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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 3 years ago

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Is It Really THAT Bad?

This… This is where it all began.

Sean Connery wanted to finally make a great film again after constantly passing on big franchise opportunities. Alan Moore was actually somewhat enthusiastic about seeing an adaptation of his comic. The dominoes were in place and set to fall on a major success as one of the most ambitious crossovers ever written made its way to scree

But unfortunately, there were far too many problems. Connery refused to play an addict and so they changed Quatermain into a straight hero and the team leader. Tom Sawyer was added in because the studio thought people wouldn’t care about the movie if there wasn’t an American in it. Connery butted heads with the director on set. A legal issue involving an unproduced script led Alan Moore to become bitter when things were settled out of court, as he didn’t get to defend himself. It seemed like absolutely nothing could go right with this film, and then it was released.

The movie was savaged by critics, bombed domestically, and devastated several careers. Connery was left miserable in regards to filmmaking thanks to this, and so retired from acting save for some voice work. The director Stephen Norrington had such a bad experience that he vowed to never make another film. Peta Wilson and Stuart Townsend both had their careers torched by this, and Shane West ended up having to stick to TV roles after this. Most tragic of all, however, is how Alan Moore came to utterly despise this film, leading to him demand his name be left off of all future adaptations of his work and beginning a long trend of him hating literally every Hollywood movie based on his creations, regardless of quality.

This film is an utter nuclear disaster of cinema based on how it ruined so many careers and crushed the hopes of its creators, so clearly the critics must be right on the money and this league of gentlemen is not so extraordinary… right? With 19 years and several other Alan Moore adaptations behind us, I’ve decided to look back and see if this notorious film is really that bad after all. Alan Moore definitely thinks so.

The Good

I think what really carries this movie is the performances. Nearly every actor is giving it their all here, though there are some standouts. Jason Flemyng as both Jekyll and Hyde, Naseeruddin Shah as Nemo, and and Tony Curran as this film’s take on the Invisible Man are the standouts here. The latter in particular is very interesting; due to Universal having the film rights for the Invisible Man, they had to make up a new version… which is for the best, since in the comics the Invisible Man on the team is a rapist, a traitor, and an utter bastard. Rodney Skinner, the version here, is much more of a playful rogue and a rascal, and it’s easy to see why he became a fan favorite. It’s definitely one of the few points of improvement over the comic.

Speaking of which, the decision to turn Mina into a vampire might seem corny to some, but I think it rules. Mina in the comics was very much the badass normal and the leader of the team, but that was about it for her aside from her gross romance arc with Quatermain. Here, she gets to be a badass, and has quite a few cool fight scenes under her belt by the film’s end. It’s a bit of creative liberty with not only the source material but the comic as well, but it’s not like Moore didn’t take creative liberties for the sake of the story he was telling (for better and for worse).

My favorite addition by far is Stuart Townsend’s Dorian Gray. Even as a kid, who knew nothing about Dorian Gray and was very much not aware of his own sexuality, I thought Dorian was hot. He also is functionally immortal and unstoppable, which is awesome as well, making him something of a very sexy Wolverine. Parts of his motivation are very stupid (more on that later), but I think he’s a pretty fun token evil teammate. He’s definitely preferable to the Invisible Man of the comics, that’s for sure.

Aside from that, there’s a lot of fun action scenes, especially towards the end of the movie where they just go whole hog with everything. We have a Hyde versus Diet Hyde fight, we have Mina fighting Dorian, we just have a lot of crazy stuff. It’s just a lot of dumb fun.

The Bad

Much like the comics it’s adapted from, this movie does suffer from some problems that could definitely hinder how enjoyable one might find it.

Probably the bigger ones are the fact characters spend less time showing and more time telling, as they stand about in their fancy costumes and announce obvious things. It doesn’t help either that aside from that, the plot is a lot more convoluted than ever before and riddled with confusing twists and plot holes. For instance, the big reveal that the Fantom is actually M, who is actually Professor Moriarty… what, exactly, does this add to the story? Nothing is the answer. Nothing is added by Moriarty being the bad guy except, well, he was the bad guy in the comics! Gotta keep him in!

It’s even weirder when it comes to Dorian. His whole deal is that Moriarty has stolen his portrait, and if Dorian ever looks at his portrait he will die. So it would make far more sense for him to not want to help Moriarty since the guy is doing him a solid by keeping that damn portrait far away, right? Nope, he’s trying to get it back because… who knows.

I think the bigger issue here is that Quatermain supplants Mina as the main hero. In the comics, Quatermain starts out as a useless, washed up opium addict who slowly undergoes character development to become the badass he should be (and then he is unceremoniously killed by lightning shot out of Harry Potter’s penis). In the movie, he’s badass from the word go, and we all know it’s because it’s Sean Connery playing him. There’s no way you’re going to pay the bill for Connery to be in your film and then not have him be front and center. But this isnot even Connery at his best, as it’s pretty clear that he’s kind of phoning things in (though not nearly as badly as he did with Diamonds Are Forever). Worst of all, though,is that this comes at the expense of Mina becoming marginalized, and this is after you give her sick vampire powers! Mina has been made exponentially cooler and you still sideline her for Sean Connery and his bland white American foster son! What the hell!

And yes, Sawyer is bland and boring. They don’t really do much interesting with the fact he’s Tom Sawyer. In fact, outside a deleted scene, it’s not even mentioned and you’d have to really guess who he’s supposed to be. This, I think, is the reason this doesn’t quite work as a film quite as well as a comic, by the way; film rights and literary rights are two entirely different things. The entire conceit of the franchise is that you’re watching Alan Moore flex his literary knowledge and see how many references can be crammed into a single comic panel, something that just can’t work in a fast-paced action movie. Sure, there’s some references here and there, but it’s not nearly as dense as the comics. You’re not getting cameos from Thomas the Tank Engine or Pollyanna here, that’s for sure, and it’s a shame because that’s the fun of League.

Oh, and to top it all off, the CGI is kinda ass. I swear this is not a screencap from a Resident Evil game, this is just how this dude looks in the movie.

Is It Really THAT Bad?

Honestly? Nah.

Now let me be clear, this isn’t a good movie. It has a hell of a lot of flaws, flaws that keep it from reaching its full potential and keep it from being as good as the comic it’s adapting. But I always recall how I saw someone say they saw this film as part of a loose trilogy with Van Helsing and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, the thematic tie of the films being action-packed CGI spectacles of the early 2000s, and I feel a bit more lenient. This is definitely the weakest of the three films, but I don’t know, I still think there’s merit in it even if it never quite reaches the highs of its comic counterpart.

I’d say this is sort of the Venom of its time, a fun, stupid action movie with tons of actors giving it their all for an almost non-existent plot. I’d say it’s just about where it belongs on IMDB, though I’d round it up to a 6. It’s the perfect thing to just put on if you want some mindless fun or just a bit of background noise while you do something else, and there’s plenty of place in the world for films like that. It’s definitely not so bad that I feel like it should have tanked a half dozen careers and I definitely don’t think it’s so bad that it should have soured Moore’s opinion on Hollywood (and Sean Connery, if his unflattering depictions of Connery’s Bond in later volumes are anything to go by).

The worst thing that can be said about it is that it does very little with the great concept of the comic it’s adapting… But hey, no matter how bad this is, it’s still infinitely better than whatever the hell was going on in Centuries!

#Is it really that bad #IIRTB #review #movie review #The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen #Sean Connery #Alan Moore #comic book movie #public domain

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Best Romantic Movies on Amazon Prime Right Now

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Some movies brave enough to tread where only pop songs and poems go, and try to capture all the drama, contradictions and happy, bubbly feelings that come along with romance and love. It’s high-time that we honor them and defend them against their unearned sappy reputations with the best romantic movies on Amazon Prime.

We’ve scoured Amazon Prime to find the best romantic movies available for your viewing pleasure. Here are the best romantic movies on Amazon Prime. Ok, some of them are perfectly sappy.

The Big Sick

Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily Gordon’s theatrical debut made big waves when it came out for the singularity of its vision and just how plain funny it is. Now Amazon gets to reap the benefits of producing a bonafide romantic indie hit by getting its exclusive streaming rights. The Big Sick is the real life story of comedian Kumail Nanjiani meeting and falling in love with his wife, Emily (who is played by Zoe Kazan in the film).

Kumail and Emily’s courtship process is difficult enough to begin with due to Kumail’s family pressuring him to find a nice Pakistani girl to settle down with. But soon things get even more difficult as Emily suffers a health scare and Kumail must suddenly contend with that situation and Emily’s eccentric parents who have just come to town. The Big Sick is a clear vision from talented people and tells a beautifully convincing love story while making plenty of room for laughter. Not only that but it’s a big win for our list of best romance movies on Amazon Prime.

Watch The Big Sick

What If

Canadian drama What If (originally known as The F Word before the MPAA got its greasy fingers all over it) is a fun romantic movie and a tremendous showcase for its two young stars Daniel Radcliffe (you know what he’s from) and Zoe Kazan (The Big Sick). Radcliffe stars as Wallace – a directionless young man living in Toronto who decides to become more social after his girlfriend cheats on him.

Enter Kylo Ren (Adam Driver playing a character who is unfortunately not named Kylo Ren) who takes Wallace to a party where he meets the alluring Chantry (Kazan). Wallace and Chantry immediately fall for each other. Unfortunately there’s the small matter of Chantry’s boyfriend. What If? is a sweet little Canadian flick that knows how to push its audiences romantic buttons.

Watch What If

Still Mine

Still Mine isn’t necessarily about romance. It’s about love – a deep prevailing love built up over decades. Craig Morrison (James Cromwell) is a farmer in rural New Brunswick, Canada. He intends to build a new house for his ailing wife Irene (Geneviève Bujold) but runs into trouble with the local municipality’s bureaucracy prevents him from doing so.

Still Mine is as romantic a movie about bureacratic development regulations as has ever existed. Cromwell and Bujold have wonderful chemistry and paint a portrait of profound, abiding love.

Watch Still Mine

Some Kind of Wonderful

Some Kind of Wonderful doesn’t have the same pop culture standing as other John Huges films like Sixteen Candles or Pretty in Pink. Still this remains a worthwhile entry into the Hughes canon on teenage love.

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Keith Nelson (Eric Stoltz) is a high school outcast who has his eyes set on popular girl Amanda Jones (Lea Thompson). Thankfully he has his tomboyish Watts (Mary Stuart Masterson) to help court her. Based on that meager plot description, you may think you know where Some Kind of Wonderful is going to end up, and…you’re probably right. That doesn’t make the journey any less satisfying.

Watch Some Kind of Wonderful

To Catch a Thief

You know who would make a great romance film? The guy who did Psycho. Yes To Catch a Thief is a classic romance film from none other than Alfred Hitchcock. Of course, there’s a lot more going on in this heist thriller.

Cary Grant stars as retired cat burglar John Robie. When another burglar starts copying his act, Robie has to undergo One Last Job (TM) to catch…a thief. In the process John comes across the wealthy Frances (Grace Kelly) and the two strike up an unlikely romance for the ages.

Watch To Catch a Thief

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Hello, My Name is Doris

Between TBS’ Search Party and Hello, My Name is Doris, director Michael Showalter had a stellar 2016. Hello, My Name is Doris is a wonderfully sweet, equally tragic and completely hilarious romantic comedy. Sally Field stars as the titular Doris, a lively woman in her 60s who after the death of her mother becomes infatuated with a younger man.

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With the help of cliched self-help materials she does whatever she can to get his attention. Hello, My Name is Doris is an empathetic romantic comedy that will change how you view age.

Watch Hello, My Name is Doris

Sabrina (1995)

Let’s get one thing out of the way right now. Sabrina‘s theatrical poster is dope. When I was a kid and I would pass the VHS cover in Blockbuster, I couldn’t help but think “Wow, that is a real adult movie.” At a young age, the mere sight of a woman’s lascivious red lipstick (lascivious in my head at least) was enough to fry my brain. Poster aside, however, Sabrina is an excellent romance with some real star power. It’s a remake of the 1954 film of the same name starring Billy Wilder and Audrey Hepburn.

This version was directed by the great Sydney Pollack and stars Harrison Ford, Greg Kinnear, and Julia Ormond. Weirdly enough Greg Kinnear plays the ultimate rich playboy while Harrison Ford plays his studious older brother. Weird casting choices but it works out alright thanks to each actor’s chemistry with Ormond.

Watch Sabrina

Ghost

Ghost is much more than just the reason you can no longer attend a pottery class without giggling. It’s a legitimately great sci-fi romance yarn. Patrick Swayze stars as Sam a banker who is killed by a mugger. Immediately post-death he discovers that he has become a ghost and can no longer directly interact with his girlfriend Molly (Demi Moore).

Sam sets out to solve his own murder and somehow reconnect with the woman he loves. Ghostcomes along with all the corniness of an early ’90s blockbuster but its central theme of love trying to achieve the impossible plays in any decade.

Watch Ghost

Brokeback Mountain

Longing is a crucial part of the formula in any romance movie and Brokeback Mountain has it in spades. Ang Lee’s 2005 film played a crucial role in bringing queer cinema to the mainstream and it did so by presenting mostly straight audiences with a universal depiction of love and passion – the kind of love that supersedes the norms and expectations of everything in your life to that point.

Heath Ledger and Jake Gylllenhaal star as 1960s Wyoming cowboys Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist. While herding sheep on the Brokeback mountains, Jack makes a sexual pass at Ennis and the two begin a summer-long physical affair. The movie then follows the pair through the subsequent decades as they try to return to their “normal” lives, all the while unable to forget their time on Brokeback.

Watch Brokeback Mountain

Letter to Juliet

Somewhere along the way, Hollywood decided to let Amanda Seyfried become the queen of romantic comedies set in exotic locales…and that’s perfectly fine with us.

In Letters to Juliet, Seyfried stars as a New York fact checker Sophie on “pre-honeymoon” with her fiancé in Verona. There she learns of the phenomenon of “letters to Juliet” where women women bring love letters to Juliet Montague’s Verona courtyard. When Sophie answers a letter from 1957, she embarks on a decades-spanning journey of love and self-discover.y

Watch Letters to Juliet

What Men Want

Back in 2000, only one film had the distinction…nay, the courage of trying to figure out What Women Want. The answer, apparently, was Mel Gibson. We don’t talk about this movie that much.

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2019’s What Men Want is a loose remake of the earlier film. And it has something that the original never did: Taraji P. Henson! Henson stars as Ali Davis, a sports agent who gains the ability to read men’s minds after meeting a shaman. The movie puts Ali’s male-dominated profession to good use and in the process tells a nifty little romance story.

Watch What Men Want

There’s Something About Mary

More than two decades later, it’s still wild to see that above screenshot. Like, that ran in newspapers. It was on a poster! And if you don’t know why a photo of Cameron Diaz with a unique hairstyle is a big deal then you’ve likely not seen the Farrelly Brothers 1998 gross out classic There’s Something About Mary.

This is not so much a romance movie as it is an exploration of the pitfalls of attraction. Diaz stars as Mary Jensen…and there’s just something about her. Ben Stiller, Matt Dillon, Lee Evans, and Chris Elliott all play men who are helplessly in love with Mary and trying to win her affection. In the process, many injuries as sustained.

Watch There’s Something About Mary

Moulin Rouge!

If you like your romance with more than a dash of Baz Luhrmann saturated colors and big, sexy musical numbers then Moulin Rouge! is almost certainly the movie for you.

This 2001 film is set in 1900s Paris amid the Bohemian movement. When Christian (Ewan McGregor) falls in love with Moulin Rouge cabaret actress and courtesan Satine (Nicole Kidman), he must contend with her impending betrothal (or really sale) to the Duke of Montrose. As one might imagine, this is resolved with quite a bit of singing and dancing.

Watch Moulin Rouge!

Sylvie’s Love

Amazon Prime’s 2020 film Sylvie’s Love positively oozes jazz era atmosphere and tells a compelling, decades-spanning love story in the process.

Tessa Thompson stars as Sylvie Parker, a young woman who one day meets an aspiring saxophonist (played by Kerry Washington’s husband and former NFLer Nnamdi Asomugha) and in her father’s record shop in 1950s Harlem. This leads to sweeping romance that guides the pair through the era’s jazz music scene.

Watch Sylvie’s Love

The post Best Romantic Movies on Amazon Prime Right Now appeared first on Den of Geek.

