Shaurya Thapa is a freelance film and culture journalist hailing from India and currently based in London. He loves digging deep into genre movies, South Asian cinema, and harbours an unhealthy obsession with Tommy Wiseau’s The Room.

Shaurya Thapa

Shaurya Thapa

Film writer

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Articles (5)

Free movies on YouTube: 32 that are legitimately great for 2025

Free movies on YouTube: 32 that are legitimately great for 2025

Even in the era of streaming overload, it’s hard to find a platform catering to fans of classic and cult cinema. But what if we told you there's a website out there hiding a trove of incredible films, available entirely for free? And what if we told you it’s called YouTube? That’s right: the site mostly known for cat videos and conspiracy theories also has an incredible selection of movies, many of which are unavailable on other services: arthouse curios, silent era milestones, essential deep-cuts. (If you’re looking for more modern fare, YouTube has a full channel of ad-supported films as well.)  Thing is, they can be hard to find, buried underneath the plethora of DIY home improvement videos and the like. So we’ve dug around and found the 30 best full movies available on YouTube – all of which have been legally uploaded. Recommended: 🎬 100 best movies of all time💣 The greatest thrillers ever made🤘 The best cult classic movies of all-time🌍 The 50 best foreign films of all-time
The 21 Best Stephen King Movies of All Time

The 21 Best Stephen King Movies of All Time

Second only by Shakespeare, Stephen King is the most adapted author of all time. With 60 movies and counting, King’s novels and short stories have terrified audiences for decades since Brian De Palma adapted his debut novel Carrie in 1976. But while King’s canon yielded memorable cinematic and TV horrors like It, Cujo, and Salem’s Lot, the Maine native also delved into profound human connections as seen in real-world dramas like Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption. This year alone marks the release of three highly-anticipated King adaptations: Longlegs director Osgood Perkins’s horror comedy The Monkey, the Tom Hiddleston-led sci-fi drama The Life of Chuck, and Edgar Wright’s upcoming The Running Man remake starring Glen Powell. From misty monsters to haunted hotel rooms, we glimpse through the best of Stephen King adaptations. And while it might draw the scorn of ‘the King of Horror’, this list also includes some cinematic classics that he notoriously hated himself.   😱 The best horror movies of 2025 (so far). 👹 The 100 horror films ever made.
The 12 best Bollywood actors

The 12 best Bollywood actors

As he told David Letterman in 2019, Shah Rukh Khan boasts 3.5 billion fans across his home land, the wider Indian diaspora and even Greece, Switzerland, and Egypt. Such is the extraordinary levels of fame attained by India’s most famous actor. But who sits alongside Khan at the top of that very big, very lush tree? There are a whole host to choose from.  Even beyond the Hindi film industry, India boasts stars with a cult fanbase ranging from Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan in Tamil movies to Chiranjeevi and Nagarjuna in the Telugu film industry or even Mammootty and Mohanlal in the Malayalam language. While Bollywood is technically the term for Hindi productions, we are looking across all state borders and counting down the biggest actors in the country including the veterans mentioned above along with a new crop of rising stars. Recommended: 🇮🇳 The 100 best Bollywood movies of all-time🇬🇧 50 great British actors🌍 The 50 best foreign films of all-time
The 15 best movie trilogies to watch

The 15 best movie trilogies to watch

It’s an age-old question: what is the greatest movie trilogy, and what makes a trilogy movie great? In truth, they come in all shapes and sizes from the three act structure of The Lord of the Rings, the original Star Wars movies and Hiroshi Inagaki’s masterful The Samurai Trilogy. to the looser thematic links of Edgar Wright’s Cornetto trilogy or Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns. East Asian and Scandinavian cinema has given us loosely connected ‘spiritual’ trilogies, with Joachim Trier exploring Norwegian urban youth in his Oslo trilogy, Park Chan-wook helming blood-soaked Korean revenge sagas with the Vengeance trilogy. Some trilogies have futzed up the landing in their final entries. Alien, The Terminator, X-Men and Spider-Man all miss out on this list on the back of their wobbly final chapters. But the overall cultural impact of some trilogies is such that we can be willing to forgive the odd one out. So The Godfather and The Dark Knight, no matter how polarising their final instalments are. From poetic romances to swashbuckling adventures, this list will take you through the best movie trilogies. RECOMMENDED:  📽️ The 100 greatest movies of all time📺 The greatest TV and streaming series ever made
The 25 best superhero movies of all time

