Cat Quest III departs from the first two games of this light-hearted action-adventure series in a variety of ways, especially with its pirate-themed naval combat. Still, it also retains a lot of familiar gameplay mechanics and concepts that ensure if you played the previous games, you’ll feel right at home. Whether…
It’s wild to think Vampire Survivors has spent two years taking over our lives without ever coming to PlayStation. Developer Poncle is finally fixing that. The roguelite bullet hell sensation will hit PS4 and PS5 at the end of August.
It’s wild to think Vampire Survivors has spent two years taking over our lives without ever coming to PlayStation. Developer Poncle is finally fixing that. The roguelite bullet hell sensation will hit PS4 and PS5 at the end of August.
Plot: The Hargreeves siblings have scattered after the climactic showdown at the Hotel Oblivion, which completely reset their timeline. Stripped of their powers, each is left to fend for themselves and find a new normal — with wildly varying degrees of success. Yet the trappings of their uncanny new world prove too hard to ignore for very long. Their father, Reginald, alive and well, has stepped out of the shadows and into the public eye, overseeing a powerful and nefarious business empire. A mysterious association known as The Keepers holds clandestine meetings believing the reality they’re living in is a lie and a great reckoning is coming. As these strange new forces conspire around them, the Umbrella Academy must come together one last time — and risk upsetting the shaky peace they’ve all endured so much to secure — to finally set things right.
Review: The Netflix comic book series The Umbrella Academy is ending after five years and four seasons of superhero shenanigans. Based on the comic book series of the same name created by My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way, The Umbrella Academy has blended elements of comic book lore with a tongue-in-cheek attitude, making it a fun and unique take on the superhero genre. While the comic book series is still awaiting its fourth volume, the plot elements of everything published to date have been adapted for Steve Blackmon’s live-action series. After three seasons of the dysfunctional family squabbling and coming together to hold off the apocalypse, the Hargreeves siblings are back to do it one more time. With two fewer episodes than in the seasons before, The Umbrella Academy goes out with a fast and furiously entertaining final season with several solid things going for it, but not enough to live up to the seasons that came before it.
Each season of The Umbrella Academy has been chock full of dark humor, brilliantly off-kilter musical sequences, and a send-up of comic book tropes that have highlighted the talent of everyone in the main cast. While the first season stuck pretty close to the comic book, seasons two and three began to deviate from the source material and incorporated as yet unpublished material. We all know how well that worked out for Game of Thrones, but The Umbrella Academy has always entertained a niche audience. For the final season, The Umbrella Academy goes up against Jean and Gene (Megan Mullaly and Nick Offerman), a married couple who sense the Mandella Effect impact of the Hargreaves clan resetting the timeline in season three. With the clan stripped of their powers by Sir Reginald and the reveal that he is an alien, the siblings move on with their lives, which sets up this season to pick up five years after the events of the season three finale.
Like the seasons that came before it, this season opens with the siblings divided: Viktor (Eliot Page) runs a bar in Canada, Luther (Tom Hopper) is a professional dancer, Diego (David Castaneda) is a delivery driver raising children with his wife Lila (Ritu Arya), Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) is an actress again living with now agoraphobic and sober Klaus (Robert Sheehan), Five (Aidan Gallagher) works for the CIA, and Ben (Justin H. Min) is just getting out of prison. The reasons for their various paths are explained early when a man (David Cross) enlists their help, which leads the clan to uncover an event known as The Cleanse. To stop what is coming, the protagonists split up again into different pairings to investigate what will happen in their final stand against a world-ending foe. It is not the most original way to wrap up a series that has used the same conceit three times previously, but it does result in the partnering of several characters who have not shared the screen in this way ever before.
