title: Clerks (film)

text: Jason Mewes is not shown in any of the posters nor photoshoots for Clerks. This is because Miramax, who bought distribution rights for the film, believed that he looked too threatening as Jay, thus not wanting to lose the appeal for potential moviegoers.


title: Clerks (film)

text: The MPAA originally gave the film an NC-17 rating, based purely on the film's explicit dialogue, as it contains no real violence aside from Dante and Randal's fight near the end, no sex, and no clearly depicted nudity. This would have serious financial implications for the film, as very few cinemas in the United States screen NC-17 films. Miramax hired civil liberties lawyer Alan Dershowitz to appeal the decision and the MPAA relented and re-rated the film with the more commercially viable "R" rating, without any alterations.


title: Clerks (film)

text: The events of Julie Dwyer's wake were written by Smith but were not filmed due to the prohibitive cost of producing the scene. In 2004, the scene was produced in colored animation using the same style of "", featured O'Halloran and Anderson reprising their roles and Joey Lauren Adams in a cameo as her character Alyssa Jones, who'd later appear in further View Askewniverse films, for the tenth anniversary DVD release. The "lost scene" was also presented in comic-book form of the "Clerks" comic book series, with the title of "The Lost Scene".


title: Clerks (film)

text: The original ending for the film was meant to continue from when Randal throws the "I Assure You We're Open" sign to Dante. After Randal leaves, Dante proceeds to count out the register and does not notice another person entering the store. Upon Dante's informing the latecomer that the store is no longer open, the customer shoots Dante, killing him. Afterward, the killer makes off with all the money from the cash register. The sequence ends with Dante's dead face looking off past the camera; after the credits roll – the soundtrack over it being a cash register making noises – a customer (played by Smith with his beard shaved off) wearing glasses and in a ponytail and a baseball jersey comes into the store, sees no one around, (as Dante is lying dead behind the counter) steals a pack of cigarettes, and runs off.


title: Clerks (film)

text: The depressing ending was criticized by Bob Hawk and John Pierson after its first screening at the Independent Feature Film Market, and under Pierson's advice, Smith cut the ending short, ending with Randal's departure and deleting Dante's death. Fans have since analyzed the death of Dante as an homage to the ending of "The Empire Strikes Back", which is discussed earlier in the film as Dante's favorite "Star Wars" movie because "it ended on such a down note". The film's extended cut also implied that, because Randal disconnected the security camera earlier in the day during the roof hockey scene, the killer would never be caught.


title: Clerks (film)

text: Kevin Smith has since claimed he concluded "Clerks" this way for three reasons. The primary reason was irony, the ending would be the payoff for Dante's repeated claims of "I'm not even supposed to be here today!" Smith also stated that the ending was an homage to the ending of Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing" (1989), a comedic film with a dark ending. Lee's name can also be seen in the "special thanks" portion of the credits. Smith also stated that he ended "Clerks" with Dante's death because he "didn't know how to end a film". Both versions are available in "Clerks X", the 10th-anniversary special edition; the lost ending itself was among the extras on the 1995 LaserDisc and the 1999 DVD release; Smith states in the audio commentary on the 1999 DVD that had he kept the original ending, likely no further View Askewniverse films would have been made. The culprit in question was played by Smith's cousin John Willyung, who went on to appear in Smith's later films (most notably as Cohee Lunden in "Chasing Amy" and "Clerks III" and as himself in "Jay and Silent Bob Reboot"). On their movie review show, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert (both of whom had given thumbs-up reviews to the film in 1994), had a special segment on a November 1995 episode that presented and discussed this original ending. Siskel said that having the alternate ending could have worked but it would have to be longer with more tension to suggest that something like this could happen, while Ebert said he understood Smith's desire to do something memorable/shocking to end the film but concluded "ultimately, I'm glad Smith decided to spare Dante."


title: Clerks (film)

text: "Clerks" became a surprising success after it was taken by Miramax Films and grossed over $3 million in the United States, despite never playing on more than 50 theater screens in the United States at the same time. It grossed $1.3 million internationally for a worldwide gross of $4.4 million.


title: Clerks (film)

text: "Clerks" was well received by critics and developed a cult following. On Rotten Tomatoes, it currently has an approval rating of 90% based on 60 reviews, with an average rating of 7.50/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "With its quirky characters and clever, quotable dialogue, "Clerks" is the ultimate clarion call for slackers everywhere to unite, and, uh, do something, we guess?" On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Clerks (film)

text: Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of a possible four, praising it for interestingly depicting a full day of "utterly authentic" middle-class life, adding: "Within the limitations of his bare-bones production, Smith shows great invention, a natural feel for human comedy, and a knack for writing weird, sometimes brilliant, dialogue." Peter Travers gave the film four out of four stars, calling attention to Anderson's "deadpan comic brilliance" and writing that "Smith nails the obsessive verbal wrangling of smart, stalled twentysomethings who can't figure out how to get their ideas into motion."


title: Clerks (film)

text: When released, the film was noted for its realism and memorable characters. "Clerks" won the "Award of the Youth" and the "Mercedes-Benz Award" at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival, tied with "Fresh" for the "Filmmakers Trophy" at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards (Best First Feature, Best First Screenplay and Jeff Anderson for Best Debut Performance). In 2000, readers of "Total Film" magazine voted "Clerks" the 16th-greatest comedy film of all time and in 2006, British film magazine "Empire" listed "Clerks" as the 4th greatest independent film. The film is also No. 33 on Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies. In 2008, "Entertainment Weekly" ranked it 13th on "The Cult 25: The Essential Left-Field Movie Hits Since '83" and 21st on "The Comedy 25: The Funniest Movies of the Past 25 Years". Also in 2008, "Empire" named it one of their "500 Greatest Movies of All-Time", placing it 361st on the list. The film was also one of the 500 films nominated for a spot on AFI's 100 Years…100 Laughs but failed to make the top 100. The film was also included in the book "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die".


title: Clerks (film)

text: In 2019, Clerks was among 25 films chosen to be added to the Library of Congress' National Film Registry.


title: Clerks (film)

text: "Clerks" was first released on VHS on May 23, 1995. This was followed by a LaserDisc version on August 30, 1995, and a DVD on June 29, 1999. The laserdisc and DVD versions feature the original letterboxed version of the film, audio commentary by Smith and various cast and crew members, seven deleted scenes from the film, a theatrical trailer, and a music video for Soul Asylum's "Can't Even Tell" directed by Smith which features him, Mewes, Anderson, and O'Halloran reprising their roles from the film.


title: Clerks (film)

text: On September 7, 2004, "Clerks X" was released to celebrate the film's tenth anniversary. This three-disc set includes, among other things, the features from the initial 1999 DVD, the aforementioned "Lost Scene", an unrestored "First Cut" featuring the deleted scenes and original ending intact, the original cast auditions, a new making-of documentary entitled "The Snowball Effect", a The Tonight Show short film starring Dante and Randal entitled "The Flying Car", Smith and Mosier's student film "Mae Day", MTV spots with Jay and Silent Bob, still galleries, and eight articles and reviews. Many of these features feature new video introductions from Smith and Mosier. All these features were carried over to the 15th Anniversary Blu-ray on November 17, 2009, along with a new documentary, "Oh, What a Lovely Tea Party", originally made for Smith's 2001 film "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back". Unlike the initial 1999 DVD, "Clerks X" is no longer in print.


title: Clerks (film)

text: The film was released on UMD (playable on PlayStation Portable) on November 15, 2005. Special features include "Clerks: The Lost Scene", "The Flying Car", and original cast auditions. In the fall of 2006, a new edition of the "Clerks" DVD appeared in Canada, dubbed the "Clerks: Snowball Edition". The new release included a photo of a bikini-clad model on the cover and some of the extra features from the 1999 edition. It appears Smith was not involved in this release, as he indicated on his official message forum in August 2006 that he was not aware of its release.


title: Clerks (film)

text: Outside the US, Clerks was distributed in the UK by Fox Video through Fox Guild Home Entertainment, and in Canada by Alliance Atlantis. Since 2020, DVD and Blu-Ray distribution has been handled by Paramount Home Entertainment following Paramount Global's acquisition of 49% of Miramax.


title: Clerks (film)

text: The soundtrack was released on October 11, 1994. It was composed of various new and previously released songs by alternative rock, grunge and punk rock artists such as Bad Religion, Love Among Freaks, Alice in Chains, and Soul Asylum. The soundtrack also featured various sound clips from the film. It has been noted that "Clerks" is one of the very few films in which the cost of obtaining the rights to the music used was a great portion of the production costs for the entire film.


title: Clerks (film)

text: The Soul Asylum song "Can't Even Tell", which was played over the film's end credits and featured on the soundtrack, peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart in 1994. The music video for the song was directed by Smith and was filmed in the same locations as the film. The video featured Smith, Jason Mewes, Jeff Anderson and Brian O'Halloran reprising their roles from "Clerks".


title: Clerks (film)

text: Another song which appeared on the soundtrack was "Got Me Wrong" by Alice in Chains, which had previously been released on the band's extended play "Sap" (1992). The song was issued as a single in late 1994, due to renewed radio interest from the song's appearance in "Clerks". The song peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks and #22 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks in early 1995.


title: Clerks (film)

text: Although not direct sequels in terms of addressing the original film's storyline, characters from the original "Clerks" – primarily Jay and Silent Bob – appeared in the films "Mallrats" (1995), "Chasing Amy" (1997), "Dogma" (1999), "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" (2001), and "Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019)," all of which take place in the same continuity as "Clerks". Dante and Randal also reprised their roles in "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back", which was originally promoted as the finale to the series, but an official sequel to "Clerks" was announced a few years later.


title: Clerks (film)

text: The live-action, feature film sequel to "Clerks" was released on July 21, 2006. The working title was "The Passion of the Clerks", though the film was released under the title "Clerks II". The credits for "Dogma" stated "Jay and Silent Bob will return in "Clerks 2: Hardly Clerkin ""; however, that project "evolved" into "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back". The sequel features Jeff Anderson and Brian O'Halloran reprising their roles as Dante Hicks and Randal Graves. The two now work at a Mooby's restaurant after the latter's incompetence resulted in the destruction of the Quick Stop and RST Video.


