In the early hours of Saturday, President Donald Trump announced that American forces had carried out a “large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro,” capturing both him and his wife, Cilia Flores, in a not-so-covert operation that rained American munitions over Caracas, Venezuela's capital. Trump's announcement was followed by a statement from Attorney General Pam Bondi that Maduro “will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts,” on newly filed charges related to “Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy.” His tenure atop the oil-rich nation has been characterized by economic collapse, rights abuses, and illegitimate elections. The United States indicted him in 2020, under Trump's first administration, on charges related to corruption and narco-terrorism. A spokesperson for the Venezuelan government confirmed to multiple media outlets that at least four strategic Venezuelan targets had been hit by U.S. airstrikes, including Fort Tiuna, Caracas' primary military base, and La Guardia port. According to sources who spoke to CNN, Maduro and his wife were sleeping when captured, and dragged from their bedroom by elite U.S. forces. Trump told Fox News that there were “a few injuries but no deaths on our side.” One of them was hit pretty hard, a helicopter, but we got it back.” ‘Wicked' Composer Stephen Schwartz Cancels Kennedy Center Event After Trump Name Change George Clooney Fires Back After Donald Trump Mocks His French Citizenship Kennedy Center Altered Rules So Only Trump-Appointed Board Members Could Vote on Name Change Chaos at the Kennedy Center: Everything That Happened This Year Under Donald Trump In a televised appearance, Venezuela's attorney general, Tarek William Saab, stated that “innocent victims have been mortally wounded and others killed by this criminal terrorist attack,” but he did not provide casualty figures. In a press conference on Saturday, Trump said that the attack had been “deadly.” In 2020, under the first Trump administration, Maduro (along with over a dozen other Venezuelan officials associated with his government) was indicted on charges related to alleged involvement in “a corrupt and violent narco-terrorism conspiracy between the Venezuelan Cartel de Los Soles and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (‘FARC').” The capture of Maduro raised immediate concerns about its legality under international law. “Secretaries [Marco] Rubio and [Pete] Hegseth looked every Senator in the eye a few weeks ago and said this wasn't about regime change. I didn't trust them then and we see now that they blatantly lied to Congress,” Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) wrote on social media. It puts Americans at risk in Venezuela and the region, and it sends a horrible and disturbing signal to other powerful leaders across the globe that targeting a head of state is an acceptable policy for the U.S. government.” In a statement released Saturday, the United Nations wrote that “independently of the situation in Venezuela, these developments constitute a dangerous precedent. He's deeply concerned that the rules of international law have not been respected.” On that basis, the Trump administration is arguing that their capture of Maduro does not constitute a violation of Venezuelan sovereignty as it is not a recognized government. However, a 2025 National Intelligence Council report found that “the Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States,” adding that “the small size of TDA's cells, its focus on low-skill criminal activities, and its decentralized structure make it highly unlikely that TDA coordinates large volumes of human trafficking or migrant smuggling.” When asked on Fox News, Trump refused to outright endorse Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year. “We're going to have to look at it,” the president said, adding that Venezuela has “a vice president, as you know, and I don't know about what kind of election that was.” In a press conference late Saturday morning, Trump indicated that his administration intended to “run” Venezuela for the time being. “We're going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” he said, adding that he intended to “have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in.” Petitions to Deport Nicki Minaj Gain Over 120,000 Signatures and Counting Tommy Lee Jones and Family Release Statement After Daughter Victoria's Death George Clooney Fires Back After Donald Trump Mocks His French Citizenship Instead, she ran as the shadow candidate behind former diplomat Edmundo González, who is currently living in exile in Spain after being targeted by the Maduro regime.

