Star Wars Outlaws is in a bit of a pickle. Ubisoft’s model of making games that are too big to fail means the severe flaws in its seemingly guaranteed hit combining the open-world scope and mechanics the developer has made its bread and butter in recent years with Star Wars have left the publisher in trouble.…
Star Wars Outlaws is in a bit of a pickle. Ubisoft’s model of making games that are too big to fail means the severe flaws in its seemingly guaranteed hit combining the open-world scope and mechanics the developer has made its bread and butter in recent years with Star Wars have left the publisher in trouble.…
It looks like the next generation of Forman and friends won’t get to experience Y2K as Netflix has decided not to continue with episodes of That 90s Show. The sitcom was a legacy continuation of the popular Fox series That 70s Show, which ironically started a couple of years after when this last season of That 90s Show takes place. The news of Netflix’s cancellation was confirmed by one of the show’s stars, Kurtwood Smith, who portrays Red Forman, as he posted on his Instagram about the news.
This decision comes after the second season had released its part 3 batch of episodes on the streamer. It was a decision that seemed to be coming as, according to Deadline, part 2, which debuted on June 27, only cracked the Netflix Top 10 list once in its first full week of release, with 1.8 million views. Netflix would then movee up the premiere of part 3 by nearly two months — from October 24 to August 22. Those eight episodes would unfortunately not crack the Top 10, which meant that they drew under 1.9 million in Part 3’s opening weekend, under 1.6 million in its first full week and under 1.4 million in its second week.
In his message to the fans, Kurtwood Smith, who continued his role from the run of That 70s Show, stated, “I’ve loved every minute of getting to bring Grandpa Red to life for you all. I’ve said it before but it’s worth mentioning again…this show had so much heart behind it and the most wonderful cast, writers, directors, producers and crew an actor could hope to work with. Thanks for letting Red and Kitty, their grandkid, all their grandkids friends and neighbors, the original cast members of That 70’s Show and all of our wonderful guest cast members entertain you for two seasons. To steal Red Forman’s words…we aren’t going to be dumbasses…we will shop the show, because good grandparents would try hard to get these kids graduated from high school.”
That 90s Show featured original cast members Debra Jo Rupp as Kitty Forman and Kurtwood Smith as Red Forman. Topher Grace, Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Laura Prepon, Wilmer Valderrama, and Tommy Chong pop into the show for brief guest spots, though the show doesn’t rely on them to keep fans of the original series coming back for more.
The newcomers to the cast had included Callie Haverda as Leia Forman, Ashley Aufderheide as Gwen, Maxwell Donovan as Nate, Mace Coronel as Jay Kelso, Reyn Doi as Ozzie, Sam Morelos as Nikki, Andrea Anders as Sherri, Nate and Gwen’s single mom.
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PLOT: It follows a seemingly ordinary family with a dark secret: they are vampires. They choose not to drink blood despite their natural cravings, but their truth is revealed one day.
REVIEW: The tale of the vampire has been told time and time again. Every year we see film after film release that features vampires in some form or another. Abigail, Sunrise, and Salem’s Lot have varied in quality but highlight the variety of stories being told within the subgenre. The Radleys is based on a book by Matt Haig and features a more suburban family approach to Vampirism.
The Radleys follows a family of vampires who have been suppressing their cravings for blood for years. But with their teenage daughter finally coming into her fangs, the family must contend with their cravings. It’s pretty standard when it comes to vampire storylines and doesn’t deter too far from what you would expect. Each of the family members struggles with different aspects of being a vampire. The teens contend with it for the first time while the parents are clearly trying to avoid a path they’ve already ventured down and decided against.
The film focuses a lot on the son, Rowan Radley (Harry Baxendale) as he’s dealing with learning the truth about his family as well as contending with his own sexuality. He’s into his sister’s friend, Evan. But it’s really about the entire family’s struggles with whether or not to embrace their vampire side. The kids see the advantages but the parents know the darker side and are trying to prevent it. But they’re also tempted by the allure and the power of that life.
Damian Lewis has a lot to do here as he plays twins, Peter and Will and they could not be more different. Pete is a doctor and is trying to keep on the straight and narrow while Will is looser and more charismatic. He’s also got a more violent side to him, never having shunned drinking blood. He also has the ability to brainwash people, which ends up being quite useful for the family. I really enjoyed Lewis, especially with how drastically different the twins are. He genuinely feels like two different people. Kelly Macdonald’s
As a vampire fan, I had trouble attaching to The Radleys as it feels desperate to connect with those who don’t like vampires versus appealing to those who do. They’re constantly changing the rules to the point where these “vampires” hardly even feature the same vulnerabilities as their cinematic/literary counterparts. They can walk in the sunlight, only have fangs when convenient, and can even eat normal food. They don’t really feel like social pariahs or anything interesting. If anything, the vampire element could be wiped out of the story, and it could still be told through other means.
