There's even more evidence now that the NVIDIA 16-Pin 12VHPWR cable issues are due to user error instead of a major design defect. As discovered by GamersNexus, we are now in the fourth week since the first issues appeared and more details pop up to tell what's causing these cables to melt.
NVIDIA 16-Pin 12VHPWR Cable Problems Once Again Suggested To Be User-Error, Users Mount Up More Pressure on Green Team
There are three main topics to cover in this post, first and foremost are the new discoveries made by GamersNexus which once again point out two potential reasons why this issue is being caused. Now one should not call this the definitive reason for the issues as NVIDIA has yet to provide its own official update, but there are three sources that have said this might be the reason. First, we have Ronaldo Buassali from GALAX & TecLab who said this in the very beginning followed by Corsair's tech expert, JonnyGuru, and now, we have more details on the matter by GamersNexus who have also managed to recreate the melting issues live at their lab.
GamersNexus Suggests User Error Is Causing NVIDIA's 16-Pin 12VHPWR Cables To Melt
In a very deep and detailed analysis that took several days of testing, Steve Burke and his team over at GamersNexus found two main causes behind the melting of the 16-Pin 12VHPWR cable from NVIDIA. Yesterday, we told that there were two cables provided by two different companies and one may feature problematic soldering and design. However, GamersNexus tested both and found out that the issue can occur on both cables, so the manufacturer doesn't matter.
The tech outlet continues to suggest that the issues are caused by either user error where users are not inserting the cables within the connector properly or foreign debris that might enter the connector after plugging the cable in or out or while manufacturing. Based on data from various AIB partners, GamersNexus reports that the failure rate is somewhere between 0.05 to 0.1% and that means that out of 100,000 units that have been shipped for the RTX 4090 so far, only 100 are really affected by this.
A summary of the entire video has been provided by NVIDIA's subreddit mod, Nestledrink, which can be read below:
Per Nvidia partner: Failure rate is 0.05% - 0.1%. Nvidia may provide more context on this later
Any of them "can" fail because there are a few modes of failure and one of them involves user error
Confirmed 2 Manufacturers: Astron / NTK (Also, subcontracted to Tricon?)
Failure in general is overwhelmingly uncommon and many of the failures are very easily avoidable
What are the causes:
Foreign object debris in the cable
Caused by improper manufacturing and scraping of the bump combined with high current and or poor connection
Creating poor points of contact
Extremely improper insertion by the user
Improper insertion in combination with a taut wire on one or more pins
Causing one point of poor contact that heats up
Conclusion:
Cables are melting when the connector is unseated
It requires being very unseated AND pulling the cable at an angle
Did not fail when tested unseated but not being pulled at an angle
"Partial insertion and angling of the pin into the socket could have increased susceptibility for a high resistance parallel connection at the lip of the socket" - Failure Analysis Lab Testing sent to GN
Any debris will make this worse
Failures are rare
Don't chase specific adapters as any of them can fail
Anxiety surrounding the issue might exacerbate the issue
When people are unplugging and re-plugging, it could create foreign object debris (not common)
User error when re-plugging the connector
Purely objectively, GN feels you should be comfortable using a 12VHPWR connector but it requires them to be fully connected and seated (Critical)
There should not be any gap
Push the cable until you can't wiggle it out anymore (GN gave an example of how he could pull the seemingly fully inserted cable out by wiggling it out -- this is an indication that the cable is NOT fully seated)
NVIDIA Hit With Lawsuit Over 16-Pin 12VHPWR Melting Fiasco
Moving on to story number two, we have Lucas Genova, an owner of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card who has filed a class action lawsuit against NVIDIA over the whole 16-Pin 12VHPWR cable. The lawsuit can be seen filed over at Justia and was filed at the California Federal court on 11 November 2022. The user states:
NVIDIA "marketed and sold the RTX 4090 with a defective and dangerous power cable plug and socket, which has rendered consumers' cards inoperable and poses a serious electrical and fire hazard for each and every purchaser."
Lucas states within his law suit that he installed his graphics card correctly but despite that the 16-pin cable on the card melted. Now there's no evidence as to if the cable was properly inserted or not but despite that, the user should be able to RMA his card for a new unit without any issues. We should advise all RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 owners to check and make sure the cable is inserted fully within the 16-Pin connector on the card. The issue occurring this often shows that the design of the cable isn't very user-friendly as the previous 8-pin connectors if they require you to put in a lot of force.
Another Founders Edition's 16-Pn 12VHPWR Cable Melts
Over this weekend on Reddit, another RTX 4090 GPU was mentioned as melting/malfunctioning, causing yet another user to contact their representative. This time, however, it comes from an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition card. This new development now stretches into the territory of NVIDIA's high-end proprietary cards.
The card was purchased on the 19th of October from Best Buy (it is unknown whether it was online or in-store). The GPU was inside an ASUS ROG Helios chassis with the side panel removed to ensure that the cable would not be bent on the 16-pin adaptor, as the user knew of the possible damage. The three 8-pin PCIe cables were confirmed to have been connected per the user to the ASUS ROG Thor 1200W PSU to offer adequate supply to the card.
The cable for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition. Image source: Party_Quail_1048 on Reddit.
On October 29th, the screen suddenly went black. Before the day, the user would play Call of Duty: Warzone each day, between two to three hours each. Upon investigation, the connector and corresponding adapter was already damaged, showing signs of melting. The graphics card has since been returned to NVIDIA for replacement, which will add to the list of cards that NVIDIA is currently examining for the actual cause of the problem. The user has reported that they have received the replacement graphics card but are very hesitant to install the new graphics card until a problem and solution have been found.
The connector on the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition. Image source: Party_Quail_1048 on Reddit.
The problem has been active for the last month since the first day of the release of the Ada architecture-based graphics cards. However, this is the first known incident involving an NVIDIA-branded graphics card (i.e. Founder's Edition).
Once again, we wait for NVIDIA's official reply over the matter. The company has been working with AIBs to get to the bottom of all of this but hasn't really revealed the exact cause yet.
Are you willing to buy a graphics card with the 16-pin 12VHPWR connector cable?
Yes but only with ATX 3.0 PSU
Yes but I'll use it with non-ATX 3.0 PSU
No, Neither with ATX 3.0 or older PSU
I will stick to my non 16-Pin card till the dust settles
NVIDIA has announced that it will be hosting the official CES 2023 'GeForce' Special Address on the 3rd of January, 2023.
