Movies

The 2026 film Mortal Kombat II continues the story from the 2021 Mortal Kombat movie and is the fourth film in the live-action series. Director Simon McQuoid brings back the original cast – including Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Joe Taslim, Mehcad Brooks, Josh Lawson, Ludi Lin, Damon Herriman, and Hiroyuki Sanada – and introduces new actors Adeline Rudolph as Kitana, Tati Gabrielle as Jade, Martyn Ford as Shao Kahn, and Karl Urban as Johnny Cage. Released in theaters on May 8th, the film has already earned over $100 million worldwide.

Michelle Pfeiffer is no stranger to dark, fantastical stories, having starred in films like Batman Returns. Her new Apple TV+ series, Margo’s Got Money Troubles, which also features Nicole Kidman, is a very different world from the one she inhabited as Catwoman. However, Pfeiffer is eager to return to that darker style of storytelling, and has mentioned wanting to remake a beloved, atmospheric vampire soap opera from the 1960s – a show that Tim Burton, the director of Batman Returns, also appreciates.

Even so, the prospect of Penguin rising through Gotham’s criminal ranks while Batman pursues him is thrilling, much like the incredible Batmobile chase in the 2022 film, The Batman. However, the detailed look at Oswald Cobblepot in The Penguin series could have felt incomplete if it hadn’t continued beyond HBO Max. There was a risk that all the effort put into developing his complex character would be for nothing if he didn’t appear in future stories.

Netflix has revolutionized the crime genre with both big-budget fictional dramas and captivating true-crime documentaries. Shows like Narcos and Mindhunter made Netflix a leading platform for crime series, and Tiger King became a worldwide sensation that people still discuss today.

It’s common for long-running series like Star Trek to reference its history, but the term “fan service” often has a negative connotation for writers. While many sci-fi revivals rely too much on appealing to existing fans, Star Trek, particularly Picard, managed to strike a good balance. It acknowledged the show’s 60-year legacy while still trying to tell compelling and thought-provoking stories – even if those stories weren’t always what fans expected.

Woody Guthrie, the singer who wrote the famous song “This Land Is Your Land” (which inspired the title of the For All Mankind season five finale), would likely have mixed feelings about the people of Mars, or “Marsies.” He’d probably dislike their focus on taking resources, but he’d admire their ability to work together. By the end of this season of FAM, the Happy Valley colony transformed from a place where even saying “Free Mars!” was prohibited, into a much more liberated community.

Despite entering its second weekend, The Boroughs, the new sci-fi series from the Duffer Brothers, is still the most popular show on Netflix. Three new series are aiming to join the Top 3 most-watched shows globally in the coming days. Also popular right now are the heist thriller Nemesis, currently at #3, and the K-drama The Wonderfools, which has a perfect rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

I’ve decided to combine the Marvel and Star Wars universes again, two of the most popular movie franchises ever, and pair them with recent releases. This weekend’s Disney+ recommendations aren’t necessarily meant to be watched all at once, but they could work as a three-movie marathon if you’re interested.

Crunchyroll’s 10th annual Anime Awards, held in Tokyo on May 23rd, named the final season of My Hero Academia as Anime of the Year. The popular superhero anime, created by Studio Bones and released in 2016, has been a favorite among anime fans worldwide for ten years. As My Hero Academia concludes, a new wave of series like Invincible, along with animated projects from DC and Marvel, are stepping up to compete with today’s top live-action superhero films and shows.

The film is built on a fascinating true story: the incredibly tense and crucial weather forecasting for D-Day. While another movie, the TV film Ike: Countdown to D-Day, touched on this subject, this script, by David Haig and Anthony Maras, focuses on the core drama. It centers on two opposing forecasting teams. On one side, you have the relaxed and confident American team, led by Colonel Irving Krick (Chris Messina), who have studied decades of weather patterns and predict clear skies for the invasion. Messina is fantastic as Krick, a character who’s had wartime success but is mostly known for accurately predicting the weather for the Atlanta fire scene in Gone With the Wind – a surprisingly true detail! Then there’s the reserved and difficult Stagg, who insists on working alone and keeps Krick out of his reports to Eisenhower and the generals. We soon learn his gruff exterior hides nerves and the pain of leaving his pregnant wife to take on this vital, secret mission.