A module that hosts a film studio and sports arena could be connected to the International Space Station by December 2024. Space Entertainment Enterprise (SEE), which is co-producing a Tom Cruise movie that will partly be shot in space, is behind the project. If and when SEE-1 is up and running, it plans to host TV and film productions, as well as music events and some kind of sports, which can be filmed or livestreamed, according to Variety.

Axiom Space, which two years ago won a NASA contract to construct the first commercial ISS module, will build the station. All going well, SEE-1 will be connected to Axiom's arm of the ISS. Axiom Station is scheduled to split from the ISS in 2028 with SEE-1 still attached.

Whether SEE and Axiom can make good on their plan remains to be seen. SEE hasn't said how much the facility will cost, for one thing. It's currently planning a fundraising round.

Last year, a Russian crew shot a feature-length fiction film in space for the first time, beating Cruise and his director Doug Liman to the punch. That film, The Challenge, is expected to be released this year. Cruise and Liman, meanwhile, are expected to shoot their movie on the ISS later in 2022.

It took more than a decade, but Weird Al is finally about to get the documentary he has always deserved. You may recall back in 2010 Funny Or Die released a trailer for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. The clip promised an unflinching look at Yankovic’s life with performances from actors like Aaron Paul, Olvia Wilde and Gary Cole. We’re not about to get that film (sadly), but Roku may just give us the next best thing.

The company announced today it’s backing production on WEIRD: The Weird Al Jankovic Story. Instead of Aaron Paul as Yankovic, we get Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe. Eric Appel, best known for his work on Silicon Valley and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, co-wrote the film’s script alongside Yankovic and is directing the project. If Appel’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he directed the 2010 trailer for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.

“I am absolutely thrilled that Daniel Radcliffe will be portraying me in the film,” Yankovic said in a statement. “I have no doubt whatsoever that this is the role future generations will remember him for.” WEIRD: The Weird Al Yankovic Story doesn’t have a release date yet, but production on the film is slated to start next month. Once it’s ready, it will be available to watch for free on The Roku Channel.

With Mamoru Hosoda’s latest movie opening in US theaters this Friday, Studio Chizu and the film’s distributor have shared a new trailer for Belle. The more than three-minute-long clip shows the movie’s opening scene in its entirety, introducing us to U, Belle’s metaverse-like virtual world. The trailer is mostly a showcase of Studio Chizu’s virtuoso animation work, but we also get to hear an equally great English cover of Millennium Parade’s “U” and learn more about the setting.

The metaverse has been a hot topic recently thanks in large part to the work Meta has done to promote the concept as the next big evolution of the internet, but Belle director Mamoru Hosoda has thinking about what virtual worlds might mean for our interpersonal relationships for a long time. Back in 2009, he directed Summer Wars. That film imagines a world where everything is connected through a separate digital realm. More than a decade ago, the idea seemed outlandish. Now it feels prescient.

Scott Pilgrim appears ready for a comeback, and not just in video games. The Hollywood Reporter has learned Netflix and Universal's UCP (the unit behind The Umbrella Academy) are developing a Scott Pilgrim anime series. It's not clear how close this will hew to the original graphic novels, but creator Bryan Lee O'Malley and 2010 movie director Edgar Wright will be executive producers.

O'Malley will serve as a showrunner alongside Are You Afraid of the Dark? reviver BenDavid Grabinski. Science SARU is animating the project.

It won't be shocking if the series sticks to the core plot: Sex Bob-omb band leader Scott wants to win over Ramona Flowers, but can't date her until he defeats her seven evil exes. Both the graphic novels and the movie were nods to manga, indie rock, video games and turn-of-the-millennium Canadian culture.

This is a slightly unusual twist on a familiar formula. While Netflix hasn't been shy about its ambitious anime plans, it has typically focused on originals or adaptations of Japanese games and manga. Here, the streaming service is adapting a comic that was a Western tribute — and one that many might only know from the big screen. Netflix's strategy isn't clear, but it might see this as a way to expose its anime catalog to a larger audience.

