Ronald.phillips

What are the best games like Skyrim? It may be over a decade old, but Bethesda's open-world RPG still feels peerless. The majesty of Skyrim's frozen fantasy world stole our hearts when it launched in 2011, and many of us are still playing it to this day. Skyrim has managed to age gracefully over the years and is still one of a select few RPGs that can take you on an unforgettable adventure.

Skyrim's staying power is helped along with a little help from some of the best Skyrim mods, which offer HD textures and new quests in fan-made expansions. Skyrim has contributed to the rise in popularity of open-world fantasy RPGs and is considered to be one of the best PC games of all time, but there are plenty of other games with reams of lore to learn, expansive character customization, and a dedication to creating an immersive world. If you enjoyed Bethesda’s epic and are looking for something similar then we have the best games like Skyrim to get your fix before the Elder Scrolls 6 release date arrives.

MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best Skyrim mods, Elder Scrolls 6 release date, Games like Skyrim

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is warning healthcare organizations of the threat posed by ongoing Royal ransomware attacks.

Initially spotted in September 2022, the ransomware family is employed by a financially-motivated threat actor that also uses known tools for persistence, credential exfiltration, and lateral movement.

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It’s easy to get hyped up about whether your system can play a game at maximum graphics settings, or watch benchmarking videos on how your system fares against those settings.

A US government probe into how many mobile phones belonging to diplomats and government workers have been infected with spyware could "easily run to the hundreds," according to a member of the House Intelligence Committee. From a report: Jim Himes, a Democrat representative from Connecticut, told Bloomberg News that the Biden administration is "just beginning to get an inkling of the magnitude of the problem." He predicted that the probe could find that spyware was used against "hundreds" of federal personnel in "multiple countries." Himes was a lead author of a September letter calling on the federal government to better protect US diplomats overseas from spyware and publicly detail instances of such abuse. He received a letter last month written jointly by the Departments of Commerce and State that confirmed commercial spyware has targeted US government personnel serving overseas. "Spyware technology has sort of moved beyond our ability to ensure that the communications of our diplomats are protected, or even the locations and contacts and photographs of our diplomats are protected. And that's obviously a huge vulnerability," he said. The official confirmation follows a Reuters report from last year that the iPhones of at least nine State Department employees were hacked with spyware developed by Israel's NSO Group. The employees were either based in Uganda or focused on issues related to the country, according to the report.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Microsoft will be ending support for Microsoft Edge on Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1. Come January 2023, these older versions of Windows will no longer support the new Chromium-powered browser. Microsoft Edge version 109 will be the last scheduled and supported release on these platforms, and Webview2 Runtime version 109 is also the last version to support these two operating systems.

[link] [411 comments]

Midnight Suns greatest trick is letting the player feel like they are getting to know Marvel heroes personally.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from MacRumors: Apple yesterday announced that end-to-end encryption is coming to even more sensitive types of iCloud data, including device backups, messages, photos, and more, meeting the longstanding demand of both users and privacy groups who have rallied for the company to take the significant step forward in user privacy. iCloud end-to-end encryption, or what Apple calls "Advanced Data Protection," encrypts users' data stored in iCloud, meaning only a trusted device can decrypt and read the data. iCloud data in accounts with Advanced Data Protection can only be read by a trusted device, not Apple, law enforcement, or government entities. While privacy groups and apps applaud Apple for the expansion of end-to-end encryption in iCloud, governments have reacted differently. In a statement to The Washington Post, the FBI, the largest intelligence agency in the world, said it's "deeply concerned with the threat end-to-end and user-only-access encryption pose." Speaking generally about end-to-end encryption like Apple's Advanced Data Protection feature, the bureau said that it makes it harder for the agency to do its work and that it requests "lawful access by design": "This hinders our ability to protect the American people from criminal acts ranging from cyber-attacks and violence against children to drug trafficking, organized crime, and terrorism," the bureau said in an emailed statement. "In this age of cybersecurity and demands for 'security by design,' the FBI and law enforcement partners need 'lawful access by design.'" Former FBI official Sasha O'Connell also weighed in, telling The New York Times "it's great to see companies prioritizing security, but we have to keep in mind that there are trade-offs, and one that is often not considered is the impact it has on decreasing law enforcement access to digital evidence."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

MPs and peers tasked with completing a year 6 Sats exam have scored lower results on average than the country's 10-year-olds. From a report: MPs including Commons education select committee chair Robin Walker took part in the exams, invigilated by 11-year-olds, at a Westminster event organised by More Than A Score, who campaign for the tests to be scrapped. Only 44% of the cross-party group of parliamentarians dubbed the Westminster Class of 2022 achieved the expected standard in maths and just 50% had achieved the expected standard in spelling, punctuation and grammar. Across the country, 59% of pupils aged 10 and 11 reached the expected standard in the Sats tests of maths, reading and writing this year, down from 65% in 2019, the previous time the tests were taken. Detailed figures published by the Department for Education in the summer revealed disadvantaged children had a steeper fall than their better-off peers. Walker took part in the Big SATS Sit-In Westminster alongside his Conservative colleagues Flick Drummond and Gagan Mohindra; Labour MPs Ian Byrne and Emma Lewell-Buck with the Green party's Lady Bennett to experience the high-stakes nature of the exams. More Than A Score hope the politicians will take the high-pressured experience away with them and realise that "the exams only judge schools but do not help children's learning" at that age.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An unconventional data exfiltration method leverages a previously undocumented covert channel to leak sensitive information from air-gapped systems. "The information emanates from the air-gapped computer over the air to a distance of 2 m and more and can be picked up by a nearby insider or spy with a mobile phone or laptop," Dr. Mordechai Guri, the head of R&D in the Cyber Security Research

A few days ago, we talked about how Elon Musk's decision to put Twitter Blue on hold indefinitely was made so the company could find a way to circumvent paying Apple the 30% fee that the company charges. At that point, it seemed impossible that the Twitter owner would come up with a solution to the issue, but we now have some reports claiming what will happen.

Twitter Has Finally Found a Way to Pay Apple the 30% Fee and Still Have Twitter Blue on iPhone

According to a report from The Information, to make up for the lost 30%, Twitter will charge $11 a month for Twitter Blue on iPhone and $7 a month for it on the website.

These prices are revised to reflect the mandatory Apple fee that the company charges, but it is also worth noting that before this new change went into effect, Twitter Blue was $7.99. The source also mentions that the new decision is only available to some employees, but that's no longer a surprise, considering that everything happening at Twitter HQ is very rushed.

For those wondering about the increase in subscription price on iPhones. That's because it will give Twitter the leverage to get around the 30% fee without losing any money, and if you do the math, the number does not fall far from the math.

However, for those wondering if this is going to affect Twitter Blue on Apple devices, then that will not be the case because, at the end of the day, Apple is more concerned about its 30% share. With Twitter's new increased pricing plan, they will be getting their share, and Twitter Blue will be available for everyone.

As far as the availability is concerned, we still don't have a word as to when the service is going to be available for everyone to use. We will keep you posted as the story develops and whether or not any changes are taking place to the subscription and what it offers.

