Latest news with #TheInstitute
UPI
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- UPI
Ben Barnes: Fallen hero Tim wants new start in 'The Institute'
1 of 3 | New episodes of Ben Barnes' "The Institute" air Sundays. Photo courtesy of MGM+ NEW YORK, July 20 (UPI) -- Prince Caspian, Westworld and The Punisher alum Ben Barnes says Tim, the character he plays in the new supernatural drama, The Institute, is a troubled man seeking redemption. "We meet him at quite a heavy moment in his life. He's looking to kind of press re-start on his life. He used to be a police officer and he's made some decisions which weigh really heavily on him and he feels very shameful about," Barnes, 43, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview. "He's lost a lot, including a marriage, because of it and I think he's trying to find some peace in his life, and finds himself near this Institute, and something starts to not add up for him about this new community that he finds himself In and, so, he starts snooping and uncovering things and realizing, eventually, the full horror of what's happening." Based on the book by Stephen King, new episodes of the MGM+ show air Sundays and follow Luke (Freeman), a teen genius, who is kidnapped and awakens at The Institute, a facility full of children who all got there the same way he did, possess unusual abilities and are told they are needed to save the world. Goodbye front half for you! Don't miss the latest episode of #TheInstitute now streaming on #MGMplus MGM+ (@mgmplus) July 20, 2025 "Luke is sort of at a crossroads," said newcomer Freeman, the 19-year-old son of British acting royalty Martin Freeman and Amanda Abbington. "He has MIT calling and a future ahead of him, but, also, he has everybody back in Minneapolis and he doesn't want to let anybody down," Freeman said of Luke. "So, I think he's sort of living his best life as a 14-year-old. He's got a brilliant opportunity ahead of him and, I'm sure, in his head, he's thinking it will work itself out." While they find themselves navigating unusual circumstances, Tim and Luke seem authentic, three-dimensional and easy for viewers to relate to. "It is probably easier for Tim at the beginning because he's grounded in very real things. It's sort of a quiet beginning for Tim," Barnes said. "For Joe, to play a character who is sort of snatched up into such a horrific environment, to be so unsettled so fast into the show [is more challenging]," Barnes added. "But I think you're always going to be rooting for the person who's being treated in an unjust way and rooting for the person who's trying to help that person and support that person, so I think we were helped by the structure of the story in that way." Barnes went on to say the fact both characters have firm grips on their moral compasses also make them likable. "They know which way True North is and they know what's right to stand up for and those are the things that they kind of really have in common," Barnes added. "They can't help but stand up for the things they think are right and I think once you start to sense that in someone, when you're watching a show, you can't help but be on their side." King is famous for telling stories that are not just entertaining or disturbing, but that also explore important existential issues. The Institute, for example, takes a deep dive into concepts such as free will, authoritarianism and sacrifices required for a greater good. "There are lots of scenes where there are questions being asked that are not being answered and I think Stephen King is such a master of allegory -- like using telepathy to signify communication or telekinesis to signify those sort of hidden powers that we all have, even the most vulnerable of us, to kind of be hopeful and to fight against unchecked systems," Barnes said. Barnes, who has been professionally acting for more than 20 years, was ready to help Freeman if he needed anything, much the way Tim wanted to be there for Luke. "He's just born to do this," Barnes praised his co-star. "But [I wanted us] to be able to work through things together and discuss dynamics of the story or if he ever felt uncomfortable about situations, or committing to moments or whatever it might be," Barnes added. "We became a good source of support for each other, through the course of filming, being the two Brits out there [in Nova Scotia], away from home for those months filming the show together." The show co-stars Mary-Louise Parker, Robert Joy, Julian Richings and Martin Roach.
