https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2kp639yx4o
This is an invasion but name it proves open door policies do not work I expect this going to probably be repercussions by the people who live in these countries due possible crime rates and possible threats to women it's becoming a very much a scary world
Directed by Julius Avery and produced by J.J. Abrams, **Overlord** is the kind of high-concept genre mashup that easily could have gone off the rails. Blending gritty, boots-on-the-ground World War II combat with over-the-top sci-fi body horror, the film leans fully into its B-movie roots with an A-list budget and craftsmanship. The result is a fast-paced, intensely visceral thrill ride that knows exactly what it wants to be.
### **The Good**
* **A Stellar Opening Sequence:** The film kicks off with a breathtaking, claustrophobic parachute drop behind enemy lines on the eve of D-Day. It immediately establishes intense stakes, excellent sound design, and visceral tension that rivals opening war sequences like *Saving Private Ryan*.
* **Practical Effects and Creature Design:** Eschewing lazy CGI for the most part, *Overlord* relies heavily on practical makeup, gore, and animatronics. The horrific Nazi experiments are genuinely unsettling, grotesque, and wonderfully tactile, satisfying fans of classic 1980s creature features like *The Thing* or *The Fly*.
* **Strong Lead Performances:** Jovan Adepo anchors the movie as Private Boyce, providing a grounded, moral emotional core amidst the madness. Wyatt Russell is equally entertaining as the cynical, hard-boiled explosives expert Captain Ford, chewing the scenery just enough without breaking the tone.
### **The Bad**
* **Predictable Plot Beats:** Once the supernatural and scientific horrors beneath the French church are revealed, the narrative follows a very familiar trajectory. If you have seen classic zombie tropes, mad scientist flicks, or video games like *Wolfenstein*, you will see every plot twist and character arc coming from a mile away.
* **Tone Whiplash:** The transition from a serious, mud-and-blood historical war drama in the first act to a popcorn monster-fest in the third act is jarring. While many genre fans will appreciate the shift, viewers looking for a strictly grounded historical thriller might find the tonal gear-shifting a bit clumsy.
### **The Verdict**
*Overlord* doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it executes its wildly fun premise with supreme confidence, muscular direction, and relentless energy. It treats its absurd premise with just enough earnestness to make the scares and action sequences land effectively.
**Rating:** **3.5 / 5 Stars**
*A must-watch for fans of creature features, historical pulp, and gory popcorn entertainment.*
* **Genre:** Gothic Mystery / Psychological Thriller / Crime Drama
* **Starring:** Ruth Wilson, Daryl McCormack
* **Where to watch:** BBC One / BBC iPlayer (UK), Paramount+ with Showtime (US)
### The Verdict: 4/5 Stars
*The Woman In The Wall* is a harrowing, genre-bending drama that asks a lot of its audience, balancing a gritty true-crime-inspired historical reckoning with a twisty psychological mystery. While its tonal tightrope walk occasionally stumbles, it is anchored by a phenomenal, career-best leading performance from Ruth Wilson.
### What It's About
Set in a fictional rural Irish town, the series follows Lorna Brady (Ruth Wilson), a woman deeply traumatized by her teenage imprisonment in the infamous (and very real) Magdalene Laundries. Lorna suffers from severe, violent bouts of sleepwalking—a defense mechanism against a lifetime of exhaustion and repressed horror.
The plot kicks off with a jolt of dark chaos: Lorna wakes up from a fugue state to find a dead body in her house, with no memory of who the woman is or whether she killed her. Simultaneously, a dogged detective from Dublin, Colman Akande (Daryl McCormack), arrives to investigate the murder of a local priest, inadvertently pulling the two into a shared orbit of systemic corruption, missing babies, and buried community guilt.
### The Strengths
* **Ruth Wilson’s Masterclass Performance:** Wilson is nothing short of mesmerizing. She plays Lorna with a raw, frayed-nerve intensity—she is prickly, exhausted, defensive, and fiercely sympathetic all at once. Her physical commitment to the role, depicting a body and mind completely unraveling from lack of sleep and PTSD, is harrowing to watch.
* **Grounded, Visceral Atmosphere:** The show leans heavily into gothic elements—creepy sound design, haunting wails, and nightmarish visual flashbacks. Yet, it smartly roots its horror not in supernatural ghosts, but in the very real, institutional atrocities committed against women by the church and state.
