The Witcher is a massive IP spanning anime, books, comics, a series of games (and cameos in battle royale shooter Fortnite and 3D brawler SoulCalibur VI), and a television series on Netflix. The franchise’s lead, Geralt of Rivia, has journeyed far beyond the expectations that fantasy author Andrzej Sapkowski might’ve…
Epic RPG Final Fantasy VII Rebirth doesn’t just have individual levels for characters, it also has something called Party Level. Maxing out at Level 10, Party Level influences how much of your character Folios (which grant new abilities and stat boosts) you can unlock.
Epic RPG Final Fantasy VII Rebirth doesn’t just have individual levels for characters, it also has something called Party Level. Maxing out at Level 10, Party Level influences how much of your character Folios (which grant new abilities and stat boosts) you can unlock.
Tim Allen is returning to ABC in a new comedy [*Tool man grunt*]. The Toy Story star is a veteran of the network, having starred in the popular 90s series Home Improvement for eight seasons, then coming back as the lead in another sitcom, Last Man Standing, which had a run of nine seasons. Last Man Standing had concluded its last season in 2021 and Allen will now be starring in a new show with the current working title Shifting Gears. The series will be written by Mike Scully, veteran writer of The Simpsons and Parks and Rec, along with his wife Julie Thacker Scully, who has also written for The Simpsons.
According to Deadline, Allen will also be joined by fellow sitcom vet Kat Dennings. Dennings would star in the CBS show Two Broke Girls, which would run for six seasons. Dennings is also on board as a producer for Shifting Gears. The plot according to Deadline says, “Shifting Gears centers on Matt (Allen), the stubborn, widowed owner of a classic car restoration shop. When Matt’s estranged daughter Riley (Dennings) and her teenage kids move into his house, the real restoration begins. Dennings’ Riley butted heads with her father growing up and left to marry the boyfriend he hated. Now divorced, Riley’s forced to move back home with two kids, hoping she and her dad can make it work this time.”
Mike Scully and Julie Thacker Scully are also on board as executive producers of the show with Last Man Standing executive producers Allen, Marty Adelstein, Becky Clements, Richard Baker and Rick Messina. After Two Broke Girls concluded its run, Dennings would go on to reprise her character from the Thor movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the Disney+ series WandaVision, which was directed by Matt Shakman, the director of the upcoming Fantastic Four. She would also return to the role for the fourth Thor movie — Thor: Love and Thunder. Meanwhile, Tim Allen returned to a beloved role as dad-turned-Santa in Disney+’s continuation of The Santa Clause franchise — The Santa Clauses. There was recent talk about there possibly being a revamp of Home Improvement. However, Patricia Richardson, who played Tim’s wife, Jill, on the show, was not expressing interest to return.
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Plot: Based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Sympathizer is an espionage thriller and cross-culture satire about the struggles of a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy during the final days of the Vietnam War and his new life as a refugee in Los Angeles, where he learns that his spying days aren’t over.
Review: The initial teaser released in 2023 showed that The Sympathizer would be something special. Featuring writing and direction from Park Chan-wook alongside writer Don McKellar and featuring Oscar winner Robert Downey Jr in five distinct roles, The Sympathizer is not only an adaptation of a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel but a masterpiece of visual storytelling. A satirical blend of dark humor and visceral drama, The Sympathizer is unlike anything in recent memory. A startling perspective on the experience of the Vietnam War from the perspective of an unreliable narrator, this series spans years and genres to deliver a story that will have you glued to every single scene. With an impressive lead role from Hoa Xuande and recognizable actors including Sandra Oh, David Duchovny, John Cho, and more, this is a shocking story that embraces the divided nature of the warring factions of Vietnam alongside the equally divisive legacy of America’s connection to the brutal war that split the nation. The Sympathizer is really damn good.
Set in the 1970s, The Sympathizer centers on a nameless character known as Captain (Hoa Xuande). Shunned as a half-breed due to his Vietnamese mother and French father, Captain tells the story while imprisoned by the Communist government in his homeland. Chronicling his life story, Captain goes back to the days when he worked for the Secret Police while serving as a mole for the Communist resistance. Living a dual life, Captain must hide his true allegiances even as he begins to embrace the Western ideals taught to him by CIA agent Claude (Robert Downey Jr). When he and his boss, The General (Toan Le), his best friend Bon (Fred Nguyen Khan), and their families flee to the United States, Captain continues to work for the resistance via his close friend Man (Duy Nguyễn). In the United States, Captain must weave through the intolerance of Americans and those who want to use his skills to further their own cause. This includes Professor Hammer (Robert Downey Jr, again), a teacher of Asian Studies at Occidental College, Congressman Goodwin (Robert Downey Jr, a third time), a Vietnam Veteran, as well as Hollywood director Nico Damianos (RDJ, a fourth time) who wants to make an epic movie about the war. Each character represents a different perspective on the American involvement with Vietnam and further complicates Captain’s mission.
