GoneTrending

It’s too easy to spend an entire evening scrolling through streaming services like Amazon Prime picking a movie to watch. By the time you pick a movie, you could have watched one. Or two. Maybe even three. We’re here to solve that problem with the 25 best Amazon Prime movies that are available right now. From recent critical darlings like La La Land and Licorice Pizza to modern classics like Fight Club and Minority Report, here is your guide to the best movies on Amazon Prime, so you can spend your next movie night actually watching a movie:

1. La La Land

Year: 2016
Cast: Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, John Legend
Genre: Drama, Musical
Rating: R
Runtime: 128 minutes
Director: Damien Chazelle
Trailer: Watch here

While its legacy might be it was a fake Oscar winner, Damien Chazelle’s romantic but painful musical La La Land shows how ambition and success can unite people, and also how it can divide and change them in an idyllic, colorful version of Los Angeles (the titular La La Land, of course). Although the year’s best picture Oscar actually went to Moonlight, Emma Stone won the Oscar for best actress for her charming performance as aspiring actress Mia.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

2. The Wolf of Wall Street

Year: 2013
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rating: R
Runtime: 180 minutes
Director: Martin Scorsese
Trailer: Watch here

The best thing about The Wolf of Wall Street? It doesn’t give a sh*t. Martin Scorsese’s hilarious adaptation of Jordan Belfort’s life and career as a wealthy stock-market manipulator brought out another side of his directing style and another unexpected side of Leonardo DiCaprio. With the help of effortlessly funny co-stars Jonah Hill and Margot Robbie, DiCaprio finally lets loose and allows himself to be funny. Fortunately, he is just as good at it as he is at drama, if not better.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

3. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Year: 2001
Cast: Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Ian McKellen, Sean Bean, Viggo Mortensen, Cat Blanchett
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 178 minutes
Director: Peter Jackson
Trailer: Watch here

The introductory film in Peter Jackson’s award-winning Lord of the Rings trilogy is a classic with ground-breaking special effects, affecting performances, and unbelievable set pieces, costumes, and unfathomable scale. The cast and their sparkling chemistry turns the otherwise quite dark hunt for The One Ring into comfort viewing.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

4. Fight Club

Year: 1999
Cast: Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Rating: R
Runtime: 139 minutes
Director: David Fincher
Trailer: Watch here

Ah, yes, the movie whose poster was tacked to the dorm walls of straight men everywhere for years on end. Despite the annoying film bro following that this David Fincher film developed over time, Fight Club is a decade-defining classic, featuring clever, extremely physical performances from stars Edward Norton and Brad Pitt. If you love a twist, you’ll love this, even if you see it coming five minutes into the movie.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

5. Licorice Pizza

Year: 2021
Cast: Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Sean Penn, Bradley Cooper
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rating: R
Runtime: 133 minutes
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Trailer: Watch here

Paul Thomas Anderson is obsessed with two things: Hollywood and the 1970s. Licorice Pizza combines those inside a coming-of-age story featuring performances from first-time leads Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman (the son of the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman, a frequent Anderson collaborator). The film is not Anderson’s strongest to date, but it is, perhaps his most personal film to date. Like a typical Anderson film, the narrative feels epic with many acts and many characters, some of who only appear for a scene or two. The best part of the film is Bradley Cooper’s truly wild performance as film producer Jon Peters.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

6. The Fighter

Year: 2010
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo
Genre: Drama, Biopic
Rating: R
Runtime: 116 minutes
Director: David O. Russell
Trailer: Watch here

David O. Russell’s film about professional boxers and half-brothers Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund follows all the typical beats of a sports drama and a biopic. Despite its predictability, formulaic structure can be great. In this case, it gives us the committed performances (some of the decade’s best) room to shine from Melissa Leo’s Oscar-winning performance, Christian Bale’s Oscar-winning performance, and Amy Adams non-Oscar winning or nominated performance (a casual reminder that Amy Adams is long overdue for an Oscar ).

