Ads promoting upcoming blockbuster movies are among those scheduled during Super Bowl LX.
An ad for “The Mandalorian and Grogu” included a spoof, or perhaps an homage, of the classic Budweiser ads featuring a team of Clydesdales.
The commercial showed the Mandalorian and Grogu riding a sleigh pulled by a team of tauntauns, the snow-beasts seen in the opening scenes of “The Empire Strikes Back.”
Actor Sam Elliott, who also has voiced past Budweiser ads, provided a voiceover for the commercial, Deadline reported.
The movie is scheduled to premiere May 22.
Budweiser’s own ad scheduled for the Super Bowl will feature a Clydesdale caring for a baby eagle in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States, USA Today said.
Other ads scheduled during the game will promote “Toy Story 5,” The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” and “Minions 3, NBC News reported.
Steven Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day” and the seventh installment of the Scream franchise, “Scream 7” will also air during Super Bowl LX.
Melania, Brett Ratner’s Melania Trump movie, is a purportedly serious film that plays like a mockumentary. If you were making a movie that parodied the current first lady of the United States, I’m not sure what you’d do differently.
This interminable, nearly two-hour long film features a running voiceover by Melania, leading us through crucial moments in the twenty days leading up to her husband’s second inauguration: choosing fabric for her coat, making sure her dress is the right length, approving a design plan for the dinner, and perusing furniture for Barron’s future bedroom. (Sadly, we never get to see which chest of drawers she picks.) “My creative vision is always clear,” she intones, returning to that notion throughout.
This is a work of propaganda, but director Brett Ratner is no Leni Riefenstahl. Missing are the German filmmaker’s awe-inspiring visuals and hypnotic edits; instead, Ratner substitutes endless shots of the gaudy, excessive Trump aesthetic as Melania floats through Trump Tower, private jets, motorcades, and gala dinners until she lands at the White House. The doc’s opening shot is a panorama of Mar-a-Lago in all its gilded glory, accompanied by the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter.” “Rape, murder, it’s just a shot away,” Jagger’s voice promises.
Before he was exiled from Hollywood by sexual assault accusations (he has denied the claims), Ratner was best known for directing the Rush Hour movies—so I at least expected propulsive pacing and drama. No such luck: We might as well be watching gold paint dry.
It’s hard to tell whether Melania herself finds it all as dull as I did: she remains inscrutable through most of the film, her face frozen into an elegant mask. The only times she genuinely lights up are when Ratner coaxes her to sing along with her favorite song, Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” and later while dancing to the Village People’s “YMCA” at an inaugural event. At several points Melania refers to the death of her mother with sadness, and even has the cameras trail her to St Patrick’s Cathedral, where she lights candles. But throughout, there is no perceptible change in her demeanor.
That departure could’ve been a great segue into a segment about Melania’s past—her childhood in Slovenia, her modeling career, background information that might give context to her transformation into Trump’s consort. But instead, the doc sticks with the minutiae of the march toward Trump’s second term. Unmentioned is the January 6th, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol; instead, the camera just pans over images of the Capitol preparing for the inauguration—now a symbol of Trump’s triumphal power.
Ahn Sung-ki, one of South Korean cinema’s biggest stars whose prolific 60-year career and positive, gentle public image earned him the nickname “The Nation’s Actor,” died Monday. He was 74.The death of Ahn, who had been had blood cancer for years, was announced by his agency, the Artist Company, and the Seoul-based Soonchunhyang University Hospital.”We feel deep sorrow at the sudden, sad news, pray for the eternal rest of the deceased and offer our heartfelt condolences to his bereaved family members,” the Artist Company said in a statement. Born to a filmmaker in the southeastern city of Daegu in 1952, Ahn made his debut as a child actor in the movie “The Twilight Train” in 1957. He subsequently appeared in about 70 movies as a child actor before he left the film industry to live an ordinary life. In 1970, Ahn entered Seoul’s Hankuk University of Foreign Studies as a Vietnamese major. Ahn said he graduated with top honors but failed to land jobs at big companies, who likely saw his Vietnamese major largely useless after a communist victory in the Vietnam War in 1975.After spending a few years unemployed, Ahn returned to the film industry in 1977 believing he could still excel in acting. In 1980, he rose to fame for his lead role in Lee Jang-ho’s “Good, Windy Days,” a hit coming-of-age movie about the struggle of working-class men from rural areas during the country’s rapid rise. Ahn won the best new actor award in the prestigious Grand Bell Awards, the Korean version of the Academy Awards.He later starred in a series of highly successful and critically acclaimed movies, sweeping best actor awards and becoming arguably the country’s most popular actor in much of the 1980-90s.Some of his memorable roles included a Buddhist monk in 1981’s “Mandara,” a beggar in 1984’s “Whale Hunting,” a Vietnam War veteran-turned-novelist in 1992’s “White Badge,” a corrupt police officer in 1993’s “Two Cops,” a murderer in 1999’s “No Where To Hide,” a special forces trainer in 2003’s “Silmido” and a devoted celebrity manager in 2006’s “Radio Star.”Ahn had collected dozens of trophies in major movie awards in South Korea, including winning the Grand Bell Awards for best actor five times, an achievement no other South Korean actors have matched yet. Ahn built up an image as a humble, trustworthy and family-oriented celebrity who avoided major scandals and maintained a quiet, stable personal life. Past public surveys chose Ahn as South Korea’s most beloved actor and deserving of the nickname “The Nation’s Actor.” Ahn said he earlier felt confined with his “The Nation’s Actor” labeling but eventually thought that led him down the right path. In recent years, local media has given other stars similar honorable nicknames, but Ahn was apparently the first South Korean actor who was dubbed as “The Nation’s Actor.” “I felt I should do something that could match that title. But I think that has eventually guided me on a good direction,” Ahn said in an interview with Yonhap news agency in 2023.In media interviews, Ahn couldn’t choose what his favorite movie was, but said that his role as a dedicated, hardworking manger for a washed-up rock singer played by Park Jung-hoon resembled himself in real life the most. Ahn was also known for his reluctance to do love scenes. He said said he was too shy to act romantic scenes and sometimes asked directors to skip steamy scenes if they were only meant to add spice to movies.”I don’t do well on acting like looking at someone who I don’t love with loving eyes and kissing really romantically. I feel shy and can’t express such emotions well,” Ahn said in an interview with the Shindonga magazine in 2007. “Simply, I’m clumsy on that. So I couldn’t star in such movies a lot. But ultimately, that was a right choice for me.”Ahn is survived by his wife and their two sons. A mourning station at a Seoul hospital was to run until Friday.
SEOUL, South Korea —
Ahn Sung-ki, one of South Korean cinema’s biggest stars whose prolific 60-year career and positive, gentle public image earned him the nickname “The Nation’s Actor,” died Monday. He was 74.
The death of Ahn, who had been had blood cancer for years, was announced by his agency, the Artist Company, and the Seoul-based Soonchunhyang University Hospital.
“We feel deep sorrow at the sudden, sad news, pray for the eternal rest of the deceased and offer our heartfelt condolences to his bereaved family members,” the Artist Company said in a statement.
Born to a filmmaker in the southeastern city of Daegu in 1952, Ahn made his debut as a child actor in the movie “The Twilight Train” in 1957. He subsequently appeared in about 70 movies as a child actor before he left the film industry to live an ordinary life.
In 1970, Ahn entered Seoul’s Hankuk University of Foreign Studies as a Vietnamese major. Ahn said he graduated with top honors but failed to land jobs at big companies, who likely saw his Vietnamese major largely useless after a communist victory in the Vietnam War in 1975.
After spending a few years unemployed, Ahn returned to the film industry in 1977 believing he could still excel in acting. In 1980, he rose to fame for his lead role in Lee Jang-ho’s “Good, Windy Days,” a hit coming-of-age movie about the struggle of working-class men from rural areas during the country’s rapid rise. Ahn won the best new actor award in the prestigious Grand Bell Awards, the Korean version of the Academy Awards.
He later starred in a series of highly successful and critically acclaimed movies, sweeping best actor awards and becoming arguably the country’s most popular actor in much of the 1980-90s.
Some of his memorable roles included a Buddhist monk in 1981’s “Mandara,” a beggar in 1984’s “Whale Hunting,” a Vietnam War veteran-turned-novelist in 1992’s “White Badge,” a corrupt police officer in 1993’s “Two Cops,” a murderer in 1999’s “No Where To Hide,” a special forces trainer in 2003’s “Silmido” and a devoted celebrity manager in 2006’s “Radio Star.”
KIN CHEUNG
FILE – South Korean actor Ahn Sung-ki attends an event as part of the 11th Pusan International Film Festival in Busan, South Korea, Oct. 13, 2006.
Ahn had collected dozens of trophies in major movie awards in South Korea, including winning the Grand Bell Awards for best actor five times, an achievement no other South Korean actors have matched yet.
Ahn built up an image as a humble, trustworthy and family-oriented celebrity who avoided major scandals and maintained a quiet, stable personal life. Past public surveys chose Ahn as South Korea’s most beloved actor and deserving of the nickname “The Nation’s Actor.”
Ahn said he earlier felt confined with his “The Nation’s Actor” labeling but eventually thought that led him down the right path. In recent years, local media has given other stars similar honorable nicknames, but Ahn was apparently the first South Korean actor who was dubbed as “The Nation’s Actor.”
