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The Nvidia RTX 4090 is shaping up to be the most powerful GeForce card ever, and all signs point towards it being the new king of the GPU jungle.

As the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4000 flagship, the RTX 4090 represents the best from team green's new pixel pushers based on its new Ada Lovelace architecture. Unfortunately, with great power comes high prices, and you'll need to pay a high price to get your hands on this best graphics card contender.

To help digest all the latest Nvidia RTX 4090 news, we've gathered everything we know about its release date, price, specs, and benchmarks.

RELATED LINKS: RTX 4000 - everything we know, GeForce Now RTX 3080 review, Best graphics card

Wanda Maximoff has used her chaos magic for destruction and creation both. We've seen her fend off an alien army, take a city hostage, fight alongside the Avengers and once, she even conjured Teyonah Parris. But her most famous trick yet has been the magic of her mysterious Disappearing Accent, which has long been the cause of memes and controversial continuity. Fans and MCU creatives alike have spent years floating theories to explain why Wanda's Sokovian lilt flies in and out of existence: is she simply adapting to her time in the States? Or keeping her identity secret by masquerading the accent? Last year, "WandaVision" poked fun at this with a couples jabs from the scene-stealing Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn): "My, that accent really comes and goes, doesn't it?"

But far beyond just making fun, the MCU miniseries turned Wanda's accent into a significant plot point. What began as an inside joke was actually pointing the audience in the direction of piecing together the series' big mystery. So now that we're all paying attention, it's not hard to notice Wanda's accent in "Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness" trailers. It's present, but only sometimes. So what can we learn from Wanda's accent this time around?

Accent Gate Strikes Again

The answer to our pondering comes directly from Sam Raimi himself, the filmmaker helming Doctor Strange's journey through the multiverse. The next time we see Benedict Cumberbatch's former Sorcerer Supreme on the big screen, he'll be dealing with the fallout of his mistakes in "No Way Home," and facing off with a mysterious set of "familiar" adversaries. A bright spot for both the sorcerer and the audience is the return of Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff, her first outing since the events of 'WandaVision," presumably teaming up with Strange to use their magic for good. Or so we thought — some key moments from the trailer hinted that Wanda hasn't totally put her Westview days behind her. But what if that's not the Wanda we know and love? Speaking to Fandango, Raimi said:

"The movie is a journey into the multiverse, so you do see different iterations of Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange, and even Lizzie Olsen's character of Wanda Maximoff. So, the actors have to play that. It's a great challenge for them and great fun to direct them playing these altered versions of themselves."

The promise of alternate versions of Strange has been clear from the very beginning, which only widens the possibility for variants of his friends and foes, like Mordo and apparently Wanda too. Based on the trailer, this particular Wanda variant also has her killer sense of style, since she's sporting the classic Scarlet Witch costume — but that and her immense power may be where the similarities end. Wanda's villain era is likely to continue with this variant, who doesn't seem to share her regret for breaking bad. So if you enjoyed seeing Olsen play close to a villain in her MCU series, "Multiverse of Madness" will be a treat.

And so the never-ending saga of the MCU's Accent Gate continues: Elizabeth Olsen is back to practicing her Sokovian because the film introduces a Wanda variant who never found a reason to masquerade it. This opens a ton of possibilities: did this version of Wanda ever join the Avengers? Has she lost her brother? Is she also searching for a way to her family? This is just the start of questions that "Multiverse of Madness" may have to answer, along with one of the fanbase's most heavily debated questions — who would win in a fight, the Scarlet Witch or Doctor Strange?

Answers are due to arrive on May 4, 2022, when "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" arrives in theaters.

Read this next: Every MCU Post-Credits Sequence Ranked From Worst To Best

The post Why Wanda Maximoff Has Her Accent Back in Doctor Strange 2 appeared first on /Film.

If you're a moviegoer of a certain age, you probably watched Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker evolve from reckless teenager to mature adult in Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" films while undergoing a similar journey in your own life, sans the super-powers and impromptu dancing. (Who am I kidding? Of course I was prone to spontaneous dancing at that age.) If so, you probably also recall that Raimi, Maguire, and Kirsten Dunst — the Mary Jane Watson to Maguire's webslinger — came very close to re-teaming for a fourth "Spider-Man" movie before the whole thing fell apart.

Jump ahead to the present, and Raimi is back to directing Marvel movies, this time in the form of "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness." Maguire similarly suited up as Spider-Man again for 2021's "Spider-Man: No Way Home," a multiverse-spanning romp that saw his Peter Parker join forces with Andrew Garfield's web-head from the "Amazing Spider-Man" films and Tom Holland's own iteration in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to do battle with Raimi's Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) and Doc Ock (Alfred Molina), among other familiar foes.

With "No Way Home" doing boffo business at the box office and re-endearing the masses to Maguire's Peter Parker, it has made fans wonder: Could a re-imagined version of Raimi's "Spider-Man 4" finally come to fruition? Raimi was asked that very question in a recent interview and his answer (to paraphrase a little) was a simple and unsurprisingly non-committal, but otherwise upbeat, "Maybe!"

Sure, Raimi's Spider-Man 4 Could Happen... But Should It?

Here's the longer version of what Raimi told Fandango, when asked what the chances are that he, Maguire, and Dunst will reunite for a new "Spider-Man" movie:

"I've come to realize after making 'Doctor Strange' that anything is possible, really anything in the Marvel universe, any team-ups. I love Tobey. I love Kirsten Dunst. I think all things are possible. I don't really have a story or a plan. I don't know if Marvel would be interested in that right now. I don't know what their thoughts are about that. I haven't really pursued that. But it sounds beautiful. Even if it wasn't a Spider-Man movie, I'd love to work with Tobey again, in a different role."

Do we need Raimi to make "Spider-Man 4" from a creative perspective? Nah. "No Way Home" saw Maguire's Peter Parker evolve into an Uncle Ben-style mentor to Holland's webslinger, consoling him in the wake of Aunt May's death and even stopping him from repeating his own mistake by seeking revenge against her killer, the Green Goblin. The film also indicated that Maguire's webhead and Dunst's Mary Jane are still a couple in the Raimi-verse and have learned to face their problems as a united front. It was, for all intents and purposes, a perfectly satisfying ending to Maguire's run as Peter Parker after "Spider-Man 3" left him and Mary Jane in a more ambiguous but hopeful place, so far as their relationship goes.

Honestly, if Raimi wishes to continue playing in the MCU sandbox, I would prefer to see him take on a different property rather than return to the "Spider-Man" well. As it turns out, the filmmaker is very much open to the idea, as he told Fandango when asked if he would be interested in tackling another MCU project:

"Absolutely. It's like the world's best toy box to be able to play at Marvel. I'd love to come back and tell another tale, especially with the great management they've got there."

"Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" opens in theaters on May 6, 2022.

Read this next: Spider-Man Movies Ranked From Worst To Best

The post Sam Raimi Opens Up On Whether Spider-Man 4 With Tobey Maguire Could Actually Happen appeared first on /Film.

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GOG originally stood for "Good Old Games," and the online store wants to better match the expectations associated with that name. It's launching a revival that will do more to highlight and support classic game releases. The initiative will not only apply a "Good Old Game" tag to retro hits in the catalog, but will include a 'new' game: a version of Legend's 1999-vintage The Wheel of Time (timely given the Amazon series) that runs on modern hardware.

The Unreal Engine-based fantasy shooter won't offer stunning visuals, but Nightdive Studios' refresh lets it run on newer operating systems (Windows 7 and up) and support high-resolution displays. The premise remains the same: you play an Aes Sedai (magic-wielding woman) who uncovers a sinister plot decades before the timeline of Robert Jordan's novels. You'll also find deathmatch and capture-the-flag multiplayer modes, although Wheel of Time wasn't exactly a staple of the online gaming scene when new.

There's a strong competitive incentive for GOG to shift its attention to classic games — this could help it stand out compared to heavyweights like Steam and the Epic Games Store, many of which focus on the latest releases. The initiative could be useful for game preservation efforts, though. If nothing else, it could be helpful if you've been waiting decades to revisit a favorite.

Chrome’s settings page has a lot of options and toggles, to the point where it can be intimidating. That’s probably why Google is rolling out a new feature called ‘Privacy Guide,’ which aims to walk people through all of the important settings.

Google said in an announcement, “when you navigate through Privacy Guide, you’ll learn about the benefits, trade-offs and privacy implications of each setting — so you can easily understand what happens when a particular one is on or off. Currently, Privacy Guide includes controls for cookies, history sync, Safe Browsing, and Make Searches and Browsing Better. As Chrome evolves and we receive feedback from the community, we may add more settings to the guide over time.”

The new guide seems like a good idea, but this initial version only covers a handful of security settings — there’s no page for DNS options, using phones as security keys, changing permissions granted to sites, and so on. A page walking you through which sites have permission to send notifications would especially be useful, since it’s not always clear how to turn them off after initially giving permission. Hopefully, Google will keep expanding this to cover all of Chrome’s security options.

Google has been working on other new features for Chrome over the past few months. The company started testing the updated Privacy Sandbox earlier this month, which aims to replace cross-site tracking cookies with browser-side ad targeting (the Topics API). Chrome 100 was just released with the usual mix of new features, APIs, and performance enhancements, and Chrome OS 100 added a new app launcher on top of that.

Google says the new Privacy Guide will roll out to everyone on Chrome 100 “in the coming weeks.” It appears as a new menu option on the ‘Privacy and security’ tab of the Chrome browser settings.

The post Chrome has a new ‘Privacy Guide’ that explains security settings appeared first on xda-developers.

Recently, I wrote about some of the lesser-known cleaning applications of dishwasher tablets around the house. In the comments, someone asked, “What’s the difference between dissolving the pods in warm water and using that to clean instead of...you know, soapy water?”

