#Icon Film Distribution

[thepeoplesmovies]

Win The Promised Land Starring Mads Mikkelsen On DVD

Powerful Nordic western, The Promised Land will be available soon to own on Digital, Blu-ray and DVD. The film stars Mads Mikkelsen and Courtesy of Icon Film Distribution we have a couple of DVD copies of the film up for grabs! In 1755, the impoverished Captain Ludvig Kahlen sets out to conquer the uninhabitable Danish heath in the name of the King. But the sole ruler of the area, the merciless…

[twig-tea]

East Palace, West Palace in ep5 of Blue Canvas of Youthful Days

I have been punched in the solar plexus by Blue Canvas of Youthful Days episode 5. So much happens in that episode that is overwhelming, from Qi Lu setting up a Netflix-and-chill date with the clear intention of making a move, to his putting on the famous film East Palace, West Palace (1996), to Qi Lu hiding Qin Xiao in the closet, to Qi Lu's panic at his father realizing he's been lied to, to the devastatingly practiced way Teacher Liu steps to Qi Lu being abused and handles his father, to the way Qi Lu shuts down, to the way QIn Xiao keeps sending mixed signals and Qi Lu calls him on it directly. And nobody else in this episode let me rest either; Tan Fan trying to ask Teacher Liu to wait for him and Liu brushing him off AGAIN, and Turtle trying to call out

@lurkingshan was already more coherent than I can be right now about what happened in the episode in her post.

So instead I want to focus on some queer cinema history that this episode evoked by using East Palace, West Palace as the film that Qi Lu shows to QIn Xiao.

For those who don't know, EPWP is considered to be the first realistic depiction of a gay man in film by a mainland Chinese production. It is to my knowledge the first time a gay man says "I love you" to another man on screen. It was made before being gay was decriminalized in China (1997), and it was filmed by an independent production company and smuggled out of China to France in order to be finished and distributed. It ended up at the Cannes festival in 1997, but the director's passport was seized and he was placed under house arrest to prevent him from attending. Despite pressure to pull the film, it still aired that year. In 1998, the Film Law was passed to prevent anyone from making films outside of the studio system (and therefore censorship review), effectively preventing anything like EPWP from being made in the future.

The film is about a gay man who cruises in the notorious bathrooms in the parks on either side of Tiananmen Square getting harassed by police officers (a situation extremely familiar to the historical queer experience in Canada [where I'm from] as well) and playing what I'd describe as a psychological game with one of them; A Lan kisses the cop, runs, and then gets caught a second time, and uses the second police confession as an excuse to tell his life's story in the public record, all while pushing the police officer a little further into deviance. As far as I'm aware, this film has been banned in China since being made and never shown (please correct me if I'm wrong about that!).

This is hitting me hard because of the much more recent history of Blue Canvas of Youthful Days itself. As most of you know, but I'll capture here for posterity, episodes 1-4 of this show aired on iQIYI (a China-based app) on August 6, and within 24 hours they were pulled from the app with no information about the future episodes being shown. When I watched episode 5 today, after waiting for it for 3 months, I was immediately hit with a wave of anger that this gorgeous, emotionally moving and powerful episode had been held back from public consumption for months, for the same reasons that the film being shown within the episode had been withheld from viewing in its own country.

Censorship is such an ugly thing, it's hard to articulate but the emotions around it are so strong because we know, when they pull or refuse to show media that depicts our lives, it's because they don't want our lives to be real; they don't want us to exist. It's a very real threat. And to have this episode--which is all about an abused boy who is in very real danger but so bravely insisting that he shoot his shot and take his best chance at love and happiness anyway, using the iconic confession scene from one of the most famous banned films in Chinese queer cinema history to do it--to have this episode be the one that was prevented from airing......I am overwhelmed.

In the scenes they watch in episode 5, A Lan tries to prevent the officer from uncuffing him, and then the officer lets him go, but A Lan doesn't go far and comes back. He declares his love to the officer's face, and demands that his love be acknowledged and not dismissed. And the officer does not know what to do with it and reacts with violence, which is partially what A Lan has been angling at all along. The show really played with this by having all three of the couples in the show stymied by having their overtures dismissed this episode, but we almost didn't get to see it.

I'm so grateful this got distribution now, and on multiple platforms. Blue Canvas of Youthful Days is airing Saturdays and Sundays on GagaOOLala and Youtube (note, as per @thisonelikesaliens's excellent language posts, the subs on Gaga are much better), and on Mondays on Viki. I know there is an avalanche of content right now, but this show is so good and worked so hard to make it to us, please give it some love!

