So, you’re in the market for a new laptop. As it happens, Apple recently released two brand new computers—a 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro—complete with the speedy M1 Pro chip, the return of MagSafe charging, large mini LED displays, and other exciting new features. But before you say “that one, please” and hand…
My lightning talk from the SEC-T 0x0D conference has now been published on YouTube. This 13 minute talk covers tactics and techniques that the SolarWinds hackers used in order to avoid being detected.
Some of these tactics included using DNS based command-and-control (C2) that mimicked Amazon AWS DNS traffic, blending in with SolarWind’s legitimate source code and handpicking only a small number of targets.
One thing I forgot to mention in my SEC-T talk though, was the speed at which the attackers were working to analyze incoming data from the trojanized installs and selecting organizations to target for stage two operations.
For example, just during June 2020 the attackers got more than 1300 new organizations that started beaconing in using the DNS-based C2. The beaconed data only included the organizations’ Active Directory domain name and a list of installed security applications. Based on this information the attackers had to decide whether or not they wanted to target the organization. We have previously estimated that less than 1% of the organizations were targeted, while the malicious backdoor was disabled for all the other 99% who had installed the trojanized SolarWinds Orion update.
The attackers typically decided whether or not to target an organization within one week from when they started beaconing. This means that the attackers probably had several hundred organizations in queue for a targeting decision on any given week between April and August 2020. That's a significant workload!
![[Movie Review] DEMIGOD](https://i2.wp.com/www.nightmarishconjurings.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/demigod.jpg?resize=600%2C889&ssl=1)
The plot focuses on a couple, Robin and her husband Leo, who are revisiting the home of her grandfather after his passing in Germany. Twisted memories begin to come flooding back as she, Leo, and some others are taken hostage for a strange hunt by the creature lurking in the woods. Will Robin and Leo make it out alive? Can she remember the secrets of the woods to save herself and the others before it’s too late? And what exactly is hunting them?
While DEMIGOD was never truly scary, there are some very enjoyable moments in it. The cinematography from Nathan Tape was lovely and, while there was nothing really new added to, there were some beautiful and clever shots, especially focusing on the intimacy of the characters and the expanse of the woods. The music was atmospheric and added to each scene rather than detracted, creating a slick balance of tension and vulnerability of the characters. The acting, especially Rachel Nichols and Yohance Myles, was terrific. And the creature design and effects were frickin’ stellar. It’s hard to get a cool-looking creature design without looking cheesy and DEMIGOD pulled it off.
The things that fell a bit flat were the pacing (slow to fast to slow to fast to the lackluster climax), the villains (very stiff “mwhuahaha” variety), and some of the writing was too thick with villain exposition instead of something more organic. I was also hoping that Robin would make that switch from victim to hunter and go all You’re Next, but it never really happened.
I like Doleac’s gothic style and other-worldly designs, but I would like to see it punched up a little bit more. I feel like he has some good ideas and an interesting background to flavor it with, but needs to go a little wild. And also, he’s a fine actor, but I wonder if he focused on just certain aspects of filmmaking. I think that might improve the impact of his work.
Overall, DEMIGOD might not win any awards, but it’s a fun enough romp through the woods if getting hunted by the ultimate hunter is your jam. DEMIGOD is now in select theaters and available On Demand from Gravitas Ventures.
The post [Movie Review] DEMIGOD appeared first on Nightmarish Conjurings.
Apple transitioned its Mac computers away from Intel to its own chips last year with its M1 chip. Today, the company announced the M1 Pro and M1 Max processors, two custom-built chips to power the next generation of MacBooks and beyond. Both chips are essentially souped-up versions of Apple’s first in-house chip. As a new addition to the M1 family, the new M1 Pro and the M1 Max chips pack more punch to power more devices in Apple’s Mac portfolio.
Both the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips will be first seen inside the new MacBook Pro models that were launched alongside the new AirPods 3 today. Let’s quickly go through all the important specifications to see what kind of performance improvements you can expect from these new chips.
The Apple M1 Pro is a 5nm chip that features a total of up to 10 CPU cores. Eight of those 10 CPU cores are high-performance cores while two are high-efficiency cores. Additionally, the M1 Pro also features up to 16 GPU cores with 2,048 execution units. This is a notable improvement over the original M1 which had 8 GPU cores in total. In typical Apple fashion, you can say the M1 Pro chip promises up to 70 percent better CPU performance and twice the GPU performance compared to the M1.
Much like the original M1 chip, the memory is still integrated directly into the chip itself. But the new chip supports more RAM, so you’re less likely to feel the need to upgrade in future. Apple is offering configurations up to 32GB with a total of 200GB/s bandwidth. The new M1 Pro packs in 33.7 billion transistors, more than two times the amount in M1. While comparing it with the latest 8-core PC laptop chip, the M1 Pro delivers up to 1.7x more CPU performance while using up to 70 percent less power. The same is true for M1 Pro’s GPU cores, in which case Apple says they’re up to seven times faster than the integrated graphics on the latest 8-core PC laptop chips.
In addition to M1 Pro, Apple also announced the more powerful M1 Max chip. It essentially builds on the M1 Pro to deliver more performance for high-end computing machines in Apple’s Mac portfolio. The M1 Max is the largest chip Apple has ever built and it features 57 billion transistors. Just to put it in perspective, that’s 70 percent more than M1 Pro and 3.5 times more than M1. It uses the same 10-core CPU as M1 Pro but adds a 32-core GPU instead of 16. According to Apple, it’ll have the same performance as high-end discrete graphics, but it’ll consume up to 100watts less power. Apple’s new 16-inch MacBook Pro will use the M1 Max chip and it can be configured with up to 64GB of memory. The new chip will let you connect up to four external displays to a single device. Apple calls it “the most powerful chip ever built for a pro notebook.”
Both M1 Pro and M1 Max feature dedicated acceleration for the ProRes professional video codec. In M1 Pro’s case, it allows multiple playbacks of multiple streams of high-quality 4K and 8K ProRes video while using very little power. The M1 Max, as expected, takes it a step further to deliver up to 2x faster video encoding than M1 Pro, and features two ProRes accelerators. The 16-inch MacBook Pro can transcode ProRes video in Compressor up to 10x faster compared with the last-gen 16-inch model.
Apple is highlighting how the new chips represent a huge step in its transition to its own silicon. It’s worth making a note that Apple isn’t getting rid of the original M1 chip, yet. This means you’ll also be able to buy the M1-powered 13-inch MacBook Pro. It’s only a matter of time till we see Apple’s complete transition to its own silicon and we can’t wait to see how things unfold for the next generation of Mac computing devices.
Apple’s new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro are now available to pre-order. In case you’re wondering, these are the best places to pre-order apple’s new MacBook Pro right now.
The post Apple announces M1 Pro & M1 Max, two new custom-built silicon to power the next generation of Macs appeared first on xda-developers.
After launching the new iPhone 13 series last month, Apple has now announced the all-new MacBook Pro 14 and MacBook Pro 16. Apple refreshed the MacBook Pro 13 and MacBook Air last year with its custom M1 silicon. Now, it’s time for the elder sibling — the MacBook Pro 16 — to transition from Intel to Apple’s ARM-based chipset. Along with the update to the 16-inch model, Apple has also announced a brand new 14-inch MacBook Pro. This move is similar to how the brand replaced the MacBook Pro 15 with a new 16-inch variant a couple of years back. The new MacBook Pro 14 comes with Apple’s latest M1 Pro and M1 Max chip and brings back some legacy ports from the 2015 MacBook Pro models.
After months of extensive leaks and speculations from rumor mills, the MacBook Pro 14 is finally official. One of the biggest highlights of the new MacBook Pro 14 is what’s on the inside. We saw last year that Apple’s M1 chip was a huge leap in terms of computing power compared to its Intel counterpart. This resulted in both the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro 13 being one of the most powerful portable laptops out there in terms of raw performance. The new ARM-based M1 Pro and M1 Max chips on the MacBook Pro 14 further builds on the performance offered by the M1.
The M1 Pro has a 10-core CPU accompanied by a 16-core GPU that should ideally result in superb performance regardless of what you run on the machine. It’s based on the 5nm manufacturing node. Apple claims that the CPU on the M1 Pro can perform up to 70% faster than the M1 while the GPU is 2X faster. It supports up to 32GB RAM. The M1 Max, on the other hand, packs a 1-core CPU and a 32-core GPU. It supports up to 64GB RAM and offers 4x faster graphics performance than the M1 Pro.
The base MacBook Pro 14 comes with 16GB of RAM along with 512GB of SSD storage. Interestingly, the base model has an M1 Pro with an 8-core CPU and 14-Core GPU, unlike all the other models. Apart from being a solid performer, the M1 was scored high in terms of endurance too. We’re expecting to see similar results from the M1 Pro too which means the MacBook Pro 14 should also give you great battery life.
It’s not just about the innards though. Apple has backtracked on its move of removing legacy ports from the MacBook Pro in 2016. The MacBook Pro 14 brings back essential ports like the HDMI port and an SD Card reader which a lot of photo and video editors will surely appreciate. What’s even better is the reintroduction of MagSafe. No, not the MagSafe that was announced with the iPhone 12, but the MagSafe port that was once used to charge MacBook computers until 2015.
MagSafe is essentially a magnetic connector that’s used to charge the MacBook. Since it’s magnetic, you just have to bring the cable close to the connector on the MacBook and it will automatically snap in place. The main advantages of MagSafe are that it’s convenient and if you’ve connected the charger to your Mac and someone trips on the charger, the connection will instantly snap off instead of the cable flinging your MacBook in the air. The USB-C ports still remain though and can also be used to charge the MacBook.
While Apple has brought back certain features that will surely be appreciated by users, it has officially ditched the Touch Bar that also made its debut in 2016. The Touch Bar was a nifty little display strip that showed shortcuts, emojis, media controls, and other similar functions. Apple replaced the traditional function keys with the Touch Bar, but the reliable function keys are now back on the MacBook Pro 14.
The MacBook Pro 14, like the name suggests, has a 14.2-inch display. Apple has managed to trim the bezels around the display to accommodate a slightly larger screen in a form factor that’s more or less similar to the MacBook Pro 13 from last year. But that has a minor drawback (more on that later).
The display is a Mini-LED panel this time around that should give you better contrast levels compared to the IPS LCD display on previous MacBook models. It’s a Liquid Retina XDR display with True-Tone functionality with 1000nits of sustained brightness and 1600nits of peak brightness.
The webcam above the display has finally been replaced by a 1080p camera after it was stuck on 720p for the longest time. The webcam has an f/2.0 aperture and 2x better low-light performance. Sadly, the slim bezels and upgraded webcam mean that the MacBook Pro 14 has a notch to house the webcam like the iPhone 13 lineup.
Apple’s MacBooks have always offered some of the best speakers on laptops. The MacBook Pro 14 takes things up a notch with a new six-speaker sound system with two tweeters and 4 subwoofers. The laptop also features a three-mic array with a 60% lower noise floor.
Thanks to the new Apple M1 chips, the new MacBook Pro 14 offers amazing battery life. The laptop offers up to 17 hours of video playback on a single charge. What’s even better is that it offers fast charging support, giving users 50 percent charge in just 30 minutes.
Apple will ship the MacBook Pro 14 with a 96W USB Type-C power adapter. However, the base model will come with a 67W Type-C power adapter.
The MacBook Pro 14 is available to pre-order today and will go on sale starting next week. The base variant starts at $1,999. The laptop will be available with up to 64GB of RAM and 8TB of storage, with the top model with all the bells and whistles retailing for a staggering $3,299. The laptop will be available in two colorways — Space Gray and Silver. If you’re thinking of getting the new MacBook Pro 14, make sure you check out our roundup of the best MacBook Pro deals.
The post Apple’s MacBook Pro 14 packs the new M1 Pro Chip, a 120Hz ProMotion display, and a notch appeared first on xda-developers.
After launching the new iPhone 13 series last month, Apple has now announced the all-new MacBook Pro 14 and MacBook Pro 16 computers. Apple refreshed the MacBook Pro 13 and MacBook Air last year with their custom M1 silicon. Now, it’s time for the elder sibling — the MacBook Pro 16 — to transition from Intel to Apple’s ARM-based chipset. The MacBook Pro 16 is the most powerful MacBook in the line-up and has truly been a machine for the pros. This year, it’s getting even better with the new M1 Max Chip taking the performance to a whole new level. It also brings back Apple’s proprietary MagSafe charging and some useful ports from the 2015 MacBook Pro models. With this, Apple has now transitioned completely from Intel to its own silicon on the MacBook Pro series.
Both the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models were some of the most anticipated MacBook upgrades especially after consumers saw the gains Apple got with the M1-powered MacBook Pro 13 last year. Apple’s M1 chip was a huge leap in terms of computing power compared and provided huge performance gains compared to previous-gen MacBook computers that used Intel chips. This resulted in both the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro 13 being one of the most powerful portable laptops out there in terms of raw performance. The new ARM-based M1 Pro and M1 Max silicon on the MacBook Pro 16 takes the performance of the M1 up by several notches.
