jacketstop23

[silvianap]

Gwendoline Christie as Aura in "Robin and the Hoods", the new Sky Original film coming this summer 💫

(-> twitter post)

[junebug1444]

rain <3

07.09.24

[bob-the-movie-man-film-reviews]

"Flickering Dreams" Ep. 19: Reviews of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts; Chevalier; Simulant and Flamin' Hot plus the featured director is Quentin Tarantino.

Episode 19 of the Flickering Dreams podcast and Bob, Scott, Andy & Emma: review Transformers: Rise of the Beasts; Chevalier; Simulant and Flamin' Hot plus the featured director is Quentin Tarantino.

In Episode 19 of Flickering Dreams I’m joined by Andy Godfrey of Sorted Magazine and Konnect Radio, Emma Sewell of Emma@TheMovies on Twitter and Scott Forbes of the Forbes Film & TV Reviews (https://www.facebook.com/theforbesfilmreview). In this episode Bob, Scott, Emma and Andy review the following films: “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts”: yet another entry in the robot franchise;…

[yeye23]

More rough sketches of Cass's Marble Sky comic! Where Ecliptica is ready to fly, but in cinema scope GO GO read the comic! As we love original content here! Marble Sky

[thatskynews]

Sky Patched Calendar Ver. 0.26.0: A Guide for Sky Events

SkyFest (Sky Anniversary Celebration)

Season of Duet

Tournament of Triumph

SkyFest: A 5th Birthday Like No Other! (July 12 - July 26)

Duration: 17:00 July 12th through 23:59 July 26th; all times PDT, UTC -7. (Yes, not the daily reset time. This is so the in-game celebration starts at the exact same time that the in-person SkyFest celebration starts in Tokyo, Japan!)

From July 12th through 14th, you can find actual in-game livestreams of talks in these locations:

History of Sky Gallery (Isle of Dawn)

Art of Sky Gallery (Hidden Forest)

SkyFest Cinema (Eye of Eden)

Scheduled Events

July 12

19:00 - Guided Tour of Sky’s History with the devs (History Gallery) - Join us on a live tour through the History Gallery as we share stories and more about how Sky became what it is today!

20:00 - SkyFest 2024 Keynote with Jenova Chen (SkyFest Cinema) - Let’s just say, you don’t want to miss this one…

23:00 - How We Got 10,000 Players into a Level (SkyFest Cinema) - Here’s a peek at how our engineering team created the tech that helped us set a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title!

July 13

18:00 - Design at Record-Breaking Scale in Sky: Children of the Light (SkyFest Cinema) - It’s okay, you can cry! Learn how the team designed the AURORA Concert to make it a memorable and moving experience.

19:00 - Guided Tour of Sky’s Art with the devs (Art Gallery) - Take a tour through the Art Gallery as we talk about some of the art that played a key role in Sky’s development.

22:00 - An Exploration of the Art of Sky (SkyFest Cinema) - How did Sky first come to life in its earliest days? See how art played a key role in the ideas that ultimately evolved into Sky’s world and lore.

July 14

00:00 - Designing to Reduce Toxicity in Online Games (SkyFest Cinema) - How do you make a game that welcomes everybody, with a world that allows compassion and generosity to blossom?

01:00 - SkyFest LIVE Community Concert (SkyFest Cinema) - Sky’s first-ever live in-game concert! Player musicians from around the world will give a memorable performance featuring classic favorites, original compositions, and of course, some of the community’s favorite Sky songs. (This is a one-time-only concert that won’t replay after July 14th, so be sure to join us at the SkyFest Cinema to see it!)

During SkyFest, you can take a shortcut to the secret area by meditating at the Events Shop in Aviary Village. The gates are open to all, so you can join the dance party and watch Spirits take the rooftop stage. Just for the 5th anniversary, the Secret Area will have a display of three capes from past collaborations—the display will allow you to teleport to the special areas that came with each collab, no cape use necessary!

Four star-shaped tokens can be found around the village each day.

New Items

SkyFest 5th Anniversary Headband: 4 event currency

SkyFest Jenova Fan: 8 event currency

SkyFest 5th Anniversary T-shirt: 12 event currency

SkyFest Star Jar: 16 event currency

(40 tickets in total / 4 = 10 days to get all items - 15 days of the event = 5 days extra time)

New IAPs:

SkyFest Oreo Headband: $4.99 (all prices USD)

SkyFest Wireframe Cape: $19.99 - This cape comes with a special ability: After SkyFest ends, it can be used to access the SkyFest version of Aviary, including the History and Art Galleries plus the SkyFest Cinema. Videos from the SkyFest Cinema will replay after SkyFest on a schedule. (Please note that this cape provides access to the SkyFest event spaces ONLY.)

Returning Items

Anniversary Party Lights: 33 Hearts

Anniversary Sonorous Seashell: 33 Ascended Candles

Light Fence, Birthday Flag props: 20 Candles each

Balloon prop: 30 Candles

Happy Birthday Music Sheet: 10 Hearts

Confetti Launcher: 20 Hearts

Anniversary Plush: $9.99

Season of Duets (July 15 to September 29th)

Season Pass holders have the chance to unlock three Ultimate Gifts, and a mask can be unlocked for regular Candles even after the Season ends.

Season of Duets begins at July 15th and continues until September 29th.

Tournament of Triumph (July 29 to August 18th)

New Format to the Event Currency System:

2 event currency in the event area daily

Event currency pool (1): 25 in the first ten days of the event

Event currency pool (2): 25 in the second ten days of the event

5 event currency in the event area on the last day (Aug. 18)

Players can earn one event currency each time they complete a Tournament game, including after repeating a game, up to the total number of event currency available in each “pool.” Then, 25 more become available when the second half of the Tournament begins.

Event Items

Tournament Curls: 25 event currency

Tournament Torch: 37 event currency

Tournament Golden Garland: $4.99

Tournament Tunic: $9.99

[gloriousgwendolinechristie]

Gwendoline Christie - Behind the Scenes of "Robin and the Hoods"

Sustainable Production Practices on Sky Cinema Original "Robin and the Hoods"

[brokehorrorfan]

Alfred Hitchcock: The Iconic Film Collection will be released on November 26 via Universal. The 4K Ultra HD + Digital set collects six of the Master of Suspense's classic thrillers: Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, Vertigo, North By Northwest, Psycho, and The Birds.

Limited to 5,150, the six-disc collection is housed in premium book-style packaging featuring artwork by Tristan Eaton along with photos, bios, and trivia.

The uncut version of Psycho is included. Special features are detailed below.

1954's Rear Window is written by John Michael Hayes (To Catch a Thief), based on Cornell Woolrich’s 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder." James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter, and Raymond Burr star.

Rear Window special features:

Audio commentary by Hitchcock’s Rear Window: The Well-Made Film author John Fawell

Rear Window Ethics - 2000 documentary

Conversation with Screenwriter John Michael Hayes

Pure Cinema: Through the Eyes of The Master

Breaking Barriers: The Sound of Hitchcock

Masters of Cinema

Hitchcock/Truffaut - Audio recording from filmmaker François Truffaut’s in-depth interview with director Alfred Hitchcock about Rear Window

Production photo gallery

Theatrical trailer

Re-release trailer narrated by James Stewart

A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.

1955's To Catch a Thief is written by John Michael Hayes (Rear Window), based on David Dodge’s 1952 novel of the same name. Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis, and John Williams star.

To Catch a Thief special features:

Audio commentary by Hitchcock historian Dr. Drew Casper

Filmmaker Focus: Leonard Maltin on To Catch a Thief

Behind the Gates: Cary Grant and Grace Kelly

A retired jewel thief sets out to prove his innocence after being suspected of returning to his former occupation.

1958's Vertigo is written by Alec Coppel (No Highway in the Sky) and Samuel A. Taylor (Sabrina), based on Boileau-Narcejac’s 1954 novel The Living and the Dead. James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore, and Henry Jones star.

Vertigo special features:

Audio commentary by filmmaker William Friedkin (The Exorcist)

Obsessed with Vertigo: New Life for Hitchcock’s Masterpiece

Partners In Crime: Hitchcock’s Collaborators

Saul Bass: Title Champ

Edith Head: Dressing the Master’s Movies

Bernard Herrmann: Hitchcock’s Maestro

Alma: The Master’s Muse

Foreign censorship ending

100 Years of Universal: The Lew Wasserman Era

Hitchcock/Truffaut - Audio recording from filmmaker François Truffaut’s in-depth interview with director Alfred Hitchcock about Vertigo

Theatrical trailer

Restoration theatrical trailer

A former police detective juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with a hauntingly beautiful woman.

1959's North by Northwest is written by Ernest Lehman (The Sound of Music, West Side Story). Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, and Jessie Royce Landis star.