“I felt I should do something that could match that title. But I think that has eventually guided me on a good direction,” Ahn said in an interview with Yonhap news agency in 2023.
In media interviews, Ahn couldn’t choose what his favorite movie was, but said that his role as a dedicated, hardworking manger for a washed-up rock singer played by Park Jung-hoon resembled himself in real life the most.
Ahn was also known for his reluctance to do love scenes. He said said he was too shy to act romantic scenes and sometimes asked directors to skip steamy scenes if they were only meant to add spice to movies.
“I don’t do well on acting like looking at someone who I don’t love with loving eyes and kissing really romantically. I feel shy and can’t express such emotions well,” Ahn said in an interview with the Shindonga magazine in 2007. “Simply, I’m clumsy on that. So I couldn’t star in such movies a lot. But ultimately, that was a right choice for me.”
Ahn is survived by his wife and their two sons. A mourning station at a Seoul hospital was to run until Friday.
“Home Alone” is one of the most classic Christmas movies of all time, and it inspired a homebuilder in Utah to pay homage to the legendary film.A Utah builder decided to live his lifelong dream and build the ‘Home Alone’ home.”I mean, it could be viewed as certainly nerdy for somebody to go and invest seven million dollars into a home that’s based on a movie that they happen to love when they were kids, right?” Nathan Shaffer said.If the brickwork and windows don’t provoke a Christmastime déjà vu, the Oh-Kay Plumbing van with the Wet Bandit sticker will.A replica of the McCallister home Kevin was left alone in. “I remember watching it and a lot of us connected with that kid because it was like, dude, what would that be like to kind of be on our own,” Shaffer said.There aren’t many lookie-loos yet, but Shaffer’s crew will host community events where young and old can step into Kevin McCallister’s shoes.“We want them to just come and like be looking and using their creativity, right, to kind of use their imagination to find the things from the movie,” Shaffer said.Architect Josh Warner said the exterior is nearly identical.But since the interior was actually a soundstage, they modeled 60 to 70 percent off the real Chicago house — thanks to an online listing when it went up for sale.While there is no basement, there is an attic and a movie-style veranda with glass walls.
“Home Alone” is one of the most classic Christmas movies of all time, and it inspired a homebuilder in Utah to pay homage to the legendary film.
A Utah builder decided to live his lifelong dream and build the ‘Home Alone’ home.
“I mean, it could be viewed as certainly nerdy for somebody to go and invest seven million dollars into a home that’s based on a movie that they happen to love when they were kids, right?” Nathan Shaffer said.
If the brickwork and windows don’t provoke a Christmastime déjà vu, the Oh-Kay Plumbing van with the Wet Bandit sticker will.
A replica of the McCallister home Kevin was left alone in.
“I remember watching it and a lot of us connected with that kid because it was like, dude, what would that be like to kind of be on our own,” Shaffer said.
There aren’t many lookie-loos yet, but Shaffer’s crew will host community events where young and old can step into Kevin McCallister’s shoes.
“We want them to just come and like be looking and using their creativity, right, to kind of use their imagination to find the things from the movie,” Shaffer said.
Architect Josh Warner said the exterior is nearly identical.
But since the interior was actually a soundstage, they modeled 60 to 70 percent off the real Chicago house — thanks to an online listing when it went up for sale.
While there is no basement, there is an attic and a movie-style veranda with glass walls.
Channing Tatum stars in Paramount Pictures’ “Roofman,” which is based on an N.C. crime story (and filmed in the Charlotte area last year).
Davi Russo
TNS
Of all the questions moviegoers can come up with regarding the authenticity of the new “Roofman” movie, this one might stand as the biggest: At the time of his crimes, was Jeffrey Manchester even remotely close to as good-looking as Channing Tatum?
That, of course, is subjective. Meanwhile, many of the other “what’s true and what’s not” questions we expect to be raised by the film — based on Manchester’s brazen McDonald’s robberies, his bold escape from a North Carolina prison, and the bonkers series of adventures that saw him living in (and next to) a Charlotte Toys R Us while wooing a churchgoing single mom under false pretenses — can be answered much more objectively.
“Roofman” opened in theaters nationwide on Friday; so if you haven’t yet seen it but plan to, you may want to bookmark this page and come back to it after.
Because, obviously, spoilers abound.
If you have seen it, then let’s dive right in to our great, big fact check, which outlines numerous examples of the creative license the filmmakers took on their way to adapting Manchester’s life and crimes for the big screen.
Kirsten Dunst (who portrays Leigh Wainscott) and Channing Tatum (Jeffrey Manchester) on the set of “Roofman.” Davi Russo Davi Russo
In the movie: As the story begins, Jeffrey (played by Tatum) is in a tenuous off-again-on-again relationship with the mother of his three children, including very young twins and a daughter who turns 6 and then 7 in the first 15 minutes of running time. It’s implied that they reside in North Carolina (and, though it’s never made explicit, it’s suggested they’re in the Fayetteville area).
In real life: Somewhat true, somewhat false. Manchester was never a permanent North Carolina resident. He had lived near California’s Bay area for years. He was divorced in 1999, and during that period became estranged from his three children. In May 2000, he arrived in the Tar Heel state on an assignment as an Army Reserve sergeant; shortly thereafter, he wound up in the Charlotte area — where he would rob two McDonald’s over the course of just a few hours. At the time, his daughter was about 7, but his twin sons were actually a year older than her.
In the movie: Having broken into a Fayetteville McDonald’s through its roof, Jeffrey genially forces employees into the restaurant’s freezer — and in doing so, he makes sure they put on the coats they had worn to work (implying that it is wintertime).
In real life: More true than not, though there’s no record of him ever committing a robbery anywhere near Fayetteville. Also, this is somewhat nitpicky, but … he actually was known for putting employees into the restaurant’s walk-in refrigerator. And FWIW, Mirvat Fayad says that when he robbed the McDonald’s she worked at in Belmont on the morning of May 20, 2000 (low temp that day: 65 degrees), he put them in the fridge after having the manager fetch for each of them a McDonald’s-uniform jacket. Those coats, she told us, were provided for employees who need to do work inside the refrigerators or freezers.
This newly renovated McDonald’s, on Main Street in Belmont, stands in place of the old building that was originally broken into and robbed by Jeffrey Manchester in May 2000. Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez mrodriguez@charlotteobserver.com
In the movie: As Jeffrey presents a new bike to his daughter at her seventh birthday party, police arrive to arrest him for his “Roofman” crimes.
In real life: False. He was arrested as he fled with cash he’d taken from the Belmont McDonald’s, after Fayad and her co-workers were able to break open the refrigerator’s door and call police.
In the movie: Jeffrey — who claims that he robbed 45 McDonald’s restaurants before being caught — is convicted of three counts of felony kidnapping. At a hearing on Feb. 4, 2004, a judge tells him, “Although you’re only being tried for one robbery, we know you’ve done many more,” then sentences him to 45 years in prison. (Jumping ahead a little here, but the movie suggests the whole Manchester saga played out over the course of two years. It actually spanned more than twice as long as that.)
In real life: True-ish, and false-ish. A jury convicted him of seven counts of kidnapping and one weapons offense, all related to the two N.C. robberies. He was sentenced to 32 to 45 years by a Gaston County judge — on Nov. 2, 2000. Authorities had been investigating him for at least 42 armed robberies in other states, but eventually retired those efforts.
In the movie: Jeffrey escapes from a Polkton prison by wedging a piece of plywood into the undercarriage of a large box truck, and then climbing up onto the plywood, where he could avoid being spotted by guards using under-vehicle search mirrors.
In real life: True. The film’s and history’s timelines realign here, too, with the escape taking place in June 2004. (What’s false about how that scene plays out, however, is that it has Manchester managing to get a fair distance away from the prison while riding under the truck; in actuality, he only got as far as an outbuilding, then had to slip away from there.)
In the movie: Jeffrey winds up in the Charlotte area and randomly decides that a Toys R Us store (shown late in the movie as being located in Pineville) would be a good place to hide out. He finds a difficult-to-access, walled-off area of the store — behind a display of kids’ bikes — where he creates a lair that includes a children’s mattress fitted with Spider-Man bedsheets and comforters. He manages to take control of the security cameras, sets up stolen baby monitors to spy on employees, uses the store as a playground at night, and eats stolen candy and baby food. The lair goes undetected for six months.
Channing Tatum as Jeffrey Manchester in “Roofman,” much of which is set in the busy Toys R Us store he’s hiding in. Davi Russo Davi Russo
In real life: More true than not. The false parts include the fact that the store was actually on Independence Boulevard in Charlotte; as well as the fact that while he did live behind a wall in the Toys R Us for multiple months, that hideout was discovered by employees (when he happened to not be there). Around that time, he bored a hole through a wall on the opposite side of Toys R Us, into a closed-down Circuit City electronics store, where he created another lair behind a wall underneath a staircase.
In the movie: Leigh Wainscott (played by Kirsten Dunst) is introduced as an employee at Toys R Us and a recently divorced single mom of two girls — Dee, 11, and Lindsay, 16.
In real life: Vaguely true, but largely false. Wainscott (now Leigh Moore) worked in the corporate office of a large automotive group at the time. She was separated, but not yet divorced; and she actually has three children, including daughter Ashley (who was about 15 at the time), son Matt (about 12 then), and daughter Ginny (about 9).
