Steve Pond's Blog, page 58
August 9, 2025
‘One Piece’ Scores Early Season 3 Renewal at Netflix, Ian Stokes Joins Joe Tracz as Co-Showrunner
Netflix announced Saturday at the annual One Piece Day celebration in Tokyo that the hit live-action adaptation scored an early Season 3 renewal before dropping the first teaser for Season 2. Ian Stokes will join Joe Tracz as co-showrunner for the third season following Matt Owens’ departure.
The official teaser for the second season of Netflix’s “One Piece” series — titled “One Piece: Into the Grand Line” — gave fans a new look at Monkey D. Luffy and the continuing adventures of his crew of Straw Hat Pirates. As the title suggests, this season sees the Straw Hats enter the Grand Line as they search for the titular treasure, the One Piece. The trailer introduced a slew of new and returning faces, bringing more characters from the iconic manga and anime to live-action, with fan favorites like Tony Tony Chopper now along for the ride.
“Netflix’s epic high-seas pirate adventure, ‘One Piece,’ returns for Season 2—unleashing fiercer adversaries and the most perilous quests yet,” a logline from Netflix reads. “Luffy and the Straw Hats set sail for the extraordinary Grand Line—a legendary stretch of sea where danger and wonder await at every turn. As they journey through this unpredictable realm in search of the world’s greatest treasure, they’ll encounter bizarre islands and a host of formidable new enemies.”
You can watch the teaser for “One Piece: Into the Grand Line” below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfeCC...In 2024, Joe Tracz joined Matt Owens as a co-showrunner (as well as a writer and EP) for the second season of the live-action series. Owens announced in March of 2025 that he would be stepping away from the show for mental health reasons. Netflix lists Tracz and Ian Stokes as co-showrunners, writers and EPs for the newly announced Season 3.
The announcement of Season 3 is surely a welcome one for fans, as Netflix remains committed to portraying the sprawling story of “One Piece.” The original manga by Eiichiro Oda contained more than 100 volumes, selling 500 million copies worldwide. The “One Piece” anime, which began in 1999, remains ongoing to this day with more than 20 seasons and well over 1,000 episodes.
“One Piece: Into the Grand Line” will release on Netflix in 2026. Season 3 will begin production in South Africa later this year.
The post ‘One Piece’ Scores Early Season 3 Renewal at Netflix, Ian Stokes Joins Joe Tracz as Co-Showrunner appeared first on TheWrap.
Who Plays Aunt Gladys in ‘Weapons’? Where You’ve Seen Amy Madigan Before
“Weapons” is getting plenty of attention after hitting theaters Friday, and the movie is on track to earn $40 million this weekend. Part of the film’s success can be chalked up to the secrecy that surrounded its plot ahead of time — and perhaps no one character is more mysterious than Amy Madigan’s Aunt Gladys.
Madigan’s role in the movie has been kept a secret on purpose, and the bulk of this article contains spoilers about the film’s plot. In other words: stop reading now if you don’t want to know anything about what Madigan gets up to as Aunt Gladys.
Is Amy Madigan in ‘Weapons’?Though there wasn’t a lot of information available about Madigan’s role in “Weapons” before the movie’s release (she even attended the premiere but skipped the red carpet) she definitely plays a key part in the film’s story.
Again: anything you read past this point will spoil key parts of the movie for you, so proceed with caution.
Who does Amy Madigan play in ‘Weapons’?At the beginning of the film, the audience finds out 17 of 18 children in Ms. Gandy’s (Garner) Maybrook Elementary School class woke up in the middle of the night and left their homes — and they haven’t come back. Alex Lilly (Cary Christopher) is the only child who remains behind, and Madigan stars as his great-aunt.
Her character, Aunt Gladys, came to town ostensibly to take care of Alex and his family after his mother gets sick. But pretty soon, it becomes clear she’s completely in charge — and that she has the ability to control everyone around her as long as she has access to a personal item of theirs.
Aunt Gladys begins by siphoning energy from Alex’s parents, but once that runs out, his classmates become a viable option. She enlists her great-nephew’s help and then uses magic to bring the children to their home.
What else has Amy Madigan been in?If Madigan seems familiar, that’s probably because her resume is vast and varied — but she’s never quite had a breakaway hit. She played Annie Kinsella in “Field of Dreams,” played Iris Crowe in 24 episodes of “Carnivale,” and appeared as Dr. Katharine Wyatt in nine episodes of “Grey’s Anatomy.
