Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain is getting major attention for the actor. In addition to starring in A Real Pain, Eisenberg also wrote and directed the film. It received four Golden Globe nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor, with Culkin winning the latter award. Culkin’s acceptance speech was just as quirky and funny as his performance in Eisenberg’s movie as he said, “Oh thanks, this is incredible. I’m feeling a little – my wife and I did a shot of tequila with Mario Lopez, definitely feeling that.”
The Hollywood Reporter has recently held its Writer Roundtable discussion, where Eisenberg, Justin Kuritzkes (Challengers and Queer), Payal Kapadia (All We Imagine as Light), Mangold (A Complete Unknown), Reijn (Babygirl) and Jason Reitman (Saturday Night) gathered to talk shop about their careers and the film industry. Eisenberg revealed during this session that his writing sensibilities used to be slightly different until Bob Odenkirk had something to say about it.
When asked about getting his start in writing, Eisenberg explained, “Starting out, I was writing little jokes because I was interested in comedy. Then in my late teens, I started writing screenplays of the Adam Sandler ’90s-era style. I figured out the formula, and I could reproduce it. I even had some of these scripts optioned — I’d send them to agents — but nothing would ever get made. I was also acting.”
Eisenberg continued. “When I was 20, I got a part in a movie that Bob Odenkirk was directing, and I gave him my scripts because I knew he was in the comedy world and had worked at SNL, so I thought, ‘He’ll send them to Adam Sandler.’ He took about two weeks to read them and then called and yelled at me for an hour, but in an incredible way. I’ll never forget what he said because it changed my life. He said, ‘Buddy, why are you writing this? This is something that I’d get hired to write in a weekend. There’d be three of us sitting in a room at Happy Madison doing this. You’re a thoughtful, sensitive guy. Why is this your art?’ It killed me because those scripts represented years of my life. But right after that, I went to Poland for a movie and went to visit my family’s house, as we do in A Real Pain. And I came back and wrote a play.”
Our own Chris Bumbray raved about A Real Pain and said in his review, “One of the impressive things about A Real Pain is how Eisenberg doesn’t seem to be overreaching with his narrative. He’s not trying to break your heart or rivet you. He’s simply showing you an intelligent, empathetic slice of life that says a lot without needing to say much at all. I wouldn’t be surprised if this film turns into a nice little hit for Searchlight, with both Culkin and Eisenberg delivering superb performances.”
A couple of years ago, Florence Pugh said that she felt she had “abused herself” working on the 2019 horror film Midsommar (watch it HERE)… and that’s a feeling she has reiterated in a new interview on the Reign with Josh Smith podcast, saying she couldn’t work on something like that movie again.
Pugh said (with thanks to Variety for the transcription), “There have been some roles where I’ve given too much and I’ve been broken for a long while afterwards. Like when I did Midsommar, I definitely felt like I abused myself in the places that I got myself to go. The nature of figuring these things out is you need to go, ‘Alright, well, I can’t do that again because that was too much.’ But then I look at that performance and I’m really proud of what I did, and I’m proud of what came out of me. I don’t regret it. But, yeah, there’s definitely things that you have to respect about yourself.“
In case you need a reminder, Midsommar had the following synopsis: Dani and Christian are a young American couple with a relationship on the brink of falling apart. But after a family tragedy keeps them together, a grieving Dani invites herself to join Christian and his friends on a trip to a once-in-a-lifetime midsummer festival in a remote Swedish village. What begins as a carefree summer holiday in a land of eternal sunlight takes a sinister turn when the insular villagers invite their guests to partake in festivities that render the pastoral paradise increasingly unnerving and viscerally disturbing. The film was written and directed by Ari Aster.
Pugh previously said, “I’d never played someone that was in that much pain before, and I would put myself in really shitty situations that maybe other actors don’t need to do but I would just be imagining the worst things. Each day the content would be getting more weird and harder to do. I was putting things in my head that were getting worse and more bleak.” Despite her rough times on Midsommar, she has nothing but praise for Aster, calling him a mad genius and a stand-up comedian at heart.
