The events of OFFICIAL SECRETS are true, and that's what makes the film so magnetic. It's not overblown with explosions, high-speed chases, or tense confrontations. It's a sequence of human decisions, facts, denials, and consequences.

Katharine Gun (KIERA KNIGHTLEY) was working as a translator for the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the British counterpart to the United States' NSA. Between the events of 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq, she was one of several recipients of a confidential email from the NSA, requesting assistance from GCHQ to dig into the backgrounds of several United Nations representatives for the purpose of finding leverage on them that could garner their votes for an invasion. Torn between duty and conscience, Katharine ultimately printed the email and, through a series of back-channels, got it into the hands of reporters at The Guardian.

There are certain performers that when you hear their name you automatically think of Christmas. Andy Williams. Burl Ives. Straight No Chaser.  Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Manheim Steamroller. Thirty five years ago, Manheim Steamroller's founder and composer Chip Davis went against the advice of trusted colleges and released Mannheim Steamroller Christmas to popular acclaim and ushered in a new subgenre of holiday music style and presentation. A mix of New Age and Renaissance Festival applied to Christmas classics--what could go wrong?

Gabby Garcia's problems have only multiplied since her father showed up and injected her with nanites right before being killed. Now the platinum blonde science student and volleyball athlete finds that she can manifest an exoskeletal armor that can alter its appearance at will.The result is, visually, Silver Sable with a symbiote, but the story bears no such similarities.

This chapter finds Gabby trying to find out more about The Group, the agency she believes killed her father, and discovering she has more untapped abilities. But when her solo investigations run into a dead end, her friend Regina talks her into approaching the city's resident superhero, Andromeda, for help. As luck would have it, Andromeda will be appearing at a masquerade ball, to which Gabby had previously found an invitation.

Of all the DC Universe events to actually start crossing over into the regular titles, it had to be the unfollowably tendrilous merger of DARK NIGHTS: METAL and whatever it is going on in Justice League that involving Lex Luthor becoming "Apex Lex," both of which converge to cause the "Year of the Villain" theme.

In Detective Comics #1015, we find that Victor Fries -- aka Mr. Freeze -- has found a cure for his wife, Nora, freeing her from the cryogenic tube where she's been held in stasis for who knows how long. With her fate no longer a driving force, Mr. Freeze no longer has a reason to be a criminal. And yet, he's training his wife on how to pull heists using his cold weapons. Also, she's just as blue-skinned as he is now, so we can safely assume she is Mrs. Freeze.

FROZEN 2 has a high bar to get over, what with the first film having produced a main theme that won an Oscar, a Grammy, and a Critics Choice award. But this film is all about taking leaps, as the characters go through their own transformations in this richly layered tale that is more stage musical than its predecessor.

It's autumn in Arendelle, the season that reminds us that life changes. And where the scenery does this with subtlety, Olaf the Snowman (JOSH GAD) does it with overtness. He's rather old for a snowman now, and with age comes a certain wisdom. Anna (KRISTEN BELL) assures him there are some things that will remain constant. Remember them, there will be tragic callbacks later to them in the movie. While Anna comforts Olaf that things will go on changeless, Kristoff (JONATHAN GROFF) is preparing to introduce a big change in his and Anna's life by proposing -- if he could ever get the words out without Anna finding a self-conscious way to twist all his words.

BLINDED BY THE LIGHT is a coming of age tale set in a small town in Britain. Javed (VIVEIK KAIRA) is a British young man of Pakistani descent. His father and mother (KUVLINDER GHIR, MEERA GANATRA) both emigrated from Pakistan for a better life. But this is the UK of the 1980s, and teens walk the streets wearing swastikas. Pakistani homes are assaulted with grafitti, and Pakistani men are attacked on the street.

Javed is uncertain what path his life will take, but he knows he doesn't want it to be the path his father puts him on. He writes lyrics for his best friend, Matt (DEAN-CHARLES CHAPMAN), who fronts for a rock band, and he dreams of going to London to make it on his own there.

Legendary move director Frank Capra was probably only ever completely surprised twice in his life, and both times for the same film. Arguably his best known work today, It’s a Wonderful Life was not a great box office hit when it opened in 1946. The film starred one of America’s most beloved actors in Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey, a fellow far too nice for his career in the building and loan industry nearing the end of his rope. Lionel Barrymore played the unscrupulous Mr. Potter who tries to put Bailey out of business--during the Christmas holiday, no less! I'm sure the icy reception of his film by its first audience came as a surprise to the one of the most respected directors of his day. Thirty years later in 1976, the film runs on television during the holidays and--according to Capra himself in an interview conducted late in his life--it was, surprisingly, a huge hit! I can't say for certain but it's very likely aired on one network or another every year since. 

The first thing you'll need to know about Tom Hanks' latest film, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, opening everywhere November 22, 2019, is that it's not a biography of Fred Rogers, the widely beloved star of the long-running children's television program Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. That was covered perfectly by last year's Academy Award nominee Won't You Be My Neighbor. This film features Hanks as Rogers, but the story is not about the man. The story is about impact Mr. Rogers had on the people who were fortunate enough to meet him.

The town of Riverdale is hunkering down as an ice storm prepars to bear down, just in time for Thanksgiving.

Archie (KJ APA) doesn't want any of the homeless kids who frequent his community center to be left out in the cold on Thanksgiving, so he plans to keep the center open all day (and night), serving a Thanksgiving dinner to everyone who comes. Is it just me, or does Archie tend to make a lot of these plans lately, that always end up relying on Veronica (CAMILA MENDES) -- or rather, Veronica's checkbook -- to make happen?

