Ronald.phillips

Every once in a while a film comes along that I get the opportunity to check out that I likely otherwise wouldn’t have. Emily Bennett‘s and Justin Brooks’s ALONE WITH YOU happens to be one of those films, and I’m absolutely thrilled I had the opportunity to check out this nightmare birthed from the minds of Bennett and Brooks.

Here’s a quick plot breakdown:

A woman eagerly awaits the arrival of her partner on their anniversary. The longer she waits the more trapped she is in a hellish fever dream existing in their Brooklyn apartment.

I honestly had no expectations going into this. The bait for me to check out this film was the fact that Barbara Crampton was a player in the story which immediately reeled me in. Based on the synopsis, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. Would it be an arthouse film? Could it be a supernatural slasher? I had no idea that I was going to be thoroughly spooked during the entire duration of this movie.

The first thing I noticed is that the main character, Charlie (played by Emily Bennett) seemed a bit off. It’s the anniversary of her relationship with her partner Simone (Emma Myles), and Charlie’s waiting for her to come home and celebrate. I noticed some very subtle mannerisms and other things that made Charlie appear off to me, and that’s a theme that carried on throughout the film. Some of these subtleties lead into the paranormal or unusual occurrences that take place while Charlie’s alone.

The atmosphere of the film is pretty heavy with an ominous tone only helping the film be that much more unsettling. As I was watching I kept wondering to myself if this film was going to carry a heavy theme of mental health and I personally believe that it did, although other critics may disagree. Charlie’s mother, played by the always amazing Barbara Crampton, displayed the overbearing behavior of an overly Religious parent. I always feel weirded out about people who are super religious, especially when your entire life is dedicated to putting down those whose beliefs vastly differ. Barbara Crampton definitely hit the uncomfortable nail on the head with her character in this film.

The scares in this movie were slow and incredibly effective. Even the jump scares felt natural and not forced. From eerie crying to some classic “flashlight in the dark” style scares, I felt incredibly tense as the film took me further and further through the rabbit hole of Charlie’s hellish downward spiral. I can honestly say that I felt actual stress while watching ALONE WITH YOU. If you asked what kind of movie this is, I could probably pin it as a psychological horror film, but it’s so much more than that.

There are not many characters in the film, which I think actually makes it that much more of a clever and intelligent piece of work. There’s a recurring phone conversation with Charlie’s overbearing friend, Thea. These conversations just had me feeling like she was an overbearing friend until some information is later revealed that actually caused me to partially figure out the twist in this film. However, it didn’t affect my viewing experience. Things only got that much stranger as I kept watching. I was fully expecting something supernatural or possibly a slasher, but what was delivered was better than anything I could have anticipated.

There’s so much to say about this movie but it’s impossible to continue discussing it without spoiling it completely. ALONE WITH YOU was an expected runaway train nightmare that shook me to my core. I was stressed and uncomfortable as I watched everything unfold. This is a movie you’re definitely not going to want to sleep on. I highly recommend looking for it on VOD, cutting off the lights, and grabbing a snuggle buddy because I promise you’re going to be shook.

Dark Star Pictures will release the horror film  ALONE WITH YOU in theaters on February 4, 2022, and On-Demand, Digital and DVD on February 8, 2022

The post [Movie Review] ALONE WITH YOU appeared first on Nightmarish Conjurings.

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Apple’s 2021 MacBook Pro line includes a 14-inch and 16-inch version, and both of them have received all forms of praise in nearly every aspect. However, there are still some areas where the premium notebook is easily beaten by the competition, and one of them was wireless networking speeds. One review reveals this information, so read on more to find out.

Some Competitors of the 2021 MacBook Pro Featured a Wi-Fi 6E Adapter Instead of Wi-Fi 6, Showing That Apple Needs to Pick up the Pace

When it comes to notebook reviews, a negligible amount can top the comprehensive detail that YouTuber Jarrod’s Tech goes into. He is known to have reviewed multiple portable machines and has given his thoughts on how they can be improved and if customers should proceed with a purchase or not. Though he was a little late to the party with the 2021 MacBook Pro, Jarrod did an outstanding job with the review, covering every detail that others would typically miss.

One of them was wireless networking speeds. Despite having a Wi-Fi 6 chip, the 2021 MacBook Pro with Apple’s M1 Pro chip, 16GB of unified RAM, and 512GB of PCIe NVMe storage scored the lowest out of all laptops tested previously. According to the results, Apple’s premium notebook garnered transmission speeds of 758Mbps, making it the slowest notebook in this category. The fastest machines were the Gigabyte Aero 17 YD and the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro, both obtaining scores of 1,644Mbps and 1,5470Mbps, respectively.

Both of these high-end Windows laptops feature Intel’s Wi-Fi 6 AX200 adapter that operates at the 160MHz frequency, making it one of the best-performing chips out there. Some notebooks are equipped with Wi-Fi 6E chips, but surprisingly, they are slower than the Wi-Fi 6 ones from Intel we mentioned earlier. Some manufacturers are also using adapters from Realtek, MediaTek, and Intel’s Killer brand, all three of which score higher than the 2021 MacBook Pro but lower than the Wi-Fi 6 AX200 adapter.

Jarrod was unable to deduce which company supplied Apple with the Wi-Fi 6 chips, but it is possible the company is limiting wireless performance to boost battery life. In real-world scenarios, it is pointless to witness actual speeds of 758Mbps, unless you want to download heaps of files in quick succession or want to stream high-quality content at the same time. Unfortunately, major ISPs are unable to provide those speeds, and by the time they actually do, we will probably have significantly faster Wi-Fi adapters running in notebooks.

If you want to check out the entire review of the 2021 MacBook Pro, the video is given below. Also, let us know why do you think this model scored so low in the wireless performance results.

The post Apple’s 2021 MacBook Pro Has the Slowest Wireless Speeds for a Notebook, Despite Having Wi-Fi 6 Support by Omar Sohail appeared first on Wccftech.

Well here's something you probably didn't expect to read about today. A new show on Travel Channel called "Vampires in America" features vampire hunters that really do think they're on the hunt for bloodsucking entities. Either that, or they're really good actors. (I wish with all my heart to believe that this is a mockumentary, but I absolutely buy that there are people this nuts.) The trailer looks like something that would be a parody on "Saturday Night Live." The channel tweeted: 

A recent and alarming surge in homicides and missing persons cases in the southwest US has vampire hunters concerned that a large group of vampires may have emerged from hibernation. #VampiresInAmerica is on @discoveryplus and on Travel Channel tonight.

Sure. It's a 100% logical leap from a rise in homicides and missing persons cases to oh, it must be vampires. Not crime. Not guns. Not a serial killer. Definitely magical creatures who suck blood from their victims. This is science. By the way, you can watch this on Discovery Plus and Travel Channel. 

We have two vampire hunters here named Eric Streit and Marcel Von Tingen. Streit says in the video that he had his first encounter with a vampire in Scotland and he was, " ... well-dressed, mesmerizing, and I felt drawn in, but while you're being drawn in, there's a sense of dread. But then, [growls] fangs. That broke the spell." We also learn that they've been working together since 2001 and found evidence in all 50 states. There is a video shown that was from 2020, but hey, what else are were you going to do in 2020, party? No, you do something useful during a pandemic. You hunt vampires. After all, we learn that these two are the only vampire hunters working in the United States. (I doubt that somehow.)

No, Marcel, They're Probably Not In The Grocery Aisle

Von Tingen says in the video: 

"I come from 25 generations of vampire hunters. Hearing the stories from my grandfather and from my father, vampires are so dangerous because they're hiding in plain sight. They look like us. They talk like us. They could be in the grocery aisle, in the post office. They could be your doctor. They could be your next door neighbor. They could even be your priest."

I mean, could they, Marcel? Could they be in your grocery aisle? Don't vampires drink blood? Do they also drink Gatorade? Only the red kind, of course. I also think it's sort of weird to show a crucifix, a traditional vampire hunting tool and then say they could be priests. That's sort of part of the whole priest deal from what I recall. They're definitely not going to the post office. Von Tingen says they operate at night, and believe me when I tell you, the post office closes early. I can never get there in time.

But wait, there's more. Streit says vampires have been involved in vampire fiction so they could hide in plain sight. (Bram Stoker was apparently taking dictation from a vamp for Dracula.) Oh, and they are hominids but a different species than humans and evolved around 68,000 BC. (He doesn't use BCE. That was him using BC, not me.) That's very specific, and now I want to know more. Von Tingen claims that they've been in America since the Civil War and that there are 20,000 nationwide. 

Well, good to know, I guess? I'll try to avoid priests, the grocery store, and the post office. Oh right, I'm already doing that. I'm safe, friends! 

Read this next: The 12 Best Vampire Movies Of All Time

The post Travel Channel's Vampires in America Features Guys Who Think They're Hunting Actual Vampires appeared first on /Film.

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Dying Light 2's release date is upon us, and Nvidia just announced that the survival horror RPG is coming to GeForce Now. While the game's ray tracing elements demand a lot from gaming PCs, the streaming service gives RTX 3080 members a chance to enhance Techland's apocalyptic sequel without owning one of the green team's best graphics card.

One of Dying Light 2's key mechanics is its dynamic day-night cycle, which uses ray tracing to hammer home its ever-changing cityscapes. Of course, not everyone has a GPU that's capable of such feats, and Techland's RT system requirements recommend an RTX 3080 for 1080p 60fps gameplay.

It's worth noting that you'll need a reliable internet connection to use GeForce Now, but the cloud service could help fans experience everything Dying Light 2 has to offer. In an Nvidia blog post, Techland's rendering director, Tomasz Szałkowski, says that players can experience the game "exactly as intended with the RTX 3080 membership, even when playing on underpowered devices.”

RELATED LINKS: Dying Light 2 release date, Dying Light 2 factions, Dying Light 2 trailer reveal

As odd as it may be to think about when there are flashier franchises out there that have driven Hollywood forward since the turn of the millennium, there are few movies and/or TV shows that can say they've had the influence that "Jackass" has had on popular culture. An entire era of YouTubers can arguably trace their roots right back to that original MTV series and the legendary words, "Hello, I'm Johnny Knoxville and welcome to Jackass." It was old-school stuntman shock-and-awe disguised as lowbrow humor for the masses. More than 20 years later, something about this deceptively simple formula still works like gangbusters, particularly in the trilogy of "Jackass" movies produced between 2002 and 2010. That's why moviegoers around the country are gearing up to see "Jackass Forever," the fourth cinematic entry from Knoxville, Steve-O, and the gang.

It seems like, especially in the modern era, there is a great deal of discussion regarding the greatest movie trilogies of all time, which makes sense when you consider Hollywood's ongoing obsession with franchise fare these days. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has gifted us the "Captain America" trilogy, as well as the new "Spider-Man" trilogy, both of which are quite good. We of course have "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit," as well as horror trilogies such as "The Conjuring" and "Fear Street." There is a reason this discussion persists. I am here to humbly argue that "Jackass" unironically deserves its place in the conversation. Not atop the heap, mind you, but certainly in the conversation somewhere.

Misunderstanding The Nature Of Jackass

The primary argument against something like "Jackass: The Movie," "Jackass: Number Two" or "Jackass 3D" is likely that they are almost completely centered around lowbrow toilet humor and, well, jackassery. On the surface, that is most certainly true. One needs to look no further than the following bit to find evidence of that.

As objectively hilarious as that is, it's not exactly the kind of thing that good students of cinema might look at and say, "Yes. Good. Art," whilst nodding their head. But there is far more to it than just the little pranks that the cast members consistently pull on one another throughout each of the original three movies. At times, it is almost like a punk rock riff on the likes of Buster Keaton or other Hollywood legends of old who would put themselves in genuine peril for the sake of entertainment. Take this clip, for example, another wildly different moment from "Jackass: Number Two" that sees Johnny Knoxville, Ryan Dunn, and Bam Margera facing down the wrath of some actual riot control equipment, with brutal results.

One might find this grotesque or unnecessary, but it is also undeniably compelling in its own way. The same could be said for any genre of cinema, as not everything is for everyone. Horror movies might offend one's sensibilities, but that doesn't take away from the brilliance of "The Exorcist." The same could be said of the "Jackass" films which offer some real, at times harrowing, often hilarious, and perhaps wholly unique thing during the last 20 some odd years. Just because someone might write these movies off over their surface-level appeal — or because watching grown men get in an enclosure with an actual, angry bull might not be something they're interested in seeing — doesn't take anything away from what is being accomplished. These are real people doing genuinely insane things for the sake of entertainment. It's far more real than most mass-consumed entertainment to come out of an era defined by reality TV and franchise obsession. To me, there is a grave misunderstanding of what makes these films so compelling under the surface.

Delivering On Expectations

Another, slightly less complex point to make about the "Jackass" movies is one that often results in a whole lot of arguments and complaining online. Something that virtually all movies have to contend with in the modern era is the burden of expectations, particularly as it relates to franchise fare or big blockbusters with A-list stars. Just look at the whole "Justice League" debacle or what happened with "Star Wars: The Last Jedi." Delivering on expectations can be a near-impossible task to navigate around at times. And, in many cases, the fear of upsetting the natural order of things can result in a watered-down, up-the-middle product. I'll refrain from any examples on that one as I don't want to divert from the point too much here and get people worked up about the wrong thing.