Are you willing to pay an additional $11 for Twitter Blue on iPhone? Let us know what your opinions are in the comments below. 

The post Twitter is Going to Charge $11/month for Twitter Blue on iPhone and $7/month on Website by Furqan Shahid appeared first on Wccftech.

AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT graphics card benchmarks have leaked out too and show the $899 US RDNA 3 chip beating the $1199 US RTX 4080.

AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT Geekbench 5 OpenCL & Vulkan Benchmarks Leaked, Around 10% Slower Than RX 7900 XTX

The performance benchmarks were leaked within the Geekbench 5 benchmark and showcase the OpenCL & Vulkan performance of the upcoming graphics card. Based on the benchmark numbers, we can see that the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT graphics card is around 10% slower than the Radeon RX 7900 XTX but clearly beats the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 in Vulkan while getting close in OpenCL performance.

Finally, we have the Vulkan benchmarks where the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT ends up 10% faster than the RTX 4080 and 42% faster than the Radeon RX 6900 XT graphics card. We can also see the card boosting up to 2025 MHz which is far below its peak boost clock of 2.4 GHz.

AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT 20 GB Graphics Card "Official" Specifications

There will also be a cut-down variant that will feature the Navi 31 XT GPU core. This chip is going to pack 42 WGPs (84 Compute Units) or 5376 cores and will be featured on the Radeon RX 7900 XT graphics card. That's 12.5% fewer cores than the full-fat variant. The GPU will also run at slightly lower clock speeds with the game clock rated at just 2.0 GHz which is 300 MHz slower than the XTX variant and a 100 MHz lower boost clock of 2.4 GHz at a TBP of 300W.

• AMD Navi 31 XT: 5376 Cores, 320-bit Bus, 160 MB Infinity Cache, 308mm2 GPU Die @5nm
• AMD Navi 21 XT: 4608 Cores, 256-bit Bus, 128 MB Infinity Cache, 520mm2 GPU Die @7nm

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The Radeon RX 7900 XT graphics card will also feature 20 GB of GDDR6 memory across a 320-bit wide bus interface. Since there are only 5 MCDs enabled, the card will end up with 80 MB of Infinity Cache which is 16MB lower than the top variant and a 16.6% decrease. The card offers 800 GB/s of bandwidth (3.5 TB/s with Infinity Cache).

AMD Radeon RX 7900 "RDNA 3" Graphics Cards Availability

The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24 GB and Radeon RX 7900 XT 20 GB graphics cards will be available on 13th December for prices of $999 US and $899 US, respectively.

AMD Radeon RX 7900 Series "Official" Specifications:

Graphics Card	AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX	AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT	AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT	AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT
GPU	Navi 31 XTX	Navi 31 XT	Navi 21 KXTX	Navi 21 XTX
Process Node	5nm+6nm	5nm+6nm	7nm	7nm
Die Size	300mm2 (Only GCD) 522mm2 (with MCDs)	300mm2 (Only GCD) 522mm2 (with MCDs)	520mm2	520mm2
Transistors	58 Billion	58 Billion	26.8 Billion	26.8 Billion
GPU WGPs	48	42	40	40
Stream Processors	6144	5376	5120	5120
TMUs/ROPs	384 / 192	384 / 192	320 / 128	320 / 128
Game Clock	2.3 GHz	2.0 GHz	2100 MHz	2015 MHz
Boost Clock	2.5 GHz	2.4 GHz	2310 MHz	2250 MHz
FP32 TFLOPs	61 TFLOPs	52 TFLOPs	23.65 TFLOPs	23.04 TFLOPs
Memory Size	24 GB GDDR6	20 GB GDDR6	16 GB GDDR6	16 GB GDDR6
Infinity Cache	96 MB	80 MB	128 MB	128 MB
Memory Bus	384-bit	320-bit	256-bit	256-bit
Memory Clock	20 Gbps	20 Gbps	18 Gbps	16 Gbps
Bandwidth	960 GB/s	800 GB/s	576 GB/s	512 GB/s
Effective Bandwidth	3.5 TB/s	3.5 TB/s	1728.2 GB/s	1664.2 GB/s
TBP	355W	300W	335W	300W
PCIe Interface	TBA	TBA	PCIe 4.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16
Price	$999 US	$899 US	$1099 US	$999 US

The post AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT 20 GB Graphics Card OpenCL & Vulkan Benchmarks Leak Out, Beats The NVIDIA RTX 4080 by Hassan Mujtaba appeared first on Wccftech.

The latest NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready Driver is here, and with it, we see several optimizations for NVIDIA graphics card users. These optimizations will help players get ready for the next-gen makeover of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Additionally, it will help optimize the experience for Portal with RTX and Jurassic World Evolution 2's DLSS 3 update.

Portal with RTX is a ray-traced reimagining of the original game, which is available for all users for free. The game uses the power of RTX graphics cards to provide a more immersive experience. Illumination, shadows, reflections, refraction, and everything in between are all improved thanks to the ray-traced world and its interactions with the upgraded and enhanced assets that have been rebuilt hand in hand with Valve. You can see the improvements brought by this new version of Portal below:

In addition to this, the latest GeForce Game Ready Driver will prime players for December 14th's The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt next-gen update. This update will bring various gameplay changes and new quest content. However, the most crucial thing will be the latest graphics features that will significantly benefit the latest PCs and laptops, including:

• RTX Global Illumination (RTXGI)
• Ray-traced ambient occlusion
• Ray-traced shadows
• Ray-traced reflections

To minimize latency, the game will also add DLSS 3 support to multiply its performance alongside NVIDIA Reflex. However, if you own one of the RTX 30 series cards, you aren't out of the game as you can still accelerate your framerates and performance with NVIDIA DLSS 2. To gain access to these next-gen upgrades, you must install The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and the update will be applied automatically come December 14.

Finally, the latest NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready Driver update will support Jurassic World Evolution 2's DLSS 3 update. The update is set to release with the Dominion Malta expansion, which will also be released today.

This update will bring a range of new features, including attacking and eating behaviors for smaller species, five campaign levels now available to play as challenge maps, a range of new skin and pattern colors for select dinosaur variants, and a range of Quality of Life enhancements. The DLSS 3 support will enable RTX 40 series players to crank up the resolution and render details at faster framerates.

The GeForce Game Ready Driver 527.56 WHQL is currently available for download for all NVIDIA graphics card users. All you have to do is download the driver through GeForce NOW. You can also manually install the driver through NVIDIA's website

The post GeForce Game Ready Driver 527.56 Brings Optimizations for Portal RTX and The Witcher 3 Next-Gen Update by Ule Lopez appeared first on Wccftech.

SafeBreach Labs security researcher Or Yair discovered several vulnerabilities that allowed him to turn endpoint detection and response (EDR) and antivirus (AV) products into wipers.

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The holidays are a time for big emotions. The weather’s extreme (in many places), there’s too much to do, and family gatherings offer up wild swings of intense feeling: joy, excitement, apprehension, annoyance, exhaustion. The movies (and life) teach us that any holiday meal with a sufficient number of guests must…

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C&C: Reloaded 2.4 released with latest CnCNet support and tons of changes. This download contains all the changes released until now. Recommended download for everyone. The multilanguage installer follows the rule "Next, next, next... done". If somebody is interested to read the full changelog of this Yuri's Revenge mod, please visit The official website changelog, in the forum.