In the movie: Jeffrey hacks into the store manager’s computer and changes Leigh’s work schedule.
In real life: Again, Wainscott never worked at Toys R Us. However, it’s true that Manchester was able to get into the store’s scheduling system and made changes based on who he might want working (or not working) at particular times — and perhaps just to generally create chaos.
In the movie: While spying on a conversation between Leigh and Toys R Us manager Mitch (played by Peter Dinklage), Jeffrey learns of a toy drive happening at Wainscott’s church — Crossroads, located “just across the interstate.” He starts attending the church after dropping by with a garbage bag full of stolen toys.
Channing Tatum’s Jeffrey Manchester uses the Toys R Us as a playground in “Roofman.” Davi Russo Davi Russo
In real life: Somewhat true, somewhat false. In mid-fall of 2004, Manchester did in fact wander over to Crossroads Church — about 300 yards from the Toys R Us, over on Monroe Road — but mainly because he was bored and lonely after more than four months of little to no human contact. He didn’t meet Wainscott until after he started attending services. Oh, and he did bring an impressive amount of (stolen) toys to support a church toy drive, but not till closer to Christmastime.
In the movie: Jeffrey introduces himself to Leigh as John Zorn, a “just officially divorced” dad of “two little monster boys and … a little girl that is my best pal.” He says he works for the government, but “can’t really talk about it. It’s classified.”
In real life: Mostly true. The only exception? Leigh Moore told us recently that Manchester never mentioned having kids or being married while they were dating.
In the movie: “John” and Leigh attend a singles brunch at Red Lobster, after which she asks him out.
In real life: All true, except the event was actually at TGI Friday’s.
In the movie: Leigh tells “John” her ex’s name was Jeffrey, making for a strange coincidence.
In real life: True!
Jeffrey Manchester, photographed during his trial in November of 2000, one day before he was sentenced to serve at least 35 years in prison. John D. Simmons Charlotte Observer File Photo
In the movie: His excessively sugary diet causes Jeffrey to have to visit a nearby dentist to have 14 cavities filled.
In real life: True. We don’t know exactly how many cavities he had, but he did indeed get some filled at a dentist’s office.
In the movie: Speaking of candy, there’s a scene on Halloween when “John” and Leigh’s younger daughter Dee are shown trick-or-treating together, with him dressed as a pink bunny.
In real life: False. Manchester hadn’t even met Wainscott by Halloween of 2004. He did steal a pink bunny costume from a staff area of Toys R Us (it was used around Easter), but he wore it — for kicks — to a Christmas party hosted by a member of Crossroads Church in December.
In the movie: After a simmering rift between Leigh and her teenage daughter leads to an argument over Lindsay’s refusal to learn how to drive her mom’s stick shift, “John” announces they need a “beater” — i.e. a used automatic-transmission car that will make it easier for her to get her license. “John,” Leigh and the two girls pick out a green Chrysler Concorde sedan at a local dealership and take it for a memorably zany test drive. He winds up buying it, with a roll of cash.
In real life: Kinda, sorta true. Ish. Wainscott grew to thinking he really needed a car, so they went to a local dealership and he stunned her by plunking down $5,000 cash for a green 1999 Chrysler Concorde. None of her children went with them. The test drive was uneventful.
Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst chat next to the green Chrysler Concorde in “Roofman.” Davi Russo Davi Russo
In the movie: Jeffrey is seen making three visits to a pawn shop. Twice, he goes when it’s open, to sell video games he stole from the toy store (at one point it’s mentioned that he stole $10,000 worth of games in total). Closer to the end, he breaks in at night and steals a pistol from a glass case along with a “POLICE” vest on a clothing rack.
In real life: Almost entirely true. Manchester did steal a significant amount of video games from the store, and pawned them. Former Charlotte police sergeant Katherine Scheimreif told us he also stole two pistols from a pawn shop farther down Independence.
In the movie: On Christmas Eve, Jeffrey robs the Toys R Us he’s been living in as it gets ready to open for the day. In the process, he knocks out and bloodies an armed security guard by striking him with his rifle.
In real life: Fairly accurate. In the course of a day-after-Christmas robbery, Manchester — wearing a vest that had “POLICE” on it — got the jump on an off-duty Mecklenburg County sheriff’s deputy who’d been hired to protect the store that morning. He took her service pistol, pointed it at her, and ordered her to the floor. He did not physically harm her, but Scheimreif told us the woman was new to her job and decided to leave the profession after being victimized.
In the movie: Jeffrey gets the big score he came for, but is thrown off his game when Leigh appears unexpectedly at the entrance. Rattled, he runs with the stolen cash to the rear of the store and flees via the emergency exit.
In real life: Fairly inaccurate. Manchester’s robbery went awry when two employees escaped while he was pulling money from the safe. He did run to the back of the store, but his plan had been to trigger the emergency-exit alarm — to make everyone think he’d left the building — and then slip through the passageway to reach his Circuit City hideout. Unfortunately for him, he forgot to trigger that alarm. Responding officers found the passageway, then found the hideout. He wasn’t in it, but they found a fingerprint that matched the escaped convict Jeffrey Manchester. Leigh didn’t find out about any of this until a week and a half later (more on that in a moment).
In the movie: Jeffrey tries to cover his tracks by burning down the dentist’s office where he had his cavities filled.
In real life: True.
In the movie: It’s implied that Leigh went to the police and then agreed to use herself as bait. As Jeffrey is on his way to the airport, to catch a flight that will take him to a country with no extradition, she calls and asks if he’s coming to Christmas dinner. He turns around and heads back to her apartment, where police are waiting to arrest him.
Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst in a scene from “Roofman.” Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
In real life: Mostly false, but with grains of truth. Charlotte police were showing Manchester’s photo to residents and businesses all around the Toys R Us, and finally got a hit at Crossroads Church, where members recognized him as John Zorn. They said he’d been dating Wainscott, and on Jan. 6 — her 40th birthday — police made a surprise visit to her workplace to tell her that her boyfriend was on “America’s Most Wanted.” The couple already had plans for dinner, and although Manchester knew police were onto him, Wainscott successfully got him to stick to the plan by acting calm and cool on a phone call confirming their date. He was arrested without incident outside of her apartment when he arrived to pick her up. He apparently did have plans to leave the country after taking her to dinner.
In the movie: Jeffrey is sentenced to “384 more months,” which is 32 years. “That means by the time I get out of here,” he says in voiceover, “I’ll be an old man.”
In real life: Basically false. Manchester is in Central Prison in Raleigh serving out the rest of his original 35-year sentence (for his Gaston County crimes). He did get more than 25 years for the Toys R Us crimes and the arson conviction, but the Mecklenburg judge who sentenced him in that case ordered that time be served concurrently — so he’s still expected to be released in 2036. By then, he’ll be 65 years old.
In the movie: A fellow convict asks Jeffrey if he ever got to see Leigh again. Then the film cuts to a scene in which Leigh visits Jeffrey in prison shortly after he’s recaptured. She tells him, tearfully, “I was really angry at you. I was most angry at how you hurt the girls. But that’s not the way I think about it now. I think about it as an adventure. I had a lot of fun. I’m thankful.”
In real-life: True-ish. Wainscott did make one visit to the prison afterward. She said it was just “for closure.” She then went almost two decades without talking to him, and has been happily remarried since 2016. But she reconnected with Manchester after the movie went into production — both were involved as consultants. In an interview with The Charlotte Observer last month, she said, “Yes, he broke the law. Yeah, he was a criminal. But he’s a good person.”
Leigh Moore, photographed this past summer at her home in Matthews. Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez mrodriguez@charlotteobserver.com
This story was originally published October 10, 2025 at 4:28 PM.
Théoden Janes has spent more than 18 years covering entertainment and pop culture for the Observer. He also thrives on telling emotive long-form stories about extraordinary Charlotteans and — as a veteran of three dozen marathons and two Ironman triathlons — occasionally writes about endurance and other sports. Support my work with a digital subscription
Inside the theatre at a screening of “Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party Of A Showgirl.”
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
In the music video, Swift literally steps out of a slew of frames, including wooden tableaus, life preservers, and more, to break the chain of the ill-“fated” showgirl like the fictional Ophelia. She goes so far as to say that her love life has “saved” her from drowning in insanity, especially given how much “men were gaslighting” her throughout her career. There is a reason why her own story “didn’t end tragically” like the “poetic hero” Ophelia’s. Despite Shakespeare’s, at times overlooked character, Ophelia dying, Swift herself was not “driven mad” like she could have been. (Swift adds that she “loves” William Shakespeare and The Bard is “not overhyped.”) “The Fate of Ophelia” is a rewriting of a character’s cultural history: Swift is asking what would happen if she became impenetrable to criticism–and then she lives out the answer.
Viewers learn that the music video required three weeks of rehearsals, and nods at Kelce with Swift catching a football in a scene. Her love for baking is also incorporated, as the only quasi-celebrity cameo is a round loaf of sourdough that Swift herself baked.
