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NVIDIA recently started shipping its GeForce RTX 4080 & RTX 4070 graphics cards with revised AD103 & AD104 'Ada' GPU silicon. A report from Igor's Lab suggests that these aren't meant to improve the card but to resolve a potential bug.

NVIDIA Has New GPUs For Its GeForce RTX 4080 & RTX 4070 Graphics Cards That Resolve Fan-Speed Bug

We started hearing rumors about the new NVIDIA Ada Lovelace GPU silicon when we reported about two unique GPUs, the AD104-250 and AD104-251, going into mass production later this quarter. Earlier rumors claimed that the new GPUs will get rid of a comparator circuit and even lower the BOM costs by $1, as indicated by HKEPC. As it turns out, this is true but the removal of the circuit shouldn't help the efficiency of the card in any regard but instead fix of crucial bug.

The initial NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 and RTX 4070 Ti graphics cards shipped with the standard AD103-300 and AD104-250 GPU cores. We now have a newer AD103-301 & AD104-251 silicon in production and shipping with both of these cards, several of which are already available in the retail market.

Old NVIDIA Ada GPUs With Comparator Circuit marked with 'U121' Label (Image Credits: Igorslab):

The main change between the two versions of the silicon happens to be an issue with how the fan speed was controlled. To address this issue, the initial version of the Ada GPUs had to use external comparator circuits, marked as 'U121' on the PCB, to make sure that the fan starts spinning and hit a required set of operational tasks. The following is explained by Igorslab:

The second tip came from the notebook sector, where even the chips with a bug can be used without any problems because the affected area is generally replaced by a solution with an embedded controller. This brings us closer to the bug, which is as trivial as it is important: It’s about the part with the so-called “initial fan speed”. Does the fan start spinning safely at a preset hotspot temperature or not? Or is the fan defective or does it stop? Exactly this function is solved with the AD103-300 or the AD104-250 with an external comparator, which compares the PWM signal for the fan control with the actual value. You can even see that when you measure.

via Igorslab

With this issue fixed in the new Ada GPU silicon, all new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 & RTX 4070 Ti graphics cards will not have to rely on the comparator external circuit anymore and since it isn't that major of a component, it can easily be removed while resulting in a small adjustment to the BOM. Now $1 may not sound like much but when you are producing cards in the thousands or even tens of thousands range, every little penny matters for operational cost.

The post NVIDIA Revised AD103 & AD104 GPU Silicon For RTX 4080 & RTX 4070 Ti Resolves Fan-Speed Bug by Hassan Mujtaba appeared first on Wccftech.

Review: Action and plenty of heart can be found in this South Korean sci-fi about artificially intelligent robots.

A lot of Deadpool fans were excited by the announcement last September that Hugh Jackman would be taking up his role again as Wolverine in "Deadpool 3." Jackman and Reynolds seem to get along great together, after all, and the two characters seem like they'd be natural comedic foils. It's easy to picture Logan as the straight man reacting with annoyance to Deadpool's constant fourth-wall-breaking shenanigans.

But for fans of the 2017 film, "Logan," which served as a final farewell to Wolverine, the announcement wasn't necessarily cause for celebration. Instead, it seemed like an undermining of the emotional stakes of what most agree to be Wolverine's best live-action movie. Considering how little death seems to matter in superhero comics and movies, it felt refreshing at the time for Wolverine's tenure to finally come to a definitive, emotionally resonant end. Isn't this a little insulting to poor James Mangold, the director of "Logan," to have Wolverine just pop back onto the big screen like it's nothing?

Turns out, Mangold's fine with the whole thing. "He was actually really cool about it," Hugh Jackman told Empire, as he explained how Mangold actually gave him his blessing before he accepted the role. "I did tell him it takes place before our movie, so I wasn't going to screw it up with my claws coming out of the grave. He was relieved by that."

Too Fun An Opportunity To Pass Up

Hugh Jackman deciding to play Wolverine one more time was something that the actor didn't think he'd do. "For five years, I was really honest when I said, 'I'm never playing that part again, I promise you,'" he explained to Empire. Apparently, he'd rejected several pleas from Ryan Reynolds for him to return before he finally agreed. "It was August 14, [2022]," he recalled. "I remember driving and it just came to me like that. I just thought this would be so much fun."

It's easy to see the appeal, especially considering Jackman has always played Wolverine in a fairly serious context. While those "X-Men" films of his weren't exactly humorless, the writers and actors did take them seriously most of the time. The closest thing to a meta-joke was the throwaway line about yellow spandex in the first film, which really only served to showcase just how grounded the movie was trying to be. Getting to play Wolverine in a movie where the rules are far more flexible, where the characters get to be a little more aware of their fictional status, has got to be a breath of fresh air. 

And although the script for "Deadpool 3" isn't finished yet, Jackman also told Empire that he was very on board with the general plan for Wolverine and Deadpool's dynamic:

"They hate each other. [Logan] is annoyed by him. Frustrated by him. Wants to be a million miles away from him. Unfortunately, he can't be a million miles away from him in this movie. He's the fast-talking, quick-witted loudmouth and my character just wants to punch him in the head."

"Deadpool 3" is currently scheduled to make its way into theaters on November 8, 2024. 

Read this next: 9 Filmmakers Who Should Be Given Free Rein In The MCU

The post Hugh Jackman Got Logan Director James Mangold's Blessing To Bring Back Wolverine For Deadpool 3 appeared first on /Film.

Dad’s made a birthday post consistently for over ten years, so, on one hand, it feels natural to make one of my own. But, on the other hand, it feels like elbowing into a spot I don’t belong, like my cat trying to “share” my recliner with me. Like, sure, okay, you fit, kind of, but at what cost? Nothing feels natural or right, and you literally have a bed right over there. Derailed cat analogy aside, maybe I’m overthinking it.

The longer I write here, and the more time I get away from the shock of ‘wow, my dad is gone’ the more I think he’d actually appreciate I kept up the torch. I hope. A therapist would have a field day with my recurring dream where he comes back from the dead and reads the site on a toaster he’s using as a computer, and I wake up before I can find out what he thinks of my writing. No really, that keeps happening, and he keeps using different appliances, toaster, hair dryer, air fryer, just plugs into a screen and starts reading. Don’t ask me how, it’s dream logic. I guess dream me is smart enough to realize he can’t read it on his computer since I’ve commandeered it. But honestly, if my father reanimated from the dead some random Tuesday, I’m pretty sure I’d just give him his damn computer back. Not being able to play Skyrim anymore wouldn’t exactly be my top priority in that strange event^[1].

The first time Dad made a birthday post was in 2007. I was nine, and DM of the Rings wasn’t even done yet. The picture of me on the far left up there was taken just a little bit before that time. It’s over ten years later, Dad’s gone, and I’m writing my own. Lately, I find myself constantly getting the song Older, by They Might Be Giants stuck in my head. It’s a song that is both deeply pertinent, and that I heavily associate with my dad.  This video that my dad made when I was a kid was a staple of my childhood. Funnily enough, it was at the core of several lighthearted family arguments. See, often when Dad was working, I would sit behind him and offer an endless supply of child-style advice. Usually, this was composed of things like advising him to use the ‘prettiest’ weapon, or piece of armor or buying/adopting a pet in a game that didn’t even allow it. I ‘helped’ him decorate his houses in Skyrim and Fallout, and deck out several Garry’s Mod maps. But on the day he made the roller coaster video, my advice was actually taken. ‘Add balloons!!’ I demanded ‘Make them all different colors!!’ I begged. I remember because I was so excited he’d taken my advice and that it made it into the video. That fact was my pride and joy! I didn’t have a concept that the video was a hit until years later, but I remembered helping him with it clear as day.

He, of course, didn’t remember my help at all, and insisted until he died that I was completely absent of the creative process. Plagiarism I say! Plagiarism! Who plagiarizes a nine-year-old? Today I set the record straight! Sue my widowed mother for my $1.23 of owed profit!

Obviously, my participation in the balloons in the video doesn’t really matter, but we often playfully argued about the subject.

