What Do We Know About the upcoming second season of The Last of Us? More than you may think. The hit HBO series became a new benchmark for video game adaptations with a faithful take on the source material and new material from the game creators. Now, season two is set to raise the bar yet again. So, let’s dive in and take a look at what is coming next from the hit video game adaptation’s sophomore run.

Same Showrunners with New Writers/Directors

The success of the first season of The Last of Us meant the return of showrunner Craig Mazin, best known for HBO’s acclaimed Chernobyl as well as writing the less-than-acclaimed The Hangover Part II and Part III as well as Scary Movie 3 and 4. Mazin worked on the second season alongside game creator Neil Druckmann and new writers Hailey Gross and Bo Shim. Druckmann, Mazin, and Peter Hoar will return as directors in the second season with new helmers Kate Herron, Nina Lopez-Corrado, Mark Mylod, and Stephen Williams.

The second season will pick up five years later

The first season of The Last of Us covered the entire first video game, stopping at the same point where Joel and Ellie depart the Colorado hospital. With Joel holding a massive lie about what happened at the facility, the pair leave with their destination unknown to viewers of the series but very well known to gamers. Many expected the second season to include new material to bridge the gap between the video games. Still, Druckmann and Mazin have since stated they did not want to add any filler material not in the games already, which means season two will begin five years after season one with Joel and Ellie living in Jackson, Wyoming.

Part II will go beyond Season 2

Since it was not a foregone conclusion that The Last of Us would even get a second season, Druckmann and Mazin wanted to ensure the series’ initial run was a full narrative arc for the characters. With season two, the showrunners plan to develop the story slowly, with the second video game providing material for multiple television seasons. New writer Hailey Gross cowrote Part II with Neil Druckmann, and her input will ensure that the series sticks close to the established storylines. Mazin has teased that The Last of Us could run for about four seasons, which means that Part II will be stretched to fit somewhere between two and three total seasons.

Who is joining the cast?

Season two is currently in production but was delayed due to the 2023 Writers Guild Strike and subsequent SAG-AFTRA strike, which occurred right when auditions occurred. The most important casting decision was Abby, a main character, with Kaitlyn Dever being selected for the role. Isabelle Merced, most recently seen in Madame Web, was chosen to play Dina. Other new characters include Jesse, played by Young Mazino (Netflix’s Beef), Mel played by Ariela Barer, Nora, played by Tati Gabrielle, and Owen played by Spencer Lord. Danny Ramirez will play Manny with Gabriel Luna returning as Joel’s brother, Tommy. The only cast member whose role has not been disclosed is Schitt’s Creek icon Catherine O’Hara, who may play a key guest role like Nick Offerman in the first season.

What is the story?

The Last of Us Part II has often been boiled down to being more of a showcase for Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey. The relationship between Ellie and Dina has been hailed as a masterful storyline in video games and is sure to be impressive in live-action as well. But Ramsey herself has said that the second season will explore the complexity of Ellie’s relationship with Joel, which could mean either expanded material added to existing scenes and subplots or may just be indicative of Ramsey’s desire to work with Pedro Pascal more. What we do know is that the video game takes the story in a much darker direction, if that is even possible. There is a theme of revenge and grief that pervades Part II.

How many episodes will Pedro Pascal appear in?

The celebrity of Pedro Pascal has skyrocketed in recent years, with the actor being front and center in The Last of Us while still providing his voice to the Disney+ Star Wars series, The Mandalorian. Pascal is also now the star of Marvel Studios’ long-anticipated movie The Fantastic Four, in which he will play the lead role of Reed Richards. Being stretched, pun intended, in so many directions and with the fate of Joel a foregone conclusion in The Last of Us Part II, the question is whether the writers will accelerate his departure from the main story or if he will meet his maker in Season Three or later.

When will we see it?

HBO’s only announcement has been that the series will premiere in 2025, which was announced at the end of 2023. Production was delayed due to the strikes, but filming is slated to wrap in August 2024. Post-production will take some time, which means we should not expect to see the second season until at least Summer next year.

Stay tuned to JoBlo.com as we learn more about the second season of The Last of Us and all of your other favorite shows. What do you expect to see in the upcoming The Last of Us season? Let us know in the comments and click the like and subscribe to follow all of our latest original videos.

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Plot: As Louis and Claudia escape to Paris after killing Lestat, and are ready to embark on new relationships in the new city. But they find themselves in a world influenced by Lestat, especially when they join the Theatre de Vampires, a performing group found by Lestat.

Review: Timed perfectly to Halloween, the 2022 debut of Interview with the Vampire beautifully updated the first volume in Anne Rice’s vast series for a new generation. With a young cast and a more overt take on the homoerotic elements of the novels, AMC’s series was designed to kickstart a cinematic universe of adaptations from the author’s works. While Mayfair Witches did not work as well, the second season of Interview with the Vampire is a welcome return to the stories of Louis, Claudia, Lestat, and more. Billed as “Part II,” the second season chronicles the back half of Rice’s novel. Expanding on subplots and deepening the characters of Armand and Santiago, this eight-episode season completes the adaptation of the source material in a far more satisfying way than the feature film did while setting a path towards future seasons taking on the subsequent books in The Vampire Chronicles.