Further on, the retconning of Swift’s discography culminates in the title track, “The Life of a Showgirl,” featuring Sabrina Carpenter. The “Espresso” singer recorded her feature during her days off of touring in Sweden. “That is a showgirl for you,” Swift says, praising Carpenter before introducing the lyric video that includes footage of Carpenter opening for Swift during The Eras Tour. In the song, Swift and Carpenter play two characters mirroring the cyclical nature of fame: one is Kitty, a fictional showgirl who advises a fan to not join the music business, and the other is an aspiring singer who then later cautions one of her own fans against becoming a performer. “The more you play, the more that you pay…/You don’t know the life of a showgirl, babe/And you’re never gonna wanna,” the lyrics warn. The sentiment is one Swift now uses as “fuel” to prove she has endured the industry for more than 20 years. Throughout the film, Swift continues to say that there is a prevailing perspective that apathy equates power, and that respect is granted to those only who appear to be the most “unbothered.”
Authorities in Tennessee announced Friday that they believe a sheriff who inspired the movie “Walking Tall” is responsible for his wife’s death in 1967.During a news conference Friday, officials with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said there were “inconsistencies” in statements from Sheriff Buford Pusser following the 1967 murder of his wife, Pauline. “It’s been said that the dead can’t cry out for justice. It is the duty of the living to do so. In this case, that duty has been carried out 58 years later,” said District Attorney General Mark Davidson for the 25th Judicial District.Blood splatter patterns on the vehicle also contradicted statements from Buford Pusser, officials said.Buford Pusser reported that his wife volunteered to ride along in the dark early-morning hours of Aug. 12, 1967, on a disturbance call. He claimed that a car pulled alongside his and fired several shots, killing Pauline and injuring him in what he claimed was an ambush intended for him and carried out by unknown assailants.Buford Pusser recovered from his injury. No viable suspects were developed, and no charges were filed.After receiving a tip that an autopsy was never performed on Pauline Pusser, the TBI exhumed her body in February 2024. Davidson said the investigation revealed that Pauline Pusser was more than likely shot outside the vehicle and then placed inside the vehicle. Cranial trauma suffered by Pauline Pusser, depicted in crime scene photographs, does not match interior crime scene photographs from the vehicle.TBI officials also said the autopsy determined that Pauline Pusser had a nasal fracture before her death. Investigators now believe the physical evidence points to a staged crime scene and that Buford Pusser’s gunshot wound was likely self-inflicted.“There is probable cause to believe that Pauline’s death was not an accident, not an act of chance, but, based on the totality of the TBI investigative file, an act of intimate, deliberate violence,” Davidson said.Law enforcement officials said the discoveries would be sufficient to seek a grand jury indictment of Buford Pusser if he were alive today.Buford Pusser died in 1974 after a one-vehicle crash. He served as the sheriff of McNairy County, Tennessee, from 1964 to 1970 and was known for his crackdown on crime along the Mississippi-Tennessee state line.
Authorities in Tennessee announced Friday that they believe a sheriff who inspired the movie “Walking Tall” is responsible for his wife’s death in 1967.
During a news conference Friday, officials with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said there were “inconsistencies” in statements from Sheriff Buford Pusser following the 1967 murder of his wife, Pauline.
“It’s been said that the dead can’t cry out for justice. It is the duty of the living to do so. In this case, that duty has been carried out 58 years later,” said District Attorney General Mark Davidson for the 25th Judicial District.
Blood splatter patterns on the vehicle also contradicted statements from Buford Pusser, officials said.
Buford Pusser reported that his wife volunteered to ride along in the dark early-morning hours of Aug. 12, 1967, on a disturbance call. He claimed that a car pulled alongside his and fired several shots, killing Pauline and injuring him in what he claimed was an ambush intended for him and carried out by unknown assailants.
Buford Pusser recovered from his injury. No viable suspects were developed, and no charges were filed.
After receiving a tip that an autopsy was never performed on Pauline Pusser, the TBI exhumed her body in February 2024.
Davidson said the investigation revealed that Pauline Pusser was more than likely shot outside the vehicle and then placed inside the vehicle. Cranial trauma suffered by Pauline Pusser, depicted in crime scene photographs, does not match interior crime scene photographs from the vehicle.
TBI officials also said the autopsy determined that Pauline Pusser had a nasal fracture before her death. Investigators now believe the physical evidence points to a staged crime scene and that Buford Pusser’s gunshot wound was likely self-inflicted.
“There is probable cause to believe that Pauline’s death was not an accident, not an act of chance, but, based on the totality of the TBI investigative file, an act of intimate, deliberate violence,” Davidson said.
Law enforcement officials said the discoveries would be sufficient to seek a grand jury indictment of Buford Pusser if he were alive today.
Buford Pusser died in 1974 after a one-vehicle crash. He served as the sheriff of McNairy County, Tennessee, from 1964 to 1970 and was known for his crackdown on crime along the Mississippi-Tennessee state line.
Cleveland has played host to Hollywood more times than you might think. Sure, locals remember when The Avengers shut down downtown streets in 2011, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to movies and TV shows filmed in the city.
The Land’s gritty charm and historic architecture have made it a perfect backdrop for films like White Boy Rick and Draft Day. Even comedies such as A Christmas Story—yes, that’s Ralphie’s house—have cemented Cleveland in cinematic history. And if you’re a TV fan, you might remember the sitcom Hot in Cleveland, which brought Betty White to town (at least on screen).
From blockbusters to hidden gems, this list rounds up movies and TV shows that were shot right here in Cleveland. Some you’ll instantly recognize, while others may surprise you. Whether you’re a film buff, a proud Clevelander, or just curious about Hollywood’s Midwest connection, you’ll want to check them all out.
Scroll through our list below and see which ones you’ve spotted around town.
The sync in Joseph Kosinski’s film starring Brad Pitt showcases KAA Production’s expertise in music supervision and licensing.
TOULOUSE, France, July 29, 2025 (Newswire.com)
– KAA Production, the south of France-headquartered music-production house and parent company of electronic label Sidekick Music, announces that “Afterglow“ the track by Canadian singer-songwriter Yzabo, drives the pivotal overtake scene in Apple Original Films’ F1 (distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures). Released on 27 June, the feature has already earned US $509M worldwide – including US $165.6 million in the United States and US $344.1 million internationally – ranking 7th at the 2025 global box office.
Directed by Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick) and starring Brad Pitt, Damson Idris and Javier Bardem, F1 is the first Apple Studios title to cross the half-billion-dollar mark at the global box office, underscoring the cinematic appeal of motorsport.
Immediate Opportunities
About KAA Production / Sidekick Music
For more than twenty years, KAA Production has combined studio production, publishing, sound design, music supervision and digital promotion (via LISTN, the group’s music promotion platform) to develop ambitious projects independently from Toulouse, serving film, television, advertising and video games.
Its label Sidekick Music champions a new wave of international pop-electro and has placed music with Netflix, HBO, Apple TV+ and Paramount+. The group manages over 4,000 works ready for synchronization.
EA has confirmed the production of The Sims movie after months of speculation, leaving fans to wonder what it will be like. How much Sims lore will occur, and which stars will play our favorite Sims characters? As speculation grows, here is a list of who we think would make an amazing cast for The Sims Movie.
Aubrey Plaza as Bella Goth
Image Source: Lionsgate Television
No Sims movie would be complete without Bella Goth – the Sims icon in a skin-tight red dress. She is mysterious, sexy, and smart, so who better to cast than Aubrey Plaza?
Aubrey is known for the dry sense of humor and intriguing intensity she brings to her roles. Her performances in movies and TV tend to carry an enigmatic quality, which would translate so well to the role of Bella Goth. Aubrey brings unconventional characters to life and with the eerie Bella Goth, this Sims movie role could not be any more unconventional!
Tom Hiddleston as Mortimer Goth
Image Source: Universal Pictures
Mortimer Goth, husband to the strange beauty Bella Goth, is another mysterious member of the Sims community. Tom Hiddleston could play this wealthy scientist with a great mix of humor and depth.
Hiddleston’s roles in Marvel’s Loki and Crimson Peak show his ability to dip into drama, comedy, and intriguing mystery. He has a natural charm and could portray Mortimer Goth as the complex and sophisticated man he is. Tom’s elegance lends itself well to Mortimer Goth’s aristocratic background while adding a certain charisma to the role.
Steve Martin as Geoffrey Landgraab
Image Source: 20th Television
Geoffrey Landgraab married into one of the wealthiest families in The Sims. His wife, Nancy, is from the rich and well-connected Landgraab family who helped build Sunset Valley. Casting comedy legend Steve Martin would bring a balance of humor and eccentricity to the role of Geoffrey.
Steve Martin has a talent for bringing arrogant characters to life but making them likable. With Geoffrey Landgraab, he would be constantly battling to be the head of the family when, in reality, it is his wife, Nancy, who has all the power. Steve Martin would be absolute perfection in this role of the downtrodden patriarch who just wants a happy and successful family.
Pedro Pascal as Don Lothario
Image Source: HBO Entertainment
Don Lothario, the Sims’ local loverboy, makes all the ladies go wild and all the men mad with jealousy. Who else should be cast as Don Lothario in The Sims Movie than Pedro Pascal?
The Chilean actor rose to fame after playing Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones, a dangerous and lustful prince with a quick wit. Since then, Pedro Pascal has become well-loved and highly popular thanks to his natural charm and charisma. Pedro Pascal would bring the alluring and suave Don Lothario to life in such a way that viewers would wonder if the role was created especially for him.
Zendaya as Nina & Dina Caliente
Image Source: Warner Bros. Pictures
Nina and Dina Caliente are identical twin sisters with very distinct personalities, but it would be so fun to cast one actor to play both roles. The only person who could have the range to play two such different women would be the talented young actor, Zendaya.