The M1 Pro has a 10-core CPU accompanied by a 16-core GPU. The M1 Max on the MacBook Pro 16 has a 10-core CPU accompanied by a 32-core GPU that should ideally result in excellent performance regardless of what you run on the machine. The MacBook Pro 16 gets a huge boost in terms of graphics performance as well with the new GPU. For comparison, the smaller MacBook Pro 14 has 16GPU cores. Apple claims that the GPU on the M1 Max is up to 4 times faster than the GPU performance of the M1. The base variant of the MacBook Pro 16 comes with 16GB of RAM along with 512GB of SSD storage. You can choose to opt for either the M1 Pro or the M1 Max chip on the MacBook Pro 16.
Apart from being a solid performer, the M1 chip also improved another aspect of the MacBook Pro substantially — the battery life. We’re expecting to see similar results from the M1 Max on the MacBook Pro 16 as well. Apple claims a battery life of up to 21 hours on the MacBook Pro 16. It also has support for fast charging and can reach 50% in about 30 minutes.
Apart from the biggest upgrade coming in terms of the chipset, there are several other changes that have been made to the MacBook Pro 16. Apple has reintroduced some useful ports on the MacBook after it first removed them from the MacBook Pro in 2016. The MacBook Pro 16 brings back essential ports like the HDMI port and an SD Card reader which a lot of photo and video editors will thank Apple for. What’s even better is the reintroduction of MagSafe. This isn’t the same tech that’s now seen on the latest iPhone devices. Instead, it’s the MagSafe port that was once used to charge MacBook computers until 2015.
MagSafe is essentially a magnetic connector that’s used to charge the MacBook. Since it’s magnetic, you just have to bring the cable close to the connector on the MacBook and it will automatically snap in place. The main advantages of MagSafe are that it’s convenient and if you’ve connected the charger to your Mac and someone trips on the charger, the connection will instantly snap off instead of the cable tugging your MacBook to the ground. The USB-C ports still remain though and can be used to charge the MacBook.
While Apple has brought back certain features that will surely be appreciated by users, it has officially ditched the Touch Bar that also made its debut in 2016. The Touch Bar was a nifty little display strip that showed shortcuts, emojis, media controls, and other similar functions. Apple replaced the traditional function keys with the Touch Bar, but the reliable F1-F12 keys are now back on the MacBook Pro 16.
The MacBook Pro 16 has a large 16.2-inch display with relatively slim bezels. Apple trimmed the bezels around the display when they initially introduced the MacBook Pro 16. This was done to accommodate a slightly larger display into the same form factor as a MacBook Pro 15. Apple claims that they’ve cut the bezels down by 24% from last year, helping them increase the display size by 0.2 inches. The display is a Mini-LED panel this time around that should give you better contrast levels compared to the IPS LCD display on previous MacBook models. It’s still a 2K retina display though with True-Tone functionality.
What else is new is ProMotion on the MacBook Pro. The display can now go up to 120Hz. The webcam above the display has finally been replaced by a 1080p camera after it was stuck on 720p for the longest time. And guess what, there’s now a notch on the MacBook Pro! Apple says that the new camera lets in 2x more light with its improved f/2.0 aperture.
The MacBook Pro 16 will be available to pre-order from today i.e. 18 October via Apple.com and will go on sale starting from 26 October. The base variant with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage will start at $2,499. In India, the base variant of the MacBook Pro 16 with the M1 Pro starts at ₹2,39,900 whereas the variant with the M1 Max starts at ₹3,29,900. It will be available in two color options — Silver and Space Gray.
Here’s the pricing information for the different variants –
| Sl. No. | MacBook Pro 16 Variant | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | M1 Pro (10-Core CPU, 16 Core GPU) + 16GB RAM + 512GB SSD | $2,499 |
| 2 | M1 Max (10-Core CPU, 24 Core GPU) + 32GB RAM + 1TB SSD | $3,299 |
| 3 | M1 Max (10-Core CPU, 32 Core GPU) + 32GB RAM + 1TB SSD | $3,499 |
You can take a look at the best MacBook Pro 16 deals to order the product from the place most convenient to you while also checking if there are any discounts or offers to save a few extra bucks.
The post The new MacBook Pro 16 is here with Apple’s M1 Max Chip and a Notched 120Hz Mini-LED Display appeared first on xda-developers.
Every now and then a particular TV show takes over and commands the all-seeing eye of pop culture for weeks or months at a time—think the first season of Stranger Things, or the height of Game of Thrones manis. Right now, that show is Squid Game, which has become the most successful Netflix series of all time, not to…
Rejuvenated after a decade. | A lot of classic games have been remade and remastered already. After Crysis and Mafia, Alan Wake gets a major face-lift. We conduct our performance analysis to determine the system requirements.
Forget seeing a glass as half-full or half-empty. The best drinking-water-based test of your outlook on life is whether you’re shocked to find out that some bottle water is just tap water, or if you’re so cynical you’d be shocked to find out that any of it isn’t. The truth is, in fact, somewhere in the middle.
We are excited to share that Microsoft has been named a Leader in The Forrester New Wave
: Extended Detection and Response (XDR), Q4, 2021,1 receiving one of the highest scores in the strategy category. Microsoft 365 Defender was rated as “differentiated” in seven criteria including detection, investigation, and response, and remediation.
Forrester notes that “there is a deep divide in the XDR market between those far along the path and those just starting to deliver on the vision of XDR,” and that of mature providers “combine the best elements of their portfolios, including industry-leading products, to simplify incident response and build targeted, high-efficacy detections.”
The XDR market category recognizes that while endpoint detection and response (EDR) is important, it is insufficient as the only method to protect against evolving threats in 2021. XDR extends EDR to include many additional known sources of telemetry including identities, applications, and cloud infrastructure and then uses AI to correlate and prioritize threats.
Microsoft’s strategy for XDR is to create the most comprehensive solution—collecting signals from multi-platform sources including Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, and macOS, and multi-cloud deployments including Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) coupled with built-in AI, automation, and prevention capabilities.
Microsoft’s approach with our XDR products Microsoft 365 Defender and Azure Defender is to simplify and empower the security operations team with a cloud-hosted, integrated experience that maximizes the time defenders spend thwarting attackers. We also provide the best data set while minimizing the time required on lower-impact activities such as integrating and maintaining systems.
The key to helping security teams is powerful automation to normalize your data, analyzing it, and correlating seemingly unrelated alerts into incidents. AI, playbooks, and automatic remediation help you free up your time to focus on applying your organizational expertise to proactive hunting and prevention.
There is a narrative in the market led by vendors with either XDR or SIEM capabilities that one will over time replace the other. Microsoft’s perspective is that customers need the combination of both SIEM and XDR, delivered differently than it has been in the past. Our SIEM, Azure Sentinel, compliments our XDR capabilities extending them to any source of data and custom threat intelligence. Azure Sentinel is dependently integrated with our XDR platforms so unique incidents can be shared across tools.
We are thankful for our customers and partners and the feedback you provide us on how to improve the product. We’re thrilled by the recognition of this placement and dedicated to continuing to deliver innovation to help you defend against threats. We’re continuing to add threat intelligence, always looking for opportunities to further integrate and simplify, pushing the boundaries of AI, and delivering at cloud speed and cloud-scale. Our 8,500 security experts monitor known groups and attack types at all times to provide you with the latest recommendations, mitigations, and prevention strategies. Our broad ecosystem of partners is ready to help.
Watch our Microsoft Mechanics video on our integrated SIEM and XDR capabilities, and learn more about our security solutions:
You can download The Forrester New Wave: Extended Detection and Response (XDR), Q4 2021 complimentary report to learn more about our position as a Leader. We thank our customers and partners for their support and commitment to innovation with us on this journey.
To learn more about Microsoft Security solutions, visit our website. Bookmark the Security blog to keep up with our expert coverage on security matters. Also, follow us at @MSFTSecurity for the latest news and updates on cybersecurity.
1The Forrester New Wave: Extended Detection and Response (XDR), Q4 2021, Allie Mellen, October 13, 2021.
This graphic was published as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in context of the entire documents. The Forrester document is available upon request here.
The post Microsoft achieves a Leader placement in Forrester Wave for XDR appeared first on Microsoft Security Blog.
We all know it’s crucial to wash our armpits and nether regions when we bathe—of this there is no doubt. We’re well-versed in the importance of hand-washing, and if you’ve ever been a greasy, hormonal teenager, you know why your face and hair need to be cleaned regularly. But the internet has had paroxysms of outrage…
Award for longest blog post title ever? Andrey Muzychenko has a great github repository where they decompiled the 25 year old Space Cadet Pinball application from Windows 95/XP and then recompiled it for Linux (and really any platform now that it's portable code!).
NOTE: Because this is a decompilation/recompilation, it doesn't include the original data files. You'll need those from a Windows XP disk or ISO that you'll need to find yourself.
I recently did a YouTube where I showed that Windows 11 runs Graphical Linux Apps out of the box with WSLg.
Here, they've taken a Windows 95 32-bit app and decompiled it from the original EXE, done some nice cleanup, and now it can be recompiled to other targets like Linux.
So, could I go Windows 95 -> Linux -> Windows 11 -> WSL -> WSLg and run this new native Linux executable again on Windows?
If you don't think this is cool, that's a bummer. It's an example of how powerful (and fun) virtualization has become on modern systems!
I just launched WSL (Ubuntu) and installed a few things to compile the code:
sudo apt-get install libsdl2-image-dev
sudo apt-get install libsdl2-mixer-dev
sudo apt install gcc clang build-essential cmake
Then I cloned the repo under WSL and built. It builds into bin and creates a Linux executable.
NOTE: Place compiled executable into a folder containing original game resources (not included).
I am a digital hoarder so I have digital copies of basically everything I've worked on for the last 30 years. I happened to have a Windows XP virtual disk drive from a VM from years ago that was saved on my Synology.
I was able to open it and get all the original resources and wav files.
Then I copy all the original resources minus the .exe and then run the newly built Linux version...and it magically pops out and runs on Windows...as a graphical Linux app.
Amazing! Have fun!
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This All-Clad stainless steel spatula is perfect for use with my favorite cast iron pan. I would be lost without them.
The thickness of the spatula, and its hardness, are just wonderful. This tool easily slides under anything I may be frying and can be used to scrape light scorches off the pan. — Read the rest
Apple announced its 14-inch and 16-inch 2021 MacBook Pro models recently and the company introduced its most powerful processors on a MacBook. The new M1 Pro and M1 Max chips feature enhanced performance and deliver better battery life on the new MacBook Pro models. Apparently, the first benchmarks for Apple's high-end M1 Max chips have appeared online. Scroll down to read more details on the subject.
Apple's high-end M1 Max chip in the new 2021 MacBook Pro features a 10-core CPU and 32-core GPU. According to the M1 Max benchmarks that appeared online, the chip features a single-core score of 1749 and a multi-core score of 11542. To be exact, the multi-score is double the amount as that of the M1 chip on the 13-inch MacBook Pro models.
The M1 Max benchmarks show that Apple's upcoming 2021 MacBook Pro models will be quite powerful than all previous models. In terms of competition, Apple's M1 Max benchmarks are on par with the late 2019 Mac Pro which is equipped with Intel's 12-core Xeon W-3235. Moreover, the new chip does not outperform the Mac Pro and iMac models which are equipped with Intel's high-end 16 to 24-core Xeon chips.
As can be seen in the benchmarks, the MacBook Pro model with M1 Max chip is running macOS 12.4. Moreover, Geekbenc's John Poole believes that the M1 Max benchmark results are the real deal. Poole initially stated that the frequency estimation was creating issues. However, it could be an issue with Geekbench and not something related to the processor, Nonetheless, the early benchmarks show impressive performance, and potentially we will see more details on it.
As mentioned earlier, there will be more Geekbench scores for the M1 Max and M1 Pro in the coming days. The new M1 Max and M1 Pro MacBooks will be arriving at customers next Tuesday. This is all there is to it, folks. What are your thoughts on the benchmarks? Let us know in the comments.
The post Early Benchmarks of High-End M1 Max Chip Shows Twice as Fast Multi-Core Performance Compared to M1 by Ali Salman appeared first on Wccftech.
Witches and spiders and ghosts, oh my! Sure, the '90s gave us some great movies across many genres, but if you're specifically in the mood to watch some Halloween fare and you're looking to expand beyond the current century's offerings, the '90s is a decade that boasts some great options for a creepy night in.
From family-friendly fun to dark fantasy and horror, the decade that came after the '80s and before the '00s birthed a number of spooktacular movies that still thrill and delight today. Whether you're into headless horsemen, armies of the dead, vampires, or masked killers, you're sure to find something that'll fit your taste on the following list of the best Halloween movies of the '90s. So, kick back with your candy corn, candied apples, and pumpkin-flavored beverage of choice, and enjoy... if you dare!