As for turning 25…? Meh. I looked forward to my birthdays till I turned 21, then…not really.

Of course, 21 in the US is the year you can legally drink. It’s not that I’m a big drinker or anything, in fact, I seem to be strangely immune to the stuff physically, and it usually doesn’t taste good enough to justify it^[2]. So, why so excited to turn 21? I don’t know, it unlocked something, that at least felt meaningful. Now, birthdays just feel like a poorly designed leveling system with too many unlocks near the beginning and end, and one long grind in the middle. I guess my next exciting birthday will be 65, the senior discount. Until then it’s just fetch quests and the endless grinding for XP. Not loving the ‘recurring Dad dream’ sidequest or the ‘permanently disabled’ special events, either.

There isn't a more prominent supporter of grindhouse cinema than Quentin Tarantino. His films are stuffed-to-bursting with references to the kinds of low-down, controversy-courting exploitation flicks that ran around the clock in New York City's Times Square and on Los Angeles' Hollywood Boulevard. These theaters attracted dumpster-diving cinephiles with an unquenchable appetite for trash, and druggies, transients, and sex workers looking to kill time or stay warm. According to the folks who frequented these establishments, you never knew what you were going to get quality-wise in terms of the movies and the audiences. Prior to the advent of the Video Cassette Recorder, a grindhouse screening was the only way you'd ever see mind-melters like "Ms. 45," "The Swinging Barmaids" and "Fight for Your Life."

Growing up for the most part in Southern California, Tarantino had access to the trash palaces in Hollywood and downtown L.A., but he lacked the financial resources to book a flight and hit up the grindhouse Mecca of Times Square during its 1970s and '80s heyday. It wasn't until he was casting "Reservoir Dogs" in the early 1990s that he could afford, on Harvey Keitel's dime, to visit the Big Apple. It was a dream come true with one catch: he was there on business, and only had a weekend to squeeze in a brief sampling of what was left of the grindhouse theaters. Surely a movie maniac like Tarantino could find the time to spend a few hours in his film-geek Disneyland.

Quentin In Scuzzball Wonderland

In a wide-ranging interview for DGA Quarterly, Martin Scorsese, the ultimate New Yorker, asked Quentin Tarantino if he ever got a chance to catch some flicks on 42nd Street during its grindhouse prime. According to Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, who'd been cast in the role of Mr. White in "Reservoir Dogs," wanted the first-time filmmaker to give New York City actors a shot at parts in the heist flick. That was the purpose of the visit, and it paid off handsomely via the casting of Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, and Steve Buscemi.

But for Tarantino, to set foot in Manhattan and not go to a movie in Times Square would be like a devout Catholic visiting Rome and not venturing into Vatican City. As QT told Scorsese:

"[I]'m literally like, 'OK, I've been wanting to go to a Times Square cinema my whole life. The first thing I'm going to do, as soon as we get done with work, I'm going to go to the Times Square, I want to go see whatever is playing.' And Harvey goes, 'Quentin, no you're not. In a week or two, you could do that, but you can't do that tomorrow. You're too new.'"

Tarantino can take solace in knowing that video stores (where he received the bulk of his movie education) had killed off the most infamous grindhouses by this point. The Disney-fication of Times Square was drawing close on the horizon. The thrill was gone. But there isn't a single filmmaker who's done more to ensure that the wildest, sleaziest, goriest films from that era have been preserved via physical media. 

Read this next: 13 Tarantino Projects We Never Saw But Wish We Could've

The post Casting Reservoir Dogs With Harvey Keitel Let Quentin Tarantino Live Out A Lifelong Dream appeared first on /Film.

SECURE 2.0 was signed into law at the end of 2022. Standing for “Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement,” the second version of this act is designed to keep building on improvements to the U.S. retirement system. Whether retirement is far off or fast approaching for you, here’s what to know about how…

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Formerly named Agape, GameImage is a way to package up games with either Wine or an Emulator into a portable AppImage that could be useful for the Steam Deck.

New research has found that it is possible for threat actors to abuse a legitimate feature in GitHub Codespaces to deliver malware to victim systems. GitHub Codespaces is a cloud-based configurable development environment that allows users to debug, maintain, and commit changes to a given codebase from a web browser or via an integration in Visual Studio Code. It also comes with a port

Four different Microsoft Azure services have been found vulnerable to server-side request forgery (SSRF) attacks that could be exploited to gain unauthorized access to cloud resources. The security issues, which were discovered by Orca between October 8, 2022 and December 2, 2022 in Azure API Management, Azure Functions, Azure Machine Learning, and Azure Digital Twins, have since been addressed

For some people, it's important to look tough on screen as part of their brand. You wouldn't imagine Bruce Lee getting the crap kicked out of him, for instance, right? These days, some actors even have it worked into their contract that they simply cannot lose a fight in their movies. Most famously, Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, and Jason Statham each had that stipulation included while working on the "Fast and Furious" franchise. (Because in Dominic Toretto's world, nothing is more important than family... except for looking like the biggest badass on the block.)

But in the grand tradition of Hollywood tough guys concerned about image, there's one name you can add to the list who you'd probably never expect: Bob Barker. Yes, the longtime host of "The Price is Right" made it very clear that if he was going to appear in Adam Sandler's golf comedy "Happy Gilmore," there was no way he was going to get K.O.'ed by Sandler's hockey player-turned-pro golfer. And while it's a little unbelievable that the game show host who was always so concerned about controlling the pet population would care about looking tough in his cameo appearance, he actually had a relatively valid reason: he was trained by Chuck Norris.

Yes, that Chuck Norris -- the man of a thousand astounding (but totally true) facts. And if you think the elderly pupil of Walker, Texas Ranger was going to be made to look like a punk in a goofy sports movie, think again.

Barker Would Only Appear If He Could Play Plinko With Sandler's Face

During an appearance on Dan Patrick's podcast in 2021, Sandler confirmed the story that Barker only agreed to appear in "Happy Gilmore" as long as he got the better of the titular character, and not the other way around:

"Bob Barker read it, and his first response — and I know he probably tells everybody this — was, 'I'll do it. But I have to win the fight.' Because he fought. His nextdoor neighbor was Chuck Norris. And so he said, 'I train with Chuck, we train every night, and he helps me with my punches and my kicks, and I would love to do this, but I have to win this fight.'"

At the time, Barker was 73-years-old and everyone's favorite daytime television grandpa. When he first pops up onscreen in "Happy Gilmore," that's still the role he plays: nothing but genial while paired with Happy in a Celebrity Pro-Am event. It's only when Happy starts playing the worst round of his life that the competitive spirit takes hold, and Barker begins ruthlessly roasting his golf partner. It all leads to one of the most unexpected brawls in Hollywood history.

As originally written, it's Happy who ends up knocking out the septuagenarian game show host, which we're sure would have still made for a funny and wholly absurd scene. But Sandler and his team knew that it was more important to get Barker in the film than to have Happy come out on top, and it helped create one of the best celebrity cameos in movie history -- which is something Barker's martial arts instructor knows a little something about himself.

Read this next: The 15 Best '90s Comedies Ranked

The post Chuck Norris Indirectly Forced A Rewrite To Bob Barker And Adam Sandler's Happy Gilmore Fight appeared first on /Film.

It's something of a miracle that a television series based on Ron Howard's '80s action fantasy "Willow" even exists at all. If it wasn't for the streaming wars between major studios where every piece of mineable intellectual property has become viable again, the continuation of Willow Ufgood's (Warwick Davis) story would probably never have had a second chapter. Now that the Disney+ series has finished its eight-episode run, fans can look back and decide for themselves whether the show was really necessary, or if the original adventure was enough. 

Created and shepherded by showrunner Jon Kasdan ("Solo: A Star Wars Story"), the series picks up 20 years after the events of the original, seeing Willow and his team of misfits helping to protect Elora Danan, the child of prophecy who was only a baby in the first movie. Willow mentors Elora and begins to teach her the tenets of magic and wizardry. That premise feels like a natural extension of the original tale, and one that Kasdan has been eager to explore. If the fans think they're truly passionate about the first film, Kasdan probably loves it even more. While the general consensus has been fairly positive, there's also been a vocal minority that haven't been exactly kind to the series and its fairly predictable setup and execution.