Her additional credits also include episodes of “ER” and “How to Get Away with Murder.”
“Weapons” is now playing in theaters.
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Emma Thompson Jokes She Could Have ‘Changed the Course of American History’ by Accepting Trump’s Date Offer
Emma Thompson has shared the story of the time Donald Trump asked her out the same day her divorce from ex-husband Kenneth Branagh was made official on multiple occasions. However, while speaking at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland this weekend, she added onto the anecdote, joking that she could have “changed the course of American history” had she accepted.
Thompson recalled being in her trailer on the set of 1998’s “Primary Colors” when she received an unexpected phone call. The caller identified himself as Trump.
“I thought it was a joke and asked, ‘How can I help you?’ Maybe he needed directions from someone,” Thompson explained. “Then he said: ‘I’d love you to come and stay at one of my beautiful places. Maybe we could have dinner.’”
The Oscar winner wasn’t exactly enthused. She replied, “Well, that’s very sweet. Thank you so much. I’ll get back to you.”
The “Love Actually” star wasn’t the only person who was recently divorced at the time — Trump and his second wife Marla Maples had recently called their own marriage off.
“I realized that on that day, my divorce decree had come through. And I bet he’s got people looking for suitable people he could take out on his arm. You know, a nice divorcée, that’s what he was looking for,” Thompson noted.
The story is indeed one that Thompson has shared in the past. In 2017, she told Graham Norton of the exchange that she “only associated Trump with tasteless architecture at that point.”
Her film “The Dead of Winter” premiered Friday at Locarno and is set to hit theaters on Sept. 26.
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Jamie Lee Curtis Pokes Back at Ultra-Negative ‘Freakier Friday’ Review: ‘Seems a Tad Harsh’
Jamie Lee Curtis is not a fan of “Freakier Friday” slander. On Friday, the actress responded to Time’s review of the sequel to the original 2003 film and sharply noted, “SEEMS a TAD HARSH. SOME people LOVE it. Me being one.”
The review in question was indeed titled: “‘Freakier Friday’ Is Humiliating to Everyone Involved.”
“No one, as far as we know, actually asked Disney for a sequel to 2003’s buoyant, surprisingly unsyrupy generation-gap comedy ‘Freaky Friday,'” Stephanie Zacharek wrote for the outlet. But in an interview with The Times published in July, Curtis herself directly contradicted that assertion.
“In every single city I went to, the only movie they asked me about besides ‘Halloween’ was ‘Freaky Friday’ – was there going to be a sequel?” she said. Curtis then called up Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, and told him what she’d experienced.
“I said: ‘Look, I don’t know if you’re planning on doing [a sequel], but Lindsay is old enough to have a teenager now, and I’m telling you the market for that movie exists.’”
The movie reunites Curtis with Lindsay Lohan, her co-star from the original film. In the first, Curtis and Lohan (playing a mother and daughter) swapped bodies and ended up learning a lot about one another. In the follow-up, Lohan’s character is now a mom with a teen of her own — and a potential stepdaughter who is her own child’s mortal enemy.
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The foursome end up swapping bodies, a plot point that results in some good, old-fashioned fun at the movies (and sometimes that’s exactly what you need).
“There’s a fundamental kindness to the ‘Freaky Friday’ films, a reassuring belief in the importance of empathy and communication,'” TheWrap’s William Bibbiani wrote in our review. “Marrying that sentiment to a whimsical wish fulfillment fantasy about being a kid again or, conversely, having all the power of a full-grown adult, is extremely appealing.”
“Freakier Friday” is now playing in theaters.
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Diddy Lawyer Thinks Rapper Could Align With Trump If Pardoned: ‘It Would Not Surprise Me’ | Video
Sean “Diddy” Combs might become loyal to Donald Trump if the president issued him a pardon, his lawyer Mark Geragos told TMZ’s “2 Angry Men” podcast in an interview published Saturday. That’s because Trump and Combs now share “an affinity” since they’ve both been through the legal process — “It would not surprise me to hear Sean say, ‘I now get it. I understand it and I was wrong then.'”
Trump previously described Combs as “very hostile” to his election run and expressed doubt about helping him in the present. The disgraced music mogul was found guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution in July (and not guilty of racketeering conspiracy or sex trafficking).
