An anonymous reader shares a report from KrebsOnSecurity: KrebsOnSecurity received a nice bump in traffic this week thanks to tweets from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about "juice jacking," a term first coined here in 2011 to describe a potential threat of data theft when one plugs their mobile device into a public charging kiosk. It remains unclear what may have prompted the alerts, but the good news is that there are some fairly basic things you can do to avoid having to worry about juice jacking.
The term juice jacking crept into the collective paranoia of gadget geeks in the summer of 2011, thanks to the headline for a story here about researchers at the DEFCON hacker convention in Vegas who'd set up a mobile charging station designed to educate the unwary to the reality that many mobile devices were set up to connect to a computer and immediately sync data by default. Since then, Apple, Google and other mobile device makers have changed the way their hardware and software works so that their devices no longer automatically sync data when one plugs them into a computer with a USB charging cable. Instead, users are presented with a prompt asking if they wish to trust a connected computer before any data transfer can take place. On the other hand, the technology needed to conduct a sneaky juice jacking attack has become far more miniaturized, accessible and cheap. And there are now several products anyone can buy that are custom-built to enable juice jacking attacks. [...]
How seriously should we take the recent FBI warning? An investigation by the myth-busting site Snopes suggests the FBI tweet was just a public service announcement based on a dated advisory. Snopes reached out to both the FBI and the FCC to request data about how widespread the threat of juice jacking is in 2023. "The FBI replied that its tweet was a 'standard PSA-type post' that stemmed from the FCC warning," Snopes reported. "An FCC spokesperson told Snopes that the commission wanted to make sure that their advisory on "juice-jacking," first issued in 2019 and later updated in 2021, was up-to-date so as to ensure 'the consumers have the most up-to-date information.' The official, who requested anonymity, added that they had not seen any rise in instances of consumer complaints about juice-jacking." The best way to protect yourself from juice jacking is by using your own gear to charge and transfer data from your device(s) to another.
"Juice jacking isn't possible if a device is charged via a trusted AC adapter, battery backup device, or through a USB cable with only power wires and no data wires present," says security researcher Brian Krebs. "If you lack these things in a bind and still need to use a public charging kiosk or random computer, at least power your device off before plugging it in."
I can't do cannibalism in movies or TV shows. I'm okay with the goriest horror movies, but as soon as people start chowing down on one another, I'm out. As a result, I initially gave "Yellowjackets" a wide berth until curiosity won over and I took the plunge to see what all the fuss was about.
Season 1 of the extremely watchable survival horror series became Showtime's second most-streamed TV show in the network's history after "Dexter: New Blood," proving that many viewers' fascination with the dark and macabre is evergreen. The show doesn't hold back on revealing that cannibalism will be involved, dangling that as grisly bait during the opening minutes of its premiere episode.
The show's creators, Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson, wisely postponed the act itself until early in the second season, by which point they had already hooked millions of viewers with a gripping and doom-laden tale of a girls' soccer team lost in the wilderness after a plane crash. There are times when they're trying to keep too many balls in the air, flipping back and forth between the past and present, dumping the teens in a dire situation that inevitably recalls "Alive" and "Lord of the Flies," and also adding potential supernatural elements and a present-day murder mystery.
The show stays on the right side of exploitation by investing in the character dynamics and developing relationships that feel authentically messy and riven with grudges, regret, and conflict. Best of all, it's great to see '90s stars Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci, and Melanie Lynskey in juicy roles, well-matched by their teen counterparts. When the moment finally comes, it is horrific but not as graphic as it might have been. But I can still feel sympathy for the actors who almost lost their lunch playing out those scenes.
The Cannibalism Scene In Yellowjackets
The survival portion of "Yellowjackets" begins in 1996 when the titular girls' soccer team board a private flight from New Jersey to take part in a national tournament. The plane crashes in the Canadian wilderness and the surviving passengers take stock of their situation: with no sign of a rescue party and low on food and water, they discover a nearby lake and a spooky old cabin where they can hole up until help arrives. The problem is that mousy misfit Misty (Sammi Hanratty), feeling needed for the first time in her life thanks to her first aid skills, decides to extend their stay in the woods by destroying the plane's black box.
The rest of the principal characters are economically established. There is the fiercely driven team captain Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown); high school golden girl Jackie (Ella Purnell) and her sensible best friend Shauna (Sophie Nelisse); and moody goth Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) and her love interest Travis (Kevin Alves), the coach's eldest son who fatefully went along for the ride. Several more side characters are gradually developed as the first season unfolds, most crucially Lottie (Courtney Eaton), a girl dealing with mental health problems whose influence grows with her witchy prophecies as the situation becomes increasingly desperate.
Things come to a head after Jackie sleeps with Travis and the rest of the girls turn feral when they are accidentally spiked by Misty's stash of shrooms. After a bitter argument with Shauna, Jackie decides to sleep outside as the snow sets in and freezes to death overnight. An attempt to cremate her goes wrong when a quirk of fate -- or a dark supernatural force -- results in her corpse getting roasted instead of incinerated. Facing starvation and with the smell of freshly cooked forbidden meat in their nostrils, the team surrounds the body and starts tucking in.
The Cannibalism Scenes Made The Yellowjackets Cast Puke
Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson, the creators of "Yellowjackets," cite two influences: "Alive," which recounted the 1972 Andes flight disaster when the survivors resorted to eating the flesh of the deceased until rescue came, and the haunting tale of the Donner Party, the U.S. pioneers who purportedly turned to cannibalism when they became snowbound in the Sierra Nevada mountains in 1846. They explained (via Forbes):
"Cannibalism is revolting and we have a moral aversion to it. It represents the complete deconstruction of society. We all agree there isn't anything more taboo. It's the most extreme distillation of everything that it is to be a human being."
The taboo nature of cannibalism has made it a horror subgenre, from video nasties like "Cannibal Holocaust" to the multi-Oscar-winning "The Silence of the Lambs." As such, it is perhaps no surprise that "Yellowjackets" has proven so popular. Jasmin Savoy Brown described acting in the scene when the team finally succumbs to their hunger (via Pop Sugar):
"It was gross. People were throwing up. People were retching. Someone might've cried. [...] There's really not much you can do to make any of that stuff more appealing because when you're in the scene, if you're really in character, you're thinking you are eating a human."
We're spared much of the detail as we cut away from the ghoulish feast to a hokey fantasy sequence where the team dines on a lavish banquet. It's harrowing but thankfully restrained, but, with the promise of more cannibal action as the survivors split into factions and start hunting each other, is it just a starter before a more shocking main course to come?
"Yellowjackets" airs on Showtime and is streaming on Paramount+.
There has long been a grave misunderstanding of the spoof movie, a genre that takes one movie or cinematic trend and recreates it while mocking it mercilessly. It's easy to write off comedy staples like "Airplane!" and "Spaceballs" as delivery systems for silly non-stop gags, and sure enough, they absolutely are. But at its best, the spoof genre is much more insidious.
Most great spoof movies don't just mock something popular, they mock something serious. "Top Gun" is a self-serious motion picture, one that's seemingly unaware or at least uncritical of its own artificiality and jingoism. Fans of "Top Gun" may laugh at the film's funnier moments but the film itself is not to be laughed at. That's why a film like "Hot Shots!" is such a delight. The jokes are absurd and rapid-fire, but they're all aimed at taking a movie that set itself on a pedestal down a bit and reminding us all not to fall for false idols, in real life or at the cinema.
Many of the best spoof movies are now considered classics, but the less popular installments in the genre tend to get overlooked, and sometimes that's a real pity. An example of this is Bob Logan's 1990 comedy "Repossessed" which isn't just a very funny, albeit somewhat dated motion picture. Looking back, it's a refreshing send-up of both the exorcism genre and religion in the mass media, starring the original demon herself, Linda Blair, who seems to be exorcising some demons of her own.
Punnin' With The Devil
"Repossessed" stars Linda Blair, who played Regan MacNeil in William Friedkin's "The Exorcist." She doesn't technically play Regan in the spoof but she does play a woman named Nancy who was possessed as a child and now fears she's been possessed again, or "repossessed." Regan + Nancy = Nancy Reagan. On one hand, that's one of the many topical jokes in "Repossessed" that risks going over the heads of contemporary audiences, but either way, the movie is making it clear that she's the same character with a different name.
After vomiting pea soup all over her family ("Smooth or chunky?" her doctor asks), she realizes that she's got all the signs of another demonic possession. This time the devil flew into her soul while she was watching a popular TV program, "The Ernest and Fanny Miracle Hour," a not-at-all veiled mockery of the Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker televangelism movement. When she turns to a naive young priest, Father Brophy (Anthony Starke), for an exorcism, the Vatican agrees to let those televangelists — Ernest and Fanny Ray, played by Ned Beatty and Lana Schwab — perform the rites on live television, giving the devil exactly the kind of worldwide exposure they want.
In the end, it's up to Father Mayii (Leslie Nielsen), who says "You may" every time another character says his name, to come out of retirement and defeat the devil once again. This time he uses the power of rock 'n' roll, which doesn't make a lot of sense but does give spoof superstar Nielsen an opportunity to recreate music video moments from Elton John and Robert Palmer, which clearly the world needed, and needed badly.
Confession(al)s Of A Humorous Mind
When "Repossessed" is funny it is extremely funny, and sometimes the jokes are enjoyably random. There's a scene where two characters back into a driveway, ignoring a sign that warns about "severe tire damage." Dozens of tires then rain on their car from the sky. Later, during an establishing shot of the exterior of a building, a nun pops her head out the window to say the protagonist is a few windows to the right, and the camera adjusts accordingly.
But not all the jokes land, especially in the second half, and as with many old comedies with a high gag ratio, there are some really gag-worthy moments that play worse today than ever. The film doesn't rely on them, thank goodness, but you'll find some crappy gay panic jokes and racist caricatures in "Repossessed." It's not a film without flaws.
And yet, it's also not a film without intelligence. The story of "Repossessed" isn't the spoof movie standard, typically a loose remake of the original source material. By framing the film as a sequel, writer/director Bob Logan gave himself an opportunity to update the religious critiques from "The Exorcist," and highlight what a parody the modern religious zeitgeist had already become. If William Friedkin's film was fascinated by how an increasingly secular society would confront the genuinely spiritual, "Repossessed" considers how a newly supercharged but hypocritical religious movement would respond to genuine spirituality. There's a nugget of truth in the way so-called religious leaders in "Repossessed" are confused by the existence of evil because it never occurred to them that there was actual comeuppance for their hypocrisy.
That the devil infects the audience through televangelism shows and seeks to boost their ratings to corrupt more souls, isn't itself a subtle commentary. "Repossessed" doesn't just spoof "The Exorcist," it also reframes the film's original argument ... then spoofs that too for good measure.
The Blair Wit Project
The other reason why "Repossessed" feels special is that Linda Blair completely throws herself into this part. Tom Cruise didn't star in "Hot Shots!" and Neve Campbell didn't star in "Scary Movie," but Linda Blair jumped back into the role that had come to define her career, not so much for better and often much, much worse. In the process she not only cathartically exorcises that personal demon and sets it (and the film stock) on fire, but she also proves that she's a gifted comedian, in a film that by all accounts should have been a comeback.
Acting opposite Leslie Nielsen, whose deadpan comic persona revitalized his own career after the blockbuster success of "Airplane!" and the "Naked Gun" franchise, Blair demonstrates flawless comic timing through "Repossessed," even when the jokes are beneath her. The glee with which she rips through the role that once made her a household name, a role that earned her an Academy Award nomination when she was only 15 (she lost to Tatum O'Neal, who was only 10), is admirable. Her career didn't get a (much deserved) boost after "Repossessed," but looking back, it's clear that Blair completely understood the assignment.
The makers of "Repossessed" showed up to work to lampoon "The Exorcist," and mercilessly, and take a few shots at the religious themes that William Friedkin's original couldn't have seen coming, but which were also on everyone's mind in 1990. So although some of the jokes are dated, most are funny — Oliver North running his church confession by his attorney is mercilessly sharp — and the movie still works on multiple levels.
Sure, "Repossessed" may not be one of the great spoof films, but that doesn't mean it isn't pretty great.
Nothing beats a good car chase in a movie. These wacky stunts are a hallmark of modern Hollywood blockbusters, but they've been around since silent films. Nowadays, car-centric flicks conjure images of "The Fast & Furious" and "Mad Max" franchises. However, action doesn't always have to be the focus.
Cars playing an integral part in developing a main character always hold more weight for me than a gonzo chase scene. We see a sense of isolation from society in movies like "Taxi Driver" and "Drive." Meanwhile, in John Carpenter's 1983 horror, "Christine," the auto becomes a ruthless death machine. The Stephen King adaptation makes for a clever metaphor about bullying, acceptance, and toxic masculinity in teens.
It would be unfair to say that a car movie can't be enjoyed without the profound social commentary of a Martin Scorsese film or the brooding touches of Nicolas Winding Refn. Sometimes, we crave high-octane thrills and what better way to get them than in a car? Let's wave a checkered flag and race down this list of 12 underrated car movies you need to see, from the meatier watches to some which are just plain enjoyable.
Holy Motors
Leos Carax's "Holy Motors" isn't for everyone. This 2012 fantasy drama deconstructs any narrative cohesion you'd expect from a modern film. We meet Monsieur Oscar (Denis Lavant), a wealthy actor chauffeured to various appointments in a limousine. Oscar assumes multiple identities in each meeting, including an older man, an assassin, a leprechaun, and a homeless woman. After each visit, our protagonist seems to learn a new lesson, but he immediately discards it for his next role.
So, what's the point of all of this? One interpretation is that it's an ode to classic cinema. With homages to surrealist auteurs such as Luis Buñuel and Jean Cocteau, "Holy Motors" takes you on a journey through filmmaking. A nod to Georges Franju's "Eyes without a Face" (one of the best French horror movies) is also evident, with Edith Scob wearing the same mask she wore in the 1960 gem.
At one point, Oscar comments that he's losing passion for his craft. "Holy Motors" might be a personal statement, since Carax's full name is Alex Oscar Christophe Dupont -- "Leos Carax" is an anagram of "Alex" and "Oscar." Keep an open mind when watching this genre-busting work. It leaves room for many interpretations, making it captivating for absurdist film fans.
Vanishing Point
1971's "Vanishing Point" is one of the most influential high-octane films ever made. Barry Newman plays Kowalski, a former professional race car driver who works for a vehicle delivery service. Kowalski heads to his drug dealer to stock up on amphetamines after receiving a task to transport a 1970 Dodge Challenger from Colorado to San Francisco. A deal is struck: The drugs are free if he gets to his destination within 15 hours. Our lead, despite various setbacks, is determined to reach his goal, even as he runs from highway police.
"Vanishing Point" is exhilarating. Its frenetic soundtrack rivals 1969's fellow road trip classic, "Easy Rider." Director Richard C. Sarafian also pushes Kowalski's mechanical steed to its limits. As the car races down the highway, cinematographer John A. Alonzo uses stunning wide-angle shots and claustrophobic POV close-ups to enhance this sense of danger. Remember, this was shot before CGI -- which is why watching the Challenger accelerate is so thrilling.
