Latest news with #TheLegendofOchi
Newsweek
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
The Legend of Ochi Gets New Digital Release Date
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek's network of contributors The Legend of Ochi starring Helena Zengel, Willem Dafoe, Emily Watson, and Finn Wolfhard crept into theaters in April and made an impact on critics who gave it a Certified Fresh rating of 77% on Rotten Tomatoes. The sweet family film may have missed you while it was at the box office, but have no fear, it is now available to watch on digital, and even is heading to 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray this summer. Helena Zengel in The Legend of Ochi, now available to watch digitally. Helena Zengel in The Legend of Ochi, now available to watch digitally. Courtesy of A24 READ: Snow White Gets New Digital Release Date – How to Watch With plenty of options on how to watch The Legend of Ochi available, we've put together a guide that includes details on where to watch The Legend of Ochi, as well as The Legend of Ochi digital release date, and The Legend of Ochi streaming information. The Legend of Ochi – How to Watch The Legend of Ochi is now available to rent or buy across Video on Demand platforms. You can purchase it on places such as Fandango at Home, YouTube, and Google Play for $19.99 to rent and $24.99 to buy. Where Can I Watch The Legend of Ochi? The Legend of Ochi is now available to watch digitally. You can rent or buy the film from Video on Demand platforms. The Legend of Ochi is also available for pre-order on physical media in the 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray formats. The Legend of Ochi Physical Release Date The Legend of Ochi is now available for pre-order in 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray formats from the A24 shop. The listing says copies are expected to ship in July. Bonus features include: Commentary with Writer-Director Isaiah Saxon "The Ochi Quest" Behind-the-Scenes Featurette Deleted Scene: Emily Watson's "Singing Bird" Six Collectible Postcards with Behind-the-Scenes Photography by Alexandru Ionita Bonus features may vary depending on format and retailer. The Legend of Ochi Digital Release Date The Legend of Ochi will be available to watch digitally from May 20, 2025. Is The Legend of Ochi Available to Stream in the US? The Legend of Ochi is not yet available on any streaming services in the US. Due to the exclusive streaming deal between HBO, Max, and A24, The Legend of Ochi will likely be available to stream on Max in the coming months. What Is The Legend of Ochi About? The official synopsis for The Legend of Ochi, as per A24, reads: In a remote village on the island of Carpathia, a shy farm girl named Yuri is raised to fear an elusive animal species known as ochi. But when Yuri discovers a wounded baby ochi has been left behind, she escapes on a quest to bring him home.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
See ‘Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning' in theaters, rent ‘Cheech & Chong's Last Movie,' stream ‘Fountain of Youth' and more movies to watch this weekend
Hello, Yahoo Entertainment readers! I'm Brett Arnold, a longtime writer and editor at Yahoo and film critic for my podcast, Roger (Ebert) & Me, and welcome to Trust Me, I Watch Everything. I'm here to recommend what you should see in movie theaters, rent from the comfort of your couch or queue up from a streaming service you may already subscribe to. I watch it all so you don't have to. There are so many great picks — a new Mission: Impossible, Friendship, The Legend of Ochi, Fountain of Youth, Mickey 17, and more — it's safe to say there's something here for everyone. What to watch in theaters Movies newly available to rent or buy Movies debuting on streaming services you may already have Movies newly available on streaming services you may already have My recommendation: Why you should watch it: Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning spends much of its runtime reiterating that Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt is the only person on the planet with the abilities necessary to save the world. Essentially, in this eighth installment of the franchise, the superagent is utilizing old-school practical 'analog' stunt work to defeat the all-powerful AI-algorithm known as the Entity, which was introduced in the previous film, that can be read as 'Tom Cruise isn't going to let Netflix or Warner Bros. sending their theatrical movies to streaming during the pandemic kill 'the movies.'' This one even takes its real-life metaphor a step further, getting into misinformation and how the algorithm is making us all distrust each other with weaponized lies. Allegories aside, it's a Mission: Impossible movie and it absolutely delivers where it matters. The movie builds to two giant set pieces and both stunts are jaw-dropping, heart-skip-a-beat breathtaking, with the plane-wing-walking finale ending things on what's likely a series high. The highs are so satisfying to watch that they almost make you forget that the first hour of this movie is all montage and exposition and completely expendable. It also falls into the same trap of the previous entry in trying to add legacy sequel elements and clumsily tie all 29-years of movies together, which provides some laugh-out-loud moments that likely weren't intended to be funny. There is a payoff to a throwaway line of dialogue from the very first movie here that's such a great gag, it won me over. So while it may rank towards the bottom of the franchise overall, that speaks more to the quality of the series than how 'bad' this one is. A weak Mission: Impossible movie is still better than 99% of the blockbusters Hollywood churns out these days. 🍿 What critics are saying: Critics lean positive but are pretty mixed, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 79%. Lindsay Bahr at the AP agrees 'that in attempting to tie everything together, Mission: Impossible lost the plot.' Rolling Stone's David Fear was kinder, saying the movie 'feels like a conclusion to 30 years worth of proving that yes, you still can conjure up a certain vintage strain of Hollywood magic.' 