A dark secret tortures Joel (Pedro Pascal) in season two (Picture: HBO) The Last of Us is finally back for season 2, and fans can’t wait to get stuck back into the horrifying, dystopian TV show. The series originally premiered two years ago, introducing the […]
TVAustralia’s Eurovision entrant Go-Jo grew up watching VHS’ of the contest (Picture: Hollandse Hoogte/ Shutterstock) Growing up on a property in rural Western Australia, the idea of ever being able to perform at Eurovision was a pipe dream for Marty Zambotto. But last month the […]
TVRalph Fiennes has chiseled away at his body to star in The Return (Picture: AP) Conclave star Ralph Fiennes has wowed fans after showing off his muscular new look in a series of topless gym photos. The actor, 62, is best known for playing no-nosed […]
FilmSuki Waterhouse knows a thing or two about classics: when it comes to vintage style, timeless looks (that pout and ’70s shag cut — not to mention her role as rock icon, Karen Sirko, on Amazon’s Daisy Jones & The Six), and even venues. Last […]
MusicSuki Waterhouse knows a thing or two about classics: when it comes to vintage style, timeless looks (that pout and ’70s shag cut — not to mention her role as rock icon, Karen Sirko, on Amazon’s Daisy Jones & The Six), and even venues.
Last September, she released Memoir of a Sparklemuffin, another romp into her enchanting voice and retro, ethereal rock sound. In honor of that release, what better place to play three sold-out shows than one of LA’s most iconic venues, The Roxy.
“The Roxy is such a cute venue,” Waterhouse says. “The backstage area is kind of like a time machine with photos of past artists who have played there.”
Following last week’s drop of her new cinematic single “Dream Woman,” and ahead of tour stops in Austin, Salt Lake City and the UK, Waterhouse decided to take PAPER backstage. Below, get a behind-the-scenes glance at her three-night stand, narrated by the “Dream Woman” herself.
A moment from soundcheck. I love the mirror balls that were scattered all over the stage, great foot rests.
We brought the Sparklemuffin forest and the Sparklemuffin vibe to The Roxy. Of course, a smaller version but a very sparkly version.
These shows were unique in that the crowd was right up against the front of the stage. I love love love my front row ladies.
We sold out every single night. Had to get a pic with the marquee, of course.
Night two was my favorite look. This beaded top was everything.
I wanted “My Fun” to feel as fun as possible, and what is more fun than beach balls? It was so cold and rainy on the last night, but for that song it felt like summer. I’m so sorry to everyone who got hit in the face with one of those.
I genuinely can’t believe how massive and incredible this pink coat was. I felt like I was being swallowed by it
My guitarist Raj had the fantastic idea for me to stand up on a balcony above the crowd during the last song of the show. It was an electrifying moment. I nearly fell over the last night, so I’m not sure I will be able to do this again.
Every night on tour last fall, I invited someone onstage for my song “Johanna.” For the second night, we had our first-ever in history double Johanna. And our first ever Bro-hanna. Thank you, Cara and Lukas.
Photography: Muriel Margaret
Hair: Emily Blair
Makeup: Shelby Smith
Styling: Rob & Mariel
It’s criminal this will probably never get a sequel (Ubisoft) This month’s additions to the PS Plus game catalogue include one of the best Metroidvanias in recent years and a trio of retro PS1 games. Back when Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown was announced […]
GamingThis month’s additions to the PS Plus game catalogue include one of the best Metroidvanias in recent years and a trio of retro PS1 games.
Back when Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown was announced in 2023, fans seemed to have a thoroughly negative opinion of it. Come its release in January 2024, though, and it’s widely considered to be a fantastic entry in the series.
In our own review, we deemed it ‘one of the best Metroidvania games of recent years,’ which is why it’s such a shame it didn’t sell as well as Ubisoft wanted it to. Just a few weeks after its launch, the publisher decided the game did poorly enough to warrant rejecting plans for a sequel and eventually split up the development team.
While it’s unlikely The Lost Crown will ever see a follow-up, PlayStation Plus subscribers will soon no longer have an excuse not to play it as the game is coming to the service’s game catalogue very soon.
As confirmed via the PlayStation Blog, both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions of The Lost Crown will be added to the PlayStation Plus game catalogue next week on March 18.
Unlike the line-up of monthly downloads, there’s no time limit for accessing the game catalogue so you can get round to checking out The Lost Crown whenever you have the time.
As a reminder, the game catalogue is only available to those subscribed to the Extra or Premium tiers, providing access to a library of PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games at no extra cost.
