Ronald.phillips

Wherein we discuss Jeopardy!, Severance, Rescue Rangers, '80s references, Free Guy, The Batman, Jungle Cruise, Star Trek and season-long arcs, Creepshow, Stranger Things, Our Flag Means Death, Murderville, and Better Call Saul (major spoiler warning!). Starring Ryan Scott and Justin Haywald, with special guest Greg Ford.

Jim Stalin is a name that will go down in pop culture history. At one point or another, it would have been in the circles of those who read and appreciated comic books. Now? His name will be mentioned right alongside some of the biggest films of all time like "Avengers: Endgame" as he is the man who created the Mad Titan they call Thanos. Because of the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the long arc that Thanos had, it might not be unfair to say that he is arguably one of the biggest villains in cinema history. That all started with Starlin.

Long before Thanos became a gargantuan figure in the broader pop culture sphere, Starlin, a wildly accomplished comic book artist and writer, initially created the character in the pages of "Invincible Iron Man" #55. He would later go on to write "Infinity Gauntlet," one of the most cherished comic book events ever published, not to mention the book that served as the loose inspiration for "Infinity War" and "Endgame."

But Starlin's work extends well beyond one mere creation, having co-created Marvel's "Shang-Chi" as well, among many other characters. These days, he's largely not working for Marvel or DC anymore but is busy putting together a series of graphic novels based on his character "Dreadstar," including "Dreadstar Returns," which is available now.

I recently had the good fortune to speak with Starlin at his booth on the floor at Phoenix Fan Fusion in Arizona. In between signing autographs for his many fans, we discussed how Thanos has evolved, his hope to see a "Dreadstar" TV show, his thoughts on comic book creator royalties, and more.

'I Like Telling Stories. I'm A Storyteller'

So I know you just had COVID. I hope you're feeling okay.

Yeah. I'm still highly contagious. You're probably going to die before the afternoon's over. No, I had it about three weeks ago and I've been testing negative for a week, so it wasn't too bad.

Well, that's good to hear. You seem to be ...  Some people sit at these booths and they kind of have an air about them. You seem to really enjoy this. You seem to really love being with people. What's it like for you being here after the few years we had?

It's fun. I sit at a drawing board all day by myself, so when I get out and be around people I like to have fun and this is fun. I got a bit of a dour assistant this time, [gestures to his assistant], but she's ignoring me still.

I've seen quite a few people picking up your "Dreadstar" book here, man, and you said you got four more coming out.

Yes. "Dreadstar vs. The Inevitable" is next. Then, the next one is "Dreadstar vs. Dreadstar," and we're not sure what the titles for the last two are. I have the stories done.

I know you're not doing so much work for the big two [Marvel and DC] anymore, but, at this point in your career, what keeps you doing stuff like "Dreadstar?"

I like telling stories. I'm a storyteller. "Dreadstar" was a character I lived through for a decade in the 80s, and, basically, coming back to it was like going to a family reunion. It was fun doing the renovations on the characters. Just having a good time with it.

Obviously, at this point, the whole comic book movie boom isn't going away anytime soon. Marvel and DC are locked up at Warner Bros. and Disney. Do you, at some point, see a point where someone's going to come up to you and say, "Let's do a Dreadstar movie." How would you feel about that?

I'd say I'd rather do a "Dreadstar" TV series.

Oh really? Why is that? Why do you think it's a better fit for TV?

Especially with streaming, because it's a long story. It doesn't fit into even a three-hour format, easily. It's about a revolution. It's about an anarchist without a second act. Basically, I would rather see a streaming TV series with maybe a little bit less special effects than you would in a movie. I think the story, itself, would support multiple episodes rather than trying to squeeze it all into one or two movies, or three movies.

'Nobody At Marvel Ever Thought Much Of Him Until He Showed Up In The Movies'

That does make sense and I do think, especially now, streaming budgets are going so high anyway that you can really do some really cinematic stuff on TV. Speaking of the cinematic stuff, Thanos was always a pretty big character. I think him getting into the movies, at some point, made sense.

Actually, he wasn't a really big character.

Right, but he was a big villain at least.

Nobody much used him, except me. Nobody at Marvel ever thought much of him until he showed up in the movies, and that's the reason they proceeded to try to keep him from me as far as they could.

I was going to mention, Shang-Chi though, I don't know that you would have ever thought, even in your wildest dreams, that Shang-Chi was going to be in a movie, did you?

Actually, "Shang-Chi" was optioned for a movie several times before. Long before the "Spider-Man" movie, they were talking about doing a "Shang-Chi" movie, because the kung fu craze was out there and it was an inexpensive movie to produce, because it was just going to be a bunch of kung fu fighters back then. What they created now is a whole different animal. Much the way they did with Thanos, they took the basic structure of it and stayed true to the spirit of the character. I was blown away by the movie.

I tell you, it's kind of funny because "Shang-Chi" and "Eternals" were coming out at relatively the same time, and everyone was predicting that "Shang-Chi" was going to be the lesser movie, and "Eternals" was going to be the much better movie. It didn't quite work out that way.

It did not quite work out that way.

They did have Pip and Eros at the end [of Eternals].

If you can't talk about this, I understand, but I heard you mention to someone earlier that it seemed like you were saying they're going to do more Thanos in the movies. Are you aware of that?

I've heard of rumors. It's just nothing to be quoted and say that, "Jim said..."

I didn't want to miss quote you.

There have been things online, but there's nothing officially coming out.

'The Character Has Gone On Without Me'

At this point, like you said, Thanos was a big villain in the comics, but you were the one keeping him alive Now? One of the biggest villains in cinema history. How has your relationship with Thanos and the work that you did changed now that he's the subject of some of the biggest things in all of pop culture?

Well, I don't work for Marvel anymore.

Right.

It's changed in the fact that I don't work for Marvel anymore. The character has gone on without me, and that's the way it is when you work with Marvel. To tell you the truth, I haven't worked at Marvel Comics for several years. I don't know what they're doing with Thanos. I just saw him on an "Eternals" cover.

You mentioned the whole idea of work for hire and stuff like that. Guys like Ed Brubaker, recently, have gotten very open about the idea of Marvel and Disney not paying the comic creators particularly well for the appearances in the movies. Do you have anything thoughts on that whole notion? My feelings, as someone who loved the movies and the comics, I feel like people like you and the creators should be paid well for these characters inspiring million-dollar movies. How do you feel about it?

It's going to be different with everybody. My relationship with Editorial was bad. My relationship with Marvel cinema is good. They have been very generous with me on a number of different levels; I have no complaints. I hear Mr. Brubaker every so often and I don't know what his situation is with them, so I won't comment on that. Everybody has got a different slant on what's going on there because it's a lot of mixing what they're using there. A lot of the guys who created these things are gone. Should their families be getting something? I would say yes. Is that what the situation is? I don't know.

In my book anyway, as far as comic book artists go you are at the very top of that food chain. I think a lot of people look up to you. What would be your advice to people attempting to get into the business right now, if you have any at all?

Draw everything and write everything, including more than comics. Don't limit yourself down to getting your influences through comics because that gives you re-tread. Everybody who is really good at what they have done in this business has brought in stuff, going back to [Jack] Kirby. Kirby brought cubism into the comic book artwork. Drove a lot of artists crazy, but I loved it, myself. My advice is soak everything up you can and see if you can infuse it with your work.

Read this next: The Best Movies Of 2021

The post Thanos Creator Jim Starlin On Marvel Movies, A Dreadstar TV Show & More [Interview] appeared first on /Film.

[link] [239 comments]

[link] [12 comments]

Another free offer related to the Warhammer SKULLS Festival is the Warhammer Skulls 2022 Digital Goodie Pack on GOG.com, a collection of items which are free for everyone. This sounds like one of...

The Warhammer SKULLS Festival is underway, showcasing a portion of the vast catalogue of computer games based on the Warhammer series. As part of the festivities, players can try Warhammer 40,000:...

It seems Owen Wilson, a movie star with a catchy nickname, had the wheels stolen off his Tesla. This bold caper took place in front of his home and is not particularly remarkable however Wilson has a funny nickname.

Autoevolution:

Imagine waking up, going to your car so you can go on with your day, and realizing that it doesn't have wheels anymore.