NVIDIA Ready For CES 2023, Cooks Up 'GeForce' Special Address Aiming Gamers With More RTX 40 Goodness
The company has unveiled in a press release that its CES 2023 event will be virtual once again and will be live-streamed on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023, at 8 a.m. PT. The company will also have a presence on the show floor where they will showcase their latest products and innovations but the majority of the announcements will happen on stream. Following is the presser:
Mark your calendar for our virtual NVIDIA Special Address at CES on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023, at 8 a.m. PT, where will be kicking off the year with our latest innovations. Tune in at NVIDIA.com. News leading up to and during the event will be posted here.
If you are planning to attend CES in-person, we invite you to check out our gaming suite at the Cosmopolitan at CES 2023, where we’ll be showcasing the latest technologies, products, and software from GeForce and GeForce NOW.
via NVIDIA
As for what to expect, we exclusively reported a few days ago that NVIDIA will be unveiling its next GeForce RTX 40 series graphics card, the RTX 4070 Ti, on the 3rd of January followed by a launch on the 5th of January. This more or less confirms that the card will be on NVIDIA's agenda during their CES 23 keynote. As for other products, we can expect NVIDIA to give an update on the RTX 40 GPUs for laptops which are expected to couple nicely with Intel's 13th Gen Raptor Lake-HX CPUs & AMD's Ryzen 7000 'Dragon Range' chips. Both CPUs are also expected to have products based on them be showcased at CES 2023.
Other than that, the company will also be talking about the software side of GeForce innovations and even more titles supporting their brand-new DLSS 3 technology. We can't wait to see what NVIDIA has in store for us so save the date and we'll see you at CES!
The issue? They just couldn’t get the price low enough when they included a controller. In Spencer’s estimation an Xbox streaming box only makes sense if they can deliver it at a $99 to $129 price point, and they couldn’t make it there, partly because it sounds like they wanted it to run a version of the current Xbox firmware. So, instead the focus shifted to the recently-released Samsung TV gaming app…
“The console we built that now people have seen, Keystone, was more expensive than we wanted it to be when we actually built it out with the hardware that we had inside, and we decided to focus that team’s efforts on delivering the smart TV streaming app.
With Keystone, [we’re] still focused on it [and] when can we get the right costs, but when you’ve got Series S at $299, and like during the holidays you’ll see some price promotion, you’ll obviously have Series X higher, I think in order for a streaming-only box to make sense, the price delta to S has to be pretty significant. I want to be able to include a controller in it when we go do that. So, it was really just about if we could build the right product at the right price, or if we can’t, how can we focus the team’s effort? And we decided to go do the TV app with Samsung and we’re really happy with the results there.
I don’t want to announce pricing specifically, but I think you’ve got to be $129, $99, like somewhere in there for that to make sense in my view, that we just weren’t there. We weren’t there with the controller. And I love the effort. The reason it’s on my shelf is the team rolled up their sleeves and in nine months they built that thing. And a bunch of us took it home and it worked. It worked really, really well.”
It sounds like Spencer isn’t totally cold on the idea of reviving Keystone, we just have to wait a bit until the price is right. I guess we’ll see.
What do you think? Would a basic Xbox streaming box be something you’d be interested in?
Dining with Chef Slowick (Ralph Fiennes) is a dangerous experience in "The Menu."By Christopher James
The subgenre of class warfare comedy is alive and well in 2022. Most recently, movies like Bodies Bodies Bodies and Triangle of Sadness have smeared the 1% with blood and excrement, respectively. Director Mark Mylod (of Succession fame), opts for the former with his all-star comic thriller, The Menu. The film effectively entertains, even if it doesn’t ultimately add much to the conversation.
We meet Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) at a dock about to be picked up for an elite dining experience. Right from the beginning, we see a disconnect between the two, as if they were newly dating. Tyler is beyond excited for the dining experience, documenting every moment. On the flip side, Margot couldn’t care less. Tyler and Margot travel alongside nine other illustrious guests to an island restaurant run by celebrity Chef Slowick (Ralph Fiennes)...
An anonymous reader quotes a report from BleepingComputer: The FBI and CISA revealed in a joint advisory published today that an unnamed Iranian-backed threat group hacked a Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) organization to deploy XMRig cryptomining malware. The attackers compromised the federal network after hacking into an unpatched VMware Horizon server using an exploit targeting the Log4Shell (CVE-2021-44228) remote code execution vulnerability. After deploying the cryptocurrency miner, the Iranian threat actors also set up reverse proxies on compromised servers to maintain persistence within the FCEB agency's network.
"In the course of incident response activities, CISA determined that cyber threat actors exploited the Log4Shell vulnerability in an unpatched VMware Horizon server, installed XMRig crypto mining software, moved laterally to the domain controller (DC), compromised credentials, and then implanted Ngrok reverse proxies on several hosts to maintain persistence," the joint advisory reads. The two U.S. federal agencies added that all organizations who haven't yet patched their VMware systems against Log4Shell should assume that they've already been breached and advise them to start hunting for malicious activity within their networks.
CISA warned in June that VMware Horizon and Unified Access Gateway (UAG) servers are still being preyed upon by multiple threat actors, including state-sponsored hacking groups, using Log4Shell exploits. Log4Shell can be exploited remotely to target vulnerable servers exposed to local or Internet access to move laterally across breached networks to access internal systems that store sensitive data.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.1 was officially released today as the latest update to this leading enterprise Linux distribution. This afternoon also marked the release already of RHEL-derived AlmaLinux 9.1...
Chipmaker NVIDIA Corporation reported its earnings results for the third fiscal quarter of 2023 at the close of the market today, with the firm managing to meet its revenue guidance that it had set during the previous quarter. NVIDIA, like other personal computing technology firms, has suffered the brunt of the inflationary wave this year, with the firm's Gaming division that accounts for its largest segment and sales to gamers and other users posting painful drops.
NVIDIA reported $5.9 billion in revenue and $680 million in earnings per share for the quarter, with both marking significant annual drops. For its fourth fiscal quarter, the firm expects to rake in $6 billion in revenue, which will reverse this quarter's sequential drop to mark a small growth. However, annually, the revenue will still drop.
Cryptocurrency Woes Continue to Plague NVIDIA - Firm Misses EPS Estimates By A Mile
Heading into today's earnings report, Wall Street analysts had expected NVIDIA's revenue to sit at $5.8 billion and its earnings per share to come in at 70 cents per share. However, while the company managed to beat the revenue estimates by a hairline, its earnings per share reading came in at a jaw-dropping 27 cents per share. This marked a one-cent increase over the previous quarter, but a stunning 50-cent drop over the year-ago quarter.
