The underworld is crowded with thieves, but Parker has always stood apart. Created by Donald Westlake in the early 1960s, the character has been portrayed on screen by actors including Lee Marvin, Mel Gibson, and Jason Statham. He's a blunt-force professional who isn’t Bond, isn’t Batman, but something rougher, hungrier, and coded by his own ruthless blue-collar sense of order. With "Play Dirty," filmmaker Shane Black takes his own crack at Parker, bringing the character to Prime Video on October 1 and casting Mark Wahlberg in the role. The film follows Parker, a ruthless thief, and his expert crew who stumble onto the heist of a lifetime that pits them against the New York mob. The film also stars LaKeith Stanfield, Rosa Salazar, Keegan-Michael Key, Nat Wolff, and more. 

This version doesn’t come with gadgets or acrobatics. Black describes a Parker who thinks fast, hits harder, and feels closer to the blue-collar world than to the spy fantasy. It’s the kind of material that lets him indulge his taste for pulp grit, sly humor, and the holiday backdrop he’s made famous. But it also opens the door to some bigger questions: what draws audiences to men this uncompromising? How do you make crime fun without sanding off the edges? And what happens when you cast Wahlberg instead of Robert Downey Jr.?

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Writer/Director Shane Black joins The Discourse to talk about the journey of bringing his Parker film to the screen, which started all the way back during the making of Black’s first film, “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” in 2005. When asked what itch hadn’t been scratched by earlier adaptations, Black pointed to Parker’s uniqueness. “Each one represents the era in which it was produced. 'Point Blank' with Lee Marvin is a very specific film for that time period. And each actor who’s played Parker from there on, like Robert Duvall, Jason Statham, and Mel Gibson in "Payback."

There has been a history of incarnations of this powerful, relentless character. But he’s not James Bond, which is why I liked him. He’s sort of blue collar. It’s almost like an American entrepreneur's story. But he happens to be a really awful, bad person and a criminal anti-hero.”

‘The Man In My Basement’: Nadia Latif & Willem Dafoe On Their Visceral and Poignant Thriller, Powerful Themes Staying with You, Robert Eggers’ ‘Werewolf’ & More [The Discourse Podcast]

Love stories are rarely clean, and in “All of You,” the mess is the point. The new drama follows Simon and Laura, lifelong friends played by Brett Goldstein and Imogen Poots, as they drift in and out of each other’s lives while a soulmate test promises definitive answers to the question of “the one.” Instead of neat bows and easy catharsis, the film leans into questioning love, heartbreak, longing, and the choices that cut both ways. It arrives on Apple TV+ on September 26 as a romance that challenges more than it comforts, leaving audiences to wrestle with what they believe about love itself.

Goldstein, best known for his Emmy-winning turn as Roy Kent on “Ted Lasso,” makes a deliberate rejection of formula here with a deliberate rejection of formula. By refusing to turn the story’s love triangle into a moral shortcut, he forces every character to stand on equal ground. Laura’s husband isn’t a villain but a caring, funny, and decent man, which makes the decision at the film’s core sting much more. Time jumps and fragmented glimpses of Simon and Laura together invite the audience to fill in the missing years with their own experience, blurring the line between fiction and memory.

READ MORE: ‘All Of You’ Review: Brett Goldstein & Imogen Poots Heat Up Decade-Spanning Sci-Fi Romance [TIFF]

In this episode of The Discourse, host Mike DeAngelo sits down with Goldstein to discuss building a romance that resists tidy resolution, cutting dialogue in favor of subtext, and finding an improvised final line that changes the ending. He also opens up about his upcoming hard-R rom-com with Jennifer Lopez, new surprises in “Shrinking,” filming the next chapter of “Ted Lasso,” and his dreams of joining the Muppets on screen.

Secrets in the family have a way of festering, and in Alex Winter’s new thriller “Adulthood,” that rot takes the form of a literal body. The film thrusts estranged siblings Megan and Noah, played by Kaya Scodelario and Josh Gad, into a spiral where responsibility can no longer be avoided, and every choice risks compounding into catastrophe. The film arrives on digital on demand platforms on September 23; it is a chaotic blend of dark comedy and moral unease, where adulthood itself feels like the cruelest trap of all.

Director Alex Winter, still beloved for cult staples like “Bill & Ted” and “The Lost Boys,” proves here that his filmmaking instincts are as sharp as his screen presence ever was. He keeps the story teetering between farce and tragedy, never letting the characters or the audience escape the consequences of a bad decision. Surrounding Scodelario and Gad are Billie Lourd, Anthony Carrigan, and Winter himself, rounding out an ensemble built to bounce between biting humor and raw tension.

On this episode of The Discourse, host Mike DeAngelo talks with the stars of the film, Josh Gad and Kaya Scodelario, about building sibling chemistry, working with Winter as he evolves from cult icon to confident filmmaker, and unpacking the movie’s central metaphor. Gad also shares updates on his upcoming Chris Farley biopic starring Paul Walter Hauser and the long-gestating “Spaceballs 2,” while Scodelario clears up speculation about a potential return in “Crawl 2.”

The drive to be the best has always carried a cost, but in Justin Tipping’s new film “HIM,” that cost curdles into something nightmarish. Opening September 19 through Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions and Universal Pictures, the story takes the familiar arc of athletic ambition and twists it into a surreal descent where glory and terror run side by side. As one of the rare entries in the sports horror genre, it pushes the language of both forms into strange, unsettling territory.

