Topics included their favorite anime, who would win in a battle royale, and the mystery behind the Prism Devices in their music videos.

Check out our video interview with cosmosy below!

cosmosy has been busy releasing a lot of new music this year, including “Paradise ~ I need you ~”, a super catchy song that features the members trying to get the Prism ring. They even channeled the music video’s aesthetic with some of their outfits in the interview.

cosmosy will be performing in Los Angeles at KCON LA 2026, which will take place at the Crypto.com Arena and the Los Angeles Convention Center from August 14 to August 16, 2026.

The post cosmosy Talks Anime, Music, and the Mystery Behind the Prism Devices at Anime Expo 2026 appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

On the surface, this is a fantastical sword-and-sandals epic under Christopher Nolan’s guidance. There are creatures, gods, magic, battles, and enormous environments that make Odysseus seem almost impossibly small. Yet Nolan never lets the spectacle take over completely. No matter how strange or intense the journey gets, the world feels physical. The danger has weight. Every storm, wound, and loss feels real rather than something brushed aside once the next set piece begins.

That grounded quality makes the movie work so well. Nolan understands the appeal of showing Odysseus facing legendary monsters on the largest screen, but this film is more interested in the human cost than in mythology. Its creatures may be memorable, yet the emotional consequences of meeting them linger longer.

The film does take creative liberties with material that has been studied, translated, and argued over for centuries. Purists will undoubtedly find choices to debate. Still, Nolan does not treat Homer’s poem like an untouchable museum piece. Instead, he reshapes it into something cinematic, accessible, and unexpectedly relevant without taking away what made the original endure in the first place. Someone unfamiliar with The Odyssey can follow the film without feeling as though they should have completed a classics course beforehand. At the same time, it may leave those viewers curious enough to seek out the original Greek literature and discover what was changed, condensed, or reinterpreted.

Christopher Nolan delivers a visually staggering adaptation of The Odyssey that finds fresh relevance and real humanity within Homer’s ancient epic.

In many ways, Nolan’s version shares thematic DNA with Oppenheimer. Once again, he is fascinated by legacy, regret, loss, and the distance between how a man views himself and how history may remember him. Odysseus is a hero, but the film questions what that word actually means. His intelligence repeatedly saves him, though his pride exacts a cost others often pay.

Those ideas fit naturally alongside themes central to The Odyssey—particularly homecoming and the ancient Greek concept of guest-friendship. Hospitality can be an act of compassion. In ancient Greece, it can also test character or leave a person dangerously exposed. Nolan uses those traditions to depict a world where goodwill still matters, even when cruelty feels easier. As a result, the journey gains another level of tension and feels connected to the present rather than locked in the distant past.

The cast is excellent across the board. Even actors with limited screen time make their characters feel as if they existed long before Odysseus arrived and will continue to live after he leaves. More importantly, the performances keep the film emotionally grounded. Odysseus may be undertaking one of the grandest journeys ever told, but every person he meets is undertaking a journey of their own.

Visually, The Odyssey is phenomenal. In IMAX 70MM, the landscapes, ships, battles, and mythological encounters carry a scale that is a sight to behold. The sound design is just as impressive. Nolan surrounds the audience with crashing waves, breaking wood, distant voices, and moments of silence that feel just as overwhelming.

Yet for all its technical ambition, Nolan never forgets what Odysseus is fighting to reach: home.

That is what makes The Odyssey more than a beautifully constructed mythological epic. It’s a story about surviving long enough to return to the people you love, then confronting the uncomfortable possibility that neither you nor the home you remember has remained unchanged. Nearly three thousand years later, that journey still hits with remarkable force.

Rating: 5/5 atoms

The post The Odyssey Review – Gods, Monsters, and the Long Road Home appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

Check out the official trailer below:

The film is part of a loosely connected universe by Gary Walkow, which started in 1987 with The Trouble with Dick. The original Lars was played by David Clennon, and the actor will be returning as Richard Kendred in the upcoming film. The previous films include 2007’s Crashing and 2015’s The Trouble with Dot & Harry.

Synopsis: Lars Shrike (Grammer) knows only two things: his name, and that he has escaped. Alone in a hostile desert landscape, he struggles to piece together who he is, where he came from, and what exactly he has fled. As fragments of memory, hallucination, and reality begin to blur, Shrike is pulled into an increasingly strange odyssey where every answer only deepens the mystery. Is he a prisoner on the run, a damaged mind inventing its own mythology, or a fictional character who has somehow stepped into the real world?

