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Nimble promises all-in-one automation for SMB growth with new features

TechRadar News - Fri, 09/20/2024 - 09:13

Nimble has launched new features which the company promises will help fuel growth across organizations, and not just specific departments. A move further supporting the company's efforts to be one of the best CRM software providers on the market.

In a press release shared with TechRadar Pro earlier this week, the company announced the release of Email Sequence Automation, a feature that integrates the recently launched Email Sequences, with key functionalities such as Web Forms, Webhooks, and Workflows. The integrations are bi-directional, the company explained, and should help different teams such as marketing, PR, customer support, HR, accounting, and others.

“By linking Workflow pipelines with Email Sequences, Nimble fully supports the customer journey, from capturing leads to closing deals,” commented Jon Ferrara, CEO of Nimble. “This enhancement helps teams save significantly by consolidating their tech stack.”

The new feature will come with industry-specific email sequence templates, automated lead and contact management, comprehensive customer journey support, and scalable contact engagement. More details about the intricacies of the new offering can be found on this link.

Capturing leads and closing deals

For those who are unaware, Nimble is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform designed to help businesses manage contacts, communications, and sales pipelines. It integrates with popular productivity tools like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and social media platforms to gather and organize customer information from multiple sources.

The CRM comes with a myriad of features such as contact management, email tracking, and task automation, streamlining both sales and marketing efforts. Finally, it consolidates all data into a single platform, helping teams collaborate better, and improve customer engagement.

The features are already available for use, Nimble said, adding that users can get all of them in a single payment plan.

In the near future, Nimble is planning on releasing more updates, including Lead Engagement Automation, which should be announced today, and Marketing Automation at scale, to be announced later this month.

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Categories: Technology

AI and the ambitious future of IT service management

TechRadar News - Fri, 09/20/2024 - 09:12

Companies are rushing to address IT and business challenges by implementing AI strategies. But their roadmaps are leading in dozens of directions amid a barrage of AI hype and hope. We’re fast realizing that putting AI to work, including machine learning and generative AI, in an effective and cost-efficient way requires accurately diagnosing deep-seated enterprise problems.

While the depth of problems can vary from organization to organization, enterprises experience considerable friction due to cloud migration complications and constantly evolving core technologies, platforms, and ITSM tools. Diving deeper, cross-enterprise challenges also include a broad lack of maturity in automation adoption, digital labor, systems-driven operational models, and AI-enabled tools themselves. All of this is often wrapped up in failures to understand core process issues that have stalled digital transformation and acceleration initiatives.

Enterprises can become frustrated with little measurable success, despite major investments of time and money. The future of IT service management depends on the accurate examination of this impasse — and fine-tuning AI, guided by human oversight and evaluation, to navigate processes better and achieve higher quality results faster than we currently do.

Challenges multiply when enterprises fail to understand process issues

When organizations fail to fully identify and understand issues with their business and technical processes, they also waste time and resources trying to identify and implement the right solutions for the organization, at the right time. While executives and management often have a solid awareness of the impact of technology adoption and process problems on the business, they typically lack visibility into the root causes of, say, skyrocketing cloud spend, poor data management, or inefficient workflows and tooling.

A lack of process and procedural “hygiene” is responsible for much of the inefficiency and noise. That bad hygiene can manifest as a lack of discipline in organizations to log tickets for every issue handled, to capture proper issue-related details in the tickets, and to capture proper work notes and resolution notes. These seemingly small details can wreak havoc on the health of enterprise systems and larger business objectives. This is a manifestation of the “watermelon effect” at work: everything may look green on the outside, but the issues surface in red when you cut deep. Intentionally or unintentionally, a healthy assessment might be conveyed to higher tiers of management and to the public, while rot is taking hold deep in the system.

What’s more, many organizations focus on operational-level KPIs rather than business-level KPIs, which means the needle may not be moving toward better business performance. Organizations can also suffer due to inadequate technical expertise, domain expertise, and staffing relative to capacity. Undocumented and “tribal” knowledge locked within incumbents inside the organization contributes to siloed IT approaches and solutions that detract from achieving business objectives. Tribal knowledge may also, at times, be locked in archaic approaches and technologies which further hinder modernization.

Other factors that can drag enterprises down include inefficiencies in hybrid or work-from-home models, the ongoing tightening of compliance and regulatory standards, and a lack of unity and clarity across the organization in long-term growth and modernization strategy.