In a new interview with /Film, Kasdan spoke openly about the change in tone that rubbed some folks the wrong way. "You sort of know, I think, going into these things that, particularly when you take a big swing as we did with 'Willow' — to sort of tonally and in terms of making it something very specific and different from the movie — that certain people will embrace that and certain people won't." 

'You're Never Going To Please Everyone'

Especially after the mixed reaction to "Solo" -- the somewhat unnecessary origin story of the rogue smuggler Han Solo -- Kasdan (who co-wrote that screenplay with his father Lawrence Kasdan) is certainly familiar with fan backlash. For what it's worth, "Solo" was made for and by diehard "Star Wars" fans that would actually get a kick out of references to characters like Aurra Singh and gasp at the return of Darth Maul. "Willow" is no different, with Kasdan peppering in numerous connections to the 1988 original. What he went through with "Star Wars" is similar to what Rian Johnson experienced with the incredibly divisive second entry in the sequel trilogy, "The Last Jedi."

This is all to say that Kasdan understands that you can't please everyone. Kasdan, it appears, has learned to value every opinion as long as he continues to follow his heart, just like Willow does. Kasdan told /Film: 

"What's nice about that dynamic and that knowledge that I'm sort of privy to is that it makes it possible to embrace every opinion that people have and relate to every opinion people have. So there's a real satisfaction — or rather a peace, I guess — in knowing that you're never going to please everyone and that you could just try to follow your heart and your gut and express your love for this stuff in the best way you know how."

Beloved characters like Luke Skywalker or Willow Ufgood can stay in a sort of stasis in the memories of fans, but in order for them to fully grow, they have to change when the story continues. 

Read this next: The 14 Best Moments In Willow, Ranked

The post Willow Showrunner Jon Kasdan Finds Peace In Knowing Fans Are Impossible To Please [Exclusive] appeared first on /Film.

With so many devices (and their various accessories) needing to be charged—not to mention the lights, appliances, and other electronics that need to remain plugged in—your cords and cables situation is probably out of control. Keeping cables neat and well organized is tough, whether it’s for the stuff you use every…

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Politicians and social media can’t get enough of the gas versus electric stove debate (at Lifehacker, we think Electric Stoves Are Good, Actually)—but regardless of where you stand on it, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) federal legislation that was passed last year can essentially score you a free electric range in…

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Remember the days when the term "mystery box" wasn't solely meant as a pejorative? Movie fans weren't always so jaded about J.J. Abrams' famous catchphrase and mission statement. Although, in fairness, it certainly helped that filmmakers at the time hadn't overused the concept to an egregious level just yet. Back in those more innocent times, mass audiences actually craved the exhilarating feeling of not having any idea what was going on -- a far cry from modern fandom, where Easter eggs and references are broken down into a fine powder only moments after a movie or television show first airs.

Perhaps the most famous example of this phenomenon came as a result of "Cloverfield," the 2008 found-footage monster movie by a relatively unknown filmmaker by the name of Matt Reeves. After dropping a surprise teaser attached to prints of the first "Transformers" movie, the mysterious footage detailing some sort of apocalyptic calamity fired up the imaginations of moviegoers everywhere. The rather brilliant viral marketing campaign kept the movie's secrets incredibly close to the vest, compelling would-be viewers to show up to theaters in droves -- if for no other reason than to discover what "Cloverfield" was actually about before it got spoiled.

Once audiences finally saw it for themselves, however, the shockingly downbeat ending proved somewhat divisive. After spending most of the runtime terrorizing our small circle of protagonists throughout a ruined New York City, the alien kaiju (known affectionately as Clover) ended up leaving only two main characters alive: love interests Rob Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David) and Beth McIntyre (Odette Yustman). The film concludes when the military bombs the city in a desperate attempt to destroy the monster, killing our heroes in the process and ending on an ambiguous note.

According to Reeves, that finale stoked some internal debate, too.

'We Felt That The Most Hopeful Ending Was That Ending'

In the years since "Cloverfield," Matt Reeves (along with writer Drew Goddard) has paid off on these relatively humble beginnings, going on to enjoy widespread acclaim by making some of the best franchise offerings in recent years on the biggest canvas possible. But at the time, success was far from a sure thing. Cue the uncertainty surrounding exactly how to bring "Cloverfield" in for a landing and whether they were truly moving forward with the best possible conclusion for the picture.

With the 15th anniversary of "Cloverfield" upon us and the movie now available on 4K SteelBook, /Film's Eric Vespe spoke to Reeves, asking if he had second thoughts in how he brought his monster movie to an end. According to the director, the rather depressing ending actually included a modicum of hope, thanks to Beth and Rob expressing their love for one another in their final moments:

"Gosh, you know, we absolutely did have some debates about it. I remember that, especially for Drew [Goddard] and I, we felt that the most hopeful ending was that ending. Because the point was, for that last moment, if that's their last moment -- and there's ambiguity, but it doesn't seem good -- the fact that they are with each other and they love each other, it's sort of a beautiful, transcendent idea. And then we end on them talking about that day in the footage from when they were out on that date."

The date in question refers to a trip to Coney Island that the couple once took in simpler times, though the flashback to that previous moment also includes a telltale glimpse of something falling out of the sky -- heralding the arrival of the monstrous Clover.

'As Tragic As It Was, It Also Was Very Human'

Yet despite the tantalizing implications of the final scene of "Cloverfield," Matt Reeves kept his focus strictly on the romance of it all. He went on, however, to describe how tricky it was to find the balance between hope and the "tragic" inevitability of seeing all the characters meet their untimely (and rather gruesome) end. According to the director, he, Drew Goddard, and the rest of film's creative team went back and forth behind the scenes over whether it was "too serious" or not:

"There was something about them having at least found each other and to be together at that moment that, for as tragic as it was, it also was very human. We both loved that. So we were like, 'Oh, no, no, we have to do it this way.' So, there was talk about it, but I don't know that it ever got too serious, but there was definitely some people saying like, 'Maybe we should think about this. Does it seem too grim?' And we're like, 'Well, it feels like the right ending.' So that's kind of why we did it."

At the end of the day, filmmakers ultimately have to go with their storytelling instincts and allow their intuition to be the decisive voice in making the final call. Perhaps a more studio-friendly version of "Cloverfield" would've gone over marginally better, but it's doubtful that the movie's legacy would be the same had the storytellers compromised on their original vision. Instead, Reeves stuck to his guns and the rest, as they say, is history.

Read this next: The Most Controversial Scenes In Sci-Fi Movies

The post Matt Reeves Says He Had 'Some Debates' About Cloverfield's Ending [Exclusive] appeared first on /Film.

A GitHub Codespaces feature meant to help with code development and collaboration can be abused for malware delivery, Trend Micro reports.

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During the DVD boom, it was normal to see big directors and actors make the publicity rounds to promote home video releases. I was lucky enough to chat with some absolute legends because of this era. John Cleese talked with me about "Monty Python and The Meaning of Life," Mel Brooks jumped on the horn to promote an anniversary release of "Blazing Saddles" on DVD, and John Landis even enthusiastically told me "Blues Brothers" stories for that DVD release.

We live in the streaming era now, so I thought those days were over. But then Mr. Matt Reeves himself dedicated some time to promoting the upcoming 4K UHD release of his big breakout movie, "Cloverfield," and I was in the fortunate position to get the chance to pick his brain about his memories of the movie.

I started by asking Mr. Reeves why supporting a physical media release in the year 2023 was so important to him and the conversation quickly turned to other important topics, like the story behind that buzzworthy first teaser trailer, how the bummer ending survived the studio notes process, and even a small tour of the geeky movie posters on the wall behind me as we conducted this interview over Zoom.

Note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

'Star Wars', Criterion, And The Importance Of Physical Media

I wanted to thank you for doing this because I think there's an importance to physical media. Maybe that'd be a good place to start. Why is a physical release of this movie important to you?

