#WHERE is my sequel in which the Robin boys go to New York and get their asses kicked by a giant rat in a moment of narrative symmetry

[hylianane]

It might seem like I’m joking when I say that Batman VS the TMNT is my favorite movie of all time but you need to understand that to me. to me? This movie has it all. The Gotham City Rogues all get fursonas. Two poorly voiced lesbians tearfully break up in a pizzeria right before Batman throws Michealangelo through the window. Donatello sees Damian Wayne and yells “What are you, five?!” Leonardo calls him “Little guy” and Damian fucking breaks his knees with a bo staff. Harley’s in her jester outfit telling Joker that eight years of college and three years of residency make her overqualified to be the sexy nurse. Raphael of all turtles lectures Batman about not being direct and trusting with his family. Leonardo kicks Ra’s al Ghul in the balls. Shredders asks Batman to say his last words and he goes, “Cowabunga”

[army-of-mai-lovers]

Why Amon Should Have Been An Android

(spoilers for LoK and Young Justice season 1) 

If you followed my LoK liveblog at all you may have noticed that I theorized at one point or another that all four major villains of LoK (Amon, Unalaq, Zaheer, and Kuvira) were secretly robots/androids (the term I used was robot, but the more accurate term would have been android.) Now, with Unalaq it was definitely just because I found him boring, with Zaheer it was to make fun of the fact that he was an Airbending prodigy with zero training, and with Kuvira it was because it was a thing at that point for me to predict that an LoK villain was a robot (and I was kind of right that time!!) 

But with Amon? I was completely serious. We never see his face, his cause is stupid (and the perfect way for his programmers to start some trouble in Republic City), and he was able to resist bloodbending, which, if you’ll recall, requires that the victim have blood for it to work. You know who doesn’t have blood? That’s right, androids/robots. 

But there’s another reason that I sincerely thought Amon was going to be a robot (android), and it’s the reason I’m writing this. There was something naggingly familiar about LoK to me, and no, it wasn’t that it was a sequel series to ATLA. To me, LoK doesn’t really feel a lot like ATLA (barring, of course, the very poorly shoehorned in fanservice cameos of Iroh, three times, like he’s a recurring character or something.) I struggled to pinpoint exactly what it was, but in my own observations and the observations of other people that I was talking to while liveblogging, a couple key differences became clear: 

[ID: an image of Korra from the back looking out towards Republic City, which is shown to have large white skyscrapers, a bay, and numerous smaller buildings. Much of it is obscured by fog and clouds. The city is built in the middle of a sprawling bay. /End ID]

1. the setting of LoK is incredibly Americanized and Eurocentric. While ATLA displays a lot of cultural insensitivity towards the cultures it borrows from in choosing how to depict them, LoK...doesn’t really depict other cultures. Republic City to me felt very similar to how 1920s New York is typically depicted in media, and no setting in the Earth Kingdom or Water Tribe was explored enough to really explore the unique cultures of those settings. While you can tell in ATLA that bryke was somewhat interested in (a vague, exoticized, unrealistic vision of) East Asian culture, LoK is very clearly inspired by America and Europe, with very little else influencing how the setting was depicted. 

2. there are no “unimportant” people in LoK. Everybody is related to somebody we know from ATLA (or somebody from ATLA), a powerful business mogul, military, somebody high up in the government, a celebrity, and/or the Avatar. The only character I can really think of that’s an exception to this is Kai, who really does not have much of a role. (I guess you could argue that Mako is an exception but y’know...he was a famous pro-bender for a while there) You don’t just get to meet a regular person living in a village anymore. Every character in LoK has political, social, or cultural power. 

These points, put together with the technological prowess of the world of LoK (which is different season to season and sometimes even episode to episode depending on how the writers are feeling that day), made the show feel very distant from ATLA, but very, very close to another show that I have watched and loved. And that show is Young Justice. 

[ID: an image, from left to right, of Batgirl, Blue Beetle, Bumblebee, Beast Boy, Miss Martian, Nightwing, Superboy, Wondergirl, Robin, and Red Arrow in the foreground, posing together. Above them and in the background are the adult heroes, obscured in shadow. From left to right, Red Tornado, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Batman, Superman, the Flash, Green Arrow, and Wonder Woman. They are all against a gradient blue background. /End ID]

For those not in the know, Young Justice is a DC animated cartoon focusing on the teen sidekicks, proteges, and relatives of superheroes like Batman, Superman the Flash, Green Arrow, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, and others banding together to form their own superhero team. YJ is set in America, vaguely, with characters residing in cities with names like Gotham City, Star City, and Central City (a naming convention that Republic City fits right into). And as is apparent from the premise, most of the characters you’ll meet in YJ are superheroes, related to superheroes, or otherwise important business moguls, celebrities, or political figures. And while the world of YJ is of course significantly more technologically advanced than that of LoK, there’s more overlap than you’d think. Besides spaceships, teleportation, smartphones, and genetic engineering, there’s really not a lot of tech that YJ seasons 1 and 2 have that LoK doesn’t. 

So you may be thinking, “ok Arthur, we get it, you’re a fucking nerd, what does this have to do with robots?” I’m glad you asked! One of the storylines of YJ focuses on the war between rival tech moguls Tio Morro and Professor Ivo, in which they build increasingly sophisticated androids. Ivo’s are pretty much just designed to kill supers, but Morro’s are expressly designed to mirror the human psyche, and desire to be a part of human society. Amon very clearly also desires a community, and does much of what he does to integrate himself into a community of nonbenders where he really doesn’t belong. Further, Morro’s androids are immune to threats that humans are not immune to because they are not made up of organic matter. For example, in season 1, episode 3, Miss Martian attempts to read Red Tornado’s mind, to no avail, because she can only read the minds of organic beings. In a similar vein, Amon was able to resist bloodbending, and while unfortunately that was not because he was an android, it would have made sense given the conventions of the cartoon android genre. I didn’t realize it at the time, but my previous YJ knowledge very much influenced the way I read that scene. The way Amon’s body was animated very much mirrored the animation of Morro’s androids trying to resist their evil creator’s programming. 

So, I’ve taken you through the what, the how, but I promised that I’d say why Amon being an android would have been better, and I plan to deliver. First, it needs be remarked that while Amon being an android wouldn’t have made much sense, it would have only made slightly less sense than the canon explanation of Amon being Tarrlok’s secret brother. In fact, I’d argue that, if handled correctly, Amon being an android could make more sense and be more impactful. Here’s how I envision it: android! Amon would be pretty similar to Red Tornado, in that he would know that he was an android and be programmed to help people. He was of course, built by Hiroshi Sato (that man designed and likely built all the Equalists’ weapons he has the range), who sees himself as a sort of father to Amon. Hiroshi tells Amon about the systemic disenfranchisement of nonbenders and how a Firebender killed his wife, and Amon, being programmed to want to help people and to desire participation in human society, decides he wants to lead a revolution against benders. However, an android can’t very well openly lead a revolution (you could add a bit in the backstory episodes about how humans don’t trust androids or something), so Hiroshi and Amon come up with the story that Firebenders burned his face and hands, which is what prompted him to lead the revolution. Thus, his whole body, including his face, is covered, and his followers assume that it’s because the burns are so bad, and they follow him. In the latter half of the season, the krew would uncover Hiroshi’s involvement with the Equalists, but Asami would be the one to realize that Amon is an android that Hiroshi built. Amon being Hiroshi’s “son” of sorts would be another element of Asami coming to terms with the evils of her family, as Amon in this case would be a machine programmed to be easily manipulated to follow Hiroshi’s cause and would consider himself her brother, and she would have to reckon what to do with both of them. The nonbenders’ cause would still be legitimate after Amon was exposed as an android (unlike it is when the literal figurehead of their movement is also antithetical to their movement) and the heroes would have to reckon with the realities of bender supremacy and the hurt it caused. Amon could even get a redemption arc and work with world leaders to make a better society for nonbenders and androids like himself (I’m sure there’s some parallel you can draw between nonbender oppression and android oppression, though I can’t think of one atm) As an added bonus, Amon wouldn’t be able to bend, so he couldn’t bloodbend Korra, which would be one less time that an LoK villain took away Korra’s bodily autonomy. Amon could even be a recurring character in the later books, because really, wouldn’t LoK have been more fun with a newly-redeemed android sidekick still learning about what the world is outside of his creator’s narrow worldview? Plus, that would give Asami more to do in books 2 and 3 than meet Varrick and participate in love triangle drama (Amon is of course replacing Varrick’s presence on the show), and getting to know and bond with Amon could be the catalyst for her visiting her father in prison in book 4. 

Remember, I didn’t claim that this would be good, I claimed that it would be better, and since the bar was on the ground with that secret brothers twist that wasn’t too hard to accomplish. tl;dr bryke are cowards, take the plunge and make him an android. 

[ranger-report]

OPINION: Stop Making Batman Games

With the weekend came the DC FanDome event, in which Warner Brothers and DC Comics held an online event specifically for their fans in order to generate hype about certain franchises and media they produce. While most of what was shown received positive responses -- the first trailer for The Batman is the clear highlight -- there’s been a little bit of apprehension surrounding two of the video games receiving mega hype treatment: Gotham Knights, and Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League. Gotham Knights opens up by telling us Batman has died, and he’s left a message for his former sidekicks: protect Gotham City at all costs. Meanwhile, the Suicide Squad is seen in a battered Metropolis, tasked with assassinating what looks like Superman Turned Evil as an alien invasion rages around them. Both trailers offer massive, open-world co-op action featuring some of DC Comic’s finest B-grade heroes. Sure, Harley Quinn is on the rise and is arguably an A-list hitter now, but when it comes to bankable characters, Batgirl, Robin, Nightwing, Red Hood, Deadshot, King Shark, Captain Boomerang, they’re not big stringers. But they do have something in common:

Batman.

While Gotham Knights is clearly the more obvious game between the two to draw from the Dark Knight’s influence, Suicide Squad has heavily featured Batman as a character and influence over recent years. Harley Quinn is a Batman character, the Caped Crusader appeared in the Suicide Squad film played by Ben Affleck, and developer Rocksteady -- who is making the SS game -- reached infamy for developing the Arkham Trilogy. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has even been confirmed to be set in the Arkham universe (surprisingly, Gotham Knights is not, despite the premise based on a dead Batman, something which happened at the end of Arkham Knight). Kill the Justice League even goes one step further by setting the game in Metropolis, battling Batman’s usual heroic foil. This looks to be for all intents and purposes like a treasure trove for dedicated DC gamers, but it’s my opinion that they simply look -- and feel -- incredibly tired.

Once upon a time, Rocksteady was rumored to be developing an open-world Superman game. We haven’t gotten one of those since 2006 with Superman Returns, whose XBOX version was regarded with decent praise. But instead they’ve turned their sights to the Suicide Squad. Granted, Warner Brothers is doing their best to make the Squad A Thing, considering the first film and now the upcoming I’m-Not-A-Sequel-I’m-A-Reboot-But-Also-A-Sequel The Suicide Squad which is being directed by James Gunn, who made the Guardians of the Galaxy A Thing. Desperation plays poorly in hindsight, which all of WB’s mandated edits to both Batman v Superman and Justice League have wrought. Hell, even the first Suicide Squad film had its guts wrangled about, prompting many to request an “Ayer Cut” from director David Ayer the same way they’ve been hounding for the Justice League Snyder Cut (which looks amazing, btw). But regardless of intent, what’s clear is that WB Games isn’t ready to let go of the Batman Influence, and instead of taking risks like making a goddamn Superman game, they’re going with what feels like the next evolution in Batman gaming: Sidekicks and Spinoffs.

I hear you, I hear you. Maybe I’m a little bitter. Maybe. But since 1986 there have be 41 Batman-starring video games, not counting those released in which Bats had either a supporting role or a cameo. Since 1979, Superman has starred in a mere 17. Batman also features heavily in the recent Injustice fighting games from Netherrealm (creators of Mortal Kombat) which features, strangely enough, an evil Superman. So now we have two new WB Games which either rely on Batman’s influence or feature an evil Superman which needs to be stopped.

Guys. Come on. Just. Just fucking stop.

Where’s the open world Superman game which promises the experience of playing the Man of Steel, protecting the city -- nay, the world -- from an incoming alien invasion. One which could not only spell the destruction of the human race, but also cause significant damage to the Man of Steel himself. Juggling protecting the Earth and keeping himself alive, Superman is tasked with handling this invasion, featuring a number of notable cosmic villains in DC Comics. The player has to manage a health bar for Metropolis, ensuring the city receives as little damage as possible, or aids in rescue work around the city helping citizens and saving lives. Between this, Superman handles incoming warships and invaders, who can zap him with powerful beams. Yes, he can take a lot of damage, but they’re dealing a lot as well. Superman will not go down easily. But being Superman has never been about protecting himself; it’s about protecting others.

Think about it! Skip the RPG leveling system where you upgrade powers and abilities! You’re already Superman, you already have the powers! Now you just need to use them, balance them, combine them to weaken enemies or strengthen the city. The opening chunk of the game introduces you to Metropolis and how it works. Imagine flying through the city at high speed, listening, searching, helping, just being the Big Blue Boy Scout, and then without warning there it is: lights in the sky. You fly up out of the atmosphere to tackle the problem, but the problem is so big, it’s everywhere. Now the game opens up: it’s not just Metropolis, but the whole world at stake. Zoom between major cities as hubs, with large maps for each one. Metropolis is the stand in for New York, but also London, Moscow, Egypt. Imagine zooming over the Great Pyramids battling alien invaders as the Man of Steel defending not just America, but the entire fucking world from the greatest threat ever since to humanity. Throw in a few Justice League cameos! It writes itself!

But we get two new Batman-related games instead.

Fucking hooray.

[sophielovesbooks]

Sophie’s Queer YA Rec List

Hi everyone! :) I’m back with another list of book recommendations! Yes, two of the books on here cross-feature on my Dark Academia Rec List, but here, the focus is different.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my YA LGBTQ+ Rec List!

Her Royal Highness (Rachel Hawkins)

Listen, we’re starting off strong, because this one is an absolute GEM. American girl goes abroad to a fancy boarding school in Scotland. Also, she’s bi, her roommate is the princess of Scotland and the cutest haters-to-lovers situation ensues!! Read if you like fluffier reads, if you’ve ever been on a year abroad, if you’ve ever wanted to go on a year abroad, if you love Scotland or if you’re a girl who likes pretty girls! <3 (Note: This is the sequel to “Royals”, but I didn’t read that one either and you 100% don’t need to in order to understand this one.)

As I Descended (Robin Talley)

Okay, now this one is a lot darker. It’s a queer Macbeth retelling, which is a pretty amazing concept in itself. Also set at a fancy boarding school, but in Virginia. The main girls are a closeted power couple who more or less succumb to the darkness in their strive for even more power. This book is super diverse with Hispanic characters, wlw, mlm and one of the main two girls being disabled (though some people have criticised the way she was written). Read if you want a spooky story, if you love boarding school settings or if you love Shakespeare retellings!

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Benjamin Alire Sáenz)

This book is a classic of the queer coming-of-age genre, and it reads like one, too! The style is fairly simple, which may take some getting used to, but the author nailed the narrator’s voice, the story is meaningful, the characters feel complex and real and Ari’s fight to accept himself for who he is will break your heart! Set in the 1980s in El Paso, Texas. The two main boys are both Mexican American. And for reasons I can’t exactly put my finger on, this read like a modern-day Catcher in the Rye! Read this book if you want boys fighting to accept the fact that they love boys and complex family dynamics!

If I Was Your Girl (Meredith Russo)

Can ONLY recommend this one! The main character is a trans girl who goes to live with her dad after a traumatic event. At her new school, all she wants is to blend in, but she ends up suddenly popular for the first time in her life and dating a cute boy! This book was definitely fluffy at times, but still dealt with the darker aspects of being trans in this world (trigger warning for depression, dysphoria, a suicide attempt!) Read if, like me, you’re a cis person looking to get a better idea of what it’s like to be trans or if you’re trans and want to see yourself represented! The author is a trans woman herself and the book ends with a really emotional and thoughtful author’s note (that, yes, made me cry).

You Know Me Well (David Levithan & Nina LaCour)

Out of the books on this list, this one focuses the most on LGBTQ+ themes. It’s literally set in San Francisco during Pride Week, and it’s about a gay girl who is madly in love with another girl, but self-sabotages at every turn, and a gay boy, who is madly in love with his best friend, who fools around with him occasionally but doesn’t love him back. One thing that bothered me a bit was the insta-friendship between the two main characters, but I’m here for the gay-lesbian solidarity, and I thought the wlw romance was so cute! Read for a slightly fluffier dual-perspective book with strong LBGTQ+ and coming-of-age themes and a central friendship!

