Marvel Studios has a reputation for secret keeping that some actors–like the now notorious Tom Holland–just can’t help but tarnish every chance they get. Others, however, like Dave Bautista, try to toe the line with a little more poise–that is, to a certain point. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Bautista explained that he can “neither confirm nor deny” that he’ll be appearing as Drax in the upcoming Thor 4, but, yeah, he’s definitely in Thor 4.
Most fans already knew this would be the case after the Guardians cast was photographed flying to Australia to film and Star-Lord himself, Chris Pratt, confirmed his involvement. Bautisa had a good laugh about it, saying “Well, assuming that I went to Australia to shoot for Thor 4…I know that Chris Pratt has announced that he’s in Thor 4, but I haven’t heard from anybody at Marvel or Disney where it would be OK for me to say that I was in Thor 4. So I will neither confirm nor deny.”
But even so, he’s ready to acknowledge the absurdity of dancing around the answer. “Yeah, it’s one of those things where I kind of dance around it because I don’t want to piss anybody at Marvel off. I don’t want to piss anybody at Disney off.” Bautista explained. “And as far as I know, I guess they gave Pratt a go-ahead to announce that he was in the film, but I haven’t heard anything about it. And as far as I’ve heard, they said it’s not OK to confirm that you’re in the film. But obviously, when all the Guardians are on a Disney jet going to Australia and they photograph us walking into the hotel…”
He went on, saying that the other Guardians were all photographed on set–but Drax wasn’t so lucky. “There are photographs of everybody except for me on set. So because there were no photographs of me as Drax on set, I’ve not come out and said, ‘Yeah, I’m in Thor 4.'”
Of course, by admitting that he was never photographed while everyone else was, Bautista is slyly confirming that he was on set and in costume–but it’s safe to say just about anyone who has been paying attention to the MCU’s Phase 4 already assumed this would be the case. After all, Avengers: Endgame saw Thor and the Guardians officially teaming up with one another as they left Earth, presumably to find Gamora and, undoubtedly, get into some cosmic hijinks along the way.
Thor: Love and Thunder is set to hit theaters on May 6, 2022.
The long-running, hit police sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine that started on Fox back in 2013 will air its final season on NBC starting in August, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Considering the series was once extremely close to never getting past Season 5, following Fox’s cancellation in May 2018, the show has enjoyed an unexpected renewal and rejuvenation.
The upcoming Season 8 may feature a storyline about the COVID-19 pandemic. Co-creator Dan Goor had mentioned in interviews last year that he and the show’s writing team “value[s] escapism, but at the same time, we don’t want to be ignorant… there is a debate about what next year will look like.” Most likely, Goor says, the show will explore more subtle ways of acknowledging the crisis rather than “toiling away in the depths.”
By now, those plans could have changed, since that was in April 2020 as the pandemic was just getting underway and the show’s creative team was beginning to meet and break new story ideas–and before several months of social unrest involving real police brutality. Also, crucially, this was before it was known that Brooklyn Nine-Nine would wind up ending with an abbreviated, delayed new season running only 10 episodes.
Despite earlier announcements by NBC that Brooklyn Nine-Nine would not overlap with The Olympics this summer–August was specifically, previously reported by THR as a month the show would not come back–the show is currently slated to come back this August. No specific debut date has been announced, but it is expected to air following the close of the Summer Olympics.
Of Ryan Murphy’s Netflix shows to date, stemming from his landmark production deal, including Ratched, Hollywood, and two seasons of The Politician — Halston is the most traditional and streamlined. It’s also, at a mere five episodes, the most restrained in terms of its structure. Aside from a winning performance by lead Ewan McGregor as celebrity fashion designer Roy Halston, the result is a rather by-the-numbers rise and fall biography that hits all the notes, beats, and themes you expect it to.
The entire saga even crescendos how you’d predict it would, with the first two episodes representing Halston’s ascent, the third episode his career apex, and the final two his crushing decline. McGregor’s magnetism is enough to carry us through most of this story, though the character of Halston here is a man who’s shunned his rural abusive upbringing so determinately that he’s created an entire persona to exist/hide within. It’s a guise that includes arrogance, jealousy, and affectations that all work as deflection methods and denial. Even in Halston’s most vulnerable moments, he’s a drain on everyone around him, viewing others’ wants and needs as betrayals. It’s sort of a doubling down on superficiality that, at times, works to push us away as well.
