March 2018 – Page 9

Xbox One Free Games With Gold Of April 2018 Announced

April is nearly upon us, and that means another batch of free games for Xbox Live Gold members to download. As always, next month will bring four games split evenly across Xbox One and Xbox 360, with the first being available this coming Sunday, April 1.

First up on Xbox One is The Witness, the acclaimed puzzle game from developer Thekla and director Jonathan Blow, who’s best known for Braid. That will be free for the entire month of April, according to an announcement from Microsoft. Starting on April 16, it’ll be joined by Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, the 2015 entry in the AC series that’s set in 19th century London.

During the first half of April, Xbox 360 owners will be able to download Cars 2: The Video Game. The second half will bring something much different, as Dead Space 2 will be made free. Both of these games can also be claimed on Xbox One, where they’re playable through the backwards compatibility program.

It’s not too late to pick up some of March’s free Games With Gold titles, which include Trials of the Blood Dragon Those will be replaced on April 1 with some of the new titles, with the exception of Superhot, which will be free until April 16. You can check out a full schedule for the new games below.

April 2018 Games With Gold

Xbox One

The Witness (April 1-30)
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (April 16-May 15)

Xbox 360 (playable on Xbox One)

Cars 2 (April 1-15)
Dead Space 2 (April 16-30)

Last Jedi: You’d Be Surprised These Scenes Weren’t CGI

These days it’s generally assumed that anything in movies beyond the norm of reality — and even then, some of the humdrum stuff too — is achieved via CG. But that’s certainly not the case, as Star Wars: The Last Jedi’s special effects supervisor Chris Corbould could tell you. From Force-destroyed huts to scores of falling bombs and beyond, many of the effects in The Last Jedi were created the good old-fashioned practical way.

On the occasion of The Last Jedi’s release on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital, I spoke to Corbould — who has worked on everything from The Dark Knight to a bunch of James Bond movies to The Who’s rock opera Tommy. He broke down some of the secrets of his trade…

Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston Team for New Netflix Movie

Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston are reportedly teaming up once again for the new Netflix movie, Murder Mystery.

Variety reports Sandler will portray a New York Cop and Aniston will play his wife, with the story following the couple becoming prime suspects in the murder of an elderly billionaire while on vacation in Europe.

Kyle Newacheck, co-creator of Workaholics, will direct the film from a script by James Vanderbilt. Sandler and Aniston’s last film together was the 2011 comedy Just Go With It.

Aniston and Sandler in Just Go With It

Greg Nicotero Talks About a Frozen Zombie Spinoff Series

Frozen zombies might be the focus for the next potential The Walking Dead spinoff series, at least according to executive producer Greg Nicotero.

In an interview with FANDOM, Nicotero revealed he would want a new spinoff to be located in a cold environment where the main characters would have to go up against frozen zombies. “The one thing that the comic book does great

when they introduce the cold weather and the winter,” Nicotero said. “I had even written some webisodes that took place with a frozen zombie herd.”

Frozen zombies in The Walking Dead comic, image via FANDOM.

Netflix’s First Match Review

First Match begins streaming on Netflix on March 30.

A coming of age story. That’s what I would liken First Match to. Monique, a troubled teen who spends years in foster care, turns to wrestling as a way of getting close to her father. The premise is familiar, if only by the idea that a sport is used to overcome some form of adversity. A 2018 Karate Kid if you will. That said, I would be remiss to leave my description at such a basic level…

The film opens with Monique’s clothes being tossed out of an apartment window. Accused of sleeping with her caretaker’s boyfriend, she’s being ousted in front of random bystanders. Bouncing from one foster home to another is nothing new though; after exchanging some choice words, Monique grabs what she can before departing in contempt. From here we witness a series of scenes that paint her current reality. Bad choices, a begrudged reunion, and a serious attitude problem. And that’s all before she bumps into her estranged father. Darrel, fresh out of jail, is working a part time gig in Brooklyn. It’s only by happenstance that he sees Monique. Their awkward meeting informs the viewer of a few facts. Namely that he doesn’t want to be a part of her life anymore and that Mo is desperate for her father.