North by Northwest special features:

Audio commentary by writer Ernest Lehman

North by Northwest: Cinematography, Score, and the Art of the Edit

Destination Hitchcock: The Making of North by Northwest

The Master’s Touch: Hitchcock’s Signature Style

North by Northwest: One for the Ages

A Guided Tour with Alfred Hitchcock

A New York City advertising executive goes on the run after being mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and falls for a woman whose loyalties he begins to doubt.

1960's Psycho is written by Joseph Stefano (The Outer Limits), based on Robert Bloch’s 1959 novel of the same name. Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Martin Balsam, John McIntire, and Janet Leigh star.

Psycho special features:

Original uncut and standard re-releases version of the film

The Making of Psycho

The Making of Psycho audio commentary with Alfred Hitchcock and The Making of Psycho author Stephen Rebello

Psycho Sound

In The Master’s Shadow: Hitchcock’s Legacy

Newsreel Footage: The Release of Psycho

The Shower Scene: With and Without Music

The Shower Sequence: Storyboards by Saul Bass

The Psycho Archives

Hitchcock/Truffaut - Audio recording from filmmaker François Truffaut’s in-depth interview with director Alfred Hitchcock about Psycho

Posters and ad gallery

Lobby card gallery

Behind-the-scenes photo gallery

Production photo gallery

Psycho theatrical trailers

Psycho re-release trailer

A secretary on the run for embezzlement takes refuge at a secluded motel owned by a repressed man and his overbearing mother.

1963's The Birds is written by Evan Hunter (High and Low), based on Daphne du Maurier’s 1952 short story of the same name. Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette, and Veronica Cartwright star.

The Birds special features:

The Birds: Hitchcock’s Monster Movie

All About The Birds

Original ending

Deleted scene

Tippi Hedren’s screen test

The Birds is coming (Universal International Newsreel)

Suspense Story: National Press Club hears Hitchcock (Universal International Newsreel)

100 Years of Universal: Restoring the Classics

100 Years of Universal: The Lot

Hitchcock/Truffaut - Audio recording from filmmaker François Truffaut’s in-depth interview with director Alfred Hitchcock about Vertigo

Theatrical trailer

A wealthy San Francisco socialite pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people.

Pre-order Alfred Hitchcock: The Iconic Film Collection.

[tyrantisterror]

What's the worst legacy sequel you've ever seen? What, in your opinion, separates a good legacy sequel from a bad legacy sequel and what's the worst thing you think a legacy sequel can do?

The worst that I've seen is probably Rise of Skywalker. It's close competition, though - both Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Jurassic World: Dominion have moments that are significantly more stupid than anything in Rise of Sky Walker, but I also think both have a bit more creative effort put into them - Fallen Kingdom has that third act where it basically becomes a Resident Evil adaptation except with a murder-saurus in place of the Tyrant, and Dominion has the whole locust plotline which, while terrible, is at least an unexpected direction for a Jurassic Park sequel to go into that tries to figure out something ELSE you could do with the genetic engineering premise of the franchise beyond just making dinosaurs. Like, all three Jurassic World movies have big problems and they get progressively dumber with each installment, but they're also all ambitious to some degree that I still feel respect for, even if they never really actually reach those lofty aspirations.

Rise of Skywalker, on the other hand, has no ambitions at all. It has nothing it wants to say, no unique twists to pull, no real identity of its own. It's a potroast made of leftovers from better movies, a resuscitated corpse of something much more interesting, patched together like a Frankenstein's monster and abandoned to a cruel world just as callously.

It has no desire to do anything new, merely a checklist of Things You've Seen Before That the Focus Groups Say You'd Probably Like to See Again. Any character that can be slipped into an arc that was done in a previous Star Wars film is slipped into one no matter how little sense it makes for them, and any character who can't is either forced to tread water with nothing to do (hi Finn!) or just quietly shoved off to the side early on and forgotten about (hi Rose!).

Any story beats that weren't in the original films are simply grabbed from a box that reads "time tested cliches to keep your script moving with minimal effort." Make the plot a treasure hunt so we can just race from scene to scene with the flimsiest justification possible and try and trick the audience into thinking something is actually happening! What's that, audience interest is flagging? Quick, throw in a cameo of someone from an older movie! What's that, they're bored again? Pretend to kill one of the old characters, but make sure to reveal they actually lived in no more than two scenes down the line, or else we might piss off the fanboys! Hey, let's look at the Cinema Sins videos for the original movies and see if there's some gripes we can "fix" with this one for added fan cred! Can't disappoint our audience!

It's the story-telling equivalent of smothering something in salt to cover up the funky taste of the close-to-the-expiration-date ingredients.

As for what makes a good vs. a bad legacy sequel... ok, so, let's define legacy sequel first. A legacy sequel is a film or TV show that is a sequel to a popular film or TV series that ended a good many years ago, which brings back some of the old cast of characters (generally played by the same, and thus much older, actors that played them in the past) along with adding a new cast of characters played by younger actors. It tries to replicate the tone of the original series despite being made in a different era and probably by different writers and directors, and generally aims to give you that Ratatouille style moment of nostalgia.

I think most Legacy sequels are kind of doomed to be mediocre at best on the outset because the goal of them from the moment of conception is so mercenary - they're not created to Tell A Good Story, they're created to Keep Consumers Invested in a Lucrative Content Franchise. They have the artistic aspirations of a McDonald's Hamburger - "This tastes exactly like what you had as a kid, and doesn't that make you crave more of it?"

I don't think that art made for mercenary reasons is doomed to be bad, mind you - I mean, almost ALL movies and television were made to make money first and foremost. Even the classic High Art movies I love like Seven Samurai and The Third Man were made for mercenary reasons at the end of the line - it didn't stop the people who were working on them from having artistic goals, but it's a fact nonetheless.

But Legacy Sequels just have an uphill battle in the "artistic aspirations" department, because most people with artistic aspirations don't want to recreate the feeling someone else inspired with their art - they want to put their own stamp on it, their own spin, their own voice. And that will often mean something VERY different will be made, something that might piss of the fans - something that doesn't taste like the McDonald's hamburger you had as a kid, even though it came in the same wrapper.

The worst parts of Legacy Sequels are the only parts that Rise of Skywalker is made of - the parts where the story is clearly only trying to show you things you know, only trying to reheat the leftovers so they taste like your memories, only trying to trick the nostalgia center of your brain that you're four years old again eating at McDonald's. "Here's the thing you know! Here's the running gag you liked, repeated five more times by actors with far less enthusiasm! Here's the same basic premise as the first film, but the stakes have been inflated to make it feel like a progression! Cameos! Catch phrases! Eat your hamburger, you consumer pig!"

The rare good legacy sequels don't really TRY to be legacy sequels. They're just... sequels. Another story in the same world as the first, bringing back the characters who actually have interesting arcs left in them, creating new characters with their own shit going on who have good chemistry with the pre-established characters and setting, expanding on themes from the original and exploring parts of the setting that hadn't been explored yet, and all in all telling their own story that's related to the first one's but still manages to be its own distinct thing.

There are not many good legacy sequels, because a good legacy sequel is different than the McDonald's hamburger you ate when you were four, and might make less money than desired because of it.

[colinmorgan-beautifulsmile]

Colin Morgan has an exclusive brand new in-depth interview with Radio Times

In brand new thriller Dead Shot – which arrived on Sky Cinema and NOW last week – former Merlin star Colin Morgan stars as Irish paramilitary Michael, who is on the verge of retirement when his pregnant wife is brutally murdered by a British army soldier.

Based on an original screenplay by Top Boy creator Ronan Bennett and directed by brothers Tom and Charles Guard, it's a harrowing film that takes place during the height of the Troubles in 1975, following Michael as he embarks on a revenge mission that sends him to the heart of IRA operations in London.

When Morgan first got his hands on the "page-turning" script, he was struck by a number of things, not least the contradictions inherent in his character, and he was especially won over by a certain ambiguity regarding who the audience should be rooting for.

"As a Northern Irish guy, you think I'd be biased to one side, but it's absolutely seeing both sides of this tale and this drama," he tells RadioTimes.com in an exclusive interview. "And so it says quite a lot that I was kind of on both camps, I think that's quite an achievement.

"Contradictions are the main thing I look for," he adds. "You see somebody in a cause that some men were drawn into in the late '60s and early '70s in Northern Ireland, particularly in the border counties. And I'm wondering, if I was born around that time would I have been any different? Might the times have dictated what I needed to do to survive as a man?

"Those are the things that are compelling to me... he wants to be a dad, he wants to survive his future. At the very beginning of the film it feels like he's just about to begin the rest of his life, he's left the cause behind, and it just gets taken away from him in a second."