Turning Red, Pixar’s latest feature film, will premiere exclusively on Disney+, the studio announced on Friday. It follows Soul and Luca as the third Pixar movie to skip a theatrical release. Disney had planned to debut Turning Red in theaters, but likely due to the recent surge in COVID-19 cases across the US and much of the world, that won’t happen. What hasn’t changed is the release date: the film will still debut on March 11th as originally planned.

“Given the delayed box office recovery, particularly for family films, flexibility remains at the core of our distribution decisions as we prioritize delivering the unparalleled content of The Walt Disney Company to audiences around the world,” said Kareem Daniel, chairman of media and entertainment distribution for Disney.

The fact Turning Red won’t premiere on the silver screen is a shame because it marks the full-length directorial debut of one of Pixar’s most promising young talents, Domee Shi. She won an Academy Award in 2019 for her work on the short film Bao, which was shown alongside Incredibles 2 in theaters. Like Bao, Turning Red is set in Shi’s hometown of Toronto, Canada. It tells the story of Mei Lee (voiced by Rosalie Chiang), a teen who finds out she turns into a red panda when she gets too excited. Naturally, all sorts of hijinks ensue as a result. Did we mention the fabulous Sandra Oh is also in the movie? Yeah, it will be great.  

The fact Turning Red won’t have a theatrical run is likely to significantly affect its earning potential. In turn, that could make Disney less willing to invest in diverse productions like Turning Red. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that families will at least have the opportunity to see the film from the safety of their homes.

The Sundance Film Festival was gearing up for an ambitious hybrid event later this month, but those plans are now squashed thanks to the Omicron COVID-19 surge. Sundance is instead planning for a completely virtual event starting on January 20th, along with a handful of screenings in local markets. While disappointing, the festival's investment in a better digital platform last year puts it in a better position than other major events. (Looking at you, CES.) And of course, you'll still be able to check out the Sundance New Frontiers experiences in VR. Based on our experience last year, it'll be well worth it.

"While it is a deep loss to not have the in-person experience in Utah, we do not believe it is safe nor feasible to gather thousands of artists, audiences, employees, volunteers, and partners from around the world, for an eleven-day festival while overwhelmed communities are already struggling to provide essential services," Sundance Film Festival director Tabitha Jackson wrote in an e-mail to attendees.

After a give or take a decade in development hell, the film adaptation of the Uncharted series is slated to arrive in theaters next month. And during CES, Tom Holland introduced a small, action-heavy segment of the film in which he is flung from a plane, repeatedly shot at and then hit by a car. 

If it looks at all familiar, that's probably because this plane scene was heavily featured in the film's first trailer — an apparent nod to the third game in the series. For better or worse it certainly has all the trappings of a quicktime event. 

The release date for Uncharted has been pushed back a few times, but it's slated to hit theaters on February 18 now. 

A comet is headed to Earth, and despite dire warnings from scientists, almost everyone fails to take it seriously. That's the basic premise of Don't Look Up, the latest film from Adam McKay which premieres on Netflix today. It balances the blunt social commentary from his most recent Oscar nominated films (The Big Short and Vice), with the comic absurdity from his early hits, like Anchorman and Talladega Nights. The result is somewhat uneven and a bit too long, but it's also a battlecry against the anti-science, fact-phobic reality we're living through today.

The comet is an obvious metaphor for climate change, an apocalyptic scenario we're hurtling towards while governments drag their heels, the fossil fuel industry feigns ignorance and most people go about their lives oblivious about what's to come. But Don't Look Up also describes humanity's bumbling response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a global disaster that's led to more than five million deaths. 

The film's title is a mantra used by a conservative president (Meryl Streep) to make her red-capped supporters look down at the ground, and not at the glowing comet in the sky they can easily see in the sky. It's hard not to be reminded of the politicization of COVID-19, which has led to people denying its existence and demonizing vaccines, all because of something they heard on Fox News or their family's Facebook group.

After two astronomers (played by a surprisingly nebbish Leonardo DiCaprio and a spunky Jennifer Lawrence) rush to the White House with news about Earth's impending destruction in six months, they're forced to wait. Streep's President Orlean is dealing with a potential scandal around a Supreme Court nominee, obviously that's more important. By the time they lay out Earth's impending doom, Orlean would rather wait and do nothing. "What's this going to cost me? What's the ask in place?" she says.