It doesn’t seem like The Lost Crown will come with its Mask Of Darkness DLC expansion, so that will still need to be purchased separately from the PlayStation Store. Fortunately, it’s not particularly expensive, only costing £4.29.
Prince Of Persia fans have to make do with The Lost Crown (as well as early access roguelike The Rogue Prince Of Persia) for the time being since the highly anticipated remake of Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time isn’t coming out any time soon.
After numerous delays and apparently multiple reboots, the remake is now scheduled for a 2026 launch, though Ubisoft has yet to share any footage of the game in action.
Obviously, The Lost Crown isn’t the only game being added to the catalogue this month. It will be joined by:
PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers will also gain access to a few more retro games, specifically FromSoftware’s original trilogy of Armored Core games for the PlayStation 1. So, if you’re new to the series thanks to 2023’s Armored Core 6, this is a chance to experience how things started.
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The upcoming Snow White remake has been surrounded by controversy (Picture: Disney) Dwarf actors have expressed their fury at Disney’s Snow White remake over the use of CGI characters, claiming it’s ‘discriminating in a sense’ and even claiming it could damage their careers. In the upcoming live-action […]
FilmDwarf actors have expressed their fury at Disney’s Snow White remake over the use of CGI characters, claiming it’s ‘discriminating in a sense’ and even claiming it could damage their careers.
In the upcoming live-action film – starring Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot – set to be released in the UK on March 21, the seven dwarves have been replaced by computer-generated ‘magical creatures’.
After bosses reportedly declined to hold an elaborate premiere in London, the launch of the popular Disney classic was relocated to a remote castle in Segovia, north-west of Madrid.
Bodybuilder and performer Choon Tan, 31, from north London, who has dwarfism, told Femail that the movie’s reliance on CGI for the seven dwarves is ‘absolutely absurd and discriminating in a sense’.
He added: ‘I think Disney is trying too hard to be politically correct, but in doing so it’s damaging our careers and opportunities.
‘There really is nothing wrong casting someone with dwarfism as a dwarf in any given opportunity. As long as we are treated equally and with respect, we’re usually more than happy to take on any acting roles that are suitable for us.
Choon added that he would’ve loved to have played the role of one of the seven dwarves in the upcoming remake.
‘We get paid to do what we love to do, acting and performing.
‘Plus it’s also an opportunity for young children to see someone with dwarfism, which they may have never seen before.’
Supporting Choon’s views on the new film, fellow performer Blake Johnston, 42, from Melbourne, Australia, also told the publication how he believes the decision to use CGI is ‘quite stupid’.
‘We have plenty of dwarf actors out there who are dying for roles like this. I think Disney have succumb to peer pressure on political correctness, which has now given top dwarf actors less work,’ he said.
He added: ‘I’m offended by the decision because Disney had the greatest educational story of all time now they have made it as a joke.
When the first teaser trailer dropped in August 2024, it sparked more than 1.4million dislikes from its 11m views, based largely on what was seen as its overuse of CGI in the creation of the seven dwarfs.
They were previously reported as having been renamed and reimagined as ‘magical creatures’ instead, of being portrayed by live actors.
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This comes after Wicked actor Peter Dinklage – who has a common form of dwarfism known as achondroplasia – branded the story ‘backwards’.
The actor, 55, said on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast in 2022: ‘You’re progressive in one way and you’re still making that f**king backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together, what the f**k are you doing man?’
Pro-Palestinian activists have also called for a boycott of the movie over Disney’s casting of Israeli actress and Wonder Woman star Gal, 39, as the evil queen.
West Side Story actress Rachel, 23, has also been in the firing line of some fans for criticising the original film – released nearly 88 years ago – as ‘dated’.
@disneystudios Check out a sneak peek of Rachel Zegler performing “Waiting on a Wish” in front of @Alcazar_Segovia Castle in Spain, the same castle that inspired the 1937 animated film 🏰✨ Disney’s SnowWhite, in theaters next Friday! Get tickets now.
She shared her opinion on elements such as Snow White’s relationship with Prince Charming as a ‘guy who literally stalks her’ in an interview with ExtraTV at the Disney D23 Expo in September 2022, calling it ‘weird’, which didn’t sit well with fans.
Her revelation in a separate interview with Variety at the event that Snow White was ‘not going to be dreaming about true love’ anymore and rather ‘about becoming the leader she knows she can be and the leader that her late father told her that she could be if she was fearless, fair, brave, and true’, also rubbed former Disney designer David Hand the wrong way.
