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Director William Oldroyd speaks on ‘Eileen’ and the art of adapting a romantic mystery

Eileen often feels like it marches to the beat of a ticking clock, and it’s not necessarily one thing bound to erupt. It’s the 1960s small town Massechutes life that bounds one woman like a tomb. The title character (played by Thomasin McKenzie) prefers to fade into the background as a secretary at a private correctional facility for young men. She calls it Moorehead, and it might as well mirror a personal prison she’s locked within. Her co-workers don’t care for her; Eileen’s former police offi
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‘Good Burger 2’ is the same order with some interchangeable condiments

“Welcome to Good Burger, home of the Good Burger. Can I take your order?” If you grew up during the peak of Nickeldeon’s 90s hit sketch comedy show All That, you could probably mimic the voice and cadence on call. That recurring segment would then have a Good Burger feature film in 1997 that cemented the Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell partnership's strength. It’s been about 26 years since the first film, and every studio has been looking to have some skin in the game when it comes to scratching
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‘Raging Grace’ moves like a gothic mystery, more about the dangerous plights of immigrant workers

Paris Zarcilla’s Raging Grace is not so much of a horror movie outside of some well-timed jump scares and a few nightmares here and there. Instead, the U.K. gothic drama focuses on the exploitation of immigrants and how people dilute customs and take them on themselves. These are the people who take care of every essential need those who might be well off are too passe to do themselves. They even use that same power structure as a means of control or a gross sense of ownership over those seeking
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‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ episode 3 review: War and the impulsiveness it creates

One thing I like that Monarch: Legacy of Monsters gets across is how this monster story ties into real-world implications – at least in the 1950s timeline, hitting a big point during “Secrets and Lies.” To think of enormous kaiju walking around the earth with the potential ability for massive amounts of destruction is terrifying. We’ve seen what happened in the current timeline with G-Day. That said, you can speak to the post-WW2 mindset of America. The improvements in the military, having new w
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‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ episode 2 review: Abandon ship!

There’s a reason why ‘Monarch: Legacy of Monster’ is doing a dual storyline with this particular pace. It’s all about uncovering the mystery surrounding the shadowy government entity and the gloriously dangerous monster they track. It’s to temper expectations from the audience that they will be swimming in a Godzilla-laden destructive path (hence, monsters in the title). But also approach things from a more ground-level perspective. In “Aftermath,” we get not only Endoswarmers presumably killing
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CM Punk and the WWE are banking on a third return being the charm

“I’m back!” CM Punk proclaimed to a sold-out AEW crowd at Chicago’s United Center in August 2021. The First Dance feels like a lifetime ago, given all that’s transpired since then. For Punk’s seven-year retirement to be broken with a significant competitor to WWE felt like a seismic shift. All Elite Wrestling managed to get the man behind the “pipebomb” promo and seemingly helped fuel the counterculture spirit that molded itself within the ethos of wrestling’s number two promotion.

But the hone
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‘The Curse’ episode 3 review: The ails of TikTok curses and the biases attached to "good" deeds

“I know your heart is in the right place, and I give you the benefit of the doubt.” Asher says it in his fight with Whitney at the end of “Questa Lane.” The tagline for The Curse could very well be “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” because no matter how “good” their intentions may be, Whitney and Asher are just unable to see themselves. Hell, they cannot see that Flipanthropy might not be the HGTV hit they are hoping for.

But don’t take that from me. The focus group gave enough e
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‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’ is more than a franchise continuance cash grab

The Hunger Games as a running institution is the convergence of capitalistic, entertainment, and classist hells running into one another. Suzanne Collins’ novels and the following four big-screen adaptations displayed this fact from the standpoint of specific individuals, government figures, and the districts under their thumbs. So, if we’ve said all that we could say, then what is the purpose of The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, a prequel set 64 years before the events of the first book? In par
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’s The Three Count: Damage Control’s pending implosion, AEW Full Gear thoughts, Will Ospreay’s decision

Hello and welcome to a Thanksgiving edition of The Three Count. This week, we discuss our thoughts on AEW Full Gear, Bayley and the slow-burn nature of Damage Control, Will Ospreay’s signing, and what it could mean down the road.