Metro
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
First episode of ‘enthralling' Stephen King horror series available for free
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Stranger Things fans looking to fill the hours before season 5 finally arrives are in look with another dose of horror. The new MGM+ creepfest The Institute is vibes-wise on a par with the 80s shot of nostalgia over on Netflix – and the first two episodes drop this Sunday (July 13). In an added bonus, the first episodes will be available to watch for free on Amazon Prime Video via a 7-day MGM+ trial for new subscribers, before having to add MGM+ as a channel to catch the rest. The eight-episode run is based on Stephen King's 2019 novel of the same name and revolves around a shady government lab full of ne'er-do-well suits who are performing various horrible tests on children. Think along the lines of the underground lab that traumatised Eleven. That is where 12-year-old brainiac Luke (Joe Freeman) is hauled off to. He's kidnapped in the middle of the night, right before he had been about to leave high school to study classes at MIT. The teen hostages he joins all have special abilities, which the scary higher-ups at the facility want to harness for their dastardly (if not entirely sensical) purposes. The ringleader is one steely Ms Sigsby (Mary-Louise Parker), with her right hand man head of security Stackhouse (Julian Richings) never far and a head of science Hendricks (Robert Joy) to round out the testing ground staff. That's half the story. The other half concerns the local 'night knocker' Tim Jamieson (Ben Barnes) who is essentially your friendly neighbourhood patrolman, having rolled into the quiet Maine town. He starts to hear rumblings of not-good goings-ons at the supposed infectious diseases lab on the outskirts of the town. He's the white knight that might be able to charge in and free the kids – if they can't manage it for themselves first. The reviews have already started rolling in for the show, which currently holds an 80% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Senior TV Reporter Rebecca Cook shares her take… Filmed in Nova Scotia and with MGM (owned by Mr Bezos) money doing the talking, the show looks excellent and has locked in performances. But you can't help feeling it's phoned in. Plot points are seen coming a mile off and not enough work is done to get you to care much for the too-many characters – beyond the human impulse not to want to see children being tortured. It might be unfair to lay all of this at the TV show's feet, given that that reviews of King's novel said it felt like he had tossed in a bunch of scraps from previous dishes (Firestarter, Carrie, Needful Things). But you can't help feeling disappointed given this is King's work. Where are the bone-chilling creeps and fearsome embodiments of evil? It's a noble tale of how we don't do right by kids and so are ourselves the baddies. You just wish it cared a bit more about teasing out the monstrosity rather than the message. ScreenRant shared a rave eight out of 10 stars review, writing: 'The Institute proves to be far more than an X-Men or Stranger Things clone, and instead a captivating ride from start to finish.' More Trending Meanwhile, The AV Club labelled it a 'compelling' adaptation of the King novel. 'The pulpy fun, with bouts of sentimentality, makes for an enjoyable summer horror viewing experience,' the reviewer wrote. The show was labelled 'creepy' – albeit 'forgettable' – in The Hollywood Reporter, adding: 'But 'creepy' is as far as Bender and his fellow directors ever get, never even approaching 'terrifying' or 'disturbing'.' View More » The Institute will premiere exclusively in the UK on MGM+ on the 13th July. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Sarah Michelle Gellar addresses claims of feud with ex co-star Jennifer Love Hewitt MORE: 'Disturbing' horror film starring Daniel Radcliffe and Sabrina Carpenter will soon be available to stream MORE: Eerie new details revealed in sudden death of haunted Annabelle doll handler Dan Rivera
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Institute review – this is how you butcher a Stephen King novel
Me, I'm always in the mood for hokum. You can serve it to me at any point on the largest platter you have and I will grab my hooey knife and absurdity fork and start shovelling. But, like any chef, you have to know what you're doing. You have to make some effort, have the basic ingredients assembled in the right proportions and send it out from the kitchen hot, steaming and looking delicious. Tepid hokum, bland hokum – well, that ain't no hokum at all. And so to the latest Stephen King adaptation, this time by Benjamin Cavell and directed by Jack Bender (Lost, From, Under the Dome – the latter another King tale) of the horror master's 2019 novel The Institute, travelling to our screens under the same name. Luke Ellis (Joe Freeman, the son of Martin Freeman and Amanda Abbington, in his first major role and bringing much to a part that barely wants to allow anything) is a super smart 14-year-old, planning a move to MIT when he is snatched from his home one