wvba-ringside-gossip

[whitewaterpaper]

Den här månaden tror jag att jag fått till en schysst blanding åt er att grotta ned er i. Det blir direkt-till-video-raffel från 90-talet, svart-vit skräck, vallarna-fasrser och en trevlig filmserie starkt influerad av doctor who. Om en speciell omtitt där jag bara såg Mumien Vaknar, remaken från 1999 och remaken på remaken från 2017.

Alla tiders Åsa-Nisse (2023) [👍🔁🎭]

Dark Angel: The Ascent (1994) [📺]

First Spaceship on Venus / Der Schweigende Stern (1960) [📺]

Josh Kirby… Time Warrior: Chapter 1, Planet of the Dino-Knights (1995) [👍🔁📺]

Josh Kirby… Time Warrior: Chapter 2, the Human Pets (1995) [👍🔁📺]

Josh Kirby… Time Warrior: Chapter 3, Trapped on Toyworld (1995) [👍🔁📺]

Josh Kirby… Time Warrior: Chapter 4, Eggs from 70 Million B.C. (1995) [👍🔁📺]

Mumien Vaknar / Mummy, the (1932) [👍]

Mumien / Mummy, the (1999) [👍🔁]

Mumien / Mummy, the (2017) [🔁]

Murder, She Wrote: South by Southwest (1997) [👍]

Odjur / Creature from Black Lake (1976) [👎📺]

Skräcken i Svarta Lagunen / Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) [👍]

Tower Heist (2011) [__]

Tre dagar för Condor / Three Days of the Condor (1975) [👎🔁]

Virus i bataljonen (2009) [👍🔁🎭]

Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory / Lycanthropus (1961) [📺]

Så vad skall ni ta med er från den här listan? Vallarna är ju alltid bra, och Josh Kirby charmig. Men Tower Heist var riktigt underhållande, trots att jag inte är något stort fan av Ben Stiller.

[savebatsartedition]

And So We Fall - Fully Animated Fandom AMV

-

Warnings: Eyestain, flashing lights, minor injury, and minor spoilers for SOME of the fandoms included. (All of them are listed below in order.) 

There are unfortunately two small visual glitches and an audio glitch in this recording. You play have more luck with the scratch link (IF you have a beefy computer). The other recordings I tried to do crashed my computer. 

I ran out of tags to tag everything so I picked four random fandoms to not tag.

Scratch link: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/504709298 Originally shared: Jul 12, 2024 

(More notes under the cut.) 

Instructions: If you couldn't tell from the DSMP part, I've been working on this for a WHILE. ^-^' (For reference: As of 2024, I have been working on it for at LEAST four years.) 

 It's a little off time, and it's kind of scuffed but yeah.

Please don't steal or recolor or trace or anything! None of that! 

Fandoms: Dream SMP (Ranboo lore) Pokemon DPA (Koya) Hetalia (Germany, Italy, Japan, England, Russia, France, China, America.) 3rd Life SMP (Grian) Warrior Cats (Jayfeather) Gameknight999 (Gameknight999, King of Griefers) Pokespe (That part where Gold got thrown in the lake) Miraculous Ladybug (Cat Noir and Ladybug) HTTYD Books (Windwalker) PJO (Percy + Hades and Persephone) Magic Tree House (Jack and Annie) Beowulf (Grendel's Mother and Beowulf) Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword (Link + the gate of time) Kirby's Epic Yarn (Prince Fluff and Kirby) Servamp (Litch and Lawless) Series of Unfortunate Events (Sunny) Norigami (Yato +Yukine in sword form) Pokemon Anime (Ash) Brother Bear (Kenai, Bear Form, then human form) My Little Pony (Rainbow Dash) Hamlet (Hamlet) Spiderwicks Chronicles (Mallory, Simon, Jared) Animaniacs (Yakko, Dot, and Wakko) A to Z Mysteries (Josh, Ruth Rose, and Dink) Warrior Sheep (All of them, focus on Wills, the phone) Sonic The Hedgehog (Sonic The Hedgehog) Dungeon Meshi (Chilchuck)  Hermitcraft 8 (Impulse, Pearl, Mumbo, Scar, Grian) Prodigy Math Game (The Puppet Master) Disney's Fairies (Vidia + Mushroom with pixie dust) How To Train Your Dragon Movies (Toothless pre film) Scratchcraft (Mallonations, Stormlordzeus) The Iliad (Achilles and Patroclus) Shark Wars (Velenka, Goblin) Me :3 

Sorry to Cleopatra in Space, Amulet, Narnia, Danny Phantom, Harry Potter, Wild Cratts, The Hobbit, Foxcraft and all the other things I like very very much but didn't even get into this amv. Also sorry to the parts, Pokespe in particular, which are way too short for how much I love them. :") 

Notes and Credits: @savebatsfromscratch (me) for the animation and code. Scratch bitmap is the program of choice. The Stupendium on YT for the song. The creators of the characters.

[mushroom-madness]

🍄 MUSHROOM MADNESS BRACKET🍄

🍄 Here are all of our matchups! 🍄

Popular Picks are in white, while our Underdogs are in yellow! This way we’ll be able to see how far any of our underdogs get! (Also for ease of reading the bracket) Typed up list (w/ eventual link to polls) under the cut!

1. Breloom (Pokémon) VS The Truffle (Terraria)

2. Shrumal Warrior(Hollow Knight) VS Muttshroom (Mother 3)

3. Morelull (Pokémon) VS Marabelle Cybin/Marabelle the Terrible (Not Another D&D Podcast)

4. Apothecary Gary (Amphibia) VS Amanita (Green Lantern) VS Galwyn (Troll, 1986)

5. Leif (Bug Fables) VS Princess Shroob (Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time)

6. Mycologists (Inscryption) VS Tarin (The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening)

7. Mister Mushroom (Hollow Knight) VS Akaboshi Bisco (Sabikui Bisco)

8. Mooshroom (Minecraft) VS Violet and Tate (Monster Prom)

9. Brown Slim Mushroom (Everhood) VS Shrumbo (Ooblets)

10. Danielle Barkstock (D20) VS Mushroomon/Mushmon (Digimon)

11. Ragel (Undertale) VS Hattifatteners (Moomin)

12. Amanita (Just Dance) VS Slimefoot (Magic the Gathering)

13. Toad (Mario) VS Shrub Berry (Empires SMP)

14. Walking Mushroom (Delicious in Dungeon) VS Master Firbolg (The Adventure Zone: Graduation)

15. Todd from Mario (Drawfee) VS Magic Myc (Inside Job)

16. Jade Leech (Twisted Wonderland) VS Nightcap (Plants VS Zombies: Battle for Neighborville)

17. Twirly-Whirly (Genshin Impact) VS Chio the Korok (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild)

18. Toadette (Mario) VS Nightcap (Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch)

19. Moonshine Cybin (Not Another D&D Podcast) VS Puff Shroom (Plants VS Zombies)

20. Sozo (Cult of the Lamb) VS Kinoko Komori (My Hero Academia)

21. Puffstool (Pikmin) VS Myconids (Dungeons and Dragons, 5th Edition)

22. Bongo-Head (Genshin Impact) VS Shroomish (Pokémon) VS Malcom (Squishmallow)

23. Caduceus Clay (Critical Role) VS Josh (Dominion SMP)

24. Mushroom Pikmin (Pikmin) VS Red Dead Mushroom (Everhood)

25. Zommoth (Bug Fables) VS Room (Join the Party)

26. Stanley (Spiritfarer) VS Fleeble (Ooblets)

27. Poison Mushroom Cookie (Cookie Run) VS Shumi (Shumi Come Home)

28. En (Dorohedoro) VS White Mushroom Emblem Heartless (Kingdom Hearts)

29. Clickers (The Last of Us) VS Hypno-Shroom (Plants VS Zombies)

30. The Nomes (Little Nightmares) VS Shrooom! (Earthbound)

31. Ramblin Evil Mushroom (Earthbound) VS Kinoko (Katamari)

32. Truffles Daal (Chowder) VS Cappy (Kirby)

[duecredits]

Derek Webster

Josh Kirby: Time Warrior! Chap. 2: The Human Pets (1995)

[britishsass]

Why can I imagine Hollis ranting about the Magic School Bus?