Watch it on Amazon Prime

7. Shutter Island

Year: 2010
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Michelle Williams, Ben Kingsley
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Rating: R
Director: Martin Scorsese
Runtime: 139 minutes
Trailer: Watch here

While Shutter Island might not be one of Martin Scorsese’s best films, it is an essential one. Scorsese flexes decades of directorial experience here, going bigger than ever with his style, which has only progressed since then. Shutter Island, which follows two detectives investigating a disappearance at a remote insane asylum, also follows most thriller cliches, but Scorsese’s skill makes it twice as thrilling, and a little bit fun despite its dark tone and themes. Scorsese is going all out here and encourages his frequent collaborator Leonardo DiCaprio (his 2000s muse, in a sense) to really go for it, too.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

8. The Usual Suspects

Year: 1995
Cast: Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Spacey, Steven Baldwin, Benicio del Toro
Genre: Thriller
Rating: R
Runtime: 106 minutes
Director: Bryan Singer
Trailer: Watch here

The Usual Suspects combines elements of film noir with a standard ’90s thriller. With every second that passes in the energetic crime thriller with a sprawling cast of ’90s faves from Gabriel Byrne to Benicio del Toro, more layers are added to the mystery and, therefore, the film itself. Although the complex story builds and builds as it goes, the screenplay is packaged in a way so that it doesn’t feel as complex as it is, without condescending to the audience.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

9. The Northman

Year: 2022
Cast: Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Anya Taylor-Joy, Willem Dafoe
Genre: Action
Rating: R
Runtime: 136 minutes
Director: Robert Eggers
Trailer: Watch here

Like every Robert Eggers film, The Northman is even weirder than it looks. The film follows the Viking Amleth who devotes his life to seeking revenge on the man who murdered his father and, seemingly, took his mother. Amleth gets his revenge, but slowly and very violently. And yes, the rumors are true: there is a naked volcano fight scene in this. And also a magically unhinged performance from Nicole Kidman.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

10. The Italian Job

Year: 2003
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, Seth Green
Genre: Action
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 105 minutes
Director: F. Gary Gray
Trailer: Watch here

It doesn’t get more 2003 than this remake of the 1969 movie of the same name. Action star of the moment Mark Wahlberg stars as professional fixer Charlie Croker, who, seeking revenge for the murder of a friend leads a team of people with various useful skills when it comes to a heist on a heist. Edward Norton plays a villain with a little mustache who often wears a beanie.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

11. Fantastic Mr. Fox

Year: 2009
Cast: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman
Genre: Animation, Comedy
Rating: PG
Runtime: 87 minutes
Director: Wes Anderson
Trailer: Watch here

Of course, a director with an eye for color and symmetry is also a visionary in animation. Wes Anderson’s stop-motion film, based on the 1970 children’s novel of the same name by Roald Dahl, is about a fox whose series of thefts cause problems for his family and his community, as they are hunted down by those seeking revenge. Anderson co-wrote the screenplay with Noah Baumbach.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

12. The Hunger Games

Year: 2012
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrellson
Genre: Action
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 142 minutes
Director: Gary Ross
Trailer: Watch here

The Hunger Games novel is practically written like a screenplay, and the film adaptation stays as loyal as it can be (it was, probably pretty easy). The themes are a little heavy-handed at times, but its the direction, cinematography, and performances from leads Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson (as well as supporting ones from Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, and Lenny Kravitz) that make it staggering and thought-provoking.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

13. Minority Report

Year: 2002
Cast: Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton
Genre: Sci-fi, Action
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 145 minutes
Director: Steven Spielberg
Trailer: Watch here

Minority Report is what every sci-fi action film should be: energetic, horrifying, and stimulating. Most importantly, fun. Tom Cruise stars as Precrime Chief John Anderton, whose job is to arrest people for crimes they are predicted to commit. Despite his trust of the system, John becomes one of the hunted when he is predicted to commit a crime. So, like everyone he hunts, he runs, and in the process discovers a conspiracy. The film also includes a massively underrated supporting performance from Colin Farrell, then early into his film career.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

14. Superbad

Year: 2007
Cast: Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Emma Stone
Genre: Comedy
Rating: R
Runtime: 113 minutes
Director: Greg Mottola
Trailer: Watch here

This irreverent comedy turned Jonah Hill (now an Oscar nominee) and Emma Stone (now an Oscar winner) into movie stars. The raunchy, graphic comedy went further than any comedy before it, in ways that have aged well and ways that have aged poorly. Regardless, it’s a classic. Behind all the dick jokes and weird period jokes, it’s a film about male friendship that allows men on the screen to be vulnerable with each other.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