You know, it's funny because when you mentioned that, I really think of something that for me was such a formative thing as I was growing up, becoming a filmmaker, and then being a filmmaker. Do you remember Virgin Megastore?

Oh yeah, of course.

Going to Virgin Megastore, that sadly would be, often, many of my Friday nights. "What are we going to do? Oh, Virgin Megastore's open till two, let's go and let's look at the Criterions." The idea of being able to hold the movie that you love ... it's funny, when I was a kid, after I saw "Star Wars," my dad was a business affairs executive and he knew someone at Fox. So for Christmas -- and this is something that I think people don't understand because now everything's so easily available. You have it on your phone, you have it all over. But when I was 11, my dad for Christmas got me this big box and I was like, "What is this?" And it was before they were commercially available because he worked at a network and they used to watch shows right on Betamaxes.

I was like, "What is this?" And he said, "Well, this can record and play things on the TV." And I was like, "What is that good for?" And he said, "Well, open the other box." The other box was two tapes. And I was like, "What's that?" And he said, "That's the whole movie of 'Star Wars.'"

The weird thing is, this wouldn't mean anything now. Now, if you bought a kid "Star Wars," they'd be like, "Oh." Or you download it. They're watching it on streaming on Disney+ or whatever it is, and it is what it is, but that gift was one of the most important gifts that I ever got. It was like my dad gave me "Star Wars." I was like, "You're giving me the whole movie?!"

So I've always had this kind of love of being able to hold the movie that I love. And also, that was my film education. I remember watching on the Criterion, all the stuff with Martin Scorsese, him talking about, in "Taxi Driver," certain frame rates that he was using in different shots. I was like, "Oh my God, this is film school all over again." So I just have a real love for that.

And, honestly, with streaming, the image is not always pristine the way it is [on physical media]. My favorite thing, still, when I want to throw something up and it's my favorite movie, to be able to go from the Blu-ray or the UHD or whatever and just put it up. You're going like "Oh, wow, there it is looking as good as if I was seeing it in the theater, really, except I'm not in the theater."

So it has always meant a lot to me, physical media, and actually it's something that I miss. You don't really go to the video store anymore. There was a place called Laser Blazer. Remember Laser Blazer?

Yeah.

You could go and look at all of those. So I share that with you, and I miss that.

[Gesturing to my overflowing shelf of Blu-rays] As you can see behind me, this is but a small sampling of my collection. I mean, maybe it is an offshoot of being a kid going to a video store and...

Hey, I love the "Conversation" poster. That's cool.

Yeah, I got "The Conversation" up there and "Raiders (of the Lost Ark)" and...

Oh, you got "Creepshow."

Yeah, "Creepshow," too.

Awesome.

Thanks! What I was saying earlier is that maybe being a physical media enthusiast is an offshoot of going to video stores when you're a kid. Just the idea of having the movies you want at your disposal.

Oh yeah, there's that whole experience, too. Just like, "Hey, it's Friday. What do you want to see?" You could see something old, you could see something that just came out that you hadn't seen or that you had seen, but you want to see it again. There was a kind of preciousness to it. I love the convenience of streaming, but one of the things that I really sort of loved about the idea of physical media and also the going to the theater was, there was a certain level of preciousness. It's like when my dad gave me "Star Wars," it wasn't like, "Oh yeah, so now I have 'Star Wars,'", it was like he gave me my favorite movie. It was a crazy thing.

The Wild Ride That Was The Release Of The Mysterious Teaser Trailer

The very first thing that pops into my mind when I think of "Cloverfield" is when the first trailer hit and the internet went absolutely bugf***. "What is this? Is this a 'Godzilla' movie? Is this a 'Voltron' movie?"

Yeah, "Voltron" was the big thing. That was because in the trailer there's a moment, and it's actually my voice, where I said, "It's alive! It's huge. It's alive!" And my voice is so high and so squeaky that people were like, "It's a lion." That's where the "Voltron" thing came from, I think. But yeah, there was all kinds of crazy speculation. That was so fun.

I would love it if you could talk about that from your point of view, watching that unfold, because it was mysterious. The title wasn't even in the trailer! And it worked! Fifteen years later, I'm still thinking about it.

Yeah. I mean, to be honest with you, we weren't even sure if that was our title. We were still trying to figure out what we're doing. To be honest with you, it was thrilling and terrifying. I mean, it was thrilling for all the reasons you would think, which is, "Oh my God, people are actually intrigued by what we did," which is amazing. We always thought, "Wouldn't it be cool if this trailer came out of nowhere and people go, 'What the heck is that?'" That was super cool.

But the thing that was scary to me, and I think to all of us, is that we were so early into shooting, and we were still finding the movie. So there were all these people going, "What is this movie?" and there was a part of me going, "I don't know what this movie is yet." We had only just started shooting, and normally when you make a trailer you've shot, usually, the whole movie, and then you're editing, you're in post.

This was the case where that very trailer was made of footage that was actually a test to see if we could even do the movie because it was a handycam VFX movie and the effects people at that time didn't know they could even track the handheld footage. So it was a really, really crazy time. I mean, it was definitely by the seat of our pants. It was thrilling and it was really fun, but I look back and I think, "Oh my God, that was a crazy thing to go through."

The Sad Ending Was The Only Way This Story Could Have Concluded

I'm getting the wrap signal already, but I do have one more question, and it's a little bit about the legacy of "Cloverfield." I re-watched it last night and one of the things that struck me is this came out the same year as "The Mist," another sci-fi/horror movie I love. Both of those movies have very, let's say, downer endings.

I think every movie I've done has had a sad ending, ultimately. But anyway...

Wait, what's that say about you?

Yeah, I don't know. I have some issues. [laughs]

So the question is about the ending. Was that always the creative endgame? Was there ever any pushback on that? Was there ever any thought to maybe the main characters getting out or is a downbeat ending just kind of baked into the found footage format?

Gosh, you know, we absolutely did have some debates about it. I remember that, especially for Drew [Goddard] and I, we felt that the most hopeful ending was that ending. Because the point was, for that last moment, if that's their last moment -- and there's ambiguity, but it doesn't seem good -- the fact that they are with each other and they love each other, it's sort of a beautiful, transcendent idea. And then we end on them talking about that day in the footage from when they were out on that date.

There was something about them having at least found each other and to be together at that moment that, for as tragic as it was, it also was very human. We both loved that. So we were like, "Oh, no, no, we have to do it this way." So, there was talk about it, but I don't know that it ever got too serious, but there was definitely some people saying like, "Maybe we should think about this. Does it seem too grim?" And we're like, "Well, it feels like the right ending." So that's kind of why we did it.

And it is kind of baked into the found footage thing. Somebody's got to find that footage and it had to be left for a reason.

Yes, exactly.

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time, man. And again, I really appreciate you taking your time to help promote physical media. The more that's out there, the better.

I appreciate you doing the same.

The 4K Ultra HD SteelBook of "Cloverfield" is available now.

Read this next: The Highest Rated Horror Movies Of All Time

The post Matt Reeves On Cloverfield's Finale And The Importance of Physical Media [Exclusive Interview] appeared first on /Film.

Nicolas Cage didn't just star in "National Treasure," he is one. Defying category and genre, Cage somehow becomes fully immersed in his roles while also maintaining his larger-than-life persona. In last year's delightfully self-aware buddy comedy "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent," Cage successfully lampooned his entire career playing an exaggerated version of himself. No movie in his diverse filmography was safe. From "Face/Off" to "Guarding Tess," Cage was game to make fun of himself and his unconventional choices as an actor. "Massive Talent" not only revealed Cage is in on the joke, but it also reminded audiences just how diverse his career has been over the last 40 years. 

The real joy of "Massive Talent" comes in watching Cage and Pedro Pascal's incredible onscreen chemistry. At the world premiere of the film at SXSW attended by Cage in a plaid, shortbread-inspired suit, and a dapper Pascal, it was clear to everyone in the theater that their crush on each other was real. Any chance to see the two of them in another project together would be welcomed, and it's clear that both actors have tremendous affection for each other. 