In preparing for the film, it helped a great deal that Morgan himself grew up in Armagh, the same town that Michael is from. Despite growing up in a different era, the star was very much able to draw on his own personal experiences when it came to getting a handle on the character.

"One thing I said to the Guard brothers before I started was I'm gonna bring everything I bring to the character from my point of view, but also the stuff of just being someone who grew up in Armagh," he says.

"You get that for free, because that's the complication of living in a place like that, even though I grew up in the tail end of things – it is just part of your culture and in your blood. You see all those things growing up, and they're just in my own kind of memory bank. So while I didn't go through the times, I was certainly surrounded by adults who did."

Dead Shot isn't Morgan's first project in recent years to be set against the backdrop of the Troubles. In 2021, he had a key role in Sir Kenneth Branagh's Oscar-winning coming-of-age film Belfast, and the actor has clearly found it an immensely rewarding experience to see audiences drawn in by these stories. 

"Particularly with Belfast, there's something kind of amazing about seeing something that's such a part of you reach the world and resonate with people in a universal way," he says. "When you see your story, or you hear your accent, there's just something about you that connects with that.

"And then when you hear other people the world over do that as well, you can't help but feel a sense of pride that your identity is being recognised."

In addition to the knowledge of the conflict he had accumulated while growing up in Northern Ireland, Morgan did plenty of research into the Troubles to prepare for his role in Belfast. He says this came in handy once again for the new film, but stresses that Dead Shot itself is not necessarily "concerned about trying to educate people about the times in Northern Ireland".

"Not every film that deals with the Northern Irish issue has to go into all those details," he says. "That's what I thought was refreshing about this. But it's important as an actor just to be familiar with those things, whatever period that – it's always worth doing, and I always do it."

One of the most intriguing aspects of the film is the complexity regarding Michael's adversary Tempest, played by Aml Ameen. Although by no means portrayed in a straight-forwardly sympathetic light, the character is not presented as an out-and-out villain either – but rather a vulnerable person who has been thrown into a horrible circumstance by odious bosses. Meanwhile, the fact that Tempest is a Black man living in a time when racism was commonplace undoubtedly adds to this complexity.

"One of the things I said to the directors right from the start was that there was a lot more that bound these two guys than divided them," Morgan says of the relationship between Michael and Tempest. "They're both in London, which was a place at the time that had [signs saying], 'No dogs, no Blacks, no Irish'.

"So these are actually both very outsider characters who were treated differently – when an Irish man went to London in those times there was complete shunning of them as well. So they're guys who know what it is to be shunned, rejected, and treated as the other. And the fact that they find themselves caught in this tragedy against each other, it's a shame in a way.

"The sad thing about that particular time in Northern Ireland was that so much division between religions and nationality prevented so much integration," he adds. "And it's still unfortunately very present in Northern Ireland to this day – it's getting less so, but it's hard to think it'll ever go away.

"It's terrible to think that people connecting on a human level is prevented by something like a label or identity or nationality, whatever it is. Your best friend could have been the one that was serving in the army except you were just on the other end of the lines."

Although the film is set primarily in London, the shoot itself actually took place in Glasgow – with a number of London buses and other identifying features brought in to help transform the Scottish city into something resembling the UK capital. This was an interesting experience for Morgan, especially considering he has his own history with the city.

"I actually went to drama school in Glasgow, I went to the Royal Scottish [Conservatoire]," he says. "And the odd thing was that I hadn't really been there since I graduated and I found myself staying in an apartment that was right opposite the apartment I stayed in in my second year at drama school.

"It was this weird kind of full circle moment of suddenly there I was, like 15/20 years later. I could practically still see through the window of that apartment and see the 20-year-old me wondering, 'Oh, I wonder if this whole acting thing will ever work?'"

Of course, it wasn't long after graduating before Morgan's acting career very much did work. Following a number of early roles on stage and screen, including the Doctor Who episode Midnight, his big breakthrough came in 2008 when he was cast as the title character of BBC One's fantasy series Merlin – a show that went on to run for five highly successful seasons.

The series has retained a cult following since it ended in 2012, and some fans have long clamoured for some sort of reunion or reboot. But although Morgan thinks back fondly on his time on the show, returning to the role doesn't appear to be something he's considering any time soon.

"I think most actors are more about progression and moving forward and don't often look back," he explains. "Even on stage, sometimes plays I've done have wanted to remount and come back again, and I often found I don't take up those opportunities because I've wrung the towel dry and I've rinsed what I could out of it.

"That's certainly what I've tried to do with every project, it's like I invest every 110% into it so hopefully by the end of it, I feel like I've done all I could. And certainly on projects like Merlin, I felt like yeah, we definitely did that together as a team and it's certainly [something I] look back on and feel very proud of the work that I and everyone did."

On the subject of moving forward, Morgan has a number of other imminent projects in the pipeline. He has a key role alongside Jessica Lange, Ed Harris and Ben Foster in a new film adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's classic play Long Day’s Journey Into Night; he will star opposite Emma Appleton in the upcoming Paramount Plus legal thriller The Killing Kind; and he is currently filming a project which he can't yet disclose. The keys to the roles he's been looking for in recent times, he says, are variety and collaboration.

"I look for things I haven't done before, I look for challenges, I look for versatility, I look for passionate people," he explains. "I think more so than anything, what seems to be top of my list now is collaborators – people who have this kind of notion of bringing you into the fold and wanting to work with you not just to deliver the acting goods, but to know what you feel about the scripts and the story and have your input.

"And that's my background. My first jobs were all new writing in theatre and working with writers and developing and progressing and shaping things together. And that's what I thrive on more than anything in the world.

"That seems to be what people are wanting these days, I think the landscape has changed. People are really wanting multidisciplinary actors, and that's worth knowing for anybody wanting to come into the business: don't just be thinking about the acting, think about 360 degrees of everything."

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🌈 Queer Books Coming Out in July 2024 🌈

🌈 Good morning, my bookish bats, and happy July! Pride Month may be over, but remember: Read Queer ALL Year. Here are a FEW of the stunning, diverse queer books you can add to your TBR before the year is over. Happy reading!

[ Release dates may have changed. ]

❤️ Earth to Alis - Lex Carlow 🧡 Cursed Boys and Broken Hearts - Adam Sass 💛 The Sky on Fire - Jenn Lyons 💚 The Meaning of Liberty - Sage Donnell 💙 Making It - Laura Kay 💜 The Black Bird of Chernobyl - Ann McMan ❤️ A Map of My Want - Faylita Hicks 🧡 The Devil You Know - Ali Vali 💛 The White Guy Dies First: 13 Scary Stories of Fear and Power - Various 💙 The Second Son - Adrienne Tooley 💜 Cursed Under London - Gabby Hutchinson Crouch 🌈 Forbidden Girl - Kristen Zimmer

❤️ Rise - Freya Finch 🧡 Undercurrent - Patricia Evans 💛 Online Rebellion - Blue Matt Jeff 💚 Wolf Gift - T.J. Nichols 💙 Cash Delgado Is Living the Dream - Tehlor Kay Mejia 💜 Miller: Origin - Starr Z. Davies ❤️ The Shadows Beyond - T.J. Rose 🧡 The Ones Who Come Back Hungry - Amelinda Bérubé 💛 Their Viscountess - Jess Michaels 💙 Fast Holiday - Kerry Lockhart 💜 The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky - Josh Galarza 🌈 The West Passage - Jared Pechaček

❤️ The Hades Calculus - Maria Ying 🧡 Misrecognition - Madison Newbound 💛 One Last Summer - Kristin Keppler 💚 Waypoint Seven - Xan van Rooyen 💙 Hiding Him - Adam Hattan 💜 Thousand Autumns - Meng Xi Shi, Me.Mimo ❤️ The Adventure Zone, Vol. 6: The Suffering Game - Various 🧡 Rowan & Aldred - Lucie Fleury 💛 Yoke of Stars - R.B. Lemberg 💙 Casting Vows - Ariella Talix 💜 Count Felford's Vessel - S. Rodman

❤️ The Actor and His Secret - Ben Alderson, Laura R. Samotin 🧡 How To Die Famous - Benjamin Dean 💛 So Witches We Became - Jill Baguchinsky 💚 The Amazing Alpha Tau Romeo and Juliet Project - Lisa Henry, Sarah Honey 💙 The Noble’s Merman - S.S. Genesee 💜 The Loudest Silence - Sydney Langford ❤️ Life is Strange - Brittney Morris 🧡 Bury Your Gays - Chuck Tingle 💛 I Will Never Leave You - Kara A. Kennedy 💙 The Blonde Dies First - Joelle Wellington 💜 Under the Lupine Moon - A. Knightley