15. The Machinist

Year: 2004
Cast: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Genre: Thriller, Drama
Rating: R
Runtime: 102 minutes
Director: Brad Anderson
Trailer: Watch here

Christian Bale is well known for putting on pounds or losing them for roles. For his role in The Machinist, Bale transformed himself into a rail-thin paranoid factory worker who has not slept in a year by dropping over 60 lbs. It’s definitely a gimmick, but Bale’s transformative performance is admirable and unlike anything else he’s ever done before or since.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

16. The Silence of the Lambs

Year: 1991
Cast: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins
Genre: Horror
Rating: R
Runtime: 118 minutes
Director: Jonathan Demme
Trailer: Watch here

Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs is not only one of the best horror movies ever made, but one of the best movies ever made full stop. The disturbing psychological thriller gets its energy from its rousing lead performances from Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins. Their chemistry on screen is a palpable force that helped earn the film – and the genre – deserved recognition at the Oscars, where it swept the five major categories: best actor, best actress, best-adapted screenplay, best director, and best picture. To this day, it is the only horror film to win best picture.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

17. Jennifer’s Body

Year: 2009
Cast: Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried
Genre: Horror, Comedy
Rating: R
Runtime: 102 minutes
Director: Karyn Kusama
Trailer: Watch here

Jennifer’s Body was generally reviled by critics when it came out, but it has since gained a deserved cult following and is now regarded as a feminist classic. Written by Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody, people were likely not prepared for the body horror flick as much as they were for a charming indie about a pregnant teenager. Megan Fox plays Jennifer, a high school student who develops some deadly vampiric tendencies after a ritual gone horribly wrong. Emmy-winner Amanda Seyfried plays her nerdy best friend who tries to save her bff’s victims.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

18. The Tender Bar

Year: 2021
Cast: Ben Affleck, Lily Rabe, Ty Sheridan
Genre: Drama
Rating: R
Runtime: 104 minutes
Director: George Clooney
Trailer: Watch here

This sentimental coming-of-age film from director George Clooney tells the story of American journalist J.R. Moehringer’s life growing up on Long Island, where he spent a significant portion of his time at a bar, which is his only escape from his complex life at home. It is based on Moehringer’s 2005 memoir of the same name.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

19. A Quiet Place 2

Year: 2020
Cast: Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Millicent Simmonds
Genre: Horror
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 97 minutes
Director: John Krasinski
Trailer: Watch here
Emily Blunt returns for the sequel to her husband John Krasinksi’s hit horror film set in a post-apocalyptic world occupied by aliens with razor-sharp hearing. Although the film is not as tight as its predecessor, the sequel still captures the family dynamics that give it heart and Krasinksi continues to show off his skill as a horror director.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

20. Casino Royale

Year: 2006
Cast: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Judy Dench
Genre: Action
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 144 minutes
Director: Martin Campbell
Trailer: Watch here

Casino Royale is a significant departure in tone in the decades-long James Bond franchise. In 2006, new Bond Daniel Craig had a different, controversial look and feel to the Bond actors before him: his hair wasn’t as dark and he was a little less polished, rougher around the edges. Unlike Craig’s hair, Casino Royale set a dark, more serious tone for the next era of Bond by taking it a little more seriously. It influenced the Bond franchise permanently, and action films as a whole, which have gotten gritter (some in good ways, some in bad ways).

Watch it on Amazon Prime

21. Sound of Metal

Year: 2020
Cast: Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci
Genre: Drama
Rating: R
Runtime: 120 minutes
Director: Darius Marder
Trailer: Watch here

Riz Ahmed earned himself an Oscar nomination for best actor for his performance as heavy-metal drummer Ruben who hopes to make it in the music scene but discovers that he is losing his hearing, which changes his life and his plans to pursue a career doing what he loves. House of the Dragon’s Olivia Cooke, who plays Ahmed’s girlfriend and bandmate Lou, also delivers an impressive performance.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

22. Candyman

Year: 2021
Cast: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett
Genre: Horror
Rating: R
Runtime: 91 minutes
Director: Nia DaCosta
Trailer: Watch here

Nia DaCosta (Little Woods) directed this followup to the ’90s cult classic starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as an artist who investigates a serial killer for a new project. His investigation leads him to other Black men who were murdered and secrets about his own lineage that send him on a bloody spiral. DaCosta is a visionary director with a deep understanding of disturbing, thrilling, and impactful imagery.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

