching a furious tirade against her after feeling as if she wasn’t upset enough about being eliminated. This argument allegedly escalated to Tyra having to be escorted off set, with the intensity of the conflict having to be edited. 

The sad part is that producers had been working with Richardson on anger management and coaching her to re-audition between Cycles 3 and 4, which makes this ending feel even more brutal. 

6. Outing Gay Contestant Ebony Haith

In 2003, queerness still wasn’t as accepted as it is now. Still, with openly gay judges like Miss J Alexander and Jay Manuel, America’s Next Top Model could be seen as being ahead of its time. Sadly, this wasn’t always the case. 

In the very beginning, during Cycle 1 of the show, contestant Ebony Haith recounted how, during the audition, Banks outright said: “We see that you’re gay.” For Haith, this was “how the world found out” about her sexuality — and it didn’t seem as if she had much choice in the matter. In addition to this, the TV show included scenes where another contestant expressed discomfort over Haith’s partner visiting. 

Haith, who is Black, also claims that she was targeted for having “ashy” skin and that stylists made jokes about her hair texture during the ‘makeover’ segment.

7. Forcing Contestants to Have Unnecessary Dental Work

It didn’t take long for the makeovers to go beyond hair and makeup, as production started dabbling with cosmetic procedures. In Cycle 6, Dani Evans and Joanie Dodds were both offered dental work as part of their makeovers for a tooth gap and a snaggle tooth, respectively. While Evans initially turned down this offer, she was later told that if she didn’t accept it, she would go home. After much deliberation, this led to her having the procedure to close the gap. Yet, a few seasons later, another contestant ended up having their tooth gap enhanced — which, to say the least, was more than a little ironic.

Dodds also went ahead with the cosmetic procedure, which involved removing multiple teeth and filing some down. However, she admitted that she still has dental issues from the dental work to this day.

8. The Mistreatment of ANTM’s Original Judges

As the docuseries went on, it became apparent that even the judges weren’t immune from mistreatment. After becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the series, Manuel decided to step down. When he emailed Banks about it, he was met with silence for three days before she replied, simply saying, “I am disappointed.” While he ended up staying on the show, his previously close relationship with Banks changed forever, as she didn’t speak to him at all off-camera. Manuel likened the experience to “psychological torture.”

Later, in 2012, Manuel, along with Alexander and fellow judge Nigel Barker, was abruptly fired from America’s Next Top Model to give the show a facelift following declining ratings. While it was initially agreed that there would be a joint press release announcing the departures, the exits were later leaked to Page Six — and in the docuseries, Manuel made it clear that he felt the “leak” was deliberate.

As for Alexander, the runway coach, who had coached Banks since she was 17, suffered a stroke in 2022. The stroke left him in a coma for five days, and while he has relearned to talk, he is still relearning how to walk. While Barker and Manuel visited him after the health crisis, the TV personality admitted during the docuseries that Banks had yet to visit him — although she did send him a text saying she intended to. 

We’ve had to wait since 2022, but The Batman Part II is finally taking shape. There’s still over a year to go until the Matt Reeves superhero sequel hits the big screen, but casting updates are whetting our appetite until then.

Obviously, Robert Pattinson will be back as the main man, and some familiar faces from the epic first movie will be joining him. However, a couple of Marvel regulars are crossing the superhero divide to crash the party at DC, and we couldn’t be happier.

The addition of Sebastian Stan and Scarlett Johansson is especially intriguing, largely because they’re expected to play Harvey Dent and his fiancée, Gilda. We won’t spoil things for anyone who doesn’t follow Batman comic book lore, but the fact that Gilda is involved is especially tantalising.

As well as that pairing, there are plenty more big names in the cast of The Batman Part II. If you’re wondering who they are and where you know them from, we’ve got you covered.

Robert Pattinson (Bruce Wayne/Batman)

Pattinson will take centre stage once more as both Bruce Wayne and his titular vigilante alter ego, protecting the streets of Gotham. The actor did a brilliant job in The Batman, bringing a great balance of complex, angsty vibes to Bruce while also showing his brutal side as the Caped Crusader. For my money, this is one of the very best portrayals of Batman to date, and hopefully, he can take it to the next level with the follow-up in 2027.

We’re sure that most of you have seen your fair share of Robert Pattinson movies. From the more esoteric and quirky projects like The Lighthouse (my personal favourite of his) and High Life, to the more commercial things like Twilight and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Pattinson is obviously a very versatile actor. If you want to see him letting his dark side out, I highly recommend Good Time, a neon-soaked, chaotic thriller and the breakout release from the Safdie brothers. For something a little lighter, you could try Mickey 17; the Bong Joon-ho sci-fi movie is full of fun moments, subtle comedy, and big action sequences.

Colin Farrell (Oz Cobb/The Penguin)

While the Riddler was the big bad of The Batman, we also got to meet Oz Cobb, aka the Penguin. Colin Farrell completely transformed himself for the role of the grimy Gotham villain. By the end of that film, Cobb becomes the crime boss of the city, and we learned a lot more about him in his own, rather brilliant, TV show.