👀 How to watch: Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is now in theaters nationwide. Get tickets ➕ Bonus recommendation: Why you should watch it: The comedy of Tim Robinson is definitely not for everyone, but those that do appreciate his comedy rabidly anticipate his work, and his beloved Netflix sketch comedy series I Think You Should Leave has become something of an obsession for its devotees. If you've ever watched that show and wondered, 'could one of these deranged characters ever anchor a feature-length film?" we now have an answer, and it's, quite surprisingly, a yes! Everybody's comparing Friendship to I Love You, Man, which makes sense given the premise and the fact that Paul Rudd costars in both, but a better point of comparison might be The Cable Guy. It's about a suburban dad (Robinson) with an unsatisfied wife (Kata Mara) and a kid who thinks he's a loser befriending his super cool neighbor (Rudd) and becoming a little too into him, alienating him and his other pals along the way. It's laugh-out-loud hilarious throughout if you find Robinson's antics amusing, and likely aggravating if you don't. It also features probably the funniest drug trip sequence of all time, a wonderful subversion of the comedy trope. 🍿 What critics are saying: Critics love it, with 90% on Rotten Tomatoes; Chase Hutchinson at the Wrap goes so far as calling it 'the year's best comedy.' Though Robinson's brand of humor is definitely divisive, with Time's Stephanie Zacharek aptly summarizing the average nonbeliever view: 'How much Tim Robinson is too much? Maybe the exact amount you get in Friendship.' 👀 How to watch: After a limited release in early May, Friendship is now in theaters nationwide. Get tickets 🤔 If those aren't for you... :A perfectly OK Disney live-action remake of a modern-classic cartoon, with fun performances and affecting emotional beats that still land, but it never justifies why you shouldn't just watch the way-nicer-to-look-at, hand-drawn original — get tickets. : Neal McDonough stars in a movie he also cowrote about a retired rodeo star entering a high-stakes bull-riding competition to raise money to save his sick grandson. It's serviceable but a bit too contrived; Chloe Zhao's The Rider tells a similar story more effectively — get tickets. My recommendation: Why you should watch it: The Legend of Ochi tells a familiar tale with enough style and practical effects-based magic that it makes up for a relative lack of substance. In fact, it's basically just Lilo & Stitch, which itself was riffing on E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. In a remote village on the island of Carpathia, a shy farm girl named Yuri is raised to fear an elusive animal species known as ochi. But when Yuri discovers a wounded baby ochi has been left behind, she escapes on a quest to bring him home. What makes it stand out is the incredible designs of the creatures and the use of puppetry and animatronics to bring them to life. It's such a beautiful and striking-looking film that even though its attempt at an emotional payoff didn't really land for me, I still felt like watching this was time well spent. It's also just nice to see a live-action movie for children! We don't really get those anymore and instead have to settle for CGI-animated everything. 🍿 What critics are saying: According to Rotten Tomatoes, 77% of critics dug it, with Jesse Hassenger at the Guardian calling the film 'an anomaly in a world where US children's films are so intent on prodding and goading their audiences into predetermined reactions. 👀 How to watch: The Legend of Ochi is now available to rent or purchase on digital and on-demand. Rent or buy 🤔 If that's not for you... :An unexpectedly honest, moving and informative documentary exploring the 5-decade career of the iconic comedy duo. Now available to rent or buy. : An adaptation of the video game of the same name that doesn't require any knowledge of its source material to enjoy. A fun, self-aware horror flick in the vein of Cabin of the Woods that cleverly subverts tropes. Now available to rent or buy. My recommendation: Why you should watch it: Fountain of Youthproves that all you need to make your streaming movie stand out from the pack is to hire a competent director like Guy Ritchie to make it. Casting Natalie Portman doesn't hurt either! Like Ochi, the movie is a derivative of a derivative — it's literally just a more international take on National Treasure, which itself is a facsimile of an Indiana Jones adventure. It's about John Krasinski's character forcing his estranged sister (Portman) to reunite with him for a treasure-hunting adventure to find the fabled fountain of youth. Thanks to Ritchie, the action sequences pop and it's a relatively breezy watch, despite the lack of originality. It's good enough, and even if I'll never watch it again, it gets points for using several exotic on-location sites. 🍿 What critics are saying: Critics were mixed-negative, with a scant 44% on RottenTomatoes. Jordan Hoffman at Entertainment Weekly isn't wrong when he writes that the movie "feels like a light snack instead of a full meal." Kate Erbland at Indiewire was more positive, agreeing that "you could do far worse with a streaming subscription price." 👀 How to watch: Fountain of Youth is now streaming on Apple TV+. Stream 'Fountain of Youth' 🤔 If that's not for you... : The fourth entry in the Fear Street franchise, and the first since the original trilogy rolled out one week after another in 2021, adapts the R.L. Stine book of the same name. Now streaming on Netflix. Stream 'Fear Street: Prom Queen' My sort-of recommendation: Mickey 17 Why you should watch it: Mickey 17 is South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho's follow-up to his Best Picture-winning Parasite. This, unfortunately, looks to be a classic case of a director cashing in his blank check from Hollywood after a big win at the Oscars. Based on the 2022 novel Mickey7, Mickey 17 is a science-fiction film set in the year 2054 that follows a man, played by Robert Pattinson, who joins a space colony as an "Expendable," a disposable worker who gets cloned every time he dies for research purposes. The film is at its best when it leans into the humor regarding these deaths, highlighting the Mickey character's buffoonery and the various ways scientists experiment on him. It's at its worst when Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette are chewing scenery as the villains. The movie pivots in the third act to something completely different, aligning itself more with Bong's environmental message-heavy effort Okja than the rip-roaring excitement of something like Snowpiercer, which balanced its class-conscious satire with thrills in a more compelling fashion. Mickey 17 is unwieldy, but the setup is fun enough, as is watching Pattinson play against himself when Mickey 18 rears his head. Watching it for free on streaming feels like the right move. 🍿 What critics are saying: Many are kinder to Mickey 17 than I am — it's got a 77% on Rotten Tomatoes. The Atlantic's Shirley Yi praised Pattinson, saying 'the actor's delightfully offbeat performance anchors the story in an endearing humanity.' Variety's Peter DeBruge says the plot 'is easy enough to follow, though the film insists on making it more complicated.' 