Supernatural’s Scooby-Doo Crossover is Just Crazy Enough to Work

After 13 seasons and 280 episodes, Supernatural has once again done the impossible — pulling off a concept that’s so inventive, ambitious, and downright insane, no other series would dare attempt it.

Episode 16 of Season 13, “ScoobyNatural” (airing March 29), is a crossover between the fan-favorite CW series and Warner Bros. Animation’s classic animated franchise Scooby-Doo, and despite the sheer audacity of the idea, it succeeds on pretty much every level thanks to the efforts of the cast, writers Jim Krieg and Jeremy Adams, and the team of animators, who aren’t afraid to blur the lines between Scooby-Doo’s kid-friendly approach and Supernatural’s decidedly more mature tone.

Director Provides Update on Live-Action Naruto Movie

Director Michael Gracey has provided an update on the potential live-action Naruto film, saying if series creator Masashi Kishimoto isn’t on board, the project won’t happen.

In an interview with Collider, Gracey explained he’s concerned about getting the movie right and doing justice to the original anime. The filmmaker wants to closely work with Kishimoto on the project and won’t do it unless Kishimoto is “excited” about the script.

“So many Hollywood adaptations of really popular manga series just don’t get it right, and for me what was really important was that if I was gonna do Naruto, I wanted to actually work with Kishimoto and get a script to a stage where he would look at it and be excited about realizing it,” Gracey said. “Because no one knows the world better than the person who created it.”

Netflix’s The Titan is Underwhelming Sci-Fi

The Titan premieres on Netflix on March, 30th

Starring Avatar’s Sam Worthington, Orange is the New Black’s Taylor Schilling, and Batman Begins’ Tom Wilkinson, The Titan is a mild sci-fi offering that feels perfectly designed to nest and reside within Netflix’s “Because You Watched…” scroll.

The Titan, from writer Max Hurwitz and director Lennart Ruff, isn’t a bad film, it just never pops. And it spends the bulk of its body focusing on the wrong story. By the time the tale ends, you feel like you’ve just finally reached something interesting because the hour and a half leading you there contained a ton of filler and unnecessary fat. If we’re talking Netflix Original sci-fi flicks, The Cloverfield Paradox immediately springs to mind here, as it too felt like an unnecessarily reverse-engineered backwards race toward a much more interesting story happening elsewhere.

Gemini Review: A Mediocre Murder Mystery

If a movie was entirely about setting a mood and sticking with it, Aaron Katz’s Los Angeles murder mystery, Gemini, would be an unbridled success. Katz, serving as writer, director, and editor of the movie, sets the scene brilliantly. What he fails to do is serve up a story that is remotely worthy of its trappings.

At the center of the movie is Jill (Lola Kirke), an assistant to movie star Heather Anderson (Zoë Kravitz). They may be friends, but there is no question that Jill works for Heather, so when Heather—for no reason the movie cares to delve into—decides she wants to drop out of a project, it falls to Jill to make Heather’s desires known. It is Jill who has to try and keep away adoring fans. It is Jill who has to keep Heather out of trouble. It is Jill who is deemed a suspect when a dead body is found in Heather’s home.

Twitch Streamer Becomes Sea of Thieves’ First ‘Pirate Legend’

Less than two weeks after release, a Sea of Thieves player has sailed the high seas enough to achieve “Pirate Legend” status, opening up post-game content not yet seen by players.

Twitch streamer Prod1gyX has been broadcasting his playthrough of Sea of Thieves and his journey toward Pirate Legend, which means he has maxed out the level cap of 50 for all three of Sea of Thieves’ pirate factions.

Achieving this status is meant to open up a new secret quest for Sea of Thieves players, as well as additional secrets yet uncovered. Ahead of launch, Sea of Thieves Executive Producer Joe Neate told IGN that “Becoming a Pirate Legend is really just the start for players.