#1969 wb movie

[hezigler]

Do you like tattoos?

It's kind of a vague question... like, do I like illustrations in any media, including skin?

Well, yeah, of course I Iike illustrations, regardless of media, including skin. If they're accomplished with skill and artistry. More so if I like the subject matter of the illustration. In fact, because an x-son in law of ours was a tattoo artist, I'm quite opinionated about contemporary skin illustrations.

Admittedly, I don't have a tattoo, have never considered getting one, and I'm unlikely to get one.

I came of age in a time when the only people I knew who had tattoos were World War II vets (both older cousins who fought in the Pacific) and Holocaust survivors (first way I ever saw a European style seven with the line in it was on a neighborhood kid's mom's tattooed numbers on her arm).

[dorothydalmati1]

Obscure Animation Subject #44: Looney Tunes Cartoons

Originally posted on Twitter on April 4, 2023.

No not the classics, the 2020 show.

Happy 100th birthday to Warner Bros, one of Hollywood’s biggest studios, well known for their Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons, and this is an attempt to bring them back.

The original cartoons were released in theaters between 1930 and 1969, and were a huge success for WB until the decline of theatrical animated shorts in the 1960s. It didn’t stop WB to expand Looney Tunes as a franchise through, as multiple TV shows, movies and merch were made.

Looney Tunes Cartoons was different from most LT shows though, as its an attempt to bring back the golden years of the cartoons from the 40s and 50s. The show is developed by Uncle Grandpa creator Peter Browngardt, produced by Warner Bros. Animation and releases on HBO Max.

The show made a sneak peek at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival on June 10, 2019, and officially premiered on May 27, 2020. Currently, there’s five seasons with a sixth season yet announced. However, given the current status of WB season 5 might be the final season. (PERSONAL NOTE: The series was renewed for a sixth season which served as the final for the show.)

A huge shame really, because the show returned a lot of aspects what made the classics so good in the first place, but given that CEO David Zaslav hates quality, he’s probably making the show a tax write-off. Sounds scary isn’t? If you want the show to continue, GO WATCH IT RIGHT NOW! It’s a passion project and a love-letter by fans of the original cartoons, and there was a lot of heart, care, craft and effort put into it. Awesome animation, great voice-acting and fantastic humor. Please don’t let Zaslav tax it off completely extinct!

(REMINDER: Okay yeah this isn’t considered obscure to the animation community, but for casual people it is. Blame WBD for how the show was treated, it deserved a much better fate.)

[brookston]

Holidays 7.26

Holidays

All or Nothing Day

Americans with Disabilities Day

Armed Forces Unification Day

Aunts and Uncles Day

Carousel Day

Create a Signature Day

Day of Iansa (Brazil)

Day of National Significance (Barbados)

Day of the National Rebellion (Cuba)

Disability Independence Day

Esperanto Day

FBI Day

Hillary Clinton Day

Holistic Therapy Day

International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem

Kargil Vijay Diwas (a.k.a. Kargil Victory Day; India)

Moncada Day (Cuba)

Movie Theater Day

National Disability Day

National Dog Photography Day (UK)

National I Got U Day

National Boop Your Pet Day

National Ranboo Day

National Saint Day

One Voice Day

Otaru Tide Festival (Japan)

Post Office Day

Racial Desegregation Day (US Army)

Ranggeln (Germany)

Revolution Day (Cuba)

Safflower Day (French Republic)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Bagelfest Day

Curacao Day

Groovy Chicken Day

National Coffee Milkshake Day

National S’Mores Day

Roquefort Cheese Day

Wonderful Drinks Day

World Tofu Day

4th & Last Wednesday in July

Oregon Brewers Festival begins [Last full weekend; Wednesday thru Saturday]

Independence Days

Imperial Federation of the Dharug Nation (Declared; 2021) [unrecognized]

Liberia (from the American Colonization Society, 1847)

Maldives (from UK, 1965)

New York Statehood Day (#11; 1788)

Feast Days

Andrew of Phú Yên (Christian; Blessed)

Anne (Western Christianity)

Asarnha Bucha Day (Thailand)

Bartolomea Capitanio (Christian; Saint)

Bert (Muppetism)

Festival of Hathor (Egyptian God of Drunkenness)

Festival of Sleipnir (Norse)

Gernnanus, Bishop of Auxerre (Christian; Saint)

George Grosz (Artology)

Green Corn Ceremony Day (Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico)

Joachim (Western Christianity)

Maria Pierina (Christian; Blessed)

Paraskevi of Rome (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Poussin (Positivist; Saint)

Solstitium XIII (Pagan)

Stanley Kubrick Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Venera (Christian; Saint)

White Wine Day (Pastafarian)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Lucky Day (Philippines) [42 of 71]

Tomobiki (友引 Japan) [Good luck all day, except at noon.]

Premieres

Alice in Wonderland (UK Animated Disney Film; 1951)

Austin Powers in Goldmember (Film; 2002)

The Boys (TV Series; 2019)

Bugged by a Bee (WB LT Cartoon; 1969)

Captain America: Brave New World (Film; 2024)

Chain Gang, by Sam Cooke (Song; 1960)

Curly Top (Film; 1935)

Dog Tales (WB LT Cartoon; 1958)

Equus, by Peter Shaffer (Play; 1973)

For Me and My Gal, recorded by Judy Garland and Gene Kelly (Song; 1942)

Green Lantern: Beware My Power (WB Animated Film; 2022)

Hamlet, by William Shakespeare (Play; 1602)

Harper Valley P.T.A., recorded by Jeannie C. Riley (Song; 1968)

Head Over Heels (Broadway Musical; 2018)

Kingpin (Film; 1996)

Little Miss Sunshine (Film; 2006)

Lord of the Dance, by Michael Flatley (Musical Performance; 1996)

National Lampoon’s European Vacation (Film; 1985)

Oily Hare (WB MM Cartoon; 19522)

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Film; 2019)

Parsifal, by Richard Wagner (Opera; 1882)

Point Counter Point, by Aldous Huxley (Book; 1928)

A Rainy Day in New York (Film; 2019)

Rock Bottom, by Robert Wyatt (Album; 1974)

Searching for Sugar Man (Documentary Film; 2012)

Thomas and the Magic Railroad (Film; 2000)

The To Do List (Film; 2013)

Unidentified Flying Oddball (Film; 1979)

What Happened to Mary (Serial Film; 1912)

The Wolverine (Film; 2013)

Today’s Name Days

Anna, Gloria, Joachim (Austria)

Paraskeva (Bulgaria)

Ana, Bara, Barica, Joakim (Croatia)

Anna (Czech Republic)

Anna (Denmark)

Anete, Anita, Ann, Anna, Anne, Anneli, Anni, Annika, Anu (Estonia)

Martta (Finland)

Anne, Hannah, Joachin (France)

Anna, Joachim (Germany)

Erse, Ersi, Paraskeve, Paraskevi (Greece)

Anikó, Anna (Hungary)

Anna, Benigno, Caro, Giacomo (Italy)

Ance, Aneta, Anna, Annija (Latvia)

Daugintas, Eigirdė, Ona (Lithuania)

Ane, Anna, Anne (Norway)

Anna, Bartolomea, Grażyna, Mirosława (Poland)

Anna, Hana (Slovakia)

Ana, Joaquín (Spain)

Jesper (Sweden)

Sara, Sarah (Ukraine)

Ana, Anissa, Anita, Anika, Aniya, Aniyah, Ann, Anna, Anne, Annette, Annie, Annika, Annis, Annmarie, Anson, Anya, Blake, Hanna, Hannah, Nancy, Nanette, Nina (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 207 of 2024; 158 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of week 30 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Tinne (Holly) [Day 17 of 28]

Chinese: Month 6 (Ji-Wei), Day 9 (Yi-You)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 8 Av 5783

Islamic: 8 Muharram 1445

J Cal: 27 Lux; Sixday [27 of 30]

Julian: 13 July 2023

Moon: 58%: Waxing Gibbous

Positivist: 11 Dante (8th Month) [Poussin]

Runic Half Month: Ur (Primal Strength) [Day 13 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 36 of 94)

Zodiac: Leo (Day 5 of 31)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 12.19

Holidays

Advocacy Day (Ukraine)

Almanack Day

Bantha Appreciation Day (Star Wars)

Build a Snowman Day

A Christmas Carol Day

Digital Twin Day

E-Mail Santa Claus Just in Case He Didn't Get Your Letter Day [ mailroom ] 

Fiesta of Santo Tomas begins (Guatemala; until 25th)

Gender Critical Coming Out Day

Goa Liberation Day (India)

Holly Day

I've Got My Big Guy Fat Pants On Day

Liberation Day (Goa)

Look for an Evergreen Day

Mitch Marner Day (Canada)

National Emo Day

National Harry Day

National Heroes & Heroines Day (Anguilla)

Olive Day (French Republic)

Robinson Crusoe Rescue Day

Thorn Cutting Ceremony (Glastonbury, Somerset, UK)

Yuletide Lad #8 arrives (Skyrgamur or Skyr-Gobbler; Iceland)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Chocolate Pizza Day

Cream Liqueur Day

Currant Buns Day (UK)

National Hard Candy Day

National Oatmeal Muffin Day

3rd Tuesday in December

Christmas Cookie House Day [3rd Tuesday]

Independence Days

Børge (a.k.a. Republic of Libri; Declared; 2017) [unrecognized]

Republic of Lakotah (Declared; 2007) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Adam (Christian; Saint)

Anastasius I, Pope (Christian; Saint)

Asgard Day (Pagan)

The Bee (Muppetism)

Bernard Valeara (Christian; Saint)

Cavendish (Positivist; Saint)

Dalek Remembrance Day (Pastafarian)

Feast of Goddess of Sankrant (Hindu)

Juventas Festival (Ancient Rome)

Lillian Trasher (Episcopal Church)

Lorenzo di Medici Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Nathan Oliveira (Artology)

Nemesion (Christian; Saint)

Opalia (Celebrating Ops, the old Roman Mother Earth)

O Radix Jesse (3rd O Antiphon or Great Advent Antiphon; Christian) [O Root of Jesse; 3 of 7]

Robot Awareness Day (Pastafarian)

Saint Nicholas Day (Eastern Christian) [Ukraine]

Samthann of Meath (Christian; Saint)

Urban V, Pope (Christian; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Fortunate Day (Pagan) [49 of 53]

Prime Number Day: 353 [71 of 72]

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Umu Limnu (Evil Day; Babylonian Calendar; 58 of 60)

Premieres

The Aristocats (Animated Disney Film; 1980)

Babes in Toyland (TV Movie; 1986)

Bars of Steal or The Hard Cell (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S3, Ep. 136; 1961)

Being There (Film; 1979)

Blue Suede Shoes, recorded by Carl Perkins (Song; 1955)

Boris Badenov and His Friends? (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S3, Ep. 135; 1961)

Captain Blood (Film; 1935)

A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens (Novella; 1843)

A Clockwork Orange (Film; 1971)

Deal or No Deal (TV game Show; 2005)

The Fellowship of the Ring (Film; 2001) [Lord of the Rings #1]

From All of Us to All of You (Animated Disney TV Christmas Special; 1958)

Judgment at Nuremberg (Film; 1961)

Kramer vs. Kramer (Film; 1979)