As the two scientists try to spread the word, first by leaking the doomsday scenario to the media, and then by becoming media personalities of their own, the film takes a scattershot aim at critiquing our modern society. The great Mark Rylance plays a Jobs-meets-Zuckerberg tech executive, the sort of mogul whose idea of innovation is a phone that'll constantly monitor you to fix negative emotions. (Feeling down? Bash Life will automatically book a nearby therapy session for you.) Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry pop up as cable news hosts who can only speak to their audience with faux, upbeat banter—yes, even if that news is about humanity's imminent destruction.

Netflix

Don't Look Up sometimes feels like it's punching down, especially when it's focusing on the sheer stupidity of President Orlean's conservative followers. But the film isn't afraid to criticize everyone, even its scientist leads. Both characters have trouble properly conveying the significance of their discovery. And when DiCaprio's astronomer finds his media legs, he's fully a part of the government propaganda machine.

By the time the American government finally decides to do something about the comet — only because it benefits the President, of course — it's dressed up in patriotic showmanship, as if Michael Bay were directing George W. Bush's tone deaf 2003 Mission Accomplished speech. I won't spoil where the movie goes from there, but it's clearly spoofing Bay's Armageddon. One war hero and a big rocket is all it takes to stop a planet destroying threat, right?

Netflix

Don't Look Up isn't a complete success — the comedy is hit or miss, and it could seriously benefit from a shorter and more focused narrative. But the final act hits with a wallop, at times reenacting scenarios I've seen in far too many anxiety dreams. If the world were really ending in a few months, how would you react? What do we owe each other, as a civilization? And what will it take to protect this planet in the face of profit-seeking vampires, who would gladly risk humanity for a few more resources? Adam McKay doesn't have any answers. But his anger is something we can all understand.

It's been a surprisingly solid year for television. Partially because many major film releases ended up hitting streaming services early. (Don't forget about Warner Bros. unprecedented decision to stream their releases on HBO Max when they hit theaters.) Film and TV productions that were delayed due to the pandemic in 2020 also managed to cross the finish line thanks to safer shooting schedules and vaccines. The result was a wealth of content for couch potatoes.

As you settle in for holiday celebrations, here are a few selections that you may have missed during the year. (And be sure to check out our recommendations from last year!)

Netflix

Arcane

I'll be honest: I didn't expect much from a League of Legends TV show. But Arcane surprised me with its well-written characters, wonderfully realized fantasy world and luscious animation. While there are some killer action sequences, what really makes Arcane work is its commitment to mature storytelling. Characters you love will die. Villains are never one-note and heroes are never perfect. It's not only a solid video game adaptation, it's one of the best TV shows to debut this year.

Midnight Mass

Religious-focused horror may seem more like anti-holiday programming, but that's not going to stop us from recommending Midnight Mass. The show is an exploration of dogma, fanaticism, our connection to the cosmos and another compelling series from the rising horror master Mike Flanagan. Unlike his previous haunted house entries (The Haunting of Hill House and Bly Manor), Midnight Mass focuses on a small island community off the coast of Massachusetts, the sort of place that has its own demons festering under the surface. I won't spoil what happens, but it's the sort of thing that fans of Stephen King will eat up.

Also on Netflix:

The Power of the Dog: Jane Campion returns to feature films with a hauntingly beautiful Western. Benedict Cumberbatch steals the show as a monstrous cowboy poisoned by the spell of toxic masculinity.

Voir: The latest Netflix project from director David Fincher is a series of visual essays about the power of cinema from some of the best critics and thinkers today.

Gabby's Dollhouse: An adorable cat-themed show about a young girl who goes on the occasional dollhouse adventure.

HBO Max

Hacks

A once-legendary comedian (Jean Smart) is forced to team up with a young, semi-cancelled writer (Hannah Einbinder) to whip her act into shape. Hilarity ensues. Hacks takes this simple sitcom premise and elevates it with Smart's ferocious performance. On the face of it, it's a story about two creative generations learning to coexist. But really, it's the story of lost people finding direction in each other. It's the sort of genius comedy and drama we'd expect from the folks behind Broad City.

