Month: June 2020

These streaming sci-fi movies will make you question everything, and you’ll love them for it.

We all need an escape from reality from time to time, and what better way than to expand our brains with some seriously cerebral science fiction? There are plenty of mind-bending sci-fi movies out there, and a lot are available to watch right now on streaming services.

These aren’t your average science fiction-tinged action movies or time travel romps. These are films that will really make you think about the reality in which we live: Is the universe really just a simulation? Is there alien life, and if so, what would it actually be like? What would really happen if someone invented time travel, or artificial intelligence so realistic that it’s impossible to tell the difference between humans and machines? If you’ve ever stayed up late at night wide-eyed pondering these questions and more, these are the movies for you.

And luckily, they’re all streaming in one form or another, whether for subscribers on platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, free with ads on Roku and Crackle, or for a small rental fee on Google Play or Vudu. So what are you waiting for? Go expand your horizons.

1. Annihilation (2018)

Streaming on: Amazon Prime/Hulu, Google Play (rental)

Written and directed by the talented Alex Garland, whose most recent work was the phenomenal FX show Devs (which, incidentally, is currently streaming on Hulu), Annihilation adapts the Jeff Vandermeer novel describing encounters with life so alien that it’s barely recognizable. It stars Natalie Portman.

2. Primer (2004)

Streaming on: Amazon Prime, Google Play (rental)

In 2004, unknown filmmaker Shane Carruth released this passion project, which he wrote, directed, shot, edited, scored, and starred in himself. An incredible exercise in low budget filmmaking, it follows two garage scientists as they accidentally invent time travel. It requires multiple watches to piece together the complex story web, but it’s well worth it.

3. Inception (2010)

Streaming on: Netflix, Google Play (rental)

Christopher Nolan’s now-iconic Inception features a star-studded cast and combines a heist movie with the high-concept science fiction conceit of technology that allows the user to enter a subject’s dreams and plant ideas therein. Like dreams, the rules are malleable and the details surreal; if you haven’t seen it in a while, it’s worth a rewatch.

4. Gattaca (1997)

Streaming on: Roku/Tubi/Crackle (ads), DirecTV, Google Play (rental)

Starring Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, and Jude Law in their heydays, Gattaca explores a society that has mastered the art of genetic manipulation. The result isn’t a utopian society free from disease and poverty, but something far more realistic–those born “naturally,” defects and all, are ruthlessly discriminated against. One man devises a way to beat the system and achieve a better life, but the cost is great.

5. Ex Machina (2014)

Streaming on: Netflix, Google Play (rental)

Another Alex Garland entry, Ex Machina follows a lowly tech employee as he embarks on a retreat to his CEO’s remote estate, where he finds his boss has been working on creating AI that’s indistinguishable from human life. There may be something more sinister going on, but we’ll leave that for you to find out.

6. The Matrix (1999)

Streaming on: Netflix, Google Play (rental)

The Matrix set the bar in 1999, and although it’s now over 20 years old, it holds up every bit as well today. What if reality is a simulation, and in the “real” world, humans are harvested for energy by a race of sentient machines? Sure, The Matrix’s style, action, and special effects remain iconic to this day. But here’s the part that will keep you up at night: If that were the case, would you really want to know? All I’m saying is Cypher had a point; ignorance is bliss.

7. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Streaming on: Starz/DirecTV, Amazon Prime/Google Play/Vudu (rental)

If technology existed that could clinically wipe your mind of all memories of toxic past relationships, ditching your emotional baggage and earning a fresh start on life, would you use it? If you did, what if you lost something essential to being “you” along the way? Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, and Elijah Wood are at their absolute best in this charming and heartbreaking sci-fi drama from 2004.

8. Moon (2009)

Streaming on: Netflix, Google Play (rental)

Duncan Jones’ directorial debut could not be more different from the Warcraft movie, which he later directed. The excellent Sam Rockwell stars as the sole character (kind of) living out a lengthy stint on a corporate-owned, remote facility on Earth’s moon. The tension ramps up as he receives an unexpected guest. To say any more would be to spoil it, so if you haven’t seen Moon, go watch it now.

9. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Streaming on: DirecTV, Amazon Prime/Vudu/Apple/Google Play (rental)

Stanley Kubrick’s science fiction epic is a classic for a reason. From the iconic opening scene featuring the monolith and the monkeys, to the introduction of the murderous AI HAL 9000, all the way to the final acid trip through time and space, 2001 is every bit as stunning and essential now as it was over 50 years ago.

10. Another Earth (2011)

Streaming on: HBO/DirecTV, Amazon Prime/Google Play/Vudu (rental)

Up in the sky, a mirror world has appeared–another Earth floating just out of reach, teasing the residents of our world with untold possibilities. Is there another you up there? If so, might they be happier than you? What if you could find out? That’s the backdrop for a story about tragedy, guilt, and human connection starring Brit Marling and William Mapother. Be warned: You will cry.

11. Melancholia

Streaming on: Hulu, Vudu/Tubi/Crackle (ads), Google Play (rental)

Lars von Trier’s Melancholia is just about exactly as dismal as the title implies. A celestial body hurtles toward Earth, but there’s no team of plucky oil drillers-turned-astronauts to blast off and blow it up. Melancholia is far more realistic: Unfortunately, everything is f***ed. A great cast that includes Kirsten Dunst, Kiefer Sutherland, Alexander Skarsgård, John Hurt, and Stellan Skarsgård must contend with the planet’s impending doom. It’s depressing, but gorgeous.

12. Arrival (2016)

Streaming on: Amazon Prime/Google Play/Vudu (rental)

Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival is a sci-fi masterpiece that envisions an alien race whose language is so different from ours that the process of learning it causes one to begin to experience reality in a fundamentally altered way. Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner lead the cast in this emotional journey.

13. Upstream Color (2013)

Streaming on: Google Play/Microsoft/YouTube (rental)

Shane Carruth’s second movie is even more of a mind-melt than Primer, once again written, directed, produced by, and starring Carruth. It’s basically impossible to describe the plot without spoilers, but suffice to say it involves bio-organic mind control technology and pigs. Sorry–it’s a tough sell. But if you enjoyed the other movies on this list, give it a shot.

Marvel Studios won’t have to wait much longer until Daredevil can rejoin the MCU. Via Screen Rant, the fan campaign known as Save Daredevil has calculated that only six months remain until the rights to Daredevil transfer from Netflix back to Marvel.

Due to the nature of the contract between Netflix and Marvel, the latter isn’t able to use characters like Daredevil, Luke Cage and Jessica Jones until two years after the cancellation of their respective shows. Netflix canceled Daredevil in late November 2018, meaning Marvel will regain the rights to the character in November 2020.

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As Screen Rant points out, Marvel will have also reacquired the rights to Luke Cage and Iron Fist at that point, as both shows were canceled in October 2018. The rights to Jessica Jones and The Punisher will follow in February 2021, with Netflix having canceled its final two Marvel series in February 2019. In less than a year, all five franchises will be back in the Marvel fold.

The question now is when and how Marvel intends to utilize these characters. Will they continue the canceled Netflix shows on a Disney-owned streaming service like Hulu or Disney+? Or will they recast the roles and reboot this particular corner of the MCU? As it is, the connective tissue between the Netflix shows and the MCU movies was limited, to the point where we argued fans should stop pretending the two are connected at all.

Fans were briefly given hope that Daredevil star Charlie Cox might reprise the role in the upcoming third Spider-Man movie. Unfortunately, Cox shot down that rumor, telling ComicBook.com “I hadn’t heard those rumors, but it’s certainly not with my Daredevil. I’m not involved in it.”

Only time will tell how these characters will be integrated (or reintegrated) into the MCU. For now, Marvel has big plans for other live-action superhero series on Disney+, including Moon Knight, She-Hulk, and Ms. Marvel. And unlike the Netflix shows, these Disney+ series will be closely intertwined with the MCU movies.

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Let us know in the comments below what you hope to see from Daredevil’s MCU future.

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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Developer Slightly Mad is back in the driver’s seat after surprise announcing Project Cars 3, the next game in its popular racing simulator series. Project Cars became popular with racing aficionados thanks to the high level of detail in the first two Project Cars game.

However, with the new sim, Slightly Mad is working to expand beyond the sandbox with a fleshed-out career mode.

