A new Fallout 4 mod completely transforms the Bethesda RPG into a realistic, brutal, and survival-based FPS set during a civil war, with visuals and style reminiscent of The Day Before, Road to Vostok, and Call of Duty.
RELATED LINKS: Fallout 4 console commands, Fallout 4 mods, Buy Fallout 4
Publishing giant EA has announced that the EA app beta is complete, with the PC gaming client taking over from its long-standing Steam competitor platform, Origin. The EA app will now serve as the company’s home for all its biggest existing and upcoming games, including the likes of Apex Legends, The Sims, FIFA 23, Mass Effect, Star Wars games Battlefront and Jedi, and the newly announced Need for Speed Unbound.
RELATED LINKS: FIFA 23 career mode guide, FIFA 23 ratings, FIFA 23 Icons
Don Mancini's "Chucky/Child's Play" franchise is undoubtedly one of the greatest in horror history, with seven movies, a season of television, and a new second season currently playing on USA and Syfy. As Mancini has been involved with the franchise since the very beginning, the lore of "Child's Play" has never had to endure revisionist history, retcons of memorable events, or even different screenwriters like most of its contemporaries. This has allowed the mythos in the Chuckyverse to be rich, scary, and effortlessly hilarious.
There are constant throwbacks to previous films throughout the series, regardless if it's one of the "serious slashers" like "Child's Play" and "Child's Play II," or the camp-as-hell installments like "Bride of Chucky" or "Seed of Chucky." All of the films are weighted equally in terms of continued storytelling, which allows a character like the now-adult version of Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent), the child gifted the original Chucky doll, to exist in the same universe as a Tiffany Valentine (Jennifer Tilly) possessed Jennifer Tilly (also Jennifer Tilly).
With Tilly playing a fictional version of herself, Mancini has had a lot of fun including references to her previous film roles. "Seed of Chucky" is littered with references to her performance in the seductive noir film "Bound," and even made a little mention of it during "Chucky" season 1. This current season of the show has also promised an in-universe "Bound" reunion between Tilly and her co-stars Gina Gershon and Joe Pantoliano, because Don Mancini loves us and wants us to be happy. Season 2 of "Chucky" delivered an even more meta moment in the debut episode, with the "Chucky" references coming full circle.
Season 1 of "Chucky" saw middle schoolers Jake (Zackary Arthur), Devon (Björgvin Arnarson), and Lexy (Alyvia Alyn Lind) faceoff with not just the serial killer possessed Chucky doll (Brad Dourif), but also his followers like the Tiffany Valentine possessed Jennifer Tilly. This would imply that the events of "The Bride of Chucky" and "Seed of Chucky" happened in real life, as the trio knows that Ms. Tilly is more than just a Hollywood actor. The events of the "Chucky" films have always been presented as canon, but a moment in last night's episode also established a reality where the films as we know and love them, also exist in-universe. Unlike the "Stab" meta-movies of the "Scream" franchise, the "Chucky" films just kept the same name.
Lexy's little sister Caroline was gifted a doll by her therapist, a bridal doll named Wedding Belle. Lexy rightfully believes "all dolls are f***** up," and snaps a picture of it for Devon to investigate. He gets to the bottom of it, and flags the doll as the same model used in "The Bride of Chucky." He calls out the film by name, before turning to Jake and asking "Remember that movie?" Jake nods and replies, "Yeah, with Jennifer Tilly, who we know really is the Bride of Chucky ...Tiffany Valentine." So not only are the "Chucky" movies both canonical in universe as events that really happened and the subject of popular films, but this insinuates that Jennifer Tilly also starred in the films based on her own experiences. *head explosion*
Read this next: Horror Roles That Changed Actors Forever
The post Chucky Season 2 Offers the Most Meta Moment Yet For the Horror Franchise appeared first on /Film.
One of the weirdest things about getting older are those moments when you look around and suddenly realize everybody else looks ancient too; your family, friends, and those celebrities and movie stars you grew up watching and assumed would stay young forever.
My brain still struggles to compute the fact that Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp are both almost 60. Pitt still looks great; I have no data to support this, but I'm sure millions of middle-aged men were inspired to renew their gym membership after he took his shirt off in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood." On the flip side, Depp now looks like a guy who lives on a canal boat with several cats.
Belated remakes and reboots can show their age, too. "Trainspotting" was the acerbic voice of a restless generation, while the cringey retread of the "Choose Life" speech in the sequel was just like Grandpa Simpson yelling at clouds. It's not all bad, though. "Bill and Ted Face the Music" was the life-affirming threequel we never knew we needed, while seeing Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O grappling with grey hairs and creaking joints in "Jackass Forever" managed to validate the whole franchise and give us one of the unlikeliest touching movies of the year.
This brings me to "Clerks," the pinnacle of '90s slackerdom, and the completion of the trilogy with this year's "Clerks III." Kevin Smith was just 24 when he made his instant cult classic and it set him on the path to riches, fame, and, more importantly, got him away from the day job behind the convenience store counter. Even so, he still harbors one regret regarding its two main characters.
Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran) has a day off from his job at the Quick Stop convenience store in Leonardo, New Jersey, but gets roped into covering another colleague's morning shift. He's not happy about it but begrudgingly goes in on the promise he'll be relieved at lunchtime.
The shutters are jammed shut with chewing gum in the locks, but otherwise, it's a day pretty much like any other. Dante kills time arguing with his girlfriend Veronica (Marilyn Ghigliotti), contemplating getting back together with his ex, and having rambling philosophical conversations with his friend Randal (Jeff Anderson), who works at the video store next door. Meanwhile, Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) hang around outside dealing drugs and harassing passersby.
"Clerks" was shot in the convenience store where Smith worked at the time, which really adds to the authenticity. The film has dated somewhat, but anyone who has ever worked behind the counter in a shop will spend most of the movie nodding in recognition.
Most of the main cast reunited 12 years later for the sequel, "Clerks II." This time around, Dante and Randal are slinging burgers in a fast food restaurant after the Quick Stop burned down. While their employer may have changed, their attitude towards work hasn't, insulting customers and abusing their shy teenage colleague Elias (Trevor Fehrman). Dante's love life is still complicated, torn between moving to Florida with his wealthy girlfriend and his affair with his boss Becky (Rosario Dawson), and Jay and Silent Bob have also pitched up outside for business as usual. The laugh quotient is still pretty high, but the film loses a lot of the original's lo-fi charm because it's shot in glossy color.
Another 16 years on, and "Clerks III" finally made it to the screen after over a decade of uncertainty. In the run-up to its release, Smith was wistful about its two main characters, Dante and Randal (via Vanity Fair):
"I wish this was 'Clerks 19.' I wish I'd been doing this the whole f****** time, man. These characters are so close to my heart, and finally letting them take the journey that they sent me on is a big deal for me. Without Dante and Randal, I'm not where I am."
This sounds like Smith is a bit down on his career beyond the View Askewniverse with the "Clerks" films at its heart. His other work has been patchy at best, but at least he has tried a little variety by branching out into horror with "Red State," buddy cop comedy with "Cop Out," and generally freaking people out with "Tusk." And Dante and Randal have still been around, although nowhere near as much as Jay and Silent Bob, who Smith says he "spread around like so much cheap peanut butter."
If he feels he has neglected the Quick Stop boys, Smith has now rectified that with "Clerks III." They now own the store, but after suffering a severe heart attack (like Smith did in 2018) Randal decides he needs to do something with his life and make a movie about their experiences. It's all very meta with Randal's black-and-white footage causing strong nostalgia vibes for the original, and honoring the characters who started it all by bringing their story full circle.
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The post Kevin Smith Has One Regret With The Way He Handled Clerks appeared first on /Film.
A piece of interactive fiction that was created for a 16-bit minicomputer in the early 1980s has finally been completed, four decades later. Ferret, a Zork-like text adventure, began development in 1982 for the Data General Nova 2. The game was put together by a group of software engineers from Data General’s UK-based Systems Division. Ferret only received a final functional release complete with an endgame in August this year, according to a post on the game’s Facebook community.
