Entertainment
Netflix Cowboy Bebop: Odd remix to the original’s jazz
Might give fans of the anime the real folk blues
“The work, which becomes a new genre itself, will be called… COWBOY BEBOP.”
The line above is an excerpt taken from the text we see flying around in the opening sequence of the original animé. It’s a sort of manifesto to the intentions of the show — a new genre itself. The animé, which first aired in Japan in 1998, more than lived up to this. Netflix’s live adaptation certainly tries its best, but what it ultimately achieves is an okay cover of a masterpiece.
Before we proceed, we think it’s only right to put a big fat SPOILER WARNING here. While we won’t go into specific details, some parts of this review/reaction to the series might contain mild spoilers. You have been warned.
Cowboy Funk
If you’ve been keeping an eye on Netflix Cowboy Bebop, you’ve likely seen the teasers and trailers they’ve put up thus far. These sample tastes don’t veer too far from the overall feel of the entire series. It’s colorful, campy, and full of energy.
For the most part, the production got a few things right. We can’t really comment much on the editing since we were told some final touches were still being applied. Essentially, the screeners we got aren’t the final cut. But it was supposedly good enough to be shared with reviewers.
There was plenty of care and attention to detail put in the overall set and costume design. It does, somewhat, capture the world of Cowboy Bebop… just in a different lens.
Some of the fight choreography felt clunky but we’re gonna chalk that up to this not being the final cut. Most other physically demanding scenes looked great. There were just a few that we felt needed more polish.
Overall, the show feels zany but not in the same way that the Cowboy Bebop animé was. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what’s different, but somehow the live action just lacks the grit of the original. Instead, it feels like a mashup of the 1960s Batman starring Adam West and Saban’s many Super Sentai adaptations, only a tad bloodier.
Jupiter Jazz
What’s holding this together is the brilliant performance of John Cho as Spike Spiegel. He nails down the character to a T and is what pretty much carries a bulk of the show. He is nonchalant and carefree on most days, but is worked up every time his past hovers around him. Exactly the Spike we know and love.
Other than that, it’s his banter with Jet Black (Mustafa Shakur) and Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda) that give the live action adaptation any semblance of the animé. The scenes featuring these characters together are easily the best parts of the show.

COWBOY BEPOP (L to R) DANIELLA PINEDA as FAYE VALENTINE, JOHN CHO as SPIKE SPIEGEL and MUSTAFA SHAKIR as JET BLACK on the set of COWBOY BEPOP Cr. NICOLA DOVE/NETFLIX © 2021
They did make changes to the characters. Changes are generally okay, if they work. However, we can’t say that’s true here. For Jet, the key change was okay. But how it will affect his character and the show was telegraphed at best and predictable at worst.
My Funny Valentine

COWBOY BEBOP (L to R) DANIELLA PINEDA as FAYE VALENTINE in COWBOY BEBOP Cr. GEOFFREY SHORT/NETFLIX © 2021
Meanwhile for Faye… it’s hard to nail it down. To get it out of the way, I thought the costume change was fine and practical. No issues there. But part of what makes Faye Valentine a femme fatale felt lacking.
Daniella Pineda perfectly captures the character’s rough edges. It’s the silkier side that was missing, and this isn’t because she’s not built like the Faye in the animé. Faye, despite learning to be rugged, still maintained a certain air of sex appeal that was simply missing in the live action adaption.
Of course, yours truly writes this being fully aware that he is a straight man commenting on how a female character should appear sexy. Faye is, for better or worse, a heavily sexualized character in the animé and perhaps they wanted to tone it down. However, maybe there could have been a way to execute it without completely shying away from the matter.
On the flip side, this version of Faye could be empowering to women. This writer is personally still unlearning the many trappings of the patriarchal society we live in and is excited to listen to conversations about the character.
Brain Scratch
To mixed effects, we see more of Vicious (Alex Hassell) and Julia (Elena Satine) here than in the animé. For one, it does a generally good job of providing a bit of backstory to the two key figures in Spike’s past. However in doing so, they start to feel less like the characters in the animé.
