Skip to main content

The Whale trailer spotlights Brendan Fraser’s Hollywood comeback

Brendan Fraser needed a comeback. What he got was The Whale, which may have given him the role of a lifetime. Just over two decades ago, Fraser headlined films like The Mummy and George of the Jungle, as well as an assortment of wacky comedies. Fraser also made the occasional drama, including his standout performance in Gods and Monsters. But The Whale is something else entirely. It may even give Fraser his first nomination for Best Actor at next year’s Oscars.

The Whale | Official Trailer HD | A24

As seen in the trailer above, Fraser plays Charlie, a guy who was once a family man with a wife and daughter. However, Charlie left them both behind because he fell in love with another man. And when Charlie’s lover died, he became grotesquely overweight and reached 600 pounds. His actions were born out of grief, but Charlie doesn’t have to simply give up and let himself die. He still has a chance to make things right with his daughter, Ellie.

Brendan Fraser looks to his side in The Whale.
A24

Stranger Things standout Sadie Sink co-stars as Ellie, and she’s the emotional heart of the film. There’s a real question of whether this father and daughter pair can successfully reconnect because she has lingering feelings of betrayal. That’s the whole point of this drama, to see if the relationship can be saved.

Recommended Videos

Hong Chau co-stars in the film as Liz, Charlie’s nurse and his best friend, with Samantha Morton as his ex-wife and Ellie’s mother, Mary. Rounding out the cast are Ty Simpkins as Thomas and Sathya Sridharan as Dan.

Samuel D. Hunter wrote the script based on his original play of the same name. Darren Aronofsky directed The Whale, which will get a nationwide release on Friday, December 9.

Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell has been an entertainment journalist for over 15 years. His bylines have appeared in Wizard Magazine, Geek…
10 years ago, Disney released the most underrated Marvel superhero movie ever
A blimp soars above the clouds in Big Hero 6.

The superhero genre has become remarkably overcrowded over the last 15 years. The Marvel Cinematic Universe and Christopher Nolan-led redefining of the genre in the late 2000s and early 2010s paved the way for an era of Hollywood dominated by movie characters in capes and villains with world-ending plans. Whether that era is still going is up for debate, but it led to a few years there — roughly 2014-2023 — where superhero movies and TV shows genuinely felt like they were everywhere, and sometimes to a suffocating degree. That doesn't mean, however, that certain superhero films haven't fallen through the cracks here and there over the past 10 years.

That seems, at least, to be the fate that has befallen Big Hero 6. Loosely inspired by the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name, the animated Disney film received largely positive reactions from both critics and casual viewers alike when it hit theaters in 2014 and it grossed over $650 million at the worldwide box office. On top of all of that, it went on to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature in 2015. Big Hero 6 nonetheless ranks as the most underrated superhero film of the modern era — a vibrant piece of comic-book-inspired storytelling that is oft-forgotten by fans of its genre and which strangely hasn't received the big-screen sequel it deserves.
A superhero-sized coming-of-age story

Read more
Joker: Folie à Deux actor says he was in the worst film ever made
Joker sits at a table while Harley Quin sits behind him.

It's fair to say that Joker: Folie à Deux did not receive the same kind of warm reception as its predecessor. The movie was a flop both critically and commercially, and now, one of the actors who appeared in the film is publicly trashing it. Comedian Tim Dillon, who has a small role in the film, recently called it "the worst film ever made" during a recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience.

“I think what happened, after the first Joker, there was a lot of talk like, ‘Oh, this was loved by incels. This was loved by the wrong kinds of people. This sent the wrong kind of message. Male rage! Nihilism!’ All these think pieces,” he explained. “And then I think [they said], ‘What if we went the other way,’ and now they have Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga tap dancing to a point where it’s insane.”

Read more
3 action movies on Netflix you need to watch in November 2024
Two men and a woman hold guns and board a ship.

One of Netflix's best genres is, without a doubt, action. Action movies are frequently found on Netflix's most popular movies list. Most of these action films are quickly paced and straight to the point. In other words, these movies perfectly provide an escape from our daily lives. Extraction, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, and The Adam Project have all been huge hits with subscribers.

More of these movies are under the "Action" section on Netflix. From there, Netflix separates action into subgenres including suspense, sci-fi, adventure, and international. If you don't feel like scrolling for hours, we did the hard work and picked out three action movies to watch this month. One of these movies features Hollywood's biggest star in his most underrated blockbuster.

Read more