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Review: ‘Big Time,’ a Portrait of an Architect as Superstar

By Andy Webster

• Nov. 30, 2017

Cool and competent, Kaspar Astrup Schroder’s documentary “ Big Time ,” an adoring profile of the Danish “starchitect” Bjarke Ingels , merely glances at human drama. The aesthetic of Mr. Ingels — whose firm, BIG (for Bjarke Ingels Group), has triumphed with designs like that for the M/S Maritime Museum of Denmark in Helsingor; the Via 57 West complex in Manhattan; and the in-progress Two World Trade Center — has a youthful, playful audacity (he is only in his 40s). Mr. Schroder’s film seems expressly designed to further burnish Mr. Ingels’s reputation.

We meet Mr. Ingels’s parents in Denmark, where the architect recalls his early aspirations as a cartoonist, then watch the Maritime Museum’s unveiling in 2013, and BIG’s opening in Manhattan in 2015. Major New York real estate players testify to his brilliance, and we see the buff Mr. Ingels bicycling around Manhattan wearing sunglasses and headphones. A party for his employees, presented in slow motion, evokes nightclub glamour.

Tension is minimal. After Mr. Ingels has received a concussion from a baseball bat (an incident not elaborated upon), he frets about an M.R.I. and the circumstances behind the deaths of the architectural giants Le Corbusier , Louis Kahn and Eero Saarinen . But his fears prove unwarranted. We see little of his personal life besides his spacious loft and, briefly, his doting girlfriend, another architect. Unmentioned is Mr. Schroder’s 2009 documentary about parkour, “ My Playground ,” in which Mr. Ingels and his structures play a part. Clearly, the architect and the filmmaker are tight, which does not entirely benefit “Big Time.”

Not rated. In English and Danish, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes.

• Mongrel Media

Summary Bjarke Ingels started out as a young man dreaming of creating cartoons. Now, he has been named “one of architecture’s biggest stars” by The Wall Street Journal. Big Time follows Bjarke during th course of 5 years (2011-2016), while he struggles to finish his biggest project so far. We are let into Bjarke’s creative processes as well as t ... Read More

• Documentary

Directed By : Kaspar Astrup Schröder

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Big Time Movie

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Savage Steve Holland

The boys from Big Time Rush travel to London for their first international tour and accidentally get involved in a dangerous device capable of destroying the world. Features covers of Beatles' songs, as well as original tunes.

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‘big time’: film review.

Kaspar Astrup Schroder's documentary profiles famed Danish architect Bjarke Ingels.

By Frank Scheck

Frank Scheck

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That filmmaker Kaspar Astrup Schroder had uncommonly intimate access to his subject becomes apparent while watching Big Time . His documentary delivers a portrait of wunderkind Danish architect Bjarke Ingels as he leads his firm, the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), through several landmark projects. Shot over seven years, the film occasionally gets bogged down in the sort of minutiae that would have been better left on the cutting room floor, but it also provides an insightful depiction of the personal and professional travails that inevitably accompany career success.

Among Ingels’ noteworthy buildings in his native country are a Copenhagen power plant featuring a ski slope on its roof and the world’s tallest climbing wall, and the Danish Maritime Museum in Elsinore. The architect describes how he wanted the latter building not to compete with the view of Hamlet’s castle located nearby. The museum is located in a former dry dock, with his design running afoul of the rules of an architectural competition and attracting lawsuits as a result. But as with so many aspects of his professional life, Ingels prevailed.

Release date: Dec 01, 2017

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He opened a Manhattan branch of his firm while still in his late 30s in conjunction with landing such major projects as the VIA 57 West apartment complex and a skyscraper in the new World Trade Center development. Talking about his ideas for one of his buildings, Ingels says that he wants to create something uniquely “Scandimerican.”

The documentary becomes more personal after Ingels suffers a concussion in a sports accident that leads to devastating headaches. A resulting MRI — he suffers an anxiety attack while attempting to take it — reveals a cyst on his brain. Musing that he will have the opportunity to build maybe 20 or 30 major buildings during his career, Ingels points out that many architects have met unfortunate ends, including Antoni Gaudi, who got hit by a tram, and Louis Kahn, who died of a heart attack in a restroom at Penn Station.

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The documentary proves far more compelling when it concentrates on Ingels’ professional accomplishments than his personal life. It’s fascinating to listen to him describe his creative intentions behind his signature buildings and the myriad obstacles he faced while attempting to design and build them. Much less interesting is the footage of him jogging on the Brooklyn Bridge, having dinner with his elderly parents and sharing a limo ride with his girlfriend. On the other hand, the climactic scene in which Ingels displays an inability to tie a bow tie provides an amusing counterpoint to his reputation as a master builder.  

Articulate, charismatic, engaging and clearly brilliant, Ingels seems to have captivated the filmmaker so much that Big Time suffers as a result. Neither scholarly enough to fully satisfy architecture buffs nor distinctive enough as a biographical portrait, it falls somewhere in the bland middle. The film does, however, boast a stylishness befitting its subject, with the superb cinematography and musical score adding greatly to its overall impact.

Production: Sonntag Pictures, Good Company Pictures Distributor: Mongel Media, Abramorama Director: Kaspar Astrup Schroder Producer: Sara Stockmann Directors of photography: Rene Sascha Johannsen, Boris B. Betram, Henrik Bohn Ipsen Editors: Bobbie Esra G. Pertan, Cathrine Ambus, Kaspar Astrup Schroder Composer: Ali Helmwein

93 minutes  

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Big time movie.

Directed by Savage Steve Holland

In Big Time Movie, the guys must tap their inner spy as their adventure finds them driving exotic cars and jumping out of helicopters, while trying to make it to their first world tour concert on time. Hot on their trail are evil henchmen named Maxwell, British secret agents and Swedish spies as well as billionaire businessman, Sir Atticus Moon who wants back his precious device code named: “The Beetle,” an anti-gravitational device with enormous power. Once they learn they’re carrying this precious cargo, the guys get pulled into a madcap mission throughout London, which threatens the onset of their world tour. With the help of teen spy Penny Lane, the guys set out to save Penny’s father MI6 Agent Simon Lane and stop Sir Atticus Moon’s plot to use “The Beetle” to gain world domination.

Kendall Schmidt James Maslow Carlos PenaVega Logan Henderson Ciara Bravo Challen Cates Tanya Chisholm Stephen Kramer Glickman Emma Lahana Darren Dolynski Melissa Roxburgh Garry Chalk Emily Holmes Lipe Viana

Director Director

Savage Steve Holland

Writer Writer

Scott Fellows

Casting Casting

Coreen Mayrs

Editor Editor

Stewart Schill

Cinematography Cinematography

Rick Maguire

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Scott Fellows Lauren Levine Marjorie Cohn

Camera Operator Camera Operator

Ian Seabrook

Production Design Production Design

Michael Diner

Art Direction Art Direction

Laurel Bergman

Stunts Stunts

Owen Walstrom

Composer Composer

Pacific Bay Entertainment Nickelodeon Productions

Alternative Titles

Big Time Rush, o Filme, Big Time Rush: La Película, Big Time Rush w akcji, Big Time Rush: O Filme

Comedy TV Movie Music Mystery

Releases by Date

10 mar 2012, releases by country.