Pugh will soon be seen in the Marvel movie Thunderbolts*, which is set to reach theatres on May 2, 2025 and probably gave her much more pleasant, less emotionally troubling material to work with.
What do you think of what Florence Pugh has said about her experience working on Midsommar, and the fact that she won’t be working on anything else like that movie in the future? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Call of Duty is the best-selling game almost every year, but even that might not be enough to keep up with its ever-ballooning blockbuster budgets. New court filings reveal that 2020’s Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War cost $700 million to make over the life of the game, despite selling 10 million fewer copies than the…
Call of Duty is the best-selling game almost every year, but even that might not be enough to keep up with its ever-ballooning blockbuster budgets. New court filings reveal that 2020’s Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War cost $700 million to make over the life of the game, despite selling 10 million fewer copies than the…
There’s a reboot of the classic Universal Monsters property The Wolf Man coming our way from Blumhouse Productions and The Invisible Man (2020) director Leigh Whannell, aiming for a January 17, 2025 theatrical release – and while there has been some uncertainty about this one, as fans have been underwhelmed by the glimpses we’ve seen of a Wolf Man design, the first reactions have now made their way online, and they indicate that there’s nothing to worry about. According to these reactions, Wolf Man is an excellent, suspenseful, and emotional horror film. You can read some of them in the embeds below.
The leads of this version of Wolf Man are Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, both of whom were in the 2011 film Martha Marcy May Marlene. Abbott is taking on the role of a man whose family is being terrorized by a lethal predator. Garner is playing his wife. Sam Jaeger is also in the cast, along with child actress Matilda Firth, playing a character named Ginger: “Female, 10 years old, white. Blake and Charlotte’s daughter. Smart, precocious, and strong. When her family decides to leave the city for a quieter life in a remote area, she faces her biggest fear, the possibility of losing one or both of her parents forever.”
When Wolf Man was first announced in 2020, Ryan Gosling was set to star in it – and in fact, it got rolling when Gosling pitched this take on the concept of The Wolf Man to Universal, and his idea was then fleshed out into a screenplay by Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo, a writing duo that previously worked on Orange Is the New Black. (Blum also happens to be married to Blumhouse founder Jason Blum.) At the time, it was said the story was “believed to be set in present times and in the vein of Jake Gyllenhaal’s thriller Nightcrawler with an obvious supernatural twist.” The final version of the script is credited to Blum and Angelo, as well as Whannell and his wife Corbett Tuck.
Whannell first signed on to direct the film in 2020, but dropped out the following year. That’s when Gosling’s Blue Valentine and Place Beyond the Pines director Derek Cianfrance came on board. Gosling and Cianfrance both stepped away from Wolf Man early last year… and then Whannell came back. A collaboration between Blumhouse and Motel Movies, Wolf Man is being produced by Jason Blum. Gosling receives an executive producer credit alongside Ken Kao, Bea Sequeira, Mel Turner, and Whannell.
Here are some of the first reactions to the film:
Wolf Man is not just terrifying, it packs an emotional punch. I found myself jumping out of my skin and then shedding tears. The acting is top notch and the cinematography is insane. The way the camera switches POVs provides a masterclass in horror. I loved it! #WolfManMoviepic.twitter.com/GzVIo62Bf9
#WolfMan will leave you afraid of the dark! Watched this movie with my feet up on the air because I was terrified of what could grab my ankles. Just a suspenseful thrill from start to finish. Christopher Abbott is a star and I love him so much! pic.twitter.com/V6frodldjq
Leigh Whannell's WOLF MAN is a pulse-pounding, super fun take on classic werewolf cinema. Less is more in this effective tale of generational guilt. The "infected" Wolf Man design also works far better on-screen.