Modder ‘Thumblesteen’ has released a new DLC-sized mod for Fallout 4, called Obscurum IV – Statesec. Obscurum IV – Statesec is a total conversion mod, featuring a new story, new world, new weapons and new enemies. Players will fight the bad guys, raid their bases and then recover tactical and strategic resources such as intel, … Continue reading Fallout 4 Obscurum IV – Statesec Mod released, DLC-sized mod with a new world, enemies, weapons, story & more →
The post Fallout 4 Obscurum IV – Statesec Mod released, DLC-sized mod with a new world, enemies, weapons, story & more appeared first on DSOGaming.
Actress Elle Fanning (known mainly for Super 8, Maleficent, and The Great) has been confirmed to be featured in Death Stranding 2. Well, to be precise, the poster shared on Kojima Productions' official website as part of a PAX Australia teaser does not name the game, but the strands seen in the image seem a pretty obvious giveaway. The poster also includes the tagline 'Who Am I?', which could be a hint about the character played by Fanning.
Death Stranding 2 was first confirmed a few months ago by none other than Norman Reedus, who played the main character Sam Porter Bridges in the debut installment. The game featured many famous actors and actresses, including Mads Mikkelsen, Léa Seydoux, Margaret Qualley, Lindsay Wagner, Tommie Earl Jenkins, and Troy Baker. There were also a couple of renowned film directors, such as Guillermo Del Toro and Nicolas Winding Refn.
Kojima Productions and Sony did not officially announce a sequel, although we did get a document leak earlier this week mentioning Death Stranding 2 alongside other upcoming PlayStation exclusives. It's also not the only project Hideo Kojima and his team are working on. During Microsoft's Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase 2022, the acclaimed game designer announced a partnership with Xbox Game Studios.
Hi everyone, this is Hideo Kojima. Yes, there is a game I have always wanted to make. It's a completely new game, one that no one has every experienced or seen before. I've waited very long for the day when I could finally start to create it.
With Microsoft's cutting-edge cloud technology and the [ongoing changes] in the industry's trend, it has now become possible to challenge myself to make this never-before-seen concept. It may take some time, but I'm looking forward to teaming up with Xbox Game Studios and hope to bring you some exciting news in the future!
This is believed to be the game that Kojima wanted to make with Stadia before Google decided to pull the plug on the platform. It's likely to be further away in the studio's schedule than Death Stranding 2.
The post Death Stranding 2 to Feature Actress Elle Fanning by Alessio Palumbo appeared first on Wccftech.
An alleged NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB graphics card benchmark within 3DMark has leaked out and shows up to 60% gain over the RTX 3080.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB graphics card was spotted over at Chiphell Forums and based on the data provided, it posted a score of 28,929 points within the 3DMark Time Spy benchmark. It should also be pointed that the graphics card was running at a GPU clock speed of up to 3000 MHz which is a +490 MHz increase over the listed boost clock of 2510 MHz for the 16 GB variant.
We can't say for sure if this is an overclocked variant or if it is running at stock clocks. One can also make the graphics card run at higher clocks simply by raising the power limits. The graphics card is seen running at a TBP of 333W while the TGP is rated at 290W. This is within the 320W spec that all reference variants should offer. The GDDR6X memory is operating at 22.4 Gbps so it looks like the memory clock was not touched.
In terms of performance, the graphics card scored 28929 points which marks a 32% increase over the RTX 3090 Ti and a 62% increase over the RTX 3080 10 GB graphics card. The card also pushes up to 57% higher performance than the 12 GB RTX 3080. We also saw several 3DMark benchmarks from the same leaker yesterday so to sum it all up:
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB 'Official' Specifications
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB graphics card is expected to utilize a cut-down AD103-300 GPU configuration with 9,728 cores or 76 SMs enabled of the total 84 units whereas the previous configuration offered 80 SMs or 10,240 cores. While the full GPU comes packed with 64 MB of L2 cache and up to 224 ROPs, the RTX 4080 might end up with 48 MB of L2 cache and lower ROPs too due to its cut-down design. The card is expected to be based on the PG136/139-SKU360 PCB. The graphics card is said to offer a peak clock rate of 2505 MHz.
As for memory specs, the GeForce RTX 4080 is expected to rock 16 GB GDDR6X capacities that are said to be adjusted at 22.5 Gbps speeds across a 256-bit bus interface. This will provide up to 720 GB/s of bandwidth. This is still a tad bit slower than the 760 GB/s bandwidth offered by the RTX 3080 since it comes with a 320-bit interface but a lowly 10 GB capacity. To compensate for the lower bandwidth, NVIDIA could be integrating a next-gen memory compression suite to make up for the 256-bit interface.
The card will have a TBP of 320W which is 30W lower than the TBP of the 12 GB RTX 3080 and much lower than the TBP of the RTX 3090 Ti while offering a big performance jump. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB and RTX 4080 12 GB graphics cards will be launching in November and be priced at $1199 US and $899 US, respectively. Considering if the card does end up around 20-30% faster in games than the RTX 3090 Ti, then it could
| Graphics Card Name | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16G | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 12G | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPU Name | Ada Lovelace AD102-300 | Ada Lovelace AD103-300 | Ada Lovelace AD104-400 | Ampere GA102-225 |
| Process Node | TSMC 4N | TSMC 4N | TSMC 4N | Samsung 8nm |
| Die Size | 608mm2 | 378.6mm2 | 294.5mm2 | 628.4mm2 |
| Transistors | 76 Billion | 45.9 Billion | 35.8 Billion | 28 Billion |
| CUDA Cores | 16384 | 9728 | 7680 | 10240 |
| TMUs / ROPs | 512 / 176 | 320 / 112 | 240 / 80 | 320 / 112 |
| Tensor / RT Cores | 512 / 128 | 304 / 76 | 240 / 60 | 320 / 80 |
| Base Clock | 2230 MHz | 2210 MHz | 2310 MHz | 1365 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 2520 MHz | 2510 MHz | 2610 MHz | 1665 MHz |
| FP32 Compute | 83 TFLOPs | 49 TFLOPs | 40 TFLOPs | 40 TFLOPs |
| RT TFLOPs | 191 TFLOPs | 113 TFLOPs | 82 TFLOPs | 78 TFLOPs |
| Tensor-TOPs | 1321 TOPs | 780 TOPs | 641 TOPs | 320 TOPs |
| Memory Capacity | 24 GB GDDR6X | 16 GB GDDR6X | 12 GB GDDR6X | 12 GB GDDR6X |
| Memory Bus | 384-bit | 256-bit | 192-bit | 384-bit |
| Memory Speed | 21.0 Gbps | 23.0 Gbps | 21.0 Gbps | 19 Gbps |
| Bandwidth | 1008 GB/s | 736 GB/s | 504 GB/s | 912 Gbps |
| TBP | 450W | 320W | 285W | 350W |
| Price (MSRP / FE) | $1599 US | $1199 US | $899 US | $1199 |
| Launch (Availability) | October 2022 | November 2022 | November 2022 | 3rd June 2021 |
The post NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB 3DMark Benchmark Leaks Out, Up To 62% Faster Than RTX 3080 by Hassan Mujtaba appeared first on Wccftech.
Every creative is unique, but there is truly no one on this earth quite like Baltimore filmmaker John Waters. The writer and director has been shocking audiences for decades with his tawdry tales of punk-rock perverts, though he hasn't directed a film since his 2004 sex comedy "A Dirty Shame." That itself is a dirty shame, as Waters is a talented filmmaker whose unusual perspective and deep love for his weirdo protagonists is a much-needed rebuttal to polite society. Waters inspired multiple generations to let their freak flags fly, and his movie-making absence over the past 18 years has been sorely felt, but all of that is about to change.
Waters is finally returning to filmmaking and will direct a feature adaptation of his novel, "Liarmouth: A Feel Bad Romance." Since the NC-17-rated "A Dirty Shame" is now old enough to go see itself in theaters, it's more than past time for the Pope of Trash to pick up his toilet-brush scepter and crap-covered crown and unleash filthy treasure upon us all one more.
Waters' final film before his hiatus was "A Dirty Shame," a riotously raunchy NC-17 sex comedy about Sylvia (Tracey Ullman), a middle-aged woman who has a sexual awakening after a bad concussion. Prior to her bump on the head, Sylvia was pretty prudish, but afterward, she's a sex-crazed maniac who just wants to help other people enjoy their own sexual fantasies. She even meets up with a kind of concussion-sex-Jesus played by Johnny Knoxville, and he helps her fix her relationship with her estranged daughter, Caprice (Selma Blair). "A Dirty Shame" is a celebration of kink, embracing the odd side of the erotic and relishing in the joy of it all.
