The MadHouse

Happy Thanksgiving from me to you and the NFL. The traditional Thanksgiving Day football games featured the Detroit Lions hosting the Chicago Bears, the Dallas Cowboys against the New York Giants and the Green Bay Packers taking on the Miami Dolphins. Sunday night saw the Buffalo Bills against the San Francisco 49ers and Monday night saw the Denver Broncos and the Cleveland Browns. Then, Prime Video featured a “Black Friday” special game on Friday night as the Kansas City Chiefs took on the Las Vegas Raiders. Other Sunday afternoon games included Texans / Jaguars, Bengals / Steelers, Buccaneers / Panthers & Eagles / Ravens.

This holiday action comedy was direct by Jake Kasdan and stars Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, J.K. Simmons, Bonnie Hunt & Kieran Shipka. In this film, when Santa Claus is kidnapped on Christmas Eve, his security detail must search the world to find him. To do that, they’ll need the helper of an expert tracker who happens to be on the naughty list. Dwayne Johnson’s production team, Seven Bucks Productions, along with Hiram Garcia came up with the idea for this film and went into production in late 2022. The film hit theaters on November 15, 2024.

From legendary director, Ridley Scott comes the sequel to his 2000 award winning film. The film stars Sam Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger & Denzel Washington. Connie Nielsen reprises her role from the first film. In this film, 15 years after the events of the first, a young soldier is captured by the Roman Empire and sold into slavery to become a gladiator in the Colosseum but when rumbling of his origin begin to spread throughout the city, the twin Emperors and a few others begin to target him as either a threat or ally. Rumors of a sequel had begun circulating in July 2001 after the success of the previous film and with Russell Crowe returning to star but the development eventually stopped in 2006 when Paramount purchased the film rights. The film was announced in 2018 with Ridley Scott directing but going in the sequel route with a new cast and crew. The film hit theaters in the U.S. on November 22, 2024.

This is the 38th annual premium live event and one the WWE’s “Big 4” events , coming to us from Vancouver, Canada. The match card features 5 including 2 “War Games” matches. In the Women’s match, the team of Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, Naomi, Iyo Ski & Bayley take on the team of Candace LeRay, Raquel Rodriguez, Tiffany Stratton, the WWE Women’s Champion, Nia Jax & the Women’s World Champion, Liv Morgan. The men’s match featured the “Bloodline Civil War”. The OG Bloodline, Roman Reigns, Sami Zayn, the Usos & CM Punk take on the New Bloodline, Solo Sokia, Jacob Fatu, Toma Tonga, Tonga Loa & “Big” Bronson Reed. The United States Championship is up for grabs as LA Knight takes on the returning Shinsuke Nakamura. “The Mad Dog” Bron Breakker defends the Intercontinental Championship in a triple threat match against Sheamus & Ludwig Kiser. Finally, Damien Priest challenges the World Heavyweight Champion, “The Ring General”, Gunther in hopes of reclaiming the title.

The sequel to the 2016 surprise hit was directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand & Dana Ledoux Miller. This film marks the directorial debuts for Hand & Miller. Miller also serves as a co writer. Majority of the previous voice cast have returned including, Auli’i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Temeura Morrison, Nicole Scherzinger & Alan Tudyk. In this film, 3 years after the events of the previous film, Moana continues to journey through the sea in hopes to find more people from different places. Back home, she gets a vision that will set her off on a new yet dangerous adventure to find a mysterious island that will unite the people of the sea but is also guarded by very powerful god who gains power by keeping the people away. After the success of the first film, Disney’s original plan was for a sequel but as series on their streaming platform rather than a motion picture, while a live action version of the film was already in development with Dwayne Johnson starring. The plans were changed in early 2024 and the film hit theaters on November 27, 2024.

With only 6 games left, the NFL is nearing the playoffs. Thursday night’s game saw a battle in the AFC North as the Cleveland Browns hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Sunday night game featured the LA Rams taking on the Philadelphia Eagles and then on Monday night, Coach John Harbaugh and the Baltimore Ravens took on Jim Harbaugh and the LA Chargers. Other Sunday afternoon games include Texans / Titans, 49ers / Packers, Dolphins / Patriots & Vikings / Bears.

Week 11 in the National Football League has come and gone. Thursday night saw a battle in the NFC East as the Philadelphia Eagles hosted the Washington Commanders, Sunday night saw the LA Chargers and the Cincinnati Bengals and Monday night featured a “Texas sized” match up as the Dallas Cowboys took on the Houston Texans. Other Sunday afternoon matchups included Ravens / Steelers, Chiefs / Bills, Packers / Bears & Seahawks / 49ers.

This romantic comedy was directed by John Crowley and stars Andrew Garfield & Florence Pugh. In this film, a couple’s life is seen over the span of 10 years from their first initial meeting to the final moments of their lives. This film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September of 2024 before having an American release on October 6th, 2024.

The second part of the 6th season of this show is now available on Netflix.

This horror thriller was directed by Anna Kendrick in her directorial debut and is based on the real life serial killer, Rodney Alcala, who famously appeared on an episode of the popular game show, “The Dating Game” during his killing spree in 1978. Anna Kendrick also stars in this film alongside Daniel Zovatto, who plays Alcala. The film was released at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2023 and then released exclusively on Netflix in 2024.