The Drama - The scoop and digest

Psychological drama (masquerading as a romcom), is written and directed by Kristoffer Borgli.

Zendaya - Emma

Robert Pattinson - Charlie

Alana Haim - Rachel

Mamoudou Athie - Mike

Hailey Gates - Misha

Zoë Winters - Frances

Hannah Gross - Alice

Sydney Lemmon - Pauline

Anna Baryshnikov - Samantha

Additionally, Jordyn Curet plays a young Emma.

Summary

At a café in Boston, museum director Charlie approaches bookstore clerk Emma, pretending he's already read her book - The Damage by Harper Ellison.

Fake title might be teasing a future project, but author is probably a reference to Harlan Ellison.

Emma explains she is deaf in one ear and invites him to restart conversation, leading to a date.

Two years later, they're engaged.  By now, we've met Emma's maid of honour Rachel and Charlie's best man Mike.

A week before the big day, the four of them get drunk and discuss the worst things they've ever done.

Emma reveals she was planning a school shooting at just fifteen and firing her father's rifle caused her ear to pop.  This disgusts Rachel, as a shooting incident paralyzed her cousin Samantha.

Although this puts immense strain on their relationship, the wedding goes ahead, at the expense of Charlie's mental state pushed to breaking point.

Double empathy

What apparently begins as a sweet romance soon becomes a pitch-black satire.

Sound design pours glasses of eerie silence, with disconcerting camera angles and abrupt cuts reeking of awkward tension.

The ever reliable Zendaya injects complex vulnerability and the bespectacled Pattinson is at the centre of escalating chaos.

Controversial subject matter will probably leave a sour taste, but already has tongues furiously wagging.

Daymare: 1998 - Beyond the Horror - Part 3

Latest entry boasts a bit of everything.

Television

Vampire Slayer vs Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Nexa: Warrior Queen vs Xena: Warrior Princess

I Want To Believe¹ vs The X-Files

¹Subtitle of second feature film.

Pals vs Friends

And.

Central Park vs Central Perk

Graffiti

Redrum - The Shining (1980)

Snake Plissken - Escape from New York (1981)

Cyrus the Virus - Con Air (1997)

Kuato Lives - Total Recall (1990)

Be afraid. Be very afraid. - The Fly (1986)

We did it - 12 Monkeys (1995)

Most obscure though.

Timothy Flyte - The Ancient Enemy - Phantoms (1998)

Miscellany

The Fugitive (1993)

Dr. Kimble wrote a letter revealing a code to an encrypted file.

A Few Good Men (1992)

Operation Update is marked for the attention of Colonel J.R. Jessup, a nod to primary antagonist Colonel Nathan R. Jessup.

Clean Slate Order mentions Lt. J. Kendrick, referencing Lt. Jonathan Kendrick.

Polybius: The Conspiracy (left) is another take on the urban legend of "killer" arcade and Full-Life (right) is a play on Valve's Half-life.

Monitor screen

Ignoring the boring stuff like Valmontone and San Vito (real places in Italy), let's get to the nitty gritty.

Midwich St. - Silent Hill (named after John Wyndham's novel The Midwich Cuckoos.
Overlook Dr. - The Shining's Overlook Hotel.
F. Raccoon Alley - Resident Evil, with F. presumably standing for Forest.
Elm St. - A Nightmare apparently happened there.
Kedward Alley - The Blair Witch Project is based around the legend of Elly Kedward.

InvaderStation (an obvious parody of PlayStation) vs Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

Radio frequency 140.15 is Meryl Silverburgh's Codec in Metal Gear Solid (1998).

Wheelchair vs Silent Hill 3 (2003)

Iconic image in Hilltop Centre Otherworld is based directly on the poster for Session 9 (2001).

And just because they can.

Death Rides The Forest When Man Is Careless
1933 U.S. Forest Service wildfire prevention poster was often used to promote fire safety and the devastating effects of human negligence.

Deep Blue
In May 1997, IBM supercomputer made history by becoming the first machine to defeat Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov.

Bat Child Found In Cave!
Fictional creature made numerous appearances in American supermarket tabloid Weekly World News. 

Final flourish

HAL 9000 - 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Unix computer - Jurassic Park (1993)

OCP logo - RoboCop (1987)

Hallenbeck Investigations - The Last Boy Scout (1991)

Luggage cart - Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)

The most complicated is saved until last.