"A Dirty Shame" performed poorly, in part because its rating kept it out of theaters and in part because people in 2004 just weren't ready for something this sex-positive and silly. Waters was so dispirited by this that he abandoned filmmaking, which broke my teenage heart.
Waters' madcap movie was almost created for me, however, a 17-year-old in 2004 with a fascination for fetishes. I loved the movie so much that I showed it to everyone who would agree to watch, including my own mom, and relished in the gasps and giggles of the people I watched it with. Sure, "A Dirty Shame" is filthy, but it's also fun and full of love, which is what makes Waters movies so special.
Waters is perhaps most famous for his 1972 ode to going overboard, "Pink Flamingos." The film ends with its star and frequent Waters collaborator Divine (pictured above) eating handfuls of genuine dog feces on camera. That's far from the most disgusting thing in the movie, but for whatever reason, it's the bit that people remember. (I think the "singing anus" is far grosser, but what do I know?)
Waters early career was a refutation of high art, purposely creating the most low-brow and uncomfortable experience possible. His early films like "Female Trouble," "Multiple Maniacs," and "Dangerous Living" all followed the same group of performers who worked with Waters and called themselves the Dreamlanders, and while they are truly demented, the love that the Dreamlanders have for one another is evident in every frame. How else would they be able to perform such degrading acts and seem to be delighted by it?
Just as there's a lot of love between the cast on Waters films, the director has a great deal of affection for his players. He's given them all the chance to play a wide variety of roles, and in the case of Divine, even wrote a film that gave her the kind of role most drag queens could only ever dream of.
Divine, who was born Harris Glenn Milstead, was a drag performer who loved exaggerated and garish gender exploration, but he also wanted a chance to be seen as beautiful. While Milstead (who, according to the documentary "I Am Divine" was not transgender but saw his drag as a persona) was great at hamming it up and going way too far, Waters wanted to give him a chance to simply be a performer. In the 1981 film "Polyester," Divine stars as Francine, a suburban housewife whose husband runs a porno theater. Francine is the opposite of Divine's previous characters: she's a loving mother, a faithful wife, and a zealous Christian. Finally, she gets fed up with her husband and demands a divorce, then falls in love with the handsome Todd Tomorrow (Tab Hunter.)
On top of the divine casting of Divine as a sweet suburban housewife, casting Tab Hunter as a heartthrob was a bit of brilliance. Hunter was an actor famous for playing a ladies man in the 1950s movies "Polyester" was riffing on. Not only that, but Hunter was a closeted gay man, keeping his sexuality secret from Hollywood in order to keep his career. Hunter eventually came out of the closet with his memoir in 2005, but Waters gave him a chance to be a part of queer cinema history with "Polyester." Divine and Hunter got along so well, they even did another film together called "Lust in the Dust" in 1985. Waters, a very openly gay man, has made space for queer performers in indie cinema, giving them chances that Hollywood wouldn't.
The love that Waters has for his cast and crew also extends to the characters he writes about. The characters in his films are a motley collection of freaks, geeks, and weirdos, but he treats them all as if they're just as worthy as cinematic attention as James Bond or Superman. His characters can be good or evil, ranging from the homicidal homemaker played by Kathleen Turner at the center of "Serial Mom" to the heavyset teenager fighting segregation in "Hairspray," but he gives them all a kind of fatherly love. People who have felt like outcasts can find a lot to love in Waters' work, as he makes the people who live on the fringes the center of the story.
"Cecil B. Demented" was the first John Waters film I ever saw, and it's my favorite movie of all time. "Cecil B. Demented" follows the cracked crew of a "guerilla" film, working under the direction of the self-named Cecil B. Demented (Stephen Dorff). It's a roast of popular cinema that makes fun of big-budget blockbusters and the MPAA with abandon, but it also makes sure not to let the film fanatics get away without a little loving ribbing, too. "Cecil B. Demented" gave me the blueprint for my own love of cinema, and helped give me permission to let my freak flag fly as a weirdo teenager living in suburban Georgia.
Waters may be the "Pope of Trash," but he's also the patron saint of the pleasantly perverted, embracing sexuality, smashing gender norms, and allowing people to shine at their most authentic. I can't wait to see what he has in store with "Liarmouth," and hopefully introduce a whole new generation to my favorite filthy filmmaker.
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The post Why John Waters Returning to Directing is a Big Deal appeared first on /Film.
Christian Bale is a great actor who, if his exceedingly rare interviews are to be believed, hates acting. Loathes it. Kinda wishes he'd never done it in the first place. But it's a living, and he's awfully good at it, so he keeps snagging multi-million paydays because it beats hosing down dumpsters out back of an East St. Louis Denny's.
Sometimes, his distaste for his profession, and the lesser talents with whom he occasionally comes into contact, turns into full-blown fury. You've probably heard his freak-out on the set of "Terminator: Salvation," where he goes nuclear on cinematographer Shane Hurlbut for futzing with his lights in the middle of Bale's take. While it's horribly unprofessional to excoriate a co-worker like this in any line of work, it's still a hilariously colorful dressing down. And somewhat understandable. If you find yourself making a half-assed Terminator movie directed by McG, you might be a tad on edge.
On the other end of the ledger, if you're fortunate enough to reinvigorate the Batman franchise with a world-class filmmaker like Christopher Nolan, and you've got an antagonistic relationship with the craft of acting, you might be partial to doing nothing but that.
In an interview with GQ pegged to the release of David O. Russell's "Amsterdam," Bale reveals that he would've happily played The Dark Knight for the rest of his career:
"Yeah, but I loved it. I loved that because I was like, 'This could be it. I could never be anything but that.' And for a lot of people, I won't. I was like, 'Ah, maybe I'm going to be forced to go do something different. And maybe this f***ng thing that I got forced into doing as a kid that I didn't f****** want to do in the first place, I'm out. And I'm free.' And then it didn't happen."
Bale kicked off his career in the executive suite as the adolescent Jamie Graham in Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun." He is magnificent in the film, which remains the director's most underrated work (I happen to think it's his best movie), but, aside from a nifty turn in Kenneth Branagh's "Henry V," his early-career performances feel uninspired. It wasn't until Todd Haynes' "Velvet Goldmine" that he seemed to embrace the craft.
But here he is kvetching to a GQ journalist that he'd happily do anything else but act. He made three movies over the last couple of years, which will certainly take it out of you, but if you're Christian Bale and you don't want to work, you can easily turn down a Marvel movie like "Thor: Love and Thunder." Methinks he doth protest too much. That said, I would pay good money to watch Bale hose down a dumpster out back of an East St. Louis Denny's.
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The post Christian Bale Would Have Been Fine Playing Batman for the Rest of His Career appeared first on /Film.
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This post contains spoilers for the latest episode of "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law."
Since before the series even premiered, "She-Hulk: Attorney At Law" has been dropping hints about the introduction of a Marvel fan-favorite. Trailers, promos, and even Jen Walters (Tatiana Maslany) herself have been winking in our direction, hinting at the eventual grand entrance of a certain superhero — and eight episodes in, our patience has finally been rewarded. That's right, the hulking green lawyer has finally crossed paths with one of Marvel's most acrobatic heroes: Leap-Frog!
Oh yeah, and the same episode that sees him springing into trouble also finds time for the reintroduction of Charlie Cox as Daredevil.
Okay, fine, forget about Leap-Frog, let's focus on the devil of Hell's Kitchen. While "She-Hulk" has become an exciting playground for lots of D-list Marvel characters, Daredevil is much higher up on the totem pole and his growing role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a very big deal.
The prospect of Matt Murdock properly joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe has always been a daunting prospect for fans. Cox's beloved portrayal is tied to the grittiness of the Netflix series where it began, which was mostly detached from the MCU, working primarily as a superhero character study. Matt in particular was a walking bundle of nerves, tension, and angst, struggling to reconcile his good Catholic upbringing with his morally grey superhero persona. So where does that fit into the quippy world of the MCU and a show like "She-Hulk" that gives us a much more light-hearted and self-aware take on the Marvel formula?
Well, it turns out he fits in pretty damn well.
