Grammy-winning Latin artist Ozuna is set to bring his personal history to the big screen in Odisea, a feature film that will see the reggaeton and trap superstar portray himself in his life story.

Odisea, named after the Puerto Rican singer’s chart-topping 2017 debut album, is the first project he will release under his production company Bear with Oz Films. Spanish filmmaker Alexis Morantet, who won a Latin Grammy for directing the documentary What I Was Is What I Am, is set to direct; watch the teaser for his documentary about revered Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz above.

“The feature film depicts a story of triumph, inspired by the life of one of the most transcendental figures of Latin music at a global level today,” the synopsis of Odisea states. “The plot tells the story of how Jan Carlos became ‘Ozuna’ throughout a life full of ups and downs — both personally...

Smash-hit musical movie “Wicked” is flying into homes this New Year’s Eve — with a load of deleted scenes, commentary and other extras.

Following its theatrical run, the Universal Pictures film, starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, will be available exclusively to purchase or rent on Dec. 31, 2024, on major digital platforms. Bonus content in the digital release includes a singalong version, plus a 40-minute journey through Oz that “celebrates the film’s transformative on-screen magic,” and other material.

In the U.S., “Wicked” will be available from digital retailers nationwide, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Fandango at Home (formerly Vudu), Comcast Xfinity, Cox and Microsoft Movies & TV. “Wicked” will also debut on 4K Uhd, Blu-ray and DVD on Feb. 4, 2025.

“Wicked” set the record for the biggest opening for a movie based on a Broadway show ever and has grossed $392 million domestically to date. The film was nominated for four...

Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King” roared to the top of the U.K.-Ireland box office in its debut weekend with £4.4 million ($5.5 million), according to numbers from Comscore through Dec. 23.

As the holiday season reaches its peak, Universal’s “Wicked” continues to enchant in its fifth frame, conjuring £2.5 million for a robust £48.2 million running total. Disney’s “Moana 2” sailed to third place with £2 million, pushing its four-week cume to £29.7 million.

Studiocanal’s “Paddington in Peru” remained steady in fourth, adding £653,489 in its seventh weekend for a £31.3 million total. Paramount’s “Gladiator II” rounded out the top five with £497,569, reaching £29.6 million after six weeks.

In sixth place, Black Bear’s “Conclave” collected £331,308 for a £4.9 million total, while Trafalgar Releasing’s “Ivanov/Wright The Nutcracker” Royal Opera House ballet presentation earned £227,082 in seventh. Sony’s “Kraven the Hunter” collected £171,942 in eighth position for a total of £1.2 million, while Park Circus...

Nearly 30 years after the original debuted, Adam Sander returns as the unlikely hockey player turned golf pro in “Happy Gilmore 2.” Netflix, who has been in business with Sandler for many years now, producing films like “The Ridiculous Six,” “Murder Mystery” and “You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah,” among many others, will premiere the film sometime in 2025.

Continue reading ‘Happy Gilmore 2’ Trailer: Adam Sandler Returns As Everyone’s Favorite Golf Pro In 2025 at The Playlist.

Christmas moviegoers visited the Pride Lands in force over the holidays, propelling Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King” to the top of the charts. The family friendly adventure dominated ticket sales, earning $14.7 million to capture the box office crown. That pushed its domestic tally to $64.3 million. Globally, the prequel to “The Lion King” has earned $197.7 million after adding $18.8 million from international markets on Wednesday. Stateside, the film is on pace to generate more than $50 million over the five-day holiday frame.

Focus Features’ “Nosferatu,” a blood-soaked horror film about a Dracula-like vampire, catered to very different crowds than “Mufasa,” while capturing second place on its opening day with $11.5 million. The movie is directed by Robert Eggers, who oversaw arthouse favorites like “The Witch” and “The Lighthouse.” Its ensemble includes rising stars like Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Bill Skarsgård and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, along with veterans such as Willem Dafoe. It has a sizable budget of $50 million,...

Spoiler Alert: This article contains mild spoilers about “Nosferatu,” now playing in theaters.

Robert Eggers’ fourth film — “Nosferatu,” in theaters today via Focus Features — is a bold, starry reimagining of F. W. Murnau’s 1922 masterful silent film of the same name. Lily-Rose Depp and Bill Skarsgård star as the gorgeous Ellen Hutter and grotesque vampire Count Orlok, respectively, alongside Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin and Eggers regulars Willem Dafoe and Ralph Ineson. The gorgeous and sinister tale builds on the dark historical lore of Eggers’ previous films — 2015’s “The Witch,” 2019’s “The Lighthouse” and 2022’s “The Northman” — and infuses it with drama, desire and an electric erotic undercurrent. Eggers, as funny and self-deprecating in conversation as his films are dark, spoke with Variety about creating a new vision of a film that has influenced him since childhood, his unique partnership with director Chris Columbus and the viral “Nosferatu” merch.

Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra recently told the Los Angeles Times that “Kraven the Hunter” is “probably the worst launch we had” in the nearly eight years he’s been at the studio, adding: “I still don’t understand, because the film is not a bad film.”

“Kraven” opened in theaters Dec. 13 to a paltry $11 million, the lowest debut yet for a Sony-released Marvel movie. The movie’s current domestic box office total stands at just $18 million, while its global haul is $43 million. These are more or less catastrophic results for a superhero movie and cap off a lackluster year for Sony comic book movies after “Madame Web” flopped with $100 million worldwide and “Venom: The Last Dance” became the franchise’s lowest-grossing entry.

“Let’s just touch on ‘Madame Web’ for a moment,” Vinciquerra said. “‘Madame Web’ underperformed in the theaters because the press just crucified it. It was not a bad film,...

Earlier today, ESPN, ABC, and NBA took a victory lap for the highest Christmas Day ratings the league had seen in five years. The league averaged 5.25 million viewers, up 84% from 2023 and the match-up between the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers earned an impressive 7.76 million viewers, peaking at 8.32 million viewers at 7:30 Pm Pt. A few hours later, Netflix released its initial number for its inaugural NFL Christmas GameDay streaming events.

Continue reading Netflix, NFL & Beyonce Combine For 65 Million U.S. Christmas Day Viewers at The Playlist.

Fans of “Downton Abbey” were devastated when Maggie Smith, aka the Dowager Countess, died in September. Smith had starred in both the TV series and in both movies, with the Countess character dying at the end of “Downton Abbey: A New Era.”

Now, executive producer Gareth Neame promises that the third film, due Sept. 12, will include a tribute to both the character and to Smith herself.

“The fact that Dame Maggie herself has now passed away since that time, I do think, has given a real added poignancy to a story that we would have planned anyway,” Neame told TVLine while promoting Peacock’s “The Day of the Jackal.” “The loss of the Dowager, it now feels far more significant that you see actors playing characters mourning the family matriarch. But I also see actors mourning the matriarch of the show, and it feels more genuine and more meaningful.”

Neame...

After months of speculation about Christopher Nolan’s follow-up to his critical and box office hit “Oppenheimer,” which won him the Best Director Oscar, Universal Pictures unveiled before the holidays on X that he will be bringing Homer’s “The Odyssey” to the big screen.

“The Odyssey” is a classic piece of literature by Homer that is divided between 24 different books, preceded by “The Iliad.” It tells the 10-year journey story of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, as he travels home after the Trojan War. Along the way, he encounters multiple perils and discovers the death of his crewmates. Telemachus (Odysseus’ son), Penelope (Odysseus’ wife), Athena, Circe, Poseidon and Zeus are all major characters.

Historians and scholars date “The Odyssey” to sometime between 750-650 BC. The first printed Greek version became available in 1488. In the centuries since, it has remained one of the most studied, adapted and parodied stories ever with...

Proceed carefully; spoilers for the end of "Squid Game" season 2 lie ahead.

The second season of writer-director Hwang Dong-hyuk's acclaimed — and unbelievably popular — Netflix series "Squid Game" is officially here, and the third season, according to Hwang, will premiere sometime in 2025. Based on the season finale, "Friend or Foe," what can viewers expect ... and what about that massive cliffhanger?

Let's back up for a moment. At the beginning of season 2, the winner of the games seen on screen in season 1, Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), stays in South Korea despite the game's Front Man, Hwang In-ho (Lee Byung-hun), urging him to decamp to America and leave his time in the game behind. He doesn't — and as the series jumps two years ahead, we learn that Gi-hun has spent that entire time trying to suss out the Front Man and stop the games once and for all (on account of all...

This article contains spoilers for "Squid Game" season 2. 

A last-minute twist in "Squid Game" season 2 might take some viewers by surprise, but there are a few clues and hints to see it coming. 

The titular deadly playground games of "Squid Game" are as surprising as they are dangerous, but arguably the biggest murderous twist in season 2 has nothing to do with Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) and the other players. In fact, it doesn't even take place at TV's most thrilling competition at all, but during the show's seafaring B-plot. 

The honor for the most surprising kill of the season may very well go to Captain Park, the seemingly unassuming boat captain who backs up Gi-hun's fellow returning "Squid Game" character Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) and his crew of Gi-hun's hired henchmen as they try and fail to find the game organizers' island base. In "Squid Game" season 2, episode 7, titled "Friend Or Foe,...