‘I find it quite frankly a bit insulting [what] they may have done with some of these classic films,’ he told The Telegraph.
‘There’s no respect for what Disney did and what my dad did… I think Walt and he would be turning in their graves.’
Metro also understands that no interview junket was planned for the UK, as would normally be anticipated, with extremely limited press opportunities being controlled as part of a European-wide junket in another country instead.
The film kicked off its press run in Tokyo, with leading lady Rachelperforming the film’s first new song, Waiting on a Wish, live on stage.
Metro has reached out to Disney for comment.
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The remake was apparently aiming for a summer launch but plans have changed (Bethesda) There’s still no official word on the Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion remake, but the newest rumours suggest a reveal is imminent ahead of an earlier than planned release. There has been […]
GamingThere’s still no official word on the Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion remake, but the newest rumours suggest a reveal is imminent ahead of an earlier than planned release.
There has been chatter of Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion getting a remake since 2023, but it wasn’t until the tail end of 2024 when those rumours started picking up steam.
While Microsoft didn’t so much as acknowledge it during its Xbox showcase in January, rumours suggested that the Oblivion remake is on track to launch later this year.
According to the newest claims, that’s still going to be the case, but Microsoft has apparently moved up its target release window, meaning we could see the Oblivion remake launch within the next couple of months.
This originates from known insider Nate The Hate, who has previously asserted the Oblivion remake’s existence. He’s also a proven reliable source, having accurately leaked the date of the Nintendo Switch 2’s reveal.
Recently, when asked for information about the Oblivion remake on X, Nate The Hate claimed the game was originally aiming for a June launch, but is now ‘likely to be sooner’ though he isn’t sure exactly when that could be.
VGC has since corroborated this, adding that its sources have said the Oblivion remake could launch as early as April. If so, a formal announcement from Microsoft should be taking place within the coming weeks.
It’s widely believed that The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion remake is not being handled internally at Bethesda, but instead at Virtuos, the same studio co-developing the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 3 remake.
This has since been backed up a January report, which alleged that details of the remake were accidentally shared by a former Virtuos employee on their website.
Said report added that the remake is being built in Unreal Engine 5 and will introduce a number of gameplay overhauls. Examples include reworking blocking to be more akin to Soulslike games and a modified stamina system.
It’s safe to assume that any Oblivion remake will launch not just for Xbox Series X/S, but also PlayStation 5 given Microsoft’s multiplatform push. In fact, the company’s entire line-up of games for the rest of 2025 are multiplatform releases, with South Of Midnight and the full release of early access game Towerborne being the only exceptions.
It also makes sense for Microsoft to hand such a project off to an outside studio rather than let Bethesda handle it. After all, the studio is currently busy with The Elder Scrolls 6 (which isn’t expected to arrive until 2028 at the earliest) as well as a second DLC expansion for Starfield.
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Beyond The Ice Palace 2 – it wasn’t worth the wait (PQube) After 37 years, a sequel to Commodore 64 title Beyond The Ice Palace finally arrives, but what is the game and why has the follow-up taken so long? If you’re wondering what Beyond […]
GamingAfter 37 years, a sequel to Commodore 64 title Beyond The Ice Palace finally arrives, but what is the game and why has the follow-up taken so long?
If you’re wondering what Beyond The Ice Palace 1 was then don’t worry, you’re not going to be the only one. We did a double take when we first heard about this sequel, because not only is the original nearly four decades old but even at the time it was not regarded as a particularly good game. It wasn’t a notable sales success either and seemed destined to be almost instantly forgotten. And yet here we are.
The name Beyond The Ice Palace is a meta reference to the 8-bit computer conversions of Ghosts ‘N Goblins, by British publisher Elite, which were heavily truncated and, on the Commodore 64 and other formats, ended abruptly with an ice level instead of including everything from the original arcade game.
At the time, Elite supposedly pitched a Ghosts ‘N Goblins sequel to Capcom but when they were told no, they released Beyond The Ice Palace as a blatant knock-off, with a generic barbarian character and none of the cartoonish charm of the original. Surprisingly, Elite is still around today, making mobile games of various 8-bit British games, but they don’t seem to be involved in this at all. Which makes the whole situation even stranger.
If we had to guess, we imagine what’s happened here is that French developer Storybird Studio completed the game and realised it didn’t really have much of a hook (or maybe they just couldn’t think of a name) and then found out that the Beyond The Ice Palace licence was available and that promoting this as the most belated sequel ever would help to get it noticed. Which we guess worked, because here we are reviewing it.
