Check out the trailer below:

Shannon portrays Juju, who is struggling to survive in the mean streets of the Bay Area. He talks about the similarities between Ekko and Juju.

“Closer to the end of the movie, Juju figures out some things about what he wants,” Shannon tells Nerd Reactor. “I think at the beginning, he’s kind of just all over the place, and that is actually very similar to the arc that we built for Ekko. Ekko’s always been sure of his goal, even if the angle in which he went to get it includes fighting with Jinx time and time again and getting nowhere, all the way to deciding, ‘I’m gonna leave this place, this alternate universe where everything is perfect and exactly like I want, to go back home to I don’t know what, but to save the universe.’

“That’s exactly it. If you were responsible for it, for your actions, it’s important to know and be very sure of what you believe in and what you’re willing to put up with and what you’re willing to let go of for the sake of that truth that we all hold deep within us. I think that desire to lead and to do what feels right shows up in Ekko and Juju.”

About Splash City

Synopsis: In this gritty crime thriller, two brothers, Juju and Slim, struggle to survive the streets of San Francisco, where loyalty can turn into betrayal in an instant. While Slim sees basketball as his way out, Juju falls deeper into a life of smash-and-grab robberies under the control of a backstabbing crew leader. As tensions rise, the brothers must choose between fighting for a brighter future or succumbing to the violent legacy that threatens to consume them both.

The film is directed by Alex Ferrufino and Gilbert Anthony Milam Jr. (Berner) and written by Gilbert Anthony Milam Jr. (Berner) & David Mansanalez.

The film stars Reed Shannon, TJ Atoms, Christopher A’mmanuel, and Hazel Green.

Splash City releases on July 20, with LA on July 21st.

The post Reed Shannon on Arcane’s Ekko and His New Movie, Splash City appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

TLC brought out the big guns by delivering an IMAX 70MM projector to the Chinese Theatre, which you can check out below. Although the screen isn’t as big as the one at CityWalk, it is still shown in its original aspect ratio.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by IMAX (@imax)

When we were invited to check out the TCL Chinese Theatre VIP Experience, we couldn’t pass it up. The VIP Suite is located high above the general seating area and is near the projection booth. Inside is a VIP lounge filled with chairs, couches, and a giant TCL monitor, along with snacks, drinks, and a full bar. For the seating, there are 5 seats in the front and 2 seats in the back. It’s not the preferred viewing angle, but it’s nice to have a private area for a small group.

Check out our experience in the video below:

The Odyssey is now showing at the TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX in Hollywood, CA.

The post Inside TCL Chinese Theatre VIP Experience: A Look at Historic Hollywood Venue During The Odyssey in IMAX appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

When watching Keegan portray the daughter of Anna Faris’ Cindy in Scary Movie, I was thinking to myself, “The casting director did a wonderful job.” She admits that she had the upper hand when it came to getting the part.

“A small part of me feels like I cheated my way into this,” Keegan tells Nerd Reactor. “I know I earned it, but I feel that way because I talk about this a lot, so I feel like a broken record, but I’ll say it again and again and again. I love Anna and her work so much, and I’ve been inspired by her for as long as I can remember. So I do feel like she’s always been my comedic north star.

“Whenever I would audition for comedic projects in the past, I had her voice somewhere in my head and heart. Like her voice, as in her whole performance and everything she’s done. I really have genuinely admired her. So she was living in my little creative heart. And when I got the audition, I didn’t know when I got the audition that I would be playing her daughter, but when I eventually found out, I was like, ‘Oh yes, I can let it rip, and I can really play around with this.'”

The comedy role was a stark contrast with Keegan’s role in Dutton Ranch, a drama that follows a family starting a new life.

“It’s so fun because that’s my favorite thing about this job, getting to play around in different universes and different genres. I didn’t know I could do a comedy until this, or I didn’t know I could improv. I just always thought of myself as not super gifted at those things. The more I get to zigzag between all these crazily different worlds, I feel like the more personally fulfilled and successful I feel.”

Dutton Ranch is now available to stream on Paramount+, and Scary Movie is currently in theaters.

The post Olivia Rose Keegan Reveals How Anna Faris Inspired Her Scary Movie Performance appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

On the surface, this is a fantastical sword-and-sandals epic under Christopher Nolan’s guidance. There are creatures, gods, magic, battles, and enormous environments that make Odysseus seem almost impossibly small. Yet Nolan never lets the spectacle take over completely. No matter how strange or intense the journey gets, the world feels physical. The danger has weight. Every storm, wound, and loss feels real rather than something brushed aside once the next set piece begins.

