Author: Randy Meeks

{ "de-DE": "", "en-US": "Editor specializing in pop culture who writes for websites, magazines, books, social networks, scripts, notebooks and napkins if there are no other places to write for you.", "es-ES": "Redactor especializado en cultura pop que te escribe en webs, revistas, libros, redes sociales, guiones, cuadernos y servilletas si no hay más sitios donde dar la chapa", "fr-FR": "Rédacteur spécialisé en culture pop qui écrit pour des sites web, des magazines, des livres, des réseaux sociaux, des scénarios, des cahiers et des serviettes s'il n'y a pas d'autres endroits où gribouiller.", "it-IT": "", "ja-JP": "", "nl-NL": "", "pl-PL": "", "pt-BR": "", "social": { "email": "m.ramosfdez@gmail.com", "facebook": "", "twitter": "https://twitter.com/randymeeks", "linkedin": "" } }

Rob Lowe starred in a movie 40 years ago. Now he says the sequel is going to happen no matter what

Emilio Estévez, Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Andie McDowell… A cast like this, so full of stars (even if they’re old-school ones), doesn’t come along every day. And yet, anyone who decides to revisit St. Elmo’s Fire is going to find spectacular performers in a state of grace. What nobody expected is that now, more than 40 years after its release, we’d be getting a (very) belated sequel.

St. El2

This sequel was actually announced in 2024, after the success of the documentary Brats, which analyzed the impact of the Brat Pack, but since then all we’ve known is that they were working on the script. Now, he says it really is going to happen. “It’s in the works, that’s for sure. All the actors want to do it, and we’re supposed to have a first draft the first week of October”.

When he appeared in the film, Lowe was 21 years old, and now he’s 62. It could be interesting, of course (there’s the case of Tom Cruise with Top Gun: Maverick), but that doesn’t make it any less jarring. Moore has also said she’s on board, although the last we heard was that they were looking for the right person to write it. Apparently they’ve found that person. We’ll see.

At the time, the film was an indie hit, and it shaped the future of this whole group of actors. Now, with the “Brat Pack” turned into the “Old Pack,” it’s the best time to see how their lives have changed. But it’ll have to happen without Joel Schumacher directing, since he died in 2020. Everything changes, I’m afraid.

Florence Pugh is incredible in ‘Spider-man: Brand New Day’. It was Tom Holland’s idea.

We all expected Sadie Sink to show up in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but nobody knew that Black Widow, Yelena Belova, would also make a special appearance. However, Florence Pugh had one of the best moments in the movie, in a sauna and as part of the New Avengers. Yes, I have a hard time getting used to it too, but we’ve seen stranger things in the comics.

Disney+ Download

Showing off a little

Obviously, Pugh is grateful to be in one of the three highest-grossing movies in history, since she missed Avengers: Endgame, and she admits all the credit goes to Tom Holland. “All of this happened thanks to Tom. Years ago, when my relationship with Marvel was just beginning and Black Widow came out, Yelena wasn’t as big yet, obviously, as the other superheroes”, she said.

“On the red carpet for his previous movie, when someone asked him ‘Who do you want to be with in the next movie?’ would answer ‘Actually, I want to work with Florence Pugh, who plays Yelena’. Thanks to that, the fans got really excited about the idea”. It’s gone over so well that many are already asking for the crossover to happen again in Avengers: Doomsday, the new Spider-Man movie, or wherever it fits. So yeah, Pugh’s going to have the job security of a Marvel civil servant.

Pugh will be one of the few (very few) people who’ll be back on December 18 in the two biggest movies of the month, and maybe even the year: Avengers: Doomsday and Dune 3. The only other person who could do it is Zendaya, but there’s still no confirmation that she’ll appear in the Marvel film. For now, the actress has everything going for her to become the highest-grossing actress of 2026, I hope she treats Tom to a nice sauna session to thank him!

