That’s not a new challenge to Hanks, who famously spent a full act of Robert Zemeckis’ “Cast Away” interacting only with a volleyball he cheekily named Wilson (the role earned the actor his fifth Best Actor nomination). During a recent press conference for the film, due out on the streaming service later this week, Hanks said his experience acting opposite a dog and robot was full of vitality. For one thing, Goodyear played by an actual canine named Seamus....

“[Working on ‘Furiosa’] is the biggest pinch-myself moment, because I’ve grown up watching it [‘Mad Max’] and it’s so iconic,” Hemsworth told press about joining the franchise. “It is a huge honor. A lot of pressure, but exciting pressure that is certainly motivating.” Hemsworth’s role in “Furiosa” has yet to be revealed, and the same goes for cast member Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. “The Queen’s Gambit” favorite Anya Taylor-Joy is taking over the role of a young Furiosa, originally played by Charlize Theron in “Mad Max: Fury Road....

In 2005, plans for a feature film were announced, with “Devs” creator Alex Garland working on a script. Neill Blomkamp, director of “Elysium” and “District 9,” was slated to helm the film. But after several delayed starts, then-20th Century Fox Studios and Universal required the production to reduce its budget (one of several big reasons why the series has taken so long.) But as television series have gained both more prestige and larger budgets, the time seems ripe to finally bring “Halo” to audiences as we’re set to see on Paramount+....

This isn’t your average family road trip. “Hit the Road” proves to be a quietly existential voyage, fueled by a husband and wife — played by Hassan Madjooni and Pantea Panahiha — as they smuggle their eldest child (Amin Simiar) out of Iran. Rayan Sarlak stars as their younger son. Director Panahi himself is the son of the great filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who is still banned from making movies and from leaving the country....

As delirious as Jessie Buckley’s character, a woman adrift in her relationship while on a fraught road trip to meet her boyfriend’s (Jesse Plemons) parents (Toni Colette and David Thewlis), becomes, so too is the audience plunged into a fragmenting mind whose sanity is shifting like tectonic plates, a seism just around the bend. That’s in part due to the music, which hurtles between genres, culminating in the film’s biggest set piece, a ballet that distills the entire narrative into a wildly choreographed metaphor....

Both as a symbol for creativity and for opportunities in film, but also as a broader societal statement about inclusion, there were always going to be high hopes for the fate of a film that celebrates a segment of the Latino community. Whether this ultimately helped the film, or even might have caused something of a backlash — especially considering that, after Warner Bros. marketed the film based on its inclusivity, Lin-Manuel Miranda had to apologize for its lack of Afro-Latino representation — is unclear....

If that plot sounds familiar, it’s probably because you’ve seen “The Departed.” Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning Boston crime thriller is a remake of “Infernal Affairs,” though the original film’s legacy is far bigger than its remake. It also spawned two beloved sequels, “Infernal Affairs II” and “Infernal Affairs III,” resulting in one of the most highly acclaimed film trilogies of the century. And now, fans and newcomers alike will get to experience the films with unprecedented clarity when a new 4K restoration of the trilogy begins screening at Film at Lincoln Center on September 16....

Such talent behind the camera befits both the classic novel on which the series is based — Octavia Butler’s 1979 book is still a strong seller today, while being taught in high school classrooms and college campuses across the nation — as well as the big swings taken in translating the author’s words to TV. Ambitious creativity is often called for in telling an oft-told story in a new medium, for a new audience, and “Kindred” (available exclusively on Hulu) is full of bold changes that force readers to reconsider what they’re watching....

That’s precisely what “Living” attempts to do, reimagining Kurosawa’s beloved story in 1950s London. Bill Nighy takes on the role first played by Takashi Shimura, portraying a man whose stomach cancer causes him to question his long-held cynicism. And while Shimura’s performance in “Ikiru” left him with an impossibly large set of shoes to fill, Nighy has earned strong reviews (and a bit of early Oscar buzz) for his work on the film....

As last month was the 19th anniversary of “The Fellowship of the Ring,” Empire magazine recirculated its interview series with the nine actors who made up the eponymous group: Elijah Wood (Frodo), Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Sean Astin (Samwise), Dominic Monaghan (Merry), Billy Boyd (Pippin), Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), Sean Bean (Boromir), Orlando Bloom (Legolas), and John Rhys-Davies (Gimli). The interviews are jam-packed with fascinating intel about the making of the franchise, including Elijah Wood asking McKellen about “the constant barrage of script changes” that took place throughout filming....

