Season 3 of Ted Lasso ended in 2023. The finale was so satisfying, that a season 4 seemed very unlikely. However, Ted Lasso’s co-creator and lead actor Jason Sudeikis finally confirmed that work on season 4 has kicked off… at least in the writer’s room! 

Apple TV captured lightning in a bottle with the Emmy-winning sports dramedy. The quirky show followed the eternally optimistic football coach, and how he transformed an English soccer team. In just three seasons, both the show and its eponymous character became TV icons. While many had said a bittersweet farewell, Sudeikis has revived formerly dashed hopes of Ted Lasso’s return. 

Jason Sudeikis gives major Ted Lasso update

In a clip from an interview with Jason and Travis Kelce for the New Heights podcast, Sudeikis confirmed that writing for season 4 has begun. 

After telling Sudeikis they were fans, the Kelce brothers went on to ask if season 4 of Ted Lasso was in the works, and if they were allowed to ask. Sudeikis replied, “I think you can ask it. We’re writing season 4 now. That’s the official word.” The brothers let out whoops of joy that have been largely mirrored by fans on social media. But that wasn’t all that Sudeikis had to say. He added, “Ted’s coaching a women’s team.” Jason Kelce immediately exclaimed, “That’s happening? A women’s team?” which Sudeikis confirmed.

The brothers tried to ask more questions, like whether Ted would return to the States, and what other details Sudeikis could give; however, the actor and writer shut them down. One Ted Lasso teaser is more than enough. Now, fans can only be patient to see where season 4 takes the characters. 

Where did we last see Ted and the gang?

Season 3 of Ted Lasso ended on such a definite note that fans initially weren’t sure if the show would be renewed for a fourth season. The news that Ted will be coaching a new team makes sense now. This will more likely entail him having to rebuild a new team from the ground up, now that he’s done with Richmond. 

The season 3 finale saw Ted returning to Kansas. Moreover, the final scene was of him coaching his son, Henry’s soccer team. He stayed with AFC Richmond for one last season, and though the team didn’t take home the Premier League cup, the episode had enough emotional catharsis to satisfy devoted watchers. It also concluded enough character arcs that viewers still came out feeling like winners. There were also bittersweet moments that were perfectly portrayed in a few scenes. For example, when Ted and Rebecca finally say a final goodbye at the airport. Or when viewers finally find out Beard’s first name. 

With season 4 of Ted Lasso in the works, there are still many questions. Firstly, will Ted be returning to the U.K., or settling back down in America? Does Keeley’s mention of an AFC Richmond women’s team have anything to do with the hint Sudeikis gave us? While there is no confirmed release window for Ted Lasso season 4, the anticipation has already begun. 

Those of you who have taken the leap on Apple TV Plus know that the subscription only comes with a handful of in-house original programming, while everything else must be purchased. This may seem like a strange tactic at first, but there’s an unsung wisdom to it — with comparatively few selections in play, you’re not at risk of browsing for three hours straight. Plus, it’s much easier to notice new releases.

The latest of these releases is The Gorge — a film that had little to no marketing prior to its debut on Feb. 14, but one that has nevertheless maintained a firm grip on the Apple TV Plus charts for these last two weeks. In the meantime, a slew of interviews and promos featuring its stars, Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller, have emerged, generating hype and interest that viewers can now immediately make good on thanks to The Gorge being out in the world already. Well played, Apple; well played.

FlixPatrol will indeed confirm that The Gorge is still at the top of the Apple TV Plus charts at the time of writing, all-encoming of both the film rankings and overall rankings. It’s even managed to ascend higher than Severance (second overall), the Adam Scott-led sci-fi series that has established itself as one of the most prominent streaming shows of the moment.

The Gorge stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller as Drasa and Levi, two elite snipers from two different countries who are recruited to guard a mysterious, monster-infested chasm — Drasa from the east, Levi from the west. They quickly find themselves breaking the “no ” rule as they work to keep the chasm’s monsters from emerging, but little do they know that those monsters are the least of their worries.

While we’ll happily accept another entry into the Anya Taylor-Joy With A Sniper Rifle Cinematic Universe (which was kicked off by Furiosa), The Gorge‘s achievements go far beyond that very specific slice of fan service. At a glance, it’s nothing more than competently rendered but otherwise empty action fare, with guns and monsters aplenty to distract the viewer rather than engage them.

But upon a closer look, one will notice that the film itself is just as disinterested in the Hollywoodish gun play as a viewer seeking nutritious filmmaking would be. This is noticeable because of the comparative directorial care put into the scenes that focus on Drasa’s and Levi’s relationship, which harbors a healthy humanism that takes great joy in expressing itself.