[vallettamango]

Camp Half-Blood Headcanons

Things that probably would happen at camp. (Also ik that its set in the 2000s but just ignore I wanted to include some newer pop culture)

They have a annual memory/yearbook for the summer 

Chiron will pick a few kids from different cabins and give them old film cameras to capture moments from camp

Chiron takes the “yearbook” committee  group into nyc for a weekend they develop the pictures and make a single yearbook which Chiron keeps a stack of in the big hall where any campers can look back at past ones in their free time

A few years back at the request of some summer only campers he has started scanning the books digitally and emailing it to campers/parents so everyone can have a copy

They take one big camp group photo on the last day of summer

 There’s a section at the end called “camps most likely to” and/or voted most ____

Here’s a few of them: 

Connor Stoll is most likely to win a pie eating contest

Will Solace was voted most helpful camper

Austin Lake was voted to have the best smile 

Cecil Markowitz was voted to have the best laugh

Alice Miyazawa was voted most likely to stay calm in a stressful situation

Drew Tanaka was voted best dressed (Piper and Leo still think that’s not true camp opinion and that the voting was tampered with)

Nyssa Barrera is most likely to shave her head

the stolls obviously sell contraband to other campers (snacks, weed, makeup etc) 

Apollo cabin has 1 of 2 CD players in camp. When their older siblings would go home for the summer they would burn CDs with requests from everyone in the cabin and bring them back the next summer 

The other one used to be in the big hall and used communally 

It got broken during an intense food fight, everyone blames Ares cabin because their the ones that flipped their table over 

The secluded area at the top of the strawberry field is known as the date spot for older campers 

Aphrodite cabin made an initiative to have the camp supply campers with sex Ed and started a bowl of condoms in the infirm for anyone to take 

Will Solace (and the other counsellors before him) will have dance partys to cheer up their younger siblings. like they'll just turn on music and jam n dance, they even have a specific CD for it. (Lee Fletcher started tradition)

Katie Gardner from demeter and Rachel Dare started baking as a new camp activity during free periods. They also teach about growing your own ingredients and nutritional value 

Hermes cabin (Travis probably) once tried to make slap ass Friday a thing, it didn’t end well.

Definitely at some point some older campers in Demeter were growing weed in the greenhouse and selling it to other campers (in partnership w the stolls who distributed it)

they were stopped after about a month or two by Chiron who was not happy at all 

Once Sherman yang became head counselor of Ares they all got matching pjs (I’m sorry I just love that idea)

Valentina and Mitchell’s from Aphrodite like to braid the mains of the Pegasus 

Athena cabin loves to compete amongst each other of who can do sudoku the fastest, do a crossword first or win scrabble

Clarisse used to take ares cabin on morning jogs everyday 

Once Hephaestus cabin built a giant nerf gun that shot meatballs 

Aphrodite cabin covers their walls in posters of fashion and pop culture icons like: vivienne Westwood, the devil wears prada, Marilyn Monroe, 10 things I hate about you, destiny child etc 

they’re currently obsessed with Sabrina carpenter. Lacy brought the CD of short n sweet and they’ve been listening to it non stop (Apollo cabin has been nice enough to lend them the CD player when their not using it)

A bunch of the younger ish campers were obsessed with the magic tree house book series (iykyk) because the camp had a box set in Ancient Greek (somehow?)

They thought it was cool how the magic treehouse was kind of like the human vs demigod world so relatable in a way

Kids from all the cabins would share them so they got pretty beat up but they were very well loved until the day the binding literally fell apart

For year round campers their end of school year Summative for social sciences (geography, history, Ancient Greek/english) they each research an event in American history then explain how it’s related to a specific god and the impact they had on the event 

They all present them and they can present the project in any form they want (an art piece, a speech,  a retelling of the event etc)

When campers go for their last summer they sign their bunks

After the battle of manhattan or a demigod dies before they get to turn 18 their sibling will sometimes write their names on the bunks for them

Once Aphrodite cabin snuck into other cabins during the day and hid a photo of Channing tatum's abs under the bed slats of all the head counselors

Everyone was just confused when they found this random photo months later  

 If you walk by the communal showers on Apollo cabins shower day and you’ll definitely hear all them harmonizing to baby by Justin beiber

[merazwrites]

CLICKING THE SOURCE LINK will bring you to #85 gifs of Andrew Koji (1987) in the film Seneca – On the Creation of Earthquakes (2023). Please do not repost these gifs in anyway by adding them into gif hunts or distributing them as your own. If you convert them into gif icons and redistribute them, please credit me and link back to this pack. DO NOT use these gifs if you write “taboo themes” or real life/celebrities. You will be blocked. Please like or reblog if you’re going to use these gifs.

