Some attribute the Star Trek renaissance of recent times to the arrival of Michael Burnham, Saru, Georgiou et al on the USS Discovery. To be sure it was full of lens flare, new Klingons and a lot of heart. Since that time, we’ve seen the arrival of even more great Trek, with Picard continuing the TNG journey (and bringing back Voyager’s Seven of Nine in a major badass way), we’ve met the amazing crew of the USS Cerritos with Lower Decks, and we’ve indulged in a mid-mod TOS fantasy with Strange New Worlds just admiring Anson Mount’s hair and enjoying the OG feel of it all. My experience with Star Trek Discovery has been a mixed one. Much like Voyager, I loved the crew, with some major favorites being Tilly, Stamets, and Booker, but I felt like some seasons were a lot stronger than others, and the writing could be uneven at times. Still, I have a lot of love for the series, and hate to see it as maligned as it often is by the larger Trek community. When we left off in season 4, we’d narrowly avoided another “the weapon” situation - the DMA, which was, you guessed it, about to obliterate Earth (and Ni’Var). Quite a few main characters, including a few of my favorites, faced some real peril while negotiating with a species that only used hydrocarbons to communicate (or mostly used them…) and in the end, the species vowed to make amends for all the other civilizations they erased from existence. It’s not super clear what the fifth season will bring, other than the end to Discovery, but we did get a chance to peek at the brand new poster for the final series, and we’ve got a release date coming on April 4th to set our DVRs for. Lorca, Georgiou, Burnham, Saru, Tilly, Stamets, Culber and that crew have been through a lot, and I’m hoping that like we saw with Picard Season 3, it’s wrapped up in a way that pays homage to the show that kicked off the new era of Trek.

I’m a sucker for Nintendo games, so when I saw Princess Peach: Showtime! pop up during during a Nintendo Direct, I knew that I’d play it. Coming off the heels of the Barbie movie and more “girl” centered content, Princess Peach: Showtime! is another example of great timing from Nintendo. And it turns out it’s a pretty fun game, too. Princess Peach: Showtime! is an action adventure game with some puzzle elements starring Nintendo royalty Princess Peach (or Princess Toadstool if you want to be real old school). This isn’t the first game where you can take control of the princess, but it’s the first modern game that stars her entirely. While this isn’t strictly a Nintendo game–it’s developed by good-feel, who is also responsible for the Yoshi yarn series–it has a lot of that Nintendo game magic. Strangely, it doesn’t feel as tight or as fast as a mainline developed Nintendo games. It’s great taking control of Peach. Sadly, she doesn’t have her signature glide when she jumps – but Showtime! isn’t really about platforming anyhow. It’s about taking up arms against your enemies. This time she’s run into a fairy creature called Stella that urges her towards murder. Now, I don't want to get into Stella’s murderous influence too much, because Peach herself seems to take naturally to wielding arms as easily as she can decorate a cake. But she’s not completely helpless in her “vanilla” princess peach form, either. She can use Stella to imbue sparkle energy to energize theatre denizens (called Theets) into action. Peach takes stage as multiple different characters. She has to fulfill the roles of the Sparklas that have been taken by Madame Grape. She wields a sword, acts as a stealthy ninja, decorates cakes, is a singing mermaid–and more. In all there are ten different roles Peach takes on through most of the main game. You play each of these forms multiple times, as each has at least three stages to play with varied gameplay between them. While playing as these different versions of Princess Peach is fun, there’s something that is a little bit off about it. It doesn’t feel quite as tight as a mainline Nintendo game. Even so, it’s competently done and quite fun. And if you’re wondering that just because it’s a Princess Peach game that they go easy on the challenge: it doesn’t. Princess Peach: Showtime! gets progressively more difficult as you go through the main story, but is never too punishing. However, if you want to collect all of the optional stars it gets a little harder. Each level has a number of stars you can collect. You get these stars by either finding them where they’re hidden, or earning them through doing well during gameplay segments. Sometimes the bar for getting a star can be pretty high– for example, making one wrong move in the figure skating section can invalidate the entire performance and remove the precious star from your endgame performance. You can even lose hearts if you do poorly, too. If you run out of hearts you have to start the level over or from a checkpoint, losing coins in the process. Coins are used to purchase new dresses for Peach and ribbons for Stella, which makes it a bummer to lose them–but the penalty is never terrible. You also earn new dresses as you progress through the game–and the dresses you earn are often cooler  than the ones you can buy. Ultimately, I wish there were more collectibles–especially more fashion choices to deck out Peach and Stella. Peach does play quite a bit of dress-up anyhow though, as each role demands an appropriate outfit. My biggest disappointment was the lack of variety in gameplay. Over half of Peach’s abilities are combat related – and even though these are different enough to keep them interesting, they’re all pretty button-mashy. Only the ninja requires more thoughtful gameplay, and even then it's easy to get around stealthily to dispatch your foes. I just wish there more puzzle-based modes. And I’d love an entire game that was based around the detective mode. I really liked my time with Princess Peach: Showtime! Peach deserves her own series of games, and I'm hoping this might be the first of many. Not only is she adorable, but Peach can kick some ass, too. I would have liked a few more non-combat forms, but overall there is a decent variety to its gameplay. As someone who grew up playing as Mario, finally playing as Peach in her own AAA game feels great.