night and relocated to a shadowy government facility (the institute) deep in the forests of Maine to assist with unspecified but – he is assured – world-saving work. Not just because of his IQ but because of the nascent telekinetic powers he also possesses. What were the odds! You can probably take it from here, but let me do my professional duty. The institute houses an array of youngsters who have demonstrated either telekinetic (TK) or telepathic (TP) abilities in their ordinary lives. No one, as yet, has demonstrated both, and none has our spiky hero's gift for analysing everything around him and showing the grownups how incredible kids can be, yeah? Kalisha (Simone Miller) is a TP and keeps kissing Luke – I am not too clear why, but it has something to do with her having had chickenpox, maybe, and wanting to pass it on? God knows. George (Arlen So) is a TK and gets to use up the first episode's nugatory SFX budget by raising a pool of spilt water into the air as a glistening vertical stream. Nicky (Fionn Laird) is a slightly older inmate who grew up in foster care and is – quite loudly, for such a heavily surveilled facility – sceptical of the authorities' insistence that the children will have their memories wiped at the end of all this and be returned safely to their unquestioning parents. This is probably wise. Sign up to What's On Get the best TV reviews, news and features in your inbox every Monday after newsletter promotion Said authorities comprise Ms Sigsby (Mary-Louise Parker, playing icily against type) who cares not a jot for her young charges beyond what they can do to further the mysterious project. Behind the professional facade, she has a self-harm habit and a father with dementia – but, if this is meant to make her less of a cipher than any of the other characters being moved around the cheap, uninspiring sets, it does not work. Ditto the bleak affair she is having with Dr Hendricks (Robert Joy), who is in charge of the research and experimentation programme. Rounding out the staff are Stackhouse (Julian Richings, who is British and bony-faced, so you know he is the real villain of the piece) and the sadistic Tony (Jason Diaz), who actually carries out the tagging, drugging and restraining of the institute's young captives/lab rats that Hendricks' programme requires. Outside the facility is the B plot. Good cop and even better guy Tim (Ben Barnes, bringing, like Freeman, the most he can to an unrewarding part) has taken a job with local police as a night knocker (a patrolman who makes sure everything's locked up and calm) to recover from the trauma of being forced to shoot an armed 16-year-old back in the city. A strange lady keeps warning him about mysteries and untrustworthy townsfolk, but I wonder if anyone will ever take heed and start to wonder what goes on in the heavily fortified concrete building buried in the woods on the outskirts of town? And with that, and the promise that Tim will (eventually – it takes far too long) intersect with the main narrative, the last basic King box is ticked and we can see exactly what happens when you keep the plot but strip out the man's genius for bringing his characters to life, while building dread at a cellular level. Instead, we get what looks like the torture of children to shock and upset, with some gratuitous references to the Holocaust to make things worse. If you stripped those out and upped the pace, The Institute might have made for some perfectly serviceable fun for the early-adolescent demographic. As things stand, it's hardly fun at all. The Institute is on MGM+ on Prime Video in the UK and US, and on Stan in Australia.
Sydney Morning Herald
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
What to stream this week: Eric Bana's Netflix thriller and five more picks
This week's picks include an American murder mystery featuring Eric Bana and Sam Neill, a much-hyped Stephen King adaptation and sturdy crime procedural from the Bosch universe. Untamed ★★★ (Netflix) Early on in this American murder mystery, which is set in California's vast Yosemite National Park, a veteran federal agent, Kyle Turner (Eric Bana), takes a new park ranger, Naya Vasquez (Lily Santiago), out on official business via horseback. 'I haven't seen this view before,' Vasquez says as they cross a gorgeous riverside glade, to which Turner replies that most people only see the same 10 per cent of Yosemite. 'The rest of it's out there,' he sagely adds. That's also my take on Untamed. While it's made with care and staffed with capable performances, the take on crime and punishment in this limited series too often feels like the same 10 per cent of the crime genre we've seen before. In its outline and emotional currents, the show flirts with the generic at times. That it holds together as a whodunit and eventually an examination of what protecting your family really means is credit to the show's perseverance and our willingness to follow this genre's well-worn trail. Loading The first episode, in particular, is a spartan checking of boxes; beginning with a young woman plunging off the famous El Capitan granite monolith and the arrival of Turner, the park's criminal investigator. He's a scrupulous if taciturn detective and a sad drunk – he calls his remarried ex-wife Jill (Rosemarie DeWitt) at 2am, an unspoken loss haunting him. Vasquez is unperturbed by this lone ranger. 