Nicolas Roeg directed a heck of a disturbing horror-thriller in 1973's "Don't Look Now," so he was an inspired choice by producer Jim Henson, who selected him to direct "The Witches," an adaptation of Roald Dahl's dark fantasy children's novel of the same name.
"The Witches" follows an orphaned young boy named Luke (Jasen Fisher), whose grandmother, Helga (Mai Zetterling), warns him about the dangers of witches. Later, Luke stumbles upon a witch convention at a hotel where he and Helga are staying. Soon, Luke discovers that the Grand High Witch (Anjelica Huston) plans to turn all the world's children into mice, starting with him. With a delectably wicked performance by Huston, and delightfully elaborate prosthetics and puppetry by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, "The Witches" is a vibrant cult classic full of imagination and a playfully dark sense of fun.
Tim Burton's "Sleepy Hollow" has everything one could hope for in a Halloween movie, including a creepy gothic ambiance, dense, foggy woods, and a sleepy 1800s town plagued by a series of decapitations committed by an apparition known as the Headless Horseman (Christopher Walken).
Based on Washington Irving's classic tale, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," Burton's "Sleepy Hollow" follows Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane, a police constable sent to the titular locale to investigate the aforementioned decapitations. There, he encounters love interest Katrina (Christina Ricci) whose stepmother, Lady Van Tassel (Miranda Richardson) has some dark secrets. "Sleepy Hollow" won an Oscar for best art direction thanks to the spooky production design by Rick Heinrichs ("Pirates of the Caribbean"). Gorgeous cinematography by Emanual Lubezki ("Birdman") and lively performances all around further establish "Sleepy Hollow" as a richly atmospheric '90s Halloween staple.
Spiders are an integral part of Halloween, at least if the decorations aisle at your local drug store are any indication. Let's face it, the little eight-legged critters are kind of freaky, and tend to creep people out, if not downright terrify them. So what could be more terrifyingly fun than watching Jeff Daniels and John Goodman battle it out with an invasive and deadly species of spider in "Arachnophobia?"
The Amblin Entertainment-produced, Frank Marshall-directed creature-feature has a lot of hair-raising fun with its premise, in which a spider-averse, city-slickin' doctor, Ron Jennings (Daniels), moves to a small town, only to discover that killer spiders have set up camp in his barn and threaten to overrun the world. Enlisting the help of exterminator Delbert McClintock (Goodman), Jennings must face his worst fear in an effort to save humanity. Featuring tons of spiders, hot flame throwin' action, and an endearing sense of playfulness, "Arachnophobia" is a creepy-crawly, goosebump-inducing good time.
Both Sam Raimi's "The Evil Dead" and its sequel, "Evil Dead 2," make great Halloween movies, but neither one was released in the '90s. Luckily, the third installment in the franchise, "Army of Darkness," came out in 1992.
This chapter sees hero Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) transported to the Middle Ages, where he is promptly captured by Lord Arthur, and must find the Necronomicon, aka the Book of the Dead, in order to return home. As if all that weren't enough, he also accidentally releases and must consequently battle an army of the dead. Like its predecessor, "Army of Darkness" is a zany horror-comedy, though this one is bigger and more adventurous with its setting and its army of skeletons. With wild special effects inspired by the stop-motion animation of Ray Harryhausen and storyline that borrows from the legend of King Arthur's Court, "Army of Darkness" is a fantastical choice for your Halloween watch list.
Robert Zemeckis is known for making some incredibly fun films, including "Back To The Future" and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?," but he also has a taste for slightly spookier fare. One example comes in the form of "Death Becomes Her," which he both produced and directed.
"Death Becomes Her" stars Meryl Streep as actress Madeleine and Goldie Hawn as writer Helen. The two women are bitter rivals who both end up fighting for the attention of Helen's husband, plastic surgeon Ernest Menville (Bruce Willis). Their rivalry eventually leads them to both drink a magic potion that promises eternal life and beauty, even in the event of "death".
The macabrely comedic "Death Becomes Her" won an Oscar for best visual effects, and has become a cult classic, especially within the LGBTQ+ community. Vanity Fair called it "gloriously queer" and described it as "'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous' meets 'Tales from the Crypt.'"
If you prefer your Halloween movies on the grittier, gothier side, "The Crow" is a perfect, if solemn, choice. Alex Proyas' dark fantasy noir, based on the comic by James O'Barr, is set in Detroit on October 30th, aka Devil's Night, during which a gang of thugs assault and murder Eric Draven (Brandon Lee) and his girlfriend, Shelley (Sofia Shinas). One year later, a mystical crow brings Eric back from the dead, leaving him free to exact revenge upon the perpetrators.
The film's dark, gothic, visual aesthetic along with its grungy soundtrack and action-packed sequences all add to its brooding appeal. Sadly, the film's legacy is marred by Brandon Lee's tragic death during filming, which invariably haunts the finished product, but his dramatic and sensitive performance as the heartbroken Eric Draven is worth paying tribute to, and renders the long-considered remake generally unnecessary.
"Now is the time. This is the hour. Ours is the magic. Ours is the power." Yet another '90s movie about witches, "The Craft" zeros in on teen girl power as it follows the misadventures of a burgeoning coven of teenage witches led by the charismatic but troubled Nancy Downs (Fairuza Balk).
When Sarah Bailey (Robin Tunney) moves to a new high school, she finds friendship among a group of outcasts, including Nancy, Robin (Neve Campbell), and Rochelle (Rachel True), who soon discover that they can conjure up powers by worshipping a deity called Manon. As their powers grow, the teens use them to exact revenge upon their abusers, but discover that their gifts come with a price. Soon, Nancy's thirst for power threatens them all. With excellent performances and its centering of troubled teen girls, "The Craft" has become a cult classic, one whose themes of empowerment have been especially popular with young women.
Critics might not agree, but audiences of all ages have made Disney's "Hocus Pocus" something of a cult Halloween staple.
The campy comedy directed by Kenny Ortega centers around two young siblings, Max and Danni Dennison (Omri Katz and Thora Burch), who have recently moved to Salem, Massachusetts. On Halloween night, Max inadvertently reincarnates the Sanderson Sisters (Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimi), a trio of witches who, three centuries prior, had been hanged after murdering a girl in order to steal her youth and turning the girl's brother, Thackery Binx (Sean Murray), into a black cat. The only way to stop the wicked witches is to steal their book of spells, which is exactly what Max, Danni, Thackery the cat, and Max's crush Allison (Vinessa Shaw) set out to do. Lots of hocus pocus ensues.
Despite being critically panned, "Hocus Pocus" has only grown in popularity over the years, with an upcoming sequel in the works at Disney+. All three of the original Sanders Sisters are slated to return.
They're creepy and they're kooky, and they're the perfect company for Halloween. "The Addams Family" and "Addams Family Values" both follow the spooky exploits of the titular family, including Morticia and Gomez Addams (Anjelica Huston and Raul Julia), their children Wednesday and Pugsley (Christina Ricci and Jimmy Workman), Gomez's brother Uncle Fester (Christopher Lloyd), Grandmama (Judith Malna), the Thing (Christopher Hart), and Lurch (Carel Struycken).
Sure, their plots vary a little bit; the first film focuses on whether Fester is really Gomez's brother or an imposter bent on defrauding the family, and the second sees Fester marrying a gold-digging serial killer (Joan Cusack) while Wednesday and Pugsley are sent off to summer camp. But the unapologetically macabre family and their eccentric yet loving ways make both films winners. "The Addams Family" was a hit at the box office, and while "Addams Family Values" didn't do quite as well, critics praised its satire and new characters.
"Do you like scary movies?" If so, Wes Craven's meta horror flick "Scream" makes for a terrifically scary and fun Halloween watch. "Scream" revitalized the slasher genre in the '90s with a smart, snappy, darkly comedic script about a mysterious costumed killer known as "Ghostface" who terrorizes the teens of Woodsboro, California, all of whom seem hyper aware of horror movies and their various cliches.
The iconic opening scene featuring Drew Barrymore receiving a phone call from a threatening stranger is an homage to films such as "When a Stranger Calls" and "Black Christmas." It's just one throwback that screenwriter and horror fan Kevin Williamson incorporated into his script, which was also inspired by a real-life killer known as the Gainesville Ripper. Other cast members include Neve Campbell as the grieving Sidney Prescott, Courtney Cox as reporter Gayle Weathers, David Arquette as Deputy Sheriff Dewey Riley, Skeet Ulrich as Sidney's boyfriend Billy Loomis, and Matthew Lillard as fellow teen Stu Macher. "Scream" spawned several sequels, including an upcoming fifth entry.
Witches and Halloween go together like eye of newt and toe of frog, which is why there are multiple witch-centric movies on this list. "The Blair Witch Project'' focuses on a folksy sort, "an old woman whose feet never touched the ground" who leaves ominous stick figures strewn around the woods in the Black Hills outside of Burkittsville, Maryland.
The fictional film is presented as the "recovered footage" of a trio of student documentarians, played by Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard, who had come to the Black Hills in October of 1994 to investigate the Blair Witch, which includes tales of ritualistic murders. The footage documents the trio's harrowing last days as they become lost in the woods, and are drawn closer to the titular witch. With help from a viral marketing campaign and a super creepy ending, "The Blair Witch Project" became a huge hit, and is credited with reviving the and popularizing the "found footage" genre.
Vampires are another hallmark of Halloween, and the granddaddy of all vampires is, of course, Count Dracula, who first came to life (or to the undead, if you will) in 1897 via Bram Stoker's classic novel. Francis Ford Coppola's film adaptation, "Bram Stoker's Dracula," is a lavish, gothic romance that's equal parts sexy and terrifying.
Gary Oldman plays Vlad the Impaler, who renounces God and vows to use the powers of darkness to avenge his slain love, Elisabeta (Winona Ryder). Centuries later, Vlad is now known as Count Dracula, and he's "crossed oceans of time" to find Mina Harker (Ryder), who looks like she could be his beloved Elisabeta reincarnated. Easily morphing between a seductive Count and a rather nasty looking bat-like monster, Dracula attempts to woo Mina, and her unfortunate friend, Lucy (Sadie Frost), but both Mina's fiancé, Jonathan (Keanu Reeves), and the charismatic Abraham Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins) intend to put a stop to that.
The '90s was apparently a popular time to harken back to Gothic literary classics, as director Joel Schumacher did with "Flatliners," which evokes shades of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" with its tale of five medical students who decide to play chicken with the line between life and death.
Set during Halloween, the students, led by Nelson Wright (Kiefer Sutherland), decide to explore the moments that occur just beyond death by "flatlining," which involves killing then quickly resuscitating the volunteering individual. As the students take turns flatlining, they experience their own unique visions, making them want to remain on the other side longer in order to figure out what's happening to them.
In addition to the Frankenstein-esque themes about playing God, Schumacher also infuses the psychological horror film with a cool modern Gothic aesthetic. Featuring a stellar cast of '90s stars that includes Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin, and Oliver Platt, "Flatliners" is the sexy '90s Frankenstein ode you never knew you needed.
These days, Peter Jackson is best known for directing The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but back in the '90s he got his start directing zany horror comedies like the bloody zombie movie "Brain Dead" (aka "Dead Alive") and the more ghost-centric "The Frighteners," which was his first big-budget Hollywood film and the second film, after "Heavenly Creatures," to utilize the special effects of his Weta Digital company.
"The Frighteners" stars Michael J. Fox as Frank Bannister, whose wife is killed in a car accident, after which he gains the ability to see ghosts, including three that live in his house, Judge (John Astin), Cyrus (Chi McBride) and Stuart (Jim Fyfe). Frank begins charging people in a con to rid their home of spirits, but soon encounters a ghost posing as the Grim Reaper who is actually killing people, leaving it up to Frank to save the day. Produced by Robert Zemeckis, "The Frighteners" is a true relic of the '90s with unusual special effects that were state of the art at the time. It's worth watching for its commitment to the bit, and its general sense of spooky fun.
It may not be the best film in the series, but "Halloween H20" has its charms. The seventh installment of the "Halloween" franchise, "Halloween H20" ignores the storyline of the prior three movies, and brings back Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode.
Directed by Steve Miner ("Friday the 13th Part 2," "House," "Lake Placid"), "H20" finds Laurie Strode working as a headmistress at a boarding school, where she lives under an assumed name in order to hide from her brother, Michael Myers (Chris Durand). But, being the determined slasher that he is, Michael raids Dr. Loomis' old house, steals Laurie's file, tracks her down, and, of course, does some killing along the way. "Halloween H20" is elevated by its colorful cast, which includes Adam Arkin as Laurie's boyfriend, Josh Hartnett as Laurie's son, Michelle Williams as his girlfriend, and LL Cool J as a security guard. "Halloween H20" also has the distinction of being the second and final horror film Jamie Lee Curtis would appear in with her mother, Janet Leigh, the other being 1980's "The Fog."