— Read the rest

"Considering the COVID environment and long-term outlook for Russia, we have decided to stop our Russia activity and have begun the process of fully winding down our operations," said CEO Enrique Lores on a Q2 earnings call with analysts. Lores says "business there accounted for approximately $1 billion in revenue in fiscal year 2021." The Register reports: HP was among the first wave of tech companies to suspend shipments to the countries soon after Russia invaded its neighbor on February 24, but now the company's president and CEO Enrique Lores is making the move more permanent. [...] HP's Lores revealed the exit of Russia and Belarus as HP reported financial results for Q2 of its fiscal 2022 ended 30 April: revenue grew 4 percent to $16.5 billion including a 9 percent hike in the Personal Systems Group to $11.532 billion, and a 7 percent drop in Printing to $4.963 billion. In the PC unit, notebooks were up 3 percent to $7.734 billion, and desktops were up 28 percent to $2.855 billion as corporate customers refreshed their estates. [...] HP recorded a net profit of $1 billion for the period, lower than the $1.228 billion reported in the same quarter of last year.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Rob Zombie's continued behind-the-scenes updates from the set of "The Munsters" has been an absolute gift for monster kids everywhere. Zombie has been delivering tasty treats of casting announcements, first looks at costumes, on-set photos, and stunning lighting designs on his personal Instagram. Today, he's given the most in-depth look at Jeff Daniel Phillips ("The Lords of Salem," "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," "31") we've seen so far as everyone's favorite Frankensteinian sitcom dad, Herman Munster. In typical Zombie fashion, he not only provided a fantastic look at Phillips' makeup, but he included it alongside some old-school "Munsters" goodness in the form of vintage instructions for kids to make their own DIY Herman Munster headpiece out of a brown paper bag.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by RobZombieofficial (@robzombieofficial)

Zombie captioned the instructions by acknowledging how many fans have commented on how fantastic Phillips has looked as Herman Munster in the preview images he's shown throughout the filming process, and said that he was going to reveal the "true Hollywood secrets" to Phillips' makeup. Of course, there's no way in hell that Zombie genuinely made his prosthetic piece out of a paper bag, but after the trip down memory lane, Zombie snuck in a professional photo of Phillips in all of his Herman Munster glory. And I gotta say, he looks damn good. 

Phillips even commented on the image saying, "Man oh man I spent days up to my elbows in paper mache trying to recreate this headpiece as a kid — luckily we had an amazingly talented fx team making the magic on this film."

Monstrous Fun With Jeff Daniel Phillips

Based on the images Rob Zombie had previously shared, we could tell that Phillips was donning the iconic pale-green Herman Munster makeup made famous in "The Munsters" movies. The pale green was worn even when the show was presented in black and white, but thanks to the frequency in which the movies were played on cable television over the years, the colorized look is just as memorable. 

Phillips' makeup looks absolutely spectacular, combining the classic look and old-school inspiration with modern makeup proficiency. No shade to the makeup team on the original run of "The Munsters," but I'm sure Phillips is thrilled that he didn't have to rock the thick, clumpy eyelid makeup that Fred Gwynne had to endure. This image is the clearest look yet at Herman Munster, but fans can creep through Zombie's Instagram for additional looks like Herman in pajamas, a tropical shirt with sunglasses, and of course, hot-rod Herman. There are also some silly, fun behind-the-scenes clips Zombie's uploaded that highlight just how much fun the cast is clearly having on set.

"The Munsters" is due out sometime near Halloween 2022.

Read this next: 14 Remakes That Are Better Than The Original

The post Rob Zombie Debuts Herman's Full Makeup in The Munsters appeared first on /Film.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Tom's Hardware: From now on, Russian and Belarusian entities can only buy CPUs operating at below 25 MHz and offering performance of up to 5 GFLOPS from Taiwanese companies. This essentially excludes all modern technology, including microcontrollers for more or less sophisticated devices. Due to restrictions imposed on exports to Russia by the United States, United Kingdom, and the European Union, leading Taiwanese companies were among the first to cease working with Russia after the country started full-scale war against Ukraine in late February. This week Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) formally published its list of high-tech products that are banned from exportation to Russia and Belarus, which prevents all kinds of Taiwan-produced high-tech devices as well as tools used to make chips (whether or not they use technologies originated from the U.S., U.K., or E.U., which were already covered by restrictions) to be exported to the aggressive nation. [...] Starting today, Russian entities cannot buy chips that meet one of the following conditions from Taiwanese companies, reports DigiTimes: - Has performance of 5 GFLOPS. To put it into context, Sony's PlayStation 2 released in 2000 had peak performance of around 6.2 FP32 GFLOPS. - Operates at 25 MHz or higher. - Has an ALU that is wider than 32 bits. - Has an external interconnection with a data transfer rate of 2.5 MB/s or over. - Has more than 144 pins. - Has basic gate propagation delay time of less than 0.4 nanosecond. In addition to being unable to buy chips from Taiwanese companies, Russian entities will not be able to get any chip production equipment from Taiwan, which includes scanners, scanning electron microscopes, and all other types of semiconductor tools that can be used to make chips locally or perform reverse engineering (something that the country pins a lot of hopes on).

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The dream-like quality of "The Sopranos" has a simpler explanation than you might think. As the series delved into the Freudian subconscious of its protagonist, it also explored the unconscious mind of its creator, David Chase. Chase is known for writing and producing the smash hit HBO series that changed television forever.

For those who (somehow) haven't heard of it, "The Sopranos" is about a mafioso born into a life of crime living in suburban New Jersey. As the modern world evolves, 'this thing of ours' must learn to adapt or perish. Tony Soprano, played by the late actor James Gandolfini, finds himself in a crisis of ethics when his panic attacks begin to threaten his livelihood, forcing him to seek treatment from a psychiatrist. In order to truly get help, he must open up about his work and his feelings to a total stranger, two things he had always been told not to do. Through his sessions with Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), Tony reluctantly dusts off the cobwebs in corners of his mind that he never dared to examine.

Given the themes of Freudian psychoanalysis, the series often delves directly into Tony's inner world. This culminates in a number of dream sequences that provide the show with an almost Lynchian flair. As it turns out, the series creator was never far from dreams himself.

He Preferred His Own Mind To The Writers' Room

There are a number of extensive dream sequences throughout "The Sopranos," including an episode where Tony ends up in a coma, "Join the Club." The mafioso's unconscious mind weaves a parallel narrative for himself that questions his identity and follows the erratic logic of dreams. This feverish episode is one of twenty-four in the series that Chase wrote himself. Many of the others authored by "The Sopranos" creator include similarly surreal plotlines, including "The Test Dream," which features a twenty-one minute dream sequence. "The major theme in the dream is Tony's impotence to do what he has to do," Chase told The New York Times. The series undoubtedly thrives in a dream state that allows it to reflect on itself.

It should come as no surprise, then, that the ideas for episodes would often come to "The Sopranos" creator in his sleep. Executive producer and co-writer Terence Winter claims that Chase would often nap through his pitches. "We would just quietly leave the room and allow him to sleep," he told Vanity Fair. Chase himself referred to the writers' room meetings as "long, drawn-out bulls*** sessions." Eventually after dozing off — or appearing to — Chase would spring to his feet and "just start writing on the board," Winter said.

"Sometimes I'd be pitching, and I'd go on and on, and I'd look over, and David would be sleeping. And then we would just quietly leave the room and allow him to sleep. Sometimes he wasn't sleeping, though—he just had his eyes closed and you thought he was sleeping. It was magic. He'd say, "O.K., I think I got it." He would get up and he would just start writing on the board: Scene One, Two, Three, Four, Five."

Despite appearances, the cynical "Sopranos" creator is no harsher on the other writers than he is on himself. He admits that he would start to "bulls***... as soon as anybody." Ultimately all this "bulls***" produced the most revolutionary show in the history of television. Chase's reluctant and sleepy approach to writing provided "The Sopranos" with the rugged masculinity and dreamy surrealism that made it so unique.

Read this next: The Horror Movies We Can't Wait To See In 2022

The post David Chase Could (Literally) Write The Sopranos In His Sleep appeared first on /Film.