👀 How to watch: Mickey 17 is now streaming on HBO Max. Stream 'Mickey 17' ➕ Bonus recommendation: Why you should watch it: The Surrender is an indie horror movie that does a great job of setting up its basic plot before delivering the spooky goods. When the family patriarch dies, a grieving mother and daughter risk their lives to perform a brutal resurrection ritual and bring him back from the dead. Yes, this is yet another movie that could be described as familiar but its unique character dynamics and great performances make it feel alive. It's an incredibly strong debut from director Julia Max, boasting impressive visuals as well as deeper questions about family and the things we ignore. Not every demonic possession flick is created equal; this is a solid one! 🍿 What critics are saying: 84% of critics on Rotten Tomatoes enjoyed it, though Lena Wilson at IGN thought the familial drama in the first half worked, but that the horror element didn't. 👀 How to watch: The Surrender is now streaming on Shudder. Stream 'The Surrender' 🤔 If those aren't for you... Flight Risk: Mark Wahlberg stars as a bad guy hijacking a plane carrying a fugitive witness in this action flick directed by Mel Gibson. Starts streaming Saturday on Starz. The Last Showgirl: Pamela Anderson earned acclaim and nominations for her performance in Gia Coppola's film about a Las Vegas showgirl who must plan for her future. Now streaming on Hulu. That's all for this week — we'll see you next Friday at the movies!
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
See ‘Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning' in theaters, rent ‘Cheech & Chong's Last Movie,' stream ‘Fountain of Youth' and more movies to watch this weekend
We independently evaluate the products we review. When you buy via links on our site, we may receive compensation. Read more about how we vet products and deals. Hello, Yahoo Entertainment readers! I'm Brett Arnold, a longtime writer and editor at Yahoo and film critic for my podcast, Roger (Ebert) & Me, and welcome to Trust Me, I Watch Everything. I'm here to recommend what you should see in movie theaters, rent from the comfort of your couch or queue up from a streaming service you may already subscribe to. I watch it all so you don't have to. There are so many great picks — a new Mission: Impossible, Friendship, The Legend of Ochi, Fountain of Youth, Mickey 17, and more — it's safe to say there's something here for everyone. What to watch in theaters Movies newly available to rent or buy Movies debuting on streaming services you may already have Movies newly available on streaming services you may already have My recommendation: Why you should watch it: Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning spends much of its runtime reiterating that Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt is the only person on the planet with the abilities necessary to save the world. Essentially, in this eighth installment of the franchise, the superagent is utilizing old-school practical 'analog' stunt work to defeat the all-powerful AI-algorithm known as the Entity, which was introduced in the previous film, that can be read as 'Tom Cruise isn't going to let Netflix or Warner Bros. sending their theatrical movies to streaming during the pandemic kill 'the movies.'' This one even takes its real-life metaphor a step further, getting into misinformation and how the algorithm is making us all distrust each other with weaponized lies. Allegories aside, it's a Mission: Impossible movie and it absolutely delivers where it matters. The movie builds to two giant set pieces and both stunts are jaw-dropping, heart-skip-a-beat breathtaking, with the plane-wing-walking finale ending things on what's likely a series high. The highs are so satisfying to watch that they almost make you forget that the first hour of this movie is all montage and exposition and completely expendable. It also falls into the same trap of the previous entry in trying to add legacy sequel elements and clumsily tie all 29-years of movies together, which provides some laugh-out-loud moments that likely weren't intended to be funny. There is a payoff to a throwaway line of dialogue from the very first movie here that's such a great gag, it won me over. So while it may rank towards the bottom of the franchise overall, that speaks more to the quality of the series than how 'bad' this one is. A weak Mission: Impossible movie is still better than 99% of the blockbusters Hollywood churns out these days. 🍿 What critics are saying: Critics lean positive but are pretty mixed, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 79%. Lindsay Bahr at the AP agrees 'that in attempting to tie everything together, Mission: Impossible lost the plot.' Rolling Stone's David Fear was kinder, saying the movie 'feels like a conclusion to 30 years worth of proving that yes, you still can conjure up a certain vintage strain of Hollywood magic.' 👀 How to watch: Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning is now in theaters nationwide. Get tickets ➕ Bonus recommendation: Why you should watch it: The comedy of Tim Robinson is definitely not for everyone, but those that do appreciate his comedy rabidly anticipate his work, and his beloved Netflix sketch comedy series I Think You Should Leave has become something of an obsession for its devotees. If you've ever watched that show and wondered, 'could one of these deranged characters ever anchor a feature-length film?" we now have an answer, and it's, quite surprisingly, a yes! Everybody's comparing Friendship to I Love You, Man, which makes sense given the premise and the fact that Paul Rudd costars in both, but a better point of comparison might be The Cable Guy. It's about a suburban dad (Robinson) with an unsatisfied wife (Kata Mara) and a kid who thinks he's a loser befriending his super cool neighbor (Rudd) and becoming a little too into him, alienating him and his other pals along the way. It's laugh-out-loud hilarious throughout if you find Robinson's antics amusing, and likely aggravating if you don't. It also features probably the funniest drug trip sequence of all time, a wonderful subversion of the comedy trope. 🍿 What critics are saying: Critics love it, with 90% on Rotten Tomatoes; Chase Hutchinson at the Wrap goes so far as calling it 'the year's best comedy.' Though Robinson's brand of humor is definitely divisive, with Time's Stephanie Zacharek aptly summarizing the average nonbeliever view: 'How much Tim Robinson is too much? Maybe the exact amount you get in Friendship.' 