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grigori77 · 5 years ago

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Top 10 Horror Movies, like, EVER (reissued)

10. THE MIST

In 2007, writer/director Frank Darabont once again proved he does his best work when adapting master of literary horror Stephen King (after The Green Mile and solid gold masterpiece The Shawshank Redemption), this time turning to pure horror with one of the author’s lesser-known early novellas. The result is another tour-de-force cinematic blueprint, a taut, harrowing tale of humanity pushed far beyond the brink by unexplained supernatural events and the monstrous lengths normal people will go to to stay alive, as a small-town New England supermarket is cut off from the outside world by a mysterious, monster-filled mist. The Expanse’s Thomas Jane proves a complex hero, beefy yet vulnerable as local artist David Drayton, leading a high-calibre cast of Stephen King-movie/TV regulars – Jeffrey DeMunn (The Green Mile), Andre Braugher (Salem’s Lot), William Sadler (The Shawshank Redemption) and Frances Sternhagen (Misery) – and “newcomers” – Laurie Holden (who must have really impressed Darabont, since he subsequently cast her alongside DeMunn in The Walking Dead), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’s Toby Jones (as one of the most unorthodox action heroes in cinematic history) and Miller’s Crossing’s Marcia Gay Harden, pretty much stealing the film as deeply unhinged Bible-basher Mrs Carmody, who goes from unsavoury town nut to fervent cult leader as the situation grows increasingly desperate. Darabont once again proves what an exceptional screen storyteller he can be, effortlessly weaving an atmosphere of mounting dread and knife-edge tension, as well as delivering some nightmarish set-pieces featuring magnificent Lovecraft-inspired beasties designed by The Walking Dead’s creature effects master Greg Nicotero. When cinematic horror was becoming increasingly saturated with “gorno” Saw-derivatives, this was a welcome return to old-fashioned monster movie thrills (Darabont himself was heavily inspired by the monochrome scary movies of his childhood, and longed to make the film in black-and-white – indeed, this is definitely worth watching at least once in the “director’s cut” B&W version he included on the special edition DVD release), and not only proved one of the best examples of King on screen to date, but also one of THE key horror movies of the “Noughties”. Not least thanks to that ending, one of the greatest sucker punch twists of all time – reputedly King was most envious of Darabont on seeing it for the first time, wishing he’d thought it up himself. Coming from the King of Horror, that’s high praise indeed.

9. 30 DAYS OF NIGHT

When Steve Niles, the undisputable master of post-modern horror comics, originally came up with the concept for his definitive work, it was intended for the big screen, but he ultimately wound up committing it to print because he just couldn’t get anyone to produce it. Interesting, then, that the comic’s runaway success led to its optioning by Sam Raimi and his production company Ghost House Pictures, Niles adapting the first volume alongside Stuart Beattie and Brian Nelson, with Hard Candy director David Slade at the helm. Of course, the concept was always a killer – for one month every year, the sun never rises over the Alaskan town of Barrow, a fact that a coven of hungry vampires have decided to exploit in a midwinter free-for-all feeding frenzy. Josh Hartnett manfully crumbles in what remains his best role as town sheriff Eben Olemaun, ably supported by Melissa George as his estranged fire-marshal wife Stella, Memento/Batman Begins’ Mark Boone Junior as hard-as-nails town loner Bo, Ben Foster (one of my very favourite actors) as a mysterious drifter with a dark agenda, and Danny Huston, who created one of the best ever screen vampires with nihilistic pack leader Marlow. It’s ironic that David Slade should have followed this with Twilight film Eclipse (although he was an inspired choice – after all, it’s the one that DOESN��T suck) – this is about as far removed from the toothless, blood-lite young adult series as you can get, an unrelenting, gore-drenched exercise in relentless carnage and ice-cold terror. These vamps wouldn’t be caught (ahem) dead sparkling – they’re man-shaped mako sharks, all dead black eyes and jagged teeth, gleefully revelling in slaughter and playing sadistic games of cat and mouse with the isolated townsfolk. This is definitely not a movie for the faint of heart, and it takes itself deadly seriously right through the unapologetically bleak ending, but it is nonetheless an endlessly rewarding thrill ride for the faithful, paying respect to all the great conventions of the genre while simultaneously ripping them to shreds. Brutal, bloody and brilliant, this is BAR NONE the best vampire movie of the post-Interview age, and very nearly my all-time favourite EVER ...

8. POLTERGEIST

1982 saw the release of TWO of my all-time fave horror movies, and the lesser (but no less awesome) of the two is what I personally consider to be THE DEFINITIVE haunted house movie. Tobe Hooper, director of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, pretty much reinvented ghosts on the big screen with this thrilling tale of a small-town-American family, the Freelings, whose seemingly perfect home comes under the influence of a powerful supernatural force. At first the effects are harmless – moving furniture and the like – until a night-time thunderstorm signals a terrifying escalation and younger daughter Carol-Anne (Heather O’Rourke) is sucked through a portal into the spirit world. Long before he was the dad in The Incredibles, Craig T. Nelson had already become a pretty definitive cuddly American screen father as Steven Freeling, while JoBeth Williams is a lioness defending her cubs as mother Diane; then-newcomer Heather O’Rourke, meanwhile, is a naturalistic revelation as Carol-Anne, her innocent delivery of “They’re here!” becoming a genuine geek phenomenon all on its own, but the film’s real runaway performance comes from Zelda Rubinstein as diminutive Southern belle psychic medium Tangina Barrons, whose every screen moment is a quirky joy. As you’d expect, Hooper’s scares are flawlessly executed, the atmospheric tension ratcheted with consummate skill, even if the director’s characteristic gore is kept to a PG-13-friendly minimum ... then again, this was a summer offering from Back to the Future producers Frank Marshall and Steven Spielberg himself, who was also the main screenwriter. Indeed, his influence is keenly felt throughout – the suburban world the Freelings inhabit is very much in keeping with Spielberg classics like Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. – and there have been consistent rumours that he was all but the de-facto director on set. The film (along with its sequels) has also gained a reputation for being cursed, with no less than FOUR cast members dying not long after (most notably Dominique Dunne, who played elder Freeling daughter Dana, who was murdered by her boyfriend just five months after the film’s release). Whatever the truth behind these rumours, there’s no denying this is a cracking film – taut, atmospheric and consistently terrifying while also displaying a playful, quirky sense of humour and lots of heart, it remains one of the most rewarding and entertaining screen ghost stories around.

7. BUBBA HO-TEP

Bruce Campbell is Elvis Presley! He really is! Although maybe he isn’t ... all right, TECHNICALLY he’s Sebastian Haff, a washed-up, long-retired Elvis impersonator languishing in a retirement home who claims he really IS the King (apparently he swapped places with the REAL Haff because he’d grown tired of fame). Meanwhile one of his fellow residents is an old black man who claims he’s the real JFK, maintaining that President Lyndon Johnson had him dyed black and secreted in anonymity with a bag of sand sewn into the gap in his brain ... confused yet? Well hold on, cuz there’s more – the retirement home in question has been invaded by the malevolent spirit of a cursed soul-sucking mummy, and only these two fallen heroes can save the day ... yup, writer/director Don (Phantasm and John Dies At the End) Coscarelli’s initially criminally overlooked but deservedly seriously cult adaptation of Joe R. Lansdale’s novel is as typically oddball as the rest of his filmography. It’s also his most moving and spiritual work to date – behind all the supernatural weirdness and quirky, offbeat humour this is a deeply-affecting meditation on the pains of growing old and losing your place in the world. Bruce Campbell’s Elvis/Haff is a tragic hero, regretting his current lot and pining for former glories, but he still has the odd little twinkle of his former charm and bravado (particularly during his interactions with his nurse, played with spiky gutsiness by Ella Joyce), while screen legend Ossie Davis is stately and charismatic as “the former President Kennedy”, even when he sounds REALLY crazy. Meanwhile the creature, “Bubba Ho-Tep” himself (Bob Ivy), is a fantastically weird creation, Coscarelli’s skilful use of atmospherics elevating him far above the “guy-in-a-suit” effects – he’s mean, cranky, and just as strong a character as his flesh-and-blood counterparts. Coscarelli really let rip on this one – it’s chock-full of his characteristic leftfield comic-scariness (Elvis/Haff’s early encounter with one of the mummy’s scarab familiars is a particular zany gem), visually inventive and frequently laugh-out-loud hilarious, but in the end plays out on such a heartfelt, genuinely powerful and moving denouement that you can’t help getting a lump in your throat, even while it is one of those movies that leaves you with a big dumb goofy grin on your face. It’d be pretty sweet if Coscarelli and his mate Paul Giamatti ever get their long-gestating “prequel” Bubba Nosferatu: Curse of the She-Vampires off the ground, but this is one that you can’t help loving all on its own. See this if you’re a Coscarelli fan – it’s his best work to date – see this if you love quirky, unusual and original horror ... hell, see this if you love MOVIES. This is a true GEM, not to be missed.

6. DOG SOLDIERS

My favourite werewolf movie is also easily one of the most offbeat – think The Howling meets Assault On Precinct 13 and you’re pretty close to the mark. Before visionary British horror director Neil Marshall had his big break with masterpiece The Descent, he made an impressive cult splash with his feature debut, a fiendish comedy horror in which a six-man British Army unit on training manoeuvres in the wilds of Scotland stumbles upon a pack of hungry werewolves and are forced to take shelter in an isolated cottage. With their ammo dwindling and their weapons largely ineffective against the monsters (not a silver bullet between them, of course), it doesn’t look likely that ANY of will survive the night ... setting the humour dial for JET BLACK, Marshall keeps the atmosphere tense and the substantial gore flying (I was amazed when I saw this in the cinema that it was only a 15 – even just ten years earlier stuff like this was GUARANTEED a solid 18 certificate), while the squaddies are a likeably foul-mouthed bunch with a winning, sometimes enjoyably geeky line in spiky banter (Marshall makes frequent references to everything from Star Trek and The Evil Dead to The Matrix and, in one of my favourite nods, Zulu). Trainspotting’s Kevin McKidd is brawny but enjoyably self-deprecating as nominal hero Cooper, Sean (son of Doctor Who Jon) Pertwee gives great earthy-shoutiness as Sgt. Wells, Darren Morfitt consistently steals the film as mouthy little bugger “Spoon” (short for Witherspoon), and Game Of Thrones star Liam Cunningham injects a strong dose of dark and dangerous as Captain Ryan, the special forces operative with a sinister plan, while Emma Cleasby is far from just a token female as zoologist Megan, who came to Scotland in search of the legend and seems to have found a whole lot more than she bargained for – she’s smart, tough and flat-out refuses to be a love interest, and definitely proved a good trial run for Marshall’s all-female cast in The Descent. It’s impressively paced – after an initial character-driven set-up so we can get to know the lads (including a fun little scare-on-top-of-a-laugh moment), the action kicks in fast and rarely lets up for the rest of the film’s tightly-packed 105 minute running time. The set pieces are thrilling and frequently fun (particularly Spoon’s ballsy little distraction technique), and the werewolves are impressively brought to life through physical animatronics created by Image FX (the Hellraiser effects team!) and a talented troupe of stilt-walking stunt performers – no cheesy CGI here! Altogether it marked a blinding debut for a singular, visionary sci-fi/horror talent who’s still making his presence felt – Doomsday was a delightfully old-school slice of super violent sci-fi in the John Carpenter vein, while tight, gruesome little Roman-era suspense thriller Centurion proved that a historical epic doesn’t have to be 2+ hours long with a big budget to impress, and Marshall continues to garner real acclaim through his extensive TV work on the likes of Game of Thrones. That said, I can’t wait for him to return to the big screen, preferably with more dark, edgy, blood-soaked fun like this ...

5. TREMORS

I’ve always had something of a bias towards horror movies that are also comedies, or at least that have a strong sense of humour throughout, and when it comes to funny horror movies, this brilliant throwback to cheesy 1950s monster movies is KING, baby! While it snuck in under the radar on its 1990 release, director Ron Underwood’s sleeper universally wowed critics, word of mouth helping it to become an impressive cult smash once it hit home video ... which meant I saw it at JUST the right time, the film quickly becoming a firm fixture in my favourites lists and a major milestone in my own geek development. The premise is simplicity itself – giant underground worms with tentacles in their mouths terrorise an isolated desert community – but underneath the goofy concept is a surprisingly sophisticated movie that continues to influence filmmakers today. Kevin Bacon was in a bit of a career slump at the time (Footloose had been SO LONG before), but this gave him both the shot in the arm he needed and one of his most memorable roles ever – odd-jobbing slacker Val McKee, who has to get off his arse and think big to beat the beasties; Fred Ward is the perfect foil as Val’s crotchety “business” partner Earl Basset, while Finn Carter is thoroughly lovable as scientist Rhonda LeBeck, a no-nonsense smart girl who can go toe-to-toe with the boys (and manages to lose her pants WITHOUT losing her credibility), but the film is consistently stolen by Family Ties star Michael Gross as tightly wound survivalist Burt Gummer – this might be Bacon’s movie, but Gross is the real star, deservedly becoming the driving force of the film’s various sequels AND the spinoff TV series. The film opens with a killer of a funny line, starting as it means to go on – frequently hilarious and smart as a whip, consistently defying character and genre tropes and wrong-footing the viewer almost a decade before Joss Whedon started doing the same with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, all the while balancing the belly laughs with some genuinely scary set pieces. The worms themselves (or “Graboids”, if you want to get specific) are spectacular creations, some of the most original movie monsters out there, and they still stand up well today, just like the rest of the film. A cornerstone of the genre that wins over new fans with each generation, this is one of those films that deserves to be remembered for a very long time, and looks set to do just that.

4. EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN

Nobody does screen chaos like Sam Raimi, particularly when it comes to his horror offerings – still his first and purest love. His original debut feature The Evil Dead is rightly considered the DEFINITIVE indie horror, and to this day remains the standard blueprint for all young, aspiring directors starting out in the genre ... it’s also a work of pure, unadulterated MADNESS once it gets going. Raimi upped the ante with this part-remake, part-sequel, the increased budget and proper studio resources meaning he could REALLY let his imagination run riot, and the results are a cavalcade of tongue-clean-THROUGH-cheek, jet black comedic insanity that STILL has yet to be equalled. Bruce Campbell returns as unlikely “hero” Ash Williams, thoroughly out of his depth and failing miserably to hold it together as the ancient tome of evil itself, the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis (“Book of the Dead”), unleashes a horde of undead demons on the isolated forest cabin he’s brought his girlfriend to. Wildly expanding on the supernatural back-story of his original, Raimi and co-writer Scott Spiegel also ramped up the humour, playing the horror on the blackest edge they can, albeit cut with a hefty dose of Tex Avery – Ash’s battle with his own possessed, eventually severed hand is like some demented skit out of The Three Stooges, while the absolute comedic highlight is the ridiculously over-the-top “laughing room” sequence, in which the seemingly inanimate objects in the cabin suddenly come to life and begin to taunt Ash; add in the great wealth of re-view-friendly visual in-jokes scattered throughout and this remains Raimi’s FUNNIEST film to date. Campbell clearly had a ball, throwing himself into the action with everything he had, and he’s ably supported by a meaty (ahem) cast that includes a very pre-Slither Dan Hicks as a seriously scuzzy redneck and Raimi’s own brother Ted, virtually unrecognisable as one of the maniacal Deadites (“I’ll swallow your soul!”). The creature effects from the great Greg Nicotero still stand up spectacularly well today (they remain some of his very best work), from hideous gurning beasts to insane fountains of blood, while Raimi’s direction is pitch-perfect, playing the humour beautifully while still (sometimes simultaneously) building up a near-unbearable atmosphere of unholy dread, and the climax is ingenious, beautifully setting things up for the enjoyably madcap trilogy-closer Army of Darkness: the Medievil Dead. Raimi has finally brought the trilogy the follow-up fans had been waiting decades for with the fantastically bonkers Ash Vs. the Evil Dead series, but this delirious masterpiece remains the franchise’s zenith. Groovy ...

3. JAWS

It may be the oldest film on this list (released in 1975, it’s THREE YEARS OLDER than I am!), but Steven Spielberg’s breakthrough feature has aged incredibly well. Indeed, it almost single-handedly changed the face of big budget cinema, establishing the idea of tent-pole summer blockbusters and blanket-bombardment advertising campaigns (in particularly it was one of the first to make heavy use of television to drum up excitement and interest), ultimately taking over $400,000,000 on its original release (the equivalent of multi-billion big earners like Avatar today) and paving the way for Star Wars two years later. Not to mention the film’s famous negative effect on beach-going for years after ... but under all that there’s a magnificent, masterfully-crafted film, still (rightly) considered one of the director’s best. The plot may be ridiculously simple – New England beach-community Amity Island is terrorised by a man-eating Great White shark – but there’s a stealthily subversive story here, taking old genre conventions and twisting them in new, unexpected directions (which would, ironically, form a template for a great many later horror movies); while the first hour is a slow-burn thriller, the second is more like a light-hearted nautical action adventure with added scares. The French Connection’s Roy Scheider virtually CREATED the everyman-out-of-his-depth hero with his portrayal of Amity police chief Martin Brody, a former New York cop who’s terrified of the water, Richard Dreyfuss is lovable comedic gold as rich kid marine biologist Matt Hooper, Lorraine Gary did a lot with very little as Brody’s wife Ellen, and Robert Shaw effortlessly steals the film as shark hunter Quint, a ferocious, scenery-chewing force of nature in the mould of Moby Dick’s Captain Ahab. The film is immensely rich in great character moments, from Hooper’s rib-tickling arrival on the island and the dialogue-free moment Brody shares with his younger son Sean, to the undeniable high point of the film, where a humorous comparison of scars (which has itself become a popular homage-magnet in film and TV) leads to Quint chilling account of his wartime experience onboard the U.S.S. Indianapolis (the ship transporting the Hiroshima atomic bomb which was torpedoed in the Pacific, leading to over a thousand stranded sailors being eaten alive by sharks); indeed, this is one of Spielberg’s most well-written films, sitcom writer Carl (The Odd Couple) Gottlieb’s polish of author Peter Benchley’s adaptation of his own original novel still zipping and zinging today, although some of the best dialogue was derived from the actors’ own on-set improvisations (most famously Scheider’s now-legendary “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”). It’s also one of his most well-directed, with near-hypnotic tricks in editing and bold, adventurous choices in atmosphere-building, often a result of the shoot’s infamous difficulties – the animatronic shark (affectionately named “Bruce” by the director, and “the Great White Turd” by the crew) created by Bob Mattley (the guy who did the giant squid in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) was impressive when it worked, but this was so rarely that the director had to devise several means of creating maximum tension WITHOUT showing the shark, which ultimately ADDS to the effectiveness of those scenes, particularly the “barrel-chasing” in the second half. None of these tricks, however, work better than the score from Spielberg’s most faithful collaborator, John Williams, based around a deceptively simple four-note melody that evolves into something spectacularly evocative, which has rightly become the film’s most iconic element. Humorous, intriguing, intense and still thoroughly terrifying when it wants to be, this is, bar-none, the finest man-versus-nature horror EVER MADE, and surely always will be.

