intrigue

By Jake Coyle | Associated Press With war raging in Ukraine and U.S.-Russia relations below freezing, the Cold War movie may be alive, again, too. After decades when fears of mutual destruction and nuclear fallout filtered into movies from “Fail Safe” to “WarGames,” anxiety over current Russian-American geopolitics plays a provocative role in the new space thriller “I.S.S.” Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s film, opening in theaters Friday, is set aboard the International Space Station, which the opening credits note is a symbol…

Xbox is laying out its road ahead with the Developer Direct 2024. Obsidian started the show today, sharing some new looks at Avowed as it heads for a Fall 2024 window. Today, we got a deeper look at the first-person RPG from Obsidian Entertainment. Set in the same world as Pillars of Eternity, Eora, Avowed is a more action-oriented approach. And a decent chunk of the opening minutes of today’s look covered the scrapping, from magic and swords to flintlock-style pistols. Heck, you can even wield a bunch of wands, if you…

When Kyla Zhao wrote “The Fraud Squad” during her junior year at Stanford to stave off the loneliness of COVID lockdown, she had reason to hope that American publishers would take a look at her first book. After all, “Crazy Rich Asians,” the blockbuster 2013 book and 2018 film, proved there was a commercial appetite for Asian-centric stories, including those set in Zhao’s hometown of Singapore. She could definitely play up the “Crazy Rich Asians” angle, with some “Devil Wears Prada” thrown in. A one-time intern at Vogue…

With an earnest, can-do attitude, Taron Egerton stars as Henk Rogers, the video game designer and producer who helped bring the ‘80s video game Tetris out of the Soviet Union and into the hands of the world via the GameBoy. Following the beats of a heist thriller, Apple’s Tetris recreates a historic series of events with a kind of flair and drama usually reserved for a spy films.Tetris — Official Trailer | Apple TV+Look, I’m sold. Egerton delivers his lines with a kind of manic sincerity, the subtle video game touches are…

Cuba's Rodolfo Davalos arrives at the High Court in London, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. The Cuban government and an investment firm are battling in a British court over decades-old debts racked up by the communist-run island nation.Kin Cheung | APIllegally recorded videos, chaotic protests and testimony from an imprisoned Cuban bank official marked the first week of a high-stakes trial in the UK High Court between Cuba and an investment fund.  The fund has sued Cuba over tens of millions of dollars' worth of unpaid…

After 40 years, here is a re-release of a classic product of the British Film Institute and Channel 4, in the era when they high-mindedly sponsored non-commercial artistry. If anything, Peter Greenaway’s film looks more brilliant, more uncompromisingly cerebral and more exasperating than ever. Watching it again, I found myself thinking of Congreve, Dangerous Liaisons and The Wicker Man.This was Greenaway’s breakthrough; it startled and entranced British audiences and European audiences even more so, with its rich, weird…

Marvel Comics Remix by Keane Eacobellis In an official capacity, we know nothing about the plot of Madame Web, which is currently in the midst of shooting ahead of a February 2024 release. However, if the rumors turn out to be true, then there’s every reason to think we could be in for a multiversal superhero spectacular that sounds so insane, it might just be awesome. A purported plot leak claimed that director S.J. Clarkson’s stab at Sony’s Spider-Man Universe would essentially be a web-slinging spin on The…

Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Lindt Chocolate The sequel to the incredibly popular movie Joker has added another castmate. Catherine Keener (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Being John Malkovich) will appear in the upcoming Joker: Folie à Deux. The actress joins Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga and the newly added Brendan Gleeson and Zazie Beetz, according to Deadline. Keener is a two-time Oscar nominated actress and recently appeared in the horror film Get Out. She also had a role in the Netflix sci-fi movie The Adam…

via Netflix As you’d expect from the platform’s most expensive original movie ever with a budget north of $200 million, one hailing from the directors of Avengers: Endgame, starring Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans, which already has a sequel and a spinoff in the works, everyone is talking about The Gray Man this week. However, Rogue Agent has lived up to its title by infiltrating the viewership charts without anyone noticing. Per FlixPatrol, the lo-fi tale of espionage and intrigue has been steadily making its way…

The best political and spy thrillers are laced with intrigue, mystery, and suspense. The best comedies can often take heightened circumstances and keep upping the ante as the movie progresses. 18 ½ is an interesting combination of the two that sometimes succeeds, but still feels slightly hollow in the end. The year is 1973, and White House transcriber Connie (Willa Fitzgerald) is meeting with a New York Times journalist because she’s come across something extraordinary: the titular missing length of time from the…