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Who doesn't love Pedro Pascal? The four-time Emmy-nominated actor has recently made headlines for his starring role as Reed Richards, also known as Mister Fantastic, in the Marvel superhero film The Fantastic Four: First Steps. If you’re anything like us, you probably can’t get enough of watching him light up the screen.

The good news? Now, thanks to HBO Max, you don’t have to wait to see more of him. One of his most recent movies has just been added to the streaming platform, and chances are it completely flew under your radar.

Pascal is a very busy man. This year alone, he has been in five movies. You might have also watched him in the second season of the popular HBO post-apocalyptic drama The Last of Us. But out of the five films he's been in, one of them just didn't seem to make as much noise,...

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HBO Max is ready with an entertainment-packed August this year. The upcoming month will see the return of some of the popular superhero series, Peacemaker, as well as the streaming release of the brilliant and bloody film, Final Destination: Bloodlines. Just like every month, HBO Max is ready to overload you with great content. So, we’re here to tell you about the six new movies and TV shows coming to HBO Max in August 2025.

Final Destination: Bloodlines (August 1) Credit – Warner Bros.

Final Destination: Bloodlines is a supernatural horror film co-directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein from a screenplay co-written by Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor. The 2025 film is the sixth entry into the Final Destination film franchise, and it follows Stefani Reyes, a college student who discovers that her grandmother saved the lives of several...

Most of Marvel Studios’s films are the cinematic equivalent of breadcrumbs, which have been dropped into theaters strategically so as to keep one looking for the next sequel or crossover, when the endless televisual exposition will eventually, theoretically yield an event of actual consequence. Occasionally, however, a Marvel film transcends this impersonality and justifies one’s patience. Weird, stylish, and surprisingly lyrical, Ant-Man, Iron Man 3, and Doctor Strange attest to the benefits of the old Hollywood-style studio system that Marvel has resurrected: Under the umbrella of structure and quota is security, which can bequeath qualified freedom. On the occasion of the release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, here’s a ranking of every film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to date. Chuck Bowen

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on April 25, 2018.

37. The Incredible Hulk (2008)

The aesthetic dexterity and psychological depth of Ang Lee’s...

A unique action-comedy starring Pedro Pascal is scheduled to hit the HBO Max streaming service in August. The film offers another opportunity for audiences to see the popular actor, who has had a busy and successful year with several major film roles. This upcoming streaming release allows fans to see him in a distinctive project from the comfort of their homes.

The movie is an anthology film, weaving together multiple stories with a blend of action and humor. Set against the backdrop of 1980s Oakland, the film features a large cast of colorful characters. Despite a quiet theatrical run, the movie has earned high praise from the audiences who have seen it, building its status as an under-the-radar favorite. The interconnected tales and period setting create a unique viewing experience.

The film making its way to streaming is “Freaky Tales.” It will be available to stream on HBO Max starting Friday,...

An action-comedy starring Pedro Pascal that earned a high audience score is making its way to streaming. The film, which had a limited run in theaters, will soon be available to a much wider audience on HBO Max. This gives viewers who missed it the first time a chance to see what the buzz is about.

The movie is an anthology film, meaning it tells several different stories that are loosely connected. Set in Oakland, California, in 1987, the plot follows a diverse group of characters whose lives intersect in unexpected ways. These characters include teen punks, a female rap duo, a corrupt police officer, and an NBA star. The movie blends action, humor, and moments of intense conflict.

The film, titled “Freaky Tales,” will be available for streaming on HBO Max starting on Friday, August 8. It will also have its broadcast debut on HBO on Saturday, August 9. The movie premiered...

Warner Bros. Discovery has announced the movies, TV shows, and live sports that will be available on the HBO Max streaming service in August. The HBO Max August 2025 lineup includes a new season of Peacemaker, the feature films Final Destination Bloodlines, Freaky Tales, and The Legend of Ochi, and the comedy special Marc Maron: Panicked.

The schedule includes the HBO Original sports documentary series Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Buffalo Bills and the HBO Original documentary series The Yogurt Shop Murders.

Peacemaker Featured Programming

Specials

Marc Maron: Panicked (HBO Original Comedy Special)

Debuts August 1

In his second HBO special, comedian and podcaster Marc Maron offers up his nuanced perspective on our increasingly uncertain world. Performed, written, and executive produced by Marc Maron; executive produced by David Martin; produced by Avalon; and directed by Steven Feinartz.

Peacemaker

Series

Peacemaker Season 2 (Original Series)

The eight-episode season premieres on August 21 and episodes debut weekly at 9 p.

Pedro Pascal has had an incredible 2025, starring in a diverse range of films, from big-budget to small-scale productions. Aside from his upcoming performance as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic inFantastic Four: First Steps, the actor also recently had a large supporting role in two big A24 films: Ari Aster's Eddington and Celine Song's Materialists. Now, one of his projects, which has mostly flown under the radar, Freaky Tales, has a streaming release date. The announcement gives fans of the actor and crime comedy films the opportunity to experience a criminally underseen movie.