We Are Okay (Nina LaCour)

Oh God, this one. Read only if you are ready to be emotionally destroyed! The main character grew up with her grandfather, and after losing him, too, she feels completely alone. Set during Christmas break of her first semester of college, which she spends on campus in New York. Alone! Until her friend/lover comes to visit and emotionally reconnect with her. Hauntingly and lyrically written, this book is an absolute beauty that had me in literal tears and made my heart hurt. Can only recommend!

People Like Us (Dana Meele)

This one cross-features on my Dark Academia rec list, because it’s set at yet another elite boarding school (yes, this is my thing) and begins with a murder. The wlw themes in this came as a very pleasant surprise! Read if you’re looking for more of a mystery thriller that still includes wlw, but not as the main focus. Personally, I had certain issues with the plot, but the book was still a very engaging, quick and fun read!

Radio Silence (Alice Oseman)

ONE OF MY FAVOURITE BOOKS OF ALL TIME! The main character is Frances, a biracial, bisexual girl whose main goal in life is getting into Cambridge. Her friends see her as nothing but a study machine, but secretly, Frances is the biggest fangirl and draws fanart for a podcast called “Universe City”. The book is all about her close friendship with Aled, who turns out to be the podcast’s creator, academic pressure and figuring out what actually matters to you in life. I connected strongly with the themes of working so hard toward certain goals and not being seen by your friends for who you really are. Read if you want the most adorable platonic friendship EVER (between a bi girl and a demisexual guy), internet culture being represented accurately, wlw and mlm and an incredibly relatable main character!

Autoboyography (Christina Lauren)

Tanner is bi and was happy and out when his family still lived in California, but is forced back into the closet, basically for safety, when his family moved to Provo, Utah, where there are more Mormons than non-Mormons. His best friend Autumn convinces him to sign up for a very special class with her in their final year of high school, where the idea is that every student writes a novel. This is where Tanner meets Sebastian and falls head-over-heels! The problem? Sebastian is Mormon and not allowed to be with another boy. Even worse? He’s the bishop’s son! Read this one for two adorable boys actually going through something incredibly hard together and breaking your heart in the process! What I loved about this was that religion was shown in its full complexity, the good and the bad, and Sebastian’s struggle was so realistic! Also, this love story was much more high stakes than the usual “I’m sure he doesn’t like me back!” non-issue and it really drew me in!

I Was Born For This (Alice Oseman)

Another Oseman book!! (Spoiler alert: It’s also very good!) Told in dual perspective. The first one is Fereshteh, who tends to go by the English translation of her name: Angel. The biggest source of joy in her life is the popular boy band “The Ark”, and she plans to go to London to finally meet her best online friend in person, then go to an Ark concert together with her. The second perspective is Jimmy, a trans boy and one of the three members of the band. Things definitely don’t go as planned that week in London, Angel and Jimmy actually meet, chaos ensues. Read this if you’re looking for a fandom-based story that just gets internet culture and also has a very diverse set of characters! But be prepared for this to actually become very dark and intensely emotional at times! (The characters, especially Jimmy, were struggling more mental-health-wise than I had expected, and it wasn’t always easy to read, so be safe, everybody!)

These are the ones I’ve read so far, but don’t worry, I’ll update this list soon with many more! Already on my TBR (and in some cases even already on my shelves!) are These Witches Don’t Burn, Let’s Talk About Love (asexual main character!!), Tash Hearts Tolstoy (another asexual main character!) and I Wish You All the Best (non-binary rep!!!)

[aion-rsa]

Cobra Kai and the Legacy of The Karate Kid

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Since Netflix picked up Cobra Kai it’s been sweeping up viewership like Johnny on Daniel-san’s leg. When The Karate Kid debuted in 1984, it was a smash hit, delivering returns of $100 million on a modest budget of $8 million. It also earned Best Supporting Actor nominations for the late Pat Morita (Mr Miyagi) from both the Oscars and the Golden Globes. Miyagi was a crowning achievement for Morita whose career spanned 175 roles beginning in 1964. 

The Karate Kid was embraced by pop culture, redefining the martial arts genre. It had a profound effect on the practice of martial arts in the United States. The Karate Kid stands alongside Enter the Dragon and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon as a film that reshaped the way Americans viewed martial arts. Martial arts made an amazing leap, one of the largest in U.S. history, boosting the whole economy. Everyone who ran a Dojo during the mid-80s remembers what a windfall it was. 

The Karate Kid spawned three sequels, a cartoon series, a reboot, as well as several homages outside of the franchise’s canon that starred original cast members. Just like Bill and Ted Face the Music and Star Trek: Picard, the new series updates a time-honored franchise as Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) grapple with the drag of growing old along with a coming of age soap opera of the next generation. Easter eggs sell it to its loyal fanbase with nods of nostalgia while new teen characters share the spotlight to lure fresh viewership. The original cast keeps it genuine, abetted with cameos from other peripheral characters. Daniel and Johnny were career defining roles for Macchio and Zabka, something they’ve long embraced with many non-canon cameos since their last official appearance in these roles in 1989.

The Mr. Miyagi Tetralogy

The success of The Karate Kid guaranteed a sequel, so the bulk of the cast reassembled for The Karate Kid Part II two years later. It picks up immediately following the first film, in the parking lot immediately after the All-Valley Karate Tournament where Kreese (Martin Kove) punishes Johnny for losing, causing Johnny and his squad to leave Cobra Kai. However, Daniel and Johnny’s love interest, Ali (Elizabeth Shue), did not return. Ali is written out with a dismissive comment by Daniel about how she dumped him for a football player. Fans are clamoring for Shue to appear in Cobra Kai and the show references Ali repeatedly. Towards the end of Season 1, Daniel shows Johnny Ali’s Facebook revealing that she’s married and a doctor. The Karate Kid Part II, quickly narrows down to Daniel and Miyagi as they journey to Okinawa, where Daniel finds a new love interest in Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita). 

The Karate Kid Part II did better than the original, earning $115 million worldwide. While it didn’t garner any major award nominations, it was well received. Since it was set in Japan, it hasn’t been referenced much in Cobra Kai beyond when Johnny’s son Robby (Tanner Buchanan) discovers Daniel’s den-den daiko (rotating hand drum). As an interesting side note, the sequel subtly revealed Mr. Miyagi’s given name in Japanese. When Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) picks Miyagi up, his name is written in Japanese as Nariyoshi Miyagi, which is only one character different than Morita’s actual Japanese given name, Noriyuki (Nari and Nori are alternate spellings of the same character, which means ‘completed’). 

The Karate Kid Part III also picks up where Part II left off, but it drops the ball. It delivered a disappointing $38 million box office and was the final pairing of Daniel and Miyagi.  Nevertheless, it is referenced by Cobra Kai almost as much as the first film. Daniel and Miyagi return from Okinawa to find the LaRusso’s residence at South Seas complex being dismantled. The implication is that it is to be demolished, and yet it appears in “Different but the Same”, the 9th episode of Cobra Kai (why the new owners kept that painfully 80s South Seas logo is incomprehensible, but it made for a good Easter egg). Daniel’s mom, Lucille (Randee Heller) appears in Part III, who has cameos in both seasons of Cobra Kai, but she is quickly written out, sent away to take care of Daniel’s Uncle Louie (Joseph V. Perry). It’s a short scene to set up Daniel living with Miyagi, but Cobra Kai picks up on it with Louie LaRusso Jr. (Bret Ernst), a pivotal character in Season 1. 

Kreese is supplanted by his fellow Vietnam veteran, Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) and Karate’s Bad Boy Mike Barnes (Sean Kanen). Both Silver and Kanan had authentic martial arts backgrounds so this installment had the best fight choreography. Ironically, The Karate Kid has had mediocre choreography throughout the series. After the initial film, Zabka continued to train under Pat Johnson, a genuine master of the Korean martial art of Tang Soo Do. Johnson was the choreographer and played the referee for the first three films. Fans complain that in Cobra Kai, Macchio still lacks convincing martial skills (he’s had 36 years to train). However, the Season 2 finale fight in Cobra Kai redeems the franchise with a brilliantly choreographed long take scene in the center of a massive brawl.

Part III flops on several levels. The over-the-top villainy of Silver was too caricatured, complete with the hackneyed ‘bwahahaha’. Furthermore, without Shue or Tomita, there’s no romance. Robin Lively played the new girl, Jessica Andrews, but she was only 16 at the time, and while Macchio’s babyface still allowed him to play a convincing teen, he was 27 so romance with a minor wasn’t an option. Nevertheless, Cobra Kai references Miyagi and Daniel’s Bonsai tree business from Part III with a chiding comment from Daniel’s wife Amanda (Courtney Henggeler) and the special Miyagi-do Kata that Daniel learns in the threequel is the one recited repeatedly throughout the series. 

The Next Karate Kid abandoned Daniel altogether to follow Miyagi’s new pupil, Julie Pierce (Hilary Swank). Despite being a total flop critically and financially, it’s Swank’s breakout role, and her budding talent shines, although not enough to redeem the film. What’s more, Miyagi’s given name is inexplicably changed to Keisuke. The new production crew apparently could not read Japanese.

The Saturday Morning Cartoon

Before Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, kids had to wait until Saturday morning to see cartoons. The Karate Kid was a 1989 Saturday morning cartoon series on NBC. It only ran for one season – thirteen 20+ minute long episodes – with none of the original actors voicing their characters. Daniel (Joey Dedio) and Miyagi (Robert Ho) were joined by a new character, kimono-wearing Taki Tamurai (Janice Kawaye), in a series-long quest to recover a small pagoda with magical powers. Their search took them around the world – London, Paris, Hong Kong, San Francisco, New York and more – a different location for each episode. The plots were all the same: the threesome almost recovers the pagoda, only to have it slip out of their hands again until next week’s installment. Again inexplicably, Mr. Miyagi’s given name was changed to Yakuga. In Cobra Kai, it is restored to Nariyoshi on his gravestone, meaning someone finally read the Japanese in Part II. 

The Karate Kid animated series was available on several streaming networks like Netflix, Hulu and iTunes, but all those services have abandoned it. It’s a weak show. The cheap cell animation is poor quality and horribly dated. Episodes can still be found on the web, but it’s not worth the search. It’s clearly outside of canon because there’s no magic in any of the live-action movies unless you count Mr. Miyagi’s magic healing hands, parodied in the first season finale of Cobra Kai. 

That Other Karate Kid

In 2010, a The Karate Kid remake starring Jaden Smith as Dre, the new Daniel, and Jackie Chan as Mr. Han, the new Mr. Miyagi. The project was met with intense internet backlash from the start. Even Macchio jumped on the critic bandwagon at first. In an MTV interview, as reported by Digital Spy, Macchio said “It feels pretty good that some people are pretty angry that they’re trying to remake The Karate Kid. It feels good that the public feels you don’t touch certain things. Sometimes you go back to that, and probably shouldn’t.” It’s ironic in the wake of Cobra Kai, but he changed his tune soon after Will Smith called him personally to ask him to advise Jaden. “He called and said, ‘Would you mind getting on the phone with my son?’ I felt like Yoda to young Skywalker.” Macchio confessed that his initial negative reaction was said too “candidly” and endorsed the project.  As the film’s premiere approached, more reporters reached out to Macchio to get his take. The Sun asked him if he might make a cameo to which Macchio replied (again ironically), “I have less of a desire to be in it or do a cameo because no one wants to see Daniel LaRusso in his forties. It would be like robbing the Karate Kid fans of their youth for me to be in it so I think it’s best to keep it separate.” Given the success of Cobra Kai, fans clearly want to see Daniel-san pushing sixty.

Another major issue was that all Asians are not alike. Karate is a Japanese martial art. Jackie Chan is Chinese and propounds Kung Fu. In Hollywood, the whole point of a reboot is to capitalize on the brand name, but naysayers complained that Karate was the wrong title for the reboot. Jackie wouldn’t be a sensei. He’d be a sifu. The title became so contentious that even the Wall Street Journal chimed in. 

Hollywood made a quick save for the title. When Dre’s mother Sherry (Taraji P. Henson) asks Dre about his ‘Karate,’ he replies, “It’s not Karate, mom.” The scene was strategically included in a Cinemark ‘First Look.’ And the title was changed for the Chinese market to Gongfu Meng (Kung Fu Dream). The Karate Kid was never released in theatrically China just like some 80+ Jackie Chan films were never released theatrically in the west so the brand name had no value. The Chinese version also added a finale fight where Han fights Li (Yu Rongguang), this version’s Kreese.

Jaden’s The Karate Kid is a complete reimagining of the story, like the Kelvin timeline in Star Trek or the Flashpoint timeline in DC comics. With a budget of $40 million, it earned $359 million worldwide making it the most financially successful installment yet. Naturally, talk of a sequel has been discussed, however last year, Jackie Chan said that any statements claiming that he would participate The Karate Kid 2 or Rush Hour 4 were “false”.

Beyond the Karate Kid Canon

Over the years, Macchio, Zabka and Kove have appeared in homages and parodies of the franchise. In 2003, Macchio and Zabka played themselves on How I Met Your Mother.  The episode ‘The Bro Mitzvah’ was about Barney’s (Neil Patrick Harris) bachelor party where he wanted to have the hero of The Karate Kid attend, so his friends arrange for Macchio to join the festivities. However, in Barney’s perspective, Johnny is the real hero. This ‘Barney wax on’ viewpoint is held by many fans, akin to the ‘Jar Jar Binks is a Sith Lord’ theory of Star Wars. In the Cobra Kai episode ‘Molting’ Johnny explains his take on the events in The Karate Kid. Technically speaking, Daniel’s winning crane kick should’ve disqualified him because strikes to the face are illegal. Daniel steals Ali and provokes Johnny, drenching him in the bathroom while he’s trying to roll a joint. 

For something completely different, an unauthorized musical spoof of The Karate Kid played at the off-Broadway Teatro la Tea in 2004. It’s Karate, Kid! The Musical featured Daniel-san, Johnny, Mr. Miyagi and Ali but Cobra Kai was replaced with the Bitchkicks. The show featured songs like “Damn You, Daniel-san”, “Wax On! Wax Off!”, and “The Way of Fisting”. 

In 2007, Macchio and Zabka reprised their iconic roles for the music video ‘Sweep the Leg’ by No More Kings. In the video, Zabka is a has-been living in a trailer watching The Karate Kid every day with his Cobra Kai buddies. Spliced with clips from the film, all the original Cobra Kai squad appears, Kreese, Jimmy (Tony O’Dell), Bobby (Ron Thomas) and Tommy (Rob Garrison). Even the South Seas condos are shown. Zabka wrote and directed the video. 

In another 2010 parody, Macchio plays himself in Funny or Die’s ‘Wax On, F*ck Off with Ralph Macchio’. Haunted by being typecast as squeaky-clean Daniel, Macchio struggles to sully his image to get more work in Hollywood. When Macchio tries to pick up a prostitute, she tells him to come back when he’s 18, to which he retorts ‘I’m 48!’ Molly Ringwald appears claiming that Macchio wanted to change the name of the Brat Pack to the Smile Bunch. There’s a reference to Jaden’s reboot too. 

Kove dove into replaying Kreese in 2011 with Comedy Central’s Tosh.0. In a segment called Web Redemption, host Daniel Tosh mocks a viral video by Josh Plotkin where he tries to break a board over his head. Kove and Ron Thomas appear in Cobra Kai gis in a breaking competition with a scoreboard that echoes the All-Valley Karate Tournament. And just last year, Kove donned Cobra Kai colors again for a QuickBooks ad in which he blames his aggressive teaching style on stress caused by not being able to manage his school’s finances. He drops comments like “Support the leg” and “More mercy” and goes so far to change the name of Cobra Kai to Koala Kai.

Cobra Kai is exactly where it needs to be on Netflix. The series is beautifully written and performed, coupling drama and comedy with bumps of action, all within bite-sized 20+ minute episodes. As its fan base continues to expand, so does anticipation for Season 3. And please, bring back Ali. Can’t Shue can take a break from The Boys? The final scene of Season 2 is such a tease, and after all that Johnny has been through in this series, he deserves a little mercy. 

Season 1 and 2 of Cobra Kai are now available on Netflix. Season 3 premieres on Netflix in 2021.

The post Cobra Kai and the Legacy of The Karate Kid appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[whindsor]

So at the start of 2019, I made the resolution to read more books! I used to be a voracious reader as a kid, but between college and grad school I kind of...forgot how to do that? So I got myself a library card (clutch, tbh) and spent the year enjoying free books and audiobooks!

Below the cut are the books that I read with short reviews about them. They aren’t the only books I started, but the cool thing about a library card is that since the books are free, you don’t feel bad about not finishing them if you don’t like them! 

Take a gander, maybe you’ll find your next favorite read!

