I'm a writer/editor who's been at the site since 2015. I cover politics, weird history, video games and... well, anything really. Keep it breezy, keep it light, keep it straightforward.
Star Trek has a ton of amazing technology on it: transporters capable of instantaneous travel, replicators that can make almost anything and, of course, warp drives that enable our characters to explore the galaxy. But one largely invisible bit of tech that's hugely important is the Universal Translator, which lets those from various alien species communicate with one another.
Fox's X-Men universe began in 2000 and is still going, despite the Disney/Fox merger having completed some time ago. The last movie in the franchise will be The New Mutants, which is slated for an August 28th release (though I'll believe it when I see it). And though that will bring the series to its official end, fans of the iconic heroes got a nostalgic little treat earlier this week.
After years in development hell, it's looking like Warner Bros. have firmed up their plans for The Flash. The long-awaited solo outing for the Scarlet Speedster is set to adapt the Flashpoint storyline, in which we explore a twisted version of the DC Universe. This looks set to see Jeffrey Dean Morgan reprise his role as Thomas Wayne (as briefly seen in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice) who becomes a warped and murderous take on the Dark Knight.
We recently reported that the mysterious villain in Superman & Lois will be the first live-action black Lex Luthor, and that may now have been confirmed.
Hannibal is a fantastic TV show. I shamefully skipped it upon its original broadcast but the sheer amount of positive things I'd read and seen about it made me give it a whirl earlier this year. I was instantly hooked, loving the cat-and-mouse game played between Mads Mikkelsen's Hannibal Lecter and Hugh Dancy's Will Graham. Beyond that, the show is gorgeous from start to finish and contains some truly twisted moments that rank among some of the craziest stuff I've seen in a TV series. Hell, even as a seasoned horror fan there were scenes that had me watching through my fingers.
Pixar's experimental SparkShorts program has brought us some seriously lovely animated shorts. These showcase ideas obviously dear to their creators' hearts, with stories featuring a non-verbal autistic character in Loop, dealing with workplace sexism in Purl and the adorable Academy Award-nominated Kitbull. But its latest is proving more contentious.
Fans of weird science fiction movies can rejoice, as Jesse Eisenberg's new film Vivarium is set to land on Amazon Prime on July 11th. Directed by Lorcan Finnegan and written by Garret Shanley, the pic follows a couple (Eisenberg and Imogen Poots) as they try to buy a home together. A creepy estate agent brings them to "Yonder," a vast complex of identical but empty houses, and promptly disappears. The couple soon realizes they're trapped in the estate, supplied with food but unable to destroy the house or leave. And their only chance of escape is to complete a seriously bizarre task.