I've been a fan of Sleater Kinney for a very long time. Long enough that my heart was broken after The Woods (probably my favorite album of theirs) where they announced an indefinite hiatus. At the time I had never seen them live and the chance felt like it had slipped through my fingers forever. Thankfully in 2015 they returned right from where they left off with No Cities to Love, another album I hold in high regard from their illustrious discography. In the subsequent years I've seen as much as I can, correcting the errors of my youth. Last week at The Riviera Theatre was the latest in hopefully long list of a lot more fantastic shows from them to come. Opening up that evening was Black Belt Eagle Scout, setting the bar enormously high for the night. Led by Katherine Paul, the band was immediately in tune with the crowd and venue, dominating the stage in a way I had not experience from them before. I've had the chance to see Black Belt Eagle Scout a few time before in smaller venues like Schubas and outdoor an outdoor set at Pitchfork. While things clicked during those sets, they just catapulted into another level at The Riviera. Tracks like "My Blood Runs Through This Land" off their latest album The Land, the Water, the Sky burst forth with a visceral energy from the group, really leaving a mark on the crowd. The whole setlist was loud and powerful, really amping the crowd up for what was to come. I was already a fan but this set cemented that feeling. Sleater Kinney made their way to the stage with all the energy in the room feeling just right. Their stage set up with curtain archways illuminated with colorful lights made the already grand night fell all the more grand. Touring in support of their latest album Little Rope, Sleater Kinney were at the top of their game. Immediately Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker were overflowing with energy. The pair work so well in tandem as the trade between their intense vocals and absolutely killer guitar riffs. "Hell" and Needlessly Wild" ushered the set in and the quality never let up. There's just so much history with Sleater Kinney that surely some songs were not gonna get the spotlight on this show. Little Rope, which is a fantastic album, definitely got it's due with most of the album getting played. In second came The Woods, much to my glee as "Jumpers" got a nice moment with the band as Brownstein thanked the crowd for dancing and jumping along to the track. There were also plenty of early tracks that had the crowd go nuts with in moments of the song starting . "Start Together" and "All Hands on the Bad one in particular got huge pops from the Sleater Kinney devotees The highlight of the night came at toward end of their set where Sleater Kinney rattled off hit after hit. The boisterous and downright explosive The Woods opener "The Fox" surged through the crowd, giving them a second wind to appreciate the No Cities to Love single "A New Wave". That sequence of songs really had the crowd at their most unraveled before getting them into a complete and utter trance with "Modern Girl", another favorite off The Woods. The gentle and loving pace of "Modern Girl" was pleasant reprieve from the energetic set, letting the crowd singalong with Tucker and Brownstein. While the song's saccharine lyrics may have been poking fun at one dimensional songs, you can't help but indulge in its aura. The encore kept the great vibes going with a pretty perfect lineup of songs ("Good Things", Say It Like You Mean It", "Dig Me Out", and "Entertain"), but it was always going to be hard to top the overwhelming communal joy of "Modern Girl". An astounding moment in a fantastic night with Sleater Kinney. All photos by Julian Ramirez. This article was originally published at Third Coast Review.com

Our writer Julian Ramirez is a big proponent of physical media, always lauding formats new and old (mostly old nowadays). Whether is vinyl, cassettes or CDs; 4k UHD, Blu-ray, or VHS, he believes that physical media is an important part of preserving art and imbues another dimension of appreciating the work.  This series will focus on some of his favorite pieces of physical media in his collection. We're a few weeks removed from the opening of Dune Part Two and it completely blowing everyone's minds. The film is such a great adaptation, infusing Frank Herbert's complex and disastrous world with Denis Villeneuve's streamlined vision. I'm sure there are a lot of detractors from Villeneuve's authoritarian and borderline sterile directing vision, but I'm pretty satisfied with the result. But for those seeking out something a little more..."faithful" and out right weird, there are other adaptions of Herbert's opus. You can track down the Sci-Fi channel's Frank Herbert's Dune, maybe dive into the documentary of what could have been in Jodorowsky's Dune (or the eventual place where these ideas resided in The Incal), but today we're getting hit in the face with a lemon wrapped around a golden brick (oops, wrong sci-fi epic reference) with David Lynch's Dune. David Lynch's Dune gets the full 4K Arrow set work up. The collection is massive and filled with all the goodies you've come to expect from one of their releases. The film in both 1080p and 4K presentations give you a fantastic look at all the borderline insane visuals and a stacked list of featurettes and documenteries. Outside the discs there is a double sided poster of some incredible art, miniature lobby cards depicting scenes from the film, and a booklet that may be the star of the non-video extras. The booklet features essays give great insight into the long life the film has come to have, the sound which is utterly incredible as it usually is in Lynch's films , and a a copy of the original Dune Terminology sheet that was distributed wit h the original release of the film to help those unfamiliar with all the Frank Herbert Dune-isms. Now, let's not get it twisted, David Lynch's Dune is not "traditionally" "good". It unfortunately ventures into the so bad it's good territory. There's a few reasons for that. Firstly is that Lynch is undeniably a creator who exists in his own world. Meaning his work is so unconditionally his that it can be difficult to grasp if your not prepared for it. Look at other very distinct film makers like Wes Anderson and Yorgos Lanthimos. You cannot watch one of their films and not be immediately struck by how their characters speak, act, move, etc. They are of their own dimension, fully immersed in something that may seem fair but is fairly alien. Such is the case with Lynch and when you try to attribute that wholehearted style to something that doesn't align with it, you get some pretty startling cognitive dissonance. Secondly, Dune is massive. The Sci-Fi channel had their hearts in the right place with a miniseries length runtime to give the book it's due. Villeneuve split the film across two movies with a total runtime of 5 hours. Even Lynch wanted his film to be a 4+ hour epic, but studio needs requested a 2.5 hour long film. Even with a budget of $40 million (which at the time was insane), it still did not make up for a shoddily cut film. Dune is a product of it's time in every way possible. With its massive budget there are moments when the film looks utterly beautiful. Strange and detailed costumes, sets that look ornate and full of history, and special effects that let you get lost in their unnaturalness. But its a double edged sword as some costumes look like literal trash bags, some set flimsy and disorderly, and the body shields are quite frankly terrible even for the time. But what's good about the film rises high above the bad. The overall look of the sets and costumes are astonishing and so fully realized. Miniatures are used with perfect precision and give the film an epic look. The themes of identity, fate, and other of Lynch's obsessions are shown in full force. The film is filled with so many ideas that would permeate throughout his entire filmography. From imagery being overlaid over each other for other worldly effects, uncomfortable body horror, and amazing soundtrack. Whether you're a fan of Lynch or not, the film is worthy of a watch. The full Arrow set is out of print, but the film is still available at places like directly from Arrow, Diabolik, Target, Amazon and more . Or you can stream it on Max, but I still urge you to support physical media!

