The Midwest is usually associated with uncomplicated kindness—nice, polite people who like college football, a cold beer, and (recent events in Minnesota notwithstanding) treating their neighbors with dignity and respect. But as an oft repeated phrase on Steven Conrad’s new HBO show warns, there’s more to Midwesterners than meets the eye.
“No one’s normal,” says Conrad, Zooming in from California. “It just looks that way from across the street.”
In the HBO limited series DTF St. Louis, Conrad explores the darkness just beyond a Midwestern city’s white picket fences. The seven-episode dark comedy stars Emmy favorites Jason Bateman, David Harbour, and Linda Cardellini as three middle-aged St. Louis residents grappling with ennui, loneliness, and hidden desires, becoming enmeshed in a love triangle that leaves one of them dead.
As a writer, Conrad—who sold his first screenplay at the age of 19—has always been interested in messiness. “[There’s] a set of themes I’ve liked since I was a young person learning how to write: You watch somebody you like make a mistake, and you watch them try to make up for it,” he says. “You cheer for them to be able to do that. But like most of the consequential mistakes in our life, there really is no complete way to make it all better again.”
Harbour in DTF St. Louis.
Tina Rowden/HBO
Conrad doubles down on that central theme in DTF St. Louis, creating a series that explores how our mistakes—and desires—only compound with age. “The older I got, it occurred to me that we keep making them. There are plenty of middle-aged mistakes,” he says.
Bateman—also an executive producer on the series—was the perfect vessel to convey these ideas. He stars in the show as Clark Forrest, a hot weatherman and a micro-celebrity in the greater St. Louis area. While reporting on a storm, he’s paired with a good-hearted yet simple ASL interpreter named Floyd, played by Harbour. An unlikely friendship between the two blossoms, leading Clark to meet Floyd’s wife, Cardellini’s Carol—a previously single mother struggling to support a troubled tweenage-year-old son and an under-employed husband. The also-married Clark introduces Floyd to a new app called DTF St. Louis, made for singles and swingers looking to spice up their marriages. After a few fateful swipes, everyone’s lives begin to change.
“We show some billboards for DTF St. Louis, and their log line is, ‘All of the excitement, none of the consequences,’” Conrad tells me. “A smart person would know that that’s impossible.”
The Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 3 series finale is shaping up to be a historic moment for television, with its theatrical footprint expanding rapidly. What began as a limited fan event has now grown to more than 620 theaters across the US and Canada. The show creators, Duffer Brothers revealed in an online post that over 1.1 million fans have already RSVPed for the free screenings taking place on December 31, 2025, and January 1, 2026. The Stranger Things finale will screen across major chains and independent theaters alike, turning the show’s conclusion into a communal big-screen celebration rather than a traditional box-office release.
Netflix streaming time and date in India and the US The final episode, titled Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up, will premiere simultaneously worldwide on Netflix. In the United States, the finale drops on December 31 at 5 PM PT (8 PM ET), perfectly timed for New Year’s Eve viewing. Indian audiences can stream the episode on January 1, 2026, at 6:30 AM IST. With a massive runtime of 125 minutes, the feature-length episode is expected to dominate global conversations as soon as it lands on the platform.
What to expect from Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 3 The finale promises a high-stakes, emotionally charged showdown as the Hawkins gang prepares for one last battle against Vecna. The newly released trailer hints at intense action, haunting visuals, and deeply personal moments, particularly between Eleven and Hopper. According to the Duffer Brothers, the final episode dives straight into the action without pause, featuring a complex plan that involves merging worlds, confronting the Abyss, and risking everything to save Hawkins. A lingering sense of uncertainty surrounds Eleven’s fate, adding emotional weight to the climax. Fans can also expect long-awaited emotional payoffs, character reunions, and callbacks to earlier seasons that bring the story full circle.
The Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 3 brings back the core ensemble that defined the series. Millie Bobby Brown returns as Eleven, joined by David Harbour (Hopper), Finn Wolfhard (Mike), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas), Noah Schnapp (Will), Sadie Sink (Max), and Winona Ryder (Joyce). Jamie Campbell Bower reprises his chilling role as Vecna, ensuring a formidable final antagonist. As the Duffer Brothers have noted, the finale is designed to be experienced together at home and in theaters as a fitting send-off to a decade-long journey.
The wait is finally over, and Stranger Things is back on our screens this holiday weekend.
The epic final season of the Duffer Brothers’ smash supernatural retro series rips open the Upside Down to see how the threat arrived in Hawkins. Between Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) taking more kids and the government seeking out Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Stranger Things‘ gang of heroes must gather the troops and be ready for anything.
Nancy (Natalia Dyer) leads the charge alongside Hopper (David Harbour) and Joyce (Winona Ryder) in planning to kill Vecna—while also skirting government surveillance to find out what the military is doing in the Upside Down since the ground ripped open in their town.
Eleven hones her powers for a final showdown against Vecna, who is recruiting Hawkins youth while disguised as Henry and calling himself Mr. Whatsit; his targets include Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher). With both Vecna and the government causing chaos, Steve (Joe Keery), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Robin (Maya Hawke), and Erica (Priah Ferguson) all step up to be Hawkins’ saviors.
But it’s Will (Noah Schnapp) and Max (Sadie Sink), whose connections to the Upside Down may come in handy to back up Eleven, that really have us so hyped for the rest of the season.
Here are the things we liked about season five, volume one—and some of the things we didn’t like as much.
Will getting the “goosies” is how he taps into the hive mind, and that makes him this season’s secret weapon. His ability to access the shared consciousness that powers Vecna finally comes in handy, giving Hawkins’ heroes a man on the inside who can spot incoming threats.
Liked: The radio station
Robin works as Hawkins’ radio DJ and is the voice of the station she, Steve, and Nancy run. It’s a way to send covert messages to their team, including Murray (Brett Gelman) and Hopper, about the government’s moves—if you pay attention to her yapping in between the choice music played. Loved the Diana Ross “Upside Down” needle drop. The home base change is welcome and adds a new layer of nostalgia for the days before music streaming and the heyday of radio personalities.
Plus, it feels very Star Wars to jack into the radio signals to track the bad guys and figure out how to smuggle weapons and goods in and out of Hawkins. Steve gives us Han Solo vibes to the max when he drives the mobile station, intercepting radio signals of the Upside Down while Hopper is in there doing more spy business. Dustin, as his co-pilot and tech genius, wins our hearts.
Didn’t like: Jonathan’s obsession with Steve
Ever since his return from California, Jonathan has been focusing on Steve being better than him to a weird degree. Their competition for Nancy’s attention is tiring, and even Steve is sick of it. He rightfully calls out Jonathan for focusing more on him than Nancy because he just sucks as a boyfriend. Steve has demonstrated he has been in the trenches with the kids protecting them and has matured since his high school jerk days. It’s emotional growth Jonathan lacks and won’t be fixed by proposing to Nancy, which gave us the ick when we saw the ring Murray smuggled for him. I dread the moment he’ll pop the question.