How do you see the Damage Control story playing out?

Getting Kari Sane back into the fold was a godsend for this group’s storyline. There were already some seeds of dissension brewing between Bayley and Io. Now you have someone Bayley has wronged in the group in addit
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‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’ is more than a franchise continuance cash grab

The Hunger Games as a running institution is the convergence of capitalistic, entertainment, and classist hells running into one another. Suzanne Collins’ novels and the following four big-screen adaptations displayed this fact from the standpoint of specific individuals, government figures, and the districts under their thumbs. So, if we’ve said all that we could say, then what is the purpose of The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, a prequel set 64 years before the events of the first book? In par
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‘The Curse’s second episode speaks to trying to belong in a place that doesn’t want you

There’s a busyness to the first episode of The Curse that keeps the uneasy nature of the show moving from a reality television perspective and a more personal aspect of these characters with blindspots. “Pressure’s Looking Good So Far” meets Whitney, Asher, and Dougie in limbo. HGTV hasn’t picked up Flipanthropy yet, and everyone has their own thing to conquer regarding the episode. Some aspects are more action-oriented (and intentionally hilarious), and others are inner turmoil. Writer Carrie K
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‘Wish’ is Disney’s immense IP catalog parade that loses the story within

Cliff Edwards’ 1940s song, “When You Wish Upon A Star,” has been the overall spirit mantra of Disney. Its notes are at the beginning of every feature, cruise line, and theme park. It is there to invoke a sense of childlike wonder throughout the existence of the company itself. Within celebrating its 100th anniversary, we all can share many stories that have inspired, made us emotional, and shaped our outlooks on what is possible in the realm of fantasy. They are still being passed down through g
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‘Bye Bye Barry’ explains the selfless nature of the Lions great and why he walked away from the game he loved

One of the NFL’s greatest mysteries was figuring out why former legendary running back Barry Sanders decided to call it a career in 1999 at the age of 31. He was arguably in the prime of his career with ten seasons rushing over 1,000 yards and the all-time rushing title locked up. But then, in July of 1999, Sanders sent a fax to his hometown paper, The Wichita Eagle, announcing he was hanging up his cleats for good. It’s unheard of for a generational athlete to suddenly give up the game they mas
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‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ premiere is a story of hidden families and kaiju destruction

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters has two things to balance as a show set within this ever-growing monsterverse. There is the Godzilla expectations where the iconic character and other kaiju (or MUTO) have to appear in some form. But in an episodic format, you must tinker with the right frequency. If the show is full of roars and massive destruction, it dilutes the human connections and minimizes their effect. On the other hand, if they rarely show up at all, it might seem a little ridiculous in a wor
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‘The Curse’ premiere episode puts all those HGTV shows and their creators under intense bright lights

Those HGTV home renovation shows always bothered me. It’s not just them, either. There’s the fake altruistic feeling of Undercover Boss, where a CEO puts on a bad wig and cap to tell a worker who has been at the company for 15 years with no raise or promotion that they got two extra sick days and a coupon for Olive Garden. Here we have Showtime’s The Curse, which elects to veer into entertainingly absurd territory to fortify its satire.

The married couple of Asher and Whitney Seigel (Nathan Fie
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‘Dream Scenario’s Kristoffer Borgli speaks on societal phenomenons, influencer culture, and how his film shapes it all

Paul Matthews (Nicolas Cage) is just a regular middle-aged biology professor who you probably wouldn’t take a second glance at if you walked by him in a supermarket. Paul knows this too, with his snazzy sweaters and two daughters who think he’s highly uncool. Well, at least his wife Janet (Julianne Nicholson) loves him. What if this average person unexpectedly started strolling into your dreams? Not to rearrange anything or reconstruct a deep dark memory you might have, but to pass by? It’s cree
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Sony’s Spider-Verse is building up projects with no Parker to ponder (yet)