Brief summary, meaning my favorite books of the year: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, and An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green!

As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of the Princess Bride by Cary Elwes 7/10 IDK if I enjoyed this because of nostalgia or because it was the first book I borrowed with my fancy dancy library card but either way it was nice to read a first hand account of one of my favorite movies, written by an actor that obviously feels a lot of affection towards it. Snaps to you, Cary Elwes.

Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo 7/10 I read it because it was Wonder Woman! She saves a girl who washes up on the shores of Themyscira and goes on an adventure to save her from ancient magic forces. TBH it wasn’t anything earth shattering but it was a fun, adventurous read and an entertaining story. Minus two points because Leigh Bardugo got paid to write fanfiction and I haven’t achieved that yet.

The Selection by Keira Cass 6/10 It was interesting enough to finish the audiobook, and I continued it because I was curious as to what would happen. It’s almost like a medieval AU of The Bachelor. But then the dreaded love triangle came up and I didn’t like where it was going so I didn’t finish the sequel. Entertaining enough, but not one I would go back to.

Wicked Appetite / Wicked Business / Wicked Charms by Janet Evanovich 6/10 Again, juuuuuuuust interesting enough for me to finish the audiobooks. It was the first audiobooks I got with ye olde librarie carde so that’s probably why I was so attached to finishing them. Also it’s about a girl that has magic baking powers, which is also probably why I wanted to finish it. She has to track down dragon balls or something I can’t really remember but it wasn’t bad.

Outlander / Dragonfly in Amber / Voyager by Diana Gabaldon 8/10 I LOVED Outlander, loved Dragonfly in Amber slightly less, and could barely finish Voyager. The series is about a British WWII nurse who gets sent back in time to 1793 Scotland and has to navigate all that mess. Jamie Fraser and eventually Fergus are the crown jewels of this story. Outlander was fantastic to me, it was interesting and funny and saucy and all in all a good story about time travel and the repercussions. There’s like, five more books in the series but again, I lost interest. I’ll probably go back and see what happens though cause I think Gabaldon brings in new characters.

The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff 8/10 A book about women spies in WWII France?? Fighting the Nazis and falling in love and being heroes?? Loved it. The characters were real and the fear palpable. Minus two points cause the love subplot was a touch underdeveloped but who knows man war changes things.

A Conjuring of Light by VE Schwab 9/10 The third in the series starting with A Darker Shade of Magic. I loooooooved the characters in this story, the plot twists were exciting instead of annoying, and the way that she uses magic and secrets and reveals were perfection. And I actually really enjoyed the ending, which is surprising. Would read again.

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green 9/10 A super interesting story about a mysterious sculpture that appears in New York and the subsequent fallout of crazy things that happen. I listened to the audiobook and the narrators were perfect, the story is fast paced and has good twists and the characters are super real and relatable and fallible. TBH I read it cause it’s John Green’s brother (I assume, I didn’t fact check) and he did NOT disappoint. Minus one point just cause I can’t bring myself to give out 10′s a lot.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer 8/10 Honestly? People shit on this book but I really enjoyed it. It’s fun and heart wrenching and an interesting take on the Cinderella story. One of these days I’ll finish Scarlet which is the sequel.

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 6/10 Holy shit this was way more intense than I anticipated it being. It was a really good take on time travel and the way it affects people. Truth be told I never saw the movie, but this book was crazy and saucy and super interesting. I didn’t give it a higher rating just cause the time traveler knew his wife since she was six and that doesn’t sit well with me.

Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli 7/10 Both the movie and the book were good, with all the drama and heartache of 1) being a teenager and 2) coming out to the people around him. Very poignant and emotional. Didn’t give it a higher rating just cause it wasn’t super memorable to me? But then again, that’s cause I’m a twenty-something woman and not a teenage gay boy so while it was beautifully written and definitely a very important book, it just wasn’t one of my faves.

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly 7/10 More women in WWII! Now with all this boss historical fiction coming out I can definitely see why guys are so obsessed with WWII. Then again, I think I would be obsessed with any stories detailing how badass women are during the war. It covers stories from all sides of the war - including the Nazis - and makes it seem so much more real. I started reading the sequel but it wasn’t quite as interesting.

The Diviners by Libba Bray 8/10 A fun fantasy mystery set in 1920′s New York! With ghosts and demons and magic powers and flappers! I really enjoyed it and am currently working on the sequel. The jargon is what really gets me like it’s so Great Gatsby but better. Would recommend.

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi 7/10 A patient recommended this to me. It’s about a girl imprisoned because she has powers and that is Dangerous. It’s of course a post-apocalyptic military state situation, and she’s trying to escape and low key start an uprising. A really good story with a really interesting voice to the main character. Like, this writing style was SO DIFFERENT and amazing, I’ve never read anything like it. I didn’t continue the series just because the voice was SO good and in tune that it kinda stressed me out.

Time After Time by Lisa Grunwald 6/10 An A+ concept about a ghost in the New York subway and the man who loves her. It’s an interesting take on a lil paranormal romance. I loved the lore and the historical setting (it takes place in like, the 40′s) and really paints a fantastic scene!

Berserker by Emmy Laybourne 8/10 Listen, this book was not something historians will be talking about for years to come. But it’s about a family of siblings who have magic Nordic powers and have to escape Norway and come to the US (which is in prime Old West time) to find their uncle. And they meet a COWBOY. It’s a story about family and love and also occasionally killing people because you have the blood of Odin or some shit and honestly? Catered directly to me.

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson 8/10 A fun and cool murder mystery set in a special fancy boarding school. Maureen Johnson has been one of my faves for a long time and she did not disappoint with this! It’s about a girl obsessed with a murder at the school, and she transfers in so she can solve it. And the TWIST at the END? Great!

An Ember in the Ashes / A Torch Against the Night / A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir 9/10 Another 9 because I can’t bring myself to give a 10, though if anything this series would get it. The voices that Tahir writes with are INCREDIBLE and the story is nuanced and compelling and so good. It’s about a teenager trying to save her brother from prison, as well as a guy graduating from assassin school. I don’t wanna say too much cause I don’t want to spoil if anyone reads it but tbh if you only pick one series PICK THIS ONE. If you like fantasy and stuff of course.

The Huntress by Kate Quinn 8/10 Listen. Mystery solving New York girl, post war. Men hunting former Nazis. Bicon Russian girl who was in the Russian Air force. Do I really need to say more? A phenomenal story that takes place before, during, and after WWII, and the wide variety of stories happening during that time. Great if you love historical fiction!

Sourdough by Robin Sloan 8/10 Just like Berserker this book probably isn’t something they’re gonna teach in English classes. But it’s about a girl who works in robotics on proprioception (!!!) and then?? Starts baking bread??? AKA everything I love in life so, you know, once again a book catering specifically to me.

Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer by Rick Riorden 7/10 As always, Riorden delivers a phenomenal story with phenomenal characters. And it includes populations that aren’t often the main characters in literature - a homeless teen and a Muslim teen, to name two. I haven’t continued the series just cause I got distracted with other things, but I totally want to.

I’m Not Dying with You Tonight by Kimberly Jones 7/10 A grand adventure that takes place over the course of one night in Atlanta. When a riot breaks out, two girls who haven’t spoken or really know each other are pushed together and spend the rest of the night trying to survive and make it home. It demonstrates two sides of life, and how they’re the same and how they’re different. I listened to the audiobook, which had phenomenal readers.

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee 8/10 A story about a spoiled rich bi boy who’s going on one final tour of Europe before he has to settle down and run his family’s estate. His best friend and his sister are with him, and of course everything goes to hell in a handbasket. But it’s a crazy journey and an excellent coming of age story.

In The Woods / The Likeness by Tana French 8/10 AMAZING murder mysteries! The first is about the murder of a kid in Ireland, and the toll it takes on the investigators and people around them. It has an amazing twist at the end, and even though it takes a while for them to solve the murder, it never gets boring. Same with the second one! It’s a crazy situation that would never happen in real life, but she writes it SO WELL that i don’t even care! I will probably skip the third one cause it’s about a character I don’t really like and also takes place in the past before all of this, but I do want to continue reading these!

Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark 8/10 A great book of essays written by the voices behind “My Favorite Murder,” which is a hilarious and semi-informative true crime podcast. But they talk about more than just true crime in the book - in fact, it’s more about things that they’ve learned throughout their crazy lives. Super eye opening and also really entertaining, and I actually listened to it before I even listened to the podcast, so I feel like that’s saying something!

[geek-gem]

I think I just want to get this out of the way. This is about the fact Disney is remaking certain Fox films such as Night At The Museum, Diary Of A Wimpy Kid, Cheaper By The Dozen, and the biggest one Home Alone. They will be on Disney Plus.

Let me tell you this, I agree creativity is basically gone for Disney. Along with the fact I think there's too many streaming services or whatever.

Let me talk about reboot or remakes one at a time.

I never really cared for Cheaper By The Dozen, yet what's the point in remaking it?

Over time I personally don't like the Diary Of A Wimpy Kid franchise, it isn't for me. Still what's the point anyway of remaking it.

The Night At The Museum trilogy I'll admit, I'm not huge on it. Yet I never had a problem with them, it's a nice little trilogy of films that are fun and heart felt in there own right. In fact from what I've seen many people love them actually. So really again especially what's the point in remaking it? Luckily the trilogy had a nice sendoff honestly. Also the sad fact Robin Williams is gone and it was nice seeing him in those films.

Now Home Alone, which is the one people are giving the biggest outcry over. Considering I had watched the first two last night. Which inspired me to make this post.

Again like the others, is there really a point? I wanna say I like the first two movies, it's a nice little Duology of films. I don't care for the others that came after it. While I admit I think the first is the best in terms of character development and it's basically the first. I do think the first sequel Lost In New York is still quite some fun mostly because it's the same cast and crew(whether old and new), also it being in New York City and all that. Yet watching that whole movie first then the first, it's indeed a retread of the first film but I think that was done on purpose I think.

Again there is no need to remake it. But the funny thing is and the reason I wanted to make this......

Listen I don't support these remakes Disney is doing because they can simply just put the originals on the streaming service if they want to. Even though films have been out for a long time. In fact Disney has Hulu but whatever Disney didn't wanna put up with Netflix.

Yet I had this weird fan casting for Harry and Marv. But this is better, instead of a remake, make it a true Home Alone 3. Yeah you can make it a funny family film.

Have Kevin be a dad, and other stuff.

But here's the weird fan casting and it doesn't have to be Harry and Marv.....

Cast Skeet Ulrich and Matthew Lillard.....it's strangely funny because those two would weirdly fit, and just the idea of them together again you just think of...darker implications of what of people they are.

If you get the joke and reference I'm proud of you.

Basically the reference is okay I think I'll reveal my fan casting as the kid who'll be home alone. The fan casting is Millie Bobby Brown. There I didn't need to do a reblog for that. But here's the funny thing.

So it's Eleven/Madison Russell vs Billy Loomis, and Stu Macher.

There I send it. I'm not gonna get Disney Plus because I don't wanna get more streaming services. But I made up my own take of what the film should be. The reason I choose Millie because two reasons, one is Disney is really with the whole female empowerment shit going on despite some problems they have been doing. Two Millie is a great actress and she came to in my mind. Yes I just remembered some boy actors but what the hell I'm sticking with this. This is the some what realistic way Disney would do it.

I'll guess I'll reveal my fan castings for the, "The scary looking stranger who's actually a very friendly person" would be ether Kane Hodder, Derek Mears, Robert Englund, Joe Manganiello, or Idris Elba, with the character basically being a big friendly giant who everyone looks at him like he's like Jason Voorhees of sorts who wears a mask to scare people.

The kind of stranger character I'm talking about is the old man from the first, and the pigeon lady from the second film. I might take Robert Englund out of the fan casting or put him some where else because he's great.

There Disney I made up my own Home Alone movie for ya. All that matters is the quality. Really it doesn't have to be a remake anyway.

Yet yes make Skeet and Matthew the Harry and Marv of the movie. But this will probably make people thirst for them because now they are strangely hot....but the stranger considering my castings might beat them in the hot category. My God this is all so much weird, but it's strangely funny.

This also means Matthew Lillard gets his face hit by thrown bricks a couple of times too. XD

Since I'm done with the tags. The reason I'm not tagging Cheaper By The Dozen, Diary Of A Wimpy Kid, or Night At The Museum, because this is more about the first two Home Alone movies and it's remake, which may not be as crazy if Disney were to remake because of Kevin's crazy traps or if they are crazy like they were.

[kenro199x]

*I’m going to cut and paste the entire thing here as to avoid being stuck in a paywall for future readers. 

Overlooked No More: Debra Hill, Producer Who Parlayed ‘Halloween’ Into a Cult Classic

Hill rose through Hollywood’s ranks, setting an example as a successful Hollywood producer at a time when there were few women in the industry.

May 22, 2019

Overlooked is a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths, beginning in 1851, went unreported in The Times.

By Melena Ryzik

Perhaps the most famous babysitter in all of moviedom, Laurie Strode, the teen heroine of “Halloween,” is stalked by a crazed predator and survives — repeatedly. Laurie was resourceful and kind, “quiet but defiant,” said Debra Hill, who helped create the character.

Once a babysitter herself, with a taste for 1950s B-horror flicks, Hill wrote and produced “Halloween” with the director John Carpenter. Laurie endured as a symbol of female resolve, fending off her attacker and rebuilding her life.

“Here was a woman who didn’t run from danger, but stepped up to it,” Hill later told the author David Konow for his book “Reel Terror.”

Hill, those who knew her said, was equally audacious.

“Being a woman in show business is a scary situation,” Jamie Lee Curtis, who starred as Laurie and befriended Hill, said in a phone interview. “It’s a boys’ club, and she established herself, very early on, as a very thorough and capable producer.”

At the time, Hill was a rare female producer who grew to be a mentor for a pivotal generation of women in Hollywood — “part den mother, part cheerleader,” as Stacey Sher, her former employee and now a producer in her own right (“Erin Brockovich,” “Django Unchained”), put it.

Hill nurtured talent wherever she found it — the filmmaker James Cameron was once her visual effects guy; a second assistant director, Jeffrey Chernov, became a producer of “Black Panther” — and had the confidence not to fear that others would leapfrog over her if she gave them a steppingstone.

She later grew frustrated, friends and colleagues said, that the system in which she excelled as a producer did not welcome more women as directors. But even that did not dim her passion for the industry, and she spent the last few years of her life — she died in 2005 — working on a romantic thriller that would be her directorial debut.

Hill considered herself, above all, a storyteller, starting with “Halloween,” which she and Carpenter, her boyfriend at the time, wrote in three weeks. It catapulted them into major careers.

Released in 1978, “Halloween” had a shoestring budget, about $320,000, and went on to earn $70 million globally (around $200 million in today’s dollars), a record for an independent movie. A slasher classic that revitalized the genre, it’s now in the National Film Registry. Hill also championed Curtis, then 19, for “Halloween,” her first feature, presenting a model of female camaraderie in a male-dominated field.

Hill worked or was credited on most of the “Halloween” sequels — last year’s blockbuster installment, also starring Curtis, and made long after Hill’s death, was the 11th in the franchise — and collaborated with Carpenter on other seminal horror and sci-fi thrillers, including “The Fog” and “Escape from New York,” after their romantic relationship ended.

She was an exacting producer. As she told The Los Angeles Times in 1982: “I discovered very early that there are two ways for a woman producer to go. You could be aggressive, or you can be very nice. So I arrive on the set, in my tight jeans, and people wonder. Then they see I’m nice. Then, finally, they see I mean business.”

Curtis recalled that Hill scrutinized every receipt, keeping track of how many spools of thread and rolls of gaffer tape were used — and yet, said Curtis, Hill was “beloved” by her overwhelmingly male crews.

“She brought the proof that a woman can do anything in successful filmmaking that men do,” said Jeanine Basinger, a film historian. “They can make top box office blockbusters, they can make action films and genre films and horror films. She brought originality.”

In the 1980s Hill teamed up with Lynda Obst, a former studio executive, in one of the first female producing partnerships. Their movies included “The Fisher King,” “Clue,” based on the board game, which was Hill’s idea to develop for the screen, and “Adventures in Babysitting,” the directorial debut of Chris Columbus (“Home Alone,” “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”).

“Debra knew how to do every job on a set,” from positioning cameras to fine-tuning lighting, Obst said. She remembered Hill standing “with her arms on her hips, like Peter Pan arriving in Neverland,” surveying every shot. “She just was able to solve a problem, imaginatively.”

On “The Fisher King” (1991), when the director Terry Gilliam suddenly decided during a location scout that he wanted to create an elaborate dance with 1,000 waltzing extras in Grand Central Terminal, Hill figured out how to pull it off. The sequence was among the most lauded in the film, which earned multiple Oscar nominations and won one (best supporting actress, Mercedes Ruehl).