A cursory look at NVIDIA's income statement shows that the firm's operating expenses are to blame for the earnings per share drop. These 'blossomed' by 31% annually, at a time when the chip designer's revenue tanked by 17%. Overall, the income statement does not paint a pretty picture at all, as NVIDIA's operating income, net income and earnings per share have dropped by a rather outlandish 77%, 72%, and 72%, respectively. These are the GAAP results, and the non-GAAP results show that the EPS dropped by 50% - still not a pretty picture. The adjusted EPS stood at 58 cents, and this is the one that is compared to the analyst estimates.
NVIDIA's segment breakdown for its Q3 2023 revenue. Image: NVIDIA
Crucially, however, and one reason that NVIDIA's shares are up in aftermarket trading, is the fact that its data center and gaming revenue came above estimates. Datacenter continued to be NVIDIA's saving grace in the quarter, as it stressed the need for any company to diversify its revenue streams. The official results show that the revenue for this segment stood at $3.9 billion, marking yet another quarter that proved that NVIDIA is now a data center company instead of a gaming one. NVIDIA had warned in its previous quarter that gaming revenues were expected to drop. Analysts had pegged gaming revenue at $1.42 billion and data center at $3.72 billion.
Data center revenue was $3.9 billion, accounting for more than half of NVIDIA's overall net sales, as it managed to stay flat sequentially but grow by an impressive 31% annually. This growth comes at a time when spending in the sector seeing worries of a slowdown - due to inflation and the upgrade cycle already being behind most big spenders. However, the data center segment is also currently trying to navigate the fresh U.S. sanctions against China. These have limited NVIDIA from selling its top data center and machine learning graphics processing units (GPUs) to the country; however, NVIDIA is reportedly looking to salvage its China business by offering a new product that meets U.S. government regulations.
Another painful component of NVIDIA's latest earnings release is the firm's cash flow, which has dropped significantly as well. Its free cash flow represented an outflow of $156 million, while in the year-ago quarter it had stood at a whopping $1.28 billion, and at $824 million in the previous quarter. NVIDIA's chief financial officer Ms. Colette Kress blamed the dismal free cash flow performance on inventory and supplier problems. For comparison, AMD reported a positive cash flow in its latest earnings release.
For the current quarter, NVIDIA aims to bring in $6 billion in revenue. The firm's shares are up by 2% in aftermarket trading at the time of publishing.
Back in June, Samsung announced that it would be bringing Gaming Hub to its 2022 line of Smart TVs. The feature would allow users to access game streaming services like Xbox, Nvidia GeForce Now, Amazon Luna, Utomik and more. Now, it looks like those with older Samsung TVs will now gain access to gaming apps, as the company has announced support for a limited number of TVs produced in 2021.
When Disney first launched its streaming service in late 2019, the message was clear: the company would be branching out to experiment with different forms of storytelling, providing a different experience than what audiences could find in theaters. It was an exciting concept and one that yielded mixed results. Under the banner of franchises such as "Marvel" and "Star Wars," Disney+ has explored every nook and cranny possible in each respective universe. For every meandering and derivative show like "The Book of Boba Fett," there were shows like "Andor" that broke new ground with their structure and tone.
On the Marvel side of things, series meant to serve as installments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe were allowed to play with genre and expectations. Early on in 2020, "WandaVision" showed signs of creative storytelling not seen in any MCU project up to that point. Even now, the MCU has developed a new short form of storytelling under the "Marvel Studios Special Presentation Banner." The first project, "Werewolf by Night," was a breath of fresh air for the studio. Other creatives have noticed the opportunities at hand when making shows and movies for Disney+. Jonathan Kasdan, creator and writer of the upcoming series "Willow," sees the positive reception to these specials as a door to explore other characters in the world of "Willow" in new and unexpected ways on the platform.
Opening The Door For New Stories
/Film's Jeff Ewing attended a screening of episodes of Willow, followed by a Q&A with executive producer Jonathan Kasdan and executive producer Michelle Rejwan. Early on during the panel, Kasdan expressed his excitement for the future of "Willow" and how the Disney+ streaming platform lends itself to other types of episodes and specials similar to "Werewolf by Night"— with Val Kilmer's Madmartigan from the 1988 film used as a specific example:
"And you know another thing we're excited about? I think you can feel it in the culture here at Disney; at least, 'Werewolf by Night' is an example of the kind of thing you can do; it just feels like an opening of a door. Maybe there's like a short-form stand-alone... You know... Like, we'd love to tell Madmartigan Stories or whatever it be in whatever form it might take. So, we're up for all of it."
Kasdan and his team are clearly excited about other specials and series that could be set in the world of "Willow." That's unsurprising, given that it's been over 30 years since the original film. It's been a long wait for a continuation, and the fantasy setting of the original movie and the series could potentially build a world for itself that rivals the likes of Amazon's "Rings of Power" or HBO Max's "House of the Dragon." It's also important to point out that Kilmer's character is apparently not in the series; in his place is Christian Slater's character, announced at D23 as an "old friend" of Madmartigan's. Given Kilmer's health, any potential Madmartigan series or special would more likely than not recast.
Nevertheless, Kasdan is game to experiment with different forms of storytelling on Disney+. All that remains to be seen is if the world and characters of "Willow" warrants an expansion following this upcoming season.
Soon, the world will be treated to yet another Lucasfilm production in the form of the "Willow" TV series. The Disney+ show will debut on November 30, much to the delight of fantasy fans around the world who've waited patiently since the release of the 1988 movie to see more of Warwick Davis' Willow Ufgood.
Though that original effort failed to meet George Lucas' lofty box office ambitions, there soon developed a devoted cult following for "Willow" in the decades since its release. Now Disney and Lucasfilm have once again flipped through their folder of IP and are hoping that giving this particular one the prestige TV treatment will prove to be the magic touch Willow and his band of enchanted heroes need.
In the time it took Lucasfilm to come around to the idea of revisiting this particular fantasy saga, star of the show Davis has had a lot of time to branch out. He did, of course, put in a few appearances in various Star Wars projects, most recently popping up in "Solo: A Star Wars Story" for a cameo. And when he wasn't starring in the Leprechaun horror franchise, Davis was sharpening his comedic skills starring in the questionable (even then) Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant mockumentary "Life's Too Short." Unfortunate short joke title aside, the show does at least seem to have expanded Davis' acting abilities, providing him with an opportunity to break away from the sci-fi fantasy genre with which he'd been associated for much of his career.
