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If a script involves the antichrist, gruesome deaths, and one spiraling towards insanity as they question whether or not their child is evil, it's safe to conclude the film can be categorized as horror. However, director Richard Donner took a delicate approach when he asked renowned actor Gregory Peck to be a lead role in his 1976 film "The Omen," the fourth film in Donner's directorial career. Donner's filmography is filled with successful and treasured films like "The Goonies". "Scrooged", and "Lethal Weapon." While his work has comedic elements, "The Omen" was far from a feel-good film and yet Donner desperately wanted Peck ("To Kill a Mockingbird", "Roman Holiday") on board. In order to convince the highly sought-after and acclaimed actor to accept the role, Donner took a grey-area approach and tread lightly about how the film would be categorized.

We'll Never Call It A Horror Film

In an interview with TheLipTV, Donner explains that he went to Peck's house to discuss the script for "The Omen," written by screenwriter David Seltzer. Donner revealed that he told Peck, "the only thing I can say is that it's not a horror film. This is a mystery suspense thriller that is this real or have we driven your character so insane through these incidents of the wife ... falls out of a hospital ... It's coincidence until there's so many questions it's driving you crazy." Donner added that Peck liked that pitch and added that they'd never call the movie "a horror film." Donner agreed. 

Decades later, it's almost comical to know that "The Omen" was pitched as a "mystery suspense thriller." Perhaps that description helped convince Peck because of his previous work with Alfred Hitchcock in his 1945 film "Spellbound." Donner also kept Peck's personal experience in mind as he tried to secure the actor's involvement in the film. Peck suffered a devastating loss with the death of his son in 1975, not long before production started on "The Omen." Peck also identified as a Roman Catholic and is laid to rest at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, a Roman Catholic cathedral in Los Angeles. He had the chance to portray a priest on screen in "The Keys of the Kingdom", a performance that earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in 1944. However, it was "The Omen" that provided Peck with the biggest box office hit of his career, grossing over $60 million in the United States. 

Thrills, Kills, And Chills

In an interview with Jim Whaley on "Cinema Showcase," Peck states that one thing that made him happy was that young people were responding to "The Omen" and it was a kind of "rollercoaster ride with thrills and suspense." He also speaks to the comparisons of "The Exorcist" and "Rosemary's Baby," two famous horror films but he does not use the word "horror" specifically. Instead, he says the team set out to "scare people half out of their wits." 

The division between horror and thriller has been exhaustingly analyzed. There are several overlaps and a lot boils down to semantics. Some moviegoers will say they love thrillers but do not like horror films (oh, but they do love "Get Out"). For the average audience, it's easy to lump films under one category without taking sub-genres or nuance into consideration. One of the biggest arguments is that thrillers are meant to elicit suspense and excitement while horror films conjure fear. With beloved '90s thrillers like "The Good Son," "Cape Fear," and "The Crush," there is a sense of realism that can sometimes be missing in horror. 

Usually, thrillers don't have paranormal elements and are more psychological or true crime in nature. However, those storylines are terrifying because they are plausible. Home invasions, kids with homicidal tendencies, serial killers, and obsessive love interests have all been stories that have crossed the headlines. Despite genre frameworks, there will always be an argument about what constitutes a thriller and a horror film. In the end, films that elicit any type of emotional response and thought-provoking dialogue are worthwhile despite the label cast upon them.

Read this next: Horror Movies That Make Us Root For The Villain

The post Richard Donner Didn't Want To Approach The Omen As A Horror Film appeared first on /Film.

Without much fanfare, the official GitHub repository for the NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution SDK was updated to version 3.1. Here's the changelog:

• Added ability to stay up-to-date with the latest DLSS improvements
• Added ability to customize DLSS based on different scaling ratios and game content.
• Updated DLSS Programming Guide for new API additions
• Performance and Optimization fixes
• Bug Fixes & Stability Improvements

Indeed, the first point in that bulletin list points to the newly added ability for applications to enable over-the-air (OTA) updates to newer DLSS .dll files. While there have been workarounds (such as Brad Moore's DLSS Swapper Tool), this is obviously going to be a superior option, provided that game developers opt into that.

Interestingly, the updated NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution SDK programming guide mentions that it'll be possible for developers to choose between various presets.

While default settings will still result in top-of-the-line quality, those in search of peak image quality for their application can take advantage of varying DLSS presets. Presets tweak different aspects of DLSS in order to cater to different scaling ratios, game content, etc. DLSS Super Resolution presets are subject to change with each revision, but the following serves as a general guide for experimentations with the current presets:
• Preset A (intended for Perf/Balanced/Quality modes):
o An older variant best suited to combat ghosting for elements with missing inputs (such as motion vectors)
• Preset B (intended for Ultra Perf mode):
o Similar to Preset A but for Ultra Performance mode
• Preset C (intended for Perf/Balanced/Quality modes):
o Preset which generally favors current frame information. Generally well-suited for fast paced game content
• Preset D (intended for Perf/Balanced/Quality modes):
o The default preset for Perf/Balanced/Quality mode. Generally favors image stability
• Preset E (Unused)
• Preset F (intended for Ultra Perf/DLAA modes):
o The default preset for Ultra Perf and DLAA modes.

The more adventurous among you can already download the new NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution 3.1.1 .dll file via TechPowerUp and try to apply it to existing games. Beware that results may vary.

The post NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution SDK 3.1 Out Now, Adds Option for Apps to Update DLL Files by Alessio Palumbo appeared first on Wccftech.

There was a time when USA Network steadily churned out solid, comfort food-style original programming that was generally referred to as its "Blue Sky Era." The shows were light, breezy, and fun. That era ran for about a decade before coming to a close in 2016, and included shows like "Burn Notice," "White Collar," and of course, the show that kicked it all off, "Monk." While the Blue Sky Era may be over, one of its shows has somehow, somewhat miraculously kept chugging along: "Psych."

Even though the series ended in 2014, the cult hit comedy about a fake psychic detective named Shawn Spencer and his best friend and (often unwilling) partner Gus developed such a rabid fanbase that the creative team behind the show has managed to churn out three made-for-TV films, which came out in 2017, 2020, and 2021. Series creator Steve Franks has ideas for a fourth movie ready to go, too, if Peacock -- the streaming home for the last two movies -- ever gives him the green light. "We certainly know what we want to do in [a fourth film], and we know what we want to kind of do in [a fifth film], and then knock on wood, can we do [a sixth film]? he told TVLine in November 2021.

So for all of the "Psych" fans out there, the only question now is: Will Shawn and Gus get to solve another crime utilizing Shawn's brilliant mind and Gus's super sniffer, or have we seen the last of Shawn Spencer and his associate, Jazz Hands?

We've Heard It Both Ways

So far, all three "Psych" movies have received pretty strong praise from critics and fans alike. Given the positive reception and Peacock's pivot away from offering a free tier, it sure sounds like the perfect time for another chapter in an intellectual property they already own, which boasts a built-in fanbase that could help bolster subscription numbers. 

If a fourth movie does get the green light from the streaming service, what might it look like? Given the fact that "Psych" has never shied away from homages and overall silliness, it probably won't surprise you what Steve Franks has in mind. As he told TVLine:

"Now that we've done three of them, we've probably earned a chance to do a bit of a departure, just like we used to do on the series. Once or twice a season we would take a swing that was kind of 'out there,' and it would either land or not land. [...] But I do think if you line up all these movies together at the end of the day, however many we end up doing, there should probably be one that stands alone on an island as our 'Halloween III,' where you're like, 'That one was weird.' I feel like we're getting close to doing that one."

If there's one thing that "Psych" mastered during its eight season run, it was being weird. And if Peacock decides to let Franks get the band back together for another wild mystery for Shawn and Gus to solve, we're all for it. Even if it means finally having to bite the bullet and pay for Peacock.

Read this next: 12 Underrated Sitcoms That You Should Check Out

The post Plans Are In Place For Psych 4 If Peacock Gives The Green Light appeared first on /Film.

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Friday added three flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, citing evidence of active abuse in the wild. Included among the three is CVE-2022-24990, a bug affecting TerraMaster network-attached storage (TNAS) devices that could lead to unauthenticated remote code execution with the highest privileges. Details

Wherein we discuss all the exciting DC Studios news, looking back at EC Comics (not DC Comics!), and The Last of Us (the show, not the game!). Starring Ryan Scott and Ryan Higgins.

Each episode of Rian Johnson's "Poker Face" is a joy to watch. The show brings in stellar guest stars week after week, but with the cast, location, and narrative focus ever-changing, what sort of consistency do audience members have to hold onto? The answer is simple — Natasha Lyonne. The episodic crime formula is pretty uncommon in streaming series, but there's one thing that Johnson is sure will keep people watching

"It's interesting," Johnson told Men's Health. "I think right now, especially in the streaming world, everyone's gotten so used to the serialized form of storytelling, where if it's a mystery show, the mystery's over the entire season, and that's what keeps you watching. Where, for most of my TV-watching life, TV was the opposite of that — it was episodic."

