Month: September 2018

Like a growing number of shooters, Battlefield V is looking to capitalize on the success of battle royale games by offering its own take on the genre. EA first announced the title’s battle royale mode during its E3 presentation earlier this summer, but since then, we’ve learned very little about it. The publisher has now shared a new trailer that gives fans an extensive look at Battlefield V, and it includes the first details about its mysterious battle royale mode.

As revealed in the new video, which you can watch below, Battlefield V’s battle royale mode will be called Firestorm. Unlike PUBG or Fortnite, both of which pit 100 players against each other, Firestorm will feature 64 players divided up into 16 teams of four. Like a typical battle royale game, the object is to compete against other teams as a ring of fire continually closes in on the map and be the last remaining squad, but developer DICE says the mode is done “the Battlefield way.”

The video didn’t go into many more specifics beyond that, but it did reveal that Firestorm matches will be contested on “the largest Battlefield map ever.” The mode will also feature “destructible buildings, weaponry, and vehicles;” a handful of the latter are briefly showcased in the video, including various types of tanks.

Additionally, the video provides more details about Battlefield V’s other modes, including the single-player War Stories, which will allow players to “experience untold stories of World War II.” It also gives fans a look at Tides of War, a series of post-launch content that will be available for all Battlefield V players. The first chapter is called “The Fall of Europe” and will be available shortly after release.

Battlefield V launches for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on November 20. The game was originally scheduled to release on October 19 but was recently delayed to further refine it before launch. Players will have a chance to try Battlefield V later this week when its open beta kicks off on September 6.

Dave Bautista may not want to work with Disney again, but he still believes a Drax standalone movie should happen even if he doesn’t play the character.

Speaking to MTV International, Bautista discussed why he thinks the spinoff is a good idea, saying the film would explore the tragic backstory of Drax and his family, which Bautista says has been overlooked.

“You know, I really wish they would tell more of the story of Drax’s family,” Bautista said. “And I think it’s a beautiful story and I think it’s been lost and overlooked a little bit.

“It’s a beautiful and heartbreaking emotional thing to just know where that, you know, love for his family and that heartbreak over his family being lost and murdered, where it comes from.”

Continue reading…

Countless thriller films leverage technology to manufacture scares. But Searching goes one step further. Similar to Unfriended (which innovated the following approach; Searching has now perfected it), the entire story is told through app and website interfaces, across FaceTime, Facebook, YouTube, and more.

It’s about recent widower David (John Cho), who’s raising teenage daughter Margot by himself. When Margot (Michelle La) goes missing, David investigates her social media platforms to determine what happened to her.

Social media is an information overload, and the movie, correspondingly, is flooded with small details: status updates, video comments, and trending news. Searching is the type of movie that home video and the pause button were made for.

Warning: Spoilers below.

In the end, we learn that lead investigating police officer Rosemary Vick (Debra Messing) has been covering for her son Robert (Steven Michael Eich)–the actual killer–the entire time. She first tries to convince David that his daughter is a runaway, and when that fails, she pins the crime on a local sex offender. The audience (and David) falls for her ruse; most citizens have an inherent trust of authority figures, which the movie exacerbates with numerous red herrings.

Scattered amongst these distractions, though, are several relevant clues to the true identity of the movie’s villain. Here are 7 you might have missed. They’re a testament to the filmmakers’ attention to detail.

1. Uncle Peter makes kimchi gumbo for Margot.

For much of the film, the timeline regarding Margot’s disappearance doesn’t line up. Her study buddies confirm that she left the late-night study session at 9 PM, even though Margot told her David she would be studying all night. Near the end of the movie, we finally learn that after the study session, Margot went to her Uncle Peter’s house to have dinner and pick up weed.

There were a couple of hints. Remember the beginning of the film: Peter contacts David, because he’s cooking Pam’s (the late mother’s) kimchi gumbo, and he needs the recipe. That’s because Margot is coming over to Peter’s house for dinner; he wanted to make her something special. Also, Peter is puzzled when David tells him that Margot is at an all-night study session. And no wonder: you can hear Margot ringing Peter’s doorbell right before he disconnects his call.

2. Detective Rosemary Vick tells a revealing story.

For most of the movie, Detective Vick seems like a dedicated hero cop. But in one particular late-night conversation with David, she reveals her core dishonesty.

Vick tells David a story about her son, who extorted money from neighbors by inventing a police charity. And when David asks her how she reacted, Vick admits she went along with the lie instead of revealing her son’s misdeeds. At the time, it seems like a loving, maternal anecdote. Only later do we realize how far she is willing to go to protect her son.

4. Robert is in Pam’s contact list.

This one happens quickly. Remember how Pam, Margot’s mother, has an extensive database of Margot’s classmates? David scrolls through this spreadsheet near the beginning of the movie, and near the top of the page, there is an entry for Robert. Pam even made a note that Robert had a crush on Margot, confirming what Detective Vick later states in her confession. Robert’s last name isn’t Vick, which might have thrown some people off; a different column notes that his parents are divorced.

3. Robert has a particular, favorite Pokemon.

We learn that the YouCast user fish_n_chips is Robert; he pretended, for months, to be a waitress named Hannah to get closer to Margot. That’s why “Hannah” also had a mother with cancer; Robert knew which biographical details would make Margot vulnerable.

But in his first conversation with Margo, Robert gives away an important detail. He says that his favorite Pokemon is Kecleon. Why? According to the official Pokemon guide: “Kecleon is capable of changing its body colors at will to blend in with its surroundings.” How appropriate.

5. “Are you at the lake?”

Here’s the classic criminal pitfall, where the suspect accidentally reveals a detail that only the guilty party would know. When David has a late-night realization that Margot was heading towards the lake on the night she disappeared, he calls Vick to tell her that he’s made a break in the case. She calls back later to ask, “Are you at the lake?”

David never said, specifically, that he was heading to the lake. How would Vick have known about the lake unless she was hiding something there? Thankfully for her, neither David nor the audience picks up on her incriminating error.

6. “Sweetheart, let me take care of this.”

During one of David’s late night FaceTime sessions with Vick, Robert makes an on-camera appearance. He appears from his body language to be nervous; perhaps he’s feeling guilty and wants to confess?

But Vick puts a stop to this and says to him, “Sweetheart, let me take care of this.” It’s an odd, awkward phrasing that, given what we now know, seems especially creepy. It also lends some degree of pity for Robert; at this point, he’s lost control over the narrative. His mother is burying his crime, regardless of whether or not he wants to cop to it.

7. Incoming alien film?

According to Ohanian, there are numerous subplots taking place in the background of the film via news reports and status updates. One of them seems to be an alien conspiracy; you can see one of several mentions in the trailer screenshot above. Are these closed narratives? Or are they clever foreshadowing for the filmmakers’ future projects? Or something else entirely

There’s only so much Easter egg hunting that one can do during Searching’s theater run. Fans will have to wait until the movie’s home release to track down and analyze everything. Searching is a movie about the Internet that was made for the Internet. And no doubt, the hive mind will dissect every frame in the weeks and months ahead.