Teaming with his legendary screenwriter father Lawrence — writer of several Star Wars entries, including Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and The Force Awakens — Kasdan seemed like the perfect choice to take on the origin story of Han Solo. And yet, the movie generated constant criticism, beginning with the very idea of casting anyone else as Harrison Ford’s iconic character. Between an arduous production that saw original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller replaced by Ron Howard and the movie’s underlit visuals, Solo remains one of the franchise’s least popular entries, particularly in terms of the film’s tepid box office performance....

Remember that time when Admiral James T. Kirk pretended to be a socialist so he didn’t have to pay the bill on a pizza date? In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Dr. Gillian Taylor (Catherine Hicks) rolls her eyes as Kirk is taken-aback about having to pay for the pizza and one round of Michelob (yes, Michelob) beers. Gillian says, “Don’t tell me that they don’t have money in the 23rd Century....

Apparently that was the case, even if it was unclear whether Tarantino actually wanted to direct the thing himself or just sort of shepherd his story idea to the screen. A writers’ room was convened, with different scribes proposing different ways to flesh out Tarantino’s pitch, with The Revenant screenwriter Mark L. Smith eventually winning the gig. Thus began a confusing, four-year journey through development hell for what might have been as many as three different Trek features....

As a bustling crowd forms to get autographs or take photographs, Prowse, the six-foot-five actor who plays the evil Darth Vader, delivers an exciting morsel of information. The sequel, then simply known as Star Wars II, will begin filming in 1979. The bad news? The finished film won’t be out until the spring of 1980. The good news: it’ll be followed by Star Wars III. Somewhat intoxicated, perhaps, by all the fan attention, Prowse then drops an even bigger bombshell: Darth Vader is, in fact, Luke Skywalker’s father....

Kotsur’s work appears in “The Gunslinger,” chapter five of The Mandalorian. The episode finds the titular character (Pedro Pascal) reluctantly agreeing to help young bounty hunter Toro Calican (Jake Cannavale) capture Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen). While tracking Shand across the deserts of Tatooine, the pair arrives in Tusken-controlled territory. Where Calican suggests they just shoot their way through the Raiders, Mando treats the Tuskens with dignity and bargains with them for safe passage....

The Mandalorian Season 2 Episode 1 The Mandalorian’s season two premiere is a well-structured example of the show’s Space Western ethos, showing deft technical skill on the part of its director, showrunner Jon Favreau, a fun menagerie of monsters, and exciting action. While it didn’t move the story forward or offer new characterization for the titular Mando, Din Djarin, or the Child as one might expect from a premiere, the show is certainly good at what it does....

But these aren’t the only Star Wars characters returning for Obi-Wan Kenobi. Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse are also reprising their Prequel Trilogy roles as Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru respectively. And may there be yet more characters we don’t yet know about? It seems very likely, considering just how cameo-heavy these live-action Disney+ shows tend to be. Rumors abound regarding which other characters may cameo on the show. Everyone from little Luke and the Grand Inquisitor to Bail Organa and a young Princess Leia have been rumored to appear on the show, but what about the Emperor himself?...

The Bad Batch have always been short on friends and allies but never more so than now. The rise of the Empire has cut them off not only from the rest of the Clone Army but the vast resources of the Republic. This band of clone misfits is truly alone now, and with assassins and Imperial agents on their tail. What are they going to do? First things first: find out the identity of the bounty hunter trying to kill them and kidnap Omega....

The comedy’s three-Bafta win earlier this year gives the renewal news a ‘well, dur’ slant. If the cast were up for it, of course Channel 4 would make more. It’d be mad not to. The sitcom has one of the best comedy casts and most distinct voices around – specifically, the voice of creator and star Jamie Demetriou who plays Greek-Cypriot lettings agent and golden-hearted idiot Stath. Demetriou stars in the series alongside his comedian sister Natasia, of What We Do in the Shadows fame....

Indeed, Warner Bros. announced Thursday afternoon Nolan’s Tenet will become safely available for home media via Blu-ray and VOD beginning on Dec. 15, 2020. Just in time for the holidays, you can scratch your head on what the hell “inversion” means. The film, which will also be made available for DVD and a 4K UHD Combo Pack, will come with a special feature called “Looking at the World in a New Way: The Making of ‘Tenet....