Each episode of "Poker Face" after the pilot kicks off with a murder. We know who committed the crime, but things aren't always usually what they seem. As Charlie Cale slowly uncovers the murderer and the motive, the audience gradually learns more and more about the killing — and the killers. But Johnson doesn't think it's the crimes that keep audiences engaged.

"I don't really watch those shows for the mysteries, I watch them to hang out with James Garner [in The 'Rockford Files'], or to hang out with Peter Falk [in Columbo]," he said. "They're really hangout shows. So seeing Natasha, and realizing she was a presence who would bring me back every week — this watchable, charismatic presence, that can center a show — everything kind of clicked."

It's All About Natasha Lyonne

Charlie Cale weaves in and out of "Poker Face." The real mystery is not the murder, but when and how Charlie will amble into the mystery, and how she'll inevitably solve it. It's a "howcatchem," rather than a whodunit. She's more of a Philip Marlowe than your run-of-the-mill detective. Her rolling stone status gives her a gritty and meandering quality reminiscent of New Hollywood anti-heroes, much like Elliot Gould's characters in Robert Altman's "The Long Goodbye" or "California Split." Still, her sixth sense gives her otherwise passive character the perfect excuse to get involved. Almost everyone is charmed by Charlie, and so is the audience. She often finds herself a step behind, but she's incredibly perceptive and charismatic. Johnson accredits the character's je ne sais quoi to Lyonne herself. Here's what he told NPR: 

"Well, that's Natasha. She's funny, and she's also incredibly wise. I mean, and I'm talking about in real life, not the character, my friend Natasha. She's, you know, she's lived a lot of life. She's been through a lot of stuff. She's got a lot of wisdom under the hood. And yeah, and just — and this is similar to Charlie Cale You know, you underestimate her at your peril."

And if you ask Lyonne, the actress aimed to create an interiority to all her characters. "It's so fascinating to watch a human being in process, ruminating, that we trust that to hold an audience's attention," Lyonne explained to Time. Rather than allow herself to play a female character that's "defined by an outer life," she prefers her characters be led by "their inner beat." Charlie definitely fits the bill — the character has almost no outer life at all, and she's as interesting as they come.

Lyonne Is The Key To The Show's Success

Natasha Lyonne is the reason why "Poker Face" succeeds as a hangout show, and she was at its center from the very beginning. Even when the show was just a twinkle in Rian Johnson's eye, he knew that Lyonne was the key.

"There was virtually nothing [to pitch to Lyonne]," the "Knives Out" director confessed to Collider. "The only thing I had was, 'It's a procedural case of the week show starring you, what do you think?' [...] This is really a house that the two of us built together. Even once it was on the page, figuring out how to play Charlie and what makes that character unique and special, it's really been a collaboration with Natasha from the word go."

After co-creating her own Netflix series, "Russian Doll," Lyonne is also an executive producer on "Poker Face." She even put her directing chops to the test in episode 8, airing February 23. But above all, her performance has been the key to the series' success. Her compelling onscreen presence is truly the driving force of the series, and Johnson couldn't agree more.

"To me, the key to this kind of show is casting Natasha Lyonne," he told Men's Health. "Making the show with her. I think, ultimately, that's where the show places its chips, is the character of Charlie Cale, and having her be someone you're going to want to come back to every single week and see her win."

"Poker Face" might be one of the most successful hangout series of all time, and that's all thanks to Lyonne. Johnson may have had the incredible idea to revive a dying form of television at the perfect time, but he couldn't have done it without one of the most incredibly watchable actresses of all time.

Read this next: The Moments That Defined TV In 2022

The post Rian Johnson Wanted Poker Face to Be a 'Hangout Show' – Is it Succeeding? appeared first on /Film.

This article contains spoilers for "Poker Face" episode 5. 

Rian Johnson's new Peacock series, "Poker Face," is a total blast with unique murder mysteries that wrap up before the end of each episode -- much like "Murder, She Wrote" or "Columbo," but with Natasha Lyonne working her own brand of mystery-solving magic. Each episode has a slightly different vibe to it, and while Johnson directed a couple of the episodes, he also brought in some talented folks to take on helming duties. Episode 5, "Time of the Monkey," finds our hero Charlie Cale (Lyonne) working at a nursing home while she's on the run from some seriously sinister criminals and the cops due to the events of the pilot, and it's a 1970s-flavored dark delight courtesy of horror director Lucky McKee. 

The tone of "Poker Face" is pretty radically different from Johnson's other murder mystery fare; it's much funnier and lighter than "Brick," but it's not nearly as satirical as "Knives Out" or "Glass Onion." There's a bit of a tonal tightrope walk between the dark humor and the horror of the murders themselves, and who better to deliver that kind of fear-filled fun than the guy who wrote and directed "May," a bonafide contemporary horror classic? (Seriously, if you've never seen "May" and you like horror at all, make sure you change that ASAP.) 

McKee is a true master of horror -- he even directed an episode of Mick Garris' "Masters of Horror" anthology series -- and having his genre-inspired touch made "Time of the Monkey" the best episode of "Poker Face" yet. 

A King Of Directing Killer Women

"Time of the Monkey" features two of the most sinister villains the series has seen so far: Joyce Harris (S. Epatha Merkerson) and Irene Smothers (Judith Light), a pair of fiercely funny felons who grow cannabis in their closet and seem like the coolest old ladies on the planet until you find out that they tried to kill some prep school kids with homemade crockpot bombs. Joyce and Irene give Charlie a real run for her money, almost managing to kill her after a lengthy battle, and they manage to kill two people before eventually getting caught. They're both terrifying and surprisingly likable, which is something of McKee's specialty. 

McKee's first feature, "May," stars Angela Bettis as May, a socially awkward outcast who has a tough time making friends and fetishizes people's body parts. Bettis's performance is incredible, but McKee's script and direction depict her sympathetically even when she's monstrous, making her a truly compelling character in spite of her horrific actions. Most of his movies feature some kind of wicked woman -- whether it's Pollyanna McIntosh as the titular character in the grotesque and gory "The Woman" or the spellcasting sisterhood at the center of "All Cheerleaders Die" -- and McKee knows how to make even the most malicious woman into a fully-formed and fleshed-out character, which rules! There are loads of shows and movies about male antiheroes and sympathetic villains, so seeing more ladies get their shot at being baddies is always a treat. 

Charismatic Killers To Challenge Charlie

"Time of the Monkey" opens with vintage, 1970s-style credits, and the flower-power sunglasses never come off. It's a great throwback that never feels forced, with some timeless tunes, cinematography that hearkens back to the heyday of the series' biggest influence, "Columbo," and lots of great little visual treats that help remind the audience that for Joyce and Irene, the 1970s never really ended. 

Charlie is initially drawn to their retro rebellion, and it's hard not to be. Joyce and Irene are badass old lady goals, except for the whole murder/attempted terrorism part, obviously. Merkerson and Light are both serialized procedural pros, as Merkerson starred on "Law & Order" for years, while Light had a recurring role on "Law & Order: SVU," but this time they get to play villains instead of the side of law and order. It's clear that they're having a blast getting to be the baddies for once, and McKee's direction gives them the perfect playground to go big and bold in. 

In an interview with Variety, "Poker Face" co-showrunner Nora Zuckerman explained that it's important for Charlie and the audience to like Joyce and Irene at first, which makes McKee's special cinematic skills that much more vital:

"You want her to be friends with these cool women and be ride or die with them — and instead they break her heart. And it's really hard for her."

McKee is incredible at making audiences sympathize (or at least empathize) with monstrous ladies, and "Poker Face" is just the latest and greatest example of his talents. Hopefully Johnson brings him back in a future season, and maybe invites some other indie horror greats to give Charlie (and the rest of us) a fun fright. 

New episodes of "Poker Face" debut Thursdays on Peacock.

Read this next: The 15 Best Final Girls In Horror Movies Ranked

The post Rian Johnson Recruited A Modern Master Of Horror For Poker Face appeared first on /Film.

Imagine a future without violence, without disease, without much in the way of fear or worry. Now imagine that the future can only exist if people give up almost everything that makes life worth living. That's what happened in Marco Brambilla's 1993 science fiction action flick "Demolition Man," which stars Sylvester Stallone as John Spartan, a cop they call the Demolition Man because of his penchant for causing serious collateral damage, who ends up in a cryo-prison after an arrest goes horribly wrong. When Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes), a super-criminal from the 20th century, is defrosted and escapes his parole hearing, the future cops thaw Spartan to try and bring him to justice. Spartan and Phoenix both come from an anarchic, violent time, and neither can fit into the sterile "utopia" they find themselves in. 

