Photo by Chantal Anderson/The New York Times By JEREMY EGNER and ALEXIS SOLOSKI “Stranger Things” premiered in 2016 and immediately exploded. Created by Matt and Ross Duffer, the show’s infectious mix of homage and horror turned it into streaming TV’s first true megahit. For the youthful cast, sudden fame was its own kind of Upside Down, a place that resembled the real world but was disorienting and undeniably different. “You’re seeing things that other people aren’t necessar

The actor Udo Kier in Palm Springs, Calif., July 15, 2021. Kier, a German actor who played eccentric villains and bloodthirsty monsters over a six-decade career that included parts in films by the directors Gus Van Sant and Lars von Trier, died on Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, in Palm Springs, Calif. He was 81. (Ryan Pfluger/The New York Times) By JIN YU YOUNG Udo Kier, a German actor who played eccentric villains and bloodthirsty monsters over a six-decade career that included part

The country-pop musician Madi Diaz in Central Park in New York, Sept. 11, 2025. The singer and songwriter, based in Nashville, Tenn., has written songs for Maren Morris and toured with Harry Styles. Her new album, “Fatal Optimist,” was released in October. (OK McCausland/The New York Times) By MARISSA R. MOSS Madi Diaz was sure she’d do something eventually with the blue toilet, sink and bathtub that now sit idle in her driveway. “I bought them off Facebook Marketplace at 1 a

Jimmy Cliff performs in France in 2012. (Wikipedia/Thesupermat) By ALEX MARSHALL and ALEX WILLIAMS Jimmy Cliff, a onetime choirboy who emerged from the rough quarters of Kingston, Jamaica, riding a rebel spirit and a fierce sense of social justice to help make the supple, bobbing sounds of reggae a global phenomenon with songs including “You Can Get It If You Really Want” and “The Harder They Come,” has died. He was 81. Cliff’s wife, Latifa Chambers, announced his death in an

The biggest gamble is that the story, which takes place in a far future, is told from a Yautja’s perspective — specifically one named Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi). By ELISABETH VINCENTELLI This article contains minor spoilers for “Predator: Badlands.” When it comes to movie franchises, the “Predator” one has never been considered elite, despite a loyal fandom. It doesn’t have the cultural impact of “Star Wars,” the techno-goth aura of “Alien,” the Tom Cruiseness of “

Its story may revolve around Grace, but “Die My Love” revolves around Jennifer Lawrence, for whom this feels like a career-defining role — not that she really required one. By ALISSA WILKINSON A description is insufficient to describe some movies, and “Die My Love,” directed by Lynne Ramsay, is one of them. A young couple, Grace and Jackson, move to a house in the woods. They have a baby, and in the midst of fierce postpartum depression, Grace starts to lose her grasp on real

By JASON BAILEY ‘Sharp Corner’ (2025) This psychologically intense and often frightening character study starts innocuously enough, as middle manager Josh (Ben Foster), his wife, Rachel (Cobie Smulders), and their young son move from the city to a dream home in the suburbs. But their newfound bliss is punctured on the very first night by a horrible automobile accident in their front yard, thanks to a particularly dangerous curve that comes to consume Josh. Adapting a short st

By ROBERT DANIELS ‘11 Rebels’ Two things make a great samurai movie: expert staging and an unlikely hero. Both are present in Kazuya Shiraishi’s precisely crafted “11 Rebels,” set during the Japanese civil war in 1868. Its protagonist is Masa (Takayuki Yamada), a prisoner who is enlisted to defend a remote fort from the approaching imperial army. Because he was incarcerated for killing his wife’s rapist, a samurai, Masa struggles to fit in with the fort’s leader, Washio (Taig