Read more...

Ti West's "X" is a welcome balm for movie buffs who are tired of content over substance. Utilizing two disregarded lowbrow genres -- porn and horror -- the director of "The Innkeepers" returns with this patient, gory, intimate, and foul exercise in storytelling. "X" concerns a group of young, hungry creatives who rent the worst Texas room one could find in 1979 and attempt to shoot an artful pornography film on the premises; director RJ (Owen Campbell) aims to make the skin flick "a piece of cinema," but the homeowners have other designs on the cast and crew.

So far, "X" is one of the most entertaining movies of 2022 and is, as one character describes, "one goddamn f***ed-up horror picture." The film has been thrilling audiences since its March release, including /Film's own Matt Donato; there's a prequel on the way, but it won't arrive for a hot minute. For those who dug the movie and want more like it, worry not: recommendations are on the way.

Don't Look Now

"X" has been compared to "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre," mostly for the vibes it evokes (there are no chainsaw massacres in "X"). West makes up for the lack of Leatherface by filming a love letter to the visionary cinema of the 1970s. He told Collider:

"Because the movie was going to be craft driven and filmmaking driven, I would say that the 1970s is probably as lauded of a time in American cinema as there is. And it's a time where successful movies were also a little experimental and were oftentimes filmmaker-driven and cinema driven. It just is the decade of that, so it made sense to me."

There is plenty of movie fare to appreciate from the decade that saw the rise of New Hollywood filmmakers like Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. For horror of the era that isn't "The Exorcist" or, well, "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre," look no further than Nicolas Roeg's 1973 giallo-adjacent thriller "Don't Look Now." Starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie as grieving parents working in Venice following the accidental death of their daughter, the movie is based on Daphne du Maurier's short story and features elements of Alfred Hitchcock's filmmaking style (he who adapted du Maurier's stories into "The Birds," "Jamaica Inn," and the Oscar-winning "Rebecca") on top of the fugue-state delirium that would come to characterize giallo horror of the era -- plus Ti West has named it as a favorite, to boot. Resist researching the film before watching, or else the shocking ending may be spoiled.

The House Of The Devil

For those enamored by West's visual style and patient storytelling, "The House of the Devil" is the logical next step. West has the wild idea of spending quality time with his most doomed characters, leading to movies that are more journey than destination; the horror comes secondary to something more universal, similar to the way that "Hereditary" is a family drama before Paimon shows up. Released in 2009, "The House of the Devil" begins with a young broke college student (Jocelin Donahue) in a state of transition, weathering bills and bad situations before she even gets a mysterious babysitting gig. As with "X," the director plays in the sandbox of the era, utilizing film grain, freeze-frames, and zooms as filmmakers of the '70s and '80s did while throwing in curveballs to throw horror-savvy audiences off. Come for the needle drops, stay for Tom Noonan.

Starry Eyes

"I need to be famous, Wayne," Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) says to her producer boyfriend, "All the best people are." She's come to rural Texas to shoot a naughty movie, and with a little powder bump and a pep talk before the mirror, she's ready for her close-up. Like Maxine, the cast of the film-within-the-film all have big ambitions and are all voluntarily doing the movie for individual reasons, and all are interrupted by violence. This is usually the purview of dramas, but horror has plenty of ways to talk about the life cycle of ambition and the systems that snuff it out. An indie favorite helmed by Kevin Kölsch & Dennis Widmyer -- the duo behind the "Pet Sematary" remake -- "Starry Eyes" is best described as Chris Evangelista does: "'A Star is' Born" with less singing and more body horror." Set in Tinseltown where dreams go to die, struggling actor Sarah Walker (Alexandra Essoe) makes a classic Faustian deal to finally catch her big break, and she gets it -- kind of. Like "X," "Starry Eyes" is light on jump scares and heavy on sudden, climactic ultraviolence, featuring an impressive performance from Essoe -– no surprise, considering her phenomenal turn in Mike Flanagan's genre effort "Doctor Sleep" (not to mention her collaborations with Flanagan in "Midnight Mass" and "The Haunting of Bly Manor").

Multiple Maniacs

You want transgression, you've got it. Featuring frontal male nudity, lots of sexy time, and enough arterial blood to spray-paint the Alamo, West might be called a shock artist for "X" -– which wasn't his aim. He compared expectations vs. the reality of the script to Collider:

"There was a movie when I wrote this movie that people had in their head that they were terrified I could be making and then the movie that it actually is, and that was important to me that it be like, no, this is a fun and sort of charming movie, not a dark, nihilistic movie."

For those who love to sit with their discomfort and those who appreciate the beauty in the perverse, John Waters is your master of ceremonies. From "Female Trouble" to "Pink Flamingos" and beyond, the Baltimore director enjoys upending propriety and elevating sleaze, making his movies a work of art all on their own. The most like "X" is Waters' "Multiple Maniacs," a 1970 masterpiece starring Divine and her Cavalcade of Perversion in a festival of depravity wrapped in a black comedy. Therein: mass murder, glue-sniffing fiends, deviancy and enough sex-crazed blasphemy to make Ken Russell blush (trigger warning: there is also sexual assault). Call it lowbrow all you want, but the latte-swilling powers that be have since added "Multiple Maniacs" to the Criterion Closet under the distributor's umbrella of "important classic and contemporary cinema." So there.

Read this next: The 20 Best '60s Horror Movies Ranked

The post Movies to Watch If You Liked Ti West's X appeared first on /Film.

"Severance" is an amazing show in almost every respect, and one of those ways is the jarring look and feel of the severed floor where Mark S. (Adam Scott) and his fellow MDR employees spend their entire existence.

For the show's production designer Jeremy Hindle, that claustrophobic-yet-expansive aesthetic was intentional, a way to show that the severed employees were being observed without having surveillance cameras front and center. "They're lab rats," he told /Film, about Mark S. and the show's other severed characters. "They're these little children being birthed into the office, and they're being experimented on."

In an interview with /Film, Hindle shared the inspiration behind creating the twisted work areas where the founder is literally God and those who work for him are nothing more than mere minions tasked with indecipherable objectives. Read on to find out how Kier's house ended up on the severed floor, how the MDR office was meant to be a fun albeit claustrophobic playground, and where the real-life Lumon building resides.

This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.

'If You Had Described What You Were Working At, It Would Make No Sense To Anyone.'

One of the reasons I thought "Severance" was so amazing was the look and the aesthetic of the severed floor. It has a sense of being very open, but it's also very claustrophobic.

Isn't that crazy?

Yeah! How did you approach creating that and getting that feeling across the screen?

[Writer Dan Erickson] had written "large room, four desks." And the large room was... Okay, large. I made it really large. I think it's 40' x 80'. The key was that the ceiling was only seven feet, two inches, I think. It's really low. I had it at seven feet and [executive producer and director Ben Stiller] was like, "Ooh, it's too low," and I was like, "Okay, I'll give you two inches."

You know what's amazing? Because for that set, we knew that the whole part of the show underground is like they're lab rats. They're these little children being birthed into the office, and they're being experimented on.

When you have them at a desk that has these dividers, that makes it feel really claustrophobic already. But I wanted to have the dividers be able to go up and down so they could be able to manipulate them and talk to each other. And it's also more fun to shoot — it was like a playground. But I think it's really the main answer that question, is it's definitely the low ceiling makes it really feel dominantly claustrophobic in such a big space.

It also feels very retro down there, like a '70s office vibe. How did that choice come about?

When I first read the scripts and I met Ben, I showed him some Ken Roche and Eero Saarinen stuff from the John Deere building in Chicago. If this show is about workplace, we should go back to when offices were really about just work. If you look at those buildings, they're pristine, they're powerful, they're dominant, and they're really well designed. They're stunning. And it made it feel like the office was a very serious place, which this was going to be a serious place because they're coming down and they're mining numbers or whatever they're doing.

It just felt like a natural thing — we needed to go back to this time period because that's when work was just work. And then when they leave, it was different. And then the computers and stuff were designed to be retro, and they're a little bit playful.

But also, if you left your "innie" life like Petey does and went up top, if you had described what you were working at, it would make no sense to anyone. None of it makes any sense to the real world. Ben and I had this same reference at the beginning, which was the movie "Playtime." It's a '60s French film by Jacques Tati, and the design is really fun. And this show to me was like my "Twin Peaks," where you get to have fun with these characters. I get to have fun with the story, and I get to have fun with the audience. And it was like, "Let's just play with them. All the time."

Dan wrote something that, "You have the license to do anything. There are no rules down there. The rules are that they won't remember. That's it."

'She's The One Person That's Not Severed, So She Does Need A Bit Of Sky In Her.'

I noticed MDR has a green overtone, Ms. Cobel's office is blue, and O&A has grays and blacks. What was the thought behind the color coding?

The green is really grass. It's like the play area. They have a play apparatus. They have grass. Green is also a very calming color.

And blue was Cobel's, which was more like the reverse of the sky. She's the one person that's not severed, so she does need a bit of sky in her. She has the lightwell that gets natural light into her. And you start to feel that those colors are natural to her.

And then gray was definitely for O&D because everything is about those paintings. The paintings are the story in those rooms. You have so little time to see each painting, and the paintings have to stand out and be really dominant because there's so much there. I hope Dan does a book on them because the paintings are amazing. He wrote each detail in each painting, and it was really funny.

Did you have a favorite painting? Is there any one you were like, "Oh, I want to take this and put this in my living room?"

I love the one where [Lumon founder Kier Egan] is looking down on the Great Lakes. I don't know if it's the painting I love — I love Dan's writing because the characters are like, "Yeah, I don't like this one." "Why?" "Well, he could fall." And it's so funny. Dan is an amazing writer. He's invented this whole mind-blowing world while he was working underground, by the way, at an office in Orange County at a company that made garage doors.