San Angeles, the southern California mega-city that has replaced Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and San Diego in 2032, is part of this banal brave new world, where everything from spicy food to swearing is illegal. Not only that, but late-stage capitalism has forced such extreme competition that there were actual Franchise Wars that lead to a total unification of restaurants under one corporation. Screenwriter Daniel Waters, who rewrote the script already worked on by Robert Reneau and Peter M. Lenkov, never intended for "Demolition Man" to be prophetic, but sadly, it's more relevant than ever in 2023. 

Toxic Positivity And Taco Bell Everything

In the bizarre future of "Demolition Man," everything in San Angeles has been sanitized thoroughly. Pandemics of various kinds led to a ban on physical contact and any fluid exchange (that includes kissing, much to Spartan's disdain), and anything considered "bad for you" has been outlawed. When Spartan swears while he's being debriefed at the police station, he's given a citation from a machine on the wall that fines him for breaking a ban on vulgarity. He ends up swearing repeatedly in order to use the paper citations for toilet paper (which has been replaced by three seashells) and realizes that the future is polite to the point of being completely puritanical. In the face of this ultimately boring "utopia," Spartan jokes that he wants to be put back into deep freeze, and it's hard to blame him. Not only are the rules in this world unbearably strict, but any concerns about it are brushed away with toxic positivity. 

Information kiosks welcome people with boundless compliments like "you look great today!" and "you give me happy joy-joy feelings," and everyone is unsettlingly upbeat all the time. They're even downright giddy about the fact that all restaurants are now Taco Bell (or Pizza Hut, if you watch the international release), which is kind of scary even if you love the Bell. The idea of even the fanciest dinner being Taco Bell is kind of bizarre, but it's a pretty good representation of corporate buyouts and mergers that create conglomerates a few companies own everything. It's not hard to see the correlation to our own news and media landscape, where parent companies control huge swaths of the industry through their subsidiaries, a true monopoly would just be one step further. 

Sexless, Sterile, And Strictly Controlled

What's wild about the future of "Demolition Man" is that it's the kind of future no one really wants. It's easy to joke that the clean, politically-correct sort of censorship is "the future Liberals want" while it's just as easy to joke about a police state being "the future Conservatives want," but I don't think anyone looks at "Demolition Man" as inspiration for an ideal future. Even if you hate swearing, love Taco Bell, and don't really care about spicy food, smoking, or alcohol, there's also that whole "no touching" thing. That goes for private situations too, which just seems terribly lonely. No hugs? No high-fives? What kind of world is that?

In one of the movie's weirdest scenes, Lenina Huxley (Sandra Bullock), a future cop with an obsession with 20th-century history tries to help Spartan acclimate, and invites him back to her apartment to have sex. She then proceeds to put on some weird headgear and puts a matching hubba-hubba hat on Spartan. He freaks out and she explains that no one actually has sex anymore and that any procreation is done via lab, and that's only if you get a license for pregnancy first. While we're not quite to that level of puritanical weirdness, things have been taking a turn toward the sexless in entertainment. Not only are LGBTQ+ characters and relationships heavily censored in family fare, but sex scenes are becoming surprisingly rare in big-budget pictures. By making sex and sexuality increasingly taboo, we're taking a huge step backward, towards a dumb, "Demolition Man"-style dystopia. 

A Rebellion Of Personal Freedom

Among the things that "Demolition Man" accurately predicted are self-driving cars, a global pandemic leading to some seriously weird social changes, and a nationwide ban on abortion, but it also accurately predicts that not everyone will go along with totalitarian rule, and some people won't be allowed into a "perfect" society. These outcasts all live in "the wasteland," an underground city of its own full of people just trying to scrape by. They're led by Edgar Friendly (Dennis Leary), who wants to fight to free San Angeles and bring the people of the wasteland above ground. The corporate overlords in charge of San Angeles want Friendly dead, which is why they unfroze Phoenix, and Spartan has to rescue him. 

Friendly goes on a classic Leary rant about what he wants in life, and it's hard not to agree with some of it:

"Cause I like to think, I like to read. I'm into freedom of speech and freedom of choice. I'm the kind of guy who wants to sit in a greasy spoon and think, 'Gee, should I have the T-bone steak or the jumbo rack of barbecued ribs with the side order of gravy fries?' I want high cholesterol. I want to eat bacon, butter, and buckets of cheese, okay? I want to smoke a Cuban cigar the size of Cincinnati in a non-smoking section. I wanna run through the streets naked with green Jello all over my body reading Playboy magazine. Why? Because I suddenly might feel the need to."

Friendly wants total freedom for himself but doesn't understand how that might impede on others, which is its own kind of problem. So what's a man from the past to do with these future problems?

Absolutes Suck, Absolutely

The best way to actually help people and ensure their happiness is a middle ground between the full-on freedom-fest of the wasteland and the strict rules of San Angeles, which is the conclusion the characters come to after defeating the evil corporate overlords. Absolutism in any form is a problem because it lacks the nuances of the human condition. Sure, banning smoking for everyone ensures there's no secondhand smoke for anyone and helps with health concerns, but it's also taking away people's personal choices about what to do with their own bodies. Friendly's desire to be able to smoke anywhere is also a problem because he's impeding on the freedoms of people who want to be able to breathe fresh air. In the fight between personal freedoms and what's best for everyone as a group, there has to be a middle ground that protects the vulnerable while still allowing people to have their own bodily autonomy.  

"Demolition Man" is a silly action movie, but it was inspired by Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World," and has some surprisingly smart ideas baked inside its ridiculous outer shell of goofy jokes and Rob Schneider. (What is it with Stallone sci-fi movies from the '90s and Schneider?!) At one point we might have gotten a "Demolition Man" sequel starring Meryl Streep as Spartan's daughter, and while it's a shame we didn't, there's no time like the present, right? Otherwise, we might actually end up living our own version of the movie come 2032.

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

The post Demolition Man's Sexless Corporate Dystopia is Our Sexless Corporate Dystopia appeared first on /Film.

The Pentagon downed an unidentified object over Alaska on Thursday night at the order of President Biden, according to a U.S. official. From a report: The U.S. official said it was not confirmed if the object was a balloon, but it was traveling at an altitude that made it a potential threat to civilian aircraft. Mr. Biden ordered the unidentified object downed "out of an abundance of caution," the official said. The action comes less than a week after a U.S. fighter jet shot down a Chinese spy balloon that had traversed the United States, according to three American officials. The latest breach, officials said, took place Thursday night, over Alaska. One official described it as a "fast-moving" situation that was still developing. It is not clear if the object was from an adversarial power, or a commercial or research operation that has gone astray, the official said.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

David Wain's "Wet Hot American Summer" is the proper definition of a cult classic. When the film was released in 2001, it was both a critical and commercial flop, failing to make back a majority of its relatively cheap production budget. Despite the film's financial woes, the stars were aligned on this set for the film to become an eventual raunchy sleep-over classic.

One reason the film has endured through the years is that the casting director, Susie Farris, struck gold with this ensemble cast, which is mostly made up of some of comedy's then-up-and-comers who would become major stars down the line. Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper, Molly Shannon, and Elizabeth Banks, the list goes on. Then there was a young version of everyone's favorite goofball, Paul Rudd, fresh off of "Clueless," he turned in a delightfully sardonic performance as camp counselor Andy.

This week, in honor of the release of "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," Vanity Fair interviewed Paul Rudd for a career retrospective. When reflecting on filming "Wet Hot American Summer," he described the set experience as one of his favorites — a perfect storm of friendly fellow actors showing comedic camaraderie in a true summer camp experience. Rudd explained:

"The making of 'Wet Hot American Summer' was a blast. It was the first thing that I think a lot of the people that were working on it — it really spoke to our collective sensibilities and senses of humor. Everyone kind of knew each other a little bit. It was all these kind of New York actors and improv comedy and B alt comedy sea. And we filmed it at a summer camp."

An Authentic Summer Camp Experience

"Wet Hot American Summer" is set on the last day of summer camp in 1981, and despite its raunchy name, it's actually an absurdist take on the teen sex-comedies that were abundant in this era of Hollywood. The film is centered around a group of young camp counselors trying to tie their relationship loose ends before they all part their separate ways. Sexual tensions bubble over, couples split apart, and everything culminates with the Camp Firewood annual talent show.

Filmed in just about 28 days in May 2000 at real-life Camp Towanda, Pennsylvania, the cast and crew of "Wet Hot American Summer" would stay on set and even sleep there for the entirety of the shoot. In a sense, the low budget of the shoot and the casual environment replicated the feeling of an actual summer camp. "You know, we all slept at the camp, it rained every day. So whoever wasn't filming had to go into town, which was about 30 minutes away, and buy beer so that when the days filming was done, everyone, we all hung out" Rudd explained, "We didn't have computers, like, when no one had cell phones, really [...] everyone was just there. And also, if you weren't working, you went and watched other people filming their scenes. So, there was a real kind of camaraderie and a feeling, like a collective."

The amount of fun the cast had is visible in the final film, which is full of little improvisational moments and wonderful chemistry between the cast. Sometimes, the line between character and actor often blurs in "Wet Hot American Summer," creating a "you had to be there" sort of feeling that can alienate some viewers, but is a great example of anti-humor.

