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.
Coronavirus infected its highest-profile victim yet this week, with Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson confirming they'd both tested positive for the virus. The pair contracted it in Australia, where Hanks is shooting an Elvis Presley biopic directed by Baz Luhrmann.
Almost three months after its release, the dust has officially settled on Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The verdict is that the film is at best a missed opportunity and at worst a disaster that may have done some serious damage to the franchise. I'm somewhere between the two: I thought the movie itself was pretty terrible and reeked of corporate cowardice, but I hope they can learn from their lessons as they move towards the future. And, even as someone who really hated it, there were some cool ideas that I enjoy in isolation.
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge looks cool as hell. The red band trailer released earlier this week seems to perfectly capture the tone of the game as it mixes together the elusive combination of fantastical martial arts storytelling, a tongue-in-cheek attitude and, of course, extreme bloody violence.
I've seen all manner of hideous, gruesome and bizarre monsters tearing people limb from limb on screen. So, with a bog-standard non-supernatural lion as the monster, can Uncaged really deliver the goods? The Dutch horror-comedy shows Amsterdam being menaced by a lion (that apparently just appears in town without explanation), with the city falling into a panic as its citizens are munched on by the ferocious and hungry beast.
Right now we're in the final episodes of the first season of Star Trek: Picard. Though it started promisingly it's been a bumpier ride than expected, with several of the midseason outings feeling like the show was spinning its wheels. Fortunately, last week's episode, which saw Jean-Luc Picard reunited with William Riker and Deanna Troi, was one of the best so far. So fingers crossed they can stick the landing for the final three installments.
Over the weekend, we reported the surprise news that Jim Carrey would be getting back into the green as the Mask for Space Jam 2. It seems that Warner Bros. wants to stuff the sequel with as many cameos from their extensive library of IP as possible, with leaked photos also pegging the Joker, the Wicked Witch of the West and Pennywise as appearing in the film. In addition, we've heard that WB would like to get Robert Pattinson's Batman in the movie, and potentially even Superman.
Warner Bros.' Joker fever knows no limits. We're hearing everything from multiple Jokers in the Joker sequels, to the Joker popping up for a cameo in Space Jam 2, to a female Flashpoint Joker in The Flash. But one Joker that we can absolutely guarantee will happen will be the one facing off against Robert Pattinson in sequels to The Batman.
For many people, William Shatner's Captain Kirk is still the de facto Star Trek captain. This isn't surprising, either, given that The Original Series is still picking up audiences on streaming networks, the Star Trek movies still drawing crowds whenever they're shown, and that whenever Star Trek is parodied, it's a Kirk figure that's invariably at the ship's helm. Right now, the character is theoretically set to appear in Star Trek 4, as played by Chris Pine, but the status of that movie appears to be pretty doubtful at the moment.
In Stephen King's The Stand, the world is ravaged by a killer strain of flu. A few isolated cases spiral into a pandemic, with the virus proving resilient and incredibly contagious. Soon the virus has spread around the world, eventually killing off 99.4% of humanity and most animals. Sound familiar? Well, let's just say that with the COVID-19 Coronavirus dominating headlines around the world and quickly becoming the biggest health crisis of a generation, many people are thinking about the influenza-induced societal collapse that takes place in King's epic novel.
Todd McFarlane's Spawn is closer to getting made than it's ever been before. The project's been in development for years, with McFarlane conceiving an exciting new take on the hellish antihero, securing Jamie Foxx and Jeremy Renner for lead roles and there being a swathe of talented creatives behind the lens. But with studios apparently nervous about giving him the director's chair, progress has been slow. Fortunately, Joker's success has left producers hungry for dark, R-rated comic book fare, giving Spawn a big boost and apparently ensuring it will begin shooting this year.