👀 How to watch: After a limited release in early May, Friendship is now in theaters nationwide. Get tickets 🤔 If those aren't for you... :A perfectly OK Disney live-action remake of a modern-classic cartoon, with fun performances and affecting emotional beats that still land, but it never justifies why you shouldn't just watch the way-nicer-to-look-at, hand-drawn original — get tickets. : Neal McDonough stars in a movie he also cowrote about a retired rodeo star entering a high-stakes bull-riding competition to raise money to save his sick grandson. It's serviceable but a bit too contrived; Chloe Zhao's The Rider tells a similar story more effectively — get tickets. My recommendation: Why you should watch it: The Legend of Ochi tells a familiar tale with enough style and practical effects-based magic that it makes up for a relative lack of substance. In fact, it's basically just Lilo & Stitch, which itself was riffing on E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. In a remote village on the island of Carpathia, a shy farm girl named Yuri is raised to fear an elusive animal species known as ochi. But when Yuri discovers a wounded baby ochi has been left behind, she escapes on a quest to bring him home. What makes it stand out is the incredible designs of the creatures and the use of puppetry and animatronics to bring them to life. It's such a beautiful and striking-looking film that even though its attempt at an emotional payoff didn't really land for me, I still felt like watching this was time well spent. It's also just nice to see a live-action movie for children! We don't really get those anymore and instead have to settle for CGI-animated everything. 🍿 What critics are saying: According to Rotten Tomatoes, 77% of critics dug it, with Jesse Hassenger at the Guardian calling the film 'an anomaly in a world where US children's films are so intent on prodding and goading their audiences into predetermined reactions. 👀 How to watch: The Legend of Ochi is now available to rent or purchase on digital and on-demand. Rent or buy 🤔 If that's not for you... :An unexpectedly honest, moving and informative documentary exploring the 5-decade career of the iconic comedy duo. Now available to rent or buy. : An adaptation of the video game of the same name that doesn't require any knowledge of its source material to enjoy. A fun, self-aware horror flick in the vein of Cabin of the Woods that cleverly subverts tropes. Now available to rent or buy. My recommendation: Why you should watch it: Fountain of Youthproves that all you need to make your streaming movie stand out from the pack is to hire a competent director like Guy Ritchie to make it. Casting Natalie Portman doesn't hurt either! Like Ochi, the movie is a derivative of a derivative — it's literally just a more international take on National Treasure, which itself is a facsimile of an Indiana Jones adventure. It's about John Krasinski's character forcing his estranged sister (Portman) to reunite with him for a treasure-hunting adventure to find the fabled fountain of youth. Thanks to Ritchie, the action sequences pop and it's a relatively breezy watch, despite the lack of originality. It's good enough, and even if I'll never watch it again, it gets points for using several exotic on-location sites. 🍿 What critics are saying: Critics were mixed-negative, with a scant 44% on RottenTomatoes. Jordan Hoffman at Entertainment Weekly isn't wrong when he writes that the movie "feels like a light snack instead of a full meal." Kate Erbland at Indiewire was more positive, agreeing that "you could do far worse with a streaming subscription price." 👀 How to watch: Fountain of Youth is now streaming on Apple TV+. Stream 'Fountain of Youth' 🤔 If that's not for you... : The fourth entry in the Fear Street franchise, and the first since the original trilogy rolled out one week after another in 2021, adapts the R.L. Stine book of the same name. Now streaming on Netflix. Stream 'Fear Street: Prom Queen' My sort-of recommendation: Mickey 17 Why you should watch it: Mickey 17 is South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho's follow-up to his Best Picture-winning Parasite. This, unfortunately, looks to be a classic case of a director cashing in his blank check from Hollywood after a big win at the Oscars. Based on the 2022 novel Mickey7, Mickey 17 is a science-fiction film set in the year 2054 that follows a man, played by Robert Pattinson, who joins a space colony as an "Expendable," a disposable worker who gets cloned every time he dies for research purposes. The film is at its best when it leans into the humor regarding these deaths, highlighting the Mickey character's buffoonery and the various ways scientists experiment on him. It's at its worst when Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette are chewing scenery as the villains. The movie pivots in the third act to something completely different, aligning itself more with Bong's environmental message-heavy effort Okja than the rip-roaring excitement of something like Snowpiercer, which balanced its class-conscious satire with thrills in a more compelling fashion. Mickey 17 is unwieldy, but the setup is fun enough, as is watching Pattinson play against himself when Mickey 18 rears his head. Watching it for free on streaming feels like the right move. 🍿 What critics are saying: Many are kinder to Mickey 17 than I am — it's got a 77% on Rotten Tomatoes. The Atlantic's Shirley Yi praised Pattinson, saying 'the actor's delightfully offbeat performance anchors the story in an endearing humanity.' Variety's Peter DeBruge says the plot 'is easy enough to follow, though the film insists on making it more complicated.' 👀 How to watch: Mickey 17 is now streaming on HBO Max. Stream 'Mickey 17' ➕ Bonus recommendation: Why you should watch it: The Surrender is an indie horror movie that does a great job of setting up its basic plot before delivering the spooky goods. When the family patriarch dies, a grieving mother and daughter risk their lives to perform a brutal resurrection ritual and bring him back from the dead. Yes, this is yet another movie that could be described as familiar but its unique character dynamics and great performances make it feel alive. It's an incredibly strong debut from director Julia Max, boasting impressive visuals as well as deeper questions about family and the things we ignore. Not every demonic possession flick is created equal; this is a solid one! 🍿 What critics are saying: 84% of critics on Rotten Tomatoes enjoyed it, though Lena Wilson at IGN thought the familial drama in the first half worked, but that the horror element didn't. 👀 How to watch: The Surrender is now streaming on Shudder. Stream 'The Surrender' 🤔 If those aren't for you... Flight Risk: Mark Wahlberg stars as a bad guy hijacking a plane carrying a fugitive witness in this action flick directed by Mel Gibson. Starts streaming Saturday on Starz. The Last Showgirl: Pamela Anderson earned acclaim and nominations for her performance in Gia Coppola's film about a Las Vegas showgirl who must plan for her future. Now streaming on Hulu. That's all for this week — we'll see you next Friday at the movies!
