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It’s all fun and games until things get weird. The world of video games is an odd one to say the least — just like the rumor mill surrounding the biggest blockbuster films, hearsay and fan speculation can yield some interesting details about our favorite games. It’s no secret that passionate fan bases can be creative, especially when examining and dissecting things that they love. Sometimes they’ll point out fun details you may have never noticed, and other times, they’ll turn video games into downright conspiracy theories....

Stories discussed in this episode: Follow Chance: Twitter: @ChanceHMiller Follow Blair: Twitter: @Blairaltland Listen & Subscribe: Apple Podcasts Overcast RSS Stitcher TuneIn Google Play Share your thoughts! Drop us a line at happyhour@9to5mac.com. You can also rate us in Apple Podcasts or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show!

In 1977, George Lucas introduced the world to Star Wars. The story told through the trilogy that grew out of that first film is the basis of most people’s Star Wars knowledge and came to be called the “original trilogy,” serving as the cornerstone for what everyone says Star Wars “should” be. Recent additions from the new canon have fleshed the story out even more, and some of the gaps have also been filled in, making the ever growing story that much fuller....

ABC is only a few days away from the season 4 premiere of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which will be moving to a new 10 pm EST time slot. The change could have something to do with mediocre ratings for a series with Marvel’s name plastered in front, but the reasoning behind the move has been said to allow for a darker tone moving forward. This will be put to the test with the introduction of the Robbie Reyes version of Ghost Rider, who should be a dark character by his very nature....

[NOTE: This feature was originally published in July, but we felt it was worth revisiting - now that Ghost Rider (Gabriel Luna) is ready to officially make his debut on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 4.] - There’s been a lot of speculation in recent weeks concerning season 4 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., especially once Marvel teased fans with an image of flaming chains in advance of San Diego Comic-Con 2016....

When it comes to The Blair Witch Project, not everyone realizes how greatly it impacted modern cinema. Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez’s extra low-budget indie about three filmmaking students who set off to make a documentary about a legendary witch was critically praised, but was received with awkwardness by a large part of the audience, due to its radical and unconventional filmmaking style. In a genre stuffed with easy frights and jump scares, The Blair Witch Project offered a new breed of horror, focusing on what’s implied, generating fear by the unseen....

Let’s face it, a straightforward story can be boring - we’ve seen it a thousand times before. Generally speaking, watching a film that’s not afraid to take risks with its narrative can be a breath of fresh air, especially when that narrative can jump from one moment in time to another in a blink of the eye. Experimenting with nonlinear structures in movies has been around since the silent film era, and movies like Manchester by the Seaand Deadpoolprove that the cinematic technique is still alive and well....

The old saying “absolute power corrupts absolutely” is an apt description of the power of celebrity. Fame can be treacherous for those unprepared for the cost, and it can certainly cause a strain on a star’s friends and family, and romantic relationships in particular. It seems that a celebrity marriage is far more fragile than those of the non-famous variety. Nothing helps end a power couple’s relationship more than when one partner’s power diminishes while the other rises....

It’s been so often it’s basically a cliche: becoming successful in Hollywood is more about who you know than how well you can actually perform. Of course, that surely can’t be true about everyone who’s hit it big in Hollywood, but the more you dig into the background of some of your favorite stars, the more you realize how many of your fave celebs are all just one big happy family....

Many Marvel characters have abilities that surpass the laws of physics and demonstrate just how different they are from the general human gene pool. While running faster than a speeding train or healing a bit more quickly than the average person seem conceivable, especially for those with mutant genetics or altered DNA, the idea of running as fast as mach 10 is a bit far-fetched - until you consider Quicksilver....

For Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film, the provocative filmmaker decided to spend a summer in Los Angeles in 1969, when the dynamic of Hollywood was changing in the wake of a counterculture surge. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is an homage to a time that witnessed the end of an era of films made with rugged, swaggering bravado in favor of modern, stylish androgyny. Fictional Western stars like Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his loyal stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) find themselves at a crossroads facing an uncertain future, unsure of how to proceed when effervescent stars like Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and her peers are on the rise....

While professional wrestling is renowned for athletic spectacles and the illusion of physical combat between competitors, it’s also entertainment akin to a soap opera. The fighting portion tends to stem from drama that leads to rivalries between those involved, and it can arise from a variety of situations. Therefore, it’s only natural that romance has always played an important part in storylines, for better or worse. What’s more dramatic than love after all?...

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This week on Happy Hour Benjamin and Zac break down the App Store settlements of the week, and the policy changes they have caused, as well as some fascinating rumors about the iPhone 13’s satellite communication abilities and the Apple Watch health sensor roadmap. Sponsored by Things: The award-winning to-do app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac — now with Markdown support! Sponsored by Notion: Go to Notion.so and use promo code HAPPYHOUR to get $250 off its annual team plan....

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. lives in an oddly unique place among network television series, tasked with operating as an independent entity with its own set of characters and ongoing storylines while also playing a (somewhat thankless) role in the mechanics of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The show not only sets up and pays off tertiary plot threads from the more prominent Marvel Studios movies, but also serves as a semi-weekly reflection of the MCU’s ever-changing status quo - even though the logistics of television means the producers can’t know many of their film counterparts’ long-term plans....

Guardians of the Galaxy was often labeled Marvel Studios’ biggest risk, but writer and director James Gunn successfully turned the ragtag group of cosmic heroes into some of the most beloved characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The first movie took the box office by storm and grossed upwards of $700 million with raving reviews, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 should do significanty better. The new Guardians 2 trailer already broke records this weekend while making viewers fall in love with Baby Groot and introducing audiences to new team member Mantis (Pom Klementieff)....

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is an unusual and divisive sequel to incredibly popular anime and manga Naruto. While Boruto does further expand and explore the mystical ninja world introduced in Naruto and further examine themes involving themes of generational violence, it just isn’t as gripping as its predecessor. While it is fun to see the character from the original series in new situations and a different part of their life, a lot of the newer characters aren’t as enticing as their older counterparts and some of the older characters have aged less gracefully than others....

Right now, the DC Universe on TV is thriving. There’s Gotham, Black Lighting iZombie, and of course, the interwoven Arrowverse shows, of which will be a fifth one added soon, thanks to the debut of Batwoman during the much-anticipated “Elseworlds” crossover event. Before this golden age of DC comics on TV, there were a litany of DC shows that came down the pipeline since the days of the Shazam serials back in the fifties....

Life happens. It isn’t a static or linear journey where every twist and turn can be predicted and anticipated. Too often we’re forced to take a detour and embark down a path that we never expected. One thing’s for sure, though: it’s never boring. Despite all the planning and preparation, superhero TV shows aren’t immune to the phenomena of life, either. They’re hit by numerous setbacks and unexpected occurrences. In many cases, the showrunners have to think on their feet, which results in them sinking or swimming....

Fun though it may be to go back and laugh at all the old sci-fi movies that got the future so very wrong (fax machines, seriously), it’s an even more interesting to take a look at old sci-fi flicks that took a wild stab in the dark… and got it absolutely right. Whether they were educated guesses or just a bit of creative flare that inspired real-world trends, these flicks seemed to pull their most iconic ideas straight from the future....