Uncategorized

The time has come for Lucy to leave Vault 33 and see what has transpired since an apocalypse left Los Angeles in tatters. While Vault Dwellers don’t live in the lap of luxury, they have enjoyed a sheltered existence compared to those who’ve tried to survive in the wasteland. We’ll see how the Vault Dweller Lucy does when she leaves her home in Prime Video’s Fallout TV series adaptation. We recently saw first-look images for Fallout, and now it’s time for the first trailer. It has plenty of nods to the video game and hints at the mutated dangers lurking around every corner. The footage even shows Walter Goggins’ face instead of his Ghoul form.

Prime Video shared the trailer at the fan and comic book convention CCXP. Series stars Ella Purnell, Aaron Moten, and Walton Goggins appeared alongside executive producer and director Jonathan Nolan, executive producer and co-showrunner Graham Wagner and discussed the series. As the trailer demonstrates, the Fallout TV series is going to have the same tone as the game. That means things are a little tongue-in-cheek—like Dog snacking on flash. The music in the trailer is reminiscent of the game, too.

Fallout’s synopsis states:

Based on one of the greatest video game series of all time, Fallout is the story of haves and have-nots in a world in which there’s almost nothing left to have. Two-hundred years after the apocalypse, the gentle denizens of luxury fallout shelters are forced to return to the irradiated hellscape their ancestors left behind—and are shocked to discover an incredibly complex, gleefully weird, and highly violent universe waiting for them.

The Fallout TV series will premiere on Prime Video on April 12, 2024.

The post First FALLOUT TV Series Trailer Shows the Dangers of the Wasteland appeared first on Nerdist.

*Contains mild spoilers common to reviews

“Godzilla Minus One” (Japanese title: ゴジラマイナスワン or  “Gojira -1.0”) is the best Godzilla film to come out since the original 1954 “Gojira.” It’s an emotional ride through post-World War II Japan as that country recovers from devastation, only to be confronted with something even more dangerous and destructive–and uncontrollable. “Godzilla Minus One” is a film about post-war survivor’s guilt and found family that also happens to have a giant kaiju wreaking havoc in the background.

Directed by Takashi Yamazaki from his own script, “Godzilla Minus One” begins on Odo Island, where Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki, who gives an Academy Awards-caliber performance), a kamikaze pilot, has faked a problem with his plane so he can avoid his death mission. His cowardice makes him anathema to the mechanics on the island even though the war is almost over, with Japan assuredly losing. As they argue with Shikishima, a giant creature the islanders call Godzilla rises from the ocean and attacks. One last act of cowardice allows Shikishima to survive, along with one other person who blames him for all the deaths. It’s a heavy burden that leaves Shikishima a shell of a man.

Shikishima returns to a bombed-out Tokyo after the war. Being a kamikaze pilot who lived renders him a pariah. His neighbor, Sumiko (Sakura Ando), is disgusted to see him. The guilt he carries over the mechanics’ deaths, exemplified in a pile of their family photographs given to him on his journey home, exacerbates his fragile mental state. His parents having perished in the bombings in Tokyo doesn’t help, either.

One day, hubbub at the local marketplace brings Noriko (Minami Hamabe), who was given a baby to care for by a dying woman, into Shikishima’s life. Noriko winds up staying at Shikishima’s; even Sumiko’s hard feelings towards Shikishima soften when she meets the baby. 

As the years pass, we see Tokyo slowly rebuilding. Shikishima takes a well-paying but dangerous job clearing out ocean mines, where he meets the captain Yoji Akitsu (Kuranosuke Sasaki), Kenji “Doc” Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka), and the “Kid” Shirō Mizushima (Yuki Yamada). The four form a brotherly bond. Meanwhile, Shikishima continues to be haunted by nightmares of Godzilla’s attack and the deaths of all the men he met on Odo Island. He closes himself off to love and basically living. 

Elsewhere, the United States conducts nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll, angering a now-much larger Godzilla, who begins attacking boats. Japan and other world powers keep Godzilla’s existence a secret from the world, but when the U.S. fears Soviet reprisals if they send warships to the area to assist in destroying Godzilla, Japan is on its own dealing with the kaiju menace. Godzilla is an existential threat to humanity that no one wants to take responsibility for.

A lot of political undercurrents pulse through “Godzilla Minus One.” Apart from U.S. imperialism causing a huge problem then peacing out on dealing with it, there’s also the way the Japanese government has been treating its people. There’s a growing discontent among Tokyo’s denizens who are already dealing with the after-effects of a war they apparently didn’t want to fight in the first place, and now a giant monster is on the way? Will the military come in and save the day, or will the people rise up to fight against the growing threat Godzilla poses? The country is already at “zero” because of the war, and Godzilla’s attacks set it back to negative one (hence the film’s title).

“Godzilla Minus One” has callbacks to the 1954 film, including excellent use of Akira Ifukube’s original “Godzilla” score and breathless narration from a reporter watching an attack unfold, as well as other Easter eggs for Godzilla nerds. But the core of the film is Shikishima’s journey through his guilt and his death wish. Kamiki’s acting as Shikishima anchors the film with its sheer emotional force. Shikishima looks haunted because he is haunted–by his cowardice, by his belief that he doesn’t deserve love or even to live, and by Godzilla, the symbol of his trauma. It’s effective and affecting.

