Hallyu as Korean Economic & Political Strategy If you know anything about Korean history as an American, then you probably know about the Korean War. But if you know anything else about Korean history as an American, it’s probably that the country has undergone one of the most radical economic transformations in modern history. In 1953, at the “end” of the Korean War, the country’s GDP was only $40.9 million and more than half of the country was living in absolute poverty....

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Episode 2 In almost every way, “Children of the Comet,” proves that Strange New Worlds wasn’t kidding around about doing an episodic, self-contained, story-of-the-week old-style Star Trek format. Although the episode continues the emotional arcs of Pike, Spock, and Uhura — as well as introducing Hemmer and taking Sam Kirk on an away mission — the basic story itself is all wrapped up by the end....

Longtime Star Trek fans undoubtedly know that much of the controversy surrounding young Wesley stems from how the character is written on the show. Because Wesley spends so much of his time in The Next Generation with the adults on the Enterprise rather than with kids his own age, some Trekkers find his constant involvement in missions despite his lack of experience tedious and don’t see him as much more than an annoying child in most scenarios, believing that he is given too much responsibility on the Enterprise for someone of his age....

But not everything about Obi-Wan Kenobi worked, especially when it came to its set design and VFX, which at times were criticized for looking “cheaper” than the more “cinematic” The Mandalorian. A common complaint from fans and critics throughout the series’ run was the show’s artificial-looking sets and its seeming overreliance on ILM’s StageCraft tech, the massive curved LED screen more commonly referred to as “The Volume,” which allows productions to create realistic backdrops for their actors without having to actually film on location....

In the animated portion of the special, the heroes first meet Boba as an ally, a mysterious man in imposing armor who offers to help Han and Chewie after they crash on a dangerous moon in the Panna system. But we soon learn of this Good Samaritan’s true allegiance — he’s working for Darth Vader and the Empire. It’s this backstory that would later inform Boba’s first live-action appearance in The Empire Strikes Back, in which he’s hired by Vader to track down the Millennium Falcon in order to set a trap for Luke on Bespin....

Star Wars is well-known for including fun cameos in its movies and TV series, whether it’s James Bond actor Daniel Craig and Star Trek star Simon Pegg in The Force Awakens or Mark Hamill sneakily appearing in The Mandalorian. As fun as it is to watch new Star Wars stories, it’s almost as fun to try to catch the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameos throughout. Cameo fans woke up to a particular treat this morning with the season 2 premiere of The Mandalorian, which is titled “The Marshal....

The Mandalorian Chapter 14, “The Tragedy,” brings together a whole host of bounty hunters in an episode with some connections to the Legends canon. Mando and Baby Yoda have found the seeing stone on Tython that will put the kid in touch with other Jedi. But when other hunters and the Empire find them, it becomes a race against time as Din Djarin tries to protect the child. Stream your Star Wars favorites right here!...

Fortunately, the new novel Star Wars: Brotherhood returns readers to a slightly longer long time ago, before everything went so wrong for Kenobi. Written by Mike Chen and set shortly after Attack of the Clones, the novel follows Obi-Wan and Anakin’s investigation into terrorist activity on Cato Neimoidia, a hub world in the Trade Federation. Not yet the loner he will become, Obi-Wan has many allies to turn to, including an Episode II favorite....

Take the current slate of post-Return of the Jedi live-action series making their way onto Disney+, for example. The Mandalorian generally explores the power vacuum in the Outer Rim left in the wake of the fall of the Empire, and The Book of Boba Fett tackles that even more directly on Tatooine. Both shows also continue the story of newly-christened Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker after defeating the Sith. From a certain point of view, these shows, as well as the upcoming Ahsoka, are missing pieces of the Original Trilogy puzzle, giving us answers on screen that previously could only be glimpsed in the pages of tie-in media....

To a childhood friend, he’s Bunsen. To his sister, he’s Stick. To the colleague whose life he saved, he’s Bob, and to his ex-fiancee, he’s Bluey. In the US, they know him as C.B. Strike, but in the UK, he’s Cormoran Strike, a Cornish PI operating out of Soho’s Denmark Street. He’s the star of five detective novels by Robert Galbraith (an alias of J.K. Rowling), and he’ll soon be back on BBC One starring in his fifth miniseries Strike: Troubled Blood....