Didn’t Like: Not enough Henry Creel origin explanation
Fans lucky enough to attend the Stranger Things: The First Shadow play (or, barring an actual theater visit, who scoured TikTok for recaps of it) will be more in the know about Henry Creel’s past than folks who just watch the series. We get a little glimpse of his younger years in the show, but not enough to really understand what his going to school with Joyce, Hopper, Bob Newby, and a random Harrington means. In the play, as he’s learning about his powers with Brenner, he’s fighting the mind flayer’s control with the help of Patty Newby, Bob’s sister.
Liked: Vecna as Mr. Whatsit
In the awesome Frank Darabont-directed third episode, we see Henry return to an idyllic version of his home, frozen in time within the period he was last there. His new plan is so creepy because while he is actually Freddy Krueger-like and stalks kids, he’s luring them as a friendly man in his Henry form who wants to save them from the monsters. It’s so eerie, and the Americana version of his mansion’s wonderland, where he acts like Mister Rogers around Holly Wheeler and others, is chillingly perfect.
Nancy becoming the de facto leader is giving Sarah Connor vibes—in a season where Linda Hamilton shows up to boot. Vecna taking Holly after attacking the Wheeler parents really changes her and makes her more interested in destroying Vecna than boys (thank god). She’s the brains behind the operation, guiding every player on the table to use their skills to defeat Vecna. Under her leadership, they figure out that Vecna is targeting kids and hatch a plan to protect them.
Didn’t Like: Not enough Dr. Kay
Linda Hamilton as Dr. Kay is such an iconic choice, and her introduction was one we were anticipating as soon as we learned about her casting. Season five is juggling a lot of characters, so maybe it’s to be expected that we haven’t gotten much Kay so far. But knowing that she’s basically the new Brenner-esque big bad in the lab working for the government gives us the heebie jeebies. We want to know more about why she wants Eleven and whether or not she really intends to find a way to control Vecna.
Liked: Robin and Will’s connection
Will coming into his own with Robin’s help is such a sweet subplot. Will and Robin recognize one another in ways the others can’t, and it rings so true. Robin being a mentor to Will to help him embrace who he is, melding with his acceptance of his connection to the Upside Down, really builds to the best payoff in volume one.
Eleven’s training montage was sick, and seeing her really lean into her powers finally in the Upside Down was so cool. She’s grown up, and Hopper did good with his ward in helping her be empowered by those she loves. Whether or not she’s the one to deal the final blow (we presume) to Vecna, we can’t wait to see it.
Steve and Dustin still have our whole hearts; this show better not touch one hair or curl on their heads. (We know it will.) And that’s what’s so great about the show: every friendship dynamic, not just theirs, and even the new ones like Will and Robin, really feel relatable and that much more critical when they’re in danger. Plus, all the new kids, including Holly, get great moments to shine in their kidnapping plot, which feels very Amblin-meets-Wes Craven-by-way-of-Goonies. So many funny moments within the breakneck action!
Liked: Max lives (sort of)!
Max is alive, in a way; she’s living in Henry’s head and can see his memories as well as his plans. Seeing Sadie Sink’s return as a hero in the “dreamworld” realm of the Upside Down is freaking epic as she guides Holly away from Henry’s deceptions. She’s also a way in to seek out Vecna’s weaknesses and has survived long enough to outsmart him in his own mind by hiding in a cave.
Didn’t Like: The mysterious cave
Okay, so I found the introduction of the cave annoying because I know it’s where Henry first encountered the entity that powers the Upside Down, which is explained in the Stranger Things play. I know it’s still just volume one, but doling out incremental information doesn’t help viewers really understand why this setting matters and why Vecna gets super scared of the cave.
Eight is back! Turns out she’s who Kay has been using to seek out Vecna in the Upside Down base, much like how Brenner was trying to use Eleven to do the same in earlier seasons. Seeing her return is exciting and finally connects her missing thread to the action. It gives Eleven her sister back, which we love.
Will and Vecna meet face-to-face in the middle of the action, where the Demogorgons are snatching kids left and right. It’s terrifying and pulled off in a way where you think Hawkins’ heroes are taking another L, especially when Vecna says he picked Will because he was weak, just like the others he needs to take back with him. And just as you think the Demogorgons are about to kill Mike, Joyce, Lucas, and Robin—Will taps into the hive to take control of the Demogorgons, then destroys them with newfound psychic powers in the same way Vecna killed Chrissy. He successfully turns the tables on Vecna, and it’s such a great payoff to see him reclaim his agency against his kidnapper.
More Stranger Things season five episodes arrive December 25, with the grand finale dropping December 31 on Netflix.
The conclusion to Netflix and the Duffer Brothers’ pop culture phenomenon Stranger Things begins with an epic first volume that’s now streaming for your binging pleasure.
Action and horror propel the return to Hawkins in volume one as our heroes race to find Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), hoping to vanquish him once and for all. In the time since the Upside Down ripped open in season four, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) has been training with Hopper (David Harbour) to strengthen her powers. Seeing Eleven’s growth into a strong as hell young woman from her early days throwing bullies off her friends is such a joy. Clearly, that’s thanks to Eggo waffles.
Meanwhile, the non-superpowered, led by Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and Joyce (Winona Ryder), unite in pursuit of Vecna. This time around their HQ moves out of the Wheeler basement and into the town radio station operated by Robin (Maya Hawke) and Steve (Joe Keery), who use their show, “The Squawk,” to relay secret messages through the station’s needle drops and otherwise government-sanctioned yapping.
It’s a delight to see Hawkins’ heroes use the resources available to them to not just prepare for battle against the Upside Down but also to evade the martial law stronghold on their town. Everyone in the cast shines with their skills we’ve seen develop over the past few seasons, and everyone gets a standout moment as the anti-Vecna campaign builds.
Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) uses radio signals to hack into the lines being used by the government base in the Upside Down, guiding Hopper’s clandestine search for Vecna with the help of Steve’s van, which has been transformed into a mobile radio station. Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Erica (Priah Ferguson), and Will (Noah Schapp) also support using the web of tools from the station; it’s almost as if the town has become a real D&D table to play on, which is a really clever payoff to how it all began with the kids in the basement. All of this moves the action at a breakneck pace and is matched by the horrors of the Upside Down that are intent on preying on Hawkins.
The Demogorgons are back, and Vecna’s foot soldiers begin to collect children for his mysterious new plan by ripping through anything and anyone that stands in their way. The threat gets too real when Holly Wheeler (now played by Nell Fisher) is lured by Vecna, appearing with his normal Henry face to warn her the monsters are coming, and it’s so creepy to see Bower play up his charms, which are very Mister Rogers meets Freddy Krueger. It’s an awesome concept that really digs into that Amblin kid adventure feel but also dips into an ’80s horror tone, harkening back to early Wes Craven and John Carpenter.
The frights feel real, and the situations are horrific with no holds barred. When the Demogorgons come to collect Holly at the Wheeler house, it’s a bloodbath and a declaration of war against Nancy and the gang’s efforts to catch Vecna.
And that’s just the Upside Down threat; the government is also there to make things difficult for everyone. It’s still after Eleven, who’s being painted as the fall guy for the horrors. She can’t show her face in Hawkins; officials are combing the town for her to take her to the base now run by Dr. Kay (Linda Hamilton). The iconic ’80s action heroine is a stone-cold baddie, and frankly we’d be okay with her taking us captive any day.