Instead of simply fleshing them out, what came across on screen seemed like alternate universe versions of the characters. For Vicious, this is especially true in the early to middle part of the series. Where animé Vicious felt ruthless and menacing, the live action Vicious felt a lot more whiny and unhinged.
Julia will be polarizing. The arc her character goes through is fascinating in that she goes from a simple love interest — a damsel in distress if you will — to a woman acting out of her own agency. But the choices she makes towards the end of the series felt unnatural for her character.
The Real Folk Blues

COWBOY BEPOP (L to R) JOHN CHO as SPIKE SPIEGEL on the set of COWBOY BEPOP Cr. NICOLA DOVE/NETFLIX © 2021
In a media availability, the main cast talked about how much those who worked on the show revered the original. That’s certainly evident in the production design, dialogue, and selected episodes of the live action adaptation. There’s plenty of near one-to-one recreation of scenes in the animé that will make any fan gasp with excitement.
However, in their desire to expand, the showrunners miss some story beats, subtle moments, and character nuances that make the original animé great. Instead of the smooth soulful Jazz feel of the original, what we get instead is an odd remix that may be a little off key.
Cowboy Bebop streams on Netflix on November 19.
I didn’t watch The Devil Wears Prada when it first came out in 2006.
I came to it a few years later, at a time when I was still figuring things out—career, identity, even the kind of movies I allowed myself to enjoy. It wasn’t something I would’ve picked on my own back then.
At the time, it felt like a story about love versus career. I was about to graduate with a Mass Communication degree, unsure of where I was headed, trying to make sense of both ambition and connection.
Watching it again recently, it lands differently.
It’s less about choosing between two things—and more about understanding who you are, and having the courage to follow that honestly.
That’s what makes The Devil Wears Prada 2 feel so deliberate. It doesn’t just revisit the past. It builds on it.
Growth over spectacle
There’s a version of this sequel that could’ve leaned entirely on nostalgia. Bigger moments. Sharper outfits. A louder version of what already worked.
This isn’t that.
The film is grander, but in ways that feel earned. It embraces the 20-year gap instead of ignoring it, placing its characters exactly where you’d expect them to be—not in status, but in spirit.
Miranda Priestly still commands every room, but no longer feels as unassailable as she once did.
Andy Sachs carries experience. She’s no longer the green assistant, but an accomplished journalist whose relationship with Miranda still shapes her decisions.
Emily Charlton feels fully realized—no longer orbiting power, but owning her place within it.
And Nigel remains a pillar. Dependable to both Miranda and Andy, an almost invisible hand that guides more than it claims.
None of them feel stuck in who they were. That’s the point.
What it says about the work
This is where the film hit me the hardest.
Working in tech media, I constantly see the push toward generative AI—toward making everything faster, more efficient, more scalable. A lot of it is impressive. Some of it is genuinely useful.
But some of it is also unsettling.
We’re at a point where generative visuals can fool people. Where audio—music even—can sound convincing enough that you stop questioning where it came from. That’s the part that lingers.
Because music, for me, is personal. It’s how I process things. And realizing that something artificial can mimic that emotional weight—even if imperfectly—feels dangerous in a quieter, harder-to-define way.
This film doesn’t shout about AI. It doesn’t need to. Instead, it argues for something more fundamental.
That the human touch still matters.
That taste, judgment, and intention aren’t things you can replicate at scale.
That the pain of heartbreak, the joy of victory, and the complicated weight of living—these are things that come from experience. And experience leaves a mark. We leave a part of ourselves in everything we create, whether we mean to or not.
That’s something I don’t think can ever be fully replicated.
AI is a helpful tool. But it should not be relied upon for things that require a piece of our soul.
Direction that understands power
A lot of that message lands because of how The Devil Wears Prada 2 is directed.
Blocking and staging do most of the talking. Who stands where, who moves first, who stays still—these choices define power before any dialogue kicks in.