Denis Villeneuve recently spoke to the Los Angeles Times and shared his discomfort over how “human beings are ruled by algorithms right now.” He explained: “We behave like AI circuits. The ways we see the world are narrow-minded binaries. We’re disconnecting from each other, and society is crumbling in some ways. It’s frightening.”

The Times columnist Glenn Whipp noted that Villeneuve shared these thoughts while checking his phone. The “Dune” filmmaker said “there’s something addictive about the fact that you can access any information, any song, any book” from your phone. “It’s compulsive. It’s like a drug. I’m very tempted to disconnect myself. It would be fresh air.”

But the one place cell phone addiction can not exist is on a film set. Villeneuve said that mobile devices are banned on his productions. Christopher Nolan similarly bans cell phones.

“Cinema is an act of presence,...

Cynthia Erivo knows how to do this. Erivo has already dazzled audiences with her powerhouse performances on stage and screen. Still, her turn as Elphaba in Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked” has cemented her place as one of her generation’s most versatile and captivating artists.

The first half of the two-part Wicked saga is already a sensation, and Erivo’s portrayal of the misunderstood green-skinned witch is winning accolades. Yet, as she reveals to Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast, this journey is far more than just a career milestone — it’s personal.

In her approach to Elphaba, Erivo drew on her own experiences. “I know what it feels like to walk into a room where people don’t want you to be there,” Erivo shares on this week’s episode. “I know what it feels like to be bullied, to feel rejected, to feel like you’re not loved.

Don't lose your marbles — spoilers lie ahead for the second season of "Squid Game."

If you watched the first season of the unexpected (yet massive) South Korean hit "Squid Game" back when it premiered in 2021, there are a few things you need to remember, especially if you only remember the titular deadly game that pits 456 desperate players against one another for a massive payout. While Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) battles his way through the games themselves, a detective — Hwang Jun-ho, played by Wi Ha-joon — infiltrates the games by posing as a guard in an attempt to suss out and expose the mysterious masked Front Man. After a fun little mission, Jun-ho comes face to face with the unmasked Front Man only to realize that it's his missing brother Hwang In-ho (Lee Byung-hun), who won the game many years beforehand and is now involved with their entire process.

In-ho shoots his...

I’ve been seeing variations on the question above on comment boards and social media, and the answer is inevitably a resounding “No. Fucking. Way.” But let’s be clear about what the question really is, since it’s actually two questions at once. The fundamental thing that’s being asked is: Could “Babygirl,” an enthralling high-kink corporate drama, in which Nicole Kidman plays a girlboss who secretly yearns to be dominated and debased, and plays this all out with one of her young male interns…could a male director have gotten away with making that movie today? The answer everyone seems to agree on, with an underlying note of look-how-far-we’ve-come cultural pride, is no. I don’t necessarily disagree — though actually, in a way, I sort of do.

“Babygirl,” written and directed by the volcanically talented Dutch filmmaker Halina Reijn, is a gripping movie about a woman who...

One of my favorite things about the end of the year is the "year in review" movie mashups that come out, reminding us of all of the great movies that came out in the previous year. They're incredible little odes to cinema, and the "movie trailer mashups" by YouTuber Sleepy Skunk are easily among the very best. This year is no exception, as their "2024 Movie Trailer Mashup" (see above) is another beautifully edited, wonderful reminder of the magic of the movies.

2024 has been an incredible year for movies, with a wide range of stories for all kinds of audiences. Indeed, there's a little something for everyone, and the trailer mashup reflects that. There are artistic critical darlings like "The Brutalist" right alongside mainstream popcorn fare like "Deadpool & Wolverine" and family films like "Sonic the Hedgehog 3," as well as exploitation horror like "The Substance," all set to music and...

“How does it feel?” is one way by which to measure a movie. But if you’ve seen “A Complete Unknown,” the Bob Dylan biopic that opened on Christmas Day, you may have left the theater singing to yourself (to the tune of “Like a Rolling Stone”): How much is reeeaaallll?

The short response is: A lot. But the long answer involves acknowledging director James Mangold’s film taking liberties in terms of a condensation of timelines, the conjoining of separate incidents, fictional character names in a couple of cases, and moments of sheer imagination and fictionalization. It’s certainly possible to enjoy “A Complete Unknown” without stressing too much over which parts are fact and which are fanciful. But for those who want to take a deep dive into how much the movie aligns with the known historical record, we looked to several Dylan experts to help sort it out.

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Marvel Comics' Avengers famously have a constantly-rotating line-up. Now, the team has some perennial figureheads — Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor are the team's key trinity in both the comics and Marvel Cinematic Universe. But ever since 1964's "The Avengers" #16, "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" hasn't been as exclusive a club as the name implies. Avengers take leaves of absence, new ones join in the interim, etc. The MCU is currently discovering that movie audiences may not be as receptive to this revolving door as comic readers; there's a reason Chris Evans is returning in "Avengers: Doomsday."

