Film critics are great. But no matter how steeped in cinema they might be, they’re still just people — and every so often, they’re liable to misinterpret a movie, write a rotten review, and end up panning something that’s actually kind of incredible. Sometimes, an ambitious film comes along and manages to draw the ire of nearly every critic on the planet. These unfortunate movies are kicked into the gutter and largely forgotten by audiences, which is a shame because they’re secretly amazing. Of course, everyone has an opinion, and thanks to the increasingly abundant array of streaming options available to home viewers, many films are never more than a click away — so even if a movie missed its shot at box office glory, there’s nothing keeping us from appreciating it now. So today, we’re ignoring the haters and looking at films that were wrongly roasted. From stoner romances to mythological adventures, here are some critically hated movies that are actually awesome.

HOOK (1991)

It seems like everybody hates Hook. It’s widely regarded as one of Steven Spielberg’s worst movies, and even the director himself has disparaged the film. Film critics have savaged this Peter Pan story as bloated, messy, and sappy, but maybe that’s because they’ve all grown up and forgotten what it’s like to have an imagination.

If you lived through the ’90s, then you probably know the story revolves around Peter Pan (Robin Williams) as an adult. He’s changed his name, started a family, become a lawyer, and totally forgotten about his adventures in Neverland. But when his children are kidnapped by the notorious Captain Hook (Dustin Hoffman), Peter is forced to fly, fight, and crow if he ever wants to see his kids again.

Granted, Hook is nowhere close to being one of Spielberg’s best, but for a film about childhood, it deals with some surprisingly mature themes like unrequited love, growing older, and the inevitability of death. It’s a film about dysfunctional families and abandoned kids, and according to Evan Saathoff of Birth.Movies.Death., Hook was a “very personal movie for Spielberg, a reaction to his fears that his heavy workload was robbing him of time with his children….”

In addition to the deep stuff going on behind the surface, Hook is pure Spielbergian entertainment. The sets—which are quite obviously sets—are grand, ornate, and wonderfully larger-than-life, which is fitting for a story that was first a stage play. And while a lot of critics piled on Julia Roberts as Tinkerbell, you can’t deny that Bob Hoskins, Maggie Smith, and Dustin Hoffman are absolutely perfect in their parts. Plus, the John Williams score is pure magic, and it’s always a treat to go back and hang out with the great Robin Williams.

ALIEN 3 (1992)
When first-time director David Fincher was hired for Alien 3, the movie was already majorly behind schedule, there wasn’t a finished script, and the studio had lost several million dollars on the project. Worse still, Fincher was severely hampered by micro-managing producers at Fox, and when the film clocked in around three hours long, the studio forced him to cut about 30 minutes of material.

As a result, the director disavowed the film, but he wasn’t the only one who hated Alien 3. Fans are still furious about the deaths of Hicks and Newt, and most critics savaged the film, saying it was style over substance. Today, it’s often considered the film that sent the franchise into a tailspin, but while it’s true that Alien 3 puts a lot of emphasis on atmosphere, that’s what makes it one of the most fascinating movies of Fincher’s storied career.

Set in a dreary wasteland that screams Mad Max, this third installment is dark, grungy, and beautifully barren, a cinematic nightmare that—as pointed out by film critic Scout Tafoya—evokes the works of painters like Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel. On top of that, Fincher’s film is so nihilistic that it makes True Detective look like Parks and Recreation. And as Scott Wampler of Birth.Movies.Death. notes, this bleak tone is way more in line with Ridley Scott’s original than James Cameron’s sequel.

Plus, Sigourney Weaver is at the top of her game here, playing a more cynical Ripley who bravely comes to terms with her inevitable fate. True, the Dragon Xenomorph looks a little janky now and then. And yeah, the forced edits take away from the overall story (of course, you can check out the Assembly Cut to get a feel for Fincher’s original vision), but despite the drawbacks, Alien 3 is a visually brilliant world of criminal monks and fiery hellscapes, a film that could’ve been the perfect ending for a landmark series.

The Cell (2000)

Directed by Tarsem Singh, The Cell is not a movie for everyone. In fact, it wasn’t a movie for most critics when it hit theaters in 2000. According to the official blurb on Rotten Tomatoes, the film “is undermined by a weak and shallow plotline that offers nothing new.” True, you can tell The Cell is borrowing from movies like The Silence of the Lambs—but man, it is it borrowing with panache.

Hailed by Roger Ebert—one of the few critics who actually liked it—as “one of the best films of the year,” The Cell tells the story of Catherine Deane (Jennifer Lopez), a child psychologist who uses some impressive tech to enter the subconscious of a comatose boy, hoping to bring him back into the real world. Thanks to her unique set of skills, she’s asked by an FBI agent (Vince Vaughn) to explore the mind of an unconscious serial killer named Carl Stargher (Vincent D’Onofrio).

Before suffering from a seizure, Stargher imprisoned a girl in a bizarre death trap, and now she only has hours left to live. Deane is tasked with finding her whereabouts, but this is easier said than done. Stargher’s subconscious is a nightmare world of torture devices, horned monsters, and living dolls that resemble his victims. It’s an S&M fever dream where corpses are bathed in blood, horses are dissected with glass slides, and men have their intestines slowly pulled from their bodies.

Yeah, The Cell is totally depraved, but it’s oh so gorgeous to look at. As pointed out by Andre Dumas of The Horror Digest, Stargher’s subconscious is a horrific tribute to artists like Damien Hirst, Odd Nerdrum, and H.R. Giger. And if you’re into costumes, then you’re in for a grotesque treat, as designer Eiko Ishioka has created a world of muscular red jumpsuits, demonic purple wings, massive golden crowns, and sadistic sci-fi masks. Better still, the sets are practical, the performances are on point, and the result is something big, bloody, and perversely beautiful.

The Hunted (2003)

When it comes to nail-biters, William Friedkin is one of the best in the business. After all, he’s the guy who made The French Connection and The Exorcist, and in The Hunted, he gives us a chase movie for the ages, with a grizzled Tommy Lee Jones tracking a psychotic Benicio Del Toro through the Oregon woods. Sure, the movie has a lousy 29 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but come on. Jones and Del Toro get into a knife fight. What more you do need to know?

As for the plot, the story follows a tired tracker named L.T. Bonham (Jones). He used to teach Special Ops soldiers how to kill, but unfortunately, his training was a little too good. After seeing some pretty horrible things overseas, his old pupil Aaron Hallam (Del Toro) has lost his mind and now spends his time picking off deer hunters. So Bonham is brought in to give his student one last lesson. And did we mention that Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio Del Toro get into a knife fight?

The veteran actor is amazing as the weary survivalist, a man who knows what he has to do, but that doesn’t mean he has to enjoy it. As for Del Toro, he’s both scary and sympathetic as a man who’s seen and spilled far too much blood. Friedkin expertly follows these two as they chase each other down, and when it comes down to the final showdown, there are no showy ninja moves here. It’s painful, brutal, and in your face, which pretty much sums up the entire feel of this underrated thriller.

Man on Fire (2004)

Directed by Tony Scott, Man on Fire is a cool blue revenge story that explodes into flame whenever Denzel Washington gets angry. The two-time Oscar winner plays a washed-up, alcoholic bodyguard named Creasey who gets a shot at redemption when he’s hired to protect a nine-year-old girl named Pita (Dakota Fanning) who’s living in Mexico City. The two soon develop an adorable bond, but Creasey’s happiness is snatched away when gangsters kidnap Pita for ransom.

That’s when Creasey transforms into the ultimate badass. True, everybody in this movie—from Christopher Walken to Mickey Rourke—is fantastic, but really, this movie is all about Denzel. His character has suffered too much, felt too much pain over the years, and now he’s ready to paint a masterpiece of revenge.

Quite a few critics feel the last half of the movie is too ugly and violent, but this is a movie about fathers and daughters, and what self-respecting dad wouldn’t cut off a dude’s finger if it meant getting justice for his kid? If you haven’t seen Man on Fire, just ignore the rotten reviews. Revenge may be a dish best served cold, but this is a movie best watched right now.

National Treasure (2004)

Hollywood rarely makes straight-up adventure movies these days, so it’s a shame that National Treasure was ripped apart by critics. This Jerry Bruckheimer joint was described as “a fortune wasted,” “a whole lot of hooey,” and “rancid cinematic cheese,” but that’s more than a little bit harsh. Despite a few drawbacks, National Treasure is a lively popcorn flick that’s equal parts Indiana Jones, Ocean’s Eleven, and Hamilton (without the singing, of course).

The film follows Benjamin Franklin Gates (Cage), a historian searching for a fabled lost treasure, and during his globe-trotting quest he learns there’s a treasure map hidden on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Unfortunately, fellow treasure hunter Ian Howe (Sean Bean) decides to steal the Declaration, forcing Ben and his sidekick Riley (Justin Bartha) to break into the National Archives and get their hands on the document. With the Declaration in hand, Ben sets out across the stomping grounds of America’s Founding Fathers, solving riddles and doing his best to avoid a barrage of bullets.

Granted, Nicolas Cage is miscast as the lead, and somebody should’ve realized there were 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence (not 55), but National Treasure really shines when our heroes are puzzling over codes and trying to piece together clues. “Cleverness can be overrated,” wrote Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post, “but it can be underrated too, and the best thing about National Treasure is how clever it is.” There’s invisible ink, hidden ciphers, and glasses invented by Benjamin Franklin, not to mention conspiracies involving the Masons and the Knights Templar. Plus, Sean Bean, Diane Kruger, and Harvey Keitel are all fun to watch as they help and hinder Cage in his quest to find the world’s biggest pile of gold.

Constantine (2005)

When Constantine was released in 2005, it had a devil of a time with moviegoers. It lost money at the domestic box office, and critics did their best to exorcise the film from theaters, describing it as “confusing,” “torturously slow,” and “entirely beyond redemption.” Of course, it’s pretty clear those critics were in league with Lucifer, as Constantine is one hell of a movie.

Granted, it doesn’t have much in common with Hellblazer—the comic it’s super loosely based on—but nevertheless, it’s an amazingly fun film noir about a chain-smoking cynic who deports demons for entirely selfish reasons. As a kid, he attempted suicide, and now he’s damned for all eternity. So his plan is to exorcise his way to heaven, and he finally gets a chance at saving his soul when a cop (Rachel Weisz) asks him to investigate the death of her psychic sister (also Rachel Weisz).

Directed by Francis Lawrence, Constantine plunges our hero into a world that’s just as fantastic as the John Wick universe. Otherworldly beings spend their evenings at a supernatural club, Constantine blasts demons with a crucifix shotgun, and there’s a scrawny scrounger who can get his hands on screaming scarabs or dragon’s breath. In this freaky film, cats can guide you to the underworld, holy water is stored in five-gallon jugs, and angels dress to the nines in killer pinstripe suits.

And honestly, John Constantine is one of Reeves’ best performances. The man is playing a mash-up between Sam Spade and Neo from The Matrix, expertly blending a snarky sense of humor, detached detective cool, and secret side of antihero empathy. Then there’s Tilda Swinton as an incredibly suave Gabriel and Peter Stormare as the sleaziest Satan of all time. With all that awesomeness, it’s baffling the movie did so poorly, but to all the critics who’ve hated this film, Constantine has a little message for you.

Hot Rod (2007)

In this Lonely Island production, comedian Andy Samberg plays Rod Kimble, a wannabe stuntman who can’t even clear the city pool on his moped. But despite his constant failures, Rod refuses to give up on his daredevil dreams. Unfortunately, things get complicated when Rod’s stepdad Frank (Ian McShane) needs money to pay for heart surgery. Rod desperately wants to save Frank’s life—so he can win his respect by finally defeating him in hand-to-hand combat—so he decides to leap over 15 buses and use the money he’ll earn to save his stepdad’s life so he can turn around and beat him to death.

With his dedicated group of friends—nerdy half-brother Kevin (Jorma Taccone), laidback Dave (Bill Hader), and TV-snatching Rico (Danny McBride)—Rod prepares for the stunt of his life, all while trying to impress his pretty neighbor Denise (Isla Fisher). Along the way, there’s an amazing Footloose parody, a peaceful march that descends into anarchy, and perhaps the greatest falling-down-a-hill-scene in cinematic history. We also guarantee that after watching this film, you’ll never hear the phrase “cool beans” the same way again, and you certainly won’t ever challenge a taco to a fight.

But most importantly, the movie works so well because it’s so darn sincere. As Jacob Knight of Birth.Movies.Death. put it, Hot Rod has “a natural balance of absolute absurdity and genuine warmth.” It’s sweet and strangely touching, portraying Rod as a real hero you want to see succeed so he can punch his stepdad through a wall. In other words, despite most critics blasting the film as “low-witted” and “just plain lazy,” Hot Rod will live on in the hearts of fans because it’s just too legit to quit.

Knowing (2009)

There’s no denying that Nicolas Cage has had a checkered career, but faithful fans are rewarded every so often with a legitimately great movie like Joe, Adaptation, Bad Lieutenant…or Knowing.