The camera follows emotion closely. Moments of uncertainty feel slightly unsteady. Scenes of control are composed and precise.
It’s not trying to impress you. It knows exactly what it’s doing.
Sound that knows its place
The sound design follows that same discipline.
Nothing competes. Nothing distracts.
Every element feels intentional–supporting the scene instead of demanding attention. It’s cohesive in a way that’s easy to overlook, but once you notice it, you realize how much it’s doing.
Dialogue that winks, but doesn’t linger
There are a few “wink” moments–lines that echo the original, callbacks that longtime fans will catch instantly.
But the film shows restraint.
It never lets those moments take over. They’re accents, not the foundation.
Nostalgia used with purpose
That restraint carries through how the film handles nostalgia as a whole.
It doesn’t rely on it. It uses it.
Parallels to the original are there, but they exist to highlight change—not to recreate what once worked.
It’s less about remembering.More about understanding what time has done.
Why it works now
What makes The Devil Wears Prada 2 land isn’t just that it’s well-made.
It’s that it feels necessary.
In a world that keeps pushing toward speed, output, and efficiency, this film slows things down just enough to remind you what actually matters.
The intention behind every line, every scene feels sharp—like it could only come from people who care. Who care about the craft. Who care about making something that connects.
It might sound like a tired argument. But it’s still true.
The breadth and depth of humans who care is irreplaceable.
The teaser trailer for DC Studio’s horror thriller, Clayface, has just been released. It is the studio’s first-ever foray into the genre, with the film co-written by Mike Flanagan and directed by James Watkins.
The R-rated standalone film is still part of the new James Gunn DC Universe, taking place within the main DCU timeline before the events of the 2025 Superman.
It stars Tom Rhys Harries as the titular Gotham City villain. He is joined by Naomi Ackie, David Dencik, Max Minghella, Eddie Marsan, Nancy Carroll, and Joshua James.
The film opens internationally on October 21 and in North America on October 23.
Here’s a quick look at the film’s teaser trailer:
Clayface explores one man’s horrifying descent from rising Hollywood star to revenge-filled monster.
The story revolves around the loss of one’s identity and humanity, corrosive love, and dark underbelly of scientific ambition.
Joining Watkins in his creative team are director of photography Rob Hardy, production designer James Price, editor Jon Harris, visual effects supervisor Angus Bickerton, costume designer Keith Madden, and casting director Lucy Bevan.
In addition, here’s a quick look at the movie’s teaser poster:
Entertainment
DC’s Clayface teaser shows off a horror-filled superhero movie
Our first taste of James Gunn’s Gotham City will be frightening.
Last year, James Gunn’s Superman sparked an impressive wave of excitement for the new DC Universe. Though this year’s spotlight is on Supergirl, Clayface is also getting an eponymous film, giving us our first taste of Gotham City in this bustling universe.
There’s been a lot of mystery surrounding this film. For one, Gotham City’s DCU debut is based on, arguably, a secondary villain, rather than any member of the Bat-Family. Secondly, Gunn has confirmed that the movie will heavily lean towards the horror genre, a feat others have tried but often failed.
Today, DC Studios has released the first teaser trailer for Clayface. And no, Gunn wasn’t kidding when he said this is going to be a horror film.
Tom Rhys Harries plays Matt Hagen, a rising movie star suddenly scarred by a violent attack. Desperate to resurrect his career, he resorts to a scientific experiment that turns his skin into moldable clay.
As the teaser hints, the film will not shy away from body horror, including shots of Hagen’s disfigured face either from the attack or from the clay. It’s a big departure from the more traditional style of Superman or Supergirl. But it’s a gamble that might pay off for a universe as young as the DCU.
It’s also apropos that the DCU’s first horror film is getting a horror-themed premiere. Clayface will premiere in cinemas on October 23, 2026.
SEE ALSO: Superman sequel, titled Man of Tomorrow, comes out in 2027
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