Krampus is like a bad Santa Claus, only hungrier. He is the coal in the stocking of little Bavarian kids who were naughty during the year. Burgermeister Meisterburger must have had a Krampus ornament on his tree. Krampus is a Christmas character, like Kris Kringle. But instead of feeding his diabetes with nibbles of butter cookies and milk, Krampus eats the heads of children as a Yuletide snack. Mm, mm, throw in a little Who Hash and we’ve got ourselves a new course after the antipasto....

In fact, we’ve already watched Pattinson dole out beating after savage beating in the trailers leading up to the movie’s release, but when we spoke to him for our The Batman cover story in the new issue of Den of Geek magazine, the actor was excited, even jovial, about where his Dark Knight might go next. Inevitably, the subject of a potential sequel comes up. While WB has yet to officially announce “The Batman 2,” Pattinson already knows which villains he wants to fight in the next movie....

Science fiction and fantasy books have a long history of multiverses. The subgenre of “portal fantasy” requires universes next door, often approached with almost worshipful solemnity rather than Everything Everywhere‘s soft, absurdist humor. Some feature alternate versions of the same people, while others do not. We’ve tried to screen out pure time travel or alternate history here, while also breaking away from the complex multiverses of actual franchise fiction. Here’s our list of a variety of multiverse fiction as varied as the worlds they portray:...

The PS2 hardware represented a massive jump over its predecessor. For the first time, developers could create huge 3D environments that came closer than ever to approximating the real world. Such advancements made the console the launching pad for franchises like God of War and Ratchet and Clank, and it gave older series like Grand Theft Auto and Final Fantasy a new lease on life. With more than 4,000 titles released worldwide, narrowing down the absolute best PS2 games ever was no easy feat....

It’s actually fairly common to see the two of them working together–their paths cross pretty frequently on the streets of New York, and Spidey is the type to always (inadvertently or not) stick his nose in other heroes’ business. And with them showing up on the big screen together in Spider-Man: No Way Home, we figured it was worth looking back at some of their best comic book team ups....

The ongoing presence and practice of politics within democratic societies should represent the pinnacle of human achievement: the fair and equitable ordering of communities, city states and nations; the voluntary outflow of power from the people to their chosen representatives. Vought International – the business-suited big bads who keep the show’s superheroes in their pocket in order to fatten their own – is savagely adept at using its corporate power to flatter, curtail and manipulate both the populace and its own employees....

Last month at SXSW we were able to sit down with director Michael Chaves and stars Linda Cardellini, Raymond Cruz, and Patricia Velasquez. During our conversation, we learned that for many still, La Llorona is more than a story, but a personage worthy of big screen fidelity. “She’s ingrained in our culture so do deeply,” Cruz says. “We learn about her as little children, and our grandparents or our parents learned about it as little children, so she’s been around for a very long time....

The Expanse Season 3 Episode 8 Since “It Reaches Out” was essentially a continuation of last week’s stellar episode of The Expanse, all of the excitement and intrigue surrounding the race to the Ring is still intact, but this week’s story has the added ingredients of Melba’s sabotage of the Seung Un and Holden’s struggle to figure out why he’s seeing visions of Miller, both of which certainly up the ante considerably....

The Expanse Season 6 Episode 2 What a difference a week makes! If Prime Video had released the final season of The Expanse all at once, viewers would have seen the premiere as nothing more than the preamble to episode 2, but on its own “Azure Dragon” stands out as an action-packed but also emotionally powerful installment that deserves its own week of appreciation. Although it’s still easy to wonder how the story can possibly wrap up in four more episodes, things are definitely on a good track....

Marvel’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 2 is much less of a slow burn than the first episode. Not only do we actually get Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes sharing screen time together, and a better understanding of what new Captain America John Walker is all about, but we get a host of new Marvel Comics characters introduced to the MCU! There’s a lot going on in this episode, so let’s start digging in to all the Marvel goodness to be found…...