• TV Nickelodeon

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Popular reviews

Review by cherri ★★★★ 1

we are btr stans first and people second

Review by d ★★★★★ 1

One of the greatest animes of the decade. And maybe of all time.

Review by rania 🇪🇬 ★★★★ 2

Why did we as a society let Big Time Rush die?

Review by allison ★★★★★

big time rush can do the beatles but the beatles can’t do big time rush

Review by mieczyslaw ★★★★★

paul mcfartney WISHES he had sir kendall knight's range

Review by jamelyn 🪩 ★★★★★ 2

big time rush could do hey jude but could the beatles do boyfriend?

Review by Wahltart Whit 12

OH OH, OH OH OH

MAKE IT COUNT PLAY IT STRAIGHT DONT LOOK BACK DONT HESITATE WHEN YOU GO BIG TIME, WHAT YOU WANT WHAT YOU FEEL NEVER QUIT AND MAKE IT REAL WHEN YOU GO BIG TIME

OH OH HEY OH HEY LISTEN TO YOUR HEART NOW HEY OH HEY OH DONT YOU FEEL THE RUSH, OH OH, OH OOOH, GO AND SHAKE IT UP WHAT YOU GOTTA LOSE GO AND MAKE YOUR LUCK WITH THE LIFE YOU CHOOSE IF YOU WANT IT ALL LAY IT ON THE LINE ITS THE ONLY LIFE YOU GOT SO YOU GOTTA LIVE IT BIG TIME

Review by Victoria ★★★★★

am i the only one who understands the complexities of this ambitious cinematic masterpiece?

Review by coffee ★★★★ 5

me and the boys

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i love kingsman the secret service

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big time rush are SKINNY. fuck the beatles

Review by jo ★★★★★

big time movie > the godfather trilogy

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Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, big time adolescence.

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Pete Davidson has only just started playing lead roles in feature films, and he has already achieved a mythic silver screen presence. Later this year, we’ll see him play a version of himself in the Judd Apatow studio project “The King of Staten Island,” and this week we see Davidson as a different type of legend, playing the funny, slightly older screw-up you looked up to when doing your own growing up. You know: the charismatic figure you thought had it all figured out because they partied through the good and the bad. But then you get slightly wiser, and you see what that person doesn't have in their life, how no-rules coolness is just Monopoly money when the party is over. It’s a common wake-up call experienced by numerous film characters, and writer/director Jason Orley at least makes us laugh and relax before getting to obvious reasons about why you shouldn’t want to be like Davidson's chaotic slacker Zeke.   

But Mo ( Griffin Gluck ) doesn’t know this lesson yet, because he’s in high school. Mo looks up to Zeke as if he were the coolest older brother, even though Zeke is the ex-boyfriend of Mo's sister Kate ( Emily Arlook ). Mo is a decent kid, relatively plain, and that makes him highly susceptible to influence. As he hangs out with Zeke more and more, spending time with Zeke’s drinking and smoking buddies, Mo unknowingly but willingly mutates himself into Zeke. First it’s when Mo repeats Zeke’s jokes, then it’s when Mo tries out Zeke's crude strategy in order to get a classmate Sophie ( Oona Laurence ) to want him back.   

It’s a highly unusual friendship, but the chemistry between Gluck and Davidson help make it seem like a believable anomaly. Davidson’s Zeke is the constantly amused devil on the shoulder of Gluck’s high schooler Mo. And because Mo wants to be popular, Zeke essentially pushes him to sell drugs to the older rich kids at their weird themed parties. It's just one of many things that Zeke normalizes for him, and in turn sets Mo on a path of destruction.

With his feature debut, Orley presents himself as someone who knows this world of suburban kid basement parties well, but also as a storyteller interested in the dynamics to be found in these two slackers of varying levels. In particular, it becomes apparent that even though Zeke is introduced as a goofy god, Zeke needs Mo just as much to help make himself look cool, too. 

This creates a sizable symbiotic bond that the movie lives and dies on, and "Big Time Adolescence" often hits a strong beat anytime it builds backstory to make it about how their backstories inform their need for each other. But Orley’s script cheats itself out of any major emotional impact. As strong as it may to be start hanging out with them, basically anyone watching this movie would know that this kind of life gets old fast; some urgency is given to the film by tender performances from Jon Cryer (as Mo's dad) and Oona Laurence (especially when her character Sophie realizes that Mo nonetheless walks and talks like a jerk). Watching Mo learn all of this feels more obvious than usual for a story about arrested development—of course the fast life will lead to loneliness—because Orley doesn’t offer any sense earlier that he's much interested in shaking things up. 

But Orley has enough jokes and heart in “Big Time Adolescence” to recommend it as a comedy, getting laughs from character work (Davidson’s hyper-active performance especially), little gags in the background, and abrupt cuts that create their own punchline. And the supporting cast stands out too—there's a liveliness whenever Zeke, Mo, Nick (Machine Gun Kelly), Danny (Omar Brunson) and Holly ( Sydney Sweeney ) are in Zeke's pit of an apartment together, even if you don't want to drink whatever they're drinking. Orley is also constantly mindful for framing and how characters fit into an image, giving the movie’s hangout scenes a sense of being loose in story, but considered visually. Even when "Big Time Adolescence" starts to become ordinary, it always has a freshness from its on-screen talent, and from the promise of Orley’s directorial eye.  

Nick Allen is the former Senior Editor at RogerEbert.com and a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Big Time Adolescence (2020)

Griffin Gluck as Mo

Pete Davidson as Zeke

Emily Arlook as Kate Harris

Machine Gun Kelly as Nick

Sydney Sweeney as Holly

Jon Cryer as Reuben

Oona Laurence as Sophie

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A concert picture of blues singer Tom Waits features performances intertwined with interesting on-the-road sequences. Michael Blair, Ralph Carney, Greg Cohen, Marc Ribot, Willie Schwarz.