This inner human element is spotlighted further by the designs of the monsters in the eponymous gorge. Without giving too much away, these monsters serve as a none too subtle warning about what can happen when we allow ourselves to be defined by power instead of love — the very fate that Drasa and Levi are at risk of by way of their hyper militarized lives and looming loneliness.

In short, The Gorge is an incredibly solid movie that pretends to be an incredibly shallow movie, and in that way, it can roll with an especially diverse array of viewing habits. It’s a fascinating experiment that pays off in spades.

There are few more baffling modern mysteries than that of Apple TV Plus‘ marketing strategy, which seems to follow a mandate of perpetual chaos and a gleeful disregard for optics. It was one thing, for instance, for Apple TV Plus to hardly market The Gorge, but it was quite another to haphazardly push the film from a Feb. 28 release date to a Feb. 14 release date, forcing it into some unnecessary, last-minute media contention with Captain America: Brave New World, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, and Paddington in Peru.

The first conclusion one might reach here is that Apple TV Plus knew they had a stinker on their hands and hatched a plan to bury it. The only snag in that plan? Well, The Gorge is actually quite good, and owes most all of its merits to director Scott Derrickson, who takes Zach Dean’s unkempt-but-compelling script and orchestrates it with an impressively subversive prowess. The sincerity with which Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller approach the material can’t be counted out either, despite the considerable asterisk hanging above their heads.

The Gorge stars Teller and Taylor-Joy as Levi and Drasa, two snipers who are assigned to keep watch over a mysterious gorge (!) that appears to house none too few beasts from hell. Stationed in two separate towers on opposite sides of the chasm, the pair are forbidden to have any , so, of course, they promptly break that protocol and get to know each other, all while secrets most hideous linger just a few feet away.

It’s difficult to tell where Dean’s screenplay ends and Derrickson’s direction begins, but from within that jumble of collaboration emerges a certain storytelling know-how that elevates The Gorge above the line at which it otherwise would have stopped. It begins to take shape about 20 minutes into the film, when Levi and Drasa have finished settling in to their respective stations and are officially on the job. As they sweetly make each other’s acquaintance with whiteboard messages and high-powered binoculars, Levi reckons with his PTSD and noodles in his poetry book while Drasa plays her piano, celebrates her birthday, and mourns her father.

These quiet, wordless moments are infinitely more effective than the 20 minutes of pre-mission exposition that we’re greeted with at the outset. Levi’s credentials and Drasa’s father telling her he’s probably going to kill himself do not help to meaningfully establish these characters, whereas watching them simply exist in a space on their own — replete with a lack of recognizable social pressures — conveys these characters quite nutritiously (especially in the specific context of The Gorge; more on that in a minute).

The camera knows this, as it seems severely disinterested in the film whenever it’s subjecting us to infodumps or in-world, logistical connective tissue (the drop in, the walk through the forest to the tower, those aforementioned 20 minutes, what have you). The camera jumps, cuts, and meanders lethargically, as though it knows that none of this is what actually matters.

What matters, of course, is the connection that Levi and Drasa share. Pleasantries turn into expressions of vulnerability, which eventually turn into a face-to-face meeting that carries a considerable amount of risk to pull off. Within that meeting, the pair nerd out over sniper rifles in a way that only they could with each other, and offer up more vulnerabilities in a way they simply couldn’t over text (text, in this case, meaning whiteboard).

This all makes for a genuinely beautiful portrait of two human beings making a concerted effort to really know one another, all while the literal gate to hell hangs just inches away from them. They make art, they play, they wonder about what’s really in the gorge, and then brush that off to rightfully focus on their shared humanity once again. Then their idyll is shattered when the monsters manage their deadliest attack yet, and they’re forced to reckon with what’s really going on with the gorge.

And like that, we’re back to the very same infodumps that the camera hurried us through earlier — this time involving lore behind the world, the monsters, and the conspiracy afoot (because of course there’s a conspiracy afoot). But, just as before, the camera does not care about these things. It chops through the action set pieces and zombie-walks around the exposition, because it — like us audiences and these two characters — wants to get back to what really matters; the human element and love that comes alive between Levi and Drasa.

To Dean’s credit, the genre elements aren’t complete empty calories. The monster designs quite obviously aim to highlight the significance of being human, and there’s something similarly compelling about Levi and Drasa now needing to rely on one another to literally survive. Still, everyone on set knew that the meat of The Gorge comes from the pair’s connection, whether it’s the camera’s muted urgency to get back to these two, or Teller’s and Taylor-Joy’s honest commitment to the whole two hours.

