Latest news with #THEWALTDISNEYCOMPANY
Straits Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
The big list of the most anticipated films for the rest of 2025
(Clockwise from top left) Superman, Fantastic Four, Avatar and Wicked. PHOTOS: 2025 WBEI, THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY, UIP 2025 movie guide: The best of the rest of the year SINGAPORE – Ne Zha 2, A Minecraft Movie and Lilo & Stitch are the top three highest-grossing movies of 2025 so far, but there is still plenty of time for a fresh slate of titles to catch up at the box office. From June to December, expect plenty of strong contenders that have something for everyone, from tentpole blockbusters and franchise sequels to noteworthy indie and Asian offerings. Adapted from the globally popular webtoon of the same title, South Korean action-fantasy Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy (July 31) deals with Kim Dokja (Ahn Hyo-seop), an ordinary office worker who enters a world in which the events of his favourite web novel, set in an apocalypse, have come to pass. It also stars Jisoo from K-pop girl group Blackpink as Jihye, a member of Kim's group of survivors. Jisoo as Lee Jihye in the action-fantasy Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy. PHOTO: GOLDEN VILLAGE Another Asian title with star appeal is the action-crime thriller The Shadow's Edge (Aug 8), featuring two greats of Chinese cinema, Jackie Chan and Tony Leung Ka Fai. Fans are cheering the action-filled, darker tone of the trailer, signalling Chan's return to the hardcore police drama genre. He plays a retired surveillance expert called back to service to hunt an old nemesis, Leung's master criminal. Jackie Chan in the crime drama The Shadow's Edge. PHOTO: SHAW ORGANISATION Third time could be the charm for the Downton Abbey (2019 to 2025) and Now You See Me (2013 to present) film series. Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (Sept 11) marks the final chapter of the historical drama based on characters created by English screenwriter Julian Fellowes for the TV series of the same name (2010 to 2015). The sequel to Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022) finds returning characters Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville), Lady Mary Talbot (Michelle Dockery) and others from the aristocratic family dealing with the challenges of a turbulent new decade: the 1930s. (From third left) Laura Carmichael as Lady Edith, Harry Hadden-Paton as Bertie Hexham, Elizabeth McGovern as Cora Grantham, Hugh Bonneville as Robert Grantham and Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary in Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale. PHOTO: UIP The latest instalment of the popular heist franchise, Now You See Me: Now You Don't (Nov 13), sees the return of the Four Horsemen group of illusionist-thieves (played by Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco and Isla Fisher). This time, the team risks it all to steal a diamond owned by a crime syndicate run by the ruthless matriarch Veronika (Rosamund Pike). (From left) Justice Smith as Charlie, Ariana Greenblatt as June, Dominic Sessa as Bosco, Jesse Eisenberg as Daniel Atlas, Isla Fisher as Henley Reeves and Dave Franco as Jack Wilder in Now You See Me: Now You Don't. PHOTO: ENCORE FILMS When it comes to streaming services, Netflix's line-up leads the pack. Frankenstein, Oscar-winning Mexican film-maker Guillermo del Toro's take on Mary Shelley's 1818 Gothic novel of the same name, premieres in November. Oscar Isaac will take the title role of the scientist hoping to resurrect the dead while Jacob Elordi will play the monster in a movie that del Toro has been shaping for close to 30 years. Oscar Isaac in Gothic science-fiction horror Frankenstein. PHOTO: NETFLIX Also on Netflix at year's end will be Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (Dec 12), the third instalment of the Agatha Christie-inspired whodunnit franchise, after Knives Out (2019) and Glass Onion (2022). English actor Daniel Craig returns as Benoit Blanc, the urbane private detective with the mellifluous Southern accent. This time, he is called upon to investigate a murder set among members of the Catholic Church, if the number of characters who are members of the clergy is anything to go by. Josh O'Connor and Josh Brolin play priests . (From left) Josh O'Connor and Daniel Craig in the mystery film, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. PHOTO: NETFLIX If you are buzzing only about the biggies, here is what you need to know about the 10 most anticipated major releases in the second half of the year. 28 Years Later (June 19) Aaron Taylor-Johnson (left) and