This is where the truncated episode count comes back to haunt The Umbrella Academy. All prior seasons comprised ten episodes each, allotted time for the characters to investigate clues and unravel a mystery that culminated in them finding a way to join forces and save the day. Netflix series has been known to feature one or two filler episodes each season, but The Umbrella Academy has never fallen prey to that conceit. Because this season is four episodes shorter, the writers were unwilling to streamline the plot development with unresolved open threads leading into the series’ final hour. As I watched the first five episodes, I was confused about why new characters and elements were added to the story, including a romantic subplot in the penultimate episode that never gets to breathe and impact the characters the way it should have. With just half of the series finale remaining, I was still unsure how Steve Blackman and his writers would satisfactorily wrap up this ambitious final storyline. The answer is, unfortunately, that they do not.
Steve Blackman boasts credits on the first and final episodes of the season alongside returning scribes Jesse McKeown, Robert Askins, Aeryn Michelle Williams, Elizabeth Padden, and Lauren Otero, with new writers Thomas Page McBee, Andrew Raab, Christopher High, and Molly Nussbaum. After directing entries to season one, Director Jeremy Webb helmed the first two episodes, with Neville Kidd directing the fifth episode. Paco Cabezas directs episodes three and four and the series finale after directing two episodes of the third season. All three directors manage to evoke the same look and feel the series has had since it premiered, which blends elements of Barry Sonnenfeld and Tim Burton in a dark yet stylishly pulpy tone. The special effects work this season is solid, but the episodes lack a standout sequence, such as the dance scene from the first season and the epic opening of the second season premiere. The writers and directors give Eliot Page and Justin H. Min some excellent showcase moments and a great focus on Aidan Gallagher and Ritu Arya, with the rest of the cast feeling like they are just along for the ride.
This final season has the distinct air of Netflix granting the cast and crew the chance to wrap up the series but was unwilling to budget for a full season. Had they been given even two more episodes, I think there would have been enough space to wrap up this story without rushing. Instead, many dangling threads are resolved unceremoniously. In contrast, others remain unanswered entirely, but the series does conclude with a coda that is meant to instill a sense of hope in the face of so much despair. I was left finishing The Umbrella Academy feeling underwhelmed and shocked that the writers chose the path that they did. Is it a fitting end for the series? In some ways, yes, but it still ends up ringing hollow and failing to capture the energy and whimsy that made the first season garner successive volumes. The Umbrella Academy goes out on its own terms but does not live up to what it should have delivered.
The Umbrella Academy Season 4 premieres on August 8th on Netflix.
The post The Umbrella Academy Season 4 TV Review appeared first on JoBlo.
Vertical has picked up the North American and UK/Ireland distribution rights to the comedic thriller I Don’t Understand You, which stars Nick Kroll (Don’t Worry Darling), Andrew Rannells (A Simple Favor), Morgan Spector (The Gilded Age) and Amanda Seyfried (the Mamma Mia! franchise), and Deadline reports that the company is planning to give the film a theatrical release sometime in early 2025.
Actor David Joseph Craig wrote the screenplay with Brian Crano, and the duo directed the film together. While this marks Craig’s feature directorial debut, Crano has previously directed the 2017 Rebecca Hall / Dan Stevens comedy Permission and the 2011 Jason Ritter / Rebecca Hall comedy A Bag of Hammers. Somehow, Rebecca Hall appears to have missed out on I Don’t Understand You, but her husband, Morgan Spector, is in there.
This film centers on Americans Dom (Kroll) and Cole (Rannells), a couple on the verge of adopting a baby, who embark on an Italian vacation — the perfect opportunity to reconnect before the new addition arrives. Everything is picture-perfect; the epitome of a European babymoon, when things begin to spiral out of control. Lost on the way to dinner, their car gets stuck in a ditch, leaving them stranded in rural nowhere during a torrential downpour. These two Americans, who are used to being catered to, are now in a foreign land without cell service, zero comprehension of the Italian language and, as fear takes over, escalating relationship turmoil that could explode at any moment.