Indeed, even when the camera clues us in to how little this massive government conspiracy matters in the wake of two people choosing to love each other, Teller and Taylor-Joy dial in without any such breaks. The playfulness of Drasa and anxiety of Levi are worn expertly by the pair, and they both make the most of their strategically sparse bursts of pathos.

And yet, the best version of The Gorge is likely lost to us on of the presence of these two actors, because no studio in the world would allow anyone to put these two together on screen without a dollop of romance. Indeed, human connection emerges as the key motivator for these two either way, but one can’t help but wonder, for instance, if Levi’s willingness to connect wasn’t significantly motivated by the fact that he is a young man, and Drasa looks a lot like Anya Taylor-Joy. Or that Drasa is a young woman, and Levi looks a lot like Miles Teller.

Would it not be more compelling if that element of sexual attraction was taken out of the equation? What if the snipers were two straight men? Two straight women? Levi and his new lesbian BFF? What if these two only stood to benefit from sharing each other’s minds and souls, while the bodily benefit stopped at a hug? How would that impact the nuances of connecting with each other in a world where we seemingly have to work overtime to do so? If you’re at the gates of hell, how far do you go to love someone solely for the fact of their humanity? How far do you go to emotionally (so, in essence, literally) survive?

Regrettably, these questions are undermined by the happenstance sex appeal, but we must also recognize that those questions exist in the first place because The Gorge — just as it is — sets up such an excellent emotional snapshot. The pronounced shallowness of its blockbuster zhuzh brilliantly indicts any and all disregard for human stories and experience, all while its own human story builds itself quite lovingly and poignantly upon the ever-reliable duo of Mister Fantastic and Princess Peach.

Indeed, it may have been the stealthiest of stealth releases this side of Donnie Darko, but The Gorge quite firmly lands on the stronger side of Apple TV Plus’ expanding film library, where it will hopefully garner the attention it deserves.

Romantic comedies tend to get a lot of flack thanks to their perennial association with the Hallmark machine, but in the right hands, they can be an artistic force to be reckoned with.

Such is very much the case for Fly Me to the Moon, the Greg Berlanti-directed period piece produced by and starring one Scarlett Johansson. Those of you who paid attention to the theatrical ins and outs this summer may have caught wind of this one back in July, but a paltry $42 million against its $100 million budget may suggest otherwise. In any case, it’s finally made it to streaming, where its hearty, charming merits can be more readily feasted upon by a wider audience.

Per FlixPatrol, Fly Me to the Moon is currently the top film on Apple TV Plus at the time of writing, where it was originally slated to debut prior to its theatrical upgrade on of strong test screenings. Toiling under the film’s new regime is Spirited, the more timely comedy flick starring Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell (third place), and Wolfs, the Brad Pitt-George Clooney outing where they play a pair of bickering fixers (fifth place). Depending on who you ask, all three of these films count as rom-coms.

Fly Me to the Moon stars Johansson as Kelly Jones, an advertising executive with razor-sharp wit and an eye for people, who’s enlisted to help repair the relationship between the American public and NASA; a relationship that’s vital to the country’s success in the Space Race. Here, she meets Cole Davis (Channing Tatum), the launch director of the Apollo 11 mission who takes his job very seriously and is none too pleased about the marketing tactics Kelly uses to prop up NASA’s image. The romantic tension of course becomes too powerful for them, but they nevertheless end up clashing when Kelly’s job is brought to the front of staging a fake moon landing, just in case things go south with the real one.

Interestingly, Tatum’s role was originally going to be filled by Johansson’s MCU co-star Chris Evans, but had to drop out due to scheduling issues; a changeup that single-handedly ruined the lives of everyone who was hinging on a bootleg Black Widow-Captain America romance for their next endorphin hit.

What makes Fly Me to the Moon such a narratively intelligent film is that it understands the importance of putting the romance between Kelly and Cole on the backburner, and instead focusing on the romance inherent to their individual humanity, as well as the romance between the American public and NASA.

This is to say that the thesis of Fly Me to the Moon lies in extrapolating the beauty of something without completely disregarding its less savory components. Cole and Kelly are both severely flawed people who are driven by trauma and unfortunate circumstances, but their maladaptation had a direct hand in bringing the best parts of themselves to life as well. Similarly, no secret is made of the manipulative role that marketing plays in most any relationship between citizens and the institutions they live in, but Fly Me to the Moon doesn’t count out the genuine emotional positives that something like the Space Race — a then-culmination of humanity’s scientific and cooperative potential — might spark in the public, either.

