The phrase “upcoming Marvel movies” might have moviegoers automatically looking forward to this summer’s Deadpool & Wolverine, but that’s merely the earliest stop on the road ahead. With The Fantastic Four’s 2025 release date getting closer every day, it begs the question of if the Hall H presentation at this month's San Diego Comic-Con will involve Marvel Studios giving us our first look at the cast in costume.

That’s a possibility that star Paul Walter Hauser seems ready for, as the actor has been unintentionally prepping for his mysterious role since time on the set of Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman. Hauser explained his rationale during a recent interview with Variety, in which the Inside Out 2 performer went over some of the nuts and bolts you’d expect from preparing for the MCU. The explanation provided below makes a lot of sense in context:

As a part of the MCU’s Fantastic Four cast, Paul Walter Hauser already understands what makes the “first family of Marvel universe” tick. That’s the sort of preparation you want to hear from someone who’s been cast in any ensemble film, but especially someone who’s on a team with fellow notables like Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Pedro Pascal.

Much like his description of playing a racist in Spike Lee's 2019 Oscar winner for Best Screenplay, nuance is the name of the game, even if we don't know who exactly Hauser is playing in this brave new world. That's something that's worth mentioning as we circle back to the The Fantastic Four for a moment. As it turns out, that’s a subject matter that the Richard Jewell star apparently needed to do a little more digging into as well.

Touching upon the point of reading the very book he’s going to be helping bring to the silver screen again, Paul Walter Hauser had this update when it came to his progress:

On one hand, it’s pretty brilliant of Mr. Hauser to be sharing his knowledge in the comic realm and how his Marvel hiring has turned him onto a new series. But on the other hand, after recently seeing The Penguin series’ latest trailer, I now wonder if DC and its four-panel rival could strike a truce, if only to put Paul Walter Hauser into the Gotham City adventure of his dreams?

That doesn’t seem likely, at least for the moment, with The Fantastic Four on the calendar for a July 25, 2025 release date, and The Penguin premiering on HBO starting September 19th. However, if you want to prepare for the return of this cinematically dormant superteam, a Disney+ subscription is all you’ll need to watch the first two installments from the pre-Fox merger days.

One of the most iconic Black detectives in pop culture history is also one of Eddie Murphy’s funniest characters, Axel Foley, whom he's reprised in the 2024 Netflix movie, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. To celebrate Axel’s latest return to 90210, let’s take a look back at more of our favorite Black detectives from movies and TV shows, starting with the man of hour.

Axel Foley (Beverly Hills Cop)

The original Beverly Hills Cop from 1984 and its sequels are some of the funniest Eddie Murphy movies ever, particularly for Axel Foley’s blistering wit. Yet, he is also the right kind of detective you would want on your side for his commitment to getting the job done, even if he has to break a few rules along the way.

Virgil Tibbs (In The Heat Of The Night)

In 1967, trailblazing Academy Award winner Sidney Poitier gave one of his most inspiring performances in the Best Picture Oscar winner, In the Heat of the Night, as Virgil Tibbs, who falls prey to racial prejudice when he is wrongfully accused of a murder while visiting his mother in a small Mississippi town. However, the Philadelphia cop’s arrival proves to be a godsend, as Chief Bill Gillespie (Rod Steiger) would have never solved the crime without the expert investigation skills and resilience of the one they call “Mister Tibbs.”

John Luther (Luther)

The title character of the long-running British crime drama, Luther, could be called the Sherlock Holmes of his time, in the sense that his unusual methods of investigation and alienating personality traits often rub his colleagues the wrong way and even put him in legal trouble. Audiences, however, cannot get enough of the Detective Chief Inspector — who returned for Netflix’s feature-length spin-off, Luther: The Fallen Sun — his brilliant criminal perception and the charming Idris Elba’s captivating, Golden Globe-winning performance.

John Shaft (Shaft)

The crown jewel of Richard Roundtree’s best movies is Shaft — the story of a suave, streetwise detective from New York City. The Oscar-winning 1971 classic and its sequels made this bad mother— “shut yo mouth” — the undisputed king of the Blaxploitation era.

Mike Lowery And Marcus Burnett (Bad Boys)

As the title — borrowed from Inner Circle’s 1987 reggae hit — suggests, Mike Lowery (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) from director Michael Bay’s directorial debut, Bad Boys, are not ones to be messed with. What really makes the 1995 buddy cop movie favorite and its sequels such a fun time is the two detectives’ unbreakable bond, both on and off duty.

Faith Mitchell (Will Trent)

When GBI Special Agents Will Trent (Ramon Rodriguez) and Faith Mitchell (Iantha Richardson) were forced to work together, they could not stand each other, with Faith being especially ticked off by his uptight attitude and connection to her own mother’s stunted law enforcement career. However, the title hero of ABC’s fun detective drama came to respect and admire his partner — a single mother to a college student with a big heart, a strong intuition, and a powerful kick — just as she warmed to him for his keen eye for evidence.

Ricardo Tubbs (Miami Vice)

One of the most dynamic duos in the history of TV cop dramas is that of Ricardo “Rico” Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas) and James “Sonny” Crockett (Don Johnson) on one of the best mystery TV shows of the ‘80s, Miami Vice. Between the two, Tubbs was the one whom audiences would hope to identify with the most, being the more laid back undercover detective.

Alex Cross (Kiss The Girls)

As a forensic psychologist, Dr. Alex Cross knows how to get into the mind of the most disturbing criminals in Washington D.C., which often comes in handy during the many times the perpetrators make his cases a personal matter. Author James Patterson’s flagship character was first brought to life on screen by Morgan Freeman in 1997’s Kiss the Girls and again in Along Came a Spider four years later, before Tyler Perry took over the role in Alex Cross in 2012.

William Somerset (Se7en)

Two years before he became the (first) face of Alex Cross, Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman was cast in David Fincher’s breakthrough masterpiece, Se7en, as William Somerset — a veteran detective showing the younger David Mills (Brad Pitt) the ropes while working on what is meant to be his last case. However, despite how much the increasingly unsettling investigation tears him up inside, Somerset apparently decides to stay on the force by the end, based on his agreement with the second half of Ernest Hemingway’s belief that “the world is a fine place and worth fighting for.”

Misty Knight (Luke Cage)

One of the most influential comic book characters with a disability is Mercedes “Misty” Knight, who became equipped with a bionic right arm after losing it in an attempt to defuse a bomb. The brave, intuitive, hard-fighting New York detective was portrayed wonderfully on Luke Cage by Simone Missick.

Easy Rawlins (Devil In A Blue Dress)

One of the few and most esteemed Black characters in old-fashioned noir fiction is Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins — first introduced in Walter Mosley’s 1990 novel, Devil in a Blue Dress. In the book’s 1995 adaptation, Academy Award winner Denzel Washington portrayed the World War II veteran who falls into the world of private investigation when his street smart intellect gets him enlisted to find a politician’s missing lover.

Roger Murtaugh (Lethal Weapon)

We wish we had a nickel for every time Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) proclaimed he was “getting too old for this shit” in one of the all-time greatest action movies, 1987’s Lethal Weapon, and its sequels. However, despite his age and no matter how uproarious his cases with his loose-canon partner, Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson), would get, the L.A. cop continued to fight.

Neal Washington (Hill Street Blues)

One of the best cop dramas of its time, if not all time, is Hill Street Blues, which boasted a diverse cast of characters, including standout Neal Washington (Emmy nominee Taurean Blacque). Known for his trademark toothpick and cap, the undercover veteran officer was a stern individual, but with a track record that earned him much respect and admiration from his peers.

Cleopatra Jones (Cleopatra Jones)

While the aforementioned John Shaft was the King of Blaxploitation, its queen would have to be… well, Pam Grier, who never actually played a cop in any of her most iconic roles from the era. However, when it came to ass-kicking Black females in official law enforcement positions in the 1970s, no one was better and badder than the title character of Cleopatra Jones — an undercover government agent played by Tamara Dobson in the 1973 hit and its 1975 sequel, Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold.

Ron Stallworth (BlacKkKlansman)

In the early 1970s, Ron Stallworth became the first Black cadet at the Colorado Springs police department before going on to lead a secret operation to infiltrate the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. He later chronicled this previously classified operation in his memoir, which was adapted into director Spike Lee’s Oscar-winning film, BlacKkKlansman, in which Stallworth was portrayed by John David Washington.

These are only some of our favorite examples of Black detectives in pop culture. Follow the clues and seek more of them out!

They say that truth is stranger than fiction, and these crime dramas certainly prove that. Yes, some of the biggest, most acclaimed titles in the genre are actually fictionalized dramatizations of real-life crimes, from horrifyingly true serial killer sprees to shocking cases of financial fraud to deep dives into organized crime. Just as harrowing as the best true crime documentaries, these stories combine legality, morality and humanity, making for a truly chilling watch. Here is our list of 32 great films that are actually inspired by true events. 

The Irishman

The ninth collaboration between actor Robert De Niro and director Martin Scorsese, this critically acclaimed 2019 gangster epic chronicled the life of Frank Sheeran (De Niro), a truck driver turned alleged mafia hitman who became involved with the Bufalino crime family in the 1950s and later the powerful Teamster Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino). The Oscar-nominated drama — which also starred Joe Pesci, Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale, and Harvey Keitel — is based on the 2004 nonfiction book I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt. 

Spotlight

One of the greatest journalism movies of all time, this 2015 American drama follows The Boston Globe's "Spotlight" team, a real-life group of investigative journalists (played by Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, and Brian d'Arcy James) who uncovered the massive scandal of child assault within the local Catholic Archdiocese. Though some creative liberties were taken in telling the story (ex: some events were depicted happening before they actually did in real life), the 2016 Best Picture winner was based on news articles published by the IRL Spotlight team.

Casino

Set in the 1970s and early '80s when Las Vegas was run by the mob, this Scorsese classic was adapted from Nicholas Pileggi nonfiction book Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas. Like the book, the film follows Sam "Ace" Rothstein (Robert De Niro), a low-level mobster tasked by his bosses to oversee operations at the Tangiers Casino. His job is made harder by the company he keeps, including mafia enforcer Nicky Santora (Joe Pesci) and con artist showgirl Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone). 

Zodiac

Not only is Zodiac one of the best movies of the 2000s, but it's arguably one of the best cinematic thrillers of all time. And to make things even more scary, the 2007 David Fincher film is based on a true story. Yes, the Zodiac Killer was a real-life serial murderer who terrorized the Bay Area during the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the case continues to be one of the country's most infamous unsolved crimes. Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr. star in the tense mystery.

JFK

This 1991 political epic directed by Oliver Stone examines the investigation into the assassination of John F. Kennedy by New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison (played by Kevin Costner). While the president's murder was a very real and very tragic moment in American history, the film controversially delves into conspiracies surrounding JFK's death, including that Lee Harvey Oswald was a scapegoat and the shooting was part of a coup d'état to get Lyndon B. Johnson into office.

Monster

Charlize Theron won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her transformative portrayal of Aileen Wuornos, a longtime Daytona Beach call girl who became a serial killer and murdered seven of her male clients between 1989 and 1990. The directorial debut of Patty Jenkins, the 2003 biographical drama accurately portrayed Wournos's troubled childhood and her later crimes but fictionalized certain elements of Aileen's life, including her relationship with lover Selby Wall (played by Christina Ricci).

Dog Day Afternoon

“Nobody would ever do what I did,” declared John Wojtowicz in the documentary The Dog. “That’s why they made a movie about it.” The movie he's talking about is, of course, the 1975 Sidney Lumet classic Dog Day Afternoon, which stars Al Pacino as Sonny Wortzik — a man based on Wojtowicz himself — a first-time crook who leads a robbery at a Brooklyn bank, only for it to turn into a hostage situation. 

The Big Short

This white-collar crime drama from Adam McKay takes viewers straight inside the corruption and greed of the 2008 U.S. financial crisis. Based on Michael Lewis's book of the same name, the film is built around an ensemble of characters — Wall Street guru Michael Burry (Christian Bale), hedge-fund specialist Mark Baum (Steve Carell), banker Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling) — who saw the collapse of the housing market coming before anyone else did and decided to take cruel advantage of it.

Goodfellas

One of the most iconic movie characters of the '90s, Henry Hill (played by a perfect Ray Liotta) was enamored with mob life ever since he was an Italian-American kid in Brooklyn. We doubt, though, that he expected his life of crime to go quite the way it did, with addictions, prison sentences, and informing against those closest to him (Robert De Niro's Jimmy Conway, Paul Sorvino's Paul Cicero). Even more surprising, the riches-to-rags story is true: Hill was a real mobster and Goodfellas was adapted from the nonfiction book Wiseguy by crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi. 

Memories of Murder

An absolutely stunning mystery from director Bong Joon-ho, the 2003 neo-noir Memories of Murder is centered on a series of murders and rapes plaguing a village in rural South Korea in the 1980s, with a veteran local detective (Song Kang-ho) and a younger detective (Kim Sang-Kyung) working together to crack the case. The story was loosely based on the real-life Hwaseong serial murders, South Korea's first confirmed serial murders, which have remained unsolved for nearly forty years. 

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

In this 2018 biopic on author-turned-forger Lee Israel — featuring a spectacular lead performance from Melissa McCarthy, who took over the role after Julianne Moore was fired — director Marielle Heller delves into the real-life desperation of Israel after she loses her job and is unable to get any writing published. Though she first takes to selling memorabilia and books in order to make ends meet, the scribe realizes that forging celebrity letters (Fanny Brice, Noël Coward, Dorothy Parker) is not only a lucrative business but also a viable artistic outlet for her own creativity. 

Bonnie And Clyde

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were American bandits and serial killers whose crime spree during the Great Depression escalated from robbing lowly stores, gas stations and even rural funeral homes to major banks. In this 1967 classic by Arthur Penn, Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty portray the title characters, whose misdeeds get even more violent and messy — especially with fellow gang members like Clyde's older brother Buck (Gene Hackman) and his wife Blanche (Estelle Parsons) — as time goes on. 

The Wolf Of Wall Street

The accuracy of Martin Scorsese's 2003 crime comedy has come into question in the decade since the film came out — it's based on the memoir of former stockbroker and financial criminal Jordan Belfort (portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio), who weaves a tale of debauchery and fraud at a Wall Street brokerage firm in 1990s New York City. Though Belfort himself took issue with the movie's oversimplification of his own money crimes, he acknowledged that Scorsese and Co. accurately captured the "overall feeling" of those years. 

Judas And The Black Messiah

With this powerful 2021 crime drama, director Shaka King and screenwriters Keith and Kenny Lucas wanted to change how the Black Panther Party is perceived. After Bill O'Neal (LaKeith Stanfield) is offered a plea deal by the FBI, he infiltrates the Illinois chapter of the organization to gather intelligence on Chairman Fred Hampton (an Oscar-winning turn by Daniel Kaluuya). "It was quite essential to make sure that we presented the Panthers in a more realistic way and not the character that they’ve become, you know, the militant Black guys in black berets carrying guns," Keith Lucas told CinemaBlend. 

Summer Of Sam

Director Spike Lee is famous for accurately capturing moments of New York City culture and history, and he definitely does that with this 1999 crime thriller, which is focused on the 1977 serial murders by David Berkowitz, a.k.a. the Son of Sam, and how the horrific crimes affected a group of fictional residents in an Italian-American neighborhood in the Bronx. The cast includes John Leguizamo, Adrien Brody, Mira Sorvino, Jennifer Esposito and Michael Badalucco, playing Berkowitz himself. 

She Said

A very recent piece of American crime history, this thorough and riveting #MeToo drama trails The New York Times journalists Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor (portrayed by Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan, respectively) as they work to expose the sexual abuse allegations against powerful Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Adding a devastating extra layer of realism, the film also features some of Weinstein's real-life victims, including actress Ashley Judd, who appears as herself.

In Cold Blood

Truman Capote’s formative nonfiction novel In Cold Blood — which details the 1959 murders of four members of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas — has been adapted multiple times for screens big and small. However, the first was this 1967 film directed by Richard Brooks, which stars Robert Blake and Scott Wilson as the infamous criminals. The "quasidocumentary" vibes were boosted by the fact that Brooks filmed where the crimes occurred, including the real Clutter home.  

Catch Me If You Can

A story like Frank Abagnale Jr.'s is so wild, it can only be true: in this 2002 Steven Spielberg-directed jaunt based on Abagnale Jr.'s semi-autobiographical book of the same name, Leonardo DiCaprio — giving one of his best performances — plays the crafty teenager who performed several million dollars worth of cons, impersonating a Pan Am pilot, a Georgia doctor and a Louisiana parish prosecutor along the way. Joining DiCaprio in the Catch Me If You Can cast is Tom Hanks as Carl Hanratty, the FBI agent tailing Frank Jr., and Christopher Walken as Frank Abagnale Sr.

Lost Girls

Amy Ryan leads this heartbreaking 2020 Netflix drama as Mari Gilbert, a desperate mother who, in searching for her missing daughter Shannan (Sarah Wisser), launches an investigation that leads police to the unsolved murders of young sex workers on the South Shore barrier islands of Long Island, spanning from the early '90s to the 2010s. The case of the Gilgo Beach serial killer made headlines in 2023 when a suspect was charged with the murders of six of the women. 

Till

After the brutal, racially charged murder of her 14-year-old son Emmett Till in August 1955, Mamie Till-Bradley dedicated her life to the relentless pursuit of justice for her son's death, famously insisting on an open casket funeral for her son to reveal what had been done to him. This 2022 biographical drama is a worthy memorial to the young man, with Danielle Deadwyler starring as Till's mother, who became an icon of the American Civil Rights Movement for her work in education and racial justice. 

Hustlers

In a role that many believed would nab Jennifer Lopez an Oscar nomination, the triple threat portrayed veteran stripper Ramona Vega in the Lorene Scafaria-directed dramedy Hustlers. Vega leads a group of New York City pole dancers who begin to steal money by drugging stock traders and CEOs who visit their club, and then run up their credit cards. Though the heist is inspired by true events, there were big differences between the movie and the real story, so much so that Samantha Barbash — the danger who inspired Lopez's character — sued producers for $40 million. (That defamation suit was dismissed.) 

The Trial Of The Chicago 7

A courtroom masterpiece from Aaron Sorkin, this 2020 legal drama is based on the infamous 1969 trial of a group of anti–Vietnam War protesters — played by an A+ ensemble cast that includes Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Jeremy Strong, and John Carroll Lynch — who were charged by the federal government with conspiracy and more, arising from the countercultural protests in Chicago at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. 

Richard Jewell

Just one of many Clint Eastwood movies based on a true story, this 2019 bio-drama depicts the 1996 Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, Georgia, and its aftermath, told from the perspective of the security guard, Richard Jewell (played by Paul Hauser), who first discovered the explosive device. Though initially hailed a hero for alerting authorities and saving the lives of countless spectators, Jewell was later wrongly suspected by the FBI of having planted the device himself, an investigation that was even bigger than the movie showed.  

House Of Gucci

Based on Sara Gay Forden's 2001 book The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed, this 2021 Ridley Scott flick certainly offers all of that, with Lady Gaga scoring a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal of Patrizia Reggiani, the Italian socialite who was convicted in a highly publicized trial of hiring a hitman to kill her ex-husband, Maurizio Gucci. And, yes, we're talking about that Gucci, which means that the onscreen fashions are as unforgettable as the story itself.

Psycho

Yes, the Hitchcock horror classic — which gave cinema the most iconic shower scene of all time —is actually inspired by a true story. Adapted from Robert Bloch's 1959 novel of the same name, the story of shy motel caretaker Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) and his domineering mother was loosely based on the case of convicted Wisconsin murderer and grave robber Ed Gein who, like Bates, was a solitary murderer living in rural isolation, was raised by an overbearing mother, and dressed in women's clothes to impersonate their deceased parent. 

Natural Born Killers

This romantic crime film — directed by Oliver Stone, with a story by Quentin Tarantino and a cast led by Juliette Lewis and Woody Harrelson in one of his best roles — sparked a bit of irony when it was released in 1994. Natural Born Killers was loosely based on the true crimes of Caril Ann Fugate and Charles Starkweather, a young Nebraska couple who went on a killing spree throughout the Midwest in 1958. 

Heavenly Creatures

Starring Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet in, astonishingly, their feature film debuts, this critically acclaimed 1994 drama from Peter Jackson is based on the notorious Parker–Hulme murder case. It tells the true story of Pauline Rieper (Lynskey) and Juliet Hulme (Winslet), two outcast girls growing up in 1950s New Zealand, whose intense relationship culminates in the premeditated killing of Parker's mother. 

Foxcatcher

Steve Carell chillingly transformed himself to play John du Pont, the multi-millionaire heir turned murderer at the center of Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher. A wrestling enthusiast, Du Pont recruits two Olympic gold medalists Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) and his older brother David (Mark Ruffalo) to coach wrestlers to the top of those podiums. One of those brothers would end up the victim of Du Pont's gun, making John to this day the only member of the Forbes 400 richest Americans to be convicted of murder.

BlacKkKlansman

Loosely based on the 2014 memoir Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth, the '70s-set Spike Lee drama follows the first Black detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department as he sets out to infiltrate and expose the local Ku Klux Klan chapter. With John David Washington as Stallworth (the actor even got to meet the real man during filming), the cast also includes Topher Grace as KKK grand wizard David Duke, Corey Hawkins as civil rights leader Kwame Ture and Adam Driver as Stallworth's fictional partner, Detective Flip Zimmerman.

Molly's Game

Molly Bloom's 2014 memoir — in which she recounts the true story of how she went from being a U.S. competitive skier to running an illegal, underground poker empire for Hollywood celebrities, business tycoons, and even the Russian mob — was adapted by Aaron Sorkin for his directorial debut, with Jessica Chastain portraying Bloom. Though Sorkin was reportedly reticent to call the film a "poker movie," the drama does up the realism by featuring many scenes of actual gambling from the film's extras, who were all professional poker players.

Party Monster

Set in the Club Kids party scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s in New York City, Party Monster tells the shocking story of Michael Alig (played by Macaulay Culkin), the infamous party promoter who was convicted of felony manslaughter after killing his fellow clubgoer Andre "Angel" Melendez in a confrontation over a drug debt. The film is based on Disco Bloodbath, the memoir of Alig's former friend James St. James, portrayed in the film by Seth Green. 

Serpico

Garnering Al Pacino's first Best Actor Oscar nomination, Serpico sees the iconic actor as the titular character, Frank Serpico, an idealistic New York City detective who struggles with the corruption found within the New York City Police Department. As in real life, Serpico's work as a whistleblower against the police force led to a governmental investigation by the Knapp Commission and later earned the officer the NYPD Medal of Honor. 

With a part in the Fantastic Four cast, the starring role in the new Chris Farley biopic, and so many other things on the way, Paul Walter Hauser is about to be everywhere. But, before one of the most interesting and talented actors on the planet kicks off the next stage of his career, which will hopefully include more wrestling appearances, we thought it would be fun to look back at some of his best film and TV appearances from over the years.

From some of the best Spike Lee movies to a couple of great Apple TV+ original series, and so much more, there was a lot to choose from, but we think we covered all the bases in terms of comedy, drama, and some downright terrifying characters. Here are the best Paul Walter Hauser movies and TV shows and how to watch them. 

Black Bird (2022) 

Paul Walter Hauser won a Golden Globe and Primetime Emmy for his take on convicted serial killer Larry Hall in the 2022 Apple TV+ limited series, Black Bird, a show so good and twisted even Stephen King was a fan. At times terrifying and others sympathetic, Hauser’s performance brings so much out of the story about Jimmy Keane (Taron Egerton) a convicted drug dealer sent to prison in hopes of getting Hall to confess to committing some heinous crimes. But, it proves to be much more complicated than that.

Stream Black Bird on Apple TV+.

I, Tonya (2017)

Though Hauser had been around a while by the time he appeared in Craig Gillespie’s I, Tonya, his portrayal of Shawn Eckardt helped take the actor to the next level. Tonya Harding’s (Margot Robbie) bodyguard and one of the ringleaders of the plot to take out Nancy Kerrigan (Caitlin Carver), Eckardt is both a menacing figure and an overconfident and bumbling fool, a dynamic that is pulled off masterfully by Hauser’s command and versatility.

Stream I, Tonya on Max.
Rent/Buy I, Tonya on Amazon.

Richard Jewell (2019)

If Shawn Eckardt was one of Paul Walter Hauser’s most detestable characters, his titular performance in Richard Jewell has to be one of his most sympathetic. This 2019 Clint Eastwood biopic centers on the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, Georgia, and how Richard Jewell (a hero who saved countless lives) was treated like a criminal by the FBI and media outlets around the world. One of the best 2019 Oscar snubs, this movie is made all the better thanks to Hauser’s touching and empowering performance. 