AI: Extracting intelligence and solving problems for optimized services

Generative AI, machine learning, natural language processing (NLP) and other forms of AI can be of great help in revealing, simplifying, and solving these pain points. AI can aid in extracting intelligence that can be used to eliminate challenges with process issues, technology adoption, meeting business-level KPIs, and increasing team productivity.

Specifically, with ITSM, generative AI can drive positive results by addressing historic contexts as well as issues in real time. It can help humans identify trends and patterns, formulate insights, determine better processual steps, and even generate summaries of incidents and events with respect to both infrastructure needs and customer needs. AI can quickly summarize triage across the incidents and generate overall resolutions implemented by directly fetching inputs from mail chains if needed. Humans can then review those AI-generated summaries and take corrective action that saves the organization time and money. These comprehensive insights across tickets and systems issues can provide clarity on the nature, impact, and volume of challenges the organization faces. That data helps in prioritizing automation and resolution efforts.

Importantly, AI-summarized triage notes and resolution notes across tech teams and tech stacks offer a more holistic view of events flow across teams, which helps provide an end-to-end picture of the ITSM environment and can reveal any process inefficiencies. Also useful is AI’s ability to generate concise management reports, while enabling more thorough and comprehensive documentation for future reference.

Better configuration, proactive prediction, and a reduced skills gap

Additionally, predictive AI, platform AI, NLP, and AI in Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) can be used to assist in a wide variety of ITSM work to define the processes and methodology of operations. For example, by consuming metrics, logs, and traces, AI can enhance its predictive capabilities, helping an organization prevent incidents before they occur. With data unique to an organization, AI can be trained to differentiate between positives, false positives, and negatives. It can help in event correlation among historic incidents and unearth patterns, volumes, and impact metrics — which will later be matched up with real-time metrics to proactively predict incidents.

AI-driven infrastructure-as-code (IaC) and configuration-as-code (CasC) can help in streamlining and standardizing infrastructure provisioning and maintenance, reducing the burden on humans. AI can also help predict the impact of configuration changes and automate configuration optimization, which helps reduce management efforts. And AI tools can aggregate the best reference material and provide it to the right teams — reducing the skill gaps where that’s most needed.

Not least, AI can help to team up individuals working on the same issue across different organizational silos. It can unearth process-related issues in those silos and across the teams. It can “artificially” merge siloed services across teams for a more comprehensive view of the overall health of IT services and systems, while helping reduce costs by eliminating idle resources, duplicated work, and over-provisioning.

Looking forward

In ITSM, AI will have a profound, long-term impact. It will help to bridge talent gaps in the global workforce, and in the next five to ten years, we will see increasing use of digital labor and a meaningful shift in how human labor is levied.

As AI matures, it will become capable of solving increasingly complex problems, and even more comprehensively and independently identify root causes of technical and process issues across enterprises. Predictive analytics will facilitate proactive and preemptive systems maintenance. Industry-specific AI engines, trained for particular domains, will increasingly have the ability to quickly or near instantaneously learn and adapt to the needs of the organizations where they are deployed, minimizing the maturity curve. All of this will reduce systems downtime, while improving stability and security across the enterprise IT landscape.

The next generation of IT professionals will also be affected, and in order to bolster their careers, they must prepare for a period of transition. Developing an understanding of the IT landscape, as well as how to use, confirm, measure, and enhance the effectiveness of AI engines within organizations will become critical. A key part of their jobs will involve training AI engines and accounting for latest enhancements, as they strategize AI-to-business outcomes.

Right now, business leaders seeking to understand the intersection of AI and IT service management must define the most effective strategies and timelines around why and how to implement AI. Having the right AI solutions, knowing how AI engines can be effectively adopted across an organization for best ROI, and securing the right talent and partners to build and manage AI are collectively an uphill task. It’s worth the effort in the long term, due to cost efficiencies and performance improvements that AI can deliver at scale.

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This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

Categories: Technology

7 new movies and TV shows to stream on Netflix, Prime Video, Max, and more this weekend (September 20)

TechRadar News - Fri, 09/20/2024 - 09:00

It's a clash of the comic book titans this week as Marvel and DC go head-to-head in a TV bout for the ages. Indeed, the Disney- and Warner-owned comic giants have released new shows this week, so you'll be incredibly unsurprised to learn that the duo lead our streaming recommendations for the weekend.

