Your neighborhood GameStop might be on the chopping block, along with more than 400 other retail locations across the US. As first reported by Polygon, the retailer is pursuing a severe cost-saving measure by closing up several hundred physical locations. According to a blog that keeps track of GameStop closures, there are 410 locations that are confirmed to be closing or are already closed, along with another 11 that are reportedly also on their way, as of January 10.
As Polygon indicated, these closings aren’t much of a surprise considering GameStop’s SEC filing for December 2025 indicated that it would “anticipate closing a significant number of additional stores in fiscal 2025,” which ends on January 31, 2026. The same filing detailed that the company’s board would pay out the GameStop CEO, Ryan Cohen, up to $35 billion in stock options, given that he increases the retailer’s market cap to $100 billion.
While the blog covers only closures in the US, the SEC filing also noted that GameStop is planning to reduce its presence in several other European countries and Canada. Even though GameStop saw a historic spike in market value in 2021, it has struggled with the brand’s direction, as seen with failed attempts at offering a crypto locker and an NFT marketplace.
The sale of Polygonto a Canadian pornographer last year might have felt to some at the popular gaming website like being NPCs in a Hitman level. A cloak-and-dagger procession of NDAs clued in some of the staff to an ominous change in ownership coming in the days ahead, but no one knew who else knew, or the full details of what the sale would entail.
“I didn’t know how many people were under NDA,” Polygon‘s former deputy editor Maddy Myers recently told me (full disclosure: Myers was also previously the deputy editor of Kotaku). “I didn’t know who knew and who didn’t, and I didn’t know that everyone who wasn’t under NDA wasn’t going to be retained. But it did seem suspicious, because I was like, I know not everyone knows about the sale. I don’t know why some people are being told ahead of time. This seems fishy to me, and it was a fishy, weird time period.”
Valnet, the click farm that ended up purchasing Polygon from Jim Bankoff’s Vox Media for an undisclosed sum, ended up laying off most of the staff, including all of its union employees. The site was completely uprooted overnight while the new owners rushed in a team of underpaid freelancers to start immediately churning out new articles.
“They essentially told us just enough to make us feel like it was our only option to come over,” said Zoë Hannah, Polygon‘s former games editor. “The way I’ve described it since then is that I feel like both of us were used as bargaining chips for this sale. They really wanted managers to come over so that they could hit the ground running with these contractors that they had already lined up, we found out later.”
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Myers and Hannah were spared while over 30 of their colleagues were laid off, but staying at the site was untenable. “It was about a week and a half in where I realized, like, okay, yeah, this, this is not going to work for me,” Myers said. “I’m really personally depressed about how many people are gone. I don’t feel good about replacing them. It truly was like my own personal emotional state at that time, I was like, I need a reset.”
Hannah confronted Vox HR after the sale about feeling misled during the run-up. “I told them this was in bad faith, I feel like I was not given any options here.” She said the weeks that followed led to more disillusionment with the situation, describing her final month at the site as “kicking and screaming.” Both Myers and Hannah ended up leaving Polygon in June.
They could have tried to find other jobs in digital games media or, as has become increasingly common for experienced talent, ditched the field entirely. Instead, they decided to make their own video game website. It would analyze games specifically through the lens of gender and identity at a time when those perspectives have been squeezed out of other outlets under pressure from the all-homogenizing algorithm. It would be self-owned so it could never be sold out from under them. It would be called Mothership.
Mothership = Teen Vogue but for video games
“It’s Teen Vogue, but for video games, a bit of a bittersweet pitch now that Teen Vogue has been completely gutted,” Myers said. “I feel like that’s part of the pitch as well. It’s like what TheMary Sue used to be, but what if it didn’t have to publish dozens and dozens of stories a day, and it had fewer stories a day and it had more reporting and more criticism that you didn’t have to write in 20 minutes?”
Mothership will have podcasts, short form video, and even a newsletter, but it will still primarily be a website, one where readers go daily to read smart things from smart people and that embraces identities and perspectives that are still radically underrepresented across the rest of the games media space. What the pair is referring to as the site’s launch issue will include the work of Mary Sue cofounder Susana Polo and other former Polygon colleagues like Nicole Clark and Nicole Carpenter. Subscriptions starting at $7 a month (there’s a lifetime discount for those who sign up ahead of the January 26 launch) will fund quality journalism and criticism that doesn’t have to feed a gauntlet of display ads with endless clicks.
“There will be no programmatic ads whatsoever on Mothership, which is badge of honor,” Hannah said.
“People remember what TheMary Sue used to be like when it had a staff of five instead of a staff of one, and they remember what Teen Vogue used to be like and they also believe in the idea, and especially when I talk to women I know who play games, and queer people I know who play games, I just see the light in their eyes when they hear this, and they’re like, ‘I just want this so badly, and I believe in it so much,’ and that’s happened so much more often than I expected,” Myers said.
She continued, “I think when you come up with an idea like this, you’re like, ‘well, I’ll just write for me. I’ll write for the me in the past that wanted a website like this and it’s okay if maybe six people read it,’ you know, like, that’s okay. But there have been so many people that are like, ‘no, I really want this,’ that it’s given me and Zoe a lot more confidence that this might be a real idea. We should actually do this, we should stop interviewing for other jobs and put aside all of our other things that we were kind of thinking about doing and take this seriously.”
Mothership is the latest in a series of subscription-backed independent games media outlets that are blazing an alternate path through the current collapse of the internet thanks to social media monopolies, changing media consumption habits, and the proliferation of AI slop. Those include new ventures like Aftermath and Second Wind as well as long-standing brands that recently went indie like Giant Bomb and Digital Foundry. It’s also the fourth to come out of Polygon sale, with former staff also founding the websites Rogue, Design Room, and Post Games.
That last one is a magazine podcast series by former Polygon EIC Chris Plante, who interviewed Myers and Hannah about their new site and the history of women in games media for the latest episode. Notably, out of all of these gaming sites, Mothership is one of the few not staffed entirely or even primarily by straight dudes. At a time when the national paper of record openly pontificates about whether feminism destroyed the modern workplace and angry online mobs embrace anti-woke conspiracies, Mothership isn’t shying away from looking at gaming within an identity-first framework.
“We know that games journalists and critics who’ve covered the intersection between gaming and gender, bodies, and identity have faced serious backlash in the past, and the contributors here at Mothership have faced it ourselves, too,” the site’s announcement reads. “With your help, we’ll build a sustainable business that can afford rigorous editing processes, sensitivity readers, and legal counsel when necessary for high-risk investigations of high-profile games studios and figures.”
“Feminism, I feel like, has become a dirty word in a lot of circles,” Myers told me. “It’s [considered] cringe and I do feel like we’re in a really, really weird place with it right now, and it’s strange to me as a writer who’s been doing it all along and has watched all of those different phases happen, some progress, and then some blowback, and then some progress, and then some blowback. I feel like I’ve seen that throughout my career, and I very much feel like we’re in a blowback phase right now, but that’s part of why I’m like, we need to keep doing this. We have to keep trying.”
They say journalists never truly clock out. But for Christian, that’s not just a metaphor, it’s a lifestyle. By day, he navigates the ever-shifting tides of the cryptocurrency market, wielding words like a seasoned editor and crafting articles that decipher the jargon for the masses. When the PC goes on hibernate mode, however, his pursuits take a more mechanical (and sometimes philosophical) turn.
Christian’s journey with the written word began long before the age of Bitcoin. In the hallowed halls of academia, he honed his craft as a feature writer for his college paper. This early love for storytelling paved the way for a successful stint as an editor at a data engineering firm, where his first-month essay win funded a months-long supply of doggie and kitty treats – a testament to his dedication to his furry companions (more on that later).
Christian then roamed the world of journalism, working at newspapers in Canada and even South Korea. He finally settled down at a local news giant in his hometown in the Philippines for a decade, becoming a total news junkie. But then, something new caught his eye: cryptocurrency. It was like a treasure hunt mixed with storytelling – right up his alley!
So, he landed a killer gig at NewsBTC, where he’s one of the go-to guys for all things crypto. He breaks down this confusing stuff into bite-sized pieces, making it easy for anyone to understand (he salutes his management team for teaching him this skill).
Think Christian’s all work and no play? Not a chance! When he’s not at his computer, you’ll find him indulging his passion for motorbikes. A true gearhead, Christian loves tinkering with his bike and savoring the joy of the open road on his 320-cc Yamaha R3. Once a speed demon who hit 120mph (a feat he vowed never to repeat), he now prefers leisurely rides along the coast, enjoying the wind in his thinning hair.
Speaking of chill, Christian’s got a crew of furry friends waiting for him at home. Two cats and a dog. He swears cats are way smarter than dogs (sorry, Grizzly), but he adores them all anyway. Apparently, watching his pets just chillin’ helps him analyze and write meticulously formatted articles even better.
Here’s the thing about this guy: He works a lot, but he keeps himself fueled by enough coffee to make it through the day – and some seriously delicious (Filipino) food. He says a delectable meal is the secret ingredient to a killer article. And after a long day of crypto crusading, he unwinds with some rum (mixed with milk) while watching slapstick movies.
Looking ahead, Christian sees a bright future with NewsBTC. He says he sees himself privileged to be part of an awesome organization, sharing his expertise and passion with a community he values, and fellow editors – and bosses – he deeply respects.
So, the next time you tread into the world of cryptocurrency, remember the man behind the words – the crypto crusader, the grease monkey, and the feline philosopher, all rolled into one.
In a news release, Krafton said it “intends to collaborate with Xbox and ZeniMax to ensure a smooth transition and maintain continuity at Tango Gameworks, allowing the talented team to continue developing the Hi-Fi Rush IP and explore future projects.” Krafton added that it “intends to support the Tango Gameworks team to continue its commitment to innovation and delivering fresh and exciting experiences for fans.”