“Ma Rainey’s Block Bottom” stars Davis as Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, the iconic professional blues singer who became known as the “Mother of the Blues.” The film is set during an intense recording session in 1920s Chicago as Ma Rainey battles her manager and producer over control of her music and goes toe-to-toe with band members such as Boseman’s Levee, an ambitious trumpeter who is determined to make a name for himself in the music industry....

The third and presumably final “Magic Mike” installment stars Channing Tatum as the titular male stripper, with Steven Soderbergh back directing after sitting out the sequel “Magic Mike XXL.” The film is set to premiere in theaters February 10, 2023, during Super Bowl weekend…but the real athleticism is Tatum and crew’s smooth moves. Lead star and producer Tatum shared a first look at the film on Instagram with the caption, “All good things begin in Miami....

“I knew this character needed to have an undertone of sweetness in order to follow him, but also Andrew is extremely intelligent and seemed to have similar interests on the subject matter, so he really became a collaborator,” Coppola told IndieWire. “I also loved the idea of seeing him play a type of character that’s different from what he usually gets type casted, [to] let him run wild and play....

Boesten, however, doesn’t reduce Morton’s painful history to degradation. Because you don’t measure light through its absence; you find it in the human eye. And Black folks are filled with light. Even when the world, from conception to death, distorts Black people’s worth — even during structural racism and anti-blackness — or against the ceaseless undertow of mental trauma, Black people still project radiance. Morton maps a similar radiance onto his portraits....

Ana’s (Grace Van Patten) restless sleep is punctuated with all sorts of strange things: nightmares about endless tunnels, worryingly quiet men, vintage bombers laden with airmen, and a clear voice spelling out “M A Y D A Y” via the phonetic alphabet. But all that, strange as it may seem, is at least better than her real life, complete with a dead-end catering job and a sense of invisibility that’s not only in her head....

I say “again” because, of course, first-time viewing earns first-screen priority — only-screen, really. But once-through won’t be enough, at least, if you’re anything like me. Once Apple TV+ shared a few screeners of Season 2 back in February, I re-watched Season 1, off and on, until the rest of the new episodes were provided in April. Finishing Season 2 for the first time just meant starting the whole series over, usually as I cleaned up the apartment or made the morning coffee — and a half-hour (or two) of “Mythic Quest” always gave me a more lasting jolt of energy than even the best cup of joe....

As anticipated, the latest James Bond immediately placed #1 on multiple charts, both those ranking by transactions (Apple TV/iTunes, Google Play) and revenue (Vudu). The film remained at #4 in theaters over the weekend, with a 23 percent drop the second lowest among top 10 films. Once again, the home-viewing marketing push also appeared to benefit ticket sales. Disney is #2 and #3 across the board, as represented by “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” ($19....

Austen’s books have inspired all manner of adaptations on both stage and screen, from the faithful (Ang Lee’s luminous “Sense and Sensibility”) to the lightly loosened (hello, iconic BBC series version of “Pride and Prejudice,” infamous for its depiction of Mark Darcy as a naughty swimmer) and even the straight-up free-wheeling (“Bridget Jones’s Diary”) to the mostly inane (“Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”). Austen’s books incisively depict a specific time in British life (mostly the life lived by the rich, the white, the privileged), but her keen understanding of human interactions and desires can happily be transplanted to a range of stories....

In his place, two new protagonists, Liko and Roy, will be introduced in a new series set in the Paldea region, first seen in this year’s Generation IX “Pokémon” games “Scarlet and Violet.” The series will premiere sometime later in 2023, and feature the starters from the game: Sprigatito (a grass cat), Fuecoco (a fire-breathing crocodile baby), and Quaxly (a water duck). The news of Ash’s retirement from the anime comes a month after the Japanese airing of the 132nd episode of the “Pokémon Journeys” series, and the 1,217th episode of the anime overall, which saw Ash (voiced in Japanese by Rika Matsumoto and in English by Sarah Natochenny) and his first Pokémon Pikachu (Ikue Ōtani) defeat reigning champion Leon (Daisuke Ono/Alejandro Saab) in the World Coronation Series tournament, officially taking the title as the number one Pokémon trainer in the world....

But that hasn’t stopped great episodic series from being produced. “Room 104” stretched its horror conceit to exciting extremes. “High Maintenance” transported us to various New York venues with compassionate character portraits. “Little America” found distinctly charming avenues into American immigrants’ lives. Some people watch “Black Mirror.” “Roar” is the latest addition to the resistance, as well as one of the era’s best members. Created by Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch (of “GLOW” acclaim), the eight-episode Apple TV+ series functions similarly to its source material — Cecelia Ahern’s 2018 book of short stories — as a collection of fables....