Zendaya has proven time and again that she has an impressive range and can shift between two personalities easily. Zendaya can show Nina Caliente as a quiet, introverted, and vulnerable young woman while also playing the bolder, extroverted twin sister, Dina. Having the one big talent cast in both roles would be such fun to watch!
Doug Jones as The Grim Reaper
Image Source: Magnolia Pictures
When casting an iconic, otherworldly being who is tall, thin, and intimidating, there is only one actor who comes to mind: Doug Jones. If you don’t know who Doug Jones is, you’re mistaken… You just haven’t seen him without prosthetics and makeup.
Contortionist Doug Jones is best known for his non-human roles, such as Amphibian Man in The Shape of Water, The Faun in Pan’s Labyrinth, and Saru in Star Trek. There is literally no one else in the entire world who could play the Grim Reaper better.
Michael Cera as Nervous Subject
Image Source: Warner Bros.
Nervous Subject is a slightly obscure Sims character but has actually been a part of Sims lore since The Sims 2. Nervous Subject’s favorite hobbies are twitching and blinking, two actions we could definitely see Michael Cera perfecting for the role.
His father is rumored to be the Grim Reaper and he was adopted by Strangetown’s mad scientist couple, so it is safe to say Nervous Subject grew up to be a very odd man. Michael Cera, known for his nerdy characters, would bring an authentic restlessness to Nervous Subject. He’d make the audience feel slightly uncomfortable watching his twitching and uneasy demeanor.
Daniel Kaluuya as Bob Pancakes
Image Source: Universal Pictures
EA Games officially named Bob Pancakes as “the most least interesting man in the world”. With this in mind, it would be fascinating to see what Daniel Kaluuya could do to bring Bob Pancakes to life.
Daniel Kaluuya offered stunning performances in Jordan Peele’s Get Out in 2017 and in Nope in 2022, so to cast him as Bob Pancakes in The Sims Movie would be slightly leftfield. What could be interesting is seeing the intensity and magnetism he normally brings to his roles in something as seemingly mundane as Bob. Kaluuya could give Bob Pancakes the chance to be the enigmatic man he was always supposed to be.
Emma Stone as Eliza Pancakes
Image Source: Walt Disney Studios
Eliza Pancakes is often seen as the nagging wife of Bob, but she is so much more than that. We can see Emma Stone as a good fit for this perfectionist, neat freak character.
Eliza Pancakes’ marriage to Bob is pretty unhappy, and the two haven’t been getting on for a while. This antagonistic chemistry between the two would be fun to see portrayed by Emma Stone and Daniel Kaluuya. Stone has played a multitude of strong-willed and slightly uptight or dorky roles so Eliza Pancakes was made for her.
Judi Dench as Agnes Crumplebottom
Image Source: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Finally, our favorite grumpy old lady, Agnes Crumplebottom needs someone with a commanding presence, so who else could we cast in The Sims Movie but Dame Judi Dench?
Widow Agnes has very old-fashioned and strict moral values. She uses her purse as a weapon whenever she catches Sims canoodling in public! Haunted by the ghost of her husband, Agnes would need an actor with the range to play a strong yet vulnerable woman like Agnes. Dame Judi Dench would bring such gravitas to the role but would play it with the humor it requires.
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It’s fall festival season! Matt is joined by Peter Kujawski, the chairman of Focus Features, to discuss the science of premiering a movie at a film festival. Peter provides his expertise on why you bring a certain movie to a certain festival, the risk involved, and which specific festivals are best suited for certain types of films. They also discuss the politics of these festivals jockeying to attain the world premieres of splashy titles, and which festival award is the most coveted (02:51). Matt ends the show with an opening weekend box office prediction for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (26:10).
For a 20 percent discount on Matt’s Hollywood insider newsletter, What I’m Hearing …, click here.
Sean is joined by Chris Ryan to react to a handful of casting tidbits (1:00), before digging into the newest installment in the Alien franchise, Alien: Romulus (11:00). They discuss the new movie’s fealty to the original, the chances it takes, how it works as a pure horror movie, and more. Then, they rank all nine movies in the franchise (53:00), before Sean is joined by Romulus director Fede Álvarez to talk about making a movie in the franchise that he is a superfan of, some of the particular choices made around fan service, how he approached practical effects during the production, and more (1:11:00).
Host: Sean Fennessey Guests: Chris Ryan and Fede Álvarez Senior Producer: Bobby Wagner
The historic Redford Theatre in Detroit is featuring rare 35mm film screenings of the first Indiana Jones adventure Raiders of the Lost Ark next weekend, and 500 tickets are available for free.
The free movies are sponsored by Pluto TV, a popular streaming television service. Pluto TV partnered with 14 family-run, independent theaters across the country to offer free movies.
Raiders of the Lost Ark will be screened at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 24 and 2 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 25.
Redford Theatre is showing Raiders of the Lost Ark to celebrate director Steven Spielberg’s 50 years of making feature films.
Released in 1981, the action-packed classic features Harrison Ford as a daring archaeologist on a quest to stop Nazis from obtaining a legendary relic.
Each week on Polygon, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.
This week, Despicable Me 4, the latest Minions movie starring Steve Carell, comes to VOD following its theatrical premiere earlier this year. That’s not all, though, as we’ve got several exciting streaming premieres this weekend as well like The Bikeriders on Peacock, La Chimera on Hulu, The Instigators on Apple TV Plus, and more.
Here’s everything new that’s available to watch this weekend!
Genre: Action comedy Run time: 1h 40m Director: Lee Myung-hoon Cast: Hwang Jung-min, Yum Jung-Ah, Jeon Hye-jin
A retired secret agent (Hwang Jung-min) finds himself unexpectedly thrown back into the fray of international espionage when he becomes involved in a mission involving his wife (Yum Jung-ah), a detective who knows absolutely nothing about her husband’s former life.
Genre: Period comedy-drama Run time: 2h 13m Director: Alice Rohrwacher Cast: Josh O’Connor, Carol Duarte, Isabella Rossellini
The latest from masterful Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher (Happy as Lazzaro, Le Pupille) stars one of the Challengersboys as a British archaeologist in a story of stolen historical artifacts. La Chimera was a Palme d’Or nominee at Cannes 2023.
New on Prime Video
One Fast Move
Where to watch: Available to stream on Prime Video
Genre: Action drama Run time: 1h 58m Director: Kelly Blatz Cast: K.J. Apa, Eric Dane, Maia Reficco
K.J. Apa (Riverdale) stars in this sports drama as Wes, a troubled young man who attempts to convince his estranged father Dean (Eric Dane) to teach him how to become a professional motorcycle racer. Taking him under his wing, Dean and Wes are forced to work through their troubled relationship as they attempt to create a new future for themselves.
New on Apple TV Plus
The Instigators
Where to watch: Available to stream on Apple TV Plus
Image: Apple
Genre: Heist comedy Run time: 1h 41m Director: Doug Liman Cast: Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Hong Chau
Matt Damon and director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) reunite for this irreverent crime comedy co-starring Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea) and Hong Chau (The Whale). Damon stars as Rory, an ex-Marine who agrees to work alongside an ex-con (Affleck) to rob a mayoral fundraiser. When the botched robbery incites a city-wide manhunt by the police and the vengeful crime boss behind the plot, the pair “consensually kidnap” Rory’s therapist (Chau) in their desperate bid to escape and survive.
New on Peacock
The Bikeriders
Where to watch: Available to stream on Peacock
Image: 20th Century Studios
Genre: Crime drama Run time: 1h 56m Director: Jeff Nichols Cast: Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy
The Bikeriders follows a motorcycle club over the course of a decade, as they go from a simple gathering of enthusiasts to a hardened gang. Jodie Comer plays Kathy, a young woman who gets swept up in the biker gang world after meeting hotheaded Benny (Austin Butler).
The Bikeriders is a film of old-fashioned, simple pleasures: great tunes, perfect costumes, myth-making shots, and a cast of great character actors really going for it. (Including, but not limited to, Michael Shannon, West Side Story’s Mike Faist, Justified’s Damon Herriman, and a completely unrecognizable Norman Reedus as a shaggy Californian wildman biker.) It’s a film about looking at the gorgeous, unknowable people on the screen — and that one gorgeous, unknowable person in particular — just as Hardy’s character does at one point with Marlon Brando in The Wild One, and thinking: What would it be like to be them?
New to rent
Despicable Me 4
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: Illumination
Genre: Comedy Run time: 1h 34m Directors: Chris Renaud Cast: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Pierre Coffin
Formed supervillain-turned-secret agent Gru is back with an all-new adventure! Despicable Me 4 sees Gru relocate his family when his former rival Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell) re-emerges seeking revenge. As Gru’s family attempt to adjust to their new home, Gru’s teenage neighbor attempts to follow in his villainous footsteps, while Gru’s minions decide to become superheroes. That’s a lot, I know!
Despicable Me 4 is full of good ideas, with lots of them specifically appealing to what people like about these movies: Minion antics, Gru’s villain-ness versus his normal family life, and over-the-top Big Bad Guy theatrics among them. But all these bits and pieces are jumbled together and not cohesive enough to make sense as a story. The movie is discordant, like a bunch of musicians playing unfamiliar instruments (or a bunch of — dare I say — Minions given instruments) and trying to make a coherent song. But amid that chaos, sometimes the music starts sounding good — a cool jazzy saxophone solo soars briefly above the cacophony. You just have to grit your teeth and ignore the clanging drums and out-of-tune oboes around it.