It isn't just Disney Plus and Max who are coming out swinging this week, though. Two more of the world's best streaming services have some new movies and TV shows to bring you on the stay-at-home watching front, too, so if you're not a fan of superheroes or cinematic comic book franchises, one of this article's other five suggestions should take your fancy. Enjoy!

Agatha All Along (Disney Plus)

Just when I thought I'd finally got WandaVision's incredibly catchy (and popular!) original song out of my head, Marvel has only gone and named an entire TV spin-off after it. That's right, Kathryn Hahn's delightful and morally complex Agatha Harkness is back, with the calculating witch's own series – Agatha All Along – finally launching in time for spooky season.

Stripped of her powers by Wanda Maximoff in WandaVision's final episode, Harkness must cobble together her own coven of misfit witches to traverse the Witches' Road, a dangerous realm that, if successfully navigated, will turn a traveler's long-held dream into reality. No pressure, then, gang.

Based on its numerous trailers, this Marvel Phase 5 show looks like it could be another MCU TV project that dominates online discussions throughout its nine-episode run. I can't wait to see more after its campy, catty, chilling, and cackle-inducing two-episode premiere – although, as I noted in my Agatha All Along review, I wished it leaned more into its horror roots. Anyway, altogether now: It was Agatha all alooooooong!

Tom Power, senior entertainment reporter

The Penguin (Max)

Colin Farrell's Oz Cobb/The Penguin was one of many highlights of mine in 2022's The Batman (you can read more on the others in my review of The Batman). Even so, considering his screen time – in a near-three-hour long movie, no less – totalled a curt eight minutes, I was hesitant about the prospects of this sleazy, cunning criminal being able to star in one of the best Max shows ever made. (NB: The Penguin is available to stream on Sky/Now TV in the UK and Binge in Australia.)

I need not have worried. The Penguin is an absolute blast from start to finish, with Farrell and co-lead Cristin Milioti's (she plays Sofia Falcone) performances making this unmissable miniseries. By the time it came to penning my thoughts on the latest Batman live-action project, I'd only watched the first two episodes. Even then, though, I could tell The Penguin deserved to sit alongside The Sopranos in HBO's crime drama pantheon. Now, having finished the full series, I'm tripling down on that opinion – it's just that epic. Give Farrell and Milioti their 2025 Primetime Emmys trophies now, please and thank you.

Tom Power, senior entertainment reporter

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (Netflix)

Ryan Murphy's got quite a dark portfolio. From American Horror Story to Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, he's taken viewers down some twisted paths. His foray into true crime continues with the latest in his Monster series, which focuses on Lyle and Erik Menendez, two brothers who were convicted of the murder of their parents.

This double-murder resulted in a huge investigation that has gone down in American history, largely due to Court TV broadcasting the trial. With some big names like Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny involved, this dramatization is well worth the watch if you've got the stomach for it.  A third instalment of Monsters will explore the life of serial killer Ed Gein, portrayed by Sons of Anarchy lead Charlie Hunnam.

Lucy Buglass, senior entertainment writer

His Three Daughters (Netflix)

His Three Daughters already promises to be one of the best Netflix movies of 2024 with its 99% Rotten Tomatoes score – and that's before it has even started streaming on Netflix. His Three Daughters features a star-studded cast of Elizabeth Olsen, Carrie Coon, and Natasha Lyonne, who play three estranged sisters that reunite in New York City to care for their ill father. As the sisters wait at their father's bedside during his final days, they confront past resentments and face fresh struggles in their relationships.

I can tell this bittersweet portrayal of sisterhood in all its happiness and pain will have me laughing and crying until the very end, so I'm ready to strap in for the emotional rollercoaster ride with one of September's new Netflix movies.

Grace Morris, entertainment writer

A Very Royal Scandal (Prime Video)

Just like Netflix's Scoop, which aired earlier in the year, A Very Royal Scandal on Prime Video is another bombshell drama about Prince Andrew's explosive 2019 Newsnight interview. A Very Royal Scandal is a retelling of Newsnight journalist Emily Maitlis' journey leading up to her interview with Prince Andrew on the BBC Two news and current affairs programme.

Michael Sheen takes on the role of Prince Andrew, while Ruth Wilson plays Maitlis, so if the two leading stars are anything to go by, there's a possibility that this could end up as one of the best Prime Video shows.