Debra Gaye Hill was born on Nov. 10, 1950, in Philadelphia, to Frank and Jilda Hill. Her mother was a nurse and her father, who had been a Hollywood art director before her birth, eventually became a salesman, including on a car lot. The family, among them Hill’s younger brother, Franklin Robert Hill Jr., known as Bob, moved often.

Once, when house-hunting in Connecticut, their parents parked the children, then 10 and 11 or so, in a local movie theater. “I think Deb and I saw ‘Gone With the Wind’ four times a day,” said Bob Hill, a retired tugboat captain.

They later settled in Haddonfield, N. J., which Hill used as inspiration for the fictional Haddonfield, Ill., setting of “Halloween.” Horror, she observed, always struck in small, under-policed towns and sleepy suburbs, where it seemed, tantalizingly, like nothing could go wrong.

“The idea of pulling off the veneer and seeing what lies beneath has always intrigued me,” she told Konow, the author of “Reel Terror” (2012).

After receiving her bachelor’s degree in sociology from Temple University, she became a flight attendant, then lingered in Jamaica, getting involved with a jazz musician.

That led to writing liner notes for albums, her brother said, which evolved into more writing gigs. She landed in California and, through her father’s connections, worked as a production assistant and a script supervisor, or “script girl,” as it was then called, on low-budget movies (including Carpenter’s first feature, “Assault on Precinct 13”) before moving her way up to producer.

Off the set, Hill liked to give dinner parties, cooking for up to 20 people. (She made a mean matzo ball soup, said her friend Diane Robin, an actress, and poached her salmon in the dishwasher.) Hill would gather guests around her piano to sing and coax them to dance. Sometimes, she pulled out a baton and did a majorette routine that she had learned as a teenager. Later, because of the cancer that would take her life, her legs were amputated; undeterred, she threw a disco-themed birthday party and danced along in her wheelchair.

Hill was 54 when she died on March 7, 2005. Her directorial debut never happened, but in a speech she gave in 2003 in accepting an award from the organization Women in Film, it was clear she knew her importance in the industry.

“I want every producer, studio executive and agent in this room to include me in their directors list,” she said, “along with the women who have come before me, and the women directors who will come after me. If you need me, you’ll find me — I’ll be sitting by my pool, reading scripts and waiting for your numerous offers.”

In 2005 the Producers Guild, where she was a board member, named a fellowship in her honor, for women and men “whose work, interests, professionalism and passion mirror that of Debra Hill.” A dozen people have been recipients thus far, furthering her reach within the industry.

“There weren’t a lot of women to emulate or follow or learn from when I came to Hollywood in 1975,” Hill said in 2003. “Women struggled to have their voices heard, but I refused to struggle along with them. I realized that a woman can be successful in a man’s world.”

[weekendwarriorblog]

WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND June 28, 2019  -  YESTERDAY, ANNABELLE COMES HOME, MAIDEN

I’m going to do things a little different again this week, because while I normally would begin with the bigger movie of the weekend, I actually have a lot of stuff about ANNABELLE COMES HOME (New Line/WB) over at The Beat, as you can see below, so instead, I’m going to put a little more focus on Danny Boyle’s YESTERDAY (Universal), because... well, read on...

It’s not often a movie comes along that combines all of my favorite things into a completely unexpected movie that works, but Yesterday, written by Love, Actually’s Richard Curtis and directed by Danny Boyle, does just that. It takes a fairly high concept premise of a world without knowledge of the Beatles and their music and turns it into a hilarious comedy about fame and love and plenty of other things.  Maybe that’s to be expected when it comes from a writer who has helped define British comedy and one of my favorite directors, but that doesn’t always mean that it will always work.

We meet Himesh Patel’s Jack Malik as he’s doing his regular busking around Sussex at any gig his best friend and manager Ellie (Lily James) can get for him, but it’s not going well and Jack is ready to give up. One night, after coming back from one such bad gig, the lights go out across the globe for 12 seconds and in that 12 seconds, Jack’s bike is hit by a bus. He ends up in the hospital with two missing teeth but when he gets out he starts playing “Yesterday” on an acoustic guitar bought for him as a gift by Ellie, and realizes that none of his friends realize who the Beatles are. Jack immediately realizes that it’s up to him to preserve the songs so he tries to remember them and incorporates them into his shows, at which point he suddenly starts getting more attention.

The first thing about Yesterday that’s immediately apparent is the talent and charm of Himesh Patel who really carries the film and has you constantly rooting for him. I’ve long been a fan of Lily James, especially after her turn in Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver, but I feel like the role of Ellie allows her to be more of herself than some of her other ones.

There are quite a few other levels to the humor, the first one being when Ed Sheeran, played by the real Ed Sheeran, contacts Jack Malik about his music and becomes involved in his story. The next level is when Kate McKinnon enters the picture as Sheeran’s manager who wants to turn Jack into a money-making superstar ala Sheeran. Sheeran ably makes fun of himself and his own talent as a singer/songwriter, but McKinnon takes her character so far into the world of sleaze that she’s hysterical (especially to someone who has worked in the music biz and has seen this first-hand). It’s also good to mention Joel Fry as Jack’s bumbleheaded friend/roadie Rocky and Sanjeev Bhaskar and Meera Syal as his parents, all who bring even more laughs to the movie.

Probably the most interesting turn is when Ellie is ready to say bye to Jack as he heads off to L.A., and she suddenly realizes that she’s in love with him though those feelings aren’t reciprocated. As Jack tries to navigate the music business with his sleazy new manager, he realizes that he has to go to Liverpool if he wants to remember the last of the Beatles songs, and once there, he reconnects with Ellie as they try to sort out their feelings.

That’s all I’m going to say because the last act is so full of surprises that really helps bring the whole thing home. And then on top of all that, you have the music of the Beatles, which still gives me goosebumps as performed by the talented Patel. (Once I buy this soundtrack, it will be the second record this year I’ve bought of an actor performing classic pop/rock songs and selling them as well as the original artist(s).)

I don’t think you have to be a Beatles fan to appreciate what Curtis and Boyle done with this premise, and maybe it’s because I’ve been in Ellie’s shoes, falling in love with a friend who just sees me as a friend that I really connected with the romantic angle of the film, one that really pays off.

Yesterday is just wonderful, and it’s easily one of my favorite movies of the year.

Rating: 9/10

Interview with Writer Richard Curtis over at The Beat

Getting back to Annabelle Comes Home, I’m sure that New Line’s latest entry into the ConjuringVerse is going to prove popular, especially with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Larraine and Ed Warren. It’s screenwriter Gary Dauberman’s directorial debut and it stars the amazing McKenna Grace (Gifted) as the Warrens’ daughter Judy, as it shows what happens when the Annabelle doll is released in the artifact room, drawing a gaggle of malevolent spirits to the Warren home as Judy and her babysitter (and friends) fight them off and try to figure out how to stop them.

My Review over at The Beat

Interview with Writer/Director Gary Dauberman at The Beat.

LIMITED RELEASES

Another movie I’m really excited for people to finally see, one which I saw way back in January around when it premiered at Sundance is Alex Holmes’ doc MAIDEN (Sony Pictures Classics), which tells the amazing story about how Tracy Edwards put together an all-woman sailing team to race in the 1989 Whitbread Round the World Race despite all the odds against them. I loved this movie, not only because it’s an amazing story but also I’m a sailing enthusiast who sadly has not been able to get out and go sailing as much as I’ve hoped. But Edwards’ story and what she and hew crew 

Over a year since it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, Star Wars: The Force Awakens star Daisy Ridley stars as OPHELIA (IFC Films) in Claire McCarthy’s reimagining of Shakespeare’s Hamletwith Ophelia taking center stage as the lady-in-waiting to Queen Gertrude, played by Naomi Watts. George MacKay from Captain Fantastic plays Prince Hamlet, and the movie will open at the IFC Center as well as select theaters across the country.

Also opening at the IFC Center on Friday (and then in L.A. on July 12) is Jan Zabelle’s Three Peaks (Greenwich Entertainment), starring Alexander Fehling and Bérénice Bejo (The Artist). Fehling plays Aaron who wants to be a family with his girlfriend and her 8-year-old son in the Italian Dolomites, but has trouble gaining the boy’s acceptance.

Opening in select cities is Mitch Davis’ THE OTHER SIDE OF HEAVEN 2: FIRE OF FAITH (Artaffects), a sequel to the 2001 faith-based film which grossed $4.7 million.  Christopher Gorman returns as the missionary John H. Grober who returns to Tonga with his wife and five daughters, where they have a sixth child who is suffering an illness.

Opening at New York’s Film Forum is Lila Avilés’ The Chambermaid, set in a deluxe Mexico City hotel where chambermaid Eva spends her days making beds and dealing with needy clients, partially inspired by Sophie Calle’s The Hotel.

Opening at Film at Lincoln Center is James N. Kienitz Wilkins and Robin Schavoir’s experimental film The Plagiarists (KimStim) starring Lucy Kaminsky and Eamon Monaghan as a couple stranded by a snowstorm while visiting a friend in upstate New York and are put up for the night by a strange guy named Clip (Michael Payne from Parliament) only to discover that his hospitality was not what it seems. The filmmakers will be on hand for QnAs after the screenings Friday and Saturday night.

Opening at the Quad Friday is Eddie Mensore’s Mine 9 (EmphatiCinema/Levey Distribution)about nine coal miners in West Virginia trapped underground after a methane explosion.

Also opening at the Quad (and at the JCC Manhattan) is Avi Nesher’s Israeli film The Other Story (Strand Releasing) about two rebellious young women from Jerusalem who clash in unexpected ways.

From China comes Derek Tsang’s thriller Better Days (Well GO USA), opening Thursday in select cities, about a female student preparing for the important “gaokao” college entrance exam tests, who teams with a small-time criminal named Bei when she’s being bullied over a classmate who committed suicide. (NOTE: I just read that Better Days was pulled from Chinese release a few days ago, so I’m wondering if maybe it’s U.S. release will be delayed accordingly, as well.)

Alicia Vikander and Eva Green star in Swedish filmmaker Lisa Langseth’s English-language debut Euphoria (Freestyle Releasing) as two sisters travelling to a mystery destination in Europe. It also stars Charles Dance and Charlotte Rampling and opens in select cities.

Last, there’s Martin Owen’s Killers Anonymous (Grindstone Entertainment) about a support group for killers, which stars Gary Oldman, Jessica Alba and Suki Waterhouse. This is probably a mostly VOD movie that might be released into a few theaters.s

LOCAL FESTIVALS

I had to omit this section last week due to time constraints, but this weekend begins one of my favorite annual New York film festivals, and that is the New York Asian Film Festival, mostly taking place at Film at Lincoln Center and then the SVA Theater.  This is the 18thannual festival, dubbed “Still Too Young to Die,” and I have to admit that over the past few years, I’ve been somewhat neglect in my attendance and coverage of the festival. I hope to change that as there are definitely some things I’m hoping to catch. You have to remember that many of the films that play this festival NEVER receive U.S. distribution so NYAFF is the only chance to see some of them.

This year’s festival opens with Bernard Rose’s Samurai Marathon, a period piece set in the 1850s with an all-star cast and a Philip Glass score. This year’s centerpiece is

Eguchi Kan’s The Fable, adapting the Manga about a Yakuza hit man trying to lead a “normal life.” For a third year in a row, NYAFF has a competition for the Uncaged Award for Best Feature Film with seven films from different Asian countries in competition, many having their North American premieres:  Moon Sung-ho’s 5 Million Dollar Life, Kim Yoon-seok’s Another Child, Huang Chao-liang’s Han Dan, Nojiri Katsumi’s Lying to Mom, Kenneth Lim Dagatan’s Ma, Yi Ok-seop’s Maggie and Wu Nan’s Push and Shove.

Legendary martial arts choreographer and director Yuen Woo-ping will be receiving the Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award, and they should be showing some of his best work at this year’s festival including Donnie Yen’s Iron Monkey, The Miracle Fighters and more.

This year’s festival will run until July 14, although the Closing Night film has yet to be announced.

STREAMING AND CABLE

Streaming on Netflix starting Friday is Paul Thomas Anderson’s musical short Anima, starring and scored by Radiohead’s Thom Yorke. 

REPERTORY

Before we get to the individual theaters, be aware that Spike Lee’s all-time classic Do the Right Thing will be receiving a 30th anniversary rerelease both in a new 4k digital restoration and in some cases, on an archival 35mm print. Check your local theaters to see if it’s playing near you, and if you haven’t seen it yet after 30 years, then you have no excuse not to go see it this week.

METROGRAPH (NYC):

When it comes to music docs, Les Blank is one of the pioneers and thankfully, Les Blank Films (along with Argot Pictures) is issuing two restorations of the ‘70s films he was involved with including Chulas Fronteras  (1976) and Del Mero Corazon  (1979) that look into the amazing music crossing the border between Mexico and Texas. Chulas, translated as “Beautiful Borders,” is a fascinating hour-long film that uses the music as a backdrop to show the everyday lives of those who live on the boarder. Del Mero (“Straight from the Heart”), co-directed with Maureen Gosling (who will be on hand Friday and Saturday night), Guillermo Hernandez & Chris Strachwitz is a shorter film mostly about the romantic songs from Mexico. Honestly, as someone who frequently has to listen to Mexican “mariachi” music on the subway while I’m trying to relax and listen to my own music, I wasn’t sure whether and if I’d connect with either film and while Chulas is definitely a stronger overall film, they both offer some great insights into the Tex-Mex music and musicians that have paved the way for others.

The Metrograph joins other New York arthouse in closing off Pride Month with Films of Pride and Protest: Stonewall at 50 with two series of films by various filmmakers documenting the groundbreaking rallies and protests that have helped the LGBTQ movement get to where it is today.

This week’s Late Nites at Metrograph  screening is the Safdie Brothers’ Heaven Knows What  (2015) while the Playtime: Family Matinees  offering is Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid (1921) in 35mm!

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

This week’s Weds. matinee is Alfred Hitchcock’s Topaz from 1969 – I guess the new Bev is still going through the movies of the late ‘60s, a running theme the last couple weeks. Weds and Thursday’s double feature is Krakatoa, East of Java and The Boston Strangler (from 1969 and 1968, continuing that theme); Friday and Saturday sees a double feature of Steve McQueen’s Bullitt (1968) and George Sheppard’s Pendulum (1969); and then the Sunday/Monday double feature is Liza Minnelli’s The Sterile Cuckoo (1969) with 3 in the Attic (1968; in 16mm, no less!). The weekend’s KIDDEE MATINEE is another Steve McQueen movie, The Reivers, also from 1969, and then the midnight movies are Tarantion’s Inglourious Basterds on Friday night and Arlo Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant(1969) on Saturday night. Chris Nolan’s Inception (not from 1968 or 1969!) will screen as a matinee on Monday and then next Wednesday’s matinee is the James Bond film From Russia With Love  (1963).

FILM FORUM (NYC):

On Friday, the Film Forum begins screening the Coen Brothers’ 1998 comedy classic The Big Lebowski for a week for no particular reason… but who needs a reason to catch up with Jeff Bridges’ The Dude and friends? It will also screen Elaine May’s classic bomb Ishtar, starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman, again for no particular reason. Maybe because it’s summer? This weekend’s Film Forum Jr. is the 1982 John Huston musical Annie, and then on Sunday, the Forum will screen Otto Preminger’s 1954 film  Carmen Jones, introduced by Donald Goble.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

Cinematic Void presents a double feature of Ti West’s The House of the Devil(2009) and Wolf’s Hole (1987) on Thursday and then on Friday, the Egyptian goes further into the Czech New Wave with The Anarchic Cinema of Vera Chytilova, a double feature of Daisies (1966) and Fruit of Paradise (1970) as well as a couple shorts by the Czech director. The series continues on Sunday with a double feature of Panelstory and The Very Late Afternoon of a Faun. I honestly don’t know much about the Czech New Wave (or actually, nothing) but it certainly seems to be back in style. Also Sunday is a Barbara Stanwyk double feature as part of The Style of Sin, showing Ladies of Leisure (1930) and Baby Face (1933).

AERO  (LA):

Thursday, there’s a screening of the new The Doors: The Final Cutwith director Oliver Stone and Val Kilmer in person, and it isn’t sold out, as of this writing! Friday is a screening of Charles Shyer’s Irreconcilable Differences (1984) with special guests and then the weekend is all about one of my favorite filmmakers, Lynn Shelton! After a preview of her excellent new movie Sword of Trust on Saturday, there’s a TRIPLE feature of Your Sister’s Sister (2011) on 35mm, Touchy Feely (2013) and We Go Way Back (2006) on Saturday and then a triple feature of Humpday (2009) on 35mm and 2017’s Outside In.