Dandelion
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: IFC Films
Genre: Drama Run time: 1h 53m Director: Nicole Riegel Cast: KiKi Layne, Thomas Doherty, Melanie Nicholls-King
KiKi Layne (If Beale Street Could Talk) stars in this musical drama as Dandelion, a struggling singer-songwriter who travels the country performing gigs, all the while yearning for a career breakthrough she fears will never happen. After striking up a romance with Casey (Thomas Doherty), a fellow disgruntled musician, their love proves to be the inadvertent catalyst for Dandelion’s discovery of an authentic artistic voice all her own.
Widow Clicquot
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: Vertical Entertainment
Genre: Drama Run time: 1h 30m Director: Thomas Napper Cast: Haley Bennett, Leo Suter, Natasha O’Keeffe
This period drama stars Haley Bennett (Swallow) as Barbe-Nicole Clicquot, the widow of an 18th century vigneron who becomes the head of their fledgling vineyard after his untimely passing. Weathering financial difficulty and political turmoil, Barbe-Nicole must struggle to make a name for herself and nurture the company to fruition.
Each week on Polygon, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.
This week, A Quiet Place: Day One, starring Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn, arrives on VOD along with Maxxxine, the third installment in Ti West’s horror series starring Mia Goth. That’s not all there is to watch this weekend. The long-awaited director’s cut of Zack Snyder’s sci-fi epic Rebel Moon finally come to Netflix alongside the “Minus Color” version of Godzilla Minus One, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes struts onto Hulu, and Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers makes its streaming debut on MGM Plus.
Here’s everything new that’s available to watch this weekend!
New on Netflix
Rebel Moon director’s cut
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: Netflix
Genre: Sci-fi epic Run time: 3h 21m (Chapter 1); 2h 53m (Chapter 2) Director: Zack Snyder Cast: Sofia Boutella, Djimon Hounsou, Ed Skrein
Zack Snyder is back, this time with the “true” version of his critically-panned sci-fi epic Rebel Moon. Set in a galaxy ruled by a tyrannical empire known as the Motherworld Imperium, the film follows Kora (Sofia Boutella), a former Imperium soldier who recruits a band of warriors to defend a small lunar farming colony from an oncoming invasion.
The question is: Will these versions be it any better than the ones released last year? Only one way to find out!
Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: Toho
Genre: Kaiju drama Run time: 2h 4m Director: Takashi Yamazaki Cast: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada
Godzilla Minus One, the Oscar-winning kaiju drama from director Takashi Yamazaki, was surprise added to Netflix back in June. Now, the “Minus Color” version of the film, which screened for a limited time in theaters early this year, is now available to stream on Netflix starting this weekend. Having seen both in theaters, I can confidently say that no matter which version you happen to choose, the film itself is phenomenal.
Tarot
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: Screen Gems/Sony Pictures Releasing
Genre: Horror Run time: 1h 32m Directors: Spenser Cohen, Anna Halberg Cast: Harriet Slater, Adain Bradley, Avantika, Jacob Batalon
From the screenwriter of Moonfall, Tarot follows a group of friends who find a mysterious cursed tarot deck… and after using it, the figures from the cards that they drew all start to manifest and brutally murder them. They must race to figure out the secret of the tarot deck before they all get picked off one by one. All to say — maybe don’t use creepy tarot decks while in a strange mansion.
Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: Netflix
Genre: Adventure comedy Run time: 1h 22m Director: Liza Johnson Cast: Carolyn Lawrence, Tom Kenny, Clancy Brown
Sandy, the Texan squirrel, takes the lead in the new SpongeBob movie. And this time, the underwater denizens venture to the surface — Sandy finally gets to visit home and see her whole family! But they all have to join forces to save Bikini Bottom from an evil CEO.
Genre: Post-apocalyptic sci-fi Run time: 2h 25m Director: Wes Ball Cast: Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand
Picking up 300 years after the events of Matt Reeves’ War of the Planet of the Apes, this new installment in the franchise follows Noa (Owen Teague), a young ape who embarks on a journey to rescue his tribe from Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), a maniacal ape who has twisted Caesar’s legacy to create an empire built on conquest and slavery.
As a story, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes rarely reaches above narrative competence. But because of its almost single-minded focus on the apes, its technical prowess in their rendering is always front and center. It is frankly incredible what the team at Wētā FX has done in conjunction with all of the film’s other effects artists to bring the apes to life, to give them all distinct body language, and to faithfully transpose actors’ every tic and subtle expression onto their faces. These are some of the most soulful digital creations ever seen in a blockbuster action movie, and it’s incredible to see them in a film that is so pedestrian.
New on MGM Plus
Challengers
Where to watch: Available to stream on MGM Plus
Image: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures/YouTube
Genre: Sports drama Run time: 2h 11m Director: Luca Guadagnino Cast: Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, Mike Faist
Luca Guadagnino’s sensual sports drama, about a love triangle in professional tennis, has set certain circles of the world on fire since its release in late April and is one of the best movies of the year. Now, you can enjoy it at home.
That script is a terrific three-course meal for Faist and O’Connor. They get to trade off face and heel roles from scene to scene and era to era, as Art and Patrick help and hurt each other in equal measure. But it’s an absolute smorgasbord for Zendaya, who even in starring roles has never been given this much room to stretch. Tashi is a gratifyingly rich character, both righteously angry over the thwarting of her ambitions and cruelly angry at all the men who have the nerve to keep on playing the game that was taken away from her. She’s hungry for affection and withholding it at the same time, by turns sensually curious and coldly dispassionate, ambitious and exhausted, conflicted and confident. She’s the kind of character that media master’s theses are made of, and unpicking Tashi’s conflicting motives and how she integrates them is likely to become a pop culture obsession in the months to come.
This quirky independent romcom follows a bickering couple as they attempt to navigate their relationship, and retain their sanity, in the midst of a global pandemic. Shot on a Hi8 camcorder, New Strains is an authentic slice-of-life story from the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
New to rent
Maxxxine
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Photo: Justin Lubin/A24
Genre: Horror Run time: 1h 41m Director: Ti West Cast: Mia Goth, Elizabeth Debicki, Moses Sumney
The third installment in Ti West’s trilogy of period-specific horror films stars Mia Goth, this time reprising her role as Maxine Minx from 2022’s X. Set six years after surviving the terrifying ordeal that transpired in rural Texas, Maxine now lives and works in Los Angeles as an adult film star and erotic performer on the verge of her first big break in an upcoming horror film. But when a mysterious stalker and an unscrupulous private investigator begin to hound her around town, and harm those closest to her, Maxine will have to summon every ounce of her cunning in order to come out on top.
Maxxxine is sharper, slicker, faster-paced, and more direct than the other two films in the series, and it’s certainly entertaining, for those who can stomach its purposefully challenging, envelope-pushing gore. But this time around, it feels like West has, as Kurt Vonnegut would put it, become what he was formerly just pretending to be. That isn’t just a matter of taxonomy, irrelevant to everyone but nitpickers and librarians trying to figure out which shelf Maxxxine goes on. It winds up affecting the story in some frustrating ways.
A Quiet Place: Day One
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: Paramount Pictures
Genre: Horror Run time: 1h 39m Director: Michael Sarnoski Cast: Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff
Lupita Nyong’o stars in the prequel to 2018’s A Quiet Place as Samira, a cancer patient living in New York who witnesses first-hand the arrival of the blind extraterrestrial creatures who overtake the planet. With the help of Eric (Joseph Quinn), a law student, and Henri (Djimon Hounsou), a fellow survivor, Samira must find a way to escape the city alive.
A Quiet Place: Day One isn’t so much a spinoff and prequel of John Krasinski’s 2018 horror movie as it is a riveting drama that plays in the series’ sandbox. You can spot the odd bit of new world-building here or there, about just how and why there are so many damn echolocating aliens, but these tidbits are just background noise (shh, not so loud!) to a much more interesting human story. A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place Part II are rural sci-fi horror, but Day One — from Pig director Michael Sarnoski — moves the setting to New York City and crafts its story in the vein of large-scale disaster cinema. It’s likely the best Manhattan mayhem film since Cloverfield, and it’s also a downright excellent Hollywood blockbuster, if an entirely unexpected one.
The People’s Joker
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: TIFF
Genre: Parody comedy Run time: 1h 32m Director: Vera Drew Cast: Vera Drew, Nathan Faustyn, Kane Distler
This DC Comics parody follows the story of Vera, a trans woman from Smallville who moves to Gotham City to break into stand-up comedy under the name “Joker the Harlequin.” Together with her friend The Penguin (Nathan Faustyn), Vera forms an anti-comedy troupe and goes head to head with her abusive partner Mr. J (Kane Distler) and a tyrannical vigilante known as the Batman (Phil Braun).
The film isn’t entirely a comedy in-joke, however — which is good, because the story of Vera/Joker’s “anti-comedy” career is the most straightforward and least memorable aspect of the film. Lengthy discussions about the role of comedians as truth-tellers between Joker and the Penguin are standard stuff for podcasts and documentaries about the art form. Comedic first-person trans coming-of-age narratives, particularly ones where the transition is accomplished by falling into a vat of feminizing hormones, are more rare. Dedicated “to mom and Joel Schumacher,” The People’s Joker is also a sincere exploration of Vera’s journey toward self-realization, beginning with her childhood as a “miserable little girl” trapped in a boy’s body in Smallville.
