The official “King Richard” synopsis from Warner Bros. reads: “Based on the true story that will inspire the world, ‘King Richard’ follows the journey of Richard Williams, an undeterred father instrumental in raising two of the most extraordinarily gifted athletes of all time, who will end up changing the sport of tennis forever. Driven by a clear vision of their future and using unconventional methods, Richard has a plan that will take Venus and Serena Williams from the streets of Compton, California to the global stage as legendary icons....

That statement closes out “Leaving Afghanistan,” the latest documentary from PBS’ Frontline regarding the ongoing violence in the Middle Eastern country. Quraishi’s 30-minute investigative report details the violent developments in Afghanistan following the United States’ recent decision to withdraw its forces from the country by the end of August. It’s a bleak, albeit informative and timely dispatch on Afghanistan that describes the violent forces at play in the region while offering perspectives on the situation that are typically overlooked in Western media coverage of Middle Eastern issues....

Fight scenes are no different. For every wide shot of a skirmish — in the case of Episode 6, “Udûn,” ones in the Southlands village near the tower Ostirith — each bit of chaos has to mesh together. For series stunt coordinator Vic Armstrong, that starts with assembling a team. When hiring local stunt performers, Armstrong looks not only at strength and agility, but the true element of performance that goes hand-in-hand with them....

The film offers an unprecedented look at the iconic trumpeter, presented through a lens of archival footage and never-before-heard home recordings and personal conversations, according to the official synopsis. The documentary honors Armstrong’s legacy as a founding father of jazz, one of the first internationally known and beloved stars, and a cultural ambassador of the United States. The film shows how Armstrong’s own life spans the shift from the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement, and how he became a lightning rod figure in that turbulent era....

These two stories collide in a way that becomes terrifying, heartbreaking, and beautiful. It also sets the bar high for any of Chung’s future projects. “I’m scared that I won’t ever get a role like this again,” she told IndieWire. “It’s pretty rare that these types of characters come across an actor’s path.” Chung, who has been acting in film and television for nearly 15 years, says not only was playing Ji-Ah different from previous roles she’d done, it also casts an eye on the history of representation for Asian-Americans....

The third “Magic Mike” film, “Magic Mike’s Last Dance,” debuted its trailer featuring Tatum teasing a titillating onstage performance as the titular erotic dancer. Per the official synopsis, “Magic” Mike Lane (Tatum) takes to the stage again after a lengthy hiatus, following a business deal that went bust, leaving him broke and taking bartender gigs in Florida. For what he hopes will be one last hurrah, Mike heads to London with a wealthy socialite (Salma Hayek Pinault) who lures him with an offer he can’t refuse…and an agenda all her own....

The animated series centers on the titular big-headed supervillain (voiced by Patton Oswalt), who must juggle his plans for world domination with his crumbling family life. The end result of that synopsis is a string of uninspired comedy routines where M.O.D.O.K. & Co. spew third-rate referential humor and otherwise tired gags for 5 hours. Nary a scene goes by in “M.O.D.O.K.” without a quip or broader cultural reference, but the jokes are so uninspired that even the most devout Marvel fans will struggle to justify any of the going-ons in this addition to the superhero genre....

“Lots of stuff impacted filming,” Kusiak said. “A lot of our driving shots went away because ‘The Matrix’ controlled all of downtown…We ended up moving a stunt up onto the top of the parking garage because we couldn’t get to the areas we wanted because of ‘The Matrix.’ But if we would’ve been there first, it probably would’ve gone the other way.” “The Matrix Resurrections” was so dominant in San Francisco that filming of the movie even found its way into the “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” theatrical cut....

A lack of innovation, especially compared to recent side-scrollers such as “Hollow Knight” and “Ori and the Will of the Wisps,” is the only real negative that can be levied at “Metroid Dread,” and though it’s a valid criticism, it’s more than made up for by the game’s high level of polish and overall consistency. If you’ve previously played a 2D “Metroid” title or any of the myriad of video games that have been inspired by the franchise, you’ll know exactly what to expect here, but “Dread” is a reminder that “Metroid” has long set the industry standard for side-scrolling action for good reason....

Naomi Osaka can be soft-spoken, though not when it comes to her support for the Black Lives Matter movement. The 23-year-old has four Grand Slam titles to her name and is currently ranked No. 2 in the world in women’s singles. Being a little camera-shy has no bearing on her tennis, but it doesn’t make for great movie-making. In three vaguely indistinguishable episodes, the Netflix docuseries “Naomi Osaka” offers a small window into the young champion’s world....