[talenlee]

do you have any thoughts on how (if at all) the Toy Story films impacted how children play with their toys?

Yeah, quite a bit.

Toy Story is a 1995 animated feature film by Pixar Studios, distributed by Disney, that serves as one of those iconic examples of early 3d Animation that ‘holds up’ over time by people who haven’t gone back and looked at any of the humans in it. With the voice talents of Tom Hanks and Tim Toolman, it follows the narrative of a pull-string cowboy doll competing with a kung-fu action grip spaceman toy for the attention of their gigantically towering owner, whom they must never allow to know that they live, breath, and know his name.

For kids!

Look, classic yada yada, groundbreaking yada yada, wholesome yada yada. I actually got to see this one while inside a controlled christian media bubble, and if tomorrow I found out all copies of it had been deleted I would react like that ‘oh no, anyway,’ meme. It is not a movie for which I have an enormous amount of affection. I don’t want to talk to you about the narrative, though, not of Wilson’s Best Friend negotiating with the Last Man Standing about which of them will be more validated by an actual literal child and the ontological questions of why aren’t the parts of Mr Potato Head independently alive?

I want to talk to you about the humans of Toy Story. Specifically, about Andy, and Sid, and the weird world they live in, and the weird world they’ve created.

Andy’s a weird kid.

Andy’s a weird kid, in this specific case, because of the toys he loves.

Andy’s collection of toys features a lot of things that were, for want of better phrasing, are old. Plastic army men, Mr Potato Head, metal slinky dogs. In 1995, none of that stuff looked like the heavily branded, overmerchandised toys I was used to. Kid didn’t own any legos? No rainbow vomit coloured plastic slinky?

Sure, my collection had some old toys in it. That was because I was poor, and we got a lot of toys from the Salvation Army story or second hand from the throwouts in the church charity bins.

Thing is, as toys, Woody and Buzz aren’t really like the toys I was interested in during the 1990s. Cowboys weren’t cool. Cowboys were old. Cowboys were shown on TV in largely black and white. Cowboys were always about being sour and mad and long periods of nothing happening and nobody did a single kick flip and there weren’t any ninjas. Buzz Lightyear looked extremely embarrassing, and not like the kids’ toys of the time. He didn’t transform, he was big and chunky and not an action figure. Lords knows he wasn’t going to stand up to either GI Joe or Action Man. The scale was all fucked up, he clearly cost a lot, and we never saw signs of playsets or vehicles in the movie.

Though I say that, and you know what he did look a lot like, size wise? GI Joe. Not my GI Joe, from the 1990s, which were the size of my thumbs and cost five dollars so you could army-build. Original GI Joe, from the 1960s, which was a much taller toy, literally a foot tall. You know, like how tall Buzz Lightyear is.

My point is: Buzz Lightyear is not a 90s toy. He was a toy that looked like a boomer’s toys. Andy, a child created to fit in 1995, in a large expensive home with lots of toys, has lots of old toys. Andy has toys that speak to growing up in the sixties, with one toy that’s meant to be a toy of the 90s that’s still kinda not.

But now those toys are iconic kids’ toys, now, because Toy Story became a classic, and people who saw it as kids had kids and shared it with their kids. That is, the parents saw Toy Story and went ‘oh that’s fine for my kids,’ then those kids passed on Toy Story to their kids, and so on and now thanks to it being interdimensional meme cryptid’s extended tentacles into our reality, Woody and Buzz are now iconic kid’s toys that rely on being this sort of post-packaged boomer nostalgia.

That’s the wildest thing. The combination of Andy’s wealth and diversity of toys (why do you have a ceramic Bo Peep statue?)  creates this weird impression of Andy being somehow a child with vintage toys that represent taste thirty years older than him. If Andy was poor and isolated it’d make a ton of sense for him to have all these old toys and none of the newest, coolest toys, like Sid has.

I’ve written about Sid in the past, in part because I think he’s the only character in the entire universe I have any real fondness for.

Well okay, maybe Rex.

Anyway, Sid’s poor? Like, his house, next door to Andy’s, is grungy and grimy and there’s a question about how Andy’s house is so nice and clean and fancy and Sid’s is basically a hell dungeon, but in hindsight it’s kind of hard to look at it and not see it as classic Disney Fisher King stuff. You know, the way that when Scar ruled Pride Rock, there was a drought, and the second Scar was replaced by Simba, there was rain. In this case, Sid, being bad, has a house that’s full of Badness, and Andy, being a good kid, has a good house.

But Sid is signalled as being poor. Everything in the house is grungy and secondhand, and he’s constantly playing with toys that have been discarded or lost, and he modifies them. Sid is curious and creative and yes, destructive, and he’s destructive of things that, as far as he knows until the movie decides to massively traumatise him, are just toys.