The first season of Interview with the Vampire concludes with the reveal that Louis’ (Jacob Anderson) manservant Rashid (Assad Zaman) is the vampire Armand. Played in the feature film by Antonio Banderas, this take on Armand is far more subtle and shares a deeper connection with Louis as the film portrayed. It also puts the focus of this season on the Parisian acting troupe, Les Theatre Dus Vampires, at the center of the narrative. The troupe, a two-century-old coven of vampires, is led by Armand and lead actor Santiago. Played by Ben Daniels in the role originated by Stephen Rea in the 1994 film, Santiago is the season’s main antagonist and serves as a surrogate for Lestat’s presence. But that does not mean Lestat is not present in this run of episodes. An ever-present specter in flashbacks and physically embodied by Sam Reid in dream sequences and voice-overs, Lestat is still a formidable part of Louis and Claudia’s journey despite the relationship between Louis and Armand being at the forefront of these chapters.

The biggest change between the first season and Part II is the departure of Bailey Bass as Claudia. Now played by Delainey Hayles, something announced by a title card before the first episode like a change in a stage production, Claudia’s arc is far more detailed than in the movie. While Kirsten Dunst’s performance was exceptional, Hayles plays Claudia as a maturing woman trapped in a child’s body. The physical resemblance between Bass and Hayles helps to keep the character consistent. Still, Hayles adds a layer to her performance that accentuates the loneliness and desire beneath the surface. The fate of Claudia as part of Louis’ tale was protracted in the movie but a centerpiece of this run of episodes. Claudia’s relationship with Madeleine (Roxane Duran) is less of a desire for a mother as it was in Neil Jordan’s film and now more of a partner to spend her eternal life with. The dynamic between Louis and Claudia shifts this season with the younger vampire feeling at home with the theater troupe, something being alone with Louis never gave her.

The other expansion, as compared to the film version, is the contemporary story featuring Armand and Louis regaling reports to Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) with their history. In this series, Louis first told his story to Molloy in 1973 and returns for added details in the modern day. Having Armand and Louis share their story with Molloy offers conflicting perspectives and adds layers to the connection between the three men. The fact that Molloy suffers from Parkinson’s is also key to the narrative, and his reluctance to trust the vampires after the end of season one adds to the tension of where this story is headed. This season also adds to the Order of the Talamasca, a secret society investigating vampires and witches, with Justin Kirk serving as their representative. The Talamasca were a key figure in the first season of Mayfair Witches and are designed as a connective element for the shared Immortal Universe that AMC has planned. Their appearance in this series is limited but hopefully pans out as more than a forced connection.

The modernization of Interview with the Vampire from the late 18th century to taking place in the early 1900s and modern day helps energize the narrative. The Part II shift from New Orleans to Paris also affords a deeper look at how European culture was more inviting to minorities regarding race and sexuality. Set in the wartime era, the inclusion of Nazi influences serves as a mirror for the persecution that is a key theme in this tale. These elements are built organically into the story over the first six episodes made available for this review. Returning writers, led by Hannah Moscovitch and Rolin Jones, manage to expand this story in wonderful ways while directors Craig Zisk, Levan Akin, and more leverage the Old World aesthetics of Paris to drench this series in atmosphere. The consistency between the two seasons of Interview With The Vampire is impressive, especially considering how dramatically different the geographic settings of the halves of the story are.

Having not seen the final two episodes of the season, I know exactly where they are headed, having read the novel and seen the feature film. I am excited and terrified to see how the creative team handles the ending of this story, which is already shaping up to be very different from what has come before. Interview With The Vampire deserves the Part II subtitle rather than being saddled with being a second season. This is the rest of the story started in those first seven episodes and is shaping up to be one of the best adaptations of any novel for the small screen. With exceptional performances and expansions on Anne Rice’s source material that the author herself would have loved, Interview with the Vampire is once again one of the best series on television. Whether this dovetails into an adaptation of The Vampire Lestat or forges an original path for a third season, this is must-see programming that fans of the first season and newcomers alike will love.

Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire Part II premieres on May 12th on AMC.

Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire

AMAZING

9

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Plot: Five women participate in a hiking retreat but only four come out the other side. Federal agents Aaron Falk and Carmen Cooper head into the mountains hoping to find their informant still alive.

Review: We reviewed the Australian mystery drama The Dry a couple of years ago. We enjoyed Eric Bana’s first Australian film after moving to Hollywood and found director Robert Connolly’s adaptation of Jane Harper’s novel to be refreshing. That film told the story of a federal investigator who returns home to investigate the murder of a childhood friend, which bears a distinct connection to a crime he himself was accused of decades prior. Bana and Connolly have reunited for the second novel in the Aaron Falk trilogy, Force of Nature. Carrying the subtitle that indicates it as a sequel to The Dry, Force of Nature is a substantially different story. Shifting from a personal connection for Bana’s character to a more traditional police procedural, Force of Nature fails to live up to the first film despite solid performances from all involved.

Sharing no connection to The Dry aside from the main character, Force of Nature does not have very much that is not damp, wet, or drenched. Set within the rainforests in Victoria, Force of Nature follows Aaron Falk (Eric Bana) and his partner, Carmen Cooper (Jacqueline McKenzie), as they are drawn to an executive retreat with a participant missing in the wilderness. That missing person is Alice Russell (Anna Torv), who has been working as an informant for Falk and Cooper as they investigate embezzlement within Alice’s company, owned by Daniel Bailey (Richard Roxburgh). Theorizing her disappearance may be connected to what she was acquiring for the agents, Falk and Cooper begin to question the all-female group led by Bailey’s wife Jill (Deborra-Lee Furness). As the search for Alice intensifies, Falk begins to assemble a picture of what transpired based on the stories of the coworkers who made it back to camp.