The coltan mines in the hills of Burundi supply minerals that makes tantalum capacitors used in most of world's electronic devices. Multidisciplinary artist Saul Williams (Slam) and Rwandan artist Anisa Uzeyman use the mines as a springboard to embark on an ambitious DIY sci-fi musical, Neptune Frost. Expansive in theme -- shedding light on the continuing exploitation of the raw materials and Black bodies in the globalist economy, providing a non-binary look at current society in a continent riddled with anti-gay laws sowed by American evangelical missionaries, examining the vast network of internet warriors against hostile authoritarian regimes -- the film is an amalgamation of the Afrofuturists' utopian version of what's to come.
 Matalusa (Bertrand Ninteretse) works at a coltan mine, enduring harsh, inhumane treatment...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]

I was reading Lloyd Kahn's excellent Gimme Shelter newsletter in which he announced his newest book Rolling Homes — Shelter on Wheels. It's 272 pages and loaded with photos of people who have converted vehicles into houses that they can drive. — Read the rest

Marcus Dunstan has been in the horror business for quite some time. Dunstan and his frequent collaborator Patrick Melton burst onto the scene as the winners of the third season of "Project Greenlight," which helped them make a monster movie called "Feast." Suddenly, the duo were the hottest new horror ticket in town, and it led to their writing of the latter "Saw" films, starting with "Saw IV." The duo have continued creating horror goodness, turning "Feast" into a trilogy, creating the popular film series "The Collector," the reboot comedy sequel "Piranha 3DD," the Thanksgiving flick "Pilgrim" from Hulu and Blumhouse's "Into the Dark" series, and now the "Blumhouse After School Special" teen horror comedy "Unhuman," which debuts this week.

Admittedly, I have an odd history with Dunstan. When I first started writing about film, I was a teenage student at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois, which happens to be Dunstan's hometown. Without sounding like an elitist prick, Macomb is located in the middle of nowhere. The fact Dunstan managed to get out of Macomb and become a successful horror filmmaker seemed impossible to my teenage mind, so of course, I viewed Dunstan as an inspirational success story. That's why, when I opened my Zoom window to interview Dunstan for "Unhuman," he was holding a copy of The Western Courier, my university's newspaper where I frequently shoehorned in articles about horror. Nearly a decade later, Dunstan has made a killer movie about teenagers and I'm writing about it in a professional capacity. It felt like we had come full-circle in a moment of horror celebration, which is precisely how "Unhuman" should make viewers feel when the credits roll.

This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

'We're A Little Tougher Than The Problems Before Us'

A lot of your work is very much aimed at an adult audience, so what made you want to explore the special brand of hell that is teenage horror?

Well, it's almost as if a reservoir was filled that just hadn't been tapped. When we worked on the "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark," it was inching towards that. I mean, we could have filled several movies with the trauma that is high school and thought, "Well, okay, if these formative years of these combustible adolescents were to be mixed with the rules of a horror movie, would the stereotypes presented often be able to hold their form?" And the exciting part was saying, "No, they probably wouldn't." It's kind of like the life that waits on the other side of high school is like -- you're teed up for the highs of love, the lows of defeat, and everything in between, and then life comes along like, "Guess what? It gets louder." So I thought, "Okay, well let's do that and go back to the memories, our most vulnerable points, find the wicked humor and how sometimes we figure out a way to deal with those traumas, and sometimes we turn it on its head and find out that we're a little tougher than the problems before us. And as long as we've got the right friends and the right heart inside, we can now bleed anything trying to attack us and go for it."

Honoring Stereotypes Instead Of Exploiting Them

Teen movies often serve as cultural time capsules because they're usually trying to strike what is cool right then and right now, which is also why so many of them age like milk in the sun. What was the process like for writing characters of a different generation and of an entirely different world compared to when you were a teenager?

Well, I wanted to take some of the iconography from the seminal movies growing up that were sort of our teachers, because I loved that we had permission to say "A Blumhouse After School Special" at the front.

Oh yeah, that was great.

After school specials did not possess a ton of subtlety in what they were going for. So between that and a reference to the "Scared Straight" program, and all these ways that when we were growing up, adults were going to tell us something through fear that's going to change us. What happens if fear actually marches in and says, "No, no, no, here's how you get it done?" It was a conversation between the stimuli of that era, like taking the jacket from the background of "The Blob" remake or "Ferris Bueller," and coming up with this constant collage of things that would always register and honor the best of the stereotypes. Like, yes, please think "athlete," please think "bully," please think "vulnerable," please think "the person still in formation wondering what their role is." Please, please, please do that. And then [we] open the door so we can tell a human story about an unhuman threat. And then really start to get into our theme of how bullying isn't always just the one person asking for it. No. We've all got the capability to be a bully over something. And it's like, "What if that lesson was going to hang around in your face and teach you until you got it?"

'The Sugar That Delivers The Theme'

The movie is also so fun, despite dealing with these very intense situations. What made you want to throw these themes through the lens of a horror comedy and not just an all-out hard blood bath of terror, because there's a lot of levity here!

Oh, bless you. Thank you. That was because we wanted to come up with a method -- what is the sugar that delivers the theme? The person that would make me laugh in a horror movie or a situation, I identified with them. And so any violence had a rise in decibel for what I thought. And I felt like, "Well, that might be the way in." Plus, it was so much harder to do that, to add some levity and keep a pulse rate going. I think that was just straight up a masochism event for myself. I just went, "Yeah, let's do it," because those movies are the ones that hang with me the longest. Especially in the realm of, when you start to get into certain things, like it says, "zombie," you can think of a lot of things. Of those, how many kind of go for this specific deal? It's not necessarily "Zombieland" in terms of yes, that's horror and humor, but no, something a little closer to the skin. It's something a little angrier, if you will -- but people reacting with humble hearts.

'Let Them All Have Layers'

I think you're right, it is that feeling of like, "I have to find humor to get through this," so I think that's a very human thing to explore. And thinking about this humanity, a lot of the teen movies that we can clearly like point to have always painted the nerdy kid as this purely innocent soul that's getting bullied and they don't deserve it, and you're playing with that trope here a little bit. Why did you want to play with this specific trope?

Far too often in movies where you're depicting folks that are kind of getting offed or pulled out of the narrative for one reason or another, the first three people to go are usually the most interesting characters. And you kind of want their reactions, because by the end, it's usually the same type of concoction of a character at the end. They'll suddenly have a witty one-liner, know a special martial art or something. And you're like, "Where were you in Act One?" It was folks with more busted pieces in themselves that ultimately led to their demise. I don't know. I just tended to identify with those folks. I definitely was in the basement in Macomb with two VCRs, putting these tapes together and battling vicious acne. And yeah, horror movies helped me get through. So those characters, they were also allies. They were also fully fleshed-out beings. You may think that this arsenal of knowledge of watching all these horror movies for years may never lead to anything, but sometimes it does. And when you're ready to unload it, there it is. I thought this was that opportunity, where there's a whole buffet of these characters representing different pillars of high school life and let them all have an arc. Let them all have layers. The stereotype wandered in to be in a comedy in this movie, but the horror movie showed up and said, "What's your drama?" And they became characters.

High School Is 'Harrowing'

But I love that you also brought up you being a teenager and watching horror movies. Had you been the teenager on this field trip from hell, how would teenage Marcus have dealt with this situation?

Oh my gosh. You know what? I have a feeling it'd be somewhere between the person who goes, "What?" and then when the bus collides, instant nose break. I think I would've been passed out the whole time in the bus, you know? Even the threat just steps right over me. Maybe not, I don't know. [laughs]

Something else that this movie explores that is unfortunately, very painfully relevant every day, is that there is such a resilience to teenagers that I don't think people give them credit for. I'm just curious if you can speak on how you were able to channel that into these characters.

I went all in on this one and I had action figures made of them because they're so doggone resilient. You know?

Oh, that's amazing.

And it all started with what happens to Brianne [Tju], who starts out really feeling like this sort of nothing, but then by the end, is this fully forged person. Without getting too much into it, it's based on having to find the protector, find the defender, find the valor in one's self that I think is what high school really is. They're kind of put into this wild universe where it really is terrifying, and you got to go in with a lot of hope. I was fortunate to have wonderful friends, awesome family, all that, and it was still harrowing. It still was. So I hope I'm respecting the question. Yes, these young people today are being asked to handle more than ever. And I think there's something haunting about that phrase, "That's my truth," because what happened to that old phrase, "the truth?"