A once-famous hat maker, whose lids were donned by Jackie Kennedy, Halston reinvented himself, and American women’s fashion in the 1970s. In the midst of this, on the precipice of bankruptcy, Halston sold his name and company to Norton Simon Inc., which allowed him access to mass production and country-wide fame like never before. So why does it all end so tragically for Halston? Your best guesses are probably correct given the era, the trappings of fame, the narcotics, and the AIDS epidemic. Of course, this is someone’s real life we’re bullet-pointing here, but this limited series makes these pivotal happenings feel like narrative cliches. The episodes do very little to make any of Halston’s excess or self-destructive posturing interesting.
McGregor plays Halston with an infectious bravado. Halston himself may not be intentionally inspiring, but his drive and actual genius create a long enough coattail for hangers-on and fleeting friendships. One of the more intriguing interpersonal dynamics in Halston is his co-dependent relationship with Liza Minnelli (a formidable Krysta Rodriguez), however, the series never delves into anything deep enough to truly resonate. Instead, the series is almost purely career-focused until it steers us into the paranoia and cruelty brought on by drug abuse. In the end, the show winds up feeling as surface-level and slight as Halston’s forward-facing facade.
Other famous folks in Halston’s life — such as model and jewelry designer Elsa Peretti, lover and artist Victor Hugo, and illustrator Joe Eula — are solidly portrayed by Rebecca Dayan, Gian Franco Rodriguez, and David Pittu. They represent Halston’s stalwart team that cracks and fades during the designer’s haze of opulence and hubris. Some outright betray him, others he shoves away during pride-addled tantrums. Meanwhile, Bill Pullman’s David Mahoney, who should be the type of business liaison from Norton Simon who Halston furiously butts heads with actually becomes one of his most meaningful friendships on the show. Mahoney is the type of friendly, curious suit who recognizes art and genius but also chases the bottom line. It’s through this character that Halston, the show and man, finds a nice balance as the innovative artist who “sold out.”
The best part of the series, one that’s able to showcase one of Halston’s greatest triumphs while also tethering it to his harsh and calamitous upbringing (which we barely get a taste of), involves Vera Farmiga’s perfumer, Adele, and Halston’s laborious creation of the most successful scent of the ’70s. Sure, Halston may have compromised some of his principles by putting his stamp on things he wasn’t interested in, but when he did take on a project he made sure it represented him in every way. He wouldn’t just throw together a perfume, he’d begrudgingly sink his teeth into it. If only the rest of the series could have balanced Halston’s work and true inner turmoil as well.
The original three Mass Effect games always influenced each other as part of one long, expansive story. But with Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, BioWare has implemented changes that make your choices matter even more between games. That’s most true in Mass Effect 3, where everything you do in Mass Effect 1 and 2 matters greatly to what happens at the end of the game, thanks to a change to the Mass Effect 3’s Galaxy at War system.
When it was first released, Mass Effect 3 took into account actions you made in both its multiplayer mode and in mobile apps, which affected the strength of the army you raise to battle the Reapers in the single-player campaign. But that was way back in 2013; multiplayer isn’t part of Legendary Edition, and the apps and other outside elements are no longer a part of the game. So BioWare has changed the Galaxy at War system significantly, deleting the part that was tied to multiplayer and changing the math a bit to determine your overall military strength.
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition’s take on Mass Effect 3 might be a little confusing for returning players who expect lots of moving parts, but it’s actually been simplified. Below is everything you need to know about Galaxy at War, the Galactic Readiness system, war assets, and everything else related to the ending of Mass Effect 3, and be sure to check out the rest of the changes to the original games in Mass Effect: Legendary Edition you need to know about.
War Assets And Galactic Readiness
Mass Effect 3 is all about increasing the strength of the galaxy’s military might so that you can take the fight to the Reapers. Throughout the game, you and your crew fly around the galaxy, gathering forces, people, ships, and allies so that when you finally return to Earth, you’ll be at the greatest possible strength. To do that, you need to raise points called “war assets.”
War assets are the actual items and people you find out in the galaxy as you work to help humanity repel the Reapers. Each war asset is logged at the Normandy’s War Table interface, and equates to a number of points. You need a minimum number of war asset points to hit Mass Effect 3’s endgame, but the more you can bank, the better your chances against the Reapers and the better the ending possibilities you open up. You gain war assets by completing missions throughout the game–both main missions and side missions. The point total for your war assets is defined as Total Military Strength.
In the original release, there was a second factor called Galactic Readiness, which was tied to multiplayer, mobile apps, and the like. Galactic Readiness helped determine how effective your war assets were, adjusting your point score after the fact. From what we can tell, however, Galactic Readiness has been removed as a determinant in how Mass Effect: Legendary Edition judges your Total Military Strength in Mass Effect 3. Instead, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition factors in what you’ve done in past games.
