In its original form, film noir was an anomaly: a dark rain cloud cast in silhouette across the otherwise sunny landscape of 1940s American pop culture. At a time when censors insisted on black and white morality, and clean, unambiguous entertainment, noir was a subversive sneer, reflecting the cynicism bubbling underneath. As with the often doomed fools who led movies like Double Indemnity (1944), Out of the Past (1947), and In a Lonely Place (1950), noir filmmakers saw a fatally flawed world outside the studios’ backlots, and even in the glow of post-war America....

So is the Nintendo Switch OLED worth that investment? That really depends on your situation, preferences, and expectations. To the shock of absolutely nobody who has been following the Switch OLED so far, the biggest difference between the upgraded console and the base Switch is indeed the OLED’s 7-inch screen. Not only is that a welcome size increase from the base Switch’s 6.2-inch screen, but as you can see in this comparison shot below (which was taken from a brave YouTuber whose recent unboxing and comparison video may not be long for this digital world), it’s actually the enhanced clarity you get from the new OLED screen that will probably prove to be a bigger selling point than the size of the screen alone....

No Sudden Move is a heist film, but don’t go in expecting Ocean’s 11, in spite of the all-star cast. This is a theft worth savoring, and Soderbergh gives the players room to breathe. Of course, any of those breaths can be a character’s last, which becomes apparent very quickly. Most of the other information trickles out like blood from exit wounds, as the film captures the most muted tones of classic film noir....

Outlander Season 3, Episode 1 We don’t talk enough about time, pacing, and chronology in television — probably because most TV shows make the same, standard choices when it comes to time in their storytelling. Outlander, as both a time travel show and a ambitiously-run prestige drama, is one of the few exceptions, playing with not only its characters’ perceptions of time, but also its viewers’. This has never been more apparent than in the Season 3 premiere, which told its story in two separate timelines, set centuries apart, paced in wildly different ways....

Tom Christie doesn’t just bring his family to Fraiser’s Ridge. He brings beef from Ardsmuir prison and controversial religious ideas. Alongside this, Claire is continuing to experiment with 18th Century replacements for modern remedies and techniques. This episode introduces Claire experimenting with ether, but what is the historical significance of both? Though the premiere rightfully excluded tangential details about religion and politics in the 18th Century in order to focus on the fictional story, there are a few pieces of historical context about the Freemasons that may help Outlander fans better understand the episode....

Before we start, Den of Geek would like to make it clear that this website neither condones nor endorses the practice of international money laundering for illegal drug cartels. Our message to anybody considering it? Just say no. As Netflix’s Ozark proves, you’ll only end up dissolved in a barrel of acid or wearing a hole clean through your soul with all the running-for-your-life-mammon-worshipping-wheeler-dealing. Now that’s been established, here’s how it’s done: In Ozark, Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman) starts off as a Chicago-based financial advisor in a small firm with a side line in laundering drug money for the Navarro drug cartel, the second largest in Mexico....

Guillermo del Toro’s neon-drenched monsters-vs-robots epic Pacific Rim wore its influences proudly on its elbow cannon-equipped sleeves, so an anime-style spin-off makes a certain kind of inevitable sense. Pacific Rim: The Black is a seven-episode Netflix Original that seeks to expand the Pacific Rim mythology – think “extended universe” rather than “sequel”. Created by Thor: Ragnarok co-writer Craig Kyle and X-Men: Evolution head writer Greg Johnson, the show follows siblings Hayley (Gideon Adlon) and Taylor Travis (Calum Worthy) as they struggle to survive in a post-apocalyptic, kaiju-infested Australia....

Stephen King once called the brutal 1983 novel Pet Sematary his scariest book, and in this new age of King adaptations, that means this dark story gets a remake. A modern retelling of the book King wrote in 1978 and then shoved into a drawer because he thought it was too grim (even for him!), Pet Sematary checks off several of our favorite horror tropes: spooky houses, killer kids, conniving cats, ancient burial grounds, and lots of murder....

As with other Nintendo-exclusive titles, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet will be released at different times in accordance with a staggered release schedule. The game will launch at midnight in every region worldwide except the West Coast (everyone on Pacific Time can start playing at 9 pm, their time). Of course, technically New Zealanders win that release time race since their clock strikes November 18 before anywhere else in the world, which means they will get to play Pokémon Scarlet and Violet before other gamers....