Musician and occasional actor Tom Waits first achieved prominence with a series of albums in the 1970s in which he adopted the persona of a late 1950s hipster, sleazy and jazzy. By the 1980s, however, he sought to break away from those limitations and incorporate other influences (described in the press notes for BIG TIME as avant-garde composer Harry Partch, Howlin' Wolf, Frank Sinatra, Astor Piazzolla, Irish tenor John McCormack, Kurt Weill, Louis Prima, Mexican norteno bands and Vegas lounge singers; how that list managed to exclude Louis Armstrong is anyone's guess). But while those influences can all be heard, Waits built a wholly unique musical landscape for himself to inhabit on the three albums he released in the 1980s: Swordfishtrombones (1983), Rain Dogs (1985), and Frank's Wild Years (1987). The genesis of BIG TIME is a bit confusing: In 1986, Waits and his wife Kathleen Brennan developed a play, Frank's Wild Years, from the song of the same name on Swordfishtrombones. The play was produced in 1986, with Waits in the lead role (the beginning of his interest in theatrical productions), by Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater. Waits devised new music for that show, which became the basis for the album Frank's Wild Years. BIG TIME is not a film adaptation of the play Frank's Wild Years, but a concert film from Waits's tour following the release of the album Frank's Wild Years. BIG TIME consists primarily of live performances at two concerts, one in San Francisco and one in Los Angeles, near the end of Waits's tour. Several of the musical numbers were shot separately from the live performances. In addition, director Chris Blum, who worked carefully with Waits to design a show with filmic elements in mind, intersperses scenes with Waits as a theater employee who dreams that he has become a success in show business, echoing the theme of the three albums. The audience is never seen and seldom heard; even applause at the ends of songs is sometimes cut off from the soundtrack. (Waits wanted to use a specially costumed and staged audience, but couldn't afford it.) Blum does everything he can to keep the film from seeming like a straight concert documentary, including editing separate performances together, but it neither adds not subtracts from the music. Waits appears as a number of personae--as a fire-and-brimstone preacher, a wisecracking piano-bar player, a smarmy Sinatra wannabe, and simply performing while playing the guitar. The backing musicians are a small but tight ensemble who supply a broad range of sounds to flesh out Waits's tales of small-time life. In the realm of concert films, BIG TIME more closely resembles Laurie Anderson's HOME OF THE BRAVE (1986) than say the Talking Heads's STOP MAKING SENSE (1985); more performance than music, but in either case, work that demands to be taken on its own terms. The songs performed are "Sucker on the Vine," "Frank's Wild Years," "Shore Leave," "Down in the Hole," "Hang on St. Christopher," "Telephone Call from Istanbul," "Cold Cold Ground," "Straight to the Top," "Strange Weather," "Gun Street Girl," "9th and Hennepin," "Clap Hands," "Time," "Bride of Rain Dog/Rain Dogs," "Train Song," "16 Shells from a Thirty-Ought Six," "I'll Take New York," "More Than Rain," "Johnsburg, Illinois," "Innocent When You Dream," and "Big Black Mariah." (Adult situations, profanity.)

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Fantasy romcom has language, smoking, age gap concerns.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Appreciate your childhood while you're young, and

Josh learns why it's better to enjoy childhood tha

The film centers around a White male character, bu

Two men fight, resulting in a bloody nose. Other s

A woman unknowingly dates a 13-year-old in the bod

"F--k" is used once. Characters say "s--t," "damn,

Several brand names are used and mentioned. Househ

Susan smokes frequently. Adults (including Josh, i

Parents need to know that Big is a 1980s fantasy romcom starring Tom Hanks as a 13-year-old boy named Josh who makes a wish that he was bigger -- and magically wakes up in the body of an adult. Strong language includes one use of "f--k," plus words like "s--t," "a--hole," and "bitch." A grown woman dates Josh…

Positive Messages

Appreciate your childhood while you're young, and don't lose the ability to find the fun and wonder in everyday life once you grow up. Integrity and empathy will bring you more happiness than lies, selfishness, and greed. On the other hand, the film blurs lines of consent.

Positive Role Models

Josh learns why it's better to enjoy childhood than it is to rush into being a grown-up. His perspective helps those around him rediscover their own happiness. Susan starts out as cold and businesslike but eventually remembers why fun and joy matter.

Diverse Representations

The film centers around a White male character, but -- as directed by Penny Marshall and co-written by Anne Spielberg -- its portrayal of romantic lead Susan is slightly more nuanced than in most 1980s romcoms. In minor roles, Black and East Asian characters briefly appear as bank tellers, police officers, students, etc. But during a scene in a sleazy motel that's meant to depict New York City as dangerous, with gunshots and screaming heard, a neighbor loudly argues on the phone in Spanish, implying that Latino men are "scary."

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Two men fight, resulting in a bloody nose. Other scenes are played for comedy: After Josh changes into his adult appearance, his mom chases him with a knife, not realizing he's her son. Gunshots and screaming are heard from a window in a sleazy motel. Josh is sometimes scared/worried.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

A woman unknowingly dates a 13-year-old in the body of an adult man, which raises ethical concerns. They go on dates and make out, and sex is implied after she unbuttons her shirt to reveal a bra (he gently cups her breast), and they kiss. A man pulls down his pants to reveal briefs (played for comedy). Boys and men occasionally talk about women like sex objects ("See that girl over there? Say hi to her, and she's yours. She'll wrap her legs around you so tight, you'll be begging for mercy.").

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

"F--k" is used once. Characters say "s--t," "damn," "bastard," "hell," and "a--hole." In a brief scene, a man angrily mutters to himself, "kill the bitch."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Several brand names are used and mentioned. Household items include Pepto Bismol, Nyquil, New York Giants memorabilia and clothing, a Pepsi vending machine, etc. Characters attend a Yankees game. Times Square ads include Toshiba, Sony, Coca-Cola, etc. Toy company executives discuss Mattel, Fisher-Price, Transformers, and GoBots.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Susan smokes frequently. Adults (including Josh, in his adult appearance) drink alcohol at parties.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Big is a 1980s fantasy romcom starring Tom Hanks as a 13-year-old boy named Josh who makes a wish that he was bigger -- and magically wakes up in the body of an adult. Strong language includes one use of "f--k," plus words like "s--t," "a--hole," and "bitch." A grown woman dates Josh, assuming he's an adult, which raises various ethical concerns. They go on dates and make out, and sex is implied after she unbuttons her shirt to reveal a bra, and they kiss. A main character consistently smokes cigarettes, and adults drink at parties. A child who's forced to grow up too quickly is exposed to corporate life, sex, and other adult matters. A fistfight results in a bloody nose, and gunshots and screaming are heard through a window. The film encourages viewers to have fun, tell the truth, and be kind to others no matter your age. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (39)
• Kids say (83)

Based on 39 parent reviews

Does anyone see the pedophilia thread here?

Definitely not pg, what's the story.

Fed up with being little, 13-year-old Josh Baskin ( Tom Hanks ) makes a wish to be BIG at a fair's mechanical fortune-telling booth -- and wakes up the following morning in a grown man's body. Stunned by what's happened, Josh flees across the bridge to New York City with his friend Billy ( Jared Rushton ) to track down the fair and wish himself back to normal. In New York, Josh stumbles into a computer operator job at MacMillan Toys. His insightfulness gets him promoted overnight and draws the attention of corporate executive Susan ( Elizabeth Perkins ). As their relationship develops, Josh begins to mature and settle into his adult skin, making it unclear whether he'll ever come clean and return to his original life and body.

Is It Any Good?

This heartwarming, funny movie does something inventive with the familiar plot of someone getting magically transplanted into someone else's body. Big is grounded by a strong, earnest performance from Hanks, who would go on a few years later to win back-to-back Oscars for Philadelphia (1993) and Forrest Gump (1994). The scene in which Josh spends a night alone in a seedy New York City motel, fidgeting until he breaks into tears, makes his situation gut-wrenchingly believable. He's not just imitating the mannerisms of an awkward 13-year-old -- there's a profound innocence about him that's both vulnerable and irresistibly charming. David Moscow, playing the young Josh, is a terrific counterpart for Hanks, and Perkins looks appropriately bewildered by it all as the reluctant love interest. Penny Marshall directs with an uncharacteristically subdued hand, employing no camera tricks or overblown music. She lets the performers and the sharp script do the speaking, and the result is this memorable late-1980s hit.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Josh's experiences as an adult in Big . Why does he want to be big, and why does he ultimately decide he wants to return to his actual age?