Laughing Boy:A Navajo Love Story, by Oliver La Farge (Novel; 1929)

The Little Drummer Boy (Xmas Song; 1958)

Little Shop of Horrors (Film; 1986)

The Man with the Golden Gun (UK Film; 1974) [James Bond #9]

Mary Poppins Returns (Film; 2018)

Mona Lisa Smile (Film; 2003)

Monsters, Inc. (Animated Pixar Film; 2012)

More Kittens (Disney Cartoon; 1936)

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (Film; 2014)

9 to 5 (Film; 1980)

People Are Bunny (WB MM Cartoon; 1959)

Platoon (Film; 1986)

Porky in the North Woods (WB LT Cartoon; 1936)

Punch Trunk (WB LT Cartoon; 1953)

Raging Bull (Film; 1980)

Seems Like Old Times (Film; 1980)

Song of the Sea (Animated Film; 2014)

A Symposium on Popular Songs (Disney Cartoon; 1962)

The Tale of Desperaux (Animated Film; 2008)

Titanic (Film; 1997)

Tomorrow Never Dies (US Film; 1997) [James Bond #18]

Topaz (Film; 1969)

Yes Man (Film; 2008)

Zero Dark Thirty (Film; 2012)

Today’s Name Days

Benjamin, Susanne (Austria)

Anastazije, Eva, Tea, Urban, Vladimir (Croatia)

Ester (Czech Republic)

Nemesius (Denmark)

Maarius, Mairo, Mario (Estonia)

Iikka, Iiro, Iisakki, Isko (Finland)

Urbain (France)

Benjamin, Susanna (Germany)

Aglaia, Aris (Greece)

Viola (Hungary)

Dario (Italy)

Jordisa, Lelde, Minjona, Sarmis (Latvia)

Darijus, Gerdvilas, Rimantė (Lithuania)

Isak, Iselin (Norway)

Abraham, Beniamin, Dariusz, Gabriela, Mścigniew, Nemezjusz, Tymoteusz, Urban (Poland)

Aglaia, Bonifatie, Grichentie, Trifon (Romania)

Judita (Slovakia)

Darío, Eva (Spain)

Isak (Sweden)

Boniface, Mecheslav, Mecheslava (Ukraine)

Daria, Darian, Darien, Dario, Darion, Darius, Haysten (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 353 of 2024; 12 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 2 of week 51 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Ruis (Elder) [Day 22 of 28]

Chinese: Month 12 (Jia-Zi), Day 7 (Xin-Hai)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 7 Teveth 5784

Islamic: 6 Jumada II 1445

J Cal: 23 Zima; Twosday [23 of 30]

Julian: 6 December 2023

Moon: 50%: 1st Quarter

Positivist: 17 Bichat (13th Month) [Cavendish]

Runic Half Month: Jara (Year) [Day 9 of 15]

Season: Autumn (Day 88 of 89)

Zodiac: Sagittarius (Day 28 of 30)

[heavenboy09]

Happy Birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊 To The Most Ravishing & Radiant British Redheaded Actress Of All Times.

She has starred in Countless Films 🎥 & A Iconic Television Series & Tv Movies Over Several Decades In Her Acting Career

Hailing all the way Uxbridge,  Middlesex Of England 🇬🇧

She was born to Mieke van Tricht (1914–2007),

a nurse, and Benjamin John Frankenberg FRCOG (1914–1990), a distinguished gynaecologist and obstetrician. Her father was Jewish; he was born in England, to a family from Nowe Trzepowo, a village in Poland. Her mother was a Dutch Protestant (with family from Deventer) who was a prisoner of war during World War II and had lived in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Seymour has stated she learned Dutch from her mother and her fellow survivors from the Japanese internment camp, who frequently spent holidays together in the Netherlands when she was a child. Encouraged by her parents (who sent her to live with family friends in Geneva to practise her languages), she learned to speak fluent French.

In 1969, Seymour appeared uncredited in her first film, Richard Attenborough's Oh! What a Lovely War. In 1970, Seymour appeared in her first major film role in the war drama The Only Way. She played Lillian Stein, a Jewish woman seeking shelter from Nazi persecution. In 1973, she gained her first major television role as Emma Callon in the successful 1970s series The Onedin Line. During this time, she appeared as female lead Prima in the two part television miniseries Frankenstein: The True Story. She appeared as Winston Churchill's girlfriend Pamela Plowden in Young Winston, produced by her father-in-law Richard Attenborough.

In 1973, Seymour achieved international fame in her role as Bond girl Solitaire in the James Bond film Live and Let Die. IGN ranked her as 10th in a Top 10 Bond Babes list. In 1975, Seymour was cast as Princess Farah in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, the third part of Ray Harryhausen's Sinbad trilogy. The film was not released until its stop motion animation sequences had been completed in 1977. In 1978, she appeared as Serina in the Battlestar Galactica film and in the first five episodes of the television series. Seymour returned to the big screen in the comedy Oh Heavenly Dog opposite Chevy Chase

In 1993, Seymour was cast as Dr. Michaela Quinn in the television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, a medical drama set in the Wild West which ran for 6 seasons and resulted in a further two Emmy nominations and four Golden Globe nominations, including one win. Seymour was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and, in 2000, was appointed an Officer Of The Order Of The British Empire

In addition to her acting career, Seymour is the founder of the Open Hearts Foundation as well as an author, having (co-)written several children's books and self-help books. Under the Jane Seymour Designs label, she has created jewellery, scarves, furniture, rugs, handbags, paintings and sculptures.

In the 2000's She returned back to Back Television in The WB'S/ CW'S Hit Superhero TV Series 📺 Based On DC COMICS Comicbook Character,  Superman 🦸‍♂️

SMALLVILLE

& appeared in Other films & tv shows later on

From Wedding Crashers 💒

To Modern Men

From How I Met Your Mother

To Dancing With The Stars 🌟

She has posed for Playboy 3 times over the her long time Career & At Her Age There Is No Stopping Her Ageless Beauty from Being More Ravishing then ever before.

She is The Greatest English Actress Of Pur Times Among All Of The Greatest Since the Early 1900's & Beyond

Please wish this Radiant Treasure ✨ Of A British Actress A Very Elegant & Graceful Happy Birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊

You Know Her & You Just Gotta Love Her 💘

The 1 & The Only

MS. JANE SEYMOUR ♥ 👩‍🦰

HAPPY 72ND BIRTHDAY 🎂 💓 💗 💖 ❤ TO YOU MS. SEYMOUR

[kwebtv]

Anne Celeste Heche (/heɪtʃ/ HAYTCH;  May 25, 1969 – August 11, 2022)  Film, stage and television actress who came to recognition portraying twins Vicky Hudson and Marley Love on the soap opera Another World (1987–1991), winning her a Daytime Emmy Award and two Soap Opera Digest Awards.

In addition to her film roles, Heche starred in the comedy drama television series Men in Trees (2006–08), Hung (2009–11), Save Me (2013), Aftermath (2016), and the military drama television series The Brave (2017). She lent her voice to the animated television series The Legend of Korra (2014), where she voiced Suyin Beifong, and appeared as a contestant in the 29th season of Dancing with the Stars (2020).

For her work on Another World, Heche received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series in 1991. In November 1991, Heche made her primetime television debut in an episode of Murphy Brown. She made her TV-movie debut the following year with a brief appearance in the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of O Pioneers! (1992).

In 2001, she obtained a recurring role in the fourth season of the television series Ally McBeal.   She took on the recurring role on the WB drama Everwood during its 2004–05 season, and then a recurring role on Nip/Tuck in 2005 as an ex-mob wife and Witness Protection Program subject who requires plastic surgery. Heche continued her television work with her portrayal of a widow who does not celebrate Christmas in the made-for-CBS Silver Bells (2005), and a con woman who schemes a man she meets on a dating website in the made-for-Lifetime Fatal Desire (2006).

In 2006 Heche began work on her own series, Men in Trees.   In 2009, she was cast in the HBO dramedy series Hung, as the ex-wife of a financially struggling high school basketball/baseball coach (portrayed by Thomas Jane). The series received favorable reviews and aired until 2011.    She had a recurring guest-role on The Michael J. Fox Show before its cancellation.

On September 25, 2017, Heche debuted as (fictional) Deputy Director Patricia Campbell of the (real-life) Defense Intelligence Agency, or the "DIA", in the new military/espionage thriller The Brave. Heche was the series lead for the 2017–18 season of this NBC series. Campbell oversees an elite team of cross-military-service specialists who must undertake especially dangerous missions, led by male lead Mike Vogel. In 2018, she joined the television series Chicago P.D. in a supporting role.  (Wikipedia)

[dans-den]

Velma Review

How's it going everyone? Happy MLK Jr day, unfortunately what I'm gonna be talking about today is anything but happy. Today I'll be giving my review for the...much anticipated disaster that is...Velma.

I honestly did not think I could find something even worse than the Fairly Odder show.....but once again, life finds a way.....to prove me wrong. While Fairly Odder is the worse variation of a beloved franchise in the form of a kids show, Velma is definitely the worse variation of a beloved franchise in the form of an adult show. There is so much wrong with this show that I don't even know where to start, guess I'll dive into this dumpster fire and hopefully come out the other side with my sanity intact.

I guess we should start with how Scooby Doo started. This property goes all the way back to 1969, All the characters have been established since 1969. Now I don't have a problem with modernizing the characters, I honestly don't. There have been several attempts to make them up to date and each decade has had one iteration or another of the Mystery Gang. Now some can argue those old direct to video Scooby Doo movies from the 80's with Red shirt Shaggy and Scrappy Doo is a notable exception where the gang wasn't present and that's true. Some argue that they're great some argue that they go against the source material it's kind of mixed. I personally thought they were entertaining despite that the gang wasn't whole and that it focused on wacky monster adventures rather than solving mysteries. While that is the case, they at least kept the main character Scooby Doo in the movies and they kept in spirit of the franchise. It is a Scooby Doo project that's trying to mix up the formula. Velma feels completely opposite, it feels like it was meant to be something else, but someone at WB decided to slap the Scooby Doo characters names on it because no one had faith in the show. This is the exact same reason the Halo TV Show failed. They made something generic and used a beloved property to make sure its watched to a certain degree. Velma pays no respect to the franchise its "supposedly" based off of. All the characters are different and given either architypes that don't fit them at all like Shaggy (or Norville as he's called in the show. guess they wanna use Shaggy's real name to make him less stoner...idk it doesn't work) or cliché architypes like Fred who of course was given the rich white boy who's dumb and slightly racist. Velma and Daphne are basically self inserts of Mindy Kaling and Constance Wu.