Starstruck

A lost twenty-something (Rose Matafeo) accidentally has a one-night stand with a movie star (Nikesh Patel). Again, hilarity ensues. (HBO Max really has a knack for collecting great show premises!) Starstruck is the rare season of TV that you can easily binge all at once—it's just six twenty-two minute episodes. But I'd recommend taking your time. Matafeo is uproariously funny, but there's also a romantic undercurrent that makes you root for these crazy kids.

Also on HBO:

The White Lotus: Rich resort-goers vs. the people who are forced to cater to them. It's great to see another funny, yet deeply human, show from Mike White.

Search Party: This former TBS show (now an HBO Max original) is the best hipster murder mystery you'll ever see.

Succession: There are plenty of shows about rich blowhards these days, but Succession stands out as a sharply written dark comedy filled with characters you love to hate.

Hulu

Reservation Dogs

Stories about the everyday lives of Native Americans are far too rare, so it's refreshing to see a dramedy like Reservation Dogs. Set in a rural Oklahoma reservation, it follows a group of teenagers as they get into trouble, help their community, and pursue their dream of moving to the promised land of California. It's the first TV series to feature an entirely Indigenous crew of writers and directors (it was co-created by the ever-delightful Taiki Waititi), and it's a reminder of how the push for better on-screen representation can lead to fresh storytelling.

Also on Hulu:

Top of the Lake: If you're looking for a smart crime thriller, don't sleep on this Jane Campion series. It stars Elisabeth Moss as an Australian detective who, across two seasons, investigates cases focusing on missing and murdered women.

Y: The Last Man: The rare adaptation that manages to improve on its source material, Y is a compelling portrait of a world where almost every person with a Y chromosome dies, leaving women in charge.

Apple TV+

For All Mankind

One of the first Apple TV+ series has evolved from being a mildly intriguing alternative history tale — what if the Soviet Union landed on the Moon first? — to one of the best dramas ever made about space travel. My advice? Get past the rocky first two episodes to find the show's true genius: NASA's push to get more women, and eventually people of color, into space. If it miraculously lasts several seasons, I wouldn't be surprised if For All Mankind shows us how something like Star Trek's space-faring society could be formed.

Also on Apple TV+:

Dr. Brain: Apple's first Korean series, from visionary director Kim Jee-woon, explores the possibility of downloading and reliving someone else's memories. Strap in – it’s a lot.

Disney+

Hawkeye

Even if you're tired of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Hawkeye is worth a watch simply because it's fun. Clint Barton has never been the most interesting Avenger, but he's fantastic as the foil to Kate Bishop, a plucky arrow-slinging protege. It may not reach the heights of Loki or Wandavision, but it's miles ahead of the supremely disappointing Falcon v. Winter Soldier.

Also on Disney+:

The Beatles: Get Back: An astounding fly-on-the-wall documentary featuring some previously unseen Beatles footage.

Star Wars: Visions: The anime spin on Star Wars I've always dreamed of.

Bluey: Hands down the best kids show on TV.

Other things to watch

Yellowjackets (Showtime): An elite girls' soccer team gets stranded in the woods after a plane crash. How did they manage to stay alive for over a year? Yellowjackets follows the surviving adults as they try to figure out who's digging into their traumatic past.

Star Trek Prodigy (Paramount+): What happens when a group of alien kids get their hands on an Enterprise starship? Something we’ve never seen in the Star Trek universe before: how people outside of the affluent Federation live. Prodigy features some genuinely fun characters and gorgeous animation in a kid-friendly package.

"Nothing comforts anxiety like a little nostalgia," Morpheus says in The Matrix Resurrections. That's a not-so-subtle dig at the onslaught of reboots and remakes dominating our culture — revisiting characters and stories we already know is, well, safe. Audiences know what to expect, and it's a better bet for risk-averse studios. Of course, Morpheus (now played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen) is also commenting on the film he's in.