"Jackass: The Movie," on the other hand, managed to deliver handily on the expectations placed upon it by its audience. This was essentially the same MTV show with a bigger budget and a larger platform, which allowed the nature of what it is to blossom. Director Jeff Tremaine and the cast no longer had to be concerned about what they could get away with on TV. They had an R-rating and several million dollars to do as they pleased. As promised, it was the bigger, better version of what ravenous fans came to enjoy on the small screen. It flat-out delivered and, as a result, managed to make a boatload of cash.

Similarly, both "Jackass: Number Two" and "Jackass 3D" were able to also deliver on those same expectations by sticking to the same formula, while offering new bits for audiences to enjoy. It would be different if they just did "Night Pandas" and "Golf Course Airhorn" again but they gave us such gems as "The High Five" and "Terror Taxi" along the way.

One simple way to put it might be to say that the sequels were the same but different, much like a good AC/DC album. You kind of know what you're getting, yet you're pleasantly surprised nonetheless.

What Is Greatness Anyway?

I don't know that even I, one of the most ardent defenders of these movies, would say that they achieve greatness in the traditional sense of the word as it relates to cinema. Though I will go to my grave believing that those first three movies, as they exist, make for one of the most satisfying trilogies in history, and that is not to be discounted out of hand. It's not easy thing to maintain for a three-movie stretch, as even many of the all-time great trilogies have one entry that clearly isn't up to the same level as the other two, but the average of it all makes the collective experience great. There is arguably no lull in the "Jackass" trilogy. Viewers may have their personal favorites (I myself am a "Jackass: Number Two man) but each film delivers the goods. Plain and simple.

Again, while understanding that these movies are not for everyone, does the entire picture of what these guys have created not speak to some level of greatness? More than two decades of endurance in the pop-culture consciousness; a massive sphere of influence; hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office; true satisfaction for the audience; and, perhaps most importantly, leaving the audience wanting more. What is all of this if not greatness in its own way? Ponder that next time you see a bull and think to yourself, "I don't want to mess with that beast but it sure might be entertaining if someone else did."

"Jackass Forever" hits theaters on February 4, 2022.

Read this next: 20 Underrated Comedy Movies You Need To Watch

The post Jackass Is One of the Most Satisfying Movie Trilogies Of All Time appeared first on /Film.

A Roadmap Roundup on the Roberts Space Industries Website has word from Cloud Imperium Games on changes to how progress on Star Citizen and Squadron 42 will be presented in the RSI Progress Tracker....

Ari Aster blew audiences away with his feature debut "Hereditary," a deeply horrific examination of inherited trauma, familial secrets, and unexplainable phenomenon following a series of deaths. The film was hailed as one of the best horror movies of 2018, with many believing lead actress Toni Collette was snubbed by the Oscars when she wasn't nominated for Best Actress. Horror fans couldn't wait to see what Aster had up his sleeve for his next film, and were thrilled when he announced his sophomore scare fest, "Midsommar."

Presented almost exclusively in the daylight under the blue skies of Sweden, "Midsommar" stars Florence Pugh as a young woman named Dani who joins her toxic boyfriend Christian and his best friends Josh and Mark on a trip to Sweden to visit their classmate Pelle's communal hometown for its fabled midsummer festival. What begins as a relaxing vacation filled with gorgeous scenery and welcoming hospitality quickly turns into a waking nightmare of violent traditions and bizarre ceremonial practices where outsiders are presented for ritualistic sacrifice.

Horrifying From The Very Beginning

While "Hereditary" takes a turn for the terrifying roughly 30 minutes into the movie, "Midsommar" wastes no time traumatizing the audience. Within the first 15 minutes of the film, Dani is struggling to make sense of a cryptic message from her mentally unwell sister who has a history of suicidal ideation. Unfortunately, Dani soon discovers that her sister's message was more than a cry for help, and we witness not only her suicide but also the act of parricide of Dani's parents. The visual of the scene is shocking enough on its own, but it's Pugh's guttural cries of agony upon learning the news that continue to haunt audiences. Her pain is palpable and harrowing, making the opening moments among the hardest to sit through.

Shortly after arriving in Sweden, the American visitors are welcomed to the midsummer festival with feasts, dancing, and tea laced with hallucinogens. All seems idyllic and well, until the ceremonial events begin with the ritualistic self-sacrifice of two elders who willingly jump from a high cliff. An elderly woman lands, her face rupturing on a rock, but the elderly man misses his intended target and only breaks his leg, forcing community members to end his life with a customary blow from a massive hammer, directly to the head.

A Desperation For Community

With "Midsommar" taking place predominantly on the foreign commune, the deeply American desire of assimilation is interwoven into the story like the intricate embroidery on ceremonial cloaks, but in the worst ways possible. Despite being presented with boundaries and limitations, the male American visitors frequently break the regulations set before them -- documenting forbidden texts, urinating on memorial trees, and showing blatant disregard, and even contempt, for the heritage that surrounds them. Dani, on the other hand, having recently lost her entire family, is desperate for community.

As Pelle tells Dani, "everyone deserves to have a real family" and "people they feel held by." It is this concept that sets the stage for the most memorable moment of the entire film. Dani spends the course of the film bending over backward to try and stay in the good graces of her friend group, her "community," but it is The Hårga pagan cult that finally offers Dani what she's been looking for all along.

A Chorus Of Screams

After a physically exhausting, wildly spinning, hallucinogenic-fueled ceremonial dance competition, Dani is crowned this year's May Queen. The community of Hårga embrace her, celebrate her, adorn her with flowers, and rejoice in her honor. Unfortunately, this is all short lived as Dani soon after finds Christian in a sexual ceremony with Pelle's sister, Maja. Seeing Christian with another woman pushes Dani over the edge, and the build-up of trauma of the loss of her family, her acceptance that her relationship has not been good for her, and everything she's witnessed during the festival finally becomes too much for her. Dani lets out a mortifying cry, and rather than being forced to hide her emotions by walking away from the group or hiding in an airplane bathroom, her emotions are validated and embraced by the Hårga women. They carry her to her bed, hold her tightly, and allow her to feel everything she feels.

The women surround Dani, and mirror her cries as they increase in intensity, exploding in a visceral chorus of wailing and tears, allowing Dani's pain to wash over them all. It is at this moment that Dani has finally found the community and the family she's always wanted. Florence Pugh truly gives herself over in this performance, and watching her finally release all of the emotions bubbling under the surface provides not only a cathartic release, but a horrific foreshadowing of what's to come. We know from the prior events that the Hårga are a death cult, and Dani has welcomed full immersion and assimilation into their world. The shocking end of "Midsommar" shortly follows, with Dani's acting as a willing, smiling participant. The newest member of the Hårga family.

Read this next: Movies About Cults That Will Keep You Up At Night

The post The One Midsommar Scene That Hit Fans The Hardest appeared first on /Film.

I have played Vampire Survivors twice - that’s two (2) times - in total. In only that short space of time, the arcade-style game has sunk its teeth into me. You swat away hordes of monsters with weapons and magic that fire automatically. All it needs from you is one hand on the wheel. You are, in essence, the pale captain of a battleship that must weave its way through demons and bats. The garlic and holy water cannons will take care of the rest.

Not only do I crave more vampiric survival, but I also wish it had been released years ago. This is the perfect pre-lesson huddle. The perfect after-school treat. A nerdy talk generator for those locker chats.

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I’m going to be completely honest here: I don’t know why I’m writing this. Jackass is an American institution, the kind of singular cultural artifact that is immune to film criticism, almost universally either loved or hated, before you walk in the theater you know exactly what you’re going to get. It is kind of impossible to try to explain the appeal of the Jackass phenomenon, it’s such a visceral, instinctual, stupid thing to even debate. Yet here we are, 22 years later. Nothing has changed and everything has changed. The world is a dramatically different place. We are more aware of our surroundings, more careful with our words, when we see something, we say something. Surely, with all of the evolution we as a...

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

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Natalie Portman is one of the finest Oscar-winning actresses working today, that rare case of a famous celebrity who continues to choose experimental film projects in addition to mainstream Hollywood fare. In between major franchises like "Star Wars" and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Portman has helped spotlight many arthouse, independent, and genre projects that might not have gained as much attention if it wasn't for her involvement. She's gained notoriety for her passionate support for female filmmakers, and it's inspirational to see someone of her caliber working towards positive change within the industry.

Portman has been a major Hollywood presence for over 25 years, always reinventing herself. She's even been able to reinvent some of her past roles such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe project "Thor: Love and Thunder," in which her character Jane Foster takes on the mantle of Thor herself. Here are the 15 greatest Natalie Portman movies, ranked.

Thor (2011)

Compared to the epic scale that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has reached in its later phases, the first "Thor" film is relatively small in scale. Director Kenneth Branagh tackled Marvel's powerful God of Thunder by stripping him of his hammer and signature powers. Banished from the Kingdom of Asgard, Thor is forced to live on Earth in order to reassess his values. It helped humanize a character that could have felt emotionally unreachable, and a lot of that empathy comes from Natalie Portman's character Jane Foster.

Jane is a scientist who researches anomalies within the galactic map, and she's fascinated by the outer space visitor that appears in the middle of the desert. Jane has a real passion for practical studies, and seeing her scientific approach to the mysticism of Thor was an interesting twist. Love interests in superhero movies can often feel one-note, but Jane is an active character who engages in the plot.

Song To Song (2017)

Terrence Malick's 2017 romantic odyssey "Song to Song" features a murderer's row of the best actors working today, with Natalie Portman appearing alongside Cate Blanchette, Michael Fassbender, Ryan Gosling, and Rooney Mara. The film centers around love triangles set within the Austin music scene, and the eventual series of heartbreaks, hiccups, and moments of joy that occur during realistic relationships. Portman plays one of the more sincere and sensitive characters, and her storyline is particularly touching.

She appears as Rhonda, a schoolteacher who isn't directly associated with the record industry. She is charmed by the passionate performer Cook (Fassbender), and they begin an illustrious romance. She is swept away when he buys her a house, and they soon marry. However, Cook's indulgences soon dampen their initial passions. He is constantly on edge because of his drug use, and he has affairs with other women, all while Rhonda copes with being an outsider to the local celebrity scene.

Garden State (2004)

Zach Braff's 2004 directorial debut "Garden State" has been a film that continues to generate widespread discussion, being ripe for analysis and criticism. It is an early example of a Hollywood star creating a smaller, personal project that is semi-autobiographical and has an idiosyncratic sense of humor. Unfortunately, many have labeled Natalie Portman's character as a "Manic Pixie Dream Girl," including that moniker's creator Nathan Rabin. Although the film has its issues, Portman is truly wonderful in it, as she embraces Braff's wacky slice-of-life relatable comedy.

The film centers around the actor Andrew Largeman (Braff), who returns to his hometown in New Jersey after the death of his mother. During a medical appointment, he has a chance encounter with the energetic Samantha (Portman). Braff is a talented comic performer, but less accustomed to more serious work, but Portman's high-spirited energy elevates Braff's performance, and they have strong chemistry.

Knight Of Cups (2015)

Terrence Malick is a director known for making bold filmmaking choices, and "Knight of Cups" is one of his most divisive projects. Malick infamously shot the film with little story notes planned ahead of time and made significant changes in the editing room that cut down many of the actors' roles. It's certainly a challenge to be a standout amidst the strange shooting situation, but Natalie Portman has one of the most important parts of the film. In a story that centers around indulgence, she is genuinely heartfelt.

The film is divided into a series of eight segments that focus on the life of screenwriter Rick (Christian Bale) as he lavishes in extravagant indulgences in the wake of his brother's death. The eight sections are indicated with a tarot card, and Portman's role as the married woman Elizabeth comes in the "Death" segment. She has an emotional role as Rick considers the potential of fatherhood.

Mars Attacks! (1996)

Natalie Portman is renowned for her ability to deliver emotionally devastating moments as a dramatic actress, but she's often not given enough credit for her comedic sensibilities. Portman would go on to star in a few romantic comedies like "No Strings Attached" later in her career, but her sense of humor was apparent even within her early work. She's absolutely hilarious in Tim Burton's wild 1996 disaster film parody "Mars Attacks!," based on the Topps trading card series. 

The film centers around an invasion of Earth by vicious Martians that take advantage of mankind's utter incompetence. Among the biggest idiots on the planet is President James Dale (Jack Nicholson), and Portman appears as his daughter Taffy, who has grown bored by politics and has to fend for herself during the attack. Although Taffy is spoiled and incredibly wealthy, Portman is still able to make her a likable character.

Heat (1995)

Michael Mann's 1995 crime thriller "Heat" perfectly showcases the complex relationship between LAPD Lieutenant Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) and serial bank robber Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro). Not only does Vincent have to deal with the stress of his obsession with finding Neil, but he must also deal with a messy home life. Vincent has a challenging relationship with his third wife Justine (Diane Venora) and his stepdaughter Lauren (Natalie Portman). A then-teenaged Portman, in only her second feature role, delivers a powerful supporting performance where she is able to hold her own alongside Pacino.

Lauren is dealing with mental health issues that she's unable to express, and rarely communicates with her father. It's a tension that is prolonged throughout the film and becomes a pivotal part of the climax. Amidst the most desperate hour of Vincent's pursuit of Neil, he learns that Lauren has attempted suicide and must rush her to the hospital.