When it comes to movies by one-and-done directors, there is no greater achievement than Charles Laughton's "The Night of the Hunter," one of the most singular American films ever made. Nowadays, we'd probably pitch it as somewhere between a pastoral fable and a proto-slasher, but when it was released in 1955 it was a vision so unique that neither critics nor audiences knew what to make of it. It became such a monstrous flop that Laughton never directed another film.

Thankfully, time has been extremely kind to "The Night of the Hunter," and Laughton's neglected masterpiece is now receiving the recognition it deserves. In this year's Sight and Sound Top 100 list of the greatest films of all time, it vaulted 38 places from 63rd in the 2012 edition to joint 25th alongside "Au Hasard Balthazar." It didn't even make the list in the previous decade's poll, so at this rate of critical reappraisal, it will soon be challenging "Citizen Kane" and "Vertigo," those two evergreen mainstays in the top spots.

Why does "The Night of the Hunter" strike such a chord with a modern audience? Perhaps because it's a film that stands almost outside of time. While Orson Welles' and Alfred Hitchcock's masterpieces were innovative and pioneering, they were still very much a product of their respective decades. "The Night of the Hunter," on the other hand, may be set in the Depression Era and made in the mid-'50s but Laughton's allegorical approach gives it the timelessness of a fairytale, hovering in an intoxicating twilight zone between rural dream and noirish nightmare. At its core, however, it is a classic tale of good versus evil; let's take a closer look at how that battle plays out.

So What Happens In The Night Of The Hunter Again?

Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) is a murderer posing as a hellfire preacher, preying on lonely widows for their savings. On one of his stops, he is arrested for stealing a car and thrown in jail for 30 days.

Meanwhile, Ben Harper (Peter Graves) is on the run from the law. He's just robbed a bank for $10,000 and killed two people in the process. With the cops closing in, he heads back home where he finds the perfect place to stash the cash; inside his daughter Pearl's (Sally Jane Bruce) favorite doll. Knowing the game is up, Ben tells his son John (Billy Chaplin) to look after his little sister and makes both children swear they will never tell where the money is hidden.

Ben Harper is sentenced to death and shares a cell with Reverend Harry Powell as he awaits his execution. The Preacher tries to pry the location of the loot from him, but Harper is no fool and takes his secret to the gallows.

Once Powell is released, he heads for Ben Harper's hometown where he sweet-talks the locals and woos the dead man's widow, Willa (Shelley Winters), who he soon marries. John is the only person who can see through Powell's charade and looks on in horror as Powell constantly works on Pearl to find out where the money is. 

When Willa overhears Powell threatening the little girl, he murders his new wife in the night and dumps her body in the river. Alone with the children now, he soon discovers that the money is inside Pearl's doll, but the kids escape by boat downstream. With Powell in pursuit, they find refuge with the stern but kindly Rachel Cooper (Lillian Gish), an elderly woman who takes care of orphans.

The Night Of The Hunter Is A Dark Fairytale Packed With Allusions

For "The Night of the Hunter," Charles Laughton wanted to hark back to more time-honored methods of storytelling, including fairytales, biblical tales, and silent cinema, and the film is packed with allusions. The film is based on David Grubb's novel of the same name, which was inspired by a real-life crime case that had a folkloric aspect to it. Harry Powers, one of America's first known serial killers, lured rich widows with lonely heart ads before disposing of them and their children in a specially constructed dungeon beneath his garage. His chilling crimes earned him the nickname "the West Virginia Bluebeard" after the old tale of the nobleman who murders his six wives and keeps their bodies locked in a forbidden chamber. Towards the end of the film, the angry mob refers to Powell as Bluebeard, completing the allusion.

Powell's relentless pursuit of the children recalls the big bad wolf and the little pigs while Pearl and John's river journey echoes that of baby Moses, something not lost on their savior, who is a devout Christian. Rachel Cooper is presented as a Mother Goose figure, busying along with her gaggle of lost children behind her. Superstition and counter-magic also play a part when Powell breaks into the house to get at the children and he is undone when the house cat scratches him. Ancient Egyptians believed that cats could ward off malevolent spirits, while in Europe dead kitties were often placed in the walls of homes to protect against evil (via Cassidy Cash). Does Rachel Cooper's cat follow suit and protect her and the kids?

Love Vs Hate

Harry Powell is one of cinema's most memorable villains, a luxuriantly wicked study of evil from Hollywood bad boy Robert Mitchum. The actor had many great roles in a career spanning over 100 movies, but Powell is probably the one he is remembered for most. A Hollywood producer once described him as looking like "a shark with a broken nose," which is fitting for Powell, too. While he is ruthlessly single-minded when he smells blood, he is frequently prone to slapstick pratfalls that puncture the horror.

Most famously, Powell has "LOVE" and "HATE" tattooed across his knuckles, which he uses to give a simplistic sermon on the age-old battle between good and evil. By a quirk of voting fate, "The Night of the Hunter" was pipped to the 24th spot in the Sight and Sound poll by "Do the Right Thing;" Spike Lee has cited Laughton's film as one of his favorites (via Far Out) and he paid homage to Powell's speech in his sizzling masterpiece when Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn) gives his version of the tale with his gold knuckledusters.

Powell's story of good versus evil is the main theme of the film, closely followed by the innocence and resilience of the children who are let down by the adults in their lives. Ben Harper's foolhardy crime leaves them without a father and Willa is too weak-willed to protect them against Powell; the townsfolk are easily hoodwinked by his snake oil, and kindly old Uncle Birdie (James Gleason) passes out drunk when they need him most.

For much of the film hate, personified by Powell, seems to have love on the ropes. That finally changes when John and Pearl wash up with Rachel Cooper, a force of pure good that even the diabolical preacher cannot overcome.

Lillian Gish Was Cast To Represent The Silent Era

To make his connection to the silent era, Charles Laughton cast one of the greatest actors of early cinema in the role of Rachel Cooper. Lillian Gish made dozens of films in the '10s and '20s, most notably as a leading lady for D.W. Griffith in works like "The Birth of a Nation" and "Intolerance." When she asked Laughton why he had cast her, the director said (via Deep Focus Review):

"When I first went to the movies, they sat in their seats straight and leaned forward. Now they slump down, with their heads back, and eat candy and popcorn. I want them to sit up straight again."

Gish was in her 60s when she played the role and she is a beautiful and compassionate counterpoint to Mitchum's menacing dark cloud. Rachel Cooper has Powell's number from the moment she lays eyes on him; forthright and fiercely individual, her faith is uncorrupted by the busy-body gossip and hypocrisy of the others. If the preacher and the God-fearing people he repeatedly suckers represent the worst of small-minded communal piety, Mrs. Cooper is a reminder that religion can also be an empowering and positive force.

The showdown between love and hate comes in the wonderful scene when Powell sits outside the house at night, waiting for his moment to sneak in and get the children. Rachel Cooper stays awake, on guard with her shotgun. Powell sings his usual refrain of "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" and the old woman, refusing to be intimidated, joins in with her own version. It marks the turning point when good battles back against evil. Just as Powell's sermon goes, the unconditional love of Rachel Cooper wins out over the preacher's bottomless depths of hatred.