One of the stars of your childhood has just died, and all of Hollywood already misses them

For 229 episodes, Dennis Haskins became one of the best-known faces not only in the United States, but worldwide. He was the only one, along with Justin Diamond, who never jumped ship from Saved by the Bell and continued on in The New Class, as well as appearing in its movies. What’s more: it hurt him quite a bit when they didn’t even ask him to make a guest appearance in the reboot. And now that will sadly be impossible.

Peacock TV Download

Rest in Peace

But Haskins, who has just died at 75, was much more than Mr. Belding. Over his five decades devoted to acting, the actor appeared in series like Mad Men, How I Met Your Mother, New Girl, or It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Sadly, eight years ago he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and has died from the disease.

Mario Lopez, who was with him on Saved by the Bell, has said that he is “heartbroken to hear what has happened to my old friend Dennis Haskins. He played the principal, but he was the biggest kid on set. If you knew him, you loved him. And if there was karaoke, you knew Dennis was going to get up and sing! I’m grateful for the laughs, the memories, and the friendship we shared all those years. Rest in peace, my friend”. And he’s not the only one who has paid tribute to him.

Lark Voorhies, who played Lisa, has said “Knowing Dennis Haskins for almost 40 years has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. We’ve shared so much history together from our early days, and he was always a fabulous person, a loyal friend, and someone with a kind and gentle heart. I’ll miss his affection and laughter more than I can express in words”. The rest of the cast still hasn’t said anything, but they’re expected to in the next few hours. You don’t lose an icon like this every day.

The creator of ‘Children of Blood and Bone’ hates its adaptation so much that she’ll never again allow one of her books to be adapted for film

On January 15, 2027, Children of Blood and Bone will premiere, a film based on a best-seller that has sold millions of copies and spawned a trilogy considered one of the best contemporary YA series. In fact, they’ve spent 200 million dollars making it and no one, not even the biggest fans, is talking about it. Why? There’s a reason: the author of the books has declared that she refuses to watch that aberration.

A doomed adaptation

It isn’t the first time Tomi Adeyemi, who has co-written the film’s screenplay in addition to writing the book, has complained about the aberration they’re making of her work in Hollywood, but now she’s gone further, promising that she’ll never adapt one of her books for the screen again. She does so after a TikTok of hers went viral in which she said, basically, that every decision made was awful and she refused to watch the resulting film.

“I understood that if I didn’t speak, I couldn’t keep going. I can’t worry about the response, because I don’t have to live with how people respond to me. I have to live with myself, every day“, she said, making it clear that what mattered most was her integrity and then, maybe, what everyone else thought. Good for her, honestly, both for standing up for herself and for the drama.

Although she doesn’t clarify what exactly went wrong with the film for her to end up crying, she has added that “The journey of the trilogy and the adaptation has felt biblical… It has stolen everything from me”. After all, “in a film the director makes all the decisions. With my book I can talk about every decision down to the commas, because it’s genuinely in my hands. There’s nothing I can add, beyond making it clear that these are not my choices”. One of the biggest flops in history may be on the way.

The director of ‘Blade’ reveals what working with Marvel means: “Your name may not matter at all”

It has been, without a doubt, the biggest failure in Marvel’s history: after five years preparing Blade, their film starring Mahershala Ali, they ultimately couldn’t finish it. Kevin Feige says he’s ashamed, and the actor stresses that he should be. Even so, he isn’t angry, because he got to train while getting paid for years and the experience led him to make Your mother your mother your mother, which he is indeed especially proud of. It’s something.

Bye Blade

The director of this new film, Bassam Tariq, was the same one they put in charge of Blade, and if Ali has “nice” words for Marvel, Tariq doesn’t hold back either. “It’s so funny, in the Marvel world… they tell you very lovingly, like, ‘Look, this is a Marvel movie directed by a person. They come onto shoots, do a whole lot of things and that’s fine, right?’”. Ali then cuts him off to say “Your name may not matter at all”.