A Comedy That Was Ahead Of Its Time

A behind-the-scenes documentary by Amy Rice, "Hurricane of Fun: The Making of Wet Hot American Summer" is a great distillation of the production of the film and an interesting time capsule of all these actors who would move onto more high-profile projects down the line. It might be a bit corny, but in a digital age, it would be very hard to replicate the kind of authentic experience that was achieved on the set of David Wain's film. Rudd told Vanity Fair: 

"And it was like being at summer camp. And so to do that, and to work on material that we all found funny [...] we kind of couldn't believe it was actually getting made. We all kind of knew people are not gonna get this, but I think that people who do get it or will find it funny, will find it really funny."

Critics and audiences wouldn't latch onto the humor of "Wet Hot American Summer" soon enough for the film to be a success. However, its cult status eventually landed it a second life, and eventually, a Netflix revival back in 2015 in the form of the miniseries, "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp." Despite the whole series being a prequel to the original show, most of the initial cast returned and embodied their younger selves (a great commitment to the bit).

"Wet Hot American Summer" proved to be just ahead of its time, but thanks to the dedication between its cast and its fans, it eventually got its due.

Read this next: The Best Comedy Movies Of 2022, Ranked

The post Wet Hot American Summer's Real Camp Set Sparked a Lot of Comedy Camaraderie appeared first on /Film.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., intends to make his focus in the current Congress a legislative package aimed at protecting children online -- including by setting the age threshold to be on social media at 16. From a report: In an interview with NBC News, Hawley detailed some top lines of what his agenda will include, such as: 1. Mandating social media companies verify the age of their users. 2. Providing parents a right to demand that tech companies delete their kids' data. 3. Commissioning a wide-ranging congressional mental-health study on the impact social media has on children. "For me, this is about protecting kids, protecting their mental health, protecting their safety," Hawley said. "There's ample evidence to this effect that big tech companies put their profits ahead of protecting kids online." Since his election to the Senate in 2018, Hawley has made scrutinizing the tech industry core to his political brand and has pushed for breaking up the tech giants and curtailing the reach of TikTok.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A massive 4K Dark Souls 3 texture pack has been released, aiming to overhaul every single texture in FromSoftware's 2016 action RPG.

Created by modder 'Bardo', this new 'Texture Improvement' package clocks in at more than 30GB. Over 5000 textures within the game have been enhanced by replacing those with either in-game high-res counterparts or manually created textures based on alternative in-game variations or colors. It's an ambitious effort that Dark Souls 3 PC players looking to further enhance their gameplay experience will surely appreciate. As noted by the creator of the mod, this package is expected to have only a minor impact on the game's performance.

"This mod aims to overhaul every single texture in the game', 'Bardo' writes. "I spent two weeks staring at over 5000 textures, replacing them with high-resolution counterparts found in the game files and manually recreating textures that only exist in alternative color schemes or variations. In total, over 1500 textures were edited and replaced. Finally, all textures were upscaled to 2k and 4k resolution, including half-sized normal maps."

We've included some screenshots of this impressive new Dark Souls 3 texture pack down below:

2 of 9

Those interested in giving this 4K texture package a spin, can download it from Nexusmods. Be sure to follow the provided installation instructions. Please note that this package comes in separate files with 2K and 4K versions being available for download.

Those into Dark Souls 3 modding should also keep track of this upcoming Demon's Souls-inspired Dark Souls 3 prequel mod - Dark Souls Archtrones.

Released in 2016 for PC and consoles, Dark Souls 3 is both terrifying and beautiful. Here's what we wrote in our review of the game:

My journey through Lothric to meet with the Lords of Cinder took me through unforgettable vistas and resulted in more than a few sleepless nights where all I could think about was pushing through another corridor, seeking out another bonfire. It’s an experience that the established Souls fans already know they can’t miss, while for those curious about Dark Souls, eager to discover what all the hype is about, this is the perfect starting point. It might not be everyone’s favorite Souls game, but it just might be mine and I can guarantee that Dark Souls III will dominate more than a few Game of the Year lists in 2016.

The post Massive 4K Dark Souls 3 Texture Pack Aims to Overhaul Every Single Texture in FromSoftware’s Title by Aernout van de Velde appeared first on Wccftech.

Scientists say a mild Covid infection increased immune benefits from a later flu vaccine, but with a biological twist.

Four different rogue packages in the Python Package Index (PyPI) have been found to carry out a number of malicious actions, including dropping malware, deleting the netstat utility, and manipulating the SSH authorized_keys file. The packages in question are aptx, bingchilling2, httops, and tkint3rs, all of which were collectively downloaded about 450 times before they were taken down. While

Microsoft and Sony continue to spar about the Federal Trade Commission case, where the US regulator is trying to block Microsoft's $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Sony has been the most vocal opponent to the deal in the whole gaming industry, alleging dire prospects for gamers if Call of Duty was ever to be removed from PlayStation platforms. For its part, Microsoft has repeatedly said that it would not make any financial sense to do so and even offered a 10-year deal to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation, Nintendo, and Steam stores. Nintendo accepted, Valve said it didn't need to, and Sony refused.

A couple of weeks ago, Microsoft retaliated by filing a subpoena that would force Sony to reveal a great number of internal documents to the court. Sony requested an extension of time to produce them while also protesting that some of them constitute 'obvious harassment', while others would be too costly to produce and irrelevant anyway. Here's an excerpt from the full document:

Microsoft's subpoena includes 45 document requests, 3 with subparts, for a total of more than 120 separate document requests. It also has 52 defined terms and 21 instructions, most of which increase the subpoena's breadth. These requests demand all documents related to nearly all aspects of SIE’s business, as well as extensive sets of sales, financial, and personal user data (e.g., user date of birth, country, gender, for likely millions of users).

Ten of these requests seek materials going back more than 11 years. Even after intensive efforts by Sony Interactive Entertainment to negotiate scope, SIE estimates that providing just the custodial files SIE has offered from the Seven Custodians will cost approximately $2 million. And these documents are only a portion of what SIE has offered. More is not proportionate to impose on a non-party.

[..] Microsoft’s demand for performance reviews for SIE’s leadership is obvious harassment. Even in employment cases, courts require a specific showing of relevance before requiring production of personnel files.

Needless to say, we haven't read the last of this debate. Meanwhile, the UK's CMA has provisionally objected to the acquisition as well, though it is open to hearing from Microsoft and Activision regarding potential remedies.

The post Sony Claims Some Microsoft Requests Pertaining to the FTC Case Are Obvious Harassment by Alessio Palumbo appeared first on Wccftech.

Here are three of the worst breaches, attacker tactics and techniques of 2022, and the security controls that can provide effective, enterprise security protection for them. #1: 2 RaaS Attacks in 13 Months Ransomware as a service is a type of attack in which the ransomware software and infrastructure are leased out to the attackers. These ransomware services can be purchased on the dark web from

State-backed hackers from North Korea are conducting ransomware attacks against healthcare and critical infrastructure facilities to fund illicit activities, U.S. and South Korean cybersecurity and intelligence agencies warned in a joint advisory. The attacks, which demand cryptocurrency ransoms in exchange for recovering access to encrypted files, are designed to support North Korea's

(To celebrate "Titanic" and its impending 25th-anniversary re-release, we've put together a week of explorations, inquires, and deep dives into James Cameron's box office-smashing disaster epic.)

Remember when James Cameron released one of the world's highest-grossing movies of all time? No, I don't mean the last time he did it. No, not the one before that, either. That's right — I'm talking about 1997's "Titanic," of course, which took no prisoners on its way to dominating the box office during its initial theatrical run. If Twitter and social media at large had existed at the time, it's doubtful that even the biggest skeptics would've cast aspersions on why this of all movies became such a runaway pop culture phenomenon. The selling points, to say the absolute least, are plain to see.

Frankly, the historical circumstances surrounding the RMS Titanic might as well have been tailor-made for the big screen.

The world's largest luxury liner marked the last gasp of high society's freewheeling ways before the First World War and the subsequent Great Depression. There's your class struggle angle. During construction, the magnificent and gaudy scale of the floating structure gave way to breathless public pronouncements that the Titanic was "unsinkable." There's your classic tale of hubris preceding a fall. Oh, and let's not leave out the near-miss collision as the liner pulled out of the harbor on its doomed voyage, described by frightened onlookers as a "bad omen." There's your foreshadowing of impending disaster.

Yet one larger-than-life figure looms larger than the rest. His actions saved untold numbers of lives. His stash of alcohol probably saved his own. And he might very well have been the last person to ever step foot on the vessel as it sank. This is the strange-but-true story of Charles John Joughin, Chief Baker on the Titanic.

Once Upon A Time On The Titanic...