Wolf Man is some of the most excellent horror in recent memory. A slow transformation will sicken you, but it tells a story that packs a familial punch. A great cast highlights an utterly terrifying film. @WolfManMovie25pic.twitter.com/sgIrMzANbC
— That Hashtag Show (Official) (@ThatHashtagShow) January 7, 2025
#WolfMan is a tense, straight-forward thriller that sees Christopher Abbott unleash the battle between human and animal through his strong performance! Julia Garner is the heart and humanity of the drama. Leigh Whannell’s insane visual and auditory creativity is amazing! pic.twitter.com/StqhmJlkpF
— Nick L’Barrow – Interviews and Reviews @novastream (@nicksflicksfix) January 7, 2025
Wolf Man is everything that I wanted and then some. A truly excellent horror film that gives you body horror, familial horror, and some gruesome effects. The entire cast is excellent, but Christopher Abbott takes it up to another level as a classic “character”. @WolfManMovie25pic.twitter.com/AqvL4sO404
The Wolf Man reboot was recently given an R rating for bloody violent content, grisly images and some language. This isn’t the first time a reboot of The Wolf Man has been given an R rating, as the 2010 reboot that was directed by Joe Johnston and starred Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, and Emily Blunt was also rated R, for bloody horror violence and gore.
Are you looking forward to Wolf Man? What did you think of these reactions to the film? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
On Halloween, Sony Pictures unveiled a red band teaser trailer for the Valentine’s Day-set horror romantic comedy Heart Eyes – and last week, the film’s director, Josh Ruben (who previously brought us Werewolves Within and Scare Me), took to social media to let it be known that the full trailer would be dropping online this week. Sure enough, the full trailer for Heart Eyes has now been unveiled, and you can check it out in the embed above.
Heart Eyes is set to reach theatres on February 7, 2025. February 14th is a Friday, so that would seem to be the perfect choice for this movie’s release date, but it was already taken by Disney/Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World, so Sony had to move it to the week before Valentine’s Day. Its competition on that date is the Universal action movie Love Hurts, starring Ke Huy Quan.
Heart Eyes has the following synopsis: When the Heart Eyes Killer strikes Seattle, a pair of co-workers pulling overtime on Valentine’s Day are mistaken for a couple by the elusive couple-hunting killer. Now they must spend the most romantic night of the year running for their lives. Ruben previously provided the following statement: “My love of horror is rivaled only by my love of romantic comedies. I’m excited as hell to mount my most challenging genre bender to date: a brutal slasher in a nostalgic rom-com universe.“ Christopher Landon and Michael Kennedy, a duo that had previously worked together on the body swap slasher Freaky and the time travel slasher Time Cut, wrote the screenplay with Phillip Murphy (The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard).
Olivia Holt of Totally Killer and Mason Gooding from the two most recent Scream movies star alongside Jordana Brewster (The Fast and the Furious), Devon Sawa (Final Destination), and Gigi Zumbado (The Price We Pay).
Heart Eyes is set up at Spyglass, and Republic Pictures has picked up distribution rights to the film outside of the U.S. and Canada. Landon is producing the film with Divide/Conquer’s Greg Gilreath and Adam Hendricks. Spyglass’ Gary Barber and Chris Stone serve as executive producers with Murphy and Mel Turner. The film has been rated R for strong violence and gore, language and some sexual content.
What did you think of the Heart Eyes trailer? Will you be catching this movie on the big screen next month? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
On Halloween, Sony Pictures unveiled a red band teaser trailer for the Valentine’s Day-set horror romantic comedy Heart Eyes – and last week, the film’s director, Josh Ruben (who previously brought us Werewolves Within and Scare Me), took to social media to let it be known that the full trailer would be dropping online this week. Sure enough, the full trailer for Heart Eyes has now been unveiled, and you can check it out in the embed above.
Heart Eyes is set to reach theatres on February 7, 2025. February 14th is a Friday, so that would seem to be the perfect choice for this movie’s release date, but it was already taken by Disney/Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World, so Sony had to move it to the week before Valentine’s Day. Its competition on that date is the Universal action movie Love Hurts, starring Ke Huy Quan.
Heart Eyes has the following synopsis: When the Heart Eyes Killer strikes Seattle, a pair of co-workers pulling overtime on Valentine’s Day are mistaken for a couple by the elusive couple-hunting killer. Now they must spend the most romantic night of the year running for their lives. Ruben previously provided the following statement: “My love of horror is rivaled only by my love of romantic comedies. I’m excited as hell to mount my most challenging genre bender to date: a brutal slasher in a nostalgic rom-com universe.“ Christopher Landon and Michael Kennedy, a duo that had previously worked together on the body swap slasher Freaky and the time travel slasher Time Cut, wrote the screenplay with Phillip Murphy (The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard).