Yep, we said it. Though almost every film critic wishes this movie would perish in an extinction-level event, Knowing is genuinely thrilling and poses some interesting philosophical questions. When it’s not freaking you out, it’s making you think, and that’s exactly what the best science fiction films do. Granted, we’re not saying it’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, but we are saying that Roger Ebert—really the only major critic who championed the movie—once wrote, “Knowing is among the best science-fiction films I’ve seen—frightening, suspenseful, intelligent and, when it needs to be, rather awesome.”

The plot revolves around a rational professor named John Koestler whose son (Chandler Canterbury) discovers a 50-year-old document covered in numbers. Despite his skepticism, Koestler realizes these numbers are a code predicting the dates and death tolls of major disasters like 9/11. And as he digs deeper into the mystery, he realizes something bad is looming on the horizon, and with the unsettling appearance of some otherworldly strangers, Koestler begins questioning everything he’s ever known about the universe.

With director Alex Proyas at the helm, Knowing is just brimming with dread, the same creeping kind of fear you’d find in a movie like Signs. Plus, as Ebert points out, the film grapples with concepts like free will vs. predestination, a deterministic universe vs. a random universe. You might not like where the movie eventually sides, but it’s a film that takes chances and generates ideas that are well worth exploring after the credits roll.

Clash of Titans (2010)

With a lousy 28 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, most critics thought Clash of the Titans was a mistake of mythological proportions. Even Sam Worthington—the dude who plays the protagonist—said the movie “let down some people.”

But honestly, it seems these critics lost their sense of fun, because Clash of the Titans is a good, old-fashioned B-movie, a throwback to a time when Hollywood made adventure flicks that weren’t exactly Oscar winners but could still charm you with crazy creatures, over-the-top set pieces, and a whole lot of imagination.

The story itself is pretty simple. Mankind is getting sick of the gods bossing them around, so they decide it’s time to rebel. Of course, the gods don’t approve, so they threaten to unleash the monstrous Kraken if the human king doesn’t sacrifice his daughter. Desperate, the king turns to a demigod named Perseus (Worthington), asking him to find a way to kill the beast. And since Perseus has his own grudge with Mt. Olympus, our hero sets out an epic sword-and-sandals adventure, accompanied by Hannibal Lecter and Nux the War Boy.

Along the way, Perseus encounters a murderous Medusa, some oversized scorpions, and a trio of witches who wandered out of a Guillermo del Toro movie. He zips in between towers on a Pegasus, allies with a group of desert-dwelling jinn, and is forced to deal with all-powerful gods like Zeus (Liam Neeson) and Hades (Ralph Fiennes). The Schindler’s List bros are an absolute delight, turning the Shakespeare up to 11. Mix that in with a bunch of monsters and magic, and you can see how Clash of the Titans is the exactly kind of movie that might inspire the next George Lucas to make the next Star Wars.

Super (2010)

Before directing Guardians of the Galaxy, James Gunn put his stamp on the superhero genre with Super, an upbeat version of Taxi Driver where Juno and Dwight Schrute murder drug dealers with pipe bombs and Wolverine claws. Seriously, Deadpool and Logan feel like Sesame Street compared to Gunn’s demented vision. But if you can stomach the gore, then you’ll find yourself nervously chuckling along with one of the best—and nastiest—superhero satires.

The plot follows a schlubby cook named Frank (Rainn Wilson) whose wife (Liv Tyler, playing a recovering addict) has just left him for the world’s sleaziest drug dealer (Kevin Bacon). But after receiving a vision from God—one involving razor blades and hentai tentacles—Frank believes it’s his divine mission to become a superhero, fight crime, and rescue his wife from Kevin Bacon’s clutches. And accompanying him on his quest is Libby (Ellen Page), a comic book nerd who has way too much fun breaking legs and bashing heads.

Disguised as the Crimson Bolt (with his kid sidekick, Boltie), Frank uses a pipe wrench to punish both child molesters and people who cut in line. The violence is shockingly hard to watch, and as a result, Super feels like we’re watching a schizophrenic madman who’s building towards a mass shooting. And it’s that over-the-top bloodshed that angered so many critics. In fact, Roger Ebert hated the violence so much that he spoiled the ending in the first paragraph of his review.

Of course, the violence here is kind of the point. If superheroes existed in real-life, they wouldn’t be the most stable people on the planet, and Wilson does an excellent job of showing Frank’s pain. Page is equally good (and completely hilarious) as a cackling psychopath, and with Gunn behind the camera, Super is a savage and side-splitting response to every comic book movie to ever come out of Hollywood.

RoboCop (2014)

Remaking a classic is always an uphill battle, especially when that classic is a beloved sci-fi masterpiece like RoboCop. But while Jose Padilha’s remake doesn’t stand a chance against Paul Verhoeven’s original, the 2014 version is definitely a film with its own style and its own ideas, taking the premise in some exciting new directions.

The film finds Joel Kinnaman as Alex Murphy, a Detroit cop who’s been mortally wounded by a car bomb. With his corpse mangled beyond recognition, he’s the perfect candidate for an experimental program that turns him into a sleek super cop, able to scan a crowd in a matter of seconds or take out a room full of goons with the lights off. But naturally, there’s more going on with the RoboCop program than meets the eye, and soon enough, Murphy sets out to bring down the big bads, dead or alive.

Admittedly, Gary Oldman is no Miguel Ferrer, Jackie Earle Haley can’t compare to Kurtwood Smith, and the PG-13 rating means no massive squibs. Still, the 2014 film has a lot of thoughts about the 21st-century world, focusing on the widespread use—and danger—of drone warfare. The satirical news sequences from the original have been swapped out with Fox News-style segments featuring an angry Samuel L. Jackson, but perhaps the most interesting update involves RoboCop’s character arc.

In the 1987 film, Murphy starts off as a cold-blooded cyborg who slowly regains his humanity. But Padilha puts a nice twist on the story, with an emotional Murphy becoming more and more machine as the movie goes on, losing his ability to connect with others. The film also grapples with heady concepts like free will, and while it lags in a few places, it features an amazing in-the-dark shoot-out and a truly horrific sequence where Alex Murphy sees what’s left of his body after a near-fatal explosion. And while it will never replace the original, the 2014 RoboCop takes enough bold chances that we’d totally buy it for a dollar.

American Ultra (2015)

Starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart, American Ultra was budgeted for $28 million but only made around $27 million…worldwide. Critics weren’t wild about the film either, and did their very best to execute the stoner spy flick. One harsh review attacked the film as “a glib, juvenile exercise in violence for its own sake,” while another said it was “mostly a waste of good weed and better actors.”

But perhaps the haters were just too baked to fully comprehend what was happening onscreen. Directed by Nima Nourizadeh and written by Max Landis, American Ultra is one of the best relationship movies ever made, or as Amy Nicholson put it, it’s “the most romantic film of the year.”

Plus, a whole lot of people get killed in really cool ways. So that’s an added bonus.

The film follows a slacker named Mike (Eisenberg) who’s wasting his life by working in a convenience store and constantly getting high. But hey, at least the dude is in love. His girlfriend Phoebe (Stewart) totally realizes Mike is a bit of a loser, but she’s crazy about him anyway, despite his downsides. And that’s good news for Mike, because he’s going to need all the support he can get when a team of assassins shows up on his doorstep.

Unbeknownst to an amnesiac Mike, he’s the only remaining member of a secret government project, and now the CIA wants to tie up loose ends. But the bad guys aren’t aware that Mike has recently been activated, and now he’s able to kill anybody with any object he can get his hands on, even though he’s still totally confused about what’s happening.

And sure, it’s a blast watching Mike murder people with spoons and skillets, but the real highlight of the film is the relationship between Stewart and Eisenberg, a romance that Ignatiy Vishnevetsky described as “more credible than most onscreen relationships in recent memory.” So while the Bourne-style battles are loads of fun, the glue that holds this film together is the sweet and sexy chemistry between this cannabis-loving couple.

Lost River (2015)

Lost River was Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut, and critics didn’t like it.

Strike that. They hated it.

According to Entertainment Weekly, when the film played at Cannes, “Boos reportedly drowned out the applause.” And admittedly, Lost River has its problems, but it’s bold, chancy, and ambitious—qualities we all want to see coming out of Hollywood. And if you’re into beautifully surreal images, or if you just want to see an evil version of Doctor Who, then maybe this movie is right up your alley.

Starring Christina Hendricks, Ben Mendelsohn, and Saoirse Ronan, Lost River feels like a fairy tale, one that follows the plight of a small family surviving in a dystopian Detroit. But ultimately, what’s so striking about the movie is the breathtaking imagery Gosling paints with his camera. We watch a flaming bicycle roll past the screen. A bloody Eva Mendes performs a macabre murder show. Matt Smith holds court atop his automobile throne. A boy sails onto a river full of half-submerged street lights.

It’s pretty clear that Gosling has an eye for amazing visuals, and despite the vitriol hurled his way, Lost River is a worthy film for a first-time director, one that shows he might have a successful future if he ever steps behind the camera again.

The Bad Batch (2017)

They don’t make movies like they used to…except for Ana Lily Amirpour. Her second feature film, The Bad Batch feels like George Miller, Sergio Leone, and Alejandro Jodorowsky all met up one blisteringly hot day, dropped a lot of acid, and decided to make the craziest post-apocalyptic western to ever play the midnight movie scene. It’s bloody, brutal, and completely bonkers, the kind movie that’ll make you lose your lunch and fall in love with cinema at the same time.

Set in the near-distant feature, The Bad Batch follows a young woman named Arlen (Suki Waterhouse) who’s been exiled from the US. Condemned to wander the wastelands, the tattooed girl with a fondness for short shorts ends up as the main course for a group of bodybuilding cannibals. But even though she loses a few limbs, Arlen manages to escape her captors, and after a bit of bloodshed, she picks up a little girl played by Jayda Fink.

Unfortunately, the kid’s dad is Miami Man (Jason Momoa), cannibal king and artist extraordinaire who will do anything to find his missing daughter. In true Wild West fashion, Arlen and Miami Man eventually cross paths, and as they circle each other and stare—warily, lustfully, hungrily—they’re forced to butt heads with The Dream (Keanu Reeves in all his mustachioed glory), a cult leader-cum-drug dealer surrounded by an army of Uzi-packing pregnant women.

Yeah, it’s just as incredible as it sounds, and honestly, we have no clue how this flesh-fueled fever dream wound up with a 43 percent rating. The Bad Batch is a stark and disturbing throwback to ’70s exploitation, one that’s interested in ideas like who’s evil, who’s good, and what’s in between. Plus, there’s the eclectic soundtrack, a completely unrecognizable Jim Carrey, and a disgusting dinner scene that would make Leatherface gag, which means The Bad Batch is one of the craziest and coolest sci-fi films of 2017.

The Last Boy Scout (1991)

Directed by Tony Scott, The Last Boy Scout had an infamously troubled production, largely thanks to the enormous number of rewrites that screenwriter Shane Black was forced to make. As a result, we’re left with a movie that’s messy, disjointed, and nowhere near as tight as Lethal Weapon or The Nice Guys. But even though it’s a bit jumbled, The Last Boy Scout is a fascinating slice of action cinema, a movie full of insane little moments involving car bombs, helicopter blades, and foul-mouthed cat puppets.

It starts off with one of the most compelling openings you’ll ever see in an action movie, with a drug-addled football player pulling a pistol in the middle of a game. From there, we’re introduced to our heroes—cynical private investigator Joe Hallenbeck (Bruce Willis) and has-been quarterback Jimmy Dix (Damon Wayans)—as they investigate the brutal murder of Dix’s girlfriend, a stripper played by Halle Berry.

As the duo dig deeper into the case, they uncover a plot involving gambling and the NFL, but what’s really important here is that Shane Black’s dialogue is still clever as ever and the dynamic between Willis and Wayans is crackling with frenemy energy. True, the movie has a bit of a problem when it comes to its female characters, but on the positive side, Taylor Negron shows up as one of the very best Shane Black villains, and we’re treated to a scene in which Bruce Willis murders a dude with the palm of his own hand.

Plus, if you’ve ever wanted to see Willis do a little jig, well, The Last Boy Scout has you covered.

Anaconda (1997)

With a 38 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Anaconda is generally considered pretty awful. For proof, just check out the reviews. Critic Mick LaSalle slammed the film by writing, “Anaconda is about a snake that eats everybody. That about says it all.” Steve Newton of The Georgia Straight also piled on, writing, “Just to show, early on, how much danger [the characters] are in, we get to see the film’s titular star squeeze a black panther so tight that one of its eyeballs pop out.”

And this is a problem how?

Seriously, it’s this kind of stuff that makes Anaconda so amazing. Sure, if you go into the movie expecting something classy, you might walk away disappointed. But if you’re expecting the best B-movie ever, then you’ll have the time of your life. Stephen Holden of The New York Times called it “a trashily entertaining reptilian version of Jaws,” and he’s right—it’s the kind of movie where a guy falling from a waterfall gets snatched out of the air by a snake hanging from a tree branch.