James Cameron may be the king of turning original stories into cinematic classics, but sometimes fact really is stranger than fiction. Writer and novelist Laura Keating reminded us of this in a recent Twitter thread, expounding on the brief glimpses of the baker that we received in the climactic moments of Cameron's "Titanic." In fact, the drama of his story could very well have fueled an entire movie from his point of view. It's got it all: rags to riches, romance, tragedy, perseverance, and heroism under the most unimaginable circumstances.

The Encyclopedia Titanica details what we've managed to piece together of the early events of Charles Joughin's life. Born to a licensed liquor dealer (Prohibition, history buffs know, wouldn't begin for another few decades) in Cheshire, England on August 3, 1878, the ocean was never far from sight nor mind for Joughin and his younger brothers — two of whom would end up joining England's Royal Navy, with one eventually killed in action and buried at sea. Census records show that young Charles was already serving on various civilian ships as early as age 13, officially described in manifests as a "baker at sea." Who would've ever thought that he of all his four siblings would end up playing the most significant role of them all in saving lives in international waters?

And then, over a decade later, the fateful choice arrived. Before joining the crew of the Titanic, he had previously been serving on its sister ship Olympic (itself the subject of some pretty wild conspiracy theories). A quirk of scheduling allowed him to transfer to the Titanic for its maiden (and final) voyage and the rest is ... well, you're about to find out.

Iceberg Ahead!

When the Titanic officially set out from Southampton harbor to New York City on April 10, 1912, Charles Joughin had been aboard and performing his culinary duties for roughly a week. Working as the Chief Baker, he received wages equivalent to almost $2,000 a month in today's currency and enjoyed a fully-staffed crew under him that made up a baker's dozen (fittingly enough). With over 1,300 passengers and almost 900 crew members, that necessitated a small army of cooks, chefs, and bakers to feed all those mouths — many of whom were among the upper echelon of English society, mind you. Nothing but the best for a ship as luxurious as the Titanic, of course.

The honeymoon phase lasted a grand total of five days. On April 15, 1912, the Titanic struck an iceberg in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic, a glancing blow that tore apart the hull along a substantial length of the ship and doomed it to a watery death. (Incredibly enough, an author and descendent of a Titanic survivor claimed that those on duty at the time steered the ship in the wrong direction to avoid the iceberg, exacerbating an already bad situation.)

Our heroic baker, as it turns out, was fast asleep in his quarters when the Titanic made contact with the iceberg close to midnight. Situated amidships (that's fancy sailor talk for the middle of the ship), the collision jolted him awake and sent him scurrying for answers. In the general confusion that followed, he made another fateful choice. Unlike most on board, who had no idea of the extent of their danger, Joughin seemed to have an almost preternatural foreboding that the unsinkable ship was, in fact, inevitably destined to go under.

His instincts would save many lives.

Fact Meets Fiction

While those in charge failed to grasp what had just happened (or were flat-out in denial), Joughin acted fast. Rousing his underlings, he immediately set to work stocking the precious few lifeboats on board with bread.

As befitting someone of his station, he had been placed in command of lifeboat 10 and promptly assisted in putting women and children on the collapsible boat. As they ran out of passengers willing to jump ship, favoring the perceived safety of the massive (and still floating) Titanic over the tiny dinghy, he and a few other crew went in search of people to save ... and practically dragged them to the lifeboat before literally throwing them on board, as the ship had begun to tilt noticeably at this point and the lowering lifeboat no longer sat flush against the hull.

In between these utterly selfless actions, Joughin apparently stopped by his now-flooding quarters a number of times and quite naturally helped himself to a not-insignificant amount of alcohol. Under the impression that no more lifeboats remained, the forward-thinking baker then began to throw what he guessed to be 50 deck chairs and other floating material into the ocean. You know, just in case!

Here, fiction begins to intersect with reality as the James Cameron film depicts the baker, played by actor Liam Tuohy, in the same company as Leonardo DiCaprio's Jack and Kate Winslet's Rose. It was roughly at this point that he heard what was likely the Titanic breaking clean in half and followed a crowd out onto the stern of the sinking ship. Unlike the movie, however, he reportedly remained the lone individual on the extreme end of the Titanic as it lifted into the air, hung suspended for a moment, and then sank into the ocean.

The Secret To Success

Hey, at least Jack and Rose had that door. Baker Charles Joughin, armed with nothing more than some hastily-collected provisions in his pockets and his lifejacket, practically stepped right off the foundering Titanic as it sunk beneath the waves and into the Atlantic Ocean, barely even getting his hair wet. (Unlike Jack's frantic warnings to the contrary, it only appears to be apocryphal that the suction of the sinking ship would've actually dragged anyone down with it. Thanks, "Mythbusters"!)

But this is also when the real danger kicked in. Having done what he could to save as many lives as possible, Joughin was left to tread water for up to two teeth-chattering hours while the remaining survivors waited in the hopes that someone had either heard the ship's SOS signals or seen the distress flares that the crew had set off.

So what saved him when most others would have succumbed to hypothermia — and did, tragically — in a matter of minutes? Well, remember those repeat trips to the liquor cabinet, which was also somewhat accurately translated in Cameron's movie? Although it's not all that likely that the warming effects of alcohol actually translate to a higher body temperature, it did at least protect him from succumbing to the effects of the freezing temperatures. Surrounded by scattered lifeboats that were now filled to the brim and others that had been overturned in panic, Charles stubbornly clung to life until another lifeboat stumbled upon him and brought him aboard — where he would later recollect that he felt colder than he had in the actual water. Mind over matter, baby!

The End Of The Story...?

After the RMS Carpathia answered the Titanic's calls and finally showed up in the early hours of the next morning to rescue the survivors, including a perfectly healthy Charles Joughin, you'd think that this ordeal would've been the last we heard of our brave baker. You'd be wrong.

Upon fully recovering in New York and traveling back to England, Joughin participated in official government inquiries into the sinking a month later. Not only did Joughin reunite with his wife and children, but he promptly began working on the Olympic once more until the outbreak of World War I just two years later. He would then take his baking talents into the naval fleet, serving aboard the SS Congress. Believe it or not, that ship met disaster as well when an onboard fire swiftly consumed the vessel and sank miles from shore. This time, however, Joughin found himself safely in a lifeboat from the start of the evacuation and not a single life was lost.

But as in any epic tale, the highs and lows of life weren't done with him just yet. Tragedy would eventually strike when Joughin lost his wife and unborn child in the birthing bed. Whether out of heartbreak or otherwise, he soon relocated to New Jersey in the early 1920s where he eventually remarried and gained United States citizenship. He served as a baker on dozens of US ships by the end of his life, though not before surviving another potential disaster when he narrowly escaped an accidental ship-to-ship collision that claimed 17 lives.

Having survived numerous shipwrecks, two World Wars, and enough drama to last several lifetimes, Charles Joughin died in December of 1956. But we'll always remember him, as is listed in his death certificate, as "Baker on Titanic."

Read this next: Here's The Complete List Of 2023 Oscar Nominations

The post The Amazing True Story of the Chef Who Survived the Sinking of the Titanic appeared first on /Film.

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These foods have a bad reputation as unhealthy, but science tells a different story.

[link] [58 comments]

As fans digest The Legend of Vox Machina season 2 finale, many are wondering how many Critical Role campaigns have been released so far.

The importance of Critical Role in not only maintaining the global Dungeons & Dragons fanbase but introducing a whole new generation of fans cannot be understated.

This team of lovable misfits has brought fans hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of entertaining content over recent years with multiple different story arcs exploring the wonderful world of Exandria.

As The Legend of Vox Machina wraps up its second season on Amazon Prime Video, there will be countless viewers who are now itching to revisit the original D&D campaigns. So, how many Critical Role campaigns are available to watch for free on YouTube, and where will the franchise go from here?

• ICONIC: Matthew Mercer already played Ganondorf in a fan film before rumored Zelda role

How many Critical Role campaigns are there?

As of February 2023, there are three main campaigns from the Critical Role series, with two additional anthology series and one limited series.

Campaign one focused on the ‘Vox Machina’ party (adapted in The Legend of Vox Machina TV series), and released a grand total of 115 episodes from March 2015 to October 2017.

“They’re rowdy, they’re ragtag, they’re misfits turned mercenaries for hire. Vox Machina is more interested in easy money and cheap ale than actually protecting the realm. But when the kingdom is threatened by evil, this boisterous crew realizes that they are the only ones capable of restoring justice. What began as a simple payday is now the origin story behind Exandria’s newest heroes.” – Campaign One.

Campaign two was centered around ‘The Mighty Nein’ party (an animated adaptation has been confirmed to be in production), which ran from January 2018 to June 2021 across 141 episodes.

“Mighty Nein follows a group of criminals and misfits who are the only ones that can prevent the kingdom from plunging into chaos when an arcane artifact capable of reshaping reality falls into the wrong hands.” – Campaign Two.

Campaign three is the current storyline, telling the tale of the ‘Bell’s Hells’ party with 48 episodes being published since October 2021.