Absolutely. How are you hoping that the teens that watch this movie walk away feeling?

I want them to feel, "That movie didn't talk down to me, didn't try to speak above me. That movie heard me."

"Unhuman" will be available on digital VOD on June 3, 2022.

Read this next: /Film's Top 10 Movies Of 2021

The post Unhuman Director Marcus Dunstan Combines Horror With a Gen Z After School Special [Interview] appeared first on /Film.

When a possum made its way into Temkin's Bar in Brooklyn, the patrons all panicked — except for a no-nonsense woman from Alaska. She expertly grabbed the critter by the scruff, which was hiding in a corner of the bar, and stoically marched it outside and down the street a bit. — Read the rest

[link] [23 comments]

This post contains major spoilers for the third episode of "Obi-Wan Kenobi."

Three episodes in and "Obi-Wan Kenobi" -- unlike its eponymous character -- is showing no signs of slowing down. Last week's two-part premiere impressed viewers with its surprisingly nuanced, emotionally compelling reintroduction of the defeated and much more rugged Jedi in exile on Tatooine. The secretive story, directed by Deborah Chow and written by Joby Harold, Hossein Amini, Stuart Beattie, delivered a blisteringly fun (if familiar) character dynamic between Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan and a young Princess Leia (played by Vivien Lyra Blair), fun cameos, and a cliffhanger ending that teased this week's long-awaited rematch between Hayden Christensen's Darth Vader and his former mentor.

But amid all the larger plot developments and Easter eggs and shocking reveals that may or may not mess with the overall continuity, I've found myself appreciating one deceptively minor, but noticeably recurring constant at the halfway point of this debut season. The sprawling cast of characters that Obi-Wan and Leia have encountered throughout this series have helped this planet-hopping adventure feel as lived-in and immersive as possible, adding a crucial element of world-building that any "Star Wars" story needs. But much of the heavy-lifting in this department has fallen to a strong stable of recognizable guest stars who have brought several layers to relatively small but significant roles in every episode so far.

From Benny Safdie to Kumail Nanjiani to Indira Varma, these potentially one-off guest stars have provided a shot in the arm in each of their respective storylines so far.

Fallen Jedi

Accomplished filmmaker ("Good Time," "Uncut Gems"), talented actor ("Good Time," "Pieces of a Woman," "Licorice Pizza"), and now ... Jedi knight? Benny Safdie might not have seemed like the most obvious or natural fit for the space opera theatrics that "Star Wars" is known for, but the American multi-hyphenate quickly proved the wisdom behind his inspired casting with his rather small -- but no less meaningful -- role in the premiere episode of "Obi-Wan Kenobi."

When we catch up with the grizzled Jedi in hiding, the script presents Obi-Wan with multiple opportunities to help innocents surrounding him ... all of whom he denies, revealing the depths to which our former hero has fallen in the decade since the events of "Revenge of the Sith." First, he passively observes a fellow worker in the meatpacking assembly line denied of his fair wages. The Obi-Wan of old, the one who hilariously convinced a death stick dealer to turn his life around, wouldn't have hesitated to right such blatant wrongs. Instead, he merely shrinks from their callous overseer and maintains his quiet and unassuming existence.

He is again faced with a chance for redemption with Nari, a surviving Jedi who coincidentally seeks asylum from the Empire on the same desert planet as Obi-Wan himself. We already witnessed how the Jedi's overwhelming desire to help others at all costs came back to bite him, when the menacing Inquisitors invade a local watering hole and threaten the owner until Nari reveals himself through the use of the Force. Now, his heartrending plea for Obi-Wan to help him -- eerily similar to what a grown-up Princess Leia would later request of Obi-Wan in a few decades --  falls on deaf ears as the more experienced Jedi turns down his younger peer.

Here, Safdie makes the absolute most of his limited screen time. His heartfelt conviction to help others is plain to see on his broad, "aw, shucks" face, putting himself at risk to save others. When he escapes from his pursuers and corners Obi-Wan in a secluded location, his almost naïve reaction to the famous Jedi's refusal to help is enough to break one's heart, even before his tragic fate is ultimately revealed. Like any good guest star, Safdie's performance deftly suggests a deeper backstory that we'll never see and provides a memorable appearance that haunts both us and our hero alike.

A Jedi And A Con-Man Walk Into A Cantina...

When "The Big Sick" and "Eternals" star Kumail Nanjiani was first announced to join the cast of "Obi-Wan Kenobi," more than a few fans hoped that he would break new ground as a South Asian Jedi. What we got instead in the second episode of the series was a pretty ingenious twist on that idea. When Obi-Wan's search for the kidnapped Leia leads him to the crime-ridden planet of Daiyu, a street kid offers some gossip of a local underground Jedi who is doing his good work for others under the very nose of the occupying Empire forces. We meet this mysterious figure, named Haja Estree, as he effortlessly uses the Force to convince a runaway mother and her Force-sensitive son that he can help them find same passage off-world -- for a hefty fee, of course.

While some viewers may have found Nanjiani's more overtly comedic take on this character at odds with the grimier cyberpunk aesthetics of the second episode, the actor's specific choices here function as the perfect way to fully realize this con man thief with a hidden heart of gold. In reality, this isn't too far off from what Harrison Ford accomplishes with his similar rogue archetype, Han Solo. Both play bumbling and sometimes outright goofy criminals who find themselves entirely in over their own heads at times, balanced out by their plucky sense of what's right and wrong. What Nanjiani manages to do with Haja, however, is find his own distinct process that plays to his unique strengths as a performer.

Playing a con man who's technically doing the right thing (smuggling innocents out from under a fascist regime is good!) but for selfish reasons (extorting them for everything they have under false pretenses is bad!) is an incredibly tricky tightrope to walk, but Nanjiani manages to be both repulsive to Obi-Wan's oh-so-enlightened sensibilities and entirely convincing when his heel-turn moment compels him to ward off the advancing Inquisitor Reva (Moses Ingram) and buy his new friends some much-needed time. While his newfound attempt to walk the straight and narrow inadvertently leads Reva to Obi-Wan's location, this only makes his arc even more believable. 

While Haja could easily reappear once more down the line, Nanjiani's work in this one episode was more than effective in bringing this oddball character to life.

A Hidden Ally

Perhaps the biggest inherent problem with prequels stems from the fact that the main character's fate is almost always a fait accompli. We know that Obi-Wan will ultimately die on the Death Star, sacrificing himself to give Luke Skywalker and his friends time to escape the clutches of the dreaded Darth Vader. In light of that fact, Obi-Wan (and young Leia, for that matter) can't exactly face mortal peril in this series beyond a sense of temporary tension. To get around this obstacle, it's far more important to use these threats to add emotional layers to characters we're already well familiar with.

Enter Indira Varma's Tala and her unique backstory. When Obi-Wan and Leia seem to have run out of luck, having trusted their fate to an innocent-looking driver who gives them a ride to the nearest port on the planet Mapuzo (but secretly sells them out), the arrival of Stormtrooper reinforcements seems to spell the end for our heroes. At the last moment, their Imperial handler shoots the soldiers dead and whisks our protagonists away to safety. Though we've seen good guys impersonate Empire officers many times before, this would seem to be one of our first live-action examples of an actual adherent of the Empire turning against them and working to undermine their goals from within.

All this inner conflict and eventual clarity is brought into sharp relief by Varma's carefully measured facial expressions and body language alone. More than serving as a convenient plot device, Tala's unexpected help works to restore Obi-Wan's rapidly dwindling trust in others while showing her own innate bravery to, as Obi-Wan puts it, "risk everything." Utterly selfless examples of doing good even when it costs everything have been hard to come by in "Obi-Wan Kenobi" thus far, now that the Jedi have been all but wiped out. When Tala explains why she does what she does, alluding to "mistakes" she made in joining up with the Empire in the first place, her haunted eyes tell us everything that needs to be said.

Throughout the course of his journey, Obi-Wan keeps coming across kindred spirits -- some of whom he let down, others who have risked it all to help him. As the series progresses, here's hoping the creative team keeps finding new guest stars to embody these roles and guide Obi-Wan back to the Jedi path.

Read this next: The 15 Best Star Wars Side Characters

The post In Appreciation for Obi-Wan Kenobi's Exceptionally Talented One-Off Guest Stars appeared first on /Film.