It certainly has little in common with Beyond The Ice Palace (or Ghosts ‘N Goblins) in terms of gameplay and the only real connection, which would’ve been very easy to add late in the process, is that the McGuffin you’re after is shards of a sacred arrow. Storybird also got British composer Allister Brimble, who was active in the 8-bit era, to do the music – although it was actually David Whittaker who worked on the original game.
The game’s much more obvious inspiration is Castlevania, with some sections looking almost identical to iconic locations from Konami’s increasingly neglected franchise. Nevertheless, it is not a Metroidvania, as it’s linear, with no backtracking, and with only a small number of additional abilities to acquire. But not all Castlevania games are Metroidvanias and Beyond The Ice Palace 2 clearly venerates Super Castlevania 4 on the SNES above all others.
The original Beyond The Ice Palace had barely any plot but here you’re cast as the ‘Cursed King’, who’s been shackled up in captivity for (37?) years and now wields his chains like a whip and a short range grappling hook – like a cross between Simon Belmont and Kratos. You can also use the chains to block projectiles, pull the shields away from enemies (and doors from their hinges), and perform powered-up attacks.
Strangely, you don’t get any extra weapons, it’s just the chains. Both the original game and Castlevania have multiple different weapons for you to switch between and their absence is keenly felt here, not because anyone cares about authenticity to the original but because it’s sorely needed in terms of variety.
You can upgrade your stats but that’s not terribly exciting and instead the most interesting use for the chains is using them to interact with the environment, swinging across gaps, pulling switches, and activating traps. Nothing that happens is genuinely new or unexpected, but the level design is generally competent.
Instead, the game’s major problems are its difficultly level and its clunky controls. The main character is painfully slow and the controls unresponsive and imprecise. In terms of the platforming this makes everything much more difficult than it should be, especially given the unsatisfyingly floaty jumping movement. Likewise, combat feels awkward and slow and while nothing is terrible, none of the action is very good either.
You increasingly get the impression that the developers ran out of time, as while the game starts off with an impressive array of giant-sized bosses and mini-bosses, their scale and complexity tails off noticeably by the halfway mark. The difficultly of the bosses is even less consistent, with major difficulty spikes that quickly drain your will to continue.
In its favour, Beyond The Ice Palace has decent pixel art graphics, somewhere north of what the SNES could comfortably achieve. But because everything is so derivative of Castlevania the visuals struggle to impress, even with some interestingly strange boss designs.
As peculiar as this is in terms of its name, viewed solely as a game there’s very little of interest here. There are dozens upon dozens of other similar titles, including all the games it so obviously cribs from, that are considerably more entertaining than this. Given that even at its best this is just a mediocre Castlevania clone, there really seems no reason that Beyond The Ice Palace should have been thawed out for a sequel.
In Short: In terms of gameplay, it has little in common with the 37-year-old original but the fact that this is a generic and unremarkable copy of other, better games unfortunately makes this a very authentic sequel.
Pros: The pixel art graphics are often quite good, and the chains are a versatile weapon and movement system. Some of the boss battles are impressive.
Cons: Awkward, imprecise controls and dull combat and platforming. Everything it does has been done better many times before over the last several decades.
Score: 4/10
Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, and PC
Price: £15.99
Publisher: PQube and Pixelheart
Developer: Storybird Studio
Release Date: 11th March 2024
Age Rating: 12
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Sadie Sink has reportedly been cast in Spider-Man, sparking speculation over her role (Picture: REX / Getty) Sadie Sink has reportedly been cast in the fourth installment of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man – and the theories are already going wild. The Stranger Things star is best […]
FilmSadie Sink has reportedly been cast in the fourth installment of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man – and the theories are already going wild.
The Stranger Things star is best known for her rousing portrayal of grief-stricken teen Max Mayfield in the hit fantasy Netflix series, which will release its final season later this year.
And for those curious to know what the 22-year-old actor’s next career move is, look no further.
It looks like she is destined for one of Marvel and Sony Pictures’ most highly anticipated sequels, Spider-Man 4, opposite our titular superhero, Tom Holland, per Deadline.
As of now, only the 28-year-old actor is officially confirmed to return as Peter Parker.
The last movie, No Way Home, ended with the love of his life Michelle ‘MJ’ Jones (Zendaya) and best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon), losing their memory of him when he wiped his own existence.
