Talleys folly

If Darth Vader is more machine than man, then Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is perhaps more gift shop than it is theme parkalien as it is, understands the very human impulse of buying shiny things—but for all the very flashy things you can get there, my favorite memory of it might just be one of the smallest little trinkets. Advertisement As readers of this website are more than familiar with at this point, I am a) a fan of shiny things and b) a complete and total idiot. In the deepest throes of my FOMO-laden pangs of desire to go to Galaxy’s Edge, these two points of order combined in deadly shopping lists of things I would very much like to be able to fly half-way across the world to buy. Aside from the more obviously expensive things—the ability to build your very own lightsaber or RC-operated droid—most of the things my Star Wars-poisoned brain coveted were things that just felt incredibly dumb yet also delightful. Watto’s chance cubes from The … [Read more...] about The Smallest Gift I Got From

When novice filmmakers John Milius and George Lucas hatched a plan to adapt Joseph Conrad's psychological adventure novel Heart Of Darkness as a Vietnam War movie, shot in Vietnam, they found a backer in Francis Ford Coppola, a committed idealist and godfather of the "film-school brats." Then the project stalled, and by the mid-'70s, Lucas was making Star Wars, Milius had become a studio hand, and Coppola's rule-breaking production company American Zoetrope was foundering. So Coppola claimed Apocalypse Now for himself and headed to the Philippines to shoot it with a big cast and big effects, looking to make a semi-improvised art film on a blockbuster budget, and maybe re-spark the imagination of his whole co-opted generation. Some moments in Apocalypse Now succeed thrillingly at marrying abstraction and money, like the mesmerizing, unblinking opening shot of a jungle going up in flames. But Coppola ultimately bows to the rigid demands of the narrative, which has Special Forces agent … [Read more...] about Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier

This week’s question comes from reader Kate Lander: During a recent viewing of the largely mediocre Lie To Me, I found myself thinking about how my interest in the show is almost entirely based on Tim Roth’s lead performance. So my question is: Who is an actor that you find so compelling, you watch films or television shows you’re not otherwise interested in, simply because of their involvement? Advertisement A.A. Dowd It’s getting to the point where I think I’d watch Jesse Eisenberg in anything. This isn’t the coolest answer, and given Eisenberg’s pretty lame potshot at critics, one I’m sure he himself would scoff at. But it dawned on me recently that he’s excellent in pretty much everything he appears in. This year alone, he’s been quietly heartbreaking as a panicked new father, successfully transformed from earnest beta to smooth alpha before our eyes, and injected some much-needed scenery-chewing lunacy into a dour … [Read more...] about Which actor is so good, you’d watch them in anything?

On this day 25 years ago, the Sony PlayStation released in Japan. A lot of us here at Kotaku have pretty fond memories of the PlayStation, from bartering for access with our siblings to sitting in dark, dusty basements, illuminated only by the light of an old TV and some sharp, sharp polygons. Take a walk down memory lane with us. The original PlayStation hit Japanese shops on December 3, 1994, and was available around the world by the end of 1995, launching a legacy of consoles and games that would endure for decades to come. The humble home console begat countless mascots who became household icons. PlayStation brought us Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, and Parappa the Rapper—not to mention a deep list of role-playing games that would solidify Squaresoft’s chokehold on the RPG scene for years to come as well as being a launching point for studios like FromSoftware. Advertisement The PlayStation debuted juggernaut series like Guilty Gear, Wild Arms, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, … [Read more...] about Our Best (And Worst) Memories Of The PlayStation, 25 Years Later

We’ve talked a lot about the episodic tropes that Syfy’s Deadly Class is either falling into or subverting, depending on how you feel about the show. There’s been a House Party Episode, a Road Trip Episode, and a School Dance Episode. At first glance, “Kids of the Black Hole” doesn’t seem to fit a subcategory until you consider the arc of Marcus and Saya – it’s the “Acting Like an Idiot the Night Before Something Major Episode”! Of course, the something major is the assault on Shabnam’s house, which the evil Fuckface is using to plan his apocalypse. Marcus and Saya learn of his location and plan an assault, but they’re gonna need some explosives. Who knows more about blowing shit up than the punk rockers? And so they bring the rocking love triangle of Petra, Lex, and Billy in on their plan, going to them to acquire some C4. But what’s really about to explode is the sexual tension between Marcus and Saya! … [Read more...] about The kids of Kings Dominion plan an assault in the penultimate episode of