That grounded quality makes the movie work so well. Nolan understands the appeal of showing Odysseus facing legendary monsters on the largest screen, but this film is more interested in the human cost than in mythology. Its creatures may be memorable, yet the emotional consequences of meeting them linger longer.

The film does take creative liberties with material that has been studied, translated, and argued over for centuries. Purists will undoubtedly find choices to debate. Still, Nolan does not treat Homer’s poem like an untouchable museum piece. Instead, he reshapes it into something cinematic, accessible, and unexpectedly relevant without taking away what made the original endure in the first place. Someone unfamiliar with The Odyssey can follow the film without feeling as though they should have completed a classics course beforehand. At the same time, it may leave those viewers curious enough to seek out the original Greek literature and discover what was changed, condensed, or reinterpreted.

Christopher Nolan delivers a visually staggering adaptation of The Odyssey that finds fresh relevance and real humanity within Homer’s ancient epic.

In many ways, Nolan’s version shares thematic DNA with Oppenheimer. Once again, he is fascinated by legacy, regret, loss, and the distance between how a man views himself and how history may remember him. Odysseus is a hero, but the film questions what that word actually means. His intelligence repeatedly saves him, though his pride exacts a cost others often pay.

Those ideas fit naturally alongside themes central to The Odyssey—particularly homecoming and the ancient Greek concept of guest-friendship. Hospitality can be an act of compassion. In ancient Greece, it can also test character or leave a person dangerously exposed. Nolan uses those traditions to depict a world where goodwill still matters, even when cruelty feels easier. As a result, the journey gains another level of tension and feels connected to the present rather than locked in the distant past.

The cast is excellent across the board. Even actors with limited screen time make their characters feel as if they existed long before Odysseus arrived and will continue to live after he leaves. More importantly, the performances keep the film emotionally grounded. Odysseus may be undertaking one of the grandest journeys ever told, but every person he meets is undertaking a journey of their own.

Visually, The Odyssey is phenomenal. In IMAX 70MM, the landscapes, ships, battles, and mythological encounters carry a scale that is a sight to behold. The sound design is just as impressive. Nolan surrounds the audience with crashing waves, breaking wood, distant voices, and moments of silence that feel just as overwhelming.

Yet for all its technical ambition, Nolan never forgets what Odysseus is fighting to reach: home.

That is what makes The Odyssey more than a beautifully constructed mythological epic. It’s a story about surviving long enough to return to the people you love, then confronting the uncomfortable possibility that neither you nor the home you remember has remained unchanged. Nearly three thousand years later, that journey still hits with remarkable force.

Rating: 5/5 atoms

The post The Odyssey Review – Gods, Monsters, and the Long Road Home appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

Check out the official trailer below:

The film is part of a loosely connected universe by Gary Walkow, which started in 1987 with The Trouble with Dick. The original Lars was played by David Clennon, and the actor will be returning as Richard Kendred in the upcoming film. The previous films include 2007’s Crashing and 2015’s The Trouble with Dot & Harry.

Synopsis: Lars Shrike (Grammer) knows only two things: his name, and that he has escaped. Alone in a hostile desert landscape, he struggles to piece together who he is, where he came from, and what exactly he has fled. As fragments of memory, hallucination, and reality begin to blur, Shrike is pulled into an increasingly strange odyssey where every answer only deepens the mystery. Is he a prisoner on the run, a damaged mind inventing its own mythology, or a fictional character who has somehow stepped into the real world?

The post Kelsey Grammer’s Lars Shrike Walks the Night Trailer Reveals a Strange Sci-Fi Mystery appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

The coming-of-age story is set in 1980s Dublin, and it’s a semi-autobiographical story following 14-year-old Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo), who is dealing with family drama and public school. He falls for Raphina (Lucy Boynton), an aspiring model, and tries to woo her by featuring her in his band’s music video. The issue is that he doesn’t have a band. Now he’s on a mission to create a band and write music while also learning the power of music.