Grace Morris, entertainment writer

Twilight of the Gods (Netflix)

Zack Snyder needs no introduction around these parts, but the beloved/divisive director's (delete as applicable) partnership with Netflix got off to an inauspicious start with the arrival of his two-part Rebel Moon movie. Despite pulling in viewers when Rebel Moon Part 1 aired last December, both films' critical and commercial receptions left a lot to be desired, and it's unclear if Snyder's epic sci-fi franchise will be given the time, effort, and money it demands to turn its fortunes around.

The former DC Cinematic Universe (DCEU) filmmaker, then, will hope this Norse mythology-inspired, R-rated animated series will fare better. Twilight of the Gods stars Sylvia Hoeks as Sigrid, an iron-willed warrior who, after assembling a ragtag group of crusaders, embarks on a death-defying mission of revenge after Thor murders her betrothed – and on her wedding day, no less. One to join similar adult animated fare like Arcane and BoJack Horseman on our best Netflix shows list? I guess it depends on how bloody and thunderous it is.

Tom Power, senior entertainment reporter

I Saw The TV Glow (Max)

I Saw the TV Glow is still my favorite horror of the year. My colleague Rowan Davies agrees, too, in his *ahem* glowing personal piece on I Saw The TV Glow, where he explains how it made him re-watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's easy to see why, as this powerful coming of age story does explore topics of identity, fandom, and more, with the help of a creepy fictional TV show called The Pink Opaque.

Horrors like this are special and don't come around all the time. This isn't jump scares galore or full of over the top gore (as much as there's a space for that) – instead, it's subtle yet eerie throughout. Indeed, one of September's new Max movies not only relies on this sense of dread and discomfort, but a general deeply unsettling feeling that something is missing. Two unlikely teenagers bond over this slightly campy, 80s-esque supernatural series, and the result is something as beautiful as it is haunting. To say too much would spoil it but I can't recommend it enough, so you can expect to see it on our best Max movies list very soon.

Lucy Buglass, senior entertainment writer 

For more streaming coverage, read our guides on the best Hulu shows, best Paramount Plus movies, best Apple TV Plus shows, and best Disney Plus movies.

Categories: Technology

Critical Ivanti Cloud Service Appliance flaw exploited in the wild

TechRadar News - Fri, 09/20/2024 - 09:00

A critical path traversal vulnerability, recently discovered in Ivanti’s Cloud Service Appliance (CSA), is being actively exploited in the wild to grant access to restricted product functionalities. This is according to the security advisory Ivanti published earlier this week, in which it said it was “aware of a limited number of customers” who have been exploited by this vulnerability.

CSA is a gateway solution that allows secure communication between Ivanti software products (such as Ivanti Endpoint Manager) and devices outside the corporate network. It acts as a secure bridge for remote devices, enabling them to connect to internal services without the need for a VPN.

The bug is being tracked as CVE-2024-8963, and carries a severity score of 9.4. Ivanti says hackers can chain it to CVE-2024-8190, an OS command injection vulnerability, to bypass admin authentication and run arbitrary commands on the vulnerable endpoint.

End of life

The company did not say which companies were targeted, or by whom.

The bug was “incidentally addressed” as part of CSA 4.6 Patch 519, and CSA 5.0: “Ivanti is disclosing a critical vulnerability in Ivanti CSA 4.6 which was incidentally addressed in the patch released on 10 September (CSA 4.6 Patch 519),” the company said. It stressed that CSA 4.6 is past its end-of-life date, and as such no longer receives patches for OS or third-party libraries.

“Additionally, with the end-of-life status the fix released on 10 September is the last fix Ivanti will backport to that version,” the company concluded. “Customers must upgrade to Ivanti CSA 5.0 for continued support. CSA 5.0 is the only supported version of the product and is not affected by this vulnerability.”

Since the bug is actively exploited, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added it to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog recently, forcing government agencies to patch up by October 10, The Hacker News found.

Via The Hacker News

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Farewell Microsoft Remote Desktop — new Windows Apps bring much-needed remote desktop upgrades across macOS, iOS, and Android

TechRadar News - Fri, 09/20/2024 - 08:25

Microsoft has launched a new service for macOS, iOS, Android devices, web browsers, and Windows PCs allowing users to run Windows and Windows apps as a platform for streaming a copy of Windows from a variety of sources.

With a customizable home screen, multi-monitor support, and USB redirection, the app will allow customer to use local devices like printers, webcams, and storage devices as if they were plugged directly into a cloud PC,

“This unified app serves as your secure gateway to connect to Windows across Windows 365, Azure Virtual Desktop, Remote Desktop, Remote Desktop Services, Microsoft Dev Box, and more," Microsoft's Windows 365 Senior Product Manager Hilary Braun noted.