Ultimately, The Radleys just wasn’t for me. The horror was so sterile that I questioned why they even used vampires to tell their family drama. It would have probably been better suited as just a drama about family conflict. They never go full bore with any of the vampire elements, and it’s just an accessory to the story. I like my vampires violent or sexy and when you don’t give me either, their inclusion feels unnecessary.
THE RADLEYS will be in Theaters, On Digital and On Demand October 4, 2024.
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Deadline reports that Matthew Gray Gubler is returning to television, but unfortunately, it’s not the long-awaited return to Criminal Minds: Evolution that fans have wanted. Instead, Gubler is set to play the great-grandson of Albert Einstein in a new crime procedural for CBS, which is going by the working title of Einstein.
The series is from Andy Breckman and Randy Zisk, best known for Monk. It will be a drama with comedic undertones. Matthew Gray Gubler plays Lew Einstein, the brilliant but directionless great-grandson of the famed theoretical physicist. He’s a popular professor at Princeton, when he actually shows up, but the burden of his genius and famous name frequently weigh on him. When his bad-boy antics find him running afoul of the law, he’s forced to help a local detective solve her most puzzling cases, which finally gives his life some direction and purpose. Breckman penned the script for the Einstein pilot, which will be directed by Zisk.
Gubler played Dr. Spencer Reid on Criminal Minds for all 15 seasons of the original run. The series came to an end in 2020, but was revived just two years later and retitled Criminal Minds: Evolution. Much of the original cast returned, including Joe Mantegna as David Rossi, Adam Rodriguez as Luke Alvez, A.J. Cook as Jennifer “JJ” Jareau, Aisha Tyler as Tara Lewis, Paget Brewster as Emily Prentiss, and Kirsten Vangsness as Penelope Garcia. Gubler wasn’t able to return as he was in the middle of another project at the time, and scheduling proved difficult for the second season as well.
Criminal Minds showrunner Showrunner Erica Messer told US Weekly this summer that they’re still trying to get Gubler to return. “We love [Matthew] and he’s always going to be a part of the family. We would love for an opportunity to arise to get him back. And we have tried — and he has tried,” Messer said. “It just hasn’t worked out timing wise. I can’t speak to [season 3 of Criminal Minds: Evolution] because we’re not there yet. But it’s not for lack of trying. I think the characters also are going to acknowledge it.“
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Erik and Lyle Menendez may have their criticisms about the latest season of Ryan Murphy’s Monsters, but the Netflix series has certainly generated renewed interest in their case. To that end, a new court hearing has been set for November 29th, which will determine whether the Menendez brothers should be resentenced in light of new evidence.
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón made the announcement. “We have been given evidence. We have been given a photocopy of a letter that allegedly was sent by one of the brothers to another family member talking about him being the victim of molestation. We’ve also got evidence that was provided by the defense, by his lawyers, that one of the members of the Menudo band alleged that he was molested by the father. None of this information has been confirmed,” Gascón said. “We are not at this point ready to say that we either believe or do not believe that information, but we’re here to tell you is that we have a moral and an ethical obligation to review what is being presented to us and make a determination based on a resentencing side, whether they deserve to be resentenced, even though they were clearly the murderers, because they have been in prison for 35 years and they have paid back their dues to society, or whether behaviors is appropriate. If there was evidence that was not presented to the court at that time, and had that evidence been presented, perhaps a jury would have come to a different conclusion.“
It remains to be seen if this new hearing will bring about a change in the sentencing for the Menendez brothers, but we haven’t heard the last of this case.
Erik Menendez took to social media (through his wife Tammi) to slam Monsters co-creator Ryan Murphy for including “ruinous character portrayals” of both him and his brother. Murphy hit back, saying that they should be sending him flowers for giving them so much attention again. “I’ll tell you my thoughts about the Menendez brothers. The Menendez brothers should be sending me flowers. They haven’t had so much attention in 30 years. And it’s gotten the attention of not only this country, but all over the world. There’s sort of an outpouring of interest in their lives and in the case,” Murphy said. “I know for a fact that many people have offered to help them because of the interest of my show and what we did. There is no world that we live in where the Menendez brothers or their wives or lawyers would say, ‘You know what, that was a wonderful, accurate depiction of our clients.’ That was never going to happen, and I wasn’t interested in that happening.“
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is currently streaming on Netflix and you can check out a review from our own Alex Maidy right here.
