In 2026, theme parks are a massive part of society. There are attractions all over the globe, competing to build the biggest and best rides to entertain thrill-seekers. They've become so successful that even Disney’s newest CEO comes from a park background, solidifying their importance in modern culture.
But back in 1955, the idea of a large-scale theme park like Disneyland in Anaheim, California, was seen as ridiculous, impossible, even. Such a feat had never been attempted before, and many people thought Walt Disney's dream was simply that, and could never be realized.
It's genuinely fascinating to watch all this unfold through Disney+'s new documentary Disneyland Handcrafted. I've been to a couple of Disney parks in my life, and I'll admit I might take them for granted at times. But imagine being there to witness the first-ever Disney park, built in just over a year? It's a remarkable achievement, and it's no wonder it's gone down in history.
I loved witnessing so many iconic attractions from start to finish, like the water ride Jungle Cruise and Mark Twain, which, at the time, was the first functional steamboat built in the US in 50 years.
There are some anxiety-inducing moments, too, as workers are seen climbing to great heights without the safety equipment we have today. The construction site for Disneyland looked nothing like modern-day ones, and it's so special to have all this archive footage preserving the process.
Disneyland Handcrafted is a love letter to Walt Disney's ambition and to the way he embraced television to spread the word about his theme park. He gave progress reports and marketed its development in a way that was groundbreaking back then, leveraging new technologies and ideas.
So many people worked hard to build Disneyland, from its attractions to Sleeping Beauty's castle, a huge structure that I'm constantly in awe of even now. Immersion was everything to make Disneyland a success; without an effective theme, it would've all fallen apart.
But Walt's team of designers, builders, and more were able to bring it all together, including the first iteration of Main Street, an iconic Disney-themed land, which resembles American small towns during the early 20th century.
Even though it's all laid out in front of us, it still seems unbelievable that they were even able to pull all this off. It's an incredibly hopeful documentary that proves how far determination and hard work can take you, even if people around you doubt you can do it.
Disneyland Handcrafted is sure to give you a new appreciation for theme parks, even beyond the Disney umbrella. So much work goes into funding, design, marketing, and building attractions.
Disneyland's opening was not perfect, as they ran into issues such as a plumber's strike, which forced a choice between working water fountains and toilets, leaving guests without drinking water. But the fact that it even existed back then is monumental, and improvements were made based on the all-important first visit. Over time, it's gotten even better, blossoming into the park we know and love today.
There are a few small issues with Disneyland Handcrafted. It doesn't provide a complete timeline or a deep dive into certain areas, as its short runtime limits it. However, there is enough to keep you engaged and plenty of new things to uncover, which may encourage you to go off and read more about it.
Walt himself doesn't appear much either, beyond important television broadcasts, which could disappoint some fans. But personally, I did enjoy the fact that it focused on all the people who worked hard on the Anaheim site every day, lifting heavy equipment and following blueprints that probably felt overwhelming at first. Together as a community, they really did build something beautiful.
Disney+ is home to plenty of great behind-the-scenes looks at the parks. We Call It Imagineering focuses on how Disney Parks are designed and built in the modern day, taking you behind the scenes of the biggest attractions and new ideas.
There's plenty to explore, and as a huge fan of Disney movies and parks, it's incredible getting to see the process and how it's changed over time. Disneyland Handcrafted is a must-watch for anyone keen to see where it all began, and it's streaming now on Disney+ and YouTube.
I'm not just a Muppet Show fan; I've idolized Jim Henson for most of my life. Few shared his creative gifts. He was prolific and smart and used puppetry to tell stories in new and novel ways that we'd never seen before, and have scarcely seen since his untimely death in 1990.
Henson's Muppets helped makeSesame Streetpossible, a show I grew up watching in the 1960s and early 1970s. The original The Muppets Show, which aired from 1976 to 1981, expanded the Muppets' world and reach, introducing a new cast of characters to work with the original leader and (adult in the room) Kermit the Frog (voiced by Jim Henson).
Aimed at a more mixed audience consisting of families, The Muppet Show, set in the vaudevillian-style Muppet Theatre, offered a blend of cornball jokes and winks at the more adult audience. From the start, the mayhem revolved around a line of starry celebrity guests. Half the fun was seeing how these sometimes button-downed stars would act among the all-puppet cast.
The Muppet Show special event will stream on Disney+ soon. (Image credit: Disney/Mitch Haaseth)
Their apparent acceptance of these fabric creations as real helped the audience accept them and their antics as well. There were few shows I looked forward to more each week than The Muppet Show. It was appointment viewing for my family. I know I laughed and watched with fascination at all of Henson's incredible creations and how they extended the state of puppet art and artistry.
By the time the show went off the air, I was in high school and perhaps a little less interested in the Muppets (or perhaps I was just feeling the natural peer pressure to be less interested). Also, the Muppets had graduated to films, first with the incredible The Muppet Movie, the 1979 breakthrough film, which finally merged the Muppet Show and Sesame Street puppet casts, and it's just about perfect.
No other subsequent Muppet film quite reached those heights, though The Muppets Take Manhattan was at least memorable and I have a fondness for 2011's Muppet Movie revival.
The Muppets returned to television briefly in 2015 with the poorly received The Muppets. which tried, without success, to do for the Muppets what The Office did for corporate life. It failed.
By contrast, the new The Muppet Show is a largely faithful recreation of the original show. It is, at times, a charming and nostalgic trip back. Seeing each character, like Scooter, Fozzie the Bear, Gonzo, Beeker, and others, feels like reuniting with old friends.
Kermit remains a strong central presence, and his interplay with the self-involved Miss Piggy is as dysfunctional as ever.
For devoted Henson fans, it's not always easy to listen to the slightly different voice characterizations of Kermit over the years. Steve Whitmire did it for decades after Henson unexpectedly died. In recent years, it's been Matt Vogel. Like Whitmire before him, Vogel does his best to sound like Henson. It's close, but also distracting if you know the original. New fans will not have this problem.
Don't call it a reboot
Kermit the Frog was originally voiced by Jim Henson. (Image credit: Disney/Mitch Haaseth)
While the structure of this 'Special Event' largely follows a format set up during the second season of the original show, there is a nod here that this is, on some level, a sentimental return after a long hiatus.
As the camera pans over Muppet Theatre's backstage lighting, The Rainbow Connection plays gently on a piano in the background. We see Kermit walking past black and white photos of the original show's iconic celebrity guests. The scene shifts to a close-up of Kermits' coffee cup, and then the camera pulls back to reveal Rowlf playing the piano beside him.
"Rowlf, have you been playing this whole time?" Kermit asks before Rowlf responds: "Well, what did you think it was, some kind of sentimental montage in your head?" That forth-wall-breaking and quick shift of tone from sentiment to humor is classic Muppet Show.
The Muppets Show special event is almost the same as the original series. (Image credit: Disney/Mitch Haaseth)
The rest of the format is a virtual duplicate of the original show. There's a short bit between the celebrity guest – in this case, Sabrina Carpenter – and one or more of the Muppets, this time Miss Piggy. It, like most of the bits, is more likely to elicit a groan than outright laughs. After the iconic, giant yellow The Muppet Show curtain drops down, Kermit pops out of "O" in "Show" and enthusiastically announces: "It's the Muppet Show!"
While the show is mostly bits and musical performances, there is a storyline running through the episode in which Kermit, in an effort to please everyone, has wildly overbooked the show. Everyone is so excited to be back that they all want to participate. That returns later to inspire the show's most inspired bit.
