Latest news with #A.V.Club
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has Charlie Cox and it knows how to use him
Every Friday, A.V. Club staffers kick off the weekend by taking a look at the world of gaming, diving in to the ideas that underpin the hobby we love with a bit of Game Theory. We'll sound off in the space above, and invite you to respond down in the comments, telling us what you're playing this weekend, and what theories it's got you kicking around. The first thing that struck me when I finally got around, this week, to loading up Clair Obscur: Expedition 33—the new and extremely French turn-based RPG from Sandfall Interactive that everyone you know online has been losing their minds over since late April—was that the acting didn't suck. This isn't entirely surprising, given that the game stars Daredevil charisma machine Charlie Cox, and features supporting performances from the likes of Jennifer 'Shadowheart from Baldur's Gate 3' English. But that non-suckage is enough of a rarity in the gaming space—reminder that I'm fresh off Doom: The Dark Ages and The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy, neither of which ever get past 'serviceable' in this department—that it still made me sit up and go 'Hey, holy shit.' And it's not just the performances, although the performances (including the facial acting and animation) are very good. (Especially as the game winds its way through its stunningly confident prologue chapter, slowly revealing the mystery of why all these very pretty, very young French people seem so hideously sad.) I was also struck by the rhythm of the opening conversation between Cox's Gustave and his young ward Maelle, the two of them talking over and interrupting each other in ways that felt more like natural speech than the stilted 'I say my line, now you say your line' manner of so much video game dialogue. Editing is a deeply underrated skill in the world of games, and Sandfall clearly gets it in a way that even big-money studios that drop stacks of cash on big-name actors often don't. And Clair Obscur needs that boost as it busts out of the gate, giving everything a grounding of human recognizability as it slowly spools out its high-concept premise: An ongoing apocalypse in which everyone over a certain age is suddenly, magically killed, with the lethal number dropping every year. It could be the stuff of pulpy melodrama, as Gustave reunites with his lover Sophie on the day she's set to have her 'Gommage.' But the game's writing, and its performances, dovetail so nicely that the whole mad concept becomes entirely believable. (Sandfall is also careful to capture the inevitable culture that arises from this society-altering threat, from the webs of foster families and orphanages that spawn as whole generations of children are orphaned, to the ways those who are about to die pile their furniture on the street so that survivors can take their pick.) Cox is especially mesmerizing as Gustave, as the character forces himself to adopt a series of fragile, brave faces in the face of a grief that is no less painful for having been perfectly predictable. I'm not that far into Clair Obscur, having only just recently cleared its first major boss fight, about four hours in. But I've already gotten the sense that it's a game that might be frontloading a big portion of its impact, with that incredibly dense and detailed prologue giving way to much quieter, less focused exploration once the titular Expedition actually begins. This could be a fatal flaw. I've played plenty of games where their first chapters—i.e., the bits that get completed first, and demoed a million times as devs do the work of convincing people that what they've made works—were clearly polished to perfection, only to have later acts feel like an afterthought. But it's here where the commitment to emotionally mature storytelling, to using actors and animators and editors to create characters who actually feel like people, pays huge dividends. Even if the game loses some of its early complexity once you're actually running around and beating up Geometry Monsters every few minutes (and as the cast gets, uh, reduced in the opening minutes of its first full chapter), the memory and weight of those opening minutes lingers. 'Why does what I'm doing matter?' is one of those big narrative hurdles any game story writer has to tackle. Few games have answered it as definitively as Clair Obscur does in those first few scenes, and understanding that effectively staging and recording those moments, not just as bits of a game, but as dramatic scenes, is a huge reason for that success. More from A.V. Club The Last Of Us finally eulogizes Joel Miller Mr. Fielder goes to Washington in this week's The Rehearsal Joe Biden diagnosed with "aggressive" form of prostate cancer
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Dave Franco and Alison Brie are too close for comfort in Together trailer
