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Clockwise from top left: 'House of Guiness,' 'Black Rabbit,' 'aka Charlie Sheen,' 'Alice in Borderland,' 'Canelo Álvarez vs. Terence Crawford' and 'Wednesday.'

Netflix New Releases: September 2025

by jummy84 September 2, 2025

written by jummy84

The concluding part of season two of Wednesday; the story of Charlie Sheen’s redemption; a clash between the two greatest super middleweights in the world; an A-list crime drama starring Jude Law and Jason Bateman; a lavish period drama from the creator of Peaky Blinders; and the third season of one of the most talked-about Japanese sci-fi shows are among the highlights of the new film and TV projects hitting Netflix in September.

Starting the month off strong is part two of season two of Wednesday, that hits Netflix on Sept. 3. There’s no need to introduce this absolute monster hit for the streamer, as seemingly everyone is watching — the first half of Wednesday season two delivered 50 million views worldwide, the most views for an English-language show’s opening week on the streamer since season one of Wednesday. Part two kicks off with “Hide and Woe Seek,” the 13th episode in total of the series, and we pick up the action after our titular heroine was unceremoniously defenestrated by Tyler.

On Sept. 10, Netflix debuts a Charlie Sheen documentary that is sure to dominate the discourse online. The two-parter aka Charlie Sheen recounts the once-troubled tabloid regular’s life and career, from the professional highs of a respected film and TV career, to the lows of the “tiger blood” public meltdown era, and finally the path to sobriety and the semblance of normalcy. The talking heads involved include ex-wife Denise Richards, Heidi Fleiss, Jon Cryer, Sean Penn, Ramon Estevez, Brooke Mueller, and Chris Tucker. The doc comes from Andrew Renzi, who directed Netflix’s docuseries Pepsi, Where’s My Jet?

Live sports is very much a regular thing on Netflix now, and this month’s boxing main event is the hotly anticipated fight between Mexico’s Canelo “Cinnamon” Álvarez and American Terence “Bud” Crawford. Streaming live from the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Sept. 13, the fight is dubbed “Once in a Lifetime” and sees the two greatest super middleweights fighting today for the WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO and The Ring undisputed super middleweight titles.

Netflix’s big crime drama for this month is the starry Black Rabbit, which stars Jason Bateman and Jude Law as the leads and debuts Sept. 18. The show tells the story of a pair of estranged siblings who reconnect when the troubled brother (Bateman) brings the chaos that follows him and threatens the other brother’s successful nightspot. Written by Zach Baylin, the scribe behind Justin Kurzel’s excellent Law-starring feature The Order, and co-writer of the less excellent reboot of The Crow, the series also stars Cleopatra Coleman, Amaka Okafor, Sope Dirisu, Dagmara Domińczyk, Chris Coy, Abbey Lee, Odessa Young and Oscar-winner Troy Kotsur.

Sept. 25 sees the launch of House of Guinness, a lavish new British period drama from Netflix. Hailing from Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, House of Guinness goes inside the drama and heartache of the Guinness brewing family. The action centers on the Irish and New York wings of the family around the 19th century and concerns itself with the fate of the four children of Sir Benjamin Guinness, the man who really expanded the family’s wealth and business empire. Expect wondrous sets and costumes, as well as classically trained actors reallying earning their money. The series stars Louis Partridge as Edward Guinness, Anthony Boyle as Arthur Guinness, Emily Fairn as Anne Guinness and Fionn O’Shea as Benjamin Guinness and the cast also includes talented thesps David Wilmot, James Norton, Jack Gleeson, Niamh McCormack, Seamus O’Hara, Dervla Kirwan, Michael McElhatton, Danielle Galligan, Hilda Fay and Cassian Bilton.

This month’s international gem on Netflix is the eagerly anticipated third season of Japanese sci-fi drama series Alice in Borderland, which also launches Sept. 25. Based on Haro Aso’s manga series of the same name, the series tells the story of two young people trapped in an empty parallel version of Tokyo, where they have to survive by competing in increasingly dangerous games. That brief description is not really doing the show justice, but strong critical praise, and word-of-mouth, has seen Alice in Borderland become a sleeper hit for Netflix. The series was co-written and directed by Shinsuke Sato and stars Kento Yamazaki and Tao Tsuchiya as the leads. Well worth a watch if you’re interested in the survival genre or cleverly made dramas.