Back in 2022, Kina Collins put her best effort into her IL-07 Congressional campaign as she brought her friends and legendary rock band to Metro for a fundraiser. Collins, who is a strong gun violence prevention advocate, obviously isn't giving up on her beliefs and is running once again. Flash forward to March 8 2024, where Collins brought back The Strokes for another fundraising effort, this time at the Credit Union One Arena at UIC along with some incredible acts including Uwade and locals NNAMDÏ and Beach Bunny. Given the large stage and audience, the whole affair moved along much quicker that the 2022 event. The show began promptly at 7pm with a very calm and tender set by Uwade. The New York based singer songwriter had the crowd completely mellowed out with her serene songs. Uwade performed a cover of The Strokes "One Way Trigger", which she said felt a little odd playing at a show with the the band in attendance. But rest assured, she got their blessing and executed it perfectly. NNAMDÏ followed up with a completely different vibe. If you've ever had the chance to see NNAMDÏ perform live then you know that his onstage antics are as wild as his shapeshifting sound. You honestly can never pin down exactly what NNAMDÏ is going to bring to the table and this evening was filled with the noisiest soundscapes he and the band could muster. It was a fantastic showing of NNAMDÏ wild side, turning even the softest, R&B song form his album Please Have A Seat into ball of manic energy. Soon after the display of unbridled fun came Beach Bunny, who matched it with the summer tunes. Playing tracks off of all their major releases, Lili Trifilio and crew were doing their damndest to get the crowd going urging the crowd to jump and dance. It's hard not to lose your self in their bright pop sound especially when your in a venue this big surrounded by anxiously excited fans. Before the main musical attractions of the night would take stage, Kina Collins came to the stage after a few speaks and a special celebration features her friends and family. Collin's was not only fundraising for her campaign but celebrating International Women's day and her birthday. After a quick "Happy Birthday" and blowing out of candles, Collins got right to work, riling up the crowd with her fiery speech about the changes needing to be made. "They’re telling me that what we’re doing is too much. But, let me tell you all what’s 'too much' for me!" What’s 'too much' for me is crushing student loan debt." She cried out before delving to what she and her supporters have been trying so hard to change. Mentions of eliminating student loan debt and giving women autonomy over their rights and bodies drew cheers from the crowd. With everyone at the highest point of their anticipation, the lights finally came down and Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" blared through the speakers as The Strokes  made their way tot he stage. Julian Casablancas, Albert Hammond Nick Valensi, Nikolai Fraiture, and Fabrizio Moretti have this aura about them that is undeniable. The crowd switched from anxious anticipation to riotous joy as the band jumped into a fantastic and rarity filed set. Songs like "You Talk Way Too Much", "Drag Queen", and "The Way It Is" filled thee first half of the night much tot he surprise and delight of the crowd arena. In between songs, Casablancas addressed the crowd with his support of Kina Collins. Casablancas shifted between lamenting about the state of world and sincere appreciation for the fight Collins is putting up against those troubles. Between comparing Collins to Bernie Sanders and joining her the following morning as she canvassed to get people out to vote, Casablancas seemed hopeful. Of course the staples of any Strokes set were there. Early on Hard to Explain" and "Take It or Leave" assured fans that favorites wouldn't be passed by. In fact after the more obscure but undeniably loved first half of the night were the songs that seemingly everyone needed to here. "Last nite" and "Juicebox" towards the middle of night hit a nice peak for the crowd. Both were immediately followed by "Is This It" and "New York City Cops", turning things up another notch for the dedicated fans. "Someday " and "Reptilia" were the final one-two punch of the night leaving the crowd satisfied with an excellent dose of noisy rock. Election Day in Chicago is March 19! You can head over to Kina Collins' website to learn more about Collins’ platform and plans for IL-07.