The move from Microsoft to Krafton will not impact Tango’s existing game catalog, which includes The Evil Within, The Evil Within 2, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and the original Hi-Fi Rush, the publisher said. Hi-Fi Rush is available on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.
Tango Gameworks was founded in 2010 by Shinji Mikami. The studio’s first release, The Evil Within, was a survival horror game in the vein of Mikami’s work at Capcom, where he had overseen survival horror games Resident Evil, Dino Crisis, and Resident Evil 4 as game director. Tango Gameworks became part of Xbox’s stable of studios when ZeniMax was acquired by Microsoft in 2021. Mikami left Tango in 2023.
The studio found great critical success with Hi-Fi Rush in 2023. The rhythm-action game was a surprise release through Microsoft’s Game Pass subscription, and markedly different from the dark and violent games Tango Gameworks had come to be known for.
Microsoft announced in May that it planned to close three studios under the Bethesda Softworks umbrella: Redfall developer Arkane Austin, Mighty Doom developer Alpha Dog Studios, and Tango Gameworks. A fourth studio, Roundhouse Games, had its staff reassigned to other duties.
Each week on Polygon, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.
This week, Despicable Me 4, the latest Minions movie starring Steve Carell, comes to VOD following its theatrical premiere earlier this year. That’s not all, though, as we’ve got several exciting streaming premieres this weekend as well like The Bikeriders on Peacock, La Chimera on Hulu, The Instigators on Apple TV Plus, and more.
Here’s everything new that’s available to watch this weekend!
Genre: Action comedy Run time: 1h 40m Director: Lee Myung-hoon Cast: Hwang Jung-min, Yum Jung-Ah, Jeon Hye-jin
A retired secret agent (Hwang Jung-min) finds himself unexpectedly thrown back into the fray of international espionage when he becomes involved in a mission involving his wife (Yum Jung-ah), a detective who knows absolutely nothing about her husband’s former life.
Genre: Period comedy-drama Run time: 2h 13m Director: Alice Rohrwacher Cast: Josh O’Connor, Carol Duarte, Isabella Rossellini
The latest from masterful Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher (Happy as Lazzaro, Le Pupille) stars one of the Challengersboys as a British archaeologist in a story of stolen historical artifacts. La Chimera was a Palme d’Or nominee at Cannes 2023.
New on Prime Video
One Fast Move
Where to watch: Available to stream on Prime Video
Genre: Action drama Run time: 1h 58m Director: Kelly Blatz Cast: K.J. Apa, Eric Dane, Maia Reficco
K.J. Apa (Riverdale) stars in this sports drama as Wes, a troubled young man who attempts to convince his estranged father Dean (Eric Dane) to teach him how to become a professional motorcycle racer. Taking him under his wing, Dean and Wes are forced to work through their troubled relationship as they attempt to create a new future for themselves.
New on Apple TV Plus
The Instigators
Where to watch: Available to stream on Apple TV Plus
Image: Apple
Genre: Heist comedy Run time: 1h 41m Director: Doug Liman Cast: Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Hong Chau
Matt Damon and director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) reunite for this irreverent crime comedy co-starring Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea) and Hong Chau (The Whale). Damon stars as Rory, an ex-Marine who agrees to work alongside an ex-con (Affleck) to rob a mayoral fundraiser. When the botched robbery incites a city-wide manhunt by the police and the vengeful crime boss behind the plot, the pair “consensually kidnap” Rory’s therapist (Chau) in their desperate bid to escape and survive.
New on Peacock
The Bikeriders
Where to watch: Available to stream on Peacock
Image: 20th Century Studios
Genre: Crime drama Run time: 1h 56m Director: Jeff Nichols Cast: Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy
The Bikeriders follows a motorcycle club over the course of a decade, as they go from a simple gathering of enthusiasts to a hardened gang. Jodie Comer plays Kathy, a young woman who gets swept up in the biker gang world after meeting hotheaded Benny (Austin Butler).
The Bikeriders is a film of old-fashioned, simple pleasures: great tunes, perfect costumes, myth-making shots, and a cast of great character actors really going for it. (Including, but not limited to, Michael Shannon, West Side Story’s Mike Faist, Justified’s Damon Herriman, and a completely unrecognizable Norman Reedus as a shaggy Californian wildman biker.) It’s a film about looking at the gorgeous, unknowable people on the screen — and that one gorgeous, unknowable person in particular — just as Hardy’s character does at one point with Marlon Brando in The Wild One, and thinking: What would it be like to be them?
New to rent
Despicable Me 4
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: Illumination
Genre: Comedy Run time: 1h 34m Directors: Chris Renaud Cast: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Pierre Coffin
Formed supervillain-turned-secret agent Gru is back with an all-new adventure! Despicable Me 4 sees Gru relocate his family when his former rival Maxime Le Mal (Will Ferrell) re-emerges seeking revenge. As Gru’s family attempt to adjust to their new home, Gru’s teenage neighbor attempts to follow in his villainous footsteps, while Gru’s minions decide to become superheroes. That’s a lot, I know!
Despicable Me 4 is full of good ideas, with lots of them specifically appealing to what people like about these movies: Minion antics, Gru’s villain-ness versus his normal family life, and over-the-top Big Bad Guy theatrics among them. But all these bits and pieces are jumbled together and not cohesive enough to make sense as a story. The movie is discordant, like a bunch of musicians playing unfamiliar instruments (or a bunch of — dare I say — Minions given instruments) and trying to make a coherent song. But amid that chaos, sometimes the music starts sounding good — a cool jazzy saxophone solo soars briefly above the cacophony. You just have to grit your teeth and ignore the clanging drums and out-of-tune oboes around it.
Dandelion
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: IFC Films
Genre: Drama Run time: 1h 53m Director: Nicole Riegel Cast: KiKi Layne, Thomas Doherty, Melanie Nicholls-King
KiKi Layne (If Beale Street Could Talk) stars in this musical drama as Dandelion, a struggling singer-songwriter who travels the country performing gigs, all the while yearning for a career breakthrough she fears will never happen. After striking up a romance with Casey (Thomas Doherty), a fellow disgruntled musician, their love proves to be the inadvertent catalyst for Dandelion’s discovery of an authentic artistic voice all her own.
Widow Clicquot
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: Vertical Entertainment
Genre: Drama Run time: 1h 30m Director: Thomas Napper Cast: Haley Bennett, Leo Suter, Natasha O’Keeffe
This period drama stars Haley Bennett (Swallow) as Barbe-Nicole Clicquot, the widow of an 18th century vigneron who becomes the head of their fledgling vineyard after his untimely passing. Weathering financial difficulty and political turmoil, Barbe-Nicole must struggle to make a name for herself and nurture the company to fruition.
The Battle Bus arrived in Lego Fortnite as of an August 2024 update, giving the option for limited fast travel between Bus Stations.
Our Lego Fortnite Bus Station guide will explain how to build Bus Stations and how to fast travel — and why you can’t right now.
How to build Bus Stations in Lego Fortnite
Image: Epic Games via Polygon
The Bus Stations you’ll need to summon the Battle Bus to your Lego Fortnite island are a high-level item. You’ll need to have reached the snowy Frostlands biome to build one.
You’ll need:
Those first three ingredients are easy enough to find in Frostlands biomes, but the last one — rift shards — a new and unique. Let’s talk about them.
Where to find rift shards in Lego Fortnite
Rift shards are a unique resource that you can only get by destroying Bus Stations (more on this in a second). Since they’re made out of high-level (Frostlands) materials, you’ll need an epic pickaxe(8 obsidian slabs, 5 frostpine rods) to deal any damage.
To destroy one, you’ll need to find said bus stations.
Where to find Bus Stations in Lego Fortnite
The short answer is that you find Bus Stations by exploring the world.
You’ll find one near your world’s spawn point. Beyond that, all we can say is that they seem exceedingly rare. When you’re close to one, you may hear a low pulsing sound. Better yet, you can look for the blue light on the roof (especially at night).
Why can’t I destroy Bus Stations in Lego Fortnite?
As of August 7, there’s currently a bug that makes the naturally spawned Bus Stations — the ones you have to destroy to collect rift shards — indestructible. Even in sandbox mode. You can destroy any Bus Stations you build yourself in sandbox mode, but there’s currently no solution for survival.
That means that there’s no way to gather the necessary rift shards at the moment. You can still use any Bus Station you find to fast travel to the Rebel Base, though.
We are aware that the Battle Bus may not arrive at the station. We are also looking into an issue where the Bus Stations may appear indestructible. We are actively investigating and will provide an update when we have one. pic.twitter.com/X455oIlVhQ
Wizards of the Coast had a lot going on at this year’s Gen Con — in addition to the regular hubbub of being the biggest name in tabletop role-playing games at the biggest tabletop convention whose namesake is literally Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. You know, the place where D&D was born. But this year’s D&D Live presentation was also an opportunity for Wizards to show off its new project: a virtual tabletop that goes by the codename Project Sigil.
Framed as an actual play performance, the event was originally slated to last only two hours, but unsurprisingly ran long thanks to excellent showmanship by the star-studded cast. Participants included Aabria Iyengar as Dungeon Master, Brennan Lee Mulligan as a Dwarven cleric, Samantha Béart reprising her role as Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3, Neil Newbon as Astarion from BG3, and Anjali Bhimani as a human wizard.
Polygon senior editor Charlie Hall attended the event in person and said the actors “chewed through the scenery in the first half,” leaving slightly less time for the team to switch to play around with Project Sigil. Hall said the Project Sigil showing was “halting” but ultimately well-received — and any snafus aren’t too much of a surprise given the platform hasn’t even entered closed beta yet. (Wizards is still accepting requests to join the closed beta, which is expected in fall 2024.)
