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Exclusive: Wilmer Valderrama and Freddy Rodriguez are teaming up on the new weekly podcast series Dos Amigos (Two Friends), premiering on January 30.

The project will join other popular podcasts from Valderrama’s exclusive slate with iHeartMedia’s My Cultura Podcast Network, of which he is a shareholder, including More Better with Stephanie Beatriz and Melissa Fumer, Essential Voices with Wilmer Valderrama, Date My Abuelita, First!, and Forgive Me For I Have Followed. Dos Amigos is co-produced by Valderrama’s production company Wv Sound.

Each episode will feature the longtime friends as they candidly reflect on their careers and lives, and share everything about everything. The podcast will be recorded from Wilmer’s speakeasy and feature special guest appearances. Their goal each week is to bring friends together to spark honest reflection while toasting the good times.

Wilmer Valderrama and Freddy Rodriguez...

She has been acting since 1987, and over a nearly four-decade career, Juliette Lewis is known for playing a crazed murderer (Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers), a pastor’s daughter on the run from vampires (Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn) and a teen fending off a violent rapist (Martin Scorsese’s Cape Fear). She’s also been a rock star in real life as the lead singer of Juliette Lewis and the Licks.

Now the 51-year-old actress is heading back to Park City to support two Sundance Film Festival selections that, even for her, are bold, head-turning roles: In art house auteur Amanda Kramer’s By Design she plays a chair — yes, a chair — and in Mark Anthony Green’s Opus she stars as a spicy journalist who joins a group to meet a pop icon at his compound when he mysteriously reappears after a three-decade absence.

The...

"Star Wars" is full of fascinating, enigmatic villains, most of them get barely any dialogue, let alone their background or backstory explained — in the movies at least. Whether it's Darth Vader being introduced as just a tall, menacing guy clad in dark, robotic armor, or Boba Fett's silent, striking suit of armor, these antagonists work because of how little we know of them, and how memorable their designs are.

This is especially true in the prequel trilogy, where we get characters like Darth Maul, who is just evil incarnate, a perfect design. Though perhaps not as well-liked, General Grievous' own character design is just as effective. He's a villain who's instantly memorable and striking, his cybernetic exterior and biological organs making him rather mysterious and alluring.

Grievous, like most things "Star Wars," went through many changes before making his debut, with George Lucas even briefly considering making the character Darth Maul in disguise.

Kurt Russell sure has an illustrious career. We've seen him play a living planet, Wyatt Earp, Santa Claus, and (depending on whether you stand with MacReady or Childs in "The Thing") the killer of a shape-shifting alien. This guy has done it all and more, which makes it understandable that there are so many favorites to choose from. Ask the man himself, though, and there's a trio of Kurt Russell gems that he thinks were massively overlooked.

The big three were selected during an interview with FilmInk when the actor was promoting "The Hateful Eight." After the eight-year gap between his then-fresh new collaboration with Quentin Tarantino, the duo's first pairing was just starting to get some love, as well. "I'm beginning to have people come up to me, now, and say, 'I just saw 'Death Proof'; that was great,'" recalled Russell. The film, which was part...

In the age of streaming, there’s a widespread belief that every movie is available, all the time, everywhere. Don’t fall for it! Some of the greatest movies ever made are nowhere to be found due to everything from music rights snafus to corporate negligence. In this column, we take a look at films currently out-of-print on physical media and unavailable on any streaming platform in an effort to draw attention to them and say to their rights holders, “Release This!”

At the end of 1999, Entertainment Weekly ran a cover story titled “The Year That Changed Movies,” celebrating the abundance of highwire masterpieces that the American film industry seemed to be cranking out on a weekly basis that year. “Eyes Wide Shut,” “Magnolia,” “The Limey,” “Fight Club,” “Being John Malkovich,” “Election,” “Boys Don’t Cry”, “The Straight Story,” “The Sixth Sense,” “Bringing Out the Dead,” “The Matrix,” and “Three Kings” are just a random sampling,...

‘Predators’ (2010) is a science fiction action movie directed by Nimród Antal and the third in the ‘Predator’ series. The movie served as sort of a reboot for the franchise, but it was planned from at least 1994. Robert Rodriguez wrote a script for a third ‘Predator’ film, but it was rejected due to a high budget.

Fifteen years later, 20th Century Fox revisited the script and decided to move forward with it, giving Rodriguez a chance to revive the franchise. In ‘Predators,’ humans are abducted and brought to a remote planet where they are hunted by the Predators, instead of the usual setup where Predators come to Earth.

The group of humans includes dangerous individuals such as a mercenary, a Yakuza member, a death row felon, and a serial killer. Co-writer Michael Finch explained that they wanted to change the formula of the series, which had become repetitive with the Predators simply coming to Earth.

