Hard NOC Life 313: Streaming to the Max

On the eve of the launch of Max, Keith and Britney use this episode of Hard NOC Life to look at the changing streaming landscape and the real reason why studios are deleting content off their services. Hint: it’s so they don’t have to pay people their worth. Which is why the writers — and maybe soon the actors — are striking in the first place.

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Gateway Horror Gets Animated in ‘Gremlins: Secret of the Mogwai’

The original Gremlins films are one of the best gateways to horror. While the titular creatures are terrifying to watch as they terrorize the screen, it’s all balanced out by its cute, cuddly, and courageous hero Gizmo. And it was that mix of adorable kid-friendly humor with the gruesome murders that reminded us of what made it such a cult classic.

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‘Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai’ Cast and Creator Talk Representation

Max’s Gremlins: Secret of the Mogwai invites audiences old and new to discover the origins of Gizmo and the rules to take care of them properly. While the original film took place during Christmastime in the ’80s, showrunner Tze Chun’s animated period piece serves as a prequel to the family-friendly cult classic that brought us plenty of laughs and frights.

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Elizabeth Olsen on the Most Rewarding Part of Portraying Candy in ‘Love & Death’

Elizabeth Olsen stars as Candy Montgomery in the HBO Max Original limited series, Love & Death. The first three episodes premiere on Thursday, April 27, followed by one new episode weekly.

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‘The Batman’ Saga Continues with ‘The Penguin’ on Max

Warner Bros. and DC just unveiled an “in-production” teaser for The Penguin, the forthcoming spinoff of Matt Reeves’ The Batman, starring Academy Award nominee Colin Farrell as the titular kingpin of Gotham.

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Warner Bros. Discovery Rebranding HBO Max Streaming Service as Max

When Warner Bros. and Discovery merged last year, consolidating their content into one streaming service was inevitable. So now the media giant unveiled its plans to rebrand HBO Max as Max, and announced the new payment tiers along with their respective features.

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Cracking the Case with the Cast and Producers of HBO Max’s ‘Perry Mason’

In 2020, Executive Producers (and geniuses) Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey unveiled a gritty HBO Max reboot of the iconic legal hero, Perry Mason, to the world. Audiences who were unsure of how the change in tone would work for the 1930s character were quickly wowed by the grounded, and relevant take on the character Team Downey, the cast, and the showrunners took with the material.

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Hard NOC Life 298: DCU Pods and Monsters

Britney and Dominic return to Hard NOC Life! They join Keith and guest co-host Mike Manalo to discuss James Gunn and the announcement of DC Studios’ slate of films and television series!

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Jordan Alexander Discusses Season 2 of ‘Gossip Girl’ and What to Expect From the Finale

Jordan Alexander stars as Julien Calloway in Gossip Girl. The season two finale, which will now also serve as the series finale, premieres Thursday, January 26 on HBO Max.

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‘The Menu’ Celebrates Blu-ray Release with Blockbuster Style

When I first reviewed The Menu I initially liked, but didn’t love it. But after a bit more time, I’ve grown to like it more and more with each viewing. Which would probably bump it up from a B to a B+. So when we got the invite to celebrate the Blu-ray release for the movie, I couldn’t help but get excited to support an event that encourages multiple viewings of the terrific horror comedy!

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Watch the ‘Bugs Bunny Builders’ Ring in the Lunar New Year

This weekend, we welcome the Year of the Rabbit as half the globe celebrates Lunar New Year. Fittingly, Bugs Bunny and friends are ready for the spotlight with a stacked slate featuring a Lunar New Year celebration short on Cartoonito, new episodes of Bugs Bunny Builders and HBO Max’s Looney Tunes Cartoons, plus the launch of Tiny Toons Looniversity later this year.

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NOC Review: ‘The Last of Us’ is a Game Changer

If yesterday, you were to tell me the best video game adaptation ever put to any screen was Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the truth of the matter would sadly be that you’d likely be accurate. The subgenre has been suffering ever since the first Super Mario Bros movie from 1993 caused Nintendo to embargo any film rights to their games for at least three decades.

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Protecting ‘The Last of Us’ with Star Gabriel Luna

When you’re Gabriel Luna, and you’ve already been a Terminator and a Spirit of Vengeance, what’s the next logical phase in your life? How about surviving a hostile post-apocalyptic wasteland of zombies, cannibals, and marauders! Luna plays Tommy Miller in the new HBO adaptation of the Naught Dog masterpiece video game The Last of Us. And we were fortunate enough to speak with him about the series and his role as Tommy.

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Mindy Kaling and Charlie Grandy Talk Their New Animated Series, ‘Velma’

Velma is executive produced by showrunner Charlie Grandy and Mindy Kaling, who also voices the titular character. The first two episodes of the thrilling adult animated comedy series are now streaming on HBO Max!

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The ‘Evil Dead Rise’ with a New Trailer and Poster

The Deadites are coming back! We now have an official trailer and poster for Evil Dead Rise. And for the second reboot of this classic film series, Raimi is passing down the Necronomicon over to director Lee Cronin. And the results look sickly terrifying!

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Hard NOC Life 296: The Death and Reboot of Superman

Britney and Keith are delaying their hiatus (again) to continue discussing the ongoing drama at Warner Bros. and DC Studios. If last week’s bombshell news of Patty Jenkins walking away from Wonder Woman 3 wasn’t enough; this week, we got confirmation that Henry Cavill will not be continuing as Superman — despite announcing his return barely two months ago. It’s a mess, and Hard NOC Life is here to make sense of it all!

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James Gunn to Write ‘Superman’ Movie Without Henry Cavill

Well, ain’t that some shit. Barely a month after announcing his return as Superman on Instagram, Henry Cavill took to the social media platform once again. This time, though, it was to announce the opposite.

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Charlie Hall on ‘The Sex Lives of College Girls,’ ‘Bel-Air,’ and His Upcoming Projects

Charlie Hall can currently be seen in the second season of The Sex Lives of College Girls on HBO Max and will also return for season 2 of Peacock’s Bel-Air. His upcoming work includes the feature film Sweethearts and a recurring role on Freeform’s Single Drunk Female

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Atsuko Okatsuka on the Journey to Her HBO Comedy Special, ‘The Intruder’

For comedy nerds of a certain age, the HBO Comedy Special is synonymous with legends like George Carlin, Robin Williams, and Chris Rock. On December 10, Atsuko Okatsuka will add her name to the list when her HBO stand-up special, The Intruder, debuts.

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Trailer for ‘The Last of Us’ Showcases a Faithful Adaptation of a Masterpiece Game

With all the snobbery online today, people will likely get triggered by the use of the term “masterpiece.” Granted because people do have a tendency to throw the term around a lot, even if something is truly a masterpiece to them subjectively, someone has to cynically rain on their parade and go “that’s not a real masterpiece” (which is obnoxious by the way). However, I frankly believe no one will object to me calling The Last of Us video games masterpieces. They truly are. And at CCXP, HBO and Naughty Dog revealed a trailer for the video game adaptation that shows that the masterpiece is finally coming to life in stunning live-action.

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