Pascal has apparently been trying to convince Cage to make an appearance in the "Star Wars" universe at some point, saying that Cage would make a great Mandalorian. Known for their warlike culture and noted for their beskar armor, the Mandalorians pride themselves on rarely, if ever, removing their helmet, depending on their level of zealotry. The "Star Wars" franchise has become famous for offering up brief cameos of notable actors, so is it possible that Cage could make an appearance somewhere in the galaxy, even if we don't actually see his face? In a recent interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, "no is the answer," according to the man himself.

'I'm A Trekkie'

The bombshell news that Cage is more of a fan of "Star Trek" than "Star Wars" really isn't all that surprising. Cage seems like an actor that prefers the more original, thought-provoking science fiction of Gene Roddenberry rather than the high-flying adventure serials of George Lucas. For now, it looks like Pedro Pascal's advances to get Cage to show up in an episode or two of "The Mandalorian" is falling on deaf ears. "I'm not really down," he told Yahoo!. "I'm a Trekkie, man, I'm on the 'Star Trek' ... I'm on the Enterprise, that's where I roll." Cage is of the age where he most likely discovered and fell in love with the original "Star Trek" series before "Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope" hit theaters and changed the world in 1977. 

Of course, the two franchises don't have to be mutually exclusive. But Trekkies tend to be a little more vocal about their love for more heady, intellectual sci-fi fare. Cage is certainly no different, and the actor has praise for the original series and the films. "I grew up watching Shatner, I thought Pine was terrific in the movies, I think the movies are outstanding." 

William Shatner, of course, played Captain Kirk in the original timeline of "Star Trek," while Chris Pine took over the mantle in the J.J. Abrams reboot where the alternate Kelvin timeline was introduced. Cage may not be aware that there is, in fact, a third Captain Kirk played by Paul Wesley in another alternate timeline in the Paramount+ show "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds." Maybe Cage can appear in an alternate "Star Trek" timeline at some point, too, a possibility that would hopefully entice him to embark on a voyage exploring the final frontier. 

Would Nicolas Cage Fit Into The Star Wars Universe?

Cage has stuck his toe into the science fiction genre before in the underrated (but still ridiculous) mind-bender "Next" about a Las Vegas magician cursed with the ability to see future events minutes before they actually occur. If Cage does ever return to the world of science fiction, it sounds like he would prefer to dive into a more serious premise with some real social commentary attached, telling Yahoo!:

"To me, what science fiction is really all about, and why it's such an important genre, is that is really where you can say whatever you want, however you feel, you put it on a different planet, you put it on a different time in the future, and you can without people just jumping on you."

Cage is absolutely right in saying that provocative sci-fi can hide a beneficial message about our world and society, disguising what could be a bitter pill to swallow inside a riveting exploration of other planets. "You can really express your thoughts, like [George] Orwell or whomever in the science fiction format, and 'Star Trek' really embraced that," added Cage. 

The "Star Trek" series doesn't have a complete monopoly on that, though. While the sci-fi fantasy of "Star Wars" is more laser-focused on themes of imperialism and rebellion, the galaxy still allows for a lot of room to maneuver and explore new ideas. Here's to hoping that Cage will be open to appearing in one or both franchises at some point, as quite a few actors have already done in the past. A cameo or full-fledged character developed for Cage would be incredible, but his presence in "Star Trek" might fit his strengths better. Besides, Nicolas Cage in "Star Wars" would probably break the internet. 

Read this next: The Main Star Trek Captains Ranked Worst To Best

The post Nicolas Cage Isn't 'Down' For A Star Wars Role, But Star Trek Is Still On The Table appeared first on /Film.

Apple did increase the total CPU core count on the M2 Pro and M2 Max, but like most companies, the entire truth requires a little more research to better inform potential customers. While it is true that Apple went from a 10-core CPU configuration on the M1 Pro and M1 Max to 12 cores on the latest SoCs, the company did not add any additional performance cores to the mix.

Apple may have wanted to focus on the battery life on the new 2023 MacBook Pro models, which is why this benefit is marketed first

Both the M2 Pro and M2 Max will sport eight performance cores and four energy-efficient ones when the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models start shipping to customers. In 2021, the M1 Pro and M1 Max came with eight performance and two energy-efficient cores. In short, Apple has not made an effort to cram any additional performance cores into the M2 Pro and M2 Max, suggesting that increased multi-core gains may not have been the company’s goal at this time.

Even in the company’s press release of the 2023 MacBook Pro, the title immediately talks about increased battery life, which is why those two power efficiency cores have been added to the total. While a portable Mac is intended to be used away from the wall charger for multiple hours, we have seen Apple follow the same approach for its iPhone chips too, particularly the A16 Bionic.

It appears that unless the technology giant does not switch to a more cutting-edge manufacturing process from TSMC, it will continue to focus more on battery life while offering little performance gains with each successive chip launch. According to an earlier M2 Max benchmark leak, there was only a 20 percent performance gain in multi-threaded workloads compared to the M1 Max, which proves our previous point.

Then again, with the battery life improvements, Apple claims that its 16-inch MacBook Pro can last for 22 hours on a single charge, which is the highest for any portable Mac. No Windows-powered notebook is able to come close to this figure, so there is some benefit, even if it does mean losing out on potential performance gains. Do you appreciate the path that Apple is following, or would you prefer more performance cores when the M3 Pro and M3 Max launch?

The post M2 Pro, M2 Max Feature No Additional Performance Cores, Which May Result In Lower Multi-Core Benefits by Omar Sohail appeared first on Wccftech.

It may not have been that long since Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his little green ward, Grogu, last graced our screens, but time certainly moves differently when you're a "Star Wars" fan — and that's especially true for those who've been waiting for the third season of "The Mandalorian." After what's felt like months of teasing and speculation, Lucasfilm has dropped the full-length trailer for the new season, along with its official release date and the following synopsis:

The journeys of the Mandalorian through the Star Wars galaxy continue. Once a lone bounty hunter, Din Djarin has reunited with Grogu. Meanwhile, the New Republic struggles to lead the galaxy away from its dark history. The Mandalorian will cross paths with old allies and make new enemies as he and Grogu continue their journey together.

Though fans will have to wait just a little bit longer for the premiere, there's plenty in the new trailer to speculate over until that fateful day arrives. With that in mind, let's break down the references, new developments, and characters that feature in the latest "Mandalorian" trailer.

Is This The Way?

When we last saw Din Djarin, the bounty hunter had effectively been stripped of his Mandalorian title for daring to remove his helmet a bunch of times. After winning the Darksaber in the second season of "The Mandalorian" — and reuniting with Grogu in "The Book of Boba Fett" — Din is setting off to redeem himself. Not only will he be making a pilgrimage to Mandalore this season, but he seems to be forming a larger clan than just himself and Grogu.

"Our people are scattered like stars in the galaxy," Din says, as he and a group of Mandalorians — all decked out in mismatching armor — travel across a desert planet. Din has clearly been busy since the events of "Book of Boba Fett," and he seems to be testing out the responsibility of leadership, at least on a smaller scale. Taking on a group of foundlings could be just one of the ways that Din plans to atone for all his Mandalorian sins. Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) holds Din's "cult," The Children of the Watch, at least partially responsible for the downfall of Mandalore: though she's not present in this trailer, she does say as much in the season 3 teaser. If Din took her words to heart, he might be working to restore Mandalore — but first, he has to come to terms with what it really means to be a Mandalorian.

As Din waxes poetic about the true responsibility of his creed, the trailer features him traveling across the galaxy, reuniting with old allies like Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) and even the Armorer (Emily Swallow). He tells the latter of his plan to head to Mandalore, "so that I may be forgiven for my transgressions." Pretty heavy stuff — it's a good thing Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris) is around to lighten to mood a bit.

