With nobody who truly knows him, he spends his days protecting New York while struggling with the emotional consequences of his sacrifice. When a mysterious enemy begins threatening the city and Peter’s own transformation becomes harder to control, he seeks advice from Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), a man who understands the danger of losing control of his other self.

Holland delivers his strongest dramatic performance in this version of Spider-Man, showing a more mature Peter who must deal with heartbreak without the support system that once defined him. Zendaya and Batalon remain valuable parts of the story, while Sadie Sink brings another important character into Peter’s increasingly complicated world. Jon Bernthal also appears as Frank Castle, better known as the Punisher, adding a harsher presence to the film.

However, Brand New Day does not build its story around one clearly defined villain. Instead, the mysterious body-hopping threat and Peter’s internal struggle share the spotlight, making the film feel more like a character drama than a traditional superhero adventure. That approach is interesting, but the central conflict never develops enough to give the story the impact it needs.

Director Destin Daniel Cretton, known for Short Term 12 and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, brings a different sensibility to the franchise. The humor is more restrained, New York looks darker and more overcast, and Michael Giacchino’s score supports the film’s melancholic atmosphere.

Cretton clearly wants to explore what happens when a young hero must live with the consequences of his choices rather than simply move from one spectacular battle to another. Unfortunately, the screenplay by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers introduces several promising ideas without giving enough time to develop them, leaving the film feeling more transitional than transformative.

For action fans, this shift toward drama comes with a noticeable drawback. Despite Spider-Man’s extraordinary abilities and the presence of the Punisher, the film offers relatively few memorable action sequences. A confrontation involving Scorpion and scenes featuring the Hulk provide some superhero spectacle, but the most significant action arrives surprisingly late.

The camera work and darker visual style suit the emotional material, while the swinging sequences through New York retain the character’s familiar appeal. Still, the choreography and set pieces rarely deliver the sustained excitement expected from a major Spider-Man movie.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is best suited to viewers who want to see Peter Parker grow emotionally rather than simply fight increasingly powerful enemies. Holland’s performance and the film’s more mature themes make it an interesting change of direction, but the underdeveloped villain, limited action, and constant sense of preparation for future MCU projects prevent it from becoming a truly satisfying standalone adventure. There is a worthwhile story here, but fans expecting a full-scale Spider-Man action spectacle may find themselves waiting for a movie that never quite arrives.

Jackson stars as Lee Washington, also known as Russell Lee Washington Jr., who arrives in Frisco and quickly discovers that beneath its comfortable suburban image lies a world full of opportunities for someone with the right connections and a talent for making money. Washington knows how to hustle, and his arrival promises to disrupt the local balance of power as he explores the possibilities hidden behind the neighborhood’s respectable exterior.

The series builds on the criminal world established by Tulsa King, which follows a veteran gangster navigating unfamiliar territory and building a new operation. With Sheridan expanding the franchise into another Texas setting, Frisco King will explore how an experienced criminal adapts when the people around him may not recognize the danger standing in their midst.

Jackson’s commanding screen presence brings a fresh lead to the growing crime franchise, while the suburban setting offers a different backdrop for its mix of organized crime, ambition, and dark humor.

Frisco King premieres December 18, streaming exclusively on Paramount+.

Their bosses, Nikki Reynard and Jubal Valentine, played by Necar Zadegan and Jeremy Sisto, put the unlikely partnership together, sending them after terrorist plots and national security threats. The premise is familiar, the characters are familiar, and unfortunately, almost nothing about the show feels new.

Tom Ellis is easily the strongest reason to watch the series. He has the screen presence to carry a spy thriller, and the camera clearly enjoys following him whenever Colin walks into a scene. Ellis gives the character enough confidence and attitude to make the rebellious CIA operative entertaining, even though the script mostly reduces him to the standard bad-boy agent who ignores orders and gets results. Nick Gehlfuss works well as the more disciplined Bill, creating the predictable contrast between instinct and procedure, but the show never pushes their relationship far enough to make the partnership genuinely surprising.

There is no particularly memorable villain in the first episode, with the threat functioning more as a weekly obstacle than a character capable of carrying the story. The pilot involves a Venezuelan asset, a stolen top-secret weapon, and a potential threat to New York, giving Colin and Bill plenty to investigate while the series establishes its formula. The danger is serious enough to create tension, but the villains are ultimately secondary to the familiar government-agents-versus-terrorists structure.

