Everyone loves a good underdog story and this one checks all the boxes. The undisputed king of hit radio in New York City is WHTZ (Z100), the station that’s dominated the competition for decades in America’s top media market. But it hasn’t always been that way.

Nearly four decades removed from the fractured media landscape of the present, a young outwardly cocky and confident (but in truth “scared to death”) program director and AM drive talent named Scott Shannon gave up a legacy gig in Tampa for a New York City station that was being crushed in the ratings by every competitor, including a signal drifting in from another state.

In just 74 days, Shannon and his crew accomplished the impossible by taking Z100 from number 51 in the radio ratings all the way to the top.

“Worst to First: The True Story of Z100/New York” chronicles the station’s historic come from nowhere ratings dominance in an appropriately high energy, revealing and hilarious documentary about drive, passion, commitment and competition from Emmy-winning director Mitchell Stuart.

I have a complicated history with Ryan Reynolds.

For a good stretch of his career, I found him to be generally insufferable. He radiated smugness, smirking and quipping his way through a series of not-terribly-interesting comedies and franchise misfires. Long story short, I didn’t care for him.

And then, well … he wore me down.

Don’t get me wrong – the aforementioned qualities are still part of the package. And he’s still making plenty of questionable films. I just find myself enjoying them more, even if (when) they’re not necessarily that great.

Which brings us to “The Adam Project,” the new big-budget Netflix offering starring Reynolds as a time traveler who inadvertently winds up partnering with his younger self (played exceptionally by newcomer Walker Scobell) in an effort to save the world from the clutches of a power-mad billionaire.

I know, I know – it sounds ridiculous. And it is. But it’s better than it sounds. The notion of setting right what once went wrong is a staple of the time travel genre; adding the coming-of-age element gives the film a flavor that makes it palatable even when the logistics of the narrative break down and we see the seams a little.

It’s not easy for actors who get an early start in the business to overcome the stigma that can come from the sorts of roles that lead to said early start. We’ve seen a number of young performers get chewed up by the fallout from the constant churn of the content machine, leading to them getting saddled with perceptions of their abilities that could be considered unfair.

Take Zac Efron, for instance. The actor shot to stardom as the brightest light in the massively popular “High School Musical” franchise, and while that stardom led to steady work in Hollywood, the truth is that he has struggled to be taken seriously due to his origins in the business.

(I’ll confess that I’m as guilty of that dismissal as anyone, though in my defense, Mr. Efron has made some real stinkers.)

However, when these former child stars get their chance to engage with serious work, sometimes they’ll surprise you.

This brings us to “Gold,” an Australian film directed by Anthony Hayes. In addition, Hayes co-wrote the screenplay with Polly Smyth, and oh yeah, he co-stars in the film as well. It’s a survival thriller set against the harsh environs of the Australian Outback – environs rendered all the harsher by the extreme circumstances.

It’s a film that really features just three performers, with Efron as the actor doing the majority of the heavy lifting. And despite being alone onscreen for much of the film’s running time, he more than holds his own, crafting a haunting and surprisingly captivating performance of a man committed to doing whatever it takes to seize an unanticipated opportunity.

Comic books have become the dominant source material for franchise filmmaking. There is a staggering amount of IP out there, ripe for exploration on the big screen. And yet, there are a handful of characters to which we invariably return. Characters upon whom filmmakers can’t resist placing their own stamp.

Few characters have seen the kind of churn that we’ve gotten from Batman over the years – a churn that continues with the release of “The Batman.”

Since Tim Burton’s “Batman” hit in 1989, laying the groundwork for the superhero explosion that would eventually follow, we’ve seen numerous artists and artisans embrace the character in their own way. Early on, we got Burton’s neo-Gothic vibes and Joel Schumacher’s candy-colored neon fever dreams. After that, Christopher Nolan’s trilogy redefined the possibilities of what the character – and comic book movies in general – could be. Next, we got Zach Snyder’s stylized grimdark take as the character was moved into a wider expanded cinematic universe.

And now, Matt Reeves has entered the ring.

“The Batman” promises a more grounded take on the character, moving away from the more extreme interpretations and focusing on a younger Batman, one still learning the logistical challenges and harsh realities that come with costumed vigilantism. With Robert Pattinson assuming the cowl, the film seeks to dig into the early years of the hero and his development.

The film seeks to embrace verisimilitude – at least, to the extent that a movie based on a superhero comic can – and focuses more on the idea of Batman as detective, an aspect of the character that has largely been underplayed or outright ignored by previous adaptations. The result is a movie that, while uneven, offers room to evolve and expand in ways we haven’t yet seen on the big screen.