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 With a title like 40 Acres, I was worried it would be another horror film filled with race porn. Many of us know the promise of 40 Acres and a Mule (if not, please educate yourself). So, when I saw that 40 Acres was about a Black family with the late Freeman, it painted a picture I didn't want to see, even before the synopsis mentioned the Civil War. But I'm happy to report it's not the new Antebellum or the new Alice. Despite how it's marketed, 40 Acres is actually a slow-paced family drama with occasional violence. Hailey Freeman (Danielle Deadwyler) is a former soldier living with her family on highly coveted farmland. In this post-apocalyptic nightmare, the most valuable resource is land, and people are willing to die for it. Hailey has trained her family to work together to protect their land and each other at all costs. However, when a roving band of cannibals begins ravaging neighboring farms, the family discovers they're not as prepared as they thought. Dir...

 If you've recently felt like the "Jurassic Park" franchise has leapt to an even older creature—the shark—don't dwell on its extinction. Judging by the latest installment, this ancient dinosaur series still has life. "Jurassic World Rebirth" captures the wonder and majesty of the enormous lizards, absent from so many films, which became an endless game of cat and mouse in the dark between frightened humans against T-Rexes or raptors. "Jurassic World Rebirth" lets the daylight in. Director: Gareth Edwards Writers: Michael Crichton, David Koepp Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend Credit goes to screenwriter David Koepp, who wrote the original "Jurassic Park" film, and director Gareth Edwards, an expert on giant reptiles after directing "Godzilla" in 2014. Together with director and photographer John Mathieson, they have returned the franchise to its triumphant roots. "Jurassic World Rebirth" has nod...

Netflix's Shark Whisperer is a fascinating documentary about the commendable efforts of young ethologist and conservationist Ocean Ramsey. While most people choose to stay away from sharks, either out of fear or reverence, Ocean has made it her mission to swim with every type of shark she can find in her waters, from tiger sharks to great whites. Shark Whisperer features in-depth coverage of Ocean Ramsey's life and work, along with the controversy she sometimes generates due to the relatively unusual methods she uses to spread her message of shark conservation. The opening scene of Shark Whisperer shows Ocean Ramsey swimming in the open ocean among a school of tiger sharks when one of the ferocious animals lunges at her. But Ocean remains unfazed and unafraid, facing the shark head-on and managing to move its head away from its body.  Director: Juan Oliphant Writer: Ocean Ramsey Stars: Ocean Ramsey, Juan Oliphant Although the music video is extremely shocking, as it's truly...

The ending of Maa revolved around Ambika's efforts to save her daughter, Shweta, from the clutches of Amshaja. How did it come to that? Well, thousands of years ago, Maa Kali beheaded the "asur" called Raktabeej. When a drop of blood fell in Chandrapur, Amshaja was born, and he began sexually harassing the village girls. Unable to bear this cascade of atrocities, a "bhakt" of Maa Kali prayed to the goddess to give him the power to fight Amshaja.  When the goddess granted the devotee's request, Amshaja disappeared into the shadows and waited for her nemesis's daughter to come of age. Once this happened, Amshaja impregnated the devotee's daughter, thus giving him two options: allow his daughter to give birth to Amshaja's child and bring about the destruction of the world, or kill her. Since the devotee chose the second option, everyone in his family tree continued to do the same over the centuries. Shubhankar moved from Chandrapur to Calcutta and b...

Chokanan Skultham's Thai drama thriller, Eternal Bond, is set during the Japanese invasion of Thailand. At the center of the drama are Jinta and Tharin, two locals from Prachin Buri who were unaware of their connection to the Naga world. As a young woman, Jinta was sent to Bangkok to study. In her hometown, she was accused of killing her mother during childbirth. Jinta and her brother, Jira, shared a romantic relationship. Upon returning home, her maternal grandmother was disappointed to see her and made it clear that her inheritance would only go to Jira. Her father made no attempt to defend her, and the only person who seemed to understand Jinta's pain was her aunt Sonklin. The family owned a rice mill founded by Jinta's grandfather, Lord Pom. After becoming bedridden, Pranot, his son-in-law and Jinta's father, was appointed manager of the mill. Lord Pom's wife, Madam Thongkham, doted on Jira (her daughter's eldest child) and, like everyone else, blamed Jinta ...