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Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) is many things, but surprising is rarely one of them. Sure, his actions were startling throughout the first season of "You," as he evolved from bookish stalker to full-fledged murderer, but that was then. Three seasons later, viewers have become accustomed to his chaotic spirals: his mommy issues and murderous impulses are always on full display. Joe is a killer through-and-through, desperate for love, fearful of abandonment, and willing to do whatever he wants in the name of love. His life even has a twisted cycle: boy meets girl, boy stalks girl, boy takes drastic, unhinged actions and eventually, everything falls apart. Then, boy moves on to the next girl. Unfortunately for Joe, the season 2 finale threw a wrench in those carefully plotted out plans, when his latest obsession not only stuck around, but proved herself to be his perfect match — another passionate murderer.
Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti) is the MVP of the season, the true wild card of the series. Where Joe is steady and calculating, she is spur-of-the-moment passion. With her by his side, Joe's old tricks are rendered useless, forcing him to get creative. Gone are the days of Joe hiding in a crowd, following a woman through the bustling streets of New York or even L.A. Bookstore basements and creepy storage units are a thing of the past, now that he's sharing a roof with Love's watchful eye. With their crazies entwining — clashing and working together, all at once — Joe and Love bring out the very worst in each other, and their bloody romance propels an exhilarating new season of the Netflix's hit drama.
Spoilers for season 3 of "You" ahead.
Self proclaimed "serial monogamist" Joe Goldberg should be the poster child for commitment, but can't seem to make his marriage work. Despite committing multiple murders in the name of his wife, stalking her for half a season and monologuing our ears off about his undying love, he barely lasts a week by her side in suburbia. To his credit, the glossy sun-soaked sidewalks of Madre Linda are intentionally unbearable. "You" paints a picture of California suburbs ripe for satire. It's brimming with awful personalities, suntanned suburban wives, Silicon Valley tech heads, and judgmental bloggers.
A pretentious New Yorker like Joe (who lost it over L.A.'s organic markets) wasn't meant to last in a place like this, so it shouldn't be surprising that he doesn't. You'd think his wife and child might be enough to make it his home, but Joe never quite accepts the reality of life in Madre Linda. He rolls his eyes at local mommy blogger Sherry Conrad (Shalita Grant), and can't stand her keto-paleo alternating husband, Cary (Travis Van Winkle). The rest of the neighborhood makes a similarly negative impression, which turns out to be kindling to the Quinn-Goldberg marriage. When we catch up with the pair, soon after the birth of their son, they're riding high. They both resent everyone around them and find joy in poking fun at Madre Linda. But that's just on the surface.
Long before the season premiere, Joe peered through his backyard fence at the latest object of his affections — and fans could see the season stretched out before us: Joe struggles to make time with his new love whilst trying to avoid his wife's watchful gaze. He dreams of running away with his next-door neighbor Natalie (Michaela McManus) and maybe, in the heat of a moment, takes drastic measures against the woman he once pledged his heart to. But what seems like a season-long arc barely lasts a single episode.
Love catches on quicker than we expect — and she too sees where this season could lead. So in an act of impulse, Love does what she must to save her marriage: she buries an axe in Natalie's back, thus putting an end to Joe's latest love story. She also kickstarts one of the best plot developments in the season, as the Quinn-Goldbergs spiral into paranoia and contemplate how best to dispose of a body in a heavily surveilled suburban neighborhood. So where do Love and Joe go from there? Therapy, of course.
Couples therapy works wonders for this marriage ... for a time. Sessions with Dr. Chandra (Ayelet Zurer) remind the pair how much they have in common — and I'm not talking about their experience disposing of murder weapons. Love and Joe fear abandonment. They share an impulse to protect. And they both consider themselves romantics. As they accept those truths and remember what once drew them to the other, it really seems like their marriage could work. Who else could they hide a body with? What other sane human being would swoon at the phrase "I wolf you"? These serial killing freakshows deserve each other! They're meant to be! And sure, watching them bury a body two feet from their infant son might make you nauseous, but it's hard not to want their relationship to work out. At the very least, it spares everyone else the trouble of getting wrapped up in their bloody antics. But there isn't enough therapy in the world to stop this trainwreck in its path.
Joe spends an episode or two trying to commit himself to Love, getting really into lawn mowers and even going on a homoerotic camping trip with the other men of Madre Linda to prove he can be social. But ultimately, his toxic cycle begins anew, with no-nonsense librarian and young mother Marienne Bellamy (Tati Gabrielle) becoming the apple of his eye. Joe really runs the gambit of love interests this season, landing on Marienne last. But before her, his affections are fixed on his newborn son, Henry.
This screaming baby instills fear in both his parents (experienced murderers) as they worry about how best to care for him and how badly they may mess him up. They both experience their own version of postpartum depression, Joe wishing he'd had a little girl and Love lingering on her brother's dying assertion that she would make a terrible mother. Their concerns are almost touching ... but after their brief crises, Joe and Love promptly forget their baby exists.
About halfway through the season, they set their sights elsewhere. Joe pursues Marienne, beginning a dangerous affair that he knows could end with Love committing another murder. But lucky for him, his wife is distracted by her quiet affair with college-aged, next-door neighbor, Theo (Dylan Arnold). Well, quiet except for his glorious "Say Anything" homage, featuring the hilarious use of Lorde.
It's a shame to see the young couple separate, partially because this is where the season hits an unfortunate lull. The Quinn-Goldbergs thrive together, developing a genius plan to explain away the disappearance of Natalie, in addition to the death of neighboring anti-vaxxer Gil (Mackenzie Astin). This mini-arc starts the season and showcases it's very best: this duo is unhinged and it's incredible to see them embracing that reality. But that's also why they can't work.
Joe, dear reader, is an incredibly toxic man. If his every monologue and action hasn't proven that point, just look at his relationship with Love. In theory, she's the perfect woman for him: she refuses to reject even his most sociopathic impulses. Sometimes, she even encourages them, whispering in his ear like Lady Macbeth. But Joe only latches onto fantasy women. He wants someone pure and perfect, but Love's hands are stained in blood. He sees himself in her — the worst, most despicable parts of himself, and that's why he wants to escape. So he envisions a new possibility, a life with the unsuspecting Marienne.
Joe attempts to destroy his marriage by opening it up — when Cary and Sherry float the idea of swinging, he lets Love know he's open to the experiment. Secretly he hopes it will destroy the remnants of their marriage. The open marriage discussion sure is fun, but if you're looking for a healthy example of polyamorous ethics, perhaps the show about two serial killers isn't the place to be. Instead, consider making noise for the Sherry-Cary dream team. Despite beginning the season as two unbearable additions, they end up stealing the show. Initially, my interest in the Conrads was wholly focused on whether or not Cary wanted to sleep with Joe (he did) and whether or not he'd get to (he didn't). But trapped in a cage, their marriage viciously unravels, but eventually maintains itself through sheer force of will.
Meanwhile, the Quinn-Goldberg relationship crumbles.Their attempt to spice up their marriage is derailed when Love lets their murderous acts slip within earshot o their guests. Though she ruins any shot we had of Cary and Joe making out, she leads us into the next great stretch of the season: Joe and Love teaming up to take down the Conrads. "The spark our marriage needed doesn't come from swinging," Joe realizes, once they drag their unconscious guests back to the living room. "Our love language is violence."
The final three episodes prove the point made in the first four: "You" reaches new heights as it explores the Quinn-Goldberg dynamic. Their time apart is a break from the thrills that sadly start to lag. Worse yet are the flashbacks to Joe's past, which reveal nothing new about the scheming stalker, reiterating his obvious mommy issues and reminding us that he considers himself a gift to all women. It's more of the same, which is fine, but nothing compared to the adrenaline rush of the disastrous marriage.
As the seasons draw to a close, "You" gets even more daring, exploring the tantalizing concept of Joe's death. After Love poisons him, determined to put an end to his straying, she offers a new possibility: what if the show continued without Joe? What if we follow Love Quinn instead, as she continues her quest for love? Ultimately, this idea dies on the vine, when Joe uses her poison against her, ending the saga of Love.
In the end, season 3 might be the worst yet for "You" — which isn't to say it's bad. The series remains a prime Netflix binge, full of dark twists and record-screeching turns. Joe's actions may not surprise us, but it's no less fun to watch him slip and stumble into new pools of blood. And Badgley is in top form as the brooding killer, growling in crazed monologues. But Pedretti steals the show. She breathes new life into the series as we delved deeper into her character's psyche. Love is unhinged in a way that's new and interesting. She murders Natalie in episode 1, sleeps with Theo in a heated moment, shows raw vulnerability with Joe and later, poisons a chicken roast dinner. So when it seems like she could walk away the winner, it's too good to resist. But it wasn't meant to be.
With season 4 of "You" on the way, Joe is hoping to repeat his cycle one again. This time around, he's pursuing Marienne in Paris, hoping to reignite their romance. But he doesn't have the same opportunity for a fresh start — Marienne got a glimpse at his true colors and probably won't be pleased to see him return of her life... Not that Joe has ever taken no for an answer.
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The post You Season 3 Spoiler Review: Love Doesn't Last Forever Once Joe Goldberg Is Involved appeared first on /Film.
Fall is in the air and the spooky season is officially upon us. With All Hallow's Eve right around the corner, it's time to begin preparing your Halloween movie marathons. However, with more and more Halloween flicks arriving every year, it can be hard to determine what to watch as you carve pumpkins, make costumes, and greet trick-or-treaters.
That's why we've compiled the best Halloween movies on Hulu that you can stream right now. Yes, there are some horror films here, but Halloween is about more than simply being scared. Atmosphere, design, and fun and spooky iconography play a big part in the holiday, too. On Hulu, you'll find everything from fun animated fare to campy musical classics to sendups of horror favorites. That's the nice thing about Hulu's Halloween selection: The service has something every Halloween fan can enjoy.
The only non-English language film on this list, "Thelma" is a queer paranormal thriller set in Norway. The film follows the eponymous Thelma (Eili Harboe), a sheltered young woman who goes to university in Oslo against the better judgment of her strict and religious parents. At college, Thelma experiences the world outside of her quiet and insular countryside home for the first time and begins to learn more about herself and those around her.
Though she's lonely, Thelma makes friends with another student, Anja (Kaya Wilkins), who awakens surprising feelings inside of her. As she gets to know Anja, the feelings take the form of seizures that appear to be paranormal manifestations. As their relationship deepens, Thelma has to determine whether there's something wrong with her, or whether her religious upbringing is simply forcing her to repress her true nature. If you're looking for atmospheric, creepy queer romance this Halloween, "Thelma" is a great choice.
A retelling of Mary Shelley's classic story from Igor's (Daniel Radcliffe) perspective, "Victor Frankenstein" begins before the famous lab assistant meets his future master. At the beginning of the film, Igor works for the circus and studies anatomy in his free time. When his unrequited love Lorelei (Jessica Brown Findlay) falls from the high wires, Igor figures out how to save her when no one else can, attracting the attention of a medical student in the crowd, Victor Frankenstein (James McAvoy). Victor takes Igor into his employ and transforms him, getting rid of his hump and enlisting him on his mission to create life.
For fans of creature features, "Victor Frankenstein" provides many gruesome steampunk-inspired moments of monster bashing. The film also sneaks a lot of queer subtext into Victor and Igor's relationship, as the two seem to be more than just friends — just look at how jealous Victor appears to be of Lorelei. If you're looking for a fun reimagining of a classic Halloween tale, look no further.
One of M. Night Shyamalan's best films and a visual masterpiece, "The Village" is set in a quiet countryside village in rural Pennsylvania. By appearances, the residents of the town live in the colonial era and follow strict rules. They wear muted colors and bury the color red any time it appears for fear that it will attract a monster that lives in the woods. However, when a young boy dies at the beginning of the film, Lucius (Joaquin Phoenix) implores the elders to go on a mission outside the village, thinking he can find medicines that might prevent other children from dying.
The elders don't want anyone to leave, but Lucius' curiosity continues, attracting the attention of Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard). Right when Lucius and Ivy get engaged, a horrible accident threatens Lucius' life, leading Ivy to take on Lucius' mission herself, despite the fact that she's blind. The incredibly brave Ivy ventures out beyond the village and into the woods, facing the threat of the unknown and the monsters that lie beyond. "The Village" is a beautifully made film with delightfully spooky moments that will absolutely put you in the mood for fall and Halloween.
A classic and beloved Halloween film, "Edward Scissorhands" is a tragic supernatural romance that stars Johnny Depp as the title character, a robotic boy created by a kind and unconventional inventor (Vincent Price). Sadly, the inventor dies before he can finish his masterpiece, leaving Edward with scissors for hands and a naive understanding of the world. When Peg Boggs (Dianne Wiest), the local Avon lady, knocks on the door of the inventor's abandoned and creepy mansion, she discovers Edward and brings him home to the suburbs to live with her family.