The 25 best superhero movies of all time

Every summer brings us a new superhero movie, muscular and flexing for your wallet. This time around it’s ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’, a sure-to-be-snarky, sweary and irreverent middle ground between mainstream MCU fare and the satirical edge of ‘The Boys’. But before you flinch, drop that attitude: several of these blockbusters have been excellent action movies, redeeming Hollywood's most profitable genre as opportunities for sophistication, sarcasm and panache. We love the best superhero movies because they help us to dream big. Here are the 20 best examples – tie on your cape and dive in.

News (16)

‘The Last of Us’ season 2 soundtrack: the full tracklist for the post-apocalyptic series

‘The Last of Us’ season 2 soundtrack: the full tracklist for the post-apocalyptic series

Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal are back in action, taking down fungal zombies and going through an emotional rollercoaster in The Last of Us season 2. Based on the acclaimed Naughty Dog game The Last of Us Part II, the series raises the stakes after a five-year jump. Ellie (Ramsey) is growing up amidst a new society of survivors while her father-figure Joel (Pascal) confronts the actions of his violent past. To make matters worse, the zombies are smarter, and the humans are more divided this time. The soundtrack complements the rustic dystopia of the series, accompanied by some Easter Eggs that will delight fans of the source material. As was the case with the games and the first season, Argentine maestro Gustavo Santaolalla returns to score the series along with co-composer David Fleming. Eagle-eyed viewers will also be able to spot Santaolalla strumming a guitar in episode 1’s New Year’s Eve dance. Going by its source material, this season is bound to be more musical as Ellie picks up the guitar to escape from her existential dread. With Joel also tinkering with the six-stringer in episode 1, there are hints of more acoustic melancholia to follow.  How The Last of Us season 2 soundtrack has Easter Eggs for the game fans So far, the soundtrack features needle drops by Seattle grunge legends Nirvana and folk-country outfit Crooked Still (who perform in the episode 1 party as Brittany and the Jug Boys). In fact, the Crooked Still tracks also featured in the gameplay trailer of
Llega a Netflix la nueva serie de moda: siete claves para ver la postapocalíptica El Eternauta

Llega a Netflix la nueva serie de moda: siete claves para ver la postapocalíptica El Eternauta

Una sofocante noche de verano en Buenos Aires. Los ensordecedores ruidos del tráfico nocturno que van acompañados de los ecos de las protestas en las calles. Y, tras un trueno que retumba entre las nubes, silencio. Esta vez, el repiqueteo en el suelo, que suele representar un descanso del calor estival, no se trata de lluvia, sino de una tormenta de nieve mortal que rápidamente acaba con todo ser vivo.  Así arranca el nuevo éxito de Netflix, la miniserie argentina 'El Eternauta'. Basada en el pionero cómic del mismo nombre, este drama puede llegar a recordar a obras como la distopía helada de 'Snowpiercer', largometraje dirigido por Bong Joon Ho y basado en la novela gráfica francesa de 1982, o 'The Last of Us', por su comentario político y situaciones de tensión psicológica. Pero, aunque se ha hecho esperar, 'El Eternauta' los precede a todos. Antes de que os pongáis cómodos para empezar la maratón de sus seis capítulos, de más de 40 minutos de duración cada uno (llegando a superar la hora para su espectacular final), te contamos todo lo esencial de esta nueva producción de la plataforma de 'streaming'. 1. El Eternauta es un clásico latinoamericano La nueva serie toma prestado su nombre de una novela gráfica de culto publicada por entregas en la revista argentina 'Hora Cero', entre los años 1957 y 1959. Escrita por el periodista y escritor Héctor Germán Oesterheld e ilustrada por Francisco Solano López, esta apasionante obra sigue a Juan Salvo, que junto a su familia y amigo
‘The Four Seasons’: the filming locations behind Tina Fey’s feel-good Netflix series