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

The Quad continues to show its 2k restoration of Greta Schiller and Robert Rosenberg’s Before Stonewall (1984) through the weekend

ROXY CINEMA (NYC)

On Wednesday, the Roxy is screening Humphrey Bogart’s classic Casablanca on a 35mm print, then Thursday, it’s showing the 2002 dark comedy The Rules of Attraction. Getting into the Pride spirit, Saturday sees a 35mm screening of the 2000 lesbian comedy But I’m a Cheerleader, presented in conjunction with Flaming Classics, as well as a 35mm print of the 1969 doc Portrait of Jason about black, gay sex worker Jason Holliday, which will screen one time on Saturday and Sunday.

IFC CENTER (NYC)

Waverly Midnights: Parental Guidance wraps up with Brian De Palma’s adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie (1976), Weekend Classics: LoveMom and Dad is Ingmar Bergman’s Autumn Sonata (1978) while the Late Night Favorites: Spring concludes with David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive (2001). The IFC Center will be one of the theaters showing Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing on an archival 35mm print, but only for the 7pm showtimes for the next week. Also in celebration of Stonewall (just a few blocks away), the IFC Center is premiering a 4k restoration of Frank Simon’s 1968 film The Queen (a Cannes selection), which looks at the 1967 Miss All-American Camp Beauty Pageant, organized by LGBTQ icon Flawless Sabrina with judges including Andy Warhol, Larry Rivers and Terry Southern. It will be shown with the 1967 short Queens at Heart.

BAM CINEMATEK (NYC):

On Thursday, BAM and FAB Flicks will show the 1961 musical classic West Side Story outdoors at the Brooklyn Plaza Medical Center. On Friday, BAM joins the celebration of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing with a 30thanniversary rerelease. The Beyond the Canon series continues on Saturday with a double feature of Dibril Diop Mambety’s 1973 film Touki Bouki with Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless (1960)

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

Astoria, Queens’ premiere arthouse continues its Grit and Glitter: Before and After Stonewall series this weekend with John Waters’ Multiple Maniacs (1970) on Friday, Sidney Lumet’s Dog Day Afternoon (1975)and Stephen Frears’ My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) on Saturday. Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s 2004 film Tropical Malady will screen on 35mm on both Saturday and Sunday. The See it Big! Action series will screen Pam Grier’s Coffy (1973) in 35mm on Saturday and Sunday.

FILM OF LINCOLN CENTER (NYC):

Lincoln Center’s 50thanniversary celebration continues with 50th Mixtape: Free Double Features with Agnes Varda’s Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962) and Jane Campion’s The Portrait of a Lady (1996) on Thursday night.

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART  (LA):

This Friday’s midnight movie is Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke (1997)… subtitled!

Next week, it’s the extended 4thof July weekend and Sony’s seventh Spider-Man movie Spider-Man: Far from Home will go up against Ari Aster’s sophomore effort, Midsommar.

[imyourliquor-youremypoison]

Peter Pan Fic Rec

Okay so since I’m the one who’s been complaining about soft hearted OC or Y/N, I think I owe y’all this. I keep track of every single fanfiction I read on a rec blog (but it’s in French and not on tumblr) so I figured I should make the same thing here.

Echo by PurpleLady

I just had to be her. The one he fell in love with, the girl who was taken away from her brother, got aged back to being sixteen- forgetting my memories for 28 years in the process, and then having to jump into a giant portal not knowing where I would be taken. "He thinks I'm Robin Hood's twin sister who got kidnapped by Peter Pan for two decades."

It’s over 300k long and it’s mindblowingly good. The author recreated the way the episodes work, she swtiched between past and present scenes that intermingle really well and everything is perfect. She did incredibly well with so many characters and the OC has depth and is relatable. Also, she’s a ‘bad guy’ technically.

Red Rebellion and its even better sequel Never Seas by thoughtsofanonymous

Based in the future. [Peter Pan x OC] [Captain Swan] Emma and Killian's rebellious daughter is paid a visit by a very intrigued Peter Pan. 

[Sequel to Red Rebellion] Killian and Emma's headstrong daughter Elizabeth Swan had always been a handful. As if her relationship with the mischievous Peter Pan wasn't already enough of a headache, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday she inherits powers beyond her control. [includes subtle themes from Pirates of the Caribbean]

These two a jewels. Especially the second one. In case it’s not clear: this is a OUAT x Pirate of the Caribbean crossover, with Elizabeth Swan, daughter of Killian Jones and Emma Swan, as main character. And it’s fabulous from beginning to end. The author magnificently writes this complex crossover (since OUAT is very disney-like and PotC is a lot darker) and she doesn’t tone it down because of the fairytale characters but rather takes them to a whole other level of authenticity and complexity.

When One Day Is Equal to a Thousand by YouSaidWho

Indigo Garcia walks worlds - out of time, out of place - and unrestricted by anyone's rules. And she has one mission; it's going down on Pan's island. 

This one is a little wonder too. The author obviously knows what she’s about and she carries out her idea beautifully. She’s written other Peter Pan fanfics I haven’t read yet (but I will) and you will find them below. I have no doubt they are as good as this one because the author’s style is awesome! Plus, if you like Hook, this one is definitely for you!

Secrets by xPeterPanNeverFailsx

For my own safety, there had always been two things that I had kept to myself. The first: they had made one huge mistake when they brought me to Neverland. I was no lost boy. The second, well, I suppose it's a secret for a reason. 

This is a oneshot and it has a nice twist I think, which I really enjoyed. It’s about 6k long and it’s the only one of I found with this ‘plot’.

Never Let Me Go by expecto-patroniam

I spent years away from him. Decades. I left because I thought that was what he wanted. And now, after all the hell I've been through, he tells me that he never actually wanted me to go. 

Also a onehot but much shorter than the previous one. This one I read a longer time ago and I don’t remember exactly what it’s about but I rated it 75% so it must have been somewhat good. It won’t cost you much time to give it a shot anyway :)

What You Care About Most by xPeterPanNeverFailsx

When it comes time for Pan to cast the spell again, the spell that brought all of the people in the Enchanted Forest to Storybrook, he must decide if it is worth it to sacrifice the heart of the thing he cares about most, the only girl he has ever loved. 

I don’t remember much about this oneshot either (I’m really useless, right???), but I wrote (and I quote) “Heartbreaking but beautiful” so- idk hold onto your feels?

Alpha by Mikki19

Omegas weren't supposed to exist any longer. They were said to have died out many years ago, so why was Polly-Anna feeling the prickly heat when the Pied Piper pays another visit to Hamelin? 

This one is a lot of smut sprinkled with a bit of plot, but mostly smut. I’m not joking at all, this is the smuttiest fanfiction I’ve ever read, and I’ve read a lot of them. If you’re not comfortable with graphic scenes, this is not for you.

Jewel of Neverland trilogy by DreamerGirl96

The Jewel of Neverland

They say Peter Pan is a monster who can't love. Then the shadow brought back stubborn, naive Amy. No matter how she denies it, she's falling for the cruel boy. Will love be Pan's saving grace or his ultimate downfall? Takes place before, during, and after Operation: Save Henry.

Safe and Sound

The backfired curse has sent all of Storybrooke and its inhabitants back to the Enchanted Forest, including Amy. Only her memories seemed to have survived and her magic has grown stronger. Threats lurk around every corner as she fights for the ones she loves and not destroy herself in the process.

Shatter Me

The missing year has Storybrooke in confusion and chaos. Felix and Serena are back to being reluctant allies, Henry has no memory of his home, and Zelena has the Dark One captive, along with Peter and Amy. It's a race against time to save the past and stop Zelena from preventing her sisters from never being born.

I am in the process of reading this trilogy but so far it’s fairly good. It’s written in the first person narrative, which is not my personal favorite but it’s fine. There are a few mistakes here and there (grammatical mistakes) but it can be overlooked too. The plot is good as far as I can tell (I’m only halfway through the first part). The three combined parts are about 300k long.

The following I haven’t read yet but they are on my to-read list

Dream Nightmares For Me by ForeverNeverlander

Cheri Regan finds herself on Pan's island, Neverland. All of the fairy tales told to her in her childhood are false, and she is kept "captive" in this "Pan's" camp. She doesn't talk, doesn't respond to Pan's efforts. She then finds herself in the middle of a game that she has no idea of it's consequences. 

This one has smut in it, you are warned.

Never Never Neverland by DREAMLESSLY17

Aria, daughter of Captain Hook and a mermaid, was born on Neverland. Who else would she fall in love with but Peter Pan? When Hook escapes Pan's control, he smuggles Aria with him. He erases her memory and returns to the Enchanted Forest. She's then swept up in Regina's curse separating her even farther from her love. Now 28 years later he has a plan to get her back. Season 3.

Innocence by kkshootingstar

A girl doomed before her own birth to be violently wanted by every person in her entire world, and then imprisoned for her entire life starting at age 5, of course wants nothing more than to escape. His Shadow is called to her, and takes her to Neverland, where she gets her freedom. And when you give an evil boy an innocent girl, opposites attract.

Paperkites and Paperchains by YouSaidWho

Evelyn Asteri gave Peter Pan her love. And now he's come back to claim all of her. Lost girls and lost boys are at war across realms where love and hatred collide time and time again in an endless battle of hideaways and secrecy where only one side will remain Panfiction! Pan/OC. Slight Hook/OC, but Lieutenant Duckling cause CS is endgame. M for smut and violence.

[18 years after Paperkites]

Tasha Highmark is a nineteen year old musician struggling in New York City. With memories coming back to her in disturbing vividness, she must rely on those around her to help her return to the Enchanted Forest and rescue the people in her dreams before it is too late. Sequel to Paperkites. AU. M for Smut and Language. Pan/OC. Felix/OC. Gremma. CaptainSwan.

A Solider’s Curse by YouSaidWho (with alternate ending)

Trapped by Peter Pan in a deal that she never truly agreed to, Ella Hart is bound to serve his will. Defying everything she was and everything she believes in, she obeys everything he asks of her. That is, until hope arrives in the form of a pirate. Multiple Pairings. Pan/OC, Hook/OC.

[believingispowerfulmagic]

Fanfic Master List (March 2017)

I figured it was time to update my list and to combine my two posts into one to manage easier. It’s long, so I’m putting it under a cut. 

Series:

All That Was Me

All That Was Me (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

AU! On a much needed vacation to England, Regina Mills-Ahern goes into Sherwood Forest during the Midsummer, when legend says travel between worlds is possible. She exits into a different forest, one populated with characters she only knew from fairy tales. Trying to return home, she encounters intrigue, friendship and love. Stable Queen, Outlaw Queen and other pairings.

What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve? (FF.net/AO3)

Set ten years before the events of “All That Was Me,” young Regina Mills and Daniel Ahern go on their first date.

The Life and Times of the Wicked Queen (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

How Zelena became the Wicked Queen in my story “All That Was Me.” Journey from Oz to the Enchanted Forest with one wicked witch.

The Land Without Magic (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

Sequel to “All That Was Me.” Regina Mills has been returned to the Land Without Magic and reunited with Robin and Roland. Together, the growing family faces the challenges of this world as they await the day when Emma will be called upon to break the curse. Outlaw Queen. AU

Once Upon a Time (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

Third in the "All That Was Me" series. With the knowledge that their friends are living their cursed lives only miles down the road, Robin and Regina try to figure out a way to rescue them. However, this brings them back in the path of familiar foes and they need to be more careful than ever-especially with three children now to worry about. Outlaw Queen, other pairings.

Dark Robin Saga

The Prince of Darkness (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

Season 5 AU. When the darkness tries to take Regina, Robin takes the dagger and becomes the new Dark One to protect her. As Robin and Regina adjust to the darkness inside him, everyone works together to save their friend and stop the Dark One once and for all. OQ with other ships in the background.

The Dark Legacy (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

Sequel to “The Prince of Darkness.” Happily married and raising their four children, Robin and Regina face two main concerns: Zelena and the dark magic about to awaken in their daughters’. When a strange figure begins stalking the girls, the two must band together with Zelena in order to protect their children from a cruel fate. OQ with other ships in the background.

Stand alone:

Thoughts in the Aftermath (AO3)

Following the events at Granny’s in the finale, both Regina and Robin muse about their situation.

The Magic of Christmas Day (FF.net/AO3)

Christmas comes to Storybrooke and Regina finds there’s still magic in the season.

A Thief and a Queen (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

A collection of my OQ drabbles, mostly written for OQ Week on tumblr.

Comfort Food (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

After horrible weeks, Robin Locksley and Regina Mills both reach for the last box of mac and cheese at the store. They decide to share it and find it is the start of a beautiful relationship. This relationship is explored in a series of one-shots. Outlaw Queen AU.

The Nanny (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

Regina Mills is hired to be the nanny for Roland Locksley, the young son of widowed millionaire Robin Locksley. She balances her duties as Roland’s nanny with caring for her ailing father all the while fighting her instant attraction to her employer and her own past. Outlaw Queen, modern non-magical AU.

It’s a Love Story (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

A series of one-shots based on Taylor Swift songs and Outlaw Queen. Will cover a wide range-canon, AU, Outlaw Bandit, Missing Year, etc. Will contain several ships in the background as well.

Building a Family (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

Ten-years-old Sophie Mills had a goal for her summer: Find her dad. With her mother, Regina, not wanting to talk about him, she comes up with a plan to find him from the one photograph that may contain him. When she does, she discovers she may have started looking for a dad but found a family instead. OutlawQueen, non-magical AU.

Henry’s Adventures in Fairytale Land (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

Based on “Babes in Toyland,” young Henry Mills wakes up after a car crash in a strange new world. He helps Regina, the Miller’s Daughter, on her quest to find the Toymaker in order to save her true love, Robin Hood, from the Wicked Witch. Will they succeed? And will Henry get back home in time for Christmas? [Gen with a strong OutlawQueen undercurrent]

Crown My Heart (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

OQ AU. Leopold realizes that Regina doesn’t want to marry him and sees a chance to strengthen Mist Haven’s relationship with a neighboring kingdom. He arranges for her to marry the new King of Sherwood, with whom Regina has an immediate connection. However, she carries a dark secret and faces a hostile court. Will their love be strong enough?

The Christmas Wish (FF.net/AO3/Wattpad)

Henry Mills and Roland Locksley are best friends who decide to ask Santa for one thing this Christmas: to be brothers. It's a wish which will have life changing consequences for all, especially their single parents, Regina Mills and Robin Locksley. Outlaw Queen, non-magical AU. Hood-Mills family

tumblr fics

An Enchanted Thanksgiving: One-shot set in the All That Was Me verse, where Regina introduces Thanksgiving to the Enchanted Forest.

Masquerade: Leopold throws a ball in honor of his anniversary with Regina. She meets a masked stranger there and shares a moment with him.

Caught: A mission goes wrong for Robin and Regina.

Forgotten: Set in Season 4B, Robin returns from New York to find the Evil Queen. Can he help her remember how much he loves her?

Assassin: King Leopold hires infamous assassin The Hood to kill his wife, Regina. Robin didn’t expect to be drawn to her.

Hades: When the Queen of Death finds a young boy in her river, her life is changed forever.

Archery: Regina agrees to spend a morning with Henry and Robin learning how to properly shoot a bow and arrow.

Hope: After an accident, Regina gets a peak into what her life could’ve been.

Pain Management: Regina takes care of Robin after he is injured and she soon learns he has an interesting reaction to painkillers.

Snowball Fight (Missing Year Trilogy #1): Robin and Regina get into a rather interesting fight.

On the Balcony (Missing Year Trilogy #2): Robin and Regina have a heart-to-heart.

Fever (Missing Year Trilogy #3): After Regina is injured during an attack, Robin takes care of her.

The Reveal: A season 4B AU. Robin returns from New York at the tail end of a battle for Storybrooke and learns something about Regina.

Waking Up: A sequel to Pain Management. What happens when the painkillers wear off and Robin wakes up.

Bath Time: Robin convinces Regina to relax after a long day.

Wicked: Robin and “Marian” go see a musical in New York City. Offers what my theory of what would’ve happened with the Marilena arc.

Happy Ending: A different ending for “There’s No Place Like Home” for Outlaw Queen.

The Dark One: Season 4 finale AU. With the darkness trying to take Regina, it is Robin, not Emma, who takes the dagger instead. (Became chapter 1 of The Prince of Darkness).

Comfort Food: Based on a prompt. Robin and Regina have no good, horrible weeks and reach for the last box of mac and cheese. (Became part I of Comfort Food).

The Reveal Part II: Sequel to The Reveal. Robin reveals what happened in New York and how he returned to Storybrooke.