Alfie Williams in 28 Years Later. PHOTO: SONY PICTURES This horror franchise sets itself apart from others through its chilling realism. Getting hit by a droplet of contaminated blood means infection; no bite necessary. Safe zones are breached not by zombie armies, but by careless residents. The shocks are grounded in scarily plausible events, borne out by the global pandemic events of 2020 to 2023. Director Danny Boyle has argued that the original movie, 2002's 28 Days Later, and its 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later were never zombie movies, despite the films sparking a revival of movies in that genre. Rather, they are horror films about sickness and infection. Whatever he believes, the third movie, 28 Years Later, is eagerly awaited, especially as it marks the return of the original creators, Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland. Set in a post-apocalyptic landscape dotted by highly protected islands of the uninfected, it stars Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes as survivors. The film is the first of a new series set in the same virus-ridden world. The second entry, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, directed by Nia DaCosta, is due on Jan 15. A third film by Boyle is in the works. F1 The Movie (June 26) Brad Pitt is race driver Sonny Hayes in the sports drama F1 The Movie. PHOTO: 2025 WBEI This movie takes the honour of being the lone original property on this list, more proof that Hollywood has retreated to franchises and sequels in 2025. Director Joseph Kosinski has argued that his naval aviator drama Top Gun: Maverick (2022) was never about fast planes but about the pilots. In the sports drama F1 The Movie, set in the world of competitive racing, he has said the same. Kosinski appears to be re-applying the Top Gun story template: In an arena in which the best of the best compete, an older man is called into action and becomes a mentor to a younger one. Brad Pitt is Sonny Hayes, a veteran who comes out of retirement to mentor the up-and-coming Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris). For extra realism, Pitt and Idris trained to hit top speeds of over 280kmh in a camera-studded car, placing viewers in the heart of the action, with scenes filmed at real F1 racing circuits such as Japan's Suzuka International Racing Course and Italy's Monza Circuit. As it is an original movie, it is low on the anticipation list. But Kosinski's ability to meld character-driven emotion with action could give F1 The Movie good word of mouth after its release. Jurassic World Rebirth (July 2) (From left) Luna Blaise and the T-Rex in Jurassic World Rebirth. PHOTO: UIP We know. The previous film in the franchise, Jurassic World Dominion (2022), was a mess, earning the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score of the series (26 per cent), with waning box-office figures greeting each release. Its maker, Universal Pictures, hopes to claw back the audience goodwill lost over the years. Director Gareth Edwards is new to the franchise and helmed the well-received prequel Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), as well as another film about scaly monsters, Godzilla (2014), which was a hit. Also, it is goodbye to Chris Pratt's Owen Grady, a figure whose bro energy not everyone liked. An all-new cast headed by Scarlett Johansson, backed by Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey, is in charge. The story marks a return to the franchise's roots: surviving an island of horrors. Humans live in a dinosaur-free world, with the reptiles' territory reduced to small tropical sites. Special operative Zora Bennett (Johansson), led by team leader Duncan Kincaid (Ali) and aided by palaeontologist Henry Loomis (Bailey), is to sneak onto a dinosaur island to retrieve biological samples that hold the key to a revolutionary new drug. The big bad here is the Distortus rex, a mutated Tyrannosaurus rex with six limbs. Superman (July 10) (From left) Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman in the superhero reboot Superman. PHOTO: 2025 WBEI Based on trailer views and other metrics, this could be the most anticipated flick of them all. As with Jurassic World Rebirth, 2025's Superman hopes to fight franchise fatigue with an overhaul. This rebooted superhero origin story comes loaded with a new actor as the hero (David Corenswet), new director (James Gunn) and a brighter tone that contrasts with previous helmer Zack Snyder's grimmer, greyer take. Clark Kent (Corenswet) is a naive young man from rural America, new to the intensity of both Metropolis city and his employer, the newspaper The Daily Planet, where he meets hotshot