CIA comes from CBS, a network with decades of experience producing successful procedural television, and that experience is both its strength and its biggest problem. The show understands exactly how to build a traditional network thriller, but it also feels trapped by that formula. Instead of trying to compete with Homeland, The Americans, or the more ambitious modern spy dramas, CIA seems comfortable operating closer to the old CSI model, where each episode delivers a threat, some investigation, a few complications, and a clean resolution.

The action is serviceable rather than impressive. There are undercover operations, surveillance, weapons, helicopter sequences, and moments where the characters find themselves in genuine danger, but the stunts and shootouts rarely feel distinctive. The camera keeps the action clear and gives Ellis plenty of opportunities to dominate the frame, yet there is little visual creativity that would separate CIA from dozens of other network thrillers.

The biggest problem is that the series feels strangely disconnected from the world it is trying to portray. A show about the CIA operating inside the United States could have explored difficult questions about surveillance, government power, domestic intelligence, and the limits of federal authority. Instead, CIA largely treats its premise as unquestionable, presenting its agents as straightforward heroes while avoiding the political and moral complications that could have made the story interesting.

There are some positives, including an LGBTQ+ subplot that adds a more human dimension and a handful of entertaining spycraft elements involving undercover identities, secret relationships, and off-the-books operations. Ellis and Gehlfuss also have enough chemistry to keep the central partnership watchable.

Still, CIA is ultimately a cheesy television thriller that could easily be playing in the background while you are doing something else. It feels like another CBS procedural built for an audience that wants familiar characters, predictable threats, and uncomplicated resolutions rather than something that challenges the genre. Viewers who enjoy traditional network crime and spy shows may find it comfortable, but anyone looking for a fresh take on espionage should look elsewhere. CIA has nothing particularly new to offer, and in a television landscape filled with better and more ambitious choices, that is a serious problem.

Based on the books by author Manel Loureiro, the second installment expands the franchise’s post-apocalyptic universe with a dangerous mission, relentless infected hordes, and desperate choices that test the limits of human loyalty. The original 2024 film became Prime Video’s most-watched international Original movie, setting the stage for a larger-scale continuation of its survival story.

This time, the action moves to the Canary Islands, which have become Europe’s last refuge after the devastating TSJ virus outbreak. When a special team ventures to the mainland to secure vital supplies, Roberto joins the mission with motives that remain questionable. What begins as a critical operation quickly spirals into a fight for survival, with the group trapped between swarms of infected and growing divisions among its own members.

As danger closes in, the survivors must confront a brutal question: should they save themselves or risk everything to protect the humanity that remains? Apocalypse Z: New World premieres October 30 on Prime Video worldwide.

The opening is easily the strongest part of Just Play Dead because the premise immediately creates a dangerous game between two people who cannot trust each other. Jackson looks like he is actually enjoying himself, sporting a gray ponytail and delivering Wolfe’s dialogue with the relaxed confidence of someone who knows exactly how unpleasant his character can be. Green brings a colder, more controlled energy to Nora, and their relationship has the potential to become the kind of twisted battle of manipulation that works so well in classic noir.

Nora then brings two other men into the increasingly complicated scheme, including a laid-back surfer played by Jason Fernandez and a detective played by Eoin Macken. Both become pieces in the couple’s elaborate game of deception, while the story begins introducing additional betrayals and reversals. The problem is that what initially feels like clever plotting eventually becomes an exhausting chain of double- and triple-crosses that keeps adding complications without creating enough tension to justify them.

The film comes from veteran writer Dan Gordon, who adapted his own 1997 novel, while director Martin Campbell brings an impressive action-thriller résumé to the project. Campbell previously directed GoldenEye, Casino Royale, The Mask of Zorro, and other major studio productions, so there is plenty of experience behind the camera. Unfortunately, Just Play Dead does not give him the kind of material that made those earlier films so effective.

Campbell appears more interested in presenting the story like a sprawling novel than building a sharp cinematic thriller. The frequent jumps through time, lengthy exposition, and constant explanations slow the movie down considerably. The Canary Islands provide an attractive backdrop, and the cinematography captures the bright locations effectively, but the beautiful scenery cannot compensate for the lack of urgency. The camera observes the characters and their surroundings without generating the visual tension that a good erotic noir requires.

The same problem affects the action and physical sequences. There are moments of violence and confrontation, but the movie is much more interested in dialogue and plotting than memorable stunts or action set pieces. Instead of using Campbell’s experience with large-scale thrillers to create momentum, the film remains surprisingly static, allowing the increasingly complicated story to carry most of the weight.