Movies added to Netflix in September include 10 Things I Hate About You, Idiocracy, Sweet Home Alabama, 8 Mile, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Billy Madison, The Boy Next Door, Boyz n the Hood, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Bridesmaids, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Chicken Run, Dennis the Menace, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Edge of Tomorrow, Escape Room, Good Advice, Hot Shots!, Hot Shots! Part Deux, Inglourious Basterds, Inside Man, Inside Man: Most Wanted, Knocked Up, LA LA Land, The Land Before Time, Liar Liar, Limitless, Long Shot, Paddington, Phantom Thread, Puss in Boots, The Rookie (1990), The Running Man, Shark Tale, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Shrek, Shrek 2, Shrek Forever After, Shrek the Third, Stand by Me, We’re the Millers and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.

Missed what came to Netflix last month? Check out the August additions here.

Read on for the complete list of titles hitting Netflix in September.

Sept. 1

8 Mile
A Thousand Tomorrows: Season 1
The Amazing Spider-Man
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Billy Madison
The Boy Next Door
Boyz n the Hood
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Bridesmaids
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Chicken Run
Dennis the Menace
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Edge of Tomorrow
Escape Room
Good Advice
The Four Seasons
Franklin & Bash: Seasons 1-4
Hot Shots!
Hot Shots! Part Deux
Inglourious Basterds
Inside Man
Inside Man: Most Wanted
Knocked Up
LA LA Land
The Land Before Time
Liar Liar
Limitless
Long Shot
Money Talks
Orphan Black: Seasons 1-5
Paddington
Phantom Thread
Puss in Boots
The Rookie (1990)
The Running Man
Shark Tale
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Shrek
Shrek 2
Shrek Forever After
Shrek the Third
Stand by Me
We’re the Millers
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

Sept. 3

Wednesday: Season 2, Part 2

Sept. 4

Countdown: Canelo v Crawford
Pokémon Concierge: Season 1, Part 2 (JP)

Sept. 5

Inspector Zende (IN)
Love Con Revenge

Sept. 7

The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity (JP)

Sept. 8

Dr. Seuss’s Red Fish, Blue Fish
Her Mother’s Killer: Season 2 (CO)

Sept. 9

Daddy’s Home
Daddy’s Home 2
Jordan Jensen: Take Me With You
Kiss or Die (JP)

Sept. 10

aka Charlie Sheen
The Dead Girls (MX)
Love Is Blind: Brazil: Season 5 (BR)
Love Is Blind: France (FR)

Sept. 11

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
Diary of a Ditched Girl (SE)
Kontrabida Academy (PH)
Tyler Perry’s Beauty in Black: Season 2
Wolf King: Season 2 (GB)

Sept. 12

Beauty and the Bester (ZA)
Maledictions (AR)
Ratu Ratu Queens: The Series (ID)
The Wrong Paris
You and Everything Else (KR)

Sept. 13

Canelo Álvarez vs. Terence Crawford

Sept. 14

Ancient Aliens: Season 11
Moving On

Sept. 15

Call the Midwife: Series 14
Nashville: Seasons 1-6
S.W.A.T.: Season 8

Sept. 16

Rebel Royals: An Unlikely Love Story

Sept. 17

1670: Season 2 (PL)
Matchroom: The Greatest Showmen (GB)
Next Gen Chef

Sept. 18

The BA***DS of Bollywood (IN)
Black Rabbit
Platonic: Blue Moon Hotel (TR)
Same Day with Someone (TH)

Sept. 19

Billionaires’ Bunker (ES)
Cobweb
Haunted Hotel
She Said Maybe (DE)

Sept. 22

Blippi’s Job Show: Season 2

Sept. 23

Cristela Alonzo: Upper Classy
Spartacus: Seasons 1-4

Sept. 24

The Guest (CO)

Sept. 25

Alice in Borderland: Season 3 (JP)
House of Guinness (GB)
Wayward (CA)

Sept. 26

Ángela: Limited Series (ES)
French Lover (FR)
Pokémon Horizons: Season 2—The Search for Laqua Part 4 (JP)
Ruth & Boaz

Sept. 28

10 Things I Hate About You
Idiocracy
Sweet Home Alabama

Sept. 30

Earthquake: Joke Telling Business
Interview With the Vampire: Season 2
Nightmares of Nature: Cabin in the Woods

September 2, 2025 0 comments

TV & Streaming

Who has been shot in EastEnders gun horror amid Kat and Zoe reunion?

by jummy84 September 2, 2025

written by jummy84

As Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace) took in the sight of her beloved Zoe, who had refused contact with her for years, son Tommy (Sonny Kendall) asked if he had “done good”, having tricked Zoe into finally coming home.

Kat was overwhelmed, and mother and son exchanged an emotional “I love you”.

Zoe wanted to flee, but Kat convinced her to come inside The Queen Vic to dry off from the rain and get the cash she wanted.

But Zoe’s hostility towards Kat soon surfaced, as she resented Kat’s new life as a dedicated wife and mum and reminded her of her drunken behaviour when Zoe was younger.