Relationship getting a little stale? Here's a hot new tip: move to a sleepy town and fuse your flesh with your partner. Like, literally. If that doesn't work, the whiskey and chainsaw session you'll need to get yourselves apart is sure to reignite the spark! Okay, that may not have been exactly what Millie's (Alison Brie) couple's counselor (Damon Herriman) had in mind when he told her that 'complacency can sometimes simply be harmony.' Regardless, some light Cronenbergian fusing seems like it will be either the solution or final nail in the coffin (literally) for Millie and her boyfriend, Tim's (Dave Franco), current woes. Together's official synopsis reads: 'Years into their relationship, Tim (Franco) and Millie (Brie) find themselves at a crossroads as they move to the country, abandoning all that is familiar in their lives except each other. With tensions already flaring, a nightmarish supernatural encounter with a mysterious, unnatural force threatens to corrupt their lives, their love, and their flesh.' This one clearly isn't for the weak-stomached. You may even want to approach the trailer with caution, especially if you enjoy sleeping next to your partner without worrying about having a very uncomfortable conversation about personal boundaries the next morning. It's a talk real-life spouses Franco and Brie had while making the film. 'We joked this either ends in divorce or we're more co-dependent than ever. Luckily it was the latter,' Franco told Deadline when the film premiered earlier this year at Sundance. Franco previously directed Brie in 2020 thriller The Rental and 2023 rom-com Somebody That I Used To Know, but the two aren't trying to stick their careers too closely to each other's. 'We're very selective,' Franco said. 'We don't want people seeing us on screen too often where they become sick of us.' Luckily, the Michael Shanks directorial debut 'felt right.' Neon attached itself to the film after it became a hit at Sundance. It'll premiere for the rest of us July 30 in theaters. More from A.V. Club Doctor Who has gotten too clever for its own good Zoey Deutch's celebrity hall pass movie will somehow involve Jon Hamm, John Slattery Sure, Charlie Cox will tell you which Daredevil episode he thinks sucked
Daily Mail
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Netflix just days away from removing Black Mirror's most ambitious episode ever as streamer undergoes major redesign - and it's bad news for fans of the dystopian drama
Netflix is just days away from removing Black Mirror 's most ambitious episode ever as the streamer undergoes a major redesign - and it's bad news for fans of the dystopian drama. The interactive film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, directed by David Slade and written by Charlie Brooker, aired back in December 2018. The official synopsis reads: 'In 1984, a young programmer begins to question reality as he adapts a dark fantasy novel into a video game. 'A mind-bending tale with multiple endings.' Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is very different to the rest of the episodes from the franchise as viewers picked the ending, meaning that everyone's experience watching the show was different. According to The A.V. Club, the film, alongside Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy Vs. The Reverend will be removed from the streaming service later this month. Fans have until May 12 to watch the instalment on Netflix. It comes after What's On Netflix, 'an upgraded TV experience, is headed to a screen near you'. It has been reported that the service is undergoing a redesign - including simpler navigation, your very own My Netflix hub, detailed informed about the shows/movies and responsive recommendations. According to The A.V Club, it will mean that programmes such as Bandersnatch will be 'incompatible' going forward. The redesign will hit the service on May 19. So if you haven't watched Bandersnatch, you better watch it soon, before it's taken off Netflix. The movie has received rave reviews since it hit our screens. It has 74% on the Tomatometer on review site Rotten Tomatoes, as well as a 67% on the Popcornmeter. Many have shared their thoughts about Black Mirror: Bandersnatch on Rotten Tomatoes - and it has received 74% on the Tomatometer Many have shared their thoughts on the website too. One wrote: 'Watched this some months ago, not sure why I haven't posted a review. 'It's a very interesting choose-your adventure kind of a movie with some clever twists. 'But overall it lacks complexity and true imagination to be great.' 'OMG!! Black Mirror has outdone itself with this interactive 'It really messes with your mind with a very interesting, creepy and clever idea. It's just mindblowing! 'Decisions, fate, control... mysterious themes as ever! — watching Black Mirror.' 'I thought it was really cool, the ideas were super bonkers, the acting was great, overall just an awesome mash of ideas.' 'Innovative! Actors were incredible.' 'Extremely immersive, keeping you on your toes with many surprising twists and turns along with a sequence of shots and scenarios with a very fit and enjoyable cast.' 'The perfect Netflix show, telling what tech is able to make into vulnerable minds, like every single human being's.' 'Brilliant and forward thinking. One of the best sci fi series out there.' The show stars Fionn Whitehead, Will Poultner, Asim Chaudhry, Craig Parkinson, Alice Lowe, Tallulah Haddon and Jonathan Aris.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Blue Prince is the wrong kind of frustrating