How Galaxy At War Used To Work
In the original Mass Effect 3 release, Galaxy at War linked together multiplayer, the mobile game Mass Effect Infiltrator, and other transmedia offerings. The idea was that you could get more war assets by playing other modes and interacting with other elements, but all those things helped the key system of Galaxy at War: Galactic Readiness. It was presented as a map of the galaxy that was divided into sectors. Each sector carried a percentage ranging from 50% to 100%, defining that area’s readiness to deal with the Reapers.
Taking part in Mass Effect 3 multiplayer and interacting with its apps and other systems allowed you to increase the Galactic Readiness of different segments of the galaxy. That was pretty essential–the lower the readiness of an area, the weaker its war assets were. If the readiness of a sector fell to 50% (its lowest point), then the score for its war assets would be cut in half. Therefore, you wanted to raise the Galactic Readiness score as high as you possibly could in all areas, so that you got the most out of all the war assets you gathered by completing main and side missions throughout Mass Effect 3.
This was all displayed at the Normandy’s War Table interface. All your war assets were shown there, and their points totaled up to equal your Total Military Strength. The table then factored in Galactic Readiness, a percentage ranging from 50% to 100%, depending on how much effort you’d put in with multiplayer and the other elements mentioned to raise the readiness of different galactic sectors. Your Total Military Strength was multiplied by your Galactic Readiness to reach your Effective Military Strength, the true measure of how powerful your forces against the Reapers would be. If Galactic Readiness was 100%, your Effective Military Strength would be the same as your Total Military Strength, because you were getting the most out of all your assets. If it was all the way down to 50%, your Effective Military Strength would be half your Total Military Strength. Thus, it paid to play multiplayer matches and use the mobile apps to engage with Mass Effect 3.
How Galaxy at War Works Now
BioWare previously said that Galactic Readiness would remain a part of the game, but it doesn’t look like that’s really the case. There’s no Readiness at the Normandy War Table, and where Mass Effect 3 originally presented your Effective Military Strength as the final score measuring how strong your forces were against the Reapers, it now only displays Total Military Strength on the table. Effectively, in Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, the Galaxy at War system is highly simplified. Just play missions in the game to gain war assets and raise your Total Military Strength number; no extra math required.
However, there is a little more to your Total Military Strength number than you might realize at first glance. Now, the system takes into account all your choices from Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2. Mass Effect: Legendary Edition makes note of how you completed missions and interacted with characters in past games, so when you create allies, gain assets, and make friends, that translates into war assets. Therefore, it pays to play through Mass Effect 1 and 2 and carry your saved games forward to Mass Effect 3–the more you play, the higher your Total Military Strength will be at the start of the game. Because of those additions, you should be able to complete fewer side missions in Mass Effect 3, if you should so choose, with the war assets you gain from the first two games making up the difference in points.
On the other hand, if you jump straight to Mass Effect 3, you’ll put yourself at something of a disadvantage. Since you won’t have Mass Effect 1 and 2 to boost your Total Military Strength, you’ll have to make it up purely in Mass Effect 3. In order to boost your point numbers in Mass Effect 3, according to BioWare, you’ll have to complete as many side missions you can–all of them, in fact, to reach maximum Total Military Effectiveness.
So on the plus side, Galaxy at War has been streamlined significantly with the removal of mobile apps and multiplayer, making the system much easier to understand. On the other hand, your best bet is to play through the entire Mass Effect: Legendary Edition on a single file, in order to get the maximum Total Military Strength points, the best possible scenario for taking on the Reapers, and the game’s best endings. And that’s probably going to take a bit.
The period drama Bridgerton will be getting a new spinoff at Netflix, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The untitled series will be an origin story for the show’s Queen Charlotte’s character, and Shonda Rhimes (How to Get Away with Murder) will be writing at least the pilot or each episode of what’s being billed as a limited series.
“Many viewers had never known the story of Queen Charlotte before Bridgerton brought her to the world, and I’m thrilled this new series will further expand her story and the world of Bridgerton,” said Netflix vice president of content Bela Bajaria (via THR). “Shonda and her team are thoughtfully building out the Bridgerton universe so they can keep delivering for the fans with the same quality and style they love. And by planning and prepping all the upcoming seasons now, we also hope to keep up a pace that will keep even the most insatiable viewers totally fulfilled.”
All Hail The Queen!
