To some degree, it succeeds. There are no mentions of Jedi Knights or the Force or Death Stars in Solo, which is refreshing in and of itself. The movie takes us to the fringes of the Empire where smugglers, spacefaring gangsters, and other shadowy operators ply their wares and run their schemes without attracting too much Imperial attention. It’s also a corner of the Star Wars galaxy where slave labor, both human and cybernetic, is very much in effect....

And yet Son of Frankenstein is not only a worthy successor to the first two films, but even bettered them in some aspects. The result was that Universal’s first three Frankenstein movies formed not just the first great horror franchise, but the first superb trilogy in cinema history. This trio of films told one complete, satisfying story with a beginning and an end, setting the template for everything from The Godfather trilogy to the original three Star Wars films, to the more recent Dark Knight triumvirate....

A certain Punxsutawney groundhog may or may not get to see his shadow each February, but it was in April 2022 we all got our first glimpse of Sonic the Hedgehog’s shadow on the big screen. And for Sega fans who came of age during the Dreamcast’s reign, it was glorious. Following in the footsteps of the first Sonic the Hedgehog movie, which concluded with both a tease of Dr....

According to the FBI, organizations are targeted by spear phishers and have lost around $5 billion to such scams. You might have come across an email or text message saying, “You’ve won iPhone 12!” Next, you will be guided to click on a link to claim the offer. This is how people are tricked into a scam such as phishing, and spear-phishing is one step ahead of this. The attackers send more personalized emails looking genuine and tricking people into revealing confidential information and sending money....

Star Trek: Discovery Episode 13 You would be forgiven for thinking that tonight’s episode of Star Trek: Discovery was the season finale. It had all the marking of a season-ender: high stakes, much-anticipated showdowns, the tying up of many loose ends, and tons of action. But “What’s Past is Prologue” is not the end of Discovery‘s first, big, season-long story. It is but the (seeming) wrapping up of this Mirror Universe detour, with the fate of our Federation still up in the air following the Discovery’s return to the Prime universe....

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode 4 If there’s one thing Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is trying to make clear, it’s that hanging out in the Star Trek universe isn’t safe. While The Next Generation and Voyager may have had the reputation for looking and feeling a little too cozy, Strange New Worlds continues the grittier vibe from Discovery, which also references the rough-and-tumble nature of The Original Series. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode 4, “Memento Mori,” is its darkest episode yet, with a ton of nods to The Original Series, the classic films, and an interesting sideways nod to Lower Decks....

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode 5 Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ first season has ticked a lot of boxes thus far, from stories of alien encounters that run the gamut from hopeful first contacts to high-octane face-offs and deft character work that adds intriguing new layers to the series’ central players, even those we thought we already knew. Now, with “Spock Amok,” Strange New Worlds tries its hand at comedy, and while the hour isn’t a terribly substantial one in terms of larger forward narrative progress, it’s an utterly delightful time....

The upcoming Star Trek ongoing Strange New Worlds is all about making the familiar seem new and interesting. The series stars Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, the predecessor to the U.S.S. Enterprise’s most famous skipper, James T. Kirk. He’ll be joined by other updates to well-known Trek characters, including Rebecca Romijn as first officer Una Chin-Riley aka Number One and Ethan Peck as science officer Mr. Spock. With that in mind, a recent conversation between Mount and his podcast co-host Branan Edgens is much more than the usual small talk....

While the Skywalker saga is wrapping up on the big screen with The Rise of Skywalker, Disney is getting more aggressive about expanding the small screen Star Wars universe on the Disney+ streaming service. But the latest addition to the Star Wars live action TV lineup is perhaps the most anticipated of all, as it involves the return of one of the most beloved figures in franchise history: Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi....

The Mandalorian episode 8 answers some major questions about how connected this show is to the Mandalorian lore we’ve seen elsewhere. Connections to The Clone Wars abound, as does some form of closure for Mando and Baby Yoda. All that plus a wrap-up and more reveals about characters like Moff Giden, Cara Dune, and the Armorer make for a packed episode when it comes to easter eggs and Star Wars tie-ins....