Three years after it was announced, Mike Flanagan is closer than ever to bringing his series adaptation of Stephen King‘s The Dark Tower to life. The acclaimed horror filmmaker called the upcoming series an “oil tanker” as he shared an update on his and Trevor Macy's Intrepid Pictures take on King's series of books that were released from 1982 to 2012. “We've got a lot of scripts done for it. We really can't.” Starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, the film currently holds a 16% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In 2022, Flanagan told Deadline exclusively that he'd completed a pilot script for the adaptation, which he envisions as running for five seasons, followed by two stand-alone movies. “Predating our deal with Amazon, we acquired the rights to The Dark Tower, which if you know anything about me, you know it has been my Holy Grail of a project for most of my life.” But that's something we've been developing ourselves and are really passionate about finally getting it up on its feet at some point.” Amazon Studios previously opted not to pick up a Dark Tower series from executive producer/showrunner Glen Mazzara and MRC in 2020. Get our Breaking News Alerts and Keep your inbox happy. Why is Stephen King only fond of the meat-and-potatoes directors who adapt his work? We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks Send us a tip using our annonymous form. Sign up for our breaking news alerts We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services.

[This story contains spoilers from Jurassic World: Chaos Theory series finale.] Unlike other animated, kid-friendly franchise spinoffs, Jurassic World: Chaos Theory isn't a cute-but-unessential extension of its live-action blockbuster counterparts. Both were true for Chaos Theory's final season, which dropped its leading group of teens directly into the timeline of Dominion. Steven Spielberg's 'Disclosure Day' Trailer Revealed: Director Returns to UFO Genre 'Jaws' Auction: Two Long-Lost Props Set to Hit Block After 50-Year Disappearance (Exclusive) “Then you have that whole velociraptor training,” says art director JP Balmet. “We really looked at the movie, at those hallways and how you get down to the locust area, and asked what other stuff could be in this place that we hadn't seen. “Colin told us after he saw it, ‘Wow, you did something that none of the features could do. You had one of our heroes sustain a serious injury,'” recalls Executive Producer Scott Kreamer. Second, he expected her Camp Cretaceous voice actor, Jenna Ortega, to return. “I talked to head of casting Ania [O'Hare], and went, ‘Well, maybe.' Ortega's shot to global stardom thanks to a different Netflix series (Wednesday) led the team to recast Brooklynn's voice actor, paving the way for the hiring of Kiersten Kelly, a newcomer with congenital trans-radial absence. “If at all possible, we wanted to hire someone with a limb difference, but not at the expense of performance,” says Kreamer. There was a groundedness and an authenticity in Kiersten's performance.” In addition to voice work, Kelly would assist the show's art and animation teams, providing video references and offering thoughts on Brooklynn's animatics that Kreamer put in front of her, “any chance we got,” he says. The writing and animation departments also turned to scribe Peter Lee, whose hiring was the result of a series of panels organized by Disability Belongs, featuring a small group of consultants with congenital or acquired limb differences. Over several conversations, they answered “questions about daily life with a limb difference and, more specifically, the physical and emotional process of recovering from traumatic limb loss,” says Lee. It would lead to tweaks in things like Brooklynn's injury scar, the addition of a zipper on her shoes, and the fit of her prosthetic. But to have a whole arm replacement and its respective prosthesis, Brooklynn needed to wear a weighty harness, restricting quick movement and certain kinds of action. “Someone spoke up and said this was something they didn't like. You give them this bionic arm, and it's like an easy solve.” A consultant showed the team their below-the-elbow prosthetic, highlighting increased mobility. “She can be an action star with that kind of limb difference,” the art director recalls being told. People with limb differences while in the house don't need or use it. We had to get people comfortable with the idea of Brooklynn without her prosthetic. But we ended up leaning into it because we realized that was our problem, that wasn't the problem of someone with a limb difference.” “In TV or film, you never really get an inkling of how people's prosthetics, chairs or whatever their device is become a part of who they are, and you don't understand that those things are a tool that they use to get through the day,” Lee says. Lee would be part of all those panel discussions, and while the Chaos Theory team didn't initially know he was a writer, Disability Belongs facilitated the submission of a spec script, with his panel contributions serving as his unintentional pitch for Brooklynn's arc. He was hired through the show's freelance budget, and wrote three episodes total, with Story Editor Bethany Armstrong Johnson noting “if we had had a bigger budget, we would