If you could be any age, which age would you pick? Why?

What are the best things about being a kid? What are the advantages to being an adult?

How do the characters in Big demonstrate integrity and empathy ? Why are these important character strengths ?

For a film that's often cited as a family classic, there's quite a bit of mature content, including smoking, dating, and issues of consent. If the movie came out today, would it still be considered family-friendly? Have expectations for what's appropriate for kids changed since the 1980s?

Movie Details

• In theaters : June 3, 1988
• On DVD or streaming : October 5, 1999
• Cast : Tom Hanks , Elizabeth Perkins , Robert Loggia
• Director : Penny Marshall
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Female writers
• Studio : Twentieth Century Fox
• Genre : Comedy
• Topics : Magic and Fantasy , Friendship
• Character Strengths : Empathy , Integrity
• Run time : 104 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG
• Last updated : May 10, 2024

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'Always Regretted That': Kevin Costner Names Big Career Mistake

Two-time Academy Award winner Kevin Costner also has some career regrets.

Kevin Costner has been acting for over four decades, and he has also directed several critically acclaimed films, including the Oscar-winner Dances With Wolves . However, despite his illustrious career, Costner admitted that he did make some decisions that haunt him.

Kevin Costner is a well-respected actor in the movie industry, and his Oscar-winning film Dances With Wolves , which won Best Picture and Best Director, among other Oscars, certified him as a giant in the Western genre. With a career involving many genres, the actor admitted in a recent interview with GQ that he made a big career mistake.

'That's the Real Number': Kevin Costner Clears Up Rumors About New Western's Budget

In the over-thirty-minute interview where he opens up about the most iconic characters he has played in his career, Kevin Costner also addressed the 1994 adventure film Wyatt Earp , which includes some of his biggest regrets, but not for the film itself, but for its release date. The film was released only six months after 1993's Tombstone , which had Kurt Russell play the same character.

Around the 31:00 mark, the actor addressed Wyatt Earp, explaining, " I love Wyatt, or I just love that movie . We got into a level of competition with Tombstone . A good friend said, "Look, we can postpone this movie. We don't wanna compete." And I said, "Look," I said, "I'm sure this writer, director wants to make this movie, let them. " And then this kind of space race started," Kevin explained. "And I always regretted that there was this kind of weird competition , and it was a fun movie, Tombstone , but it's too bad it went the way it went ."

Kevin Costner Expresses Interest in Making Comedy Movie With Genre Legend

Kevin costner explained his reasoning for playing john dutton in yellowstone.

Kevin Costner has played many iconic characters, and his biggest role recently was in Yellowstone , where he played the lead character, John Dutton. During the same interview, Costner touched upon his character, explaining his reasoning for playing Dutton. "Well, number one, you have a legacy, and your legacy is your land and what's come before you. And then a man wants to protect that." Costner explained, "How the world operates outside the property is one thing, how it operates on his property will be another thing."

" I wanted to serve the writing that [creator] Taylor [Sheridan] was doing , and I found my own way of doing things , but I can't say like I invented anything."

Other roles discussed in the interview were Ray Kinsella from 1989's Field of Dreams , Lieutenant Dunbar from 1990's Dances with Wolves , Frank Farmer from 1992's The Bodyguard , the titular character from 1991's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves , Crash Davis from 1988's Bull Durham , Jake from 1985's Silverado , Billy Chapel from 1999's For Love of the Game , Eliot Ness from 1987's The Untouchables , Jim Garrison from 1991's JFK , and his new film, the Western epic Horizon: An American Saga .

'The Fall Guy' Review: Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt Lead a Moviemaking Lover’s Dream

Get ready as this action ride is here to kick off the summer blockbuster season early.

The Big Picture

• The Fall Guy is a loving celebration of cinema, blending action and comedy with a focus on filmmaking and stuntwork.
• The movie stays rooted in set life while delivering delightful action sequences.
• The talented cast, impeccable pacing, and dynamic action set pieces make The Fall Guy a big screen delight.

This review was originally part of our coverage for the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival.

I love movies, and I love moviemaking just as much. As someone who spends nearly every waking hour marveling at and celebrating the craftsmanship required to make a film, David Leitch ’s The Fall Guy is a dream come true . Yes, it’s a crowd-pleasing romantic comedy thriller, but first and foremost, it’s one big-hearted ode to the artists responsible for movie magic.

The Fall Guy

Colt Seavers is a stuntman who left the business a year earlier to focus on both his physical and mental health. He's drafted back into service when the star of a mega-budget studio movie, which is being directed by his ex, goes missing.

What Is 'The Fall Guy' About?

Ryan Gosling leads as Colt Seavers, a stuntman whose day-to-day consists of getting shot, blown up, sent spiraling via elaborate car crashes, and then some . All of that nearly ends when Colt is in the middle of a devastating accident. Time passes and Colt doesn’t bounce back. He steers clear of all things Hollywood until receiving an unexpected call. His ex, Jody ( Emily Blunt ), is making her first big-budget studio movie and it’s at risk of getting shut down. Its star, Tom Ryder ( Aaron Taylor-Johnson ), is missing. In an effort to get the film back on track, and hopefully win Jody back in the process, Colt agrees to track Tom down. Little does he know, it’s a mission that will demand he put his stunt person skillset to use — in the real world against real criminals.

The Fall Guy works on every single level . When the trailer first dropped, initially, I was overjoyed by the idea of getting a feature film that focused on filmmaking and stuntwork. However, when the trailer ventured beyond a movie set, I feared that once the main mission got underway, it’d teeter away from filmmaking and too close to a more traditional action movie narrative. I couldn’t have been more wrong about that. The Fall Guy firmly stays rooted in set life and the making of Jody’s movie, but whenever it moves out into the streets of Sydney, every single ounce of action is delightfully tethered to Colt’s on-set behavior. It results in a slew of downright hilarious action beats where what works on set doesn’t prove as effective against real criminals and also packs plenty of truly incredible physical achievements.

The Fall Guy is an often hilarious romp of a movie, but it doesn’t take its acknowledgment of stuntwork lightly, nor the work required of other departments to make a movie. All of the action in The Fall Guy is incredibly well-shot , ensuring it can match, if not surpass, the stunt scenes we’d see in any other Hollywood action film. But, these scenes also have a more tactile quality to them than most films. Many moments reminded me of seeing live stunt shows at theme parks in the best possible way. The physical feat required to pull something off is undeniable because it’s happening right before your eyes. Every ounce of Fall Guy elicits a similar feeling. It’s a highly enjoyable and wild ride, but one that never lets you forget that real human beings (and one very, very good stunt dog) did all of this for you, the audience.

