The first short film in Star Wars: Visions, “The Duel,” sets the anime collection’s unique, creative tone. Its main character, a wandering swordsman named Ronin, also challenges the idea of what it means to be a Sith. But just who is Ronin and what is the significance of his name? Visions sits just to the side of Disney’s Star Wars canon. Given free range to create stories inspired by the beloved saga, the seven studios invited to make the nine anime shorts in the collection were able to reinterpret the story of Star Wars in their own ways....

I won’t be going into heavy spoilers in this review, as you should really go into each of these stories fresh. Plus, since most of the shorts are less than 20 minutes long, revealing even the smallest twists can give whole episodes away. But what I will say is that each short does an excellent job of capturing the classic feel of Star Wars while also offering something new, whether it’s visually, thematically, or even just a new perspective on a familiar situation....

If you jump to around the 9:10 mark in that Starfield gameplay reveal footage, you’ll see Todd Howard break down the game’s various character “traits.” They’re basically ability-altering characteristics that grant your character bonuses (and possible penalties) depending on which ones you pick. For instance, “Neon Street Rat” grants you financial bonuses and additional dialog options when you’re playing in the game’s Neon areas while “Introvert” grants you endurance bonuses when you’re adventuring alone....

That’s the kind of thing a show like Stranger Things offers, and now that season four is finished and Vecna is safely sealed up in psychic-proof Tupperware and buried under Mount Rushmore (a guess due to the season four finale not being available to preview at the time of writing, but we’re pretty confident on it), here are a frankly ludicrous amount of recommendations for films and TV shows to scratch your Stranger Things itch (assuming that you’ve already seen the show’s many Steven Spielberg/John Carpenter/Wes Craven inspirations)....

See, much like Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario 3D World lets you choose between several playable characters that have their own unique abilities. Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad are available from the start, and you’ll be able to unlock Rosalina later on after you’ve completed the necessary objectives. You’ll also be able to play as Captain Toad in special bonus stages. Where does Daisy fit into all of this?...

Instead, they got a game that was even more daring and challenging. Shigeru Miyamoto and his team crafted an immersive platforming experience that was criticized at the time and is still divisive to this day. In fact, Sunshine is one of the few major entries in the Super Mario franchise that some fans simply still don’t know how to feel about. However, over the years, more gamers have come around to its excellence....

Superman & Lois has done so many things right in its first season, using familiar comics characters to explore an uncharted onscreen corner of the Superman mythos, focusing on the struggles of small town businesses in an increasingly corporate America, and embracing bold and risky storytelling decisions like introducing hero John Henry Irons to the DC TV universe – just initially disguised as both a villain and a Luthor. If fans and critics (or, more specifically, me, who is both) have had one lingering complaint throughout Superman & Lois Season 1, it’s that the show has often left the Lois part of its title to languish in the background of its primary plots a bit more than we might have liked....

It improves your external and internal workplace communication and workflow even though new projects pile up or your priorities change. The thing is: as your business grows, organizing tasks and managing them becomes tricky. It demands smooth cooperation between employees, departments, and teams to yield timely work. This report says that 80% of all employees spend almost half of their entire workweek over rework due to poor communication. The same report highlights that 46% of company team leaders admit that completing a project within the deadline is their biggest problem....

The 100 Season 5 Episode 9 This episode covers a ton of ground, and while some of these arcs feel like they could have used more breathing room, a lot of the choices – like Indra overreaching for power and not counting on Miller, or Clarke coming after Octavia with a gun as a way to stop Gaia – only make sense if you don’t think about them too much. Murphy still feels criminally underutilized, but that might still be the case even if the show was called John Murphy and the 100....

As it turns out, the trade-touted existence of Aquaman spinoff project The Trench, which was widely taken as gospel for nearly three years, never actually existed—at least not in the way it was reported. That bit of debunking recently came straight from director James Wan in seemingly casual fashion on his Instagram when discussing Mateen’s Black Manta, who’s set to continue his vendetta against Jason Momoa’s eponymous Atlantean king in 2022-scheduled sequel Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom....

“Some day, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me,” Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) tells the funeral director who seeks revenge on the men who assaulted his daughter in The Godfather. “But until that day, consider this justice a gift on my daughter’s wedding day.” In a pivotal scene in director Matt Reeves’ The Batman, it appears the godfather of Gotham City has lit up a similar Bat-Signal....