Cosmopolitan
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Finn Wolfhard Talks 'Stranger Things' Finale, Dating, and New Album 'Happy Birthday'
It was the morning after Finn Wolfhard shot his final Stranger Things scene. He and his castmates had stayed up, hanging out on set all night, soaking in what might be their last time together for months. Now it was time to drive home, and Finn's heart felt like it was sinking. The show he'd spent 10 years of his life on—nearly half of his total years on this planet—was truly over. He asked himself the question you have while going through a breakup, because that's what this felt like: Is this going to last forever, this horrible hole inside me? Thankfully, his costar Sadie Sink was there. She told him to give it a week; he'd be fine. Probably. Today, you'd assume the 22-year-old is just that, fine, if his IMDb and Instagram are any indication. His feature film directorial debut, Hell of a Summer, hit theaters on April 4. The A24 film he starred in, The Legend of Ochi, came out on April 18. Finn's debut solo album, the indie rock Happy Birthday, packed with yearning, nostalgia, and romance-coded lyrics, comes out June 6. And that's just the stuff he was able to accomplish while wrapping up Stranger Things, the five-season juggernaut that made him famous and begins its final run later this year. He and his core costars started as a group of prepubescent kids with barely any onscreen experience. In Finn's viral audition tape, he adorably introduces himself to the camera by saying he's 'sick, late, 4 foot 11, and 12 years old.' Now, they're all 20-somethings with a combined Instagram following of 160 million. They attend the Met Gala. Their weddings are featured in Vogue. There's a Stranger Things musical on Broadway. Kids dress as Finn's character, Mike Wheeler, for Halloween. 'The best thing I can compare it to is Harry Potter,' Finn says, sitting across from me, drinking tea at the Park Lane hotel in New York City. Like the stars of that franchise, he and his castmates grew up in the public eye, becoming cultural touchstones for entire generations. That's both a blessing and a curse, as most child stars would tell you. And while Finn admits he wishes Hollywood studios would pay for counseling, he's not resentful. He doesn't do the thing where an actor starts to shit on the project that gave them their career. Quite the opposite, actually. He's still missing his Stranger Things life, holding on to the experience—to his people—for as long as he can. 'That's the hard part,' he says, 'that me and the rest of the cast are never going to be hanging out in the way that we were when we shot the show.' Good thing he's got months of press for season 5 to ease the transition. We thought about that in season 3 or 4. We were like, 'Dude, can you believe that one day when the show comes out, the last season, we're all going to be able to drink together at the bar?' Gaten [Matarazzo] or Caleb [McLaughlin]. They love a good night out. I'm the homebody of the group. I'm like, 'Hey guys, maybe we should go home early.' I like being comfortable in a house, playing a board game or whatever.1 1. He says costars Natalia Dyer and Charlie Heaton have this down to a science. 'They love playing Catan. I would take that over a night out any day.' Last night. We hadn't been in the same room together since we wrapped in December. We all lived around the corner from each other when we were shooting. We saw each other daily and started a little commune. These guys really are like family in a lot of ways. I had this fear that after we were done, it was going to be weird to see them. Yeah. I went on a trip with Caleb, Gaten, and Noah a month or two after we wrapped, and it really helped the transition. You know that feeling that whenever you go home, you kind of go back into your role that you were when you were a kid?2 It's like an archived version of yourself. Within that group, I'll always be a kid. I'll always be their 12-year-old buddy.3 2. This might be more real for Finn, who lives with his parents in a house he was able to buy in Vancouver. 'The weird part is talking to them like they're your roommates, like, 'Just so you guys know, I'm having people over tonight.'' 3. He and the other members of the younger cast are now the same age as Natalia, Joe Keery, and Charlie were when they started the show. 'We ended at their age when they started. Being able to build these really awesome friendships with them as equals, even though I'm 22 and those guys are 30, 31, we have a really strong relationship.' It feels all the more important. There used to be this expectation from all of us that if we didn't talk to each other between seasons, it didn't really matter. It's kind of like school in that way where it's just like, 'I'll see you when I see you.' Then last year, we were like, 'Oh, this is it. We're not going to just see each other just because.' It deepened all of our relationships, going through the ending of the show—and then being able to come out the other side and still be friends. In a lot of ways, and I feel comfortable with this, I'll never really feel like it's the end because the show continues to be introduced to people. And I'll always be recognized as the guy from the show, and that is fine. I like that. And I wouldn't be here talking if it wasn't for the show. So I don't know if it'll ever feel truly over. The scary part to me is the pain that comes