The Mandalorian Season 2 Episode 2 The Mandalorian might as well have heard the criticism that the Child was scarce in the season premiere, because he’s back in a big way in a fun episode filled with monsters. Peli gives Din a lead on another covert of Mandalorians, but there’s a catch. He needs to ferry “Frog Lady” (that’s her official name at the moment) and her unfertilized eggs to her home planet....

Like a surprising number of other modern games, Stray is filled with safes that can only be unlocked with special codes that are typically found somewhere near the safes themselves. While the game is usually pretty good about pointing you in the right direction when it comes time to find those codes, it’s still pretty easy to lose your way and suddenly find yourself desperately searching for that magic combination of numbers....

Supergirl Season 6 Episode 17 At this point, with the Love totem upon us, we have to address the ‘ship-shaped elephant in the room. Is Supergirl actually going to go full-Supercorp on us? And if not, why spend so much of this final season queerbaiting the audience? Surely a better PR strategy would have included simpler measures, like continuing the kind of promotion Supergirl enjoyed during previous seasons. Several times an episode, Lena and Kara have the kind of meaningful moments usually reserved for love interests....

Superman & Lois Episode 15 The Superman & Lois season finale, “Last Sons of Krypton,” has finally arrived and it’s as big as you might expect. For a series that started off teasing lots of family drama and that eschewed the traditional Metropolis setting for the (theoretically) friendlier confines of Smallville, it was full of blockbuster-scale action in the second half of its 15 episode run. “Last Sons of Krypton” effectively wraps up the season’s blockbuster elements in its first two acts or so, before offering a series of codas that tie up nearly everyone’s arcs with a sense of finality usually reserved for a series finale, not just a season one....

These are not characters who act out regularly in violence towards each other a la Homer and Bart Simpson, nor are their adventures a Family Guy-esque snark fest. Instead, the stories told on Bob’s Burgers focus on the little victories in life, or, more accurately, the endless defeats. Yet through it all their remains a core understanding that they are all their for each other no matter how weird things get....

These endurance rounds of horror are a tradition every October for fans of the genre. And while vegging out to a dozen movies can be bliss, there’s usually one or two entries in each respective franchise that you find yourself conveniently “forgetting” to watch, or turning into a beyond delirious drinking game. While there are countless worthy horror series out there, here are 13 (ooh, spooky!) of franchises’ worst sequels and titles!...

Saying goodbye to a comfort show is never easy, but the series finale of Roswell, New Mexico does its best to give viewers hope one last time as we see the show’s main LGBTQ+ couple actually get their happy ending. After seasons of overcoming their own hardships and obstacles keeping them apart, we see Alex (Tyler Blackburn) and Michael (Michael Vlamis) get married. It is bound to fill every viewer with happiness as we watch these two men get ready for this life changing step, especially Sanders’ visit to a nervous Michael....

The pendulum swings of fate in most stories mean that whether they have a happy ending depends on where the storyteller chooses to stop. Quit while things are ahead, that’s happy; keep going until it swings back the other way, less so. The Apple TV+ version of Sarah Perry’s 2016 novel The Essex Serpent chooses to keep going past the deliberately ambiguous end of Perry’s story until it reaches the happy ending the novelist avoided....

The Expanse Season 3 Episode 1 The season three premiere of The Expanse might as well have been season two episode fourteen in that much of the conflict continued right where it left off in last year’s finale, and although “Fight or Flight” contained a lengthy previously-on montage to catch people up, it took awhile to settle in. The greatest success of this episode, in fact, came from its thematic shifts rather than the plot itself....

The window reveals a soul, but what good is it if the curtains are half-drawn? As a narrative, The Eyes of Tammy Faye dutifully follows a clear-cut rise and fall structure. Born into a cold Christian home with a domineering mother (Cherry Jones) as its matriarch, young Tammy Faye (Chastain) is eager to get out and find God in her own way. Instead she settles on a seemingly nice Christian boy named Jim Bakker (an impressively underplayed Andrew Garfield) at school....