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HBOs The Last of Us took a riveting action game bolstered by intimate human moments and made a richly human drama supported by terrifying action. In returning for season two, and now using the sequel game as source material, showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann had quite a bit more work cut out for them. The first season greatly expanded the emotional depth and breadth of Joel and Ellies cross-country journey while also fleshing out the stories of many others they meet along the way, and the cast (led by Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey) was outstanding. That was over two years ago, and now its encore time. Season two premieres on HBO this Sunday, April 13, and I am once again happy to report that the show does a faithful job of capturing the first part of a complex story while also fixing a few of the minor complaints I had about the first season. [Editor's note: this story discusses season two broadly but avoids specific plot details and spoilers. There are spoilers for season one.] The show picks up exactly where season one (and the first game) concluded. Joel and Ellie return to the settlement of Jackson, Wyoming, where Joels brother Tommy is part of a peaceful, well-fortified commune a rare oasis of relative safety in a destroyed world. This comes about a year after the Fireflies a militia group searching for a cure for the zombie infection tasked Joel with smuggling Ellie across the country. Over the ensuing journey, Joel bonds with Ellie and comes to treat her as a surrogate daughter, replacing the one he lost at the beginning of the outbreak 20 years prior. Ellies immunity to the infection gave the Fireflies hopes she holds the key to finding a cure but when Joel learns it would kill her, he wipes out a whole platoon of soldiers and the doctor who was trying to carry out the procedure, before fleeing with Ellie back to Jackson. As far as she knows, there was no way to make a cure and Joel rescued her when raiders descended on the Firefly complex. Kaitlyn Dever in HBO's The Last of Us season twoPhotograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO We immediately learn that Joels rampage against the Fireflies is going to have major repercussions right from the jump, as we meet Abby (played with furious intensity by Kaitlyn Dever) and her small crew of young Fireflies in Salt Lake City in the days following the massacre. Things then jump forward five years; Ellie and Joel are well-integrated into the Jackson community and living a relatively normal life though Joels therapy sessions with Gail (the wonderful Catherine OHara) show that he and Ellie have had some degree of falling out. Whether its just her being a 19-year-old or something deeper remains to be seen. Without spoiling anything, the sequel game, The Last of Us Part II, is a far less linear affair than its predecessor. Events are shown out of order through multiple flashbacks. Perspectives shift. The playable character changes at various points. Ive spent much of the last year wondering exactly how Mazin and Druckmann would translate that structure to TV what events would be shown in what order, and what things might get cut or expanded on? But surprisingly, the show closely mirrors the games chronology. The core of the season remains Joel and Ellie, the fallout from season one and how it affects everyone around them. A handful of events, including an infamous town festival in Jackson and the reveal of Abbys motivations throughout the season, are moved up sooner in the series to give viewers more context for why things are happening. Its a change the creators said was made to compensate for the change between the interactivity of playing characters like Abby and Ellie versus watching them. Pedro Pascal and Catherine O'Hara in HBO's The Last of Us season twoPhotograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO The seasons structure worked the multi-pronged plot didnt ever feel hard to stick with, and I think the show did a better job this season at balancing out action and drama. As the cast and creators have alluded to, Ramsey and Pascal dont get as much time together as they did in season one, which is a shame given their absolutely fantastic chemistry. But both actors make the most of Joel and Ellies fracturing relationship, and they also do wonderful work with other scene partners. Both Joel and Ellie spend significant time with Dina (Isabela Merced), who ends up being something of another daughter to Joel and a best friend / love interest for Ellie. She brings a completely different attitude to these scenes like anyone in the world of The Last of Us, you know shes seen her fair share of horrible things, but she combines a cool confidence with vulnerability in a way that keeps Ellie delightfully off balance. One of the key new events in the show that didnt take place in the game is a massive siege of Infected attacking the town of Jackson (something you see in the shows various trailers). At first, it felt like an on-the-nose response to complaints that the Infected didnt feel like much of a threat in season one, but the way the large-scale battle is juxtaposed with a much more intimate threat in the same episode plays out perfectly. That episode was followed by one that was far more peaceful and character-driven, a cadence I appreciated after the sieges intensity. Naturally, things ramp up as the season draws to a close, but the balance feels measured and thoughtful. Isabela Merced and Bella Ramsey in HBO's The Last of Us season twoPhotograph by Liane Hentscher/HBO Overall, the Infected are more present in this season than the last, and theyre as deadly and terrifying as ever. In the game, the player might think nothing of taking on five or six in one go, but in the show even a one-on-one encounter feels fraught with danger. Of course, as in season one, the humans are the more unpredictable and threatening part of the world. Other new characters and events, like the fate of Gail and her husband Eugene (played by Joe Pantoliano), once again serve to enrich and enhance the world of The Last of Us
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Movies based on video games have become a pretty big deal in recent years. Just look at those box office returns for A Minecraft Movie for proof of that. This means that more films are coming down the pike, including a motion picture based on Hideo Kojimas delivery simulator Death Stranding. We first learned this was coming back in 2022, but now theres a writer and director attached to the project. The production company A24, which is helping to finance the film, just announced that it will be written and directed by Michael Sarnoski. He isnt a household name, but he did co-write and direct A Quiet Place: Day One. He also co-wrote and directed that delightfully weird Nicolas Cage romp Pig. A24 says that the movie will explore the "catastrophic series of events that blurred the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead," thus creating the fragmented society of the game. Theres no casting information yet, but one would hope that Norman Reedus would be involved in some capacity. A cameo from Conan O'Brien also wouldnt hurt. Kojima Productions is involved with the movie. Theres no release date yet, as filming hasnt even started. This wasnt the only Death Stranding news to drop recently. The video game Death Stranding 2: On the Beach will be released on June 26, which will be accompanied by a world-wide concert tour and, inexplicably, a luxury watch.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-death-stranding-movie-now-has-a-writer-and-director-153029985.html?src=rss
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Ten architects and designers have created a striking collection of funeral urns for Alessi's The Last Pot exhibition at Milan Design Week. The project, curated by Alberto Alessi, explores the funeral urn as a final container an object surprisingly overlooked by the design world despite its significance.
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