Like, think about that. Sid damages and messes with toys but he uses that to make other toys, to make things he plays with. His play is seem as scary and traumatising, because… what? Because he violates the ‘proper’ image of the toy. The toy that is not properly preserved, the toy that is torn in pieces and put together again is seen as somehow violated because it is no longer’ right.’ The implication there unstated is that toys are ‘right’ when they are sold to you, and when you change them from that product, they are ‘wrong.’

Sid’s sin is making his own toys, and he is punished by the avatar of a multinational company that will sell you toys that are right.

There’s this fun story beat, where in Toy Story 3, you find that Sid is now a garbage collector. You can see him wearing the same shirt, and dancing happily as he collects trash. In the garbage dump in that movie, you’ll find there are also no toys, which creates the strange question of how things get that way. A story that explains this, a story I like, is that Sid, with the skills he has with toys, took the job as a garbage collector to rescue these tiny sentient creatures from humanity discarding them and is running some sort of toy game preserve in his home. After all, he is, as far as we know, the only human aware that toys are alive.

And he’s the asshole, not the seeming adults who traumatise a kid for playing with toys. Sid, after all, doesn’t play nice.

Source.

[sarztomo]

James Wilby joins the Famous Five series 2 two currently filming!!!

Can't wait to see James in this.

----------------------------

Joining the core cast are Maria Pedraza, Amir Wilson, James Wilby, Rita Tushingham, Jonathan Aris, Jamie Andrew Cutler and Jemima Rooper

BBC, Moonage Pictures (The Gentlemen) and Nicolas Winding Refn today announce filming has begun on a brand-new series of The Famous Five for the BBC in the UK, in co-production with The Mediapro Studio which also holds the distribution rights for the series in Spain, Portugal, and Latin America.

The 2 x 90min series is created for television and executive produced by Nicolas Winding Refn (byNWR) & Matthew Read (Moonage Pictures) and follows on from the highly successful first series which aired on the BBC. The premiere, The Curse of Kirrin Island, was CBBC’s number one rated episode in 2023.

Diaana Babnicova returns as George, alongside Elliott Rose as Julian, Kit Rakusen as Dick and Flora Jacoby Richardson as Anne. Making up the fifth member of The Famous Five and the gang’s faithful furry friend, is Kip, the Bearded Collie Cross playing Timmy the dog.

With Jack Gleeson, James Lance, Ann Akinjirin also reprising their roles, they are joined by new cast members, including Spanish actress Maria Pedraza (Money Heist, Elite), Amir Wilson (His Dark Materials), James Wilby (Poldark), Rita Tushingham (A Taste of Honey), Jemima Rooper (Geek Girl), Jonathan Aris (Sherlock) and Jamie Andrew Cutler (The Hurricane Heist). Rooper starred as George in the 1990s Famous Five TV series and now takes on the role of Angela Clutterbuck, a guest staying at a mysterious hotel.

The Famous Five is based on Enid Blyton’s iconic stories and follows the daring young explorers as they encounter treacherous, action-packed adventures, remarkable mysteries, unparalleled danger and astounding secrets. Series two takes our heroes into strange and challenging waters as they face life during wartime – and the hazards of growing up.

[anamelessfool]

extremely fast playing around drawing of Pre-Apocalypse May June in her iconic costume from Cityslicker Sweetheart (released 2073)

Pinstripe Suit inspired by 1950s wool suit by Christian Dior

born Mabel Blaszkiewicz April 4, 2042. Utica, NY

Loved to sing all her life. Gifted student. Discovered when working at the perfume counter at a Utica Department store by a Hollywood exec visiting his mother-in-law for the Christmas holidays. Dropped her dreams of poli-sci academia for Hollywood fame.

Got her 15 minutes of fame recording industrial musicals for Vault-Tech through their newly acquired StarTone Records label. (Ok one thing I really wanna see in this Fallout show is a Vault-Tech industrial musical. Holy hell those are great)

Starred alongside Cooper Howard in the Western/Mafia Crossover Musical film City Slicker Sweetheart. She played Marina Bellafonte, Mafia princess forced to live out west in Witness Protection due to her dastardly capo boyfriend Antonio. (She was picked because she's sorta from New York) Was a total bomb.

Her plan to be vaporized by the initial atomic bombs while relaxing poolside unfortunately failed. She's been a ghoul ever since. She can't sing anymore but as Mayor of Stumptown she's finally taken seriously.

[fly-pow-bye]

Genndy Tartakovsky had an interview with Collider about his past, current, and future projects. Among what he talked about:

Primal Season 3 will begin airing in 2025, and it's currently in production.