What’s better than that? Well, maybe watching a guy get swallowed alive from inside the anaconda itself. And in addition to the killer creatures, there’s Jon Voight, who’s gone completely crazy as Paul Sarone, a madman who wants to capture a snake and chew up all the scenery in sight. Every one of his lines is an over-the-top gem, and he strangles somebody with his own legs before dousing Jennifer Lopez with a bucket of monkey blood.

And if you’re not convinced yet that Anaconda is a creature feature that’s worth your time, just know that Voight gives perhaps the greatest wink in cinematic history in a scene so epic that Roger Ebert wrote it would “be remembered wherever great movie exits are treasured.”

Shooter (2007)

Antoine Fuqua certainly knows how to film an action scene. For proof, look no further than Shooter, a 2007 conspiracy thriller starring Mark Wahlberg as Marine Gunnery Sgt. Bob Lee Swagger. Years ago, he was left to die while running a covert mission in Africa, and now the disillusioned sniper spends his days in the mountains, hanging out with his (doomed) dog, reading about 9/11, and remembering a fallen comrade.

But when a shady government agent (Danny Glover) frames Swagger for an assassination he didn’t commit, the sergeant grabs a rifle and goes on the run, hoping to teach the bad guys a thing or two about American values. Playing like a souped-up version of Three Days of the Condor, Shooter is a bullet-riddled cornucopia of amazing action scenes. There’s the opening African shootout, and then there’s the wintry standoff atop a snow-covered mountain. There’s a brutal black site showdown involving a terrifying suicide contraption, and of course, there’s the mind-blowing (literally) farmhouse battle featuring liberal use of napalm, pipe bombs, and intense helicopter action.

In addition to the gunfights, we’ve got to give props to the beautiful cinematography by Peter Menzies Jr., and of course, Wahlberg is perfect as Swagger, completely inhabiting the role of a rogue American hero. In fact, the actor even went to boot camp and trained with an actual sniper to prepare for the part. So when you hear Wahlberg talking shop with a wily old gunsmith (Levon Helm) or discussing the importance of elevation, wind speed, and the Coriolis effect when making the perfect shot, it all feels incredibly authentic. It’s also just a lot of fun watching Wahlberg go full MacGyver, improvising everything from his silencers to IVs.

So just ignore that 48 percent on Rotten Tomatoes because, if nothing else, this movie has Michael Pena, and Michael Pena makes everything better.

Cowboy and Aliens (2011)

Directed by Jon Favreau, Cowboys & Aliens has one of the most straightforward movie titles of all time, right up there with Hot Tub Time Machine and Hobo with a Shotgun. What you see is what you get: cowboys fighting aliens (with the help of some Apache warriors). You can imagine watching something like this being made in the 1950s, and Favreau manages to take the wacky premise and turn it into a rollicking good time.

The plot involves an outlaw (Daniel Craig) who wakes up in the wilderness one day with no clue who he is, how he got there, or why there’s a metal bracelet on his arm. But that bracelet comes in handy when UFOs abduct the citizens of a nearby town. As it turns out, this hunk of metal is an otherworldly weapon, giving our outlaw an edge against the alien invaders. And in true western fashion, Craig must saddle up and ride out to rescue the missing townsfolk, accompanied by an enigmatic woman (Olivia Wilde) and a rival rancher (Harrison Ford).

Quite a few critics, however, were upset the movie took its silly plot so seriously. But really, that’s why Cowboys & Aliens works so well. The movie never winks at you. It’s not trying to be ironic. This is a straight-up western where the bad guys just so happen to be from outer space, and because the movie treats the sci-fi sincerely, the film is far more engaging than if we were watching self-aware schlock.

As for the cast, this is a who’s who of character actors, featuring the likes of Sam Rockwell, Clancy Brown, Keith Carradine, and Walton Goggins. We also get to watch as James Bond and Han Solo team up to kill an alien. The creature design is great, the action scenes are intense (especially that first invasion scene), and it’s fun to watch how these 19th-century characters react to the sci-fi elements. The aliens are called “demons,” the spaceships are “flying machines,” and the look on Craig’s face when his bracelet lights up is just perfect.

Plus, Paul Dano plays an incredibly whiny gunfighter, and Craig knees him hard in the crotch. Is it the greatest scene ever? Quite possibly.

Snow White and the Huntsman (2011)

Snow White and the Huntsman has been accused of being too dark, too long, and too boring, but while the film certainly has its flaws, it’s worth watching for the visuals alone. Directed by Rupert Sanders, this dark and gritty fantasy has images on par with something you might see in a movie directed by Tarsem Singh or Guillermo del Toro. There’s the moment when Snow White (Kristen Stewart) is fleeing down a misty beach and stumbles upon a beautiful white stallion, and then there’s the scene when Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) bathes herself in a milky brew, right after munching on a bird’s heart.

Later, Snow White ends up in a forest filled with swarming beetles and writhing snakes, only to make her way into a fairy world full of grassy tortoises and eyeball-covered mushrooms. A white stag bursts into a thousand butterflies, and after turning into a flock of ravens, Ravenna crawls from a pit of black ooze, surrounded by the flitting and fluttering of dying birds. With sequences like these, Snow White and the Huntsman is equal parts dreamland and nightmare fuel, and it doesn’t hurt that Theron throws herself into playing the world’s most evil witch, cranking up the volume and turning on the terror every time she walks on-screen.

While Theron is wonderfully nuts, Stewart (the most underrated actress in Hollywood) anchors the film with a much more realistic and empathetic performance. Even Chris Hemsworth steps up his acting game. Sure, his accent doesn’t really work here, but in between butchering dudes with a great big axe, he cracks an occasional joke and sheds a few tears. And while it would’ve been preferable if they’d used actual little people, the dwarfs are played by some of the very best British character actors—e.g. Bob Hoskins, Nick Frost, and Ian McShane—and they lighten things up every time they appear.

Sure, it doesn’t compare to the Walt Disney classic, but then it’s not really trying to. This is a Snow White movie that’s more about the dark side of fairy tales—the blood, the mud, the horror, and the wonder.

The Majestic (2001)

In between Stephen King adaptations, Frank Darabont decided to make a movie in the style of Frank Capra. The result was The Majestic, a film so sweet and nostalgic that it’s shocking to think the same director would later make The Mist. But while that grisly creature feature is about as pessimistic as movies get, The Majestic believes in old-fashioned ideas like right vs. wrong and freedom of speech. Roger Ebert wrote that the film “unapologetically supports the Constitution and the Bill of Rights,” and while cynical critics felt it was “bloated,” “manipulative,” and “obnoxious in the extreme,” it’s actually a big-hearted throwback to movies like It’s a Wonderful Life and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

The story follows Jim Carrey as Peter Appleton, a blacklisted screenwriter who get amnesia and winds up in a sleepy little town where he’s mistaken for a long-lost World War II vet. And since he can’t remember who he is or where he came from, Peter accepts the story and bonds with his new dad (Martin Landau) and a wary love interest (Laurie Holden). Eventually, Peter’s memories come flooding back, threatening his new existence, and things get even more complicated when he’s called upon to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. But in true Jimmy Stewart fashion, Peter rises to the occasion and delivers a rousing speech in defense of the right to say and believe whatever you want. 

Carrey is on the top of his game here, delivering a dramatic performance that’s right up there with his roles in The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, backed by a supporting cast that includes Jeffrey DeMunn, Bruce Campbell, and Bob Balaban. The Majestic is an inspiring little film, the kind we hardly see anymore. It’s a movie that’s about patriotism, defending civil rights, and sticking up for the little man. And in these contentious times, that’s an incredibly relevant message.

Vanilla Sky (2001)

The world of Vanilla Sky is a world of Monet sunsets and Bob Dylan streets, but that doesn’t mean you’d want to live there. Why not? Well, it’s also a world of crazy stalkers, creepy face masks, and a dreadful feeling that something awful is waiting in the dark. Based on the 1998 Spanish film Open Your Eyes, Cameron Crowe’s fifth feature marks the spot where many believe he started losing his touch. For years, he’d impressed audiences with movies like Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous, but after Vanilla Sky took a drubbing from critics, Crowe started making films like Aloha and We Bought a Zoo.

But while it’s true that Crowe’s recent output can’t compare to his earlier work, it’s unfair to blame Vanilla Sky. Despite its reputation, this Tom Cruise film is a massive mindbender with more layers than Inception and more twists than Memento. And Cruise is really earning his paycheck here as David Ames, an ultra-rich playboy who has his life ripped apart and then starts losing his mind…maybe. The superstar really sells David’s growing fear and paranoia, and his relationships with Penelope Cruz and Cameron Diaz are masterfully done, highlighting two very different sides of the same man.

The movie is also filled with some pretty horrific images and genuinely disturbing moments, from bizarre bedroom bodyswaps to grotesque shots of Cruise’s face (just watch the movie; you’ll understand later). There’s also a fantastic soundtrack that critic Stephen Holden called “a rich musical stew that recalls the Beatles’ White Album.” Really, the music is amazing, and the film features one of the most disturbing uses of a Beach Boys song you’ll ever hear. Then there’s Kurt Russell, Tilda Swinton, and Noah Taylor shining in supporting performances. Plus, when you’re watching that unsettling opening scene, remember that what you’re seeing is real: Crowe actually shut down Times Square for this sequence, and you’ve got to give the director credit for having the guts to tick off a bunch of busy New Yorkers.

Reign of Fire (2002)

Ever wonder what would happen if Batman were to square off against Smaug? Well, are you in luck. Released in 2002, Reign of Fire finds Christian Bale teaming up with Matthew McConaughey and Gerard Butler to fight a legion of winged lizards. Doesn’t that sound like the most incredible fantasy premise to ever grace the big screen? Most critics didn’t see it that way, as the movie has a 40 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The bad reviews are baffling. Directed by Rob Bowman, Reign of Fire immerses viewers in a post-apocalyptic world of modern-day knights and fire-breathing dragons. A small ragtag band of survivors—led by Bale—have set up shop in a moody Northumberland castle, filled with wax candles and steampunk pipes. Forced to live in a world of fire, the survivors have created flame retardant suits and armored water trucks to extinguish beastly blazes. And when it comes to technology, it’s a clever mix of the Middle Ages and World War II, complete with falconers and field telephones.

Then there’s bald Matthew McConaughey as a cigar-chomping dragon-slayer, a tatted-up commando with his own private army. Straight from the U.S., these super troops hunt down monsters with giant harpoon guns, motorcycles, and 3-D mapping systems. And let’s not forget the suicide parachutists with 17-second life-spans who snare dragons with badass net guns. But while the scenery is shrouded in smoke and the world is covered in ash, the movie has a quirky sense of humor that offsets all the grit and grime. And true, the CG dragons occasionally look dated (occasionally—they often look incredible), but when the alpha male shows up in the end, stalking the streets of London, we’re willing to overlook any 2002 effects because we’re so invested in this story of man vs. beast.

The Book of Eli (2010)

The Book of Eli starts off with Denzel Washington shooting and eating a feral housecat. Yeah, that’s right: a housecat. It’s a shocking opening to a film that plays like Mad Max meets A Fistful of Dollars meets the Gospel of John, and things only get crazier from here. Set in the post-apocalypse, The Book of Eli takes place in a world where moist towelettes are used as currency, people pay to charge their iPods, and the local saloons make their money selling water. It’s a dusty and depressing world where those who can read hold all the power, and faith is more powerful than a loaded gun.

Directed by the Hughes brothers and written by Gary Whitta, this sci-fi western follows Washington as Eli, a holy warrior wandering across what’s left of the United States. Accompanied by a machete and Mila Kunis, Eli is carrying the last remaining copy of the King James Bible, and he hopes to get the holy book to a safe place on the coast. Unfortunately, a small-town dictator (played by the inimitable Gary Oldman) wants the book for himself, knowing it can help him establish his evil empire. Only Eli isn’t giving up the Good Book so easily, and instead of turning the other cheek, he’s prepared to take eye for an eye to make sure the relic makes it safely across America.

In addition to some masterful action scenes—like the insane gunfight where a house is shot to pieces, or the scene when Denzel fights a gang in the shadow of a bridge—The Book of Eli is a powerful commentary on the power of religion. The movie admits that religion can be used for both good and evil, and it all depends on who’s holding the Bible; it’s a story that’s also all about the power of the written word, and how books can shape entire civilizations. Also, it’s kind of awesome to hear Denzel recite Scripture before beating a bunch of dudes to death.

Hereafter (2010)

Clint Eastwood has a strange track record when it comes to directing. On one hand, he’s made amazing movies like Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. On the other, he’s made, uh, less-than-stellar films such as J. Edgar and Jersey Boys. However, despite what critics say, the director’s 2010 film, Hereafter, sits solidly in the middle. It doesn’t reach the heights of The Outlaw Josey Wales, but it’s far superior to something like Space Cowboys.