reporter Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan). Despite being labelled naive and unrealistic, Kent/Superman stays true to the values he picked up at home in Smallville, Kansas. His belief that kindness must prevail over shades of grey is what drives the story, says Gunn (Guardians Of The Galaxy, 2014 to 2023; The Suicide Squad, 2021), writer-director and chief executive of DC Studios. The movie introduces characters who will loom large in future chapters of the rebooted franchise, including villainous mastermind Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), and the superheroes Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan), Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi), Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion) and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced). The Fantastic Four: First Steps (July 24) (From left) Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. PHOTO: THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY The third Marvel movie releasing in 2025, after Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts*, could be the one Marvel fans are looking forward to most. This fresh do-over comes after three previous attempts (Fantastic Four, 2005; Rise Of The Silver Surfer, 2007; and the reboot that tanked at the box office, 2015's Fantastic Four). What is new here is that the beloved characters, known as Marvel's First Family, will exist alongside other superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), opening the door to collaborations. The 1960s setting – on a version of Earth with advanced technology – is interesting too. The new cast is also stacked with talent: Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch. As the superhero team, they must prevent Earth from being consumed by the cosmic being Galactus, whose arrival is announced by his herald, the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). Director Matt Shakman won praise from critics for directing all nine episodes of the WandaVision (2021) Marvel miniseries for Disney+, after having worked on episodes of shows like the fantasy hit Game Of Thrones (2011 to 2019). Tron: Ares (Oct 9) A scene from Tron: Ares. PHOTO: THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY Tron: Ares comes 15 years after the previous film, Tron: Legacy (2010), which itself came 28 years after the original film Tron (1982). Will anyone care or even remember? This standalone sequel's release being scheduled for the latter part of the year, after the crowded summer blockbuster season, indicates that Walt Disney Pictures does not hold high hopes for it. However, trailer views and other online trends indicate that Tron: Ares has a fan base willing to turn out in numbers strong enough to give it a good chance of success at the box office. Predator: Badlands (Nov 6) Thia (Elle Fanning) in Predator: Badlands. PHOTO: THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY Director Dan Trachtenberg revived the Predator franchise with Prey (2022), the story of an 18th-century Comanche woman's fight for survival against a technologically advanced alien foe. This time, the action will move from Earth to the future, on a planet far away. Also, this is the first film with a Predator as its primary focus, rather than a human. Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) is a young Yautja – the race of hunters known on Earth as Predators – who has been cast out because he lacks the aggression and strength his race admires. He and the android Thia (Elle Fanning) must beat the odds on a dangerous planet to not just survive, but also reclaim his honour. Wicked: For Good (Nov 20) (From left) Ariana Grande is Glinda and Cynthia Erivo is Elphaba in Wicked: For Good. PHOTO: UIP The second part of the film adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical will conclude the story of the misunderstood Elphaba and the popular Glinda, played by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande respectively. While Wicked: For Good lacks the broad appeal of superhero and action films like Superman, Fantastic Four: First Steps or Avatar: Fire And Ash, its healthy trailer views still point to strong interest among those waiting to see the outcomes for both characters, now labelled the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good following the events of Wicked (2024). Fans of the musical have responded well to director Jon M. Chu's lavish sets, costumes and fidelity to the music, and are likely to shower as much love on the next chapter as they did the first. Zootopia 2 (Nov 27) Zootopia 2 marks the return of rookie cops Nick Wilde (voiced by Jason