‘The Four Seasons’: the filming locations behind Tina Fey’s feel-good Netflix series

If you’re missing the exotic stays of The White Lotus already, there’s a new Netflix original to check in for the weekend. Tina Fey’s latest comedy series The Four Seasons, follows a group of longtime college friends who reunite for a seemingly relaxing getaway. But with two of them on the brink of divorce, old wounds reopen and the mid-life crisis sets in. In the course of eight episodes, the miniseries throws some unexpectedly emotional curveballs that balance its stylish, high-profile locales with some heartwarming camaraderie. For Tina Fey, The Four Seasons is an actual reunion, as she created the show with her 30 Rock writer-producers Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield. As for its ensemble cast, Fey leads the pack with Date Night co-star Steve Carell, Colman Domingo (Sing Sing), Will Forte (Nebraska), Kerri Kenney-Silver (Reno 911!), among others.  Photograph: Jon Pack / NetflixMarco Calvani as Claude, Colman Domingo as Danny, Tina Fey as Kate and Will Forte as Jack in The Four Seasons Contrary to its title, The Four Seasons isn’t set within the resort chain of the same name. In fact, the name comes from Vivaldi’s timeless Four Seasons concerti that play throughout every episode as emotional motifs (much like the 1981 romcom The Four Seasons that the show adapts). From upscale New York localities to a Puerto Rican resort, The Four Seasons boasts some elegant locations that deserve a spot on your travel list. Here’s a seasonal guide to the key spots. Where was The Four Sea
The Eternaut: Latin America’s ‘The Last of Us’ is Already a Hit – Everything You Need to Know Before It Hits Netflix

The Eternaut: Latin America’s ‘The Last of Us’ is Already a Hit – Everything You Need to Know Before It Hits Netflix

A sweltering summer night in Argentina’s capital city, Buenos Aires. The honking of nighttime traffic is accompanied by echoes of protests on the streets. The urban sounds die out as thunderclaps rumble within the clouds. A pitter-patter on the ground signals a break from the summer heat. Only this isn’t the arrival of rain but a deadly snowstorm that quickly envelops all life.  As the Argentine Netflix miniseries The Eternaut plays out, it becomes clear that this toxic snowfall represents a threat from beyond this world. Based on a trailblazing comic of the same name, The Eternaut is a Latin American The Last of Us. The Spanish-language drama might echo the frozen dystopia of Bong Joon Ho’s Snowpiercer (based on the 1982 French graphic novel). And its political commentary and psychological tension might resonate with fans of The Last of Us (currently in its second season). But The Eternaut was a long time coming, and its influential source material predates any influences that might spring up in the viewer’s mind. So, before you binge on the four-episode series and enter a subzero world of fear, we break down the essentials behind The Eternaut.  El Eternauta 1. The Eternaut is a Latin American classic The Eternaut borrows its title from a cult graphic novel originally serialised in the Argentine magazine Hora Cero from 1957 and 1959. Penned by journalist-writer Héctor Germán Oesterheld and illustrated by Francisco Solano López, it’s a gripping page-turner, with sharply re
‘Thunderbolts’: the filming locations behind the new Marvel blockbuster