Reuniting with his Free Guy director Shawn Levy, Reynolds plays fighter pilot Adam Reed from 2050, who crash lands back in time to 2022 where runs into his 12-year-old self. Little Adam, played by Walker Scobell, is a mouthy nerd with asthma, who’s great at video games and even better at getting beaten up by the bigger kids. Big Adam is a buff cynic who has lost loved ones and seen the world turn into a post-apocalyptic nightmare....

The Batman introduces DC Comics fans to a whole new take on the Dark Knight and Gotham City, courtesy of director Matt Reeves and star Robert Pattinson. It also brings new version of rogues like Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz), Penguin (Colin Farrell), the Riddler (Paul Dano), and Carmine Falcone (John Turturro). The Batman has also arguably delivered the definitive version of Detective Jim Gordon, who is played brilliantly by Jeffrey Wright....

It’s almost impossible to remember a time when Batman wasn’t cool. When I was little, Batman was primarily known as the straight-laced crimefighter in endless reruns of the 1960s Batman TV series starring Adam West, Burt Ward and a seemingly endless, brightly colored array of “special guest villains.” Kids loved Batman, and not grasping the fact that the show itself was a subversive comedy, we often felt we outgrew him after a certain point....

While The Batman largely avoids the gimmicks of modern interconnected superhero universes on the big screen, even this noir film can’t help but pack in tons of easter eggs and at least one cameo into its almost three-hour runtime. But don’t expect Superman or Wonder Woman to show up to help Robert Pattinson save the day here. There’s no Dick Grayson or Barbara Gordon, either. Instead, we get a brief introduction to director Matt Reeves‘ version of Batman’s most dastardly villain....

But “even the criminals stayed home to watch,” George Harrison remembers in the three-part Beatles Anthology series, which premiered to 27.3 million viewers when the first episode aired on ABC on November 19, 1995. The Beatles: Get Back’s opening is also being rolled out over three days. That’s because Jackson found over six hours of never-before-seen restored footage. Jackson spent the past three years restoring and editing over 60 hours of unseen footage shot in January 1969, as well as over 150 hours of unheard audio....

And it was a double shame for horror since 2020 has been an excellent year for the genre in terms of quality, including a handful of exceptional debut films that in any other year would have been lauded in the same way as Hereditary, It Follows, or The Babadook. Den of Geek staff and contributors voted on their favorite horror movies of 2020 to produce this list – each is a gem worth seeking out....

The Monkees played their own instruments. Former child actors Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz weren’t initially proficient but were as eager to learn as any garage band. Musicians Nesmith and Peter Tork were hired as actors who knew how to ape The Beatles look in comedy films like A Hard Day’s Night and Help!. Nesmith changed that. His song “The Girl I Knew Somewhere,” which was the B-side to the top 5 hit “A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You,” was the first song that had all four Monkees playing on it....

First up, let’s have a belated look at the recent Blu-ray bow of undoubtedly one of the real VHS greats and the noble figurehead of the cult Troma film studio, The Toxic Avenger. Not that our friend Toxie really needs any introduction, but just in case: after an accident involving toxic waste, high school cleaner Melvin Junko mutates into New Jersey’s first superhero and sets about righting wrongs in his hometown....

When the film was released, it received middling reviews from critics and an unspectacular $70 million at the box office, about half of what Hemsworth’s latest film, Thor: Love and Thunder, made in one weekend. So why is this recent, but mostly forgotten film getting heavy play on the streaming giant? Because of its star. It seems that whenever a new film is cleaning up at the box office, Netflix users are hungry to keep consuming content from that film’s lead actor(s)....

Chris Columbus, an esteemed director who knows a thing or two about Christmas classics from having directed the first two Home Alone movies, steps behind the camera for the Netflix sequel, working off a screenplay he co-wrote with the first film’s screenwriter, Matt Lieberman. Without further ado, check out the trailer for The Christmas Chronicles 2 just below. As Netflix’s official synopsis to The Christmas Chronicles 2 reads: As reflected in the plot, the sequel will arrive nearly two years to the day that The Christmas Chronicles hit Netflix back in 2018....