takes

15 Sep

Host Director’s Dashcam Takes Pandemic Horror to Scarier Place

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Creating an interesting protagonist in a horror movie is a difficult thing. Conventional wisdom suggests they should be blandly appealing, and thereby a surrogate for any viewer to insert themselves into the nightmare. More often than not though, they are treated as disposable. Interchangeable faces who eventually become pieces of meat, lambs to the slaughter. Whether by fluke or design, the “heroes” of entire popular movements in the genre—slasher flicks in the ‘80s, torture porn in the 2000s—eventually devolved into figures of ridicule: victims who the audience would root against, sometimes uncomfortably so. All of which is a long way…

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01 Sep

Supergirl Takes on the Prison Industrial Complex and Falls Short

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This SUPERGIRL article contains spoilers for Season 6, Episode 9, “Dream Weaver.” Supergirl Season 6 Episode 9 A number of much-loved shows are coming to an end, or have recently, that in some ways could have pushed their luck, but in other ways were a product of a moment – a moment that they looked up to find had passed. VEEP stands out as a clear example, as does Brooklyn 99, which is doing its best to be a fun cop show that knows cops aren’t good guys without – losing all its levity or becoming a documentary. While many of us…

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29 Apr

A Comprehensive History of George R.R. Martin’s NFL Draft Takes

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Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin loves three things above all else: writing exhaustive descriptions of feasts, killing Starks, and watching NFL football. When the “A Song of Ice and Fire” creator is not writing the most impactful bit of fantasy storytelling since The Lord of the Rings, he follows his two favorite football teams: the New York Giants and the New York Jets (yes, supporting two teams in the same city is highly unusual and yes, he’s apparently fine with it).  Martin is fond of expounding upon his fandom in interviews (including this one with ex-NFL defensive end…

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07 Apr

Lena Luthor Takes a Stand – Makes a Play for Redemption

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This Supergirl article contains spoilers for Season 6, Episode 2, “A Few Good Women.” While our heroes work on freeing Supergirl from the Phantom Zone and its resident space dementors, Lex Luthor’s courtroom drama over his latest plan for world domination plays out expeditiously. It’s a somewhat uneven hour of television that does best when it leans into the lessons these women have learned, whether that’s Alex Danvers pushing herself to bring Supergirl home instantaneously, M’gann schooling J’onn J’onzz on the dangers of charging into dangerous missions too quickly, or Lena Luther in what feels like a synthesis of everything the character…

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06 Apr

Link Tank: Baron Zemo’s Dancing in Falcon and Winter Soldier Takes Internet by Storm

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The latest breakout character of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is an old face, Baron Zemo, whose dance moves in episode 3 captivated the internet. “I should start this off by saying that, for years, I made fun of our Kaila Hale-Stern and her love of Baron Zemo. She loves him so much, and I just didn’t get it. After the most recent episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, I will admit that I was wrong. Zemo was broken out of jail by Bucky Barnes when they needed him to figure out what was happening with some…

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24 Oct

Animal Kingdom: Disney+ Takes Viewers Behind The Scenes of The Park

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Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida, has a gigantic zoo covering 580 acres called Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The Magic of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, a new series on Disney+, gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the adventures of caring for the over 5000 animals at the park. With over 300 species, the park hosts a small army of staff to care for the animals. Den of Geek had the opportunity to talk to a couple of those caregivers to get an idea of what viewers will see on the show and what Disney Magic brings to the zoo experience. “The…

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29 Sep

G.I. Joe Takes on Veterans’ Mental Health

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September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in the United States, and IDW Publishing took an interesting tack to raise awareness: they tackled PTSD and veterans’ mental health head on in an issue of G.I. Joe.  August’s G.I. Joe #7, by Paul Allor, Chris Evenheus and Brittany Peer, takes a look back at the rebooted Scarlett’s time before the Joes’ current war with Cobra. Scarlett is suffering through the aftereffects of her time in Afghanistan, reconnecting with Duke who is fighting to get her treatment for her PTSD. This issue is something Allor had in mind from before the reboot…

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22 Sep

Lovecraft Country Episode 7: Hippolyta Takes Center Stage in New Trailer

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As a kinda-sorta anthology series, Lovecraft Country has enjoyed spending whole episodes highlighting characters other than just the core duo of Tic (Jonathan Majors) and Leti (Jurnee Smollett). Episode 5 caught up with Leti’s sister Ruby (Wunmi Mosaku) and her transformative ways. Then episode 6 introduced Ji-ah, an important, foxy figure in Tic’s life. Based on the trailer for episode 7, Lovecraft Country is set to feature its supporting cast even more now. By all appearances, “I Am.” is the Hippolyta Freeman hour of the show. Give the teaser a watch below. To refresh your memory on who Hippolyta even…

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14 Sep

Ewan McGregor Takes the Long Way Up for Apple TV+

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Wherever Star Wars actor Ewan McGregor goes, a certain bearded Jedi follows. In 2019, when McGregor and his travel writer friend Charley Boorman arrived in a small South American town (McGregor thinks it was in Peru) amid a long motorcycle journey, so too did a legion of fans excited to meet Obi-Wan Kenobi.  “We were in a small town and there are these long winding steps all the way up to this  famous lighthouse,” McGregor says. “We were going up and someone asked for an autograph. I was happy to do that. Then the same thing happened on another flight…

