Television
Can VisionQuest Do What WandaVision Did?
Spader's Ultron now lives inside Vision's head, with internet access and a painting hobby, and the critics who saw all eight episodes are already reaching for the WandaVision comparison. Here is what the NYCC crowd actually saw, and the short homework list for before Wednesday.
CrossBinge · 4 min read
Five years after a white synthezoid said "I am Vision" and flew out of Westview, Marvel finally tells us where he went. VisionQuest premieres on Disney+ on Wednesday, October 14, with two episodes, and it closes the trilogy that WandaVision…
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This Week in Entertainment
Cover Story / The Long Read
You're Probably Buying GTA 6 Wrong
Somewhere in Leonida there is a beach bar with your name on it, and Rockstar has finally told you when you can drive there. Grand Theft Auto VI lands on Thursday, November 19, on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.…
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More this week
Television
Did Critics Get Netflix's Below Right?
Josh Hartnett's fisherman has met the thing under the boats before. Critics and viewers sit twenty points apart on this one, and where that gap opens tells you whether to press play.
Movies
Is Animals Ben Affleck's Worst Film as a Director?
His new Netflix thriller is the third film built on Kurosawa's great kidnapping story. Gillian Anderson steals it, a critic wants a whole movie about her instead, and one older Affleck film does this job better.
Games
Should You Pay Early for Modern Warfare 4?
Preorder and the Korea campaign unlocks this Friday, a week before launch. Then there is the beta that lost half its Steam players in a day, and a Vault Edition that costs $30 more.
Television
Can You Skip Straight to The Diplomat Season 4?
Three seasons of betrayals, a missing Russian torpedo and a marriage in pieces. Here is what to remember before this Thursday, which season deserves the rewatch, and what to watch after.
Movies
Is Hiding Clayface a Jaws Move or a Red Flag?
DC's first horror film keeps its monster out of every trailer, and the director borrows a line from Spielberg to explain why. Plus the 1986 classic the producer compared it to, and the Batman cartoon episode to watch first.
Television
Charlie Cox Is Already Teasing a Second Save Daredevil Campaign
Marvel says Born Again's third season is its last, and the Comic Con room booed. What the first campaign actually won, what the Season 3 teaser showed, and whether fans should fight this time.
Movies
Can Street Fighter Finally Break the Movie Curse?
This Friday's reboot comes from the director of Bad Trip, with Jason Momoa as Blanka, 50 Cent as Balrog and 90s anime flashbacks. The two earlier live-action films failed in opposite ways, and fans still argue about which one deserves a rewatch.
Movies
Which Friday the 13th Films Do You Need Before Crystal Lake?
Peacock’s prequel belongs to Jason’s mother, which turns a twelve-film franchise into a much shorter homework list and makes some very famous sequels optional.
Games
Are the Critics Wrong About Hellraiser: Revival?
Reviews run from 4.5 to 9, and Steam players are close to unanimous. We weigh the peashooter guns against Doug Bradley’s Pinhead, then pick two films to watch before you open the box.
Games
Can the Dead Cells Team Save Castlevania?
Trevor Belmont's daughter, a whip you swing on, Medusa sealed in a tarot card: the studios behind Dead Cells made a Castlevania, and it is out this week. The first Japanese review has one complaint worth weighing.
Television
How Much Dexter Can You Skip?
Four series, 126 episodes and a new killer working every borough of New York. Here is our route to Resurrection season 2, and a firm answer on whether the revival beats the original's late seasons.
Television
Do You Need Dark Wolf Before The Terminal List Returns?
Reece's revenge list is finished and season 2 drops all eight episodes next week. We lined up season 1, the Dark Wolf prequel and Jack Carr's novels into a catch-up you can clear by the weekend.
Games
What Does a Free AION 2 Actually Cost?
Nearly 400,000 players, a Mixed Steam rating, and a fight over memberships, battle passes and reported AI art. One number buried in the reviews tells you whether to install it.
Television
Gail Lerner Was Fired From Newlyweds: "I Wouldn't Change a Thing"
NBC's comedy with Téa Leoni, Tim Daly and Jamie Lee Curtis lost its creator before a single episode aired. What she said, what nobody else has said yet, and what to look for in the six episodes she calls hers.
Television
30 Rock at 20: Which Cast Member Had the Best Second Act?
The TGS crew scattered from Netflix to Mission: Impossible. We pick the most surprising second act, find one thing to watch from each of seven stars, and name the season to rewatch first.
Games
Disco Elysium Came With a Reading List
The game turns seven this Thursday. Inside: the failed novel that came first, the books its own studio told players to read, and the one we would put ahead of all of them.
Books
Anne Carson on Winning the Nobel: “I Think They’re All Crazy”
The new laureate is famous for being difficult. We think that reputation is mostly wrong if you open the right book first, and we rank seven, from a Sappho with the gaps left in to an elegy that comes in a box.
Music
Thom Yorke on High and Dry: “That Particular One I Wish I Hadn’t”
Harry Styles defended the song to his face. The decades-old grudge behind that wince, the bands Yorke may be hearing when he hears it, and a listening route from The Bends onward.
Music
Amy Winehouse's Back to Black at 20: Is It Really the One to Start With?
An anniversary edition with unreleased demos and her full 2007 Paradiso show lands next week. Before it does: the case for Frank, the deep cuts radio skipped, and the documentary against the biopic.
Books
Which Susanna Clarke Book Should You Read First?
Her new illustrated novella sends a real medieval bishop to hand Durham over to a fairy army. Before it arrives next week, we line up the 782-page doorstop, Piranesi, the short stories and the BBC series in the order that pays off.
Cross-media
Our Charts Already Know It's October
A Flanagan miniseries, a Romero zombie classic, a Fear Street paperback and a cursed Japanese village all climbed last week. Only one of them fits in a single night, and the biggest climber is a trap.
From the archive
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The Week inEntertainment
No. 16
Mandy Patinkin Regretted Criminal Minds. Should You?
How Much Should Other Mommy Give Away?
The Week of October 5
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No. 15
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No. 14
Tom Cruise's Best Oscar Shot Comes With a Combover
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Is Robert Pattinson the Best Actor of His Generation?
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No. 11
Can Onslaught Make Adria Arjona Undeniable?
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No. 10
Coyote vs. ACME Was Worth Saving
Someone Should Have Saved the Cheerleader
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No. 9
Is the Gang Still Worse Than Us?
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Should You Trust This Mystery Box?
Where Is All the Green?
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The Best Spider-Man in 22 Years?
Can Ted Lasso Do It Twice?
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