The scene is reset, and a worn-out Ryan Reynolds–looking decidedly un-badass in a pastel blue Henley t-shirt and beige chinos—psyches himself up for another highly choreographed fight sequence. His opponent? A very badass-looking stuntwoman in combat pants, leather jacket, and sunglasses, pistol at the ready. As soon as Levy yells “Action!,” though, Reynolds flips the switch into action hero mode, throwing himself into some impressively complex—and lightning fast—gun-fu, before the weapons are tossed aside and the fists start flying....

2020 would have marked the 21st year of the annual horror event which usually takes place in London’s Leicester Square and attracts fans and talent from all over the world. The fest happens over five days during the bank holiday weekend at the end of August. Though it’s likely cinemas will be open in some capacity by the end of August, social distancing would mean massively reduced cinema capacities. FrightFest is more than just a film festival, too, boasting a very friendly and socially active community....

Adapted from Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker’s comic series of the same name, Invincible takes place in a stylized, yet realistic world where superpowered punches have real consequences. It’s rare that an episode goes by without our titular young hero getting drenched in blood, whether it be his own or some poor villain’s. Despite Invincible’s commitment to the violent bit, however, the show still does have quite a bit in common with its more all-ages animated peers....

In a recap of the recent GameStop virtual conference posted on the GameStop website (as spotted by TheGamer), the company revealed that they are encouraging managers to ask their employees to participate in a TikTok dance contest (sponsored by Incisiv) in which they must come up with the most creative version of a designated dance. Specifically, they must come up with a creative interpretation of this particularly awful dance: I’d love to tell you that particular piece of cringe-worthy social media is as bad as this story gets, but the real horror story can be found in the prize section of this competition: “The winner of the challenge will receive an Echo 8, Echo Auto, $100 VISA gift card, and 10 additional labor hours to use during Black Friday week,” says GameStop regarding this competition’s rewards....

Some of them are just random color schemes and designs. Others are deep cuts to the Marvel multiverse or at least appear to be obscure references to either Spider-Man variants or phases. Here are some that we noticed. Here’s the trailer if you haven’t seen it already… Now, let’s get you some pictures of Spider-Man! This alternate version of Spider-Man is also notable for giving us another route to Miles Morales....

“You know how New Jersey has the Sopranos? Well Halifax has the Kneževićs.” “Untouchable” is how Sgt Cawood describes Halifax gangsters the Kneževićs, the Yorkshire-Central/Eastern European (possibly Croatian) family whose criminal enterprises keep Catherine and her police colleagues busy in the Calder Valley. They’re drug dealers and people traffickers whose shadowy hand runs the local underworld. Everybody knows who’s behind their crimes, but nobody can link any evidence to them, and potential witnesses are too terrified by threats of violence and death to speak up....

Harley Quinn Episode 12 The penultimate episode of Harley Quinn has arrived and it begins by offering up some seriously strange conflicts for the crew. This week Harley and her gang have to face down a group of mutant and maniacal trees whilst the Scarecrow uses his Poison Ivy pheromone fear serum to drive the citizens of Gotham towards the monstrous plantlife. In case that wasn’t hint enough, this is a Poison Ivy episode, and even better than that we get the return of Christopher Meloni’s crazed Jim Gordon....

The race for the world’s most uncomfortable chair is heating up, as House of the Dragon leans into the fire half of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire saga. You might need a copy of Martin’s Fire & Blood book to keep track of the various Targaryens, Velaryons, and Hightowers, but as we approach the season one finale, the major players are coming into focus. With there being more time jumps than illegitimate bastards, the young actors playing the children of Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) are due another recast in episode 8....

Within a few short years, Connery had been cemented as an international sex symbol and propelled to unprecedented heights of celebrity. He later said of the relentless pursuit by fans and the press, “the only comparison would be The Beatles, but there were four of them to kick it around.” Perhaps it was because of this relentless adoration that Connery’s focus quickly shifted from blockbusters to meatier roles in smaller productions....

On paper, the idea of a steampunk superhero show that mixes period-set grittiness with ladies punching things seems like it should be a slam dunk. After all, most narratives about people gifted with sudden superhuman abilities are really just stories about power in fancier than usual dress. Shows like these examine who traditionally possesses power, who is allowed to wield it, how it is often used to prop up the privileged that already have it....