One of the elements that made The Dry so interesting was the personal connection that Aaron Falk shared with the victims of the crime he was investigating and how his past ran parallel to it. Force of Nature relegates Eric Bana to asking questions merely to further along the story’s narrative. Falk feels some guilt in pushing Alice harder to garner the evidence he needs to take down Daniel Bailey, but it never rings true that he would push as hard as he does. To try and amplify that guilt, flashbacks show another angle from Falk’s past involving his mother also disappearing in the same general region of Victoria, which multiplies Aaron’s personal stake in trying to save Alice before animals, weather, or even a potential serial killer could end her life. That last bit is a tacked-on element to the story that is forced from the first mention of it and, thankfully, barely comes back up over the course of the film. The majority of Force of Nature does not even include Falk, as he serves as a facilitator for the narrative rather than an active participant.

The heavy lifting in Force of Nature falls on the coworkers, led by Anna Torv and Robin McLeavy. A lot of Eric Bana’s screen time is spent asking the cast questions, which segue into flashbacks where the bulk of the mystery unfolds. While Sisi Stringer and Lucy Ansell are good as siblings Beth and Bree and Deborra-Lee Furness as their boss, Torv and McLeavy are the strongest in the cast. Torv, best known for her roles in Fringe and Mindhunter, plays Alice as a difficult coworker who does not have positive relationships in the workplace. Alice also harbors a past connection with McLeavy’s Lauren, a factor in the plot. McLeavy was great in the horror flick The Loved Ones and AMC’s western Hell On Wheels, and here she makes for a sympathetic character more connected to the plot than it appears at first glance. There is also a brief appearance by Ingrid Torelli, who recently appeared in a major role in Late Night With The Devil.

Writer and director Robert Connolly makes great use of the outdoors, a distinct character in the story. With the literal dryness that played a role in the first movie, Force of Nature has elements of a survival thriller baked into the narrative but never to the point that it shifts the story’s momentum. Clocking in at nearly two hours, I kept expecting something to happen, but it never did. This mystery has little mystery, with the story unfolding like an episode of Law & Order or NCIS. As each witness is questioned and conveys what they know, we are given more and more of the real story. By the time the twist is revealed, it is underwhelming at best. Robert Connelly does what he can with the source material, and there are some well-acted pairings in various scenes throughout the film, but none amount to enough to sustain a feature film level of interest.

With a title like Force of Nature, you would expect a certain caliber of energy throughout the film. Instead, this movie wastes the great introduction to Aaron Falk that was The Dry and never comes close to replicating the intensity of that movie. Eric Bana is a far better actor than he is credited for, and I had hoped this movie would cement a resurgence in his career. Force of Nature is a barely passable mystery with nary a thrill on display. A quick scan through any network police procedural series would give you more entertainment than this movie, which wastes a solid cast on a forgettable plot. Maybe Bana and Connolly will reunite for an adaptation of the third and final novel featuring Aaron Falk, if only to redeem The Dry franchise from this disappointing follow-up.

Force of Nature: The Dry 2

BELOW AVERAGE

5

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PLOT: When Atlanta real estate mogul Charlie Croker faces sudden bankruptcy, political and business interests collide as Charlie defends his empire from those attempting to capitalize on his fall from grace. From Showrunner/ Writer/ Executive Producer David E. Kelley, A Man in Full is based on the New York Times bestselling novel by the late Tom Wolfe.

REVIEW: Jeff Daniels has had a career that includes acclaimed performances on stage in Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird and on the big screen in dozens of dramas, as well as his iconic turn in the Dumb and Dumber films opposite Jim Carrey. To say the actor has a wide range would be an understatement. To follow up his brilliant turn in Sorkin’s HBO series The Newsroom, Daniels headlines the limited Netflix series A Man In Full, which has him channeling the most nefarious antagonist characters he has ever played. With an Atlanta drawl and a biting wit, Charlie Croker is an indelible addition to Jeff Daniels’ resume. With an equally strong supporting cast including Diane Lane, Lucy Liu, Tom Pelphrey, and more, A Man In Full is a solid series but one that not only pales in comparison to the source material but also to the performances it showcases.

Acclaimed journalist Tom Wolfe only wrote four novels in his life, including his debut, The Bonfire of the Vanities, which inspired the underwhelming film of the same name. Eleven years later, A Man In Full was published and did for the 1990s what Vanities did for the 1980s. In adapting the seven-hundred-plus page book for Netflix, David E. Kelley made some updates to keep the material relevant to modern audiences while maintaining the core narrative. The six-episode series follows Atlanta real estate mogul Charlie Croker (Jeff Daniels) as his empire collapses before his eyes. Opening with an opulent sixtieth birthday party complete with a live performance from Shania Twain (playing herself) and followed by an interesting sex scene in a stable, the series shifts to the plot by banker Harry Zane (Bill Camp) and Croker’s loan officer Raymond Peepgrass (Tom Pelphrey) to take him down. As the series progresses, we see every snide and spiteful act between the warring factions as they figuratively burn Atlanta to the ground.

The main thrust of A Man In Full is the downfall of Croker, something Jeff Daniels plays with fire and energy. Equally strong is his ex-wife, Martha Croker, played by Diane Lane. While Charlie is remarried to Serena (Sarah Jones), he maintains a strong but adversarial relationship with Martha and her close friend and business partner Joyce Newman (Lucy Liu). Of course, things cannot be as easy as a court case to rescue Charlie as his billion-dollar debt battle comes at the same time as other challenges, including the Mayor of Atlanta (William Jackson Harper), who needs help from Charlie’s legal counsel, Roger White (Aml Ameen). Roger is one of the more interesting characters in this series as he represents the other side of the unspoken racial divide in Atlanta, which has been key to Charlie Croker’s business success.