Every Friday, A.V. Club staffers kick off the weekend by taking a look at the world of gaming, diving in to the ideas that underpin the hobby we love with a bit of Game Theory. We'll sound off in the space above, and invite you to respond down in the comments, telling us what you're playing this weekend, and what theories it's got you kicking around. I showed the notes I've been keeping while playing Blue Prince to my wife recently, because I like giving her periodic reminders that she's married to a definitively unwell person. I won't replicate them here—spoilers, and all—but suffice it to say that they resemble nothing so much as a rudimentary version of classic internet mainstay Time Cube, full of half-scrawled ideas, snippets of code, rough descriptions of images, and hastily crafted maps. The product of a cheerfully disordered mind. I like this kind of stuff. The last game that caused me to fill pages with these kinds of rantings (in a physical journal, although my Prince stuff is just in an email draft) was Lorelei And The Laser Eyes, which Dogubomb's first-person exploration game resembles in many ways. Blue Prince—say it out loud, if the pun eludes you at first, as it did me—can't match Simogo's 2024 puzzler on things like style and tone, for all that it comes in an appealing package. But as a giant puzzle box, masquerading as a house? It might have the edge—when it lets you get to the good stuff, at least. Here's where I'm forced to make my terrible confession: Not only have I not finished Blue Prince, despite having had weeks to do so, but I also find myself woefully out of step with my peers in the gaming press when it comes to what it does right. I like the game—bordering on a mild obsession. But its dedication to randomness, to making me play a game I don't like very much in order to get to the one that's burning its way through my brain, was ultimately too much for me. I had to set it aside, for my tattered sanity if nothing else. It's like this: Blue Prince puts you in the shoes of the young inheritor of a vast mansion called Mt. Holly, tasked with discovering its mysterious '46th room.' (Tricky, given that the house is clearly laid out on a 5 x 9 grid.) Mt. Holly is no ordinary manse, though: Every day, starting from its entrance hall, you draft a new floorplan for it, picking rooms from a set of possibilities every time you approach a new door. The day progresses until you either run out of stamina, or somehow block yourself from forward progress—either flummoxed by increasingly stringent security measures that pop up the deeper you get into the house, or just because you were an idiot who always loses at Carcassone, and blocked off all possible exits from all your available rooms. Within the various bedrooms, pantries, hallways, and more, you'll find clues, puzzles, and lore notes, helping you to figure out the game's intriguing story, or just how to open some door you've accidentally dropped halfway across the damn house. Through a blend of deliberate building and random discovery, you slowly build up your options, and your understanding, making Mt. Holly feel like it's truly yours. I don't like it. I get it, mind you. I understand the ways the game deploys randomness to break up its basic puzzle-solving rhythms; the ways it deliberately courts feelings of triumph and frustration as you try to work your way toward one particular map point that you know has something pivotal lurking within it, only to be stymied because you've been presented with nothing but fucking left-turning rooms for the fifth goddamn time in a row. Building the house is a game, and a mildly interesting one: You slowly unlock new resources that give you more options, better ways to predict paths or overcome locked doors. Cracking a big secret that gets you better access to resources, tools, or new routes feels exultant—as does drafting a room you've never used before because you desperately need it to fit in on your map, only to realize it holds the secret to some other mystery. It's all cool, in theory. In practice, half the time I feel like I'm doing a fascinating escape room, only to be suddenly forced to switch over to a Sudoku, or maybe some jumping jacks, in order to get back to the thing that's actually got me excited to play. Randomness has value in game design—I'm a person who can count his playtime in The Binding Of Isaac in terms of weeks, so I'm well aware of that. But Blue Prince's random layer, and its more thoughtful one, don't gel for me in the way I think they're supposed to. Sometimes, navigating around that randomness becomes a game in itself, forcing a different kind of lateral