'Everybody In The Town Works In This Bloody Place. It's Amazing.'

The unsevered part of Lumon was interesting too — the arial shots of the big building. I don't know how much of that is real.

That's a real place called Bell Labs. When I showed Ben the Ken Roche and Eero Saarinen, the John Deere building, we started designing the interiors. I was like, "This is the look." But then when I came out to New York, Bell Labs was mentioned. And I'm like, "Bell Labs. That's Eero Saaranin and Ken Roche." It's the same designers. And it's the most amazing building.

But as far as I knew, it was still defunct. It had been empty since the '90s. But this lovely man had bought it and completely restored it and turned it into this sort of utopia again. There's a dental office. There's a public library. Everybody in the town works in this bloody place. It's amazing.

We had a ton of visual effects — we removed most of the trees and houses around it. We took everything away and just put it back to what it would've been at the beginning. I feel really lucky that the show got to have that space because it is so believable that this company is this big. They have to be.

And even the interior shots? I'm thinking of the first episode where Mark walks in there's the aerial shot of him checking in?

That's a hundred percent that place.

Wow. That fits perfectly. It just almost felt like a brain itself.

It's all the walkways. And the only thing we did was change the color of the carpet in visual effects, and then we put Kier's face up on the wall. It's a stunning place. It really is. It's the same language as the show.

'He's Their God. Of Course They'd Build His House Underground!'

Another set I thought was really interesting and, frankly, creepy was Kier's house on the severed floor. Did the script say have a Victorian house enclosed inside or did that come about later?

No. Dan had written it, I think, that you just walked into the room. You went through each part of it, but it was just in the office environment underground. It didn't really have a lot of description of his aesthetic.

But I remember the location guy showed me this picture of a museum in the Bronx. And it was amazing. It had this Brutalist building, this beautiful grass area, and a Victorian house. And we were like, "Wait, this is the place underground." It's very Michel Gondry or very Charlie Kaufman. Let's just take the whole thing and put it underground, the whole thing. And that's what we did. So it was fun to see them walk through the art exhibit and come across the lawn into his house.

I remember being blown away when we did the first renderings for it to see what it would look like. it was so fun to think, "Wow. These people are so extravagant." Basically, he is God to them. He's their God. Of course they'd build his house underground!

There's a clear contrast between all the severed areas versus our world. And particularly for Mark, because we see his house, and it's just very sad, frankly. It's a very sad house. When you were creating the place where the outie Mark lived, what was the thought process in bringing that to life?

I think I looked at about 60 locations. We looked everywhere. And it was trying. A lot of it is trusting your instincts when you're looking and going, "No." But we got there and what I loved about it was the it's up in the hill, it's idyllic, it's beautiful. There's trees around it. But the buildings were really fractured, kind of like Mark. All the windows were vertical. There was no horizontals. Even though they have the most amazing views, the design of it was completely wrong. And it just was like, "Wow. That's Mark." Mark is this fractured beast.

The season finale of "Severance" airs on Apple TV+ on April 8, 2022.

Read this next: The 20 Best Dystopian Movies Of All Time

The post How Severance Created A Warped Workplace For a Founder God [Interview] appeared first on /Film.

Research Sid Assawaworrarit and his colleagues have outfitted an ordinary solar panel with a thermoelectric generator, capable of generating a small amount of electricity from the slight difference in temperature between the ambient air and the surface of a solar panel pointed deep into space. Interesting Engineering reports: "During the day, there's a light coming in from the Sun and hitting the solar cell, but during the night, something of a reverse happens," Assawaworrarit says. That's because solar panels -- like everything warmer than absolute zero -- emit infrared radiation. "There's actually light going out [from the solar panel], and we use that to generate electricity at night. The photons going out into the night sky actually cool down the solar cell," he says. As those photons leave the skyward surface of the solar panel, they cary heat with them. That means that on a clear night -- when there are no clouds to reflect infrared light back toward the Earth -- the surface of a solar panel will be a few degrees cooler than the air around it. That temperature differential is what Assawaworrarit and his colleagues are taking advantage of. A device called a thermoelectric generator can capture some of the heat flowing from the warmer air to the cooler solar panel and convert it into electricity. On a clear night, the device Assawaworrarit tested on the Stanford rooftop generates roughly fifty milliwatts for every square meter of solar panel (50 mW/m2). "I think that's probably a record number," he says. But Assawaworrarit and his team aren't stopping there. He says that with a couple of improvements (and in a good location) such a device could generate twice that amount of electricity. "The theoretical limit is probably about one or two watts per square meter," he says. "That's not a huge number, but there are a lot of applications" where that kind of energy at night would come in handy.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

AMD has confirmed to Tom's Hardware that a bug in its GPU driver is, in fact, changing Ryzen CPU settings in the BIOS without permission. This condition has been shown to auto-overclock Ryzen CPUs without the user's knowledge. From the report: Reports of this issue began cropping up on various social media outlets recently, with users reporting that their CPUs had mysteriously been overclocked without their consent. The issue was subsequently investigated and tracked back to AMD's GPU drivers. AMD originally added support for automatic CPU overclocking through its GPU drivers last year, with the idea that adding in a Ryzen Master module into the Radeon Adrenalin GPU drivers would simplify the overclocking experience. Users with a Ryzen CPU and Radeon GPU could use one interface to overclock both. Previously, it required both the GPU driver and AMD's Ryzen Master software. Overclocking a Ryzen CPU requires the software to manipulate the BIOS settings, just as we see with other software overclocking utilities. For AMD, this can mean simply engaging the auto-overclocking Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO) feature. This feature does all the dirty work, like adjusting voltages and frequency on the fly, to give you a one-click automatic overclock. However, applying a GPU profile in the AMD driver can now inexplicably alter the BIOS settings to enable automatic overclocking. This is problematic because of the potential ill effects of overclocking -- in fact, overclocking a Ryzen CPU automatically voids the warranty. AMD's software typically requires you to click a warning to acknowledge that you understand the risks associated with overclocking, and that it voids your warranty, before it allows you to overclock the system. Unfortunately, that isn't happening here. Until AMD issues a fix, "users have taken to using the Radeon Software Slimmer to delete the Ryzen Master SDK from the GPU driver, thus preventing any untoward changes to the BIOS settings," adds Tom's Hardware.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Last month CD Projekt Red announced they’d be returning to The Witcher series with a new game, which wasn’t exactly a shock, although they did surprise many by revealing the game will be developed using Unreal Engine 5 rather than their own in-house REDengine. While the initial announcement acknowledged the difficulty of evolving REDengine as a reason for making the switch (something attested to by a former employee), there was also a rather large elephant in the room – Cyberpunk 2077. Would CDPR be ditching their own engine if Cyberpunk hadn’t been such a glitchy mess at launch?

Well, today during Epic Games’ State of Unreal Keynote livestream, CDPR game director Jason Slama admitted that stability and an engine that wouldn’t “break in 1,600 places down the line” was one of the big motivating factors in going with UE5…

One of the things that is really important to keep in mind when talking about open-world games versus, let's say, more linear games, is the possibility of the things that can go wrong or the scenarios that you have to consider are exponentially higher than in linear games. Players can go in whatever direction that they want, they can handle content in any order that they want theoretically, and to really encapsulate that means that you need a really stable environment where you can be able to make changes with a high level of confidence that it's not going to break in 1,600 other places down the line.

Interestingly, Slama also admits that Epic’s “Medieval Village” Unreal demo that featured a very Witcher-esque job board was one of the things that got them thinking about Epic’s engine. Between this and Crystal Dynamics going with UE5 for Tomb Raider after the engine’s first demo featured a rather Lara-Croft-esque character, Epic sure is doing an excellent job of leaving bread crumbs for developers to follow.

Platforms or a release window have yet to be confirmed for CDPR’s new Witcher game.

The post The Witcher Jumping to UE5 Because it Won’t “Break in 1,600 Places Down the Line” Says CDPR by Nathan Birch appeared first on Wccftech.

Why did Tyrannosaurus rex, the most fearsome and ferocious dinosaur, have such ridiculously tiny arms? Depending on which paleontologist you ask, the answers could range from holding on to a mate to slashing prey at close range. Now, UC Berkeley paleontologist Kevin Padian proposes an interesting new theory. — Read the rest

Rob Zombie's Instagram account has become the proverbial bait carrot hanging by a string in front of the faces of "The Munsters" fans everywhere. The famed musician and horror director has been using social media to provide the best behind-the-scenes looks at new characters, old favorites, set designs, and the vibrant lighting at 1313 Mockingbird Lane. Today, Zombie has once again given an exclusive preview of his "Munsters" movie, showcasing Jeff Daniel Phillips ("Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," "Halloween II") as Herman Munster, Sheri Moon Zombie ("House of 1000 Corpses," "Lords of Salem") as Lily Munster, and Daniel Roebuck ("The Fugitive," "Matlock") as Grandpa from the view of his monitor.

The image, released in full-color, shows the main Munsters family waiting between takes. Some of the earliest photos Zombie released from the set were in black and white, leading many to believe that "The Munsters" would follow the show's aesthetic. However, as Zombie continued with his casting announcements, many of the character photos made available have been shown with a coruscating color palette. While Zombie has still yet to officially confirm the film's presentation, it's starting to look more and more like the PG-rated "The Munsters" will be in full-fledged kaleidoscope goodness. Check out the on-set photo below.