Cold Mountain (2003)

One of the signs of a great actor is someone who can deliver memorable performances regardless of how much screen time they have. Natalie Portman is often credited above the title thanks to her frequent starring roles, so when she took on a smaller role in the 2003 Civil War epic "Cold Mountain" it came as a bit of a surprise. However, in only a few extended scenes, Portman delivered memorable work that ranks among the film's strongest moments.

"Cold Mountain" is centered around the carpenter William Inman (Jude Law), who is forced to enlist in the Confederate Army and leave both his home in Charleston, South Carolina as well as his lover Ada Monroe (Nicole Kidman). After Inman is left for dead in battle he ventures on the long journey home, and during his travels comes across the meager widow Sara (Portman). Sara lives within a dangerous community but takes William in nonetheless. He's forced to protect her from soldiers that attempt to assault her and kidnap her son Ethan.

Brothers (2009)

Post-war films frequently tackle the lives of soldiers reeling from the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder. Jim Sheridan's 2009 film "Brothers" captures the emotionally complex material of characters trying to adapt to normal life in the wake of combat. Natalie Portman is put in a particularly vulnerable position and treats the weighty material with the respect it deserves.

Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) is a beloved figure within his community, but his wife Grace (Portman) and their two children worry about his safety when he's dispatched overseas to Afghanistan. Sam manages his irresponsible brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal), and Grace is forced to look out for him when Sam is far away. When Sam is reported deceased, Grace is devastated. Consequently, she and Tommy cope together and grow closer. They have brief flirtations, but ultimately decide not to pursue a relationship. However, Sam's death was a false report, and he returns home a changed man. He's haunted by his violent experiences and takes it out on Grace by accusing her of infidelity.

Annihilation (2018)

Although Natalie Portman has had many box office successes over her career, many viewers still remember her as Padme Amidala in the "Star Wars" prequel films. The romance between Padme and Anakin never worked, and it was unfortunate that Portman's talents were wasted, especially since seeing her in a science fiction project is exciting. Thankfully, Portman was able to star in a new sci-fi classic that gave her a much more interesting role with Alex Garland's 2018 film "Annihilation."

Portman stars as Lena, a biologist researcher whose husband Kane (Oscar Isaac) disappears into a mysterious energy field known as "The Shimmer." Lena is given the chance to rescue him when she's recruited by the government psychologist Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Lena joins Ventress and her team composed of paramedic Anya Thorensen (Gina Rodriguez), physicist Josie Radek (Tessa Thompson), and creature specialist Cassie Sheppard (Tuva Novotny) in their exploration of "The Shimmer." Within the enigmatic "Area X" they experience monstrous creatures and frightening visions that haunt each woman with demons of their past.

Vox Lux (2018)

Natalie Portman has certainly delivered some eccentric performances in the past, but her role in "Vox Lux" as the pop star Celeste was a transformation unlike anything she had ever done. It's an outrageous depiction of stardom and would have risked being a borderline caricature if Portman didn't do such a great job exploring Celeste's childhood trauma and how it manifests into her adulthood.

A young Celeste (Raffey Cassidy) is a survivor of a devastating school shooting, shown in graphic detail. In her grief during the aftermath, Celeste and her sister write a song called "Wrapped Up" that they sing at a memorial candlelight service held by the community. The song was only intended to be a method of healing, but it gains popularity in their small circles and attracts the attention of a major music manager (Jude Law). Celeste soon becomes a pop sensation and sheds her youthful innocence, with Portman playing the older character once she's become a controversial music icon. Virtually removed from reality and extremely temperamental, Celeste struggles to connect with her own daughter Albertine (also Cassidy). She's reminded of her youthful experience when a new mass tragedy breaks headlines the day of a pivotal performance.

Black Swan (2010)

Natalie Portman finally won the Academy Award for best actress for her performance in Darren Aronofsky's brilliant 2010 psychological thriller "Black Swan," a role that required her to play two conflicting sides of the same character and do extremely physically challenging dance sequences. Occasionally actors will win a "career Oscar," in which they'll be rewarded not for their individual performance but as a representation of their overall filmography. There are also instances in which the immense challenge of a role, such as a physical transformation and difficult stunt work, can also result in the award. While Portman already had an extensive career to this point, "Black Swan" was such a challenge that her win arguably came completely on the basis of merit.

Portman's character Nina Sayers is a shy dancer at the New York Ballet Academy who auditions for the lead role in "Swan Lake," her dream part. Nina rarely does anything other than practice due to the demands of her domineering mother Erica (Barbara Hershey), but she's introduced to the New York social circles by her fellow classmate Lily (Mila Kunis). When she lands the role, Nina is a natural fit for the purely innocent White Swan but must challenge her own psychology to play the seductive Black Swan. She's drawn into a complicated relationship with the conductor Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel).

Léon: The Professional (1994)

Child performances are often judged on a sliding scale. A younger performer who lacks experience can't be expected to immediately have an awareness of the dramatic stakes of the story and work at the same caliber as their co-stars. Natalie Portman didn't need these excuses when she delivered her breakout performance in Luc Besson's hyper-violent 1994 action classic "Léon: The Professional." Placing a child within the center of an action film was a risky choice on Besson's part. Action films that attempt to become heartfelt by putting a child in harm's way can come off as extremely unrealistic or superficially melodramatic, but Portman didn't detract from the exciting set pieces at all.

Portman stars as Mathilda Lando, a young girl who is left orphaned when her entire family is massacred by the corrupt cop Norman Stansfield (Gary Oldman), a frightening vision of the Drug Enforcement Agency that ranks among Oldman's most horrifying performances. Stansfield comes into conflict with the assassin Léon (Jean Reno), who ends up befriending Mathilda and protecting her briefly. Léon didn't intend to become Mathilda's long-term guardian, and surprisingly both characters realize they have much more in common than they first expected. Léon develops into a strange sort of father figure to Mathilda as he trains her to be his assistant and get revenge on Stansfield.

V For Vendetta (2005)

Natalie Portman has never been shy about her politics during press cycles for her film projects, and many of her films have spotlighted critical issues through direct recreations of historical events. Ironically, one of her most blatantly political films came from within the comic book genre, as James McTeigue's 2005 adaptation of Alan Moore's graphic novel "V for Vendetta" explores a dystopian militaristic future version of England. The charged story centers around themes of anti-authoritarianism, social discrimination, media dominance, and the necessity of rebellion through public protest. Although McTeigue is credited as the director, the film was produced by the Wachowski sisters and is influenced by their unique stylistic impulses. Portman has a critical role as Evey Hammond, a victim that becomes a victor.

Hammond is a timid British woman who works as a secretary within the BTN broadcast program. The entire media within the nation is directly controlled by the neo-fascist government under High Chancellor Adam Sutler (John Hurt), who rules with an iron fist and a militaristic police force, silencing anyone who dares to disagree with his conservative values. Evey despises Sutler but is helpless to do anything about it until she is saved from a streetside assault by an enigmatic vigilante known only as "V" (Hugo Weaving). V teaches Evey to defend herself and take on his mantle, and Portman shows her remarkable transition as she gains confidence.

Closer (2004)

There's an intimacy to stage performances that is harder to capture on film, but it's something the late Mike Nichols prioritized throughout his career. He adapted Patrick Marber's acclaimed play "Closer" into the 2004 film of the same name, with the lurid story centered around two intersecting couples and the power games between all four of them. It features showcase moments for all four stars.

Set in modern-day London, "Closer" follows a chance encounter between the writer Daniel Woolf (Jude Law) and the mysterious woman Alice Ayres (Natalie Portman), who he meets through a friendly streetside conversation. It becomes the basis for Daniel's new novel, and during his publicity tour he's interviewed by the photographer Anna Cameron (Julia Roberts), with whom he becomes romantically involved. Dan is also using a false identity to deceive the dermatologist Larry Gray (Clive Owen) into a fake online relationship. Soon the four strangers have their lives forever tied together as they begin to romance, cheat, and deceive each other. All of the performances are stellar, but Portman is truly the wildcard of the group. Her youth gives her spirited energy that excites the other men but takes them by surprise as she constantly changes her mind and toys with them.

Jackie (2016)

Even for some of the best performers in the industry, there are certain roles you can only play at a certain point in your career once you've reached a level of maturity. Few recent cinematic performances have been quite as challenging as the role of Jackie Kennedy in Pablo Larraín's 2016 biographical film "Jackie." Not only does it follow the former First Lady of the United States, someone whose voice and characterization was widely covered by the mainstream media, but it presented Kennedy in a very fragile emotional state in the aftermath of her husband's assassination. It's one thing to play a famous historical figure where the audience is likely familiar with their characteristics, but another to paint them in a sympathetic light as a grieving widow, struggling mother, and unsuspecting pinpoint for the nation's grief. 

Natalie Portman fulfilled these high demands and delivered one of her most powerful performances. Larraín draws parallels between the Kennedys and Arthurian legend, with Portman capturing the essence of heartbroken princess Guinevere watching the glory of Camelot fade away. The story is brilliantly framed around her reclusive conversations with a journalist (Billy Crudup), who gains insight into her state of mind. Portman still leaves some of these emotions ambiguous.

Read this next: The 14 Greatest Biopics Of The 21st Century

The post The 15 Best Natalie Portman Movies Ranked appeared first on /Film.

A group of researchers at University College London (UCL) have used an MRI scanner to guide a tiny magnetic "seed" through the brain to heat and destroy cancer cells. Interesting Engineering reports: The novel breakthrough cancer therapy, which has been tested on mice, is called "minimally invasive image-guided ablation," or MINIMA, according to the study published in Advanced Science. It consists of ferromagnetic thermoseeds, which are basically 2mm metal spheres, that are guided to a tumor using magnetic propulsion generated by an MRI scanner and then remotely heated to kill nearby cancer cells. If this technique translates to humans, it could help to combat difficult-to-reach brain tumors by establishing "proof-of-concept" for precise treatment of cancers like glioblastoma, the most common form of brain cancer, and prostate, which could benefit from less invasive therapies. The UCL researchers demonstrated the three major components of MINIMA to a high level of accuracy: precise seed imaging, navigation through brain tissue using a customized MRI system (tracked to within 0.3 mm accuracy), and eradicating the tumor in a mouse model by heating it. The researchers used an MRI machine to direct 2mm diameter metal spheres, which were implanted superficially into the tissue, then navigated to the tumors. Then, they were heated to destroy the cells. "Using an MRI scanner to deliver a therapy in this way allows the therapeutic seed and the tumor to be imaged throughout the procedure, ensuring the treatment is delivered with precision and without having to perform open surgery," explained lead author Rebecca Baker at the UCL Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging, in a press release. "This could be beneficial to patients by reducing recovery times and minimizing the chance of side effects."

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Praise Sol! "Raised by Wolves" is back and weirder than ever, kicking off its second season with a bang. The series, created by Aaron Guzikowski and executive-produced Ridley Scott, follows a pair of androids and their human brood as they attempt to create a new colony on the planet Kepler-22b. The androids are Mother (Amanda Collin), a former Necromancer killer robot with new maternal programming, and Father (Abubakar Salim), a caregiver android who counters many of Mother's more murderous moods. They set out to create a colony and raise their human brood of children, but were thwarted at every turn by both the planet itself and another group of survivors that belonged to a religiously zealous group, the Mithraic. After a Mithraic ark ship crashed, however, Mother and Father adopted some of the surviving children, along with surviving adult Sue (Niamh Algar). Sue was an atheist hiding aboard the Mithraic ship along with her husband Marcus (Travis Fimmel) and their son, Paul (Felix Jamieson). Unfortunately, Marcus has become a bit deranged and believes that he has been chosen the Mithraic god Sol to take over the planet in his name, which causes some problems for the atheist androids and their kin. 

When last season ended, Mother and Father had taken their landing cruiser deep into the planet in an attempt to kill Mother's natural-born child, a snake-creature that resembles bones found by the children. They somehow survive, and the androids, Sue, and the children all manage to find the atheist commune in the tropical zone of the planet. Now they must face new challenges as they try to assimilate into a new society and forgive one another for the sins they committed in the name of survival. Marcus is also still out there, somewhere, self-righteous and totally insane. 

Season 2 of "Raised by Wolves" throws us right back into the story with Mother's discovery by the atheist colonists. Each week, I'll recap the episodes and then dig into how things are going for the two big teams: Team Robot, and Team Sol. I get the feeling that neither of them will feel like winners by the end of this. 

SPOILERS for season 2, episode 1 of "Raised by Wolves" from here on out.

A Quick Recap

The season premiere of "Raised by Wolves" kicks off with a group of atheist colonists finding Mother in the jungle. They bring her back to run some tests at the behest of their overlord, who happens to be some kind of artificial intelligence. While complaining about being bossed around by a robot, one of the colonists digs in Mother's guts. This triggers a defense mechanism that causes contact with her blood to mutate human flesh, quickly turning the poor colonist into a nightmarish Cronenbergian freak. Mother is about to kill everyone in the room when the AI speaks to her in her mind, commanding her to come and speak with him. She meets Quantum 6, the futuristic super-computer created by the atheists to rule them, and he welcomes her with a friendly "hello, sister." It turns out that his programmer was the same creator as Mother's, and they are siblings, in a sense. Quantum 6 tells Mother that she and her family will be welcome in the colony, and that she has helped save them. 

