Author: Trafficblast

Joker has earned some acclaim from critics and fans who saw it in early screenings and at recent film festivals, but there’s also some controversy concerning the film’s violence and its portrayal of the iconic Batman villain. Ahead of Joker’s October 4 release date, Warner Bros. has released a statement addressing that controversy head-on.

“Gun violence in our society is a critical issue, and we extend our deepest sympathy to all victims and families impacted by these tragedies,” the studio wrote. “Our company has a long history of donating to victims of violence, including Aurora, and in recent weeks, our parent company joined other business leaders to call on policymakers to enact bi-partisan legislation to address this epidemic.”

However, the statement also makes it clear that Warner Bros. stands by the film:

“At the same time, Warner Bros. believes that one of the functions of storytelling is to provoke difficult conversations around complex issues. Make no mistake: neither the fictional character Joker, nor the film, is an endorsement of real-world violence of any kind. It is not the intention of the film, the filmmakers or the studio to hold this character up as a hero.”

Warner Bros.’ statement arrived in the wake of an open letter written by the families of several victims of the 2012 Aurora shooting that took place during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises. The letter expressed concern about the movie’s treatment of the villain, according to Deadline. “We’re calling on [Warner Bros. CEO and chairperson Ann Sarnoff] to use your massive platform and influence to join us in our fight to build safer communities with fewer guns,” the letter said, additionally calling for WB to stop donating money to politicians who support the NRA, among other requests.

In GameSpot’s own Joker review, we noted that “Joker humanizes a murderer in a way that may make the kinds of disenfranchised real-world mass killers we now see regularly salivate–or, in the worst possible scenario, provide them inspiration.”

We also described Joker as a “populist antihero” who “inspires the downtrodden people of Gotham to rise up against Wall Street fat cats and the ‘fascists’ in City Hall.” The studio may officially disagree with that reading, but it’s one way to interpret the movie’s events.

Joker director Todd Phillips has spoken candidly about the film already, claiming he was misquoted on at least one occasion, and discussing the possibility of a Joker sequel.

Joker will be sure to prove divisive once it hits theaters on October 4. In the meantime, tickets for the movie are now on sale.

One of the exciting things FX’s Mayans MC does is continue to reveal new information about the history of the universe it’s set in, which began with Sons of Anarchy. While so much has been revealed about this world of outlaw motorcycle clubs between the two shows, there are always exciting new things to learn. Warning: The following contains spoilers for Season 2 of Mayans MC.

In the fourth episode of the currently airing Mayans season, titled “Lahun Chan,” a rather massive hole in the Sons of Anarchy timeline was filled in, giving much more depth to the character of Happy (David LaBrava). When first introduced in the Sons of Anarchy series premiere, Happy is a member of the Tacoma chapter of the titular motorcycle club. He then leaves Tacoma to join the Nomad charter, which isn’t attached to any one town and essentially a member that acts independently within the organization.

That all changes in Season 3, when Happy is officially patched into SAMCRO, becoming a regular character on Sons of Anarchy. What we don’t learn, however, is what made Happy leave the Nomad charter to make a home in Charming with his fellow Sons. That much is revealed in this episode of Mayans MC, though.

It’s revealed that the death of EZ (JD Pardo) and Angel’s (Clayton Cardenas) mother is what led to him leaving the Nomad life and joining SAMCRO. He was hired to kill both Felipe (Edward James Olmos) and his wife, but failed in killing the family patriarch. “I f***ed up,” he admitted. “I was supposed to kill both of them.”

While Happy was never sure who called for the hit, he assumed it was one of the cartels in Mexico–most likely Galindo, given the family’s connection to that organization. After failing to kill Felipe, Happy thought the cartel would come after him for not finishing the job. It all came to a head the night EZ chased him–leading to EZ’s arrest–as he believed the cartel had finally come for him.

“That night that you chased me, I thought that’s who you were, a cleanup guy for the cartel,” he admitted. “I got spooked, didn’t feel safe riding Nomad anymore. That’s when I went to Charming, patched into SAMCRO.”

From there, we know Happy’s story. He went on to help guide SAMCRO and currently serves as the club’s Sergeant at Arms. What happens from here is where things might get interesting. EZ and Angel threatened to kill him, meaning Happy and his cub would be well within their rights to end their lives. Instead, he’s working with the brothers to help them learn more about the death of their mother. “If someone killed my mom, I’d put a bullet between his eyes,” Happy reasoned.

With this new alliance between Happy and the Reyes brothers, we can’t wait to see where the story turns next. Mayans MC airs Tuesdays on FX.

The Xbox One launched in 2013, and it’s coming up on a new phase of its life with Microsoft’s next-generation console, Project Scarlett, scheduled for release in Holiday 2020. Looking back on the Xbox One generation, we know now what the console’s best-selling games are, including exclusives.

NPD analyst Mat Piscatella shared the Top 10 lists for All Games and Exclusives today in celebration of the Inside Xbox stream. The lists contain few, if any, surprises.

Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V is the overall best-selling game for Xbox One through August 2019, with Call of Duty titles and another Rockstar game, Red Dead Redemption II, rounding out the Top 5. In fact, Call of Duty games account for five of the top 10 best sellers. Also of note is that every title in the top 10 is a sequel of some kind and that no Microsoft-published exclusive is on the chart.

In terms of Xbox One exclusives, which includes PC, Halo topped the charts. Halo 5: Guardians is No. 1, with Halo: The Master Chief Collection sitting at No. 2. Sea of Thieves (No. 7) is the only new IP on the chart. Sunset Overdrive, which was released in 2014, did not make the chart.

You can have a peek at the charts below. Note, again, that these charts are US only and represent sales of physical and digital (in some cases) based on dollar sales instead of unit sales.

Microsoft’s latest exclusive, Gears 5, launched in September. It launched like a rocket, quickly becoming Microsoft’s biggest launch week for a first-party game in the Xbox One generation.

Looking to 2020, Project Scarlett’s release is scheduled for Holiday 2020 with Halo: Infinite as a launch title. The new system doesn’t replace Xbox One entirely, as Microsoft will continue to support that system. Additionally, Xbox One games (as well as Xbox 360 and OG Xbox games) will work on Project Scarlett through an ambitious backwards compatibility program.

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