Jamie Campbell Bower certainly has turned things Upside Down when it comes to the “Stranger Things” narrative. The actor plays Season 4 villain (well, is he?!) Vecna, and Bower dismantled the theories of Vecna being just a terrifying monster out for revenge. While Bower as Vecna made co-star Millie Bobby Brown cry on set, along with grossing out audiences everywhere thanks to truly horrific Freddy Krueger-esque prosthetics, the actor has a soft spot for the disfigured character out for revenge....

There have been countless movies about dreams, but “Strawberry Mansion” is the only one save for “Inception” that turns them into a hustle. In this visually entrancing and innovative fantasy from co-directors Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney, the government forces citizens to record their nighttime journeys and imposes taxes on the unpredictable ingredients found within. Audley and Birney, who previously made the lo-fi comic odyssey “Sylvio” about a lonely gorilla with an online talk show, excel at grounding outlandish concepts in genuine emotional stakes....

“He’s not infallible, Rome.” “Yeah, sure, I just don’t think he ever fails or ever will.” This is it. This is the deciding factor of the Roy-al Rumble — or this week’s round, at least. Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Roman’s (Kieran Culkin) contradictory back-and-forth about their father’s unconquerable nature so perfectly outlines the internal incongruity raging throughout “Mass in Time of War” (Season 3, Episode 2) that it’s amazing how far the Roy siblings are willing to go before, ultimately, shooting down Kendall (Jeremy Strong) and his passionate plea for a generational coup....

Episode 8, “Chiantishire,” may forever be referenced in shorthand as, “The One with the Errant Dick Pic”; its history defined by the jaw-on-the-floor level of terror felt as soon as Roman (Kieran Culkin) sends another one of his “items” to Gerri (J. Smith-Cameron), only to soon realize that an image of his “ricotta dick,” as Shiv (Sarah Snook) referred to it early in the hour, instead traveled to the phone of his father, Logan (Brian Cox)....

A new report from Vulture on “Succession” Season 3 confirms: “[Creator Jesse] Armstrong decided early on that the season’s finished scripts wouldn’t be rewritten to incorporate the ongoing pandemic. ‘These are really wealthy people,’ says [Shiv Roy actress] Sarah Snook. ‘And unfortunately, none of the world’s really wealthy people were going to be affected by the pandemic.’” “Succesion” Season 3 won’t tackle Covid, but Covid directly affected the series. As the Vulture report continues: “In March 2020, Mark Blum, who played the cruise-division executive Bill Lockhart, died of complications from COVID....

Per Apple, “Tehran” tells the thrilling story of a Mossad agent who goes deep undercover on a dangerous mission in Tehran that places her and everyone around her in dire jeopardy. The series is created by Moshe Zonder (“Fauda”), Dana Eden and Maor Kohn, and co-created and directed by Daniel Syrkin. Zonder also serves as writer alongside co-creator Omri Shenhar. “Tehran” stars Niv Sultan (“Flawless,” “She Has It,” “Temporarily Dead”), Shaun Toub (“Homeland,” “Crash”); Navid Negahban (“Homeland,” “Legion,” “Aladdin”), Shervin Alenabi (“Baghdad in My Shadow”), Liraz Charhi (“A Late Quartet”), and Menashe Noy (“Big Bad Wolves,” “Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem”)....

That includes “The Card Counter,” in which Oscar Isaac plays guilt-stricken Abu Ghraib vet William Tell, a man with a gambling addiction compelled to help the revenge-seeking son (Tye Sheridan) of a former colleague. Taking justice into his own hands, Isaac’s William Tell slithers through the Vegas strip in search of questionable salvation, not unlike a certain Vietnam vet named Travis Bickle did from the driver’s seat. As if to cement the comparisons, “The Card Counter” features Martin Scorsese as an executive producer, marking the first time the two men share a credit since 1999’s “Bringing Out the Dead....

Yes, it’s a show where Andre has dragged a mattress labeled “BED BUGS!!” through crowded city streets, and it’s also a show where Andre has ripped his desk apart, stripped naked, and jumped in a cold bathtub during an interview with Public Enemy co-founder Flavor Flav. “The Eric Andre Show” is constantly teetering on the edge of madness, and five seasons in, Andre couldn’t be happier about keeping everyone who participates in the show guessing....

Miller made his debut as Barry Allen/The Flash in the DC Extended Universe with brief cameos in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” The character had a more primary role in the follow-up movie, “Justice League.” Warner Bros. announced in October 2014 it was developing a standalone Flash movie with Ezra, and fans have watched as various creatives have boarded and left the project due to creative differences or scheduling conflicts....

