By TeeJay Small
| Updated 1 second ago

Since The Simpsons first kicked off back in 1989, couch gags have been an iconic episode-opening staple. Over the years, the team behind the show has collaborated with numerous writers, animators, and artists, creating surprising crossovers with other popular works. While every couch gag holds a special place in my heart, I’d argue that the most memorable iteration came from 2010’s “MoneyBart,” as part of a collaboration with the cryptic political artist Banksy.

Even if you’re not familiar with Banksy by name, you’ve surely crossed paths with his work. The anonymous British artist has delivered numerous thought-provoking pieces, often providing some cutting social commentary or political undertone. He’s about as anti-establishment as an artist can be, so you can understand why it came as a shock when he agreed to collaborate with one of the most well-known cartoons in the history of the world. After all, tagging your name on a Fox branded series doesn’t exactly scream “down with capitalism.”

A brief glance at the intro sequence, which has been making the rounds on social media lately, will quickly clear up any questions you might have about Banksy’s agenda. Rather than using the platform to deliver a fun, simple gag about the yellow family kicking their feet up in front of the TV, Banksy offered an extremely dark critique of the animation industry, the network, and the nature of mass-produced art on the whole. The full gag is nearly two minutes in length, but it feels like a lifetime as you watch in twisted horror at the scathing repudiation of mainstream television.

Not Your Average Couch Gag

The couch gag opens on the usual cloud-first drop into Springfield, but quickly goes off the rails. As soon as the Simpson family takes to the couch, we zoom out to see individual cartoon frames being animated in an Asian sweatshop. Miserable workers toil in squalid conditions, as children paste the film together using vats of toxic waste. Beneath the sweatshop, we see that Simpsons merchandise is made under similar soul-crushing conditions, with adorable kittens being woodchippered to stuff mass-produced Bart plushies.

Other instances of animal abuse are rampant in the supply chain, with panda bears being whipped, decapitated dolphins applying packing tape, and a shackled, sickly unicorn used as a crude method of cutting DVDs to size. The whole thing is deeply disturbing, uncomfortably funny, and uniquely self-reflective, even by Simpsons standards. It all wraps up with a 20th Century Fox logo surrounded by barbed wire fences and dystopian watchtowers, à la George Orwell‘s 1984.

Series executive producer and longtime showrunner Al Jean described the process of linking up with Banksy during a 2010 interview with The New York Times, and revealed the ways in which Fox was apprehensive about airing the segment. Despite arguing that “Fox has been very gracious about us biting the hand that feeds us,” Jean explained that the network demanded several changes “for taste.” When asked what specifically was cut before the segment made it to air, the Harvard alumnus said, “It was even a little sadder. But I would have to say almost all of it stayed in. We were thrilled. It was funny, I watched Mad Men last night, and I wondered if this was my Don Draper letter to The New York Times. I knew just how he felt.”

The original storyboards for the couch gag are available to view on Banksy.blog, so you can see for yourself exactly what was changed before animation. The most notable change is the absence of the propaganda poster depicting Fox founder Rupert Murdoch. Al Jean claims that axing the jab toward Murdoch was the only non-negotiable point for the network, while he himself objected to the unicorn dying on camera.

Luckily, the episode eventually made it to air without any serious threats of cancellation, and Al Jean still works as a writer and producer on The Simpsons to this day. Still, it seems unlikely that Disney will allow any returning Banksy collabs of this sort in the near future.

By TeeJay Small
| Published 1 hour ago

When Jordan Peele first hung up his hat as a comedy sketch performer, I mourned like I was losing a personal friend. I couldn’t believe that one half of the comedic duo behind Key & Peele would make a career pivot that would deprive the world of such abject hilarity. Then, when Peele began churning out horror films such as Get Out and Us, I was forced to humbly accept that the filmmaker had grown into a career that eclipsed sketch comedy entirely. To paraphrase a line from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Jordan Peele is no longer going for laughs… he’s going for gasps.

One of Peele’s latest and greatest efforts, Nope, is currently streaming on Netflix. The film blends science fiction, western noir, horror, and a few moments of dark comedy into a near-perfect concoction of distilled creativity unlike anything I’ve ever seen. His own list of influences that inspired this movie includes heavy hitters like The Wizard of Oz, Jaws, Jurassic Park, and M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs.

Horses, Clouds, And A Failing Business

In case you haven’t seen it yet, Nope follows a pair of siblings named OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) and Emerald (Keke Palmer) as they take on the family ranching business. Their family has been training and loaning horses for film productions since the earliest days of moving pictures, though the rise of CGI is causing business to slow significantly. To make matters worse, their father, played by a criminally underrated Keith David, drops dead after a mysterious freak accident causes metallic objects to fall from the sky.