According to an official press release from Warner Bros. Discovery, Freaky Tales is set to release on HBO Max in the U.S. on Friday, August 8, before also being available on the HBO linear channel the following day on Saturday, August 9 at 8:00 Pm Et. Set in 1987 Oakland, Freaky Tales is described in the press release as...

“Freaky Tales”, the new live-action anthology feature, written and directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, stars Pedro Pascal, Ben Mendelsohn, Jay Ellis, Normani, Dominique Thorne, Jack Champion, Ji-young Yoo, Angus Cloud, Keir Gilchrist, Marteen, Michael X. Sommers, Yong Kim, Michelle Farrah Huang and Too $hort, streaming August 8, 2025 on HBO Max:

‘…set in 1987 Oakland, California, the film is a multi-track mixtape of colorful characters…

“…including an ‘NBA’ star, a corrupt cop, a female rap duo, teen punks and a debt collector…

“…on a collision course in a fever dream…

“…of showdowns and battles.”

Click the images to enlarge…...

Pedro Pascal is emerging as one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, in addition to being one of the most prolific actors alive. Pascal is having an incredible 2025, which started with him reprising his role as the surrogate father figure Joel Miller in HBO's The Last of Us season 2, earning a second Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

This summer, he's starred in two A24 movies – Celine Song's romantic comedy Materialists and Ari Aster's neo-Western Eddington, and will also make his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut as Reed Richards in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, releasing in theaters on July 25. However, Pascal has another movie that was released in theaters this year, but flew under the radar, and is now making its way onto streaming.

Freaky Tales Lands A Streaming Release Date Pedro Pascal's Period Action Comedy Boasts An 89% Rt Audience Score

Freaky Tales has landed a streaming release date.

While Julia Garner may be heralding his end when The Fantastic Four: First Steps arrives in cinemas later this week, HBO Max is heralding the streaming arrival of one of Pedro Pascal’s most slept-on films — Freaky Tales. The anthology project by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck landed in cinemas earlier this year, but, despite largely positive reviews from critics, failed to make a wave with audiences, most likely due to a limited theatrical release. Now, it’s gunning for a second shot in the spotlight, as the Lionsgate flick sets an arrival date of August 8.

If you love a movie that introduces a multitude of characters whose paths cross in bonkers ways and has a soundtrack that sounds like it’s straight out of Stranger Things, Freaky Tales is the film you didn’t know you needed. Set in 1987, audiences will follow along with Pascal’s Clint as he...

A Look At The 9 Billion-Dollar Movies Of 2019! (Photo Credit – Hotstar)

Hollywood has seen countless box office highs, but no year in cinema history matched the sheer dominance of 2019. That year didn’t just break records. It rewrote them. With the streaming revolution still in its early stages and global theatrical markets firing on all cylinders, 2019 marked the final crescendo of the pre-pandemic moviegoing era.

It wasn’t just about quantity or sequels. The variety of billion-dollar earners that year, including superhero finales, animated adventures, live-action remakes, and action spectacles, spoke to a moment when studios knew how to maximize nostalgia and event filmmaking. Audiences flocked to theaters worldwide, and in return, the box office delivered an unprecedented nine movies that crossed the $1 billion mark globally. No other year, not 2015, not 2022, has matched that figure.

One could also say that Hollywood had finally found the formula for minting billions at the box office.

It’s been six years since the release of “Missing Link,” the fifth stop-motion animated film from the Portland-based animation house Laika. If you don’t remember it, that’s because the $100 million film — though well reviewed with an 88 percent Rotten Tomatoes score — was a financial bomb, bringing in only $26.5 million globally. Prior Laika films were all budgeted in the $60 million range and were almost all consistent performers at the box office with around $100 million globally, but reports at the time estimated “Missing Link” could have lost over $100 million after expenses.

The onset of Covid-19 in early 2020 didn’t help Laika bounce back. The pandemic severely hampered the company’s ability to work by hand in their tactile animation facility in the Oregon woodlands, such that production on the company’s next ambitious stop-motion epic, “Wildwood,” did not formally begin until September 2021. The company’s founder, Travis Knight, in the...

CBS's long-running military police procedural drama series "NCIS" has featured a myriad of actors since the show first began airing all the way back in 2003. As we know, though, sometimes things don't work out in the television business as they're supposed to, and certain characters might have an expiration date, whether intended or not. In the case of English actor Duane Henry, his departure from "NCIS" was partly due to an unfortunate and tragic circumstance but also his forward-looking, ambitious worldview, which has been driving the star's career ever since he became a professional actor.