Michelle Ryan as Zoe hugging Laila Morse as Mo in EastEnders BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron

As Kat apologised, twins Bert (Elliot Briffett) and Ernie (Cody Briffett) barrelled in and immediately hugged Zoe, with Tommy joining in, and Zoe didn’t have the heart to reject them.

The interruption allowed Zoe to try and make her escape, only for her to run into great-grandmother Mo Harris (Laila Morse) and share a heartwarming reunion.

Mo delayed Zoe’s exit with a playful con, and Mo and Kat managed to convince Zoe to stay for dinner.

The family gathering was halted when the Moons’ social worker arrived, and although the meeting went well in the end, Zoe was scornful of Kat once more when the latter revealed why social services were involved.

Zoe repeated her earlier childhood complaints, but Kat pointed out that Zoe had a much more wholesome time growing up than she remembered, and that Kat had protected her all she could before the truth about her conception was revealed.

The conversation turned even harsher when Zoe tried to blame Kat for not speaking up about her uncle Harry’s (Michael Elphick) abuse sooner.

Kat recognised that Zoe needed help, and knew there was something else troubling her, but it was clear that Zoe hated herself for even existing.

Jessie Wallace as Kat and Michelle Ryan as Zoe in EastEnders, stood looking at each other in a kitchen. — Jessie Wallace as Kat and Michelle Ryan as Zoe in EastEnders. BBC/Jack Barns/Kieron McCarron

“The things I’ve done…” Zoe trailed off.

When Kat remarked that Zoe’s actions can’t be worse than covering up the murder of Den Watts (Leslie Grantham), Zoe couldn’t bring herself to say any more, and ran off mid-sentence.

Meanwhile, Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara) realised that Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) was now in possession of his gun, and Denise Fox (Diane Parish) saw Ravi sneaking around their home.

Knowing that Ravi had taken the weapon, Jack confronted Ravi and the pair wrestled over the gun.

At that moment, Kat and Zoe were outside The Vic as Kat desperately tried to persuade Zoe to stay.

The gun then went off in their direction, leaving Jack and Ravi reeling – but who has been shot?

It looks like either Kat or Zoe may be in peril, but can they be saved?

The action continues on Wednesday 3rd September at 7.30pm on BBC One, with no early BBC iPlayer release taking place that day.

Read more:

Visit our dedicated EastEnders page for all the latest news, interviews and spoilers.

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Check out more of our Soaps coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what’s on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.

September 2, 2025 0 comments

Chantel Everett on 90 Day: Hunt for Love

TV & Streaming

Chantel on New Girlfriend Ashley, Their Plans After ‘Hunt for Love’ Tell All

by jummy84 September 2, 2025

written by jummy84

During the inaugural season of 90 Day: Hunt for Love, 90 Day Fiancé and The Family Chantel alum Chantel Everett shocked her castmates and viewers alike by confessing feelings for her friend from home, Ashley Bowen, and entering into her first same-sex relationship.

At the Tell All Part 2, Chantel was thrilled to introduce Ashley to her Hunt for Love castmates. However, the 90 Day alum was shocked when her mother, Karen, took the stage beside Ashley, in what she described as a “really confrontational” and “uncomfortable” conversation.

September 2, 2025 0 comments

Paul Mescal & Jessie Buckley Rip Your Heart Out

TV & Streaming

Telluride 2025 Kicks Off Oscar Race: Awards Movies to Follow

by jummy84 September 2, 2025

written by jummy84

The Oscar race has one established frontrunner, which is often not the ideal place to be. As it happens, “Sinners” (Warner Bros.) auteur Ryan Coogler was checking out the competition at Telluride this Labor Day weekend, which unveiled a healthy slate of Oscar contenders.

Best Picture Contenders

One movie emerged that could challenge “Sinners” in multiple categories: Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”) delivered heart-wrenching family drama “Hamnet” (Focus), featuring two powerhouse lead performances from Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley as William and Agnes Shakespeare. Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 bestseller, the film tracks their early romance and marriage and the birth of three children, two girls and a boy, Hamnet. Their lives are rocked by grief when they lose Hamnet to the plague, and Shakespeare buries himself in writing the tragedy “Hamlet.”

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 06: Director Gus Van Sant attends the Directors Series: Gus Van Sant with Vito Schnabel during the 2024 Tribeca Festival at Spring Studios on June 06, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival)

The directors will support Zhao’s meticulous period craftsmanship and scriptwriting with O’Farrell, along with the tech categories Cinematography, Production and Costume Design, Score, and Editing — and of course Mescal and Buckley are top contenders for Best Actor and Best Actress, respectively. How will it do at the box office? Critics are raving (Metascore: 95), but it was a favorite with audiences as well. Sometimes it feels good to cry.