have loved to have had him on full-time.” People will make these adjustments in their time or space for other things. Initially assigned season two's flashback heavy “C13v3rGr186,” Lee sped through the two animated series to “dictate how Brooklyn would organically respond” to the dinosaur attack — a plot development that came from Supervising Producer Zesung Kang. “Not only did it make sense within the story, not only did it raise the stakes, but then we had an opportunity to showcase a character from a community that's about 25% of the actual population,” Kreamer tells THR. “Her journey sees a lot of questionable decision-making, which we wanted to have set in motion before the limb difference, so it wasn't like, ‘Now she's evil because she's got a limb difference,' or ‘Now she's superpowered.' Kreamer also points to an initial uncomfortable interaction between Brooklyn and fellow “Nublar Six” member Ben (Sean Giambrone) after he discovers both she's alive and experienced Brooklyn's limb loss as another way they team wanted “to tell that truth” through Brooklyn's story. “The kind of loss that she experiences, the relationship dynamics that she has to navigate, her coming to a new understanding of who she is, and meandering off the right path for a while, all those things were things that I talked about from my own personal experiences. Added Lee; “We never tried to take the easy way out; to say, ‘Let's not deal with that because this is an animated show, and, ostensibly, for kids. It's a coming of age story and I love that for her.” To do that, Balmet and Lighting & Compositing Supervisor Eric Hawkins turned to cinematographers from the original Jurassic Park films, their libraries, and Dominion as references, with John Carpenter, as well as Terrence Malick's Badlands and The Tree of Life, inspiring the animated series visuals. A big sunset makes you feel like the world is worth living in,” Balmet explains. The show received materials from Industry Light & Magic, who worked on the live-action films, and among multiple departments, made slight adaptations to Dominion's existing dinosaur designs for their animated medium, while trying to remain “accurate to what they had already put on screen,” says Balmet. We didn't have to put as much simulated fur, and we could focus on its cool Mohawk,” he explains of the furry, winged dinosaur that was the size of a car. Kreamer credits Hawkins, Armstrong Johnson, Kang, the show's directors, artists, and composer Leo Birenberg's score for helping “put the audience in the same headspace as these kids who are fighting for their lives,” he tells THR. Yet season four's most captivating moment arguably came from what CG Animation Director Ryan Donoghue calls the grand farewell to Chaos Theory's dinosaur ensemble — a battle staged outside that clinic featuring three tyrannosaurus rexes and five junior velociraptors. You see them bounding up and kind of into each other. In that moment, they're a wild, almost herd — an unstoppable force.” In the sequence, both groups of dinos essentially form up into lines, but Donoghue notes that it “was a tricky moment because… at first it looked like West Side Story.” To avoid the dinosaurs “acting” like a football team's offensive line and thus anthropomorphizing them (versus portraying them as instinctual, “unpredictable” creatures), the CG animation director changed the raptors' positions so they naturally stopped in the middle of something. “Because the raptors are taken by surprise, they just kind of wait, confused for a second, and that's what gives time for our main Rexy to stand up slowly and ominously, get back on her feet, and start to dominate the scene. It's a sequence made even more dynamic thanks to Hawkins. “When you think about CG series, TV can be hard to get real atmosphere, where you feel like you're in a place, and Eric, with how he adds that emotional depth to the shots, through how he lights, it gives us all this atmosphere. It's the secret sauce that really helps tie everything together.” Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day Inside the business of TV with breaking news, expert analysis and showrunner interviews

Alix Earle and Tom Brady got along swimmingly during their recent St. Bart's outing. “Alix and Tom were together the entire night on New Year's Eve partying at a party hosted by Palm Tree Crew in St. Barts,” an insider told Us Weekly on Friday. “They met through mutual friends who were also in St. Barths and had an instant connection. According to the insider, Earle jetted off to the celebrity hotspot island for a “needed” post-breakup getaway, as she is now “in a phase of saying yes to fun experiences and not overthinking anything.” “She's just having fun right now and letting loose,” the insider added. The source told Us Weekly that Brady was “hesitant” about being seen with Earle in public, “but didn't want to leave her side.” By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. While they originally partied with their individual groups, at one point, the two stars were said to have “broke[n] off from the larger group, talking for a lot of the night” inside a private cabin. A video of Earle and Brady looking “super close” was also published by TMZ shortly after. “People are not beautiful for how they look or speak,” the quote read.

