Online, news of the Game Of Thrones actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s (Jamie Lannister) death has been circulating, with various Danish news sources incorrectly claiming that the actor has died. These news stories are of course not true, as explained by the man himself.
Understandably irritated at finding out about his death in this way, the actor took to Instagram to voice his anger at those behind the false rumors.
“Fake news, we hear about it all the time,” Coster-Waldau says. “Now, in Denmark, apparently there’s a story.. er.. that’s been floating around various websites. And It looked like a news story, and the news was that I… had died… Click on the story and go buy some shit. I’m fine, but what the fu… I mean, come on…Imagine if my daughters, my wife, my family had seen that headline?
I mean I get that you wanna sell your shit, but that’s just…So, eh, to you who did this, I know you don’t care, but fuck you.”
The star’s outrage over these reports is understandable, but some Game of Thrones fans are seeing the lighter side of this–many of his followers are commenting on the post asking if Denmark has only just gotten the last season of the show.
Coster-Waldau is next slated to appear in The Day We Died, a film about the terrorist attacks in Copenhagen that took place on February 14-15, 2015.
We’re a little under a month away from Doom Eternal, the next gruesome chapter in the tale of the Doom Slayer, and Switch owners can celebrate with a new sale that discounts all the previous games. That includes the 2016 title, which drops to $30, a full 50% off from $60.
The original classics, Doom and Doom II, are going for $1.49 each, down from $5. Doom 3 is a tiny bit more at $3, down from $10.
In other news, the much-anticipated re-release of Doom 64 will be going for the same low price of $5 as Doom and Doom II when it hits. Pre-order Doom Eternal, however, and you get Doom 64 for free.
The first three games will be on sale until March 2, however, Doom 2016 will go back to full price a day earlier, on March 1.
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Warning: this review contains full spoilers for The Flash: Season 6, Episode 13. If you need a refresher on where we left off, here’s our review for Season 6, Episode 12. Also, in the interest of transparency, we should note that Jesse is related to one of the co-writers of this episode. That relation had no bearing on the content of this review.
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It’s one of the great tragedies of the Arrowverse that we’ll probably never see a full season of The Flash built around Gorilla Grodd. Grodd certainly has the potential to be more than just an annual guest star, but it’s really not practical from a time and budgetary standpoint. On the other hand, the benefit is this forces the series to make the most of those annual appearances when they do come along. “Grodd Friended Me” keeps the hot streak going, even if it is a much smaller-scale Flash vs. Grodd story.
This episode flips the script by casting Grodd as a sympathetic protagonist trying desperately to win over an incredulous Barry Allen. Coming in the wake of both Crisis and a series of episodes where Grodd attempts to take over Central City, this plays like a logical and even necessary shift for the character. There’s only so much that can be accomplished with Grodd as an annual, one-and-done antagonist. At some point the series either has to find a new angle or just retire the character.
This episode’s greatest strength is in creating a sense of a cohesive arc for Grodd over the course of six seasons. He may only appear once or twice a year (plus that recurring role on Legends of Tomorrow: Season 3), but there has been a clear progression as Grodd has evolved from pitiful lab specimen to power-hungry villain and now homesick ARGUS prisoner. Thanks in no small part to David Sobolov’s grave vocal performance, Grodd’s transformation feels both genuine and earned.
The actual story fueling Grodd’s redemption and unlikely alliance with Barry is disappointingly spartan. It’s literally a case of two characters moving from one isolated spot to another and trying to run through a portal. It’s hard not to wish the series had given its other subplots a rest for a week and focused more fully on Grodd’s return. As it is, Grodd only appears in the flesh in a handful of scenes, with the rest taking the economical approach of having him assume the forms of other Team Flash members. Still, the visual of Grodd and Barry merging to form “Brundleflash” is neat, and at least this pairing hits the right emotional notes despite the overly straightforward narrative.