[link] [67 comments]

20 consumer groups from 18 European countries are launching a coordinated action asking authorities to pass regulations on loot boxes. From a report: The groups are lending their support to a new report from the Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC) entitled "Insert Coin: How the Gaming Industry Exploits Consumers Using Loot Boxes." The consumer groups are calling for a number of measures, including "a ban on deceptive design, extra protections for minors, and transactional transparency." The report accuses companies of exploiting consumers by using mechanisms that it claims are "predatory" and "fostering addiction." While calls for legislation on loot boxes have been taking place for a number of years, this new action is notable due to the number of nations being represented in a single coordinated campaign.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Ever have an idea that you regret the instant you commit to realising it? That's how I feel about my decision to rank all of Elden Ring's major locations. It turns out that, not only are there a lot of locations in Elden Ring, but the definition of a distinct location is largely up for debate. The opening area of Limgrave, for example, could be as many as four separate regions (East Limgrave, West Limgrave, Stormhill and Weeping Peninsula) depending on how you interpret it. That's not to mention all of the dungeons, caves, chapels, and other landmarks scattered throughout the Lands Between.

Yet like a newly minted Wretch squaring up to Margit the Fell Omen for the first time, I am prepared to plough on despite the pain that awaits. Below you'll find a comprehensive ranking of Elden Ring's major regions and legacy dungeons, based on the admittedly woolly criteria of how fun and interesting each location is to explore. So grab your map, put on your boots, and update your life insurance policy as we embark upon a grand tour of From Software's magnificent fantasy realm.

Read more

The list of people who have worked on both "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" is longer than you might think. Apart from the obvious installations from director J.J. Abrams -- who directed two high profile "Star Trek" films, followed by two high-profile "Star Wars" films -- multiple supporting players and actors have taken jobs across both franchises. Perhaps most notably, George Takei played both Sulu on the 1966 "Star Trek," as well as a character named General Lok Durd in "Star Wars: The Clone Wars." Brent Spiner, who played Data on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" also voiced a character named Senator Gall Travis on "Star Wars Rebels."

Numerous hard-working character actors would take gigs on both sides of the sci-fi fence, as it were, with "The Clone Wars" also providing gigs for Ron Perlman (the Reman guard in "Star Trek: Nemesis"), Ian Abercrombie (who played two different roles on "Star Trek: Voyager"), Olivia D'Abo, Brian George, Clancy Brown, and George Coe. Also notable: Simon Pegg played Scotty in the 2009 Trek film, as well as an alien in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." 

The most recent iteration of "Star Trek" is "Strange New Worlds," currently in the middle of its first season. On that show, actress Christina Chong plays La'an Noonien-Singh, the security chief on board the U.S.S. Enterprise, and the descendant of Khan (Ricardo Montalbán) from "Space Seed" and "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" (also "Star Trek Into Darkness," but that hardly counts). 

In an interview with ComicBook.com, Chong revealed that, seven years prior to "Strange New Worlds," she almost appeared in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." But her scenes were cut. 

The Enormity Of The Set

Chong's character in "The Force Awakens" wasn't set to have any lines, but she was meant to serve as an important symbol for the character of Rey. Her character was to appear on the planet of Jakku while Rey (Daisy Ridley) was still living as a lonesome scrap salvager. Chong relates the story of what it was like to shoot a "Star Wars" film in the middle of the desert in the United Arab Emirates: 

"I was on set the first day of the shoot in Abu Dhabi in the middle of the desert. I remember I had this whole purple headdress thing on and all this special makeup, so I was some kind of race of something. They were like, 'Look, it's only a small role, but it'll be filming in Abu Dhabi and it'll be great.'"

The set, Chong recalls, was enormous and bustling, appropriate for a production of that size. Chong had underestimated the grandiosity of it all, and even recalls seeing Abrams in a golf cart wrangling the huge number of people required to shoot:

"My scene was with Daisy Ridley, and it was at the beginning, the very first day of the shoot. They had to drive us. I remember just seeing the dot in the middle of the desert, and that was where the set was and then arriving and it being so huge. J.J. Abrams, there were three units on that section of the desert and he was driving to each unit via golf buggy, setting it up and then going to the next, and I guess he probably had to monitor with him on the buggy, I don't know. But the scale of that, that was my first time with such a huge set like that."

Someone's Alien Mother

What was her scene about? Chong says she cannot rightly remember. She was a background character, but was to interact with Ridley. The character of Rey is an orphan who never knew her parents, and much of "The Force Awakens" entails her emergence from solitude into something resembling a found family. Her actual blood lineage would eventually come into play in Abram's "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker," wherein Rey would -- in a parallel for La'an Noonien-Singh -- find she was the granddaughter of the villainous Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid). 

Chong's role was to be symbolic. She was an alien mother with a child, meant to symbolize that families still exist on Jakku, highlighting Rey's isolation: 

"My scene involved explosions and crying, and I had a son. I can't remember exactly what the scene was about, but basically, Rey is alone, and I'm leaving with my son on this ship and she's there on her own in the desert."

There is a First Order attack on Jakku, which sees Rey piloting a rickety old flying saucer -- the famed Millennium Falcon -- to escape. Chong's character wasn't to be seen again. 

Getting Paid Twice

Chong's scene was ultimately cut for reasons unrevealed -- likely for one of the usual reasons scenes get cut from blockbusters: pacing, tone, or length. She has no regrets. In fact, thanks to the need for "Star Wars" reshoots, Chong also has to re-do some of her scene against a greenscreen at Pinewood Studios in London. In order to reshoot the scene, Chong had to essentially be hired a second time, meaning a second paycheck. Of course she returned: 

"I saw all the stormtroopers and they were rehearsing their movement and stuff. It was incredible," she says. "That was an amazing experience in Abu Dhabi. So random. And then we actually had to re-shoot because, I can't remember, something went wrong and they had to re-shoot it, but they re-shot it at Pinewood in London with a green screen. So I essentially got paid twice to do that job and ended up on the cutting room floor, which is amazing."

 Chong recently appeared in the 2021 film "Tom and Jerry," and has previously acted in "Doctor Who," "Black Mirror," the final season of "24," and the short-lived ABC series "Of Kings and Prophets." You can see her now on "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," which is currently streaming on Paramount+.

Read this next: The Best Star Wars Books Ever Written

The post A Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Star Almost Popped Up in Star Wars First appeared first on /Film.

Everyone's favorite disembodied hand is back and as delightfully ghoulish (and surprisingly articulate) as ever. Tim Burton's riff on the classic story originating from the old "The Addams Family" television series is rapidly approaching. Titled "Wednesday" and fittingly centering on the young daughter of the frightful Addams clan, the live-action Netflix series is bound to lend a quintessentially Burton twist on the familiar family of supernatural misfits. Gomez, Morticia, Pugsley, Wednesday, and their handsy, welcome intruder known only as "Thing" make up the core of this lovable group of enduring characters, all of whom have received various reimaginings over the decades and are set for their biggest shakeup yet.

"Wednesday" promises to bring a heady mix of both old and the new, though the newest teaser promoting the upcoming series is sure to press all those nostalgic buttons among fans eager to get their first official look at whatever Tim Burton has up his sleeve. Viewers will have to wait a bit longer, as everybody involved is at least upfront about this latest "marketing ploy" that shows no actual footage from the series. But at least we know when to expect it, with Netflix's self-styled "Geek Week" beginning on June 6, 2022. Still, you can check out the teaser below!

Wednesday Teaser

"Enjoy this marketing ploy," the official "Wednesday" social media account on Twitter cheekily captioned their new teaser for the series. Featuring nothing but the disturbingly sentient hand known as Thing walking viewers through frenzied warnings about "a grave terror" approaching who we know to be Wednesday Addams herself, the teaser boasts all the same hand-related hijinks that fans will remember from the original show.

Tim Burton's "Wednesday" has previously been described as a sort of sleuthing show with a central murder-mystery that Wednesday will have to solve. The 8-episode series stars Jenna Ortega as Wednesday. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzmán have been cast as her parents Morticia and Gomez, respectively. The rest of the ensemble includes Gwendoline Christie, Christina Ricci, Hunter Doohan, Percy Hynes White, Joy Sunday, Emma Myers, Riki Lindhome, Jamie McShane, Georgie Farmer, Naomi Ogawa, and Moosa Mostafa. Burton, of course, will direct the series alongside Gandja Monteiro and James Marshall, with Al Gough and Miles Millar serving as showrunners.