By eliminating the majority of subplots from the novel, the series was envisioned as a more straightforward narrative about the core characters. However, it still remains a showcase for Charlie Croker. Jeff Daniels owns every scene he is in, and there are so many excellent performances here, notably Tom Pelphrey, Sarah Jones, and Bill Camp, that they would have received more acclaim if not behind the massive figures of Daniels and Lane. It is also striking that one of the key events from the novel is gone, but not one; two horse erections still figure prominently in the story. Take that for what it is worth, but A Man In Full still feels like it has too much going on but never has the chance to dive deeper into the meaning of it, leaving the series with a soap opera-like superficial gloss.

David E. Kelley returns to legal drama with this series after great success with Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers, successfully adapted bestselling novels. He blends the character melodrama of those stories with his prior network hit dramas The Practice, Boston Legal, and Ally McBeal. Like Ally McBeal, the characters in A Man In Full sometimes come across as larger than life while bordering on unrealistic, but Kelley’s penchant for dialogue keeps the series firmly on one side of that line. The six episodes were split between directors Regina King (One Night In Miami) and Thomas Schlamme. Regina King knows acting, which greatly informs her work behind the camera here, balancing the large cast of characters and varied subplots. Equally, Thomas Schlamme is a longtime collaborator with Aaron Sorkin on all of his series going back to The West Wing. A Man In Full definitely has a Sorkin-lite feel, which could be a compliment or an insult.

A Man In Full is a difficult series to review because the solid performances from the cast outshine the shallow material they have to work with. Regina King and Thomas Schlamme direct the series well, pulling Atlanta into the narrative as a character, but the lack of depth to where the story goes prevents it from hitting as deeply as it could have. A Man In Full wanted to emulate the bite and strength of Succession and Yellowstone but does not have enough satire to compete with the former or embrace the soapy melodrama like the latter. Jeff Daniels is equally on par here with Brian Cox’s fiery Logan Roy, but watching this empire fall is nowhere near as much fun. As a six-episode binge, I am sure audiences will have some fun with this show which has enough sex and face-slapping to entertain casual viewers even if it has two too many horse penises on display.

A Man In Full premieres on May 2nd on Netflix.

A Man in Full

GOOD

7

The post A Man In Full TV Review appeared first on JoBlo.

PLOT: A six-episode journey into the fearsome Galactic Empire through the eyes of two warriors on divergent paths, set during different eras. After losing everything, young Morgan Elsbeth navigates the expanding Imperial world toward a path of vengeance, while former Jedi Barriss Offee does what she must to survive a rapidly changing galaxy. The choices they make will define their destinies.

REVIEW: While fans have been somewhat divided over the live-action offerings in the Disney era of Star Wars, we can all agree that the animated projects have been fantastic. From the revival of The Clone Wars to the spin-off The Bad Batch and the unique anthology Visions, animated Star Wars is stronger than ever. Following the 2022 series Tales of the Jedi, the latest series again gives us a bite-sized limited series focusing on secondary characters in the Star Wars canon. Tales of the Empire sounds like it would focus on stormtroopers and Sith but instead gives us a look at two characters whose journeys are impacted by the titular group. Fitting nicely into the expanding world of Star Wars mythology, Tales of the Empire is a quick watch with some cool moments fans will definitely enjoy.

In Tales of the Jedi, the six episodes present glimpses into the lives of Count Dooku and Ahsoka Tano. Opening with a story about Ahsoka’s birth, the series shifted to three episodes about Dooku before concluding with two Clone Wars-era entries. In Tales of the Empire, the six episodes are split evenly, with two sets of three episodes, each chronicling a particular character’s tale. With each entry clocking in at no more than fifteen minutes each, Tales of the Empire is structured like two mini-movies cut into bit-size segments. While this formula could work for seasons to come, it makes the release format of these tales somewhat underwhelming. This series may have felt more robust if we had six hour-long episodes focused on a single character or story. Still, Disney and Lucasfilm aim for a format that will appeal to adult fans of the expanding Star Wars universe while also allowing younger viewers with limited attention spans to engage.

The first trio of episodes centers on Morgan Elspeth, who recently played a key role in the live-action series Ahsoka. Once again, played by Diana Lee Inosanto, this tale shows us how the former Nightsister became associated with the Empire, specifically Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen). Over her three episodes, we see Morgan at important moments in her past that inform her transformation into the villain she would become. The trailer footage showing General Grievous comes from one of these episodes. The short format of the fifteen-minute glimpses keeps the pace moving quickly but also limits how much we actually delve into the character, whom some Star Wars fans may not be all that interested to know about. The story ends fairly abruptly, with an ending to the third chapter that left me wondering if there would be a fourth episode to wrap things up. There are several deep-cut moments that hardcore fans will be familiar with, while the casual viewer will be left somewhat confused.

The second story arc centers on Jedi warrior Barriss Offee. Meredith Salenger reprises her voice role from The Clone Wars as one of the few survivors of Order 66 from The Revenge of the Sith. Having previously been a key ally to Ahsoka Tano, this arc also feels like another Dave Filoni-centric return to the prequel era designed to expand on Ahsoka and what is to come from that series in seasons to come. Here, Barriss’ fate is shown as being connected to the Grand Inquisitor (Jason Isaacs) and the brutal Fourth Sister (Rya Kihlstedt). There is a cameo appearance from none other than Darth Vader, which is a nice nod but unnecessary. This arc is stronger than the Morgan Elsbeth episodes, mostly due to the lightsaber action. Two key scenes are some of the darkest in any Star Wars animated series I have seen before and build to a solid showdown to wrap the final episode.