“Three groups of adventurers, some familiar and some new, meet in the five-spired city of Jrusar and form an alliance initially born of convenience and the desire for knowledge and coin. Quickly, however, they find themselves digging into the city’s shadowy mysteries and increasingly fraught tensions.” – Campaign Three.

Exandria Unlimited was the first anthology series from Critical Role, which focused on ‘The Crown Keepers’ across 10 episodes between June 2021 and April 2022.

This was followed by the Exandria Unlimited: Calamity storyline, which had ‘The Ring of Brass’ adventuring across four episodes between May and June 2022.

Critical Role fans should also note that a 45-episode limited series called ‘One-shots’ was created in February 2016; some of these stories cover events that are canonical to the main series but are told outside the main timeline of the show.

New episodes of the ongoing third campaign air live on Thursdays at 7 PM Pacific Time on the Critical Role Twitch and YouTube channels.

• INFLUENCERS: The Legend of Vox Machina’s Marisha Ray to box in Creator Clash 2

I’m very normal about critical role pic.twitter.com/K7bIvPGKAj

— hope | cr & lvm spoilers (@whosbian) February 4, 2023

Expect more Critical Role content over the next few years

As Critical Role’s success continues to impress fans old and new alike, the global community is looking forward to plenty more content from the team over the next few years.

Aside from the ongoing third campaign, season 3 of The Legend of Vox Machina was confirmed to be in production back in October 2022.

An animated adaptation of Mighty Nein has also been revealed to be in the works as part of a new deal with Amazon Prime Video, the multi-year deal will also see an animated movie hit our screens.

Speaking to Forbes, head of global TV at Amazon Studios Vernon Sanders noted, “With the success of our animated series ‘The Legend of Vox Machina,’ we are looking forward to continuing our relationship with Critical Role and expanding its universe with ‘Mighty Nein.”

“Expanding these iconic franchises for our global Prime Video customers continues to be an ambitious and rewarding journey and we are eager to see where this new series takes us.”

Finally, we have a set of prequel graphic novels from Dark Horse Comics, which will focus on Dr Anna Ripley and the “choices she makes after the de Rolo family of Whitestone is taken over by the vicious Briarwoods.”

• EXPLAINED: Christian Bale’s DCU Batman return touted by scooper Grace Randolph

By Tom Llewellyn – tom.llewellyn@grv.media

The post Vox Machina fans look ahead to the years of Critical Role content to come appeared first on ForeverGeek.

IMDB Rating: 5.8/10
Genre: Biography / Crime / Drama / Horror / Thriller
Size: 914.7 MB
Runtime: 1hr 39 min

Docu-drama based on the life of Ted Bundy, a serial killer who killed at least 19 young women during the 1970's (though some sources say as many as 30 to 35 were murdered). Set from his college student years, to his first victims, his capture, escape from prison (twice), his final killing spree to his trial, conviction and execution.—Anonymous

Joe Goldberg’s body count is continuing to mount in You season 4, and we introduce you to the new character, Vic, and the actor who plays him, Sean Pertwee. We also explore if Vic survives the events of the first five episodes, and if not, who killed him?

Fans are expecting You to return for a fifth season on Netflix – since there has been no confirmation that season 4 is the final story – even though the run has not been green-lit yet.

Developed by Greg Berlanti and Sera Gamble for Netflix, and based on the novel series of the same name by Caroline Kepnes, the American psychological thriller, You, follows Joe Goldberg, who is part stalker, part serial killer and removes any threats that come in the way of his budding romances. 

**Warning – Spoilers ahead for You season 4**

• MORE YOU: Eve Austin plays Gemma in You season 4 but does she get killed?

Meet Sean Pertwee, Vic from You Season 4

Sean Pertwee is an iconic British actor, whose career began back in 1987 with the movie, Prick Up Your Ears.

Pertwee has since starred in a number of British treasures, including the shows Waking the Dead and The Tudors, alongside films Dog Soldiers and Equilibrium.

The actor is famously the son of Jon Pertwee, who was a comedy actor best known for his role as the third doctor in Doctor Who between 1970 and 1974. Pertwee’s father passed away in 1996, but the actor was also the first to play Doctor Who while the BBC transitioned from black and white to color.

Pertwee plays Vic in You season 4, who is the driver and bodyguard of businessman, Adam, while arousing suspicion around Joe.  

Who killed Vic in You? 

**Warning – Spoilers ahead for You season 4**

Vic is killed by none other than Joe Goldberg during the events of You season 4.

While honoring Simon’s death at the funeral, Joe is forced to kill off Vic because of his previous suspicion towards him.

Vic began targeting the protagonist after Malcolm’s death and Joe felt he had no other option but to kill him, hiding his body on top of Simon’s coffin. 

• YOU RETURNS: You season 4 part 2 will arrive on Netflix faster than Joe Goldberg’s next crush

How many episodes are in You season 4? 

You season 4 is confirmed to have 10 installments, following the episode count of the hit show’s first three seasons.

Penn Badgley is returning as the serial killer, Joe Goldberg, alongside a new cast of characters – with the exception of Tati Gabrielle returning as Marienne.

The first batch of season 4 began streaming on Thursday, February 9, 2023, and part 2 will premiere one month later on Thursday, March 9, 2023, beginning with episode 6.

Below, we have included season 4’s release schedule in full, complete with the titles we know so far:

• Episode 1: Joe Takes a Holiday – February 9, 2023
• Episode 2: Portrait of the Artist – February 9, 2023
• Episode 3: Eat the Rich – February 9, 2023
• Episode 4: Hampsie – February 9, 2023
• Episode 5: The Fox and the Hound – February 9, 2023
• Episode 6: TBA – March 9, 2023
• Episode 7: TBA – March 9, 2023
• Episode 8: TBA – March 9, 2023
• Episode 9: TBA – March 9, 2023
• Episode 10: TBA – March 9, 2023

By Jo Craig – jo.craig@grv.media

You season 4 part 1 is now streaming on Netflix.

The post Vic's British actor from Netflix's You is the son of the third Doctor Who from 1970 appeared first on ForeverGeek.

Daniel Craig first started performing when he was a child, entertaining barflies at the pub his parents ran. He'd perform impersonations of celebrities he'd seen on television. "I'd get money," Craig told GQ of his early acting efforts. "I suppose I've been making a living out of this from a very early age." While studying at the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, Craig made his professional acting debut at 16 in a Shakespeare production, quickly establishing himself as one of Britain's finest young actors. Craig was 32 when he was cast as James Bond in 2006's "Casino Royale" -- a role that would forever change his life. He played 007 in four more films, including his 2021 Bond swan song, "No Time To Die."

There's no argument that Bond has been Craig's signature role — not surprising since he holds the record as the longest-running 007, portraying him for 15 years. But those spy films, as iconic as they are, represent a fraction of Craig's cinematic output, which is far more diverse and expansive. Those roles have run the gamut, ranging from a shrewd Southern-fried detective (who apparently took diction lessons from Foghorn Leghorn) to a real-life murderer who inspired a literary classic to a gunslinger battling an extraterrestrial invasion, and more. Read on to discover the 12 best Daniel Craig roles that aren't 007.

Ray In Some Voices (2000)

Daniel Craig made his on-screen debut with a small role in the 1992 film "The Power of One." He continued working in film and television steadily, with highlights including "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles," and playing an assassin-priest in the 1998 historical drama "Elizabeth." Those roles led to the 2000 indie dramedy "Some Voices." Craig plays Ray, a schizophrenic Londoner recently released from a years-long stint in a psychiatric hospital. He soon meets Laura (Kelly Macdonald), a Scottish woman in the midst of leaving her abusive husband. The two hit it off, with Laura unable to resist Ray's spontaneity and childlike sense of wonder. At first, all goes smoothly, thanks to the medication that quiets the voices in Ray's head. However, chaos ensues when Ray makes the unfortunate decision to stop taking his medication, hoping that love will do a better job of managing his mental illness.

"Some Voices" was hardly a hit, making a worldwide gross of $9,188 at the box office. But it was well-reviewed — particularly Craig's performance. "In a strong cast, the up-and-coming Craig is superb, capturing all of Ray's joy, frustration, and fear in his expressive face," noted Channel 4. A review in Time Out London declared, "Craig's vibrant yet haunted expressiveness tells us everything needful about this doomed sweetheart." Craig ultimately won Best Actor at the British Independent Film Awards for the role.

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support on their website.

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.

Connor Rooney In The Road To Perdition (2002)

In 2001, Craig made the jump from British indie to Hollywood blockbuster with a role alongside Angelina Jolie in "Tomb Raider." He followed that project with a prestige film, director Sam Mendes' 2000 drama "Road to Perdition." Boasting an all-star cast that included Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jude Law, and Stanley Tucci. Craig played Connor Rooney, the volatile, loose-cannon son of Newman's fearsome mob boss, John Rooney. As Craig divulged during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter podcast, Mendes cast him personally. "He went, 'I'm doing a gangster movie in Chicago. I want you to play Paul Newman's son,'" Craig said. "I [didn't] need to hear anymore." But when he flew to Chicago to audition for Mendes, it did not go well. "I did his reading, and [Mendes] said, 'That was terrible, but I'm going to give you the part because you've come all this way,'" Craig added.