As Peg introduces him to her friends, Edward's talent for haircuts become the talk of the town, although the local teens don't understand him. Edward does manage to connect with one of them, though — Kim (Winona Ryder), the Boggs' daughter. As Edward connects with the Boggs family and the local community, he and Kim grow closer, until one disastrous night strikes and Edward and Kim have to fight for their safety. If you're looking for a paranormal romance this Halloween, "Edward Scissorhands" is a great choice with its fantastical and gothic atmosphere.
Set in Australia, "Little Monsters" follows Dave (Alexander England), the washed-up lead singer of a metal band whose girlfriend has just dumped him. Immature and lacking direction, Dave moves in with his sister and nephew while he regroups. When taking his nephew to school, he sees his nephew's kindergarten teacher Miss Caroline (Lupita Nyong'o) and crushes hard, volunteering to chaperone a school trip to a nearby petting zoo. Unfortunately for the kids, the zoo is near a US military facility where testing has gone haywire, leading to a zombie uprising.
As a result, the trip soon goes off the rails and Dave, Miss Caroline, and the zoo's children's entertainer Teddy McGiggle (Josh Gad) have to band together to protect the kids until they're rescued. "Little Monsters" is shockingly sweet and funny despite the gore and violence, with a charming throughline that will keep you watching. If you're looking for funny flicks this Halloween, chances are you'll love "Little Monsters."
An animated reinvention of the classic television series, "The Addams Family" finds Morticia (Charlize Theron) and Gomez (Oscar Isaac) settling into an old sanitarium to raise their children, Wednesday (Chloe Grace Moretz) and Pugsley (Finn Wolfhard). The family is doing just great in their "altogether ooky" way until an HGTV-style reality television host, Margaux Needler (Allison Janney), moves into town, bringing tourists and visitors upon them. Worse yet, Margaux is developing the neighborhood to sell homes, putting an end to the Addams' solitude.
While Morticia and Gomez look on in concern, Wednesday befriends Marguax's daughter, and both girls begin to rebel against their parents. The film makes good use of its animated format and has an all-star voice cast. With a groovy soundtrack and lots of cute jokes, "The Addams Family" is a safe bet if you're looking for fun, family-friendly Halloween fare.
A sendup of classic '80s horror films, "The Final Girls" follows Max (Taissa Farmiga), daughter of Amanda Cartwright (Malin Akerman), the one-time star of the campy '80s slasher series Camp Bloodbath. A year after her mother dies in a tragic car crash, Max and her friends attend a "Camp Bloodbath" retrospective. During the movie, the theatre catches on fire, and Max saves her friends by cutting through the screen to take them to an exit. However, instead of escaping, they end up inside of the film.
Once inside, the girls have to adapt to the movie logic of "Camp Bloodbath" in order to survive, while Max comes face to face with the character her mother played. While Max fights for herself and her friends, she also tries to find a way to save her mother. If you love classic horror films, you'll love this smart take on genre, which boasts both a strong, beating heart at its center and an excellent ensemble cast.
Based on the novels by Dean Koontz, "Odd Thomas" follows the eponymous title character, Odd (Anton Yelchin), a kind, brave, and quiet man with psychic abilities. Aside from spending time with his girlfriend, Stormy (Addison Timlin), Odd mostly keeps to himself. However, when a group of supernatural beings attracted to death descends on those around him, Odd begins to fear that something bad is brewing in his small California town.
As the film progresses, Odd investigates the mystery along with the help of the local police chief (Willem Dafoe). As he collects clues, including a nightmare from his friend Viola (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), Odd determines that a mass murder is about to unfold. "Odd Thomas" is definitely chilling and haunting in the way it grounds its supernatural elements, but for those looking for a paranormal romance and a heroic performance this Halloween, "Odd Thomas" is a great choice.
"The Rocky Horror Picture Show" has been a Halloween camp classic for nearly as long as it has been around. The film follows a young couple, Brad (Barry Bostwick) and Janet (Susan Sarandon), who stumble on an old mansion on a rainy night. Inside, they meet Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry) and his unusual entourage of friends as he hosts a party.
Of course, not everything is as it appears -- Dr. Frank-N-Furter soon unveils his latest creation, Rocky Horror (Peter Hinwood), a perfect male specimen who offers both visual and sexual pleasure. Brad and Janet's innocence fades away as they're seduced by Dr. Frank-N-Furter, and campiness ensues. If you want a fun musical classic to watch this Halloween, look no further than "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."
A comedic sendup of television series like "Ghost Hunters" and films like "Paranormal Activity," "Ghost Team" follows a group of paranormal-obsessed friends who decide to form their own group to investigate ghosts and the world beyond. Jon Heder stars as Louis, who is eager to find evidence of the paranormal along with his best friend Stan (David Krumholtz), who is convinced that his wife was abducted by aliens.
The two are joined by a tech whiz (Paul W. Downs), security guard (Justin Long), cable television medium (Amy Sedaris), and researcher (Melonie Diaz), each one of whom has something to prove to themselves and each other. Of course, as they investigate, they get more than they bargained for, as the threat turns out to be very real. For those looking for a paranormal comedy with solid friendships this Halloween, "Ghost Team" is exactly what you need.
"Suburban Gothic" follows Raymond (Matthew Gray Gubler), an educated but aimless young man who comes back home to live with his parents after completing graduate school. When he moves back in, he discovers that his childhood home is haunted, and that his long-dormant psychic powers have been reawakened by a seemingly malevolent spirit in the house.
As Raymond works to discover why the house is haunted and how to stop it, he has to combat his controlling father, Donald (Ray Wise), who believes that he's crazy. Meanwhile, Raymond enlists the help of a fearless local bartender, Becca (Kat Dennings), to vanquish the spirit and help prevent his father from committing him. Suburban Gothic has some genuinely creepy moments while maintaining levity and jokes throughout. If you're looking for a lighthearted, but adult, paranormal family comedy with a romance subplot, "Suburban Gothic" is for you.
Those looking for extraterrestrial fare this Halloween should watch "Attack the Block." A young John Boyega stars in his breakout role as Moses, the leader of a teenage gang that finds itself forced to defend its neighborhood block from a sudden and unexpected alien invasion.
At the beginning of the film, Moses and his friends mug Sam, a young female nurse, but are interrupted by something crashing down from the sky. As Sam runs away, Moses kills the alien, but fate keeps bringing Moses and Sam back together until they decide to team up to survive, save each other, and protect their block. Fans of Edgar Wright will love the action and comedy at play in "Attack the Block." If you're looking for an action-packed movie with genuine scares, violence, and a unique take on alien invasions, look no further than the out of this world "Attack the Block."
A black comedy with an edge, Heathers is a great fit for the teen movie slot in your Halloween marathon. This classic '80s flick follows Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder), a disaffected teenage girl who attends a highly polarized high school where cliques rule the day. Veronica has infiltrated the Heathers, an elite group of girls who each share the same name. Veronica is the black sheep of the gang, unmoved by the Heathers' cruel behavior and vanity.
When Veronica meets a new student at school, J.D. (Christian Slater), the two start dating, and he encourages Veronica to externalize her inner qualms about her friends. The two start playing pranks on the Heathers, but things turn murderous and Veronica must decide what kind of person she wants to be. If you're looking for a dark comedy with an edge this Halloween, "Heathers" will fit the bill.
The newest film on the list, "Shirley" is a loose biopic about Shirley Jackson (Elizabeth Moss), the writer of one of the most famous short stories of all time, "The Lottery," and the novel "The Haunting of Hill House." The film follows Jackson soon after the publication of "The Lottery" as she tries to write her next novel, "Hangsaman."
At the beginning of the film, a young married couple move in with Shirley and her husband, Stanley (Michael Stuhlbarg). While the wife, Rose (Odessa Young), works for the household, the husband, Fred (Logan Lerman), works with Stanley at the university. With the two women at home together most of the time, they develop a friendship and romantic tension that inspires Shirley's novel. While the film itself is mostly a story about the two women and their relationships, "Shirley" is an excellent choice for an atmospheric Halloween movie, especially because of the figure at its center.
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The hitman might be one of the most purely cinematic professions -- the silent, emotionless hired gun without any affiliation or loyalty. They've taken on an almost mythic status that feels completely at odds to the reality. Some are portrayed as sociopaths, some as slick, cool secret agent types. As it is, the numerous cinematic portrayals on film often makes them the most intriguing part of their films.
There are so many depictions of assassins, hitmen, and mercenaries in cinema that it's impossible to do a comprehensive list. So, to narrow it down we're limiting, ourselves to those who take out their targets within the timeframe of the film. Emotional detachment is also key, so there are a couple of notable omissions: John Wick is awesome, but he is mainly concerned with revenge, and we don't actually see him performing professional hits during his films.
Some of the assassins detailed here are the film's protagonist, while others are the antagonist. Hero or villain, all of the entries on this list are unforgettable in their own way.
There have been all manner of child assassins on film, from Natalie Portman's Mathilda in "Leon" to Saoirse Ronan's "Hanna." Very few are quite as comfortable with murder as Chloe Grace Moretz's Hit Girl, who appears in Matthew Vaughn's dark comic adaptation "Kick-Ass." Superficially more of a superhero parody, Hit Girl and her father Big Daddy (played with characteristic zeal by Nicolas Cage) have much more in common with hitmen, as they systematically wipe out all of the local gangsters one at a time in scenes of shocking violence until they are inevitably caught by Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong).
In a storyline that plays out like a warped version of "Lone Wolf and Cub," Hit Girl is shown to be incredibly traumatized by her training with her father, despite their superficially idyllic life. Vaughn doesn't shy away from showing their relationship as being incredibly damaging, (he gives her a butterfly knife as a birthday present!) and the scars this leaves on Hit Girl later in the film. Nonetheless, she's a mature, intelligent character who uses her youth as a weapon to lure enemies into a false sense of security.
Ultimately, despite the film's title, much of the story in "Kick-Ass" wouldn't happen without Hit Girl -- Kick-Ass himself is pretty passive, acting as a bystander during much of the action, while Hit Girl drives the story forward. She also gets some sublime action sequences, including a virtuoso scene where she takes out a hallway of gangsters single-handed, accompanied by Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation."
Prior to "Atomic Blonde," Charlize Theron had given numerous performances as mercenaries, including in "Aeon Flux" and "Two Days in the Valley." However, it's her turn as the icy Lorraine that cemented her as one of cinema's best contract killers.
As the MI6 assassin sent in to East Germany to pull out a contact, Theron gives a performance that's both subdued and incredibly physical -- the frenetic 10-minute single-take fight scene as Lorraine works her way down the stairs of an apartment block is expertly choreographed, and is the perfect showcase for her character's abilities. It's a visceral, bone-crunching sequence that recalls the fight scenes of "The Raid," and establishes Lorraine as a force to be reckoned with, fighting tooth and nail with various German hoods and using anything she can get her hands on as a weapon.
"Atomic Blonde" itself may be a bit hit and miss, and often feels like a retread of Steven Soderbergh's "Haywire," but Theron's performance is electrifying throughout. Unlike a lot of the entries on this list, Lorraine is not invulnerable, and is shown to fail a number of times on her mission. She's also clearly not entirely emotionally detached -- it's evident that she feels remorse for every ally that gets killed, in a refreshing change from the typical callous depiction of assassins.
In Jim Jarmusch's offbeat "Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai", Forest Whitaker's hitman is an oddity in more than one respect. Only communicating with his handler via carrier pigeon, and working for a mob that consists entirely of old, white men, this outcast figure feels even more isolated than usual. As with most film hitmen, he's a loner, with his only friends being a little girl from his apartment block (Camille Winbush) and a French ice cream man (Isaach De Bankole) who speaks no English. But while Ghost Dog speaks no French, they somehow understand each other anyway. It's a nice touch.
One of Jarmusch's most accessible films, "Ghost Dog" might sometimes veer into broad comedy -- the mafioso are comically out of touch, for instance, spending most of their time watching cartoons. But Whitaker's softly spoken hitman is incredibly humane. He's an enigmatic character, respecting codes of honor and loyalty that the gangsters themselves have completely abandoned. Constantly reciting samurai quotes from Yamamoto Tsunemoto's "Hagakure" and "Rashomon" over the course of the film, he feels like an old Western hero, out of place in a time where the rules have changed.
Spoilers for "The Sting" ahead.
George Roy Hill's "The Sting" often doesn't get credit for just how nasty it can be. In a film where there are multiple cons running alongside each other, the deepest cut is the way Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford) is thoroughly taken in, but not for money.
After ripping off the courier of a notorious gangster, Doyle Lonergan (Robert Shaw), Hooker is already on the run from two henchmen, Riley and Cole. However, when Lonergan gets frustrated with his men's failure to kill Hooker, he hires mysterious contract killer Salino to take him out. When the overzealous Cole still insists on tracking down Hooker, he is killed by Salino in an empty alley. Unlike many of the entries on the list, Salino feels like a genuine assassin, operating entirely in the shadows, and only killing when there are no witnesses.