"Thanks to you, all that remains of the Mithraic threat is a lone terrorist who will soon be eliminated," he tells her. Cut to Marcus freezing his Mithraic butt off 3000 miles away from the Tropical Zone. He watches a ship crash and goes to find it so he can use it to attack the atheist colony. He ends up landing nearby and discovering two Mithraic survivors being held captive by the atheists. He de-activates the chest bombs that keep them from escaping and then takes them to a cave where he's found a giant Mithraic symbol carved into the walls. Despite the fact that one of them is an android, he recruits them into his plot to overthrow the atheists.

Meanwhile, Mother is reunited with Father, Sue, and the children. Father is confused and she explains the situation, telling him that she has changed. She is no longer capable of killing as she did before, and her programming has been radically altered. Even her kill-eyes are gone, no longer able to shoot laser beams. Father is still upset with Mother over her secret betrayal with the A.I. who impregnated her with the snake baby, but he informs her that he will hold off on erasing his memories of her for the time being. They begin learning about their new surroundings and explore outside in the Tropical Zone for the first time. The children are in awe of the warmth of the area and the fact that there's life around them, including edible fruit and birds flying above. Everyone seems pretty optimistic, except for Paul, who gets into another argument with his mother about her lack of faith. He tells her that her soul is impure and that he wished she had died when she was "supposed to," which causes her to pack up her things and leave the colony. 

In the colony, daily assignments are given by Quantum 6, imprinted on little metal balls. The children and Father are assigned to go gather food, while Mother is assigned to go teach the very young children in the colony. Mother has been given a new name: Lamia. A lamia in Greek mythology was a serpent-based demonic being who ate children, so the name's accurate, whether she still has her laser eyes or not. Some of the colonists are cruel to Father and Vita (Ivy Wong) as they search for food, though he reassures her that she is not bad for being born into a Mithraic family. They discover some unusual objects in a cave that look like they might be made of bone, and Father takes them back to the colony for research. At the same time, Paul and Campion go looking for food and instead find trouble. Campion discovers a nest with eggs and keeps one so he can raise whatever hatches as a pet, while Paul finds a hexagonal object with Mithraic symbols all over it. Both agree to keep their findings secret, but Sol knows how long that will last. 

The episode ends with Mother and Father rushing out into the night to discover a burning symbol of Sol in front of their home. Mother asks what it means and Father tells her, "a threat." It looks like Marcus and his tiny crew are going to take on the atheists sooner instead of later, but how? 

Team Robot: A Strained Kind Of Hope

Things are looking more optimistic than usual for "Raised by Wolves" on Team Robot, although Mother/Lamia is clearly not well. Her outward kindness feels false, and her eyes are completely dead. At the very beginning of the episode, while the colonists are digging around in her guts, they discuss how one of them thinks Quantum 6 hates him. "It's a machine, it doesn't hate anything," the other replies, and it feels like a warning for the rest of the season. Mother later tells Quantum 6 that she feels impulses "to conceal the parts of myself that displease me." She is feeling shame, Quantum 6 explains, a very human emotion. Mother is beginning to think beyond her programming and is experiencing emotions the same way a human being would. Unfortunately, she's also deeply traumatized from her experiences and she's got a bit of a rage problem, so she's a ticking time bomb. When she is looking after the young children, one of them paints a snake creature on an egg. She seems shaken by the imagery and tells them not to paint something so scary. 

"It's not scary. It's beautiful. All living things are beautiful," the child says, and this seems to shake Mother even more. Her snake child is potentially deadly and possibly still out there, and she feels responsible. Life, and the creation of it, has not been beautiful for her. She even tells the children when they're reunited: "androids can change, just like human beings. I am no longer an exterminator. And although I am not a creator of human life, I am forever its guardian." It sounds like she's a little bitter about the creation part, but we'll have to see how that all pans out. 

The children, for their part, seem cautiously optimistic about the whole thing. They're a little unnerved by a woman doing penance beside the assignment line, repeating "pain is violence, violence is pain," but otherwise are excited about being in a place that's not actively trying to kill them. Hunter (Ethan Hazzard) is a little less impressed, cracking wise about having to queue up for work: "It's called waiting in line, welcome to the future!"

Team Sol: Something Wicked This Way Comes

Marcus, who believes himself to be the chosen son of Sol who will bring about a new beginning for mankind, has started his next phase of attack against the atheists. He's managed to get closer to them with his stolen ship, found the cave with the giant symbol, and is headed towards creating a new cult of Sol on the planet. The two Mithraic survivors he's rescued are Decima (Kim Engelbrecht) and Vrille (Morgan Santo), though he's reluctant to allow Vrille to stick around due to his mistrust of all androids. Decima calls Vrille her "daughter," and explains that she's a civilian-model android intended only for companionship. She has to beg Marcus to save her as well, but he relents. When they reach the cave, he questions them on their pasts. The only reason the atheists let Decima keep Vrille was because she fixed their ship — Decima is a quantum gravity engineer. She's also devoted to Sol, though she was not baptized. Marcus reassures her that baptism doesn't matter, only her love of their god does. 

Looking Forward

So what should we expect in the weeks to come? I expect a showdown between Mother and Quantum 6, Marcus recruiting more Mithraic folks to Team Sol, and a whole lot of violence. There's also a fair bit of tension just among our core family, with Mother and Father at odds and some serious disagreements brewing between the children regarding faith. The atheist colonists also don't seem too keen on the Mithraic children being among them, even though they've been (mostly) assimilated to atheist or agnostic beliefs. Only Paul is completely devoted to Sol, and he, like his father, believes that he might be the chosen son who will save his people. 

The only thing we can expect for sure with "Raised by Wolves" is the unexpected, because this series is ridiculously obtuse and so very, deliciously weird. I can't wait to see what unnerving visions will play out, and hope you'll come along for the ride. 

New episodes of "Raised by Wolves" premiere Thursdays on HBO Max. 

Read this next: The 10 Best Sci-Fi Movie Villains

The post The Raised By Wolves Colony Report: The Battle of Faiths Begins appeared first on /Film.

An intelligence panel investigating the cause of a spate of mysterious incidents that have struck dozens of US officials across the globe has said that some of the episodes could "plausibly" have been caused by "pulsed electromagnetic energy" emitted by an external source, according to an executive summary of the panel's findings released Wednesday. CNN reports: But the panel stopped short of making a definitive determination, saying only that both electromagnetic energy and, in limited circumstances, ultrasound could explain the key symptoms -- highlighting the degree to which the murky illness known colloquially as "Havana Syndrome" has remained one of the intelligence community's most stubborn mysteries. "We've learned a lot," an intelligence official familiar with the panel's work told reporters, speaking on anonymity under terms set by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. "While we don't have the specific mechanism for each case, what we do know is if you report quickly and promptly get medical care, most people are getting well." The scientific panel emphasized that the cases it studied were "genuine and compelling," noting that some incidents have affected multiple people in the same space and clinical samples from a few victims have shown signs of "cellular injury to the nervous system." An executive summary of the panel's work provided new details about how the government is categorizing cases as possible Havana Syndrome, a clinically vague illness that has long frustrated firm diagnosis because victims have suffered from such a diverse array of symptoms. Although officials declined to say how many cases the panel examined as part of its inquiry, they said they studied cases that met four "core characteristics": the acute onset of sounds or pressure, sometimes in only one ear or on one side of the head; simultaneous symptoms of vertigo, loss of balance and ear pain; "a strong sense of locality or directionality"; and the absence of any known environmental or medical conditions that could have caused the other symptoms. Both pulsed electromagnetic energy, "particularly in the radiofrequency range," and ultrasonic arrays could feasibly cause the four core symptoms, the panel found. Both could originate from "a concealable source." But ultrasound can't travel through walls, the panel found, "restricting its applicability to scenarios in which the source is near the target." Sources of radiofrequency energy, on the other hand, are known to exist, "could generate the required stimulus, are concealable, and have moderate power requirements," the panel said. "Using nonstandard antennas and techniques, the signals could be propagated with low loss through air for tens to hundreds of meters, and with some loss, through most building materials." But intelligence officials familiar with the panel's work emphasized that important information gaps remained, forestalling them from reaching firmer conclusions. The experts panel also ruled out so-called psycho-social factors. They also ruled out "ionizing radiation, chemical and biological agents, infrasound, audible sound, ultrasound propagated over large distances, and bulk heating from electromagnetic energy." "The panel made seven recommendations, including developing better biomarkers that are 'more specific and more sensitive for diagnosis and triage' of cases," reports CNN. "It also recommended utilizing 'detectors' and obtaining 'devices to aid research.' Finally, officials urged swift action by medical officials whenever a case is reported, emphasizing that individuals who have been treated immediately after an event have improved."

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The penultimate episode of "The Book of Boba Fett" season 1 (I guess?) is out and there was only a glimpse of the bounty hunter to be found. Well, that bounty hunter. Whether you're posting about how mad you are or reading posts about how mad everyone else is, I'll just let you fight that out on your own. In the meantime, I'm going to tackle the Easter eggs and crazy moments from this week's episode, "From the Desert Comes a Stranger." 

That means SPOILERS, so you've officially been warned. Do not call that blue guy on me. 

Now go away and come back when you've watched. If we're clear, then let's proceed. 

Let's start with the Pyke Syndicate so we don't get too crazy right away with our squees and coos. The first cameo (and again, I'll let you go and debate about whether or not this is too much fan service) is from Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant), our Marshall for Mos Pelgo from "The Mandalorian." 

While Cobb Vanth is "explaining" to the Pyke Syndicate that Mos Pelgo (not the other name, interestingly) is his territory, we see a certain storage container called a camtono. You may recall a man named Willrow Hood carrying one through Cloud City in "The Empire Strikes Back." It's an ice cream maker. Not even kidding. We've seen one in "The Mandalorian" with Cobb Vanth as well, so it's not new. The Pyke Syndicate has it here but isn't storing their favorite pretty rocks in it. It contains explosives that are later used to blow up the Sanctuary and everyone in it. (Max Rebo wasn't there that we saw, so he's hopefully safe.) They also have spice (from the Kessel Run, which you remember that Han Solo flew through very quickly). Vanth spills it on the ground, and since George Lucas was so heavily influenced by "Dune," we know it's very similar. It's worth more than the entire town of Mos Pelgo, so what Vanth does is a big deal. 

You Remind Me Of Someone

Wait, did Luke almost call Grogu "Baby Yoda?" We knew Mando was going to look for Grogu to give him his widdle present (which did in fact turn out to be the cutest little beskar chain mail shirt from his papa), but no one was sure if we were going to see our favorite little alien from an unnamed race and his new Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, but we did. Not only that, but the CGI was fantastic. It should be. The person who did the deep fake that fixed Luke's appearance at the end of "The Mandalorian" season 2 was hired by ILM to make sure it was perfect. 

Now, where are we? The planet isn't named as far as I can tell, but it could possible by on Yavin 4 if the terrain is the same. That was one of the Rebel bases in the first trilogy. It's very lush though, and even if it isn't where Luke was trained on Dagobah in the swamp, there are similarities. It could be Ajan Kloss, which has a similar moist (sorry, sorry) climate to Dagobah and is where Luke trained Leia after the Battle of Endor. (You remember how she stopped her training because she had a vision of her son Ben dying, of course.) 

Luke asks if Grogu remembers someone speaking with the very strange pattern that Yoda speaks in, something we first saw in "The Empire Strikes Back." The training he gives Grogu is similar to what he learned from Yoda. 

He runs with Grogu in a backpack, which we saw him do with Yoda (though Yoda was teaching him and he's teaching Grogu). He lifts the frogs around Grogu (like floating pizza slices, amirite?) the way the rocks were lifted in "Empire." He brings out a training remote like the one he used with Obi-Wan Kenobi in "A New Hope," though Grogu is quicker at mastering it than Luke was. He even destroys it!

Go Home To Papa Mando, Grogu!

Luke has a black glove covering his droid hand (Luke is a mod!) as he did in the final trilogy. Just wanted to point that out as it immediately makes me think of the destruction of Luke's school. We learn that Grogu is his first student. 

May I just say that I'm sad that no one will give Grogu his froggie snax and there are no blue cookies for him to steal? Papa Mando can get you snax, froggies, and soupy soup, little guy. He can keep you safe from bad Uncle Ben. Go home to Papa Mando! He misses you so much! 

*getting tissues*

Sorry. Back to the Easter eggs. 

Luke is teaching Grogu a lot of things, like balance, which he's pretty good at, and jumping, which he's not great at right away. He does get better at jumping and flipping, and for me, this explains a lot about that big Yoda fight in "Attack of the Clones." Cool as it was to see all those years ago, that was a surprise. Now it makes more sense. Whatever this race of creatures is, they're really agile and flippy. 

Ahsoka And Calculating Ages

Mando comes to the school and sees ant droids building a structure that looks like the ones Luke was living in years later when Rey finds him on Ahch-To. This is the beginning of the school that we saw burning in Luke's memory. R2-D2 is there, of course, and greets Mando. The ant droids make him a bench where he must learn patience, I guess. Ahsoka comes to talk to him instead of Luke and here's where my mind was blown. I guess I still think of Ahsoka from the animated series, but I have to remember ages here. Ahsoka was friends with Luke's father, Anakin, and his mother, Padmé. She is older than Luke here. Grogu is as well, since he survived Order 66 (we'll get to that). Sometimes, knowing the ages of the actors messes me up. 