While "Vanishing Point" wasn't initially successful, it's now a cult favorite. There are several references to the movie in Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof" (including a stunt scene in the same car). In addition, Edgar Wright has cited "Vanishing Point" as inspiration for his 2017 action flick, "Baby Driver."
Taste Of Cherry
Abbas Kiarostami explored the concept of human resilience throughout the course of his filmography. This theme is exemplified in his 1997 road trip film, "Taste of Cherry." In it, a Tehranian man, Mr. Badii (Homayoun Ershadi), is determined to die by suicide. Many characters try to talk him out of his goal as he drives around looking for someone to bury him under a cherry tree.
"Taste of Cherry" is deliberately slow, showing our protagonist's disconnect from the world. As a metaphor, Mr. Badii's car symbolizes the man's isolation, like a floating coffin searching for a burial. Kiarostami's minimalist approach works; even simple visuals like a pile of dirt on the ground convey Mr. Badii's heartbreaking longing. Whenever we're graced with dialogue, it's honest and poignant. While various people chat to our lead in his car, Kiarostami's camera takes a grounded approach, eschewing visual gimmicks. We sit in the passenger seat, watching quiet meditations about what it means to be alive.
Whenever I need some soul-searching, I reach for a film by Kiarostami. In particular, "Taste of Cherry" reminds us that despite life's normality, beauty is always hidden within it. In the end, it does not matter whether Mr. Badii achieves his goal or not. His overarching journey is significant -- a quest for the appreciation of life.
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).
Duel
At 25, Steven Spielberg made his first feature-length debut on television, 1971's "Duel." As a result of the positive reception, Universal Pictures expanded its runtime and released it theatrically. "Duel" follows a mild-mannered businessman, David Mann, on a business trip. Passing a slow semi-truck, he enrages an unseen driver. His journey through the Mojave Desert is now fatal, as he runs from this psychotic enemy.
A significant source of inspiration in Spielbeg's filmography is Alfred Hitchcock. Like 1975's "Jaws," Spielberg plays with the viewer's emotions through the fear of the unknown. This is perfectly illustrated in a scene where Mann sits in a diner booth. Seeing the deadly vehicle parked outside, our hero glances at the bar, where he spots a gaggle of interchangeable truckers. The moment is terrifyingly psychological, a direct nod to the master of suspense himself.
"Duel" also tackles a theme of masculinity through its main character. In a phone call to his wife, Mann laments that he doesn't feel like the macho head of their family. At one point, we also spot his car surrounded by barbed wire -- a metaphor confirming his mental rut. As Mann races to outrun the truck, he also wants to regain his virility. "Duel" may not be perfect, but it's an outstanding testament to the young filmmaker's talent.
Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry
The 1974 film "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry" is fast-paced, sleazy, and exhilarating. Peter Fonda stars as Larry, a washed-up NASCAR driver, while Adam Roarke plays Deke, his mechanic. In order to buy a new race car, they decide to rob a supermarket. As they run off with $150,000, Larry's one-night-stand, Mary (Susan George), weasels her way into their getaway vehicle. A high-speed chase ensues as our three heroes try to outrun the police.
I went into this expecting a run-of-the-mill '70s B-movie but was pleasantly surprised by the phenomenal chemistry between our three leads. "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry" resembles another 1970s gem, "Vanishing Point," but it's more comedic. The dialogue is quick and snappy, while Roarke shines as the wary voice of reason among his nihilistic companions.
A quintessential carsploitation movie, "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry," has garnered a cult following since its release. Notably, the film's fans include Quentin Tarantino. Along with shooting "Death Proof" at some of the same locations, he also thanked director John Hough in the credits. Meanwhile, in "Jackie Brown," there's a moment where Fonda's daughter, Bridget, watches a scene from "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry" on television.
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
Grindhouse cinema features elements that can easily be exploited. Nudity, violence, and other taboos of the late 1960s and '70s were always prevalent in these scuzzy movies. "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" was made by one of the most iconic directors of the genre, Russ Meyer, who injected a surprising amount of feminism into it.
Three go-go dancers take joy rides in the desert and seduce and kill men in "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" Varla (Tura Satana) is the group's aggressive leader. She dresses like a superhero in skin-tight leather, razor-sharp eyeliner, and a provocative bustline. These women are entirely in control of their bodies and fully capable of defending themselves -- an impressive stance to take for a 1960s low-budget movie. According to Roger Ebert's article in The Guardian, famous film critic of feminist and queer cinema, B. Ruby Rich, dubbed Meyer "America's first male feminist director."
Aside from its hilarious dialogue and gorgeous Mojave Desert location shots, "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" also offers fantastic car chases. We see Meyer's love for muscle cars in close-ups that appear as sensual as our three heroines. With fast cars and fast women, it's no wonder this is a grindhouse staple.
A Taxi Driver
No, I'm not talking about Martin Scorsese's beloved 1976 film, "Taxi Driver." Instead, I want to shine a light on the 2017 South Korean drama, "A Taxi Driver," which is based on true events. During the Gwangju Uprising of May 1980, the people of South Korea (mainly college students) participated in a violent protest, fighting for democracy against the newly installed military dictator Chun Doo-hwan.
Song Kang-ho plays Man-seob, a taxi driver and single father struggling to make ends meet. An opportunity to drive a German man from Seoul to Gwangju for 100,000 won catches his attention. Little does he know how dangerous the situation is. As the duo approaches Gwangju, they encounter numerous obstacles. It also turns out that Man-seob's passenger is a reporter determined to highlight these atrocities.
"A Taxi Driver" won major acclaim from critics at the time of its release and was praised by President Moon Jae-in for portraying a significant moment in South Korean history. Director Jang Hoon weaves comedy, tenderness, and horrific violence together seamlessly. Featuring some beautiful location shots as our leads drive through the countryside, this 138-minute flick never gets boring.
Death Race 2000 (1975)
Before we fell in love with films and shows about deadly games like "Alice in Borderland" and "Battle Royale," there was "Death Race 2000." This 1975 cult classic was a pioneer of the genre, released a few months before the much more successful (and very similar) "Rollerball."
The film depicts a dystopian version of America in 2000. Despite being under a totalitarian regime, people get excitement from a televised event every year: the Transcontinental Road Race. Participants in this race are divided into five teams and drive from New York to New Los Angeles. The catch? When drivers run over pedestrians, they get bonus points.
Listen, if you're signing up to watch this one, don't overthink it. "Death Race 2000" is a stereotypical B-movie full of violence, explosions, and comical dialogue. Having said that, director Paul Bartel knows what he's doing. The film cleverly satirizes society's obsession with mass media, sports, and violence. At the very least, if none of the above sounds interesting, watch it for Sylvester Stallone. Machine Gun Joe, played by Sly the year before became synonymous with Rocky Balboa, is a major highlight.
Bullitt
Despite being a police procedural, 1968's "Bullitt" features one of the most famous car chase scenes ever. Don't believe me? The seven-minute high-octane chase helped win editor Frank P. Keller an Oscar for best editing.
In "Bullitt," we meet Steve McQueen's eponymous character, a too-cool-for-school cop tasked with protecting an informant from Chicago gangsters. As a neo-noir, there's plenty of double-crossing and deception. Undoubtedly, "Bullitt" delivers in the action department, but it also provides a salve for your anxiety. Argentine composer Lalo Schifrin's original jazz score instantly transports you to a much more relaxed, cool environment.
You'll want to watch "Bullitt" for its legendary car chase (duh). We get some genuinely nail-biting POV shots as the Ford Mustang and Dodge Charger literally glide down San Francisco's elevated streets. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the airport sequence -- watching Bullitt follow his prime suspect down the runway as a Boeing 707 passes him is just as thrilling as the famous muscle car pursuit.
The Great Race
Blake Edwards' 1965 joyride, "The Great Race," includes everything you'd expect from the filmmaker of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "The Party." Despite his diverse filmography, Edwards was best known for his comedies, which often used elaborate visual jokes and deadpan verbal delivery. As a result, his style was similar to Laurel and Hardy's.
Tony Curtis portrays the Great Leslie, a professional daredevil. He proposes a race from New York to Paris to turn-of-the-century car makers. To promote car sales, the Webber Motor Car Company develops Leslie's vehicle, The Leslie Special. The Hannibal Twin-8" is built by our lead's rival, Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon). Also participating is a journalist and suffragette, Maggie Dubois (Natalie Wood).
"The Great Race" is just plain fun. Fate and Leslie play up hero-versus-villain stereotypes. Leslie is always clad in white, while Fate wears black and sports a thick mustache and top hat. Looney Toons-style sight gags make the comedy incredibly exaggerated. Obviously, you'll want to watch this flick for the cars, too. Over $100,000 was spent by Warner Brothers to build custom vehicles for the film -- both based on real-life cars that participated in the 1908 New York-to-Paris race (via Petersen Automotive Museum).
The Driver
The French New Wave movement heavily influenced American Neo-Noir cinema. A perfect example is Walter Hill's 1978 crime caper, "The Driver." It is fascinatingly minimal and void of much dialogue, similar to Jean-Pierre Melville's 1967 classic, "Le Samuraï." Ryan O'Neal plays an unnamed getaway driver constantly escaping capture by the police. In contrast, Bruce Dern plays a detective obsessed with catching our lead by any means necessary.
"The Driver" doesn't have a linear narrative; instead, it serves as an allegory: a warning against obsession. Each character represents a symbol rather than an individual. However, the movie is not just about an artsy atmosphere. Its 91-minute runtime is dominated by car chases, which are almost a third of the film. Hill's camera placement makes for an astonishing experience, whether mounted on windshields, beneath cars, or even on curbs. At the movie's climax, our lead plays a game of chicken. It's a hair-raising sequence, and the subsequent car explosion makes you wonder how the stuntman survived.
At the time of its release, "The Driver" received poor reviews, but it has since gained a loyal following. In 2011, Nicolas Winding Refn's "Drive" borrowed heavily from Hill's film, both thematically and visually. When asked about the similarities by Collider, Hill shared, "It's a very different movie. It has certain things, as Nic has told me, that are [homages] and that's fine. It's very complimentary."
The Headless Woman
2008 Argentine thriller "The Headless Woman" follows Verónica (María Onetto), an upper-class woman who has struck something while driving. Director Lucretia Martel throws us for a loop here. Did Verónica hit an animal? In that case, wouldn't it be in the middle of the highway? In addition, Martel includes a carefully placed handprint on the car window, suggesting a more severe accident. Indeed, our lead believes so. In any case, Verónica drives off.
As the 87-minute flick progresses, its title gains significance. Verónica doesn't use her head -- she never calls the police. Cinematographer Bárbara Álvarez cleverly cuts out our lead's head from countless frames, further promoting the movie's clever name. Water is also a repeated motif, suggesting Verónica is drowning in regret.
Most importantly, "The Headless Woman" focuses on Argentina's class divide. Watching Verónica's bourgeois companions interact with individuals of lower socioeconomic status illustrates this concept. Moreover, Verónica's closest friends dismiss the accident after she reveals her situation. In an interview with Film Comment, Martel elaborated on this, noting, "On the one hand, that is beautiful in terms of human support, but it also contains all the roots of what's evil about a social class: hiding facts, crimes even, and it leads to racism. It is the psychological basis of racism."
Unless you have a perfectly functioning exhaust fan and ventilation system, your bathroom is probably a bit on the humid side. It’s obvious after someone showers, but even things like flushing the toilet and using the sink add moisture to the air.
A few months ago, I discussed downgrading a modern codebase to .NET 4 and Windows XP. I managed to get the code working to the point that all functionality worked, aside from web views, given that browsers no longer support XP or Vista. The .NET 4/XP version of the application makes use of a DirectX 9 renderer and DirectShow or VLC for video playback. DirectX 9 you say? Well, I suppose I have to be more specific. So far we have only looked at the software side of things: which components, frameworks, libraries, APIs etc. are supported on Windows XP? But we worked under the assumption that the hardware had the same capabilities as the hardware that ran newer versions of Windows. Under certain circumstances, your software will also be limited by the capabilities of your hardware. This is especially true for DirectX, as it is a low-level hardware abstraction layer: it abstracts the hardware you have, but as a rule it does not emulate the hardware you don’t have.
DirectX 9, the Swiss Army Knife of graphics APIs
As said, this codebase started life around 2008, at which time shader hardware was standard, even with low-end integrated GPUs. The Aero desktop required a minimum of a DirectX 9 GPU capable of Shader Model 2.0. The codebase made use of shaders through the Direct3D Effect Framework. DirectX 9 is an interesting API as it covers a lot of ground in terms of supported hardware. While at the high-end, it supports Shader Model 3.0, with floating point pixelshading, branching and whatnot, it also supports the first generation SM1.x hardware, and even the pre-shader hardware that was designed for DirectX 7 and below, where we had a fixed function pipeline. So DirectX 9 allows you to go all the way from relatively early 3D accelerators, such as an nVidia TNT or GeForce, or the original ATi Radeon, all the way up to floating-point shader cards. Crysis is a good example of what you can do with DirectX 9 when pushed to the extreme. The original Crysis had both a DirectX 9 and a DirectX 10 backend. While the DirectX 10 rendering quality was absolutely groundbreaking at the time, its DirectX 9 mode is not even that much of a step backwards visually, and it will run on Windows XP systems as well. Earlier games, like Far Cry and Half Life 2, would use DirectX 9 to support a wide range of hardware from fixed function all the way up to SM3.0.
But can our application also support this wide range of hardware? Now, as you may recall from some of my earlier exploits with old GPUs, recent DirectX SDKs include a compiler that will output only SM2.0 code or higher, even if the source code is written for a lower shader version. This also applies to Effects. As far as I can tell, our software has always used this modern compiler, or at the least, all shaders assumed SM2.0 or higher. You need to use an older compiler if you want to use Effects on actual SM1.x or fixed function hardware, otherwise the compiler will silently promote effects to SM2.0, and will only work on SM2.0+ hardware.
We build and distribute our application with pre-compiled shaders. We use the fxc.exe shader compiler for that. I had already created some scripts that compile a set of DX9 and a set of DX11 shaders separately, as the two APIs cannot share the same shaders. So I introduced a third set here, which I called ‘dx9_legacy’. Then I grabbed the old fxc.exe compiler from the June 2010 DirectX SDK, which seems to be the last to support the older shader models and fixed function. I renamed the old fxc.exe to fxc_legacy.exe and added it to the build with a script to compile a new set of shaders from a dx9_legacy source folder and output to a dx9_legacy folder.
From there, I had to modify the application to support these alternative Effect files. That was relatively simple. Like before, I had to add the D3DXSHADER_USE_LEGACY_D3DX9_31_DLL flag when loading these legacy Effects. Or in this case, it’s actually the SharpDX equivalent: ShaderFlags.UseLegacyD3DX9_31Dll.
And I had to select the proper set of Effects. That is quite simple, really: if the hardware supports SM2.0 or higher, then you don’t need the legacy shaders, else you do. It gets somewhat more complicated if you want to support every single version of hardware (fixed function, ps1.1, ps1.3 and ps1.4). Then you may want to have a separate set for each variation. But at least in theory, I can run any kind of code on any kind of hardware supported by DirectX 9 now, as the legacy compiler can compile Effects for all possible hardware (it can also do SM2.0+, although the newer compiler will likely generate more efficient code).