The whole thing is held together by a pair of decisive turns from Johansson and Tatum, whose combined comedic timing, snappy dialogue delivery, and physicality could have made the film watchable just on its own, but thanks to Rose Gilroy’s script, there’s hardly a problem to be had here, Houston.

Of all the major players in the current streaming pantheon, Apple TV Plus seems to be the resident bastion of “less is more.” Indeed, it shares with Prime Video an endless library of rentable and purchasable titles, but the films and television shows that you get solely via subscription are relatively few in number.

This is why you hardly see much of a change in the streamer’s top movies; only one gets released every couple of months. As a result, the hits hit harder and the misses miss wider, and Blitz is thankfully a shining example of the former persuasion. All it has to do now is keep pace with a nearly 60-year old Christmas classic.

Per FlixPatrol, Blitz is currently occupying the number two spot on the United States’ Apple TV Plus film rankings at the time of writing, vying for that top spot with the currently-encumbered A Charlie Brown Christmas; the resident Mariah Carey of Apple TV Plus’ media library (if you know, you know).

Blitz stars Saoirse Ronan as Rita, a woman living in World War II-era London that puts her son George (debutant Elliott Heffernan) on a train to countryside to protect him from ’s bombing campaign against the city, only for George to leap off the train and strike out on his own in an attempt to return home, encountering numerous odd ducks, bad eggs, and golden geese along the way. All the while, Rita worries herself sick over George while she and other working-class Londoners fight back against harmful wartime regulations.

The ineffable Ronan, a powerhouse turn from the young Heffernan, and Yorick Le Saux’s haunting cinematography are two of the more immediate boons of writer-director Steve McQueen’s latest, but the true strength of Blitz is its interest in the emotional devastation that’s caused on of war; a tragedy that understandably takes a backseat to mortality rates and physiological ruin, but one that’s regrettably overlooked nevertheless.

From the moment George yells “I hate you!” at Rita for sending him away, Blitz embarks on a skewering campaign to highlight the necessity of human connection as we face off against the darkness that life and the wider world have a tendency to serve up. And what better way to exemplify that darkness than the shadow of Hitler?

Indeed, such times don’t call for an unwavering adherence to restrictions, but for comion, and they certainly don’t call for separating sons from their mothers, even if it seems like the right thing to do in the moment. Pay extra-special attention to how much singing and dancing occurs in this film, and understand that those activities are not mere entertainment or recreation, but undiluted survival tactics.

The foremost tragedy of Blitz — like so many other films in this emotional vein — is how timely it is. Domestic and international tensions seem to rise with every ing day, and because of that, we all individually need to make the conscious choice to hold on to our humanity, lest we, in the noise of our contrived differences, forget that we are all a part of one another.

Apple TV just casually dropped the first look at Seth Rogen‘s new show about the decay of Hollywood, and we can’t get enough of Martin Scorsese‘s seconds-long cameo.

The series, titled The Studio, is jam-packed with stars in what will certainly be a story heavy with meta-commentary. The involvement of one of the greatest directors of all time and one of cinema’s biggest champions, then, is pitch-perfect — especially since he’s so critical of “theme park”-type media.

Though, let’s be real here for a second, what else do you call a show with Kathryn Hahn, Anthony Mackie, Bryan Cranston, Paul Dano, Catherine O’Hara, Zac Efron, Zoë Kravitz, Ike Barinholtz, Chase Sui Wonders, Charlize Theron, and Ron Howard in its cast? I mean, sorry, Marty, but that’s definitely my kind of theme park.

We don’t know yet the extent of Scorsese’s role, but we do know Rogen is playing fictional newly-appointed studio head Matt Remick, who must battle “narcissistic artists,” “craven corporate overlords,” and his “own insecurities” for the increasingly impossible task of making great movies, per the official logline. It doesn’t seem like he’s doing that great of a job, however, seeing as the legendary filmmaker is featured in the trailer calling him “talentless” and “spineless”.

From the frenetic teaser, The Studio promises a Sorkian kind of adrenaline, paired with Rogan’s signature brand of earnest comedy. “At Continental [Studios, the Hollywood company at the heart of the series] we don’t make artsy, fartsy films. We make movies. MOOOVIES!” Cranston’s character tells Rogen’s Matt at one point. The line mirrors Scorsese’s vocal criticism of the current business model in Hollywood. Specifically, the prevalence of sprawling action franchises like Marvel, which undoubtedly put people in theater seats, but do little in the way of advancing the medium.