'The Fall Guy' Is a Masterful Action Movie With Great Stunts

The concept remains fresh and fun from start to finish courtesy of its wildly charming leads, impeccable pacing, and uniquely dynamic action set pieces. Minus some noticeable digital backdrops, the stunt choreography, cinematography, and editing choices are all top-tier .

This will come as no surprise given their expertise in this space, but Leitch and cinematographer Jonathan Sela are true masters of capturing action. The imagery is often downright stunning, the viewer’s eye is always exactly where it needs to be , and they also appear to know just how much to capture in camera in a single shot. From there we get Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir ’s edit, which features a highly effective balance of cuts with purpose and lengthier shots that strongly enhance the believability and visceral nature of all the set pieces.

And then there’s Gosling who is utterly pitch-perfect as Colt Seavers . This role was made for him. His charisma is through the roof as he absolutely nails the balance between selling Colt as a highly trained stunt person but also one that, much to the viewer’s amusement, is realizing his on-set tricks don’t have the same effect off-set. He rocks maximum chemistry with everyone in the ensemble.

The Romance and Supporting Cast Are Stellar in 'The Fall Guy'

Admittedly, I can be a tough sell with the romantic component of romantic comedies/romantic thrillers, but the connection between Gosling and Blunt’s characters is undeniable . As always, Winston Duke boasts maximum screen presence playing Dan, a close friend of Colt’s and the stunt coordinator on Jody’s film. One of many of Fall Guy ’s greatest delights is seeing Duke and Gosling team up for a fight. Taylor-Johnson and Hannah Waddingham also soar in their roles. Taylor-Johnson is great as an insufferable movie star with a massive ego and Waddingham steals the show as the producer of Jody’s film who’ll stop at nothing to make things happen.

I truly had a massive grin on my face from start to finish watching The Fall Guy . It’s an extremely well-crafted action movie that’s absolutely buzzing with energy and charm for all 125 minutes of its running time. What makes it an all-timer is how it functions as one big, loving celebration of cinema.

I'm always in awe of the fact that no single person can make a movie. These productions demand hundreds, if not thousands of artists who are deeply passionate masters at their crafts come together in order to bring someone’s vision to theaters and share it with the world. Every contribution is valuable, and every contribution is vital. With an extra special emphasis on the wizards responsible for jaw-dropping stunts, The Fall Guy heavily highlights that in the form of an exceedingly entertaining ride . It's both a big-screen delight and a moviemaking lover’s dream.

The Fall Guy is both an entertaining ride and a celebration of stunt performers everywhere.

• Ryan Gosling is pitch-perfect in the role, capturing the balance between talented stunt performer and unwitting action hero.
• All of the way the action is put together, from the stunts themselves to the cinematography and the editing, is expertly done.
• The chemistry between Gosling and Emily Blunt is undeniable, ensuring the movie doesn't skimp on romance.
• There are some noticeable digital backgrounds.

The Fall Guy is now available to stream on VOD in the U.S.

WATCH ON VOD

‘The Big Cigar' Review: André Holland Is Excellent in an Erratic Biopic

I n "The Big Cigar," contradictions weigh heavily on Huey P. Newton (played by the magnificent André Holland). He sees them everywhere. For instance, Huey notes that the NRA contradicted their general ideology by helping the GOP pass gun control laws in the 1960s, all because they were afraid of the group Newton co-founded: the Black Panthers. He's also keenly aware of the contradiction inherent to a Black man being "set free" from a prison of bars and stone into the prison of the American way. "Contrary to propagated belief, I'm not living to die, but I am refusing to live without liberation," Huey says during his opening voice-over narration.

He even acknowledges the contradiction inherent to "The Big Cigar" itself, saying, "The story I'm about to tell you is true. […] But it is coming through the lens of Hollywood, so let's see how much of my story they're really willing to show." Can a product bought and sold by the entertainment industry tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth when doing so might keep them from recouping their investment? Can a story told by many bring clarity to one man's mission? And is this story willing to take part in the revolution Newton so desperately wanted - that he and so many others needed and still need - or is it merely trying to capitalize off his image? Can it be both?

Developed and executive produced by Jim Hecht, with Don Cheadle on board to direct two of the six episodes, "The Big Cigar" largely observes these contradictions, instead of wielding them toward a greater purpose. It does the very things it says it won't do, especially in giving Newton's life the short-shrift in favor of two guilt-ridden white guys. The self-awareness sparks hope that something powerful is waiting around the next corner - a clever subversion of the stories it's setting up, or a hard pivot into Huey's perspective - but "The Big Cigar" settles for providing an efficient amalgamation of Hollywood's snapshot biopics and Ben Affleck's Oscar-winning feature film "Argo." (Both are inspired by articles from Joshuah Bearman, and both center around film producers using a fake production to pull off a righteous heist.) That it's hampered by the former far more than its meta confessions seem to realize is a contradiction that's never fully rectified.

Still, it's pretty entertaining. Picking up in 1974, the series mainly focuses on Newton's escape from America, aided by two movie producers, Bert Schneider (Alessandro Nivola) and Stephen Blauner (P.J. Byrne), after he was accused of murdering a 17-year-old prostitute. The series doesn't waste time defending or even discussing the incident, putting the focus squarely on the police harassment Newton faced throughout his life. At a kid, Newton remembers moving from Louisiana to California "expecting it to be different," but "within two hours, the cops pulled my pops out of the car and roughed him up in front of us." To its credit, the narrative operates under the easily accepted ethos that, to Huey, the Black Panthers, and Black citizens throughout America, the cops were always operating as "an occupying army in our community."

The sides are set, and the stakes are clear. Newton has to get out of the country, or the FBI will kill him. So he turns to his friends with money and means, who do what they do best: produce his getaway. Using codenames for each team member, Bert and Stephen concoct a phony film project so they can use their company's resources and their own fundraising skills to get Newton to Cuba. Sometimes that means acquiring cars or planes, other times it means negotiating with pilots or bribing construction workers. The methods shift as the authorities grow suspicious of their scheme, but it's all housed under the guise of a movie that will never be made.

Despite having most of the pieces in place, "The Big Cigar" can't match "Argo's" tension, because it upends its own narrative with flashbacks about Newton's life, and because it spends too much time trying to flesh out characters that should've been supporting players instead of co-stars. Worse still, the series knows it's making these mistakes: In the second to last episode, there's a scene where the group (during sunnier days) discusses making a biopic of the iconic Black Panther leader. "If it's going to be a biopic," Bert says, "you have to choose a moment in Huey's life that means something. Don't just make it womb to tomb." Richard Pryor (Inny Clemons), who's on hand as a friend of Huey's and an actor invested in the project, says Bert should be in the movie, too. "Don't put me in it. It's not my story," Bert says. "I been around Hollywood long enough to know it ain't going to get made if a white person isn't in it," Lewis responds, and Bert acquiesces. OK. He's in. Bert stays in the picture.

