It’s been seven years since Shane Black directed his last feature, 2018’s The Predator. The Predator installment fell outside of Black’s wheelhouse of blending action and comedy, i.e., Lethal Weapon and The Nice Guys. The first trailer for Play Dirty, a heist movie releasing on Prime Video this fall, suggests a return to Black’s comfort zone.
Mark Wahlberg stars as Parker, an expert thief betrayed by a mysterious woman, Zen (Rosa Salazar), who kills his entire team. Instead of revenge, Parker agrees to work with her to “rob an entire country” by stealing a sunken treasure worth a billion dollars.
Parker assembles a team, including his right-hand man, Grofield (LaKeith Stanfield), to execute the heist. The job isn’t without its dangers, as Parker takes on the mafia, a billionaire, and an army.
Play Dirty also stars Keegan-Michael Key, Chukwudi Iwuji, Nat Wolff, Thomas Jane, and Tony Shalhoub. The movie is based on the Parker book series by Richard Stark, a pen name for author Donald E. Westlake.
Black directs Play Dirty from a screenplay he co-wrote with Charles Mondry and Anthony Bagarozzi. Black broke out as an actor on Predator, where he provided uncredited rewrites to the script. Black then went on to pen some of the most memorable action scripts of the late ’80s and early ’90s, including Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, and Last Action Hero.
Black directs Play Dirty from a screenplay he co-wrote with Charles Mondry and Anthony Bagarozzi. Black broke out as an actor on Predator, where he provided uncredited rewrites to the script. Black then went on to pen some of the most memorable action scripts of the late ’80s and early ’90s, including Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, and Last Action Hero.
Black made his directorial debut on Kiss Kiss Bang before later helming Iron Man 3 and The Nice Guys.
Robert Downey Jr. is an executive producer on Play Dirty alongside his wife, Susan. Downey was originally attached to star before Wahlberg stepped in as the lead. It would have been a reunion for Downey and Black, who previously worked together on the underrated Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and the MCU’s Iron Man 3.
Play Dirty begins streaming exclusively on Prime Video on October 1, 2025.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.