Because she would. (Especially the new version-- She doesn't like the new version at all.) But she does it because she loves the series, and likely has a lot of opinions on how it could be done better.

Kinda like me with things I used to like. Like, say, there's this show I watched as a kid called Josh Kirby: Time Warrior! and looking back? it's completely shlocky trash. But you know what? I still love it

That's the vibes she gives me about it. You love it even though it's not the best because you just. Care about it.

[vintagegeekculture]

“Josh Kirby, Time Warrior: Planet of the Dino Knights” (1995)

[scriptwriters-network]

One-On-One with Writer and Producer Eric Miller

Event Date: Saturday, December 8, 2018 || Speaker: Eric Miller || Check-in: 12:30 pm ||

This event is with a Writer and Producer who will discuss a variety of topics, including: writing strong characters, creating a compelling premise and/or story, finding your voice, script development, working on past shows and much more.

You could say that writer Eric Miller has just about done it all in his nearly 30 year career in Hollywood. His produced screenplay credits include NIGHT SKIES, THE SHADOW MEN, MASK MAKER, SWAMP SHARK, and the SyFy Channel hit ICE SPIDERS, which was said by the Hollywood Reporter to be “…first rate entertainment.”

Miller was also hired to write a number of screenplays that are currently in development, including DOG SOLDIERS II for Kismet Entertainment and MIDNIGHT CARNIVAL for Director/FX Artist Roy Knyrim. Miller has also done uncredited rewrites for films such as COUGAR HUNTING, has optioned spec screenplays such as HUNTERS and BLOOD & SILVER, and has been hired by various companies to write script outlines and treatments.

On the other side of the keyboard, Miller was the head of production and development for Raw Nerve, working with founders Eli Roth, John Penotti, Boaz Yakin and Scott Spiegel to create and produce a slate of horror films that included 2001 MANIACS, starring Robert Englund and Lin Shaye, and HOSTEL. He was also the head of development for the cult favorite direct-to-video company Cinema Home Video.

Miller produced the award-winning Texas Noir thriller BROKE SKY, said by the Daily Variety to be “…an exceptional example of American regional indie filmmaking,” as well as the horror film KNIFEPOINT, among many other films. As a staff producer for Full Moon Entertainment, he supervised a number of films shooting in the U.S., Mexico, Italy, and Eastern Europe such as BEANSTALK, PRIMEVALS, TEENIE WEENIES, JOSH KIRBY: TIME WARRIOR, MAGIC ISLAND, and many other films.

Miller has also worked in a number of other key positions in film production over the years. As a Transportation Coordinator he has worked with Liam Neeson on the TAKEN series, Matthew McConaughey on SURFER DUDE, Director Rick Famuyiwa on DOPE and CONFIRMATION, Sofia Coppola on BLING RING, Roman Coppola and Charlie Sheen on CHARLES SWAN III, and over 40 other film and TV shows. He is also a respected Production Manager, working on such genre films and TV series such as MIAMI MAGMA and MONSTER WOLF for the SyFy Channel and THE NEW ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD for Warner Bros. International Television.

Outside of the movie industry, Miller is a book publisher, editor, and fiction writer. Under his Big Time Books imprint, Miller edited and published the Bram Stoker Award nominated anthology HELL COMES TO HOLLYWOOD, its imaginatively titled sequel HELL COMES TO HOLLYWOOD II, and the trucking horror anthologies 18 WHEELS OF HORROR and 18 WHEELS OF SCIENCE FICTION.

His zombie comedy short story “Culling the Herd” made Ellen Datlow’s BEST HORROR OF THE YEAR’s rec list, his horror short “The Patch” appeared in the anthology HALLOWEEN TALES he contributed a chapter on screenwriting to HORROR 201: THE SILVER SCREAM, and his poem “I Haunt This Place” was in the HORROR WRITERS ASSOCIATION POETRY SHOWCASE 2017. Miller is an Active member of the HWA.

Miller lives in Los Angeles, but works on location more often than not. In his spare time, he reads voraciously, writes occasionally, and loves movies of all types, though he has a soft spot for Godzilla movies and romantic comedies.

Please REGISTER before 10:00 pm on Thursday, December 6, 2018.

Please register by clicking here.

[riotatthemovies]

This weekend I took 12 hrs to myself to just watch old Kids movies and cartoons on my older vhs collection. At 2 am i was losing my mind thinking I had never watched this tape before... but I had.. and I am for the worse for it... This comes after watched several of the Josh Kirby Time Warriors tapes back to back and a wave of newish cartoons on tv... then led back into tapes of Bucky o hare , Inhumanoids and Mr Ts b somebody of be somebody's fool ...Why do I collect such awful things? ...

[rabbittstewcomics]

Episode 355

Comic Reviews:

DC

Aquaman: Andromeda 1 by Ram V, Christian Ward

Dark Crisis 1 by Joshua Williamson, Daniel Sampere, Alejandro Sanchez

DC Pride 2022 by Devin Grayson, Ivan Cohen, Tini Howard, Greg Lockard, Alyssa Wong, Stephanie Phillips, Danny Lore, Stephanie Williams, Jadzia Axelrod, Dani Fernandez, Kevin Conroy, Travis Moore, Ted Brandt, Ro Stein, Nicole Maines, Lovern Kindzierski, W. Scott Forbes, J. Bone, P. Craig Russell, Lynne Yoshii, J.J. Kirby, Meghan Hetrick, Nick Robles, Brittney Williams, Jess Taylor, Evan Cagle, Zoe Thorogood, Samantha Dodge, Giulio Macaione, Rye Hickman, Tamra Bonvillain, Marissa Louise, Jeremy Lawson, Triona Farrell, Enrica Angiolini

Multiversity: Teen Justice 1 by��

Nubia: Queen of the Amazons 1 by Stephanie Williams, Alitha Martinez, Mark Morales, John Livesay, Alex Guimares

Poison Ivy 1 by G. Willow Wilson, Marcio Takara, Arif Prianto

Earth Prime Flash by Emily Palizzi, Jess Carson, David Lafuente, Pablo Collar, John Kalisz, Miquel Muerto

Marvel

Fortnite X Marvel: Zero War 1 by Christos Gage, Donald Mustard, Sergio Fernandez Davila, Sean Parsons, Edgar Delgado

Jane Foster and the Mighty Thor 1 by Torunn Gronbekk, Michael Dowling, J.P. Mayer, Jesus Aburtov, Marte Gracia, Matt Wilson, Nolan Woodard