If Hecht & Co. included this exchange to clearly state their intentions, consider it done. But following through is another matter, and given "The Big Cigar's" unnecessary and momentum-killing attention to Bert (and his producing partner), the self-conscious conversation also feels like a mea culpa. So many scenes about Bert's moral compass are squeezed in between all the time jumps meant to give greater context to Newton's life, which only makes us want more of Huey and less of Bert and leaves the Black Panther's principles clear but under-scrutinized.

It's as if the writers thought the only way to get modern audiences behind Newton's revolutionary ambitions was to make him squeaky clean - a clear-cut hero, like John Shaft (who Newton loved), which just doesn't fit with a leader who evolved as much as Newton did. Yes, focusing on one part of his life (escaping to Cuba) helps the series from becoming a bloated, predictable slog, but jumping between timelines is exhausting, and major life moments are too often reduced to lip service - traits all too common to the Wikipedia-regurgitating "womb to tomb" biopics "The Big Cigar" is supposed to be avoiding.

And like so many of even the worst biopics, there's one impeccable element: André Holland. Perfectly cast and delivering a performance filled with equal parts fear, anger, and tenderness, the star of "Moonlight," "The Knick," and "High Flying Bird" again commands each scene with a grounded, raw charisma. There's a scene midway through where Newton is scared for his life. He feels the walls closing in on him, and in between talking over what's next, he can't help but to say the unsaid: "I don't know when it's coming, man, but it's coming. I can feel it. Death." As he speaks, he's holding a small, white chess piece from the table in front of him. He spins it and squeezes it. He can't stop fiddling with it, and yet Holland keeps the rest of his features still. All his angst is channeled through his fingers, and the camera picks up just enough of it so you can grasp his tension while listening to his words.

Holland does the same throughout "The Big Cigar": conveying the many thoughts, many layers, of Huey P. Newton without letting his physical performance overwhelm the weight of his character's ideas. That he can do all this despite the distractions and hindrances of the story around him only makes you had a little more time; that the show would've given itself a little more room to breathe; that the chosen story was as full and rich as Holland's grasp of its central player. Of course, fulfilling those requests could've resulted in a far more conventional biopic, which no one wants. But somewhere within these contradictory desires is a great limited series, and - whether it's because of Hollywood, the creators, or something else entirely - "The Big Cigar" only gets to be pretty good.

"The Big Cigar" premieres Friday, May 17 on Apple TV+ with two episodes. New episodes will be released weekly through June 14.

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Screen Rant

Horizon's rotten tomatoes score is a brutal reality check for kevin costner after yellowstone exit.

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Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 2 - Release Date & Everything We Know

Horizon debuts to one of kevin costner's worst rotten tomatoes scores, why smaug is the only dragon in lotr & the hobbit (what happened to the others).

• Horizon: An American Saga's disappointing Rotten Tomatoes score reflects badly on the film and Costner's decision to leave Yellowstone.
• Audiences have high expectations for Horizon due to Costner's success in the Western genre, but initial reviews are not promising.
• Horizon may have introduced too many plotlines in Chapter 1, lacking a clear focus, risking the success of the entire franchise.

Although Horizon: An American Saga has been described as Kevin Costner's passion project, the new Western film has garnered a disappointing Rotten Tomatoes score, which not only reflects poorly on the movie, but also says a lot about Costner's decision to leave Yellowstone for this new film franchise. Horizon: An American Saga is a four-part movie experience following the expansion of the American West throughout the years of the American Civil War. The first movie in the Horizon saga, Chapter 1, premiered at Cannes Film Festival, and is slated to be released to audiences on June 28, 2024.

Expectations for Horizon: An American Saga have been fairly high for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, Kevin Costner's movies have been huge successes in the Western genre, most notably 1990's Dances with Wolves and the Yellowstone franchise. But more than that, Horizon has been an especially important project for Costner. It has been in development since the late 90s, and over the years, has become Costner's most coveted project . With so much time and dedication behind it, Horizon seemed on track to be a big hit, but its initial Rotten Tomatoes score unfortunately says otherwise.

Kevin Costner's passion project is on the way but attention is already turning towards how the Western epic with Horizon: An American Saga 2.

Horizon's Rotten Tomatoes Score Is Only 30% - Much Lower Than Yellowstone

Horizon may be worse than yellowstone.

Horizon: An American Saga may have had high expectations, but it certainly hasn't met them, at least with critics. After being shown at the Cannes FIlm Festival, the movie garnered a 33% on Rotten Tomatoes . To be clear, this is the overall score from critics, as audiences have yet to see the movie. But regardless, this is a fairly significant blow. This was not only Kevin Costner's passion project, but the franchise that he left Yellowstone for , right as the show prepared to finish out its final season. When comparing the projects, that move no longer makes much sense.

Where Chapter 1 of Horizon: An American Saga earned a 33% on Rotten Tomatoes, Yellowstone has an 84% . Furthermore, its audience score is 76%. Based on this over 50% difference, it is clear that Yellowstone is much more lauded and appreciated than Horizon: An American Saga . To be fair, Yellowstone has had five seasons to impress audiences, and Horizon has yet to be released to audiences, but even then, the numbers are meaningful.

What they say is that Kevin Costner's controversial move from Yellowstone to Horizon: An American Saga may not have been the brightest choice in retrospect.

Why Horizon's Early Reviews Are So Negative

Horizon offered too much in too little time.

Horizon: An American Saga's negative Rotten Tomatoes score has a few big reasons behind it. First and foremost, the most common complaint about the movie is that it did too much without enough time to truly appreciate it . As the first installment in a four-movie epic, Chapter 1 provided a great deal of set-up, but without much room to let these storylines breathe or feel meaningful. In contrast, every character and location and plot was thrown at the audience in order for them to pick it up in the consequent movies . It made a better introduction than a first movie.

Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 3 is currently filming.

This unfortunate predicament is noticeable by watching the Horizon: An American Saga trailer. As many critics have complained, the movie doesn't seem to have any discernible plot. Instead, as seen in the trailer, Horizon seems to introduce a number of Western plotlines without actually settling on any of them . It is unclear what the movie is truly about, aside from just being a classic Western. Although this is only the first movie in a longer series, this lack of a plot does not bode well. It is an inauspicious start that could ruin the franchise before it even really begins.

Horizon's Rotten Tomatoes Score Shows How Big A Risk It Was For Kevin Costner

Costner sacrificed success for passion.

Over the past year or so, Kevin Costner has been in the spotlight for his strange Yellowstone exit, and now, Horizon: An American Saga's Rotten Tomatoes score shines a new light on the situation. For months, it was unclear whether Kevin Costner would be returning to complete the final season of Yellowstone due to conflicts with showrunner, Taylor Sheridan. Horizon also played a factor in Costner's return. Ultimately, Costner decided to leave Yellowstone, forcing Yellowstone season 5, part 2 to end without its primary character, and though this seemed like a power move at the time, it has potentially backfired now .

In reality, Kevin Costner's Yellowstone exit was a huge risk. Costner may be an established actor, writer, and director, but even his projects can flop, and Horizon: An American Saga has proved it. While the new Western still has time to impress audiences and make up for its disappointing critic's score, at this point, it has become obvious that Costner may have given up something really good for Horizon .

