The Irishman Review: Another Scorsese Mob Classic

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This is an advance review out of the New York Film Festival. The Irishman opens in limited theatrical release on Nov. 1 before debuting on Netflix on Nov. 27.

The most important line in The Irishman doesn’t come from any of its three legendary stars of gangster film yore. It comes from the titular character’s daughter, played by Anna Paquin, late in the film. “Why?” she simply asks her father in a pivotal moment. It’s the actress’ only audible line in the film, and yet, with one word, she cuts through just about every trope the gangster genre has established since the early 1970s, when Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola defined it with classic after classic. She is a heart for the heartless, a soul grandfathered in with the soulless at birth, a glimmer of conscience in a once lawless world.

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GAEMS Guardian Pro XP Review

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For some of us, pesky work travel can interrupt important progress in our gaming. While the Nintendo Switch can be an excellent solution, the screen size and audio leaves much to be desired. Plus, you can’t play Red Dead Redemption 2 on Switch (yet). GAEMS has been attacking this problem head on for close to a decade and offer some great portable console solutions. This past summer GAEMS released its upgrade to the Sentinel G170 Personal Gaming Environment – the Guardian Pro XP (See it on Amazon). It has a built-in 24-inch 1440p IPS monitor, stereo speakers with dedicated subwoofers, camera mount points for streaming on the go, and enough space inside to fit all your accessories.

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Netflix's The Politician: Season 1 Review

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This is a mostly spoiler-free review for all eight episodes of The Politician, which premieres Friday, September 27 on Netflix.

As with most hotly-contested races for power, all eyes are on Ryan Murphy's The Politician, a new series starring Ben Platt (Dear Evan Hansen, Pitch Perfect) in a marvelous turn as a well-meaning sociopath with lofty ambitions of becoming president someday. To do this, Platt's wealthy Santa Barbarian character, Payton Hobart, simply must - MUST - become student body president of his high school and then go on to Harvard. He has a plan, a loyal team, and a drive to make things better for everyone around him. Payton, as he readily admits himself, isn't a good person. But he wants to do good things.

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iPhone 11 Pro Review

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Meet Apple’s first ‘Pro-level’ smartphone, the iPhone 11 Pro (see it at Amazon). This is the first time Apple has put the “Pro” designation on its phones but what has it added to make this $999 phone worthy of such a title?

Well, quite a lot actually: its new triple-lens camera that includes an ultra-wide view, one of the brightest OLED displays available, and an included 18W fast charger, just to name a few. After years of lagging, the iPhone 11 Pro has not only caught up, but also leaped above and beyond, its Android phone rivals in a few areas.

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FIFA 20 Legacy Edition (Switch) Review

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There’s honestly no genuine reason I could give you to purchase FIFA 20 on the Nintendo Switch if you already own FIFA 19 on Switch. I don’t generally share the sentiment of the crowd that labels sports games as the same every year, but when it comes to FIFA 20 Legacy Edition, all of the comment section tropes are valid. For a series already drowning in microtransaction debate, the Switch version really doesn’t help EA’s case in currying gamers’ favour by essentially offering nothing but a barebones roster update for nearly the price of a full game. A ‘macrotransaction’, if you will.

Last year, I had this to say about FIFA 19’s gameplay on Nintendo Switch:

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Evil: Series Premiere Review

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Every so often, CBS will attempt to draw outside the lines a little bit. To branch out a smidge beyond their primetime "crimetime" adventure procedurals. This season, they're placing all their supernatural eggs in a basket called Evil - a new "in the vein of X-Files" series from Good Wife creators Robert and Michelle King.

Whereas The X-Files was all about UFOs, little green men, and whether or not they existed, Evil asks the same question of demons. It's faith-based monsters our team is tracking here, headed by the sublimely confused David Acosta, played by Luke Cage's Mike Colter. David works for the Catholic Church as an assessor of sorts. He interviews murderers, especially those who claim to have been controlled by dark forces from Hell, to determine which cases are phony and which require an exorcism house call.

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Nintendo Switch Lite Review

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The original Nintendo Switch no longer feels like a proper portable device now that I’ve used the Switch Lite. This new slimmed-down version reminds me of the Game Boy Advance in look and feel, offering a cheaper and more attractive way to play the Switch’s incredible library on the go. Of course, it comes at the cost of its signature ability to dock and play on a TV, sacrificing a whole lot of flexibility in how you play. But while the Lite can’t actually “switch,” it certainly does the mode it’s stuck in well enough to satisfy anybody looking to replace their aging Nintendo 3DS. In fact, if I’m playing a game in handheld mode anyway, I’d rather do so on a Switch Lite than on a full-fledged Switch.

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In the Shadow of the Moon Review: Netflix's Time-Travel Thriller

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This was reviewed out of Fantastic Fest. In the Shadow of the Moon debuts on Netflix on Sept. 27.

In the Shadow of the Moon is a serial killer flick that spans decades and straddles genres, combining thriller with science fiction, police procedural, and time travel. Yet while the film’s ambitions are lofty, it isn’t quite the sum of its parts, playing a little earnest for much of the run-time, and climaxing with some pretty painful plot machinations.