If you take a look at the last four years of Netflix original films set in the action genre, you’ll notice that they make two types of action movies. The first kind are those that have genuine passion behind them, bursting with creativity, and instantly memorable, while the second kind are those that feel like Netflix’s donation to the actors’ retirement fund. For example, in 2021, on one side you had Kate, and on the other side you had Red Notice. In 2022, we got both something as innovative as Lost Bullet 2 and something as disappointing as The Gray Man. For 2023, there was Ballerina to get your adrenaline pumping and Heart of Stone to bore you to sleep. 2024 was the year for stuff like 60 Minutes and City Hunter and also for garbage like Atlas and Damsel. But, regardless of the quality of these Netflix films, I realized that...

Escape from New York is one of my favorite movies, so I'm glad the remake appears to have finally died in development. The original 1981 John Carpenter movie has one of the all-time great movie hooks; the most dangerous convict in the world, Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), is forced to rescue the kidnapped President from New York, which has been walled off and turned into a hellish prison. Escape from New York is one of Carpenter's best, filled with great sequences and dialogue.

I've always felt that one minor flaw is that the film's modest budget meant it couldn't fully use its setting. Escape From New York's action is relatively small-scale, and it doesn't take audiences to some of the city's most iconic locations, like Central Park or the subway. In theory, a big-budget reboot could really flesh out the concept and make it much larger, but the Escape from New York...

Back in 2019, Alita: Battle Angel landed on screens and quickly became a fan favorite, sparking endless conversations about a sequel. Directed by Robert Rodriguez, James Cameron produced the film with Jon Landau. The film tells the story of Alita, a cyborg who wakes up in a gritty, futuristic world with no memories of her past.

Alita: Battle Angel | Credit: 20th Century Studios

As she uncovers her incredible combat skills, Alita goes on a journey to find the secrets of her identity. While it didn’t shatter box office records, the movie’s new visual style and amazing storyline earned it a loyal fanbase. Years later, the demand for Alita: Battle Angel 2 is as strong as ever, with fans eagerly awaiting the next chapter in this gritty saga.

The promise of a sequel is still up in the air

The future of Alita: Battle Angel 2 remains uncertain, but the buzz around...

In today’s episode of Wtf Happened to this Movie, we’re going to take a retrospective look at the revolutionary film Sin City. We’ll talk a bit about the highs and some lows, the stacked cast of Hollywood alumni, and, of course, the efforts made behind the camera to create this pop-culture cinematic staple. Let’s begin…

Director Robert Rodriguez has had his share of hits and misses over his multi-decade-long career. To think that the director of Shark Boy and Lava Girl is the same visionary filmmaker that brought us The Mexico Trilogy and Alita Battle Angel is somewhat of a strange thought, but then again, when you own your own studio as a true independent filmmaker- you can pretty much make whatever you want.

Lucky for us, in 2005, Rodriguez and Frank Miller joined forces to adapt Miller’s masterpiece graphic novel series Sin City into a theatrical film.

Madcap airport thriller Carry-On has proved to be a ratings success for Netflix, and now ranks fifth on its top 10 list of most-watched films.

Cannily timed to coincide with the festive break, Netflix thriller Carry-On is now one of the streaming giant’s most-watched movies. According to the firm’s own numbers, the airport-set nail-biter has notched up 149m views – meaning it currently occupies the fifth position on its top 10 list of most-viewed movies ever.

This means that Carry-On, starring Taron Egerton and directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, has joined such esteemed company as action comedy romp Red Notice (in the number one spot with 230.9m views) and Sandra Bullock sci-fi horror Bird Box (157.4m).

As pointed out by Indiewire, Carry-On's success means that the starry murder mystery Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story has been edged off the list. Director Rian Johnson is probably calling his local hitman as we type this.

This one goes out to all those who were children in the early aughts convinced that Spy Kids was the pinnacle of cinema. Your loyalty has been rewarded! Robert Rodriguez's beloved action comedy has been added to the National Film Registry. On Monday, the Library of Congress announced the...

The crime genre is one of the most universal niches of cinema, as there's nothing more simultaneously attractive and repulsive than the high drama of a crime movie. Though every decade offers a unique perspective on the way crime develops and how people respond to it, the early 2000s was a particularly interesting period. With the influx of emerging technologies and the changing landscape of what could be shown onscreen, new doors were opening for all of film, but particularly crime movies. Whether they lean into the comedic aspects or the violent brutality, all of these films are memorable.

Many of the must-see crime movies of the 1990s influenced the dramas of the early 2000s, with iconic directors like Martin Scorsese bringing complex stories to life. While the narratives are a large part of what makes these films connect with audiences, the actors' performances bring these projects to the next level.