'If He Believed It, It Was A Willow Line'
As it turns out, the now-seasoned Davis did indeed bring a lot more to his "Willow" role this time around, including some improv skills that were no doubt honed during his time with Gervais. In a Q&A following a screening of "Willow" episodes attended by /Film, executive producers Jonathan Kasdan and Michelle Rejwan praised Davis' contributions to the upcoming show. Kasdan in particular described the "Harry Potter" actor's attention to the granular details in "Willow," recalling how Davis and the production team would "talk about every script" and how the actor "really came to life" when it came to the finer points of his character.
But what really seems to have impressed the producer is Davis' confidence with improv. Kasdan explained:
"What had happened in the years between 1988 and '21 when we made the show is he'd also become this brilliant improviser, having worked with Ricky Gervais and having done that part of his career. So he ... had a kind of looseness to him that I don't think the original movie had, where he's just playful and can have fun and he quickly developed a confidence that if it came out of his mouth and he believed it, it was a Willow line."
Improv Comedy Meets Epic Fantasy
Kasdan's comments bode well for the "Willow" sequel series, which will be set 20 years after the movie's storyline and will see Willow and his mystical group venture, according to the official teaser trailer, "into the unknown." And while it seems strange to think the "epic period fantasy" series will benefit from a Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant show that ended after a season, it makes sense in the context of Davis' career and his desire to develop. The actor has clearly been on his own quest to branch out since the original 1988 "Willow," saying during promotion for "Life's Too Short" that he's had "a lovely career of doing some big sci-fi fantasy movies and working with great people but there's always a desire for me to do comedy." Thankfully, that's exactly what he did, bringing much of that experience to "Willow" and seemingly impressing Kasdan at the very least.
Back when rumours about the Disney+ show were swirling, Davis teased some of character evolution, telling Comingsoon.net: "I'm a bit older and a bit wiser as an actor now, and the character would also be a bit older and wiser ... What has happened between the time we saw him in 'Willow' and now? Has he mastered the art of sorcery?" Whether all of this is enough to make "Willow" more of a mainstream hit than its predecessor remains to be seen. It's especially hard to say considering the bloated genre that is fantasy in 2022 — not to mention general audience burnout in the face of the seemingly never-ending supply of "content" being pumped onto our streaming services. But "Willow," with its diverse international cast and more experienced star, certainly has a good chance of at least lasting longer than "Life's Too Short."
Intel’s XeSS is yet another supersampling program, similar to NVIDIA’s DLSS and AMD’s FSR. However, it differs from those two supersampling programs in its compatible hardware, as it works on graphics cards outside of Intel-produced ones. It should be stated that Intel XeSS still absolutely works on Arc GPU hardware.
Anyways, with these supersampling programs, they can be applied to specific games. Intel XeSS is currently supported in several games, including Hitman 3, Riftbreaker, Redout II, Naraka Bladepoint, Gotham Knights, and more. On that note, two new titles will join the Intel XeSS family, which you can see below.
Death Stranding Director’s Cut is the enhanced version of the 2019 PlayStation 4 and PC game made by Kojima Productions, with new gameplay additions different from the original release. Now, the title will have access to Intel XeSS, allowing players to use the software’s features within Death Stranding.
Farming Simulator 22 puts players in control of managing their own farm, and performing various tasks on the property, like tending to cows, operating tractors, and more. Intel XeSS was added to the game today and can be applied with supported graphics cards and hardware to give players access to XeSS’s features while playing Farming Simulator 22.
Intel XeSS and its features can only be applied to the PC versions of the above titles, so console users will have to miss out on these additional features. We’ll continue to update as more information on Intel XeSS, and its supported games are released.
Death Stranding Director’s Cut is available now on PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. Farming Simulator 22 is available now on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, PC, and Mac. In other news, there's been an update regarding the state of Bandai Namco's Blue Protocol. The specifications for the PC version of the game were also revealed
There’s a moment in the stunningly realized Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio where the familiar title character (winningly voiced by Gregory Mann), newly granted a semblance of animated life by a compassionate supernatural spirit, attempts to greet his new “father,” Geppetto (David Bradley), for the first time. "Born" with the ability to think, speak, and move, a clumsy, curious, impulse control-challenged Pinocchio emerges from the shadows crawling on all fours, a spider-like creature who sends Geppetto into paroxysms of fear (also, running away in terror). It’s a sign – though not the first nor certainly the last – that del Toro’s (Nightmare Alley, The Shape of Water, Cronos) stop-motion adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s 1883 children’s classic will veer into the dark fantasy and Gothic horror central...
The U.S. government on Wednesday issued a blunt recommendation for organizations running VMWare Horizon servers: Initiate threat-hunting activities to find and expel Iranian APT actors that used the Log4j crisis to slip undetected into corporate networks.
Aaron joins Andrew, Amanda, and Rich to talk about God of War: Ragnarok, Tactics Ogre Reborn, Sonic Frontiers, Marvel Snap, Orbital Bullet, A Little to the Left, A Castle Full of Cats, your emails, and more!
God of War 2 is still the king, and I think a lot of you agree
God of War has been around for 17 long years, and with Ragnarok still fresh in everyone's minds, we figured it was worth taking a look at a few of the best games in the series.
Here's a list of the top three God of War games to date!
3 - God of War Ragnarok (2022)
I've had access to God of War Ragnarok for weeks at this point: which is solely a statement on how much I've been absorbed with it, and nothing more!
Ragnarok is a fantastic modern action game that builds upon a a lot of what the 2018 laid down, while adding its own twists, turns, and character moments. There are some points that feel rushed, and give credence to the suggestion that this Norse story should have been a trilogy: but it does stick the landing, and has a few undeniably useful quality of life/mechanical upgrades that make it easy to get into. Plus, the postgame is extremely smooth in terms of its segue, and it's been really fun to "mop up" the rest of this packed game.
I suspect that the specific placing of God of War: Ragnarok and God of War 2018 will be the most contentious part of this list: we'll see how it plays out!
2 - God of War (2018)
God ofWar 2018 had the unenviable task of re-introducing (not rebooting per se) the franchise to the general public, and God of War fans as a whole.
Amazingly, the team managed to do just that and not only surpass expectations; but keep the continuity from the prior games. To me that's arguably the biggest achievement in a sea of pointless and cynical reboots, as the creatives had to bring Kratos into the modern era while keeping his rage, violence, and general aura alive. Bringing a son into the mix was the perfect way to do that, and God of War 2018 serves as a great blueprint for how to handle companions in games and not make them feel like an escort quest hinderance.
All of the babble and exposition when walking around makes God of War extremely replayable too; and when checking it out before making this list, it easily justified its inclusion. I don't think it gets enough credit for how much pressure it was under to deliver.