The Studio star Seth Rogen executive produces the show, and while his brand of sharp adult humor is in short supply here, Kermit's opening monologue does sound like it might have Rogen's fingerprints on it: "We are so excited to be back on the very stage where it all started, and then ended, and then is maybe starting again, depending on how tonight goes."
The old Peanut Gallery
Waldorf and Statler are back in the peanut gallery. (Image credit: Disney/Mitch Haaseth)
Statler and Waldorf sit in their usual box and make cranky commentary that sounds right at home in a vaudeville show. The joke about the Muppets being broke might be funnier if we didn't know that Disney now owns the Muppets franchise.
Carpenter's performance of Manchild in an old-west saloon populated by Muppets is affecting mainly because of Carpenter's talents and considerable charm. The physical humor is vintage Muppets, though some parents might wonder at the violence (she hits one puppet over the head with a bottle).
There's a live audience populated with humans and Muppets who provide live applause. However, I can't tell whether the laughter is also real, a laugh track, or being prompted by the audience handlers, compelling people to laugh.
Rogen makes a brief appearance in The Muppet Show. (Image credit: Disney/Mitch Haaseth)
Rogen does appear, though he's cut from the show and is ultimately relegated to the audience.
Gonzo also appears but feels underused in his daredevil bits.
There's a Bridgerton-inspired "Pigs in Wigs" segment that falls flat. Piggy's cutting comments just sound mean, and the banter falls somewhere between confusing and uncomfortable. The recasting of Pepe the Prawn as Missy Piggy's lover is a funny sight gag, but as is often the case, the writers seem unsure what to do with Pepe beyond the initial gag.
At one point, Miss Piggy asks, "What is happening here?" and I kind of had the same question.
The less said about the all-rat performance of The Weekend's Blinding Lights, the better. it reminding me a bit of one of those Kids' Bop renditions of popular songs and not in a good way.
Saved in the end
Pepe the Prawn and Miss Piggy during the Bridgerton-inspired "Pigs in Wigs" act. (Image credit: Disney/Mitch Haaseth)
As the show starts to come apart at the seams, Kermit apologetically tells Carpenter that they're "still working out a few kinks," to which Carpenter replies: "That's alright, I love a kink." It's one of a handful of nods to the adult audience that I think it's safe to assume will sail over most kids' heads.
Maya Rudolph also appears as an audience member who falls in love with a large blue Muppet. She's also at one point declared dead. Don't worry, it's all played for laughs, though I do wonder if kids watching will be momentarily concerned as their parents are horrified.
Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker during the Muppet Labs segment. (Image credit: Disney/Mitch Haaseth)
I enjoyed the Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker Muppet Labs segment, but again, Beaker's eyes popping out might frighten younger children.
The Kemit-Sabrina Carpenter Islands in the Stream duet is particularly affecting, until Miss Piggy shows up, sabotages it, but ultimately completes the performance. This is in keeping with a show where everything goes wrong.
Scooter and Gonzo (Image credit: Disney/Mitch Haaseth)
By and large, this Muppets special event felt like a show trying desperately to find its footing, that is, until the finale, which I found surprisingly touching.
Kermit can't put on every promised act and leaves the Muppet crew feeling frustrated. Then he stands on stage and says, "I can't say the show has gone exactly as we planned....maybe we're a little rusty...I hope you at least enjoyed some of it." It sounds almost too honest, too real.
Kermit doesn't announce another act. Instead, he starts singing acapella Queen's Don't Stop Me Now. Rawlf joins in on piano and then the entire Muppets cast joins in. It becomes the most joyous number of the entire show, and, if I'm being honest, it was the first thing in the new The Muppets show that left me wanting more.
Verdict
Miss Piggy, Lew Zealand, Kermit (Image credit: Disney/Mitch Haaseth)
The Muppets Show revival is not the best version of the show that's ever existed. It's far from the worst, either. The cornball vaudeville vibe was part of its original charm, but I just don't know if it's smoothly translated into 2026.
I think the writing might need to be updated a bit as Rogen and company figure out where the show and its audience live. This is an audience raised on social video and with humor that's much smarter than what was presented in 1976, or this show 50 years later.
As Carpenter proved, celebrity star power will still help carry the day, but the core of the show remains the puppets. If jokes and performances aren't as sharp and knowing, or just as charismatic as Carpenter's, we may not see future episodes.
Disney+'s The Muppet Show special event streams to subscribers globally on February 4, 2026.
Light spoilers follow for all eight episode of Wonder Man.
2026 is a big year for Marvel. With its cinematic universe struggling to rediscover the consistency that defined its first decade, there's never been more pressure on highly-anticipated movies like Avengers: Doomsday and Spider-Man: Brand New Day to get people back onside.
And yet, it falls on Wonder Man, the comic book giant's first Disney+ show of the year, to convince casual fans that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is worth sticking with or jumping back into. It's a wonderful thing, then, that Wonder Man is a franchise-disrupting, metatextual caper that's arguably the studio's most creative TV original since WandaVision.
I was born to play this character
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II portrays Simon Williams, a down-on-his-luck, Los Angeles-based actor (Image credit: Marvel Studios)
Produced under the Marvel Spotlight banner, Wonder Man introduces us to Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul- Mateen II), a luckless and capricious actor struggling for work in the MCU's version of Hollywood.
Williams' tortured nature is captured with pitch-perfect intensity and gravitas by Abul-Mateen II
When Williams learns that Oscar-winning director Von Kovak (Zlatko Burić) is remaking 'Wonder Man', an in-universe movie that's also his favorite film of all time, Williams vows land the lead role. Well, as long as he can keep his biggest secret – as one of Wonder Man's teasers confirmed, that he possesses actual superpowers – under wraps.
Having superhuman abilities should be advantageous for a project like this, right? Not if you're Simon Williams, a serial overthinker whose passion for his craft often makes him difficult to deal with personally and professionally.
Williams' life is falling apart when we meet him in Wonder Man's premiere (Image credit: Marvel Studios/Disney+)
His failure to secure regular work and tendency to lose the roles he does get due to a passion interpreted as overzealous interference are, unsurprisingly, emotionally destabilizing moments for Williams. Add in your demonstrably powerful abilities appearing whenever you experience negative emotions, and that's a recipe for disaster.
That's especially true if Williams' abilities ever manifest while on set. The reason? Enhanced individuals are banned from working in Hollywood, so it's not the ideal profession for Williams, whose tortured nature is captured with pitch-perfect intensity and gravitas by Wonder Man's lead star Abdul-Mateen II.
Trevor Slattery (right) has two options: help the DoDC or complete his prison sentence for his crimes as The Mandarin (Image credit: Marvel Studios/Disney+)
Wonder Man is as much Trevor Slattery's (Ben Kingsley) story as it is Williams', though.
A washed-up thespian and recovering substance abuser who we first met as fake terrorist The Mandarin in Iron Man 3, Slattery is an important cog in Williams' journey and the Marvel Phase 6 show's wider narrative.
Slattery is the uproarious fulcrum for many of Wonder Man's hijinks
Apprehended by the Department of Damage Control (DoDC) at an airport following his redemption arc in Shang-Chi, Slattery is coerced into helping the superhuman-monitoring US government agency keep track of Williams, whom it believes to be a highly dangerous individual.
Rather than position Slattery as a primary supporting character, though, Marvel installs Kingsley as the series' co-lead. It's a storytelling decision that not only allows Wonder Man to thoroughly examine this enigmatic and eccentric character's background, personality, and motives in greater detail than before, but also plays to Kingsley's strengths as an actor.