Lucky for us, Gen Con filmed the whole game, lovingly titled “An Astarion and Karlach Adventure: Love is a Legendary Action,” and you can now watch on YouTube in all its silly glory. According to Hall, the entire playthrough is worth a watch.
“Let’s just say,” said Hall, “there’s an epic reveal in the second half that gives your favorite actual play performers plenty of room to explore… the source material.”
Kieran Bew knows the power of good facial hair. He credits the look for Hugh Hammer’s success taming the massive Vermithor in House of the Dragon’s seventh episode of the season, “The Red Sowing.”
“I had a big beard, and everybody was discussing whether I should shave it off or not,” Bew says. “And I just said: I love Vermithor’s design of his teeth, sort of looking like they’re going in all different directions; like if he bit you, it would be the most painful thing, almost like being trapped in an Iron Maiden or something. And I felt like it was a slightly funny joke about people who have dogs, end up looking like their dogs.”
Bew was aware that Hugh’s whole season arc was leading up to his showdown with Vermithor, and aware of how many aesthetic choices were there to set up the depth of the decision to go to Dragonstone: He kept the beard, and his hair the same color as Daemon’s (if not Viserys’), with a bit of Bew’s own natural hue mixed own. And as he watched Hugh’s agitation with the ruling class of King’s Landing grow, Bew found the role in little beats, like being so desperate for food that he punches a fellow commoner to get a bag.
To him, the scenes were “always like a skeleton” for the larger character arc. But like any good actor (or, as is the case with interpreting a lot of Fire & Blood’s textbook-like account, historian), it was his job to piece together the lived humanity between that.
“To get given a scene where my character is revealing to his wife something enormous […] and he’s arguing to go on a suicide mission,” Bew marvels. “That’s how much he’s decided to keep that a secret. Because of shame, because of how [his mom] behaved, because of his upbringing, because of how painful it was.
“He’s been trying to do something else. And now he’s saying: Actually this is the only thing I can do. I’m in so much pain; I’ve got to do something, I’ve got to do this.”
And so, Bew took all that energy into that final scene of episode 7, where Rhaenyra’s plans to find Vermithor a rider go awry. To him, Hugh’s desperation — to do something, to matter — was near suicidal, even if he’s still afraid in the moment. “He’s come all this way, the stakes are so high, he thinks the dice is slightly loaded in his favor. But it’s still fucking terrifying,” Bew says. “How do you strategize against something that can move so quickly and squash you and drop people on your head on fire?”
Of course, his delay had some upside. “The one thing about [it] going to shit is: the odds improve.”
For inspiration for what the ultimate moment of connection should feel like for Hugh and the Bronze Fury, Bew drew from his time on set — specifically, approaching a crew member’s little Yorkshire terrier on set, who kept trying to go for the tennis ball eyes of pre-CG Vermithor.
“At the moment of claiming, it has to be this, where this dog likes me, this dog is connecting to me,” Bew says, acknowledging there is a difference between a tiny terrier and a dragon the size of four houses. “It’s a connection that’s, like, that delicate. But before we get there, it’s overwhelming. And it’s terrifying. And it requires throwing everything in.”
And in Bew’s mind, everything about the way Hugh claims Vermithor comes from that desperation. Unlike other dragons, Vermithor is looking for a rider who can, as the saying goes, match his freak. So it’s no surprise that Hugh’s aggressive approach spoke to the mighty dragon, given that nothing about the way Hugh claims Vermithor is selfless, in that regard — even stepping in as the dragon targets another Targaryen bastard. After all, there’s nothing like the fear of failure to turn something impossible into a race.
“He’s been pushed to this. Something about growing up underneath the shadow of the aristocracy, the family that he has been rejected from that he’s not part of — he’s not only not part of it, he’s connected to it in a way that is full of shame, that he’s angry about,” Bew says. “If Vermithor chooses her, then what happens to me?”
Each week on Polygon, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.
This week, A Quiet Place: Day One, starring Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn, arrives on VOD along with Maxxxine, the third installment in Ti West’s horror series starring Mia Goth. That’s not all there is to watch this weekend. The long-awaited director’s cut of Zack Snyder’s sci-fi epic Rebel Moon finally come to Netflix alongside the “Minus Color” version of Godzilla Minus One, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes struts onto Hulu, and Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers makes its streaming debut on MGM Plus.
Here’s everything new that’s available to watch this weekend!
New on Netflix
Rebel Moon director’s cut
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: Netflix
Genre: Sci-fi epic Run time: 3h 21m (Chapter 1); 2h 53m (Chapter 2) Director: Zack Snyder Cast: Sofia Boutella, Djimon Hounsou, Ed Skrein
Zack Snyder is back, this time with the “true” version of his critically-panned sci-fi epic Rebel Moon. Set in a galaxy ruled by a tyrannical empire known as the Motherworld Imperium, the film follows Kora (Sofia Boutella), a former Imperium soldier who recruits a band of warriors to defend a small lunar farming colony from an oncoming invasion.
The question is: Will these versions be it any better than the ones released last year? Only one way to find out!
Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: Toho
Genre: Kaiju drama Run time: 2h 4m Director: Takashi Yamazaki Cast: Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada
Godzilla Minus One, the Oscar-winning kaiju drama from director Takashi Yamazaki, was surprise added to Netflix back in June. Now, the “Minus Color” version of the film, which screened for a limited time in theaters early this year, is now available to stream on Netflix starting this weekend. Having seen both in theaters, I can confidently say that no matter which version you happen to choose, the film itself is phenomenal.
Tarot
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: Screen Gems/Sony Pictures Releasing
Genre: Horror Run time: 1h 32m Directors: Spenser Cohen, Anna Halberg Cast: Harriet Slater, Adain Bradley, Avantika, Jacob Batalon
From the screenwriter of Moonfall, Tarot follows a group of friends who find a mysterious cursed tarot deck… and after using it, the figures from the cards that they drew all start to manifest and brutally murder them. They must race to figure out the secret of the tarot deck before they all get picked off one by one. All to say — maybe don’t use creepy tarot decks while in a strange mansion.
Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: Netflix
Genre: Adventure comedy Run time: 1h 22m Director: Liza Johnson Cast: Carolyn Lawrence, Tom Kenny, Clancy Brown
Sandy, the Texan squirrel, takes the lead in the new SpongeBob movie. And this time, the underwater denizens venture to the surface — Sandy finally gets to visit home and see her whole family! But they all have to join forces to save Bikini Bottom from an evil CEO.
Genre: Post-apocalyptic sci-fi Run time: 2h 25m Director: Wes Ball Cast: Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand
Picking up 300 years after the events of Matt Reeves’ War of the Planet of the Apes, this new installment in the franchise follows Noa (Owen Teague), a young ape who embarks on a journey to rescue his tribe from Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), a maniacal ape who has twisted Caesar’s legacy to create an empire built on conquest and slavery.
As a story, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes rarely reaches above narrative competence. But because of its almost single-minded focus on the apes, its technical prowess in their rendering is always front and center. It is frankly incredible what the team at Wētā FX has done in conjunction with all of the film’s other effects artists to bring the apes to life, to give them all distinct body language, and to faithfully transpose actors’ every tic and subtle expression onto their faces. These are some of the most soulful digital creations ever seen in a blockbuster action movie, and it’s incredible to see them in a film that is so pedestrian.
New on MGM Plus
Challengers
Where to watch: Available to stream on MGM Plus
Image: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures/YouTube
Genre: Sports drama Run time: 2h 11m Director: Luca Guadagnino Cast: Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, Mike Faist
Luca Guadagnino’s sensual sports drama, about a love triangle in professional tennis, has set certain circles of the world on fire since its release in late April and is one of the best movies of the year. Now, you can enjoy it at home.
That script is a terrific three-course meal for Faist and O’Connor. They get to trade off face and heel roles from scene to scene and era to era, as Art and Patrick help and hurt each other in equal measure. But it’s an absolute smorgasbord for Zendaya, who even in starring roles has never been given this much room to stretch. Tashi is a gratifyingly rich character, both righteously angry over the thwarting of her ambitions and cruelly angry at all the men who have the nerve to keep on playing the game that was taken away from her. She’s hungry for affection and withholding it at the same time, by turns sensually curious and coldly dispassionate, ambitious and exhausted, conflicted and confident. She’s the kind of character that media master’s theses are made of, and unpicking Tashi’s conflicting motives and how she integrates them is likely to become a pop culture obsession in the months to come.
This quirky independent romcom follows a bickering couple as they attempt to navigate their relationship, and retain their sanity, in the midst of a global pandemic. Shot on a Hi8 camcorder, New Strains is an authentic slice-of-life story from the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
New to rent
Maxxxine
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Photo: Justin Lubin/A24
Genre: Horror Run time: 1h 41m Director: Ti West Cast: Mia Goth, Elizabeth Debicki, Moses Sumney
The third installment in Ti West’s trilogy of period-specific horror films stars Mia Goth, this time reprising her role as Maxine Minx from 2022’s X. Set six years after surviving the terrifying ordeal that transpired in rural Texas, Maxine now lives and works in Los Angeles as an adult film star and erotic performer on the verge of her first big break in an upcoming horror film. But when a mysterious stalker and an unscrupulous private investigator begin to hound her around town, and harm those closest to her, Maxine will have to summon every ounce of her cunning in order to come out on top.
Maxxxine is sharper, slicker, faster-paced, and more direct than the other two films in the series, and it’s certainly entertaining, for those who can stomach its purposefully challenging, envelope-pushing gore. But this time around, it feels like West has, as Kurt Vonnegut would put it, become what he was formerly just pretending to be. That isn’t just a matter of taxonomy, irrelevant to everyone but nitpickers and librarians trying to figure out which shelf Maxxxine goes on. It winds up affecting the story in some frustrating ways.