Also, “Godzilla Minus One” just looks spectacular. It was made on a $15 million budget, but it seems like they spent much more. Cinematography, especially the sea scenes, is magnificent, and Godzilla himself is a wonder. He looks a little like 1954 Godzilla, a little like Shin, and even has more chonky thighs like Monsterverse Godzilla, with other Godzilla iterations mixed in. He also appears to be in terrible pain just existing, which is part of the original Godzilla’s backstory (his skin resembled keloid scars suffered by the survivors of Nagasaki and Hiroshima). He’s fearsome and awe-inspiring, and his attacks throughout the film are both exhilarating and utterly terrifying, even more so than the main attack in “Shin Godzilla,” which is my personal high mark of modern Godzilla destruction. That the main attack in the film also echoes the horrifying one in the 1954 version only adds to its power.

“Godzilla Minus One” is an epic film boasting stunning visual effects and deep emotional heft, with its central performances from Kamiki, Hamabe, Sasaki, Yoshioka, and Ando keeping you invested in the human saga while waiting for the monster mayhem. Yamazaki has said that he would like to make another Godzilla film. Here’s hoping Toho Studio agrees because “Godzilla Minus One” is amazing.

The post Godzilla Minus One Review appeared first on The Nerd Element.

Amanda McCoy / Pool via AP file

Zion Carr, who witnessed his aunt Atatiana Jefferson’s fatal shooting by police in 2019, will receive a $3.5 million settlement from Fort Worth, according to city officials.

Zion, who was eight years old at the time, was playing video games at Jefferson’s house when an officer shot and killed the 28-year-old while responding to a call for a welfare check. 

According to a federal lawsuit filed by Zion’s mother, Amber Carr, in 2021, he suffered from “anxiety, terror, and agony” from witnessing his aunt’s death, NBC News reports. 

The lawsuit claimed that Zion suffered from “severe and extreme mental and emotional distress” and attributed his trauma to the city. Just two years after the lawsuit was filed, Carr, Jefferson’s sister, passed away from congestive heart failure.

The city announced earlier this month that it had proposed a $3.5 million settlement. The Fort Worth City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the payment.

“I for one, am excited about this opportunity to make sure that he can go to college and do things that his mother and his aunt wanted him to do as they were raising him,” Councilman Chris Nettles said, thanking Mayor Mattie Parker and the council for their efforts to get the settlement approved.

According to NBC News, Parker said the payment was “the right thing to do” in a November 2nd statement. “I hope this can bring a degree of reconciliation and healing for Atatiana Jefferson’s loved ones,” she said.

The $3.5 million settlement will be distributed in various ways to support Zion. The funds will cover living expenses, contribute to a college savings plan, and include scheduled payments to Zion until he reaches the age of 40.

“The city as well as his family were totally on board with each other in providing an amount that would take care of him through 18, making sure that he was able to go to college, make sure that he was incentivized to go to college, and making sure that he was taken care of for a longer period of time,” she said, said Deputy City Attorney Laetitia Coleman Brown.

The post Police Killed A Black Woman In Front Of Her Nephew. The City Has Now Awarded Him A $3.5M Settlement appeared first on Essence.

The villains turned “heroes” of DC Comics’ Suicide Squad are back, only this time, they’re getting an anime makeover. The folks at Warner Bros. Japan/WIT Studio have revealed the trailer, character art, main theme song, and voice cast for Suicide Squad ISEKAI. Directed by Eri Osada, with a screenplay by Tappei Nagatsuki, this is an all-new original anime series. Based on the classic DC characters, it includes icons like Harley Quinn, the Joker, and Peacemaker. You can check out the first full trailer for Suicide Squad ISEKAI, and read the official synopsis for the series, down below:

In the crime-ridden city of Gotham, Amanda Waller, the head of A.R.G.U.S., has assembled a group of notorious criminals for a mission: Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Peacemaker, Clayface, and King Shark. These Super-Villains are sent into an otherworldly realm that’s connected to this world through a gate. It’s a world of swords and magic where orcs rampage and dragons rule the skies—an “ISEKAI”!

With lethal explosives planted in their necks, there’s no running or hiding, and failing the mission means a one-way ticket to the afterlife! Can Harley Quinn and her crew conquer this perilous ISEKAI realm?! Brace yourselves for the pulse-pounding saga of the elite task force known as the “Suicide Squad” as they embark on a jaw-dropping adventure!

The new anime series showcases favorites from the first Suicide Squad film, like Deadshot and the Joker. But also brings in characters used in James Gunn’s sequel, like our boy King Shark and Peacemaker. And then there are new additions to the team, like Clayface. Although there are several Batman characters in this series, and a Gotham City setting, no sign of the Dark Knight anywhere. But we have a feeling ol’ Bats will pop in somewhere. The voice cast includes Anna Nagase as Harley, Yuuichirou Umehara as the Joker, Reigo Yamaguchi as Deadshot, Takehito Koyasu as Peacemaker, Jun Fukuyama as Clayface, and Subaru Kimura as King Shark.

Suicide Squad ISEKAI is set for a global release in 2024.

The post First Trailer for the Anime SUICIDE SQUAD Series Is Here appeared first on Nerdist.