Olivia Holt of Totally Killer and Mason Gooding from the two most recent Scream movies star alongside Jordana Brewster (The Fast and the Furious), Devon Sawa (Final Destination), and Gigi Zumbado (The Price We Pay).
Heart Eyes is set up at Spyglass, and Republic Pictures has picked up distribution rights to the film outside of the U.S. and Canada. Landon is producing the film with Divide/Conquer’s Greg Gilreath and Adam Hendricks. Spyglass’ Gary Barber and Chris Stone serve as executive producers with Murphy and Mel Turner. The film has been rated R for strong violence and gore, language and some sexual content.
What did you think of the Heart Eyes trailer? Will you be catching this movie on the big screen next month? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown and Kill Bill Volume 1 and Kill Bill Volume 2 make their debut on 4K UHD along with a re-print release of his debut feature Reservoir Dogs via limited edition collectible SteelBooks on January 21. Jackie Brown, Kill Bill Volume 1, and Kill Bill Volume 2 will also have standard national retail releases. Lionsgate has just released the details of these physical media releases.
KILL BILL VOLUME 1
The action explodes in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Volume 1, presented in eye-popping 4K for the first time. This acclaimed fourth film from groundbreaking writer and director Quentin Tarantino stars Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, and Vivica A. Fox in an astonishing, action-packed thriller about brutal betrayal and an epic vendetta. Four years after taking a bullet in the head at her own wedding, The Bride (Thurman) emerges from a coma and decides it’s time for payback. Having been gunned down by her former boss (David Carradine) and his deadly squad of international assassins, it’s a kill-or-be-killed fight she did not start, but one she will finish. Loaded with explosive action and outrageous humor, Kill Bill Volume 1 is a must-see motion picture event.
SteelBook® art by Matt Taylor
Special Features The Making of Kill Bill Volume 1 The “5, 6, 7, 8’s” Bonus Musical Performances Tarantino Trailers * Reservoir Dogs * Pulp Fiction * Jackie Brown * Kill Bill Volume 1 Teaser * Kill Bill Volume 1 Bootleg Trailer * Kill Bill Volume 2 Teaser
Screen Display & Aspect Ratio 16×9 (2.40)
4K UHD Audio English 5.1 DTS HD-MA French 5.1 Dolby Digital
Blu-ray Audio English 5.1 Uncompressed Audio English 5.1 Dolby Digital French 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles Spanish
SDH English
Captions None
4K UHD Resolution 2160P High Definition Dolby Vision
4K UHD Disc Format 1BD100
4K UHD Region N/A
Blu-ray Resolution 1080P 23.98 High Definition
Blu-ray Disc Format 1BD50
Blu-ray Region A
KILL BILL VOLUME 2
Available in striking 4K for the first time, Kill Bill Volume 2 is the must-see movie event from writer and director Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction), that completes the action-packed quest for revenge begun by The Bride (Uma Thurman) in Kill Bill Volume 1! Having already crossed two names from her Death List, The Bride is back with a vengeance and taking aim at Budd (Michael Madsen) and Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah), the only survivors from the squad of assassins who betrayed her four years earlier. It’s all leading up to the ultimate confrontation with Bill (David Carradine), The Bride’s former master and the man who ordered her execution! Experience the other half of the story in the acclaimed Kill Bill Volume 2 — even more mind-blowing on 4K Ultra High Definition!