Count von Count Some would argue that math is far more intimidating than vampires to begin with. We’re sympathetic to those people’s argument but that is still no reason to be scared of Sesame Street’s Count von Count. This little purple guy with a truly lush cape is just trying to help! Since his season 4 premiere in which he helped Bert and Ernie count blocks, “The Count” has been a mainstay of the classic children’s program....

Power Rangers for the last six years has featured many plot lines revolving around the Rangers’ parents. It makes sense for the show to tackle the ways teenagers relate to their parents. Not only is it a great source of conflict for stories but also it’s especially relatable to the kid audience. For many children relationships with their parents are the most important things in their lives. Seeing superheroes they look up to having similar relationships can mean a lot....

For a franchise that began in 1993 on Fox Kids and has been running for nearly 30 years, in the beginning no one really thought Power Rangers would be a hit. It was a disposable piece of entertainment, something to film as quickly as possible and move on. It’s no wonder that the earliest days of the show were filled with huge pieces of lore that were quickly cast aside....

This is the directorial debut of Emerald Fennell, writer and showrunner on Killing Eve season 2who is also known for portraying Camilla Parker Bowles in The Crown. And what a confident debut it is, a film with a distinct visual style and an equally distinct soundtrack with big things to say and an excellent cast to help her say them with nuance and humor. It comes from Margot Robbie’s production company LuckyChap Entertainment, which also produced this years’ Birds of Prey, a similarly fun, colorful, female driven movie with points to make about toxic masculinity....

Quantum Leap Episode 2 Quantum Leap episode one may have underwhelmed viewers with a heavy lean on backstory and character introductions, but episode two, “Atlantis,” picks up the pace and fills in some of the holes left unfulfilled by the pilot. Just like Dr. Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) in the original series, Dr. Ben Song (Raymond Lee) is a victim of Swiss Cheese amnesia, a side effect of his time-leaping jumps through the Quantum Leap Project’s massive accelerator....

The nice thing about tuning into a new episode of HBO Max’s gonzo sci-fi series Raised by Wolves is that you really have no reasonable expectation of what you’re about to watch. Through two seasons the show created by Aaron Guzikowski has been set on an intensely alien world with all sorts of unfamiliar creatures, environments, and concepts. Just about every episode is as shocking as a series finale with installments this season alone featuring a merman-like sea creature that steals a teenage mother’s baby, a murderous android child with no face, and of course: a main character turning into a tree....

By virtue of Sisu’s voice casting alone, parents in the audience will know we’re a long way from Game of Thrones when they hear her speak. As voiced by Awkwafina, the dragon is funny, insecure, and ultimately gentle—a creature who hopes to be a hero one day but for the time being is more likely to enjoy running on raindrops all the way to the sky. “The directors wanted Sisu as the dragon to look breathtakingly beautiful,” simulations supervisor Avneet Kauer says....

It’s no secret that many Rick and Morty fans crave serialization. The saga of Rick Sanchez, the one man intelligent enough to navigate infinite multiverses and therefore encounter infinite drama, is a compelling one. And yet, Rick and Morty’s main decision-makers often resist returning to the well of Rick’s intergalactic struggle against “The Federation.” That’s because, at the end of the day, this show is about a mad scientist and his anxious grandson going on a whole host of sci-fi adventures....

Rick and Morty Season 3 Episode 8 A major problem I had with season 2 is how so many episodes felt like goof-off episodes. There seemed to be little interest in developing the characters or multiverse in meaningful ways. Season 3 doesn’t have this problem; I mean, last week they convincingly built and destabilized an entire new society in 22 minutes. So, it’s okay that “Morty’s Mind Blowers” is a relatively incidental episode, content to pull off a bunch of good jokes and then close out....

Riverdale Season 3 Episode 9 “The place and time where it all went wrong…” Rest in peace, Archie Andrews. Following a bear attack in the Canadian Hinterlands, our Red Paladin has finally ascended to the next level. Well, probably not, but this episode works overtime in trying to make you think that our ginger hero (who just so happens to be Riverdale‘s biggest liability) has gone to the great big Chok’lit Shoppe in the sky....

Raimi partially answered that question in an interview with Rolling Stone. Among the regrets he has for the canceled film, the biggest might be losing the “really great cameo we had designed for Bruce Campbell.” When the magazine brought up Quentin Beck aka Mysterio, also rumored as the fourth movie’s villain, Raimi responds in the affirmative. “That was one of the possibilities,” he admits, with some clarification. “We had other things in mind, too, but that was one of them....