Like the previous episodes, the back half of Tales of the Empire ends with something of a cliffhanger. Dave Filoni, who serves as producer, writer, director, and now godfather of Star Wars for Lucasfilm, seems to want to whet audiences’ appetite with this anthology but fails to ignite a consistency in the limited screen time allotted here. Yes, the animation is as good as any other Star Wars, but the stories are weaker than the more polished Tales of the Jedi. At least those stories had something of an ending, whereas these are incomplete. I will say that the maturity of these episodes is much higher than that of the preceding series, with blood, death, and violence that may actually scare some younger viewers. It is nothing on screen we have not seen before, but the implication of some action hinted at off-camera is enough to scare some younglings.

Tales of the Empire is an odd title for this entry in the animated anthology as the stories, while connected to the Empire, are not directly about it. Tales of Ahsoka Tano may have been too on the nose, but that is more akin to what this season is centered on. Both storylines here are worth telling but could have been expanded far more to give audiences a satisfying and full story. As they stand, Tales of the Empire feels incomplete and would have benefitted from at least one more episode for each half of the season. The voice work is very good, as it always is with Star Wars animation, but this feels anticlimactic as the new chapter in Star Wars arrives for the franchise’s de facto holiday. Hardcore fans will be pleased, casual viewers will be underwhelmed, and everyone else will be left wanting a little more closure.

Star Wars: Tales of the Empire premieres on May 4th on Disney+.

Star Wars: Tales of the Empire

AVERAGE

6

The post Star Wars: Tales of the Empire TV Review appeared first on JoBlo.

PLOT: Michigan, 1963. Kellogg’s and Post, sworn cereal rivals, race to create a pastry that will change the face of breakfast. A tale of ambition, betrayal, sugar, and menacing milkmen, UNFROSTED stars Jerry Seinfeld in his directorial debut.

REVIEW: It took nine years after the series finale of Seinfeld for Jerry Seinfeld‘s big screen debut, Bee Movie. That surreal, animated adventure was a spot-on continuation of the stand-up comedian’s brand of observational humor told within the context of a strangely specific world. Unfrosted, which reunited Seinfeld with his team of writers from Bee Movie, is another glimpse into a surreal world that allows him to explore his distinct type of comedy with an all-star cast of talent playing real and fictional characters. Boasting glossy, retro visuals and capitalizing on Seinfeld’s well-known love of breakfast, Unfrosted looks like it was fun to make. I only wish it was as much fun to watch. A safe and strange comedy, Unfrosted made me chuckle a little bit but never rose to the level of comedy it aims to emulate.

Unfrosted is a flashback story about the invention of Kellogg’s breakfast pastry, the Pop-Tart, told by Bob Cabana (Jerry Seinfeld) to a young boy in a diner. In the story, Cabana is a bigwig working for Edsel Kellogg III (Jim Gaffigan) as the company has a stranglehold on the market ahead of rival Post. When Margorie Post (Amy Schumer) reveals she has a product that could destroy Kellogs, Bob Cabana enlists the help of his former coworker Donna “Stan” Stankowksi (Melissa McCarthy), who now works for NASA. Together, Cabana and Stankowski build a dream team of talent, including Chef Boyardee (Bobby Moynihan), Sea Monkeys creator Harold Von Braunhut (Thomas Lennon), bike designer Thomas Schwinn (Jack McBrayer), and fitness guru Jack LaLane (James Marsden). Echoing the Space Race between America and Russia, Unfrosted looks at the ups and downs in the battle of breakfast titans. This includes forays to Russia, run-ins with evil milkmen led by Mike Diamond (Christian Slater), and a bevy of mascots out for vengeance.

For all it sets out to be, Unfrosted should have been an epic comedy masterpiece along the lines of the work of Mel Brooks. With comedic actors like Max Greenfield, Bill Burr, Sarah Cooper, Fred Armisen, and Cedric the Entertainer working with acclaimed actors like Peter Dinklage, Hugh Grant, and Jon Hamm, this movie has one of the most star-studded casts in recent memory. The cameos alone make this worth watching, with a key scene towards the end almost good enough to make the whole movie worth checking out. But, there are so many characters stuffed into this movie that it begins to feel like a parade of everyone that Jerry Seinfeld was able to entice to visit the set and don a funny costume. It is clear that Seinfeld’s connections in Hollywood allowed for Unfrosted to become a celebrity playground, but it is one that was more fun to make than the finished movie is to watch.

While Seinfeld dipped into adult subject matter, Unfrosted is barely a PG-13 endeavor. With very mild profanity and a couple of double entendres, most of this film is fine for general audiences. A lot of the period-specific jokes will fly over the heads of younger viewers, but there is nothing inappropriate in the story. Maybe the safe and wholesomeness of Jerry Seinfeld’s approach to this story prevents it from being funnier. Seinfeld has never been the strongest actor, but he does a decent job as the main character here. Seinfeld allows his co-stars to do the heaviest lifting, with Melissa McCarthy a bit more subdued than usual. At the same time, Jim Gaffigan boasts an over-the-top persona as the fictional Kellogg’s CEO. The combination of historical figures with fictional ones makes for an odd combination, especially with the mascot characters all being played as real people rather than marketing creations. Hugh Grant, who has become one of the funniest actors working, is one of the movie’s bright spots.