Love Unlimited: Red Dagger and Ms. Marvel by Nadia Shammas, Natacha Bustos, Ian Herring

Marvel Meow 8 by Nao Fuji

Image

Skybound Presents: Afterschool 1 by Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead, Greg Hinkle, Giovanna Niro

Dark Horse

Ward 1 by Cavan Scott, Andres Ponce

AfterShock

Astronaut Down 1 by James Patrick, Rubine, Valentina Briski

Where Starships Go To Die 1 by Mark Sable, Alberto Locatelli, Juancho

Ahoy

Justice Warriors 1 by Matt Bors, Ben Clarkson, Felipe Sobreiro

ComiXology

The Very Final Last Girls by Josh Eiserike, Z Crockett, Andres Barrero

Scout

Code 45 1 by Benjamin Hunting, Joe Ng

Archie

Archie and Friends: Summer Loving

Titan

Doctor Who Origins 1 by Jody Houser, Roberta Ingranata, Warnia Sahadewa

Dynamite

Elivira: Wrath of Con by David Avallone, Elvira, Dave Acosta

OGNs

Motherbridge: Seeds of Change by George Mann, Aleta Vidal

Grip of the Kombinat by Damon Gentry, Simon Roy

Girl and the Glim by India Swift, Michael Doig

Secrets of Camp Whatever v2: The Doors to Nowhere by Chris Grine

Slip by Marika McCoola, Aatmaja Pandya

Additional Reviews: Obi-Wan ep4, Ms. Marvel, American Horror Stories s1, Chip n Dale, Jurassic World Dominion, Many Deaths of Laila Starr

News: Joker 2, Ghostbusters animated series, Ezra Miller, Arcane series of prequel shorts on YouTube, more Kevin Smith He-Man, McKeever back at Marvel, Junji Ito anthology series on Netflix, Love Unlimited, Bruce Campbell Evil Dead/Sgt Rock crossover, Thunderbolts movie confirmed, Spot in Spider-Verse 2, Dark Horse gets Ghostbusters comic license, George Stacy cast for Spider-Verse 2

Am It Glenn?

Glenn meets Ram V

Trailers: Spiderhead, Prey, Sea Beast, Black Adam

Comics Countdown:

Oblivion Song 36 by Robert Kirkman Lorenzo De Felici, Annnalisa Leoni

Slip OGN by Marika McCoola, Aatmaja Pandya

Aquaman: Andromeda 1 by Ram V, Christian Ward

DC Pride 2022 by 

Secrets of Camp Whatever Vol 2: The Door to Nowhere by Chris Grine

Time Before Time 13 by Rory McConville, Ron Salas, Chris O'Halloran

Dark Knights of Steel 7 by Tom Taylor, Nathan Gooden, Arif Prianto

Twig 2 by Skottie Young, Kyle Strahm, Jean-Francois Beaulieu

That Texas Blood 14 by Chris Condon, Jacob Phillips, Pip Martin

Batman: Killing Time 4 by Tom King, David Marquez, Alejandro Sanchez

Check out this episode!

[whitewaterpaper]

Den modernaste filmen vi såg Maj månad var "Curse of the Ring" som jag blev rejält sugen att se om efter att ha läst Völksungasagan.

Curse of the Ring / Ring of the Nibelungs (2004) [👍🔁] Klart bättre än mycket som släpps inom fantasyn idag. Har fortfarande för avsikt att läsa Nibelungensången om jag kommer över den. Wagners operor skulle också vara kul att ge ett försök.

Den Gula Bilen (1963) [👍📺🆓] Den enda i serien som jag inte sett. Lika bra som de övriga i serien, även om man saknade fru Hillman lite. Finns på SVT Play.

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013) [👍🔁]

Happiness Cage, the / the Mind Snatchers (1972) [👎📺🆓] Konstig film med en del intressanta idéer, men knappast värd att sitta av.

Hercules Against the Moon Men / Maciste e la regina di Samar (1964) [👍📺🆓]

Hjältarna vid Troja / La guerra di Troia (1961) [📺🆓]

Hjälten från Marathon / La battaglia di Maratona (1959) [📺🆓]

Josh Kirby… Time Warrior: Chapter 5, Journey to the Magic Cavern (1996) [👍🔁📺🆓]

Josh Kirby… Time Warrior: Chapter 6, Last Battle for the Universe (1996) [👍🔁📺🆓]

Sword of Venus (1953) [📺🆓]

Tyrannernas Borg / Saracen Blade, the (1954) [👍📺🆓] Riktigt bra swashbuckler. Rekomenderas.

Voyage of the Rock Aliens (1984) [👍🔁📺🆓] Kulig SF-komedi fullmatad med bra musik som skulle kunnat vara legendarisk med en lite matigare produktion. Väl värd en chans iaf.

Med undantag för The Happines Cage ser jag inga hinder för att kasta sig över hela listan... Men Curse of the Ring / Ring of the Nibelungs, Tyrannernas Borg / Saracen Blade och Voyage of the Rock Aliens är väl värda att kika in om man inte vill sitta av hela listan.

[lettermen-of-the-usa-stuff]

Thanks, Dad for being a part of this great warrior tradition of the United States Marine Corps. And for teaching me Honor, Courage and Commitment. I will continue to use the LETTERMEN of the USA to HONOR those who have sacrificed and served this great REPUBLIC! Happy 246th Birthday to your beloved United States Marine Corps... RIP my Brave Marine… With that written, tomorrow the Lettermen of the USA will give 17 -20 veterans and wounded veterans autographed footballs from their favorite head coach of their favorite college football team in Huntsville, AL. These autographed footballs to be given tomorrow were autographed by Kirby Smart head coach of the University Georgia football, Nick Saban head coach of the University of Alabama, Kalani Sitake head coach BYU, Mark Stoops, University of Kentucky, Dave Doeren head coach North Carolina State football, Josh Heupel University of Tennessee, and Jimbo Fisher head coach Texas A&M, and Troy Calhoun Air Force Falcons football. Since Dec. 2011 Lettermen of the USA, through its 100% volunteer team, has been providing help and support to those they serve. LotUSA.org has partnered with such prestigious organizations as Semper Fi Community Task Force of North Alabama, A Soldiers Journey Home, as well as Alabama Veterans, and Fire House Shelter. Proving that rival teams and rival fan bases can work together to achieve a common goal, Lettermen of the USA (LotUSA) is a national 501 (c) (3) charitable organization of former college athletes, as well as active and former coaches who have teamed up to help serve honorably discharged veterans, wounded veterans of military actions following September 11, 2001, disaster victims, and former college players in need. The mission of LotUSA is to impact those we serve by offering the motivation, guidance, and support necessary to pursue success in life, school, and work, One Yard At A Time. Happy 246th Birthday United States Marine Corp. On behalf of my deceased Marine Corp father, Semper Fidelis, Darryl Fuhrman Founder and President Lettermen of the USA 🇺🇸 www.lotUSA.org (at Southside, Alabama) https://www.instagram.com/p/CWH6zgGLZnA/?utm_medium=tumblr

[mushroom-madness]

Submissions & Qualifiers Masterpost

I’ve decided to just make one list of nominees that I’ll update every so often instead of making a new post for every update, to prevent clogging up the blog so people can still find propaganda and questions and stuff!