We’ll see how Grodd’s apparent redemption plays out in the recently greenlit Season 7, but for now its most immediate impact seems to be in giving Chester his official induction into Team Flash. Chester and Kamilla are both seemingly being positioned as Cisco’s replacements, which raises the question of what happens when Cisco returns and whether that character is being gradually phased out. Chester doesn’t immediately click in his new role as junior tech support trainee. Regardless of the series, the Arrowverse tends to cast all of these characters from the same mold. They’re impossibly brilliant yet annoyingly quippy and chatty. The Flash doesn’t need a Cisco Lite.
Fortunately, Chester shows signs of more depth than that. The character really starts to click during his heart-to-heart with Caitlin, as he reminisces about being a young African American student learning the hard way that there’s no room for screw-ups or second chances. That moment of introspection tells us more about the character than we’ve learned all season. There’s a refreshing honesty and candor to the character that the series would do well to lean into going forward, rather than the usual fast-talking tech geek shtick.
Even if more Grodd content would have been nice, there is something to be said for this episode’s ability to keep the Mirror Master storyline moving along. Here we catch a glimpse of the true villain lurking beneath Eva’s befuddled facade. It’ll also be interesting to see how much damage Mirror Iris does to Iris’ personal life and relationships by the time she’s done.
Finally, the series continues to struggle on the Nash/Allegra front. As I’ve said before, the idea of a Harrison Wells pining for an estranged daughter just isn’t compelling enough to be rehashed all over again, even with the added complication of Allegra being a doppelganger. This episode does nothing to change that view, even as Allegra uncovers the truth about her “father.” It’s a disappointing shift for a character who showed plenty of promise in the first half of the season. Why isn’t Nash’s guilt over Crisis enough of a story catalyst on its own?
We do get a major swerve at the very end of the episode, as Sherloque resurfaces to deliver a dire warning about the return of Reverse-Flash. This could potentially be what the series needs to get back on track with all things Wells. On the other hand, it wasn’t all that long ago that Eobard Thwane made another surprise return. Will this be another case of The Flash rehashing familiar beats too often? Thawne’s presence wasn’t enough to salvage Season 5, and with Season 6 improving so dramatically, this time The Flash may not actually need him at all.
Carmen Sandiego, who first appeared in 1985’s Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and went on to star in numerous educational titles for young audiences in the 80s and 90s, has a new interactive experience coming to Netflix soon. Carmen Sandiego: To Steal or Not to Steal? follows two seasons of her animated show, and will allow watchers to make choices that dictate Carmen’s path through the story.
This follows other interactive movies and series from Netflix, including Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and Minecraft: Story Mode, and lets players make choices between two options at key moments. It’s not quite as involved as Carmen’s old adventures, but it could be fun.
The full trailer is below, and features a aural homage to the original Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? cartoon, which ran from 1994 until 1999.
Rita Moreno voiced the original Sandiego; for the Netflix cartoon, she’s played by Gina Rodriguez. Both actors appeared on Jane the Virgin, and Moreno has a cameo in the new series.
Carmen Sandiego: To Steal or Not to Steal? premieres on the streaming service on March 10, 2020.
Steam is finally updating its storefront search system, with all new filters and quality of life improvements being added through a new update from Steam labs. These additions are a part of experimental changes Valve is making to the platform based on user feedback.
Previously, Steam users would have to scroll through a seemingly endless catalogue of games to find that one game they forgot the name of. Thanks to the new search system users will be able to filter out games already purchased, on a wishlist, or ignored. A maximum price can also be set to help sort through games within your budget.
These filters will now allow you to exclude tags, or hide games that require the use of a VR headset without removing VR games which can be run on a monitor.
While these changes may not feel like much, the update will hopefully make sorting through the vast ocean of games on Steam somewhat easier. This update is the second Steam Labs release of 2020, with more set to release down the line.
Movies for hit anime series like My Hero Academia have a difficult balancing act to pull off: they must be mostly understandable for a completely new viewer, still offer something relevant and interesting to fans of the show, and be exciting but find a way to not have any significant lasting impact on the show. My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising is animation studio Bones’ second attempt at achieving all three, and it does an excellent job. Heroes Rising is just one awesome explosion of action after another. It doesn’t quite nail the landing on its biggest moment and the villain is a bit boring, but that doesn’t take too much away from the excitement of seeing the entirety of Class 1-A push themselves to their limits.