Check out the special features for the 4K + Blu-ray + Digital:

Lionsgate Limited Extra:

• The Risk of Rock & Roll: Going Back to Sing Street
• Legacy Special Features:
• Making Sing Street
• Writer-Director John Carney and Maroon 5’s Adam Levine Talk Sing Street
• Cast Auditions
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spots
• B-Roll
• “Drive It Like You Stole It” Music Video

The comedy musical is directed and written by John Carney from a story by Carney and Simon Carmody.

The post Sing Street Is Getting the 4K Blu-ray Treatment for 10th Anniversary appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

Set during the Civil War, The Isolate Thief follows Adeline (Foy), an isolated young woman who has to outwit a band of outlaws. Playing the gang leader is Sean Bean, a ruthless individual who pretends to be a Union soldier to trick Adeline into helping him and his crew.

“He’s a really lovely person,” Foy says of Bean. “He’s so, so sweet and so kind. It was fun to see firsthand him be this sweet, lovely guy, and then this cool bad guy, and he’s screaming in my face and pretending to hit me, and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re so cool. This is so fun.'”

The Isolate Thief is a gritty film filled with violence and blood, and the actress shares a humorous moment on the set.

“I don’t want to spoil it, but I ended up having to go into a situation in the way that they faked it,” she explained. “It was like melted chocolate, and I’m covered in snow and dirt, and I was just sitting there eating ramen. I was like, ‘This is crazy. My job is cool. That’s crazy.'”

The film gave Foy a taste of wanting to do action films.

“I really want to do an action film,” she said. “Like a proper action film, especially after doing this.”

About The Isolate Thief

Synopsis: One bitter-cold winter during the Civil War, a young woman becomes the lone caretaker of a remote Union Army outpost. When a stash of stolen gold falls into her lap, a gang of vicious outlaws comes looking for it. As they turn her home into a battleground, she must stay one step ahead of them in order to survive.

The Isolate Thief stars Mackenzie Foy (Interstellar) Odeya Rush (Corporate Retreat), Jack Kesy (The Killer), Ty Simpkins (The Whale), Martin Sensmeier (Frybread Face and Me) with Joe Pantoliano (Bad Boys for Life) and Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings franchise).

The film is directed by John Suits (3022) and written by Kevin Lefler.

The Isolate Thief releases in theaters on July 10, 2026.

The post Mackenzie Foy Says Sean Bean Was ‘Such a Lovely Person’ on The Isolate Thief appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

Filmmakers are inspired by the films before them. With Sébastien Vaniček and Evil Dead Burn, he was focused on having his own style.

“I’m trying to stay away from movies I love because I don’t want those directors to influence me too much,” the director tells Nerd Reactor. “I’m trying to create my own style and my own thing.”

Evil Dead Burn balances the shared moments that many have had, and then the filmmakers would try to take those moments and twist them.

“We always try to create real things,” Vaniček said. “We start the process by talking about things we experienced, and then we make them even more horrible. We put the stakes higher, and everything is higher, more dangerous, more horrible, more this, more that. So characters are a little bit bigger than life, but we start the writing process with things from real life, from our experience.”

The kissing scene in the film is sure to be the most talked-about scene. It’s bloody, yet also very passionate.

“I think also the fact that you, for example, love that kissing scene, there is a reason,” Souheila Yacoub tells me. “It’s not just aesthetic. It’s how we say in French, ‘gratuit’… free. It’s because there is a context with the characters, and we believe in their relationship in their past lives.”

You can check out our full video interview above!

Evil Dead Burns releases in theaters on July 10, 2026.

The post Evil Dead Burn Director Explains Why He Avoids Copying His Favorite Movies appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

That is kind of the fun of Fantasia, though. Every year, the festival puts together this wild mix of horror, action, animation, crime, drama, weird comedy, and films that don’t really sit cleanly in one lane. It’s exciting, but it can also be a little overwhelming. There is only so much time in the day, and unless you’ve somehow cracked the code on not sleeping, you’re going to have to make some tough choices.

So, with that in mind, these are the films I would keep an eye on.

Colony

Yeon Sang-ho is back with another zombie film, and that alone is enough to make Colony one of the big ones for me.

After Train to Busan and Seoul Station, it feels fair to say he knows exactly how to build panic, tension, and momentum without losing sight of the characters stuck in the middle of it. That’s the part that matters. A zombie movie can throw all the chaos it wants at the screen, but if you don’t care about the people running for their lives, it turns into noise pretty fast.