Also playing well at Telluride was Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest assault on audiences, timely sci-fi comedy-thriller “Bugonia” (Focus), which Will Tracy (co-writer of “The Menu”) adapted from a 2003 Korean movie. Lanthimos’ usual suspects Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons are both at the top of their form. Plemons plays a conspiracy nut who kidnaps a Big Pharma CEO (Stone), believing she’s an alien out to destroy the planet. Watching these two actors face off is great fun — until the torture begins. This movie won’t be for everyone (Metascore: 76), but Lanthimos (“The Favourite” and “Poor Things”) is beloved by Oscar voters. Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Actor, and Actress (Stone could also go supporting), and multiple crafts are likely possibilities — unless the movie bombs at the box office.

Netflix showcased several Best Picture contenders, including “The Shape of Water” Oscar-winner Guillermo del Toro’s 19th-century horror spectacle “Frankenstein,” starring Jacob Elordi as a terrifying, towering, but sympathetic monster, and Oscar Isaac as his abusive creator. Del Toro plays with a $120 million budget, and it shows. The well-reviewed film (Metascore: 75) could compete for Picture (if its horror elements aren’t too off-putting), Director, Actor and Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, and multiple crafts including Cinematography, Production and Costume Design, Editing, and most especially, Original Score. The score from Oscar-winner Alexandre Desplat (“The Shape of Water,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel”), one of his best, carries the different tones of the movie. Netflix will give the film some theater play to qualify, but its box office won’t matter.

Also coming into Telluride from Venice was Noah Baumbach’s elegiac “Jay Kelly,” a portrait of an aging Hollywood star who resembles (and was written for) George Clooney, who is moving as a star assessing his life and the time not spent with his daughters. Adam Sandler also shines as the long-suffering manager who has sacrificed much of his life serving his needy boss. He could land a Supporting Actor nomination, his first. The entertaining movie ends on a satisfying note. It’s less of a critic’s picture (Metascore: 64) but plays well, and should satisfy Academy audiences who often respond to show business stories.

Neon will push Norway’s Cannes prize-winner “Sentimental Value” (Metacritic: 88) in multiple categories including Best Picture, director Joachim Trier (“The Worst Person in the World”), screenwriters Trier and Eskil Vogt, actors Stellan Skarsgard (long overdue for a nomination) and Renate Reinsve, and Best International Feature Film.

Other Contenders

Scott Cooper’s “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere” (Metascore: 69) could be a commercial success for Disney’s Twentieth Century Pictures, and proves that “The Bear” star Jeremy Allen White can carry a movie. Acting award nominations for him and Jeremy Strong as his manager Jon Landau are in the offing.

You can’t win them all. Edward Berger’s “Conclave” follow-up “Ballad of a Small Player” (Netflix) did not wow the critics (Metascore: 51) and crowds at Telluride, although Colin Farrell’s performance earned raves.

Building on its good will at Cannes was Richard Linklater’s Netflix pickup “Nouvelle Vague” (Metascore: 71), which is a delightful black-and-white homage to Jean-Luc Godard’s “Breathless,” recreating the making of the movie in 1959. The French cast is flawless, as is Zoey Deutch in a pixie cut as Jean Seberg. But which categories will it wind up in? Cinephiles will be charmed, and writers and directors will recognize Linklater’s chops. Cinematography is a competitive category. Which is why Netflix is pushing the movie for Best International Feature Film, given its French producers, cast, and crew.

Zoey Deutch and Richard Linklater at the Telluride BrunchAnne Thompson

Telluride tributee Jafar Panahi’s French-produced Palme d’Or winner “It was Just an Accident” (Neon) is another possibility (Metascore: 87). However, word is that this year the French committee may lean into a well-reviewed local production that played Cannes, animated feature “Arco” (Neon). Neon showed three possible Best International Feature contenders from Cannes at Telluride, including Brazil’s likely Oscar submission, “The Secret Agent” (Metacritic: 87).

Sony Pictures Classics brought one Oscar contender to Telluride, Linklater’s Berlin prize-winner “Blue Moon” (Metascore: 76) starring Ethan Hawke as declining songwriter Lorenz Hart. The movie is an emotional high-wire act that writers, directors, and actors will admire. Hawke could land his fifth Oscar nomination, and his fourth for collaborating with Linklater. The box-office prospects for this outside New York City are iffy, however.

A24 Sundance entry “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” (Metacritic: 82) built up some steam for actress Rose Byrne, who gives a stellar performance as a mother overwhelmed by a special needs child. And Harris Dickinson’s “Urchin” (Metascore: 77) starring Un Certain Regard actor-winner Frank Dillane also played well.