Actually, Hereafter is an incredibly thoughtful film, a beautiful exploration of spirituality that you might not expect from the Man with No Name. Described by critic Ty Burr as “The Sixth Sense for grown-ups or Crash for the credulous,” the film follows three separate storylines about desperate people searching for answers. There’s the French journalist (Cecile de France) obsessed with the afterlife after a near-death experience. There’s a young English boy (Frankie and George McLaren) trying to contact his dead twin. And then there’s an American psychic (Matt Damon) who’s gone into hiding because he can’t stand the pain associated with his powers.

Eventually, the three characters cross paths in their quest to discover what happens after shuffling off this mortal coil, and while Hereafter doesn’t necessarily have the answers, at least it’s willing to consider the question. In addition to its heavy themes, the movie features several incredible sequences involving tsunamis and psychic readings, moments that are totally devastating for completely different reasons. Hereafter might’ve been savaged when it hit theaters for being too sentimental, but we’re certain this film will manage to find cinematic life after its critical death.

The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)

When The Ghost and the Darkness roared into theaters, critics weren’t exactly crazy about the R-rated safari adventure. Roger Ebert actually gave the movie less than one star, saying it “makes the Tarzan movies look subtle and realistic.” But hey, if you want realistic, go watch Out of Africa. If you want a bloodsoaked thriller in which Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas tag team a couple of man-eating lions, it’s time to hunt down this 1996 action flick.

Based on an incredible true story, The Ghost and the Darkness finds Kilmer playing Col. John Henry Patterson, a soldier brought into the African brush when two hungry cats start turning railroad employees into fast food. But there’s something strange about these felines—it’s almost like they’re evil spirits in animal form, and if you’re going to fight demons, then you just might need to team up with the devil himself, a.k.a. big game hunter Charles Remington (Douglas).

With a screenplay by the legendary William Goldman, the movie is filled with some heart-pounding set pieces, including a brutal hospital massacre and the world’s creepiest cave. The film plays out like the African version of Jaws, and while Spielberg’s film is an absolute masterpiece, The Ghost and the Darkness has enough thrills and chills to keep you glued to the screen…or constantly checking over your shoulder to make sure your house cat doesn’t get any ideas.

What Dreams May Come (1998)

Based on the novel by Richard Matheson, What Dreams May Come stars Robin Williams in a movie about grief and suicide. Granted, watching it could be especially painful in light of the actor’s death in 2014. But instead of detracting from the film, Williams’ story adds a whole new layer to this hopeful tale about what might happen after we die.

Drawing its name from the greatest monologue of all time, What Dreams May Come follows the spiritual journey of two soulmates, Chris (Williams) and his wife Annie (Annabella Sciorra). Life has not been kind to these two lovers: both of their children were killed in a car accident, and just four years later, Chris himself is shuffled off this mortal coil. Instead of vanishing into the void, he reemerges in a world of paint and dreams where he learns to accept his new existence. But when he learns Annie has killed herself and is lost in hell, Chris sets out to rescue her and bring her back to paradise.

Sadly, the film received mixed reviews from critics who skewered the movie for its “insubstantial plot.” But while it doesn’t have the most complex story in the world, it has to be one of the most beautiful movies ever made. From its flowery heaven to its medieval underworld, we’re given one magnificent living painting after another. Plus, Robin Williams will absolutely wreck you with one of the best dramatic performances of his career—in an otherworldly movie that may leave you feeling a little less fearful about what might be waiting for us all.

The Last Castle (2001)

Directed by Rod Lurie, The Last Castle is basically The Shawshank Redemption, only instead of digging a tunnel, Andy Dufresne decides to lead a prison riot, and instead of Tim Robbins in the lead, we’ve got Hollywood legend Robert Redford, who’d last played a character behind bars over 20 years before in Brubaker. This time around, Redford is playing Lt. Gen. Eugene Irwin, a decorated soldier who winds up in a military prison known as the Castle. This place is a modern-day fortress (it’s strong enough to hold the Hulk), and unfortunately, it’s led by a sadistic warden (James Gandolfini) who doesn’t mind murdering inmates to keep things under control.

Naturally, this doesn’t sit well with Irwin—a survivor of the Hanoi Hilton—and he begins instilling the convicts with a sense of pride, whipping them back into shape and reminding them they’re soldiers. Soon, he’s created his own army, and he plans on restoring some order to the Castle through any means necessary. Redford and Gandolfini are excellent here as an unstoppable force and an immovable object. They’re two chess masters, each trying to outsmart the other in a game where pride, honor, and hope (not to mention human lives) are on the line.

The Mothman Prophecies (2002)

When The Mothman Prophecies fluttered its way into theaters, quite a few critics tried their best to swat it down. But do you know who really liked this Richard Gere horror flick? The master of monsters himself, Guillermo del Toro. The guy behind modern-day classics like Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water, del Toro described himself as “a big fan” of the film. And sure, as the critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes points out, the film “poses more questions than it answers,” but that doesn’t mean it won’t make you nervous to step outside once the sun goes down.

Based on rather questionable book by John Keel, the film follows Gere as a Washington Post reporter who discovers some creepy things happening in a West Virginia town. People are having disturbing dreams of impending doom, while others are receiving mysterious phone calls from supernatural beings. Plus, there’s a winged creature with red eyes flying around. It all combines to create—as pointed out by film critic Owen Gleiberman—”a mood of hushed apocalyptic creepiness that earns comparisons to Don’t Look Now.” And if you’ve seen that terrifying Donald Sutherland classic, you know it’s quite a compliment.

Oceans Twelve (2004)

Three years after Ocean’s Eleven, director Steven Soderbergh returned to the world of con men and crooks with Ocean’s Twelve. But evidently, critics weren’t quite ready for a sequel. While the original sits with an 82 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, part two only has a measly 55, making it the worst-reviewed entry of the original franchise. And really, we’re baffled by all the hate, as the sequel is a slick romp full of clever heists, witty banter, and one of the best cinematic meta-jokes ever conceived.

In the second installment, we discover that Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and his merry band are in big trouble. After spending all their ill-gotten gains from the first film, they suddenly find themselves in serious debt when fleeced casino owner Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) shows up at their doorsteps. Desperate for cash, the crew heads off to Europe, where they encounter a vengeful master thief (Vincent Cassel) and a savvy Europol detective (Catherine Zeta-Jones) who’s got a lot of history with Brad Pitt’s perpetually hungry Rusty Ryan.

Just like the first film, the chemistry between the crooks is absolutely hilarious, and the long-running jokes (Matt Damon worrying about his parents, Shaobo Qin’s easily understood Mandarin, the ridiculous names for each con job) are still going strong. We’ve got a cat burglar dancing his way through a room full of lasers, and the gang goes so far as to lift an entire house so they can crack a safe. And on top of all the criminally fun activity, the stormy and sexy relationship between Pitt and Zeta-Jones is the heart of the film. Granted, the big reveal at the end falls flat, but the movie is so entertaining that it’s easy to overlook the weak climax.

The Fountain (2006)

With movies like mother! in his filmography, Darren Aronofsky is no stranger to controversy. But while he’s sparked debate with movies about religious figures and drug addicts, none of his films have ever taken a critical beating like The Fountain. The worst reviewed movie of his career, this psychedelic fantasy has a 52% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and bombed hard at the box office. It just goes to show that fortune doesn’t always favor the bold, because Aronofsky’s movie is nothing if not big, daring, and ambitious.

The Fountain feels like 2001: A Space Odyssey smashed together with The Seventh Seal, and it tries its best to hold its own against those classics. The movie is divided in three parts, with each segment focusing on an adventurer (played by Hugh Jackman) who’s desperately trying to save the woman of his dreams (played by Rachel Weisz). One storyline takes place in the 16th century, one involves a modern-day cancer researcher, and one is set in space, with a Buddha-like Jackman traveling through the cosmos in a giant bubble.

As Jackman battles Mayan warriors and Weisz battles cancer, The Fountain revolves around mankind’s never-ending quest to defeat death and live just a little bit longer. The performances are heartbreaking, the visuals are dreamlike, and as film critic Ty Burr put it, the whole thing is “a throwback to the visionary personal filmmaking of the 1960s and early ’70s.” So if you’re looking for a movie about conquistadors, starstruck lovers, floating space monks, and the search of eternal life, visit Aronofsky’s Fountain.

Eagle vs Shark (2007)

Years before finding blockbuster success with Thor: Ragnarok, Taika Waititi broke onto the scene with Eagle vs. Shark, a 2007 film that feels like Jared Hess directed an episode of Flight of the Conchords. But while it drew quite a few comparisons to Napoleon Dynamite—all of them negative—this New Zealand comedy has a lot more heart than its American counterpart.  

Eagle vs. Shark follows Lily, a lonely fast food worker (Loren Horsley) who’s smitten with a candle-making nerd named Jarrod (Jemaine Clement). After bonding over their shared love of predatory animals and video games, the two head off to Jarrod’s hometown, where he plans on getting revenge on a childhood bully.

But in true Waititi fashion, what starts off as a quirky comedy involving shark outfits and martial arts becomes a surprisingly moving story about grief, loneliness, and the need to belong. While it’s Waititi’s weakest film (after all, this is the guy who made Hunt for the Wilderpeople and What We Do in the Shadows), Clement and Horsley bring a lot of humanity to their quirky characters, creating a perfect oddball couple who struggle to find romance, shuck off the past, and find the perfect animal costume.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

Directed by Ben Stiller, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is Hollywood’s second crack at James Thurber’s short story, and it’s by far the most scenic. Eschewing your typical exotic locales, Stiller’s film is set in some of the most beautifully spartan places in the world, including Iceland, Greenland, and Afghanistan. The film takes its viewers across the icy Atlantic, up the snowy Himalayas, and through vast stretches of wide open European nothingness. And as our hero—the imaginative Walter Mitty (Stiller again)—marvels at all the new sights and sounds, we can’t help but get caught up in his wanderlust.

So what’s Walter doing traveling the world? Well, when the movie opens, he’s working as a negative assets manager at Life magazine, and when he’s not pining away for his coworker (Kristen Wiig), he’s dreaming up all sorts of imaginary ways to make his life more exciting. But while he’s good at fantasizing crazy scenarios, Walter isn’t the kind of guy who’s ever going to leave his boring office job. Not until he loses a valuable negative, anyway—one that captures the “quintessence of life.” Desperate to find the photo, he travels across the world searching for the photographer (Sean Penn), and as a result, we get a film that’s simple and sincere and far more than just travel porn. It’s a movie with a message, one that wants us to see the world, draw closer, find each other, and feel. After all, that’s the purpose of life.

The Accountant (2016)

Combine Rain Man with The Bourne Identity, and you get The Accountant, a mathematical and murderous thriller that’s admittedly messy but still a lot of fun. Directed by Gavin O’Connor (Miracle, Warrior), it follows an autistic accountant named Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) who uses his savant skills to help big-time criminals like arms dealers and drug cartels. He’s also pretty handy when it comes to beating up bad guys and blasting fools from incredible distances.

But just because he’s working for the “scariest people on the planet,” that doesn’t mean Wolff is entirely evil. He’s the kind of guy who’ll help a down-on-their-luck couple outsmart the IRS, or protect a new friend (Anna Kendrick) when hitmen show up at her door, even as treasury agents try to track him down. He’s also a dude with serious daddy issues, as his old man (Robert C. Treveiler) was an effective parent but never won the “Father of the Year” award.

Granted, the plot wanders a bit, and involves everything from a robotics company and family drama to revenge against the Mafia, but despite the script’s meanderings—J.K. Simmons’ character is pretty much pointless—The Accountant is an exciting, badass flick, one largely powered by Affleck’s understated performance as a man who can multiply any numbers you give him…and then murder you with his own belt. Plus, the movie has Jon Bernthal playing a snarky assassin, and you can’t really ask for much more.

Triple 9 (2016)

All due respect to director John Hillcoat—the filmmaker behind The Proposition, The Road, and Lawless—but when you watch Triple 9, you’re watching it for the cast. Everybody in Hollywood is in the movie. And we mean everyone, from Oscar-winners like Kate Winslet and Casey Affleck to blockbuster stars like Gal Gadot and Anthony Mackie. There’s the legendary Woody Harrelson, “that guy” character actor Clifton Collins Jr., and TV stars like Aaron Paul, Norman Reedus, and Michael K. Williams.

Leading this incredible roster is Chiwetel Ejiofor, playing Chris Allen, a criminal mastermind up against the Russian mob. After carrying out a bank heist for a backstabbing Mafia boss (Winslet, like you’ve never seen her before), Chris and his gang are forced to pull off one last job in a nearly impregnable building. Knowing their lives are on the line—the place is crawling with guards, plus the Russians want results—Chris and his thugs decide to go for a “Triple 9,” which means killing a police officer to draw attention away from their upcoming robbery.

Of course, this causes a bit of tension in Chris’ crew, especially since two of his lackeys are crooked cops. As D-Day gets nearer, the airtight plan starts falling apart, and needless to say, a lot of people end up violently murdered. While it never reaches the levels of heist classics like Heat, Triple 9 still grabs hold and never lets go, largely thanks to its insanely talented cast.