❤️ Benji Zeb is a Ravenous Werewolf - Deke Moulton 🧡 Charlotte Illes Is Not a Teacher - Katie Siegel 💛 The Ghostkeeper - Johanna Taylor 💚 Trespass Against Us - Leon Kemp 💙 Exes & Foes - Amanda Woody 💜 The Very Long, Very Strange Life of Isaac Dahl - Bart Yates ❤️ Unbound - J.A. Vodvarka 🧡 StreamLine - Lauren Melissa Ellzey 💛 Time and Time Again - Chatham Greenfield 💙 No Road Home - John Fram 💜 Queen B - Juno Dawson 🌈 A Darker Mischief - Derek Milman

❤️ Beautiful & Terrible Things - S.M. Stevens 🧡 Benvolio & Mercutio Turn Back Time - Elle Beaumont, Lou Wilham 💛 About Last Night - Laura Henry 💚 You Had Me at Happy Hour - Timothy Janovsky 💙 Moonbane - Jamie Jennings 💜 Between Fate & Failure - Amber D. Lewis ❤️ Blessed by the Cupid Distribution System - Robin Jo Margaret 🧡 Between Dragons and Their Wrath - Devin Madson 💛 Twisted Magic - Barbara J. Webb 💙 Rare Birds - L.B. Hazelthorn 💜 At the End of the River Styx - Michelle Kulwicki 🌈 Origin Story - Jendi Reiter

❤️ Eras of Us - Shannon O'Connor 🧡 Corpses, Fools and Monsters: The History and Future of Transness in Cinema - Willow Maclay, Caden Gardner 💛 A Wolf in Stone - Jane Fletcher 💚 Toward Eternity - Anton Hur 💙 Portrait of a Shadow - Meriam Metoui 💜 Anyone's Ghost - August Thompson ❤️ Home Ice Advantage - Ari Baran 🧡 Unbelievable You - Chelsea M. Cameron 💛 Incorrect Eyes - Andromeda Ruins

[gunsatthaphan]

~ Monthly BL Breakdown: May 2024 ~ 

🏳️‍🌈 Happy Pride Month!!! 🏳️‍🌈

Disclaimer: ALL shows can be streamed here or here, as well as on Youtube and other platforms. For more info on where to watch what, check out this post! 

New breakdowns are coming at the end of every month - feel free to add stuff! -> previous breakdowns

What came out this month? (green = seen/currently watching)

🌟 You Made My Day (starring Tar A. and Bom T. from I Will Knock You) - May 3rd (Thailand)

🌟 Inverse Identity / Upside Down - Mary 3rd (China)

🌟 Wandee Goodday - May 4th (Thailand) ✅

🌟 Dear Miss Becky - May 6th (Philippines)

🌟 Deep Night Special Episode - May 9th (Thailand)

🌟 A Balloon's Landing - May 10th (Taiwan)

🌟 City of Stars: Special Episode - May 10th (Thailand, cinema release)

🌟 The Time of Fever (Unintentional Love Story spinoff) - May 15th (South Korea)

🌟 Blossom Campus - May 16th (South Korea)

🌟 OMG! Vampire - May 19th (Thailand)

🌟 Pray in Love - May 20th (Taiwan)

🌟 Manji Reverse - May 24th (Japan)

🌟 My Biker 2 - May 28th (Thailand)

🌟 Knock Knock Boys - May 30th (Thailand) ✅

🌟 Anti Reset Special - May 31st (Thailand)

Monthly Likes / Dislikes

❣️ My Stand-In - I've been liking this a lot and it's probably my favorite bl from this year so far. I was mostly skeptical of the reincarnation trope as I usually don't like that but I like where it's going. The storytelling is excellent, it's comprehensible and sends such good messages, it's subtle, not as in-your-face as other shows, they're not rehashing the same things and every character is believable and well-shaped, down to the smallest side role. The characters are flawed but so well-written that it's just a joy to witness them develop. That being said I wanna give a big shoutout to whoever was in charge of casting because the lineup is really top-tier lol. Every character is on-point thanks to their respective actor; Up is doing so well and also Poom is a very pleasant surprise. I love how expressive he is and him and Up work extremely well as a team imo. Also Mek as Tong is a good choice. Almost forgot what a truly good production looked like lmao. I'm in awe.

New series & movie announcements

🎥 Some Secrets in High School (mini series) - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Street Fight (movie) - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 See Your Love - Date TBA (Taiwan)

🎥 Century of Love - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Allure of the Siren - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 Takara's Treasure - Coming July 1st (Japan)

🎥 Air Moment (starring Earth T. & others) - Date TBA (Thailand)

🎥 The Paradise of Thorns - Coming August 2024 (Thailand)

🎥 Your Sky (starring Thomas & Kong, winners of the DMD reality program Friendship the Reality) - Date TBA (Thailand)

��� I Hear the Sunspot (remake) - Date TBA (Japan)

🎥 My Idol - Coming August 2024 (South Korea)

🎥 Khemjira - Date TBA (Thailand)

Other news from the BL world

❗️ In a week-to-week-release, Be On Cloud announced the cast of the upcoming BL 4 Minutes: Bible Wichapas, Jes Pipat, Bas Asavapatr, Job Yosatorn, Fuaiz Thanawat, Mio Athens, Jet Jetsadakorn & Jjay Patiphan. A release date, as well as further information has not been disclosed.

❗️After the announcement of OhmFluke being the lead actors in the upcoming Korean BL Surfing, their respective managements released a statement saying the news were false and that there was never any contact between the companies nor a request for permission to issue the news.

❗️The annual KAZZ awards were held on May 14th. The following BL actors/productions won:

Net Siraphop - Actor of the Year

Bed Friend - Series of the Year

Pit Babe - Kazz Magazine Favorite Award

❗️ The 20th Komchadluek Awards were held on May 28th. The following BL actors/productions won:

Zee P. - Most Popular Actor

Nunew C. - Best International Singer

Fourth N. - Best Rising Star

JimmySea - Best Couple

❗️ Actor JJ Radchapon has been announced as Net's new partner in the upcoming BL Love Upon a Time. His original partner James S. previously dropped out of the project to focus on his music career. Shooting will begin soon.

❗️ Actors Kaownah Kittipat and Max Nattapol have been announced as the BL side couple in the upcoming period GL drama Mom Pet Sawan.

❗️ Actor Tang Chinadis has announced his departure from the upcoming BL Jack & Joker. He withdrew from the project following accusations of physical abuse from his ex-girlfriend Prigkhing S. (formerly with GMMTV)

❗️ After accusations of domestic violence against his ex-girlfriend, the charges against GMMTV actor Pawin Thanik have been dropped. The company released a statement saying both parties requested a mediation, after which they came to a settlement where both cases were dismissed. Pawin had previously been placed on work probation and withdrew from the BL We Are amongst other projects.

Upcoming series & movies for June

👉🏻 My Love Mix-Up - June 6th (Thailand)

👉🏻 Love Sea - June 9th (Thailand)

👉🏻 SunsetxVibes - June 15th (Thailand)

👉🏻 The Rebound - June 26th (Thailand)

👉🏻 Blue Boys Part 2 - June TBA (South Korea)

[merrymorningofmay]

if anybody abroad is reluctant to reexamine their relationship to russian culture/literature/etc they should consider that here in ukraine/eastern europe many more people were raised surrounded by much more russian art (in the og language at that). if a dostoyevsky novel has some emotional significance to you that renders it above the current political agenda imagine how much closer the same novel has been, used to be, to many of us

because you know, the saddest thing about russification is that it works. like, all the "they made me read it in high school and i hated it" talk aside, we didn't actually jump out of our mothers' respective wombs with an inherent dislike for russian things. even in the post-independence generation, many (including me) were very late to radicalize, many (including me) used to appreciate the great russian novel, the great russian cinema, the great russian music etc – let alone the generations of our parents and grandparents, who grew up before the iron curtain collapse and had barely anything BUT russian media to bond with.

and hey, nostalgia is a bitch. it gets especially bitchy in a traumatic situation that makes you yearn for the comfort of a "simpler" past. my father still listens to the russian 80s music. sometimes he turns to me randomly and sighs, "that one singer/actor/tv celebrity really turned out to be an asshole, huh."