The House voted Wednesday to approve a bill that would effectively ban TikTok, the wildly popular video app with some 170 million users in America and a billion worldwide. The bill, dubbed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,  would force TikTok’s parent company Bytedance to sell the app in six months. Should Bytedance be unable or refuse to comply, app stores would have to remove it and internet service providers would have to make it inaccessible. While its current user base who already have downloaded the app could keep it on their phones, they would not be able to download any new software updates. The bill passed with a 352-65 vote. Proponents of the bipartisan bill have taken a kitchen sink approach in arguing for banning or at least curbing TikTok’s influence in America. Members of both political parties and intelligence officials say the app could be used by the Chinese government to spy on Americans, interfere in elections, or push propaganda in the country. They also argue that TikTok use has and can have a negative impact on younger Americans. "You had member offices being deluged with calls, you know, teenagers crying and one threatening suicide and one impersonating one of my colleague's sons," Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WIS), lead Republican sponsor of the bill and Chair of the House Select Committee on China told NPR. "That, to me, demonstrates how the platform could be weaponized in the future." The bill's backers have also bizarrely argued that the legislation is not in fact, a ban. "What we're after is, it's not a ban, it's a forced separation," Gallagher told NPR. "The TikTok user experience can continue and improve so long as ByteDance doesn't own the company." Former Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said "this is not an attempt to ban TikTok, it's an attempt to make TikTok better. Tic-tac-toe, a winner.” Despite recently starting its own channel on the platform, the White House has signaled it would sign the bill if it clears the Senate. Officials say that classified and unclassified security assessments have shown the app is a threat to Americans, but have not offered any evidence publicly outside of theoretical possibilities. While TikTok’s data collection is more than troubling to anyone concerned about privacy, the only difference between it and other social media behemoths like Meta (Facebook/Instagram), Twitter (now known as X), YouTube, and others is that it’s not an American company scraping up all of your personal data. Apps are constantly scooping up massive amounts of data and selling them to third parties, and some of that makes its way to both the American and other governments, intelligence agencies, and even the military. Even the most mundane apps like ones for dating, weather, and directions are giving nearly real-time location data to all sorts of entities, according to a story published in Wired adapted from the book Means of Control: How the Hidden Alliance of Tech and Government Is Creating a New American Surveillance State by Byron Tau. Tau writes: “I’m here to tell you if you’ve ever been on a dating app that wanted your location or if you ever granted a weather app permission to know where you are 24/7, there is a good chance a detailed log of your precise movement patterns has been vacuumed up and saved in some data bank somewhere that tens of thousands of total strangers have access to. That includes intelligence agencies. It includes foreign governments. It includes private investigators. It even includes nosy journalists.” The influence social media can have on the public is equally troubling, but once again, the concern seems to be that if it’s an American company, attempting to push public perception in one way or another is completely fine. While officials are concerned about foreign entities influencing American elections, it seems that American companies that do so get a pass. In 2018, whistleblowers showed how a data firm, Cambridge Analytica, used Facebook to harvest the data of tens of millions of Americans and create personality profiles for them in the 2016 election, which helped lead to the election of Donald Trump as President. Privacy and free speech advocates argue that the bill is ineffective and sets a dangerous precedent. A letter signed by a coalition of groups including the ACLU, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Freedom of the Press Foundation, the Knight Institute, and others called the legislation “censorship - plain and simple,” and said that jeopardizing access to TikTok jeopardizes access to free expression. “Banning or requiring divestiture of TikTok would also set an alarming global precedent for excessive government control over social media platforms. The United States has rightfully condemned other countries when they have banned specific social media platforms, criticizing these efforts as infringing on the rights of their citizens. If the United States now bans a foreign-owned platform, that will invite copycat measures by other countries, banning American-owned speech intermediaries and companies from operating in their borders, with significant consequences for free expression globally.” The groups argue that an outright ban is not only “far from the least restrictive solution to the purported problem,” but ineffective because the Chinese government could just find a workaround to access the data. “If Congress wants to protect Americans’ data, it should pass comprehensive privacy legislation,” the letter reads. American tech and financial oligarchs are already chomping at the bit to acquire TikTok. According to Business Insider, former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has expressed interest in buying the platform, as has OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday he’s building a group of investors to buy the site, CNBC reports. Should the forced sale of TikTok go through to any of those entities or another, it’s entirely possible Congress will continue to allow all its concerns about the platform to fade away, simply because it will have a “made in the USA” sticker stamped on it. The only way to really protect Americans from justifiable concerns over privacy, according to advocates, is to prevent any company from collecting it. The Electronic Frontier Foundation writes: “Instead of passing this overreaching and misguided bill, Congress should prevent any company—regardless of where it is based—from collecting massive amounts of our detailed personal data, which is then made available to data brokers, U.S. government agencies, and even foreign adversaries, China included. We shouldn’t waste time arguing over a law that will get thrown out for silencing the speech of millions of Americans. Instead, Congress should solve the real problem of out-of-control privacy invasions by enacting comprehensive consumer data privacy legislation.”