The directors had this to say about the distribution deal: “Our entire team couldn’t be more excited to put I Don’t Understand You into the careful hands of Vertical, who have understood our film from the beginning and no doubt will continue to be champions of it. We can’t wait for the world to see our silly, honest, and bloody tale.“
Vertical Partner Peter Jarowey said, “David and Brian have amplified their own real-life experiences and created a fast-paced thriller incorporating the comedic genius of Nick Kroll and Andrew Rannells as they navigate the escalating chaos of the dream vacation gone terribly wrong. Audiences are going to love the twisted roller coaster of thrills as tears of laughter stream down their faces.“
Craig’s The Gift co-star Joel Edgerton produced I Don’t Understand You alongside Nash Edgerton, Pinky Promise’s Kara Durrett and Jessamine Burgum, and Jonathan Glickman. Executive producers include Craig, Crano, Toby Nalbandian, Gregory Schmidt, Will Greenfield, Ben Shaffer, Giovani Pompili, and Lara Costa Calzado.
Does I Don’t Understand You sound like a movie you’d want to watch in 2025? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
The post I Don’t Understand You: Nick Kroll, Amanda Seyfried comedic thriller gets 2025 release appeared first on JoBlo.
One of the most surprising aspects of the forthcoming Dragon Age: The Veilguard was the news that we won’t be able to control other party members in the action-RPG. A feature that’s been core to the previous three mainline entries in the series, its removal has left many wondering what is up. Well, according to Edge,…
One of the most surprising aspects of the forthcoming Dragon Age: The Veilguard was the news that we won’t be able to control other party members in the action-RPG. A feature that’s been core to the previous three mainline entries in the series, its removal has left many wondering what is up. Well, according to Edge,…
Today, MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios announced that Oscar nominee Michelle Pfeiffer will executive produce and star in Madison, the latest addition to Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone universe. According to today’s official press release, the series is a heartfelt study of grief and human connection following a New York City family in the Madison River valley of central Montana.
“Michelle Pfeiffer is a remarkable talent who imbues every role with emotional depth, authenticity and grace,” said Chris McCarthy, Paramount Global Co-CEO and President/CEO, Showtime & MTV Entertainment Studios. “She is the perfect anchor to the newest chapter of the Yellowstone universe, Madison, from the brilliant mind of Taylor Sheridan.”
Lighting up screens for more than three decades, Michelle Pfeiffer is a legend. Her role as Elvira Hancock in Brian De Palma’s Scarface cemented her as a star destined to burn bright within the entertainment industry. For many of us, her parts in titles like The Witches of Eastwick, Married to the Mob, Dangerous Liaisons, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Batman Returns, and Dangerous Minds made her untouchable.
Her silver screen appearances slowed in the 2000s, though she still made time to contribute to What Lies Beneath, Stardust, Dark Shadows, Mother!, and Murder on the Orient Express. She joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2018 as Janey Van Dyne, reprising the role in 2019 for Avengers: Endgame and in 2023 for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
Despite Yellowstone’s end later this year, Taylor Sheridan continues to expand the rough-and-tumble universe through multiple spinoffs. In addition to Yellowstone, Sheridan’s world expands to 1923, 1944, 2024, and 6666. He’s also got the standalone series Lawmen: Bass Reeves and Tulsa King, starring Sylvester Stallone as Dwight “The General” Manfredi, a New York mafia capo. After he’s released from prison, his boss unceremoniously exiles him to set up shop in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Realizing that his mob family may not have his best interests in mind, Dwight slowly builds a crew from a group of unlikely characters to help him establish a new criminal empire in a place that might as well be another planet.
What do you think about Michelle Pfeiffer joining forces with Taylor Sheridan for Madison? Let us know in the comments section below.
The post Michelle Pfeiffer joins the Yellowstone universe to star in and executive produce Taylor Sheridan’s new Madison series appeared first on JoBlo.
As you delve into Once Human’s end-game content, you’ll quickly learn that not everything is immediately accessible. Much of the game remains locked by specific resources, crafting, or Memetic requirements. At first glance, unlocking what you need most appears like it could be a long and arduous process. But that’s an…
As you delve into Once Human’s end-game content, you’ll quickly learn that not everything is immediately accessible. Much of the game remains locked by specific resources, crafting, or Memetic requirements. At first glance, unlocking what you need most appears like it could be a long and arduous process. But that’s an…