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Latest from Chris Jones

Chris Jones
Entertainment Editor

Chris Jones, from Washington, Illinois, is the Mail Entertainment Editor covering Movies, Television, Books, and Music topics. He is the owner, writer, and editor of Overly Honest Reviews.

The Crown Isn't His to Control

The Remarried Empress (Jaehon hwanghu)

Imagine helping your husband run an empire for years, only for him to decide he'd rather replace you with another woman. Apparently, keeping an entire kingdom functioning counts for little when the emperor finds someone new to obsess over. THE REMARRIED EMPRESS takes that situation and builds a Korean fantasy romance around marriage, betrayal, royal politics, and a woman who's had enough of letting her husband make decisions for both of them. Based on the popular web novel and WEBTOON, the series blends romance, manipulation, and political power in a story where divorce might be the smartest decision anyone makes.

Two Seasons Beneath Sauron's Growing Shadow

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - Season 1 and Season 2

Amazon spent an unbelievable amount of money bringing Middle-earth to streaming, and after sixteen episodes of THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER, it's pretty easy to see where much of that money went. The landscapes are gorgeous, the cities are enormous, the costumes are elaborate, and practically everything looks like it belongs in the theater. What's been harder for the series is making every storyline feel like it needed that presentation. Across its first two seasons, creators J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay have delivered an ambitious expansion of J.R.R. Tolkien's world, with impressive performances, some outstanding sequences, some incredible storylines, and enough questionable storytelling decisions to make the experience considerably less consistent than you’d expect.

When Reasonable Doubt Becomes Personal

Re-Creation

Imagine spending nearly three decades investigating a murder, only to realize that the trial you've been waiting for will never happen. That's the unusual starting point for RE-CREATION, a fictional examination of one of Ireland's most controversial murder investigations. Directors Jim Sheridan and David Merriman take the real-life killing of French film producer Sophie Toscan du Plantier and construct an imaginary courtroom proceeding around the man long associated with her death. It's an interesting approach to a case that has generated countless headlines, documentaries, and accusations, though combining real evidence with fictional characters creates its own complications.

Growing up Isn't Getting Any Easier

Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage: The Complete Second Season

Georgie Cooper has spent most of his life being underestimated, so watching him become one of the more responsible adults in his family is pretty entertaining. The kid who once seemed destined to spend his days getting into trouble is now running a business, raising a daughter, and trying to keep his marriage together. Unfortunately for Georgie, becoming an adult doesn't mean everyone around him will start acting like one. GEORGIE & MANDY'S FIRST MARRIAGE returns for its second season with 22 episodes of arguments, questionable decisions, business struggles, and the everyday disasters that have kept sitcoms going for decades.

The Magic Was Never Just in the Movies

The Return of the Projectionist (Kinomexanikin Qayidisi)

An old movie projector sitting in someone's basement might look like outdated equipment to most people, but to Samid, it's a piece of a life he desperately wants to experience again. Orkhan Aghazadeh's THE RETURN OF THE PROJECTIONIST follows an older man in the remote mountains of Azerbaijan who decides to revive his village's long-abandoned cinema, despite having almost none of the equipment, resources, or assistance necessary to make it happen. What begins as an unlikely restoration project gradually becomes an affectionate examination of grief, friendship, changing technology, and the extraordinary amount of effort people will put into something they genuinely love. For anyone who has ever considered movies an important part of their life, this documentary has a pretty good chance of finding its way into your heart.
A Stunning Portrait of Stolen Freedom

Raise the Red Lantern (Da hong denglong gaogao gua)

There aren’t many films that I consider perfect, but this has long been at the top of my list of incredible films. Every lantern raised outside a woman's quarters in RAISE THE RED LANTERN represents another victory in a competition nobody should have been forced into. Zhang Yimou's extraordinary drama is one of those films where nearly every image deserves your full attention, but the beauty becomes increasingly uncomfortable once you understand what you're looking at. Set in 1920s China, the film follows four women whose lives are dictated by one man's preferences, turning marriage into an elaborate system of control, humiliation, and calculated inhumanity. I've always held this film in extraordinarily high regard, and revisiting it through this new 4K presentation only reinforces why. Thirty-five years later, its examination of institutionalized misogyny, the illusion of privilege, and the damage inflicted when people are forced to compete for basic dignity remains devastating.

Love Is Bad for Business

Duplicity

Trust is complicated enough in an ordinary relationship, but falling in love with someone professionally trained to lie to you sounds like a spectacular way to create serious relationship problems. Writer-director Tony Gilroy takes that idea and runs with it in DUPLICITY, his 2009 romantic espionage comedy starring Julia Roberts and Clive Owen as former intelligence operatives attempting to outsmart two competing corporations while navigating their own increasingly questionable relationship. It's a stylish production with an impressive cast, plenty of entertaining dialogue, and enough double-crossing to make you suspicious of practically everything happening on screen. Unfortunately, Gilroy becomes so invested in constructing an elaborate game of deception that the experience occasionally feels more exhausting than entertaining.
Vampire Hunting After Last Call

Cinnamon

CINNAMON eventually becomes the ridiculous vampire movie I wanted from the start. Unfortunately, writer-director Landon Spicer spends too much time trying to convince us how cool everything looks before letting the actual movie do much of the entertaining. This female-led action-horror production from 3FN Productions throws together strippers, bloodthirsty vampires, seasoned hunters, raunchy comedy, and enough B-movie enthusiasm to make its influences immediately recognizable. It's rough around the edges, sometimes unintentionally funny, and far too dependent on music and dramatic editing to manufacture excitement. Once the vampire-hunting action gets moving, it still delivers a fair amount of entertainment despite those shortcomings. And when a certain BLADE homage arrives, I couldn't help smiling from ear to ear.
The Price of Being Somebody

What Lives in Room 214?