Bateman) and Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin). PHOTO: THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY The return of the brave, cheerful rabbit detective Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) and her cop colleague, the sly fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), is a long time coming, making it the only animated movie to crack The Straits Times' top 10 list. In this sequel to Zootopia (2016), winner of the Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2017, a new villain appears. Gary De'Snake (voiced by Ke Huy Quan) is causing chaos in the mammal republic of Zootopia and the two officers are assigned to the case. The first movie won critical acclaim for addressing issues of racial and cultural bias and stereotyping while keeping the tone light and family-friendly, at the same time making over US$1 billion (S$1.28 billion) at the global box office. Avatar: Fire And Ash (Dec 18) Zoe Saldana as Neytiri in Avatar: Fire And Ash. PHOTO: THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY The Avatar movies (Avatar, 2009; Avatar: The Way Of Water, 2022) continue to be outliers, releasing at the end of the year even though blockbusters traditionally head to cinemas from June to September. Director James Cameron has said he likes the December dates because of reduced competition from other films, but it should be said that his Avatar movies will be box-office smashes no matter when they come out. The science-fiction saga of soldier-turned-rebel Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his partner and fellow warrior Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) has been hugely successful , putting this film in the top three alongside Superman and Fantastic Four . In Fire And Ash, the couple and their children explore the planet of Pandora, discovering the Ash People, a civilisation that lives near volcanoes. This film will be followed by the fourth and fifth chapters, to be released in 2029 and 2031. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Elio movie review: Pixar's kid-friendly space adventure gets 4 stars
Elio (left, voiced by Yonas Kibreab) and his alien friend Glordon (right, voiced by Remy Edgerly) are space adventurers in Pixar's Elio. PHOTO: THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY Elio (PG) 98 minutes, opens on June 19 ★★★★☆ The story: Elio (voiced by Yonas Kibreab), an 11-year-old boy obsessed with space exploration, finally gets his wish: an alien ship takes him to meet the Communiverse, an organisation of peaceful species from across the galaxy. His guardian, Aunt Olga (Zoe Saldana), is unaware that her nephew is now in orbit. Elio faces a problem – the aliens have given him a warm welcome only because they believe he is Earth's planetary leader. He has to think fast or risk getting sent back to a home and neighbourhood that has labelled him a misfit. 'First contact' shows like Netflix's 3 Body Problem (2024) depict the arrival of extraterrestrials as cataclysms. Pixar's Elio falls squarely in the opposite camp – when the aliens come, they will usher in a new golden age, but only if humanity proves itself worthy of their gifts. Put this one in the camp of the studio's animated films like A Bug's Life (1998) and Cars (2006), which were movies aimed mainly at children. This is not a knock on its quality – Toy Story (1995) and Monsters, Inc (2001) might lack the sophisticated storytelling of The Incredibles (2004), Soul (2020) or Turning Red (2022), but are excellent nonetheless. The template is a familiar one, used in many children's stories: A misunderstood kid yearns for escape, then finds a magical kingdom whose inhabitants celebrate the qualities that have made him an outcast at home. Pixar, through Elio's co-directors Domee Shi (Turning Red), Madeline Sharafian and Adrian Molina, has added an American fake-it-till-you-make-it twist to the story. Unlike tales about 'the chosen one' or heroic kids with extraordinary gifts, the titular boy is as ordinary as they come. His only edge is his courage, coupled with a willingness to make friends and try new experiences – qualities that emerge in scenes that smoothly blend the poignant with the comical. Like the girl Sen in Studio Ghibli's Oscar-winning Spirited Away (2001), Elio is thrust into the company of creatures from other worlds and discovers that the scariest-looking among them can be the sweetest. What Elio lacks in scary monsters, it makes up for in whimsy. PHOTO: THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY However, that is as deep as it goes – no alien in the Communiverse matches the levels of grotesque found in the Japanese work of animation or even the nightmarish