Bring On The Giallo Lighting

Zombie posted the image of the main trio between takes, and commended them for their hard work and dedication to the craft. As it turns out, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Sheri Moon Zombie, and Daniel Roebuck each spent three hours in the chair for makeup before every production day, ahead of 14 hours of shooting. The photo was taken toward the end of the production day as the sun was beginning to rise. "Cheers to these three for always bringing the thunder," Zombie wrote. Zombie also included a flurry of emojis throughout the caption, which is weirdly endearing? Perhaps it's my own implicit bias at play, but Rob Zombie never struck me as an "emoji guy," but seeing the skulls, bats, and lightning bolts scattered throughout adds an additional sweetness to an already kind-hearted message.

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Joining the main trio, "The Munsters" also stars Richard Brake ("31," "Bingo Hell") as Dr. Henry Augustus Wolfgang, Catherine Schell ("Space: 1999," "On Her Majesty's Secret Service") as Zoya Krupp the Gypsy Queen, Sylvester McCoy ("Doctor Who," "The Hobbit") as Igor, Cassandra Peterson (Elvira: Mistress of the Dark) as real estate agent Barbara Carr, and Jorge Garcia ("Lost," "Nobody Knows I'm Here") as Floop, Dr. Wolfgang's hunchback assistant and best friend to Herman Munster.

"The Munsters" is slated to be released theatrically with a simultaneous streaming release on Peacock.

Read this next: The 13 Scariest Animated Movies

The post Munsters Set Photo Reveals Our Best Look Yet at Rob Zombie's Reboot appeared first on /Film.

My religious upbringing was, in a word, confusing, so the Easters of my youth were very basket-focused. My mom still send me Easter packages, but I have not been inside a church in I don’t know how many years. I do appreciate Easter food, however, and Passover food, for that matter. I just like food, especially when…

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US Government Agencies Instructed to Patch Spring4Shell Vulnerability

Enterprise defenders have been provided information and tools to help them deal with Spring4Shell and potential attacks exploiting the vulnerability.

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Attackers haven’t wasted any time capitalizing on the rapid move to hybrid work. Every day cybercriminals and nation-states alike have improved their targeting, speed, and accuracy as the world adapted to working outside the office. These changes have put “cybersecurity issues and risks” at the top of the list when it comes to worries or concerns for business decision-makers in the year ahead, as shown in new data from Microsoft‘s 2022 Work Trend Index.¹ Malware, stolen credentials, phishing attacks, devices that lack security updates, user error, and physical attacks on lost or stolen devices are major concerns for security and IT teams as they try to protect their workforce.

In 2021, protections built into Windows, Azure, Microsoft 365, and Microsoft Defender for Office 365 have blocked more than 9.6 billion malware threats, more than 35.7 billion phishing and other malicious emails, and 25.6 billion attempts to hijack our enterprise customers by brute-forcing stolen passwords—that’s more than 800 password attacks per second. The intelligence we get from this, combined with the 8,500 security professionals we have and 24 trillion security signals processed by our cloud every 24 hours, gives us a unique view into what our customers need to protect themselves from threats now and in the future. The combination of modern hardware and software required for Windows 11, delivered alongside our ecosystem partners, is what will enable us to help protect our customers from wherever and however they choose to work.

Security designed for hybrid work

In a future release of Windows 11, you’re going to see significant security updates that add even more protection from the chip to the cloud by combining modern hardware and software. Microsoft has made groundbreaking investments to help secure our Windows customers with hardware security innovations like Secured-core PCs. Our data shows that these devices are 60 percent more resilient to malware than PCs that don’t meet the Secured-core specifications. The stronger protection these devices provide helped build the foundation that the Windows 11 hardware baselines were designed upon. In upcoming releases of Windows, we are advancing security even further with built-in protections to help defend from advanced and targeted phishing attacks. We’re also adding more protection for your applications, personal data, and devices and empowering IT with the ability to lock security configurations as more enterprise devices are sent directly to users. Here’s a look at what’s coming to Windows 11 to help our customers combat the biggest security challenges of distributed work scenarios and the threat landscape of the future.

Zero Trust security, from the chip to the cloud, rooted in hardware

• Microsoft Pluton: Built on the principles of Zero Trust, the hardware and silicon-assisted security features in Windows 11—including the TPM 2.0, firmware and identity protection, Direct Memory Access, and Memory Integrity protection—help protect core parts of the OS as well the user’s credentials as soon as the device powers on. While those features provide protection from many attack patterns we see today, we know that attackers have shifted their sights to hardware which is why we’re looking ahead to the Microsoft Pluton Security Processor as an innovative solution to securing that critical layer of computing.
• Microsoft Pluton has several key capabilities that stem from its direct integration into the CPU and the OS. First, Pluton is the only security processor which is kept regularly up to date with key security and functionality updates coming through Windows Update just like any other Windows component. This means that Pluton does not require enterprises to take the traditional manual steps to update firmware, making it much easier to stay secure. In addition, the Pluton firmware is developed by the same Windows team that builds the features that use it, like Windows Hello and Bitlocker. This means Pluton is optimized for the best performance and reliability in Windows 11. Pluton also undergoes world-class penetration testing along with external bug bounties to ensure it remains secure. Pluton offers more than just optimized firmware, it also offers protection against physical attacks through its direct integration into the CPU. This avoids any additional attack surface, increasing security and simplifying additional configuration traditionally needed to address physical attacks. Pluton is a testament to the investment in our chip to the cloud security strategy and the success of Secured-core PCs.

“While the industry has made great strides in defending against increasingly sophisticated attacks, there’s always more to be done in the realm of hardware and software protection. The best way to propel the ecosystem forward and raise the bar for platform integrity is to leverage open standards; the Pluton security processor does exactly that.”—Michael Mattioli, Co-chair, Supply Chain Security Work Group at Trusted Computing Group, Vice President of Hardware Security, Goldman Sachs.

App security without the app store from Smart App Control 

• Smart App Control is a major enhancement to the Windows 11 security model that prevents users from running malicious applications on Windows devices that default blocks untrusted or unsigned applications. Smart App Control goes beyond previous built-in browser protections and is woven directly into the core of the OS at the process level. Using code signing along with AI, our new Smart App Control only allows processes to run that are predicted to be safe based on either code certificates or an AI model for application trust within the Microsoft cloud. Model inference occurs 24 hours a day on the latest threat intelligence that provides trillions of signals. When a new application is run on Windows 11, its core signing and core features are checked against this model, ensuring only known safe applications are allowed to run. This means Windows 11 users can be confident they are using only safe and reliable applications on their new Windows devices. Smart App Control will ship on new devices with Windows 11 installed. Devices running previous versions of Windows 11 will have to be reset and have a clean installation of Windows 11 to take advantage of this feature. 

Increased account and credential security

• Enhanced phishing detection and protection with Microsoft Defender SmartScreen: In the last year, we’ve blocked more than 25.6 billion Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) brute force authentication attacks and intercepted 35.7 billion phishing emails with Microsoft Defender for Office 365. The enhanced phishing detection and protection built into Windows with Microsoft Defender SmartScreen will help protect users from phishing attacks by identifying and alerting users when they are entering their Microsoft credentials into a malicious application or hacked website. These enhancements will make Windows the world’s first operating system with phishing safeguards built directly into the platform and shipped out-of-box to help users stay productive and secure without having to learn to be their own IT department.

• Credential Guard by default: Windows 11 makes use of hardware-backed, virtualization-based security capabilities to help protect systems from credential theft attack techniques like pass-the-hash or pass-the-ticket. It also helps prevent malware from accessing system secrets even if the process is running with admin privileges. In the future, Credential Guard will be enabled by default for organizations using the Enterprise edition of Windows 11. 

• Additional protection for Local Security Authority (LSA) by default: Windows has several critical processes to verify a user’s identity. The LSA is one of those processes, responsible for authenticating users and verifying Windows logins. It is responsible for handling user credentials, like passwords, and tokens used to provide single sign-on to Microsoft accounts and Azure services. Attackers have developed tools and have abused Microsoft tools to take advantage of this process to steal credentials. To combat this, additional LSA protection will be enabled by default in the future for new, enterprise-joined Windows 11 devices making it significantly more difficult for attackers to steal credentials by ensuring LSA loads only trusted, signed code.

Personal Data Encryption adds a second layer of security for personal data

• Forty percent of respondents in Verizon’s 2021 Mobile Security Index said mobile devices are the biggest IT security threat, 97 percent consider remote workers to be at more risk than office workers, and 56 percent were worried about device loss or theft. No matter where users are working, the new Personal Data Encryption coming to Windows 11 provides a platform, available for use by applications and IT, to protect user files and data when the user is not signed into the device. To access the data, the user must first authenticate with Windows Hello for Business, linking data encryption keys with the user’s passwordless credentials so that even if a device is lost or stolen, data is more resistant to attack and sensitive data has another layer of protection built-in.

Protect users from themselves with Config Lock

• More than 60 percent of security decision-makers reported that they’re challenged when it comes to implementing security solutions and a big reason for that is the limited control they have once the device is in the hands of the user. Config Lock changes that. This feature, already in Windows 11, monitors registry keys through mobile device management (MDM) policies to help ensure devices in your ecosystem comply with industrial and company security baselines. If Config Lock detects a change in registry keys, it will automatically revert the impacted system to the IT-desired state in seconds. With Config Lock, IT administrators can be confident that devices in their organization are protected, and users have not changed critical security settings.

