‘Emancipation’ Review: Will Smith’s Brutal Slavery Drama Is Brought Down by Exhausting Choices

Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Episode 5 of Poker Face. The previous episode of Poker Face quite literally rocked. We got to jam out with the metal band Doxxxology led by Chloë Sevigny’s Ruby Ruin, a has-been rock star desperate to get another hit song on her hands. So desperate, in fact, that she and her bandmates end up killing their new drummer in an attempt to take credit for his lyrics and music to a new song. But never fear! Our favorite bluff-caller Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne) was on it. Charlie also had a close call with Cliff (Benjamin Bratt), the casino security guard who’s been on her tail since Episode 1. Let’s drive and see where Episode 5 takes us.

Editor's note: The following article contains spoilers for Episode 4 of The Last of Us. The first episode of HBO’s The Last of Us set the audience’s expectations by promising the series would tell the story of Joel’s (Pedro Pascal) redemption. It’s not random that we get to watch Joel as a hardworking father before the death of Sarah (Nico Parker) on the verge of the apocalypse. 20 years later, he’s a ruthless criminal with a lot of blood on his hands. However, once he’s tasked with protecting Ellie (Bella Ramsey), Joel gets a second chance at becoming the man his daughter would like him to be.

There wasn't much to appreciate about 2011’s Green Lantern despite it starring Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively. The movie pulled in less than $220 million at the box office and is widely considered a flop in the genre. Under the shadow at the time, though, was Angela Bassett, who made her debut into the world of superheroes as Amanda Waller. What Bassett accomplished in a few scenes helped to establish a character for the first time on the big screen - one that will now have her own series, Waller, with Viola Davis as the titular character - and it got Bassett’s name on the radar for future superhero projects. Years after playing Waller, Bassett would join the MCU as Ramonda, the mother to T’Challa and Shuri, in the Black Panther franchise, earning her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in the second film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. In a movie that didn't offer much, it's pretty easy to say that the small performance of Bassett had some major payoffs.

Sony Pictures has just announced that the buddy cop duo of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence will be hitting the streets of South Beach for a fourth installment of the enormously popular franchise, Bad Boys. Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah will team up to direct the pair again after collaborating with the tandem on Bad Boys For Life in 2020 that more than maintained the momentum for the series raking in a cool $426 million at the box office. The announcement comes a full 28 years after the making of the original, and though the new film does not yet have a title, the news could not have come at a better time for Smith, who will no doubt be looking for anything and everything to talk about other than what transpired at the now infamous 94th Academy Awards ceremony.

After 18 years, the set of the successful 90s-early 2000s sitcom, That '70s Show, has gotten some use. In Red (Kurtwood Smith) and Kitty Forman's (Debra Jo Rupp) world, it has been 15 years since their house has been full of dumbass teenagers. Red has been pleased, but Kitty decidedly has not. On January 19, the highly anticipated That '90s Show premiered on Netflix with Smith and Rupp reprising their roles as Red and Kitty and cameos from several other original cast members (Topher Grace, Laura Prepon, Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, and Wilmer Valderrama).

It's no secret that Taylor Sheridan's Yellowstone empire has become something of a cultural phenomenon, and the latest prequel series 1923 is no different. Starring Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren as the leaders of the post-Great War Dutton clan, the series has been explosive from the get-go and promises just as spectacular an ending as the previous prequel series 1883. Narrated by Isabel May, the show tackles Great Depression-era issues in a Prohibition-era time, which makes sense when you consider that the Depression started a bit earlier in Montana.

From creator Jeff Davis (Teen Wolf) and based on the book series by Edo Van Belkom, the Paramount+ original series Wolf Pack follows Everett (Armani Jackson) and Blake (Bella Shepard), as they learn just how much getting bitten by a supernatural creature will change their lives. Drawn to each other, they meet two other teens, Luna (Chloe Rose Robertson) and Harlan (Tyler Lawrence Gray), who share their secret and a mysterious connection to the terrifying California wildfires and the full moon that is calling to them.

Dearest gentle reader, we are now only a few months away from boarding the time-travelling carriage prepared by Shonda Rhimes to take us back to the origins of our favorite TV monarch, Queen Charlotte. Netflix announced a few days ago that the Bridgerton prequel is on its way to us and will be arriving this Spring. As buzz continues to grow around the prequel, creator, Rhimes is continuing to tease fans on what to expect from our titular queen's love story with King George and all the complexities that saw it herald a new societal change in the ton.

Fans of Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) will get to see them early next week if they're subscribed to HBO Max. The Last of Us will premiere Episode 5 two days early on Friday, February 10 exclusively on the streamer and HBO On Demand before airing on the linear network at its usual time on Sunday, February 12.