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

The post The Night of the Hunter Ending Explained: The Age-old Battle Between Love and Hate appeared first on /Film.

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Apple on Wednesday announced plans to beef up data security protections on its flagship devices with the addition of new encryption tools for iCloud backups and a feature to help users verify identities in the Messages app.

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Time comes for us all

In 2017, the Nintendo Switch was a revelation. Up to that point, the division between handheld consoles and home consoles was very clear. Handhelds were for smaller, less prestigious titles, while home consoles were for the big, knock-your-socks-off blockbusters. Enter Nintendo, with the friendly reminder that it didn't have to be that way. It's not that difficult to get a handheld to run a home console-quality game, and it's not that difficult to add an HDMI output to a handheld for those who still value the TV screen experience.

Nintendo was the first major company to properly execute on this idea (Sony's PlayStation TV doesn't count), and the Switch saw massive success as a result. Here, at last, was a Nintendo home console with no clumsy gimmicks - and, perhaps more importantly, here was the first example of a new breed of premium handheld. Five years later, though, the Switch has some serious competition; serious enough that it might be time for Nintendo to say goodbye.

New kids on the block

Some have described portable PCs like the Steam Deck and the Ayn Odin as "Switch killers." I don't agree. The Switch has a massive and wildly revered library of exclusives, and that's not going anywhere. It also has a five-year head start means that a lot of one-console consumers are already very committed to their Switches. Here's the catch, though: I do think that portable PCs could be Switch 2 killers.

Let's imagine, for a moment, that Nintendo launches a Switch 2. Let's imagine what that looks like - a better Nintendo Switch, right? But let's also remember what company we're talking about, and let's remember that there is no conceivable world in which a "better Nintendo Switch" has specs comparable to a similarly-priced portable PC. Now imagine you're a consumer, ready to buy a brand new console, and you are comparing the Switch 2, with whatever launch lineup it has, to a Steam Deck. Which would you buy? Which do you think most consumers would default to?

Obviously, this is all a hypothetical, but it's one grounded in history. Nintendo hasn't really been playing the same hardware game as the competition in at least a decade, and I sincerely doubt that they'd start now. The Switch has coasted for some time on the strength of its library, but if Nintendo were to ask consumers to buy a new console that's as far behind everyone else as the Switch was in 2017, they'd run into an issue they simply didn't have back then: competition.

One step back

What's the solve, then? Personally, I think it's time for Nintendo to play to its core strengths again, not by pushing out more technically advanced hardware, but by embracing its limits. Nintendo was able to compete in the eighth generation by forcing technically limited versions of third-party games onto the Switch in the interest of portability. In the ninth generation, those games are available in a much nicer portable package elsewhere. It's time for Nintendo to focus back in on the kinds of experiences that only Nintendo can create. To me, that doesn't necessarily mean a stronger console - in fact, it might just mean a weaker one.

There's an old quote from Game Boy designer Gunpei Yokoi that pops into my mind regularly. I read it in an interview translated by shmuplations, and it goes like this: "After we released the Game Boy, one of my staff came to me with a grim expression on his face: 'there’s a new handheld on the market similar to ours…' The first thing I asked was: 'is it a color screen, or monochrome?' He told me it was color, and I reassured him, 'Then we’re fine.'" He was right - the Game Boy was dramatically more successful than any of its more technically advanced peers. Yokoi understood that, at times, a limitation is just as powerful as a step forward. A monochrome screen might force you to make monochrome games, but it also forces you to make interesting design decisions that others aren't even considering, and consumers are drawn to interesting design decisions.

If Nintendo wants to compete in the next generation's console war, a Switch 2 won't be enough. There will always be something more powerful on the market. It's time to channel that Yokoi energy and make something that steps behind the competition to deliver experiences that won't be found elsewhere. The Switch was successful because it did things nobody else was trying. Now that others are making their own take on the Switch, it's time to try something new.

The post Is it time for Nintendo to ditch the Switch? appeared first on Destructoid.

Writer, director, and producer Kathryn Bigelow may be best known for her Oscar-winning action drama "The Hurt Locker," but her career is longer and more varied than many fans realize. Over the last 40 years, Bigelow has only released 10 feature films, but she has also worked in television and made a number of short films, resulting in a diverse and fascinating filmography. Despite early success with the surfer thriller "Point Break," Bigelow has maintained an independent filmmakers' sensibility, working in genres as diverse as horror and historical drama. 

While Bigelow's visual style and thematic interests have shifted throughout her career, what unites all of Bigelow's films is an interest in masculinity and patriarchy, along with a mastery of action and suspense. With two Oscars, two BAFTAs, and many other accolades under her belt, Bigelow has cemented herself as one of the most respected directors in modern Hollywood, particularly when it comes to thrillers. When you look at the full extent of her work, it's easy to see why.

The Weight Of Water

Generally regarded as the weakest entry on Bigelow's filmography, "The Weight of Water" tells two stories across two timelines. Jean (Catherine McCormack) is a photojournalist who travels to a remote island to research a violent murder that took place in 1873. Jean brings along her husband, Thomas (Sean Penn), his brother Rich (Josh Lucas), and Rich's girlfriend, Adaline (Elizabeth Hurley). After finding letters from Maren (Sarah Polley), who survived the attack, Jean becomes absorbed in the crime of passion, while also finding herself growing jealous of Adaline. 

As it flips between the two stories, "The Weight of Water" struggles to anchor itself fully in either. Bigelow tries to use the past to draw parallels with the present, but the storytelling is hamfisted, and neither plot is allowed to stand on its own. Unfortunately, "The Weight of Water" was also the biggest flop of Bigelow's career, grossing just over $320,000 worldwide.

K-19: The Widowmaker

"K-19: The Widowmaker" is a bit of a transitional low point for Bigelow. After the commercial failure of "The Weight of Water," Bigelow's follow up seems like a safer choice, with proven star Harrison Ford leading a blockbuster submarine action-drama. 

Amid the high tensions of the Cold War, the Soviets are eager to launch their latest submarine, the K-19, despite the fact that it's untested. Ford's Captain Vostrikov commands the mission over the objections of the ship's leader, Captain Polenin (Liam Neesen). However, when a nuclear reactor leak threatens the safety of the submarine's crew, the two men have to set aside their differences and their ideas of what loyalty to their country means in order to find a way out. 

"K-19" is far from the best of Bigelow's films. While it's technically competent, the film lacks both Bigelow's personal touches as well as original characters. However, it does showcase the realism that Bigelow would perfect in her later career. Though the film was far from Bigelow's biggest flop, it was still a financial disappointment, leading to a six-year gap between "K-19" and Bigelow's return with the tour-de-force triumph of "The Hurt Locker."

Detroit

Bigelow's most recent feature is a historical drama that examines the Algiers Motel incident, in which police assaulted a group of unarmed Black people in a hotel, murdering three individuals. Amid the roiling racial tension of the 1967 Detroit riot, when police and National Guard troops patrolled the city, officers raided the Algiers Motel, allegedly hunting for a sniper who was shooting at police. However, no gun was found at the scene. The details of the incident have been disputed, leaving screenwriter and frequent Bigelow collaborator Mark Boal to take some liberties with the facts. 