title: Clerks (film)

text: During interviews for "Clerks II", Smith briefly discussed the possibility of a "Clerks III". Stating that "if there's ever gonna be a "Clerks III", it would be somewhere down the road in my 40s or 50s, when it might be interesting to check back in on Dante and Randal. But I don't know about Jay and Bob so much, 'cause at 45, leaning on a wall in front of a convenience store might be a little sad." Smith repeated this sentiment on one of the audio commentary tracks on the "Clerks II" DVD, to which Anderson jokingly replied, "Oh, don't get me started", referring to Anderson's well known doubts about making "Clerks II" when first approached by Smith.


title: Clerks (film)

text: On March 29, 2012, Smith expressed his interest in producing "Clerks III" as a Broadway play after seeing the Theresa Rebeck comedy "Seminar" starring Alan Rickman, with whom Smith had previously worked on "Dogma".


title: Clerks (film)

text: On December 10, 2012, Smith released a special "Hollywood Babble-On" episode, "Hollywood Babble-On #000: GIANT SIZED ANNUAL # 1: CLERKS III, AUDIENCE 0", in which he revealed greater details on his plans for "Clerks III". Smith stated that an ongoing audit over residuals from "Clerks II" with The Weinstein Company was causing a delay in several key "Clerks III" cast and crew members, including Anderson and Mosier, from coming on board until the audit was resolved. Smith also revealed that he would like to crowdsource "Clerks III", either through Kickstarter or Indiegogo, with contributors receiving anything from DVDs, posters, and even roles as extras in the film. On June 5, 2013, he changed his mind on crowdsourcing, stating "I've got access to money. And worst-case scenario, I can put up my house."


title: Clerks (film)

text: Smith worked on a script for "Clerks III" from March to May 2013, stating when he completed it that it was ""The Empire Strikes Back"" of the series. In July 2013, Mewes stated that they were now just waiting to hear back from The Weinstein Company about funding.


title: Clerks (film)

text: On September 26, 2014, Smith stated on his "Hollywood Babble-On" podcast, that he was glad that he made "Tusk", stating, "Everything in my life would suck right now if I hadn't made that movie. I'm back in movies now. I've got three lined up, and this is the fucking grand news. "Tusk" was the absolute bridge to "Clerks III". Because of "Tusk", I got my financing for "Clerks III"". Smith continued: "A year and change ago, I was trying to fucking desperately get "Clerks III" made for the 20th anniversary. And that desperation, I must have reeked of it, because I couldn't fucking find money and shit. But it was "Tusk", it was people going 'Holy fuck! What else do you have?' And I was like, "Clerks III", done. So everybody that's like, 'He failed, he failed', thank you – I failed into "Clerks III". So, never trust anybody when they tell you how your story goes, man. You know your story. You write your own story.”


title: Clerks (film)

text: There were plans to start shooting "Clerks III" in May 2015, but these were put on hold to film another sequel, "Mallrats 2". However, by June 2016 the plans for a "Mallrats" sequel had been turned into plans for a "Mallrats" TV series.


title: Clerks (film)

text: In July 2019, Smith announced that he would do a live reading of "Clerks III" at the First Avenue Playhouse in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey. The reading was held on August 3, 2019. That same month, Smith revealed at San Diego Comic Con that he was writing a new script for "Clerks III" and promises to make the film.


title: Clerks (film)

text: On October 1, 2019, Smith confirmed on Instagram that "Clerks III" was happening and that Jeff Anderson agreed to reprise his role as Randal. "It'll be a movie that concludes a saga. It'll be a movie about how you're never too old to completely change your life. It’ll be a movie about how a decades-spanning friendship finally confronts the future. It'll be a movie that brings us back to the beginning—a return to the cradle of civilization in the great state of #newjersey. It’ll be a movie that stars Jeff and @briancohalloran, with me and Jay in supporting roles. And it'll be a movie called CLERKS III!" The new script will follow Randal, after surviving a heart attack, and Dante making a movie about their lives at the store, a plot initially conceived as a film adaptation of "" titled "Clerks: Sell Out".


title: Clerks (film)

text: Principal photography began on August 2, 2021, in Red Bank, New Jersey. Filming wrapped on August 31, 2021.


title: Clerks (film)

text: Clerks III had its world premiere on September 4, 2022, at the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, New Jersey and was released on September 13, 2022, by Lionsgate and Fathom Events.


title: Clerks (film)

text: Following "Clerks", Smith set several more films in the same "world", which he calls the View Askewniverse of overlapping characters and stories. Of all of Smith's films, however, "Clerks" is the one with the most direct spin-off products.


title: Clerks (film)

text: A pilot for a live-action TV series was produced in 1995. It was produced by Touchstone Television and was to be developed by Richard Day. The pilot only referenced the character names and starred none of the cast from the original film, contained no foul language (except words suitable enough for a TV-PG rating), and did not feature Silent Bob. The character of Jay was featured, prompting Smith to point out that he owned the character rights to both Jay and Silent Bob (for the purposes of featuring them in separate films). The producers' solution was to change the character's name to Ray. Smith was unaware of the production of the series until casting was underway. Smith, as well as Mosier, had been in production with "Mallrats" at the time and attempted to become involved in the series but became disheartened quickly as an episode he had written for the series was shot down to be used as a potential B-plot. He would later use the script for an episode of "".


title: Clerks (film)

text: O'Halloran and Anderson both auditioned for the role of Dante Hicks (as Anderson's part of Randal Graves from the film had already been filled by future "SNL" performer Jim Breuer). After seeing the result, Smith, Mosier, Mewes, O'Halloran, and Anderson all said that it was terrible, and O'Halloran and Anderson further stating they were both glad they weren't involved.


title: Clerks (film)

text: Touchstone Television (with Miramax Films) also produced "Clerks: The Animated Series" a short-lived six-episode animated television series featuring the same characters and cast of the original film. Two episodes aired on ABC in late May/early June 2000 before being pulled from the lineup. The full six episodes were released on DVD in 2001 before being run on Comedy Central in 2004 and Adult Swim from 2008 to 2010. In a trailer for (but not in) "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back", Randal, referencing the series, says to Dante: "If you were funnier than that, ABC would've never cancelled us."


title: Clerks (film)

text: "Clerks." is a series of comics written by Smith featuring characters from the film. In the series are "Clerks: The Comic Book", "Clerks: Holiday Special", and "Clerks: The Lost Scene". Smith has discussed plans for "Clerks 1.5", a comic that would bridge the gap between the original film and its sequel, to be included in a reprint of the "Clerks." trade paperback. The story ultimately was printed in the 2006 "Tales from the Clerks" collection, which also included the other "Clerks" comics with additional View Askewniverse material. Smith received the Harvey Award for Best New Talent in 1999.


title: Clerks (film)

text: "Shooting Clerks" is a 2021 biographical comedy-drama film about the making of "Clerks". The film stars many of the original film's stars, including O'Halloran, Ghigliotti, Mewes, and Smith himself. The film had a special fine cut screening at San Diego Comic-Con on July 20, 2019, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the original film's release.


title: Teena Marie

text: Mary Christine Brockert (March 5, 1956 – December 26, 2010), known professionally as Teena Marie, was an American singer-songwriter, musician, composer, arranger, and producer. She was known by her childhood nickname Tina before taking the stage name Teena Marie and later acquired the nickname Lady T, given to her by her collaborator and friend, Rick James.


title: Teena Marie

text: She was known for her distinctive soprano vocals, which caused many listeners to believe she was black. Her success in R&B and soul music, and loyalty to these genres would earn her the title Ivory Queen of Soul. She played rhythm guitar, keyboards, and congas. Teena Marie was a three-time Grammy Award nominee.


title: Teena Marie

text: Mary Christine Brockert was born on March 5, 1956, in Santa Monica, California, the daughter of construction worker Thomas Leslie Brockert and home renovator Mary Anne. She spent her early childhood in Mission Hills, California. She said that her ethnic heritage was Puerto Rican, Portuguese, Italian, Irish, and Native American. In 2005, while visiting Louisiana, she discovered that her paternal ancestors once lived in New Orleans. She took to singing naturally, performing Harry Belafonte's "Banana Boat Song" by age two.


title: Teena Marie

text: When she was eight years old, her parents began sending Teena on auditions which, among other things, netted her an acting role on "The Beverly Hillbillies", credited as Tina Marie Brockert. She later taught herself the guitar, bass, and congas. She would go on to form a semi-professional R&B band with her younger brother Anthony and their cousin.


title: Teena Marie

text: In the early 1970s, after the family moved to Venice, Los Angeles, Brockert spent her adolescent years in the historically black Venice enclave of Oakwood, nicknamed "Venice Harlem". There, she would acquire a strong spiritual influence from neighborhood matriarch Berthalynn Jackson, a black woman who would become her godmother.


title: Teena Marie

text: While attending Venice High School, Brockert joined the Summer Dance Production and was the female lead in the school's production of "The Music Man". She also fronted a local Venice rock band "Truvair" in 1974–1975; the band's members were her high school classmates. Following graduation, Brockert juggled auditioning for various record companies with studying English literature at Santa Monica College.


title: Teena Marie

text: In 1976, Brockert (as the lead singer of a band she had assembled, which included long-time friend Mickey Boyce) gained an introduction to Motown Records staff producer Hal Davis (best known for his work with Brenda Holloway and the Jackson 5). It led to an audition for a film about orphans that was being developed by Motown. The project was shelved, but label boss Berry Gordy, impressed with her singing but having no need for a musical group, decided to sign her as a solo act. Tina recorded unreleased material with a number of different producers over the next few years, before being spotted by labelmate Rick James, who was immediately impressed with her sound. Some of Tina's earlier, unreleased material has since been made available on the compilation album "First Class Love: Rare Tee". At the time, James, already established as a successful recording artist, was on tap to produce for Diana Ross but changed his mind and decided to work with Brockert, instead. The result was her debut album release, "Wild and Peaceful". The album was, at one point, due to be credited to "Teena Tryson", but ultimately was put out under "Teena Marie", the name by which she would be known throughout her remaining career. It scored Teena Marie her first top-ten R&B hit, "I'm a Sucker for Your Love" (#8 R&B Singles Chart), a duet with James. Neither the album nor its packaging had her picture on it, and many radio programmers assumed she was black during the earliest months of her career. This myth was disproved when she performed her debut hit with James on "Soul Train" in 1979, becoming the show's first white female guest. (She would appear on the show eight more times, more than any other white act.)