'I got a toddler at home.' she reasons. 'So I know how to deal with difficult.' A succinct six episodes, Untamed was created by the father and daughter team of Mark L. Smith and Elle Smith. The former's credits include the recent Netflix western American Primeval and his calling card is nature's fury magnified by humanity's hunger for violence. This show is nowhere near as calamitous, but it racks up bodies, facts about Yosemite anthropology, and some particularly prickly exchanges between Turner and the soldier-turned-wildlife-control-officer Shane Maguire (Wilson Bethel). Anything predictable is nonetheless professional, but a sharper directorial eye would have helped. Bana, who has aged exceedingly well into his silver fox era, puts emotional weight on the generic punctuation; his eyes say more than his dialogue in certain scenes. Sam Neill has even less to work with as Turner's boss and longtime friend Paul Souter, who needs the case solved as the media pack grows. By the final episodes, the story has dug down enough, with past crimes and melancholic discoveries, to give the leads more to do. It's just that Untamed requires patience to get that far. The Institute ★★½ (Stan) The screen rights for Stephen King's 2019 novel The Institute were sold on the day the book was released, in 2019. It's not difficult to see why. The story of a group of teenagers with telekinetic powers trapped in a monstrous institution running experiments on them was a throwback to some of the prolific author's earliest hits, which in turn had influenced the likes of Netflix's Stranger Things. This competent adaptation makes the creative circle complete. Loading Overseen by King veterans – writer Benjamin Cavell (The Stand) and director Jack Bender (Mr Mercedes) – the story sets up two strands: 14-year-old prodigy Luke Ellis (Joe Freeman) is violently abducted and sent to the secretive Institute, while in the nearby Maine town of Dennison River Bend a haunted police officer, Tim Jamieson (Ben Barnes) is trying to fix his life. The latter's arc is a holding action, barely ticking over until Luke's desperation brings him to Tim's attention. Life at the facility, with its adolescent inmates and creepy adult scientists, is bleak, but the horror in this science-fiction drama mostly feels compact and cautious. There's rarely a sense of the unhinged or genuinely otherworldly. As the uncompromising supervisor Ms Sigsby, Mary-Louise Parker is suitably unsettling, but like too much of this eight-part series, the capable never reaches the compelling. The Cleaner (season 3) ★★★½ (BritBox) The new season of this British comedy, where creator Greg Davies plays crime scene cleaning technician Paul 'Wicky' Wickstead, is starting to test the show's limits. In each episode, Wicky goes to a new crime scene and interacts with witnesses, officials, and survivors. It's an unlucky dip that makes Wicky look anew at his life. The writing is clever, the humour sardonic, and the reflections on lost opportunities always thoughtful, but Davies obviously wants to experiment with the format and tone. There are episodes here that start to unstitch the series. Ballard ★★★ (Amazon Prime Video) Adapted from the Los Angeles crime novels of Michael Connelly, the Bosch television franchise moves seamlessly into this spin-off, which follows dedicated LAPD detective Renee Ballard (Maggie Q, Designated Survivor). Shunned by colleagues for being a straight arrow, Ballard gets a Department Q -like shift into an understaffed cold case squad. With six Ballard novels to call on, the series is a sturdy procedural, complete with Bosch -friendly cameos, that is trying to very carefully grapple with institutional failings while maintaining a run-and-gun cop show momentum. The Keepers ★ ★ ★ ★ (Netflix) Netflix is a relentless producer of true-crime documentaries. The quality can vary greatly, but I'm not sure they've made one better than this still haunting 2017 series. Directed by Ryan White (Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter), it uses the unsolved 1969 murder of Baltimore Catholic nun Catherine Cesnik to examine corrupt institutional power and the pain of unacknowledged abuse. The show functions as a mystery, complete with cliffhangers, but at its core, it is a sombre study focused on individuals trying to advance justice. It hasn't lost a skerrick of its strength. Snowfall (seasons 1-6) ★★★½ (Disney+) There was a fair amount of attention for this American crime drama, which debuted in 2017 and was primarily set in Los Angeles during the crack epidemic of the early 1980s. But it's still worth a retrospective binge. With F1′ s Damson Idris as ambitious young drug dealer Franklin Saint, the show mixed The Wire 's grit with historical conspiracy theories such as the CIA aiding the crack trade to finance anti-communist rebels in Central America. The show's profile decreased behind Foxtel's pay TV wall, but now all six seasons are streaming on Disney+.