J.A. Bayona played a bittersweet version of John Williams’ ‘Jurassic Park’ melody to get his actors to emote during the sad moment.
[This story contains spoilers for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom]

There’s a moment in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom that may go down as one of the franchise’s most enduring images.

Owen (Chris Pratt), Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Franklin (Justice Smith) have escaped Isla Nublar on the last boat off the island before it’s destroyed by a volcano. The last thing they glimpse is a distressed Brachiosaurus on the dock, obscured by smoke and helpless to do anything as it awaits its death. It’s particularly poignant piece of symmetry, as a Brachiosaurus was the first dinosaur unveiled to audiences in 1993’s Jurassic Park. And this death is clearly affecting audiences today (just search “Brachiosaurus” on Twitter).

“That scene represents the ending of a dream that started 25 years ago,” director J.A. Bayona tells Heat Vision. “You are telling the ending of that island and the ending of that dream.”

Bayona ramped up the nostalgia on set to get his actors into the right emotional space, which is important when you are acting opposite a dot on a green screen.

“I played a very sweet and a little sad version of the Jurassic Park melody. So that was very effective for the actors, especially for Bryce,” says Bayona. “Being there, telling that story, listening to music from John Williams, they were all very emotional.”

The sad Brachiosaurus death follows an action-packed escape from the island as the lead characters flee a dinosaur stampede and end up in the water, with Claire and Franklin trapped inside a ball ride vehicle. Bayona placed a cameraman inside the vehicle with the actors and shot the scene as a single take to “help us create that sense of anguish and emotion and claustrophobia,” he notes.

But he says that even in the controlled environment of a movie set, he worried for his actors.

“They were inside the crystal ball that was sinking, trying to escape, and they were running out of air and it felt very dangerous from the outside,” says Bayona. “As a director, you try all the time to get that level of realism and try to capture the right emotion in the most expressive way.”

Fallen Kingdom is full of surprising empathy for its dinosaurs, with Blue, the ultra-smart Velociraptor introduced in 2015’s Jurassic World, taking on a larger role.

“People really connected with the idea of a human and a raptor connecting with each other, like most people do with their pets,” says Colin Trevorrow, who directed the first Jurassic World and co-wrote Fallen Kingdom with Derek Connolly.

Adds Pratt: “The dinosaurs [are] real characters. It’s great when you get to see their personalities on full display.”

Trevorrow is returning to direct Jurassic Park 3 and has said Fallen Kingdom “is about responsibility,” while the third installment “is about redemption.” In other words, now that people like Owen and Claire have learned they need to take responsibility for their roles in making Earth a Jurassic World, how will they redeem themselves? It’s easy to imagine Jurassic World 3 taking a page out of Matt Reeves’ recent Planet of the Apes films, which saw Andy Serkis’ Caesar and other ape characters become as relatable as the human ones. But the team isn’t getting specific on the plot.

Bayona worked to make sure Fallen Kingdom would get to where Trevorrow needed, but there were not many mandates.

“From time to time, he came to me and asked me to include a line or make a reference to some scenes in the movie, thinking about the third episode. But we never had a conversation in depth about it,” says Bayona.

Fallen Kingdom also introduces an unexpected element into the Jurassic Park mythos – the notion of a cloned human in the form of Maisie (Isabella Sermon), a clone of Benjamin Lockwood’s (James Cromwell) deceased daughter. For the filmmakers, Maisie gives the audience another way to understand the responsibilities of bringing life into the world through science. In the end, it is Maisie who decides to allow the dinosaurs to live, pressing a button to allow their escape from the fire happening inside her estate.

“You are bringing Maisie closer to the concepts the movie is talking about. It’s very interesting, this idea of creating empathy,” says Bayona. “We are talking about accepting what we don’t understand. You think we are talking about dinosaurs and there’s a moment that you find yourself connected to it … It’s a major step further in what Michael Crichton did in the past. Hopefully he would be very proud of it. ”

Fallen Kingdom ends with a shot of Blue, looking over a northern California neighborhood.

“We leave the island behind and then we set up a universe that we’ve never seen before. You have this cliffhanger at the end,” says Bayona. “I think Colin has a lot of possibilities in front of him right now.”

—Byron Burton contributed reporting

Patrick Shanley breaks down ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ and gives insight on what adventures may be in store for the next film.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/video/jurassic-world-franchise-predictions-spoilers-watch-1122008

The new Coral Crafters campaign will install six user-crafted BioRock structures to promote coral growth off the coast of Cozumel, Mexico.
With Minecraft’s recent Update Aquatic populating the game’s oceans with kelp, sealife and colorful coral reefs, developer Mojang has now turned its attention to the real-life seas threatened by climate change, pollution and endangered natural reefs.

With the Minecraft Coral Crafters campaign, Mojang, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, is turning in-game designs from content creators into real-world underwater sculptures made from BioRock, an innovative technology that promotes coral growth up to five times faster than normal. The effort is led by Professor Wolf Hilbertz and Dr. Tom Goreau of the Global Coral Reef Alliance.

“Coral Crafters is a celebration of the Update Aquatic,” Emily Orrson, product marketing manager at Minecraft tells Heat Vision. “As we put coral into our oceans in-game it seemed natural to put them into the oceans in real life. Already, our players are innovating and creating in Minecraft to build a better world — and we are following their lead with Coral Crafters”

The initiative will see six BioRock structures installed off the coast of Cozumel, Mexico, where coral reefs have suffered from coral bleaching and been battered by hurricanes. Three designs feature familiar characters from the franchise, while the remaining three were designed by the Minecraft community.

Starting on World Oceans Day on June 8, Minecraft challenged players to build coral reefs in-game and within two days, 10 million coral blocks were placed underwater in-game, triggering a donation from Minecraft to support The Nature Conservancy’s efforts to restore and protect coral in the Caribbean. In addition, net proceeds from the game’s Coral Crafters skin pack go to support The Nature Conservancy’s reef restoration efforts.

“This contribution will allow us to outplant 15,000 coral individuals on reefs that we are working to restore in the Caribbean,” says Stephanie Wear, senior scientist and strategy advisor for The Nature Conservancy. “We expect these outplantings to happen in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Bahamas, Dominican Republic and possibly Mexico.”

Snorkelers in Cozumel will be able to view the newly installed features as they traverse the picturesque waters off the coast of the island.

“This is the best part about this project — attracting attention to this important ocean habitat — an opportunity to have fun and learn all at once,” says Wear.

“We believe the creativity and innovation in the Minecraft community is building a better world for everyone,” Orrson says. “Coral Crafters is a way for us to support that creativity and innovation and bring it to real life.”

Not only does the initiative work to help real-world aquatic ecosystems, but it also inspires children to advocate for natural conservation in our world’s oceans. “It is a great opportunity to connect people — especially young people — to marine life in the ocean that they may never have the opportunity to experience,” says Wear. “It can inspire curiosity about these critically important ocean habits and the hope is they will want to learn more and get involved to help in even bigger ways.”

Minecraft’s World Ocean Day efforts to help restore coral reefs have seen enthusiastic success. Along with a $100,000 donation to The Nature Conservatory, Mojang partnered with creators and community to help rebuild coral reefs in Mexico in its iconic, blocky style.

The efforts began with the Minecraft Update Aquatic, which brings a variety of sea life to Minecraft’s previously rather barren oceans. As a part of that update, Mojang challenged players to place ten million coral blocks underwater — a goal that was accomplished in only a few days. To celebrate, the studio made its donation to The Nature Conservatory, a non-profit working to save and rebuild coral reefs around the world. In addition, net proceeds from the new Coral Crafters Skin Pack also go to the organization.

“With the Update Aquatic, we’re filling Minecraft’s oceans to the brim with kelp forest, shipwrecks, deep sea trenches, fish, turtles, dolphins and colourful coral reefs,” reads an official blog post of the announcement. “In the real world, however, it’s the opposite: climate change, destructive fishing methods and pollution of the water are killing off our planet’s amazing marine life. Coral reefs, one of the Earth’s most precious natural wonders, are under threat.

“Coral reefs are home to some two million species – roughly a quarter of all marine life. We’re only just unlocking the secrets of these amazing organisms, and yet the World Wildlife Fund estimates that nearly a third of coral reefs worldwide are already damaged beyond repair. If trends continue, we will soon lose 60% of the world’s coral in the next few decades.”

In addition, Mojang partnered with three popular Minecraft YouTubers — Rabahrex, Logdotzip, and Stacyplays — to design real-life structures that would help rebuild faltering reefs. The three worked with the community to design “biorock” structures in Minecraft that were then recreated in the real world and transported to the reef in Cozumel, Mexico, where they will be used by The Nature Conservatory to regrow coral and restore the reef.

Both Logdotzip and Stacyplays took design ideas from online communities. Rabahrex worked with students at the American Institute in Monterrey, Mexico and held a class competition to design the biorock installation. The winning design was an axolotl, which was placed with the other two designs and installations of Minecraft icons Alex and Steve off the coast of Cozumel.

A lot of players have been, ahem, diving into the latest add-on for Minecraft with the new Update Aquatic, exploring the deeper waters and taking advantage of cool items. But did you know this update is also helping out oceans in the real world? Now that’s deep.

Mojang posted a new update explaining how Update Aquatic is lending a hand with oceans, in an effort to fight back against “climate change, destructive fishing methods and pollution of the water” which are “killing off our planet’s amazing marine life.”

Earlier in the month, the developer threw down a challenge for players to place ten million coral blocks underwater and promised to donate $100,000 to the Nature Conservancy if it was met. The team noted that “just a few days later,” players smashed “that coral-placing target.” As a result, Mojang kept its word and made the donation.

The video above breaks down how the developer is lending a hand and even though you missed the challenge, you can still lend a hand. The team has explained that you can purchase the Aquatic Skin pack for Minecraft here with proceeds going to the Nature Conservancy.

Mojang intends to support the project over the next few years with more awareness and potential donations to assist further with what’s happening with the world’s oceans so be sure to keep an eye on this page for more information.

The U[date Aquatic arrived earlier this season, bringing a number of new additions to the game sucha s trap doors, pressure plates and buttons, along with coral block and a variety of underwater life as well as cool items like turtle shells, tridents and phantom membranes. It’s been a big hit across the board, keeping Minecraft’s millions of players coming back for more. You could say there’s an…ocean’s worth of fans? (Okay, that’s one pun too far.)

You can check out the Update Aquatic now across all versions of Minecraft. The game is available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC, as well as mobile and older platforms.

Don’t forget that you can engage in online play across Xbox One, PC and Nintendo Switch platforms!

This sweeping timelapse video shows the construction—out of thin air—of Novigrad, the great city of The Witcher 3 (and Witcher lore in general, I guess).

Built by Elysium Fire, this video not only looks amazing as the city emerges out of the countryside, but also gives you a very good look at just how many bricks (and how much planning) went into it.

Note that it’s not a recreation of the city as it appears in the game; it’s a “tribute” that hits the main landmarks, like the city’s walls, Great Temple and elevated walkways, while going into greater detail than the game could afford to in areas like housing and the surrounding countryside.

If you play Minecraft and want to take a look yourself, you can download the map https://www.planetminecraft.com/project/novigrad-timelapse-download/

Minecraft: Story Mode is coming to Netlfix later this year.

That’s according to an exclusive report from Tech Radar.

That’s not a new TV show, it’s a video game developed by TellTale, the studio behind the popular Walking Dead games.

Of course, whether TellTale makes games or “interactive stories” is up for debate, and Netflix is insisting that the company doesn’t consider this a video game.

“We don’t have any plans to get into gaming,” a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement. ”There’s a broad spectrum of entertainment available today. Games have become increasingly cinematic, but we view this as interactive narrative storytelling on our service. ”

You say tomato, I say tom-ah-to. Whether Minecraft: Story Mode is a game or an interactive story hardly matters. Games are, in essence, interactive stories of one kind or another. And while TellTale’s “choose-your-own-adventure” games may be less gamey than Call of Duty or Super Mario Bros. they’re still games as far as I’m concerned. Call them whatever you like.

Credit: TellTale Games
Minecraft: Story Mode

It doesn’t sound like Netflix is interested in adding gamier games to the streaming service, which is probably for the best (at least for now.) But this could pave the road for lots more interactive stories, whether those are walking simulators like What Remains Of Edith Finch or other TellTale series like The Wolf Among Us. And that’s great. One of the great things about games (even interactive story games) as opposed to TV shows and movies is that they invite us to participate. We aren’t just passively consuming our entertainment, we’re engaging with it.

In any case, Netflix has already expanded into the ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ category with offerings like Puss in Book: Trapped in an Epic Tale. I’d love to see them take that effort further and develop full-fledged interactive stories for grown-ups. I’d love some of the old fantasy choose-your-own-adventure books to come to life on Netflix.

In related news, TellTale is reportedly developing a Stranger Things game. Or, well, an “interactive story” version of Stranger Things.

That could be neat, though I think the studio needs to evolve the way it makes games. Other offerings, like Dontnod’s Life Is Strange, have pushed the envelope and TellTale needs to rise to the occasion.

