Animated 'Blade Runner: 2049' Prequel Is Gorgeous And Violent

Okay, here’s your last homework assignment for Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049, at least beyond, you know, rewatching your preferred version of Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi classic. Early reviews are just hitting the airwaves and are overwhelmingly positive—not to make it harder to keep expectations in check or anything. But most of us still have a while to wait, but take a few minutes to gawk at the third and final prequel short.

This 'Blade Runner 2049' Prequel Short Has Dave Bautista Waxing Philosophical And Wrecking Dudes

Admittedly, I enjoy movies with large, sprawling mythologies that don’t always stick to the confines of what we see on screen in a theater. I also often enjoy promotional build up to movies that do things a little differently, that add context or additional value to the movie. What I don’t like is when that same supplementary material becomes required reading for said movie. I don’t know that this is the case for Blade Runner 2049, but with a new prequel short, it’s starting to feel that way. (You can read my more in-depth thoughts on the matter HERE.) That said, it’s still pretty cool. Check it out below.

'The Thing' Movie Review

Antarctica is a great setting for a horror movie. You’re in the most remote, desolate, deadly corner of the planet, where the weather can change moods at the drop of a hat, where you can freeze to death before you know it, and where if something goes wrong you’re just screwed, simple as that. When you see footage of the barren, wind swept landscape it’s easy to imagine why Lovecraft set “At the Mountains of Madness” in such a spot, it’s like an entire continent trying to drive you crazy and murder every living thing besides penguins. It is a landscape rife with an inherent tension, a tension that is largely underused by “The Thing”, director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.’s new prequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 film, oddly enough, also called “The Thing”.

DVD Review: 'Spartacus: Gods of the Arena'

It feels strange to write a review of “Spartacus: Gods of the Arena” right now, just a short few days after the untimely passing of actor Andy Whitfield, who played the titular gladiator in “Spartacus: Blood and Sand”, the series that preceded “Gods of the Arena”. Despite the absence of Spartacus, and Whitfield, in “Gods of the Arena”, he looms in the background, largely because if not for Whitfield’s well-publicized battle with non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, the six-episode mini-series likely wouldn’t have happened. When Whitfield was originally diagnosed he stepped down from the show, a huge hit for the Starz network. While producers of the show frantically searched for a new leading man, eventually selecting Liam McIntyre, the idea for “Gods of the Arena” first came about. It will be curious how the series carries on without Whitfield. The more I watched “Blood and Sand”, the more he carried the bulk of the workload, and he will be missed.