“The danger there is what it’s doing to our culture, because there are going to be generations now that think movies are only those — that’s what movies are,” the Goodfellas filmmaker told GQ last year. He called the flashy productions “manufactured content” that looks like it could have been made by “AI.”

“That doesn’t mean you don’t have incredible directors and special effects people doing beautiful artwork. But what does it mean? What do these films, what will it give you? Aside from a kind of consummation of something and then eliminating it from your mind, your whole body, you know? So what is it giving you? (…) You gotta say something with a movie. Otherwise, what’s the point of making it? You’ve got to be saying something.”

The premise of The Studio is almost, word for word, an exploration of Scorsese’s anxieties. Rogen seems to be projecting them into a future where the Safdies and the Nolans of the world, whom the acclaimed director calls on to “save cinema” in that same interview, have lost the battle against empty tent-poles. The crossover, then, holds plenty of potential.

Martin Scorsese is actually an underrated actor

Though the 82-year-old is famous for his work behind the camera, lauded as arguably the greatest director of all time, he’s actually got quite the natural talent for acting, and he’s proved it throughout the years.

Who could forget him as Travis Bickle’s enger in Taxi Driver, as Vincent van Gogh in fellow genius Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams, or as the radio show producer in Killers of the Flower Moon‘s incredible ending sequence? His most famous role, of course, is henchman Sykes the Pufferfish in Dreamworks’ Shark Tale, as these tweets will tell you.

Apart from what will undoubtedly be a delicious cameo and sharing in the show’s ideals, Scorsese doesn’t have any other involvement in The Studio. Star Rogen is the main creative behind it, also writing, directing, and executive producing it, alongside frequent collaborator and fellow Canadian Evan Goldberg. This is the comic’s first time in the director’s chair since 2019. He previously directed episodes of AMC’s Preacher, Hulu’s Future Man, and Showtime’s Black Monday.

The Studio arrives on Apple TV Plus on March 26, 2025.

The second season of Silo will return to Apple TV Plus on Friday, Nov. 15, and fans will finally find out: what exactly happened to Juliette once she stepped outside the confines of the silo where she’s lived her entire life?

Watch now: Silo on Apple TV+

Season one concluded with Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson) escaping. Now that she’s outside the silo, she has to find a way to get safe oxygen – and she isn’t sure where to look.

As viewers know, Silo is set 10,000 years in the future and follows a group of people who have lived in an underground silo since birth. The world outside the silo is toxic and dangerous — or so they’ve been led to believe. Juliette begins to question the story everyone has been told and decides to plot her escape, despite the resistance she faces as a result.

The location of the silo is not disclosed in the series, but it seems to be in the United States based on the characters in the show. The books that the show is based on explain that there are 50 silos throughout the country, and the first is in Georgia. Here’s what we know about the second season of Silo.

Silo is based on a trilogy of books

Silo might seem like the type of dystopia perfectly created for TV, but the show is actually based on a trilogy of books by Hugh Howey: Wool (2011), Shift (2013), and Dust (2013). The books follow the same general premise as the series.

A lot of the original cast is back

Many of the cast from season one have returned for the second season. This includes Rebecca Ferguson, Tim Robinson, Common, and Chinaza Uche. Newcomers include Steve Zahn.

The second season begins where the first ended

The second season will pick up right where the first left off: Ferguson’s Juliette has made it outside the silo and is now looking for a way to survive, as her suit is running out of oxygen. The season’s trailer appears to indicate that Juliette will explore another silo that’s clearly been abandoned.

When does Silo return?

Silo begins streaming on Apple TV Plus on Friday, Nov. 15. New episodes will debut each week until Jan. 17, 2025.

Get ready for some no-filter therapy because the Harrison Ford and Jason Segel comedy show Shrinking is back for a new season. Season 2 of the show will pick up right where Season 1 left off, with Laird, played by Segal, meddling in the lives of his patients.

While he offers sound advice at times, you might that Laird is still grieving the loss of his wife, who died tragically in a car accident. He probably isn’t the fittest person to be dishing out life advice in his current cognitive state, but he does it anyway and breaches plenty of ethical barriers while doing it.

The new season features 12 episodes, two more than Season 1. The show, created by Bill Lawrence, Jason Segel, and Brett Goldstein, premiered on Apple+ in January 2023.

Here’s everything you need to know to watch Shrinking, including air times, cast details, and streaming information. 