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The first few projects in the new DC Universe already have one common element: Frank Grillo. The actor will debut as Rick Flag Sr. in the animated series Creature Commandos before making the leap to live-action in Superman and the second season of Peacemaker. While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, DC Studios co-head James Gunn dropped a few hints on Grillo’s character.
“He is a really cool character that Frank has been molding,” Gunn said. “The character’s also in Superman, and he’s an incredibly important part in Peacemaker. He is one of the primary characters in Peacemaker season 2. So we get to see this character from different angles, and he is not simple.“
Gunn continued, “This isn’t just a good guy, not at all. We see all different sides of his character. He is morally a complex human being. Grillo is somebody who I’ve known for a little while, and I’ve wanted to work with him for a long time. He was one of the first people that I talked to when I took over the studio, like ‘we’re going to find something cool for you,’ and now he is everywhere.“
One of the big features of the new DC Universe is that all characters will be played by the same actor across all mediums, as we see with Frank Grillo. “The actors have to be able to work within different genres, and that’s something Frank’s really been good at,” Gunn said. “He’s been really good at the comedy of Creature Commandos and also really good at the drama of Peacemaker and Superman.“
In addition to Grillo as Rick Flag Sr., Creature Commandos features the voices of David Harbour as Eric Frankenstein, Indira Varma as The Bride, Maria Bakalova as Princess Ilana Rostovic, Alan Tudyk as Doctor Phosphorus, Zoe Chao as Nina Mazursky, and Steve Agee as John Economos, and Sean Gunn as Weasel. The series tracks a secret team of incarcerated monsters recruited for missions deemed too dangerous for humans. When all else fails… they’re your last, worst option. Creature Commandos will debut on December 5th on Max, with Superman hitting theaters on July 11, 2025, and Peacemaker season 2 dropping on Max in 2025.
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I think I’m realizing that I’m a jacket guy. I’ve always loved layers, and love when it gets cooler in NYC so I can unearth my outerwear, but the spate of cool video game jackets recently has solidified that I’m a slut for some good ol’ fashioned outerwear. I really want the Disco Elysium jacket, for example, and one…
I think I’m realizing that I’m a jacket guy. I’ve always loved layers, and love when it gets cooler in NYC so I can unearth my outerwear, but the spate of cool video game jackets recently has solidified that I’m a slut for some good ol’ fashioned outerwear. I really want the Disco Elysium jacket, for example, and one…
Deadline reports that Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter has exited The Abandons just three weeks before production on the first season of the Netflix series was slated to wrap. As always, the reason apparently comes down to those dreaded creative differences.
The report states that Netflix was concerned when the initial cut of the first episode came in at 1 hour and 40 minutes. It proved impossible to trim the episode down to an hour, so they decided it should be split into two. This required some additional scenes to create a cliffhanger for the new premiere, which have reportedly been written but not shot. After viewing the unfinished split episodes and part of the third, Netflix felt they “looked a bit disjointed and not propulsive enough.” A meeting between Netflix execs and Sutter to address the concerns didn’t take place before he departed.
Beyond going over budget and some alleged “friction with top talent,” the production apparently went smoothly, so Sutter’s exit from the series he created comes as a shock. Much like other streaming services, Netflix has been cutting budgets across the board. The Abandons was affected by this, with the originally announced ten episodes being cut down to eight episodes and then seven episodes. With the premiere now split in two, that count is back to eight.
The official logline for The Abandons reads: “As a group of diverse, outlier families pursue their Manifest Destiny in 1850s Oregon, a corrupt force of wealth and power, coveting their land, tries to force them out. These abandoned souls, the kind of lost souls living on the fringe of society, unite their tribes to form a family and fight back. In this bloody process, ‘justice’ is stretched beyond the boundaries of the law. The Abandons will explore that fine line between survival and law, the consequences of violence, and the corrosive power of secrets, as this family fights to keep their land.“
“I am fascinated by the metamorphosis of good into evil,” Sutter said when production began. “What must transpire to drive the morally sound to become the dangerously corrupt. The Abandons explores those complex compromises through the most powerful human instinct — the love and protection of mothers.” The ensemble cast includes Lena Headey, Gillian Anderson, Nick Robinson, Diana Silvers, Lamar Johnson, Natalia del Riego, Lucas Till, Aisling Franciosi, Toby Hemingway, Michael Greyeyes, Ryan Hurst, Katelyn Wells, Clayton Cardenas, Elle-Maija Tailfeathers, Brían F. O’Byrne, Marc Menchaca, Patton Oswalt, Michael Ornstein, Jonathan Koensgen, Jack Doolan, Michiel Huisman, Haig Sutherland and Sarah White.
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