Movies

It’s hard to get well-known actors like Rashida Jones, Jon Hamm, or Anthony Mackie to sign on for an entire TV series, but they’re often willing to appear in just one episode because the filming commitment is shorter. Since Netflix bought Black Mirror and transformed it from a quirky British show into a worldwide hit, the series has been able to attract big names like Paul Giamatti and Bryce Dallas Howard to perform in its unsettling, futuristic stories.

From smart, contemporary films like Moneyball to timeless classics such as Hoosiers, these popular sports movies have resonated with audiences for years. They’re unforgettable stories that will move and inspire viewers.

In the crime thriller The Rip, Miami detectives Lieutenant Dane Dumars and Sergeant J.D. Byrne discover millions of dollars in drug money hidden in a warehouse. They’re told to guard the money, but the pressure quickly causes friction and their situation spirals out of control.

Mark Harmon played the lead role of Gibbs until he left NCIS during Season 19. Now, Sean Murray steps into a younger version of Gibbs in the 1990s, as he begins his career with NCIS, which has brought renewed attention to the original character. The season finale also finally develops the relationship between Gibbs and Special Agent Lala Dominguez (Mariel Molino), paving the way for Season 3.

Since 2014, Keanu Reeves has starred as John Wick in five films. Wick is a retired assassin who’s pulled back into the criminal world after some Russian mobsters kill his dog and steal his car. Reeves will likely continue to portray Wick as a quiet, solitary character – a style he’s become known for. Interestingly, he first explored this type of role six years earlier in a controversial remake of a science fiction movie.

Sheridan’s shows on Paramount+ often have a big disconnect between what critics and viewers think. Audiences frequently disagree with critics’ opinions. Take Landman season 2, for example: critics said it was better than season 1, but viewers rated it much lower, giving it a score of just 48% on Rotten Tomatoes. As a critic myself, I actually agree more with the audience on this one. I felt season 2 lost what made the first season so good – its focus on crime and thrills – and became overly dramatic and slow-paced.

The show, featuring Jason Bateman, Portia de Rossi, Will Arnett, Tony Hale, Jessica Walter, Jeffrey Tambor, Michael Cera, David Cross, and Alia Shawkat, first aired in 2003 and was immediately praised by critics. What set Arrested Development apart was its first episode, which expertly introduced all the main characters, the funny relationships within the Bluth family, and several jokes that would become hallmarks of the series.

Even though one show clearly won in terms of viewership during the early 2000s, fans still argue about which was better today. Both series were groundbreaking for their time, offering action and suspense that rivaled – and even surpassed – what audiences were seeing in movies, with high production quality and impressive action sequences.

It’s challenging for any sequel to improve upon its predecessor, especially in a trilogy. But some series manage to do just that, with each movie being better than the last.

Fans don’t need to choose between The Last of Us and Station Eleven as their favorite HBO post-apocalyptic show. Station Eleven is a great, self-contained series to watch in between seasons of The Last of Us.