2. NEAR DARK

I’m a fool for vampires (much like I’m a fool for redheads, but that’s a whole other conversation), so bloodsucker horror is one of my very favourite sub-genres. I’m also a big fan of Kathryn Bigelow – two of her most recent features, The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, both pinged VERY LOUDLY on my radar (the former is my favourite war movie of the current decade), while her collaboration with then husband James Cameron, Strange Days (he wrote, she directed), rates high on my list of criminally underrated screen gems. So what do you think happened when she made a vampire movie? The results SHOULD have become one of the most celebrated and legendary features in the genre ... except that it came out in October 1987, two months after the admittedly cool and fun but far more glossy and dumb The Lost Boys. Needless to say in the wake of that, Bigelow’s film got kind of lost in the back chatter, nearly flopping at the box office and all but vanishing into obscurity ... until its subsequent release on video (quite rightly) earned it an impressive cult following. Myself included, because this movie is RIGHT UP my dark and dangerous alley. Collaborating with The Hitcher’s screenwriter Eric Red, Bigelow crafted a (largely) deadly serious modern day supernatural “western”, in which cocky farm-boy Caleb Colton (Heroes’ Adrian Pasdar) hits on cute drifter Mae (Jenny Wright, probably best known for her supporting turn in Young Guns 2), only to get WAY more than he bargained for when her kiss leaves him with a crippling hunger and one serious tanning problem. Pasdar’s all-knowing youthful swagger disintegrates as he tumbles further down the vampiric rabbit hole, while Wright’s fragile beauty compliments her character’s deep, soulful melancholy – the pair make for a compelling, tragic romantic centre anchoring the horrors that unfold as Caleb begins to lose himself to his burgeoning nature; even so, the true dark and twisted soul of the film lies with Mae’s predatory nomad “family” – Lance Henriksen is the definitive “dark father” as nihilistic pack leader Jesse Hooker, while his Aliens co-star Jenette Goldstein is his perfect mate as punk rock femme fatale Diamondback, and Joshua John Miller excels as Homer, the bitter old man trapped in a child’s body ... meanwhile Bill Paxton consistently steals the film as mad dog Severen, chewing the scenery to splinters with gleeful, feral aplomb and stealing all the best lines. It’s a potent, heady ride, taking itself pretty seriously throughout but deriving a subtle, inky black sense of gallows humour from the situation, and the set-pieces are intense and thrilling (particularly the shootout in a roadside motel at dawn, where shafts of sunlight become as lethal as bullets). At times it’s also powerful, soulful and bleakly beautiful, Bigelow’s heavily stylised visuals brilliantly augmented by the spiky electronic score from Tangerine Dream. It also subverts the classic vampire conventions with great skill and originality, with nary a cross, coffin or even fang in sight. Like 30 Days of Night, this is the perfect antidote for anyone suffering from Twilight-overload – the monster can be quite interesting when he’s the hero, but he’s just so much more fun when he’s the bad guy ...

1. JOHN CARPENTER’S THE THING

While I’m sure many will think I’m mad for preferring this over Carpenter’s other seminal horror classic Halloween, this one’s much more my speed, a perfect exercise in sustained tension, paranoia and white-knuckle terror. Critically mauled and under-performing on its release (it was labelled by many as a sort of “anti-E.T.: the Extraterrestrial”, which came out two weeks earlier ... and interestingly this opened the same day as Blade Runner!), it nonetheless became a massive cult hit now rightly considered one of the true DEFINITIVE horror movies. Faithfully adapting John Campbell, Jr.’s novella Who Goes There? (certainly more so than Howard Hawks’ admittedly entertaining but ultimately very kitsch The Thing From Another World), it revolves around the all-male crew of U.S. research station 4, Outpost 31, in Antarctica, who come under threat from a body-snatching alien entity that can perfectly imitate its victims after investigating the mysterious destruction of a neighbouring Norwegian facility. Carpenter regular Kurt Russell (Escape From New York, Big Trouble In Little China) is at his gruff best as helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady, the taciturn blue-collar Joe called upon to play “hero”, Keith David (Pitch Black, Carpenter’s They Live) angrily flexes his acting and physical muscles as hot-tempered researcher Childs, Donald Moffat crumbles as ineffectual station commander Garry, and screen legend Wilford Brimley effortlessly makes the exposition compelling as tightly-wound biologist Blair. The freezing Antarctic atmosphere perfectly complements the razor-edged suspense, the idea that ANYONE could be the creature lending every scene a palpable sense of implied threat, while the science of the fiction is thankfully largely put on the back-burner in favour of the story and scares; meanwhile there’s a cheeky edge of jet black humour throughout, from the scuttling disembodied head to Garry’s explosive reaction to MacReady’s improvised humanity-test. Rob (The Howling, Robocop, Fight Club) Bottin’s fantastically nightmarish creature effects are a magnificent achievement, still looking as good today as they did back in 1982, while master composer Ennio Morricone’s subtle, atmospheric score is a triumph of creepy, insidious subliminal effect. For me, this film is the definition of fear – the idea that the threat could be literally ANYONE, that you could even become that yourself, be taken over completely, body and soul, is absolutely terrifying, and Carpenter executes this potential reality with surgical precision from the intriguing, icy start to the bleak, desolate ending. Perfect.

#the mist #30 days of night #poltergeist #bubba ho-tep #dog soldiers #tremors #evil dead 2 #Jaws #near dark #John Carpenter's The Thing #my favourite horror movies #quality horror #Top Tens #decided I wanted to redo this properly cause finally got the hang of this mess

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andrewmasefield · 3 years ago

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orbemnews · 3 years ago

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Yes, Pot Is Legal. But It’s Also in Short Supply. In New York and New Jersey, the race is on to grow legal weed. In Orange County, N.Y., there are plans to build a large cannabis cultivation and processing plant on the grounds of a defunct state prison. About 25 miles south, over the border in New Jersey, an industrial complex once owned by the pharmaceutical giant Merck will be converted into an even bigger marijuana-growing hub. In Winslow, N.J., about 30 miles outside Philadelphia, a new indoor cultivation complex just celebrated its first harvest. The advent of legalized adult-use marijuana in New York and New Jersey is an entrepreneur’s dream, with some estimating that the potential market in the densely populated region will soar to more than $6 billion within five years. But the rush to get plants into soil in factory-style production facilities underscores another fundamental reality in the New York metropolitan region: There are already shortages of legal marijuana. Within New Jersey’s decade-old medical marijuana market, the supply of dried cannabis flower, the most potent part of a female plant, has rarely met the demand, according to industry lobbyists and state officials. At the start of the pandemic, as demand exploded, it grew even more scarce, patients and business owners said. The supply gap has narrowed as the statewide inventory of flower and products made from a plant’s extracted oils more than doubled between March of last year and this spring. Still, patients and owners say dispensaries often sell out of popular strains. “There’s very little stock,” said Shaya Brodchandel, the chief executive of Harmony Foundation in Secaucus, N.J., and president of the New Jersey Cannabis Trade Association. “Almost no wholesale. As we harvest we’re putting it straight into retail.” Harmony purchased the former Merck site in Lafayette, N.J., late last year and is awaiting permits to begin construction, Mr. Brodchandel said. Because marijuana is illegal under federal law and cannot be transported across state lines, marijuana products sold in each state must also be grown and manufactured there. Federal banking law also makes it nearly impossible for cannabis-related businesses to obtain conventional financing, creating a high hurdle for small start-ups and a built-in advantage for multistate and international companies with deep pockets. Oregon, which issued thousands of cultivation licenses after legalizing marijuana six years ago, has an overabundance of cannabis. But many of the other 16 states where nonmedical marijuana is now legal have faced supply constraints similar to those in New York and New Jersey as production slowly scaled up to meet demand. “There’s always a dearth of flower in a new market,” said Greg Rochlin, chief executive of the Northeast division of TerrAscend, a cannabis company that operates in Canada and the United States and this month opened New Jersey’s 17th medical marijuana dispensary. In New York, where the medical marijuana program is smaller and more restrictive than New Jersey’s, the menu of products includes oils, tinctures and finely ground flower suitable for vaping. But the sale of loose marijuana buds for smoking is prohibited, and only 150,000 of the state’s 13.5 million adults who are 21 or older are registered as patients. With modest demand, there has been little incentive to boost supply. Until now. Adult-use marijuana sales could begin within a year in New Jersey and in early 2023 in New York, industry experts predict. “I would be a fool not to be making the product,” said Ben Kovler, the founder and chief executive of Green Thumb Industries, a cannabis company with operations in both states. “There’s not a lot of inventory sitting around,” he said, at a moment when there’s a “tidal wave’’ of demand on the horizon. “It’s not likely there’s going to be enough supply,” Mr. Kovler said. His company, he said, was awaiting final approval from New York State to begin construction on the grounds of the former men’s prison in Warwick, N.Y., Mid-Orange Correctional Facility, which was closed in 2011. Citiva, a competitor, is also building a new production hub there. A cannabis testing lab and a CBD extract facility, urbanXtracts, are already there. “We’re calling it a cannabis cluster,” said Michael Sweeton, Warwick’s town supervisor. “It is the definition of irony,” he added about the reinvented role for a correctional facility that boomed during the war on drugs, imprisoning 750 men at a time and providing 450 jobs. New York officials said that the state’s hemp farmers will play an important role in the effort to generate enough cannabis to satisfy what is quickly expected to become one of the country’s largest marijuana markets. With fewer overhead costs, and a smaller carbon footprint, hemp farmers who expand to grow cannabis for certain uses may even be able to undercut indoor-facility prices for at least part of the year, officials said. Hemp, which has much less of the intoxicating chemical found in cannabis, THC, is used to make CBD oil. New York’s law also permits individuals to grow as many as six marijuana plants for personal use; New Jersey’s legislation does not allow so-called home grow. In the coming months, both states are expected to issue regulations to govern the new industry. Each has framed legalization as a social justice imperative and has dedicated a large share of the anticipated tax revenue to communities of color disproportionately harmed by inequities in the criminal justice system. Trying to balance the goal of building markets focused on social and racial equity against the inherent dominance of multistate corporations with early toeholds in the region will be crucial, officials in New York and New Jersey said. “They should have that ability to help jump start the market,” Norman Birenbaum, New York’s director of cannabis programs, said about the 10 medical marijuana companies already licensed to operate in the state. But it should not come “at the expense of new entrants,” he said. Jeff Brown, who runs New Jersey’s cannabis programs, said the market has room — and a crucial need — for newcomers. The state’s current operators, he said, “are not by themselves going to be able to supply the personal-use market.” The issuance of two dozen new medicinal licenses has been delayed for more than a year by a court challenge, and some of the 12 current operators, Mr. Brown said, have been slow to take full advantage of their ability to expand. This has resulted in caps on the amount of cannabis that can be sold to patients in a single visit. Lines to enter stores, intensified by Covid-19 regulations, are common. “You can’t always find the strain that you may have found works best for your condition,” said Ken Wolski, a retired nurse who now leads the Coalition for Medical Marijuana, a nonprofit advocacy group. “And that’s a very frustrating thing for patients.” The supply-chain challenges have taken on new urgency in New Jersey, where the state’s medical marijuana dispensaries are expected to be the first locations where adults can legally buy cannabis without clearance from a doctor. First, however, dispensaries will need to prove that they have an ample supply for patients and facilities that can adequately accommodate both types of customers. The market in New Jersey has grown since 2019, when Gov. Philip D. Murphy, a Democrat, authorized a major expansion of a medical marijuana program that had languished under his predecessor, Chris Christie, a Republican. The number of dispensaries has tripled. There are now 500,000 plants being grown throughout the state, up from 50,000 in 2018, Mr. Brown said. In March, 20,000 pounds of cannabis products were on hand in New Jersey, up from 8,000 pounds the previous March, he said. Still, the price of flower in New Jersey hovers between $350 and $450 an ounce before discounts. In California, the average price of an ounce of premium marijuana was about $260, according to priceofweed.com, a frequently cited price directory. “Popular products run out and prices are still higher than we’d like to see them,” Mr. Brown said. “The key to all that is more competition.” Last month, Curaleaf, which operates a dispensary and two cultivation facilities in New Jersey, eliminated its half-ounce limit on sales of flower after a strong yield at its new indoor-grow facility in Winslow, said Patrik Jonsson, the company’s regional president responsible for seven Northeast states. Workers at a similarly large cultivation facility in Boonton, N.J., operated by TerrAscend, put hundreds of plants into bundles of coconut coir in early 2021 to begin a four-month growing and drying process. Tiered platforms are now filled with rows of pale green and purple-hued plants. TerrAscend’s new dispensary, in Maplewood, N.J., drew a line of customers within hours of opening earlier this month. Stuart Zakim, one of the first people in line, talked to a cashier — the “budtender” — about alternatives to the product he originally requested but was told was not in stock. “You’re not waiting in the dark for your dealer anymore,” said Mr. Zakim, a longtime medical marijuana patient. “You’re walking into a beautiful facility.” “The supply issue,” he added, “is really the biggest issue.” Source link Orbem News #Legal #pot #Short #Supply

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culturalgutter · 7 years ago

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We really should have had a mystery series featuring a sensible lesbian couple by now. Something like two Miss Marples sharing a sensible home and sensibly solving extremely–some might even say overly–complicated murders together. One wakes the other up when she turns on the nightstand lamp to do a crossword puzzle, her favorite occupation when she is trying to crack a case. It helps her think. There should have been something based on a series of books written in the 1920s and 1930s, just after the War–either one. It should have been written by female author with three names and set in a quaint village outside London, the kind of village with many corpses in the shrubbery. Or maybe set in the city, with someone like Miss Fisher, but including the women she has had affairs with. Her dressing table or mantle featuring suggestive photos of the detective on holiday in Malta or visiting Paris with Josephine Baker, Marlene Dietrich, Anna May Wong, Djuna Barnes and even, possibly, Garbo herself. Our detective’s tux would be divinely tailored.

Yes, we could have them now, a retro 1930s correcting the oversights of the past. But we should have already had these drawing room mysteries long ago. They should have played on Masterpiece Theater, A&E and the various BBCs. They should be so prevalent that there are Sesame Street parodies teaching children how to count or the letter “L” or the word “sensible.” Old mystery and film fans should patronizingly explain to us that Zasu Pitts or Theresa Harris, Margaret Rutherford or Maude Eburne, in fact, performed in the first film versions of these films back in the day. “The earliest performance of this character dates back to Sarah Bernhard,” a random pedant would interject*.

The realized this terrible loss in the very same moment I saw it almost presented to me in Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate (1971) and its spin-off series, The Snoop Sisters. The Snoop Sisters ran as part of NBC’s Mystery Movie from 1972 to 1974. Though it stars two sisters, aunts to a police officer, I think it will get hard to read them as anything but a married couple in the future. I discovered The Snoop Sisters while watching old, made-for-tv mysteries and thrillers with the Gutter’s own Beth Watkins. We watched one where Barbara Stanwyck’s house is probably possessed and another where someone is trying to drive her mad. One where a theater troop re-enacts a murder to get a confession. One where Shelley Winters’ passion for Debbie Reynolds gets the best of her, demonstrating that there is something very much the matter with Helen. Another called, A Very Missing Person (1972) in which Eve Arden plays Hildegard Withers, a character who was variously played by ZaSu Pitts, Edna May Oliver and Helen Broderick in a series of 1930s films based on the novels of Stuart Palmer**. Ms. Withers is an ex-schoolteacher with an intriguing taste in hats and another good candidate for sensible lesbian detective. And we watched Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate. Helen Hayes, Mildred Natwick, Myrna Loy and Sylvia Sydney. They are retired women who occupy their time with luncheons, amazing outfits and creating the profile of a much younger woman for a computer dating service. Unfortunately for them, their profile attract a serial killer. Unfortunately for him, these ladies have moxie. Watching the movie, I realized that I would love to see these women solve a mystery every week. Apparently someone at NBC felt the same, because while the movie was not picked up as a series, it is somewhat reprised The Snoop Sisters, with Mildred Natwick taking on Myrna Loy’s role as Helen Hayes’ sister. It is the snazziest Mildred Natwick has ever been in a film, as she plays the fashionable Gwendolyn Snoop-Nicholson, “G.” for short. It is one of the only times I can think of that Mildred Natwick has outdressed nearly everyone else on the screen. Helen Hayes plays mystery novelist, Ernesta Snoop. And now both are instigators.