When Daredevil arrives in "She-Hulk," he's got a new costume and a lighter sense of humor, but he's still the Matt Murdock we know and love. The episode finds plenty of ways to showcase the man he's always been: he's effortlessly charming with Jen, captivating in a courtroom, and has a noble sense of heroism, especially once the ketchup-and-mustard colored costume is on. But our biggest hint that "She-Hulk" gets Matt Murdock comes when he's suited up, doused in neon blue, and paying homage to one of the greatest aspects of Daredevil: the famous hallway fight scene.
If you've spent time with Cox's take on Matt Murdock, then this will certainly ring a bell: confined to a hallway in the second-ever episode of "Daredevil," our exhausted hero went full vigilante mode, taking down a roomful of goons in a desperate attempt to save a kidnapped kid. Filmed to look like a single shot, the scene is a pretty neat summation of Matt's heroic persona: beat down but determined to succeed. He goes hand-to-had with one goon after the next, all the while on the brink of collapsing from his injuries. Somehow, he prevails against the odds, leaps off some walls, knocks out all the bad guys, and saves the kid.
The moment went viral for its memorable choreography, incredible camerawork, and an all-around great display of onscreen action. It was so notable that the concept became a staple of the series: every season of "Daredevil" from then on would up the ante with another huge action sequence, to the point where the third season's prison escape was an 11-minute single-take that saw Matt fighting for his life. So naturally, when officially introducing Matt into the MCU, reminding us of his greatest hits was a given. But this time around, there's one key difference: this isn't Matt Murdock's show.
The charmer that he is, Matt has a way of stealing the spotlight from Jen. And in his defense, this is a big moment for him! Besides catching a brick in "Spider-Man: No Way Home," we've yet to see him officially proclaim his presence in the MCU, so when he strides into the show, he does so with lots of fanfare. Not only does he best Jen in court, he also charms her pants off and encourages her to try her hand at some more superheroics. But just because he's got a couple more seasons of TV under his belt, that doesn't mean he gets to call the shots.
Once they track Leap-Frog to his not-so-secret lair, Matt makes a plan to go the stealth route. He parkours into the warehouse to take down the tadpole goons (who are distinctly not henchmen), throws his baton, dramatically swings open a door, and beats them down to the point of whimpering for back-up. But before he can charge the even larger team of goons, She-Hulk arrives and smashes through the ceiling, taking them out in one fell swoop. Sure, it's slightly less elegant and results in a lot more property damage, but it sure does speed things up! Matt's plan involved doing math and taking out goons one by one. She-Hulk gets the job done efficiently, which very importantly gives them lots of free time for after-hours romantic escapades.
Leaving time for Matt's walk of shame was probably part of the reason for She-Hulk's grand entrance, but Jessica Gao has also pointed out that it was a crucial moment for the audience. "We have to keep reminding people that this is Jen's show, this is She-Hulk's show," Gao said in a chat with the official Marvel website. While the series certainly gives Matt some time in the spotlight — and always makes room for lots of other Marvel heroes and rogues — Jen is always, crucially, at its center. Gao said:
"Everything in the show is like, 'how can we either subvert a trope or defy expectations or ground something in funny reality.' That's kind of the ethos of the show. So of course, it was just natural for this show, being so meta, that we would acknowledge and tease the classic Daredevil hallway fight. But then, of course, we would have to undercut it with our girl, She-Hulk."
Sadly, our days of hanging with Jen are coming to a close, with the season finale of "She-Hulk: Attorney At Law" arriving in just a week's time. But if it's more Matt Murdock you're looking for, then get excited, but prepare to put that patience to the test once again — his 18-episode series "Daredevil: Born Again" is set to arrive in 2024. If we're really lucky, maybe Jen will smash into his show too and give us the opportunity to revisit their great chemistry. But if these MCU execs know what's good for them, they'll wait until after revisiting the greatness of an epic Daredevil action scene.
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The post The Daredevil Hallway Fight Scene Returns In She-Hulk: Attorney At Law appeared first on /Film.
This post contains minor spoilers for the latest episode of "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law."
"Black Panther" was a cultural moment, a box office phenomenon, and a revolutionary superhero movie, both for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the genre in general. Rarely does a superhero movie have a setting that feels as real and lived-in as Wakanda, or characters as vibrant as those of this movie.
Not only was the film spectacular in its visuals, its sound, and even in its portrayal of how a nation like Wakanda would function, but it offered some genuinely profound thought experiments. The central question of the film is a poignant one: Should Wakanda remain hidden and safe from the outside world, or open its borders and offer aid and technology to the world?
When T'Challa briefly dies and meets his father T'Chaka in the Ancestral Plane, he scolds his father for betraying his brother and leaving N'Jadaka alone and an orphan. "All of you are wrong to turn your backs on the rest of the world," T'Challa shouts when his father says that he did what he did for the sake of Wakanda and its future. "We let the fear of our discovery stop us from doing what is right. No more." Arguably the biggest development in the film, at least for the larger MCU, is the scene at the end where T'Challa talks to the United Nations and reveals that Wakanda is actually not an extremely poor African country, but a mighty nation with something to offer the world.
It's an extremely empowering and uplifting ending. At least in a vacuum. Because now, "She-Hulk" shines a different light on that ending, as it shows the horrible repercussions of opening the borders to anyone who can pay their way to Wakanda.
The latest episode of She-Hulk brings everything that is great about the show together in one lean, mean, green package. We have some hilarious banter, the return of Daredevil and his awesome hallway fights, some legal elements, steamy hot romance, and plenty of fantastic Easter eggs that make the show feel both important and also part of a lived-in MCU full of consequences.
Though the mention of the Sokovia Accords is arguably the more important reference in what it means for the future of the MCU, there is another one that offers a vastly different and much bleaker hint of what is happening in the rest of this universe -- our first look at the consequences for opening Wakanda's borders.
In the episode, Jennifer gets an emergency call from arguably her worst client, Jon Bass' billionaire tech idiot, Todd. It seems he just bought what he considers a very cool artifact at an auction: a genuine Wakandan war spear — for which he paid "a millie." It turns out Todd is a huge Wakanda fan, having studied abroad there. He even drops the Wakanda Forever salute, which makes Jennifer (and us) deeply uncomfortable. The problem? That spear was very much stolen by colonizers, but Todd thinks it should be fine because "I got the receipts."
This is exactly what Killmonger warned us about, and it is likely just the beginning. During this episode of "She-Hulk," it's been almost a whole decade since Wakanda opened its borders, so what has happened? We haven't seen any signs that they cured all illnesses and got everyone universal healthcare. We don't see flying vehicles or anything out of the ordinary going on, so it's likely they haven't really turned the world into the utopia Wakanda itself is. That the first reference we get to the effects of the border opening is an idiot rich white dude being able to study abroad makes me think the worst.
Has Wakanda somehow suffered an attempted gentrification? Have the big corporations tried to sponsor or meddle with the kingdom? Are the streets of Wakanda full of Starbucks and Tot Topics? This would be a reality grimmer than anything Thanos or any of the other villains in the MCU had in mind.
Because of course the first people to try and go to Wakanda wouldn't be the refugees from neighboring countries who could benefit from Wakanda's safety and technology, or Black people from around the world who would love to see an African utopia. Instead, it's rich white imbeciles who exoticize the powerful kingdom for their Instagram, and boast about spending a million on a stolen artifact.
This is all your fault Todd, and I hope the Dora Milaje come looking for you.
Read this next: 11 Marvel Comics Villains We Really Want To See In The MCU
The post She-Hulk Shows The Negative Impact of the Black Panther Ending appeared first on /Film.
The BlackByte ransomware has been observed targeting a vulnerability in a legitimate driver to disable endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions running on the victim machine.
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc's (AMD) chief executive officer Dr. Lisa Su shared her thoughts about her company's current performance, the industry as a whole and the importance of employee productivity in an interview given to the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund. In her interview, Dr. Su also shared her favorite experiences while working at her company, and shared that the time when she receives a new product for the first time is one of her favorites. She also explained that working at AMD attracted her because of the company's ability to work right at the leading edge of technology development.
The executive also shared some details of her childhood, revealing that her parents' focus on science and engineering shaped her interests. They encouraged her to get an education in these topics and made her believe that she could change the world with them.
Speaking about her turnaround at AMD, the executive highlighted that some of the biggest decisions that she took as CEO included focusing the company on its products, analyzing which technology points were at an inflection point and building strong relationships with customers. The executive also delved deeper into her philosophy of extreme communication, which involves consistently repeating the goals, decisions and steps required to achieve goals.