WATCH: Shrinking on Apple+ (free trial)

Where to watch Shrinking Season 2

• Premiere Date: Wednesday, Oct. 16
• Season finale: Wednesday, Dec. 25 (Christmas Day)

Season 2 of Shrinking will premiere on Apple+ on Wednesday, Oct. 16. The first two episodes can be streamed early Wednesday at 12:01am. One new episode will air each week on Wednesdays, with the finale airing on Christmas day. Viewers can livestream every episode on Apple+, which offers a 30-day free trial for new s. 

Everything we know

In case you need a little recap, the first season ended with one of Jimmy’s favorite clients, Grace, pushing her abusive husband, Donnie, over the edge – quite literally. Donnie survived the fall but became wheelchair-bound, and Grace was thrown in jail for attempted murder.

Segal and Ford, both therapists on the show, were determined to help Grace, despite the fact that she literally threw a man off a cliff. However, she was convinced she did a horrible deed and pushed their help away. She was one of many characters on the show who had profound problems that the therapists had to tackle head-on.

While we don’t want to give too many spoilers about the new season, the show’s creator, Lawrence, has teased the details of one episode that will likely be a massive hit with viewers – a flashback episode featuring Jimmy’s wife.

“One of the cool things about streaming shows is the chances they allow you to take,” Lawrence told Radio Times. “And we had always planned this year to kind of go back in time and see different characters’ lives before the event, the death of Jason’s wife, see where everybody was before that happened.”

The episode is reportedly very emotionally charged. According to Lawrence, it turned out “really well.”

“I was so blown away by everybody’s performance in that episode, not only our regulars, but some of the guest cast, I’ll say, really kind of blew me away,” he said. “Those things are always nerve wracking, so you don’t know if they’ll work out.” But it went really well.””

Shrinking new episode release schedule

Here is the full episode release schedule:

• Wednesday, Oct. 16: Episodes 1 & 2
• Wednesday, Oct. 23: Episode 3
• Wednesday, Oct 30: Episode 4
• Wednesday, Nov. 6: Episode 5
• Wednesday, Nov 13: Episode 6
• Wednesday, Nov. 20: Episode 7
• Wednesday, Nov. 27: Episode 8
• Wednesday, Dec. 4: Episode 9
• Wednesday, Dec. 11: Episode 10
• Wednesday, Dec. 18: Episode 11
• Wednesday, Dec. 25: Episode 12 (Season finale)

Meeting the cast of Shrinking

• Jason Segal: Jimmy Laird, a therapist who works in a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Center while giving the death of his wife
• Harrison Ford: Dr. Paul Rhoades, a senior therapist with Parkinson’s Disease
• Jessica Williams: Gaby, a therapist
• Luke Tennie: Sean, a patient suffering from anger management issues
• Michael Urie: Brian, Jimmy’s best friend, who is a lawyer
• Lukita Maxwell: Alice, Jimmy’s teenage daughter, with whom he has a strained relationship
• Christa Miller: Liz, Jimmy’s next-door neighbor who helps look after Alice
• Ted McGinley: Derk, Liz’s husband

In the conversation about film, a picture’s prestige as a piece of art should be the foremost talking point. What ideas does it deal with? How do all the collaborators approach the work? What are the nuances of the storytelling engine? Are they traditionally robust and efficient, or adventurous in a way that pays off?

All much more engaging questions than how it performs from a box office or streaming chart perspective. American Fiction, for instance, made less than half of what Tarot did at the box office, and the latter has occupied top streaming spots for quite a while now.

Now imagine topping a streaming chart — an accomplishment that, given the volatility of viewers’ attention, carries the same weight as spelling your name correctly on your resume — which consists of the same 10-15 movies for most of the year, all while being buoyed by your star power and status as a brand-new movie. I speak, of course, of Wolfs.

Per FlixPatrol, the unceremonious reunion of George Clooney and Brad Pitt — an alliance about as famous as the individuals themselves — has been enjoying a lofty lead at the top of the Apple TV Plus Top 10 film rankings. The caveat to this, of course, is that Apple TV Plus only counts its in-house productions as chart competitors, which number 34 at the time of writing, meaning nearly a third of the platform’s entire library is going to make this list. In other words, no s*** Wolfs is at the top of the charts right now — it’s the new rich kid on a minuscule playground.

The other main caveat to this accomplishment is that Wolfs simply isn’t a great film. There are, of course, far worse positions to be in than a 68% critic approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but Wolfs doesn’t make much of a secret that its raison d’etre is to let Clooney and Pitt riff on one another like it’s the aughts again. To its credit, that specific exercise works pretty well, but when it comes to the creative food chain, narrative deadweight reigns supreme, and the biome of Wolfs is no exception.