Now the characters/cast, no disrespect to any of them they're all just doing their jobs. However, it does not excuse how the direction given to them is nothing short of a...not so much a slap to the face of the Scooby Doo fandom, but more of a sledgehammer to the face. Mindy herself is an executive producer and I really feel she wanted to make this show something else but someone told her "Use the Scooby Doo franchise, that'll make your show great!". As I mentioned, the show is so far from the source material that it doesn't feel like Scooby Doo. In fact, Scooby Doo, the main character and mascot of the Mystery Gang, is not in the show. To be honest that is probably for the best so they don't ruin him. How can you have a Scooby Doo show without Scooby Doo? It's not a spinoff it's its own thing. I mentioned what types of characters they are, and each one is just...unlikable, especially Velma. Again, no disrespect to the cast for doing their jobs but none of the characters are likable in any way shape or form. Velma is cocky, know it all, rude, mean spirited, a basic bitch. Daphne is a cliché popular girl who is just inconstant yet has her moments of character development but it feels so forced that it's hard to enjoy it. Norville (aka Shaggy) is suppose to be the opposite version of Shaggy where he anti-drugs, bland personality, he's a literal simp for Velma (who treats him poorly), and is just boring to watch. Fred is the preppy rich white kid who looks down on everyone under him and his gag is that he has a small penis...no jokes its a gag that just doesn't go away. Daphne is by far the least bad but that's not saying much. I can't enjoy any of them, they're just hard to watch and mean spirited overall. As I said, I don't have an issue with reimagining's of characters, I'm not bothered by the fact that they're different ethnicities and backgrounds. It's a bit jarring because why not just make original characters with these designs? If you want representation then created new characters that can set that trail. But even if you change these established characters backgrounds, it wouldn't been an issue if you were able to maintain the key aspects of those characters. This show just straight up replaced their character aspects with something different. All the lovable traits of the gang are all gone, they've all been replaced with just generic high school tropes.

Damn, I'm barely getting to the actual episodes just now? That should be a telling sign. I tried to watch the first episode and I could not make it pass the ten minute mark. I have not raged out of a show that fast since Fairly Odder last year. The first episode tried to real Meta and poke fun at movies/tv shows tropes but it doesn't land. The humor feels so forced and nothing builds up to it. A show can at least be watchable if the humor makes it so bad its good, but the humor is such a miss 99% of the time and its so bad...its just bad. They make fun of tropes and try to be meta but none of it works, there's no real set up for the humor and the jokes feel more mean spirited like the 420 joke they told in this show, jabbing at adults who like animation. It doesn't feel like it was made for fun, it felt like it was meant to resent the audience and alienate the fandom. The locker room scene with the dead girl had the joke "She has no brain!" that joke felt like it was AI generated or something a 10 year old could have made. I also find it odd how they talk about the nudity tropes while there's high school girls nude in the shower. If this is meant to appeal to an adult audience...why have high school girls naked? This show is trying to be woke and PC yet you went with a cliché that I strongly feel is outdated and unnecessary as well as just alarming. I understand these are fictional characters, but it doesn't make it any less creepy and unnerving. They also make plenty of pop culture references that just feel....lame. None of it is funny or delivered in any fun or funny way.

Do I think a Scooby Doo show with more mature themes can work?

Yes! It can work and its been proven to work. Mystery Incorporated proved it can work with dark mature themes and fleshing out the characters for modern times. If Velma took a page out of Mystery Incorporated, it could have actually been an entertaining adult cartoon. The Velma show had the potential to be good, I'll admit the animation isn't half bad at times. For the most part it looks average, but the animation has it's moments especially when Velma has her ghoulish anxiety episodes, the animation is actually pretty cool I wish it was more like that style. Even if they didn't want to take inspiration from Mystery Incorporated, I still feel that they could have gone about this show in several ways.

First off, age the characters up. Make them like young adults in college or just in general that way the nudity and raunchiness has more justification to stay rather than sexualizing high schoolers (which has been done to hell and back and is just outdated).

Secondly, there should be more focus on Velma's mom. That may be the one element that could save the show. I don't know if they're saving it for later on or as a finale type deal but I feel that had they established Velma's mom as a main plotline in the show, it would make it more interesting, more of a Mystery/crime solving show.

Third, why couldn't these characters be their own characters rather than the actual mystery gang? I think these guys would have done better if they were a new batch of meddling kids that would be successors to the original mystery gang. In fact there is gonna be a Scooby Doo show about that for preschoolers called Scooby Doo and the Mystery Pups coming soon. It is exactly what I'm suggesting for the Velma show. This should have been new characters brought in to take on the mantle of the mystery gang rather than being cheap imitations of the actual gang.

Final suggestion, DONT MAKE A SCOOBY DOO SHOW IF THERE IS NO SCOOBY DOO!

Overall, This is yet another show that was trying to build off the name of a beloved franchise and failed completely. This I feel is yet another instant of handing beloved properties to people who do not like or respect the source material in the slightest and made whatever they felt like and alienated the fanbase. Velma is down there with Animaniacs (2020), Powerpuff Girls (2016), Teen Titans Go!, and Fairly Odder. There's talks of a Season 2 coming out and I encourage everyone to not watch it. Don't give it the time of day because if you do, WB will continue making shit like this and the only way for them to stop is to hit them where it hurts, profit. If you wanna give Velma a go then by all means but I'm not gonna keep watching it. If something happens that makes it suddenly good then I'll be pleasantly surprised, but I highly doubt that.

Rating Velma I am giving it:

0.5/10

I know this may seem premature to rate it this early on in its run but I do not believe it will get any better. If by some miracle it does, I will come back and reevaluate it with a firm apology. I'm open to be proven wrong but I stand by that this show is beyond saving and I do not recommend anyone watch it whether its Ironic or Unironic. Never thought there could be a show that would beat out Fairly odder.

First review of 2023, off to a good start....Hopefully the next pieces of media I cover won't be as horrendous.

See Ya!

[happytheoristavenue]

DC fell short on live-action movies: An Opinion

Let’s talk about DC Comics. DC Comics, one of the original superhero content producers in America, and home of legendary heroes like Batman and Superman. Although my heart will always scream for DC, I must say, the movies have been a disappointment over the past few years. They are remembered for producing The Dark Knight, which gave us an iconic performance of the Joker from one Health Ledger. And sure, their WB Animation movies surpass any animated movie created by Marvel; however, when it comes to creating their own cinematic universe to compete with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they fell more than short.

Before we get into why I think DC fell short in their competition with Marvel, let’s go over their past triumphs. Both DC and Marvel have put animated movies; however, here’s where Marvel fell short: animation. In the early 2010s, Marvel was acquired by Disney, which meant that Marvel had access to resources for their animation. However, Disney’s cartoon animation was not meant for the superhero genre; not to mention the child-like symphony like those in Disney movies. DC was acquired my Warner Bros, who also owns Cartoon Network, the channel with some of the best cartoons for children and preteens in America. But what made DC’s animated content better than Marvels? It was their animation styles.

I can explain this, though.  Warner Bros acquired DC Comics in 1969, so they are the veterans in producing animated superhero content. They also used Cartoon Network to push this content to children and preteens; shows like Teen Titans, Batman: The Aminated Series, Batman: The Brave and The Bold, Superman: The Animated Series, both Justice League shows, and Young Justice. All top-tier animation that brought hype for their viewers. In contrast, Disney acquired Marvel in 2009, right at the end of their “Snow White” animation era. They put out content through one of their network channels Disney XD, including shows like The Ultimate Spiderman, Avengers Assemble, and movies like Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow and one for Doctor Strange. But you’ll notice something familiar about all these animated movies: don’t they remind you of a Disney movie? Even the fight scenes seem like Disney slapstick. I used to scream at fight scenes in Young Justice and Teen Titans compared to watching The Ultimate Spider-Man or Avengers Assemble.

Now I know I give Marvel a lot of negativities, and I will always side with DC superheroes in a who’s-better-than-who argument. However, I must give credit when credit is due. Disney set the standard for live-action superhero movies. From the first Iron Man movie, all the way up to The Multiverse of Madness, Disney has managed to maintain powerful box office numbers with every movie they put out a movie. They also have excellent directors and cinematographers on their sets. This is where DC dropped the ball; while I admit that Wonder Woman and Aquaman probably had the best cinematography out of all the DCEU movies, it still didn’t compete with Marvel. 

DC also fell short on storytelling. I haven’t read a single Marvel comic book in my life, and I was able to follow along with the franchise easily. DC made too much unwanted changes to their story. While it is ideal to create entirely new storylines, it’s a swing-and-miss scenario. Zack Snyder’s Batman vs. Superman and Justice League drastically changed a storyline that was already established by DC Comics. While Marvel may have made minor changes to the Infinity Saga comic series in their franchise, at least those changes didn’t completely change the story. In Justice League, the story goes along with Justice League: War, a comic that sets up the initial collaboration of future Justice League members: Batman, Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, and Shazam. They collaborate to defeat Darkside and prevent him from taking over Earth.

While Snyder’s movie did follow this storyline, it left a new one up in the air. Before the final battle, Batman has a dream of a future where he leads the resistance against Superman, who turned into a dictator after the death of Lois Lane, his then fiancé. When Batman wakes up, a future Flash talks to him from a portal, tell him “Lois is the key,” meaning Lois is the key to keeping Superman at bay. This is a similar plot to another storyline: Injustice, where the Joker tricks Superman into killing Lois and causes Metropolis to be destroyed. This made Superman go on a journey of world domination. This would have been a cool live-action movie franchise to release in theaters, but Snyder messed so bad with Batman vs. Superman and Justice League, WB scrapped that whole storyline that would’ve been in another movie. 

While there are good DC live-action movies in existence, they don’t hold a candle to Marvel movies. I do, however, have hope that DC makes a comeback with Black Adam. It remains to be seen whether a DC movie will surpass a Marvel movie in box office earnings.

[omniversalobservations]

Scoob! (2020)

Warner Bros. has released the final trailer for its Scooby-Doo movie, SCOOB!. In the fifty-plus years since Hanna-Barbera introduced Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, and the rest of the Mystery, Inc. gang in 1969's Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! animated series, the characters have gone on to appear in several direct to video animated movies, cartoon spinoff shows, and even a pair of live-action films written by James Gunn back in the 2000s. SCOOB!, however, is the first-ever feature-length animated Scooby-Doo feature intended for a theatrical release. It could also end up launching an animated Hanna-Barbera cinematic universe, should it prove to be a box office hit.

Directed by Tony Cervone (Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated) from a script credited to Adam Sztykiel, Jack C. Donaldson, Derek Elliott, and Matt Lieberman, SCOOB! reveals how Scooby-Doo and his friends met one another and formed their crime-solving business Mystery Inc., in addition to exploring Scooby's "secret legacy". The film's teaser, which has been out since last November, likewise shows a young Scooby and Shaggy meeting for the first time, before teasing the grown-up duo's close encounter with the superhero Blue Falcon. Now, with two months to go before the movie's release, WB is pulling the curtain back a little further.

The final SCOOB! trailer is now online, ahead of its premiere in theaters this weekend with Pixar's animated feature Onward. You can check it out, below.

In addition to revealing Mark Wahlberg as Blue Falcon (he dabs - yes, really), the SCOOB! trailer offers a sneak peek at the villainous Dick Dastardly, as voiced by Jason Isaacs in the movie. For those unfamiliar, the gadget-centric superhero Blue Falcon was introduced by Hanna-Barbera in the animated series Dynomutt, Dog Wonder (which aired as part of The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour in the late '70s). Dastardly, meanwhile, is the iconic mustache-twirling villain who's appeared in all manner of Hanna-Barbera projects since the animation studio introduced him in 1968 (a year before Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! debuted). For SCOOB! Blue Falcon will be joined by Kiersey Clemons (Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising) as Dee Dee Skyes, the pilot of his ship Falcon Fury, and Ken Jeong (Community) as Dynomutt, in addition to the primary voice cast: Frank Welker as Scooby-Doo, Will Forte as Shaggy, Gina Rodriguez as Velma, Amanda Seyfried as Daphne, and Zac Efron as Fred.