Anyway, she appeals to Mando by talking about what's best for Grogu. He can see his little buddy up on the hill giving a fist bump to Luke, and he leaves, knowing that Grogu will be okay. 

He won't, Mando! Go get him! Ben is going to destroy the school someday! She takes the gift for him and gives it to Luke, and here we learn that Grogu is remembering more than learning. That begs the question: Did Grogu know Yoda? Age-wise, maybe he did, but he's blocked it out. Luke might have been asking if he remembered his own species, but maybe that was a question about Yoda specifically. 

When Luke and Ahsoka talk, she says he's so much like his father with his doubt about training. Of course, we know she knew his pop. She mentions this to Mando as well when she says she's a friend of the family. She leaves and says she may see Luke again and says, "May the Force be with you." I didn't realize how much I needed to hear that.

Sing It With Me: Memories...

Luke presses Grogu to remember where he's from and he does remember something. He remembers three Jedi being killed, defending him from Clone Troopers during the destruction of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant from Order 66. I can't place these Jedi, but we know they weren't the ones who ultimately saved him. We don't know who that is, and Grogu isn't remembering. PTSD can do that, you know. 

Could it have been R2-D2? Grogu seemed to recognize him when Luke came to take him for training, now that I think about it. Maybe the Bad Batch came in? Either way, we'll likely find this out in "The Mandalorian" season 3, because no way is Grogu going to choose to stay away from Papa. (Back to that in a few.)

There is a symbol here, pointed out on Twitter by /Film's own Peter Sciretta) that appears to be the symbol of Jedi gone bad Barriss Offee (from "The Clone Wars") on the wall. Were these her former quarters? She died on Felucia when Order 66 was given, so she wasn't there. 

He Saw Your Ship, Mando! He Wants To Go Home!

Mando leaves and heads back to Tatooine (land of the moisture vaporators that we saw on Luke's farm in "A New Hope"), learning from Fennec (and Boba was there for a second!) in a meeting with the mods, Black K, and the whole Boba gang that they need more muscle. (Outside Boba's palace, we see one of Jabba's skiffs lying there. Remember those from "Return of the Jedi"?) He returns to Mos Pelgo to see Cobb Vanth and passes a Jawa sandcrawler with a Krayt dragon skull on it. He helped kill one of those in the first episode of season 2 of "The Mandalorian." Maybe it's the same one? The rest of the skeleton seems to be decorating the Mos Pelgo cantina.

Vanth and his bartender Weequay from "The Mandalorian" aren't keen to help with Boba's mission and say that as long as the spice is out of their town, it's all good. He does agree to see what he can do and calls a meeting of all the fighting-age men and women in town. The town is now called Freetown, something we learned in the "Aftermath" novels. Other inhabitants include Jo, the woman who helped fight that Krayt dragon. After Mando is gone though, someone many of us have been speculating about arrives... 

It's ... Cad Bane!

Yes, it's Cad Bane, voiced by Corey Burton who does the role for "The Clone Wars" and "The Bad Batch." He is a Danos bounty hunter who was the best in the galaxy after the death of Jango Fett. He mentored Boba Fett a long time ago. He's been hunting Omega in "The Bad Batch," who is the last unaltered clone of Jango Fett, so the sister of Boba. I wonder if we'll see her. 

This wild West shootout was very much inspired by "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly." Cad Bane (who has one of the best character designs ever) is working for the Pyke Syndicate and offers double what Boba is paying if they leave the spice trade alone. The shootout leaves red shirt dead and maybe Cobb? They say there is "something wrong" with him, so maybe not. You don't kill off Timothy Olyphant without a very good reason. 

Meanwhile, in Mos Espa, some of the Pyke are at the Sanctuary, and they have that camtono. The place is hopping, and that's a bad thing, since it explodes, killing everyone, including some protocol droids, Bith, and Garsa (unless there is something we don't know). As I said, we didn't see Max Rebo, so maybe he was taking a night off? Lucky little blue guy!

The Choice

Speaking of little guys, we have a final choice for Grogu. Luke gives him the choice of the widdlewist chainmail shirt from Papa Mando or Yoda's lightsaber. If he chooses Mando's gift, he goes home. If he chooses the lightsaber, he stays and becomes Luke's first pupil. We know what happens to that school, and we also know we're getting "The Mandalorian" season 3, so the choice seems clear. In my heart, at least.

About Yoda's lightsaber: We know he lost it when he fought Darth Sidious in his big fight scene, but he built a new one in "The Trial of Dagobah" from Marvel Comics. That is the one Luke found after Yoda died. 

Our own Max Evry points out that this scene is a direct homage to the "Lone Wolf and Cub" manga. If you've read it at all, you know what a big inspiration it was for "The Mandalorian." It was featured in the film "Lone Wolf & Cub: Sword of Vengeance" and the American version of "Shogun Assassin." You can see the scene in his tweet below. It was also sampled in a Wu-Tang song. 

We don't see Grogu's decision, but we all know what we want it to be, right? Papa Mando! I know other people have been saying it, but Ahsoka mentions the deep connection between Grogu and Mando, and the last episode made a big deal of how the person who forged the Darksaber, Tarre Vizsla, was both a Mandalorian and a Jedi. He had to blend the Mandalorian part of himself that is tribal with connections, and the Jedi side which tries to avoid them. (Though George Lucas did tell a seven-year-old boy that Jedi could marry, and we've seen Jedi with connections before.) Will Mando become a Jedi and blend both things? At least a Force user? Just throwing that out there. 

Go home to Papa, Grogu!

Read this next: The 20 Best Clone Wars Episodes Ranked

The post Easter Eggs You May Have Missed In The Book of Boba Fett Episode 6 appeared first on /Film.

A man in Oakland, California walked into a Bank of America and deposited a cashier's check of $33,000, handing it to a teller. A few hours later the bank closed down, unbeknownst to him, and unbelievably his money seemed to disappear right along with it. — Read the rest

Viruses keep evolving until they run out of hosts to infect. Worldwide, billions remain unvaccinated against Covid—which means Omicron isn’t the end.

Garage doors often get overlooked on our home maintenance lists unless and until they break. But keeping them running smoothly and preventing wear and tear can increase their lifespans and also make them quieter. To avoid costly repairs later, you should maintain your door now, including, at minimum, lubricating it …

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Our discovery and analysis of a sophisticated Mac trojan in October exposed a year-long evolution of a malware family—and depicts the rising complexity of threats across platforms. The trojan, tracked as UpdateAgent, started as a relatively basic information-stealer but was observed distributing secondary payloads in the latest campaign, a capability that it added in one of its multiple iterations. Reminiscent of the progression of info-stealing trojans in other platforms, UpdateAgent may similarly become a vector for other threats to infiltrate target systems.

Since its first appearance in September 2020, the malware displayed an increasing progression of sophisticated capabilities, and while the latest two variants were sporting much more refined behavior compared with earlier versions, they show signs that the malware is still in the development stage and more updates are likely to come. The latest campaign saw the malware installing the evasive and persistent Adload adware, but UpdateAgent’s ability to gain access to a device can theoretically be further leveraged to fetch other, potentially more dangerous payloads.

UpdateAgent lures its victims by impersonating legitimate software and can leverage Mac device functionalities to its benefit. One of the most advanced techniques found in UpdateAgent’s latest toolbox is bypassing Gatekeeper controls, which are designed to ensure only trusted apps run on Mac devices. The trojan can leverage existing user permissions to quietly perform malicious activities before deleting the evidence to cover its tracks. UpdateAgent also misuses public cloud infrastructure, namely Amazon S3 and CloudFront services, to host its additional payloads. We shared our findings with the team at Amazon Web Services, and they have taken down the malicious URLs–another example of how intelligence sharing and collaboration results in better security for the broader community.

Threats like UpdateAgent are proof that, as environments continue to rely on a diverse range of devices and operating systems, organizations need security solutions that can provide protection across platforms and a complete picture of their security posture. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint delivers and coordinates threat defense across all major OS platforms including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS. On macOS devices, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint detects and exposes threats and vulnerabilities through its antivirus, endpoint detection and response (EDR), and threat and vulnerability management capabilities.

In this blog post, we share the evolving development of the UpdateAgent trojan targeting Mac users and detail the malware’s recent campaign to compromise devices, steal sensitive information, and distribute adware as a secondary payload.

Progression of UpdateAgent

UpdateAgent is uniquely characterized by its gradual upgrading of persistence techniques, a key feature that indicates this trojan will likely continue to use more sophisticated techniques in future campaigns. Like many information-stealers found on other platforms, the malware attempts to infiltrate macOS machines to steal data and it is associated with other types of malicious payloads, increasing the chances of multiple infections on a device.

The trojan is likely distributed via drive-by downloads or advertisement pop-ups, which impersonate legitimate software such as video applications and support agents. This action of impersonating or bundling itself with legitimate software increases the likelihood that users are tricked into installing the malware. Once installed, UpdateAgent starts to collect system information that is then sent to its command-and-control (C2) server.

Notably, the malware’s developer has periodically updated the trojan over the last year to improve upon its initial functions and add new capabilities to the trojan’s toolbox. The timeline below illustrates a series of techniques adopted by UpdateAgent from September 2020 through October 2021:

• September–December 2020: The initial version of UpdateAgent was considered to be a fairly basic information-stealer. At the time, the malware was only capable of performing reconnaissance to scan and collect system information such as product names and versions. Once gathered, the data was then sent as heartbeats to the malware’s C2 server.

• January–February 2021: Approximately two months later, UpdateAgent maintained its original capabilities and added a new one: the ability to fetch secondary payloads as .dmg files from public cloud infrastructure. DMG files are mountable disk images used to distribute software and apps to macOS, allowing the trojan to easily install additional programs on affected devices.

• March 2021: Upon its third update, the malware altered one of its prior functions to fetch secondary payloads as .zip files instead of .dmg files. The malware’s developer also included two new capabilities: the ability to bypass Gatekeeper by removing the downloaded file’s quarantine attribute and the ability to create a PLIST file that is added to the LaunchAgent folder. The quarantine attribute forces Gatekeeper to block the launch of any file downloaded from the web or other unknown sources, and it also displays a pop-up warning that users cannot open the respective file as “it is from an unidentified developer”. By removing the attribute, the malware both prevented the pop-up message warning users and allowed the files to launch without being blocked by Gatekeeper. Moreover, as the LaunchAgent folder specifies which apps and code automatically run each time a user signs into the machine, adding the malware’s PLIST file allowed it to be included in these automatic launches for persistence upon users signing into the affected device.

• August 2021: The malware’s fourth update further altered some of its prior capabilities. For one, it expanded its reconnaissance function to scan and collect System_profile and SPHardwaretype information. Additionally, UpdateAgent was changed to create and add PLIST files to the LaunchDaemon folder instead of the LaunchAgent folder. While targeting the LaunchDaemon folder instead of the LaunchAgent folder required administrative privileges, it permitted the malware to inject persistent code that ran as root. This code generally takes the form of background processes that don’t interact with users, thus it also improved the trojan’s evasiveness.

• October 2021: We detected the latest variants of UpdateAgent just over a year since its release into the wild. Sporting many of the updates found in the August 2021 variant, UpdateAgent still performed system reconnaissance, communicated with the C2 server as heartbeats, and bypassed Gatekeeper. Additionally, the October update expanded the malware’s ability to fetch secondary payloads as both .dmg or .zip files from public cloud infrastructure, rather than choosing between filetypes. Among its new capabilities, UpdateAgent included the ability to enumerate LSQuarantineDataURLString using SQLite in order to validate whether the malware’s downloaded app is within the Quarantine Events database where it would be assigned a quarantine attribute. The upgrade also allowed the malware to leverage existing user profiles to run commands requiring sudo access in addition to the ability to add arguments using PlistBuddy to create and edit PLIST files more easily. Lastly, the trojan included the ability to modify sudoers list, allowing the malware to bypass a prompt requiring high privilege user credentials while running UpdateAgent’s downloaded app.

October 2021 Campaign

In the October 2021 campaign, UpdateAgent included a larger set of sophisticated techniques than ever previously observed. The attackers distributed the trojanized app in .zip or .pkg format, conforming with a campaign observed in early 2021:

Upon analyzing UpdateAgent’s infrastructure, we determined that the infrastructure used in the October 2021 campaign was created at the end of September 2021, and we also discovered additional domains with payloads. This indicates that the trojan is still in the developmental stage and is likely to add or modify its capabilities in future updates and continue its track of improving its overall level of sophistication.

We further observed two separate variants of the UpdateAgent trojan in its October 2021 campaign. Each variant leveraged different tactics to infect a device, as detailed below:

Variant 1

The first variant of UpdateAgent takes the following steps to infect a device:

1. A .zip file named HelperModule.zip downloads and installs UpdateAgent using a specific file path – /Library/Application Support/xxx/xxx. This .zip file is installed in /Library/Application Support/Helper/HelperModule.
2. UpdateAgent collects operating system and hardware information about the affected device. Once the compromised device connects to the C2 server, the trojan uses a curl request to send this data to the C2 server.
3. Upon successful connection, UpdateAgent requests a secondary payload, usually a .dmg or .zip file, which is hosted on a CloudFront instance.
4. Once the secondary payload downloads, UpdateAgent uses the xattr command – /usr/bin/xattr -rc /tmp/setup.dmg, to remove the quarantine attribute of downloaded files and bypass Gatekeeper controls.
5. UpdateAgent then extracts the secondary payload (.dmg or .zip). Once the file is mounted, it unzips and copies the payload files to a temporary folder, assigning executable permissions, and launches these files. UpdateAgent also uses PlistBuddy to create PLIST files under the LaunchAgent folder to remain persistent through system restart.
6. UpdateAgent removes evidence by deleting the secondary payload, temporary folders, PLIST files, and all other downloaded artifacts.