In the film, Tyriq Withers plays Cam, a rising football star whose career is derailed after a brutal assault leaves him with brain trauma. Salvation seems to arrive when his idol, legendary QB Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans), offers to train him at a remote desert compound. But mentorship quickly warps into manipulation, and the pursuit of greatness becomes a sinister crucible threatening to consume him entirely. The ensemble also features Julia Fox, Tim Heidecker, Jim Jefferies, and more.

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Director Justin Tipping joined The Playlist’s Bingeworthy Podcast to discuss the film, and during the conversation, explained why the script instantly felt like his. “I was an athlete, played all the sports, and my father was a quarterback and like a pole-vaulting champion. I understood the drive and the passion and the agony of defeat and ecstasy of victory and the locker room aspects of it,” he said. “And then the sheer mashup with this horror genre — I cannot point to another comp. The opportunities here were to create a new language and combine languages to create something new.”

On this episode of Bingeworthy, host Mike DeAngelo heads into ‘Chief of War’, Apple TV+’s bruising, beautiful, and epic historical saga told largely in the native Hawaiian language and anchored by Jason Momoa as Ka‘iana. The series reframes Hawai‘i’s unification through a warrior-exile (Momoa) who’s seen the outside world and returns warning that their internal conflict is nothing compared to what’s coming. The Season 1 finale arrives September 19th only on Apple TV+ and also stars Temuera Morrison, Cliff Curtis, Luciane Buchanan, Te Ao o Hinepehinga, and more. 

The series is a decade-in-the-making passion project for Momoa, which he also directs, writes, and produces. When asked about the film language he brought as a filmmaker, he doesn’t hesitate to admit that he's more comfortable behind the camera. “I’m 100% on the cinematic side of things. As an actor, I’d rather strip away dialogue and tell it with images. Both of my parents were painters. The version of me as a director is completely different than the version of me as an actor.”

On this episode of Bingeworthy, host Mike DeAngelo is joined by writer, director, and showrunner Noah Hawley ("Fargo," "Legion") to discuss his new FX series, "Alien: Earth." The highly anticipated prequel series debuted August 12th and runs through September 23rd, delivering a bold new chapter in the iconic sci-fi horror franchise. Set in a future Earth, the story follows a young woman and a band of tactical hybrid misfits who uncover a terrifying secret after a mysterious spacecraft crash-lands in their corporate territory, forcing them into direct conflict with everyone's favorite killer, acid-blooded alien species and much more. The series stars Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther, Samuel Blenkin, Babou Ceesay, and Timothy Olyphant.

READ MORE: ‘Alien: Earth’ Review: Noah Hawley Matches Ridley Scott’s Classic In A Terrifically Smart, Engaging & Terrifying Sci-Fi Horror Series

The show takes place only two years prior to the events of "Alien," and Hawley made doubly sure his series felt instantly familiar to fans of the original. “People have to watch it in the first five minutes and go, this is Alien,” Hawley said. That meant using the actual Nostromo blueprints to design the Maginot ship and opening the series just like Scott’s 1979 film—with the crew waking up, smoking, eating, and overlapping their conversations. “It has to feel authentic,” Hawley stressed.

n this episode of Bingeworthy, host Mike DeAngelo is joined by comedy icons Seth Rogen & Rose Byrne, along with creators Nicholas Stoller & Francesca Delbanco, to discuss Season 2 of "Platonic." The hit Apple TV+ comedy series returned August 6th and runs through October with new episodes that double down on codependency, middle-aged mayhem, and Rogen’s uncanny ability to brutalize delivery robots & bird scooters.

The show once again follows Will (Rogen) and Sylvia (Byrne), two long-time friends navigating the messiness of middle age through their unhealthy platonic relationship. Season 2 digs deeper into their toxic but undeniably hilarious bond while still delivering the mix of sharp dialogue and outrageous physical gags that made the first season a hit.

On this episode of The Discourse, host Mike DeAngelo is joined by Riz Ahmed, Lily James, and director David Mackenzie to talk about ‘Relay’, a paranoid thriller set in New York City that follows a world-class “fixer” (Riz Ahmed) who brokers lucrative payoffs between corrupt corporations and the individuals who threaten their ruin. He keeps his identity a secret through meticulous planning and always follows an exacting set of rules. When a new message arrives from a potential client (Lily James) needing his protection to stay alive, the rules quickly start to change. The film also stars Sam Worthington, Willa Fitzgerald, Matthew Maher, and more.

For Ahmed, the attraction was as much about who he was working with as the story itself. “The thing that’s always one of the most important things is your director,” he said. “You’re going to be in their hands. You’ve got to kind of vibe with them. So David was a big pull. And then it’s also who else are you going to be doing this with? When I heard it was Lily, I was absolutely thrilled.”

On this episode of Bingeworthy, host Mike DeAngelo heads back into Peacock’s wildest ride, ‘Twisted Metal.’ Season one surprised audiences with its mix of brutal action, absurdist comedy, and unexpected heart. Now, season two takes things even further, upping the stakes with bigger stunts, more elaborate effects, a larger cast, and cosmic weirdness creeping in around the edges. This season finds John Doe (Anthony Mackie) and Quiet (Stephanie Beatriz) thrown into a high-stakes tournament run by the unpredictable Calypso (Anthony Carrigan), with returning chaos from Sweet Tooth (Samoa Joe/Will Arnett) and a roster of new eccentric competitors. 

Joining the podcast for two separate interviews are Michael Jonathan Smith, the series’ showrunner, and actor Anthony Carrigan, who makes his debut as the chaotic wish-granting figure at the center of the tournament.