The current "Avengers" comic series, written by Jed MacKay, started off with a very classical team line-up: Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Captain America (Sam Wilson), Thor, Black Panther, Scarlet Witch, and Vision. In "Avengers" #18, MacKay (who is also writing "X-Men" right now) added Storm to replace the departing Thor.

This article contains spoilers for "Squid Game" season 2

Critics are hailing "Squid Game" season 2 for being bigger and better than its predecessor, and some elements will take viewers by surprise. Episode 3 sees Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) reluctantly return to the deadly competition as a contestant, hoping to shut it down once and for all. That's going to be an arduous task, however, as Hwang In-ho, aka the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), the guy running the entire operation, has also returned disguised as a player, and that can't be good for anyone.

"Squid Game" season 2, episode 3, reveals that the competition's founders have introduced a new rule. After each game, participants can vote to split the money and leave the game, or stay and play for a chance to win a bigger prize in the next round -- which means risking their lives again. The first post-game vote ends in a tie with one person left,...

There’s a secret magic hidden just below the surface in the Land of Oz. No, it’s not the Grimmerie, nor even the many aspects of visual design crafted by the production team of “Wicked.” It’s the film’s score, which builds on Stephen Schwartz’s classic Broadway compositions and allows director Jon M. Chu to stretch and extend sequences so cinematic moments can really land. Composer John Powell created these musical bridges across numbers and across the Emerald City, but he got the job without having seen any version of “Wicked” before.

“I knew some of the songs, obviously,” Powell told IndieWire. “One of my first gigs in Hollywood was working on the songs of ‘The Prince of Egypt’ with Stephen [Schwartz] and Hans [Zimmer] and so I had to admit to him that I’d never seen the musical.”

But that outsider perspective was invaluable to the music team on “Wicked,...

“The Fire Inside” has been years in the making.

The Rachel Morrison-directed drama (in theaters now) tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields, the Flint, Mich., native who became the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing. Ryan Destiny stars as Shields alongside Oscar nominee Brian Tyree Henry as her coach, Jason Crutchfield.

“I trained in 2020, our first go-round for three to four months,” Destiny tells me during a joint interview with Henry on this week’s “Just for Variety” podcast. “Then we stopped everything for two years, and I had to do it all over again for a second time. But looking back, I am actually very happy that I got more time with it, and I think I grew as a person, and I would assume and hope that I do because it was such a long process.

“Overall, it’s been like a...

“Deadpool” director Tim Miller recently told Collider that he wishes his deal on the film included a piece of the merchandising so that he could’ve made significantly more money on the 2016 superhero tentpole that launched a mega-franchise for star Ryan Reynolds. Miller did not return to direct “Deadpool 2” or “Deadpool & Wolverine.” The original “Deadpool” movie, which marked his feature directorial debut, earned $782 million at the worldwide box office.

“You guys might not know, but it’s not really a profitable thing to be a first-time director in Hollywood, and I’ll tell you exactly,” Miller told Collider. “I got $225,000 to direct ‘Deadpool.’ I know it sounds like a lot of money, but for two years of work, that’s not a ton of money.”

“Not that I’m not grateful,” he added. “I’m fucking grateful, that’s the way it is because you’re supposed to...

To many audiences across the globe, the plot of the Hindi-language drama “Santosh” — in which a widow takes over her husband’s job as a constable — sounds made up.

But for her debut narrative feature, which competed for the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes earlier this year before earning accolades at festivals like Camerimage, British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri drew directly from Indian law. Specifically, “compassionate grounds” allows the dependent of a government worker to be appointed to a job, including their own, after their death. As the eponymous fictional character (played by Shahana Goswami) investigates the murder of a young girl under the watch of a female superior officer (Sunita Rajwar) with inscrutable aims, what subsequently unfolds in the film is an extraordinary, unflinching portrait of one woman’s reckoning with personal relationships and a professional community in a larger sociopolitical culture historically controlled and dominated by men.

Ahead of the film’s Dec.

This article contains massive spoilers for "Squid Game" season 2.

The concept behind "Squid Game" is simple: 456 players currently struggling to survive in financial ruin are rounded up into a competition where they play popular schoolyard games from childhood to the death, and the last person standing walks away with 45.6 billion won, or roughly $32 million depending on the current exchange rate. Once players have agreed to play, they're coming out a winner or they're leaving in a body bag. Morbid and dystopian, sure, but it's certainly not difficult to wrap your head around. While plenty of aspects of "Squid Game" season 1 have carried over into the second season, show creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has added a few new wrinkles into the games, not unlike a malevolent President Snow in "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire."