All in one place

The app doesn't just consolidate multiple services, Microsoft says, but will bring better device management for IT administrators, easier account switching, and includes support for both Microsoft’s Relayed RDP Shortpath and Windows 365 for frontline workers.

By providing a gateway to connect to Windows across multiple services, the app will aim to enhance the user experience by providing a single streamlined interface.

Not everyone is enthused about the new app, most citing the confusing name. Primarily, people are frustrated that searching for solutions or help with Windows apps will be much more complicated with so many services with a similar name.

The news comes days after an announcement that the Windows 11 app will be getting some major upgrades, which hopes to enable apps to use less memory and enable 50% faster loading. The firm hopes updates will bring better performance for a range of apps, and improve the user experience across the board.

Via ArsTechnica

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Categories: Technology

I'm not a horror fan, but I can't wait to be paralyzed with fear after watching the Netflix trailer for Don't Move

TechRadar News - Fri, 09/20/2024 - 08:21

Have you ever had a nightmare where you're being chased by a killer and can't move no matter how hard you try? Well, this horror story comes true in the trailer for new Netflix movie Don't Move.

With legendary Evil Dead director Sam Raimi producing the upcoming thriller, there's a high possibility that Don't Move could become one of the best horror movies. The best streaming service released the new trailer (see below) as part of Netflix's Geeked Week and my horror-phobic self is ready to be frozen in fear just this once.

In the heart-pounding new trailer, Iris (Kelsey Asbille) fights for her life as a sinister killer pursues her in the forest. It already sounds like anyone's worst fear, but the ordeal is made even more terrifying when she has to contend with her entire body shutting down after being injected by a paralytic agent. In another bone-chilling twist, the trailer never reveals the killer. We only hear his voice as he ominously warns her what's to come as the agent gradually takes over her body in 20 minutes.

Frozen in fear, literally

In Don't Move, grieving mother Iris is hoping to find solace in the woods as she navigates a difficult time in her life. However, her journey to healing turns into a desperate fight for survival when she meets a stranger deep in the forest of the Big Sur who injects her with a paralytic agent. With only 20 minutes until the drug kicks in, Iris must face the deadly battle of her nervous system shutting down and escaping a pursuer hot on her tail. 

With an 85 minute runtime, the potential best Netflix movie unfolds along the same amount of time as the characters are experiencing, so the audience feels like they're there moment by moment. This idea is something directors Brian Netto and Adam Schindler conceived alongside the film’s writers, T.J. Cimfel and David White. “The challenge we said to them was, ‘we would love for it to be real time,’ ” Netto told Tudum. “We love films that do that.” 

Throughout those 85 minutes, Iris must navigate a new, unimaginable obstacle with very limited range of movement. “It’s a propulsive, stripped-down thriller that manages to feel very personal at times. That’s what resonated with me, fighting desperately to overcome something that has left you feeling paralyzed,” Asbille added.

Don't Move stars Asbille (Yellowstone), Finn Wittrock (American Horror Story: Hotel), Moray Treadwell (The Witcher: Blood Origin), and Daniel Francis (Bridgerton), and will debut on Netflix on October 25, so make sure to stay put till then. 

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Categories: Technology

New movies: the most exciting films coming to theaters in January 2025

TechRadar News - Mon, 12/05/2022 - 11:49

New movies are, unsurprising as it is to say, set to arrive in theaters worldwide throughout 2025. Indeed, from hype-inducing superhero films, such as James Gunn's Superman movie and The Fantastic Four: First Steps, to every other genre imaginable, there'll be plenty of new flicks to catch in a cinema near you over the next 12 months.

Right now, UK fans can finally enjoy the Nicole Kidman-fronted A24 erotic thriller Babygirl, but new movies releases in the US and Australia are few and far between. You'll just have to check out top-tier films like Conclave, A Real Pain, and We Live in Time instead if you live in these nations. Fear not, though, because you can learn more about all of the biggest movies arriving in January and February by scrolling through this article (we'll be adding more entries to our big-screen entertainment guide in the weeks to come, too). Enjoy!

New movies: January Babygirl

Release date: out now (US and UK); January 30 (Australia)

The second A24 film to debut in UK and Australian cinemas this month after We Live in Time, Babygirl is yet an erotic thriller that'll aim to seduce and unsettle viewers. In it, Nicole Kidman plays a high-powered CEO who puts her career and family on the line when she begins having a steamy affair with a young, domineering intern.