Block vulnerable drivers by default with HVCI

• Hypervisor-Protected Code Integrity (HVCI) default enhancements: Malware attacks over the last few years (RobbinHood, Uroburos, Derusbi, GrayFish, and Sauron)² have increasingly leveraged driver vulnerabilities to compromise systems. In the next Windows 11 release, HVCI will be enabled by default on a broader set of devices running Windows 11. This feature prevents attackers from injecting their own malicious code (for example, WannaCry)³ and helps ensure that all drivers loaded onto the OS are signed and trustworthy. Using data from the broader security community, the Microsoft Vulnerable and Malicious Driver Reporting Center helps enable Windows to automatically block known vulnerable drivers.
• The Microsoft vulnerable driver blocklist leverages Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) to help prevent advanced persistent threats (APTs) and ransomware attacks abusing and exploiting known vulnerable drivers. The kernel blocklisting feature mitigates these threats by preventing these drivers from being exploited by blocking their load in the Windows kernel. Devices running HVCI or Windows SE have the blocklist enabled by default. Additionally, the feature can be enabled by the new experience in the Core isolation page within the Windows Security App.

Redesigning security from the chip to the cloud

Microsoft is continuously investing in improving the default security baseline for Windows and is focused on closing gaps on top attack vectors like those we shared here today. Those investments are designed to help simplify and deepen the security experience for Windows customers by default. With built-in chip to the cloud protection and layers of security, Windows 11 helps organizations meet the new security challenges of the hybrid workplace, now and in the future. With every release, we are making Windows more secure by default, designing new protections as we continue to power the future of business.

Check out our breakout security session to see how these upcoming Windows Security features help protect you from real-world attacks. And learn more about Windows 11 security in our Windows 11 Security Book.

To learn more about Microsoft Security solutions, visit our website. Bookmark the Security blog to keep up with our expert coverage on security matters. Also, follow us at @MSFTSecurity for the latest news and updates on cybersecurity.

---

¹The Work Trend Index survey was conducted by an independent research firm, Edelman Data x Intelligence, among 31,102 full-time employed or self-employed workers across 31 markets between January 7, 2022 and February 16, 2022. Business leaders were asked, “When you think ahead to the next year, what are the biggest obstacles or challenges you’re most worried about?” Cyber security challenges ranked number one; meeting increased customer demands/needs and navigating external factors like supply chain disruptions and inflation ranked two and three.

²Secured-core PCs: A brief showcase of chip-to-cloud security against kernel attacks, Windows Platform Security Team, Microsoft Security. March 17, 2020.

³A worthy upgrade: Next-gen security on Windows 10 proves resilient against ransomware outbreaks in 2017, Tanmay Ganacharya, Microsoft Security. January 10, 2018.

The post New security features for Windows 11 will help protect hybrid work appeared first on Microsoft Security Blog.

J.K Rowling hasn't exactly been doing the wizarding world of "Harry Potter" any favors lately. On top of her heinous and ongoing comments about the transgender community that have rubbed her diverse fanbase the wrong way, she's also been dulling the legacy of the magical film franchise with the mostly lackluster spin-off series "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." This prequel saga hit an all-time low, both critically and financially, with the second installment in the series, "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald." But with five films planned since the inception of the "Fantastic Beasts" series, the magic show must go on. 

"Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore" (in theaters in the United States on April 15, 2022) continues the story of magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) as his passionate studies of magical creatures become invaluably embroiled in the wizarding world's struggle against the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (first portrayed by Johnny Depp, but now played by "Casino Royale" and "Doctor Strange" villain Mads Mikkelsen). However, just as "The Crimes of Grindelwald" focused less on Mr. Scamander and more on an ensemble of characters caught up in this magical battle of good and evil, "The Secrets of Dumbledore" is even more concerned with the bigger picture while still keeping the creature caretaker as the heart of the film series. The result is a movie that mixes the vibe of a 1930s war drama with a magic-infused "Mission: Impossible"-esque plot and wholly relevant, contemporary themes to deliver the most satisfying and exciting chapter in the "Fantastic Beasts" franchise yet. However, where "The Secrets of Dumbledore" still falls short is in telling a story that not only feels as carefully plotted as the preceding "Harry Potter" films but also commands attention.

The Secret Is Out

"The Secrets of Dumbledore" wastes no time wading into one of the Hogwarts professor's biggest secrets, which has been presumed by fans ever since the character's history with Grindelwald was touched upon in the "Harry Potter" books. The blood oath between Grindelwald and Dumbledore (Jude Law) that keeps them from fighting each other didn't come about only because the two had grand but naive ambitions about changing the world, or even because they bonded as brothers. Dumbledore stood by Grindelwald's side because he loved him deeply, making the dark wizard's path towards wizard supremacy over Muggle-kind that much more painful for the man who has always strived to do what is right instead of what is easy. 

Dumbledore's affirmation of his love for Grindelwald comes out in the opening scene as the two chat in an upscale restaurant before it suddenly goes up in flames. While never clearly explained, it would seem this meeting of the two minds unfolded on a sort of magical plane of existence rather than a real-world location, almost as if it were a sort of magical hologram. I only say this because Dumbledore seems fairly unconcerned with the rest of the patrons in the establishment. This lack of clarification is one of several instances where the expansion of various magical concepts and world-building elements are left mostly unexplained, unlike new details about the wizarding world that were properly introduced throughout the "Harry Potter" franchise. 

Meanwhile, we find Newt Scamander in the bamboo jungles of China where he's helping a scaly, deer-like creature give birth to a youngling. Resembling an antelope mixed with a mythical dragon, the creature is a Qilin (pronounced chillin), one of many brought to life with impeccable visual effects done so well that even the physical interaction between actors and CGI creations doesn't look phony. It's just a shame some of the environments don't look as good, revealing far too much digital work rather than real locations, including two signature Hogwarts spots that return in this movie. Plus, the color palette continues to be endlessly dreary. Even though that feels reflective of the time in which the story takes place and allows for the color of creatures to pop, it makes the whole film feel like quite the muted affair.

The birth of the Qilin is quickly interrupted when Credence (Ezra Miller), the Obscurial lured into following Grindelwald and revealed to be an estranged member of the Dumbledore family, shows up with two fellow dark wizards. The trio quickly attacks the adult Qilin, sending Newt and the baby scrambling down a grassy hillside in a desperate escape for their lives. Thrown for a loop by the confrontation and sudden fall, Newt is left disoriented in the jungle, and the dark wizards are able to snatch the young Qilin. But it's not a total loss, because when Newt makes his way back up the hill, even though the adult Qilin takes its last breath, he discovers that it actually had twins, leaving Newt with a healthy baby that he can care for. This creature acts as the film's MacGuffin, and the multiple functions it serves feel a little too convenient.  

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

But the Qilin isn't just another magical creature that Newt intends to study. Instead, he's retrieved this creature at the request of Dumbledore. Why? Well, that's not made entirely clear at first. However, we do see what Grindelwald wanted the Qilin for early on: when the blood of this creature is spilled, it allows Grindelwald to see into the future, making it supremely difficult to make a move against him. Therefore, Dumbledore intends to employ what he refers to as "countersight," by hatching a plan that has so many moving parts that it makes it difficult for Grindelwald to see the truth. That might sound like a poor excuse for the film having a convoluted plot (and maybe it is), but it actually results in a fairly intriguing storyline that always keeps you guessing, because no one member of Dumbledore's makeshift team knows the entire plan, and some of them may not be so trustworthy. It makes Dumbledore's penchant for secretly pulling strings and putting others at risk much more acceptable this time around.

The team in question is comprised of a variety of characters you've seen before. Obviously, Newt Scamander is back, this time more willingly. He might even be a little keener now because he's able to work with Eulalie "Lally" Hicks (Jessica Williams), a Charms professor from the American wizarding school Ilvermorny who has corresponded with Newt by letter several times and had a brief but key appearance in "The Crimes of Grindelwald." Hicks is tasked with convincing the Muggle baker Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) to join them, despite his jaded and heartbroken feelings after his sweetheart witch Queenie (Alison Sudol) chose to follow Grindelwald. Kowalski finds newfound confidence and enthusiasm by being given a wand at the behest of Dumbledore, which makes for some solid comedic bits. Then we also have Newt's brother Theseus (Callum Turner), his assistant caretaker Bunty (Victoria Yeates), and Yusuf Kama (William Nadylam), half-brother of the late Leta Lestrange (Zoe Kravitz), who perished in the second movie. They're quite a ragtag team, and none of them are entirely sure of how Dumbledore intends to move against Grindelwald, but they all trust him implicitly and carry out the tasks they've been given, keeping details from one another in the process.

What follows is a combination of rousing setpieces and somewhat confusing world-building that unfolds against the backdrop of the imminent election of a new President of the International Confederation of Wizards, a position that seems to be an overarching government official who oversees the Ministers of Magic in their respective countries. This is never fully explained, and only keys you into information as the story goes on, such as the introduction of two candidates: China's Liu Tao (Dave Wong) and Brazil's Vicência Santos (Maria Fernanda Cândido). However, the thematic significance is clear, because it draws a not-so-subtle connection to the election of leaders such as Donald Trump in the United States or Boris Johnson in the United Kingdom, unqualified individuals who appealed to a certain demographic with bombastic language and a facade of care for the well-being of misinformed citizens who feel underrepresented. Grindelwald uses this influence and his growing number of followers to not only convince outgoing President Anton Vogel to recuse him of any crimes, but to make him a candidate in the election. Vogel, thinking that there's no way Grindelwald could actually win, grants his request, making the election the crux of a potential chain reaction of events that could throw both the wizarding world and the Muggle world into upheaval. Though wholly relevant to our trying social and political climate, this doesn't seem to add anything to the story that wasn't already present in the original "Harry Potter" franchise, one of several things that make these spin-offs feel extraneous and unnecessary.