Ouch. I get the impression that Ali and Tariq are going to keep criticizing Marvel for years, and rightly so… though he does acknowledge the talent of some of the filmmakers who’ve done well at Marvel, like Destin Daniel Cretton and Ryan Coogler, of whom he has said that “what he’s done is truly incredible in his universe”.

In fact, softening the blow of his movie not getting made, Tariq points out that Feige got him to “think big and be ambitious**. It’s what we did with what they gave us. We tried to do our best and respect the audience because I think that’s something Marvel thinks about a lot”. We may never get Blade, but at least there’s no resentment left. Well, more or less.

The creator of the only AI actress that has made headlines says the only goal was to make us see that AI is already here

Does the name Tilly Norwood ring a bell? Most likely not, but… what if I told you she wants to become one of the most famous actresses in the world? No, she isn’t a teenager who’s signed up for an Actor’s Studio class or a YouTuber who’s made her way through sheer hard work: she’s an AI-created actress by Eline van der Velden who has signed a few contracts and who claims she’s proof that AI-generated cinema is already here. Whether anyone cares is another matter.

From Here to Tilly

In an interview as full of hot air as only interviews with AI bigwigs and creators can be, Van der Velden said “I programmed her to be the most famous AI actress, so I don’t know how she did it, but she did, which is a little scary“. I do know how she did it: by buying press coverage to make us believe this whole thing actually matters to anyone.

CapCut Download

In fact, she says her whole intention was to warn us about what was coming: “A lot of people realized AI was coming, and that was the reason for Tilly’s existence. I built her as a physical actress; I felt I had to bridge the gap between technology and the entertainment industry“. Yes, there are already people hiring her, and it gives off the same vibes as the companies that carved out a place for themselves in the Metaverse so they wouldn’t be left out.

For now, anyone can see her “success” on YouTube: her two videos have more than half a million views but barely 1,500 “likes” amid a pile of sarcastic comments to which her creator seems immune: “What saddens me is that the traditional industry can’t adapt to this new technology and that means it’s being left behind”. Looking at this year’s box office and the character’s “likes,” I’d be more worried about the future of “Tilly Norwood” than about the traditional industry, honestly.

M. Night Shyamalan regrets a detail of ‘Trap’ that made it stumble at the box office

I admit that I’m fascinated by the fact that Trap, M. Night Shyamalan’s film, is becoming a cult movie. After all, even though it didn’t do badly at the box office (it grossed $83 million against a $30 million budget), no one seemed to come out especially happy to have seen it. No one, except, of course, the director himself, who to this day still believes it deserved more and knows exactly what its problem was.

IMDb Movies & TV Download

It’s a trap!!

The film, which gave us a Taylor Swift-style mega-concert from the point of view of a serial killer, was as curious as it was absurd, and, although the first reviews didn’t help it, neither did the fact of being sandwiched between Deadpool & Wolverine and It Ends with Us. Opening right between the two made it easier to overlook, and to this day he hasn’t stopped lamenting it.

“If I had to release the movie again, I’d have moved it away from all that noise. It’s a delicate conversation we’re having about original movies. Eh, this is a new story with new colors and new sensations, so I need you to sit with it for a second before the Avengers show up”. Although it was somewhat better than Knock at the Cabin, the truth is that the disappointment makes sense.

For now, Shyamalan keeps moving forward, and his next project will be a supernatural romantic thriller titled Remain that will hit theaters on February 5, 2027, competing with the new Ice Age and a week before the remake of The Chronicles of Narnia. Which is basically not learning from your own mistakes.

We already know the streaming release date for the Oasis documentary. Hopefully, no one will come to blows with anyone this time.

If the Gallagher brothers stand out for anything, apart from their music, it’s their constant fights. Liam and Noel have fallen out so many times they’re impossible to count, leading the band to split up abruptly in 2009… until in 2024 they decided to give each other a second chance. And apparently, for now, they’re getting along so well that they’ve decided it’s time to make a documentary about Oasis. Let’s hope that, with any luck, it doesn’t turn into an ironic prediction of the final breakup.