They're still trying to find a distributor for Fixed, the R-rated 2D animated comedy film. It is completely finished, it's just a matter of finding a distributor that's brave enough to release a "unicorn" of a film.

He just finished the script for Black Knight (no relation to the 2001 film or the Dark Knight), and they're also looking for a distributor if Sony doesn't want to distribute it themselves. He doesn't think it will be rated R, and that's as far as he wants to talk about it for now.

If there's demand for it, there will be more Hotel Transylvania.

He is still holding on to the slightest possibility that Sym-Bionic Titan will come back, as much as he wants to just release the unproduced scripts. In his words, "there's got to be bigger demand", and they did not see that when it was on Netflix.

When asked what he is currently working on, he said the aforementioned Primal, two movies for Sony, two other projects he can't talk about, and one project that's kind of finished but can't talk about until "it could go or not".

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

ALL DOLLED UP WITH A TOUCH OF THE SPECTACULAR -- ENTER THE SPECTACLES.

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on American icon/Hollywood actress/sex symbol, Marilyn Monroe, donning some of the most fashionable eyewear of the decade, film/movie still from the 1953 American screwball comedy "How to Marry a Millionaire," directed by Jean Negulesco. Distributed by 20th Century Fox.

Resolution at & 736x1071 & 736x919.

Sources: http://divinemarilyn.canalblog.com/page/97 & Pinterest.

[jubayedhasan24]

"Deadpool & Wolverine" is a 2024 American superhero film based on Marvel Comics, featuring the iconic characters Deadpool and Wolverine. As the 34th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and a sequel to Deadpool (2016) and Deadpool 2 (2018), the film is produced by Marvel Studios, Maximum Effort, and 21 Laps Entertainment, with distribution by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

[thepeoplesmovies]

Evil 'Begins' In The Hellboy: The Crooked Man UK Trailer

Evil has to begin somewhere, next month Icon Film Distribution will bring that beginning to cinemas with Hellboy: The Crooked Man. Today we get a glimpse of the film in the shape of it’s UK Trailer. It’s been a long time since those Guillermo Del Toro films with Ron Perlman. Neil Marshall’s 2019 ‘reboot’ which had only one redeeming factor was David Harbour in the lead role.  With Crank director…

[randomestfandoms-ocs]

Fandom: Glee + FC: Joe Locke + LI: Benjamin

baby boy!!

Daniel "Danny" Anthony Hope

Son of two iconic broadway lesbians, Vanessa & Lucinda Hope (not married because it's not legal but Lucinda changed her last name to match her wife and son)

Vanessa Hope (bio mom) is from Ohio, she was doing community theatre in Columbus when Danny was born (and meets Josh St James, they become very close even though she's a bit older)

She went through a very very messy breakup with Danny's father (he was extremely financially and verbally abusive, sometimes physically, leaves him because he hit infant Danny to make him stop crying, during the process she realizes she’s a lesbian), which leads to her moving to New York, auditions for a broadway show on a whim but gets it and quickly becomes theatre icon status, changes her last name from Corcoran to Hope as part of restarting her life, meets Lucinda soon after

(also Danny and Vanessa both have restraining orders against Danny's bio father)

Danny has known Josh for his entire life, he hasn't been to Ohio since Vanessa moved them to New York but Josh regularly comes to New York to visit Nell, young Jesse (when Johanna still lived in New York), and Vanessa & Danny, he's somewhere between a cool uncle and much older brother to Danny

Danny is following in his moms' footsteps, he's done some ensemble broadway roles before but has just started his first major role, playing Tony in Sweeney Todd (fun cast, his moms are playing Lovett and Lucy, Roman Kline is playing Anthony)

But soon after he turns 15 (roughly the start of glee season 2), he loses his virginity to a theatre acquaintance (who is ~18 at the time), who films it without Danny knowing, leaks the tape, and outs Danny on a major scale – the video got spread all over social media and tabloids, his moms sued so many people for possession and distribution of child pornography (he was 15, the other guy was 18, he’s now in jail for 7 years over it) – it's the first time that Roman has actually acted as a lawyer since getting licensed but he represents Danny, the whole thing becomes a huge media circus because it becomes a huge precedent case about tabloids and news outlets and revenge porn/sharing private images and videos etc

But the whole situation takes a significant toll on Danny's mental health, and he's dealing with insane amounts of harassment and stalking from paparazzi so for his safety, he ends up moving to Lima to live with Josh for a while. He's enrolled at Dalton which is a bitch of a commute but it’s Ohio and he was just very publicly and traumatizing outed so the no bullying policy is a huge win; he does end up eventually transferring to McKinley either after the Slushy Incident in season 3 (details iffy on that because Sebastian and Klaine are more tensely civil in this verse) or because of Hunter shit in season 4