1 - God of War 2 (2007)
History has been extremely kind to God of War 2, as it's still living rent free in the pantheon of all-time action greats, even this far removed from the PS2 era.
While God of War 3 will make it on a lot of top three lists: I found it to be overly bombastic at points, and drawn out with a few of its environment/level choices. God of War 2 on the other hand is a nonstop thrill ride and accomplishes everything it sets out to do.
Like many top tier action games, I hold anything that can give you a good mix of humanoid and monstrous boss fights in high regard. Devil May Cry gave us faceoffs against Vergil. Ninja Gaiden had the Spider Clan. God of War 2 has Perseus, Icarus, Zeus, and Theseus: while throwing out iconic creatures like the Kraken.
It enhances what came before it with the impactful, but surpassed original God of War, and it provides one of the most all-encompassing fantasies of immersing yourself in (tearing apart) Greek mythology that the series has ever given us. While most of the franchise is tethered in Greece (including the spinoffs), God of War 2 was the one that really nailed it, and felt like a "greatest hits" of the time period.
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer was featured in a lengthy chat on The Verge's Decoder podcast. As usual, Spencer provided plenty of quote-worthy comments to readers, such as reiterating the company's commitment to consumers to keep delivering Call of Duty on PlayStation consoles for the foreseeable future.
Elsewhere in the interview, though, Phil Spencer noted that the Microsoft Gaming business could very well become untenable in the long term without expanding into the mobile market, which is a key factor in the $69 billion deal to purchase Activision Blizzard.
In terms of the Activision opportunity — I keep saying this over and over, and it is true — it definitely starts with a view that people want to play games on every device that they have. In a funny way, the smallest screen that we play on is actually the biggest screen when you think about the install base in a phone.
That’s just a place where if we don’t gain relevancy as a gaming brand, over time, the business will become untenable. We’re not alone in seeing this; this is true for any of us. If you’re not able to find customers on phones or on any screen that somebody wants to play on, then you really are going to get segmented to a niche part of gaming where running a global business will become very challenging. [...] It’s critical that if you’re trying to run an at-scale global gaming business, you meet your customers where they want to play, and mobile is more and more that place.
To that end, interviewer Nilay Patel pointed out that King actually makes more money than Activision and Blizzard because Candy Crush is more profitable even than Call of Duty. The Microsoft Gaming CEO agreed as much, adding that the deal being all about Call of Duty on console is a construct made by Sony.
Absolutely. In addition, the number that’s not in the Candy Crush/King number is Call of Duty: Mobile and Diablo mobile, which are big franchises that exist in that Activision and Blizzard bucket that are also major players on phones. Yes, the idea that Activision is all about Call of Duty on console is a construct that might get created by our console competitor and maybe some players out there.
It’s the same reason that Take-Two looks at Zynga and says, “Okay, we have to build out our mobile capability.” I would say Activision/Blizzard/King did a better job of doing that earlier, and definitely better than we did. They are now in a position where they have great PC franchises, great console franchises, and great mobile franchises. The real differentiation that they add for Microsoft is their mobile capability.
As a reminder, UK and EU regulators are now going deeper into their review of the Microsoft/Activision Blizzard deal while we're still waiting to hear from the US Federal Trade Commission. For its part, Activision Blizzard still expects the deal to be closed by June 2023; if that doesn't happen, Microsoft will have to pay a $2-3 billion fee.
A third series of Staged and a behind-the-scenes special will launch on BritBox on 24th November The new episodes see Simon Evans trying to get David Tennant and Michael Sheen to make a radio version of a Christmas classic
Staged, the sitcom starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen, is to return for a third series, this time on BritBox.
The six new half-hour episodes will be available on the streaming platform from 24th November as a box set, alongside the first two series and a new behind-the-scenes special.
The streaming platform confirms: “The award-winning series, starring David Tennant, Michael Sheen, Georgia Tennant and Anna Lundberg will return to our screens with some seasonal good cheer and its usual healthy dose of squabbling.”
Created by Simon Evans and Phin Glynn, Staged launched on BBC One in June 2020, reflecting the country being in coronavirus lockdown. A second series followed in January 2021.
The Staged Special “features not only mistakes and outtakes but it also shows how the show itself was found. From experiments in how to film the show to playing with the idea of who and what the characters would be, it’s a unique look back at a unique show produced at the most unique of times.”
Meanwhile Series 3 of staged sees life back to normal for David and Michael. “They have moved on from lockdown and returned to their everyday working life, while Simon’s career remains stagnant. His phone does ring, but only to ask if he can get David and Michael back together; and they’ve made it clear they want nothing more to do with him. But Christmas is approaching, and Simon hopes the warmth of the season might soften them to the idea of a radio version of a Christmas classic…but that’s as far as Simon’s plan has got!”
A Half-Life remaster, available to try out now, improves, tweaks, and upscales the iconic Valve FPS game without seriously affecting gameplay and style, offering an ideal middle ground for Gordon Freeman enthusiasts searching for something less transformative than Black Mesa – and another means to pass the time as we wait for Half-Life 3.
Perhaps your family is well-adjusted, open-minded, and chill, and your holiday gatherings are an unalloyed joy. For the rest of us, it’s complicated—which isn’t to say bad, necessarily. But also not good. America is so deeply divided right now, it’s likely that no two people have the same idea about how best to…
Amazon Web Services, the cloud computing subsidiary of Amazon, is asking managers to weed out underperforming workers on teams that have grown too fast, and will extend a hiring freeze across the organization into the first quarter of 2023 as the business seeks to keep costs in check amid slowing growth. Fortune: In a meeting this week, numerous AWS managers were informed that a hiring freeze that began earlier this month would continue into the first three months of the new year, but that layoffs were not currently planned at AWS, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
The lack of layoffs was greeted with relief by some AWS insiders, given the recent news that parent company Amazon was eliminating roughly 10,000 jobs across its retail and devices operations, as well as in human resources. Some AWS teams may still shrink however, as the business takes steps to reduce staffing levels in groups that are currently above their headcount targets for the year. Managers of such teams are expected to "fix" the situation by the end of Q1 next year by managing out low performers through performance improvement plans, attrition, and other means, the person told Fortune.
The Gerber Shard hooks onto your keychain and provides several tools any DIYer needs on a regular basis. You get a two-sized flathead and one philips head screwdriver, bottle opener, wire stripper, lanyard hole, and a pry bar in one tiny tool.
It was largely priced in. Even so, Trump's formal announcement of candidacy for the 2024 US Presidential elections is creating a favorable tailwind for the shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:DWAC), a SPAC that is slated to take the Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) public via a reverse merger.