The cast should have been one of the movie’s biggest advantages, yet even Jackson and Green struggle against material that becomes increasingly bloated. Jackson at least brings some personality to Wolfe and seems to understand that the movie works better when it embraces its darker, more ridiculous side. Green has the right presence for a femme fatale, but Nora’s endless manipulation eventually becomes repetitive rather than intriguing.

Just Play Dead is therefore a frustrating example of a movie that starts with genuine potential and gradually talks itself out of being entertaining. Fans of old-fashioned erotic noir and crime stories may find something to appreciate in the premise and the performances, particularly Jackson’s willingness to have fun with the material.

However, the story is simply too long, too complicated, and too slow for its own good, and the promising beginning is ultimately ruined by an ending that cannot justify everything that came before it. With a cast this strong and a director with Campbell’s résumé, Just Play Dead should have been much better than this.

Set in a near-future version of Los Angeles, Get Jiro! imagines a world where the restaurant business has become so fiercely competitive that customers are willing to kill for a reservation at the most coveted dining establishments. At the center of this violent culinary landscape is Jiro, a mysterious sushi chef driven by revenge, whose skills with a knife extend well beyond the kitchen.

Brian Tee, known for Chicago Med, voices Jiro, leading a cast that also includes Titus Welliver of Bosch: Legacy, Alison Pill of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and Justin Kirk of Weeds. The series adapts the graphic novels written by Bourdain, the celebrated chef, television personality, and outspoken food-world commentator, with artwork originally provided by Langdon Foss and Alé Garza.

Executive producers include Tanaka, Gatewood, Jordan Blum, and Sam Register. Blending dark comedy, action, and culinary satire, Get Jiro! brings Bourdain’s savage vision of food culture to animation, where restaurant rivalries become deadly and every meal could be someone’s last.

The half-hour series is set to premiere on HBO Max on October 3.

Based on Pulitzer Prize winner Buzz Bissinger’s New York Times bestseller The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II, the movie follows four of America’s top college football stars who walk away from fame after the attack on Pearl Harbor and enlist in the U.S. Marines.

Galitzine plays John McLaughry, with Skarsgård as Bob Baumann, Nicholson as Tony Butkovich and Francis as David Schreiner. As the four prepare for the brutal invasion of Okinawa, they take part in a legendary football game featuring some of the greatest college players of the era. For many of them, it would become the final game of their lives.

Berg directs and co-wrote the screenplay with Mark L. Smith, known for The Revenant and Twisters. He also appears as Gen. Buckner, while sports personality Pat McAfee plays a drill instructor.

The film is produced by Berg’s Film 44 alongside Brian Grazer and Alex Gayner, with Bissinger serving as an executive producer.

It does not follow Leon Kennedy or Claire Redfield, and it is not a direct adaptation of one particular Capcom game, but Zach Cregger understands something important about Resident Evil: the experience should feel like you are moving from one terrifying objective to the next with limited resources and no idea what is waiting around the corner.

Austin Abrams plays Bryan, and his performance is one of the biggest reasons the movie works. He is not presented as a traditional action hero who suddenly discovers that he can destroy everything in his path. Bryan is an ordinary guy who becomes completely overwhelmed by what is happening around him, and Abrams sells that fear through physical performance, panic, exhaustion, and disbelief. The movie constantly puts him into situations where running is a better option than fighting, which makes his eventual survival feel much more satisfying.

The villains are less about one conventional human antagonist and more about the nightmare surrounding Bryan. The creatures become the real threat, and Cregger uses them carefully enough that their appearances remain unpredictable. Rather than relying entirely on familiar zombies, the film introduces increasingly disturbing mutations and monsters that push the story toward body horror and creature-feature territory. That gives this Resident Evil its own identity while still feeling connected to the franchise.

Zach Cregger directs after making Barbarian and Weapons, and those previous films explain why he seems so comfortable building tension around situations that initially appear ordinary. Here, however, he strips the approach down and moves with much greater efficiency. The movie is structured almost like a game, with Bryan completing one objective before being pushed toward another, and that rhythm gives the story an addictive quality. Once the film starts, it becomes surprisingly difficult to stop watching because every new location feels like another level with something worse waiting ahead.

The action and horror are supported by strong practical-looking creature work, physical performances, and carefully controlled camera movement. Cinematographer Darius Wolski gives the film a dark but readable visual style, allowing monsters to emerge from shadows without turning every scene into an indistinguishable wall of darkness. The camera also understands when to stay with Abrams, allowing his reactions to become part of the action instead of constantly cutting away from the danger.

