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Max Schindler

3108 Posts
22 Apr

Oscar Isaac Sheds New Light on Star Wars’ Most Controversial Line

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As Resistance fighter Poe Dameron, Oscar Isaac had the unenviable job of delivering the line “Somehow, Palpatine returned” in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker—a desperate handwave so J.J. Abrams’ sequel trilogy-capper could have a familiar villain quickly added to the story. In the years since the movie’s release, it’s become shorthand for lazy plot contrivances, memed and mocked into oblivion. The fact that it followed an opening crawl that referenced a Fortnite event made it even worse. In a recent episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Isaac reflected on delivering the line and revealed that it was written…
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21 Apr

15 Video Game Endings That Made Players Regret the Journey

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Good games are shaped by both their beginnings and their endings, but a good premise doesn’t always end at the same height. Be it due to rushed development, cut corners, or just a vision that does not align to that of the general audiences, some game endings make it feel like the entire journey was pointless. Of course, that isn’t the case for everyone, but these titles in particular left a sour taste in the minds of plenty of players. While the most frequent offenders are the games that claim ‘player choice matters,’ a badly done bossfight or final section…
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21 Apr

The Drama’s Darkest Secret Is the One Nobody Is Talking About

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This article contains major spoilers for The Drama. It’s always a lovely thing when a real, honest word-of-mouth hit like The Drama comes around. In a little over two weeks, the Robert Pattinson and Zendaya-led indie about the most traumatic wedding event this side of Westeros has firmly inserted itself in the pop culture mindscape, with audiences each weekend flocking to cinemas to see what all that drama is about—as well as debate what they would have done if they found themselves at such a ceremony? The discourse has been so intense around this oblique comedy from writer-director Kristoffer Borgli…
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21 Apr

Spider-Noir Showrunner Teases More Shows from Across the Spider-Verse

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Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse begins with Peter Parker introducing himself to the audience and then declaring, “There’s only one Spider-Man, and you’re looking at him.” Even before he’s proven wrong by Miles Morales taking on the mantle after he dies, and even before a variety of Spider-people—including Peter B. Parker—arrive from the multiverse, he’s proven wrong. Which is, of course, the point of the Spider-Verse movies: that there are many different ways of being Spider-Man. That premise is ripe for storytelling, at least according to Oren Uziel, showrunner of the upcoming Spider-Noir series on Prime Video. “I know there are others…
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21 Apr

The Batman 2 Will Feature Harvey Dent’s Father, But Which One?

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The Batman: Part II already had an incredible cast before Game of Thrones actor Charles Dance joined on. In addition to returning stars Robert Pattinson, Jeffrey Wright, and Andy Serkis as Bruce Wayne, James Gordon, and Alfred Pennyworth, respectively, the film boasts the additions of Sebastian Stan and Scarlett Johansson as Harvey and Gilda Dent. Matt Reeves‘s film not only has its primary villain but also an incredible pedigree. Although no official word has come down yet, most believe that Dance will play the father of Harvey Dent. However, who that is and what that means is a bigger question…
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21 Apr

Avengers: Doomsday – What Happened to Mjolnir?

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Mjolnir has become as recognizable a character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the god who wields it, and the enchanted hammer has gone through almost as many ups and downs as Thor over the years. It’s been beaten, broken, sent back and forward through time, and even attracted jealousy from Thor’s new axe, Stormbreaker. After the first footage from Avengers: Doomsday emerged, it was clear that Mjolnir would be thwanging through the air once more, but if you’re confused about how Thor and Captain America can be tossing Mjolnir around in the upcoming fifth Avengers movie, you’re not alone,…
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21 Apr

Ryan Reynolds Is Going to Put Deadpool Where He Belongs, As a Supporting Character

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Deadpool has always known that he’s in a movie. Ever since the release of his first film in 2016, the Merc with a Mouth has demanded to be the center of attention, if only because he can see beyond the fourth wall. Even when teaming up with X-Force in Deadpool 2 and with Logan in Deadpool & Wolverine, Wade Wilson makes everything about him. So it’s a bit of a surprise to hear that Ryan Reynolds wants Deadpool to take a step back. Dropping by the Today Show, Reynolds admitted that he’s working on new things for Wilson, but in…
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20 Apr