We reported on the 07th of November that Trump was expected to formally enter the 2024 Presidential race on the 14th of November. That announcement, however, came one day later – on the 15th of November.
Bear in mind that TMTG intends to use the funds acquired through a public flotation of its shares to build a conservative-oriented media machine, which includes plans to bolster Trump's newly-launched social media platform, dubbed Truth Social, as well as launch a subscription-based, video-on-demand service and initiate cloud-based offerings under the "tech stack" suite of products.
So, what does Trump's candidacy mean for Digital World's prospects? Well, a formal Presidential bid means that more users will flock to the Truth Social platform to hear Trump's thoughts on various subjects, boosting the platform's engagement metrics in the process. This is doubly important as Trump has so far not given any indication of coming back to Twitter despite indications that Elon Musk is about to remove the blanket ban on the former US President.
Trump's Truth Social has a similar design interface to that of Twitter. However, the platform has just around 2 million daily active users. For comparison, over 200 million people use Twitter daily.
While Digital World shares are currently benefitting from externalities, the SPAC continues to flounder when it comes to its intrinsic factors. For instance, the merger between Digital World and TMTG has been complicated by a flood of federal investigations, including an ongoing investigation by the SEC and FINRA on allegations that the SPAC's management violated securities law by holding private discussions about a merger with TMTG as early as May 2021 but failing to disclose this pertinent information in its public filings. The SEC is also looking into reports that Rocket One Capital might have been privy to the impending merger between TMTG and DWAC before the public announcement. These developments have forced DWAC and TMTG to try to secure an extension – via shareholder approval – to the contractually mandated timeframe by which this deal has to be consummated. The next iteration of a special meeting of the SPAC's shareholders is now scheduled to take place on the 22nd of November, where DWAC and TMTG will again try to extend the merger consummation deadline by 1 year.
None of these developments seem to matter to Digital World shareholders at the moment. Consider the fact that the SPAC's shares are currently up over 4 percent in early pre-market trading. With the stock inextricably tied to Trump’s political fortunes now, expect wild gyrations as Trump moves up or down in polls.
As you’ve probably noticed, we love sharing our passion for games by giving you guys sales, special discounts, and overall awesome deals on your favourite titles on various occasions (like for example upcoming Black Friday!) or just because we’d like you to experience them and save some money.
We do that a lot, and while sometimes it is possible to miss a few of said deals here and there, we have a remedy for that to never happen: adding games you’d like to purchase on a Wishlist!
It is incredibly easy and convenient, so why not show you how to do that step by step? Let’s go!
Step one: Think of a game you’d like to know when it's discounted on GOG.
Step two: Go to its gamecard either on our store page or in GOG GALAXY client.
Step three: Just click “Wishlist it” under the “Add to cart” button and receive notifications when the game goes on discount.
Or you can make it even easier. If a game you’d like to wishlist caught your eye when browsing our store catalogues, just slide over it and click a heart icon - this way you don’t even need to go to its gamecard.
To access your Wishlist simply slide over your profile name when you're signed in on GOG website and click "Wishlist".
Also, when you're on active promo page of any sale, every game that you have wishlisted will appear there in a special "From your wishlist" tab.
But that’s not the only thing you can do. By signing up for the wishlist email alerts there’s no way you will ever miss the offers. Here’s how to do that:
First, go to our website. Then, when signed in, slide over your profile name and a list of tabs will appear.
Then, click “Orders & settings”. After you’re redirected to that tab, choose “Subscriptions” on the list on the left side.
All you need to do from that is to check “Wishlist alerts”.
And done! Now whenever games from your Wishlist go on promo you’ll receive an e-mail so you can grab that masterpiece with an amazing deal.
Pssst! We highly recommend doing just that because a certain promotion regarding everyone’s favourite day of the week is coming!
Since 2008, Donnie Yen has been dispatching all manner of foes in the Ip Man franchise. But his most dangerous encounter may well have been when he faced off against Mike Tyson in the third installment.
Based on the life of Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man, the franchise stars Yen in the title role and loosely tells Ip Man's story. The first film, which earned its place as one of the great kung fu movies, depicts his early days in Foshan during the Sino-Japanese War, while "Ip Man 2" finds Yen's hero in 1940s Hong Kong where he faces down British police. By the time it came to the third film, Yen, who also appeared in "Rogue One" and Disney's live-action "Mulan" remake needed something a little more formidable to face down. Enter Iron Mike.
"Ip Man 3" is set in the late 1950s, and also stars Danny Chan as esteemed martial artist (and Ip Man's protégé) Bruce Lee. This time around, the grandmaster is forced to defend his school against a host of threats, one of which is Tyson. Appearing as a western property developer known only as Frank, the boxing legend provided a suitably menacing adversary for Yen's Wing Chun master, who'd already seen off the Japanese and the British. The franchise makes no mention of the real Ip Man being an officer of the Kuomintang party who actually opposed the communists. But who needs actual events when your martial arts school is being threatened by the former Heavyweight Champion of the World.
Unsurprisingly, it seems the 165-pound Yen, all too aware of the stakes, was slightly nervous to take on the roughly 230-pound boxer.
'I Was Worried That He Might Not Hold Back'
In the movie, Yen and Tyson come to blows in a three-minute fight that is as notable for its fast pace as it is for Tyson's attempts to speak Cantonese. As it turns out, Yen was a Tyson fan and knew all too well the power of his notorious swing. Talking to the South China Morning Post, the "Ip Man" star said:
"I am a fan who watched his boxing matches until 4 or 5 am on TV in Hong Kong when I was a child ... I was worried that he might not hold back in using force as he is not an actor. I had to be very cautious. I saw it as a life-and-death boxing match. Just a little carelessness and it could be fatal."
Reporting back from his experience on-set, Yen recalls having to duck one of Tyson's punches before his opponent's fist landed in a sandbag next to him. The actor recalled how he "felt like a big truck was rushing towards [him]" and felt a real "sense of danger" at the moment. For a man who'd previously taken on Jet Li and felt "enormous pressure," that's a strong statement.
A Life-Threatening Experience
Tyson's appearance in "Ip Man 3" is notable for being his first appearance as a fictional character rather than himself. And it's a decent one at that. The fight is well choreographed, if slightly unbelievable, and Tyson seems to have been committed to learning the beats, as shown in a behind-the-scenes clip where he and the production team pay close attention to the dailies.