along with being reminded of the show. Not because I feel pain about what I think of the show, it's more just like, 'Oh wow, I really wish I was with those people right now.' And part of me saying that it's never ending is blind optimism and something that I choose to believe in, because it's just a tentpole part of my life. In a lot of ways, obviously, I want to move on. That's why I'm doing all this stuff and I'm directing. I obviously have aspirations outside of the show that I really want to do. And for me, it's more about the connections with people, less about the show. Yeah. I think as you get older, even with people at parties or friends or friends of friends, you see that angle. You see people that are being a bit more, I don't know, fake or something like that. Yeah. The more you see it, the more you start to identify it. And when I was young, when I was 13, 14, it was hard to see that because you're getting all this attention and it's like, this is great, and it's not something you really think about. When I was really young, I expected Stranger Things to be a niche thing. In my head, the furthest it went when it came to fame was just like, 'Oh, maybe once in a while, I'll get recognized in the street; maybe I'll be on a podcast.' It snowballed and became this big thing, and I think my brain is still there—I still see it as this small show, even though it's massive. Making this kind of music, I get to recapture that feeling. I'd love for people to listen to it, but I'm not chasing after playing stadiums or being a pop star. I'm just trying to do this thing that I've always liked. If I can play a club I like, that's all that matters. There was this channel on cable when I was really young that was a movie trailer channel. I would watch it for hours with my family at home. I started writing this song from the perspective of my mom. I'm not a mother and I never will be, but I imagine that as a mother, you have kids and they're your entire world. And then it's like the minute they turn 18, they're just out of there. I wrote this song about the nostalgia of watching this trailer channel and from the perspective of a parent who's really missing their child. She doesn't actually know. She'll probably find out when this interview goes live. 4. In my defense, the lyrics to the song are 'Oh, my darling, don't stop loving / You're the one I see / Even with the lights out / Trailers after dark,' so you'll forgive me for the confusion. I don't like conflict. I don't like having hard conversations with people. But it's necessary for a lot of things. Being able to have conversations that are tougher—like, 'This is the problem that I have, how can we get through it together?'—is really important. Filmmaking helped me do that, because it forced me to deal with uncomfortable feelings. Definitely. There are so many advantages to being a people pleaser. With people pleasers, I think there's an overall kindness and optimism for things to be okay. Sometimes you need that. But then at a certain point, you have to be realistic, because you're just doing other stuff for other people. And that's not good or healthy for you as a person. Exactly. But being able to have empathy for people and want to do right by them, that's a good feeling to have. Camp slashers are typically ultra-sexualized in a really gross way, in a really violent, sexist way. We just didn't want to do that. A lot of guys might watch the movie and be like, What the hell? There's not enough boobs or blood or naked people. We didn't want to do that. It can be harmful. But we wanted some kind of innuendo. We wanted something sexual. I feel like there's an age-old thing among partners, the classic conversation of, do they give? There's that cliche, oh, if you're a good partner, you give. So we basically were like, what would be a thing that she would be stoked about? And the idea that he gave her head for the entirety of Spider-Man 2 was funny to us. We had talked about, what's a funny movie to put on? And I'd said, 'Well, Spider-Man 2 is pretty long."5 5. Spider-Man 2 clocks in at 2 hours and 7 minutes, so yes, that counts as giving. My mom was a big summer camp person. She went for years and she always wanted me to go. But either we didn't have enough money, or if we did, I was too scared to go on my own. I would try to get friends to come with me, and no one ever would. And then I got Stranger Things and the show became really big, so it wasn't one of those things that was easy, like, Oh, I'll just go to camp. I think there's a lot going on when you're young, subconsciously in your brain, and you don't know what these feelings are. A big thing with child actors is that because they're acting and they're on set, they're looked at as like, 'Oh, they're in heaven. They're fine.' It's like they don't need the attention of, 'Hey, how are you doing?' My parents did such a great job, but we were all experiencing it for the first time together. So I wish I had someone say to me, 'Hey, all of this stuff that you're really excited about, all this attention, it's great, but it's not real.' It might make you a better performer, but it's not going to make you a more well-rounded person. I think that there's a baseline thing when it comes to all child actors. When people ask a kid, 'Are you okay?' They'll say, 'Yes.' And that means nothing. Kids don't want to disappoint anyone. They don't even know if they're okay. I find it odd that these big studios