So, it’s anyone’s guess as to the direction the next movie will take and exactly how Sadie will fit into it if the rumours are true.
There are currently two theories as to which role she could play, including X-Men character Jean Grey – one of the most powerful X-Men with telekinetic and telepathic abilities.
The other, which has caused fierce speculation, is that she could be Mary Jane Watson – Peter’s famed love interest.
‘Sometimes the most obvious answer is the correct answer. Sadie Sink will be the new Mary Jane,’ @mcucommenter declared.
Although not everyone believes this theory, given how firmly established Zendaya is as the MJ of this universe.
‘Genuinely what sense would it make to bring in another MJ Watson (AT ALL considering we already have one) given what happened in nwh??,’ @peterfemmejay shared.
‘Why start a whole discussion when it’s pretty clear she won’t be Mary Jane??? TOM’S SPIDEY HAS AN MJ THIS IS SO DUMB GUYS PLS,’ jcomerswift said.
And others believe it could be a different character altogether.
‘Imagine if Marvel is tricking us all and Sadie Sink isn’t playing Jean Grey or Mary Jane but actually Gwen Stacy or Black Cat,’ connorbehrens posed.
‘Sadie Sink would absolutely crush a Jean Grey or Mary Jane role, but I feel like she might be getting cast as Firestar here,’ firestar991 said.
‘There are rumors it could be another multiverse movie and what if Sadie Sink is playing the daughter of Peter Parker & Mary Jane from the Raimiverse. Mayday Parker aka Spider-Girl,’ @fmraimispidey questioned.
The Whale actress recently opened up about the emotional experience finally wrapping up filming on Stranger Things season five.
‘I haven’t seen anything from it yet, I’m very curious though,’ she told The Hollywood Reporter.
She continued: It’s going to be super emotional so I’m ready to cry with everyone.
‘I had cried so much that my eyes were so puffy – they had never been like that before and there are some pretty embarrassing photos of me just with these giant puffy eyes.’
As for Spider-Man’s future, Tom (who is currently filming for Christopher Nolan’s next epic, The Odyssey) shared that he has read a draft script for the fourth film.
Offering a small insight into how the film is shaping up, he admitted that with Marvel, Spider-Man is a ‘small cog in a large machine.’
He added to Variety: ‘We have a creative and we have a pitch and a draft, which is excellent.
‘It needs work, but the writers are doing a great job. I read it three weeks ago and it really lit a fire in me.
‘Zendaya and I sat down and read it together and we at times were bouncing around the living room like this is a real movie worthy of the fans’ respect.’
Metro has reached out to Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures for comment.
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A sequel to the iconic rockumentary has been confirmed as a teaser trailer for Spinal Tap II: The End Continues has been released – with Sir Elton John and Sir Paul McCartney confirmed to cameo.
The new film is set to feature the original cast members, including Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, and director Rob Reiner, with Bleecker Street holding the U.S. distribution rights.
Guest plays the lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel, McKean plays lead singer David St Hubbins, Shearer is bassist Derek Smalls, and Reiner was the original film’s documentarian Martin ‘Marty’ DiBergi.
The teaser showed dials on an amp being turned ‘up to 11’ – a classic joke from the original movie about ‘one of England’s loudest bands’.
It has been confirmed that along with Sir Elton and Sir Paul, there will be several other stars making an appearance.
This will include US country singers Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, Canadian singer Paul Shaffer, The Nanny star Fran Drescher and British comedians Nina Conti, Kerry Godliman and Chris Addison.
This will be a return for some of the cast – such as Drescher who appeared in the original movie as Bobbi Flekman of Polymer Records, who was offended by the band’s ‘sexist’ album cover.
Many fans have met the film with a little trepidation, considering the trend of sequels not quite living up to the original.
‘I love love love everyone involved in the film but I’m still scared,’ said grammaire on X.
‘I hope it has original jokes and isn’t just a rehash of Spinal Tap 1,’ added MahatmaBlondi.
‘Though it’s the original people behind it, I’m still very, very worried about this one. The original is my favorite comedy of all time, and I don’t want that magic tarnished with a cash in sequel (which is the current trend),’ said Oyabungaijin.
Other fans were a little more positive.
‘The legends are back! Can’t wait to see how they turn it up to 11 once again!”‘ said AjayKum66174906.
‘The amps are about to go up to 11 again—comedy gold incoming!’ said Grey__Storm.
In 2002, the original film was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry and deemed a ‘culturally, historically and aesthetically significant’ by the US Library of Congress.