Disney+ Download

An oasis of good music

Oasis: Don’t Look Back In Anger has already taken in 12 million dollars during its brief run in theaters, and now we know when it will finally arrive on Disney+, bringing a bit of happiness to the band’s fans. They don’t get much of that normally. It’ll arrive on October 9 when everyone can enjoy the two brothers’ reunion tour. Enjoy it while you can.

The documentary is scripted by Steven Knight, whom you’ll know from Peaky Blinders and who has already announced that he’ll be the next James Bond screenwriter, and it hits streaming just one month after opening in theaters, after an overwhelmingly positive reaction from audiences and critics. Just what the Gallaghers needed: a little more ego.

Although it seemed like a little marketing trick, Oasis have now announced that they’ll tour 38 cities in 2027, including Barcelona, Rome, Amsterdam, Munich and, of course, Manchester. Whether another documentary gets made or not, it all depends on whether they can avoid killing each other live on stage.

Having made an awful lot of money is no excuse, and Disney is already warning that it’s going to lay off a large part of its workforce

Don’t even stop to think about how much money Disney has. Between series, films, licenses, theme parks, cruises, and merchandising, they’ve got a ton (a real ton) of cash. In 2025 it made around 12.4 billion dollars in profit, and 2026, with a whole bunch of hits, isn’t going to lag behind. But of course: money always attracts more money and over at Disney they’ve decided it’s time for yet another round of cuts.

ChatGPT Download

More cuts at Disney

This past April, Disney laid off more than 1,000 people, and it’s threatening to do the same again before long. Its chief legal officer, Horacio Gutiérrez, has basically made it clear today that AI is going to replace quite a few roles, and it seems like nobody’s going to do anything about it. If you can save yourself a few thousand dollars in your gigantic corporation, I guess that’s what you’re supposed to do, right?

That’s right: the legal department is going to be much smaller now because “it’s going through its own reinvention as technology reshapes how the work gets done. We will take an objective look at every aspect of how we do our work so that it’s more efficient and costs less”. And, of course, he’s already talking about “tough decisions” and “a smaller organization”. All of this while the price of Disney+ keeps going up and they’ve already announced that they’re going to slip ads in on us all the time. Just great.

How many people is Disney going to push out of their jobs before it feels satisfied? In April and July there were several rounds of layoffs, and now it’s another department’s turn. And honestly, it’s starting to be painful even for those of us who work in completely different places. Of course, Disney is the first of many companies about to lay people off, and the legal department isn’t going to be the only one to face the axe. The future stopped being bright a long time ago, except for those who are already millionaires.

The new ‘Godzilla’ movie marks a milestone in history, but it will be banned for part of the audience

Do you know how many Godzilla movies there are? 38. Of those, most aren’t exactly good, but there are one or two forgotten little gems. And, of course, in the wake of the monster’s success hundreds more followed, creating a genre of their own: kaiju cinema. For more than 70 years, Japan (and to a lesser extent the United States) have built a franchise that, at last, has just broken a record that seemed impossible.

Atomic breath for everyone!

Every fan of the monster is eagerly awaiting Godzilla Minus Zero after how tremendously good Godzilla Minus One was, but not everyone will be able to see it. Because, for the first time in history, a Godzilla movie has been rated R (that is, no one under 18 unless accompanied) in the United States. The reason: violent, bloody images, which is, let’s not kid ourselves, exactly what we expect from Godzilla.

The previous one was rated PG-13 (that is, for viewers 13 and up) and it seems this version really will wipe everything out, with an overwhelming number of victims. That said, if all this seems too much to you, the MonsterVerse will release the new crossover between Godzilla and Kong next year, which we already know will be for ages 13 and up, as is usually the case.

Godzilla Minus Zero is the first fully shot-for-IMAX Japanese production, and it will be released on November 6 to a world watching closely to see what Japan is capable of. If the previous movie even managed to get an Oscar nomination, what will happen with this new adult version? Honestly, I’m dying to see it.