Henry played the beloved character Clayton Dante Reeves on "NCIS" for nearly three years between 2016 and 2018. Reeves was an MI6 liaison officer who frequently helped the NCIS Major Case Response Team despite being assigned to the International Desk at the organization. Unfortunately, his days came to an end when he was killed by Army...

Ben Mendelsohn returned as caped Star Wars villain Orson Krennic for the second season of the acclaimed series Andor. While he was happy to return to the role he originally played in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, he did have one request for series creator Tony Gilroy. He discussed the change he wanted last week on Late Night With Seth Meyers.

Sitting down with host Seth Meyers, Mendelsohn talked about the character's return in Andor: "Krennic's a fantastic character, but he's a middle manager in Rogue One, you know. He's a guy building a Death Star. So I did make one request, which was 'Let's pump up the volume a little bit.'" He was certainly pleased with the result: "The show is fantastic. I think it exceeds all expectations, and I think we pumped up the volume." Meyers agreed, suggesting that "your career has grown, you're not playing middle management anymore.

Laika has signed Captain Marvel filmmakers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck to write and direct a live-action film based on the upcoming Taylor Jenkins Reid novel Atmosphere.

The novel, to be published next month, centres on a romance between two pioneering female astronauts during the early days of the US space shuttle programme in the late 1970s.

Laika will produce in association with Circle M+P. Producers are Laika president and CEO Travis Knight, the company’s president of live-action film and series Matt Levin, Boden and Fleck, Jenkins Reid and Brad Mendelsohn. Jeremy Kipp Walker is executive producer.

Boden...

Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, the filmmakers behind “Captain Marvel” and, more recently, “Freaky Tales,” have been tapped by Laika, the Portland, Oregon-based stop-motion animation studio, to write and direct a new live-action project.

The filmmakers will write and direct “Atmosphere,” based on the forthcoming novel by bestselling author Taylor Jenkins Reid, whose “Daisy Jones & The Six” served as inspiration for the Prime Video series of the same name. The announcement was made by Laika’s president of Live Action Film & Series Matt Levin.

According to the official release, “Atmosphere” is “a sweeping romance between two pioneering female astronauts breaking into NASA in the early days of the shuttle program in the late ’70s/early ’80s,” inspired by films like “Apollo 13,” “The Right Stuff” and “Gravity.”

“Atmosphere” is a Laika production in association with Circle M+P. Producers are Travis Knight, Matt Levin, Boden, Fleck, Reid and Brad Mendelsohn.

Laika’s live-action film division is taking shape, and it has an exciting new project it’s adapting based on a new work by one of the most in-demand authors today.

Laika has tapped filmmakers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck to direct for the big screen “Atmosphere,” which is an adaptation of the next novel from “Daisy Jones and the Six” author Taylor Jenkins Reid. The book publishes next month on June 3 from Ballantine Books.

“Atmosphere” is a sweeping romance between two pioneering female astronauts breaking into NASA in the early days of the shuttle program in the late ’70s and early ’80s. While the principal characters are fictionalized, the historical context and authenticity of the world-building is grounded in the spirit of films like “Apollo 13,” “The Right Stuff,” and “Gravity.” The epic story is set against the backdrop of the 1980s space shuttle program and shows the extraordinary...

Exclusive: Actress Dominique Thorne has inked with WME.

Best known in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Riri Williams aka superhero Ironheart, Thorne’s character was introduced in the $859M-grossing, Oscar winning, Ryan Koogler directed Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Thorne next stars in the Disney+/Marvel Studios series Ironheart which will hit the serve on June 24. She’ll also star in the Disney+/Marvel Studios series Marvel Zombies currently set to drop this October. Thorne also voiced Riri in the MCU streaming series What If…?

Thorne recently starred opposite Pedro Pascal, Jay Ellis and Ben Mendelsohn in Freaky Tales which made its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The pic was written and directed by Captain Marvel‘s Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden.

Thorne made her feature film debut in Barry Jenkins’ Oscar-winning feature take of the James Baldwin novel If Beale Street Could Talk. In that Annapurna feature, Thorne played Shelia Hunt,...

The Marvel Cinematic Universe officially kicked off in 2008 with Iron Man, and is still going strong nearly two decades later with its 36th feature film, Thunderbolts, opening in U.S. theaters on May 2. But for every Oscar-winning juggernaut like Black Panther or beloved action-comedy like Guardians of the Galaxy, there are MCU films that even the truest of fans wish never happened. We've consulted the cumulative IMDb scores and have come up with the definitive ranking of all Marvel Cinematic Universe movies to date.

Produced by Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige, the MCU is a shared universe of American superhero films based on countless editions of Marvel Comics. It's easily the highest-grossing movie franchise in history, topping $31.5 billion globally, with Avengers: Endgame being the biggest earner at $2.8 billion worldwide.

Thunderbolts, directed by Jake Schreier (Beef) and starring Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, will be added to the list...