Expect the series to premiere on Netflix later this year.

Wednesday is a sleuthing, supernaturally infused mystery charting 16-year-old Wednesday Addams' years as a student at Nevermore Academy. Season One will follow Wednesday as she attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a monstrous killing spree that has terrorized the local town, and solve the murder mystery that embroiled her parents 25 years ago — all while navigating her new and very tangled relationships at Nevermore.

Read this next: 20 Movies About Time Travel Ranked Worst To Best

The post Tim Burton's Wednesday Teaser: Thing is Back and Handsier Than Ever appeared first on /Film.

Gentle giants, cuddly friends, vicious monsters, deadly dragons: Even the earliest film depictions of dinosaurs evidence our complicated relationship with Earth’s prehistoric thunder lizards. Windsor McCay’s puckish Gertie the Dinosaur might be stubborn, but she’s unlikely to eat you, and might even dance if you ask…

Read more...

Slight spoilers ahead for "Obi-Wan Kenobi."

The "Obi-Wan Kenobi" series rightfully got "Star Wars" fans talking with the news that Hayden Christensen — who'd previously played Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader in the prequel films — would be reprising the character in the new Disney+ series. It'd been nearly 20 years since the actor had stepped into the character's menacing black boots, and though it's been amazing to see Christensen getting another chance with a character that many "fans" have openly ridiculed, it was hard to ignore the other Vader in the room.

Christensen might have been the face of (suitless) Vader in the prequels, but it was James Earl Jones that first lent his legendary pipes to the character in 1977, and continued to do for years after. Vader is known as much for his voice as he is for his iconic black helmet and equally-recognizable breath. So as exciting as it was to hear the news about Christensen, it rightfully got fans wondering: When Vader eventually spoke, who would be providing his voice this time around? Fortunately, with the third episode of "Kenobi," we've finally got our answer.

He Is Our Vader

After our first look at Vader in "Part II," Obi-Wan's rival is finally suiting up and joining the fight. Of course, with the suit inevitably comes the modulated voice — and fans can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that it is once again James Earl Jones voicing Vader ... sort of.

Though Jones was confirmed in the credits for the episode, just like old times, it's possible that his voice was modulated with the help of cloning software. "Kenobi" also credited Respeecher — the same technology that reworked Mark Hamill's voice for "The Mandalorian" and "The Book of Boba Fett" — for voice conversion services in the episode. It's hard to know whether those services were applied only to Jones' vocals, but things have definitely been tweaked. It's also worth noting that when Hayden Christensen was asked if Jones would return to voice the character, he replied with a simple, elusive "No comment."

It's been over five years since the actor last voiced the character, in the standalone film "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" — and though he hadn't lost his touch one bit, fans noticed a difference in his voice even then. Of course, things do tend to change with age. Jones, 91, has been in the game for a long time. It's not surprising that Lucasfilm would use technology to turn back the clock, but it definitely wasn't their only option. Other actors (Matt Sloan and Scott Lawrence, to be precise) have since stepped in to voice Darth Vader in various projects, so the choice to use Respeecher is, well ... a little disappointing.

Still, it's still nice to hear that unforgettable voice in any capacity. Many fans wondered whether Jones would continue to portray Vader in "Star Wars" projects moving forward. Jones is obviously still passionate about Vader, and hearing his voice once more was a nice surprise for longtime fans. Jones definitely brought the heat as Vader — and knowing that he and Christensen are reunited is likely satisfying regardless.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi" is now streaming on Disney+.

Read this next: Actors Who Died In 2021

The post Who is Voicing Darth Vader in Obi-Wan Kenobi? It's Complicated appeared first on /Film.

This post contains spoilers for "Barry" season 3, as well as "Breaking Bad," "Mad Men," and "The Sopranos."

A number of game-changing events happened in the latest episode of "Barry." After the motorcycle chase and the reveal with Chris's wife Sharon, it might be easy to forget that, not long before, Barry (Bill Hader) did the most psychotic, unforgivable act in the whole show so far: he sent a text to Sally by using the voice-to-text feature on his phone, loudly, in a public place, with zero concern for how he's coming across to the strangers in the store around him. 

The show then cuts to a perplexed Sally (Sarah Goldberg) reading his rambling text aloud to her agent, which includes the part where one of the store employees told Barry to keep his voice down. (Barry does not proofread his voice-texts before sending them.) "You dodged a bullet," her agent tells her, and neither of them fully understand just how correct she is. Not only is Barry an increasingly unhinged murderer, but if he'd still been living with Sally, she easily could've been caught in the crossfire of this episode's events.

Although Sally still doesn't fully understand how dangerous Barry is, the second half of season 3 has her more aware than ever of his many red flags. The previous episode ("Crazytimesh*tshow") had Barry attempt to open up to Sally by calmly offering to psychologically torture her boss. There's a split second moment where it seems like Sally might actually be into it, but the show smartly decides to have her react in a more realistic manner. "I need you to get away from me," she says.

It's yet another low in Barry and Sally's relationship, one that raises a big question for the show going forward: is Sally going to figure out Barry's a killer? And what's she going to do when she does?

Only A Matter Of Time

All of Barry's past misdeeds have been coming back to haunt him this season, thanks to Fuches (Stephen Root). Assuming Barry survives his recent encounter with Sharon (it's hard to imagine season 4 playing out with Barry dead), he'll still have to deal with his old army buddy Albert (James Hiroyuki Liao) as well as Janice Moss's father (Robert Wisdom).  

And yet, the murder that suspiciously hasn't gotten much focus yet is the murder of Ryan (Tyler Jacob Moore) back in the pilot episode. Fuches approached Ryan's father with information about Barry, but the character hasn't shown up since. Although Barry didn't technically do the deed himself, the only reason he ever met Sally or Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler) is because he was hired to murder Ryan. The police found a grainy video of Barry at the scene of the crime but no one in the acting group recognized it as him, because nobody knew Barry yet. 

"If this guy was someone you knew," Janice said about the blurry image in the beginning of season 1, "you'd recognize him." It was only after Janice spent a dinner with Barry and looked at the photo again that she figured it out for certain. For Sally to start suspecting Barry of murder, all anyone has to do is get her to look at that image again, now that she's spent years with the man. Even ignoring the photo, all one would have to do at this point is remind her that Ryan died right after Barry joined her acting class, and that Barry was at Cousineau's house with her the night Janice disappeared. If Ryan's dad decides to contact Sally, that should be all the push she needs. 

A Familar Plot Point

With most shows centering around a male anti-hero, a major driving source of tension in the early seasons is whether or not the character's wife/love interest will find out about his double life and how she'll respond when she does. "Breaking Bad" leaned far more heavily into this plot, as Skyler (Anna Gunn) was deeply suspicious of Walt's methcapades from the moment they began. The early seasons of "Mad Men" had Don (Jon Hamm) hiding major aspects of his life from Betty (January Jones), with Betty finding out about his infidelity in the season 1 finale and about his stolen identity in season 3. 

Most shows like this follow through on the storyline. Skyler doesn't simply turn Walt in, but slowly compromises herself to the point where she's his partner-in-crime by season 4. Betty divorces Don, but continues to be a prominent character on the show whose relationship with Don evolves a lot over the subsequent four seasons. 

Whenever or however Sally finds out about Barry's secret, it's likely the show won't take the easy way out by having Barry kill her off quickly afterward. The show's already dedicated two and a half seasons to exploring her as a character, giving Sally her own storylines where Barry's barely a factor. To end the storyline with Barry feeling forced to kill her to protect himself would be lazy and predictable, and so far season 3 of "Barry" has been anything but. 

Parallels Between Cousineau And Sally

Just as Cousineau's discovery of Barry's crimes didn't stop Cousineau's overall character arc of trying to make up for his past mistakes, Sally's discovery likely won't put a stop to her journey of being an up-and-coming actress. Instead, it'll complicate things. Cousineau's quest for redemption -- shown most clearly in this latest episode where he offers a woman he previously blackballed out of Hollywood the chance to direct her own TV show -- is complicated by how all this forgiveness he's earning is the result of him choosing to let a murderer get away scot-free. He might be making amends, but it's all because of him letting Barry off the hook, which is arguably the worst thing he's ever done.