Salma Hayek Once Spoke About Her Sex Symbol Status ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

Salma Hayek is hailed as a sex symbol in the industry, but dealing with that image was a bit difficult for the actress. She once spoke about her views on plastic surgery and being stereotyped in Hollywood. Hayek is one of the most influential figures in the industry, but to achieve that, she had to struggle a lot. People even told her that she could never make it in Hollywood. Scroll below for the deets.

The actress started her journey with Mexican telenovelas and then slowly made her place in Hollywood. Hayek established herself with films like Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn, and Dogma. She spoke about facing racism in Hollywood and told Drew Barrymore that the actress was told over and over that she would never make it in this town. They said she would only play a prostitute,...

The 1990s were the decade for action movies. From Mission: Impossible to The Matrix, some of the best action thriller franchises were born in the '90s. From Speed to Face/Off, some of the best action movies came out in the '90s and left an indelible mark on action filmmaking. There's nothing quite as intoxicating as watching a larger-than-life action hero delivering cheesy lines and escaping unscathed from impossible encounters, and directors and actors in the 1990s knew that. And in 2025, some of the best action movies from the decade will turn 30.

Some great action movies from the 1990s that barely anyone remembers were grounded or gritty and toned down the extravagance of the hero persona, thus leaning into the thriller component of the genre. The best part of the action movies from the '90s is perhaps the lack of a blueprint. Formulaic revisions of genre conventions didn't rule the big screen,...

The trailer for Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later has absolutely blown up since it was released a few weeks ago. It’s quickly become the most anticipated movie of 2025 for many horror fans, with a sequel also set for a January 2026 release. However, until recently, Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later has been unavailable for streaming and has been out of print on Blu-ray due to rights issues. Why? It’s because Sony, who is distributing the sequels, acquired the rights to the original film, which was first distributed by Fox Searchlight (now owned by Disney), and had it pulled (although the sequel – 28 Weeks Later – which Disney owns outright – is still available). Now, with the 28 Years Later trailer reinvigorating interest in the franchise, Sony has finally re-released the original film to streaming services like iTunes, albeit in a basic HD transfer, which might surprise fans who’ve been anticipating a 4K re-release.

It was an unconventional strategy. Focus Features made the bold choice to release Robert Eggers’ period horror movie Nosferatu on Christmas Day, offering up a fresh take on a gothic horror classic as a bit of counterprogramming against traditional holiday fare. And it was a gamble that paid off, with Nosferatu sinking its fangs into an impressive opening weekend.

Here in the United States, Nosferatu scared up $40.3 million in its 5-day holiday weekend debut, which Variety notes is “the biggest Christmas Day launch and weekend haul for a genre film, overtaking the benchmark set in 1998 by Robert Rodriguez’s high school sci-fi story The Faculty with $4.4 million on opening day and $11.6 million over the traditional weekend.”

“Heading into the extended Yuletide frame, Nosferatu was projected to open to $25 million from 2,992 North American theaters,” Variety further details. “Focus Features reported that 40% of opening weekend crowds purchased their tickets the day before they saw the movie.

Talk about having some bite. “Nosferatu” drove a stake through box office expectations, delivering a hauntingly good $21.1 million over the traditional weekend and $40.3 million since debuting on Christmas Day. Those receipts sent box office analysts everywhere reaching for the vampire puns in an effort to explain the bloody fantastic results for “Nosferatu.”

After all, “Nosferatu” scored one of the year’s top openings from a specialty studio, joining A24’s dystopian cross-country adventure “Civil War” ($25 million), Neon’s thriller “Longlegs” ($22.4 million) and Cineverse’s ultra-gory slasher “Terrifier 3” ($18.9 million). Ticket sales also rank as the biggest Christmas Day launch and weekend haul for a genre film, overtaking the benchmark set in 1998 by Robert Rodriguez’s high school sci-fi story “The Faculty” with $4.4 million on opening day and $11.6 million over the traditional weekend. That there’s a 26-year gap between the previous record-holder is partially because horror isn’t synonymous with the holiday season.

Selena Gomez has been acting since she was a young child, having appeared on "Barney & Friends," but rocketed to teen stardom with her recurring role in the Disney Channel series "The Wizards of Waverly Place." She also enjoys a notable pop career, which she began in 2009 with her album "Kiss & Tell" when she was only 17. Not only has her music received several awards, but she has continued to work as an actress, having racked up multiple Emmy nominations for her work on the hit show "Only Murders in the Building." 

Meanwhile, Glen Powell has quickly emerged as one of Hollywood's most charming leading men, having recently appeared in the decent "Twisters," the giant hit "Anyone But You," the even more giant hit "Top Gun: Maverick," and the impressive comedy/thriller "Hit Man." Powell came to the public's attention in Richard Linklater's 2016 sports movie "Everybody Wants Some!!," but...