“I wasn't planning on working tonight,” Joel quipped, the Palm Beach Post reports. As Joel played the piano alongside Turnstiles, his daughters Della and Remy danced next to him onstage. The surprise performance marked Joel's first time back on stage since May 2025, when the singer revealed a diagnosis of normal pressure hydrocephalus and subsequently canceled all of his upcoming concerts; Joel's last concert was on February 22, 2025. “This condition has been exacerbated by recent concert performances, leading to problems with hearing, vision, and balance,” Joel's team said in a statement at the time. “Under his doctor's instructions, Billy is undergoing specific physical therapy and has been advised to refrain from performing during this recovery period. Petitions to Deport Nicki Minaj Gain Over 120,000 Signatures and Counting Tommy Lee Jones and Family Release Statement After Daughter Victoria's Death Chevy Chase Addresses Tumultuous ‘Community' Exit: ‘I'm Not Racist' George Clooney Fires Back After Donald Trump Mocks His French Citizenship Joel added that while his condition was not yet “fixed,” it was “being worked on.” It's unclear whether Friday's surprise performance signals Joel is ready to return to the live stage.

UPDATED: Networks provided early morning special reports on Saturday as explosions were heard in Caracas, Venezuela, what President Donald Trump later confirmed was a “large scale strike” in the country and that it's leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife were captured and flown out of the country. Trump, in Mar-a-Lago for the holiday break, posted at 4:21 a.m. ET, “The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country. This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement. Thank you for your attention to this matter! 'CBS Evening News' Unveils "Five Simple Principles" In Advance Of Tony Dokoupil's Debut As New Anchor Stephen Schwartz Says He Won't Participate In Planned Kennedy Center Event After Trump's Changes ET, before anchoring Saturday Today with Laura Jarrett. Tom Llamas will anchor NBC Nightly News on Saturday evening from Miami. ABC News' Alison Kosik provided special reports at 3:56 a.m. She noted that “there have been scenes of multiple explosions and low-flying aircraft,” starting about 2 a.m. local time. Fox News' Chanley Painter anchored coverage starting in the 1 a.m. ET hour, along with Eric Shawn through the early morning. ET, leading up to Fox & Friends Weekend at 6 a.m. It was amazing job that these people did.” “We can't take a chance in letting someone just run and take over where he left, or left off,” Trump said. On CNN, anchor Elex Michaelson, who hosts a nightly show from Los Angeles, reported at about 1:42 a.m. on the explosions heard in Caracas. He eported that CNN's own teams “personally witnessed explosions” starting at around 1:15 a.m. in the morning local time. He then went to a phone interview with journalist Mary Mena. MS NOW featured coverage throughout the morning, with Rachel Maddow appearing and Ali Velshi anchoring. The strikes may have been a surprise in timing, but not that they were carried out, as media attention has focused on the increased U.S. military pressure campaign against Maduro. But it also raises questions of Trump's authority to carry out the strikes without congressional authorization. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) wrote on X, “I look forward to learning what, if anything, might constitutionally justify this action in the absence of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force.” He later wrote that he had a conversation with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “He informed me that Nicolás Maduro has been arrested by U.S. personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States, and that the kinetic action we saw tonight was deployed to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant. This action likely falls within the president's inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect U.S. personnel from an actual or imminent attack.” What stops Vladimir Putin from asserting similar justification to abduct Ukraine's president? Once this line is crossed, the rules that restrain global chaos begin to collapse, and authoritarian regimes will be the first to exploit it. He is a corrupt authoritarian who has repressed his people, stolen elections, imprisoned political opponents, and presided over a humanitarian catastrophe that has forced millions of Venezuelans to flee. The Venezuelan people deserve democratic leadership, and the United States and the international community should have done far more, years ago, to press for a peaceful transition after Maduro lost a vote of his own citizens. Attorney General Pam Bondi later noted that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, had been indicted on charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices. Trump is scheduled to have a news conference at 11 a.m. Get our Breaking News Alerts and Keep your inbox happy. Committing more crimes to distract coverage of the Epstein files and Jack Smith's testimony. Military commanders must be removed from command and arrested for illegal warfare. Congress must act, other military branches must act to secure American democracy and uphold their oaths to the Constitution. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks Send us a tip using our annonymous form. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services.