The Snoop Sisters has the things people like in 1970s made-for-tv mysteries—women in their 60s and 70s, magicians, Roddy McDowell, switcheroos and twists. The Snoops solve mysteries, scoop the police—led by their own nephew Lt. Steven Ostrowski—and charmingly prove what everyone thinks is happening is not what’s happening at all. Except, that yes, Alice Cooper is happening, and so is a fist fight between Vincent Price and Roddy McDowell. Also, classic film star Joan Blondell is a medium, Bernie Casey wears pants no one should be able to successfully look handsome in and Steve Allen hosts Ernesta Snoop on his television program. There are so many outfits—fantastically printed caftans and ties; wide lapels; loudly patterned suits; sweaters with ring pulls. And there is a lot of decor—including Gloria Hendry’s amazing octagonal waterbed.

Sadly, there were only five episodes produced, but fortunately they have been collected in a dvd set.In “The Female Instinct,” the Snoops solve the murder of an old Hollywood icon Norma Treet (Paulette Goddard) while Barney tries and fails to keep them out of trouble. There is a sweet screening of one of Goddard’s films, The Ghost Breakers (1940), presented as one of Treet’s. Their nephew***, police Lt. Steven Ostrowski (Lawrence Pressman) as their nephew, Lt. Ostrowski sets Barney, a retired cop played by Art Carney, to keep the ladies out of trouble. But no one, not even Art Carney—an Art Carney who does a stunt—can stop the Snoops from doing what they want to do. And they want to write mysteries, solve mysteries, meet amazing people, and disguise themselves as anything from “stuffed animal fluffers” to exterminators and a bowling team.

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And they wear amazing outfits. G.’s wardrobe is very much from the 1970s, including a beautiful coat I covet. Ernesta’s much more turn of the Twentieth Century. I will also note that Ernesta is butch, but hers is a butchness leaning towards Gertrude Stein but with a fondness for ridiculously feathered hats. It’s from a when wearing a certain cut of jacket was more meaningful in gender coding than wearing a skirt. In this case, most of Ernesta’s skirt suits are “mannish” in the parlance of the thirties and forties. And I am pretty sure she is straight up wearing men’s or boy’s gray striped flannel pajamas.

My favorite part is the peek into Ernesta’s creative process as she works on a book while G. takes dictation.

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We also get another glimpse of their home life as Ernesta works on her embroidery in bed and Mildred asks to borrow her liniment, after a close call with a potential assassin required that they both run.

By the second episode, “Corpse and Robbers,” there have been some changes. Now Bert Convy plays Steven. And rather than a retired cop, Barney is now a paroled convict doing the lieutenant a favor by watching his aunts. Played by Lou Antonio, Barney is also twenty or thirty years younger than the Snoops and too hobbled by his respect for their ladyness to come close to contending with them. In the episode, Ernesta tries to discover what happened to her dear old friend, and toy-making genius, Franklin Birdwell (Liam Dunn). Ernesta also hopes to prove that she is not imagining that he has called her. The Snoops disguise themselves as “stuffed animal fluffers” to infiltrate a toy factory that specializes in toy dogs that bark and wag their tails, Winnie the Pooh stuffies, and giant devil masks. I assume the factor is one of the Joker’s old hideouts and, in its off hours, the site of many a giallo murder.**** Ernesta and G. also go jogging in knit outfits.

Their activewear.

In “Death Is A Free Throw,” we discover many interesting things, such as that G. is a basketball fan and that their Lincoln limosine’s license plate just happens to be 473 FEM. Oh, and as Ernesta and G. defend a man who has come flying out of the green room for the Steve Allen show, “We warn you, Mr. Bates, we know kung fu.”

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Fortunately, fisticuffs prove unnecessary and the Snoops quickly befriend basketball great, Willie Bates (Bernie Casey). Willie wears some amazing outfits that only Bernie Casey could make it seem like a good idea for anyone else to wear. I mean, some other people could look handsome in them, but, seriously, don’t think you could because he could. Meanwhile, everyone has stomach trouble and G. becomes a suspect.

“The Devil Made Me Do It!” might contain the most wonders per hour. The Snoops find themselves the target of a Satanic coven that would very much like its ancient relic back, thank you. Classic film bombshell Joan Blondell appears as a medium, Madame Mimi. And Alice Cooper not only appears as a witch, but sings a song to a very interesting audience at the Frou Frou Club.

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But my favorite character is the Honorable Morlock (Cyril Ritchard), the proprietor of an occult shop who specializes in providing New York’s covens with human skulls, in any size and painted in any color you might like. He assures us that Henry Ford had the right idea in only offering one model of car in one color. He blames the government for the rapacious frog bone suppliers. He wears a wig, red eye shadow and stunning ritual magick robes. (The Honorable Morlock definitely spells magic with a K and probably deplores the confusion of stage magic with the Art). And he speaks in rhyming couplets whenever he can. When Barney asks how the Honorable Morlock knows he has a bad back, he declaims: “Lucifer, give me strength! Do you think you’re dealing with kids? Because I’m a pro—that’s how I know!”

He’s a pro!

And if The Snoop Sisters had to go out, at least it went out with an episode featuring both Roddy McDowell and Vincent Price. The episode begins gloriously with Ernesta and G. cosplaying that most romantic of classic horror couples, Frankenstein and the Bride****. Ernest is the creature, of course. And Mildred Natwick makes a remarkably elegant Bride. They are dressed up to attend the Michael Bastion Film Festival, a revival of classic horror films. We see among the attendees people dressed as vampires, a werewolf, the Metaluna Mutant and a mummy. That’s right, G. is a horror fan. She’s seen all of Bastion’s films and is excited to meet Bastion himself. Bastion and his wife arrive in an old hearse. His wife leaves from the passenger side. Muscle men in silver masks pull a coffin out of the hearse, lean it up and open it to reveal Bastion to his adoring fans*****. There is a fun movie-within-a-tv-movie starring Bastion, and, of course, a murder during the screening. Bastion is the accused and the Snoops investigate. Like Price himself, Bastion is a noted gourmet cook and G. distracts Bastion by taking him up on an offer of a gourmet luncheon. There is a very fine drunken-crepe making scene. And Ernesta wears an indescribable golfing outfit. I do not think I am spoiling anything but informing you that there is also a fistfight between Roddy McDowell and Vincent Price. This is obviously an enticement.

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While I willingly admit that the Snoop sisters are, in fact, sisters, no matter how queer coded the relationship and the show seems, The Snoop Sisters does satisfy some of my desire for weird old tv mysteries starring a lesbian couple. Sure we could do something retro now and that would be fun, but it isn’t the same. And it’s a reminder of how much we could have had without prejudices limiting art.

*One must take the good with the bad if one is truly sensible.

**A Very Missing Person also stars Julie Newmar and Pat Morita. Morita plays a hippie, which is so, so worthwhile.

***I will note the long tradition of couples who are coded gay having nieces and nephews. I also suppose that if Steven were Gwendolyn’s son, she would not be considered so free to gallivant around with Ernesta because she would be a Bad Mother somehow to the series perceived audience. Even if Steven’s all grown-up and a police lieutenant now.

***I have been thinking about gialli a lot while watching this made-for-tv mysteries with Beth.

****For my thoughts on calling the creature, “Frankenstein,” and on the poor Bride, please see “The Specter of Frankenstein.”

*****Bastion later arranges to meet someone in the men’s bathroom, but I am resisting the temptation to say anything about that.