Minecraft has been big business for Mojang and Microsoft, but they’re not the only ones making money off a game that’s almost ten years old. There are others who have grown up with the game, learned its strengths and weaknesses and now found opportunities to make a living doing what they love.

20 year-old Florian Funke is one of those people. He’s the Managing Director of Spark Squared, an outfit that describe themselves as a “Minecraft production company”, and who offer their services—for a fee, of course—to anyone who wants them to build, develop, mod or render anything within the game.

Build worlds, basically.

“‘Building’ means that we create different landscapes, buildings, recreations and more”, Funke tells Kotaku. “We design gaming environments for Minecraft players, educational environments for students or work on recreations for our enjoyment.”

“During ‘Development’ we code custom tools and plugins for Minecraft servers, YouTube series and other. Additionally, we create Minecraft ‘Mechanics’ and ‘Mods’ for minigames and adventure maps, including ‘3D Models’ of monsters, machines and more. And lastly, we render images of all the work in 3D rendering software.”

Spark’s client list is pretty varied. “We work with a lot of the most popular Java and mobile edition Minecraft servers and create various gaming and lobby environments for them”, Funke says. “We have also worked with the mobile live-streaming service Mobcrush on creating products for Minecraft’s official Marketplace.”

“Furthermore, we are working on expanding more into the educational space and have already worked with ‘English Highways,’ an official UK government company that is in charge of building and maintaining highways. We created a world with the goal to get young children more interested in engineering and trying to fill that skills gap.”

While on paper that might sound like basic mod work of an existing game, something that can be handled by a couple of people in their spare time, in reality it’s relatively big business. Since its creation five years ago, Spark has grown from a couple of teenage schoolboys dabbling in a hobby into a company that now employs a range of staff full-time, from management to developers to artists, as well as calling upon a roster of around 40 freelancers.

NM Corporation, a map based on the work of Paul Chadeisson
I came across Spark’s work the other day when an artist I’m a big fan of, Paul Chadeisson, tweeted out some images showing how Spark (as a fun personal piece) had turned one of his works into a massive 3D space in Minecraft.

You can see that creation above (Funke rates is as one of the company’s favourite efforts), but I’ve also included other examples of their work as well, ranging from sci-fi worlds to medieval kingdoms to ancient Rome.

You can see more of Spark Squared’s projects at their company site.

Since 1979’s The Castle of Cagliostro, Hayao Miyazaki has delighted audiences around the world with his imaginative vision and ability to create fully realized fictional worlds. And even among Miyazaki’s pantheon, few settings can rival Spirited Away‘s bathhouse. A microcosm of capitalist inequality, the bathhouse manages to engage not just the imagination, but the rational mind. It’s a perfect match, then, for one of the world’s foremost crossovers of creativity and rationality, Minecraft. Thanks to Youtuber Alan Becker, you can experience the bathhouse and its surrounding areas in a completely new medium.

Alan Becker went above and beyond with this project, which he’s been working on for years. Not only is this the most realistic looking Minecraft server I’ve ever seen, but Becker put just as much detail into areas that might never be seen as he did into the main attractions. In the video, Becker explains that he went on dozens of Japanese house tours to mimic the Japanese style inside each home surrounding the bathhouse.

Like these houses, dozens of areas that appear only for a split second in the background of the film are completely finished and furnished. Becker even uses reflections in Chihiro’s parents’ car windows to make an educated guess as to what an area would look like.

In the video, Becker takes us through the movie scene by scene, pointing out the locations of nearly everything onscreen. No Face may have eaten up most of the bathhouse, but Becker took note of everything.

Sony refuses to let PlayStation 4 users play games with Xbox One and Nintendo Switch users.
Microsoft and Nintendo are both vocally pushing for the ability to play some games across competing platforms. “Minecraft” is already able to be played across many — except for PS4.
Microsoft and Nintendo released a joint advertisement this week showcasing the ability to play “Minecraft” across the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.
Though “Minecraft” is also available on PS4, and the commercial is ostensibly for “Minecraft,” Sony’s console is excluded from the credits.

Microsoft and Nintendo just teamed up to take a powerful shot at Sony’s PlayStation 4.

Since we’re talking about businesses here, that powerful shot came in the form of an advertisement — a seemingly innocuous commercial for “Minecraft” that showcases the ability to play the game across competing game consoles. In “Minecraft,” players on Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC/Mac, iOS and Android can play the game together.

There’s just one platform missing from that: Sony’s massively popular PlayStation 4.

Of the big three game console makers — Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo — Sony is the final holdout when it comes to multiplayer gaming across competing systems. Moreover, Sony is even outright locking some game accounts to the PlayStation 4: “Fortnite” players started the #BlameSony hashtag over the past few weeks due to the revelation that, if you tie your “Fortnite” account to a PlayStation 4, you can’t sign in with it anywhere else.
Thus, Microsoft and Nintendo are taking advantage of Sony’s mistake, and they’re going all in. Nintendo’s latest commercial for “Minecraft” even features an Xbox One controller alongside a Nintendo Switch controller:

Microsoft and Nintendo vs Sony
Nintendo
That’s a pretty big deal in the world of video games.

Sony and Microsoft and Nintendo are direct competitors in the video game space, and seeing two of them team up against the other to change a pillar of console gaming is more than rare — it’s unprecedented. This is not a thing that happens.

For its part, Sony hasn’t said much about its stance on multiplayer gaming across platforms. Some PlayStation 4 games, including “Fortnite,” allow limited cross-play with PC/Mac and iOS/Android, but not the Xbox One or Nintendo Switch. And, at one point in 2017, “Fortnite” briefly supported cross-play between Xbox One and PlayStation 4 players before it was turned off (Epic Games said it was a bug).

Which is to say one thing: Cross-play is technically possible, but without Sony’s support, PlayStation 4 players are left to play games mostly with other PS4 owners while Xbox One and Nintendo Switch players have a more open experience.

Check out the full ad right here:

Oh my glob! Minecraft is coming to Adventure Time in an extra-geeky episode.

Cartoon Network unveiled the first official clip on June 15 from the upcoming episode Diamonds and Lemons, for fans to glimpse their favorite Adventure Time characters reimagined in a blocky Minecraft-esque format.

The surreal animated show features Jake the dog and Finn the human who live in the mythical land of Ooo, along with Princess Bubblegum, the Ice King, BMO the video game console and others.

In the clip we see blocky versions of Finn, Princess Bubblegum and half demon, half human Marceline Abadeer, collect gems and other items in a Minecraft type of game.

The episode is set to air July 20 on Cartoon Network. Plus Funko toy company is releasing Adventure Time x Minecraft collectible figures from its Pop! Vinyl line, also in July.

The popular animated show Adventure Time is set to end sometime in 2018.

As part of TechRadar’s PC Gaming Week 2018, we take a look at the history of Minecraft, from its humble beginnings to being the best selling PC game of all time.

“I don’t see myself as a real game developer. I make games because it’s fun, and because I love games and I love to program”

Markus ‘Notch’ Persson
Our story begins back in 2009, when a number of people had some seriously good ideas. One was Zach Barth, now known best as the founder of perennial puzzle innovator Zachtronics, who coded and released multiplayer mineral-em-up Infiniminer over the course of a few months, abandoning the freeware project after its source code was leaked.

Another was Swedish coder Markus ‘Notch’ Persson, just shy of 30, and previously a developer on sandbox MMO Wurm Online. Persson was working in his spare time on a kind of Dungeon Keeper/Dwarf Fortress/Rollercoaster Tycoon combo (as odd as that may sound) named RubyDung.

It begins
Attempting to introduce a first-person view into the game, he was less than satisfied with his results – and then he found Infiniminer.

Zachtronics’ Infiniminer was the inspiration for Minecraft’s blocky structure

Zachtronics’ Infiniminer was the inspiration for Minecraft’s blocky structure

“My god,” wrote Persson on his Tumblr, “I realized that that was the game I wanted to do… I tried to implement a simple first person engine in that style, reusing some art and code (although not as much as you’d think) from RubyDung.”

Even his very first version, coded in Java, is immediately identifiable today: even though it wasn’t yet formally named, this was Minecraft.

“The response was very positive,” wrote Notch a few months later, “and I was blown away [by] the framerate, and how well it ran in a browser, so I decided to go for it.”

Pulling in character models from an earlier game idea named Zombie Town, he put the first alpha version of the game, now sporting that iconic name, up for test.

It received an immediately positive response. Players were fascinated by Minecraft’s freedom and its creative nature, so Notch quickly went to work on adding new features.

Within a month, Minecraft had sand, water, lava, rudimentary dynamic lighting. Within two months, the earliest multiplayer tests were underway, and the speed of development picked up even further.

Going Alpha
Development quickly moved towards a paid Alpha version, which required a premium account for access.

“I thought, if I don’t charge I’ll never get paid,” Notch later explained in a 2012 PC Gamer interview. “If I wait until the game is done, it’s never going to be done because I won’t have the money to sustain development.”

Minecraft’s Alpha sales began on June 13th 2009. Less than a month later it had sold over 1,000 copies and gained over 20,000 registered players, enough for Persson to scale back the hours spent on his day job and dedicate more time to Minecraft’s development under the Mojang Specifications banner.

Later in 2009 Minecraft’s Creeper-toting survival mode began testing, which turned Minecraft from a neat toy into a proper game, and led to sales that, even at a discounted rate for early adopters, were strong enough that Persson was able to leave his day job in May 2010, a year after the game’s initial tests; by June, 20,000 paid accounts were registered.

Creepers. Why did it have to be Creepers?

Creepers. Why did it have to be Creepers?

An explosion in development, which saw a regular Friday update schedule adding features like redstone, minecarts, dungeons and spooky underworld The Nether in quick succession, led to another explosion in sales, and caused Persson to expand the number of brains working on Minecraft.

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Mojang Specifications morphed into Mojang AB, founded alongside other Swedish coders, part of a group which, along with Notch himself, had been courted by Valve – a company which, at the time, was still interested in producing its own games.

“I got a Skype call from Bellevue,” game designer Jakob ‘JahKob’ Porser told PC Gamer. “Notch was like ‘I met with them, they want to hire me, obviously I’m not interested in this so let’s just make it happen. Let’s start this business.’ I was like, OK, I’ll quit my job tomorrow.”

Jakob Porser (left) and Markus Persson, in 2010

Jakob Porser (left) and Markus Persson, in 2010

The duo was soon joined by business developer Daniel ‘Kappische’ Kaplan, followed by CEO Carl Manneh, hired (on his own advice) from Persson’s previous employer jAlbum, artist Markus ‘Junkboy’ Toivonen, and coder Jens ‘Jeb’ Bergensten – and as Minecraft’s sales continued to expand, the team would continue to grow along with it.

“Minecraft certainly became a huge hit, and people are telling me it’s changed games. I never meant for it to do either.”

Markus ‘Notch’ Persson
Even with Minecraft still very much in its early stages (although now playable in its own browser-free client) our pals at PC Gamer magazine made Minecraft its game of the year in 2010.

“Minecraft sits among the very best of games, just because you can play so many games inside it,” wrote Jaz McDougall. “It’s a primal urge – to build a goddamn hill fort – in gaming form.”

Continued success
The snowball kept rolling downhill. January 12 2011 marked the milestone of one million Minecraft accounts registered; the wave of hype, and Minecraft’s core of accessibility and simplicity, saw 10 million accounts registered just 6 months later. This was a hot property, and it was time for it to spread its net even further.

The creepy lava-filled underworld of The Nether

The creepy lava-filled underworld of The Nether

But, Minecraft had a pretty fundamental problem: Java. Notch’s original choice of programming language was, while somewhat awkward, perfect for Minecraft’s requirements at the time.

It had already aided in fostering a growing scene of modders tweaking Minecraft to their own ends, and facilitated cross-platform play between PC, Mac and Linux.

Those mods, while unsupported, extended the game often in a very positive way; some (including pistons and horses) impressed Notch and Jeb enough to make their way into the game proper.

The complex overheads of Java, not really made for games as heavyweight as Minecraft was becoming, were an impediment on absolutely every other platform.

To truly get Minecraft out to the masses, an entirely distinct branch of the game entered development for the rising smartphone market: Minecraft Pocket Edition, now coded in C++.

Moving platforms
Minecraft Pocket Edition wasn’t quick off the mark – it has consistently lagged behind mainline Minecraft in terms of features since it was revealed – but it brought Minecraft first to Android (specifically the Xperia Play) and then to iOS.

Five days after the reveal of Pocket Edition, yet another C++ branch emerged during a presentation at 2011’s E3: the console edition. Initially an Xbox 360 exclusive title, it was developed out of house by Scottish developers 4J Studios.

Minecraft’s formula translated perfectly to touch controls

Minecraft’s formula translated perfectly to touch controls

The Java edition was not left behind by any means. Formally leaving its Beta stage at the Las Vegas MineCon convention in November 2011 (and jumping up to double the price of its initial Alpha release) it continued to be the bearer of new features; version 1.0 introduced The End, adding a formal ending to the game.

