Latest news with #Furies
India Today
28-07-2025
- Entertainment
- India Today
The Sandman Season 2 Vol 2 review: Of one final dream, legacy and letting go
'The Sandman' season 2, Volume 2, wrapped up on an emotional note. For those who have been following Tom Sturridge's haunting portrayal of Lord Shaper, the season's finale may have felt inevitable, but that didn't make it any less heartbreaking. The beauty of the series lies in its slow, deliberate build of emotions that leaves you with a bittersweet was the emotional investment worth it? Did the series feel adventurous enough? And does its message land as seamlessly as it intended to?advertisementYou must understand that 'The Sandman' is not your usual fantasy series. There are no flying brooms or spellbooks that glow on cue. It's magical, yes. But also meaningful. It demands attention every step of the way. Unless you are totally invested in the story, absorbing every detail and symbolic gesture, you might miss the emotional payoff waiting at the end. The God of Dreams, also known as Lord Shaper or The Sandman or The Dream of the Endless, has spilt his family's blood. As per the Norse rules, the Furies, also known as the Kindly Ones, will come for him the moment someone asks for his blood in vengeance. It has to happen. It's written. But, with all his greatness and majesty, will The Sandman be able to move past his destiny? Can he build an army to fight the Furies, or restructure the time in a way that doesn't make him look like the culprit any more?Vol 1 of the series, which premiered earlier this year, marked a shift from a craftily adventurous narrative to a heavier emotional arc - one that set Lord Shaper on a path of irreversible transformation. A journey that will alter not his destiny, but the future of his realm. The Dream of the Endless knows what's coming. At times, he fears it. At times, he endures it, and sometimes, he even welcomes it with open arms. Photo: Netflix The idea is clear: nothing in this universe is permanent, and journeys must be taken, irrespective of what lies at their end. Vol 2 offers a mature, thoughtful closure. This is not a fantasy world for children. In Vol 2, time and destiny collide in complex ways, characters reappear from earlier episodes, and new ones join the narrative - building towards a finale that is both inevitable and surprising. It's a season of grand emotion and opportunities, hinting that every end is also a a standout twist, we see the return of Boyd Holbroom as The Corinthian. Only this time, he's changed. He's more passionate about his duties, more reliable, more emotional and, dare we say - more charming than ever. His chemistry with Johanna Constantine (Jenna Coleman) is electric. Together, they represent so much about second chances, unlikely connections, and the leap of faith it takes to believe in something again. The father-son dynamic that season 2 tries to portray from the beginning, also finds its closure. Photo: Netflix While 'The Sandman' goes heavy on melodrama - and we don't mind any of it - it continues to dazzle with its visual imagination. The skies are starrier, the castles more glorious. The costumes, the creatures, the dreams are majestic - a masterclass in visual storytelling and limitless stays with you, though, are not just the images, but the questions about the purpose of your life, the legacy that you are so ardently trying to build, and a question: when you are gone, will your story be worth telling? It is perhaps the most serendipitous expression of what gives your life meaning, and how others perceive Vol1 furthered the idea of Dream of The Endless being nearly invincible, Vol 2 strips that illusion away. It shows that no story is immune to an ending - whether we like how it turns out or not. 'The Sandman' doesn't care about comforting its viewer, it exists to tell a wholesome story, being unafraid to say that nothing really lasts the series shifts its arcs quite abruptly sometimes, and the climax, too, feels slightly stretched, especially when we already know where it's going. But you never feel cheated. The greatest stories always contain a bit of nuance, sometimes fiction as truth, the 'what if' moments, the emotions you have already lived, but also a promise of what could be or could have been. In 'The Sandman', you find all of that, and more.'The Sandman' is currently streaming on Netflix.- Ends
Straits Times
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
The Old Guard 2 Review: Immortal warriors return in predictable sequel. 2 stars