Daddio
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: Phedon Papamichael/Sony Pictures Classics
Genre: Drama Run time: 1h 40m Director: Christy Hall Cast: Sean Penn, Dakota Johnson
Remember Locke, that 2013 chamber piece starring Tom Hardy as a construction foreman who talks to himself and several off-screen characters while driving on the freeway? Well, Daddio is kinda like that, but there’s a crucial difference: Instead of one, there are two on-screen characters talking to each other! Dakota Johnson stars as a woman who has a frank conversation with Clark (Sean Pean), a cab driver who gives her a ride to her apartment in Manhattan from JFK International Airport. What do they talk about? Oh y’know, life and love and vulnerability and stuff like that.
The Vourdalak
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: Oscilloscope
Genre: Horror fantasy Run time: 1h 31m Director: Adrien Beau Cast: Kacey Mottet Klein, Ariane Labed, Grégoire Colin
If you, like me, are chomping at the bit to see Robert Eggers’ Nosferatuwhen it premieres later this year, you might consider sinking your teeth into this new supernatural horror movie from director Adrien Beau.
Kacey Mottet Klein stars as the Marquis Jacques Antoine Saturnin d’Urfe, an emissary of the King of France in 18th-century Europe, who is welcomed to stay at the home of a man named Gorcha, who has left to fight against the Turks. When Gorcha fails to return after six days, his family fears that he has been transformed into a Vourdalak — a breed of vampire that feeds on the blood of their family members.
Each week on Polygon, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.
This week, Bad Boys: Ride or Die, the new buddy cop movie starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, comes to VOD this week along with the Hindi action thriller Kill. There’s plenty of other exciting releases to choose from that are new to streaming this week too, like Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire on Netflix, the Michael Keaton-directed crime thriller Knox Goes Away on Max, the sci-fi drama The Beast on Criterion Channel, and more.
Here’s everything new that’s available to watch this weekend!
New on Netflix
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Photo: Sony Pictures
Genre: Supernatural comedy Run time: 1h 56m Director: Gil Kenan Cast: Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard
The Ghostbusters have returned with an all-new movie, and this time Bill Murray is here! Three years after the events of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the Spengler family must join forces with the veteran Ghostbusters to stop a wrathful demonic entity from freezing all of New York City. Oh, and Slimer is here too, because of course.
The Ghostbusters franchise doesn’t really seem to be aimed at anyone anymore. It isn’t funny. It isn’t scary. It’s mostly abandoned its new younger characters, and its older actors barely seem to care. Frozen Empire’s unintentional answer to the question seems to be that Ghostbusters is now corporate nostalgia-farming given cinematic form. Sure, it’s missing all the charm and goofiness that earned the original Ghostbusters so many fans — but if you stick around long enough, they filmmakers will show off the proton packs again, and there’s always a new person to slime. It’s a franchise reduced to nothing more than a parade of hollow, familiar images, lightly repackaged in hopes that we’ll buy another ticket and try to revisit the emotions we felt when we encountered this world for the first time.
New on Hulu
Femme
Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu
Image: Anton/Utopia
Genre: Thriller Run time: 1h 39m Directors: Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping Cast: Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, George MacKay, Aaron Heffernan
After being viciously attacked by an unknown man and their group of friends, a drag queen named Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) confronts their assaulter — a closeted young man named Preston (George MacKay) in a gay sauna. Striking up an affair, Jules plots his revenge against Preston, who is oblivious to Jules’ true identity and intentions.
Genre: Crime thriller Run time: 1h 50m Director: Adam Cooper Cast: Russell Crowe, Karen Gillan, Marton Csokas
After being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, retired homicide detective Roy Freeman (Russell Crowe) is motivated to reopen an investigation into the murder of a college professor when a mysterious new witness comes forward with a compelling piece of evidence. As he works to track down the true culprit, he’ll have to fight to convince those around him to trust his intuition and theories.
Genre: Crime thriller Run time: 1h 54m Director: Michael Keaton Cast: Michael Keaton, Al Pacino, James Marsden
Sixteen years ago, Michael Keaton made his directorial debut with The Merry Gentleman, about a hitman going through some hard times. Now he’s back with his second directed feature, also about a hitman going through some hard times. This time, the hitman is John Knox, a contract killer separated from his family who takes on one last job after he’s diagnosed with dementia.
New on Criterion Channel
The Beast
Where to watch: Available to stream on Criterion Channel on July 28
Image: Kinology
Genre: Sci-fi romance Run time: 2h 26m Director: Bertrand Bonello Cast: Léa Seydoux, George MacKay, Guslagie Malanda
Imagine Cloud Atlas meets The Age of Innocence meets Mulholland Drive. That’s about the simplest way of describing The Beast, Bertrand Bonello’s sci-fi romance drama. Léa Seydoux (Spectre) stars as Gabrielle, a woman living in the near-future who undergoes a process to “purify” her DNA of strong emotions by reliving her past lives. Her procedure becomes more complicated after crossing paths with Louis (George MacKay), a man whom — in a past life — she may or may not have loved.
The Beast’s three timelines play with seemingly unmixable genres: a classic period romance, a gripping horror-thriller, and dystopian sci-fi. That places them at a logistical disconnect, but Bonello binds them aesthetically and emotionally. Through his lengthy, thought-provoking close-ups of Gabrielle and Louis in each section, he creates a sense of longing and isolation across time, binding together human experiences of the past, present, and future, and putting them into sharp and chilling context.
New on Shudder
Humane
Where to watch: Available to stream on Shudder
Image: IFC Films
Genre: Horror Run time: 1h 33m Director: Caitlin Cronenberg Cast: Jay Baruchel, Emily Hampshire, Peter Gallagher
The feature debut from Caitlin Cronenberg is a horror thriller worthy of the family name. Set during a worldwide ecological collapse, Humane follows estranged siblings who learn that their father and mother have chosen to take part in a nationwide euthanasia program as a form of public service. When things go awry, the family will have to choose one of their own to offer up as a substitute participant. Naturally, things get personal.
New to rent
Bad Boys: Ride or Die
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Photo: Frank Masi/Columbia Pictures
Genre: Buddy cop action Run time: 1h 55m Directors: Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah Cast: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens
The Bad Boys are back for another spin around the block! Bad Boys for Life directors Adil & Bilall return for the latest entry in the franchise, this time following partners and best friends Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) as they work to clear the name of their late boss Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano) when he’s posthumously implicated in a criminal conspiracy.
El Arbi and Fallah’s direction is the brightest aspect of Ride or Die. The pair has leveled up since Bad Boys for Life, showing themselves as eager students of Bayhem, happy to deploy camera work as exciting as the shootouts it captures. Frenetic drone shots zoom through gunfire, cameras pivot over the barrel of a gun, and nothing ever, ever stays still. It’s a bit overwhelming: Restrained compared to Bay in their previous effort, they overreach a bit here. Their action shines brightest when it features someone capable of believably kicking ass on screen, like Jacob Scipio, returning as Mike Lowrey’s long-lost son from Bad Boys for Life.
Kill
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
In this thriller, an army commando leads a mission to rescue his girlfriend from an arranged marriage — and then ends up also rescuing a train from a gang of bandits. Kill premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it was the first runner-up for the People’s Choice Award: Midnight Madness.
Kill makes the most of the close-quarters setting and the many different weapons on display — knives, limbs, fire extinguishers, and the architecture/layout of the train itself all play into the combat. It’s a real treat for action fans, especially when things take a turn 45 minutes in and the violence amps up significantly. Kill doesn’t go from 0 to 60; it starts at 60 and goes to 200. The movie’s action design is basically broken into two halves, allowing the team (and Lakshya as a lead) to show a variety of approaches to the fight scenes. I won’t say too much, to avoid spoilers, but the action design becomes much more lethal in response to the events of the story, which allows Kill to start with a more classic nonlethal martial arts approach to action before transitioning into something closer to what you might find in a horror movie.
Richard Simmons, the colorful fitness guru who turned aerobic dancing and positive energy into decades of fame, died Saturday, law enforcement sources said. He was 76.
Simmons was found at his home, and there was no evidence of foul play, sources told The Times.
Simmons specialized in helping obese people lose weight, starting with a Los Angeles fitness studio and eventually making appearances on TV shows, including a popular stint on “General Hospital.”
In his biography, he said struggling with being overweight himself inspired him to help others.
Over the years, he hosted a variety of shows, produced fitness videos and even had a chain of fitness studios. All the while, he made regular appearances in movies and TV shows.
In recent years, Simmons had become the subject of fascination, some of it unwanted. He retreated from public view, and some worried about his health.
In 2017, the “Missing Richard Simmons” podcast revisited the speculation behind Simmons’ welfare, although he refuted many of the rumors.
Simmons’s representative, Tom Estey, recently told Entertainment Tonight that he was celebrating his 76th birthday by working on a new Broadway musical.
Simmons, who was active on social media, appeared to be in good spirits in recent days. He posted a black-and-white photograph of himself next to a cake on his birthday to mark the occasion.
“I never got so many messages about my birthday in my life!” Simmons wrote on Facebook. “I am sitting here writing emails. Have a most beautiful rest of your Friday.”
