Browsing: movies

Monkey D. Luffy may be One Piece’s lovable, instantly recognizable hero, but early drafts and prototypes of Eiichiro Oda’s various designs for him hinted initially darker paths ahead. As such, Luffy’s Gears, even at their most fearsome in terms of power, never quite evoked a more malicious tone, characteristically remaining silly, comical even. But as shown by recently-unearthed, extremely rare images of Oda’s early concept sketches, Luffy’s Gear 4 mode had an even darker potential iteration. One Piece Mini Magazine Special Feature: Legend & Next, glimpsed earlier this past weekend, featured a Snakeman looking more ferocious than his final version.…

I’m really in pursuit of greatness,” Timotheé Chalamet announced in February 2025 while accepting the Screen Actor’s Guild Award for Male Actor in a Leading Role. ​“I know people don’t usually talk like that, but I want to be one of the greats.” Chalamet’s statement was earnest enough, if not a little self-serious (he was being recognised for James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown). But watching him in Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme, one gets a better sense of what Chalamet was talking about. Not quite 30 at the time of writing, his career has been defined by rave reviews and interesting choices; he…

Movies: Hey, I Made This for You (2025) by Jacquie Phillips: When Adulthood Becomes a Reckoning With the Life That Didn’t Happen top of pagebottom of page

Is Anaconda the first Hollywood movie to include an on-camera discussion of IP? The heroes of this meta-reboot of the campy ’90s horror movie are wannabe filmmakers who acquire the remake rights to Anaconda because, as one character puts it, “that’s all big movies are” now.The moment is meant as a meta-joke, of course. We’re only watching this new Jack Black and Paul Rudd buddy movie because someone in Hollywood thought the Anaconda IP was strong enough to pull viewers into theaters to watch it. But that line plays more like tragedy than comedy, since it’s a tacit acknowledgement that basically the only way Hollywood will make a comedy these days…

Miniseries have a unique opportunity to tell compelling stories in a short amount of time. These series are often accessible because they are easy to invest in. The fact that miniseries feature fewer episodes than other TV shows means that they can tell tighter, more impactful stories. Because they feature fewer episodes, miniseries can focus on character development in a way that longer TV shows can’t. The best miniseries use their limited time to tell innovative stories with characters who are worth investing in and who are worth re-visiting over time. Some series, like Angels in America, are adaptations of…

2025 has been another year of Netflix greats, as the world’s most-subscribed streaming service continues to build a legacy of prestige television on its platform. Having agreed a deal to buy Warner Bros. earlier in December, in some ways the picture has never been rosier for those at the top of this streaming giant. But we’re here to talk about top TV shows rather than business dealings, and in this respect Netflix has barnstorming 12 months, too. A lot’s changed in television since this time last year, as is clear from the dramatic differences between this list and the Screen…

From Star Wars canon expansion to the conclusion of a university-set sitcom and Vince Gilligan’s highly anticipated return to the small screen, here are our TV highlights from this year. Given how rare event television is in the streaming era, watercooler moments are far and few between. While Celebrity Traitors is a gripping exception to this rule, the field of other possibilities is vast. Mammoth franchises sit alongside original storytelling in a TV schedule of your own making as the medium continues to adapt to the evolving entertainment landscape. Some year-defining titles have still not yet made it to UK shores…

Film Festivals: Amoeba (2025) by Siyou Tan: Coming-of-Age Drama Following Teenage Girl Gang Rebelling Against Singapore’s Conformist Society top of pagebottom of page

It feels strange to realize that a TV show you’ve watched your whole life — thanks to endless reruns — now has just one surviving cast member.Iconic shows like All in the Family came from a different time, but their special place in popular culture keeps them from ever feeling truly old. They’re always there in the background, still popping up in reruns and conversations decades later.Time Does Not Stand Still for Classic TVWith the tragic passing of Rob Reiner in December 2025, All in the Family — widely seen as one of the most influential sitcoms, if not television programs, ever…

Matt Damon’s role as Linus in the Ocean’s franchise is one of the most famous of his career, but just last year, he starred in a replacement to the film that’s still surging on streaming charts. Damon stars alongside Casey Affleck in The Instigators, the Apple TV original heist film following a pair of robbers who must go on the run with the help of their therapist after one of their jobs doesn’t go as planned. The Instigators began streaming on Apple TV last August, and although it’s been almost a year and a half since its premiere, the film…