Facing off with screen legend Newman in what wound up being his final screen performance was heady stuff for Craig. "I look back on it now, and I just go, 'My goodness me, that was a moment when things changed for me,'" he recalled in an interview with CBS Sunday Morning. "Not about my status or my recognition. Something within me went, 'I am allowed to sit at this table.'"

XXXX In Layer Cake (2004)

Daniel Craig's star was on the rise when he landed the leading role in "Layer Cake," the directorial debut of Matthew Vaughn (who later directed the "Kingsmen" franchise). In the role that's been credited with attracting the attention of Bond producers, Craig starred as an unnamed cocaine dealer (identified as XXXX in the credits) on the cusp of cashing out and retiring from his life of crime. Just as he's about to pack it in, he's ordered to undertake two final assignments: track down the drug-addicted daughter of his boss' boss (Michael Gambon), and oversee a massive drug deal. Of course, both projects go off the rails for reasons beyond his control.

"For me, he didn't look like your usual cliché of a gangster," Craig said of his character in an interview with IGN. "I wanted to do something different. I wanted to show the kind of elegant businessman-like drug dealers. There's a lot of them out there." Once again, Craig received praise for his taut performance as a shrewd criminal with a knack for business and a distaste for violence. "Craig is fascinating here as a criminal who is very smart, and finds that is not an advantage because while you might be able to figure out what another smart person is about to do, dumbos like the men he works for are likely to do anything," noted Roger Ebert in his review. 

Steve In Munich (2005)

Craig graduated to leading roles in movies, yet he was happy to take a supporting part in 2005's "Munich" to work with the film's director, Steven Spielberg. "Munich" follows a covert operation launched by the Israeli government in retribution for the assassination of 11 Israeli athletes and their coach during the 1972 Olympics in Munich at the hands of a Palestinian militant group known as Black September. Eric Bana stars as Avner, appointed by Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (Lynn Cohen) to head the top-secret revenge mission. His top-tier team includes Robert (Mathieu Kassovitz), a munitions expert, Carl (Ciaran Hinds), the "cleaner," and Hans (Hanns Zischler), an expert forger. The team is rounded out by Craig's character, Steve, a South African brought in to serve as driver and trigger man.

"Steve at first is very gung ho," said Craig. The men face a moral dilemma as they commit atrocities to avenge the murdered athletes. "As the movie goes on... We see the fact that these are just human beings.. He suffers, because of the terrible things that they begin to do, and the terrible acts that they have to commit to fulfilling the job they've taken on." 

Perry Smith In Infamous (2006)

The same year that Craig made his 007 debut in "Casino Royale," he also starred in "Infamous," a film dramatizing the story of how author Truman Capote (Toby Jones) researched and wrote his true-crime classic, "In Cold Blood." In the film, Capote meets with convicted murderers Perry Smith (Craig, his hair and eyebrows dyed jet black, while contact lenses concealed his blue eyes) and Dick Hickock (Lee Pace), who share details of their horrific slaughter of a Kansas family. Capote's relationship with the malevolently magnetic Smith becomes sexual, violently so. Since Craig had then been cast as Bond, an "Infamous" scene in which he and Jones kiss made headlines for all the wrong reasons. Jones was continually asked in interviews about what it was like to kiss 007. "What's he supposed to say? 'Very dry?'" Craig quipped in an interview with The Observer. "Anyway, it's all over the internet now: 'Bond has gay kiss!'"

As "Infamous" director Douglas McGrath told The Observer, Craig's character doesn't appear until about 40 minutes into the film. "But boy, the minute he comes in, he sure grabs everyone," said McGrath. "I knew Daniel was right because he is very persuasively violent, very persuasive as a vulnerable person, but he is also totally magnetic. As Perry, you think is he dumb, or much smarter than I thought, which keeps you on a knife edge."

Ben Driscoll In The Invasion (2007)

In his first film after the release of "Casino Royale," Craig teamed up with Nicole Kidman for the sci-fi thriller "The Invasion." The film is a loose remake of the sci-fi horror classic "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." Kidman plays psychiatrist Carol Bennell, who makes the horrifying discovery that an extraterrestrial epidemic has been changing people's personalities and behavior. Craig portrays Dr. Ben Driscoll, who helps her try to stop the alien virus from spreading. 

Ultimately, critics deemed "The Invasion" a failure and a commercial flop. Still, Craig did admirable work portraying a doctor trying to convince the medical establishment that their new strain of flu is actually an alien invasion. Speaking with interviewer Emmanuel Levy, "The Invasion" director Oliver Hirschbiegel praised Craig's performance in the film. "I felt so fortunate to have Daniel in the role of Ben," he said. "He naturally conveyed all the facets of his character: all the toughness, the intelligence, and the tenderness that makes you see why Carol relies on Ben so much. Daniel also has a wicked sense of humor. I had a great time working with him."

Tuva Bielski In Defiance (2008)

Based on true events, "Defiance" follows a group of Jews in Nazi-occupied Belarus in 1941. In the film, the group flees to the forest and successfully (for a while, anyhow) wages war against Hitler's forces using guerilla-style tactics. Craig starred as Tuvia Bielski, fighting with his brothers Zus (Liev Schreiber) and Asael (Jamie Bell) to establish an encampment that grows increasingly larger as more Belarusian Jews flee Nazi oppression to join them. Tuvia, a farmer, recognizes he possesses an innate knack for military strategy, leading a fearsome fighting force.

Craig explained in an interview with Collider what makes his character interesting, stating that he's "not a particularly good Jew." But he is "first and foremost a Belarusian businessman." In fact, what interested Craig most about the character and the film's story were the moral compromises that Tuv makes, and the barbarous acts he and his men commit -- all justified as being in service of the greater good. "It's obvious if anyone watches the film, if anyone reads the book, obvious if you sort of understand the storyline, these people did bad things," Craig said. "They did very, very bad things and you always have to look at the net result which is that twelve hundred people walked out of this situation and survived."

Mikael Blomkvist In The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Stieg Larsson's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" was a bestseller with a global following when Craig joined the American film adaptation opposite Rooney Mara in 2011. Mara played the titular tattooed girl, punk-ish computer hacker Lisbeth Salander. Craig portrays crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist, aided by Lisbeth. The pair tries to uncover the circumstances behind the mysterious disappearance of the 16-year-old niece of a wealthy industrialist (Christopher Plummer) 40 years earlier. As predicted, the David Fincher-directed film was a box-office hit that garnered largely positive reviews. 

While promoting the movie, Craig told The Sun why he felt the film was an important one to make (via Digital Spy). "This movie deals with forbidden or difficult subject matters," Craig explained. "It deals with violence towards women, it touches upon Nazism, and all the suppression of Nazism in a country where maybe there hasn't been a lot of discussions. And it's those subject matters that interest me." During that same interview, Craig delved into what he found particularly interesting about playing the character of Blomkvist. "He's flawed, he's an egotist, but he's got a very strong moral center. His ego gets in the way, I think, sometimes. Maybe he's got a Jesus Christ complex, like most men. And that's his downfall."

Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine In The Adventures Of Tintin (2011)

Several years after working with Steven Spielberg in "Munich," Daniel Craig reunited with the acclaimed director for a very different project: Spielberg's CGI-animated "The Adventures of Tintin." Bringing the beloved Belgian comic book character to life, Spielberg cast Jamie Bell as the voice of the titular protagonist Tintin, while Andy Serkis voiced Tintin's constant companion, Capt. Archibald Haddock. Craig voiced Sakharine, a relatively minor character in the comics who was promoted to primary villain for the movie. As Craig revealed in an interview with Esquire, this was no ordinary voiceover role. Spielberg wanted to animate the physicality of his actors. Craig and his co-stars performed their scenes in front of a green screen while motion-capturing sensors were affixed to them (a process familiar to Serkis from playing Gollum in the "Lord of the Rings" movies). 

"We shot it in mo-cap. Which is like, 'F**k me, I'm literally in a leotard with a f**king helmet on, and a camera strapped to it,'" Craig recalled. Magnifying the indignity significantly, he joked that Spielberg's set wound up being visited by all manner of A-listers. "It's Steven Spielberg, so every f**ker in the world comes to visit. [David] Fincher comes to visit. Clint f**king Eastwood comes to visit. It was just like, are you kidding me? I'm gonna meet these people dressed like this? Playing a pirate, wearing a leotard and a camera? Really?"