D&D Gun Shop was owned by Joe Dutch² and Robert Dillon³.

Names originate from: 

²Joe Baker (protagonist of End of Zoe DLC for RE 7: Biohazard) and Dutch Schaefer (Predator).

³Robert Kendo (RE 2) and Al Dillon (Predator).

Climax to follow.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie - The scoop and digest

Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic are back to helm sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, with writer Matthew Fogel also returning.

Chris Pratt - Mario

Anya Taylor-Joy - Princess Peach

Charlie Day - Luigi

Jack Black - Bowser

Keegan-Michael Key - Toad

Benny Safdie - Bowser Jr.

Donald Glover - Yoshi

Glen Powell - Fox McCloud

Brie Larson - Princess Rosalina

Luis Guzmán - Wart

Kevin Michael Richardson - Kamek

Issa Rae - Honey Queen

Summary

After Peach sent Rosalina to the Mushroom Kingdom to protect sister from evil forces, she is seen as mother by the Lumas on the Comet Observatory.

Bowser Jr. kidnaps her and a Yellow Luma and plans to take her powers and destroy the universe, to make his father proud.

Meanwhile, in the Sand Kingdom, Mario and Luigi befriend Yoshi, who entered via a warp pipe in Brooklyn, New York.

During Peach's birthday party, a meterorite crashes and having escaped captivity, the Luma tells Peach about Rosalina.

Peach and Toad leave for the Gateway Galaxy to rescue the Guardian of the Castles, while Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and a rehabilitated Bowser embark on their own adventure, with Fox McCloud eventually joining the party.

Mid-credits

Fox sends the Bowsers to prison and announces he's heading home.

Spin-off film incoming?

Post-credits

That cheeky monkey Ukiki attempts another robbery, but is thwarted by Princess Daisy.

Family is forever

Original's post-credits scene with Yoshi hatching from egg (albeit off-screen) nicely set up The Super Mario World Movie, but obviously that would've made too much sense.

Anyway, this was even more joyless than blockbusting original, so probably guaranteed to make another billion dollars.

Universe may look pretty, but script, story and characters are obscenely dull.

Series references are more relentless than Resident Evil's Nemesis and quickly become tedious, even for Nintengeeks.

Tyrannosaurus from Super Mario Odyssey (2017) is now an enemy, with pointless chase sequence blatantly ripping off Jurassic Park.

Sure. Why not?

Fox enters the fray during the final 30m and reveal might've been cool in a weird way, but bastard was already ruined by publicity material.

To be fair, Powell does a good job.

Cameos include Pikmin, Mr Game & Watch, Zappers and R.O.B.

I'm actually surprised that Link and Samus weren't thrown in for good measure.

Bowser Jr. grabs a Super Scope and de-ages the brothers into babies, putting a different spin on Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (1995).

This may also be a nod to live-action Super Mario Bros., as the same weapon (modified and repainted as 'Devo' Guns) are used by King Koopa (Dennis Hopper).

Resident Evil Requiem - Beyond the Horror

Forget everything what you may have read and/or watched, because this is all that matters.

Please note, I'll be ignoring reused assets. 

In October 2026, FBI technical analyst Grace Ashcroft is sent by her superior Nathan Dempsy to report on the latest T-Virus related death at the Wrenwood Hotel, where her mother Alyssa was murdered by former Umbrella scientist Dr. Victor Gideon eight years prior, on 19 October 2018 to be precise.

Hmmm, set up sounds vaguely familiar.

Longlegs (2024)

In 1995, FBI agent Lee Harker is assigned by her supervisor William Carter to a case of murder-suicides in Oregon.

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Behavioural Science chief Jack Crawford sends FBI student Clarice Starling to interview Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter, secretly for the purposes to apprehend serial killer Buffalo Bill (primarily based on Ed Gein and Ted Bundy).

Adding extra layers.

Grace vs Ada¹ - RE 2 (2019)

¹Femme fatale poses as an FBI agent.

Dempsy vs Tyrell - RE 3 (2020)

Face models were provided by Richie Campbell and Patrick Kengsong respectively.

And. 

Dr. Albert Wesker - 2022 TV series

R.I.P. Lance Reddick.