A Purrfect Beginning: Based off a prompt. Robin gets off on the wrong foot with new neighbor Regina when his cat impregnates hers.

Aquatic Fun: When the Hood-Mills-Swan-Charming family spends a day at a water park, a friendly rivalry blooms between Robin and Regina.

True Love: Outlaw Bandit. Robin feels drawn to Regina, even after only meeting her once.

Family Matters: Regina needs a date and asks her best friend, Robin, to accompany her. She might get more than she expected.

Lost Souls: Interlude between “Lily” and “Mother.” Regina goes for a walk to clear her head.

The Nanny: Regina Mills becomes the nanny for the young son of billionaire Robin Locksley. (Became first chapter in The Nanny)

Welcome Home: (Set in the Comfort Food verse) Robin and Regina bring home the newest member of their family.

Teach Me: Robin asks Regina to teach him how to drive and she finds an incentive to help him succeed.

The Tattoo: In the missing year, Regina and Robin have a little competition.

Goodnight, My Someone: Outlaw Bandit. Regina and Robin wish goodnight to the same star.

The Storybook: In the missing year, Henry’ storybook comes to Regina and brings her closer with a certain outlaw.

The Impossible: Based on a prompt. Regina’s visit to Dr. Whale doesn’t go the way she planned.

Best Laid Plans: Based on a prompt. Robin’s surprise for Regina doesn’t go as planned.

The Talk: Outlaw Believer fic. Henry asks Robin to give him that all important “Talk.”

A Night Together: Written as a birthday gift and is mostly Dimples Queen. When the Charmings throw a ball, Regina offers to babysit Roland.

First Snow: Writing challenge. Regina and Henry introduce Robin and Roland to snow days.

Family Bonds: Regina worries that Roland feels bad that so many people remark about how much Peanut looks like Robin but he surprises her with his answer.

Love Thy Neighbor: Robin and Marian discover their new neighbors are swingers and he finds he has a passionate connection with Regina.

Dirty Secret: During Season 4A, Regina and Robin sneak around behind Marian’s back.

What Child is This?: Written for OUAT Secret Santa. Regina and Robin learn something surprising about Peanut.

Not Just Another Day: Everyone has forgotten Regina’s birthday...or have they?

A Drunken Misadventure: After a night of drinking, Robin gets a brilliant idea--confront the Evil Queen.

Baby's Firsts: Regina and Robin have bets over Peanut’s milestones.  

The Nanny: Christmas Interlude:  Christmas at the Locksley household, since I didn’t show it in The Nanny.

Comfort Food Interlude: Betrayal: Regina gets betrayed by the one thing she thought never would.

The Shower: Regina and Robin wash up after another monster attack.

Steal Away: Robin robs the wrong person...or has he?

Steal Away: Cohabitation: The Locksleys and the Mills adjust to their new living arrangements.

The Evil Queen and the Thief: When Robin Hood is captured, the Evil Queen has some fun with him.

Teacher and Student: Robin will do anything to pass his class. Professor Mills is willing to see what “anything” means.

Missing Year: Regina and Robin have a private moment before going to find Rumpelstiltskin.

Comfort Food: Invitation: Robin struggles with an important question--does he invite his parents to his wedding to Regina?

Comfort Food: Nightmare:  As the trial approaches, Robin finds that Regina is very affected by it.

Comfort Food: A Snowy Day: Robin and Regina enjoy a day in when snow blankets the area.

All That Was Me: Rescuing Regina: Robin discovers Regina is missing after the wedding and rallies the Merry Men to find her.

Secret Santa: Written for the 2016 OQ Advent Calendar. Regina suspects that best friend Robin is her Secret Santa but she is surprised at the reason why. 

A Place Called Home: Written for the OUAT Secret Santa. Regina celebrates Christmas throughout the years in Storybrooke and finds a home at last. 

A Valentine’s Day Surprise: Written for Love from OQ exchange. Regina makes a wish on her birthday and it slowly comes true. 

Jamie Hood Series

Daddy's Little Girl: Jamie (Peanut) wants to be just like her Daddy.

Mother Knows Best: Regina intervenes after Robin and Jamie have a fight.

Life With Siblings: Jamie and her bond with her brothers.

Friends and Extended Family: Jamie has to make a family tree, raising concerns in her parents.

Questions and Answers:  After getting her family tree back, Jamie has some questions for her parents.

Free Day:  Jamie meets her biological mother.

Hotel Verse (In order they happen in the verse, not order of publication)

(Can also be read on FF.net, AO3 or Wattpad)

The Hotel: When a termite infestation forces Regina and Henry out of their house for a few days, they stay at Storybrooke’s only luxury hotel. There she meets handsome handyman Bobby Locke.

Part Deux: Regina and Henry continue to spend time with Bobby and Roland.

Playdate: Bobby and Roland visit Regina and Henry for a playdate at the mansion.

First Kiss: Henry’s birthday party leads to a present for Regina.

Green-Eyed Monster: Graham finds out about Robin and Bobby. He is not happy. 

First Time: Now together, Bobby and Regina have sex for the first time.

Jealousy: When Regina gets jealous, Bobby assures her she’s his only one.

Memories: On a camping trip with Roland and Henry, Bobby has a strange episode that changes him. 

Merry Christmas, Regina Mills: As Christmas approaches, Bobby/Robin surprises Regina. 

[willreadforbooze]

Hello!

Here’s our weekly wrap up from the WRFB crew =)

Sam’s Update:

I got a lot of reading done this week. I was in the Poconos for a friend’s birthday and it was super chill, then I made sure to dedicate some reading time since I have 5 (yes FIVE) more books to read to finish up my NEWTs.

What Sam finished this week:

NEWTs E-level Transfiguration: Age of Legend by Michael J Sullivan: This is the 4th installment of this series. This wasn’t my favorite of his books, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t exceptional. I love all of this man’s books. So much.

NEWTs O-level Transfiguration: Lady Smoke by Laura Sebastian: this is the sequel to Ash Princess. I think this one was ok, but not nearly as good as the first. Suffered from 2nd-book syndrome I think.

NEWTs A-level Ancient Runes: All Systems Red by Martha Wells: This was a re-read for me since I had basically forgotten the plot. I knew I loved Murderbot but not what had happened. I’m pretty happy with my reread (also switched this out from Radical Candor because that one was too long for this readathon)

NEWTs A-level Arithmancy: Fireborne by Rosaria Munda: Picked up this ARC at ALA and damn it was a good choice. Great debut, great story. Full review to come.

NEWTs E-level Charms: Illegal by Eoin Colfer: A graphic novel about a boy from Ghana trying to get to Europe for a better life. This was heartbreaking to see the boy go across the desert, across the sea, and all its horrors. Flew through this.

What Sam’s reading now:

NEWTs E-level Ancient Runes: Nottingham by Nathan Makaryk: Another ALA ARC grab, but am listening on audio since it came out on Aug 6th. In this story, Robin Hood follows King Richard on his crusade and it’s Maid Marian who is steals from the rich to give to the poor. Only just started but I am excite.

NEWTs O-level Charms: The Future of Another Timeline by Annalie Newitz: Considering I’m only a chapter in, I will save the summary and my thoughts until next week.

Ginny’s Update:

I hope you’ve had a great week and are ready to jump in to Monday proper. I have a massage lined up for tonight so regardless of how the actual day goes, I know I’m gonna have a great afternoon!

Currently Reading:

Normal People by Sally Rooney: I’ve heard such good things about this book and it finally came up from the library! It follows two teens, one popular/one not, as they start dating away from the public eye. I think it’s going to swap when they go to college but I haven’t gotten there yet. The characters are realistic and can be oblivious in the way I’ve always felt a little bit oblivious, so I’m enjoying it so far. 

Stormrise by Julian Boehme: I literally just started reading this so I’m like 20 pages in and don’t have much to say yes. Except apparently this is going to be Mulan but with dragons!!!!! I’ve been playing a lot of Skyrim recently so I AM HERE FOR DRAGONS!

Just Finished:

Visions of Heat by Nalini Singh: Yeah this is a series where I’m constantly either going to be reading one of the books, or will at least have it on hold at the library. This follows one of the secondary characters is the first book, and includes an F-psy who can forecast the future. There’s a lot of him trying to get her acclimated to physical contact which was not necessarily my jam. A little too much, i know better than her, which, ugh. Regardless, still a fun story and gets a 3.5/5

Hope Never Dies by Andrew Shaffer: I wrote a review. I have strong opinions. Book club for this is Wednesday… … … 

Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins: This will surprise no one but I follow a bunch of romance novelists on twitter. They are delightful and have definitely influenced my reading list. I’ve heard about this author forever and I’m disappointed it took me this long to finally read one of her books. Eddy is a badass and is slowly working her way towards California with both good and bad luck. Rhine is a former slave who is light skinned enough to pass as white and has decided to do so. They meet and there’s instant chemistry. Except Eddy shuts that shit down, she knows what happens between a mixed race couple after the civil war…. It’s delightful. 4/5

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow: I love a good portal novel and whoo boy. I’m definitely writing a review of this one because I would like to honor January’s love and honor of writing and the power of the written word.

Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire: This is the sequel to Discount Armageddon which I read last week. The worlds that she builds are SO GREAT! Quick summary. Verity has been warned by her quasi-boyfriend that the Covenant are coming to New York for a purge. Obviously this is worriesome. Review forthcoming.

The Attack by Yasmina Khadra: In my head I’m singing “One of these things is not like the other.” This was a look at what happens in a country that has dealt with constant low level terrorism. The main character’s wife is a suicide bomber in an attack that kills a number of people. He decides he needs to figure out what happened and where he went wrong. The search is interesting, but I found the ending to be a little bit abrupt. While that makes sense in the narrative arc of the book, I still found myself disappointed that there wasn’t some sort of ending that allows Amin to choose a side and make a directional shift. 3/5

Minda’s Update:

Oof. Still doing NEWTs, but it’s slow going.

What Minda is reading now:

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow – Moving along, but it’s moving slowly.

Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente – Expected to pick this up last week, but didn’t. This week it is!

Linz’s Update:

Oh god I felt so ready for DragonCon and now I feel woefully underprepared. I literally went into my calendar and blocked next Saturday off to finish work.

What Linz read:

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern: YOU GUYSSSSSSSSSS. UGH. EVERYTHING.

The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Asad: Middle East/central Asia-inspired debut fantasy, with djinn and lots of food and some great characters. (It was a solid debut and honestly I preferred it to City of Brass).

The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchinson: So, a bunch of girls were kidnapped by a rich crazy guy, who makes them live in a hidden garden and tattoos butterfly wings on their backs.They get rescued (THIS IS LITERALLY IN THE GOODREADS DESCRIPTION NOT A SPOILER), and the FBI tries to pick apart what happened with a cagey survivor. You def already knew what happened so it lost some of the potential tension, and the survivor isn’t really that mysterious, just has a drama-heavy backstory. It was fine?

After by Anna Todd: NOPE. Review forthcoming.

What Linz is currently reading:

I actually had to take a little reading break to get stuff done, but I *did* just get Samantha Shannon’s The Priory of the Orange Tree from the library, so likely starting that today, or my ARC of The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones

Until next time, we remain forever drunkenly yours,

Sam, Melinda, Linz, and Ginny

Weekly Wrap-Up: August 11-18, 2019 Hello! Here's our weekly wrap up from the WRFB crew =) Sam's Update: I got a lot of reading done this week.

[nntodayblog]

Don’t Let Blockbusters Keep You From Seeing Indie Movies This Month

A24 Great Point Media/Paladin Film Amazon Studios

Snag a ticket to "Lean on Pete," "Where Is Kyra?" or "You Were Never Really Here" before the blockbuster deluge.

Now that blockbusters ― namely reboots and franchise fare ― have graduated from summer escapism to year-round fixtures, April is no longer a safe space at the multiplex. The month that once birthed “Field of Dreams,” “The Matrix,” “Election” and “Mean Girls” now belongs to the “Fast and the Furious” vehicles, Marvel and “Clash of the Titans.”

To see “A Quiet Place” rumble into theaters last weekend was to witness a small miracle. Heralding John Krasinski’s directing talents and notching an august $50 million opening, the post-apocalyptic creature feature is the sort of studio product meant to warm jaded cinephiles’ hearts: a high-concept crowd-pleaser that manages to be fresh andwhip-smart ― an increasingly rare sight in the year of our big-budget Lord 2018. “A Quiet Place” boasts the highest-grossing April debut for an original film in history, as well as the heftiest intake for an original live-action release since “Happy Death Day” last October.

The rest of April’s wide releases are, well, less thrilling. Oversized beasts are stampeding Dwayne Johnson and Naomie Harris, “Isle of Dogs” barks its way into more corners of the country, Shia LaBeouf flaunts short shorts in the otherwise staid “Borg vs McEnroe,” Amy Schumer stars in a feminist “Shallow Hal,” we finally get a sequel to ... “Super Troopers” (?), “Truth or Dare” turns its titular pastime into something deadly (Tyler Posey doesn’t take his shirt off in the trailer; skip it), and the Avengers threaten to put more superheroes on one screen than a VH1 Divas telecast.

Those movies will flood multiplexes in the coming weeks, ushering us toward the blockbuster domination that is May, June and July. Meanwhile, three worthwhile underdogs opened opposite “A Quiet Place,” shouldering the month’s indie marketplace. “Lean on Pete,” “Where Is Kyra?” and “You Were Never Really Here” are hardly light fare, but isn’t there some adage about bleak movies being the perfect way to escape April showers? No? You’ll want to invent one after seeing this trio.

We talked to the filmmakers responsible for these gems. If you don’t live near a theater where the movies are playing, add them to a list of rainy-day streaming options for later in the year, when you find yourself wondering who among us requested yet another Robin Hood retelling.

“Lean on Pete”

For fans of “Boyhood,” “The 400 Blows” and “The Black Stallion”

Written and directed by Andrew Haigh Starring Charlie Plummer, Steve Buscemi, Chloë Sevigny, Travis Fimmel, Amy Seimetz and Steve Zahn

A24

Lean on Pete is a racehorse whose cantankerous trainer (Steve Buscemi) describes him as a “piece of shit” ― catnip for our protagonist, Charley (Charlie Plummer), a motherless 15-year-old working the stables for $25 a day, partly as a respite from his aloneness and partly to gird his father’s (Travis Fimmel) limited income. Gentle Charley can’t stomach the thought of Pete being carted off to Mexico, where aged steeds are slaughtered once they are no longer moneymakers. So, in the dark of night, this spindly boy absconds with his beloved horse (an expert listener), trekking through the Oregon desert toward a broader horizon.

On paper, it’s a quintessential coming-of-age tale. But in practice, writer and director Andrew Haigh sees “Lean on Pete” as the events that occur before Charley comes of age. And he’s right: Charley doesn’t yet have the means ― the familial support, the peers, the finances ― to determine his place in the world. The only thing that steadies him is a tender heart. “Until he finds somewhere to have a base, in order to grow, he can’t even deal with ideas of identity or who he’s going to be or what kind of man he wants to be,” Haigh said. “And also, I suppose, in all of my films, I can’t help but want to show a different version of masculinity.”

Haigh is the master of compassionate relationship dramas, having explored a one-night stand in “Weekend,” a long-term marriage in “45 Years,” a group of gay friends on HBO’s “Looking,” and, now, a teenager and his equestrian companion in “Lean on Pete,” based on the novel of the same name by Willy Vlautin. It’s Charley’s desperate need to be kind, and to receive kindness from others, that grounds this particular relationship and separates him from the average teen boy. Whereas most kids his age are striving to master schoolyard politics or sibling rivalry, Charley is trying to conquer the oppressive ugliness of the world around him, hoping that relatives in nearby Wyoming will provide the stability he lacks.

“What do you do in your life if you don’t have support from your loved ones?” Haigh said. “Or you don’t have support from the society around you? It felt like it was something more important, almost, than just questions of identity. It was about something like, how do you survive in the world if you don’t have a framework?”

Charley’s journey makes for a magnificent travelogue in which none of the travel is glamorous. With a parting shot that evokes “The 400 Blows,” this is one of the year’s best movies to date. Another recent release, “Ready Player One,” centered on an orphan in an ugly world, but its virtual-reality bedlam lacked humanity. “Lean on Pete” more than makes up for it, sending its hero ― Plummer’s performance is a wonder; a true star is born ― on an expedition through the great Northwestern outdoors that ends with an introspective discovery. Bring tissues; you’ll need a bunch.

“Where Is Kyra?”

For fans of “Klute,” “99 Homes” and Gena Rowlands movies

Written by Darci Picoult • Directed by Andrew Dosunmu Starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Kiefer Sutherland, Suzanne Shepherd and Sam Robards

Great Point Media/Paladin Film

“Some people say it almost feels like a horror film,” Darci Picoult, the writer of “Where Is Kyra?,” said. “It becomes this terrorizing psychological deterioration.”