(From left) Henry Golding as Tuah, Luca Marinelli as Nicky, Marwan Kenzari as Joe, Charlize Theron as Andy and Kiki Layne as Nile in The Old Guard 2. The Old Guard 2 (R21) 196 minutes, available on Netflix ★★☆☆☆ The story: Following the events of The Old Guard (2020), mercenary team leader Andy (Charlize Theron) is no longer immortal, unlike her comrades, who have retained their infinite healing powers. The team must confront powerful beings looking to settle scores: Discord (Uma Thurman), an ancient one with a grudge against humanity, and Quynh (Ngo Thanh Van), newly freed from the undersea cage that Andy failed to save her from hundreds of years ago. The Old Guard 2 is one of those movies in which viewers are supposed to sit back and watch cool things happen: car chases, gun battles, martial arts showdowns. It involves good guys gifted with regenerative healing, a neat way of avoiding the plot armour problems associated with protagonists who walk through a hailstorm of bullets unscathed. The story, based on a graphic novel series of the same name, blends the supernatural with reality by simply not addressing the woo-woo parts – the origins of the healing powers, and why only certain people have them, are mostly left unexplained. Are the regenerative powers genetic? Are the chosen ones demi-gods or touched by divine grace? The franchise so far has revealed little. With one caveat – in this sequel, new characters are introduced, for the sake of dramatic conflict but also to deepen the world in which immortality superpowers exist. The wrinkles do not try to explain the source of the powers – a wise creative decision that avoids the problem of one premise requiring another, ad nauseam – but to allow for immortal-on-immortal combat and all the gore that these entail. Quynh, the immortal whose body was caged in iron then dropped into the sea where she has relived the pain of drowning over and over for centuries, has returned. Vietnamese actress Van , known for her martial arts roles in Furie (2019) and the prequel Furies (2022), is tragically underused. Director Victoria Mahoney, taking over from Gina Prince-Bythewood, elicits good performances from her cast, in particular Theron and Van , but chooses to leave Quynh's mental trauma largely unexplored. Mahoney also fails to relieve the story's predictability, where it seems every meeting between Andy and a former acquaintance starts with tense dialogue followed by a martial arts showdown. New to the franchise is Malaysia-born British actor Henry Golding, who plays Tuah, an immortal who has chosen to be the group's secret archivist. Unfortunately, he is there mainly for exposition, to shed light on the fickleness of the healing powers and why they appear to come and go. As original Netflix action movies go, this work ranks below the tense thriller Rebel Ridge (2024). It falls in the more by-the-numbers category of blow-'em-ups like the two Extraction movies (2020 and 2023), mainly due to its failure to breathe life into a story that still feels trapped in the pages of its graphic novel sources. Hot take: The Old Guard 2 is a workmanlike action sequel that delivers gore and gunfights, but wastes its compelling characters and premise on predictable storytelling.
Mint
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
What's new on Netflix this week (June 27): Squid Game 3, Tom Cruise dominate the drop
Had a long week and just want to chill at home? Well, Netflix is bringing a powerhouse lineup to keep you thoroughly entertained. The lineup includes audience-favourite shows and five adrenaline-pumping instalments of Mission: Impossible films. Here's your ultimate guide to this week's must-watch content dropping between June 27 and July 3, 2025. One of Netflix's most-watched series has returned with its third and final season. Stakes are higher than ever as the Gi-hun comes back to take down the Games from the inside. However, the deeper he veers, the more secrets he uncovers. Expect twists, betrayals and a potentially game-changing conclusion! The fantasy show based on Neil Gaiman's cult comic, the final volume, brings Morpheus face-to-face with the Furies and a new Dream King. Fans of the first season will not want to miss the climactic arc of this show. Directed by Jamie Childs, the show is reportedly being pulled off due to allegations against Gaiman. Hollywood's sweetheart Tom Cruise will likely be dominating the charts of new titles with the first five instalments of his iconic franchise Mission: Impossible arriving on Netflix. From the original to Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Cruise's action-packed films will certainly keep you entertained. Yellowjackets will be coming with a brand-new season, which picks up two months after Jackie's death. The new season will show survivors facing a harsh winter while tensions escalate within the group. Amid the tense situation, Lottie will emerge as a spiritual leader. The dystopian political thriller, directed by James McTeigue, will be available on Netflix this week. Based on a graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, the storyline is set in a totalitarian future Britain. It follows the journey of a masked vigilante known as V, who seeks to overthrow the oppressive government. Here are some of the other notable titles releasing this week on Netflix: Pokémon Horizons: Season 2 – June 27 Mom: Seasons 1–8 – July 1 Mr. Robot: Seasons 1–4 – July 3 Tour de France: Unchained: Season 3 – July 2 Squid Game: Season 3 is the week's biggest release of this week. Yes. Season 2 will be its final chapter, reportedly due to behind-the-scenes controversy. Pokémon Horizons: Season 2 continues the animated adventures for younger audiences, and PAW Patrol: Seasons 2 and 3 are also available now.