(fascist. by "asshole" he means fascist)

i used to love bulgakov! because my parents love bulgakov and i love my parents, because i vibed with his style, because i thought "surely his imperialist mindset is obsolete by now, surely whoever likes bulgakov in russia likes him for everything but the imperialism". i used to love "the idiot" because i was a sad christian queer teen and for an ardent nationalist/racist/antisemite/etc, dostoyevsky actually had much compassion for the victim, which appealed to me – i didn't really think that i would be the sort of victim he had no regard for. the indie folk songs that used to be the jam of my soul were written by people who either supported the war or didn't really care, and my first ocs that i still cling to were (originally) heavily inspired by that one godawful copaganda wagner yaoi comic series (which has since been made into a movie, which is now on netflix, yay). russian culture past and modern has left a trace in me that will not go anywhere no matter my current worldview (which is far from sympathetic to russia, i promise) and my future choices.

but there is no floating island in the sky where art is divorced from physical reality. there is no magical place where there is no red string going from dostoyevsky all the way to putin. there is no just space where ukrainian voices are on equal footing with russian voices – precisely because the russian state has been so carefully nurturing the brand of Russian Art (even though some of the artists were killed by the previous incarnations of that same state, even though some artists never identified as russian but had that label forced onto them because an empire will take whatever it can from a colony).

the things that i used to love turned out to be cogs in the weapon meant to kill me. those cogs are still spinning, and i still miss that love sometimes, and there's no going back. it's an uneasy predicament that i had to learn to live with. i didn't die from that. the cogs didn't die from that. you won't, either.

[mask131]

Greek mythology media (1)

To begin this overview of Greek mythology in media, I originally wanted to start with some of the most famous American pieces of fiction - those that shaped, for the better and for the worse, the "Americanized" perception of Greek mythology... Including Disney's Hercules.

However after some thought, I think I need to cover something else beforehand... What I like to call the "Hercules saga".

(Picture courtesy of greekgodsparadise.com)

Have you ever wondered why Disney made a movie about Herakles and yet named him "Hercules"? Why would Disney commit such a blatant mistake, using the Roman name of the hero despite everything else being (vaguely) Greek-inspired? Because Roman mythology is better known than the Greek (see my Medusa posts)? Not exclusively...

The reason why Disney made a movie named "Hercules" instead of "Herakles" was because their animated piece was very obviously a follow-up of an entire GENERATION of movies based on the figure of Herakles, but being sold, publicized and shared with the name "Hercules". Beyond this "mistake of Disney" is actually an entire generation of cinema history that people today completely forgot about, and that explansi why, of all the Greek myths, the one of Herakles is supposedly the one with the most movies attached to it...

I/ The beginning of it all

To start this deep dive we need to begin with the movie that started it all. The 1958 "Hercules" movie - at least it was its English title. Its original title was "The Labors/Trials of Hercules", "Le fatiche di Ercole". For yes, this movie was an Italian production (with some Spanish and French collaborations).

This movie's story is... quite more confusing than you would expect. Yes, the title is correct: Hercules is the main hero of the story. This being an Italian production, all the names were taken from Roman mythology rather than Greek - Hercules, Jupiter, Venus... And this is precisely why the name Hercules would go on to become so famous, but that's for later. However, despite what the title hints, this story isn't about the Twelve Labors of Herakles. Two of these trials appear in the first third of the story: the Nemean Lion and the Cretan Bull. However, the actual literary work of Antiquity this movie is based on is... the Argonautica of Apollonios of Rhodes. Yes, this movie is also about Jason, and the Argonauts, and the quest for the Golden Fleece, but with Jason being only a secondary character. In fact, most of the Argonauts's adventures aren't even told since the actual quest for the Golden fleece is massively reduced, with a good quarter of the movie entirely dedicated to the Argonauts' stay on the island of the Amazons... So this movie is a bit of everything. A bit of Herakles but not too much, a bit of Argonauts but not too much - though there's a LOT of the Amazons...

Fun fact: the lighting and the special effects were done by Mario Bava, who would later become of the iconic names of horror in Italy.

The movie being in public domain, you can find it pretty easily online, and having watched it, what is my opinion? Well... On one side the movie definitively aged badly. Many elements of it at now laughable today. The main love interest's costume is to the toga what the bikini-chainmail is to an armor, and her obviously modern makeup is very distracting. The fights of Hercules with the Nemean Lion and the Cretan Bull very obviously involve him punching fluffy puppets. Somehow a very modern fountain sitting by an ancient Greece palace... Ominous storm clouds are just a mud-stain on the camera's lense in an otherwise clear blue sky. Of course when the Amazons arrive the camera focuses twice on their naked legs ; and their cemetery is properly hilarious. The adorable Nemean Lion forgets he is supposed to play dead and shouldn't blink one he is "strangled". Oh yes, and there is also a VERY racist moment during the arrival in Colchides, where our heroes are faced with what is supposed to be primitive, savage, cavemen-like people... But who are in effect just black men wearing furs, a few prosthetics, and making monkey sounds. Very racist.

One of the things with this movie is that there is also several versions of it going around. We are lucky to have the cinematic, clean and properly-dubbed version on Youtube for free - right here ; but you will also find around the Internet versions of a much poorer quality which were designed for television airing, and which have a different English dub. Such a version can be found here for example. And then you apparently have yet a third version somewhere with yet a third dub that makes pretty big flaws (such as changing Hercules' entire rant to the oracle/sybil about immortality into a rant about "strength" which changes the entire idea of the movie). That's one of the evils of the public domain: re-dubs are everywhere.

Now all that being said... While this movie has definitively aged, I can still see why it became one of the classics of mid-20th century cinema, and why it caused such a big reaction upon its release.

Some of the ideas and concepts brought up are very interesting - for example weaving an entire motif of "revenge is not the answer" in a story where both Hercules has to bent to the unfair treatment of a king, and Jason has to find the murderer of his father. The treatment of the characters can also be interesting - from an Hercules who actually seeks humanity instead of immortality, and has to live in a world where his divine powers are actually freaking out people and shunning him as a monster ; to a king Pelias that is not actually actively evil or cartoonishly malevolent, but rather a fearful, suspicious and worn-out man who still does evil things out of anger, cowardice and bad advice, but who has been exhausted and burdened by guilt and regret to the point he enters the story only wishing to give up the throne and die... There is also a fascinating angle where the movie insists on the fact that Hercules is just as much intelligence as strength - for example with a wonderful scene of him proving even an average human person can shoot incredibly well arrows without a divine strength, but just good advice and observation of the environment and a well-formed technique... that ends with the big twist that those excellent bow-lessons he gave to the "random boy" he selected where given to ULYSSES out of all people. Yep, we have a movie where Herakles was Odysseus' mentor...

Mind you, while there are great ideas and concepts which make the movie stand on its own, in terms of mythological adaptation it is very poor, because as I said it mixes together edulcorated and scrawny versions of the myth. You've got two of the 12 labors done in a very different context. You've got a brand new Hercules characterization that doesn't touch upon his actual legends. You've got a Jason and the Argonauts story without sirens, Medea or giant ship-crushing rocks, and where Jason is just a background character. This "mixed" nature extends to the very tone and focus of the movie. It is a rich movie, no doubt, that blends and mixes the genres - but while it is precisely its charm (you are never bored with it), it is also what causes it to feel a bit unfocused. It starts with the naive and cliche romance between Hercules and a princess, leading to the angsty "I don't want to be immortal" scene of Hercules... It continues in what is basically a Gothic story about a strange and dysfunctional family burdened by the dark mystery shrouding a past crime that still haunts the present, and who lives in a half-abandoned palace where a ghostly murderer and treacherous whisperer haunts the shadows... We then cut to what is basically a PSA for athletism and sports, and then we delve into your typica adventure-movie alternating comic book humor with fights against monsters ; and then we have an entire mini-movie inside the movie at the Amazons island which unfolds as a romantic tragedy... This movie has everything, and perhaps a bit too much of everything, and feels like four different movies crammed together in one.

The other big "good point" of this movie is DEFINITIVELY the visuals. This movie allows me touch upon what was one of the big qualities of the good mythological movies of the mid 20th century: they truly knew how to make visual delights. The opening visual of a sheperd playing a Pan's flute while being listened to by his goats? The oracle all shrouded in a black veil suddenly revealing a blood-red dress? The three royal children going to the throne room - only for the two actual innocents one to be fascinated by the Golden Fleece while the brat immediately sits on the throne? Hercules climbing a shadowy mountain towards the red-lit temple of the gods? The visual of the Golden Fleece hanging from its tree, above a mount of dead leaves that turn out to be the asleep dragon? There are so many parts of these movies that just speak so much with just the sights. And it isn't just the sights, but some details in this movie are particularly head-turning. Ranging from the subtle - Hercules and the oracle locking gaze upon first meeting, and not saying anything but clearly showing a link because they are two beings of the world of the gods recognizing each other, and are thus set apart from the other humans in the room... To the more obvious: this movie had the genius idea to decide that the dragons of Ancient Greece were actually just FRIGGIN DINOSAURS that the gods somehow protected from extinction X)

II/ Omphale comes on stage

1958's Hercules was a HUGE success in Italy - and by extension in most of Europe. It was such a huge success that its director, Pietro Francisci, released the VERY NEXT YEAR the sequel, known in English as "Hercules Unchained". A quite silly title given the "unchained" part refers to a segment of the original 1958 movie. The actual title of this movie is "Ercole e la regina di Lidia", "Hercules and the queen of Lydia". For this movie, Francisci took the same team: Mario Bava for the special effects, Steve Reeves to play Hercules (he had been selected for the first movie because he had freshly won the title of Mister Universe - in fact, people did note that due to lacking an acting background he was quite stiff and unnatural in the first movie).