‘Thunderbolts’: the filming locations behind the new Marvel blockbuster

Thunderbolts* is not your average Marvel Cinematic Universe adventure – and not just because it has an asterisk in its title. As director Jake Schreier puts it, Thunderbolts* is a story of ‘internal doubt and emptiness’, something that makes the action comedy universal and grounded in an otherwise ever-expanding multiverse. Schreier’s directing credits include Netflix hit Beef, teen romance Paper Towns, and music videos for Kendrick Lamar and Selena Gomez. Thunderbolts* might be his first superhero film, but the filmmaker brings the same focus on practical filmmaking. The project also reteams him with his Beef production designer, Grace Yoon, and revisits past MCU heritage, like Avengers Tower and the ‘Battle of New York’. Marvel Studios What is Thunderbolts* about? Featuring towering Malaysian skyscrapers and sun-scorched deserts of Utah, Thunderbolts* is a road movie with a ragtag bunch that was never meant to get along. Leading the troupe is former assassin-turned-spy Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh reprising her Black Widow role) who is joined by her father, the Soviet hero Red Guardian (David Harbour), disgraced Captain America John Walker (Wyatt Russell), the Ant-Man villain Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and of course, the poster child of MCU antiheroes, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan). Marvel Studios While these morally broken non-Avengers are trained in lethal combat and enhanced with super serums, Schreier calls Thunderbolts* ‘a very human story’. His grounded take on th
‘The Pitt’: the real filming locations behind the smash-hit medical drama

‘The Pitt’: the real filming locations behind the smash-hit medical drama

In a genre dominated by the classics like ER and long-running titles like Grey’s Anatomy (currently in its twenty-first season), Max medical drama The Pitt has become somewhat of a dark horse.  Showered with stellar reviews and already renewed for a second season, The Pitt recreates the tension of a single day in a Pittsburgh hospital. The 15-hour work shift plays out in 15 pulse-pounding episodes, the workplace chaos mirroring the intensity of The Bear’s kitchen nightmares and The Studio’s one-take moviemaking madness.  So, expect waiting rooms filled to the brim with patients, med students passing out at gnarly sights, and an understaffed medic team racing against time. For a show almost entirely playing out in a hospital, The Pitt’s newly converted fans would wonder about the locations that double for the series’s many emergency rooms and care facilities. More importantly, the question of the hour: Is the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital ER (aka ‘The Pitt’) real? Photograph: Warrick Page/MAXAyesha Harris, Noah Wyle and Ken Kirby in ‘The Pitt’ What is The Pitt about?  Premiering this January, The Pitt stars ER alumnus Noah Wyle as senior emergency physician Dr Michael ‘Robby’ Robinavitch as he grapples with a single 15-hour work shift.  Each of the 15 episodes covers one hour of this arduous shift, with Robby and his overworked staff combating staff shortages, underfunding and post-pandemic blues.  With its real-time approach and Wyle’s committed lead performance, The P
‘The Last of Us’ Season 2: behind the filming locations for the latest series

‘The Last of Us’ Season 2: behind the filming locations for the latest series

More often than not, the ‘video game adaptation curse’ plagues movies and shows borrowing from gaming IP. This April was no exception with the release of the expectedly polarising A Minecraft Movie. But the TV and streaming space offers more hope with The Last of Us season 2 this month. Cue Gustavo Santaolalla’s melancholic guitar theme... Photograph: Liane Hentscher/HBOBella Ramsey as Ellie What is The Last of Us season 2 about? The Emmy-winning HBO series returns with Pedro Pascal’s Joel and Bella Ramsey’s Ellie navigating a post-apocalyptic America ravaged by fungal-infected zombies, fanatical religious orders and militaristic factions. Set five years after season 1, the second season adapts the Naughty Dog game The Last of Us Part II with Joel and Ellie adapting to their new life in Jackson, Wyoming. With Joel still confronting his guilt over his violent frenzy in the tear-jerking finale, Ellie becomes absorbed with new love interests and ideological struggles. True to the source material, Jackson is a safe zone, while the Washington city of Seattle has become a war zone.  ‘We start to see how groups that are united by love can begin to identify as “us” and see everybody else as “them”, explains showrunner Craig Mazin of the new season’s themes. ‘Tribalism is a love among a few or maybe many. For Jackson, their tribe is the community. It’s everything inside the wall.’ Photograph: Liane Hentscher/HBO Filming locations in Canada Canada’s wintery landscape again provide
‘Black Mirror’ Season 7 filming locations: where was Charlie Brooker’s hit sci-fi series filmed