Kidding—sort of—but her presence here is very welcome. The Duffer Brothers enlisting Hamilton as their final season antagonist is so inspired, and while she’s not in volume one as much as we’d hoped, Dr. Kay really gets established as the main obstacle to finding Vecna first. The government seems to be picking up where Dr. Brenner left off, and the motivations behind the search for Eleven suddenly become clearer. It’s such a powerful message that really speaks to the overarching themes of how we only have our communities to count on for our protection, because, well, those in power might just be seeking more dangerous ways to try and further their control.
The Duffers and producer Shawn Levy have enlisted some great filmmakers for this season to really capture the cinematic scope of Stranger Things for its final outing. Frank Darabont’s work on the show this season is primed to be some all-time great television, and the Duffers’ feature-length closer to the first drop of episodes really raises the stakes.
But it’s really the relationships that solidify Stranger Things as a true pop culture beast. The younger cast has grown up before our eyes, and the power of their love for one another has helped make the show one of the most compelling sagas of this generation. We want to see everyone Eleven cares about be okay, but we also know things can’t be wrapped up neatly if Vecna has his way. Imagining the horrors that could potentially befall Steve’s pretty head (not to mention his co-pilot, Dustin) feels just as stressful as ever. But the core friendship between Will, Mike, Lucas, and Dustin is what really ties Stranger Things together, and we can’t wait to see how their campaign against the Upside Down ends.
Stranger Things 5 Volume One is now streaming on Netflix. The remaining episodes arrive December 25 and 31.
Trigger Warning: The Following content contains mention of bullying, which may be triggering for some readers
Co-stars Millie Bobby Brown and David Harbour stepped out together for the first time in front of the press and public since reports about possible discord between the two hit the internet the previous week. The two actors showed no signs of problems between them at the much-awaited Stranger Things Season 5 premiere in Los Angeles.
Millie Bobby Brown and David Harbour put possible grievances behind them to show a united front at the LA gig
Things took a rather strange turn for the fans of the show when last week reports emerged claiming that Millie Bobby Brown had complained about bullying at the hands of her on-screen father, actor David Harbour. Neither star responded to the reports, neither confirming nor denying it. Since then, fans of the show have been waiting to see if anything had changed between the two and their appearance at the LA premiere of their show’s last season. Taking to the red carpet with big smiles on their faces, the duo posed for the cameras while poking fun at each other.
While no signs of awkwardness were visible, they also side-hugged each other and kept it comfortable overall. The creators of the show, the Duffer Brothers, did not slip much to The Hollywood Reporter on November 6, saying instead, “Obviously, you understand I can’t get into personal onset matters, but I will say we’ve been doing this for 10 years with this cast, and at this point they’re family and we deeply care about them. So, you know, nothing matters more than just having a set where everyone feels safe and happy.”
However, Stranger Things director and executive producer Shawn Levy was very firm on how seriously they take any potential complaints, vowing to ‘create a respectful workplace where everyone feels comfortable and safe’, saying he was proud to have also done so on the Stranger Things sets.
The reported pages and pages of allegations, seemingly done before starting season 5 shoot, have not been addressed by Netflix or either of the actors, and this press run seems to have decided not to touch the topic at all.
Disclaimer: This content discusses sensitive topics that may be distressing or triggering for some readers. Reader discretion is advised. If you find this content upsetting or need support, please consider reaching out to a qualified professional or a support helpline.
All is allegedly not well in Hawkins, Indiana. According to the Daily Mail,Millie Bobby Brown reportedly filed a lengthy complaint about David Harbour before they began filming the final season of Stranger Things.
A source told the outlet that Brown, who plays psychic test subject Eleven on the hit Netflix series, filed a harassment and bullying claim against Harbour—who plays Eleven’s adoptive father, ex-police chief Jim Hopper—before season five began shooting in January of last year. “There were pages and pages of accusations,” the source told the Daily Mail. “The investigation went on for months.”
The outcome of the investigation and the details surrounding the claims are currently unknown. According to the Daily Mail, Brown’s allegations against Harbour “did not include claims of sexual impropriety.” Brown was reportedly accompanied by a personal legal representative on set at all times while filming the show’s final season. Harbour’s Jim Hopper adopts Brown’s Eleven, and their rocky father-daughter relationship is a central theme of the show—which means they share significant screen time.
This is not the first time such allegations have plagued the Stranger Things set. A grip claimed in 2018 that two members of the Stranger Things team were creating a toxic work environment, with some believing that series creators Matt and Ross Duffer—a.k.a. the Duffer brothers—were responsible. According to CBS News, Netflix conducted an investigation and found no wrongdoing.
Outside of Stranger Things drama, Harbour is in the midst of a public split from singer-songwriter Lily Allen. Allen recently dropped her first album in seven years, West End Girl,inspired by their messy separation. On the album, Allen graphically details alleged intimate aspects of their relationship, including various alleged betrayals committed by Harbour. Per the Daily Mail’s source, the Stranger Things workplace complaints were completely unrelated to Allen’s grievances with Harbour. “Lily supported him throughout it all,” the Mail’s source said. “It was a brutal time.”
The 21-year-old Brown recently married actor Jake Bongiovi, son of rocker Jon Bon Jovi, and adopted a baby girl.
Stranger Things’ final season will be released in three parts, with the first four episodes dropping on Netflix on November 26. Three more episodes will debut on Christmas, with a two-hour finale episode released in select cinemas and on Netflix on New Year’s Eve.
Vanity Fair has reached out to Brown, Harbour, and Netflix for comment.
Divorces in Hollywood are more common than marriages that last. That means that, when the news broke that Stranger Things star David Harbour and singer Lily Allen were separating, no one was really surprised. Even the cheating allegations about Harbour weren’t really all that shocking. But then came Allen’s latest album and, well…singers process in songs. So, there was a lot to break down.
And of course, there was a question. What does Harbour think about the songs that are clearly about him? Lily Allen had an answer. During a chat with Interview, the singer was asked how Harbour would react to the album. “It’s not a cruel album,” Allen said of West End Girl, which was released Oct. 24. “I don’t feel like I’m being mean. It was just the feelings I was processing at the time.”
The album was written and recorded over 10 days in December 2024, right after the two separated after four years of marriage.
“I feel very differently about the whole situation now,” Allen added. “We all go through breakups, and it’s always f–king brutal. But I don’t think it’s that often that you feel inclined to write about it while you’re in it.”
West End Girl has been called a revenge album, but Allen doesn’t see it that way. “That’s what’s fun about this record; it’s viscerally like going through the motions,” she explained. “At the time, I was really trying to process things, and that’s great in terms of the album, but I don’t feel confused or angry now.”
As for how Harbour may have reacted to the new album, Allen did not want to speculate. “I try not to think about that,” she said. Instead, she wants the album to “feel brutal and tragic but also empowering.”
The album, which Allen says was only “inspired” by the moment and her marriage to Harbour, doesn’t exactly paint Harbour in the best light. It’s bad enough that there has been speculation about whether Harbour could bring forward a defamation suit against Allen and her production company.