Critics have enjoyed one of January's new movies more than general audiences have (according to Rotten Tomatoes, anyway), but maybe it'll have enough about it to intoxicate film buffs outside of the US in the weeks ahead.

Conclave

Release date: out now (worldwide)

From Edward Berger, director of Netflix's harrowing war flick All Quiet on the Western Front, this religious conspiracy thriller – based on Robert Harris' book of the same name – sees Ralph Fiennes play Cardinal Lawrence, who leads the Catholic Church's search for a new Pope when the current incumbent dies. The covert process is made all the more difficult, however, by a power struggle within the Vatican, as well as an unsettling discovery Cardinal Lawrence makes.

With a strong supporting cast including Isabella Rossellini, John Lithgow, and Stanley Tucci among its ranks, and a 93% critical Rotten Tomatoes rating, Conclave is a must-see religion-based mystery thriller that'll keep you guessing throughout.

A Real Pain

Release date: out now (worldwide)

Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network, Batman v Superman) and Kieran Culkin (Scott Pilgrim vs the World, Succession) team up in this Eisenberg-directed comedy-drama that drew plenty of praise the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. In it, the pair play mismatched cousins who reunite to embark on an awkward tour of Poland in honor of their recently deceased grandmother.

Based on its 96% Rotten Tomatoes critical rating, this is one of those new movies that's been worth the wait for UK and Australian audiences.

We Live in Time

Release date: out now (US and UK); January 16 (Australia)

Two of the UK's brightest acting talents in Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield star in this A24 dramady that'll aim to make you laugh, cry, and maybe even re-evaluate your own life. In it, the pair play Almut and Tobias, whose paths cross after a chance encounter, end up falling in love, and then deal with some absolutely devastating moments that truly put their relationship to the test.

Almost three months after its initial US release, We Live in Time is finally out in the UK and, while its Rotten Tomatoes scores weren't strong enough to book it a full spot on our 52 best movies of 2024 list, it's still another emotional rollercoaster of the flick from indie darling studio A24. Catch it ASAP.

Paddington in Peru

Release date: out now (UK and Australia); January 17 (US)

The first two Paddington movies are some of the best family movies we've seen in a long, long time. The debuting of the third movie's trailer and confirmation of its release dates (sorry, US and Australia, you've got a longer than expected wait on your hands), then, has been met with celebratory marmalade sandwiches among the movie series' global fanbase.

Unsurprisingly, Paddington In Peru sees the titular bear return to his homeland – with the Brown family in tow – to visit in Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton). However, upon arriving in the South American nation, the group learn that Lucy has gone missing in the Peruvian jungle. Cue a riotously fun quest to find out where she's gone. A movie that's not as good as its predecessors but, with a 93% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it's one that's still absolutely worth seeing.

Wolf Man

Release date: January 16 (Australia); Janaury 17 (US and UK)

Leigh Whannell's modern retelling of The Invisible Man was a surprise hit upon release in 2020, and he'll aim to replicate that success with his second horror film reimagining with this month's Wolf Man.

Starring Ozark alumnus Julia Garner and Girls' Christopher Abbott, the mid-budget supernatural horror flick sees the pair play Charlotte and Blake, a married couple and parents to Ginger who relocate to Oregon from San Francisco. Not long after settling into their new surroundings, though, Blake is attacked and injured by a werewolf. Cue a slow and horrifying transformation for Blake, and a fight for survival for Charlotte and Ginger against the man who was sworn to protect them at all costs.

A Complete Unknown

Release date: out now (US); January 17 (UK); January 22 (Australia)

Timothée Chalamet will aim for some overdue award wins with A Complete Unknown, the biographical drama that charts the rise of (and at-the-time musical controversies surrounding) legendary musician Bob Dylan in 1960s America. Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro, Boyd Holbrook, and Scoot McNairy are among its starry cast.

After his latest film – Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny – flopped at the box office last year, James Mangold will hope to rebuild his reputation with a flick that feels like a shoo-in for multiple nominations on the 2025 awards circuit. Its 77% Rotten Tomatoes critical score, though, suggests it may not appeal to everyone.