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23 Aug

Lucifer: God Takes Charge As Dennis Haysbert Joins Season 5

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This Lucifer feature contains spoilers. It takes only mere minutes in the Lucifer pilot episode to recognize that things have changed in Heaven, in Hell, and most certainly on Earth. “Remind Dad that I quit Hell because I was sick and tired of playing a part in his play,” Lucifer instructs his sibling Amenadiel, and the Devil’s crime fighting journey with Detective Chloe Decker and the LAPD begins. Viewers are quickly introduced to Lucifer’s angelic brother (DB Woodside) and the leather clad demon Mazikeen (Lesley-Ann Brandt) providing insight into a family just as dysfunctional as any on Earth. And even…

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23 Aug

How Gotham Knights Takes Inspiration from Batman: Arkham Knight

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The long-awaited reveal of the Gotham Knights trailer not only confirmed years of suspicion regarding the game’s title, villains, and release window, but it verified that Gotham Knights will at the very least take some inspiration from 2015’s Batman: Arkham Knight. While the trailer may make it seem at first like Gotham Knights is a follow-up to the Arkham trilogy of games, WB Games Montreal has made it clear that its new Batman-less Batman game is actually set in its own universe unrelated to the Rocksteady universe. But even if that’s the case, it’s clear that Gotham Knights takes at…

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21 Aug

Perry Mason: Detective Ennis Finally Takes the Stand

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The following contains spoilers for Perry Mason season 1. Perry Mason ended its introductory season with a hung jury for the accused, and never got the chance to put the main culprit on the stand. And, boy did defense attorney Perry Mason (Matthew Rhys) want that. He fantasized about the confrontation, roleplaying it in front of an audience of legal authorities who all disagreed with his opinion. Mason wasn’t only robbed of a pure victory in the case, his true prey was stolen. Detective Ennis was sentenced to death by his own partner, and with him went one of the…

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19 Aug

E3 Takes Down Sexist Tweet Promoting Harmful Stereotypes About Women

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The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the video game lobby group that also organizes E3, was forced to take down a tweet that users accused of being sexist. The tweet in question promoted a list first published by the site Parade titled “25 Online Games That Women Enjoy,” which has also now been taken down by the outlet “after hearing your comments and reviewing again.” “Great list of games women gamers are playing — any of your favorites make the cut?” read the deleted tweet. According to Kotaku, by the time the post had been taken down, thousands of Twitter users…

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13 Jul

Star Wars: The Bad Batch Animated Series Takes Place After The Clone Wars

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If you were left wondering what happened to our beloved Bad Batch at the end of The Clone Wars, you’ll likely get some answers very soon. Disney has announced a new Clone Wars spinoff series called Star Wars: The Bad Batch, which will explore the adventures of Wrecker, Crosshair, Echo, Hunter, and Tech after Order 66 and the Rise of the Empire. The series will hit Disney+ in 2021. Stream your Star Wars favorites right here! Does this series mean that the Bad Batch escaped the clone brain-washing involved with Order 66? Disney hasn’t confirmed as much, but the press…

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08 Jul

How Warrior Nun Takes Its Viewers to Church

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The following contains spoilers for Warrior Nun. We’ve seen nuns kill a gospel medley, but not a bad guy. Fighting demons and assorted baddies isn’t exactly new, but doing it in a full habit is something we haven’t seen on television before. Buffy and the Winchesters take two different approaches to fighting evil, but Warrior Nun answers the question of what happens when we weaponize women of the faith. Warrior Nun Areala, the manga-style comic book source material on which Warrior Nun is based, follows Warrior Nun Sister Shannon Masters and her friends in The Order of the Cruciform Sword…

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06 Jul

How Batwoman Takes on Policing and Social Issues

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Police brutality has gone from a niche concern – one most white people considered impolite to bring up at dinner parties – to a compulsory national conversation. It’s long overdue, which has left many playing catch-up, especially white folks and popular media. As David Dennis Jr. pointed out in his excellent Twitter thread (seriously, go read it!) superhero shows have an especially tall order, given that they rely on portraying lawlessness and a fictionalized criminality that the hero can then clamp down on. But that image is out of touch with reality and can send damaging messages. We’ve long discussed…

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16 Jun

7500 Review: Joseph Gordon-Levitt Takes on Hijackers in Amazon Prime’s Latest Thriller

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A pilot must defend the cockpit when terrorists attack during a flight from Berlin to Paris in 7500, the feature debut from German director Patrick Vollrath, which arrives on Amazon Prime this week. It’s a German, Austrian, and American co-production starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, with parts in English and others in Arabic, Turkish, and German. That makes this a bit of a strange beast to begin with but add in that it’s told in real time, mostly shot on handheld and almost entirely in one location with no score and you’ve got a film that at its best is a tense…

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18 May

Jonah Hill Takes Gold for Most Swearing on Film

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Ask people what they remember about Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street and they’ll usually tell you about moments from the biopic where the cast utterly committed to their parts, whether it’s Matthew McConaughey endlessly punching his chest over brunch as Mark Hanna, or Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort crawling along the floor after taking expired Quaaludes. Somehow on another plane of existence, however, is Jonah Hill’s version of Donnie Azoff aka former stockbroker Danny Porush. If it seemed at the time as though no one quite pushed the envelope in terms of swearing like DiCaprio and Hill in The…

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13 Mar

Lost Girls Review: Netflix Takes on the Long Island Serial Killer

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Netflix feels like the right home for this compelling but low-key feature about the Long Island Serial Killer which wisely opts to focus on the families of the victims rather than the unsolved case itself. Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone) is sympathetic as Mari Gilbert, a hard-working and harassed single mother whose somewhat estranged eldest daughter Shannan goes missing after making a panicked 911 call from a gated community near Ocean Parkway, NY in the early hours of the morning. But the police take almost an hour to respond to the call, fail to request CCTV footage which might have…

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