Outside of Tom Holland’s MCU iteration of Peter Parker, the world continues to grow – even if it has no current Peter Parker to call its own. If you lost count, the Sony Spider-Verse has two Venom films (and a third on the way), a Morbius film (with a villain returning from the MCU at the conclusion), an upcoming film about long-time spider villain Kraven the Hunter, and now Madame Web due on Feb. 14th, 2024. The first trailer plays almost like a Final Destination-esque vibe as it relies on show
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‘Saltburn’ loses ground in trying to convince you it’s underplaying its clear eat-the-rich- theme

Emerald Fennell’s second feature, Saltburn, washes over your senses and can overload in moments. Not in a negative sense, but more so a tip to the cap of her visual sense of storytelling alongside the framing of cinematography of Linus Sandgren. When the weather is hot, you feel the heat radiating off people, objects, and outside the windows of rooms. If something is unkempt, there’s no gloss to make it look “Hollywood” clean. If something or someone is out of place, it sticks out like a sore th
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‘Thanksgiving’ is where the ‘Grindhouse’ trailer becomes a lean and funny slasher

What’s scarier than a murder dawning a pilgrim outfit out for revenge in a small town known as the epicenter for the Thanksgiving holiday? Some people would argue venturing into the wild abyss of Black Friday shopping among those willing to stampede through others for that marked-down coffee pot. Sixteen years ago, director Eli Roth gave a brief glimpse into what this story could be within a faux trailer inside Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s Grindhouse double feature. It’s taken a long
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’s The Three Count: NXT’s new deal, AEW’s GI remix, Jade Cargill’s destination

What do you know? It’s time for another installment of DraftKings Network’s The Three Count. Just for a quick recap, NXT has reached a new distribution agreement with The CW, AEW has announced a new singles tournament named the Continental Classic (which is basically their version of New Japan’s G1), and we still await the debut of Jade Cargill. We get into what we think of each topic below.

Does the new NXT deal with The CW prove that the black and gold rebrand was needed?

A resounding yes! I
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So, this is how the Bill Belichick era ends. With a fake spike INT

I have watched enough football in my day to know when a man is at the end of his rope and clinging to anything to drag him out of that pit of despair. When New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones threw his then league-leading 10th interception with 4:22 to go in the 4th quarter, only down four points to the Indianapolis Colts, coach Bill Belichick was at his wit's end. This is an eight-time Super Bowl champion with a tactician-like mind that can scheme to neutralize your best players on offen
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‘Next Goal Wins’ gives off more red card flavor than goal-scoring celebrations

Sports fans always love themselves a good underdog story. What fun is it for the New York Yankees to always win the World Series? The scrappy, “nobody expected us to be here” runs gain a massive outpouring from the public. That, too, extends to the cinema realm. Everybody has a memory of The Mighty Ducks, The Big Green, Little Giants, and The Bad News Bears. Of course, you do, and Taika Waititi is conscious of that nostalgic affinity to those films. It’s exactly what he’s going for with Next Goa
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‘Invincible’s second episode feels the tug of the many sub plots it has to service

“A Lesson For Your Next Life” established Invincible’s second-season core issue in how the world picks up the pieces after what Oni-Man has done. “In About Six Hours, I Lose My Virginity to a Fish” further investigates this within the characters of Mark and Debbie. Within that 40-minute timeframe, it also looks to introduce a few more subplots that are hit or miss in the whole scheme of the narrative. It can’t all focus on Mark and Debbie’s perspectives, even if they are the ones that work the b
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‘Divinity’ is Eddie Alcazar’s weird, lascivious, and wild take on immortality’s burden

Immortality is the impossible dream humanity has been chasing since the beginning of time. It’s a theme at the forefront of Eddie Alcazar’s Divinity, a concept fit for a somewhat black-and-white retro but still forward-thinking science fiction film such as this one. The many themes within this film seem like they were created in tandem with its presentation. Time is fluid, and the graininess on the screen might clash with the futuristic probabilities living forever might present. But all of it s
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