Warning: Contains Potential Spoilers for Plastic Man No More! #4

One Justice League hero recently headlined their own Black Label solo series, packed with body horror moments that had me cringing in disgust. But it was the hero's final form that truly left me gasping, blindsiding me with the reminder of a long-buried piece of pop culture that had once haunted my childhood nightmares. Anyone else remember Spy Kids' Thumb-Thumbs?

... it looks like there’s a strong chance this horror-comedy starring Plastic Man and the Justice League will continue...

Christopher Cantwell, Jacob Edgar, Alex Lins, and Marcelo Maiolo’s horror-comedy Plastic Man No More! has officially concluded with issue #4. The series has been a wild and slightly criminal ride from start to finish, but the final page—with its teasing “The End?”—and several unresolved plot points suggest this may not be the last solo adventure for Patrick “Eel” O’Brian.

Robin Williams’ geek credentials were well-known, but the late comedian surprised comic book creator Michael Allred when he wore a Madman T-shirt during his appearance on HBO’s Comic Relief. This appearance cements Williams’ comic book fandom for all time and shows how deep his love for the medium really went.

Posting to Instagram, Allred relates how Williams was a big fan of Allred’s signature character Madman, to the point where he wore a T-shirt of the character during the Comic Relief V benefit show on HBO in 1992.

View this post on InstagramA post shared by Michael Allred (@allredmd)

Writing that he had previously heard Williams was a big fan of the character, Allred was still thrilled to see the comedian rocking some Madman apparel on TV. Wearing a T-shirt of a cult character like Madman shows how deep Williams’ fandom really went, as Allred’s character had only...

The following contains spoilers for "Star Wars: Skeleton Crew" season 1, episode 4, "Can't Say I Remember No At Attlin."

Neel (voiced by Robert Timothy Smith) on "Star Wars: Skeleton Crew" might look like a cute "Star Wars" mascot character archetype, but the plucky blue alien keeps subverting the odds and is well on his way to establish himself as the series Mvp. In episode 4, titled "Can't Say I Remember No At Attlin" after Sm-33's (voiced by Nick Frost) surprisingly meaningful favorite saying, Neel's courage saves Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), and Kb (Kyriana Kratter) from certain death. Meanwhile, his pacifism and honesty manage to impress future Troik clan chieftain Hayna so thoroughly that his charm may inspire her to become a peaceful ruler -- thus potentially ending the cycle of violence that has plagued At Achrann for who knows how long.

The tough but thoughtful Hayna is deftly played by Hala Finley.

Every year, film buffs assemble online to see which 25 movies will be added to the Library of Congress' National Film Registry -- a list that includes titles you'd expect like "The Godfather," "Star Wars: Episode IV -- A New Hope," "Thelma & Louise," and "Casablanca." For 2024, the new additions bump the Nfr's total catalog to 900 films, bringing in classics and modern classics alike in a crop of movies spanning decades.

For sci-fi fans, the main attraction this year will likely be "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." The 1982 theatrical sequel is still held up as one of the high watermarks for the entire "Star Trek" franchise, and in the eyes of many fans, its greatest singular achievement. Spock's noble sacrifice in the film has gone down in history alongside the Darth Vader reveal and the "tears in rain" monologue from "Blade Runner" as an all-time iconic sci-fi moment.

An Eddie Murphy classic, a landmark horror flick, and a timeless Eighties romance are among the films joining the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry for preservation.

Twenty-five films were added to the registry this year, including Beverly Hills Cop, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Dirty Dancing. Other major titles include Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, David Fincher’s Facebook origin story The Social Network, Cheech and Chong’s Up in Smoke, and the Coen Brothers’ Best Picture-winner No Country for Old Men.

The Film Registry class of...

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, the first-ever fully animated film based on the Looney Tunes characters, which hit U.S. theaters Dec. 13, almost didn’t happen. Several times.

“At least three, four times during the production I was waiting for that phone call [to shut down the movie],” says director Peter Browngardt. “It was a rocky journey.”

That’s putting it mildly. Browngardt was brought on in mid-2021 to produce and direct The Day the Earth Blew Up as his feature debut. Browngardt was a writer on the popular, and critically acclaimed, HBO Max Looney Tunes reboot, a series of new original shorts featuring the classic Tunes characters which seemed to prove there was an audience out there for more Looney. Browngardt and his writing team — some 15 writers and story consultants are credited on the movie — came up with an original idea involving Daffy Duck and Porky Pig uncovering a...

Quentin Tarantino’s never been one to mince words or compromise on his vision, even if it meant shutting the door on a Hollywood A-lister. Back in 2007, the legendary filmmaker had his sights set on a wild $30M passion project. But when one Iron Man star’s agent started playing hardball, Tarantino wasn’t having it. The auteur famously walked away from casting them altogether.

