FOLLOWING FILMS

  Few television antiheroes have carved their niche into pop culture quite like Dexter Morgan. With his soft-spoken menace, rigid moral code, and disarmingly clinical charm, he became an icon of the Golden Age of Television. Dexter: Original Sin, the new prequel series on Paramount+ and Showtime, dives into the origin story of Miami’s favorite forensic analyst-slash-serial killer. It’s a bold, bloody resurrection—one that largely works, especially for longtime fans eager to see how the Dark Passenger was born. Set in 1991, the series begins with young Dexter (Patrick Gibson) navigating his final days as a pre-med student and wrestling with something far darker than career anxiety: the awakening of his homicidal urges. The central premise is clear from the first episode—Dexter isn’t just tempted to kill; he needs to. Under the guidance of his adoptive father Harry (Christian Slater), a world-weary Miami Metro homicide detective, Dexter begins to harness this urge through “The Code”—...

In The Friend, Scott McGehee and David Siegel deliver a tender, bittersweet meditation on grief, creativity, and unexpected companionship. Adapted from Sigrid Nunez’s award-winning novel, this quietly powerful film captures the complexities of loss and the strange, sometimes redemptive places where solace can be found. Led by a soulful performance from Naomi Watts and the remarkable on-screen presence of a Great Dane named Bing, The Friend is a deeply felt character study wrapped in the gentle absurdity of real life. Watts stars as Iris, a seasoned New York writer whose seemingly stable life is disrupted by the suicide of her longtime mentor and closest confidant, Walter (Bill Murray). As a final, bewildering gesture of their bond, Walter bequeaths his enormous and emotionally wounded dog, Apollo, to Iris—a self-described cat person living in a tiny apartment with a strict no-pets lease. What begins as an inconvenience quickly becomes something far more profound. Apollo, the grief-stri...

Andrew Ahn’s 2025 reimagining of The Wedding Banquet breathes vibrant, contemporary life into Ang Lee’s 1993 classic, proving that some stories—when handled with heart, humor, and vision—grow deeper with time. While the original film offered a poignant reflection on gay identity and familial obligation in a pre-marriage equality era, Ahn’s version builds upon that foundation, crafting a richer, more complex tapestry of queer experience, immigrant culture, and chosen family in a world where acceptance still carries weighty caveats. At its core, The Wedding Banquet (2025) is a screwball comedy of errors built on a foundation of very real, very modern anxieties: reproductive healthcare, green card limbo, generational trauma, and the fear of never being enough for the people we love. But what distinguishes Ahn’s version from so many modern remakes is that it doesn’t chase nostalgia. Instead, it revisits the soul of the original—its humanity, messiness, and quiet subversion—and expands it w...

Directed by Po-Chih Leong and released in 1984, Hong Kong 1941 is a historical drama set during the harrowing months leading up to the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong during World War II. Starring Chow Yun-Fat, Alex Man, and Cecilia Yip, the film blends personal drama with political upheaval, offering a bittersweet meditation on love, friendship, and the human cost of war. While not as internationally known as some of Chow Yun-Fat’s later films, Hong Kong 1941 remains a powerful piece of Hong Kong cinema, notable for its emotional depth and social commentary. The film begins in the months leading up to December 1941, just before the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. The city is on edge—tension lingers in the air, and rumors of war swirl. Amid this backdrop, the film introduces three central characters: Nam (Cecilia Yip), a wealthy young woman confined by family expectations; Fei (Chow Yun-Fat), a charismatic and ambitious aspiring actor from the mainland; and Keung (Alex Man), Nam’s loy...

In a world full of superhero flicks and post-apocalyptic thrillers, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie arrives like a breath of fresh (and very animated) air. This feature-length debut from Warner Bros. Animation marks a bold and hilarious new direction for the classic Looney Tunes characters—especially Daffy Duck and Porky Pig—who have rarely been so funny, so lovable, or so ready to save the world from imminent doom. Directed by Pete Browngardt, the film is an affectionate throwback to classic alien-invasion cinema while injecting every frame with the chaos, wit, and anarchy that made Looney Tunes legendary. From the moment the first frame hits the screen, it’s clear: this isn’t just a nostalgic revival. It’s a reinvention. The film opens with Daffy and Porky unexpectedly inheriting a rickety old farmhouse from a mysterious relative. Broke and in desperate need of income, they take jobs at a gum factory on the outskirts of town—only to discover that the chewable treats a...

Luca Guadagnino’s Queer is a daring, dreamlike exploration of unrequited desire, dislocation, and descent—part period drama, part psychedelic fever dream. Adapted from William S. Burroughs’ semi-autobiographical novella, the film is both an homage to its author’s troubled psyche and a contemporary reflection on queer longing, filtered through Guadagnino’s lush, maximalist style. It’s one of the strangest and most transfixing films of 2024—and perhaps the most vulnerable performance Daniel Craig has ever delivered. Set in the smoky bars and humid streets of 1950s Mexico City, Queer centers on William Lee, an aging American expat living in exile and chasing the ghosts of intimacy through drugs and fleeting encounters. Craig plays Lee with a quiet desperation, a man whose intellectual bravado masks deep insecurity and emotional decay. When he meets Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), a younger and inscrutable fellow American, something inside Lee ignites—an obsession that spirals slowly into ...