Two other queer and queer-ish, made-for-tv movies: The Judge and Jake Wyler starring Bette Davis and Doub McLure; and, What’s The Matter With Helen? starring Debbie Reynolds and Shelley Winters.

~~~

If you need her, Carol Borden will be consulting with the Honorable Morlock.

Snooping Ladies Sensibly Solving Mysteries We really should have had a mystery series featuring a sensible lesbian couple by now. Something like two Miss Marples sharing a sensible home and sensibly solving extremely--some might even say…

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Episode 5: Marvel and MCU Easter Eggs

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This article contains The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 5 spoilers, and possibly more for future episodes and the wider MCU.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 5, “Truth,” is another somewhat transitional episode for the series. Big action at the beginning, some heartbreaking reveals in the middle, and then plenty of bonding and moving pieces around for the finale for the rest of the episode. Oh yeah, and one absolutely awesome use of The Meters’ “Hey Pocky A-Way.”

Anyway, let’s dig into the MCU and Marvel Comics references we’ve found so far. And remember, if you spot anything we missed, let us know in the comments!

“Truth”

The episode title is taken from Truth: Red, White, and Black, the 2003 miniseries that introduced the concept of Isaiah Bradley and told his tragic story. It references those events extensively, too…

Isaiah Bradley

Much of what Isaiah recounts to Sam during their heart-to-heart is very similar to the events of Truth: Red, White, and Black. Here, we assume that the events described took place approximately during the Korean War rather than World War II, but the effect is the same, and equally horrific. Things ended differently and perhaps even more tragically for Isaiah in the comics, where a combination of the serum and years of experimentation left him barely functional.

Isaiah makes mention of the “Red Tails”, which was the nickname for Tuskegee Airmen, a group of primarily Black fighter pilots in World War II. Despite fighting for the U.S. military, they were subject to racism within the army and in civilian life.

Presumably, the woman writing him letters while he was imprisoned is Faith Shabazz, who was his wife in the comics and similarly never gave up on him. However, there she survived to see his release, while in the MCU, she didn’t.

Sam’s visits to Isaiah stand in stark contrast to how this played out in the comics, when it was Steve who learned about Isaiah and came to honor him, but by then Isaiah’s mind was gone.

John Walker

When fighting Walker, Falcon and Bucky nearly snapped his arm right off in order to remove the shield. Understandably, Walker spent much of the episode with his arm in a sling. In the comics, Walker had a more dire arm injury, losing both an arm and a leg in a fight against Nuke (who we saw a version of on Jessica Jones). During this time, Walker refused any cybernetic replacements and instead resigned himself to a wheelchair. Not that it hindered him, as he was still able to kick ass as the warden of the Raft.

The fight with John taking on Sam and Bucky simultaneously feels like another inversion from Captain America: Civil War, where Steve and Bucky fight Iron Man. The end of it, with Sam reluctantly picking up the bloodstained shield, is one of the most powerful images in MCU history.

In the comics, Walker wasn’t permanently stripped of his Captain America role after killing (which he did in gruesome fashion, to the tune of several members of the extremist Watchdogs group after they murdered his parents). In fact the government even tried to help cover it up for a while, and temporarily put a leash on him. They did formally take the title from him a little later, but it was specifically to give it back to Steve Rogers, who initially refused before Walker himself prevailed upon Cap to take up the shield again. In any case, Walker suffers more consequences here than most authority figures do when they find themselves in the public eye for doing the wrong thing…

Holy moley, Wyatt Russell sure sounds EXACTLY like his dad Kurt during that Court-Martial scene. In particular, his line about “not like I’m gonna disappear” is a nice acknowledgment that John Walker is probably going to have a future in the MCU as U.S. Agent.

Speaking of which…

Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Contessa Valentine Allegra de Fontaine

Your eyes do not deceive you, that is the brilliant Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Seinfeld, Veep) as Jim Steranko creation Contessa Valentine Allegra de Fontaine. She sure does appear to be doing some recruitment here, and with word that she’s also appearing in Black Widow, we get the feeling this means she’s putting together a team of her own. Dark Avengers and/or Thunderbolts, here we come! We wrote more about that intriguing possibility here.

Interestingly enough, the “legal gray area” she refers to about Captain America’s shield not belonging to the government is in fact a detail from the pages of Marvel Comics. It’s one of the things that led to Steve having to give up the title of Captain America (along with the shield) and that opened the door for John Walker to take over. Although the argument the government used at the time was that the costume and shield had been designed by employees of the federal government, and thus those belonged to them, and that technically Steve had never been discharged from the Army. Presumably, the “legal grey area” here may have something to do with Steve’s disappearance and resurrection and/or how the government may have cut ties with former organizations like the SSR (which later became SHIELD) after it was revealed they had been infiltrated by HYDRA. Or something like that.

Zemo

After a quick escape from the Dora Milaje, Zemo visits the Sokovian memorial he mentioned to Sam and Bucky in episode 4. It seems he knew that he wouldn’t get far, and had accepted he’d be back behind bars imminently. The fact that we’re disappointed to see him exit says a lot about Daniel Bruhl’s acting throughout the series, though we doubt we’ve seen the last of the charismatic character.

Zemo’s philosophical conversation with Sam about his scorched earth policy on supersoldiers in episode 4 pays off in our main duo’s favor in episode 5 when Zemo reveals he no longer has any interest in killing Bucky. Bucky then proves to Zemo that he has become much more than the Winter Soldier, but not before giving him a scare that quickly becomes relief, then disappointment when Bucky reveals there are no bullets in his gun. The Raft better have some good therapists, or this man’s gonna change up his reading material from Machiavelli to Zapffe. [Please stop inserting these philosophy references into our Easter eggs – Ed] [No <3 – Kirsten]

Sam Wilson

We’re explicitly told that Steve revealed his retirement plans to Bucky before he went back in time to replace the Infinity Stones in Avengers: Endgame. Bucky apologizes, saying that neither he or Steve fully thought through the ramifications of passing on the shield to Sam.

It looks like Bucky had the Wakandans make Sam a custom Captain America suit. If you haven’t seen it yet (the toys have already been on the shelves), all we’re gonna say is that it’s genuinely one of the coolest superhero costume designs of the modern era. You can see it here if you want, we just don’t want to spoil it for those who are really waiting. Sam’s gonna look great in the red, white, and blue.

Torres is the New Falcon?

Sam tells Torres to keep his old, broken wings. It seems inevitable that Torres will fix ‘em up, as in the pages of Marvel Comics he becomes the new Falcon.

Batroc

Looks like we’re gonna get a rematch with Batroc (ze leaper!!!) in the final episode of the series. Sam also took on Batroc in one of his first adventures as Captain America, in the pages of All-New Captain America by Rick Remender and Stuart Immonen. More Batroc is good for everyone, but more relevant to that series and what’s coming next.

Is Sharon Carter the Power Broker?

So Sharon got Batroc out of jail and is helping to connect him with the Flag-Smashers…for some reason. So either she’s the Power Broker (as everyone has suspected) or this is a fakeout and she’s just doing this to manipulate Sam into picking up the shield and becoming Captain America. Maybe she’s doing that with Steve’s blessing?

Also, the painting that we see when we first flash to Sharon’s lair is the painting that Bucky smashes through in the flashback in E1, I think.

The GRC

The GRC is tasked with resettling 20 million…MILLION refugees worldwide. Would anyone care to guess how many refugees were resettled worldwide in the entire world at the all-time peak in 2016? 189,000.

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grigori77 · 6 years ago

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My Top Ten Favourite Horror Movies

10. THE MIST – in 2007, writer/director Frank Darabont once again proved he does his best work when adapting master of literary horror Stephen King (after The Green Mile and solid gold masterpiece The Shawshank Redemption), this time turning to pure horror with one of the author’s lesser-known early novellas. The result is another tour-de-force cinematic blueprint, a taut, harrowing tale of humanity pushed far beyond the brink by unexplained supernatural events and the monstrous lengths normal people will go to to stay alive, as a small-town New England supermarket is cut off from the outside world by a mysterious, monster-filled mist. The Expanse’s Thomas Jane proves a complex hero, beefy yet vulnerable as local artist David Drayton, leading a high-calibre cast of Stephen King-movie/TV regulars – Jeffrey DeMunn (The Green Mile), Andre Braugher (Salem’s Lot), William Sadler (The Shawshank Redemption) and Frances Sternhagen (Misery) – and “newcomers” – Laurie Holden (who must have really impressed Darabont, since he subsequently cast her alongside DeMunn in The Walking Dead), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’s Toby Jones (as one of the most unorthodox action heroes in cinematic history) and Miller’s Crossing’s Marcia Gay Harden, pretty much stealing the film as deeply unhinged Bible-basher Mrs Carmody, who goes from unsavoury town nut to fervent cult leader as the situation grows increasingly desperate. Darabont once again proves what an exceptional screen storyteller he can be, effortlessly weaving an atmosphere of mounting dread and knife-edge tension, as well as delivering some nightmarish set-pieces featuring magnificent Lovecraft-inspired beasties designed by The Walking Dead’s creature effects master Greg Nicotero. When cinematic horror was becoming increasingly saturated with “gorno” Saw-derivatives, this was a welcome return to old-fashioned monster movie thrills (Darabont himself was heavily inspired by the monochrome scary movies of his childhood, and longed to make the film in black-and-white – indeed, this is definitely worth watching at least once in the “director’s cut” B&W version he included on the special edition DVD release), and not only proved one of the best examples of King on screen to date, but also one of THE key horror movies of the “Noughties”. Not least thanks to that ending, one of the greatest sucker punch twists of all time – reputedly King was most envious of Darabont on seeing it for the first time, wishing he’d thought it up himself. Coming from the King of Horror, that’s high praise indeed.

9. 30 DAYS OF NIGHT – when Steve Niles, the undisputable master of post-modern horror comics, originally came up with the concept for his definitive work, it was intended for the big screen, but he ultimately wound up committing it to print because he just couldn’t get anyone to produce it. Interesting, then, that the comic’s runaway success led to its optioning by Sam Raimi and his production company Ghost House Pictures, Niles adapting the first volume alongside Stuart Beattie and Brian Nelson, with Hard Candy director David Slade at the helm. Of course, the concept was always a killer – for one month every year, the sun never rises over the Alaskan town of Barrow, a fact that a coven of hungry vampires have decided to exploit in a midwinter free-for-all feeding frenzy. Josh Hartnett manfully crumbles in what remains his best role as town sheriff Eben Olemaun, ably supported by Melissa George as his estranged fire-marshal wife Stella, Memento/Batman Begins’ Mark Boone Junior as hard-as-nails town loner Bo, Ben Foster (one of my very favourite actors) as a mysterious drifter with a dark agenda, and Danny Huston, who created one of the best ever screen vampires with nihilistic pack leader Marlow. It’s ironic that David Slade should have followed this with Twilight film Eclipse (although he was an inspired choice – after all, it’s the one that DOESN’T suck) – this is about as far removed from the toothless, blood-lite young adult series as you can get, an unrelenting, gore-drenched exercise in relentless carnage and ice-cold terror. These vamps wouldn’t be caught (ahem) dead sparkling – they’re man-shaped mako sharks, all dead black eyes and jagged teeth, gleefully revelling in slaughter and playing sadistic games of cat and mouse with the isolated townsfolk. This is definitely not a movie for the faint of heart, and it takes itself deadly seriously right through the unapologetically bleak ending, but it is nonetheless an endlessly rewarding thrill ride for the faithful, paying respect to all the great conventions of the genre while simultaneously ripping them to shreds. Brutal, bloody and brilliant, this is BAR NONE the best vampire movie of the post-Interview age, and very nearly my all-time favourite EVER ...

8. POLTERGEIST – 1982 saw the release of TWO of my all-time fave horror movies, and the lesser (but no less awesome) of the two is what I personally consider to be THE DEFINITIVE haunted house movie. Tobe Hooper, director of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, pretty much reinvented ghosts on the big screen with this thrilling tale of a small-town-American family, the Freelings, whose seemingly perfect home comes under the influence of a powerful supernatural force. At first the effects are harmless – moving furniture and the like – until a night-time thunderstorm signals a terrifying escalation and younger daughter Carol-Anne (Heather O’Rourke) is sucked through a portal into the spirit world. Long before he was the dad in The Incredibles, Craig T. Nelson had already become a pretty definitive cuddly American screen father as Steven Freeling, while JoBeth Williams is a lioness defending her cubs as mother Diane; then-newcomer Heather O’Rourke, meanwhile, is a naturalistic revelation as Carol-Anne, her innocent delivery of “They’re here!” becoming a genuine geek phenomenon all on its own, but the film’s real runaway performance comes from Zelda Rubinstein as diminutive Southern belle psychic medium Tangina Barrons, whose every screen moment is a quirky joy. As you’d expect, Hooper’s scares are flawlessly executed, the atmospheric tension ratcheted with consummate skill, even if the director’s characteristic gore is kept to a PG-13-friendly minimum ... then again, this was a summer offering from Back to the Future producers Frank Marshall and Steven Spielberg himself, who was also the main screenwriter. Indeed, his influence is keenly felt throughout – the suburban world the Freelings inhabit is very much in keeping with Spielberg classics like Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. – and there have been consistent rumours that he was all but the de-facto director on set. The film (along with its sequels) has also gained a reputation for being cursed, with no less than FOUR cast members dying not long after (most notably Dominique Dunne, who played elder Freeling daughter Dana, who was murdered by her boyfriend just five months after the film’s release). Whatever the truth behind these rumours, there’s no denying this is a cracking film – taut, atmospheric and consistently terrifying while also displaying a playful, quirky sense of humour and lots of heart, it remains one of the most rewarding and entertaining screen ghost stories around.

7. BUBBA HO-TEP – Bruce Campbell is Elvis Presley! He really is! Although maybe he isn’t ... all right, TECHNICALLY he’s Sebastian Haff, a washed-up, long-retired Elvis impersonator languishing in a retirement home who claims he really IS the King (apparently he swapped places with the REAL Haff because he’d grown tired of fame). Meanwhile one of his fellow residents is an old black man who claims he’s the real JFK, maintaining that President Lyndon Johnson had him dyed black and secreted in anonymity with a bag of sand sewn into the gap in his brain ... confused yet? Well hold on, cuz there’s more – the retirement home in question has been invaded by the malevolent spirit of a cursed soul-sucking mummy, and only these two fallen heroes can save the day ... yup, writer/director Don (Phantasm and John Dies At the End) Coscarelli’s initially criminally overlooked but deservedly seriously cult adaptation of Joe R. Lansdale’s novel is as typically oddball as the rest of his filmography. It’s also his most moving and spiritual work to date – behind all the supernatural weirdness and quirky, offbeat humour this is a deeply-affecting meditation on the pains of growing old and losing your place in the world. Bruce Campbell’s Elvis/Haff is a tragic hero, regretting his current lot and pining for former glories, but he still has the odd little twinkle of his former charm and bravado (particularly during his interactions with his nurse, played with spiky gutsiness by Ella Joyce), while screen legend Ossie Davis is stately and charismatic as “the former President Kennedy”, even when he sounds REALLY crazy. Meanwhile the creature, “Bubba Ho-Tep” himself (Bob Ivy), is a fantastically weird creation, Coscarelli’s skilful use of atmospherics elevating him far above the “guy-in-a-suit” effects – he’s mean, cranky, and just as strong a character as his flesh-and-blood counterparts. Coscarelli really let rip on this one – it’s chock-full of his characteristic leftfield comic-scariness (Elvis/Haff’s early encounter with one of the mummy’s scarab familiars is a particular zany gem), visually inventive and frequently laugh-out-loud hilarious, but in the end plays out on such a heartfelt, genuinely powerful and moving denouement that you can’t help getting a lump in your throat, even while it is one of those movies that leaves you with a big dumb goofy grin on your face. It’d be pretty sweet if Coscarelli and his mate Paul Giamatti ever get their long-gestating “prequel” Bubba Nosferatu: Curse of the She-Vampires off the ground, but this is one that you can’t help loving all on its own. See this if you’re a Coscarelli fan – it’s his best work to date – see this if you love quirky, unusual and original horror ... hell, see this if you love MOVIES. This is a true GEM, not to be missed.

6. DOG SOLDIERS – my favourite werewolf movie is also easily one of the most offbeat – think The Howling meets Assault On Precinct 13 and you’re pretty close to the mark. Before visionary British horror director Neil Marshall had his big break with masterpiece The Descent, he made an impressive cult splash with his feature debut, a fiendish comedy horror in which a six-man British Army unit on training manoeuvres in the wilds of Scotland stumbles upon a pack of hungry werewolves and are forced to take shelter in an isolated cottage. With their ammo dwindling and their weapons largely ineffective against the monsters (not a silver bullet between them, of course), it doesn’t look likely that ANY of will survive the night ... setting the humour dial for JET BLACK, Marshall keeps the atmosphere tense and the substantial gore flying (I was amazed when I saw this in the cinema that it was only a 15 – even just ten years earlier stuff like this was GUARANTEED a solid 18 certificate), while the squaddies are a likeably foul-mouthed bunch with a winning, sometimes enjoyably geeky line in spiky banter (Marshall makes frequent references to everything from Star Trek and The Evil Dead to The Matrix and, in one of my favourite nods, Zulu). Trainspotting’s Kevin McKidd is brawny but enjoyably self-deprecating as nominal hero Cooper, Sean (son of Doctor Who Jon) Pertwee gives great earthy-shoutiness as Sgt. Wells, Darren Morfitt consistently steals the film as mouthy little bugger “Spoon” (short for Witherspoon), and Game Of Thrones star Liam Cunningham injects a strong dose of dark and dangerous as Captain Ryan, the special forces operative with a sinister plan, while Emma Cleasby is far from just a token female as zoologist Megan, who came to Scotland in search of the legend and seems to have found a whole lot more than she bargained for – she’s smart, tough and flat-out refuses to be a love interest, and definitely proved a good trial run for Marshall’s all-female cast in The Descent. It’s impressively paced – after an initial character-driven set-up so we can get to know the lads (including a fun little scare-on-top-of-a-laugh moment), the action kicks in fast and rarely lets up for the rest of the film’s tightly-packed 105 minute running time. The set pieces are thrilling and frequently fun (particularly Spoon’s ballsy little distraction technique), and the werewolves are impressively brought to life through physical animatronics created by Image FX (the Hellraiser effects team!) and a talented troupe of stilt-walking stunt performers – no cheesy CGI here! Altogether it marked a blinding debut for a singular, visionary sci-fi/horror talent who’s still making his presence felt – Doomsday was a delightfully old-school slice of super violent sci-fi in the John Carpenter vein, while tight, gruesome little Roman-era suspense thriller Centurion proved that a historical epic doesn’t have to be 2+ hours long with a big budget to impress, and Marshall continues to garner real acclaim through his extensive TV work on the likes of Game of Thrones. That said, I can’t wait for him to return to the big screen, preferably with more dark, edgy, blood-soaked fun like this ...

5. TREMORS – I’ve always had something of a bias towards horror movies that are also comedies, or at least that have a strong sense of humour throughout, and when it comes to funny horror movies, this brilliant throwback to cheesy 1950s monster movies is KING, baby! While it snuck in under the radar on its 1990 release, director Ron Underwood’s sleeper universally wowed critics, word of mouth helping it to become an impressive cult smash once it hit home video ... which meant I saw it at JUST the right time, the film quickly becoming a firm fixture in my favourites lists and a major milestone in my own geek development. The premise is simplicity itself – giant underground worms with tentacles in their mouths terrorise an isolated desert community – but underneath the goofy concept is a surprisingly sophisticated movie that continues to influence filmmakers today. Kevin Bacon was in a bit of a career slump at the time (Footloose had been SO LONG before), but this gave him both the shot in the arm he needed and one of his most memorable roles ever – odd-jobbing slacker Val McKee, who has to get off his arse and think big to beat the beasties; Fred Ward is the perfect foil as Val’s crotchety “business” partner Earl Basset, while Finn Carter is thoroughly lovable as scientist Rhonda LeBeck, a no-nonsense smart girl who can go toe-to-toe with the boys (and manages to lose her pants WITHOUT losing her credibility), but the film is consistently stolen by Family Ties star Michael Gross as tightly wound survivalist Burt Gummer – this might be Bacon’s movie, but Gross is the real star, deservedly becoming the driving force of the film’s various sequels AND the spinoff TV series. The film opens with a killer of a funny line, starting as it means to go on – frequently hilarious and smart as a whip, consistently defying character and genre tropes and wrong-footing the viewer almost a decade before Joss Whedon started doing the same with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, all the while balancing the belly laughs with some genuinely scary set pieces. The worms themselves (or “Graboids”, if you want to get specific) are spectacular creations, some of the most original movie monsters out there, and they still stand up well today, just like the rest of the film. A cornerstone of the genre that wins over new fans with each generation, this is one of those films that deserves to be remembered for a very long time, and looks set to do just that.

4. EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN – nobody does screen chaos like Sam Raimi, particularly when it comes to his horror offerings – still his first and purest love. His original debut feature The Evil Dead is rightly considered the DEFINITIVE indie horror, and to this day remains the standard blueprint for all young, aspiring directors starting out in the genre ... it’s also a work of pure, unadulterated MADNESS once it gets going. Raimi upped the ante with this part-remake, part-sequel, the increased budget and proper studio resources meaning he could REALLY let his imagination run riot, and the results are a cavalcade of tongue-clean-THROUGH-cheek, jet black comedic insanity that STILL has yet to be equalled. Bruce Campbell returns as unlikely “hero” Ash Williams, thoroughly out of his depth and failing miserably to hold it together as the ancient tome of evil itself, the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis (“Book of the Dead”), unleashes a horde of undead demons on the isolated forest cabin he’s brought his girlfriend to. Wildly expanding on the supernatural back-story of his original, Raimi and co-writer Scott Spiegel also ramped up the humour, playing the horror on the blackest edge they can, albeit cut with a hefty dose of Tex Avery – Ash’s battle with his own possessed, eventually severed hand is like some demented skit out of The Three Stooges, while the absolute comedic highlight is the ridiculously over-the-top “laughing room” sequence, in which the seemingly inanimate objects in the cabin suddenly come to life and begin to taunt Ash; add in the great wealth of re-view-friendly visual in-jokes scattered throughout and this remains Raimi’s FUNNIEST film to date. Campbell clearly had a ball, throwing himself into the action with everything he had, and he’s ably supported by a meaty (ahem) cast that includes a very pre-Slither Dan Hicks as a seriously scuzzy redneck and Raimi’s own brother Ted, virtually unrecognisable as one of the maniacal Deadites (“I’ll swallow your soul!”). The creature effects from the great Greg Nicotero still stand up spectacularly well today (they remain some of his very best work), from hideous gurning beasts to insane fountains of blood, while Raimi’s direction is pitch-perfect, playing the humour beautifully while still (sometimes simultaneously) building up a near-unbearable atmosphere of unholy dread, and the climax is ingenious, beautifully setting things up for the enjoyably madcap trilogy-closer Army of Darkness: the Medievil Dead. Raimi has finally brought the trilogy the follow-up fans had been waiting decades for with the fantastically bonkers Ash Vs. the Evil Dead series, but this delirious masterpiece remains the franchise’s zenith. Groovy ...

3. JAWS – it may be the oldest film on this list (released in 1975, it’s THREE YEARS OLDER than I am!), but Steven Spielberg’s breakthrough feature has aged incredibly well. Indeed, it almost single-handedly changed the face of big budget cinema, establishing the idea of tent-pole summer blockbusters and blanket-bombardment advertising campaigns (in particularly it was one of the first to make heavy use of television to drum up excitement and interest), ultimately taking over $400,000,000 on its original release (the equivalent of multi-billion big earners like Avatar today) and paving the way for Star Wars two years later. Not to mention the film’s famous negative effect on beach-going for years after ... but under all that there’s a magnificent, masterfully-crafted film, still (rightly) considered one of the director’s best. The plot may be ridiculously simple – New England beach-community Amity Island is terrorised by a man-eating Great White shark – but there’s a stealthily subversive story here, taking old genre conventions and twisting them in new, unexpected directions (which would, ironically, form a template for a great many later horror movies); while the first hour is a slow-burn thriller, the second is more like a light-hearted nautical action adventure with added scares. The French Connection’s Roy Scheider virtually CREATED the everyman-out-of-his-depth hero with his portrayal of Amity police chief Martin Brody, a former New York cop who’s terrified of the water, Richard Dreyfuss is lovable comedic gold as rich kid marine biologist Matt Hooper, Lorraine Gary did a lot with very little as Brody’s wife Ellen, and Robert Shaw effortlessly steals the film as shark hunter Quint, a ferocious, scenery-chewing force of nature in the mould of Moby Dick’s Captain Ahab. The film is immensely rich in great character moments, from Hooper’s rib-tickling arrival on the island and the dialogue-free moment Brody shares with his younger son Sean, to the undeniable high point of the film, where a humorous comparison of scars (which has itself become a popular homage-magnet in film and TV) leads to Quint chilling account of his wartime experience onboard the U.S.S. Indianapolis (the ship transporting the Hiroshima atomic bomb which was torpedoed in the Pacific, leading to over a thousand stranded sailors being eaten alive by sharks); indeed, this is one of Spielberg’s most well-written films, sitcom writer Carl (The Odd Couple) Gottlieb’s polish of author Peter Benchley’s adaptation of his own original novel still zipping and zinging today, although some of the best dialogue was derived from the actors’ own on-set improvisations (most famously Scheider’s now-legendary “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”). It’s also one of his most well-directed, with near-hypnotic tricks in editing and bold, adventurous choices in atmosphere-building, often a result of the shoot’s infamous difficulties – the animatronic shark (affectionately named “Bruce” by the director, and “the Great White Turd” by the crew) created by Bob Mattley (the guy who did the giant squid in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) was impressive when it worked, but this was so rarely that the director had to devise several means of creating maximum tension WITHOUT showing the shark, which ultimately ADDS to the effectiveness of those scenes, particularly the “barrel-chasing” in the second half. None of these tricks, however, work better than the score from Spielberg’s most faithful collaborator, John Williams, based around a deceptively simple four-note melody that evolves into something spectacularly evocative, which has rightly become the film’s most iconic element. Humorous, intriguing, intense and still thoroughly terrifying when it wants to be, this is, bar-none, the finest man-versus-nature horror EVER MADE, and surely always will be.

2. NEAR DARK – I’m a fool for vampires (much like I’m a fool for redheads, but that’s a whole other conversation), so bloodsucker horror is one of my very favourite sub-genres. I’m also a big fan of Kathryn Bigelow – two of her most recent features, The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, both pinged VERY LOUDLY on my radar (the former is my favourite war movie of the current decade), while her collaboration with then husband James Cameron, Strange Days (he wrote, she directed), rates high on my list of criminally underrated screen gems. So what do you think happened when she made a vampire movie? The results SHOULD have become one of the most celebrated and legendary features in the genre ... except that it came out in October 1987, two months after the admittedly cool and fun but far more glossy and dumb The Lost Boys. Needless to say in the wake of that, Bigelow’s film got kind of lost in the back chatter, nearly flopping at the box office and all but vanishing into obscurity ... until its subsequent release on video (quite rightly) earned it an impressive cult following. Myself included, because this movie is RIGHT UP my dark and dangerous alley. Collaborating with The Hitcher’s screenwriter Eric Red, Bigelow crafted a (largely) deadly serious modern day supernatural “western”, in which cocky farm-boy Caleb Colton (Heroes’ Adrian Pasdar) hits on cute drifter Mae (Jenny Wright, probably best known for her supporting turn in Young Guns 2), only to get WAY more than he bargained for when her kiss leaves him with a crippling hunger and one serious tanning problem. Pasdar’s all-knowing youthful swagger disintegrates as he tumbles further down the vampiric rabbit hole, while Wright’s fragile beauty compliments her character’s deep, soulful melancholy – the pair make for a compelling, tragic romantic centre anchoring the horrors that unfold as Caleb begins to lose himself to his burgeoning nature; even so, the true dark and twisted soul of the film lies with Mae’s predatory nomad “family” – Lance Henriksen is the definitive “dark father” as nihilistic pack leader Jesse Hooker, while his Aliens co-star Jenette Goldstein is his perfect mate as punk rock femme fatale Diamondback, and Joshua John Miller excels as Homer, the bitter old man trapped in a child’s body ... meanwhile Bill Paxton consistently steals the film as mad dog Severen, chewing the scenery to splinters with gleeful, feral aplomb and stealing all the best lines. It’s a potent, heady ride, taking itself pretty seriously throughout but deriving a subtle, inky black sense of gallows humour from the situation, and the set-pieces are intense and thrilling (particularly the shootout in a roadside motel at dawn, where shafts of sunlight become as lethal as bullets). At times it’s also powerful, soulful and bleakly beautiful, Bigelow’s heavily stylised visuals brilliantly augmented by the spiky electronic score from Tangerine Dream. It also subverts the classic vampire conventions with great skill and originality, with nary a cross, coffin or even fang in sight. Like 30 Days of Night, this is the perfect antidote for anyone suffering from Twilight-overload – the monster can be quite interesting when he’s the hero, but he’s just so much more fun when he’s the bad guy ...

1. JOHN CARPENTER’S THE THING – while I’m sure many will think I’m mad for preferring this over Carpenter’s other seminal horror classic Halloween, this one’s much more my speed, a perfect exercise in sustained tension, paranoia and white-knuckle terror. Critically mauled and underperforming on its release (it was labelled by many as a sort of “anti-E.T.: the Extraterrestrial”, which came out two weeks earlier ... and interestingly this opened the same day as Blade Runner!), it nonetheless became a massive cult hit now rightly considered one of the true DEFINITIVE horror movies. Faithfully adapting John Campbell, Jr.’s novella Who Goes There? (certainly more so than Howard Hawks’ admittedly entertaining but ultimately very kitsch The Thing From Another World), it revolves around the all-male crew of U.S. research station 4, Outpost 31, in Antarctica, who come under threat from a body-snatching alien entity that can perfectly imitate its victims after investigating the mysterious destruction of a neighbouring Norwegian facility. Carpenter regular Kurt Russell (Escape From New York, Big Trouble In Little China) is at his gruff best as helicopter pilot R.J. MacReady, the taciturn blue-collar Joe called upon to play “hero”, Keith David (Pitch Black, Carpenter’s They Live) angrily flexes his acting and physical muscles as hot-tempered researcher Childs, Donald Moffat crumbles as ineffectual station commander Garry, and screen legend Wilford Brimley effortlessly makes the exposition compelling as tightly-wound biologist Blair. The freezing Antarctic atmosphere perfectly complements the razor-edged suspense, the idea that ANYONE could be the creature lending every scene a palpable sense of implied threat, while the science of the fiction is thankfully largely put on the back-burner in favour of the story and scares; meanwhile there’s a cheeky edge of jet black humour throughout, from the scuttling disembodied head to Garry’s explosive reaction to MacReady’s improvised humanity-test. Rob (The Howling, Robocop, Fight Club) Bottin’s fantastically nightmarish creature effects are a magnificent achievement, still looking as good today as they did back in 1982, while master composer Ennio Morricone’s subtle, atmospheric score is a triumph of creepy, insidious subliminal effect. For me, this film is the definition of fear – the idea that the threat could be literally ANYONE, that you could even become that yourself, be taken over completely, body and soul, is absolutely terrifying, and Carpenter executes this potential reality with surgical precision from the intriguing, icy start to the bleak, desolate ending. Perfect.

#quality horror #Awesome Movies #must see movies #the mist #30 days of night #poltergeist #bubba ho-tep #dog soldiers #tremors #evil dead 2 #jaws #near dark #john carpenter's the thing

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usgag · 4 years ago

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Why Ford’s Jim Hackett and other major CEOs are stepping down in 2020

Not even CEOs are safe from the wrath of 2020.

From Disney to Ford to Bleacher Report, heads are rolling at the top of America’s most recognizable companies. Whether from resignations, firings or retirements, the blood is flowing as companies from all industries experience a changing of the guard.

Here’s who lost their job in 2020:

Jim Hackett, Ford

Jim Farley will be replacing Jim Hackett as CEO of Ford in October.EPA

Ford on Tuesday announced that chief executive Jim Hackett would be retiring after three years at the helm of the automaker. Hackett, 65, took over at the 119-year-old company in May of 2017 and quickly pulled the company out of the sedan business in favor of SUVs and trucks.

But poor fourth-quarter financial performance in February made evident that his reign would be short, as did the botched launch of the Explorer SUV. Hackett will be replaced by Jim Farley on Oct. 1, who has been with the company for more than a decade and served as COO since February.

Bob Iger, Disney

Bob IgerFilmMagic

The CEO of the Mouse House has been synonymous with Disney over the last 15 years, but stepped down abruptly in February. Iger, 69, took on the title of executive chairman and will continue to help lead the company’s creative endeavors until his contract runs out at the end of 2021.

Iger helped turn Disney into the all-powerful media titan that it is today, leading its acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars.

His departure caught analysts and investors off guard, but Iger at the time said that the timing was “actually quite simple.”

“What I want to accomplish before I leave the company in ’21, getting everything right creatively right would be my No. 1 goal,” Iger said. “I could not do that if I was running the company on a day-to-day basis.”

But less than two months after stepping down, Iger returned to the forefront, taking an “active” role in assisting new CEO Bob Chapek as the company was crushed by the impact of the coronavirus.

“A crisis of this magnitude, and its impact on Disney, would necessarily result in my actively helping Bob and the company contend with it, particularly since I ran the company for 15 years!” Iger said.

Audrey Gelman, The Wing

Audrey GelmanGetty Images

The chief executive of the popular women-focused co-working space resigned in June amid outrage from employees over how the company treats people of color.

Gelman announced her resignation during a “digital walkout” by staffers, and the company did not explain the reason for her departure other than to say the shakeup would “allow us to create a sustainable business, and achieve the bold vision of advancing all women through community.”

Gelman started The Wing in 2016 as a “utopia” for professional women. But a New York Times Magazine report in March documented how employees faced racism from the club’s well-heeled members and worked long days under pressure to keep the spaces spotless.

The company also laid off almost all of its hourly employees and half the corporate staff in April after revenue dried up during the coronavirus pandemic.

Richelieu Dennis, Essence Magazine

Richelieu DennisGetty Images for ESSENCE

Dennis was ousted from Essence after a group dubbed Black Female Anonymous published a scathing exposé about the alleged conditions of working at the magazine.

The women claimed that Dennis had a “surface-level commitment to Black women” but that he is actually “driven by greed and a debaucherous sexual appetite.”

They also alleged that “he has a history of sleeping with women on the Sundial staff [the beauty brand that produces SheaMoisture, and which he sold to Unilever in 2017] … For the women who don’t seemingly consent, he openly sexually harasses them at private company events.”

Sources told Page Six that Dennis’ role as CEO was always intended to be temporary; he had just taken over in March, after Michelle Ebanks stepped down and moved to the board of Essence Ventures — where Dennis remains the chair.

Steph Korey, Away

The boss of the trendy luggage brand has resigned twice in the past year. Korey first announced plans to step aside as CEO in December in the wake of The Verge’s damning report detailing a ruthless corporate culture at the buzzy suitcase brand she co-founded.

She initially apologized for attacking her employees and said she would become Away’s executive chairman, but was back within weeks, saying she would serve as co-CEO with Stuart Haselden.

Korey second falling out came in July after Away staffers expressed concerns about her posts on Instagram, where she suggested journalists target female executives because stories about them get more “clicks.” She also mused that it should be easier to sue news organizations for defamation because “misrepresentation *is* the business model of some outlets.”

In response, Haselden and Away president Jen Rubio said Korey will leave her post by the end of the year after she returns from maternity leave in August. They told employees in a Thursday email that Korey’s posts “do not reflect or affect our current company priorities.”

Mandy Ginsberg, Match Group

The CEO of Match, which owns popular dating apps like Tinder and Hinge, announced in January that she was stepping down because of health reasons.

Ginsberg told employees at the OkCupid owner that she’s leaving the company after 14 years following a “personally trying” period that has included a recent surgery and a tornado slamming her Dallas home.

“While I expect to have a clean bill of health, short term I need to take care of myself and so will take some time off this year to do just that,” Ginsberg said at the time.

Ginsberg said she had a preventative double mastectomy a decade ago to address her high risk of breast cancer after her mother and aunt died of ovarian cancer. She had to have another operation at the beginning of the year “due to an FDA recall of the implants, because they have been linked to cancer.”

“It’s been a lot to handle,” she added.

Howard Mittman, Bleacher Report

Howard MittmanFilmMagic

Mittman was axed from the popular blog by the site’s owner — Lenny Daniels of Turner Sports.

Daniels broke the stunning news to colleagues in June, suggesting he’d been eyeing changes atop the popular-but-bawdy sports site.

“Over the last several months, I’ve given a lot of thought to how we can further grow the B/R business and set it up for long-term success,” Daniels said.

Rumors have swirled about why Mittman lost his job. One report said that the lack of top black executives at the site was creating problems.

“When you come into the second floor, you see a sea of faces representative of what you would expect to see. When you go up to the third floor, especially the sales side, it’s entirely white,” Digiday reported, quoting a current B/R employee. Another B/R employee said, “There’s a lack of diversity at the top, and they are the ones profiting the most directly off of black culture.”

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asfeedin · 5 years ago

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Arsenal can forget Champions League, PSG president’s TV negotiations, Chelsea’s Kepa conundrum

Welcome to ESPN’s Insider Notebook, featuring contributions from our reporters across the continent. In this edition, Arsenal fans excited about getting Champions League football through the back door are dealt a reality check, PSG’s president is negotiating with himself, Chelsea have a Kepa conundrum and there’s an esports battle brewing …

Jump to: PSG president negotiates with himself | Kepa conundrum | Lockdown in Malaga | Spain and Italy’s eSports beef

Arsenal in the Champions League? Forget it

We’ve heard many weird and wonderful ideas appear about how to resolve issues if the coronavirus crisis means domestic seasons across Europe cannot be completed. But sorry, Arsenal fans, don’t get excited. Unless you finish in the top four, you won’t be playing in the Champions League next season, whenever that will be.

One of the whispers out of Tuesday’s UEFA video conference, held with all 55 national associations, was that European places could be decided purely on UEFA’s club coefficient, a system that ranks clubs based on their European performance alone over a five-year period.

In such a scenario, England‘s Champions League spots go to Liverpool, Manchester United … and ninth-placed Arsenal. Tottenham Hotspur, who are eighth in the league, would take Manchester City‘s place, due to City’s ban for financial fair play violations (pending an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, of course).

Leicester City and Chelsea, who sit third and fourth in the Premier League table respectively, would be dumped into the Europa League with Wolverhampton Wanderers, while Sheffield United would be denied their first-ever European campaign in a cruel twist following a fine season back in the big time.

Arsenal won’t be able to find a backdoor route into the Champions League next season. Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images

But that misfortune is nothing compared to Belgium, where Club Brugge sit 15 points clear at the top and are to be crowned champions; they are ranked only fourth by UEFA’s coefficient, so would merit only a place in the Europa League third-qualifying round.

In Spain, sixth-placed Atletico Madrid would take the place of Real Sociedad; Atalanta and Inter would lose out to AS Roma and Napoli in Italy; Lyon and AS Monaco would take places off Marseille and Stade Rennes, who have never played in the Champions League, in France.

In Germany, RB Leipzig and Borussia Monchengladbach would be replaced by Bayer Leverkusen and Schalke. AZ Alkmaar, who are only second to Ajax in the Dutch Eredivisie, would lose their place to PSV Eindhoven.

But wait! All of this just isn’t going to happen. It’s pie in the sky. It was the suggestion of one league representative, and while it might get traction in places, sources have told ESPN that UEFA is adamant sporting achievement should govern who plays in Europe. It’s up to the leagues to suggest a formula and UEFA will offer guidelines. This may be made official when the executive committee meets on Thursday.

All of which is why UEFA is so against the idea of null-and-voiding seasons, preferring instead that leagues are played to a conclusion or places awarded on merit.

These stories give great headlines, but rarely stand up to scrutiny. It is not that the idea has not been floated and could not be used in very specific cases. But for an association in full as a blanket rule? Not a chance. — Dale Johnson