The movie starts in encouraging fashion, the first 30 minutes playing out like the finale of another film, which makes sense as proceedings progress and the film starts hopping back then forward in time.

Following an explosive prologue set in 2024, the film journeys to 1988, and we meet Thomas “Lock” Lockhart (Boyd Holbrook), a Philadelphia police officer with a pregnant wife at home and plans to make detective at work. While patrolling the streets with partner Maddox (Bokeem Woodbine), Lock stumbles over the case that could make his name.

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Creepshow: Premiere Episode Review

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The spooky spiritual continuation of the Creepshow brand has landed on Shudder, resurrected by Walking Dead EP and special effects makeup maestro Greg Nicotero (who mentored under Creepshow's George Romero and Tom Savini), and, well, it's fun!

Is it scary? Not particularly, but then Creepshow was never about traveling deep into the heart of terror. It's basically top-shelf schlock, all with a campy crust designed to evoke old EC horror comics. Oh, and notable names. Not A-List players, but stalwart, recognizable genre mainstays added to elevate the unease.

And as always with Creepshow, there's no solid explanation for why the terrible things happen (usually to terrible people). No "ancient Mayan curse" or "someone pissed off a wizard" style of reasoning is provided. It may frustrate some, but it's one of Creepshow's hallmarks -- the lack of true depth (meant in the best possible way, of course). An alcoholic dad can just, you know, turn into a grey mutating slush monster that can split apart and multiply to the point of causing an apocalypse. A child's dollhouse can just come with a zombie head that runs (rolls?) amok and slaughters a plastic family. These things just are.

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Wrinkles the Clown Review

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This is an advance review out of Fantastic Fest. Wrinkles the Clown debuts in theaters and On Demand on Oct. 4th (yes, the same day Joker opens).

It all started with grainy black-and-white video of a clown called ‘Wrinkles’ emerging from under the bed of a little girl, a Craigslist offer to scare your kids for money, and a sticker of said clown’s phone number posted around towns in southwest Florida. What followed was viral success, thousands of phone calls, nearly as many death threats, and nationwide panic.

Michael Beach Nichols’ film endeavors to detail the strange story of ‘Wrinkles,’ featuring folk who love him and folk who hate him, alongside an extensive interview with the man himself. Kind of. It doesn’t get to the heart of the matter however, the movie proving engaging when focusing on the character’s meteoric rise to fame, but failing when it messes with the documentary format.

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eFootball PES 2020 Review

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If patterns hold true, EA’s FIFA 20 will no doubt sell enough physical copies to reach to the Moon and back – but when it comes to on-pitch action, there’s only one soccer game this season that truly shoots for the stars. eFootball PES 2020 – to use its horrible full name – is one of Konami’s finest football games in years. Certainly of the console generation, but there’s an argument to say this is the best in what used to be known as the Pro Evolution Soccer series since PES’ PS2 pomp… even if the menus haven’t improved much since then.

If you put a lot of stock in an alluring user experience, you’ll probably have a few gripes with PES 2020 (which I refuse to stop calling it, Konami). Even after a facelift, the menus are pretty bad; a forlorn love letter to an era of awful PS2 menu music and cluttered formation screens. Yes, the songs that play in the background are now a little less ear-offending than before, yet place PES next to FIFA 20’s predictably slick, Sky Sports-aping presentation and this really is a ‘Champions League vs Johnstone Paint Trophy’ scenario.

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Code Vein Review

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If you’ve seen a trailer or any preview footage for Code Vein, the elevator pitch is clear: It’s an “anime Soulslike” – an action-RPG that promises the steep challenge and cautious combat that we’ve all become very acquainted with in recent years. Code Vein doesn’t simply layer generic anime style and storytelling on top of a Souls clone and call it a day, though: its unique post-apocalyptic sci-fi-meets-anime horror atmosphere stands out, and its flexible class system and an AI partner distinguish it from its peers mechanically. Some of those ideas make things more frustrating than they need to be at times, but in this kind of game, a healthy dose of frustration comes with the territory. Code Vein deserves some credit for experimenting with this firmly established formula in ways others often don't.

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Stumptown: Season 1 Premiere Review

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Cobie Smulders has moved from the big screen back to the small screen, from the MCU to - well - an altogether different type of comic book adaptation.

Stumptown, based on a series of acclaimed graphic novels by Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth, is a fiery and frenetic P.I. series with flare to spare. Smulders is a wonderful fit here, infusing traumatized Marine Dex Parios with enough down-on-her-luck charm to portray a barely-competent investigator.

Supporting her special needs brother, Ansel (Cole Sibus), shouldering a gambling debt, and harboring deep emotional wounds from a past wartime love, Dex is the best kind of gumshoe to follow: a flawed, self-sabotaging siren who, at least in this first episode, stumbles her way to victory. You want your underdog heroes to accumulate cuts and bruises, both physical and spiritual, as they reluctantly champion justice. They'll start out doing the job for money but eventually finish it for pride. In this regard, Stumptown is a prickly pleasure.