title: Teena Marie

text: Her second album, "Lady T" (1980), featured her portrait on the cover, and is also noted for having production from Richard Rudolph (the widower of R&B singer Minnie Riperton). Teena Marie had asked Berry Gordy to contact Rudolph and secure his input, as Rick James was unavailable, and she felt unprepared to be sole producer of her own material. Rudolph had intended for a song he penned, "Now That I Have You", for his wife Minnie Riperton, but offered it to Teena Marie for "Lady T". Rudolph also co-composed the single "Behind The Groove", which reached number 21 on the R&B singles chart and No. 6 on the U.K. singles chart in 1980. The song would also be included on the soundtrack of "" on the "Fever 105" radio station.


title: Teena Marie

text: Also in 1980, Teena Marie released her third LP, "Irons in the Fire", for which she handled most of the writing and production herself, an achievement considered rare at the time for a female artist. The single "I Need Your Lovin'" (#37 Pop, No. 9 R&B Singles) brought Teena Marie her first top 40 hit; it also peaked at No. 28 in the UK chart.


title: Teena Marie

text: That same year, Teena Marie appeared on James' album, "Street Songs", with the duet "Fire and Desire". In an interview, Teena Marie said she had a fever at the time yet managed to record her vocals in one take. After the session, she was driven to a hospital. The two would perform the single at the 2004 BET Awards, which would be their last TV appearance with one another, as James died later that year.


title: Teena Marie

text: Teena Marie continued her success with Motown in 1981, with the release of "It Must Be Magic" (#2 R&B Albums Chart), her first gold record, which included her then biggest hit on R&B, "Square Biz" (#3 R&B Singles). Other notable tracks include "Portuguese Love" (featuring a brief, uncredited cameo by James, No. 54 R&B Singles), the title track "It Must be Magic" (#30 R&B Singles).


title: Teena Marie

text: In 1982, Teena Marie got into a heated legal battle with Motown Records over her contract and disagreements about releasing her new material. The lawsuit resulted in "The Brockert Initiative", which made it illegal for a record company to keep an artist under contract without releasing new material for that artist. In such instances, artists are able to sign and release with another label instead of being held back by an unsupportive one. Teena Marie commented on the law in an "LA Times" article, saying, "It wasn't something I set out to do. I just wanted to get away from Motown and have a good life. But it helped a lot of people, like Luther Vandross and the Mary Jane Girls, and a lot of different artists, to be able to get out of their contracts." She left Motown as the label's most successful white solo act.


title: Teena Marie

text: Contacted by Epic Records in the fall of 1982, after expressing dismay over her Motown contract, Teena Marie signed a worldwide deal with the Columbia Records subsidiary that also allowed her to establish her own publishing company, Midnight Magnet. Epic released the concept album "Robbery", which featured the hit "Fix It" (#21 R&B), as well as "Shadow Boxing" and "Casanova Brown". The latter was one of many tracks Teena Marie would write over the years about her real-life romance with one-time mentor Rick James.


title: Teena Marie

text: In 1984, Teena Marie released her biggest-selling album, "Starchild". It yielded her biggest hit, "Lovergirl", which peaked at No. 4 on the U.S. "Billboard" Hot 100 chart in March 1985 and at No. 9 on the R&B chart. "Lovergirl" was included in the 2002 Jennifer Lopez movie Maid in Manhattan. The label also released the moderate R&B hit "Out on a Limb", which peaked at No. 56 on the R&B chart but didn't break the Hot 100. "14k" was featured on the soundtrack of the film "The Goonies" (1985) but this song was not a hit.


title: Teena Marie

text: In 1986, Teena Marie released a rock music-influenced concept album titled "Emerald City". She also recorded the rock-influenced track, "Lead Me On", co-produced by Giorgio Moroder, for the soundtrack of the box office hit film "Top Gun" (1986).


title: Teena Marie

text: In 1988, she returned to R&B and funk, releasing the critically acclaimed album "Naked to the World". That album contained the hit "Ooo La La La", which reached # 1 on the "Billboard"s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart.


title: Teena Marie

text: Teena Marie released "Ivory" in the fall of 1990; it scored no pop hits, but it did experience two R&B hits: "Here's Looking at You" (#11 R&B) and "If I Were a Bell" (#8 R&B).


title: Teena Marie

text: During the 1990s, Teena Marie's classic R&B, soul, and funk records were either sampled by hip-hop artists or covered by R&B divas. Teena Marie herself is regarded as something of a pioneer in helping to bring hip-hop to the mainstream by becoming one of the first artists of her time to rap one of her singles—the aforementioned "Square Biz". In the hip-hop portion of that song, she mentions some of her inspirations: Sarah Vaughan, Johann Sebastian Bach, Shakespeare, Maya Angelou, and Nikki Giovanni. In 1996, the Fugees paid tribute to her by interpolating the chorus of her hit, "Ooo, La, La, La" (1988), into its own "Fu-Gee-La".


title: Teena Marie

text: Subsequently, Teena Marie devoted most of her time to raising her daughter Alia Rose (who has since adopted the stage name "Rose Le Beau" and is pursuing her own singing career). During the late 1990s, she began working on a new album, titled "Black Rain". She was unable to secure a major label deal for the album and did not want to put it out on her own Sarai label, in light of the modest sales of "Passion Play". However, a version pressed for promotional purposes was widely bootlegged among fans. This contained the tracks, "The Mackin' Game", "I'll Take the Pressure", "Baby, I'm Your Fiend", "My Body's Hungry", "Ecstasy", "I'm on Fire", "Watcha Got 4 Me", "Black Rain", "1999", "Butterflies", "Spanish Harlem", "Blackberry Playa", "The Perfect Feeling", and "Rainbow Outro".


title: Teena Marie

text: After a ten-year hiatus from the music industry, Teena Marie returned to her musical career by signing with the Classics sub-label of the successful hip-hop label, Cash Money Records. She released her eleventh album, "La Doña", in 2004, and follow up "Sapphire", in 2006. "La Doña" became a gold-certified success (and the highest-charting album of her career, peaking at No. 6 on the "Billboard" 200 chart) on the basis of the Al Green-sampled "I'm Still in Love" (#23 R&B, No. 70 Pop) and a duet with Gerald Levert, "A Rose by Any Other Name".


title: Teena Marie

text: The "Sapphire" album peaked at No. 24 on the "Billboard 200" chart, yielding yet another "R&B" Top-40 hit, "Ooh Wee" (#32). "Sapphire" also reunited Teena (on "God Has Created" and "Cruise Control") with Smokey Robinson, one of her musical idols. Teena Marie parted ways with Ca$h Money records after the release of "Sapphire".


title: Teena Marie

text: On September 19, 2008, Teena Marie performed in concert at B.B. King's Blues Club in New York City. She took this time to play a couple of finished tracks from her upcoming album, "Congo Square", and received a positive response from the audience. "Congo Square" was released on June 9, 2009, on Stax/Concord Records. Teena Marie has described the album as "personal and spiritual", and indicated that it was more jazz-influenced than most of her previous work. "Can't Last a Day", a duet with Faith Evans, leaked to the Internet in March 2009. Teena Marie says of Evans, "It was after I had recorded the song ("Can't Last a Day") I got the idea to put Faith on it. I've always loved Faith and her vocal style. She reminds me of me. Her correlation with Biggie – having a career with him and without him – reminds me of me and Rick. I feel like she's a younger me. Of the younger ladies, she's the one I love most."


title: Teena Marie

text: Regarding the early-life inspirations for "Congo Square", Teena Marie told "Blues & Soul" magazine editor Lee Tyler in January 2010: "I wanted to do songs that reflected the things that I loved when I was growing up. Every single song on the record is dedicated to someone, or some musical giant that I loved. 'The Pressure' is dedicated to Rick James; 'Can't Last a Day' is dedicated to the Gamble & Huff sound – the Philly International sound'. Then 'Baby I Love You' and 'Ear Candy' are dedicated to Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield – with memories of riding down Crenshaw in LA in jeeps and bumping to music on "the 808" i.e. Roland TR-808 drum machine. While 'Miss Coretta' is, of course, dedicated to Mrs. Coretta Scott King, the late wife of Martin Luther King."


title: Teena Marie

text: Sales-wise, the album proved another success, reaching the Top 20 on "Billboard"'s Top 200, and giving Teena Marie yet another Top 10 R&B chart entry. In 2010, Teena Marie continued to be a headliner on the Las Vegas Strip, appearing regularly at the Las Vegas Hilton and other venues until just before her death.


title: Teena Marie

text: At the time of her death, Teena Marie had been in the process of completing her 14th album, "Beautiful". It was finished posthumously by her daughter, Alia Rose, and released on January 15, 2013. A limited edition album was released on July 11, 2011, comprising previously unreleased material unearthed from her Motown days entitled First class love: Rare Tee.


title: Teena Marie

text: Teena Marie gave birth to a daughter named Alia Rose in 1991. As of 2009, Alia Rose sings under the name Rose LeBeau.


title: Teena Marie

text: Teena Marie lived in various neighborhoods throughout greater Los Angeles, including Santa Monica, Inglewood, Pasadena, and Marina Del Rey.


title: Teena Marie

text: Teena Marie was godmother to American actress and comedienne Maya Rudolph, daughter of singer-songwriter Minnie Riperton, as well as Marvin Gaye's daughter Nona Gaye. She also cared for Rick James's son, Rick, Jr., and family friend Jeremiah O'Neal. Lenny Kravitz posted a video in which he said that Teena Marie had taken him into her home and helped him when he was struggling early in his career.


title: Teena Marie

text: In 2004, while Teena Marie was sleeping in a hotel room, a large picture frame fell and struck her on the head. The blow caused a serious concussion that resulted in momentary seizures for the rest of her life.


title: Teena Marie

text: On the afternoon of December 26, 2010, Teena Marie was found dead by her daughter, Alia Rose, in her Pasadena home. On December 30, 2010, an autopsy was performed by the Los Angeles County coroner, who found no signs of apparent trauma or a discernible cause of death, and concluded she had died from natural causes. She had suffered a generalized tonic–clonic seizure a month before.


