My name is Grace Ivana Carroll and I’m a writer based and brought up in London. I veer towards writing comedy with a tragic spin and often centre female and queer characters in my stories.
My first foray into writing was writing short films during my BA Film studies at Falmouth University. A lot of people on the course had a lot of interest making films but no one seemed to be that interested in writing one so I used to write the films for my aspiring director friends and act as an unofficial script doctor on their projects (just call me the Carrie Fisher of Cornwall) One called Repossessing Tim won the audience award at Pixelate Film Festival. After university, knowing that I wanted to continue to write, I studied MA Scriptwriting at London College of Communication. Whilst studying I found my passion for playwriting and started a scratch night with my fellow students called ‘E and C Writers Night’ at the Horse and Stables pub where we would test out works in progress and have a go at this theatre thing
Since then my love for theatre has grown and I have had short plays performed at Bunker Theatre, Tristan Bates, Southwark playhouse, Theatre N16 and Theatre 503. My short play Swipe was selected for the Little Pieces of Gold showcase, and later selected to be published in the first Little Pieces of Gold Collection Short plays with Great Roles for Women published by Routledge.
In the middle of this, I started a theatre company with my friend Bryony Cole Screw Theatre, with the goal of making funny feminist theatre. We wrote a full length play Wet a comedy about two friends who try to make a feminist porn film. This had a reading at Hope Theatre, a run at Theatre N16 from April 29th- May 3rd and Perdu Theatre Amsterdam in October 2018.
I am currently working on a full-length version of one of my short plays.


Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san (イジらないで、長瀞さん) is an anime television series adaptation of the manga Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san. It was announced on Twitter in July 2nd, 2020. The series is directed by Hirokazu Hanai at Telecom Animation Film with scripts written by Taku Kishimoto and character designs by Misaki Suzuki. It officially premiered on Tokyo MX in April 11, 2021.
Story[edit | edit source]
When an introverted male student meets a girl called Nagatoro, his life is turned upside down. She first quietly observes his reaction to verbal abuse from some other high-school girls that are not well-meaning, realizes that oddly enough in his case it may be exactly what he needs, and so begins a sequence of her teasing him. It soon becomes increasingly obvious (to the reader, not to him) that her teasing is actually sardonic, well-intentioned, and flirtatious, but he eventually starts to catch on.
Episodes[edit | edit source]
- Main Article: List of Episodes
Cast[edit | edit source]
|Hayase Nagatoro||Sumire Uesaka||TBA|


Actor ~ Playwright ~ Drag King
Ever since their mom took them to see The Lion King at the Fox Theater in St. Louis when they were three, Ann was hooked on performance and astounded by the magic of theatre. They knew that they wanted to create art, and they set out to pursue this passion at Nebraska Wesleyan University where they graduated with a B.F.A. in Acting as well as minors in Mathematics, Physics, and Writing in May of 2022.
Along the way, Ann embraced their queer identity, falling in love with their beautiful girlfriend and exploring the art of drag through their drag king persona, Andrew Genius. Being a part of the LGBTQ+ community has importantly influenced their work in drag as well as their playwriting career.
With the love and support of their community and a rockin' mullet, they plan to continue writing and performing (both in and out of drag) wherever they end up moving!
GET IN ToUCH!


Emma Watson + Cannes outfits (2013)
“My dad wouldn’t have any of this kids stuff. We would never be allowed to order from the kids’ menu in restaurants. He’d always expect me to have adult conversations. I wasn’t babied I was expected to step up when I was told to. I was never not allowed alcohol - I was seven when I had my first glass of wine, mixed with water and with a meal. I found it really strange when I got to school and everyone was like, ‘Ooh, we’ve got alcohol!’ I wasn’t interested.” -Emma Watson
Emma Watson at ‘Le Grand Journal’ TV show set during 66th Cannes Film Festival [May 17,2013]
That’s my girlfriend, you numpties!
“I’m a firm believer in karma, and I think the situation is a huge learning lesson for me. To grow and expand as a spiritual human being.” - Nikki, The Bling Ring
Emma Watson & Eddie Redmayne | 2013 MTV Movie Awards [April 14,2013]
Emma Watson accepting the ‘Trailblazer’ award at the 2013 MTV Movie Awards
The Bling Ring cast on Sneak Peek week on MTV
Happy Birthday, Emma Watson! (April 15, 1990)
Happy 23rd Birthday Emma!
Happy 23rd Birthday, Emma!
The Bling Ring  - new promotional stills


Christmas 1974 Video
A collection taken around Christmas time 1974.
So, to pay homage to one of, if not the, best Christmas movie ever made, I took this silent home movie collection and tied it together like in the movie.
This begins just before I was born, and you'll see Chris in there, the new baby in the famiily! Funny, I watch these in a whole new light now.
Christmas TIme 1974


June 16, 2008
On Friday evening, the 13th of June, almost a dozen committed weblins performed an avatar play. The weblins brought a three hour production of the “Feuerzangenbowle” (a cult movie produced in Germany n 1944) to the virtual stage. There was a lot to do beforehand, from writing the script, designing costumes (avatars), distributing roles, building the settings and directing, up to the actual performance, to the acting. There were over thirty spectators at the same time in the virtual audience. It was a great evening during which many weblins had lots of fun. You can access the picture gallery via the link. Have lots of fun and perhaps you will be part of the fun when it is once again time to make way for the weblin avatar troupe.


Rizal’s complete name was Jose Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda. He became the national hero of the Philippines after his immense contribution to the country’s fight for freedom during the Spanish colonization.
He taught that to love the country was to die for the country. His novels “Noli Me Tangere” (Touch Me Not ) and “El Filibusterismo” (The Reign of Greed) were contributory in awakening the minds of the Filipino to fight for Philippines as an independent nation. Because of his colorful life, a number of movies and stage plays were made as tributes to his patriotism.
Cesar Montano as Jose Rizal
The movie of 1998 entitled “Jose Rizal” was about the life of Dr. Jose Rizal from the time he was born up to the day he was executed by firing squad. Marilou Diaz-Abaya directed the film and later considered as one of her masterpieces or obra maestra when it won several awards in the 1998 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), 1999 FAMAS awards, 1999 Gawad Urian awards and 1999 Star Awards for Movies as the Best Direction/Director of the Year.
Cesar Montano portrayed Dr. Jose Rizal and was awarded in the MMFF’s and FAMAS as Best Actor. Jose Rizal film also garnered other big awards such as Best in Pictures, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematology, Best Movie Theme Song in both MMFF’s and FAMAS award.
A Play in Sydney, Australia
“Her Son, Jose Rizal” is a stage play production by the late Leonor Oroso Goquinco. The one-act play was set on Tom Mann Theatre in Surry Hills, Sydney. The play was directed and produced by Armando Reyes.
Jose Rizal was played by three people: Elijah Merjudio (young Rizal), RJ Rosales (Adolescent Rizal) and Manny Diel (35 year-old Rizal). The other main casts were Marilyn Mendez (Mother of Rizal- Dona Teodora), Marcel De Vera (Paciano) and Arianne Milan (Choleng).
“Sino ka ba, Jose Rizal?” translated as “Who Are You, Jose Rizal?” was a musical theatrical play first staged in 1998 by the original cast Ogie Alcasid (Rizal), Mikee Cojuangco (Leonor Rivera) and Rachel Alejandro (Josephine Bracken). The play was merely about the Rizal as a lover while at the same time showing his patriotic movements against the Spanish colonizer.
The 2011 version was a entirely different from the 1998 production. Rizal was portrayed by two young actors Gerald Santos and Rj Jimenez. Other casts and collaborators were Kathleen Hermosa (Josephine Bracken), Ellrica Gallardo (Leonor Rivera), Ronald Conception (Paciano) and others. Raul Nepomuceno Jr. was the choreographer while Nonoy Gallardo was incharged of music and libretto.
Rizal’s Sweet Stranger, a musical play talked about the untold stories of Josephine Bracken. It was directed by Dr Anton Juan , Jr. The leading cast of the play was Toni Gomez ( Josephine) and Elizabeth Tuazon as her alternate in the role of Josephine and Ariel Dayanghirang ( Rizal).
Another notable contributor in the play is Lani Misalucha as Inang Bayan (Mother Country). The play was held at St. Scholastica Auditorium in celebration for 150th birthday of our national hero, produced by Samasama project and Circa-Pintig.