Heroes Rising takes place sometime during Season 4, although the chronology is never established. Heroes like Rock Lock appear, the League of Villains are still up to no good, and a certain pivotal item from Season 4 makes an appearance. That being said, Heroes Rising is a prime example of effortlessly utilizing information from the show’s past to contextualize the events of the movie. Flashbacks are mostly used at unobtrusive moments and important information is naturally written into conversations. If you’re not caught up with at least the beginning of Season 4, you do run the risk of some mild thematic spoilers, but a majority of the movie smartly distances itself from current events in the anime series.
Much like the first My Hero Academia movie, Two Heroes, the students of U.A. High School’s Class 1-A find themselves busy on a faraway island in Heroes Rising. The resident hero has retired, and in an effort to give some of U.A.’s top students’ additional training, they’ve been sent to fill in for the recent retiree without the supervision of any pro heroes. That last part is a bit questionable, given they’re only high school students tasked with running a hero business without supervision, but the setup works wonderfully and gives them space to shine when villains eventually attack.
As the series has progressed, we’ve understandably seen less of Class 1-A and Heroes Rising excitingly amends that. Everyone, even characters like Koda and Shoji, gets a chance to shine. While the nature of their work on the island is mundane, it’s still exciting to watch because of Class 1-A’s fun personalities and the creative ways we get to see them use their quirks. From helping an old woman who threw out her back to organizing an intense assault on a foe while evacuating townspeople, Heroes Rising is a great showcase of their current abilities.
New supporting characters Mahoro and Katsuma are two cute kids who stir up the long-running theme of questioning what it means to be a hero in a world where that revered title is just another profession. Heroes Rising doesn’t dig too deep into it, but that theme serves as a good frame for when Deku and Bakugo get their time in the spotlight together. Heroes Rising is ultimately about their relationship and their own valid but different brands of heroism, but again, it does a fantastic job of balancing their screen time with the other 1-A students. Part of that comes about because they’re still students, and standing up against the four new adult villains in Heroes Rising isn’t a simple feat. My Hero Academia’s practicality with the students’ general disadvantage against experienced villains has always been one of its strengths, and it’s good to see that mostly carry through in Heroes Rising.
The villains Class 1-A go up against in this action-packed movie have bland motivations, but their run-of-the-mill brand of evil largely works here. Fights aren’t bogged down with monologues and are instead peppered with effective villainous quips. The villains’ quirks aren’t exactly counters to the students’ but their raw power and flashiness go a long way. And, since the students are on this island without support from professionals, we really get to see their tactics and teamwork shine. The animation in the fights is generally excellent, save for some awkward CG clouds that roll in every now and then.
For all the power and fun Heroes Rising brings, it’s a shame it fumbles the presentation of its biggest moment. The insane, well-animated final fight edges close to fever dream territory and is presented with odd, sentimental music that doesn’t fit the intensity of what’s happening on-screen. Certain moments of the battle — which is one hell of a fight to watch — also have serious implications for My Hero Academia canon, and the way Heroes Rising goes about brushing them aside isn’t quite satisfactory.
The first game I played in Dreams was a cute Captain Toad-inspired puzzle platformer called Pip Gemwalker. It’s about a Sloth who has to collect hidden gems across seven increasingly-complex levels. The second game I played was Blade Gunner, a Resogun-style twin-stick shooter with upgrades, an in-game store, and online leaderboards. After that I hopped into Art Therapy, a first-person game where your goal, as a disgruntled artist wielding a baseball bat, is to smash your way through a museum without any of the guards catching you in the act. The fourth was Shadows Dance at Olivetop Reach, a fantasy RPG with turn-based combat and an XP-based levelling system.
