Any retro gamer accustomed to the fine art of pointing and clicking will know the name Tim Schafer. His illustrious career started by porting ‘Maniac Mansion’ to the Nintendo NES, but he is best know for being a talented writer and programmer of the iconic pirate-themed adventure ‘The Secret of Monkey Island’ (working alongside Ron Gilbert).
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“The world is changing. Soon there will only be the conquered and the conquerors. You are a good man, with a good heart. And it’s hard for a good man to be a King.” Our fourth episode of The First Word podcast is a recap and analysis of Marvel’s Black Panther, directed by the very talented Ryan Coogler. Friends Alex Billington (@firstshowing) and Mike Eisenberg (@Eisentower30) team up to bring you a podcast providing in-depth discussion, analysis, and interviews about the latest movies, and some old ones too. For this episode, we brought on our friend and film critic Amon Warmann (@awarmann) based in London for a full-on discussion about Black Panther and how awesome it is. At the end of the episode, we chat about our favorite Marvel movies so far and where we think they’ll head next after this. Listen in below. ›››
Continue Reading The First Word Podcast – ‘Black Panther’ + Marvel, feat Amon Warmann
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“This movie will excite more than just the kaiju fans.” Warner Bros Japan has released an official Japanese trailer for the upcoming video game adaptation Rampage, starring the always-badass Dwayne Johnson. We recently posted the second official US trailer for this action movie just last week, but it’s cool to see the new Japanese trailer, which comes with a fun intro from Johnson talking about kaiju (seriously). The title in Japanese is actually Rampage: Big Big Brawl, and I like that this trailer is only 60 seconds of pure action non-stop from start to finish. Short and sweet, gets right to it. The full cast of Rampage includes Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Malin Akerman, Joe Manganiello, Naomie Harris, Marley Shelton, Jake Lacy, Breanne Hill, Jack Quaid, Joey Thurmond, and P.J. Byrne. There’s not much of a plot to talk about, because it’s mostly just about giant monsters smashing up a city and humans trying to stop them. Fire it up. ›››
Continue Reading Smashing New Japanese ‘Rampage’ Trailer Featuring Dwayne Johnson
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“I also see how difficult it must be for you to survive…” A trailer has debuted for an intriguing film titled Thy Kingdom Come, which is premiering at the SXSW Film Festival in March in the “Visions” section. How many remember Terrence Malick’s 2012 film To the Wonder, with all the twirling? Thy Kingdom Come is a film made up of extra footage from early research on To the Wonder. In 2010, photojournalist Eugene Richards was hired by Malick to go to the town Bartlesville, Oklahoma with Javier Bardem (who plays a priest in the film) and meet some of the local residents. Some knew who he was, others didn’t. “Absolutely no one cared, in the end, who he was, except that he was there to listen.” Richards eventually got the rights back and made this 43 minute film, which screens alongside Malick’s VR project Together. First look below. ›››
Continue Reading First Trailer for ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ Made from Extra Malick Footage
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Tonight, the United Kingdom had their big night for Hollywood with the 71st BAFTA Awards, honoring the best in film from last year (2017). These awards don’t really have a major influence on the Oscars, but it’s always interesting to see who our friends across the pond select as the winners. The biggest winner of the night was Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, taking home five prizes in total including Best Film and Best British Film. The other big winners include Rungano Nyoni’s I Am Not a Witch taking home Best First Feature. Plus Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, Allison Janney, and Gary Oldman winning in the acting categories. Baby Driver won, too. Read on for the full list of 2018 winners. ›››
Continue Reading McDonagh’s ‘Three Billboards’ Wins Best Film at 2018 BAFTA Awards
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One of the best documentaries I’ve seen playing at film festivals this year is titled Matangi/Maya/M.I.A., a subversive profile of the controversial, badass, outspoken musician/activist known as “M.I.A.” In real life, her full name is Maya Arulpragasam, and she’s originally from Sri Lanka, an island off the southern coast of India. At first glance, this seems like a film that is another music documentary about a pop star and her rise to fame and fortune and glory. But it’s anything but that. It’s actually a much more personal, intimate story of a young woman who wants to bring attention to and raise awareness about very dire problems in the world, and injustices, and do so using the power of the microphone. But what if no one took her seriously? That’s what this film is really about. And it’s an eye-opening, alarming, invigorating documentary to watch. ›››
Continue Reading Berlinale 2018: ‘Matangi/Maya/M.I.A.’ is Not Just Another Music Doc
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“Everytime I see you, it feels good, and it hurts at the same time.” Entertainment One has debuted the first official trailer for a very bizarre, high concept indie romantic drama titled Eye on Juliet. Here’s the crazy unique pitch for this: a drone operator falls in love with a Middle Eastern woman who is being beaten by her family. She can’t really see him, because he operates a hexapod drone, but he can see her on his computer system back in America, and tries to save her. Joe Cole stars as the operator, along with Lina El Arabi as his love interest, plus a cast including Faycal Zeglat, Hatim Seddiki, and Brent Skagford. As weird as this sounds, and although it seems cheesy, this trailer actually shows some promise. He might’ve pulled this off? This already played at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals, which means there’s definitely something to it. You just have to watch the trailer to get an idea and see just what this is all about. Take a look below. ›››
Continue Reading First Trailer for Bizarre, High Concept Drone Romance ‘Eye on Juliet’
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“Marseilles was never free, but it will be. Change is coming.” EntertainmentOne has unveiled a new full-length official trailer for the action western film Five Fingers for Marseilles, which first premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year. We posted the teaser trailer for this “neo-western” set in South Africa just before the festival last year, now we have a full theatrical trailer. The story follows a young boy whose life is changed forever when he kills two corrupt policemen in a South African shanty town. Decades later, he finally heads home but his return brings out his enemies who go after him and all of his friends. The film stars Vuyo Dabula as Tau, along with Hamilton Dhlamini, Zethu Dlomo, Kenneth Nkosi, Mduduzi Mabaso, Aubrey Poolo, Lizwi Vilakazi, Warren Masemola, Anthony Oseyemi, Jerry Mofokeng, plus Kenneth Fok. This looks very cool, very gritty. I’m quite curious to check it out, still has my attention. ›››
Continue Reading Vuyo Dabula in Official Trailer for Western ‘Five Fingers for Marseilles’
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Rainbow Six Siege will soon be giving a number of its Operators away for free, Ubisoft has announced. Starting with the new season of DLC on March 3, all versions of the game except for the Starter Edition will include all 20 base Operators for no extra charge. In addition, all past and future weapon attachments will now be unlocked from the get-go, and the game’s Starter Edition will now include six Operators rather than four, as was the case before.