Over the seven episodes of The Sympathizer, the story shifts between Captain’s retelling of the events and his solitary confinement in the present day. Each time he reveals details about his past, Captain’s story shifts slightly, making him an unreliable narrator. Hoa Xuande (Cowboy Bebop) does an admirable job as he shifts between fluent Vietnamese and flawless English, another element of the dual lives of the Captain. Xuande commands the screen in an emotional rollercoaster of a role that has him carrying the ghosts of those whose lives he has personally taken and which haunt him through the series. In virtually every scene, Xuande is an amazingly talented actor who holds his own through his double and sometimes triple-crosses that consistently keep him close to being exposed for the spy he is. The weight of this is tangible as his character’s blue eyes can barely hide the torrent of emotions he must keep bottled up. It is an exceptional performance that shows a range as Captain interacts with targets, friends, and romantic partners, including Sophia Mori (Sandra Oh), the Japanese-American employee of Professor Hammer. Without divulging the twists and direction the story takes Captain, know that Xuande is capable of handling every obstacle placed in Captain’s path.
As much as I was impressed by Hoa Xuande, The Sympathizer is another impressive showcase for Robert Downey Jr. On the heels of his Oscar win for Oppenheimer, Downey transforms into four completely unique characters who appear in varying capacities throughout the series. While the effeminate Professor Hammer may be the broadest of his roles in the series and Congressman Goodwin a veiled blend of the late John McCain mixed with a little Nixon, Downey’s other two roles wowed me. As Claude, Captain’s surrogate father figure and mentor, Downey dons a curly red hairstyle as he portrays the CIA agent as calculating as much as he is sympathetic to his Vietnamese colleagues. He is an intriguing character as he clearly has a bond with Captain, but one that does not supersede his allegiance to the United States. His other major role as film director, Nico Damianos, required the least amount of prosthetics but also required Downey to draw on his experiences on film sets and left me wondering if he drew inspiration from any real-life filmmakers to play this director. None of Robert Downey Jr’s characters are named in the novel, making his largely improvised performances even more engrossing to watch.
While the acting talent is a major plus for The Sympathizer, the creative talent behind the camera is equally impressive. Oldboy and Decision To Leave director Park Chan-wook co-wrote every episode of The Sympathizer along with series co-creator Don McKellar along with a team that includes Naomi Iizuka, Mark Richard, Maegan Houang, and Anchuli Felicia King. Park Chan-wook directed the series’ first three episodes, The Constant Gardener helmer Fernando Meirelles directed the fourth episode, and Marc Munden on the final three. Park Chan-wook’s unique style blends dark comedy and satire with disturbing images ranging from war atrocities and violence to horror movies that will stick with you for a long time. Barry Ackroyd’s cinematography is consistently stunning throughout the entire series, as is the fantastic score and soundtrack populated by recognizable songs from the 1970s. With a great producing team that includes Susan Downey and Roberty Downey Jr, novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen, and more, this series is incredible to watch.
The Sympathizer is not what I expected based on the trailers, but it still exceeded my expectations. It is almost impossible to find fault with Robert Downey Jr’s career choices since ending his run in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Sympathizer is an example of a powerful story that needed the right talent to bring it to the screen. With an impeccable global cast, inspired direction, and writing from Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar, there is very little to complain about in The Sympathizer besides being over too soon. While I enjoyed it as a binge-watch, keeping the narrative flowing over the entire series, I expect it to build a different momentum for those tuning in weekly. Knowing that author Viet Thanh Nguyen has written a novel that continues the story, I hope The Sympathizer finds a large enough audience to bring this cast and crew back for another season.
The Sympathizer premieres on April 14th on HBO.
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Plot: Based on one of the greatest video game series of all time, Fallout is the story of haves and have-nots in a world in which there’s almost nothing left to have. 200 years after the apocalypse, the gentle denizens of luxury fallout shelters are forced to return to the irradiated hellscape their ancestors left behind — and are shocked to discover an incredibly complex, gleefully weird and highly violent universe waiting for them.
Review: Back in 1997, I was a high school kid playing video games on my Nintendo 64 and my PC. I loved games like Command & Conquer: Red Alert, the original Diablo, and Fallout. Fallout grabbed me from the opening cinematic, showing a 1950s-style television and retro music as the camera pulled back to showcase a nuclear-blasted apocalyptic landscape. I was hooked, and in the decades since, I have waited patiently for someone to deliver a worthy adaptation. As video games have finally come into their own on the big screen and television, the bar continues to get raised by shows like The Last of Us, which capture the dramatic power of these stories with top-notch acting and direction. I am happy to say that the bar has been raised again, as Fallout is easily the best video game adaptation ever. Jonathan Nolan and showrunners Geneva Robertson-Dworet & Graham Wagner have captured Fallout‘s visual and tonal themes while venturing into a completely original narrative within the video game canon and forging a unique story all its own. Fallout is an absolute blast, pun intended.