thinking than the work of cracking codes or navigating combinations. But I'll be 100 percent honest and say that it's not a game I'm especially jazzed to play. (And while I'm drawing parallels, I'll note that Lorelei had this same irritation baked into it: Intrusions meant to break up the puzzles, except I really like the puzzles, guys, I swear.) The key breaking point came the last time I stumbled onto some clue that gave context to a different puzzle in a different room of the house—and the broken sigh I let out when I realized the game would force me to jump through its various hoops before letting me test that newfound knowledge out. I know I'll revisit the game at some point, crack back open that insane and rambling email draft, and start teasing out new mysteries again. But I also know I won't be able to stop myself from asking: Dang, what if this was just the parts of the video game that I liked? More from A.V. Club This real-life Lord Of The Flies had a happy ending Deborah and Ava try to find a new equilibrium in Hacks' season 4 premiere Paul Verhoeven thought Starship Troopers was "too subtle for the American consciousness"
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The White Lotus' Jon Gries on that face-off with Belinda and why Greg is a "run-of-the-mill psychopath"
Jon Gries has secured the rare bragging right of being the only actor to check into Mike White's acerbic anthology for every season so far. His character was introduced in season one as an easygoing man with a terminal illness who crossed paths with the wealthy, oblivious Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge) while vacationing in Hawaii. By the Italy-set sophomore run, it became clear Greg was actually a sinister enigma, one who would go on to plot his wife's death to nab her inheritance. His appearance in season three was kept a secret, so everyone was in for a shock when Greg—sorry, Gary—showed up in Thailand in the premiere. He's gotten away with murder and is living large, with a lavish villa, a hot girlfriend, and a sleek yacht. But now that Belinda (Natasha Rothwell), the sunny White Lotus employee who was roped in by Tanya back in season one, spots him and digs into his past, that high life is in jeopardy. The A.V. Club spoke to Gries—while his adorable, interruptive pet parrot Pablo sat on his arm—about reprising the role, working with White and Rothwell again, tapping into Greg's darkness, and what the character's ultimate fate might be. The A.V. Club: How did Mike White pitch each season's arc to you? Jon Gries: The truth is that if Mike White called and said, 'Listen, Greg eats dog food on his knees out of a bowl,' I'd say, 'It's alright, I'll be there.' Each season you obviously get invested in what you're playing. In season one, I was playing him such that he was very ill and had opted to live in the moment. He didn't want to be bothered with trivialities. I believe that's why he was so driven to not worry about whatever Tanya's concerns were. It was her own manufactured dramas. Then moving on to season two, Mike texted me and asked if I was available as he was writing the episodes. I said of course I was; I wouldn't think twice about it. Then he said, 'By the way, Greg's diabolical.' My reaction was that [it] sounded fun, and that's pretty much it. Yes, it's a pivot but you can easily see that this lovely guy is sweet with this wealthy heiress, and I could see where the pieces would fit for Mike's plan in season two. I embraced it. There were levels to it, of course. Mike's had to coax me to that place. Because of my nature, I didn't go for the gusto of being as irritated with Tanya as Greg seemed to be. But obviously we wanted to indicate that he's involved [in her death]. AVC: How did exploring Greg's dark side more openly in the third season help you understand the character? JG: To me, he's the type of person who would give somebody just one chance with whatever it is he wants to do. I built certain things like that into the character and his attitude. He gives someone one chance, and if it doesn't work out, there's a plan B and that plan is probably sinister and diabolical. You can understand then that he's your run-of-the-mill psychopath. I don't mean to generalize, of course. AVC: You see that in episode six, when Greg questions Chloe about the Ratliff brothers, giving her a chance to admit she slept with one of them. And when she doesn't, there's a plan formulating in his head. Is that how you and Mike wanted to play it? JG: Exactly, that's a keen read on that scene. The interesting thing is working with Mike just clarified one really important thing for me, which is that he's a very generous director and wants to see the actor discover and find the pieces of the character. If he feels like [the performance] is so far off the mark, he'll rein you in, but otherwise, he'd just look at me and say, 'You're right, and this is how I see where Greg is going.' We had this tacit understanding while filming this episode but also overall. At one point, I was talking to him