We've all been holding our breaths waiting for Pitchfork Music Festival's lineup announcement. With the sudden changes at the festival's namesake, there's been a worry about what this years fest will hold. After a leak, some clues, and just a little more waiting, we finally have some news as the lauded festival returns to Union Park on July 19-21 with a lineup headlined by Black Pumas, JaimeXX, and Alanis Morissette! While the indie and eclectic sounds will still dominate the majority of the festival, there is a strong lean toward more pop and mainstream forward acts this year. Add to that some very prominent legacy acts and you have a much wider scope for the festival. The number of local acts remains a little low with only Black Duck, Akenya, Angry Blackmen, Lifeguard, Kara Jackson, representing the Chicagoland area. Nonetheless, these are some amazing acts that deserve to be spotlighted on the Pitchfork stages. Of course there are some incredible touring bands set to hit the stage including 100 Gecs, Billy Woods & Kenny Segal, Carly Rae Jepsen, Jessie Ware, De La Soul, Brittany Howard, Muna, Grandmaster Flash and so many more! This year also brings some changes to the ticketing tiers. Regular GA and Plus tickets are still around at the same price (or a little less in the case of Plus), but they have opened up their VIP passes to the public. VIP tickets will offer a backstage VIP lounge with A/C bathrooms, photo portraits and special festival amenities including bar with preferred pricing and a daily curated meal. VIP will also be home to the front-of-stage viewing & double-decker Viewing Decks with elevated sightlines, both at the two main stages. Check out their full lineup below and snag your tickets asap as they are on sale NOW! Single day passes are $109 ($199 for Plus, $379 for VIP) and 3-day passes for $219 ($399 for Plus, $699 for VIP)! Check out the full lineup below or at their website! Friday July 19 Black Pumas Jai Paul 100 Gecs Jeff Rosenstock Yaeji Sudan Archives Amen Dunes Billy Woods & Kenny Segal Tkay Maidza ML Buch Doss Rosali Angry Blackmen Black Duck Saturday July 20 Jaime XX Carly Rae Jepsen Jessie Ware De La Soul Unwound Bratmobile Wednesday Water From Your Eyes Sweeping Promises Feeble Little Horse Hotline TNT Kara Jackson L'Rain Lifeguard Sunday July 21 Alanis Morissette Brittany Howard Muna Grandmaster Flash Les Savy Fav Crumb Jessica Pratt Mannequin Pussy Hailu Mergia Model/Actriz Nala Sinephro Maxo Joanna Sternberg Akenya This post was originally posted on Third Coast Review.

Donald Glover, creator of other hit shows Atlanta and Swam comes a reimagining of Mr and Mrs Smith. The original film was released in 2005 starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie at the heights of their careers. It focused on a married couple who were secretly spy assassins but the trouble comes when they are tasked with assassinating each other. It’s a fun premise that mixes in normal marital squabbling with high intensity espionage action. This current Donald Glover iteration, streaming on Amazon Prime, skews from the template but keeps the spirit of what makes the original a cult classic. and Mrs. Smith (2024) begins with our main characters, John and Jane, separately applying for a super secret spy position, both having previous military backgrounds. The catch is you get paired up with a stranger and there is to be no contact with your family and friends ever again. From here, the show mixes romcom elements, with high stakes action. The performances of Donald Glover and Maya Erskine give emotional nuance to their characters which in turn adds to their fantastic chemistry. There’s more at stake here between two strangers who actually want to make their marriage work. Unlike the original, the action sequences here are paced out sparingly, used more for emphasizing the relationship dynamics between John and Jane. While the series doesn’t stray from creating big action set pieces, they are few and far between with some episodes being completely devoid of action entirely. There’s a great deal of restraint used so when the action does pop off, it’s that much more meaningful. Also, considering the season takes place over the course of a year, the action also serves as a catch up as to where our agents are in both their skill level as well as their relationship status. What shines most are Donald and Maya. They give depth and gravity to their characters as well as have a great interplay between each other. It’s evident in how serious moments shift to comedy so naturally between the two. The season also benefits from a bevy of guest stars such as Michaela Coel, John Turturro, Paul Dano, Alexander Skarsgard, Ron Pearlman and Parker Posey, who all fit into that universe as naturally as our leads. Donald is cool as a cucumber and Maya gives a level of eccentricity subtle yet charming. The one knock against the series has to be the amount of mysteries they start, but save for a possible future season. Obviously most creators are optimistic for more seasons, but I was definitely dying for a few more answers than I was given. All the more reason to hope for more of the show. I can’t recommend Mr. and Mrs. Smith enough. Its action is used effectively, the characters are emotionally nuanced and the comedy moments are genuinely well done. The pacing is slower than the original but that’s because it’s absolutely different. It’s more in depth, it’s a character piece, and less of an action thriller. Like a lot of Glover's work, Mr. and Mrs. Smith is thoughtful and lets moments breathe when necessary. At the end of the day, remakes are remakes, but this one should just have a different title because it’s something very different and very worth your time.