SteelBook® art by Oliver Barrett
Special Features The Making of Kill Bill Volume 2 “Damoe” Deleted Scene “Chingon” Musical Performance
Screen Display & Aspect Ratio 16×9 (2.40)
4K UHD Audio English 5.1 DTS HD-MA French 5.1 Dolby Digital
Blu-ray Audio English 5.1 Uncompressed Audio English 5.1 Dolby Digital French 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles Spanish
SDH English
Captions None
4K UHD Resolution 2160P High Definition Dolby Vision
4K UHD Disc Format 1BD100
4K UHD Region N/A
Blu-ray Resolution 1080P 23.98 High Definition
Blu-ray Disc Format 1BD50
Blu-ray Region A
JACKIE BROWN
Quentin Tarantino scores with an explosive mix of intense action and edgy humor in his “twisty crime yarn” (Entertainment Weekly), now presented for the first time in 4K. What do a sexy stewardess (Pam Grier), a street-tough gun runner (Samuel L. Jackson), a lonely bail bondsman (Robert Forster), a shifty ex-con (Robert De Niro), an earnest federal agent (Michael Keaton), and a stoned-out beach bunny (Bridget Fonda) have in common? They’re six players on the trail of a half million dollars in cash! The only questions are… who’s going to get played… and who’s going to make the big score?
SteelBook® art by Ken Taylor
Special Features (Blu-ray Only) Breaking Down Jackie Brown (HD) (approx 45 mins)
Jackie Brown: How It Went Down (with Play All option) (SD) * Rum Punch “Reading It Again That Night, I Fell In Love With It” (2:56) * Elmore Leonard “If You And Elmore Leonard Had A Child, That’s What This Is” (3:24) * Quentin’s Influences “Quentin’s A Huge Fan Of The ’60s And ’70s” (3:59) * Pam Grier “Quentin’s Been A Pam Grier Fan Forever” (5:50) * Robert Forster “And This Part Goes To Robert Forster” (5:07) * Samuel L. Jackson “He Just Says Quentin’s Lines Probably Better Than Anyone” (2:49) * Robert De Niro “I’m Actually Doing A Scene With Robert De Niro!” (2:07) * Bridget Fonda “She’s From A Good Bloodline Of Actors” (1:53) * Michael Keaton “And ‘Bang,’ He Was The Guy” (3:01) * The Production “I’m Making Movies With My Family” (7:46)
“A Look Back at Jackie Brown” – Interview with Quentin (54:38) (SD)
Chicks With Guns Video (4:51) (SD)
Siskel & Ebert “At The Movies” – Jackie Brown Review (SD) (4:44)
Jackie Brown on MTV (SD)
* Jackie Brown Promotional Contest (1:03)
* MTV Live Jackie Brown (14:22)
Marketing Gallery
* Trailers (with Play All option)
* Green Band Teaser (:50) (SD)
* Theatrical Teaser (1:31) (SD)
* Theatrical Teaser #2 (1:29) (SD)
* TV Spots (with Play All option) (SD)
* “The Chase” – Revised (:17)
* “Six People” (:16)
* “Scamming” (:32)
* “Up For Grabs” – Revised (:17)
* “Shakedown” (:32)
* “Review” (:31))
* “Showdown” (1:01)
* “Here We Go” – Revised (:31)
* Pulp Fiction Posters (stills)
Still Galleries
Enhanced Trivia Track
Deleted and Alternate Scenes
Screen Display & Aspect Ratio 16×9 (1.85)
Audio English 5.1 DTS HD-MA
Subtitles English Spanish
SDH English
Captions None
4K UHD Resolution 2160P High Definition Dolby Vision
4K UHD Disc Format 1BD100
4K UHD Region N/A
Blu-ray Resolution 1080P 23.98 High Definition
Blu-ray Disc Format 1BD50
Blu-ray Region A
Reservoir Dogs
“You’re not Mr. Purple,” says Joe (portrayed by the legendary Lawrence Tierney) to Steve Buscemi’s character at the beginning of Reservoir Dogs. “Some guy on some other job is Mr. Purple. You’re Mr. Pink.” Only a fool would argue with Joe — we sure wouldn’t — and it’s in this spirit that Lionsgate Limited presents the Mr. Pink edition of Quentin Tarantino’s bloody homage to heist films of yore. Packaged in a stunningly original SteelBook® featuring specially commissioned art by renowned illustrator and graphic designer Justin Erickson (Dark Horse Comics, Mondo), this Lionsgate Limited edition of the landmark crime film with its rogues’ gallery of a cast is a cooler-than-cool addition to every collector’s library.