Quentin Tarantino | Image by Gage Skidmore, licensed under Cc By-sa 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Despite Tarantino’s usual flair, the film didn’t quite dazzle at the box office. But his no-nonsense approach to casting proved one thing: he’d rather bomb on his terms than cater to Hollywood politics. Classic Tarantino energy.

When Mickey Rourke’s agent blew it: Quentin Tarantino’s no-nonsense call on Death Proof Mickey Rourke as Ivan Vanko in Iron Man 2 | Credits: Marvel Studios

Quentin Tarantino isn’t one to let agents play games,...

Red Sonja has become an iconic character in comic book and fantasy culture. She is known for her strength, independence, and warrior spirit, often serving as a symbol of empowerment, especially for female characters in action genres.

Over the years, Red Sonja has appeared in numerous comic series, movies, and TV shows, gaining a loyal fanbase and inspiring other strong female characters in comics and popular media.

Two years ago, it was announced that Red Sonja is getting one more live-action adaptation, and now after a long time of almost no news regarding the state of the movie, some action footage has leaked online as well as some set images. You can check them out below:

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A post shared by Red Sonja (@redsonjaofficial)

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A post shared by Red Sonja (@redsonjaofficial)

Lutz’s armor in the footage closely matches later comic book versions of Red Sonja,...

Glen Powell’s 2024, in brief: January, “Hit Man” celebrates its U.S. premiere at Sundance; February, “Anyone but You” crosses $200 million at box office; April, the actor is cast in Edgar Wright’s much-hyped “The Running Man”; May, Powell is inducted into the Texas Hall of Fame and tipped to star in J.J. Abrams’ next super-secret film; June, “Hit Man” arrives on Netflix; July, “Twisters” is released to critical acclaim and big box office bucks; August, filming on his Hulu TV series “Chad Powers” kicks off; November, “The Running Man” filming commences in London, Glen Powell lookalike contest takes place in Austin, Texas.

Those are just the highlights.

For Powell, this level of professional success has been both hard-won and long-gestating (his first gig: a small part at age 14 in Robert Rodriguez’s “Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over”), punctuated by star turns in smaller films (from “Everybody Wants Some!!...

Wow… has it really been 40 years? It sure has, and that’s a reason to celebrate! From our first year at a restaurant on La Cienega Blvd. to a worldwide live stream, the Film Independent Spirit Awards have grown a lot.

That first year the awards, then called the Findie (Friends of Independents) Awards, awarded both Marty & Joel Coen the Best Director prize. Since then, we’ve celebrated artists like Spike Lee, Ryan Coogler, Whit Stillman, Robert Rodriguez and Kasi Lemmons, among many, many others. Next month on the blog, we’ll take deep dive into all the history of the awards, so make sure to check back with us to read all about the last 40 years of the Spirit Awards!

This year, we’re headed back to the beach in Santa Monica with returning host and Saturday Night Live alum Aidy Bryant. The show, which will be held at the beach in Santa Monica,...

There’s nothing more disheartening for a movie fan than when you go see a movie with a bunch of your friends, and while you absolutely love the movie, when the lights come on, and you walk out, you realize your friends absolutely Hated it. Sometimes this is justified, such as when my group of buddies rightly accused me of being insane for loving Die Another Day. At other times, they’re dead wrong, such as when one of my best friends tried to convince me Rushmore was bad (believe it or not – this also happened at The Matrix – but with a different friend). Another time I was totally disheartened by the reaction of a group of friends was back in the fall of 2004 when a group of us went to see Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow on opening night.

Wait a second, some of you might be asking.

When James Cameron’s Alita: Battle Angel hit theaters in 2019, it brought Yukito Kishiro’s beloved manga to life in a dazzlingly ambitious way. Directed by Robert Rodriguez and produced by Cameron, the film delivered a high-octane, cyberpunk adventure, complete with cutting-edge visuals and a story that fans fell in love with. Fans especially loved Rosa Salazar's portrayal of Alita, a cyborg getting through the dangerous Iron City, and the story left audiences hungry for more. But, five years later, the long-awaited sequel remains a "what if".

Despite its moderate box office success, Alita: Battle Angel has found a new surge in popularity on Netflix, where it climbed to the platform’s Global Top 10 charts in November 2024. The renewed interest shows that Alita's story still has many fans who love it. But with no concrete sequel plans on the horizon, fans are left wondering why Hollywood's best anime adaptation remains incomplete.

Eli Roth’s trampoline scene from Grindhouse stands as one of the anthology’s most infamous moments, and the horror director returns to break down the iconic kill. Released in 2007, Grindhouse is a double feature paying homage to 1970s exploitation cinema, comprised of Quentin Tarantino's slasher Death Proof and Robert Rodriguez's zombie-comedy Planet Terror. The anthology also included faux trailers by prominent horror directors, including Roth’s Thanksgiving, a holiday-themed slasher trailer packed with over-the-top gore and satirical humor.