Reiner previously told Deadline that he wanted the sequel to be released in 2024.
‘The plan is to do a sequel that comes out on the 40th anniversary of the original film and I can tell you hardly a day goes by without someone saying, why don’t you do another one?
‘For so many years, we said, “Nah”. It wasn’t until we come up with the right idea how to do this. You don’t want to just do it, to do it. You want to honour the first one and push it a little further with the story.’
The original 1984 film This Is Spinal Tap mocked heavy rock bands, pointing out the ridiculousness of their backstage debaucherous behaviour and outfits.
The movie was a massive success, leading to the trio actually performing as Spinal Tap at various concerts, including at Glastonbury Festival, Live Earth concerts, and at a tribute to Freddie Mercury.
Since directing Spinal Tap, his directorial debut, Reiner has gone on to direct Stand By Me, The Princess Bride and A Few Good Men, and When Harry Met Sally, and Misery.
Reiner is also known for his acting roles in New Girl, The Wolf of Wall Street,The First Wives Club, and Sleepless in Seattle.
Spinal Tap II: The End Continues is set to be released in September 2025.
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Tom Hardy led the way in Mad Max: Furiosa (Picture: Shutterstock) There is bad news for Netflix users as an iconic action movie, with a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score, is being removed from the platform After a series of developmental issues, Mad Max: Fury Road […]
FilmThere is bad news for Netflix users as an iconic action movie, with a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score, is being removed from the platform
After a series of developmental issues, Mad Max: Fury Road finally hit the big screen in May 2015, and was instantly met with rave reviews from impressed film fans and awards galore – including 10 Oscar nominations and six wins.
George Miller’s post-apocalyptic flick served as a sequel to Mad Max, and starred Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Zoe Kravitz, Riley Keough and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.
It followed Max Rockatansky (Tom) as he joined forces with Imperator Furiosa (Charlize) as they battled against warlord Immortan Joe (Hugh).
Unfortunately for Netflix fans in the US, Mad Max: Fury Road has been slapped with a pesky ‘leaving soon’ sticker, and will be taken down on March 30.
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A warning reads that the last day to watch George’s masterpiece will be March 29 – it is currently not available to stream in the UK, but action lovers can buy or rent it from Amazon Prime Video now.
The movie currently boasts a huge Rotten Tomatoes critics score of 97%, compared to a slightly less audience rating of 86%.
Heaping praise on Charlize and Tom, Leprechaun K raved: ‘Movie was darn near perfect. Walked away knowing it will win a bunch of Oscars and it did.’
‘The praise is well deserved,’ Sergio A agreed. ‘It took time, but George Miller has delivered a true masterpiece—original, inventive, and exhilarating. With outstanding performances and breathtaking production design, the film seamlessly blends artistic and technical brilliance.
‘One of the greatest films of this century.’
A user known only as B said: ‘A perfect action film. No notes.’
‘Arguably, the greatest action movie ever made,’ Maxime T posted. ‘The movie is full throttle from start to finish. It never gets boring and leaves you wanting even more. A must see.’
As Kevin P added: ‘An insane roller coaster from beginning to end with amazingly creative and impressively practical stunt set pieces and thrillingly engaging visual storytelling. The movie has such a badass high level of energy that keeps up the momentum throughout the entire film.
‘It’s boosted by its leads actors Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron as Mad Max and Furiosa, both whom show off so much character despite saying very few lines. It’s a modern cult classic for very good reason and I’m so glad to have finally watched it!’
Fury Road was the fourth instalment of the Mad Max franchise – and grossed more than $380million at the global box office.
A prequel titled Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga was released last year, starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth and Thom Burke.
In 2020, Mad Max got the ultimate honor of being declared ‘the greatest movie of the century’ by critics and readers alike, in a poll conducted by Empire Magazine.
‘It’s a lovely pat on the back… How do you measure the worth of a film?,’ filmmaker George said of the accolade at the time.
‘The best I can come up with is to ask, “How long does it follow you out of the cinema? Some films you’ve forgotten by the time you get to the car park. Other seems to follow you around for the rest of your life.”’
Discussing the issues he faced when making the film, which took almost 20 years, he added: ‘Whenever it fell down, it didn’t stop me thinking about it.
‘You couldn’t kill it with a stick.’
Mad Max: Fury Road is available to stream on Netflix now.