Rent/Buy Richard Jewell on Amazon.

Cobra Kai (2019 - Present)

Throughout the middle portion of Cobra Kai’s run, Paul Walter Hauser took on the role of Raymond "Stingray" Porter, one of the most complicated characters on the Netflix original series. From his days of trying to join Cobra Kai as an escape and doing everything he can to win to help save the day during the Cobra Kai Season 5 finale, Stingray was part of some major moments. 

Stream Cobra Kai on Netflix. 

BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman features electric performances from the likes of John David Washington, Adam Driver, and Topher Grace, but one that shouldn’t be overlooked is Paul Walter Hauser’s portrayal of Ivanhoe. A caricature of a stereotypical KKK member more than an honest character, Ivanhoe is an over-the-top, unapologetic, moronic, and dangerous racist who is at the center of some of the movie’s most memorable scenes, including his last.

Stream BlacKkKlansman on Prime Video.

Orion And The Dark (2024)

Before showing off his skills in Inside Out 2, Hauser lent his voice to one of the titular characters in the 2024 Netflix animated movie, Orion and the Dark. The incredibly moving film follows a young boy named Orion (Jacob Tremblay) as he's taken on an eye-opening and life-changing journey through the night with Hauser’s Dark, the embodiment of the 11-year-old’s fears. Great voice acting, animation, and lessons make this a family-friendly movie you won’t want to miss.

Stream Orion and the Dark on Netflix.

Kingdom (2014 - 2017)

A couple of years before he became one of the most interesting big-screen actors, Paul Walter Hauser landed a recurring role on Kingdom, an Audience Network drama series about a Venice, California, MMA gym and the people caught in its gravitational pull. Hauser took on the role of Keith, a former convict trying to change his life for the better while also overcoming his past. Though not the star of the show, the actor made a name for himself here.

Stream Kingdom on Peacock.
Buy Kingdom on Amazon.

Da 5 Bloods (2020)

Hauser worked with Spike Lee again in the director’s 2020 drama, which is one of the best Vietnam war movies, Da 5 Bloods. He comes into the picture kind of late in the game as Simon, a LAMB volunteer clearing old landmines in the jungle when he meets the core group looking for their long-lost treasure. The role again allowed Hauser to show his on-screen talent and rub shoulders like the likes of Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, and Jean Reno.

Stream Da 5 Bloods on Netflix.

Cruella (2021)

If you want to see a Paul Walter Hauser performance that blurs the line between good guy and villain, look no further than his take on Horace in Cruella. The lifelong friend and accomplice of Emma Stone’s Estella/Cruella, Horace is a fun and lovable petty thief, who, despite being rather unsavory, has a heart of gold with shades of Bob Hoskin’s Smee from Hook.

Stream Cruella on Disney+.
Rent/Buy Cruella on Amazon.

The Afterparty (2023)

When The Afterparty came back for a second season, and a completely new story, fans of Hauser’s work were stoked to see his involvement in the hilarious Apple TV+ murder mystery comedy. He plays Travis Gladrise, a “citizen detective” and ex-boyfriend of the season’s prime suspect, and it’s just great. Hauser, who excels in these types of roles, is especially on point throughout this mystery.

Stream The Afterparty on Apple TV+.

Beats (2019)

Netflix’s 2019 coming-of-age music drama, Beats, follows Romelo Reese (Anthony Anderson), a struggling producer who takes a high school student and hop-hop prodigy under his wing in hopes of turning both of their fortunes around. Paul Walter Hauser comes into the picture as Terrence, a label owner who shares a rocky past with Romelo. Hauser does a masterful job of wearing pain, resentment, and animosity, and makes the character feel like a real person.

Stream Beats on Netflix.

Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm (2022)

The actor also appeared in Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm, a 2022 movie based on the OG Adult Swim series. In this wild home video release, he takes on the role of Elmer, a scientist working under Neil (Peter Serafinowicz), the main antagonist. In typical Aqua Teen Hunger Force fashion, this movie is wild and full of strange humor, which works really well for someone like Hauser. 

Stream Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm on Max.
Rent/Buy Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm on Amazon.

With Paul Walter Hauser set to appear in several of the biggest films on the 2024 movie schedule, there’s a good chance we’ll be making some changes to this run-down of his best movies and TV shows in no time at all. 

Blaxploitation is back, baby! But honestly, did it ever really go away? Well, maybe not, but there was an absolute explosion of blaxploitation films back in the 1970s. Some notable movies in that time period would be flicks like Super Fly (Not to be confused with the one in the animated feature Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem), Trouble Man, and the one that may have started it all, Melvin Van Peebles’ own Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song.    

But, here’s the thing. While blaxploitation may not have gone away completely, there seems to be a resurgence of it over the past few years or so. So much so that it got us thinking about some of the awesome more modern flicks that may have callbacks to blaxploitation movies of the ‘70s. Now, some of these movies are more modern than others, but all of them feel like they may have gotten some inspiration or other from the blaxploitation movies of the ‘70s.  

Oh, and R.I.P. to Richard Roundtree. He was one bad mother–shut yah mouth! I’m just talking about Richard Roundtree! (Then we can dig it!)    

They Cloned Tyrone - Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde 

Directed by Juel Taylor, They Cloned Tyrone, which CinemaBlend’s own Nick Venable called “clever” in his positive review, is a blast and a half. Labeled as a sci-fi comedy mystery and starring John Boyega, Teyonah Parris, and Jamie Foxx, They Cloned Tyrone is about getting to the truth of a government conspiracy involving cloning, but it also sprinkles in some hefty blaxploitation elements for good measure. 

And, being a forward-thinking blaxploitation film, it plays with tropes and archetypes, like the drug dealer, the pimp, and the prostitute, in ways that feel totally unique. Don’t partake in the fried chicken and grape drink!   

While watching the film, it made me think about the 1976 horror movie, Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde. Directed by William Crain, and starring Bernie Casey and Rosalind Cash (who is also in one of the better I Am Legend adaptations, The Omega Man), Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde reminds me a lot of They Cloned Tyrone through its sci-fi premise, and its campy tone. In this movie, a scientist (Casey) is trying to heal a colleague, but it backfires and it turns him into a white monster who goes on a killing spree.    

What gives me the They Cloned Tyrone-vibes is that the killing spree takes place in the neighborhood where he kills the pimps and prostitutes who roam the streets. It’s an interesting take on a familiar story, and one that I find fascinating when compared to a modern flick like They Cloned Tyrone, which sees racism in a somewhat cheekier tone.  

Jackie Brown - Coffy  

Honestly, could I have written a list about modern blaxploitation movies without including Quentin Tarantino? In one of Tarantino’s best movies, Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, and a whole slew of others (like Breaking Bad star, Robert Forster!) star in this crime film based on an Elmore Leonard novel. 

The story concerns a flight attendant (Grier) who gets picked up by the cops for smuggling in money for her boss (Jackson). The cops are looking to take down her boss, and want to use her as bait, but Jackie’s all like, nuh-huh. How about I take this money instead for myself?    

Obviously, Jackie Brown is a homage to movies like Foxy Brown, and Coffy, which also starred Pam Grier, and in a lot of ways, Pam Grier in Jackie Brown feels like an all-grown up version of Coffy or Foxy. I liken Coffy as the closer film to Jackie Brown though, as the rage Grier's character feels in that movie simmers more than it does in Foxy Brown. 

Eventually, it all boils over and Pam Grier’s character decides that she’s done playing nice, just like she does in Jackie Brown. In that way, Jackie Brown feels like a blaxploitation film in the ‘90s. I love it.  

Django Unchained - Shaft 

Okay, so while Django Unchained isn’t exactly a blaxploitation film (It’s more of a revisionist western), I do feel there are blaxploitation elements in it that make it stand out as such. The film is about a slave (played by Jamie Foxx) who bands with a bounty hunter (played by the Academy Award-winning, Christoph Waltz), to bag some outlaws, and then work together to rescue Django’s wife (played by Kerry Washington). 

Now, for me, Django’s character has John Shaft written all over him. John Shaft was the kind of man who wouldn’t take crap from nobody, and would shoot you if you deserved it. The action is much bloodier in Django, but I’m not alone in seeing the Shaft connection, as Tarantino himself considers Django Unchained to be a prequel to Shaft. So, uh, yeah. That’s worth mentioning.    

Barbershop - Car Wash 

Barbershop is another one of those “not-really-a-blaxploitation-film” sort of movies like Django, but I definitely feel elements of the subgenre coursing throughout its veins. Starring Ice Cube, Eve, and many others, Barbershop is basically about the daily lives of barbers, and the clients who come into their shop. 

Given that barbershops are often a cornerstone in urban neighborhoods, we get various conversations that feel more like actual interactions rather than dialogue. 

And, argue with me all you want, but even though Car Wash is not “technically” a blaxploitation film, I definitely feel it is blaxploitation-adjacent in that it featured a predominantly Black cast, racial issues of the day, and also a banging soundtrack to help drive its narrative. 

The realistic repartee also makes me think of Barbershop. In fact, it’s films like Barbershop and Car Wash that always make me feel like the blaxploitation subgenre was so much more than just jive talking and karate chops.  

Black Dynamite - Dolemite  

Speaking of jive talking and karate chops, I of course have to mention a film that was parodying (lovingly, of course) those very same elements in the wonderful Black Dynamite. Starring Michael Jai White (who despite what both him – and you, apparently – think, was awesome in Spawn), the film centers around a martial arts master (White) seeking revenge against “The Man” after they kill his brother. It’s ridiculous, and it’s hilarious.   

Kind of like the movie Dolemite, which was a clear inspiration for Black Dynamite. If you want to learn more about Rudy Ray Moore who was the real Dolemite, then do yourself a favor and watch Netflix’s excellent Dolemite Is My Name. You’ll see the parallels between Dolemite and Black Dynamite really quickly.    

BlacKkKlansman - Brotherhood Of Death 

Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman is an interesting case in that it’s not a blaxploitation film, but one could argue (and others have) that it calls back to the vibe and feeling of blaxploitation movies to make points about our present. The film is about a Black detective who works with a fellow (and white) officer to expose the KKK for who they truly are underneath their hoods.   

I’m going to hit you with an obscure one when I connect BlacKkKlansman to the oft-forgotten movie Brotherhood of Death, which is about three Black men who return from Vietnam only to have to come up against the KKK. 

The blaxploitation vibes I felt in BlacKkKlansman went deeper than just the afro and music, as it also flowed into the way the KKK members were portrayed, which was as goofballs with their thumbs up their asses. You get a lot of that in Brotherhood of Death as well. But with more traps and firepower, because why the hell not? Stick it to the Klan!  

Da Sweet Blood Of Jesus - Ganja & Hess 

Speaking of Spike Lee, his 2014 movie, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, is actually based off of a blaxploitation film called Ganja & Hess. Both movies are about vampires, of sorts, but Spike Lee being Spike Lee adds a great deal of subtext about desire and lust, in all their many forms. 

The original movie has a similar plot, but a really dreamy, atmospheric tone. It was directed by Bill Gunn, and is definitely a horror movie, but not in the same vein as something like, say, Blacula. 

There may be Blaxploitation scholars out there who would not specifically categorize Ganja & Hess as blaxploitation at all, but I feel like it builds off of those elements to create something wholly unique, just as Spike Lee did with Da Sweet Blood of Jesus. One might say the blood of blaxploitation is in both of their DNA. 

Candyman - Blacula  

Last but not least, I wanted to close on the supernatural gothic horror film Candyman, which is far removed from being a blaxploitation movie. 

And yet… I still can’t help but draw comparisons to Blacula, which starred the original tortured soul, Prince Mamuwalde. Blacula’s origin comes when Dracula refuses to help end the slave trade, and turns his back on him, which just leads me back to the idea that blaxploitation, while fun in many ways, also always had something to say in regards to oppression and the Black community. At least the everlasting blaxploitation films anyway. 

In many ways, we would likely not have a Candyman if not for “Dracula’s soul brother,” which just leads me to surmise that blaxploitation is alive and well and still weaves its way into the very fabric of Black cinema, even today.

But, what are your thoughts? Have you seen all of these films? For more news on all things cinema, be sure to swing around here often. 

When it comes to modern moviemakers, one who's talked about a lot is Jordan Peele. While there have been some amazing directors who are legendary for so many reasons, such as Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese, Jordan Peele is slowly working his way up there as one of the best directors in Hollywood right now.

However, Peele has done plenty more than just directing. From acting to writing to producing, it seems Jordan Peele has done it all. With several films and TV shows under his belt, both old and new, I dedicated this list to him to talk about where you can stream some of the best Jordan Peele movies and TV shows, from his sketch show, Key and Peele, to his horror flicks, like Get Out.

Mad TV (2003 – 2008)

If you wanted to see the beginnings of Jordan Peel’s sketch comedy career, look no further than Mad TV. This late-night sketch comedy series, which ran for several seasons until 2016, was based on the humor of Mad Magazine, featuring fake commercials, mock movie trailers, impersonations and so much more.

From 2003-2008, Jordan Peele was a part of the cast of Mad TV, where we got to see the origins of his comedic skills, despite leaving the show on bad terms. Mad TV always competed against Saturday Night Live, but the cast and audience were more diverse than the older series. Plus, Jordan Peele in Mad TV is a sight to behold, and it’s always fun to think of how far he’s come. 

Rent/Buy Mad TV on Amazon.

Key and Peele (2012 – 2015)

I can’t have a Jordan Peele list without mentioning this great show. Key and Peele was a sketch comedy series that was created by Jordan Peele and actor Keegan-Michael Key. For years, they created some hysterical sketches and became household names for their comedy.

Key and Peele is iconic for a reason. Their sketches are absolutely hilarious and Key and Peele’s chemistry worked so well. It’s no wonder the show was so successful during its run. I hope one day Keegan-Michael Key appears in one of Peele’s new horror films – I’d love to see these two collaborate again.

Stream Key and Peele on Hulu.
Rent Key and Peele on Amazon.

Toy Story 4 (2019)

You just have to love those Pixar films, and Toy Story 4 is a great addition to them. In Toy Story 4, we see the continuation of Andy’s beloved toys, now in Bonnie’s possession, as they're taken on a crazy road trip that results in them meeting old faces, exploring new places, and more.

Jordan Peele plays Bunny in this film, a stuffed bunny at a carnival, and guess what? Keegan-Michael Key reunites with him to play Ducky, a stuffed duckling, at the carnival as well. Not only are their characters hilarious, but you get that same funny energy from the two of them that only Key and Peele could bring. All of the Toy Story films are great, but I especially love the fourth. And now with Toy Story 5 confirmed, we just might see these two again.

Stream Toy Story 4 on Disney+.
Rent Toy Story 4 on Amazon.

Get Out (2017) (Director, Writer, Producer)

The first feature film that Jordan Peele ever directed was Get Out, and boy did he deliver. Get Out follows the story of Chris and Rose, a young couple who go to meet her parents for the first time. But, when Chris arrives at her family’s cabin, strange things start to happen that make him want to get out.

The film was nominated for several awards for a reason, including a win for Peele at the Academy Awards for Best Screenwriting. The story is full of interesting plot twists, amazing acting, and some really cool deeper subjects that you don’t always get in a scary film. Get Out is a great horror flick with so many cool behind-the-scenes facts, and deserves all the praise that it’s gotten, and Peele, who directed, wrote, and produced the film, did a fantastic job. If you haven’t seen Get Out, do yourself a favor and watch it now. It’s honestly one of the best Blumhouse horror films, and something that everyone needs to see.

Stream Get Out on Amazon Prime.
Rent/Buy Get Out on Amazon.

Us (2019) (Director, Writer, Producer)

The second film that Jordan Peele has directed thus far is Us, starring Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke. In Us, the Wilson family decides to go away for a nice vacation at a family cabin. Soon, their break away is interrupted when doppelganger versions of themselves appear and try to murder them.

Peele hit it out of the park again with Us, creating an amazingly brilliant horror film with a great story and amazing themes. Lupita Nyong’o was spectacular as Adelaide Wilson, starring as two different versions of herself, and the rest of the Us cast rocked it as well. It’s certainly one of the best free movies to watch right now.

Stream Us on Tubi.
Rent/Buy Us on Amazon.

BlacKkKlansman (2018) (Producer)

Jordan Peele didn’t direct or write this film, but he did produce BlacKkKlansman. In this Spike Lee-directed film, we follow the true story of the first African-American detective in the Colorado Springs police department, who sets out to infiltrate and expose the local Ku Klux Klan chapter.

The cast of BlackKkKlansman is to die for, with actors like Adam Driver, John David Washington, and more leading the charge with their amazing talents. The story itself is very interesting, with plenty of twists and turns, so much so you sometimes forget this is based on a true story.

Rent/Buy BlacKkKlansman on Amazon.

Keanu (2016) (Writer and Producer)

Keanu is a brilliant example of what happens when Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key come together to write and produce. In Keanu, we follow the tale of two cousins who infiltrate a street gang in order to retrieve their stolen kitten, Keanu.

It’s as silly as you would expect it to be. Buddy action films are always fun, but when it’s these two, I feel like the fun levels go up extremely. You get to see them work together again and show off their great comedic timing, while also enjoying a hysterical film. Plus, you get to see a little kitten throughout Keanu. It’s a win-win situation.

Rent/Buy Keanu on Amazon.

Candyman (2021) (Writer And Producer) 

2021’s Candyman was a great addition to Jordan Peele’s resume. A sequel to the 1992 film of the same name, this movie instead follows a painter who wishes to find out the secrets of the legendary “Candyman,” but in doing so, he ends up finding way more than he ever asked for and it costs him more than he ever thought it would. 

Personally, I actually really liked this sequel way more than the original, and I have a feeling it's because Jordan Peele both wrote the story and produced the film. You can tell how much love was put into it in an effort to make a truly satisfying sequel, and the story is just fantastic. Also, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is truly astounding in the lead role. I could watch him in horror movies over and over again. 

Stream Candyman on FreeVee (via Amazon).
Rent Candyman on Amazon.

Nope (2022) (Director, Writer, Producer)

Nope (2022) (Director, Writer, Producer)

Nope debuted in 2022 to stellar reviews from critics. In this film, a brother and sister start to notice strange happenings in their small town, and decide to take it upon themselves to figure out what’s going on – with the help of some friends. 

With a stellar Nope cast featuring Keke Palmer, Daniel Kaluuya, Steven Yeun and more, Nope was a fantastic addition to Peele’s horror resume. Could we possibly get a Nope sequel? Only time will tell. 

Stream Nope on Peacock.
Buy/Rent Nope on Amazon.

Honk For Jesus, Save Your Soul (2022) (Executive Producer)

Peele didn’t direct or write this film, but he did bring his producing skills to the comedy, Honk For Jesus, Save Your Soul. In the movie, starring Regina Hall and This Is Us cast member Sterling K. Brown, we follow a pastor and his wife as they try to rebuild their church following a scandal that rocks their world. 

The film itself is full of funny moments and you just can’t help but admire the chemistry between Hall and Brown. But from the moment you watch the film, you can tell that Peele had some influence, as the comedy style is very much like his. 

Stream Honk For Jesus, Save Your Soul on Starz.
Rent/Buy Honk For Jesus, Save Your Soul on Amazon.

Wendell & Wild (2022) (Writer, Producer) 

We have the latest stop motion film to grace our television screens, Wendell & Wild. Directed by Henry Selick but co-written with Peele, this film tells the story of two demon brothers who are trying to get to the Land of the Living. And, in order to do so, they enlist the help of a thirteen-year-old-girl. 

I’ll give you two reasons to watch this film. First, it’s coming from the same man who directed Coraline, one of the best stop motion films ever. Secondly, it’s co-written by Peele, as mentioned before, but the biggest reason is that Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele are co-starring in it! It’s the return of Key & Peele! It really is one of the best stop-motion films in a long time, and one of the best animated films of 2022, as well as the brilliant Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio.

Stream Wendell & Wild on Netflix.

Monkey Man (2024) (Producer) (Coming Soon)

While Peele is still working on his fourth film as director, he has stepped into the producer's chair once again to produce Monkey Man, directed by Dev Patel. The new film follows a young man working at an underground fight club who decides to get revenge on a group of leaders – the same people who caused his mother’s death. 

Monkey Man so far has received tons of praise, with Dev Patel receiving a standing ovation at 2024’s SXSW, so it’s clear Peele’s magic has struck true again with his involvement in this movie as producer. Peele even spoke highly of the director at SXSW, saying that Patel put his “soul, energy, mind” and body into making the film:

“No one has put their soul, energy, mind, body into a film than this man. And he has done it for us to enjoy this film.”

It’s coming to theaters soon as part of the 2024 movie schedule, so be sure to check it out once it releases on April 5, 2024. 

These last few years have been crazy for Peele, so I'm eager to see what he is going to do next. His next film is confirmed with no set release date, but Peele has opened up about it and says that it could be his “favorite movie if done right.” 

We’ll be keeping an eye out for any news on his next big film. You can bet that as he releases more stuff, I am going to recommend you watch it all. He just doesn’t miss. 

Some film production companies are so distinctly defined by their repertoire’s style and prestige that you do not even need to see the opening logos to identify their involvement. It can also go the opposite way - whereas by knowing who distributed it, you can quickly gain a pretty clear idea of what sort of movie you are in for. I do not believe that Focus Features is this kind of studio, because its filmography is so richly unique and versatile that you are never quite sure what you are in for and, with that mystery, often comes grand reward.

Two decades have passed since the film production and distribution company - a subsidiary of NBCUniversal - was founded by David Linde and the legacy it has achieved in that time is aspirational to say the least. The films it has released have earned well over 100 Academy Award nominations (a good chunk of them resulting in wins) and the box office returns, for a studio commonly associated with more independent fair, have been exceptional. It should come as no surprise that it was extremely difficult to narrow down what we considered to be the finest features on Focus Features’ filmography so far to just five titles, but the following is what we have come up with, starting with one of the most stylistically memorable and refreshingly human dramedies of all time.

Lost In Translation (2003)

Fading, aging movie star Bob Harris (Bill Murray) is in Tokyo filming a promotional spot for a popular brand of Japanese whiskey, and staying in the same hotel is young, fellow American and recent Yale graduate, Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), while her esteemed photographer husband is out on assignments. Both are lonely, disillusioned, and completely out of place until a chance meeting at the hotel bar leads to an unlikely bond, flush with warm memories and irrevocable change for both.

Sophia Coppola won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for her sophomore, feature-length directorial effort, Lost In Translation, which would turn out to be one of the most celebrated films of its time and the celebration (involving pink wigs and karaoke) is far from over. From its striking first frame (a stagnant shot of star Johansson’s backside) to its oft-debated cliffhanger ending, the thought-provoking, uniquely romantic, and touchingly funny character study is anchored by its two leads (one a beloved comedy veteran and the other whose stellar career was beginning to really take off) giving two of their most raw and impassioned performances.

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)

Already heartbroken over his recent split with his longtime girlfriend, Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet in an Oscar-nominated role), things get worse for Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) when he learns that she has undergone a revolutionary procedure to erase all memory of him and their relationship from her mind. He then arranges to have the procedure done on himself, putting him on a bizarre “trip” through their love story in reverse that, amid the devastation that led him to this decision, comes a reminder of the joyful moments that lead him to regret it.

Earning director Michel Gondry and writer Charlie Kaufman Oscars for Best Original Screenplay (shared with Pierre Bismuth), this is a rare kind of film that offers you an experience unlike anything you have ever seen or could even begin to imagine, right through the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ending, while tapping directly into the most raw and relatable human emotions. It is a spectacularly creative, nearly unparalleled visual feast that also sees Carrey giving the performance of his career in what is, arguably, his finest film so far.

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

In 1963, young cowboys Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger in his first Academy Award nominated role) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal, also nominated) become acquainted while herding sheep at a Wyoming Farm. Over time, their friendship blossoms into something deep, passionate, and - at the time - forbidden, which they try to keep secret from their respective families while struggling with their mutual longing for one another.

There are many films that even audiences and critics both agree deserved to take home the Best Picture Oscar, but were unjustly robbed. Despite winning for Gustavo Santaolalla’s score, Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana’s screenplay adapted from Annie Proulx’s short story, and Ang Lee’s direction, Brokeback Mountain is certainly no exception. Remembered as one of cinema’s first earnestly depicted mainstream homosexual romances, it is also admired for treating that plot with such emotional intensity and tragic honesty.

Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

When orphaned, precocious 12-year-old Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman) meets Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward), who comes from a well-to-do family and is equally wise beyond her years, it is love at first sight and they immediately become pen pals. After deciding to run away together, their sudden absence begins to cause an uproar among the eccentric adult citizens of their coastal town in 1960s New England.