More than twenty years after The Matrix fundamentally reshaped genre cinema, director Lana Wachowski is finally diving back into the universe that made her and co-director Lilly Wachowski renowned. After all that time, is it really worth going back down the rabbit hole, or is this just another easy franchise cash-grab?

The answer to that question depends on what you want from a Matrix sequel. Like The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions before it, Wachowski (along with co-writers David Mitchell and Aleksander Hemon) isn't interested in merely retreading the past with Resurrections. Instead, it's a film that's keenly aware of its legacy, our relationship with its characters, and the lofty expectations that fans (and studios!) have when rebooting a beloved property.

Warner Bros.

As someone who adored the original film, and found plenty to respect in the much-maligned sequels, Resurrections feels made just for me. It's intoxicating, thrilling and unabashedly romantic. But judging from the polarizing early critical responses, it's clearly not for everyone.

Minor spoilers ahead.

It's hard to talk about what The Matrix Resurrections is without describing its basic setup, most of which you can gather from the film's trailers. Keanu Reeves returns as Thomas Anderson, a programmer adrift in a world that doesn't quite make sense to him. He meets a woman played by Carrie-Anne Moss, but this time she's not the Agent-whupping bad-ass Trinity, she's just your typical (albeit, strikingly beautiful) mom. The two feel an instant connection. Thomas eventually gets ripped out of the world he's in thanks to a plucky new character named Bugs (Jessica Henwick), he finds the real world, and yadda yadda, you get the picture.

Now, you might be asking yourself, "Didn't Neo and Trinity die in The Matrix Revolutions?" All I can do is point at the title of the movie — what did you expect? This time, Anderson is a renowned game developer known for creating an popular trilogy of games that retell the entire Matrix story. When we first meet him, he's faced with a new challenge: making a fourth entry. He approaches it with the same sense of dread the Wachowskis likely felt about tackling a potential Matrix 4. A series of brainstorming scenes feel as if they're pulled directly from their own hellish meetings with Warner Bros. Anderson's team can only focus on the surface — How do they go beyond bullet time? What if they just focus on more mindless action? — rather than anything truly substantive.

As the film unfolds (and don't worry, I'm not revealing any  major surprises), it's  impressive how Lana Wachowski elegantly avoids the traps most reboots fall into, as if she were in the Matrix herself, deftly avoiding all of the bullets aimed right at her. Sure, Resurrections brings some new special effects toys to the party, and it has the requisite action scenes you'd expect. But in many ways it's more reminiscent of the Wachowski's recent works, like the time-hopping epic Cloud Atlas, and the unabashedly humanistic Sense8.

The Matrix Resurrections wears its heart on its sleeve. It's far more interested in the transcendental possibilities of love than it is in laying the groundwork for a new trilogy of films. The fact that Wachowski is practically refusing to play by the current rules of Hollywood – set up the sequel by any means necessary! – feels almost revolutionary. She has one story to tell, and it means a lot to her. That’s it.

Warner Bros.

Strangely enough, the movie Resurrections reminds me of most is Wes Craven’s A New Nightmare, a groundbreaking attempt at wrestling with a hugely popular genre franchise. That film – the seventh A Nightmare on Elm Street entry – brought Freddy Krueger into the real world to reclaim what made him terrifying. Throughout The Matrix Resurrections, it feels as if Wachowski is also ready to break the fourth wall with her sheer contempt for reboots, fan service and watered-down sequels. “The sheeple want control, certainty,” a villain says at one point. (At that moment, I couldn’t help but think of the utter failure of The Rise of Skywalker. Yes, the wound is still fresh.)

Warner Bros.

And this is where I come back to saying this movie isn’t for everyone. But that just makes it a Matrix sequel. Sure, Reloaded and Revolutions were a bit overstuffed and convoluted, but they were also  singular visions that took some major swings. (I’m still chasing the high of seeing Reloaded’s sprawling highway chase for the first time.)

Geek cinema has taken over the world, yet aside from Christopher Nolan’s work, it’s rare to see big-budget filmmaking that isn’t beholden to some major corporation’s franchise rules (and at this point, that’s usually just Disney). The Matrix Resurrections says “to hell with the rules!”, and I applaud it.