In the Features archive, find a wide array of articles, interviews, reviews, podcast discussions, and posts from Cosmic Circus writers and contributors.
Refer to the Stellar Picks archive to find some of our top-rated movies, shows, books, games, and more!
I recently had the pleasure of playing the new exploration game Duck Side of the Moon, both developed and published by Starbrew Games. You’ll take on an adventurous space faring duck named Doug, as you try to fix his ship while trying to find a new homeworld. After crash landing on an alien world, you’ll make new friends and do relaxing
Read MoreFollowing her filmmaking on Paramount Pictures’ Rosemary’s Baby prequel, Apartment 7A, with Christian White and Skylar James, writer-director Natalie Erika James returns with a new horror project. Independent Film Company and Shudder’s science fiction supernatural horror drama film, Saccharine, follows a young woman in medical school. She becomes terrorized by an apparition after experimenting with an unapproved weight-loss procedure—pill supplements apparently
Read MoreIn a world dominated by more webcam choices than you can possibly ever research, where does one begin to make the right choice? As the years go by, the technological differences between companies grow ever slimmer, meaning that regardless of your choice, you can’t possibly make a bad one. Right? Now, if you’re like me, you know that’s probably true, but
Read MoreEvery so often it’s difficult to write a review like this, especially when it’s a release I had heavily anticipated for over six months. When you play the demo of an upcoming roguelike deckbuilder (the loosest of the definition), you’re blown away by the entire package so much that you immediately throw it onto your wishlist. You go back time after
Read MoreWhen indie game developer Luca Galante released his first game, Vampire Survivors, in early access back in 2021, it wasn’t an immediate hit. Once streamers took notice, the game rocketed to the top of the charts on Steam, and it eventually morphed into the game most people love and adore. While the game initially came with dozens of characters, a wide
Read MoreThe game Gambonanza uses the chess system and rules uniquely. Not by simplifying it or changing the décor to flashy visuals, but by slowly pulling apart the foundations of chess and rebuilding them into something unpredictable. Gambonanza respects the core idea of chess just enough to keep it recognizable and understandable, but everything around it feels new, weird, and unexpected, like
Read MoreIn a key scene from The Devil Wears Prada 2, Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly gently asks Stanley Tucci’s Nigel if she’s been taking advantage of him for the past 20 years. The scene is played as if it comes from a genuine place, seemingly intended to make viewers say “aww” as Miranda finally recognizes her second-in-command’s skill and dedication to the
Read MoreDead as Disco is one of those unique indie games that immediately feels like it’s going to be a big hit. It doesn’t just take inspiration from rhythm games or beat ’em ups. It fully commits to mixing them into something that feels like you’re fighting your way through a music video. At first look, it seems like it’s another flashy,
Read MoreMortal Kombat II has everything a movie based on the video game should have. There are extended fight scenes with excessive gore, faithful character portrayals, and visual recreations of various game levels. Yet, for a movie that hasn’t even been released in theaters, it feels as dated as a Sega Genesis console. The sequel introduces new ideas. One of them is bringing
Read MoreStar Wars animation is one of the best bits of Star Wars out there. From the Clone Wars, to Rebels and The Bad Batch, each show has brought exciting art styles and directions as well as amazing new characters, some of which have since made their live-action debuts. Animated Star Wars is a way to tell different stories and have unlimited
Read MoreEvery now and again, there comes a film that might not break any barriers but surprises you with how much more it has to offer. The Sheep Detectives is the definition of a film that, at first glance many will dismiss as generic kiddie fare with an absurd premise, but The Sheep Detectives provides the heart and clever wit that more
Read MoreHokum sees filmmaker Damian McCarthy return with another horror film that balances a mystery with supernatural creepiness. His previous effort, Oddity, made great use of the terror of inanimate objects moving. For almost 100 minutes, viewers would scan the background as characters talk in the foreground. And the same question would always arise: Did that giant mannequin-sized doll move? Hokum does not linger on the fear of sentient
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