The Age
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
What to stream this week: Eric Bana's Netflix thriller and five more picks
This week's picks include an American murder mystery featuring Eric Bana and Sam Neill, a much-hyped Stephen King adaptation and sturdy crime procedural from the Bosch universe. Untamed ★★★ (Netflix) Early on in this American murder mystery, which is set in California's vast Yosemite National Park, a veteran federal agent, Kyle Turner (Eric Bana), takes a new park ranger, Naya Vasquez (Lily Santiago), out on official business via horseback. 'I haven't seen this view before,' Vasquez says as they cross a gorgeous riverside glade, to which Turner replies that most people only see the same 10 per cent of Yosemite. 'The rest of it's out there,' he sagely adds. That's also my take on Untamed. While it's made with care and staffed with capable performances, the take on crime and punishment in this limited series too often feels like the same 10 per cent of the crime genre we've seen before. In its outline and emotional currents, the show flirts with the generic at times. That it holds together as a whodunit and eventually an examination of what protecting your family really means is credit to the show's perseverance and our willingness to follow this genre's well-worn trail. Loading The first episode, in particular, is a spartan checking of boxes; beginning with a young woman plunging off the famous El Capitan granite monolith and the arrival of Turner, the park's criminal investigator. He's a scrupulous if taciturn detective and a sad drunk – he calls his remarried ex-wife Jill (Rosemarie DeWitt) at 2am, an unspoken loss haunting him. Vasquez is unperturbed by this lone ranger. 'I got a toddler at home.' she reasons. 'So I know how to deal with difficult.' A succinct six episodes, Untamed was created by the father and daughter team of Mark L. Smith and Elle Smith. The former's credits include the recent Netflix western American Primeval and his calling card is nature's fury magnified by humanity's hunger for violence. This show is nowhere near as calamitous, but it racks up bodies, facts about Yosemite anthropology, and some particularly prickly exchanges between Turner and the soldier-turned-wildlife-control-officer Shane Maguire (Wilson Bethel). Anything predictable is nonetheless professional, but a sharper directorial eye would have helped. Bana, who has aged exceedingly well into his silver fox era, puts emotional weight on the generic punctuation; his eyes say more than his dialogue in certain scenes. Sam Neill has even less to work with as Turner's boss and longtime friend Paul Souter, who needs the case solved as the media pack grows. By the final episodes, the story has dug down enough, with past crimes and melancholic discoveries, to give the leads more to do. It's just that Untamed requires patience to get that far. The Institute ★★½ (Stan) The screen rights for Stephen King's 2019 novel The Institute were sold on the day the book was released, in 2019. It's not difficult to see why. The story of a group of teenagers with telekinetic powers trapped in a monstrous institution running experiments on them was a throwback to some of the prolific author's earliest hits, which in turn had influenced the likes of Netflix's Stranger Things. This competent adaptation makes the creative circle complete. Loading Overseen by King veterans – writer Benjamin Cavell (The Stand) and director Jack Bender (Mr Mercedes) – the story sets up two strands: 14-year-old prodigy Luke Ellis (Joe Freeman) is violently abducted and sent to the secretive Institute, while in the nearby Maine town of Dennison River Bend a haunted police officer, Tim Jamieson (Ben Barnes) is trying to fix his life. The latter's arc is a holding action, barely ticking over until Luke's desperation brings him to Tim's attention. Life at the facility, with its adolescent inmates and creepy adult scientists, is bleak, but the horror in this science-fiction drama mostly feels compact and cautious. There's rarely a sense of the unhinged or genuinely otherworldly. As the uncompromising supervisor Ms Sigsby, Mary-Louise Parker is suitably unsettling, but like too much of this eight-part series, the capable never reaches the compelling. The Cleaner (season 3) ★★★½ (BritBox) The new season of this British comedy, where creator Greg Davies plays crime scene cleaning technician Paul 'Wicky' Wickstead, is starting to test the show's limits. In each episode, Wicky goes to a new crime scene and interacts with witnesses, officials, and survivors. It's an unlucky dip that makes Wicky look anew at his life. The writing is clever, the humour sardonic, and the reflections on lost opportunities always thoughtful, but Davies obviously wants to experiment with the format and tone. There are episodes here that start to unstitch the series. Ballard ★★★ (Amazon Prime Video) Adapted from the Los Angeles crime novels of Michael Connelly, the Bosch television franchise moves seamlessly into this spin-off, which follows dedicated LAPD detective Renee Ballard (Maggie Q, Designated Survivor). Shunned by colleagues for being a straight arrow, Ballard gets a Department Q -like shift into an understaffed cold case squad. With six Ballard novels to call on, the series is a sturdy procedural, complete with Bosch -friendly cameos, that is trying to very carefully grapple with institutional failings while maintaining a run-and-gun cop show momentum. The Keepers ★ ★ ★ ★ (Netflix) Netflix is a relentless producer of true-crime documentaries. The quality can vary greatly, but I'm not sure they've made one better than this still haunting 2017 series. Directed by Ryan White (Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter), it uses the unsolved 1969 murder of Baltimore Catholic nun Catherine Cesnik to examine corrupt institutional power and the pain of unacknowledged abuse. The show functions as a mystery, complete with cliffhangers, but at its core, it is a sombre study focused on individuals trying to advance justice. It hasn't lost a skerrick of its strength. Snowfall (seasons 1-6) ★★★½ (Disney+) There was a fair amount of attention for this American crime drama, which debuted in 2017 and was primarily set in Los Angeles during the crack epidemic of the early 1980s. But it's still worth a retrospective binge. With F1′ s Damson Idris as ambitious young drug dealer Franklin Saint, the show mixed The Wire 's grit with historical conspiracy theories such as the CIA aiding the crack trade to finance anti-communist rebels in Central America. The show's profile decreased behind Foxtel's pay TV wall, but now all six seasons are streaming on Disney+.
