Gareth Evans on Apostle’s measured, restrained approach to full-blown gore

Director Gareth Evans

For a Welsh-born director, Gareth Evans has an odd claim to fame: through a series of movies made in Indonesia, he brought the martial art pencak silat to Westerners’ attention, made a star out of martial artist Iko Uwais, and built a name for himself through brutal, precise action sequences and a memorable approach to violence. Evans’ movies Merantau, The Raid: Redemption, and The Raid 2 weren’t major action blockbusters, but among martial arts fans and cult-cinema enthusiasts, they enjoy the kind of delirious word-of-mouth that builds fandoms and boosts reputations.

Evans’ rep was likely a major part of what let him sign on with Netflix for a distinctly odd and personal project: his first film actually shot and set in Wales, and his…

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Facebook is reportedly working on a TV camera that can stream video

Earlier this month, Facebook announced Portal, a camera-equipped smart device that’s meant to compete with Amazon’s Echo Show. But the company’s hardware ambitions apparently go far beyond that: Cheddar is reporting that Facebook is working on a TV camera that would offer Portal-like video chatting on a bigger screen and allow users to stream content from Facebook Watch.

If the device — said to be codenamed “Ripley” — makes it to market, Facebook would enter into another massive smart home battleground, facing off against Amazon, Apple, Google, and Roku for valuable set-top box space. Facebook’s addition of a camera, which essentially turns your entire TV into a massive Facebook Portal, would be a differentiator for the current…

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Watch Eminem’s Empire State Building performance, shot mostly on Google’s Pixel 3

Self-proclaimed rap god Eminem and visionary director Terrence Malick officially have more in common than people may have thought: both partnered with Google for over-the-top Pixel 3 commercials. But whereas Malick’s commercial captured the Pixel 3 camera’s best qualities, Eminem’s gaudy performance failed the entire concept.

Eminem’s anticipated Empire State Building performance, which caught New Yorkers off guard last week when it was being filmed, was shot mostly on a Pixel 3, according to ABC. The video debuted on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and it stars Eminem performing his new song “Venom” from Sony’s antihero blockbuster of the same name. It’s a surprising location choice considering Venom takes place in San Francisco, not New York City,…

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A selfish gene makes mice into migrants

House mice carrying a specific selfish supergene move from one population to another much more frequently than their peers. This finding shows for the first time that a gene of this type can influence animal migratory behavior. It could help in dealing with invasive plagues transmitted by mice.