Ship is tbd, Blaine is very much a big brother to him (people keep adopting him tbh), also has a huge crush on Sebastian when they first meet but it doesn't go anywhere, Sebastian becomes his over protective big brother instead

Roman and Cooper were his gay awakening when he was 12 (he had never thought he liked girls but didn’t realize he *liked boys* until then), he met Roman when he was doing a stint on Broadway with one of his moms and then met Cooper on opening night

And it’s going to be a Kurt & Klaine friendly story (noteworthy because it's not typical of me), Kurt is his big brother too and is very protective of this kid (who is only a year younger than him but feels *so* young when they first meet and reminds Kurt too much of himself; also Kurt knew about the outing situation and posted so many scathing social media posts condemning everyone who watched, shared, or mocked it and everyone who harassed him after)

everyone just calling him Klaine’s son all the time (Danny: I’m only a few months younger than Blaine wtf? / Blaine: nope sorry you have two lesbian moms and two gay dads now love you kid / Danny: 🥺🥺🥺 love you too)

he used to be a total social butterfly and very confident and chill and just happy but becomes extremely withdrawn and anxious and shy after the whole outing situation, struggles to get close to anyone after that (but no one is immune to his fluffy hair and puppy eyes and he keeps getting adopted anyways)

also his moms spend a lot of time visiting him in Lima and might end up moving there once it's clear that this is the best place for Danny to be, tbd

bonus characters: Kathryn Hahn as Vanessa Corcoran Hope, Patti Lupone as Lucinda Hope, and Aubrey Plaza as Danny's unnamed therapist in Lima

also technically named after Danny Zuko and Anthony Hope but Vanessa choosing Hope as a new last name wasn't about the Sweeney Todd reference, it was about Danny being her hope and about her hope for a new life after leaving her ex/moving to New York

[merazwrites]

CLICKING THE SOURCE LINK will bring you to #34 gifs of Eva Mendes (1974) in the film Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000). Please do not repost these gifs in anyway by adding them into gif hunts or distributing them as your own. If you convert them into gif icons and redistribute them, please credit me and link back to this pack. DO NOT use these gifs if you write “taboo themes” or real life/celebrities. You will be blocked. Please like or reblog if you’re going to use these gifs.

content warning: flashing lights

[maximumwobblerbanditdonut]

BBC Reveals Release Date And New Pictures For New Crime Drama Rebus

Rebus, a new crime series based on the best-selling Inspector Rebus novels by Ian Rankin, will launch on Friday 17 May, the BBC has announced. All episodes will be available on BBC iPlayer from 6am, with episode one airing on BBC Scotland on Friday 17 May and on BBC One on Saturday 18 May.

Written for the screen by Gregory Burke (’71, Six Four), Rebus reimagines the iconic character John Rebus as a younger Detective Sergeant, drawn into a violent criminal conflict that turns personal when his brother Michael, a former soldier, crosses the line.

New pictures released by the BBC show Richard Rankin (Outlander, The Replacement) in the titular role, Brian Ferguson (The Ipcress File, Spanish Princess) as John’s brother, Michael, and Lucie Shorthouse (Line of Duty, Ten Percent) as Rebus’s investigation partner, Detective Constable Siobhan Clarke.

Previously announced cast also include Amy Manson (The Nevers, The Diplomat), Neshla Caplan (The Rig, Scot Squad), Noof Ousellam (Vigil, Guilt), Stuart Bowman (The Serpent, Bodyguard), Caroline Lee Johnson (Trying, Ridley), Sean Buchanan (Censor, Mary Queen of Scots), Thoren Ferguson (The Midwich Cuckoos) and Michelle Duncan (Baptise, Elizabeth is Missing).

Shaken after a violent encounter with gangster Ger Cafferty, Edinburgh detective John Rebus finds himself at a psychological crossroads. At odds with a job increasingly driven by corporate technocrats, involved in a toxic affair he knows he needs to end, and all but supplanted in his daughter’s life by his ex-wife’s wealthy new husband, Rebus begins to wonder if he still has a role to play – either as a family man or a police officer.

In a time of divisive politics and national discord, Rebus’s ex-soldier brother Michael, who’s broke, desperately crosses the line in order to provide for his family, and Rebus starts to question if the law still has meaning, or if everyone is reverting to an older set of rules. And if so, why shouldn’t he do so too?