In what seems like a separate subplot, Hooker begins a relationship with Loretta (Dimitra Arliss) the demure, no-nonsense waitress at his local café. In the film's most shocking moment, Loretta is shot in the head by a sinister looking gangster -- but it's only after she's dead that it's revealed that Loretta was Salino the whole time, and was seconds away from shooting Hooker herself. It's a chilling scene, and one that makes her actions earlier in the movie take on a whole new meaning. Her death is a dour, low-key moment in an otherwise fun, breezy film that really ups the stakes for the final showdown with Lonergan.
You don't get many hitmen in Westerns. Sure, you get bounty hunters like Klaus Kinski's malevolent Loco in "The Great Silence," and hired guns, such as the sadistic Wilson from "Shane," but hitmen are much rarer. The one exception is Marlon Brando as the eccentric "regulator" Robert Lee Clayton in Arthur Penn's underrated revisionist western, "The Missouri Breaks." Hired to kill the local rustlers, he quickly identifies the quiet Tom Logan (an understated Jack Nicholson) as the ringleader. As the two size each other up, Clayton toys with Logan's gang (employing a variety of disguises, including a preacher and an old lady) before picking them off one by one.
Brando's performance was initially dismissed as too outlandish and self-indulgent, but he's a terrifying character, outwardly comic with a sadistic streak. The deaths, when they come, are sudden and nasty -- whether he's jovially drowning his victims or impaling them through the eye.
While Logan is an outlaw, he's more moral than Clayton, who plays on ideas of honor to beat him. In a key exchange between the two, Logan mocks Clayton for shooting his victims from a mile away without ever having to look them in the eye, words that come back to haunt him in their final face off -- simultaneously one of the most anticlimactic and satisfying moments of the Western genre.
Luc Besson's youthful, punky style would grow more refined as he matured as a director, but there's a vitality to his early films that is pure cinema. This is clearly evidenced in "Nikita," a frenetic and audacious assault on the senses. Anne Parillaud is great as the juvenile delinquent drug addict Nikita, who is arrested when her whole gang is wiped out in a shootout with the police. With her file erased, she is trained up as an elite assassin by a mysterious organization. Parillaud makes her character both vulnerable and brutally efficient, and manages to show her character's strength despite being thoroughly dominated by her handler (Tcheky Karyo).
When Nikita falls in love with artist Jean Hughues Anglade, her professional life is compromised. That's when she takes matters into her own hands, demonstrating an agency of her own. In a warped way, she finds purpose and a drive through her work as an assassin, and the strength to walk away from it all.
A precursor to "The Bourne Identity," "The Long Kiss Goodnight," and "Hanna," as well as a partial remake in the form of Besson's own "Anna," the influence of "Nikita" can't be overstated, and it's a wonder Parillaud wasn't instantly propelled to stardom on the basis of her performance.
Despite being perfectly suited to it, there are surprisingly few hitmen in classic film noir. There are the titular Killers from Robert Siodmak's masterpiece, and Timothy Carey's rat faced horse killer in "The Killing," but by and large they are faceless goons you barely see. The exception to this is Irving Lerner's "Murder By Contract," a wonderfully sparse slice of pulp film noir. A big influence on Martin Scorsese (he paid homage to it in "Taxi Driver"), it's a masterclass in economic storytelling.
Claude (Vince Edwards) is an aspiring hitman, who quickly works his way up the rungs of his organization until he's the most sought after assassin in the underworld. Edwards gives a very self-consciously cool performance, and is convincing as a cipher who seems willing to take on any job. That is, until he's designated two assistants who accompany him to his latest target -- a female pianist -- which is when he begins to lose his taste for killing.
Irving Lerner's direction of the film -- which was made on a shoestring budget -- is minimalist but effective; he shows enormous restraint in his depiction of the murders, the overwhelming majority of which take place offscreen. It nonetheless sends a chill down the spine as Claude advances on one of his targets sitting blissfully unaware on the barber's chair. It's also blackly comic, with his two assistants acting as a kind of Greek chorus to Claude's numerous assassination attempts.
It would have been great if we had seen the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad actually taking out contracts on people over the course of the two "Kill Bill" films. As it is, we only really see the Bride (Uma Thurman) acting out personal business, rather than in her professional capacity, while her former colleagues are mainly shown enjoying the fruits of their labor. O-Ren Ishii runs her own army; Vernita Green finds domestic bliss; Budd circles the drain of life.
It's the proficiency of the Bride as an assassin that gains her a place on this list. Working her way up to the man who destroyed her future, she systematically takes out the other members of the assassination squad one by one. She's merciless, determined (punching her way out of a coffin in one insanely claustrophobic scene), and as demonstrated through the various methods she employs to take out her targets, accomplished in pretty much every method of killing. It's telling that the Bride kills more people over the course of the two films than all of the villains put together. The fight scene at the House of Blue Leaves accounts for most of the body count, as she decimates O-ren's personal army, the Crazy 88.
Interestingly, we are given very little of the Bride's backstory. We get flashbacks to her harsh training regime, but prior to becoming an assassin, she effectively has no past. Despite this, we are entirely on her side throughout, largely due to Thurman's incredible performance, which is full of pathos, righteous fury, and warmth, revealing the human being beneath the master assassin.
It's a rare feat to make a compelling film where the hitman is the main character while steadfastly refusing to make him sympathetic at all. But director Fred Zinnemann just about pulls it off. In "The Day Of The Jackal," Edward Fox's assassin, codenamed Jackal, is the most unapologetically cold, clinical assassin on this list, and yet there's a dignity and professional detachment to him that makes the audience root for him more than the dogged detectives on his trail.
Hired by a shady organization to assassinate France's president Charles De Gaulle, the Jackal efficiently makes his way to Paris, with a custom made sniper rifle, easily evading the authorities who are searching high and low for him, and managing to stay one step ahead throughout the film. What makes him so eerie is the way he so easily slips into the personas he adopts depending on who he's talking to. He doesn't kill indiscriminately, but also doesn't hesitate when he's backed into a corner, immediately switching from charming, polite English gentleman to ruthless assassin. And the great thing about Fox's performance is that you can see the instant he changes gear. It's a subtle, but clear change in demeanor, and makes him a truly chilling character.
Shane Black's forerunner to "The Bourne Identity" is one of those films that keeps surprising you every time that you watch it. The dialogue in "The Long Kiss Goodnight" is full of witty one-liners, delivered brilliantly by the likes of Samuel L Jackson and Brian Cox, but the whole thing is held together by Geena Davis' performance in the dual roles as both tweedy schoolteacher Samantha Caine and her murderous alter ego, Charly Baltimore.
The plot itself may seem rote now -- unassuming teacher with a mysterious past receives a bump on the head that instigates disturbing flashbacks to her time as a stone-cold government assassin -- but the film still delivers where it matters. Davis' performance is convincing, and she's incredibly at ease whether she's playing a supportive wife or snapping a baddie's neck. She has some supremely cool moments, too. The scene in which she is tied to the waterwheel sticks in the memory, as do her interactions with her daughter as memories from her past begin to seep in.
Charly's relationship with Jackson's down-and-out private eye Hennessy serves as the beating heart of the film, as their dynamic changes along with her personality, going from a cocky, wisecracking partner to a useless sidekick who needs rescuing more often than not. Hennessy sums up the film best when he says, "When we first met, you were all like 'Oh phooey, I burned the darn muffins.' Now, you go into a bar, ten minutes later, sailors come runnin' out!"
One of these days, Andrew Dominik's 2012 film "Killing Them Softly" is going to be recognized for the masterpiece it is. An incendiary anti-capitalist gangster thriller, based on the novel "Cogan's Trade" by George V. Higgins, Brad Pitt plays Jackie Cogan, the laconic hitman brought in to dole out retribution on the three men who knocked off a high stakes poker game. Cogan is a great character, utterly despairing of the mobs ineffective handling of the incident. He takes pains to kill his targets with as little emotion as possible, without any time for the victim to feel scared or be aware of what's going on. This doesn't make him sympathetic so much as efficient, abruptly killing one victim off mid-sentence. He predicts the necessity of killing one character early on even when the higher ups balk at the suggestion. He even takes on one of his targets as a potential apprentice before unceremoniously killing him with no warning. It might appear to be a cynical outlook, but it's one that is ultimately more merciful and authentic than many depictions.
A pretty accurate representation of the tone of Higgins' work, the hitman's life has never been quite so depressing -- demonstrated best by James Gandolfini's decadent hitman gone to seed, and the movie's business-like approach to killing. It might be Pitt's best film performance, and remains criminally underseen.
It's strange that the main villain of the first "Kill Bill" is given more backstory than the protagonist. In any other film, Lucy Liu's O-Ren Ishii could well be the main character; she is given an incredibly detailed history. The daughter of an American soldier who grew up on a military base in Japan, O-Ren witnessed her parents' murder at the hands of the local yakuza boss. After enacting her own revenge on the yakuza, O-Ren becomes one of the world's youngest assassins, and her meteoric rise is told through beautifully animated segments that flesh her out better than any other character in "Kill Bill." Indeed, there's an argument to be made that "Kill Bill: Volume 1" is more O-Ren's story than the Bride's. In any case, she's a demonstrably more successful assassin, as we actually see her in action, as opposed to the Bride, who we only really see enacting her revenge.
Liu plays the character just right, making her equal parts ruthless and pragmatic, smiling one minute and beheading underlings the next. It's clear that, despite their past enmity, she holds The Bride in high regard, but her ego prevents her from outright apologizing for attempting to kill her four years prior. Their duel is one of the highlights of both "Kill Bill" films (If only the final showdown with Bill was as impressive!) as they face off in a snow-covered Japanese garden in a loving homage to Lady Snowblood, one of the most iconic female assassins of cinema history. The reason why "Kill Bill: Vol 2" feels so anticlimactic is largely due to O-Ren's excellent characterization and the perfect showdown between her and the Bride -- there was no beating this.
The Coen brothers have a fair few hitmen in their filmography, but none compare with Anton Chigurgh from "No Country For Old Men." Methodical, determined, and utterly insane, Chigurgh is the most terrifying hitman on this list, even with that haircut. Hired to find and kill Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) and retrieve the stolen money he's found, Chigurgh pursues his mission with a grim determination, eliminating anyone who causes him any inconvenience with a casual indifference; he doesn't even look at the people he kills. Every interaction he has with any other character feels like it could end with him murdering them -- and a large portion do.
Ironically, the qualities that make him the perfect killer also make him uniquely unsuited for the job. He's an efficient killer, but when he catches the scent of other hitmen after the money, he ruthlessly takes them out before heading straight back to his employer and eliminating them too. His relentlessness gives him an almost supernatural quality, and his unique array of weapons (including a silenced shotgun and a bolt pistol), make him a nightmarish presence, and one that will not stop until he gets what he's after. It's one of the most disquieting portrayals of a true psychopath ever committed to film, and Javier Bardem deservedly won an Oscar for his performance.
"The Assassin," is a cinematic riddle that might take a few viewings to piece together. But once you've worked it out, director Hou Hsiao Hsien's hypnotic Wu Xia film is incredibly rewarding. Shu Qi plays Nie Yinniang, an assassin who kills corrupt government officials at the behest of her masters, but is conflicted when she is sent to kill the governor of a local district -- who also happens to be her former lover. Qi's performance is both quietly determined and melancholy while remaining incredibly physical. As her trainer says at the film's opening: "Your skill is matchless, but your mind is hostage to human sentiments."
Yinniang has the ability to kill whoever she wants, but chooses to show restraint, which is what kicks the film off. This also sets her apart from so many other cinematic assassins, who routinely wipe out rooms full of people -- the moments where Yinniang silently descends from the rafters, hides in plain sight, or merely deflects sword attacks are far more powerful than if she killed everyone onscreen. That's not to say the martial arts scenes themselves aren't impressive; they are elegant but understated, and the absence of wire work that makes the fight scenes feel more grounded and real.
The consummate John Woo hero, Chow Yun Fat has played both sides of the law in their many collaborations. But his most humane performance is, slightly improbably, as the titular character in "The Killer." A slick assassin, Ah Jong has a rude awakening when he accidentally blinds an innocent bystander during a job, but then devotes himself to paying for her eye transplant surgery without ever revealing his identity.
Unlike many assassins on this list, Ah Jong does have a conscience, as he makes a conscious effort to retire, despite the efforts of his employers. However, most of his characterization comes through Chow's typically charming performance, and the uneasy alliance he forms with detective Li Ying (Danny Lee) that eventually develops into a deep friendship -- this is a John Woo film after all. Maybe the single most influential Hong Kong actioner of all time, "The Killer" has all of Woo's trademarks, and one of his finest set-pieces in the climactic shootout in the church.