 “M3GAN” was set primarily in a Seattle house, but “M3GAN 2.0” opens on the Turkish-Iranian border, with a massacre at a secret military facility and the presence of Saudi intelligence, with U.S. Department of Defense officials covertly watching. Two hours later, it's unclear if this is actually an update. Director: Gerard Johnstone Writers: Akela Cooper, Gerard Johnstone, James Wan Stars: Allison Williams, Jemaine Clement, Violet McGraw Most of the same team that brought us the refreshing original horror-comedy two years ago has not only stepped up its game but also changed the genre of the franchise, turning “M3GAN 2.0” into an action movie featuring two artificially intelligent robots, two villains, FBI units, wingsuits, neural implants, a “Mission: Impossible”-style vault heist, exosuits, a 400 km/h street chase in a supercar, a power grid disaster, a countdown, the United Nations, and the fate of the planet at stake. If the evil M3gan doll from the first film was responsible f...

 The third season of "The Bear" ended at a crucial crossroads for the eponymous restaurant. Carmy and the team anxiously pondered the content of their first review, and unbeknownst to everyone else, Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) was suffering a panic attack over the big decision before her: Stay at The Bear with the dysfunctional team she loves so much or accept a well-paying job offer at a new restaurant helmed by a more established chef? At the end of the fourth season, these questions have been answered, but The Bear's future remains as uncertain as ever. In episode 9, "Tonnato," Pete (Chris Witaske) calls Sydney to go over the updated terms of the partnership agreement she's been putting off signing all season. She ultimately turned down Adam's (Adam Shapiro) job offer and decided to stick with Carmy, so she feels more prepared to legally bind herself to The Bear. But Pete throws her a curveball, explaining that Carmy has backed out of the document. If she si...

 Dennis Lehane adapts the podcast "Firebug," about the hunt for a serial arsonist, into a nine-part drama series. I'm sure I've referred to Jurnee Smollett as a "passionate" actress at some point. The star of Lovecraft Country and Friday Night Lights displays a ferocious, unbridled intensity in a captivating and reliable way. Creator: Dennis Lehane Stars: Taron Egerton, Jurnee Smollett, Rafe Spall Smollett stood right next to the unconvincing CGI fire in last year's exceptional film, The Order. Before that, she starred alongside burning crosses (Lovecraft Country) and torches (Underground). Now she's diving headfirst into hell in Apple TV+'s new drama series, Smoke, an adaptation of the podcast Firebug, featuring extraordinary performances and a bit of a technical inconsistency. At nine episodes, the Dennis Lehane-created series is overly long and frustratingly repetitive, but it unravels a fascinating mystery, features one of the summer's be...

 If there's one thing all audiences have a right to demand from a film with "Ice Road" in its title, it's ice roads. That's probably why "The Ice Road" was so successful it warranted a sequel. Jonathan Hensleigh's 2021 film featured Liam Neeson in one of his impressive late-career action performances, as a hardened truck driver who agrees to cross a frozen lake to rescue a group of miners from a collapsing mine. But Hensleigh's new sequel, "Ice Road: Vengeance," doesn't quite live up to the brand image. Except for a brief drive along a mountainside, "Ice Road: Vengeance" doesn't contain enough ice roads to satisfy those who've been craving more slippery chase scenes since 2021. The film offers more than enough revenge, so there's no reason to claim false advertising. But the sequel's divergence from what made its predecessor famous is so stark that it begs the question of why the two needed to be connected ...