“Freaky Tales”, the new live-action anthology feature, written and directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, stars Pedro Pascal, Ben Mendelsohn, Jay Ellis, Normani, Dominique Thorne, Jack Champion, Ji-young Yoo, Angus Cloud, Keir Gilchrist, Marteen, Michael X. Sommers, Yong Kim, Michelle Farrah Huang and Too $hort, now available to rent/own on digital platforms, followed by a 4K/Blu-ray release June 3, 2025:

‘…set in 1987 Oakland, California, the film is a multi-track mixtape of colorful characters…

“…including an ‘NBA’ star, a corrupt cop, a female rap duo, teen punks and a debt collector…

“…on a collision course in a fever dream…

“…of showdowns and battles.”

Click the images to enlarge…...

Welcome to the Gold Ticket, your VIP guide to the best of award-worthy pop culture for the weekend ahead, curated by the Gold Derby team of experts. (April 25 - April 27)

The main stream

It's time to get (back) to that galaxy far, far away.

This week, Andor, the Rogue One prequel created by Tony Gilroy, returns for its highly anticipated second season, more than two years after the show's acclaimed debut. Unfortunately, it is also the show's final season, as the 2023 Emmy nominee for Best Drama Series is quickly hurtling toward the climactic events of Rogue One, and thus also the events of A New Hope. Diego Luna returns as rebel spy Cassian Andor in the new season, which centers on a planet unlucky enough to house mineral deposits the Empire needs.

The 12-episode season covers several years as it unspools its story over four weeks, in three-episode chunks. This...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Babygirl (Halina Reijn)

Premiering with much fervor at the Venice Film Festival, Halina Reijn’s Bodies Bodies Bodies follow-up Babygirl finds Nicole Kidman playing a high-powered CEO who puts her career and family on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much-younger intern (Harris Dickinson), and which earned her Best Actress at the festival. Savina Petkova said in her review, “It’s not too early in the festival to say Reijn wrote and directed one of––if not the––most compelling films of this year’s Venice selection and deserves full praise for landing a project of this caliber while making a third feature that is as close to perfection as can be. Babygirl is billed as an erotic...

“Freaky Tales” is a live-action anthology feature, written and directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, starring Pedro Pascal, Ben Mendelsohn, Jay Ellis, Normani, Dominique Thorne, Jack Champion, Ji-young Yoo, Angus Cloud, Keir Gilchrist, Marteen, Michael X. Sommers, Yong Kim, Michelle Farrah Huang and Too $hort, available to rent/own on digital platforms April 25, 2025, followed by a 4K/Blu-ray release June 3, 2025:

‘…set in 1987 Oakland, California, the film is a multi-track mixtape of colorful characters…

“…including an ‘NBA’ star, a corrupt cop, a female rap duo, teen punks and a debt collector…

“…on a collision course in a fever dream…

“…of showdowns and battles.”

Click the images to enlarge…...

One of the most anticipated movies of 2025, Sinners hopes to push Ryan Coogler into the stratosphere. The director of Black Panther and Creed has already shaken up the industry with his impeccable direction of franchise hits. However, Sinners will be his first non-ip-driven feature since Fruitvale Station. Coogler brings along Michael B. Jordan and an all-star cast to showcase his horror story, and with the budget to establish the period setting, it’s a masterful accomplishment. However, even as an original idea, does Coogler have ideas up his sleeve for launching a new franchise? The mid-credits scene seems to indicate yes.

RelatedSinners Review — An Adrenaline-Fueled Stake Through the Heart Does Sinners have a post-credits scene?

Yes! Sinners has not one, but two scenes playing during and after the credits.

Mid-Credit Scene Explained

We return to the 1990s for the first of Sinners‘ post-credit scenes. Sitting at his bar, an old...

The internet’s handsome dad has a very full diary at the moment, and it can be a struggle to keep up. Here’s what Pedro Pascal has upcoming

Pedro Pascal is one of Hollywood’s busiest stars at the moment, with eight films currently in pre-, mid- or post-production. We’re slightly worried whether he gets enough sleep. That’s before you consider his work on the TV side of things, leading the casts of both The Mandalorian and The Last Of Us – two of the biggest streaming hits of the last five years. In 2025 alone, Pascal is set to appear in four films and one TV show.

He’s also, we’re told, incredibly popular with certain segments of the internet. Putting our finest minds to work out a way to monetise this conundrum, we came up with a sure-fire method to overwhelm our servers with cold, hard clicks.

From its pulpy title, to its retro-computerised intro with Giorgio Moroder-style synths, to its opening voiceover (“Oakland in ’87 was hella wild”), it’s clear within seconds that Freaky Tales aims for culty midnight-movie status. On that front it largely succeeds, boasting a scrappy energy, outsider outlook, and local focus that feels like a sharp pivot from the slick universe-expansion of writer-directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s previous film, MCU behemoth Captain Marvel. As an anthology of stories inflected with supernatural flourishes — and occasional bursts of ultra-violence — the film’s title proves apt: here lie four freaky tales, no more, no less.