Between the inclusion of Blue Falcon and Dick Dastardly and scenes showing how the Mystery, Inc. crew all met one another, it appears SCOOB! will be ditching the traditional Scooby-Doo mystery plot in favor of deeper world-building and possibly brand-new mythology. It could make for a fun change of pace for the fans who've kept up with the various Scooby-Doo shows and movies released over the last couple decades, on top of being a gateway to the larger and wilder world of Hanna-Barbera for those with more of a passing familiarity with the Scooby-Doo franchise (not to mention, the kids only learning about Scooby for the first time). Be that the case or not, SCOOB! is definitely one to watch out for when the early summer tentpoles start pouring into theaters in a couple months.

Source: ScreenRant

(images via YouTube)

[stefanebe]

”Baghon Mein Bahar Hai” 1969—>2005 . . One of India's oldest recording companies, Saregama owns almost half of all the music ever recorded in the country. They filed suit against The Timothy Mosley (a.k.a. “Timbaland”), G-Unit Records, Inc., Desperado Entertainment Inc., WB Music Corp., Universal Music & Video Distribution Inc., Universal Music Group, Interscope Records, and Aftermath Entertainment over an unclered sample from the movie “Aradhana,” (1967). . ”In December 2009, the district court denied Saregama's motion on two grounds: 1. The agreement between Shakti (the music composer) and Saregama was on an exclusive basis for a period of two years only. Saregama had neither established that the BMBH song had been recorded during this period, granting it copyright ownership, nor did it establish ownership through any other means. 2. The Bollywood song BMBH and The Game's song PYOG were not substantially similar and that the digital sampling of BMBH in PYOG was not, therefore, legally actionable.” . It seems like @timbaland was pretty good at wining sampling lawsuit back in 2011... Two in just 3 month. . . . . . . #love #life #music #sample #whosampled #lawsuit #copyright #india #crips #blood #crenshaw @losangelesconfidential #losangeles #crenshaw #virginiabeach @timbaland #Aradhana #bollywood #Saregama https://www.instagram.com/p/CADC_hqgoNL/?igshid=3q3orqiy4yhh

[youneednoremotehere]

Scooby-Doo is an American animated franchise, comprising many animated television series produced from 1969 to the present day. Writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears created the original series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, for Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1969. This Saturday-morning cartoon series featured four teenagers—Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley,and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers—and their talking brown Great Dane named Scooby-Doo, who solve mysteries involving supposedly supernatural creatures through a series of antics and missteps.

Following the success of the original series, Hanna-Barbara and its successor Warner Bros. Animation have produced numerous follow-up and spin-off animated series and several related works, including television specials and made-for-TV movies, a line of direct-to-video films, and two Warner Bros.–produced theatrical feature films. Some versions of Scooby-Doo feature different variations on the show's supernatural theme, and include characters such as Scooby's cousin Scooby-Dum and nephew Scrappy-Doo in addition to or instead of some of the original characters.

Scooby-Doo was originally broadcast on CBS from 1969 to 1975, when it moved to ABC. ABC aired the show until canceling it in 1986, and presented a spin-off featuring the characters as children,A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, from 1988 until 1991. New Scooby-Doo series aired as part of Kids' WB on The WB Network and its successor, The CW Network, from 2002 until 2008. Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated aired on Cartoon Network from 2010 to 2013, and Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! aired on Cartoon Network from 2015 to 2018. Repeats of the various Scooby-Doo series are broadcast frequently on Cartoon Network's sister channel Boomerang in the United States as well as other countries.

In 2013, TV Guide ranked Scooby-Doo the fifth greatest TV cartoon.

[brookston]

Holidays 12.19

Holidays

Advocacy Day (Ukraine)

Almanack Day

Bantha Appreciation Day (Star Wars)

Build a Snowman Day

A Christmas Carol Day

Digital Twin Day

E-Mail Santa Claus Just in Case He Didn't Get Your Letter Day [ mailroom ] 

Fiesta of Santo Tomas begins (Guatemala; until 25th)

Gender Critical Coming Out Day

Goa Liberation Day (India)

Holly Day

I've Got My Big Guy Fat Pants On Day

Liberation Day (Goa)

Look for an Evergreen Day

Mitch Marner Day (Canada)

National Emo Day

National Harry Day

National Heroes & Heroines Day (Anguilla)

Olive Day (French Republic)

Robinson Crusoe Rescue Day

Thorn Cutting Ceremony (Glastonbury, Somerset, UK)

Yuletide Lad #8 arrives (Skyrgamur or Skyr-Gobbler; Iceland)

Food & Drink Celebrations

Chocolate Pizza Day

Cream Liqueur Day

Currant Buns Day (UK)

National Hard Candy Day

National Oatmeal Muffin Day

3rd Tuesday in December

Christmas Cookie House Day [3rd Tuesday]

Independence Days

Børge (a.k.a. Republic of Libri; Declared; 2017) [unrecognized]

Republic of Lakotah (Declared; 2007) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Adam (Christian; Saint)

Anastasius I, Pope (Christian; Saint)

Asgard Day (Pagan)

The Bee (Muppetism)

Bernard Valeara (Christian; Saint)

Cavendish (Positivist; Saint)

Dalek Remembrance Day (Pastafarian)

Feast of Goddess of Sankrant (Hindu)

Juventas Festival (Ancient Rome)

Lillian Trasher (Episcopal Church)

Lorenzo di Medici Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Nathan Oliveira (Artology)

Nemesion (Christian; Saint)

Opalia (Celebrating Ops, the old Roman Mother Earth)

O Radix Jesse (3rd O Antiphon or Great Advent Antiphon; Christian) [O Root of Jesse; 3 of 7]

Robot Awareness Day (Pastafarian)

Saint Nicholas Day (Eastern Christian) [Ukraine]

Samthann of Meath (Christian; Saint)

Urban V, Pope (Christian; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Fortunate Day (Pagan) [49 of 53]

Prime Number Day: 353 [71 of 72]

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Umu Limnu (Evil Day; Babylonian Calendar; 58 of 60)

Premieres

The Aristocats (Animated Disney Film; 1980)

Babes in Toyland (TV Movie; 1986)

Bars of Steal or The Hard Cell (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S3, Ep. 136; 1961)

Being There (Film; 1979)

Blue Suede Shoes, recorded by Carl Perkins (Song; 1955)

Boris Badenov and His Friends? (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S3, Ep. 135; 1961)

Captain Blood (Film; 1935)

A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens (Novella; 1843)

A Clockwork Orange (Film; 1971)

Deal or No Deal (TV game Show; 2005)

The Fellowship of the Ring (Film; 2001) [Lord of the Rings #1]

From All of Us to All of You (Animated Disney TV Christmas Special; 1958)

Judgment at Nuremberg (Film; 1961)

Kramer vs. Kramer (Film; 1979)

Laughing Boy:A Navajo Love Story, by Oliver La Farge (Novel; 1929)

The Little Drummer Boy (Xmas Song; 1958)

Little Shop of Horrors (Film; 1986)

The Man with the Golden Gun (UK Film; 1974) [James Bond #9]

Mary Poppins Returns (Film; 2018)

Mona Lisa Smile (Film; 2003)

Monsters, Inc. (Animated Pixar Film; 2012)

More Kittens (Disney Cartoon; 1936)

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (Film; 2014)

9 to 5 (Film; 1980)

People Are Bunny (WB MM Cartoon; 1959)

Platoon (Film; 1986)

Porky in the North Woods (WB LT Cartoon; 1936)

Punch Trunk (WB LT Cartoon; 1953)

Raging Bull (Film; 1980)

Seems Like Old Times (Film; 1980)

Song of the Sea (Animated Film; 2014)

A Symposium on Popular Songs (Disney Cartoon; 1962)

The Tale of Desperaux (Animated Film; 2008)

Titanic (Film; 1997)

Tomorrow Never Dies (US Film; 1997) [James Bond #18]

Topaz (Film; 1969)

Yes Man (Film; 2008)

Zero Dark Thirty (Film; 2012)

Today’s Name Days

Benjamin, Susanne (Austria)

Anastazije, Eva, Tea, Urban, Vladimir (Croatia)

Ester (Czech Republic)

Nemesius (Denmark)

Maarius, Mairo, Mario (Estonia)

Iikka, Iiro, Iisakki, Isko (Finland)

Urbain (France)

Benjamin, Susanna (Germany)

Aglaia, Aris (Greece)

Viola (Hungary)

Dario (Italy)

Jordisa, Lelde, Minjona, Sarmis (Latvia)

Darijus, Gerdvilas, Rimantė (Lithuania)

Isak, Iselin (Norway)

Abraham, Beniamin, Dariusz, Gabriela, Mścigniew, Nemezjusz, Tymoteusz, Urban (Poland)

Aglaia, Bonifatie, Grichentie, Trifon (Romania)

Judita (Slovakia)

Darío, Eva (Spain)

Isak (Sweden)

Boniface, Mecheslav, Mecheslava (Ukraine)

Daria, Darian, Darien, Dario, Darion, Darius, Haysten (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 353 of 2024; 12 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 2 of week 51 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Ruis (Elder) [Day 22 of 28]

Chinese: Month 12 (Jia-Zi), Day 7 (Xin-Hai)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 7 Teveth 5784

Islamic: 6 Jumada II 1445

J Cal: 23 Zima; Twosday [23 of 30]

Julian: 6 December 2023

Moon: 50%: 1st Quarter

Positivist: 17 Bichat (13th Month) [Cavendish]

Runic Half Month: Jara (Year) [Day 9 of 15]

Season: Autumn (Day 88 of 89)

Zodiac: Sagittarius (Day 28 of 30)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 11.10

Holidays

Area Code Day

Day of Remembrance of Ataturk (Turkey)

Day of Russian Militsiya (Russia)

Día de la Tradición (Day of Tradition; Argentina)

Dr. Livingstone, I Presume Day

Forget-Me-Not Day

The Goddess of Reason, Liberty & Philosophy Feast Day (a.k.a. Goddess of Reason’s Day; France)

Guinness World Records’ Day

Hari Pahlawan (Heroes' Day; Indonesia)

Harrow Day (French Republic)

International Accounting Day

International Interns Day

Los Santos Uprising Day (Panama)

Maputo Day (Mozambique)

McHappy Day

Microsoft Windows Day

National Bong Day

National Civic Pride Day

National DTC Day

National Science Center & Science Museum Day

National Toothpaste Appreciation Day

National Young Reader’s Day

NET Cancer Day

Not A Father's Day

Quark Day

School Counselor & School Psychologist Recognition Day (Australia)

Sesame Street Day

Sleep Dangerously Night

Toilet Day (Japan)

U.S. Marine Corps Day (a.k.a. USMC Day)

World HTLV Day

World Immunization Day

World Keratoconus Day

World Science Day for Peace and Development (UN)

World Top Up Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Boilermaker Day

National Mussels Day

National Pupusa Day (El Salvador)

National Vanilla Cupcake Day

2nd Friday in November

Domino Day [2nd Friday]

International Mushy Pea Day [2nd Friday]

National Donor Sabbath Weekend begins [2nd Friday]

National DTC (Direct-to-Consumers) Friday [2 Fridays before Black Friday]

National Walk to Work Day (Australia) [2nd Friday]

Independence Days

First Cry of Independence Day (a.k.a. Los Santos Uprising Day; Panama)

Feast Days

Adelin of Séez (Christian; Saint)

Áed mac Bricc (Christian; Saint)

Ancestor Day IV (Pagan)

Andrew Avellino (Christian; Saint)

Arbrosimus (Christian; Saint)

Baudolino (Christian; Saint)

Chhath Parwa begins (4-Day Hindu/Vedic Festival of the Sun God Surya; Nepal)

Chhat Puja Parva begins (a.k.a. Surya Sasthi; 4-Day Hindu/Vedic Festival of the Sun God Surya; Parts of India)

Cthulu Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Elaeth (Christian; Saint)

El Lissitzky (Artology)

Festival of Cybergnosticism

Festival of Spiritual Indulgence

Festival of St. Bebiana (from beer, "to drink")

Galungan (Celebrating Victory of Dharma over Adharma; Bali)

Grellan (Christian; Saint)

Gus the Mailman (Muppetism)

Henry IV (Positivist; Saint)

Justus, Archbishop of Canterbury (Christian; Saint)

Leo I, Pope (Christian; Saint)

Look on the Bright Side of Life Day (Pastafarian)

Louis le Brocquy (Artology)

Lübeck martyrs (Christian; Martyrs)

St. Martin's Eve [patron saint of tavern-keepers] (a.k.a. ... 