Louise Lambert, co-CEO of Reviewed and Cleared, a specialist media law firm, told Cosmopolitan that even though it is defamatory to call someone a cheater, the “truth is a complete defence to defamation.” She also added that “in the event of a claim, the person making the allegation would need to provide evidence of cheating in order to rely on this defence.” Since the lyrics don’t specifically mention Harbour, any possible suit would also have to go into the meanings of the lyrics.
“The same [defamation] laws govern both [music and journalists] but, as an artistic work, there is perhaps more leeway in terms of what a song actually means. Allen has indicated herself that it’s not all necessarily true,” Lambert also said, which is probably an answer in and of itself. After all, let us remember that Drake’s defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group over Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us was recently dismissed by a judge, who ruled that Lamar’s lyrics were “nonactionable opinion.”
So yes, this split is messy, but it’s probably not going to end in a lawsuit. Whether Harbour actually comments on it—he will start doing press for Stranger Things Season 5 soon—remains to be seen.
A FaceTime call featured in the album’s opening track sets the scene for a shift in Allen’s personal life. Her husband wants to open their marriage, and by track four, “Tennis,” he seems to be engaged in an affair with a woman the couple knows. “Who the fuck is Madeline?” Allen repeatedly cries, a question she answers on the following song of the same name. On “Madeline,” she sings about messaging a woman her husband has been sleeping with: “We had an arrangement / Be discreet and don’t be blatant / There had to be payment / It had to be with strangers / But you’re not a stranger, Madeline.” In an interview with The Times, Allen insisted that Madeline was “a fictional character,” but a costume designer named Natalie Tippett has claimed in an interview with The Mail On Sunday that she is the mystery woman in question.
Allen, who has been sober since 2019, admits she struggled with feeling the “need to be numb” in “Relapse.” On another track, “Dallas Major,” she playfully croons about DM’ing other men under an alias in an effort to appease her husband’s arrangement: “So I go by Dallas Major but that’s not really my name / You know I used to be quite famous, that was way back in the day / Yes I’m here for validation and I probably should explain / How my marriage has been opened since my husband went astray.”
Some of the most pointed accusations arrive in the song “Pussy Palace,” in which Allen sings about taking some of her partner’s things to the couple’s West Village apartment, where her husband stayed for a period. While there, she discovered a plastic Duane Reade bag, “with the handles tied / sex toys, butt plugs, lube inside.” Upon finding Pandora’s box, Allen wonders aloud, “am I looking at a sex addict?”
You might be surprised by this unexpected crossover between Stranger Things and Frankenstein that you never realized you needed. One of Netflix’s hidden gems is a half-hour mockumentary released in 2019 that’s part PBS Masterpiece Theater and part Orson Welles vanity show parody starring David Harbour (Thunderbolts*).
Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein hits that nostalgia for watching public broadcasting with your grandma while sitting on plastic-wrapped couches and eating hard candy. Truly, while watching it, it felt like I got drop-kicked into that core childhood memory. David Harbour plays himself as David Harbour the third, who unearths his father David Harbour Jr.’s (who he also plays) Frankenstein-inspired project. Experiencing daddy issues, Harbour III grapples with an existential crisis brought on by his mad genius dad’s love for the theater over, perhaps, his own son. I cannot stress how unseriously serious everyone is in this, especially Harbour, who relishes the larger-than-life movie star that was his fake-real father.
Complete with a dramatic made-for-TV music score, the mockumentary (directed by Daniel Gray Longino and written by John Levenstein) follows David Harbour’s journey in unpacking his dad’s life work and love for the stage. The TV play within the special chronicles the Welles-esque capitulation into selling oneself out while grasping for one more artistic success.
The play we watch throughout the mockumentary has that PBS TV station filter lighting and the weirdest plot. Frankenstein, the doctor (Harbour), invites over an alluring potential investor, Miss Macbeth (Kate Berlant), to fund building another monster. His assistant Sal (Alex Ozero as ’80s heartthrob Joey Vallejo) poses as the doctor while the real doctor poses as the monster (or does he), which hen suddenly it cuts to an ad for a steak restaurant Harbour Jr. is endorsing while eating his feelings of jealousy toward Vallejo—a feud that may have led to Harbour Jr. cutting the brakes of his competition’s car.
Yeah, it’s definitely convoluted in that Adult Swim style of surreal humor but on Netflix, much like the Kristen Bell murder mystery farce The Woman in the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window.
It’s so meta, and for that reason we think it’s a must-watch this season leading into the release of Guillermo Del Toro’s authentic Frankenstein feature for the streamer and Stranger Things season five. Harbour is definitely having fun as a lumbering star of the stage that a mere televised special cannot contain. There are even interstitials of him proclaiming, “That’s how I got into Juilliard!” on his mentor’s Inside the Actor’s Studio-style school of acting program.
The kicker? His mentor is played by Alfred Molina, who is relegated to being a sea captain of few words on Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein. It’s so unhinged to see the great actor just show up for kicks.
The random nature of the special within the show leaves you with so many more questions than answers. Take, for instance, Harbour attempting to rationalize an irrational man who is completely made up and then being that very man who played two other men. I threw my hands up in the air so many times because it was just so ridiculous. Was he playing Frankenstein, the doctor pretending to be Frankenstein the creature? Or was he Frankenstein, the creature pretending to be his creator to get the investment to make a mate? The galaxy brain that went into this is astounding.
After watching it, it became the most quoted thing around my house or when watching movies. The “Chekhov’s Gun” gun, called out upon introduction in the first act (“It has to go off in the last!”), became something I think of when I watch movies to review. But the most inside joke that lives on has to be “And that’s how I got into Juilliard!”
We chatted with Harbour about it in 2023, which was before the release of his portrayal of Frankenstein for James Gunn’s Creature Commandos for DC Studios; he regaled us with his best Harbour Jr. and discussed why he was drawn to Mary Shelley’s creation: “The most interesting thing to me about Frankenstein’s monster in general is that he was created to be this sort of erudite, intellectual, romantic, brilliant person, and he winds up being a monster. I mean, that complexity can make for some pretty ripe comedy and also pathos—that a guy who considers himself one thing is viewed by others as something very different.”
Contemplate his take on the monster, the man behind the monster, and his own father behind the man that David Harbour would go on to become before Hopper’s return on Stranger Things season 5 in the clip below for a taste.
If you haven’t yet, you can also refresh your memory on seasons one and two!
The Battle of Starcourt is the all-time event in the series so far as a red threat rises in the sleepy town of Hawkins. The Duffer Brothers’ show really fires on all cylinders in season three, which, in our opinion, is the best season of the Netflix franchise so far. It’s a true television epic with engaging character dynamics and the Upside Down lore growing more mysteriously intriguing.
Here’s what you need to remember from the season where the kids started to come of age—and faced both teen horrors and real-life ones.
After El (Millie Bobby Brown) sealed the rift to the Upside Down in season two, the bit of the Mind Flayer that left Will (Noah Schnapp) survived. To get back to its full powers in the real world, it picks Billy (Dacre Montgomery) as a host and sets about trying to absorb new lives. The more people it claims, the bigger it grows, harnessing the sliver of energy emanating from the healing rift—which might not be able to fully close now thanks to some new suspicious activity.