title: Teena Marie

text: A memorial service was held at Forest Lawn Cemetery on January 10, 2011. Among those in attendance were Stevie Wonder, Deniece Williams, Smokey Robinson, Queen Latifah, LisaRaye, Sinbad, Tichina Arnold, Shanice Wilson, and Berry Gordy, Jr.


title: Wasp-class amphibious assault ship

text: The "Wasp" class is a class of landing helicopter dock (LHD) amphibious assault ships operated by the United States Navy. Based on the , with modifications to operate more advanced aircraft and landing craft, the "Wasp" class is capable of transporting almost the full strength of a United States Marine Corps Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), and landing them in hostile territory via landing craft or helicopters as well as providing air support via AV-8B Harrier II attack aircraft or F-35B Lightning II stealth strike-fighters. All "Wasp"-class ships were built by Ingalls Shipbuilding, at Pascagoula, Mississippi, with the lead ship, , commissioned on 29 July 1989. Eight "Wasp"-class ships were built, and , seven are in active service, as was seriously damaged by fire on 12 July 2020, and subsequently decommissioned in April 2021.


title: Wasp-class amphibious assault ship

text: The "Wasp" class is based on the preceding design. The design was modified to allow for the operation of AV-8B Harrier II aircraft and Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) hovercraft, making the "Wasp" class the first ships specifically designed to operate these.


title: Wasp-class amphibious assault ship

text: The main physical changes between the two designs are the lower placement of the ship's bridge in the "Wasp" class, the relocation of the command and control facilities to inside the hull, the removal of the Mk 45 naval guns and their sponsons on the forward edge of the flight deck, and a lengthening of to carry the LCACs.


title: Wasp-class amphibious assault ship

text: Each "Wasp"-class ship has a displacement of at full load, is long, has a beam of , and a draft of . For propulsion, most of the ships are fitted with two steam boilers connected to geared turbines, which deliver to the two propeller shafts. This allows the LHDs to reach speeds of , with a range of at . The last ship of the class, , was instead fitted with two General Electric LM2500 geared gas turbines. The ship's company consists of 1,208 personnel.


title: Wasp-class amphibious assault ship

text: The LHDs can support amphibious landings in two forms: by landing craft and by helicopter. In the by high well deck, the LHDs can carry three Landing Craft Air Cushion, twelve Landing Craft Mechanised, or 40 Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAVs), with another 21 AAVs on the vehicle deck. The flight deck has nine helicopter landing spots and can operate helicopters and tiltrotors as large as the Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion and MV-22B Osprey. The size of the air combat element varies depending on the operation: a standard air combat element consists of six Harriers or six F-35B Lightning IIs and four AH-1W/Z Super Cobra/Viper attack helicopters for attack and support, twelve Ospreys and four Super Stallions for transport, and three or four Bell UH-1Y Venom utility helicopters. For a full assault, the air group can have a maximum of 22 Ospreys, while a "Wasp" operating in the sea control or "Harrier carrier" or "Lightning carrier" configuration carries 20 AV-8Bs or F-35Bs (though some ships of the class have operated as many as 24 Harriers), supported by 6 Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk helicopters for anti-submarine warfare. Two aircraft elevators move aircraft between the flight deck and the hangar; in order to transit the Panama Canal, these elevators need to be folded in.


title: Wasp-class amphibious assault ship

text: Each ship is capable of hosting 1,894 personnel of the United States Marine Corps; almost the full strength of a marine expeditionary unit (MEU). A "Wasp"-class vessel can transport up to of cargo, and another is allocated for the MEU's vehicles, which typically include 5 M1 Abrams battle tanks, up to 25 AAVs, 8 M198 howitzers, 68 trucks, and up to 12 other support vehicles. A six-track internal monorail system and six internal elevators are used to shift cargo from the cargo holds to landing craft in the well deck.


title: Wasp-class amphibious assault ship

text: Each "Wasp"-class ship has a hospital with 64 patient beds and 6 operating rooms. An additional 536 beds can be set up in an overflow casualty ward as needed.


title: Wasp-class amphibious assault ship

text: The armament of the first four "Wasp" class consists of two Mark 29 octuple launchers for RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missiles, two Mark 49 launchers for RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missiles, three 20 mm Phalanx CIWSs, four 25 mm Mark 38 chain gun systems, and four .50 caliber machine guns. The next four ships, , , , and , have a slightly reduced weapons outfit compared to their preceding sister ships, with one Phalanx and one Mark 38 gun removed.


title: Wasp-class amphibious assault ship

text: Countermeasures fitted to the ships include four to six Mark 36 SRBOC chaff and decoy launchers, an AN/SLQ-25 torpedo decoy, AN/SLQ-49 chaff buoys, a Sea Gnat missile decoy, and an AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare Suite.


title: Wasp-class amphibious assault ship

text: The sensor suite fitted to each ship comprises an AN/SPS-48 or AN/SPS-52 air-search radar backed up by an AN/SPS-49 air-search radar, an SPS-67 surface search radar, an AN/URN-25 TACAN system, along with several additional radars for navigation and fire control.


title: Wasp-class amphibious assault ship

text: All "Wasp"-class ships were built by Ingalls Shipbuilding, at Pascagoula, Mississippi. The first ship of the class, , was commissioned on 29 July 1989.


title: Wasp-class amphibious assault ship

text: The fifth ship of the class, , was constructed through a process of modular assembly and prefitting out, which meant that the LHD was almost 75 percent complete when she was launched. "Bataan" was also the first LHD that was purpose built to house female crew members (as opposed to being modified after completion), with dedicated berths for up to 450 female sailors or Marines.


title: Wasp-class amphibious assault ship

text: Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera in 2014 suggested that Japan purchase at least one "Wasp"-class ship to provide robust defensive amphibious capability for Japanese outer islands in the face of Chinese threats.


title: Mireille Enos

text: Mireille Enos (; born September 22, 1975) is an American actress. Drawn to acting from a young age, she graduated in performing arts from Brigham Young University, where she was awarded the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship. Having made her acting debut in the 1994 television film "Without Consent", she has since received nominations for a Tony Award, a Golden Globe Award, and an Emmy Award.


title: Mireille Enos

text: Early in her career, Enos appeared variously as a guest star on such television shows as "Sex and the City" and "The Education of Max Bickford" among others. She made her feature film debut with a minor part in the 2001 romantic comedy "Someone Like You", but garnered wider attention for her role as Honey in the 2005 Broadway production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?". Her performance in the latter earned her a nomination for Best Featured Actress at the Tony Awards. She again ventured into television roles and landed the role of twins Kathy and JoDean Marquart in the HBO drama series "Big Love".


title: Mireille Enos

text: Enos' breakout role was on the AMC crime drama series "The Killing"; she played Sarah Linden, a Seattle-based police officer for the show's four seasons from 2011 to 2014. Her performance garnered her critical acclaim and earned her nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series at the Primetime Emmy Award and the Golden Globe Award. Enos starred as Karin Lane in the 2013 disaster film "World War Z" and Kathleen Hall in the 2014 romantic drama "If I Stay"; both of the films were blockbuster productions. She continued to draw praise for her work in independent films like "Never Here" (2017). Enos starred as the lead character in the short-lived ABC legal thriller "The Catch". In 2019, she appeared in the Amazon/BBC co-production of "Good Omens" as Carmine "Red" Zuigiber, a war correspondent who is actually War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. In 2019, she appeared as Marissa Wiegler in action drama streaming television series "Hanna", based on the 2011 film of the same name, on Amazon Prime Video.


title: Mireille Enos

text: Enos was born on September 22, 1975, the daughter of Monique, a French teacher, and Jon Goree Enos. Her father was American, from Texas, and her mother was French. She is the fourth of five children all of whom work in the arts industry in some way. Her brothers are Jongiorgi and Raphael, and sisters are Veronique and Ginger. Her younger sister, Ginger, is a modern dancer.


title: Mireille Enos

text: Her family moved to Houston, Texas when Enos was five years old. There, she attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Enos studied theater at Brigham Young University, graduating with a bachelor of arts in acting in 1997. While a student, she won the Irene Ryan Award at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., an award annually presented to the nation's top collegiate actor.


title: Mireille Enos

text: Enos made her screen acting debut in the television film "Without Consent" (1994). She made her feature film debut with small role in the romantic comedy "Someone Like You" (2001) starring Ashley Judd. On television she had number of guest-starring parts in numerous shows, including "Sex and the City", "Strong Medicine", "Rescue Me", "Without a Trace", "Crossing Jordan", "", "Medium" and "".


title: Mireille Enos

text: She also appeared in several stage productions. She played Perdita in the 2002 Shakespeare Theatre Company production of The Winter's Tale at the Lansburgh Theater in Washington, DC. She appeared in the 2005 Broadway revival production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", which starred Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin. For her performance she received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play.


title: Mireille Enos

text: In 2007, Enos joined the cast of the HBO drama series "Big Love" about a polygamous family. She played the roles of twin sisters JoDean Marquart and Kathy Marquart. She was a regular cast member in the third and fourth seasons.


title: Mireille Enos

text: In 2010, Enos was cast in her first lead role in a television series: detective Sarah Linden in the AMC drama series "The Killing", based upon the Danish television series "Forbrydelsen". She received critical acclaim for that performance, and the first season was praised by most critics. Tim Goodman of "The Hollywood Reporter" in his review said "It's not until you watch Enos play Sarah for a while that it sinks in—there hasn't been a female American character like her probably ever."


title: Mireille Enos

text: Enos received nominations for an Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama, and three Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television. The series ended in 2014, after four seasons.


title: Mireille Enos

text: After her breakout role in "The Killing", Enos began her career in feature films. She played Karin Lane, the wife of Brad Pitt's character in "World War Z" (2013). The film received positive reviews and was a commercial success, grossing over $540 million. Also in 2013, she co-starred as Josh Brolin's character's wife in "Gangster Squad", and appeared opposite Reese Witherspoon in the crime drama "Devil's Knot", based on a true story, the West Memphis Three. In 2014, she appeared in the crime thriller "Sabotage" directed by David Ayer and later starred in drama film "If I Stay" directed by R. J. Cutler, based on the novel of the same name by Gayle Forman.


title: Mireille Enos

text: The film was released on August 22, 2014. Enos co-starred later that year alongside Ryan Reynolds in "The Captive", directed by Atom Egoyan. Enos was cast as lead actress in the thriller "Never Here", which was directed by Camille Thoman.


