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| Movie review: 'I Play Rocky' finds comedy in Stallone underdog triumph | I Play Rocky, playing early access screenings Sunday and Wednesday, uses many familiar techniques of biopic shorthand to tell the story of how Sylvester Stallone wrote and made Rocky. It succeeds by emphasizing the comedic nature of all the forces conspiring against him. In the early '70s, Sylvester Stallone (Anthony Ippolito) is a struggling actor working at a movie theater. He meets Sasha (AnnaSophia Robb) at the theater and she encourages him to write a screenplay for himself. Once they move to Los Angeles, Stallone writes eight scripts, including some he would make after Rocky. But he gets the Rocky script to producers Irwin Winkler (P.J. Byrne) and Robert Chartoff (Toby Kebbell). |
| 'Harry Potter' series casts Sorting Hat, Nearly Headless Nick and more | HBO is adding five to the cast of its upcoming Harry Potter series. The network announced new cast members David Threlfall, Leo Bill, Laura Smyth, Andrew Brooke and Daniel Fearn on Friday. Threlfall (Shameless) will voice the Sorting Hat, the sentient magical hat that determines which of the four houses new students will join at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Bill will portray friendly ghost Nearly Headless Nick, with Brooke as the intimidating Bloody Baron and Fearn as the warm-hearted Fat Friar. Smyth will play the Fat Lady, the witch who appears in the painting at the entrance of Gryffindor Tower. |
| 'Haunted Hotel': Will Forte animated series renewed for Season 3 | Haunted Hotel will return for a third season on Netflix. The streaming service announced the show's Season 3 renewal Friday ahead of Halloween. Haunted Hotel is an animated supernatural comedy series created by Matt Roller and featuring the voices of Will Forte, Eliza Coupe, Skyler Gisondo, Natalie Palamides and Jimmi Simpson. Coupe stars as Katherine Freeling, a recent divorcee and mother of two (Gisondo, Palamides) who takes over the haunted Undervale Hotel in Upstate New York with the help of its former owner -- her late brother, Nathan (Forte), now a ghost. Simpson voices Abaddon, a demon trapped in the body of an 18th-century boy. Haunted Hotel originally premiered on Netflix in September 2025 and released its second season Oct. 9. |
| 'Death Stranding Isolations' teaser introduces Disney+ anime series | Disney+ is introducing the new series Death Stranding Isolations. The streaming service shared a teaser trailer for the show Thursday ahead of its 2027 premiere. Death Stranding Isolations is an anime series inspired by the 2019 video game Death Stranding and its 2025 sequel, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, from famed Japanese game writer, director and producer Hideo Kojima. The Isolations teaser returns viewers to a post-apocalyptic world where survivors must evade "beached things," ghost-like beings known as BTs, and "timefall," harmful rain that accelerates aging. The preview shows a blonde girl waking up from a nightmare where she is consumed by a monstrous pool of tar. |
| Sombr, Raye, Megan Moroney among stars at TIME100 Next gala | Sombr, Raye and other rising stars stepped out Thursday at the TIME100 Next gala. The singer-songwriters, who are both previous Grammy Best New Artist nominees, attended the event at Current at Pier 59 in New York City. The TIME100 Next gala honors emerging stars in entertainment, sports, politics and more. Other honorees included music artists Megan Moroney and Alex Warren, actors Joey King, Yerin Ha, Chloe Fineman and Isa Briones, and athlete Tyrese Maxey. In a toast, Warren recalled how his late father always supported and encouraged him, and shared how music brought him comfort and purpose. |