🍄Our Qualifiers!🍄:

Stanley (Spiritfarer)

Todd from Mario (Drawfee)

Mooshroom (Minecraft)

Brown Slim Mushroom (Everhood)

Moonshine Cybin (Not Another D&D Podcast)

Danielle Barkstock (Dimension 20)

Breloom (Pokémon)

Zommoth (Bug Fables)

Leif (Bug Fables)

Poison Mushroom Cookie (Cookie Run)

Toad (Mario)

Parasect (Pokémon)

Apothecary Gary (Amphibia)

Ragel (Undertale)

The Mycologists (Inscryption)

Bongo-Head (Genshin Impact)

Twirly-Whirly (Genshin Impact)

Kinoko Komori (My Hero Academia)

Sozo (Cult of the Lamb)

Caduceus Clay (Critical Role)

Toadette (Mario)

Shrumal Warrior (Hollow Knight)

Mister Mushroom (Hollow Knight)

Truffles Daal (Chowder)

Morelull (Pokémon)

En (Dorohedoro)

The Nomes (Little Nightmares)

Shiinotic (Pokémon)

Ramblin’ Evil Mushroom (EarthBound)

Amoonguss (Pokémon)

Amanita (Just Dance)

Jade Leech (Twisted Wonderland)

Foongus (Pokémon)

Goomba (Mario)

Akaboshi Bisco (Sabikui Bisco)

Walking Mushroom (Delicious in Dungeon)*

Clickers (The Last of Us)*

Puffstool (Pikmin)*

Mushroom Pikmin (Pikmin)*

Shrumeling (Hollow Knight)*

Congrats to all of our Qualifiers! Below are characters that have been submitted and meet the requirements, but have yet to reach the 3 nomination minimum for qualification.

Characters with 2 Nominations:

Violet and Tate (Monster Prom)

Kinoko (Katamari)

Josh (Dominion SMP)

Myconids (Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition)

Shrooom! (EarthBound)

Master Firbolg (The Adventure Zone: Graduation)

Tarin (Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening)

Marabelle Cybin/Marabelle the Terrible (Not Another D&D Podcast)

Shroomish (Pokémon)

Toedscool (Pokémon)

Slimefoot (Magic the Gathering)

Muttshroom (Mother 3)

Brute Bonnet (Pokémon)

Shrumbo (Ooblets)

Room (Join the Party)

Magic Myc (Inside Job)

Puff-Shroom (Plants VS Zombies)

Hattifatteners (Moomin)*

Chio (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild)*

Characters with 1 Nomination:

Paras (Pokémon)

White Mushroom Emblem Heartless (Kingdom Hearts)

Amanita (Green Lantern)

Galwyn (Troll, 1986)

Advisor Mung (Hypnagogia 無限の夢 Boundless Dreams)

Captain Toad (Mario)

Red Dead Mushroom (Everhood)

Morphean Mushroom (Dragon Quest)

The Truffle (Terarria)

Ararycan (Genshin Impact)

The Blemmigan Voyager (Fallen London)

Brown Mooshroom (Minecraft)

Toedscruel (Pokémon)

Cappy (Kirby)

Fleeble (Ooblets)

Funghoul (Dragon Quest)

Mushroom Mage (Dragon Quest)

Sun-Shroom (Plants VS Zombies)

Doom-Shroom (Plants VS Zombies)

Fume-Shroom (Plants VS Zombies)

Gloom-Shroom (Plants VS Zombies)

Hypno-Shroom (Plants VS Zombies)

Ice-Shroom (Plants VS Zombies)

Scaredy-Shroom (Plants VS Zombies)

Sea-Shroom (Plants VS Zombies)

Shrub Berry (Empires SMP)

Night Cap (Plants VS Zombies: Battle for Neighborville)

An Zhe (Little Mushroom (小蘑菇))

Duncecap (Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch)

Napcap (Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch)

Nightcap (Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch)

Madcap (Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch)

Princess Shroob (Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time)

Shumi (Shumi Come Home)

Katie Clay (Seconds)

Magnet Shroom (Plants VS Zombies)

Mushroomon/Mushmon (Digimon)

Lich of Flowers (Maiden and Spell)

Hitotake (Mushishi)*

Bloater (The Last of Us)*

Killer Mushroom (American McGee's Alice)*

The top 2 characters per franchise with 3 or more nominations automatically are guaranteed for the bracket. Characters with less than 3 submissions and less nominated characters from franchises with more than two qualifiers will be used to fill the bracket based on mod bias, propaganda, and submitters passion, and are not guaranteed to be in the bracket.

*At least one submission for these characters was done through the askbox instead of the google form. If this was you, please resubmit using the google form with a note saying it’s a resubmission so I can get the proper number of votes all in one place. Thank you!

🍄 So submit away y’all! We’ll keep this post updated as submissions roll in and characters qualify! 🍄

[duecredits]

Jennifer Burns

Josh Kirby: Time Warrior! Chap. 2: The Human Pets (1995)

[raypunkzero]

Josh Kirby: Time Warrior The Human Pets https://ift.tt/2HXfrYR

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior October 2, 2020 – ON THE ROCKS, MANGROVE, SCARE ME, POSSESOR, BOYS IN THE BAND, THE GLORIAS, SAVE YOURSELVES! and More

It’s October, which means we’re finally getting Patty Jenkins’ long-awaited Wonder Woman 1984 after a number of delays from its original June release. Now that it’s finally coming out, maybe we can finally see movie theaters rebound with such an anticipated superhero blockbuster ready to fill those theaters right back up to 100% capacity. What’s that? It’s been moved to Christmas Day? Movie theaters in New York and L.A. are still closed and other movie theaters are only at 25-40% capacity? So we’re not getting Wonder Woman 1984 this week? So what are we working with here… Something like 30 other movies that few people have been chomping on the bit to see? Great… well, then never mind.  We’ll see how far I get through the insane amount of movies being released this week, but I can tell you right now, that it might not be very far.

Possibly the highest profile release this week is the new film from Sofia Coppola, ON THE ROCKS, which is being released theatrically by A24 (where movie theaters are open) before its inevitable Apple TV+ streaming premiere on October 23. I had the opportunity of seeing Coppola’s film as part of my New York Film Festival coverage, where it got a sneak preview last week.

It’s a fantastic film starring Rashida Jones as Laura, a woman who has been married to her husband Dean (Marlon Wayans) for long enough that they have two young daughters, although she’s started to suspect that he’s losing interest in her and maybe sleeping with his assistant. As she gets more paranoid, her lethario art-dealing father (Bill Murray) shows up and tries to help Laura find out the truth about her husband’s fidelity.

Like many, I was a huge fan of Coppola’s earlier films, The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation – in fact, interviewing Coppola for the latter was one of my first roundtable experiences ever – and though I liked Marie Antoinette just fine, some of Coppola’s other films in recent years just haven’t connected with me. Maybe it took for her to do a full-on New York City film, as On the Rocks is, for me to return to the film but there’s so much other stuff to like about it.

First of all, it seems like a much more personal film than something like The Beguiling but she also has a fantastically vibrant lead in Jones, who doesn’t often get roles that really shows off her abilities. It’s hard not to think about some of Noah Baumbach’s movies, particularly last year’s Marriage Story, while watching On the Rocks because Coppola uses a similar segmental storytelling format. What sets it apart from just about every other film is Coppola’s ability to acknowledge that the best way to use Bill Murray in your movie is to just let him be Bill Murray and do what he’s going to do. That immediately lends itself to some great moments where father and daughter can go out on the town (and eventually to Mexico!) where Jones essentially acts as the audience for her father’s shenanigans.