title: Mireille Enos

text: In March 2015, it was announced that Enos had been cast as the lead character in the ABC legal drama series, "The Catch", produced by Shonda Rhimes. She plays the lead character Alice Vaughan, the head of a very high-end private detective agency in this "humorous" thriller, which aired its first 10-episode season in spring 2016, and a second season of 10 episodes in 2017 as part of ABC's "TGIT" Thursday-night lineup.


title: Mireille Enos

text: Also in March 2015, it was announced Enos would star alongside Olivia Cooke in "Katie Says Goodbye", an independent film. That same year, she starred in "Behold My Heart", directed by Joshua Leonard. In 2019, she appears as Marissa Wiegler, a role originated by Cate Blanchett in action drama streaming television series "Hanna", based on the 2011 film of the same name, on Amazon Prime Video.


title: Mireille Enos

text: In August 2020, it was announced the 2018 film "The Lie" (her reunion with "The Killing"'s Veena Sud) would be included in Amazon Prime Video's "Welcome to the Blumhouse" horror film anthology. It was released in the anthology's first installment on October 6, 2020.


title: Mireille Enos

text: Enos married actor Alan Ruck on January 4, 2008. They have two children, and two stepchildren from Ruck's previous marriage. She was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but is no longer a practicing member.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: Metro 2033 is a 2010 first-person shooter survival horror video game developed by 4A Games and published by THQ. The story is based on Dmitry Glukhovsky's novel of the same name, where survivors of a nuclear war have taken refuge in the Metro tunnels of Moscow. Players control Artyom, a man who must save his home station from the dangers lurking within the Metro. In the game, players encounter human and mutant enemies, who can be killed with a variety of firearms. Players must also wear a gas mask to explore areas covered in fallout radiation, both underground and on the surface.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: "Metro 2033" was the debut title for 4A Games, whose founders had experience working on "" at GSC Game World. Glukhovsky chose 4A Games to adapt his novel due to the studio's location in Ukraine, and their expertise in developing first-person shooters. Glukhovsky gave the studio a lot of creative freedom. 4A Games focused their efforts on storytelling and atmosphere, intentionally avoiding any multiplayer gameplay to achieve their goal. The game was powered by the studio's own proprietary 4A Engine. It was first announced in 2006 as "Metro 2033: The Last Refuge".


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: The game was released in March 2010 for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360. Critics gave the game positive reviews, with praise for its horror elements, detailed environments, and interesting plot. However, the game was also criticized for its bugs and artificial intelligence. "Metro 2033" was profitable for THQ, selling more than 1.5 million copies by June 2012, though the publisher felt that their marketing efforts were rushed. The sequel "" was released in 2013, with Deep Silver acquiring the publishing rights from THQ after their bankruptcy. A compilation of both titles was released in 2014 as "Metro Redux" for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. A third instalment, "Metro Exodus", was released in 2019.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: "Metro 2033" is a first-person shooter video game. It is predominantly set within the tunnels of the Moscow Metro, though some sections take place on the surface, in the ruins of Moscow. The story is told through a linear single-player campaign, and important plot moments are shown during cutscenes.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: The human and mutant enemies can be killed with a variety of firearms. The game features traditional guns like a revolver, assault rifles and shotguns, as well as more inventive weapons like a pneumatic crossbow. In firefights, human enemies take cover and flank the player, while mutant enemies stay in the open and try to bite them. Alternatively, the player can employ stealth to evade their enemies or kill them silently. This can be achieved by using a throwing knife to kill an enemy from afar, or shooting an enemy with a suppressed weapon. The player can recover health by waiting for it to regenerate, or by using a med-kit to heal themselves immediately. The game features a minimalistic heads-up display (HUD). Gameplay information is presented to the player via audio and visual cues. For instance, players must inspect their weapons to see if they are about to run out of ammunition and therefore have to reload.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: Since the game has a large survival horror focus, the player often has little ammunition, and must scavenge for supplies from caches or dead bodies. An essential supply is pre-war 5.45×39mm ammunition (referred to in the game as "military grade ammunition"), which is also the main currency in the tunnels. This ammunition can be traded for weapons and upgrades, or used directly as stronger bullets than other scavenged ammunition. As most of the tunnels feature little to no light, the player can use a flashlight to explore dark areas. However, the flashlight needs to be charged with a battery charger in order to stay effective. The player must also use a gas mask to explore areas affected by radiation, both underground and on the surface. The gas mask can be damaged in combat, which forces the player to find a replacement. The player's survival also depends on constantly replacing their air filter, which they can monitor by inspecting Artyom's wristwatch.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: Throughout the game, there are certain moral choices that can be made. If the player is compassionate to the people living in the tunnels, such as giving the homeless some military grade ammunition, they may be able to watch a different cutscene at the end of the game. These moral choices are never explicitly mentioned, and it is possible to play through the game without knowing of their presence.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: "Metro 2033" takes place in the city of Moscow, Russia 20 years after a global nuclear holocaust in 2013. Moscow has become a wasteland filled with killer mutants and irradiated air and is uninhabitable for humans without protective gear. The surviving population now lives in the Moscow Metro, which is described as a labyrinth of railways, tunnels, and bunkers. Inside the metro, food, water, and supplies are scarce which lead to the formation of factions; Most notably the "Hanza," the "Red Line," and the "Rangers of the Order." The metro is dilapidated, with some places even requiring a universal charger in order to activate certain gates or switches. Other areas of the metro are also irradiated and filled with water or debris. Some areas contain anomalies or the supernatural which can cause psychic damage towards those that approach those areas. On the surface, the city is desolate, air and water are contaminated with radiation, and nearly everything is covered in ice and snow. While uninhabitable to humans, the surface is home to many mutants, especially the Dark Ones. The overall tone that the game tries to encapture is a grim and melancholic feeling, as well as displaying the miserable lives of people who've survived the great war.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: In 2013, nuclear war devastated the Earth, wiping out billions of lives. Among the affected nations is Russia, including the now-desolate wasteland of Moscow. A handful of survivors manage to hide in the Metro system, salvaging spare parts and growing mushrooms for food. Animals such as rats or bears have mutated into horrific monsters, while the air in many areas becomes heavily irradiated and impossible to survive in without a gas mask. There is a constant state of war between Stalinists and Nazis, while opportunistic bandits seize hostages and supplies in the metro tunnels. The Rangers emerge as a neutral peacekeeping force within the Metro.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: By 2033, the northern station of VDNKh, now called Exhibition, is attacked by mysterious creatures called the Dark Ones. An elite Ranger named Hunter asks for support from a 24-year-old survivor named Artyom (Russian: Артём), the adopted son of the station commander. Before leaving to track the Dark Ones, Hunter gives Artyom his dog tags and tells him to present them to his superiors in Polis, the "capital" of the Metro.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: The next day, Artyom signs on as a guard for a caravan headed to Riga, a neighboring station. Along the way, the crew is incapacitated by a psychic attack, but Artyom is not affected. After the caravan reaches safety, Artyom meets Bourbon, a smuggler who offers to take him to Polis. The two make their way through several stations and tunnels, and even pass through the surface of Moscow itself, before Bourbon is killed by bandits. A traveler named Khan then rescues Artyom. After escorting Artyom through haunted tunnels and an embattled station, Khan advises Artyom to meet his contact Andrew the Blacksmith, who lives under the control of the Red Line, a Stalinist regime. With Andrew's help, Artyom sneaks out of Red Line territory but is subsequently captured by their enemies, the neo-Nazi Fourth Reich.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: Artyom is rescued from execution by two Rangers, Pavel and Ulman, before Pavel eventually dies escorting Artyom out of Reich territory. Now travelling alone, Artyom comes across a group of survivors trying to stop a mutant horde from reaching Polis. Although they fail, Artyom manages to rescue a young boy before they escape, and the defenders help Artyom reach the surface. There he reunites with Ulman, who takes him to meet Miller, the colonel of the Rangers in Polis.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: The Polis governing council ultimately refuses to help Exhibition. But Miller tells Artyom his back-up plan: a missile silo known as D6 that could destroy the Dark Ones' hive in the Botanical Gardens. To find a way to D6, Miller tells Artyom to meet him at the Moscow State Library to search for a map. As he makes his way to the library, Artyom is forced to continue alone while avoiding mutants. He eventually finds a map and flees with the help of both Miller and Ulman. They recruit Artyom as a Ranger, who joins an operation to locate and reactivate the D6 command center. After their success, Artyom and Miller climb Ostankino Tower to install a laser guidance system. Soon after, Artyom experiences a vivid hallucination induced by a Dark One.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: After the hallucination, there are two possible endings depending on the player's choices throughout the game. In the canonical ending, Artyom allows the missiles to fire, destroying the Dark Ones. The alternate ending gives Artyom the choice to destroy the laser guidance device, citing a last-minute realization that the Dark Ones were using the hallucinations to make peaceful contact. This ending is only available if the player has performed certain compassionate acts, such as helping fellow humans and not fleeing the Dark Ones in various hallucinations.