David Michod

Add another name to the ranks of Hollywood A-listers dipping a toe in TV. George Clooney will return to the medium that made him famous to both star in, and direct a new limited series adaptation of Joseph Heller novel Catch-22.

In these dark and terrifying political times, it’s deeply reassuring to see a U.S. General defying the orders of the White House in times of war. That was sarcasm, and luckily Netflix’s new movie – starring Brad Pitt as a fictionalized version of Army General Stanley McChrystal – uses satire to balance the nightmare of American politics with humor.

Probably the last thing you’d expect from the director of gritty Aussie crime drama Animal Kingdom, is a searing, Cohen brothers-level satire of the American war in Afghanistan — but that’s exactly what David Michod delivered with War Machine. In his new film, which premieres exclusively on Netflix, Brad Pitt stars in a not-so-subtle take on a certain four-star General who heads overseas to clean up a political mess, but despite his arrogance, he doesn’t leave things much different than he found them.

Unless your name happens to be Kathryn Bigelow (and if it is, then may I say that it’s a pleasure, Ms. Bigelow, big Point Break fan), Hollywood has had a lot of trouble figuring out how to portray the Global War on Terror. The odd movies that have succeeded critically or financially — Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper — take an ambivalent stance on a complicated and nuanced geopolitical situation, but many more have attempted the same and floundered. So it’s with memories of the high-profile failure of one-time Oscar hopeful Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk that we greet the trailer for War Machine, Netflix’s latest foray into this risky genre.

Don’t worry, they didn’t replace Don Cheadle with Brad Pitt. Despite the title (and Netflix’s extensive lineup of Marvel TV shows), War Machine does not have a connection to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s a new comedy starring Brad Pitt, and rather than going to a big Hollywood studio, it belongs to Netflix, who’ve acquired the rights to the movie. Via Deadline, here’s what War Machine is about:

TNT has been lagging a bit behind the competition when it comes to original programming, but the network’s new plans for upcoming series announced at Upfronts 2015 indicate a shift into prestige dramas — most notably, the network will be home to Cary Fukunaga’s new eight-part miniseries, The Alienist, bringing a little slice of True Detective to their lineup.

Your knee-jerk reaction to the words “ballet drama” may be to avert your eyes, but like Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, upcoming Starz series Flesh and Bone promises to deliver on some very dark aspects of the world of ballet. The first trailer for the series definitely doesn’t play down that comparison, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as the series likely hopes to draw a similar audience — especially with the help of acclaimed Australian director David Michod.

In David Michôd's second full length feature film, 'The Rover' (his first was the surprise Australian hit 'Animal Kingdom,' which garnered Jacki Waver an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress), Guy Pearce is a khaki shorts-wearing misanthrope living in post-financial apocalypse Australia...

Some good news for Robert Pattinson today: Screen Australia has announced it will back the actor's latest film, 'The Rover,' from 'Animal Kingdom' writer/director David Michod and co-starring Guy Pearce.