In a conversation with Screen Rant’s Joe Deckelmeier at Fan Expo San Francisco (where Screen Rant was a media partner), Roth revisited Thanksgiving's now-iconic trampoline gag, where a cheerleader doing a split meets a gruesome end on a knife. Roth contended that this scene became the standout gross-out moment in Grindhouse, beating the efforts of his fellow gore directors. Here's what he had to say:

I remember with...

Streaming platform Disney+ Latin America has snagged distribution rights to Chilean boxing pic “Dancing in the Ring,” penned by Oscar-winning screenwriter Gonzalo Maza (“A Fantastic Woman”) alongside Rodrigo Gijón (“Infieles”).

Directed by “My Tender Matador” helmer Rodrigo Sepulveda and currently shooting in Chile, the boxing biopic about Arturo Godoy, the legendary Chilean boxer who took on world heavyweight champ Joe Louis, stars Chile’s Marko Zaror (“John Wick: Chapter 4”) and Benjamín Vicuña opposite former UFC champion Uriah Hall, who plays Louis, aka The Brown Bomber.

“We see the potential of this compelling story and believe it has the power to make a profound impact on the region. This is why we are fully committed to its distribution and have allocated a theatrical release so that the film gets the visibility it truly deserves,” said Pablo Sahores, director of theatrical distribution at Disney+.

Set in 1940 amid the chaos of World War II,...

Quick Links Thanksgiving 2: Further News & Info Eli Roth's Thanksgiving brings terror to Turkey Day in a brand-new slasher film, and a frightening sequel, Thanksgiving 2, is on the horizon. Expanded from a fake trailer that originally appeared in 2007's Grindhouse, Thanksgiving is a classic revenge slasher in which a crazed ax-wielding murderer stalks the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts in order to get even for a violent Black Friday shopping riot. Made with Roth's signature penchant for gore, Thanksgiving is also a clever social satire about the rise of consumerism and how it ruins the spirit of the holidays.Despite its divisive subject matter and blood-soaked scenes, Thanksgiving has been warmly received by many critics who appreciate the film's subtext that plays out beneath the typical slasher movie mayhem (via Rotten Tomatoes). Thanksgiving is currently the third movie to be adapted from a fake trailer in Grindhouse,...

Sixteen years passed from the time Eli Roth made a slasher faux trailer called Thanksgiving for the Robert Rodriguez / Quentin Tarantino double feature Grindhouse to the day when a feature version of Thanksgiving (read our review Here) finally made its way into theatres – and the fact that we’re being rewarded for our patience with not just that movie, but also a sequel that’s expected to reach theatres sometime in 2025 is truly something to be thankful about. The sequel was announced soon after the first film reached theatres, and during a new interview with IndieWire, Roth revealed that the script for Thanksgiving 2 is complete and filming starts soon!

Roth had been wanting to make a feature version of Thanksgiving ever since he made the faux trailer, and even wrote the screenplay with Jeff Rendell (who played the homicidal pilgrim in the trailer) a dozen years ago. The feature...

Turkey toys with detachable heads. Coloring books about a killer pilgrim. A gruesome holiday board game that encourages you to die. Framed by a cornucopia of these twisted “Thanksgiving” keepsakes, director Eli Roth arrives on Zoom as happy as a clam.

“It’s all so perverse,” the Massachusetts native told IndieWire, festively shuffling through the collectibles on his desk in LA. “It’s this meta-absurdity of merchandising a movie that is also a comment on merchandising — but we’re totally aware of it. Everyone is in on the joke.”

Last November, Roth made his highly anticipated return to the horror genre and delivered an instant holiday classic. A vicious satire about American consumerism, “Thanksgiving” opens with a Black Friday sale that turns into a deadly stampede. If you haven’t seen it yet, the mass casualty event is bloody and brutal but not without its charms. There’s a football...

Fantasy is a hard nut to crack. Where science fiction can build on the rust and chrome of worlds we know, fantasy asks us to envision something new, often helped along by tidbits of real world history (as many fans of George R.R. Martin know quite well). To bring these worlds to life on screen requires more magic than words on a page, making the special effects budget blow the king's purse wide open.

When it works, it's something special. We get to see impossible worlds, meet cultures and countries where the riddle of steel and the law of chivalry thrive. We take to skies full of dragons, and sandy deserts full of bandits. Of this grand niche, the sword and sorcery movie is the most approachable, with a down to earth ruffian flair. The distinction between this and high fantasy is slim, but for our purposes, if the world...

