inside

14 Sep

Welcome to the Dollhouse: Inside the Chucky TV Series

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After seven films and an ill-advised reboot, Chucky is set to deploy a new torrent of neighborhood carnage. The killer doll has gone through several reinventions over the years, but  now that he’s back in the hands of original creator Don Mancini, he’ll find yet another unsuspecting family to terrorize in his very own TV series. Chucky has certainly navigated a wild path to the small screen. The Child’s Play franchise started out playing the character straight by charting his efforts to get his murderous psychological hooks into innocent little Andy Barclay, but films one through three were also embracing…

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14 Sep

Inside the Top Gun: Maverick Cockpit

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Tom Cruise is once again entering the danger zone. The highly-anticipated sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, picks up decades after the 1986 blockbuster, with the action star reprising his role as hotshot pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. For many fans, the original has evolved into a timeless feel-good film.  “Top Gun is the movie that took Tom from a promising young actor onto the road to superstar,” director Joseph Kosinski [Tron: Legacy, Oblivion] tells Den of Geek. “It’s just a great story and a great friendship between Maverick and Goose [Anthony Edwards]. The notion of the wingman was created with Top Gun…

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02 Jun

Bo Burnham: Inside’s Moment of Breathtaking Empathy

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This article contains spoilers for Bo Burnham: Inside. Back in the year 2000, writer Dave Eggers struggled to find the right title for his first memoir. What collection of words could possibly communicate the emotional enormity of losing both of one’s parents to cancer and then having to perform as a sudden surrogate to one’s younger brother? Eggers eventually stumbled upon the appropriately melodramatic moniker. The name he chose, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, was equal parts sarcastic and sincere. It also felt grandiose enough to describe Eggers’ own slice of the confusing, oft exhilarating human experience.  Now, some…

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31 May

Inside No. 9 Series 6 Episode 4 Review: Hurry Up and Wait

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Warning: contains Inside No. 9 spoilers. Right at the start, Bev told us she was celebrating a birthday. The significance of that indefinite article passed us by until she protested in the final minutes, “I never said it were my birthday.” Bev was celebrating on behalf of Ryan, the baby she’d snatched from his pram two decades ago as a disturbed 10-year-old, and killed, concealing his skeleton inside a child’s doll.  ‘Hurry Up and Wait’ is an uncomfortable half-hour with a macabre conclusion, as befits the creators and director of Psychoville (which in Dawn French’s Joy, also featured a grown woman with a sinister attachment to…

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26 May

Superman & Lois Episode 7: Inside the “Man of Steel” Ending That Changes the Series

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This article contains Superman & Lois episode 7 spoilers. Superman & Lois Episode 7 It took seven episodes, but we’ve finally learned the secrets of the mysterious stranger who up until now has only been known as “Captain Luthor.” Since the first episode of Superman & Lois aired back in February, fans (and journalists) have been buzzing about the identity of the man under the armor who has been giving Superman a hard time, and lately, spending a lot of time with Lois Lane.  And while everyone just took the armor’s AI at its word that this is a “Captain…

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25 May

Inside No. 9 Series 6 Episode 3 Review: Lip Service

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Warning: contains spoilers for Inside No. 9 series 6 episode 3. What a sad tale! Four sad tales, if we’re counting – a melancholic pass-the-parcel that tore off layers of wrapping and changed shape at regular intervals. ‘Lip Service’ started out as a domestic drama that turned dark, briefly became a romance, and ended unexpectedly as a conspiracy thriller. Four stories, three twists, as many genres, 30 minutes, no waiting. Where else on TV does an audience get this much bang for their buck? Until its final moments, ‘Lip Service’ ran at a different speed to this series’ previous two episodes. While…

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18 May

Inside No. 9: the ‘Simon Says’ Scene That Almost Went Too Far

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Warning: contains spoilers for Inside No. 9 series 6 episode 2 ‘Simon Says’. From exsanguination to decapitation, Inside No. 9 episodes have never shied away from grisly murder, and so far, series six is no different. Opener ‘Wuthering Heist’ was a bloodbath, while follow-up ‘Simon Says’ gave us a total of four deaths – two faked and two real. One of the real ‘Simon Says’ deaths was made to feel all the more authentic for filming choices made by director Guillem Morales. After Simon (Reece Shearsmith), the scheming fan of a fantasy TV series, blackmails its writer Spencer (Steve Pemberton)…

