The recent news ofGene Hackman’s tragic death at the age of 95 marked the passing of one of popular culture’s most preeminent cinematic bad guys. Receiving five Academy Award nominations and winning two across a successful career that spanned more than four decades,Hackman’s best moviessaw him produce iconic turns in the likes ofUnforgiven, I Never Sang for My Father, andMississippi Burningto rubber-stamp his status as one of cinema’s most respected faces....

Superhero movies wouldn’t be as popular today if it wasn’t for the success of Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man films in the 2000s, and the Peter Parker star has an unsurprisingly high net worth. Maguire first rose to prominence as an actor in the late ’90s, often playing soft-spoken, somewhat dorky characters like inPleasantvilleandThe Cider House Rules. With this experience,Maguire was perfect to play the kind-hearted Peter Parker in Sam Raimi’sSpider-Mantrilogy. The actor has stepped out of the spotlight in recent years, thoughMaguire’s cameos inBabylonandSpider-Man: No Way Homeare beyond memorable....

Quick Links Start yourConnectionsjourney in September off on the right foot. Today’s puzzle has a couple of confusing categories and you will likely need some help to get them right. Hopefully, with a few tips and hints, you will be able to get the win and set a trend for the rest of the month. If you likeConnections,you will likely also find theNYTVertexpuzzlequite satisfying. We find it a great way to wind down after a long day with just enough challenge to keep you engaged....

If you feel like you are trying to fake your way to victory in today’sConnectionspuzzle, you are not alone. Faking it ‘til you make it is a legitimate strategy in various situations, but it is a lot harder to dowhen you only get a limited number of options to fail. Once you have, there is no going back and you have lost your streak. Keeping that streak is a big part of making it, so choose to use these hints instead of faking it to get what you need most....

The year 2024 was undoubtedly a fantastic year foranimated movies.Inside Out 2surpassedFrozen IIto become thehighest-grossing animated movieof all time at the worldwide box office. It made just shy of $1.7 billion at the worldwide box office, positioning it as the highest-grossing movie of the year. It was not the only animated movie to achieve success. In fact,four of 2024’s top 10 highest-grossing movies were animated films, includingDespicable Me 4,Moana 2, andKung Fu Panda 4....

Fast and Furious 11is set to be the final entry in this long-running franchise, and Vin Diesel seems to be hinting towards a long-awaited character return that already has me split on the decision. While very fewdetails aboutFast 11have been released, the film will be a direct sequel to the previous installment, which saw Dom and his friends fight against newcomer villain Dante Reyes - the son ofFast Five’s Hernan Reyes....

Lance Barber is officially coming back as George Cooper Sr. inGeorgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, but CBS will have to be more creative with his return. Despite its continued popularity,CBS was forced to cancelYoung Sheldonbecause ofThe Big Bang Theorycanon. The prequel was already reaching its natural endpoint, and despite creating countless plot inconsistencies before, the producers decided to stick to the canon. Ultimately, the end of Sheldon’s childhood was defined by two things: his move to California andGeorge’s unexpected death— both arcs played out in the spinoff’s send-off....

Almost half a century afterStephen Kingfirst published his post-apocalyptic epicThe Stand, readers still have fair criticisms to make about the ending. Despite it being one of his masterpieces,The Standis one of manyStephen King book endings that left readers wanting more. The epic tale tells the story of the people who are left after a pandemic sweeps America, with the survivors splitting up into two camps, with those on the side of light and good trying to withstand the malevolence ofRandall Flagg, King’s embodiment of evilin a post-apocalyptic America....

Director Robert Eggers has four feature films under his belt so far:The Witch,The Lighthouse,The Northman, and 2024’sNosferatu. While he has not been in the public eye as long as some other established directors, like Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott, or Steven Spielberg, audiences are already getting a clear picture of the sorts of films that attract Eggers. All four ofRobert Eggers' feature filmsare period pieces. They also all have a folklore-like quality to them, or they feel as if they could be a legend passed down from generation to generation....

Summary Xbox Game Passis taking to the tracks with its next Day-One release, which should keep train enthusiasts entertained for months. Following Gamescom 2024,Microsoft has been riding high on several day-one announcements as the company looks to make the service’s pricier tiers more valuable to consumerswho may be unsure of the larger price stage. Withbig titles likeCall of Duty: Black Ops 6,Indiana Jones and The Great Circle, andSniper Elite: Resistanceheading for Game Pass, the latest announcement will appeal to a much more niche audience....

Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for XO, Kitty season 2! XO, Kittyshowrunner Jessica O’Toole has opened up about a potential return of Lana Condor’s Lara Jean and the status of her relationship with Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo). Since its Netflix breakthrough,XO, Kittyhas become a standoutin Jenny Han’sTo All The Boysfranchise, focusing on Kitty Song-Covey as she navigates her life at the Korean Independent School of Seoul (KISS). Season 2 brought Peter back again, who visited Kitty as he was in Seoul for a lacrosse match, during which he made it clear he and Lara Jean were still going strong....

Thanks to a new collaboration between developer CD Projekt Red and Opera GX, PC players’Cyberpunk 2077experience is set to become even more immersive. Opera GX is launching aCyberpunk 2077hub that will allow fans to customize their browsers and engage with some of the game’s features without even launching it. Opera GXis a web browser designed specifically for the needs of a gaming PC, and as detailed by the company in a new blog post,the Cyberpunk 2077 GX corner hub is the first of a new feature rolling out to customers....

Captain America: Brave New Worldstar Harrison Ford discussed becoming the “second” actor to play a Hulk in the Marvel CInematic Universe. The first, of course, was Bruce Banner/Hulk, who was portrayed by Edward Norton in 2008’sThe Incredible Hulkand by Mark Ruffalo in each subsequent appearance. Though Ford’s character, Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, will take on the Red Hulk title, he’s technically not the second Hulk character in the MCU, with Hulk-adjacent characters She-Hulk, Skaar, and Abomination appearing previously, but he will be the second in a film role to take on a similar moniker....