Toto has long been one of those bands that I could just put an album on (yes I said album) and listen to it from start to finish. Their music always sounded polished and complete, meaning they never had me saying to myself, “I wish they would play a little more this, or a little less like that.”

On “40 Tours Around The Sun” they have proven to me that they not only play as well as they ever did, but in some ways they are even more polished and consummate now.

This 2-disc set from Eagle Rock Music captures the band in great form, and the recording is first-rate (as I have come to expect no less from Eagle Entertainment). Recorded last March, Eagle Rock wasted little time bringing this set to light, so that the music you hear on this set will be as fresh as if you were to go see them tomorrow.

But don’t think of this as some sort of a rush job to cash in; nay, nay, Eagle Rock knocks it out of the park again.

By Alain Ghiai

CEO of GlobeX Data Ltd.

Not a day seems to go by without reading about the latest cyberattack.  With the holiday season upon us, the stakes grow higher as digital criminals exploit the increase of e-commerce activity from consumers.

It's an episode that is, once again, centered on a team member other than the tituler Flash (GRANT GUSTIN) -- and this time, I'm not even complaining.

"License to Elongate" finds Barry preparing to mentor Ralph Dibny (HARTLEY SAWYER) to become the protector of Central City in his absence, planning to do so at a special press conference where Ralph will get a special symbol for his suit. Meanwhile, Ralph has a lead on his missing person's investigation, so Barry decides to tag along. Up until this very point, the Ralph we have seen has been played for laughs -- but tonight, in Ralph's world, we see a very different side of him: competent.

The Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens will stage the Super Bowl LIV. Photo: AJ Lipp

The countdown is on for the Super Bowl LIV, the 54^th Super Bowl and the 50^th championship game in the modern-day era of the National Football League (NFL). The location has already been set for Super Bowl LIV, with Florida’s Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens set to celebrate the seventh decade of Super Bowl action. It will be the sixth Super Bowl staged in Miami Gardens, with Super Bowl XLIV the last time it was staged in this region of South Florida.

The world is all divided into three parts. On the first, there is the island of the flightless birds, who get around in the air through the use of giant slingshots. On the other island live the green pigs, with whom the birds are at constant prank war. Chief among the warrior birds is Red (JASON SUDEIKIS), who is revered because he protected the island from the pigs and their leader, Leonard (BILL HADER) with the help of his friends Chuck (JOSH GAD) and Bomb (DANNY McBRIDE).

But there is a third island, an island of ice, newly discovered and declaring war upon the lands of both pig and bird, launching giant iceballs through the air and reigning down not pranks but destruction. Having a common enemy, birds and pigs forge a truce to work together and stop the mad plans of Zeta (LESLIE JONES) who seeks revenge against the one who jilted her years ago -- Mighty Eagle (PETER DINKLAGE).

Anyone who loves movies would love the idea of The Irishman; a movie that brings together Pacino, De Niro, Scorsese, and Pesci in a story about the Mafia. The Irishman marks the ninth movie Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese have worked together.  It is their first collaboration since the 1995 hit film, “Casino”.  One of the best ways to relive that masterpiece is by playing online casino games. You can visit 888casino to engage in some exhilarating gambling action that mimics some of the gambling seen in the iconic movie. By revisiting this classic flick, you can prepare yourself for the 2019 masterpiece which is already tipped to be a big winner in terms of awards. The Irishman generated a lot of hype from the word “go” and now the time has come to assess what this movie is all about.

Oh, BATWOMAN writers at the CW, why have you betrayed me? After weeks of supporting your show in the face of criticism, after numerous declarations that, "No, the show is not like that awful preview trailer, you should really try it," you go and stab me in the back by churning out an episode that is exactly what the critics excoriate the series for.

The episode, "Tell Me The Truth," finds Kate (RUBY ROSE) struggling with what to do about her former lover, Sophie (MEAGAN TANDY), who has revealed she knows Batwoman's secret identity and threatens to go to Kate's daddy and tell on her. What should Kate do? Continue to deny it? Bring Sophie into the circle of trust and hope that she can keep a secret?

The idea of adapting the Nickelodeon pre-school cartoon series, DORA THE EXPLORER, into a matured teenaged jungle expert is, quite frankly, an idea that should have been money in the bank. From the trailers, we see all the classic DORA touchpoints that seem deservedly odd in a live-action film, such as young Dora breaking the fourth wall and asking the audience if they can say a word. That's a cute throwback to the cartoon series. 

When we first meet Dora, she's six years old, and living in the jungle with her parents, Elena (EVA LONGORIA) and Cole (MICHAEL PEÑA), and her cousin Diego. When Diego has to go back home to the city (Go, Diego! Go!), Dora is left with no one her own age with whom to relate.

If I'm asked to summarize CATCH-22, the HBO miniseries adapted from the Joseph Heller novel, I would say, "It's M*A*S*H, but earlier and far more tragic."

The setting is World War II, the European theater, where John Yossarian (CHRISTOPHER ABBOT) is a bombardier who goes on missions into enemy territory over northern Italy during the end of the war when the Germans are on the defensive. His goal is to fly the number of missions he's assigned so that he can fulfill his duty and go back home.

Load up and get ready to fire...at your game monitor.

Critical Blast is giving away one package of Mars Lightcon's IR shooter game, VOYAGE OF THE DEAD, which includes:

I know this show is only an hour long -- technically less than that when you subtract the advertisements -- but it feels like the writers squeezed half-a-season's worth of content into "Hereditary," with each character's arc deserving of at least a couple of episodes.