Each making their acting debut, the pairing of Gilman and Hayward is a miracle in this beautiful and unexpectedly poignant representation of young love that, as a story mostly from an adolescent point of view, fittingly treats it like an adventure. For that reason, in addition to its refreshingly bright aesthetic, Moonrise Kingdom might be the most joyous and exhilarating of Wes Anderson’s movies, which is really saying something about a filmmaker with a distinctly and imaginatively picturesque vision.

BlacKkKlansman (2018)

In the early 1970s, Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) becomes the first Black man hired onto the Colorado Springs Police Department and is soon promoted from patrolman to the undercover intelligence. When there, he teams up with a Jewish fellow officer (Adam Driver in his first Oscar nominated role) who helps him successfully infiltrate the local branch of Ku Klux Klan.

Based on a shockingly true story which the real Ron Stallworth revealed in his memoir of the same (but differently spelled) title, BlacKkKlansman is both a thrilling detective noir and a powerful protest of prejudice in America that does not cease to be relevant (if not even more relevant) to this day. The film, which is easily one of director Spike Lee’s best movies, also earned the legendary filmmaker his first-ever Academy Award win for Best Adapted Screenplay, which he shared with Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, and Kevin Willmott.

Like I said earlier, narrowing down Focus Features’ greatest hits to just five titles was no easy task. We have barely scratched the surface when covering all of the masterpieces that this studio has been involved with - including Far From Heaven, Promising Young Woman, or more recently, Licorice Pizza. Celebrate the company’s 20th anniversary by watching them all!

Black History Month is the perfect time to watch some of our favorite movies starring, written by, and/or directed by Black artists. I selected a range of movies starring Black actors that have one or all of these criteria: depict a Black historical event or figure, are innovative and creative, made history because of their impact, or are just fun films.

I highlighted Hidden Figures because it’s a story not often immortalized in pop culture. Hidden Figures brings the story of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson to the big screen. These Black women helped NASA during the John Glenn space launch. Stories like this remind us of the bountifulness of Black History Month content.

Hidden Figures (2016)

Hidden Figures stars Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monae, and Octavia Spencer. Theodore Melfi co-wrote and directed this film, loosely based on the true-life story of the African American female mathematicians who worked at NASA during a key time in U.S. space advancement.

It’s an empowering film that highlights three women whose contributions had a huge impact on American history and stands as a moving tribute to the late Katherine Johnson. This is a great film to watch during Black History Month because it celebrates Black women and all they can achieve when given the opportunity. Hidden Figures showcases great performances by the entire cast, and it’s one of Octavia Spencer’s best performances.

Rent/buy Hidden Figures on Amazon.
Stream Hidden Figures on HBO Max.

One Night In Miami (2020)

Regina King directed One Night in Miami, a fictionalized account of a meeting between Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.), and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge) in 1964. They discuss many things, including their careers, racism in America, and their duties to help or inspire Black people during this peak time in the Civil Rights Movement.

Though fictionalized, the film presents a fascinating perspective of our important Black figures and a meeting the world would have loved to witness. Although set mainly at a hotel, the film gives a clear picture of this period and the obstacles these men faced because of their race and beliefs. Watching One Night in Miami during Black History Month may inspire you to learn more about the real men these historical figures were based on and ones like them.

Stream One Night In Miami on Prime Video.

Get Out (2017)

Get Out is a Jordan Peele contribution to the best new horror movies. It follows Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) as he spends the weekend with his girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams) and her family in their neighborhood and home. Chris soon learns that this might not be the nice, liberal family that he expected.

The movie became such a huge hit because it’s a story told well that’s relatable to many. It addresses race-based issues in a way that’s easily digestible. This allows viewers to connect with the subject, even if they are not the race directly affected by the issues. Black History Month can encourage reflection on past and present problems facing Black people and the world. Additionally, Black-led horror movies continue to grow, and Get Out helped increase interest and push the genre forward.

Rent/buy Get Out on Amazon.
Stream Get Out on HBO Max.

Coming To America (1988)

Eddie Murphy stars in John Landis’ Coming to America. The film follows the Prince of Zamunda, Akeem Joffer (Eddie Murphy), as he travels from Africa to Queens, New York, to find a new bride. At 21, Akeem doesn’t feel like he’s really lived and doesn’t want to accept his arranged marriage. Arsenio Hall, James Earl Jones, John Amos, Madge Sinclair, and Shari Headley also have supporting roles.

Coming to America is really a showcase of Murphy and Hall’s talent as comedians. They excel at bringing these funny, entertaining, colorful characters to life. It’s one of Eddie Murphy’s best films, and one he enjoys, so it’s a fun movie to watch during Black History Month, especially if you’re a Murphy or Hall fan.

Rent/buy Coming to America on Amazon.

Soul (2020)

Soul is the story of Joe Gardner (voiced by Jamie Foxx), a middle-aged jazz singer still looking for his big break. He finally gets it, but an accident separates his soul and body. He then goes to the Great Before, where he must help a soul named 22 (Tina Fey) find its spark.

This is Pixar’s first film featuring a Black lead. Soul is not only a good film to watch for its historical significance to Black History, but it’s also a film all about appreciating all the things that life has to offer. It’s about living and loving life while you’re still alive. This is an important universal message that emotionally resonates with everyone.

Stream Soul on Disney+.
Rent/buy Soul on Amazon.

Black Panther (2018)

Black Panther is a Marvel superhero movie about T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), the king of Wakanda. Ryan Coogler directed the film, and it follows T’Challa as he faces off against his cousin, Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan). The cast includes Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, and Angela Bassett.

T’Challa is one of the first mainstream superheroes of African descent. The film was the only Marvel superhero movie featuring a mainly-Black cast, until the sequel Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever. It was a huge box office success and a film that let many Black and brown children feel represented and seen as heroes in cinema. It’s also a celebration of black strength and power.

Stream Black Panther on Disney+.
Rent/buy Black Panther on Amazon.

I Am Not Your Negro (2016)

I Am Not Your Negro is a documentary film by Raoul Peck. Based on the manuscript Remember This House by James Baldwin, Samuel L. Jackson narrates this documentary that gives more insight into Baldwin’s life and struggles with racism in America. It also addresses race relations in America by discussing the assassinated civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Medgar Evers.

Peck highlights how issues faced by Baldwin, King, X, and Evers are still ones faced by Americans today, especially Black Americans. I Am Not Your Negro offers a snapshot of the Civil Rights era, while also reflecting on society, specifically America’s relationship with racism. It’s a great documentary to watch if you’re interested in James Baldwin and want to learn a little more about the challenges faced by Black Americans in the 1950s, 1960s, and today.

Stream I Am Not Your Negro on Tubi.
Rent/buy I Am Not Your Negro on Amazon.

BlacKkKlansman (2018)

BlacKkKlansman tells the story of Ron Stallworth (John David Washington), an African American police officer who infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). He talks on the phone to David Duke (Topher Grace), the head of the KKK in Louisiana, and uses his charm to become a respected member of the organization, while his partner, Flip (Adam Driver), attends meetings and events in person pretending to be him.

Filmmaker Spike Lee has become associated with comedies and dramas that address issues of race and social justice. He is skillful at creating or highlighting iconic characters and leaving a lasting impression with his films. Lee continues this tradition with BlacKKKlansman. The film can teach about an important moment in Black History, tie it to current issues in America, and still find humor in the dark situations it addresses.

Rent/buy BlacKkKlansman on Amazon.

Moonlight (2016)

Moonlight is Barry Jenkins’ film that follows Chiron (adult version played by Trevante Rhodes) as he deals with his drug-addicted mother, figures out his sexuality, and grows up in Liberty City, Miami. The cast also includes Ashton Sanders, Jharrel Jerome, Andre Holland, Naomie Harris, Janelle Monae, and Mahershala Ali.

In 2017, Moonlight became the first film with a mainly all-Black cast and also the first LGBTQ+ film to win the Oscar for Best Picture. It’s an important coming-of-age film for Black History Month, not only because of its award wins but because it addresses masculinity and sexuality in a way that isn’t often seen in cinema, especially in films with Black leads. Moonlight is one of the best movies with LGBTQ+ representation.

Rent/buy Moonlight on Amazon.

Dolemite Is My Name (2019)

Dolemite is My Name stars Eddie Murphy as Rudy Ray Moore, a struggling comedian who creates his character, Dolemite. Rudy gains a following and fame among the nightclub scene and Black audiences. He eventually sets out to make a Dolemite movie.

Blaxploitation films were big in the '70s and an important part of Black cinema. Dolemite is My Name is another movie that pays tribute to that genre and the Black audience that gave these films and their creators power and success. The whole film is about the impact of a niche following and how it can help someone achieve success. It’s a comedy about the power of hope and dreams. It shows that nothing is impossible if you have a passion and continue to work for what you want.

Stream Dolemite is My Name on Netflix.

Fast Color (2018)

Julia Hart directed and co-wrote Fast Color, a superhero film about Ruth (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), a woman heading home to her daughter and mother as she’s being chased by law enforcement and scientists who want to study her and her powers. Ruth’s seizures trigger supernatural earthquakes. Her daughter and mother also have powers: they can take apart objects without touching them and reassemble them.

More people need to watch Fast Color because it depicts a beautiful generational story of power and how it drives a family apart and together. The science fiction genre could use more Black-led movies, so this is a special entry into it. Black History Month is a good time to watch Black-led hidden gem movies.

Rent/buy Fast Color on Amazon.

Do The Right Thing (1989)

Do The Right Thing is a Spike Lee movie about one hot day in a Brooklyn neighborhood. All day, racial tensions continue to rise until a major event turns tragic. Spike Lee stars alongside Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, and Giancarlo Esposito.

This classic is one of Spike Lee’s best films. It includes a bunch of future stars, including Rosie Perez, Martin Lawrence, and Samuel L. Jackson. It uses clever writing to address topics of race that are, unfortunately, still relevant today.

Rent/buy Do the Right Thing on Amazon.

Rustin (2023)

Colman Domingo gives one of his best performances as forgotten civil rights activist Bayard Rustin. Rustin depicts his part in organizing the March on Washington in 1963. The film features fictionalized versions of several well-known activists, including Martin Luther King Jr. (Aml Ameen).

Rustin is an impactful movie that pushes an important figure in the civil rights movement into a spotlight stolen from him. It’s one of the best recent biopics, and it is one of my favorite civil rights movies. This is a perfect movie to watch during Black History Month, and on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, because it recontextualizes and brings new focus to one of the most pivotal events in Black history.

Stream Rustin on Netflix.

The Woman King (2022)

Gina Prince-Bythewood directed The Woman King, a historical adventure flick. It showcases an all-female warrior unit run by General Nanisca (Viola Davis). She must protect the kingdom and her people, as outside forces continue to try to demolish this thriving and strong empire.

The Woman King is one of the best action-adventure movies I have ever seen. It also has a lot more humanity than many. The brilliant cast, compelling story, and superb directing make it a must-watch film. The movie not receiving more Oscar nominations is one of the biggest industry injustices of 2023 and one of the biggest Oscar snubs that still makes me angry.

Stream The Woman King on Hulu.
Rent/buy The Woman King on Amazon.

Rye Lane (2023)

Rye Lane is a romantic comedy set in South London that takes place over a day. Dom (David Jonsson) and Yas (Vivian Oparah) spend the day together when she saves him some embarrassment after his ex-girlfriend brutally breaks up with him. The individuals get to know each other as they explore the city.

There are many amazing Black-led romantic movies, but Rye Lane may be my favorite. Jonsson and Oparah have intoxicating chemistry, and the movie uses one of my favorite styles of storytelling: falling in love in one day. Black History Month is about honoring the many types of excellent Black films. This includes romantic comedies.

Stream Rye Lane on Hulu.

Black Is King (2020)

Black is King is a visual companion to The Lion King: The Gift album. It’s a visual experience that uses the story of The Lion King with Beyoncé’s creative vision. She expertly creates a movie experience with music and visuals.

The film acts as a tribute to blackness while honoring diversity. It also celebrates African heritage and culture. Black is King is lyrical and visual poetry. Black History Month is not just a way to honor Black history but to celebrate Black culture, and this film very much does that.

Stream Black is King on Disney+.

Sing Sing (2023)

Colman Domingo gives another breathtaking performance in Sing Sing. The film follows a group of inmates preparing to perform an original play. The supporting cast features real-life, formerly incarcerated men. It’s based on the book The Sing Sing Follies by John H. Richardson.

The film is all about these men and their journey to use acting as an escape from the cruel reality of prison life. It’s very much a movie that highlights the impact of art. It’s one of the best movies of 2024, and it is a brilliant story that humanizes prisoners, which many movies fail to do.

Rent/buy Sing Sing on Amazon.
Stream Sing Sing on HBO Max.

The Fire Inside (2024)

Based on the boxing career of Olympian Claressa “T-Rex” Shields, The Fire Inside is an inspiring sports biopic. It showcases one girl’s drive to better herself and her family through fighting. It stars Ryan Destiny and Brian Tyree Henry.

It’s another stand-out Brian Tyree Henry performance, and it highlights why he’s criminally underrated. Destiny is also stellar as she captivates you in this role. The film isn’t just a brilliant biographical movie; it’s also a tribute to Flint, Michigan, and its resilience.

Rent/buy The Fire Inside on Amazon.
Stream The Fire Inside on MGM+.

King Richard (2021)

King Richard earned Will Smith his first Academy Award. It’s the story of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams's father, Richard Williams, and his impact on their success. It’s a loving tribute to a father, while also highlighting the Williams sisters’ early rise.

King Richard is an interesting sports biopic because of its focus on Richard, instead of the sports stars. It depicts a loving father who makes many sacrifices to help his children. However, it doesn’t show him without flaws.

Rent/buy King Richard on Amazon.

John Lewis: Good Trouble

John Lewis: Good Trouble is a documentary about civil rights activist and congressman John Lewis. The film is an introduction and tribute to this highly regarded American figure.

It’s a good documentary to watch during Black History Month (and any time of the year) to remind you of the people who fought hard to gain and uphold civil rights.

Stream John Lewis: Good Trouble on Hulu.
Rent/buy John Lewis: Good Trouble on Amazon.

Emergency (2022)

Emergency was a favorite among the CinemaBlend staff a few years ago. It made the top 10 best films of 2022. This college comedy takes a sudden turn when Black and brown male students must worry about the repercussions of calling 9-1-1 when a passed-out white woman ends up in their place.

It’s a film with a thought-provoking ending and sharp commentary on race relations in America. Though it’s not a particularly happy movie, it does showcase that tough subjects can be presented in a way that’s not always a somber package. The reality of the situation is heartbreaking but the movie is often hilarious despite the topic.

Stream Emergency on Prime Video.

Sinners (2025)

In 2026, Sinners became the most nominated film at the Oscars of all-time. An honor it earned. It’s one of the most unique and creative movies of the last decade. Sinners is a vampire story that explores topics of prejudice, family, racism, stolen culture, music, and other pivotal and culturally relevant topics in the Black community.

It’s one of the best movies of 2025 and a must-watch for horror movie fans. It also includes some of the best performances of 2025. Sinners offers a masterclass on how to create a new story that can also kill at the box office.

Stream Sinners on HBO Max.
Rent/buy Sinners on Amazon.

The Blackening (2022)

The Blackening is a horror comedy that follows a group of Black protagonists just trying not to die. It plays off stereotypes connected to Black characters in horror movies (such as always dying first). The Blackening cast includes Dewayne Perkins, Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, Jay Pharoah, and Yvonne Orji.

The film is also a movie about friendship and how that evolves and changes with age. We need more Black horror comedy movies. I am glad that The Blackening and others are helping to grow this genre.

Stream The Blackening on Netflix.
Rent/buy The Blackening on Amazon.

American Fiction (2023)

Based on Percival Everett’s Erasure, American Fiction tells a satirical story about how Black stereotypes sell. Dr. Thelonious (Jeffrey Wright), a highly intelligent professor, creates a fake identity to sell a book. His book becomes a major success because he leans into the idea of a reformed thug.

American Fiction touches on topics that many Black authors face while trying to survive and thrive in the literary industry. It also explores topics of losing yourself to appeal to the masses. The film is not only a thought-provoking movie but also very funny.

Rent/buy American Fiction on Amazon.

Uncorked (2020)

Uncorked is a Netflix original movie directed by Prentice Penny. It’s the story of a man named Elijah (Mamoudou Athie), who wants to become a master sommelier, and focuses what it takes to accomplish your dreams.

The world of sommeliers is already a topic that isn’t discussed enough outside that community. Exploring it through the lens of a Black character helps make this one of Netflix’s best movies. It’s a very entertaining film about the quest for glory.

Stream Uncorked on Netflix.

Marshall (2017)

Marshall is a biographical movie about Thurgood Marshall. He was the first African American Supreme Court Justice, and the film focuses on one of the first cases of his career. The late Chadwick Boseman stars. It’s considered one of his best performances.

There are many great Black historical figures, but not nearly enough honored, praised, and well-known. Thurgood Marshall is a person often taught about in schools, but not in much depth. Marshall offers a deeper look at him (and the law) that’s more than just a footnote in Black history celebrations.

Stream Marshall on Kanopy.
Rent/buy Marshall on Amazon.

Black History Month is only one month out of the year, but movies like Hidden Figures, Do The Right Thing, Black Panther, and all the films on this list can and should be watched any time of the year, especially as a celebration of Black artistry.

Kristen Stewart has been one of Hollywood’s most sought-after actresses for years. She’s also one of the most talked about -- from her career choices to her love life. People are so fascinated by her that sometimes it seems like even her slightest movement -- like going shoeless on a red carpet -- can become a viral moment.

In 2018, Kristen Stewart was on the jury for the Cannes Film Festival and was on hand for many of the event’s biggest moments. While on the red carpet for the premiere of BlackKklansman, she took off her high heels before she ascended the famous steps of the Palais des Festivals. The move was captured ad nauseum by the media outlets that were present, and it became one of the festival’s most headline-grabbing moments.

According to Kristen Stewart's recent chat with InStyle thought, her decision to forego her footwear wasn’t quite as big of a deal as everyone made it out to be:

At the time, news outlets’ coverage of Kristen Stewart’s brief, barefoot excursion slanted toward the idea that she was taking a stand against Cannes’ ban on flat footwear. Some even went so far as to assume she was actively protesting the dress code. So it’s interesting to hear her candid thoughts about it and to realize that it was a move that was more about comfort than making a statement.

Of course, this wasn’t the first time Kristen Stewart’s actions were scrutinized by curious observers. Since 2007, she’s been a household name, thanks to her breakout performance as Bella Swan in the Twilight franchise. This means that everything from what she wears, to what movies she stars in, to who she dates, is liable to become a hot topic.

Kristen Stewart has managed this attention with a unique combination of dry wit and self-composure. The actress has also made some pretty interesting decisions when it comes to her career. In the years since Twilight, she’s shown she’s not afraid to take chances and has taken on a wide range of roles, from indie dramas like Personal Shopper to thrillers like Underwater.

Next up, she’s continuing to keep fans on their toes. Her Christmas-themed movie, Happiest Season, hits VOD on Thanksgiving weekend. Then, she’ll switch gears and portray the iconic Princess Diana in the upcoming film Spencer.

As I said in a previous article, I love Spike Lee. His films often challenge not only the medium of film, but also culture in general. From Do The Right Thing to BlacKkKlansman, Spike Lee has always had something important to say. And while he’s had a few missteps over the years, one thing that nobody could ever call Spike Lee is boring.

But here’s the thing. With such a long list of films under his belt, some of his movies have been more socially relevant than others. Sure, I love films like 25th Hour and Inside Man. Hell, I even love Summer of Sam (but not so much his Old Boy remake). But those movies are more—I don’t want to say popcorn fluff—but more populist pictures than films that really try to address a major issue. So that’s what this list is for. Here are Spike Lee’s most socially relevant movies, ranked. And hey, when you're done reading this list, do the right thing, and leave a message in the comment section.

10. Crooklyn (1994)

Crooklyn isn’t really all that “socially relevant” compared to many of the other films on this list. But it did something that many other films weren’t doing back in 1994, and that’s showing a depiction of a black neighborhood without trying to be all preachy or having some grand message about it. Delroy Lindo plays a struggling musician, and his desire to bolster his career impacts the whole family financially.

But the true star is Troy, played by Zelda Harris. She takes over the matronly responsibility of the family once her mother gets cancer. It’s a role that humanizes a black neighborhood much more than a lot of the gangster epics of the 1990's were doing. And that in itself is kind of revolutionary.

9. Da 5 Bloods (2020)

The newest Spike Lee joint as of this writing, Da 5 Bloods tackles Vietnam movies from a black perspective, painting a picture of the war from a different angle than any other Vietnam movie in the past. Running underneath the whole treasure hunting plot is a story about both oppression and repression, and it’s mostly found in Delroy Lindo’s stunning performance.

The only thing holding Da 5 Bloods back is that it’s so much more of a commentary on Vietnam movies in general than the black experience in Vietnam. But it’s still really good, of course. It’s Spike Lee at his best and I much prefer it to Miracle at St. Anna.

8. She’s Gotta Have It (1986)

Tracy Camilla Jones stars as a woman seeing three men. To her, monogamy is a form of slavery, and she doesn’t see why she has to choose a partner. And while the movie is marketed as a comedy, it goes into some dark territory. And then, there's the rape scene, which robs the movie of a lot of its good will. But still, everything around that is pretty potent.

Especially for this being Spike Lee’s first feature-length film. It was pretty bold to challenge sexual norms back in 1986. The show was pretty damn good, too.

7. Chi-Raq (2015)

Chi-Raq is a weird movie, but a worthy one. Taking its ideas from the Greek play, Lysistrata, Chi-Raq is about a woman named Lysistrata (played by Teyonah Parris) who is fed up with gang violence, and has motivated other women in her neighborhood to give up sex with their men to get them to stop fighting.

Tackling gang violence in Chicago is a pretty audacious move. Especially since it’s a black take on what is spurring all the violence in the first place. It was a controversial film upon its release, but would it be a Spike Lee joint if it wasn’t?

6. School Daze (1988)

On its surface, School Daze is mostly about warring fraternities and sororities at an historically black college. But underneath it all is the college experience from a black perspective. It tackles ideas of activism and working toward getting ahead, but also what it means to be black in a society where unity can be seen as a detriment. And like She’s Gotta Have It, it also takes a look from a female perspective. It was a definitely ahead of its time.

So much so that we likely wouldn’t have a show like A Different World or Dear White People without it. Wake up!

5. Get On the Bus

If Road Rules was a movie featuring black men, it would be Get on the Bus. A variety of different black men heading to the Million Man March bicker and argue with each other over issues of race, class, sexuality, religion, and everything else in-between.

Get on the Bus is also great because it shows an entirely unvarnished look at black people without shying away from the darker side. It’s not Spike’s best movie, but it’s close.

4. Jungle Fever (1991)

Starring Wesley Snipes as a character having an extramarital affair with a white woman, Jungle Fever feels ahead of its time and a little dated at the same time. It deals with the perception that the black community often has about dating outside of your race, and it’s a movie that doesn’t make anybody look good. Plus, Samuel L. Jackson has a knock-out performance as a crack addict.

Jungle Fever deals with a touchy subject in an honest way, which is why it still works today.

3. BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Tackling racism head on, BlacKkKlansman pulls no punches with its approach to showing off the darker side of America. But it does so deftly in a way that only Spike Lee can pull off by showing the inner conflict of how a black man can reconcile being a police officer in the face of racism. But it also shows how the only way to actually combat racism might be through the system itself.

BlackKklansman is elevated over a lot of Spike's other films because of that stunning ending that parallels today’s times. Bold move, Spike Lee. Bold move.

2. Bamboozled (2000)

Bamboozled is Spike Lee’s hidden gem. By tackling America’s perception of black people both in the past and in the then hip-hop crazed present, Bamboozled is all about how the minstrel show of yore hasn’t really changed all that much. It’s just changed its make-up a little bit.

Bamboozled works so well because the satire is just so dead on and piercing. It also shows how black people have somewhat openly invited some of the images that are perpetuated in today’s society, giving no clear solution on how to fix the problem. It’s a funny movie, but a cringy one, too, just as all good satire should be.

1. Do the Right Thing (1989)

Do the Right Thing will probably always be Spike Lee’s best movie. It’s got it all—humor, heart, heartache, and searing commentary. It shows a neighborhood on the brink of exploding. The people living there just don’t know it yet. But it sure is hot.

Do the Right Thing is just as --if not more-- powerful today than it was back in 1989. And with the events happening now, it probably speaks to today’s time more than any other movie currently being produced. Spike Lee kept his ear to the ground and gave us this masterpiece of cinema in the process.