As per most anthologies, some stories are better than others. The opening chapter — in which two loved-up punks lead a fightback against a local gang of Nazi skinheads — is a blast, with rebellious use of scrawly animation that invades the screen. The fourth and final tale — in...

A warped love letter to the Bay Area’s raw energy and rebel spirit, Freaky Tales arrives in select UK cinemas from 18 April before hitting digital platforms on 28 April. Directed and written by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, the filmmaking duo behind Half Nelson and Captain Marvel, the new feature throws a Molotov cocktail of styles into a vibrant, blood-splattered mixtape of mayhem.

Set in 1987 Oakland, Freaky Tales delivers four interlocking stories, each one pulsing to its own beat but building towards a shared crescendo. The film moves between an underground rap duo trying to break out, a disgraced cop skimming the surface of violence, a grieving teen punk bent on revenge, and an NBA star caught in a moral quagmire. It’s a world in flux, where fantasy bleeds into reality, and battles play out on the graffitied backstreets of a city cracking at the seams.

Bringing this volatile...

The weekend sees the release of a movie we really dug when we caught it at Sundance way back in 2024. The film is Freaky Tales, which is a kaleidoscopic tribute to 80s movies. Set in Oakland in 1987, the film features a memorable collection of tales centred around the various violent encounters our heroes (and anti-heroes) have with a collection of Neo-Nazi skinheads terrorizing the city. Notably, it’s the only Sundance movie since The Raid 2 that I can remember that ends with a kung fu massacre.

It’s directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who started their careers with lower-key Indies like Half Nelson and Mississippi Grind before directing the billion-dollar-grossing Captain Marvel. Freaky Tales plays like a mash-up of the two sensibilities, with it having the edge of an indie, but the scale and excitement of a blockbuster (as well as a particularly cool A-list cameo).

Recently,...

“Freaky Tales” is a live-action anthology feature, written and directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, starring Pedro Pascal, Ben Mendelsohn, Jay Ellis, Normani, Dominique Thorne, Jack Champion, Ji-young Yoo, Angus Cloud, Keir Gilchrist, Marteen, Michael X. Sommers, Yong Kim, Michelle Farrah Huang and Too $hort, opening April 4, 2025 in theaters:

‘…set in 1987 Oakland, California, the film is a multi-track mixtape of colorful characters…

“…including an ‘NBA’ star, a corrupt cop, a female rap duo, teen punks and a debt collector…

“…on a collision course in a fever dream…

“…of showdowns and battles.”

Click the images to enlarge…...

Former Golden State Warriors point guard Sleepy Floyd was a one-time NBA All-Star and current record holder for most points scored in a single quarter of a playoff game and half of a playoff game, thanks to his performance against the Lakers in the 1987 Western Conference Finals. In the world of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's Freaky Tales, however, he's an actual warrior of the Golden State, played by Jay Ellis and armed to the teeth with katanas, daggers, and so much more. As seen in the official trailer for the surreal anthology, he knows how to use them too. With the movie now in theaters, Collider can exclusively share a new sneak peek at this other, probably fictional, side of Floyd as he arms up to fight for the fate of Oakland.

The clip opens with a low-energy Floyd getting off the phone and telling his guests that...

Yes, Jay Ellis wanted you to think, “Oh shit, that dude’s crazy,” when you see his character in Freaky Tales.

The 43-year-old actor-producer, best known for his roles in Insecure, The Game and Top Gun: Maverick, was ready for a new adventure when he signed onto the Anna Boden- and Ryan Fleck-directed film, which sees him portray former NBA player Eric “Sleepy” Floyd and follows four interconnected stories set in 1987 Oakland, California.

“I wanted a badass,” Ellis tells The Hollywood Reporter of the role. “I wanted a character that people are like, ‘Oh shit, that dude’s crazy.’ I wanted a dude that you’d be like, ‘If we in a street fight, I want him. I want that guy with me,’ and that’s what I kind of set out to prepare.”

And he did, in fact, prepare quite intensely for the role, doing martial arts...

Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson for Wbgr-fm on April 3rd, 2025, reviewing the new film “Freaky Tales,” four stories interconnected and set in 1987 Oakland, California. In theaters beginning April 4th.

The first story is “Strength in Numbers” as a notorious punk club … represented through two teen fans (Ji-young Yoo and Angus Cloud) ,,, battle neo-Nazis, based on a true story. “Don’t Fight the Feeling” has two female rappers (Dominque Thorne and Normani) squaring off against real-life Oakland rap legend Too $hort. “Born to Mack” has Pedro Pascal as a retiring leg breaker for a corrupt cop (Ben Mendelson) and “The Legend of Sleepy Floyd” features the real-life NBA phenom (portrayed by Jay Ellis) in that title role, seeking revenge. They are all affected by a greenish glow in the air, which may contain powerful properties

”Freaky Tales” is in theaters on April 4th.