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: "Metro 2033" was developed by Ukrainian studio 4A Games, founded around 2005. The founders had worked at GSC Game World, previously Ukraine's only major game studio, and creators of "". After the release of "S.T.A.L.K.E.R", Andrew Prokhorov left GSC due to disagreements with management, helping to found 4A Games as director. GSC's chief executive officer also fired the entire art team after "S.T.A.L.K.E.R" was released, and nearly all employees came to work at 4A.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: The game is based on Dmitry Glukhovsky's novel of the same name. Glukhovsky was inspired by the books of Roger Zelazny and Ray Bradbury, as well as the first "Fallout" game. Years before Glukhovsky was offered a book publishing deal in 2005, he uploaded the manuscript of the novel to his personal website, leading a number of game studios to approach him for a potential adaptation of his work. Glukhovsky was open-minded about studios creating new chapters in his "Metro" series, describing this "as much of an honor as getting the book screened and turned into a movie", and hoping that this would grow the audience for his fiction. He also felt that a game adaptation would allow him to focus on other projects, leaving the "Metro" universe in the careful custody of other artists.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: Glukhovsky ultimately chose 4A Games because they shared an "Eastern European mindset", both having a first-hand understanding of the collapse of the Soviet Union. He was also impressed with the team's previous work, as well as their pitch to adapt "Metro" as a first-person shooter, since the book reveal the thoughts of the protagonists (though it is written in the third-person). Glukhovsky gave 4A a lot of creative freedom, otherwise ensuring that the game was true to his story, themes, and meaning, and rewriting the dialog for the Russian version of the game. According to Glukhovsky, the main theme of "Metro 2033" was xenophobia, particularly the human reaction to the mysterious Dark Ones. Glukhovsky also saw it as a coming of age story for protagonist Arytom, as a young man trying to find the meaning of his life. The game does feature political satire and social criticism, particularly about modern Russia, but this was not intended as the game's focus. The game differs from the book by offering two endings, which Glukhovsky felt was an interesting choice to give the player.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: The game utilizes 4A Engine, a proprietary game engine developed by 4A Games. It was developed by programmers Oles Shishkovtsov and Oleksandr Maksimchuk, who had previously worked on the X-Ray engine for the "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." series. Grygorovych accused 4A Games of using the pre-release versions of the X-Ray engine, but Shishkovtsov responded by refuting this. First, the GSC engine did not work on home consoles, where the 4A Engine was designed with this in mind. Shishkovtsov also described how the 4A Engine began as a pet project due to his frustrations with the X-Ray engine, before expanding his project with the 4A Games team.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: The studio's goal was to focus on atmosphere and story, having been largely inspired by "Half-Life 2". They hoped that their narrative focus would help the game stand out from other post-apocalyptic titles like "S.T.A.L.K.E.R" and "Fallout". According to producer Huw Beynon, they strived for every scene to contribute to the game's narrative, describing this as "cinematic". Since it was not practical to turn every major plot point into a cutscene, the studio instead strove for an immersive atmosphere by using both environmental storytelling and incidental conversations. For instance, non-playable characters have their own daily routines and frequently gossip with each other. The team also included a lot of quieter non-combat moments, to improve the game's variety, pacing, and sense of discovery. The team decided to keep the HUD minimalistic, to keep the player immersed in the game world with fewer distractions. Instead, the game puts many of its cues in the environment, such as the player viewing their objectives by physically opening Artyom's journal. The team also focused their resources exclusively on the single-player experience, deliberately avoiding any multiplayer component.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: In August 2006, 4A Games first announced the game as "Metro 2033: The Last Refuge", for both PC and PlayStation 3. THQ's Dean Sharpe saw early footage of the game at a trade show, incidentally around the time that Sharpe was also promoting "S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl". Sharpe was impressed with 4A's work and convinced THQ to become their publisher, which later led him to join 4A Games as CEO. THQ officially announced the partnership in October 2009, revealing the now-renamed game "Metro 2033" for both PC and Xbox 360. The decision to skip PlayStation 3 was a business decision for THQ, and not a technical limitation. "Metro 2033" was marketed on Steam by offering "" with pre-orders. THQ also released a Limited Edition for the game, including the game disc, four art cards, and a replica of an in-game automatic shotgun.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: The game was released on 16 March 2010 in North America, and 19 March 2010 in Europe. Immediately after the game's release, the studio announced that it had begun developing downloadable content for "Metro 2033". The content was later revealed to as the "Ranger pack", which added two new weapons, as well as a Ranger mode that removed the HUD, and reduced the ammunition supply while boosting damage. The pack was released on 3 August 2010.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: Reflecting on the game a year after release, THQ's Vice-President Danny Bilson admitted that the game was not "properly supported in all areas", singling out problems with product development and marketing. Bilson also described the game as "an orphan stepchild", as the publishing agreement with 4A Games was signed late in development, leaving less time to properly market the title before release.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: On 22 May 2014, a "Redux" version of the game was announced, featuring updates to the 4A Engine from the development of the sequel, "". This led to graphical changes such as improved lighting, animations, and particle effects, as well as dynamic weather. This also allowed gameplay changes from "Last Light", including improved controls, combat, stealth mechanics, and artificial intelligence. This also added "Last Light" features to "2033", such as silent takedowns, customized weapons, and the ability to wipe gas masks. The "Redux" version was released on 26 August 2014 in North America, and 29 August 2014 in Europe for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The re-release also led to a compilation package with both "2033" and "Last Light", under the cumulative title of "Metro Redux". The redux versions of the two games were published by Deep Silver. A demo of the "Redux" version, which allows players to play through the first one-third of the game, was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on 2 June 2015. "Metro Redux" was later released for the Nintendo Switch on 28 February 2020.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: "Metro 2033" received favorable reviews from critics upon release, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Most critics agreed that the game was a compelling and engrossing experience undermined by inadequate gameplay systems and poor artificial intelligence.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: The game's story and pacing received acclaim from critics. Phil Kollar from "Game Informer" praised the main campaign's variety of scenarios and set-pieces, especially the climax of the game's story. "Eurogamer"s Jim Rossignol also liked the campaign's variety and cinematic sequences, highlighting how "the action is expertly punctuated with unexpected experiences". Justin McElroy from "Joystiq" also liked the story, praising the characters as likeable for their courage and resilience. "IGN"s Ryan Clements felt that the game included "interesting sights and sounds", that the game suffered from bland characters and a "clumsy" story. Jim Sterling from "Destructoid" felt that the story was "decent" and the themes were "intruiging" and "powerful", but expressed disappointment that it was not as fleshed out as the source materials. "GamePro"s Tae K. Kim felt that there was not enough context for an otherwise strong backstory, as he "never fully understood the world", making the game an awkward entry point to the fiction of the novel.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: The atmosphere was often considered one of the game's highlights. Matthew Pellett from "GamesRadar" described the setting as "evocative", and compared the game favourably to "BioShock" and "Half-Life 2". Writing for "GameSpot", Chris Waters praised the atmosphere as "oppressive", and that the "relentless gloom can begin to wear you down". The dialogue between non-playable characters was often praised for making the game world more immersive. McElroy highlighted details such as the wristwatch and battery pump for adding to the sense of immersion. Rossignol described the game world as one that is "heaving with apocalyptic detail", and praised the gas masks for inducing a "claustrophobic feeling". Sterling felt that the game's unforgiving gameplay also facilitated players immersion. He added that "2033" was "one of the most traditional survival horrors to be seen in years", as players must survive the tunnels with a bare minimum of resources, making the experience more intense and frightening. Kim also praised the 4A Engine for "bringing this desolate and sad world to life", and applauded the developers' effort to interweave gameplay with the narrative. Tom Orry from "VideoGamer.com" also applauded the game for its visuals and immersion, but criticized the game's linearity and loading screens.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: Critics had more mixed opinions for the gameplay. Waters praised the game for rewarding players for exploration, as well as the game's diversity of weapons. However, Kollar felt that the weapons were not interesting enough. Rossignol liked the scarce ammunition and survivalist elements of combat, but felt that the inaccuracy of the aiming system was frustrating. Kollar agreed that the aiming and the control was too loose. Sterling also analyzed the combat, expressing that it was better as a survival game than an action game. Sterling and Clements criticized the stealth mechanics for bugs, with McElroy remarking that enemies become invincible during certain animations. Reviewers also criticized the game's artificial intelligence, as well as the game's lack of replay value.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: "Metro 2033" was the fifth best-selling retail game in the UK in its week of release, beaten by fellow new release "God of War III" and titles including "", "Final Fantasy XIII" and "Just Dance". THQ described the game as "very profitable" for the company. CEO for THQ, Brain Farrell, added that due to the low cost of development in Eastern Europe, modest level of sales would already guarantee "Metro 2033" as a commercial success. The game was significantly more popular in Europe than North America. In June 2012, it was revealed that the game had sold more than 1.5 million copies. While the exact sales of the game have not been revealed, Deep Silver announced that the "Metro Redux" collection sold more than 1.5 million copies in April 2015.