More specifically, I only had to check if Pixel Shader 2 or higher was supported. Namely, first of all, the new shader compiler still supports Vertex Shader 1.1. Only pixel shaders are promoted to ps2.0. And secondly, there is the option for software vertex processing, where DirectX 9 can emulate up to vs3.0 for you. In my case, the vertex shading is relatively simple, and meshes have low polycount, so software processing is not an issue. Which is good, because that means I do not have to build a fixed function vertex processing pipeline next to the current shader-based one. All I have to do is rewrite the pixel shader code to fixed function routines, and the code should run correctly.
Or actually, there was a slight snafu. Apparently someone once built a check into the code, to see if the device supports SM2.0 at a minimum. It generates an exception if it does not, which terminates the application. So I decided to modify the check and merely log a warning if this happens. It’s purely theoretical at this point anyway. Hardware that does not support SM2.0+ has been EOL for years now, so it is unlikely that anyone will even try to run the code on such hardware, let alone that they expect it to work. But with our legacy compiler we now actually CAN make it work on that hardware.
A willing test subject
I have just the machine to test this code on. A Packard Bell iGo laptop from 2003 (which appears to be a rebadged NEC Versa M300):
It is powered by a single-core Celeron Northwood (Pentium 4 derivative) at 1.6 GHz. The video chip is an ATi Radeon 340M IGP. The display panel has a resolution of 1024×768. It originally came with 256MB of memory and a 20 GB HDD. These have been upgraded to 512MB (the maximum supported by the chipset) and a 60 GB HDD. It came with Windows XP Home preinstalled, and that installation is still on there.
The Radeon 340M IGP is an interesting contraption. It reports that it supports Vertex Shader 1.1 in hardware, but it is likely that this is emulated on the CPU in the driver. The pixel pipeline is pure DirectX 7-level: it is taken from the original Radeon, codename R100. It supports three textures per pass, and supports a large variety of texture operations. This is exactly what we like to test: Effects with a simple vertex shader, and fixed function pixel processing.
So I started by converting a single Effect to vs1.1 and fixed function. I chose the Effect that is most commonly used, for rendering text and images, among others. This will be my proof-of-concept. I first developed it on a modern Windows 11 machine, where it appeared to render more or less correctly. That is, the alphachannel wasn’t working as it is supposed to, but text and images basically appeared at the correct place on screen, and with the correct colours, aside from where they should have been alphablended.
Well, good enough for a proof-of-concept, so I decided to move over to the old laptop. Initially, it opened the application window, which is good. But then it didn’t display anything at all, which is bad. So I looked in the log files, and found that there were some null pointer exceptions regarding font access.
Interesting, as the application had been made robust against missing fonts in general. But as I looked closer, this was for the initialization of some debug overlays, where there was some special-case code. We use the Consolas font for certain debug overlays, as it is a common monospace font. However, apparently it is not THAT common. I hadn’t run into this problem on my other Windows XP machines. But as it appears, the Consolas font was not shipped with Windows XP. It could be installed by various other software though, such as recent Office applications. That might explain why the font was available on my other Windows XP machines, but not on this one. So as the application initialized the overlays on startup, it tripped over the missing font, and could not recover.
I added the font to the system, and tried again, and indeed: the application now worked, and rendered exactly the same as on the modern system. So the proof-of-concept works. For completeness I also added some checks to the code, so it will not crash on missing fonts in the future.
Success
This proof-of-concept shows that everything is in place, at least from a technical point-of-view, for the support of non-shader hardware. We can compile Effect files for non-SM2.0 hardware, and load them from our application. We can create a DirectX 9 device on the old hardware, and detect when to use the fallback for the legacy compiler and alternative legacy Effect files.
The only thing that remains is to actually write these Effect files. I will probably not convert all of them, and certain ones will not convert to fixed function anyway, as they are too advanced. But I will at least see if I can fix the alphablending and add support for video playback, and perhaps some other low-hanging fruit, so that basic stuff will display correctly.
It’s interesting how far you can stretch a single codebase, in terms of development tools, APIs, hardware and OS support. On this old laptop, the code can work fine, in theory. You now run into practical problems… For example, yes it supports video playback, with a wide range of formats. But it has very limited capabilities for hardware acceleration, especially for more modern codecs. Also, we are now back to a screen with 4:3 aspect ratio, where our content has been aimed at 16:9 for many years, and more specifically 1080p, which is far higher resolution than this system can handle. Also, we normally have 2GB of memory as the absolute minimum. This system only has 512MB, and that is shared with the IGP as well. You can configure how much of it to reserve for the IGP. By default it is set to 32MB, so you only have 480MB left for Windows and your application. That puts some limits on the fonts, images and videos you want to use, as you may run out of memory simply because your source material is too big.
But, at least in theory, the code can not only run on Windows XP, but it can actually be made to run on the hardware of that era. With the right combination of content and Effect files, you can use this laptop from 2003. So where I normally use a 1080p30 test video with H.264 encoding, in this case I had to transcode it down to 720×480 to get it playing properly. H.264 does not seem to bother the system that much, once you install something like the LAV Filters to get support in DirectShow (you need an older version that still works on XP). But decoding frames of 1920×1080 seems to push the system beyond its limits. It does not appear to have enough memory bandwidth and capacity for such resolutions. Back in 2003, HD wasn’t really a thing yet. You were happy to play your SD DVDs in fullscreen.
As I converted a few Effects down to fixed function, I concluded that it is highly unlikely that this code had ever been used on non-shader hardware before. Certain implementation details were not compatible with fixed function. For example, certain constants, such as solid colour or opacity (alphachannel) values were multiplied in the pixel shader, while the vertex shader merely copied the vertex colour. With fixed function, there are a few constant registers that you could use, but that would require setting these registers specifically in your Effect, instead of setting shader constants. But since these are constants, it makes much more sense to calculate them in the vertex shader, and just output a single diffuse colour, which can be used directly in the fixed function pipeline. It is simpler and more efficient.
In general there’s a simple rule to follow… In order from least to most instances per scene, we have:
The world
Objects
Meshes
Vertices
Pixels
So, you want to process everything at the highest possible stage where it is invariant. For example, the lights and camera are generally static for everything in the world for an entire frame (they are ‘global’). So you only need to set them up once. You don’t recalculate them for every object, mesh or vertex, let alone every pixel. So in general you only want to calculate things in shaders that you cannot precalc on the CPU and pass to the shaders as constants efficiently. And you don’t want to calculate things in a pixel shader that you can calculate in a vertex shader. After all, there are normally far fewer vertices in your scene than there are pixels, so the vertex shader will be executed a lot less often than the pixel shader.
Another interesting detail is that the fonts were stored in an 8-bit format. This was effectively an alphablend value. The text colour was set to an Effect constant, so that a single font could be rendered in any colour. However, the format chosen for the texture was L8 (8-bit luminance). In the pixel shader, this value was read, and then copied to the A component, while the RGB components were set to the constant colour. I couldn’t find a way to make this work with fixed function. The fixed function pipeline treats colour and alpha operations as two separate/parallel pipelines. For each stage you can calculate RGB separately from A. However, most operations will not allow you to move data from RGB to A or vice versa. And when you read an L8 texture, the value is copied to RGB, where A will always be 1, as the texture does not contain alpha information.
So instead, the font should be using an A8 format (8-bit alpha) instead. Then A will contain the value, and RGB will read as 1, because the texture does not contain colour information. That is how the shader should also have been designed, semantically. It should have read the A-component of the texture into the A-value of the output pixel, rather than reading the RGB components into the A-value.
So this once again shows that older systems/environments have limitations that can give valuable insights in the weaknesses of your codebase, and can make your codebase more efficient and more robust in ways that you might not normally explore.
I have decided to once again port back the small fixes and modifications to the current codebase. This way I can develop the legacy Effects on the current build of our software, and do not need to rely specifically on the .NET 4 version. I have decided not to actually put the legacy Effect source code and compiler into the main codebase though. Otherwise the legacy shader set would end up in production code. However, the code knows of this set, so if you manually copy it to the correct place on disk, it will automatically make use of it.
The Python Software Foundation is "concerned that proposed EU cybersecurity laws will leave open source organizations and individuals unfairly liable for distributing incorrect code," according to the Register. The PSF reviewed the EU's proposed "Cyber Resilience Act" and "Product Liability Act" and reports "issues that put the mission of our organization and the health of the open-source software community at risk."
From the Register's report:
"If the proposed law is enforced as currently written, the authors of open-source components might bear legal and financial responsibility for the way their components are applied in someone else's commercial product," the PSF said in a statement shared on Tuesday by executive director Deb Nicholson. "The existing language makes no differentiation between independent authors who have never been paid for the supply of software and corporate tech behemoths selling products in exchange for payments from end-users...."
The PSF argues the EU lawmakers should provide clear exemptions for public software repositories that serve the public good and for organizations and developers hosting packages on public repositories. "We need it to be crystal clear who is on the hook for both the assurances and the accountability that software consumers deserve," the PSF concludes. The PSF is asking anyone who shares its concerns to convey that sentiment to an appropriate EU Member of Parliament by April 26, while amendments focused on protecting open source software are being considered.
Bradley Kuhn, policy fellow at the Software Freedom Conservancy, told The Register that the free and open source (FOSS) community should think carefully about the scope of the exemptions being sought. "I'm worried that many in FOSS are falling into a trap that for-profit companies have been trying to lay for us on this issue," he said. "While it seems on the surface that a blanket exception for FOSS would be a good thing for FOSS, in fact, this an attempt for companies to get the FOSS community to help them skirt their ordinary product liability. For profit companies that deploy FOSS should have the same obligations for security and certainty for their users as proprietary software companies do."
The article points out that numerous tech organizations are urging clarifications in the proposed regulations, including NLnet Labs and the Eclipse Foundation.
"True Detective" season 1 was one of the most enjoyably unsettling seasons of TV ever produced. Writer/Creator Nic Pizzolatto crafted a detective show like no other, mixing in elements of cosmic horror, Nietzschean philosophy, and one of the creepiest secret society plots ever conceived. But you know what the most disturbing thing about that first season was? The fact that Errol Childress (Glenn Fleshler), the serial killer who's eventually taken out by detectives Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Marty Hart (Woody Harrelson), was just the tip of the iceberg.
Throughout the first season of "True Detective," Marty and Rust uncover an occult-worshiping, human-sacrificing abuse ring, whose members occupy high-level positions in society. And by the end of the season, it's clear Childress was a particularly sadistic part of a much more insidious whole.
Now, the trailer for the upcoming "True Detective: Night Country," suggests we might be about to delve back into the so-called Yellow King cult — so named for its members' preoccupation with the lore of Robert W. Chambers' short story collection "The King In Yellow" and the works of weird fiction it inspired. Seasons 2 and 3 of the series featured little to no references to the group, aside from a brief mention in season 3. But in the new trailer, a familiar symbol tied to the Yellow King cult can be clearly seen. Is this just an easter egg — a reference planted by the showrunners to appease fans of the show who might be upset that series creator Pizzolatto has been replaced by new showrunner, writer, director, and executive producer Issa López? Or is this a sign that we might be finally about to learn the true scope of the Yellow King cult?
The Crooked Spiral
Unveiled during the launch event for Warner Bros. Discovery's new streaming service, Max, the trailer for the upcoming fourth season of "True Detective," entitled "Night Country," provides our best look yet at the Jodie Foster-led season. The episodes are set in Ennis, Alaska, where, as the official synopsis explains, "eight men who operate the Tsalal Arctic Research Station vanish without a trace." This being "True Detective," a pair of seemingly mismatched investigators, this time in the form of Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis), are tasked with solving the case.
But by far the most intriguing part of the trailer is when Foster's Danvers discovers a red spiral symbol painted on the side of a storage tank. Illuminated by torchlight, the crooked motif should be very familiar to fans of the show, especially those who can't get enough of the first season.
The same spiral appeared throughout "True Detective" season 1 and represented the secret, Yellow King-worshiping pedophile ring that Rust and Marty investigated. In the very first episode of the season, it's seen carved into the back of Dora Lange, a sex worker whose body is discovered in a sugar field outside of Erath, Louisiana. As the season continues, the spiral shows up in Rust's hallucinations, in graffiti at crime scenes, and even in the freshly-mown lawn that Errol Childress traverses ominously on his riding mower. But what does it mean? And why is it showing up in season 4? At this point, nothing is certain, but it could mean the show is returning to one of the most compelling and disturbing storylines to come out of "True Detective" yet.
The Yellow King Cult
The exact meaning behind the crooked symbol hasn't yet been fully revealed. In "True Detective" season 3, documentary producer Elisa Montgomery (Sarah Gadon) shows Mahershala Ali's state police detective Wayne Hays a blue spiral and talks about it being "code for pedophiles" — chillingly enough, the symbol she shows Hays is actually part of a real FBI document that makes similar claims about the symbol.
Montgomery goes on to talk about "large-scale pedophile rings connected to people of influence" and claims, "It's been theorized that straw dolls are a sign of pedophile groups like the crooked spiral." Her inflection during that particular line reading almost suggests she's talking about a group known as "The Crooked Spiral," rather than the symbol itself. Either way, it's clear that much like the blue symbol Montgomery shows Hays, the red crooked spiral seen throughout season 1 and alluded to in season 3 relates to these "large-scale pedophile rings," and perhaps to the Yellow King cult specifically.
Back in season 1, the Yellow King cult is revealed to be behind the killings investigated by Marty Hart and Rust Cohle. Seemingly led by the powerful Tuttle family, who occupy positions of power throughout Louisiana, this insidious group is said to be widespread in the southern state. That's evidenced by a video depicting the murder of a young Louisiana girl named Marie Fontenot, which is discovered by Rust at Reverend Billy Lee Tuttle's home and which shows numerous members of the cult in attendance, their faces obscured by animal masks. None of these members are apprehended by the season's end, suggesting the ritualistic killings and child abuse remain ongoing despite Marty and Rust's triumph over Childress.
Does Season 1 Directly Tie Into Season 4?
Despite there being much more Yellow King cult story left to tell, the crooked spiral showing up in the trailer for "True Detective" season 4 could be nothing more than an easter egg for longtime fans of the series. With creator Nic Pizzolatto going off to direct his Western "Easy's Waltz," and handing the reins to Issa López for this season, there's bound to be a contingent of "True Detective" aficionados who remain skeptical about the upcoming installment. Including a nod to the first run of episodes could be a way of trying to win them over. If that's the case, the spiral might just be nothing more than a red herring. But there's plenty of reason to believe it's not.
For starters, the symbol on the tank isn't the only spiral in the trailer. Earlier, Jodie Foster's Liz Danvers sits on her apartment floor surrounded by photos of the disappeared research station workers. And the photos are, you guessed it, arranged in a spiral. There's also a potential allusion to the motif when we're shown a closeup of a camera lens early in the trailer, which at the very least recalls the "time is a flat circle" theme of the first season — that's a whole other article's worth of background. Suffice it to say the camera in question is used to film Danvers as she's interrogated by two interlocutors, à la Rust Cohle in season 1, who utters the "flat circle" line during that very interrogation.
And if you really want to get into the weeds, take a look at the background of the scene where Danvers finds the red spiral on the tank. Is that a skull? Is that a crown on its head? Could it be ... the Yellow King?