In a new series of writers revealing their go-to comfort film, an unlikely action flop gets a stirring recommendation

When I’m in a truly bad mood, about the state of the world or just the state of myself, traditionally uplifting movies don’t cut it for me. It’s not the movies’ fault, necessarily; it’s the act of pressing play on even a feel-great movie like His Girl Friday or Toy Story 2 that nags at me as overly self-conscious. It’s hard for the movie to have its desired effect when I’m giving it such a personal, specific mandate to make me feel better – a truly impossible form of video on demand. Instead, I need something that activates my lizard brain, something that goes straight to the pleasure center of my imagination, rather than engaging directly with my emotions. In recent years, that movie is Alita: Battle Angel.

In this episode, we explore the profound creative bond between directors and actors.Natalia Beristáin is a celebrated Mexican film and television director with over two decades of experience. She has also worked as a casting director on more than 25 productions, including El violín by Francisco Vargas, 600 millas by Gabriel Ripstein, Abel by Diego Luna, and La jaula de oro by Diego Quemada-Diez.In 2012, she premiered her debut feature, No quiero dormir sola, at the Rotterdam Film Festival. The film went on to win the Best Mexican Feature Film Award at the Morelia International Film Festival. Natalia has since directed Los adioses and Ruido, debuting at the San Sebastián Film Festival in 2023 with this last one. Her filmography, characterized by powerful performances and deeply empathetic characters, often portrays artists navigating complex social and political contexts that challenge their connections to cinema, literature, and art.Alice Braga, on the other hand,...

Gone are the days when Westerns ruled the box office, with superheroes now filling the role that cowboys once played in the American consciousness. But fear not, the Western genre is far from dead (which you would have known if you had read our list of the 100 Greatest Westerns of All Time). The brutality of the American West, combined with the hope that many people found in it, continues to inspire some of the most exciting filmmakers working today. It also has one of the richest histories of any genre, which allows filmmakers with a passion for Hollywood history to engage with the classics of the 20th century while updating Western tropes for modern audiences. The genre is so versatile that Westerns can reflect almost any political sentiment, meaning that Western movies tend to be an interesting barometer of the era in which they were made.

In just the last few Oscar seasons,...

Aliens and The Terminator actor Michael Biehn is set to star in his first major studio movie in decades. Biehn famously played Corporal Dwayne Hicks in Aliens and Kyle Reese, the father of John Connor, in The Terminator. In more recent years, he had a memorable guest appearance in one of the best The Mandalorian episodes, "The Jedi," in which he played a mercenary named Lang. However, it has been many years since Biehn starred in a major studio movie, with his last one being Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror, which was released in 2007.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, Biehn has joined the cast of the A24 movie Onslaught directed by Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire's Adam Wingard. Family Matters' Reginald VelJohnson and comedian Eric Wareheim have also joined the cast that already included Andor's Adria Arjona and Legion's Dan Stevens. Onslaught is an action horror thriller...

Michael Biehn, who starred in James Cameron’s iconic 1980s movies The Terminator and Aliens, is returning to studio movies.

The actor has spent the past couple of decades working in the low-budget thriller space outside the Hollywood mainstream, but has now joined the growing cast of Onslaught, the action thriller that Adam Wingard is directing for A24.

Reginald VelJohnson, the Family Matters actor who is also remembered for his role in action classic Die Hard, and comedian Eric Wareheim (Tim & Eric) have also signed for the feature, which gets underway this month.

Lyrical Media and Ryder Picture Company are also backing the picture, which stars Adria Arjona and has Wingard favorite Dan Stevens and Queer actor Drew Starkey in the cast. UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Alex “Poatan” Pereira is also in negotiations to join the project.

Many details for Onslaught are being kept in an underground experimental facility, but...

Robert Rodriguez’s El Mariachi Trilogy or Mexico Trilogy is now available in a new Blu-ray collection, which includes a 4K transfer of Desperado, courtesy of Arrow Video. The first movie was never truly intended to be a franchise starter. It was actually Rodriguez practicing how to make a movie. El Mariachi would put him on the map for film studios, but it was the sequel, Desperado, that brought him into the mainstream. It would also make Antonio Banderas an action star and introduced audiences to Salma Hayek. And it’s this manic film that we take a look at in this episode of Reel Action.

If you’re into movies, chances are you’ve heard the inspirational story behind Robert Rodriguez’s debut feature film. But if you aren’t up to speed, 1995’s Desperado is actually a sequel to a small film from 1992 called El Mariachi. And when I say small,...

A James Cameron-produced $405 million action movie has landed on Netflix's global chart five years later. Cameron is one of the most commercially successful filmmakers of all time, having written and directed Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Titanic three of the top five highest-grossing films of all time. Collectively, James Cameron's movies have made over $8 billion worldwide, making him the second-highest-grossing director of all time behind Steven Spielberg, though Cameron has only directed 13 movies to Spielberg's 34.