But this is very much Jones’ movie even as she’s surrounded by the likes of Jenny Slate as a single mother kvetching about her dating life and Wayans, possibly playing his most serious and dramatic role since Requiem for a Dream.

I really enjoyed On the Rocks more than any of Coppola’s movies maybe going back to Lost in Translation. I think that she does have something to say as a filmmaker in terms of something as personal as this vs. a genre film like The Beguiled, and she does a particularly good job capturing New York City in a way that I really miss right now.

You can also read my more technically-minded review of Coppola’s latest over at Below the Line.

While I haven’t had the time to see as much of the 58th New York Film Festival as I like, I did get to see MANGROVE, the next chapter of Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe Anthology” which also played at the NYFF this past week. In fact, it’s the first chapter of the group of five movies about England’s West Indian community, both chronologically and when it will air on Amazon (November 20). 

This one takes place in 1970, focusing on the Mangrove, a Notting Hill restaurant where the West Indian and black communities regularly congregate, but also, a target for the racist local police who are constantly raiding it and causing misery both for the customers and for the shop owner Frank Crichlow, played by Shaun Parkes. Some of the people who frequent the tiny shop are Black Panther’s Laetitia Wright as (what else?) Black Panther activist Althea Jones, but after a number of police disruptions, the people have had enough and decide to march to protest, which inevitably leads to a conflict with the same police.

Unlike Lovers Rock, which is just over an hour long, Mangrove feels like a real movie with a beginning, middle and end i.e. a simpler three-act structure, but it also runs for over two hours. Honestly, this could have been shown in theaters on its own, and I would have been satisfied, although I’m more than curious how that ties into the other movies.

The first act of the movie is similar to Lovers Rock as you’re allowed to look into this community and how they try to enjoy their lives together but having difficulty doing so due to the violent police raids, much of this part focusing more on Crichlow than the others. The actual protest march is the film’s biggest set piece where a lot of the players come together including the PC Frank Pulley, as played by Sam Spruell. This leads to the third act, which is basically a court trial of about a dozen of the people who frequent the Mangrove, including Crichlow, many of them defending themselves. If there was racism in the way the black people of London are treated by the police, it’s exacerbated when they’re put to trial in a courtroom where the jury only has 2 black members. The judge is so clearly on the side of alleviating the police of any responsibility for what happened that you just get madder and madder as it goes along.

As much as the film is very much Parkes as the lead, the strong support from Wright and the likes of Malachi Kirby as Darcus Howe, who has some amazing courtroom scenes, and Jack Lowden as Ian MacDonald, another one of the barristers. Almost every scene gives McQueen and his crew a chance to show off how well they were able to recreate every aspect of the times, whether it’s the neighborhood or recreating the Old Bailey where the trial takes place. I was just really impressed with everything about the movie from the screenplay, cowritten by McQueen with Alastair Siddons, to the cast and every single performance. All of it comes together so well while telling the very true story of the Mangrove 9 in a way that feels like McQueen doesn’t need to exaggerate anything for the viewer to really feel the injustices in play during that era.

This is an epic film that reminds me a bit of Mike Leigh’s underrated Peterloo last year. Not only did I think Mangrove was better than Lovers Rock, but I also think it’s better than McQueen’s Oscar-winning Best Picture, 12 Years a Slave, so it’s kind of odd that this wasn’t chosen to open the NYFF vs. the far shorter film.

Since it’s October, we might as well start with some scary or semi-scary genre movies, three of which premiered at Sundance earlier this year, at least two in the Midnight Section.

I’ve said before how impressed by the movies that horror streamer Shudder was sharing with its audience and Josh Ruben’s SCARE ME (Shudder), which debuts on Thursday, is no exception. I generally love horror comedies, but this one is more of a comedy horror, mainly being a two-hander as two horror writers hang out in a remote cabin in the middle of winter, trying to scare each other by telling stories. Ruben himself plays Fred Banks, a typical writer/actor/director from Hollywood who really hasn’t written or directed much, but when he meets extremely cynical bestselling horror writer Fanny Addie, as played by Aya Cash (from The Boys), there’s a certain amount of competitive flirtation that you know will lead to a fun movie.

So yeah, I’m not going to say too much about the stories they tell each other or what makes them so riveting and hilarious, but Ruben is not afraid to make things very heightened, whether it’s the performances by the two actors or the use of music or sound FX to really emphasize the horror aspect of the film. It’s hard not to think of something like The Shining or Misery due to the house out in the middle of nowhere, but Ruben also tends to show his horror influences in his script. The movie is working so well as a two-hander before Chris Redd from SNL shows up as the pizza delivery guy Carlo, drugs come out and things start to get even more outrageous and hilarious.

I have to say that I haven’t seen a horror movie this year that I enjoyed quite as much as Scare Me, since it’s so fun even when it starts to get exceedingly more dark in the last act. This is a great deconstruction of the horror genre that manages to create a truly original premise out of a mash-up of horror tropes.

In theaters and drive-ins this Friday and then available digitally next Tuesday, October 6, is Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson’s SAVE YOURSELVES! (Bleecker Street), a genre comedy starring John Reynolds and Sunita Mani (GLOW) as a squabbling couple who decided to take a retreat to a cabin in upstate New York to work on their relationship sans any electronics… only to miss the alien invasion that is progressively destroying the rest of the country.

It’s kind of funny seeing this back-to-back with the above Scare Me, because they’re both very funny two-handers, although this one was not quite as funny as I was hoping for, maybe because the main couple are cute, but they’re also quite deliberately clueless. They seem very much like a lot of younger people these days who want to try to better themselves but they’re so addicted to their smartphones, they don’t always realize how bad their behavior looks.

I did like what the filmmakers managed to do with mostly just the two actors and the semi-adorable gas-guzzling furball aliens who show up and terrorize the duo for the second half of the movie. Like with Scare Me, I don’t want to say too much about what happens to them, because that’s more than half the fun of watching the ordeal they end up going through, but it’s a different directorial debut and a great showcase for the talents of Mani (who I’ve seen a few things) and Reynolds (whose work I really didn’t know at all.

Basically, the four of them take a fun concept and do a lot with what is also essentially a two-hander that gets stranger and stranger but never is as outright funny as I was hoping it might be with such a great premise.

Brandon Cronenberg (yes, that Cronenberg) drops his second movie, POSSESSOR UNCUT (NEON), which debuted in the midnight section of Sundance earlier this year. Unfortunately, like the two movies above, it is one where knowing too much might detract from actually enjoying what happens. Essentially, Andrea Riseborough plays Tasya, an assassin who is transplanted into another body via her handler (Jennifer Jason Leigh) but one particular hit, which puts her into the body of Christopher Abbott’s Colin Tate goes horribly wrong.

I think that’s enough of a set-up for a movie that you will probably know immediately whether it will be for you as you watch, particularly after an intensely gory murder which you’ll watch with very little context of what is happening. In fact, you might spend quite a bit of Possessor Uncut unsure of what is going on, and that’s both a plus and a minus towards my overall enjoyment of the movie. Again, I don’t want to give too much away but much of the movie deals with what happens when Tasya is transplanted into the body of a man dealing with his own inner demons (Abbott), leading up to her having to conduct the hit on her target, Tate’s future father-in-law, as played by Sean Bean.