And those are the most socially relevant movies of Spike Lee’s career. But what do you think? Were there any that I left off? Please let me know in the comments.

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If I were to list the greatest American directors off the top of my head, I would say John Ford, Howard Hawks, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Spike Lee. The iconoclast, the firebrand, there was once a time when the words, “A Spike Lee Joint” meant the world of cinema was about to be challenged, and it often was. And the man doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. BlacKkKlansman was yet another example of a director who has something to say, and said it he did. (Especially with that ending. Wow!)

But no matter the message, no story can be told without characters, and Spike Lee has had his fair share of iconic ones. In the course of his lengthy career that began in 1983 with his thesis film, Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, to now, he’s had several that I could name. But I think I’ve picked the eight best. You may disagree with me, and that’s fine. But like I say to my friends after a viewing of any Spike Lee Joint, “Let’s discuss.” In other words, leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

Mookie – Do The Right Thing

With his Brooklyn Dodgers jersey, flat top, and pizza boxes in tow, I'm surprised I haven't seen anybody cosplaying as Mookie from Do the Right Thing. It would be a super easy costume to pull off. Played by Spike Lee himself, Mookie doesn't feel like going to work today. It's too hot for one, and he kind of thinks that delivering pizzas to people in his neighborhood is a lame job. His boss, Sal (played by the late Danny Aiello) is tolerant of Mookie, to an extent, but he's quickly getting annoyed by his employee's laid back approach to his job. I feel him.

Mookie's a pretty chill character throughout most of the movie, but after something tragic happens to his friend at the hands of a police officer, that's when Mookie enters iconic territory. Because he makes a decision that still has people debating today whether he did "the right thing" or not. I'm still debating it myself, to be honest.

Ron Stallworth – BlacKkKlansman

Can a real person be considered a character? I don't see why not. Especially when he has such an iconic performance. Played by John David Washington, who will soon star in Christopher Nolan's upcoming movie, Tenet, Ron Stallworth is the black police officer who pretended to be a white person to infiltrate the KKK.

And while yes, Adam Driver's character, Flip Zimmerman, is the one who actually stood in for Stallworth when it came to attending Klan meetings, Stallworth was the one who wrestled with the idea of actually being a black police officer in the first place. He also lied to his girlfriend about what he did, and, in a way, lied to himself since his partner was the one who was really putting his life on the line. Ron Stallworth is an iconic character just because he's so internally complex.

Jacob Elinsky – 25th Hour

The late Phillip Seymour Hoffman was a master of portraying characters with disturbing inner worlds, and Jacob Elinsky from 25th Hour is one of best performances. In it, Jacob is a high school teacher who has a crush on his 17-year-old student, played by Anna Paquin.

But here’s the thing. While some characters would have that as a dark secret, Jacob actually acts upon it and kisses her at a club. And Jacob’s not even the main character, which makes this awkward encounter stand out all the more. He even gets one of Spike’s trademark floating dolly shots after kissing her, making him a character I’ll never forget.

Jake Shuttlesworth – He Got Game

I feel like He Got Game is largely forgotten today, and I’m not sure why. In his third collaboration with Spike Lee, Denzel Washington plays Jake Shuttleworth, a convict who tries to reconnect with his son, a top-ranked basketball player (played by Ray Allen), in the hopes of having him play for the state governor’s alma mater in order to get his sentence reduced.

Jake is both domineering and introspective. He takes care of a prostitute, but also once killed his wife. He’s a complex character and one who still resonates with me today.

Nola Darling – She’s Gotta Have It

Nola Darling (played by Tracy Camilla Johns) is seeing three different men, and that’s just fine. In fact, it’s better than fine. She can do whatever the hell she damn well pleases, and she does. So when her three suitors meet and discuss that she needs to pick one of them, she decides that no, she doesn’t. Monogamy is a form a slavery. But…

Well, I’ll just get this out of the way. She gets raped by one of her suitors. Spike Lee, himself, says that he regrets this decision, and he sort of rectified it with the Netflix TV series of the same name. Still, a young, liberated black woman back in a 1986 ain’t nothing to sneeze at.

“Gator” Purify – Jungle Fever

“Gator” Purify (played by Samuel L. Jackson) is such a strong presence in Jungle Fever that you almost forget that he’s a B-character in the A story. Gator is a crack addict, and nobody will give him money because they know he’ll just spend the money on more crack. But when he goes to his parent’s home and starts to pull apart their house for money, he gets shot by his own father. Tragic, tragic stuff.

Gator’s addiction is severe, and you don’t often see crack addicts in their element. It doesn’t hurt that this is one of Samuel L. Jackson’s greatest performances ever.

Troy – Crooklyn

Troy (played by Zelda Harris) is a little girl who has to grow up fast when her mother gets cancer. But even before all that, you get a sense that Troy has her head on her shoulders and is wise beyond her years. My favorite part is when she hits Snuffy (played by Spike Lee) with a baseball bat.

Spike Lee sometimes gets accused of not writing great female characters, but Troy is one of the most complex of all of his characters, so she definitely deserves a spot on this list.

Malcolm X – Malcolm X

Again, can a real person be considered “a character”? Well, when it’s Denzel filling those shoes, then yeah. Especially since he does such a spectacular job. What’s there really to be said? Denzel plays Malcolm X, and he’s amazing.

In fact, if you were to ask me, what is the best performance in any Spike Lee movie, I’d easily say, “Denzel Washington as Malcolm X.” But here’s what’s interesting: Lee was actually not the original director for Malcolm X. It was In the Heat of the Night director, Norman Jewison. I’d actually really like to see that version of X since I love speculating on alternate realities, but the version we got is so good that I really couldn’t envision anybody else directing Denzel in the role than Spike Lee.

And that's 8 iconic characters. There are several others I could have picked for this list (I’m probably the only person in America who likes Summer of Sam and John Leguizamo’s performance in it), but I feel like many people would agree with the eight I picked. But like I said up top, let’s discuss! Who’s your favorite Spike Lee character? Leave it in the comments.

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The term “woke” may be seen as a dirty word nowadays in certain corners of the country, but initially, the term meant that you were socially aware of injustice. In fact, if you want to continue believing that to be the meaning of the word, then so be it. In other words, just because somebody else doesn’t agree with your point of view, that doesn’t mean that you’re wrong. It just means that you see things differently. And that’s what each one of these movies does. By exploring race and injustice, they show things differently than what you might be accustomed to. Because, as far as we’ve come as a country, race is still, unfortunately, a sticky subject.

That’s why movies are often so important, especially ones that tackle race and social justice. They create a window into lives that you might not completely understand, but want to. And, if you do want to understand another race, then you’re probably “woke,” whether you like to believe it or not. But, honestly, is that such a bad thing? To be socially aware of others? We don’t think so, and neither do these movies.

Just Mercy (2019)

In this powerful legal drama (and true story), Michael B. Jordan plays Bryan Stevenson, a real lawyer who worked tirelessly to get death row inmate Walter McMillian (played by Jamie Foxx, who Jordan always wanted for the role) released for a murder he didn’t commit. Just Mercy’s story may take place in 1989, but its events still ring true today. At times frustrating to watch, given everything McMillian had to go through, the film is a textbook study on how the criminal justice system is flawed, and how we still have a ways to go before we can have true equality for everyone.

Rent or buy Just Mercy on Amazon Prime

The Hate U Give (2018)

Based on the novel of the same name by Angie Thomas and directed by George Tillman Jr., The Hate U Give is about a girl named Starr Carter (played by Amandla Stenberg) who witnesses the death of her friend at the hands of a cop. Her journey is a mostly internal one, with this question hanging at the center of it—Should she remain silent about what she saw, or should she testify and potentially get slandered herself? The answer isn’t completely clear-cut.

Rent or buy The Hate U Give on Amazon Prime

Selma (2014)

In this unique approach to a biopic from director Ava DuVernay, Selma chronicles a groundswell effort by Dr. King (played by David Oyelowo) and many others as they fight to make it easier for Black people to vote in Selma, Alabama. Many sacrifice their safety as they walk together, arm-in-arm, from Selma to Montgomery, and the film makes a point to show how politics played a large role in shaping the Civil Rights Movement in this country. Though it’s a great movie to watch on Martin Luther King Jr., it's honestly a great movie to watch any day of the year because its message remains the same – never give up fighting for what’s right.

Stream Selma on Netflix
Stream Selma on Paramount+

Loving (2016)

Directed by Jeff Nichols, and starring Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga, this true story centers around Richard Loving (Edgerton) and Mildred Loving (Negga), an interracial couple who got national attention for fighting to stay married. The state of Virginia didn’t allow interracial marriage back in the late ‘50s, and police even threw them both in jail due to them having children together. As somebody who is actually in an interracial marriage, this movie resonates on so many different levels for me. In the end, true love lives on, but at what cost?

Rent or buy Loving on Amazon Prime

If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

Based on the James Baldwin novel of the same name and directed by Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk (which we gave a stellar review upon release) is the story of two lovers named Clementine “Tish” Rivers (played by Kiki Layne) and Alonzo “Fonny” Hunt (played by Stephan James). Alonzo is in jail for a crime he didn’t commit, and Tish is pregnant with his child. Tish wants to have Alonzo freed so he can see the birth of their child, but she faces hurdles along the way. This movie is relevant today, even though it takes place in the ‘70s, because Fonny is wrongly convicted, and racism definitely plays a part in that conviction.

Stream If Beale Street Could Talk on Hulu

Fruitvale Station (2013)

Another film starring Michael B. Jordan, this one by Ryan Coogler, director of the Black Panther films, Fruitvale Station is a tough film to watch, especially if you’re already aware of the events in question. This film, based on a true story, chronicles the short life of Oscar Grant, a young man killed by a police officer at Fruitvale Station in San Francisco. The movie is hard to stomach, especially because it gives us a glimpse at Oscar's life, only to show him having that life snuffed out unjustly.

Stream Fruitvale Station on MAX

BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Directed by Spike Lee, and starring John David Washington and Adam Driver, this story based on the memoir by Ron Stallworth is about a Black detective (Washington) who works with a white detective (Driver) to infiltrate the local chapter of the KKK, and take it down from the inside. At times, the film makes the KKK look both comical in their idiocy, but also frightening in their power, especially when it comes to locals hiding behind a hood. It’s one of Spike Lee’s most relevant movies in a whole career’s worth of relevant movies, so you know it’s definitely worth a watch.

Rent or buy BlacKkKlansman on Amazon Prime

Do The Right Thing (1989)

Another Spike Lee Joint, Do the Right Thing wasn’t even nominated for Best Picture (but should have been) back when it came out in 1989. Today, it would probably win the top prize. It takes place in a single, simmering day in a Brooklyn neighborhood and showcases the racial tension that exists within it. The story also deals with gentrification, making it almost like a time capsule for the Brooklyn we have today. The film is relevant for many reasons, but mostly because of its brutal ending, which also concerns a police officer using excessive violence against a person of color.

Stream Do the Right Thing on Amazon Prime

12 Years A Slave (2013)

This 2013 film (which we gave a 5 star review) won the Academy Award for Best Picture and a Best Supporting Actress Award for Lupita Nyong’o. 12 Years a Slave, directed by Steve McQueen, tells the true story of Solomon Northup (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free man who was captured and sold into captivity for 12 years, as the title suggests. It’s a gruesome film to watch, as it fully details the harsh realities of slavery, and by the end of it, you don’t feel any sort of catharsis or happiness. Just depression. The movie is still relevant, because many will tell you that the events of slavery still impact African Americans today. Watch it for historical purposes, not for enjoyment.

Rent or buy 12 Years a Slave on Amazon Prime

I Am Not Your Negro (2016)

Another film based off of James Baldwin’s writings (this one on his unfinished memoir, Remember This House), I Am Not Your Negro is a documentary directed by Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck, which attempts to finish the memoir and connect it to today’s events, such as the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, it goes over Baldwin’s personal thoughts on his contemporaries, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Medgar Evers, all of whom were assassinated. The documentary is relevant today, as it’s important to often look to the past in order to possibly understand the future.

Rent or buy I Am Not Your Negro on Amazon Prime

Detroit (2017)

In this harrowing film directed by Kathryn Bigelow, and starring the likes of John Boyega, Will Poulter, and Anthony Mackie, this story centers around the 12th Street Riot that actually occurred in Detroit back in 1967. Amidst the rioting, a Black R&B group headed into a motel, and after one of them fired a starting pistol as a prank, the police swarmed the building, and started firing at the people inside. The rest that follows features police corruption, racism, and all manner of other subjects that are difficult to sit through if you’ve ever felt intimidated by the police. An important watch that still feels relevant today.

Stream Detroit on Amazon Prime with a free trial of Movie Sphere+

The Learning Tree (1969)

In this period piece (which takes place in the 1920s) directed by Gordon Parks, The Learning Tree follows a black teenager named Newt Winger (played by Kyle Johnson) who has to grow up quickly following a series of events involving murder and race-blaming. This film bears the distinction of being the first film directed by an African American for a major studio, and it deals with issues that many young, African American males still have to confront today, such as whether or not we can trust that the legal system will do the right thing if we come forward to report a crime.

Rent or buy The Learning Tree on Amazon Prime

Killer Of Sheep (1978)

Directed by Charles Burnett, Killer of Sheep is a film about African American culture in Los Angeles. The story—what story exists, since a lot of it is disjointed—is about a man named Stan (played by Henry G. Sanders) who works in an abattoir. But, because of the repetition of senseless killing he performs at his job, he’s become disconnected with the family that he’s working so hard to support. I take it that there's a deeper message to Killer of Sheep about the brevity of life, but there's also the message about the stark realities of what it means to be African American, and how life is different in many ways from other Americans, and yet, somewhat similar.

Buy Killer of Sheep on Amazon

Dear White People (2014)

Satire can be a powerful tool if used correctly, and Dear White People is a great example of that. The story concerns a predominantly white Ivy League school and some of its Black students. Tessa Thompson (swoon) and many other Black stars show that even in the elite schools, there are still going to be racial issues.

Stream Dear White People on MAX

Ken Burns: The Central Park Five (2012)

This is the true story of five Black and Latino teenagers who were wrongly accused of raping a jogger in Central Park. At the time of this film’s release, it was the first time the teenagers’ side of the story was shown. There is also a highly watched series on Netflix called When They See Us centered around the events that is very difficult to watch for the first time. Both are worthy watches and make for good companion pieces.

Buy The Central Park Five on Amazon
Stream When They See Us on Netflix

Queen & Slim (2019)

Directed by Melina Matsoukas, and starring Jodie Turner-Smith and Daniel Kaluuya, this Black Bonnie and Clyde story is about two people who fall in love while on the lam. It all starts after “Slim” kills a police officer (in self-defense) after the officer shoots “Queen” in the leg, which ignites a multi-state manhunt for the two. Queen & Slim is like what The Hate U Give would be like if it was a revenge thriller. That said, it still has a great deal to say about how some cops don’t exactly follow the rules when it comes to law enforcement.

Rent or buy Queen & Slim on Amazon Prime

13th (2016)

This depressing documentary by Ava DuVernay that gets its title from the 13th Amendment, which ended slavery, goes into how Black people in this country are overwhelmingly pushed into the prison system. It posits that slavery is actually still ongoing, but it's just been given a different name—incarceration.

Stream 13th on Netflix

Moonlight (2016)

Another Barry Jenkins movie, Moonlight won the Academy Award for Best Picture (and deserved to win), and also netted Mahershala Ali an Academy Award, making him the first Muslim to win an acting Oscar. Moonlight is a very special movie since it tackles homosexuality, which is unfortunately still somewhat taboo in the African American community. The film took a brave approach, and was thankfully rewarded for it.

Rent or buy Moonlight on Amazon Prime

Rustin (2023)

Directed by George C. Wolfe, produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, and starring Chris Rock, Aml Ameen, Audra McDonald, Jeffrey Wright, and an exceptional Colman Domingo in the titular role, the movie tells the story of how Bayard Rustin helped organize the famous March on Washington with Dr. King. That said, it also gets into how Rustin was not only looked down upon as a Black man, but also as a gay man, sometimes within his own race. All the same, Rustin still believed in the cause (and himself), which makes this an inspirational film that also doubles as a great movie about the Civil Rights Movement.

Stream Rustin on Netflix

Get Out (2017)

And finally, one of the biggest movies about race to ever go mainstream, the Academy Award-nominated Get Out from Jordan Peele (who has never made a bad movie) has probably said more about the hypocrisy of white Liberalism and its intersection with black culture than any other film in American history. The movie is about 50% humorous, 50% terrifying, and 100% insightful. You’ve probably already seen it, but see it again. It has layers and there’s probably still a lot for you to uncover.

Rent or buy Get Out on Amazon Prime

There are plenty of other movies that explore race and social justice (and feature other races besides Black people), but we decided to spotlight these 20. Remember, stay woke.

No, it's not just you, Adam Driver was everywhere in 2019. Actually, Driver has been everywhere since audiences first fell in love with his character, Adam Sackler, on the HBO comedy-drama series Girls way back in 2012. And ever since then, Driver has given us some of the best performances and become one of the most prolific actors of his generation.

It is hard to find a bad movie in Adam Driver's extensive filmography, but it's even harder to narrow down Driver's movies down to the top 10, but we're going to give it our best shot.

10. While We're Young (2014)

Adam Driver had already worked with director Noah Baumbach by the time the two got together for While We're Young in 2014, but the two expanded upon the relationship for their second of four collaborations. And although While We're Young doesn't have the same impact on viewers as Marriage Story would do five years later, this film about a middle-aged couple falling in with a young hipster couple in New York City still has a lot to say in its own right.

This comedy-drama follows the lives of Josh (Ben Stiller) and Cornelia Schrebnick (Naomi Watts), a couple on the rocks, as they meet and become friends with a young couple, Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby Massey (Amanda Seyfried). As Josh and Cornelia grow closer to the young and free couple, they begin to see the real side of Jamie and Darby. Throughout his performance, Driver convincingly brings the stereotypical hipster filmmaker archetype to life in a way that is so infuriating that you can't wait for him to get his comeuppance.

9. Paterson (2016)

By the time Adam Driver wowed audiences and critics alike in Jim Jarmusch's 2016 drama Paterson about a week in the life of a bus driver and poet, he had already become a household name after receiving three consecutive Golden Globe nominations for his role in Girls. Driver would only continue that in his riveting performance of the titular Paterson.

Over the course of a week, the film follows Paterson as he wakes up, goes to work, writes poetry, walks his dog, and goes to his favorite watering hole at night. Although this premise doesn't seem as exciting as some of Driver's later roles, the actor is able to bring so much poignancy and raw emotion to the performance that turns this film into a reflective and contemplative exercise of the human heart. The scenes in which Paterson scribbles down poetry in his tattered notebook become works of art thanks to Driver's performance and great direction by Jarmusch.

8. Frances Ha (2012)

Two years before he was given a larger role in Noah Baumbach's While We're Young, Adam Driver was given a small, yet memorable role in the director's 2012 feature Frances Ha. The film came out less than six months after Driver was introduced to the world on Girls, and was just the beginning of the great things that were to come for the actor.

This short, black and white indie film follows the life of a struggling dancer, Frances Halladay (Greta Gerwig, who also co-wrote the film), as she tries to find a new living arrangement after her roommate and best friend Sophie Levee (Mickey Summer) decides to move from Brooklyn to Tribeca. Over the course of this 86-minute film, Frances briefly meets Driver's character, Lev Shapiro and his roommate Benji (Michael Zegen), which gives us some of the most absurd scenes in the film. Driver so accurately portrays the upper class hipsters of New York as he bounces from one ludicrous conversation to the next.

7. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

In a movie as heart-wrenching and bleak as Inside Llewyn Davis, seeing Adam Driver make a brief appearance as a baritone country western singer by the name of Al Cody comes as nice moment of levity. And though Driver only shows up in one scene of this critically acclaimed film from the Coen brothers, we're still talking about it nearly seven years after the fact.

The film follows a week in the life of struggling folk singer Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) as he tries to get his life in order while also trying to get his music career to take off. Throughout Inside Llewyn Davis, Davis encounters terrible situation after terrible situation, including the revelation that he could be the father of his friend, Jean Berkey's (Carey Mulligan) unborn child. When Jean tells Davis that he needs to pay for the abortion, he takes a studio gig with Jean's husband Jim Berkey (Justin Timberlake) and Driver's Al Cody for a novelty song. It's hard not to laugh as Cody practices his iconic vocal delivery as the other two musicians have a tense conversation about the song.

6. The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018)

Prior to the release of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote in 2018, director and screenwriter Terry Gilliam spent nearly 30 years trying to get his adaptation of the classic novel Don Quixote off the ground. Between 1989 and 2018 (the year the film was released), Gilliam cast everyone from Robin Williams to Johnny Depp in the role that eventually went to Adam Driver. But even after filming the long-awaited film, Gilliam's masterpiece wouldn't see the light of day for several years after distribution rights and other legal issues were finally settled upon.

The film centers around Driver's character of Toby, an advertising executive who goes back to the location of a film he shot years ago where he is confronted by an old Spanish shoemaker named Javier (Jonathan Pryce) who is convinced that he is actually the famous character from the novel. Not only does Javier believe he is the real Don Quixote, he is also convinced that Toby is his trusty squire Sancho Panza. What follows is a surreal retelling of the classic novel with as many twists and turns as the original book and its murky history.

5. The Dead Don't Die (2019)

If you were to tell me 10 years ago that before the end of the decade we would have a zombie movie directed by Jim Jarmusch starring Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloe Sevingy, Tilda Swinton, and Tom Waits I wound't believe you. Despite sounding like one of the most preposterous ideas, that's exactly what we got in the surreal and absurdist take on the zombie genre with The Dead Don't Die.

This movie, which follows several inhabitants of a small town that becomes ground zero for a zombie invasion, is about as polarizing as a zombie movie released in 2019 can get. People either love The Dead Don't Die's tone and multiple examples of breaking the fourth wall, or they hate it. Despite the divisiveness around the movie, one thing is for sure is that Adam Driver absolutely kills his delivery as Officer Ronald Peterson in every scene. There are several lines (talking about the film's theme song and asking Bill Murray's character if he read the script) that are delivered with such a deadpan delivery, it's amazing that Driver got through it without cracking up. If you want to watch an absurd zombie comedy movie, look no further.

4. Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

Say what you will about Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and there's a lot to say, but no one can take away from the brilliant performance given by Adam Driver as the conflicted Kylo Ren. We were introduced to the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa two years earlier in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but Driver's take Ren as he forms a connection with Rey (Daisy Ridley) does nothing but further expand the character and his motivations.

Besides the attack on his mother's Resistance ship near the beginning of the film, Kylo Ren spends much of the movie trying to connect and form an alliance with Rey, which ultimately leads to the iconic "Throne Room" scene where the two take down Supreme Leader Snoke's Praetorian Guard. But just when it looks like Ren is about to turn away from the dark side, he doubles down and declares that he is the Supreme Leader of The First Order. Following the scene, Ren falls deeper into the dark side as he takes on his uncle and former Jedi master Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). Throughout his entire arc in the film (and series as a whole), we see a certain sadness and degree of pain in Ren's eyes that make us want to root for him, despite his despicable actions.

3. Logan Lucky (2017)

Four months before appearing in Star Wars:The Last Jedi, Adam Driver appeared in Steven Soderbergh's redneck heist film, Logan Lucky. Driver portrays Clyde Logan, a veteran who lost the lower half of his left arm in Iraq, who teams up with his brother, Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum) and Joe Bang (Daniel Craig) to rob Charlotte Motor Speedway after Jimmy is fired from a construction company working at the racetrack.

The film is essentially a white trash take on Soderbergh's successful Oceans trilogy, only this time the heist is set in the hills of North Carolina's NASCAR country opposed to the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas. The thieves are even dubbed the "Oceans's Seven-Eleven" by the press after they pull of the heist during the Coca-Cola 600 race. To add even more tension to the heist, Clyde has to get sent to prison so that he can help Joe Bang escape prison, pull off the heist, and return to his cell before the guards notice. This section of the movie is just as tense as the heist, if not more.

2. BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Most of the praise from BlacKkKlansman is geared towards the stellar performance by the film's lead John David Washington for his portrayal of real-life African-American Colorado Springs police officer Ron Stallworth who infiltrated and exposed the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, but Adam Driver's portrayal of Philip "Flip" Zimmerman is just as vital to the film's success.

The film really picks up after Stallworth starts a line of communication with the local KKK chapter, which is where Driver's character comes in. Stallworth can talk to the KKK on the phone all he wants, but in order to fully carry out the operation, he has to enlist the help of Zimmerman to handle the face-to-face interactions with the hate group. Zimmerman, who is Jewish, is put in a few tough spots during his multiple meetings with the KKK, including one where they try to make him take a polygraph test to prove he's not Jewish. The movie feels like a comedy in spots, but the situations and messages found throughout paint a disturbing picture of hate groups in America.