Commenting on Taiwan's rise as a global semiconductor manufacturing hub, Dr. Su attributes this to the evolution of the industry from in-house to contract to manufacture due to the increasing complexity of manufacturing and the fact that it takes for investment in chip production to materialize. Dr. Su believes that Taiwan was smart enough to understand this early on, and now the island nation is reaping the benefits.
Dr. Su is also optimistic that the markets her company operates in, such as the high-performance and adaptive computing markets, are secular and will only see an increase in demand as time passes. The key to surviving in this industry, which has only a few players and strong competition, is to differentiate one's products from others and how value can be added when compared to competing products.
A key benefit of working at AMD is that the engineers get to make an outsized impact on the technology industry, especially since the company is not the largest in its industry believes the executive. Making people "proud" of their work, and keeping them focused on making their technology focus on customer needs is key to managing a highly talented workforce according to her.
Geopolitical situations are very important for AMD, and on this front, Dr. Su explained that:
Well I do think it is a first order consideration, and our goal is to balance..you know..of course you know all of the different pieces. I mean you know we are a U.S. company, and so from that standpoint, given some of the national security concerns, we are certainly very cognizant of that. On the other piece of it, we do operate in very global markets and we have a great set of partners across the world. And our employees are frankly all across the world. And so you know in this place I think we have very much tried to have the balance between all the various constituents and you know we continue to believe that's the way to operate in this, you know in this, current time.
Developing great products involves putting long term goals into bite sized chunks. When developing its Zen CPUs, AMD started five years prior to launch and focused on becoming a leader in the space by laying down stepwise goals and then measuring its progress against them.
"No one's ever perfect, and no company's ever perfect, but we can certainly learn from every experience, and as we do, you know we'll do it a little better next time" is Dr. Su's philosophy and it helps her focus her engineers on long term projects.
The post AMD Chief Shares Her Secret Sauce Behind Successful Zen CPUs & Company Turnaround by Ramish Zafar appeared first on Wccftech.
Director Carlota Pereda makes a bold solo debut feature in the shocker Piggy (Cerdita). A bullied girl participates in a brutal revenge through apathy in this Spanish genre highlight, delivering a complex and evocative character study that is sure to spark conversation. Teenage Sara (Laura Galán) is a shy girl. An overweight girl who works in her family’s butcher shop – not the most glamourous of jobs – Sara is cruelly nicknamed Cerdita, or Piggy, by the local cool girls who taunt her mercilessly for everything from her job handling offal to her appearance. While Sara attempts to disappear, it’s almost impossible, as her family is one of her small town’s leading providers of meat, meaning she is constantly forced to interact with her tormentors. While...
After a decade-long hiatus from filmmaking, horror auteur Dario Argento (Inferno, Suspiria, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage) has returned with his latest film, Dark Glasses (Occhiali neri), a modest, occasionally middling riff on the giallo sub-genre he helped define and redefine in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Surprisingly short on the excessively baroque visual style typical of his better known works, and long on familiar tropes, Dark Glasses doesn’t qualify as anything approaching a return to form for Argento, but it’s nonetheless welcome, especially from a well-regarded filmmaker whose last effort behind the camera, Dracula 3D, justifiably received an indifferent, apathetic response from both audiences and critics in 2012. Working from an underwritten, underdeveloped screenplay Argento co-scripted with occasional collaborator Franco Ferrini (Opera, Phenomena, Once...
Platinum Games has had its ups and downs since its founding 15-years ago, with Babylon’s Fall definitely being one of the downs. Platinum’s first attempt at doing a live service, Babylon’s Fall was savaged by critics and had its post-launch support cut short after its Steam playercount literally dropped to zero after only three months. Platinum hasn’t had a lot to say about the dramatic fall of Babylon’s Fall, but in a new interview with Video Games Chronicle, CEO Atsushi Inaba said the company was “extremely sorry” about how things turned out.
"Any disappointment that we might have caused for our fan base is something we feel extremely sorry about, the fact that we led our dedicated fans to feel that way as a developer. Providing any sentiment other than enjoyment and fun in our creations to players is something that we’re not very happy about at all as a developer."
So, is the failure of Babylon’s Fall going to change Platinum Games' plans for further “games as a service” projects? Apparently, not.
"There’s a lot that we learned from this experience, and it’s not changed our future plans or outlook moving forward regarding doing live service games at all. Live service games are definitely something we do want to do and put our effort in moving forward."
It makes sense that Platinum would want to have the stable income a live-service can provide, rather than living from game to game as they have been since their founding. That said, they clearly need to seriously rethink how they approach the genre. Thankfully, it does seem like Babylon’s Fall has been somewhat of a teaching moment, as Inaba promises fun Platinum-style game mechanics will be at the core of any future GaaS title they make.
Babylon’s Fall is available now on PC, PS4, and PS5. Service to the game will end on February 27, 2023. Platinum’s next game, Bayonetta 3, launches on Nintendo Switch on October 28.
The post Babylon’s Fall Death Something Platinum is “Extremely Sorry” About, but GaaS Plans Continue by Nathan Birch appeared first on Wccftech.
Matthew McConaughey has had one of the strangest career arcs of any actor working today. McConaughey rose to prominence in the 1990s thanks to his collaborations with great directors. Having worked with Richard Linklater, Joel Schumacher, Robert Zemeckis, John Sayles, and Steven Spielberg, McConaughey had no shortage of experienced filmmakers to draw inspiration from. He became the rare actor who could do comedic, dramatic, and action-heavy roles eually well.
However, the quality of McConaughey's work began to decline in the early 21st century. He starred in a series of disastrous romantic comedies that didn't showcase his range. There's only so much that an actor can bring to a role if it is not well written. However, McConaughey's career rebounded in the 2010s. He went back to starring in interesting projects, and even won an Academy Award for best actor for his moving performance in "Dallas Buyers Club." Shortly thereafter, he took a chance on television with "True Detective." The HBO crime series is among the most cinematic shows ever made, and it benefits from McConaughey's dramatic range.
Here are the top 15 best Matthew McConaughey movies, ranked.
"Gold" is the type of mediocre "awards bait" project that benefited from McConaughey's personality. Directed by "Syriana" filmmaker Stephen Gaghan, the film follows the life of prospector Kenny Wells, who is based on Bre-X CEO David Walsh. Wells becomes interested in a mining operation in Indonesia and spirals into obsession as he sets out to find hidden gold. He gets involved with a convoluted scheme as his search draws attention from the FBI.
The film is a typical drama, but Wells is a very engaging character. McConaughey explores how dreams can cause people to do strange things. In a way, it feels like he's drawing from his own experiences. The quirky sense of humor that Wells has fits within the film's frantic pacing. McConaughey's heartfelt performance gives the film much more emotional weight than it would otherwise have. There is a surprisingly moving scene in which Wells accepts an award for his contributions to prospecting. He tears up, as it's the first time his work has been recognized.
"Reign of Fire" is one of the most ridiculously entertaining fantasy movies of the 21st century, and it's unfortunate that it never spawned a franchise. The film takes the high fantasy genre into the future by imagining a post-apocalyptic world where dragons have been reawakened. Humanity survives in the form of tribal villages that have little communication with each other.
Although Christian Bale stars as the protagonist, Quinn Abercromby, the film gets an instant boost of energy once McConaughey makes his entrance. Quinn is the leader of a British colony and is forced to start hunting dragons after his village's crops are burned. Soon after, he meets the American leader, Denton Van Zan (McConaughey). Although they initially distrust each other, Denton reveals to Quinn that the dragons have poor eyesight during twilight. Under the right circumstances, they might be able to work together to defeat these monsters. Denton exemplifies the sort of strange faith in the impossible that all heroes must have.
"Reign of Fire" is just self-serious enough to avoid being campy, but it doesn't bore the audience with exposition. Denton's fiery calls to arms during the film's ending battle sequence seems like what McConaughey would say in the situation, and he retains his personality to the bitter end.
"Amistad" is a complex movie that should be considered in context. Although the film tells the important story of the enslaved people who revolted against their captors on the ship "La Amistad" in 1839, the narrative is presented mostly from the perspective of the white characters. While this was not the right approach, Matthew McConaughey's performance does not discount the gravity of the events.