Grace trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and with NYT Rep Company. Acting credits include Father Brown (BBC) The Ensemble Project (Lyric Hammersmith) Pride and Prejudice (Sheffield crucible) Cosmic Jives (Albany Theatre) Humans (Ch4/Kudos). Work as a writer includes Stand Up Poetry (Itch and Scratch/ Give Festival) Verge (Etch/Pleasance).
Scriptwriting graduate of the University of East Anglia. Alumni of the Royal Court's playwriting group. Scratches of Recreation and Pumice Stone with Etch Theatre. Rehearsed public reading of Recreation at the Arcola Theatre.
Paul Roberts is a screenwriter and playwright. His first play - Pink Confetti - was long-listed for the 2013 Bruntwood Prize, and was produced by Etch Theatre at the Hoxton Courtyard in 2015 and was selected for the BABEL Festival in Romania. A Black Heart of Petty Malice - a short and Paul's second play - won the Westminster Prize from Soho Theatre. A third play - Come Home, Badger Gash - was runner-up in the 2014 Papatango Prize. Currently he is long-listed for both the BBC Radio's Alfred Bradley Award and the C4 ComingUp scheme.
Adam graduated from RADA in 2013 and since then has worked frequently in Theatre, Film and Television, including: 'Suffragette' (pathe), 'the Guvnors' (fulwell 73), 'a Young Doctors Notebook' and 'Upstart Crow' (both for the BBC).
Theatre includes; 'The Hard Man' (finborough theatre) 'No Villain' (old red lion theatre) and the Grosvenor Park open air theatre rep season which included playing Romeo in 'Romeo and Juliet' and numerous parts in 'The merry wives of Windsor' and 'Wind In the willows'.
Adam has been a close associate of Etch from the beginning, performing in Etch scratch nights 4 times.
Andrew is a theatre director and writer who stages new writing, devised work and adaptations internationally. Andrew makes arresting ensemble theatre that stirs pertinent debate. With a background in audiovisual design, Andrew creates stimulating, visual work through collaboration and play. In 2009, he formed Squint theatre company (winners of the Pleasance Charlie Hartill Fund 2015). Andrew is a graduate of the Birkbeck Theatre Directing MFA, an Associate Director of the National Youth Theatre and was Resident Assistant Director at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in 2012/13. In recent months Andrew has directed a large-scale, bilingual adaptation of Arabian Nights in Saudi Arabia and premiered Squint's Long Story Short at Charing Cross Theatre, Molly at Pleasance Edinburgh and In Arabia, We’d All Be Kings at Royal Welsh College.
Oliver trained as a director at Drama Centre London, his theatre work includes: 2015 Pink Confetti (Etch Theatre Company) 2014– The Dog, The Night and The Knife (Arcola Theatre). 2013 – We Really Should Do Something; (Bush Theatre Attic). Little Baby Nothing; (Theatre 503). After The Ball; (Theatre 503). Rules; (Theatre 503). 2012 – Bearded; (Lost Theatre). The Criminals; (Platform Theatre). ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore; (Drama Centre London). 2011 – Footfalls; (Drama Centre London,). The Misanthrope; (Drama Centre London). As Associate Director: 2010 – The Emperor Self; (Arcola Theatre). 2008 – David Almond’s Clay; (Yvonne Arnaud Theatre/ St Augustine’s Edinburgh).


Middle School Ensemble (Ages 12-14)
March 8 @ 4:30 pm
This all-star group of young actors will put together a showcase with scenes specifically chosen for them, this semester’s theme will be Harry Potter. From comedy to drama, we will develop a way of working that is not based on ‘who gets the part’ but ‘you got the part . . . what will you do with it?’. Together we will create our own story of the Wizarding World and you will create your own witch or wizard.


Projects with Passion
Adam Coggin VFX
Adam began his career as an artist intern working for Black Sun Entertainment on a little passion project called Azureus Rising. Since then, he’s contributed to blockbusters like The Avengers, Iron Man 3, and Thor: The Dark World, among many others. In his time at Marvel, Adam worked with Kevin Feige, Victoria Alonso, and Joss Whedon as a “Post-Visionary” for which his work would be nominated for an Academy Award. Later Adam would work with Gareth Edwards as a Post-Vis Supervisor during the final stages of post-production on Godzilla. As a Senior Compositor and Sequence Supervisor for CoSA VFX Adam earned a 2015 Primetime Emmy nomination for Gotham, in addition to contributing to Westworld, Minority Report, and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Adam transitioned to the role of VFX Supervisor for CoSA's Atlanta -based film and television projects.
Coming full circle, Adam has returned as the VFX Supervisor and Co-Producer for Black Sun Entertainment on their continued passion project, Azureus: The Animated Series.


that is the very question that being asked on the movie poster of Bulan Terbelah di Langit Amerika 2.
was it Columbus arrived after moslem arrived at America? so, who is the discoverer of America?
as part of Indonesian Hijab Blogger i got a chance to attended the Gala Premier on December 3rd 2016 at XXI Plaza Indonesia, Jakarta.
so, just begin the movie review.
if you watched the first movie (if you not, you can read my review here), you will remember how the movie gives you goosebumps every time they told us about the secret of Islam in America.
fortunately, the second movie do the same thing (at least for me it is).
Hanum (played by Acha Septriasa) get another assignment from his boss to find evidence that Moslem are the discoverer of America. evidence that Moslem Hui from China arrived in America before Columbus.
in order to find that evidence, Hanum accompanied by Rangga, her husband have to go to San Francisco.
in San Francisco, Hanum meet the descendants of Moslem Hui that took refugee in America because they got genocide on their own country. and they said, they got the evidence of Islam in America, evidence of Cheng Ho arrived before Columbus.
what is the evidence? and is that really Moslem discover America?
you can get the answer to that on the movie which release for public on December 8th, 2016
in between the main story, we got another drama between family and lover whose tear apart because a misunderstanding and we got the message that Islam is peace and Rahmatan Lil'Alamin.
and once again, i fall in love all over again with Islam. and i hope you do too when you watch this move.


If you go
When: 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday; other show times are 8 p.m. Feb. 28 and March 1, March 7 and 8 and 2 p.m. March 2 and 9
Where: Arts United Center, 303 E. Main St.
Admission: $29 general admission, $24 Sunday senior matinees, and $17 ages 23 and younger; call 424-5220 or go to www.fwcivic.org
Producing a comedy is serious business – something the cast of Fort Wayne Civic Theatre’s “Spamalot” knows well.
“I think the key to comedy is to take it seriously,” actor Scott Rumage says. “Let the characters and the character’s work drive where the comedy is.”
Known as the musical “lovingly ripped off” from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” “Spamalot” brings the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table to Arts United Center on Saturday.
Rumage, who will play the unwavering King Arthur on a quest from God, says he loves performing in comedies and couldn’t imagine turning this show down.
“One of my favorite things is to make people laugh. It brings a great joy to me as an actor,” he says. “To hear the audience laughing and enjoying the show, it’s a lot of fun.”
The Tony Award-winning musical is written by Eric Idle, one of the original members of Monty Python, the late-1960s British sketch comedy troupe.
Doug King, Civic Theatre director and choreographer, says fans of the “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” TV show and “Holy Grail” will see familiar scenes with the addition of musical numbers, including a tap dance scene.
“This one is an outrageous comedy and a lot fun. On top of that, it brings something sentimental to a lot of people, especially, for anyone who watched ‘Monty Python,’ ” he says. “As soon as you sit down, you start hearing the old skits that take you back right away.”
King, a New Haven native, grew up performing for Civic Theatre. He was a part of the national touring production of “Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat” in 1992 starring Donny Osmond. He has also worked with Indianapolis’ Beef and Boards Dinner Theater as a director, actor and choreographer.
For King, taking the helm as director and choreographer makes his production cohesive.
“I love it actually. I don’t think I’m a control person, or at least that’s what I tell myself,” he says. “I think it works for the show when the styles are completely together. If you’re working with a director, you have to make sure your style fits to what he wants. It’s just easier to do it all because then you know you’re going to match.”
King said he wanted to include a few things from the “Holy Grail” film that he says were missing from the musical. He also says the show has transformed as the cast prepares for the production. He was interested in finding actors who would be able to keep up with the comedic timing of the material.
“Comedy is really hard. You can’t just throw it out there. If (actors) don’t have a certain rhythm for it, then you can’t go very far with it,” he says. “I looked for character people that could perform multiple parts and dialogue with accents. From there, I could teach them to dance as much I can.”
Rumage says the audiences will enjoy what the cast will deliver.
“The timing is certainly everything, and we have a cast that understands that,” he says. “It’s absolutely fantastic to have people who really get the show.”
So what should the audience expect to take away from this show? Well, King says it certainly won’t be Shakespeare.
“It’s corny musical theater, but it’s corny at its best,” he says. “It’s just great dumb fun, and I mean that endearingly.”