Fallout opens with a scene in the hours immediately preceding the world’s end via nuclear winter. This scene features Walton Goggins in cowboy mode and is pivotal in understanding the series to follow. Part retro throwback to the Red Scare of the 1950s but with a future-forward aesthetic, Jonathan Nolan opens the series with a peek into the past before sending us two centuries into the future. This is an important moment in differentiating Fallout from other video game adaptations. Whether it be Resident Evil, Sonic the Hedgehog, or any other recent game interpretation, Fallout relies on creating the world structure we will spend eight-hour-long episodes. Without wasting a beat, the series shifts forward to the interior of Vault 33, where we meet Lucy Maclean (Ella Purnell), a skilled but sheltered Vaultie looking forward to her future. Without spoiling what follows, Lucy must weapon up in a sequence that reminded me of Samara Weaving in Ready or Not for a bloody and violent rampage that will soon set her on a path outside the Vault in search of her father Hank (Kyle McLachlan). But Lucy’s story is only the beginning.
The brilliance of Fallout is the balance of multiple storylines. Series creator Jonathan Nolan and his wife, Lisa Joy, managed to juggle several characters and narrative arcs in their series Westworld. Still, Fallout connects very distinct storylines into a cohesive series. This feat brings together Cooper Howard (Walton Goggins) and his transformation into The Ghoul, Lucy Maclean and her search for her dad, and Maximus (Aaron Moten), a squire in the Brotherhood of Steel. All three characters connect early in the series with goals that will have them crossing paths in various capacities over the course of the first season of Fallout. As they venture from Vaults to cities, colonies, and beyond, the series boasts a massive cast, including Dale Dickey, Sarita Choudhury, Leslie Uggams, Chris Parnell, Zach Cherry, and some creative cameos I did not see coming. There is also a key supporting role from Michael Emerson (Lost, The Blacklist), whose introduction in the second episode is a dialogue-free sequence that is as emotionally resonant as the opening of Pixar’s Up. You will get what I mean as soon as you watch it.
Having seen the entire season of Fallout, what struck me most was the balance of drama and comedy. Fallout has a pitch-black sense of humor, just like the video games, but also takes itself seriously enough that it never feels silly. The series is also incredibly violent, with some impressive gore. Like Westworld before it, Fallout blends a heavy amount of special effects work with location shooting to deliver a tangible environment that looks and feels like it really exists. The make-up effects are impressive, especially on Walton Goggins’ face as The Ghoul. The physical suits for the Brotherhood of Steel seem clunky, but they also look straight out of the game. From the Vault-Tec armbands and costumes to the array of weapons throughout the series, Fallout is meticulous in realizing items from the video games without making them look silly. But, as much as the series evokes the games, it is a cinematic experience more than anything. The scope and scale of this story hinges on making the world believable as much as it benefits the cast working well together. While Walton Goggins excels in any role he is cast in, he is especially impressive as Cooper/The Ghoul. With a tragic backstory and a badass arc, Goggins nails this role, earning a spot alongside Boyd Crowder as a signature role. Ella Purnell and Aaron Moten also share some great chemistry as Lucy and Maximus, something readily apparent from their first shared scene.
While Jonathan Nolan’s name is all over the marketing, he and Lisa Joy serve as creators and producers of the series. Nolan has no scripting credits on the series despite helming the first three episodes. The remaining five episodes were directed by Clare Kilner, Frederick E.O. Toye, Daniel Gray Longino, and Wayne Yip. Still, Nolan’s eye behind the camera sets up the look and feel for the series, accentuated by the score from Ramin Djawadi, which, like the games, combines Western and epic music. There are also a lot of retro songs, including some featured in the video games, which add to the aura of the series. Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner lead the writing team, including Chaz Hawkins, Karey Dornetto, Kieran Fitzgerald, Carson Mell, and Gursimran Sandhu. The writers pull so many elements from the games that you may try to find connections to characters and settings from the three-decade-long franchise, and many are not hard to find. Because Fallout is not a scene-for-scene remake, like many of The Last of Us, this story has much more freedom to be creative and original without losing the thread of why this series is so beloved.