– Stream new episodes of ESPN FC Monday-Friday on ESPN+ – Stream every episode of 30 for 30: Soccer Stories on ESPN+

PSG president negotiates with … himself?

• When does the transfer window reopen? • Karlsen: Possible coronavirus impact • Best ever transfers: 100-51 | 50-1 • This summer’s top free agents • January transfer grades • Latest completed major transfers

Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi is negotiating on behalf of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 clubs with TV rights holders, so that the final installments for the 2019-20 season can be paid. The rights holders in France are Canal+ and BeIn Sport, whose supremo is … yep, you’ve guessed it: Nasser Al-Khelaifi.

So the Paris boss is basically in talks with himself. The motto does say that if you want something done, do it yourself, but this is pushing it. Al-Khelaifi has been put forward by the other Ligue 1 presidents, and Canal+ also thought it was a good idea that he was part of the negotiations.

On April 5, BeIn, like Canal+, refused to transfer the money to the league for the latest instalments of the Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 rights, totalling €155 million. They have another payment due on June 5. The negotiations continue, and Al-Khelaifi is asking for French football to be less selfish. He is running with the hare and hunting with the hounds. — Julien Laurens

Chelsea in Kepa conundrum

Chelsea are struggling to drum up interest in goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, sources have told ESPN. Manager Frank Lampard is open to selling the Spain international after dropping him for six games in January and February.

Intermediaries have been gauging interest from some of Europe’s leading clubs, but there seems to be very little appetite to take the 25-year-old off Chelsea’s hands. Kepa arrived from Athletic Bilbao for £71.6 million in 2018 and has a contract at Stamford Bridge until 2025.

Chelsea face a dilemma about how to move forward with their goalkeeper situation. No. 2 Willy Caballero is set to leave at the end of the season, and the club are exploring the option of signing another senior goalkeeper to compete with Kepa. — Rob Dawson

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Sid Lowe dives into the proposed protocols for team training and the potential timetable for La Liga’s return.

Spending lockdown in Malaga’s stadium

Spain’s strict coronavirus lockdown has not been a problem for the Perales family, who have Malaga’s La Rosaleda stadium as their backyard.

Andres Perales, who is 83, lives in a house alongside the 30,000-capacity arena with the youngest of his seven children, Andy. Andres worked for the club for almost 50 years in various roles — from team bus driver, to gardener, to janitor and even masseur — and has lived on site since 1989.

“This is my life. I spent my youth here at La Rosaleda,” Andres told La Sexta TV. “It’s a real shame to see it empty like this. I’ve seen it full, with people coming and going … and now like this it’s really sad.”

Despite retiring a decade ago, Andres continues to live rent-free in a three-bedroom home accessed via the stadium’s Gate 18, which bears his name in recognition of his years of service.

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“I can’t complain,” Andy, who is 43 and also a club employee, told El Pais. “After lunch I go for a walk on the training pitch, and if I feel like it I go to the first-team gym. I don’t go into the stadium too often, I’ve seen it enough.”

Andy and two of his sisters were even involved in disinfecting the stadium last month, donning protective gear to ensure La Rosaleda’s offices, locker rooms, turnstiles and concourses were free of COVID-19.

“It was like cleaning the house, on a larger scale!” he told the club’s website. — Alex Kirkland

Esports beef as Spain left stunned with Italy crying foul play

Sources have told ESPN that Spain were stunned by Italy’s comments following the cancellation of the FIFA eNations StayAndPlay Cup.

FIFA organised the virtual tournament to help spread a positive message during the enforced lockdown in Europe due to the coronavirus pandemic, with participants made up of one international footballer and an esports star as a pairing from each country.

Dan Thomas is joined by Craig Burley, Shaka Hislop and a host of other guests every day as football plots a path through the coronavirus crisis. Stream on ESPN+ (U.S. only).

Spain and Italy were drawn in the same group of the StayAndPlay Cup, alongside Portugal and Malta. However, while most teams selected an international player and professional esports star as their two representatives, Spain chose YouTuber “DjMaRiiO” with esports player Jaime “Gravesen” Alvarez.

Italy cited this as one of the reasons for the cancellations, with Alessio Romagnoli, the Azzurri‘s representative, also criticising the move.

But the Spanish FA have been left baffled as they claim FIFA informed them they could select an influencer; DjMaRiiO, Spain’s biggest FIFA YouTuber with six million subscribers, falls into that category.

And you thought only real football could bring such drama and aggro! — Rodrigo Faez

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The Chase Files Daily Newscap 8/30/2019

Good Morning #realdreamchasers. Here is your daily news cap for Friday, August 30th, 2019. There is a lot to read and digest so take your time. Remember you can read full articles via Barbados Today (BT), or by purchasing a Weekend Nation Newspaper (WN).

FIGHT OVER BANK FEE –More than a year after a legal fight began over a $5 bank fee, the matter is yet to be heard by the Fair Trading Commission (FTC). And attorney Chester Sue is not letting up, no matter how paltry the amount is, insisting that if he does not get a hearing before the FTC soon, he will revert to his original plan to go to the High Court.In May last year, the lawyer made known his intention to challenge Republic Bank over its charging of $5 as a maintenance fee. The customer of more than 30 years had maintained that the court would have to tell him he was wrong to not pay the money.Yesterday, he said that in May 2018 when it first came to light through the Weekend Nation that he intended to take legal action, he received an invitation to take the matter before the FTC. “Given the cumbersome High Court civil procedures and the tardiness of having matters dealt with there, I thought going before the Fair Trading Commission would have been less procedural and the matter would have been quickly disposed. Alas, I have been so wrong,” Sue said.(WN)

PENSION PRESSURE FOR ST. JOHN MAN –Wayne “Ricky” Gibbons of Gall Hill, St John, has suddenly lost his $750 pension which Government replaced with a $24 monthly cost of living allowance. And he doesn’t understand why, since the Government said it would reverse the decision.Gibbons spent more than two decades watching over the Queen Elizabeth Hospital as a security officer until it took its toll and he was forced to retire medically unfit with severe back problems. He agreed to take the gratuity and reduced pension and also applied for the invalidity benefit from the National Insurance Scheme.“At the time, I didn’t know I could apply for invalidity, but two doctors advised me to do it and now that is pretty much all I have. Anyone in a similar situation to me, who wasn’t as lucky to get that advice, would only be getting that cost of living allowance,” he said.Gibbons’ story got worse shortly before Tropical Storm Dorian passed, when a driver lost control and slammed into his parked vehicle on his property.(WN)

STILL NO WORD FROM GOVERNMENT ON OUTSTANDING BENEFITS– Scores of Barbadians on National Insurance disability benefits, who are eagerly awaiting the restoration of their pension from the treasury, are growing restless with Government as another deadline approaches without word from authorities. Leaders of at least two local trade unions say their members, after getting little reassurance from workers at the Treasury Department, have come to them, desperate to find out if anything can be done on their behalf. Last July, after numerous delays, Minister in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Ryan Straughn announced that Barbadians receiving their pensions would have the money, which was slashed back in May, repaid retroactively. “We haven’t heard anything either and our members have been making calls to the Treasury and they have said that they have not received any instruction to restore it. So I am a little bit perplexed that the thing has not been restored just yet,” said acting General Secretary of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) Delcia Burke. She told Barbados TODAY, efforts by union officials to provide more clarity have been futile, because treasury workers will only give information to people who are affected. “…But our members are calling us. Minister Colin Jordan said it should be paid by the end of August, but so far nothing has come and I cannot tell you why,” added Burke. The union leader said the near four-month impasse continues to severely affect the livelihoods of the deprived pensioners. “If you are accustomed to a particular amount of money and you understand that money will last till you reach 67 and all of a sudden it is snatched away from you, obviously you would not have budgeted for the loss of that money. So it has been having a very negative impact on people right now. “People have not been able to complete a number of payments. Some people are having difficulty paying their rent and obviously they have to cut down on things like food and toiletries. We would have written to the Ministry of the Civil Service asking for an intervention or at least an explanation. But so far, we have not heard anything,” said Burke. “Pay the people as soon as possible,” the union leader urged. Affected pensioners have recently been contacting Barbados TODAY and popular call-in programmes to voice their frustration at the situation. The issue came to national attention when Janice Harris mounted a one-woman protest outside the Houses of Parliament in May. When contacted, Minister of Labour Colin Jordan said the matter was now squarely under the supervision of his counterpart in the Ministry of Economic Affairs Ryan Straughn. However multiple efforts to reach Straughn were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, General Secretary of Unity Workers’ Union, Senator Caswell Franklyn accused Government of trying to save money on the back of the poor. “These [pensioners] are people who cannot work anymore and are entitled to receive their invalidity benefits under the National Insurance Act. Those benefits are payable until you reach pensionable age. It is not a pension right now and Government has no reason other than dishonesty to cut it. It has never been done before but in this current climate, they are trying to save money on the backs of the people,” he told Barbados TODAY. Franklyn also questioned Government’s decision to write-off thousands of dollars in taxes for members of the business community, while disadvantaging working-class citizens. “It is hurtful. Nobody voted for this and nobody expected that this Government would be so cruel to the very people that voted for it,” said the union leader.(BT)

WHARTON TAKES THE WHEEL – A spokesman for route taxi and minibus workers is the new chief executive of the public bus company, the Transport Board. Fabian Wharton, a former manager of telecom giant Cable and Wireless, was until recently a representative for a new association of public service vehicle workers. In a statement, the Transport Board noted Wharton held different regional positions at C&W, where he was responsible for the consolidation of the data centres resulting in a reduction in operating costs. He was also integral in the retooling of human resources leading to increased productivity and was a key component in the renegotiation of all external contracts. Wharton said in the statement: “I am looking forward to working alongside the team at the Transport Board and excited at the opportunity to continue the excellent work that the Chairman, Board of Directors and Management have been doing.” Chairman Ian Gooding-Edghill and the board have declared that Wharton brings a diverse knowledge base to the management team. Wharton is to begin his tenure on September 1.(BT)

DLP WELCOMES OLD GUARD –There is still a place in the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) for members of the Freundel Stuart cabinet according to recently re-elected President Verla Depeiza. In fact, the party leader feels no threat in the face of consecutive challenges by outspoken former Minister of Culture, Stephen Lashley for leadership of the party which suffered an embarrassing 0-30 defeat at the May 2018 polls. Speaking to Barbados TODAY for the first time since she was confirmed as head of the party, Depeiza says she expects to receive challenges from fellow party members. “They [former DLP ministers] were shying away, but by virtue of their history, they’re all members of general council. All former MPs are members of this party, so they’re entitled to come and participate,” said DePeiza in a brief response to questions about the party’s former leaders. When asked whether she felt threatened by the return of Lashley and other familiar faces like former Prime Minister Stuart and former Minister of Tourism, Richard Sealy at major party events, DePeiza said: “You can only threaten something that belongs to you. The presidency doesn’t belong to me. I will work in my position and my record will speak for itself. That is it.” DePeiza was re-elected President at the party’s 64th Annual General Conference held last weekend and it was widely reported Lashley once more withdrew his bid on the eve of the elections. Since June, when the party’s election process started, DePeiza said she expected to be challenged by Lashley. With her new mandate, Depeiza told Barbados TODAY work still needed to be done to “shore up” the party internally. “If we are strong at George Street, then we can face the country better. But we are tightening up our processes and of course candidate selection has to take place,” she said. According to the president, the DLP was focused on completing its strategic development plan, which involved a number of groups and committees. During the party conference, Former Senator Irene Sandiford-Garner retained the post of first vice president out of a field of nine candidates. Simon Alleyne was elected as second vice president, Andre Worrell as third vice president and Nicholas Alleyne as fourth vice president. “I am very happy,” said Verla, when questioned about her new team. “We have a mixture of youth and experience and that is important for any dynamic organisation so you can see the succession plan. We will switch roles during the year. We will have people acting as spokespersons, people in more administrative roles, but everybody will have the opportunity to work in different capacities in relation to the first vice president. According to Depeiza, the group, supported by the party’s general council, would seek to hold Government accountable on numerous pressing issues ranging from the country’s social services to the economy. “The country is in the doldrums. We have spent the last 15 months spinning top in mud. We have made no progress on any fronts. The Barbados Labour Party when in opposition had a six-month checklist and they have achieved none of those objectives except to improve the foreign reserves. But they have improved their foreign reserves by not paying their bills,” said DePeiza, who described the steps as “retrograde”. “Everything else, including the social services, is in chaos, with the benchmarks and time limits constantly being moved. They keep shifting the goalposts and you keep hearing different dates for implementation. So I don’t have any confidence. I don’t know how much confidence the country can have in a situation like that where you are constantly pushing and shoving and 15 months in, they still don’t seem to know what to do to run the country.”(BT)

BOLDEN FAMILY HOME TO BE FIXED –After fearing their run-down home would not withstand the impact of a passing storm, a St Philip North family has been visited by their MP, who has promised to have their home fixed. But they may have to wait as the Government agencies tasked with restoring their homes lack the cash to finish the job, the parliamentary representative has conceded. A day after the Bolden family’s plight was highlighted by Barbados TODAY, MP Dr Sonia Browne visited their home today and found a house in bad shape and in urgent need of attention. She said a check with the Rural Development Commission revealed that “a few houses were built but a lot of them fell into disrepair.” The MP told Barbados TODAY: “There is no guarantee that after a hurricane that house will stay up. “The house will be built over but I can’t say how soon this will be done. But her name is in the system.” Dr Browne said that there is irreparable water damage. She said: “All I can do is try to pull it through but there are a few houses in St Philip North which are like that. “There is also a problem with a burst pipe but I called the relevant auhorities.” On Tuesday, a Barbados TODAY team came across Beverley Bolden whose dilapidated timber home had become a house of horror as she prepared for Tropical Storm Dorian. She said: “All the back is breaking away.My daughter didn’t sleep the night Tropical Storm Dorian passed because she thought it was going to blow off. “I would like the whole house fixed because it is too far gone. “When it rains, the water comes in from the side.” Bolden, who lives with her pensioner mother and a mentally challenged son pleaded for assistance. Browne said help is on the way as both rural and urban development commissions have been contacted but the only setback is a lack of funds. She said: “I spent a good piece of money on this house already. The face sink, piecing together the wood so it wouldn’t break apart but I spent thousands on the house.”(BT)

“MUMMY I GONE” – A St George mother, puzzled by the disappearance of her young adult son, is longing to see his face again. Crying out that her body was feeling tired from worrying about where Rahim Juwan Ward, 22, could be, Barbara Dorant Layne told Barbados TODAY at her Cottage Grove, St George home the only way she would begin to feel better was if she got some form of closure. “Everyday as it goes by, for me, it gets harder because the days are longer. And I still don’t know where he is. No concrete evidence, nothing. “At least I think I would feel better if I get closure, whether he come dead or alive, I would get closure. I want to see him,” Dorant Layne said. Then addressing her missing son directly, she said: “Rahim, if you can hear me, come home. I would please like him to come home. “Calling his phone and it keep going into voicemail up to yesterday morning, after that it just cutting out.” Dorant Layne said what she believes to be a nightmare started around 2 a.m. last Saturday when police knocked on her door and informed her that there was a shooting in St Andrew and her son was in the victim’s company. The injured individual had to receive medical attention, she said, but her son has not been seen or heard since. She recalled that the last time she saw her son was after 5 p.m. on Friday when he told her: “Mummy, I gone”. She said she knew he was headed to his grandmother’s house at Walkers Valley, where he was raised and where most of his friends live. According to Ward’s grandmother, Virgene Dorant, he left her house around 9:30 p.m. Dorant Layne further explained that the mother of Ward’s one-year-old daughter heard him around 10:30 p.m. when he sent her a message via WhatsApp asking what his daughter was doing. As she held her granddaughter, she told Barbados TODAY: “I am at a loss as to what transpired. I don’t know if he get shoot, if he dead, I don’t know anything. “For me, this is a situation that I cannot deal with because I don’t feel comfortable with him out there and not knowing where he is. I can’t sleep, I just cannot sleep. “This is his daughter. She is only a year, and I don’t know where Rahim is. This is taking a toll on me, I just can’t deal with it. I do not know where Rahim is.” The mother of two described her son as private and confidential. She said though he was secretive and genuinely quiet, there were times he was jovial. “Rahim didn’t have any problems, I telling you,” she said. “Rahim was one of those children that was happy and he had everything on a platter. Rahim didn’t have to worry about nothing. “I made sure everything was there for him, and if I didn’t do it, my mother was Rahim’s backbone. “I raised Rahim without a father. My husband raised my son and he is not his father. “My mother made sure that Rahim get the best like any child. I really don’t know the circumstances surrounding his disappearance, I really wish I knew.” Dorant Layne said that she did not know her son, an accounts assistant at the Barbados Public Workers’ Cooperative Credit Union, to be involved in any trouble though she acknowledged disliking the company he keeps. But she said she has never received a complaint about him. She said: “My problem is certain people he associate himself with I didn’t like it. “But that fella that get shoot, I do not know this fella. I have never seen him. “The only friends I know belongs to Raheim are the ones he raise up with, out by my mother. I only moved here in 2005.” Ward, who is about six feet tall, of medium build and of light brown complexion, was wearing a long black jogger’s pants with white stripes at the sides, and a black shirt and black slippers. Police at District ‘B” have appealed for information on the young man’s whereabouts, asking the public to contact the station at Boarded Hall at 437-4311, police emergency 211, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-Tips (8477) or the nearest police station. (BT)

MISSING ARNOLD HUSBANDS – The Royal Barbados Police Force is seeking the public’s assistance in locating a missing man. He is 60-year-old Arnold Carlos Husbands, of No. 31, 1st Avenue Pillersdorf Development, St Michael.Husbands was last seen about 3 p.m. on Tuesday, August 27, by his aunt Rosina Clarke, 81, of the same address, when he left the residence to go for a walk. He has not been seen since.At the time, he was wearing a red and yellow shirt, long black pants and a blue and white scarf around his head.Husbands is 5 feet 9 inches tall, with a dark complexion. He has a medium build and is clean-shaven with greying unkempt hair. He is missing top and bottom teeth from the front of his mouth and wears spectacles. He has scars to the back of both of his upper arms.Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Arnold Carlos Husbands is asked to contact the District ‘A’ Police Station at 430-7242/7246, Police emergency at 211, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-TIPS (8477) or the nearest police station.(WN)