A Quiet Place: Day One
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: Paramount Pictures
Genre: Horror Run time: 1h 39m Director: Michael Sarnoski Cast: Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff
Lupita Nyong’o stars in the prequel to 2018’s A Quiet Place as Samira, a cancer patient living in New York who witnesses first-hand the arrival of the blind extraterrestrial creatures who overtake the planet. With the help of Eric (Joseph Quinn), a law student, and Henri (Djimon Hounsou), a fellow survivor, Samira must find a way to escape the city alive.
A Quiet Place: Day One isn’t so much a spinoff and prequel of John Krasinski’s 2018 horror movie as it is a riveting drama that plays in the series’ sandbox. You can spot the odd bit of new world-building here or there, about just how and why there are so many damn echolocating aliens, but these tidbits are just background noise (shh, not so loud!) to a much more interesting human story. A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place Part II are rural sci-fi horror, but Day One — from Pig director Michael Sarnoski — moves the setting to New York City and crafts its story in the vein of large-scale disaster cinema. It’s likely the best Manhattan mayhem film since Cloverfield, and it’s also a downright excellent Hollywood blockbuster, if an entirely unexpected one.
The People’s Joker
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: TIFF
Genre: Parody comedy Run time: 1h 32m Director: Vera Drew Cast: Vera Drew, Nathan Faustyn, Kane Distler
This DC Comics parody follows the story of Vera, a trans woman from Smallville who moves to Gotham City to break into stand-up comedy under the name “Joker the Harlequin.” Together with her friend The Penguin (Nathan Faustyn), Vera forms an anti-comedy troupe and goes head to head with her abusive partner Mr. J (Kane Distler) and a tyrannical vigilante known as the Batman (Phil Braun).
The film isn’t entirely a comedy in-joke, however — which is good, because the story of Vera/Joker’s “anti-comedy” career is the most straightforward and least memorable aspect of the film. Lengthy discussions about the role of comedians as truth-tellers between Joker and the Penguin are standard stuff for podcasts and documentaries about the art form. Comedic first-person trans coming-of-age narratives, particularly ones where the transition is accomplished by falling into a vat of feminizing hormones, are more rare. Dedicated “to mom and Joel Schumacher,” The People’s Joker is also a sincere exploration of Vera’s journey toward self-realization, beginning with her childhood as a “miserable little girl” trapped in a boy’s body in Smallville.
Daddio
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: Phedon Papamichael/Sony Pictures Classics
Genre: Drama Run time: 1h 40m Director: Christy Hall Cast: Sean Penn, Dakota Johnson
Remember Locke, that 2013 chamber piece starring Tom Hardy as a construction foreman who talks to himself and several off-screen characters while driving on the freeway? Well, Daddio is kinda like that, but there’s a crucial difference: Instead of one, there are two on-screen characters talking to each other! Dakota Johnson stars as a woman who has a frank conversation with Clark (Sean Pean), a cab driver who gives her a ride to her apartment in Manhattan from JFK International Airport. What do they talk about? Oh y’know, life and love and vulnerability and stuff like that.
The Vourdalak
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: Oscilloscope
Genre: Horror fantasy Run time: 1h 31m Director: Adrien Beau Cast: Kacey Mottet Klein, Ariane Labed, Grégoire Colin
If you, like me, are chomping at the bit to see Robert Eggers’ Nosferatuwhen it premieres later this year, you might consider sinking your teeth into this new supernatural horror movie from director Adrien Beau.
Kacey Mottet Klein stars as the Marquis Jacques Antoine Saturnin d’Urfe, an emissary of the King of France in 18th-century Europe, who is welcomed to stay at the home of a man named Gorcha, who has left to fight against the Turks. When Gorcha fails to return after six days, his family fears that he has been transformed into a Vourdalak — a breed of vampire that feeds on the blood of their family members.
One of the more notable missing elements from the Harry Potter prequel game Hogwarts Legacy was the high-flying sport of quidditch. Publisher Warner Bros. Games will address that exclusion later this year with Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions, a new single-player and online competitive multiplayer game based on the wizarding sport.
Developer Unbroken Games revealed the first gameplay from its Harry Potter quidditch video game this week, showing off some familiar faces, like Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy. There’s also a glimpse of multiple arenas, including the Quidditch World Cup Stadium.
Quidditch enthusiasts will also be able to create the young wizard of their choice. Unbroken Games shows off the Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions character creator in the video above, highlighting the choices in houses, clothing, broomsticks, and more. Publisher WB Games says there are “no plans for microtransactions in the game at this time,” which hopefully means what you see is what you’ll get, forever.
Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions will be released digitally for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC (via Steam and the Epic Games Store), Xbox One, and Xbox Series X on Sept. 3. A physical deluxe edition will be available for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X on Nov. 8. A Nintendo Switch version is also coming, and will be released sometime this holiday season, WB Games says.
PlayStation Plus subscribers will get Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions (and a Firebolt Supreme Broom Skin) as part of September 2024’s downloadable games. The game will be available to keep from Sept. 3-30, if you have an active PS Plus membership of any tier.
It’s hard to overstate the impact artist Mitsuhiro Arita has had on trading card games. Nearly 30 years ago, as a member of the original design team on the PokémonTrading Card Game, Arita contributed to the look and feel of the franchise’s original 150 monsters. He also authored the art for some of the most iconic Pokémon cards, images that have global recognition — including some of the first interpretations of Pikachu and Charizard.
Image: The Pokémon Company
Image: The Pokémon Company
Image: Wizards of the Coast
Since then, Arita has remained one of the Pokémon TCG’s most prolific illustrators, while occasionally contributing art for other card games such as the Shin Megami Tensei Trading Card Game, the Monster Hunter Hunting Card Game, and even the Power Rangers Collectible Card Game.
And now, for the first time, Arita’s work will appear on a Magic: The Gatheringcard as part of its latest expansion, in a world of anthropomorphic animals known as Bloomburrow. Although his art will only feature on one card in the set, a special, full-art treatment for a new creature called Lumra, Bellow of the Woods, the massive elemental bear highlights the detailed approach that makes Arita one of the most cherished TCG artists in the world.
Polygon was able to share questions with Arita ahead of Bloomburrow’s official tabletop release on Aug. 2. What follows are his professionally translated answers, which have been lightly edited for clarity and concision.
Polygon: Was working on a Magic card different from your typical process with the other card games you have contributed to?
Mitsuhiro Arita: In Japan, it’s very common to have detailed checks at every stage of the drawing process. Character consistency in particular is strictly controlled. I’m used to making changes all the way through the process. Usually you present the piece for detailed feedback around 60-70% of the way through, so you can make adjustments before starting on the final details. With Magic, the most thorough checks were at the conceptualization stage. After that, there weren’t any further corrections, so I realized I had to make sure things were spot-on from the beginning.
Can you describe your process in creating the art for this Magic card?
I was asked to create the piece using sketches by Matt Stewart as a reference. After that, the process was like any other job — I’d draw the rough, and once that had been approved, I’d draw the pencil sketch, scan it, and paint the final image using software [such as Photoshop and Painter].
Like many rare and mythic Magic cards these days, Lumra, Bellow of the Woods will have several versions, featuring different artists or card templates. While Arita drew one of the full-art variants of the card, the equally prolific Magic artist Matt Stewart handled the standard variant that will appear with Magic’s traditional card frame.Image: Wizards of the Coast
What was your opinion of Magic: The Gathering’s art style before you were asked to illustrate a card for the game?
I’ve always liked the feel of high fantasy, and have wanted an opportunity of drawing in that style.
Can you describe Magic’s reputation in Japan, compared to other trading card games?
In Japan, TCGs based on existing manga, anime, and video game franchises, which are aimed primarily at the collectors’ market, are very prominent. On the other hand, card products like Magic, which has a solid card game at its core, can feel a bit overshadowed. Of course, it’s not just card games but all games played face-to-face which are losing ground. I think a lot of it stems from how smartphones are eating up any bits of free time in which you’d otherwise have played a game like that.
For Magic or in general, is it hard transitioning your art style to other card games?
When I’m drawing, I usually like to put myself in the shoes of the fans. I think to myself “What kind of Arita artwork would I want to see?” Of course, each job provides its own challenges and you need to adapt your vision, but I didn’t go out of my way to do anything specifically different. If you look at my website’s blog, I think you can see how varied my style has been over the years.
Looking through Arita’s body of work, his art from the original PokémonTCG base set feels noticeably simpler, minimalistic, and two-dimensional compared to his current style. For instance, the evolution line he did for Charmander, Charmeleon, and Charizard mostly feature the Pokémon in profile, and there’s no mistaking them as cartoons.
Image: The Pokémon Company
Image: The Pokémon Company
This approach is not at all indicative of whoArita is, as an artist, today. The art he did for the Power Rangers CCGcould be mistaken for stills from the television show. Lumra, like many of the Pokémonhe now draws, exists in a highly detailed and lived-in environment.
Image: Bandai
Image: Bandai
His takes on Pokémon and Magic almost could be mistaken for photorealism, if the subject matter of both games weren’t so steeped in fiction and fantasy. He creates action that jumps off the page, or the card in this case, giving his illustrations a practically tangible weight that in turn makes the cards themselves feel unique.
Image: Matsuhiro Arita/Wizards of the Coast
Your work has appeared across so many card games over the years, it’s a wonder you haven’t worked on Magic until now. Are there any other games, or brands that you still hope to work on for the first time?
Magic has always been high on my list of card games which I’d like to do work for, so I was extremely happy to get the opportunity to be involved on this project. I’d done work for Culdcept before, and I’m very keen to do so again, if there’s ever a sequel. It was the first job in my career when I got to go all-out on a series of high-fantasy artworks.