Sally's character arc on the show so far centers around her trying to be an honest artist, someone who climbs the ladder without selling out. These aspirations hit their first real stumble in the season 2 finale, where she backed out of her truthful performance of what her abusive relationship with her ex-husband Sam was like, which results in her receiving a ton of acclaim from the talent agents watching. Season 3 finds Sally as the writer and star of her own show, but her success here is built on a lie. Not as big as Cousineau's lie, but a lie nonetheless. The latest episode features yet another compromise from Sally, as she agrees to be a writer on a show she clearly doesn't respect, because there's no acting projects currently available for her. Although I like Sally more than many Barry viewers, I don't think she's above compromising her morals if it means the advancement of her career. 

Sally's Tunnel Vision

It's hard to imagine Sally ever being an accomplice to Barry's crimes, but then again, it was also hard to imagine season 2 Skyler helping Walt out like she did throughout season 4. When Skyler found out in "Breaking Bad," she first attempted to break away from Walt, but Walt had trapped her in their marriage and she slowly came around to his side. When her brother-in-law gets shot, Skyler realizes she can do some good by using Walt's meth money to help pay for Hank's medical bills, and it's all downhill for Skyler from there.

Perhaps the more likely scenario for Sally is that she treats Barry's assassin career in much the same way Tony's family thinks of it in "The Sopranos." Carmela, Meadow, and AJ are all aware that their father is a mob boss, but none of them ever seem interested in exploring what Tony's job actually means. In season 6, Meadow and Carmela tell Tony a secret regarding a man in his crew's sexuality, neither of them seeming to fully understand that they're signing the man's death warrant. Because Tony's life of violence benefits them, Tony's family members are content to not think about it most of the time. 

On the same note, it's not too difficult to picture Sally overlooking Barry's terrifying flaws if it's convenient for her. "She has this complete tunnel vision," Sarah Goldberg said about her character, describing Sally's thought process as, "'If I can just be a famous actress, I'm going to be okay" Her fatal flaw is that her career ambitions lead her to be thoughtlessly cruel to those around her (see: poor Natalie), and Barry will almost certainly try to take advantage of that.

Maybe She'll Reject Barry Completely

When Barry offers to break into Sally's boss's house and psychologically torture her, Sally almost immediately pushes him away. Even though she's furious at the woman, she turns down the chance for extreme retribution. With that in mind, maybe Sally is less similar to Tony's family and more like Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), who sets herself apart in "The Sopranos" by being the only person to refuse to get dragged into Tony's world.

Melfi's big, defining moment on "The Sopranos" came in the season 3 episode "Employee of the Month," where she's attacked and raped in the parking garage of her office building. The police are useless in bringing the rapist to justice, so Melfi is tempted to tell Tony about what happened. She knows if she tells Tony about the situation, he won't hesitate to hunt down and murder the guy. It was a potential crossroads moment for the show; if she had told Tony about what happened, Melfi and Tony's relationship likely would've gone in a darker direction than it did, with Melfi being morally compromised and Tony having something to hang over her head. Instead, she chooses not to say anything, and ends up serving as the show's voice of wisdom. When the show's only clear-cut "good" character rejects mafia violence, that serves as the show's clearest condemnation of who Tony is and what he does. 

Based on Sally's moments in season 3 so far, it's easy to see her going in a similar direction: maybe she differentiates herself from Cousineau by being the first person Barry's close to who clearly, definitively condemns his actions. But if Sarah Goldberg's recent statements about her character is any indication, this likely won't be the case.

Sally's Monster

"I am not going to be the moral barometer for this show," Goldberg told Variety in an interview regarding season 3. "I'm so used to that happening to women on television, where there's no desire to see unlikable women on TV, so the characters get pushed to be more and more likable." And she's certainly got a point: so many anti-hero TV shows have, often in response to the fanbase idolizing the main character too much, decided to place the major female characters into a position of moral superiority. This could be especially seen in the final season of "The Sopranos" where Melfi decides Tony's a sociopath and kicks him out of her life for good. The purpose seemed to be to make it as clear as possible that Tony's a bad guy and that Melfi is in the right, but it felt rushed and overly simplistic. Lorraine Bracco herself was unsatisfied with her character's departure. 

Behind the scenes, Goldberg seems adamant that Sally doesn't receive the same treatment: "I made it very clear, she is as morally bankrupt as the rest of them. It just manifests in a completely different way. And these are all characters who are making very selfish decisions. They could all easily be better versions of themselves, but they're choosing that instant gratification instead."

Goldberg gives viewers a heads up that some of Sally's most "unlikable" moments as a character are coming up in the final episodes of the season: "If she's unlikable, let's make her a monster. And that was my goal for Season 3. So Episodes 7 and 8, you will see some of Sally's monster, I can tell you that much."

Embracing Organic Character Development

More so than most shows of its kind, "Barry" is very willing to let its characters be unlikable. Everyone here is deluded to a certain extent, everyone's constantly doing things we don't approve of. When it comes to Sally in particular, the show's never bothered with giving her the sort of moral high ground that Melfi got in "The Sopranos," even if Sally is objectively not as bad as the murderers that make up most of the show. 

It's a refreshing change of pace in a TV landscape where writers feel the need to repeatedly underline that their anti-hero main character is not someone to be emulated, often by having a major female character be, as Goldberg put it, the show's moral barometer. After Skyler on "Breaking Bad" was received with an absurd level of misogyny-fueled backlash, the anti-hero TV shows that followed seemed to be writing from a defensive position, trying to pre-emptively address the sort of arguments aimed at characters like Skyler or Betty or Carmela. 

"Barry" takes a different approach; instead of trying to respond to the type of viewers who get disproportionately enraged by flawed female characters, the show ignores them entirely. It's reassuring to know that no matter which way the show decides to handle Sally's inevitable realization that Barry's a hitman, the vocal section of the fanbase that can't stand Sally doesn't seem to be a factor in their decision. "Barry" seems content to allow Sally to make decisions most organic to her character, regardless of how unlikable it makes her. It's this choice that's allowed "Barry" to be one of the most surprising and compelling shows on TV right now, and what's kept it going strong for three seasons straight. 

Read this next: The Most Ruthless Jimmy McGill Moments From Better Call Saul

The post On Season 3 of Barry, How Long Until Sally Finds Out? appeared first on /Film.

An advanced persistent threat (APT) actor aligned with Chinese state interests has been observed weaponizing the new zero-day flaw in Microsoft Office to achieve code execution on affected systems. "TA413 CN APT spotted [in-the-wild] exploiting the Follina zero-day using URLs to deliver ZIP archives which contain Word Documents that use the technique," enterprise security firm Proofpoint said in

Although data scientists say that remote working — which surged after Covid hit two years ago — is here to stay, according to Forbes, Elon Musk is having none of it. In fact, in leaked email (see below), the Tesla CEO told his staff they can either come back to the office or quit. — Read the rest

Netflix's hit comic book series "The Umbrella Academy" is heading back for a third season. Based on the comics by Gerard Way, "The Umbrella Academy" was a smash hit. Its quirky mix of eccentric characters, cool powers, and sci-fi musings make it one of the most original shows you can stream. The show follows the Umbrella Academy -- a group of seven children who were born on the same day with extraordinary powers. Adopted by Sir Reginald Hargreeves, the children are fashioned into superheroes who will one day save the world ... but we soon find that the grown-up Hargreeves kids are more of a dysfunctional family these days.

And it takes some wrangling to get them all together to stop the apocalypse.

Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher, and Justin H. Min will all return as the Umbrella Academy in the long-awaited third season.

But a lot has happened since their first appearance.

We've seen Vanya cause an apocalyptic event, Diego become obsessed with saving JFK, and Five take on the time-traveling Commission. And with all the twists and turns that come with such an intriguing series, it can be tough to keep track of everything.

Here's everything you'll need to remember to watch Season 3.

Who Are The Umbrella Academy?

If you've made it this far, you're probably already familiar with the Hargreeves kids, but here's a quick reminder:

Tom Hopper stars as Luther (Number One): Born with super strength and durability, he's transformed into a monstrous human/ape hybrid after a mission goes wrong and his father is forced to save his life with an experimental serum.

