Author: Henry

Netflix is generally pretty quick to decide whether shows are going to receive a second season or not, typically drawing from the streaming platform’s viewership analytics to decide whether it would be a profitable investment—but there are several shows from this year that still haven’t received a verdict.

One of these shows is How to Get to Heaven From Belfast, the follow-up thriller comedy from Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee. The show received rave reviews from critics, securing an impressive 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

However, despite this huge acclaim, it seems as though How to Get to Heaven From Belfast may not have secured a second season after all. Generally, if a show like this was going to land a renewal on the grounds of its critical apprailsal, it would have happened by now. The extended hiatus of information doesn’t look like a good sign.

What’s On Netflix predicts that How to Get to Heaven From Belfast will ultimately be cancelled by the streaming platform after just one season, citing the low viewership numbers as the main reason. Strong reviews are helpful, but Netflix ultimately won’t be incentivized to continue funding a show that isn’t leaving a meaningful impact on the viewership charts.

The first season of How to Get to Heaven From Belfast was released on Netflix internationally on February 12, 2026. The show follows three close friends who learn that the fourth member of their teenage friend group has died, causing them to travel back to their hometown to pay their respects. Once they return, they discover the mysterious conditions of their friend’s death and stumble into a conspiracy of long-kept secrets.

The show’s reviews praised McGee’s excellent writing, which constantly walks the line between gritty thriller and dark comedy, and the standout performances from the entire cast. The eight-episode season also ended on a cliffhanger, which could make its eventual cancellation sting even more.

McGee has publicly stated that the cliffhanger ending was intended to leave the door open for a second season, but she acknowledged that the decision ultimately lay in the hands of Netflix executives. It would be a huge shame to see this bold, original piece of storytelling cut short, but nothing has been finalized yet.

With a new month comes a new dump of content on Netflix, and July 1 sees the platform add a 2019 crime thriller that was a quiet hit among critics and fans alike. It was written by an Emmy-winning multi-hyphenate and stars an Oscar winner, and it keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. The film is so exceptional that, as of publication, it’s Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a Tomatometer score of 82%. (On a personal note, it turned out to be one of those pleasant, yet unexpected, surprises for me when I watched it in theaters.)

‘Queen & Slim’ Is Now Available to Stream on Netflix 

Written by Emmy-winning writer/director/actress/producer Lena Waithe, directed by Grammy-winning Melina Matsoukas, and starring Oscar-winning Daniel Kaluuya, Queen Slim follows the twisted tale of a minor traffic stop that goes horribly wrong. Things spiral so out of control that what was supposed to be a first date becomes an epic fugitive romance that greatly impacts the rest of the lives and legacy of two people forever. Here’s the official synopsis of the movie: 

“From Emmy-winning writer Lena Waithe and Grammy Award-winning director Melina Matsoukas, comes the unflinching new drama, Queen & Slim. On a first date, a black man and woman are stopped by a policeman over a minor traffic infraction. As the situation spirals, the man kills the officer in self-defense, forcing the two to go on the run. As they drive, these two unlikely fugitives discover themselves in the most dire of circumstances, forging a powerful love that reveals their shared humanity and shapes the rest of their lives.”

Critics Loved ‘Queen & Slim’

Again, Queen & Slim is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, proving it’s a hit with critics. Alissa Wilkinson for Vox stated, “It’s a Bonnie and Clyde tale worth telling today.” Stephanie Zacharek wrote for Time: 

“Queen & Slim is a movie made of equal parts sorrow and glamour, all tempered by the grim reality that during the course of their odyssey Queen and Slim do some things they’re not proud of.

Personally speaking, Queen & Slim was one of my favorite movies of 2019. It wasn’t on my radar initially, but in theaters, I was hooked from the very beginning. Although it’s not billed as a horror story, as a Black man in America, the journey of Slim is absolutely gut-wrenching for me to watch. 

Again, Queen & Slim is now available to stream on Netflix. 

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By 1970, John Wayne had already cemented his place as Hollywood’s biggest Western star. But behind the scenes of Rio Lobo, the legendary actor was facing physical challenges that audiences never saw on screen.