The Yellow King Returns?
In season 1, it's never actually confirmed who or what the Yellow King was. The name refers to the supernatural being in Robert W. Chambers' "The King In Yellow," which contains stories that refer to a play of the same name, centered around a hellish place known as Carcosa and overseen by a supernatural entity — the King. This short story collection influenced future weird fiction writers, including H.G. Wells, who borrowed names from the novel for use in his own Cthulu lore. And in "True Detective" season 1, it seems the cult has similarly latched on to Chambers' mythology and mapped it onto their own horrific organization.
In the show, it seems Marty Hart and Rust Cohle find the cult's version of the Yellow King in the form of Errol Childress, who's killed in the season finale — still one of the best "True Detective" episodes. But considering he's not exactly a prominent individual on the level of any of the Tuttle family, it seems unlikely the house painter living in a dilapidated home is the real brains behind the operation. That lack of clarification has led to multiple fan theories, with some suggesting Reverend Billy Lee Tuttle was the real Yellow King, while others pin it on Sam Tuttle, the patriarch of the family.
Whatever the actual explanation, it's incredibly unlikely Childress was the real Yellow King. And as Marty says in the final episode, "We ain't gonna get them all. That ain't the kind of world it is. But we got ours." Now, with all these spiral references popping up in the "True Detective: Night Country" trailer, could it be that some of the evildoers Marty and Rust didn't "get" are popping up in Alaska? Perhaps even the Yellow King himself?
Time Is A Flat Circle
At this point, all of this is speculation. We simply don't know whether the plot of "Night Country" will include any of the occult elements, cosmic horror, or Yellow King cult narrative of the first season. But, as Rust's flat circle theory — borrowed from Friedrich Nietzsche — reminds us, life is doomed to infinite recurrence. Which means there's every reason the show that popularised this piece of philosophy for the 21st century may return to its roots. And if it still sounds pretty flimsy, there are yet more links between season 1 and season 4 that hint at a potential continuation of the Yellow King cult storyline. One of the most compelling is none other than Rust Cohle himself.
In season 1, it's revealed Rust grew up in Alaska — which is, of course, where season 4 is set. The detective also claimed to have spent eight years in Alaska after seemingly solving the case from season 1, only to return to Louisiana to actually close it at the end of the season. Now, it's important to note there is absolutely nothing that suggests Matthew McConaughey or his character are involved in "Night Country." But...
This might be a stretch, but if Rust is from Alaska, and spent eight years there between the death of Reggie Ledoux (the man originally thought to be the Yellow King) and the death of Errol Childress, there's every reason he might have retired there after the events of season 1. And setting the fourth season in that state would be a neat way of a) reinforcing the expansive reach of this underground abuse ring by having members operating in a new state, and b) bringing Rust back to help finish what he started in season 1.
More Than An Easter Egg
Again, this is all speculation, but considering there were some theories that suggested Rust may have even been the true Yellow King, what if our beloved nihilist turns out to be behind the crimes in "Night Country?" That might be stretching things a little too far, but there's an obvious link here between the two seasons that the writers could very well have exploited for more than just a few easter eggs. After all, that giant spiral that almost fills the frame in the "Night Country" trailer isn't exactly a subtle nod to season 1.
While some might balk at the idea of bringing back Rust as a form of MCU-esque pandering to fan nostalgia, it's not as if the second and third seasons of "True Detective" managed to hit the same high as the first. Perhaps what this show needs, and has always needed, is Rust Cohle. Season 3 already confirmed that all these cases are taking place in the same universe, with documentary producer Elisa Montgomery showing Mahershala Ali's Wayne Hays a newspaper clipping featuring Rust and Marty's photos. So whether you like it or not, we already have a "True Detective" extended universe. Would it really be all that bad to bring back Rustin Cohle? McConaughey seemed up for more "True Detective" back in 2014 -- perhaps he got his wish.
Bring On The Cosmic Horror
Rust Cohle aside, reinserting the cosmic horror/cultish elements of season 1 could go a long way to restoring this show to its former greatness. Considering Issa López's 2017 film "Tigers Are Not Afraid" contained elements of magical realism, there's every reason to think the new showrunner would be open to exploring more of that with "Night Country."
The key, I think, to not screwing the whole thing up would be to make sure this fourth season of "True Detective," if it does reintroduce the whole Yellow King cult, doesn't offer too much in the way of closure. If the horror of cosmic horror comes from a confrontation with the unknown and incomprehensible, then the end of "True Detective" season 1 is the genre at its finest. How far does the Yellow King cult extend? Who's involved? What does their occult iconography represent? All of this remains unknown, and as cosmically terrifying as any eldritch beast from an H. G. Wells novel or Robert W. Chambers collection. If we are about to return to the nightmarish world of the Yellow King with "Night Country," let's hope Liz Danvers doesn't get too much closer to uncovering the truth than Rustin Cohle did. The occult lore that permeated the first season is part of what made those episodes great, but it's also what nearly drove Cohle to insanity.
Of course, all of this could be for nothing. López could in fact be telling a wholly original story with this upcoming season, and that wouldn't be a bad thing. But as harrowing as that first season was, I can't help but be excited at a potential return to the dim world of Carcosa.
"True Detective: Night Country" will premiere sometime later in 2023 on HBO and Max.
KrebsOnSecurity received a nice bump in traffic this week thanks to tweets from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about “juice jacking,” a term first coined here in 2011 to describe a potential threat of data theft when one plugs their mobile device into a public charging kiosk. It remains unclear what may have prompted the alerts, but the good news is that there are some fairly basic things you can do to avoid having to worry about juice jacking.
On April 6, 2023, the FBI’s Denver office issued a warning about juice jacking in a tweet.
“Avoid using free charging stations in airports, hotels or shopping centers,” the FBI’s Denver office warned. “Bad actors have figured out ways to use public USB ports to introduce malware and monitoring software onto devices. Carry your own charger and USB cord and use an electrical outlet instead.”
Five days later, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a similar warning. “Think twice before using public charging stations,” the FCC tweeted. “Hackers could be waiting to gain access to your personal information by installing malware and monitoring software to your devices. This scam is referred to as juice jacking.”
The FCC tweet also provided a link to the agency’s awareness page on juice jacking, which was originally published in advance of the Thanksgiving Holiday in 2019 but was updated in 2021 and then again shortly after the FBI’s tweet was picked up by the news media. The alerts were so broadly and breathlessly covered in the press that a mention of juice jacking even made it into this week’s Late Late Show with James Corden.
The term juice jacking crept into the collective paranoia of gadget geeks in the summer of 2011, thanks to the headline for a story here about researchers at the DEFCON hacker convention in Vegas who’d set up a mobile charging station designed to educate the unwary to the reality that many mobile devices connected to a computer would sync their data by default.
Since then, Apple, Google and other mobile device makers have changed the way their hardware and software works so that their devices no longer automatically sync data when one plugs them into a computer with a USB charging cable. Instead, users are presented with a prompt asking if they wish to trust a connected computer before any data transfer can take place.
On the other hand, the technology needed to conduct a sneaky juice jacking attack has become far more miniaturized, accessible and cheap. And there are now several products anyone can buy that are custom-built to enable juice jacking attacks.
Probably the best known example is the OMG cable, a $180 hacking device made for professional penetration testers that looks more or less like an Apple or generic USB charging cable. But inside the OMG cable is a tiny memory chip and a Wi-Fi transmitter that creates a Wi-Fi hotspot, to which the attacker can remotely connect using a smartphone app and run commands on the device.
The $180 “OMG cable.” Image: hak5.org.
Brian Markus is co-founder of Aries Security, and one of the researchers who originally showcased the threat from juice jacking at the 2011 DEFCON. Markus said he isn’t aware of any public accounts of juice jacking kiosks being found in the wild, and said he’s unsure what prompted the recent FBI alert.
But Markus said juice jacking is still a risk because it is far easier and cheaper these days for would-be attackers to source and build the necessary equipment.
“Since then, the technology and components have become much smaller and very easy to build, which puts this in the hands of less sophisticated threat actors,” Markus said. “Also, you can now buy all this stuff over the counter. I think the risk is possibly higher now than it was a decade ago, because a much larger population of people can now pull this off easily.”
How seriously should we take the recent FBI warning? An investigation by the myth-busting site Snopes suggests the FBI tweet was just a public service announcement based on a dated advisory. Snopes reached out to both the FBI and the FCC to request data about how widespread the threat of juice jacking is in 2023.
“The FBI replied that its tweet was a ‘standard PSA-type post’ that stemmed from the FCC warning,” Snopes reported. “An FCC spokesperson told Snopes that the commission wanted to make sure that their advisory on “juice-jacking,” first issued in 2019 and later updated in 2021, was up-to-date so as to ensure ‘the consumers have the most up-to-date information.’ The official, who requested anonymity, added that they had not seen any rise in instances of consumer complaints about juice-jacking.”
What can you do to avoid juice jacking? Bring your own gear. A general rule of thumb in security is that if an adversary has physical access to your device, you can no longer trust the security or integrity of that device. This also goes for things that plug into your devices.
Juice jacking isn’t possible if a device is charged via a trusted AC adapter, battery backup device, or through a USB cable with only power wires and no data wires present. If you lack these things in a bind and still need to use a public charging kiosk or random computer, at least power your device off before plugging it in.
The "right to repair" movement has made considerable inroads over the past five years, partially due to support from the Biden FTC. State-level legislation aimed at dismantling repair monopolies has made progress, despite industry lobbying efforts to weaken the proposals (e.g., Kathy Hochul in New York State). Federal legislation, however, faces challenges in a troubled Congress. In response, a bipartisan group of 28 state attorneys general has penned a letter to key congressional committee leaders, urging them to advance stalled right to repair bills. From the letter: "The Right-to-Repair is a bipartisan issue that impacts every consumer, household, and farm in a time of increasing inflation. It is about ensuring that consumers have choices as to who, where, when and at what cost their vehicles can be repaired. It is about ensuring that farmers can repair their tractors for a reasonable price and quickly enough to harvest their crops."
Inevitable comparisons are going be made between Bela Lugosi's classic Universal monster in Tod Browning's 1931 "Dracula" and Nicolas Cage's homage to the character in the new action comedy "Renfield," especially when director Chris McKay refers to the film as a "quasi-sequel" to the original. McKay's version certainly takes liberties with the material, catching up with Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) 90 years after Browning's masterpiece. Renfield realizes he's been in an extremely lengthy toxic relationship with his master while he sits in on group therapy sessions looking for potential victims. The abuse that Renfield suffers dates all the way back to their original meeting, prompting McKay and writers Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ridley to return to the scene of the crime in the opening prologue for "Renfield."
McKay and his team came up with the idea to essentially replace Lugosi and the original actor to play Renfield, Dwight Frye, with Cage and Hoult and insert them both into the original 1931 footage. The decision to recreate some of the more memorable moments in "Dracula" works to introduce audiences to Renfield's dysfunctional connection to Dracula and to pay tribute to the legacy that's come before. Due to limits in time and budgetary constraints, the prologue proved to be a much more difficult task than McKay and his collaborators expected. Originally, "Renfield" was also going to incorporate footage from other Hammer classics of the era and Frank Langella's indelible 1979 performance as the Count, which Cage also took inspiration from. When all of this proved too complicated, the decision was made to focus on Browning's version alone, and the entire crew went above and beyond to ensure that the sequence looked as authentic as possible.
An Incredible Attention To Detail
Recreating and matching footage that's over 90 years old proved to be incredibly difficult due to a lack of specific information about the logistics and equipment that was implemented and used on set when Lugosi and Frye filmed the original. McKay heavily relied on second unit director and visual effects supervisor James E. Price to do the homework that would help them line up the camera positions, lighting, and the original camera lenses used back then and duplicate it in the present day. "I searched high and low to find out as much as I could about what kinds of lenses and film stocks they used back then," Price explained to IndieWire. He continued:
"There's not a lot of information available, but we were able to estimate knowing the heights of the actors and the approximate size of props and furniture in the room. From that, we could reverse engineer what the focal length of the shot might have been."
Figuring out the exact height of Lugosi and Frye before shooting already shows the dedication the "Renfield" had to get the prologue right. Interestingly, Lugosi (6'1") is listed as only being an inch taller than Cage (6'0"), whereas Hoult (6'3") is quite a notch taller than Frye (5'7") was at the time. After reverse engineering the shots from "Dracula," Price and McKay selected the iconic images they wanted and imported them into the computer to be able to precisely duplicate the camera movements over multiple takes.
In the spirit of preservation, Universal created a new 4k master of Browning's original "Dracula" that, presumably, would have helped Price and McKay in their endeavor, but the better image quality just ended up highlighting the differences in each shot, a consistency problem that was common in the early days of filmmaking.
Being Faithful To The Source
Looking at "Dracula" today, the overall look adds to the atmosphere. For Price, the constant changes in contrast and grain just created another challenge. As told to Indiewire:
"The amount of softness or sharpness changed from shot to shot, so we had a question to answer. Do we match every shot faithfully or to try to make it feel like more of a whole? In the end, we did a little bit of both. If it was a run of shots that were meant to be together, we made the grain and contrast consistent, if they were different scenes, we just let them be."
In the midst of a modern, big-budget production, it's a bold decision to commit to a black-and-white introduction, and McKay also worked with colorist Dave Cole to get the right look they had been searching for. Together, they "de-noised" the footage of the 1931 "Dracula" to match the more muted images found in the original. "The old look is more silvery and unique, and the backgrounds go out of focus really fast with the old lenses and the way the film stocks worked," explained McKay.
Originally, a Mitchell NC Standard 35mm Camera was used to shoot "Dracula." For another added bit of film history trivia, the actual #257 camera was also used on "Frankenstein," "Pinocchio," and "Fantasia." For Price, recreating what a nearly century-old piece of machinery captured took a lot of tinkering with the modern cameras used today. "Lenses today capture so much extra detail," he said. "We did a lot of experiments backing off on the detail level to make sure the images matched a traditional Hollywood movie of that era."
Check out some of the prologue footage in this TV spot to see if all of their efforts were justified.
It's hard for many of us to imagine a world without "Star Trek: The Next Generation," but once upon a time, it was a risky sequel series potentially doomed to fail. Sir Patrick Stewart, who plays the steadfast Captain Jean-Luc Picard, didn't know much about "Star Trek" when he took the role in the late 1980s, and apparently he was told that the show would never make it past the first season. (Yikes!) Thankfully, those prognosticators were dead wrong, and "The Next Generation" ran for seven seasons and four films, ending with "Star Trek: Nemesis" in 2002. "The Next Generation" helped usher in the next era of "Star Trek," followed by shows like "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Star Trek: Voyager," which explored different parts of Starfleet and some very different kinds of missions. It wound up becoming the beginning of the greater "Star Trek" universe, but it was nevertheless a pretty risky proposition when the show first aired in 1987.
Some people didn't think that "Star Trek" could work without Kirk, Spock, Sulu, and the rest of the original Enterprise crew. What they didn't realize, however, is that "Trek" is a wonderfully wide universe to explore, with all kinds of stories to tell. As for Stewart, he didn't even really know much about the sci-fi series, as he was much more focused on his stage and film career. (He had, at least, starred in the wild sci-fi vampire film "Lifeforce" in 1985, so he wasn't entirely unfamiliar with sci-fi.) As such, when he got the call to try out for "Trek," he truly had no idea what was in store.