“I don’t know that I would say he’s pledging loyalty, but I think he would probably say I now get what he went through,” Geragoes added. He was also asked if there’s been “a discussion” with Combs about how he would speak to the public about Trump if a pardon was on the table.
“Well, I don’t know that there’s ever been that discussion. I can’t go that far,” Geragos insisted, before later adding: “I think people are somewhat naive about what happens when you’re sitting in custody, having been tried, rolling the dice, winning, but still in custody. I just think there’s a naive aspect to the idea that you wouldn’t understand or have an affinity for somebody else who’s been through the system.”
This week, Combs’ defense team confirmed they had reached out to the Trump administration to discuss whether or not a pardon is a possibility. “It’s my understanding that we’ve reached out and had conversations in reference to a pardon,” Nicole Westmoreland told CNN on Tuesday, while lead attorney Marc Agnifilo indicated to CBS News on Thursday that he was not involved.
The White House similarly declined to comment to CBS on speculation about any potential pardon, noting that a decision would ultimately come directly from Trump himself.
Combs remains behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn ahead of his October sentencing.
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‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ Celebrates Gutfeld’s Fallon Interview as Start of a New Era: ‘Let’s Just All Get Along’ | Video
“Fox & Friends Weekend” celebrated Greg Gutfeld’s Thursday night appearance on “The Tonight Show” as the potential start of a new era where everyone can get along. They did so on Saturday morning by lambasting other media outlets for accusing Jimmy Fallon of lobbing “softball” questions at his fellow TV host.
“One person who’s not falling for communism is Greg Gutfeld. He broke the late night barrier on Thursday night and went and took a visit to Jimmy Fallon,” Charlie Hurt said atop the Fox News segment. “It worked and it was funny because it was two real people just sort of having a conversation and it wasn’t any of this stupid ideological nonsense that a lot of the late night shows have gotten into.”
“That’s why the media has melted down,” co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy then noted. The show went on to display four headlines about the bipartisan NBC sit-down interview — from The Independent, The Daily Beast, Deadline and The Cut. “It appears that the Left and the media wanted there to be some sort of battle. Like, Jimmy Fallon’s going to attack him or Greg’s going to attack Jimmy.”
“They were so disappointed,” Griff Jenkins agreed. “That’s why Gutfeld is the king of late night, because he understands what comedy was — funny stories, engaging.”
“It seems like he’s seeing what happened to Stephen Colbert,” Campos-Duffy said, referencing the “Late Show” cancellation. “This moment, people are exhausted of all the in-fighting. And they’re also seeing so many successes from Donald Trump and I think people just want to let it all go.”
“Greg Gutfeld is sort of like that perfect person, along with Jimmy, to sort of showcase that this is maybe a new era, ‘Let’s all just get along,'” she continued.
“Before 2016, before that very moment, the late night landscape wasn’t as political. It was when Trump came in that it changed and became hyper-liberal,” Jenkins noted, to which Campos-Duffy concluded: “Yep. There was a memo that went out.”
The post ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ Celebrates Gutfeld’s Fallon Interview as Start of a New Era: ‘Let’s Just All Get Along’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.
The Problem With ‘Weapons’ | Spoiler Review
Zach Cregger’s “Weapons” is, as of this writing, one of the most acclaimed motion pictures of 2025. It’s got a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, out of 214 reviews and counting. Which means only a handful of critics have seen Cregger’s film and didn’t give it their stamp of approval.
I am one of the handful.
That doesn’t make me special. That doesn’t make me right or wrong. It just means that I didn’t care for the film, no matter how much I may admire its various pieces. As a professional critic it is my responsibility to be honest about my opinion — whatever it is, whether anyone agrees or not — and explain how I got there. Without an explanation it’s not criticism, it’s just an opinion. Everyone’s entitled to an opinion, of course, but I’m not allowed to stop there. Getting into the nitty-gritty is my trade. And since you’re reading one of the trades right now, let’s talk about that.
My review of “Weapons” was, in the interest of not spoiling the film before release, written with my hands tied behind my back. The reason I didn’t care for “Weapons” is easy to explain but propriety demanded that I shut the hell up about it. To explain why I didn’t like the film I would have to discuss the plot of “Weapons” in detail, right up to the end, and engage with the resolution of the film’s many mysteries. And that would be a big “no no.”