title: Metro 2033 (video game)

text: The sequel "" was released in 2013. The story continues the events from the original game, and does not follow any direct storylines from the book "Metro 2034". Deep Silver acquired the publishing rights from THQ after they declared bankruptcy. A third instalment, "Metro Exodus", was released in 2019.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (, ; ) is an avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, long and wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc de Triomphe is located. It is known for its theatres, cafés and luxury shops, as the finish of the Tour de France cycling race, as well as for its annual Bastille Day military parade. The name is French for the Elysian Fields, the place for dead heroes in Greek mythology. It is commonly regarded as the "most beautiful avenue in the whole world".


title: Champs-Élysées

text: The avenue runs for through the 8th arrondissement in northwestern Paris, from the Place de la Concorde in the east, with the Obelisk of Luxor, to the Place Charles de Gaulle (formerly the "Place de l'Étoile") in the west, location of the Arc de Triomphe. The Champs-Élysées forms part of the "Axe historique".


title: Champs-Élysées

text: The lower part of the Champs-Élysées, from the Place de la Concorde to the Rond-Point, runs through the Jardin des Champs-Élysées, a park which contains the Grand Palais, the Petit Palais, the Théâtre Marigny, alongside several restaurants, gardens and monuments. The Élysée Palace on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré—official residence of the President of the French Republic—borders the park, but is not on the Avenue itself. The Champs-Élysées ends at the Arc de Triomphe, built to honour the victories of Napoléon Bonaparte.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: Until the reign of Louis XIV, the land where the Champs-Élysées runs today was largely occupied by fields and kitchen gardens. The Champs-Élysées and its gardens were originally laid out in 1667 by André Le Nôtre as an extension of the Tuileries Garden, the gardens of the Tuileries Palace, which had been built in 1564, and which Le Nôtre had rebuilt in his own formal style for Louis XIV in 1664. Le Nôtre planned a wide promenade between the palace and the modern Rond Point, lined with two rows of elm trees on either side, and flowerbeds in the symmetrical style of the French formal garden. The new boulevard was called the "Grand Cours", or "Grand Promenade". It did not take the name of Champs-Élysées until 1709.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: In 1710 the avenue was extended beyond the Rond-Point as far as the modern Place d'Étoile. In 1765 the garden was remade in the Le Nôtre style by Abel François Poisson, the marquis de Marigny, brother of the Madame de Pompadour and Director-General of the King's Buildings. Marigny extended the avenue again in 1774 as far as the modern Porte Maillot.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: In 1846, Prince Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, the future Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, lived for a brief period in lodgings just off Lord Street, Southport. It is claimed the street is the inspiration behind the Champs-Élysées. Between 1854 and 1870, Napoléon III orchestrated the reconstruction of the French capital. The medieval centre of the city was demolished and replaced with broad tree-lined boulevards, covered walkways and arcades.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: By the late 19th century, the Champs-Élysées had become a fashionable avenue; the trees on either side had grown enough to form rectangular groves ("cabinets de verdure"). The gardens of the town houses of the nobility built along the Faubourg Saint-Honoré backed onto the formal gardens. The grandest of the private mansions near the Avenue was the Élysée Palace, a private residence of the nobility which during the Third French Republic became the official residence of the Presidents of France.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: Following the French Revolution, two equestrian statues, made in 1745 by Nicolas and Guillaume Coustou, were transferred from the former royal palace at Marly and placed at the beginning of the boulevard and park. After the downfall of Napoleon and the restoration of the French monarchy, the trees had to be replanted, because the occupation armies of the Russians, British and Prussians during the Hundred Days had camped in the park and used the trees for firewood.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: The avenue from the Rond-Point to the Étoile was built up during the Empire. The Champs-Élysées itself became city property in 1828, and footpaths, fountains, and, later, gas lighting were added.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: In 1834, under King Louis Philippe I, the architect Mariano Ruiz de Chavez was commissioned to redesign the Place de la Concorde and the gardens of the Champs-Élysées. He kept the formal gardens and flowerbeds essentially intact, but turned the garden into a sort of outdoor amusement park, with a summer garden café, the Alcazar d'eté, two restaurants, the Ledoyen and the restaurant de l'Horloge; a theater, the Lacaze; the Panorama, built in 1839, where large historical paintings were displayed, and the cirque d'eté (1841), a large hall for popular theater, musical and circus performances. He also placed several ornamental fountains around the park, of which three are still in place.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: The major monument of the Boulevard, the Arc de Triomphe, had been commissioned by Napoleon after his victory at the Battle of Austerlitz, but it was not finished when he fell from power in 1815. The monument remained unfinished until 1833–1836, when it was completed by King Louis Philippe.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: In 1855 Emperor Napoleon III selected the park at the beginning of the avenue as the site of the first great international exposition to be held in Paris, the Exposition Universelle. The park was the location of the Palace of Industry, a giant exhibit hall which covered thirty thousand square meters, where the Grand Palais is today. In 1858, following the Exposition, the Emperor's prefect of the Seine, Georges-Eugène Haussmann, had the gardens transformed from a formal French garden into a picturesque English style garden, based on a small town called Southport, with groves of trees, flowerbeds and winding paths. The rows of elm trees, which were in poor health, were replaced by rows of chestnut trees.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: The park served again as an exposition site during the Universal Exposition of 1900; it became the home of the Grand Palais and Petit Palais. It also became the home of a new panorama theater, designed by Gabriel Davioud, the chief architect of Napoleon III, in 1858. The modern theater Marigny was built by Charles Garnier, architect of the Paris Opera, in 1883.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: Throughout its history, the avenue has been the site of military parades; the most famous were the victory parades of German troops in 1871 and again in 1940 celebrating the Fall of France on 14 July 1940, and the three most joyous were the parades celebrating the Allied victory in the First World War in 1919, and the parades of Free French and American forces after the liberation of the city, respectively, the French 2nd Armored Division on 25 August 1944, and the US 28th Infantry Division on 29 August 1944.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: In 1860, the merchants joined together to form the "Syndicat d'Initiative et de Défense des Champs-Élysées", an association to promote commerce along the avenue. In 1980, the group changed its name to the "Comité des Champs-Élysées" and to "Comité Champs-Élysées" in 2008. It is the oldest standing committee in Paris. The committee has always dedicated itself to seeking public projects to enhance the avenue’s unique atmosphere, and to lobby the authorities for extended business hours and to organizing special events. Today, the committee, in coordination with other professional organisations, may review with the Parisian administration the addition to the avenue of new businesses whose floor area would exceed 1000 square meters.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: The arrival of global chain stores in recent years has strikingly changed its character, and in a first effort to stem these changes, the City of Paris (which has called this trend ""banalisation"") initially decided in 2007 to prohibit the Swedish clothing chain H&M from opening a store on the avenue; however, a large H&M store opened two years later at 88 Champs-Élysées. In 2008, American clothing chain Abercrombie & Fitch was given permission to open a store.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: The Champs-Élysées has mid-size shopping malls, extending the shopping area: Élysées 26 (26) with Agatha jewellery and l'Eclaireur fashion, Galeries du Claridge (74) with Annick Goutal perfumes, Fnac, Paul & Shark, Arcades des Champs-Élysées (78) with Starbucks. The list of fashion stores include Adidas (22), Abercrombie & Fitch (23), Zara (40, 44), J.M. Weston (55), Foot Locker (66), Longchamp (77), Nike (79), Levi's (76), H&M (88), Morgan (92), Lacoste (93-95), Marks & Spencer (100), Louis Vuitton (101), Hugo Boss (115), Massimo Dutti (116), Petit Bateau (116), Milady (120), Dior (127), Celio (146, 150). The list of perfume stores include Guerlain (68) (Le 68 de Guy Martin), Sephora multi brand (70), Yves Rocher (102). Jewellers: Tiffany & Co. (62), Bulgari (136), Swarovski (146), Cartier (154). Book and music store: FNAC (74). The list of car show-rooms include Citroen (42), Renault (53), Toyota (79), Mercedes (118), Peugeot (136).


title: Champs-Élysées

text: Every year on Bastille Day on 14 July, the largest military parade in Europe passes down the Champs-Élysées, reviewed by the President of the Republic.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: Every year during Advent, Christmastide, and Epiphany, the 'Champs-Élysées' Committee contribute for the holidays seasons lighting of the Champs-Élysées. This generally occurs from late November until early January.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: From 1975 to 2023, the last stage of the Tour de France cycling race has finished on the Champs-Élysées. The subsequent awards ceremony also takes place directly on the avenue.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: In 1995, terror attacks by Algerian militants took place in France; one attack took place at the Arc de Triomphe on the Champs-Élysées, wounding 17.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: Huge gatherings occasionally take place on the Champs-Élysées in celebration of popular events, such as New Year's Eve, or when France won the FIFA World Cups in 1998 and 2018. The Champs-Élysées has occasionally been the site of large political protest meetings.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: On 20 April 2017, a police officer was shot dead on the Champs-Élysées by an extremist and two other officers were injured. They were all sitting in a parked police van, when the attacker pulled up in front of the van. The attacker tried to shoot civilians (including a tourist) and was immediately shot dead by other police on the spot. The shooting happened two days before the first round of voting in the 2017 French presidential election.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: On 19 June 2017, a suspected terrorist drove a munitions-laden car into a police vehicle on the Champs-Élysées. The attacker was then shot dead.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: On 16 March 2019, Gilets Jaunes protests on the Champs-Élysées erupted into violence. A portion of the 10,000 protesters in the city, about 1,500 people, looted and/or set on fire some 80 shops, restaurants, a bank, and newspaper kiosks along the avenue.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: Paris Métro Line 1 runs under the Champs-Élysées. Several stations are located along it - stations from west to east are: Charles de Gaulle – Étoile at the street's west end at Arc de Triomphe, George V by the Hôtel George-V, Franklin D. Roosevelt at the rond-point des Champs-Élysées, Champs-Élysées – Clemenceau at place Clemenceau and Concorde at the southern end of the avenue, where the Place de la Concorde is located.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: The Champs-Élysées has encountered rising problems with air pollution from the estimated 3,000 vehicles per hour which drive through its eight lanes. It is more polluted than the Périphérique ring road which encircles the city, with nitrogen dioxide levels twice as high as the recommended limit set by the World Health Organization. Since 2016, the avenue has been closed to motor traffic on the first Sunday of every month, in an effort to cut pollution in the city. A 2019 article in "The Guardian" stated that the avenue '"has more and more visitors and big name businesses battle to be on it, but to French people it’s looking worn out”'. It has also become mainly a tourist attraction, which Parisians largely avoid. According to the architect Philippe Chiambaretta, 72% of the 100,000 pedestrians who visited the Champs-Élysées each day in 2019 were tourists and another 22% work there.


title: Champs-Élysées

text: At the beginning of 2021, the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, announced that the city would transform the Champs-Élysées into an "extraordinary garden" which will reduce the space for auto traffic by half, add more pedestrian space, and create "tunnels of trees" for improved air quality. A walkway will connect over 200 acres of green space stretching between the Arc de Triomphe, the Place de la Concorde, and the Tuileries Gardens. The city intends to adopt the plans formulated by the Champs-Élysées Committee, which has been campaigning for a redesign of the avenue since 2018 and which held a public consultation as to what the redesign should include. The plans are meant to make the avenue more "ecological, desirable and inclusive", and will cost an estimated €250 million. It will include a redesign of the Place de la Concorde as well. The work will not begin in earnest before the 2024 Summer Olympics are held in Paris, but the goal is to complete the project by 2030.


title: Mother/Android

text: Mother/Android is a 2021 American post-apocalyptic science fiction thriller film, written and directed by Mattson Tomlin for his feature directorial debut, and starring Chloë Grace Moretz, Algee Smith, and Raúl Castillo. The film tells the story of a pregnant woman and her boyfriend who try to reach a fortified Boston amidst an AI takeover. It was released on December 17, 2021, on Hulu.


title: Mother/Android

text: On Christmas Eve at some point in the future, Georgia Olsen finds out that she is pregnant. The child's father, her boyfriend, Sam Hoth, asks her to marry him. Georgia, however, is uncertain both about the relationship and her desire to be a mother. She decides not to tell her parents.


title: Mother/Android

text: Forgetting her phone at home, Georgia goes to a college Christmas party with Sam. An android named Eli, owned by the Olsens, wishes Sam happy Halloween instead of Christmas, the first suggestion that something is amiss.


title: Mother/Android

text: At the party, a shrill screech can suddenly be heard and soon after, an android turns violent. He attacks Georgia and Sam, who run away from the house. Smartphones unexpectedly start exploding, killing their users and leading to an AI takeover.


title: Mother/Android

text: Nine months later, Georgia, expecting her baby, has taken shelter in the forest with Sam. The couple are trying to get to a fortified Boston. They have heard rumors about a boat that is transporting new mothers to Asia, where they can find a peaceful life.