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Speaking with GamesRadar, Project Cars 3 production director Pete Morrish says that alongside its highly customizable sandbox, which includes different cars, tracks, and weather conditions that can be mixed-and-matched, there’s also a new career mode designed to help more casual fans.

According to Morrish there’s “a whole metagame, and a whole career system to really support newcomers to the franchise, and those that are maybe further down the continuum towards more casual, more ‘pick up and play’ people, than the usual sim-head crowd.”

The career mode will allow new players to explore a progression system designed to introduce them to different skills, tracks, and cars, and rewards players equally for progressing. Regardless of whether a player sticks with a specific discipline, or tries to become a jack of all trades.

Alongside the new Career Mode, Project Cars 3 will bring back community events where players can compete in daily, weekly, and monthly challenges for additional bonuses and progression. “[Project Cars 3] wants you to get good. It wants you to enjoy racing and discover what we love about it. And that’s what we’re ultimately trying to share,” Morrish says.

Project Cars 3 will be available for PS4, Xbox One, and PC later this summer. Read IGN’s review of Project Cars 2 here.

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Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN.

The CW is reportedly looking to replace Kate Kane with an entirely new character for Batwoman Season 2 after Ruby Rose’s shock departure from the lead role.

The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that the show has opted to find a new identity for Batwoman rather than recast Rose’s role of Kate Kane, a cousin of Bruce Wayne, following the circulation of a leaked casting call in a Batwoman Reddit forum.

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Decider picked up on the since-deleted callout searching for an actor to portray the new character, identified in the listing as “Ryan Wilder” (though it is not clear whether this is a placeholder name), a woman in her mid-20s who “is about to become Batwoman.”

“She’s likeable, messy, a little goofy and untamed. She’s also nothing like Kate Kane, the woman who wore the batsuit before her,” the notice reads, per the outlet.

“With no one in her life to keep her on track, Ryan spent years as a drug-runner, dodging the GCPD and masking her pain with bad habits,” it continues. “A girl who would steal milk for an alley cat could also kill you with her bare hands, Ryan is the most dangerous type of fighter: highly skilled and wildly undisciplined. An out lesbian. Athletic. Raw. Passionate. Fallible. And very much not your stereotypical All-American hero.”

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Warner Bros. and The CW previously confirmed that they would recast the role of Batwoman with another LGBTQ actor for the already commissioned second season, which is moving forward without Rose after she announced she would be hanging up the cape and cowl.

Rose has not confirmed the exact reason for her sudden exit from the series, though some reports have suggested that friction arose on set after Rose became unhappy with the long hours required for the lead role on the 20-episode season.

Our review of Batwoman’s first season finale was full of praise, so hopefully, the right person will be found in order to propel the show into a great second season.

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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

New details have been revealed about Pokemon Sword and Shield’s Expansion Pass, including the release date of the first content pack, the Isle of Armor, which will launch on June 17.

The Pokemon Company has revealed a new trailer for the entire Expansion Pass, giving us a better look at the new features coming to the game with the two DLC packs, The Isle of Armor and The Crown Tundra.

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Aside from the release date, we were also introduced to two new Pokemon from the Regi family – Regieleki (electric-type) and Regidrago (dragon-type). We were also introduced to Galarian Slowbro, a poison/psychic type with a new move, Shell Side Arm, which is unique to this form. We also learned more about the Galarian forms of the original legendary birds that we were introduced to earlier this year: Galarian Articuno is psychic/flying, Galarian Zapdos is fighting/flying, and Galrian Moltres is dark/flying.

The Isle of Armor will bring Gigantimax forms of all three final evolution starter Pokemon – Rillaboom, Cinderace and Inteleon, adding powerful new G-Max moves to their skillset. You can check out the new Gigantamax Forms in our Pokemon Sword and Shield Wiki. The Isle of Armor will also add in Pokemon that did not appear in the main game, such as Azurill and Chansey. A series of new Pokemon will also be brought to the game across the Expansion Pass, including new legendaries such as Kubfu, Urshifu and Calyrex.

You can check out a huge set of new screenshots from the Expansion Pass in the gallery below:

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We’re still yet to learn about the release date for The Crown Tundra, the frosty second expansion pack which was revealed back in January.