“Operation Fortune” stars steely Statham as Orson Fortune (Ritchie always had a flair for giddy character names), a super spy with a singular set of skills who is tasked with tracking down a stolen piece of technology (“something rather nasty,” according to the trailer). He’s trying to prevent it from getting on the open market and possibly into the wrong hands, specifically those of a billionaire armsdealer named Greg Simmonds (Hugh Grant)....

Here’s the official synopsis from the streamer: “‘Oxygen’ is a French survival thriller directed by Alexandre Aja. The film tells the story of a young woman (Mélanie Laurent), who wakes up in a cryogenic pod. She doesn’t remember who she is or how she ended up there. As she’s running out of oxygen, she must rebuild her memory to find a way out of her nightmare.” Aja first rose to international prominence as a horror filmmaker in 2005 with the French slasher film “High Tension,” which caught the attention from Wes Craven, who then tapped Aja to helm the remake of Craven’s 1977 classic “The Hills Have Eyes....

While plot details have been kept tightly under wraps until now, the trailer offers plenty to parse about what Blumhouse has dubbed a “rebirth” of the franchise. The film follows an adopted young woman who goes in search of her biological parents, bringing a friend along to film. The search leads her to an Amish community, where she is initially welcomed with open arms. Things quickly begin to devolve as they notice disturbing forces in the community, which holds clues to the truth about her biological mother and the reason they were separated....

Of course, today’s guardians are already well-aware. Having navigated nearly two years of a deadly pandemic, anyone in charge of a youngster under five is likely struggling to find sustainable childcare, while those responsible for adolescents old enough to get vaccinated still have to deal with added responsibilities like remote learning, breakthrough cases, and furious debates about every institutional policy decision that could affect their children’s lives. Some call these ongoing challenges “insurmountable....

Disney unveiled a trailer for the upcoming series at D23, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn. Creator Kyle Bradstreet serves as head writer, with Thomas Bezucha and Ali Selim directing the six-episode series. The cast also includes Cobie Smulders, Don Cheadle, and Martin Freeman reprising their existing MCU roles, as well as Kingsley Ben-Adir, Carmen Ejogo, Emilia Clarke, Olivia Colman, and more. “Secret Invasion” has been teased since as early as “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” when Jackson’s Nick Fury turned out to be a shape-shifting alien skrull the whole time....

Such is where Destin Daniel Cretton’s alternately fresh and convoluted Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” begins, and with a cute kid being told the story of a money-mad bad guy who changed (kind of) to make the world a better place (sort of). No wonder young Shang-Chi is so conflicted: his literal origin story is messy. Thankfully, Cretton zips past this awkward (yet necessary) opening to bring us into Shang-Chi’s (or “Shaun,” as he’s gone by since he slipped into America and attempted to assimilate) current world, which is a far cry from any fairy tale involving magic, mystery, and mean dads....

Written by Jennifer Deyell (who previously penned Dorfman’s “Love That Boy” over a decade ago), “Spinster” opens in a familiar space, as 39-year-old Gaby (Peretti) is a perennial loser when it comes to love, and her inability to find a suitable mate has turned her sour on most aspects of her life. It’s well-trod romcom territory, the sort of concept everything from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” to “The Apartment” has approached in different ways — but for a while there, it seems as if Dorfman has found a unique angle: What if Gaby isn’t just unlucky in love, but such a total asshole that she’s not even really worthy of it?...

“I have been shooting predominately documentaries the past 10 years or so. Whatever the subject — Piazza Vittorio, Padre Pio — we also film the process itself…. so our team and I are a part of it,” Ferrara said in a statement about the film. “The subject of my new documentary is the relationship I have to my work, to Willem Dafoe, and my music and art. These relationships are the starting point and I could not avoid facing what the world went through this year with the pandemic....

Apparently reviving Kate Bush’s career wasn’t enough for the ambitious showrunners — now they want to bring back VHS tapes, too. In a new interview with Collider, the Duffer brothers spoke about their desire to re-release “Stranger Things” in a pan and scan format, making episodes look like they were cropped to fit a VHS tape. “Skip the VCR, hit it a couple of times, put it on Netflix,” Ross Duffer said....

Class and money are recurring themes in “The Gilded Age”; the series, developed by Julian Fellowes (“Downton Abbey”), tracks the lives of “new money” couple George and Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon), the “old money” Van Rhijn family, and the servants who work for both houses in 1880s New York. George and Bertha represent a more modern, non-traditional marriage as Bertha is both George’s equal and co-conspirator in business and their machinations to conquer New York high society....