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If you’ve got about 3 minutes in your day and need another serotonin boost after the 2021 May the Fourth celebrations have come and gone, may I recommend watching the newSimpsons/Star Warscrossover shortMaggie Simpson in ‘The Force Awakens From Its Nap’? It’s a fun, jam-packed, silly-but-reverent fusion ofStar Warsand Springfield, and it represents an intriguing future for moreSimpsonsone-offs that might play in more Disney-owned worlds. That is, if theSimpsonsteam is planning on making more one-off short films that play in Disney-owned worlds....

Last night at The Game Awards, Microsoft announced their next console, the Xbox Series X. It’s only been two years since the arrival of the Xbox One X, but this is Microsoft’s new approach to console gaming. Rather than releasing a new console once every seven or eight years, the company wants to be more iterative like an iPhone where you get a slightly improved console every couple of years. I wouldn’t be surprised if we got the Xbox Series S or something in 2022, but for now we’ve got this....

Each film in theSonic the Hedgehogseriesdoes the following: Sonic (Ben Schwartz) usually faces off against Doctor Robotnik (Jim Carrey) or one of his machines,unlocking a new super powerful form. He also has help from his allies, including Miles “Tails” Prower (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) andKnuckles the Echidna (Idris Elba). It turns out that the appearance of said alliesmight have been telegraphed by one of the most unlikely characters: Maddie Wachowski (Tika Sumpter), the wife of Green Hills' sheriff Tom Wachowski (James Marsden)....

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for the Daredevil: Born Again Season 1 finale.It was all but guaranteed thatKaren (Deborah Ann Woll)and thePunisher (Jon Bernthal)would be returning forDaredevil: Born Again’s Season 1 finale, “Straight To Hell.” Not only did they play significant roles, with badass action from Frank and cutting dialogue from Karen that neither Frank norMatt (Charlie Cox)can respond to, but their return gave us some of our most sentimental scenes....

It’s hard to make something that looks absolutely disgusting while tasting totally delicious, yet that is exactly whatKiller Cakes, created byBlumhouse Productions, challenges its contestants to do. Airing onAmazon Prime Video, this Halloweenbaking competitionisn’t like any other because it shirks “cute and spooky” and embraces “utterly terrifying” in its goal of finding the best baker to create jaw-droppingly realistic, overwhelmingly scary cakesfor a prize of $20,000. Through a combination of wild special effects, inventive storytelling, and of course, expert culinary skills from its cast of contestants,the show presents a kind of Halloween special unlike anything fans of the genre have seen before....

As we head towards January 5th, when Oscar ballots are sent out to Academy members, the various branches are currently busy narrowing down the choices in a select few categories. The Visual Effects branchhas whittled its list of contenders downto 10 films that will compete in a bake-off, out of which the final nominees will arise. And now the Makeup & Hairstyling branch has narrowed its own list of contenders down to a shortlist of seven movies....

The first social media reactions to Warner Bros.‘Shazam!have officially hit the internet like a lightning bolt. It’s been an intriguing lead-up to the film ever since first footage appeared; even more than the endless optimism ofWonder Womanand boundlessyah-brahenthusiasm ofAquaman,Shazam!marks a sharp left turn away from the pre-Justice Leaguedourness into the lighter side of the DCEU. This hinges on starZachary Levi, playing the aged-up alter-ego of the fourteen-year-old Billy Batson (Asher Angel) who is granted mystical powers by an ancient Wizard (Djimon Hounsou)....

On this past episode ofSaturday Night Live, hosted by actressZoë Kravitz(The Batman), the popular news segmentWeekend Updatefeatured film critic Terry Fink (Alex Moffat) and his predictions for this year’s 94th Academy Awards, namely for the categories of Best Picture, Best Animated Feature Film, and Best Original Screenplay. Weekend Update anchorColin Jostwelcomed Fink to the Update desk. The guest film critic started off by gloating that he not only watched all the Oscar-nominated movies, but he also watched all other films of the past year....

Directed byNicholas Stoller(who was also the screenwriter) andDoug Sweetland, the animated featureStorksshows what the storks have been up to since they’ve stopped delivering babies and started delivering packages for global internet retail giant Cornerstore.com. When Junior (voiced byAndy Samberg) is about to receive a promotion, the Baby Factory is accidentally activated by a human named Tulip (voiced byKatie Crown), whose actions produce an adorable baby girl that they attempt to deliver to her family before any of the other storks catch on....

Making the second season of a hit show is never easy. Not only are you trying to come up with a cool story and interesting twists and turns, you’re also dealing with fan expectations that can add a lot of pressure to an already difficult situation. If you study TV history, you’ll see many series that have tried and failed to repeat their first season success. So it makes me incredible happy to say that not only is the second season ofStranger Thingsfantastic, it might be even better than the first....

There are a number of important pieces that make up a great film. The performances, obviously, are the most notable, and then there’s the direction, the cinematography, the production design, etc. While the aim of a great movie is to make everything seamless so that the audiencedoesn’tnotice the individual pieces, it’s nevertheless important to remember that a genuinely great film is not the result of just one or two things clicking—it’s a collaboration between all the departments....

[Editor’s note: The following containsspoilersforThe Boys, Season 2, Episode 6, “The Bloody Doors Off."] There are two massive reveals in “The Bloody Doors Off” — or, that is, one massive plot revelation and one incredibly large love sausage. There’s also a pretty substantial flashback: Frenchie has been at the periphery of the action to some degree this season, but in this episode we get the full story about the tragedy that haunts him, as well as how it was his talent for finding unique ways to attack supes that got him recruited in the first place....

Netflix has released a new trailer forThe Cloverfield Paradox—nearly a week after the film was made available to stream. To be fair they only had the opportunity to market this thing hours before it was made available to stream, as the movie’s release was part of a surprise strategy in keeping with theCloverfieldfranchise thus far. The first movie revealed a trailer before anyone even knew the movie existed, and10 Cloverfield Lane’s existence was only revealed a couple months before it hit theaters....