Yellowstone is popular, successful, and financially secure. Horizon, on the other hand, may have been a poor investment depending on how the coming weeks turn out.

Why Horizon Could Still Succeed Despite Its Bad Reviews

Audience reactions are still important.

Despite what critics have said about Horizon: An American Saga, the movie could still succeed. Although critic reactions are certainly important, they are not the end all be all of a movie. In fact, audience reactions are just as important as critics', and at times, are more signficant because they affect the movie's box office . If audiences enjoy Horizon, then its box office may completely overshadow the critics' bad reviews. And there's a chance audiences will enjoy it more than critics did. Where critics are more concerned with the logistics of a movie, many audiences simply want to be entertained.

Overall, Horizon: An American Saga had a disappointing start, but this is far from the end of the road. The movie still has to reach audiences, and when it does, its bad luck could completely turn around. Audiences could boost Horizon's Rotten Tomatoes score, and in turn, give it a notable box office performance . If this happens, then Kevin Costner's risk may pay off, and his new Western franchise could be a serious success, on par with Yellowstone. However, it won't be clear if this is going to happen until June 28, when Horizon: An American Saga finally hits theaters.

Horizon: An American Saga

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The Garfield Movie

After Garfield's unexpected reunion with his long-lost father, ragged alley cat Vic, he and his canine friend Odie are forced from their perfectly pampered lives to join Vic on a risky heist... Read all After Garfield's unexpected reunion with his long-lost father, ragged alley cat Vic, he and his canine friend Odie are forced from their perfectly pampered lives to join Vic on a risky heist. After Garfield's unexpected reunion with his long-lost father, ragged alley cat Vic, he and his canine friend Odie are forced from their perfectly pampered lives to join Vic on a risky heist.

• Mark Dindal
• Paul A. Kaplan
• Mark Torgove
• David Reynolds
• Chris Pratt
• Samuel L. Jackson
• Hannah Waddingham
• 59 User reviews
• 84 Critic reviews
• 31 Metascore

• Marge Malone

• Zapped Bird

• Rom-Com Woman

• Rom-Com Man
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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• Trivia Frank Welker , who's voiced Garfield since 2007, expressed his disappointment at not being asked to voice the character for this film.

Jon : Say when!

[as he starts grating parmesan cheese on lasagne; from teaser and official trailers]

Garfield : Never, Jon! Bury me in cheese!

• Crazy credits At the end of the credits, there is a three-strip comic with Garfield asking the audience why they are still here, then he tells them they are waiting for a sequel.
• Connections Featured in AniMat's Crazy Cartoon Cast: To Infinity and... (2021)

User reviews 59

• aleandres7-983-698732
• May 2, 2024
• When was The Garfield Movie released? Powered by Alexa
• May 24, 2024 (United States)
• United States
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• Official Site
• Garfield: Mèo Béo Siêu Quậy
• Columbia Pictures
• Alcon Entertainment
• Double Negative (DNEG)
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $31,255,905
• $24,006,629
• May 26, 2024
• $97,555,905

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 41 minutes
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Atmos
• D-Cinema 96kHz 7.1
• Dolby Surround 7.1
• 12-Track Digital Sound

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What to stream: Catch up with Zendaya’s big 2-movie start for 2024

With summer movie season already in full-swing, thanks to “The Fall Guy,” “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” and “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” bringing big-screen spectacle to theaters, it’s also a time to look back on the best films from the first half of the year and catch up with some of the titles that you may have missed.

Two of the biggest movies of 2024 so far happened to star Zendaya, and also happened to open this spring after their fall release dates were pushed back to accommodate the actors strike last year. Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic sequel “Dune Part Two” dropped on Max this week, so if you missed the adventures of Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) on Arrakis, now is the time to catch up with it at home. Zendaya stars as Paul’s Fremen love interest, Chani, who remains suspicious of his messiah-like ascent to power.

She’s also the center of Luca Guadagnino’s certified cinematic phenomenon “Challengers.” Though the sexy tennis movie is still in theaters (and it deserves the big-screen experience), the film is now available for premium rental on Amazon Prime, iTunes and Google Play. Zendaya stars as a teen tennis phenom who finds herself caught up in a steamy love triangle with a pair best friends and doubles partners, played by Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor. With a pounding techno score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and dizzying direction by Italian director Guadagnino, “Challengers” is the movie event of the spring, so catch up with the hype if you haven’t already.

If more Josh O’Connor is what you desire post-“Challengers,” rent or buy Alice Rohwacher’s beautifully poignant “La Chimera.” The English actor stars as a grieving archaeologist who falls in with a group of Italian grave robbers, who steal and deal in antiquities. This poetic and lyrical film is almost impossibly beautiful, like the artifacts themselves. A wholly unique film and a turn from O’Connor that proves he indeed has the range, “La Chimera” also co-stars Isabella Rossellini. Rent or buy it on all digital platforms for $5.99.

Also available on premium VOD rental is Rose Glass’ mesmeric, fantastical desert noir “Love Lies Bleeding,” starring Kristen Stewart as Lou, a gym manager name in a Southwestern town who falls in lusty love with a transient bodybuilder, Jackie (a star turn from newcomer Katy O’Brian). The star-crossed pair find themselves in a desperate situation, and attempting to elude Lou’s entrenched crime family, led by her father (Ed Harris). Sexy, gory and strangely funny, “Love Lies Bleeding” must be seen to be believed.

There are a few smaller indie titles that have gone under the radar as well, like Goran Stolevski’s sensitively observed portrait of a queer found family in North Macedonia, “Housekeeping for Beginners,” which is available on premium VOD on all platforms.

Julio Torres’ “Problemista” is a delightfully absurd and surreal film about a young El Salvadoran immigrant who falls in with a chaotic New York City art critic, played by Tilda Swinton. This quasi-memoir takes a fantastical tack to the exploration of the Sisyphean task of gaining U.S. citizenship, and while Torres’ film is hilariously funny, it is also incredibly moving, and grounded in its exploration of work and belonging. Rent it on all platforms at a premium VOD price.

And Adam Rehmeier’s incredibly charming slice of nostalgia, “Snack Shack” is the perfect way to kick off the summer, with this coming-of-age story about a couple of teens in 1990’s Nebraska who run a pool snack shack for their summer get-rich-quick scheme. “The Fabelmans” star Gabrielle LaBelle co-stars opposite Conor Sherry and Mika Abdalla as the intriguing girl next door. Rent or buy it on all platforms for $5.99.

Katie Walsh is the Tribune News Service film critic and co-host of the “Miami Nice” podcast.

Traveling the "The Road to 10G" in the Pacific Northwest

I was a young guy fresh out of the Marine Corps when I took a job in my wife’s hometown of Atlanta as an installer with a cable company.

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‘civil war’ is now streaming—how to watch a24’s hit movie at home.

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Kirsten Dunst in "Civil War."

Didn’t catch Civil War in theaters or want to watch the film again? A24 ’s new dystopian war movie made its digital debut before it arrives on Max sometime this year. Find out how to watch Civil War at home on sites like Apple TV and Prime Video , below.