‘Black Mirror’ Season 7 filming locations: where was Charlie Brooker’s hit sci-fi series filmed

Since 2011, Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror has been entertaining us with unforgettable, often unnerving sci-fi dystopias. Now back for its seventh run, the Netflix anthology series is treading scarily close to reality, delving into topical concepts like AI-generated filmmaking and subscription-based, ad-revenue-driven healthcare.  Starring Issa Rae, Paul Giamatti, Cristin Milioti and many others, the new season delivers all the usual sleek sci-fi storytelling and retro-futuristic aesthetics. Brace yourself for another surreal, mind-bending journey into the Brooker’s The Twilight Zone.   Image: NetflixUSS Callister: Into Infinity What is Black Mirror season 7 about?  The new season pays several nods to previous episodes, building some sort of shared universe. For instance, episode 4 (titled Plaything) follows Peter Capaldi’s ageing gamer who has past connections with Bandersnatch – the 2018 standalone interactive film that allowed audiences to choose multiple endings. Similarly, the season finale USS Callister: Into Infinity acts as a direct sequel to the season 4’s USS Callister.   This season is also heavy on the human side of technology with the moving opener Common People. The episode follows a married couple struggling with finances as they face a healthcare tech plan that keeps on rolling out more and more premium features, each update followed by a higher subscription fee. Then there’s the Severance-style workplace dramedy Bête Noire which has a chocolate company exec
Sam Mendes’ quartet of new Beatles biopics are in the works starring Paul Mescal and Barry Keoghan – here’s everything you need to know

Sam Mendes’ quartet of new Beatles biopics are in the works starring Paul Mescal and Barry Keoghan – here’s everything you need to know

He’s directed two Bond movies, toyed with one-take World War action, and continued to dabble in his first love: theatre. But Sam Mendes has taken on a new challenge now, making not one but four biopics on The Beatles. Looks like it’s going to be more than a few hard days’ nights for the Oscar winner. Putting the spotlight on each of the four bandmates, Mendes officially confirmed the casting for The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. And he was joined with the trendiest men in the British and Irish film industry right now. Spoiler: none of them are Liverpool boys. When were The Beatles biopics announced? News of Mendes’s musical tetralogy first broke out in February 2024 when it was announced that the British director would helm four separate films, each focusing on a member of the Beatles. Casting rumours followed shortly, but it was only on Day 1 of CinemaCon that Mendes officially brought out his Lonely Hearts Club Band. Photograph: Shutterstock/Elena Alex Ferns   Who plays the Fab Four? To give adequate runtime to each Beatle, all four actors will front their own biopic. Paul Mescal is expected to bring his doe-eyed charm to Paul McCartney, while Harris Dickinson is roped in as John Lennon. Mescal’s Gladiator II co-star Joseph Quinn will make George Harrison’s guitar gently weep, with Barry Keoghan on the drums as Ringo Starr. While the quartet has made critically acclaimed turns in the past few years, The Beatles will be their most ambitio
‘The Electric State’ filming locations: behind the scenes of the Netflix sci-fi epic

‘The Electric State’ filming locations: behind the scenes of the Netflix sci-fi epic