Special Features Deleted Scenes
Playing It Fast and Loose
Profiling the Reservoir Dogs
4K UHD Audio English 5.1 DTS HD-MA French 5.1 Dolby Digital
Blu-ray Audio English 5.1 Uncompressed Audio English 5.1 Dolby Digital French 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles Spanish
SDH English
Captions None
4K UHD Resolution 2160P High Definition Dolby Vision
Plot: Mark Scout leads a team at Lumon Industries, whose employees have undergone a severance procedure, which surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives. This daring experiment in “work-life balance” is called into question as Mark finds himself at the center of an unraveling mystery that will force him to confront the true nature of his work… and of himself. In season two, Mark and his friends learn the dire consequences of trifling with the severance barrier, leading them further down a path of woe.
REVIEW: The first season of Severance was unlike any other series at the time. Created by Dan Erickson and directed and produced by Ben Stiller, the series blended creepy and surreal urban legends with a workplace comedy for a story that defied categorization into a single genre. With a great ensemble featuring Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, Britt Lower, John Turturro, Zach Cherry, and Christopher Walken, Severance created a whole mythology around the mysterious Lumon Industries and their process to sever a person’s professional consciousness from their personal one. With a quirky retro vibe at the office and a mystery being investigated in the outside world, Severance builds mounting tension episode by episode through the cliffhanger finale. Two years later, we get to reconnect with our favorite innies and outies as we learn more about the truth behind what Lumon is trying to do and how the actions of the team of analysts will impact what is to come. The second season of Severance does not disappoint and achieves the rare feat of improving upon the debut season.
At the end of the first season, Mark Scout (Adam Scott) and his colleagues in Macro Data Refining, including Dylan (Zach Cherry), Irving (John Turturro), and Helly (Britt Lower), disabled the severance protocol and found themselves inhabiting their outie consciousnesses. Mark learned his boss, Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette), knew his outie and revealed to his sister Devon (Jen Tullock) that Mark’s deceased wife (Dichen Lachman) was alive. Dylan learned he was married with children while Irving found his coworker and love interest Burt (Christopher Walken) was in a relationship. Irving also noticed he had been painting a mysterious doorway at Lumon. Helly had the most shocking revelation as she learned she was actually Helena Egan, daughter of the head of Lumon. That cliffhanger opens the second season as the fallout at Lumon results in the dissolution of the MDR team and Mark being placed with a new set of coworkers. The floor supervisor, Seth Milchik (Tramell Tillman), has also taken a more prominent leadership role under the guidance of Lumon executives. The second season deepens the divide between the innies and the outies while not losing the mystery and surreal nature that made the first season so good.
Having seen the entirety of the second season, I can confidently say that Severance is better than ever. There is a lot more going on this season, both inside the Lumon offices and in the world at large, while not once feeling like the series is trying to top the twists and reveals from season one. The uneasy balance between what Lumon tells their severed workers and what they begin to uncover is central to the mounting plot of the show’s overall narrative, but it does not mean that Mark and his friends remain quiet and obedient. There is so much that I want to say about what happens this season, but virtually everything would be a spoiler. What I can tell you is that the trailer only hints at where this series goes, and that includes off-site work meetings, new departments, including the one where Gwendoline Christie’s character works, and episodes focused on the backstory for key supporting characters that have a direct impact on the main ensemble. Some interesting cameos and additions to the cast will surprise you right from the first episode, but what makes this season of Severance feel stronger than the first is the tightly controlled plot threads that connect back to elements from the first season while laying the groundwork for the seasons to come.
Severance‘s early episodes waste no time distinguishing themselves from the first season. The characters now know they are stuck and that something nefarious is happening at Lumon. Adam Scott gets a lot more conviction playing both halves of Mark Scout, who grows in self-confidence as an innie and makes decisive choices as an outie. There is much more for Zach Cherry to dig into this season with a unique romantic subplot, while John Turturro and Christopher Walken remain the best couple to root for on television. Britt Lower gets some heavy lifting as Helly deals with who she is on the outside. At the same time, we meet new characters played by John Noble, Alia Shawkat, Merritt Wever, Robby Benson, Olafur Darri Olafsson, Bob Balaban, and Sarah Bock. The return of actors from season one, including Sydney Cole Alexander as Lumon PR rep Natalie, Michael Chernus as Mark’s brother-in-law Ricke,n and Karen Aldridge as Reghabi, built this world into something much more sinister than I expected. The idea of what Lumon is and the purpose of the severance process continues to be a MacGuffin for this series, but one that is slowly revealing itself. By the end of the second season, there is so much more known than at the end of the first, but the mystery remains intact, and we do not feel like we are being led on a meaningless journey.
