Movies

Netflix’s The Magician’s Nephew, a fresh start for the classic Narnia series set long before the original stories, shares a similar approach to Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. While The Rings of Power has faced criticism, it also has a dedicated fanbase eagerly awaiting its third season. The Magician’s Nephew can benefit from what worked and didn’t work in those first two seasons, helping to make the return of The Chronicles of Narnia a truly enchanting experience.

The fifth season of Ghosts concludes with a heartbreaking moment: Pete (Richie Moriarty) vanishes completely, leaving viewers wondering what happened to him until the next season. Meanwhile, Sam (Rose McIver) gets exciting news about her screenplay, Polar Opposites – Hollywood is interested, but they’re also hoping she can develop ideas for sequels, potentially turning it into a movie trilogy and a larger franchise.

Even now, Dragon Ball continues to build its story around characters getting stronger, using these power-ups to drive the plot and win fights, though it sometimes feels like they’ve reached their limits. While Goku and Vegeta have already transformed in many different ways, there’s still potential for other characters to develop. The Dragon Ball Super manga is gearing up for a major battle against Black Frieza, and that probably means we’ll see some new transformations – hopefully from characters who haven’t gotten much focus recently.

Successful movie adaptations of TV shows manage to stay true to what made the original series special, while also offering something new that justifies a longer movie length. Sometimes this means expanding on a story too big for a single episode, as seen in South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut. Other times, it’s about providing closure, like Serenity, which gave fans of the canceled show Firefly a satisfying ending. However, just because a TV show is great doesn’t automatically mean its movie adaptation will be – some truly excellent series have been tarnished by surprisingly bad films that end up defining the franchise instead.

A lot of John Carpenter’s movies borrow heavily from Western themes. For example, while They Live seems like a science fiction story about aliens, it’s fundamentally about a lone stranger arriving in town to be a hero—a classic Western trope. Carpenter is a big fan of Westerns and has expressed sadness that the genre’s popularity declined as he was starting his filmmaking career.

One of the biggest challenges when making a movie from a comic book is that things that look fine on the page can seem silly on screen, pulling viewers out of the story. This is especially risky when it comes to a hero’s beginnings – a weak origin story can sink the whole film. For example, the Hulk’s comic book origin – surviving a massive gamma explosion – feels unbelievable in a movie. The film version, where he’s exposed during gamma radiation testing, is much more believable and works better for the story.

Just when things seemed to calm down after the fight on the Mugen Train, Akaza appears and brutally kills Kyojuro Rengoku before Tanjiro’s eyes. This devastating loss completely shatters Tanjiro, leaving him unable to find any meaning in the tragedy. He’s powerless to save Rengoku, defeat Akaza, or even force the demon to face the consequences of his actions. All he can do is helplessly shout after Akaza as he escapes.

The show features a young Captain James T. Kirk, famously portrayed by William Shatner, now played by Paul Wesley. Even though Strange New Worlds is one of Paramount+’s most popular Star Trek series – earning a 94% approval rating from critics and 70% from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes – it will conclude after its fifth season. Seasons four and five have already been filmed, and season four will premiere on July 23rd.

As a longtime animation fan, I’ve noticed that very few franchises manage to stay consistently great over the years. The ones that do usually do it one of a few ways: either by telling stories that really connect with you emotionally and showing how characters change, or by consistently delivering amazing animation, creating incredible worlds, and being willing to try new things as the series goes on.

The phrase “Don’t make me go Beth Dutton on you” has become incredibly popular with fans of the show Yellowstone. Paramount has capitalized on this, selling merchandise like T-shirts and mugs featuring the line. It references the character Beth Dutton, who is known for her quick wit and willingness to verbally—or even physically—confront anyone who challenges her.