The post Kelsey Grammer’s Lars Shrike Walks the Night Trailer Reveals a Strange Sci-Fi Mystery appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

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The case features artwork by Ina’nis and Rosuuri, with an exclusive Royal Purple colorway. It is also interactive thanks to the integrated touchscreen with Ina’nis as the centerpiece, and you can move the camera around and zoom in and out. She also comes with idle animations.

Fans can also get the Ninomae Ina’nis Keycap and Desk Pad Bundle as part of the collaboration. The Keycap set include 155 keys and is compatible with ANSI/JIS keyboards while also featuring the Royal Purple colorway and Takodachi iconography. The 900mm x 400mm Desk Pad is included and has artwork by Rosuuri.

The HYTE Y70 Touch Infinite Ninomae Ina’nis Case is now available for pre-order at HYTE.com and retails for $499.99.

The HYTE Ninomae Ina’nis Keycap and Desk Pad Bundle is now available for pre-order at HYTE.com and retails for $134.99.

The post Hololive’s Ninomae Ina’nis and HYTE Team Up for Stylish, Interactive PC Case appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

The coming-of-age story is set in 1980s Dublin, and it’s a semi-autobiographical story following 14-year-old Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo), who is dealing with family drama and public school. He falls for Raphina (Lucy Boynton), an aspiring model, and tries to woo her by featuring her in his band’s music video. The issue is that he doesn’t have a band. Now he’s on a mission to create a band and write music while also learning the power of music.

Check out the special features for the 4K + Blu-ray + Digital:

Lionsgate Limited Extra:

• The Risk of Rock & Roll: Going Back to Sing Street
• Legacy Special Features:
• Making Sing Street
• Writer-Director John Carney and Maroon 5’s Adam Levine Talk Sing Street
• Cast Auditions
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spots
• B-Roll
• “Drive It Like You Stole It” Music Video

The comedy musical is directed and written by John Carney from a story by Carney and Simon Carmody.

The post Sing Street Is Getting the 4K Blu-ray Treatment for 10th Anniversary appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

At first glance, D-topia has a cozy, relaxing vibe that makes you want to curl up on the couch and lose yourself for a few hours. The colorful art style, charming characters, and slower pace make it feel like a game you can unwind with after a long day. But beneath that cozy exterior, something much more intriguing is going on.

You’ll spend your time solving fun, engaging environmental puzzles while helping the residents of D-topia with their everyday problems. The puzzles not only look satisfying to complete but also feel like a natural part of the world and its characters, making each solution feel meaningful rather than just another obstacle to clear. Early previews have also hinted at unique mechanics that reveal hidden clues and objects, adding another layer to the exploration.

What really has me interested, though, is the mystery surrounding this so-called “perfect” world. On the surface, everything seems peaceful, but the more you look around, the more it feels like something isn’t quite right. There are subtle hints that this AI-managed paradise is hiding secrets, and I’m excited to see how deep that mystery goes. I always love games that slowly peel back the layers of their world instead of showing all their cards right away.

D-topia strikes a really interesting balance. It looks relaxing enough for fans of cozy games, while also offering enough mystery and puzzle-solving to keep players invested in uncovering what’s really happening beneath the surface.

If you’re looking for a game that lets you relax, solve clever puzzles, and slowly unravel an intriguing story, D-topia looks like it’s worth checking out.

The post D-topia Is More Than a Cozy Puzzle Game appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

J.K. Simmons, known for his roles as J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man and Omni-Man in Invincible, portrays Eamon Sweeney, the boss of The Westies, inspired by real-life gangsters.

“JJJ is pretty much all bark, as you said, and he barks very loudly and quickly,” Simmons compares his Spider-Man character to his The Westies character. “I think one of the things, and this was just on the page to me, in the way that Michael and Chris wrote it, there’s a quiet menace there, and you see the same thing often with a lot of characters in the show, really.”

As Sweeney, he has to deal with other criminal organizations and the younger members.

“You see it with Hamish Allan-Headley as John Gotti,” Simmons added. “You see it with Titus, you see it with Jimmy. I mean, a lot of the time, the younger ones might tend to be a little more there, might be a little more bravado and in your face, but the older guys who have survived for this long, I think that quiet menace is very organic to who these guys are.”