Currently, players wanting to unlock more Operators are required to either spend in-game experience points, called Renown, or pay real-world money to purchase various season passes. Going forward, all 20 Operators included with the game at launch will be automatically unlocked, along with all weapon attachments. The move comes just weeks after Ubisoft announced it would be discontinuing Siege’s Standard Edition in favor of a more expensive Advanced Edition, before reversing that decision based on fan feedback. The company says these new changes will ensure new players get more options from the beginning and a better experience when playing online.
Additionally, Ubisoft has unveiled more of its plans for Year 3. It’s introducing a new PvP mode called Pick & Ban that allows each team to prevent their opponents from choosing two Operators of their choice for the entire match. The catch is your team is also banned from choosing those two Operators for the match, as well as the two your opponents choose to ban. Pick & Ban will be introduced as an option in Custom Games only at first, with the potential for a rollout in public matchmaking further down the line if things go smoothly.
Later in Year 3, a number of maps will be receiving updates, some of which are minor and some major. The smaller of these, called buffs, will change maps in subtle ways such as adding a room between Bedroom and Cash Room on Clubhouse. The first map to receive a larger rework will be Hereford, in Year 3 Season 3. It will keep the British theme but the map’s layout will be completely changed and aesthetic very different to that of the current Hereford base.
Finally, Ubisoft has reaffirmed its aim to eventually reach 100 Rainbow Six Siege Operators. For more on the shooter, check out our look at how its new Operators will change the Siege meta and read more about the new Outbreak co-op mode.
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Although it’s coming a bit later than expected, the new update for Fortnite has arrived on all platforms. The version 2.5.0 patch makes some big changes and additions for both Battle Royale and Save the World modes, including the addition of a new weapon to obtain and new areas to explore in the popular PvP mode on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Battle Royale is now home to the Impulse Grenade, a new type of explosive that, after a short delay, sends all nearby players flying a long distance. It’s a Blue rarity item, and it can only be found in Treasure Chests and Supply Drops. You can get a glimpse at what it can do in the brief video clip below; it may lead to some hilarious match endings in the final circle.
Among the places you’ll now find Treasure Chests in during Battle Royale matches are new “thematic Shrines hidden across the map.” One of these is pictured in the gallery below, and they appear to have a Chinese architectural look to them. Meanwhile, Save the World has introduced new heroes and Dragon weapons themed around the Lunar New Year (also pictured below).
Other notable changes to Battle Royale include some technical changes for PS4 and Xbox One players. The standard versions of those consoles now feature dynamic resolution and high quality temporal upsampling; the former seeks to ensure a smooth framerate by decreasing the resolution when necessary. Those on an Xbox One X can now play at “full” 4K, while PS4 players should no longer experience excessively slow Fortnite patch downloads.
In terms of balance, a variety of adjustments have been made, including the temporary removal of the SMG weapon, which was done to create some breathing room for other weapons that have been added to the game. Additionally, several items are now less likely to drop, including the crossbow, minigun, and Chug Jug. There have also been some notable audio improvements, such as the crossbow making a noise when it’s ready to fire again. There are also now “above” and “below” versions of footstep sounds when running on wood, stone, or metal.
Save the World–which remains in paid early access but will eventually be for free everyone–also receives some significant additions in this update. In addition to the aforementioned Dragon weapons and Lunar New Year heroes, the Heartbreaker Crossbow is now available. Most importantly, the Spring It On event has begun, introducing new quests and rewards, with more to be added in the coming weeks.
All of this is available now. For a complete rundown on what’s new, check out the full patch notes here, or look at the silly new cosmetics now available. And if you’re new to Fortnite: Battle Royale or are just looking for some tips, have a look at our Fortnite building guide or our discussion about what makes the mode so popular.
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