Black Myth: Wukong is a lengthy and challenging game filled with over 80 bosses and tons of enemy types to tackle, promising that you’ll need to put your skills to the test if you want to see it through to one of its multiple endings. The opening hours of the game give you a lot to learn and think about, and getting…
It may be quite some time until we learn what Quentin Tarantino’s 10th and final film will be now that The Movie Critic has been removed from the slate, but we do at least have another QT project to look forward to: season two of The Video Archives Podcast which, he co-hosts with Pulp Fiction co-writer Roger Avary.
While we don’t know the release date, a post on The Video Archives Podcast X page teased that the sophomore season is in fact coming: “You may have heard rumor that we’re gearing up for Season Two. On instagram, Gala outlined the perfect way to get your question answered: a postcard! Want to send one?” Then, the post provided the address to get your questions to Tarantino and Avary. This is actually one of the cooler elements to the Video Archives Podcast; sticking with the analog theme to the series, the only way listeners can get anything to the fellas (and Gala, Roger Avary’s daughter and producer on the podcast) is by sending something through snail mail.
The Video Archives podcast debuted in July 2022, with Tarantino and Avary using the namesake Manhattan Beach, California video store they both worked in – and its inventory, which QT purchased after it closed in 1995 – as direct inspiration. In each episode, the boys comb through the extensive library to analyze and critique any movies they damn well feel like. In other words, don’t expect too many themes: you want to learn more about why Tarantino hates Moonraker, you may as well stick around to get the feel on video nasty Delirium!
The Video Archives Podcast no doubt went through a lot of films, hitting over 70 in its first season. While there were some more popular titles that cinephiles know well, like Straw Dogs, Mikey and Nickey and Dressed to Kill, the fellas also introduced many of us to some truly obscure stuff, like drag racing doc American Nitro, the peculiar and dark Baxter (told from the point of view of a dog) and Soviet romance Amphibian Man, which was The Shape of Water before The Shape of Water. Personally, I would place Amphibian Man, Sergio Corbucci’s Sonny and Jed and the aforementioned Delirium as the best discoveries from the first season, although there is still plenty to comb through.
Quentin Tarantino even took a couple of episodes – that is, nearly three hours – to pay homage to Rick Dalton, his Once Upon a Time in Hollywood character who he killed off last year. In his tribute, he covered the career of the fictional character in great detail, something he has talked about expanding on before.
What were your favorite discoveries from the first season of The Video Archives podcast? Give us your list below!
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The Force was not with The Acolyte, as Deadline reports that the Star Wars series has been cancelled after just one season.
The first season of The Acolyte wrapped up over a month ago and there had been no word on whether it would be brought back for a second season. While the series certainly had its fans, it was one of the least-watched Star Wars shows on Disney+ despite a strong opening. Toss in a hefty $180 million budget, and you can understand why Lucasfilm has elected to cancel The Acolyte.
The Acolyte takes place 100 years before the events of The Phantom Menace and follows Jedi Master who investigates a shocking crime spree which pits him against a dangerous warrior from his past. The series stars Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Manny Jacinto, Jodie Turner-Smith, Dafne Keen, Rebecca Henderson, Charlie Barnett, Dean-Charles Chapman, and Carrie-Anne Moss. You can check out a review from our own Alex Maidy right here.
Showrunner Leslye Headland spoke about a potential second season just last month, confirming that she had heard “nothing” from Lucasfilm but didn’t necessarily see that as a bad thing at the time. “You have to take a break,” Headland said. “Especially after something like this. I don’t even know how many years my brain has been going, Star Wars, Star Wars, Star Wars, Acolyte, Acolyte, Acolyte — just constantly solving problems, constantly thinking about it. It is very weird to now be in a place where I don’t need to do that. I always say to budding writers, ‘The most important thing that you can do is sit around and do nothing. Because the second you start to manufacture a story, you’re going to get stressed out, and the story can’t start that way.’“
Although The Acolyte did wrap up many of its main plot points over the course of eight episodes, plenty of threads, including some intriguing cameos, were left dangling for another season. While I’m sure there are some who will rejoice with this news, I’ll admit to being a little disappointed. The Acolyte wasn’t a perfect series, but I was looking forward to a second season, if only to learn more about the dark-side characters and their motivations.
How do you feel about The Acolyte getting cancelled?