Originally released as part of Yungblud's fourth studio album Idols, “Zombie” has become the British rocker's fastest-streaming solo single to date, surpassing 100 million global streams. The song is nominated for best rock song at the 2026 Grammy Awards, while Idols is also nominated for best rock album. Jill Scott Announces First Album in Over a Decade, 'To Whom This May Concern': 'Thank You for Your Patience' 'Wicked' Composer Stephen Schwartz Joins Growing List of Artists Boycotting Kennedy Center: 'There's No Way I Would Set Foot In It Now' J Balvin Joins Benny Jamz and Gilli's Afro-Fusion Party Jam 'Reposado Remix' The new arrangement features denser guitar layers and a more foreboding atmosphere, amplifying the song's themes of trauma, grief and emotional isolation. In a recent interview with interview with Loudwire, Yungblud revealed that Siamese Dream was a key reference point while writing “Zombie.” “When I was making ‘Zombie,' I was really channeling Siamese Dream,” he said. He added that the original demo for “Zombie” was initially heavier, but he scaled it back out of concern that it leaned too closely toward the Pumpkins' sound. “I always imagined another take,” Yungblud said, describing the new version as a way to finally “scratch that itch.” That idea became reality after Yungblud reached out directly to Corgan. In addition to his Grammy nominations, Idols topped the U.K. Albums Chart and reached No. The EP's single “My Only Angel” debuted at No. Looking ahead, Yungblud is set to head to Australia for a string of shows as part of his Idols tour, as well as a sold-out U.K. arena tour beginning April 11, with additional international dates expected later in the year. A daily briefing on what matters in the music industry A daily briefing on what matters in the music industry

Andrew Walker is bringing the Christmas spirit with him into 2026. By the morning of January 2, Walker shared in his Instagram Stories that three days' worth of donations had already raised $6,000 for a cause extremely close to his heart, given that his mom suffered from Alzheimer's for years before her passing in 2023. Each donation made via Walker's fundraising page by 11 p.m. Eastern time on January 2, 2026, counts as an entry for the giveaway. Walker and his team will randomly select a name from those who've donated to the fundraiser since December 30. The “She's Making a List” star said that on January 3, he'll announce via his Instagram account who won the prize and how much was raised in total. On the morning of January 2, Walker posted in his Instagram Stories, “Absolutely blown away by your generosity. Walker also shared a bit of sweet encouragement in his Instagram Story update, telling his followers, “If you're starting the year in a tougher place, I'm holding you in my thoughts, may the days get kinder and brighter.” The actor is no stranger to tough times, having lost his beloved mom — Joyce Francis Crossley Walker — in March 2023 after years of decline due to Alzheimer's. In 2024, Walker told EntertainmentNow that his mom was known in their family for having an amazing memory, even recalling “phone numbers and songs and soliloquies of plays that she learned when she was younger.” But as Walker's star was rising at Hallmark, he and his family — dad Bruce and sister JenniMay — began noticing significant changes in Joyce's memory, enough so that in 2013, they insisted she be evaluated at a renowned memory clinic in Montréal, where they lived. Walker also said he thinks his mom would be proud of his efforts to help fund research and build awareness around the disease that stole so much from her, telling EntertainmentNow, “She was my creative muse. So here she is now, you know, looking down from above and seeing what we're doing.” Unfortunately, I didn't see it in time to donate for the t-shirt, but I will donate to the Alzheimer's Association. Their support group got me through some very difficult times, and I am still friends with a lot of the people I met in the group. I would tell anyone out there taking care of or knows someone with this horrible disease to reach out to the Alzheimer's support groups. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Andy Cohen shut down speculation that he got plastic surgery ahead of hosting CNN's “New Year's Eve Live.” “Did the smallest amount of Botox and lost 20 pounds ! The comment came in response to fan Thread reading, “I just saw the new clips of Andy Cohen on NYE and WTF did he do to his face?!? Is he trying to find a new husband at Mar-a-Lago?” The “Watch What Happens Live” host appeared alongside Anderson Cooper for the fan-favorite New Year's Eve broadcast from Times Square on Wednesday evening. Many fans sounded off on the Bravo mogul's appearance with supportive comments. “I just got it for the first time in my life,” he told Dr. Contessa Metcalfe during the “Married to Medicine” Season 11 reunion in March. In