Each of these games is vastly different from the last, not just in terms of genre and gameplay mechanics, but their use (or disuse) of cutscenes, voice acting, art style, music, narrative, and so on. The one thing they each have in common is that they were all created using the exact same set of tools. That’s Dreams in a nutshell: a platform where you can create pretty much anything you can put your mind to. Developer Media Molecule has continued the mantra of “play, create, share” that it used to define the LittleBigPlanet series and applied it to a much more ambitious concept with a significantly broader scope. Metaphorically speaking, if LittleBigPlanet is a single country, then Dreams is the entire universe. There’s just so much promise and potential for the burgeoning Dreams community to create some innovative and inspired art, all by using an intuitive toolset that’s made accessible via a streamlined creation suite and the use of informative hands-on tutorials. Whether these creations take the form of an hour-long video game, a short film, a simple visual spectacle, or something as simple as a sound effect that another player can use in their own project. The possibilities are endless, which I know is a tired cliché, but in Dreams–more than anywhere else–it actually applies.
There are two parts to Dreams which both branch out like roots from a tree. DreamShaping is where you can begin creating your own projects and find myriad tutorials that will teach you how. DreamSurfing, meanwhile, lets you find other people’s creations and play them for yourself. It’s also where you’ll find Media Molecule’s own creations, including Art’s Dream. If you want to construct a level in LittleBigPlanet, you are always confined to the base template of a side-scrolling 3D platformer. Inevitably, some people found inventive ways to circumnavigate this template, but compared to what you can do in Dreams it’s overly restrictive. To demonstrate the monumental shift between LittleBigPlanet and Dreams, Media Molecule has created a showcase of sorts, placing Art’s Dream front and centre when you jump into DreamSurfing for the first time.
Art’s Dream is, for lack of a better term, Dreams’ story mode or campaign. What makes it so fascinating, however, is that the two-hour-long game was made entirely using the same creation tools available to everyone. Media Molecule didn’t cut any corners or cheat with some hocus pocus development magic–unless you count a team of highly skilled professionals creating a game with tools they’re intimately familiar with as cheating. The fact that Dreams’ toolset allows for the creation of something like Art’s Dream is genuinely incredible, but it’s also a touching and melancholic tale that’s completely different to any story Media Molecule has told before. The narrative centres on a troubled double bass player who quit his band and alienated all of his friends, leading to a life of regrets. It’s not quite as depressing as it sounds, meshing the more dour notes with plenty of hopefulness, charm, and that Media Molecule whimsy, but it is a notably mature tale for the studio.
Art’s Dream is split into three disparate parts. Each one is integral to the story being told, but they’re also used to demonstrate the variety that’s possible in Dreams’ creation suite. There’s a combat-focused platformer section where you play as childhood toys trekking across a surreal countryside; a puzzle platformer starring an Astro Bot-style robot who’s travelling through a techno-forest; and a point-and-click adventure that includes dialogue choices, item-based puzzle solutions, and some fantastic musical interludes. The whole game cycles through these three parts as it briskly moves along, introducing new mechanics and ideas the deeper you go. The shift between genres, art styles, and camera perspectives is consistently impressive without ever feeling disjointed, due primarily to Art’s compelling narration tying it all together. Eventually the adventure reaches a thrilling final crescendo that coalesces each story thread into one and throws in some Bullet Hell and endless runner sections just to up the ante. As a singular creation, Art’s Dream is an enjoyable two-hour adventure with striking abstract visuals, but it’s also a statement and a promise of what’s achievable in Dreams.
That’s not to say you’ll be creating something as complex and grandiose as Art’s Dream within a couple of days, months, or even a year. The DreamShaping creation suite is initially a daunting proposition. With the freedom to create anything you can put your mind to, the toolset has to be exhaustive to compensate, so your first gander into DreamShaping is guaranteed to be overwhelming. Fortunately, the Dreams Workshop is chock-full of informative tutorials that run through each tool and fundamental technique that’s available to you. There are beginner classes that focus on the basics of edit mode, from getting you accustomed with its control scheme to teaching you how to place platforms, resize objects, and clone items.
The control scheme is definitely a sticking point, though. There are three to choose from but none of them are especially intuitive. Navigating around a 3D environment with the left and right sticks while using motion controls to move a cursor initially feels cumbersome, particularly when you’re trying to be precise and hone in on the finer details. The undo button comes in handy during these instances, allowing you to instantly go back and erase your last action, but it’s clear the DualShock has inherent limitations when faced with a creation suite this complex.
When it comes to creating your own project, Dreams gives you the flexibility to ease yourself in.
