RidleySeason 2 is finally, officially set to premiere in the UK onSaturday, August 10 at 8pm on ITV1, with all episodes dropping as a box set on ITVX the same day. The acclaimedBritish drama, starringAdrian DunbarandBronagh Waugh, continues the story of retired detective Alex Ridley as he returns to the force to solve high-stakes cases while confronting his own emotional scars. The show was a quiet sensation when it debuted in 2022, garnering praise for its sensitive storytelling,atmospheric setting, and Dunbar’s grounded lead performance....

On the surface,Monty Python’s Life of Brianis an irreverent take on the life of Christ, criticized as a comedy rife with blasphemy and sacrilege, resulting in the film being banned in numerous countries (we’ll get to that). Butas any Monty Python fan knows, there is a far deeper level to the film that purposefully avoids direct correlation with Christ, shines a light on the hypocrisy, in-fighting and absurdity of his followers, and elements that border on the prophetic....

Before knees were bent to the likes of Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), a greater part of Westeros first bent the knee to their forebear, the patriarch of the Targaryen dynasty, King Aegon, First of His Name. HBO built its Westeros-set franchise beginning with the critically acclaimed series,Game of Thrones, and has since followed it up with a prequel,House of the Dragon. Given the intense appeal of the lore, even more spin-offs have been considered over the years, one of them being anAegon’s Conquestseries....

Glen Powell’s 2024 has been electric, with the recent release of thesequel to the 1996 classic, Twister, seeing his stock continue to rise.Twistershas proven enormously successful, with a theatrical run that has accumulated over $350 million in less than two months. Because of this, and due to success as the co-lead in the rom-comAnyone But Youat the turn of the year, Powell’s total Box Office haul as a leading actor has surpassed the$600 million mark worldwide....

Animated television has a special kind of charm. This is a medium that allows creators to unleash their imaginations to their fullest potential, resulting in shows that aren’t just limitless in what they can depict visually, but also some of the most creative and entertaining out there. Netflix, the streaming giant, has beenat the forefront of modern animated television for children and adults alike for many years. Naturally, though, the platform’s catalog is so large and varied that some animated shows are bound to be better than others....

The Shawshank Redemptionis arguablythe ultimate cult classicfor many reasons, and its ability to provide compelling plot twists definitely counts as one of them. It may be most famous for one particular twist, but a movie cannot truly call itself great if it merely relies on a single plot point to be interesting.The Shawshank Redemptionis a gripping film from start to finish, which obviously makes any of its many plot twists even more effective....

Sometimes, it’s easy to forget the “science” part of science fiction. Many sci-fi shows do away with it almost entirely, focusing more on big, fantastical world-building that leans a lot more on the “fiction” part. There’s nothing wrong with that, but every now and then, sci-fi fans crave a TV series that portrays its scientific elements with some degree of accuracy. Thankfully, throughout the years, there have been many great sci-fi shows that don’t neglect the “sci” part....

Viewers can never seem to get enough non-stop thrills and weekly justice on TV. SinceColumbo, the TV market has seen profit and success the case-of-the-week law enforcement shows. It’s no wonder every network has its fair share of law enforcement procedural shows in constant rotation. Spins-offs of other spin-offs get green-lit and renewed quarterly. Its only been over the past 20 years that networks have upped their law enforcement game by diving deep into elite task forces....

Steve McQueenis the British director behind intense, visually stunning dramas likeHunger,Shame, and12 Years a Slave. This aesthetic reflects his career beginnings, as McQueen started as a visual artist in the 1990s, producing a series of experimental short films, before transitioning to feature directing in the late 2000s. Over the subsequent decade and a half, he has established himself as a master of striking imagery and nuanced drama, not afraid to take on the most challenging material....

It’s no secret thatBarack Obamais a big reader. It has become a tradition for the former president to publish an annual list of his favorite new books. He shared his most recentmid-year listin July and has recommended dozens of great reads over the years, including insightful non-fiction books likeThe Great ExperimentbyYascha MounkandPatrick Keefe’sSay Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland. RELATED:10 Wildly Underrated Romance Books With Less Than 5,000 Reviews on Goodreads...

The 80s was a decade that, if not producing the best films of any decade, certainly produced some of the most significant in terms of pop culture influence. Many years on and many of the franchises that were born in the neon-soaked decade are still going strong, with reboots and sequels, not to mentiondozens of TV series and movies that bear deep influences from those films. 1984 was no exception to the memorable excellence of the decade....

Cinema took a big hit with COVID, but the early 2020s still managed to serve up more than a few gems. 2021 was a particularly interesting year for the movies, delivering a diverse array of memorable films that ranged from the introspective to the spectacular.The year’s highlights run the gamut from a surreal medieval odyssey to a heart-wrenching Western and a multiversal superhero event. With this in mind, this list looks atthe strongest films from 2021....

Jokeris a movie that loves movies. DirectorTodd Phillips’ expectation-busting take on the iconic supervillain, on track to become the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, bursts at the seams with filmmaking style. Every camera angle, piece of production design, and font choice screams at the audience, “This is a movie!” – the perfect formal extension of Arthur Fleck’s (Joaquin Phoenix) primal need to be noticed, to be appreciated. While some MCU films feel invisibly directed, this self-contained DC title could not feel more idiosyncratic, more auteur-driven, more unique....