This is probably old news by now, but there was a time when Star Wars fans would have rather had EA release the old Battlefront games with a few modern touches than do to the series what it did with Battlefront  2015 and Battlefront 2 in 2017. The latter has actually gone on to have a bit of a loyal following, and has a “Very Positive” review score on Steam at the time of this writing. But there were still hardcore fans of the original Battlefront games asking for a remake. And while this release isn’t quite a remake, it brings these games back for people who might want to revisit the past. Nostalgia distorts a bit, I think. And when I got into the Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection I was in for a bit of a reality check while I readjusted to these games. But once I did, it was like I was back playing on my OG Xbox. These games are pretty damn fun. If you don’t know what they are, here’s the gist: you can play as opposing factions in two of Star Wars’ eras, the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy. That means you can roll around as a droideka in the drone army or blast rebel scum as a Stormtrooper with up to 63 other players. If you’re thinking, “how is that possible, those games came out in 2004 and 2005 (respectively) how can that be?” and my answer is: get off my lawn. Multiplayer games of this scale were relatively new at the time, and Battlefront was the first Star Wars game to really take advantage of this. And it did so on a massively impressive scale which was only ramped up with its sequel, Battlefront 2. Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection includes both of the classic Battlefront games, all of the bonus maps, and even some alterations to play modes, like letting you play the Hero Assault game mode on all ground maps–something that wasn’t possible before. This collection isn’t really a remaster so much as it is Aspyr bringing these Battlefront games to a contemporary gaming audience. And while these servers will probably be filled with crusty old guys reliving their youth, there are some great epic battles to be had in space, on the ground, on foot or in vehicles. If you don’t like playing online, that’s okay too: you can jump into instant action against bots, or play the single player campaigns from both games which span many iconic battles. You can even play in split screen modes or over a local area network with its LAN. Both of these features are less common these days, but I’m glad they made their way back for this release. While both of these Star Wars Battlefront games are similar in ways, I would say that Battlefront 2 is the more robust experience. Building off of the first game, it introduces progression and features more refined gameplay. Aspyr seems to realize this too, as they have far more dedicated servers for the sequel than they do the original. I would have liked to see these games get a full remake treatment, or even the full remaster treatment. But what we got is good enough for me to want to jump into a few matches. Nostalgia is a huge draw, however, and you can’t expect these games to pry modern gamers away from the likes of Helldivers II. Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection features two classic games that aren’t really like anything that exists today. They might even be seen as janky by today’s standards, but they’re still damn fun. Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection is available tomorrow on PC via Steam and on Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series S|X, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. A Steam key was provided to us for this review

I’m wary, probably because of my advanced age, of the “hot” new thing. I mean, I played some Lethal Company and beyond a few proximity chat laughs, I didn’t see the long term appeal of that game. I thought Helldivers II was more streamer bait: semi-emergent with “funny” physics when your character inevitably meets their demise. I am okay to admit when I’m wrong. I was wrong about Helldivers II. And I just have to say: how undemocratic of me. If Lady Liberty heard what I had to say, I couldn’t even complain about being sent off to one of the rumored detention camps. Democracy is being threatened, and Super Earth is calling for Helldivers to help wage their galactic war. I’ve taken up the call to Liberty, and man it’s fun to spread democracy. If for some reason you’ve been living under a rock and missed the Helldivers II phenomenon, here's a primer: A sequel to Arrowhead studios Helldivers, Helldivers II is a third person action game where you can play with a squad of up to 4 people as you unleash extreme firepower unto your enemies. Each drop is procedurally generated, so you’ll never get exactly the same experience twice. It’s also pure chaos on higher difficulties, with increasingly difficult armored enemies threatening to deplete your reinforcements. There are a lot of opportunities for emergent gameplay, as well, making Helldivers II a perfect game to mess around in with friends. The gameplay is simple to grasp: jump into a hellpod, choose your strategems, and then spread managed democracy to whatever backwater planet is being overrun with tyranny. Objectives, despite their varied names, are very same-y, however: go to a place, do a thing that usually involves a D-Pad style quicktime event, and kill enemies until that task is complete. Sometimes you’ll have to turn a wheel or push an extra button or two, but it’s all pretty much the same. So what’s the draw? Combat bliss. With friends! Combat in Helldivers II is fun as hell. Waves of bugs or automatons are nothing compared to the steel resolve of the Helldivers–and that’s because they have some of the best weaponry Super Earth can muster. If you’ve unlocked it using requisition points, that is. Guns feel great to shoot, and Helldivers are able to call in airstrikes and orbital bombardments to blanket an area with Democracy. Each Helldiver can employ what are called stratagems to even out the odds on the battlefield. To employ a stratagem you have to employ its specific code–thankfully written on the screen–and throw it in a (hopefully) advantageous spot. This harkens back to Magicka and Arrowhead’s earliest forays into games where friends can kill each other easily. Stratagems aren’t just airstrikes and orbitals, however–you can call down defensive turrets, gun emplacements, shields, advanced weaponry and more. Helldivers II is a more physics-based, sandboxy type game. Each mission you drop into a semi-open world style environment where you can choose objectives at whim. If you want to spend your time destroying every outpost and finding every item you can–if time allows. Or if you want to just do the main objectives and extract, that’s up to you. Time is your only real constraint. When you run out of time you lose access to reinforcements and all other stratagems. Enemies in Helldivers II are relentless, and even a bit terrifying. There are two main threats: the robotic Automatons and the Starship Trooper adjacent Terminids. Whether you’re shooting robots or bugs, they explode in the appropriate amount of parts and (where applicable) gore. Each faction of enemies have an array of melee versus ranged enemies with the Automatons employing guns while the Terminids overwhelm and get into your lines with jumping bugs. Each has their larger armored variants. Helldivers II has a promising future, too. It makes sense: sales of Helldivers II have been steadily increasing since its release about three weeks ago. That’s incredible for any game, let alone one that wasn’t technically AAA. Developer Arrowhead studio has great plans for Helldivers II, as