Utilizing the British icon's extensive affiliation with the Royal Shakespeare Company and penchant for playing characters as straight as possible, Wonder Man gives Kingsley a stage to really shine on. Equipped with Slattery's awkward and unfiltered persona, Kingsley is the uproarious fulcrum for the various hijinks that ensue throughout, too.
Just the two of us
Williams and Slattery are another absorbing buddy cop pairing to add to the MCU's growing roster (Image credit: Marvel Studios/Disney+)
Armed with either of these likeable albeit lost souls, Wonder Man would be an enthralling watch. The resolution to build its plot around both, then, is a match made in heaven.
The decision to build Wonder Man's plot around Williams and Slattery is a match made in heaven
From their initial encounters at a Midnight Cowboy screening and then the 'Wonder Man' auditions, where a regret-filled Slattery takes pity on Williams as he struggles to maintain his composure, they're a mesmerically mismatched pair that deserve to be added to the MCU's ever-expanding collection of charming double acts.
A two-hander in all but name, it's the kind of odd-couple dynamic that doesn't come along often, but produces all manner of on-screen fireworks from the outset.
Williams and Slattery's professional and personal lives become entwined as the story progresses (Image credit: Marvel Studios/Disney+)
It's a bond initially formed by their mutual love for their craft. Slattery sees his tactless and ego-driven self in Williams and uses his experience and calming influence to guide the less-seasoned actor through the murky world of Hollywood. It isn't long, though, before their student-teacher relationship blossoms into a genuine bromance – and, like me, you'll soon be rooting for them to individually and collectively succeed.
You'll soon be rooting for Williams and Slattery to individually and collectively succeed
That said, I'll admit my desire to root for them was strained at times. Whether it's the emotionally unavailable Williams occasionally shutting out his mentor, or Slattery's duplicity in trying to keep both Williams and the DoDC onside – honestly, at one point, I genuinely thought Slattery would fully betray his new friend – theirs is a companionship buffeted by numerous outside forces. Ultimately, though, the earnestness of their buddy-cop dynamic, plus the hardships these tragic characters have endured, is what'll make you cheer them on.
And all the world's a stage
Von Kovak (right) will ultimately decide if Williams and Slattery land roles in his 'Wonder Man' movie remake (Image credit: Marvel Studios/Disney+)
With its intimate, dual-character-study-first approach, Wonder Man plays more as a tragicomedy with sitcom elements than a biting commentary on the corporate Hollywood machine.
Wonder Man doesn't hold up a taunting mirror to Hollywood in the same way that The Studio does
Sure, Wonder Man's metatextual layers run deep, and it doesn't shy away from the cutthroat nature of the entertainment business. However, it's not a fourth-wall-breaking project in the way She-Hulk: Attorney at Law or the Deadpool films are. Nor does it hold up a taunting mirror to Hollywood in the same way that The Studio does. Laugh-out-loud funny though Wonder Man is, it's not as outrageously chaotic or toe-curlingly hilarious in its takedown of the industry as that Apple TV Original is, or as scathingly satirical of the superhero genre like Prime Video's adaptation of The Boys is.
Riveting as Wonder Man is, it isn't without its missteps (Image credit: Marvel Studios/Disney+)
I don't consider those to be faults that Wonder Man possesses, but Marvel's latest small-screen offering isn't beyond reproach.
For one, its Williams and Slattery-absent Twilight Zone-esque fourth episode provides context for one of Wonder Man's early mysteries, but brings its primary narrative to a grinding halt just as it's really beginning to build momentum. Similarly, while its circumnavigation of Williams' complicated comic book history facilitates an easier MCU introduction for the character, this source material deviation will irritate some Marvel Comics purists.
And then there's the finale, which falls foul of the same problem that's plagued other Marvel TV Originals on one of the world's best streaming services. In its favor, it foregoes the archetypal – not to mention predictable – CGI showdown between hero and villain, which is a welcome departure from the Disney subsidiary's usual TV blueprint.
Nonetheless, just another five to 10 minutes showing how Williams has grown as an individual across its eight-episode run would've helped its pacing and stopped it from racing towards an ending that may be perceived as somewhat anticlimactic.
My verdict
Ultimately, though, those niggles didn't prevent me from having a blast with Wonder Man. Pardon the pun, but it's a wonderfully executed slice of television that's both a celebration of the performing arts and an eye-opening peek behind the curtain of an industry that continues to entertain us to this day.
It might be a bit on the short side, runtime-wise, and its narrative flow is a little uneven, especially in the first half. But, armed with a charismatic leading pair firing on all cylinders, and a story that'll resonate with anyone who's set out to achieve their wildest dreams and did so, Wonder Man deserves a standing ovation for proving nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it – and if you have a little help along the way.
Wonder Man releases in full on Tuesday, January 27 (North and South America) and Wednesday, January 28 (everywhere else). To learn more about the series ahead of launch, read my guide on everything we know about Wonder Man.
I feel as though I'm going mad when I say there was once a time when Ryan Murphy TV shows were fresh, bold and innovative. Nip/Tuck was a scathing satirical putdown of cosmetic surgery culture in the early 2000s, Glee – while completely unhinged – dominated the television zeitgeist in a way no other show was daring to, and the first three seasons of American Horror Story were bona fide masterpieces.
Unsurprisingly, Murphy's track history likely means that streamers like Hulu and Disney are all but happy to throw money his way and wait for the next big thing to materialize... except, this isn't really happening anymore. While shows like 9-1-1 are getting more grandiose by the minute (Angela Bassett in space? Really), others including American Sports Story and Grotesquerie fell off the radar and were quickly cancelled.
Then All's Fair became the 0% Rotten Tomatoes stinker that took the internet by storm, guaranteeing a second season purely by fully leaning into its own stupidity. I really didn't think Murphy could top his own dreadfulness, but new FX series The Beauty easily clears any flop he's ever previously produced.
Why? Because at least All's Fair knew how terrible it was. At least Grotesquerie didn't pretend to be a success story. The Beauty is masquerading as something much more significant than it actually is, without contributing anything to the cultural zeitgeist aside from making sure you have the safest sex possible.
The Beauty on FX is The Substance-turned-STD, and everything about it is wrong
I know that you won't want to watch this series based on the above trailer, but let me set the scene for you anyway. Two FBI agents (played by Evan Peters and Rebecca Hall) travel across Europe to unravel the mysterious death of a group of supermodels. None of them appear to know each other, but all have the same symptoms – a virus, burning alive from the inside and spontaneously exploding upon death.
This either sounds like the recipe for absurd hilarity or insightful social commentary, but The Beauty is neither. After you've finished being baffled by Bella Hadid's out-of-place cameo, you're left feeling nothing aside from wondering how the series was green lit in the first place. We had The Substance last year, so we hardly need its knockoff little sister.
It doesn't take long for The Beauty to hit you over the head with its intended messaging of "what will people risk in order to be beautiful?". You could argue that a plethora of shows and movies have mulled over this age-old question already, ironically beginning with Nip/Tuck itself. Truthfully, we know what people would risk to be attractive (everything), and the critical analysis ends there.
Murphy is clearly churning out old ideas here, and there's nothing of merit or value contained within any single scene. The decision to make the killer virus a sexually transmitted disease (STD) is morally ambiguous, particularly when you consider Murphy's deft handling of the AIDS crisis in Pose. Is this meant to be an ironic nod to real-life history? Is it merely intended to shock whoever is watching? Condom sales might increase after this, but not much else will.
