Mike Flanagan, Summer H. Howell, and Samantha Sloyan Reinvent ‘Carrie’
Mike Flanagan, Summer H. Howell, and Samantha Sloyan on reinventing Stephen King’s most beloved horror story for Prime Video’s new adaptation.
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‘Once Upon a Time in the Middle East’ is China’s Anti-Imperialist Answer to the Iraq War Film
What immediately sets Once Upon A Time in the Middle East apart from a plethora of war dramas that deal with Southwest Asian conflicts is that not only is this from the Chinese perspective but that the villains are not the “jihadist terrorists” the western media had us fearing for decades. Instead, the villains are the U.S. military itself and with it, the ever-present claws of U.S. imperialism.
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How Eric Draven of ‘The Crow’ is an Advocate for Girls and Women
It’s seeing these conversations play out, feeling the warranted anger towards every perpetrator involved in this case, that I find myself thinking about a fictional male character who is a major advocate for girls and women: Eric Draven from the 1994 film, The Crow.
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NOC Week in Review #13: 9/26-10/2/2026
This week at the NOC: Dominic goes claws-out with Insomniac’s Wolverine game, Forgotten Island keeps the conversation going with a spoiler roundtable and a composer interview, Elijah hits the red carpet for Star Trek’s 60th-anniversary documentary, and the Dark Matter/Pearl Jam recaps continue.
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NOC Recaps ‘Dark Matter’ S2, E6: Waiting for Stevie
We pair “Present Tense” and “Waiting for Stevie” with Dark Matter’s latest hour, as Daniela searches for herself at a cabin, Jason starts chasing a life he never had, and Blair and Leighton dig up something big underground.
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On the Red Carpet for ‘The Sixty-Year Mission: How Star Trek Changed Television and the World’
We hit the red carpet at the premiere of The Sixty-Year Mission to talk with William Shatner, Terry Farrell, Nana Visitor, John de Lancie, and more about six decades of Star Trek’s legacy — and why the franchise still matters.
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Feeling the Music of ‘Forgotten Island’ with Composer Nathan Matthew David
We sat down with composer Nathan Matthew David to talk about scoring Forgotten Island — and how he drew on his own Filipino heritage, and a research trip back to the Philippines, to blend traditional folk music with modern synth pop for the film’s soundtrack.
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NOCs of the Roundtable Spoiler Review ‘Forgotten Island’
Lauren, Mike, Michael, and Swara review the latest film out now from DreamWorks, Forgotten Island, directed and written by Januel Mercado and Joel Crawford and starring H.E.R. and Liza Soberano
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NOC Review: The ‘Wolverine’ Game is a Haunted Story of Love and Death
We spent a full playthrough of Insomniac’s Wolverine, and like the Spider-Man games before it, the takeaway is simple: they nailed the X-Men — a gore-heavy brawler anchored by a genuinely haunted love story about grief, loss, and finding a reason to keep coming back to life.
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NOC Week in Review #12: 9/19-25/2026
This week at the NOC: Brad Bird gets a two-part deep dive for Ray Gunn, LAIKA opens its doors for Wildwood, Mike and Lauren hit a historic red carpet for Forgotten Island, LEGO Pokémon lands in L.A., and the Dark Matter/Pearl Jam recaps continue.
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A Historic Night at the ‘Forgotten Island’ World Premiere
We were there as Forgotten Island made history as the first film to world premiere at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art — and as the first Hollywood animated film centered on Filipino culture. We bring you our red carpet conversations with the cast and crew, including Jo Koy, H.E.R., Harvey Guillén, and directors Januel Mercado and Joel Crawford.
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NOC Recaps ‘Dark Matter’ S2, E5: Upper Hand
This week’s Dark Matter recap goes off-script in the best way, following an alternate Jason’s years-long detour through grief, family, and reluctant love — all set to Pearl Jam’s “Upper Hand.” We’re calling it one of the most moving episodes of genre TV we’ve seen all year.
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LEGO Pokémon Brings Its ‘SMART Play’ Experience To Los Angeles This Weekend
Pokémon celebrates its 30th Anniversary, and The LEGO Group is celebrating by launching the LEGO Pokémon SMART Play Experience in Los Angeles.
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Brad Bird and Michael Giacchino on the Long Road to ‘Ray Gunn’
Brad Bird and longtime collaborator Michael Giacchino open up about their decades-long creative partnership, the hand-drawn animation Bird still champions, and what it finally took to get Ray Gunn made.
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Inside the Making of ‘Ray Gunn’ and Brad Bird’s Vision of a Noir Future
Nearly 30 years in the making, Brad Bird’s Ray Gunn blends Buck Rogers pulp with Maltese Falcon-style noir, and we got an inside look at the character design, world-building, and cinematography behind it.
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The Filmmakers of LAIKA on Handcrafting ‘Wildwood’
We sat down with Wildwood’s costume designer, character FX lead, rapid prototyping director, production designer, and head of animation to talk puppets, invention, and the challenges of bringing LAIKA’s next film to life.
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NOC Week in Review #11: 9/12-18/2026
This week: Dark Matter’s Leighton breaks down his many faces, Tony Weaver Jr. on manga over Marvel and DC, Fast and Furious: Hollywood Drift’s supercharged media day, a Resident Evil review, a visit to LAIKA ahead of Wildwood, a summer of first-time horror watches, and a chat with Dominic Mah about his new novel JQK.
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Chris Butler, Peyton Elizabeth Lee, and Jacob Tremblay on How ‘Wildwood’ Found Its Voice
We caught up with Wildwood writer Chris Butler, along with stars Peyton Elizabeth Lee and Jacob Tremblay, to find out how LAIKA’s next film found its voice.
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NOC Recaps ‘Dark Matter’ S2, E4: Won’t Tell
Dark Matter episode four takes its cue from Pearl Jam’s “Won’t Tell,” and we dig into how the song’s themes of doubt and self-forgiveness echo through Jason2 and Amanda’s reconciliation, Leighton’s guilt, and Daniela and Jason’s crumbling retro-world marriage.
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Universal Creative VP Jon Corfino on Bringing ‘Fast and Furious: Hollywood Drift’ to Life
During Media Day for the opening of Fast and Furious: Hollywood Drift, we had the opportunity to speak with Jon Corfino, Vice President of Universal Creative at Universal Studios Hollywood.
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Witnessing the Wonders of ‘Wildwood’ at LAIKA Studios
We went behind the scenes at LAIKA’s Hillsboro, Oregon studio for an up-close look at how the artists, animators, and craftspeople behind Wildwood are bringing Portland’s own enchanted forest to stop-motion life.
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Why Tony Weaver Jr. Chose Manga Over Marvel and DC
In this special NOC Conversation, we sat down with Tony Weaver Jr. to talk about the stories that shaped him, the power of representation, Black boyhood and masculinity, and why young people deserve the freedom to discover who they are beyond the expectations placed on them.
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Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ Stays True to the Games Without Faithfully Adapting Them
After six films and one reboot, Sony Pictures gave the iconic video game franchise another chance, this time by handing the reins to Zach Cregger and letting him approach Resident Evil less as a direct adaptation and more as a survival-horror experience.
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