Better Man

Release date: out now (UK and Australia); January 17 (US)

A biopic unlike you've ever seen before, Better Man will tell the extraordinary story of UK popstar Robbie Williams. From his meteoric rise as a member of '90s boyband Take That, to his playboy lifestyle and fall from grace, and then his career resurrection, this flick from The Greatest Showman filmmaker Michael Gracey is one that Williams fans won't want to miss.

Okay, so what's the catch? Rather than hire an A-lister to portray Williams in this tale inspired by real-life events, the singer-songwriter and UK actor Jonno Davies provided mocap performances that, under the watchful eye of multi-award-winning visual effects studio Weta, have been digitally recreated to turn Williams into a chimpanzee. That's how Williams apparently sees himself, after all. With a surprisingly great 88% Rotten Tomatoes critical rating, this could be an unexpected worldwide hit.

The Brutalist

Release date: out now (US); January 23 (Australia); January 24 (UK)

Clocking in at a staggering three hours and 35 minutes, this epic historical drama will really test your runtime limits when it lurches into theaters. But, based on its 93% Rotten Tomatoes critics rating and numerous 2025 Golden Globes nominations, it sounds like the Brady Corbet written and directed film is absolutely worth it.

Starring Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, and Joe Alwyn, The Brutalist follows visionary architect László Toth (Brody) who, after escaping post-war Europe, travels to the US to rebuild his life, career, and marriage to Erzsébet (Jones). Expect this one to earn its fair share of prizes on next year's awards circuit.

September 5

Release date: out now (US); January 24 (UK); January 30 (Australia)

A film that's going to cut a little too close to home due to ongoing events in the Middle East, September 5 is a harrowing drama inspired by true events. Set during the 1972 Olympics in Munich, it tells the tale of a US sports broadcasting team that quickly pivots to live coverage of an unfolding hostage situation involving Israeli athletes in the German capital. John Magaro, Peter Sarsgaard, and Leonie Benesch are among its main cast.

Given its positioning as a late 2024/early 2025 film release, it seems Paramount Pictures is gearing up to put September 5 forward as a contender for next year's awards ceremonies. With an impressive 12% Rotten Tomatoes critical rating, it may just win a gong or two, too.

Companion

Release date: January 30 (Australia); January 31 (US and UK)

A pre-Valentine's Day psychological thriller that'll make you think twice about throwing yourself into your next romantic relationship. Companion stars Heretic's Sophie Thatcher and The Boys' Jack Quaid as Iris and Josh – singletons who, judging by Companion's trailer, soon get more than they bargained for during a weekend trip to a billionaire's lakeside estate.

Little else is known about this movie's plot, so expect plenty of twists, turns, and backstabbing (literal and metaphorical) to take center stage upon release.

Saturday Night

Release date: out now (US and Australia); January 31 (UK)

Saturday Night Live has become a cultural juggernaut since its October 11, 1975 debut, but it was almost a complete failure ahead of its inaugural show. Almost 50 years on from that night, Jason Reitman (2021's Ghostbusters: Afterlife) delivers a wild, "inspired by true events" flick that tells the story of the 90 minutes leading up to the sketch/improv comedy series' first-ever showing.

It's got a whole host of big names attached to it, too. Stranger Things' Finn Wolfhard, iconic actors J.K. Simmons and Willem Dafoe, Perry Mason's Matthew Rhys, The Fablemans' Gabriel LaBelle, Bottoms' Rachel Ann Sennott, Dickinson's Ella Hunt, and The Responder's Emily Fairn are just some of its all-star ensemble cast. With a 78% critical and 84% audience ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, it's one to catch in a theater near you.

Dog Man

Release date: January 31 (US); February 7 (UK); April 3 (Australia)

Based on Dav Pilkey's beloved children's book series of the same name, Dog Man looks and sounds like it could be the first great family-friendly flick of 2025.

Dog Man tells the story of police officer Knight and his trusty canine Greg, both of whom are severely injured during the same mission. After a live-saving operation sees Greg's head attached to Knight's body, the eponymous hero is born – and it's a good job he is, too, because he's the only one capable of stopping the nefarious cat named Petey (voiced by Pete Davison) from carrying out all kinds of terrible plans.

New movies: February Queer

Release date: out now (US and UK); February 6 (Australia)

Tackling a role that's a complete departure from his James Bond days and current lead status in Netflix's Knives Out film franchise, Daniel Craig could be in the running for Best Actor on the 2025 awards circuit if his outstanding performance in Queer is anything to go by.