'I Once Or Twice Caught These Guys In Colored T-Shirts'
On an interview with CBS Mornings, the veteran of stage and screen was asked about his feelings back when he was going through the casting process for "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Patrick Stewart explained that while his children were apparently fans of the original series, watching it in syndication, he was told by other people that there was just no way another "Star Trek" could work:
"I called my children because I knew they watched something called 'Star'-something on Saturday afternoons, and I once or twice caught these guys in colored t-shirts. So I called them and said, 'Tell me, tell me! Because I've got a meeting today and I don't know what the meeting is about.' And I talked to a handful of people whom I knew and they all said, 'Look. You can't revive an iconic show like 'Star Trek.' You're probably not making it through the first season. So, you know, make a little bit of money for the first time in your life, maybe you meet some nice girls, you can get a suntan, go home.'"
Instead of just making a bit of primetime TV money and going about his merry way, Stewart would become one of the most famous faces of the franchise and would be forever entwined with Starfleet officer Jean-Luc Picard. "Star Trek" itself would also become a major part of his life going forward, as Stewart came to learn a whole lot about those "guys in colored t-shirts" -- far more than he ever possibly could have imagined.
The Future Of The Franchise
"Star Trek: The Next Generation" helped usher in the second wave of "Star Trek" shows and movies, leading to the series and films we have now. It's incredibly unlikely that any other "Trek" shows would have been created if "Next Gen" hadn't been successful, and that's kind of a sad world to imagine. "Star Trek" has become a huge part of pop culture and will continue long into the future with shows like "Star Trek: Lower Decks" and "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds." There's also a whole new Starfleet Academy series in the works, looking to the future of the Federation in a brand new way.
The full arc of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" is finally coming to a close with the finale of "Star Trek: Picard," which will wrap up Jean-Luc's life and legacy and hopefully provide closure for the rest of the crew of the Enterprise-D. Stewart may not have imagined that he would still be playing the Starfleet officer after 36 years, but it's impossible to imagine anyone else doing it better.
The series finale of "Star Trek: Picard" premieres Thursday, April 20, 2023, on Paramount+.
A Massachusetts Air National Guard member was arrested Thursday in connection with the disclosure of highly classified military documents about the Ukraine war and other top national security issues.
These photos (love the NH necklace) come to us via The Guardian, where they chatted with Nicky here on the release date of Renfield, his Dracula's sidekick flick with Nicolas Cage. I'm thankfully not reviewing Renfield -- thankfully because I have very little to say about it. The most I can muster is it's fine. A little funnier than I anticipated, but then I'm not particularly one of Cage's biggest fans so I went into it with some dread i.e. low expectations. And it turns out that Dracula is actually a good casting choice for Cage! Y'all was right. The movie perks up when he's around, or when Nicky is batting those beautiful eyes of his, but otherwise it's a bit of an all-over-the-place mess that never figures out what kind of movie it wants to be. Anyway in better news we also got a trailer for the third season of The Great this week! That's the ticket.
This article contains spoilers for season 3, episode 9 of "Star Trek: Picard."
In the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Inheritance" (November 22, 1993), the writers tossed in a quick, throw-away line of dialogue that explained away an ever-widening continuity problem of the show. In "Inheritance," the android Data (Brent Spiner) is introduced to a character name Julianna O'Donnell (Fionnula Flanagan), a long-lost wife of his creator, Dr. Noonien Soong. Effectively, Julianna is Data's mother. Later in the episode, when Julianna is injured, it's revealed that she, too, is an android, modeled after Soong's actual wife, who perished years before.
While examining the android Julianna, Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) explains how she operates and how her positronic brain was constructed. Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) notes that she gives off a false signal designed to throw off medical scans and trick doctors into thinking she's human. Geordi then also mentions that the signal is part of her program. "Not only does she age in appearance like Data, her vital signs change too." Nothing more is said of the issue.
Wait. Go back. "Age in appearance like Data?" Brilliant. This would explain how an android character like Data, made 100% of artificial parts, would age. An "aging program." After all, Data is played by the very human Spiner, and he came to look different over the seven years that elapsed between the beginning and end of the series. The mere mention of an "aging program" covers all the bases.
As of this writing, Spiner is 74, but has returned as a version of Data in the third season of "Star Trek: Picard." Thanks to another throw-away line of dialogue, however, Data's appearance as a 74-year-old man is not only explained but presented as a new superpower. Aging, it seems, is an exhilarating experience.
What A Gas It Is Getting Old
Data, of course, had returned in the first season of "Star Trek: Picard." A major plot thread involved a Federation scientist salvaging a single particle of Data's exploded body and somehow reconstituting his entire brain, complete with his memories, from it. Shortly after that, Data's memories were discovered on a computer hard drive, located on a distant androids-only planet. Picard (Patrick Stewart) also shunted his own consciousness into the hard drive, and he and Data were able to have face-to-face conversations inside. During those conversations, however, Brent Spiner's Data was digitally de-aged to look like he did back in 2002. He also plead for his own death, willing to finally experience mortality.
The man storing Data's consciousness, however, clearly didn't let it be deleted, and wasn't concerned with Data's pleas to die. Indeed, Altan Soong (also Spiner) eventually created a new android, with Data's consciousness completely restored. In the sixth episode of the third season of "Picard," it is explained that this new android not only contains Data's brain, but Lore's, Lal's, Dr. Noonien Soong's, and B-4's as well. This was to be a new composite being that possessed the emotions and experiences of multiple androids. The telling, throw-away line of dialogue? "This time, with the wisdom and true human aesthetic of age." With the totality of age, he says, a person may rise to be the best of us. If this new Data is going to be wise, then he'll need to look like an older man. Hence the grey hair and the wrinkles.
"Picard" is arguing, in that moment, that being old is preferable to being young. This is a fitting message for a returning cast whose youngest member is 68.
It's also refreshingly anti-ageist.
Old Age Is Necessary
A few episodes later, when Data has been revived, he reveals that he does indeed possess memories and sensations that he had never experienced before. He cocks his head and his neck pops slightly. It clearly hurts, and the moment will be familiar to anyone who has experienced age-related neck problems. Rather than bemoan the experience, however, Data smiles, claiming that being old is going to be an interesting, exhilarating new adventure.
Indeed, being old was a plot point in the ninth episode of "Picard." Thanks to a complex series of events, Borg gene probes had infiltrated the brains of anyone who'd been using a transporter. It was explained, however, that the probes can only take hold in brains that are still developing. Since the human brain doesn't stop developing until around age 25, all of Starfleet's younger officers become infected. At the end of the episode, Starfleet was under attack from, essentially, every ensign in the fleet. In all honestly, it sounds more like a story from "Star Trek" Lower Decks."
However, since the "Next Generation" cast are all older than 25, they are left safe from the Borg infiltration, and are uniquely equipped to handle the Borg threat by mere dint of their age. It's not only exhilarating getting older. It's an advantage.
Additionally, the Borg baddies take advantage of Starfleet's high-tech ships to create a linked armada, joined by a shared consciousness. How does one approach such an armada without being assimilated as well? Why, just find an older ship. Something analog. Something that is, essentially, not connected to the internet. Something that the oldsters are familiar with.
An older crew, an older ship, and familiar, decades-old technology will rescue us. Look out, whippersnappers. Your space grandparents are here to save the day.
While the nostalgia of these moments is painfully corny -- the reveal of the Enterprise-D will likely elicit as many groans as squeals -- the message of aging characters still being capable is actually appreciated. This isn't a matter of "old guys still got it," like in, say, the movie "Old Dogs" or "80 for Brady." This is an outward declaration that being old is better than being young. Despite the amount of nostalgia in the pop marketplace, genre heroes still tend to hover around age 25. Younger characters still have their lives to figure out, but are lithe and physically capable enough to be fighters and action heroes. As such, screenwriters tend to focus on that age group. "Picard" is saying that youths are the ones most susceptible to corruption, and it's only those with wisdom and experience that can save the day.
This philosophy is in keeping with the general attitude "Star Trek" seems to have about artifacts from the past. One can regularly see Starfleet crew members reading paper books and using antique musical instruments. Even in the 24th century, there will be room for the kind of technology you prefer, including the dated stuff. One can recreate entire environments on the holodeck, but there will still be time to read an actual James Joyce book.
Picard and co. are the books to read through. Oldsters as heroes. You love to see it.
The "Star Trek: Picard" series finale premieres Thursday, April 20, 2023, on Paramount+.
William Friedkin's "The Exorcist" is one of the best horror movies ever made, which makes it by extension one of the best movies ever made at all. But it's not just a powerful dramatic exploration of faith in an increasingly secular society, and it's not just a terrifically scary motion picture that stunned audiences; it was also a gigantic mega-blockbuster by any reasonable measure. If you adjust for inflation to determine how much "The Exorcist" would have made theatrically at today's ticket prices, you'll find it would have made over a billion dollars domestically, ranking it the ninth-highest-grossing movie in the history of the American box office. That's more than "Avengers: Endgame" or "Avatar."
So regardless of how excellent the original film was, "The Exorcist" was still a huge financial success, and we all know what happens to huge financial successes -- they get sequels. And "The Exorcist" had some very strange sequels. "Exorcist II: The Heretic" is one of the most baffling horror movies ever made, and time still hasn't unlocked all its gonzo, and frankly embarrassing mysteries. "The Exorcist III" wasn't very well-received at first, but now it's considered nearly as good as the original. As well it should be. It's brilliant.
The sequels may be weird journeys, but the saga of the prequel, "The Exorcist: The Beginning," and the other prequel, "Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist," is a proper trip through Hollywood Hell. In the end, both films were critically disregarded, and both were financial duds. But only one of them now ranks among the best movies in the series. With David Gordon Green's new sequel trilogy on the horizon, it's time to dive back into the underexplored prequels.
The Trials Of Schrader And Harlin
The horror genre was experiencing a resurgence at the turn of the 21st century, thanks in no small part to the success of "Scream," its copycats, and lucrative sequels to previously moribund franchises like "Bride of Chucky" and "Halloween H20." A return to one of the most successful and celebrated horror series in Hollywood history was inevitable, so Warner Bros. enlisted Paul Schrader, the writer of "Taxi Driver" and director of the recent Oscar-nominee "The Affliction" to direct a prequel about Father Merrin, played memorably by Max von Sydow in the original movie, performing his first exorcism.
Co-written by William Wisher Jr. ("Terminator 2") and celebrated novelist Caleb Carr ("The Alienist"), and starring Stellan Skarsgård as Father Merrin, Schrader's film went into and ultimately completed production, but was never finished. The studio thought early cuts of the movie weren't scary enough, so they eventually decided to scrap Schrader's version almost entirely, enlisting "Deep Blue Sea" and "Die Hard 2" director Renny Harlin to reshoot the majority of the footage from a screenplay rewritten by Harlin and Skip Woods ("Swordfish").
Harlin's version, "The Exorcist: The Beginning" was full of jump scares and gross-out moments, and grossed an underwhelming $78.1 million off a (now very much ballooned) budget of over $90 million. So nine months after Harlin's version got a critical drubbing, and with the story of Schrader's alternate cut now well known, the director was permitted to finish his version of the movie. But with only a short amount of time and just $35,000 to finish his film, which still needed special effects and a score, Schrader's "Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist" also seemed potentially doomed. It was barely released. Critics didn't much like the new version either.
The Outclassed Exorcism
Renny Harlin's "The Exorcist: The Beginning" is very much the Saturday morning matinee version of the story both films tell. In this version, Skarsgård plays Merrin, a priest who left the church after a tragedy in World War II, who gets hired to infiltrate an archaeological dig in East Africa in the late 1940s. His mission is to bring back a talisman of Pazuzu, the demon from the original two "Exorcist" movies, whose visage would be well known to fans of the series.
Merrin finds the site to be an unholy church, allegedly built at the site where Lucifer fell to Earth. Meanwhile, he's tempted to romance by a local doctor, played by Izabella Scorupco ("Goldeneye"), and discovers that a local child whose brother was eaten by bloodthirsty hyenas — CGI creations that looked bad then and look a lot worse now — may be possessed by the devil. Meanwhile, tensions rise between a local tribe and the colonialist British military, probably due to demonic influence.
Harlin's film features gross-out pustules, easter eggs to the original movies, and a prologue featuring a massacre during the Crusades. It's the bigger, flashier, and sillier of the two, culminating in an unconvincing twist and a series of altercations between Merrin and a demon which are increasingly laughable. It ends with the devil running at Merrin for a couple of minutes while Merrin and a little kid scream holy scripture until the demon is like, "Oh right, never mind," and stops.
It's the "Exorcist" prequel where you can safely make out with your date in the back of the theater without feeling like you missed anything. That it's not the worst film in the series says a lot more about "Exorcist II: The Heretic" than it does about "The Beginning."
Possession Is Only 1/10th Of The Draw
Paul Schrader's "Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist" also has flaws, but a lot of them stem from post-production woes. The effects are still shoddy — although at least Schrader's rushed final version has an excuse — and yes, it's slow compared to its horror contemporaries. But in a world where indie powerhouse A24 has made serious dramas about wrestling with trauma that are only spiked by some horror elements into a popular horror genre all their own, "Dominion" feels surprisingly modern. Except for the lousy CG and inconsistent score.
Schrader's version doesn't find Merrin enlisted by a mysterious organization with a vague scheme regarding the demon from "The Exorcist." He's the archaeologist who discovered the unholy site in the first place, who hasn't left the church but is on sabbatical, wrestling with his faith because Nazis forced him to choose ten people to be senselessly murdered, in order to save everyone else in his town. He doesn't have a particularly romantic subplot with the doctor, just a shared understanding that both of them only survived World War II by making choices that scarred their souls.
"Dominion" isn't interested in fun. It's telling a story like the original "Exorcist," in which the influence of evil is insidious. If you turn your head to a slightly different angle, it wouldn't look like the work of the devil at all. The madness that besieges everyone looks an awful lot like the evils mankind perpetrated upon itself in World War II. Father Merrin responds to every moral question in "Dominion" with an educated response about human hypocrisy. He calls out the Vatican for its failings. He calls out the British for their colonialism. And when a grieving father asks if his murdered son is how God repays his faithful followers, Merrin hisses out an immediate, "Yes."
Insight In The Garden Of Good And Devil
"The Exorcist: The Beginning" is about the triumph of good over evil. "Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist" is about how goodness isn't triumphant. It's a much more complex perspective on human frailty, which suggests that the devil has genuine appeal even to the kind in spirit. He offers Merrin and the doctor the means to rewrite their own histories, to absolve themselves of their sins by reliving their lives and making different choices, proving that they were only ever abused pawns in an unfeeling god's design. But ironically, this gives Merrin strength. He learns that his actions, though themselves a tragedy, were the best he could do under horrible, unreasonable circumstances. He earns his own forgiveness.
Forgiving the moments where its post-production budget clearly failed it, "Dominion" is an exercise (exorcise?) in moral complexity. It lacks the intimacy of the original "Exorcist" but only because it's painting itself across a broader canvas, illustrating how the evil of weak-willed individuals cascades into larger tragedy. It's a film made by people who actually thought about what the story they were telling actually means. Its horrors are the horrors of the human soul.