23. Coming 2 America

Year: 2021
Cast: Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall
Genre: Comedy
Rating: R
Runtime: 110 minutes
Director: Craig Brewer
Trailer: Watch here

If you love the original Coming to America, which graced theaters in the summer of 1988, you will most likely enjoy the sequel, set in the country of Zamuda, where the newly crowned king Akeem (Eddie Murphy) embarks on an all-new adventure across the globe. Ultimately, he ends up back in Queens, New York, where Coming to America began decades ago.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

24. The Lost City of Z

Year: 2017
Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Robert Pattinson, Sienna Miller, Tom Holland
Genre: Adventure, Drama
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 141 minutes
Director: James Gray
Trailer: Watch here

James Gray’s ambitious biopic/adventure flick is a retelling of the true-life drama of Col. Percival Fawcett. Fawcett (Hunnam), a British explorer who disappeared while searching for a mysterious city in the Amazon in the 1920s. Like most of Gray’s work, it’s a slow, but rewarding burn. The cinematography is spectacular, and there are some engrossing action sequences. Robert Pattinson is, as always, weird as ever, but it works.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

25. Ambulance

Year: 2022
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Eiza González
Genre: Action
Rating: R
Runtime: 136 minutes
Director: Michael Bay
Trailer: Watch here

When described, AmbuLAnce (it’s set in LA!) sounds fake. The film, directed by Michael Bay, includes several references to Michael Bay films including The Rock. It’s messy and all over the place, but Jake Gyllenhaal’s chaotic performance as the manic villain collides with Bay’s aggressive directing style as if they were meant to be.

Watch it on Amazon Prime

Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher are hanging out, down the street, in real life and on TV. The married couple, who raised over $30 million to help Ukrainian refugees, will reprise their That ’70s Show characters, Jackie and Kelso, in Netflix’s That ’90s Show. You can actually follow the entirety of Kunis and Kutcher’s relationship through the two shows, as they shared their first kiss — and Kunis’ first kiss with anyone — while filming a scene.

“I remember Mila’s first kiss was Ashton,” actress Debra Jo Rupp, who plays Kitty Foreman, said in a behind-the-scenes video for That ’90s Show (which you can watch above). “I remember her coming to my dressing room when she had to do that and I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, well, at least he’s cute.’ So, that’s good.” Kurtwood Smith (Red Forman) didn’t share his thoughts on their first kiss, but if he’s anything like Red, it would probably involve insults and bleeped words.

Here’s more on That ’90s Show:

It’s 1995 and Leia Forman is desperate for some adventure in her life or at least a best friend who isn’t her dad. When she arrives in Point Place to visit her grandparents, Red and Kitty, Leia finds what she’s looking for right next door when she meets the dynamic and rebellious Gwen. With the help of Gwen’s friends, including her lovable brother Nate, his smart, laser-focused girlfriend Nikki, the sarcastic and insightful Ozzie, and the charming Jay, Leia realizes adventure could happen there just like it did for her parents all those years ago. Excited to reinvent herself, she convinces her parents to let her stay for the summer. With a basement full of teens again, Kitty is happy the Forman house is now a home for a new generation and Red is, well… Red.

That ’90s Show premieres on Netflix on January 19, 2023.

Earlier this year, as JID promoted his new album The Forever Story, the Atlanta rapper recalled some of the record deals he considered before signing with J. Cole’s label Dreamville, including Quality Control and Rich Homie Quan‘s label. However, in explaining why he turned down those deals, it looks like he’s incensed at least one of those parties. In a new interview with HipHopDX, Quan not only refuted JID’s story but he also bet big money for the Dreamville rapper to prove it.

“I remember talking to JID,” he recalled. “He’s from Atlanta. As far as the contract, that’s cap. He knows that’s cap. I’ve never, ever sent no contract to no artist. If I want to sign you, I’ve got the best entertainment lawyer in the world. I’ve been in f’d up situations so why would I put an artist in one? … If he can show me a contract that I sent him, I’ll give him a million dollars.”

