By Jason Collins
| Published 1 day ago

Streaming platforms have become the perfect place for forgotten box office disappointments to find a second chance, introducing overlooked films to audiences who may have missed them the first time around. More than two decades after its theatrical failure, Charlize Theron‘s 2002 thriller Trapped remains a prime example of how an underperforming release can still generate renewed interest years later.

Charlize Theron In Trapped

For the uninitiated, Trapped is a 2002 crime thriller based on Greg Iles’ bestselling novel 24 Hours. The film follows a wealthy couple whose young daughter is kidnapped by a ruthless criminal and his wife as part of an elaborate ransom scheme, forcing them into a desperate fight to save her.

Directed by Luis Mandoki, the film stars Charlize Theron, Courtney Love, Stuart Townsend, Kevin Bacon, Dakota Fanning, and Pruitt Taylor Vince.

A Critical And Commercial Failure Upon Release

It’s hard to pinpoint what sparked renewed interest in Trapped, especially considering the film was anything but a success when it hit theaters in 2002.

Despite an ensemble cast led by Charlize Theron and Kevin Bacon, Trapped was a box office disappointment, earning just $13 million worldwide against an estimated $30 million production budget.

The critical response wasn’t much better. Trapped currently holds a 17% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes alongside a 48% audience score. Many critics dismissed Trapped as a manipulative thriller, arguing that its constant attempts to raise the stakes felt manufactured rather than genuinely suspenseful.

Despite its disappointing box office returns and critical reception, Trapped received multiple home video releases over the years, largely due to the enduring popularity of its cast.

One Of Many Overlooked Thrillers

It’s somewhat surprising that Trapped managed to resurface at all.

The early 2000s were overflowing with mid-budget thrillers, back when studios routinely greenlit standalone crime dramas instead of pouring resources into blockbuster franchises. With so many similar releases competing for attention, it would have been easy for Trapped to disappear into obscurity.

Instead, it proved that forgotten movies sometimes have a way of washing back ashore, where they’re promptly poked with sticks by curious children.

Didn’t Impact Charlize Theron’s Career

For years, Trapped was overshadowed by more successful crime thrillers from the era, including Along Came a Spider and Enough. Yet, like many overlooked studio releases from the early 2000s, it has gradually found a new audience willing to revisit and reevaluate it.

Fortunately, the film’s disappointing performance had little impact on the careers of Charlize Theron and Kevin Bacon. Both went on to star in numerous high-profile projects, proving that one box office flop was hardly enough to slow either actor’s momentum.

Though Trapped was largely forgotten after its disappointing theatrical run, it remains an interesting snapshot of the wave of mid-budget crime thrillers that defined the early 2000s. For fans of the genre, it’s a worthwhile curiosity that’s easier to appreciate today than it was upon release.

As of this writing, Trapped is streaming for free on Pluto TV, and available to rent or purchase on-demand through YouTube, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, and Fandango.

By Robert Scucci
| Published 21 hours ago

In my adult life, there’s nothing worse than being forced onto side quests. You run to the grocery store, but while you’re out your car tells you that you have to check your tire pressure. You go to do that and realize a tail light is out, so you head to the auto parts store for a replacement bulb. You finally get home, only to discover you need a proprietary tool to access the rear lights. But you bought the car second-hand, this is the first time you’ve had to change the tail light, and now you have to figure out how to access it.

The feeling I get when this happens reminds me of 2000’s Poor White Trash, which starts out with simple petty theft before turning into an entire fiasco involving the whole town as our heroes decide to rob a bunch of trailer homes in the most incompetent fashion imaginable. There are so many side characters in Poor White Trash, too many to fully unpack here, but they’re also the reason this flick is such a great comedy of errors. Just when you think things can’t get any crazier, they always do.

Things Get Crazy In Poor White Trash

Poor White Trash wastes no time getting Mike (Tony Denman) and Lennie (Jacob Tierney) into trouble, and their adventure begins with stealing non-alcoholic beer from a local convenience store. While trying to rob the store, Lennie, who’s also a pyromaniac, accidentally blows up a car parked out front, injuring the owner in the process. The explosion was only meant to be a distraction before things got out of hand. They both get arrested and get off relatively easy as first-time offenders, but in order to make sure their lives aren’t ruined, they need to raise money for a competent lawyer before their next court hearing.

Mike wants to go to college so he can escape his trailer park upbringing, while Lennie is perfectly content going to trucking school and celebrating a blue-collar lifestyle. Realizing neither of them has much of a shot at moving forward until they get past this obstacle, they decide to rob cheap jewelry from neighboring trailer homes, hoping they can raise enough money to hire Ron, Lennie’s criminal grandfather, to represent them.

Sitting on the sidelines at first is Mike’s mother, Linda (Sean Young), who feels trapped in her own life after ruining her nursing career years earlier through her own reckless, youthful behavior.

While Linda doesn’t approve of the antics that landed Mike and Lennie in trouble in the first place, she refuses to let her son enter adult life at a disadvantage. Her wannabe pro-wrestler ex-husband Jim (Bob Koherr) doesn’t seem to care about Mike, or the fact that Linda has a relationship with a much younger man named Brian (Jason London), who just so happens to be the son of Sheriff Ross (Doug MacHugh), and also just so happens to be hung up on Sandy (Jaime Pressly), who just so happens to be dating Ron, complicating matters further than any sane person could reasonably imagine.