dolls of Pixar's own Toy Story franchise. Again, probably because of the creative decision to skew young. What Elio lacks in scary monsters, it makes up for in whimsy. The aliens are a beautifully imagined and rendered set of creatures resembling arthropods, iridescent blobs and toothy amoebas. Besides Elio, the other protagonist in the story is the late American astronomer and science communicator Carl Sagan, who died in 1996. Soundbites from his celebrated documentaries about space punctuate the film. Sagan famously asked: 'Is mankind alone in the universe?' Elio's adventures answer that question. Sagan's sonorous tones fit surprisingly well into the story, anchoring this kid's tale in a message about the stewardship of Earth resting on everyone's shoulders. Hot take: Elio carries plenty of charm, whimsy and a positive message about friendship and courage. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Lilo & Stitch (2025) review: A watered-down version of the original
(From left) Maia Kealoha as Lilo, Stitch (voiced by Chris Sanders) and Sydney Agudong as Nani in Disney's live-action adaptation of Lilo & Stitch. PHOTO: THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY Lilo & Stitch (PG) 108 minutes, opens on May 22 ★★☆☆☆ The story: In this live-action adaptation of the beloved 2002 Disney animated film, six-year-old Native Hawaiian girl Lilo (Maia Kealoha) lives with her older sister Nani ( Sydney Agudong ) following their parents' death. When a fugitive extraterrestrial created by Dr Jumba Jookiba (Zach Galifianakis) crash-lands on Earth, Lilo adopts the blue creature from an animal shelter, believing it to be a dog, and names it Stitch (Chris Sanders). This remake of the cherished story about two outcasts finding each other unfortunately treats the original's most compelling elements as blemishes to be scrubbed away. The science-fiction thrills and genuine sense of danger have vanished. Also missing are the memorable songs and scenes depicting Stitch as nearly demonic in his destructive impulses. The once-chaotic alien is now merely high-spirited, transformed from an uncontrollable force of nature into something resembling a poorly parented child needing discipline. The zany 2002 film understood that children's movies need breathing room, pauses that allow audiences to experience a child's wonderment as the world reveals its secrets. This frantic do-over never slows down to allow such moments, instead desperately filling every second with jokes that feel blandly anachronistic, as if written by defrosted 1980s sitcom writers. Adding insult to injury is the distractingly obvious product placement. Talented performers are squandered here. Galifianakis as Stitch's creator and the skilled Billy Magnussen as Agent Pleakley have little opportunity to showcase their comedic abilities. (From left) Sydney Agudong as Nani, Maia Kealoha as Lilo and Stitch in Disney's live-action Lilo & Stitch. PHOTO: THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY The original's charming scenes of aliens awkwardly disguised as tourists have been replaced with safer, high-tech camouflage options. No more cross-dressing. One bright spot is director Dean Fleischer Camp's (Marcel The Shell With Shoes On, 2021) handling of Nani's story, giving appropriate weight to her sacrifice of personal dreams to care for her sister, a reality facing many young caregivers. Both films share the same implausible premise: that a child should keep a potentially dangerous creature of unknown origin as a pet 'because love'. Hot take: The blue alien still has big teeth, but no bite. Given everything modern visual effects could have accomplished, this remake feels disappointingly and aggressively bland. The Assessment (M18) 116 minutes, available on Amazon Prime ★★★★☆ The story: In a future society post-environmental collapse, the population is strictly regulated due to resource scarcity. Childbirth is a privilege, and a couple are assessed on their eligibility over seven days of psychological torment. Alicia Vikander in The Assessment. PHOTO: PRIME VIDEO Mia (Elizabeth Olsen) is a botanist and bioengineer Aaryan (Himesh Patel) designs virtual reality pets. They are a conscientious, lovingly married pair missing only the warmth of a child in their modernist seaside house, in the sterile dystopian world of The Assessment. Virginia (Alicia Vikander) is the official assessor, who moves in for a week to determine their parenting capacity by essentially role-playing a wilful toddler. She pees on a dinner guest and flings food at 'mummy' Mia in temper tantrums, her behaviour increasingly erratic and eventually wildly inappropriate. It is one thing to observe Mia and