There’s something quite futuristic and other-worldly about all aspects of Possessor Uncut, but Cronenberg handles all the sci-fi elements in the film in such a matter-of-fact way that we never assume this is too far into the future but just watching another version of our own reality. I love Riseborough so much, as she’s easily one of my favorite actors, although I’m a little mixed on Abbott, so mainly seeing him acting like what she might be like controlling his body, it’s a little off-putting to be honest.

What really helps Cronenberg’s bizarre vision more than anything is his second collaboration with his DP Karim Hussain who has grown so much as a cinematographer in the 8 years since Antiviral. Every aspect of the movie’s otherworldliness is enhanced by Hussain’s use of colored filters to keep the viewer off-balance and unsure of what exactly one is watching. But those who are onboard for the type of violence and gore we get early on might be disappointed in how long we have before we get to more of it. In that way, Possessorreminds me of the recent

There’s no denying that Brandon is his father’s son with the type of storytelling he wants to explore, and he brings the same type of auteurish angle to his gore-filled genre filmmaking that is likely to be similarly divisive on who loves and appreciates it vs. those who just won’t get it at all. Either way, Possessor is as daring as it is weird and freaky and your mileage will vary depending on what you’re expecting.

I had never heard of Aaron Starmer’s book SPONTANEOUS (Paramount Pictures), but Brian Duffield, writer of “The Babysitter” movies on Netflix, makes his directorial debut with quite a dark romantic comedy that seems like a great companion to Words on Bathroom Walls from earlier in the year. Katherine Langford from Cursed and Knives Out plays Mara Carlyle, a senior at Covington High School, who is sitting in class one day when one of her classmates explodes, and as others also start exploding, she ends up bonding with Charlie Plummer’s Dylan, as the two young lovers stand together to try to survive.

I generally like coming-of-age and high school movies and I definitely have some favorites, both classics and more recent ones. Let me say right now that this one is VERY dark but also very funny and enjoyable, so it immediately reminds me more of something like Heathers in the fact you’ll just be enjoying some part of the story and then some kid explodes in fully gory glory.  Yeah, it’s something that might be tough for some, because it doesn’t take the typical boy meets girl, lovey-dovey kissy-face movie, although the relationship between Mara and Dylan plays a large part in the movie.

I’ve already been a fan of Plummer’s from some of his previous work, but Langford is really fantastic in this, and this allowed me to see her in a whole new light as much as I thought she played a fine part in Knives Out. It was also great to see unlikely candidates like Rob Huebel and Piper Perabo playing her parents, and I also dug Haley Law as Mara’s best friend Tess.

The movie starts out as one thing but by the second half, it’s turning into something more akin to George Romero’s 1973 The Crazies where all of Covington’s seniors are locked up in a facility being tested with drugs that hopefully will keep them from exploding.  The only real problem is that it does get very dark including one plot point that might lose a lot of those that have enjoyed watching the Senior Class of Whenever spontaneously exploding.

In a week where we have a truly dreadful high school movie about heroin addiction (see below), who would have imagined that a far better movie would be the one where high school kids are randomly blowing up as they frequently do in Spontaneous? This is a pretty fantastic directorial debut by Duffield, a devilishly funny take on an overused genre but one that also stands up with the best of them. Here’s hoping Duffield gets to direct another movie because from this and “The Babysitter” movies, it’s clear he has very distinct voice and style ala Election-era Alexander Payne that would could lead to some great stuff in the future.

Next up, we have one for the boys and one for the girls…sorry. Ladies.

The Ryan Murphy-produced based on Matt Crowley’s 1968 stageplay THE BOYS IN THE BAND hits Netflix on Wednesday. Directed by Joe Mantello, who also directed the recent Broadway revival, it’s an ensemble piece featuring  Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto and Matt Bomer as three of seven gay friends who congregate the Upper East Side apartment of Michael (Parsons) to celebrate the birthday of Harold (Quinto), his birthday party including a number of surprise guests including Michael’s married college friend Alan (Brian Hutchison) and a stripper known as “Cowboy.”

I’ve never seen the stageplay on which this is based, although I know a lot about it, including the fact that it takes place on a single night all on one set. Mantello’s movie includes the entire cast from the recent 2018 Broadway revival which he also directed, so you just know everyone will be bringing their A-game. While there are some big names from the screen in the cast, there are just as many amazing moments from some of the other characters, including Robin De Jesus’ Emory, Larry (Andrew Rannels), Bernard (Michael Benjamin Washington), Hank (Tuc Watkins), as well as Bomer playing Michael’s good-looking boyfriend Donald.

That obviously well-rehearsed cast brought a lot to my first experience with  Crowley’s beloved play, their hilarious patter and interaction making the first part of the movie so light and entertaining, particularly a campy dance number to the song “Heawave.” But the film also gets quite serious by the second half, and that’s despite taking place over a decade before AIDS reared its ugly head.

Much of that drama arrives at the same time as Michael’s homophobic college friend Alan shows up without ever saying why he needed to talk to Michael so urgently – we definitely can put two and two together but it’s never confirmed out loud. When Harold finally shows up, he acts like a complete asshole to everyone, but it’s quite an amazing and standout performance by Quinto, although he becomes more of a spectator as the night goes on.

But the entire cast is amazing and they’re all given moments to shine. Parsons really blew me away with his performance, and De Jesus is absolutely at first but handles the drama just as well, and I can go on and on about what a tight ensemble producer Murphy brought from stage to screen.

Boys in the Band doesn’t just deal with homophobia in the late ’60s, as it also allows these very different gay men to come to terms with their sexuality, talking about how they first realized they were gay, as well as talking about monogamy and fidelity. It would certainly be interesting to see an updated version of this set in present day, but the 1968 text and context still works just fine.

If you’ve never seen any other iteration of this play, Mantello and his cast have done a pretty fantastic job turning a one-location play into something that’s far more cinematic. I think we can expect Boys in the Band to be included in a number of Emmy categories next year.

If Boys in the Band is too much of a sausage factory for you, then there’s THE GLORIAS (LD Entertainment, Roadside Attractions), hitting digital and Amazon Prime on Wednesday i.e. today. I can’t think of any filmmaker better than Julie Taymor to tell the story of Gloria Steinem, because this is in fact a biopic about the feminist activist, as played by Julianne Moore, Alicia Vikander and two talented young actresses during the earlier scenes.

I have to be honest that I never really knew much about Steinem except for her role in the Women’s Movement and trying to get the Equal Rights Act passed in the ‘70s and her involvement in so many important women’s movements in recent years, including #MeToo. As with much of her work, Taymor takes a very different approach to the classic biopic, switching between as a little girl in the past, her time spent in India seeing women there struggling with equality, to her fierce fight for women’s rights to have autonomy over their own bodies, which includes getting abortions.

I feel like I need to go back to her childhood where her eccentric father Leo (played by a barely recognizable Timothy Hutton) is always taking her family from one place to another to Steinem as a young woman (as played by Vikander) in India. There’s no question that when Moore enters the picture of the older Steinem where it starts to get interesting. She’s also far better than the generally good Vikander, whose accent doesn’t match up with any of the other actors playing Steinem.