As the big Spring break period approaches its conclusion, there’s still just enough time left for a quick trip via the multiplex. The destination’s not an exotic locale far from our shores, nor the pixel-generated backdrops of this weekend’s big studio flick. This movie “getaway” all takes place on the sunny streets of Oakland, CA. And, more importantly, this is a “time trip” since the “stories” are set in the long-ago Reagan era of 1987. Yes, I said “stories’ as this is an anthology of “twisted” fables with characters dropped in and out of different segments, so it differs from the Tales From The Crypt or New York Stories template, though there’s an off-screen narrator (unlike the Cryptkeeper). So, get your hair teased out, unplug the Walkman, lace up the Reeboks, and set the “Wayback machine” 38 years in reverse to take in some truly Freaky Tales.

Speaking of that narrator,...

Plot: Four interconnected tales follow a teenager in love (Jack Champion), two female rappers trying to make it (Normani and Dominique Thorne), a world-weary debt mob enforcer (Pedro Pascal ) and a basketball legend (Jay Ellis) looking for vengeance in 1987 Oakland.

Review: At Sundance 2023, directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Half Nelson) made a triumphant return to Sundance with one of the festival’s most energetic offerings in years. Mixing a Tarantino-style crime tale with high-octane action, Boden and Fleck use the bag of tricks they earned working for the MCU (Captain Marvel) to deliver an unexpected smash. Freaky Tales is the kind of movie Sundance would have shown in its nineties heyday, with it likely the only film playing this year that ends in a kung-fu-heavy bloodbath. I loved every second of it. Too bad it took over a year to finally hit theaters!

Freaky Tales mostly takes place...

A mysterious green fog leads to a wild week in the East Bay in Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Freaky Tales. Narrated by legendary Oakland rapper, Too $hort, Freaky Tales is an interconnected anthology of bizarre, violent goings-on occurring over a weekend in the late ‘80s. The stories span demographics, from punks just trying to have a good time, to an up-and-coming rap duo looking for their big break, to a mob enforcer looking for a way out, and finally to a mystical reimagining of a real-life record-breaking basketball performance; but they all share a common love and appreciation of what makes/made Oakland unique. The first story follows Tina (Ji-young Yoo) and Lucid (Jack Champion), a pair of teenage punk rockers stepping out of the...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Freaky Tales” (2024) is a movie that feels entirely unsuited for what cinema looks like in 2025, and it still would have felt antiquated had it not been held from release after its initial debut at the Sundance Film Festival in 2024. Although this anthology of Oakland crime stories takes place in 1987, its style is unquestionably influenced by the wave of 1990s independent films that used sharp dialogue and twisty storylines to engage in pulp sensibilities; the comparisons to be made with “Reservoir Dogs,” “Boyz n the Hood,” and “Trainspotting” are too innumerable to note.

However, the most glaring factor in “Freaky Tales” is how strange it feels as a theatrical experience. While there have been countless prestige miniseries from buzzy streaming services made in the last few years that could have been edited into much stronger films, “Freaky Tales” is the rare example of a narrative that would have been better suited for the small screen.

Spring is finally here, and you know what that means! It’s time to hit the theaters for some fresh, big-screen entertainment! April 2025 brings a mix of horror, adventure, nostalgia, and mind-bending thrillers, making it one of the most exciting months for movie lovers. Whether you’re into heart-pounding slashers, twisted psychological thrillers, or epic video game adaptations, we are here to jot down movies you can watch in theatres this April.

From the long-awaited A Minecraft Movie to nostalgic crime flicks like Freaky Tales, April is serving up serious variety. This month, expect everything from chilling slashers to adrenaline-fueled crime dramas, heartwarming adventures, and even a few surprises that’ll keep audiences talking. If you’ve been craving the cinematic experience, big screen, booming sound, and irreplaceable theater magic, this is your sign to grab your popcorn and get watching.

No matter your vibe, there’s a movie for you this month.

Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2024 Sundance Film Festival coverage. Freaky Tales opens in theaters on April 4 from Lionsgate.

Before the early-morning Sundance premiere of Freaky Tales, one of the festival’s programmers introduced the movie as an explosive, crazy ride that would surely wake an under-caffeinated audience. That same sentiment was shared moments later in the opening frames, promising that Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Oakland-based 1980s mosaic would be a “hella wild” ride. Like the common trope of freeze-frame narration that begins in media res, it’s a bold choice to tell––instead of show––your audience what they’re about to get into.

And what do you get into with Freaky Tales? Unfortunately, something clever, self-satisfied, and much sleepier than its predetermined adrenaline rush. Its filmmakers made their first splash at Sundance with Half Nelson in 2006, eventually compounding their indie success through...

Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck are back on the big screen with Freaky Tales, their biggest swing yet.