well. Some of these promises will be delivered soon, with mechs and vehicles to add even more chaos to the battlefield. There have even been a few tweaks that the community is having a hard time with, like the recent nerfs to the Railgun, Breaker Shotgun, and Shield Backpack. But that just shows that the development team is ready to tweak things behind the scenes as they’re needed. That also turns out to be true when it comes to Helldivers II’s campaign map. This map represents the ongoing war efforts. But there is a game master tweaking numbers and making it a hard fought battle for Super Earth. I really like the concept of developer game masters actively participating with their players. It’s something I wish more games would do. Helldivers II also excels at its presentation. It has a depiction of fascism that Paul Verhoeven would appreciate, and is no doubt inspired by Starship Troopers. Helldivers II also has a fantastic soundtrack that really makes you feel like you’re ridding the galaxy of tyranny–when it could be that you’re just as tyrannical. Even the player lobbies are over-the-top as each player gets their own destroyer. I mean, those orbital bombardments come from somewhere. And deploying onto planets as a literal shooting bullet can’t be too feasible in reality, but it’s rad as hell. Like I said. I was wrong about Helldivers II. After some democratic re-education I’m now doing my part for Democracy–and so should you. Bring friends, because freedom carries a lofty price, and remember, if you shall fall there’s another Helldiver ready to thaw out to take your place. Helldivers II is out now for PC and PlayStation 5

Back in 2022, The Strokes made their way to Chicago for a fundraiser concert at Metro (or Metro Cabaret or The Metro, or however you'd like to refer to the iconic venue) for Congressional candidate Kina Collins. Tonight, they are back for the same cause at the Credit Union 1 Arena on the UIC Campus. In celebration, we're republishing the Third Coast Review coverage and photos from that fateful night at Metro. It's been a little over 20 years since The Strokes stopped by the Metro stage, right at the height of their Is This It release. That album is filled with songs that have been cemented in the modern rock canon. Over the years, The Strokes' fanbase has only grown larger, which has made another Metro show a little harder to come by. But after a a chance meeting with Kina Collins, who is running for the 7th Congressional district seat, an intimate show with the Strokes came to life. This past Friday night, The Strokes filled up Metro for Kina Collins and reinforced their storied legacy. When Kina Collins initially came to the stage, the crowd erupted in cheers. At first may have just been appreciation of getting The Strokes back in the building, but quickly turned to solidarity. The 31-year-old Collins is running to unseat the incumbent congressman in her 7th Congressional district, who she frustratingly noted has been in that position since she was 5 years old. She laid it out very clearly: "I’m running for Congress because we need representation that gives a damn about us!” Collins proceeded to outline exactly what she's fighting for: unionization (specifically pointing out Starbucks and Amazon), universal healthcare, body autonomy, gun control, the Green New Deal, and continually more progressive ideals. With every passing point of her platform, the crowd cheered louder. The show was originally planned for late May, just in time to get people to get registered to vote by mail. However a case of COVID struck the band and the fundraiser had to be delayed. But that wouldn't stop Collins or the The Strokes, who then spoke about the impetus of the night. “I was at a party in New York and I met a tall guy named Julian.” The mere mention of the Stroke's frontman had the crowd aching for the concert to start. However, that time wouldn't come for another hour or so. But once it did, it was pure bliss. The Strokes immediately followed with "Juicebox," a massively invigorating song that sparked an early ramp up in the crowd. The set featured plenty of The New Abnormal tracks, an album that definitely felt like a return to form of sorts, but it was the older and lesser heard tracks that really hit with the crowd. The bright guitars of "Automatic Stop" had the crowd continuing their groove after "Juicebox." "The Modern Age" seamed to catch them by surprise in the latter half of the set, but nowhere near as much as "Electricityscape," which they have only recently rotated back into their sets. However, it's impossible not to note out the obvious highlights of the night as The Strokes' setlist seemed to revolve around them. "You Only Live Once" popped the crowd half way through their set, giving the crowd another moment bliss. "Someday," another one of those songs that has just persevered and grown better with time took the crowd into overdrive, letting them bop around with enthusiastic carelessness. However, the loudest and most exuberant moment of the proper set came for the regular set's closer. The blistering "Reptilia" with its opening drums and bass leading into into electrifying guitars that surge for a moment before Casablancas' voice takes over was a breathtaking experience. Throughout the night, Casablancas made sure to reiterate the purpose of the evening. While he's always had a political leaning, Casablancas has further entrenched himself in progressive politics in recent years. He and the Strokes endorsed Bernie Sanders in 2020, New York mayoral candidate Maya Wiley last year, and Casablancas even started an interview series S.O.S.–Earth is a Mess, delving further into progressive ideas. His passion was met positively at Metro as he pointed out Kina Collins' non-corporate nature and her looking out for everyone, emphasizing that makes her a worthy representative for a city like Chicago. The Strokes have a special aura about them, equal parts carefree and care far too much. The five steadfast members (Julian Casablancas, Albert Hammond Jr., Nikolai Fraiture, Fabrizio Moretti, and Nick Valensi) emerged from backstage to a sea of cheers sprinkled with a few tired jeers. The band was definitely late to the show, but that wasn't going to stop them from putting on one hell of a night. Opening with "Bad Decisions" off their latest album The New Abnormal, all that uncomfortable waiting melted away. They didn't need much to make the crowd feel their energy, it was pouring into the room from the get go. By the time The Strokes' encore came there were only a few tracks that could close the night out right. Considering just how well the show had gone, there was no doubt in the crowd mind that they would stick the landing and stick the landing they did. The high-pitched notes of "Eternal Summer" off The New Abnormal warmed the crowd up for "What Ever Happened." The crowd burst loudy again for the latter, jamming out to Room on Fire's opening track with all the energy that had been exponentially growing all night long. All the hype and enthusiasm was finally able to be released as The Strokes left the crowd a chill little Abraham Lincoln-inspired jam before diving in head first into "Last Nite," the band's second single off their debut album. It's a song that has endured for the band, a staple of their sound that is so instantly recognizable. The opening strum was enough to send everyone into a frenzy, bouncing in their spot waiting for Casablancas' gravelly voice to snarl "Last night she said, Oh, baby, I feel so down" at the top of his lungs. It was an utter delight to see and hear this iconic band give it their all, not only for a packed Metro full of devoted fans, but to Kina Collins as well.