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It's Always Sunny: Season 14 Premiere Review

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While Dennis and Mac attempt to AirBnB their way into a Rom-Com meat-cute (meat cube?), Frank and Charlie try to rope in Euro-strays for swinging sexual escapades in Always Sunny's Season 14 premiere - an episode directed by Sunny star Glenn Howerton.

Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld opted to close up shop on Seinfeld when it was at the absolute top of the ratings heap, choosing to go out on a high. Truthfully, they could have kept the show going for many years more. Always Sunny is proof of that, as there will never be a time when The Gang falls out of fashion. The same could be said for South Park, in a certain regard. As long as there's a gathering of idiots and/or ethically flexible characters willing to debate social norms or have a go at a handful of harebrained schemes, you've got yourself a season's worth of mirth.

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Mario Kart Tour Review in Progress

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Nintendo’s mobile efforts have been divisive to say the least. Since the launch of Super Mario Run in 2016 it has struggled to combine its traditional quality of gameplay with mobile’s monetization in a fair and effective way. Few people seemed happy with Mario Run’s premium price of $10, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp’s dearth of content made it less than exciting to invest in, and Dragalia Lost, Fire Emblem Heroes, and Dr. Mario World all used familiar but frustrating microtransaction tactics that worked against the gameplay. After racing through the early hours of Mario Kart Tour, it seems Nintendo is still struggling with this difficult hurdle in this free-to-play version for iOS and Android. The price tags next to Tour’s microtransactions are surprisingly big, but the actual driving works well and often feels impressively similar to a traditional Mario Kart game.

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LucidSound LS25 Esports Wired Gaming Headset Review

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LucidSound is a relative newcomer to the gaming headset business but, being founded by a group of gaming audio veterans, they’ve gained attention for their focus on stylish designs and high quality gaming audio. Today, we’re looking at one of the company’s most affordable options with the LS25 Esports Wired Gaming Headset (see it on Amazon).

It’s designed for competitive play and features large 50mm drivers that promise a big, bold sound. With an MSRP of $79.99 and frequent pricing below $50, it’s a compelling option for gamers on a budget, but should it be the next accessory on your shopping list? Let’s take a closer look and find out.

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Emergence: Series Premiere Review

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This review contains spoilers for the series premiere of ABC's Emergence. We won't be reviewing every episode weekly, but let us know what you think of the series and whether you plan to keep watching!

A mysterious, government-controlled island, a crash-landed ship, and a young survivor with no injuries or memories. With Storm Area 51 making headlines last week, ABC’s new conspiracy thriller series Emergence debuts at an interesting and most fitting time.

The mystery of Emergence centers around Piper (Alexa Swinton), the only survivor of a Long Island beach plane crash: who is she, where does she come from, and perhaps most importantly, what is she? In interviews, show creators Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas said Emergence draws influence primarily from the works of Steven Spielberg, name-dropping Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T.

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Prodigal Son: Episode 1 Review

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This is a mostly spoiler-free review of Fox's Prodigal Son. We won't be reviewing every episode weekly, but let us know what you think of the series and whether you plan to keep watching!

From creators Chris Fedak (Chuck, Deception) and Sam Sklaver (Deception, Blunt Talk) comes a new creepy series marked by fun performances from Michael Sheen and The Walking Dead's Tom Payne. Sheen's an incarcerated serial killer, who was arrested in the late '90s for killing 23 people, while Payne plays the killer's grown son - an erratic, sleepless criminal profiler. Together, like Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter, they crack cases while sifting through complex emotions. Though here, in Prodigal Son, the feelings are familial.

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Contra: Rogue Corps Review

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Playing Contra: Rogue Corps made me sad. It is absolutely not what I, as a lifelong fan of the series, expect out of a new Contra game in 2019. For one thing, it’s not good. For another, it feels like outside of tough difficulty and over-the-top co-op action, Konami has lost sight of what made the series popular in the first place. Calling this poorly made twin-stick shooter a Contra game not only fosters misplaced expectations, but also sours the legacy of the once-great franchise even further. Also, what’s with the random panda?

In Contra: Rogue Corps you’re thrust into the center of a massive alien invasion, as per usual. The campaign takes place in The Damned City, which is ground zero in the war, supposedly shortly after the events of Contra III: The Alien Wars. The story is far from memorable, unsurprisingly, and barely gives any context for all of the generic alien slaughter. Plus, the sophomoric humor is extremely off-brand. Contra has never taken itself too seriously, but this cheesy banter is painfully stilted and forced.

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The Surge 2 Review

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Sequels are a tricky business. The best of them not only manage to recapture what people enjoyed about the original, but also find ways to enhance them while effectively introducing new ideas. On the flip-side, there are plenty of instances where, despite a few new good ideas and generally high quality, the sequel doesn’t create quite as much of an impression. The Surge 2 fits snugly into the latter category: this return to the sci-fi Souls-like action game realm hacks and slashes just as hard – harder, in some cases – but falls just short of recapturing the same dismembering joy.