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17 May

Inside No. 9 Series 6 Episode 2 Review: Simon Says

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Warning: contains spoilers for Inside No. 9 series 6 episode 2. The online petition to ‘Remake Game of Thrones Season 8 with competent writers’ currently has over 1.8 million signatures. Despite the series having ended two years ago and HBO politely declining the opportunity to bin its $100m first attempt and have another go, people continue to add their names. Call it love or call it entitlement, some fans can’t move on.  That’s the context for ‘Simon Says’, a dark story about the writer of a fictional fantasy TV epic with a famously unpopular ending. When fans Simon and Gavin (Reece Shearsmith…

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13 May

Inside No. 9 Series 5 Episode Guide, Cast & Reviews

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Series five took Inside No. 9 to new and unusual places: the changing room at a premier league football match, a Louisiana prison, a cemetery at night, Wood Green… In fan-treat episode ‘Death Be Not Proud’, it even revisited an old haunt. Co-creators Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith welcomed new guest stars including David Morrissey, Ralf Little, Jenna Coleman, Phil Davis and Maxine Peake. The series earned Bafta nominations for Best Scripted Comedy and Best Male Performance in a Comedy Programme, to go with Steve Pemberton’s 2019 Bafta win for the previous series. It offered laughter, tears, blood, a gristly…

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12 May

The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4 Episode 5 Review: Could a Resistance Grow Inside Gilead’s Top Ranks?

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This The Handmaid’s Tale review contains spoilers. That ending was earned. Under ordinary circumstances, the un-ironic use of Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’ over a slo-mo reunion scene would result in disciplinary action from the mawkishness police, but The Handmaid’s Tale gets away with it. This drama has been feel-bad for so long, it’s saved up enough feel-good pennies to splurge on moments just like this one: June and Moira, reunited. Drink it in.  The moment was staged by director Christina Choe with dialled-up emotion and zero edge. A silhouetted Moira emerged from the battlefield smoke like a wartime sweetheart as the love song soared. It…

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11 May

Inside No. 9: The ‘Wuthering Heist’ Ending They Ran Out of Time to Film

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Warning: contains spoilers for Inside No. 9 series six episode one In the time that most television series are still putting their boots on, Inside No. 9 conjures entire narrative worlds, complete with characters, plot, gags, surprises and satisfying endings. Its half-hours are so densely packed, no TV offers better value for money or a more generous time-investment-to-reward ratio. The series six opener ‘Wuthering Heist’ is no different. In under 30 minutes, it delivers a thriller heist that riffs around a traditional form of masked theatre, without a minute’s let-up in the volley of jokes. That full a script though,…

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10 May

Inside No. 9 Series 6 Episode 1 Review: Wuthering Heist

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This Inside No. 9 review contains spoilers.  There’s old school comedy of the ‘Frank Spencer roller-skating under a lorry’ kind, and then there’s old school comedy of the ‘clowns, dukes, ruffs and rhyming couplets’ variety. The Inside No. 9 series six opener draws on the latter, improbably combining 16th century commedia dell’arte with a modern-day jewel heist. It’s proof, if any were needed, that there really is no formula to this show. Peculiarity is its only genre.    Commedia dell’arte sounds complicated because it’s Italian, but so does bruschetta, and that’s just tomato on toast. The term describes a form of historical theatre using a group…

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06 Apr

Kung Fu: Inside The History of a Martial Arts Classic

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It’s been a long journey for The CW to snatch that Kung Fu pebble from the master’s (Warner Bros.) hand, but the new reboot of Kung Fu could not have come at a better time. Issues of diversity and representation have been at the forefront of our cultural conversations for years now. The rise in Asian hate crimes – nearly a 150% increase in 2020 – has made #StopAsianHate a frequent trending topic on social media. For The CW to launch a show with a Chinese leading actress and a largely Asian cast right now makes a bold statement for…