Tyson would, of course, take on the real grandmaster in the form of Steven Segal in 2017's "China Salesman," while Yen is set to join Keanu Reeves in 2023's "John Wick: Chapter 4." But Tyson might well maintain the title of Yen's most formidable opponent, with the actor expanding on his experience during promotion for "Ip Man 3." He recalled feeling as though the fight was "life-threatening" and being worried that Tyson wouldn't hold back, saying to himself "'Wow, what if he doesn't remember the choreography. What if he comes in and instead of 1, 2, 3 he goes 2, 3, 1.' So it was enjoyable but at the same time it was truly life-threatening." As it turns out, Tyson was the one who actually got hurt, stating in an interview post-shooting that he "broke [his] finger."
Unfortunately the follow-up, 2019's "Ip Man 4," proved controversial, with Hong Kong protestors boycotting the next installment due to Yen, Danny Chan, and producer Raymond Wong's pro-China leanings. But "Ip Man 3" remains a successful chapter in the franchise, making $157 million at the global box office on a budget of $36 million.
It's always heartwarming to see a familiar face return to the big screen after disappearing from the industry, such as Brendan Fraser with "The Whale." The start of the year, however, reacquainted us with another familiar face in Ke Huy Quan with "Everything Everywhere All at Once." Prior to his return to the screen, the actor had been most associated with his childhood roles in "The Goonies" and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom." But with Oscar season coming up, there's a great chance he could be nominated, and rightly so.
Quan may have officially returned to movies last year with a Netflix adventure flick called "Finding 'Ohana," but "Everything Everywhere" is where the actor showed what he's been capable of. The lack of opportunity initially led him to leave the industry, and now it's his time to shine. He's already got projects lined up for Disney's "American Born Chinese," in addition to the second season of "Loki." It's an extremely exciting time to see an actor who should have been drowning in good roles finally receive his due.
Quan most recently had a happy reunion with Harrison Ford at D23 after so many decades. I dare you to look at that photo and not smile. When it comes to his other "Temple of Doom" connection, Quan revealed an even more heartwarming story that came out of making the film, in which he routinely receives the gift that keeps on giving.
Merry Christmas, Mr. Spielberg
In an interview with The Guardian, Quan talks about how director Steven Spielberg, one of our greatest cinematic minds, also moonlights as one jolly gift giver. Getting presents from Santa is cool and all, but receiving yearly Christmas presents from a friend like Spielberg is even cooler. "He gave me my first job and, so many years later, he has not forgotten me [...] Every time I needed help, he's always there," says Quan.
In an industry where child actors are either abused, manipulated, or abandoned by the industry, it's really sweet to know that Spielberg has been a good egg. After all, the man hired Quan as one of the central leads in "Temple of Doom," a role he's still remembered fondly for to this day:
"Spielberg was the first person to put an Asian face in a Hollywood blockbuster. Short Round is funny, he's courageous, he saves Indy's ass. That was a rarity then. For many years after that, we were back to square one."
To give the young actor a boost, he also helped Quan nab the role of the gadget-savvy Data in "The Goonies," of which Spielberg was an executive producer. Given how well his performance has been revered in "Everything Everywhere," it's Quan's time to live the Hollywood dream that he should have been living for decades now. Seeing how close he still is with Spielberg, I would love to see the two properly reunite on another project together at some point.
"Everything Everywhere All At Once" is currently available to rent or purchase on most streaming platforms.
There's nothing like a bit of writer's block to halt your creativity (and waste plenty of time). But for most of us, the worst we've ever been blocked was when working on some sort of essay for school — things get a lot scarier when you're a household name, renowned for your writing, and still can't figure out the words you want to put on a page. Still, even the biggest writers aren't safe — just look at horror novelist Stephen King and comedy writer Bill Hader, both of whom have seen great success but have also struggled to put words on the page.
As a lot of writers could tell you, one of the biggest challenges is simply getting started. It's relatively easy to keep the writing going once you manage to start, but getting those first words flowing can be a challenge. However, while reading Ernest Hemingway's letters, Quentin Tarantino learned a great trick to overcome this early writer's block — one that he recently shared while chatting with Howard Stern: give yourself a jumping-off point at the end of each writing session. You've probably got an idea of where the story is going. Rather than putting it on paper today, save it for the next session:
"Don't finish the thought. You know what the thought is. You're not gonna forget it. So when you pick it up the next day, or two days later, you're writing again because you know exactly how to finish the thought. And now by the time you've finished the thought, you're in writing mode."
Suffering From Success
It's nice to immediately get into the flow of writing, but for Tarantino, that might come with its own set of challenges. The writer-director's movies are known for packing in a lot of details, a habit that's been long in the making: when Tarantino studied acting, he frequently indulged in putting his own twist on existing scripts. In fact, as he shared on an episode of "The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith," the still-unfinished first draft of "Inglourious Basterds" took years to write, largely because Tarantino couldn't stop coming up with new ideas:
"I was literally writing it for about 2 years with no end in sight. It was like some weird tome that some guy in prison writes. ... There were rumours going around that I wasn't working, I was suffering from writer's block. I was doing the exact opposite of suffering from writer's block. I could not stop writing. ... I think the first two chapters were 200 pages. And I just couldn't shut my brain off, like, a new twist, a new character, a new sub-story to throw in there just kept coming into my brain ... There was no end in sight. I couldn't even figure out what [the characters were going to do] because I just couldn't stop introducing everybody."
Given the fact that Tarantino is already prone to adding a lot of different threads into his scripts, keeping an idea open between writing sessions might give him more time to think of new plot complications — a welcomed side-effect for most writers, one that maybe isn't helpful if he's already struggling to contain his scripts' length. On the other hand, the ability to always jump right back into writing is certainly tempting — and might just be worth the extra editing time.
Sherlock and Mycroft are old news — the new star of the Holmes family is their forgotten teenage sister. Based on the Nancy Springer young adult book series, "Enola Holmes" features Millie Bobby Brown as both star and producer, putting her charisma on full display as the super smart, norm-shattering, corset-loathing detective who's taking Victorian London by storm. And while she is the undeniable star of this franchise, she must occasionally share the spotlight with her famous older brother, Sherlock Holmes (Henry Cavill) — an addition that makes Enola's adventures extra exciting.
This is Sherlock Holmes as we've never seen him before: navigating the endless struggle of being a middle child, with his little sister always on the verge of outsmarting him. (Technically, BBC's "Sherlock" also did a secret little sister plot, but we don't speak of that.)
Together, Enola and Sherlock are this franchise's most exciting duo. Once you're done swooning over her every interaction with the fanciful Lord Tewkesbury then prepare for the utter chaos of watching these two siblings clash. Sometimes this requires Enola to haul her drunk brother home and other times, it means shooting down his silly notion that she should stay out of trouble and leave the deductions to him. And when they do team up in earnest? They have a way of bringing out the best in each other.