On paper, The Surge 2 does exactly what it should in order to achieve the goals of a sequel: it’s retained a lot of what worked in the first game, and throws in a few solid system updates and quality-of-life improvements aimed at making a better version of the original. However, there are some environmental design and storytelling decisions that eliminate some of the original’s charm and cause the story to trip over its own feet.

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Gigabyte Aorus CV27F Gaming Monitor Review

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It’s been an exciting two years for Gigabyte. They’ve been a mainstay in the PC building business for ages but in 2017 they started to expand their scope. We’ve seen SSDs, memory kits, and, as we’re looking at today, purpose-built gaming monitors with feature sets designed to give gamers an edge. Today, we’re looking at the Gigabyte Aorus CV27F (see it on Amazon). It features an impressive 27-inch Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) VA panel, a deep 165Hz refresh rate and 1500R curve, and the same suite of gaming features found on Gigabyte’s most premium models.

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History Is Titans' Greatest Strength

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Note: this review contains full spoilers for Titans: Season 2, Episode 3. If you need a refresher on where we left off, check out our review for Season 2, Episode 2.

Titans continues its transformation from gritty superhero road trip to a more traditional take on the Teen Titans mythos this week. Tone down the adult language and Titans could almost be mistaken for an Arrowverse offshoot (albeit one with a much more expensive production budget). And while the show clearly still has some kinks to work out, these changes are by and large working out for the best.

While the shift to a true headquarters and a lavish rendition of Titans Tower is nice, the biggest improvement in Season 2 is this renewed emphasis on history and legacy. The current plot revolves heavily around the fact that a version of the Titans existed once before, one that ended in failure and heartache. That casts a shadow over everything Dick and his teammates are trying to build here. It also informs how new villains like Deathstroke and Doctor Light are being brought into the picture. Both men have a history with a team ,and both are hellbent on making the new Titans pay for the crimes of the old.

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Netflix's Criminal Review

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Criminal is a unique 12-part Netflix series that spans four European regions, with different directors, showrunners, and performers for each country. This is only a preview for the three Criminal U.K. episodes. On Friday, September 20, you can see these episodes, along with the ones from France, Spain, and Germany, on Netflix.

Forgoing the investigation and arrest, and cutting away before the trial, Netflix's bold-yet-simple new series, Criminal, focuses solely on the interview/interrogation room and the officers observing behind the two-way mirror. With only two rooms (and an occasional hallway) to play with, each 40-minute episode acts like a taut stage play, diving deep into the combination of procedure and psychology these detectives have to use in order to get a suspect talking - and hopefully confessing.

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Netflix's Disenchantmnet: Season 2 Review

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This is a (mostly) spoiler-free review for Netflix's Disenchantment Season 2, which premieres on Netflix on Friday, September 20, 2019. For more on the series, be sure to check out our IGN First Season 2 interview with Disenchantment creators Matt Groening and Josh Weinstein.

After 30 consecutive years (and counting) with The Simpsons, and seven on-again-off-again seasons of Futurama, Matt Groening definitely needed something new in the animated space to sink his creative teeth into. Disenchantment, now in its second season, has given the successful animator a vibrant new world to tell stories in. And while Disenchantment's first season did resemble a medieval-fantasy version of Futurama at times, Season 2 matures into a more character-driven series with real stakes and fascinating new locations to explore.

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Promare Review

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From the minds of the men who gave us Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill comes their first feature film, Promare. The themes and pacing are reminiscent of director Hiroyuki Imaishi and scriptwriter Kazuki Nakashima’s past work, which isn’t a bad thing, but leaves the film feeling a little predictable for anyone who knows the pair’s work. Still, Promare has enough of its own flair to stand alongside the great anime series the duo have produced.

In Promare, people surging with anger start to spontaneously combust all over the world, causing a global event called The Great Burning. Thirty years later, society rebuilds and dubs these people - now with more controllable fire powers - as Burnish. Galo Thymos, an overenthusiastic meathead with a strong sense of justice, is the protagonist and a member of Burning Rescue, a defense force that’s created to quell Burnish-caused flames. His team is a fun, lively cast of characters that have flourishes of individual identities but don’t get enough screen time to feel fully fleshed out. Promare has no shortage of interesting characters, but much of the reason the Burning Rescue team seems to get pushed aside is because this movie isn’t centered around Galo alone.

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Untitled Goose Game Review

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Like many regular people, I often toss and turn in bed at night restlessly kept from sleep by the same persistent question: what if Hitman’s Agent 47 were a goose? Well, me and my fellow feather-inclined friends can finally rest easy, as the unrelentingly charming and wonderfully absurd Untitled Goose Game has finally brought our sleepless nights peace by showing us the answer - and that answer is a magical kind of fowl play that replaces murder with merciless annoyance. It’s a short game, but that time is packed with plenty of laughs and simple pleasures.

As implied by the absence of a title, in Untitled Goose Game you play as a goose. But not just any goose: you’re a goose who is also a total asshole. (Honestly, maybe that just means you are a regular goose.) You run around a lovely, minimalist English village honking, flapping your wings, and generally doing goose things as you clear off a hand-written checklist full of mischievous goose tasks.