After Seong Gi-hun (​​Lee Jung-jae) won the games last season, the overwhelming guilt he felt having survived while...

Between the end of the ’60s and the turn of the ’70s, onscreen heroes who could save the day fizzled out in popularity. Many films were either staunchly liberal or left-wing, from “The Battle of Algiers” (1966) to “Z” (1969) and “The Confession” (1970), with protagonists as victims of fascist right-wing regimes. Films with heavy-hearted themes opened audiences’ eyes by examining the victims and consequences of these systems. It seemed conservatives were missing a hero to affirm and spread the message of their misunderstood beliefs and principles. Enter: Dirty Harry.

Harry Callahan, played by the blueprint of ideal male masculinity, Clint Eastwood, took control and got stuff done on his own terms. He challenged an entire nation’s political and moral compass. A police inspector working in the heart of San Francisco, one of the most liberal states in America, puts an end to the real perpetrators of crimes committed in the homeland — hippies!

Based on my highly informal and unscientific research, 2024 has been really tough on most folks. So, what better way to show the last 12 months the door than by spending New Year's Eve watching "Wicked" and joining the citizens of Oz in their rousing rendition of "No One Mourns the Wicked?" If you time things right, you can even usher in 2025 on a note of determined optimism by belting "Defying Gravity" just as the clock strikes midnight. More importantly, if you're unable to make it to an official sing-along screening of the movie, you'll have a way to do so without disrupting the viewing experience for anyone around you.

That's right! Director Jon M. Chu's adaptation of the first half of the Broadway sensation and revisionist take on the world and characters of "The Wizard of Oz"  is heading to the home market just in time to close out this dumpster fire of a year.

If two hours and 40 minutes of musical fun weren’t enough to satisfy your “Wicked” cravings, you’re not alone. Jon M. Chu’s blockbuster adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical has become a cultural phenomenon this holiday season, sparking repeat viewings from many former theatre kids and newcomers alike. The saga will conclude with “Wicked: For Good,” which is set to open in theaters on November 21, 2025. But if that’s too long to wait to see more of Ariana Grande’s Glinda and Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba in action, IndieWire can exclusively debut a deleted scene from the first film.

Before they meet the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) or find themselves receiving a musical history lesson from Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel (who the characters would have no way of knowing once played them in a Broadway production), the two Shiz students spend a day exploring the famed Emerald City.

Family plans to livestream memorial service for teenage actor who died two days after getting hurt in Vestavia Hills, Alabama

The teenage actor Hudson Meek has died after he fell out of a moving vehicle in Alabama, authorities said.

Meek, 16, was hurt on December 19 while on a street in Vestavia Hills, a suburb of Birmingham. He died two days later, according to the Jefferson county coroner’s office.

Christmas moviegoers visited the Pride Lands in force over the holidays, propelling Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King” to the top of the charts. The family friendly adventure dominated ticket sales, earning $14.7 million to capture the box office crown. That pushed its domestic tally to $64.3 million. Globally, the prequel to “The Lion King” has earned $197.7 million after adding $18.8 million from international markets on Wednesday. Stateside, the film is on pace to generate more than $50 million over the five-day holiday frame.

Focus Features’ “Nosferatu,” a blood-soaked horror film about a Dracula-like vampire, catered to very different crowds than “Mufasa,” while capturing second place on its opening day with $11.5 million. The movie is directed by Robert Eggers, who oversaw arthouse favorites like “The Witch” and “The Lighthouse.” Its ensemble includes rising stars like Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Bill Skarsgård and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, along with veterans such as Willem Dafoe. It has a sizable budget of $50 million,...

Warning: This article contains major spoilers for the season 2 premiere of "Squid Game."

For as much as the debut season of "Squid Game" sucked viewers into its labyrinth of sadistic games and psychological drama, the finale still left audiences with a number of unanswered questions. How would lone survivor Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) use the vast resources at his disposal to enact vengeance upon the perpetrators? With the death of Oh Il-nam (O Yeong-su), the kindly old man who turned out to be the man behind the curtain all along, would the mysterious Front Man step up to take on the big job? And speaking of which, whatever happened to the Front Man's brother, the dogged detective Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-jun) -- along with the damning evidence he collected and tried to send to his police superiors?

The well-received second season wastes no time catching fans up on this missing piece of information,...

While 2024 will be remembered by many in the entertainment biz as an uphill battle and a make-or-break transition time, for a number of talents working in international film and TV, it will be considered the year where everything changed — a breakout period when new doors opened, calls were answered and bigger projects started coming their way. Some were catapulted into the limelight from relative obscurity and were soon juggling major awards ceremonies and lucrative studio deals. Others were already rising names at home, but suddenly found themselves on Hollywood’s radar.