Many people at the time - including Howard Hughues himself - considered that this movie was a better one than the original, with enhanced acting, a much more "punchy" writing, more convincing action scenes, as well as very impressive baroque sets (which, fun fact, had been heavily inspired by the art of Flash Gordon). But the same audiences and critics of the time recognized a structural flaw in the piece, saying the various elements and tones were unbaIanced and that the movie felt as if it continued dozens of minutes after its plot actually ended. I... kind of disagree?

Just like the original movie mixed together the legends of Herakles' labors with the Argonauts' journey, this movie tries to tie together Herakles' time at Omphale's palace and the "Seven against Thebes" events, aka the battle between Eteocles and Polynices for the throne of Oedipus their father. I have to say I much prefer the first movie somehow, perhaps because it was a bit simpler? This piece is even less faithful to the Greek mythology material (which wasn't hard given the first movie was already a very loose adaptation), and in fact here we really feel the "sword and sandal" flavor. As in, this movie bears more common points with your typical sword-and-sorcery or heroic-fantasy short story/novella than with Ancient Greek epics or theater plays. Though the latter point is to be nuanced, because this movie is VERY theatrical. It is very staged, very visual, very dramatic - and perhaps too much because in many scenes the dramatic overcomes just basic logic or common sense (Hercules' repeated "arms up while invoking the gods" scenes do get ridiculous), and while some scenes are impressive, they do feel like someone filmed a stage-play rather than a movie. Let's not talk of an even greater fantasmagoria when it comes to the setting (the usurper of Thebes has Roman "pit of tigers"-type of gladiator plays, while the queen of Lydia who works with Egyptians and has an Egyptian-decored lair, organizes "Arabian Nights"-like dances and wears definitively 20th century fashion dresses... My last grief would be that this movie is actually repeating its predecessor (Omphale's palace being the island of the Amazons, the final fight being identical to the one of the previous movie), though it does bring to the table some new elements that are quite charming (Ulysses grows on me here as we see him growing into his trickster self, while being a plucky, comical young clever sidekick ; and the fountain of the "Water of Oblivion", aka a non-trademarked Lethe, is a great set piece).

But no matter what I may think of it, this movie was still an even bigger success than its predecessor, to the point it made its producing company, the studio Galatea, one of the biggest movie companies of all of Italy. Unfortunately, it also was the end of the "original" Hercules movie series. The producer of the two first pieces, Lionello Santi, part of the Galatea studio, decided at the surprise of everyone to abandon the newborn ad successful franchise. He entrusted it to a certain Achille Piazzi, who decided to name as a new director for the third Hercules movie Vittorio Coffatavi, pushing Pietro Francisci away. Since Steve Reeves only wanted to work for Francisci and no one else, the actor of Hercules was also replaced, by Lou Degni - better known by his stage name, Mark Forest. And finally, "Hercules Unchained" marked the end of the Francisci-Bava collaboration. For you see, Mario Bava did even more work and poured even more effort (or so he claims) into "Hercules Unchained" than into the original "Hercules" , to the point he asked to be designated as a co-director in the movie's credits. But Francisci refused, claiming Bava hadn't done so much work as he claimed: Francisci insisted "Hercules Unchained" was his piece before all things, and that Bava just wanted to take credit for his work, and refused to change Bava's function in the official rolling credits. This battle led up to the two of them not working together anymore.

III/ Hercules becomes... Goliath?

The result of all these changes was a third Hercules movie release in 1960, called... "Goliath and the Dragon"?

This third movie's actual title is "Hercules' Revenge", "La vendetta di Ercole". However, the American distributors changed it to "Goliath and the Dragon" because they needed to make this movie a sequel to an earlier success, the Franco-Italian movie "Goliath and the Barbarians". Which... isn't even a movie about Goliath, but rather a historical movie about a guy named Emiliano in the 6th century... Ah those wacky American distributors, back at their hijinks...

New director, new actor, new team... But also new scenario! Indeed, with this movie we have a fresh start, and a return to a more accurate depiction of Greek mythology... Well kind of. They kept numerous elements of the old movies, but brought in many more from the old Greek legends - the Twelve Labours for example (that Hercules finishes at the beginning of the movie with the taming of Cerberus), or his wife Dejanira. The story in itself, while trying to be more "Greek myth-flavored", is still a unique story mixing elements from various other tales. Hercules' son (turned into Goliath's brother in the American dub) is in love with Thea, who is unfortunately the daughter of a wicked king that wants to take the control of Thebes, Hercules' city. At first it seems the story will be just about the various manipulations and schemes of the wicked king and his allies to try to get rid of Hercules (for example making his son believe he wants to take Thea for his own, and using treacherous messengers to try to convince the poor boy to poison his father without realizing what he is doing) ; but then the third/fourth act of the movie completely takes us into a different direction, as now a prophecy by the gods overlaps with the conflict against the wicked king and... Its a bit convoluted.

I kind of skimmed through the movie because by now the "sequelitis" had started to really kick in. I will admit two good points for this piece: one they attempt to return to more mythologically faithful material, and even though they tell a new story they try to keep Greek elements in it (impossible love triangle between a son and a father, betrayals and tragic deaths within a same family, a hero going up against a wicked usurper king, prophecies the hero will try to fight against...). These efforts are unfortunately completely ruined by the American dub which changes the nature of everything. The second positive point would be the final part of the movie - when we leave the simple "romantic drama and political treacheries and other Shakespearian schemes" to enter the "let's fight a prophecy" domain. Hercules receives a prophecy that his son will take over the throne of the wicked king... in exchange for the life of "the woman who loves Hercules" (interpreted as his wife, Dejanira). As a result, the entire family of Hercules will struggle against this prophecy and try to avoid it - from Hercules becoming obsessively protective of his wife, to his son growing suicidal to protect his mother ; and here we really go into a much more emotional and human side of the story. We even have Hercules turning against the gods for this prophecy - despite having just finally cleared up his curse and made peace with them after his Labours, he still can't accept having his family doomed like that - going for the help of an oracle only for her to get KILLED when she disobeys the gods to bring him aid ; and it comes to Hercules being forced to make a heroic sacrifice, destroying his life to save others... There's really something more unique and touching in all that, that also reasonates well with Greek myths.

All that being said: the bad points. The Hercules movie of the era grew by the 70s and 80s to be synonymous with "hilarious kitsch comedy". Nobody could take them seriously anymore - and this movie really shows why. The first two Hercules pieces have laughable elements - but many were intended as light-hearted comedy, and the others still leave room for the seriousness of the piece. But here? Nah. On one side you have the special effects that aged very, very badly - resulting in the goofiest dragon and most ridiculous Cerberus battle you will ever see and the cheapest lightning effect ever made. And if the bad special effects weren't enough, you also have the American dub that changes the whole stories and tries its harder to rewrite the Greek myth into a more generic-fantasy things (while also fitting to a previous unrelated movie), resulting in a plotline even MORE convoluted than what it already was... This movie can be fun to watch just to see how ridiculous it all got, and unfortunately the most serious and interesting parts only come to us after bunch and bunch of cliches, convoluted writing, very bad dialogues (like REALLY bad) and papier-mache monsters.

[As a quick note here, this movie was also a step-up in the genre when it comes to the supernatural. You see, the first two movies actually had a more... let's say "realistic" approach to the magical elements of mythology. The gods and the supernatural was definitively real, but the movies made sure to frame it in a quite "realistic" light. The gods themselves never appear, and only speak through oracles or manifest through sudden changes in the weather. The monsters our hero fights are all just regular animals (a lion, a bull - well a bison they try to pass off as a bull), and even the "strange land of Colchides filled with wonders" is framed realistically as a sort of patch of land where prehistoric times continued on untouched (with the "monsters" there being just cavemen/Prehistoric men ; and the "dragon" being a dinosaur). And from the realm of the divine we have people with clearly supernatural abilities (Hercules with his immense strength, the oracles able to predict the future), but they still look like ordinary people... This all served the purpose of conveying the fantasy of the myths while working within limitations of budget and special effects.