The PlayStation Move controllers fare slightly better when it comes to sculpting, mainly because it feels much more natural to mold and shape objects with your hands. For instance, the ability to drag items towards and away from you just by performing the same physical action yourself stands out in this regard. The Move control scheme does come with its own unwieldy nuances, however, giving the DualShock an advantage when it comes to navigating menus and controlling the camera–which in turn makes designing levels a slightly more fluid experience with the DualShock in hand. Whichever control scheme you choose, the mixture of imperfect motion controls and imperfect regular controls does present an additional learning curve. The more you get used to them the more comfortable they become, but it does take a while to grasp.
Other tutorials delve into more specific areas of game design, with step-by-step guides to painting and coloring, tutorials on how to animate characters and objects by hand, and “How To” videos that teach you how to quickly assemble a level, among other techniques. Beyond this are advanced, intermediate, and masterclass tutorials that teach you how to create your own original music and sound or run through how to assemble connectors and use physics. There’s a tutorial where you learn how to create hitboxes on enemies that react to projectiles, whether it’s a bullet fired in a first-person shooter or a flying disc in a platformer. In short, there’s a lot.
Learning it all means devoting a significant amount of time, so it’s good that the tutorials are incredibly helpful and enlightening. Each one delves into the inner workings of game design in a way that’s easy to consume without it ever coming across as patronising, as developers–through narration–share their insight and expertise on particular subjects in a hands-on setting that gradually guides you along. The toolset is streamlined compared to Unity or Unreal Engine in order to make the creation suite slightly more accessible for your average Joe, but the tutorials provide a greater appreciation for how challenging game development truly is.
They also maintain Dreams’ focus on creativity, actively encouraging you to express yourself even when learning how the toolset works. This makes working your way through each tutorial an enjoyable experience when tutorials can so often be a drag. Take creating a character from scratch as a prime example. There are precise steps to follow, including a video showing what your character could look like, yet the narration encourages you to add your own flourishes and create a concoction unique to you, so long as you gain an understanding of how the tools work along the way.
When it comes to creating your own project, Dreams gives you the flexibility to ease yourself in because not every piece of it has to be wholly your own. Media Molecule has numerous presets for you to choose from, but other players can also upload their own creations, whether it’s an entire environment, a single character, or a piece of music, which you can then download and use in your own creations. This establishes a tangible sense of community that bleeds into every other aspect of Dreams, from DreamShaping to DreamSurfing.
A lot of the games available to play right now were collaborative efforts, with characters or objects designed by different players. You might have no interest in creating an entire game yourself, instead opting to find a niche creating characters, buildings, or even music that other people can use in their own games. I’ll probably never be great at designing levels, but there’s a certain satisfaction to glean from using the game’s sound and music studio, paint tools, and sculpture moulding to conceive bespoke creations. Maybe I’ll make a tree that someone likes and uses in their own game to populate a forest, or use the comb tool and flow effect to form a raging river. I might even mesh various sound elements together to create a baritone growl that another player applies to an antagonistic monster in their own game. It’s this community-centric approach that inspires me to learn and create more.
Dreams is like YouTube for video games, where a single hour can take you on a journey through so many disparate and imaginative experiences.
The simple act of making stuff is also just enjoyable to do. There’s a tactile feeling to using the various paint strokes or object moulding that’s satisfying to play around with, grabbing and pulling at a sculpture to establish a shape before using facial features from the community to devise an unorthodox character. The way you create sound and music is similarly freeform, with the option of loading up a pre-made virtual instrument that you can then play around with using basic button inputs. I may not know the first thing about music composition or sound design, but I’ve listened to enough to know how to create a rudimentary tune–the toolset’s intuitiveness just makes it possible. Obviously, designing an entire game with mechanics that actually work is a challenging process, but the ease with which you can simply jump in and make objects and sounds means ensures that the creation suite is engaging to use even if you’re just messing around.