As a director, Seinfeld does a competent job with the bright palette of the movie that feels reminiscent of Jay Roach’s work on the Austin Powers franchise. Seinfeld never tries to make the movie look realistic but nails the cartoon-like atmosphere of the story. The screenplay, written by Seinfeld and Bee Movie scribes Spike Feresten, Andy Robin, and Barry Marder, packs in puns and reverent jokes about the 1960s and political figures from that era. Surprisingly, the movie also has a substantial reference to the January 6th insurrection that I did not expect in a movie like this. Jerry Seinfeld has not been shy about politics but never as overtly as he addresses it here. It is not subtle; for some, it may come across in poor taste. I found it to be one of the funnier sections of the movie, and it made me want to see more timely and relevant jokes from Seinfeld instead.

For all the talent involved, including an original song from Meghan Trainor and Jimmy Fallon, Unfrosted is an overly safe and forgettable movie. The credit sequence boasts some bloopers, which adds to my theory of how much fun the cast and crew had making the movie. Netflix clearly shelled out a lot of their seemingly endless cash supply to afford Seinfeld’s dream cast. I do not see how any major studio would have paid to make this movie, which feels like a throwback to an era when projects like this were commonplace. Jerry Seinfeld will likely not make another feature film as Unfrosted was his passion project. Unfrosted ends up like actual Pop-Tarts as a novelty you can enjoy when you remember they exist but never something you will actively seek.

Unfrosted

BELOW AVERAGE

5

-

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PLOT: The series will follow Jason Dessen, a physicist, professor, and family man who — one night while walking home on the streets of Chicago — is abducted into an alternate version of his life. Wonder quickly turns to nightmare when he tries to return to his reality amid the mind-bending landscape of lives he could have lived. In this labyrinth of realities, he embarks on a harrowing journey to get back to his true family and save them from the most terrifying, unbeatable foe imaginable: himself.

REVIEW: Earlier this year, AppleTV+ debuted a series about alternate realities and dueling versions of characters in Constellation. That series carried a heavy science fiction focus that showed how parallel universes can carry paranoid variations on the lives of characters shifting between worlds. Dark Matter mines similar territory but in a far more grounded manner. Using the conceits of the thriller genre, Dark Matter adapts the best-selling novel by Blake Crouch into a masterful genre outing that defies the conventions of sci-fi with a broader tale full of twists, turns, and stellar performances from Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Connelly, and Alice Braga. Captivating from the first episode, Dark Matter is exceptional storytelling.

Dark Matter opens with Jason Dessen, a physicist living in Chicago, his wife Daniela (Jennifer Connelly), and their son Charlie (Oakes Fegley) leading a happy life as a family. Working as a professor at a local college, Jason learns that his best friend Ryan (Jimmi Simpson) has won a prestigious science prize, which he has yearned to achieve. Never questioning his decisions in life, Jason is offered a job by Ryan, which would upend their happy home in Chicago. On his way home, Jason is mugged by a masked assailant who forces him to strip to his boxers and enter a strange room in an abandoned warehouse. After an odd conversation, Jason passes out, only to awaken in an unfamiliar facility where he meets Amanda (Alice Braga) and other unfamiliar people. Paranoid, Jason breaks out of the facility only to discover he is not in his own reality while his doppelganger has taken his place alongside Daniela.

Echoing Jason’s opening reference to the Schroedinger’s Cat thought experiment, Dark Matter delves into the idea of what a single change in decision-making could lead to. In the alternate world, Jason has created a machine that allows humans to traverse these distinct timelines, something his double has used to go to a world where he stayed with the love of his life. This triggers two narratives following unique genre structures to tell a fascinating and complex story. In one timeline, Alternate Jason is the strange one surrounded by people who feel something off about him, while in the other, Main Jason must come to terms with being the fish out of water in a world foreign to him. It is a brilliant and original way to focus a story like this that allows for elements of paranoid thrillers to mix with complex scientific ideas.

It also helps that Joel Edgerton is a fantastic lead as both versions of Jason Dessen. Edgerton is an incredibly talented actor who embodies an everyman quality in these roles while giving the audience a way to orient themselves to this convoluted myriad of universes. Jennifer Connelly and Alice Braga are equally skilled at playing different relationships that are key to each version of Jason, who must acclimate themselves to men who are not who they truly know. The whole cast is quite good, especially Jimmi Simpson and Dayo Okeniyi as colleagues of Jason’s who factor into the scientific process that kickstarts this tale. Altogether, Dark Matter must traverse some tricky plot conundrums but pulls it off without much of an issue. Because of how strong the acting is in this series, you are easily able to commit to the mind-altering complexity of this story.

Novelist Blake Crouch had previously attempted to adapt his book for a feature film. Still, the nine-episode series format benefits the narrative far better than a two-hour movie ever could. By changing elements of his novel and expanding others, Crouch himself has stated the series is an improvement over the source material. Filmed on location in Chicago, the series does not rely on significant special effects, but that does not mean this series is not deeply rooted in science fiction. The directing team, led by Jakob Verbruggen on the first three episodes and followed by helmers Logan George & Celine Held, Alik Sakharov, and Roxann Dawson, use the urban landscape of the city in both daytime and noir-esque night sequences that add to the atmosphere and mood of Dark Matter. This series looks fantastic and offers a look, unlike many other genre offerings on television, along with an eerie score by Mindhunter composer Jason Hill.

Whether you have read the novel or not, avoid any details about Dark Matter if you can help it. There are so many great angles this story takes that are unconventional for a series like this that discovering them from episode to episode enhances the experience of this story. Based on the cast alone, Dark Matter is worth checking out. AppleTV+ continues to excel as a home for creative expansions in the science fiction genre, but Dark Matter may be their best project since Severance. After the premiere episodes debut, Dark Matter will move to a weekly release schedule, and I cannot think of a better way to parse out this great tale that will have audiences theorizing week to week about what will come next.