Those horror trappings are evident in Picoult’s sparse script, but they’re largely owed to Andrew Dosunmu’s shadowy direction. Working with Oscar-nominated cinematographer Bradford Young (“Selma,” “Arrival”), Dosunmu shades Michelle Pfeiffer’s titular Brooklynite with fuzzy grays and anesthetized blues. Laid off from her job and cashing her late mother’s pension checks for income, Kyra is often framed from a distance, the atrophy she’s facing as she nears senior citizenship foregrounded to reveal a genre of poverty rarely explored in popular culture.

Picoult wrote “Where Is Kyra?” in 2013, surveying the aftereffects of the late 2000s’ economic crisis. She first set the movie in Detroit, which filed for bankruptcy that same summer. But Picoult and Dosunmu, who also collaborated on the Nigerian drama “Mother of George,” relocated the backdrop to New York, where the glaring disparity between haves and have-nots underscores everyday economic strife. What is a middle-aged woman to do when she finds herself unemployed and undesirable, reduced to placing advertisements on vehicles’ windshields and being turned down for gigs at fast-food restaurants in favor of younger candidates?

“I always envisioned Kyra being someone who, if you will, had a life that had promise, someone who believed things were going to work out,” Picoult said. “And then, when they don’t, it becomes even more disparaging because she’s holding on, hoping for something better that doesn’t happen.“

Pfeiffer, who made something of a comeback last year with “mother!” and “Murder on the Orient Express,” has found one of the richest roles of her career, looking more desperate with each rejection and more weathered with each dignity-shattering wakeup. Kyra’s corner of the world struggles to blossom into anything sunnier; farther and farther she drifts down the rabbit hole of anguish, Pfeiffer’s oceanic eyes absorbing every psychic bruise.

“You Were Never Really Here”

For fans of “Taxi Driver,” “Good Time” and “Drive”

Written and directed by Lynne Ramsay Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Judith Roberts, Frank Pando, Ekaterina Samsonov, Alessandro Nivola and Alex Manette

Amazon Studios

“You Were Never Really Here” demands to be seen twice: once to absorb its ethereal grime, and another to peek more clearly into its protagonist’s fractured mind. As Joe, a contract killer (and PTSD-addled war veteran) paid to extricate young girls from corruption, Joaquin Phoenix dances with the camera, angling through the New York streets, slipping between past and present, reality and hallucination. Joe is purposefully elusive, a design that is at once frustrating and hypnotic.

“I thought I was making an action movie, but it also became a character study,” Scottish director Lynne Ramsay, who adapted Jonathan Ames’ novella of the same name, said. “I think I just gravitated to the inner workings of the character.”

Those inner workings are bleak: At home, where he cares for his ailing mother (Judith Roberts), Joe sometimes covers his head with a plastic bag, wondering what would happen if he finally ended it all. Outside, he seems as likely to take a gun to his own head as he does to avenge the brutes holding innocent preteens hostage. But that’s familiar territory for Ramsay, who treats grief and death as leitmotifs (her other credits include “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” “Morvern Callar” and “Ratcatcher”). What makes “You Were Never Really Here” powerful is its ability to place us next to Joe, psychologically and physically, as he flits between avenger and avoider. Think Travis Bickle with a splash of the adrenaline-pumping “Good Time.” The movie telegraphs a woozy paranoia, aided by another stirring score from Jonny Greenwood, who composed the music for “We Need to Talk About Kevin” and last year’s “Phantom Thread.”

For Phoenix, the role encouraged a certain visceral improvisation. “We would make decisions in the moment, and sometimes there are things I’m reacting to in the moment,” he said. “There are times when other actors didn’t know what was going to happen because we didn’t know what was going to happen in that moment. And I think I probably like that way of working in general, but I think it was probably really applicable to that character and this experience.”

You won't find that in "Rampage."

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Matthew Jacobs

Entertainment Reporter, HuffPost

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Reference source : Don’t Let Blockbusters Keep You From Seeing Indie Movies This Month

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How Batman Forever Got Robin Right

https://ift.tt/2UR75Gg

A quarter century after its release, Batman Forever remains perhaps the most divisive of the Caped Crusader’s 10 big-screen appearances to date. It is certainly the fulcrum on which the entire history of the series balances: the point where the franchise changed course in pursuit of instant gratification and success, only to pave the way for abject failure and supreme rebirth.

The back story of Batman Forever has been well documented before, so here it is in brief in case you were napping: following the less than stellar box office returns of Tim Burton’s 1992 Batman Returns — a Gothic fever dream which frightened not just children but Warner Bros. Pictures’ corporate partners like McDonald’s — the studio brain trust decided a change was in order.

Burton would not be back to direct a third Batfilm; that task was bequeathed to Joel Schumacher, who was mandated to bring a lighter, more playful vibe to the proceedings. Schumacher’s stated goal was to make a “living comic book,” but he seemed to conflate the Batman comic books — which had grown in sophistication over the decades — with the Batman 1960s TV series, a deliberate campfest that, while fun in its own way, was the dominant image that entire generations had of the Bat.

“I didn’t want to look at what Tim did and try to be different,” said Schumacher at the time to Daily Variety. “I wanted to do my own thing.”

Schumacher went all in on creating what was essentially a big-screen version of the Adam West series (arguably combined with elements of the comics from the 1940s and 1950s). It was nearly a 180-degree shift from the darker, more subversive trappings of the two Burton films that had come before. Batman Forever was maligned by fans who felt that the Burton movies had finally gotten the character out from underneath the massive shadow of the TV series. But the movie did not pretend to be what it wasn’t, and it did have its positive aspects.

For one — and we’ve argued this before — the screenplay by Lee and Janet Scott Batchler and Akiva Goldsman is easily the best of the four films made between 1989 and 1997. What the Burton films possessed in style and imagery, they lacked in narrative cohesion or story structure. Batman Forever was a different animal: establishing one villain right in the opening sequence, it did away with too many tedious origin stories and left room for a better fleshed out story and arcs for the rest of the characters, cartoon-like as they might have been.

Val Kilmer, replacing Michael Keaton after two films, was a potentially strong Batman, more dynamic and central to the story than the character had been in the Burton films. Brooding less over the death of his parents, he still brought gravitas and presence to the role. While Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey didn’t just chew the scenery but swallowed it whole as Two-Face and the Riddler respectively, both were given motivations and plans that were not too far off from their comic book counterparts.

Yet Batman Forever’s greatest strength — and the source of some of the movie’s best beats — is the way it handles the origin story of Robin, a.k.a. Dick Grayson, played by Chris O’Donnell.

The introduction of Robin into the movie franchise had been hotly debated since the development of the first film. According to Bruce Scivally’s Billion Dollar Batman, early scripts for what eventually became the 1989 movie Batman featured Dick Grayson to varying degrees, with all of them having the young acrobat taken in by Bruce Wayne late in the story, after his trapeze artist parents are murdered by the Joker.

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Although DC Comics and Warner Bros. Pictures had initially mandated that Dick/Robin be included in the movie, Tim Burton and screenwriter Warren Skaaren wrote him out while working on the script in 1988. “Ultimately it was too much psychology to throw into one movie,” Burton told Rolling Stone in 1989. “If there’s another movie, Robin would have to be established at the beginning, not to be crammed into the third act.”

That became an issue in the sequel, Batman Returns, as well, where initial drafts of the script reinvented Robin first as a feral child living under the streets of Gotham City and then as a young black mechanic who helps the Dark Knight get out of a jam when the superhero crashes the Batmobile into his garage. The latter version of the character was even cast, with Marlon Wayans getting the nod before the part was again written out of the movie.

“I got my wardrobe fitted and everything, and what happened was that there were too many characters, and they felt Robin wouldn’t be of service,” Wayans told The A.V. Club. “So they put me in the third one, and when the third one came around, they got a new director on it and their vision of the project changed. They decided they wanted somebody white to play Robin.”

There were more problems with the character of Robin than just how to fit him into already crowded movies. With the emphasis in the Burton films on a darker version of Batman, both the filmmakers and the studio couldn’t get past the campy look and tone of Robin established by Burt Ward in the TV show. “We would lift our arms up and say, ‘Let’s have them both go to Frederick’s of Hollywood to pick out that little green costume,’” joked Tim Burton to Starlog about his attempts to give the character a redesign.

Even DC was struggling with how to handle Robin after the success of both the first Batman and Frank Miller’s classic The Dark Knight Returns graphic novel, with the books now on a mission to prove they were as “mature” as Miller’s gritty reinterpretation. With Dick Grayson off on his own as Nightwing, that led to the death of the second Robin, Jason Todd, in the comics, as fans voted by a slim margin to kill him off in a nationwide poll. The third Robin, Tim Drake, got a new costume, dispensing with the bare legs and little green shorts for a look that would foreshadow the movie version.

When it came time to make Batman Forever, it was determined that Robin’s moment to step forward had come. “Dick Grayson’s story is much more interesting than I’d ever seen it portrayed,” Schumacher told the New York Times about the character’s debut in his movie. “Because of the TV series, he was seen as this kind of asexual, cartoony, wholesome airhead.”

The movie retells Robin’s back story almost directly from the comics, with some modifications. Dick himself is somewhat older than he was first presented on the page, probably around 17, and he’s got some attitude as well as a fondness for motorcycles. His family is a troupe of acrobats who are killed during a raid on their circus by Two-Face, with Dick heroically disposing of a bomb while his parents and older brother die below — leaving him an orphan in a mirror scenario of what happened to Bruce Wayne.

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Batman: The Animated Series – 25 Essential Episodes

By Jim Dandy and 4 others

Dick is dropped off at stately Wayne Manor after Bruce says he’ll take the kid in, and the conflict between the two is immediately apparent and neatly set up: Dick understandably wants vengeance on Two-Face, while Bruce recognizes their common link and knows that revenge will only lead to more grief for the sole surviving Grayson. When Dick discovers the existence of the Batcave under the mansion, their already tense relationship is strained to the breaking point.

Dick wants to partner with Bruce/Batman, seeing a role with the Caped Crusader as both a way to track down and kill Two-Face while simultaneously giving himself a new direction in life. Bruce can only see the loneliness and danger of the life he leads, and doesn’t want his young charge to follow him down that same path. He’s even willing to quit being Batman (for a few scenes anyway) to prevent Dick from utilizing the resources of the Bat on his own.

The scenes in which Bruce and Dick face off — with Alfred (the always great Michael Gough, returning from the Burton films) as sly referee — are the finest in Batman Forever and some of the best in all four Burton/Schumacher films. For one thing, they feel like the comics without being overly campy, and they effectively move the relationship between Bruce and Dick forward — the only time, in fact, that any relationship involving Bruce Wayne in any of the four films feels somewhat real and not just tacked on.

Their battle of wills comes to a head after Dick saves Batman’s life during an assault by Two-Face, proving not just his courage but his natural heroic abilities. And yet Bruce refuses to budge, until an even more deadly invasion of Wayne Manor and the destruction of the Batcave forces Bruce’s hand. He must don the cowl again, and this time Dick, with some accoutrements provided by Alfred, is ready to assist — and Bruce is ready to accept his help. The shot of Batman and the newly christened Robin shaking hands and sealing their partnership is one of the few in the original four films that feels kind of legendary.

It’s a satisfying payoff in a series that feature few such moments. It gives Kilmer his best scenes in his sole outing as Batman, and it also presents a Robin that retains the character’s underpinnings while giving him a more updated sensibility (that cringeworthy “holy rusted metal, Batman” line aside). Robin’s obsession with Two-Face is also resolved as he elects to save Harvey Dent’s life instead of killing him. The original Robin costume is nicely redesigned and given its proper homage, even as the Boy Wonder gets a sleek, more contemporary outfit (aside, of course, from the wholly unnecessary nipples).

Make no mistake, Batman Forever is no one’s idea of a great film. It’s an intermittently entertaining movie and a take on the Dark Knight that is clearly more of a flashy corporate product after the experimentation of the flawed Burton entries. But if there’s anything from the film that still works 25 years later, it’s the birth of the Dynamic Duo — the only time (at least for now) that we’ve seen the genesis of that iconic partnership play out on the big screen.

The post How Batman Forever Got Robin Right appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[baburaja97-blog]

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Batman: Arkham City 3D Review

3D saves a PC game plagued with bugs and a missing DX11.

Chances are you know who Batman is. If not, he’s this dude who wears tights and likes to swing around tall buildings. Not to be confused with Spiderman, who also wears tights and likes to swing around tall buildings. Chances are you have also played Batman: Arkham Asylum and know the score. If not, Batman Arkham Asylum is a third-person action-adventure game based on that Batman guy. Batman: Arkham Asylum was developed by Rocksteady Studios and was released in 2009. It was a good year to be a Bat, and the game was met with rave reviews and its fair share of awards.

Batman: Arkham City is the sequel to the successful Arkham Asylum. Arkham City is a maximum security prison for the nastiest criminals that Gotham City has to offer. As chance would have it, Bruce Wayne gets his ass tossed into Arkham City for opposing the new prison’s existence, and is forced to go all “Escape from New York”. Within moments, Bruce manages to score his crime-fighting equipment and become his alter ego, Batman. We all watch TV, anything can be got in prison if you know the right people. I don’t want to get all nuts with spoilers, so let’s sum up the story by saying that Catwoman drops in, Batman runs into an old flame, fails to get laid, Robin makes a brief appearance and Alfred is only a radio signal away. On “team naughty”, Batman bumps into a load of our favorite baddies, including Harley Quinn (damn, she’s annoying), Two-Face, Mr. Freeze (possibly the toughest boss fight of the game), The Joker, Penguin, Hugo Strange, Poison Ivy, Clayface and plenty more crazies.

Batman: Arkham City is a single-player game with the main storyline which sees Batman seeking a cure to a disease which could wipe out a superhero or two. In addition to the main story, you will regularly unlock side missions, which can either be completed right away or put aside for later. The side missions are just as good as those that are included in the main story, which makes for a lot of awesome added gameplay. In addition to the side missions, you’ve got the Riddler to contend with. Cataloging and collecting Riddler’s trophies is an addictive game within the game. Then there are the challenge maps, which make for some excellent mindless melee fun. Challenge maps are unlocked as you play through the game, and more are available in DLCs. There are three funky flavors to hone your Bat-skills with, including ranked leaderboard combat, timed campaigns, and custom rules.

Technical

In Arkham City, there is always a superhero around when people need one, in real life, there certainly was no superhero around to help me gain access to the game. First, you enter your key on Steam, then you enter your key for SecuRom (if you’re lucky it accepts it the first time; I was not lucky), then you have to tie it all together with Games for Windows Live. GFWL was the primary bottleneck. I spent an hour trying to log in to GFWL as it gave me some song and dance about needing to update. Like really, what’s the point of this kind of layering? The games are going to get pirated all the same, and according to many, the reason the PC version of Arkham City was delayed was so that they could maximize sales from the console versions first.

When Batman: Arkham City has released just over two weeks ago, PC gamers were disappointed to find out that DX 11 was buggered. Upon launch, Rocksteady immediately recommended DX 9, as reports of DX 11 performance issues began making the rounds. People wondered how something like this, a selling point like DX 11, could have made it through testing and out the door for launch. It took a couple of weeks, but a DX 11 patch was finally released. The outcome was not really worth the wait, and many are still plagued with low FPS and game-breaking bugs. I consider myself one of the lucky, as I only spent about four hours dealing with crashes and bugs that would not allow me to proceed further in the game.

Arkham City comes with a built-in benchmark tool, so using both that and Fraps I grabbed some quick stats to share. Right before publishing this review a patch was released for Batman: Arkham City, which in part addresses the DX 11 issues. Running Alienware M17x laptop /w NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M and 6GB RAM / 3D Vision (not 3D Vision 2), at 1920 x 1080. Both DX 9 and DX 11 were run with all settings max, including detail level, tessellation, and PhysX.

The DX 11 patch seems to be hit and miss. For many people, it solved the issue of poor frames while running DX 11. For others, it buggered things up even more. For me, the patch DID improve FPS in DX 11, but oddly lowered frames with DX 9. Go figure.

On my system, the best settings for performance and aesthetics are DirectX 11 (very high) and PhysX set to “Normal”, this works out perfectly both with and without 3D Vision enabled.