1. Marriage Story (2019)

And then there is Marriage Story, the 2019 drama from Noah Baumbach about a married couple going through a divorce on opposite sides of the country. Anchored by performances by Scarlett Johansson as Nicole Barber and Adam Driver as Charlie Barber, this raw and gut-wrenching movie feels all too real in several of its most intense moments.

When I first watched Marriage Story upon its release on Netflix in late 2019, I was taken aback by the performances of its stars portraying the two central characters as they try to keep their family together as it's being ripped apart by outside forces. And although the marriage cannot be salvaged, Nicole and Charlie fight tooth and nail to keep loving one another. This movie will pull out your heart, break it into a million pieces, and then force you to put it back together while wearing a blindfold. There's one scene in particular where you can see Driver and Johansson seem to pull from their own personal failures as their characters have one of the most intense arguments in recent memory.

Do you agree with our list of the best Adam Driver performances, or do you think that something should be added or taken away? Does Star Wars: The Last Jedi deserve to be on this list? Let us know in the comments.

This week, Netflix released the highly anticipated Marriage Story starring Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver. Later this month, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters, which also stars Adam Driver, along with Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Mark Hamill, and Oscar Isaac. It’s an important month for Adam Driver and his career, but it’s only a small piece in an entire year of major moments for the actor.

Driver began his acting career a decade ago in New York City Broadway and off-Broadway shows. He started his on-screen career in 2011 with Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar. He then went on to have a series regular role in Girls from 2012 to 2017. Driver played Adam, the emotionally unpredictable, on and off-again boyfriend of Hannah (Lena Dunham). Since starting his career, Adam Driver has become one of the most sought after actors in Hollywood. Martin Scorsese even called him “one of the finest, if not the finest of his generation.”

Driver has had nearly a decade of working in Hollywood, but this year has been his most successful yet. Let's take a look at some of the things that really highlight 2019 for Adam Driver's career...

His Performance In A Marriage Story

Adam Driver has given many powerful performances throughout his career, in movies, television series, and plays. Nevertheless, in Marriage Story, Driver brought new levels and depth to his acting. Marriage Story reunites director Noah Baumbach and Driver, who previously worked together in three other projects: Frances Ha, While We're Young, and The Meyerowitz Stories. Marriage Story features Driver and Scarlett Johansson as an estranged married couple going through a divorce. The film starts with their characters Nicole and Charlie already going through the process and Marriage Story goes on to show all the vicious, liberating, infuriating, and melancholy things that comes with the end of a marriage.

Both Johansson and Driver bring layers, richness, and intensity to their performances. Each actor has moments of acting brilliance, but Driver has a few more of those moments, like in the scene where he sings Stephen Sondheim’s “Being Alive” from Company, and the escalating shouting scene where Charlie reaches his breaking point and verbally lashes out at Nicole. Besides delivering their lines in an authentic way, Johansson and Driver use a lot of their body language and facial expressions to deliver emotional punches.

Marriage Story is like watching a boxing match between two heavyweight champions, but instead of them aiming at each other, they’re taking gut shots at the audience. Somehow, it’s both painful and beautiful.

The Conclusion To The New Star Wars Trilogy

Star Wars fans and critics, some of the hardest people to please, have embraced and praised Adam Driver for his performance as Kylo Ren, the latest in a long line of villains seduced by the dark side. Driver has brought vulnerability and danger to his rendition of Kylo Ren, making Star Wars fans hope and wonder if Kylo has a redemption story in the making.

Fans of the new Star Wars trilogy want to see major lightsaber battles, but they also want to know how Finn (John Boyega), Poe (Oscar Isaac), Rey (Daisy Ridley), and Kylo Ren’s stories end—for many especially Kylo Ren’s story. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is set to break box office records, which might make this Adam Driver’s most profitable year as well.

Award Season Recognition

In 2018, Adam Driver also received critical praise for his supporting role as Flip Zimmerman in BlacKkKlansman. This role earned him a 2019 Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture. In January of this year, he earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, also for his role in BlacKkKlansman.

There is already a lot of buzz surrounding Adam Driver’s performance in Marriage Story, and he could likely repeat history by receiving Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations in 2020. The Hollywood Foreign Press has already nominated him for a Golden Globe for Best Performance by An Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama. Golden Globe nominations are often good predictors of Academy Award nominations, so there's a solid chance we'll see Driver’s name among the nominations for the Oscar for Best Lead Actor.

Photo Credit: (ABC/Rick Rowell)

At the Golden Globes, Driver has tough competition. He faces off against Christian Bale, Antonio Banderas, Jonathan Pryce, and Joaquin Phoenix-who has also been getting a lot of praise and attention for his role in Joker. However, despite all the award worthy-performances, Adam Driver is definitely a frontrunner to take home the Golden Globe and potentially an Oscar for Marriage Story.

His Versatile Performances

In addition to starring in Marriage Story and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Adam Driver has had a very active acting year in 2019, appearing in four films. He teamed up with Jim Jarmusch again for The Dead Don’t Die. Adam Driver and Jim Jarmusch previously worked together in Paterson, for which Driver won a few awards, including the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award and the Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor.

The Dead Don’t Die received mixed reviews, but critics singled out Bill Murray and Adam Driver for delivering the best performances in the movie. In November, Driver gave another critically acclaimed dramatic performance in The Report. This year, he has shown his versatility as an actor in major ways, like appearing in several different genres: comedy, horror, drama, and action adventure.

Adam Driver also returned to New York to return to the stage for Burn This. His role in Burn This added to his list of award nominations: Driver earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play. His role in Burn This garnered Adam Driver even more attention for his captivating acting abilities.

Suffice to say, it's been quite a year for the actor. Adam Driver will have a busy 2020 as well. He has one film set for a 2020 release, Annette, and he begins shooting The Last Duel. The Last Duel is directed by Ridley Scott, written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, and stars Driver, Damon, Affleck, and Jodie Comer. The film is scheduled for an early 2021 release. If you can’t wait to see more of Adam Driver, many of his films are available to stream. Catch Driver in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker on December 20, and stream Marriage Story on Netflix.

When people hear the name Topher Grace, they probably think of That '70s Show. That's not a bad thing, necessarily, although remembering the big show he did over a decade ago is a bit of a disservice to the projects he's been part of in Hollywood since.

For those who can't readily think of all those post-Eric Foreman career moves, here's some of the major appearances he's had in both television and film since the Fox series came to an end. (Though it's worth mentioning that he is down for a revival of That '70s Show at some point.)

Spider-Man 3 (2007)

This is probably the second project that comes to mind when people think of Topher Grace, and bears some responsibility for why he left That '70s Show ahead of its final season. Unfortunately, Spider-Man 3 got less acclaim than the first two movies in the Sam Raimi trilogy, and Grace's Eddie Brock didn't get much praise (even from himself). Neither did Tom Hardy's Brock, although Grace didn't get the luxury of a sequel like he did.

The Simpsons (2008)

Much like many celebrities before and after him, Topher Grace has done a guest spot on The Simpsons. This episode is particularly good, however, as "The DeBarted" introduces Topher Grace's Donny in a story similar to The Departed. Donny is a rat for Principal Skinner and informs on Bart's pranks in exchange for rewards. Bart inevitably finds out, and together, they turn the tables and create an ending almost as iconic as the movie it's based on.

Valentine's Day (2010)

On paper, Valentine's Day seems as though it was constructed to be an American version of Love, Actually. While the film knocked it out of the part in casting a bunch of big names and creating a story that intertwines stories within each other, it failed in execution. Topher Grace is just one of the many notable names in this largely forgettable film, which remains the first and one of few feature films to feature Taylor Swift.

Predators (2010)

It's not often one can say a role in the Predator franchise is a highlight in an actor's career, but Topher Grace can say that. The actor was leery to take a role in Predators for that reason, but upon reading the script, he told Bloody Disgusting he likened it to the Aliens of the Predator movies. His instincts weren't off, and while it wasn't given incredible reviews, it remains the second highest-acclaimed film of the franchise to date.

Take Me Home Tonight (2011)

Topher Grace got his big break doing a show about the '70s, so why not take a crack at the '80s? Grace plays a grad student thinking about what he's going to do with his life which, as is the case in most movies, means he's about to go on an epic adventure. He does just that in a movie that didn't win a lot of praise, but may be enjoyed by fans of '80s movies.

Interstellar (2014)

Topher Grace had a smaller, but notable role in Interstellar, as he played Murph's friend Getty. The two share a kiss at one point in the film, and while that's not a major plot point of the film, it is a notable scene that elevates the minor character somewhat. That said, can anyone really consider a role in a Christopher Nolan film a small role?

American Ultra (2015)

Years after Spider-Man 3, Topher Grace got another chance to play the villain in a role opposite Jesse Eisenberg in the action-packed American Ultra. For a movie where it feels like everyone is in a role they're not accustomed to, Grace does well as the baddie with a performance that can actually make one's blood boil while watching. To be honest, if he had this same energy when he played Venom, the movie might've turned out better.

Drunk History (2015)

Lots of actors have done Drunk History, but that doesn't make Topher Grace's appearance on the Comedy Central series any less noteworthy. Grace appeared as Milton Bradley in the "Games" episode, in a performance that detailed the famed game-maker's early exploits. It may not be the most memorable celebrity appearance on Drunk History, but it doesn't have to be to get a laugh from anyone who enjoys good comedy.

Workaholics (2017)

Topher Grace found his way into Workaholics in the show's final season and portrayed the tatted-up drug dealer Noel. Part of the humor is just how different Grace looks in the role, but he also has a good bit where Ders is trying to sexually dominate him with a golf ball trick that is as funny as it probably was a choking hazard. Seriously, does anyone else get nervous he's going to swallow one of those while watching?

War Machine (2017)

Brad Pitt's Netflix film War Machine features Topher Grace in a movie that is based off the non-fiction work The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan. Grace plays a former lobbyist who becomes Brad Pitt's General Glen McMahon's civilian media adviser. While critics have complained about the general execution of the story, the talent and acting of the cast make this one worth checking out.

Get Shorty (2017)

Those who have Epix may have noticed Topher Grace in Get Shorty as Tyler Mathis. The actor only had a couple episodes he appeared in for Season 1, and unfortunately wasn't on board back when the series returned for Season 2 in 2018. There's been no word on whether or not he'll ever return, but we got our hopes up because we're loving that beard and long-haired look.

BlacKkKlansman (2018)

One of the biggest roles Topher Grace has taken in recent years, BlacKkKlansman puts the actor in the shoes of former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, David Duke. That's a rough role to take, and Grace even received a threatening phone call following taking on the role. Despite that, he played the part and, in the process, gave one of the best big screen performances of his career.

Love, Death & Robots (2019)

Netflix subscribers can enjoy Topher Grace on one of its most-bizarre original series to date, Love, Death & Robots. The short features a couple who discover a lost civilization inside of their ice box. It's a short watch, and while the acting is goofy, it fits within the frame of the short given all that's going on. This is one to put on while figuring out what to binge for the rest of the night.

Do you have a favorite performance from this list that other Topher Grace fans should check out? Feel free to share in the comments below, and give a listen to Grace's excellent new podcast called Minor Adventures with Topher Grace, which recently had That 70s Show co-star Wilmer Valderrama as a guest. Check out CinemaBlend for all the latest news on the hottest movies and television shows.

We are rapidly approaching the 2019 Academy Awards ceremony, which is set to air on ABC toward the end of the month. There’s been a lot of speculation and as that time approaches there will be more speculation regarding which movie will ultimately take home the coveted Best Picture prize, a prize that will be splashed over DVD and Digital releases, not to mention posters in perpetuity.

As we already know, the movie that wins Best Picture is an Academy favorite and not an audience favorite. Audiences vote with their wallets (and at the People’s Choice Awards). If you’d like to see how your favorite movies have fared at the box office this year, we’ve handily compiled them in order by box office total. Take a look below.

Black Panther

As a Marvel movie, box office expectations for Black Panther were pretty high. However, since Black Panther is not one of the most known Marvel characters and this flick mostly worked as an origin story (we did see Black Panther previously in Civil War), it seemed unlikely the movie would make a billion dollars. But now it has blown way past that mark. We're not done with Wakanda, either, thanks to Avengers: Endgame coming later this year and the Black Panther sequel that is in the works. 

Domestic: $700,059,566

Worldwide: $646,853,595

Total: $1,346,913,161

Bohemian Rhapsody

Another movie that has heavily exceeded expectations this season, Bohemian Rhapsody has been a fan-favorite flick in theaters. The Twentieth Century Fox movie has been noted for its brilliant Live Aid scene and its notable acting performances. It’s come through big at a few other ceremonies, although we’ll have to wait and see what happens on the big night. 

Domestic: $210,566,177

Worldwide: $634,084,406

Total: $844,650,483

A Star Is Born

Early out of the gate, A Star of Born had a lot of buzz during the fall as “Shallow” became the anthem of the season and people flocked to catch Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut in theaters. Well-liked and popular, A Star Is Born has been given a lot of awards chances at other ceremonies as well, but we’ll have to wait and see if the Warner Bros. with MGM movie can follow in the steps of its fellow remakes and capitalize on them.

Domestic: $208,731,591

Worldwide: $211,300,000

Total: $420,031,591

Green Book

Another dark horse out of the gate, Universal’s Green Book has been praised for its use of comedy and emotionality. Performances by Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali have made Green Book a movie that has stood out, although it has dealt with some flack regarding its somewhat fictional “true story” narrative. It hasn't stopped people from seeing the movie though. Not bad for a movie with a little over a $20 million budget. 

Domestic: $61,378,751

Worldwide: $46,515,692

Total: $107,894,443

BlackKklansman

Spike Lee’s first big showing at the Academy Awards since 4 Little Girls and Do The Right Thing, BlackKklansman has a killer score, a wild narrative that’s full of twists and turns and plenty of comedic moments to boot. It’s another in the “based on a true story” genre and we’ll have to wait if the Focus Features movie stands out among bigger box office winners. 

Domestic: $48,686,605

Worldwide: $40,879,527

Total: $89,566,132

The Favourite

Yorgos Lanthimos’ follow-up to The Lobster is zany and quite a bit of fun, but it may not be quite to everyone’s taste. And while it has had a nice run in terms of nominations this awards season, its box office is on the lower side compared to a lot of the other nominees. (Should we blame the c-bombs?) But take a look at the Fox Searchlight movie’s box office results for yourself. 

Domestic: $30,214,464

Worldwide: $39,535,761

Total: $69,750,225

Vice

Mostly known as the movie that totally transformed Christian Bale into Dick Cheney, Vice has seen some prominence during the awards season. The Annapurna pictures flick has not had a great run overseas, however, which make sense considering its U.S. political narrative. Still, it hasn’t done badly on the home front. You can take a look at the full numbers below. 

Domestic: $45,221,362

Worldwide: $9,400,000

Total: $54,621,362

Roma

Please note that Roma is a Netflix release. Netflix has had some resistance to putting its movies into theaters and as a result some theaters have actually banned Netflix releases. In addition, the availability of Netflix in homes lends itself to people watching at home and not in theaters. There are some minor numbers available for Roma, but they don’t really lend themselves to trends and Netflix hasn’t shown a desire to play ball in terms of revealing how much the Best Picture contender made. While other streaming services like Amazon prefer to do the traditionally theatrical route first, Netflix has gone its own way and it's unclear whether this will have an effect on Academy voters at this point.

Luckily, we don’t have too much longer to wait to see how the 2019 Oscars ultimately pan out. Be prepared for a long Sunday night on February 24, full of red carpet shenanigans and celebrities being played off of the stage when they talk for too long. To avoid Best Picture being announced way after primetime, the ceremony has even decided to announce a few of its wins during commercial breaks. So if you miss categories like editing and cinematography you won't be alone. It's all in service of getting to the Best Picture win more quickly than usually, so hopefully that will end up working out and speeches won't just take 30 seconds longer than normal...

In the meantime, if you want to look at how 2019 movies are faring, you can see more over at Box Office Mojo or check out the full list of Academy Awards nominees ahead of the big event. There are plenty of box office winners that were nominated for awards outside of the eight Best Picture nominees in that major category, and it's worth it to take a look and keep an eye on how those also fared.

This week's Oscar nominations were a good day for Spike Lee and his newest film. BlacKkKlansman received six nominations including a Best Supporting Actor nod for Adam Driver, a Best Director slot for Lee himself, and a Best Picture nomination. The movie is certainly in a good position heading into next month's awards ceremony, and Spike Lee thinks that recent Oscar protests are to thank for that. Lee says that the #OscarsSoWhite social media movement is the reason his film got this recognition. According to the director...

OscarsSoWhite became a social media hashtag in 2016 when, following the announcement of the Oscar nominations that year, not a single person of color was nominated for any of the acting awards. The lack of diversity among nominees had been called out before, but that year frustration seemed to come to a head and the hashtag went viral.

Spike Lee tells EW that he thinks the movement had its desired effect, and it made the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences realize that it needed to diversify its membership. The Academy made several changes to the way it handled its membership in order to address these concerns.

Spike Lee seems to feel those changes have already borne fruit, as he credits them with Moonlight's win in the Best Picture category two years ago as well as for BlacKkKlansman's success this week.

It certainly is true that while Spike Lee has become one of the most respected film director's working today, this is the first time he's received Oscar recognition in that category. Lee himself points out that his film Do the Right Thing is, without question, viewed today as a remarkable achievement in film, but at the time it was largely overlooked by the Academy, receiving only two Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Screenplay.

Spike Lee's nomination in the screenplay category for Do the Right Thing, along with a Best Documentary Feature nomination in 1998, are the only Oscars he was ever nominated for prior to this year. He was given an honorary Oscar in 2016.

It's impossible to know for certain just what the true impact of #OscarsSoWhite really has been, or will be, but one thing that's certain is that BlacKkKlansman is certainly giving Spike Lee the recognition that he deserves today.

Folks, we've finally made it! The end zone of awards season is upon us, as the 91st Academy Awards have dropped their nominations, and they're as interesting as you'd expect. If you want to see the total list of nominations, you can find them elsewhere. What we're here to discuss is something even more important: how you, the viewing public, can get to see all of this year's nominated films in time for the big show.

Whether you're a home theater buff or you need the scent of fresh popcorn wafting through the air, you're covered with our guide to the best and brightest films 2018 had to offer! So straighten your outfits and prepare your speeches thanking us, as we run through this year's Oscar nominated films and where to find them!

Theatrical Marathon Events

Over the past decade or so, movie theater chains have seriously stepped up their game when it comes to providing the entire nominated class to the public. In particular, AMC Theaters seemed to lead the trend over the course of 13 years. So naturally, its Best Picture Showcase is returning for the 13th consecutive year, which looks to be running in pretty much the same way it's always been run. With that marathon, you can choose to either spread the wealth across the two weekends (February 16th and 23rd) before the Oscars, or if you're daring, you can run the 24 hour marathon in select locations.

However, if you're looking to pace yourself or just see select nominees in the theater, then your best bet is with theater chains like Regal Cinemas or Cinemark. For $35, you can check out as many Best Picture nominees as you want, at any time you want, through a scheduled run that takes you from the middle of February to the end of the month. Regal's marathon runs between February 15th to February 24th, while Cinemark's marathon starts on February 18 and ends on the same day. Though you may want to check the listings of your local locations, as availability through those chains is subject to change.

One final note before we move on: there's one film you will probably not be able to catch in any of these theatrical line-ups: Netflix's Roma. As it turns out, since the film was not previously licensed for theatrical distribution with AMC or Regal, so it will not be included in the Best Picture lineup for either chain. With that out of the way, let's take a look at how you can catch each film individually.

A Star Is Born

Synopsis: A country singer (Bradley Cooper) and a rising pop star (Lady Gaga) engage in a romance that puts her on the path to fame, and him on a downward spiral.

Is It Still In Theaters: Yes. Despite its initial release last October, A Star Is Born has been brought back to theaters recently to bring in some of that awards season money.

When Will It Be Available On Digital HD/Home Video: A Star Is Born is currently available on Digital HD, with 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD releases all dropping on February 19.

Bohemian Rhapsody

Synopsis: The life and times of Freddie Mercury and Queen are told through musical numbers, video reenactments and a dramatic narrative.

Is It Still In Theaters: Yes. Being the monstrous hit that it is, Bohemian Rhapsody has gotten cozy in theaters since its run began last November.

When Will It Be Available On Digital HD/Home Video: Bohemian Rhapsody drops on Digital HD today, with 4K/Blu-ray/DVD all set for release on February 12.

Green Book

Synopsis: Thrown together by fate, Tony Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen) and Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) take a road trip in the deep South of the 1960s, becoming friends along the way.

Is It Still In Theaters: Yes. Green Book still has a theatrical presence, with its initial run starting in mid November. Though the offerings may be limited, so check your local listings carefully.

When Will It Be Available On Digital HD/Home Video: The physical release for Green Book will hit 4K/Blu-ray/DVD on March 5, with the Digital HD release set for February 19.

Vice

Synopsis: Through decades of service in Washington D.C. politics, Dick Cheney went from power broker to the second most powerful man in town, redefining an era of international relations in the process.

Is It Still In Theaters: Yes. Vice opened in theaters on Christmas Day, so there's plenty of shelf life left on the film's theatrical contingent.

When Will It Be Available On Digital HD/Home Video: Vice currently does not have a confirmed release date for Digital HD or home video, probably due to it being so close to the film's theatrical release window. As soon as we have that information, we'll update accordingly.

The Favourite

Synopsis: Two women (Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz) duke it out in an escalating rivalry, with the affections of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) acting as the grand price.

Is It Still In Theaters: The Favourite can still be found in some theaters, as it initially opened in limited release late November, with a wide release occurring not too long after.

When Will It Be Available On Digital HD/Home Video: The Favourite has no current confirmed release date for Digital HD or physical release. As soon as we have that information, we'll update accordingly.

Black Panther

Synopsis: After taking the throne of his native Wakanda, King T'Challa must face the challenges of leadership, and a rogue faction who challenges his right to rule.

Is It Still In Theaters: No. Black Panther's record breaking run started last February and ended not too long after Avengers: Infinity War took theaters.

When Will It Be Available On Digital HD/Home Video: Black Panther is currently available on Digital HD, as well as physical 4K/Blu-ray/DVD release. It is also available for streaming through Netflix.

BlacKkKlansman

Synopsis: Based on the true story of Ron Stallworth and Flip Zimmerman's infiltration into the Ku Klux Klan, Black Klansman tells the story of one of the most outrageous sting operations ever.

Is It Still In Theaters: No. Black KkKlansman started its theatrical run in August, so the film is well outside of its typical theatrical run.

When Will It Be Available On Digital HD/Home Video: BlacKkKlansman is currently available for streaming on Digital HD, as well as in a physical release on 4K/Blu-ray/DVD.

Roma

Synopsis: A slice of life in 1970's Mexico, Roma tells the story of Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), a housemaid for a family going through tumultuous times in a chaotic period of their nation's history.

Is It Still In Theaters: If you want to see Roma on the big screen, you'll want to check your listings carefully. Netflix has released the film in a limited theatrical run, which will more than likely be at your local art-house cinema.

When Will It Be Available On Digital HD/Home Video: Roma is currently streaming on Netflix, with no immediate plans of a physical release.

So there you have it. A field of eight of 2018's most notable films, ready for you the eager public to devour. Don't forget to check local theater listings and read the fine print on those film festival packages very carefully. Otherwise, happy hunting, you golden gods you!

This is, without question, the most wide open field I can ever remember at the Oscars. There are five movies I'd legitimately consider putting money down on, if given enticing odds, and I have absolutely no idea who is going to end up winning. It's utter chaos, and I love it.

That being said, I think there is a rough order of where things stand right now, based on how much love the films got in other categories, how well each did during the precursor ceremonies and what the buzz on the street is like. So, prior to any of the campaigning that's about to go on, I'm going to take my shot at ordering the field. As always, feel free to bookmark this page and scream at me when it turns out I was way off base.

8. Bohemian Rhapsody

What a world. After parting ways with its director in the middle of production, Bohemian Rhapsody originally was headed for dark places. The mediocre reviews that followed didn't seem poised to help a ton, but then fans started flocking to the film and loving it. Good word of mouth spread quickly, and suddenly the film found itself in the middle of awards season as a real contender, even outside of the Rami Malek Best Actor nomination that was always coming. It ultimately won Best Drama at the Golden Globes and now, here we are. There was such backlash after the Globes win, however, that you'd have to think it won't win here. Stranger things have happened, but I think all involved should enjoy their nomination and be content knowing they produced one of the most seen and liked films of the year.