A cult film very popular among cinephiles, "The Hit" is part gangster movie, part road movie. It's a coolly elegiac meditation on mortality, and an antecedent to British Gangster films like "Sexy Beast," albeit low key and lyrical. Terence Stamp is the ostensible lead as Willie Parker, a snitch who's being escorted to Paris by lethal hitman Braddock (John Hurt) and his young driver Myron (Tim Roth in his feature film debut) after spending 10 years in hiding in Spain. But the two hitmen become increasingly disarmed by Parker's calm approach to his impending death.
Hurt is incredible as the cold hearted Braddock; immaculately dressed in a white suit and sunglasses, he's a coiled spring, capable of sudden bursts of violence, and serves as a counterpoint to Willie's outwardly relaxed character, right down to their final moments. Despite this, there are indicators that Braddock has a more sentimental side, sparing a witness (Laura Del Sol) he knows he should kill, seemingly because he admires her, instead deciding to bring her along with them. As the law closes in on them, he and Willie both approach death in markedly different ways, and despite Parker's musings on mortality, it's Braddock who ends up with the more philosophical, enigmatic ending.
There have been several comedies about assassins ("In Bruges," "The Hitman's Bodyguard," and "The Whole Nine Yards" spring to mind) but none have really endured as much as George Armitage's black comedy, "Grosse Pointe Blank." John Cusack is the yuppyish hitman Martin Blank, whose latest job happens to coincide with his hometown's high school reunion. Despite being a genuinely funny comedy (with potentially the coolest movie soundtrack of all time), "Grosse Pointe Blank" doesn't shy away from the darker elements of Blank's personality. The contrast between light comedy and sudden violence is best demonstrated in the film's most famous scene, in which the goofy fun of the high school dance gives way to an incredibly visceral, brutal fight scene, ending with Blank stabbing his assailant in the neck with a pen.
Cusack is brilliant and incredibly plausible as a professional killer, giving a deadpan, neurotic performance. There's something just a little bit off about him -- he's a little too intense, and palpably uncomfortable getting through normal social interactions, let alone the horror of bumping into old acquaintances. But he seems entirely at home whacking a rival with a saucepan, or stabbing the president of Paraguay with a fork.
There's a misconception about hitmen -- that they are necessarily evil, or sociopathic. The fact is that they are rarely a conflict's antagonist; indeed the very best hitmen are the ones without any allegiance one way or the other. Joubert from "The Three Days Of The Condor" is the perfect embodiment of emotional detachment, and is probably the most diplomatic hitman of all time. Take, for example, this line he delivers to a shocked onlooker while staging one of his hits as a suicide:
"I don't interest myself in why, more in when, sometimes where, always how much."
It's difficult to dislike Max Von Sydow's assassin when he's waxing lyrical like this, and in a film populated with corrupt politicians, bureaucrats, and FBI agents, he emerges as an almost noble figure by the end of Sydney Pollack's conspiracy thriller. A zen-like hitman, found occupying himself painting miniature models, Sydow makes an unlikely assassin in his tweed hat and trench coat, looking more like a fisherman than a contract killer, but he cuts an imposing figure as he towers over Robert Redford's hero.
The mysterious, unflappable character appears intermittently throughout the film, often with a wry smile on his face as he coordinates the assassination of Redford's coworkers. The few scenes between him and Redford are filled with an understated dread, often without a weapon or a threatening word spoken. Joubert has no emotional investment, and he can't have his judgement clouded by emotion or personal animosity. Every action is deliberate and cautious, making him the perfect hitman, and more dangerous than the undesirable psychopaths that usually fill these roles.
A mixture of "Lone Wolf And Cub," "Lolita," and Jon Cassavetes' "Gloria," Luc Besson's masterpiece is for many the definitive hitman movie. "Leon" has everything you want from a film about a hired killer: a truly detestable villain, a child apprentice, and some incredible shootouts. Constantly clad in a huge overcoat and circular sunglasses, with only a plant for company, Leon (Jean Reno) is an efficient, unflappable "cleaner," whose routine is upended when the family next door is murdered, and he reluctantly takes the orphaned Mathilda (Natalie Portman) under his wing.
The relationship between the two (thankfully toned down from the overtly sexual relationship in Besson's original draft) is a poignant one, with Mathilda's world weariness making a nice counterpoint for Reno's strangely childlike character. Outside of killing, he's guileless and awkward, and struggles to keep the increasingly bored Mathilda entertained. Besson subverts the audience's expectations, making the police detective Stansfield (Gary Oldman in his best performance) a drugged up, ruthless murderer, and the hitman himself a relatively innocent figure who spends his down time between jobs watching old movies at the local cinema. Giving a more fleshed out, nuanced rendition of the assassin he played in "Nikita," Reno's iconic portrayal of Leon remains most cinemagoers' go-to reference point for cinematic hitmen, and rightly so.
"Le Samourai," Jean Pierre Melville's most iconic film, is an existential crime thriller which is simultaneously incredibly influential (its fingerprints can be felt across most films mentioned in this list, and pretty much any film with a lone figure at its center), but also a film with one foot firmly in the classic era of film noir.
Jef Costello (Alain Delon) is a taciturn, meticulous character who lives a sparse, minimalist existence, with only a caged bird for company, which he uses as a security system. Wearing a trench coat, fedora, and immaculate white gloves, he's an entirely cinematic creation -- the rituals he goes through for each hit (establishing an alibi, stealing a getaway car, donning his white gloves) don't make a great deal of sense in the real world. But within the dream logic of Melville's film, it works. Delon makes a particularly romantic kind of hitman, with emotive blue eyes and a melancholy quality about him, even when beating up gangsters. "Le Samourai" is a film that celebrates the mythos of the hitman rather than the grim reality. It's pure cinema, and Delon's coolest, most enigmatic performance.
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With Disney as Galactus (and Kevin Feige as its distinctly non-silver herald), devouring all forms of media in its path, it might be hard to remember a time before the behemoth that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After all, the vastly ambitious scope and size of the MCU changed superhero cinema. Suddenly, it wasn't good enough for comic movies to be independent entities; shared universes and crossovers became the norm.
And sure, while the last ever superhero movie will probably be a Marvel property, showing on screens as the encroaching sun boils the oceans into vapor (it'll still have two post-credit sequences), superheroes thrived well before the MCU. Marvel had seen some box office success with their characters (notably the X-Men, Spider-Man and Blade), as had DC with several Superman and Batman movies, before the MCU arrived. Heck, the first superhero movie -- a tale about a mysterious vigilante called "Judex" -- and debuted all the way back in 1916. It's available to watch on YouTube and, despite being ancient, has still aged better than 1997's Shaquille O'Neal vehicle, "Steel."
For the purposes of this article, we're classing the first MCU movie as "Iron Man," which debuted in 2008. There were some brilliant superhero films from both Marvel and DC as well as independent comics companies before then. We'll be going through the very memorable and best. Readers assemble!
John Philip Law (straight from "Barbarella," another film that could have easily made it onto this list) plays Diabolik, a suave and sophisticated master thief. More supervillain than good guy, this anti-James Bond is torn straight from the pages of the 1962 comics created by the Giussani sisters.
Mario Bava, one of the masters of Italian horror, directed and co-wrote this lively comic book adaptation. It has all of the trademarks of a '60s espionage thriller -- fast cars, exotic European locations, elaborate gadgetry, and drop-dead gorgeous women -- and ties in perfectly with '60s counterculture. Diabolik's lust for wealth always comes at the expense of the authorities, who are constantly one step behind their elusive prey.
"Danger: Diabolik" went on to inspire comic book characters like Grant Morrison's X-Man Fantomex and Mark Millar's twisted take on Batman, Nemesis, and is a textbook superhero movie. Unlike the emeralds that Diabolik craves, however, it's not without flaws. The plot is a little chaotic and unstructured, and Terry-Thomas appears to be playing, well, Terry-Thomas, but it's easy to forgive the low points and get carried away by the outstanding Ennio Morricone soundtrack and the beautiful imagery. Bava was an incredible talent, and it's visible in every moment of this camp classic -- any single shot could be framed and displayed alongside its comic panel counterpart.
Richard Donner's "Superman" is a stone-cold classic, and, despite a cop-out resolution in which it turns out that Kryptonians can reverse the flow of time, is one of the earliest examples of a superhero done justice (and truth, and the American way). It's always worth remembering just how good Christopher Reeve was in the role; the differences in body language between stoic, calm Superman, and bumbling, awkward Clark Kent are a masterclass in how it should be done, with Reeve convincingly playing both roles. Subsequent Superman actors would prove themselves adept at one or the other, but none are as good as Reeve at doing both.
But while "Superman" did exactly what it said on the posters -- it made you believe a man could fly -- "Superman 2" gave that flying man something to do. At times, the comics struggle to give Kal-El a foe worthy of his god-like powers. Magic frequently comes into play, and Kryptonite is way more common than the fragments of an exploded planet should be. The first movie has this problem, too: Lex Luthor is a semi-comedic character, rarely a match for the Last Son of Krypton.
"Superman 2" fixes that by pitting Superman against three imprisoned refugees from his doomed planet: General Zod, Ursa, and the mute Non (channeling James Bond's Jaws). The result is what you want from a superhero movie -- superpowered beings beating the ever-living crap out of each other -- and remains infinitely more fun and entertaining than 2013's "Man of Steel," which brought Zod back to the silver screen.
It's easy to forget the uproar when Michael Keaton was cast as the Caped Crusader. Despite proving himself more than capable of acting against type in Tim Burton's "Beetlejuice," fans were outraged. Frank Miller's ground-breaking "The Dark Knight Returns" and Denny O'Neil's run on the comics had made Batman grim and gritty again, and fans were convinced that Tim Burton's Batman would embrace the camp and humor of the Adam West TV series.
They needn't have worried. Keaton turned out to be perfectly at home as both Bruce Wayne and Batman, and, although it's not without moments of levity, Burton's "Batman" was a dark, gothic masterpiece. Despite being as packed as Batman's utility belt with Burton's trademark flourishes, it still retained the essence of the character we'd grown up with (Burton's aborted take on Superman wasn't going to be nearly as faithful, but that's another story). A perfectly cast Jack Nicholson is sublime as the Joker, with no piece of art nouveau scenery left unchewed.
Sequels would return to the series' campier elements with less success (and more neon, thanks to Joel Schumacher) but the original "Batman" still stands up today as an amazing take on the familiar character. Without its success, many of the films on this list simply wouldn't exist.
Years before Liam Neeson reinvented himself as an action hero with a particular set of skills, he appeared in the superhero horror flick "Darkman." Co-written and directed by a pre-"Spider-Man" Sam Raimi, the movie sees Neeson playing Peyton Westlake, a scientist working to create a synthetic skin when he is brutally attacked, disfigured, and left for dead. Saved by a procedure that renders him unable to feel pain and makes him prone to violent outbursts, he seeks revenge. Using his invention as a disguise -- which, unfortunately, only remains stable for 99 minutes -- Westlake hunts down the people who tried to kill him.
"Darkman," created by Raimi as an homage to the Universal monster movies of the '30s, is part "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," part "The Invisible Man," and part "The Phantom of the Opera." Raimi's distinctive directorial style is clearly influenced by comics, making it clear why he fits so well with the superhero genre, and will (hopefully) continue to do so with his work on the Doctor Strange sequel.
Even though "Darkman" is pure comic book entertainment, the "Evil Dead" director still retains his penchant for gore and violence. "Darkman" is one of the earliest R-rated superhero movies, alongside "RoboCop" and the first "Punisher." Just when the press was filled with a plethora of articles stating that comic books weren't just for kids, "Darkman" proved that comic book movies weren't necessarily, either.
Based on the Dave Stevens' 1982 comic book series, "The Rocketeer" is a loving homage to the Saturday morning matinee heroes from the '40s, with clear and obvious inspiration taken from the "King of the Rocket Men" serial from 1949. In the movie, Cliff Secord, stunt pilot, finds a hidden jetpack and becomes the Rocketeer, hero of the skies. However, Nazis are also after the rocket technology, and Cliff quickly locks horns with actor and Nazi double-agent Neville Sinclair.
Nazis always make for the best villains -- let's face it, the two best Indiana Jones movies feature them -- and "The Rocketeer" is no exception to this solid cinematic rule. Timothy Dalton plays the Errol Flynn-inspired Sinclair, a literal moustache-twirling bad guy, with a maniacal glee we wouldn't see from the actor until Edgar Wright's "Hot Fuzz" debuted 16 years later.
"The Rocketeer" is good fun, a throwback to a simpler, less sophisticated kind of movie where the heroes are square-jawed hunks, the women are bombshells, and the villains are caricatures, all goose-stepping snarl and pithy one-liners. The authentic period setting means that "The Rocketeer" doesn't feel dated. It disappointed at the box office, but is much more fondly remembered now. It's just nice to see a film so utterly unashamed of its origins.