The Duology of Sherlock Holmes and A Game of Shadows
Holding Sherlock Holmes dear to my heart I was delighted to watch the 2009 adaptation directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. Having started reading the classic novels and short stories during junior year of high school, the release of the film only propelled me further into the many adaptations of the character and continually draws me into new ones. The soundtrack is great, the action fit the canon, the chemistry between our two lead actors is entertaining, and the mystery is fun to follow due to the truth hiding underneath the shadow of the supernatural, something past Holmes’ story The Hound of the Baskervilles did to great effect. Two years later and all the key people return for A Game of Shadows, this time featuring Holmes’ greatest adversary, Professor Moriarty. While my younger self initially enjoyed the film as a follow up, frequent viewings and thinking since has degraded it to a mediocre follow up with some bright spots to save it from utter failure.
Immediately apparent in Sherlock Holmes (2009) is that the film does not shy away from, and instead embraces, the fact that the Holmes of the classic novels was physically adept and knowledgeable in hand to hand combat. The film combines this with his rapid deductions, as he observes a combatants physical body for weaknesses and proceeds to list out the varying blows and strikes necessary to knock them out. This is done at the very beginning as he infiltrates Blackwoods ritualistic killing grounds and again later during an underground boxing match. A Game of Shadows succeeds in expanding upon this, with an introductory fight flashing images and heightened sounds in place of a methodical breakdown. Holmes later gives a detailed breakdown but is interrupted by Zimza’s throwing knives midway through its execution. Lastly, his mental projections are turned against him, as Moriarty recognizes it and begins his own list of counters and blows until Holmes realizes his ultimate defeat. These scenes are a clever combination of the often overlooked fact that Holmes was an excellent fighter in addition to his wealth of knowledge. Deductions on the opponents status and likely responses, as well as their time of recovery, are medically detached. This matches Holmes’ approach to not just criminal cases but interpersonal matters.
Humor in the 2009 film came from dialogue between Holmes and Watson and the formers manic energy when moving around the scene. From his thinly contained panic at the presence of Irene Adler, to shutting down when Watson proposes a meeting with his soon-to-be-fiance, Mary Morstan, Robert Downey Jr. does a phenomenal job portraying Holmes in all of his eccentricities. A Game of Shadows continues this but tends to rely on greatly exaggerated scenarios. Holmes crossdresses in order to infiltrate a train; his brother walks around fully naked despite the presence of Mary; Holmes drives an automobile of his own design, and has a fear, or distrust, of horses to the point that he rides a miniature one. Due to A Game of Shadows’ reliance on an excess of the strange, the humor fails to capitalize on the success of the first. Even the dialogue, one of the greatest assets of the original, is jeopardized by a recycled conflict.
In Sherlock Holmes (2009), the primary conflict is the mystery regarding Blackwood’s return from the dead and his end goal. The secondary conflict is that Watson is moving in with his future-fiance Mary. Holmes does not want this to happen but can’t outright say it because to do so would be to acknowledge his attachment to Watson. In Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows the primary conflict is the mystery regarding Moriarty’s bombings and his end goal. The secondary conflict is that Watson is marrying and leaving on honeymoon with Mary and Holmes does not want this to happen but can’t outright say it because to do so would be to acknowledge his attachment to Watson. While the primary conflict actually differentiates itself by playing on international tension in Europe and the inevitability of the first world war, I cannot forgive the recycling of tension underlying Holmes’ and Watson’s relationship.
At the end of the 2009 film, Holmes regifts Irene Adler’s stolen gem to Watson as an engagement ring. This serves as both an apology for causing Watson to lose the original one during the case and as his blessing in regards to their union. However in A Game of Shadows it is reverted back to Holmes complaining about how Watson is making a mistake in marrying Mary. It is as if the filmmakers could not come up with another secondary conflict. They could have centered it around Holmes’ self-destruction during his obsession with Moriarty and Watson’s attempts to stem the tide of mortality threatening to consume Holmes. Or they could have evolved the Watson versus Sebastian Moran angle they so desperately wanted to play into but potentially left open for a undeveloped third film. Instead we retread a conflict solved by the first, something that really sullies sequels and other Sherlock adaptations. Star Trek: Into Darkness was criticized for retreading Kirk’s stubbornness, and by the fourth season of the BBC’s Sherlock series people were tired of Holmes constantly teetering between an asshole and caring about those around him.
Matching RDJ’s manic portrayal of Holmes is the soundtrack to the 2009 film, which has a cohesion and energy to it that creates a wonderful album that frequently drives my focus when working or writing. Each track has a recurring reliance on violin and piano for its core sound. One of my favorite pieces of trivia regarding the soundtrack is Hans Zimmer’s quote, “We rented 20th Century Fox’s underground car park one Sunday and did hideous things to a piano.” Tracks vary between rise and falls of volume, with the opening track “Discombobulate” being the greatest example as the opening features a few light notes before a sharp change to bombastic orchestra. Another standout is “Not in Blood, But in Bond” which accompanies a slow-motion, audio-drained scene of a dock being blown apart. The drab violin solo gives way to a mournful orchestra to accentuate the emotion of the scene.
While Hans Zimmer returns for A Game of Shadows the full soundtrack features too many tracks that simply do not fit the mood of the rest. The opening three tracks form one long theme and acts with the intention to usurp “Discombobulate”, as the introduction is nearly the same. However, instead of an instant jump into bombast, it is a long, drawn out process with some crescendos that crash like waves in and out. “Tick Tock” is the standout for this album, as it patiently builds and builds until it finally breaks into a full on sprint forward, spilling its energy into the next track. Unfortunately, “It’s So Overt It’s Covert”, “Romanian Wind”, “To The Opera!”, “Two Mules for Sister Sara”, and “Die Forelle” cause such confusion as to the overall tone of the soundtrack that it derails the quality.
A successor to “Not in Blood, But in Bond” is seen in “Zu Viele Füchse Für Euch Hänsel” which plays during a great sequence in which our heroes are attempting to escape Moriarty’s forces in a forest. The framerate frequently slows down to showcase bullets destroying the surrounding trees. An inspired section within this sequence shows the camera moving in unison with the positioning, loading, and firing of a large artillery gun. This camera movement plays into the soundtracks transference of energy from the film into the audience by transforming the camera from a still observer to active participant. Sadly small glimmers of high quality such as this cannot save the otherwise mundane sequel.
Irene Adler’s insertion among the conflict of the first film, as both an interested third party and clever way to lean into Moriarty for the sequel, was wonderfully done. She brings about a panic in Holmes when she first appears, with her legacy as making an “ass” out of Holmes twice reinforced by her disarming of thieves while retaining a flirtatious demeanor. Such a strong character with a unique relationship with Holmes has such potential that it was a shock to see her removed so early on in A Game of Shadows. I understand the reasoning behind it though, as killing Irene both establishes Moriarty’s cruelty and capability given her status as a beloved figure in both our and Holmes’ hearts and her history of beating Holmes at his own game, twice. The scene itself is evocative, as Moriarty causes the entire restaurant to exit upon his cue and kills Irene via poison despite her request for a fresh batch of tea to be served in place of what was awaiting her. Causing the exit of one strong character to establish the arrival of the villain is effective, but the impact doesn’t have much weight beyond the initial shock. Moriarty’s intent to harm Watson establishes his cruelty on its own and his capability is shown via a misdirection when Holmes goes to the opera instead of the hotel wherein a bombing compounds the already present anxiety between European countries. New character Zimza subs in for Irene but fails to deliver anything close to the performance of Rachel McAdams.
Most of A Game of Shadows feels rushed and lacking much thought. The removal of Irene Adler early on makes a good initial impact emotionally but lacks any depth upon further reflection. Holmes gives his life, but that sacrifice is cheapened by a final reveal. While I understand the necessity behind having to show Holmes alive for a still-undeveloped third film, it removes any emotion of his sacrifice to eliminate Moriarty out of fear for Watson and Mary’s life. Disguises are overdone instead of subtle, the soundtrack frequently undermines itself, and some character interactions just fall flat. A conflict between Holmes and Watson is recycled, the humor continually fails to do anything clever, and while Moriarty proves to be a sinister and entertaining antagonist, it doesn’t save the movie from failing to continue the success of the first. Sherlock Holmes (2009) is an excellent adaptation of Holmes and Watson in their comradery, in Watson’s own capability separate from Holmes, in the exemplification of Holmes’ combat prowess, and as a mystery with supernatural leanings that turn out to be scientific in nature. Given more time I do believe a third film could be great, I just wish A Game of Shadows was better than it is.
Edits made 2/7/2018 for clarity.


Erika Lust XCONFESSIONS Vol. 2 DVD
Introducing the second compilation of erotic short films written by anonymous fans and followers at xconfessions.com and brought to life by acclaimed indie director Erika Lust. Part of an ongoing series, this dvd showcases the 10 best confessions submitted to the site during the first half of 2014. Highlighting Erika’s trademark cinematic style, featuring talented new performers, and using original stories ranging from spanking to foot fetishes, threesomes and voyeurism.
Once again pushing the boundaries of contemporary adult film, XCONFESSIONS is Erika’s most ambitious project to date: resulting in nearly-constant production of complex and unique material for the first quality crowd sourced explicit cinema in existence. Compelling characters, edgy themes, titillating taboos, elegant aesthetics and sensual sex combine to ensure that you’ll never think about porn the same way after seeing Erika Lust’s greatest erotic masterpiece!