Some of the movies playing at Telluride, like “H Is for Hawk,” which earned raves for Claire Foy, are looking for distributors; most of the available buyers have full slates.

September 2, 2025 0 comments

TV & Streaming

Claire Foy Is Enraptured With Raptors

by jummy84 September 2, 2025

written by jummy84

“Looking for goshawks is like looking for grace: it comes, but not often, and you don’t get to say when or how,” writes Helen Macdonald in “H Is for Hawk,” a book I picked up by accident and which proved to be the greatest tool I had when one of my own parents passed away. When someone around you loses a loved one, it’s all but impossible to know what to say. I recommend reading “H Is for Hawk.”

For Macdonald, that most eloquent of memoirs emerged from the death of her father, photographer Alisdair MacDonald. But what Helen really did to process her grief was to adopt a goshawk. The book is partly about what a wild and uncommon thing that is to do, but it’s mostly about what was going on in Macdonald’s mind through the process (which involves all kinds of engaging digressions into falconry, literature and the life of the writer T.H. White, who wrote “The Goshawk”). Sometimes our brains need something completely different to concentrate on, while our hearts do their mending.

As a movie, “H Is for Hawk” — which stars Claire Foy as a headstrong and occasionally hard-to-take version of Macdonald — might have a similarly comforting effect for some, although it elides so much of what originally resonated with me (namely, the language, for which Macdonald has a remarkable gift). What is gained in exchange is a visual dimension entirely lacking from the book, as director Philippa Lowthorpe supplies footage of Foy enraptured with her raptor, whom she names Mabel — so much footage in fact that the 128-minute film stops being a work of philosophy and reflection, and becomes instead a more conventional portrait of a human with an exceptional pet (a word that ruffles Helen’s feathers, as she considers Mabel to be more of a companion).

Fine. One thing I learned at the Telluride Film Festival, where the film premiered, is that no one — not a single person I queried — had read Macdonald’s book. So instead of bemoaning what’s missing, it’s best to recognize what is there. On that front, “H Is for Hawk” remains a moving account of one person’s eccentric interest in falconry, which she takes up in response to her father’s death. Brendan Gleeson plays “Ali Mac” as a benevolent parent, the only person who ever fully understood her.

In flashbacks so warm, his passing may start to depress you too, Ali displays an artistic curiosity in all things: first the natural world, as he introduces young Helen to birding, but also the strange ways that humans have of inhabiting it (he proposes a project of photographing every bridge between the Thames’ source and the sea). “Room” screenwriter Emma Donoghue makes a recurring theme of Helen’s unique relationship to other living creatures, as in a scene where she scoops up a large spider and gently carries it outdoors.

Moments later, Helen gets the call from her mother (Lindsay Duncan) where the tone of her voice delivers the news of Ali’s death before the words are spoken. You can’t prepare for how the loss of a parent will hit you, and in Helen’s case, it all but derails her academic career — her teaching responsibilities, the fellowship she’s applying for. Instead of wallowing in her misery, the movie accompanies her, like best friend Christina (Denise Gough), who checks in regularly with unconditional support.

Macdonald never admits as much, but there’s a strange phenomenon by which losing a parent gives you wings — or, to torture the metaphor, allows you to fly in ways you wouldn’t have dared when they were alive. Helen had always loved birds, an interest she associates with her dad, but it’s only after her father passes that she feels compelled to adopt one. And not just any bird, but a dangerous predator. If Michael Crichton was right, this winged killer could well have been the next step in the evolutionary chain: a connection to something primeval.

In the opening scene, Lowthorpe shows Helen studying wild goshawks through binoculars — looking for grace, you might say. The animals’ appeal is undeniable, but few would take the leap from observing to inviting a goshawk into one’s home. The movie takes us through all the stages — not of grief, but cross-species connection — from a shady exchange with a breeder (who advises “murder” as the key to managing these lethal creatures) to the long, slow process of gaining the bird’s confidence (presenting fistfuls of raw meat, while avoiding eye contact). Lowthorpe unhurriedly reflects Helen’s sense of wonder, taking the time to admire the bird’s plumage and the deadly weapons that are its talons and beak. Mabel is indeed magnificent, but also an all-consuming responsibility … and, let’s face it, distraction for Helen.

It’s a rare privilege to spend so much time with Helen and her charge, and the footage of Mabel (played by two different birds, filmed by Mark Payne-Gill in the wild) hunting pheasants and so forth mesmerizes. But there’s arguably too much of it, dominating the film’s slightly excessive run time. As we grow impatient, her friends and family express their concern. According to Macdonald, at that moment, Mabel gave her purpose and a chance to process: “I’d closed the door on the world outside. Now I could think of my father.”