With the cast attached to this one, Colony feels like it should be near the top of a lot of Fantasia schedules this year.

The Samurai and the Prisoner

Kiyoshi Kurosawa will probably always be tied to J-horror because of films like Cure and Pulse. Honestly, that’s not a bad legacy to have. But he’s never been a filmmaker who stayed in one box forever, which is part of what makes The Samurai and the Prisoner so interesting.

This time, he’s taking on a Japanese period mystery based on Honobu Yonezawa’s 2021 novel. I’m always curious when a director known for atmosphere and dread moves into something a little different. A director’s sense of unease and timing can carry over in really interesting ways.

Blades of the Guardians

Yuen Woo-ping is back, baby.

That’s honestly the pitch. Blades of the Guardians is based on the comic series. With Yuen Woo-ping involved, the action is automatically the main reason to pay attention. Wuxia is his playground, and when his name is attached to something, you don’t really need a long explanation for why it belongs on the list.

Okay, maybe it’s a little bit of nostalgia talking, but I don’t care. There are certain people whose names still carry weight, and Yuen Woo-ping is one of them. If Blades of the Guardians gives us even a fraction of that classic energy, then it should be worth making time for.

The Mouths / Village of the Eight Gravestones

Takashi Shimizu returning to J-horror with not one, but two films? Come on. That’s an easy yes.

The Mouths and Village of the Eight Gravestones seem to offer two different flavors of horror, which makes this even better. The Mouths looks like the more unsettling supernatural option, the kind of movie that crawls under your skin and stays there longer than you expected. Village of the Eight Gravestones, meanwhile, brings in Detective Kosuke Kindaichi, which gives it a different kind of hook entirely.

You could pick whichever one fits your mood. Or you could do what I would probably do and just watch both.

The Specials

I have a weakness for oddball comedies, and The Specials sounds like it was built specifically to get my attention. A Yakuza enforcer has to put together a dance crew so they can enter a competition and use it as cover to take out a rival. That is ridiculous. I mean that as a compliment.

It sounds like the kind of premise that could fall apart immediately if the tone is off. Still, if it works, it could be one of those festival discoveries people keep talking about afterward. Gangster movie, dance competition, absurd comedy—yeah, I’m in.

We’re Nothing At All

Fantasia is obviously a great place for genre films. Yet, some of my favorite festival surprises tend to be the dramas hiding between all the blood, monsters, swords, and ghosts. We’re Nothing At All is the drama that caught my eye this year.

The Hong Kong film follows three people whose lives become connected after a bus explosion on Valentine’s Day. That kind of setup immediately makes me think of films like Rashomon or Vantage Point, where one event gets reframed through different people and different emotional angles. Done poorly, that structure can feel gimmicky. Done well, it can be devastating.

If handled with the right amount of care, We’re Nothing At All could end up being one of Fantasia’s heavier, more talked-about films this year.

The Leader

The other drama I keep coming back to is The Leader, which chronicles the Heaven’s Gate cult and the mass suicide that made headlines in the late ’90s.

It is a horrifying, tragic story, and strangely, not one that has been explored in narrative film as much as you might expect. That alone makes me curious, but also cautious. A film like this has to walk a very fine line. It can’t just treat the tragedy as a shocking hook. There needs to be a real point of view there.

Still, I’m intrigued to see what Michael Gallagher does with it. This feels like one of those films that could sneak up on people.

For the full 2026 Fantasia Film Festival list of programs, click here.

The 2026 Fantasia Film Festival runs from July 16th to August 2nd.

The post From Samurai to Zombies: The 2026 Fantasia Film Festival Movies to Watch appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

Anime Expo attendees were the first anywhere to learn that Solo Leveling: Beyond the System is officially in production. The upcoming theatrical anime film picks up directly after Season 2, continuing Jinwoo’s story on the big screen.

The audience also got an early look at the project through a teaser key visual and a short promotional concept video.

Once again, the studio behind Sword Art Online, A-1 Pictures, will be handling the animation. At the same time, Aniplex, Netmarble, D&C MEDIA, Kakao Piccoma, and Crunchyroll will be producing the film.

Outside of the announcement and teaser materials, that’s all that’s been shared for now, with more information expected at a later date.

The post Solo Leveling Isn’t Over Yet—Solo Leveling: Beyond the System Movie Officially Announced appeared first on Nerd Reactor.