"The Exorcist: The Beginning" has a lot more pus and a lot more CG hyena attacks, and a head-scratchingly anticlimactic game of Red Rover. It's sound and fury signifying nothing. "Dominion" has twice as much fury and signifies a great deal about the human condition, even though the sound design and music are a little bit underwhelming.
With "The Exorcist III" finally finding its proper acclaim, it's finally time to declare that "Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist" is officially the most underrated movie in the series. An odd honor to be sure, but one with a positive legacy, where audiences usually do see the light in the end.
This article contains spoilers for "Renfield." The Marvel Cinematic Universe has made post-credits (and mid-credits, and mid-mid-credits) scenes commonplace these days, with nearly every genre of cinema feeling free to utilize the space during the end credit roll to toss in additional material. That space used to be the near-exclusive domain of the comedy movie. Beginning somewhere around the 1980s, some comedies inserted scenes both during and after the credits (as in 1986's "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"), some included blooper reels (as in 1980's "Smokey and the Bandit II"), while others hid jokes inside the credits themselves (as in 1984's "Top Secret!").
While the mid- and post-credits format is still relatively young enough that it can be experimented with, that doesn't quite explain what exactly is going on with the end credits for "Renfield." A comedy-horror-action movie, "Renfield" is exactly the type of film to put little jokes and bits into the end credits, and sure enough, the film's main-on-end title sequence is full of little callback gags and Easter eggs.
Yet it's the montage of footage that plays under the end credit roll proper that contains the most curious elements, including what appears to be deleted shots to footage that may indicate an entire musical number was excised from the movie.
The Missing Moments Of Renfield
If you've seen both "Renfield" and its trailer, you're likely already aware of some changes to the film that were made during post-production. Some dialogue and shots can be seen in the trailer that are not present in the final release of the film, including Rebecca (Awkwafina) exclaiming that Renfield is "like the guy who gets the villain's Postmates!" Little changes like these between a movie's marketing materials and its final cut are highly common, especially with regard to comedies, which often try out variations on one-liners and such.
"Renfield" is a tight 93 minutes long, so it's no surprise that there exists some footage on the cutting room floor. The film opens with a sequence depicting Nicholas Hoult's Renfield and Nicolas Cage's Dracula either inserted into or re-enacting scenes from Tod Browning's 1931 "Dracula," and that's just the first of many references to past Dracula films that director Chris McKay put in the movie.
The end credit footage seems to reveal that more homages featuring Cage were filmed, including one shot that mimics the heavy candlelit look of John Badham's 1979 "Dracula," with Cage dressed in a costume reminiscent of Frank Langella's from that film. There also appear to be a few shots of Cage's Dracula in a top hat and coat that seems to recall Gary Oldman's Count from 1992's "Bram Stoker's Dracula." Cage wears the outfit in the film proper, but it's onscreen for only a very brief amount of time. Perhaps McKay deleted these other, longer shots and moments for fear of the movie becoming too much of a reference-fest.
Renfield: The Musical?
It's a bit difficult and awkward to tell which footage in the end credits was in the movie or not, as the montage intersperses reprises of recognizable moments from the movie itself. It's not hard to assume that the entire reel is just a montage of stuff we've already seen.
Except for a couple of peculiar shots near the end, which depict Renfield sauntering down a street being followed by a crowd of people who appear to be dancing, all while Renfield looks to be singing. A few moments later, there's a shot of Renfield with the night sky behind him lighting up with fireworks while he appears to be holding a climactic note.
If it looks like a musical number, and it dances like a musical number ... is there a musical number that was shot and then deleted from "Renfield?" It wouldn't be the first time an elaborate musical sequence was discarded from a comedy: 2013's "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues" contained such a scene. That number was eventually uncovered as part of the movie's home media release, included within an entire alternate cut of the film.
Could this mean that an extended or alternate cut of "Renfield" might emerge in the future? Universal Pictures have been known to release extended versions of their movies recently, as seen with "Jurassic World: Dominion" and "F9," so it's highly possible. If we're lucky, the footage may turn up as a deleted scene, but it seems like McKay and company thought that a movie featuring both Nicolas Cage as Dracula and a musical number might be a little over the top.
One thing's for sure, though: comedies still have the most intriguing end credit gags, and you should especially pay attention to the end credits of "Renfield," as there might be even more secrets hidden within.
This post contains spoilersfor "Yellowjackets" season 2.
"Yellowjackets," named for the girls' soccer team that get stranded in the wilderness after a plane crash, follows its characters in both adolescence and adulthood with alternating timelines. This enables the show to contrast how they've changed (or haven't). When we meet the original four leads in the series pilot, they mostly seem to have moved on from what happened.
Taissa (Tawny Cypress) is the only one who is "successful" in a stereotypical sense — a well-to-do lawyer now running for New Jersey State Senate. But Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) is a bored housewife and Misty (Christina Ricci) has a stable job as an elder care nurse; there are definitely worse fates considering what they went through. The only exception is Natalie Scatorccio. Played in conjunction by Sophie Thatcher in 1996 and Juliette Lewis in 2021, we first meet her in rehab and it's soon revealed this isn't her first time walking the twelve steps.
Since her life has turned out messier than her former teammates, the audience assumption from the outset is that Natalie is the most scarred of the four. The pilot's introduction of her is even cross-cut with a flashback of the cannibalistic survivors butchering a kill, followed by present-day Natalie saying she "lost her purpose" after being rescued. This is quite ominous and hints that Natalie could have been one of those fur-coated killers. But as we get to know her, it becomes clear that Natalie is really the Yellowjacket with the strongest moral compass, both in the past and the present.
Natalie's Story
Teenage Natalie is introduced as a punk-rock goth; she gets along with her preppy teammates, but she doesn't run in the same circles when they're not playing soccer. Season 1, episode 4, "Bear Down," dug into her past and revealed why she puts up walls around her. Raised in a trailer park with an abusive father, Natalie once pointed a shotgun at him during one of his rages — she pulled the trigger but the gun jammed. Her father took the shotgun back, they called each other worthless, then the gun misfired and killed him.
Since Natalie knew how to use a gun, she adapted easiest to life away from civilization, becoming the group's hunter once they find a cabin with a shotgun. As the group's most practical member, she becomes friends with the now one-legged Coach Ben Scott (Steven Krueger). Their friendship isn't overplayed, but it's also quite sweet. Ben even admits to Natalie that he's gay (still a no-no in the 1990s) and she's accepting. In "Doomcoming," when the rest of the group gets violent after ingesting psychedelic mushrooms, the two of them stay sober and have to again be the voices of reason.
Natalie also had a fling with Travis Martinez (Kevin Alves), the son of one of the Yellowjackets' coaches who died in the crash; their mutual survivors' guilt over their dead fathers brought them together. The mutual feelings survived the break-up and that leads to Natalie's storyline in the present. After Natalie receives a postcard bearing the insignia the Yellowjackets discovered in the woods, she tracks down Travis and then finds him dead by hanging on the ranch he worked. To an outsider, it looks a like a suicide, but Natalie senses a ritualistic murder. So for the rest of the season, she investigates Travis' death.
Natalie And Misty Sitting In A Tree
This is the most selfless goal of the main characters. Shauna and Taissa are more in it for self-preservation, especially once someone starts blackmailing the surviving Yellowjackets. Misty is in it for fun and friendship — which brings us to the best character pairing in the show.
Christina Ricci may find Misty strangely relatable, but none of the other Yellowjackets agree, least of all Natalie. However, Misty has a side hobby as a "citizen detective" who solves true crimes. When Natalie re-enters her life brandishing a shotgun and the mysterious postcard, Misty starts clinging to her like a remora.
Natalie resents the company of "that conniving poodle-haired freak," but they're the most entertaining duo in "Yellowjackets" because of how different they are: one has a hard heart but a good soul, whereas the other is harmless-looking but dangerous on the inside. Both Lewis and Ricci are masters of acting with facial expressions and the former's eyebrow-raised, puckered-lips exasperation is perfectly used against the latter's fast-talking mania.
Now, Misty's definition of friendship is different from most people's. She plants a camera in Natalie's motel room, really to satisfy her nosiness but also to "protect" her bestie. When Natalie buys some coke, the always-watching Misty bursts into the room, knocks Natalie down, and then snorts the drug first to keep Natalie on the wagon ("It burns, is that normal?!").
Unfortunately, Natalie and Misty have been separated for season 2 thus far. At the end of season 1, Natalie considered suicide after concluding that's what Travis' death really was. Before she could pull the trigger, some people dressed in purple burst into her room and abducted her.
Season 2
It turns out these were followers of Lottie Matthews (Courtney Eaton/Simone Kessell), the Yellowjacket who developed seer abilities (or hallucinations) in the woods. Natalie has spent the season thus far in Lottie's hospitality, putting her in a new environment but that one that reaffirms her strengths.
Despite the sinister ending of season 1, it turns out Lottie's "community" isn't the human sacrifice, "Midsommar" kind, but more the spiritualistic self-help kind. Natalie was abducted not because she got too close to the truth about Travis' death, but to stop her from committing suicide.
Lottie does know the truth about Travis' death, but she didn't murder him (or so she claims). Lottie tells Natalie that Travis was having visions of the wilderness, reached out to her for help, and ultimately performed the ritual himself to get close to death and communicate with whatever was haunting him. Then the crane Travis used to hang himself malfunctioned and he actually died, with Lottie to bear witness.
Different Types Of Healing
Natalie is naturally skeptical of Lottie and the flashback storyline shows that is another way she hasn't changed. In the past timeline, most of the Yellowjackets are falling under Lottie's sway, thanks to her coping techniques and seeming ability to communicate with the forest they're trapped in. Past-Natalie and Ben are the only ones who aren't falling for it. After the season 1 finale, Travis' little brother Javi (Luciano Leroux) is missing; Natalie thinks he's dead and wants Travis to accept that while Lottie encourages Travis to keep his hope alive. Lottie encourages people to live with their pain while Natalie thinks you should bury it.
Natalie's backstory means it makes perfect sense why the writers chose her as the one to reconnect with Lottie this season. Lottie's followers are people living with trauma who came under her sway hoping to be the best versions of themselves. Someone who's been in and out of rehab for decades can understand that.
Juliette Lewis has said of Natalie's arc this season: "Somewhere within Natalie, now that she's landed in the care of older Lottie at a compound, she's seeking truth. She's seeking answers to what happened and redemption. She's not medicating, so she's wide open to figuring out life, which is unusual for that type of person."
Old Wounds
The most recent episode, "Old Wounds," was a big one for Natalie, both in the past and present.
In 2021, Natalie befriends Lottie's follower Lisa (Nicole Maines). They got off on the wrong foot in the premiere — Natalie stabbed her hand and face with a fork while trying to escape — but Lisa apparently doesn't hold a grudge. While on a ride to the group's farmer's market stand, they stop at Lisa's childhood home.
Lisa's mother doesn't approve of her lifestyle and despite Natalie's own skepticism, she sticks up for Lisa: "You can't let your daughter be happy?!" As another friendly gesture, she smuggles Lisa's pet goldfish out of the house (in her mouth, no less). Afterward, they hit the bar and connect further over their shared history of suicidal ideation.
In 1996, Natalie's conflict with Lottie came to a head when Mari (Alexa Barajas) suggested the group's antler queen could be a better hunter than Natalie. So, they have a hunting contest. Natalie finds a Moose corpse lodged in the surface of a frozen lake and falls in while trying to get it out. Lottie hallucinates the crashed plane that Laura Lee (Jane Widdop) died trying to pilot last season and after a surreal vision, blacks out and nearly freezes.
While they're both recovering with hot baths back in the cabin, they reconnect over their mutual failure. In the present, though, it looks like their conflict is only beginning. Lottie's visions (or hallucinations) from the wilderness are returning, while Natalie swiped the keys to Lottie's office.
What's Next For Nat?
Now, despite her good heart, Natalie isn't flawless. In episode 2 of this season, "Edible Complex," she tried to convince Travis of Javi's death by raiding his suitcase and spilling her own blood on a piece of his clothes she "found in the woods." This was underhanded, to put it mildly, especially since "Old Wounds" revealed Javi's actually still alive.
Given her disagreements with Lottie, I was also expecting Natalie to abstain from cannibalism, but in "Edible Complex," she chowed down on the charred Jackie with the rest of the team. At least she had the courtesy to lay what was left of Jackie to rest in the next episode, especially since they hadn't been friendly back in season 1.
Still, does this mean the pilot's visual clues were correct and Natalie will turn out to be one of the hunters who killed the mysterious Pit Girl? Her continuing distrust of Lottie tells me no, but "Yellowjackets" is a dark, weird, and surprising enough television program that is capable of painting its heart and soul black.
New episodes of "Yellowjackets" stream on Showtime every Friday and air on television every Sunday.
This piece contains spoilers for "Yellowjackets" season 2, episode 4.
It's only been a season and some change, and "Yellowjackets" has already given us so much. We've seen cults, blood rituals, amputation, murder, dog murder, possession, dramatic sleepwalking, and no one will be able to forget the ungodly traumatic feast of season 2, episode 2's big cannibalism scene. With the conclusion of this week's episode, "Old Wounds," we may soon be adding another one to that list: resurrection.
While the rest of the girls are placing their bets on the big hunting competition between Nat (Sophie Thatcher) and Lottie (Courtney Eaton), Van (Liv Hewson) and Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown) hatch a plan of their own. Throughout the angrier, more unhinged second season, Van has been waking up with Taissa in the middle of the night to follow her around on her sleepwalking adventures. She finds that each time Taissa ventures out, she ends up at a tree inscribed with the mysterious symbol that continues to haunt the Yellowjackets into the present. After plotting all these trees out on a map, she finds that — surprise, surprise — they are themselves points that make up a larger version of the symbol.
Still terrified of her own mysterious connection to the woods, Taissa rejects the theory. But Van is able to convince her to make one more journey to the final point that would complete the symbol on the map. She's desperate to find proof that there's some larger design to what's happening in the woods. What she and Taissa do eventually find out there only raises more unanswerable questions.
Are We Out Of The Woods?
The rest of the Yellowjackets are moping in defeat after both Nat and Lottie return empty-handed when, in a flash, an awe-struck Van and Taissa usher a third person into the cabin. It's Javi (Luciano Leroux), Travis' (Kevin Alves) little brother, who went racing into the woods during the magic mushroom meltdown in season 1's "Doomcoming" episode. He hasn't been seen since, despite Nat and Travis' constant efforts to track him. Nat eventually gets so worn down by the search, so concerned over Travis' inability to start working toward closure, and so anxious that Lottie's insistence that Javi is alive will draw Travis further under her influence, that she blots some blood on one of Javi's old pant legs and presents them to Travis — "proof" that he's not in a state worth looking for.
We catch one brief glimpse of a chastened Nat ducking into the shadow and away from Travis' gaze, as he pulls Javi into a wonderstruck hug. The girls then start drawing out all the implications of Javi's ultimate survival against the elements. "This means Lottie is right," says Mari (Alexa Barajas), "She's the one who said Javi was alive." Van adds that, sure, "Lottie knew he was alive, but Taissa knew where he was." What's at the root of Taissa and Lottie's mystical connections to the wilderness? We know that neither of them are able to outrun or even control these supernatural gifts over two decades later.