about it, and he said, 'Yeah, you know the character. You've already played him for two seasons. We don't need to talk about it.' It was never a dismissal, but it was just a total boost of confidence. AVC: What is it about a character like Greg that makes him compelling enough to follow for three seasons? JG: I think that Greg is the outlier. We're seeing a lot of aspects of humanity in the show and how things can go dark, like the way Jake Lacy and Murray Bartlett's characters in season one had this ongoing thing that developed and turned into something out of their control. Greg is a phantom in that sense. He's the darkest part of it all but just dressed up. A lot of people have the ability to be introspective and to suffer the pain of whatever it is they're going through. I don't think he does, and I don't think he's capable of it, at least at this point. That's interesting to see evolve. AVC: Do you think Greg is genuinely possessive of Chloe in that moment or that he's trying to figure out how to make her a pawn? JG: I don't know if he's possessive of her or if that's the way to look at it. He just doesn't like the idea that she feels enough freedom in his world to go ahead without including Greg. I think from Greg's point of view, that is not part of the way he likes to play his game. I don't think he even cares about what folly she gets involved in, whether it's sex or whatever. He just doesn't like the fact that she is running outside of the lanes that they have agreed that they're both in together. AVC: The themes of this season are death, spirituality, and karmic retribution. Can you say anything about how Greg fits into those by the end and if justice will be served? JG: I could come up with so many scenarios for Greg, but you can't anticipate where Mike White will go, that's for sure. Of course, everybody sees these shows and all they want to do is manifest and create ideas about how it'll end and who'll die. Most people that I talked to who are friends or family will say, 'Oh, it'd be really cool if this happens.' Everybody likes to know ahead of time, which to me is really funny. It's just something about us humans. Maybe it's a survival mechanism. It's just natural that we want to go, 'Okay, what happens, what happens?' But no, you've got to wait. [Laughs] Even though I know what happens, I'm actually waiting to see how it plays out week to week. AVC: Greg's comeuppance might likely come through Belinda. Can you say anything about what he might've planned for her and what it was like to work with Natasha, especially in that final confrontation between them in episode six? JG: Greg has that attitude I was talking about that's not based on empathy or sympathy or concern. He just has a rule. And his rule is to give one opportunity, and if one thing doesn't work, he is going to figure something else out. Whatever plan B for her is, it's going to be labor-intensive and requires more planning. Purely out of laziness, he doesn't want to have to do it. It's not because he's concerned about people. But he's going to have to. Also, I can't say enough great stuff about Natasha. She's such an amazing talent and a helpful, generous actor. I remember doing a take of the scene you mentioned, and I changed something based on a suggestion that she barely dropped. I did it, and she was like, 'Yeah, that freaked me out.' AVC: Do you remember what it was she suggested and you changed? JG: Yes, but that's a trade secret, an actor's magic trick [laughs]. AVC: That's fair. Apart from Natasha, what was it like to work with a new cast this season, including Jason Isaacs in the fourth episode? As a side note, it's funny that Greg has a yacht now with all his money and that Tanya died when she fell off of one. JG: I know. We never really discussed the parallel between the two boats. It's funny, of course, that he would go and buy a yacht. It's certainly a way to look at the inner workings of his mind a bit. And yes, Jason is an amazing actor and he's doing such a good job on the show. He's just knocking it out of the park. Everybody in season three is knocking it out of the park. AVC: Do you miss working with Jennifer Coolidge? She said in an interview recently that she's been watching season three and wants Greg to pay for his crimes. JG: She's right, obviously. [Laughs] She is so gracious and an amazing professional. I adore her. Some of the most exciting things I've ever done include working in scenes with her because she's electric. I love that she's still rooting for the show, not that she wouldn't be because it's been wonderful for all of us, but she's still invested in it. I think everybody who's been part of this world would feel the same way. Mike White is a genius, and we're just little minds that can't keep up. More from A.V. Club Adolescence is the rare gripping crime drama that doesn't need a twist Survival Of The Thickest returns with tighter scripts and more relatable laughs [UPDATED] Long, slow Marvel announcement confirms original X-Men, Chris Hemsworth in Avengers: Doomsday cast