On the flip side, you can always ignore the creation side completely and fall down a rabbit hole of playing other people’s work. Dreams is like YouTube for video games, where a single hour can take you on a journey through so many disparate and imaginative experiences. There are the usual imitators with myriad recreations of levels from the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog, Metal Gear Solid, and Crash Bandicoot, but there’s also value in seeing these familiar characters, environments, and mechanics recreated because it offers an easy way to gauge what the toolset is capable of. For instance, there’s a Dead Space remake that features a primitive version of the original game’s limb dismemberment, and a 3D Mario clone that authentically recreates the mustachioed plumber’s distinctive animations. Some of these imitators are inspired, too. One imagines what Silent Hills could have been if Konami didn’t pull the plug, adding some LA Noire-esque interrogations to the mix, while another stars Persona 5’s Morgana in a 3D platformer about stealing pizza that’s a natural fit for the anthropomorphic character.
Southpaw Cooking
The majority are original creations, however, and it’s their sheer diversity that really stands out. There’s a game called Southpaw Cooking that “simulates” cooking with your left hand because your right is too busy holding a phone to your ear. Others are more elaborate, like Project Ikelos, a Souls-like action game, or the short music video Duet, which features a green ukulele-playing character and a pink dinosaur with a kazoo. One of my personal favorites is Dog’s Run, a game where you get to play as the creator’s own pet dog, Binkie. It’s a classic platforming collect-a-thon like Banjo-Kazooie, but I found it oddly heartwarming because of its furry protagonist. It actually inspired me to try and improve my non-existent skills in the creation suite, just so I can one day immortalise my own dog in Dreams.
Finding each of these games is relatively simple thanks to Media Molecule’s beautiful curation of the DreamSurfing area. The homepage includes trending creations, favorites picked by Media Molecule itself, and recommendations based on your play history. There’s also the Annual IMPY Awards which reward the best creations of the year, with lists of all the winners in categories like best visuals, best narrative, best animation, and best gameplay. Media Molecule also hosts intermittent game jams where the community is tasked with creating something adhering to a particular theme in a short amount of time. You can get involved and create something yourself or simply play other people’s creations and vote for your favorite. If you’re not sure what to play you can hit Autosurf and be transported directly into a random game, or if you want to search for something specific there’s a robust search engine that lets you find what you’re looking for with a few simple keywords. Media Molecule has made it so you can effortlessly hop from one game or singular experience to another and discover something worthwhile.
Dreams was in early access for less than a year, but the small community it’s built since then has already created some stunning projects that exhibit imagination, innovation, and artistry. Now that the full game is out in the wild, it’s going to be fascinating to see how the community continues to grow and what creations arise from that growth. Media Molecule has devised something really special with Dreams, placing a hefty toolset in players’ hands where the only limitations are your skills, imagination, and time. There’s nothing else quite like it, and it feels like a culmination of everything the studio has been working towards since the first LittleBigPlanet. The presentation is too charming, the tutorials too informative, active, and engaging, while playing and finding other people’s creations is a breeze. Dreams is a refined constructor for building a wide variety of games, and a community-centric showcase where others can play them. It’s a stunning achievement that encourages limitless creative expression, a place where people can come together, collaborate, and explore each other’s imaginations. It’s a tool for the fools who dream, and one of the most innovative releases in years.
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Mark Ruffalo, who plays the Hulk in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is well-known for being outspoken and passionate. It’s also no secret that the Marvel Universe was, for a long time, overwhelmingly focused on straight white men–and it’s only recently that movies like Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and the upcoming Black Widow have bucked that trend.
Mark Ruffalo has addressed this is an interview with The Independent, where he has talked openly about the whiteness of Hollywood, and directly discussed the Marvel films. In his discussion, Ruffalo praises Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige for his strong belief in the importance of diversity–even if it took a long time for him to get to a position where he could actually implement those beliefs.
Ruffalo tells a story from his time working on the original Avengers movie, where Feige told Ruffalo on set that he “might not be there” the next day, depending on how a discussion with Marvel chairman Ike Perlmutter went. Ruffalo recalls that Feige told him “Ike does not believe that anyone will go to a female-starring superhero movie. So if I am still here tomorrow, you will know that I won that battle.”
