movies & series 🍿

🍿 Hogwarts shows up in Harry's glasses on HBO's new poster HBO's new poster for its Harry Potter series puts the castle in the reflection of Harry's round lenses, as /Film reports. It's the first official look at Hogwarts in the show, and it's a sliver. The framing puts Harry first and the castle second. Chris Columbus opened his films with sweeping establishing shots, and Alfonso Cuarón made the place moodier and lived-in. A reflection is a safe, smart first tease. The real test is whether t…

🎬 HBO's 'Harry Potter' gives James and Lily real faces, and adds a Weasley the films skipped Season 1 premieres Dec. 25, and Jasper Talbot and Hannah Chinn will play James and Lily Potter. Harry Gilby is Charlie Weasley, a book character who never appeared in the films. In the movies the Potters were photographs, flashbacks and a Mirror of Erised cameo. Casting two actors suggests Francesca Gardiner has room for them to do more than haunt Harry. Charlie is a small role, but it shows the show p…

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🎬 RDJ's Doctor Doom is landing with test audiences Early test-screening reactions to 'Avengers Doomsday' single out Robert Downey Jr. as the highlight, according to /Film. That reverses the grumbling that followed his casting as Victor Von Doom. Test screenings are cheerleading by design, so the praise says little about the whole film. It does say the gamble has a payoff. The man who built the MCU with 'Iron Man' now plays its most dangerous villain, and he brings the charm that makes a threat…

🎬 That's Roman Reigns under Akuma's mane Roman Reigns plays Akuma in the new 'Street Fighter', and the face you can't place is the WWE Tribal Chief. His screen résumé is thin. The best-known credit is a cameo-sized turn in 'Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw' (2019). Akuma works as a presence, not a talker. He's a wall of muscle with a glare, and that's what Reigns has been doing in the ring for a decade. The casting fits the character. Whether he can carry a scene with lines is still unpro…

🎬 Star Trek: Legacy had a Picard-shaped briefing room Terry Matalas says Patrick Stewart was willing to return as Jean-Luc Picard in the unmade 'Legacy'. He would have given Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) her mission briefings aboard the Enterprise-G. Matalas shared this on a podcast hosted by Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes. That's a smart use of an actor in his eighties. Stewart sets the mission and the show stays on the younger crew. 'Legacy' was pitched as a handoff, and the 'Star Trek: Picard…

🎬 Josh O'Connor is a Bond finalist, and the shortlist just got interesting Josh O'Connor is reportedly one of four actors still in the running for 007, with final screen tests underway. The other three names haven't surfaced. He isn't the safe pick. 'Challengers' showed he can do charm with a blade behind it, and 'La Chimera' showed he can carry a film on pure scruffy melancholy. That's a Bond with more Fleming in him than a box-office stat. Whether Amazon MGM wants a star or a face the audie…

🎬 'Clayface' gets bloody in Gotham, but /Film finds no shape in it James Watkins, who made 'Eden Lake' and 'Speak No Evil', gives DC an R-rated body-horror spin-off. /Film says the gore is there but the film has no personality of its own. That's the risk with villain solo movies. After 'Joker', a bleak tone only works when it belongs to someone. Blood alone doesn't make a Gotham story distinct. Tom Rhys Harries has a transformation-heavy role, and Watkins knows how to build dread, so a limp re…

🎬 Apu speaks again on 'The Simpsons', and the voice is new Sunil Malhotra takes over Apu from Hank Azaria, who stepped away in 2017 after the backlash. The character returns in a Halloween episode, where Apu worries that Springfield has forgotten him. Homer sets him straight. Casting an Indian American actor fixes the problem that made Apu uncomfortable. It doesn't touch the older problem, which is the writing. 'The Simpsons' now has to give him jokes that aren't about the accent, and nine yea…

🎬 Street Fighter won its weekend, but a sequel isn't a lock Kitao Sakurai's 'Street Fighter' opened at No. 1 with $31 million domestic and $51.1 million worldwide. That is level with 'Masters of the Universe' and short of 'Mortal Kombat II', which opened at $38.5 million. A start that size gets a sequel talked about, not signed. The budget, the overseas run and the film's second-weekend drop will decide it, and franchise fighting games have a bad record with follow-ups. Paramount's cast leans…

🎬 Affleck's Batman would have buried Jim Gordon Joe Manganiello, who played Deathstroke, says the canceled Ben Affleck Batman movie would have killed Commissioner Gordon. It's a single interview anecdote, so treat it as color and not as a confirmed plot. Still, the choice fits. Gordon is Batman's last link to a Gotham that trusts anyone, and killing him would have pushed this older, battered Bruce toward the bleak endgame that 'Justice League' only hinted at. It's a bold swing, and DC never go…