So if you’re turning to Apple TV Plus for movie night, your best bet might not be the popular choice. Indeed, for some of the best the platform has to offer, you’ll have far more luck peering outside of the Top 10, where the likes of CODA, Tetris, Swan Song, Fingernails, Fancy Dance, and Wolfwalkers all reside.

As far as chemistry, George Clooney and Brad Pitt are a delight in Wolfs. But this action-comedy lazily toes the line between both genres, without ever truly committing to either. 

Sure, every Clooney-Pitt pairing restores some balance to the world, but there’s only so much two juggernauts can achieve with a plot that underestimates itself. This crime caper offers a fun, exciting, and predictable reunion, but chooses to drag itself behind the charisma of its leads.

In Wolfs, George Clooney and Brad Pitt are fixers – the men to call whenever you want a problem “taken care of.” However, they’re unaware of each other’s existence, and butt heads when they’re hired to clean up on the same job. Cue in their incessant banter, reminiscent of their time together in the Ocean’s franchise. But unlike Ocean’s, there’s not much of a ing cast to shield us from the constant clashing between the two actors. To put it lightly, both Clooney and Pitt, while charming, become insufferable rather quickly, and that’s because there’s not enough material to work with.

Amy Ryan opens the film as the District Attorney in need of professional help, and when the two fixers show up, we bid her farewell. In the same vein, Poorna Jagannathan stars as June, the off-the-table doctor who assists the men with a medical emergency. At just under 1 hour and 48 minutes, one would expect that the combination of Pitt and Clooney are sufficient to keep things fresh. Unfortunately, the monotonous dialogue and tedious scenes overpower their witty back-and-forth as frenemies.

Thankfully, there’s room for a few breaths, as Austin Abrams succeeds in stealing a few scenes, which is a great feat considering the caliber of his co-stars. Although, spending six-minutes in your underwear being chased by Brad Pitt across town is sure to leave you hooked for the time being. Throw in a desperate two-minute monologue about wanting to feel like you belong, and Abrams just might be the backhanded star of Wolfs.

In the midst of the emptiness surrounding them, both Brad Pitt and George Clooney’s unnamed characters excel when they’re simply taking digs at each other. It’s very easy to see the actors in their roles – as two adult fixers with back problems, who still think they’re the best in the game. Perhaps the movie is holding a mirror to the veterans’ lives, as both of them once dominated theaters, but are now left with limited theatrical screenings, before settling comfortably on streaming. Regardless, while they might not move with the speed of their 2000s selves, their verbal quips prove that Clooney and Pitt still possess a star quality that won’t diminish just yet. 

So is Wolfs a vanity project? In a sense, because it’s a pretty good guess that both actors just wanted to spend some together for a while on-screen. It’s also reason enough to believe that Pitt and Clooney are not actively chasing any serious merits, but the simple accolade that they “still got it!” However, with a little extra time in the writer’s room, Wolfs really could have shone as an avenue to showcase the lighter, comedic side of both stars, especially as they trade their swift agility for a few humorous back cracking. Having found a home on Apple TV Plus, Wolfs has a fighting chance to succeed on streaming, but it’s a no-brainer that it’s the Clooney-Pitt effect that will largely contribute to this.

Behind the camera is Jon Watts, the director responsible for the billion-dollar Spider-Man reboot films. For Wolfs, he swaps bright CGI storytelling for a darker, yet incomplete tale with multiple plot holes. The writer and director’s first film since No Way Home targets a more mature audience, but misses the mark by greatly underutilizing two of Hollywood’s biggest names. Being charged with resurrecting the Hollywood bromance is no easy task, but Watts was handed the best kind of bait, but still fails to translate a tried and true bromance onto the screen. Nonetheless, Wolfs is brilliantly shot, with a juxtaposing tone that feels nostalgic, yet fresh. It’s a taste of what Watts could bring to the table post-Marvel, and shows serious promise. Although his pen needs polishing, his eye could very well be the best tool in his arsenal. 

Altogether, Wolfs leaves much to be desired, no matter how much of a visual feast the Clooney-Pitt duo is on screen. With the number of celebrated movies between them, Wolfs will ultimately be lost in the catalogs of these two Hollywood titans. And while a sequel has already been confirmed, it’s going to take a lot more than their appealing gray stubbles, and Sade’s “Smooth Criminal” in the background, to keep viewers entertained.