It was a marked change of pace from earlier in the year when Simmons had posted cryptic messages ruminating over his mortality.
“I am … dying,” Simmons wrote on Facebook. “Oh I can see your faces now. The truth is we all are dying. Every day we live we are getting closer to our death. Why am I telling you this? Because I want you to enjoy your life to the fullest every single day. Get up in the morning and look at the sky … count your blessings and enjoy. “
Each week on Polygon, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.
This week, The Bikeriders, the new crime drama starring Jodie Comer (The Last Duel) and Austin Butler (Dune: Part Two), comes to VOD alongside The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and several other exciting new releases. That’s not all — there’s tons of other movies new to streaming to watch this weekend, like the hybrid animated period drama The Peasants on Netflix, the sci-fi drama The Animal Kingdom on Hulu, a documentary on the life and career of actress Faye Dunaway on Max, and much more.
Here’s everything new that’s available to watch this weekend!
New on Netflix
The Peasants
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: Breakthru Films/Sony Pictures Classics
Genre: Animated historical drama Run time: 1h 54m Directors: DK Welchman, Hugh Welchman Cast: Kamila Urzędowska, Robert Gulaczyk, Mirosław Baka
Loving Vincent directing duo DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman return with yet another period drama composed of thousands of hand-painted images. Set in a 19th-century Polish village rife with feuding and gossip, a young woman named Jagna strives desperately to forge a life for herself beyond the expectations of those around her.
Genre: Sci-fi Run time: 2h 10m Director: Thomas Cailley Cast: Romain Duris, Paul Kircher, Adèle Exarchopoulos
In a world where humans have been stricken with a genetic mutation that transforms them into animal hybrids, a desperate father (Romain Duris) takes his son (Paul Kircher) to search for his wife, who has disappeared into a nearby forest along with other similarly affected hybrids. Think Sweet Tooth meets The Lobster. Polygon had the opportunity to speak with Cailey about the origins and creature design of the film.
Genre: Documentary Run time: 1h 31m Director: Laurent Bouzereau
This documentary looks back on the life and career of Faye Dunaway, the Academy Award-winning actress known for her iconic performances in such films as Bonnie and Clyde, Network, and Chinatown. Bouzereau’s film collects testimonies from Dunaway’s peers and admirers, as well as extensive interviews with Dunaway herself.
New on Prime Video
Divorce in the Black
Where to watch: Available to stream on Prime Video
Image: Prime Video
Genre: Drama Run time: 2h 23m Director: Tyler Perry Cast: Meagan Good, Cory Hardrict, Joseph Lee Anderson
Tyler Perry’s newest movie follows a young bank professional whose husband leaves her. At first she’s determined to fight for their marriage, but she soon realizes that her husband once sabotaged her chance at true love.
New on Shudder
Arcadian
Where to watch: Available to stream on Shudder
Photo: Patrick Redmond/RLJE Films
Genre: Action horror Run time: 1h 31m Director: Benjamin Brewer Cast: Nicolas Cage, Jaeden Martell, Maxwell Jenkins
If you already caught Nicolas Cage in Longlegs, here’s another Cageian drama for you. The actor stars as a father of two sons desperate to protect and raise his family in a near future Earth decimated by the arrival of a ferocious nocturnal creatures. When their father is wounded by one of these creatures, his sons must band together and call upon every lesson of their training in order to survive.
Once the action really gets underway, though, Cage is largely absent, and muddy spatial relationships and confusing, hard-to-see action take a significant percentage of the power out of what should be an explosive final act. And once the film settles into a fairly standard chase-and-fight movie, its lack of more character depth or nuance, or more compelling relationships between the protagonists, limits what the filmmakers can do to make this story stand out from all the past projects it echoes. Arcadian does a few things remarkably well for a sci-fi/horror movie, but it needed a lot more to really spark: more commitment to its vaguely realized setting, more energy between the two very different brothers at its center, and above all, more Nicolas Cage — either version of him.
New to rent
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: 20th Century Studios
Genre: Post-apocalyptic sci-fi Run time: 2h 25m Director: Wes Ball Cast: Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand
Picking up 300 years after the events of Matt Reeves’ War of the Planet of the Apes, this new installment in the franchise follows Noa (Owen Teague), a young ape who embarks on a journey to rescue his tribe from Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), a maniacal ape who has twisted Caesar’s legacy to create an empire built on conquest and slavery.
As a story, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes rarely reaches above narrative competence. But because of its almost single-minded focus on the apes, its technical prowess in their rendering is always front and center. It is frankly incredible what the team at Wētā FX has done in conjunction with all of the film’s other effects artists to bring the apes to life, to give them all distinct body language, and to faithfully transpose actors’ every tic and subtle expression onto their faces. These are some of the most soulful digital creations ever seen in a blockbuster action movie, and it’s incredible to see them in a film that is so pedestrian.
The Bikeriders
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: 20th Century Studios
Genre: Crime drama Run time: 1h 56m Director: Jeff Nichols Cast: Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy
The Bikeriders follows a motorcycle club over the course of a decade, as they go from a simple gathering of enthusiasts to a hardened gang. Jodie Comer plays Kathy, a young woman who gets swept up in the biker gang world after meeting hotheaded Benny (Austin Butler).
The Bikeriders is a film of old-fashioned, simple pleasures: great tunes, perfect costumes, myth-making shots, and a cast of great character actors really going for it. (Including, but not limited to, Michael Shannon, West Side Story’s Mike Faist, Justified’s Damon Herriman, and a completely unrecognizable Norman Reedus as a shaggy Californian wildman biker.) It’s a film about looking at the gorgeous, unknowable people on the screen — and that one gorgeous, unknowable person in particular — just as Hardy’s character does at one point with Marlon Brando in The Wild One, and thinking: What would it be like to be them?
The Exorcism
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: Vertical Entertainment
Genre: Horror thriller Run time: 1h 35m Director: Joshua John Miller Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Simpkins, Sam Worthington
Russell Crowe plays an actor on the set of a supernatural horror film that resembles the original Exorcist movie. His mental state is in slow decline, and as his behavior becomes more erratic, his daughter begins to suspect that there might be a more sinister cause behind it than his previous substance addictions.
The Garfield Movie
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: Sony Pictures
Genre: Adventure comedy Run time: 1h 41m Director: Mark Dindal Cast: Chris Pratt, Samuel L. Jackson, Hannah Waddingham
It’s Chris Pratt! As Garfield! The lazy orange cat reunites with his long lost father Vic (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson, of all people). Along with Odie, Vic and Garfield plan a heist to a farm so that they can steal a lot of milk in order to appease the Persian cat crime boss that Vic works for. The movie comes by way of director Mark Dindal, best known for The Emperor’s New Groove.
The Convert
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: MBK Productions/Magnolia Pictures
Genre: Historical drama Run time: 1h 59m Director: Lee Tamahori Cast: Guy Pearce, Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne, Antonio Te Maioha
In this historical drama, a preacher comes to a remote outpost in New Zealand — only to get caught in the middle of a war between Māori tribes. It’s based on the 2011 novel Wulf by New Zealand author Hamish Clayton.
Wildcat
Image: Renovo Media Group/Oscilloscope Laboratories
Genre: Biographical drama Run time: 1h 43m Director: Ethan Hawke Cast: Maya Hawke, Rafael Casal, Philip Ettinger
Maya Hawke (Stranger Things) stars in her father Ethan Hawke’s latest film: a biographical drama centering on the life and struggles of the inimitable Southern Gothic author Flannery O’Connor. Wildcat follows O’Connor’s efforts to publish her first novel, interspersed with episodes reenacting characters and scenes inspired by the author’s own short stories.
The house made famous by the 1990 blockbuster film “Home Alone” has hit the market in Winnetka, Ill., with a $5.25-million asking price.
The 671 Lincoln Ave. residence, 20 miles north of downtown Chicago, was the site for the Christmastime comedy in which 8-year-old Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) defends the family home from burglars (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) after being left behind when his family leaves on vacation.
Dawn McKenna Group calls the listing “a rare opportunity to own one of the most iconic movie residences in American pop culture.” Built in 1921 and boasting 9,126 square feet of living space, the abode features full amenities — five bedrooms, six full baths, a home cinema, full gym and an indoor half-court for basketball — minus the movie’s trademark booby traps.
The current owners bought the home in 2012 for $1.59 million and renovated it in 2018, preserving its exterior and memorable features like the staircase McCallister slides down in numerous scenes, Dawn McKenna Group said online.
Trip Advisor lists the “Home Alone” property as “#1 of 20 things to do in Winnetka.” While a wrought-iron fence keeps tourists off the property, it’s possible to take a street-view selfie. The owners have not been shy about their famous home: In 2021, they offered up the place for just $25 a night on Airbnb.
Right next door, at 681 Lincoln Ave., fans will find Old Man Marley’s house from the same movie. It was listed for sale at $3.1 million in 2014, though it’s unclear whether the property ever changed hands. Roberts Blossom, who played Marley in “Home Alone,” died in 2011.
Don’t have a spare $5.25 million to spend on your “Home Alone” experience? Try the 2006 game released for PlayStation and defend against a home invasion yourself. Or pick up a “Home Alone” Lego set. Created in 2021, the 3,955-piece set includes a Kevin McCallister figurine and a tree-house zip line that can be used to facilitate his escape.
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