Hit Man
Out 7 June, Netflix
Stars: Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio
Gary Johnson (Powell) is a college professor who also works as a part-time IT guy for the New Orleans Police Department. One day, an undercover cop, who specialises in catching criminals that hire assassins, gets suspended. The nerdy Johnson is then drafted in to take over in a sting operation – and unexpectedly excels in the role. Adeptly posing as a hitman behind multiple disguises, Johnson is enjoying his side-hustle “performances”. That is, until he meets a drop-dead gorgeous woman (Arjona) who wants her abusive husband dead.
Glen Powell: Who is your Hit Man?
Having flown under the radar until 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, the 35-year-old is arguably the hottest new leading man in Hollywood right now, after the surprise success of Anyone But You.
Glen Powell, whom one might assume is the same brash and devilishly good-looking macho man he played in Top Gun: Maverick, could have been typecast as a pilot.
In 2022, when he appeared as a Tom Cruise’s flyboy student at the Top Gun flight school, Powell was also seen playing a fighter pilot in the period war drama Devotion. In 2016’s Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures, Powell portrayed the fighter pilot-turned-astronaut John Glenn.
In fact, Powell does have a pilot’s licence in real life, after his co-star Cruise paid for him to attend flight school following the wrap of the movie.
Powell’s day job, however, is primarily as an actor. And now a writer and producer as well.
Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Powell was a high school athlete who first started acting in Robert Rodriguez’s 2003 family comedy, Spy Kids 3: Game Over. In 2007, he attracted the attention of Denzel Washington, who directed him in The Great Debaters.
He went on to have minor roles in The Dark Knight Rises (2012), The Expendables 3 (2014) and Ride Along 2 (2016), before a more prominent role in Richard Linklater’s teen comedy, Everybody Wants Some!!
Even though he appeared in a well-received rom-com, Set It Up, in 2018, Powell would not make it big until more recent times, when he followed up Top Gun: Maverick with the surprise box-office hit of 2023, Anyone But You, opposite Sydney Sweeney.
His star power as a leading man proven, Powell can next be seen in Linklater’s Hit Man, a film he co-wrote and co-produced, and Twisters, a sequel to the 1996 disaster thriller Twister.
The Chosen One
Out in cinemas now (available at Shaw Theatres)
Stars: Zong Zijie, Angel Lim, Gurmit Singh
Ah Jie (Zong) is a young ruffian who associates with the wrong crowd and often gets into fights. He also has a hidden gift – he is able to see dead people and exorcise ghosts. After others, such as Master Bai Yun (Singh), discover his gift, they pester the reluctant Ah Jie to use it and take on the role of a “ghost master”. Things come to a head when paranormal investigator Sora (Lim) begins recording strange goings-on in the neighbourhood, and Ah Jie is forced to decide if he should use his powers for good, or continue along his wayward path.
SAFRA members enjoy special discounts on MovieMax Member rates and Combo Sets at Shaw Theatres. For more info, go to safra.sg/promotions/shaw-theatres
The Watchers
Out in cinemas now (available at Shaw Theatres)
Stars: Dakota Fanning, Olwen Fouere, Georgina Campbell
Mina (Fanning), an artist, hops into her car and goes for a drive with her pet bird in a cage. Somehow, she ends up in a forest, a dense one where one cannot see or hear much beyond the seemingly endless trees. Lost, she steps out and wanders, turning around to find her car missing. Out of nowhere, a woman calls for her to come before the door shuts. Trapped in a room with three other captives, Mina learns that they are all being watched by unseen creatures, whose rules and instructions they must obey if they wish to survive.
Inside Out 2
Out in cinemas 13 June (available at Shaw Theatres)
Stars: Amy Poehler, Ayo Edebiri, Maya Hawke
When we first met young Riley in 2015’s Inside Out, she grappled with emotions such as Joy (Poehler), Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust, all seen in colourful personified forms within her mind. Having settled down since her family moved to San Francisco for her father’s job, Riley is now turning 13 and embarking on life as a teenager. This, of course, means new experiences – and new emotions. When Anxiety (Hawke), Envy (Edebiri), Ennui and Embarrassment show up, Joy and the gang wrestle for control to keep Riley on the right track in life.
The Boys S4
Out 13 June, Prime Video
Stars: Karl Urban, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty
In a world where superheroes, or supes, are not all righteous, a band of misfits known as The Boys try to take down malevolent supes who are the commercial pawns of a global conglomerate with a dark history. The leader of The Boys, Butcher (Urban), is now terminally ill after having taken a serum to give him temporary super powers. Worried about what amoral supes led by Homelander (Starr) will do to society at large, and to his stepson Ryan, Butcher discovers an uneasy solution: a virus that targets and only kills supes.
House Of The Dragon 2
Out 17 June, HBO Go
Stars: Emma D’Arcy, Matt Smith, Tom Glynn-Carney
A struggle for power follows the death of King Viserys in season one of House of the Dragon, the events of which take place about 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen. On one side is Queen Rhaenyra (D’Arcy) of House Targaryen, who was her father’s chosen heir, and her husband Prince Daemon (Smith), who is also her uncle; on the other is Rhaenyra’s half-brother, King Aegon II (Glynn-Carney), who has usurped Rhaenyra’s throne, and whose brother Aemond inadvertently kills Rhaenyra’s son Lucerys in a battle of dragonriders.
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