Heirs To The Empire

While "The Mandalorian" is going to feature a whole lot of Mandalore in its third season, the series will also be returning (however briefly) to Coruscant. The trailer teases the return of Doctor Pershing (Omid Abtahi), a member of the Imperial remnant that experimented on Grogu way back in season 1. What he's doing in Coruscant is anyone's guess, but it's clear that the Empire is trying hard to rise again.

Paul Sun-Hyung Lee's New Republic Captain Carson Teva also pops up to deliver a warning. "There's something dangerous out there," he says — maybe to Din, maybe not. "By the time it becomes big enough for you to act, it will be too late." Paired with another flashback to Grogu's rescue in the Jedi Temple during Order 66 — this time defended by a group of Jedi! — and Din recovering the helmet of a fallen Mandalorian, things are looking a bit bleak for our clan of two.

'Did You Think Your Dad Was The Only Mandalorian?'

With Din's very own, very personal quest underway, it's likely he won't have time to combat the very real threat that the Empire (or, more appropriately, the First Order) poses to the New Republic. Fortunately, it seems like familiar group of Mandalorians are returning in full force. Fans of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" are in for a treat with the return of The Death Watch, the terrorist group that Bo-Katan briefly led during the fall of the Republic.

This time around, Death Watch seems to be sticking up for the little guys — namely a group of Anzellans hiding from a band of pirates. What's more, Paz Vizsla (voiced by series creator Jon Favreau) seems to be following in his family's footsteps and fighting with them instead of The Children of the Watch. The last time Paz popped up, he was gunning for the Darksaber, a weapon that he believed was his birthright. Though he lost his duel with Din in "The Book of Boba Fett," he's probably not going to give up his ancestral claim so easily. With the Death Watch on his side, things are probably going to get even more complicated for Din.

May The Force Be With You

Grogu lovers may be a bit sad to hear that there isn't a whole lot of the little guy in the new trailer. He and Din do share a few heartwarming moments as they zoom across the galaxy in Din's souped-up starfighter. But with Din's new responsibilities as a potential leader of Mandalore, Grogu's going to have to fend for himself a bit more. Those who skipped "The Book of Boba Fett" will have missed Grogu's training under the tutelage of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill... kind of) — and though he didn't stick around long enough to learn all the Jedi basics, it seems that he's picked up enough skill to defend himself with the Force.

The "Mandalorian" trailer ends with Grogu trekking through a cave alone in his floating crib, only to be stopped by an axe-wielding warrior. Unsurprisingly, he's no match for Grogu, who uses the Force to throw him back with ease. Hopefully this is but a taste of Grogu's newly unlocked power, and this new season will prove just how powerful he (and Din) can become — together, and apart.

The third season of "The Mandalorian" premieres on March 1, 2023, on Disney+.

Read this next: The Most Brutal Moments In The Star Wars Franchise, Ranked

The post The Mandalorian Season 3 Trailer Breakdown: Atonement Never Looked This Good appeared first on /Film.

We had a discussion in our Monday meeting that got louder than things normally do, because The Last Of Us TV show came up, and we found ourselves divided into two camps. Well, three. Camp one was excited for the TV show and camp two posited that there's no point making an adaptation of something if your adaptation is just the same thing. (The third camp was "eh, I might check it out" and watched the other two camps duking it out). I was in camp two. If you're adapting something, adapt! Make changes! Otherwise I might as well just consume the original thing again! The Last Of Us has already been released, what, three times?

This was made funnier by the fact that nobody on staff had seen the TV show, so we were just arguing about tweets we'd seen that describe the show, the worst way to conduct a discussion outside of e.g. scrawling insults on the side of Teslas and self-driving them into each other's front doors. But it got me to thinking about adaptations, because there have been loads of adaptations of things that aren't games into video games. What goes wrong in the other direction?

Read more

The United Kingdom wants to become the safest place for children to grow up online. Many UK lawmakers have argued that the only way to guarantee that future is to criminalize tech leaders whose platforms knowingly fail to protect children. From a report: Today, the UK House of Commons reached a deal to appease those lawmakers, Reuters reports, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government agreeing to modify the Online Safety Bill to ensure its passage. It now appears that tech company executives found to be "deliberately" exposing children to harmful content could soon risk steep fines and jail time of up to two years. The agreement was reached during the safety bill's remaining stages before a vote in the House of Commons. Next, it will move on to review by the House of Lords, where the BBC reports it will "face a lengthy journey." Sunak says he will revise the bill to include new terms before it reaches the House of Lords, where lawmakers will have additional opportunities to revise the wording. Reports say that tech executives responsible for platforms hosting user-generated content would only be liable if they fail to take "proportionate measures" to prevent exposing children to harmful content, such as materials featuring child sexual abuse, child abuse, eating disorders, and self-harm. Some measures that tech companies can take to avoid jail time and fines of up to 10 percent of a company's global revenue include adding age verification, providing parental controls, and policing content. If passed, the Online Safety Bill would make managers liable for holding tech companies to their own community guidelines, including content and age restrictions. If a breach of online safety duties is discovered, UK media regulator Ofcom would be responsible for prosecuting tech leaders who fail to respond to enforcement notices. Anyone found to be acting in good faith to police content and protect kids reportedly won't be prosecuted.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Wikipedia should be treated differently to the big social media firms in the Online Safety Bill, a leading member of its foundation says. From a report: The encyclopaedia is written and edited entirely by thousands of volunteers around the world. The Wikimedia Foundation's Rebecca MacKinnon also says a proposed change to the bill,would "limit freedom of expression". The bill aims to protect people from harmful content online. The Wikimedia Foundation is the not-for-profit organisation which hosts the encyclopaedia. Ms MacKinnon says the foundation is concerned about the effect of the bill on volunteer-run sites. She told the BBC that the threat of "harsh" new criminal penalties for tech bosses "will affect not only big corporations, but also public interest websites such as Wikipedia".

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

When the original PS VR headset was launched back in 2016, it was not possible to use it on PC, but the hard work of developers such as Mediator Software made it possible to use the Sony headset to play VR games available on PC. Sadly, the same may not happen with the soon-to-be-released PS VR 2, according to the developer of the PS VR compatibility driver developers.

As reported by Road To VR, the iVRy Driver developer commented on Reddit about the possibility of PS VR 2 being usable on PC at launch and even in the future. The developer thinks that Sony will encrypt the signals running over USB to prevent the headset from being usable on PC. Even if this doesn't happen, other issues will prevent PS VR 2 from being immediately usable on PC, such as the lack of a SLAM tracker for Windows, support for controllers, and so on. If the headset will ever be usable on PC, it will be in the far-off future due to the amount of work that will likely be required to make it work on anything other than a PlayStation 5.

It's quite possible that Sony have encrypted the signals (which all run over USB) to prevent non-PS use. Even if they haven't it would take a lot of reverse engineering (read several years) just to get an image on the headset. Then there is the tracking, which would need to be developed, as there isn't a ready-made SLAM tracker available for Windows (assuming of course the camera protocol was reverse-engineered). Then the controllers etc. etc. I would say it is very unlikely that the PSVR2 would be useable for PCVR within 5 years of its release. So, it would be a very expensive paper-weight, and by the time it was usable (if ever) it would be completely obsolete.

The PS VR 2 headset will release worldwide on February 22nd, alongside the PS VR 2 Sense controller charging station and select titles, such as Horizon: Call of the Mountain. Already available games such as Gran Turismo 7 and Resident Evil Village will be updated on the same day to support the new headset.

The post PS VR 2 Is Unlikely To Work On PC, According To PS VR Compatibility Driver Developer by Francesco De Meo appeared first on Wccftech.

This post contains spoilers through the end of "The Mandalorian" season 2 and the end of "The Book of Boba Fett."

Din Darin, aka The Mandalorian, and his little green pal Grogu are back in the trailer for "The Mandalorian" season 3. If you only watch this one show out of all the Star Wars Disney+ offerings, then you likely remember the finale of season 2, where a young Luke Skywalker offers to train the Force-sensitive Grogu in the ways of the Jedi. This means he has to leave Din, who shows Grogu his unmasked face in a gesture of love. This is a big no-no in the particular part of Mandalorian culture Din belongs to, of course, and that means that a big storyline in season 3 will be Din's atonement for his breach. 