The showrunners wanted more freedom in the story, and so they decided not to make this a biopic or docudrama.

“We’re not doing a biopic or a docudrama, so we’re not using the names of Jimmy Coonin or Mickey Featherstone or Mickey Spillane,” Panes said. “You know, what we’re doing is creating a fictionalized show inspired by a multitude of characters from that era, so to distill the essence of it, because we want audiences to stay with these characters over multiple seasons and grow with them and three-dimensionalize them and make them kind of people you want to invite in.”

About The Westies

Synopsis: The Westies is a gritty and kinetic crime drama centering on New York City’s infamously violent Irish gang of the same name. The series is set in the early 1980s when the construction of the Jacob Javits Convention Center on the Westies’ home turf in Hell’s Kitchen promises a financial windfall. Despite being outnumbered fifty-to-one by the Five Families of the Italian Mafia, the Westies’ legendary brutality and cunning have given them the leverage necessary to share the spoils through a fragile détente. But internal conflict between the brash younger generation and the old-school leadership threatens to set a match to this powder keg, which will sweep the Westies into the FBI’s ever-deepening investigation into the Italian mafia.

The series stars J.K. Simmons, Titus Welliver, Tom Brittney, Stanley Morgan, Sarah Bolger, Jessica Frances Dukes, Hamish Allan-Headley, Vincent Walsh, Allen Leech, and Hillary McCormack. Additional cast includes Aidan Wojtak-Hissong, Jeremy Walmsley, and Rohan Mead.

The series is written by Chris Brancato and Michael Panes.

It’s directed by Alan Taylor (101, 102), Chris Grismer (103, 104), John Fawcett (105, 106), and Adam Kane (107, 108).

Executive prodicers are Chris Brancato, Michael Panes, Raymond Quinlan, Alan Taylor, Frank Siracusa, and John Weber.

The post J.K. Simmons on Finding the ‘Quiet Menace’ Behind His Westies Mob Boss appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

Set during the Civil War, The Isolate Thief follows Adeline (Foy), an isolated young woman who has to outwit a band of outlaws. Playing the gang leader is Sean Bean, a ruthless individual who pretends to be a Union soldier to trick Adeline into helping him and his crew.

“He’s a really lovely person,” Foy says of Bean. “He’s so, so sweet and so kind. It was fun to see firsthand him be this sweet, lovely guy, and then this cool bad guy, and he’s screaming in my face and pretending to hit me, and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re so cool. This is so fun.'”

The Isolate Thief is a gritty film filled with violence and blood, and the actress shares a humorous moment on the set.

“I don’t want to spoil it, but I ended up having to go into a situation in the way that they faked it,” she explained. “It was like melted chocolate, and I’m covered in snow and dirt, and I was just sitting there eating ramen. I was like, ‘This is crazy. My job is cool. That’s crazy.'”

The film gave Foy a taste of wanting to do action films.

“I really want to do an action film,” she said. “Like a proper action film, especially after doing this.”

About The Isolate Thief

Synopsis: One bitter-cold winter during the Civil War, a young woman becomes the lone caretaker of a remote Union Army outpost. When a stash of stolen gold falls into her lap, a gang of vicious outlaws comes looking for it. As they turn her home into a battleground, she must stay one step ahead of them in order to survive.

The Isolate Thief stars Mackenzie Foy (Interstellar) Odeya Rush (Corporate Retreat), Jack Kesy (The Killer), Ty Simpkins (The Whale), Martin Sensmeier (Frybread Face and Me) with Joe Pantoliano (Bad Boys for Life) and Sean Bean (The Lord of the Rings franchise).

The film is directed by John Suits (3022) and written by Kevin Lefler.

The Isolate Thief releases in theaters on July 10, 2026.

The post Mackenzie Foy Says Sean Bean Was ‘Such a Lovely Person’ on The Isolate Thief appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

Filmmakers are inspired by the films before them. With Sébastien Vaniček and Evil Dead Burn, he was focused on having his own style.

“I’m trying to stay away from movies I love because I don’t want those directors to influence me too much,” the director tells Nerd Reactor. “I’m trying to create my own style and my own thing.”

Evil Dead Burn balances the shared moments that many have had, and then the filmmakers would try to take those moments and twist them.