There’s a new threat in town
After a blackout, Joyce (Winona Ryder) notices that suddenly all the town’s magnets no longer work. Sure, it’s a small thing but call it mother’s intuition and PTSD from everything that went down in Hawkins National Laboratory; it is enough for her to tell Hopper that something is amiss. Initially she thinks it’s HNL but Hopper (David Harbour) swears he ran them out of town.
Steve and the Scoops Troop
Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) is still hanging around Steve (Joe Keery) while he works at the new Starcourt Mall Scoops Ahoy location. While there, Steve parents the rest of the gang from behind the counter with the help of free ice cream. When Dustin uses his radio to communicate with his long-distance camp sweetheart, he discovers a series of suspicious Russian calls and records them. He enlists Steve and his co-worker Robin (Maya Hawke) to translate, which leads to the discovery that the Russians have infiltrated their town.
When a series of rat infestations draw enough suspicion, Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) investigate the mysterious disease that they’re carrying. The rats are drawn to eating chemicals, including fertilizer, and after eating enough of it, the critters burst into sentient goo, which also infects the living. As Nance and Jonathan follow an old lady, who becomes part of the Mind Flayer hive horde, they discover that more and more people are going missing after feasting on household chemicals.
Starcourt Mall secrets
Hopper beats the truth out of Mayor Kline (Cary Elwes), who confesses that he helped broker the sale of land to the Russians that Starcourt Mall was built on as well as land around the lake next to HNL. After investigating the abandoned lab, he and Joyce kidnap Dr. Alexei (Alec Utgoff) and take him to an off-the-grid Murray (Bret Gelman), who happens to know Russian, in order to find out just what the Russians want with Hawkins.
Meanwhile, Dustin, with the help of Steve, Robin, and Lucas’ little sister Erica (Priah Ferguson), breaks into the high-security base beneath the mall. They find that the Russians are powering an energy beam to rip the rift to the Upside Down open again but before they can escape, they’re caught.
The Mindflayer feasts on Hawkins
Billy lures more and more people to melt into the sentient goo that helps the Mind Flayer be reborn. It’s a hive mind that Will begins to sense through the part of him that still has a connection to it. He lets the gang know that “he” is back once enough people have been taken over.
This season’s personal drama between every character really heightens the tension of the imminent danger. The season starts out with El and Mike (Finn Wolfhard) being teens in love, much to the consternation of Hop, who is an overprotective dad. Joyce tries to help Hopper establish boundaries out of the love he has for his daughter but it kind of blows up before he can, and Hopper threatens Mike into cooling his relationship with El. In response, El knows something is up and breaks up with Mike but gets to find her agency through her friendship with Max (Sadie Sink).
Hopper’s anger issues give his character a weird vibe this season. For one thing, he’s really bent on getting Joyce to go to dinner with him soon after Bob’s death and gets really drunk when she stands him up. Then for the rest of the season, he is inexplicably jealous when she talks to any other guy. It’s mostly played for laughs since Joyce and Hopper are a very obvious endgame. Joyce redirects his frustrations by getting him to help with the Russians, namely by beating up the Russian Temu Terminator, who’s on their trail.
Jonathan and Nancy also get their own relationship drama to work through. When they’re both interning at the Hawkins Post, Jonathan gets a taste of male privilege as he immediately gets work as a photographer, while Nancy gets stuck on coffee duty. Likewise, Max and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) are also sort of going through it too as they help El and Mike by picking sides.
The Russians do a Red Dawn
All the pieces come together when it becomes clear that the Russians want to use their key to gain access to the Upside Down, while not knowing they’re aiding the Mind Flayer’s growth as it tries to wipe out the town. Joyce and Hopper join forces with Alexei to help stop it and when they team up with the kids, they get guided into the base below Starcourt.
Meanwhile, the Mind Flayer starts to target El to destroy her and absorb her powers. It remembers what she did and, through Billy, tells her it wants to destroy everything she loves and then kill her. She uses so much of her powers when it attacks them that it zaps her. The Mind Flayer cannot be destroyed as long as the rift isn’t fully sealed so her friends team up for a last stand at Starcourt, which involves fireworks and El tapping into her empathy to get Billy on their side. After seeing his memories, she reminds him of his love for his mother and not the darkness that made him vulnerable to the Mind Flayer, which seems to target the weak and fearful for power. Billy protects El as Joyce and Hopper stop the Russians’ key.
Hopper’s sacrifice
The Temu Terminator shows up as Joyce and Hopper try to stop the key. He and Hopper face off right by the beam, which goes haywire when it’s struck in the fistfight. Hopper looks at Joyce to let her know to let him sacrifice himself in order to save the town.
Three months later Joyce and the kids, including El, are preparing to move away and break up the Hawkins gang. Eleven finds Hopper’s letter he meant to read to her and Mike as a sendoff to the character. But it’s not much of one, as the end credits scene introduces us to another base in Russia where prisoners are being pitted against Demogorgons and “the American” isn’t chosen… yet.
It all began, as most of Lily Allen’s controversies of late, with a glib comment on a podcast. More specifically, Lily Allen and Miquita Oliver’s podcast, Miss Me? And while it’s true that Allen has often claimed the defense of “these quotes were taken out of context” (like her assessment of Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album—for which, to be fair, she did have the cojones to critique rather than blindly praise), there really wasn’t much to be taken out of context with her latest snafu.
The stage was set for the incident at the end of the podcast’s August 19th episode, “School of Lyf,” during which Allen and Oliver forewarned that the latter would be absent the following week (which was only just, considering Allen was absent for two episodes’ worth of the show, getting her husband, David Harbour, to sub in for her while she jetted off to British Columbia, one of many locales visited during her summer break). And then, as though to seal Allen’s fate of doom, Oliver said at the end of the episode, “Good luck next week, you’ll be great.” Foreshadowing indeed. For in the episode that followed (August 22nd’s “Duck, Duck, Pigeon”), Allen managed to do the exact opposite, biffing the whole show in Oliver’s absence by bringing up that she and “the girls” (her two children, Marnie and Ethel) were thinking of getting a new puppy and naming it Jude Bellingham. Choosing a footballer’s name for a puppy was how Allen brought up the subject in the first place, telling the guest co-host, Steve Jones (a former fellow presenter of Oliver’s for T4), that she and her husband don’t know the names of any sports players. And so it was that the topic of conversation leading to the mention of a new puppy potentially being named after the one sports player whose name she does know secured her ruin.
And yes, as she soon found out, the only thing worse (in terms of public backlash) than denouncing Beyoncé is flippantly denouncing a dog. This by mentioning that even before the thought of getting another new puppy, Allen had already tried her hand at adopting a rescue during the pandemic era. And, per her account, it ultimately failed because the dog ate her passport. Which also came up only by coincidence when Jones jokingly mentioned what a big commitment getting a dog with Harbour is, despite the two already being married. In response, Allen said, “You know what? We actually did adopt a dog together already, but then it ate my passport and so I took her back to the home.” Yes, it was said that nonchalantly, with a little chuckle at the end.