Go girl, give us nothing
I can't even remember their character names they are that forgettable. (Image credit: FX)
But let's put the gory gimmicks and missed narrative opportunities to one side. What else do we have left? Peters and Hall are secretly lovers, but don't have an ounce of chemistry between them. This makes flogging an already dead horse even trickier, because there's almost no incentive to watch. Murphy has already told us how our exploding supermodels die thanks to the mutant sex virus, so where's the payoff?
There's also the gauche notion that "fat is bad" that plays through the center of the story, and that's neither fitting for 2026 nor is it an original thought. 20 years ago, Murphy could have been lauded as daring by tackling body image head-on, but now it's just uncomfortable to watch slim actors in fat suits. Again, there's nothing of value to making this a worthwhile endeavor.
So we're left with a mis-matched, tone-deaf, mundane splatter of madness on our screens, and I'd rather have been blasted straight in the face with the VFX department's guts like an Italian horror movie from the 80s. Perhaps that way, I'd have felt something.
During the international press tour, I saw star Ashton Kutcher talk about The Beauty as if nobody has dared to make television like this before. I have to wonder if he's actually ever watched TV before now, and that's before I consider that his ex-wife Demi Moore examined this same topic in an infinitely more successful way.
Our only two wins are the brash pop soundtrack and a cameo role from the icon that is Isabella Rossellini. I don't know what Murphy has got on her to get this appearance, but God is she so much better than this. We all are.
A Thousand Blows steps out of the bareknuckle boxing rings of Victorian London to focus on bleaker themes in the second season of Steven Knight's historical drama. While there are still plenty of wince-inducing brawls, A Thousand Blows season 2 is less about gritty fight sequences and more about the fight for survival in an unforgiving Victorian London.
Like the first season, Knight has once again mixed fact with fiction, using real historical events to inspire the narratives throughout the series, which he describes as "stepping stones" for creating a foundation to the overall storyline. "Usually, you’ve got a date, maybe a fight that happened, a boxing bout that happened or a robbery that happened for real," he explained. "You know these things happened, and then it’s up to you to find out why they would have gone from that to that."
Knight confirmed that the second season is roughly 35% based on real-life. That formula adds a layer of authenticity to the show that it balances throughout with emotional story arcs to thread the varying narratives together, from Hezekiah Moscow’s (Malachi Kirby) journey from wanting to be a lion tamer to becoming a heavyweight champion to Mary Carr's (Erin Doherty) daring department store robberies as the leader of the notorious all-female crime gang the Forty Elephants.
In season 2, Hezekiah is seen dusting himself off from the aftermath of the fatal boxing bout at the end of the first season. Still reeling from the loss of his brother Alec (Francis Lovehall), he feels more far from home than ever before.
These emotions weigh him down, but they also act as a catalyst for a new redemption arc that ties into Knight's belief about the timelessness of basic human motivations. "It doesn’t matter how far back in time you’re going," he says. "People were the same. The same motivations, the same emotions, jealousy and passions."
Partly due to Knight's focus on these themes, season 2 has a lot less boxing than the first chapter. That gives it a more relatable feel for those with less interest in pugilism, with the series referencing real historical events like the Matchgirls’ Strike of 1888 at the Bryant & May factory. "They used white phosphorus, which was poisonous and caused horrible diseases for the workers," Kirby noted. There are also echoes of Jack the Ripper that further ground the show in a layer of authenticity of the time.
The Forty Elephants have it all to play for in season 2. (Image credit: Disney )
Doherty summed up the atmosphere of the period perfectly with: "Life was fragile then, it was easily lost… When you understand how many people would just die on the streets, the stakes are incredibly high." Adding: "When you're trying to find the human in it all, it's not too hard because it was so terrifying and bleak."
For Darci Shaw (pictured above), who plays supporting character Alice who's part of the Forty Elephants, it was digging into that bleak history that helped her to fully understand what was at stake. "I read quite a bit about the period and the state of women in homelessness at the time, and I think that just helps to understand the stakes and why these women [the Forty Elephants] are so confident and will do whatever it takes because they don't have a choice," she said.
Other supporting characters like Edward 'Treacle' Goodson are also given more depth. James Nelson-Joyce, who plays Goodson, credits Knight’s scripts for the character’s complexity in season 2. "Steven’s writing is unbelievable," he said. "You’re never playing one thing. There’s always layers, always something underneath what’s being said."
Despite one extremely heartbreaking storyline, Treacle and his brother Sugar Goodson (Stephen Graham) don't play as big of a role in the second season, leaving space for Hezekiah's and Mary's comeback act to take centre stage.
The stakes are no less serious, though. While there’s less boxing than in the first season of A Thousand Blows, the brawls remain brutal, but it's the characters' battles outside the ring that give the second season its dramatic force.
All six episodes of A Thousand Blows season 2 premiered on January 9, 2026, on Disney+ (internationally) and Hulu (US).
For the Bruce Springsteen faithful – and probably those who feel that way about Jeremy Allen White – today, October 24, 2025, has been a long time coming, as Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is finally showing in movie theaters across the globe.
Now, for lack of a better analogy, the Boss has been the soundtrack of my life – well, for most of it – so I headed to a local AMC Theatre with Dolby Cinema in the great state of New Jersey for an opening-night preview screening.
I had a lot of feelings going in, especially since Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere isn’t like most biopics. But I wouldn’t even call it that, because it focuses on a very specific, short time in Springsteen’s career. Instead of portraying the many months spent on getting Born to Run just right or even Born in the U.S.A.’s release or Springteen’s rise to stratospheric stardom, it turns the spotlight onto one of his darker chapters – one that Springsteen became more open about in his memoir Born to Run and in Warren Zanes’s Deliver Me From Nowhere, which is the book that inspired this film.
So, let’s dive into it – and fair warning, I’ll have some mild spoilers ahead, though it’s kind of comical as this is based in reality, and we all know about Nebraska.
Inside Nebraska
Warning: some spoilers for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere lie ahead.
(Image credit: 20th Century Studios)
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is a lot better than I was expecting it to be. It’s a good film that’s more like a deep character study of a specific time in Bruce Springsteen’s life. It jumps from before, during, and a bit after the recording of Nebraska, giving a deep dive into his mental health – both Bruce’s and his family’s – and his upbringing. The latter is done through black-and-white flashbacks, which at times feel a bit out of place but do an excellent job of at least rooting the pain and depression.
It opens showing a glimpse into that upbringing, but soon ties the anxiety and rush of an encounter into the rush and thrill of performing Born to Run to close out The River Tour. This is our first glimpse, and one of the few, of the E Street Band during Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere.
I never really got comfortable believing Jeremy Allen White was entirely the embodiment of Bruce Springsteen, but he sure gives off the look of a rock star known for energetic performances. Maybe most importantly, Allen White doesn’t just do an imitative voice of the Boss but, in my opinion, does a lot more with body language and how he presents himself.
From there on out, we see the relationship between Jon Landau – played by Jeremy Strong – and Bruce unfold on screen, and it matches the real-life relationship. They were two friends forever, who clearly had each other’s backs, and Landau definitely does a masterclass in being an agent, manager, and friend – fighting for what the artist wants.
We see Bruce then settle into a rental in Colts Neck, dive deep into some reading, and eventually watch Terrence Malick’s 1973 film Badlands, which pushes him to research a bit more and eventually start on a track of songs dubbed Starkweather, which becomes Nebraska. Seeing this process depicted on the big screen, and the historic room with the orange shag carpet, is something of a bit of a holy grail. And Jeremy Allen White does get the singing voice pretty close, as well as the guitar playing, though there is a unique blending. I also need to give a shout to the audio quality in this Dolby Cinema theater, but also to the mixing team on Springsteen: Deliver From Nowhere, it is done excellently. And there are a few tracks where the singing shifts from Jeremy Allen White to Bruce Springsteen, and vice versa.