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25 Mar

Resident Alien: Inside That Hair-Raising Cameo

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This article contains spoilers for Resident Alien episode 9. In the Syfy series Resident Alien, Harry Vanderspeigle, or the extraterrestrial in the Harry human suit, to be specific, has been trying to get back to his home world after completing a mission to kill everyone on earth. But in the newest episode, “Welcome Aliens,” he has a close encounter with humans in alien suits — as well as one “high-haired gentleman” — at a UFO convention in Dulce, New Mexico. The penultimate episode of the season occurs as Harry (Alan Tudyk) and Asta (Sara Tomko) head to the con to…

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16 Mar

DuckTales: Inside the Finale’s Big Webby Twist

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This DUCKTALES article contains massive spoilers for the finale. The DuckTales finale had a lot to wrap up. One of the biggest mysteries introduced in season 3 had to do with Webby. Beakley was keeping secrets about her but we weren’t sure what. The finale gave us answers but not in the way we expected.  Early on we’re introduced to what we’re told are Webby’s sisters, clones of her. As Webby begins to investigate she learns more and more, confident she’ll get some clue to her past. She gets that and a whole lot more. The audience and Webby both learn she’s…

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03 Mar

Inside the Mortal Kombat Movie’s Bloody Love Letter to Martial Arts

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About 10 hours into a November 2019 flight to Australia and the set of Warner Bros. Mortal Kombat reboot, I started to ask myself whether this was all worth it. I loved the original Mortal Kombat movie about as much as anyone unironically can, but the fact remains that the history of live-action video game film adaptations is paved with disappointment. Even the best movies in that field have earned their reputation largely by exceeding low expectations. After nearly 30 years of failed attempts, it’s hard to even picture what a good live-action video game movie might look like. What…

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22 Feb

Godzilla vs. Kong: Inside the Monster Fight of the Century

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By now you’ve probably seen the Godzilla vs. Kong trailer. You know, the one where a giant ape not only punches a giant lizard in the face (and does what almost looks like the Henry Cavill arm-cocking maneuver) suggesting there’s a new contender for the title of “King of the Monsters.” Audiences will find out who wins when the film drops on HBO Max and in theaters on Mar. 26, 2021, but in a 2019 visit to the Australian production, Den of Geek learned there is more to the movie than a mere clash of Titans. Instead, executive producer Alex…

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01 Feb

American Gods: Inside Shadow and Technical Boy’s Excellent Adventure

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This article contains spoilers for American Gods season 3. It seems that throughout the history of technology, there has been no greater driver of technological change than the most simple of human desires: sex.  From nickelodeon reels of women dancing in skimpy costumes to the home video format war of the ‘80s to the modern dating apps of today, sex sells, and sex has always been at the forefront of human invention. Someone makes a product, and someone else figures out how to use it to gratify humanity’s baser urges. To that end, it makes sense that the ancient Queen…

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21 Jan

The Stand: Inside Episode 6’s Explosive Confrontation

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This article contains spoilers for the sixth episode of The Stand. In episode 6 of the CBS All Access limited series The Stand, “The Vigil,” several critical things happen: Mother Abigail (Whoopi Goldberg), out on her spiritual quest in the wilderness to communicate with God, has an unexpected confrontation with Randall Flagg (Alexander Skarsgard) instead before she retreats, physically depleted, to the Boulder Free Zone. Her return, however, coincides with Harold Lauder (Owen Teague) and Nadine Cross (Amber Heard) successfully pulling off their plan to stage a terrorist attack in the Free Zone, detonating a bomb in Abigail’s house that…

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08 Jan

Inside The Stand Episode 4’s Two Big Surprises

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This article contains spoilers for episode 4 of The Stand. The fourth episode of CBS All Access’ miniseries adaptation of Stephen King’s epic novel The Stand, titled “The House of the Dead,” contains two scenes that are surprising to say the least. Neither one of them turned up in the 1994 ABC miniseries based on King’s post-apocalyptic tale; one of them is taken from — or at least inspired by — the unexpurgated edition of the book that King published in 1990, from which very little was used in the 1994 TV event, while the other is wholly original to…

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