Of course, the recording industry is as littered with tales of inequitable contracts as frauds and scams, so it’s possible that both artists believe that they’re telling the truth. Perhaps some unscrupulous hustler used Quan’s name to lure artists to their own endeavor, or perhaps Quan was unaware that a legitimate offer he made included JID, who’s a member of Spillage Village along with Earthgang and may have been a package deal. Either way, the real takeaway should be clear; artists should always make sure their business is in order.

You can watch Rich Homie Quan’s interview with HipHopDX above.

With Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery now streaming on Netflix, viewers might be curious how much they need to know about the original Knives Out to enjoy the film. Well, here’s the good news: You don’t need to watch the first movie to enjoy the “sequel.” The only connective tissue is Daniel Craig, who plays genteel southern detective Benoit Blanc. In fact, we can confirm that Glass Onion doesn’t even reference the first movie at all. There’s a brief moment in the film where one of Blanc’s previous cases is mentioned, but it is not the murder mystery at the heart of Knives Out. You can go into Glass Onion completely cold.

To drive that point home, writer/director Rian Johnson recently revealed that he’s not thrilled with Knives Out being forced into the title for Glass Onion. Via The Atlantic:

I’ve tried hard to make them self-contained. Honestly, I’m pissed off that we have A Knives Out Mystery in the title. You know? I want it to just be called Glass Onion. I get it, and I want everyone who liked the first movie to know this is next in the series, but also, the whole appeal to me is it’s a new novel off the shelf every time. But there’s a gravity of a thousand suns toward serialized storytelling.

In other words, think of Glass Onion as an Agatha Christie novel, which were an inspiration for Knives Out. Yes, they star the same detective, but unlike the Marvel movies or Star Wars, you don’t need to know anything else to enjoy the story. There’s no dense canon or lore, just the game unfolding before you.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is available for streaming on Netflix.

(Via The Atlantic)

The days (or months) of having “two baddies, two baddies, one Porsche” stuck in your head may be (temporarily) gone soon.

Yesterday (December 26), SM Entertainment announced that a repackaged album is coming from NCT 127. Following the release of their fourth studio album 2 Baddies with the lead single of the same name, the record-breaking NCT sub-unit comprises Taeil, Johnny, Taeyong, Yuta, Doyoung, Jaehyun, Jungwoo, Mark, and Haechan will return with Ay-Yo next month on January 30.

The repackaged album will contain the same 12 songs from 2 Baddies but will include three additional tracks including the lead single “Ay-Yo.” Pre-orders for the album will begin on January 6.

Check out the tracklist to 2 Baddies below:

1. “Faster”
2. “질주 (2 Baddies)”
3. “Time Lapse”
4. “불시착 (Crash Landing)”
5. “Designer”
6. “윤슬 (Gold Dust)”
7. “흑백 영화 (Black Clouds)”
8. “Playback”
9. “Tasty (貘)”
10. “Vitamin”
11. “LOL (Laugh-Out-Loud)”
12. “1, 2, 7 (TIME STOPS)”

Between now and January 30, NCT 127 will be making their way back to the States for three additional stops on their Neo City: The Link tour. The group will make stops in Chicago, IL on January 9, Houston, TX on January 11, and Atlanta, GA on January 13. The group will head to South America to perform in major cities like Sao Paulo, Brazil (January 18-20), followed by Santiago, Chile (January 22), Bogota, Colombia (January 25), and Mexico City, Mexico (January 28).

Kendrick Lamar did a new profile with the New York Times that dropped today, where he shares the behind-the-scenes details of his 2022 album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.

The interview touches on the album’s lead single, “The Heart Part 5,” and the accompanying music video. For those who might not have seen it, the video found Lamar transforming into a number of figures, including Tupac, Will Smith, Nipsey Hussle, and more controversial figures such as Kanye West and Jussie Smollett.

As it turns out, Lamar had been working on the concept with Dave Free years prior, through discussions about “polarizing figures” and behavior. “I look at everything as a social experiment,” Dave shared.

From there, the two decided to include another surprising duo in their video development discussions: South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. While Lamar and Dave are reportedly developing a live-action comedy with Parker and Stone, their conversations took a surprising spin. Parker and Stone own a company specializing in using deepfake technology that helped Lamar and Dave exact their vision.

“You see Kendrick turned into Tupac, Kendrick turned into Kanye, and I think we had Eminem,” Stone said in Lamar’s profile.

It went on to earn a Grammy nomination for Best Music Video, so it seems the partnership worked out.