We also see Bruce go on a few dates with a character, Faye – who in reality is a composite, and we see that struggle as he runs away from fame and goes on some self-discovery, which in turn is himself feeling like an outsider in his own body.
The human story behind the music
(Image credit: 20th Century Studios)
Beyond the recordings, I think what really hit the most with me was the visual telling of Springsteen’s struggles with his own mental health and that of his father’s, and the repairing of their relationship. While it’s rooted in fact, director Scott Cooper certainly took some liberties here and sped up the timeline.
It’s rare, I think, for Bruce himself to be so open with showing, telling, and reliving this, and Jeremy Allen White really shines in these scenes – he depicts the feeling of an outsider in their own body perfectly, acting the build-up to a breakdown and a panic attack with realism. Allen White also shows the struggle of realizing something is up but not knowing how to seek help – remember this is in the 1980s, specifically 1982.
I think those are the most powerful moments, and even if the pacing could be slow at times, it lets these moments of the film really build up and be delivered with ample time. For those who have read Born to Run or maybe watched Springsteen on Broadway, I think this acts as a really nice introspective and deep dive into Nebraska.
Yes, it’s more niche than, say, Born to Run,Born in the U.S.A., or Springsteen’s other work, but it’s also the most raw, natural, and, in the end, more impactful. It’s an important aspect of how the Boss became the Boss, and while I had my doubts going in, the result is an impactful, good film that’s very deep, emotive, emotional, and ultimately a close character study.
(Image credit: 20th Century Studios)
Yes, it can be hard to get past the fact that Jeremy Allen White is not Bruce Springsteen, but thanks to the attention to detail, the physicality, and the close study, it’s believable – minus the looks.
Ultimately, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere explores the process of coming to terms with childhood trauma and the impacts of that, which can sit with you and become a theme of life as you move on. We’ve known Bruce’s family has had mental illness, and he's had his own demons; the art comes from that to a degree.
It may not hit every note perfectly, but I think fans will like it – it’s an honest, heavy, and deeply human look at Springsteen during arguably one of his darkest periods, one that still showcases the music-making process with just a taste of E Street Band greatness.
Ultimately, an antithesis of most biopics – a good thing.
Steven Lisberger’s dormant digital mecca is finally being rebooted for the big screen, with director Joachim Rønning (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales; Kon-Tiki) crafting a sequel that takes us back inside the neon-washed virtual world known as the Grid. Picking up the baton from Joseph Kosinski’s Tron: Legacy more than a decade after that film’s release, Tron: Ares moves the action out of the Grid and into the real world.
This ambitious shift takes the franchise in a new direction, which Rønning manages to do while honoring the film series’ style and tone, peppering the movie with numerous references that eagle-eyed fans will pick up on. Just like the second installment, Tron: Ares opens with a quick flash of newsreels that establish a futuristic setting where two tech titans, ENCOM and Dillinger Systems, are competing to find the long lost ‘Permanence Code’, a technology that could enable digital life to exist in the real world.
From the beginning, it’s clear that Tron: Ares is setting out a bold new direction for the franchise. It flips the original premise, so rather than a human entering the Grid, a program enters the real world, raising timely questions about AI’s next advancements and the nature of human morality.
Jared Leto’s (Requiem for a Dream; Dallas Buyers Club) titular Ares is a self-learning AI known as the Master Control Program. Like his mythological namesake, Ares is built as a security protocol, so it’s fitting when we’re introduced to him during a combat training montage inside the Dillinger Grid. Keeping in line with the original movie, Dillinger is the same corporate antagonist in this latest chapter.
In the original movie Dillinger Systems was owned by the nefarious Ed Dillinger, who was played by David Warner. Dillinger’s son now calls the shots, with Evan Peters (X-Men: Days of Future Past; Monster) replacing Cliian Murphy who previously took on the role in Tron: Legacy. Dillinger Junior has his sights set on retrieving the code, and in his desperation to beat ENCOM to the punch he invents a technology that can make the programs he’s coded in the Grid temporarily exist in the real world – except that’s not what he tells investors, much to the annoyance of his mother Elisabeth Dillinger, who’s played by Gillian Anderson (The Last King of Scotland; The X-Files).
Tron: Ares revisits the same neon-soaked sci-fi setting of the original 80s movie. (Image credit: Disney )
The limitations of the technology mean that when Ares is finally transmitted into the real world, he can only survive in a temporary physical state for 29 minutes before his new form completely destabilizes, sending him back to the Dillinger Grid. This digital resurrection echoes the story of Frankenstein’s monster, as we watch Ares grapple with what it means to be human throughout the film. Anchoring this moral struggle is a quote from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein that’s referenced more than once in the dialogue: “Beware, I am fearless and therefore powerful”. But, unlike Frankenstein’s monster, Ares is less a cautionary tale about the perils of unchecked experimentation than a mirror for human morality.
Jodie Turner-Smith’s (After Yang; The Agency) Athena, a fellow digital soldier who works for Dillinger, sharpens the movie’s thematic point around humanity. Her robotic obedience stands in stark contrast to Ares’ existential curiosity, and it’s a smart dynamic that works to set them apart when Ares and Athena are sent on a mission to hack into the ENCOM grid. They’re ordered to spy on CEO Eve Kim, who’s played by Greta Lee (Past Lives; The Studio), to see if she’s any closer to getting the ‘Permanence Code’, but the story takes a sharp turn when Ares starts to explore what existing in a permanent physical form could mean for him.
Ares breaks free from the Grid, taking a Light Cycle for a spin on a real-life highway. (Image credit: Disney)
Created by the genius programmer Kevin Flynn, who’s played by Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski; The Old Man), the code is rumored to contain the key to bridging the gap between digital and human realities. It’s this search that also underpins Ares’ desire to understand his new feelings, which becomes the emotional core of the film.
Honoring the original movie’s groundbreaking use of CGI, Tron: Ares uses a mix of physical sets and visual effects (VFX) to give it an edge over Tron: Legacy, which had more of a CGI-heavy video game feel. I found this added another layer of immersion to the ambitious action sequences throughout, as you see Light Cycles cutting across freeways and streets. Visually, it felt like a fever dream in which characters and vehicles from a 1980s arcade game escape into a real-world setting.
Adding to that immersion is an industrial electronic score composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. The digital synthesizer-heavy soundtrack also features music from Nine Inch Nails, building on Daft Punk’s signature sound in Tron: Legacy and creating a new futuristic beat that the movie matches its rhythm to.
Seeing Tron's futuristic vehicles in the real world was a highlight of the movie. (Image credit: Disney )
Not everything ties together as seamlessly though. The symbolic references can be heavy-handed, with the dialogue often over explaining (the unnecessary repetition of the Frankenstein story hints at the obvious). The chemistry between Eve and Ares is also nonexistent, often coming across more like the relationship between a scientist and her creation, which given that the themes of the movie are centered around AI and moral evolution would have been absolutely fine, but instead the movie tries to imply a deeper relationship with a throwaway comment at the end of the film. This hints at a budding romance between them that didn’t feel entirely fitting for a sentient AI that’s only just beginning to recognize emotions.