Before they’re swallowed by the Marvel wormhole yet again with Avengers: Doomsday, Joe and Anthony Russo continue to belt out big-budget action flicks for the small screen. Much like their 2022 action-thriller The Gray Man, The Electric State is a Netflix offering, albeit one with even more noughts on the budget. What is The Electric State about? The sci-fi-adventure-comedy boasts Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt as a duo driving through a reimagined ’90s America. In this alternate dystopia, robots have rejected slavery and rebelled against humanity, only to be banished to a desert prison – aka ‘the Electric State’. Loosely inspired by Swedish artist Simon Stålenhag’s graphic novel, this futurescape is dust-caked like a Fallout game and radiantly awe-inducing like a Spielberg sci-fi. Photograph: NetflixAnthony Russo giving direction on the set of ‘The Electric State’ Production designers Dennis Gassner (Blade Runner 2049) and Richard L Johnson (Pacific Rim) come up with a retro-futuristic style that’s both nostalgically Y2K-coded and disconcertingly Elon Musk-adjacent. While the film might stray away from Stålenhag’s darker designs, The Electric State builds a fluid and kaleidoscopic world that offers a Mr. Peanut robot, Ke Huy Quan fighting drones at a haunted house carnival, and metaverse landscapes resembling Windows XP wallpaper. Despite the CGI-ness of it all, The Electric State did make use of real-world locations albeit with some movie magic. Hop into Chris Pratt’s
‘The Electric State’ soundtrack: the full tracklist for the Netflix sci-fi adventure

‘The Electric State’ soundtrack: the full tracklist for the Netflix sci-fi adventure

Avengers: Endgame duo The Russo brothers rely on traditional orchestral scores for their Marvel blockbusters and action thrillers. With their Netflix sci-fi adventure The Electric State, the duo has finally embraced the power of a curated mixtape. While their regular collaborator Alan Silvestri (Avengers: Endgame) returns for the sweeping brass-and-string soundscapes, the film stands apart with its vibrant mixtape of ’80s and ’90s chart-toppers, and classic dad rock anthems. The Electric State is set in an alternate 1990s, where robots revolted against their human overlords, only to be banished to a desert prison. Despite a lively ensemble of talking androids, futuristic elements are scant in the album. So, don’t expect any Kraftwerk or Daft Punk needle drops. But staying true to its decade, the film’s radio shifts between Oasis and… Mark Wahlberg. For stars Chris Pratt and Millie Bobby Brown, The Electric State adds another notable soundtrack to their résumés, joining Guardians of the Galaxy and Stranger Things in the nostalgic playlist pantheon. Photograph: NetflixCosmo (voiced by Alan Tudyk) and Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown) in ‘The Electric State’ What’s on The Electric State soundtrack?  Mary Jane’s Last Dance - Tom Petty and the HeartbreakersMother - DanzigI Fought the Law - The ClashTake Me to the River - Al GreenTornerai - Trio Lescano e Quartetto FunaroCalcutta (Nicolette) - Winifred AtwellHoney Won't You Listen - Roy WayneGood Vibrations - Marky Mark And The Funky
Everything we know about Christopher Nolan’s upcoming epic ‘The Odyssey’

Everything we know about Christopher Nolan’s upcoming epic ‘The Odyssey’

The ancient Greek epic Odyssey has endured for centuries as the greatest of hero’s journeys – compulsory reading for history and literature students, and the source material of acclaimed films such as 1911’s Italian silent classic L’Odissea, the Coen brothers’ bluegrass musical O, Brother Where Art Thou, and the ‘culturally, historically or aesthetically significant’ (yes) The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. But perhaps the true purpose of Homer’s 24-volume epic was to be filmed with massive new IMAX cameras by Christopher Nolan. Here’s everything we know about the Interstellar filmmaker’s take on the Greek epic poem. When was The Odyssey announced? Months after his Oppenheimer Oscar sweep, it was announced that the director’s next project would be a ‘mythical action epic’ based on The Odyssey. On December 23, 2024, devout ‘Nolanists’ were given the news as an early Christmas present on social media. Two, if you include the extra intel: it’s all happening in the director’s beloved IMAX format. Christopher Nolan’s next film ‘The Odyssey’ is a mythic action epic shot across the world using brand new IMAX film technology. The film brings Homer’s foundational saga to IMAX film screens for the first time and opens in theaters everywhere on July 17, 2026. — Universal Pictures (@UniversalPics) December 23, 2024 Nolan has anyway been the poster child for IMAX cameras, relying on the format to film Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet, and more recently,