While elected United States officials remain divided on the war between Ukraine and Russia, the conflict continues to rage. Although reports reveal Ukraine forces are making progress, non-profit organizations are still pleading for monetary support. Legendary rock band Pink Floyd is answering the call. Their song, “Hey Hey Rise Up,” has hit a record charitable milestone.

Despite founding member Roger Waters‘ personal feelings about the tensions, remaining members vocalist and guitarist David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason decided to donate the proceeds from the song to humanitarian organizations (Hospitallers, The Kharkiv And Przemyśl Project, Vostok SOS, Kyiv Volunteer, and Livyj Bereh) in the area.

In a statement released to NME, the band shared that the song raised £450,000 (British pounds) from single sales and streaming revenue, while Gilmour and Mason personally donated £50,000, bringing the collective total to £500,000. When converted into US currency, the total comes to just over $600,000.

When asked why they released the song, Gilmour said, “We, like so many, have been feeling the fury and the frustration of this vile act of an independent, peaceful democratic country being invaded and having its people murdered by one of the world’s major powers.”

Initially released in July this year, Gilmour wasn’t sure the track would gain traction, saying, “I hope it will receive wide support and publicity. We want to raise funds for humanitarian charities and raise morale. We want to express our support for Ukraine and, in that way, show that most of the world thinks that it is totally wrong for a superpower to invade the independent democratic country that Ukraine has become.”

Pink Floyd fans showed their support by streaming the song in droves.

To stream “Hey Hey Rise Up,” click here.

(Emily In Paris spoilers will obviously be found below.)

If you’re reading this blog post, then you most definitely have already binged Emily In Paris Season 3 in less than a week. And you’re probably wondering how long you have to wait to see fallout from the cliffhanger ending. Camille being pregnant with Gabriel’s baby further complicates matters, and there’s no telling whether he and Emily will get together for real or if he’ll try (in vain) to make things work with his runaway bride. Then there’s the matter of Camille cheating on Gabriel (with a woman, so he’s almost certainly the father), and it’s a rip-roaring mess in France, alright.

Will there be a Season 4 of this wildly popular show? Yes, that round was greenlit after the show’s successful Season 2. Will the next followup contain a reference to those murderous gays due to Bruno Gouery appearing in The White Lotus, to the surprise of Emily fans? One can only hope. Now, onto the question of a release date because even the dudes enjoy this fluffy show.

According to Variety, filming of Seasons 3 and 4 bumped right up against each other and began in September 2022. In all likelihood, Season 4 is in the can with gears churning towards making it a fully realized batch of episodes. This is similar to the approach taken by Seasons 4 and 5 of Netflix’s Cobra Kai as previously revealed to us by fan-favorite cast member Jacob Bertrand. That approach allowed us to see two Cobra Kai seasons within one year of each other, so can we cross fingers for the same pattern with Emily In Paris (perhaps with a late 2023 release)?

Hopefully, that’s the case. Also worth noting: Netflix has been slow to green light Season 6 of Cobra Kai despite a rabid audience reception for Season 5, so will Season 4 of Emily In Paris be followed by the same streaming hesitation? That would be a shame, but let’s hope that further renewal news for both shows will soon be forthcoming. In the meantime, maybe the McBaguette will be kind enough to make a stateside appearance.

Emily In Paris Season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.

Looking back, it makes a lot of sense why I didn’t see Love Actually in theaters. Love Actually was released in theaters in November of 2003 and, at the time, I was living in St. Louis and I was going through a terrible breakup and the last thing I would want to do at the time is buy one ticket to a movie called “Love Actually.” A breakup that was bad enough that, a few months later, I decided, “Hey, maybe I should move to New York City. That sounds like a good idea.” (I still live here.) So, anyway, my point is that I was preoccupied during its theatrical run and then pretty busy during its initial home video blitz.

The thing is, I don’t remember Love Actually becoming “a thing” until later. It was a modest hit in the United States (and a pretty massive hit worldwide), but it’s always weird when you realize you missed out on something that seems pretty universally accepted as something everyone has seen. There are few movies like that. You know, where people don’t even ask if you’ve seen the movie. It is just assumed. They just go into their references and then I have to sit there and pretend I get them.