By the time the credits have finished rolling, Rønning sets up a new direction for the sci-fi franchise in a mid-credits cut scene that suggests this won’t be the last of the disgraced tech CEO we see. TRON: Ares may not rewrite the film series’ code the way its predecessor did, but it has an emotional heft and depth, as it does explore some of the biggest questions we have today around our relationship with technology. It by no means answers any of these questions – and to be clear it doesn’t pretend that it’s setting out to do so – making Rønning’s spin at the Tron wheel less about machines being AI gods and more about the flaws within our own creations. It’s ambitious, occasionally obvious, but unmistakably Tron.
Spoilers follow for all four episodes of Marvel Zombies.
Marvel Studios has a patchy record when it comes to its animated projects. Sure, there have been hits like X-Men 97, but other productions – in the main – like Eyes of Wakanda and What If...? have flattered to deceive.
It's the latter that Marvel's latest animated show, Marvel Zombies, takes its cue from. A continuation of the story told in What If...? season 1 episode 5, titled 'What If... Zombies!?', the comic giant's first adult animated TV series is undeniably its most mature offering to date.
But, for all of its delightfully gory action and focus on the next generation of Marvel superheroes, it's weighed down by the same storytelling issues that have plagued many of the studio's other recent animated works.
The new avengers
Marvel Zombies opens five years after What If...? season 1 episode 5's cliffhanger ending (Image credit: Marvel Television/Disney Plus)
A four-part miniseries, Marvel Zombies is set five years after the initial zombie outbreak. A cataclysmic event caused by a virus that Dr Hank Pym brought back from a trip to the Quantum Realm in 'What If... Zombies!?', the planet Earth of this universe, one that sits adjacent to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), has become a dystopia overrun by the undead.
Pockets of humanity remain, though, including a desperate groups of superpowered individuals who cling to survival against the odds. But, when a trio of heroes – Kamala Khan/Ms Marvel, Riri Williams/Ironheart, and Kate Bishop/Hawkeye – discover a key that could end the zombie scourge, the group embark on a dangerous, globetrotting journey to save their world.
It's highly satisfying to see the next generation of Earth's Mightiest Heroes take center stage
Marvel Zombies opening with the aforementioned triumvirate is intentional. Khan is arguably the protagonist of this story, with the optimistic and empathetic New Jersey-hailing hero being the center point that the plot is built around, as she reluctantly and then boldly leads the charge to end the zombie plague.
In Williams, Bishop and Khan, though, Marvel Zombies immediately sets out its stall to primarily focus on the new wave of superpowered beings who have begun to populate the MCU post-Avengers: Endgame.
Zombies doesn't solely rely on that intrepid trio, either. From Shang-Chi and members of the Thunderbolts* to Moon Knight and Blade – the latter pair are admittedly spliced together to form a new yet incredibly cool individual called Blade Knight – it's highly satisfying to see the next generation of Earth's Mightiest Heroes take center stage.
Marvel Zombies puts the next generation of Earth's Mightiest Heroes at the center of its narrative (Image credit: Marvel Animation/Disney+)
That said, it's somewhat bittersweet that animated projects, such as What If...? and its zombie-based spin-off, mark the first time we've seen some of these popular heroes since their live-action MCU debuts – or, in Blade's case, who's only 'appeared' via an off-screen cameo in Eternals, at all.
An indictment of Marvel's scattergun approach post-Endgame that's seen the comic titan throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks with audiences, it's a great shame that many of Marvel Zombies' leading lights are only now getting another chance to shine, albeit via an animated Disney+ production.
It's surreal that Marvel Zombies is the first time Blade has actually appeared in a Marvel Studios project (Image credit: Marvel Animation/Disney+)
Irksome though that is, I will admit it was really fun to see interactions between characters who are yet to cross paths in the MCU.
While all-too-brief to be emotionally impactful, the Khan-Bishop-Williams dynamic is incredibly likable, as is the broader team-up between Khan, Red Guardian, Yelena Belova, Blade Knight, Shang-Chi and the latter's bestie Katy that becomes the core collective for much of Marvel Zombies' run. I regularly revelled in seeing these individuals bounce off each other and re-demonstrate that whip-smart humor that Marvel projects are renowned for.
For all of the fun-filled rapport on display, though, Marvel Zombies was a bit too quippy and corny for my tastes on occasion. I wasn't expecting the Marvel Phase 6 TV series to be a wholly miserably affair. Nonetheless, seeing Red Guardian and Zombie Captain America duke it out in what I can only describe as a slapstick showdown, or listening to eye-roll inducing jokes from FBI agent Jimmy Woo, just didn't fit the mood or tone of the post-apocalyptic horror reality that Marvel Zombies takes place in.
The walking dead
Marvel Zombies pays tribute to some great horror-fuelled episodes of television (Image credit: Marvel Animation/Disney+)
Speaking of the hair-raising universe that Marvel Zombies exists in, Marvel doesn't hold back in making its first TV-MA project as gruesome as possible.
Marvel Zombies' first trailer teased its brutality and, while I had hoped for a bit more in the way of ultra-violence, it goes harder than any other Marvel Studios movie or TV show to date. I cannot stress this enough, but it's absolutely not family-friendly, nor is it for those who are squeamish or of the faint of heart.
Some of Marvel Zombies' best set-pieces and scenes add real cinematic flair to proceedings
If you can stomach its hyper-violent tendencies, though, Marvel Zombies will reward horror fans through its clear homages to some fan-favorite genre fare. Indeed, whether it's the dread-inducing 'Hardhome' episode of Game of Thrones, or scenes that reminded me of similar sequences in World War Z and Train to Busan, some of Marvel Zombies' best set-pieces and scenes add real cinematic flair to proceedings that occasionally conceal the mid-tier art style it retains from What If...?.
Parts of Marvel Zombies' story, as well as its action sequences, leave a lot to be desired (Image credit: Marvel Animation/Disney+)
However, all the horror genre references in the world, nor positive things I've said about Marvel Zombies, can disguise my frustration with its wider narrative, though.
I'll preface my criticism by saying there's the skeleton of an engrossing story here. Indeed, its plot makes some interesting revisions to the world-building aspect of the MCU. The recycling of certain MCU technology to try and thwart the threat posed by the undead is put to good use, too.
Add in the previously discussed new-look Avengers team, the camaraderie that exists between them, and the prospect that none of them are immune from becoming the zombie horde's next victim, and I actually appreciate some of the creative and narrative swings that Marvel Zombies takes.
Spider-Man's appearance in Marvel Zombies is the main reason why it was turned into a TV show (Image credit: Marvel Animation/Disney+)
Nevertheless, Marvel Zombies is hamstrung by irritating storytelling components.
Whether it's the rudimentary MacGuffin positioned as the answer to our heroes' prayers, the decision not to pick up the story immediately after the cliffhanger ending in 'What If... Zombies!?' or a spate of character deaths that are significantly lacking in the gut-punching and/or tear-jerking department, at times Marvel Zombies can feel as emotionless as the reanimated corpses that inhabit its world. That's before we even get onto my biggest gripe about a major narrative inconsistency that occurs in its final episode, which not only changes a key moment near the end of 'What If... Zombies!?', but is practically waved away without explanation.
Marvel Zombies is hamstrung by irritating storytelling components
Part of Marvel Zombies' plot-based problems might be the fact it's a glorified TV show. Originally, it was designed to be a two-hour movie but, due to the complexities of the rights surrounding Spider-Man – don't worry, the lead of 'What If... Zombies!?' plays a part of proceedings, albeit in a reduced role – that prohibits Marvel from using him in a feature film capacity without Sony's consent, Marvel Zombies was turned into a limited series.