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Lexip Pu94 Gaming Mouse Review

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The Lexip Pu94 (see it on Amazon) is not your normal gaming mouse. Sure, it has RGB lighting, a high-DPI laser sensor, six programmable buttons, and no-slip side grips, but it also brings a pair of joysticks to the party along with incredibly smooth gliding action by way of its six ceramic pads. The two joysticks are what truly make the mouse unique. There’s one mini-joystick on the left-edge of the mouse that’s meant to be controlled with your thumb. The other joystick is hiding in plain sight: the body of the mouse itself can be tilted side-to-side and front-to-back. The Lexip Pu94 is built for gaming but its genesis comes from an earlier mouse from Lexip that was designed for CAD and other 3D modeling work where the two joysticks let you manipulate 3D objects without using your keyboard or needing to click and drag with your mouse. Is all of this just a gimmick, or is Lexip actually on to something here? We put it through its paces to find out.

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Between Two Ferns: The Movie Review

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Between Two Ferns: The Movie premieres Friday, September 20 on Netflix.

Between Two Ferns, Zach Galifianakis' low blood sugar Funny or Die celebrity roast series, is now, for better or worse, a Netflix movie. Lifted up and out of its online comedy sketch bubble, Between Two Ferns: The Movie presents us with a full narrative for the faux show. Specifically, it offers a backstory explaining why an eccentric, obtuse public access TV host would somehow land an avalanche of A-Listers willing to endure five minutes of dry insults.

The loose idea here, for this quasi-improvisational road trip tale directed by Scott Aukerman, is that Will Ferrell is a maniacal coke addict who, for the sake of trillions of "clicks" on Funny or Die, forces his celebrity friends to fly to North Carolina to appear on a small-town show hosted by a rude moron.

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NXT on USA Review: How Was NXT's Shift to TV?

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Considering the ample amount of wrestling I've written about over the past decade on IGN, and looking at vast volume of TV episodes and seasons I've also reviewed, it's certainly surprising to realize that this is the first actual episode of wrestling I've reviewed. But NXT switching from streaming to broadcast TV, from WWE Network to USA Network, creating WWE's third primetime show on basic cable (and third brand if you're keen to count RAW and SmackDown as separate brands) felt like it warranted a closer look.

Almost unanimously considered WWE's best product for years, despite technically being the company's farm league, NXT was going live, extending to two-hours, and in danger of losing the magical old-school elements that made so special and distinct. Most notably though, if you ask the Internet, it was in danger of shifting from a Triple H-helmed promotion to one with Vince McMahon's base three-ring circus fingerprints all over it. Would NXT, in fact, lose its luster by moving up to the "big time," in the same way that many NXT Superstars who've moved up to the main RAW and SmackDown rosters have been woefully under-utilized?

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American Horror Story is Freaky and Fun Again

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As American Horror Story slithers into its ninth season of "prestige schlock" - this time awesomely aping classic slasher flicks from the '80s - heavyweight players Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters are gone (though no one's ruling out cameos) and Emma Roberts, who started in "Coven," is now the veteran series performer.

And it makes sense for Paulson and Peters to take a powder after this long, considering how last season's "Apocalypse" tied together "Murder House" and "Coven" for one giant story that also required them to play multiple roles, as they revisited past parts. Their absence, plus an influx of new performers (including Matthew Morrison, Angelica Rossand, and actual Olympian Gus Kenworthy) and the infusion of retro-horror, make "Camp Redwood," the 1984 season premiere, feel like a fresh turnaround.

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The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Review

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Playing The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening is an exercise in time travel. Ahead of the Switch remake, I replayed a 2011 version of a 1998 version of the 1993 original. I found the famously inscrutable handheld, top-down Zelda as pleasingly difficult to scrute as ever. Its hazy, Twin Peaks-inspired story and compact, twisting overworld were undimmed by time, but its dungeons were slightly lacking by comparison with what came after, built frustratingly often around just finding hidden areas rather than truly rewarding puzzle solving. But just like a good time-travel yarn, the 2019 remake is out to correct mistakes and make more perfect what came before. I’m happy to say that, having finished this latest version of the story, all of my praise for Link’s Awakening remains intact, and my reservations have practically disappeared.

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FIFA 20 Review

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I’ve had to reassess the way I’ve played FIFA this year, which is something I haven’t had to do in many years through all the tweaks, changes and so called “game-changing mechanics”. FIFA 20 feels different to previous years; in some ways for the better, but in others not. Volta, a brand-new way to play FIFA that offers a breath of fresh air to the series - albeit not without its own faults - is here, but does it come at the expense of the game as a whole?