7. Vice

With only pretty decent reviews and much of the chatter centering on its incredible acting performances, Vice's Best Picture nomination is definitely the most surprising of the group, but in a vacuum, it also has a lot going for it. Today, the film picked up additional nominations in a ton of categories, including major ones like Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress and Original Screenplay. Normally, that combination would be enough to push a film to favorite status, but Vice is definitely going to be too political for some voters. It's also widely considered, even amongst its supporters, to be a worse film than The Big Short, which lost all of its categories back in 2016 except for Adapted Screenplay.

6. Black Panther

It's a good day for Black Panther. There's no arguing that. The film picked up seven nominations and hopefully proved once and for all that superhero films can and should be considered among the top echelon of work being produced in Hollywood. There's a very good chance the movie might clean up on some of the technical awards, as well, but its case for Best Picture is a bit harder to make. It didn't pick up nominations in any of the acting, directing or screenplay categories, and it even missed out on editing. Typically, you want a wide variety of nominations to show broad support from different branches of the Academy. That being said, there is a lot of love for Black Panther. It's a movie that was almost universally liked by fans, critics and people within the industry, and that puts it in a better spot than the two movies above.

5. The Favourite

Three acting nominations were all but certain for The Favourite, and in some ways, its Best Picture nomination seemed like a slam dunk too. What I was interested to watch for was how it did in other categories, and the answer is very well. It also got nominations for directing, screenplay and a bunch more, ultimately tying Roma for the most with ten. Leading the pack in nominations does matter, and The Favourite is definitely in play. Anecdotally, however, I think there is more respect for what the film tried to do and how weird it is than there is genuine love for the movie itself. That's not to say people don't love the movie, but there haven't been nearly as many for or against type editorials as we've seen for the other major contenders. It's almost as if everyone is happy it's getting recognized but also content to fight for other things.

4. A Star Is Born

Oh how the mighty have fallen. Remember when everyone assumed A Star Is Born was going to coast to victory? Well, it has lost a whole lot more than it has won this awards season, and while eight nominations is nothing to scoff at, that's still less than both Roma and The Favourite. In addition, Bradley Cooper missing out on Best Director seems like a comment on the quality of the film itself, and it's hard to look at the larger picture and see any real momentum. It's still a leading contender. I wouldn't be shocked if it won, but there is no way A Star Is Born is the frontrunner anymore, which would have been unthinkable a few months ago.

3. BlacKkKlansman

Outside of John David Washington missing out on a Best Actor nomination, it's hard not to see today as validation for Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman. The film picked up six nominations, and it did so across a lot of branches. We've got acting, directing, screenplay, editing and score. There's also just a lot of positive buzz around the film, and it all seems to be peaking at just the right time. Editing and directing are typically really good signs, and so is overachieving on nomination day. There were some who thought BlacKkKlansman might not be recognized at all. As such, this big performance today will vault it back into the spotlight, and you'll likely start seeing editorials written about how it deserves to win.

2. Green Book

Well, Green Book certainly hasn't suffered from a lack of conversation. When the film was originally released, it was met with mostly solid reviews and a feeling of "hey, that was a nice story." Then it started picking up awards buzz and the editorials about how it wasn't progressive enough or how the story may not be exactly accurate followed. Later, there were less than flattering stories about the director and one of the writers published, and yet, it still won at the Golden Globes and picked up five nominations today. I tend to agree with the pundits that Green Book will likely clean up with older voters, and in a split field, that may be enough. I don't know. A few weeks ago, I would have put Green Book as the frontrunner, but it feels like it's losing steam.

1. Roma

I think Roma has the best chance of winning. It tied for the most nominations. It has a ton of good buzz. People love Alfonso Cuaron. Most of the things you look for in a potential winner are here, except it has two glaring, huge shortcomings. First, it's a foreign language film, and second, it's a Netflix movie that only received a token release in order to qualify. Those might not be huge issues to you, but they're two big issues to a lot of people. Whether people should see Roma or not, there are plenty of everyday Americans who will never give it a chance because they don't feel like reading something, and there are voters who will never vote for a Netflix movie because they think the theater experience has to be protected. So... can Roma overcome all of that? I bet yes, but I'm not confident at all.

Ultimately, I have no idea exactly what's going to happen over the next few weeks. That uncertainty always makes the Oscar race exciting, but the key difference this year is that instead of two or maybe three total movies fighting with each other, damn near everything on the board is actually in play. That's incredible, and it should make for one of the most exciting Academy Awards in a long time. So, keep it here for more Oscar coverage than you can handle over the next few weeks, and please let us know in the poll below who you think is going to win...

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With the precursor ceremonies out of the way and the grueling and sometimes weird award season winding to a close, the Oscars finally stepped into the spotlight today and announced the Academy's 2019 nominations for every category. Not surprisingly, we still don't have a ton of insight into what's going to happen in a few of the major races. This year's field is, perhaps, more wide open than we've seen in a long time, and it won't be long before all the campaigning really kicks into high gear.

The Oscars is one of the few ceremonies in which it really is an honor to be nominated. The phrase "Academy Award Nominated" follows people around for the rest of their careers, especially if it's in the service of an indie movie that is stacked with enough former nominees to look the poster and/ or end of the trailer look really cool. So, a big congratulations to everyone who picked up a nomination today. You can check out the full list below...

Best Picture

Black Panther

BlackKklansman

Bohemian Rhapsody

The Favourite

Green Book

Roma

A Star Is Born

Vice

Best Director

Spike Lee, BlackKklansman

Cold War, Pawel Pawlikowski

The Favourite, Yorgos Lanthimos

Roma, Alfonso Cuaran

Vice, Adam McKay

Best Actress

Yalitza Aparicio, Roma

Glenn Close, The Wife

Olivia Colman, The Favourite

Lady Gaga, A Star is Born

Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Best Actor

Christian Bale, Vice

Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born

Willem Dafoe, At Eternity's Gate

Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody

Viggo Mortensen, Green Book

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams, Vice

Marina de Tavira, Roma

Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk

Emma Stone, The Favourite

Rachel Weisz, The Favourite

Best Supporting Actor

Mahershala Ali, Green Book

Adam Driver, BlackKklansman

Sam Elliot, A Star Is Born

Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Sam Rockwell, Vice

Best Original Screenplay

The Favourite

First Reformed

Green Book

Roma

Vice

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

BlackKklansman

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

If Beale Street Could Talk

A Star is Born

Best Animated Feature

Incredibles 2

Isle Of Dogs

Mirai

Ralph Breaks The Internet

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-verse

Best Foreign Language Film

Capernaum (Lebanon)

Cold War (Poland)

Never Look Away (Germany)

Roma (Mexico)

Shoplifters (Japan)

Best Documentary Feature

Free Solo

Hale County This Morning, This Evening

Minding The Gap

Of Fathers And Sons

RBG

Best Production Design

Black Panther

The Favourite

First Man

Mary Poppins Returns

Roma

Best Cinematography

Cold War

The Favourite

Never Look Away

Roma

A Star Is Born

Best Costume Design

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Black Panther

The Favourite

Mary Poppins Returns

Mary Queen of Scots

Best Film Editing

BlackKklansman

Bohemian Rhapsody

The Favourite

Green Book

Vice

Best Makeup And Hairstyling

Border

Mary Queen Of Scots

Vice

Best Original Score

Black Panther

BlackKklansman

If Beale Street Could Talk

Isle of Dogs

Mary Poppins Returns

Best Original Song

"All the Stars," Black Panther

"I'll Fight," RBG

"The Place Where Lost Things Go," Mary Poppins Returns

"Shallow," A Star Is Born

"When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings," The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs

Best Sound Editing

Black Panther

Bohemian Rhapsody

First Man

A Quiet Place

Roma

Best Sound Mixing

Black Panther

Bohemian Rhapsody

First Man

Roma

A Star Is Born

Best Visual Effects

Avengers: Infinity War

Christopher Robin

First Man

Ready Player One

Solo: A Star Wars Story

Best Animated Short

Animal Behaviour

Bao

Late Afternoon

One Small Step

Weekends

Best Documentary Short

Black Sheep

End Game

Lifeboat

A Night at the Garden

Period. End of Sentence.

Best Live Action Short

Detainment

Fauve

Marguerite

Mother

Skin

We'll have plenty of Oscar coverage over the next several weeks leading into the ceremony, which as you may remember, is going without a host this year. We can't promise you whether that'll help or hurt the entertainment value, but we can promise you we'll be updating the winners live and providing commentary during the ceremony on February 24th.

Last year was a great one at the movies; there was something for everyone and quality to be found at both the art house and the multiplex. That quantity of good movies made top 10 lists especially difficult, showing why the Best Picture race seems so open right now. Opinions will vary, but if you're looking to see which 2018 movies received the most acclaim, Rotten Tomatoes has released its list of the best-reviewed movies of 2018. Take a look.

If you only saw movies off this list in 2018, you still would have had a great year at that movies. This list is about what you would expect while also still having a few surprises on it if you only pay attention to the biggest movies.

Coming in at number 1 is, of course, Black Panther. Ryan Coogler's film wasn't only an unprecedented smash hit at the box office and a cultural phenomenon, it was a critical darling like arguably no superhero film before it and quite deserving of Rotten Tomatoes' Golden Tomato Award.

There's a reason that there are lists of sequels better than the original, and that's because it is not the norm. So for Mission: Impossible Fallout, the sixth film in a series, to be one of the best reviewed movies of the year is truly awesome, and that trend looks like it could continue with the recent news that director Christopher McQuarrie will be choosing to accept this mission twice more for Mission: Impossible 7 and 8.

It is also very cool to see director Spike Lee back in critics' favor with the hilarious, biting and relevant BlacKkKlansman. As far as Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is concerned, we here at CinemaBlend have made our thoughts on that animated masterpiece pretty clearly known. It made its way to our top 10 lists and it was our number 1 movie of the year with everyone who saw it giving it five stars. Clearly we were not alone in our opinion based on its presence on Rotten Tomatoes' list.

A Quiet Place and A Star is Born were both critical darlings and the latter is a major contender in the Oscar race. These films both announced up and coming directors in a big way and they also delivered in spades at the box office.

Perhaps coming as a surprise to some, given its box office that was far less than it deserved, is Paddington 2. The family film managed to top its predecessor, which earned a 98% on the Tomatometer with a sterling and incredibly rare 100%. Maybe Paddington 2 has now shown up on enough lists like this one that people will seek it out. At number 8 is Incredibles 2, which is now Pixar's most successful film, and its reviews justify that success.

Rounding out the top 10 are two films that are smaller than the majority of movies on this list, but no less deserving given their reception among critics. Eighth Grade and Won't You Be My Neighbor resonated with critics and the people who saw them generally loved these sweet stories. It is also cool to see Won't You Be My Neighbor, a documentary, make the list of the year's best-reviewed films.

If you looked at this list and were wondering where is Roma, fear not, this list is for the best-reviewed wide release movies of 2018. To qualify as a wide release, a movie had to be in at least 600 theaters. To see where movies like Roma and Can You Ever Forgive Me? landed, check out Rotten Tomatoes' list of best-reviewed limited release movies of 2018.

So if you haven't caught all of these movies, check them out, they come highly recommended. And to see what movies might land on this list next year, take a look at our 2019 release schedule.

This year's Golden Globe movie nominations were set to celebrate some of the most unconventional awards titles in quite some time. However, when it came time for the winners of Best Picture in the Comedy and Drama categories to be announced toward the end of Sunday night's show, some of the safest titles on the list took home the highest accolades.

Green Book led last night's wins as it nabbed Best Film Screenplay, Mahershala Ali was recognized for Best Supporting Actor and toward the end of the night, the movie took home Best Picture for a Comedy or Musical. Bohemian Rhapsody took two awards: Rami Malek for Best Actor and the last and most distinctive Globe, Best Picture -- Drama.

Why? How? What happened to edgier picks like Black Panther or BlackKklansman? Where was the love for A Star Is Born? Let's break down the Best Picture winners of last night's Golden Globes and analyze why they don't quite stack up to the other films that were in the running last night.

Why Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody Won

The Golden Globes' Best Picture winner on the Comedy side is about the relationship between an African-American classical pianist (Mahershala Ali) and his Italian-American driver (Viggo Mortenson) as they tour the Deep South through a string of his gigs. As the men take a journey through the tenseness of the racially-divided South, they start to gain empathy and understanding of each other about the different communities where they hail from.

Green Book has its strengths. The lead actor's performances are unmistakably good, and it checks the box of tackling the hot button issue of race (though on the surface level compared to other nominees). The film won the Audience Award at TIFF which other Best Picture winners such as 12 Years a Slave and The King's Speech were honored with before going on to be recognized for higher accolades.

Bohemian Rhapsody, meanwhile, is a music-infused hit that told the story of Queen's rise to stardom, captured Freddie Mercury's essence, and showcased the band's foot-stomping rock hits to give audiences a look in to what seeing them live might have been like. A lot of people saw Bohemian Rhapsody, as it made an incredible $743 million at the box office, proving that the fan base and interest for the band's story was there among the general public, which can't be said for other past winners.

Why It's Kind Of An Issue That These Movies Won

The winners of the two Best Picture categories for the Golden Globes were good movies, but were also typical movies recognized in award shows -- biopics. They also didn't gracefully depict their subject in a way that warranted their wins, in my opinion, or take risks within the genre as their fellow nominees might have in their own. They also won during a groundbreaking year which could have seen wins for genres not typically recognized.

Green Book didn't display a particularly nuanced approached to its topic of race relations and offered a story moviegoers have undoubtedly been on before. I feel that it does a good enough job of exploring the characters in an entertaining and engaging way and is certainly a crowd-pleaser, but goes just where one would expect on its journey.

The film is based on a "true friendship" and is co-written by the son of Viggo Mortenson's character. However, the family of the Mahershala Ali character have recently spoken out about Green Book, calling it "full of lies." This doesn't help the film's credibility, and since it doesn't seem like the film made a complete effort to tell both sides of "race relations" story, this makes Green Book a bit of a problematic Best Picture winner at the Globes.

Turning to Bohemian Rhapsody, the way Freddie and the band's story was told was criticized by many to be victim to some uninspired paint-by-numbers storytelling. The film also didn't really carve in the time to fully explore Freddie Mercury's bisexuality and struggle with AIDS -- a fact that, according to social media reaction, upset members of the LGBT community.

One reason why this was primarily ignored seemed to be because the filmmakers wanted Bohemian Rhapsody to be more of a rock opera, crowd-pleaser then an all-out risk taker on a biopic that might have explored more aspects of Freddie Mercury's life. Whilst Rami Malek's transformation into the icon is unmistakably an achievement worth recognizing (and done so through his Best Actor win last night), celebrating the film itself above all the rest of 2018 doesn't exactly sit well, in my opinion.

Why The Other Nominees Deserved More Attention

The "biopic" may have long been the award-recognition go-to genre in the past, but the Globes this year had so much more to work with in the original, different, fresh-faced picks that maybe should have beat out the conventional selections that emerged victorious.

In the Golden Globes' Comedy category, Crazy Rich Asians for example deserved recognition for a few reasons: it revitalized the romantic comedy in a way that was freshly feminist and featured the first all Asian-American cast in over 25 years and juggled them effectively. The Favourite, meanwhile, showed period pieces could be fun and had some memorable performances from Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz as they swore, entertained and shocked audiences.

By no means did Mary Poppins Returns reinvent the wheel it was inspired by, but it pulled off a delightful old-timey musical with full-fledged original songs and dances. Vice had some amazing depictions of politicians who shook the early '00s, most notably through Christian Bale's remarkable transformation and Adam McKay's eye for comedy.

In the Drama category alone, three films were crafted by black filmmakers with a specific eye for the nuance of the position of race in America throughout history: Spike Lee, Barry Jenkins and Ryan Coogler came to play with BlackKklansman, If Beale Street Could Talk and Black Panther. A Star is Born crafted original songs that brought out a believable romance between Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's characters, highlighting the perils of fame, addiction and realistic love.

I believe these movies were all risky projects in their own right that challenged the typical films of today, moved forward their genre and/or told an eye-opening story in an accessible way. Why do award shows keep falling back on biopic crowd pleasers?

There Are Plenty Of Awards Shows Left

The Golden Globes certainly isn't the only award show in the mix, as it is second in distinction to the Oscars coming in February. The Globes can sometimes be a predictor of what will be favored by the Academy or at least boost attention for the names most celebrated last night. The Critics' Choice Film and TV Awards, Screen Actor Guild Awards, BAFTAs and Annie's are important award shows for the season before the Oscars that could also show a different hand about what movies of 2018 can be celebrated.

While "crowd pleasers" were the distinction the Globes most celebrated, could be completely flipped on its head in the next award show. There were quite a few groundbreaking crowd pleasers this year that could be recognized too out of the biopic genre -- such as Black Panther, A Star is Born and Crazy Rich Asians. There's plenty more films that not many people saw but could be elevated by their recognition as well. Why does "based on a true story" have to sway Bohemian Rhapsody and Green Book over some of 2018's most impressive offerings?

What do you think? Did the Golden Globes get it right with Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody? Or should they have honored other films in their respective categories?

Tonight's the night. Some of Hollywood's most elite will be sashaying down the red carpet, engaging in myriad interviews until they will be sat at tables where alcohol will flow freely. That's when the real fun begins. The Golden Globes are a lot more relaxed than that other big televised movie award that shall not be named here.

However, The Golden Globes are not only a fun night out, they also help to set the tone for what comes next during awards season. Interestingly, nominees range from some surprise box office hits to some indie fare. Musicals like Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star Is Born stand out as do racial narratives including BlackKklansman, Green Book and If Beale Street Could Talk.

Of course, there have definitely already been some snubs this awards season, as well as some excellent picks!

We'll be updating winners as the night progresses, so be sure to check back and see if your favorites landed the coveted golden award. If you are looking for the full list of TV winners, we have you covered as well.

Best Motion Picture, Drama

Black Panther

BlackKklansman

Bohemian Rhapsody

If Beale Street Could Talk

A Star Is Born

Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy

Crazy Rich Asians

The Favourite

Green Book

Mary Poppins Returns

Vice

Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture, Drama

Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born

Willem Defoe, At Eternity's Gate

Lucas Hedges, Boy Erased

Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody

John David Washington, BlackKklansman

Best Performance By An Actress In A Motion Picture, Drama

Glenn Close, The Wife

Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born

Nicole Kidman, Destroyer

Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Rosamund Pike, A Private War

Best Performance By An Actress In A Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy

Emily Blunt, Mary Poppins Returns

Olivia Colman, The Favourite

Elsie Fisher, Eighth Grade

Charlize Theron, Tully

Constance Wu, Crazy Rich Asians

Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy

Christian Bale, Vice

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mary Poppins Returns

Viggo Mortensen, Green Book

Robert Redford, The Old Man and the Gun

John C. Reilly, Stan And Ollie

Best Performance By A Supporting Actor In A Motion Picture

Mahershala Ali, Green Book

Timothee Chalamet, Beautiful Boy

Adam Driver, BlackKklansman

Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Sam Rockwell, Vice

Best Performance By A Supporting Actress In A Motion Picture

Amy Adams, Vice

Claire Foy, First Man

Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk

Emma Stone, The Favourite

Rachel Weisz, The Favourite

Best Screenplay Motion Picture

Roma

The Favourite

If Beale Street Could Talk

Vice

Green Book

Best Original Song

"All The Stars," Black Panther

"Girl in the Movies," Dumplin'

"Requiem for a Private War," A Private War

"Revelation," Boy Erased

"Shallow," A Star Is Born

Best Motion Picture, Animated

Incredibles 2

Isle of Dogs

Mirai

Ralph Breaks the Internet

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Best Original Score Motion Picture

A Quiet Place

Isle of Dogs

Black Panther

First Man

Mary Poppins Returns

Best Motion Picture, Foreign Language

Capernaum

Girl

Never Look Away

Roma

Shoplifters

Best Director

Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born

Alfonso Cuaron, Roma

Peter Farrelly, Green Book

Spike Lee, BlackKklansman

Adam McKay, Vice

What do you think? Any big surprises this year? Let us know in the comments, below.

SPOILER WARNING: Some of the sections on this list contain light spoilers for the respective movies they are about. Be careful as you read!

While I typically get to see between 120 and 130 new releases in a single year, 2018 was a bit different. Going a bit above and beyond, going into writing this list I've seen over 150 movies that arrived for our viewing pleasure in the last 12 months. It was great, as I got to see a huge variety of films - the great, the terrible, and the odd - but there is one drawback: it made putting this Top 10 list an extra challenge to assemble.

The reality is that I saw a lot more good films than bad in the last year, and while not every one of them are Top 10 worthy, a shocking number of them actually are. As such, I struggled a bit to put this list together, and I'm sure I'll look at it in the future and think that I should have flipped some of the rankings (as I do every single year). That being said, I do feel strongly that the titles mentioned below definitely do represent the best of the best from 2018, so scroll down, check out my picks, and if there are some you haven't seen, I highly recommend giving them a shot!

10. The Favourite

Yorgos Lanthimos is a director who has fascinated me since the first minute I was introduced to his particular style. His 2009 feature Dogtooth is an excellent, unique, sci-fi/drama, creating its own language and small-scale world, and since then the work I've seen has illustrated his awesome command over a tone able to deliver viciousness with a certain oddball sensibility. The Favourite is a new venture for the filmmaker in the sense that it's his first movie not based on his own screenplay, but what makes it excel is the mix of his effecting style and three brilliant, commanding performances.

Your own personal tastes are definitely going to apply, as the comedy goes to some impressively dark places, but those who can appreciate the mean-spiritedness at the core will love to sink their teeth into the intense, quiet feud between Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) and Abigail (Emma Stone) for the favor of the miserable and often hostile Queen Anne (Olivia Colman). All three actresses are wonderful and intense, the spitting of passive-aggressiveness utterly captivating, and what only accentuates down dirty terribleness of it all is the stunning and immaculate period regal dressings.

Read my full review here.

9. Deadpool 2

While there was some industry concern in the early months of 2018 about Deadpool being a flash in the pan, I never had any apprehension at all about Deadpool 2. More than just being a super fan of the character, I watched the first movie back in 2016 and immediately recognized that the core creative team of Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, and Paul Wernick perfectly understand the Merc With The Mouth, and as long as they were running the show things would be fine. Needless to say, I was elated back in May when I got to see the sequel and had my expectations fully met.

Not only is Ryan Reynolds back at the top of his game here, but the film introduces the first live-action versions of two more beloved comic book heroes (Josh Brolin's Cable and Zazie Beetz's Domino), and incorporates them perfectly to accent everything that's great about them. Director David Leitch ups the game in the action department, building sequences that are a perfect blend of weird, grotesque, and glorious, and even with so much focus on the laughs there is still a legitimately emotional arc built in for the eponymous anti-hero.

8. A Quiet Place

It's always delightful to be surprised by a well-established and talented artist. Just when you think you know where their head is at, suddenly they go right when you think they're going to go left, and all you can do is smile, clap, and cheer. Two years ago we saw a perfect example of this with Jordan Peele's directorial debut, Get Out, and now John Krasinski has pulled a similarly brilliant move with A Quiet Place. And while it's not his first venture behind the camera, the horror genre is new territory for the filmmaker, and he struck gold with one swing of the pick axe.

The premise is not an easy one to execute, as by its nature it has to keep all exposition to an extreme minimum, but that just makes the film all the more impressive, as Krasinski makes all the right moves every step of the way. Because of the prominence of sound in the story, A Quiet Place is an amazing sensory experience, and it's impressive how that is perfectly orchestrated within its genre storytelling. Audiences are always being scared by sudden, loud sounds, and this is a movie built to essentially exploit that. It could be cheap, but it definitely isn't, and with tremendous creativity and style it culminates as something special.

7. BlackKklansman

There aren't many films that can be sold on just five words, but Spike Lee's BlackKklansman is one of them -- with those five words being "Black detective infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan." It's the perfect example of stranger than fiction storytelling, and it absolutely lives up to everything that the idea suggests, while also having some extreme resonance being released in the current political atmosphere.

The film is perhaps the weirdest buddy cop movie based on a true story ever made, adapted from the book written by the man who lived it: Ron Stallworth (played by John David Washington). While Ron communicated with the KKK over the phone, his Jewish partner, Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), represented him in person, and it was a ruse that went so far as to get them in a room with the leader of the terrorist organization, David Duke (Topher Grace). It's a wild if not ridiculous story that Spike Lee navigates with expert tonal command - leaving you howling with laughter one moment, and in wide-eyed shock the next. It also has what is arguably the most effecting ending of any film in 2018, acknowledging that the issues being dealt with in the 1970s are very much still part of our world today.