The longtime creative partners haven’t released a film since Captain Marvel grossed a cool $1.1 billion in 2019. The duo then went on to helm four episodes of the Cate Blanchett-led FX miniseries, Mrs. America, after promoting their MCU installment’s spring release that year. And by the time the political drama premiered in April 2020, Boden and Fleck were stuck inside like the rest of the global population, providing them with the bandwidth necessary to finally develop Fleck’s long-gestating passion project about his memories as an 11-year-old Oaklander in 1987. The film isn’t as semi-autobiographical as Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans or James Gray’s Armageddon Time, but it’s equally personal for Fleck.

The title of Freaky Tales is based on the “Freaky Tales” song by celebrated Oakland rapper, Too $hort,...

Freaky Tales directors Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden spoke with The Direct's Russ Milheim about the movie's insane cast and reminding the world that Nazis are no good.

The movie is an anthology film that follows a colorful set of characters in 1987 Oakland, CA, with its multiple storylines weaving in and out of each other in fun and interesting ways.

Freaky Tales' stacked cast includes iconic names such as Pedro Pascal, Ben Mendelsohn, Dominique Thorne (who The Direct has spoken to in the past), Tom Hanks, Angus Cloud, and more.

Read full article on The Direct.

Filmmaking duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck have kept busy since their 2019 foray into the world of big-budget Hollywood franchise filmmaking with their Brie Larson-starring MCU entry “Captain Marvel,” mostly turning their attention to the small screen, with directing gigs on “Mrs. America” and “Masters of the Air.” But for their first film back post-Marvel, they wanted to get a bit more personal.

How personal? Their raucous, wild “Freaky Tales” — which includes four interconnected stories, all set in Oakland in 1987 — is the result of not just years of dreaming, but entire decades. Oakland native Fleck has been wanting to make a film called “Freaky Tales” since he was a kid, a dream he drafted his long-time filmmaking partner into, oh, about 20 years ago.

The result is a multi-pronged anthology that serves as a love letter to a very specific time and place,as Boden and Fleck’s script weaves...

"Oakland was hella freaky." That's the tagline of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's California-hazy thriller Freaky Tales, a social-savvy anthology about 1987 Oakland—with a supernatural bent. The film loves to throw around the word "freaky," whether rap battles or wraparound narrations, but the film's problem is the overpromise of genre elements. Boden and Fleck tackle racism, Nazis, predatory law enforcement, and a host of other injustices throughout for stories connected by neon-green thunderbolts in the sky, but it's an exhaustingly flat marathon of inconsequentiality. Stories are desperately linear while genre elements make no sense in context, like a haphazard take on Tromaville that's somehow less sensical.

Freaky Tales is a story of punk rockers defending their concert venue, ice cream scoopers who dabble as verbal assassins, a debt collector pulled back into the business (Pedro Pascal), and NBA All-Star Sleepy Floyd (played by Jay Ellis). They're overlapping stories with interconnection spread like a web,...

Pedro Pascal as Clint in ‘Freaky Tales’ (Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lionsgate)

Freaky Tales opens with the declaration that Oakland in 1987 was wild. That sets the tone for the film’s four bizarre chapters, which play out like a web of interconnected urban myths shrouded in a mysterious green light. Freaky Tales is impossible to confuse with your typical 1980s film; it’s a twisted, fantastical trip back in time that blends comedy and exaggerated action with serious — and, unfortunately, timely — themes of racism, misogyny, and the power of community.

The first chapter, “Strength in Numbers,” plunges us into a confrontation between a violent Nazi gang and punk rockers. This intro chapter is like stepping into a gritty comic book or an ultra-violent, stylized adaptation of the classic Batman TV series. Freaky Tales finds a weird way to emphasize the stark moral difference between the punkers fighting hatred and the ridiculously evil Nazis.

Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Freaky Tales is an ode to 1987 Oakland rife with references to (and cameos by) various music and sports icons of the city’s underdog era. The film illustrates the eclecticism of Oakland via an anthology of four stories connected by little more than characters from each segment briefly occupying the same spaces as the narrative baton is handed off between teen punks, wannabe rappers, a thumb-breaking debt collector trying to go straight, and Golden State Warriors player Sleepy Floyd (Jay Ellis).

Nakedly wearing its cinematic influences on its sleeve, Freaky Tales suggests Pulp Fiction by way of Repo Man. In the first segment, “Strength in Numbers,” a trio of teenage punksters, high off of seeing The Lost Boys at the Grand Lake Theatre, go to the iconic all-ages music venue Gilman Street, where they catch a set from the punk band Operation Ivy. Throughout,...

The new poster for Freaky Tales designed by Tom Ralston reminds you to always bet on the underdog.

A pulpy blend of explosive action, edgy humor, gory kills, and sly twists, the genre-bending anthology hits theaters on April 4 from Lionsgate.