Movie: The Magic Hour
Romaji: Za majikku awa
Director: Koki Mitani
Writer: Koki Mitani
Executive Producers: Takashi Ishihara , Kenji Shimizu, Minami Ichikawa
Producer: Chihiro Kameyama, Yoshinari Shimatani
Cinematographer: Hideo Yamamoto
Release Date: June 7, 2008
Runtime : 136 min.
Studio: Fuji Television Network, Inc.
Bingo (Satoshi Tsumabuki) has stolen away the girlfriend (Eri Fukatsu) of his crime syndicate boss (Toshiyuki Nishida), and now he faces an ultimatum: find him a legendary assassin named Della Togashi, or die. But time is running out and Della’s whereabouts remain moot. As a desperate measure, Bingo decides to hire a failing actor, Taiki Murata (Koichi Sato) to play the part of the elusive assassin. Believing he’ll be starring in an epic gangster film in the role of his life, Taiki comes to the port town of Sucago, where the film is to be shot. In his attempt to convince his boss that he has found Della Togashi, Bingo inadvertently winds up indenturing Taiki into the service of the town’s crime syndicate just as it prepares for a major gang war.
1. The fictional port town of “Sucago,” used as the backdrop of the movie, was built entirely at Toho Studio. Eventually taking up over five studios at the Toho Studios,
2. The “magic hour” is a film term referring to a brief period of time between dusk and nightfall when the most beautiful footage can be shot. Spanning the time when the sun has dropped below the horizon to the moment when the last lingering rays are blotted out by darkness, it is the world bathed in an ethereally pale light.
Cast: Satoshi Tsumabuki, Koichi Sato, Eri Fukatsu, Toshiyuki Nishida, Haruka Ayase, Fumiyo Kohinata
Movie: A Night in Nude: Salvation
Romaji: Nudo no yoru: Ai wa oshiminaku ubau
Director: Takashi Ishii
Writer: Takashi Ishii
Release Date: October 2, 2010
Runtime: 127 min.
Distributor: Klock Worx
Jiro (Naoto Takenaka) is a man who can do anything for you for a price. Part odd jobs man and part private eye he takes on tasks as simple as clearing out storage lockers to tracking down lost items. That’s what he’s asked to do by a beautiful young woman (Hiroko Sato) who shows up at his warehouse living space one afternoon. This young woman asks Jiro to help her track down a lost Rolex watch that she says was accidentally thrown out of a helicopter while she was scattering the ashes of her late father. Jiro knows the story isn’t true, but he needs the money so he and the young woman begin poking around miles of woodland in the proverbial search for a needle in a haystack. Miraculously Jiro finds the wrist watch, but it looks to be caked in rotting meat. Needy but not stupid Jiro hands the watch over to a sympathetic police woman he knows for analysis. Little does Jiro know that the discovery of this Rolex will lead to another case, one filled with violence, sex and danger, one that will lead him directly into the heart of darkness.– Toronto J Film Pow-Wow
Hiroko Sato – Nami