6. Avengers: Infinity War

As the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to grow, surely so must the creative difficulties behind the scenes. After all, this is a franchise that not only has to deal with increasingly complex continuity and constant expansion with new characters, but also has to perform to the level of expectations that have been established over the last 10 years. On paper that seems like a mission waiting to be declared impossible, but the magic of Marvel Studios is that they keep making it look so damn easy -- and is perfectly exemplified by Avengers: Infinity War.

Under any other circumstance we would never ever see a film with nearly two dozen heroes battling an ultra-powerful cosmic threat, but the MCU allowed exactly that to take form, and it's absolutely mind-boggling how well it all works. Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely and directors Joe and Anthony Russo have proven to be an awesome foursome, and pack the blockbuster with absolutely everything: thrills, romance, drama, comedy, and devastating tragedy. Josh Brolin, entering the world of performance capture for the first time as Thanos, immediately establishes himself as one of the great comic book movie villains of all time, and the intense anticipation for the next chapter of his story is immeasurable.

Read my full review here.

5. The Other Side Of The Wind

The lengths that Orson Welles' The Other Side Of The Wind had to go though in order to be completed are extraordinary. Chronicled in the Morgan Neville documentary They'll Love Me When I'm Dead (which is recommended prior viewing), the story of the production is ridiculous, with filming and reshoots taking place over the course of many years; financing falling through multiple times; and even a situation where footage was locked away in a vault and left inaccessible. For decades it existed not so much as a movie as much as an idea of a movie, so the fact that Filip Jan Rymsza, Frank Marshall, and Jens Koethner Kaul were able to assemble the film as phenomenally as they did equates to a minor miracle.

While Orson Welles never would have admitted it, the movie is essentially about himself and his return to filmmaking in America after the studio dismissal of Touch Of Evil, and it's a bizarre and incredible meta ride that serves as a fascinating look into the one of the greatest cinematic minds of all time. It's an inside baseball experience -- chronicling the downward spiral of an eccentric director (John Huston), his comeback film is on the verge of collapse, as he celebrates his birthday with a huge party -- and it's also intentionally chaotic in its presentation and narrative. But how it coalesces is a truly a gift to cinephiles everywhere.

4. Vice

Because Adam McKay used to primarily focus on making silly comedies, most people did not recognize the full breadth of his talent as a filmmaker -- even as he was deftly stringing improvised sequences together, or orchestrating funny or complex action. That era, however, is over. The writer/director made huge waves when he helmed an adaptation of Michael Lewis' The Big Short, and while he never lost his comedic sensibility-led touch, taking on more serious material "legitimized" him, and opened people's eyes to his skills. Now McKay has delivered Vice to those wide-opened eyes, and very much solidified that he is the real deal.

The story of Former Vice President Dick Cheney is brought to life with some stunning, transformative performances from Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Steve Carell, and Sam Rockwell, but it's Adam McKay's approach that is the true star of the show. It's an expose; it's a highlight reel; and it's an education about the long life of one of the most significant figures in recent history, and the writer/director orchestrates it all with cleverness, sharp wit, and bite that makes it entertaining all the way through.

Read my full review here.

3. Annihilation

Alex Garland is unquestionably one of the great sci-fi storytellers of modern cinema. He first came to the medium as a novelist adapting his own work (Danny Boyle's The Beach), but in the years since has left an indelible mark with his scripts for 28 Days Later and Sunshine, as well as his 2014 directorial debut Ex Machina. Heady, freaky material is what we've come to expect from his work, and he delivered heaps of it earlier this year with the outstanding Annihilation.

Based on the book of the same name by Jeff VanderMeer, it's the story of a team of female scientists brought together to investigate a mysterious phenomenon called The Shimmer, and what's discovered is an extreme mix of beauty and horror. The performances by the amazing ensemble, including Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez, Tuva Novotny, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Oscar Isaac, are all gripping and powerful. It's not only a film that needs to be viewed multiple times in order to grasp all the particular and subtle details, but one that you will want to watch multiple times.

Read my full review here.

2. Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

As reflected in this list, 2018 was astonishing for comic book movies. We not only got the magic of the aforementioned Avengers: Infinity War and Deadpool 2, but also awesome adventures like Black Panther (which came very close to making this list), Ant-Man And The Wasp, Teen Titans Go! To The Movies, and Aquaman. The strength of those titles alone would have established this as a banner year for the genre, but Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman's Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse is the breathtaking cherry on top.

Though we've seen a lot of the web-slinging hero on the big screen in the last 16 years, this is an experience unlike anything fans have ever seen -- and not only because it's telling the story of Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) instead of Peter Parker. It's a wild, often weird, and brilliantly adventurous tale with immense heart at the core of it, vividly packaged with stunning style. The name "Spider-Man" has been associated with many adjectives over the last half-century-plus, including "Amazing," "Spectacular," "Superior," and "Sensational," and all of those can be applied to Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse as well.

Read my full review here.

1. Suspiria

Going into Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria, I didn't really know what to expect. I definitely had appreciation for the Dario Argento-directed original, but the buzz I had heard about it was decidedly mixed. Ultimately, my mind was wide open to everything that the horror film had to offer, and when the lights went up in the theater I was left speechless with one definitive thought running through my head: That's the best movie I've seen this year.

That was back in September, and my opinion has not changed. Suspiria is a film built thematically on reconciliation with the past in order to move into the future, but with outrageous and gorgeous style that both captivates and horrifies. It's dreamlike in its aesthetic, accented with beautifully choreographed dance sequences and a floating Thom Yorke score, but with gripping moments of reality that plunge deeply and sharply like the witches' hooks. Dakota Johnson carves out a powerful turn as the seemingly nascent-yet-curious Susie Bannion, while Tilda Swinton is on another level disappearing into three different (and extreme) roles. It's epic in its scope, and throttling in its execution, and as a horror film cuts deeper than "scary." It's actually disturbing -- and I loved every second of it.

Read my full review here.

Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman stands as one of the best movies of 2018, and part of what makes it so fascinating is its approach to tone. The film deals with serious issues (like racism, terrorism, and social change) that are as present in our current world as they were during the featured time period, but it notably tackles them with a comedic bent and great wit. While the story could have potentially been told many ways, it's ultimately very much a comedy -- and it was an approach that the director cemented as soon as he heard the high concept pitch from producer Jordan Peele:

The subject of BlacKkKlansman's tone was the first that came up when I had the immense pleasure of recently hopping on the phone with Spike Lee to talk with him about his movie. I inquired if the approach was something that had to be slowly carved out, and had possibly gone through evolution from its earliest development, but that apparently wasn't the case. Lee knew it was going to be a comedy as soon as he heard Jordan Peele's six-word pitch and recognized the immense absurdity in the tale.

Of course, what only makes the story crazier is that it's based on a true story -- the epitome of "stranger than fiction." Ron Stallworth, as portrayed by John David Washington in the film, was a real Colorado Springs, Colorado police officer who successfully orchestrated an undercover operation that saw him become a card-carrying member of the Klu Klux Klan. It's a movie that certainly has its serious dramatic moments (including the brilliant gut-punch ending), but a smart script by Spike Lee, Kevin Willmott, Charlie Wachtel and David Rabinowitz, and a fantastic ensemble cast make it more often than not a riot.

Fans of Spike Lee will be quick to note that this isn't the first time that the filmmaker has approached darker stories that feature big laughs -- and Lee also made a point of it during the interview. While BlacKkKlansman is special in its own right, the writer/director has used the tonal approach in the past to fuel some of his best work. He explained,

After a popular theatrical release during the summer, BlacKkKlansman is now coming back into conversation not only because of award season, but because of its new home video release. Fans and first timers can now find the movie available at their local retailers on digital, Blu-ray and DVD. Pick up a copy, and stay tuned here on CinemaBlend as we wait to see the trophies it manages to wrangle in the coming months.

Over the course of his career, Spike Lee has been an experimental filmmaker -- never limiting himself in terms of tone, genre, or medium. He's directed not only numerous comedies and dramas, but also multiple documentaries, shorts, concert films, stand-up specials, Broadway plays, and more. There's very little that he hasn't tried, but there is one particular genre he has a lot of interest in, as I recently learned:

Spike Lee is having an awesome 2018 thanks to the release of the critically-acclaimed BlacKkKlansman, and with the new film now arriving on home video I had the immense pleasure of hopping on the phone with him earlier this month. At the very end of my interview I made a note of the fact that he has dabbled in all areas of directing/filmmaking, and asked if there was any other kind of project that he would love to try. It was with zero hesitation that he brought up his ambition to make a musical -- and it sounds like what he has in mind would be no rinky-dink affair.

As noted by Spike Lee, many of his movies he has already made have powerful and impactful soundtracks, concert scenes, and even some dance sequences -- looking specifically at titles like School Daze and Chi-Raq -- but it sounds like Lee's ambitions in this case go beyond what we've already seen from the director. It sounds like he wants characters breaking from dramatic situations by busting out into song and joining friends in giant choreographed dance routines totally removed from reality. And is there anyone out there who doesn't want to see him try that?

What makes Spike Lee's comments especially interesting is the fact that the movie industry is actually in the midst of a notable boom for this genre, with audiences responding in a big way to films with a major music component. The past three years have seen three big titles in this category hit theaters - Michael Gracey's The Greatest Showman, Bradley Cooper's A Star Is Born, and Bryan Singer's Bohemian Rhapsody -- and they've all been massive box office hits. Lee has some real heat right now, with BlacKkKlansman standing as the second biggest hit of his career, and doing a full-blown musical might be the perfect way to capitalize.

But what exactly would the musical be? It's really impossible to say. Fitting in with the picture painted of Spike Lee above, the new project could be an original creation of Lee's own imagination, or it could just as easily be an adaptation of a story he's always been curious about. We'll just have to wait and see what awaits us in this arena.

While we wait to see what the future holds for Spike Lee, audiences everywhere can now enjoy his most recent success over and over again. Following its impressive theatrical run during the summer, BlacKkKlansman is now available for purchase, both digitally and on Blu-ray and DVD. Be sure to pick up a copy -- and be on the lookout for more from my interview with the director in the coming days here on CinemaBlend!

While August and September are not exactly known for housing huge movies in comparison to the rest of the calendar, Warner Bros. has done a great job countering that narrative in 2018. The studio's ongoing streak started with the super impressive launch of Jon Turteltaub's The Meg; continued with the phenomenal success of Jon Chu's Crazy Rich Asians; and now the studio is number one at the box office for the fifth week in a row thanks to Corin Hardy's The Nun. Now all three films are in the top four at the box office - as you can see below in our Top 10 chart. Check it out, and join me after for analysis.

The Conjuring Universe has been building up steam for about five years now, and at this point it's probably the most profitable franchise that Warner Bros. has going. One of the benefits of making horror movies is that they can generally be made well with a limited about of money (it's basically Blumhouse's entire business strategy), and thus far we have seen five reasonably-budgeted Conjuring-related releases go on to become international hits. What makes The Nun extra special, though, is the fact that it's $53.5 million earned in its first three days is a record for the brand. It successfully topped the original Conjuring, which made $41.9 million when it came out in July 2013 - though it's worth noting that the James Wan-directed feature is still the highest domestic earner in the continuity, with $137.4 million brought in.

The Nun hasn't exactly received the warmest welcome from critics, and it only got a "C" CinemaScore - which means that its success will probably be front-loaded - but already it's doubled its reported $22 million budget... and that's not even factoring in the extra $77.5 million that it's already made abroad, bringing its worldwide total up to $131 million earned so far. That's undeniably huge, and it's impressive to see how it weighs into the larger performance of The Conjuring Universe movies. All together, including The Nun, this is a franchise that has raked in $1.3 billion globally with five releases, none of them costing more than $40 million before marketing (John Leonetti's Annabelle was made for $6.5 million and it wound up making over $257 million internationally).

Surely part of The Nun's success can be attributed to the fact that it didn't have much in the way of competition - though Pierre Morel's Peppermint did... fine. Had the film earned more buzz from critics it could have done better (it has a 13% on Rotten Tomatoes), but it has to settle for third place behind Crazy Rich Asians in its fourth week of release. This is another case where the feature benefits from not costing too much, as it was reportedly made for $25 million, but this also isn't shaping up to be a runaway hit. It may stick around for a couple weeks in the Top 10 thanks to individuals who may be bored and have a desire to see Jennifer Garner kick some ass, but it's not exactly going to be one of 2018's biggest earners.

Also deserving special mention this week is Christopher McQuarrie's Mission: Impossible - Fallout - which is now in its seventh week of release. As you can see, the movie has now made $212.1 million domestically, and while that's not a huge deal it means the blockbuster is on the verge of breaking a franchise record. Right now, the film only needs to make $3,293,123 more and it will become the biggest grosser among Mission: Impossible titles here in America. The number that it needs to surpass is the total acquired by Mission: Impossible II, which means that this is a record that has stood for nearly 20 years.

Given its opening weekend, The Nun should make somewhere between $21.4 million and $26.8 million in its next Friday to Sunday - but it will have a more significant obstacle standing in its way. Specifically, Shane Black's The Predator is ready to arrive in theaters on September 14th, along with the Paul Feig thriller A Simple Favor, Harold Cronk's Christian-themed Unbroken: Path To Redemption, and Yann Demange true-story drama White Boy Rick. Be sure to come back next Sunday to see how the new releases shake up the Top 10.

Because of the way movie scheduling works nowadays, it's generally surprising when a film wins the box office for three weeks in a row. Sure, two weeks happens regularly, but Hollywood doesn't really take super long breaks between launching big titles designed to steal the top spot. We've only seen four titles do it so far in 2018 - Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and Solo: A Star Wars Story - but now a fifth title, Jon M. Chu's Crazy Rich Asians, has joined the club. Check out the full Top 10 below, and join me after for analysis.

Crazy Rich Asians hasn't really had any huge blockbuster weekends, making a solid $26.5 million in its first three days, but what has been so amazing about it is its staying power. When final calculations came in it was confirmed that it only dropped 6.4% from its first week, and now it's looking like the second to third week drop will only be about 10.4%. That's really spectacular, and as a result the romantic comedy - budgeted at $30 million - has made over $110 million so far in its domestic run. It is actually now the 19th film to cross the $100 million line here in the United States, with 12 of those titles hitting theaters between May 1st and August 31st. It was because of hits like this film that made this summer one of the most successful in Hollywood history.

As for the future, Crazy Rich Asians may not keep the top spot for long, thanks to big upcoming features like Corin Hardy's The Nun and Shane Black's The Predator, but it could have some nice legs as we get further into the fall season. It also still hasn't been released in some key markets just yet including Japan (September 28th) and the UK (November 2nd). By the time it's done on the big screen it's possible that it will have a worldwide haul of around $200 million, which would be pretty damn impressive.

One of the reasons why Crazy Rich Asians was able to win the box office again is because it's competition this weekend wasn't strong, with only two new wide releases opening. The first was Josh and Jonathan Baker's sci-fi action movie Kin, which earned 12th place with a little over $3 million, and the other was Chris Weitz's Operation Finale. The historical drama made enough money to nab the fourth spot on the Top 10, but making $6 million in the first three days isn't great when the budget is $24 million. Professional reviewers neither loved it nor hated it, and it wound up with an "A-" CinemaScore. It could stick around for a few more weeks in this feature, but I'm not sure it will.

Also deserving recognition is the performance by Aneesh Chaganty's Searching, which expanded from limited release into theaters nationwide. As a result, the low-budget thriller lept from 22nd place to fifth - and it might stick around for a while. Reviewers have given it a major stamp of approval, as it currently maintains a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, and good word of mouth could lead it to make a nice big profit domestically.

This week we audiences will have the chance to step back into the Conjuring Universe with the release of The Nun, but those looking for more action than scares will be able to check out Jennifer Garner in the new movie Peppermint. We'll be curious to see how they shake up the Top 10, so join us next Sunday for the next edition of out box office report.

After a lackluster blockbuster season last year, the box office numbers are up quite a bit this summer. It's clear that all of the superheroes, dinosaurs, and Tom Cruise's have pulled their weight, but what you might not have realized is the impact of a lot of smaller films - from riveting documentaries to audience-friendly indies. One of those smaller films is Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman. Although not matching the performances of broader appeal films like The Meg or Crazy Rich Asians, Spike Lee's latest effort has sneakily been doing quite well, making a lot of money and becoming the auteur's biggest success in over a decade.

Since its release on August 10th, BlacKkKlansman has earned $33.6 million domestically, and over $42 million worldwide. That might not seem like a lot, but you have to take into consideration that the production had a budget of only $15 million, and recognize how it compares to the performances of Lee's biggest titles. The $33.6 million domestic box office already makes the movie the fourth most successful Lee jaunt, according to Box Office Mojo. Above BlacKkKlansman are The Original Kings of Comedy with $38.2 million; Malcolm X with $48.2 million; and the much more commercial Inside Man with $88.5 million. It also had the third-best opening of Spike Lee's oeuvre, with $10.8 million - and it has only dropped a little over 30% each weekend since its debut. So, BlacKkKlansman is among Spike Lee's biggest successes already and it's still playing in nearly 2000 theaters nationwide.

There are probably a number of factors that have contributed to BlacKkKlansman's success, including the entertaining trailer, the timeliness of this true story, and the fact that onscreen diversity has proven time and time again this year that it pays dividends at the box office. The reviews have also been very positive, netting Spike Lee some of the best notices of his acclaimed career, and likely setting the film up for some awards season consideration. Basically, you shouldn't pass up this one.

It's great to see Spike Lee not only back in top form artistically, but also making the kind of opinionated statements he is known for while having audiences respond to something that is different than the rest of the choices at the multiplex. BlacKkKlansman stars John David Washington as an African-American police officer in Colorado Springs in the 1970's named Ron Stallworth, who, along with his partner played by Adam Driver, infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan. The film also stars Laura Harrier and Topher Grace as KKK Grand Wizard, David Duke.

Next up for Spike Lee, after the awards circuit of course, may be Nightwatch. The director has been linked with one of Sony's many in-the-works Spider-Man spinoff films in its nascent cinematic universe, but there have been no formal announcements as of yet. BlacKkKlansman is now playing. Check out our release schedule for all of the films still to come this year.

While the filmmaking world has seen plenty of new directors become wild successes in the past few years, there are certain filmmakers that stand out with their contribution to the business. Director/writer/producer Spike Lee is certainly one of those legends, as he's received acclaim for his decades of movies, and for portraying the black experience in America through film. The latest Spike Lee joint to hit theaters is BlacKkKlansman, based on the crazy true life story of Detective Ron Stallworth, and his infiltration of a Ku Klux Klan chapter in the 1970s. The movie ends with a gut punching coda, showing footage of the Charlottesville attack that ultimately took the life of protestor Heather Heyer last year. BlacKkKlansman is dedicated to her memory, and I recently asked Spike Lee why that powerful choice was made. As he told me,

Spike Lee has always been an inherently political filmmaker, tackling issues of race, discrimination, and violence. So when the Charlottesville Car Attack occurred in the midst of political clashing, Lee was inspired to complete the filming of BlacKkKlansman, and ultimately end the film with a powerful and harrowing tribute to Heather Heyer's death.

BlacKkKlansman's tribute to Heather Heyer makes sense if you know Spike Lee's track record and political views. But the director was also careful to honor Heather's mother Susan Bro. In our conversation about the film's ending, Lee also revealed he got explicit permission from Bro to include the Charlottesville footage and final message for Heather. So while audience may be shocked by the directorial choice, Lee was sure to be respectful to those involved.

You can check out my conversation with Spike Lee, and see how passionately he feels about Charlottesville and other violent events in the country.

Heather Heyer's tribute in BlacKkKlansman will no doubt taking almost all audiences by surprise, as its in stark juxtaposition to the film's narrative conclusion. The good guys ultimately come out on top, wrapping up the story with a nice little bow, complete with Ron Stallworth prank calling Topher Grace's David Duke. And just when you think its safe to go home, the Charlottesville footage is shown, and the message of the film is brought to the modern age.

BlacKkKlansman is in theaters now, complete with Heather Heyer's tribute and a previously unreleased Prince song. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

To say that last year's summer season was a disappointment at the box office is an understatement. Despite hits like Wonder Woman, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Dunkirk, attendance was at a 25-year low, and for the first time in 11 years, the box office failed to reach the $4 billion mark, coming in way below at $3.78 billion. Fortunately for the industry, as this summer comes to a close, the box office is in much better shape than last year. More people are going to the movies and that has seen the domestic box office cross $4 billion this past weekend.

The summer season, which extends from the first weekend in May through the last weekend of August, is up big time this year, with a little time still left to go. Notably, the $4 billion milestone does not include the opening week for this year's biggest film, Avengers: Infinity War, or its $257 million opening weekend since that came in April. That said, according to The Wrap, if you do include that record-setting week, the summer box office jumps to $4.45 billion, putting it on pace to be the second-highest in history after 2013's $4.75 billion. Not a bad way to come back after the disappointment of 2017.

Digging a little bit deeper into things, it becomes clear that this was really a team effort and not just the biggest blockbusters that made this happen. For example, August of last year brought in $658 million in ticket sales, which was the worst in 20 years. This August, however, has seen the July holdover like Mission: Impossible Fallout and the summeriest of summer movies, The Meg, deliver to the bottom line, which sits at $605 million, putting it 17% ahead of 2017's pace. Smaller films have contributed as well, with the over-performing romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians and movies like Christopher Robin and BlacKkKlansman all providing a variety of options to suit all tastes and driving theater attendance.

As far as what this summer moviegoing season means for the year on the whole, things are looking good. Today the total domestic box office for 2018 should cross $8 billion, which will be the first time that number has been surpassed before the end of August. On the year, the box office is currently outpacing 2017 by 9%. This year is also running 4% ahead of 2016, which set the current record with $11.3 billion that year. Of course, the back half of this year lacks the heaviest hitters like MCU films and Star Wars, so we'll see how the rest of the calendar makes up for it.

This summer has clearly been a good one for moviegoing and has seen some of the biggest titles like Incredibles 2 and Mission: Impossible Fallout really deliver not just commercially, but critically as well. I'd also be curious to know how much the rise in moviegoing subscription services like MoviePass, Sinemia and AMC Stubs A-List have contributed to the increase in box office and attendance this summer.

There are still plenty of reasons to go to the movies. For what's left of the summer and the rest of the year, check them out in our release calendar.

Hollywood has been talking about the arrival of Jon M. Chu's Crazy Rich Asians for months, and now that it's here it's a bonafide hit. The romantic comedy is not only the first American studio film since 1993's The Joy Luck Club to feature an all-Asian cast, but has been earning fantastic heaps of positive buzz. Check out the full Top 10 chart below, and join me after for analysis!

Making $25 million in a three day weekend wouldn't exactly be something to celebrate for a major tentpole project, but Crazy Rich Asians is definitely a victory for Warner Bros. as a mid-budget romantic comedy released in the middle of August. It had some interesting competition - which I'll get into in a second - but rode high on a wave of positive reviews and a strong mid-week release, and already it has made $34 million total domestically from a reported $30 million budget. It hasn't really gotten any play in other countries just yet, with many foreign territories pulling the trigger this upcoming week, but most of that will wind up being just a bonus at this point.

It's very possible that we will continue to see Crazy Rich Asians stay toward the top of the box office at least for the next few weeks. Not only has it received one of the best Rotten Tomatoes scores of the year so far, but it has also landed an impressive "A" on CinemaScore. It may start to fade when some bigger titles start to come back into fashion in mid-September, but there's a lot of runway between now and then.

It wasn't 100% clear if Crazy Rich Asians or The Meg would take the top spot (a battle of Warner Bros. vs. Warner Bros.), but both were expected top beat out the other newcomers - and that's exactly what happened. For starters, Peter Berg's Mile 22 ultimately made about half of what the number one film was able to pull in - which is not super awesome for star Mark Wahlberg. As a star the guy has proven reliable for at least $20 million openings in the last few years, and this performance is the weakest for a headlining turn since 2014's The Gambler (which made $9.1 million). Surely the reviews (it has a 20% on Rotten Tomatoes) have not helped.

Albert Hughes's Alpha, on the other hand, didn't have the same kind of expectations behind it - and it performed... fine. There has been some good word of mouth going around about the movie - a title that essentially tells the origin story of domesticated dogs - and it translated to an eight-figure opening. The feature has a reported budget of $51 million, which means it still has a bit of distance before making its money back, but the international numbers should help by the time its done showing on the big screen.