Total Insanity By The Third Act

The above rundown of Poor White Trash made me nauseous because it’s just too many names to keep straight. What’s even more anxiety-inducing is the fact that every single one of these characters pushes Mike, Lennie, and Linda’s adventure into completely unhinged territory. As all these side characters are introduced, our heroes graduate to robbing nursing homes and fast food restaurants, racking up a serious amount of dough while somehow evading authorities, even though they’re incredibly bad at what they do and, at one point, simply wear underwear over their faces to conceal their identities.

As Poor White Trash transforms into an all-out trailer park melee unlike anything you’ve ever seen, all I can say is, “Strap in and enjoy the ride,” because this movie never truly lets up. It’s low-brow humor executed with sophistication, allowing the more slapstick elements to land because the situational humor is so smart in the way it compounds and becomes increasingly overwhelming without ever making the viewer lose the plot.

Poor White Trash is rude, crude, and has just the right amount of ‘tude to be the perfect crime comedy to watch on a lazy summer day. It’s silly, it’s sexy, and somehow, everybody gets what they deserve … kind of.

To witness the spectacle, the drama, the fireworks, and the mayhem, you can stream Poor White Trash for free on Tubi as of this writing.

By Chris Snellgrove
| Updated 21 hours ago

Among fans and Hollywood execs alike, “reboot” has become something of a dirty word. After all, you can throw a rock and easily hit one of countless terrible reboots. The new Nightmare on Elm Street (2010), for example, had none of the demented fun of the original movies, and audiences hated it. Psycho (1998). The Thing (2011) was such an unnecessary prequel that even putting Ramona Flowers in it couldn’t get fans to care about this film. And The Fantastic Four (2015) lacked the charisma of the earlier two movies, quickly establishing itself as one of the worst superhero films ever made.

What do all of these reboots have in common? Simple: they failed to attract new fans while driving away older fans, ultimately damaging the brand in a lasting way. Nobody is more aware of the dangers of reboots than Kevin Feige, who previously called reboot “a scary word” and who prefers to call his own upcoming MCU reboot a “reset.” Now, in a recent statement, Feige has clarified some of what we can expect to happen after Avengers: Secret Wars. “It will establish a streamlined, simplified, single universe that we can keep up with.”

Reboot Or Reset?

From the outside looking in, Kevin Feige’s comments about the post-Secret Wars MCU seem contradictory. He previously confirmed that the MCU would be getting a reboot, but noted that he preferred the term “reset.” Now, in a recent interview with Joshua Horowitz, he denied that there would be a reboot and suggested fans read Jonathan Hickman’s 2015 Secret Wars comic because it provides “a nice roadmap to where we can go.” So, how is the universe resetting but not rebooting? In a statement made to Chinese media, Feige has squared the circle, promising the MCU would “establish a streamlined, simplified, single universe that we can keep up with. Some things will be familiar, but many, many things will be entirely new.”

What does all of this mean? Regarding “reboot,” it seems Feige is avoiding this word for two reasons. First, as outlined above, most reboots are awful, and audiences have come to rightfully fear them. Second, this isn’t a complete reboot in the traditional sense. Marvel isn’t going to recast every single role or dramatically change the kinds of stories they tell. That means you shouldn’t expect the kind of major transformation we got from the Battlestar Galactica television reboot or the Star Trek (2009) cinematic reboot. Instead, we’re getting a reset that keeps most of what we know and love while tweaking things just enough to keep the movies fresh.

The World’s Worst-Kept Secret

That brings us back to Hickman’s Secret Wars comic. That tale deals with our heroes trying and failing to stop realities from colliding with one another. After they fall, Doom rebuilds the entire multiverse into a single reality that he is the ruler of. Eventually, he is defeated, and we are left with a new reality that is mostly very recognizable to fans. However, it’s got a few new continuity tweaks. For example, Miles Morales, who was originally from a different universe, is now part of the familiar 616 universe. Furthermore, future writers had license to make more tweaks as needed, all of which are retroactively explained by Secret Wars.

What does this mean for the MCU? More or less, the exact same thing will happen. Our heroes will lose in Avengers: Doomsday and be reborn in Doom’s weird Battleworld in Avengers: Secret Wars. Once he is defeated, we’ll have a unified multiverse that allows popular multiversal characters (like Deadpool and the Fantastic Four) to become a permanent part of the MCU. It also paves the way for popular characters played by aging actors (like Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor) to be recast. Mostly, the reset of Secret Wars will make it easier to add the X-Men to the mix without screwing up too much existing continuity.

Why are the X-Men so important? They are arguably the most famous superhero group in history, and Kevin Feige is betting big on these merry mutants being the cornerstone of his new, hopefully improved MCU. Now, the reset news isn’t all that surprising; it’s what myself and countless others predicted as soon as the title dropped for Avengers: Secret Wars. However, it’s cool to hear the big guy basically confirm what’s about to happen. Plus, given how much everyone has loved X-Men ‘97, it’s safe to say the entire fandom is ready to see these guys optic blast their way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.