From Season 4: Harold Perrineau Talks Episode 1’s Big Reveal and the End of the Show

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This article contains From season 4 episode 1 spoilers. “I thought the whole idea was brilliant,” From star Harold Perrineau tells Den of Geek in the days leading up to the show’s season 4 premiere. “You’d never expect that.” He’s talking, of course, about The Man in the Yellow Suit’s latest insidious move on From’s beleaguered Township. At the climax of season 3, he’d warned Jim (Eion Bailey) and Julie (Hannah Cheramy) that “knowledge comes with a cost” and ripped Jim’s throat out, but for anyone who thought the show’s most mysterious malevolent entity would take a break from his…
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18 Apr

High School Comedy ‘Brian’ Celebrates the Awkwardness of Growing Up

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High school is never easy. It’s especially rough for someone like Brian, who is socially awkward, riddled with panic attacks, and harboring a crush on his English teacher. That last part might not be universal, but in his directorial debut Brian, Will Ropp captures a sharply self-aware coming-of-age story where plenty of viewers will recognize themselves in a teenager searching for a rulebook on how to be normal. Written by Saturday Night Live writer Mike Scollins, the film follows Brian (Ben Wang) as he confronts his social anxiety by running for student body president, which is led by his English…
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18 Apr

The Problem With the Mystery of Lee Cronin’s The Mummy

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This article contains spoilers for Lee Cronin’s The Mummy. What happened to Katie? Even more than the promise of supernatural horror, that question drove the marketing for Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, the latest take on the classic monster. The Mummy does indeed answer the question, leaving no filmgoer mystified when they leave the theater. However, that answer comes around the two-hour mark of a 133-minute film, most of which is filled with nasty imagery. However, that may be for the best. Because while Cronin’s film delivers all the same gleeful gore that he provided in 2023’s Evil Dead Rise, the…
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18 Apr

Kevin Feige Confirms the Marvel Comic That Inspired Avengers: Doomsday

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Even though it releases this year, we still know very little about Avengers: Doomsday. Sure, we know that the main cast will sit in nice chairs, and we know that Steve Rogers, Thor, the X-Men, and the Wakandans will return in Doomsday, but even the teasers released last year were “stories” and “clues,” not necessarily scenes from the film. Heck, we still don’t even know which Marvel Comics will be adapted for the film. Until now. Speaking to EW after debuting footage at CinemaCon, Kevin Feige confirmed the central storyline. “We’re not talking too much about story, but I think…
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18 Apr

SNL: Bob Odenkirk Reveals Why It Took Years to Get Chris Farley In That Van Down By the River

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One time, many years ago, Bob Odenkirk was asked by his daughter what was the most fun he ever had in showbiz. For the Emmy-winning actor whose credits include zeitgeist-defining TV dramas and Tony-nominated plays, plus a late career swerve into the role of unlikely action star (as proven again in this weekend’s new kick-ass thriller Normal), that should be a tough quandary. And yet, without missing a beat, Odenkirk knew the answer before she finished the question. It was standing on a small, sweaty Chicago stage next to Chris Farley as he uttered lamentable words about “living in a…
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18 Apr

Ridley Scott’s The Dog Stars Trailer Imagines a Hopeful Post-Apocalypse

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For the past 20 years, we sure have spent a lot of time imagining the end of the world. From The Hunger Games to The Walking Dead to Snowpiercer, pop culture has been obsessed with describing the fall of civilization and the bloody aftermath that follows. Generally, these stories follow a pretty familiar pattern, with fleeting moments of safety and kindness interrupted by violence and humanity at its worst. But the first trailer for The Dog Stars suggests that Ridley Scott has something else in mind. The trailer introduces Jacob Elordi as Hig, a pilot living after the fall of…
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18 Apr

The Mandalorian & Grogu Trailer Teases Baby Yoda vs. Babu Frik in the Cutest Lil’ Battle Ever