that have so much money and they have media training, training actors to give good interview answers, and they don't have counseling. It's not anyone's fault, but it's not really talked about. This is going to sound so crazy, but because I was playing a character that was really awkward, it's almost like I tricked myself into believing that I wasn't going through that stuff, because I was just doing it while acting. Then, in my normal life, I was normal and cool. It's so not true. The whole time I was going through my most awkward years. I mean, it's not great going through puberty in front of the whole world, but I wouldn't change it. 6. I did come up with this question after accidentally encountering a picture of my 11-year-old self. Finn's handling it much better than I am. No. I don't think so. Because this made me into who I am today. But I think for my son or my daughter, I would say, 'If you want to act, you have to wait.' I'd probably allow them to take classes, do high school theater. Because acting's really hard. I would've put myself in therapy at 12. That wasn't because the show was so crazy. I just wish I would've had a therapist that was like, 'Hey, what's going on? How do you actually feel?' Just really asking. Because once you are on a show that's big, you don't really have time to stop and think, Did I like that thing that that person said to me? Did I like doing that interview? You're just doing it. But also, if I were to go back in time and ask my younger self if I was okay, I'd probably say, 'Yes. Get the fuck away from me. This is awesome.' It's just important to be there or to ask. I think, through therapy, I've learned how to not treat life as a crisis. You go through these periods where you feel super anxious or super depressed, and in your head, you just think that this is your life now and that this is what it's going to be. I have learned to treat them as little pockets of hard stuff, hard things. And that's something that when I was a teenager, whenever I would get these horrible panic attacks and I wouldn't know how to get through it, I wouldn't think like, Oh, I'm going to be fine soon, or I'm going to feel normal really soon. It's more just like this thought, Oh yeah, I'm going to die and this is who I'm going to be forever. Even though I'm so lucky to have the family that I had and I had as normal of a life as I could, there's things that I've missed developmentally, questions that I have about myself that I'd like to experience or answer before I throw myself into a committed relationship. It's more about being comfortable with myself, honestly. Because no one is actually comfortable, everyone's faking it all the time, and I think I would like to be in a place where I kind of admit to myself, Oh, it's okay to not be perfect, or It's okay to not be in a place where you don't feel like you're in the right place at the right time. I'm really hard on myself in that way. I'd like to be less hard on myself. Because I don't want to subject someone to that. But that is part of being in a committed relationship, bringing that side of yourself that's lost. As a person that people know about, I don't think it's a very wise decision to go out and start randomly meeting people, because you don't know if they have a preconceived idea of you. And not in a paranoid way, but you do meet people that don't want to be around you because they want to be around your personality. They want to be around you because of who you are outwardly. And that's not a fun feeling. It feels risky and doesn't make me feel very good about myself. For me, it's always about meeting someone who I just like talking to. It's hard to meet someone like that. I've never been a very romantic person. I've never been a guy who has flings with people. I like having a relationship with someone and I want to be able to like them and have a conversation with them and talk to them. I am comfortable waiting for someone who is cool, nice, simple, and stable. But in my life now, with how busy I am, I'm chasing stability, basically. I would love to be in a place where I'm in-the-moment happy. Just being able to see what's right in front of me and be like, 'This experience is so great. And I love this thing, or I love this person.' I'm always thinking about what's ahead. As far as work goes, I just want to do the stuff that inspires me. I'm in a very lucky position to say that. If I was waiting tables in New York, I'd probably say a very different thing. And not in a 'I'm not like other girls' way, but I just want to do things that I want to do that don't necessarily equate to what other people think I'm going to do. And also, I'm really excited to take a vacation. I haven't figured out where yet. Maybe Europe and just sit somewhere on a beach. Just look out at the water. That's what I'm looking forward to. Top look: Bode jacket, Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood pants, Our Legacy sneakers, Jacques Marie Mage sunglasses, Eliburch Jewelry ring. Styled by Brandon Tan. Grooming by Ruth Fernandez. Shot on location at Newark Makerhoods at the Krueger-Scott Mansion. Director of video: Grayson Vaughan. Director of photography: Cal Christie. Expensive Taste Test—Vice president of video: Jason Ikeler. Director of video: Amanda Kabbabe. Senior producer/director: Brian Murray-Real. Director of photography: Alvah Holmes. Editor: Chris Green and Robert Arrucci. Associate cinematographer: Jay Aguirre.