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Superman wrapped production last month, but the film’s release is still nearly a year away. This will give Superman director James Gunn enough time to perfect the VFX during the post-production process, and it’s all by design.
On Threads, a fan brought up the plight of overworked VFX artists who are forced to work very tight deadlines in order to get a film out on time. Now that James Gunn is running DC Studios, things will be different, with Superman getting a lengthy post-production schedule.
“If you do some research you’ll see my films have always taken a different approach and I’ve always given my VFX artist-collaborators time to do their jobs properly, and the respect they deserve,” Gunn wrote. “And the quality of the VFX in those films is uniformly great because of it (and because my friends at Weta and Framestore and ILM and more are amazingly talented).“
Gunn continued, “This is why we wrapped on Superman a year before release and why they’ve been hard at work on many shots for months before that. This is why we start heartily editing during the shoot. It’s why I prepare so vigorously and why we only shoot finished screenplays. And Supergirl, which I’m not directing, is being handled the same way. I can’t praise the VFX artists that help us create magic enough.“
Due to the amount of pre-production work Gunn does on his films (including the unorthodox method of shooting with a complete script), he’s always been left with enough time for quality visual effects. “I wouldn’t make a big film like that without the proper amount of post-production time,” Gunn said.
Superman stars David Corenswet (Pearl) as Clark Kent and Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Ms. Maisel) as Lois Lane. The cast also includes Nathan Fillion (The Rookie) as Guy Gardner, a charismatic and slightly obnoxious member of the Green Lantern Corps; Isabela Merced (Dora and the Lost City of Gold) as Hawkgirl; Edi Gathegi (X-Men: First Class) as Mister Terrific; Anthony Carrigan (Barry) as Metamorpho; María Gabriela de Faría (Deadly Class) as The Engineer, a member of The Authority; Sara Sampaio (At Midnight) as Eve Teschmacher; Skyler Gisondo (The Righteous Gemstones) as Jimmy Olsen; Wendell Pierce (The Wire) as Perry White; Neva Howell (Logan Lucky) as Martha Kent; Pruitt Taylor-Vince (The Walking Dead) as Jonathan Kent; and Nicholas Hoult (The Great) as Lex Luthor.
The members of the Daily Planet newsroom have also expanded for the movie, with Beck Bennet (Saturday Night Live) set to play Steve Lombard, Mikaela Hoover (The Suicide Squad) as Cat Grant, and newcomer Christopher McDonald as Ron Troupe.
DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran has previously teased that Superman will not be an origin story and will focus on “Superman balancing his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing. Superman represents truth, justice and the American way. He is kindness in a world that thinks of kindness as old fashioned.” Superman is slated to hit theaters on July 11, 2025.
The post Superman: James Gunn on his approach to VFX and his lengthy post-production process appeared first on JoBlo.
Here be SPOILERS for Alien: Romulus, consider yourself warned. The highly anticipated Alien: Romulus is now playing in theaters and is a big success, already grossing over $108 million worldwide. However, the film does contain one surprise character whose presence has proven to be somewhat divisive among audiences.
If you’ve seen Alien: Romulus, you know I’m talking about Rook, a damaged synthetic who happens to be the same model as Ash, the character played by Ian Holm in Ridley Scott’s original movie. Using a combination of animatronics, CG, and deepfake, director Fede Álvarez was able to bring Ian Holm back to the Alien franchise, and he explained a bit of the process while speaking with THR.
“Metaphysic is the company that did a lot of the work on the enhancements to the puppet. We had a puppet that talked, and it was all based on an Ian Holm headcast that we found. It was made for The Lord of the Rings, and that was the only headcast that exists of Ian Holm,” Álvarez said. “So the Legacy [Effects] guys that did the animatronic started there, and then some shots needed more help from CG for the lip sync and the lines. But there are some others that didn’t. There are some shots where you are literally looking straight at the animatronic. So it was a combination of things, and while I don’t know exactly what they do, I am sure it is a combination of CG and the headscan. There might be some deepfake in the eyes because it’s the best when it comes to creating the likeness of the eyes, but it’s a whole bag of tricks from 1970s and 1980s technology to technology from yesterday.“
Álvarez added that it was “unfair that the likeness of Ash was never used again,” particularly as both Lance Henriksen and Michael Fassbender got to reprise their android roles. “So when we started thinking about the likeness of this character with Ridley, it was going to be a torso [and head] that we would build,” he said. “So it didn’t need to be the likeness of a current working actor, and Ridley was the one who said, ‘Ash was always the best. He needs to make a comeback.’ So we went for it with the permission of the family: his widow and all of his kids. We wanted to make sure everybody was on board with the idea of bringing his likeness back.” Some fans have taken issue with the film using Holm’s likeness, with others slamming the subpar CG, but it certainly was a surprise.
