Author: Trafficblast

The Venture Bros. Explained: What You Need to Know Before Season 7

The good news for Venture Bros. fans is that Season 7 is finally premiering on August 5. The bad news is that it’s been well over two years since Season 6 aired. We don’t blame anyone who might have trouble remembering what happened last time around, especially given how complicated the show’s mythology has become over the years.

To help prepare for the new season, we’ve put together a guide breaking down all the major characters and storylines in play for Season 7. Whether you’re new to The Venture Bros. or just need a refresher, here’s everything that’s happened in this crazy universe up to this point.

The Basics

The Venture Bros. started out as a fairly straightforward parody of the Jonny Quest franchise. The series largely revolves around the Venture family – cranky, self-loathing Dr. Rusty Venture and his two adventure-craving sons, Hank and Dean – and their intrepid bodyguard Brock Samson. The first season of the series featured these four embarking on one globe-trotting adventure after another, usually with the evil Monarch and his henchmen trying their best to ruin the day.

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Marvel’s Star Wars Comic Takes a Dark Turn

Perhaps the single biggest question Marvel’s flagship Star Wars comic has to answer is this – how did the Rebel Alliance find itself in the state it’s in at the beginning of The Empire Strikes back? How did they go from being victorious destroyers of the Empire’s massive super-weapon to ragtag freedom fighters on life support in the span of three years? The series makes some major in-roads on that front as it reaches its 50th issues. Star Wars #50 is a reminder that there’s still plenty of room for drama and surprises in a story where we already know the beginning and the end.

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The American Dream VR Gets Insane 4th of July Update

Samurai Punk has released a free update for The American Dream in honor of the US Independence Day holiday. The update, according to a press release from the developer, will let players “to show their pride while they play on this historic day and enjoy all things American like guns, flags, eagles and more guns.” The announcement came alongside a trailer for the update, which is completely bonkers, that can be seen below.

The American Dream officially launched in Spring of 2018, releasing digitally for Oculus Touch, HTC Vive and PSVR on March 14th, and released physical editions in Europe on April 6th. According to one of the developers, in a darkly ironic twist, physical copies never released in the United States because the US distributor partnered with Perpetual Games “pulled out last minute as they got gunshy about the game due to the mass shootings.” No word on whether or not we’ll see physical copies in the future, though it’s unlikely unless they find another distributor.

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Jackie Chan’s Most Insane Movie Stunts Ranked

With Mission Impossible: Fallout hitting theaters later this month, there has been much focus on the next batch of crazy stunts that Tom Cruise will be performing. But as impressive as Cruise’s willingness to put himself in danger is, he’s hardly the first major star happy to risk his life on a film set for the sake of our entertainment.

Hong Kong superstar Jackie Chan might have initially emerged in the 1970s as just another martial arts actor, but his incredible physical ability, comedic skills, and emerging talent as a director saw him quickly ascend to something far more than just another Bruce Lee clone. For more than a decade in the ’80s and ’90s, Chan delivered a run of incredible action classics, in which he performed some of the wildest stunts ever filmed.

This was an era before CGI and green screen, and with his legendary stunt team on hand to assist, Chan continued to push his body is a series of an increasingly dangerous ways. Broken bones and hospital visits during production became a commonplace occurrence. Chan often replayed the stunt scenes within his movies, usually in slow motion, to leave the audience in no doubt as to who was performing them.

These days, the 64-year-old has, of course, slowed down, but his legacy as one of cinema’s greatest action stars is assured. So with his latest movie, the sci-fi thriller Bleeding Steel, in theaters this weekend, we take a look at Jackie Chan’s greatest stunts.

Cooler Master CK552 Gaming Keyboard Review

Be sure to visit IGN Tech for all the latest comprehensive hands-on reviews and best-of roundups. 

Cooler Master’s new CK550 line of mechanical gaming keyboards deliver ample bang for your gaming buck. I am reviewing the retail-only CK552 model (See it at Best Buy), which features Gateron Red switches, full RGB per-key lighting, and a brushed aluminum chassis. It also supplies convenient on-the-fly controls for lighting and macros in addition to a well-designed, easy-to-use software app that lets you customize your lighting, set macros, map keys, and create profiles. Good luck finding all of this in another keyboard that costs less than $100. At $79.99, the Cooler Master CK552 is a steal.

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Opinion: The Problems Marvel’s Netflix Shows Need to Fix

Remember the good old days, back in 2013, when we were all excited at the prospect of an interconnected universe of Marvel shows that would end in an epic crossover, á la The Avengers? Shows that might even tie in with the movies? When the first season of Daredevil premiered in 2015, its approach to the superhero origin story and gritty tone was met with wide acclaim – it even got the r/Arrow sub-reddit to temporarily become a Daredevil forum right after season 2 premiered.

Daredevil gave us a gut-punching, back-flipping first season with the best fight scene in a confined space since Oldboy, a thrilling story with all the darkness and broodiness of Arrow (but a more grown-up approach), and one of the best TV villains in recent memory. It was followed by Jessica Jones, which was applauded for its complex themes and strong cast – but then came a series of misfires, from the disappointing conclusion of Luke Cage Season 1 to the soulless Iron Fist. And when The Defenders finally assembled for their long-awaited team up, the result was a muddled, anticlimactic mess that squandered most of the goodwill that fans had for the concept.

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Thor: Dark World Director Attached To Sopranos Prequel Movie

HBO’s classic gangster drama The Sopranos, widely credited as one of the most influential TV shows of all time, is on the way back. The show ended in 2007, but in recent months there have been reports of a prequel movie being in development. It has now been reported that Thor: The Dark World‘s Alan Taylor will direct the film.

According to Variety, Taylor will helm the film, which is titled The Many Saints of Newark. The script has been written by Sopranos creator David Chase, alongside Lawrence Konner, who also worked on the show. The site states that the movie is set is in Newark, New Jersey, during the 1960s, at a time when there was a lot of racial tension between African-American and Italian residents. Although no casting news has been announced, the film is expected to feature younger versions of some of the characters from The Sopranos.

Thor: The Dark World and last year’s sci-fi flop Terminator: Genysis are Taylor’s highest profile credits, but he also has an impressive background in TV. He directed multiple episodes of The Sopranos as well as acclaimed shows such as Game of Thrones, Mad Men, and Boardwalk Empire.

The Sopranos ran for 86 episodes, from 1999 to 2007. The late James Gandolfini starred as mob boss Tony Soprano, a role for which he won three Emmys and a Golden Globe. The show itself was the first cable show ever to be nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series, and was crucial in pushing HBO towards original programming.