January, the TV personality — who frequently questions “Real Housewives” cast members on what plastic surgeries they've undergone — responded to fan backlash over the tactic. Sign up for Virtual Reali-Tea with Danny and Evan, our must-read newsletter! By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. “The millions of women who watch these franchises are tired of you asking women ‘what work they had done,'” a critic wrote on X at the time. Cohen responded, “‘What work have you done' remains at the top of the list of viewer questions every season, every franchise.” Prior to the social media exchange, “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” cast member Erika Jayne slammed Cohen for the line of questioning during a 2019 reunion episode. “I hate it when people say ‘What work have you had done?' I think she should answer it, but at the same time it's kind of rude,” Jayne interrupted Cohen as he relayed a fan question to Dorit Kemsley. “I think since the ‘Housewives' has begun, one of the tropes I think that is common among every city and every franchise is women chasing the fountain of youth and trying to look better and look great,” he said.

Months after accusing UMG of artificially inflating Kendrick Lamar's Spotify streams, Canadian humiliation artist Drake has been named in a federal class-action RICO suit, claiming he artificially inflated streams to “manufacture popularity” and used the online casino Stake.us to transfer money for the scheme. Per NBC News, in a complaint filed in Virginia on December 31, Drake and—yup, this is about to get worse—Adin Ross, the manosphere-adjacent streamer who recently tricked NFL star Puka Nacua into doing an antisemitic meme, are accused of using Stake.us to transfer money via the site's tipping feature. The third accused co-conspirator is an “Australian national” named George Nguyen, who “served as a facilitator and operational broker—alternately converting Stake-based cryptocurrency to cash, or receiving cash from Stake transferred cryptocurrency proceeds.” Drake is a brand ambassador for Stake.us and its parent company, Sweepstakes Limited. In 2022, he reportedly signed a promotional contract with the company worth more than $100 million. “At the heart of the scheme, Drake—acting directly and through willing and knowledgeable co-conspirators—has deployed automated bots and streaming farms to artificially inflate play counts of his music across major platforms, such as Spotify,” the complaint reads. The site allows users to use funny money in the form of Stake Cash and Gold Coins instead of actual currency. Drake and his fellow plaintiffs allegedly used the site's money transfer capabilities as “an unlimited and wholly unregulated money transmitter that appears to exist outside the oversight of any financial regulator.” The suit claims that the three used their profits from Stake to “create fraudulent streams of Drake's music; fabricate popularity; disparage competitors and music label executives; distort recommendation algorithms; and distribute financing for all of the foregoing, while concealing the flow of funds.” The class-action suit in Virginia seeks residents who lost one or more wagers using Stake Cash in the last three years. Isiah Whitlock Jr., beloved character actor from The Wire, Veep, and Da 5 Bloods2Isiah Whitlock Jr. on Da 5 Bloods, The Wire, and loving his legacy of sheeeeeeeeeit3Rhett Miller is "Cruel To Be Kind" in latest A.V. Undercover4Stranger Things packs an emotional punch as it sets the stage for its finale5AVQ&A: What's your 2025 pop culture gift to the world?6Great Job, Internet! : Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen are adorable in the Criterion Closet7The past boldly sings, shakes, and quakes in The Testament Of Ann Lee8Disney becomes first studio since 2019 to break $6 billion at the box office9Avatar: Fire And Ash works best when it gets hot and bothered10Spy drama The Copenhagen Test is heavy on twists and light on coherence11Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon finally welcomed the West to romantic action12In memoriam: 2025's cinematic obituaries mourned their losses before our eyes13Distracted gaming: Why nobody pays attention in multiplayer games anymore14Star Wars: The Force Awakens launched the opening salvo of the fan-service culture war15Love Bullet takes a shot at queer romance, but with a heavily armed twist

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter playlist Adam Sandler (Jay Kelly), Dwayne Johnson (The Smashing Machine), Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein), Jeremy Allen White (Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere), Mark Hamill (The Life of Chuck), Michael B. Jordan (Sinners) and Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent) join THR in our Actor Roundtable. Recorded on location at The Sun Rose West Hollywood. Send us a tip using our anonymous form.