As a Spidey fanboy, I'll always take any webslinger-based storytelling and action where I can. However, there's no denying that his ongoing inclusion in this What If...? spin-off upsets Zombies' narrative rhythm.
My verdict
I really wanted to like Marvel Zombies more than I did. That doesn't mean it's another average or poor offering from Marvel – indeed, there's frightful fun to be had with its gratuitous violence, unexpected team-ups and universe-altering stakes. Based on its ending, there's clearly an appetite to continue its story, too.
Nonetheless, if X-Men 97 is the high bar with which we judge projects developed by Marvel Animation, Zombies is something of a let down. That might be overly critical of me to say, especially when I also consider Zombies to be a better and more enjoyable Marvel TV Original than What If...? and Eyes of Wakanda.
Given my high expectations and excitement for Marvel's first adult animated show, though, I can't mask my disappointment for Marvel Zombies as an overall package. If its creative team gets another bite at the cherry with another season, I'd love nothing more for them to cure Zombies' narrative ailments. For now, though, Marvel Zombies is another project from the comic giant that'll shuffle onto Disney+ and likely be forgotten about within a week or two.
When I was a kid in the early 2000s, Lindsay Lohan was across the holy trinity of sleepover movies: Mean Girls, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen and Freaky Friday. Each is a sacred text, a rite of passage watched until you and your friends are all word perfect, songs and scenes ingrained into your memory well into adulthood.
Thankfully, Hollywood is hellbent on resurrecting as many existing IPs as it possibly can, meaning Disney is giving us girls now in their 30s a sequel to the 2003 body swap comedy Freakier Friday. In the original movie, a mum and daughter swapped bodies, which allowed them to realize how they’ve been unfair to the other (don’t worry, they got switched back in the end). Lindsay Lohan is now on the other side of rebuilding her post-child star life and ready to reunite with Jamie Lee Curtis, and the result is absolutely glorious.
Mild spoilers for Freakier Friday ahead.
Let’s start with the bad news: Lohan’s Anna and Jake (Chad Michael Murray) are no longer together in Freakier Friday, despite their will-they-won’t-they romance being the entire plot of the first movie. Anna has decided to go parenthood alone in Freakier Friday, raising now 15-year-old daughter Harper (Julia Butters) on her own. Tess (Curtis) is the psychologist-turned-podcaster we remember, intent on helicopter grandparenting as best as she can. Anna meets fellow parent Eric (Manny Jacinto) when Harper gets into trouble with his daughter Lily (Sophia Hammons), and the two fall in love. When Anna and Eric soon plan to get married, a (frankly terrible) mystic at her bachelorette party swaps spirits between the quartet, and it’s a race against time to fix it.
When I found out that the storyline beats were almost exactly the same as the original movie just with additional characters I didn’t want, and even when I saw the trailer, I was braced for the worst. However, nothing could have prepared me for the spring in my step immediately after watching the full movie, which is a lightness I haven’t felt through films for decades. Freakier Friday ticks all the boxes we’re desperate for it to (feel-good storytelling with a light-hearted touch, Lohan at her best, silly nods to girlhood) and that’s going to be a lot of happy young women who’ve been left unfilled by mainstream media.
Freakier Friday is far from perfect, but it is a millennial teenage dream
The best things in life are those that are perfectly imperfect, and in an industry that’s striving for AI greatness and motion-blended superhero glory, that’s refreshing. As a Disney movie, Freakier Friday is not trying to be anything else – it’s not trying to compete as a box office smash, and it’s not trying to get a new audience base. Instead, it’s a love letter to its fans from way back when, and in turn, for Lindsay Lohan, too.
For me, the best part of Freakier Friday is seeing a happy, healthy Lohan back where we want her and absolutely loving it. She thrives working with Curtis and Murray, and it’s almost as if no time has passed. Freaky Friday clearly created an environment she felt comfortable in, meaning she could give her whole heart to the sequel when the timing was biologically right (according to Curtis, Disney was approached when Lohan could viably have a teen daughter).
Lohan turns up to our premiere in a nod to the final outfit she wore in Freaky Friday, and the love in the room for what they have created is palpable. It shows in every one of her scenes, effortlessly finding the balance between legendary Disney icon and a comeback kid proving she never lost the acting chops she was once heralded for. Between them, Lohan and Curtis go full throttle back into the 2000s, with plenty of references to their original movie through a stylised narrative structure typically left behind in the noughties (think school food fights, comedic detention scenes and impromptu fashion shows).
If you’re a fellow child of the noughties, Freakier Friday has this wonderfully rare ability to suspend time, leaving the everyday stresses of 2025 life at bay. In this bubble, the biggest worry is seeing whether Pink Slip will play ‘Take Me Away’ (more on that later), and if Anna will make it to her wedding on time. There’s love, laughs, and plenty of Easter eggs, and it’s genuinely the closest we can come to travelling back in time.
New additions hold up just as well, for the most part
Lindsay Lohan (Anna) and Jamie Lee Curtis (Tess) in Freakier Friday. (Image credit: Disney)
However, this doesn’t mean the new elements in Freakier Friday are left out in the cold. There’s a fresh take on modern social stereotypes that doesn’t feel as though someone’s mom has written it – instead the movie comes across as understanding what it means to be a young woman in the 2020s. Nobody is taking themselves or anything around them too seriously, meaning the movie has flexibility to lean into the unhinged storytelling that children’s TV was fixated with 20 years ago.
The only place this doesn’t entirely work is with popular singer Ella (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), who Anna now manages. She struggles to feel like a popstar that would genuinely appeal to the TikTok generation, shoehorned into the plot just so Anna has enough emotional background to make up for her split with Jake.
This brings me to my biggest gripe with the sequel – you cannot continue a well-known 2000s IP and not use Chad Michael Murray properly. He was the biggest onscreen heartthrob of a generation, and I was genuinely overcome with nostalgia by seeing him in the flesh just before watching the movie. I hope he’d still be with Anna (or at the very least be back together by the end), but he’s sparsely seen and is only used to prop up jokes coming from Tess. There’s no explanation for why they’re no longer together, and, without spoilers, there’s certainly a missed opportunity to extend his connection to the movie’s main dilemma.
But enough about Chad (I’ll just rewatch Sullivan’s Crossing for a Murray hit). What about Pink Slip? Yes, the iconic fictional band is back together, and yes, you’ll see the entire back catalog. I recommend watching with your best friend for the full emotional effect of belting the words as the band has their onscreen reunion, albeit you might be a bit thrown off by a jarring edit that goes against the original film’s soundtrack. Still, this is a small price to pay for a cinematic moment of dreams, and boy, seeing Christina Vidal back where she belongs is mine.
Frankly, I’m impressed with Freakier Friday. The minute a sequel comes out decades after the original, it’s set up for a losing streak, but Lohan and Curtis’ effortless embodiment of 2003 means the overall premise works despite the huge chunk of time in between. Cinema buffs will say it’s terrible, and they’re probably right. But Freakier Friday is a worthwhile sequel, and it’s definitely what I – and I imagine other noughties children – want.
Ironheart is an underdog in every sense of the word.
Despite man-of-the-moment Ryan Coogler's involvement, the final TV show of the Marvel Phase 5 era was mostly written off well ahead of release; few other live-action Marvel TV projects have faced an uphill battle to convince Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) devotees and casual fans alike to watch it.
