Alecbugg

In a shocking turn of events—given that it’s being written and directed by Lethal Weapon scribe Shane Black, the man who turned the common household toilet into a figure of looming, bomb-concealing terror—it would appear that the title characters in the upcoming comedy noir The Nice Guys may not be all that nice at all. Indeed, Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling seem practically uncouth in this red band trailer, what with all the fisticuffs and uncivilized gunplay they‘re engaging in as they pursue a missing girl in ’70s L.A.

Crowe plays Jackson Healy, a “messenger” whose messages seem to mostly take the form of punches to the face, although he also throws in a broken bone or two in an effort to widen his violence-based vocabulary. Gosling, meanwhile, jitters all over the place as private investigator Holland March, a whiny, nervous wreck who comes off ...

Proving that hope always springs eternal in the (massive, brawny) human breast, film star and twelfth-level paladin Vin Diesel has put two more projects in the saga of Pitch Black protagonist Richard B. Riddick into development. Posting on Instagram, Diesel first announced that his production company, One Race Films, has opened a new TV division, with its first project being Merc City, a new series set in the Riddick Universe.

Apparently centered on the bounty hunters and mercenaries who largely exist to get stabbed, smacked, and growled at in the regular Riddick films, it’s not clear if Merc City will feature performances from Diesel itself, or if it’ll rely instead on all the fascinating world-building that peppers the Riddick films. (Audiences just can’t get enough of faceless mooks and whatever the hell the “Necromongers” are.) Meanwhile, franchise writer-director David Twohy is hard at work on the fourth ...

Block & Tackle is John Teti’s column about pro football.

The pregame rituals at Sunday’s games recognized the victims of the Paris terror attacks with dignified tributes—moments of silence and displays of the French blue, white, and red. Yet these shows of Francophilia happened to take place amid the league’s annual Salute To Service, which is very much about ensconcing the NFL in red, white, and blue (and selling camouflage-patterned apparel). The coincidence was awkward. Before the Patriots-Giants kickoff, a small military contingent unfurled a French flag at one end of the field while the stadium observed a moment of silence:

Then the Giants’ public-address announcer hailed a phalanx of service members and veterans on the sidelines, who blanketed the entire field with a gigantic U.S. flag, just as Betsy Ross envisioned. Such was the enormity of these stars and stripes that, tellingly, CBS’ camera ...

Michael Shannon puts on his most intense face—that is to say, his regular face—in the trailer for Jeff Nichols’ Midnight Special. Nichols, who directed Shannon in Take Shelter and also made Mud with Matthew McConaughey, crafts this tale of a child who seems to be at the center of a manhunt due to his unnatural abilities, which also make his eyes turn into lens flares like in a J.J. Abrams movie. As we previously reported, the film also stars Kirsten Dunst, Joel Edgerton, and Adam Driver, all either protecting, pursuing, or interviewing Sam Shepard about the boy with the lens flare eyes. Given Nichols’ previous films, and the stellar cast, it’s probably safe to get excited about going along for the ride when Midnight Special comes out in March.

Submitted by: tamaleknight

Keyboard Geniuses is our weekly glance at a few intriguing, witty, or otherwise notable posts from the Gameological discussion threads. Comments have been excerpted and edited here for grammar, length, and/or clarity. You can follow the links to see the full threads.

Brutish, Nasty, And Short

This week, our resident Dungeons & Dragons expert, Samantha Nelson, reviewed Sword Coast Legends, the latest official D&D game. It features a campaign creation mode, where digital dungeon masters can craft their own stories and challenges. Now, I’ve still never played Dungeons & Dragons, but I love hearing people tell their tales of tabletop glory and, more so, utter failure. If you’re like me, then the comments under the review were a riot. Facetaco set the stage:

Based on my sole experience playing Dungeons & Dragons, this game should consist of spending 45 minutes creating a character, dying within the first ...

While the world awaits the resurgence of the Creed name in the sport of boxing, it’s always good to take a step back and remember what brought us to now. Especially when it’s a momentous occasion like a simple-minded boxer somehow ending the Cold War with a few, barely logical sentences haphazardly strung together after receiving an incredible beating at the hands of The Siberian Express. College Humor uses ESPN’s 30 For 30 style to examine that time when the hostility between two superpowers was healed and eventually dissipated all thanks to the fight between Rocky Balboa and Ivan Drago.

The video expertly mirrors the ESPN series of short films, with experts and archival footage setting the stage for the knockout punch that Balboa delivered to the then 62-year-old regime. It’s a brilliant send-up that covers not just the climactic fight, but also the M*A ...

Submitted by: (via Team Coco)

Submitted by: (via Twitter)

Keyboard Geniuses is our weekly glance at a few intriguing, witty, or otherwise notable posts from the Gameological discussion threads. Comments have been excerpted and edited here for grammar, length, and/or clarity. You can follow the links to see the full threads.

Cancel The LAN Party

It’s November, which means new games are coming faster than you can say “eh, I’ll wait for Fallout 4,” but we’ve still got plenty to talk about before then. Like Halo 5, for example. In his review of Master Chief’s latest tour of the galaxy’s hottest spots for killing aliens, Drew Toal mentioned that while the single-player campaign is a bit “disappointing,” multiplayer still holds up. Down in the comments, though, a lot of readers bemoaned the game’s lack of split-screen multiplayer—a first for the series. LoveWaffle remembers the good old days:

My favorite memories with ...

On paper, it hasn’t looked like the best year for comedian John Mulaney. His Fox sitcom was canceled after a brief stint of bad reviews and dwindling ratings, which would probably be enough to send anyone into a bit of a funk. But recent interviews show the comic’s spirit is undimmed, and now his new Netflix special, John Mulaney: The Comeback Kid, has arrived so you can mix up your nightly routine of whiskey and re-watching of New In Town. (You can keep drinking the whiskey, obviously, but it’s great to have new Mulaney material.)

Going from a special called New In Town to one titled The Comeback Kid may leave you wondering what the hell happened in between those two tapings. Happily, here’s a short clip of the new special, to give you a sense of what you’ll be in for. It’s a ...