Turning Red is the best Pixar film in years

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Our top recommendation of the week is To redden. The new Pixar film “follows 13-year-old Mei (Rosalie Chiang), a spunky Chinese-Canadian middle school student living in Toronto in the early 2000s.” writes our reviewer Petrana Radulovic. “[Mei’s] juggling her devotion to her mother and her family temple duties with her burgeoning self-confidence. After a particularly tumultuous day, she wakes up to find she’s transformed into a giant red panda.”

Thus begins a hilarious, heartfelt adventure that leaves room to unravel tricky universal issues like our relationships with our parents, our cultures, and our own bodies. Last month we spoke to the creators of To redden about the film open depiction of puberty and periods. Shi also shared four classic anime that inspired the film.

That’s what Radulovic says To redden “Unabashedly and jovially embraces his own identity in a way so tender it hurts” and calls the film one of Pixar’s best. We’re disappointed in the filmmakers at Pixar To redden It doesn’t get a full theatrical release date, but we’re selfishly thrilled that we can watch the film on Disney Plus, when we want, as often as we want.

This week on YouTube | The Matrix Resurrections

is a movie about video games. And one of the most important but underrated aspects of games is the walk cycle. Every character needs a walk, and for people familiar with the concept, a poorly animated walk cycle can immediately strike you as spooky. So game developers have found a bunch of cool ways to implement walks in the games we play – and make them both accurate and tasteful. Jenna Stoeber goes through the history of walking and wheels in video games and how they got to where they are today.

Five stories to read

Colorful graphic grid with six different images from VR

A no-bullshit guide to the Metaverse | Get ready friends. Almost every entertainment brand will be hyping the Metaverse in 2022. Here’s a fun, concise explanation of everything you need to know — and how to spot the tech marketing nonsense.

Some Ukrainian Game developers volunteer to fight | We continued to follow the war in Ukraine and kept in touch with game developers who were evicted from their homes, stuck in their apartments or chose to fight for their nation. Western media outlets continue to boycott Russia. Netflix discontinued his service for subscribers in Russia. FIFA Ultimate Team no longer includes players in Russian football clubs and also other Russian branded items removed. Nintendo decided to do it delay his remake of pre-wars for the Switch, citing “recent world events.”

How you can help Ukraine (and get lots of games) | More than 700 game developers from around the world have bundled nearly 1,000 games to donate money to two Ukrainian charities. The collection includes some of our favorite games of all time including baby you are, Celeste, Super hexagonand super hot.

After Yang intentionally subverts sci-fi’s fetishistic “hollow Asian” trope | Leo Kim speaks with director Kogonada to unpack the creative choices behind his wonderful new movie. “Kogonada intentionally subverts the tropes and mechanics we’ve come to expect,” writes Kim, “and uses them as a starting point to respond to the dark legacy of Orientalism and the dehumanization of Asian people in the sci-fi genre.”

The Batman has fueled some big bat feelings | At the beginning we collected the most relevant story of the conflict between Riddler and Batman. But let’s face it: The Riddler has nothing against Catwoman, the real thing best villain in Gotham. Director Matt Reeves left enough loose threads to warrant a sequel The Batman feels inevitable, but first we might get a TV show or two. A The TV spinoff could be in troublebut another is Barrel towards production. Whatever comes next Please include this sweet boy Robin. Also a [spoiler] About [spoiler]. And hello … Speaking of batmen.

Four things to see

Ryan Reynolds, Mark Ruffalo and Walker Scobell in The Adam Project.

The Adam Project on Netflix | A teenager teams up with a future version of himself to seemingly save the world from time travel. And Mark Ruffalo plays Ryan Reynolds’ father! Honestly, that’s reason enough to give the film – Reynolds’ second collaboration Free guy Director Shawn Levy – an attempt.

Dirty old movies on Criterion Channel | Before the Hays Code removed all dirty bits from cinema, 1930s Hollywood produced mountains of gleefully trashy movies brimming with sex, drugs, and dirty double entenders. These black and white movies will not shock anyone who has seen them the second season of euphoriabut come on, how can you resist a movie called Murders at the Zoo? It’s about a wealthy zoologist with a knack for torture and murder! (Do you prefer more modern crime films? We collected 10 Great Detective Movies

You can stream now.)

Leslie Cheung & Hong Kong’s LGBT Cinema on YouTube | Accented Cinema produces some of these our favorite movie review on Youtube. His latest, a loving tribute to the late Leslie Cheung, is a great memento to watch Happy togethercurrently streaming on HBO Max and the Criterion Channel.

That Obi Wan Trailers on YouTube | What’s up with these finely dressed Star Wars villains? We have the answer.

Plus, everything new to stream: Scream has a surprise streaming release! duneis back! dog go woof!

Play three games

A Lost Ark character fights a giant robot

Lost Ark | Polygon recommends | The Diablo-inspired action MMO took over Twitch in Korea and Japan in 2019, but it’s only now that people in Europe and North America can try the game. Available on Windows PC.

mushroom architect | Climb aboard an emotional time machine to the days of Tamagotchi. Available on itch.io.

More elden ring | Such a big, mysterious and widespread game does not come along often. So please forgive us for saying “Video games donkey“Two weeks in a row. Many of us have put dozens of hours into the game and have no idea if we’re even close to the end. Meanwhile, a speedrunner beat the game in less than an hour. We prefer more leisurely approachkilling beast after beast with ours big stupid jellyfish and pause the game for the little snack break. Becoming the Elden Lord requires the right fuel. Available for PS4, PS5, Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X.

Free game of the week

A bunch of cute cartoon animals are preparing for battle in Super Auto Pets.

super car pets | The gamer wrote: “super car pets brings us a step closer to Pokemon Auto ChessWhich is true: the game’s cute animals could easily be replaced by Pikachu and his friends, and the experience borrows heavily from the popular one Automatic chess and similar titles of this relatively new genre. but super car pets also stands on its own – quite confidently – as an accessible, addictive entry point into video games that kind of play themselves. Available for Steam, iOS, Android and browsers.