It would be good criticism, of course, but it would “spoil” the movie. A “spoiler,” just to make sure we’re all on the same page, is information that, if revealed, would theoretically ruin the impact of the work of art. What counts as a “spoiler” has always been a matter of debate. I distinctly remember seeing “Blade Runner 2049” and being told, flat out, what the studio considered a “spoiler.” The first scene of the movie was on the list. How the heck are we supposed to write about a film when we can’t write about the film? Remember “Caddo Lake?” Of course you don’t, because we weren’t allowed to talk about “Caddo Lake.” The film’s premise was declared off-limits.
But sometimes the definition of a “spoiler” is pretty obvious. In the case of a film that’s built around a mystery, “the solution to the mystery” qualifies as a spoiler by any reasonable standard.
So here, now that the film is out in the world, is my full spoiler review of “Weapons.”
SPOILER ALERT: We are going to talk about the ending of “Weapons.”
Josh Brolin in ‘Weapons’ (Warner Bros.)“Weapons,” to get us all grounded again, is about a group of children, from the same elementary school class, who all go missing, in the middle of the night, at the exact same time. They just got out of bed and ran outside, never to be seen again. Or so we think.
Zach Cregger’s film explores the aftermath of this seemingly inexplicable tragedy in several ways, but one of the focal points is Justine Gandy (Julia Garner), the teacher whose students went missing. The whole town thinks she’s responsible so they hound her left and right. They even write “WITCH” in giant letters on her car.
Zach Cregger is not being very subtle: This is a witch hunt, which means that Justine is unfairly accused. After all, that’s how witch hunts worked. (Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” wasn’t about a bunch of people who were fairly accused.) When tragedy befalls a community, people look for a way to make sense of it all, and too often that mean finding someone to blame, even if they don’t deserve it. And historically, they often don’t.
Justine Gandy doesn’t, that’s for sure. She’s a good teacher who cares about her students, maybe to a fault. And although this might seem unrelated, she also expresses her own sexual agency by seducing her ex-boyfriend. This only makes people hate her more. This town doesn’t like women like Justine Gandy.
For half the film, “Weapons” depicts witch hunts as very bad things, which is a reasonable take on the subject. That’s why it kinda falls apart when it turns out the townsfolk were merely hunting the wrong witch.
I don’t mean that in a metaphoric sense. The culprit is a literal witch: Gladys, played by Amy Madigan. She’s not just evil, she’s physically monstrous. “Weapons” displays her aging, wrinkled, apparently cancer-stricken body as if it’s a terrifying shock. As though nothing could be scarier than [checks notes] an elderly woman. Adding insult to that injury, when Gladys gets dolled up to go outside she wears a clownish red wig and exaggerated makeup. I guess nothing could be scarier than a conventionally unattractive woman either.
Amy Madigan in ‘Weapons’ (Warner Bros.)The demonization of womanhood is compounded when you consider Cregger’s previous horror movie, “Barbarian.” (Spoilers for “Barbarian” incoming, by the way.) The literal monster in “Barbarian” turned out to be The Mother, a malformed and abused woman, whose body Cregger’s film also considered horrific, in that case a source for gross-out scares. In the exciting climaxes of both “Barbarian” and “Weapons” these women suffer brutal, violent deaths, and although Gladys seems more cartoonishly evil than The Mother, and perhaps karmically deserves a terrible end, the brutality of her demise suggests we’re supposed to take twisted pleasure in watching her body get mutilated. This after evoking the history of witch trials, which persecuted women, leading to their public executions.
I don’t find that satisfying. I find it immature and simplistic, and it’s certainly got sexist overtones, at least. “Weapons” evokes many terrifying, sadly familiar notions, including school shootings and child abuse, but in the end it boils down to a literal witch. We’re being tricked into thinking this is a film about important subjects, only to find out halfway through that it’s an unremarkable monster story, albeit told in a remarkable way.
As I said in my non-spoiler review, pieces of “Weapons” are phenomenal. I have nothing but praise for the performances, the cinematography, the music, and the editing. But that’s not all a movie is. You can get John Williams to score a film that’s just one long shot of man taking a dump, but it’s still a scat movie and at some point you’ll have to reckon with that, no matter how epic the score is. Roger Ebert famously argued that it’s not what a film is about, it’s how it is about it. But it’s still gotta be about something and if that something doesn’t work, it’s fair game to criticize it.