The spy vs. spy movie blew away its closest competition, “The Sea Beast,” by nearly 55 million more hours viewed last week. The kids’ movie was in its third week and thus had seven days of viewership counted. Last week, its second one of availability and first full week on the platform, was the best one to-date for “The Sea Beast” with 68.11 million hours viewed. “The Gray Man” enjoyed the most-watched opening weekend for a movie on Netflix since “The Adam Project” accumulated 92....

The official synopsis for “The Queen’s Gambit” from Netflix reads: “The series is a coming-of-age story that explores the true cost of genius. Abandoned and entrusted to a Kentucky orphanage in the late 1950s, Beth Harmon (Taylor-Joy) discovers an astonishing talent for chess while developing an addiction to tranquilizers provided by the state as a sedative for the children. Haunted by her personal demons and fueled by a cocktail of narcotics and obsession, Beth transforms into an impressively skilled and glamorous outcast while determined to conquer the traditional boundaries established in the male-dominated world of competitive chess....

Directed by Florian Zeller, who adapted his play with co-writer Christopher Hampton, “The Son” stars Jackson as Peter, a successful lawyer whose eldest son Nicholas (newcomer Zen McGrath) suffers from severe depression. After failing to attend school for three months, Nicholas leaves his mother Kate’s (Laura Dern) home to live permanently with Peter, his younger partner Beth (Vanessa Kirby), and their infant child. Although Peter attempts to be supportive of his son, the new arrangement soon causes tension in his relationship with Beth, and his inability to understand Nicholas’ demons causes the teen to drift further away from him....

“They started up their drill, and this is like 300 yards away, but I could feel the vibration through the earth and it felt like a rhythm,” Jenkins said during an online SXSW panel Tuesday with Britell. Britell said he found it immensely helpful: “I was like ‘OK, this is awesome. Because right away I took that drilling and I started experimenting with this idea of the ground and going downward....

So instructs resort manager Armond, played by Murray Bartlett, early on in Mike White’s intoxicating HBO limited series “The White Lotus.” Armond, the feeble-gesturing Lanny (Jolene Purdy), and a few more members of The White Lotus staff are standing at the edge of the island, ocean spray crashing into their smiling faces, in an obligatory greeting for VIP guests arriving by boat. Though casually tossed in among a flurry of advice for his new employee, Armond’s urging for the appearance of sincerity says so much about what comes to define the next week, for the local workers and vacationing lodgers, as well as the delicate egos of the latter group and how they manipulate the former into doing whatever they damn well please....

“The Year of the Everlasting Storm,” an evocative anthology film capturing the human scale of the pandemic, in personal detail, offers a different kind of comfort. From all parts of the globe, seven filmmakers, ranging from David Lowery to Jafar Panahi, helm seven distinct stories, each grappling through their art with the unknowability of the past year-plus. They turn to hyperactive animation, personal and investigative documentary filmmaking, a meditative art installation, and some heartbreaking fictional storytelling to vocalize every facet of this worldwide crisis....

“These Days” tells the story of Mae (Marianne Rendon), a dancer in New York City embarking on an internet relationship of some kind with Will (William Jackson Harper). The pilot hopes to find a home at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival and flesh out Mae’s story. Brooks and Saraf started thinking of a story at the time the stay-at-home orders went into effect, hoping to create a universal plot that would touch on the times we’re living in....

Turner first rocketed to stardom in the 1960s and ’70s, performing alongside her then-husband Ike. Off-stage, the partnership was violent, though the extent of the abuse wasn’t known until after the pair divorced and Tina began to speak publicly about her experiences. “Tina” will prominently feature the period of her solo career resurgence in the 1980s, a new chapter of stardom that crossed over into the film world, too, with a striking appearance in “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome....

When Lowe was just 10 years old, his father — the world-class “best there ever was” mountain climber Alex Lowe — perished in an avalanche while on an expedition in Tibet. For years, Alex and his wife Jenni had attempted to find a balance between his climbing career (Alex, both luckily and unluckily, reached the heights of his fame just as the possibility of climbing as an actual vocation was possible, thanks to the rise of sports sponsorships) and his status as a family man....

Gaspar Noé is the kind of mad scientist filmmaker whose very name invites expectations of provocative experimentation. “Vortex,” which clocks in at 142 minutes and spends almost all of them in split screen, would appear to be consistent with that trend. Yet this quiet, slow-burn look at an elderly couple suffering from dementia and other ailments is a grounded, emotional variation of “Amour,” as well as the the most sensitive and accessible work from a filmmaker for whom those descriptors rarely apply....

Reality and illusion collide as Casey opts to take part in the World’s Fair Challenge, a mysterious online horror game that asks participants to, Bloody Mary style, repeat “I want to go to the World’s Fair” three times before drawing blood from their finger. As she starts to document what happens next through viral videos, her grip begins to loosen, and a mysterious figure starts to beckon her from the depths of the internet — or her own unconscious....