Mārtiņi (Ancient Latvia)

Martinisingen (Germany)

Martinmas Eve

Milles, Bishop of Susa (Christian; Saint)

Nincnevin (Old Scots festival celebrating Diana)

Nymphia (Christian; Saint)

Sina (Christian; Saint)

Theoctiste (Christian; Saint)

Tryphena of Rome (Christian; Saint)

Trypho and Respicius (Christian; Martyrs)

Wangala Festival (Meghalaya, India)

William Hogarth (Artology)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Binary Day [1011] (8 of 9)

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Unfortunate Day (Pagan) [54 of 57]

Unglückstage (Unlucky Day; Pennsylvania Dutch) [27 of 30]

Premieres

Ben and Me (Disney Cartoon; 1953)

Blank Space, by Taylor Swift (Song; 2014)

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Live: 1975-85 (Live Album; 19986)

Butterflies (UK TV Series; 1978)

Catch-22, by Joseph Heller (Novel; 1960)

Change of Habit (Film; 1969)

Dash & Lily (TV Mini-Series; 2020)

Days of Future Passed, by The Moody Blues (Album; 1967)

Don’t Blame Me, by Taylor Swift (Song; 2017)

Dug’s Special Mission (Pixar Cartoon; 2009)

The French Lieutenant's Woman, by John Fowles (Novel; 1969)

Fuck (Documentary Film; 2006)

Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie (Animated Film; 2015)

God Bless America, by Irving Berlin, sung by Kate Smith (Song; 1938)

The Golden Bowl, by Henry James (Novel; 1904)

Good Noose (WB LT Cartoon; 1962)

Happy Land (Film; 1943)

Horses, by Patti Smith (Album; 1975)

The Iceman Cometh (Film; 1973)

I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night, by The Electric Prunes (Song; 1966)

The Living Desert (Documentary Film; 1953)

The Marvels (Film; 2023)

Murder on the Orient Express (Film; 2017)

My Left Foot (Film; 1989)

Nights in White Satin, by The Moody Blues (Song; 1967)

Paddington 2 (Film; 2017)

The Polar Express (Animated Film; 2004)

Rebel Yell, by Billy Idol (Album; 1983)

Reputation, by Taylor Swift (Album; 2017)

Sesame Street (Children’s TV Series; 1969)

The Song of Hiawatha, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Poem; 1855)

Stranger Than Fiction (Film; 2006)

There They Go-Go-Go! (WB LT Cartoon; 1956)

Those Beautiful Dames (WB MM Cartoon; 1934)

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Film; 2017)

Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom (Disney Cartoon; 1953)

The Vicar of Dibley (UK TV Series; 1994)

Welcome to the Pleasuredome, by Frankie Goes to Hollywood (Album; 1984)

A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula Le Guin (Novel; 1968) [Earthsea #1]

Wyrd Sisters, by Terry Pratchet (Novel; 1988) [Discworld #6]

Zuma, by Neil Young (Album; 1975)

Today’s Name Days

Andrea, Andreas, Jens, Leo (Austria)

Lav, Lavoslav, Leon (Croatia)

Evžen (Czech Republic)

Luther (Denmark)

Mardi, Mardo, Märt, Mart, Märten, Martin (Estonia)

Martti (Finland)

Léon, Noé (France)

Andrea, Andreas, Jens, Leo, Ted (Germany)

Arsenios, Arsinoe, Irodion, Milon, Orestis, Orion, Rodios, Sosipatros (Greece)

Réka (Hungary)

Andrea, Baudolino, Leone, Trifone (Italy)

Erasts, Mārcis, Mārtiņš (Latvia)

Andrius, Galvydė, Leonas, Vaišviltas (Lithuania)

Gudbjørg, Gudveig (Norway)

Andrzej, Lena, Leon, Ludomir, Nelly, Nimfa, Probus, Stefan (Poland)

Cuart, Erast, Olimp, Rodion, Sosipatru (Romania)

Tibor (Slovakia)

Andrés, León, Noé (Spain)

Martin, Martina (Sweden)

Flora, Florence, Florian, Jocelina, Joceline, Jocelyn, Jocelyne, Jocelynn, Joselyn, Joslyn, Justice, Justin, Justina, Justine, Justus (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 314 of 2024; 51 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 5 of week 45 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Ngetal (Reed) [Day 11 of 28]

Chinese: Month 9 (Ten-Xu), Day 27 (Ren-Shen)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 26 Heshvan 5784

Islamic: 26 Rabi II 1445

J Cal: 14 Mir; Sevenday [14 of 30]

Julian: 28 October 2023

Moon: 8%: Waning Crescent

Positivist: 6 Frederic (12th Month) [Henry IV]

Runic Half Month: Hagal (Hailstone) [Day 15 of 15]

Season: Autumn (Day 48 of 89)

Zodiac: Scorpio (Day 18 of 29)

[aion-rsa]

Upcoming Must-See Movies in 2021

https://ift.tt/2XPPY8Z

It’s 2021. Finally. If you’re reading this, it means you’ve hopefully gotten through the wreckage of last year unscathed and are ready for a brighter future. And if you’re also a movie lover, this certainly includes a trip (or 20) back to the cinemas.

Sure, theaters were technically open in some places last fall, but the moviegoing season has largely remained dormant since March 2020. Yet given good news about vaccines starting to become available, and an absolutely stacked 2021 movie release calendar, we have reasons to be cautiously optimistic.

Indeed, 2021 promises many of the most anticipated films from last year, plus new surprises. From the superhero variety like Black Widow to the art house with Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, 2021 could be a much needed respite. So below is just a sampling of what to expect from the year to come…

The Little Things

January 29

One of the year’s earliest high profile releases is also the first of WB’s film slate on HBO Max. The Little Things is a serial killer thriller in the old school mold. It also boasts a brutally talented cast that includes Denzel Washington and Rami Malek as the detectives, and Jared Leto as the killer. As the latest movie from John Lee Hancock (The Founder, The Alamo), this looks like the type of star-led seediness that used to dominate the multiplex.

Maclolm and Marie

February 5

Assassination Nation writer-director Sam Levinson returns for a decidedly stripped down and intimate character study about two people on the threshold of their lives changing–and perhaps splitting apart. With Zendaya and John David Washington in roles unlike anything we’ve seen the pair in before, they play a couple returning home after the premiere of Malcolm’s (Washington) first movie. He’s on the cusp of life-changing success as a director, but when confronted by Marie about past secrets and hard truths… the night takes a turn.

Judas and the Black Messiah

February 12

It’s kind of hard to wrap one’s head around the annual “Oscar race” in a year when little trophies don’t seem so damn important, but Warner Bros. feels strongly enough about this movie that it’s getting it into theaters and on HBO Max right in the thick of the pandemic-delayed awards season. And judging by the marketing, it’s bringing heat with it.

Shaka King directs and co-writes the story of Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), who became the chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party in the late 1960s and was murdered in cold blood by police in 1969. LaKeith Stanfield plays William O’Neal, a petty criminal who agreed to help the FBI take Hampton down. This promises to be incendiary, relevant material — and it’s almost here.

Minari

February 12

Lee Isaac Chung directs Steven Yeun–now fully shaking off his years as Glenn on The Walking Dead–in this semi-autobiographical film about a South Korean family struggling to settle down in rural America in the 1980s. Premiering nearly a year ago at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won both the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and the U.S. Dramatic Audience Award, Minari had a quick one-week virtual release in December, with a number of critics placing it on their Top 10 lists for 2020.

Its story of immigration and assimilation currently has a perfect 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics lauding its heart, grace, and sensitivity. A few of ours also considered it among 2020’s best.

Nomadland

February 19

Utilizing both actors and real people, director Chloé Zhao (The Rider, Marvel’s upcoming Eternals) chronicles the lives of America’s “forgotten people” as they travel the West searching for work, companionship and community. A brilliant Frances McDormand stars as Fern, a woman in her mid-60s who lost her husband, her house, and her entire previous existence when her town literally vanished following the closure of its sole factory.

Zhao’s film quietly flows from despair to optimism and back to despair again, the hardscrabble lives of its itinerant cast (many of them actual nomads) foregrounded against often stunning–if lonely–vistas of the vast, empty American countryside.

I Care a Lot

February 19

A solid cast, led by Rosamund Pike, Peter Dinklage, Chris Messina, and Dianne Wiest, star in this satirical crime drama from director J. Blakeson (The Disappearance of Alice Creed). Pike plays Marla, a con artist whose scam is getting herself named legal guardian of her elderly marks and then draining their assets while sticking them in nursing homes. She’s ruthless and efficient at it, until she meets a woman (Wiest) whose ties to a crime boss (Dinklage) may prove too much of a challenge for the wily Marla. It was one of our favorites out of Toronto last year.

The Father

February 26

Anthony Hopkins gives a mesmerizing, and deeply tragic, performance as Anthony, an elderly British man whose descent into dementia is reflected by the film itself, which plays with time, setting, and continuity until both Anthony and the viewer can no longer tell what is real and what is not. Olivia Colman is equally moving as his daughter, who wants to get on with her own life even as she watches her father’s disintegrate in front of her.

We saw The Father last year at the AFI Fest and it ended up being a favorite of 2020; Hopkins is unforgettable in this bracing, heartbreaking work, which is stunningly adapted by first-time director Florian Zeller from his own award-winning play.

Chaos Walking

March 5

This constantly postponed sci-fi project has become one of those “we’ll believe it when we see it” films until it actually comes out. Shot nearly three and a half years ago by director Doug Liman, Chaos Walking has undergone extensive reshoots and was at one point reportedly deemed unreleasable.

Based on the book The Knife of Letting Go, it places Tom Holland (Spider-Man: Far From Home) and Daisy Ridley (The Rise of Skywalker) on a distant planet where Ridley, the only woman, can hear the thoughts of all the men due to a mysterious force called the Noise.