Fallout is the new standard for video game adaptations. Telling an original story that is deeply entrenched in the mythology that inspired it while forging an original tale is an undertaking few have been able to do successfully. This series is violent, fun, emotional, epic, and just plain awesome. By blending the game’s world-building with a top-notch cast of newcomers and veterans, Jonathan Nolan has done for video games what his brother did for comic book movies. There is no way that fans of Fallout will be disappointed by this adaptation, which is chock full of easter eggs, while allowing those unfamiliar with this world to jump right into the action. Prime Video has a new hit on their hands, and Fallout will stick around for years to come. I hope that Nolan, Lisa Joy, Geneva Robertson-Dworet, and Graham Wagner keep things open to bring characters from the games into the story in future seasons while keeping the same caliber that this first season brings to screens.
Fallout premieres on April 10th at 9pm EST on Prime Video.
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What’s old is new again, apparently, in 2024. Looking back at what’s been released and looking forward to what’s coming out, you’ll spot a flood of video game remakes and remasters this year. It seems that as games get more and more expensive to develop, take longer and longer to make, and become riskier to produce,…
What’s old is new again, apparently, in 2024. Looking back at what’s been released and looking forward to what’s coming out, you’ll spot a flood of video game remakes and remasters this year. It seems that as games get more and more expensive to develop, take longer and longer to make, and become riskier to produce,…
Deadline is reporting that Colin Farrell is now slated to star in the new project from Edward Berger, the director of the Academy Award-winning All Quiet on the Western Front. Farrell will be the lead in The Ballad of a Small Player, which will be a Netflix original. While Berger directs, Rowan Joffe has adapted a script that is based on the novel of the same name by Lawrence Osborne. Mike Goodridge is on board to produce through his Good Chaos banner, as well as Berger through his Nine Hours banner, along with Matthew James Wilkinson. Berger currently has a first-look deal with Netflix, which this movie will be the start of.
The plot synopsis for The Ballad of a Small Player, according to Deadline, reads,
“The story follows a high-stakes gambler who decides to lay low in Macau after his past and debts catch up with him. Along the way he encounters a kindred spirit who might just hold the key to his salvation.” Production on the film is expected to start sometime later this year.
Colin Farrell has quite a bit of streaming on the horizon. Firstly, he is currently starring in AppleTV+’s Sugar, which our Alex Maidy glows about in his review, “Based on Colin Farrell’s outstanding lead performance alone, Sugar is a must-watch for fans and non-fans alike. The potential for this to be an ongoing series leaves room for future cases for John Sugar that could delve into new elements of this over-arching narrative.” The Banshees of Inisherin star will also be starring in his anticipated spin-off from The Batman — The Penguin.
Farrell has shown his giddiness about portraying the character of the Penguin, even saying that it’s worth the long periods of applying the make-up for the role. He teased what to look forward to in the series for Max, “It was a long and really wonderful experience. It’s dark; that’s what I can tell you about it. It’s really dark. It’s really heavy, I think— it certainly was doing it. Which is not to say I didn’t have fun, I had an amazing time doing it. It’s incredibly violent. It’s one man’s rise to what he’s always dreamed of inhabiting, which is a certain power or social status.”
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Vin Diesel has had a number of reported feuds throughout the ongoing Fast & Furious franchise. But the most widely discussed and buzzworthy was that with Dwayne Johnson, who first appeared in 2011’s Fast Five and was pretty much a mainstay after. And while Vin Diesel chalked up their beef to “tough love”, fellow franchise star John Cena leans more towards ego between Diesel and Johnson, channeling Highlander with, “There can be only one.”
Appearing on the Armchair Expert podcast (via People), John Cena confirmed that there was more than enough bad blood between Diesel and Johnson from what he saw, saying, “There’s certainly rumors about that. I can’t deny that. You have two very alpha, driven people. You get two, there can only be one.” There was plenty of instigating going on ahead of 2017’s The Fate of the Furious, with Johnson labeling the Dominic Toretto portrayer a “candy ass” and even worse.
But Cena wouldn’t dive too much into the Diesel and Johnson feud, saying he was essentially a guest in the franchise and wants to act like one. As he put it, “I’m being invited into someone’s home, into someone’s family. And regardless of how they look physically in comparison to another human being, this is one IP that has had nine installments and it’s an action movie — that’s rarefied air…At the very least, there has to be respect for that.” Related to this, Cena added, “You gotta remember I got dropped into a locker room where [we have] generational vets…What’d your dad do?’ ‘Wrestle.’ ‘What’d your granddad do?’ ‘Wrestle.’ I’ve been in that environment; know the room and just kind of adapt to what’s going on.”
While the on-set clashes with Diesel initially made Johnson rethink his role in the Fast & Furious universe, he has evidently let off the gas, as he was reported to return for the next installment – whatever it may be called. Maybe he’s setting himself up to be the “final boss” in those movies as well…
Who do you think had the bigger alpha mentality on the set of the Fast & Furious movies: Vin Diesel or Dwayne Johnson? Drop your pick below!
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