Hollywood has a funny way of convincing people they've finally made it, only to leave them wondering whether they'll ever work again. Writer-director Brandon Rice takes that insecurity and gives it a psychological horror spin in WHAT LIVES IN ROOM 214?, a 55-minute independent production following an actor whose latest career achievement leads him somewhere considerably less glamorous than he might have anticipated. Set primarily in a motel populated by people connected to the entertainment industry, the film explores professional ambition, isolation, and the uncomfortable relationship between success and personal identity. It's an interesting concept for a modestly produced horror featurette, even if its ideas don't always cohere as well as its premise suggests.
The Multiverse Remains Gloriously Stupid

Rick and Morty: The Complete Ninth Season

Nine seasons into RICK AND MORTY, Rick Sanchez remains one of television's most intelligent men and quite possibly the last person you'd want making decisions on your behalf. Thankfully, he hasn't developed much interest in becoming a responsible adult, because watching him drag his family through increasingly ridiculous scientific disasters is still a hell of a lot of fun. Adult Swim's ninth season delivers another ten episodes of interdimensional nonsense, elaborate science-fiction concepts, uncomfortable family relationships, and jokes that probably shouldn't be repeated in polite company. It's familiar territory, but the creative team continues finding entertaining ways to make the Smith family's existence considerably more complicated than anyone else's.

Betrayal Comes With an Upgrade

My Gift Lvl 9999 Unlimited Gacha: Backstabbed in a Backwater Dungeon, I'm Out for Revenge!

Getting betrayed by your friends is bad enough, but having them attempt to murder you is probably grounds for ending the relationship... MY GIFT LVL 9999 UNLIMITED GACHA: BACKSTABBED IN A BACKWATER DUNGEON, I'M OUT FOR REVENGE! isn't interested in pretending that the insanity isn’t at the level it is. This twelve-episode anime takes a fantasy setup about an underestimated protagonist discovering an extraordinary ability and turns it into an unapologetic revenge story filled with warriors, schemes, enemies, and wonderfully excessive demonstrations of how badly people can underestimate someone. It doesn't reinvent anime, but sometimes watching a group of unpleasant individuals realize they've made a huge mistake is entertaining enough.

Going Viral Could Get You Killed

Marrow

The internet has created an entire industry around turning other people's worst experiences into entertainment, and apparently there's no such thing as a murder too disturbing to monetize. In MARROW, writer-director Mitch McLeod takes that uncomfortable reality and introduces a true-crime content creator whose desperation to remain relevant leads her into a situation that should probably have come with several thousand red flags. It's a psychological horror thriller that combines our obsession with serial killers, the relentless pursuit of online engagement, and the increasingly questionable relationship between content creators and the people whose stories keep them employed. The premise is intriguing, the cast includes a couple of familiar horror favorites, and an uncomfortable question lurks beneath the supernatural nastiness. When does documenting somebody else's suffering become another form of exploitation?

The Clowns Aren't the Scariest Part

The Clown Murders (Kino Cult #54) (4K UHD)

Four grown men dressing up as clowns to kidnap a woman on Halloween sounds like a spectacularly terrible idea, even before someone starts getting murdered. THE CLOWN MURDERS, Martyn Burke's 1976 Canadian thriller, takes that questionable premise and turns it into an unusual combination of crime drama, psychological tension, and eventual horror that isn't nearly as outrageous as its title suggests. With an early appearance by John Candy, the film has earned a cult following among movie collectors. Its notoriety has arguably benefited more from its marketing and recognizable supporting actor than from the production itself. Kino Lorber is giving this odd little piece of Canadian exploitation history a new 4K UHD release, which is wonderful news for preservation enthusiasts and anyone who's ever wondered what Candy was doing before becoming one of comedy's most beloved performers.
Revenge Is Only the Beginning

Sword of the Demon Hunter: Kijin Gentosho (Kijin Gentôshô)

Living for centuries sounds like an incredible deal until you realize everyone you care about has an expiration date, and you're the unfortunate bastard who has to keep on going forever. SWORD OF THE DEMON HUNTER takes an anime premise involving supernatural creatures and extraordinary abilities. It starts with a swordsman seeking revenge, then becomes a personal examination of time, loss, and what happens when someone becomes so consumed by the past that moving forward feels impossible. Based on Motoo Nakanishi's novels, this 24-episode series combines fantasy with an unexpectedly thoughtful story about humanity. It has plenty of demon hunting, but the battles matter less than the people caught between them.
Seuss Can Still Teach Us a Thing or Two

Dr. Seuss: Classic TV Treasures Collection

Dr. Seuss understood that you could teach children some pretty important lessons while simultaneously introducing them to creatures with ridiculous names, impossible hairstyles, and a concerning disregard for the laws of physics. His stories have entertained generations, but their lasting appeal comes from how effortlessly they mix complete nonsense with observations about human behavior. Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment's DR. SEUSS: CLASSIC TV TREASURES COLLECTION brings together 15 animated and television treasures spanning more than five decades, offering over six hours of entertainment that goes well beyond the holiday favorites most people associate with his work. It's a wonderful reminder that the world of Dr. Seuss has always been much bigger than one grouchy green fellow with a Christmas problem.