Los Angeles Times
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
A new fantasy film offers a vision for how Californians can coexist with other large mammals
As Californians increasingly contend with living among wolves, black bears and mountain lions, an offbeat new fantasy movie reflects many state residents' anxieties about their proximity to wildlife 'The Legend of Ochi,' released in U.S. theaters on April 25 and available to stream starting May 20, follows one tween's quest to return an injured blue-faced baby primate to its home. Twelve-year-old Yuri's (Helena Zengel) Eastern European community, on the fictional island of Carpathia, has long warred with the fictional animals — called ochi. (Her dad Maxim, played by Willem Dafoe, is a fervent ochi-hater.) Bucking the inherited notion that ochi are vicious creatures to be destroyed, Yuri finds she has more in common with the creatures than she was taught to believe. Healing the bond between the species also helps her heal bonds within her own species — that of her immediate family. Isaiah Saxon, raised in Aptos, Calif., wrote and directed the film, and watching it, it's easy to find links to issues facing Californians today. The state is home to what may be the densest population of black bears in the world, a growing number of gray wolves and ample mountain lions in some regions. Not all residents are happy about it. Beginning in the 1970s, a sea change in state and federal policy allowed large predators to make a comeback across California. Meanwhile, humans have expanded into wild areas while a changing climate can drive animals into the path of people. The increased overlap of man and beast has led to an increase in conflict, according to California wildlife officials. Ranchers in rural pockets of the state who lose cattle to wolves fear for their livelihood, and a couple told The Times they want to be able to shoot some of the protected canids — to teach them a lesson. Siskiyou and Lassen County leaders are calling on the state to do something about the economic toll the wolves are taking on ranchers, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife recently approved stronger harassment methods, including assaulting the animals with noise from drones. Galvanized by recent lethal animal attacks — including the state's first fatality linked to a black bear in 2023 — California lawmakers have called for harsher methods to ward off wildlife. A state bill originally aiming to allow El Dorado County to use hounds to chase away mountain lions passed a state Senate committee last month, but was changed to lose the dogs. It would now require the state wildlife department to enhance a conflict reduction program in part by engaging in public outreach and offering grant funding for measures to protect livestock. A similar bill permitting the use of dogs to chase black bears away from places where humans decide the bears are unwanted died in a state Assembly committee last month but was granted reconsideration — an opportunity for another vote next year. But many Californians believe in a different kind of coexistence — one that often centers the rights of animals to inhabit their native territory. Speaking to The Times, Saxon said California's wildlife anxieties weren't consciously on his mind when he created 'Legend of Ochi,' but parallels between the imaginary world of his debut feature film and his home state emerged during a phone interview. Saxon, who grew up in the redwood forests of Santa Cruz County, recalled a 'constant fear of mountain lions' in the community where he was raised. There was also a fervent believer in Sasquatch and a museum in Santa Cruz dedicated to the hirsute, mythical creature. The 42-year-old recalled being told that 'If I wandered off into the woods, far enough away from our house, then Sasquatch or mountain lions, or, you know, real adventure and a real kind of sense of magic [awaited] in the forest. So I think that was somehow deep in me when I was coming up with this story.' In the mountains he hails from, the community often breaks down into 'hippies or rednecks,' said Saxon. The way he describes it, those are crude terms for a more nuanced community divide: 'people who want to live symbiotically with nature, and then people who want to use force against it.' When he was about 6 years old, he'd visit his best friend's family at a nearby property where he'd see them shooting blue jays for sport. Then he'd return to his home of vegetarians. Later on in life, he'd see the same dichotomy play out elsewhere in California. Saxon moved to L.A. about a decade ago, and, until the Eaton fire burned his house down, lived in Altadena. Shortly before moving to the foothills community about two and a half years ago, he heard that some of his would-be neighbors had illegally shot a mountain lion accused of slaughtering animals in the neighborhood, including all the goats on the farm next to what would become his home. Similar acts of vigilante justice animate his film. An opening montage includes a bloodied sheep ostensibly mauled by an ochi. Sometimes the primates bite when afraid. In one scene, Maxim reminds a ragtag gang of young boys he's trying to raise into skilled hunters what they're fighting for: Their families have lost geese, cats, livestock, a sense of safety. Saxon said he understands the impulse to violently retaliate against an animal that's caused damage, but ultimately stands against it. 'It's a spiritual choice to not just remove that animal from that situation,' he said. 'And by that, what I mean is that you would have to have a respect for the sentience and experience of that mountain lion to not choose to solve it that way.' The goal of the film, Saxon said, was not just to advocate for not killing wild animals that live near humans. 'It's not just 'let's not destroy them.' It's 'we would be better off if we learned from them,'' he said. In Saxon's childhood home, Jane Goodall was one of three agreed-upon patron saints. (The others were the Dalai Lama and the Beatles.) And in a recent conversation with Goodall on A24's podcast, he described his debut feature film as 'a critique of anthropocentrism.' The films reveals the ochi can do things people can't, like communicating through sensations. And they defy their caricature of red-eyed, bloodthirsty beasts. Sporting globular dark eyes and fuzzy, caramel-colored fur, the baby ochi — a physical puppet that has been likened to a Gremlin and Baby Yoda — is quite cute. Saxon imbued Yuri's parents with polarized views on wildlife. Maxim sees humans as apex beings with a right to control the environment. Dasha, Yuri's mother (played by Emily Watson), has dedicated her life to studying the ochi, but — according to Saxon — accepts that nature can sometimes be beyond the grasp of human conception. Whisper-voiced Yuri acts as an audience avatar, not yet solidified in her values but figuring them out on her own. 'My hope with the film is that kids can enter in as curiously and open-mindedly as Yuri is in the film, and make up their own minds and not let adults stand in the way of what they think is right and true,' Saxon said. Children's movies featuring animals often reinforce stereotypes that predatory animals are inherently evil. For example, consider the Disney classic 'The Little Mermaid' (1989) or the 2004 DreamWorks film 'Shark Tale,' both of which show the sharks as menacing, notes a blog for the UC Davis Animal Behavior Graduate Groups. Or Disney's 'Frozen,' from 2013, where wolves gnash as they pursue the heroine. There are exceptions and it can get messy. 'The Lion King,' the 1994 Disney blockbuster, features an apex predator (the titular lion) as the hero — but he has to change his behavior to eat grubs as part of his hero's journey. Meanwhile, the primary villain is another lion who stays a predator. Amaroq Weiss, senior wolf advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting endangered animals, believes positive narratives about predators are key at a moment in which people and wildlife are increasingly overlapping, driven by human development and a climate change. 'For people who live in towns and cities who are now getting to meet the wild neighbors and not knowing much about them, that's an easy way to just immediately form a fearful impression of them,' she said, 'which why it's even more important … that we do get the message out to people as as young and early as possible.'