There are other elements in “Weapons” that almost mitigate this issue, but upon scrutiny, they don’t seem to work either. One could argue that the witch is a metaphor for an abusive relative, and yeah, no kidding, that’s exactly what she is. But how does that connect with the rest of the class? “Weapons” shows that Alex (Cary Christopher), Gladys’s nephew, after watching Gladys torture his parents, helps her to abducts his fellow students. This film evokes the horrors of a school shooting, and without Alex that tragedy couldn’t have been possible, which suggests that Alex is the analogue for the school shooter. But don’t worry, it turns out witches were really to blame? Question mark?
I’m not convinced. Even if Cregger is arguing that we should be more attentive to children who show signs of being mistreated — a message we can (hopefully) all agree on — turning that horrifying experience into a straight-up monster movie, after treating the message more seriously for half the film, undermines that theme. There don’t seem to be many bad parents in “Weapons,” at least not until their kids go missing. It’s an interloper that’s to blame, and again, I’m not convinced that’s as meaningful as this movie thinks it is.
Weapons (Warner Bros./YouTube)“Weapons” demonizes the other, and in this case the other is unattractive elderly women, which I guess is supposed to freak us out. As though none of us know any old people. And although there’s a lot of excitement at the end of “Weapons,” including a laughably over the top demise for that interloping woman, the fact that all this build-up led to, essentially, Zach Cregger pointing and yelling “WIIIITCH!” didn’t work for me as much as it seemed to for practically everybody else.
The post The Problem With ‘Weapons’ | Spoiler Review appeared first on TheWrap.
Kellyanne Conway Wants to Redistrict ‘Performative’ Jasmine Crockett Out of Her Congressional Seat | Video
Former senior counsel to Trump and current Fox News contributor Kellyanne Conway wasted no time capitalizing on a report from The New York Post that labels Rep. Jasmine Crockett as “toxic.” “She’s not normal,” Conway said on “Fox & Friends Weekend” on Saturday. “I think she’s performative.”
She added that Crockett “is safe in what she says because she’s in a safe seat” in Texas. “This is exactly the point that everybody is making about gerrymandering. There’s no incentive to pass legislation, to talk to anybody on the other side of the aisle.”
“It’s always someone like this who’s screaming feminism and equal rights and ‘We are women hear us roar’ who treat their own female staffers like the help,” Conway then suggested.
The report, published by the Post on Thursday, includes comments from three unidentified former staffers who allege Crockett mistreats those who work for her. It was published days after Crockett stressed the importance of being “aggressive” when fighting political battles against her Republican counterparts. Fifty-one Texas Democratic lawmakers left the state this week to stop a Republican-led effort to force a vote to redraw the state’s districting map.
A July 2025 profile of Crockett published in The Atlantic noted the congressional leader was “testing out the coarser, insult comedy-style attacks that the GOP has embraced under Trump,” and that “the forthrightness her supporters love might undermine her relationships within the party.” Such tactics have drawn racist comments from Trump supporters online and sparked discussion, none of which have seemed to slow her down. Crockett told the outlet, “I don’t second-guess s–t.”
But Conway’s beef with Crockett appears less focused on the latter’s politics and more on the lawmaker’s personalilty and her broad appeal to the state’s voters (and beyond). “People are always … they’re trying to hit every ball out of the park,” Conway said. “She’s always reaching for this alliterative soundbyte — if you go back and listen to her speech at the convention last year, people are like, ‘Well, a star is born.'”
“Where? She’s reading from a teleprompter of stuff other people wrote,” Conway continued. “She’s admitting that she’s in it for the performance.”
The use of teleprompters at major political events has been widely adopted by members of both parties for decades since the device was first introduced in the 1950s. In 2016, Conway and Fox News’ Sean Hannity celebrated Donald Trump’s decision to use a teleprompter despite Hannity’s own demonization of Barack Obama for doing the same.
Conway also mocked the way Crockett chose to defend herself from the report: ““Instead of quoting great world leaders in history — or even the Bible, for that matter — she quotes Beyoncé.”
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7 Best New Movies on Prime Video in August
Amazon Prime subscribers have long had the added perk of a robust library of film and television at their disposal. This August, Prime Video added a number of significant entries to their service from acclaimed directors like Ryan Coogler, Nancy Meyers, Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino.
Check out the seven best movies coming to Prime Video in August.