When PETA called out Allen for that chuckle (among other issues with her handling of the dog), Allen hit back with, “People laugh when they talk about painful things all the time, it’s quite normal.” And while, sure, that’s not untrue, the way Allen delivered the anecdote was utterly icy, as though it was just another “crazy story” to tell. More “fodder” for a podcast.
Jones, perhaps not wanting to go against his co-host’s “vibe,” answered with, “Ate your passport? That’s a hungry dog.” Of course, there was no mention of where the passports were being stored that might have made them a little too accessible to a new puppy with monster chewing predilections. In that regard, Allen also came across as entitled, as though the onus wasn’t at all on her to secure the passports in a place that would be inaccessible to a dog (e.g., a safe deposit box). Nonetheless, Allen blamed only the dog as she recounted, “[Mary] ate all three of our passports, and they had our visas in [them] and I cannot tell you how much money it cost me to get everything replaced [maybe because if she did say the amount out loud, it would sound ridiculous, as her money plus Harbour’s Marvel money equals no amount is that high] ‘cause it was in Covid, and so it was just an absolute logistical nightmare. And because my, the father of my children lives in England, I couldn’t get them back to see their dad for, like, four months, five months because this fucking dog had eaten the passports. And I just couldn’t look at her, I was like, ‘You’ve ruined my life.’”
Everything about the way she describes it sounds not only Cruella-esque (except that, nefarious purpose aside, Cruella actually wanted dogs), but, basically, like a minorly inconvenienced rich person’s viewpoint. Worse still, a rich person who doesn’t even know how to spend her money in a way that could easily have accommodated the dog staying in her home. What’s more, for someone of affluence, who can simply pay to have their problems solved, a passport being chewed is not “life-ruining” so much as inopportune. In point of fact, saying the dog ruined her life is a peak example of hyperbole. Rich white person’s hyperbole.
Even so, Allen perhaps sensed she ought to pad the anecdote with a better reason, adding, “She was also, like…passports weren’t the only thing she ate, she was a very badly behaved dog and I really tried very hard with her, but it just didn’t work out. And the passports was the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak.”
Jones then finally steered the conversation away from Lily Allen and dog ownership by asking her what last name she uses on her passport (in other words, if she ended up taking Harbour’s last name—the answer being: no). But the damage had been done. And of all the things Allen has said, this might be her most damning. The thing that revealed her to be the very type of person she claims not to be: a privileged nepo baby with no concept of how “rich white lady” she comes across. In letting the mask “slip,” as it were, Allen invoked the wrath of dog lovers the world over, with hundreds of comments flooding into her various tweets about the backlash, including, “This kind of didn’t seem like a people laugh when they’re sad situation though. It seems like you put it out there not expecting the kickback you’d get for saying it and now you’re trying to dig yourself out of a massive crater sized hole!,” “It wasn’t about the dog’s welfare though, was it? It was you screwing up and then blaming the dog. What happens if the replacement chews stuff? Do you have another home already lined up?” and “Narcissism run rampant. Lily can’t shut her mouth. She is an awful person. She’s enjoying this, @peta. Leave her be to go hang out with Lena Dunham.”
Because yes, PETA did put Allen on blast with their tweet, “As someone high profile with a platform, what you say matters. Laughing about this ‘f******’ dog being sent back sends a dangerous message. Every move is traumatic to a homeless dog who then can never expect this home is forever.” Allen then bit back sarcastically with, “Also thank you to @peta for adding fuel to the fire. Very responsible of you.” (It reeks of Lana Del Rey saying, “…thanks for the Karen comments tho. V helpful” when she had her own unique backlash in 2020.) Few were wont to let Allen pivot the blame for the backlash on PETA, with one user replying, “What added fuel to the fire was telling the story of returning your dog to the shelter whilst having a little giggle over it.”
Allen also attempted to paint the headlines about her comments as a “distortion” when, in fact, all the quotes from the podcast were featured in most of the ink spilled about it. It was only when she further detailed her issues with Mary on Twitter that she might have given better insight into her difficulties beyond mere passport chewing. Part of that explanation went as follows: “…she developed pretty severe separation anxiety and would act out in all manner of ways. She couldn’t be left alone for more than 10 mins, she had 3 long walks a day 2 by us and 1 with a local dog walker and several other dogs, we worked with the shelter that we rescued her from and they referred us to a behavioral specialist and a professional trainer, it was a volunteer from the shelter who would come and dog sit her when we were away, and after many months and much deliberation everyone was in agreement that our home wasn’t the best fit for Mary.” Emphasis on the word months, as in: Mary didn’t last very long at the Allen-Harbour abode. Which does make one wonder if, had she been given a little more time, there might have been a breakthrough.
In any case, if Allen thought the dog had “ruined her life” before this metaphorical flogging, she’s surely convinced of it now. As for the Miss Me? episodes that followed “Duck, Duck, Pigeon,” another one, “Rage Against the Washing Machine,” with Jones continuing to sub in for Oliver, aired sans Allen mentioning the rage against her. This was followed by a “best of” episode called, “The Queen of MySpace,” wherein Oliver explains of Allen’s absence, “Everyone’s had quite heady summers, including Lily and I. We’ve been all around the world and we’ve been bringing you Miss Me? from wherever we’ve been and I feel we’ve done a pretty good job. But Lily Allen has finally got to a part of Italy that is so deep and rural that there is no wi-fi.” In other words, Allen needed to retreat from the noise of her detractors post-puppygate. A luxury that, yes, a rich lady can enjoy—as much as she can enjoy effectively training and acclimating a difficult/needy rescue dog… That is, if she really wanted to.
After the first few Marvel Cinematic Universe films came out, it was clear they were building toward an Avengers crossover movie. 15 years after Iron Man‘s release, we are now entering Phase 5 of the MCU. And along the way, Marvel has been slowly putting together a team of anti-heroes in the background.
That’s right, we are getting the Marvel version of Suicide Squadwith the Thunderbolts—sometimes you need the bad guys to save the world. We have a deep love for many villainous characters here at TMS, so getting redemption stories for an entire team of them is going to be delicious. Let’s go over everything we know about Thunderbolts so far.
When does Thunderbolts come out?
At the D23 Expo in September 2022, Disney and Marvel announced the official Thunderbolts cast with a team lineup photo that had all of us foaming at the mouth for more. After some release date swaps and delays, the movie is currently slated to come out on May 2, 2025.
Thunderbolts is like the Avengers, but for morally grey anti-heroes and villains. Most of the characters in this movie were first seen in other MCU titles over the years, so we already know them and love them!
James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes, a.k.a. Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) – Last seen in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series on Disney+. Bucky grappled a lot with his past in this one and found a BFF in Sam Wilson, who is taking over the Captain America moniker in the upcoming movie Captain America: New World Order.
Yelena Belova, a.k.a. Black Widow (Florence Pugh) – Last seen in the Hawkeye series. Yelena is perfect and I love her and she doesn’t need to change a single thing. She went away during the Blip only to come back to a world that her sister, Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), died trying to save. Yelena is just trying to find the right path after a lifetime of following bad orders.