Fantastic Beasts, Not-So-Fantastic World-Building

"Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore" is at its best when it mixes the magical elements of the wizarding world with quasi-heist scenarios that have touches of "Ocean's 12" or any of the "Mission: Impossible" movies. The ensemble nature of the cast and the imaginative predicaments in which our team of witches and wizards find themselves both make for plenty of engaging suspense and exhilaration. Sequences range from your standard wizard duels to a delightfully twisted prison break where Newt Scamander must uniquely use his knowledge of magical creatures to keep safe from a deadly pack of manticores, little lobster-scorpion hybrid creatures who are deadly in a swarm, especially when fed by their giant counterpart living deep within the prison. And don't worry, Newt's reliable sidekicks, the lock-picking Bowtruckle named Pickett and the gold-loving Niffler called Teddy, get their time to shine, too.

Not all of the prominent magical sequences feel fully baked though, especially when it comes to the mythology of the wizarding world. For example, when Credence attacks Dumbledore in the middle of a city in order to complete his mission, it appears to be quite a destructive duel that uses huge chunks of buildings as spiraling projectiles, which would no doubt result in a lot of questions from Muggles, who may have even be hurt or killed in such a confrontation. Perhaps knowing that this could bring about comparisons to the devastation caused in the destructive battles between Superman and Zod in "Man of Steel," it's revealed that this battle is actually taking place in a sort of mirrored version of the city where Credence has been tricked into thinking that this is reality. However, the use of this magic is never explained, which calls into question why Dumbledore would have never used this ability later in his life in the "Harry Potter" franchise. 

Similarly, the film's final setpiece, which involves the pursuit of a certain magical item that has been duplicated in an effort to put Grindelwald's followers on a wild goose chase, feels like it could easily be dispatched thanks to the use of magic we've seen several times before. On top of that, the location of that setpiece, a mountaintop village in Bhutan where the election is being held, seems to exist simply for the varied spectacle of it all. There's no rhyme or reason ascribed to why the election has to take place there, nor why it's carried out in such a fashion other than for the sake of the film's plot. It's also far too easy for those with no business being at the election to infiltrate it. These might seem like logistical nitpicks, but if the blockbuster spectacle and story aren't enthralling enough to keep you from lingering on those thoughts, then that's a problem, especially when the "Harry Potter" franchise handled details like this so well.

Dumbledore: Dumble-More Or Dumble-Snore?

"The Secrets of Dumbledore" also succeeds is in the treatment of (most of) its characters. Newt's place in the story feels more justified than ever before, but the movie is also better for not forcing him to carry the movie. The story of Jacob and Queenie remains the most enchanting and satisfying, with Dan Fogler again being the MVP. His performance is charming, genuine, and simply fun. Meanwhile, Jude Law gets much more time to flesh out this younger Albus Dumbledore in a performance that feels like his own but also has influences from Michael Gambon's portrayal of the character. 

Unfortunately, not everyone is treated so well. Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) is almost entirely sidelined, and she has no part in the film's plot. Though there's a reason given, it makes for an unsatisfying gap for her character in the overall franchise, especially considering how integral she was in the first two installments. But perhaps the biggest disappointment is Mads Mikkelsen as Grindelwald. It's not because Mikkelsen's performance isn't good, but rather because the script doesn't give him much to do. That's partially because, like Dumbledore, he has to pull strings instead of making moves himself (due to the blood oath). But even the scenes that reveal his villainy are understated and don't make Grindelwald feel all that menacing, no matter how piercing Mikkelsen's gaze can be. Even if that's intentional, it still makes for a disappointing antagonist. 

But despite the shortcomings of "The Secrets of Dumbledore," this is easily the most entertaining of the "Fantastic Beasts" franchise so far. It feels the most like a "Harry Potter" movie, which is likely thanks to the fact that J.K. Rowling didn't write this screenplay on her own — "Harry Potter" franchise writer Steve Kloves co-wrote the film with her. In fact, it seems like so much rewriting was done that an additional credit was required, indicating the movie was "based on a screenplay written by J.K. Rowling." Considering the missteps of the first two movies, which feel like a result of Rowling being better suited for writing novels than screenplays (she really should have written these stories as books first), "The Secrets of Dumbledore" has the most competent story yet, even if it's missing some crucial details to properly flesh out new elements of the wizarding world.

In the end, this franchise is still missing the magic that made that original series feel so creatively complete and satisfying. Though "Fantastic Beasts" has become a little more crucial by tying into the history of Albus Dumbledore — which includes fleshing out the story of his brother Aberforth (played by Richard Coyle here), their late sister Ariana, and the estranged Aurelius (aka Credence) — even that doesn't feel like it comes to a satisfying enough conclusion to be an integral part of the overall wizarding world. With two more installments of the "Fantastic Beasts" franchise supposedly in the works, "The Secrets of Dumbledore" may save the franchise just enough to keep fans engaged. But the promise of a wizarding war between Dumbledore and Grindelwald in a magical fight between good and evil simply doesn't seem as enticing or engaging as the story of The Boy Who Lived and You-Know-Who.

/Film Rating: 6 out of 10

Read this next: 13 Fantasy Films That Never Got Sequels

The post Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore Review: The Best Spin-Off Chapter Yet, But It's Still Missing Magic appeared first on /Film.

Back in 2008, Marvel was a very different beast. The MCU didn't exist, The Avengers hadn't even Assembled yet, and we only saw a brief tease of what was yet to come.

"Iron Man" is where it all began, with Robert Downey Jr. stepping into his signature armor to become Marvel's most iconic Avenger. Of course, fans went wild. Downey was perfect for the role, embodying the rich, playboy superhero like he had been born for it. But Tony Stark wasn't the only comic book hero introduced in "Iron Man."

Sure, we got a glimpse of Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury in a post-credits scene, but I'm talking about War Machine aka James "Rhodey" Rhodes -- the U.S. Air Force liaison played by Terrence Howard. It was a casting choice that seemed obvious at the time. James Rhodes WILL be War Machine and that was "a key factor" in casting Howard. In fact, Howard took his role so seriously, that he spent time at a U.S. Air Force base hanging out with pilots and learning about F-22 Raptors. The chemistry between Stark and Rhodey was spot on, too.

So, why didn't Terrence Howard return for the sequel? That's a question Howard himself has been asking for years.

'That's The Coolest Thing I've Ever Seen'

It's no secret that James "Rhodey" Rhodes was destined to become War Machine. After all, that's what happened in the comic books.

First appearing in Iron Man #118 in 1979, Rhodey encountered Tony Stark during his famous prison camp breakout (which was depicted without Rhodes in "Iron Man"). He later becomes Tony Stark's personal pilot and even stepped up as Iron Man for a while, wearing Stark's signature armor in his place. He took on the likes of The Mandarin, Thunderball, and Radioactive Man as the all-new Iron Man ... but soon enough, he would get his very own suit.

War Machine first appeared in Avengers West Coast #94 in 1993 but the heavily armed battle suit actually began life as another Iron Man variant. Stark invented the "Variable Threat Response Battle Suit, Model XVI, Mark I" (nicknamed War Machine) as a response to Justin Hammer's tech that gave its wearers immunity to Iron Man's repulsers and unibeams. After the apparent death of Tony Stark, Rhodes takes up the suit and becomes Iron Man once again ... but on Stark's return, he keeps the suit, becoming War Machine in the process. Of course, the black and silver suit was notably absent in the original "Iron Man."

In the MCU, War Machine would finally make his debut in "Iron Man 2" ... but without Howard in the suit.

'Next Time, Baby'

At the end of "Iron Man," we see Rhodey look longingly at the War Machine armor before his appearance as War Machine is teased in the most obvious way possible. "Next time, baby," he says.

But for Howard, that would never happen.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Howard was reportedly troublesome to work with on the set of "Iron Man" and is well known for his difficult behavior on set. He's even admitted himself to "being difficult." Additionally, director Jon Favreau was not happy with Howard's performance and had to reshoot many of his scenes.

The result? Marvel changed its deal and tried to lowball Howard for "Iron Man 2."

Marvel had originally contracted Howard for $8 million per movie but offered him just £1 million for "Iron Man 2" after the problems they had filming the first. Howard revealed:

"We did a three-picture deal. That means you did the deal ahead of time — a certain amount for the first one, a certain amount for the second, a certain amount for the third. They came to me with the second and said 'look, we will pay you one-eighth of what we contractually had for you, because we think the second one will be successful with or without you.' And I called my friend, that I helped get the first job, and he didn't call me back for three months."

That friend was Robert Downey Jr. But it looks as though he too wasn't going to help Rhodey out in a tight spot.

'Oh Man, You Can Have Your Suit Back'

Now that Howard was out of the picture, Marvel needed another James Rhodes to don the War Machine armor, and it didn't take them long to find one. According to Rolling Stone, the studio got in touch with Don Cheadle a day after its falling out with Howard. The rest, as they say, is history.

Cheadle took over as Rhodey in "Iron Man 2" and famously donned the War Machine armor for the first time on the big screen. But it turns out, he had been in the running for the role all along.

"I met very early on before the first one with Jon [Favreau] and the team," explained Cheadle. "And I guess there was a split — some people Terrence, some people me."

Howard confirmed that he wasn't the first choice for the role ... and most importantly, he's not mad with Cheadle for taking over as War Machine.

"Really, initially they wanted Don in that role, but my agent pushed me in. So, I never had any beef with Don about it," Howard said.

After Cheadle took over the role in "Iron Man 2," he went on to star in "Iron Man 3" as the Iron Patriot, returning to his War Machine armor for "Avengers: Age of Ultron" and adding a poignant consequence to the superhero stand-off in "Captain America: Civil War."

But while Howard wasn't mad at his successor, he still held a grudge against Iron Man himself.

'You Think You Got What It Takes To Wear That Suit?'

Unfortunately for Terrence Howard, he missed out on a multi-billion-dollar franchise. It's easy to see why he might be a bit frustrated. More than that, his firing from "Iron Man 2" caused a rift between himself and Downey which would go on for years, and it's all because Iron Man gave him the cold shoulder.