Ruffalo says that Feige has “changed the whole Marvel universe, because he “wanted black superheroes, women superheroes, LGBT superheroes.” Ruffalo says, “We now have a gay superhero on the way,” presumably referring to Phastos, played by Bryan Tyree Henry, in The Eternals.
“No other studio is being that inclusive on that level,” Ruffalo said, before adding, “They have to, though. This is the f***ing world.”
Ike Perlmutter officially stopped overseeing the developments within Marvel Studios in 2015.
It’s not entirely clear what Marvel’s plans are for Ruffalo’s Hulk, going forward. There are plans for two Marvel movies in cinemas for 2020: Black Widow and The Eternals, which will be the first and second Marvel movies to be solely directed by women (Cate Shortland and Chloé Zhao respectively). Shang-Chi, Black Panther 2, and Blade are also coming.
Note: this is a spoiler-free advance review of Superman: Red Son, which will be released on Digital HD on February 25 and on Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on March 17.
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DC has an entire brand known as Elseworlds, one that explores the many ways in which tiny changes to history can have huge effects on the stories of iconic heroes like Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Several of these Elseworlds stories like Superman: True Brit and Superman: Speeding Bullets ask the same basic question – what would happen if Kal-El’s space pod crash-landed somewhere other than Smallville? What happens when the Last Son of Krypton is raised by another set of parents under a different culture? That’s a question 2003’s Superman: Red Son set out to answer, and now Red Son is a competent, albeit somewhat flawed, addition to DC’s animated movie library.
In the alternate DC Universe of Red Son, Kal-El’s pod landed not in Kansas, but on a Ukrainian collective farm in 1938. Instead of embodying Truth, Justice and the American Way, Superman becomes the most powerful symbol of the Soviet Union, one that completely alters the course of 20th Century history. In this world, Lex Luthor is the US government’s last, best hope of stopping the spread of communism, Wonder Woman is a Themysciran ambassador enamored with the Man of Steel’s vision of a better world and Batman is a terrorist hellbent on tearing down everything Superman has built.
The original comic by writer Mark Millar and artist Dave Johnson is an inspired choice of source material. For one thing, the comic is just the right scope and length for the rigid 70-ish minute format of these movies. Poor pacing is one of the most common problems with these projects, with many either stretching limited material past the breaking point (as with Batman: The Killing Joke and Batman: Gotham by Gaslight) or trying to distill too much plot into one film (as in The Death of Superman and its sequel Reign of the Supermen). Red Son is able to offer a tightly paced story that manages to lend a fair amount of depth to most major characters in between the major action sequences.
The concept is certainly fascinating, shining a light on just what aspects of Superman’s character are immutable versus those that are shaped by his upbringing. Like most DC animated movies, Red Son skews in a darker direction, even to the point of depicting Superman and Batman as killers. It’s a risky storytelling choice that winds up working in this particular context. Where something like Injustice: Gods Among Us never fully succeeds in justifying a murder-happy Superman, Red Son uses that plot point to its advantage. Superman’s entire arc in the film is built around the question of whether the ends justify the means. Confronted with the grim reality behind the ideals of Soviet collectivization, Superman becomes obsessed with making his vision of utopia a reality. How much killing is justified in the name of utopia? Is a better world with no free will or room for dissent truly a better world at all?
Part of the novelty of Red Son is that it’s a superhero movie where the conflict doesn’t involve clearly defined factions of good and evil. Superman may be the main protagonist, but he’s not necessarily the hero of the story. Similarly, it would be reductive to label Lex Luthor as the villain. While Lex shows all of his usual arrogance and casual disregard for those he deems his lessers, he’s also painted as a man trying to save his country from an existential threat. This is one of the more enjoyable takes on Lex in a DC movie in quite some time. The movie mostly avoids falling into the usual East vs. West pop culture tropes and even has quite a bit to say about the dangers of xenophobia on all sides. Wonder Woman is the only truly heroic figure in this story, as she embraces Superman’s ideals but becomes disillusioned with the barbarous world of men.