The expansion pass marks a new step for the Pokemon franchise – which has previously preferred to release new versions of the same game, or semi-sequels. We think this is a very good next step. We awarded Pokemon Sword and Shield a 9.3 review, and since named it one of the best Nintendo Switch games.

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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Simon Pegg has shared an update on how the Mission: Impossible 7 team is aiming to get back into production by September, several months after filming was halted due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

Speaking to Variety, Pegg, who plays tech expert Benji Dunn in the franchise, confirmed that a September restart is currently “the plan” for the Christopher McQuarrie-directed movie. “That will begin with the outdoor stuff,” he revealed. “That feels fairly doable, and obviously there will be precautions put in place.”

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Pegg noted that the large-scale shoot would likely present some challenges along the way, as he suggested that logistics would need to be figured out for shooting certain scenes, especially when the action moves indoors. He jokingly remarked that fight scenes would need to be shot “five feet apart.”

“People that are involved in any close proximity stuff, it will have to be determined that they’re safe to do that,” he explained to the outlet. “I don’t know what the testing situation is, how that works, or whether they’ll be able to be tested regularly.”

First assistant director Tommy Gormley further addressed the complexities of shooting the film’s “stunt scenes” and “crowd scenes” in a separate interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today show, though he also displayed confidence in the production picking up in September and running right the way through to April/May next year.

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“This is our challenge,” he said. “We are not a chamber piece movie. We do spectacle, and that is what people expect of us. If we have the protocols in place and we break down all the procedures very carefully… we will get it going again.

“We hope to visit all the countries we planned to and look to do a big chunk of it back in the UK on the backlot and in the studio,” he added. “So September through to end April/May is our targets. We are convinced we can do this.”

The cast and crew of Mission: Impossible 7 were apparently poised to shoot a major sequence in Italy when that country went into lockdown and production on the Tom Cruise-led film shut down indefinitely. This setback in the shooting schedule reportedly forced Nicholas Hoult to drop out of the production altogether.

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Amid these shifts and delays in production, Paramount Pictures pushed back the release of Mission: Impossible 7 from July 23, 2021, to November 19, 2021. Mission: Impossible 8, previously scheduled for wide release on August 5, 2022, has also now been pushed to November 4, 2022.

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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.

A set of palm-sized Game Gear Micro consoles have been revealed as part of SEGA’s 60th anniversary celebrations.

The Game Gear Micro is currently only available to preorder in Japan and will launch on October 6th. At time of writing, there has been no news of a Western release for the device.

The console has a one-inch screen, and will arrive in four colour schemes, each with a different set of four games preloaded (full list below).

「#ゲームギアミクロ」10月6日発売決定！

セガのカラー携帯ハードがミニを超えるミクロサイズに。
4色のカラーにそれぞれ異なる４タイトルを収録。
4色同時購入で特典「ビッグウィンドーミクロ」も登場！https://t.co/hXC36mF1qh#GOSEGA　#SEGA60th pic.twitter.com/0ZzPDygbwW

— セガ公式アカウント (@SEGA_OFFICIAL) June 3, 2020

The fun-sized device will offer a headphone jack, charge via USB and use two AAA batteries for power. Sega is currently offering a promotion where, if you buy all four variants of the Game Gear Micro, you will receive a special Big Window accessory that magnifies the screen while you play. The console will retail in Japan for 4,980 yen, which roughly equates to £40 or $50.

You can check out the games preloaded on each colour of micro console below:

Black

• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Puyo Puyo 2
• Out Run
• Royal Stone

Blue

• Sonic & Tails
• Gunstar Heroes
• Sylvan Tale
• Baku Baku Animal

Yellow

• Shining Force 1
• Shining Force 2
• Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict
•  Nazo Puyo: Arle no Roux

Red

• Revelations: The Demon Slayer
• Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible Special
• The G.G. Shinobi
• Columns

As for the rest of Sega’s 60th-anniversary celebrations, the company has launched an anniversary website which offers a timeline of its history in games. We reviewed the SEGA Genesis Mini last year, calling it “as close to perfect as any retro all-in-one mini console has come so far.”

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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.