"I called Robby and was like, 'Look, man...' Leaving messages with his assistants, called him at least 17 times that day and 21 the next and finally left a message saying, 'Look, man, I need the help that I gave you."

Over the years, Howard has claimed that he essentially got Robert Downey Jr. the role of Iron Man. The story goes that Marvel was initially reluctant to hire Downey because of his past struggles with addiction. But it was Howard who convinced the studio to give him a chance, taking a $1 million pay cut and vouching for his pal. But Howard claims that Downey never repaid the favor when it came to "Iron Man 2."

"Never heard from him," Howard said. "And guess who got the millions I was supposed to get? He got the whole franchise, so I've actually given him $100 million, which ends up being a $100 million loss for me from me trying to look after somebody, but, you know, to this day I would do the same thing. It's just my nature."

Ultimately, Howard lost the role to Cheadle and held a grudge against Downey until years later, when he caught up with Iron Man at a friend's wedding. "Nice to see my old friend again," he said via Instagram. "#lifestooshort #allgood."

For now, it looks as though Iron Man and the would-be War Machine have buried the hatchet.

Read this next: Every Pre-MCU Marvel Movie Ranked

The post Iron Man Caused a Years-Long Feud Between Robert Downey Jr. And Terrence Howard appeared first on /Film.

April 5, 2063, is First Contact Day in "Star Trek" lore — the day humans first came face-to-face with an alien species as depicted in the 1996 film "Star Trek: First Contact" — and Paramount has made a notable announcement to celebrate.

A teaser for season three of "Star Trek: Picard" was released on the Paramount+ Twitter feed this morning, confirming that most of the central cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" will be returning. The teaser depicts Picard (Patrick Stewart) writing a letter, extracting an old uniform out of a trunk, and regarding his old NextGen-era communicator while dialogue from old friends — reading new dialogue! — is heard on the soundtrack. 

Confirmed by credits, season three of "Picard" will feature LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden, Brent Spiner, Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, and Michael Dorn. These actors first convened in the first episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" in 1987, and haven't been seen together since "Star Trek: Nemesis" in 2002. Wil Wheaton and Denise Crosby have not been announced as being part of the cast. 

The Gang's All Here

"Star Trek: Picard" has already featured many familiar faces from throughout "Star Trek" lore: Q (John De Lancie), Hugh (Jonathan Del Arco), Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) have all appeared, as have regular "Next Generation" cast members Frakes, Spiner, and Sirtis, all reprising their roles. 

The third season of "Picard," already announced as the show's last, will be a full cast reunion. Nothing is yet known about the situation of their reunion, nor the plot. Given the ages of the actors, "Star Trek" has finally caught up with "All Good Things..." the final episode of "Next Generation" which took place partially in the future and posited the future careers of each of the characters. Geordi (Burton) was raising kids and writing novels, Dr. Crusher (McFadden) had married and divorced Picard and was now captain of the Enterprise, Data (Spiner) was teaching, Worf (Dorn) was a diplomat, Troi (Sirtis) had died, and Riker (Frakes) was an admiral. 

Data died at the conclusion of "Nemesis" and then died again at the end of "Picard" season one. His return is currently a mystery. 

Also, from the press release, one can donate to charity using Twitter: 

As another part of this year's First Contact Day celebrations, Paramount+ and CBS will jointly donate $1 for every Tweet (one per handle) sent that uses the hashtag #StarTrekUnitedGives through Sunday, April 10th. Donations will go towards charities that support LGBTQ+ equality, veterans, and humanitarian aid. Visit StarTrek.com/StarTrekUnitedGives for more info and terms.

Read this next: The 14 Best Sci-Fi Shows On Amazon Prime

The post Picard Season 3 Teaser Confirms That the Entire Next Generation Cast is Coming Back appeared first on /Film.

Microsoft put PCs in the cloud with Windows 365 last year, and now it's integrating these Cloud PCs directly into Windows 11. From a report: Windows 365 lets businesses access Cloud PCs from anywhere to stream a version of Windows 10 or Windows 11 inside a web browser. It's something Citrix and many others have been doing for years, but now Microsoft will allow Windows 11 PCs to boot straight to Windows 365 Cloud PCs or easily switch between them using Windows 11's virtual desktops feature. It's part of a hybrid work push for Windows, allowing businesses to support a mix of working remotely on traditional devices or through virtual cloud-powered ones. Microsoft is working on three new Windows 365 features that will be deeply integrated into Windows 11. The first is Windows 365 Boot, which will enable Windows 11 devices to log directly into a Cloud PC instance at startup instead of the local install of Windows. It's designed for devices that are shared between multiple people or for businesses that allow employees to bring your own device (BYOD) to work.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Microsoft Endpoint Manager is the company's platform for helping IT teams manage and secure large fleets of devices, something that's become increasingly complicated since the start of the pandemic. As part of its larger "Future of Hybrid Work" event, the company also today launched some updates to Endpoint Manager that go beyond some of the traditional feature sets for similar services, with the promise to expand on these in the future. The first new feature Microsoft is adding to the platform under the name of "Microsoft Advanced Management" is remote help. If you've ever used Teamviewer to help a family member fix a computer issue, you can basically think of it as that, but with all of the enterprise bells and whistles it takes to make sure a service like this is secure, the devices on both ends are configured correctly and everybody is who they say they are. And that's why this is part of the overall Endpoint Manager story, because that's what provides the access and idenity controls through a tight integration with Azure Active Directory and helps verify the users and devices. You wouldn't just want your employees to be able to give control over their machines to any random social hacker, after all.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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While promoting "Jackass Forever" in early 2022, franchise star and beloved daredevil Johnny Knoxville visited the WWE Universe and announced his intentions to enter the annual Royal Rumble match. Since the winner gets a championship match at Wrestlemania, this drew the ire of WWE Superstar Sami Zayn because he felt that the Hollywood star wasn't deserving of an opportunity on The Grandest Stage of Them All. Following a clothesline from AJ Styles and a frog splash from Montez Ford, Knoxville was eliminated from the Royal Rumble by Zayn. However, that was just the beginning of a feud between the self-proclaimed Great Liberator and the South Knoxville Strong Boy.

For months, Knoxville and Zayn antagonized one another, with Zayn even crashing the red carpet premiere of "Jackass Forever" to attack Knoxville. In the weeks that followed, Knoxville retaliated by dedicating his Instagram presence to making vignettes mocking Zayn, building up their feuding storyline with more dedication than, say, the lackluster "feud" between the SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair and Ronda "Dear God, Get Her Off My Screen" Rousey. At one point, Knoxville even caused Zayn to lose his Intercontinental Championship.

We knew that Zayn v. Knoxville was going to be a gut-busting good time, but none of us could have predicted that the match would end up being one of the very best of WrestleMania weekend. Here are some of our favorite moments from the incredibly memorable Anything Goes Match, which is currently streaming on Peacock.

Stop Right Now, Thank You Very Much

Considering the nature of the match, both competitors quickly filled the ring with assorted plunder not too long after the bell rang. Zayn and Knoxville hit each other with trash can lids, a crutch, a fire extinguisher, and a baking sheet before Johnny went through a table and Sami was stopped in his tracks by an airhorn. But a stand-out moment from early in the match came with the introduction of a stop sign.

As soon as Knoxville used the sign on his opponent, veteran commentator Michael Cole yelled, "STOP!" While it may be a simple joke, I remember cracking up at the call. Cole was joined by former NFL punter and current podcaster Pat McAfee in the announce booth for this match, adding another layer of fun to the proceedings. Not only were the competitors putting on a great show in the ring, but the announcers were also having a great time, which added to the whole experience. 

Meanwhile, Cole, a former war correspondent, did an excellent job of calling the match while adding corny dad jokes that absolutely worked (except for one that fell flat, but we'll talk about that later). If any other WWE announce team was assigned to call this match, it definitely would not have been as fun. (Ben F. Silverio)

Party Boy Brings The Party And A Denim Speedo

With an "anything goes" match stipulation, we knew there would be some special appearances from the "Jackass" crew, and half the fun was trying to figure out who was going to show up from behind the curtain. After Knoxville blew an airhorn in Zayn's face to throw him off his rhythm, an American hero entered the ring. 

Clad in a t-shirt, Chippendales-esque wrist cuffs, and tearaway athletic pants, Chris Pontius stormed the ring to really get the party started. With Knoxville laying on the ring apron like a slug, this was Pontius' time to shine. And shine on like a crazy diamond he did, especially when he released the cheeks.

After taunting Zayn with some ridiculous dance moves, the shirt was ripped off, the pants were torn away, and as commentator Pat McAfee loudly declared, "Pontius' cheeks are at WrestleMania!" Now in full Party Boy mode, Pontius gyrated Zayn into a corner before being thrown across the ring and rolled out under the ropes. This gave Knoxville just enough time to attempt a roll-up win on Zayn, who, of course, kicked out. Pat McAfee, who clearly grew up watching "Jackass," was having a ball of a time, while fellow commentator Michael Cole tried really, really hard to imply McAfee was gay for having admitted that he's seen more of Pontius' body than "probably any other man in history." 

Joke's on you, Michael Cole! Pretty much every millennial has seen Pontius' cheeks. Get with the program, old man. (BJ Colangelo)

Wee Man > Hulk Hogan

A surprise appearance from under the ring will always bring the gold, especially when it comes in the form of Jason "Wee Man" Acuña. As Sami Zayn looked under the ring for a weapon to take down Zayn, he was met with the fury of Wee Man who knocked him square in the face, only to ambush him ringside and punch the hell out of him against the barricades. Jasper Dolphin and his dad, Compston "Darkshark" Wilson ("Jackass Forever," "Loiter Squad"), were ready to cheer him on as Wee Man just punched and slapped as fast as he could.