What’s the best movie I can watch on Netflix? We’ve all asked ourselves this question, only to spend the next 15 minutes scrolling through the streaming service’s oddly specific genre menus and getting overwhelmed by the constantly shifting trend menus. Netflix’s huge catalog of movies continues to expand day by day, week by week, month by month. This makes the challenge of keeping up to date with best the service has to offer — let alone finding something the best of what to watch after a long day — a task that feels herculean at best and impossible at worst for someone not plugged into its inscrutable rhythms.
We’re here to help. For those suffering from choice paralysis in July, we’ve narrowed down your options to not only our favorite current movies on the platform, but the best movies Netflix has to offer.
If you’re looking for a specific genre, we’ve got the best action movies on Netflix, the best horror movies on Netflix, the best thrillers on Netflix, and the best comedy movies on Netflix ready for you. And for our readers across the pond, we have a list of the best movies on Netflix U.K.
We’ll be updating this list weekly as Netflix cycles movies in and out of its library, so be sure to check back next time you’re stuck in front of the app’s home screen. Our latest update added Collateral as our editor’s pick.
This week’s editor’s pick
Genre: Neo-noir action thriller
Run time: 1h 55m
Director: Michael Mann
Cast: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo
Tom Cruise delivers one of the most unique (and terrifying) performances of his career as the antagonist of Michael Mann’s 2004 crime thriller Collateral. Starring alongside Jamie Foxx, Cruise plays Vincent, a steely-eyed contract killer hired to commit a series of murders around LA in a single night. Vincent’s modus operandi is to abduct cabbies to chauffer him between targets, pin his murders on his unwitting accomplices, and then promptly execute them in order to erase all ties of his own involvement. Things hit a snag in his perfect plan when his latest victim, Max (Foxx), destroys his briefcase filled with all the information on his targets. As Vincent works to improvise and ultimately finish his contract, Max must devise a way to escape from Vincent’s clutches and bring him to justice.
Collateral’s nocturnal lighting and brilliant cinematography courtesy of Dion Beebe and Paul Cameron combine to make for one of the most hypnotic and memorable portraits of LA’s metropolitan sprawl ever committed to film. It’s hard to choose a favorite Michael Mann movie, but for all these reasons and more, Collateral sits firmly in my personal top five ranking of the director’s best. —Toussaint Egan
The best movies on Netflix
Run time: 1h 45m
Director: Mati Diop
Cast: Ibrahima Traoré, Mame Bineta Sane, Amadou Mbow
It’s hard to talk too much about Atlantics without giving away what makes the experience of watching it so special. It’s a beautiful, haunting love story with a tangibly beating heart, touching on romance as well as grief, class, labor, and the lingering effects of oppression. Shot gorgeously by director Mati Diop and cinematographer Claire Mathon, it was the first movie directed by a Black woman to be featured in competition in Cannes (it won the Grand Prix award, losing out on the Palme d’Or to Parasite), and is one of the most remarkable feature film debuts for a director in recent memory. —Pete Volk
The Baahubali movies
Genre: Epic fantasy
Run time: 2h 39m (Baahubali: The Beginning); 2h 47m (Baahubali 2: The Conclusion)
Director: S.S. Rajamouli
Cast: Prabhas, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty
In Western terms, this Tollywood production from the future director of RRR, the most expensive Indian film at the time of its release, is like a biblical epic by way of Marvel Studios, with a little Hamlet and Step Up thrown in for good measure. The Beginning chronicles the life of Shivudu, an adventurer with superhuman strength who escapes his provincial life by scaling a skyscraper-sized waterfall, aids and romances a rebel warrior named Avanthika, then teams up with her to rescue a kidnapped queen from an evil emperor. Exploding with hyper-choreographed fight sequences and CG spectacle (not to mention a handful of musical numbers with equal bravura), The Beginning is 159 minutes of mythical excess, going big like only Indian film can and resting on the muscular shoulders of its hero, the single-name actor Prabhas. If you fall hard for it, get pumped — this is only part one. The twist leads into Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, another two-and-a-half-hour epic currently streaming on Netflix. —Matt Patches
Genre: Crime thriller
Run time: 2h 13m
Director: Michael Mann
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Tang Wei, Viola Davis
A sleek and sexy thriller that makes hacking look extremely cool, Michael Mann’s unfairly maligned Blackhat stands tall as a high mark in digital filmmaking. It is peak Mann — if you’re not a fan of the Heat director’s work, your mileage may vary. In the film, Chen Dawai (Wang Leehom), a captain in the PLA’s cyber warfare unit, is tasked with getting to the bottom of a computer attack that melts down a nuclear power plant in Hong Kong. While liaising with the FBI investigation, Chen insists on the aid of his old friend Nicholas Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth, who has never been hotter or cooler), an imprisoned genius hacker. When Hathaway and Chen’s sister (Tang Wei), a networking engineer also helping with the case, fall for each other, it adds an extra wrinkle to an already high stakes situation. Viola Davis and Holt McCallany feature as FBI agents who aren’t super happy to have to rely on a notorious criminal.
With sharp digital cinematography and unforgettable set pieces, Blackhat explores our changing global relationship to technology. Mann makes tangible the microscopic computer systems that run the world: an extreme close-up of internal wires leading to a motherboard like a vast interconnected highway; a computer fan that sounds like a jet engine. Events that in other films would be shown as a boring stroke of keys are instead depicted as hypnotic processes happening under the surface of the visible world. —PV
The Debt Collector movies
Genre: Action comedy
Run time: 1h 35m (The Debt Collector); 1h 37m (Debt Collectors aka The Debt Collector 2)
Director: Jesse V. Johnson
Cast: Scott Adkins, Louis Mandylor, Vladimir Kulich
A buddy comedy by way of direct-to-video action specialist Jesse V. Johnson, The Debt Collector is the first of a series of two very good movies starring Scott Adkins (Avengement) and Louis Mandylor (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) as a wise-cracking duo collecting debts for the mob. Adkins plays French, a down-on-his-luck martial arts instructor who turns to debt collecting to pay his own debts off. Mandylor plays a boy named Sue, the veteran debt collector French is paired up with for his first day of work.
As the two get deeper into their work, they discover a scheme that puts a young child at risk, and consider risking it all themselves to help. Adkins and Mandylor have terrific chemistry in the lead roles, bringing this out of the echelon of “solid DTV movies” and into the realm of “great hangout flicks.” Also, Tony Todd (Candyman) plays a mobster named Barbosa. And the sequel rules, too. —PV
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart
Genre: Romantic comedy
Run time: 1h 55m
Directors: Johnnie To, Wai Ka-fai
Cast: Louis Koo, Daniel Wu, Gao Yuanyuan
Johnnie To is one of our great modern directors, equally adept in hard-boiled triad crime dramas and light-hearted romantic comedies alike. 2011’s Don’t Go Breaking My Heart falls in the latter category, and is one of the many high marks of the Hong Kong director’s legendary career. Fresh off the end of a long-term relationship, Chi-yan (Gao Yuanyuan) is an analyst for an investment bank who finds herself in the middle of a love triangle. On one side, there’s Sean (Louis Koo), a CEO who works across the street from Chi-yan and yearns for her through the tall corporate glass windows that separate them. On the other, there’s Kevin (the always-dreamy Daniel Wu), an alcoholic former architect who helps Chi-yan move on and is inspired by her to start creating again. What follows is a sincere, funny, and truly charming romantic time. —PV
Genre: Revenge thriller
Run time: 2h 14m
Director: S.S. Rajamouli
Cast: Sudeepa, Nani, Samantha
Eega is a delightful slapstick romantic comedy from the director of RRR, about a fly and his human girlfriend conspiring to ruin a man’s life and then murder him for vengeance. If that doesn’t sound up your alley, I’m not sure what will.
S.S. Rajamouli has wowed audiences worldwide with his bombastic, exciting historical epic RRR, Polygon’s #1 movie of 2022 (and recent winner for a Golden Globe for best original song for the incredible “Naatu Naatu”).
In this very post, we’ve encouraged readers to watch his previous two historical epics, the Baahubali series (also available on Netflix). But one of his earlier entries, made a decade ago, was recently added to Netflix, and it is one of the most fun movies you could ever possibly watch.
Eega tells the story of a man who is murdered by a wealthy businessman. After being reincarnated as a fly, he makes it his mission to exact vengeance on the man who killed him. As a fly.
With groundbreaking visual effects that pushes digital filmmaking forward, Rajamouli injects a delightful energy and lighter tone into the genre of “dark revenge thriller,” with thrilling set pieces (stakes include “our hero gets stuck on a tennis ball being used in a cricket match” and “our hero causes a traffic jam by buzzing in the ears of a crossing guard”) and plenty of visual gags inspired by slapstick and screwball comedies alike. It’s all balanced by a compelling romance that sells you on the movie’s emotional stakes in the first half hour, culminating in an experience unlike any other. Rajamouli is just special. —PV
Ghosts of Sugar Land
Genre: Documentary short
Run time: 21m
Director: Bassam Tariq
Director Bassam Tariq recently got replaced on Marvel’s upcoming Blade movie, and it’s as good a reason as any to catch up with his masterful 2019 short. Best known for the hip-hop drama Mogul Mowgli starring Riz Ahmed, Tariq’s previous movie is an enthralling documentary well worth the 21-minute running time.
Ghosts of Sugar Land is about a young group of friends in the suburbs of Texas, and what happens when one of them becomes radicalized by ISIS. A compelling portrait of an America we don’t often get to see depicted on screen, Tariq offers no easy answers, instead leaning on the shock and despair of the friends left behind, and on the dangers of isolation and loneliness in a country that often seems on the brink of collapse. A winner of multiple festival awards, including the 2019 Sundance Short Film Jury Award, Ghosts of Sugar Land is not to be missed. —PV
Genre: Action thriller
Run time: 1h 51m
Director: Joe Wright
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Vicky Krieps
Hanna is an absolute knockout, packed with bracing action sequences, stylish visuals, and a pitch-perfect score courtesy of British EDM maestros The Chemical Brothers. Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird) stars as Hanna, a 15-year-old girl living in rural northern Finland with her survivalist father (Eric Bana). When Hanna is kidnapped by special forces and detained in an underground CIA complex, she’ll have to rely on all that her father taught her in order to escape her captors and learn the truth about her own past. Clocking in at just shy of two hours, Hanna is an exhilarating action thriller that features two standout performances in the form of Ronan and Cate Blanchett as Marissa Wiegler, a CIA official with intimate knowledge of Hanna’s family and history. —TE
Genre: Symphonic heist drama
Run time: 2h 50m
Director: Michael Mann
Cast: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer
Michael Mann’s Heat is one of the greatest movies of all time. Don’t bother debating with me on this; if you know you know, and if you don’t, you’re flat-out wrong.
What other film has Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, two of the greatest performers of their generation, starring in a cat-and-mouse crime thriller that erupts into a full-blown shootout in the middle of downtown Los Angeles and climaxes on a bustling airport tarmac at night?
What other film has Al Pacino screaming “’Cause she’s got a great ass” at the top of his lungs like a lunatic while interrogating one of his nemesis’ terrified accomplices? Or Tom Sizemore signing up for one final heist with De Niro’s crew by coolly replying, “For me, the action is the juice”? For that matter, what other movie ends with a needledrop of Moby’s “God Moving Over the Face of the Waters,” one of the most inspired end-credits music choices of all time?
With blistering action sequences capped by impeccably staged gunfights, a visceral and moving plot of self-destructive obsession and loneliness, a stunning supporting cast studded with pitch-perfect performances from the likes of Amy Brenneman (The Leftovers) and Dennis Haysbert (Far From Heaven), and a powerful score composed by Elliot Goldenthal (Drugstore Cowboy), Heat is more than just great heist thriller. It’s a bona fide masterpiece. —TE
Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids
Genre: Concert movie
Run time: 1h 30m
Director: Jonathan Demme
Cast: Justin Timberlake
In 1984, director Jonathan Demme made one of the finest concert films of all-time with the Talking Heads in the raucously triumphant Stop Making Sense. A little more than three decades later, Demme’s final feature film was another joyous concert movie.
Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids depicts the final show of a long tour for Timberlake and his excellent backing band at the gigantic MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. In typical Demme fashion, the staging and framing of the energetic pop numbers is electric, but he also takes time to show just how much work goes into setting up and breaking down such a large production.
Demme and Timberlake’s collaboration spurred from a mutual respect — Timberlake, like anyone else with good taste, is a massive fan of Stop Making Sense, and Demme reached out after watching The Social Network. The movie is dedicated to Prince, who died shortly before the movie’s release. —PV
Genre: Sports drama
Run time: 3h 43m
Director: Ashutosh Gowariker
Cast: Aamir Khan, Gracy Singh, Rachel Shelley
Ashutosh Gowariker’s timeless sports movie classic stars Aamir Khan as Bhuvan, a confident young man from a village that is dealing with both British oppression and a long-standing drought. When the wicked Captain Russell (Paul Blackthorne, who is deliriously good in this) challenges the village to a game of cricket (which they do not know how to play) as a bet, with their owed taxes (which they cannot afford to pay) on the line, Bhuvan takes it upon himself to form a team and learn the game. What follows is a soaring sports drama with humor, heart, and a show-stopping match finale. Lagaan was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film at the 74th Academy Awards. —PV
The Lost Bullet movies
Run time: 1h 32m; 1h 38m
Director: Guillaume Pierret
Cast: Alban Lenoir, Stéfi Celma, Nicolas Duvauchelle
I’m excited to watch AKA this weekend, the new hardboiled French crime thriller from Netflix. Co-written by Morgan S. Dalibert (who directed the movie) and former stuntman Alban Lenoir (who stars in it), the movie also prominently features former international soccer superstar Eric Cantona.
Dalibert and Lenoir previously collaborated on the excellent pair of Lost Bullet movies, where Dalibert served as the director of photography and Lenoir starred as Lino, a genius mechanic who finds himself pulled into a world of corrupt police officers.
Both Lost Bullet movies are pure jolts of adrenaline, filled with vehicular mayhem and explosive action. The first movie is leaner, with a simple premise executed to perfection, while the sequel ramps things up with even more jaw-dropping stunts, led by car stunt coordinator David Julienne, who also worked on the incredible Athena and is the grandson of the great Rémy Julienne.
We’ve highlighted these movies before on this list, but it’s worth doing so again this week because of their relevance to AKA. I’m sure it’ll make one hell of a triple feature. —PV
Run time: 2h 12m
Director: Michael Mann
Cast: Jamie Foxx, Colin Farrell, Gong Li
Michael Mann has made a number of certified cinematic bangers across his long and illustrious career, like his 1995 symphonic crime drama Heat — one of my all-time favorite movies. But no other film of his oeuvre is more quintessentially “Mann-core” than Miami Vice, the feature-length adaptation of the 1984 crime drama series Mann produced starring Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas.
This time, Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx star as James “Sonny” Crockett and Ricardo “Rico” Tubbs, a pair of Miami police detectives working in the underbelly of the city’s criminal element. While working a late-night sting operation targeting a notorious sex trafficker, Sonny and Rico are drawn into an undercover FBI investigation involving white supremacists and a Colombian drug cartel. While Sonny unexpectedly finds himself enamored with Isabella, the lover of a dangerous cartel kingpin, Rico is faced with a devastating situation when his girlfriend is kidnapped by the Aryan Brotherhood.
The plot couldn’t be any further from the point, though. Here’s the real heart of Miami Vice’s enduring appeal: It simply doesn’t look or feel like any other crime drama of its era. Mann’s experiment with digital photography yields a level of uncanny realism through its landscape of crushed brown and black textures and bleached white beach vistas. It’s a carefully calibrated and intimate crime drama that has more on its mind than just guns and chase sequences, though it certainly has its share of those. It’s a film that oozes a sense of cool entirely on its own terms, a grand experiment that has yielded a cult following and reappraisal as one of the director’s best. In short, Miami Vice is a vibe. —TE
The Metamorphosis of Birds
Run time: 1h 41m
Director: Catarina Vasconcelos
Cast: Manuel Rosa, Ana Vasconcelos, Henrique Vasconcelos
Catarina Vasconcelos’ 2020 feature debut is a difficult one to sum up in a trailer, let alone in words, and therein ultimately lies its appeal. Essentially an avant-garde documentary drama, The Metamorphosis of Birds chronicles the director’s own family history: the meeting and love affair between her grandparents, the childhood of their children growing up in the absence of their mariner father, and the fatal tragedy that rends their lives asunder and haunts them to this day like a lingering ghost.
Every shot and sequence of Vasconcelos’ experimental 16mm opus is beatific in its Magritte-like strangeness. It’s a series of images and sounds accompanied by the narration of letters and conversations between the members of the family that coalesce into a cinematic tableau of uncanny beauty and heart-wrenching tenderness. True to the spirit of its title, The Metamorphosis of Birds is a truly transformative work of emotional storytelling, one which beckons the audience to stare deeply into the intimate, unspoken corners of another family’s decades-long process of turning pain into wisdom and thereby gleaning a deeper insight into their own lives. Turn off your phone, find the largest screen possible, and give yourself over to this film. You’ll be thankful you did. —TE
Run time: 1h 51m
Director: Will Merrick/Nick Johnson
Cast: Storm Reid, Joaquim de Almeida, Ken Leung
This standalone sequel to the 2018 screenlife mystery thriller Searching and a spiritual sequel to Aneesh Chaganty’s 2020 psychological thriller Run is not only one of the best thrillers of the year, but one of the best movies available on Netflix. The directorial debut of co-directors Will Merrick and Nick Johnson, Missing stars Storm Reid (A Wrinkle in Time) as June Allen, a teenage girl struggling to cope with the loss of her father who died of a brain tumor. When June’s mother Grace (Nia Long) seemingly disappears after a week-long trip to Columbia with her boyfriend Kevin (Ken Leung), she resorts to all her skills as an amateur online sleuth to uncovering the mystery.
Brilliantly edited, well-performed, and riveting throughout, Missing is inventive take on the screenlife subgenre of mystery thrillers for our hyper-online times. The film is the best sort of surprise: An unassuming movie with a simple premise that quickly spirals into a terrifying and engrossing drama anchored by a strong lead performance. If you enjoyed similar screenlife films like Searching, Unfriended: Dark Web, or Dashcam, Missing will be right up your alley. —TE
The Nice Guys
Run time: 1h 56m
Director: Shane Black
Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice
Shane Black’s other neo-noir, Los Angeles-set action comedy is a worthy spiritual successor to 2005’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and an uproariously hilarious movie in its own right. The story centers on Holland March (Gosling), an alcoholic single father and licensed PI, and Jackson Healy (Crowe), a muscle-for-hire freelancer. The two end up as an odd couple of idiot-genius sleuths whose respective investigations involving a missing girl converge to unveil a much larger and more sinister conspiracy involving Detroit automotive companies, government collusion, and organized crime.
Crowe and Gosling’s on-screen chemistry as two incorrigible, stubborn assholes with secret hearts of gold is terrific, as is Angourie Rice’s performance as March’s whip-smart daughter Holly. The Nice Guys may not surpass the pure comic genius of Black’s aforementioned classic starring Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer, but it confidently ranks as one of the director’s better films in recent memory. —TE
The Night Comes for Us
Genre: Martial arts thriller
Run time: 2h 1m
Director: Timo Tjahjanto
Cast: Joe Taslim, Iko Uwais, Julie Estelle
The Night Comes for Us just fucking whips, OK? Why waste time on subtlety and preamble; the film certainly doesn’t! Indonesian action thrillers have been enjoying a renaissance period ever since Gareth Evans’ 2011 film The Raid kicked the door down and mollywhopped everything else in sight. Timo Tjahjanto’s 2018 film certainly follows in the footsteps of Evans’ own, with The Raid star Joe Taslim starring here as Ito, a gangland enforcer who betrays his Triad crime family by sparing the life of a child and attempting to flee the country.
Fellow The Raid star Iko Uwais shows up here as Arian, Ito’s childhood friend and fellow enforcer, who is tasked with hunting down Ito and recovering the girl. The action comes fast and frenzied here, with kinetic choreography and dazzling handheld cinematography that makes every punch, fall, and stab count. If you need to get your adrenaline pumping, throw this one on. —TE
Genre: Fantasy adventure
Run time: 1h 41m
Directors: Nick Bruno, Troy Quane
Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Riz Ahmed, Eugene Lee Yang
Set in a futuristic medieval world, the film follows the story of Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed), a knight who is framed for the murder of the kingdom’s ruler on the biggest day of his life. Disgraced, dishonored, and inadvertently disfigured by his lover Ambrosius Goldenloin (Eugene Lee Yang), Ballister must search for the identity of the true culprits in order to clear his name. He’s not alone though: Enter Nimona, a hell-raising shape-shifter with a penchant for mischief who imagines herself as the sidekick to the kingdom’s newest villain. It’s not long, however, before Nimona’s connection to the history of the kingdom is unearthed, leaving Ballister to question just who or what he can actually trust anymore.
Nimona, much like the film’s namesake, is colorful, bubbly, and full of surprises. Chloë Grace Moretz does a terrific job in her performance as an outcast who hides her grief over being considered a monster behind an aura of cartoonish exuberance, while Ahmed disappears into the role of the straightlaced and ever-suffering paragon that is Ballister. While certainly not as visually impressive as either Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Nimona nonetheless stands out as one of the year’s most unique and exciting animated films of the year, with an allegorical storyline that encourages audiences to embrace all of life’s challenges and changes as they come. —TE
Genre: Historical drama
Run time: 2h 10m
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lesley Manville, Vicky Krieps
Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2017 historical drama Phantom Thread follows the story of Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis), an irascible haute couture dressmaker in 1950s London whose carefully cultivated lifestyle is upset by his ongoing love affair with his muse Alma (Vicky Krieps), a strong-willed woman with ambitions and desires of her own. His final film role to date, Day-Lewis is unsurprisingly masterful in his portrayal of Woodcock as an artist whose capricious infatuations and fastidious inflexibility prove unbearable to all except Alma, who discovers a ... let’s say unconventional way of leveling the power dynamic in their relationship. Top that with exquisite score by Jonny Greenwood and beautiful costume designs by Mark Bridges and you’ve got what is undoubtedly one of Anderson’s finest films to date. —TE
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Genre: Adventure comedy
Run time: 1h 40m
Director: Joel Crawford
Cast: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek Pinault, Harvey Guillén
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is easily the best DreamWorks movie in ages.
Antonio Banderas returns to voice the swashbuckling tabby cat who, after several lifetimes of death-defying adventures, finds himself staring down the sickle blade of the reaper himself. Driven into hiding and desperate to return to his life as a dashing vigilante folk hero, Puss in Boots embarks on a quest to find the fabled Wishing Star to restore his lost lives before Death (Wagner Moura) hunts him down.
The Last Wish is a spectacle and accomplishment comparable to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It’s a brilliantly funny and exhilarating adventure with spectacular action sequences, gorgeous linework, keen camerawork, and a stirring story of personal growth that grapples with themes of mortality, humility, and what it means to be a hero. It’s a film that resuscitates the once-vibrant Shrek franchise while building its fairy-tale world out into ever more fantastical dimensions. It’s easily one of the best animated films currently streaming on Netflix, and thus an absolute must-watch for anyone looking for a spirited adventure bursting with charisma and heart. —TE
Genre: Action thriller
Run time: 1h 41m
Director: Gareth Evans
Cast: Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Yayan Ruhian
There are action movies before The Raid, and then there are action movies after The Raid.
Gareth Evans’ Indonesian action thriller sent a 3000-volt shockwave throughout the world of cinema when it premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, garnering a reputation as one of the most electrifying and distinctive action films of its time. That reputation has not wavered one iota in the decade-plus since.
Iko Uwais stars as Rama, a rookie SWAT officer who joins a 20-man squad led by Sergeant Jaka (Joe Taslim) to assail a tenement complex run by a ruthless gang and apprehend their leader. When the leader catches wind of this plot, the squad is trapped inside the building and forced to fight their way out while completing their mission. Where The Raid may lack in narrative complexity, it in no way lacks in scintillating cinematography and unrelentingly abrasive action. If you’re looking for a viscerally entertaining action thriller with ample gore and dazzling martial arts choreography, The Raid is just the film you’re looking for. —TE
Genre: Sports drama
Run time: 2h
Director: John G. Avildsen
Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Carl Weathers
Sylvester Stallone and John G. Avildsen’s 1976 sports drama is so enmeshed in the fabric of American popular culture, one could conceivably go their entire life without ever having watched it — and yet still confidently be able to quote its most iconic moments line for line. Or, at least, such was the case for me; I had never seen Rocky when I was younger, nor did I especially feel any urgency to see it despite my fondness for the Creed series and its reputation as one of the most iconic sports films ever produced.
After finally sitting down and watching it, I realized just how much of an unforced error my hesitation to watch it was. Rocky is one of the greatest sports movies I have ever seen, not for what it has to say about the sport of boxing itself, but for what it says about why the sport means anything to anyone at all. It’s a love letter to a downtrodden and disaffected working class of people who — despite embodying the virtues that American society would otherwise claim to hold in highest regard — are too often overlooked and neglected by that very society.
The strength of the film ultimately rests on Stallone’s disarming and achingly earnest performance as the film’s eponymous protagonist, a small-time amateur club fighter from Philadelphia who moonlights as a debt collector for a local loan shark. Pushing 30 with no other prospects to speak of, Rocky seems convinced that his life was over before it even started. That is, until he’s serendipitously presented with the opportunity to face off against Apollo Creed — the reigning heavyweight boxing champion — for the chance to claim the title. “It really don’t matter if I lose this fight,” he tells his love interest, Adrian, lying in bed beside her. “It really don’t matter if this guy opens my head either, ’cause all I wanna do is go the distance.” For Rocky, the chance to fight Creed is even more than just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; it’s vindication for everything he’s ever fought and struggled for.
Rocky is so much more than a “boxing movie.” It’s a story about how the American dream itself is inextricably the summation of every thwarted hope, missed opportunity, precarious mistake, and inevitable heartbreak that precedes it. The reason it has endured, and continues to endure as a staple of American cinema, is as plain and elemental as the film itself: It’s an unapologetically earnest story about the stubborn yet unassailable persistence of hope in the face of adversity, of choosing to believe in yourself when no-one else will; save for those who stand closest to you in your darkest moments. It’s not just about boxing; it’s about the life-changing power of simply choosing to take your shot in this life. Question is: What shot are you gonna take? —TE
Genre: Historical epic
Run time: 3h 7m
Director: S.S. Rajamouli
Cast: N.T. Rama Rao Jr., Ram Charan, Ajay Devgn
One of our favorite movies of the year, RRR is an epic bromance for the ages filled to the brim with jaw-dropping action sequences, unforgettable music numbers, and two guys just being dudes. If you can, you should consider watching it in the original Telugu language version on Zee5. If you can’t, the Hindi dub on Netflix is still well worth your time. —PV
Run time: 2h 16m
Director: Jo Sung-hee
Cast: Song Joong-ki, Kim Tae-ri, Jin Seon-kyu
Space Sweepers: Set in the year 2092, Jo Sung-hee’s Space Sweepers follows the crew of freelance garbagemen in space who discover a strange child-like robot named Dorothy containing a nuclear device. Hoping to ransom Dorothy in exchange for enough money to escape their poverty-stricken lives, their plan quickly escalates into a chase to stay one step ahead of the military force of a corrupt corporation. Though it’s far from the most original of sci-fi premises, Space Sweepers is still a visually impressive film with great action and a likable cast of dysfunctional characters with great chemistry. —TE
Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy
Run time: 2h 1m (Spider-Man); 2h 7m (Spider-Man 2); 2h 19m (Spider-Man 3)
Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco
Long before Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse raised bar for superhero action films and American animation back in 2018, a bar raised yet again by its 2023 sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Sam Raimi made the case for why Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s friendly neighborhood web slinger was the best superhero to make the leap to the big screen with his extraordinary trilogy of films.
Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 are the platonic ideal of superhero cinema; a pair of films that exemplify the heart of Peter Parker’s appeal as an ordinary person gifted with extraordinary powers and thrust into perilous battles with life-or-death stakes for himself and those he loves. The principal cast of performances on display in these films are perfect, from Tobey Maguire’s iconic turn as a young Peter struggling to balance his life as an everyday student with his responsibilities as a masked vigilante hero for justice to Kirsten Dunst’s stunning turn as Peter’s longtime friend and love interest Mary Jane Watson. To say nothing of Willem Dafoe’s role as Spidey’s nemesis Green Goblin or Alfred Molina as Peter’s mentor-turned-adversary Dr. Otto Octavius (both of whom would reprise their respective roles in the 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home).
With all this talk about the first two films, you might think that Spider-Man 3 is being given short shrift, but not at all. While it may have been maligned upon release and hasn’t quite lived up to the same legacy compared to the first two films, Raimi’s 2007 movie is still a thoroughly entertaining film bursting with more personality and panache than most live-action superhero films being produced today. —TE
The Summit of the Gods
Run time: 1h 35m
Directors: Patrick Imbert
Cast: Lazare Herson-Macarel, Eric Herson-Macarel, Damien Boisseau
This 2021 French-language animated drama centers on Makoto Fukamachi, a tenacious reporter who accidentally stumbles upon the biggest mountaineering story of the century: Proof that George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, not Sir Edmund Hillary, were the first climbers to reach the peak of Mount Everest in 1924. However, his only lead to break the story — an elusive mountain climber known as Habu Joji — has been missing for several years. Poring over the details of Joji’s life in the years preceding his disappearance, Makoto finds himself inadvertently drawn by the very same sense of accomplishment and meaning that has compelled countless climbers to crest Everest themselves.
Based on Jiro Taniguchi’s 2000 manga series, The Summit of the Gods is a gorgeously animated drama about the elusive quest for personal and professional validation and the perils of hubris and selfishness. The backgrounds are spectacular, the character animation is impressive, and the film’s final moments are as exhilarating as they are profoundly edifying. Brace yourself for a film that exemplifies “adult animation,” not as a juvenile display of hyper-violence and superficial titillation, but as a story about what it means to move through the world as an adult and find one’s place and purpose in it. —TE
They Cloned Tyrone
Genre: Sci-fi mystery thriller
Run time: 2h 2m
Director: Juel Taylor
Cast: John Boyega, Teyonah Parris, Jamie Foxx
If a pulp mystery-thriller that plays out like a Blaxploitation-style take on Jordan Peele’s Us by way of the anti-authority storytelling of Boots Riley sounds enticing to you, They Cloned Tyrone is an absolute must-watch.
John Boyega stars as Fontaine, a streetwise hustler who is gunned down after an altercation with a rival drug dealer. Miraculously, Fontaine wakes up the next morning completely unharmed with no memory of the confrontation whatsoever. Together with the help of local pimp Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx) and a retired sex worker Yo-Yo (Teyonah Parris), Fontaine stumbles upon a terrifying secret: His neighborhood is the site of a clandestine government operation experimenting with cloning technology and subliminal manipulation. Faced with the existential terror of this revelation, the trio must either expose this conspiracy or surrender to the roles ordained to them.
Sharply well written, brilliantly performed, and studded with satisfying surprising and twists up to its very last minutes, They Cloned Tyrone is not only one of the best movies available to stream on Netflix, but one of the best films of the year so far. —TE
Run time: 1h 23m
Director: Levan Gabriadze
Cast: Shelley Hennig, Moses Storm, Renee Olstead
Unfriended is a horror movie with a gimmick. The whole thing takes place on a laptop screen, as the action unfolds over a Skype call between a group of friends. When an unknown (and unseen) participant mysteriously joins the call, friends start to die one by one in a terrifying and captivating series of events. The immersion of Unfriended through the device of the computer screen is masterful, and I highly recommend watching it on a laptop if you can for maximum effect. —PV
From our list of the best horror movies on Netflix:
Levan Gabriadze’s Unfriended pulls the audiences through the screen — almost literally. Viewed entirely from the perspective of a computer desktop, 2014 supernatural horror film centers around a Skype call between a group of high school students who are joined by an unknown presence known only as “billie227.” What at first appears to be a prank swiftly morphs into something much more horrific, as the mysterious stranger begins to reveal terrifying secrets about each of the friends before killing them off one by one. Unfriended is thoroughly gripping extrapolation of our always-online world; a world where vengeful poltergeists and doxxing exist side-by-side and no secret or offense goes undiscovered or unpunished. —TE


