Blonde will, after all, be seen primarily by people at home via Netflix, and the movie’s grim and gorgeously-shot story is shaping up to be a critical lightning rod, bringing it all sorts of added attention. But will it bring more prestige to the NC-17 rating’s long and controversial legacy? Below is a small collection of the most infamous—and therefore must-see—NC-17 movies. Henry & June (1991) It’s fitting that the first film to receive the NC-17 rating was, technically like the largely fictionalized Blonde, a biopic....

And on a location shoot for a Robert Eggers movie, Skarsgård doesn’t have to try too hard to live in that moment. After all, he and all the other actors on that vessel are riding a genuine bow-to-stern recreation of the iconic Viking longship. Even the nails hammered in to keep the boards together are true to archaic Norsemen custom. Again, this is a Robert Eggers movie. “His attention to detail is extraordinary,” Skarsgård muses when we catch up with him ahead of The Northman’s release, “to the point where not only the longship but a smaller vessel that was used for transporting goods that you’d see deep in the background, way out to sea [was also authentic]....

The first official case for young Enola Holmes (Millie Bobby Brown) starts with a missing girl: factory worker named Sarah Chapman (Hannah Dodd). But as Enola tugs at all the loose threads, she discovers mounting evidence—a missing page from the factory books, a suspicious surge of typhus, a scandalous romance—that draws the attention of the factory’s owners, Scotland Yard, and even her brother Sherlock (Henry Cavill). It all culminates in Sarah, her sister Bessie (Serrana Su-Ling Bliss), and the other factory girls going on strike—a real-life event which grounded the movie’s events in a sense of historical context....

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power wraps up its first season with a barn-burner of a finale, an episode packed with action, magical jewelry, high emotional stakes, and frequently unbearable tension. And while “Alloyed” doesn’t manage to close the book on every outstanding plot thread from the series’ first season, the hour does give us a ton of answers to many of season 1’s biggest questions, while leaving us plenty of new plot twists to ruminate over during the wait for season 2....

The Shannara Chronicles Season 2 Episodes 5 & 6 The following paragraph is a public service announcement brought to you by the National Committee To Let Everyone Know Why The Shannara Chronicles Is Getting Double Episode Airings Every Week On Spike TV Now. Hello out there in TV land! It’s me, the a**hole who covers The Shannara Chronicles for Den of Geek. You may remember me from such scathing reviews as “Wraith”, or as being that one guy who calls it Sha-nay-nay and thinks he’s being clever....

The annual Halloween specials draw their inspiration from many sources. Some are ripped from the pages of great books of literature, others are ripoffs of classic films. The long-running series also ventures deep into other dimensions of sound, sight, and mind, of shadow and substance, things and ideas. The Simpsons are cultural and their “Treehouse of Horror” segments are cannibalistic. So, grab an empty sack, here are some instances where the series fed on the culture they feed....

The Simpsons Season 33 Episode 15 The Simpsons season 33 episode 15, “Bart the Cool Kid” takes on schoolyard peer pressure and conspicuous consumption, best exemplified by footwear fads. Everyone can identify with the public humiliation of walking hallways in shitty sneakers. “You can’t record me, I’m recording you.” This is the second week in row The Simpsons has plumbed viral videos for content. Ralphie, who first sets the standard for the style, comes to school in genuine, “SLIPREME” sneakers....

The Simpsons Season 34 Episode 9 When The Simpsons brings back old characters for new scenarios, the series commits. “When Nelson Met Lisa” is a future episode which hits all the beats of When Harry Met Sally while capably translating it to the recognizable world of the characters of Lisa and Nelson. It also dips deep for a secondary character to highlight. Hubert Wong (Simu Liu) was introduced in a “Treehouse of Horrors” episode, has been fairly quiet when not being falsely accused of cheating, and now comes back to haunt the future episodes....

The Simpsons Season 34 Episode 10 The Simpsons plays to all its strengths in “Game Done Changed.” The episode acts on the title to expand their visual representation while presenting two fully-realized, original storylines set firmly in the now. The Simpson family unit turns in a magical cautionary tale, and Bart shows Principal Skinner how to throw caution to the wind. The rest of us get an education on the finer uses of desktop computers....

The Simpsons Season 33 Episode 2 Wow, how The Simpsons have fallen. It seems like only season 8’s “Lisa’s Date with Density” since Homer practically invented robocall scams, and now that Grandpa gets the episodic titular call “Bart’s in Jail!” they want us to feel bad about it. The Simpsons family is partially to blame, and they don’t get off so easily. The last time they pulled something like this, Homer had to call everyone he harmed, personally, and apologize....