Zayn retreated to the ring, but Wee Man was clearly out for blood. As Zayn tried to get his bearings, Wee Man kicked him square in the knee and used this as an opportunity to recreate (and honestly, improve) one of the most iconic WrestleMania moments in history. Just as Hulk Hogan did to Andre the Giant during their "David and Goliath" feud at WrestleMania III, the 4'0" Wee Man scooped up the 6'1" Sami Zayn and delivered him a body slam that launched the audience into a frenzy. 

"Wee Man used to kick himself in the face, now he's body-slamming Sami Zayn!" yelled Pat McAfee. 

The lack of recovery time from Zayn allowed Knoxville the chance to set him up for a tornado DDT, a move that I'm genuinely shocked Knoxville can pull off at 51-years-old after decades of treating himself like a human crash-test dummy. (BJ Colangelo)

Giving Sami Zayn A Big Hand

One of the greatest gags in the history of "Jackass" is the High Five. As seen in "Jackass 3D," Wee Man lures his unsuspecting friends into the kitchen where Johnny Knoxville is waiting with a comically large spring-loaded hand to give them a full-body slap. At one point in Knoxville and Zayn's match, I said that it would be funny if they could incorporate that bit, but I was unsure how they would do it. And suddenly, BAM! Zayn walked near the time keeper's area and got nailed by a giant hand. Flawless.

Knoxville pulled a number of surprises like this out of his bag of tricks. At the start of the match, he unleashed a fire extinguisher on Zayn because the former NXT Champion was stirring up trouble with the "Jackass" crew at ringside. Later, when Sami was preparing to jump off the top rope for a high-risk maneuver, Johnny unveiled a remote control that set off the pyro in that ring post. A startled Zayn lost his balance from the distraction and landed split-legged on the turnbuckle. 

These antics from both men throughout the match were an excellent mix of physical comedy and "Looney Tunes" cartoons. It's the perfect marriage of comedy and professional wrestling. 

Sorry, Mr. McMahon. I meant "sports entertainment." (Ben F. Silverio)

Kids, Don't Try This At Home

Despite warnings to not try this at home (that my friends and I definitely ignored), no "Jackass" production would be complete without someone getting hit right in the balls. While many wrestlers like Shayna Baszler and Pete Dunne (who unfortunately goes by the mononym "Butch" now) attack a body part on their opponent by utilizing joint manipulation, those "Jackass" boys are masters of genital devastation. That's why Knoxville had to incorporate these tactics into his offense against Zayn at Wrestlemania 38.

As with any good comedic bit, these nut shots followed the rule of three. The first one was entirely Zayn's fault since he introduced a bowling ball into the match. However, it was Knoxville who used it against a dazed Zayn looking for respite against a bottom turnbuckle. The second one came with Wee Man's introduction to the match. After the now-iconic body slam, he helped Knoxville pull an intricate apparatus out from under the ring. It resembled a trebuchet, but it had a boot at the end of the arm. Using this machine, Wee Man and Johnny nailed their foe with a low blow. 

Again, everything is legal in an Anything Goes Match.

As for the final nut shot, it came during the closing moments of the bout. (Ben F. Silverio)

It's A ZAYN-Y Action, A Crazy Contraption ... It's Mousetrap!

Mousetraps have a lengthy history in the "Jackass" universe, so when Sami Zayn got snapped by one from under the ring only to realize it was part of a table covered in mouse traps, it felt both horrifying for whoever was going to take that table spot, but immediately hilarious for the audience knowing that there's no way it wasn't going to be a great time. The stunt was set up early on in the match, but it was Knoxville, however, who ate an in-ring table spot, causing anyone who knows his history of head injuries to clutch their invisible pearls like a concerned mother while trying not to laugh. 

It almost seemed as if the mousetrap table had been forgotten, until Knoxville snapped Zayn's groin with barbecue tongs and launched him from the top rope through the mousetrap-covered table. Zayn can truly do it all, my dudes.

As Zayn stumbled back into the ring, the entire "Jackass" crew had set up a giant mousetrap, a clear bed of destruction awaiting Sami Zayn. In order to get Zayn where he needed him, Knoxville busted out a taser and zapped him, laying him in the perfect position for the oversized mousetrap to snap down on him. The gimmick didn't work at first, because "Jackass" pranks don't always work on the first go, but when it finally did, it was glorious. The mousetrap arm slammed onto Sami Zayn's chest, allowing Knoxville to pin him and win the match. 

With a 1–0 record, Johnny Knoxville now has a better WrestleMania singles record than all-time greats like Sting, William Regal, and Ric Flair. (BJ Colangelo)

Read this next: Jackie Chan's 15 Greatest Fight Scenes Ranked

The post The Greatest Moments of Johnny Knoxville's WrestleMania Match appeared first on /Film.

"Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul" are many things: meticulously plotted out, nerve-wracking, exquisitely acted and directed, critically acclaimed. But one thing they are not: a great advertisement for tourism in the New Mexico desert.

From the very first episode of "Breaking Bad," and the second episode of "Better Call Saul," the desert became a place of danger, one for sketchy meetings at gunpoint, execution threats, actual executions. If an episode involves a scene in the desert, you know there is trouble, even if there is some comedy involved.

But when it came time for "Bagman," the eighth episode of the fifth season of "Better Call Saul," the desert became a dangerous threat to both the characters and the cast and crew, too.

A Land Where Anything And Everything Can Kill You

"Bagman" comes at the height of Jimmy McGill's journey to becoming a "friend of the Cartel," as he agrees to travel to the desert and pick up $7 million in cash to bail out Lalo Salamanca. This being Jimmy, things are not so simple, and the job starts out with a shootout that leaves him stranded in the middle of the desert with Mike.

"Just the idea that we're going to be shooting out in this location in murderously hot weather, miles away from the nearest source of water, in a land where there are tarantulas and scorpions," co-creator and director of the episode Vince Gilligan said during a Q&A for AMC Talk following the premiere of the episode, adding: 

"You could roast to death and then die of heat stroke and dehydration because this is a land that — if you were plopped down into this place without a canteen, without a hat with a big brim on it — you'd probably be dead within an hour and a half. I'm not overstating it."

The episode is Gilligan at his best, capturing the utter discomfort of the desert on camera, making you feel the scorching sun, the dehydration, and the isolation as if you were on set. Likewise, Bob Odenkirk gives maybe the best performance of his career, giving us Jimmy at one of his lowest points, drinking his old urine, being forced to use a thermal blanket that looks just like the space blankets Chuck used to wear, and dragging the incredibly heavy money bags around.

Fear The Cholla

One of the best things about this episode is that it is a rare example of a piece of media actually taking into consideration the crushing weight of a bag full of cash. Most heist movies and shows have the robbers get away with multiple bags full of millions of dollars in cash, or at times even full of solid gold, and then run around like the bags completely empty. One of the rare exceptions is the excellent and underseen movie "Widows," and another is the episode "Bagman," which makes it a point to show the struggle Jimmy goes through to carry the bags around.

But none of this is what scared Vince Gilligan during filming.

"But the thing I'm most scared of out there is the cholla. That particular cactus out there has prickly spines longer than a toothpick and needle-sharp, and that's what Jimmy rams his toe into by accident. Those things are so scary. I'd rather be covered with tarantulas than fall into one of those chollas. It would be unbelievably dangerous."

"Better Call Saul" premieres on April 18, 2022.

Read this next: The Best Movies Of 2021

The post Better Call Saul's 'Bagman' Put the Cast In Just as Much Potential Danger as the Characters appeared first on /Film.

Doom – the 1993 one – can famously run on all manner of stuff that generally has no business running games, from inkjet printers to pregnancy tests. You’ll be wanting a bonafide PC for this new mod, though, as it adds some GPU-intensive but rather lovely ray tracing to Doom’s first three episodes. There’s DLSS support too!

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FromSoftware has released a brand new update for Elden Ring. This patch will update your game’s version to 1.03.3, and will fix a bug in the balance adjustment of the boss “Starscourge Radahn” in update 1.03, in which the power of some attacks was unintentionally reduced. Apart from this fix, this latest patch does not … Continue reading Elden Ring Patch 1.03.3 released, fixes balance issue with Starscourge Radahn →

The post Elden Ring Patch 1.03.3 released, fixes balance issue with Starscourge Radahn appeared first on DSOGaming.

The western United States, "once a beacon for all that was new and hopeful in America, could become an example of the grim, apocalyptic future the nation faces from climate change," writes USA Today. Long-time Slashdot reader Klaxton shares their report: The last five years already have been harrowing. Whole neighborhoods burned down to foundations. Children kept indoors because the air outside is too dangerous to play in. Killer mudslides of burned debris destroying towns. Blood-red skies that are so dark at midday, the streetlights come on and postal workers wear headlamps to deliver the mail. And it's going to get worse unless dramatic action is taken, two studies published this week forecast. The first predicts the growth of wildfires could cause dangerous air quality levels to increase during fire season by more than 50% over the next 30 years in the Pacific Northwest and parts of northern California.... The danger stretches across the United States. Wildfire smoke can travel hundreds and even thousands of miles. In July, smoke from Western wildfires triggered air quality alerts and caused smoky skies and red-orange haze in New York, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston. Meanwhile, a second study "shows how expected increases in wildfires and intense rain events could result in more devastating flash floods and mudslides across a broad portion of the West," the article reports. Jonathan Overpeck, a climate scientist/dean at the University of Michigan's School for Environment and Sustainability, tells the newspaer, "Even climate scientists are scared." And Bruce Cain, director of Stanford's Bill Lane Center for the American West, hoped the studies would inspire a meaningful response. "It's a kick in the pants to get stuff done."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.