Writing Great Villains: Why They Shouldn't Be Sympathetic
Writing great villains is about striking a balance between charming and evil, so we love them but also love to see them lose.

Writing great villains is about striking a balance between charming and evil, so we love them but also love to see them lose.
The Roses is a wickedly sharp marital warfare comedy that transforms domestic dysfunction into high art. Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch deliver powerhouse performances as a couple whose fairy-tale romance implodes when his architectural career collapses just as her culinary empire takes off. What makes Jay Roach's remake so devastatingly effective is its refusal to pick sides—both spouses are equally sympathetic and monstrous, wielding Tony McNamara's razor-sharp dialogue like weapons forged from shared intimacies. It's a film that dares you to laugh at relationship wreckage while forcing you to confront the uncomfortable truth that the line between passionate love and mutual destruction is terrifyingly thin.
Like millions around the world, I've been waiting four years for the renowned #SnyderCut. I'll never forget sitting in the theater on opening night, witnessing a CGI mouth on Henry Cavill's face about five seconds into Justice League. That's a thing of nightmares if I must say. Anyways, right then and there, I knew I desperately needed Zack Snyder's film.
When you first hear that there is a series on Netflix where the lead character’s wife dies from cancer and he becomes dangerously suicidal, you wouldn’t immediately assume that it’s a comedy.
Alongside A Drowning Man, I Signed The Petition, 3 Logical Exits, and A World Not Ours, A Man Returned continues to paint a realistic portrait of the Refugee Crisis that eschews the Western gaze and stereotype. These are real portraits painted by a director with lived experience, cultural connection and an amazing eye for visuals.
For one widowed father and his five kids, an extraordinary gift will change their lives forever.