It also marked the end of Notch’s lead role on the project, as he handed over the reigns to Jeb, who remains the project lead to this day.

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“I think I’m more interested in doing new development of new games, rather than maintaining a game,” Notch told PC Gamer.

“I have this tendency of getting bored or frustrated with things after three to five years. Jeb turned out to be a really good game developer, who was very compatible with how I felt Minecraft should be developed.”

Notch himself moved on to other development projects, although he scaled back his efforts to hobby projects and challenges which interested him after creative block caused his first major follow-up project, 0x10c, to fizzle out.

0x10c wasn’t exactly Minecraft in space, but it was an ambitious project

0x10c wasn’t exactly Minecraft in space, but it was an ambitious project

Shortly after the official release of Minecraft, the team behind multiplayer mod Bukkit joined the Mojang team, helping to improve the multiplayer experience and develop a mod API.

This, and an ongoing scheme of regular updates and additions, meant that Minecraft’s formal release wasn’t the end of its development story by any means.

A growing empire
Bolstered by its absurd sales figures and a growing popularity with kids, Minecraft’s extra-curricular activities increased. Toys and branded merchandise flooded the shelves, and the first Minecraft LEGO set – created after a successful campaign on the company’s Cuusoo (later Ideas) scheme – was released just a month after the Xbox edition emerged.

The latter was (as expected) an immediate success, shifting a million downloads in five days, selling an average of 17,000 copies per day after its May 2012 release, and racking up over 4 million sales on Xbox Live Arcade alone by October 2012.

Texture packs like Sphax give Minecraft a fresh look

Texture packs like Sphax give Minecraft a fresh look

By April 2013, shortly after the release of the education-focused Raspberry Pi edition of Minecraft, the Java and Pocket editions surpassed 10 million sales each.

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Later in 2013, the game’s exclusivity clause with Microsoft elapsed, and versions for PS3, PS4 and PSVita were announced; Minecraft had well and truly outgrown its indie game status. And Persson, as the oft-maligned figurehead of the biggest gaming phenomenon the world had ever seen, was struggling under the weight of online pressure.

“Anyone want to buy my share of Mojang,” he tweeted in June 2014, “so I can move on with my life? Getting hate for trying to do the right thing is not my gig.”

CEO Carl Manneh’s phone immediately lit up with enquiries as to whether Persson was serious. He was: Activision Blizzard and EA each expressed an interest in picking up Mojang, but the company’s prior relationship with Microsoft (and, presumably, a superior monetary offer) saw a deal being made.

Microsoft takes charge
“I’m not an entrepreneur. I’m not a CEO. I’m a nerdy computer programmer who likes to have opinions on Twitter.”

Markus ‘Notch’ Persson
The Redmond company hadn’t always been particularly interested in Minecraft, at least if one-time Microsoft-contracted developer Peter Molyneux is to be believed.

“I can remember coming to things like [Gamescom] back in my Microsoft days and talking to Microsoft,” he told GamesRadar. “They thought it was rubbish. You know, it didn’t have a character, it didn’t have a story, it didn’t have a tutorial, the graphics were, you know, like 1980s graphics… they totally, totally missed that.”

They didn’t miss it in late 2014. Following the launch of Minecraft’s paid-for online server option, Realms, and ten days after the launch of Minecraft on Xbox One, it was announced that Notch and co. were to sell Mojang to Microsoft for a cool $2.5 billion.

The completion of the deal on November 5 2014 marked the end of the founders involvement with the company – Persson, Porser and Carl Manneh departed Mojang.

Under new leadership, but maintaining the same dev team that had driven it since Notch’s original sidestep in 2011, Minecraft’s expansion rolled on.

MineCon 2015, at London’s Excel centre, broke the Guinness world record for the largest convention for a single videogame. The Pocket edition was ported to Wii U, Windows 10, Samsung’s GearVR, Apple TV and beyond. By 2016, total sales for Minecraft across all platforms hit 100 million.

A key for Minecraft’s Windows 10 edition comes free if you buy the Java version

A key for Minecraft’s Windows 10 edition comes free if you buy the Java version

And Microsoft was by no means done with Minecraft. An Education edition, which builds on the creative, problem-solving aspects of Minecraft which had made it such a popular game with young people and adults alike, launched in November 2016

Meanwhile, Pocket Edition finally (after five years) reached version 1.0. A Chinese beta followed in 2017, preceding the most significant behind-the-scenes update in Minecraft’s history: the Bedrock Engine.

Released as part of the ‘Better Together’ update, the Bedrock Engine brought every platform running some form of Pocket Edition, from mobile to console to Windows 10, into line with each other under the hood, and over it too.

Cross-platform multiplayer and unification of DLC items landed, along with 4K graphics and planned upgrades to the non-Java Minecraft (now dropping the ‘Pocket Edition’ tag and simply going by ‘Minecraft’) would happen simultaneously.

There’s still a division within Minecraft – the now-explicitly named Minecraft Java Edition continues development under its own internal team at Mojang.

Mods extend the gameplay of the Java edition in various entertaining ways

Mods extend the gameplay of the Java edition in various entertaining ways

The future is blocky
“In one sense, it belongs to Microsoft now. In a much bigger sense, it’s belonged to all of you for a long time, and that will never change.”

Marcus ‘Notch’ Persson
So what’s next for Minecraft? Standing at 144 million paid accounts and boasting a record of 74 million simultaneous players as of January 2018, and surely on its way to ousting Tetris as the top selling video game of all time, Minecraft doesn’t show any signs of going anywhere.

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The mod scene, bolstered by integration with the Twitch launcher, continues to thrive. The game continues to be a big draw on YouTube.

Meanwhile, merchandise sales haven’t dipped; Minecraft has become a staple of Lego’s commercial efforts. And there’s even a movie on the way, due for release in May 2019, although details about it are currently scarce.

What we do know is this: there’s an infinite world out there. One man’s idea, and another man’s experiment, have grown into something that has delighted an entire generation of kids, and changed the way we think about games.

Minecraft isn’t a graphical masterpiece, and it’s not, by any stretch of the imagination, a game with an AAA storyline. It’s an experience that remains as relevant today as it did nine years ago – and how many games can say that?

TechRadar’s fourth annual PC Gaming Week is officially here, celebrating our passion with in-depth and exclusive coverage of PC gaming from every angle. Visit our PC Gaming Week 2018 page to see all of the coverage in one place.

You want to get your kids the best games, but how do you know they’re appropriate for their age?

Like movies, every video game released in the UK is given a PEGI age rating. These are 3, 7, 12, 16 and 18 and represent the appropriate age level for the game.

Use these as a guide to determine if a title is suitable for your child, and read reviews from websites such as Common Sense Media. Each boy and girl is different, so if you don’t think a game is suitable for your child, don’t buy it.

Most games consoles like the Nintendo Wii, Xbox One and PS4 have parental controls, which let you keep your children safe by restricting what games can be played and setting time limits. Internet Matters, a not-for profit e-safety organisation has an interactive Parental Controls tool that shows you how to turn these settings on.

We’ve rounded up the best games for all ages and all consoles. Let the games begin!

3+
Paper Mario Colour Splash
Paper Mario Colour Splash game

Step into a world made of paper, where, armed with his trusty paintbrush, Mario has to add some colour to areas that Bowser’s minions have made look drab. Sure to brighten up any day.

Amazon

Nintendo Wii U

Just Dance 2017
Just Dance 2017

With songs from Justin Bieber, Queen, Sean Paul, Major Lazer and more, this rhythm game is sure to get the whole family up and moving. Even Granny.

Amazon

Nintendo Wii

FIFA 17
FIFA 17

The best football game in the world is back. New additions include story mode, which lets you live like a Premiership footballer, and the new Frostbite engine, which makes for a more realistic playing experience.

Game

Xbox One (also available on Xbox 360)

Peanuts Movie: Snoopy’s Grand Adventure
Peanuts Movie: Snoopy’s Grand Adventure

Snoopy is on a mission to be reunited with the rest of the Peanuts gang, and it’s up to you to help him. Find the hidden Beagle Scouts and you’ll unlock a special surprise.

Amazon

PlayStation 4

7+
Star Fox Zero
Star Fox Zero

The Lylat system is in danger from an evil empire. It’s up to you to step into the boots of legendary space pilot Fox McCloud and blast through foes in an effort to save the universe. No pressure.

Game

Nintendo Wii U

Planes: Fire and Rescue
Planes: Fire and Rescue

This game is based on Disney’s Planes film, and is just as much fun. It sees you teaming up with Dusty and his friends to extinguish fires across Piston Peak Park.

Amazon

Nintendo Wii

Lego Marvel Avengers
Lego Marvel Avengers

What’s more fun than Marvel’s Avengers family? The Avengers family in Lego form! Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk and Thor are all here in brick-based glory. Hours of fun.

Tesco

Xbox One (also available on Xbox 360)

No Man’s Sky
No Man’s Sky

This game gives you an entire universe to explore. It’s up to you whether you fight, trade, or just go off exploring. A serene sci-fi smash.

Amazon

PlayStation 4

12+
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

Originally released in 2006, this critically acclaimed instalment gets an HD makeover 10 years on. It’s also playable using certain Amiibo figurines.

Amazon

Nintendo Wii U

Brave
Brave game

A flame-haired princess is on a mission to rid the land of an evil taint created by a supernatural bear named Mordu. The slick game mechanics put it a step above the usual film tie-in fare.

£13.84, Amazon

Nintendo Wii

ReCore
Recore

Made by the people behind the legendary game Metroid Prime, ReCore sees you play one of the few remaining humans alive who must team up with robotic pals to save your lives. Hectic stuff.

Game

Xbox One

Knack
Knack

Knack can go from three feet to 30 feet tall using mysterious relics – you’ll need plenty of them if you want to slay the Goblin army and save humanity.

Game

PlayStation 4

[Read more: What is cyberbullying?]

16+
Batman: Arkham Origins
Batman: Arkham Origins

Ever wanted to play as the younger Batman? Now’s your chance in this rip-roaring fighting game. There’s also an arsenal of Batty’s patented gadgets to help you on your way.

Amazon

Nintendo Wii U

Back to the Future
Back to the Future

Six months after the events of the third film, Marty must travel back to 1931 to save his pal Doc. Even if your child is too young to remember the films, this game has plenty to entertain them.

Amazon

Nintendo Wii

[Read more: 12 apps for big and small children]

Destiny – The Collection
Destiny The Collection

With five adventures in one, this collection is unbelievable value, especially if you’re yet to experience the thrills of the Destiny universe. First-person shooters don’t come much better.

Game

Xbox One

Aragami
Aragami

A stealth game with a difference, this sees you having the ability to control shadows. You can also make weapons appear and even summon a shadow dragon. Should help you on your quest.

If your child uses a tablet or console to play games, there’s a good chance they’ll be playing online.

An online game is one where the entire game or some part of it is played over the internet. Online games are played using internet-connected devices such as a smartphone, tablet, console (Xbox or PlayStation) or PC, connecting using wi-fi, or (in the case of a phone or tablet) mobile data.

Online games allow you to play in real-time with people all over the world. So instead of playing against the game, you can play with real people.

According to Ofcom, 76% of children aged 12-15 and 62% of children aged 8-11 play games online. Perhaps more worrying for parents is that a quarter of 12-15-year-olds have played games online with one or more people they have not met in person.

Research from Ditch The Label, found that 57% of the 2500 12-25 year olds questioned have been bullied online. Read more about Cyberbullying.

How does online gaming work?
Games consoles such as the Xbox and the PlayStation have huge online communities – called Xbox Live and PlayStation Network respectively – where gamers can play against each other and communicate through headsets.

The majority of modern games have an online mode of some description and some games are famous for their online modes, such as the Call of Duty first-person shooter series. In November 2015, fans of Call of Duty: Black Ops III racked up 75 million hours online within just three days of its launch.

Facebook has a thriving online gaming community which allows you to invite others to play games such as Farmville and Candy Crush by sending an invitation.

With over 100 million players worldwide, World of Warcraft is a hugely popular PC role-playing game (RPG) where gamers pick characters and meet others in a virtual world.

Another popular online game is Minecraft, which has over 100 million users on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Android and iOS versions.

Internet Matters, a not for profit organisation dedication to providing information to keep children safe online has lots of useful facts about different types of online gaming, check it out here.

Risks of online gaming
Playing games online can be great fun for your child, but as a parent it’s worth being aware of the potential risks:

1. Bullying: When your child plays a game online, they may play with people they don’t know. These people could call your child names, bullying them or ‘griefing’, which is when bullying tactics are used to win games.

2. Inappropriate content: If your child plays with older children they may encounter swearing or talk about subjects they don’t understand and find upsetting.

Many online games include adult themes such as war and death, swearing and sexual content that won’t be suitable for every child.

3. Grooming: The anonymity of the internet allows people to hide behind fake identities. Your child may think they are playing with someone who is not who they say they are. Adults may try to develop a relationship with a child through online gaming that could have dangerous consequences. Incidences like this are fortunately rare.