* **A Compelling Dual-Track Narrative:** Watching the story weave together a traditional small-town murder mystery with a larger, agonizing historical conspiracy gives the series a propulsive, binge-worthy momentum.
### The Weaknesses
* **Tonal Whiplash:** The show's biggest hurdle, particularly in its opening episodes, is its struggle to balance genres. It darts uneasily between pitch-black psychological horror, quirky small-town Irish dark comedy, and standard police procedural. Some viewers may find that the eccentricities of the local townsfolk occasionally cheapen the gravity of the subject matter.
* **A Lack of Subtlety:** Creator Joe Murtagh doesn't do nuance when exploring the villainy of the church—virtually every authority figure is painted with a broad, malevolent brush. The thematic messaging about bodily autonomy and institutional cover-ups is delivered with a sledgehammer rather than a scalpel.
### Final Thoughts
*The Woman In The Wall* is not an easy or comfortable watch. It deals with heavy, anger-inducing historical wounds that many would prefer to leave forgotten.
While the murder-mystery mechanics can occasionally feel a bit convoluted or heavy-handed, the emotional core of the series—and Wilson's ferocious performance—makes it a deeply moving and unforgettable piece of television. It honors its victims not by turning them into saints, but by portraying their lingering, righteous fury.
4.5/5
The classic Arabian adventure, adapted for Popeye and Olive Oyl. Cartoon originally produced in 1937 by Fleischer Studios, now in the public domain. More information is available from the Wikipedia article here.
1932
Betty Boop, cartoon, Humor
Minnie the Moocher (1932) is a Betty Boop cartoon produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures.[1]
The cartoon opens with a live action sequence of Cab Calloway and his orchestra performing an instrumental rendition of "St. James Infirmary". Then Betty Boop gets into a fight with her strict, Yiddish speaking, Jewish parents, runs away from home with her boyfriend Bimbo, and sings excerpts of the Harry Von Tilzer song "They Always Pick on Me" (1911) and the song "Mean to Me" (1929).
Released in 2019, *What Men Want* flips the script on the 2000 Nancy Meyers romantic comedy *What Women Want* (which starred Mel Gibson). Directed by Adam Shankman, the movie stars Taraji P. Henson as Ali Davis, a fiercely driven sports agent constantly boxed out by her male colleagues in a male-dominated industry. After a bizarre encounter with a psychic involving some strange herbal tea and a concussion, Ali suddenly gains the ability to hear men's inner thoughts.
An honest assessment of the film reveals a predictable, formulaic comedy that manages to stay afloat almost entirely due to the magnetic screen presence of its lead actor.
### **The Good: Taraji P. Henson and the Charm Factor**
* **A Force of Nature:** Taraji P. Henson is the absolute glue holding this film together. She brings immense energy, physical comedy, and sharp timing to the role. Even when the script relies on low-hanging fruit, Henson’s charisma makes it genuinely difficult to look away.
* **Fun Supporting Dynamic:** Josh Brener shines as Ali’s anxious, well-meaning assistant, Brandon, and her chemistry with Aldis Hodge (who plays her love interest, Will) brings a refreshing, grounded warmth to the romance side of the plot.
* **Fresh Perspective:** Unlike the original 2000 film, injecting an intersectional element—a Black woman navigating a corporate "boys' club"—gives the tired premise a bit more bite and structural relevance at the start.
### **The Bad: Formulaic Writing and Missed Potential**
* **Predictable and Clichéd:** From the minute the premise is established, you can map out the entire three-act structure. It follows every paint-by-numbers rom-com trope in the book, complete with a forced third-act misunderstanding.
* **Overstuffed Subplots:** The movie tries to juggle too many things at once—signing a draft prospect, managing an overbearing basketball dad (played by Tracy Morgan), dealing with childhood trauma, and sorting out friend groups. Because of this, none of the subplots get the depth they deserve, leading to a rushed, messy ending.
* **Uneven Humor:** While some of the internal thoughts men have are genuinely hilarious and relatable, a lot of the jokes lean heavily into lazy stereotypes and broad, juvenile physical gags that miss the mark.
### **The Verdict**
*What Men Want* is far from a cinematic masterpiece. It is loud, messy, structurally bloated, and entirely predictable.
However, if you view it for what it is—a harmless, recreational weekend comedy meant for easy background viewing—it delivers plenty of laughs. Henson’s star power single-handedly elevates the material from a total miss into a moderately entertaining ride.
**Rating:*
* 2.5/ 5 stars