The movie is not perfect, particularly toward the ending, where the storytelling becomes less confident than the buildup. At around 90 minutes, it can also feel like Cregger has stopped just when another major sequence could have pushed the experience further. Still, those problems are minor compared with how much fun the movie delivers.

For me, the best comparison is the first Resident Evil movie with Milla Jovovich. That film understood how to combine horror, action, atmosphere, and a simple survival story without overcomplicating everything. Cregger’s version captures a similar energy while giving the franchise a modern visual identity.

If you enjoy horror-action movies, creature features, or simply want a Resident Evil movie that actually feels like an exciting cinematic experience, this is one surprisingly good version of the franchise that is difficult to stop watching.

Duke Nicholson plays Toby as an unlikely hero, and the performance is built around everything the character is not. He is not particularly smart, intimidating, or naturally good at police work, and his flat voice, awkward manner, and almost permanently exhausted expression make him look more like a guy who accidentally wandered into the wrong movie.

Sheriff Kreuger, played by William H. Macy, is supposed to be the authority figure Toby can rely on, but even he becomes difficult to read as the investigation grows more complicated. Stephen Dorff brings some welcome presence as a senior officer, while Tiffany Haddish plays Amanda, a skeptical colleague who provides a more energetic contrast to Nicholson’s deliberately subdued performance.

The supporting cast is filled with recognizable faces, including Colleen Camp and Billie Lourd, but The Deputy is ultimately Nicholson’s movie. That becomes increasingly important because the story is so deliberately slow. Toby spends much of the film looking confused, following weak leads, making mistakes, and getting himself into situations that are far beyond his abilities. Yet there is something strangely compelling about watching him stumble forward. He feels like a genuinely ordinary guy who has no idea what he has gotten himself into, rather than another movie sheriff who suddenly becomes an action hero.

The film was written and directed by the filmmakers behind this small-town noir approach, favoring atmosphere and character over constant action. The procedural investigation provides the strongest parts of the story, particularly when Toby encounters Marisela, a frightened but resilient migrant caught inside the larger criminal operation. The human-trafficking storyline gives the movie a darker purpose, although the conspiracy itself is not particularly difficult to predict.

The action is limited but effective when it arrives. Toby is forced to run, hide, and fight as different characters try to prevent him from recovering the body, and the physical scenes work because he never looks like a trained action star. The camera also avoids turning these moments into flashy set pieces, keeping the focus on Toby’s desperation and confusion. Much of the film instead relies on quiet locations, long stretches of investigation, and character-driven scenes that reinforce its neo-noir atmosphere.

The Deputy is not a fast or particularly ambitious thriller, and viewers looking for constant action will probably find the pacing frustrating. But there is something about Nicholson’s performance that makes the movie surprisingly difficult to turn off. He carries the entire story as a passive, awkward, beaten-down deputy who somehow finds himself fighting a criminal operation much bigger than him.

If you enjoy slow-burn crime stories, unusual underdog protagonists, and movies where the main character feels like a real person rather than an action-machine, The Deputy is worth watching. It may take its time, but once Toby gets pulled into the conspiracy, you keep watching to see just how far this seemingly clueless deputy can actually go.

Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh leads the cast as Olwen, a replicant approaching the end of her lifespan. She is joined by Euphoria star Hunter Schafer as Cora, a young human fleeing relentless Blade Runners. The trailer reveals the unlikely pair forming an alliance as tensions between humans and replicants reach a breaking point. “The old world forever fights to come back,” Olwen declares. “Humans want what was taken from them. But it’s our time now.”

The series also stars Dimitri Abold and Lewis Gribben, while recurring cast members include Katelyn Rose Downey, Daniel Rigby, Johnny Harris, Amy Lennox, Sheila Atim, and Matthew Needham. Behind the camera, Shining Girls creator Silka Luisa serves as showrunner and executive producer, with Ridley Scott returning as executive producer to help guide the franchise he launched in 1982. Jonathan van Tulleken directs the opening two episodes.

Filmed primarily at Prague’s legendary Barrandov Studios, with additional production in Barcelona, Blade Runner 2099 appears to retain the franchise’s signature blend of breathtaking visuals, philosophical storytelling, and noir-inspired atmosphere.

The first trailer hints at another thought-provoking exploration of identity, humanity, and survival while introducing a fresh conflict that could reshape the future of this dystopian world. Fans won’t have to wait much longer to return to the neon-lit streets of the future when Blade Runner 2099 premieres exclusively on Prime Video on 25 November.