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Star Wars fans are nothing if not forgiving. They have gone from screaming about how George Lucas has ruined their childhood to embracing the prequels as really good, actually. They’ve gone from feeling embarrassment whenever The Holiday Special is mentioned to cheering when Life Day gets name-dropped in official releases. And they even admit that The Rise of Skywalker can’t be all bad, because it gave us Babu Frik. Never one to let goodwill go untapped, Disney has moved Babu Frik, or at least some of his fellow Anzellans out of J. J. Abrams‘s mess of a saga capper and…
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17 Apr

Dan Stevens in The Terror: Devil In Silver Has Serious Legion Vibes

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Period drama Downton Abbey may have made Dan Stevens a household name back in the 2010s, but his career since playing Matthew Crawley has been a delightful mix of weirdo character pieces and entertaining Hollywood blockbuster roles, with some occasional offbeat voicework thrown on top. (He is the best part of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, and we will not be taking questions at this time.) Stevens has a half-dozen projects currently in the works, ranging from another Godzilla movie to playing a serial killer on the most recent Dexter revival. But it’s his next role that feels strangely…
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17 Apr

Anne Hathaway’s ‘Wrecking Ball’ Lip Sync Win Paved the Way for Mother Mary Reign

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David Lowery has a rule. Someone isn’t cast in his films until he meets them for the first time. “That really is always what seals the deal,” the filmmaker confides when we catch up on the eve of the release of his new A24 pop star spookfest, Mother Mary. “Like you have a conversation with someone.” Yet the filmmaker, whose singular taste for casting led to him tapping Dev Patel as Sir Gawain in the hallucinatory and devilish The Green Knight, and landing Robert Redford in his final starring role, The Old Man & the Gun, has a confession to…
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17 Apr

It’s Probably a Miracle That the Good Omens Finale Exists

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To quote another popular genre series: The universe is vast and complicated and ridiculous. And sometimes, very rarely, impossible things just happen, and we call them miracles. That’s a line from Doctor Who, but the sentiment basically applies to the third and final season of Prime Good Omens, a project that many of its most ardent fans feared might never actually see the light of day.  Sexual misconduct and assault allegations against creator Neil Gaiman, one-half of the writing duo who penned the original novel, paused early production on the series’ third season, and all signs indicated that Good Omens…
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17 Apr

Street Fighter Trailer Is Just Weirdos Battling Each Other, As It Should Be

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In 1994, Universal released a movie about United Nations forces investigating a warlord who expanded his grasp by establishing a new country, complete with its own currency. For some reason, this movie was called Street Fighter, and was based on the video game series. The video game series is about choosing one to three characters, having them stand equidistant on opposite sides of the screen, and then mashing buttons to cause all sorts of spectacular nonsense until the opposing character(s) fall down. If the latest trailer for the 2026 movie is any indication, the new movie will feel a lot…
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17 Apr

Game of Thrones: Aegon’s Conquest Makes the Most Sense as a Movie

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Most of the buzz coming out of Warner Bros.’ panel at CinemaCon has surrounded upcoming films like Dune: Part Three and Supergirl, but the studio’s presentation had one key piece of information for Game of Thrones fans: Official confirmation that the long-rumored movie about Aegon’s Conquest is at last in development.  Titled (unsurprisingly) Game of Thrones: Aegon’s Conquest, the film appeared briefly on a slide touting the company’s projects in 2027 and beyond. It will be written by former House of Cards showrunner Beau Willimon, and tell the story of the birth of the Targaryen dynasty and the creation of…
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16 Apr

Masters of the Universe Hopes to Follow Barbie’s Lead and Question Gender Roles

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As far as the toy company Mattel was concerned in the 1980s, the world was split into two groups. Girls played with Barbie and boys played with He-Man. Sure, the respective lines occasionally made gestures to inclusivity, introducing She-Ra and making Ken a bit more active. But for the most part, the toys reinforced indivisible gender roles. The upcoming Masters of the Universe movie is going to continue that trend, but not in the way you’d expect. Chris Butler, one of the movie’s final screenwriters, told EW, “A lot of what Travis [Knight, director] and I wanted it to be…
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