title: Mother/Android

text: They avoid all roads and travel through the woods, until they reach a military camp. While Georgia gets examined by a doctor, Sam tries to find out how to reach Boston. At night, he gets into a fight with one of the soldiers, and he and Georgia are expelled from the camp the next day. They continue on, until they find an abandoned house, where they spend the night. Sam finds a dirtbike and repairs it.


title: Mother/Android

text: The following day, the couple are able to travel faster on the dirt bike. While stopped at a river, they are spotted by an android, who pursues them. Soon, several more androids give chase, accompanied by drones. Sam drops off Georgia and tries to lure the androids away on the motorbike. Meanwhile, Georgia meets a camouflaged man who offers to help her. He turns out to be an AI programmer who tells her that the androids have learned to hack their software. He introduces himself as Arthur.


title: Mother/Android

text: In the morning, Georgia awakes to contractions. She tells Arthur that she needs to find Sam, and he leads her to where her partner is being held. They approach a building patrolled by androids, from which cries of pain can be heard. Arthur gives Georgia a camouflaged vest, which he claims will conceal her. She walks through the building, looking for Sam, unseen by the androids. She finds him in one of the rooms, with his legs badly broken. While she is freeing Sam, another prisoner tries to draw the attention of the androids. Georgia drags Sam out into a large garage. She collapses from contractions, and just as they are about to be apprehended, Arthur intervenes, stabbing an android and saving them. Georgia goes into labor in Arthur's truck. She wakes up in a hospital clinic, with Sam beside her. A nurse informs her that the C-section delivery went well, and that they have a baby boy. The couple name their son Forest, and Sam takes a photo of the family.


title: Mother/Android

text: Later, Georgia gets questioned by a security officer. She tells him what she and Sam have been through, and mentions the vest that allowed her to avoid detection by androids. The officer tells her that such technology doesn't exist. Georgia then realizes that Arthur is an android and that he deceived her. Within moments, the power goes out, and the base comes under attack. Georgia tries to wake up Sam, to no avail. She heads down to try and activate the base perimeter and is confronted by Arthur. She shoots him in the face repeatedly, killing him. She manages to activate the perimeter and returns to Sam.


title: Mother/Android

text: When Georgia wakes up again, Sam is up. Together with Forest, they head to the harbor, where officers are loading a boat headed to Korea. They are only able to take Forest, as Georgia and a legless Sam would be a burden. After pleading with them to no avail, Georgia is convinced by Sam to let Forest go and have a better life. She then boards a military convoy to Portland alone, while Sam is implied to have died of his injuries.


title: Mother/Android

text: In September 2020, Chloë Grace Moretz, Algee Smith, and Raúl Castillo joined the cast of the film, with Mattson Tomlin directing from a screenplay he wrote, with Matt Reeves and Bill Block set to produce the film under their 6th and Idaho Productions and Miramax banners, respectively.


title: Mother/Android

text: A few years after graduating from film school, Tomlin struggled to write his first movie, until he decided to loosely focus on a very personal story, that of his own adoption. According to the writer, this become a personal love letter to his biological parents. In an interview with Collider, Tomlin says, "I was born in the aftermath of the Romanian revolution, and I thought I would change that to the robot revolution." This was to have a genre component in addition to his personal story.


title: Mother/Android

text: Principal photography began in September 2020 and lasted until November, with the majority of the film being located in Massachusetts. The downtown area of Boston was used as the setting for the human colony, and the Lynn Woods Reservation was the location of the android stronghold.


title: Mother/Android

text: On March 10, 2021, Hulu acquired the U.S. distribution rights to the film. It was released on December 17, 2021. Netflix acquired the international streaming rights to the film and it was released in all other regions on January 7, 2022.


title: Mother/Android

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes sampled thirty critics and judged 33% of the reviews to be positive, with an average rating of 4.90/10. The website's critics' consensus reads: ""Mother/Android" transcends its budgetary limitations on a visual level -- unfortunately, this sci-fi drama is less successful on the storytelling front." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned "Mother/Android" a score of 43 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Mother/Android

text: Lena Wilson of "The New York Times" commented that the movie "offers little in the way of world building", and that the reason behind the android uprising is vague and confusing. She mentioned that because of this, "It offers ample room for the film's strong emotional core, but can be hopelessly distracting." Micheal Ordoña of the "Los Angeles Times" agreed, saying that in order to fully enjoy the film, they would have to focus on the main characters' "relationship and their mission to get their coming baby to safety and let the details blur." He noted that though the story has an "emotional resonance" with the filmmakers, referencing the real-life situation it was based on, its execution was not "immediate or terrifying as one imagines".


title: Inside (video game)

text: Inside is a puzzle-platform game developed and published by Playdead in 2016 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows. The game was released for iOS in December 2017 and Nintendo Switch in June 2018. A macOS version was released in June 2020. The player controls a boy in a dystopic world, solving environmental puzzles and avoiding death. It is the successor to Playdead's 2010 "Limbo", with similar 2.5D gameplay.


title: Inside (video game)

text: Playdead began work on "Inside" shortly after the release of "Limbo", using "Limbo"s custom game engine. The team switched to Unity to simplify development, adding their own rendering routines, later released as open source, to create a signature look. The game was partially funded by a grant from the Danish Film Institute. "Inside" premiered at Microsoft's E3 2014 conference, with a planned release in 2015, but was delayed to 2016.


title: Inside (video game)

text: "Inside" was released to critical acclaim. Critics noted it as an improvement over "Limbo", praising its art direction, atmosphere and gameplay. The game was nominated for numerous accolades, including game of the year, and won several independent and technical achievements. As with "Limbo", "Inside" is included on multiple lists of the greatest video games of all time as compiled by game journalists.


title: Inside (video game)

text: "Inside" is a puzzle platformer. The player character is an unnamed boy who explores a surreal and mostly monochromatic environment presented as a 2.5D platform game. The game is dark, with color used sparingly to highlight both the player and certain parts of the environment. The game is mostly silent, with the exception of occasional musical cues, the boy's vocals, dogs barking, equipment and sound effects. The player controls the boy who walks, runs, swims, climbs, and uses objects to overcome obstacles and progress in the game. The boy gains the ability to control bodies to complete certain puzzles, a mechanic that "IGN" Marty Sliva compared to a similar mechanic in "The Swapper". At various points in the game, the player may discover hidden rooms containing glowing orbs. If all the orbs are deactivated during a playthrough, the player unlocks the game's alternate ending.


title: Inside (video game)

text: The boy can die in various ways, such as being shot with a tranquilizer dart, mauled by dogs, ensnared by security machines, blown apart by shockwaves, or drown. As in the predecessor game "Limbo", these deaths are presented realistically and are often graphic, but to a larger degree, earning the ESRB's Mature rating as opposed to "Limbo" Teen rating. If the character dies, the game continues from the most recent checkpoint.


title: Inside (video game)

text: A boy slides down a rocky incline. While running through a forest, he encounters masked guards with flashlights, as well as vehicles with mounted spotlights, and fierce guard dogs. He escapes the guards, then crosses a road where a block has been set up with more vehicles and guards, to a farm where parasitic worms cause pigs to run rampant. The boy uses the farm animals and equipment to escape to a seemingly abandoned city where lines of zombie-like people are moved through mind control. Beyond the city is a large factory of flooded rooms, a shock wave atrium, and a laboratory environment where scientists perform underwater experiments on bodies.


title: Inside (video game)

text: While traversing these areas, the boy uses a mind-control helmet to control some of the zombies he encounters. The boy comes across an underwater siren-like creature that attaches a device to him, allowing him to breathe underwater.


title: Inside (video game)

text: Continuing through the office and laboratories, the boy sees scientists observing a large spherical chamber. The boy enters the chamber and discovers the Huddle, a monstrous mass of conjoined human bodies. After disconnecting the Huddle's restraints the boy is pulled into it.


title: Inside (video game)

text: The Huddle escapes confinement, crashing through offices, killing some of the scientists in its path. The scientists trap the Huddle in another tank, but the Huddle escapes again and breaks through a wooden wall. It rolls down a forest hill and comes to a stop at a grassy coastline bathed in light.


title: Inside (video game)

text: If the player deactivated the hidden light orbs in the various bunkers, the boy returns to one of the bunkers and gains access to a new area. He reaches an area that includes a bank of computers and one of the mind-control helmets, powered by a nearby socket. The boy pulls the plug from the socket, upon which the character takes the same stance as the zombies.


title: Inside (video game)

text: Journalists and players have offered several different theories about the game's main ending (the freeing of the Huddle) and the alternative ending.


title: Inside (video game)

text: One theory speculates that the boy is controlled by the Huddle throughout most of the game, leading him to help free the Huddle from containment. As described by Jeffrey Matulef of "Eurogamer", the game impresses that the Huddle has a magnetic-like draw that leads the boy to endanger himself and unquestioningly enter the tank where the Huddle is kept so as to free it. Players speculated on the theory that taking the alternate ending is working contrary to the Huddle's goal, and the act of unplugging the computers is to release the Huddle's control on the boy. There are some who believe that in the world of "Inside", humanity has almost been destroyed because of some ultimate biological catastrophe and that the scientists are making experiments with the Huddle so it can control minds very far away to free itself. This has been thought because there are large quantities of buildings under water. When the Huddle escapes, there is a 3D work of paper and wood that represents the coasts at which the Huddle arrives after escaping the tank of water. A similar theory has the boy being controlled by one or more of the scientists, evidenced by how some of the scientists appear to aid the Huddle in escaping the facility. In this theory, the scientists put the boy through many dangers to gain strength and intelligence, so that these qualities can be absorbed by the Huddle when the boy frees it, improving the creature in a desirable manner for these scientists.


title: Inside (video game)

text: A more metafictional interpretation of the game from its alternate ending is based on the notion of player agency. Matulef summarizes this theory as "the boy is being controlled by a renegade force represented by the player". The act of pulling the plug in the final area is similar to the concept of "The Matrix", as described by "PC Gamer"s Tim Clark. Matulef explains that the location of the alternate ending is only known to the player with knowledge of the main ending and not to the Huddle or the scientists. With knowledge of the game's true ending, achieving the alternate ending is to reach a conclusion to the game that "ostensibly puts an end to the boy, the blob, and any inhumane experiments being conducted".