I was a little disappointed that we really didn’t get to see very much of Steinem’s relationship with Dorothy Pitman Hughes, as played by Janelle Monae, who basically appears for two scenes and is gone. Fortunately, it gets more into her affinity for Native Americans, particularly Kimberly Guerrero’s Wilma Mankiller.  Other supporting roles of note include Bette Midler as Bella Abzug and Lorraine Toussaint as Flo Kennedy.

It takes a little time to adjust to the jumps in time and not everyone is going to like the rather pretentious decision to have Steinems from different time periods having conversations on a bus together. On the other hand, Taymor’s recreation of the 1977 Womens Conference is quite impressive, and the movie includes a fun fantasy sequence. The movie essentially does what it’s meant to do, which is to instruct and educate about why Steinem’s place in history is so important, and Taymor does a good job shaking off most of the usual biopic tropes, sometimes to success and other times not so much.

Darren Lynn Bousman, director of a bunch of the “Saw” movies including next year’s Spiral, helms DEATH OF ME (Saban Films), a psychological thriller starring Maggie Q and Luke Hemsworth as married couple, Christine and Neil Oliver, who find themselves stranded on a remote island near Thailand where the couple are trapped when a typhoon hits. The couple wake up confused about what happened over the previous 12 hours until they find a video of Neil killing and burying Christine. Hilarity ensues. (No, not really. This is in fact a deadly serious psychological thriller.)

Listen, I love Maggie Q, and I’m so happy to see her in a third movie this year, even if it’s a little strange that this one is set in a similar island paradise as the generally superior Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island from earlier in the year. This one is also similarly high concept, even borrowing a bit from The Hangover (still, not a comedy), except that the premise gets so diluted by vague and esoteric nightmarish scenes used to keep Christine (and the viewer) in a constant state of confusion.

This feels like such a different type of movie for Bousman, maybe because of the environment or the lush look created by that location which informs the film. In some ways, it reminded me of Wes Craven’s The Serpent and the Rainbow, and I usually like this type of mind-fuck type movie, but Death of Me just goes too far down that rabbit hole, and the only answer it gives in terms of what is happening is a fairly lame twist near the end. There’s no question this might have been worse in the hands of a less adept filmmaker, because the movie does look good, but I had a hard time connecting with any of it. You’ll notice that I didn’t have much to say about Luke Hemsworth’s character and that’s because he has so little personality when he mysteriously vanishes midway through the movie, you just don’t miss him at all.

At times, Death of Me comes across like a Southeast Asian Midsommar, and Maggie Q generally gives a terrific performance to help sell the terror her character must endure. Unfortunately, that effort and her talent is wasted, because the movie frequently goes so far overboard it’s impossible to get back once it begins to go too far off the rails.

Going from psychological thriller right into futuristic sci-fi with Seth Lamey’s 2067 (RLJEFilms), starring Kodi Smith-McPhee as Ethan Whyte, a young man living during a time when the earth has been disabled by the lack of oxygen. Ethan works in the mines with his older brother (Ryan Kwanten) but he’s suddenly called upon as the potential savior of earth, as he’s sent 400 years into the future to bring back a cure for earth’s woes.

Where do I even begin with a movie that generally should be something I like, but it takes so long to get even remotely interesting? This one had me vacillating between enjoying what was going on and generally being annoyed by everything. I’m not even sure where to begin except for the central premise of all plant life being dead meaning there’s no oxygen for humans. It’s a decent idea for sure but one that’s quickly lost when you realize that this is going to be another well-intentioned movie that isn’t executed very well.

The entire set-up for the movie doesn’t particularly work, but when Ethan is shot 400 years into the future via something called “The Chronicle,” he’s suddenly on an earth full of lush vegetation and no way of getting back. The movie does get slightly better at that point, because it doesn’t rely on people walking around in gas masks – cause there’s no oxygen, get it? – but Smit-McPhee really struggles to carry this section, frequently leaning on Kwanten once Ethan’s older brother shows up. I just don’t think Smit-McPhee has aged well nor has he improved much as an actor, so making him the lead is already questionable, especially when you put Kwanten into more of a supporting role, and that’s really just the tip of the iceberg for the movie’s problems.

Unfortunately, 2067 is harder to follow than most time travel movies but mainly because it chooses to jump back and forth in time, frequently stealing liberally from Blade Runner’s futuristic noir and other movies.  The writing is pretty bad, and the weak cast does little to elevate it with way too much over-emoting in almost every scene.

Even the score, which would have been great if used to embellish a better movie, tends to overpower everything, essentially used as a crutch to instill emotion for characters that are hard to care about. On top of that, the storytelling is all over the place to the point where few will be focused enough to care.

Sure, there’s some nice production design at work despite substandard VFX, and otherwise, 2067 is mostly bland and highly derivative sci-fi that comes off like a bad low-budget episode of Doctor Who with little of that show’s entertainment value.

Where do I even begin with SNO BABIES (Better Noise Films), a heavy-handed PSA about drug addiction written by Michael Walsh and directed by Bridget Smith that’s available via VOD right now. It stars Katie Kelly as Kristen McCusker, a Princeton-bound high school senior who has turned her first taste of oxy into a full-blown heroin addiction as we see her dragged down a rabbit hole of absolutely every possibly awful thing that could happen to her over the course of two hours, just so that…  well, I won’t spoil what happens.

There are times while watching a movie when you’re not too far into it, and you quickly realize that you’re watching a very bad movie. I certainly didn’t have to go that far into Sno Babies before seeing Kelly’s character being put through so much awfulness that it made my skin crawl more than any sort of torture porn. Whether it’s watching her or her awful friend Hannah (Paula Andino) sticking a hypodermic full of heroin into her tongue or seeing her getting raped at a party because she’s in a heroin-fueled stupor. And that’s just the first 15 minutes of the movie!

Instead of staying focused on Kristen’s journey, which is like a cross between Mean Girls and Requiem for a dream, the filmmakers also introduce a young couple, Matt and Anna (Michael Lombardi, Jane Stiles), who are trying to have a baby, Matt’s sister Mary, Kristen’s mother Clare and her real estate business, as well as a problematic coyote that takes up much of Matt’s time. Yes, this coyote ends up playing as larger and larger role in the plot and how it comes together that even if you think you know where things are going (and are probably partially right), you will be left incredulous by everything that happens over the course of the movie until it’s absolutely ludicrous last act.

So yeah, the writing is not good, the actors are very bad and every aspect of the film is so poorly made and directed, it’s impossible to even appreciate it as what it’s intended – to make a PSA for teenagers to try to keep them off of … heroin.  (Yes, there are lots of other drugs that are far easier to get in the suburbs, but for whatever reason, they decided to go with heroin.) Except that the movie is so bad few teenagers will be able to get past the first 15 minutes, which means it’s a failed effort from jump.

Kelly is certainly put through a lot, including a lot of bad FX make-up, but in many ways, Andino plays a far more interesting character with a better arc, but there’s no way of realizing that until the very end, which just makes the whole thing even more bonkers.

The filmmakers behind Sno Babies must have some sort of sadistic streak to make viewers endure everything various characters are put through, but especially Kristen and Hannah. Listen, I’m never been one to get so mad at a movie that I ever actually yelled at my laptop… until Sno Babies.  Let me just say that it’s a good thing I don’t have direct neighbors because they would start thinking they live next door to a psycho who keeps yelling odd things out of the blue. 