Usually, when it comes to making Sherlock Holmes a better person, there's a special someone who rises to the occasion. It may take a full 2 movies, but in the closing moments of "Enola Holmes 2," he finally gets his grand entrance.
Minorspoilersfor "Enola Holmes 2" are ahead.
Two Holmes' Are Better Than One
After solving their mystery and saving the day, Enola turns down an offer to move in with her brother and become one-half of a crime-solving team (if she did that, she would always exist in his shadow). But just because she can't keep him company, doesn't mean Sherlock should be alone. So Enola finds him a roommate, which marks the introduction of Hamish Patel as John Watson.
Naturally, this got fans wondering — could "Enola" be laying the groundwork for a "Sherlock Holmes" solo film? Henry Cavill seems to have already offered an answer to that question and while it might disappoint the campaign for a spinoff, his perspective is pretty damn touching. According to Cavill, just because Sherlock has John, doesn't mean he won't need Enola.
"This universe is very much Enola's, so she'll always be involved," Cavill said in an interview with The Wrap. "I think it's important to make that connection between the two characters."
Enola didn't really grow up with her older brothers. As we see in the first film, the disappearance of their mother Eudoria (Helena Bonham Carter) is what brings them together. But while Mycroft resents his sister for not being a proper lady, Sherlock is charmed by her brilliance and quickly comes to regret the 16 years they spent apart. By the end of the film, he takes her on as a ward — but Enola is past the age of needing to be raised. That's the beauty of their relationship: she's already an independent spirit and once they finally reunite, they both have wisdom to pass on to the other.
The Trio We've Been Waiting For?
In "Enola Holmes 2," Sherlock learns a lot from his sister about staying connected to his humanity. She's empathetic and never coldly rational, but still succeeds as a detective. It shows him that there isn't just one detached way of thinking. That's what sets this version of Sherlock apart from all the others — Enola becomes a catalyst for his growth and ultimately, changes the brooding detective for the better.
"In all the literature and all the other mediums, he doesn't have an Enola," Cavill points out. "He has a Watson, but that's very different from having an Enola." The actor added:
"There's a strong emotional connection to Enola there, there's a similarity in how they're raised. It allows for a slightly different viewpoint. When it comes to Enola, there's always this emotionality with the connection, which is otherwise unique to the Enola universe."
While having Watson will certainly be a plus for Sherlock, it won't change his relationship with his sister. For better or worse, that means when we see Cavill's Sherlock again (if we see him again), he won't be on his own nor will he take center stage. This franchise belongs firmly and wonderfully to Enola. But that doesn't mean she can't find time to team up with her favorite brother and his beloved roommate.
Showtime's "The Offer" chronicled the true story of how "The Godfather" made the unlikely leap from Mario Puzo's bestseller to a sweeping family epic that reinvented the crime genre and went on to win three Oscars. Centered around the day-to-day dealings and improbable situations that producer Albert Ruddy (Miles Teller) had to navigate to get Francis Ford Coppola's classic made, "The Offer" also highlights the glamorous and tumultuous life of legendary producer Robert Evans (Matthew Goode), the man responsible for helping Paramount Pictures become a major Hollywood player after taking a big risk on the romantic drama "Love Story" starring Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw.
MacGraw and Evans married each other in 1969, a year before "Love Story" became a smash hit, sending MacGraw's star soaring. She went on to accept an unlikely role opposite Steve McQueen in "The Getaway," the Sam Peckinpah-directed high-flying heist movie written by Walter Hill. MacGraw and McQueen eventually started a torrid love affair that would last for the better part of five years in the late '70s. Walter Hill and Amy Holden Jones went on to write the screenplay for the 1994 remake of "The Getaway" starring another power couple, Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger.
The remake is a fairly middling road trip adventure that leans much more into sultry sex scenes and over-the-top gunplay than McQueen's version, but it does feature two early performances from Michael Madsen and Philip Seymour Hoffman that hinted at greater things to come. Madsen had already made a name for himself as the unstable psychopath Mr. Blonde in "Reservoir Dogs" and his character Rudy Travis in "The Getaway" channels that same energy into a killer criminal who winds up handing Hoffman his first onscreen death.
Killing Truman Capote
In a 2015 interview with AV Club focusing on the lesser-known roles of famous actors, Madsen talked about watching "The Getaway" years later only to realize that he actually got to kill a future Oscar winner when Hoffman was virtually unknown as an actor:
"You know, it's funny: When you watch something like now, so long afterwards, it seems so much better than it was when you first saw it. I mean, there's Philip Seymour Hoffman! I kill him. We're driving down the freeway, and I shoot him and kick him out of the car, or to the side of the road. He was a completely unknown actor, and I don't think he even had more than two or three lines of dialogue in the film, but it's funny to watch that scene and realize that years later he's going to win an Academy Award for playing Truman Capote."
Madsen also said: "'The Getaway' is probably one of the best times I've had making a picture. You know, fun-wise."
In 1993, Hoffman and Madsen actually did appear in the fun John Cusack caper "Money For Nothing" but they never shared a scene together until Madsen boots him out of a moving automobile in "The Getaway." Seeing Madsen in small parts in earlier films like "WarGames" is always unexpected and surprising. Spotting actors before they were famous can be a fun game to play, one that Madsen himself also gets a kick out of. "It's so funny how these things evolve," Madsen reflected. "You never know what's going to happen with people down the road."
Revisiting the '90s version of "The Getaway" recently, it's actually more enjoyable to watch now mainly because of the unhinged performance that Madsen gives. It feels like an unofficial sequel to "Reservoir Dogs" where Mr. Blonde changes his name and goes on a rampage across Texas. For that alone, "The Getaway" is definitely worth a rewatch or a first-time discovery.
Dining with Chef Slowick (Ralph Fiennes) is a dangerous experience in "The Menu."By Christopher James
There’s a moment in the stunningly realized Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio where the familiar title character (winningly voiced by Gregory Mann), newly granted a semblance of animated life by a compassionate supernatural spirit, attempts to greet his new “father,” Geppetto (David Bradley), for the first time. "Born" with the ability to think, speak, and move, a clumsy, curious, impulse control-challenged Pinocchio emerges from the shadows crawling on all fours, a spider-like creature who sends Geppetto into paroxysms of fear (also, running away in terror). It’s a sign – though not the first nor certainly the last – that del Toro’s (Nightmare Alley, The Shape of Water, Cronos) stop-motion adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s 1883 children’s classic will veer into the dark fantasy and Gothic horror central...