The Guardian
03-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘Gangs charged us $200 a night to shoot on their turf': Walter Hill on making cult film The Warriors
I thought Sol Yurik's 1965 novel, The Warriors, would work well as a film but I told Larry Gordon [the producer]: 'Nobody will ever let us make it. We'd have to shoot at night in New York, and it doesn't lend itself to star casting.' I turned it down and went to do a western but the finance fell apart. Larry came back and asked if I was still interested. I didn't get along with the people who ran Paramount and we got off to a poor start. They saw it as some kind of sequel to Saturday Night Fever. It's pretty hard to imagine more disparate storylines. The Warriors operates in a dystopian, slightly futuristic, fantasy dream world. The studio never understood that but audiences got it instantly. I wanted Orson Welles to narrate an introduction. His speech was going to last 30 seconds and set up what we were about to see. He agreed to do it – he was broke. However, the studio didn't want him. They felt an artistic frame would hurt the film's commercial potential. I thought the audience wouldn't get the movie without some explanation, but I was completely wrong. Originally, I proposed casting only racial minorities, like in the book, but the studio didn't think that was a commercial idea. And, now, I think the fact that all of the gangs are interracial makes the movie more universal – it did well all over the world, much to everybody's surprise. We shot at night in New York areas where gangs ran things. They'd say: 'You're on our turf and your trucks are fucking up our streets – so pay us.' They were always bribeable. It was $200 a night. The Baseball Furies were inspired by the Furies in Greek mythology. Bobbie [Mannix, costume designer] did some drawings and they were wearing the New York Yankees uniform. I thought it wasn't quite enough. Somebody said, 'Why don't we paint their faces?' and I thought, 'Now that'll make it really different.' We had a scene where a car was looking for the Warriors who were hiding under a boardwalk. Luther [David Patrick Kelly, playing a rival gang leader] knows this, but there wasn't anything in the script for him to say. I said: 'This is too dull. Do something!' He ran under the boardwalk and got some beer bottles. When we were ready to shoot, he clinked the bottles and said: 'Warriors … come out to play.' I said: 'Don't change anything!' That and 'You dig it?' are probably the two lines everybody remembers. The film was attractive to gangs. They'd show up at the cinema, see a rival gang they had age-old animosity with and violence would ensue. There were several deaths and that's always tragic, but it's hard to blame the movie. We got a lot of criticism from political and religious leaders – almost none of them had seen it. I'm proud of the movie. I read the script and the story jumped off the page, like an action-packed matinee movie that takes you on a rollercoaster ride from bright daylight into a neon cityscape at midnight. Mercy resonated with me and I wanted to play her with all my heart. For my first audition, I remember wearing a pair of black, raw silk trousers and a pumpkin-coloured knit top that my Italian friend Pamela gave me. I thought wearing her garment would lend me some spice but I don't think it particularly impressed Walter. Something I was doing did attract his attention though – he described me as the 'unobvious choice'. As a kid, my brother had taught me to cluck like a chicken so when I saw Mercy's first line was a cluck, it felt like destiny. I liked her sense of independence and adventure with an undercurrent of discontent. Her world was seemingly limited and she was perhaps at a crossroads when the Warriors arrived in front of her stoop. She taunted and challenged the Orphans and the Warriors gangs. Her vibe got under my skin. My connection to all the guys was pretty instantaneous and my fondness for everyone immediate. Michael [Beck, played Swan] and I already had a trusting connection before our characters hooked up and Walter assured us we had on-screen chemistry. I fractured my wrist during the shoot on the subway platform. It was harrowing, and the schedule got turned upside down. The scene where I'm suddenly wearing a blue jacket was just to conceal my broken wrist. It gave me more moxie to get the job done, come hell or high water. But it was a tough shoot and physically there were challenges all along the way. We embraced our collective 'warrior' in that regard. When it opened, I recall being with Marcelino [Sánchez, who played Rembrandt] at someone's apartment and hearing about queues wrapping around city blocks. It was so exciting. I took my friends to see it in Times Square and clucked for the theatre employees. Audiences would clack bottles together in time to Luther's ominous call to 'come out and play'. Sadly, violence cut our momentum short. It was on its way to becoming a smash hit when gangs in various parts of the country clashed outside theatres and cinemas began pulling the film. We found ourselves defending it in interviews: these altercations weren't perpetrated by the film but by the energy collecting outside in long lines – the film attracted volatile people. But thinking about the graphic violence in films today, The Warriors is a cinematic dance in comparison, epic and romantic. Whenever I see The Warriors, it's like watching a home movie. There are throngs of people who watch it routinely like The Wizard of Oz. I'm profoundly grateful.