To be fair, I’ve seen bits and pieces on cable. It’s almost impossible to avoid Love Actually completely. Obviously, I’m aware of the Keira Knightley and Andrew Lincoln scene at the door, which has been parodied one million times, including this year in a cell phone commercial starring the two leads of Scrubs. Here are two funny things about that scene. The first is I didn’t understand the context. I had no idea Andrew Lincoln plays a guy in love with his best friend’s wife. (I have been warned by people who love this movie to not get too deep into this strange plot point here. Summing it up with, “We already know.” Fair enough.)

The other thing I assumed was this was the dramatic last scene of Love Actually. It is not. After this scene there are still 45 minutes left in the movie. But here’s the thing I realized about what I think makes Love Actually addictive. The entire movie is composed of “dramatic last scenes.”

So before we get into that and you start yelling at me on social media, I am not here to make fun of Love Actually. I’m actually embarrassed it took me this long to watch it. And no one forced me to watch Love Actually. A few days ago I had some time to kill and just watched it by myself. As I watched, it’s one of those things where I realized two things: One, yes, as I mentioned, I get why this is so popular. And two, this is not the movie I quite thought it was and, free from its edited cable run, this movie has a surprising amount of nudity for no real reason. I am not judging that aspect at all other than to say I didn’t realize this beloved holiday classic would be on par, nudity-wise, with popping in Porky’s. (Speaking of holiday classics, it never fails to delight me that the director of A Christmas Story also directed two Porky’s movies.)

Okay, so, back to the point that Love Actually is made up of nonstop dramatic endings. Think of almost, literally, every scene in this movie. If the credits played right after, would you be at all surprised? Obviously, when Mark reveals his love for Juliet through written out cue cards, the credits could run right after that and it would feel right. Actually, go back to one of the first scenes in the movie, Juliet and Peter’s (Chiwetel Ejiofor; literally everyone is in this movie, somehow) wedding. When “All You Need is Love” starts playing, that’s a dramatic ending! The credits could start playing right there and I would have thought, “well that’s nice.” When Hugh Grant’s David finally tells off the President of the United States (Billy Bob Thornton) to a round of applause, the credits could roll. I truly believe this was Richard Curtis’s intention. “People love emotional dramatic endings, what if we made an entire movie is only that?” It’s like that muffin-top episode of Seinfeld. Why mess around with the parts people don’t want?

(Speaking of parts you don’t want, yeah I could have done without a couple of the storylines that aren’t as exciting. And, again, I was warned not to focus too much on that either and that came with the same caveat, “We already know.” Fair enough. Though I have noticed people seem to disagree on what their least favorite storyline is. Though everyone agrees Bill Nighy rules.)

Anyway, yes, that’s finally over for me. I’ve now seen Love Actually. I will now understand all your references and the deeper meaning of current T-Mobile commercials. Also, Bill Nighy as Billy Mack is the best part of this movie and I kind of wish the whole thing had just been about him. In fact, I loved Nighy so much in this it inspired me to watch Nighy’s new film, Living, and he’s wonderful and I understand why now he’s getting so much awards acclaim. Anyway, I now completely understand that Love Actually is a good enough movie that’s been genetically engineered to make people inexplicably love it.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

With The Last of Us premiere less than a month away, Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann is opening up about how the HBO series differs from the award-winning video game. The biggest difference? The show starring Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian) and Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones) will have significantly less violence, while still ratcheting up the horror. But before fans of the video game get riled up, Druckmann broke down the reason for that decision.

“We need a certain amount of action, or violence, that we could use for mechanics so you could connect with Joel and get into a flow state,” Druckmann told SFX Magazine about the game. “Then you would really feel like you’re connected with this on-screen avatar and you’re seeing the world through his eyes.”

However, when it comes to the passive medium of TV, Druckmann explained that viewers don’t need that immediate jolt of violence to be connected to the characters, and he’s actually thankful for that dynamic:

One of the things that I loved hearing from [co-creator Craig Mazin] and HBO very early on was, ‘Let’s take out all the violence except for the very essential.’ That allowed the violence to have even more impact than in the game, because when you hold on showing the threat and you’re seeing people’s reaction to a threat, that makes it scarier. And when we do reveal the infected and the Clickers, you get to see what brought down humanity and why everyone is so scared.”

The Last of Us premieres January 15, 2023 on HBO.

(Via SFX Magazine)