Traditional superhero lore primarily revolves around individuals who inadvertently (and sometimes reluctantly) step into their savior destinies. Typically, these superheroes are cognizant of the public’s reverence for their abilities, yet they often choose to either live on the fringes of or blend seamlessly into society. The few who publicly embrace their fame manage to maintain their moral compass despite ever-present temptation and opportunities to make negative choices. The series, developed by Eric Kripke, Evan Goldberg, and Seth Rogen, is everything that fans of the Gareth Ennis (Preacher, The Punisher) penned comic expect it to be – gory, diabolical, and unapologetically blunt with an undercurrent of social commentary....

Today Prime Video unveiled the first official trailer for The Boys season 3 in advance of the cast’s appearance at SXSW 2022. There isn’t a single line uttered in the trailer (other than one “yeah!”) but it speaks volumes all the same. Give it a look below to see what we mean. Well, that’s a lot to unpack! Put aside for a moment the fact that that montage of season 3 clips includes no fewer than three exploding human bodies (and one exploding head for good measure), and focus on the character implications....

“It’s not about punishing any other platform…I fundamentally believe all of the platforms can continue to grow,” Spencer said. “But in order to be on Xbox, I want us to be able to bring the full complete package of what we have. And that would be true when I think about Elder Scrolls 6. That would be true when I think about any of our franchises.” While it’s still somewhat annoying that top members of the Xbox and Bethesda teams won’t just come out and say what the current plans for The Elder Scrolls 6‘s release are, it’s worth noting that the game is likely quite a few years away from actually being released and that whatever plans may currently exist for the title’s eventual debut probably aren’t set in stone....

The highly-anticipated Marvel Cinematic Universe spinoff is set to reunite Mackie’s confident hero Falcon and Sebastian Stan’s often-brutal and psychologically damaged Winter Solider, as the pair are forced into a begrudging team-up against foes new and old. The project had almost finished filming at the start of the year before the depressing events of 2020 delayed its shoot. Now, the pair are back in Prague to film the final scenes on the series, but progress has been naturally slow-going due to the new safety measures that the cast and crew must observe....

The Flash Season 8 Episode 13 The Flash season 8 has been one of the most emotional runs in recent memory, from the returns of fan favorites like Ray Palmer, Jefferson Pierce, and Mia Queen in the Armageddon event to the “reappearance” of Ronnie Raymond in the current Deathstorm arc. Now, viewers already know that the being we believed to be Caitlin Snow’s resurrected dead husband is actually Deathstorm, a monstrous cosmic being known born of the singularity that killed Ronnie....

A man who would be king lies crouched, cowering on his hands and knees. It is the day he’s feared all year and, seemingly, the hour of his death. And yet, within this moment, after he’s seen his life flash before his eyes, Dev Patel’s Gawain has never appeared taller or more free from the terror of self-doubt. The character is still not technically a knight, but as he throws away a magical green sash and asks his executioner, a Green Knight made of bark and flower, to do his worst, Gawain truly has achieved the greatness he’s striven for in King Arthur’s shadow....

After spending many seasons mired in the casual cruelties of Gilead, our protagonist June Osborne finally made it to the comparatively safe shores of Canada, where she has been granted asylum. However, as longtime fans of The Handmaid’s Tale will know, safety is never a promise in this dystopian world, and even at a distance, Gilead is an ever-present threat. With her daughter, Hannah, born before the Gilead regime, still trapped behind the border, June is walking a razor blade on which any mistake on her part might lead to her daughter’s harm....

Last episode, Hannah was coming home, Lawrence was June’s trusted friend, and Serena was steeling herself to play the long game with the Wheelers. All change! Now, Serena’s back on the run, Lawrence and June are over, and Hannah’s still across the border. Across the border, but not as distant as before. Episode nine’s most vital scene was the silent one that solved the Hannah mystery. All season, the girl’s been paraded in front of us, an obedient, pristine product of the Gilead system....

I wish I could report that The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard achieves similar lowbrow charm, particularly for audiences starved for any kind of breezy summer spectacle this week. Sadly, though, it really doesn’t matter if you come to this actioner in theaters or at home, sober or three sheets to the wind. The best circumstance by which to approach this is not at all. That disappointment is all the more bitter since at least Salma Hayek shows up and gives 100 percent....