Aaryan having sex because she says she has to evaluate every aspect of their lives, and quite another to, well, you can imagine once she crawls into bed with 'daddy' Aaryan. What she is doing is testing Mia's and Aaryan's underlying insecurities to break them emotionally. Not since she was an android seducing a hapless programmer (Domhnall Gleeson) in the 2014 British sci-fi flick Ex Machina has Vikander been this manipulative and sinister. Here is another extraordinary performance by the Swedish actress. Olsen and Patel are also very good, reacting with a mix of discombobulation and distress as the black comedy in their unnerving three-hander turns to horror. French music video director Fleur Fortune has made a memorable movie debut. Her chilling parable on invasive state control is all too real at a time when, in the United States, autonomous reproductive rights are under threat anew. Hot take: Who knew planned parenthood could be this disturbing? Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Thunderbolts* movie review: A Marvel B-team brings A-grade entertainment
(From left) David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, Wyatt Russell and Florence Pugh in Thunderbolts*. PHOTO: THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY At The Movies: Weak superheroes make for strong entertainment in Thunderbolts* Thunderbolts* (PG13) 126 minutes, opens on May 1 ★★★★☆ The story: A group of superheroes with spotty records and shady pasts – Yelena Belova/Black Widow (Florence Pugh), Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour), Ava Starr/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and John Walker/US Agent (Wyatt Russell) – reluctantly unite when faced with a threat posed by CIA director and industrialist Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). The asterisk in the film's title points to its conditional or provisional nature. Its precise meaning will not be revealed here. Instead, have this takeaway: This is the most emotionally rich Marvel movie to come along in a long time. A decent film-maker can evoke tears with Tony Stark's death in Avengers: Endgame (2019). But it takes talent to wring pathos from a scene in which two lower-ranked Marvel characters talk about the ways they have been hurt. The film's easy-going yet deceptively taut storytelling stands in contrast to the grim and less coherent Captain America: Brave New World (2025), the most recent Marvel outing. As the trailer suggests, Thunderbolts* is a comedy centred on a team of misfits. What is surprising is the number and quality of the jokes, most of which stem from them being painfully aware of their inability to do anything awesome, like fly or shoot webs. As villainess de Fontaine puts it, these are 'antisocial defectives' with B-grade powers, worsened by the emotional baggage they bring to the job. Viewers familiar with their backgrounds through their appearances on the Disney+ spin-off shows will enjoy a richer experience, but that foreknowledge is not essential. Red Guardian, the former Soviet supersoldier, is, aptly , a boisterous bear in human form, trying to bond with wary adoptive daughter, the assassin Yelena (Pugh). Their exchanges crackle with a tense energy. Unusually for a Marvel ensemble work, the cast is stacked with strong character actors, beginning with Harbour and Louis-Dreyfus, who are ably backed by Russell and Stan. Russell is striking as the disgraced former Captain America, now a glorified henchman for de Fontaine, played by Louis-Dreyfus in a role that will have fans of her political satire Veep (2012 to 2019) weep with joy. As de Fontaine, she personifies hypercapitalist America, the beast that swallows superheroes and turns them into products. The veteran actress brings such joie de vivre to the part, it becomes impossible to hate a woman who loves her job so much. Director Jake Schreier, making his Marvel feature debut, handled the middlebrow dramedies Robot & Frank (2012) and Paper Towns (2015), but it is his television work that best represents his ability to balance pathos, comedy and heartfelt emotion. He directed episodes of the cruelly underappreciated comedy Lodge 49 (2018 to 2019), which also starred Russell, as well as the first season of the Emmy-winning Netflix satire Beef (2023). In Beef, the story of a feud taken to monstrous extremes, an ounce of therapy would have prevented a pound of suffering. The same principle applies in this film, except the stakes are much higher. Hot take: Thunderbolts* delivers rare emotional richness through its B-list heroes, proving that often, stronger superpowers lead to weaker storytelling. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