Series creator Dan Erickson once again leads the writing team, having scripted four of the ten episodes alongside Mohamad El Masti, Wei-Ning Yu, Anna Ouyang Moench, Erin Wagoner, Mark Friedman, Adam Countee, and K.C. Perry. Outside of Erickson and Moench, the team comprises new writers who delve further into the complex backstory of Lumon and the Egan clan. Ben Stiller helmed five episodes this season, down one from the first year. Stiller directed the premiere and finale with Sam Donovan (The Crown, The Widow) and Uta Briesewitz (Stranger Things, Black Mirror, Westworld), each helming two episodes, and cinematographer Jessica Lee Gagne (Mrs. America, Escape at Dannemora) made her directorial debut on the remaining episode. This season continues to mine the surreal, retro look of the Lumon offices with new forays in midseason episodes that shed light on the larger world of Severance. The eerie music from composer Theodore Shapiro continues to balance the series’ themes. A new opening credit sequence teases hidden messages about the season and where the story is headed. Some episodes do not have a credit sequence for reasons that will be evident when you watch those specific chapters.
Severance was already a unique series unlike any other show on the air and has built on that with an even better second season. The cast is exceptional, and the direction, led by Ben Stiller doing the best work of his career, improves on what came before it. This is such a rich world that has deepened what the audience knows without sacrificing any quality along the way. Each episode is full of character development that makes you care deeply about what happens to each member of the MDR team and even gives reasons to care about the antagonists as well. Few shows on television rival how bizarre and brilliant Severance is, and I look forward to seeing how viewers react to what this season has in store for them. As much as the first season impacted pop culture, season two will result in many memes, quotes, and references that will make this show a hard one to top in 2025.
Severance debuts its second season on January 17th on Apple TV+.
Roger Pratt, the cinematographer who lensed Batman for Tim Burton, was a favorite of Terry Gilliam’s and shot two Harry Potter movies, has passed away. The British-born DP was 77.
The British Society of Cinematographers posted a tribute to Roger Pratt on their Instagram page, writing in part, “It is with deepest sadness that we learn of the passing of our friend and colleague, Roger Pratt BSC (1947-2024). Roger Pratt BSC was an extraordinary #Cinematographer, who was awarded this society’s highest honour, our Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023. Roger was born in Leicester, the son of a parish vicar, and although the church didn’t capture his career aspirations, seeing 16mm “fact and faith” films did.”
Roger Pratt first garnered attention shooting for Terry Gilliam on 1985’s Brazil – work that was recognized by the American Society of Cinematographers as some of the best ever – and he would go on to collaborate with the director on The Fisher King and 12 Monkeys. And while those are some incredible contributions, he would work most closely with Richard Attenborough, serving as cinematographer on four of his films.
But it is no doubt Tim Burton’s Batman with which Roger Pratt left his most indelible mark. Bringing inky blacks and a gothic vibe to the character that we had never seen on the big screen, Pratt helped bring Burton’s interpretation to life in a way that still connects with audiences and helped mold what we came to expect from superhero movies of the era. While Burton undoubtedly deserves credit for helping reinvent Batman, it couldn’t have been accomplished the way it was without Pratt.
Roger Pratt would also have the distinction of lensing two Harry Potter movies – Chamber of Secrets and Goblet of Fire – helping the series evolve as it grew thematically darker. Other notable credits for Roger Pratt include Kenneth Branagh’s Frankenstein, Wolfgang Peterson’s Troy and Neil Jordan’s stellar Mona Lisa. It was for Jordan that Pratt earned his only Oscar nomination, for 1999’s The End of the Affair. The aforementioned British Society of Cinematographers would nominate Pratt five times throughout his career.
Let us know your favorite Roger Pratt work in the comments section below.