Rebus (6x45’) is written by Gregory Burke and is adapted from the best-selling novels by Ian Rankin. The six-part series is directed by Niall MacCormick (Complicit, The Victim, Wallander) and Fiona Walton (Shetland, Annika) and is produced by Angela Murray. Eleventh Hour Films’ Paula Cuddy, Jill Green and Eve Gutierrez are the Executive Producers of the series, alongside Tomas Axelsson and Isabelle Hultén for Viaplay, director Niall MacCormick, writer Gregory Burke and author Ian Rankin. Rebus is produced by Eleventh Hour Films and is distributed internationally by Viaplay Content Distribution. This production of Rebus was supported by Screen Scotland.

Image credits

Header image: Still from Rebus showing Richard Rankin as John Rebus, courtesy of the BBC.

Image 1: Rebus poster, courtesy of the BBC

Image 2: Still from Rebus showing Lucie Shorthouse and Richard Rankin as Siobhan Clarke and John Rebus, courtesy of the BBC

Image 3: Still from Rebus showing Brian Ferguson and Richard Rankin as Michael and John Rebus, courtesy of the BBC

SCREEN SCOTLAND SGRÌN ALBA

Posted 1st May 2024

[popentertainment-moviereviews]

WICKED (2024)

Starring Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Marissa Bode, Ethan Slater, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Keala Settle, Bronwyn James, Bowen Yang, Aaron Teoh, Guan Ti, Adam James, Colin Michael Carmichael and the voice of Peter Dinklage.

Screenplay by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox.

Directed by Jon M. Chu.

Distributed by Universal Pictures. 160 minutes. Rated PG.

Have you ever wondered what came before Dorothy and the yellow brick road? Wicked answers all of these questions and more in the most spellbinding fashion. Jon M. Chu’s long-awaited film adaptation of Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz’s hit Broadway musical, Wicked, gives audiences an inside look into how Elphaba Thropp became known as the Wicked Witch of the West, and how Galinda Upland became Glinda the Good Witch.

For those who don’t already know, Wicked is the musical prequel to L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (my fellow musical theater geeks know that Elphaba’s name is derived from Baum’s initials). Baum’s novel took the world by fire and earned its very first film adaptation in 1939, The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland, Jack Haley, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Frank Morgan, Margaret Hamilton, Billie Burke, and Clara Blandick. Unsurprisingly, the film quickly became a cult classic which led to numerous sequels, retellings, and, you guessed it, prequels.

In 1995, Gregory Maguire’s novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West was published, a prequel to Baum’s award-winning tale. The novel tells the previously untold story of how Elphaba and Glinda’s complicated relationship came to be, exploring themes of Good vs. Evil, Identity, Discrimination, and Friendship. With the success of Maguire’s novel, further conversation sparked about translating the story into a musical.

In 2003, Wicked made its Broadway debut at the Gershwin Theatre with music and lyrics composed by Stephen Schwartz and script by Winnie Holzman. The award-winning original cast featured Idina Menzel as Elphaba and Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda, making the pair household names.

Being lucky enough to have seen Wicked twice on Broadway, I, as well as other theater enthusiasts, had extremely elevated expectations for its highly anticipated film adaptation. Recent movie musicals have let me down, so I was curious how Wicked would fall on my wickedly misguided to thrillifying rating scale.

Needless to say, my expectations were defied.

The film begins exactly as its musical counterpart does, picking right up where The Wizard of Oz film left off, with the Munchkins of Munchkinland celebrating the melting (death) of the Wicked Witch of the West, belting opening number “No One Mourns the Wicked.” Glinda (formerly GA-linda) floats down in her iconic pink bubble to “rejoicify” with the Munchkins. Glinda’s sudden appearance prompts one of the Munchkins to ask Glinda if she was ever friends with the Wicked Witch, to which she responds that she was. Glinda then goes on to tell the origin story of the green witch (Elphaba,) and the trials that she endured as early as a newborn baby.

The story continues as Elphaba grows up and enrolls in Shiz University, with Galinda as her roommate. The duo become unlikely best friends, even after expressing that they equally “loathe” one another. Over the course of the girls’ first semester at Shiz, the talking animal professors of the university begin to lose their voices, reverting to their animalistic bleating, mooing, selves. As Elphaba has such a passion for the rights of all living things, she seeks out the help of the great and powerful Wizard of Oz to serve justice to the animals. Elphaba and Glinda make their way to the renowned Emerald City, not knowing that their adventure is just beginning.

I was concerned that Elphaba and Glinda’s characters would get lost in the mix of Wicked’s star-studded cast, but this was not the case at all. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande transformed into the film’s iconic pair on the screen before me. Be prepared to see Erivo and Grande as you’ve never seen them before – their chemistry and talent are unmatched. Wicked is a true masterpiece and Erivo and Grande are coming for those Oscars.