Raya and the Last Dragon

March 5

Longtime Walt Disney Animation Studios head of story, Paul Briggs (Frozen), will make his directorial debut on this original Disney animated fantasy, which draws upon Eastern traditions to tell the tale of a young warrior who goes searching for the world’s last dragon in the mysterious land of Kumandra. Cassie Steele will voice Raya while Awkwafina (The Farewell) will portray Sisu the dragon.

Disney Animation has been nearly invincible in recent years with other hits like Moana and Zootopia, so watch for this one to be another major hit for the Mouse.

Coming 2 America

March 5

The notion of whether nostalgia-based properties are still viable has cropped up repeatedly in the last few years. However, streaming, which is where Coming 2 America finds itself headed post-COVID, makes golden oldies much safer. This sequel—based on a 32-year-old comedy that was one of Eddie Murphy’s most financially successful hits—sees Murphy back as Prince Akeem, of course, along with Arsenio Hall returning as his loyal friend Semmi.

The plot revolves around Akeem’s discovery, just as he is about to be crowned king, that he has a long-lost son living in the States (we’re not sure how that happened, but let’s just go with it). That, of course, necessitates another visit to our shores—that is, if Akeem and Semmi presumably don’t get stopped at the border. The film reunites Murphy with Dolemite is My Name director Craig Brewer, so perhaps they can make some cutting-edge social comedy out of this?

The King’s Man

March 12

This might be a weird thing to say: but has World War I ever seemed so stylish? It is with Matthew Vaughn at the helm.

An origin story of sorts for the organization that gave us Colin Firth and the umbrella, The King’s Man is a father and son yarn where Ralph Fiennes’ Duke of Oxford is reluctant about his son Conrad (Harris Dickinson) joining the war effort. But they’ll both be up to it as the Duke launches an intelligence gathering agency independent from any government. It also includes Gemma Arterton, Matthew Goode, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson as charter members.

Oh, and did we mention they fight Rasputin?

Godzilla vs. Kong

March 26

Here we are, at last at the big punch up between Godzilla and King Kong. They both wear a crown, but in the film that Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures have been building toward since 2014, only one can walk away with the title of the king of all the monsters.

Admittedly, not everyone loved the last American Godzilla movie, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, but we sure did. Still, Godzilla vs. Kong should be a different animal with Adam Wingard (You’re Next, The Guest) taking over directorial duties. It also has a stacked cast with some familiar faces (Kyle Chandler, Millie Bobby Brown, and Ziyi Zhang) and plenty of new ones (Alexander Skarsgård, Eiza González, Danai Gurira, Lance Reddick, and more).

It’ll probably be better than the original, right? And hey with its HBO Max rollout, questions of a poor box office run sure are conveniently mooted!

No Time to Die

April 2

Nothing lasts forever, and the Daniel Craig era of James Bond is coming to an end… hopefully in 2021. In fact, delays notwithstanding, it’s a bit of a surprise Craig is getting an official swan song with this movie after the star said he’d rather “slash his wrists” before doing another one. Well, we’re glad he didn’t, just as we’re hopeful for his final installment in the tuxedo.

Director Cary Joji Fukunaga is a newcomer to the franchise, but that might be a good thing after how tired Spectre felt, and Fukunaga has done sterling work in the past on True Detective and Maniac. He also looks to bring the curtain down on the whole Craig oeuvre by picking up on the last movie’s lingering threads, such as 007 driving off into the sunset with Léa Seydoux’s Madeleine Swann, while introducing new ones that include Rami Malek as Bond villain Safin and Ana de Armas as new Bond girl Paloma. Yay for the Knives Out reunion!

Mortal Kombat

April 16

Not to be deterred by the relative failure of Sony’s Monster Hunter in theaters at the tail end of 2020, Warner Bros. is giving this venerable video game franchise another shot at live-action cinematic glory after two previous tries in the 1990s. Director Simon McQuoid makes his feature debut while the script comes from Dave Callaham (Wonder Woman 1984, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) and the cast includes a number of actors you’ve seen in other films but can’t quite place.

The plot? Who knows! But we’re guessing it will feature gods, demons, and warriors battling for control of the 18 realms in various fighting tournaments. What else do you want?

A Quiet Place Part II

April 23

The sequel to one of 2018’s biggest surprises, A Quiet Place Part II comes with major expectations. And few may hold it to a higher standard than writer-director John Krasinski. Despite (spoiler) the death of his character in the first film, Krasinski returns behind the camera for the sequel after saying he wouldn’t. The story he came up with apparently was too good to pass up.

The film again stars Emily Blunt as the often silenced mother of a vulnerable family, which includes son Marcus (Noah Jupe) and deaf daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds). However, now that they know how to kill the eagle-eared alien monsters who’ve taken over their planet, the cast has grown to include Cillian Murphy and Djimon Hounsou. While the film has been delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak, trust us that it’ll be worth the wait. Is it finally time for… resistance?

Last Night in Soho

April 23

Fresh off the success of 2017’s Baby Driver (his biggest commercial hit to date), iconoclastic British director Edgar Wright returns with what is described as a psychological and possibly time-bending horror thriller set in London. Whether this features Wright’s trademark self-aware humor remains to be seen, but since the film is said to be inspired by dread-inducing genre classics like Repulsion and Don’t Look Now, he might be going for a different effect this time.

The cast, of course, is outstanding: upstarts Anya Taylor-Joy (Queen’s Gambit) and Thomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit) will face off with Matt Smith (Doctor Who), and British legends Diana Rigg and Terence Stamp. And the truth is we’re never going to miss one of Wright’s movies. Taylor-Joy talked to us here about finding her 1960s lounge singer voice for the film.

Black Widow

May 7

Some would charitably say it arrives a decade late, but Black Widow is finally getting her own movie. This is fairly remarkable considering she became street pizza in Avengers: Endgame, but this movie fits snugly between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. It also promises to be the most pared down Marvel Studios movie since 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and that’s a good thing.

In the film, Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff is on the run after burning her bridges with the U.S. government and UN. This brings her back to the spy games she thought she’d escaped from her youth, and back in the orbit of her “sister” Yelena (Florence Pugh). Old wounds are ripped open, old Soviet foes, including David Harbour as the Red Guardian and Rachel Weisz as Nat and Yelena’s girlhood instructor, are revealed, and many a fight sequence with minimal CGI will be executed.

How’s that for a real start to Phase 4? Of course that’s still assuming this comes out before The Eternals after it was delayed, again, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Spiral

May 21

Chris Rock has co-written the story for a new take on the Saw franchise. Never thought we’d write those words! The fact that it also stars Rock, as well as Samuel L. Jackson, is likewise head-turning. It looks like they’re going for legitimate horror with Darren Lynn Bousman attached to direct after helming three of the Saw sequels, and its grisly pre-COVID trailer from last year.

Hopefully this will be better than most of the franchise that came before, and given the heavily David Fincher-influenced tone of the first trailer, we’re willing to cross our fingers and play this game.

Free Guy

May 21

What would you do if you discovered that you were just a background character in an open world video game—and that the game was soon about to go offline? That’s the premise of this existential sci-fi comedy from director Shawn Levy, best known for the Night at the Museum series and as an executive producer and director on Stranger Things. Ryan Reynolds stars as Guy, a bank teller who discovers that his life is not what he thought it was, and in fact isn’t even real—or is it? We’ve seen a preview of footage, so we’d suggest you think Truman Show, if Truman was trapped in Grand Theft Auto.

F9

May 28

Just when you thought this never-say-die franchise had shown us everything it could possibly dream up, it ups the stakes one more time: the ninth entry in the Fast and Furious saga (excluding 2019’s Hobbs and Shaw) will reportedly take Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his cohorts into space as they battle Dom’s long-lost brother Jakob (John Cena, making a long-overdue debut in this series). Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Jordana Brewster, Helen Mirren, and Charlize Theron all also return, as does director Justin Lin, who took a two-film break from his signature series. Expect to see the required physics-defying stunts, logic-defying action and even more talk about “family” than usual.

Cruella

May 28

Since Disney has already made an animated 101 Dalmatians in 1961 and a live-action remake in 1996, it is apparently time to tell the story again Maleficent-style. Hence we now focus on the viewpoint of iconic villainess Cruella de Vil, played this time by Emma Stone. She’s joined in the movie by Emma Thompson, Paul Walter Hauser, and Mark Strong, with direction handled by Craig Gillespie (sort of a step down from 2017’s I, Tonya, if you ask us).

The story has been updated to the 1970s, but Cruella–now a fashion designer–still covets the fur of dogs for her creations. This is a Mouse House joint, so don’t expect it to get too dark, and don’t be completely surprised if it ends up as a premium on Disney+ in lieu of its already delayed theatrical release.

Infinite

May 28

This sci-fi yarn from director Antoine Fuqua (The Equalizer) stars Mark Wahlberg as a man experiencing what he thinks are hallucinations, but which turn out to be memories from past lives. He soon learns that there is a secret society of people just like him, except that they have total recall of their past identities and have acted to change the course of history throughout the centuries.

Based on the novel The Reincarnationist Papers by D. Eric Maikranz, this was originally a post-Marvel vehicle for Chris Evans. He dropped out, and the combination of Fuqua and Wahlberg hints at something more action-oriented than the rather cerebral premise suggests. The film also stars Sophie Cookson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Dylan O’Brien.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

June 4

James Wan is already directing a new horror film this year so he’s stepping away from the directorial duties on the third film based on the paranormal investigations of Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga). That task has fallen to Michael Chaves (The Curse of La Llorona), so expect plenty of the same Wan Universe touches: heavy atmosphere, superb use of sound, and shocking, eerie visuals.

Details are scarce, but the plot—like the other two Conjuring films—is taken from the true-life case of a man who went on trial for murder and said as his defense that he was possessed by a demon when he committed his crimes. That’s all we know for now, except that, intriguingly, Mitchell Hoog and Megan Ashley Brown have been cast as younger versions of the Warrens.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife

June 11

With the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot criticized (fairly) for its lack of imagination and castigated (unfairly as hell) for its all-female ghost-hunting crew, director Jason Reitman–finally cashing in on the family name by returning to the brand his dad Ivan directed to glory in 1984–has crafted a direct sequel to the original films.

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Set 30 years later, Afterlife follows a family who move to a small town only to discover that they have a long-secret connection to the OG Ghostbusters. Carrie Coon (The Leftovers), Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things) and Paul Rudd (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) star alongside charter cast members Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, Annie Potts, and, yes, Bill Murray.

In the Heights

June 18

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first Broadway hit musical gets the big screen treatment (by way of HBO Max) from director Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians). Set in Washington Heights over the course of a three-day heat wave, the plot and ensemble cast carry echoes of both Rent and Do the Right Thing. While a success on the stage—if not quite the cultural phenomenon that Miranda’s next show, Hamilton—it remains to be seen whether In the Heights can strike a chord with streaming audiences.

Luca

June 18

Continuing its current run of all-new, non-sequel original films started in 2020 with Onward and Soul, Pixar will unveil Luca this summer. Directed by Enrico Casarosa–making his feature debut after 18 years with the animation powerhouse–the film tells the story of a friendship between a human being and a sea monster (disguised as another human child) on the Italian Riviera. That’s about all we have on it for now, except that the cast includes Drake Bell and John Ratzenberger.