That said, if you haven't watched "The Book of Boba Fett," you're missing out on a big part of what happened next, though. In the last few episodes (which I always refer to as "The Mandalorian" season 2.5), we revisit Din and see his unbelievably adorable reunion with little Grogu. The tiny guy was given a choice between his Jedi training and going back to his Papa, and he chose Papa! Give yourself a moment to sniffle over that before you watch the new trailer below. 

Watch The Mandalorian Season 3 Trailer

In addition to everyone's favorite little buddy and Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin, 'The Mandalorian" season 3 will feature the return of Katee Sackhoff as Mandalorian Bo-Katan Kryze, Carl Weathers as Greef Karga, Giancarlo Esposito as Moff Gideon, and Amy Sedaris as Peli Motto. Christopher Lloyd is also joining the series, which just adds to the awesomeness. 

In a July 2022 interview with Total Film, Pascal gave viewers a hint about what's coming for Din Djarin. He says:

"If he is stepping into a leadership position, he's reluctant to do so. I don't think that there's anything more interesting than a character being forced into discovering what they're capable of, and who they are."

Jon Favreau created the series. It's produced by Favreau, Kathleen Kennedy, Dave Filoni, and Rick Famuyiwa. 

Gather your snicky snacks, your soupy soup, and your shiny silver toy, and get ready to journey back to a galaxy far, far away for a dose of the best space western out there (fight me) and the cutest little guy to ever eat a frog or steal a blue cookie. 

"The Mandalorian" season 3 premieres March 1, 2023 on Disney+.

Read this next: 11 Villain Origin Stories We Want Next From The Star Wars Universe

The post The Mandalorian Season 3 Trailer: This is the Way to Mandalore appeared first on /Film.

Everyone remembers the sensation of fear coursing through their veins the first time they ever heard the ominous whispering of "Ki ki ki, ma ma ma" in "Friday the 13th." The terrifying slasher from Victor Miller and Sean S. Cunningham spawned a massively popular franchise and inspired countless rip-offs, but few films can hold a candle to the unbridled terror found within the trees and cabins of Camp Crystal Lake. Now, horror maven Bryan Fuller is taking us back to camp with the upcoming A24 prequel series, "Crystal Lake."

The "Friday the 13th" franchise is comprised of 12 films, three seasons of a television series, novels, comic books, video games, and plenty of tie-in merchandise. While prequel stories have been told in the novels and comics, "Crystal Lake" will be the first time we see the story of what came before Jason Voorhees' untimely death during summer camp on screen — fully fleshed out. While the series is still a ways away, there's still plenty of available information to help put the project on your radar. Here's everything we know so far about "Crystal Lake."

When And Where To Watch Crystal Lake

"Crystal Lake" was given a straight-to-series order for the NBCUniversal streaming platform, Peacock, but no anticipated release date or timeline has been made available. While the streamer still has a lot of ground to cover if it wants to be competitive against folks like Netflix or Disney+, Peacock arguably boasts the strongest horror library outside of Shudder. NBCUniversal having a first-look deal with Blumhouse means that most of their releases end up on Peacock following the theatrical window, which has made the platform a haven for horror fans.

This means "Crystal Lake" would live alongside another legacy horror series, Don Mancini's "Chucky," as well as "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "The Girl in the Woods," "Hammer House of Horror," "Limetown," "The Purge," "Wolf Like Me," and the countless horror features currently available.

What Crystal Lake Will Be About

While plot details on "Crystal Lake" have been kept pretty tight, it's been confirmed that the series will be an extended prequel to the events of the first "Friday the 13th" film. Bryan Fuller is a notorious Pamela Voorhees superfan, so there's little doubt in assuming that she'll be the focus of the new show. During a recent screening of "Friday the 13th Part 3" in Los Angeles, Fuller appeared and answered some questions about the show. As reported by Eric Goldman, Fuller swerved slightly when asked about Pamela Voorhees, and instead gave the very "not breaking NDA" answer of, "We're honestly going to be covering it all. The series is covering the life and times of these two characters." It's assumed he's talking about Pamela and young Jason Voorhees, but the deliberate phrasing of course opens the floodgates to fan speculation.

Fuller also noted that he pitched four seasons for "Crystal Lake" and while only one was officially ordered, he indicated that Peacock would have to pay a penalty if they didn't order a second season. For those unaware, the rights to the "Friday the 13th" franchise were tied up in a legal battle between screenwriter Victor Miller and director Sean Cunningham for years, resulting in Miller obtaining the rights to the original film's script and name, while Cunningham was given the rights to Jason as a character (because the hockey mask-wearing slasher we know and love doesn't appear in that form until "Part III.") Perhaps the rights' usage was contingent on at least two seasons? Of course, we're purely speculating here.

The Creative Team Behind Crystal Lake

"Crystal Lake" is being written by Bryan Fuller ("Hannibal," "Pushing Daisies," "Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror"), who is also serving as showrunner and an executive producer. The original film's screenwriter, Victor Miller, will also executive produce the series, alongside Marc Toberoff, Rob Barsamian, and A24.

During the "Friday the 13th Part III" screening, Fuller announced that legendary slasher screenwriter Kevin Williamson ("Scream," "The Faculty," "Sick") would be writing one of the episodes. In even more exciting news, Adrienne King, who played final girl Alice Hardy in the original film, would appear in a recurring role. As this is a prequel series, it's likely that she'll be playing an entirely different role than Alice, unless the series is being retold from her perspective as an adult, like the slasher version of Rose in "Titanic."

The project is also looking at two different scores — either one that reflects the musical stylings of our current trends, or a classic one inspired by Harry Manfredini. We know which one we'd prefer (Manfredini, obviously), but knowing the option even exists is worth getting excited over.

Read this next: The Best Horror Movie Performances Of 2022

The post Everything We Know So Far About Crystal Lake, Bryan Fuller's Friday the 13th Prequel Series appeared first on /Film.

MSI has decided to offer a GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card with the classic SUPRIM cooler known as the SUPRIM X Classic.

MSI Goes The Classy Route With Its GeForce RTX 4090 SUPRIM X Classic Custom Graphics Cards

MSI has an interesting idea to reuse its previous-gen coolers with newer cards. The company has already announced its Radeon RX 7900 Gaming Trio Classic cards which utilize the previous Trio coolers and for the RTX 4090, the company seems to be offering the card in a variant that utilizes the 1st Gen SUPRIM cooler. Both cards are listed on MSI's Chinese webpage:

• GeForce 4090 SUPRIM X Classic
• GeForce 4090 SUPRIM Classic

The MSI GeForce RTX 4090 SUPRIM X Classic is just as big as ever with a heavier and bigger cooler that weighs 2.4kg versus the 2.16kg of the new design while measuring 7.8cm wide versus 7.1cm on the newer variant. The previous SUPRIM X cooler used the Torx Fan 2.0 and Tri Frozr 2S design whereas the newer models use the Torx Fan 4.0 and Tri Frozr 3S design. We have used both cards, the new and old SUPRIM X variants, and we know that the differences between these models are not a whole lot besides some visual changes and the way the heatsink is made.

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As for the specs, since both SUPRIM X heatsinks are very capable, MSI retains the same boost clocks of 2640 MHz but the TDP is yet to be confirmed. It is likely to remain the same which peaks out at a 530W power limit and is delivered by a single 16-pin connector.

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Both cards have a dual BIOS switch and feature a full-length backplate with a 3.8-slot design. Now, MSI might offer better prices on its Classic GeForce RTX 4090 variants which would make SUPRIM X look like even better value compared to ASUS's ROG STRIX lineup while delivering the same cool temperatures and low-noise levels which we have come to love with MSI's SUPRIM X series of graphics cards.