For fans of a beloved franchise, it’s never too late to go back and revisit some of their favorite characters. Fans of the vampire film franchise Subspecies learned the hard way that “late" can have a whole new meaning, though, when the world entered a pandemic. Announced in 2019, Blood Rise: Subspecies V was advertised as a prequel that was going to hit screens over 20 years after the last entry debuted. However, after COVID-19 hit, fans had to sit and wait until this very day—a day in which Full Moon Features gave Collider the privilege of debuting the trailer for the highly expected prequel.

I was lucky enough to screen Christopher Zalla’s Radical prior to Sundance to prepare for this interview. While watching it, it was abundantly clear that Zalla, Eugenio Derbez, and the rest of the team made something special. Sure enough, Radical not only received a rave response out of its premiere screening in Park City, but it also went on to win the Festival Favorite Award.

Leading roles — meaning playing the protagonist of a film — are undoubtedly a very important part of moviemaking, as choosing the right actor to bring the major part of the story to life is a key element in storytelling. Throughout the years, many actors have done formidable jobs whilst taking the big parts, with the Academy always ready to honor great performances. What's slightly even more impressive, though, is when actors in first-time leading roles get major Oscar nominations.

It's something of a misconception that animated movies are only for kids. It's become less pronounced in recent decades, but there is still a certain stigma surrounding adults watching animated movies in certain parts of the world. It can be fairly confusing to see, because many animated movies out there are more than capable of impacting adults emotionally, as the following examples demonstrate.

The Disney era of Lucafilm has led to many potential Star Wars directors being announced, and then denied an opportunity to direct one of the franchise’s installments. Potential interesting auteurs that at one point were involved with a Star Wars project include Colin Trevorrow, Josh Trank, J.D. Dillard, Zack Snyder, Steven Daldry, James Mangold, and Matthew Vaughn among others, but Lucasfilm and Kathy Kennedy have been strict in greenlighting new films in the galaxy far, far away. Ironically, the chaos over who could potentially direct a Star Wars film was mirrored 40 years ago when a desperate George Lucas attempted to find a new director for Return of the Jedi. Strangely, one of the maverick filmmakers he approached was David Lynch.

James Gunn has finally revealed how he plans to bring the DCU to life and all of it hinges on the success of a shared universe and an Elseworlds strategy. Elseworlds was a DC Comics publishing imprint started in 1989 that presented stories set outside the DC Universe's main continuity. These stories typically featured alternate versions of well-known characters and explored "what if" scenarios. The Elseworlds stories offered a fresh perspective on familiar characters and allowed creators to take the characters in new and different directions.

Meryl Streep is a legendary figure in the film industry thanks to her history of memorable major performances such as Sophie Zawistowska in Sophie's Choice or Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady and high-profile awards. Some even think that Streep’s presence guarantees a fantastic movie. In addition to all...

AMC knows a hit when they see one and, just four episodes into the first season, the network has made the decision to renew Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches. To be honest, we aren’t surprised that the show has been able to cast such a spell on fans as fellow Rice-universe series Interview with the Vampire received a Season 2 renewal ahead of its Season 1 premiere. Mayfair Witches was such a success that it quickly shot above Interview with the Vampire’s premiere ratings on AMC+ and is now seated at the spot of the most-viewed season of any series on AMC+ within the first 30 days on the platform.

Remember 2020? The world ended, hand sanitizer became the hot new item, and not wearing a face mask felt like you were streaking in the middle of the mall. It’s not necessarily a time anyone wants to return to, and frankly, the fear and ramifications of the pandemic never fully went away. Is there an appetite for content set during such a bizarre and scary time? Even though it’s been roughly three years since the initial shock and paranoia of it all, it seems like just yesterday that we were spraying cleaning products on our produce and having panic attacks when we needed to touch a doorknob. The indie dramedy Who Invited Charlie? washes away any reservations you might have about a movie set in the COVID times and, more importantly, lets Adam Pally show us what he is capable of.

In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) bursts onto the scene as a teenange genius and a true force to be reckoned with, and it won't be long until fans get to meet her once again, this time in her own Disney+ series, Ironheart. Proving she is a superhero both onscreen and off, Thorne recently partnered with Puffs Power Pals, which provides a soft touch to the world's fiercest superheroes at Children's Healthcare Atlanta.

At first glance, the story beats of director Yeon Sang-ho’s film Psychokinesis seem suspiciously familiar. In Yeon's follow-up to his record-shattering phenomenon Train to Busan, protagonist Shin Seok-heon (Ryu Seung-ryong) accidentally inherits superpowers: check. This ordinary guy then rides high on the thrill of sudden uniqueness: check. Even the death of Seok-heon’s ex-wife and the mother of his child, while more brutally honest than most Marvel films would dare, aligns with a loved one's loss serving as the catalyst for personal change. So, will our hero adjust his self-centered worldview and use his powers for good?