Michael B. Jordon stars in “Creed.” (Warner Bros. Pictures)“Blow Out”One of several films on this list that is either a cult classic or a favorite of Quentin Tarantino’s, “Blow Out” has gained a significant reputation over the years as one of Brian De Palma’s best films. The neo-noir follows John Travolta’s Jack Terry, a sound man for a low-budget horror film who inadvertently records evidence that a supposed accidental tire blowout was in reality an assassination effort against a presidential hopeful. While this thriller isn’t as commonly known as De Palma’s “The Untouchables,” “Carrie” or “Mission: Impossible,” it’s a highly esteemed entry among the director’s vast, quality filmography.
Michael B. Jordon stars in “Creed.” (Warner Bros. Pictures)“Creed”In 2025, Ryan Coogler made waves with “Sinners,” yet another massive blockbuster and cultural event from the filmmaker behind “Black Panther.” Coogler and “Sinners” double star Michael B. Jordan have a relationship dating back to the beginning of the writer/director’s career, when Jordan starred in Coogler’s first feature, “Fruitvale Station.” In many ways, both men’s career. The two further solidified their bond with their follow-up feature, “Creed” — which remains one of the strongest films on either of their illustrious resumes.
“Creed” brings the Rocky franchise back nearly a decade after Sylvester Stallone’s 2006 return, “Rocky Balboa.” In “Creed,” the spotlight shifts from Stallone’s heartfelt underdog boxer from the school of hard knocks for the first time, focusing instead on Jordan’s Adonis “Donnie” Creed, the illegitimate son of Carl Weathers’ Apollo Creed. When Donnie seeks to launch his own boxing legacy, he enlists the help of the aging Balboa — now alone, outside the limelight and struggling with his mortality.
In 2025, a legacy sequel like this might seem like old hat. In 2015 alone, “Creed” battled against reboots “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” “Jurassic World,” “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Terminator Genisys” and a return to the “Vacation” series. Yet even to this day, “Creed” stands out from the pack as a sharply directed, emotionally rousing film that avoids cheap shots and carves its own path among the franchise. It is quite possibly the best “Rocky” movie, and a gold standard for Coogler and Jordan’s collaboration that only “Sinners” has truly challenged.
Warner Bros.“The Intern”Quentin Tarantino was right.
The director famously raved about Nancy Meyers’ “The Intern,” dubbing it one of his favorite films of 2015 and praising Robert De Niro’s performance in the platon-com. The film has a fairly unassuming premise, following De Niro as Ben Whittaker, a widower in his 70s who takes an internship at an online fashion company (run by Anne Hathaway’s Jules Ostin) to put his life back on a schedule. As the film progresses, Ben cracks Jules’ focused exterior, helping her through a period in which she is urged to take on a CEO at her fast-growing startup.
Yet Meyers, De Niro and Hathaway each imbue the film with a tangible warmth, one that shows that “sentimental” and “inferior” are not synonymous. The film walks the line of being treacly and trite (perhaps stepping over the line a time or two) without ever devolving into anything other than enjoyable. De Niro and Hathaway’s chemistry exceeds that of many actual romantic pairings in modern cinema, becoming a surprisingly effective example of cinematic buddies.
20th Century“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes”The “Planet of the Apes” series is a franchise of cycles. After the second film, “Beneath the Planet of the Apes,” quite literally blew up the series’ premise, the franchise was forced to evolve, expanding upon its core concept through new timelines and new casts. This cinematic structure drives home one of the central concepts behind the franchise: is the past doomed to repeat itself?
“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” progresses this idea with a “Yes.” Wes Ball’s 2024 reboot skips hundreds of years ahead of the events of Matt Reeves’ “War of the Planet of the Apes,” exploring the world of intelligent, articulate primates generations after the fall of Andy Serkis’ iconic Caesar. The film introduces viewers to a series of new cultures, such as Noa’s secluded Eagle Clan and Proximus Caesar’s crusading cultists. As Noa (Owen Teague) ventures outside his home, he discovers the core flaws infecting both humans and apes — and how frighteningly similar they are. “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” isn’t the strongest entry in this franchise, but it’s far from the weakest, giving audiences another beautifully rendered look at the wider world of the iconic sci-fi story.
“Pulp Fiction” (CREDIT: Everett Collection)“Miami Vice”In 2006, Michael Mann brought the TV series “Miami Vice” to the big screen, adapting the famed 80s crime drama he produced for NBC. The result was a crime drama the likes of which only Mann could make, a stylish, slick dive into an undercover operation fronted by Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx. Though other Mann entries like “Collateral,” “Heat” and “Thief” are more widely celebrated entries in the crime genre, “Miami Vice” has gained a strong cult reputation over time, becoming a fan favorite among the director’s hit-heavy filmography. The film is gorgeous from top to bottom, and another thrillingly directed hit from Mann. Best paired with a mojito.