Luca Guadagnino's latest feature sees Craig play William Lee, a US expat and loner living in 1950s Mexico. However, when he strikes up an unexpected friendship with former soldier Eugene Allerton, Lee finds that he may finally have found someone to develop an intimate relationship with. With critics already hailing its towering acting performances and unusual visuals, and its largely positive 78% Rotten Tomatoes score, Queer seemed like it would quite well. Its 59% audience score says otherwise.

Becoming Led Zeppelin

Release date: February 7 (worldwide)

One of the world's most famous rock bands will get the docufilm treatment in early February. Becoming Led Zeppelin will tell the tale of the British four-piece's meteoric rise against the odds to become a musical powerhouse in the late '60s and early '70s.

With never-before-seen footage and featuring interviews with the likes of Jimmy Page, this documentary movie was given Led Zeppelin's blessing before it entered development. Expect it to be must-see for the hard rock/heavy metal group's global fanbase.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Release date: out now (US); February 7 (UK); TBC (Australia)

Originally distributed by Neon in US theaters last Novembers, this multi-award nominated flick will arrive in UK cinemas this month courtesy of Lionsgate.

A political thriller, it tells the story of Iman, a Tehran-based judge who becomes increasingly paranoid and suspicious of his family when nationwide protests about the death of a young woman and his gun, which he uses to keep him safe, mysteriously disappears. With 95% critical and 86% audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes, The Seed of the Sacred Fig is a foreign-language film you won't want to sleep on.

Love Hurts

Release date: February 7 (US and UK); TBC (Australia)

Handed the lead role in a film for the first time in his 40-year career, Ke Huy Quan (Loki, Everything Everywhere All at Once) will star as Marvin, a mild-mannered realtor who used to be one of the world's greatest hitmen. Unfortunately, his past catches up to him when former partner-in-crime Rose (Ariana DeBose) not only reveals she's still alive after he left her for dead, but also that a whole host of criminals are gunning for him and Rose.

With 87North – the stunt company co-founded by John Wick producer David Leitch – involved, you know this'll be fun-filled, action-based rom-com that may be a sleeper hit in the lead up to Valentine's Day.

Captain America: Brave New World

Release date: February 14 (worldwide)

The first Marvel movie of 2025, Captain America: Brave New World sees Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson wield the famous shield after finally assuming the mantle in Disney Plus series Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

With his trusty wingman Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) in tow, Cap will try to prevent all-out war erupting as the world's most notable superpowers vie for control of a new precious material – that being adamantium, which essentially sets up the X-Men's long-awaited arrival in the MCU. Oh, and they'll need to defeat another superhuman threat in the form of Red Hulk, i.e. the gamma-irradiated of new US President Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross, who'll be played by the legendary Harrison Ford following William Hurt's death in March 2022.

This Marvel Phase 5 film's various trailers suggest it'll be a political/spy thriller in the form of The Winter Soldier, so we have high hopes for it. Learn more about its cast and plot in our dedicated Captain America: Brave New World hub.

I'm Still Here

Release date: February 14 (US); February 21 (UK); March 27 (Australia)

After her unexpected victory at the 2025 Golden Globes by winning the Best Actress (Drama) gong, the movie that won Fernanda Torres that award is set to land back in US theaters and receive its silver screen debut elsewhere.

The Walter Salles-directed movie sees Torres play Eunice Paiva, mother to five children and wife to Rubens (Selton Mello) who lives in 1970s Rio de Janeiro amid a Brazilian military dictatorship. I'm Still Here follows Eunice as she navigates this bleak time in her home nation and a violent act that reshapes her family life. A moving film that's wowed critics, as evidenced by its 91% Rotten Tomatoes score.

The Monkey

Release date: February 20 (Australia); February 21 (US and UK)

After wowing audiences with Longlegs and its Blair Witch-style viral marketing campaign, Osgood Perkins returns with his next gore-laced horror movie, albeit a comedy one, that adapts one of Stephen King's most famous short stories.

Starring Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, and Elijah Wood, The Monkey follows twin brothers Bill and Hal (both played by James) who find an old monkey toy in their father's attic. Little do they know, though, that unearthing the supernatural item will lead to a series grisly deaths for all who come across it. One of February's new movies that should confirm Perkins' position as one of Hollywood's new generation of great horror filmmakers.

Want more new movies recommendations? Our new Netflix movies, new Max movies, new Prime Video movies, and new Disney Plus movies lists are full of streaming-based suggestions for a night at home instead.

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