How important is understanding a new game before designing art for it?
It’s important to try and understand that the perspective of hardcore fans is not an entirely objective perspective. In fact, I think that introducing the perspective of an outsider can help bring about positive innovation. I’ve been involved with [Pokémon] for a long time, but [my work] still feels very fresh [to the fans]. I think that having multiple product lines which employ various styles has helped to change and progress it over time.
When creating characters for a new client, such as Magic, how do you tailor your approach to fit the specific lore and themes in that game’s identity?
When doing research for a creature, I think about it as if it really existed. If it had this set of characteristics, what would it look like? Where would it live? How would it behave? And I always keep in mind the visual impact while I think through these things.
How much did you have to learn about Magic before working on your first Magic card?
I like to keep my work feeling fresh and original, so I tend to avoid looking at other artists’ work. I prepared for this project just as I would for any other project — I didn’t really do anything differently.
In some ways, Arita’s career in art was an unexpected one. Not only was Pokémon TCG his first professional job as an artist, prior to that assignment he had very little formal training in art or drawing.
I read that your art is self-taught, following a natural talent from a young age. Is this true, and have you ever sought some formal training once your career in arts began to take shape?
I did attend sumi-ink painting classes at a cultural center. Watching the instructor do live demonstrations, I came to understand how water and pigment behave inside the body of the brush, and the techniques used to control it. I also took all five of the workshops at the Liquitex School, which focuses on acrylic paint, where I learned about the history and special chemical properties of paint.
That knowledge turned out to be a very useful foundation for when I started working in watercolor and other liquid-based media later on. As I didn’t have a comprehensive art education, I’d only had limited experience with [legacy] art materials. Every time I tried my hand at a new medium — watercolor, opaque watercolor, acrylic paint, oil paint — I was able to increase my understanding by paying close attention to the work of my predecessors.
Apart from formal training, how do you continue learning at this stage in your career?
When I’m grappling with new subject matter, I turn to YouTube and get studying.
As Arita’s career expanded beyond his roots in Pokémon TCG, he eventually had to adjust his style to new stories, characters and worlds. These new projects also brought with them new audiences and expectations, and for a mostly self-taught artist like Arita, this came with the unique challenge of evolving and adapting beyond the potential comfort zone of his home within Pokémon.
A render of the gold raised foil version of Arita’s Lumra, Bellow of the Woods. The rare treatment is only available in Collector Boosters.Image: Wizards of the Coast
Do you need to make an effort to evolve and explore new styles, or does it come naturally through the work you’re assigned across different games?
I actually find it more natural and not at all laborious to continue to change and take on new challenges. I’m convinced that I won’t catch anyone’s interest unless I draw with an intense level of focus. One of the things that has contributed most to my changing creative style has been the fact that I’ve worked on so many different kinds of projects, in so many different domains over the years.
How do you handle feedback and critique from fans and colleagues?
You’d think that you needed a distinct and consistent style and set of themes, if you wanted to be an established artist but, for some reason, I haven’t really been criticized for not following that path. The fans are very much up for the adventure, and they enjoy following me on that journey, for which I’m very grateful. I find it slightly curious that fans will seek out some of my art pieces, even when they have no consistency with the rest of my work, just because it’s by me. I really appreciate the open-mindedness of my clients and my fans.
Can you recall an instance where constructive criticism significantly influenced one of your pieces?
The idea that you don’t have to draw things as they look in real life really freed me up as an artist. But, for a while, I just couldn’t get it!
Mitsuhiro Arita’s first Magic card can be found in all Bloomburrow booster packs, including Play Boosters and Collector Boosters, when the set goes on sale Aug. 2. The most coveted version of the card, the raised foil borderless treatment with the first-of-its-kind gold accents, is exclusive to Collector Boosters.
Togedemaru, the roly-poly Pokémon from Alola, can be found in the wild in Pokémon Go. Yes, Togedemaru can be shiny in Pokémon Go!
Graphic: Julia Lee/Polygon | Source images: Niantic
Togedemaru’s shiny form was launched alongside the “Strength of Steel” event, as part of the Ultra Unlock Part 2 for 2024. It doesn’t evolve and is the resident Pika-clone of its region (Alola) — so yes, it sure is cute.
What is the shiny rate for Togedemaru in Pokémon Go?
There’s currently not enough data about Togedemaru’s shiny rate to tell if it’s permaboosted or not.
What can I do to attract more shiny Pokémon?
Not much, unfortunately. It appears to be random chance. Shiny Pokémon catch rates are set by developer Niantic, and they are typically only boosted during special events like Community Days or Safari Zones, or in Legendary Raids. There are no consumable items that boost shiny Pokémon rates.
Where can I find a list of available shiny Pokémon?
Sometimes, turning a linear game into an open world just makes sense. Whether it’s Elden Ring or Breath of the Wild, plenty of franchises have found that their core gameplay loops map well to an open world iteration. With Elden Ring, you can disperse the intense FromSoft difficulty across a map that invites players to “git gud” at their own pace. With Breath of the Wild, the entire world is now a dungeon, every hill and valley a puzzle. Playing both, it almost feels as though each franchise and its mechanics were just waiting to be spread across a sprawling map. They just feel right.
By contrast, Isles of Sea and Sky, an open-world Sokoban game, isn’t quite as obvious a fit. But just because something isn’t immediately obvious doesn’t mean it won’t work.
Released in late May, Cicada Games’s Isles of Sea and Sky employs Game Boy Color-era Zelda aesthetics in pursuit of a genre mashup that produces harmony and dissonance in equal parts. The game makes a great first impression. It evokes that feeling of playing Link’s Awakening DX (pre-remake), to the point where you’d be forgiven for mistaking one of Isles’ beaches for Awakening’s. Moving from screen to screen is a nostalgic joy, with a Vocaloid-infused soundtrack that imbues the game with even more personality, which is good, because at its core, open world or no, this is a Sokoban-ass Sokoban game.
You will push blocks in Isles of Sea and Sky. You will push many, many standard-issue blocks into standard-issue holes, allowing you to cross over those holes in order to push more blocks. You will also push things that aren’t blocks, like little boulder dudes (definitely not Gorons) who roll as far as they can in the direction you push them, crushing any boxes they encounter. Or little water guys, who can extend riverways if you push them downstream. The puzzles start simply, easing you into the game’s increasing difficulty one screen at a time, until eventually you find yourself stumped. And, in being stumped, you will find yourself pushing up against the contradictions inherent to Isles’ mixture of freedom and linearity.
Image: Cicada Games
One of the pleasures of Sokoban games is the underlying conceit that, though you may feel frustrated by an individual puzzle, you always have the necessary abilities to get through the level. Each stage is then simply a matter of thinking and working through what things you have tried and not yet tried. You’re stuck, sure, but you’re not lacking anything you need to achieve the solution.
Not so in Isles of Sea and Sky. Early on, you will be presented with puzzles you are not yet able to complete until you unlock a new ability. While plenty of games include this kind of lock-and-key design, where you must first unlock an ability before you can access certain areas, this runs contrary to genre expectations for Sokoban titles. Going into Isles, the player might reasonably expect that, if they’re stuck, they just need to keep trying different solutions. Such a mentality will get you through similar games like Baba Is You or A Monster’s Expedition. The solution is there. You just need to keep at it. By contrast, in Isles, you are often meant to move on, to travel elsewhere in the game’s map and overworld. In short, you are meant to give up when you get frustrated.
At first, I found myself stymied by this dynamic. How am I meant to know when I am failing to understand a puzzle versus lacking the ability to solve it? When is my frustration an intended element of the solution and when is it futile? To its immense credit, Isles goes out of its way to reduce some of this frustration by allowing the player, at any point, to rewind their actions step-by-step, or to reset the entire puzzle, each with the press of a button. But you cannot rewind the real-life time you are putting into the game. You cannot undo the minutes spent bashing your head against the wall, stubbornly trying to solve something you are simply unable to solve. Encountering this, I found myself asking why anyone would design a game in this way, when they must know that players will get stuck like this.
That’s when it hit me. They know players will get stuck like this.
Full disclosure: I can be a bit stubborn. I like to think of myself as a creative problem-solver, but my general approach is to stick to something until it’s done. This can be a good trait (sticktoitiveness and all that), but it can also be a problem (see: my description above of bashing my head against the wall). Traditional Sokoban titles are designed with this kind of player in mind — someone like myself, who will spend hours trying out different things until finally they figure something out. The folks at Cicada Games clearly love this genre, as is evident by the sheer number and variety of puzzles they’ve crammed into Isles, but what they clearly don’t love is that feeling of being stuck without any recourse, of being unable to move on.
Not to quote a meme, but to quote a meme: Isles of Sea and Sky is here to say “Just Walk Out. You Can Leave!!!” What began for me as a frustration with the game turned into a bit of self-reflection when I stopped to consider why, exactly, I felt the need to stay frustrated, when, at any point, I could simply leave, or, to quote our generation’s preeminent philosopher dasharez0ne, “hit da bricks!!!” Sure, there are some areas you cannot access before completing at least a certain number of puzzles, but in general, you can well and truly leave behind most anything that’s too frustrating in Isles and find something you’d rather be doing. The challenge, at least in my case, was in allowing myself to do so.
As I’ve argued, Sokoban games are not an obvious fit for an open world iteration. Their inherent linearity rubs up against a style of game best known for its variety and, well, openness. The focus required of the player feels categorically different than the desirable distraction of asking, “What’s over that hill?” With Isles of Sea and Sky, specifically, there’s an immediate dissonance between how you expect to play a block-pushing puzzle game and how you’re meant to play this block-pushing puzzle game. But dissonance can resolve into consonance, to harmony and stability, and in Isles’ case, you’re pushed not only toward accepting limitation, but toward the inclination to free yourself.