Farrell has enjoyed a real renaissance in recent years. Long gone are the days when he’s involved in schlocky thrillers like Phone Booth and the Total Recall remake; now, Farrell is better known for his sharp comedy, working with Martin McDonagh on films like In Bruges and The Banshees of Inisherin, and he’s also pushed the envelope in unusual, surrealist projects like The Lobster and After Yang.

Sebastian Stan (Possibly Harvey Dent/Two-Face)

DC had tongues wagging when it cast Sebastian Stan in The Batman Part II. If reports and rumours are to be believed, he will be taking on the role of lawyer Harvey Dent. If true, it’s absolutely perfect casting: He’s got the looks, charisma, and gravitas to carry the more serious side of the character, while we know from his past work that he’s got the depth to delve into the darker, more deranged side of Dent’s alter-ego, Two-Face.

You only have to look at his work in films like Fresh and A Different Man to see that he can embrace more peculiar performances, while The Apprentice, Dumb Money, and the excellent I, Tonya exhibit Stan’s penchant for getting a little sleazier. Obviously, Stan is no stranger to the superhero world, either. He’s played Bucky Barnes for more than a decade now, appearing in six Marvel movies and even having his own TV show alongside Anthony Mackie’s Falcon.

Scarlett Johansson (Possibly Gilda Gold/Dent)

Also leaving Marvel behind is Scarlett Johansson. It figures, as her time as Natasha Romanoff came to a tragic end in Avengers: Endgame. She’s been busy since exiting the MCU, working on two Wes Anderson movies – Asteroid City and The Phoenician Scheme – as well as leading Jurassic World: Rebirth and lending her voice to the superb Transformers One. I highly recommend the latter if you’ve got kids to entertain, but if you’re after something more serious and profound, you can’t go wrong with her earlier work, like Lost in Translation or Her.

We can’t wait to see Johansson take on the rumoured role of Gilda Gold (later Dent). It’ll allow her to go to some pretty disturbing places if Reeves is to take any inspiration from The Long Halloween storyline from the comic books, as most expect he will. We also know Johansson and Sebastian Stan have great chemistry from their time in the MCU, so that’ll be a treat in itself.

Andy Serkis (Alfred Pennyworth)

You can’t have Bruce Wayne without his loyal butler and guardian, Alfred. Andy Serkis added a gritty, more macho vibe to the character compared to what we saw from past iterations played by Jeremy Irons and Michael Caine, and he’s likely to bring that same energy to The Batman Part II as Bruce digs deeper into the corruption at the heart of Gotham City.

While he’s a great on-screen actor, most notably in his short but spectacular spell in Andor, Serkis is a real pioneer of voice work and motion-capture roles. He did incredible things to bring Gollum to life in The Lord of the Rings movies, before going on to deliver a stunning, emotional performance as Caesar in the most recent reboot of the Planet of the Apes movies, where he first worked with Reeves. Like Stan and Johannson, you can also catch Serkis in the MCU as Ulysses Klaue, in Star Wars: The Last Jedi as Supreme Leader Snoke, and he even tried his hand at directing for Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle.

Jeffrey Wright (Commissioner Gordon)

Just like Alfred, Bruce Wayne also relies heavily on his relationship with Jim Gordon, and Jeffrey Wright made sure the Dark Knight had a composed and competent partner to aid him in bringing down the Riddler. He was still a lieutenant when we saw him last, but as we know from countless Batman stories in the past, Gordon will eventually work his way up in the GCPD to become Commissioner and have an even bigger role to play in cleaning up the streets of Gotham.

Wright, like Johansson, has worked with Wes Anderson a lot recently, appearing in Asteroid City and also having a key role in The French Dispatch. In addition, he was up for the Oscar for Best Actor for his part in the satirical comedy American Fiction, but his only other bona fide leading role came in Hold the Dark. Wright is more often used as a supporting actor, and he’s damn good at it, too. He’s fantastic in Bond movies Casino Royale and No Time to Die, features in The Hunger Games franchise, and does some fine work in the TV show Westworld.

Barry Keoghan (The Joker)

Rounding out the cast for The Batman Part II, for now at least, is Barry Keoghan. He popped up in the final moments of the first movie, hidden in Arkham Asylum as the laughing lunatic, the Joker. You might be thinking we’ve seen enough versions of the iconic villain to last a lifetime, but he’s reportedly going to have a part to play in the next movie, and we have to admit that it’s an exciting prospect.

Keoghan has enjoyed a meteoric rise over the last eight years or so. He had an especially bumper year in 2017, stealing the show in Yorgos Lanthimos’ eerie The Killing of a Sacred Deer and taking a supporting role in Christopher Nolan’s epic war movie, Dunkirk. His career exploded from there on out, with key roles in movies like Calm With Horses, Eternals, Saltburn, and The Banshees of Inisherin. He’s an actor who clearly relishes unleashing his outlandish, oddball side, but if you want to see him do something slightly more inside the box, you should give American Animals a watch, a crime story that’s fun, slick and super accessible.