Playing a thaumaturge as the main character in a game doesn't sound like it would be that impressive. Thaumaturges are basically magicians that perform parlor tricks, and I’ve gotten used to mages wielding elements and hurling them at my enemies in flashy graphics. It turns out, however, that having what is equal to a magician’s power can make for some pretty compelling gameplay, especially from a storytelling and investigatory point of view. The Thaumaturge is a top down CRPG style roleplaying game. In it, you play as Wiktor Szulski–a thaumaturge that is Polish as hell. In fact, most of the game takes place in and around the streets of Warsaw, Wiktor’s old stomping grounds. He’s come back because of the death of his father who was also a powerful thaumaturge. Wiktor, who is returning after decades travelling the world, has to contend with family and old friends as he explores Warsaw, being haunted by figurative and literal demons. I bet you’re wondering what a thaumaturge can do–trust me, I was too. It almost feels like you’re a clairvoyant Sherlock Holmes who is able to call upon horrific entities to aid him in combat. By horrific entities, I mean the demons that follow around Wiktor–and do his bidding. These creatures known by many names–including demons—are called salutors. They enhance Wiktor’s fighting abilities while enabling him to manipulate people–if you can pass the proper skill check. As a thaumaturge you mostly engage in investigations, aided by your clairvoyant abilities. If you touch an object, you can get a sense of who it belonged to through its “trace.” You can also glean information off of it that would be impossible otherwise. As you investigate items and/or talk to people, Wiktor can eventually draw a conclusion–leading you to be able to find a missing object, confront someone who is lying, etc. It sounds great on paper–and would make an interesting TV show or Movie–but in practicality, in game, it means there’s a lot of hitting the “thaumaturge button” so you can continuously sense items around you. Much like the Batman vision in the Arkham games, it was a mechanic that I felt compelled to use everywhere I went. When you press the button Wiktor snaps his fingers and red petal-like particles float out. If there is a point of interest the petals linger around it. Investigations, therefore, are a lot of clicking–both for the thaumaturge powers, and all the investigations. It sounds like something that would bore me to death, but the story intrigued me enough to keep going. It’s really unlike anything I’ve encountered, and I think that’s mainly due to its pedigree. It’s not something that I was exposed to much in western media, but this is a Polish made game that lovingly emphasizes its roots. In fact, the parts of the game that weren’t crafted for the story were made as an homage to Warsaw itself.  Unlike other RPGs where you get most of your XP through skill checks like combat or social interactions, in The Thaumaturge you can get it just by wandering the streets of Warsaw and interacting with the environment where indicated. Just buying doughnuts, looking at a pretty building, reading notes or listening to a street performer will yield XP. While there are multiple paths you can choose via dialogue, you’ll eventually find yourself fighting. Or, if you’re like me, and play Wiktor as a no nonsense asshole, you’ll be fighting a whole lot. In fact, Wiktor will be stopped at random to perform in novel combat more often than you think would be possible in a day. Combat in The Thaumaturge is a little strange, and can be a bit samey. It’s turn based, and Wiktor always has the first move. Enemies will cue up their moves as shown in an action order bar at the top. Wiktor himself can use his thaumaturgey to disrupt and hurt enemies, or he can go in for damage either with his fists or pistol. You can’t change what weapon he uses: Wiktor will do whatever attack makes the most sense for his distance from the enemies. Fine.  But you don’t change your distance to enemies, even though spacing matters because enemies are forced to move up to you. The best part, however, is the ability to use your salutors in combat. While combat in The Thaumaturge can feel tedious, having salutors do your bidding really helps create some fun moments that are actually visually exciting. Watching a golem smash a man into the ground, or using your wraith-like salutor to freeze your enemies is fun as hell. It’s strange, however, when it comes to story implications. Sometimes combat is deadly, while other times you merely knock people out. You can’t choose what the outcome will be–the game decides that for you. It really lends itself to the feeling of being a “choose your own adventure” type game instead of a full fledged roleplaying game. The Thaumaturge’s story unfolds over multiple acts–and your actions have consequences that will shift the entire story. Even offhand remarks can lead to repercussions down the line. And in my playthrough, I made a lot of enemies as Wiktor. Diplomacy was not an option. I don’t want to spoil any major story elements–but let’s just say Wiktor ends up spending a lot of time with Grigori Rasputin. Rasputin, of course, has his own goals and machinations that leads to some interesting dilemmas. There are skill points you can distribute as you gain levels, but I found that I levelled so quickly and often I could spread my points around to all trees instead of specializing in one. Combat abilities are gained through the skill tree, but they can be tweaked using skills you purchased. For instance, you can use a skill that reduces the enemy’s focus, and use an ability to modify that power to give a 50 percent chance of interrupting your target’s action. It’s a fun way to modify your abilities, and come up with some powerful synergies as you're brawling through the streets of Warsaw. I really liked the concept of salutors in The Thaumaturge, and I made it my goal to seek out all of them. The optional salutors have some amazingly brutal combat abilities, and are definitely worth pursuing. Despite the enemies it made along the way, I ended up playing The Thaumaturge like a Pokemon game. When it came to Salutors, I had to catch them all. The Thauamaturge isn’t going to make waves like Baldur’s Gate 3, but it’s definitely a solid story-based CRPG. For someone that isn’t too familiar with Polish folklore, there is a bunch of novel concepts here that elevated it beyond a traditional roleplaying game. I really liked catching salutors, and the investigations that lead up to those moments. While not a perfect game, I found myself compelled through it just to find out how it ends. If you’re interested in a more story focused roleplaying game, you should definitely check it out. A Steam key was provided to us for this review The Thaumaturge is a available now on PC via Steam, and coming soon to the Epic Games Store.