Just across the ridge, a former child star named Ricky “Jupe” Park (Steven Yeun) is opening up an old West-themed amusement park, where he plans to put up rides, games, and put on nightly shows for visiting families. Park insists on buying off OJ and Emerald’s horses, though the siblings refuse to shut down their family business. As the neighbors go back and forth, they come to realize something strange is haunting their rural area, leading them on a wild goose chase against a mysterious cloud.

A Bona Fide Modern Sci-Fi Horror Classic

Nope is the kind of movie that works best when you go in completely blind, so I’m going to try to keep everything else as vague as possible. Suffice it to say, the movie monster that arrives in the latter half of the film is so creatively dreamed up, it can’t be compared to anything I’ve ever seen committed to the big screen. This movie has Keke Palmer exuding pure, unadulterated charisma; it has horseback combat against an otherworldly beast, it has a killer ape on a rampage, it has a live-action Akira motorcycle slide done to absolute perfection. Are you not entertained?

For my money, Nope might be among the best movies on the entire Netflix platform. It currently touts an 83 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, and numerous accolades as one of the best horror films of the 21st century. Pound for pound, I’d still put Get Out just a little higher on my list of Jordan Peele flicks, but, perhaps quixotically, I actually like Daniel Kaluuya’s performance in Nope better. This one is a must-watch, especially if you never had the chance to see it in theaters.

By Nina Phillips
| Published 58 seconds ago

Psychological horrors are all well and good, but sometimes you need something that disturbs you immediately, and leaves you feeling disquieted long after the film is over. If that’s what you’re looking for, the Korean “zombie” movie, 2016’s The Wailing, is just the film. It keeps you guessing every step of the way with its complicated storyline.

Heats Up Quickly And Never Lets Up

The Wailing focuses on a policeman, Officer Jong-goo (Kwak Do-won), in a remote village in Korea. Shortly after a mysterious Japanese man enters the village, some strange infection breaks out in the area, leaving villagers who contract it deranged and murderous. Many end up killing their families in a fit of rage. Jong-goo’s daughter, Hyo-jin (Kim Hwan-hee) ends up becoming one of the infected. Growing desperate, Jong-goo starts to target the Japanese man (Jun Kunimura) after a local hunter and the mysterious Moo-myeong (Chun Woo-hee) tell him about some of the man’s strange behaviors.

Working with a deacon, Yang I-sam (Kim Do-yoon), and a shaman, Il-gwang (Hwang Jung-min), Jong-goo works hard to save his daughter and stop evil from taking over his village, if only he could find out how.

Na Hong-jin’s Past And Future Work

The original name of The Wailing is Gokseong in Korean. Those who watched the film might have noticed that this is the name of the village. However, in Korean, the word also means “wail.” Both commercially and critically, The Wailing was considered a success. On Rotten Tomatoes, critics gave the movie an impressive average score of 99 percent. Audience members enjoyed the movie as well, giving it an 81 percent.

Na Hong-jin was both the writer and director for The Wailing, which was his third feature film. He has done a few other impressive movies as well, including The Chaser, The Medium, and The Yellow Sea.

Na Hong-jin is also the writer for another film, Hope, whihc saw its Cannes release on May 17, 2026, followed by its South Korean debut on July 15. It has a similar premise to The Wailing: “A mysterious discovery is made on the outskirts of the remote harbor town. The residents find themselves in a desperate fight for survival against something they have never encountered before.”

With the plot sounding so similar, it will be interesting to see how the director spins his new film to make it different from The Wailing. With no official stateside release date yet, though, fans of this director will have to wait a little longer to access the film through streaming or on-demand viewing.

A Cut Above Your Average Zombie Movie

The Wailing is full of twists and turns as you go along with Jong-goo to learn who the real villain is. The twists sometimes make for a confusing story that not all audience members will be able to follow along with. Still, those who managed to follow along, or understood all of the twists later, found the story interesting and detailed, with some parts left open so viewers could decide for themselves what happened.

Most interestingly, The Wailing appears to be a zombie movie right off the bat, setting it up for undead creatures. However, as viewers continue watching, they realize that isn’t quite right, and that there’s much more going on under the surface. It covers several different genres of stories but focuses heavily on Christian themes, such as demons and angels.

If you want to watch this disturbing movie for yourself, The Wailing is currently streaming for free though Xumo Play, Sling TV, and Philo. For those always on the hunt for new horror movies, this movie did so well that it was included in Letterboxd’s top 250 horror films.