Sea lions relaxing under the Santa Cruz Wharf.
Today is apparently Future Day, a day on which we’re supposed to spend some time contemplating the future. Well, nothing makes me contemplate the future more than movies, especially movies with plenty of visual effects.
Just take a moment to imagine your favorite film without visual effects. Suddenly, films like Life of Pi don’t look very inspiring without their visual effects.
Despite many of our films being largely composed of visual effects shots, the visual effects industry is still paid by the studios for the job as a whole before production even begins, not for how many hours it may take to create (and repeatedly revise, if necessary) the sets, characters, and sometimes whole worlds that they create for the film. Picture for a moment, a massive hand-build set. The Director probably won’t tear down the set, re-build it, and re-shoot the scenes just because he changed his mind, as the set builders and most of the rest of the crew are paid hourly, and what seems like such a simple decision could vastly impact the film’s budget. If that set were digital, the director could easily change his mind and have everything re-done (even have the actors digitally re-positioned within the new set if necessary) free of charge and as often as he wants to, simply because the visual effects studio was paid maybe $10 million for the job as a whole, not hourly. $10 million seems like a lot of a money, but for a visual effects studio which may find itself re-building the same shot hundreds of times for an indecisive director, it’s more likely that they’ll either have to layoff staff or go into debt just to finish the film.
This is a reality that Rhythm and Hues Studios faced last year when they declared bankruptcy just two weeks after winning their second Academy Award for Life of Pi, and they aren’t the only one. Every year, more visual effects studios are shutting their doors because movie studios don’t pay to the scale of the projects. Below is the short documentary Life After Pi, which covers the problem in-depth, particularly the fate of Rhythm and Hues Studios.
As you think about the future today, think about how films with visual effects have shaped your ideas of the future, think about how the future of the VFX industry is in jeopardy if the movie studios aren’t pressured to change, and then take action. Also, if you’re near Hollywood tomorrow, join the march at the Academy Awards to show your support.
We have always figured that internet trolls were sadistic psychopaths, but now we have data proving that “people who engage in trolling are characterized by personality traits that fall in the so-called Dark Tetrad: Machiavellianism (willingness to manipulate and deceive others), narcissism (egotism and self-obsession), psychopathy (the lack of remorse and empathy), and sadism (pleasure in the suffering of others).”
There are a number of sites which I love to visit for the articles, but loathe to scroll because their commentator communities are often filled with trolls and other stupidity. To keep my sanity, I have been using Shutup.css to hide comments everywhere, and I highly recommend it. Shutup.css is a custom stylesheet and browser extension which hides all known comment areas, and the extension adds a whitelist feature so you can still read comments on sites where the community doesn’t give you an aneurism.
If you’re tired of trolls or general stupidity on your favorite sites, give Shutup.css a try today!
Simperium is technical magic. It’s a data layer which, as simplified as I can make it, provides real-time syncing. If you were to open the Simplenote app on your phone right next to the app on your computer (or the web app), you could type on one device and see the letters appear instantly on the other screen in real-time. Simperium isn’t limited to just text, and you can tie it into any application or service you’re developing. I won’t get into the technical aspects of Simperium, because I wouldn’t do it justice, but please watch the video embedded below for more details.
Without Simperium, Simplenote wouldn’t be what it is today, and I’m sure you’ll be seeing Simperium as the backbone of more top applications and services in the years to come.