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Virtual boyfriends are all the rage (Infold Games) A surprising amount of research has gone into a new dating simulator, where the heartthrob male leads offer support and advice to would-be suitors. Dating simulators are often overlooked by the games industry but the sub-genre is […]
GamingA surprising amount of research has gone into a new dating simulator, where the heartthrob male leads offer support and advice to would-be suitors.
Dating simulators are often overlooked by the games industry but the sub-genre is arguably one of the most inclusive and considerate, between the likes of Boyfriend Dungeon and Hatoful Boyfriend – where you romance sentient birds.
One popular dating sim, titled Love And Deepspace, caught people’s attention earlier this year when it implemented a period tracker as part of a new update. This Remind Me feature is basically an in-game calendar which includes an option where players can put in the dates of their actual menstrual cycle, which will trigger a reminder from the dreamboat male cast.
Beyond just a reminder though, the game’s publisher, Infold Games, have revealed how they went one further with the feature, in order to offer support for women.
In the game itself, the male leads will remind players and provide comforting advice when a player is experiencing menstruation. As described in an interview with 4Gamer (translated by Automaton), these messages of support were a key part of the feature’s design.
According to the developers, the idea of a period tracker stemmed from the thought of, ‘How nice would it be if your partner, who you spend each day with, cared about you and helped you affectionately during those days’.
This feature was also apparently requested by players through official surveys, with the devs describing its implementation as ‘natural’.
When it came to researching the idea, the team consulted gynaecologists from several of the best hospitals in China. As such, all the statements and advice from the male leads in Love And Deepspace has been reviewed by experts on the subject.
As for what these responses involve, the male cast will offer to buy you pads and give you massages. One character, Zayne, even discusses how ‘the fluctuations in hormone levels and stress from menstruation can lead to insomnia’ and offers music to help you sleep.
‘Even when you’re not on your period, you should always be mindful of how much pressure you apply to your abdomen,’ Zayne remarks, as shown on YouTube. ‘This helps prevent your internal organs from being damaged.’
While period tracking functionality is new to games, it is used in apps centred around female health. The use of the technology, however, has raised some privacy concerns over the sharing of sensitive data, especially in the US where many states have banned abortions.
In light of these concerns, the developers behind Love And Deepspace have stressed that the period tracking feature is entirely optional.
Love And Deepspace, developed by PaperGames in China and published by Infold Games worldwide, was released on iOS and Android devices last year and has since become a huge success.
According to reports, it was the second most lucrative mobile game released in 2024 behind Dungeon & Fighter: Mobile.
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Tempe, Arizona is scorching hot, and trying to hide from the sun feels impossible. Luckily, there’s a shady spot beside a few artist trailers behind Inning’s Festival’s Right Field stage to wait for Oklahoma-raised pop-punk darlings All-American Rejects to come chat before their set. There’s […]
MusicTempe, Arizona is scorching hot, and trying to hide from the sun feels impossible.
Luckily, there’s a shady spot beside a few artist trailers behind Inning’s Festival’s Right Field stage to wait for Oklahoma-raised pop-punk darlings All-American Rejects to come chat before their set. There’s been lots of focus on nostalgia during the two-day fest that takes place during Major League Baseball’s spring training. The line-up is a who’s who of early aughts hitmakers like The Killers and Fall Out Boy. Attendees are all dressed in their favorite team’s jersey or a band tee that could be considered vintage, even though they likely bought it new.
In fact, the obsession with looking back starts before we even step foot on the festival grounds. The night before, All-American Rejects invites fans to Phoenix’s Carry On, a retro plane-themed bar with seats that vibrate and flight attendants who serve cocktails as visuals of clouds play across realistic windows (later the band jokes if “you could get the staff to sign an NDA, you can really do some fun stuff in there”).
At one point — ignoring the seatbelt sign — front-man Tyson Ritter stops by our seats and a guest briefs him on just how impactful the band’s first album, their self-titled 2002 release, meant to them. It’s the same sentiment you can feel and hear as they take the stage during the festival — with the crowd screaming back the words of “Move Along,” “Swing Swing,” and “Dirty Little Secret.”
The band — comprised of Ritter, lead guitarist and backing vocalist Nick Wheeler, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Mike Kennerty, and drummer Chris Gaylor — just started touring again last year for the first time in over a decade. Dressed in their Baseball Uniform, with the word “Rejects” emblazoned in red and black across their chest, you’d think they’d never stopped. Sure, it’s been years and everything is different, but for one weekend in Tempe, it felt like nothing had changed.
One of the conversations we were having last night [at Carry On] was about how so many of us burned your debut album on Napster. I want to take this time to admit that … and to apologize.