The movie gives audiences room to do the same, as ideas Macdonald articulately explored over hundreds of pages are suggested by the nuances of Foy’s performance. The role required her to learn falconry, as there’s no faking Foy’s interaction with the animal, which bates wildly at first (twisting and flapping to escape her grasp), but returns to her glove once it trusts her. Helen obviously sees something of herself in the animal, though Lowthorpe doesn’t impose any one interpretation. Instead, Helen is allowed to be irritable and anti-social, chain-smoking and snappish, without the filmmaker casting judgment.

A mental health angle reveals itself late in the film, which is helpful to acknowledge (especially for those seeking comfort for equivalent losses in their lives). But I can’t help wishing that “H Is for Hawk” had incorporated more of Macdonald’s related discoveries, from Ken Loach’s “Kes” (about a boy and his bird) to revelations about “The Once and Future King” author White, a queer hero whose biography is at least as interesting as hers.

September 2, 2025 0 comments

TV & Streaming

Stephen King Demanded ‘The Long Walk’ Show Teens Getting Shot

by jummy84 September 2, 2025

written by jummy84

As The Long Walk makes the trek from the page to the screen, Stephen King recently revealed the one condition he had for adapting his 1979 novel.

The author explained that the characters in the book are “the same sort of kids that are pulled into the war machine” of Vietnam, noting that he required screenwriter JT Mollner and director Francis Lawrence to show teens getting shot in their film.

“If you look at these superhero movies, you’ll see … some supervillain who’s destroying whole city blocks but you never see any blood. And man, that’s wrong. It’s almost, like, pornographic,” King told The Times of London. “I said, if you’re not going to show it, don’t bother. And so they made a pretty brutal movie.”

In The Long Walk, premiering Sept. 12 in theaters, a group of 100 young men enter an annual walking contest in dystopian America, in which the losers are executed and only one person survives.

As Lionsgate screened the first 20 minutes of the movie at Comic-Con, Mollner said he “wanted to keep the DNA and themes that Stephen King baked into his original novel.”

Stephen King

Olivia Wong/Getty Images

“Even though he was writing about specific things at the time, I feel that relevance is generational and wanted to make sure we had that. The beauty, love and the story of friendship along with the brutality of hopelessness and terror,” added Mollner. “We wanted to go all the way. I knew that Stephen King wanted us to go all the way. I knew Lionsgate wanted us to go all the way. If this book got into the wrong hands, studio or filmmakers. It could’ve been neutered. So, I’m very grateful we were able to keep the teeth that the book has.”

September 2, 2025 0 comments

TV & Streaming

Trouble Brews for Family Heirs

by jummy84 September 2, 2025

written by jummy84

Raise a pint to another sibling brawl after Succession, as the four adult children of patriarch Sir Benjamin Guinness battle for their place in the family dynasty after the brewery mogul’s death in 1868.

The teaser for the historical Netflix drama set in 19th-century New York and Dublin and from Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight sees the moneyed family heirs — Arthur, Edward, Anne and Ben — left doubly grief-stricken by the impact of their father’s will.

Benjamin Guinness, played by Fionn O’Shea, and sister Anne Plunket Guinness (Emily Fairn) are denied an inheritance. That ushers in a toxic family feud as the two eldest sons — Anthony Boyle, who plays Arthur Guinness, and Louis Partridge as Edward Guinness — are given stewardship of the Irish brewery and its black gold.

“The death of your father has served to poke a stick in a hornet’s nest,” Arthur Guinness is told at one point in the trailer as the family drama plays out against the backdrop of the fight for Irish independence and other generational struggles.

The ensemble cast for the Netflix series to bow on Sept. 25 includes Dervla Kirwan (True Detective: Night Country), Jack Gleeson (Game of Thrones), Niamh McCormack (Everything Now), Danielle Galligan (Shadow and Bone), Ann Skelly (The Nevers), Seamus O’Hara (Blue Lights), Michael McElhatton (Game of Thrones), David Wilmot (Station Eleven), Michael Colgan (Say Nothing), Jessica Reynolds (Kneecap), Hilda Fay (The Woman in the Wall) and Elizabeth Dulau (Andor).

House of Guinness.

Courtesy of Netflix

The Kudos and Nebulastar series will debut with eight one-hour episodes, from creator and writer Knight, who also executive produces along with Karen Wilson, Elinor Day, Martin Haines, Tom Shankland and Ivana Lowell.

Cahal Bannon and Howard Burch are producers.

Louis Partridge in *House of Guinness.*
Courtesy of Netflix

September 2, 2025 0 comments

TV & Streaming

The Guest ending explained | What did Ria discover about Fran?

by jummy84 September 1, 2025

written by jummy84

A shocking event at the end of the first episode binds the two characters together, but Fran’s motivations remain unclear throughout. Until we get to the finale, when all is revealed.