Last year, many of FIFA 19’s gameplay innovations were based on the attacking game, from timed-finishes to the basics of how the ball could be nudged into space with a flick of the stick. FIFA 20 swings the pendulum back the other way and puts much more emphasis on the other side of the ball. The way you defend has been overhauled and has never felt more crucial. You can no longer heedlessly charge at a defender, hold down the tackle button, and hope for the best. You’re punished for not thinking about defensive play to the same extent you would building an attack, due to the high level of risk-reward when going in for a challenge; time it well and you’ll likely take the ball cleanly and win possession. Misjudge the timing, however, and you’re punished with a foul or left watching as your opponent skips over your trailing leg.

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G.I. Joe Gets the Fresh Start it Needed

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Following its reboot of the Transformers franchise earlier this year, IDW is now hitting the reset button on G.I. Joe. The old continuity that began in the 2008 Chuck Dixon series is gone, as is the shared Hasbro universe that once connected the Joes to other properties like Transformers, Rom and MASK. For a franchise that's been trapped in a perpetual identity crisis for years, this fresh start is just what the Dr. Mindbender ordered.

The first time around, IDW made the mistake of trying to find a happy medium between the classic G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero comics and a more grounded tale of military espionage. That combination never fully clicked. And particularly once IDW revived Real American Hero and let writer Larry Hama continue where he left off in 1994, the core G.I. Joe books never felt all that essential. IDW's one real accomplishment in its rebooted Joe-verse was the graphic novel Cobra: The Last Laugh, which is quite possibly the finest G.I. Joe story in any medium.

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Batman #79 Delivers Another Beautiful Bat/Cat Love Story

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Fans of Batman and Catwoman's romance have plenty to be thankful for right now. Even though that romance collapsed due to the tragic events of Batman #50, it's on the rebound as writer Tom King builds toward next year's Batman/Catwoman series. And if these most recent two issues are any indication, fans are in for a real treat in 2020.

Batman #79 continues the "City of Bane" interlude story from the previous issue, as Bruce and Selina carry out a clandestine mission designed to weaken Bane's stranglehold on Gotham City and pave the way for Batman's triumphant return. Along the way, there's a whole lot more Bat-beefcake for your viewing pleasure, along with a definitive answer to one of the series' longest-running mysteries. All in all, a pretty eventful issue for being a "mere" side-story.

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Rambo: Last Blood Review

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The arc of John Rambo, first begun in 1982 with Ted Kotcheff's broody action film First Blood, has been an unusual one to say the least. Rambo (sensitively portrayed by Sylvester Stallone) was initially presented as an emotionally wounded ex-soldier who had been deeply stained and hollowed out by the violence he experienced in the Vietnam war. When Rambo first whipped out his hunting knife and began eviscerating small town sheriffs, it was meant to be seen as the final, tragic crack in the soul of a broken man.

Audiences, however (and perhaps bafflingly), latched onto the film's exhilarating violence and to Rambo's soldierly efficiency more than to his tragedy, leading First Blood's subsequent sequels to transform the titular trauma sufferer into a tragedy-free, unstoppable all-American badass killing machine and pop culture's central symbol for unchallenged American military might. A character who was originally meant to stand as a symbol for the damage that war can do to a soldier is now best remembered as an unkillable human machine gun.

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JJ Abrams' Spider-Man Comic Lives Up to the Hype

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Note: Spider-Man #1 features a major plot twist that wasn't advertised ahead of time. I tried my best to talk around that twist in the review, but beware of minor spoilers below. And if you want to know exactly what happens, check out our spoiler-filled breakdown of Spider-Man #1.

Marvel hasn't exactly done this new Spider-Man series any favors with its marketing up until now. The publisher teased what initially seemed to be a comic book follow-up to Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, inevitably setting up fans for disappointment when that turned out not to be the case. And while the prospect of Hollywood titan J.J. Abrams and son Henry Abrams trying their hands at Spider-Man is appealing, Marvel didn't do enough to establish what makes this series unique. In a time where both Amazing Spider-Man and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man are delivering accessible, engaging stories, do we really need another Spider-Man comic in the mix? It's only after reading Spider-Man #1 that this series truly begins to sell itself as something different.

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Ad Astra Review

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James Gray's Ad Astra takes the perfectly decent premise of a fun, schlocky space adventure cheapie, then sits down next to it with a trowel full of thick, creamy, slow-moving profundity and starts smearing. Brad Pitt plays Roy, an astronaut in the near future who must travel to the bitter climes of Neptune to find his thought-lost father Cliff (Tommy Lee Jones) who may or may not have an antimatter widget that's threatening the fate of the solar system.

Roy traverses increasingly hostile territory while contemplating what might have happened to his father's mind, and what might be happening to his own. On his journey, he will encounter a lot of his own Terrence Malick-like voiceover, an incredible score (by Max Richter), some of the most amazing space photography in a film (by Interstellar's Hoyte van Hoytema) and an eventual near-insufferable tone of slow, bleak somberness that will leave audiences wanting to give Gray a chocolate cream and a pat on the back just to cheer him up.