Executive produced by hip-hop pioneer Too $hort, the film is written and directed by Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck.

Set in 1987 Oakland, Freaky Tales is a multi-track mixtape of colorful characters — an NBA star, a corrupt cop, a female rap duo, teen punks, neo-Nazis, and a debt collector — on a collision course in a fever dream of showdowns and battles.

The ensemble cast includes Pedro Pascal, Ben Mendelsohn, Jay Ellis, Normani, Dominique Thorne, Jack Champion, Ji-young Yoo, Angus Cloud, and Tom Hanks.

Meagan Navarro wrote in her review out of Sundance, “There’s a bombastic charm to Freaky Tales that captures the essence of ‘80s action and genre cinema in a way that few manage.

“Freaky Tales” is a live-action anthology feature, written and directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, starring Pedro Pascal, Ben Mendelsohn, Jay Ellis, Normani, Dominique Thorne, Jack Champion, Ji-young Yoo, Angus Cloud, Keir Gilchrist, Marteen, Michael X. Sommers, Yong Kim, Michelle Farrah Huang and Too $hort, opening April 4, 2025 in theaters:

‘…set in 1987 Oakland, California, the film is a multi-track mixtape of colorful characters…

“…including an ‘NBA’ star, a corrupt cop, a female rap duo, teen punks and a debt collector…

“…on a collision course in a fever dream…

“…of showdowns and battles.”

Click the images to enlarge…...

Pedro Pascal and Jay Ellis are stepping out for the premiere of their new movie!

The two actors posed for photos on the black carpet at the premiere of Freaky Tales on Wednesday evening (March 19) in Oakland, Calif.

Fellow cast members at the premiere included Ben Mendelsohn, Jack Champion, Keir Gilchrist, Too $hort, Ji-young Yoo, Dominique Thorne, and Sleepy Floyd.

Writers and directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck were also in attendance.

Here’s the synopsis: “Set in 1987 Oakland, Freaky Tales is a multi-track mixtape of colorful characters — an NBA star, a corrupt cop, a female rap duo, teen punks, neo-Nazis, and a debt collector — on a collision course in a fever dream of showdowns and battles.”

Freaky Tales hits on April 4. Watch the trailer here!

Click through the gallery inside for 25+ pictures of the cast at the premiere…...

Lionsgate has released a new poster for Freaky Tales designed by artist Oliver Barrett.

A pulpy blend of explosive action, edgy humor, gory kills, and sly twists, the genre-bending anthology hits theaters on April 4.

Executive produced by hip-hop pioneer Too $hort, the film is written and directed by Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck.

Set in 1987 Oakland, Freaky Tales is a multi-track mixtape of colorful characters — an NBA star, a corrupt cop, a female rap duo, teen punks, neo-Nazis, and a debt collector — on a collision course in a fever dream of showdowns and battles.

The ensemble cast includes Pedro Pascal, Ben Mendelsohn, Jay Ellis, Normani, Dominique Thorne, Jack Champion, Ji-young Yoo, Angus Cloud, and Tom Hanks.

Meagan Navarro wrote in her review out of Sundance, ” There’s a bombastic charm to Freaky Tales that captures the essence of ‘80s action and genre cinema in a way that few manage. Its delightfully...

Lionsgate has debuted the trailer for the twisty action comedy ‘Freaky Tales.’

Set in 1987 Oakland, an NBA star, a corrupt cop, a female rap duo, teen punks, neo-Nazis, and a debt collector — on a collision course in a fever dream of showdowns and battles.

Directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, it is executive produced by hip-hop pioneer Too $hort. It features an all-star ensemble, including Pedro Pascal, Ben Mendelsohn, Jay Ellis, Normani, Dominique Thorne, Jack Champion, Ji-young Yoo, Angus Cloud, and Tom Hanks. This pulpy blend of explosive action, edgy humour, gory kills, and sly twists and turns makes for one wild ride.

Also in trailers – “You can’t just run…” Trailer lands for Apple TV+ series ‘Dope Thief’

The post “This underdog has seen his last day…” Trailer revealed for ‘Freaky Tales’ appeared first on HeyUGuys.

The trailer for Pedro Pascal‘s new movie has been released!

The 49-year-old SAG award winner stars in the action comedy flick Freaky Tales written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.

Here’s the synopsis: “Set in 1987 Oakland, Freaky Tales is a multi-track mixtape of colorful characters — an NBA star, a corrupt cop, a female rap duo, teen punks, neo-Nazis, and a debt collector — on a collision course in a fever dream of showdowns and battles.”

Keep reading to find out more…The cast also includes Ben Mendelsohn, Jay Ellis, Normani, Dominique Thorne, Jack Champion, Ji-young Yoo, Tom Hanks, and the late Angus Cloud in his final film role.

Find out when Pedro‘s hit HBO series The Last Of Us will return for season 2!

Freaky Tales will be released in theaters on April 4.