The film follows abolitionist Lewis Tappan (Stellan Skarsgard) and his assistant, Theodore Joadson (Morgan Freeman), as they decide to defend the slaves when they are put on trial. The Spanish government has claimed that they are property. Both Tappan and Joadson know they need an excellent lawyer to represent these men. They end up hiring McConaughey's character, Roger Sherman Baldwin, an eager young lawyer. The film shows how Baldwin begins looking to benefit from a major case but ends up recognizing the importance of the abolitionists' cause.
Baldwin frames his arguments in an exciting way. While this initially makes him seem impersonal, Tappen and Joadson realize that the attention to legal details is what will win them the case. McConaughey is electrifying in the trial scenes. Although Baldwin tries to maintain his composure, his spirit is crushed when he sees that many of the witnesses have no empathy.
"Tropic Thunder" is one of the funniest movies of the 21st century. The film is a satire of Hollywood elitism, and how disconnected actors are from reality. The film revolves around action star Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), whose career is spiraling into disaster. Speedman looks to revive his career by starring in a war film shot on location in the jungle. Unfortunately, he and his co-stars are thrust into danger when they run afoul of an armed gang's drub operation.
Although "Tropic Thunder" is ridiculous, it has some satirical insight into the way that the film industry works. This is exemplified through Speedman's relationship with his agent, Rick Peck (Matthew McConaughey), who is referred to as "The Pecker." Peck is Speedman's best friend and has seen him at both his best and worst. McConaughey shows how Peck is willing to risk his livelihood to take a chance on Speedman.
Peck finds himself in an uproariously funny situation once Speedman is placed in danger. Although he's desperate to get the Hollywood brass to rescue his client, cruel studio executive Les Grossman (Tom Cruise) doesn't see the value in saving a doomed asset. McConaughey's exasperated conversations with Cruise are among the film's comedic highs.
Although Guy Ritchie's style was somewhat diluted when he started making Hollywood blockbusters like "Sherlock Holmes," "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword," and "Aladdin," he returned to his roots with the uproarious crime film "The Gentlemen" which allowed its cast, including Matthew McConaughey, to goof off as eccentric characters.
The film tells a convoluted story about drug deals gone wrong. It's McConaughey's character, Mickey Pearson, who is involved in the inciting incident. He ignores tabloid editor Big Dave (Eddie Marsden) at a social gathering. Dave is infuriated and hires his top reporter, Fletcher (Hugh Grant), to investigate. The events are told in flashback as Fletcher interviews Pearson's right-hand man, Raymond Smith (Charlie Hunnam). Any scenes with Pearson are a treat. Richie saddles McConaughey with ridiculous monologues about how the "lion is the king of the jungle," which sound even more absurd with McConaughey's thick Texas drawl.
Although "The Gentlemen" is generally light-hearted, McConaughey does have one very dramatic scene. Pearson's rival, Dry Eye (Henry Golding), attempts to assault his wife, Rosalind (Michelle Dockery). McConaughey shows Person's ferocity as he comes to his lover's aid. This could have felt like an odd change of pace, but McConaughey sells the gravity of the situation.
In many ways, "The Lincoln Lawyer" feels like the origin story of "The McConaissance." In 2011, McConaughey was coming off of disastrous romantic comedies like "Fool's Gold" and "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past," and no one was taking him seriously. He took a chance on "The Lincoln Lawyer," a legal thriller about a quirky attorney who works out of his car. Mickey Haller (McConaughey) is also someone who isn't taken seriously. Haller's career has declined because he doesn't want to get involved with cases that he doesn't believe in. This parallels how McConaughey began to choose better projects.
Haller faces an interesting moral dilemma when he discovers that his client, Louis Ross Roulet (Ryan Phillippe), is guilty of murder. Haller is legally obligated to defend him either way. However, Roulet makes the situation even direr when he threatens Haller's family. Roulet leverages his family's wealth to get away with anything. McConaughey shows how Haller is infuriated by people like this, as his honor has been rewarded with misfortune.
Haller finds a unique way to investigate the situation so that he can expose the conspiracy, save his family, and fulfill his legal obligations. McConaughey's flashes of personality reflect the strange journey that leads Haller to do the right thing.
"Bernie" is a reunion of sorts for Matthew McConaughey, who returned to collaborate with director Richard Linklater, and the film shows why they are such a great pairing. Linklater's films never seem to know where they are going, but they always reflect the mundanity of life. Who better to speak to these themes than McConaughey? Absurdly funny, shockingly violent, and oddly touching, "Bernie" shows both McConaughey and Linklater's range.
"Bernie" follows good-natured mortician Bernie Tiede (Jack Black), who kills his older companion, Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine). Tiede is beloved by his community, and they are quick to defend him when he is accused of murder. McConaughey co-stars as Danny Buck Davidson, the local attorney that puts Tiede on trial. Danny is in a no-win scenario. Tiede has the support of the people, and they don't care if he is guilty.
The scenes in which Danny "explains" Texas culture in an interview-style setting are hilariously intercut with the main storyline. Who better to teach us about how to be a Texan than McConaughey?
"Dallas Buyers Club" isn't necessarily Matthew McConaughy's greatest film, but it exemplifies all of the things that make him unique. Ron Woodroof (McConaughey) is a gambler, loner, and disreputable Texan who doesn't think that he has much of a future. Woodroof discovers that he has AIDS, which he immediately doubts because of the miscommunication of the era. In the 1980s, information about the AIDs pandemic was limited because people assumed that it only affected gay men. Woodroof isn't a very accepting person, and he doesn't want to be "accused" of being gay.
To save his life, Woodroof decides to cut through red tape and find the people that can help him. He searches for drugs that provide relief to those in need. McConaughey shows Woodroof's desperation. He feels like he will have nothing to return to if he survives. However, Woodroof becomes infuriated when he learns that the government is not allocating resources.
McConaughey shows the beauty of Woodroof's redemption. After starting an organization to provide medications to AIDS patients, he begins to open himself up and become an ally of the LGBTQ+ community. Although the film should have cast trans performers in major parts, McConaughey's performance shows how one man's kindness can bring hope.
Richard Linklater's seminal coming-of-age comedy launched the careers of many breakout stars. It's one of the funniest high school movies ever, but it's also painfully realistic in the way that it handles growing up. Linklater's greatest skill is his ability to generate empathy. He shows how there is diversity in the high school experience and explores how characters from different walks of life adjust to these years of change. This required an incredible ensemble. It's all the more impressive that McConaughey is what fans remember from the film the most.
McConaughey is hardly the main character in "Dazed and Confused," but he's easily the scene stealer. His character, David Wooderson, is merely an observer of the strange events of the film. A man in his 20s who still hangs out with teenagers, Wooderson is both completely pathetic and the coolest character in the room at the same time. If mishandled, Wooderson could have felt like a total creep, but McConaughey's charisma makes him utterly endearing.
Matthew McConaughey may have won his Oscar for 2013's "Dallas Buyers Club," but that wasn't his best performance of the year. He also starred in Jeff Nichols' touching coming-of-age drama "Mud" in which he gave one of the most distinct performances of his career. The titular hero, Mud (McConaughey), is a mysterious fugitive who hides away on an island on the Mississippi River. Mud's isolation is shattered when he befriends two young boys named Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and Neckbone (Jacob Lofland).
There is beauty in the way that Mud talks to the boys about his life and regrets. Although he hints at his depression, Mud has faith that he will one day be reunited with his girlfriend, Juniper (Reese Witherspoon). McConaughey implies an entire backstory that isn't seen. He is remarkably tender alongside the two young boys as they find that Mud's wholesome advice is the kind of wisdom that they're missing at home.
If you went into "Magic Mike" expecting to see a goofy stripper movie, that is definitely not what Steven Soderbergh delivered. "Magic Mike" is a devastating character drama about the impact of the financial crisis that feels closer to a 1970s drama than something like "Striptease." Although the film has some truly harrowing moments, there is still a sense of joy that comes from men expressing themselves. In an age of toxic masculinity, Soderbergh shows the beauty of men that are comfortable with their bodies.
"Magic Mike" has a lovable cast of characters, none of whom are quite as personable as Dallas (McConaughey). As the owner of the Xquisite Strip Club, he's determined to give his audience a great show no matter what. There is a dichotomy in McConaughey's performance as Dallas. While he is energetic during the stripping scenes, he's forced to admit harsh truths about the group's financial state in his private conversations with Mike (Channing Tatum).