Even though Red Son is paced better than most DC animated movies, there are certain characters who feel a bit under-served by the story. It would have been nice to see more attention paid to the relationship between Superman and Lois Lane, with the two only really sharing one important scene together. Batman could also have benefited from additional character development leading up to his climactic confrontation with Superman. But to be fair, there’s only so much ground the movie can cover in the course of 70 minutes, and the comic itself is guilty of those same problems.
Red Son is largely a very faithful retelling of the original story, following a very similar structure and merely streamlining certain elements here and there. Occasionally it even manages to improve upon the comic, especially when it comes to Wonder Woman’s characterization. Unfortunately, Red Son’s most significant deviation is also its greatest misstep. The ending falls completely flat. It’s abrupt and simplistic to a fault, losing sight of the nuanced themes driving the conflict up to that point. It’s all the more frustrating given that the comic shines best at the very end, as Millar and Johnson celebrate the enduring power of Superman. But whether or not you’ve actually read the comic, the movie’s ending is a disappointingly safe way to end an otherwise daring take on the Superman mythos.
Visually, Red Son sticks to the same house style as the vast majority of these animated movies. It gets the job done, but Red Son hardly stands out in that regard, much less replicates the bold style of Johnson’s artwork. Given the period setting, it’s a shame the movie couldn’t have opted for a look more inspired by the classic Fleischer Studios animated serials. As it is, in most scenes Red Son barely even looks like a movie set in the past.
The voice cast is rock solid, however. Red Son wisely doesn’t attempt to reinvent the wheel with most of these characters, instead relying mostly on a cast of DC animation veterans like Jason Isaacs (Superman), Diedrich Bader (Lex Luthor), Vanessa Marshall (Wonder Woman) and Roger Craig Smith (Batman). Isaacs actually has a fair amount of experience playing Russian characters thanks to films like Hotel Mumbai and The Death of Stalin, experience which serves him well here. He’s able to convey the humanity and self-doubt in this version of Superman even with the thickly accented dialogue. For whatever its faults, Red Son places a priority on ensuring viewers understand and empathize with this very flawed version of Superman.
Actor Hank Azaria has opened up on his decision to stop voicing the character Apu on The Simpsons. Speaking to The New York Times, Azaria said he was thoughtfully considering the matter for multiple years before making the choice to end his run as Apu.
“Once I realized that that was the way this character was thought of, I just didn’t want to participate in it anymore,” Azaria said. “It just didn’t feel right.”
Apu was one of the most prominent South Asian characters on TV in the 90s when The Simpsons was getting started and ultimately rising to prominence. Comedian Hari Kondabolu’s 2017 documentary, The Problem With Apu, called out Apu as being a stereotype.
Azaria, who is white and Jewish, said he saw the documentary and his initial reaction was to defend the character. “We make fun of everyone,” he said. “Don’t tell me how to be funny.”
Azaria would go on to consult with Indian-Americans, including actor Utkarsh Ambudkar, to get their opinions about what he should do about Apu. Ambudkar told NYT that Azaria “was in a space where he was exploring, where he was trying to open up and take responsibility.”
Azaria said he did some self-reflection and thought that he wouldn’t feel very good if a TV show depicted a character based on someone like him–a white Jewish man–as a stereotype.
“I started thinking, if that character were the only representation of Jewish people in American culture for 20 years, which was the case with Apu, I might not love that,” he said.
Around one year ago, Azaria met with The Simpsons bosses Al Jean, James L. Brooks, and Matt Groening to tell them he no longer wanted to voice Apu. He said the executives were “very sympathetic and supportive” when he told them he was “uncomfortable” voicing Apu.
Azaria went on to say that he still loves The Simpsons and he hopes to continue to be a part of it for a long time to come. Azaria also voices Moe, Chief Wiggum, Comic Book Guy, Cletus, Professor Frink, the Sea Captain, Superintendent Chalmers, Disco Stu, and Duffman, among others.
“I have tremendous pride in doing the show. And the character of Apu was done with love and pride and the best of intentions. My message is, things can be done with really good intentions and have negative consequences,” Azaria said.
There is no word yet on if The Simpsons will continue to feature Apu, and if so, what actor might take over for Azaria. “Apu is beloved worldwide. We love him too. Stay tuned,” the producers of The Simpsons said in a statement.