Despite filming while in poor health — and while recovering from a serious shoulder injury — Wayne powered through production of what would become the final film directed by his longtime collaborator, Howard Hawks.

More than 50 years later, Rio Lobo continues to earn recognition, landing on IMDb’s roundup of the greatest Western movies of all time.

John Wayne Filmed Through Pain

According to IMDb’s trivia page for Rio Lobo, Wayne struggled physically throughout production.

The actor was in poor health during filming and reportedly had difficulty getting on and off his horse. He was also still recovering from a torn shoulder ligament he suffered while making 1969’s The Undefeated.

Those challenges weren’t obvious to moviegoers.

In Rio Lobo, Wayne stars as Union Army Colonel Cord McNally, who sets out to track down the Confederate traitors responsible for a deadly train robbery during the Civil War. Along the way, he forms unlikely alliances in a story filled with shootouts, revenge and classic Western action.

An Oscar and a Practical Joke

Production also coincided with one of the biggest moments of Wayne’s career. During a break in filming, he traveled to accept the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit. The Oscar remains the only competitive Academy Award Wayne ever won.

When he returned to the Rio Lobo set, his castmates celebrated in unforgettable fashion. According to IMDb, every member of the cast greeted Wayne wearing an eye patch — including his horse — in a playful tribute to his one-eyed, Oscar-winning lawman.

Rio Lobo marked the final film directed by Howard Hawks, ending one of Hollywood’s most influential careers behind the camera.

Hawks and Wayne had previously collaborated on classics including Red River, Rio Bravo and El Dorado, making Rio Lobo the closing chapter in one of the Western genre’s defining partnerships.

The film also featured veteran character actor Jack Elam, whose performance reportedly impressed audiences so much that Wayne later joked Elam had stolen several scenes from him.

When fans discuss the greatest guitar solos of all time, there is a list of iconic performances that always make the cut. While iconic solos from Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Brian May, and David Gilmour all deserve the respect they get, praising them again doesn’t add much to the conversation. That is why it is so fascinating that a major expert with decades’ worth of knowledge recently highlighted a 1973 song as the greatest guitar solo that often gets forgotten.

Who Ranked Mahavishnu Orchestra’s ‘Birds of Fire’ the Greatest Forgotten Guitar Solo of All Time?

On May 4, 2026, Rolling Stone published its ranking of the “100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time.” In response to that ranking, Brad Tolinski penned an entertaining, funny, and informative article for his Substack that anyone who cares about the subject should read. As his Penguin Random House bio notes, Tolinski is an expert who was the Guitar World editor-in-chief for 25 years. He has also written books about music, including Light & Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page.

In addition to covering Rolling Stone’s list, Tolinski also offered up a pair of guitar solo rankings of his own. The first detailed his ranking of the best guitar solos from a historian’s perspective and featured Brian May, Eddie Van Halen, Chuck Berry, and Jimi Hendrix. He then noted he was “a little sick” of those solos and would be fine to never hear them again. Tolinski then offered his own “subjective list” of “solos that may not always appear in the official canon, yet somehow still sound fresh, dangerous, surprising, and alive every time I hear them.”

For his second list of the best guitar solos that are often forgotten or ignored, Tolinski named the 1973 Mahavishnu Orchestra song “Birds of Fire” at No. 1. The blistering solo featured in the instrumental track was performed by John McLaughlin. While explaining his choice, Tolinski hilariously started his argument by writing, “By and large, most jazz-rock fusion is awful — the worst of both worlds.” From there, Tolinski praised McLaughlin for briefly making the genre “a thrilling hotbed of musical experimentation.”

The article detailed the guitarist’s collaborations with an absolute icon. McLaughlin’s “jagged funk rhythms and lightning-fast, Indian-influenced solos fueled several extraordinary Miles Davis albums, including In a Silent Way, Jack Johnson and the essential Bitches Brew.” Ultimately, Tolinski praised “McLaughlin’s reckless soloing” on “Birds of Fire” while vividly describing how exciting he found the performance. He wrote the solo “remains one of the most exhilarating guitar performances I’ve ever heard, possessing the same abandon as Little Richard or the New York Dolls at their absolute wildest.”

Next: 1980 Classic Voted the ‘Greatest Guitar Solo of All Time’ by Guitarists