Pixar’s recent track record has included masterpieces like Inside Out, solid sequels like Toy Story 4, and shakier propositions like The Incredibles 2, but we don’t have any indication yet of what to expect from Luca.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage

June 25

Can anyone honestly say that 2018’s Venom was a “good” movie? A batshit insane movie, yes, and perhaps even an entertaining one in its own nutty way, but good or not, it made nearly a billion bucks at the box office so here we are.

Tom Hardy will return to peel more scenery down with his teeth as both Eddie Brock and his fanged, towering alien symbiote while Woody Harrelson will fulfill his destiny and play Cletus Kasady, aka Carnage, the perfected hybrid of psychopathic serial killer and red pile of vicious alien goo. Let the carnage begin!

Top Gun: Maverick

July 2

It’s been 34 years since Tom Cruise first soared through the skies as hotshot pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, and he’ll take to the air once more in a sequel that also features Val Kilmer, Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, Jon Hamm, and more. The flying and action sequences from director Joseph Kosinski (who worked with Cruise on Oblivion) will undoubtedly be first-rate, but the studio (Paramount) has to be nervous after seeing one nostalgia-based franchise after another (Blade Runner, Charlie’s Angels, Terminator, The Shining) crash and burn recently.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

July 10

With Shang-Chi, Marvel Studios hopes to do for Asian culture what the company did with the groundbreaking Black Panther nearly three years ago: create another superhero epic with a non-white lead and a mythology steeped in a non-Western culture. Simu Liu stars in the title role as the “master of kung fu,” who must do battle with the nefarious Ten Rings organization and its leader, the Mandarin (the “real” one, not the imposter from Iron Man 3, played here by the legendary Tony Leung). Director Destin Daniel Cretton (Just Mercy) will open up a whole new corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with this story and character, whose origins stretch back to 1973.

The Forever Purge

July 9

One day nearly eight years ago, you went to see a low-budget dystopian sci-fi/horror flick called The Purge, and the next thing you know, it’s 2021 and you’re getting ready to see the fifth and allegedly final entry in the series (which has also spawned a TV show). Written by creator James DeMonaco and directed by Everardo Gout, the film will once again focus on the title event, an annual 12-hour national bacchanal in which all crime, even murder, is legal. How this ends the story, and where and when it falls into the context of the rest of the films, remains a secret for now. Filming was completed back in February 2020, with the film’s release delayed from last summer by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Space Jam: A New Legacy

July 16

There are two types of folks when it comes to the original Space Jam of 1996: those who were between the ages of three and 11 when it came out, and everyone else. In one camp it is an unsightly relic of ‘90s cross-promotional cheese; in the other, it’s a sports movie classic. Luckily for kids today, NBA star LeBron James was 11 for most of ’96, and he’s bringing back the hoops and the Looney Tunes in Space Jam: A New Legacy.

The film will be among the many Warner Bros. pics premieres on HBO Max and in theaters this year, and it will see King James share above-the-title credits with Bugs Bunny. All is as it should be.

Uncharted

July 16

An Uncharted movie has been a long time coming. How long you might ask? Well, when the idea of an Uncharted movie first started getting bandied around Hollywood, the earliest game in the series just launched to rave reviews in the PlayStation 3’s first year. We’re now on PlayStation 5(!), and Mark Wahlberg has gone from angling to play young hero Nathan Drake to starring his wisecracking sidekick, Victor “Sully” Sullivan.

Still, we’re here with an Uncharted movie finally in the can. Directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland, Venom), the video game movie stars everyone’s favorite web-head, Tom Holland, as Drake, a pseudo-modern day Indiana Jones. Whether it lives up to that older franchise’s storied legacy remains to be seen (especially given its gaming roots), but one thing’s for sure, Holland will get to show off more gymnast skill thanks to Uncharted’s famous parkour iconography.

The Tomorrow War

July 23

An original IP attempting to be a summer blockbuster? As we live and breathe. The Tomorrow War marks director Chris McKay’s first foray into live-action after helming The Lego Batman Movie. The film stars Chris Pratt as a soldier from the past who’s been “drafted by scientists” to the present in order to fight off an alien invasion overwhelming our future’s military. One might ask why said scientists didn’t use their fancy-schmancy time traveling shenanigans to warn about the impending aliens, but here we are.

Jungle Cruise

July 30

Disney dips into its theme park rides again as a source for a movie, hoping that the Pirates of the Caribbean lightning will strike once more. This time it’s the famous Adventureland riverboat ride, which is free enough of a real narrative that one has to wonder why some five screenwriters (at least) worked on the movie’s script.

Jaume Collet-Serra (The Shallows) directs stars Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt down this particular river, as they battle wild animals and a competing expedition in their search for a tree with miraculous healing powers. The comic chemistry between Johnson and Blunt is key here, especially if they really can mimic Bogie and Hepburn in the similarly plotted The African Queen. If they can sell that, Disney might just have a new water-based franchise to replace their sinking Pirates ship.

The Green Knight

July 30

David Lowery, the singular director behind A Ghost Story and The Old Man & the Gun, helmed a fantasy adaptation of the Arthurian legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. And his take on the material was apparently strong enough to entice A24 to produce it. Not much else is yet known about the film other than its cast, which includes Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Ralph Ineson, and Kate Dickie–and that it’s another casualty of COVID, with its 2020 release date being delayed last year. So this is one we’re definitely going to keep an eye on.

The Suicide Squad

August 6

Arguably the most high-profile of the WB films being transitioned to HBO Max, The Suicide Squad is James Gunn’s soft-reboot of the previous one-film franchise. It’s kind of funny WB went in that direction when the first movie generated more than $740 million, but when the reviews and word of mouth were that toxic… well, you get the guy who did Guardians of the Galaxy to fix things.

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The Suicide Squad Trailer Promises James Gunn’s “1970s War Movie”

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Elements from the original movie are still here, most notably Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn and Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller, but the film promises to be weirder, meaner, and also sillier. The first points are proven by its expected R-rating, and the latter is underscored by its giant talking Great White Shark. Okay, we’ll bite.

Deep Water

August 13

Seedy erotic thrillers and neo noirs bathed in shadows and sex are largely considered a thing of the past—specifically 1980s and ‘90s Hollywood cinema. Maybe that’s why Deep Water hooked Adrian Lyne (Fatal Attraction, Indecent Proposal) to direct. The throwback is based on a 1957 novel by the legendary Patricia Highsmith (The Talented Mr. Ripley), and it pits a disenchanted married couple against each other, with the bored pair playing mind games that leave friends and acquaintances dead. That the couple in question is played by Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas, who’ve since become a real life item, will probably get plenty of attention close to release.

Respect

August 13

Respect is the long-awaited biopic of the legendary Aretha Franklin, with the Queen of Soul herself involved in its development for years until her death in August 2018. Authorized biopics always make one wonder how accurate the film will be, but then again, Aretha had nothing to be ashamed of. Hers was a life well-lived, her voice almost beyond human comprehension, and the only thing now is to see whether star Jennifer Hudson (Franklin’s personal choice) and director Liesl Tommy (making her feature debut) can do the Queen justice.

Candyman

August 27

In some ways it’s surprising that it’s taken this long—28 years, notwithstanding a couple of sequels—to seriously revisit the original Candyman. Director Bernard Rose’s original adaptation of the Clive Baker story, “The Forbidden,” is still relevant and effective today. Back then, the film touched on urban legends, poverty, and segregation: themes that are still ripe for exploration through a genre touchstone today.

After her breathtaking feature directorial debut, Little Woods, Nia DaCosta helmed this bloody reboot while working from a screenplay co-written by Jordan Peele (Get Out). That’s a powerful combination, even before news came down DaCosta was helming Captain Marvel 2. And with an actor on-the-cusp of mega-stardom, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, picking up Tony Todd’s gnarly hook, this is one to watch out for.

The Beatles: Get Back

August 27

Peter Jackson seems to enjoy making films about what inspired him in his youth: The Lord of the Rings, King Kong, his grandfather’s World War I service informing They Shall Not Grow Old. So perhaps it was inevitable he’d make a film about the greatest youth icon of his generation, the Beatles. In truth, The Beatles: Get Back is a challenge to a previous documentary named Let It Be, and the general pop culture image it painted.

That 1970 doc by Michael Lindsay-Hogg zeroed in on the band’s final released album, Let It Be (although it was recorded before Abbey Road). Now, using previously unseen footage, Jackson seeks to challenge the narrative that the album was created entirely from a place of animosity among the bandmates, or that the Beatles had long lost their camaraderie by the end of road. Embracing the original title of the album, “Get Back,” Jackson wants to get back to where he thinks the band’s image once belonged.

Death on the Nile

September 17

Murder on the Orient Express (2017) became a surprise hit for director and star Kenneth Branagh. Who knew that audiences would still be interested in an 83-year-old mystery novel about an eccentric Belgian detective with one hell of a mustache? Luckily, Agatha Christie featured Poirot in some 32 other novels, of which Death on the Nile is one of the most famous, so here we are.

Branagh once again directs and stars as Poirot, this time investigating a murder aboard a steamer sailing down Egypt’s famous river. The cast includes Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Letitia Wright, Tom Bateman, Ali Fazal, Annette Bening, Rose Leslie, and Russell Brand. Expect more lavish locales, scandalous revelations, the firing of a pistol or two, and, yes, more shots of that stunning Poirot facial hair.

The Many Saints of Newark

September 24

The idea of a prequel to anything always fills us with trepidation, and re-opening a nearly perfect property like The Sopranos makes the prospect even less appetizing. But Sopranos creator David Chase has apparently wanted to explore the back history of his iconic crime family for some time, and there certainly seems to be a rich tapestry of characters and events that have only been hinted at in the series.

Directed by series veteran Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World), The Many Saints of Newark stars Alessandro Nivola as Dickie Moltisanti (Christopher’s father), along with Jon Bernthal, Vera Farmiga, Corey Stoll, Ray Liotta, and others. But the most fascinating casting is that of Michael Gandolfini—James’ son—as the younger version of the character with which his late dad made pop culture history. For that alone, we’ll be there on opening night… even if that just means HBO Max!

Dune

October 1

Could third time be the charm for Frank Herbert’s complex novel of the far future, long acknowledged as one of the greatest—if most difficult to read—milestones in all of science fiction? David Lynch’s 1984 version was, to be charitable, an honorable mess, while the 2000 Sci-Fi Channel miniseries was decent and faithful, but limited in scope. Now director Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049, Arrival) is pulling out all the stops—even breaking the story into two movies to give the proper space.

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On the surface, the plot is simple: as galactic powers vie for control of the only planet that produces a substance capable of allowing interstellar flight, a young messiah emerges to lead that planet’s people to freedom. But this tale is dense with multiple layers of politics, metaphysics, mysticism, and hard science.

Villeneuve has assembled a jaw-dropping cast, including Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, and Javier Bardem, and if he pulls this off, just hand him every sci-fi novel ever written. Particularly, if relations between the director and WB remain strained…

Morbius

October 8

Following the monstrous (pun intended) success of Venom, Sony Pictures is making its second attempt to mine Spider-Man’s universe of villains with the dark tale of Dr. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto), whose efforts to cure himself of a fatal blood disease turn him instead into a blood-drinking anti-hero. Morbius has been lurking around the Marvel Comics canon since 1971, often either sparring or teaming with Spidey, and it remains uncertain whether he’s got the cache to carry a movie on his own. In addition, can Leto wash away the bad taste left behind by his tattooed and grilled Joker in Suicide Squad?