As a historical artifact and piece of political commentary, "Detroit" is a mixed bag. Bigelow is at her best when directing the action itself. The second act is intense, thrilling, and terrifying, feeling like something more akin to a horror movie than a historical reenactment. However, as a result, Bigelow loses sight of the film's purpose. Instead of addressing racism head-on, "Detroit" replicates it in brutal and exploitative fashion. By the end of the film, the viewer is left wondering what Bigelow and Boal have to say about the events depicted in their film, not to mention the real people who survived these harrowing events.

The Loveless

Bigelow's debut feature, co-directed and co-written with Monty Montgomery, is fascinating, if only because of how it contrasts with her later films and hints at the subject matter she'd later tackle as director. "The Loveless" follows Vance (a young Willem Dafoe, making his feature debut), the leader of a 1950s biker gang that takes up residence in a small town on its way to a race. 

While it's similar to "The Wild One," "The Loveless" is less interested in plot and structure than motif and mood. Where "The Wild One" used biker gangs as a lens for discussing socialism and McCarthyism, "The Loveless" has no specific politics. Instead, Bigelow is more concerned with the style of the era, and, as in all of her work, how it's expressed through male power. Masculinity is evoked through the lingering shots of the bikers, not any specific story arcs. Though Dafoe doesn't have much to work with, he carries the film on his shoulders, leaving viewers to wonder why he and Bigelow never collaborated again.

Zero Dark Thirty

"Zero Dark Thirty" tells the sprawling story of how the United States military methodically tracked, captured, and assassinated Osama bin Laden over the course of a decade. Maya (Jessica Chastain) is a CIA operative with limited field experience. When she is assigned to Pakistan after the September 11th attacks, Maya's commitment to the work is quickly put to the test as she is introduced to the U.S. military's violent interrogation tactics. Though she doesn't agree with the methods, she comes to believe they are necessary. 

While her colleagues change assignments, Maya's singular focus on finding bin Laden and taking down Al Qaeda transforms her into a shell of a person. However, that dedication is what ultimately leads to the conclusion of the bin Laden mission. Chastain's performance is powerful and believable, resulting in some of the best scenes in the film and earning her an Oscar nomination for best actress. Yet, while "The Hurt Locker" succeeds because of its narrow, character-centric focus, "Zero Dark Thirty" is a wide-ranging, bloated film. Regardless, it was still critically acclaimed, receiving nominations for best picture at the Oscars and Golden Globes and earning a best director nod for Bigelow at the BAFTAs.

Near Dark

Bigelow's mastery of suspense coalesced with "Near Dark," her entry into the 1980s vampire canon. Caleb (Adrian Pasdar) is a quiet cowboy who meets a drifter named Mae (Jenny Wright) one night. She bites him, and he turns into a vampire. Over the course of one whirlwind week, Caleb is tested by Mae's nest to see whether or not he's meant to be one of them. But when his family crosses paths with the vampires while attempting to bring him home, Caleb makes a shocking choice about his future that leads to a bloodbath. 

There are more famous and probably better vampire films out there than "Near Dark," but as one of Bigelow's few departures from contemporary takes on militarized masculinity, it's a fascinating member of her filmography. "Near Dark" is an impressive follow up to "The Loveless," utilizing a similar moody aesthetic while showcasing Bigelow's ability to weave tension and plot throughout a story. It also features a stunning supporting performance from Bill Paxton. While the film is more about the romance between Mae and Caleb than vampirism, the film's final act drives home Bigelow's ability to tell a story through action.

Strange Days

"Strange Days," based on a screenplay by Bigelow's ex-husband, James Cameron, is another unique experiment for the director. Following the success of "Point Break," Bigelow had the freedom to make any film she wanted. She took a risk with a sci-fi thriller that many fans love despite numerous plot holes and some gritty violence. The film takes place in the dystopian future of 1999, when devices known as SQUIDs allow users to hijack other people's bodies and live vicariously through their experiences. 

Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes) is a former cop who hawks SQUIDs, and who uses them to relive happier moments from his own past. After a high-profile rapper is mysteriously murdered, Lenny is pulled into a dark and insidious mystery. The film a twisty neo-noir that was ahead of its time in terms of examining the implications of virtual reality. In fact, it may have been too ahead of its time; the film predates "The Matrix," with which it shares many themes and a general aesthetic, by four years, but didn't find the same commercial success.

The Hurt Locker

The first of Bigelow's three collaborations with screenwriter Mark Boal, "The Hurt Locker" follows Staff Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner), who detonates bombs and improvised explosive devices. James is new to the squadron, and soon butts heads with Sergeant J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie), who is mourning the loss of his friend from a recent explosion. James is naturally impulsive, growing more reckless with each mission. Yet, even though Sanborn disagrees with his methods, James continually delivers results. 

"The Hurt Locker" represents a significant shift in Bigelow's career. While all of Bigelow's films deal with violence and masculinity, her latter films turn that focus not-so-subtly on the military and the police state, some to better effect than others. 

"The Hurt Locker" doesn't have much to say about the Iraq War or the people it impacted. Instead, the film works best as a character study; James was drawn to enlist after the September 11th attacks and to channel his own innate desire for chaos. The film's final moments drive this theme home in wrenching and memorable ways. "The Hurt Locker" also catapulted Bigelow onto an entirely different level career-wise, making her the first woman to win the Oscar for best directing (the film also won best picture).

Blue Steel

Bigelow's third feature follows Megan Turner (Jamie Lee Curtis), a rookie cop who's immediately suspended after she takes down a shooter in a grocery store — only to discover that there's no gun at the scene of the crime. After a chance meeting in a rainstorm, she begins to date Eugene (Ron Silver), a charismatic and handsome man who says and does all the right things. What she doesn't know, however, is that he's been stalking her the whole time. As Megan works to solve the case of what happened in the grocery store, more mysterious incidents unfold, with Eugene pulling the strings. 

Bigelow threads the tension through every scene, including the one in which Megan visits her parents and channels her own growing power and frustration into a near-arrest of her father for domestic abuse. However, viewers should approach the film with caution:  There are aspects that are incredibly dated, including the film's portrayal of a female police officer. Worse yet, "Blue Steel" employs sexual assault as a plot device, cutting Megan's autonomy off at the knees. Nonetheless, "Blue Steel" is still an entertaining psychosexual game of cat and mouse that a fierce Curtis, who plays one of Bigelow's only female protagonists, carries with ease.

Point Break

"Point Break" sounds ridiculous based on its premise, but thanks to Bigelow's direction it coalesces into a larger meditation on masculinity. Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) is a rookie FBI agent who's determined to prove his mettle, seizing the opportunity to go undercover among a circle of surfers suspected of a string of armed robberies. Soon, Johnny finds himself taken in by Bodhi (Patrick Swayze), the charismatic leader of the crew. As he gets closer to figuring out the truth behind Bodhi's crimes, they bond on the beach, enjoying surfing and bonfires. As the lines blur between the case and Johnny's cover, the officer risks losing it all in this thrilling action caper. 