Taika Waititi left his Marvel days in the past after 2022’s disastrous Thor: Love and Thunder, but with his most recent streaming reboot failing to gain traction on the charts, could the acclaimed director turn back the clock and return to helm another superhero flick?

I know what you’re thinking, “Taika Waititi has a new series on streaming?” I had the exact same thought. The series, which premiered on Apple TV Plus, is actually a reboot of the classic ’80s film Time Bandits. It’s a classic piece of ’80s nostalgia, but that only makes it all the more perplexing that the 2024 reboot somehow flew under the radar.

The show premiered in July 2024, and yet it seems most people were only made aware of it after the announcement of its cancellation in September. It had generally positive reviews and a talented team behind it, including Waititi, Jermaine Clement, and Iain Morris. Yet after just a single season, the show is out of time.

To be fair to Waititi, the blame can’t really be placed on him here, or anyone who worked on the show for that matter. It seems the issue came down to a pretty lackluster marketing campaign that led many to just straight-up miss the release. Responses on X to the show’s cancellation included many stating they weren’t even aware the show existed.

I honestly never heard of it.. poor marketing?

— Box Office Forecast (@BoxOfficeFcst) September 17, 2024

Literally the first time hearing of this show

— Sean Finnegan (@_seanfinnegan) September 17, 2024

Apple TV does a horrible job of promoting shows.

— Tim Ennis (@ThatsmeTim) September 17, 2024

Could Taika Waititi return to Marvel?

Back in 2023, the director told Variety that he would most likely not return to direct another Thor movie because his slate was booked for the next six or seven years. Now that any prospects for future seasons of Time Bandits have been lost, Waititi could have a gap in his calendar that needs filling. Maybe this is the perfect opportunity for him to return to Marvel.

I know for some MCU fans that idea will send a shiver down their spine, but perhaps it could be a chance for Taika to redeem himself. There’s no doubt the man is capable of making great films and shows when he wants to. It would be great to see him return and prove to fans he still has his mojo.

But could it really happen, though?

While speaking to Variety, Waititi made it clear that there is no bad blood between him and the superhero studio. “I love Marvel, I love working with them. I love Chris.” Despite the fan backlash to Thor: Love and Thunder, he clearly enjoyed working on the film and has left the door open for a possible return in the future.

As we leave the barbeques, beach days, and fireworks behind in the summer months, the spooky season is set to commence as we drift closer towards the official start of Fall. And with it comes a parade of festive classics to enjoy alongside a tall glass of apple cider.

In particular, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, remains one of the most classic specials that happily assists in kicking off the pumpkin-filled season. Along with carving pumpkins and adhering to spooky activities, watching the 1966 project is surely a tradition in a wide variety of households across the nation.

However, one streaming service memorably played the role of Lucy back during the 2020 Halloween season, after the pumpkin was yanked right out from under our feet. That being said, that same tradition looks to repeat this year, with the Peanuts special once again not being aired on television for the fall-loving masses to enjoy. But fear not, for there is another way to soak up the fun of the classic movie.

Where can I watch It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown this year?

Thankfully, we can avoid the trickery and find the treat of a classic show on streaming this year, leading up to, and especially on Halloween. Is the episode not airing because people don’t watch traditional television anymore? Hardly. It’s just another tactic in the arms race known as the streaming wars, with one service gaining and securing the rights to the asset, and understandably so, given its ever-growing popularity.

The always-wholesome and transparent company Apple gained the rights to perhaps the greatest holiday trio of shows in existence — A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and our show at the forefront right now, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, back in 2020.

Not airing the special on TV over the last several years might be seen as absolute blasphemy to some, but others, they could borrow Linus’ spirit and say: “It’s a holiday miracle, Charlie Brown!” because all three holiday specials will still be available for kids and adults alike to watch together. That’s right, at least for 2024, even though you need something to stream it on, we can the Peanuts crew in that great pumpkin patch once more.

That being said, those looking to ring in the autumn season with a bang can enjoy It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown right now on Apple TV Plus, with a subscription. Of course, you certainly don’t need to wait until September or October to fully experience the joyous film, but it absolutely adds a certain element of fun to the fall months.

The same will follow for the Peanuts Thanksgiving and Christmas specials as well, however, the current time windows for the specials are unknown.

Unfortunately, Netflix, Hulu, and any other fellow streaming giant does not own the rights, so Apple TV Plus is your final destination to watch the beloved special. So be sure to grab your apple cider donuts and begin the spooky season in the best way.