This movie decided to actually bring the fantasy to screen by having actual monsters, and having the oracle fade in and out like a ghost, and a centaur turning into a satyr, and having the gods speak directly to the heroes or shooting lightning bolts at those they dislike... But as I said those special effects aged very, very poorly, and it is precisely by trying to do a "big show" that they actually ruined this strange worldbuilding-charm that worked so fine for the first two movies. "Showing less does more", as they say.]

IV/ Hercules against... vampires?

While Francisci and Bava never worked together again, both returned to the making of Hercules movies later on, each on their own.

Francisci released in 1963 a movie called "Hercules, Samson and Ulysses" (in its original title "Ercola sfida Sansone"), taking back the duo of Hercules and his sidekick Ulysses from the original movies, and having them confront the Biblical Samson... But given we are entering mythological crossovers, I will not be looking at this movie in any more details.

As for Mario Bava, in 1961 he released a movie co-made with Francesco Prosperi (and with Western Germany), "Ercole al centro della terra" - Hercules at the center of the earth. In America it was released as "Hercules in the Haunted World", but in many European countries, includng France, this piece's title was... "Hercules against the vampires". Why? Simply put: because the main villain is played by none other than Christopher Lee, and he plays a character with similarities to Dracula... As a result advertisers decided putting a big "vampire" stamp on this movie would work, despite it having no actual vampire.

The story is simple: Hercules returns to his home in Italy (remember we are still in a Greco-Roman mythology setting) after a war, only to discover his fiancée Dejanira (or Deianira as you English people like to call her) has fallen into an unexplained state of madness... An oracle tells Hercules the only way to save her is a magical stone from the realm of Hades. Hercules and his friend Theseus descend into the Underworld, unaware that Dejanira' caring uncle (Christopher Lee) is actually the one who caused her madness, and an evil sorcerer conspiring with the forces of evil to conquer the world...

Unlike the previous movie, "Hercules in the Haunted World/Hercules at the Center of the Earth" is much more of a "must watch" - or rather of a far better quality than its predecessors. We return to the charm and power of the earlier Hercules movie, but are then taken into a completely different direction thanks to Bava being able to truly make a movie of his own, with all the experience he gathered since the first Hercules. While the story veer into a much more... "fantasy" tone and plot, it is still a definitively "Greek mythology-inspired" type of fantasy, as elements of the legends of both Herakles and Theseus abond (descending into the Underworld, Deianira, the Hesperides and their golden apple, Procrustes and other of the bandits/threats Theseus had to face during his journeys...). Mind you, it is not because the Greek mythology elements and influence are everywhere that this movie is faithful to the legends, oh no, great liberties are taken here... Medea is now an oracle for the gods, Pluto becomes an evil god, you have references to Dante's Inferno while travelling through Hades, the Hesperides become daughters of Helios cursed by Pluto and entrapped in a land of endless midnight... This is definitively not a class about Greek mythology.

But the real strength of this movie, its real greatness (beyond Christopher Lee's presence, because come on, every Christopher Lee scene is great), is its visuals. This movie is a visual delight. Bava really used all of his tricks as a lighting and special effects guy - despite the movie having a not so big budget, Bava managed to created a gigantic fantasmagoria and epic sets and deeply oniric scenes simply through the use of colors, ciaroscuro, optical illusions, set design, and the power of not doing too much. In many ways this movie is the complete reverse of "Goliath and the Dragon": the "Goliath" movie tried to have these big impressive special effects but just became a cheesy, badly-aged kitsch piece ; while the Mario Bava movie is deeply otherwordly and haunting despite a quite limited budget and not doing "too much". (Mind you, not all things aged well, for example Procrustes' costume aged a lot, but the scene of Hercules climbing the giant tree of the Hesperides for example is wonderful).

Another slight flaw I would point out is that they have a very annoying "comical relief sidekick character" that... literaly serves no real purpose and I don't know why he is here, and he kind of ruins the mood (except for maybe one good joke). But this is definitively a movie to WATCH (not obviously appreciate, but just watch) - and it is disponible freely on Youtube in HD if you ever want to watch it. This movie, in fact, caused a brief wave of "creepy peplum" movies, a sort of... sub-genre crossing the "sword and sandal" with elements of horror movies (the "trio" of these morbid peplum movies tend to include Riccardo Fera's "Maciste in Hell" (The Witch's Curse, by American title), and Corbucci & Gentilomo "Maciste against the ghost/Goliath and the vampires/Maciste contro il vampiro".

What else to say... This Hercules was played by Reg Park, who would become the mentor of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who himself would later play Hercules. And oh yes, as a side note here: I haven't talked about this before in detail, but a departure from the Greek mythology is that in all those movies, and it is a common link between all of them, the character of Hercules is not a mortal who after death becomes a god, but the reverse. A great deal and great stress is placed on the fact that Hercules is an immortal among mortals, and a "god among men", and many times you will see or hear Hercules deciding to renounce his immortality or use his immortality as a bargaining chip... This builds an entirely different character, and a sort of meta-continuity for the cinematic incarnation of Hercules that neatly separates him from his mythical counterpart.

V/ The importance of the Hercules saga, and why it shaped Disney's Hercules

So... four movies (plus one mentioned). I said that the 1958 Hercules movie had been a huge success not just in Italy but in Europe as a whole. What I however did not say, because I wanted to keep it more of a surprise, is that this movie was an ENORMOUS success in the USA. Probably much bigger than you think.

The first two movies, "Hercules" and "Hercules Unchained" as they were named in English, were bought, translated and transported to the USA by Joseph E. Levine. Levine poured a LOT of money into a very aggressive and intense advertisement campaign to promote those movies, which not only were everywhere in theaters, but also aired on television. And this all resulted in a massive success, which gave Levine an entryway to build a big career in the movie industry, and the Hercules movies a lasting fame up until the 70s. By the mid-70s their fame and success slowly died out, from the tastes changing (making these pieces look ridiculous by modern audiences) to the television-copies of the movies being of very poor quality and badly preserved. By the 80s, these movies were a laughingstock, and the original duo of "Hercules" and "Hercules Unchained" even got a full-on parody in 1997. The two movies were recut into one, a whole new comical dub was made, and this resulted in "Hercules Recycled", about a TV exercise show-host who battles dinosaurs, fast-food obsessed mutants and insurance salesmen to save Earth by retrieving a secret formula inscribed onto a golden bath-mat...

But another one of the reasons the "Hercules" movies ended up being rejected and mocked mercilessly was oversaturation.

When people saw that "Hercules" and "Hercules Unchained" were HUGE successes both in Europe and America... The hunt was open, and it was free market for all. Everybody tried to recreate the movies, everybody tried making sequels of the movies, everybody did blatant rip-offs of the movies... In Italy at least, which was where the whole craze took place. It was the era of the "mythological peplum", of the "sword-and-sandal", of the "muscle-opera". During the 60s, around TWO HUNDRED movies based on the same principles, cliches and formulas were made for European and American audiences: movies taking place in a vague and unclear Antiquty, inspired by Greco-Roman mythology or Biblical stories, with a very muscular, oily, barely-dressed bodybuilder playing the hero, and him punching his way through soldiers and bandits and monsters, while trying to win the heart of a beautiful princess (or avoiding the deadly charm of wicked queens and enchantresses) - and with sometimes a plucky sidekick or comical relief by his side. Many were the protagonists of these tales, but ultimately they were all avatars of the same archetype: Hercules, Samson, Goliath, Ursus, Maciste were all replacable with each other.

Such an intense and fast mass-production of course brought the early death of the genre, that became "out" just as fast as it was "in"... Before it was replaced by the new cinematic craze coming from Italy and imported to the USA: the "western spaghetti", star of the 70s.

But this era left a deep mark onto America (and Europe too). In America, they were the reasons why the name "Hercules" became more famous than "Herakles". These movies were a prolongation of the bodybuilding trend, and of the athletic culture and body-worship and sport craze that had been started by the Mister Universe contest and the Charles Atlas celebrity. And - more interestingly perhaps for this website - these movies were also very influential and appreciated by homosexual communities of the 60s and 70s... I mean you literaly had muscular hunks bare-chested, oily and sometimes almost entirely naked, wrestling constantly with other half-dressed men, and surrounded by pretty girls and erotic sex-icons and pin-ups, who wore the toga-equivalent of the "chainmail bikini" of Conan fantasies... These movies were bound to attract gays and lesbians of their time.

There is a LOT of those Italian Hercules movies in the 60s, like a LOT. I can't possibly cover them all, but I will leave here the titles of some I will definitively not talk about (due to not being "Greek mythology" enough for my taste): 1961's "Sansone"/"Samson against Hercules" ; 1962's "La furie di Ercole" (The fury of Hercules) ; 1963 "Ercole contro Moloch" (Hercules against Moloch), 1964's "Ercole contro Roma" (Hercules against Rome), 1964's "Il trionfo di Ercole" (Hercules' Triumph), 1964's "Hercules against the sons of the sun", 1964's "Ercole, Sansone, Maciste e Ursus gli invincibili", 1964's "Hercules against the tyrants of Babylon"...