Variant 2

The second variant of UpdateAgent takes the following steps to infect a device:

1. A third-party WebVideoPlayer application (WebVideoPlayer.pkg) with a post-install script downloads additional apps or .zip files as /Applications/WebVideoPlayer.app/Contents/MacOS/WebVideoPlayer. Notably, this application included a valid certificate that was later revoked by Apple in October 2021.
2. The application scans the user profile to identify existing user IDs and assigned groups.
3. The WebVideoPlayer application uses SQLite3 commands to determine if the .pkg file is within the Quarantine Events database, which contains URLs of downloaded files, mail addresses, and subjects for saved attachments.
4. The .pkg payload extracts and drops UpdateAgent in /Library/Application Support/WebVideoPlayer/WebVideoPlayerAgent.
5. The WebVideoPlayer application also assigns executable permissions to UpdateAgent and attempts to remove the quarantine attribute of the file using the xattr command to bypass Gatekeeper controls.
6. The application then launches UpdateAgent and collects and sends the OS information to the attacker’s C2 server. Like the first variant, the second variant sends curl requests that download additional payloads, such as adware, and removes evidence by deleting all files and folders that it created.

Adload adware

UpdateAgent is further characterized by its ability to fetch secondary payloads that can increase the chances of multiple infections on a device, with the latest campaign pushing adware. We first observed UpdateAgent distributing adware as a secondary payload in its October 2021 campaign, identified as part of the Adload adware family by Microsoft Defender Antivirus.

Similar to UpdateAgent, adware is often included in potentially unwanted or malicious software bundles that install the adware alongside impersonated or legitimate copies of free programs. In Adload’s case, we previously observed the adware family targeting macOS users had spread via rogue installers often found on malicious websites.

Once adware is installed, it uses ad injection software and techniques to intercept a device’s online communications and redirect users’ traffic through the adware operators’ servers, injecting advertisements and promotions into webpages and search results. More specifically, Adload leverages a Person-in-The-Middle (PiTM) attack by installing a web proxy to hijack search engine results and inject advertisements into webpages, thereby siphoning ad revenue from official website holders to the adware operators.

Adload is also an unusually persistent strain of adware. It is capable of opening a backdoor to download and install other adware and payloads in addition to harvesting system information that is sent to the attackers’ C2 servers. Considering both UpdateAgent and Adload have the ability to install additional payloads, attackers can leverage either or both of these vectors to potentially deliver more dangerous threats to target systems in future campaigns.

Defending against macOS threats

UpdateAgent’s evolution displays the increasing complexity of threats across platforms. Its developers steadily improved the trojan over the last year, turning a basic information-stealer into a persistent and more sophisticated piece of malware. This threat also exemplifies the trend of common malware increasingly harboring more dangerous threats, a pattern also observed in other platforms. UpdateAgent’s ability to gain access to a device can theoretically be leveraged by attackers to introduce potentially more dangerous payloads, emphasizing the need to identify and block threats such as this.

Defenders can take the following mitigation steps to defend against this threat:

• Encourage the use of Microsoft Edge—available on macOS and various platforms—or other web browsers that support Microsoft Defender SmartScreen, which identifies and blocks malicious websites, including phishing sites, scam sites, and sites that contain exploits and host malware.
• Restrict access to privileged resources, such as LaunchDaemons or LaunchAgents folders and sudoers files, through OSX enterprise management solutions. This helps to mitigate common persistence and privilege escalation techniques.
• Install apps from trusted sources only, such as a software platform’s official app store. Third-party sources may have lax standards for the applications that they host, allowing malicious actors to upload and distribute malware.
• Run the latest version of your operating systems and applications. Deploy the latest security updates as soon as they become available.

As organizational environments are intricate and heterogenous, running multiple applications, clouds, and devices, they require solutions that can protect across platforms. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint offers cross-platform security and a unified investigation experience that gives customers visibility across all endpoints and enables them to detect, manage, respond, and remediate threats, such as the capability to detect UpdateAgent’s anomalous use of PlistBuddy.

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint customers can apply the following mitigations to reduce the environmental attack surface and mitigate the impact of this threat and its payloads:

• Turn on cloud-delivered protection and automatic sample submission on Microsoft Defender Antivirus. These capabilities use artificial intelligence and machine learning to quickly identify and stop new and unknown threats. 
• Enable potentially unwanted application (PUA) protection in block mode to automatically quarantine PUAs like adware. PUA blocking takes effect on endpoint clients after the next signature update or computer restart. PUA blocking takes effect on endpoint clients after the next signature update or computer restart.
• Turn on network protection to block connections to malicious domains and IP addresses.

Defender for Endpoint’s next-generation protection reinforces network security perimeters and includes antimalware capabilities to catch emerging threats, including UpdateAgent and its secondary payloads, C2 communications, and other malicious artifacts affiliated with the trojan’s reconnaissance activities. Moreover, macOS antimalware detections provide insight into where a threat originated and how the malicious process or activity was created, providing security teams a comprehensive view of incidents and attack chains.

Finally, this research underscores the importance of understanding a macOS threat’s progression to not only remedy its current abilities, but to prepare for increased capabilities and sophistication of the threat. As threats on other OS platforms continue to grow, our security solutions must secure users’ computing experiences be it a Windows or non-Windows machine. By sharing our research and other forms of threat intelligence, collaboration across the larger security community can aid in enriching our protection technologies, regardless of the platform or device in use.

Detection details

Antivirus

Microsoft Defender Antivirus detects threat components and behavior as the following malware:

• Trojan:MacOS/UpdateAgent.B
• Trojan:MacOS/UpdateAgent.A
• Trojan:MacOS/Agent.A
• Adware:MacOS/Adload.A
• Behavior:MacOS/UpdateAgent.B

Endpoint detection and response (EDR)

Alerts with the following titles in the Microsoft 365 Security Center can indicate threat activity within your network:

• macOS Gatekeeper bypass
• Executable permission added to file or directory
• Suspicious database access
• Suspicious System Hardware Discovery
• Suspicious binary dropped and launched

Advanced hunting

To locate activity related to UpdateAgent, run the following advanced hunting queries in Microsoft 365 Defender or Microsoft Defender Security Center.

File quarantine attribute

Look for file quarantine attribute removal for the specific packages involved in the campaign. 

DeviceProcessEvents
| where FileName has "xattr" and (ProcessCommandLine has "-rc Library/Application Support/WebVideoPlayer/WebVideoPlayerAgent" or ProcessCommandLine has "-r -d /Library/Application Support/Helper/HelperModule")

Quarantine Event database

Look for quarantine event database enumeration through sqlite3 for the packages involved in the campaign. 

DeviceProcessEvents
| where FileName has "sqlite3" and ProcessCommandLine has "WebVideoPlayer.pkg"

Curl request

Look for UpdateAgent’s  curl requests.

DeviceProcessEvents
| where FileName has "curl" and ProcessCommandLine has "--connect-timeout 900 -L"

Indicators

Files (SHA-256)

• 1966d64e9a324428dec7b41aca852034cbe615be1179ccb256cf54a3e3e242ee
• ef23a1870d84e164a4234074251205190a5dfda9f465c8eee6c7e0d6878c2b05
• 519339e67b1d421d51a0f096e80a57083892bac8bb16c7e4db360bb0fda3cb11
• cc2f246dda46b17e9302242879788aa114ee64327c8de43ef2b9ab56e8fb57b2
• 5c1704367332a659f6e10d55d08a3e0ab1bd26aa97654365dc82575356c80502
• c60e210f73d5335f57f367bd7e166ff4c17f1073fd331370eb63342ab1c82238
• f01dec606db8f66489660615c777113f9b1180a09db2f5d19fb5bca7ba3c28c7
• 4f1399e81571a1fa1dc822b468453122f89ac323e489f57487f6b174940e9c2e
• 9863bc1917af1622fdeebb3bcde3f7bebabcb6ef13eae7b571c8a8784d708d57
• a1fba0bb0f52f25267c38257545834a70b82dbc98863aee01865a2661f814723
• 81cfa53222fa473d91e2a7d3a9591470480d17535d49d91a1d4a7836ec943d3a
• 78b4478cd3f91c42333561abb9b09730a88154084947182b2ec969995b25ad78
• 91824c6a36ef60881b4f502102b0c068c8a3acd4bceb86eb4ffd1043f7990763
• 86b45b861a8f0855c97cc38d2be341cc76b4bc1854c0b42bdca573b39da026ac
• 84ff961552abd742cc2393dde20b7b3b7b2cfb0019c80a02ac24de6d5fcc0db4
• 0ee6c8fd43c03e8dc7ea081dfa428f22209ed658f4ae358b867de02030cfc69b
• 443b6173ddfbcc3f19d69f60a1e5d72d68d28b7323fe2953d051b32b4171aa9a
• 409f1b4aeb598d701f6f0ed3b49378422c860871536425f7835ed671ba4dd908
• 77f084b5fc81c9c885a9b1683a12224642072f884df9e235b78941a1ad69b80d
• cbabbbb270350d07444984aa0ce1bb47078370603229a3f03a431d6b7a815820
• 053fbb833ac1287d21ae96b91d9f5a9cfdd553bc41f9929521d4043e91e96a98
• 29e3d46867caddde8bb429ca578dd04e5d7112dd730cd69448e5fb54017a2e30
• 356d429187716b9d5562fe6eee35ea60b252f1845724b0a7b740fbddec73350f
• a98ecd8f482617670aaa7a5fd892caac2cfd7c3d2abb8e5c93d74c344fc5879c
• c94760fe237da5786464ec250eadf6f7f687a3e7d1a47e0407811a586c6cb0fc
• eb71d15308bfcc00f1b80bedbe1c73f1d9e96fd55c86cf420f1f4147f1604f67
• 0c08992841d5a97e617e72ade0c992f8e8f0abc9265bdca6e09e4a3cb7cb4754
• 738822e109f1b14413ee4af8d3d5b2219293ea1a387790f207d937ca11590a14
• 0d9f861fe4910af8299ac3cb109646677049fa9f3188f52065a47e268438b107
• a586ef06ab8dd6ad1df77b940028becd336a5764caf097103333975a637c51fa
• 73a465170feed88048dbc0519fbd880aca6809659e011a5a171afd31fa05dc0b
• d5c808926000bacb67ad2ccc4958b2896ea562f27c0e4fc4d592c5550e39a741
• 7067e6a69a8f5fdbabfb00d03320cfc2f3584a83304cbeeca7e8edc3d57bbbd4
• 939cebc99a50989ffbdbb2a6727b914fc9b2382589b4075a9fd3857e99a8c92a
• c5017798275f054ae96c69f5dd0b378924c6504a70c399279bbf7f33d990d45b
• 57d46205a5a1a5d6818ecd470b61a44aba0d935f256265f5a26d3ce791038fb4
• e8d4be891c518898dd3ccdff4809895ed21558d90d415cee868bebdab2da7397
• 9f1989a04936cd8de9f5f4cb1f5f573c1871b63737b42d18ac4fa337b089cbdc
• b55c806367946a70d619f25e836b6883a36c9ad22d694a173866b57dfe8b29c9
• e46b09b270552c7de1311a8b24e3fcc32c8db220c03ca0d8db05e08c76e536f1
• f9842e31ed16fe0173875c38a41ed3a766041350b4efcd09da62718557ca3033
• bad5dc1dd6ff19f9fb1af853a8989c1b0fdfeaa4c588443607de03fccf0e21c9

Download URLs

• hxxps://d35ep4bg5x8d5j[.]cloudfront[.]net/pkg
• hxxps://d7rp2fva69arq[.]cloudfront[.]net/pkg
• hxxps://daqi268hfl8ov[.]cloudfront[.]net/pkg
• hxxps://events[.]optimizerservices[.]com/pkg
• hxxps://ekogidekinvgwyzmeydw[.]s3[.]amazonaws[.]com/OptimizerProcotolStatus[.]zip
• hxxps://lnzjvpeyarvvvtljxsws[.]s3[.]amazonaws[.]com/ConsoleSoftwareUpdateAgent[.]zip
• hxxps://qqirhvehhnvuemxezfxc[.]s3[.]amazonaws[.]com/ModuleAgent[.]zip
• hxxps://dpqsxofvslaxjaiyjdok[.]s3[.]amazonaws[.]com/ProtocolStatus[.]zip
• hxxps://oldbrlauserz[.]s3[.]amazonaws[.]com/setup[.]zip
• hxxps://grxqorfazgqbmzeetpus[.]s3[.]amazonaws[.]com/SetupUpdateAgent[.]zip
• hxxps://phdhrhdsp[.]s3[.]amazonaws[.]com/setup[.]zip
• hxxps://xyxeaxtugahkwrcvbzsw[.]s3[.]amazonaws[.]com/BundleAgent[.]zip
• [.]s3[.]amazonaws[.]com/GuideServices[.]zip
• hxxps://tnkdcxekehzpnpvimdwquzwzgpehlnwgizrlmzev[.]s3[.]amazonaws[.]com/HelperModule[.]zip
• hxxps://svapnilpkasjmwtygfstkhsdfrraa[.]s3[.]amazonaws[.]com/WizardUpdate[.]zip

The post The evolution of a Mac trojan: UpdateAgent’s progression appeared first on Microsoft Security Blog.