Dark Matter premieres with two episodes on May 8th on AppleTV+.

Dark Matter

AMAZING

9

The post Dark Matter TV Review appeared first on JoBlo.

PLOT: Set in 1991 Los Angeles, the story centers on LAPD Homicide Detective Dawn Reeve, who is assigned to a new case: the gruesome murder of a foster home mother that has left even the most hardened detectives shaken. Navigating a tumultuous time in Los Angeles, with a city on the razor’s edge of chaos, Dawn is determined to stop the killer. But as she draws closer to the truth, something ominous and malevolent grips her and her family…

REVIEW: The first season of Them debuted on Prime Video close to the one-year mark after COVID-19. Marketed as the small-screen continuation of Jordan Peele’s brand of big-screen horror, the series blended social commentary, political relevance, and disturbing imagery as it chronicled the Emory family’s move to Southern California. Led by a great performance by Deborah Ayorinde, Them (subtitled Covenant) was almost too violent for its own good. While I enjoyed the first season, I was intrigued to see where series creator Little Marvin could take the concept of Black Horror in subsequent chapters. The second volume, titled Them: The Scare, continues to mine the overarching themes of the anthology but with a much different approach to horror. Beautiful and haunting in its visuals with a pair of stellar leading performances, Them: The Scare only lacks the one thing it set out to be: scary.

Set four decades after Them: Covenant, this season is set in Los Angeles during the tumultuous period when the Rodney King beating and subsequent riots sent shockwaves through the country. With L.A. on edge and the police in the crosshairs for everyone, this tension makes for a perfect setting to kick off Them: The Scare. The series opens with a disturbing crime scene that introduces us to Detective Dawn Reeve, played by Deborah Ayorinde in a distinct role from her season one character. Here, Detective Reeve investigates a horrific death that no one else in the LAPD wants to be involved with. Reeve takes on the case, which irks racist colleague Detective Ronald McKinney (Jeremy Bobb) while allowing Reeve’s boss (Wayne Knight) to see if she can redeem herself after a controversial incident in her recent past. As Reeve dives into the crime, it elicits memories and nightmares from her past that connect to her mother, Athena (Pam Grier), and her son, Kel (Joshua J. Williams).

The series also follows Edmund Gaines (Luke James), an aspiring actor who works at a Chuck E. Cheese-esque restaurant. Gaines has a connection of his own to the crime, which also presents itself in a way that separates his narrative arc from Reeve’s, drawing parallels between them. Them: The Scare intertwines the plots of Reeve and Gaines in unique ways that analyze how the foster care system and the concept of nature versus nurture can alter the life trajectory of anyone in its path. It also allows the series to build two very different horror stories using imagery that echoes the tensions of Los Angeles in the early 1990s and various horrors throughout African American history. The approach to telling the story this season is awash in visuals that firmly entrench the tale in the last decade of the twentieth century and take advantage of period-appropriate music and the recently popular “analog horror” trend that gives the series a retro look with a hazy and dreamlike appearance straight off of an old VHS tape. The clean look of season one gives way to a much fuzzier but haunting visual style throughout this run of episodes.

The look and style of Them: The Scare absolutely work wonders here as it evokes a visual palette that is as impressive as any feature film production. The costume design and effects work on horror elements, creating an immersive experience. The acting is also something to behold, especially from Ayorinde and James, who appear in virtually every scene of the eight-episode season. All the actors are well cast, with the legendary Pam Grier a welcome return to the screen despite being woefully under-utilized here. Grier is solid in every scene, but her limited screen time feels like a missed opportunity to give the actress a showcase and expand the story beyond what we end up getting. That seems to be a recurring issue with Them: The Scare, which still digs into the idea of Black horror but takes far too long to build up the tension without a satisfactory payoff. This is not to say that there are no scares in the season, but they are peppered throughout the episodes and never stick around long enough to really land the way the writers had hoped. The pacing is deliberately slow to try and build the burn that other atmospheric horror stories have used to their advantage, but Them: The Scare feels underwhelming.

Series showrunner Little Marvin weaves an intriguing concept that directly connects to the previous season, but I won’t divulge what they are here. Little Marvin has credits on two of the eight episodes, along with an all-new staff of writers, including Tony Saltzman and Malcolm M. Mays. Neither Scott Kosar, Sarah Cho, Beverly Okhio, and Matt Almquist worked on the first season. The series does feature Little Marvin directing an episode alongside returning helmers Craig William Macneil and Ti West, the latter directing the excellent final episode this season. Other directors include Axelle Caolyn (The Haunting of Bly Manor) and Guillermo Navarro (Preacher, Hannibal), adept at evoking the story’s tension. The ideas behind the mythology that builds this series are as evocative as the first season, but where Them: Covenant was brutal and in your face, The Scare aims to take a more subtle and ethereal sense of horror and dread. There are definitely grisly moments here and the scariest Raggedy Ann doll you will ever see, but Them: The Scare thinks it is more frightening than it actually is.

When you boldly call out The Scare in your subtitle, you better live up to your own hype. Unfortunately, as well-acted and beautifully filmed as this season is, it never delivers on being scary. There are scary moments, and individual images work out of context. Still, the languid pacing actually works against the horror by presenting a disjointed narrative that would have been far more terrifying had it been propulsive instead of a slow burn. Deborah Ayorinde once again delivers a strong leading performance, balanced by Luke James, which makes Them: The Scare worth checking out, but it does not work, as a whole, as well as last season. Still, where this anthology could go next hopefully builds on the creativity displayed in these first two runs and learns from their shortcomings.