THE WOMAN IN THE YARD  lingers in the space between psychological drama and supernatural horror, weaving a tale that is as much about the fragile human psyche as it is about eerie apparitions. Running a lean 87 minutes, Jaume Collet-Serra’s film teams a tight directorial focus with Danielle Deadwyler’s committed lead performance to deliver an experience that feels both intimate and unnerving. Ramona (Danielle Deadwyler) is a young widow reckoning with the aftermath of a terrible car accident that claimed her husband’s life and left her physically scarred. She and her two children, preteen Taylor and spirited Annie, have relocated to a remote farmhouse. Their isolation, intended as a balm for trauma, instead becomes the stage for a chilling encounter: a tall, silent woman in a flowing black dress who stands day after day in their front yard, motionless and unblinking. At first, the family presumes she’s just an odd local who’s lost her way. But as the woman edges ever closer—sometim...

Steven Soderbergh’s Presence is not just a ghost story—it’s a deeply personal, introspective, and stylistically daring supernatural thriller that stands out for its bold use of perspective and moral depth. Shot entirely from the first-person point of view of a spirit, the film immerses the viewer into the consciousness of an unseen entity navigating a family’s domestic unraveling. It’s not only a technical experiment, but a story with emotional weight, subtle revelations, and a chilling undercurrent of tragedy. Premiering at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and released by Neon in early 2025, Presence has become a sleeper hit, earning $10.5 million on a modest $2 million budget. Directed, shot, and edited by Soderbergh, with a script from veteran screenwriter David Koepp, the film offers an experience that is simultaneously eerie, emotionally nuanced, and structurally inventive. From the very first frame, Presence makes its unique perspective clear. The camera doesn’t merely observ...

Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag arrives like a breath of fresh, espionage-laced air in a cinematic landscape dominated by superhero showdowns and CGI spectacle. Tense, cerebral, and exquisitely acted, this modern-day spy thriller plays like a classy throwback to an era when intrigue, dialogue, and adult complexities carried more weight than explosions. “They don’t make them like this anymore,” is a sentiment that rings especially true here. Black Bag is proof that you can deliver a gripping, edge-of-your-seat experience not with gunfights and gadgets, but with wine glasses, cold stares, and the eerie quiet of a dinner party where every guest might be a traitor. Michael Fassbender leads the film as George Woodhouse, a composed yet quietly intense British intelligence officer tasked with uncovering the source of a devastating security leak. He has just seven days to unearth the mole—or face the deaths of tens of thousands. The suspects form a claustrophobic circle: his own wife and fell...

Are you ready to journey across the multiverse like never before? Rick and Morty: The Anime is officially available to own today on Blu-ray and DVD, thanks to Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment. Visionary director Takashi Sano expands the beloved franchise with a bold new Japanese anime twist. Featuring 10 episodes of interdimensional chaos, this spin on the cult phenomenon reintroduces the Smith family in unexpected and visually dazzling ways. For fans new and old, this fresh take is a wild ride worth checking out. From the moment the opening credits hit the screen, it’s clear this version of Rick and Morty is doing something different. Backed by a frenetic J-pop theme from Otone titled “Love is Entropy,” the title sequence bursts with energy, strange creatures, and kaleidoscopic visuals. It captures the unpredictable essence of the franchise while reimagining it through the lens of anime—bold colors, rapid cuts, and surreal imagery abound. Right away, it feels like a new dim...

The name’s Bond—James Bond. A character so iconic that even uttering the line evokes tuxedos, gadgets, Aston Martins, and the suave charm of generations past. With over six decades of cinematic history behind him, 007 remains one of the most enduring figures in pop culture. The documentary series Icons Unearthed: James Bond aims to unmask the myth, bringing viewers behind the velvet curtain to examine the evolution, triumphs, and turbulence behind the world’s most famous spy. Spread across six episodes, this installment of the Icons Unearthed series—helmed by Brian Volk-Weiss, known for his nostalgic deep-dives in The Toys That Made Us—dives headfirst into the shadowy, stylish world of Bond. The series presents an engaging chronicle of how a fictional British secret agent became a global cinematic titan, weaving in stories of creative vision, casting gambles, studio politics, and the occasional scandal. Where the series truly shines is in its access to firsthand perspectives. Interview...

  DreamWorks Animation has once again brought a beloved children’s book series to life with Dog Man (2025), a high-energy adaptation of Dav Pilkey’s wildly popular graphic novels. Directed by Peter Hastings (Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie), the film delivers a zany, action-packed adventure filled with humor, heart, and a touch of unexpected depth. While it clearly targets younger audiences, Dog Man is an enjoyable romp that has enough cleverness to entertain parents and animation enthusiasts alike. The film follows Dog Man, a crime-fighting hero who is half-dog, half-man—the result of an emergency surgical procedure that combined the head of a brave police dog with the body of his human partner. As a result, Dog Man possesses heightened canine instincts and unshakable loyalty but struggles with basic human activities like following orders and resisting the urge to chase balls. In his latest adventure, Dog Man must foil the latest dastardly scheme of Petey the Cat (voiced ...

Monster from the Ocean Floor is a 1954 science fiction-horror film directed by Wyott Ordung and produced by Roger Corman in one of his earliest ventures into low-budget filmmaking. The movie presents a blend of science fiction, suspense, and classic monster horror, though it never quite achieves greatness in any particular category. However, it remains a fascinating piece of genre history, particularly as an example of early independent filmmaking in the 1950s. The film follows Julie Blair (Anne Kimbell), a young American woman vacationing in Mexico. While enjoying her time on the coast, she hears local rumors about a monstrous sea creature lurking beneath the ocean surface, one that is said to have terrorized the local population for years. Intrigued, Julie sets out to investigate, despite warnings from the locals and even some scientific-minded individuals who dismiss the legend as superstition. Julie soon encounters Steve Dunning (Stuart Wade), a marine biologist conducting research...