The post MSI Gives GeForce RTX 4090 A Classy Makeover With New SUPRIM X Classic Variant by Hassan Mujtaba appeared first on Wccftech.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: GitHub has taken down a popular Pirate Bay proxy information portal from Github.io. The developer platform took action in response to a takedown request sent by City of London Police's Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU). The takedown notice concludes that the site, which did not link to any infringing content directly, is illegal. [...] "This site is in breach of UK law, namely Copyright, Design & Patents Act 1988, Offences under the Fraud Act 2006 and Conspiracy to Defraud," PIPCU writes. "Suspension of the domain(s) is intended to prevent further crime. Where possible we request that domain suspension(s) are made within 48 hours of receipt of this Alert," the notice adds. This takedown request was honored by GitHub, meaning that people who try to access the domain now get a 404 error instead. While GitHub's swift response is understandable, it's worth pointing out how these blocking efforts are evolving and expanding, far beyond blocking the original Pirate Bay site. The Proxy Bay doesn't link to infringing content directly. The site links to other proxy sites which serve up the Pirate Bay homepage. From there, users may search for or browse torrent links that, once loaded, can download infringing content. Does this mean that simply linking to The Pirate Bay can be considered a crime in itself? If that's the case, other sites such as Wikipedia and Bing are in trouble too. A more reasonable middle ground would be to consider the intent of a site. The Proxy Bay was launched to facilitate access to The Pirate Bay, which makes court orders less effective. In 2015 UK ISPs began blocking proxy and proxy indexing sites, so that explains why thepirateproxybay.com and others are regularly blocked. Whether this constitutes criminal activity is ultimately for the court to decide, not the police. In this regard, it's worth noting that City of London Police previously arrested the alleged operator of a range of torrent site proxies. The then 20-year-old defendant, who also developed censorship circumvention tool Immunicity, was threatened with a hefty prison sentence but the court disagreed and dismissed the case.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

While their foray into interactive storybooks did fail to impress, it did help remind me of BlackHoleSun Software, one of the earliest Indie developers to create games with Linux in mind. Their most famous game Bunnies was released as shareware in 2001, providing a demo version you could later update through use of a retail key. Thankfully, the story does not have to end there.

At one time, Paul Reubens and Phil Hartman had a symbiotic friendship, as many in Hollywood do.

Speaking with Westword's Simon Abrams whilst promoting his 2016 movie "Pee-wee's Big Holiday," Reubens remained as dedicated to his iconic man-child character as ever, and refreshingly hailed Russ Meyer's "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" as "one of the most underrated American films ever made." Looking back on his career, the American writer-comedian reminisced on his many collaborations that seem out of left field, including that with the late, great Hartman.

A fellow member of the L.A.-based Groundlings comedy sketch troupe when Reubens joined in the 1970s, Hartman (who joined the improv team in 1975) quickly hit it off with him. When the beginnings of an obnoxious character, inept at stand-up comedy, began to germinate in Reubens' mind, it was Hartman who helped him develop the character into the bowtie-wearing nerdball Pee-wee Herman. The two would co-pen "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" together along with "The Big Picture" co-writer Michael Varhol, using Syd Field's revered "Screenplay" book as a writing guide. The film would go on to become a lasting hit beyond its 1985 release and, alongside the success of "Beetlejuice," provided the springboard from which director Tim Burton would leap onto Warner Bros.' "Batman."

Reubens told Abrams:

"Phil and I collaborated for years. I brought Phil and [fellow longtime collaborator] John Paragon with me to New York when I hosted 'Saturday Night Live.' That was Phil's introduction to Lorne Michaels. We worked together on a lot of stuff, along with a coffee group of some of the other Groundlings: Phil, me, John Paragon ... three men, and three women. We were going to go out and rule the world. That didn't work out very good. I think about Phil all the time."

A Falling Out

A certain generation recalls Phil Hartman as a luminary of comedy whose light was snuffed before his time. He would create the gruff character of Captain Carl, first on stage with "The Pee-wee Herman Show" and then in the beloved TV series "Pee-wee's Playhouse," the latter for only the first season before he and Paul Reubens fell out over a creative credit dispute. On the Howard Stern radio show, Hartman divulged that "We [the contributors to the stage show] had a contract that said that we get three percent of whatever happens with the show," which Hartman claimed was not honored once CBS got ahold of it. Suddenly, folks like Hartman were out.

It was around that time that Hartman joined the cast of "Saturday Night Live," building off of that chance meeting with "SNL" creator and producer Lorne Michaels. From there, Hartman became a fan-favorite and a mainstay during his tenure from 1986 to 1994. He did great impressions –- his Bill Clinton was a highlight of the weekly comedy sketch show. Though for this writer's money, his greatest talents were on display when he was entirely straight-faced and working solo. It's for this reason that characters like the Anal-Retentive Chef remain the best display of his talents, aside from his voice work.

As /Film's Devin Meenan pointed out, Hartman was the voice behind two of the funniest characters on Matt Groening's satirical animated sitcom and 1990s staple "The Simpsons," first as grinning ambulance chaser Lionel Hutz, then as has-been leading man Troy McClure. Such was his talent that the character of Zapp Brannigan on Groening's "Futurama" was originally written for Hartman before his sudden death in 1998. The role was recast with Billy West, but Hartman's unwrinkled baritone would find its way into West's performance anyway, proving once again that Hartman was always the funniest presence on anything he touched.

Read this next: The 20 Most Influential Comedy Stars In Movie History

The post How Paul Reubens Helped Phil Hartman Land His Spot On Saturday Night Live appeared first on /Film.

Many consider their time spent at college as the best years of their lives. For a number of people, that's their first taste of independence as they're the ones who pick their classes, figure out what to eat for dinner, and determine when it's a good time to go to bed. And when theses kids decide to make all those decisions by picking all the wrong answers, it certainly makes for a wild time, which is essentially what "Animal House" is all about.

A pioneer of the boundary-pushing sex comedy, the 1978 film from director John Landis, producer Ivan Reitman, and writers Douglas Kenney, Chris Miller, and Harold Ramis planted the seeds for generations of Greek life antics and alcohol-fueled hijinks. Even my peers, who became college freshmen 30 years after the Universal Pictures classic premiered, were taking part in toga parties and getting a little bit louder now with Otis Day and the Knights. Obviously, some things have rightfully changed and bits from the movie no longer hold up for the modern audience, but the spirit of having unsupervised, care-free, adolescent fun still persists in its own way. After all, what else would you expect from a movie inspired by the crass, subversive humor of "National Lampoon?"

But in bringing the feel of the magazine to life, the cast and crew may have even gone too far while they were shooting the movie by starting a real life brawl at a fraternity house.

Who's Sorry Now?

In a New York Times oral history of "Animal House," the cast revealed that they had gotten into a huge fight with a University of Oregon fraternity. Landis wanted to create a bond between the brothers of Delta House before filming began, so he took them to a party on campus. But from the second they stepped foot into the soiree, they felt unwelcome. As Peter Riegert (who played Donald "Boon" Schoenstein) put it, they "were like wasps in a bumblebees' nest." 

James Widdoes, who played Delta President Robert Hoover, was actually the one that started the fight by knocking a cup of beer into one of the real frat brother's faces. Judging by his admission that it wasn't his "proudest moment," he totally did it on purpose. Seeing what was about to happen, Tim Matheson (Delta's smooth talking Eric "Otter" Stratton) suggested that they run. But the front line of the football team made sure that they didn't get far.

In the end, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" star Karen Allen, who was making her feature debut in the film, lost her voice from trying to stop the fighting and Bruce McGill (the mustachioed wild card D-Day) got a black eye. But Widdoes ended up in the worst shape. He got some teeth knocked loose, which isn't ideal for any actor preparing to shoot a movie. Luckily, a student referred him to their dentist father who fixed him up bright and early the next day.

Ultimately, though it probably wasn't what the director had in mind, this experience did bring the cast closer together. And according to Allen, their kinship even extends decades after they wrapped because she has "never worked on a film where I stayed closer to the cast" to this day.

Read this next: Adam Sandler's 14 Best Roles Ranked

The post How The Cast Of National Lampoon's Animal House Found Themselves In An Actual Frat House Brawl appeared first on /Film.