Sadly overshadowed by the death of its lead (Brandon Lee, just as his star was in the ascendance), "The Crow" is a supernatural revenge film based on James O'Barr's 1989 comic series of the same name. The concept of revenants (characters who return from the dead for revenge) isn't a new one in any media -- the mediocre "Spawn" treads similar ground -- but "The Crow" executes it with such a distinctive visual style that the movie can't help but stand out from the undead crowd.
And yet, to rewatch "The Crow" is to be reminded of how awful a tragedy Lee's accidental death on set was. 28-year-old Brandon is an enigmatic screen presence as both pre- and post-resurrection Eric Draven, and he was clearly destined for far greater things. His loss gifts "The Crow" with a certain kind of poignancy.
Special mention must also go to the incredible soundtrack, which does as much as any of the visuals in creating a distinctive sense of time and place. The genres of alternative and industrial rock were becoming increasingly popular on both sides of the pond when "The Crow" was released, and the film milks this to full effect. Style over substance? Perhaps, but acceptable when it manages to be this stylish.
When people are surprised at the success of movies based on little-known Marvel properties like "Guardians of the Galaxy," they shouldn't be. By now, that's practically a Marvel tradition.
Blade's first comic appearance was in 1973 in Marvel's "The Tomb of Dracula," where he was an afro-wearing vampire hunter who spoke in the same cliched jive-talking dialogue as many of Marvel's other Black characters at the time. He occasionally appeared in other characters' titles, but never enjoyed the same level of fame as the A-team of Spider-Man, the Hulk, and so on. The movie, however, was a phenomenon. The fact that few members of the audience had heard of the character before made no difference. "Blade" was an R-rated horror-superhero hybrid that received mixed reviews but made a fortune for New Line Cinema, garnering enough momentum for two sequels.
Wesley Snipes is perfectly cast as the titular Daywalker, cursed with the need to feed on blood but possessing none of the other weaknesses of his vampire brethren. Snipes brought an effortless cool to the character, spitting out curt one-liners like Van Helsing channeling James Bond. "Blade" anticipated the cooler elements of "The Matrix" -- trench coats and a contemporary dance soundtrack -- by a year, and for a brief period in the late '90s, made comic books sexy. It'll be good to see Blade properly join the MCU, with plans currently underway to resurrect the half-vampire.
Captain Amazing is the superhero guardian of Champion City, and is doing such a great job that it renders all other superheroes redundant. However, when the Captain is captured by his arch nemesis, Casanova Frankenstein (a rarely better Geoffrey Rush), an unlikely squad of heroes must assemble to save him: the Mystery Men.
Although primarily a comedy populated by outlandish characters -- this collection of weirdos and misfits is led by Ben Stiller's Mr. Furious, a man whose superpower is getting really, really angry -- there's a genuine heart to "Mystery Men." There are no real surprises -- the plot is basically "Dodgeball" with fewer balls -- but it's fun and completely lacking any pretense. "Mystery Men" was way ahead of its time in its mockery of superhero culture, too -- the visual gag of Captain Amazing's superhero costume being plastered with sponsors' stickers says everything you need to know about both his character and the tone of the movie.
After all, it's hard to be pompous when your superhero movie features a character whose superpower is super-flatulence. It could've been even weirder, though: The comic the Mystery Men came from also features the Flaming Carrot, a superhero who looks exactly like a sentient root vegetable.
Still riding high on the phenomenal success of "The Sixth Sense" and before he'd painted himself in the corner with an over-reliance on twist endings, M. Night Shyamalan released "Unbreakable." Promoted, despite Shyamalan's requests, as a psychological thriller and not as a superhero movie, comic book fans would be forgiven for missing this one.
Bruce Willis plays David Dunn, the sole survivor of a train crash. As if his alliterative name wasn't indicative enough, David learns that he is -- and potentially always has been -- impervious to physical harm. His path crosses with Mr. Glass, a man cursed with brittle bone syndrome, making him an individual as vulnerable as David is invulnerable. Bringing superheroes into the "real world" had been done before, but rarely with such class and expertise. The inevitable M. Night Shyamalan twist is very well done, more understated than that in "The Sixth Sense," yet considerably deeper. It's interesting on rewatch to spot the subtle use of superhero tropes, not least of which is David's unofficial superhero costume: a raincoat with a distinctive silhouette.
Through a genuinely surprising post-credit scene in the James McAvoy vehicle "Split," "Unbreakable" ended up being the first of a trilogy. The series eventually concluded with the movie "Glass," released nearly two decades after the first (and still superior) installment.
Whereas our light-hearted, primary-colored cartoon superhero needs are now satiated by "Teen Titans Go," at the turn of the millennium we had "The Powerpuff Girls."
"The Powerpuff Girls Movie" is the origin story of the three courageous kindergarteners only hinted at in the opening titles of the TV series. Professor Utonium, using the tried-and-tested "perfect little girl" formula of sugar, spice, and everything nice, carelessly spilled some Chemical X into the mix, and the Powerpuff Girls were born from the resultant chemical goop. Malevolent mutant chimp Mojo Jojo gets an origin tale too, setting himself up nicely to be the girls' most prolific -- and catastrophe-prone -- foe.
As with "Teen Titans Go," "The Powerpuff Girls Movie" has a distinctive visual style that you'll ever love or despise, buzzing with the kind of energy that only toddlers hopped up on sugary soda can generate. Because it's a full-length movie, the scale and scope of the story are upped considerably from the TV series, pitting our heroines against an entire rogue's gallery of Mojo's menacing monkey minions. There are enough sly pop-culture references and bouts of ultra-violence to amuse the adults, and -- like every episode of the TV series -- some moral lessons to sneak by the kids.
Sam Raimi had already proven himself with 2002's "Spider-Man," a confident and exhilarating big screen debut for the web-slinging wallcrawler. In the sequel, freed from the obligation of having to retell Spidey's oh-so-familiar origin tale, Raimi gives Peter Parker and his arachnid alter-ego much more room to breathe, pitting him against one of the more notorious members of his rogue's gallery.
Villains in Spider-Man are frequently more misguided than outright evil, and Doctor Octopus is no exception. At the time, Alfred Molina was better known as an ubiquitous presence on British television than a movie star, but as a great actor, he imbued Otto Gunther Octavius with a pathos missing from most supervillains. He's a father figure for the still-grieving Peter Parker, filling the absence left by Uncle Ben. This only makes the cruelty of Octavius' degradation from friend to villain sting so much more.
"Spider-Man 2" is full of the typical frenetic Raimi visual flare, featuring a standout fight scene on the top of a train that stands up as one of the best duels in superhero cinema. "Spider-Man 2" would remain the best of the Spider-Man films up until 2018's "Into the Spider-Verse" swung by and stole the crown.
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The post The 11 best pre-MCU Superhero movies appeared first on /Film.
Today’s Apple Mac keynote has been very eventful, with the company announcing a new line-up of MacBook Pro devices, powered by two different new SoCs in Apple’s Silicon line-up: the new M1 Pro and the M1 Max.
The M1 Pro and Max both follow-up on last year’s M1, Apple’s first generation Mac silicon that ushered in the beginning of Apple’s journey to replace x86 based chips with their own in-house designs. The M1 had been widely successful for Apple, showcasing fantastic performance at never-before-seen power efficiency in the laptop market. Although the M1 was fast, it was still a somewhat smaller SoC – still powering devices such as the iPad Pro line-up, and a corresponding lower TDP, naturally still losing out to larger more power-hungry chips from the competition.
Today’s two new chips look to change that situation, with Apple going all-out for performance, with more CPU cores, more GPU cores, much more silicon investment, and Apple now also increasing their power budget far past anything they’ve ever done in the smartphone or tablet space.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
On Monday, Apple held its second and likely last hardware event of the fall. “Unleashed” saw the company spend about an hour talking about updates to its Mac and Music product lineups. After the by-the-numbers affair that was the iPhone 13 event, Monday’s presentation was a more exciting thing to watch, thanks in large part to the first significant refresh to the MacBook Pro in five years. Here’s everything the company announced at the event.
Unsurprisingly, the redesigned MacBook Pros were the star of the show, and there’s a lot to unpack between the two new 14- and 16-inch models. As expected, both laptops represent a return to form for the MacBook Pro line. Apple has replaced the Touch Bar with a standard set of function keys, as well as added MagSafe, an SD card slot and an HDMI port. New to both computers are 120Hz ProMotion displays. The 14-inch model will run its screen at 3,024 x 1,964, while the 16-inch variant has a 3,456 x 2,234 panel. Each also has an iPhone-style camera notch that is likely to be divisive.
Additionally, you can configure both models with Apple’s new, more powerful M1 Pro and Max chips (more on them in a moment). All those new features come at a cost, with the 14-inch base model and 16-inch base model set to start at $1,999 and $2,499 respectively. You can pre-order both computers today, with general availability to follow on October 26th. In the meantime, macOS Monterey will land the day before on October 25th.
At the heart of the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros are Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max chips. Both feature 5nm 10-core processors made up of eight high-performance cores and two high-efficiency units. Where they differ from one another is in terms of potential video and memory performance. The M1 Pro comes with up to 16 GPU cores and can support up to 32GB of RAM with 200 GB/s of bandwidth. The M1 Max, meanwhile, tops out at 32 graphics cores and double the RAM and memory bandwidth. In practice, Apple claims the chips are 70 percent faster than its previous M1 SoC and offer up to 1.7 times faster performance than competing CPUs from Intel and AMD. They should also make short work of the company’s updated Final Cut and Logic suites.
Going into Monday’s event, we were confident Apple would update its “basic” AirPods. But other than an AirPods Pro-like design, we weren’t expecting them to get many new features. So what we saw today was a surprise. While you won’t find ANC on the updated AirPods, they do include support for Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking and Adaptive EQ. The latter allows the AirPods to adjust the low and mid-range frequencies of audio in real-time. Other notable specs include IPX4 sweat and water resistance and up to 30 hours total of battery life with help from the included charging case.
You can pre-order the new AirPods starting today for $179. They’ll begin shipping on October 26th. For those who want to save some money, Apple has discounted the second-generation AirPods to $129.
Alongside the third-generation AirPods, the company announced a discounted Apple Music plan. It will only set you back $5 per month but the catch is you can only control the service through Siri. Apple pitched the plan as the ideal complement for the HomePod mini. Speaking of Apple’s diminutive smart speaker, it will be available in three additional colors — yellow, orange and blue — starting in November.
Follow all of the news from Apple’s Mac event right here.
If you need proof that God is dead, look no further. Deadline reports that actual garbage human Mel Gibson has been cast as the lead in the "John Wick" prequel series, "The Continental." After the fourth John Wick movie kept on adding beloved actor after beloved actor, the pendulum was bound to swing the other way at some point. But good grief. A classy franchise built around Keanu Reeves doesn't deserve this kind of nonsense.
Any interest that I had in the prequel miniseries is now deader than John's beagle puppy, because Gibson's career should have ended well over a decade ago. Gibson has been trying to make a comeback for years now, because apparently time solves all problems if you have enough money and power. In 2006, the actor went on a bigoted tirade that has since become horrifying legend, spewing anti-Semitic hatred and racial slurs. Then the explosive audio from his phone arguments with then-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva was released, in which he tells her she's going to be raped and its her own fault.
In case you've grown fuzzy on the awful details of what he said, Salon still has the receipts.
"The Continental" will be presented as a three night special event TV series, produced for Starz by Lionsgate Television. It will not feature Keanu Reeves' John Wick character at all, and Ian McShane will not be reprising his role as the hotel's owner, Winston Scott. The series will be set in 1975 New York City and follow a younger Scott as he tries to survive the city's underworld in an attempt to take over the hotel, which serves as the meeting point for the world's most dangerous criminals. Gibson will play a character named Cormac.
While the "John Wick" franchise has grossed $600 million worldwide, casting such a controversial figure in the prequel could hurt the miniseries' chances of success. The folks behind the franchise had a built-in audience ready to go, but they may have blown some of that goodwill.
Lionsgate TV's Kevin Beggs sees the series as a chance for the franchise to grow into something the likes of a DC or Marvel property. He told Deadline earlier this year:
It's such a successful franchise, it's on its way to its fourth and fifth installments as a movie. It's got such a great mythology and such interesting style, and the gun fu approach of these incredibly poetic stunt esthetics is just out of this world, which is why the movie with Keanu Reeves — who is so amazing in everything he does but particularly compelling as John Wick in our mind — it just cries out to be something in TV. Just like the Marvel Universe and the DC Universe from a TV perspective are incredibly opportunities, and that is our superhero franchise in the family.
Executive producers Greg Coolidge and Kirk Ward are writing the series and serve as showrunners. Albert Hughes is set to direct at least one episode. "John Wick 4" is currently shooting and is set to debut in theaters on May 27, 2022, so we should expect "The Continental" sometime after that.
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The post John Wick Prequel Series Adds Mel Gibson, Just in Case You Thought Hollywood Had a Memory appeared first on /Film.