🎬 'Animals' is now Netflix's biggest streaming hit Ben Affleck directs and co-stars in an R-rated, 108-minute thriller that, per /Film, has topped Netflix's streaming numbers. It's a lean, adult genre piece, with no franchise and no multiverse. Kerry Washington follows 'Wake Up Dead Man' with another Netflix win. Two hits in a row make her one of the platform's most dependable faces. Affleck as director-for-hire, delivering tight thrillers at a streamer's pace, suits him better than another c…

🎬 Soderbergh takes the Batcowl behind the camera Steven Soderbergh has stepped in to finish shooting 'The Batman Part II', and Matt Reeves plans to return for post-production. The details are thin so far. Soderbergh is a fast, practical shooter who often works as his own cinematographer. That's a useful skill when a big production needs to wrap efficiently. Nothing so far says Robert Pattinson's return is in doubt. If Reeves keeps the edit, the score and the final look, the film will still re…

🍿 'Clayface' turns Gotham's mud man into body horror, and early reactions like it 📆 Release: October 23, 2026 🎭 Genre: #Horror · #Superhero ✈️ Add to watchlist James Watkins (the man behind 'Eden Lake' and 'Speak No Evil') directs an R-rated Batman spin-off, and /Film has the first screening reactions in. That's a filmmaker who knows how to make cruelty uncomfortable, which suits a villain whose body is the horror. The script comes from Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, so expect a tragic mons…

🍿 Gerwig's Narnia starts with a lion singing the world into being 📆 Release: February 12, 2027 (theaters), April 2 on Netflix 🎭 Genre: #Fantasy · #Adventure ✈️ Add to watchlist We have the first trailer for 'The Magician's Nephew', with two newcomers as Digory and Polly, Daniel Craig and Meryl Streep in support, and Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" over the first steps into another world. Picking the creation story is a smart way into Narnia. It skips the wardrobe and the Pevensies, and it…

🎬 RJ Mitte, Flynn on 'Breaking Bad', has died at 34 His reps confirmed the death of RJ Mitte, who played Walter White Jr. across 56 episodes of 'Breaking Bad'. TMZ reports that a county official in Texas confirmed it, and the investigation is ongoing. If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988. Mitte has cerebral palsy, and he played Flynn without hiding it. That gave a disabled actor a lasting place on one of TV's great dramas. He also worked as an ambassador for United Cerebr…

🍿 Hexed: Disney bets a teen witch and a grumpy cat can carry an original 📆 Release: November 25, 2026 🎭 Genre: #Animation · #Fantasy · #Comedy ✈️ Add to watchlist Disney's new original follows Billie, a teenager who finds out she's a witch, voiced by Hailee Steinfeld. Walton Goggins voices a three-eyed cat with a bad attitude. The "ordinary girl turns out to be magical" premise is as old as the broom. The cat is the only thing here with a pulse of its own, and Goggins' dry menace is the right…

🍿 Blade Runner 2099 hands the world to the replicants 📆 Release: November 25, 2026 🎭 Genre: #SciFi · #Drama ✈️ Add to watchlist The new trailer shows a world where replicants have won and are now stuck with the same questions about identity and mortality. Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer lead eight episodes on Prime Video, set 50 years after 2049. Flipping the power balance is the smart move. 'Blade Runner' always asked what makes a person, and a society run by the made rather than the makers…

🍿 The Exorcist: Martyrs puts Scarlett Johansson in the devil's crosshairs 📆 Release: March 12, 2027 🎭 Genre: #Horror · #Thriller ✈️ Add to watchlist Mike Flanagan is finally getting his Exorcist, and /Film says the trailer swerves from the franchise's usual dread. Scarlett Johansson plays an NYPD detective chasing a killer who calls himself Father Sunday. That makes it a procedural first and a possession story second. It's a smart way in after sequels that kept trying to out-scare Friedkin. …

🎬 Nick Fury skips Doomsday and waits for Secret Wars Samuel L. Jackson says he's not in 'Avengers: Doomsday'. His next Marvel movie is the one after it, which means Fury sits out the X-Men reunion and the Evans and Hemsworth comeback party. That's a smart call. Fury has been a cameo with an eyepatch since the 2008 post-credits scene, and 'Secret Invasion' did him no favors. Saving him for a Battleworld pile-up gives him a reason to show up again. 'Avengers: Secret Wars' is set for December 17…