Though The Walking Dead season 11 episode 16 “Acts of God” isn’t the series finale for the long-running zombie series, it is the final iteration of something significant. As AMC’s marketing material continuously points out, this episode is the last “mid-season finale” The Walking Dead will ever have. Though many, many, many, many spinoffs and side projects are on the way in Robert Kirkman’s zombie world, “Acts of God” represents the last time the flagship series will get to introduce a cliffhanger for a new batch of episodes....

The Watch Episode 4 “Twilight Canyons” embraces The Watch’s theme of being “inspired by,” but not adapting, Pratchett’s Discworld novels through its blink-or-you’ll-miss-it references to several of the books less closely related to the adventures of Vimes and company. In that, it progresses its own plot much further, and only delves into the over-the-top silliness of the previous episode briefly, making it feel as though this series may come into its own in the next few episodes....

The Watch Episode 5 After a funny, enjoyable episode 4, in which The Watch finally got the upper hand, episode 5 shows Captain Sam Vimes taking the decision of whether or not anyone should be able to control the dragon plaguing the city into his own hands. After lying to the other members of the Watch, he takes Wayne the talking sword off to a lake where Unseen University disposes of dangerous magical artifacts, fully intent on destroying the sword himself and keeping the rest of his team from sharing the blame....

Titans Episode 6 Titans has been a somewhat schizophrenic show through its first half, and “Jason Todd” does nothing to really dispel that impression. Among other things, it’s the second diversionary episode of the last three. We had the Doom Patrol backdoor pilot in episode 4 (which was great), followed by a “back on track” episode to get the team properly together, but here we are in episode six, allowing the team to take a backseat yet again for more of Dick Grayson’s story and the introduction of Jason Todd....

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix Type: NovelPublisher: BerkleyRelease date: July 13 Den of Geek says: This bloody play on horror tropes sounds like it channels the spirit of The Cabin in the Woods. Publisher’s summary: Like his bestselling novel The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, Grady Hendrix’s latest is a fast-paced, frightening, and wickedly humorous thriller. From chain saws to summer camp slayers, The Final Girl Support Group pays tribute to and slyly subverts our most popular horror films—movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream....

Drunk on All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson Type: NovelPublisher: TordotcomRelease date: June 28 Den of Geek says: A human linguist working among aliens is an interesting enough story on its own, and this one looks like it’s taking the Douglas Adams approach with humor and fun. Publisher’s summary: Lydia works as translator for the Logi cultural attaché to Earth. They work well together, even if the act of translating his thoughts into English makes her somewhat wobbly on her feet....

“For the first time ever, Transformer bots have been born on Earth.”While hardcore fans may rush to find examples of Transformers coming to life on Earth in past series, EarthSpark looks to be doing something completely different with the characters of Twitch and Thrash. The trailer makes it clear that they’re born on Earth but we don’t know why yet. What power source lead to their creation and what does it mean for the overall story of the series?...

It was the moment fans have been waiting for ever since they announced a Venom movie way back in the day: the big gooey black monster we call Venom is now sharing a scene with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. Kind of. It’s still a bit confusing how we got there, but there’s no doubt that the implications for the Marvel Cinematic Universe are earth-shattering. Or is that multiverse-shattering? To recap, after Tom Hardy’s Venom made a tasty meal out of Cletus Kasady’s brains, Eddie and the oozy one decided to celebrate by taking some desperately needed rest and relaxation....

A booming naval salute to Vigil, which marks the return of the Sunday night BBC One drama after a long absence for reasons of football, Olympics, and allegedly, summer sunshine. From the writer of BBC detective series Strike, this thriller is just the thing to take us into autumn. It has it all: peril, intrigue, murder, Suranne Jones being winched from a helicopter onto a submarine like a prize toy in an arcade claw machine, and a conspiracy that (likely) goes all the way to the heart of the top of the uppermost ridge of the establishment....

Vikings bowed out on a beautiful scene that evoked both the quiet victory of love and friendship over savage human nature, and the endless, rolling seas of the uncharted future. Floki and Ubbe sat together on a far-flung New World beach – as westward as any two Vikings had ever travelled – reflecting on their lives and lots. They basked in the warmth of each other as much in the glow of the sun, and then watched in enraptured silence as the sun slowly set in the… east?...