Joseph Allen

3 days ago | themanual.com | Joe Allen |Joseph Allen

Paramount Plus is trying to one-up HBO. Following the news that Max would be becoming HBO Max again, Paramount has announced its own name change. After killing the Showtime streaming service in 2024, Paramount is now rebranding Paramount Plus with Showtime as Paramount Plus Premium. That change is effective as of June 23, and seems to signal one of the final death knells for Showtime as an independent brand.

4 days ago | themanual.com | Joe Allen |Joseph Allen

Throughout TV’s long history, the medical drama has occupied a somewhat unique place in the landscape. Medical shows are often some of the most reliable on TV precisely because there’s so much drama built in to working in a hospital. Personally, I’ve found the medical drama to be deeply comforting for years, even if I have no desire to be a doctor myself. Understanding the stress of people in the healthcare profession is fascinating in and of itself.

1 week ago | themanual.com | Joe Allen |Joseph Allen

Music biopics are all the rage these days, and Bruce Springsteen is the latest icon to get the treatment. The first trailer for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere sees The Bearstar inhabiting the role of The Boss. The film is based on Warren’s Zane’s book of the same name, which focuses on the period when he was making his 1982 album Nebraska. The film is directed by Scott Cooper, who also directed Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart.

1 week ago | themanual.com | Joe Allen |Joseph Allen

Few directors have a debut feature that’s as splashy as Celine Song’s. The director, who now has Materialists in theaters, had a breakout hit at Sundance called Past Lives that took her all the way to the Oscars. Now that Materialists is in theaters and doing quite well, you might want to catch up with Past Lives, which was one of the best movies of 2023. The film stars Greta Lee and is told in episodes that span more than 20 years.

2 weeks ago | themanual.com | Joe Allen |Joseph Allen

In between stints where he flirts with running for governor of Texas, Matthew McConaughey apparently found enough time to make a new Apple movie with American Ferrera. Now, we’ve got our first teaser for that movie, which is titled The Lost Bus. The film is centered on California’s 2018 Camp Fire. The film is based on Lizzie Johnson’s fact-based novel Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire, which chronicles the deadliest wildfire in the state’s history.