Thrilled to announce we’re expanding the Bridgerton universe with a limited series that will tell Queen Charlotte’s origin story — the series will also feature young Violet Bridgerton and young Lady Danbury pic.twitter.com/nshBfETMdN
The untitled spinoff will also reportedly expand the show’s universe to include stories about the young Violet Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell) and Lady Dansbury (Adjoa Andoh). For a streaming series that has only debuted in December, it has proven to be explosively popular: The show wasalready renewed for Season 2 this January. By April, when production was already underway for Season 2, the show was picked up forSeasons 3 and 4–and now comes news of this spinoff.
Bridgerton is the first project from Grey’s Anatomy veteran Shonda Rhimes after she signed a nine-figure deal with Netflix
Nolan North, the voice actor who plays Nathan Drake in the Uncharted series, has shared a little more insight into the upcoming Uncharted movie starring Tom Holland.
He said on the Good Game Nice Try podcast that he believes in Holland as an actor and the take that Sony is going for with the film and its story. Instead of tracing the story of any of the Uncharted games, the movie will pick up with Drake in his 20s, which is about a decade before we met him in the games.
North said the Uncharted movie is not being labeled as a prequel, but it does tell the story of what Drake was doing before the events of the game, it seems.
“They don’t say this, it’s not a prequel, but here’s our version of Nathan Drake but in his 20s,” North said of what the movie is going for.
North also said he’s encouraged by the fact that the filmmakers are telling a new story as opposed to adapting one of the games. Going with that approach could make the movie feel stale, North said, because people had already experienced that for themselves in the game.
North also said there is a great dynamic between Holland and Mark Wahlberg, who plays Sully in the movie. In the games, the relationship between Drake and Sully–who is essentially a father figure to Drake–is very important.
As for Holland, North had nothing but praise for the actor.
“He’s a super nice kid. Big fan of [Uncharted]. I love the fact that he travels everywhere with his brother Harry and their golf clubs. He’s enthusiastic. He’s so athletic. He’s an amazing dancer. He actually did a lot of, with safety harnesses, he did a lot of the stunts. His physical intelligence is off the chain, the way he moves,” North said.
Finally, North said he’s not upset that he wasn’t cast as Drake, despite being an actor himself and obviously intimately familiar with the material. North said he has let go of Drake and wants to move on to other projects and pursuits, leaving Holland to make his own mark.
The Uncharted movie is scheduled for release in February 2022. It’s directed by Ruben Fleischer, who previously helmed the Zombieland movies for Sony.
Actor Gillian Anderson (The X-Files, The Crown) will be making a guest star appearance in The Great for Season 2, according to a release. In the Hulu series that’s an ahistorical, satirical dramedy about Catherine the Great’s rise to power, Anderson will play Catherine’s mother, Joanna.
In the show, Joanna will be “a glamorous socialite from Germany, sometimes also known as the ‘maestro of marriage’ for her abilities to arrange high-profile partnerships for her daughters.” Anderson will play Joanna for two episodes, in which the character “has heard rumors of her daughter’s coup and come[s] to Russia to see it for herself” with “sinister intentions.” It’s a safe bet that Anderson’s recent performance as Margaret Thatcher on The Crown will have come in handy with how to spoof a historical performance based on a real person.
In addition to Anderson as guest star, the series regulars include stars Elle Fanning (20th Century Women) as Catherine, Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: First Class), Phoebe Fox (Black Mirror), Adam Godley (The X-Files: I Want to Believe), Gwilym Lee (Bohemian Rhapsody), Charity Wakefield (Day of the Flowers), Douglas Hodge (Joker), Sacha Dhawan (Line of Duty), and Belinda Bromilow (Packed to the Rafters).
The Great is created, written, and executive produced by Tony McNamara–who is also a co-writer on the upcoming live-action Cruella movie, which is scheduled to be released both theatrically and on Disney+ on May 28. There’s no release date yet for Season 2 of The Great, but in the meantime you can check out what’s coming this month to both Disney+ and Hulu.
Want to play Mass Effect 2 or Mass Effect 3 like you remembered it in the new Mass Effect: Legendary Edition? With save data importing, you can do just that, but the original game’s files will have to stay in the past.
As confirmed by a GameSpot staffer, the save data for both Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 on PC is compatible with the two games in the Legendary Edition.
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If you go to your Documents folder on PC and select BioWare, you’ll see your save files for all of the developer’s games in a row. Select either Mass Effect 2 or Mass Effect 3, then select one of your characters and copy and paste the file into the corresponding folder under Legendary Edition. Once this is done, you should be able to pick up where you left off, but with better visuals and other enhancements!