"Interstellar" is Christopher Nolan's most imaginative and emotional film. Although some film fans may feel that the cinematic styles of Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick are complete opposites, Nolan made a film that is as touching as "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" and as mind-blowing as "2001: A Space Odyssey." "Interstellar" looks at the origins of the universe through the story of a father who is desperate to return to his daughter.
Nolan isn't always great with dialogue, which makes McConaughey's performance as the astronaut, Cooper, even more important. He has to make sure that throughout the technical mumbo jumbo, the audience has a character that they can relate to. The most emotional scene in "Interstellar" is a harrowing sequence that explores the ramifications of time. After Cooper accidentally spends too much time on a planet where time is calculated differently, he sobs as he watches the recordings that his family has sent to him.
It only takes one scene in "The Wolf of Wall Street" for Matthew McConaughey to steal the entire film. There is no shortage of uproariously unexpected moments in Martin Scorsese's three-hour satirical epic, but the iconic sequence in which Mark Hanna (McConaughey) teaches Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) the nature of Wall Street culture might be the most hilarious. Hanna beats his chest as he hums, taking Belfort off guard, but he's intrigued by the strange charisma that Hanna seems to have.
This scene is more than an extended cameo. Hanna essentially introduces Belfort to the lifestyle that will dominate his life, and it perfectly sets the tone for the film's off-kilter sense of humor. It's the rare moment when Belfort is vulnerable. He's embarrassed by Hanna's strange routine but steadily learns that this is the type of behavior that leads to success in this business.
"Lone Star" is one of the most underrated films of the 1990s and perhaps the best example of John Sayles' elegant mix of beauty and elegance. Sayles weaponizes the naturalism of the American West to tell a tragic mystery that ends on a devastating note. As Texas sheriff Charlie Wade (Chris Cooper) investigates the death of his father, Buddy Deeds (Matthew McConaughey), he discovers secrets that threaten to unravel the entire community.
McConaughey brings out the earnest diligence that makes Deeds so beloved in his community. Although it doesn't feel like either McConaughey or Sayles is idolizing law enforcement, Deeds proves to be the rare sheriff who resolves issues without collateral damage. McConaughey is utterly heartbreaking in the flashback sequences. Even though the audience knows his death is coming, the moment still lands with an emotional impact. There's a sense of dread that presages Deeds' fate that McConaughey makes even more shocking.
In many ways, "Killer Joe" is an inversion of "Lone Star." While John Sayles' touching tribute to the ways of the American Western is tinged with a heartfelt sense of melancholy, William Friedkin's grotesque dark comedy is the embodiment of everything wrong with America. Seedy, uncomfortable, and unforgettable, "Killer Joe" is the type of film that pushes the limits of good taste. Matthew McConaughey's terrifying role as the titular lawman is the type of revolting anti-hero that you can't take your eyes off.
Based on a play by Tracy Letts, "Killer Joe" takes place in a Texas trailer park. When a young drug dealer named Chris (Emile Hirsch) winds up with a target on his back, he seeks the assistance of his ignorant father, Ansel (Thomas Hayden Church), who lives with his needy second wife, Sharla (Gina Gershon), and Chris' sister, Dottie (Juno Smith). Chris proposes a plan. If they can stage the death of Ansel's first wife, Adele, they can claim the insurance money.
Of course, a scheme like this requires the services of a veteran troublemaker like Joe. McConaughey is darkly charismatic as he pushes the characters to make decisions against their self-interests. "Killer Joe" is a delightfully morbid examination of morality.
Read this next: The 14 Best Film Acting Debuts Of All Time
The post The 15 Best Matthew McConaughey Movies, Ranked appeared first on /Film.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Windows 11 started receiving its first major update – Windows 11 version 22H2, or the 2022 Update – on September 20th, and there are quite a lot of good additions to it. However, as tends to be the case with many Windows updates, there are also a few issues in tow. Microsoft had already acknowledged problems with some printers, and now, some users are running into issues with Remote Desktop connections.
The problems were first reported on the Microsoft Community forums, with a slew of users following up to confirm they also experienced the issue. According to the original report, the Remote Desktop client in Windows 11 version 22H2 has a bug where it only tries to establish the connection through UDP, completely ignoring TCP connections. As a result, many connections fail, as some organizations are set up to only use TCP.
While Microsoft has yet to add the issue to the Windows 11 release health information page, the company did respond to the forum post, eventually stating that it’s looking into the problem. Thankfully, if you’ve run into this issue, there is a workaround. You’ll need to use the Registry Editor to navigate to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services\Client, then create a new DWORD value called fClientDisableUDP in that folder, and set the value to 1. That should allow Remote Desktop TCP connections to work once again until Microsoft fixes the issue.
That’s not the only issue that’s been recently discovered in Windows 11 version 22H2, either. Microsoft has added a separate problem to the Windows 11 release information page, stating that provisioning packages might not work properly with Windows 11 version 22H2. If you provision a PC with this update installed, the provisioning package may not be fully installed during setup, leaving certain options configured incorrectly. It’s also possible that the setup process will unexpectedly restart or simply not finish as a result.
An easy way to work around this is to provision the device before installing the update. If the initial setup is already done, upgrading to Windows 11 version 22H2 won’t cause any problems. Additionally, provisioning using Windows Autopatch is not affected by this issue. Microsoft says it’s working to fix the update, but no timeline has been provided as of yet.
Source: Microsoft Community
Via: BleepingComputer
The post Windows 11 version 22H2 is causing problems with Remote Desktop connections appeared first on XDA.
(Welcome to I Didn't Know What Seasonal Anime to Watch, So I Asked Slashfilm for Help and They Gave Me a List, a regular column dedicated to helping choose what anime shows to watch each season.)
Spring and fall are traditionally the two biggest anime seasons, packed with blockbusters and surefire hits. Winter and summer are comparatively slow. Don't hold that against summer, though. Some of the best anime ever made aired over summer seasons, including "Mob Psycho 100" and "Penguindrum." This summer boasted its own set of surprises, including the year's most successful original anime so far; a sequel to an all-time problematic fave; a bizarre comedy series that takes the piss out of mass-produced "isekai" stories; and a video game adaptation that launched its namesake to the top of the Steam bestseller lists. Not to mention the streaming debut of one of the best anime movies of the past few years.
Once again, Adam and Rafael return to give the curious viewer a tour through last season's most fascinating anime productions.
"Lycoris Recoil" is a concoction made of ingredients you've almost certainly seen before. Its heroines Chisato and Takina are high school girls with guns trained by a secret police state to incapacitate criminal actors before they register in the public eye. Chisato is a warm and bubbly presence with a strict policy of nonviolent takedowns. Takina is a brutally efficient marksman ejected from the upper ranks for her willingness to put the lives of her squad at risk. When they aren't knocking out hitmen with "non-lethal" bullets, they work side by side in a cafe and slowly grow closer to each other. Chisato and Takina individually could have been borrowed from any other popular anime made in the past few years. But together, their chemistry is off the charts.
Shingo Adachi, a popular animator and character designer, directs "Lycoris Recoil" with deceptive ease. The show has its share of exciting action sequences, but it always puts the characters first. Chisato and Takina are distinguished from their boilerplate stereotypes by energetic vocal performances and lively movement. For those tired of anime about high schoolers, there's even a messy romance between two older men at the heart of the story. Not everything in "Lycoris Recoil" works; its attempts at political commentary, for instance, come to nothing. But there's a reason why the series has dominated the fan art scene this summer, as well as the brain of Hideo Kojima. Few other anime from this year (much less original projects) have been as successful at giving audiences exactly what they want. (Adam Wescott)
Streaming on: Crunchyroll
If ever there was a show that is perfectly described by the saying "looks can be deceiving," it's "Made in Abyss." The cute-looking show about cute kids exploring a vast chasm in the middle of a mountain starts out relatively safe before quickly becoming one of the most disturbing anime airing right now. Season two doubles down on it, with creatures being torn apart in horrific ways for convoluted reasons, where blood coming out of one's eyes is a normal sight, where children being traumatized, abused, and even torn to shreds is a weekly occurrence.