But the more important question that the girls seem (at least for now) to sail past is, how in the world did Javi survive? He says nothing during his brief scene in the episode, but an empty, yet restless look in his eyes might testify to something more foreboding than anyone has realized.
Don't Fear Death, Fear The Life After
If you've been watching "Yellowjackets" closely, Javi's return isn't altogether surprising. Nat's misguided saga to protect Travis was definitely building to something, but I have a feeling that the revelation she faked evidence of Javi's death is only the beginning of a pitch-black turn in this storyline.
When Travis sees Javi he mutters, "How the hell are you alive?" and pulls him into a hug. Javi is not only physically unresponsive to the hug, but when Travis pulls away, Javi's nearly expressionless eyes, tinged with the faintest trace of unspeakable dread, drop away. "Javi, hey, it's me. It's your brother," Travis continues, nervously. Director Scott Winant handles this part of the episode deftly, cross-cutting between Travis and Javi for only a few moments before the girls pivot the conversation away.
It's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it indication that, while it's amazing Javi has been recovered, he may not have come back entirely himself. Those narrow, haunted eyes instantly recalled for me the eyes of the resurrected in Stephen King's "Pet Sematary," a novel about the lengths people will go to to defy death. As far as spilling your blood on a sylvan altar, perhaps? One part of Lottie's psychedelic hunting trip showed her letting a slash of her blood onto a mysterious shrine found in the woods — possibly the charm that conjured Javi forth only moments later. From the very first scene in the pilot, "Yellowjackets" has been moving toward cannibalism, blood rituals, and "Battle Royale"-style violence. But perhaps survival isn't the endgame of all this barbarism. Perhaps it's something less base, something transubstantial, inexplicable, and irreversible.
How did someone as young as Javi survive alone in the woods alone for that long? Maybe he didn't? If it turns out that death is not the end in "Yellowjackets," then this is a whole new beginning.
This post contains spoilers for the latest episode of "Yellowjackets" season 2.
"Yellowjackets" is a show that thrives on mystery. At any given moment, the show is juggling about a half-dozen lingering mysteries, from the identity of the no-eyed man to the sinister French whispers in Lottie's ear to the fate of Shauna's baby. The show would be great even without loading up on mysteries — it's an excellent coming-of-age story, survival saga, and horror show.
Yet "Yellowjackets" is enriched by its mysteries, and at this point, there are so many to keep track of that new ones can get lost in the shuffle. Case in point: this week, in one of the show's '90s-set scenes, we learn that someone's been sneaking extra bear meat. "So who's the thief?!" Shauna (Sophie Nelisse) says with accusatory passion. "I guess they think they deserve more than the rest of us, which, at this point is pretty f***ed." A conversation about possible culprits doesn't get anywhere, and the team is soon distracted by what they consider a more pressing issue — a test of Lottie's (Courtney Eaton) mysterious abilities.
That's all well and good, but who did steal the bear meat? As rations get more scarce and winter grows harsher, the only way the team will avoid eating more of their own — or dying of malnutrition — is if they have enough meat to go around. Plus, whoever did steal the bear meat is more and more likely to get iced out if they don't confess, and we know how that worked out for Jackie. The girls might be distracted from the bear meat mystery, but we're not: let's take a look at the suspect list, shall we?
Coach Ben
Poor Coach Ben (Steven Krueger) is the only person who didn't eat any of Jackfruit Jackie when the group's dead teammate was inadvertently smoked by snowfall a few episodes ago. In fact, he doesn't seem to be eating much of anything at all lately, instead spending his time in what might be hunger-induced hallucinations about the boyfriend he had and lost back home.
Ben is the only person who gets outright accused of taking the bear meat in this episode. "It's probably him," Mari (Alexa Barajas) whispers to Akilah (Nia Sondaya). "He thinks he's so much better than us." This is a reference to Ben's refusal to partake in cannibalism, but he has a good defense. "In case you forgot, I'm not exactly nimble in the snow," Ben says, insisting he's innocent. I believe him, but he does have a motive: Coach Ben has to get calories somehow or he'll starve and end up roasted on a spit. If he didn't take it himself, maybe one of the girls took mercy on him and swiped some rations for him.
Taissa
Food theft sounds like the kind of crime that comes from desperation and impulse, but what if it's actually being done without any conscious awareness? "Yellowjackets" has tried to convince us that Taissa (Jasmin Savoy Brown) has been bringing Van (Liv Hewson) with her on all her sleepwalking excursions this season since the pair are tied together at night. But it's become unnervingly clear that night-time Taissa is, on some level, a whole other person capable of making distinct decisions of her own. Could she be untying herself from Van in the night and stealing rations to satisfy some primal hunger?
There's actually some evidence to support this. For one, we just saw that Taissa is certainly capable of sleep-eating; she was apparently totally out of it when she chowed down on Jackie's face. For another, there's actually another mini-mystery that parallels the meat theft. In episode two, we learn that someone pooped in the group's bathroom bucket during the night, and also stole the lamp. No one fesses up, and it seems like a random thing to do by choice. Is it possible that night-time Taissa is the bear-swiper, bucket-pooper, and lamp-stealer all in one? It seems likely, in which case, I'm curious to see where that lamp could turn up.
Javi
The final moments of this week's episode revealed a wild twist; Javi (Luciano Leroux), who ran for his life during "Doomcoming" and seemingly never looked back, is still alive! The boy returns from the wilderness silent and seemingly memory-less. He's seemingly deeply traumatized if not entirely feral from his time in the forest. It's been an extremely harsh winter already, so how did Javi survive out there?
"Yellowjackets" loves to offer up both logical and belief-defying explanations for its most unsettling moments, and let audiences dwell in the ambiguous middle ground. Javi's survival already feels like another example of this. Everything we know about this creepy place makes it easy to believe that Javi was kept alive by the sinister spirits of the forest, but is it possible he got some human help?
In the season premiere, Natalie (Sophie Thatcher) and Travis (Kevin Alves) see a surprisingly lush stump with signs of melted snow around it but don't investigate. Javi may have been living there, and either stealing rations himself or getting them delivered to him by a member of the group. It's unclear if this is the same stump where Lottie, Van, and Misty (Samantha Hanratty) left the bear's heart as a sacrifice at the end of last season, but if so, Javi could've made a meal of that, too.
Lottie
Speaking of Lottie, if anyone has a penchant for doing some wild nonsense and feeling exactly zero need to explain it to anyone else, it's her. This episode is frank about Lottie's history of mental illness, as the adult version of the character (Simone Kessell) speaks to a psychologist about upping her medication in the wake of her returning visions. This scene comes soon after the bear meat dilemma is presented, but we also don't need much convincing that Lottie would do something over-confident and eccentric like repurpose bear meat without asking.
If Lottie were to get caught red-handed, it seems likely that the more superstitious girls would use this as more evidence that she's creepy and manipulative. Yet it really does seem like Lottie is just trying to protect the group in her own way, and the neo-pagan rituals she's been employing seem a lot more related to blood than flesh. I imagine that if she were to steal food, it would be to help someone who needs it — like Ben, Javi, or Shauna.
Shauna
Of course, there's also the age-old "you smelt it, you dealt it" defense, which points the finger directly back at Shauna. There's nothing overtly suspicious about the way Shauna delivers the news that the bear meat has gone missing, but she does have means, motive, and opportunity. As the only pregnant person in the group of starving teens, her daily calorie intake surely needs to be more than it is, and I wouldn't fault her for dipping into the rations on the side.
While Shauna's accusations may seem counterintuitive if she's the thief, we've seen that as a grown-up, Shauna (Melanie Lynskey) is great at deflection and manipulation. When it comes to covering up her affair with Adam and his eventual murder, she always tells everyone just a little bit more of the truth than you'd expect her to, and that honesty hides a false wall behind which more lies are hidden. Shauna may be the least likely culprit on this list, but if she did steal the bear meat, then turn around and report its theft, she may have pulled off the perfect crime.
Alas, it might be a while until we see the culprit in the great bear meat caper unmasked, as Javi's return, Van's investigation of the hunter's symbol, and Lottie's increasingly trippy visions have all taken center stage. In the meantime, though, we'll keep an eye on these suspects — this back-burner mystery might eventually get someone cooked.
Here's a hard question to answer: 'How many service accounts do you have in your environment?'. A harder one is: 'Do you know what these accounts are doing?'. And the hardest is probably: 'If any of your service account was compromised and used to access resources would you be able to detect and stop that in real-time?'.
Since most identity and security teams would provide a negative reply,
Google on Thursday outlined a set of initiatives aimed at improving the vulnerability management ecosystem and establishing greater transparency measures around exploitation.
"While the notoriety of zero-day vulnerabilities typically makes headlines, risks remain even after they're known and fixed, which is the real story," the company said in an announcement. "Those risks span everything from
Minecraft the game and Minecraft the franchise are two different, yet equally fascinating beasts.
Minecraft needs no explanation. If you’re reading this, I’m sure you already have an opinion on it. But its many spinoffs haven’t necessarily stayed true to more than Minecraft’s overall aesthetic. Minecraft: Story Mode gave us a Telltale narrative adventure when that was the rage, and Minecraft Dungeons asked “What if Minecraft was Diablo?” Minecraft Legends is the newest game in this extended Minecraftian Universe, this time introducing the blocky world to the strategy genre.
Some may take umbrage with these Minecraft spinoffs, but I’m in favor of them. I never got invested in Minecraft proper; I just wasn’t in the right time and place at the height of its popularity. That said, mixing new genres with the Minecraft DNA is the perfect way to get people like me invested in the franchise. Coming in with a mostly blank slate, I genuinely didn’t know what to expect from Minecraft Legends. Fortunately, my time with the game has left me with a greater appreciation for both Minecraft and the strategy genre. It’s just Minecraft Legends itself that I’m on the fence about.
[caption id="attachment_373710" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]
Minecraft Legends(PC [reviewed] Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, PS4, PS5) Developer: Mojang Studios, Blackbird Interactive Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
Release: April 18, 2023
MSRP: $39.99
Minecraft Legends is a Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game. The developers have shied away from this label, likely for reasons that should become clear during this review. That said, I can’t think of a better descriptor for what Minecraft Legends is at its core. You collect resources, build settlements, and rally small armies of disposable troops to launch attacks on enemies. If you’re familiar with the gameplay loop of other RTS titles, you’ll have a step up coming into Minecraft Legends.
The difference is that Minecraft Legends attempts to make this PC-specific genre click in a console environment. It’s not the first game to attempt such a feat (mention Brutal Legend in the comments for free internet points), but this nonetheless gives Minecraft Legends a distinct identity. To achieve this, you directly control a player avatar that not only issues all commands but participates directly in battle. The result is right in the middle of Pikmin and Age of Empires, with a dash of Minecraft’s core gameplay.
It's a sound mixture of ideas, and I really like the approach Minecraft Legends takes here. The controls take an hour to get the hang of, but the basics are easy to grasp in a handful of minutes. Additionally, if you’re familiar with Minecraft, two of the three main pillars of the game will come naturally. In fact, before we get into the game modes Minecraft Legends puts in front of you, we have to review these core mechanics in isolation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw6f-tJKoao
The mining is good
It’s a bit silly to say out loud, but the mining and crafting in Minecraft Legends are its strongest elements.
Just like Minecraft proper, you want to find stacks of resources stemming from distinctly colored blocks. However, rather than smacking them yourself with a pickaxe, you issue orders to gather specific materials in an area. This will summon an Allay, a dedicated fairy-like unit whose sole existence is to gather things for you. If you’ve played other RTS games, this isn’t terribly different than sending a unit to indefinitely chop down trees. That said, ordering Allays around is instantaneous and oddly satisfying. I’d often be en route to an objective and see materials I’d need on the ground, so I’d bark a command at an Allay without even bothering to stop.
There’s a nice element of strategy here. You can order an Allay to collect a literal mountain of rocks for you, but that will tie up one of your limited number of gatherers for several minutes. Meanwhile, if you don't order Allays around, you're missing opportunities to earn stacks of valuable resources. Whether you should hold Allays or use them all for passive resource gains makes for a natural risk/reward system, which fits well within Minecraft Legends. It's an elegant mechanic that the game absolutely nails.
[caption id="attachment_373707" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]
The crafting is good
Similarly, using your materials to craft buildings is also satisfying. When fending off enemies, Minecraft Legends closely resembles a Tower Defense game. You’ll have to protect your home base with a series of walls, arrow towers, and other buildings that will augment or heal your existing foundation. Like mining, crafting in Minecraft Legends uses its own pool of Allays. Issue an order for something to be built in one spot, and an Allay will build it brick by brick.
It's a great system, as it performs well in different contexts. In times of peace, erecting your settlement is fast and easy. You’ll spend a limited amount of time on minutia and focus solely on where you want things built. Similarly, when you’re under attack, you can frantically order Allays to patch walls and work on other constructions while you’re mid-combat. This adds a fun, frantic element to the defensive gameplay. When your units are struggling to fend off an army, it’s satisfying to slap four arrow towers around your army to provide some extra firepower.
There aren’t many building types in Minecraft Legends, but I don't see this as a negative. This is more of a Smash Bros. take on the RTS genre, so it doesn’t necessarily need the complexity that other titles have. Additionally, there’s still room for advanced strategies and player creativity with the tools provided. There do seem to be some balance issues, but I imagine Mojang and Blackbird Interactive will tweak things as time goes on. Unfortunately, Minecraft Legends has greater issues than its balancing.
[caption id="attachment_373709" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]
Going on the attack is… well…
The third pillar of Minecraft Legends is its attack phase. When you’re ready to take down your opponent, you’ll gather a small squad of units around you and charge headlong into battle. On paper, this looks nice. You have a concise selection of units to pick, ranging from healers to stun-focused melee fighters. Additionally, you can summon classic Minecraft monsters like Skeletons, Creepers, and Zombies to fight alongside you. Even with no attachment to Minecraft, I enjoyed joining forces with former enemies to take bigger baddies down.
Once you’re engaged in combat, your best course of strategy is to…well, kind of hang out. Unlike the Allays—which are conducive to multitasking—your best course of action with your army is to hold down your one attack button. Wiggle around to take out the extra small fry, and hopefully, your army will eventually win. This really slows the action down, as that satisfaction from making snap strategic decisions largely disappears here. You do have to decide when to keep charging and when to retreat, but overall, there really isn’t much engagement here.
Even if your forces can comfortably overwhelm whatever they’re fighting, you still need to be physically present to collect the rewards they drop before they fade away. There are limited options to break up the tedium. Specifically, you can build a catapult that works very well if you're on the offensive. Still, this is one area where Minecraft Legends leans way too hard on simplicity.
[caption id="attachment_373708" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]
Am I herding cats?
Additionally, your army’s AI is imprecise. If you issue an order to attack a specific structure, your troops will generally rush it from wherever they’re standing. This is bad if you, say, built a ramp to help your group cross a chasm, only to watch 20% of your forces just fall off the side instead. Even when they do obey, they often act in particularly baffling ways. Healing units, for example, usually won't charge into battle if no one needs healing. This might sound smart, but when your front line starts immediately taking damage, they have no intuition to enter the fray and start supporting.