Ava Starr, a.k.a. Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) – Last seen in Ant-Man and the Wasp. A skilled fighter with the cards stacked against her, Ava is more of an anti-hero than a real villain. Hopefully, her condition has gotten more stable since her last appearance and she can have somewhat of a new beginning.
John Walker, U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell) – Last seen in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. U.S. Agent is the guy they tried to make into the new Captain America—and failed miserably. I think this character will have the longest path to redemption since he is just awful.
Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) – Last seen in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. We watched Valentina slowly gather a team of discarded people, and now she’s the director of the CIA with an agenda to accomplish.
Alexei Shostakov, a.k.a. Red Guardian (David Harbour) – Last seen in Black Widow. Alexei is the Russian version of Captain America who served as a father to Natasha Romanoff and Yelena Belova. He’s not a bad guy; he just needs a little structure and guidance. It will be interesting to see him on a team with his daughter.
Antonia Dreykov, a.k.a. Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) – Last seen in Black Widow. This version of Taskmaster is a product of the Red Room, just like the Black Widows. Unlike them, however, Antonia wears a special suit and mimics superheroes’ fighting techniques to use against them. She’s been living her whole life as her father’s attack dog, so it will be an entirely new world for her.
General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford) – Last seen in Avengers: Endgame. Ross went from fighting the Hulk to instating the superhero accords that led the Avengers to a Civil War. He will appear in the next Captain America movie before returning in Thunderbolts. Harrison Ford will take over the role previously played by William Hurt, who passed away.
Ayo Edebiri and Steven Yeun were both originally slated to join the cast of Thunderbolts, with Yeun playing Sentry and Edebiri in an unannounced role. However, both have left the production due to scheduling issues, with Geraldine Viswanathan taking over Edebiri’s role, and Lewis Pullman reportedly in talks to play Sentry
What is the plot of Thunderbolts?
In the original comic book storyline, Baron Von Zemo created the Thunderbolts team out of villains he previously collaborated with. When all the heroes died during a certain story arc, he realized Earth still needed a team of super-powered beings to save the world. Later iterations of the Thunderbolts are started by various government factions that need the team to get their hands dirty in a way the Avengers or the Fantastic Four never would. It seems like the movie will go with this version of the team since de Fontaine is handling the group. I would wager their mission would have something to do with the U.S. government’s desire for a monopoly on Wakanda’s vibranium supply.
Who is writing and directing Thunderbolts?
Director Jake Schreier enlisted Lee Sung Jin to work on the script after working together on Netflix’s Beef (also starring Yeun). Lee Sung Jin will write alongside Kurt Busiek and Eric Pearson. Busiek created the Thunderbolts team for Marvel Comics, so it is great to see his involvement with the film. Pearson worked on several other MCU projects, including the screenplays for Black Widow and Thor: Ragnarok.
Who is the villain of Thunderbolts?
Since Thunderbolts features a team full of former villains, who could be the bad guy in this one? Marvel has not announced the official villain, but of course there’s plenty of speculation online. Could it be Doctor Doom? Or maybe General Ross himself, since he has been the villain before? There does seem to be a lot of chatter behind Hyperion as a new villain for the MCU. Hyperion is like an evil version of Superman, and could be just the person to bring a ragtag team of baddies together to save the planet they all call home.
The WGA writers’ strike is still going, and at this point, it’s beginning to affect the start of many different Hollywood productions. At Marvel, it already caused a delay in the shooting of Blade, and now a similar pause has been placed on Thunderbolts.
The writers active in the strike are demanding better pay, better working conditions, and protections from being replaced or having their roles reduced by A.I. writing tools like ChatGPT, among others. As of this writing, their demands haven’t been met and the strike shows no sign of slowing down.
Thunderbolts is set to star Sebastian Stan as Winter Soldier, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Florence Pugh as Black Widow, David Harbour as Red Guardian, and Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster. It follows a team of reformed villains who team up to work for the government. The film has been in the works since at least 2022. Eric Pearson was originally brought in to write the initial screenplay, but Lee Sung Jin joined the effort back in March of 2023. But thanks to the writers’ strike, no additional work can currently be done on the script.
This isn’t just a Marvel problem either. Of course, the strike spans the whole industry, including Marvel’s competitors at DC. In fact, during a commencement speech at a university in Boston, chants broke out as Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav was speaking. A whole room of students joined in, shouting “Pay your writers!”
It’s unlikely this whole thing will get solved any time soon, but we’d love to be mistaken about that. Thunderbolts is currently scheduled to open in theaters on July 26, 2024.
Marvel’s Upcoming Phase Five and Six Movie and TV Lineup
Here’s every movie and show Marvel currently has scheduled for release in Phase Five and Six of their cinematic universe.
Hello, it is me, your resident expert on dads and daddies. Now, you might be thinking to yourself, “Those are the same thing,” and I’m here to tell you that, no, they are not. A dad is someone who has a child. A daddy is, as famed daddy Pedro Pascal once said, a state of mind. Anyone can be a daddy but not everyone can (or wants to) be a dad. You feel me?
And it often is subjective. Someone who I think is a daddy may differ from someone you would categorize as such. There are different levels of daddiness. The larger point is that there is an art to being a dad and a daddy, and there’s a full spectrum covering everything in between. It just takes a master’s degree in Dadism to understand how these ideas function in media.
So as your professor in Dad or Daddy studies, I will be exploring fictional dads and daddies (with some nods to our favorite actors with this same energy) to help you better understand how to separate the dads from the daddies.
What makes a dad?
(Netflix)
This is a simple category: If you have children, you’re a dad. It’s Red Forman from That ’70s Show or Al Bundy from Married … With Children. They’re there, they’re dads, and they can be hot if you’re into that sort of thing. It’s really that simple.
Is there a category for “not a dad, not yet a daddy”?
(NBC)
This category is a little harder to explain—mainly because it doesn’t officially exist and it can be applied to almost anyone. This is a fictional character who was just a hunk and eventually became a dad, so he’s hot and has kids, but he’s not necessarily a “Daddy.” I’d include Ben Wyatt from Parks and Recreationand even, like, Jake Peralta from Brooklyn Nine-Nine in this category. They’re your fictional husbands who eventually go on to be dads.
Here comes daddy
(Netflix / Disney+)
Now we’re in the thick of it. Your daddies. These characters do not need to have children at all. But they do need to have an energy about them. Basically every single David Harbour and Pedro Pascal character has this energy. It’s the reason we’re in love with The Mandalorian‘s Din Djarin despite not being able to see his face. Pascal’s fictional version of Javier Peña and his little hands-on-his-hips stance in Narcos? Daddy. David Harbour as Santa in Violent Night? Daddy. David Harbour as Hopper? Daddy. David Harbour as Hellboy? Daddy. And yes, Ron Perlman’s Hellboy is also Daddy.
The point is, these characters have that distinct energy whether or not they’re actually fathers—which is why almost all Aubrey Plaza characters are also included in this category.