What makes "Made in Abyss" great is that it is still compelling to watch in spite of all that, or maybe even because of it. Its themes are exquisitely brought to the surface, the character development is stellar, and as always, Kevin Penkin's score is hauntingly beautiful and ethereal. This is definitely a problematic show, but few anime manage to capture your attention the way "Made in Abyss" does. (Rafael Motamayor)
Streaming on: HIDIVE
"Revue Starlight" began as a series of musicals depicting the life of "stage girls," high schoolers trained for musical productions evoking Japan's famous Takarazuka Revue. An anime series followed, blowing the dramatics of the theatrical production to even more surreal extremes. This new movie, following the lives of the anime's cast in their last days before graduation, dispenses with plot entirely and goes straight for baroque visual excess. A six-against-one sword fight on the back of a transforming subway train; a giraffe made of vegetables burning with cosmic light; a hilarious sports marathon that inverts abruptly into stark horror. These are just a few of the highlights of "Revue Starlight: The Movie," which has even more outrageous surprises in store.
"Revue Starlight: The Movie" has no heroes and villains, just senior drama students with beef. Their future lies beyond the world of the Revue, on a stage of their own making. But even if this film lacks the time-warping dangers and conspiracies of the original television series, the stakes still feel colossal. Each character must decide who they are and where they are going. The answers to these questions are couched in words but staged as sheer audiovisual catharsis. I liked the "Revue Starlight" TV show but didn't love it. The movie, though, convinced me that director Tomohiro Furukawa and his crew are some of the most exciting people working in the anime industry today. Bring on their next project! (Adam Wescott)
Streaming on: HIDIVE
Without a doubt the funniest comedy of the season, "Uncle From Another World" is the spiritual successor to "The Devil Is a Part-Timer!" that we needed, rather than the actual successor we got. The show is a new twist on the isekai genre and follows a man who wakes up from a 17-year coma caused by a fateful encounter with the legend Truck-kun, only it turns out he spent that time in a fantasy world going on adventures. The comedy from the show comes from two fish-out-of-water sources -- Uncle's stories from living in a fantasy world, and his adapting them to modern times.
It is absolutely hilarious to see the deadpan deliveries of Uncle's stories of the fantasy world being nothing like the power fantasies we're used to seeing in isekai shows, but rather horror stories of how miserable he was and how much everyone wanted to kill him. Then, in modern times, Uncle and his nephew try to navigate a world without VHS, and without Uncle's precious SEGA (he is a huge video game nerd). Whether you're an isekai expert tired of the same show every season, or just someone who appreciates some good comedy and video game references, "Uncle From Another World" is an absolute treat. (Rafael Motamayor)
Streaming on: Netflix
"Cyberpunk: Edgerunners" is set within the world of "Cyberpunk 2077," an undercooked mess of a videogame that has only now achieved relevance two years after its disastrous launch. Thankfully, you don't need to know anything about "2077" to enjoy "Edgerunners." Scriptwriter Bartosz Sztybor sticks closely to the basics, tracking the rise and fall of teenage cyberpunk David Martinez. His standard script is jolted to life by director Hiroyuki Imaishi and his team at Studio Trigger, who pack "Edgerunners" with stylish ultraviolence, blaring neon colors and a sweary young woman named Rebecca with a big gun.
"Edgerunners" runs hot and cold for me, but its best moments are some of my favorites this year. Episode 6 in particular is a masterpiece, a true descent into madness storyboarded by "SSSS.Gridman" wunderkind Kai Ikarashi. Just like in "Gridman," the crew's respect for the source material is present in every burst of viscera and splintered bone. It's no wonder that the series has led to a "Cyberpunk 2077" renaissance online, even if I can't help but wish those fans would go buy "Shadowrun: Dragonfall" instead. Does "Dragonfall" have Rebecca in it, though? I don't think so. (Adam Wescott)
Streaming on: Netflix
Read this next: The Best Adult Animation Of 2021
The post The Best Anime Of The Summer 2022 Season appeared first on /Film.
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“So she buys and instant cake, and she burns a frozen steak” is a lyric that has been rattling around in my head for about 30 years. The song, which I’m sure you’ve heard, touches on two topics that I talk about a lot: convenience food and the horrors of the nuclear family. (The former can help partially alleviate the…
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![[Interview] Parker Finn for SMILE](https://i0.wp.com/www.nightmarishconjurings.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/smile.jpg?resize=640%2C948&ssl=1)
Prior to the film’s release, Nightmarish Conjurings’ Shannon McGrew e-chatted with writer/director Parker Finn, where they discussed everything from adapting Laura Hasn’t Slept into a feature film, what research went into the mental health aspects of the film, and the concept behind the smile.
SMILE heavily involves topics pertaining to suicide, self-harm, and mental health. If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing 988 or by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today. SMILE is your first feature-length film inspired by your short, Laura Hasn’t Slept. What made you decide to take that short and execute it into a feature-length film?
Parker Finn: I think the best shorts that arere self-contained should exist for their own sake and that was certainly my intention at the time. I was in post finishing Laura Hasn’t Slept, and something about it kept nagging at me and I was sort of obsessively thinking about it. Before I knew it, this idea for a larger story started emerging from it that had a brand new character journey and all these new ideas. And I just, I don’t know, I couldn’t let go of it. It sort of had its grips on me.
One of the aspects I love most about this film is the aesthetic, especially in regards to the colorful psych ward that our main character works in, which is vastly different from the cold, clinical look that is so often seen in films. Can you talk about the decision behind that?
Parker Finn: I spoke with my collaborators and we were talking about how we wanted to avoid anything like overtly, visually tropey. We didn’t want anybody to look at something and automatically be like, Oh, this is a horror film. We wanted the fear and the anxiety to come from the context of what’s happening inside of these spaces. And with the hospital, that was a set that we built. I didn’t want to do anything gothic. I wanted it to feel more like a Kafka-esque bureaucratic administrative nightmare.
With the colors, we wanted to do something unusual. We had read this study that was from back in the sixties where they found out that this sort of Pepto Bismol pink color somehow was supposed to make violent inmates less violent. So my production designer, Lester Cohen, and I, really grabbed onto that. I love the suffocating, uncanny feel of that environment.
How did the smile come about? Did you have a lot of concept art that you looked at before arriving at the final one? When did you know you had it?
Parker Finn: I knew from the beginning I wanted the smiles to be practical human performances cause I think there’s something so uncanny about that. When they’re real smiles yet they’re so unsettling. It kind of all started while I was writing the script. I would go to the bathroom and smile at myself in the mirror and see how I could creep myself out. On set, the actors all came prepared and did a lot of work on that. Before we would go [film], we’d spend a little time just smiling back and forth at each other trying to dial it in on set to make sure they had it just right. There’s a through line with all the smiles, but everybody brings their own kind of little flavor to it.
I do have to bring up the mental health aspect of the film as one of the main themes focuses on suicide. What type of research did you do and were you concerned that this might upset people who struggle with mental illness/suicide?
Parker Finn: I spoke with a few psychologists and let them read the script and weigh in which was really important to me, and I did a bunch of research as well. Anytime I’m writing I’m putting personal stuff into it as well but I’m always translating it through the lens of genre to take it away from the personal because otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to engage with it if I made things too personal.
But what was really, really important to me was to tell a compelling human character story that was exploring the human condition. I think we all are walking around with these things inside of us. Whether it’s traumas or grief or anxieties or fears and the way that we mask those from the world. That was something I was really interested in exploring as well, placing the audience in the shoes of a character who feels like their mind is turning against them and how frightening that could be. But it was always really important to me that we are really, really placed with the character and feel that sense of empathy.
I mean, it is kind of like a gleefully evil movie, which was very intentional. I wanted to be provocative and transgressive, but I also wanted to tell this story that felt grounded and real, and honest. And hopefully, after the audience watches the film, they’ll look at someone who is trying to describe an experience they’re having that’s really difficult to explain and maybe look at that a little differently than they did before they watched the film.
Which brings me to my next question – what do you want people to take away from this film?
Parker Finn: I think we’re starting to get to a place where as a society we’re speaking more openly about [mental illness], but I still think we have a ways to go. And certainly, I wish we had more access to help and things like that. I’m not somebody who feels like I’m in a position to be telling anybody a message or having a declarative statement on anything, but I’m hoping that people will think about it in a new way, hopefully, after watching the film.
SMILE is now available in theaters. To learn more about the film, check out our review.
The post [Interview] Parker Finn for SMILE appeared first on Nightmarish Conjurings.