For me, it was difficult, at first, to see moving on as a valid strategy, having become so accustomed to the habit of pushing through mental blocks, both in Sokoban titles and in life. But once I did, I found that mentality extending beyond the game. Is stubbornness helping or hurting here? Do I have to sit in this feeling? Why do I think of moving on as giving up?
In the end, I was happy to play a game that inspired this kind of self-reflection. Isles of Sea and Sky challenged me to take a step back, to reassess, and to move on. Maybe it’ll do the same for you.
Isles of Sea and Sky was released May 22 on Windows PC. The game was reviewed with code provided by Cicada Games. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.
Each week on Polygon, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.
This week, Bad Boys: Ride or Die, the new buddy cop movie starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, comes to VOD this week along with the Hindi action thriller Kill. There’s plenty of other exciting releases to choose from that are new to streaming this week too, like Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire on Netflix, the Michael Keaton-directed crime thriller Knox Goes Away on Max, the sci-fi drama The Beast on Criterion Channel, and more.
Here’s everything new that’s available to watch this weekend!
New on Netflix
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Photo: Sony Pictures
Genre: Supernatural comedy Run time: 1h 56m Director: Gil Kenan Cast: Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard
The Ghostbusters have returned with an all-new movie, and this time Bill Murray is here! Three years after the events of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the Spengler family must join forces with the veteran Ghostbusters to stop a wrathful demonic entity from freezing all of New York City. Oh, and Slimer is here too, because of course.
The Ghostbusters franchise doesn’t really seem to be aimed at anyone anymore. It isn’t funny. It isn’t scary. It’s mostly abandoned its new younger characters, and its older actors barely seem to care. Frozen Empire’s unintentional answer to the question seems to be that Ghostbusters is now corporate nostalgia-farming given cinematic form. Sure, it’s missing all the charm and goofiness that earned the original Ghostbusters so many fans — but if you stick around long enough, they filmmakers will show off the proton packs again, and there’s always a new person to slime. It’s a franchise reduced to nothing more than a parade of hollow, familiar images, lightly repackaged in hopes that we’ll buy another ticket and try to revisit the emotions we felt when we encountered this world for the first time.
New on Hulu
Femme
Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu
Image: Anton/Utopia
Genre: Thriller Run time: 1h 39m Directors: Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping Cast: Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, George MacKay, Aaron Heffernan
After being viciously attacked by an unknown man and their group of friends, a drag queen named Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) confronts their assaulter — a closeted young man named Preston (George MacKay) in a gay sauna. Striking up an affair, Jules plots his revenge against Preston, who is oblivious to Jules’ true identity and intentions.
Genre: Crime thriller Run time: 1h 50m Director: Adam Cooper Cast: Russell Crowe, Karen Gillan, Marton Csokas
After being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, retired homicide detective Roy Freeman (Russell Crowe) is motivated to reopen an investigation into the murder of a college professor when a mysterious new witness comes forward with a compelling piece of evidence. As he works to track down the true culprit, he’ll have to fight to convince those around him to trust his intuition and theories.
Genre: Crime thriller Run time: 1h 54m Director: Michael Keaton Cast: Michael Keaton, Al Pacino, James Marsden
Sixteen years ago, Michael Keaton made his directorial debut with The Merry Gentleman, about a hitman going through some hard times. Now he’s back with his second directed feature, also about a hitman going through some hard times. This time, the hitman is John Knox, a contract killer separated from his family who takes on one last job after he’s diagnosed with dementia.
New on Criterion Channel
The Beast
Where to watch: Available to stream on Criterion Channel on July 28
Image: Kinology
Genre: Sci-fi romance Run time: 2h 26m Director: Bertrand Bonello Cast: Léa Seydoux, George MacKay, Guslagie Malanda
Imagine Cloud Atlas meets The Age of Innocence meets Mulholland Drive. That’s about the simplest way of describing The Beast, Bertrand Bonello’s sci-fi romance drama. Léa Seydoux (Spectre) stars as Gabrielle, a woman living in the near-future who undergoes a process to “purify” her DNA of strong emotions by reliving her past lives. Her procedure becomes more complicated after crossing paths with Louis (George MacKay), a man whom — in a past life — she may or may not have loved.
The Beast’s three timelines play with seemingly unmixable genres: a classic period romance, a gripping horror-thriller, and dystopian sci-fi. That places them at a logistical disconnect, but Bonello binds them aesthetically and emotionally. Through his lengthy, thought-provoking close-ups of Gabrielle and Louis in each section, he creates a sense of longing and isolation across time, binding together human experiences of the past, present, and future, and putting them into sharp and chilling context.
New on Shudder
Humane
Where to watch: Available to stream on Shudder
Image: IFC Films
Genre: Horror Run time: 1h 33m Director: Caitlin Cronenberg Cast: Jay Baruchel, Emily Hampshire, Peter Gallagher
The feature debut from Caitlin Cronenberg is a horror thriller worthy of the family name. Set during a worldwide ecological collapse, Humane follows estranged siblings who learn that their father and mother have chosen to take part in a nationwide euthanasia program as a form of public service. When things go awry, the family will have to choose one of their own to offer up as a substitute participant. Naturally, things get personal.
New to rent
Bad Boys: Ride or Die
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Photo: Frank Masi/Columbia Pictures
Genre: Buddy cop action Run time: 1h 55m Directors: Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah Cast: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens
The Bad Boys are back for another spin around the block! Bad Boys for Life directors Adil & Bilall return for the latest entry in the franchise, this time following partners and best friends Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) as they work to clear the name of their late boss Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano) when he’s posthumously implicated in a criminal conspiracy.
El Arbi and Fallah’s direction is the brightest aspect of Ride or Die. The pair has leveled up since Bad Boys for Life, showing themselves as eager students of Bayhem, happy to deploy camera work as exciting as the shootouts it captures. Frenetic drone shots zoom through gunfire, cameras pivot over the barrel of a gun, and nothing ever, ever stays still. It’s a bit overwhelming: Restrained compared to Bay in their previous effort, they overreach a bit here. Their action shines brightest when it features someone capable of believably kicking ass on screen, like Jacob Scipio, returning as Mike Lowrey’s long-lost son from Bad Boys for Life.
Kill
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
In this thriller, an army commando leads a mission to rescue his girlfriend from an arranged marriage — and then ends up also rescuing a train from a gang of bandits. Kill premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it was the first runner-up for the People’s Choice Award: Midnight Madness.
Kill makes the most of the close-quarters setting and the many different weapons on display — knives, limbs, fire extinguishers, and the architecture/layout of the train itself all play into the combat. It’s a real treat for action fans, especially when things take a turn 45 minutes in and the violence amps up significantly. Kill doesn’t go from 0 to 60; it starts at 60 and goes to 200. The movie’s action design is basically broken into two halves, allowing the team (and Lakshya as a lead) to show a variety of approaches to the fight scenes. I won’t say too much, to avoid spoilers, but the action design becomes much more lethal in response to the events of the story, which allows Kill to start with a more classic nonlethal martial arts approach to action before transitioning into something closer to what you might find in a horror movie.
If you’re a PlayStation 5 owner who participates in the console’s beta program for testing new features before the rest of the public gets them, you’ll receive access to an update on Thursday that includes some new features for PS5 Remote Play and 3D audio. Both features seem designed for households where multiple people are sharing just one PS5.
I’m a big fan of the Remote Play feature on the PS5, and this specific update is addressing a hyper-specific need for Remote Play users — but if it’s a need you happen to have, it’ll be great news. Basically, this feature lets PS5 owners “adjust Remote Play settings per user and choose who is allowed to connect to [their] PS5 console using Remote Play.” The PlayStation blog includes this handy picture of what it would look like in action, depicting multiple user profiles with a toggle switch that would presumably allow you to shut off each person’s access to Remote Play.
Image: PlayStation
My wife and I both use the PS5 in our house, but I’m the only person who uses PS5 Remote Play; I use it all the time on my Steam Deck. It’s actually even possible to get PS5 Remote Play to work on a Steam Deck if you’re away from your PS5 and not connected to your home internet; it’s difficult to set this up, but it’s feasible. That’s part of why I think this feature could end up being weirdly useful in very specific circumstances, such as households where a lot of people are using Remote Play, including people who are away from home.
It’s kind of passive-aggressive to just turn off somebody’s access to Remote Play when they’re no longer in the PS5’s vicinity, but sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do. I can’t help but think of those times in my life when I’ve had a breakup and had to change my Netflix password. Obviously that’s a worst-case scenario. More likely, you’d just want to turn off this option if somebody isn’t living with you anymore, but they might still visit you and want to use Remote Play in the future. Again, pretty specific need, but nice to have.
There are also some beta updates coming to 3D audio profiles on the PS5. This is another update that benefits households where lots of different people use just one console; if multiple people each have a set of corresponding PS5 headphones for 3D audio, this update has their names all over it.
According to the PlayStation blog post, this “feature that lets your PS5 console create a personalized 3D audio profile just for you […] You can run through a set of sound quality tests to analyze a vast number of factors to create an audio profile that best fits your hearing characteristics.”
Here’s a video depicting what those sound tests are like and the options that are available. You’d go to go to [Settings] > [Sound] > [3D Audio (Headphones)] in order to make these selections.
Last but not least, the update includes adaptive charging options for PS5 controllers, but only for people who own the new slimmer PS5 model. If that’s you and you’re a beta features participant, you’ll be able to select adaptive charging as an option, which “helps save power by adjusting the length of time that power is supplied to your controller based on its battery level.”
The mercury is rising, but Humble is providing the ideal way to beat the heat.