Write off Coogler, the comic giant, and the series' titular hero at your peril, though, because Ironheart is an impressive Disney+ TV Original that largely hits its marks. Yes, it falls into the perennial traps that other small-screen MCU projects have, but after watching all six episodes I was pleasantly surprised by its style, energy, and emotionally impactful story that explores themes around family and flawed heroes.
Tech check
Ironheart reintroduces us to Riri Williams, who made her MCU debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Image credit: Marvel Studios/Disney+)
Set days after Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, i.e., the MCU movie in which Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) made her live-action debut in, Ironheart opens with the eponymous character returning to her hometown of Chicago. The reason? She's kicked out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for selling completed assignments to other students to fund development of her Iron Man-inspired super-suit.
Financially broke and suit-less – after the self-made prototype suit, which she steals from MIT, malfunctions on the flight home – Riri soon crosses paths with Parker Robbins/The Hood (Anthony Ramos). The mysterious, magical cloak-wearing leader of a street gang, Robbins preys on Riri's ambition to build a new, souped-up suit by saying he'll fund her creation in exchange for helping his crew conduct heists.
Ironheart occasionally paints Riri as an anti-hero in the vein of Breaking Bad's Walter White
Central to Ironheart's story is the internal struggle Riri continually wrestles with. At her core, she's a good person – indeed, due to a deeply traumatic event that occurred years prior, Riri wants to "revolutionize safety" by creating a suit that can be used by first responders and other emergency services personnel.
After she's kicked out of MIT, Riri builds a new suit at her Chicago-based childhood home (Image credit: Marvel Studios/Disney+)
It's that philanthropic nature, among other things, that draws parallels with a certain Tony Stark, whose ghost looms large over yet another MCU project. However, given their comic book ties – Stark is a long-time mentor of Riri's in Marvel literature – Stark's posthumous influence is more valid here than in prior MCU productions, even if the namedropping is occasionally incessant.
That said, while Riri wants to build on Stark's legacy and make something "iconic", her unwavering ambition and Stark-sized ego occasionally paints her as an anti-hero in the vein of Breaking Bad's Walter White or, in more familiar MCU terms, Frank Castle/The Punisher and Loki. Riri's a more complicated and naïve hero than we're used to seeing, and that make the decisions she makes, and the consequences spawned by her actions, all the more fascinating.
Fight off your demons
Ironheart does a much better job of examining post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and panic attacks than Iron Man 3 did (Image credit: Marvel Studios/Disney+)
The dichotomy at the heart of Riri's story is further heightened by the moral complexities and grief born out of the loss of her stepdad Gary (LaRoyce Hawkins) and best friend Natalie (Lyric Ross) in a random act of gun violence.
This excruciatingly painful event is not just a driving force behind Riri's ambition to make the world a safer place, but also a moment she refuses to confront. Such a deep-seated mental and emotional scar is a breeding ground for PTSD and panic attacks, which here are handled with greater precision, creative flair, and sensitivity than Stark's post-Avengers mental health problems were in Iron Man 3.
In Thorne, Ironheart has a talented lead with the swagger, emotional nuance, and comedic timing – despite its melodrama, occasional toe dips into horror, and suspense-filled Ant-Man-like heisting, Ironheart is a surprisingly funny show – to bring all aspects of its protagonist to life, too.
Thorne has the swagger, emotional nuance, and comedic timing to bring all aspects of Ironheart's protagonist to life
The scene-stealing Ross, who plays Natalie in flashbacks and also portrays N.A.T.A.L.I.E – an AI construct like Iron Man's J.A.R.V.I.S. and F.R.I.D.A.Y, and Black Panther's Griot, who Riri inadvertently creates – helps to bring a playful and squabbling relatability to the dynamic Riri shares with both characters. The pair's natural rapport is evident from the outset and, while the way in which N.A.T.A.L.I.E helps to strip away Riri's metaphorical armor to allow the latter to process her grief is a little on the nose thematically, it's a 'bestie' dynamic that's full of real heart.
Dancing with the devil
Anthony Ramos' Parker Robbins/The Hood is Ironheart's primary antagonist (Image credit: Marvel Studios/Disney+)
Ross, Riri's concerned and warm-hearted mom Ronnie Williams (Anji White) and Natalie's brother Xavier (Matthew Elam) notwithstanding, Thorne shares the most screentime with Ramos' The Hood, whose introduction is not only novel in its execution, but also happens very early on.
Some Marvel TV shows are guilty of prolonging their narrative setup, but Ironheart gets to the crux of its primary plot within the first 30 minutes of its premiere. That might seem quick, but I can fully get behind a story that tackles its meatier content sooner rather than later – and which still maintains an air of mystery despite its fast-paced nature.
Ironheart follows in most MCU TV series' footsteps by rushing through its finale
This doesn't mean Ironheart's narrative structure is consistent in its quality. Some episodes feel hurried and, by proxy, don't spend enough time reflecting on character choices or fleshing out certain plot threads. It also follows in most MCU TV series' footsteps by rushing through its finale that, spoilers notwithstanding, sets up a possible sequel season and teases wider implications for the MCU via the arrival of a character MCU fans have waited years for.
Some MCU fans think they know who Alden Ehrenreich is really playing in Ironheart (Image credit: Marvel Studios/Disney+)
Ironheart has a semi-regular issue with its villains, too. Fans were full of praise for Ramos' take on The Hood when the show's first full clip was released online, but he feels a little underdeveloped in Ironheart's first half. It's not until the series' second three-episode batch that he's fully realized as a menacing antagonist through his powerset, and positioned as a sympathetic villain via his backstory. In certain lighting, his magic-infused cloak is a tad garish, too, but I suspect that's intentional.
Joe McGillicuddy (Alden Ehrenreich) falls into a similar category. A fascinating mix of bumbling and unhinged with his own tragic past, Joe bonds with Riri over their shared technical expertise and grief until their budding camaraderie is shattered by events midway through Ironheart's six-episode run. The fallout creates another conflicted antagonist for Riri to deal with but, while Ehrenreich does a fantastic job of capturing Joe's betrayal of trust and emotional turbulence, his evolution from timid ally to complicated foe happens too quickly for my liking.
Ironheart satisfyingly blurs the lines between the magic versus technology-led storyline we've been sold
Still, Joe's transformation, along with Riri's magic-based suit upgrade and other references to the MCU's mystical elements (there are as many ties to Doctor Strange as there are to Iron Man here), satisfyingly blur the lines between the magic-versus-technology storyline we've been sold. Yes, Ironheart pits these diametrically opposed forces against each other, but also acts as a collision point where they can come together and create something wholly unique for the MCU.
What's more common is the at-times clunky and stifled dialog, which some fans pointed out in Ironheart's first trailer and isn't aided by hard cuts between specific scenes, particularly in early episodes.
It's also another Marvel production that refuses to explain certain things with enough intent. Sure, the MCU is a franchise where superpowered beings run riot and parallel universes exist among other things, but I don't think I'm asking for much by wanting a bit more story exposition, especially for viewers who haven't seen Black Panther 2. I guess my Wakanda Forever ending explainer will have to do!
It isn't the best Marvel TV Original, but I suspect Ironheart will prove a lot of people wrong. It'll be a tough ask to win round anyone who's already dismissed it but, if it does so through mine and other critics' reviews, plus positive word of mouth, then Coogler, showrunner Chinaka Hodge, and the rest of its chief creative team might have built something iconic for Riri Williams after all.
Ironheart episodes 1 to 3 are out now on Disney+. Read my Ironheart release schedule article to see when its final three episodes will be released.