Between Jonathan Bailey’s charisma playing Fiero, Michelle Yeoh’s mesmerism as Madame Morrible, and Jeff Goldblum’s allure as the Wizard, every single person in this cast carried their weight and more.

Alongside the incredibly brilliant cast, Wicked’s cinematography is another massive contributor to its success, in my book. The film is jam-packed with breathtaking landscapes including Munchkinland’s radiant tulip field (including nine million real planted tulips,) the effulgent Emerald City (which was actually a physical set,) and the ethereal Shiz University, complete with its very own lake and stone academic buildings (surprise – another physical set.) Aside from the sets, the vibrancy of every shot in the film is unrivaled.

Regarding the film’s musical aspect, I am still speechless, even after departing the theater. Not only can this cast act, but they can sing. Beautifully. It is rare for a film adaptation of a musical to hit the mark with its soundtrack, but Wicked did much more than hit the mark, it smashed it with a giant broomstick.

Stephen Schwartz, who wrote the entirety of Wicked’s original songs, co-wrote the film’s musical score alongside John Powell. The scoring evoked such emotion and tied the whole feature together with a pink and green bow. 

After watching Wicked, I can confirm that pink does go“good” with green.

Kayla Marra

Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: November 20, 2024.

[iwanthermidnightz]

*parts of this article was written previously and then recently updated*

Taylor Swift isn't just a pop icon anymore; she's the next great American dynasty, singlehandedly steering some of the country's most vaunted brands and institutions.

Why it matters: She already fueled the nation's economy for much of the summer and drove thousands to register to vote. Now, she's a beacon of opportunity — and cash — for both the NFL and Hollywood.

The NFL: Swift was spotted cheering on the Kansas City Chiefs alongside Donna Kelce, mother of Chiefs tight end, Travis Kelce, during last Sunday's game against the Chicago Bears.

Throughout the broadcast, Fox panned over to Swift nine times throughout the game and social media was abuzz over her attendance.

The NFL flashed images of Swift in their game day graphics throughout the game, released 10 TikToks on the official NFL account — which changed its bio to read "9/24/23. Taylor was here' — and NFL on Fox even ran an ad capitalizing on her romantic link to Kelce.

Kelce is also a recipient of the halo effect. In the 24 hours following the game, he gained over 300,000 new social media followers, saw a 400% increase in merchandise sales and his podcast ranked #1 on the Apple charts.

By the numbers: Her attendance did in fact drive ratings, particularly among young, female viewers

The Chiefs vs. Bears game drew 24.3 million viewers, making it the most-viewed telecast of the week, and female viewership in the key 18-49 demo saw a 63% increase.

What they're saying: "This buzz around Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift isn't just about speculation about their relationship, it's about the Halo Effect at work - where one person's influence boosts the appeal of others around them. Suddenly, football is more than a game; it's a stage for pop culture," said communication expert Molly McPherson.

"It isn't just an academic theory; it's a savvy marketing move. When an All-Pro tight end like Travis Kelce invites Taylor Swift to a game, he's essentially inviting her entire fan base to tune in as well. Swift, Kelce, the NFL, and the Kansas City Chiefs all come out ahead. There was only one loser in Sunday's game, and it was the Chicago Bears."

Box office: With Hollywood mired in the depths of dual labor disputes, this fall's movie slate was looking pretty bare for theaters — until Swift delivered an unexpected jolt with the surprise announcement of her "Eras Tour" film, set for release this month.

Swift and her family directly negotiated a distribution deal with theater chain AMC, leaving out the traditional studio middlemen via an agreement that could upend how concert films are released in the future, per Puck's Matthew Belloni.

The concert film is tracking toward a $100 million opening weekend domestically — and likely much higher, according to Deadline, with one analyst calling it a "unicorn."

Its announcement also forced a last-minute jolt of Hollywood's release calendar, as Blumhouse head Jason Blum moved up the release of the forthcoming "Exorcist" sequel by a week, declaring "#TaylorWins."

The big picture: Swift has so much influence, clout and engagement for a reason.

She has won over the trust of her fandom — referred to as Swifties — through authentic and direct communication across social media and through fan experiences.

Her penchant for hiding clues and Easter eggs throughout her communiques is so well-known that she took over Google Search to reveal new song titles last month.

Music accolades aside, Swift gained even more respect from her fellow musicians by challenging the way artists were compensated across streaming platforms.

What's next: Swift is expected to attend this week's Chiefs vs Jets game, which could continue to bring more eyeballs, more chatter and more money to the NFL.

The bottom line: When Taylor Swift gets involved, the only blank space that matters is on the checks that'll inevitably be cashed.