Through July 25, Humble is offering discounts on a variety of AAA and indie games with its Heatwave of Hits sale. Titles include Dragon’s Dogma 2, Cult of the Lamb, Resident Evil 4, and more. There are dozens of games to choose from, but if you need some suggestions, we’ve highlighted some of our favorites below.
Image: Ironwood Studios
If you ever wondered what it might be like taking a road trip through the Upside Down from Stranger Things, you should definitely check out Pacific Drive. Pacific Drive is currently on sale for $17.99 at Humble (was $29.99).
Image: Hooded Horse
A bold title that blends elements of city-building and real-time strategy with roguelite elements, Against the Stormdistills the typical marathon of management sims into two-hour sessions. This title is currently on sale for $18.99 from Humble (was $29.99).
Image: Devolver Digital
Sniping a bunch of unsuspecting targets can get a bit tricky when you only have one bullet. Children of the Sun lets you artfully string together headshots by curving your bullets, allowing you to eliminate several foes with one sublime shot. Children of the Sun is on sale for $11.99 at Humble (was $14.99).
Image: Devolver Digital
Pepper Grinder combines a vivid, and deliciously chunky aesthetic with innovative and fluid movement to produce what is easily the best platformer of 2024. You can pick up this title for just $11.99 at Humble right now (was $14.99).
Image: Mimimi Games
Take control of an undead crew of pirates as you attempt to stealthily shank and shiv your way across the Caribbean. This stealth tactics game is witty, charming, and full of interesting tactical puzzles for your to dissect. You can pick up Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew from Humble for $29.99 (was $39.99).
Image: Hadoque
With every frame looking like a living blacklight poster, Ultros is perhaps the artistic antithesis of Hollow Knight. If you’re hunting for another awesome Metroidvania to tide you over until we get more Hollow Knight: Silksong news, you should take Ultros for a spin. You can pick up this title from Humble for $14.99 (was $24.99).
Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) should be the kind of man who has songs written in his honor. A low-born knight, elevated to the Kingsguard, then made Lord Commander, before finally rising to the position of Hand of the King. Our handsome knight has some … anger issues, yes (who doesn’t in this world?), but he appears to be an honorable and gallant knight — and really that’s all that matters as far as the histories are concerned. He does have one fatal flaw though, something entirely outside of his control: he was born in the age of dragons.
Episode 4 saw Criston rise to his highest yet. His successive military victories earn him the acclaim of the masses. For a low-born knight to be named “kingmaker” is the stuff of legend, but here we saw just how far he can fall. As dragons clash in the sky over Rook’s Rest, Criston is thrown from his horse and spends most of the battle unconscious. While there is no shortage of sweeping dragon-on-dragon action, the focus of this sequence is remarkably human. This climactic battle represents one of the most important days of Criston’s career, the moment this entire campaign has been leading to, but he spends it face down in the mud. It doesn’t matter what someone’s status is, when faced with a dragon they are little more than a sack of meat and bone.
But this is just one setback in what has been a long line. He was elevated to the Kingsguard, only to discover the limits of his station. He is constantly beneath royalty (and you can take that in any way you will), which means he rarely has leave to act of his own accord. He has had two royal flings so far, and neither have gone particularly well. Even when things go his way, he is uncomfortably aware of his own fragility. No matter what he does, how hard he tries, he just isn’t enough. His military is larger and better equipped than that of team Black, but they are little more than specks when viewed from dragonback. He has seen men tossed aside like dolls, and burned in dragonfire. He knows that his little battle of men and land is a farce — there are greater powers in the sky. But Criston rails against these limits. Faced with his own powerlessness, we see him declare this a war of dragons, not men. He is restless in his position, and it’s easy to see why.
Criston is entirely convinced of his own self-importance. To be fair, he has a good deal of evidence to support that perspective, even beyond what’s outlined above. He unseated Daemon at the tourney and quickly won his position on the Kingsguard, and his military victories are all his own. Aegon looks pathetic when placed next to Criston (though this is true of most people, to be fair), but even the more formidablePrince Aemond was his pupil. He has done the impossible already, so it is no wonder that he is so confident in his own abilities; he can already hear the songs that will be sung in his honor.
Photo: Theo Whiteman/HBO
But that honor is fragile. He tries to bury any and all evidence that suggests he is not suited to his position, first by murdering Joffrey back in season 1, and more recently by deflecting blame for Jaehaerys’ murder onto Ser Arryk and sending him to his death. Criston is skilled, yes, but he is also recklessly prideful. He is locked in a constant battle to prove to himself and others that he deserves his position, but he constantly falls short. Episode by episode we can see his frustration mounting, Frankel deftly portraying the rising anger of a man who can’t quite get it right. We can all sense the danger here: We have a man who wants to prove his own greatness, who blinds himself to his shortcomings, yet is cursed to spend his life in the shadow of dragons.
In most cases, this kind of self belief would serve one well. Criston is ruthless and bold, and while that aids him on the battlefield, it presents a problem when the conflict begins to escalate. The battle at Rook’s Rest has clearly shaken him, but where some would reconsider, he doubles down. He endorses Aemond as regent, knowing that he will escalate the war. Criston has seen a fight between dragons firsthand, he knows the chaos it will bring to the Seven Kingdoms, yet he still leads team Green down the path of war. He’s not pure evil, but he is delightfully hateable in this moment. Alicent pushes for him to side with her, but he knows he can’t. It’s the dilemma at the core of the series, and Criston would rather see the Seven Kingdoms fall to ruin than be on the losing side. He’s just as doomed as anyone else in King’s Landing, no matter how high he climbs.
Criston’s attempts to rise above the dragons ultimately ensure that he will always be under them. Desperate to prove himself, he will lead this war of dragons to its bloody end. His legacy is set in stone, at least as far as his brief mention in A Feast for Crows is concerned. Of all the tragic and thoughtless mistakes characters in House of the Dragon have made so far, pitting the dragons against one another might just be the most significant.
Oz Perkins’ oddball movie Longlegs does a lot of genre-hopping: It’s part police procedural, part serial-killer thriller, part supernatural horror movie, with a lot of little detours down lanes that shuffle it further into various subgenres. And it raises a lot of questions it never answers. In particular, the killer — an isolated oddball who styles himself as “Longlegs” in cryptic messages he leaves for law enforcement — has such an odd appearance that it raises the question of whether there’s a supernatural element to that, as well.
Image: Neon
Longlegs’ look isn’t addressed during the movie, apart from a scene where a hardware-store employee (played by Perkins’ daughter Bea) calls Longlegs a weirdo. People don’t even seem to acknowledge that he looks like someone slapped wet, greasy, white modeling clay all over his face, then walked away. While the prosthetics job could be seen as just a way to hide Nicolas Cage’s face out of a fear that the iconic actor is too familiar and his presence might be distracting, the press notes for the movie have a different explanation that the movie doesn’t even hint at.
[Ed. note: Major spoilers ahead for Longlegs.]
As viewers eventually learn, Longlegs, as he styles himself, is a Satanist who’s been busily gathering souls for the devil by making evil dolls and sending them to families under the guise that they’ve won some sort of contest. Once the doll enters each household, the father of the family succumbs to a form of possession and murders everyone in the house, then kills himself. When Longlegs is caught, he makes it clear to protagonist Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) that he expects Satan to lavishly reward him for these deeds — he isn’t afraid of his impending death, because (something like Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: A New Hope), he expects to be “everywhere” after he dies.
This fervent dedication to Satan, as it turns out, actually explains his pale, lumpy, plasticky appearance. According to the movie’s press notes, Longlegs’ face is a result of repeated plastic surgeries gone wrong:
When Perkins initially approached special makeup effects artist Harlow MacFarlane about creating the face of Longlegs, MacFarlane says, “From the beginning, Oz always had this glam rock vibe in his head.” The big hair, the garish makeup, the superficial aesthetic fixation that might lead a person to go under the knife so they could remain forever young. But more than being driven by style, Longlegs would be a man driven by obsessive devotion.
“His jam is really that he’s trying to make himself beautiful for the Devil,” explains MacFarlane. “He’s in love with the Devil, and he’s trying to impress the Devil, so he’s gone through all these plastic surgery botch jobs to make himself look as pretty as he can for the Devil. Every thing he does is for this evil force that he’s trying to impress.” […]
Getting the faded glam sadist look just right meant researching the state of elective surgery in the late 70s and early 80s — with characters living in semi-rural Oregon, no less — and then building from a foundation of bad work marked by overfilling and visible scarring. There would be layers of pain atop layers of pain. “You can just imagine it’s some hack job of a doctor in a strip mall somewhere,” says MacFarlane, who worked closely with Perkins and Cage to hone the final product.
According to the same notes, MacFarlane looked at Gary Oldman’s makeup as Mason Verger in the movie Hannibal as one potential source of inspiration. In the 2001 sequel to The Silence of the Lambs, Mason was a rapist and pedophile who Hannibal Lecter drugged and convinced to slice off his own face, resulting in tremendous mutilation that could only be partially repaired with surgery.
Cage also suggested an approach similar to Lon Chaney’s makeup in the 1925 Phantom of the Opera. Both inspirations were ultimately considered over-the-top for Perkins’ movie, but both are somewhat reflected in the final results. A note at the end of that section also reveals something Cage was hoping to see on screen that never happened: He wanted Longlegs to “fully pull his nose off at one point during the movie.”
Lon Chaney in The Phantom of the Opera (1925)Image: Universal/Everett Collection
There is no word in the movie or the press notes about how Satan feels about Longlegs’ current face.
Another interesting piece of trivia does come up in the notes: Perkins concealed the character’s final appearance from Monroe until he shot the scene where they first come face-to-face in an FBI interrogation room, because he wanted her unnerved response to be authentic in the moment.