Cameron occasionally produces and pens projects that he doesn't direct. As the co-writer and director of The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Cameron produced and co-wrote the story for 2019's Terminator: Dark Fate. During the 1990s, Cameron produced the projects Point Break and Strange Days, which were directed by his ex-wife, Kathryn Bigelow. Over the years, there have also been many movies that Cameron wished to direct, but was unable to,...

Film audiences may have first recognized Ben Affleck for his appearance in the 1992 film "School Ties," where he played the main sidekick of the film's central bully. In 1993, Affleck was already behind the camera as well, having made a rather notorious 16-minute short film called "I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meat Hook, and Now I Have a Three-Picture Deal at Disney." Affleck played a boorish womanizer named Shannon in Kevin Smith's 1995 comedy "Mallrats," and he teamed with Smith again in 1997 to make the stirring queer romantic drama "Chasing Amy." At the end of 1997, Affleck and his friend Matt Damon became awards darlings thanks to Gun Van Sant's "Good Will Hunting" which they both wrote and starred in. 

Affleck has remained a superstar ever since, having appeared in terse studio dramas, mainstream romances, and numerous action films. He played the superheroes Daredevil and Batman and continued to work with Kevin Smith.

It is almost fitting that George Huang’s Weekend in Taipei comes out nearly 30 years after his razor-sharp and ruthless black comedy, Swimming with the Sharks. You just have to wonder what took his son so long to make another movie. That biting, back-stabbing comedy still holds up and showcases the talents of a filmmaker who can embed comedy within any genre.

I mention this because Weekend in Taipei is a comedy wrapped in an action film. This doesn’t mean the movie’s tone is uneven or unsure of itself—far from it. While Huang’s script occasionally stumbles into a few tropes, like Luc Besson’s mysterious character arc or a Parent Trap-esque subplot, the experience is refreshing, super cool, funny, and ultimately one hell of a ride.

Luke Evans in Weekend in Taipei | Image via Ketchup Entertainment Related 6 Times Actors Nailed It as Zeus in Hollywood Weekend...

Exclusive: Rosa Salazar, the actress, director and producer best known for roles in Alita: Battle Angel and Prime Video’s Undone, has signed with Sugar23 for management ahead of a busy 2025.

On February 14, Salazar enters the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a role alongside Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford in Captain America: Brave New World.

Upcoming, she’ll also be seen starring alongside Mark Wahlberg and Lakeith Stanfield in Amazon MGM’s thriller Play Dirty, based on the Parker crime novels written by Donald E. Westlake under the pen name Richard Stark. Shane Black wrote and directed that film, billed as The Italian Job meets Heat, which has not yet been dated for release.

Capturing the industry’s attention with her lead role in Robert Rodriguez’s 2019 cyberpunk actioner Alita: Battle Angel, Salazar is also known for producing and starring in Amazon’s acclaimed rotoscoped series Undone, from the BoJack Horseman...

When a movie quote is memorable and connects with audiences, it can change the entire course of the plot and leave an impression on viewers. There are plenty of movies with bad reputations that are actually good. However, while the quality of a film relies on many different moving parts, it's easy to immediately identify a good quote. When a quote makes the maximum impact, it's moving, philosophical, and well-crafted. These lines are elevated even more by their delivery, as plenty of great actors grace the screen of films that are received well by critics and audiences.

Qualifying a movie as "bad" is subjective, as just because a movie isn't of the highest quality or critically acclaimed doesn't mean it can't be fun to watch or enjoyable in a campy sense. Finding hidden gems within the dialogue of poorly reviewed films is like watching a project that wastes a great...

Quentin Tarantino has done a bit of everything in his career as director, producer, and writer, but hes best known for his work on film, and one of his most acclaimed works almost became a TV miniseries for the weirdest reason. Quentin Tarantinos movies stand out for their heavy use of blood and violence, but also for his undeniable screenwriting talent, with most praise going towards the way he writes dialogue. Throughout his career, Tarantino has explored different genres, even going as far as to tell alternate versions of historical events.

Falling into that category is Inglourious Basterds, in which Tarantino explores an alternate version of World War II and Adolf Hitlers fate. Inglourious Basterds follows two storylines with the same goal: kill as many Nazis as possible, including Hitler. Inglourious Basterds was a critical and commercial success, winning multiple awards and becoming one of Tarantinos best works. However, Inglourious Basterds...

Talk surrounding the potential release of Alita: Battle Angel 2 is heating up.

James Cameron (known for his record-breaking success with the Avatar franchise) wrote the screenplay alongside director Robert Rodriguez on 2019's Alita: Battle Angel. The film quickly became a cult classic and finished its box office run with over $400 million on a reported $170 million budget.

Since Alita's debut, discussion has been rampant about a potential sequel being greenlit, especially since fans highly praised the original.

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