And even by leaving out those eight movies, with the five others I described before, I have still left, in the span of the Italian 60s, SIX more movies I could possibly talk about... As I said, we know around 200 movies were released during this decade in Italy - though hopefully for us, all the lesser and cheap ones faded into obscurity...

[maximumwobblerbanditdonut]

SAS: Red Notice’ in Development 🤔

SAS: Red Notice 2 or

SAS: Rise of the Black Swan 2

SH’s film was retitled SAS: Rise of the Black Swan on Netflix to avoid confusion with the Netflix-produced film Red Notice, which was also released in 2021.

Coincidentally Red Notice 2 with Ryan Reynolds, Dwayne Johnson, and Gal Gadot, are prepared to dive back into their roles. expected to arrive by mid-2025 or late 2025.

SAS: Red Notice is based on Andy McNab’s book, and (SAS, 2) it is SAS: Fortress, and is not SAS: Red Notice 2. it’s a trilogy.

SAS: Red Notice, also known as SAS: Rise of the Black Swan, was a thoroughly mediocre action thriller. Sam Heughan's portrayal of Tom Buckingham didn't particularly stand out. SH will stop talking about James Bond once and for all.

Posted 16th May 2024

@bestjaydee - SH fans tend to reason more on the protagonist rather than the film itself or Andy McNab's book idea. They always overvalue his mediocre performance without understanding the requirements of playing the role. His fans can buy anything he sells or spend much money to get a glimpse of him but they will never make him a good actor.

In comparison, "Red Notice," with its A-list actors, is expected to be a more enjoyable adventure than the "SAS: Rise of the Black Swan" sequel.

@fantasy-sci-fi-tv-girl - If SAS: Red Notice did well in streaming rentals, it was because it found an audience among Outlander fans, who outrageously inflated review numbers. SH doesn't have enough skill to justify her character in the film with a cast that simply doesn't have enough charisma to fully engage viewers.

The important UK Critic's Consensus was Whether it's called SAS: Red Notice or SAS: Rise of the Black Swan, this is a thoroughly mediocre action thriller, that has been done before and executed better, trying to make a weak actor in a spy. Andy McNab's books had so much potential, but they decided to ruin it.

The UK reviews are important because the film is about a British author’s books and they know how the SAS works, and SH was an unequal special forces operator. They could make a second film or three if the new director wants because the Tom Buckingham series is a trilogy. But SH will never be on par with a SAS operator. Although a sequel to Sky Cinema's 2021 original, SAS: Red Notice, is reportedly in development, it's unclear if Sam will return to the cast.

[omegaphilosophia]

The Philosophy of the Sublime

The sublime is a concept in philosophy and aesthetics that refers to an experience of awe, grandeur, and wonder, often evoking a mixture of fear and admiration. This notion has been explored by various philosophers and thinkers throughout history, particularly in the context of nature, art, and human experience. Here’s an in-depth exploration of the philosophy of the sublime:

1. Historical Origins

Edmund Burke: In his work "A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful" (1757), Burke distinguished between the beautiful and the sublime. He associated the sublime with vastness, infinity, and power, which can overwhelm and inspire a sense of awe and terror.

Immanuel Kant: In "Critique of Judgment" (1790), Kant elaborated on the sublime as something that transcends normal human experience and comprehension. He identified two forms of the sublime: the mathematical sublime, related to the vastness of nature and the universe, and the dynamical sublime, related to the power and force of natural phenomena.

Romanticism: The Romantic poets and artists, such as William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Caspar David Friedrich, celebrated the sublime in nature, emphasizing the emotional and spiritual responses to its grandeur and beauty.

2. Key Characteristics of the Sublime

Vastness and Infinity: Experiences or objects that are vast in scale, such as mountains, oceans, or the night sky, evoke a sense of the sublime. Their immensity challenges human perception and comprehension.

Power and Terror: The sublime often involves elements of danger and power, such as thunderstorms, hurricanes, or erupting volcanoes. These evoke fear but also admiration for their majesty and force.

Transcendence: The sublime experience transcends ordinary understanding and evokes a sense of something greater than oneself. It can lead to feelings of humility and reverence.

Aesthetic Experience: In art and literature, the sublime is associated with works that evoke profound emotional responses, often through depictions of nature’s grandeur or human achievement.

3. Philosophical Implications

Human Limits: The concept of the sublime highlights the limitations of human perception and understanding. It suggests that there are aspects of existence that are beyond human control and comprehension.

Emotional Complexity: The sublime evokes complex emotions that combine fear, awe, wonder, and admiration. This complexity enriches human experience and understanding of the world.

Nature and the Divine: The sublime often leads to reflections on the relationship between nature and the divine. The overwhelming power and beauty of nature can evoke a sense of the divine presence or the transcendental.

4. The Sublime in Art and Culture

Visual Arts: Artists like J.M.W. Turner and Caspar David Friedrich captured the sublime in their depictions of natural landscapes and phenomena, emphasizing vastness, power, and emotional depth.

Literature: Writers such as Mary Shelley and Lord Byron explored the sublime in their works, using language to evoke the awe and terror of natural and supernatural elements.

Modern Interpretations: Contemporary artists and thinkers continue to explore the sublime in various forms, including digital art, cinema, and virtual reality, pushing the boundaries of what can evoke awe and wonder.

5. Critiques and Evolving Perspectives

Subjectivity: Some critics argue that the experience of the sublime is highly subjective and culturally specific. What one person finds sublime, another may not.

Environmental Ethics: The concept of the sublime has been revisited in discussions about environmental ethics, emphasizing the need to protect and preserve the natural landscapes that evoke these profound experiences.

The philosophy of the sublime explores the profound and often overwhelming experiences of awe, grandeur, and wonder in response to nature, art, and human achievement. It challenges human limits of perception and understanding, evoking complex emotions and reflections on the transcendental. From its historical origins in the works of Burke and Kant to its manifestations in Romantic art and contemporary culture, the sublime remains a powerful and enduring concept in philosophy and aesthetics.

[vgperson]

Vocaloid Highlights: March 2023

Traveling a thousand lightyears at the speed of sound. Highlights Archive

========== Stand-Outs ========== One Sheep Look, Look Drowned Corpses Want Love Venomous Snake Great Actress Hot Wind Mannequin Kardia Theater Recklessly And I Waved to "___" Makeup Breath Despair. Copyright A Thousand Lightyears Mr. Showtime Dust Trail Dyeing MOVING ON Blowing Raspberries at You Notorious Dinner Bell On Spring My and Your Otherworldly Reincarnation

========== Worth Your Time ========== Magical Girl Revolution Practical Usage Andromedanaut Clear Red Eyes Extermination Eric Bad Shark Paladin Swallowing Balancer So What Lonely Night Sky Don't Resolve Me Poisoning ROOK Lycoris Memoria Night-Talking Sleep-Blue Song Craft Soda Craft Clear Memory Imagination∞BLUE Fiction Nobody Was Here Goodbye Hairtie Light Club GLACIES Transformation Syndrome Future For Two I Wanted To Be a Vocaloid Producer Living. Song of a Flower Daydream Fantasia Taking Over Here The Person More Precious Than Me Night Revolves Float Planner Teleport Diverging-Together Zero Ghost Disco Reparody Amaryllis, Sunrise. Incomplete Egoism Short Hand Strong Wind Blown-Back TransPOP Retry Helter Skelter LIGHTNING Rust-Iron Rain and Bonfire Mid-Life Reincarnation Airy Cherry Bomb!! Original Whoopsie Funk Smile to Smile Secret Iris New Humanity call sign Beast Sensitive Ghost Apocalypse Tokyo Lamenting Shima Enagirl So Long As It's Changing Stardust Medley Anguish, Fans're a Fantasy Umbrella If You Say You'll Slay That Dragon Margaret My Speakers Broke Corrupt Heaven Uber-Cute☆Creature Who Am I ^^? Leon Shaka Brainwash Dance Deggee Drizzle Spring Song Offer I've Come to Hate Darkness The Finale to You. Trash Rule Chewing Candays Fantasy Theory Lastamberger Idea Roll I Laugh. Mare? shangri-la Brain Dead Monster blanc. Salutations Ni! Although It's Ironic Hyper Sign It Was a Definite Spring The Retina's the Silver Screen, All People Are Cinema Ethos Teacher, Hey The World is Part of Us Skew, Forget Reincarnation Instant Music Starflight Program Discovery The Love That Ended Today Deeds, not words!! See-Again Romanesque