Set between the events of Alien and Aliens, Alien: Romulus follows “a group of young people on a distant world who find themselves in a confrontation with the most terrifying life form in the universe.” The film stars Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla), David Jonsson (Industry), Isabela Merced (Madame Web), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Spike Fearn (The Batman), and Aileen Wu (Away from Home). In addition to directing the movie, Fede Álvarez also co-wrote the script alongside Rodo Sayagues.
The film has been receiving largely positive reviews, with our own Chris Bumbray calling it the best installment of the long-running franchise since the first two perfect movies. However, that’s not to say that there aren’t a few clunky moments that detract from an otherwise kick-ass movie. “The fact that director Fede Alvarez was able to make a slam-bang Alien sequel that trumps every other film in the franchise, save the first two, is cause for celebration,” Bumbray wrote. “Yet, it does suffer from the fact that its director was perhaps hampered in his effort to make a lean and mean Alien movie with an ill-advised directive to connect the film to Ridley Scott’s Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. This leaves the film feeling like it’s 75% kick-ass, and 25% space bio-engineering nonsense.” You can read the rest of Bumbray’s review right here.
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It’s now possible to quickly and easily play the original 1997 Diablo on your PC or phone via a simple website. Just load it up on your browser and you can start killing demons and skeletons like it’s the ‘90s all over again.
It’s now possible to quickly and easily play the original 1997 Diablo on your PC or phone via a simple website. Just load it up on your browser and you can start killing demons and skeletons like it’s the ‘90s all over again.
Fire up the Jaegers! Variety reports that Legendary Entertainment is developing a Pacific Rim TV series with Academy Award-winning screenwriter Eric Heisserer.
Heisserer recently entered a first-look television deal with Legendary, and this Pacific Rim TV series will be the first project developed. Under the deal, Heisserer will “develop and shepherd IP-driven and related projects for Legendary” through his Chronology banner alongside co-founder Carmen Lewis. The Pacific Rim TV series will be a prequel, telling the origin of the conflict between humanity and the Kaiju.
“Eric is a multitalented, prolific creator whose track record of critical and commercial successes speaks for itself,” said Jason Clodfelter, president of Legendary Television. “We are thrilled to launch our partnership with Eric, Chronology, and Carmen, with a new entry in the epic, globally popular ‘Pacific Rim’ universe. We are certain their vision will make for an enthralling expansion to Legendary’s beloved franchise.“
In addition to Arrival, Heisserer is best known for developing Shadow and Bone, a fantasy series based on the works of Leigh Bardugo. The series aired for two seasons on Netflix before it was cancelled.
After an interdimensional portal opens at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, giant monsters begin attacking cities. This prompts humanity to build massive robots known as Jaegers, piloted by two people who share a mental link known as drifting. The first film, which Guillermo del Toro directed, was a lot of fun. Although it underperformed at the North American box office, it did do well enough overseas to get the ball rolling on a sequel. Unfortunately, Del Toro had to drop out, and Pacific Rim Uprising didn’t quite have that same magic. An anime series, Pacific Rim: The Black, aired for two seasons on Netflix, but I’ll admit that I didn’t even remember that happening.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters has shown that these types of stories can be told on the small screen, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. The prequel aspect also intrigues me, as the series could revolve around the construction of the first Jaeger.
Are you down for a Pacific Rim TV series? Let us know in the comments.
The post Pacific Rim TV series in development from Arrival screenwriter appeared first on JoBlo.
James Gunn’s reboot of the DCU doesn’t start until Superman arrives in 2025, but he said the movie is already done filming to give the teams involved as much time as possible to perfect its finished look, and especially the quality of its VFX. The director’s comments were in response to growing concerns about terrible…
James Gunn’s reboot of the DCU doesn’t start until Superman arrives in 2025, but he said the movie is already done filming to give the teams involved as much time as possible to perfect its finished look, and especially the quality of its VFX. The director’s comments were in response to growing concerns about terrible…