TIME SERVED –The final two of six Guyanese drug traffickers are homeward-bound after the Barbados Court of Appeal, using its “discretion” released them based on the time already served for trafficking cannabis and cocaine into the island 14 years ago. The court gave each convict credit for time spent on remand and “bundled” the drug offences according to section 22(1) of the Interpretation Act, Cap 1. Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson in dismissing the appeals against the “safe and satisfactory” convictions noted that there was no lurking doubt about their guilt and that trial “reached a conclusion that is unassailable”. Today’s ruling brought a nine-year appeal to an end in what Chief Justice Gibson described a “legendary” case involving 464.5 pounds of illegal drugs which came to a close today. However, the Court of Appeal allowed the appeals against the December 2009 sentences in the cases against Lemme Michael Campbell and Rohan Shasti Rambarran and varied the sentences “in our discretion to time served”. Today’s 94-page decision handed down by Sir Marston came over three years after the court heard the appeal which was lodged back in 2010. Six persons were arrested, tried and convicted of importation, possession, trafficking of 91.3 kilos of cannabis and 119.4 kilos of cocaine on November 29, 2005. The illegal substances were discovered in 16 hollowed-out logs and two suitcases when lawmen executed a search at the residence of Christopher and Dianne Bacchus. The husband and wife never appealed and have since been released from prison along with two other appellants Somwattie Persaud and Gavin Wayne Green. At the start of today’s proceedings, the Chief Justice declared that the case deserved the description legendary for several reasons. “It was the longest trial in recent memory, and perhaps in the entire history of trials in this country to occupy the High Court of Barbados. The trial took some 14 weeks, resulting in ten volumes of trial transcript consisting of 4,656 pages, a summation volume of 545 pages, and a mitigation and sentencing volume of 136 pages, for a total of 5337 pages of trial transcript,” he stated. In addressing the appellant Rambarran who was represented by attorneys Sir Richard Cheltenham, QC, and Shelly-Ann Seecharan, the Chief Justice pointed out that the trial judge in sentencing stated that he was the “principal or mastermind” behind this illegal enterprise making arrangements to ensure that the illegal drugs were shipped to Barbados. He was then sentenced to 15 years for importation of cannabis; 20 years for importation of cocaine; 15 years for possession of cannabis; 20 years for possession of cocaine; 25 years for trafficking of cannabis; 30 years for trafficking of cocaine. The sentences were to run concurrently from December 11, 2009. In the case of Campbell, who had Arthur Holder and Kendrid Sargeant as his attorneys, Sir Marston reminded the sitting that the sentencing judge indicated that ‘you played a major role in the execution of these offences and there was a high degree of sophistication employed in getting these drugs in Barbados’. He was sentenced to 15 years for importation of cannabis; 20 years for importation of cocaine; 15 years for possession of cannabis; 20 years for possession of cocaine; 20 years for trafficking of cannabis; 25 years for trafficking cocaine. Those sentences were also to run concurrently. However the island’s top judicial officer said the court “must emphasise, therefore, that we do not, indeed cannot, say that the trial judge erred since the rules which we now apply did not exist for the trial judge’s benefit during the sentencing”. Those rules are that a convicted person must be credited their full time spent on remand. “Nonetheless, it is now settled law . . . to be utilised in a pending case are the current rules and not those extant at the time the original determinations were made in the case itself. It suggests an uncomfortable level of retroactivity more often seen in legislation which expressly states that as its purpose. “The fact that the sentences were imposed upon appellants Rambarran and Campbell some two years before a court decision by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) does not deprive them of the right to full credit for the time which they spent on remand prior sentencing,” he stated. He explained that there was also another rule which must be retroactively applied and it involves the “bundling” of offences of trafficking, importation and possession of drugs – according to section 22(1) of the Interpretation Act, Cap 1 of the Laws of Barbados which stated that an offender is not to be punished twice for the same act or omission. As such the court dismissed the importation and possession of cocaine and cannabis charges and focussed on the trafficking charge of both substances. Stating that the court was unable to find evidence that Rambarran was the mastermind or central actor, the sentence was adjusted and began at a starting point of 20 years for trafficking cocaine and 15 years for trafficking cannabis. After taking several factors into account the sentence was adjusted downward to start at 15 years for trafficking of cocaine and ten years for trafficking cannabis. His four months served on remand were then deducted leaving Rambarran with 14 years and eight months for trafficking cocaine and nine years and eight months for trafficking cannabis – to run concurrently from the date of sentence, December 11 2009. The Chief Justice further stated that there was no indication that the case against Rambarran and Campbell was “sufficiently different” in relation to their role or execution of the offence but were “however different to the other four who have all been released from custody”. Campbell got the same starting sentence as Rambarran but after taking in several considerations it was adjusted downwards to 15 years for trafficking cocaine and ten years for trafficking cannabis. His four years and 11 days spent on remand were then deducted leaving him with ten years, 11 months, 19 days for trafficking cocaine and five years 11 months, 19 days for trafficking cannabis, also to run concurrently from December 11, 2009. “We, therefore, conclude that the just thing to do is to vary the sentences to time served and direct the release today of appellants Rambarran and Campbell,” Sir Marston said before the two were escorted out of the Supreme Court by three immigration officials and a representative from the Guyana Consulate.(BT)

BIG DROP IN TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS – Police are recording a drastic reduction in traffic violations and a smaller decrease in the number of road accidents. And this has come in for praise from a well-known road safety advocate.Speaking at the National Consultation on Traffic Management at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre on Wednesday night, Sergeant Jennifer Gibson, of the Royal Barbados Police Force’s Research Department, revealed that while 13 323 traffic offences were reported between January and July last year, only 8 777 were reported for the same period this year. She, however, could not provide a reason for the decline.In terms of accidents, 4 671 were reported between January to July 2018, while the number for this year stood at 4 344. Gibson said the most significant reduction occurred in May in which there were 598 recorded accidents this year compared to 708 last year. “Overall, we have three territorial jurisdictions where we capture accident information, which are the Bridgetown, Northern and Southern Divisions,” she said. “Bridgetown tends to have the most traffic accidents by virtue of commercialisation and it is the most traversed area.(WN)

POLICE SEIZE GUNS – The Antigun and Gangs Unit of the Royal Barbados Police Force is currently conducting investigations into the discovery and seizure of five firearms. The discovery was made on Tuesday at the compound of an established courier company.Police have not released the name of the company, explaining that investigations are at sensitive stage.The cargo in which the firearms were discovered had entered the island via the Grantley Adams International Airport. (BT)

WANTED MAN ARRESTED, WILL APPEAR IN COURT TOMORROW ON GUN CHARGES– Wanted man Jakobe Talik Germain, 22, 8th Avenue, New Orleans, St Michael will appear in court tomorrow on gun and ammunition charges. Germain was apprehended by police today at an apartment at Balmoral Gap, Hastings, Christ Church.He is charged with possession of a firearm without a valid licence to do so and possession of 13 rounds of ammunition also without a permit. These offences occurred on Sunday, July 28, at Ashby Alley, Nelson Street, St Michael.Germain is expected to appear in the District ‘A’ Magistrate’s Court. (BT)

OBSERVATION FOR RUM THEIF – A 23-year-old will spend the next three weeks at the Psychiatric Hospital being assessed on his suitability to be a candidate for Verdun House. Dequan Kaream Bobb, of Garden Land, Country Road, St Michael will make his next appearance before Magistrate Graveney Bannister on September 18 when a report is expected to be handed over to the District ‘A’ Traffic Court. Bobb pleaded guilty to entering Desta’s Bar and Deli between August 18 and 19 and stealing $1,385 in items including 28 bottles of rum, seven packs of snacks, a bottle of tobacco and 27 bottles of assorted beer, belonging to Desta Baptiste.(BT)

ADDICT “ANYTHING FOR A HIT” – Not only did he sell his shoes in order to purchase his drug of choice, but a 30-year-old today told a Bridgetown magistrate that he would sell about anything to get that next hit. Everton Rommell Brathwaite walked into the District ‘A’ Traffic with only a pair of white socks on his feet and no shoes which he told Magistrate Graveney Bannister that he had sold. Brathwaite, of Kew Road, Bank Hall, St Michael made the disclosure as he told the magistrate about his addiction with cocaine and cannabis. He had moments before pleaded guilty to five burglary charges and was sentenced to 30 months in prison. He was ordered to undergo drug rehabilitation and counselling while serving his time. Brathwaite admitted that he entered Crumbz Bakery twice between August 1 and 11 and stole drinks and cash totaling $373.50 to belonging to Curtis Todd. He also pleaded guilty to robbing Deborah Phillips-Small of a handbag and its contents and cellular phone on August 11, total value $790.. The convicted man further admitted to entering the residence of Marilyn Bacchus as a trespasser on July 20 and stealing a $900 boom box and a $400 cellular phone. It is alleged that he had a sword at the time. Esther Goddard also became his victim when he stole $300 cash and a pencil case from her on August 10.(BT)

RILEY’S BACK AT THE HELM –Conde Riley achieved last night what many batsmen have failed to do – keep out a yorker from Joel “Big Bird” Garner. The one-term president of the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA), who had previously lost two elections to the giant former West Indies fast bowler, was returned to the position after registering a comfortable victory by a margin of 86 votes during the 17th special meeting of members at Kensington Oval.Before a standing room only turnout on the second floor of the 3Ws Stand, Riley, a retired investment banker, polled 198 votes, while Garner, who served as BCA president from 2007 to 2017, received 112 votes. There were two spoilt votes.Given the interest in the election, the start of the meeting was delayed by almost an hour to allow members to register, and after the polls closed at 7 p.m., chairman of the BCA’s elections committee, Carlyle Carter, announced Riley the winner just before 7:30 p.m.The 66-year-old Riley, who was first elected to the BCA board in 1996, and served as Garner’s first vice-president for the majority of his predecessor’s tenure, attributed his re-election to the work of his board of directors over the past two years. (WN)

LORDE CAUTIONS BAJAN ATHLETES – Chairman of the National Anti-Doping Commission (NADC), Dr Adrian Lorde, is sending a stern warning to Barbadian athletes, urging them to be extremely cautious about using non-prescribed medication. His comments came just days after Jamaica’s sprint sensation Briana Williams tested positive for a banned diuretic.The 17-year-old World Under-20 double sprint gold medallist and Jamaica’s national junior record holder in the 100 metres, returned two positive samples for hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) following tests by the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission.The drug, which is on the list of banned substances by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), is used to reduce fluid, swelling, treat high blood pressure, to mask other banned substances and for weight loss. “I want our athletes to be very careful of whatever they ingest. We usually advise them not to take supplements because we cannot guarantee the supplements contain what they say they have in. That is a big issue where anti-doping is concerned. Sometimes they have in stuff that might not be on the list of ingredients. It extends to over-the-counter medications as well,” Lorde said during an interview with NATION NEWS. (WN)

NO PROMOTION AT POSTAL SERVICE – Members of the public are asked to note that the Barbados Postal Service (BPS) is not party to, or associated with a promotion scam offering a S10 Samsung phone, presently being circulated on social media. The scam has been drawn to the attention of the Postmaster General, who has denied the involvement of the BPS in the promotion. (BGIS)

RENAME GOLDEN SQUARE FOR NATION’S HEROES –Pan African activist David Denny has proposed that Golden Square, considered the flashpoint in the July 1937 Disturbances which helped usher in profound social change in Barbados be renamed National Heroes Square. It was at Golden Square that National Hero Right Excellent Clement Payne addressed crowds agitating for improved conditions in the then British colony before being arrested and deported to Trinidad, triggering the riots. Denny, who made the suggestion during an interview with Barbados TODAY, suggested such a change would also mean that Heroes Square would no longer be home to the statue of British naval hero Admiral Horatio, Lord Nelson. He declared: “[Heroes] Square could return to the name Trafalgar Square. I am not comfortable with our National Heroes Square housing Lord Nelson. Our National Heroes Square should represent the heroes of Barbados.” Denny also suggested that once Heroes Square was moved to Golden Square, several monuments should be developed in the area, to recognize the leaders of the 1937 riots and the Easter 1816 Rebellion. He told Barbados TODAY: “We should develop it as a place where Barbadian people can go and pay respects to those fighters of the 1937 period who would have led the process for our emancipation process in Barbados, and that would have helped to bring about the labour organisations and the political parties that would have been able to chart the course for Barbadian people.” During last year’s Day of National Significance on July 26, Prime Minister Mia Mottley suggested it was time to say goodbye to the old National Insurance Building, which neighbours Golden Square. The Prime Minister contended that Golden Square, the venue for many of Payne’s historic speeches, was steeped in unpleasant surroundings. She also said that the derelict building, located in “a prime space in this city”, also blocked the view of Independence Square.Denny, who said he agreed with Prime Minister Mottley’s comments, noted that he believes that other Pan Africanists and the general public would support his proposal. “I don’t think Barbadian people are comfortable with our National Heroes Square accommodating Lord Nelson. Lord Nelson is not a hero for Barbados,” Denny said. (BT)

That’s all for today folks there are 122 days left in the year Shalom! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram for your daily news. #thechasefiles #dailynewscaps #bajannewscaps #newsinanutshell

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April Sax Spotlight: Omar Nasif and Stuart Berger

Omar Nasif

Please join Sax as we shine our Employee Spotlight on Tax Associate, Omar Nasif. Omar joined the team at Sax in October of 2018 and has already accomplished so much in his professional and personal life. His biggest achievement has been graduating college with both a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree. Omar’s strong work ethic and determination to the firm has been a great asset to have at Sax. He strives to learn something new every day and his long-term goal is to become a Partner in Sax’s Not-for-Profit Practice.

Since starting his career as an Accountant, Omar has developed a passion for the field and is creating a Tax Newsletter blog for people to utilize for a clearer understanding of the industry and its policies. Be on the look-out for Omar’s blog, coming soon!

Read our Q&A to learn more about Omar:

What college did you attend? What was your major?

I attended the City College of New York, where I received my Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and my Master’s Degree in Economics. After graduating from CCNY, I decided to go back to school at Queens College where I studied Accounting and received my second Bachelor’s Degree.

Do you have any credentials?

After obtaining my Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, I received my Enrolled Agent Certification and I am currently studying for the CPA exam and taking the first part this summer.

When did you start working at Sax?

I started working at Sax in October of 2018 as a Tax Associate.

What are your day-to-day responsibilities at Sax? What do you specialize in?

As a Tax Associate, I mainly prepare tax returns for all size businesses and individuals. I had a lot of individual 1040 experience under my belt before I came to Sax, so I have been specializing in that, which has been a great fit for me.

What are a few things you have learned at Sax?

The most important thing I have learned at Sax is how to perfect my business return skillset. The knowledge and support I have received from the employees at the firm have helped me strengthen my expertise.

Explain some of your biggest achievements in your career.

I’ve achieved a lot throughout my professional career so far, but I would say some of my biggest accomplishments have been learning from my mistakes and accepting constructive criticism from my peers. By being able to learn and grow from my mistakes, I have been able to develop a higher skillset and continue to do so every day.

Explain some of your biggest achievements in life.

My biggest life achievement is my academic career and being able to obtain two Bachelor’s Degrees and a Master’s Degree, all in six years. It definitely was not easy, but I learned so much throughout my college experience and I’m proud I was able to accomplish those goals at a young age.

Do you have a vision or goal for your career?

Throughout the next few years, I see myself advancing my career at Sax and hopefully becoming a Partner in the firm’s Not-for-Profit Practice. I’ve always wanted to work with the Not-for-Profit industry because I want to be able to help organizations achieve their mission as their trusted advisor.

What volunteer work and/or charities do you participate in?

I have been making annual contributions to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital and Feed the Children since 2007. I always knew I wanted to give back to the community, so when I started to research different organizations I could get involved with, St. Jude’s and Feed the Children stuck out to me because of their mission to help children in need.

Are there any other interesting facts about you outside of your work life?

I am currently working on launching a Tax Newsletter blog, aimed towards people who are not in the accounting field. My goal with the blog is to give people a better understanding of the industry and it’s changing policies. Aside from my work life, I have a passion for photography and try to travel and take pictures as much as I can. More recently, I’ve been interested in becoming a life coach and give my family and friends life advice in my free time.

Stuart Berger, CPA

Sax is proud to shine our Employee Spotlight on Real Estate Partner, Stuart Berger, who has been with the firm for nearly 40 years. Stuart has come a long way since being hired at Sax in 1982. Some of his career milestones include becoming a Partner at the firm, founding the firm’s Real Estate Practice, and being named Managing Partner from 2008-2011. Stuart has prided himself on being his clients’ most trusted advisor and continues to instill the same values in the generations that follow him.

Throughout his time at Sax, Stuart has remained dedicated to the firm and his responsibilities and is proud of the career he has built. He has enjoyed his time at the firm and is glad Sax is where he chose to spend his career. Not only has he been very successful in his role at the firm, but he has made life-long relationships with his clients and the people he has worked with at Sax.

Read our Q&A to learn more about Stuart:

What college did you attend? What was your major?

I attended Syracuse University, where I received my Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting. Going into college, I was unsure of what I wanted to do with my future, so I declared undecided for my first year. During my sophomore year I had to take an accounting course, and it was then I realized I could see myself doing this for the rest of my life.

Do you have any credentials?

I received my CPA License right after I graduated college. It was not an easy exam to study for, but I stayed extremely focused on the end goal and was able to pass all four parts of the exam pretty quickly. I try to encourage the younger staff at the firm to study for it right after college, so they can get it over with.

When did you start working at Sax?

I started working at Sax in 1982 in the Audit Department.

What is your current title?

I am a Partner in the firm’s Real Estate Practice.

What are your day-to-day responsibilities at Sax?

My day-to-day responsibilities include creating and shaping a service team that serves our real estate clients. As a Partner, I oversee the team and make sure each individual client is getting the best service that we can provide. At Sax, we pride ourselves on being our clients’ #1 advisor, so my responsibilities also include building long-lasting and trustworthy relationships with my clients.

What are a few things you have learned here?

The most valuable thing I have learned throughout my career at Sax is that you must face business as an entrepreneur. In this field, you have to be willing to take risks and make difficult decisions. As an advisor, our clients come to us for advice daily and we must be able to think fast and strategically.

Explain some of your biggest achievements while working at Sax.

My entire career has been one big achievement for me. My most memorable accomplishments while at Sax were becoming a Partner and being promoted to Managing Partner for 4 years. Looking back, everything that has happened throughout my career has impacted my life in some way or another and I truly have enjoyed growing through my experiences and building life-long relationships with my clients and the people at the firm.

Explain some of your biggest achievements in life.

I am very proud of my family and everything my children have accomplished in their own lives. Another big achievement of mine has been being able to give back to my community in various ways and remain active in my synagogue.

Do you have a vision or goal for the rest of your career?

When the time comes to retire, I would like to leave behind a team that can continue to successfully service our clients and be their most trusted advisor. Over the next few years, my goal is to educate the younger staff on as much as possible so they can also lead successful careers.

What volunteer work and/or charities do you participate in?

Eight years ago, I developed and helped bring to life Sax’s Annual 4 Miler at Garret Mountain, which benefits St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital. Since beginning the race in 2012, we have raised over $400,000 for the children’s hospital and I am excited to see what’s to come for the future of the event.

Are there any other interesting facts about you outside of your work life?

Outside of work, I enjoy traveling with my wife and have visited 24 countries within the past 5 years, Israel and Jordan being the most recent ones. When I am not traveling, I like to collect model trains and try to golf as much as I can.

The post April Sax Spotlight: Omar Nasif and Stuart Berger appeared first on SAX.

from SAX https://www.saxllp.com/april-sax-spotlight-omar-nasif-and-stuart-berger/

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