Miramax“Pulp Fiction”Speaking of crime movies, Quentin Tarantino’s massively influential masterpiece “Pulp Fiction” arrives on Prime Video in August, ready to supply a slew of viewers with rewatches and first-time viewings. The 1990s crime film weaves in and out of the interconnected lives of a set of key characters: primarily, John Travolta’s Vincent Vega, Samuel L. Jackson’s Jules Winfield, Uma Thurman’s Mia Wallace, Bruce Willis’ Butch Coolidge and Ving Rhames’ Marsellus Wallace.
“Pulp Fiction” sees Tarantino hone the craft and style he promised in “Reservoir Dogs,” creating a perfect machine of non-linear dramedy storytelling. The writer/director’s scope has only expanded over time, with some of his most meaningful and finely tuned films yet to come. Still, it cannot be overstated how influential — and how quality — “Pulp Fiction” was and is. It’s a film that changed movies for generations to come.
United Artists“Raging Bull”Prime Video audiences are greeted with a one-two punch from the Martin Scorsese/Robert De Niro duo in August. In one corner, you have “Cape Fear,” the duo’s remake of J. Lee Thompson and James R. Webb’s 1962 film of the same name (both based on John D. MacDonald’s 1957 novel “The Executioners”). Written by Wesley Strick, 1991’s “Cape Fear” follows De Niro as Max Cady, a psychopath newly released from prison and seeking revenge. De Niro earned a Best Actor nomination at the Oscars, alongside co-star Juliette Lewis as Best Supporting Actress. It also paved the way for one of the all-time greatest episodes of “The Simpsons,” titled “Cape Feare,” a year later.
In the other corner, you have “Raging Bull,” a film that saw De Niro give one of the great performances of all time and delivered him his second Oscar win (and his only statue for Best Actor). In De Niro and Scorsese’s fourth collaboration, the pair (along with screenwriters Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin) adapt the troubled story of real-life boxer Giacobbe “Jake” LaMotta, a former middleweight champion nicknamed the “Raging Bull.” The film helped launch the career of Joe Pesci, bringing him his first Oscar nomination. It also gave Scorsese his first of many nods for Best Director, and saw longtime Scorsese editor Thelma Schoonmaker get her first Oscar win. “Raging Bull” is a titanic film with a slew of great performances, rightfully helping elevate Scorsese and his posse even further in their early careers.
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James Gunn Shuts Down ‘The Batman 2’ Plot Rumors: ‘No One in the World Knows Anything’
Rumors about anything to do with a potential plot for “The Batman 2” are unfounded, James Gunn insisted this week.
“Guys please stop believing this nonsense. I think six of us have read the script,” the DC Studios co-CEO wrote on Threads in response to Robin fan speculation on Friday. “No one knows anything about ‘The Batman 2.'”
“Anything you’ve heard about that movie is made up or a guess. No one in the world knows anything about the concept for the story except four people,” he shared earlier in the week.
The “Superman” director’s latest reply was in response to a since-deleted post on X that read: “Robin is reportedly in the script for ‘The Batman 2 … The sequel will be as dark as the first and will take a ‘big swing,’ with Matt Reeves and Mattson Tomlin ‘really going for it.'”
James Gunn on Robin in The Batman 2!
— Everything_DCU (@EverythingDCU_) August 8, 2025
Not debunked it thoughpic.twitter.com/NrB6z8XKyp
What we do know, however, is that production on “The Batman: Part II” will begin in the spring. “James Gunn is already preparing to write the next installment in the Super-Family,” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said during the company’s latest earnings call Thursday.
“In film, James Gunn is busy preparing the next installments of the DC Super-Family, including ‘Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow’ (2026), ‘Clayface’ (2026) and the next ‘Wonder Woman.’ In addition, ‘The Batman II’ (2027) is preparing to begin shooting next spring, among several other projects in development,” a WBD note to shareholders also read.
It continued, “The 10-year vision for the DC universe also includes an exciting array of television projects, including ‘The Penguin,’ the upcoming new season of ‘Peacemaker’ and the debut of ‘Lanterns’ in 2026. In a precise and measured way, the DC franchise will increasingly overlay across the studio’s broader efforts: from film and TV to consumer products, games, experiences and social.”
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