Sno Babies is like an Afterschool Special on heroin, in other words, it’s unwatchable trash. Your brain would have to be on drugs to stick with it through the end. As the worst movie I’ve seen this year, it would be an understatement if I were to say that the people who made this movie should never be allowed to make another movie again.

And then we get to all the movies I wish I could get to but just didn’t have time due to my insanely busy schedule right now. I hope to get to watch some of them later but didn’t want to hold up this week’s column too much.

Lydia Dean Pilcher’s A CALL TO SPY (IFC Films) seems like my kind of movie I might like, a WWII drama about how Churchill started recruiting and training women as spies for his Special Operations Executive (SOE) in order to conduct sabotage and rebuild the resistance. Stana Katic plays Vera Atkins, who recruits two such candidates, Sarah Megan Thomas’ Virginia Hall, an American with a wooden leg, and Radhika Atpe’s Noor Inayat Khan, a Muslim pacifist, as the three women infiltrate Nazi-occupied France. The film is based on true stories, and hopefully I’ll get a chance to see it.

Streaming on Netflix this Friday is Kristen (Cameraperson) Johnson’s new doc DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD, which won a Special Jury Award at Sundance earlier this year. This one is about her 86-year-old stuntman father and how she deals with the fact that he’s eventually going to die, but literally staging all sorts of cinematic ways of killing him. This one I actually did get a chance to watch before finishing the column, and it was pretty tough to watch, mainly since I’m dealing with my own coming to terms that my slightly older mother may not be around for much longer. This is such a strange and only mildly entertaining movie, because it is so personal for Johnson, but I’m kind of shocked by how many people in her life would go along with making such a morbid and macabre film.  This definitely won’t be for everyone, and I’m not quite sure how I’d feel about it if my mother died – my father’s been dead for 11 years, incidentally – but I’m not quite sure to whom this movie would appeal. Either way, it’s on Netflix so you can throw it on if you have nothing else to watch.

Other stuff streaming on Netflix this week includes the kid-friendly horror film Vampires vs the Bronx and the streamer’s latest true crime docuseries American Murder: The Family Next Door.

Another music doc that I’ll have to check out is Herb Alpert Is… (Abramorama), the latest from John Scheinfeld (Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary), and it will get a live world premiere on Thursday night at 5PM PST/8PM PST featuring a Q&A with Alpert himself via Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter and www.herbalpertis.com.  On Friday, it will be available via Amazon, iTunes and other platforms as well as via DVD… and lots of other formats, including “LP format featuring a coffee table book and a five-piece 180 gram vinyl set.” Wow. I’ve always been interested in Alpert from his amazing career as a musician to his equally fantastic career running A&M Records, which discovered some of the biggest artists over the decades that followed. I can guarantee that I’ll be watching this movie very soon.

Also, Daniel Traub’s Ursula Von Ryingvard: Into her Own from Icarus Films, an innocuous title about a woman of whom I’ve never heard, will open via Virtual Cinema. Apparently, she’s a sculptor, and that doesn’t do much to pique my interest, although the fact it’s only an hour long might mean I watch it soon, as well.

Also wasn’t able to get to Marcus H. Rosenmüller’s The Keeper (Menemsha Films), which will stream on Kino Lorber’s Virtual Cinema.It’s a biopic about Bert Traumann, as played by David Kross, about a German soldier and prisoner of war who becomes Manchester City’s goalkeeper, much to the consternation of the soccer team’s thousands of Jewish fans. It leads up to the team’s victory at the 1956 FA Cup Final that finally gets him fans. I’m also kind of interested in the historic epic The Legend of Tomiris (Well GO USA), which seems to be getting a digital only release, but I honestly haven’t heard peep about the movie’s release other than the fact it’s opening. That’s not good.

Another movie I was hoping to catch but there were JUST TOO MANY DAMN MOVIES! was Brea Grant’s 12 Hour Shift (Magnet Releasing), which stars Angela Bettis, and it’s a 1998 thriller set in an Arkansas hospital where a junkie nurse, her scheming cousin and a group of black market organ-trading criminals get caught up in heist that goes wrong.

To be honest, I really just didn’t have much interest in Adriana Trigiani’s Then Came You (Vertical), which actually received Fathom Events screenings before it’s On Demand/Digital release on Friday. It stars daytime talk show host Kathie Lee Gifford (who wrote the screenplay!) with Craig Ferguson, Gifford playing a widow who is travelling the world with her husband’s ashes before meeting Ferguson’s innkeeper.  Gee, why on earth would Ed be dubious of a movie starring a daytime talk show host and a former late night television host? Gee, I wonder. I didn’t see it. Maybe it’s great, but nothing less than being paid to watch this movie would get me to watch it, so there we are.

Other movies out this week in some form or another include Rising Hawk (Shout! Studios), The Antenna (Dark Star Pictures), Eternal Beauty (Samuel Goldwyn Films), Tar (1091), Do Not Reply (Gravitas Ventures), The Great American Lie (Vertical), Honey Lauren’s Wives of the Skies (Hewes Pictures) on Amazon Prime on Tuesday, The Call (Cinedigm), Chasing the Present (1091), Haroula Rose’s adaptation of Bonnie Jo Campbell’s Once Upon a River, The Devil to Pay (Dark Star Pictures/Uncork’D Entertainment), and something called Alien Addiction (Gravitas Ventures). I’m sure there’s some good stuff in there, and congrats to the filmmaker for finishing a movie and getting it released but… and you may have heard this before… THERE ARE TOO MANY FUCKING MOVIES!!!!

A couple festivals starting this week includes the 43rd Asian American International Film Festival, which runs from October 1 through 11, and it seems to include a pretty impressive line-up of features and shorts, and though I haven’t seen many, the one I’m highly recommending again (as I have when it played other festivals) is the doc Far East Deep South.

Also, American Cinematique’s Beyond Fest starts this Friday at the Mission Tiki Drive-In in Montclair, California, running from October 2 though October 8. It begins with a double feature of the upcoming The Wolf of Snow Hollow (out next week!) paired with The ‘Burbs, then goes into a David Lynch triple feature of Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive and Lost Highway on Saturday and Saint Maud (a chronically delayed theatrical release) with the classic Misery on Sunday. Monday gets a double feature of new movies in Synchronic and Bad Hair.

Also, the Woodstock Film Festival begins this week, running from Weds. through Sunday, with screenings at the Greenville Drive-In, Overlook Drive-In and Woodstock Drive-In as well as an online component. Highlights include The Father (Opening Night on Thursday, October 1) and the Closing Night film is Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland, starring Frances McDormand on Sunday night. You can get tickets and more information on Eventive.

What it comes down to is that there are just too many fucking movies. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. This shit has gotta stop, because there’s no way any single movie can get any attention when so many are being dumped to digital/streaming/VOD/virtual cinema each week.

Next week, more movies not in New York City theaters, which will probably never reopen the way things are going.

By the way, if you read this week’s column and have bothered to read this far down, feel free to drop me some thoughts at Edward dot Douglas at Gmail dot Com or drop me a note or tweet on Twitter. I love hearing from readers … honest!

[lcdbb]

HEY WHATS THAT FROM. I HONESTLY DONT TRUST ANYTHING WHEN IT COMES TO THIS BUT... I THINK SO!?

“JOSH KIRBY... TIME WARRIOR” m8!!