Halloween Kills

October 15

2018’s outstanding reboot of the long-running horror franchise—which saw David Gordon Green (Stronger) direct Jamie Lee Curtis in a reprise of her most famous role—was a tremendous hit. So in classic Halloween fashion, two more sequels were put into production (the second, Halloween Ends, will be out in 2022… hopefully).

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Curtis is back as Laurie Strode, along with Judy Greer as her daughter, Andi Matichak as her granddaughter, and Nick Castle sharing Michael Myers duties with James Jude Courtney. Kyle Richards and Charles Cyphers, meanwhile, will reprise their roles as Lindsey Wallace and former sheriff Leigh Brackett from the original 1978 Halloween (Anthony Michael Hall will play the adult version of Tommy Doyle). The plot remains a mystery, but we’re pretty sure it will involve yet another confrontation between Laurie and a rampaging Myers.

The Last Duel

October 15

What was once among the most anticipated films of 2020, The Last Duel is the historical epic prestige project marked by reunions: Ridley Scott returns to his passion for period drama and violence; Matt Damon and Ben Affleck work together for the first time in ages as both actors and writers; and the film also unites each with themes that were just as potent in the medieval world as today: One knight (Damon) in King Charles VI’s court accuses another who’s his best friend (Adam Driver) of raping his wife (Jodie Comer). Oh, and Affleck plays the King of France.

With obviously harrowing—and uncomfortable—themes that resonate today, The Last Duel is based on an actual trial by combat from the 14th century, and is a film Affleck and Damon co-wrote with Nicole Holofcener (Can You Ever Forgive Me?). It’s strong material, and could prove to be one of the year’s most riveting or misjudged films. Until then, it has our full attention.

Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins

October 22

While the idea of a Hasbro Movie Universe seems to be kind of idling at the moment, corners of that hypothetical cinematic empire remain active. One such brand is G.I. Joe, which will launch its first spin-off in this origin story of one of the team’s most popular characters. Much of his early background remains mysterious, so there’s room to create a fairly original story while incorporating lore and characters already established in the G.I. Joe mythos.

Neither of the previous G.I. Joe features (The Rise of Cobra and Retaliation) have been much good, so we can probably expect the same level of quality from this one. Director Robert Schwentke (the last two Divergent movies) doesn’t inspire much excitement either. On the other hand, Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) will star in the title role, and having Iko Uwais (The Raid) and Samara Weaving (Ready or Not) on board isn’t too bad either.

Eternals

November 5

Based on a Marvel Comics series by the legendary Jack Kirby, the now long-forthcoming Eternals centers around an ancient race of powerful beings who must protect the Earth against their destructive counterparts (and genetic cousins), the Deviants. Director Chloe Zhao (fresh off the awards season buzzy Nomadland) takes her first swing at epic studio filmmaking, working with a cast that includes Angelina Jolie, Gemma Chan, Kit Harington, Salma Hayek, Richard Madden, Brian Tyree Henry, and more.

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Movies

The Incredible Hulk’s Diminished Legacy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

By Gavin Jasper

In many ways, Eternals represents another huge creative risk for Marvel Studios: It’s a big, cosmic ensemble film introducing an ensemble that the vast majority of the public has never heard of. But then, it’s sort of in the same position as Guardians of the Galaxy from way back in 2014, and we all know what happened there.

Elvis

November 5

Obviously we’ve all seen musical biopics before—too many after Walk Hard broke the formula down—but Elvis promises to be something different. A new passion project from Baz Luhrmann, the filmmaker behind Moulin Rouge!, Romeo + Juliet, and The Great Gatsby, Elvis is expected to be a radically stylized account of Elvis Presley’s rise to all shook up fame. With an impressive cast that includes Tom Hanks as manager “Colonel” Tom Parker and Kelvin Harrison Jr. as B.B. King, and with up-and-comer Austin Butler as the King of Rock and Roll himself, it should be a hell of a show.

King Richard

November 19

Will Smith’s King Richard promises to be a different kind of biographical film coming down the pipe. Rather than being told from the vantage of professional tennis playing stars Venus and Serena Williams, King Richard centers on their father and coach, Richard Williams. It’s an interesting choice to focus on the male father instead of the game-changing Black daughters, but we’ll see if there’s a strong creative reason for the approach soon enough. The film is directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green (Monsters and Men, Joe Bell).

Mission: Impossible 7

November 19

Once upon a time, the appeal of the Mission: Impossible movies was to see different directors offer their own take on Tom Cruise running through death-defying stunts. But then Christopher McQuarrie had to come along and make the best one in franchise history (twice). First there was Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and then Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Now McQuarrie and company have set up their own separate quartet of films with recurring original characters like new franchise MVP Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) across four films.

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Movies

Audio Surfaces of Tom Cruise Raging on the Set of Mission: Impossible 7

By Kirsten Howard

Movies

Mission: Impossible 7 – What’s Next for the Franchise?

By David Crow

Thus enters M:I7, the third McQuarrie joint in the series and first half of a pair of incoming sequels filmed together. The first-half of this two-parter sees the whole crew back together, including Cruise’s Ethan Hunt, Ilsa, Benji (Simon Pegg), Luther (Ving Rhames), and CIA Director Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett). They’re also being joined by Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff, but really we’re all just eager to see what kind of insane stunts they can do to top the HALO jump in the last one.

West Side Story

December 10

Steven Spielberg has just two remakes on his directorial resume: Always (1989) and War of the Worlds (2005). While the former is mostly forgotten and the latter was an adaptation of a story that has been filmed many times, his upcoming reimagining of West Side Story will undoubtedly be directly compared to Robert Wise’s iconic 1961 screen version of this classic musical.

A few numbers in previous films aside, Spielberg has never directed a full-blown musical before, let alone one associated with such powerhouse songs and dance numbers. His version, with a script by Tony Kushner, is said to stay closer to the original Broadway show than the 1961 film—but with its themes of love struggling to cross divides created by hate and bigotry, don’t be surprised if it’s just as hard-hitting in 2021. Certainly would’ve devastated last year….

Spider-Man 3

December 17

Sony has finally gotten to a “Spider-Man 3” again in their oft-rebooted franchise crown jewel (technically though this film is still untitled). That proved to be a stumbling block the first time it occurred with Tobey Maguire in the red and blues, but the company seems undaunted since Tom Holland’s third outing is expected to bring Maguire back—him and just about everyone else too.

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Movies

Spider-Man 3: Charlie Cox Daredevil Return Would Redeem the Marvel Netflix Universe

By Joseph Baxter

Movies

Spider-Man 3 Adds Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange

By Joseph Baxter

With a multiverse plot ripped straight from the arguably best Spidey movie ever, 2018’s Into the Spider-Verse, Holland’s third outing is bringing back Maguire, Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man, Alfred Molina as Doc Ock, Jamie Foxx as Electro (eh), and probably more. It’s a Spidey crossover extravaganza that’s only missing a Spider-Ham. But just you wait…

The Matrix 4

December 22

Rebooting or continuing The Matrix series has always been a tough proposition. While the original Matrix film is one of the landmark achievements in science fiction and early digital effects filmmaking in the 1990s, its sequels were… less celebrated. In fact, directors Lily and Lana Wachowski were publicly wary about the idea of ever going back to the series. And yet, here we are with Lana (alone) helming a project that’s been a longtime priority for Warner Bros.

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Movies

The Matrix 4: Laurence Fishburne “Wasn’t Invited” to Reprise Morpheus Role

By John Saavedra

Movies

The Matrix 4 Already Happened: Revisiting The Matrix Online

By John Saavedra

The Matrix 4 also brings back Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Jada Pinkett Smith. This is curious since Reeves and Moss’ characters died at the end of the Matrix trilogy—and also because Laurence Fishburne’s Morpheus did not, yet he wasn’t asked back. We cannot say we’re thrilled about the prospect of more adventures in Zion after the disappointment of the first two sequels, but we’d be lying if we didn’t admit we’re still curious to see the story that brought Lana back to this future.

The French Dispatch

TBA

Wes Anderson has a new film coming out. Better still, it is another live-action film. While Anderson’s use of animation is singular, it’s been seven years since The Grand Budapest Hotel, which we maintain is one of the best movies of the last decade. Anderson  is working with Timothée Chalamet and Cristoph Waltz for the first time with this film, as well as several familiar faces including Saoirse Ronan, Willem Dafoe, Tilda Swinton, Léa Seydoux, Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, and, of course, Bill Murray.

The French Dispatch is set deep in the 20th century during the peak of modern journalism, it brings to life a series of fictional stories in a fictional magazine, published in a fictional French city. We suspect though, if Anderson’s last two live-action movies are any indication, it’ll have more than fiction on its mind–especially since it’s inspired by actual New Yorker stories, and the journalists who wrote them! We missed it in 2020, so here’s hoping it really does go to print in 2021!

Other interesting movies that may come out in 2021 but do not yet have release dates: Next Goal Wins, Don’t Worry Darling, Nightmare Alley, Antlers, Blonde, The Northman, Resident Evil, Red Notice, Those Who Wish Me Dead, Army of the Dead.

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The post Upcoming Must-See Movies in 2021 appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[stiri-noi]

O PERSONALITATE PE ZI: Regizorul şi creatorul de desene animate Isadore Freleng

[souljastyle94]

My ERA FROM Anime IS 1969-2013 way after that that's what all the anime shows die from Cartoon Network Nickelodeon Disney Kids WB ABC Family Fox kids on a Saturday if you know about them channels or those stations then you not a true 80s 90s beginning 2000s child around those time those was the best times to be a kid especially with the game systems when you have more games to choose from from all genres and categories even movies and TV shows now we have nothing but remakes or reruns failed attempts of a new series and movies only some few in this new generation of old titles are great other than that times we live in When comes to TV shows and movies and games are garbage and plus there's not a lot of Heroes left in the world too many reality stars the social media Stars for the be any Heroes I remember in our time all heroes is the people we couldn't touch or if they were with us they're the people we barely could see everyday always been some relative what's OG from the street Armada characters from a TV show when you ain't had no father in the house only people who went through a lot of circumstances that me and my family and the people from our Hood Mercy Drive all the way to my cousin Hood in Miami Little Haiti the only understand what I'm talking about and people who have hoods like ours #SOULJSTYLE #StyleGang #Orlando #Florida wish we can brang them golden years back or at least live in some years that's just like me when we have I true love ones ride or dies by our side before the world passes by and we all fade because now if you from the 80s 90s you are the parents the heroes the adults but some of us are still children that haven't grown we're all of us need to wake up cuz now most of us our parents widows single parents step parents grandparents great-grandparents in this generation most of us is just in the middle 20 late 20's early thirties late 30s early 40s with a whole lot of responsibility it's time for all us to wake up and leave legacies behind for the generations to come but in a right way not no Force religion or Force belief but the right direction if you take anything from this post take your life and your family's life seriously . https://www.instagram.com/p/BtnzqC7HEX5VyfhxbaRjQYQf_SBEdQfUFaWhlg0/?igshid=12rl2g7ehm9fw