Bigelow builds suspense and mood throughout while never losing sight of Johnny and Bodhi's relationship. The film largely avoids stereotypical masculine posturing, instead making it clear that the two men's fates are tied to each other through a subtle homoerotic bond. While it's not a comedy, Bigelow also finds moments of levity in the action scenes, which showcase the characters' flaws and strengths. "Point Break" is the sharpest refinement of the themes that have shaped Bigelow's career — it's no wonder this film was an instant classic.

Read this next: The 16 Best '80s Action Movies Ranked

The post Every Kathryn Bigelow film ranked worst to best appeared first on /Film.

If director James Cameron has anything to say about it, you'll probably want to brace yourselves for a heavy dose of H20 with "Avatar: The Way of Water," especially when it comes to its new batch of characters. Among the sprawling roster is a Metkayina Na'vi named Ronal, who acts as the spiritual leader of her people. As the Omaticaya Na'vi are spiritually rooted to their connection with the forest, Ronal's clan is more in touch with the aquatic landscape of Pandora. In the highly-anticipated sequel, Jake (Sam Worthington), Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), and other members of the Omaticaya clan end up coming into contact with the Metkayina tsahìk (or leader), who happens to be played by fellow Cameron alum Kate Winslet.

Given that Winslet's species of Na'vi is one with the water, it stands to reason that she would have to spend a great deal of time in the drink. As "Avatar" had Cameron working tirelessly to redefine the possibilities of performance capture and shooting in 3D, the sequel only pushed the moviemaking madman to go and develop state-of-the-art technology that helped bring Winslet's underwater performance to life.

Working in the water may have taken a lot out of her, but the rigorous process led Winslet to break an insane record that once belonged to Tom Cruise.

'Am I Dead? Am I Dead? Have I Died?'

While making "Mission: Impossible: Rogue Nation," Cruise was able to hold his breath underwater for over 6 and a half minutes to film a key action sequence. In Winslet's case, however, she ended up holding her breath for about a good 45 seconds longer, with an unbelievable record of 7 minutes and 15 seconds. During a virtual press conference attended by /Film, the Academy Award-winning actress talked about how she was nervous when it came time to go under for another dive, which led to a hilarious reaction when she learned she had pulled off a record: 

"I have the video of me surfacing saying 'Am I dead? Am I dead? Have I died?' And then going 'what was it?' Straight away I wanted to know my time. I couldn't believe it was 7:15, but then having been told it's 7:15, you want to know what the next thing I say is? 'We need to radio set.' I wanted Jim to know right away. That's the first thing I wanted to do."

The true winner in all of this is free dive trainer Kirk Krack, who oversaw the underwater stunts of both "Rogue Nation" and "The Way of Water."

Winslet was able to obtain the footage thanks to her husband Edward Abel Smith sneaking in with a camera as she came up, which led to the whirlwind reaction. Given how casually Cruise thrusts himself into danger for our amusement, it's pretty incredible Winslet showed him up by nearly half a minute. But like the always-prepared Cruise, her training had to properly prepare her for pulling off this stunt, lest they had a repeat of the "Titanic" shoot.

Why Winslet's Feat Is Such A Huge Deal

It was pretty surprising to see Winslet return to a Cameron production considering she nearly drowned while filming "Titanic." In 1999, she even vowed to never work on the director's films ever again unless she was paid an enormous sum. It appears, however, that the two have made up along the way, as she seemed excited about working in the water with him this time around.

Back in 2020, Winslet proudly talked about the stunt with Entertainment Tonight, where she claimed that the very heightened underwater regiment in the 40 foot-wide tank led to her being able to pull this feat off ... and probably never again:

"It was brilliant and I was very proud of myself and I'll probably never be able to do it again [...] That came at the end of four weeks worth of quite intense training and it was in the dive tank, it was in the training tank. But I loved it."

When it came to filming, Winslet had to learn how to safely free dive and hold her breath, as the use of scuba suits would have made it difficult for the motion capture technology to work its magic. It's a lot to ask of any actor, but she managed to pull it off by the skin of her teeth, and show up a fellow movie star in the process.

"Avatar: The Way of Water" is set to hit theaters on December 16, 2022.

Read this next: What These Avatar Scenes Look Like Without CGI

The post Kate Winslet Had a Hilarious Reaction to Beating Tom Cruise's Breath-Holding Record appeared first on /Film.

The long-awaited arrival of James Cameron's "Avatar: The Way of Water" will see the return of Pandora and the characters that inhabit it on the big screen. Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch was a highlight in the original film, a badass villain that represented the worst that the military-industrial complex has to offer. Although Quaritch met his demise last time around, he will make his return in the sequel. Well, at least most of him. The complex nature of the character is set to be explored in "The Way of Water," and Lang brought his own ideas to the table.

In "The Way of Water," Quaritch's resurrection is not as simple as it seems. After getting shot by a bunch of Na'vi-sized arrows during the final battle, his body was too far gone for resuscitation. Fortunately for Quaritch, new technology created by the Resources Development Administration now allows for his consciousness to be uploaded into an avatar. However, the Quaritch we saw at the end of the first film may not all be present in his new and improved body. There is a moment in the upcoming sequel that apparently speaks to that dissociation, one that Lang directly contributed to.

Be warned: if you want to go in blind not knowing anything about the character, turn away now. Some minor spoilers follow.

Seeing A Ghost

When Quaritch comes back into the fold in "The Way of Water," it'll be a version of him that didn't experience his final moments in the first film. The memories restored in the new avatar body are slightly dated. Even though most of his essence will remain the same, the situation may become troublesome to Quaritch, who finds out how he died the hard way. 

/Film's Jacob Hall attended a press conference for "Avatar: The Way of Water," where Cameron revealed that Lang, a screenwriter in his own right, suggested a scene that ended up making the final script: "He actually brought ideas that I was able to incorporate in the writing phase...Like when he finds his own remains in the forest, that was actually Stephen's suggestion." A snippet of the scene is actually in the trailer, when his gun-toting Na'vi explores the forest alongside another avatar. 

Knowing how important Lang's Quaritch will likely be once again, it's pretty exciting to hear that he had direct input in what seems like a very harrowing scene in the film. Above all, it should make for a powerful moment that speaks to a past self that despised the Na'vi race.

Becoming What You Hate

In the first "Avatar," Quaritch represented the quintessential leadership figure for the militarized expedition on Pandora. A veteran with more combat experience than anyone else in proximity, Quaritch was a pillar of traditional masculinity and held ideas that rejected the legitimacy of the people he and the RDA were murdering to ravage the lands of Pandora. When he told Jake Sully he had betrayed his own race, he meant it. However, all of that is flipped on its head when his only means of survival is becoming the very thing he called a savage animal. It's all poetic, really.

It may be karma or something else entirely, but one thing is certain: Quaritch has to now reckon with a new state of being that questions his entire morality up until this point. Although he hasn't been exactly a sympathetic character, I'd bet that will change soon enough. And judging by the critical response, "The Way of Water" appears to already be on the right track when it comes to character development.