 Thunderbolts* is Marvel's best film in a long time, and it also benefits from a committed performance by Florence Pugh, who leads a group of misfits who could give the Avengers a run for their money. It's not always clear who the good guys and bad guys are in this film. As one character (paraphrasing) says, "You grow up with the idea that there's good and evil. But there comes a time when you realize there's evil, and something even worse. And that's it." Director: Jake Schreier Writers: Eric Pearson, Joanna Calo, Kurt Busiek Stars: Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus I'm not sure I agree with that statement, but in terms of the film, it works. Our heroes are a bunch of antiheroes and even villains. The bad guys are something else. Let's start with the Thunderbolts. (If that sounds like a sports reference, well, it's in the movie.) First, there's the troubled Yelena (Pugh), whom we remember as Scarlett Johansson's sister...

In the second season of Squid Game, Seon-nyeo (Player 044), who introduced herself as Sea Shaman, posed a very important question: Can anyone truly escape their destiny? Well, it's a complex topic, if you ask me. We don't really know what each of us holds. We can't leave things to chance. In any situation, we try to fight our way through. We try to survive until our last breath. But the Shaman disagrees with me on that point, and neither does Seong Gi-hun.  You can't keep killing people in the name of fate. I mean, we don't know if all these players who joined the challenge were truly destined to die in the game or not. I guess, in the end, one can resort to that old maxim and sum it all up by saying that perhaps fortune favors the bold, and that's what Gi-hun and many others like him are trying to do. Those who understand the world a little better try to share their wisdom with the next generation so that they don't make the same mistakes as their predecess...

The ending of Masameer Junior was primarily about how the three six-year-old boys, Trad, Saltooh, and Saad, achieved their mission. Shortly after their school teacher, Mr. Muneer, introduced them to the concept of "jahanum" or hell, the trio decided to atone for their sins by performing good deeds. However, they soon realized that they were only effective in taking lives rather than saving them. This led them to the conclusion that they would kill someone to save themselves from hell.  They came across a woman named Maisa Wahbi, whom they believed to be a homewrecker who attracted men with her singing and dancing, and these men often ignored their spouses to watch her perform. I mean, it wasn't Maisa's fault at all. These disloyal men were responsible for ruining their married lives, but children who grew up in a conservative society didn't know any better. It's a satirical comedy film, so you know what the makers are trying to convey through these three child...

 In the Ironheart episode 3 finale, Riri Williams suffers another panic attack, because circumstances caused her to do something she never would have done in her wildest dreams. Riri had killed a man.  During the Hunter Mason mission, Parker Robbins' cousin, John, discovered what Riri was up to. He caught her red-handed with a piece of his cousin's magical cloak. Riri knew these shady cousins ​​were hiding something, and she wanted to get to the bottom of the truth by analyzing Parker's, aka the Hood, cloak and finding out more about his powers, but before she could, John tried to silence her, just as the brothers killed Rampage (presumably) to tie up loose ends.  Then Riri fought John in the locked greenhouse chamber that was rapidly filling with carbon dioxide. As they both began to suffocate, Natalie, the AI ​​created from Riri's memories, arrived to help her and save her life. Riri, for her part, decided to leave John behind and let him suffocate to death, not wanti...

Episode 2 of Countdown oscillated between Minsk in 2008 and present-day Los Angeles. In the flashback portion of the narrative, we met Borys, an official in the Belarusian Ministry of Defense. His brother, Anton, was in dire straits, being harassed by an American, Dennis, because he owed him money. Anton convinced Borys to help him, and it was then that they discovered it was all a ploy for Borys to steal emails between Belarus and Russia.  Borys complied to save Anton's life, but when Anton committed suicide, unable to bear the pain of subjecting his brother to such hell, Borys killed Dennis. In the present day, Nathan's team allied with Javi, a cartel lieutenant, and smuggled drugs for him in the hopes that it would favor them and give them the names of those responsible for the shipment of radioactive material to Los Angeles. However, Javi was killed for unknowingly conspiring with federal agents, and before he breathed his last, he uttered the name Volchek—that is, Borys Vo...