Them: The Scare is now streaming on Prime Video.

Them: The Scare

AVERAGE

6

The post Them: The Scare TV Review appeared first on JoBlo.

What Do We Know About the upcoming second season of the Paramount+ series Tulsa King? More than you may think. The Taylor Sheridan series has been one of the most successful projects from the Yellowstone creator that does not feature the Dutton Family. With a second season greenlit almost as soon as the first episode debuted, everyone has been wondering what is coming from the show’s sophomore run. So, let’s dive in and take a look at what Sylvester Stallone and his crime crew will be coming up with this year.

Who is running the show (literally)?

The first season of Tulsa King was overseen by Terence Winter, best known as the creator of Boardwalk Empire and a main writer and executive producer on The Sopranos. He wrote the screenplay for The Wolf of Wall Street and developed Tulsa King alongside Taylor Sheridan ahead of this season. Winter was demoted due to what are called creative differences by the media. Winter eventually left a direct role in writing the series but remains aboard as an executive producer. Eventually, details emerged that Sheridan fired Winter because Sheridan prefers “character-driven plots” while Winter likes “plot-driven characters.” This was back in 2023, and in February 2024, Winter was rehired as a writer when the Writer’s Guild strike opened up a spot in his schedule. Winter’s duties as a writer will be outside of Sheridan’s direct supervision. That sounds like a productive work environment. While not using a conventional showrunner for the second season, Sheridan selected Craig Zisk to oversee day-to-day operations on the show.

Who is it about?

Coming our way from Bosque Ranch Productions, Cold Front Productions, Balboa Productions, and MTV Entertainment Studios, Tulsa King tells the story of Dwight “The General” Manfredi, a Mafia capo who is released from prison at the start of the story and begins to set up a criminal organization in Tulsa, Oklahoma while trying to fix his relationship with his estranged daughter Tina (Tatiana Zappardino).

The first season of Tulsa King ended with Dwight’s crew beating a rival biker gang led by Waltrip (Ritchie Coster) followed by ATF agent Stacy (Andrea Savage) having Dwight arrested, despite also being his love interest. Chickie (Domenick Lombardozzi), the Invernizzi family’s new boss, is plotting revenge against Dwight. The biggest questions leading into season two will be whether Dwight and Stacy are still an item and how Chickie will exact his revenge against Dwight.

Production shifted from Oklahoma to Atlanta

After the crew complained about Oklahoma filming conditions, the Tulsa King season 2 production shifted to Atlanta. Despite no longer being filmed in the locale where the story takes place, the increased flexibility of studio resources in Atlanta will offer more opportunities for the crew to expand their production values and incorporate more acting talent for the series.

Who is directing this season?

The second season has not revealed much in terms of logistics outside of Craig Zisk running the show, but it is entirely possible that he will helm at least a couple of episodes. The odds are that directors from season one will return, including Lodge Kerrigan, Guy Ferland, Ben Semanoff, and Allen Coulter. As Taylor Sheridan has taken more of a producer role on his projects in recent years, it remains to be seen if he will write or direct any episodes of Tulsa King.

Who is joining the cast?

Most of the main cast from the first season are returning, including Andrea Savage as Stacy Beale, Jay Will as Tyson, Martin Starr as Bodhi, Max Casella as Armand Truisi, Dana Delaney as Margaret, and Domenick Lombardozzi as Chickie Ivernizzi. For season two, Annabella Sciorra and Tatiana Zappardino were upped to series regulars, while Frank Grillo is the biggest new addition to the cast. Grillo will play Bill Bevilaqua, a Kansas City mobster and foil for Stallone’s Dwight Manfredi.

When will we see it?

Production on season two began on April 1, 2024, so it is unlikely the series will return to the air any sooner than late Fall of this year. Season one debuted in November of 2022, so we could be in for broken bones and mafia shenanigans just in time for this Thanksgiving.

Stay tuned to JoBlo.com as we learn more about the second season of Tulsa King and all of your other favorite shows. What do you expect to see in the upcoming season of Tulsa King season? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Tulsa King Season 2: Everything We Know appeared first on JoBlo.

You are on the wrong website if you don’t know who William Shatner is. Whether or not you are a Star Trek fan is irrelevant for you to appreciate Shatner’s impact on pop culture. From his role as Captain James T. Kirk to turns on The Twilight Zone, TJ Hooker, Rescue 911, Boston Legal, and more, Shatner has been a pop culture stalwart since the 1960s. Having written books, released albums, and performed on stage, William Shatner’s legacy hit a pinnacle when he joined Jeff Bezos for a spaceflight a few years ago. From fictional space to real stars, Shatner is a legend.

At 93 years old, William Shatner also knows his time on this planet is coming to an end in the near future. His new documentary, You Can Call Me Bill, mediates his place in the cosmos and what it has meant to have lived almost a century of happiness. The stream-of-consciousness interview combines footage from his vast resume and direct commentary from the man himself on his life, his loves, and what he has learned over the past nine decades. It is a fascinating and unique look into the life of an icon many of us have grown up admiring.

I was privileged to speak with William Shatner about the new documentary and the profound impact his roles have had on my own life. I asked him about his work on the Esperanto-language film Incubus and the opening camping scene in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, which he also directed. We touched on his wish to have refilmed his final scene as Captain Kirk in Star Trek Generations and what his interactions with fans have been like over the years. Check out the full interview in the embed above.

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