Victor Gideon

Goggles vs Buffalo Bill - The Silence of the Lambs

Monster vs Dale Ferdinand Kobble - Longlegs

Seven (1995)

"Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light."

Norman Cole vs Officer Davis

The Girl vs Sloth victim

Achievements

Selection follows.

The Power of Blood

Rather than Jennifer Rush or Frankie Goes To Hollywood, I'd like to think Capcom had Huey Lewis and the News and Back to the Future (1985) in mind.

Crate Expectations

A cheesy play on Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations.

Not Today, Buds!

In RE 4 (2005), Leon famously flips off Salazar with: "No thanks, bro!"

Grace and Goliath

Taking care of the first Chunk (Thomas K. Jackson) rings biblical bells of the story of David and Goliath.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

A nod to Alyssa's lock-picking skills in Outbreak (2003).

RPD

Presenting the best of nostalgia porn.

JoJo locker
The terrible poster used for the North American/European versions of Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams is impossible to miss.
Street Fighter Alpha 2 and the OG RE (on top of a Sega Saturn) also join the party.

S.T.A.R.S. photograph

RE 2 (1998)
A picture of the S.T.A.R.S. members.

28 years later, we can finally spin shit around, revealing date.

5/24/1996

Although OG takes place in July 1998, background lore states Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield had been working together for about two years before the Mansion Incident.

An upscaled version appears in 2026 fan film Resurrection: A Biohazard Story.

RE 2 (2019)
Leon (and Claire) find a dead cop with his lower jaw hanging off.

In RE 3, we're shown a Licker was responsible.

Anyway, examining the same corpse brings the following message.

The lower jaw is missing.

Why the fuck is head facing the other way?

(Frowns).

As a side note.

Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)
Lisa Trevor saves Leon and Claire from a Licker by using wooden stock to break its jaw.

Miscellany

Grace finds Leon slumped outside the Control Chamber at ARK, who says:

"I was just resting my eyes."

Ada says the same thing to him in RE 6 (2012).

At the beginning of Rhodes Hill, Grace fruitlessly begs The Girl:

"Don't come any closer!"

In RE 2 (2019), guess what Claire says to a zombie?

Yeah.

RE 2 (1998) - Claire A

When interrupting a zombie enjoying a meal inside Emmy's, Claire says:

"Just don't come any closer!"

Visual callbacks

A painting in Spencer's study is signed M.

Mother Miranda was the primary antagonist in Village.  And yeah, I know all about her wine.

The registration of Leon's Porsche is ND 9642.

Numbers refer to games m'boy either headlined or shared.

It's speculated that ND stands for Not Dead or Never Dies.

Finally, All or Nothing is displayed below the above.

I'm sure this means jack and shit, but Everything or Nothing is a 2004 James Bond game, considered a continuation of Die Another Day (2002).

ANALYZER... Ver. 1.21.8991

Year is reversed, but operating system of lazer microscope is actually when RE 2 was released in North America (January 21).

Grill Fourteen

In the OG RE 3, Jill can meet Carlos inside Grill 13.

Meanwhile, at Wrenwood Hotel.

"Let's talk. Room 204."

Elsewhere.

Outbreak - Hellfire scenario
Apple Inn Hotel contains another Room 204. 

Investigation Report

M. Warren (90): Pronounced dead at Night Valley Nursing Home.

That means that former Mayor was born in 1936.

Albeit unnamed, he was first mentioned by Irons to Claire in OG RE 2.

City Guide - RE 3: Nemesis

He was elected in 1987 and came to the city as an engineer more than 35 years ago (so at some point before 1963).

City Pamphlet - RE 2 (N64)

EX'clusive' file is a variation on the above.

Personal best

Tyrant-501 ripping Leon in half vs Tyrant tearing a Licker apart in Damnation (2012)

Maybe that's reaching, but this couldn't be more blatant.

Motorcycle chase vs Vendetta (2017)

Harry's chopper vs Day of the Dead (1985)

Cheers "Flyboy".

Leon twirling Requiem vs Nero twirling Blue Rose - Devil May Cry 4 (2008)

Both pay homage to RoboCop (1987).

Photo in Lead Researcher's Office vs Hellraiser (1987)

Rather perversely, geezer holding puzzle box is more accurate to Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992).

You 'probably' know what's coming next.