Written and directed by Alex Garland, Civil War is set in a dystopian future in the U.S. “where a team of military-embedded journalists races against time to reach Washington, D.C., before rebel factions descend upon the White House,” the film’s synopsis reads. Kirsten Dunst stars alongside Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Nick Offerman in the Civil War cast.

In Civil War’s first trailer, a news broadcast announces that 19 states have seceded and uprisings are occurring across the nation. Lee, a veteran war photographer, and her team attempt to document it all on video. “The whole movie is open to interpretation,” Dunst, who plays Lee, told Variety ahead of the film premiere. “For me, there were things I just accepted that were unexplained. It allows the audience to fill in their own feelings about what they’re watching.”

Civil War’s director and writer told IndieWire he was “selective to what was presented according to what the journalists were moving through.” He explained, “If you unpack some of the moments or some of the statements within the moments, [the political world-building is] probably less ambiguous than it might appear at first blush.”

Garland continued, “But I think that’s probably actually something to do with the grammar of the way film often functions, which is to be very, very clear about everything at every moment. And because this is doing that less so, it feels like there’s an absence of something, but I’m not sure there really is an absence.”

Civil War marked A24’s widest release ever and the studio’s most expensive film at $55 million. The dystopian thriller grossed over $112 million worldwide and $67 million in domestically, according to Box Office Mojo . The film also became A24’s second-biggest release following the Oscar-winning 2022 film, Everything Everywhere All At Once, starring Michelle Yeoh.

The New Yorker critic Richard Brody wrote in his review that “the most common critique is that the movie’s writer and director, Alex Garland, films a visually recognizable world but downplays real-world politics, leaving out the particular ideologies that make this catastrophic conflict seem a part of our time.”

Form your own opinion about Civil War when you watch the film at home this weekend. Here’s how to tune in.

How To Watch Civil War At Home

As of May 24, Civil War is available to stream on video-on-demand sites Amazon Prime Video , Apple TV , and Fandango At Home . You can purchase Civil War for $24.99 or rent the movie for $19.99. You have 30 days to start watching a rental and 48 hours to finish Civil War once it’s begun.

When Is Civil War Coming To Streaming?

Civil War will also eventually be available to stream Max, but the release date has not yet been announced. The film’s production company, A24, signed a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery in December 2023 to bring its theatrical films to the streaming site this year.

For reference, A24’s film Priscilla s tarted streaming on Max in February 2024 — almost four months after its theatrical release in October 2023. If you apply a similar timeline to Civil War , the movie could land on Max as early as August 2024. Stay tuned to learn exactly when Civil War will be available on the streaming site.

Watch the official trailer for Civil War below.

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Movie Review: Glen Powell gives big leading man energy in ‘Hit Man’

The Associated Press

May 22, 2024, 2:23 PM

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For a guy like Glen Powell, the ascent to movie stardom isn’t really a question. It’s more like an inevitability.

Blessed with that square jawline, those bright green eyes, a flop of dirty blonde hair and the kind of symmetrical smile that would seem suspect if it weren’t so darn charming, he’s a Disney prince before they all became the bad guys. And he’s got the kind of effortless, high-wattage charisma that ensures a career beyond soaps and procedurals, the typical resting ground for the laughably handsome. Powell has something, you believe, going on behind the eyes.

This is all to say that suspension of disbelief is a prerequisite going into “Hit Man,” a decently entertaining action-comedy-romance about a fake hit man from filmmaker Richard Linklater, who co-wrote the script with Powell. It’s making a brief stop in theaters starting Friday before hitting Netflix on June 7.

Based on a “somewhat true story” though it may be, this is a film that asks its audience to buy into the idea that the characters in this film believe that Powell’s face is bland and forgettable. This has everything to do with his character, Gary Johnson, a philosophy professor in New Orleans who lives a quiet, solitary life in the suburbs tending to his two cats, birding, tinkering with electronics and helping the local police install surveillance equipment for sting operations. He drives a Honda Civic and wears ill-fitting polo shirts, knee-length jean shorts and socks with his semi-orthopedic sandals. And, of course, like many hot guys in disguise before him, he’s got a pair of wire-rimmed glasses. Why he dresses like your middle-aged uncle in 1992 is anyone’s guess. Were he in Bushwick, it might not even look odd. But this is a movie and we know that Gary is predestined for a glow-up.

Not that “Hit Man” allows itself to have any fun with the makeover aspect. No, once plain Gary is thrown into this amateur undercover work (by Retta and Sanjay Rao), we only get to see the final looks he wears to meet all the people looking to hire a hit man. He dips into the theatrical for these occasions, sporting wigs, makeup, accents and fake tattoos in his attempt to be what he thinks each specific person thinks a hit man should be, which is moderately amusing.

But besides a brief bit showing him watching a wig-and-makeup YouTube tutorial, his transformations are not exactly investigated. There’s no shopping montage, no Harvey Fierstein-type character helping him find his way around the college theater department’s costume room, and no apparent budgetary concerns or discussions, which seems odd for a guy who is only doing this undercover stuff for an extra paycheck. In a movie that perhaps had a better engine behind it, questions like these might evaporate with the laughter and enjoyment of a fairly silly premise. “Hit Man” does not quite have that, though. Again, that suspension of disbelief is necessary.

Things do pick up with the introduction of The Girl, Madison (Adria Arjona, terrific despite being awfully underdeveloped), an unhappy wife looking to get rid of her cruel husband. Gary meets her as “Ron,” who acts and dresses like the leading man of an action movie, or a cocky off-duty movie star, with well-fitting jeans and tight henleys and cool-guy jackets showing off his inexplicably ripped physique.

And he treats Madison differently than the many other characters he’s helped put behind bars whose stupidity, trashiness and ugliness are all played for madcap comedic effect. She, he decides, doesn’t really want this — a grace he extends to no one else. He talks her out of hiring him to kill the bad husband, whom she promptly leaves without incident before moving into a nice house and beginning a steamy romance with Ron.

Again, questions arise about how this woman whose husband didn’t allow her to work and who was so scared of him that she was ready to hire a hit man has managed to escape so smoothly. But, you know, good for her and good for us because the chemistry between her and Powell is electric and ravenous, up there with George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez in “Out of Sight.”

But the honeymoon only lasts so long and things soon get tricky as Ron starts to become Gary’s dominant character. This all builds to a fairly exciting third act with the introduction of an actual murder and the possibility of being exposed by an increasingly suspicious and crooked cop (played with slimy perfection by Austin Amelio). And you can’t help shake the feeling that it needed something else: a bigger twist, a stickier conflict, some heightened stakes.

“Hit Man” was a movie that got some breathless praise out of the fall film festivals, which might be to its detriment. It’s perfectly enjoyable: a glossy, easy-to-digest Powell showcase that isn’t trying to be anything but fun. But the second coming of the action-comedy-romance, it is not.

“Hit Man,” a Netflix release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for “language throughout, sexual content and some violence.” Running time: 115 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

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