Variety‘s crop of international breakouts — actors and filmmakers — includes the creator and stars of one of the most talked about TV shows of the year (and one which could leave Netflix with a tasty legal bill), the writer/director of a wild body-horror that took Cannes by storm and could give a beloved star her first brush with...

This article contains spoilers for "Squid Game" season 2.

"Squid Game," by its very design, is a show with a massive ensemble cast. Well, at least it starts out that way -- as fans remember all too well from "Squid Game" season 1, the show's deadly playground games tend to pare down the cast something wicked as the plot progresses. Knowing this, it's only natural that some of the show's more obscure characters fail to catch the viewer's attention. This actually works for the sophomore season's favor when it comes to Jung-bae (Lee Seo-hwan), who's such a minor presence in "Squid Game" season 1 that he almost counts as a brand new season 2 character ... while simultaneously having a handy, pre-established history with series protagonist Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae).

Jung-bae is Gi-hun's good friend who makes a couple of appearances in the first two episodes of season 1 -- "Red Light, Green Light" and "Hell...

There are many jaw-dropping anecdotes about Monica Barbaro’s improbable road to portraying the legendary Joan Baez in “A Complete Unknown.” First off, she auditioned for director James Mangold, knowing she wasn’t a singer. Truth be told, she had barely sung professionally in any capacity. That was gutsy. Secondly, she had to face genuine fears of living up to Baez’s signature vocal singing style, performing live no less.

Continue reading Monica Barbaro Faced Her Stage Fright Of Singing To Portray Joan Baez In ‘A Complete Unknown’ at The Playlist.

Spoilers for the end of "Squid Game" season 2 lie ahead — stop scrolling if you haven't finished watching!

If you shut off "Squid Game" as soon as the seventh and final episode of season 2 (titled "Friend or Foe") started rolling its credits, you missed something! So what happens in the extremely brief mid-credits sequence? Let's break it down, although we have to add: it's so mysterious that we're not entirely sure what to make of it just yet.

The scene — which truly is so quick — shows several players entering a room and spotting that giant creepy doll, canonically named Young-hee, seen in both seasons of "Squid Game" during the deadly round of "Red Light, Green Light" that served as the first murderous game the players experience. But this time, as players enter the arena, Young-hee isn't alone. There's an entirely new giant doll — resembling a little boy — that appears to be facing her.

The US photographer and director of Hale County This Morning, This Evening talks about how his latest film, Nickel Boys, redraws the contours of cinema

Artists don’t come much more outsider than RaMell Ross. He once mailed himself across the US in a wooden crate. He says things like: “What would happen if the camera was Buddhist?” and, until now, he has never made a feature film. Not the obvious candidate to entrust with adapting a Pulitzer-winning novel, you might think, yet Ross has managed to make a movie that is socially impassioned and highly awards-friendly – and so avant garde that it almost reinvents cinema.

In its subject matter alone, Nickel Boys is remarkable: adapted from Colson Whitehead’s novel, it follows two young Black boys at a segregated reform school in Florida in the 1960s. It is a story of friendship in the face of racism, injustice, abuse and even murder.

This article contains major spoilers for "Squid Game" season 2. 

The ending of "Squid Game" season 1 makes it abundantly that the show's seven-episode season 2 will feature a wealthy and revitalized Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), who's on a quest to bring the titular game down once and for all. Unfortunately, the mission is struggling even after a two-year time skip, and he ultimately decides to personally re-enter the deadly game. 

Even more unfortunately, Gi-hun severely underestimates the Front Man (Lee Byung-Hun), who appears to wield the highest authority over the Squid Game after Oh Il-nam's (O Yeong-su) death. This time, the masked overseer -- whose true identity is disgraced cop Hwang Jun-ho's (Wi Ha-joon) stepbrother In-ho -- isn't content with his usual cephalopod-themed social disparity murder hustle. Instead, he's either fascinated by Gi-hun's struggle or adamant on personally sabotaging it, so he decides to play the game himself after the protagonist declares...

This post contains major spoilers for "Squid Game" season 2.

The first season of "Squid Game" ends on a rather decisive note. Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), who wins the titular game in a pyrrhic victory, chooses to stay behind and challenge the barbaric notion of pitting struggling, desperate folks against each other. The deaths of his friends weigh heavy on Gi-hun, paving the path for his re-entry as a contestant in "Squid Game" season 2, in which he's prepared to undergo hell once again just for a shot at eradicating this sinister cycle. Gone is the cheerful naivete that Gi-hun exhibited in season 1: now, he's jaded yet determined, taking a more vigilant, pragmatic approach to the games. However, is that enough for him to win the games a second time? Or will another player emerge victorious, with Gi-hun's arc coming to a tragic end?