The one game this doesn’t work with is the original Mass Effect, as that game had much bigger changes and improvements made to it that brought it in line with the other two. Trying to import this data will result in a corruption message, so don’t waste your time.
Weirdly, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is only the second game to support importing a Mass Effect 2 save file. Frog Fractions 2 also allows you to do this–in fact, one of the puzzles in the game actually requires it, because developer Jim Crawford is nothing if not unique.
Thus far, GameSpot’s Jordan Ramée has been impressed with Mass Effect: Legendary Edition.
“All in all, I’m enjoying playing Mass Effect 1 again, something I never thought I’d say (I find the original game’s combat too frustrating). I’m eager to get back to it, and see how the Legendary Edition may have changed Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 as well,” he said in our Mass Effect: Legendary Edition review in progress.
Katy Perry has dropped a new track in collaboration with The Pokemon Company for the franchise’s 25th anniversary of its titular product, Pokemon. The song, titled “Electric,” is an endearing homage to the story and characters, illuminating that it’s possible for anyone and everyone to evolve.
What’s more, Pikachu makes an appearance as Perry’s companion throughout the “Electric” music video. And about a third of the way through, after Perry conjures her younger self (portrayed by performer Meili Aspen Caputo), Pichu shows up. The song’s overall message states that “if you believe it then you can” achieve any and all goals you have laid out for yourself.
This is reinforced as the “Electric” music video showcases the young Perry singing alongside Pichu, the only one who would listen to her perform. Perry’s biggest cheerleader, Pichu encourages her to continue playing music despite the slow-growing audience. It all culminates with a young Perry performing at a packed talent show, as present-day Perry and Pikachu look on in amusement.
In a statement obtained by Pitchfork, Perry cited her trip to Japan, where she visited the Pokemon Café, as the inspiration behind the song’s creation.
“When I visited the Pokemon Cafe while touring Japan, I got so nostalgic,” Perry said. “It took me back to junior high years. So when I got the call to be a part of the 25th anniversary celebration alongside Post Malone and J Blavin, I was elated. The song’s themes-resilience, igniting your inner light–have guided my life and also parallel Pokemon’s story and characters. Pikachu is the evolved form of Pichu, so in the video, you see the younger version of me with Pichu and myself in the present day with Pikachu. We both evolve, yet retain a sense of playfulness.”
It’s been nearly 20 years since Microsoft launched its original Xbox, with the anniversary taking place later in November this year. Not content with waiting, Microsoft has kicked off its Xbox 20th anniversary celebrations already, which includes a new range or merchandise at the official Xbox Store. If you’re looking to really show your love for Xbox, you can pick up new T-shirts, caps, and more for the special event. You can take a closer look at some of the new 20th-anniversary merch below or browse the full collection at the Xbox Gear Store.
All the new merch is adorned with the Xbox 20 logo that Microsoft has splashed across all its media for the anniversary, but some of the best new items play with this a little bit. This Halo 20th Anniversary Tee is a good example of that, making sure you know what the event is for but spicing up the gold print with a silhouette of Master Chief. Since there hasn’t been Halo Infinite news lately, this might be the next best thing until E3 2021. It’ll be comfy, too, with the shirt made from 100% cotton.
The same logo is featured on a lovely black and gold throw pillow, measuring in at 18×18 inches. You can remove the case using a hidden zipper, letting you keep this collector’s item as fresh as the day you bought it. Also included in the Halo-themed portion of the collection is a gloriously gold mug, and a laser-engraved tumbler that looks more like a flask than anything.
If you’re just looking for something a bit more simple and classic, the Xbox 20th Anniversary Tee ditches the Halo protagonist for the standard green Xbox logo, printed on a plain black shirt. This shirt is also made from 100% cotton like the Master Chief one above, so you don’t have to worry about compromising on quality for the style. This logo is also featured on a 20th Anniversary Trucker Hat and a Premium Tote Bag.
If you’re looking for a new vessel for your coffee (or tea, no judgment here), the new black-and-green Xbox 20th Anniversary Mug will certainly fit the bill. You can personalize it with your name or GamerTag too, making sure no one steals it from the office kitchen. It’ll hold 11oz of your beverage of choice, and it’s both microwave- and dishwasher-safe. For those who prefer the look of the golden Halo design, you can also get it on a mug for the same price.
If you’re new to the Xbox family, you can also benefit from a returning deal on Xbox Game Pass. Grab a three-month subscription to Game Pass Ultimate (that includes access on Xbox and PC) for just $1 directly from Microsoft. That gives you access to over 300 games across both platforms, including new additions like FIFA 21, Red Dead Online, and the Double Fine classic Psychonauts.