David Castañeda stars as Diego (Number Two): The ability to change the course of projectiles in mid-air, Diego favors throwing knives and close combat. His former love Detective Patch was killed during season 1 by Cha-Cha. During season 2, Diego becomes obsessed with saving JFK after he time travels to 1963.

Emily Raver-Lampman stars as Allison (Number Three): Her ability allows her to mind control anyone to do her bidding, by simply saying "I heard a rumor..." However, this got her into trouble when her husband realized she had used her power on him, as well as their daughter, Claire.

Robert Sheehan stars as Klaus (Number Four): The ability to speak to the dead, he's haunted as a child by the spirits of the deceased ... but is later joined by his dead brother, who often helps Klaus during their adventures. He later gains the ability to evoke the dead, making them corporeal.

Aidan Gallagher stars as Five (Number Five): A time-traveling hero who can also teleport, he accidentally ends up stuck in the future but returns to warn the Academy about the impending apocalypse.

Justin H. Min stars as Ben (Number Six): Killed in action before the series began, Ben appears as a ghost to Klaus. He was able to summon an eldritch horror from within his chest while alive and uses this power during the season 1 finale when Klaus makes him corporeal.

Elliot Page stars as Viktor (formerly Vanya): Convinced by Sir Reginald that he has no powers at all, Viktor is in fact the most powerful, and most dangerous, of the Umbrella Academy. Able to amplify sound to catastrophic levels, it's Viktor who brings about the apocalypse in season 1, but after becoming amnesiac in season 2, learns to control his power. Viktor was originally named Vanya during season 1 and 2 but has since transitioned.

What Happened At The End Of Season 2?

The Umbrella Academy may have averted the apocalypse in season 1, but it looks as though it only bought them some extra time.

A young boy, Harlan, who Viktor meets in 1963, is able to absorb his power but is not able to control it, echoing the events of season 1. This time around, the Umbrella Academy is there to help out, but in a troubling stand-ff, the Commission has turned up in huge numbers after The Handler told them to "prepare for war."

Worse still, Diego's new friend Lila has turned out to be The Handler's daughter ... and takes on the Academy in a brutal fight, revealing her own power: the ability to channel anyone else's powers.

As Harlan loses control, Viktor is able to take his powers back, narrowly averting another world-ending event. After defeating the Commission, the new head of the organization, Herb, grants the Academy a briefcase to get back to their own time. But disaster strikes...

Their meddling changed the timeline after they met with their adopted father, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, in 1963. And in this new, alternate timeline the Umbrella Academy is no more and has been replaced by something else -- the Sparrow Academy.

Who Are The Sparrow Academy?

"The Umbrella Academy" season 2 introduced the Sparrow Academy -- a new team of superpowers individuals who appear in place of the original Umbrella Academy in the new, alternate timeline. But who exactly are they?

Most obviously, we see the return of Ben, who previously only appeared to Klaus but crossed over during a touching scene with Viktor in season 2. Here though, it looks as though he avoided death entirely, and is depicted in his full Sparrow Academy uniform alongside his team. And he has no idea who the Umbrella Academy are.

The rest of the Sparrow Academy is made up of five entirely different children: Marcus (Justin Cornwell) is the new leader, though his powers are currently unknown. Fei (Britne Oldford) is able to summon a murder of crows to do her bidding. Alphonso (Jake Epstein) is able to transfer his own pain to others, attacking people by harming himself. Sloane (Genesis Rodriguez) and Jayme (Cazzie David) are also a mystery whose powers are unknown. Christopher is a floating cube with the power to alter temperature and induce fear.

How did they come together? Well, it looks as though Sir Reginald Hargreeves recruited an entirely different set of children after encountering the Umbrella Academy kids in 1963. Clearly unimpressed with them, he created the Sparrow Academy instead. Ouch.

What goes down between the Umbrella and Sparrow Academies remains to be seen, but judging by the recent trailer for "The Umbrella Academy" season 3, it looks as though they'll be facing off with each other real soon.

Who Is Sir Reginal Hargreeves, Really?

The great mind behind the Umbrella Academy, Sir Reginal Hargreeves is an enigmatic man.

A harsh taskmaster, we saw how brutal Sir Reginald's Umbrella Academy training could be throughout season 1, and in season 2 we got to meet the man in his youth. The trouble is, it didn't exactly shed any light on the man. Instead, it shrouded him in even more secrets. Who is he? Why was he on the grassy knoll during JFK's assassination? Most importantly, why was he involved with the shadowy organization, Majestic-12?

These questions unfortunately go unanswered, but there was something of a reveal when it comes to who Sir Reginald really is. Before killing off the entire Majestic-12 group, Sir Reginald removes his face, which is revealed to be an intricate mask, revealing a monstrous, somewhat alien head beneath.

Unfortunately, we only get a glimpse of this from behind, but the big reveal points towards Sir Reginal Hargreeves being of otherworldly origin.

Of course, that throws his motives into doubt. What does he want with the Umbrella Academy, and why is he trifling with the events on Earth? And why did he give advanced technology to Majestic-12 in exchange for permission to explore the dark side of the moon?

We're not sure whether this will come up again in season 3, but it has to eventually. Right?

What Happened To Pogo?

Ah yes, poor old Pogo. Throughout season 1 of "The Umbrella Academy," he's seen as a faithful servant to Sir Reginald and the Academy. Unfortunately, he meets a sticky end during the season 1 finale when Viktor finds out he knew all about his powers.

That's right -- Sir Reginald had been keeping his abilities a secret ... and Pogo knew.

Confronted by Viktor during the character's breakout, he's thrown across the room with a psionic blast and is impaled on a set of moose antlers adorning the wall. But it looks as though that's not the end for him...

Season 2 introduced us to a young Pogo and gave us more background on his and Sir Reginald's relationship. He was essentially an ordinary chimpanzee when he was captured and taken to a secret laboratory to be trained for us aboard a space mission. Sir Reginald took a great interest in Pogo when he began to show extraordinary intellect, and when the mission went awry, Reggie saved his life with the use of a special serum -- presumably the same one used to save Luther. At this point, Pogo's development improved dramatically, and he essentially became sapient. Years later, Pogo is introduced as Sir Reginald's assistant and master of house at The Umbrella Academy.

That is until he was killed by Viktor.

Thankfully, it looks as though he will be back in season 3. After all, with a new timeline, his death was completely averted. But in the recently revealed trailer, Pogo looks a bit ... different. He's now an "enforcer" for the Sparrow Academy. What that means, remains to be seen. But it sounds as though he'll have a far more brutal role than the Pogo we know and love.

What Happened To The Commission?

Ever since Five's return to the present, The Commission has been trying to put things right.

Well, sort of. The Temps Commission oversees the entire space-time continuum, and in theory, ensures that everything that is supposed to happen, happens. Unfortunately, The Handler (Kate Walsh) has taken control ... and by the end of season 2, it's all about tying up loose ends and getting rid of Five.

After the Umbrella Academy stops the apocalypse from happening, The Handler travels to 1963 with an army of agents, each with their own briefcase. Viktor manages to take them out, but The Handler instructs Lila to finish them off while she tries to recruit young Harlan herself. Failing in her plan, she instead shoots each of the Umbrella Academy siblings, taunting Five, who reveals that it was The Handler herself who killed Lila's parents. Lila confronts her mother who, in a shocking twist, shoots her before being killed by the last remaining Swede -- one of The Handler's top assassins.

But Five is able to rewind time just a few minutes ... and this time disarms The Handler.

It plays out almost exactly the same, except the Umbrella Academy (and Lila) all survive, while The Handler is once again killed by the last Swede. In the wake of everything that's happened, it looks as though The Commission is under new management when Herb teleports into 1963. He reveals that he's been made acting chair until a vote can establish a new board.

Most importantly, he gives the Umbrella Academy a briefcase to get them back to their own time.

And that puts them right back to where they started ... but with the Sparrow Academy in their place.

Read this next: The 15 Best Netflix Original Series Of 2021 Ranked

The post Everything You Need to Remember to Watch The Umbrella Academy Season 3 appeared first on /Film.

[link] [63 comments]

Legacy Release Version 4.0. HOI4 Version 1.11.11. Click 'Read More' for patchnotes / installation instructions.