But just what happened in that final episode? What did Ria uncover about Fran’s business? And where did we leave each of the central characters?

Read on for everything you need to know about the ending of The Guest.

What did Ria find out about Fran?

Gabrielle Creevy and Eve Myles in The Guest. BBC / Quay Street Productions / Simon Ridgway

Ria found out that she had been recruited as part of a scheme ran by Fran many times before. It involved finding young women, hiring them as cleaners, then promoting them to assistants.

Mike would also be used to bring them in, like he did with both Ria and her predecessor, Anna. His death had been caused simply because he had gone off script while on cocaine.

Once Fran gains the trust of the women and they become reliant on her, she uses them to launder drug money.

The business operated as follows; Fran’s husband Simon shipped in prescription drugs, Fran would sort them and then Richard would sell them to, as Fran said, “bored housewives” and “middle class office workers living for the weekend”. Fran would then send her assistants to Dubai with the cash, and there it would be converted into cryptocurrency.

Each of the assistants would only do it for a short time to earn some money, then move on. Fran saw this as her way of giving back, helping other women move up the economic and social ladder.

However, Fran said Anna had been stealing from them, and so she had been killed, presumably by Simon or Richard.

What did Fran do?

Eve Myles as Fran in The Guest leaning on her window sill in her pyjamas and on a phone call. — Eve Myles as Fran in The Guest. BBC/Quay Street Productions/Simon Ridgeway

In the finale of The Guest, Ria woke up believing she had killed Fran’s husband, Simon. In actual fact, it later becomes clear that Fran had killed Simon herself.

Simon was abusive, so much so that Fran had to have her own room that she could lock herself in to escape his wrath and his violence. On the night he died, he had been hurting and threatening her when she hit him in self defence and killed him.

She had then drugged Ria and framed her by placing the murder weapon in her hand. Ria went on the run, and managed to find out the truth. However, just as she did so, she was intercepted by Richard, who wanted to stop her from exposing the operation.

She was taken to a secure location where she and Fran finally had it out and opened up to one another. As Ria broke down, Fran told her she saw herself in her. That’s why she gave her the job and the opportunity.

Richard tried to poison Ria, but Fran saved her at the last moment by hitting Richard over the head with a bowl. She freed Ria and allowed her to make a run for it.

Where did we leave Ria and Fran?

Gabrielle Creevy in The Guest, wearing a smock and cleaning a bedroom. — Gabrielle Creevy in The Guest. BBC/Quay Street Productions/Simon Ridgeway

Two weeks after Ria escaped, a radio report revealed that Fran was on the run from the police, with their drug operation having been exposed and Fran being implicated in Simon’s murder.

Richard had been caught and was expected to go to jail for, as Sharla said, “the rest of his life”. Ria had been completely exonerated.

Meanwhile, Lee had got himself a job, and Ria was planning a backpacking trip abroad.

At the very end of the series, Ria received a letter containing a cryptocurrency drive that she had found in Richard’s lock-up, containing the proceeds of their operation.

She had taken Fran’s advice when she had said to take what she could. As Ria loaded the device, she saw the amount on the screen tick up into the high hundreds of thousands, and very likely the millions. She smiled, as she knew she had secured a new future for herself.

The Guest is available to stream in full on BBC iPlayer.

Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what’s on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.

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September 1, 2025 0 comments

Brooke Williamson and Bobby Flay attend The FanDuel Party at the Kentucky Derby

TV & Streaming

Are Bobby Flay and Brooke Williamson Still Together? Relationship Updates

by jummy84 September 1, 2025

written by jummy84

Back in March, it was confirmed that Bobby Flay had a new lady, fellow Food Network star Brooke Williamson, in his life. The two had been “friends for a while” before deciding to “jump in” to a relationship, according to People.

Now that several months have gone by, scroll down for an update on where Flay and Williamson stand today and to get the latest on their relationship.

September 1, 2025 0 comments

TV & Streaming

National Geographic Doc from Free Solo Team

by jummy84 September 1, 2025

written by jummy84

In many respects, the 2023 Caquetá Cessna Stationair crash feels like a story tailor-made for a National Geographic documentary. It has everything you expect from a movie from the channel: human survival against the elements, plenty of nuanced political and cultural context to dig into, a heart-wrenching backstory to untangle slowly through the film, and lots of breathtaking nature b-roll.

The movie that NatGeo ended up producing about the event, “Lost in the Jungle,” is coming a bit late to the party — Netflix beat them to the punch by about a year with their telling “The Lost Children” — and doesn’t really register as a standout from the company’s portfolio. But the subject matter is compelling enough, and the filmmaking sturdy enough, that it’s an engrossing watch despite its minor flaws.