There were so many times when I ran around just to see where my units wandered off to. Even after ordering my team to specifically charge a building or settlement, I had to corral stragglers stuck fighting losing battles by themselves nearby. This gets even worse if you have a mixture of melee and ranged attackers on your team since it is all too easy to miss units when you want to regroup and charge forward.
This isn’t necessarily game-breaking. After all, in a competitive environment, all players are dealing with their respective AIs. I just never felt as in control as I’d like to be for a strategy game. You eventually get a feel for how your army moves, and you can strategically maneuver in ways to help them charge in the direction you want them to. That said, I can’t help but feel this shouldn’t have been a part of the game to begin with.
[caption id="attachment_373742" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]
Campaign pain
Minecraft Legends has three primary modes. All of them feature this same core gameplay, but with their own unique twist. Unfortunately, the adventure you are funneled into first is by far the weakest of the options.
Campaign Mode thrusts you into a larger map that tasks you with defeating armies of enemy Piglins. Minecraft Legends doesn’t need a more complicated story than that, but this threadbare plot is oddly expressed through many elaborate cutscenes. This sounds weird to complain about, but to avoid spoilers, I can't imagine anyone getting anything out of this. I understand the story is aimed at kids, but more on that later. Regardless, I'm not expecting Shakespeare out of Minecraft, but this isn't even Shark Tale.
If this were my only gripe with Campaign Mode, I’d be okay with it. The problem is the campaign takes Minecraft Legends' core systems intended for games lasting one hour and stretches it to over ten. There are flourishes thrown in here, but you’ll see almost everything worth experiencing shortly after it begins. The one bright spot is village defense missions, which work well because they play to the game's strongest elements. The rest of the story throws you against Piglin waves and bases you’ve already seen, just in bigger and more tedious numbers.
Every campaign features a procedurally generated world, which I can't help but consider a misstep. On one hand, I get that this is a more “Minecraft-y” approach. It also, in theory, makes the game replayable, especially since it supports four-player co-op. That said, when hour three looks virtually identical to hour six, procedural generation doesn’t make the campaign look better. It just exposes how little there is to begin with.
[caption id="attachment_373711" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]
It's not a tutorial
The bizarre part is the campaign doesn’t even make for a good tutorial. At best, it’s an open-ended playground for you to experiment with Minecraft Legends’ gameplay. But it doesn’t really teach you anything aside from the exceedingly obvious. Even a game as old as Age of Empires 2 threw you into different scenarios that tested your mastery of different aspects of the game. If you strictly judge the campaign against other co-op-focused experiences, it still feels lacking in the end.
In fact, I’d argue the campaign is borderline unnecessary. In a few minutes of PvP practice, I was amazed at how quickly I grasped the gameplay compared to my hours in a solo adventure. There's also a “Lost Legends” mode, which will dish out concentrated PvE missions every month. I tried the one Lost Legend available, and though I was defeated handily solo, I had way more fun here than in the campaign. If there were more missions like these in the game, I'd easily recommend Minecraft Legends as a co-op game.
[caption id="attachment_373712" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]
PvP is where it’s at
Speaking of PvP, that’s really the main draw of Minecraft Legends. In a competitive environment, the game feels better and makes more sense. While the campaign is tedious, even mundane tasks in Versus mode have urgency when you’re racing against other players. Additionally, upgrades come much quicker in multiplayer, creating a satisfying sense of progression.
I wish I could speak on this more specifically, as my PvP experience was limited leading up to this review. I can say that for an ideal experience, you’ll want at least two teams of two. The early game is slow in 1v1, but more players allow you to delegate responsibilities and make progress much faster. Additionally, because the mechanics ride a fine line of depth and accessibility, Minecraft Legends makes for casual, competitive fun. I can understand that local multiplayer wasn’t on the table for Minecraft Legends, but if it was, I could see this being a fun party game.
Do note that Minecraft Legends doesn’t have a persistent progression system for multiplayer. You won’t level up or earn extra goodies by playing PvP. I don’t hold this against the game. A game should be fun regardless of any breadcrumbs it throws your way. However, if that’s important to you, it’s worth the note regardless.
[caption id="attachment_373713" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]
Let’s talk microtransactions
One thing I do unfortunately have to discuss is the existence of microtransactions in Minecraft Legends. They toe the line of what some may consider acceptable, but they are here all the same.
Minecraft Legends appears to use the Minecoins currency from Minecraft Bedrock Edition. During my review period, only a pack of player skins was available. However, Lost Legends also had a tab in the marketplace, indicating that there will be microtransactions related to those too (hopefully just content DLC). But assuming only skins will be purchasable, I still dislike the existence of paid skins in Minecraft Legends particularly. By default, only ten (admittedly distinct) skins are available at launch, with a note to check the marketplace for more. Even if they release more skins for free (one is even available as a reward for the current Lost Legend mission), you’re still funneled into a storefront where you’ll be tempted to buy cosmetic items.
Minecraft Legends isn’t the most offensive example of microtransaction slinging, but this inherently makes the game less safe for kids. Considering the main story clearly targets children, this bothers me a lot. I personally know people less literate in video games who have struggled with their kids begging for cosmetics in Minecraft. Perhaps parents are to blame, but the problem wouldn’t exist if the temptation wasn’t there in the first place.
Make of this what you will, but microtransactions alone would prevent me from recommending Minecraft Legends for a young child. I'm sure the argument is that microtransactions will fund the continued release of Lost Legends episodes. Still, you should know that they're there.
[caption id="attachment_373714" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]
So who is Minecraft Legends for?
Ultimately, Minecraft Legends is a bit hard to evaluate. Everything from its game modes to its core systems is uneven, littered with many highs and notable lows. The parts of it that draw specifically from Minecraft proper come off well, while its more RTS-adjacent moments are lacking. Additionally, I can't recommend playing this solo at all. The foundation is good enough, but it needs company to sustain it.
Your enjoyment of Minecraft Legends will come down to three questions. 1: Are you in love with Minecraft and its extended universe? 2: Are you hankering for an RTS-style game playable on a console? 3: Do you have a minimum of three friends who are eager to play this game too? If you answered yes to at least two of those questions, you’ll have a good time with Minecraft Legends. For everyone else, Minecraft Legends offers a fairly unique experience and not much more. Just don’t expect to get any mileage out of the campaign.
[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]
Millennials are the largest untapped market that video game companies should be focusing on, per a new study from Fandom, which finds that the generation spends more time gaming than both Gen Z and teens. Variety reports: According to fan-community platform and entertainment company Fandom's annual Inside Gaming report, which was released Thursday, "despite teens and Gen Z spending more time gaming than they did last year, older generations of players are spending more hours per week gaming." Compiled based on proprietary user data from Fandom.com and a global study that examines how gamer motivations and behaviors vary by generation, the report found that 52% of Millennials surveyed rank playing video games as their top interest and 40% of Fandom's Millennial audience spends over 22 hours per week gaming, compared to only 29% of tweens.
Additionally, Fandom's report found that "influence to purchase brands that have investments in the gaming space gets stronger with age," as Fandom's millennial users are at least 24% more likely to be "heavily influenced" to buy games compared to the average Fandom user. But that doesn't mean studios and developers should start sleeping on the younger generations: While 45% of gamers overall are spending more time gaming than they did a year ago, and Millennials are the demo playing the most of anyone, the biggest growth in overall time spent gaming vs. last year was seen among tweens and teens, up 63% and 48%, respectively.
According to various online biographies, director Jon Favreau graduated high school in 1984 and attended Queens College for only three years before dropping out in 1987. As he recently said on an episode of the "Smartless" podcast, he was immediately offered a high-paying job at the investment firm Bear Stearns, hooked up with the gig by a friend's dad. Given Favreau's age, this would definitely be considered "selling out" at the time. The easily earned, large-salary job was once something young aspiring artists eschewed, preferring a hard-earned, low-money career in the arts. (See also "Tick, Tick... BOOM!") Favreau was bitten by the acting bug at a young age and always had his sights turned on performance.
After about a year at Bear Stearns, Favreau quit. It seems he just barely missed Black Monday. It also seemed that he hated it. After another brief try at college, Favreau dropped out again, this time for good, and drove out to Chicago to dive into the city's thriving comedy scene.
Recall that Chicago is the seat of the famed Second City comedy troupe, an extended network of theaters and performers that put on improv and sketch comedy shows all over the city. By the late 1980s, the Second City was a well-known source of talent that was frequently hired to appear on "Saturday Night Live." Many, many aspiring comedians floated in and out of the troupe's orbit, and many others were indeed hired to be part of Lorne Michaels' various sketch programs. Harold Ramis, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Bonnie Hunt, Dan Castellaneta, Richard Kind, and Alan Arkin are among the school's many famous alumni.
Notably, "SNL" cast member Chris Farley was a graduate. Farley and Favreau, on one fateful night in 1988, were in the same theater together.
The Dream
Favreau admitted on "Smartless" that he always enjoyed improv and acting, saying that it was a low-stress gig:
"I like that there was no pressure on me, so it was like school plays, and that was just a fun time for me. Improv was great, because when people went up on their lines, that was the most fun, like when you could be on stage and get out of that, but I never thought it was an option."
After the crash and the disillusionment with Bear Stearns, Favreau talked about his move to Chicago, describing the crowd that drew him there and how he made ends meet. He also recalled very sharply one magic night of going to see some improv at a famous Chicago comedy institution, and the game they played with him. Favreau was the one who gave the prompts, and the comedy troupe was to take it away. In his words:
"That's when I saw people doing improv in Chicago. I had a friend who was taking classes at iO and at Second City, and I was like, this is the best. I was in my 20s, I think I was 22 at the time. I knew how to bartend [...] I volunteered to be on stage, and the first thing I remember, they interviewed me about my day. It was the Improv game at iO called 'The Dream,' where they interview you about what happened that day, and then they improvise in front of you what your nightmare is going to be like that night, based on your responses."
Anyone who has been to a live improv show will likely be familiar with a similar game, but a notable "SNL" cast member was on stage with him that night.
The Power Of Improv
Yes, the man who took Favreau's role on stage was none other than Chris Farley. Not only did he have an early celebrity-to-be-to-celebrity-to-be encounter, but Favreau was astonished at how improv actually worked. They really do, he found, make stuff up on the fly. In Favreau's words:
"So they did that with me, and I was on stage doing an interview, getting some laughs, and then Chris Farley played me. So that was my first experience seeing improv, was Chris Farley playing me, and watching them really improvise. [...] When you see good improv, you think, 'Oh, is that just a shtick they have up their sleeve, right?' But I know they improvised it all, because it was all coming off of my interview, and I was completely flabbergasted."
It may have been his encounter with Farley that shaped Favreau's eventual skills as a director. He talked a little bit later in the interview about working with Vince Vaughn, his co-star in both the 1997 film "Swingers," which Favreau wrote and starred in, and the 2001 film "Made," which he wrote, starred in, and directed. Favreau admired Vaughn's ability to ramble and improvise for minutes at a time, completely on the fly. Indeed, Favreau admitted that Vaughn's ability to improvise was so sharp and fast, that, as a co-star, all he could do was stand aside and play the straight man.
His work on "Swingers" and "Made" laid a firm foundation for Favreau's career as a filmmaker. He eventually gained mainstream studio experience on films like "Elf" and "Zathura." He is now one of the premiere directors at Disney, having made "Iron Man," "The Lion King," and "The Mandalorian."
Farley, one might say, was the bearer of his fate.
It's been a decade since Brandon Cronenberg came into the scene, with Antiviral as his feature debut. That film was preceded by a couple of shorts, succeeded by various music videos, Possessor, and this year's Infinity Pool. Common themes reverberate through his oeuvre, linking him to his father's cinema. Like David, Brandon Cronenberg works within dimensions of horror, often considering transcendence through the body and the body transcended, altered, made a dream cum nightmare. Yet, despite similar interests, shared names, linked blood, father and son feel like unique auteurs, their connections superficial. One would expect the nepo baby to forever live in his patriarch's shadow, but maybe not…
Instant messaging platform Discord says it was cooperating with U.S. law enforcement's investigation into a leak of secret U.S. documents that has grabbed attention around the world. From a report: The statement comes as questions continue to swirl over who leaked the documents, whether they are genuine and whether the intelligence assessments in them are reliable. The documents, which carry markings suggesting that they are highly classified, have led to a string of stories about the war in Ukraine, protests in Israel and how the U.S. surveils friend and foe alike. The source of the documents is not publicly known, but reporting by the open-source investigative site Bellingcat has traced their earliest appearance to Discord, a communications platform popular with gamers. Discord's statement suggested it was already in touch with investigators. The White House also urged social media companies on Thursday to prevent the circulation of information that could hurt national security.
A new report looks at the firms that quietly move billions around the banking industry each day. Reciprocal deposits enable banks to place deposits with another bank and receive the same value back through technology firms, reshuffling approximately $1 trillion through their platforms. This deposit-swapping allows banks to offer customers more insurance, a priority after Silicon Valley Bank's failure, where 93% of deposits were uninsured. At the end of last year, around 45% of deposits in the American banking system were uninsured.
Invented by Eugene Ludwig in 2002, reciprocal deposits help banks offer greater deposit insurance without forgoing deposit funding. Ludwig's firm, IntraFi, allows banks to place insured deposits around the system while receiving the same value from other locations. IntraFi, the largest firm with 3,000 banks on its platform, has been joined by r&t Deposit Solutions, ModernFi, and StoneCastle Cash Management. These firms are experiencing rapid growth, with reciprocal deposits' value increasing significantly since March.
The story asks: All this deposit-swapping raises the question of whether it makes sense to maintain the federal cap. The private sector has come up with a clever workaround to offer more deposit insurance than mandated. It is conceivable that, with several thousand banks in the network, an account could offer deposit insurance for hundreds of millions of dollars. Indeed, StoneCastle offers an account with $125m in deposit insurance. But there is a difference between a private-sector workaround and a public-sector mandate. It is currently difficult to match banks so that all are able to offer such high limits (most offer just a few million dollars' insurance), and reciprocal-deposit firms levy fees, too. They apply on top of the charges, of between 0.05% and 0.32% of the value of total liabilities, that institutions pay for federal-deposit insurance.
Abolishing the cap would make insurance pricier across the system; these higher costs would almost certainly be passed on to customers in the form of lower interest rates. Still, if enough depositors seek insurance by spreading deposits around, higher costs might be the result anyway.
These photos (love the NH necklace) come to us via The Guardian, where they chatted with Nicky here on the release date of Renfield, his Dracula's sidekick flick with Nicolas Cage. I'm thankfully not reviewing Renfield -- thankfully because I have very little to say about it. The most I can muster is it's fine. A little funnier than I anticipated, but then I'm not particularly one of Cage's biggest fans so I went into it with some dread i.e. low expectations. And it turns out that Dracula is actually a good casting choice for Cage! Y'all was right. The movie perks up when he's around, or when Nicky is batting those beautiful eyes of his, but otherwise it's a bit of an all-over-the-place mess that never figures out what kind of movie it wants to be. Anyway in better news we also got a trailer for the third season of The Great this week! That's the ticket. 
Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]
Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]
Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]
Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]
Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]
Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]
Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]
Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]
Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]