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Mr. Robot's Final Season Will Answer All Your Questions - IGN First

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All September long, IGN is highlighting the best TV coming your way in the 2019-2020 season. Today we're readying ourselves for Mr. Robot's final season - which kicks off October 6 on USA - by talking to Darlene Alderson herself, Carly Chaikin. Season 3 ended with a bang (and a few axe chops!) when Rami Malek's Elliot, along with Chaikin's Darlene and Grace Gummer's Dom, found themselves captured by Whiterose's forces and forced to comply with her demands. But if you're looking for a refresh on Season 3, or even for episodes before that, look no further because we've got an exclusive video recap, chronicling the entire show up to this point, by Mr. Robot's cast. 

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Pixio PX5 Hayabusa 240Hz Monitor Review

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The world at large is finally catching up to something gamers have known for years⁠—Esports is the real deal. Thanks to the high production value of Blizzard and Riot tournaments, big networks like ESPN are seeing its legitimacy and getting into the mix. It takes a good deal of talent to play at that level, but it also takes a good gaming monitor that doesn’t hold you back. The Pixio PX5 (See it at Amazon) aims to be that monitor. With a 240Hz max refresh rate, 1ms response time, low input lag, and FreeSync support, the PX5 makes a great case to be the 240Hz gaming monitor for anyone that wants to be competitive.

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Motherless Brooklyn Review

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This is an advance review out of the Toronto International Film Festival. Motherless Brooklyn opens in the US on Nov. 1 and in the UK on Nov. 30.

Nearly 20 years after making his directorial debut with the romantic comedy Keeping the Faith, Edward Norton has journeyed back behind the camera for an altogether more serious affair. Motherless Brooklyn is a detective story based on the 1999 novel of the same name by Jonathan Lethem. But where the book had a contemporary setting, Norton – who also adapts and stars – has transported the plot back to 1950s New York to make a period piece about power, corruption, and the dark side of gentrification, packaged in a convoluted murder-mystery.

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Sayonara Wild Hearts Review

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More visual musical album than traditional video game, Sayonara Wild Hearts’ is packed with vibrant imagery, high-speed motorcycle chases, impressively seamless animations, and just a pinch of magical girl anime inspirations. It reminded more of Daft Punk’s 2003 animated film Interstella 5555 or Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s trippy 2001 musical shooter Rez than a typical music video game, more concerned with highlighting its catchy music and filling your eyes with pleasant, colorful imagery than telling an overt story. In its efforts to elevate the soundtrack, Sayonara succeeds undeniably, but as a compelling video game with engaging interactive mechanics it comes up a little short – still, I was happy playing it the whole way through.

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Arrow: Oliver Queen's Final Mission Begins With a Shocking Return

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All September long, IGN is highlighting the best TV coming your way in the 2019-2020 season. Today we're featuring Arrow, which is set to begin its eighth and final season in October. The series is undergoing its most dramatic status quo shift ever in Season 8. Oliver Queen is coming out of his short-lived retirement to join forces with the Monitor and prepare for the coming Crisis, a conflict he's been told will lead to his own death. Along the way, the series will revisit the most popular characters and conflicts from the past seven seasons, even as it also continues exploring the future of Team Arrow in the year 2049. We recently had a chance to chat with showrunner Beth Schwartz about the final season and how it pays tribute to Oliver Queen's legacy in the Arrowverse.  

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Arcade1Up Mortal Kombat Arcade Cabinet Review

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Time was, if you wanted an arcade cabinet in your house, you had to make a lot of sacrifices. You either had to sacrifice space and a lot of money for a commercial cabinet or sacrifice more time but less money on building a custom MAME cabinet, or some other solution for home arcade gaming. Arcade1Up's line of 3/4 scale arcade cabinets hit the scene and shrunk the cabinets down from their full-sized versions, added more than one game per unit, and kept the price manageable.

The question remains with Arcade1Up cabinets: what sacrifices have to be made to get a 4-foot arcade cabinet replica in your home? The good news is the Mortal Kombat Arcade1Up cabinet (See it at Walmart) manages to distill the arcade Mortal Kombat experience into a device without a lot of sacrifices.

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WRC 8 Review

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Though it’s been through some hard times over the past 19 years, KT Racing’s WRC series has been steadily improving since the French development team’s tenure with the license began in 2015, and WRC 8 represents its biggest leap in quality to date. Packed with outstanding stage design and bolstered by a number of welcome improvements – including a much richer and more nuanced career mode – WRC 8 is certainly the most in-depth rally sim to ever wear the official license. Finally, it’s positioned to compete with the big names in the genre.

Whether played with a pad or a wheel, WRC 8 is a satisfying arm wrestle and certainly the best-feeling WRC game I’ve played – and that extends back to Evolution’s memorable stint with the license back in the PS2 era. On a pad, the FWD cars like aggressive taps of the stick for countersteering – anxious drags just induce fishtailing. They also need keen tugs of the trigger to brake hard and step the rear out. The AWD WRC cars and their otherworldly acceleration and grip require much more finesse; you can pivot them on the throttle but they demand smoother inputs all around. On a wheel, however, it really starts to sing; it’s slippy but responsive as the tyres relentlessly claw at any surface, and the force feedback is impressive and effective.