“On horror sets, so many people ask if it’s scary or is it spooky. And it really isn’t! You see all the gags. You see the fake blood,” Monroe says in the press notes. “But for the first time, I was really able to experience this genuine feeling of being very uncomfortable and nervous and scared and fearful of opening that door, of what I was going to see. […] Oz didn’t let me see any photos or anything. I knew [Cage] was sitting in the hair and makeup chair for several hours, but I had no idea! It was a pretty surreal experience that I will definitely never forget.”
College football is back in video games for the first time in nearly a decade with the upcoming release of EA Sports College Football 25. And while the game will arrive in a week, the specific release time is a little complicated, and there’s even a sneaky way that superfans can get on the gridiron a few days early.
Here’s when College Football 25 releases in your time zone, and how you can play it a few days early.
EA Sports College Football 25 release time: When does College Football 25 release?
EA Sports College Football 25 officially comes out on Friday, July 19, on both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. EA hasn’t made it clear what time exactly the game will be available, but this post will be updated when that information is announced.
How to play EA Sports College Football 25 early
If you pre-order the Deluxe Edition of the game, you can start your march toward the National Championship a little bit earlier. If you pre-order this version before July 18, you will be able to play the game starting on Monday, July 15, at 4 p.m. ET. Here’s when that is in your time zone:
1 p.m PDT on July 15 for the west coast of North America
4 p.m. EDT on July 15 for the east coast of North America
9 p.m. BST on July 15 for the U.K.
10 p.m. CESTon July 15 for western Europe / Paris
5 a.m. JSTon July 16 for Tokyo
The Deluxe Edition also contains several Ultimate Team goodies, like an Alma Mater Ultimate Team Pack, a Cover Athlete Ultimate Team Pack, and a Bring Glory Home Ultimate Team Uniform, as well as 4,600 College Football Points, the game’s Ultimate Team currency. The Deluxe Edition of the game costs $99.99 on both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
What to expect from EA Sports College Football 25
College Football 25 marks the virtual return of licensed collegiate football for the first time in a decade, and it looks like plenty has changed in that time. But just because this series has been on a break for 10 years doesn’t mean that College Football 25 is simply going to be a Madden clone. In fact, in the 20-minute gameplay video EA Sports released earlier this week, we can see plenty of unique features, like a highly upgraded option game, new animations, and a unique presentation for some of the most exciting stadiums and environments in college sports, like Penn State’s White Out games.
Along with those unique elements, the game will also feature upgraded versions of EA Sports’ classic game modes like Ultimate Team, Dynasty, and Road to Glory, which will let you take your own customized player and play out their collegiate career, from the earliest days all the way to the Heisman Trophy.
Each week on Polygon, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.
This week, The Bikeriders, the new crime drama starring Jodie Comer (The Last Duel) and Austin Butler (Dune: Part Two), comes to VOD alongside The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and several other exciting new releases. That’s not all — there’s tons of other movies new to streaming to watch this weekend, like the hybrid animated period drama The Peasants on Netflix, the sci-fi drama The Animal Kingdom on Hulu, a documentary on the life and career of actress Faye Dunaway on Max, and much more.
Here’s everything new that’s available to watch this weekend!
New on Netflix
The Peasants
Where to watch: Available to stream on Netflix
Image: Breakthru Films/Sony Pictures Classics
Genre: Animated historical drama Run time: 1h 54m Directors: DK Welchman, Hugh Welchman Cast: Kamila Urzędowska, Robert Gulaczyk, Mirosław Baka
Loving Vincent directing duo DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman return with yet another period drama composed of thousands of hand-painted images. Set in a 19th-century Polish village rife with feuding and gossip, a young woman named Jagna strives desperately to forge a life for herself beyond the expectations of those around her.
Genre: Sci-fi Run time: 2h 10m Director: Thomas Cailley Cast: Romain Duris, Paul Kircher, Adèle Exarchopoulos
In a world where humans have been stricken with a genetic mutation that transforms them into animal hybrids, a desperate father (Romain Duris) takes his son (Paul Kircher) to search for his wife, who has disappeared into a nearby forest along with other similarly affected hybrids. Think Sweet Tooth meets The Lobster. Polygon had the opportunity to speak with Cailey about the origins and creature design of the film.
Genre: Documentary Run time: 1h 31m Director: Laurent Bouzereau
This documentary looks back on the life and career of Faye Dunaway, the Academy Award-winning actress known for her iconic performances in such films as Bonnie and Clyde, Network, and Chinatown. Bouzereau’s film collects testimonies from Dunaway’s peers and admirers, as well as extensive interviews with Dunaway herself.
New on Prime Video
Divorce in the Black
Where to watch: Available to stream on Prime Video
Image: Prime Video
Genre: Drama Run time: 2h 23m Director: Tyler Perry Cast: Meagan Good, Cory Hardrict, Joseph Lee Anderson
Tyler Perry’s newest movie follows a young bank professional whose husband leaves her. At first she’s determined to fight for their marriage, but she soon realizes that her husband once sabotaged her chance at true love.
New on Shudder
Arcadian
Where to watch: Available to stream on Shudder
Photo: Patrick Redmond/RLJE Films
Genre: Action horror Run time: 1h 31m Director: Benjamin Brewer Cast: Nicolas Cage, Jaeden Martell, Maxwell Jenkins
If you already caught Nicolas Cage in Longlegs, here’s another Cageian drama for you. The actor stars as a father of two sons desperate to protect and raise his family in a near future Earth decimated by the arrival of a ferocious nocturnal creatures. When their father is wounded by one of these creatures, his sons must band together and call upon every lesson of their training in order to survive.
Once the action really gets underway, though, Cage is largely absent, and muddy spatial relationships and confusing, hard-to-see action take a significant percentage of the power out of what should be an explosive final act. And once the film settles into a fairly standard chase-and-fight movie, its lack of more character depth or nuance, or more compelling relationships between the protagonists, limits what the filmmakers can do to make this story stand out from all the past projects it echoes. Arcadian does a few things remarkably well for a sci-fi/horror movie, but it needed a lot more to really spark: more commitment to its vaguely realized setting, more energy between the two very different brothers at its center, and above all, more Nicolas Cage — either version of him.
New to rent
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: 20th Century Studios
Genre: Post-apocalyptic sci-fi Run time: 2h 25m Director: Wes Ball Cast: Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand
Picking up 300 years after the events of Matt Reeves’ War of the Planet of the Apes, this new installment in the franchise follows Noa (Owen Teague), a young ape who embarks on a journey to rescue his tribe from Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), a maniacal ape who has twisted Caesar’s legacy to create an empire built on conquest and slavery.
As a story, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes rarely reaches above narrative competence. But because of its almost single-minded focus on the apes, its technical prowess in their rendering is always front and center. It is frankly incredible what the team at Wētā FX has done in conjunction with all of the film’s other effects artists to bring the apes to life, to give them all distinct body language, and to faithfully transpose actors’ every tic and subtle expression onto their faces. These are some of the most soulful digital creations ever seen in a blockbuster action movie, and it’s incredible to see them in a film that is so pedestrian.
The Bikeriders
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: 20th Century Studios
Genre: Crime drama Run time: 1h 56m Director: Jeff Nichols Cast: Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy
The Bikeriders follows a motorcycle club over the course of a decade, as they go from a simple gathering of enthusiasts to a hardened gang. Jodie Comer plays Kathy, a young woman who gets swept up in the biker gang world after meeting hotheaded Benny (Austin Butler).
The Bikeriders is a film of old-fashioned, simple pleasures: great tunes, perfect costumes, myth-making shots, and a cast of great character actors really going for it. (Including, but not limited to, Michael Shannon, West Side Story’s Mike Faist, Justified’s Damon Herriman, and a completely unrecognizable Norman Reedus as a shaggy Californian wildman biker.) It’s a film about looking at the gorgeous, unknowable people on the screen — and that one gorgeous, unknowable person in particular — just as Hardy’s character does at one point with Marlon Brando in The Wild One, and thinking: What would it be like to be them?
The Exorcism
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: Vertical Entertainment
Genre: Horror thriller Run time: 1h 35m Director: Joshua John Miller Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Simpkins, Sam Worthington
Russell Crowe plays an actor on the set of a supernatural horror film that resembles the original Exorcist movie. His mental state is in slow decline, and as his behavior becomes more erratic, his daughter begins to suspect that there might be a more sinister cause behind it than his previous substance addictions.
The Garfield Movie
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: Sony Pictures
Genre: Adventure comedy Run time: 1h 41m Director: Mark Dindal Cast: Chris Pratt, Samuel L. Jackson, Hannah Waddingham
It’s Chris Pratt! As Garfield! The lazy orange cat reunites with his long lost father Vic (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson, of all people). Along with Odie, Vic and Garfield plan a heist to a farm so that they can steal a lot of milk in order to appease the Persian cat crime boss that Vic works for. The movie comes by way of director Mark Dindal, best known for The Emperor’s New Groove.
The Convert
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: MBK Productions/Magnolia Pictures
Genre: Historical drama Run time: 1h 59m Director: Lee Tamahori Cast: Guy Pearce, Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne, Antonio Te Maioha
In this historical drama, a preacher comes to a remote outpost in New Zealand — only to get caught in the middle of a war between Māori tribes. It’s based on the 2011 novel Wulf by New Zealand author Hamish Clayton.
Wildcat
Image: Renovo Media Group/Oscilloscope Laboratories
Genre: Biographical drama Run time: 1h 43m Director: Ethan Hawke Cast: Maya Hawke, Rafael Casal, Philip Ettinger
Maya Hawke (Stranger Things) stars in her father Ethan Hawke’s latest film: a biographical drama centering on the life and struggles of the inimitable Southern Gothic author Flannery O’Connor. Wildcat follows O’Connor’s efforts to publish her first novel, interspersed with episodes reenacting characters and scenes inspired by the author’s own short stories.
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