To answer this question quickly: no one wins the Squid Games this time,...

“The Night Agent” doesn’t follow your average highly talented government agent on highly dangerous missions, like Ethan Hunt in “Mission Impossible” or James Bond in his numerous risky ventures. The lead protagonist, Peter Sutherland, is actually quite normal. Something that drew series creator Shawn Ryan to the project in the first place. As he previously described to The Hollywood Reporter.

Read More: The 75 Most Anticipated TV Shows Of 2025

“I love the idea of an underdog.

Continue reading ‘Night Agent’ Trailer: Season 2 Of The Hit Netflix Action Series Arrives January 23 at The Playlist.

From chart-topping K-pop artists to Academy Award-winning movies like "Parasite," South Korean pop culture has become a bona fide global phenomenon. This international popularity has extended to K-dramas, a common term for South Korean live-action scripted television programming that has found growing numbers of foreign viewers. With an increasing number of K-dramas available to stream outside of South Korea on platforms like Netflix and Prime Video, the genre continues to gain momentum with overseas audiences, may it be blockbuster series that put K-dramas on the worldwide map or overlooked sleeper hits.

To be clear, the term "K-drama" isn't one that's exclusively applied to grounded dramatic fare, but one that expands beyond conventional genre constraints. This ranges from supernatural horror to period-piece romantic comedies and virtually everything in between. Simply put, there's something for everyone to enjoy within the wide and growing world of K-dramas. And to help you find the next such series to binge,...

Major spoilers for "Squid Game" season 2 follow.

One of the most memorable characters from the shocking first season of "Squid Game" was a mysterious, nameless figure played by Gong Yoo. Some folks colloquially refer to this man as The Salesman, but the official subtitles for the series call him The Recruiter, so that's what we'll call him here.

The Recruiter is the man who seeks out people to play the deadly games that could either net them millions of bucks or lead to their violent demises. To find players, the Recruiter hangs out in the subway system and challenges strangers to a game of ddakji, which involves trying to flip over one heavy colored envelope with another. The Recruiter tells the players that if they manage to flip over his envelope, he'll give them 100,000 won. If they lose, they have to give him 100,000 won. If they don't have the money...

Major spoilers for "Squid Game" season 2 follow.

Trigger warning: This post contains mention of suicide.

When it comes to "Squid Game," death is inevitable. Part of what made the first season of the hit Netflix series so memorable was the way in which it ruthlessly killed off characters from one episode to the next. Seemingly no one was safe as they played a series of kids games with deadly twists. While main character Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) survived the games and won the prize money, literally every other person he played alongside died a horrible death.

So it's probably not a big surprise to say that some characters will meet their end in "Squid Game" season 2. In fact, in the first episode alone, a returning character from season 1 ends up kicking the bucket in a typically gruesome fashion. The character in question is the mysterious Recruiter, played by Gong Yoo.

There’s a haunting quality to Ecuadorian Oscar submission “Behind the Mist,” Sebastián Cordero’s intimate documentary on scaling Mount Everest. On one hand, Cordero’s twinning of mountaineering and filmmaking reveals spiritual similarities to both endeavors. On the other hand, his visual texture reveals hidden layers through its lo-fi aesthetic — one that emerges by necessity, given the harsh conditions — resulting in images that feel introspective about their own creation.

Cordero’s main subject is Iván Vallejo, the first Ecuadorian to reach Everest’s peak — without the help of Pxygen too. After achieving this feat in 1999 (and again in 2001), Vallejo hopes to commemorate his climb by returning to the top of the world in 2019. Naturally, he invites Cordero along to document him, but the filmmaker and the mountain maverick have opposing ideas of what the movie should be.

This search ends up taking philosophical form, as the “Europa Report” director...

This article contains spoilers for "Star Wars: Skeleton Crew" episode 5.

"Star Wars: Skeleton Crew" has borrowed ideas from Disney flops, and the series is a massive love letter to Amblin flicks and countless adventure stories. Needless to say, Jon Watts and Christopher Ford's foray into the galaxy far, far away wears its influences on its sleeves, and episode 5, "You Have a Lot to Learn About Pirates," is no different. In fact, it pays homage to a beloved '80s flick about a group of young friends who set out to find a hidden lair full of treasure — similar to the adventure that takes place in this episode.

"Skeleton Crew" episode 5 sees Jod Na Nawood (Jude Law), Sm-33 (Nick Frost), and the kids continue their search for the "Star Wars" galaxy's mysterious At Attin planet. However, they're forced to make a stop on Lanupa after learning about the infamous pirate Captain Rennod's hidden treasure lair,...