“We always try to create real things,” Vaniček said. “We start the process by talking about things we experienced, and then we make them even more horrible. We put the stakes higher, and everything is higher, more dangerous, more horrible, more this, more that. So characters are a little bit bigger than life, but we start the writing process with things from real life, from our experience.”

The kissing scene in the film is sure to be the most talked-about scene. It’s bloody, yet also very passionate.

“I think also the fact that you, for example, love that kissing scene, there is a reason,” Souheila Yacoub tells me. “It’s not just aesthetic. It’s how we say in French, ‘gratuit’… free. It’s because there is a context with the characters, and we believe in their relationship in their past lives.”

You can check out our full video interview above!

Evil Dead Burns releases in theaters on July 10, 2026.

The post Evil Dead Burn Director Explains Why He Avoids Copying His Favorite Movies appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

Moderated by Lisle Wilkerson, best known for voicing Nina Williams and Christie Monteiro in the Tekken series, the panel was lively, entertaining, and engaging. The first half of the panel focused on the popular WEBTOON manhwa ELECEED, which is being adapted into a TV anime series by DandeLion Animation Studio and will premiere worldwide in April 2027. The shonen web series, translated into 10 languages and still ongoing, is currently at chapter 393, with new updates weekly. For fans of the manhwa, Penguin Random House will also be releasing the print editions in North America next year.

ELECEED

At the panel, special ELECEED guests included the illustrator ZHENA and the author Jeho Son, who shared behind-the-scenes stories with the audience. When asked what anime had first inspired their craft, Jeho Son said it was Laputa: Castle in the Sky, one of Studio Ghibli’s most influential films, that he kept watching over and over. For ZHENA, it was the Rose of Versailles that made her heart beat so hard that she hopes her work might do the same for others one day.

Fans of the manhwa also learned that the cat version of the character Kayden, was originally supposed to be a dog. Jeho Son said that while preparing to pitch ELECEED to ZHENA, he changed his approach at the last minute and presented it as a “fat cat on the streets” story rather than a heavily action-oriented one, believing the latter would’ve made her less likely to join the project. In response to this remark, ZHENA emphatically nodded. And since ZHENA’s own cat is orange, it eventually became the final look of the important character. 

ZHENA also kept expressing that she was nervous working on the project, and Jeho Son explained that it was because he kept on emphasizing to her that the human version of Kayden had to be the “best-looking and coolest character ever,” while the cat version had to be the “laziest and most pitiful-looking.” It all worked out since the manhwa is almost 8 years old now and still going strong.

When an audience member asked how much input the author gives the artist beyond the Kayden character, it was revealed that although Jeho Son spearheaded the story, ZHENA provided feedback on certain characters, especially the ones she had worked hardest to draw. He couldn’t bring himself to kill off characters she felt particularly attached to!

Fans can look forward to the anime premiering in April 2027, but in the meantime, here’s the newest trailer:

RE:BEL ROBOTICA

The second half of the panel brought in a new guest, illustrator Mika Pikazo, known for her vivid, colorful style and most recognized for her character design work on the video game Fire Emblem Engage. Mika’s work was also featured prominently at this Anime Expo, as she designed the newest promotional art for the official magazines, banners, flyers, and more. You can’t mistake her style, which focuses on expressive eyes, hyper-saturated neon color palettes, chaotic composition, and sharp line work, which was heavily influenced by her 2.5 years living in Brazil after graduating from high school. 

Now, she’s working on an anime that was originally a self-published manga from Comiket called RE:BEL ROBOTICA with animation studio SILVER LINK. When the producer first saw her doujinshi, he was drawn to her beautiful use of color and wanted to bring that unique visual style to life through animation. The work also asks what the world will be like in 2050. Will advanced technology really make people happy?

There’s an incredible team surrounding the anime, including:

• Director Shin-Onuma, known for the Fate Prisma Illya series 
• Screenplay by Ryo Yoshigami, known for Psycho-Pass
• Composer Yuki Kajiura, known for Demon Slayer, Sword Art Online, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and more

All we know is that the anime will officially premiere sometime in 2027. In the meantime, here’s the newest trailer, until we get more updates:

Anime Expo, the largest celebration of Japanese pop culture in North America, will return next year to the Los Angeles Convention Center from July 2 to July 5, 2027.

The post ELECEED Anime and Mika Pikazo’s RE:BEL ROBOTICA Revealed at Anime Expo 2026 appeared first on Nerd Reactor.