Will Crazy Rich Asians be able to pull off a two-peat? We'll have to wait and see, as it will be going toe-to-toe with a trio of new releases on Friday: the on-screens thriller Searching, the puppet-centric comedy The Happytime Murders, and the sci-fi action movie A.X.L. Come back next Sunday to see how they all shake up the Top 10!

It's no exaggeration to say that there was a major shakeup at the Academy Awards recently, with the revelation that a Popular category would likely address a number of blockbusters that will not contend for Best Picture, despite the fact that they might be critically acclaimed as well as commercially adored. While we still have no clue how this category will shape up -- or even what the criteria for it will be -- there are five films that we have seen this year that we think qualify for Best Picture consideration, with or without the existence of a Popular category.

That's not to say that we will see these five in the Best Picture category next year. But when you scan the crop of 2018 films, knowing that there's still a ton of exciting films still to drop, these are the five that look to have the best shots at an Oscar nomination in the most prestigious category

Black Panther

Not the best film released by Marvel Studios in 2018 (that distinction belongs to Avengers: Infinity War) but the most important film. From a cultural standpoint. From a financial standpoint. And from a creative standpoint. Black Panther certainly checks a lot of the boxes that the Academy looks for before it stoops to honor a blockbuster, and everything from the film's incredible box office success (it outgrossed Infinity War domestically, but not worldwide) to its achievement in diversity both in front of and behind the camera make it a movie that we easily could see the Oscars putting on a pedestal and honoring with a Best Picture nod.

BlacKkKlansman

How long has it been since Spike Lee has had a film in the national conversation? Too long, but BlacKkKlansman has the controversial and opinionated director right back in the mix with a stylish, thought-provoking and incendiary look at race in America circa the 1970s. Yes, the film benefits from Lee's unflinching approach to honesty and his give-no-fucks attitude toward being insensitive. But this movie -- which finds two cops working together to infiltrate David Duke's KKK -- might also be remembered for putting a spotlight on the extremely talented John David Washington by year's end, as well. And that's alright with us.

Eighth Grade

This one's potentially small, by Oscar's standards, but that doesn't make Bo Burnham's coming-of-age dramedy any less worthy of recognition in the Academy's Best Picture field. Though the genre cranks out these types of movies on the regular, it's rare to see a movie as in tune with its audience as Eighth Grade, with Elsie Fisher delivering a blisteringly beautiful turn as an awkward middle-schooler trying her best to shed a cocoon and turn into a social butterfly. Think Juno for the YouTube era, and see why this movie can go far with the right push from A24. Gucci!

The Rider

The Rider might compete against Lean On Pete for "most emotional horse movie" of 2018, but something tells me the sentimental pull of Chloe Zhao's second feature could power it into the race. This is a longshot, but the reviews for The Rider are overwhelmingly positive, and if enough Academy members pop the screener into the DVD player during nomination season, they just might find their way toward embracing this beautiful story... right after they stop ugly-sobbing.

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

This year has been unnaturally strong for documentary films, and while it's rare for those movies to break out of their own category and into Best Picture (same goes for animation), the one that has the best shot this year would be Won't You Be My Neighbor? Morgan Neville's doc captures the life work of the gentile and supportive Fred Rogers, whose television show shaped the childhoods of millions of young viewers on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. The doc is a wonderful reminder of the power of kindness, and that impact could carry this doc all the way through what's normally a competitive and back-biting awards season.

Is Kill Bill one movie, or two? It's a topic that threatened to tear the latest episode of ReelBlend in two... even though the guys weren't even discussing Kill Bill as part of this week's #OpeningBlend game! There are, however, a handful of filmmakers that Kevin McCarthy, Sean O'Connell and Jake Hamilton are always ready to go to bat for -- Quentin Tarantino being one of them -- and so when QT's films made their way into #OpeningBlend (listen to find out how), all hell broke loose.

The show didn't start off that way. ReelBlend #34 was dedicated to the new movies opening in theaters: Crazy Rich Asians, Mile 22 and Alpha. After giving quick reactions to those films -- recommending them, or scaring you guys off of them -- Jake and Sean took a deep dive into Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman. And thought Kevin hadn't yet seen it, he DID do out and watch it right after we recorded this week's podcast, and posted this reaction:

Then, a conversation about Star Trek 4, and the potential departure of Chris Pine, diverted into a lengthy discussion about Disney, Marvel, and the James Gunn debacle. The guys tried to figure out how Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 works without Gunn, especially as his cast members -- from Dave Bautista to Chris Pratt -- express a frustration of having to play in this sandbox without their captain. Trek and Guardians face similar situations. How do they rebound?

This week's #Blend Game was #OpeningBlend, and it was awesome. You guys subscribe to this podcast for passionate discussion about movies these guys love? Well, this segment reflects that passion. And, you are going to want to hear next week's game. It will be incredible.

ReelBlend is a LIVE podcast that we do on CinemaBlend's Facebook page. As soon as we are done on Facebook, you can download the latest episode (and all of our past episodes) for FREE on our iTunes page! Visit. Subscribe. Like and comment. Review! Apple loves when you have star ratings and reviews, so if you listened, and you liked it (or even if you didn't), let us know. We also are on Spotify. And Google Play. And basically everywhere that you download podcasts. So download us!

Meanwhile, follow the guys on Social Media! We have an official Twitter feed for the show, so follow @ReelBlend. In addition, follow the guys at @Sean_OConnell, @JakesTakesand @KevinMcCarthyTV. We will be back at it next week, LIVE on CinemaBlend's Facebook page. See you then!

Being an actor requires portraying all types of characters, good and evil, fictional and real, that all bring their own unique sets of challenges. Things become especially difficult however, when playing a real life controversial figure, especially one who is still alive. Such is the challenge Topher Grace faced for Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman. In BlacKkKlansman, Topher Grace plays former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard and 2016 United States Senate candidate, David Duke. As you might have guessed, not everyone is happy about this. One person was so angry that he actually called the actor to berate him about it.

According to TMZ, police have gotten involved after Topher Grace received a troubling phone call from someone denouncing his role as David Duke. The caller apparently called the actor a gay slur and in an aggressive manner warned Topher Grace that his role in BlacKkKlansman was going to ruin race relations in America. Topher Grace contacted police after the threatening phone call. The authorities took an incident report, with TMZ saying that depending on if the caller threatened the actor and how, this could lead to a hate crime investigation. As of right now, this is all that has been reported, so it is unclear what else might have been said and who the caller was or how he got Topher Grace's personal phone number.

Without getting into the various flaws with the caller's complaint, this is definitely troubling that he found the actor's personal number. It is unclear if this is just someone who wanted to vent some frustration to Topher Grace and went a step further than the people who just shout into the void on social media. With any luck, this will be the last we hear of this and things of this kind.

Topher Grace has already spoken about what a challenge this role has been and the emotional toll it took to research and become such a despicable figure. Ultimately, he was grateful to have done it because as a part of Spike Lee's film, he got to say something and contribute to the conversation. Then, as a way to decompress from the negative and trying role, he took some time to recut The Hobbit trilogy into a single movie.

Although some people are clearly not happy about this film, which is sadly unsurprising, reviewers have praised BlacKkKlansman and Topher Grace's role in it. Spike Lee's film debuted to a solid box office on a modest number of screens and has received reviews that rank it among the auteur's very best.

BlacKkKlansman is in theaters now. Check out our premiere guide for all the biggest movies still to come in 2018, and stay tuned to CinemaBlend for all your movie news.

As of last week, it looked like Jon Turteltaub's The Meg was in trouble. Box office estimates came in, and made it very clear that the film would have to make a ton of money overseas because it looked like American audiences were mostly going to ignore it. It turns out those estimates were wrong. Not only is the giant shark movie a hit, but it's made nearly twice as much as prognosticators estimated last week. Check out the totals and the rest of the Top 10 in the chart below, and then join me after for analysis!

Reports a few days ago suggested that The Meg would ultimately make between $20-22 million in its opening frame, but as you can see above, they were way, way off. Instead, the blockbuster managed to successfully double those estimates, and make a total of $44.5 million in its first three days. It was way more than enough to take the top spot at the box office away from Christopher McQuarrie's Mission: Impossible: Fallout, even though the action film has continued to perform well, and only dropped about 43.4% since last week. All together now, thanks to a strong $97 million made in foreign markets, the film has maanged to make $141.5 million worldwide, which already exceeds the project's reported $130 million budget. In short, it looks like Warner Bros. has a legitimate hit on their hands.

Exactly why The Meg is hitting as big as it is remains kind of a mystery, however, as there isn't really anything out there statistics-wise that would suggest this kind of success. Professional film critics are totally split on the shark film, with half of them willing to lean into the campiness and silliness, and the other half dismissing it out of hand. Audience reactions aren't exactly overwhelming either, as it has only earned a modest "B+" from CinemaScore. When you factor in the number of huge movies we've already seen in 2018, it's kind of a wonder that people are buying tickets for The Meg en masse - but apparently folks are very interested.

The other big new release this week was Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman, which also brought it a whole lot of business - despite being out in fewer theaters than all other titles currently in the Top 10. The film got a modest release, hitting a little more than 1,500 theaters on Friday, but it was definitely a successful move, as the film has claimed the Number Five spot and successfully made more than eight figures. Unlike the case of The Meg, the joint is actually being hailed as one of the best films we've seen so far in 2018, and has earned not only a 97 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, but also an "A-" from CinemaScore. It should go without saying that the money made is well-deserved, and it should be recognized that this is a film that we are going to continue to hear a lot about in the next few months as we get closer and closer to awards season.

That definitely won't be the case for Sylvain White's Slender Man, which finally made its way to theaters this weekend following a series of delays. Back in June it was reported that there were some serious behind-the-scenes issues going on with the project, and now people are starting to understand why. It was successful enough to grab the fourth spot in the Top 10, but you really shouldn't expect it to stay on the chart long. Despite the fact that we are currently experiencing an industry-wide genre renaissance, the movie got totally decimated by critics, and audiences definitely don't seem to be loving it either.

Sadly not doing quite as well is the third new release of the week: Ken Marino's Dog Days. There was very little expectation that the new movie would do a whole lot of business, especially given the competition, but it's certainly unfortunate that it couldn't do better than 12th place and a $2.6 million haul (which explains why you don't see it on the chart above). The film has earned enough positive reviews to be deemed fresh, and also got an "A-" CinemaScore, but people quite simply aren't buying tickets.

As we continue to make our way through August, we have another big week for you coming up, including the early debut of Jon M. Chu's Crazy Rich Asians (set to drop on Wednesday), as well as the action-thriller Mile 22 and the Ice Age story Alpha. Be sure to come back next Sunday to check out the full Top 10 and check out how things have shifted.

The phrase "inspired by a true story" gets thrown around a lot in the movies, although adaptations of real life events can often end up vastly altered. And when the story is especially out of this world, movies can venture away from the truth. The newest real event adaptation is Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman, which is based off the autobiography of the same name. The film follows as Detective Ron Stallworth infiltrates a chapter of the Ku Klux Klax in the 1970s, and starts an investigation into violent threats. Actor John David Washington plays Stallworth in BlacKkKlansman, and got to meet the real man during filming. I recently spoke to Washington about that process, and he told me:

Talk about a powerful experience. John David Washington not only got to meet the real Ron Stallworth, but he actually got to hold the former detective's Ku Klux Klan card. BlacKkKlansman follows Stallworth's infiltration of a Colorado KKK chapter, with the helps of Adam Driver's Flip Zimmerman, who poses as Stallworth at meetings. Eventually they're able to ingratiate themselves enough for Ron to become the head of the chapter, in a moment of true narrative irony.

Meeting Ron Stallworth was no doubt helpful to inform John David Washington's vocalization and and physical performance in BlacKkKlansman. Although the flip side is that the Ballers actor might have felt added pressure after meeting the real life figure he was playing.

You can watch my conversation with John David Washington below.

Ultimately it seems that meeting Ron Stallworth paid off for John David Washington. His performance in BlacKkKlansman has been met with critical acclaim, including CinemaBlend's official review. And with Stallworth involved in some of the film's marketing, it looks like he was happy with the portrayal as well.

BlacKkKlansman is in theaters now. Be sue to check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

While superhero movies and large franchises are fun moviegoing experiences, they don't necessarily reflect the world we live in. That's a task for smaller projects and directors with a real perspective on the world. And throughout the past few decades, there are few filmmakers who capture the current zeitgeist more than Spike Lee. Lee has made challenging and critically acclaimed dramas since 1986's She's Gotta Have It (which the director recently adapted into a successful Netflix series). His new project is BlacKkKlansman, and tells the out-of-this-world true story of Detective Ron Stallworth, a 1970s police officer who infiltrated a local, and obviously dangerous, chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. The story is truly wild, and Lee is just the visionary to pull it off.

After making history as a black police officer in 1970s Colorado, Ron Stallworth (Ballers' John David Washington) sees an ad for the local chapter of the KKK, and makes a cold call. While he's able to quickly get invited to potentially join the group and even have phone calls with Grand Wizard David Duke (Topher Grace), there's one problem: he obviously can't show up to a meeting looking like himself. That, and he accidentally used his real name on the phone. Enter Adam Driver's Detective Flip Zimmerman, who needs to play "Ron" in order to go deeper into the KKK and its members.

It's a premise that sounds almost cartoonish, yet it's a true story. Spike Lee leans into this dissonance throughout the course of BlacKkKlansman, which borders on both a comedy and visceral political drama at different points throughout the 135-minute runtime. Lee has always made hyper-stylized films, and BlacKkKlansman is no exception. While the issues of race, intersectionality, and extremism are at the film's heart, it ultimately bounces along thanks to the myriad moments of levity. And while the film is an emotional and sometimes harrowing journey, it never feels overly dark or intense.

BlacKkKlansman's unique tone is the most obvious in the way Spike Lee handles the film's villains. Topher Grace's David Duke is the most insidious of the film's antagonists, yet he functions in dual roles. In addition to being the bad guy, in many ways he's also the butt of the film's jokes. Ron Stallworth's ability to get one over on the KKK figurehead is the cause for plenty of comedic beats, as the film's protagonist makes the real-life figure out to be the fool multiple times throughout the movie. Grace plays the performance to slimy perfection, despite the dark place it takes him as an actor-- especially in the film's third act.

Fans of Spike Lee's prolific film career will be happy that so much of his signature style is infused in BlacKkKlansman, although the film is arguably bigger in scope than the majority of his projects. Like any good Spike Lee joint, the music once again takes center stage, and helps to motivate the movie's action and setting. But rather than a long and varied collection of songs, the soundtrack to BlacKkKlansman is a bit more selective, and only a few tracks make it into the finished product. Lee actually found an unused Prince track for the film's credits, a cover of the spiritual "Mary Don't You Weep."

Speaking of credits, Spike Lee goes for a major gut punch in the film's closing moments. After the main story of BlacKkKlansman wraps up, there's a coda that brings the film's contents directly into the modern political climate. Before the credits roll, Lee includes footage of the Charlottesville protest, including the attack that killed protestor Heather Heyer. BlacKkKlansman is dedicated to her memory, which occurred only after receiving permission from Heyer's mother. Its a sequence that is very hard to get through, and ends the film in a powerful way that no one could have expected.

As is the case with all Spike Lee films, the film's contents are inherently political. And while his creative choices may alienate audiences who have opposing viewpoints, Spike Lee's movies have always been focused on the black experience in America, and on the inequality and hatred that exists in the world. And if you can allow Lee to take you on the journey, BlacKkKlansman is undoubtedly one of the most powerful films of the year.

As far as filmmakers go, there are few quite as iconic and acclaimed as Spike Lee. Throughout his long career, the director has made each Spike Lee joint a musical and hyper stylized story that often focuses on the black experience in America. His newest piece of work, other than his Netflix series She's Gotta Have It, is called BlackKklansman. Based on a larger than life true story about a black detective infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan in the 70s, the cast includes That '70s show alum Topher Grace, who plays real-life KKK leader David Duke. I recently had the chance to speak with Grace about the difficulties of playing Duke, and he revealed why his casting in BlackKklansman came at such a good time:

While we live in a crazy world, that reality is even more daunting when bringing a new life into it. So while Topher Grace may be overwhelmed watching the news and current state of affairs in the country, he was able to channel his feelings into his role as David Duke in BlackKklansman.

Topher Grace's comments may strike audiences surprising, especially after seeing BlackKklansman. While Spike Lee's tone is fascinating and unique, Grace had to spew some serious hate throughout the film's runtime. An open white supremacist, the former Grand Wizard of the KKK is shown preaching to his followers, as well as speaking directly to Detective Ron Stallworth on the phone. Sitting in his shoes (and robes, as the case may be) was certainly challenging for the Spider-Man 3 actor, but Topher Grace grinned and bared it, knowing he was helping Spike Lee's message get across to cinephiles.

You can see my conversation with Topher Grace below.

David Duke functions really interesting within the confines of BlackKklansman. In some ways he's the villain, while also being at the butt of many jokes. We'll just have to wait and see if the real-life Duke catches the flick, and has thoughts on Topher Grace's performance.

You can catch Topher Grace as David Duke in BlackKklansman starting on August 10, 2018. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

While the film world is currently dominated by thrilling franchises and shared universes, there are certain filmmakers who are essentially living royalty. One of them is director/writer/producer Spike Lee, who has made hyper stylized dramas that often explore the black experience in America. While he's been busy with his Netflix series She's Gotta Have It, a new Spike Lee joint will soon hit theaters with BlackKklansman. Based on a crazy real life story, BlackKklansman follows an African American detective in the 1970's who infiltrates a violent Ku Klux Klan chapter. Like all Spike Lee joints, the soundtrack is a character within itself, and the credits have a particularly exciting track: an unreleased Prince cover. I recently spoke with Lee about the film's soundtrack, where he revealed how that previously hidden song made its way to BlackKklansman.

This is some serious movie magic. While music and style icon Prince tragically passed away in 2016, there are still tons of unused songs and footage of the legend at work. And since Spike Lee had a colleague who could connect him with the Prince estate, Spike Lee was able to bring a new Prince song to BlackKklansman, no doubt providing a cathartic bookend to the politically charged project.

Spike Lee joints always have iconic soundtracks, with the director often hand picking the songs used in his film and TV ventures. BlackKklansman actually has much fewer songs than Lee's fans are accustomed to. But each song is used purposefully, and Lee's restraint makes the choices feel more deliberate and focused. And adding an unheard Prince track at the last minute is just the icing on the cake of another visionary project by Lee.

You can see my conversation with Spike Lee below.

Ultimately, the use of Prince's unused "Mary Don't You Weep" is the final coda to an emotional, funny, and political movie. And while there's no big post-credits scene a la the MCU, hopefully Prince's track will entice moviegoers to sit through the entirety of the credits.

Spike Lee's BlackKklansman will arrive in theaters on August 10, 2018. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

Each role brings its own set of challenges, but playing a despicable figure from real life can be especially difficult. That's what Topher Grace had to deal with when he was cast as former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke in Black KkKlansman. It's no easy feat getting into the headspace of one of history's most famous white supremacists, so after his time on the Spike Lee movie was over, Grace decided to unwind and mentally distance himself from the Duke role by cutting together a two-hour version of Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy. Grace voiced his thoughts on how The Hobbit adaptation should have been put together thusly:

Backpedaling a little bit, Topher Grace recalled that he was "so depressed" while working on Black KkKlansman, not just because he was portraying David Duke, but because he would see on the news how Duke's ideology was affecting "us" in the present day. So after the movie finished filming, Grace turned his attention to the Hobbit trilogy . While each book in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy each received its own movie, The Hobbit, the novel that launched the Middle Earth mythology, was stretched out to three movies, a.k.a. 434 minutes of screen time. The end result was certainly a financial success, adding up to $2.9 billion worldwide, but critically, The Hobbit trilogy wasn't met with the same level of praise as the Lord of the Rings movies. Grace decided to piece together a "tighter" version of The Hobbit as a creative challenge, and it sounds like he was pleased with the end result. Continuing in his interview with Indiewire, the actor said:

This isn't Topher Grace's first time editing together his own cut of a blockbuster franchise. Back in 2012, he made an 85-minute version of the Star Wars prequel trilogy and showed to some industry professionals before legal restrictions put the kibosh on future screenings. It's also worth noting that Grace isn't the first person to edit together a condensed version of The Hobbit, although the previous fan version released in 2015 was four hours long, making Grace's version an easier watch. Though if his experience with the Star Wars prequels cut is any indication, don't expect Grace to ever release his Hobbit cut to the public.

You can see David Duke in Black KkKlansman when it hits theaters on August 10. If you want to find out what other movies are coming out later this year, look through our 2018 release schedule. As for the Lord of the Rings franchise, it's time on the big screen is over, but an Amazon TV series that will explore new stories is in development.

Judging by the trailer that was released earlier this week, BlacKkKlansman looks like it will be one of the more unusual cinematic offerings this summer season, but it's actually based off a true story. One of the main participants in this story is David Duke, the former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. That '70s Show and Spider-Man 3 star Topher Grace was tapped to play Duke for BlacKkKlansman, and with two decades of acting under his belt, Grace found the role especially difficult to tackle due to the intense preparation process. Grace recalled:

It's one thing to prepare to play a fictional villainous character, but when you're playing someone from real life who has spread hateful rhetoric, I can understand how that can take an emotional toll when preparing for the role. As Topher Grace explained to Vulture, he told his agents he wanted to be in contention to play David Duke in BlacKkKlansman since it was not like something he'd ever done before, and after reading for director Spike Lee, he obtained the part. But once Grace started reading David Duke's writings and listen to his speeches and public appearances, that's when he realized this would be more challenging than he thought. I can't blame Grace's wife for wanting him not to recite so much white supremacist material while around their newborn baby, but then again, if he was going to properly play Duke, it was necessary for him to do all that research.

Set in the early 1970s, BlacKkKlansman follows Detective Ron Stallworth, played by John David Washington, the first African-American detective in Colorado Springs, Colorado, working to infiltrate and expose the city's chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, which had started sanitizing its violent rhetoric to appeal to the mainstream. After establishing his cover over the phone to David Duke, Stallworth works with fellow detective Flip Zipperman, played by Adam Driver, to rise through the ranks of the organization's membership. The movie's cast also includes Laura Harrier, Corey Hawkins, Jasper Pääkkönen, Paul Walter Hauser, Ryan Eggold, Ashlie Atkinson, Robert John Burke, Craig Grant and Harry Belafonte. Focus Features has also put out new teaser art for BlacKkKlansman, which you can look at below.

Having just premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, BlacKkKlansman will be released in theaters on August 10. If you're interested in learning what other movies are coming out this year, look through our 2018 release schedule.

With his recent creative endeavors including 2015's Chi-raq and the Netflix series She's Gotta Have It, an adaptation of the 1986 movie of the same name he directed, Spike Lee's next movie will be inspired by true events, but nonetheless looks like it will be a crazy ride. Officially announced last September, BlacKkKlansman will chronicle how the first black cop in Colorado Springs, Colorado infiltrated and exposed the town's Ku Klux Klan chapter. Now we have our first look at how these events will unfold under Lee's cinematic supervision thanks to the first BlacKkKlansman trailer. Check it out!

While this movie may first look like it's entirely a work of fiction, rest assured, this is based on something that actually happened in real life in the early 1970s. BlacKkKlansman stars John David Washington as Detective Ron Stallworth, who for his first assignment decides to go undercover into the KKK to expose its hateful operations. Over the phone, it's easy enough for Stallworth to set up his character, as he puts on his best white voice and tells chapter president David Duke, played by Topher Grace, how he hates everyone who doesn't have "pure white Aryan blood running through their veins." However, when it comes to actually showing up at these KKK meetings, Stallworth obviously wouldn't have any luck. That's where Adam Driver's Flip Zimmerman comes in, a fellow, albeit more experienced, detective who will play Ron Stallworth during this operation. Together, Stallworth and Zimmerman work together to take down the extremist hate group as it works to "sanitize its violent rhetoric to appeal to the mainstream."

While BlacKkKlansman doesn't look like a full-blown action flick, it appears that it will be packed with excitement, and the fact that this is based on a true story makes this tale all the more intriguing. With its stylish shots and groovy soundtrack, this trailer does a good job at advertising BlacKkKlansman as something that could end up being a sleeper hit towards the end of the summer movie season. Along with John David Washington, Topher Grace and Adam Driver, the movie's main cast includes Laura Harrier, Corey Hawkins, Paul Walter Hauser, Jasper Pääkkönen, Rya Eggold, Ashlie Atkinson and Harry Belafonte. Jordan Peele, who made his directorial debut last year with Get Out and walked away with a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for his work, is also a producer on BlacKkKlansman.

Having just premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, BlacKkKlansman will be released to the public on August 8. If you're interested in learning what other movies are coming out this year, feel free to scan through our 2018 release schedule.