2020 = Darkest Year of Bollywood Industry
We hadn’t gathered ourselves completely from the demise of Irrfan Khan and the sad news of Rishi Kapoor’s death has shocked us yet again. These two legendary actors have made our lives happy through their amazing performances and though they are not here with us now, they’ll live in our hearts forever through their films.
Here’re the most loved characters played by these iconic actors:
1. Maqbool in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Maqbool
The Indian adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Maqbool’s plot revolves around the badlands of Mumbai underworld. Irrfan played the titular character who falls in love with the wife of don and conspires with her to kill him. His portrayal of betrayal, guilt and menace is something that nobody can replicate.
2. Paan Singh Tomar in Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Paan Singh Tomar
It happens rarely when an actor becomes the character and you are unable to distinguish the difference between them. I could clearly feel Paan Singh’s innocence, disappointment, anger, rebellion and every iota of his existence through Irrfan.That’s how beautifully he portrayed Paan Singh. That’s how wonderful he was as an artist!
3. Rana in Piku
Remember that heartfelt conversation between Piku and Rana while gorging on egg roll in old Kolkata? That warmth and rootedness could be infused into characters only by Irrfan. Rana’s witty one-liners are still remembered by one and all unanimously.
4. Saajan Fernandes in The Lunchbox
Irrfan played a middle-aged widower who, one fine day, accidentally receives a different lunchbox than usual and falls in love with the deliciousness of it. Then begins the never-ending love saga of letters with the lady cook. This subtly-told story touches one’s heart throughout and makes you smile with its simplicity.
1. Santosh Duggal in Do Dooni Chaar
One of my most favourite characters played by Rishi Kapoor is this middle-aged school teacher ‘Santosh Duggal’ who strives hard to make ends meet for his family. His comic timing, dialogue delivery and warmth made not only audiences but also critics to go gaga about his acting chops.
2. Rauf Lala in Agneepath
Disgust is the feeling that creeps in whenever I think about Rauf Lala in Agneepath. His grim portrayal of this dark character left an indelible impact even in the presence of Hrithik Roshan and Sanjay Dutt, that’s the power he held!
3. Daadu in Kapoor & Sons
In this fun riot, a nearly unrecognizable Rishi Kapoor played a 90+ years old grandpa, who faked his death all the time and liked to surf the internet on his so-called ‘ipapad’.
4. Murad Ali in Mulk
In this courtroom drama, Rishi Kapoor played a Muslim man who is accused of being a terrorist because of his nephew’s extremist beliefs. Each facet of Murad’s personality came through beautifully showcasing Rishi Kapoor’s grip over his craft.
Artists don’t die, they remain in our hearts forever through their masterpieces.
Thank You Irrfan & Rishi Ji for making our lives happier!