Tyson Ritter: We know how it goes, we don’t make money off records.
Were you aware that a lot of people were getting into your music that way?
Nick Wheeler: I think so. I mean, senior year of highschool, which would of been around ’99 or 2000 I got Napster I was ripping music. The way young people now are finding music on Spotify, that’s how we were finding music back then. It was part of our culture. Of course, kids are gonna put us on burnt CDs. That’s what we did, so it’s an honor. Will probably find them at some point, break their legs or something. [Laughs]
If you find them… Let’s fast forward to now. The most recent music you released was a cover of [Harvey Danger’s 1997 hit] “Flagpole Sitta.”
Nick: I probably ripped that on Napster.
We all did. Why did you want to release that song?
Tyson: Why not? But also we needed an excuse to see if we could do the studio thing together. We haven’t put [out music] when it comes to All-American Rejects in over a decade and that’s scary. We grew up in front of the record button since I was 15 and Nick was 17. We all recorded music in our early teens. You know… you’re a writer, what did you write when you were 17?
Things I don’t want to talk about.
Ritter: See? You change. Then, there was this wide [span of time] since our last record [2012’s Kids In The Street], which wasn’t exactly a label success, but it was an expressive success for us. There was a moment when we were [touring] in Mobile, Alabama and I was like, “We can’t fucking do this anymore.” I’m good at saying the things that Nick doesn’t express.
Wheeler: Yeah. Maybe we’re thinking the same thing, he’s always the first one to say it.
Ritter: We’ve always been a hive mind. The four of us have been together for this massive chunk of time. You need time to take a break to see if you care about it the same way and if it’s the same thing to you. There are a lot of our contemporaries who have walked into making it an enterprise as opposed to making it art. I know it sounds funny. I’m the guy who wrote the lyrics to “Dirty Little Secret.” So, people don’t consider us an art form, but I’m an older guy, and Nick and I have locked back into the room of writing, going, “If it’s gonna be different, it’s probably not gonna be comfortable.”
Getting to where we are today of putting [music] down, which is what we’re doing, has taken a lot of fireside chats. A lot of mending fences. That’s exciting. I think I said in an interview, people don’t really want a new All-American Rejects record. People want their time capsule and want to jump into it and feel like they smell CK One and it makes them feel young. But the question I pose is, “What if we can say something now? What if we can actually resonate?”
Wheeler: People say they want new music from certain bands, but they don’t necessarily want stuff that sounds exactly like the stuff we already gave them and nostalgic feels… they already have that. If we’re going to do something, we’re going to do something different that hopefully resonates with them, as well as a new audience.
Can we talk about what you’re working on? I know you might not be able to tell us all the details, but what’s the process like? What’s the expectation like?
Wheeler: It’s not like riding a bike. The music part will always be part of our DNA. The thing that has been interesting to navigate has been putting out music independently. We came out before Instagram, before YouTube. Then we stepped back 10 years ago and look what happened since then. There are so many platforms we have to learn to utilize because that’s where people find music and art.
Ritter: For me, I don’t consider any of that bullshit. I’m starting this process in my own little sphere now, which is a little different to how we use to approach it. Nick and I used to sit in the same room, and our process was like cultivating in a laboratory and anything you accidentally create is pure. But when you go back in and try to put the lab coats back on and make sure all the beakers are in place, you realize you’re building a product. I had to ask, “What the fuck do I have to say now that I’m 40?” And I know your audience doesn’t care to read shit by old men, [laughs] but I think as an artist it’s like, What do you feel? I’m not singing about heartache as a teenager. I’m happily married. What’s wrong with the world? Well, fucking everything.
We’ve always been good at being a tongue bursting through the cheek to kid you into melancholic fun. We were always the black sheep in Emo because we were fun. Now there’s a song we’re writing, but it’s about a war on a playground because I think, how can we look at ourselves as humans at our ugliest? Put it through the lens of a child. That seems like the only time we care anymore or have empathy — if it’s something pure getting hurt. We’re going through big themes here. As families age, things get fucking weird and bad, so there are songs I’ve penned about my mom that are super heavy for me. I can’t look back on anything in our catalog — except the record nobody gave a shit about — and say this is coming from a really heavy place inside of me. So, bringing that to Nick and cultivating it with the band is what makes it new and keeps us stoked.
If we’re going to do something, we’re going to do something different that hopefully resonates with them, as well as a new audience.
Photography: Courtesy of C3/ Innings Festival