Jake Lonergan In Cowboys & Aliens (2011)

Expectations were sky high when it was first announced that Craig would be co-starring with screen legend Harrison Ford in "Cowboys & Aliens," a sci-fi western film from Jon Favreau, director of Hollywood hits like "Iron Man" and "The Mandalorian." Craig plays Jake Lonergan, an outlaw who awakens with a strange piece of alien tech on his wrist with no memory of how it got there. Jake figures out that extraterrestrial hardware can blast out powerful bursts of energy. This comes in handy when he finds himself facing off against cutthroat cattle baron Col. Woodrow Dollarhyde (Ford) and his army of henchmen — and even handier when the warring humans find themselves becoming uneasy allies forced to band together to fend off an alien invasion.

Reviews were decidedly mixed, but even the negative critiques singled out Craig and Ford for their solid performances. "The acting from the large cast is of a high standard, Craig and Ford were more or less born into their roles," wrote Roger Ebert, while Salon's Andrew O'Hehir wrote that "Daniel Craig makes a terrific western drifter in the Eastwood mold, with no name and no past, and he doesn't look, sound or act anything like James Bond." While the film pulled in more than $174 million at the box office, the film was nonetheless considered to be a flop, given that its budget was a hefty $163 million.

Joe Bang In Logan Lucky (2017)

Directed by Steven Soderbergh, "Logan Lucky" follows a motley crew of criminals led by Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum), attempting to pull off an audacious heist by robbing the Charlotte Motor Speedway in the midst of the biggest NASCAR race of the year. Among the team, Jimmy assembles is legendary safecracker Joe Bang (Craig), whose expertise in explosions is vital to their plan. One obstacle, however, is that Joe is currently behind bars, leading to an outrageous scheme to bust him out of the slammer, and then return him to his cell before the guards notice he's gone. 

With his hillbilly drawl and glint of chaos in his eyes, Joe Bang is a character about as far from James Bond as it gets. As for Craig's characterization, Soderbergh told GQ that he took no credit. "He had carte blanche to build this character any way he wanted," Soderbergh said. "I said to him, 'I don't care how you look. I don't care how you sound." Soderbergh went on to compare Craig's role in the film to a Roman candle. "He gets to show up and inject this jolt of energy and then leave. But he doesn't have to carry the movie. It's the perfect supporting role."

Benoit Blanc In Knives Out (2019) And Glass Onion (2022)

Craig was in the midst of ending his participation in the Bond franchise just as he jumped into another — or at least that's how it turned out when he accepted the role of Southern detective Benoit Blanc in "Knives Out," director Rian Johnson's Rubik's Cube of a whodunit. In "Knives Out," Blanc investigates the murder of a wealthy mystery novelist (Christopher Plummer), with his greedy children and their grasping spouses emerging as suspects. Craig returned for the sequel, 2022's "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery," which featured a new cast and an even more convoluted mystery for Blanc to solve. Part Columbo, part Foghorn Leghorn, Blanc's Southern charm and bourbon-dripping drawl often allows him to be underestimated by those he's investigating. Craig told Netflix's Tudum that developing Blanc's accent was key to creating the character. "There's a touch of Tennessee Williams in there," Craig explained. "There's a touch of the historian Shelby Foote. It's trying to create something that's a bit otherworldly."

Craig will revive the character for a third "Knives Out" movie. He considers being able to leap from one successful franchise into another a blessing. "I can't believe my luck, I spent 17 years of my life doing that other thing which has been glorious and wonderful, and for this role to fall into my lap, I couldn't have expected it," Craig told the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast.

Read this next: 10 Underrated James Bond Movies That Deserve More Respect

The post The 12 Best Daniel Craig Roles That Aren't 007 appeared first on /Film.

Threat actors are increasingly abusing Microsoft OneNote documents to deliver malware in both targeted and spray-and-pray campaigns.

The post Microsoft OneNote Abuse for Malware Delivery Surges appeared first on SecurityWeek.

The last few weeks have been surprisingly busy in terms of video game news, with Microsoft delivering their first Xbox and Bethesda Developer Direct in late January, which was then followed by a big Nintendo Direct this past Wednesday. Sooo, what about Sony? They don’t want to let Microsoft and Nintendo grab all the early-2023 headlines, right?

Well, according to incorrigible leaker Jeff Grubb on the latest epidose of the Game Mess Decides podcast (how many shows does that guy have?) Sony does indeed have some irons in the fire. Per Grubb, we can expect a new PlayStation State of Play sometime soon (likely within the next month) although that will be fairly “low-key.” Thankfully, there’s apparently a reason for that, as Sony is said to be holding stuff back as they have plans for a full-on E3-season PlayStation Showcase this year.

“There's going to be a [PlayStation] State of Play pretty soon. There's going to be even more games announced now! Don't get your hopes up too high, because apparently, it's going to be a pretty low-key State of Play, but soon. [...] Let's say, in a month or so, or maybe a little sooner.

Again, a little bit more low-key, because apparently, they're saving [...] stuff for an actual PlayStation Showcase that will likely come before E3 time. So, there you go. [...] It seems like Sony is going to be reloading and re-launching their marketing campaigns very quickly. It will be like a one-two punch.”

Of course, take this with a grain of salt for now, but Grubb has a good track record when it comes to leaking/predicting the timing of various gaming showcases. Sony’s upcoming release schedule is pretty empty outside Spider-Man 2 and third-party stuff, so some updates are definitely in order.

What do you expect to see from the PlayStation team over the next few months? Perhaps most importantly, following the release of Hi-Fi Rush and Metroid Prime Remastered, what is Sony going to shadow drop?

The post Sony Reportedly Dropping a State of Play Soon and a Big PlayStation Showcase Prior to E3 by Nathan Birch appeared first on Wccftech.

NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 40 GPUs are expected to have a limited supply this quarter while the RTX 4080 price cut might be coming soon.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 GPUs Will Face Short Supply This Quarter Followed By A Price Cut On The RTX 4080

In the latest rumor published by Chinese Board Channels (via MyDrivers), it is reported that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 GPU lineup which includes the RTX 4090, RTX 4080, and RTX 4070 Ti, will face short supply through the remainder of this quarter. There's no reason explained behind the shortages but one can say that it might be due to the limited production of these cards through the Chinese New Year.

Now NVIDIA did happen to produce a larger number of RTX 40 GPUs early on so whether this will affect the availability of the cards is another matter. The RTX 4090 and RTX 4070 Ti had a decent initial supply while the RTX 4080 was produced in much lower quantities than the flagship GeForce RTX 4090. The RTX 4070 Ti being a recent launch has been very popular amongst gamers as data acquired by TechEpiphany from Germany's largest retailer shows. The report also suggests that the RTX 4070 Ti overall shipments are in short supply, accounting for just 8% of the total shipments.

GPUs, where the week is heading (fixed)#AMD #Intel #Nvidia #Radeon #NvidiaGeForce #IntelGraphics pic.twitter.com/wbrECdRfbn

— TechEpiphany (@TechEpiphany) February 7, 2023

Following are the best-selling GPUs over at Newegg as of February 2023:

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 is once again rumored to get a price cut after supply gets better. The exact timeframe of this price cut is not known but it's long overdue as many similar rumors showed up in the past and the card hasn't been as popular as the other two RTX 40 offerings due to its perf to dollar ratio. The card is currently priced $200 US higher than the Radeon RX 7900 XTX which isn't super competitive since the XTX can outperform it in many games. NVIDIA might drop it to 1100 or if they are feeling even more competitive, to $1000 US but that remains to be seen.

Besides the RTX 40 series cards, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series cards will also see an update with the RTX 3090 and RTX 3080 more or less delisted and the RTX 3070 / RTX 3060 card prices are seeing heavy price adjustments due to the upcoming RTX 4070 and RTX 4060 graphics cards.

The RTX 3060 series cards aren't entirely getting replaced by the RTX 4060 but the standard 3060 cards will be replaced by the newer RTX 3060 GDDR6X models as the older stock eventually dies out. The GeForce 16 series cards will also be replaced by the RTX 3050 for the foreseeable future.

The post NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 GPUs Too See Limited Supply This Quarter, RTX 4080 Price Cut Imminent by Hassan Mujtaba appeared first on Wccftech.

Gamers are no strangers to delayed seasons, but The Division 2 players are in a particularly awkward situation. Ubisoft has revealed that a development "error" has broken the shared-world shooter's build generation system, and thus the studio's ability to update the game. The team not only can't introduce the new season it delayed last week, but can't extend the outgoing one until it repairs the build functionality.

Ubisoft says it has made "good progress" in fixing the issue in recent days, and there are hints a solution is in sight. The company is in the midst of a three-hour "unscheduled maintenance" session as we write this, and it's using the downtime to fix problems that include an inability to make seasonal in-game purchases. The servers should be back online around 1PM Eastern if there are no complications.

The timing is particularly bad for this issue. Ubisoft recently cancelled three games in response to sinking revenue, and workers at its Paris studio went on strike last month to protest what they say are unfair working conditions. Things aren't going smoothly at the publisher, and it may be a while before there's a degree of stability.