There is a Venn diagram of these energies
(HBO)
Dads who have Daddy energy do exist. They’re the Joel Millers and Jim Hoppers. They’re Tony Stark, they’re Idris Elba in Pacific Rim. The point is, the Venn diagram where dads and daddies overlap is whatever you want it to be. You can be a dad and a daddy. You can be at the midpoint between dad and daddy and whatever else you want to throw in—the point is, this journey is about how you feel about these characters and their energy. Oscar Isaac loves to live in the dad/daddy range and we do love that for him.
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You have now graduated from the school of Dadism and I was proud to be your professor on this journey.
NEW YORK — “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” kept the box-office crown for the fourth straight weekend, and the comic holiday thriller “Violent Night” debuted with $13.3 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. But the biggest talking point on the weekend was a movie conspicuously absent from theaters.
Had Netflix kept Rian Johnson’s whodunit sequel “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” in theaters, it would have been one of the weekend’s top draws. Last weekend, the streamer — in its first such pact with North America’s top chains — released “Glass Onion” in about 600 theaters. While significantly less than the 4,000-plus theaters most big movies open in, the Netflix film reportedly grossed about $15 million — an enviable total for a medium scaled release.
Netflix declined to release ticket sales and pulled “Glass Onion” on Tuesday, preferring to keep its release limited to a one-week sneak-peak theatrical run before debuting on the streaming service Dec. 23. Netflix’s focus, its executives have said, is driving subscribers to its streaming service. On Wednesday, Reed Hastings, chief executive of Netflix, acknowledged the company left “lots” of money on the table in the move.
So instead of feasting on “Glass Onion,” as ticket buyers did after Thanksgiving in 2019 when Lionsgate released “Knives Out,” moviegoers were fed mostly leftovers this weekend.
For four weeks, the Walt Disney Co.’s “Wakanda Forever” has ruled the box office. Ryan Coogler’s Marvel movie has totaled $733 million globally, including $339 million in overseas sales.
“Violent Night” was the only new wide release in cinemas. Starring David Harbour as a not-so-saintly Saint Nick, the Universal release got off to a good start. “Violent Night,” which earned a B+ CinemaScore from audiences, cost about $20 million to make.
Though “Avatar: The Way of Water” and other holiday releases like “Puss in Boots 2,” “Babylon” and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” loom in the coming weeks, theaters continue to see fewer films in wide release than they did pre-pandemic. David A. Gross, who publishes the box-office subscription newsletter FranchiseRe, says that while there were 58 franchise films released in 2019, there have been only 32 in 2022.
There’s also been a dearth of family releases in theaters. After a muted debut last weekend, Disney’s big-budget animated fantasy adventure “Strange World” dipped to third place with a mere $4.9 million in its second week. Some of the season’s notable kid-friendly movies are streaming, instead.
The Roald Dahl adaptation “Matilda the Musical,” starring Emma Thompson, was made jointly by Netflix, Sony Pictures and Working Title Films. Netflix has worldwide distribution rights to the film except for the United Kingdom and Ireland, where Sony put the film into theaters last weekend. For two weeks, “Matilda” has been the top film at the U.K. box office, grossing $9.7 million over that stretch. In the U.S., “Matilda” begins steaming on Christmas.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. “Wakanda Forever,” $17.6 million.
2. “Violent Night,” $13.3 million.
3. “Strange World,” $4.9 million.
4. “The Menu,” $3.6 million.
5. “Devotion,” $2.8 million.
6. “I Heard the Bells,” $1.8 million.
7. “Black Adam,” $1.7 million.
8. “The Fabelmans,” $1.3 million.
9. “Bones and All,” $1.2 million.
10. “Ticket to Paradise,” $850,000.
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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
Love Die Hard and are annoying about how it is a “Christmas” movie? Well then let me present to you an actual Christmas movie with a holiday twist: Violent Night. A movie that never shies away from what it actually is, the movie stars David Harbour as hot Santa. Yes, that is redundant because it’s Harbour so whoever he’s playing is instantly hot but alas.
Violent Night takes us into the world of Santa who is maybe hating the fact that he is Kris Kringle and doesn’t want to do this job anymore. Disillusioned and annoyed by his life as Jolly Ole Saint Nick, he’s roped into a family’s messy drama when a team of thieves (led by John Leguizamo) kidnap the family on Christmas and force them to tell them where their money is.
When Trudy (Leah Brady) still believes in the Christmas spirit, she walkie-talkie’s to Santa in hopes that he will save her family. What she ends up getting is Harbour’s rough and tough Santa coming to the rescue.
I don’t know how to describe this movie other than saying this: It knows what it is and it leans hard into it in such a way that really works. Because when you go to sit down and watch a Christmas action movie, you want…well, a Christmas action movie.
You don’t have to watch gooey Christmas movies anymore
Sometimes, you just like to watch Santa use a hammer like Thor and thoroughly destroy some bad guys and that’s what happens. There’s some lore into why Santa is a badass and it’s pretty cool that they build it in to the story rather than just having Santa suddenly be able to kick some ass but hey, it’s hot David Harbour so either way, I wouldn’t have complained.
But it is, at its core, a movie about a young girl trying to get her parents back together but also a family trying to survive an attack on their home. So it has those Christmas elements in the midst of Santa using his ability as the jolly red man who brings us presents to his advantage.
What works about this movie is that so often we’re left with holiday movies that are about a woman going to a small town for Christmas and her childhood crush or some farmer or the mechanic all fall in love with her and it’s a story about finding the love of your life at Christmas. And…well, I’m frankly tired of those movies so watching Santa just straight up murder some guys is a nice change of pace.
It is what you expect
Violent Night doesn’t try and pretend like it is anything other than a badass Christmas movie. It comes in hot, keeps you engaged in the Lightstone family, and also brings Beverly D’Angelo back to the Christmas world (having famously played Ellen Griswold in Christmas Vacation).
So go into this movie with an open heart and embrace David Harbour’s Santa into your life because that’s the kind of Christmas I want this year minus the actual violence, I’m saying I’d love for David Harbour’s Santa to come down my chimney. Thanks!
David Harbour is branching out from his Stranger Things fame to develop his MCU character, Red Guardian. After previously appearing in Black Widow, Harbour now says the upcoming Thunderbolts will bring something new. Thunderbolts, the final film of Phase 5, sees Red Guardian thrown into a whole new scenario. In the movie, he’ll be joining a Suicide Squad-like team of anti-heroes.
In addition to Harbour’s Red Guardian, there are plenty of other “heroes” on the Thunderbolts team. Based on concept art, the group also features Wyatt Russell as John Walker, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina, and the list goes on. Additionally, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, and Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster, will also appear in the film.
Colliderrecently spoke with David Harbour, and while the conversation wasn’t centered around Thunderbolts, things understandably drifted in that direction. He shared the following thoughts on the film:
It’s really cool. We introduce a thing that’s super cool. It’s vital. I’m psyched that Julia Louis Dreyfus’ character is going to be, in a bigger way, explored … I just love this mercenary element in the MCU. MCU has always been sort of elevated in a certain way. Captain America, even Iron Man, although he has egos, are always in it for the right reasons or ultimately does the right thing. And I like these guys who are a bunch of losers or a bunch of guys who can’t quite get it right. And so far what they’ve pitched me just feels really cool
As of now, Thunderbolts is slated for release on July 26th of 2022.
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