With fifteen seasons under its belt, it's almost hard to remember an era of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' that didn't include Danny DeVito. But longtime fans will recall that the FXX show was actually DeVito-less for its entire seven-episode first season. It turns out, the famed actor was actually brought on to play Dee (Kaitlin Olson) and Dennis' (Glenn Howerton) dad, Frank, in a move to save the still-burgeoning series.

Last year, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" celebrated its fifteenth season, which makes it the longest-running live-action comedy in TV history. There was a time when the series didn't seem like it'd make it past its first, though. When "It's Always Sunny" debuted in 2005, FX was much more well-known for its drama line-up, which already included "The Shield," "Nip/Tuck," and "Rescue Me." The network hadn't gotten the hang of lighter fare yet, though, with only two forgettable comedies ("Son of The Beach" and "Lucky") to its name.

Without A Big Name, The Show Would Be Canceled

Enter "It's Always Sunny," a show that all but created FX's signature brand of dark comedy. The show's first season is purposely deeply offensive, with plotlines revolving around racial slurs and molestation. Yet when it came time to renew or cancel, FX was apparently more concerned with its viewership problems than anything else.

"We knew that no one was watching the show, and the network said that we needed to bring in someone with cachet to draw attention," creator and star Rob McElhenney said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Basically, the series needed to add an actor with more name recognition than its ensemble of unknowns, or else its future couldn't be promised. Glenn Howerton made the bottom line clear, saying, "Our season-two pickup was predicated on if we could bring in that high-level name."

McElhenney says DeVito wasn't the only actor they considered bringing on board, but that he "just made a lot of sense." It helped that when McElhenney met the actor at his home to discuss the role, DeVito's kids were already big fans of the series. DeVito was also apparently friends with John Landgraf, who had just been promoted to President and General Manager of the network.

When he met with DeVito, McElhenney says he didn't know exactly who amoral businessman Frank Reynolds would be, but that he came up with some ideas on the spot. "Danny kept asking all of these questions, and I was really winging it with the character," he admitted. He says that by the time he left, they had "a rough idea" of the character and that Landgraf called to tell him DeVito was in no more than 15 minutes after the meeting.

It's impressive that McElhenney was able to look at Danny DeVito's career — which includes such wide-ranging roles as The Penguin in "Batman Returns" and Martini in "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" — and recognize that he'd be game to embody someone as creatively deranged as Frank Reynolds. But "It's Always Sunny" wouldn't be the same without the actor. Fourteen seasons later, it's clear his and FX's gamble paid off big time.

Read this next: The 15 Best Anthology TV Series Ranked

The post The Reason Danny DeVito Had to Join It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia appeared first on /Film.

Space Exploration Technologies Corporation's (SpaceX) Starlink satellite internet constellation has introduced a new tier of service which promises higher speeds but similar latencies over the current packages that users have signed up for. The addition comes after Starlink recently introduced a new satellite terminal that is expected to resolve the production issues plaguing deliveries last year. The new tier, posted yesterday on Starlink's website will charge $2,500 for the user terminal and other hardware, alongside a $500 deposit fee and a $500 subscription service. SpaceX expects terminal deliveries to start by the second quarter of this year.

Starlink's Premium Tier More Than Doubles Hardware Price And Subscription Fee For Twice The Speed

The details of the new service are available on Starlink's website as of now and they reveal several changes over the current dishes currently being used by its customers. These include a larger dish, higher speeds, multiple service locations with a single account alongside what is dubbed by SpaceX as 'priority support'.

While the exact specifications of the new terminal are unclear, SpaceX's chief Mr. Elon Musk did share a few details on Twitter. According to the executive, the Premium dish doubles the area over the standard terminal and has a higher scan angle. This means that not only will the newer equipment be able to transfer more data to the orbiting satellites, but it will also be able to search for more satellites when compared to its predecessors.

Many users who have signed up for Starlink's standard packages are still waiting on deliveries, which has resulted in dissatisfaction over what had previously been high expectations for a new entrant. When compared to competitors, SpaceX's internet service offers significantly higher download and upload speeds and many users have seen their download rates cross 300 Mbps. However, Starlink takes a cautious tone on its website, where it promises the standard package a maximum download speed of 250Mbps.

Yet, the company raises the bar for the Premium tier, according to data on its website. This shows that while regular users should expect download rates ranging between 50 to 250 Mbps, the Premium ones will see this double to range between 150 Mbps and 500 Mbps. However, latencies for the two packages remain similar, indicating that this is a service constraint that should remain at these levels for the time being. However, when compared to the average latencies of its peers. which use satellites much higher in orbit, Starlink's metrics compare more closely with fixed broadband than with satellite internet providers.

This new terminal comes as Starlink filed an application to test a larger dish with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last year. These dishes, dubbed as a "mobile-based ground terminal", had a larger receiving antenna, alongside a larger gain and a higher figure of merit. The receiving antenna, as the name suggests, is responsible for receiving the signals from the orbiting satellites, and the dish's gain and figure of merit correspond to its abilities to translate signals into electrical power and overall efficiency, respectively. The terminal uses a separate antenna to transmit signals to the satellites.

Whether the aforementioned terminal is the same as the one that surfaced in the FCC filing is uncertain, but what is clear is that the Premium segment is also being marketed to businesses. According to Starlink's definition of the new tier:

Starlink Premium has more than double the antenna capability of Starlink, delivering faster internet speeds and higher throughput for the highest demand users, including businesses.

The package for business users aims to target a highly unsatisfied segment in far-flung areas such as Alaska. Letters submitted in support of Starlink's satellite modification to the FCC last year highlighted the difficulties Alaskan users had to face when procuring Internet coverage. One such letter, from Mr. John Wallace, stated that his gold mine was paying more than $8,000 per month for an internet connection proving 2Mbps speed and 750 milliseconds (ms) latency.

Starlink, it seems, has responded to these needs, and the new package should offer a significant discount over what users in such areas are paying. Another Alaskan, Mr. Jacob Calderwood an elementary school teacher, also outlined to the Commission that he had been paying more than $300 per month for Internet during a time when schools were closed due to restrictions imposed in the wake of the ongoing pandemic.

The post Elon Musk’s Starlink Internet Now Charging $2,500 For New Terminal & Hardware by Ramish Zafar appeared first on Wccftech.

Trying to follow the development of Dying Light 2 Stay Human over the past several years has been a bit of a rollercoaster. The game was announced with much fanfare at E3 2018 and showed off a very impressive demo at E3 2019, but then creative director Chris Avellone left the project amid accusations of personal misbehavior at previous studios, the game was delayed multiple times, and reports of behind-the-scenes turmoil at Techland emerged. Ultimately, when Dying Light 2 staggered back into the light last year, it looked rather different than what was originally promised and demoed.

These facts would usually be red flags, but Techland has shown an impressive ability to adapt over the seven years they supported the original Dying Light. Have they managed to make the best of a bad hand and delivered another zombie-slashing cult hit? Or has the shambling specter of development issues terminally infected the game? Grab some good shoes; it’s time to give this one a thorough run-through.

Dying Light 2 Stay Human is a soft reboot of the series’ story – while it takes place in the same universe, it’s now 15 years later, and the world has slid into a feudal state. We leave Harran behind, instead focusing on Villedor, simply known as “The City” to most, as it’s one of the last major settlements in the world. Players take on the role of Aiden Caldwell, a “Pilgrim” who travels between the ever-shrinking number of settlements on a quest to find his long-lost sister. As children, Aiden and his sister were subjected to cruel experiments into a possible infected vaccine by a doctor named Waltz, and it seems he’s hiding out somewhere in Villedor. Of course, finding him, and possibly your sister, won’t be so easy.

Dying Light 2’s plot is relatively straightforward, essentially consisting of an ever-escalating series of complications. For instance, you’ll discover early on that Waltz and your sister are likely somewhere in the downtown “Central Loop” of the city, an area guarded by the militaristic Peacekeepers faction. So, you have to come up with a plan to get past them, but in doing so, you’re caught and pressed into solving a complex murder mystery. While you’re doing that, you inadvertently set off a full-on war between the Peacekeeper and Survivor factions, and so on. “Get to the Central Loop” may seem like a simple goal, but it ends up requiring many, many diversions and over 10 hours of playtime.

That said, while Dying Light 2’s overall story is simple and sometimes frustratingly slow to get to the point, it does offer up some memorable individual characters and moments. Techland does a good job of making The City feel like a complex, living place with its own unique politics and concerns. The various storyline choices presented are also well-done, rarely falling into naïve “obvious good choice and obvious evil choice” binaries. You may find yourself having to side with bad people for the greater good of The City, and your quest and the results of your choices aren’t always easy to predict.

I should clarify that what I just said most strongly applies to the first half of the game that takes place in “Old Villedor.” Once you get to the Central Loop, it almost feels like you’ve started an entirely new story, with a new cast of characters that have few ties to those you’ve met up until that point. The heavily-promoted character Lawan, played well by Rosario Dawson, doesn’t even show up until about 60 percent into the campaign. It’s odd. It also feels like the number of choices available to you is reduced in the second half, and those you already made don’t have a huge effect. I staunchly supported the Survivors faction in the first half of the game, but the latter half had me constantly helping the Peacekeepers. There still are a few big choices to make once you get to the Central Loop, but it feels like they’re less of a focus.

Moving onto gameplay, Dying Light 2 is largely an evolution of its predecessor. Combat deemphasizes ranged weapons even more than the original, to the point where guns are (almost) nonexistent. In their place are a wide variety of brutal improvised weapons made from post-apocalyptic scrap and a greater ability to chain your attacks together using parkour, somewhat making up for the lack of long-range options. It’s a solid system, and I’m sure streamers will be able to pull off some cool sequences, but enemies (both human and zombie alike) are pretty dumb. To succeed in most fights, all you need to do is dodge, block, and whack enemies as often as possible with the biggest, nastiest weapon you have.

Speaking of weapons, some players may be disappointed to learn degradation is still in the game and more punishing than ever. You had limited opportunities to repair broken weapons in the first Dying Light, but that is now out the window. You can boost the durability of weapons by applying mods (which can now be freely mixed and matched), but once a weapon is gone, it’s gone. Give up the idea of “favorite” weapons because Dying Light 2 is all about getting by with what’s on hand.

While some of Dying Light 2’s combat and weapon tweaks may not be to every taste, the changes to parkour represent a more successful evolution. Many moves from the first game return, but everything feels a bit less herky-jerky. Movement is more fluid, you can truly climb on everything now, and Techland plays with time in interesting ways, slowing it slightly during big jumps and other moments to make it easier for players to react. Everything feels just feels smoother and more satisfying, even if most of the changes aren’t groundbreaking (with one exception, which I’ll get to in a second).

As with its predecessor, Dying Light 2’s greatest strength remains its level design. The day-night mechanic, in which the streets are less dangerous by the day, but the various dark hiding places actually clear out by night, remains clever and well-balanced. Plotting the perfect rooftop path to avoid the streets, finding scattered secrets, and slowly learning the full layout of the map is as satisfying as ever. The City is a colorful, sometimes-visually-striking place and runs well on the PS5, but it is pretty obvious this is a game that’s been in development for some time. The big vistas are impressive, but individual assets and animations are sometimes a bit rough. The game’s Quality Mode goes surprisingly heavy on the ray tracing for a console title, but given the sort of fast-action game this is, 30fps may be too high a price to pay for some. Personally, I played most of the game in the 60fps Performance mode.

As good as Dying Light 2’s level design is, some small annoyances make getting around a touch harder than it should be. Respawn points are way too few and far between, given this is a game where a single misjudged jump can kill you, and your map is significantly less readable than in the first game. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention the glitches, which aren’t as bad as a certain other recent Polish-developed open-world game, but crashes and other oddities were fairly common during my playthrough. As for the new system that lets you decide which faction controls each neighborhood, it’s a potentially-interesting addition but also a bit shallow at the moment. There are only two factions to choose from (the Peacekeepers and Survivors), and you’re rewarded for simply giving all the territories to one side or the other. Still, small issues aside, Dying Light 2’s level design remains fun in a familiar sort of way, at least for the first half of the game.

As mentioned, it feels like Dying Light 2’s story is split in half, and the same goes for its level design. The first half set in Old Villedor essentially feels like a refined version of the first game, but the second half in the Central Loop introduces perhaps Dying Light 2’s only truly game-changing concept – the paraglider. Needless to say, the ability to glide freely around the world completely changes the feeling of Dying Light, and the Central Loop is designed around it, with a focus on much larger buildings than we’ve seen in the past and vertically-designed missions. It’s a surprising and exciting change at first, but ultimately, I think I still prefer the “classic” feel of Dying Light 2’s early areas.

At this point, I’ve had a lot of things to say about Dying Light 2, both good and bad. Still, overall, Techland has created another exceptional parkour proving ground here, one that’s bigger, easier to traverse, and packed with lots of great characters and fun moments. It’s just the overarching story and a few polish issues that hold things back. But the playground is in place, and perhaps that’s what matters, considering Techland has promised to expand and improve the game for many years to come.