Moviegoers have already received a glimpse of Nova in Guardians of the Galaxy, in which the Nova Corps played an important role. For comic book fans, the Nova Corps looks quite different. As in the movies, the Nova Corps is an intergalactic peace-keeping group, with members from all over the galaxy. But instead of flying around in cool star-shaped spaceships, the Nova Corps gain their power from their helmets and Centurion suits....

Neil Gaiman’s landmark comic series The Sandman is many things: fantastical, idiosyncratic, dark as hell (sometimes literally!), and, honestly, often downright weird. Stuffed to bursting with gods, monsters, real-life historical figures, talking animals, and magic, it’s ultimately a story about the power of stories—why we love them and why we tell them in the first place. Netflix’s The Sandman arrives this August with a 10-episode first season that fully embraces every dark, larger-than-life aspect of Gaiman’s story on a fantastical journey through worlds both familiar and alien....

“I love that because in most movies, you have to do the half an hour of doubt, and everybody is sitting there going, ’No, we know we’re in an exorcism movie. It’s probably a demon.’” laughs Stamm. Spoilers: it’s a demon. We’re chatting about what brought him back to the genre, and he explains it comes with expectations which are a blessing and a curse. “It is a very narrow genre on one hand because you owe set pieces to the audience....

“We actually learned about the platform officially ending on like the third-to-last day (of shooting),” Sharks showrunner Kathleen Robertson tells Den of Geek. “I found out while at the monitor watching (the performers) act. I literally got an alert and it was from Deadline saying like ‘Quibi is no longer.’” Quibi, the now-legendary icon of streaming era hubris, launched on April 6, 2020 with the working theory that audiences preferred their content in “quick bites” (hence: “quibi”)....

The animated comedy Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. is set to premiere on May 21 and stars Patton Oswalt as the titular Marvel villain. Oswalt’s MODOK is every bit the devious floating head that he’s depicted as in the comics. He’s also your every day family man and the show will take on the format of a workplace sitcom. Sounds kinda fun! It’s no wonder that M.O.D.O.K. is the last Hulu Marvel show standing....

The next casualty was the series Minx, which had not only been renewed for a second season back in May, but was also about to wrap production on season 2 this week. According to Deadline, production is set to finish as scheduled, with Lionsgate TV planning to shop both seasons of the series to other streaming services. Next on the chopping block was the anthology series Love Life that starred Anna Kendrick in its first season and William Jackson Harper in the second....

In his second book, First, Becomes Ashes (out today!), Szpara is similarly ambitious in topic and theme. Ashes is a standalone novel that takes place in the aftermath of the destruction of a maybe-magical cult, following four different characters caught up in the messy repercussions of the FBI’s raiding of the Fellowship of the Anointed. Much of the novel’s early perspective comes from Lark, an almost 25-year-old who believes wholeheartedly in the teachings of cult leader Nova, and that he has been chosen to learn magic and martial arts in order to hunt the monsters that ravage the world outside the Fellowship gates....

However, producer Frank Marshall did offer a bit more info via his Twitter. Retweeting a snapshot of Ford and co-star Phoebe Waller-Bridge from the latter’s account, Marshall added the headline: “Indy and his goddaughter, Helena.” To be sure, that’s not much to go on, but that’s more than we know about any other character in the film, save for Indy and Sallah. Unsurprisingly, Mads Mikkelsen will play the bad guy, but the roles of Thomas Kretschmann, Boyd Holbrook, and Shaunette Renée Wilson remain unannounced....

Diablo 2: Resurrected‘s recent Early Access Beta (which will be open to the public starting on August 20th) gave fans another chance to dive into this highly-anticipated remaster and see whether or not this game lives up to the hype or whether we’re looking at another Warcraft 3: Reforged situation. It feels odd to invoke the name of Warcraft 3: Reforged when discussing Diablo 2: Resurrected (they’re different games made by different teams, after all), but the fact of the matter is that Warcraft 3: Reforged was supposed to be a surefire hit and turned out to be a disaster....

“Jeopardy! is saddened to share that Alex Trebek passed away peacefully at home early this morning, surrounded by family and friends. Thank you, Alex.” A cause of death was not immediately made available but Trebek had been publicly battling pancreatic cancer after receiving a stage 4 diagnosis in March 2019. It’s hard to overstate Trebek’s impact on the American television landscape. After a brief journalism career, the Canadian-born Trebek went into the burgeoning game show hosting business, starting with Reach for the Top in 1966....