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GreedFall Review

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GreedFall is almost everything I want out of a big, juicy, old-school RPG. While it’s still lacking a lot of polish, the exciting combat and excellent, complex quest writing bring it very close to that winning formula of a mid-2000s BioWare game – something the developer, Spiders, has previously aimed for but missed with its last couple of releases (and BioWare itself hasn’t shown much interest in lately). GreedFall’s sprawling adventure finally seems to have landed on the right foot, and it’s worth the wait.

Comparisons to The Witcher series and Dragon Age: Origins are easy to make as you travel across the wild, semi-open environments for a 60-hour campaign. Spiders has always been great at worldbuilding, and the Age of Discovery-inspired fantasy setting GreedFall throws you into doesn’t disappoint in that regard. Starting out in the moody, muddy streets of the city of Serene that evoke Paris or London in the 1700s, you set sail for the mysterious, volcanic island of Teer Fradee. These places serve as the backdrop for a many-layered, morally complex tale about colonization, religion, politics, and worlds colliding that had me taking steel and gunpowder to all manner of foes, human and mythical, while uncovering a compelling mystery with plenty of surprises in store.

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Downton Abbey Review

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Watch our video review for the Downton Abbey movie in the player above.

Polish the fine china, don your best fascinator, and put the kettle on because the glamorous world of Downton Abbey has finally come to theaters, giving the six-season British series a lavish sendoff that should leave Downton fans satiated. It’s 1927, and the Crawley family are hosting the most prestigious of guests -- King George V and his wife, Queen Mary, which provides a provocative backdrop for both Downton’s servants and aristocracy, as they scramble to prepare for the royal visit.

Series creator and screenplay writer Jullian Fellowes’ move from the small screen to the big screen -- apart from its total runtime -- doesn’t try to drastically change Downton’s tried and true formula. Directed by Downton alum Michael Engler, the movie feels like a two-hour episode, which isn’t a bad thing since the show already had a cinematic aesthetic, complete with long sweeping views of the gorgeous Downton grounds, and impressive tracking shots following the servants through the bustling downstairs corridors. Accompanied by long-time Downton composer John Lunn, whose melodious tunes evoke a feeling of grandeur that’s appropriate for a film about royalty, this Downton adventure is a fitting continuation of its TV origins.

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Tigers Are Not Afraid Review

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Tigers Are Not Afraid is in limited theatrical release and streaming in the US, Canada and UK/Ireland exclusively on Shudder.

There is a long tradition of magical realism in Latin American storytelling, which borrows elements from fables and myth and inserts them into true-to-life stories about our modern world to make fantasy part of the norm. While this is more often associated with literature, films like Amélie and the filmography of Guillermo del Toro bring elements of magical realism to film. Tigers Are Not Afraid, the newest film by Mexican writer-director Issa López, not only manages to join the pantheon of great magical realism stories; it’s a movie that’s part war documentary, part dark fantasy, and all round one of the best Latin American movies of the decade.

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Titans Is Becoming a Very Different Show

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Note: this review contains full spoilers for Titans: Season 2, Episode 2. If you need a refresher on where we left off, check out our review for the Season 2 premiere, "Trigon."

As disappointing as Titans' Season 2 premiere was, at least there was little reason to assume "Trigon" was indicative of the season as a whole. That episode was torn between the need to wrap up Season 1's unfinished threads and begin establishing Season 2's new direction. With that thankless task out of the way, the series is now free to start charting a new course for itself. "Rose" makes it clear that Titans is becoming a much different series in its second year.

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No Man's Sky Beyond Review

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In 2019, No Man’s Sky is the water fight of games. When your water balloons are stacked high and your water gun is full it’s an absolute blast. But inevitably, you run out of liquid ammunition and have to pause for several minutes, soaking wet and shivering, while you operate a hose and refill your stores for the next round of fun. While the recent Beyond represents another significant step in the right direction for No Man’s Sky that improves itself in almost every area, the uninteresting harvesting and survival mechanics that underlie it all remain incredibly grindy and frequently mind-numbingly tedious. It often feels like it’s been made by two teams with opposing views on game design, who are each tugging at either side of it until eventually agreeing to meet in the middle or tear it in half.

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Tokyo Ghoul S Review

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Tokyo Ghoul S opens September 16 in 400 theaters across the U.S. and Canada. The film will have a three-day limited theatrical run (September 16, 18, and 20) and will screen in Japanese with English subtitles.

You can watch our video review for Tokyo Ghoul S in the player above.

Before you get into Tokyo Ghoul S you should probably know that it's a sequel to the 2017 film Tokyo Ghoul and both are based on the 14-volume manga of the same name that was originally published in the weekly Shonen Jump magazine.

The story centers on a world where mortals live alongside so-called ghouls who need to eat human flesh to survive and our hero is a college student, Ken Kaneki (Masataka Kubota), who has to live his life as a half-ghoul after being attacked by one of the malicious monsters. This context is important as the surreal and often silly sequel doesn't offer any real backstory or world-building as it throws you straight into the supernatural world of the murderous flesh-eating ghouls.

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