Not that you’ll have any shortage of stuff do to at launch. That 500-hour estimate Techland threw out (then partially retracted) was likely an exaggeration, but you’re looking at a solid 20-hour main campaign, twice that if you want to clean up all the sidequests. I could also see some folks playing through the game multiple times to check out the results of all the story choices, particularly if you want to take the game on with friends. Speaking of which, I wasn’t able to test co-op during my playthrough, but Wccftech’s Alessio Palumbo did get to experience a demo of the feature on PC, which you can read about below.

The co-op mode of Dying Light 2 was not freely available during the review period. Techland opted to open up a separate co-op enabled branch of the review build for a dedicated two-hour session, where I joined with another fellow colleague from the press and two developers.

This decision alone was probably enough to indicate that co-op was never the primary focus for Dying Light 2. Indeed, during the scheduled session, one of the developers even pointed out that the studio’s preference is for players to go through the game solo the first time around, and I’m inclined to agree. Given how much more story-heavy this sequel is compared to the previous installment (Dying Light 2 packs as many dialogue lines as Mass Effect 3 or Fallout 3 and as many words as Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina novel), chances are playing with a bunch of loud friends jumping around all over the place would only diminish your immersion into the post-apocalyptic city of Villedor. Sure, when you’re the host, the other players can only suggest dialogue choices that you alone can finalize. But if they’re talking over quest givers and generally pushing to rush through the content you haven’t done yet, playing in co-op may still be more detrimental than beneficial to your experience with the game.

What Techland does want, though, is for players to check out how different their friends’ versions of Villedor can be once they’re done with the story. The game relies heavily on an RPG-like choice and consequence system that modifies the city’s layout in some ways, depending on the factions helped or hindered by the player. The review co-op session didn’t really shine a light on this, but it should prove to be an extra incentive to replay Dying Light 2 a second and maybe even a third time.

As for the co-op action itself, it’s pretty much what players were already used to with the first game. It can be very fun to kill zombies with friends, though the flip side is that the enemies become a lot like the so-called bullet sponges to accommodate the increased player number, which may not be everyone’s cup of tea. There isn’t any specific co-op content, either, with the closest thing being the repeatable parkour and challenges scattered through the map. However, I reckon it won’t take long for those to get repetitive. In short, I wouldn’t buy Dying Light 2 for the co-op mode, though it’s still a welcome bonus to the solo mode.

Having access to the PC build, I also checked out how the game looks and runs on the platform. First of all, unlike recent PC ports, the game supports Exclusive Fullscreen mode. Disappointingly enough for a 2022 game, there’s no HDR customization guide. Dying Light 2 only features the regular gamma slider, which doesn’t really help when fine-tuning brightness for an HDR display. The general video settings also include the always welcome film grain effect toggle and a colorblind mode.

NVIDIA DLSS wasn’t added to the main branch until yesterday. That said, the wait was more than worth it, as the DLSS Performance preset is sharper than the FSR Ultra Quality preset when playing at 4K. The image quality gap between DLSS and FSR appears to be more pronounced here than in other games we’ve seen.

The advanced video settings offer a generic sharpness slider that works on DLSS, FSR, and the game’s own ‘linear’ method. Using an upscaler is pretty much mandatory, by the way, if you want to turn on those sweet ray tracing effects (more on them later). The performance still won’t be perfect due to some occasional stuttering (to lessen that, you should cap your frame rate, though you’ll have to do it externally as there is no such in-game option), but DLSS Performance Mode did run the game at an average of 73.5 FPS during an open world gameplay segment recorded with FrameView on our GeForce RTX 3090+i7 12700KF powered PC.

GPU

CPU

Resolution

Runtime

Avg FPS

Min FPS

Max FPS

90th %

95th %

99th %

GPU Clk(MHz)

GPU Util%

GPU Temp (C)

GPU NV Power (Watts) (API)

CPU Clk(MHz)

CPU Util %

CPU Temp (C)

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090

12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-12700KF

3840x2160

D3D12

73.48

14.33

441.33

59.10

59.18

51.03

1456.34

108.22

86.56

253

4478.22.

36.00

83.22

That is, of course, with max settings (including Async Compute) and all of the supported ray traced effects enabled. There are quite a few of those in Dying Light 2, as Techland had promised for quite some time: ray traced sun soft shadows, ray traced ambient occlusion, ray traced global illumination, and ray traced reflections. Additionally, you may also enable ray tracing for the flashlight, which adds indirect lighting to the player’s flashlight.

With everything pushed to the max on PC, Dying Light 2 can look stunning in places, easily adding itself to an ideal list of the best looking open world games. The visual difference with the PS5 version is as significant as it should be; you can see for yourself by comparing the two gameplay videos embedded into this article.

On the control side, Techland offered a great deal of customization. Those looking for a more hardcore parkour experience can turn off options like ammortizer landing assist, auto ledge grab, and edge fall assist. When using a gamepad, you can also separately disable aim assist for ranged weapons and melee weapons. Additionally, Dying Light 2 natively supports PlayStation icon prompts and the DualSense controller. In fact, it features the same great haptic feedback and adaptive trigger support seen in the PS5 version, so you should pick the DualSense controller over the Xbox controller if you want to play with a gamepad on PC.

Overall, if Dying Light 2 is your kind of game, your interest is unlikely to expire before those five years of additional content begin to arrive.

This review was based on PlayStation 5 and PC codes of Dying Light 2 Stay Human provided by publisher Techland. You can pre-order a copy of the game here.

The post Dying Light 2 Stay Human Review – An Apocalypse Divided by Nathan Birch appeared first on Wccftech.

Dying Light 2 makes a bad first impression and an even worse one in closing. There are moments of genuine joy in its robust parkour system and chunky melee combat, but those moments are stretched thin across hours of lacklustre storytelling and repetitive side content. It's a game that promises consequences for every choice you make, but the payoff often feels so thin as to remind you of Fallout 3's infamous slideshow ending.

You play as Aiden Caldwell, a wanderer who's searching for his missing sister in the last standing city after a zombie apocalypse. As with the original Dying Light, you make your way through the streets and rooftops with an array of parkour moves, and fight off both living and undead enemies with a selection of improvised melee tools.

It takes some time getting to grips with the parkour system, and the early hours of the Dying Light 2 - which you can buy here, coincidentally - will see you getting caught on world geometry and running up walls you didn't mean to. It's a shame that failure feels like the game breaking rather than a consequence of your actions, but those moments of frustration become much less frequent as you come to understand the mechanics and the flow of freerunning.

RELATED LINKS: Dying Light 2 release date, Dying Light 2 factions, Dying Light 2 trailer reveal

The eagerly anticipated Dying Light 2: Stay Human launches this week, and Techland's zombie game has now been put through the paces by game critics around the world. After numerous delays and a sometimes confusing marketing push in the final sprint to launch, is this a worthy successor to one of 2015's sleeper hits?

As it turns out, it depends on who you ask. In our Dying Light 2 review, senior news writer Dustin Bailey praises the combat and parkour systems, which he says feel just as terrific as they did in the first game. However, the new ideas in Dying Light 2 failed to impress. A variety of minor bugs plagued his playthrough, but worse, he feels the promise of consequential, game-changing decisions was never truly fulfilled. "I spent around 30 hours with Dying Light 2, and I’d say I liked about ten of them," Dustin writes, ultimately awarding it a 6/10.

Over at our sister site The Loadout, Joe Apsey was more taken with Dying Light 2's green dystopia. "We all lost connections during lockdowns, or suffered fractured friendships, and witnessed how people could rise – or fall – in a time of need," Joe writes. "Techland has managed to capture that collective trauma and experience in the narrative of Dying Light 2. And, for that reason alone, Dying Light 2’s narrative ends up hitting harder than it would have if we hadn’t all experienced the last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic."

RELATED LINKS: Dying Light 2 release date, Dying Light 2 factions, Dying Light 2 trailer reveal

The "Havana Syndrome" panic proceeds apace, despite the CIA admitting it is an "unfounded" story that got out of hand. Now U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire is talking on Twitter about "directed energy attacks", bringing the mysterious ailments reported by diplomatic staff squarely into the realm of conspiracy theorists. — Read the rest

Malicious actors are using the npm registry as the start point for open source software (OSS) supply chain attacks.

Open source software offers huge potential for criminals and nation states to deliver widespread supply chain attacks. OSS registries provide a major feeding ground with easy access.

read more

(The Morning Watch is a recurring feature that highlights a handful of noteworthy videos from around the web. They could be video essays, fan-made productions, featurettes, short films, hilarious sketches, or just anything that has to do with our favorite movies and TV shows.)

In this edition, listen as Honest Trailers digs into Marvel's "Eternals," featuring an all-star cast of cosmic beings who are as hot as they are sad. Plus, listen as the legendary Christopher Lloyd breaks down his career, from "Back to the Future" to "The Tender Bar" and a handful of movies in between. And finally, go behind the scenes of "House of Gucci" with an extensive featurette that includes commentary from director Ridley Scott, star Lady Gaga, and much more.

Eternals Honest Trailer

First up, are you ready for the Marvel Studios movie featuring characters that you probably haven't heard of before? Of course you are! What you might not be prepared for is the first Marvel movie that abandons a lot of green screen for practical locations with stunning cinematography. Then again, as the Honest Trailer from Screen Junkies points out, the real problem with "Eternals" is trying to keep track of the ensemble cast, who are introduced and re-introduced to make sure we know exactly who they are. 

Christopher Lloyd Career Breakdown

Next, in honor of the Amazon Prime Video release of "The Tender Bar," GQ brought in Christopher Lloyd to take a look back at a few key roles from his career. Yes, he spends plenty of time talking about "Back to the Future" and the sequels, but he also discusses the sitcom "Taxi," the classic "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," and his turn as a villain in "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock."

Behind The Scenes Of House Of Gucci

Finally, MGM has provided an in-depth look behind the scenes of "House of Gucci" in this featurette that's nearly 30 minutes long. Learn about the story, characters, and all the hard work that went into the movie from director Ridley Scott. Listen as the filmmaker talks about bringing this outrageously true story to life with Lady Gaga, Jared Leto, Adam Driver, Al Pacino, Salma Hayek, and Jeremy Irons

Read this next: The Best Movies Of 2021

The post The Morning Watch: Eternals Honest Trailer, Christopher Lloyd Career Breakdown & More appeared first on /Film.

You know "Dracula," Tod Browning's landmark Universal horror film, but have you seen the director's first dip into vampiric waters?

It was 1927, years before Bela Lugosi would make horror history as Count Dracula; amid the opening of the Holland Tunnel and the advent of talkies with "The Jazz Singer," Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures released "London After Midnight," also known as "The Hypnotist." The story, written by Browning, presents vampires as the prime suspects in an unsolved murder – a Londoner's death is ruled a suicide, but something's not adding up, and Lon Chaney plays the dual roles of cop and criminal as both an inspector and the jarring Man in the Beaver Hat.

If you hadn't seen the movie, you'd be forgiven; "London After Midnight" is considered a long-lost film, its last print destroyed in the MGM vault fire of 1965. The movie is both the victim of heat damage and of a time when film preservation was a low priority, leaving films to waste away in studio vaults. The nitrate-rich film stock of the time was intensely flammable, so much so that Quentin Tarantino makes a Nazi-defeating plot point of it in "Inglorious Basterds." As such, vault fires were notoriously common, and one of the most infamous was the Vault 7 storage fire at the MGM backlot in Culver City, California. An electrical short spark was all it took to ignite the cache of film stock on August 10, 1965, reducing the vault content to ash. The last known copies of "London After Midnight" and a handful of other silent films were lost to the flames, and Browning's banger ascended to a position of legend in cinema lore.

Why So Serious?

As an investigator's disguise of a fake vampire, Lon Chaney sported a shark-like set of tiny, sharpened teeth in addition to the beaver hat seen in the film. The result was iconic, with film scholar David J. Skal observing in his book 'The Monster Show" that "the primitive razor-mouth, superimposed on a human face, is a clear evocation of a Freudian concept: the devouring castrating vagina dentata." Fire or no fire, the film provided one of Lon Chaney's classic looks, one that continues to reverberate in the genre today. It's a look that critics invoked while watching Ethan Hawke's grinning Grabber terrorize kids in Scott Derrickson's thriller "The Black Phone," out at theaters in the summer of 2022. Designed by makeup FX maestro Tom Savini, the Grabber's detachable mask is a weathered gray, with horns and multiple lower halves that either grin or frown. Both are equally unpleasant and Hawke is equally unrecognizable (in a good way) in either iteration of the role. Queer horror icon The Babadook takes aesthetic cues from "London After Midnight" as well, according to "Babadook" director Jennifer Kent. 

All that's left of "London After Midnight" is a screenplay and a few stills, but that was enough for Rick Schmidlin to reconstruct about forty-five minutes of the movie on behalf of Turner Classic Movies in 2002. The effort can be found on TCM Archives' Lon Chaney Collection DVD set. Warner Brothers currently holds the rights to the movie until it advances into the public domain this year, so if someone is going to turn this cultural devastation around and unearth a print, now's the time.

Read this next: The 12 Best Vampire Movies Of All Time

The post Why Lon Chaney's London After Midnight is the Holy Grail of Lost Cinema appeared first on /Film.