“Lost in the Jungle” was directed by the now-divorced husband and wife directorial team Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, collaborating on this film with Juan Camilo Cruz. Vasarhelyi and Chin are no strangers to National Geographic, having helmed one of the company’s biggest hits in 2018’s “Free Solo,” a adrenaline-pumped and gravity-defying account of one man’s attempt to scale El Capitan.

Compared to that Oscar-winning production or their other films like “The Rescue” for NatGeo, “Lost in the Jungle” is a bit more meat-and-potatoes in its presentation, stringing together talking heads, darkly lit recreations, and some rare taken footage to recount the 40-day search from authorities to find four children gone missing in the forests of Colombia.

Opening with a (somewhat sluggishly staged) reenactment of the inciting incident, “Lost in the Jungle” lays out the facts of the tragedy quickly. On May 1, 2023, indigenous Witoto woman Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia boarded a charter plane to the town of San José del Guaviare, where she intended to surprise her husband Manuel. In the air over the Amazon rainforest, the plane experienced engine failure, and crashed, killing her, the pilot, and local indigenous leader Herman Mendoza Hernández. The only survivors were Magdalena’s four children, ranging from ages 13 to infancy, who were left stranded and injured in the wilderness with no idea of how to escape.

An animation of Tien, Lesly, Cristin and Soleiny in the jungle. (Credit: National Geographic) — ‘Lost in the Jungle’National Geographic

For those unfamiliar with the incident, there’s (perhaps thankfully) little tension that the kids will be found and rescued. Peppered throughout the film are sections narrated by the eldest daughter Lesly, recounting the animals and dangers the kids encountered during their long period stranded in the forest. In the film’s only real visual flourish, these scenes are animated usually translucent, see-through animations set against b-roll of the real forest. It’s not a wholly successful approach — it has an oddly distancing effect from the realities of their hopeless predicament — but attains moments of real visual beauty.

Elsewhere, “Lost in the Jungle” does the groundwork to get you invested in the tragedy, and thankfully avoids treating Magdalena as a pure afterthought. Flashbacks and interviews with friends and family members slowly paints a portrait of a loving mother and a fun, vibrant woman, as well as the abuse she and her kids suffered at the hands of Manuel, the father of her two youngest and stepdad of Lesly and her brother Soleiny. Manuel himself is featured in interviews, and while the film gives him plenty of space to share his side of the story and his involvement in the rescue campaign, it also never lets his misdeeds off the hook — in one poignant moment, a family member speculates that the sound of their father’s voice might compel the kids to hide from the rescue team.

The real sauce of “Lost in the Jungle” comes from its documentation of the grueling search effort to find the kids, which in reality was two rescue missions: one from a Colombian Special Forces crew that descends upon the rainforest in helicopters looking for the kids, and one from the various indigenous communities of the area who use canoes to roam the rivers and their vast knowledge of the Amazon as a tool for searching. Initially encountering each other in their separate groups, the two parties are distrustful and disdainful of one another, and “Lost in the Jungle” uses this incident to explore a historical divide between the indigenous communities of the Amazon and the Colombian government that dates back to the rubber trade of the 19th century, which resulted in the enslavement and genocide of millions. In modern times, tension between the groups still exist, thanks to guerrilla units that control the territory of many indigenous groups.

As the documentary depicts through footage of the rescue efforts, all of those outside tensions make the two rescue parties reluctant to work together, until the government orders the special forces team to use the indigenous search party’s knowledge of the forest in their favor. Through interviews with members of the special forces team, “Lost in the Jungle” tracks how the military men slowly grew more open to and accepting of their very different counterparts, and how the group’s collaboration eventually proved essential to the success of the mission. And to its credit, “Lost in the Jungle” mostly manages to avoid the trap of portraying indigenous culture purely through the eyes of the white Colombians, giving them plenty of interviews to speak about the spiritual practices they used to aid in the search.

If there’s any issue with “Lost in the Jungle,” it might be that there’s too little of it. At 90 minutes, the film is quick and efficient, but it leaves little time to explore more about the collaboration between these two search parties, or the unsteady relationship between the region’s indigenous communities and the narco-guerrilla units ruling over them. The film ends on a note of hope, explaining where the children have ended up in the years since and culminating in footage of a Colombian official giving a speech about how the search should start a new phase of understanding between the government and the indigenous communities. It’s a somewhat pat, overly rosy broad-strokes ending to a story that’s certainly engaging and well-told, but also had the opportunity to go deeper than itself.

Grade: B-

“Lost in the Jungle” premiered at the 2025 Telluride Film Festival. It will air on National Geographic on Friday, September 12 before streaming on Hulu and Disney+ starting on Saturday, September 13.

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September 1, 2025 0 comments

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