Label a film a “zombie movie” and our genre-trained brains zip right to the question of whether it will feature fast-moving or slow-moving iterations of the undead. With that trope so embedded into the modern DNA of this particular horror subgenre, it's refreshing when a filmmaker puts it on the backburner and explores something more interior, which is what writer-director Zak Hilditch (1922) does with We Bury The Dead. More than 300,000 are now dead, and that may include Ava's husband Mitch (Matt Whelan), who was attending a corporate retreat on the island and hasn't touched base since all communications went dead. Adrift in a fugue state, Ava arrives on the island to volunteer, assigned to one of many body retrieval teams organized by the Australian military. Their mission is to go into all of the rural communities that are furthest away from the impact zone to remove bodies from residences so they can be buried. Only after she lands does she find out that there could be a third option: A by-product of this modern catastrophe is that some victims are waking up, then quickly culled by the military. As she engages in the bleak, voyeuristic work of intruding into these abandoned homes to recover the dead, Ava is forced to knock on her own doors, confronting and acknowledging the unresolved complexities of her marriage. It's through a series of flashbacks framed as Ava's remembrances that the audience gets a more truthful taste of who she and Mitch were together before. Initially, Ridley conveys much of Ava's numbness and interior conflict through her amply expressive face, with little dialogue and to great success. The opening third of We Bury The Dead provides her a rich succession of scenes that are allowed to breathe as she finds her moorings in this disturbing wasteland of lost futures and abrupt endings. Ridley's work is supported by rich sound design which provides space for Ava's solitude while also gently building an aural tapestry for this island—which includes the spine-chilling noises associated with the “waking,” including their signature teeth-grinding. Hilditch and his editor Merlin Eden set an unhurried pace for Ava's journey that might seem antithetical to modern horror, but it facilitates the way this place changes her—slowly, but thoroughly, so she'll be ready to face the answers awaiting her. The inclusion of two challenging male characters also allows us to see how Ava holds herself when placed under the eyes of others. With fellow body retriever Clay (Brenton Thwaites), she develops an unconventional bond as he is bracingly candid and seemingly apathetic about the death around them. As for those awoken by this disaster, Hilditch takes the existential path. That means there are plenty of unanswered questions, but questions which bolster Ava's quest to determine what she wants out of life now that she may be alone. She's remarkably unafraid of those who now straddle the living and the dead and more intrigued by what she can still recognize in an ambling corpse, or a newly woken father that bestows one last act of love to his dead family. As Ava moves towards her own discovery, she ends up finding more truth in what remains unresolved—by experiencing what grief dredges up in the living. Isiah Whitlock Jr., beloved character actor from The Wire, Veep, and Da 5 Bloods2Isiah Whitlock Jr. on Da 5 Bloods, The Wire, and loving his legacy of sheeeeeeeeeit3Rhett Miller is "Cruel To Be Kind" in latest A.V. Undercover4Stranger Things packs an emotional punch as it sets the stage for its finale5AVQ&A: What's your 2025 pop culture gift to the world?6Great Job, Internet! : Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen are adorable in the Criterion Closet7The past boldly sings, shakes, and quakes in The Testament Of Ann Lee8Disney becomes first studio since 2019 to break $6 billion at the box office9Avatar: Fire And Ash works best when it gets hot and bothered10Spy drama The Copenhagen Test is heavy on twists and light on coherence11Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon finally welcomed the West to romantic action12In memoriam: 2025's cinematic obituaries mourned their losses before our eyes13Distracted gaming: Why nobody pays attention in multiplayer games anymore14Star Wars: The Force Awakens launched the opening salvo of the fan-service culture war15Love Bullet takes a shot at queer romance, but with a heavily armed twist