Spoilers for "Squid Game" season 2 follow.

It's been three years but now the show that took over the globe in 2021 and became Netflix's biggest launch series ever is back for a brand new game that's likely to be just as deadly and treacherous as the last. One of the most important things to remember from Season 1 of "Squid Game" is that Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) was the only surviving player of the brutal battle royale that saw him ₩45.6 billion richer, and with a full head of dyed red hair. So where does season 2 pick up? How long has it been since our hero declared hunting season on the game masters that are still picking out of pocket members of the public and giving them the fight of their lives? Well, as revealed in the first episode, it isn't very long. In fact, it's like we barely left the games at all.

For a series credited with starting an international TV revolution, “Squid Game” Season 2 sure feels like the standard sequel to a Hollywood blockbuster. The story mirrors the original, following a fresh batch of desperate have-nots competing in elementary school games with a sizable fortune for the winners and pitiless execution for the losers. Season 2 also stars the same lead character — or characters, really, as Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) guides the A-plot inside the game, and Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon) drives the B-plot behind the scenes. Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk is also back, writing and directing every episode, and the already-striking production is infused with the bigger, bolder style that tends to come with extra resources.

Much of the overlap is an inevitable consequence of following up a global sensation that didn’t demand a follow-up, but there’s fun to be had among the tiring repetition and elongated story arcs — Season 2 is more like half-a-season,...

Like the players in the deadly games that make up the show itself, the second season of Netflix's "Squid Game" was faced with a daunting challenge. The first season of the South Korean series from creator-writer-director Hwang Dong-hyuk became both a massive hit for the streaming service and something of a cultural phenomenon, which meant that any additional season was doomed to grapple with almost impossible hype. In our current age of constant content, it can be hard for a streaming series to cut through the noise and find a huge audience, and yet, "Squid Game" did just that, hooking viewers with its unapologetically nasty story of sudden death and crushing capitalism. Hwang's series had a simple but brilliant set-up: a group of people buried under mountains of debt agree to play a series of children's games to win a whopping amount of money. And oh yeah, the children's games are deadly.

The singer’s journey to the top is retold through archive clips and audio, efficiently albeit perhaps too straightforwardly

The story of Madonna’s leap to stratospheric celebrity is breathlessly and efficiently retold in this documentary that uses only archive clips and existing audio interview material in the now accepted way. It tracks the period from her tough beginnings as a dancer in late 70s New York to the early 90s days of the Blonde Ambition tour and her once-controversial Mapplethorpe-type book of photos entitled Sex. It’s watchable enough, with some interesting things to say about Madonna’s instinctive knack for appropriating a gay aesthetic and repurposing it for her own heterosexual spectacle, and then repaying the debt by becoming an outspoken advocate for HIV/Aids research.

Yet the film can also feel breezy and glib. There is no mention of Madonna’s appearances in movies such as Desperately Seeking Susan...

M.T. Vasudevan Nair, celebrated Indian screenwriter, director and novelist, died on Dec. 25 at a hospital in Kozhikode after being admitted for breathing difficulties. He was 91.

His contributions to Malayalam-language cinema and literature redefined storytelling in the southern Indian state of Kerala where he was born. Nair’s early exposure to traditional folktales and the lush landscapes of his homeland would later inform his distinct narrative style. His cinematic career began in the early 1960s, and he quickly emerged as a master of the screenplay, becoming synonymous with an emerging new wave movement in Malayalam cinema.

Nair’s debut as a screenwriter, “Murappennu” (1965), directed by A. Vincent, set the tone for a career defined by emotionally resonant, character-driven stories. Over the decades, he penned screenplays for over 60 films, including iconic works such as “Nirmalyam” (1973), which won India’s National Film Award for Best Feature Film and marked his directorial debut. His...

On Friday nights (and holidays!), IndieWire After Dark takes a feature-length beat to honor fringe cinema in the streaming age.

For December 2024, we’re celebrating the end of the year with a stocking full of Strange Holiday TV Specials and Seasonal Midnight Movies.

First, read the Bait: a weird and wonderful pick from any time in film. Then, try the Bite: a breakdown of the movie’s ending, impact, and any other spoilers you’d want.

The Bait: This Christmas, Give Yourself the Gift of Zero Irony

When “Last Christmas” hit theaters shortly before the pandemic, critics roasted the holiday rom com at such high heat they made “chestnuts on an open fire” sound chilly. That’s a shame, but maybe the best thing that could have happened to Universal’s all-time ode to cinematic whiplash. Five years later, it’s a new cult classic in the making — perfect for midnight,...