"Avatar: The Way of Water" finally arrives in theaters on December 16, 2022.

Read this next: Everything You Need To Remember About Avatar

The post The Big Idea Stephen Lang Brought to Avatar: The Way of Water appeared first on /Film.

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Apple plans to expand its Communication Safety features, which aim to disrupt the sharing of child sexual abuse material at the source. From a report: In August 2021, Apple announced a plan to scan photos that users stored in iCloud for child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The tool was meant to be privacy-preserving and allow the company to flag potentially problematic and abusive content without revealing anything else. But the initiative was controversial, and it soon drew widespread criticism from privacy and security researchers and digital rights groups who were concerned that the surveillance capability itself could be abused to undermine the privacy and security of iCloud users around the world. At the beginning of September 2021, Apple said it would pause the rollout of the feature to "collect input and make improvements before releasing these critically important child safety features." In other words, a launch was still coming. Now the company says that in response to the feedback and guidance it received, the CSAM-detection tool for iCloud photos is dead. Instead, Apple told WIRED this week, it is focusing its anti-CSAM efforts and investments on its "Communication Safety" features, which the company initially announced in August 2021 and launched last December. Parents and caregivers can opt into the protections through family iCloud accounts. The features work in Siri, Apple's Spotlight search, and Safari Search to warn if someone is looking at or searching for child sexual abuse materials and provide resources on the spot to report the content and seek help. Additionally, the core of the protection is Communication Safety for Messages, which caregivers can set up to provide a warning and resources to children if they receive or attempt to send photos that contain nudity. The goal is to stop child exploitation before it happens or becomes entrenched and reduce the creation of new CSAM.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The U.S. government’s mandates around the creation and delivery of SBOMs (software bill of materials) to help mitigate supply chain attacks has run into strong objections from big-name technology vendors.

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The Anne Rice television universe is expanding. "Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches" will be joining the critically-beloved "Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire" on AMC, and they've just released the first trailer for the upcoming series. While "Interview with the Vampire" mostly takes place in the distant past, the story of the Mayfair witches was always meant to be a more contemporary one. The first season of the series will likely focus mostly on the events of Rice's novel "The Witching Hour," which introduced the world to the Mayfair family and their bizarre connection to a powerful spirit back in 1990. If the series does well, there are two more novels to draw from, "Lasher," and "Taltos," plus a few crossover books that take place during the later portion of Rice's "The Vampire Chronicles," which begins with "Interview." 

"Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches" stars Alexandria Daddario as a young neurosurgeon, Dr. Rowan Mayfair, who learns that she is actually the heir to a family of witches. She is the last of the Mayfair witches, for now, and she has to figure out how to control her newfound powers and take her rightful place in the family line, all while wrapping her mind around the fact that witches, spirits, and other things that go bump in the night are truly real.

Watch The Trailer For Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches

Rice's "Lives of the Mayfair Witches" trilogy never got quite the attention that her vampire novels did, though they share a universe and occasionally cross over. The story of the Mayfair witches goes back centuries, though given the framing of this trailer, I imagine most of the history will be told through flashbacks and Rowan learning about her family's past. There's also a teeny tiny sneak peek at Lasher, the powerful, shapeshifting being who is bound to the Mayfair family forever, though we don't get a chance to see his face. He's set to be played by "Boardwalk Empire" star Jack Huston, and I'm deeply curious to see how they make one of Rice's most controversial characters work in live-action. Seriously, if you thought Lestat was a brat ... well, he's got nothing on Lasher. 

Here's the official synopsis for the series:

Based on Anne Rice's Lives of the Mayfair Witches, Mayfair Witches is an exploration of female power and the mortal implications of our decisions. Mayfair Witches focuses on an intuitive young neurosurgeon (Alexandra Daddario) who discovers that she is the unlikely heir to a family of witches. As she grapples with her newfound powers, she must contend with a sinister presence that has haunted her family for generations. 

"Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches" will premiere on AMC and AMC+ on January 8, 2023.

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The post Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches Trailer: Another Gruesome Gothic Romance from AMC appeared first on /Film.

Intel recently announced a big driver update for their Arc GPUs on Windows, because their DirectX 9 performance wasn't as good as it could have been. Turns out, they're using code from the open source DXVK which is part of Steam Play Proton.

The longevity of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" has been fascinating to behold. Beginning on Minnesota public access television in 1988, Joel Hodgson's watch-bad-movies-with-sarcastic-buddies cult TV series has deeply entrenched itself into the collected Jungian lore of every Gen-Xer worth their weight in flannel. For much of its life, "MST3K" lived either on KTMA in Minneapolis or, when it became more successful, running at midnight on Comedy Central. 

Throughout, the show famously included the phrase "Keep circulating the tapes" in its credits. That was an acknowledgement from the show's producers that world-of-mouth and shared VHS recordings of "MST3K" were responsible for its modest cultural foothold. Fans would call friends, mail them cassettes (this was long, long before internet video), and implore that the cult grow. In 2008, when "MST3K" was finally made widely available through DVD box sets (put out first by Rhino, then by the Shout! Factory), Dr. Forrester/Crow T. Robot actor Trace Beaulieu said in an AV Club interview to "Keep circulating some of the tapes." Buy any available episodes on DVD, please. 

After "MST3K" proper wrapped in 1999, the various cast members all took a brief hiatus before each returning with "MST3K"-like projects. Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett, and Kevin Murphy made four riff-centric videos as The Film Crew in 2006 before striking gold with RiffTrax, a service that allowed viewers to download comedy commentary tracks for pop movies, as well as purchase videos of the usual B-movie shlock. Hodgson teamed with Beaulieu, Frank Coniff, Mary Jo Pehl, and Josh Elvis Weinstein to create "Cinematic Titanic" in 2007, a very similar riff-based show. Both "Titanic" and RiffTrax toured with love shows. 

In 2017, "MST3K" was revived on Netflix, completing a strange mainstreaming of something that once gained power from being on the fringe.

The Mainstreaming Of MST3K

Fans' interest in "Mystery Science Theater 3000" never waned in the years since it went off the air, and reruns/DVD of the show were enthusiastically hoarded by collectors. Indeed, enough time had passed since the show's heyday that a new generation of comedians began citing it as a major influence. As such, Hodgson began thinking about reviving the show in 2015 and subsequently launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to bring "MST3K" to Netflix. Jonah Ray was to take over hosting duties, Hampton Yount and Baron Vaughn would play his plucky robot sidekicks, and Felicia Day and Patton Oswalt would play the evil children of the original show's evil mad scientists. The setting of the show was moved from a satellite orbiting Earth -- where the host was trapped and forded to watch bad movies -- to a secret moon base. 

The new "MST3K" was slick and well-moneyed. It still retained some of the "homemade" aesthetic of the show's early days, but featured its own band, and, if this is possible, higher-profile bad movies. The Netflix revival, which launched in 2017, was sold as the show's official 11th season. It was followed by a six-episode "marathon" 12th season wherein all six movies could be watched in a single stretch. 

