Upon a quick glance, the home release of Jordan Peele's latest horror movie Us has the traditional set of special features like deleted scenes and numerous featurettes--with no audio commentary in sight, sadly. However, what sets the home release of Us apart from others is that director Jordan Peele is a well of information and has no problem going in-depth about every aspect of the movie. The featurette titled "The Duality of Us" goes into great detail about the true meaning of the movie, which is incredibly layered.
Originally, Peele explained that he has a fear of doppelgangers."Throughout mythology, doppelgangers often represent bad omens, or a foreshadowing of one's death," the director explained. "So I just wanted to sort of pinpoint and work off of that extremely primal fear."
However, from there, the real meaning of Us has everything to do with being fortunate enough to be a privileged American citizen. "One of the central themes in Us is that we can do a good job, collectively, of ignoring the ramifications of privilege," Peele continued. "I think it's the idea that what we feel like we deserve comes, you know, at the expense of someone's else's freedom or joy. And the biggest disservice we can do as a faction with a collective privilege, like the United States, is to presume that we deserve it, and that it isn't luck that has us born where we're born. For us to have our privilege, someone suffers. That's where the tethered connection, I think, resonates the most is that those who suffer and those who prosper are two sides of the same coin. You never forget that and we have to fight for the less fortunate."
This idea of two sides to the same coin, privilege, and duality, centers around young Adelaide Wilson's "Hands Across America" t-shirt. The 1986 event was to raise awareness and money to end hunger in Africa by joining hands to make a continuous chain across the United States.
"When I thought to put the Hands Across America in this film as an example of this American duality, that here you have this event," explained Peele. "On the one hand, it's a beautiful thing. Right? We're all going to get together. We're all going to hold hands. And somehow, that's going to cure hunger. The illusion that we're contributing to something that actually is making change, as opposed to something that kind of makes us feel better and absolves us of our responsibility to enact actual change."
Then, there is the actual meaning of the film's title, which is also very layered and becomes more complicated as the movie pushes forward. "There's this expanding idea of what the word 'us' means," detailed Peele. "'Us' can mean many different things. The only thing consistent about the idea of Us is when you have an 'us,' you have a 'them.' Every one of us and our doppelganger share a soul. We have a fated connection that isn't always exact. I described it as being sort of poetic-connection. Fate and magic of the soul doesn't work in a sort of scientifically dependable way, which is one of the reasons that underpasses the concept didn't work for the creators."
Additionally, within this special feature, alone, Peele also delves into the meaning of the rabbits and horror as a genre as well. You can see all of this when the home release (4K, Blu-ray, and DVD) hits stores on June 18. Us is now available digitally, but many of the home release special features are not included with the digital release.
The DC Universe is gearing up for the return of the fan favorite team up book, Batman/Superman, with the creative team of Joshua Williamson and David Marquez this August--and to celebrate, they've released a first look at the first five pages of the first issue, which you can check out below.
Here's some context if you've lapsed on your DC reading over the past year or so. Remember that evil, fanged Robin who just introduced himself as Billy Batson? He's a member of the Batman Who Laughs' crew--a team of monstrous, brainwashed youths who run around with crowbars gnashing their teeth at whatever their evil overlord points them at. And, for a while, that's all their really was to it. The Batman Who Laughs and his underlings are all invaders from an evil alternate reality called the Dark Multiverse (because comics, don't worry too much about it) so of course, it just went to follow that an evil Batman would have evil Robins, right?
But there's more to the story now, apparently--and one of the Robins has revealed himself to actually be none other than Shazam, himself: Billy Batson. No, not our Billy Batson--at least, not that we can tell--but a version of Billy Batson from the Dark Multiverse who was corrupted by The Batman Who Laughs. Maybe, at least. From the context of the preview, it's hard to tell whether or not this is the Billy from our universe or not.ither way, he's definitely in some serious trouble.
Batman/Superman plans on delving deep into the mysteries of The Batman Who Laughs and the "sleeper agents," a new Rebirth-era "Secret Six," who he's planted across the world--superheroes he has corrupted who continue to live and exist in their normal lives none-the-wiser but who can be transformed into the evilest versions of themselves at any moment. Anyone could be a potential threat and when the truth is finally uncovered, the DC Universe will never be the same. So what does this mean for Billy and his heroic counterpart, Shazam? Only time will tell--but it's probably nothing good.
Among the surprises that Microsoft had in store its E3 2019 press conference was Phantasy Star Online 2. Years after its release in Japan, the game will finally launch in North America. And while its presence on Microsoft's stage at E3 assured us an Xbox One release is in the but Xbox head Phil Spencer has confirmed the game will arrive on other platforms--although whether that means PS4, Nintendo Switch, or something else remains to be seen..
Spencer sat down with Giant Bomb's Jeff Gerstmann to talk about Xbox's presence at E3 2019. The nearly 50-minute interview saw the two chat about the excitement surrounding the MMO's Western reveal. "I'm not trying to say this is because of me but I said [to Sega], 'You know, so many of the constructs in today's online console games were born in Phantasy Star and 90 percent of the gamers today don't know what a Phantasy Star Online is,'" Spencer told Gerstmann.
The Western Localization trailer revealed during E3 2019, above, announces that Phantasy Star Online 2 will finally make its way to North America. And while Spencer couldn't confirm whether the game will appear in other regions like Europe and the Middle East because "Sega's ultimately responsible for it," he did say the game isn't console exclusive. "Yes, it will end up on all platforms."
There's no specification on what "all platforms" means, and Gerstmann didn't press for clarification on this statement, but Spencer is certain the MMO will not just be exclusive to the Xbox family. Spencer "happens to have a soft spot" for Phantasy Star Online, believes "it can be a meaningful franchise," and is just excited to work with Sega again.
Phantasy Star Online 2 will arrive sometime in Spring 2020.
Back in May, Pokemon Go developer Niantic announced it would be bringing three Legendary Pokemon back to the game, beginning with Cresselia. If you've yet to capture one, however, your time is quickly running out. The Lunar Pokemon is scheduled to leave Raid Battles this Tuesday, June 18, making this your last opportunity to catch it--and possibly find a Shiny Cresselia.
If you're hoping to add Cresselia to your collection, you'll first need to team up with other players in-person and take on the Legendary Pokemon in a Raid Battle. Cresselia is a pure Psychic-type, so you'll want to bring along Ghost, Dark, and Bug Pokemon like Giratina, Tyranitar, and Scizor when you battle it. If you manage to defeat Cresselia, everyone who participated in the Raid will receive a handful of Premier Balls along with an opportunity to catch it.
Immediately following Cresselia's departure, the Gen 3 Legendary Kyogre will return in Pokemon Go. It'll appear in Raid Battles until June 27; after that, it'll be replaced by its Pokemon Ruby counterpart, Groudon, which will be available until July 10. Just as with Cresselia, you'll also have a chance of encountering Kyogre and Groudon's Shiny forms when each Legendary returns to Raids.
Niantic's annual Pokemon Go Fest event is now underway in Chicago. To celebrate the occasion, the Water-type Pokemon Horsea will spawn much more frequently than normal from now until Go Fest ends on June 16. Not only that, but you'll also have a chance of finding Shiny Horsea. Those who are attending the event, meanwhile, can find Shiny Abra, as well as Alolan Vulpix, a special Eevee wearing a floral crown, and the Mythical Pokemon Jirachi. If you can't attend Go Fest in-person, you can still participate in Global Challenges to help unlock in-game rewards and bonuses.
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