4. Hidden costs: Some online games are free to play, but developers encouraging players to pay to upgrade weapons or skip levels.

Upgrades can range from a few pence to hundreds of pounds. Within the mobile app Smurfs Village, for instance, ‘A Barrell of Smurfberries’ costs nearly £24; if you child buys it accidentally, you’ll get the bill.

Tips to ensure your child is online gaming safety
Online gaming can help your child to learn, explore and develop creative skills and if you follow these simple tips you can help them do this safely.

1. Check game ratings: Games are given a Pan European Gaming Information (PEGI) rating that will give you some indication of the suitability of a game for your child.

Eight areas – drugs, fear, discrimination, bad language, gambling, sex, violence, and online gameplay with other people – are considered to produce age ratings of 3, 7, 12, 16 or 18. Find out more about what the games ratings mean.

Use these ratings to make an informed choice about whether a game is suitable for your child. Remember the ages are a guide, you know your son or daughter better than anyone, if they are old enough, but sensitive, the game might not be suitable.

2. Talk to your child: Communicate with your son or daughter about potential dangers online so that they understand the risks. Find out what they play online and who they talk to.

If you ban a game, talk to your child about why you don’t think it’s suitable so they understand your reasoning.

3. Set restrictions: Decide how long your child is allowed to play online in a day or a week. If you have a younger child, consider letting them play in the front room rather in their bedroom so you can keep an eye on what they are playing.

4. Keep information private: Encourage your child not to give out personal details, such as their email, date of birth and address that could be used to locate them.

Make sure they use a gamer name that doesn’t give too much information away, for instance OrangeGremlin is a safer name than Matthew95Bristol.

Encourage them to remain friends with other players only within the game, and not on other social networks like Facebook or Instagram.

5. Parental controls: Most gadgets have parental controls designed to help you restrict the type of content your child can access.

BT Broadband customers can activate BT Parental Controls, which lets you set filters to block certain topics. Once activated they cover all devices connected to your Home Hub and if you use the BT Wi-fi app. Find out more.

6. Report abuse: If your child encounters bully or abuse online, don’t be afraid to report the perpetrators.

Read more about reporting abuse on Xbox Live.
Read more about reporting abuse on the PlayStation Network.
7. Turn off the internet connection: Stop younger children going online and accidentally spending money by turning on flight mode on smartphones and tablets.

Apple allows you to turn off in-app purchases for iPads and iPhones, find out more.
Google lets you add a PIN code that needs to be applied when buying digital content, find out more.
8. Join in: You might feel that your gaming years are long gone, but the best way to find out what your child is up to is to play along with them. They are probably keen to show you what they are doing (and possibly beat you!) and you’ll have a greater understanding of what they are up to and how the device or game they are using works.

Nintendo and Microsoft have teamed up for a Minecraft commercial that seemed strangely historic for those of us who grew up thinking about console generations as a series of figurative wars. Both consoles were highlighted, both company’s logos were on the screen and the hook was the ability to play the same game across two consoles or using a gaming PC.

Sony was, of course, not involved with any of this. The company doesn’t support cross-platform play between consoles, and limits the use of Fortnite accounts on other platforms if they’ve ever been used on the PlayStation 4. In the case of Minecraft, Sony’s excuse from 2017 was that cross-platform support would make PlayStation 4 players less safe, a claim that Microsoft’s Phil Spencer rejected out of hand.

But it might be as simple as an economic issue.

“BTW when I was at Sony, the stated reason internally for this was money,” industry veteran John Smedley tweeted. “They didn’t like someone buying something on an Xbox and it being used on a Playstation. Simple as that. Dumb reason, but there it is.” Smedley used to be the president of Daybreak Game Company, which was once called Sony Online Entertainment. He’s now the general manager of Amazon Game Studios. The tweet has since been deleted.

This is the explanation that actually makes the most sense, and we can see the account issue come up in the FAQ section of today’s Minecraft blog post talking about the release of the “Better Together” update for Minecraft on the Nintendo Switch:

Q: What’s a Microsoft Account and why do I need it for a Nintendo Switch?

A: A Microsoft Account is a free account you can sign-in on device that allows Minecraft players on Switch to play with others on non-Nintendo devices like iOS, Android, Xbox One and Windows 10 via cross-play, Realms or Servers. Having a Microsoft Account also enables the portability of your MINECOINS and marketplace purchases to other devices and platforms. To create an account click here.

The game industry is turning into a business of accounts, not hardware, and you can guess how enthusiastic Sony must be about the idea of someone logging into a Microsoft account from the PlayStation 4.

But outside of the terminology, it’s the last part of the description that has to stick in Sony’s craw: The use of the Microsoft account is what allows someone to give Microsoft money for in-game items, and then bring those items onto other platforms. Sony only gets a cut of the revenue if these purchases are made on its platform, which is why this is a topic it’s willing to be so stubborn about.

And this is likely what Sony is afraid of in the grand scheme of things. Imagine a world where game accounts move from hardware to hardware willy nilly, and purchases made on one platform were accessible everywhere. Where’s the profit for the platform holders? If you buy all your content for a free-to-play game on another platform and use that content on the PlayStation 4, the hardware just becomes a conduit through which you play games you paid for on other platforms.

The play part of cross-platform play is the least important aspect of this issue for Sony. The important issue is the use of third-party accounts to purchase things away from Sony hardware, and then using them on Sony’s platform.

So why don’t Microsoft and Nintendo care? My guess is that Nintendo is Nintendo, a company that has already played by its own rules and has ridden that sense of adventure directly into huge profits, and Microsoft is currently way behind Sony in the console business, and this is a way to bring attention to something the Xbox can do that Sony refuses to match on the PlayStation 4.

But if Sony lets Minecraft purchases from Microsoft come onto the PlayStation 4, and it lets purchases from Epic Games come onto the PlayStation 4 through the accounts tied to other games and companies, it’s not going to be able to deny anyone else, which means that Sony would lost the ability to guarantee itself a heavy cut of all the virtual currency and in-game items being sold for those games.

That’s the nightmare Sony is worried about, and that’s why it’s been so unwilling to budge. The question is how much pain the company is willing to endure before it decides the lost profit is worth the positive press and player contentment.

With the Electronic Entertainment Expo kicking off Tuesday in Los Angeles, Facebook shared new data related to how its users are talking about the video game convention on both Facebook and Instagram.

Over the past seven days, 17 million Facebook users made 55 million posts, likes and comments related to E3, as well as the major games and companies at the show. Of these users, 61 percent were men and 39 percent were women. In addition, 33 percent of users were between 25 and 34 years old.

On Facebook, the top five countries talking about E3 and the major games and brands over the past seven days were:

U.S.
U.K.
Australia
Brazil
Canada
The most-talked-about video-game publishers on Facebook from June 9 through 11 were:

Sony
Microsoft
Nintendo
Bethesda
Ubisoft
The most-talked-about games on Facebook during that period were:

Minecraft
Kingdom Hearts
The Legend of Zelda
Resident Evil
Super Mario
Fallout
Fortnite
Call of Duty
EA FIFA
The Elder Scrolls
Altogether, the most discussed female video-game characters on Facebook over the past seven days were:

Princess Zelda
Lara Croft
Bayonetta
Aya Brea from Parasite Eve
Cortana from Halo
Finally, the top gaming-related Facebook video (in terms of video views) over the past seven days was the official reveal trailer for Electronic Arts’ FIFA 19.

Over on Instagram, 17 million users had “around” 46 million interactions surrounding the E3 press conferences, video-game consoles, video-game titles and other related terms over the past seven days.

On Instagram, the top video-game-related hashtags from the past seven days were:

#ps4
#xbox
#fortnite
#gaming
#gamer
The “most-buzzed-about” games on Instagram over the past seven days were:

Fortnite
Minecraft
Call of Duty
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (also called PUBG)
Super Mario
In a statement, Franco De Cesare, director of console and online gaming at Facebook, said, “Every E3, we see people come to Facebook to connect around the games and publishers they love—and this year is no exception. We’ve seen this community of gamers continue to grow and evolve each year, with women and female characters entering a growing portion of the conversation. For the first time, we’re also excited to share the gaming conversation on Instagram, where gamers bring the same passion for the games they love as they always have on Facebook.”

Amino, a social networking platform founded by two entrepreneurs who graduated from Northeastern University, has raised $45 million during its third round of financing.

Amino centers on smartphone apps that connect users who share an interest in topics that appeal to relatively small groups of people, including Pokémon, Minecraft, and Dr. Who.

“We are trying to connect the world through people’s passions,” said Ben Anderson, the co-founder and CEO of Amino. “We want to create an engaged community for every interest in the world.”

Amino apps have been down­loaded tens of millions of times by users in more than 100 countries, Anderson said. He said the average user spends 70 minutes per day on the platform—almost as much as Snapchat and Facebook combined.

“Most investors have never seen anything like this,” said Anderson, who graduated from Northeastern in 2012 with a degree in music. “It’s a massive opportunity and the users love it.”

Amino plans to use the new funding to improve the platform’s voice and video chat features, Anderson said. “We want to bring real-time connections to life even more.”

The app is available in seven languages—English, German, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, French, and Portuguese—a testimony to its global appeal. “We are reminded every day that what we are building applies to cultures all over the world,” Anderson said.

Ben Anderson, left, and Yin Wang co-founded Amino in 2011. Photo by Meryl Natow/Amino

One of Amino’s most popular features is the “Amino Creator,” which enables users to custom-design communities of their own. Three such communities have more than 1 million members, including a community dedicated to pop music from South Korea.

Anderson acknowledged Northeastern for helping him shape Amino into a social networking platform that appeals to a global audience. IDEA, Northeastern’s student-run venture accelerator, awarded him $20,000 in gap funding, connected him with an accoun­tant, and perfected his business plan.

“Honing a business plan forced me to think about where I saw Amino going,” said Anderson, who was named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Class of 2017, a list com­prising 600 of the nation’s brightest young people. “For a young founder, that guidance was invaluable and helped me to avoid unnecessary pitfalls.”

Amino has raised more than $72 million since 2014. Marc Meyer, the co-director of Northeastern’s Center for Entrepreneurship Education, said that Amino has raised more venture capital than any other IDEA venture.

“Amino,” he said, “is highly innovative.”

Anderson said Amino does not make money. But he and co-founder Yin Wang are planning to build tools that would allow community curators to sell digital goods to users while taking a cut of the revenue for themselves.

“We’re really excited because we want to create a community for every interest in the world,” Anderson said. “We’re getting closer to that as times goes on.”

The official Nintendo UK Store now has the physical edition of Minecraft for the Nintendo Switch available for pre-order. The incredibly popular sandbox title will be available for purchase on 21st June and will cost you £24.99. Here’s the details:

Minecraft is a game about placing blocks and going on adventures. Explore randomly-generated worlds and build amazing things from the simplest of homes to the grandest of castles.

This Bedrock version of the game contains all the great previously released content, including the Super Mario Mash-Up Pack exclusive to Nintendo systems and all DLC, but now allows players to connect with friends on non-Nintendo systems via cross-platform play.

Even if Sony has started to mention new information about the company’s future PlayStation 5, it seems that they are not done with PlayStation 4 either. It is still going strong and consumers don’t feel the need for a new hardware or consider the platform out-dated. So, the discussions about Sony’s products are either focused on the future PlayStation 5 or on keeping the PlayStation 4 on the market for longer.

Sony is almost as important as Nintendo, a position which will enable the company to gain even more market share in the future but it shouldn’t be distracted by using more resources for one console than the other.

The PlayStation 4’s popularity
In 2018, PS4 will be on the market for five years. Sony may follow the PlayStation 3’s trend of lasting over seven years and go even further to confirm that it will last for three years or more, breaking the company’s record of such a lasting presence. Its lifespan may have been extended, but fans need to know what a future PlayStation will bring to the table. The company will consolidate the PlayStation 4 in order to catch the consumers’ attention and raise brand awareness for its next console.

The shift from the SNES-era systems to the PlayStation and from the PlayStation to the PlayStation 2 made Sony what it is today. The PS4 has introduced the 4K gaming together with Xbox One games but it seems that it would remain the last “traditional” console generation after the PlayStation 5 will be launched. However, the technological advancement will be a subtle one, making it easy to understand that consumers are really satisfied with the PS4.

The future PlayStation 5
Sony’s console will be the closest thing to a cutting-edge successor, leaving the days of testing proprietary hardware and Emotion Engine far behind. Whatever configuration of hardware Sony will use, it will look almost as a linear evolution of the PS4. The PS5 is expected to perfectly run your digital library of PS4 games, depending on the Blu-Ray drive. Since losing an entire library of digital games would be a great drive not to switch to a different platform, it would additionally lock consumers into their console choice.

Sony hasn’t made all the decision regarding the PlayStation 4 yet but it would be surprising if the company hadn’t already tried PS5 prototypes with a hybrid home console model for Switch or even with an eGPU for a portable device. However, in such cases, the hardware would likely be compatible with the PS4. The next console model will certainly have an upgraded hardware for the first time in Sony’s platforms.