Angela Marie graces us with her presence as our Cyber Girl of the Week. And what a special week for her as it's also her birthday on the 14th! A very happy birthday to you indeed, Angela! I'm sure we'll see much more of this cute blonde in Playboy very soon!
Photography by Stephen Wayda
Hometown Los Angeles, California
Date of Birth September 14, 1989
Weight 105 lbs.
A movie legend in the making, Angela splits her time between modeling and directing award-winning short films. " I do parodies and comedies, "she says. "Sometimes I go for seriousness and it ends up being hilarious anyway, so I think I have a knack for comedy." She casts her close friends and family in her work, including her sister October 2010 Playmate Claire Sinclair. Angela even wrote, directed and edited a short film for Hugh Hefner's 84th birthday starring Claire and Playmate Crystal Harris. "It premiered at the Mansion on Casablanca night which was huge honor for me as a filmmaker," she says. "Hef really appreciates film and enjoyed it very much. He said 'Thank you for going through all the trouble to make that film.' It was no trouble though. It was truly a pleasure."


Inspired by the warmth of summer, our narrative revolves around a young woman of modest means, setting out on a journey to reunite with her beloved for a lover’s meet up. Hindered by circumstances, she finds herself confined at home, unable to join her lover for a special Valentine’s Day celebration. In a heartwarming twist, he takes it upon himself to bridge the distance and visit her instead.
Despite the challenges, her devoted partner orchestrates a meeting at their cherished rendezvous spot amidst the bustling cityscape. Soon enough they found solace in each other’s embrace, cocooned in their own private world, oblivious to the noise of the busy streets; they were completely lost in each other’s arms.”