“You know what they awoke in the darkness of Khazad-dûm. Shadow and Flame.” Those words, spoken by Saruman the White, are the first mention of the demonicBalrog named Durin’s BaneinThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. And when the Fellowship finally arrives atthe mines of Moria, they end up coming face to face with the Balrog, which is depicted as a massive figure composed of flames and darkness with two massive wings....

Sonicis everywhere —on the big screen in a couple of middling movies,holding a place on the small screen in recent games, and now sprinting onto streaming with the newNetflixseriesSonic Prime. This isn’t necessarily a complaint, as this high-speed blue hedgehog has and can be a lot of fun. No matter what shenanigans he gets up to, he always has a wisecrack ready as he barrels ahead to smash and crash through each new environment....

Last year whenStar Trek Beyondwas filming in Vancouver, I got to visit the set with a few other reporters. During a break in filming, we got to speak with directorJustin Lin. During the wide-ranging interview he talked about how his film will be different from theJ.J. Abramsfilms, how he got involved with the sequel, what it’s like being the new guy on set, howIdris Elba’scharacter will differ from the previousStar Trekantagonists, and more....

Stranger Thingsseason 2 keeps getting stranger. Days afterthe first photoof the original cast members’ return, a batch of new names have been revealed to join the continuation of the tale in Hawkins, Indiana. According toEW, Danish actressLinnea Berthelsenwill play Roman, “an emotionally damaged, magnetic young woman who suffered a great loss as a child. Although she does not live in Hawkins, she is mysteriously connected to the supernatural events at the lab....

Hold onto your hats, folks, because theSundance Film Festival 2018lineup is here and unlike previous years, when the full slate was divided and revealed in parts, this year’s announcement reveals the entire features lineup. It’s a doozy, touting 110 films total, 99 of which are world premieres. The films will screen in Park City during the annual festival, which runs from January 18-28, 2018. Highlights from this year’s lineup includeIdris Elba’s directorial debutYardiesandPaul Dano’s directorial debutWildlife, which starsJake GyllenhaalandCarrie Mulligan....

Editor’s Note: The following contains Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves spoilers. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thievesis the movie version of a Natural 20: a delightful smorgasbord of casting, tone, emotional conventions, and unabashed love for fantasy movies of yore and the tabletop game of the same name (minus the subtitle) that’s experiencing an ongoing cultural resurgence. The theatrical release was met withglowing reviewsand accompanying word-of-mouth buzz, and itsbox office numbers are excellentif not astonishing (go see it!...

With The CW’s superhero showsThe FlashandArrowcurrently enjoying their mid-season break, two new trailers have surfaced to remind audiences that they will be back, and they’ll be bringing new allies and villains with them. Returning Tuesday, January 19th and Wednesday, January 20th at 8pm respectively,The FlashandArrowhave a lot to take care of in the remaining portion of the season. (Keep in mind that The CW’s new spin-off showDC’s Legends of Tomorrowwill also be premiering on Thursday, January 21st at 8pm, so who knows what sort of complications that will create for the other shows....

In theStar Warsspinoff seriesThe Mandalorian, Disney+ had a watercooler hit on their hands. The streaming service’s flagship series, created byJon Favreau, brought a number of instantly iconic moments, characters, and pop culture touchstones into the zeitgeist, from “this is the way” to freaking Baby Yoda, and ended with its fans begging for a Season 2. Luckily, we now have our first look atThe MandalorianSeason 2 with this debut trailer, and October can’t come soon enough....

Joaquin Murrieta. Does the name ring a bell? Murrieta was a19th-century outlaw, the head of a gang involved in cattle rustling, robberies, and other illicit activities. By 1854, the infamous figure became romanticized, a symbol of Mexican resistance, and a champion of the people. Still nothing? It’s a veritable guarantee you know the fictional figure he inspired, though:Zorro.The hero has recently been resurrected in the Prime Video seriesZorro, and it may be the best iteration of the character in his long history....

Revenge is a dish best served bloody in the original Netflix German seriesKleo. With a ravenous female assassin dressed in neon blue and red tracksuits, the spy thriller series hasQuentin Tarantinowritten all over it. A stylish ’90s period piece, the series premiered on the streamer in 2022 and has recently been renewed for a third season. Jam-packed with dark humor and brutal brawls, it’sone of the streamers' best action seriesand best-kept secrets from American audiences....

ATom Hanksmovie that is nearly 40 years old is launching onto a new streaming platform next month.Dragnet, the 1987 buddy cop comedy which Hanks stars in alongsideDan Aykroyd,Harry Morgan, andAlexandra Paul, will officially begin streaming on Netflix starting September 1. The film follows Streetbek (Hanks), an uptight, by-the-book detective who must work with Joe Friday (Aykroyd) to solve a mystery.Dragnetjoins other movies such astheJawstrilogy which are set to begin streaming on Netflixat the beginning of next month....

If you watch a lot of Netflix films, you may have noticed the original movies they’ve been producing have been getting a lot better. This trend continues with directorJ.C. Chandor’sTriple Frontier. Loaded with some fantastic actors –Ben Affleck,Oscar Isaac,Charlie Hunnam,Garrett Hedlund, andPedro Pascal– the action-thriller, written by Chandor andMark Boal(The Hurt Locker,Zero Dark Thirty), centers on a group of former Special Forces operatives that decide to steal a South American drug lord’s money....

Single take movies have been made before, but never quite likeVictoria. For one thing, this hang-out-romance-turned-heist-flick was actually executed in a single shot. Well, technically directorSebastian Schipperand Co. executed three shots over the course of three long nights/early mornings in Berlin, but the third take was the charm and that’s the 138-minute movie screening at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Sure,Victoriais ultimately a movie hinged on a production gimmick, but one executed so well in an extraordinary dance between a talented cast and an invisible crew that it’s nearly impossible to walk out of the theater without feeling impressed....