The revival was impressive and well-viewed, and the writing was as strong as ever, but something felt a little off. "Mystery Science Theater 3000," after all, began its life as something surreptitious, something borderline contraband. It was a fringe phenomenon. The new show, in being so slick, didn't possess the scrappy, can-do spirit that the show was originally predicated on. Additionally, the riffs seemed to come faster and faster in this new version, seemingly frantic to be accepted. The show appeared mildly overwhelmed with itself.

The Gizmoplex Opens

At this juncture, one may finally make mention of the Gizmoplex. 

Netflix seemed content to let their version of "MST3K" lapse after two years, and it appeared that the show was finally at an end ... again. Mainstream studio backing was not part of the "MTS3K" future. 

Hodgson, however, perhaps pleased to have been working on his creation again -- he wasn't part of the show from 1995 until the revival -- seemingly wanted to keep the ball rolling. He understood that "MST3K" wasn't a very hi-fi concept, and that big budgets and spectacle was never its central appeal. As such, Hodgson launched another Kickstarter campaign, this time far more modest, to bring back "MST3K" on its own streaming service that was to be called the Gizmoplex.

The Gizmoplex was to bring back Ray, Yount, Vaughn, Day, and Ostwalt, but would transpose the action to the eponymous theater on the moon. Pehl would also occasionally appear as Pearl Forrester, as would two evil clones named Synthia and Mega-Synthia (both played by Rebecca Hanson). The robot once named Gypsy, understanding problems associated with the word, was renamed GPC. The mad scientist segments were to be filmed against a green screen, and the host segments were to be on a similar one-wall set as was seen on the original show back in 1988. Additionally, Emily Marsh, who had been touring with live "MST3K"-branded stage shows, was brought on as a secondary host. Ray, Marsh, and even Hodgson himself were to take turns riffing on movies. 

To access the Gizmoplex, fans can download an app and buy a "season pass," allowing them watch all the show's new episodes as they come out, along with access to most of the shows from the first 10 seasons besides. 

The Spirit Of The Thing

The Gizmoplex is, when compared to other major streaming services, incredibly modest. A dedicated channel to "MST3K" might seem churlish in the face of a Netflix or a Prime Video that is constantly stuffing their coffers with well-financed hit TV shows with dragons in them. But, in terms of its spirit, how is a dedicated streaming service all that different from broadcasting on a public TV station in 1988? In both cases, a team of dedicated comedians and sarcastic movie riffers have gathered to make their own low-budget, high-concept, puppet-based entertainment on their own terms, and released it into an entertainment marketplace occupied by nothing but Big Fish. "MST3K" was never a billionaire's fan project. It was people doing it for fun. 

The Gizmoplex has allowed "MST3K" to regain its old-fashioned can-do spirit. In working with lower budgets, the show -- in a very Great Pumpkin sort of way -- feels more sincere. Also, in switching hosts on the regular, the production schedule feels less rushed, less forced. Everyone appears to be more relaxed and laidback on the Gizmoplex, likely because the pressure is off and they can play more freely. Also, as the hosts change, so does the energy. Jonah Ray has a put-upon little brother vibe to his episodes, while Marsh feels like a secret weapon, unexpectedly inserting riffs that make one's head explode. Hodgson hasn't missed a stride in moving back into his realm, and Day and Oswalt seem to be there as a hobby. 

Meanwhile, the audience is there enjoying things the most of all. 

Perhaps a little off to the side, the new service modestly awaits discovery ... kind of like the early days. There may be no more tapes to circulate, but now we can spread the word. 

Read this next: 13 Box Office Bombs That Are Truly Worth A Watch

The post The New Mystery Science Theater 3000 Gizmoplex Gets the Show Back to Its Homemade Roots appeared first on /Film.

This month, audiences are making their return to the world of Pandora with the long-awaited sequel to James Cameron's ambitious, cutting-edge blockbuster, "Avatar: The Way of Water." For all of us at home, it has been a long 13 years since the original took over the world — long enough that some of us can't even seem to remember the first film's significant cultural impact. But, for Zoe Saldaña, who is returning to reprise her role as the Na'vi princess Neytiri in the "Avatar" sequel, shooting for not just the second movie but also the next two consecutive sequels started way back in 2017.

We've only seen one part of Neytiri's journey, but Saldaña has stayed emotionally connected to her Na'vi character for a significant amount of time, keeping her alive through advanced motion-capture technology, which has been even more enhanced to capture the nuances of swimming underwater. Through Neytiri and her role as Gamora in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Saldaña has found herself to be involved in some of the most profitable films of all time, making her a science-fiction icon.

Though you'd assume this kind of thing comes naturally to Saldaña, returning to embody Neytiri in "Avatar: The Way of Water" was actually a "terrifying" experience for the actress. This week, in a press conference for the "Avatar" sequel, Saldaña shared that re-discovering Neytiri's place in the world was a much more complicated process.

'Neytiri And I Have Lived Parallel Lives'

When asked what it felt like to reprise Neytiri, Saldaña began her answer by explaining her deep, unexpected connection to the Na'vi princess and her journey that we've seen so far in 2009's "Avatar":

"It's so funny because when something is very similar to you, you can't see it ... Neytiri and I ... have lived parallel lives. There's a level of fearlessness and rebellion that I have as a person that Neytiri had as herself, and we were able to find kindred in that. The leap of falling in love with something outside of you, that challenges you to see something that you've never seen before, that has always been her dilemma. To surrender to that, and then to bring forward you know, fruits of that love ... that presents the challenge for her. It's forcing her to grow, it's forcing her to love something that she was taught to hate."

In the gap between filming the two "Avatar" films, Saldaña experienced something that brought her even closer to Neytiri: motherhood. In 2014, she had two twin boys, and in 2016, one more son. In "Avatar: The Way of Water," we are reintroduced to Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri, now with a large family of five children of their own. "You may be fearless when you don't have kids. But, you learn fear when you have kids," James Cameron interjected, "when you have something greater than yourself that you can lose."

Motherhood Added A New Layer To Neytiri

Though Saldaña already felt a kinship with Neytiri, stepping back into her shoes with a new shared experience and something so instinctual as parenthood gave the role a new sense of urgency in the sequel. Neytiri was always a natural fighter, so for her to be in a position where she is letting her walls down and allowing herself to love is a scary amount of vulnerability for her. Saldaña elaborated on the dynamics of how love is often paired with fear:

"In my personal life when I became a parent, fear entered my realm. The fear of losing someone that you love so much. ... You spend a great amount of your time creating hypothetical scenarios that are just unimaginable. When I read ... the second script, that was her. That was Neytiri. But I didn't see it then, I see it now. Because my job wasn't to see it, my job was to be it."

It's somewhat fitting how Saldaña describes playing the character of Neytiri as something instinctual and something she needs to feel in tune with. "Avatar" has a unique brand of sci-fi with unconventional themes for the genre: spirituality, a deep appreciation and connection to nature, and reverence for ancient ways of living. Saldaña's ability to adapt to those is a testament to her flexibility as an actress.

We're excited to see how she evolves Neytiri when "Avatar: The Way of Water" opens in theaters on December 16, 2022.

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The post Why It Was Terrifying For Zoe Saldaña to Return to Neytiri in Avatar: The Way of Water appeared first on /Film.