Combat

Combat in Arkham City is ridiculous, while also being ridiculously fun. Here’s the ridiculous bit… there were very few times during the game that I needed any sort of strategy in order to win an encounter. A couple of bosses had an attack pattern that had to be learned in order to defeat them, but outside of that, you can literally finish the game by repeatedly hitting your left mouse button. In fact, I broke a mouse playing Arkham City. Yup, button-mashed it to death. While using special attacks makes combat more fun, it isn’t actually necessary. Now for the ridiculously fun part… combat is an absolute joy to watch, and even if you don’t have mad take-down skills, the simple act of punching, kicking and evading is wicked fun. That said, if you want to kick ass on the challenge maps then you’ll need a bit more than button-mashing. The challenge maps are slightly more skill-based and if you want to rank then you’ll have to use combos and special moves.

Sometimes I thought I preferred combat while playing as Catwoman because she’s mean, lean and fast as hell. But after a while, I’d sort of start missing the Bat. Both characters have their own missions, skills, and gadgets, but the character I really would have liked to play is Robin. While the Robin Bundle DLC will allow you to play the Boy Wonder, you will only be able to do so on challenge maps. I’d rather be able to play him inside missions like you can with Catwoman. Sadly, Robin’s appearance in the game was very brief, and although he was looking buff, tough and not at all like the Robin we all grew up with, Batman simply bitched him out and told him to piss off. So that was that.

NVIDIA 3D Vision

One of my first experiences with 3D was seeing Friday The 13th Part 3 in 3D. I walked five miles through the snow with no shoes to see it at the theater. It was crap, but exciting at the same time, and it was the best we had. For the next quarter century, I would associate 3D with eye strain and headaches. Whenever I post about 3D Vision on VE3D the post is met with comments like “I’m too old for 3D, I don’t need the eye strain” or “3D gives me headaches”. Exactly the things that I had always associated with it. Well, Toto, it looks like we’re not in Kansas anymore! This ain’t grandma’s 3D. I’ll admit that I’ve reached the age where reading glasses come in handy. I didn’t have much interest in 3D. Mostly I was afraid to try it because I thought my head would explode. I guess I had read into the old school hype a bit too much. But I survived 3D, and am loving every second of it. Eye of the tiger baby, an eye of the tiger. Plus I look cool in the glasses.

Since I just recently began gaming in 3D, my experiences are limited. What I have noticed so far is that 3D Vision adds an extra layer of realism to games. 3D games come alive, giving you a greater feeling of actually being there. In Batman: Arkham City this is especially true, particularly when grappling around the city and using gadgets. Even cut scenes are great in 3D. All of the villains in Arkham City look amazing and force you to keep watching, even if you don’t normally enjoy cut scenes. Graphics look sharper, and cleaner and flaws that you would see while out of 3D tend to get smoothed over. If I was to slap a number on Batman: Arkham City without 3D Vision, the game would land a 7/10 (70%). While Arkham City is a truly entertaining trip through the gutters of Gotham, the bugs and the graphic issues that the game shipped with are not acceptable. Waiting over two weeks for a half-assed patch is also not acceptable.

Because 3DV enhanced my Arkham City experience, Batman: Arkham City 3D is a 9/10 (90%), and worth its weight in guano.

What I Liked:

Gloom and doom atmosphere makes for some very immersive gameplay.

The story is actually interesting, you’ll want to watch the cutscenes.

Both Batman and Catwoman show wear and tear in their costumes as the game go on.

Catwoman side-missions, it was fun to take a break from Batman and spend some time crawling on ceilings.

Challenge maps are a good workout and a nice change of pace, actually requiring some combat skill.

Voice acting is great.

I can’t wait to get back in and collect more Riddler trophies.

Arkham City is totally engrossing, and the experience is even further enhanced when playing in 3D.

What I Didn’t Like:

A three-layer activation process.

No side-missions for Robin.

Getting stuck to my Batarang on a block of ice for two hours.

Spending another two hours trying to figure out why I couldn’t dive-bomb.

I would have loved to see Arkham City in the daylight.

A little too much traveling back and forth across the city.

Combat, while fun to watch, requires no skill.

Crashing during the closing cinematic.

Finishing the game before a DX 11 patch was released.

Trying to find a good tutorial on 3DV video rendering.

[weekendwarriorblog]

WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND January 25, 2019  - The Kid Who Would Be King, Serenity

(Yes, I realize the weekend just ended for most, but hey, might as well get an early crack at NEXT weekend, huh? January is winding down with what’s going to be seem like a fairly boring weekend after last week’s M. Night Shyamalan sequel disappointing when compared to the sensation of Dragon Ball Super: Brolly, a movie that few movie writers knew about before Wednesday but grossed $21 million in six days. But hey, variety is the spice of life, and the two movies opening wide this week certainly add some spice with a duo of films from reputable British writer/directors.

THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING  (20thCentury Fox)

Written and directed by Joe Cornish (Attack the Block) Cast: Louis Ashbourne Serkis, Dean Chaumoo, Angus Imrie, Tom Taylor, Rebecca Ferguson, Patrick Stewart, Rhianna Doris, Denise Gough MPAA Rating: PG

On the one hand, this action-adventure film is an exciting one, because it’s the second feature from Joe Cornish following his astonishing 2011 debut Attack the Block, but also, because it’s Cornish’s first studio feature for a mainstream audience, geared towards family audiences in particular.

It’s a fairly standard take on the King Arthur mythos with a young British lad (played by Andy Serkis’ son) finding Excalibur, the legendary sword in the stone and having to team with his best friend (and a couple school bullies) to take on the return of Morgana le Fey (Rebecca Ferguson).

It seems like a good idea to get kids, especially young boys, interested in the tales of King Arthur even though the last few movies have bombed as neither Guy Ritchie’s 2017 film King Arthur: Legend of the Sword or the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced 2004 movie King Arthur found much of an audience. In fact, trying to bring any British legend to the screen and get American moviegoers interested might be a fool’s errand, as seen by last year’s Robin Hood bomb.

The thing is that other than Patrick Stewart – star of Fox’s ongoing X-Men franchise, which seems to be in limbo these days -- and Rebecca Ferguson from the last couple Mission: Impossible movies, there are no stars in the movie that could entice those on the fence about whether to see this movie.  On the other hand, reviews have generally been good which could help boost interest a little more going into the weekend.

At first, I thought maybe this would end up with around $10 million, but it’s basically going to be a family movie coming into a market where most other family films have been in theaters for three weeks or more. (Dragon Ball is an exception.) Fox was also able to get it into more than 3,4000 nationwide, because wisely, it waited until after Glass opened for this.  Because of this, I’m going to goose up my number to somewhere between $11 and 13 million with most of the family movies geared towards boys falling away and Joe Cornish’s older fans maybe giving this a look. Sadly, the movie is not being marketed as “from the director of Attack the Block” as it clearly should be.

Mini-Review: Granted that Attack the Block was always going to be a hard act to follow for Joe Cornish, and yet he has written and directed a follow-up that might appeal to younger moviegoers though maybe not so much Cornish’s older teen fans from his directorial debut.

Louis Ashbourne Serkis, who is indeed the son of Andy Serkis, plays Alex Elliot, a fairly normal 10-year-old, who stands up to a couple school bullies and while being chased by them finds a sword embedded in rock on a construction site. It is indeed the fabled “Sword in the Stone” Excalibur as used by King Arthur. Along with his best friend Bedders (Dean Chaumoo) and their two relentless bullies (Tom Taylor, Rhianna Doris), they all go on a quest to fight Arthur’s evil sister Morgana (Rebecca Ferguson) and save Britain.

The first major hurdle this otherwise fine kids’ action-adventure faces is the fairly weak cast, because without liking Alex or his colleagues, it’s hard to root for them even with the stakes never feeling too great. The one exception is Angus Imrie as the young Merlin who somehow manages to get more laughs than the older Merlin, played by Sir Patrick Stewart. Alex’s mother is played by Claire Foy lookalike Denise Gough, and she also doesn’t bring much to what should have been touching scenes with Serkis. Ferguson is decent as Morgana, although the role doesn’t give her much to do.

Using many of the same creative team used by buddy and sometime producer Edgar Wright on Baby Driver, including DP Tim Pope and editors Jonathan Amos and Paul Machliss, as well as production designer Marcus Rowland, it’s a safe bet that Cornish has made another movie that looks damn good.  As with Attack, Cornish’s FX team perfectly integrate the many CG beasties with the human characters.

The thing is that Cornish does a fine job with this material, so that the movie is better than the Percy Jackson movies or other similar family films, and he should be commended for making such a smooth transition to studio family films. Even so, by the third act, I was just getting very bored, especially when I thought it was ending, and it went on for another 15 minutes.

The Kid Who Would Be King is perfectly fine -- it has its moments -- but there’s something about it that left me wanting, because it seems like it should have been a lot better overall.

Rating: 6.5/10

SERENITY  (Aviron)

Written and directed by Steven Knight (Locke, Redemption, “Peaky Blinders,” “Taboo”) Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Diane Lane, Jason Clarke, Djimon Hounsou  MPAA Rating: R

The other new release of the weekend is something that possibly could have done very well in the ‘90s or early ‘00s as an erotic thriller, a genre that has had its ups and downs but has mostly done decently at the box office. This is the third movie from Steven Knight, the director of Lockeand writer of Eastern Promises, “Peaky Blinders” and “Taboo,” though I’m not sure his previous hits will convince many to see this in theaters.

Matthew McConaughey plays fishing boat captain Baker Dill, who has been living in hiding on Plymouth Island after his divorce. His ex-wife Karen, played by Anne Hathaway, shows wanting her to kill her violent and abusive husband (Jason Clarke) in order to save her and Baker’s teen son.  

McConaughey’s career has been all over the place in recent years, but his recent crime-thriller White Boy Rick didn’t do very well, and it feels like Serenity is heading towards a similar fate. In fact, McConaughey has been in quite a string of bombs since winning an Oscar for 2013’s Dallas Buyers Club with his biggest hit being the animated Sing. His most high-profile movie The Dark Tower made $120 million worldwide based on $60 million budget which made it barely profitable but especially disappointing due to its studio’s franchise plans.

Having Anne Hathaway could help as she’s been a lot more careful about her choices since winning her own Oscar a year earlier with last year’s Ocean’s 8, in which she played herself,being a relative hit with almost $300 million worldwide. Her last movie with McConaughey was Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar in 2014, which grossed $188 million domestically, so that’s somewhat of a bonus. The cast is rounded out by the ever-present Jason Clarke, who has yet to really break-out despite being involved in many Oscar-caliber films, as well as Djimon Hounsou, who is becoming a superhero film regular, having just appeared in Aquaman and having roles in Captain Marveland Shazam.  (Some might remember that he also had a great scene with Chris Pratt early in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie.)

While erotic thrillers have done well in the past, this movie was originally supposed to come out last September, and there was advertising trailers all summer – I know that because I saw the trailer for this in front of a ton of movies – but then it was moved to January, which is never a good sign of faith. This is a rare release from fledgling distributor Aviron Pictures, who released just two movies in 2018.  Aviron is releasing this one into just 2,500 theaters, which might already be too many screens considering how little marketing the film has

Reviews are still embargoed until Thursday (never a good sign), but I’m probably not going to review the movie, since I saw it quite some time ago, though I do have to say that that the big twist in this movie angered me more than anything in M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass.

This movie looks like the epitome of a late January bomb, one that probably won’t come close to $10 million for the weekend and might even end up closer to $5 million or a little more. Either way, it won’t have to make that much to end up in the top 5 this weekend since it’s going up against many movies that have been playing since before Christmas.

This week’s Top 10 should look something like this…

1. Glass   (Universal) - $19 million -53%

2. The Kid Who Would Be King  (20thCentury Fox) - $11.6 million N/A

3. The Upside (STX) – $10 million -33%

4. Serenity (Aviron) - $6.5 million N/A

5. Aquaman (Warner Bros.)  - $5.5 million -47%

6. Dragon Ball Super: Brolly (Funimation) – $5 million -49%

7. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse  (Sony) - $4.8 million -37%

8. A Dog’s Way Home  (Sony) – $4.2 million -42%

9. Mary Poppins Returns  (Disney) - $3.1 million -45%

10. Escape Room  (Sony) - $2.8 million -46%

LIMITED RELEASES

Many of my colleagues will be heading to the Sundance Film Festival this week, but I’m not going, so I don’t have much to say about it. Sorry!

On a more local level , we get  FIAF ANIMATION FIRST FEST over the weekend, focused on the booming French animation film industry with a 20thanniversary screening of Michel Ocelot’s Kirikou and the Sorceress and 17 US  and New York premieres, including the New York premiere of Funanand a number of shorts programs. Studio Ghibli’s Isao Takahata, who died last year, will be honored. You can read the full program and schedule of events Here.  I personally have never attended, but if I wasn’t busy I might check out some of the programs.

As far as the limited releases…

Following its November qualifying run as Germany’s Oscar entry and with two Oscar nominations under its belt, Oscar-winning filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s (The Lives of Others) new movie NEVER LOOK AWAY (Sony Pictures Classics). The historic drama is loosely based on the life of visual artist Gerhard Richter with Tom Schilling (Woman in Gold) playing a young artist who has watched East Berlin go from Nazi occupation, watching his older sister be sentenced to death due to her mental illness by a ruthless Nazi doctor (Sebastian Koch), to falling in love with a young woman (Paula Beer) who happens to be that doctor’s daughter and escaping to West Berlin during the country’s contemporary art movement.  I found the movie to be overly long and a little confusing, because I wasn’t sure what the movie was supposed to be about until about 30 minutes into it.  

Just a few months after his last film The Mercy barely got a glance, The Theory of Everything director James Marsh’s new heist film  KING OF THIEVES (Saban Films) will open in theaters (including New York’s Cinema Village) and on VOD and Digital HD on Friday. The true crime tale about a group of retired crooks trying to stage an elaborate jewelry heist stars an ensemble of legendary British actors in Michael Caine, Jim Broadbent, Michael Gambon, Ray Winstone, Tom Courtenay along with Charlie Cox aka Daredevil. I had high hopes for this movie being better than the likes of Zach Braff’s Going in Style, something classier like last year’s The Old Man and the Gun, but sadly, it’s an obvious money grab for older British men and women reminiscing about all the better crime movies made by the cast.

Claus Räfle’s docudrama THE INVISIBLES (Greenwich) follows four German-Jewish youth who decide to stay behind in Berlin as World War II is beginning, living vicariously while dodging Nazi officials before eventually joining the resistance.  This story of survival opens at New York’s Quad Cinema and Landmark 57, as well as in L.A. at the Laemmle Royal on Friday.

The Brazilian animated film TITO AND THE BIRDS  (Shout! Studios) from filmmakers Gustavo Steinberg, Gabriel Bitar and André Catoto tells the story of a boy and his father who are looking for the cure for an illness inflicted on someone after being scared. After playing a number of film festivals, it also opens at the Quad Cinema in New York

It’s hard to believe that 88-year-old French New Wave filmmaker Jean Luc Goddard is still with us and making movies, but all the recent repertory series in New York and L.A. have been leading up to his latest film THE IMAGE BOOK (Kino Lorber). Don’t know much about this film which received a special Palme d’or at Cannes last year, but apparently it’s a “collage film essay,” which means that it probably doesn’t have a plot or narrative that’s easy to explain. It opens at the IFC Center and Lincoln Center in New York.

Tom Arnold and Sean Astin star in Ron Carlson’s Dead Ant (Cinedigm) as the members of an ‘80s hair metal band called Sonic Grave who had a power ballad hit 30 years earlier, and while they’re on a road trip to Coachella, they find themselves trying to be relevant again…. Until they’re attacked by giant killer ants. Okay, I think I need to see this movie, as it seems like my kind of movie.

Playing for one night only nationwide on Thursday as a Fathom Event is Timothy Woodward Jr.’s horror film The Final Wish (Cinedigm), starring the wonderful Lin Shaye (Insidious), Michael Welsh, Melissa Bolona and Tony Todd, and produced by Jeffrey Reddic (writer/producer of Final Destination).  Welsh plays Aaron Hammond who returns to his hometown after the death of his father to help his bereaved mother (Shaye) and deal with the demons from his past, finding a mysterious item while going through his father’s belongings.

Opening at New York’s Cinema Village on Friday and at L.A.’s Laemmle Music Hall on Feb. 1 is Francois Margolin’s controversial French drama Jihadists (Cinema Libre), co-directed by by Lemine Ould Salem, which was banned in France. It follows two filmmakers who were given access to fundamentalist clerics of Sunni Islam to show what it’s like to live your life under jihadi rule.

From Bollywood comes Vikas Bahl ‘s drama Super 30 (Reliance Entertainment), starring Hrithik Roshan as Patna-based mathematician Anand Kumar, who runs the famed and prestigious Super 30 program in Patna. Not sure of the theater count but it’s probably opening in a dozen or so theaters.

Opening on Wednesday following its premiere at Doc-NYC is Robert Townsend’s doc The 5 Browns: Digging through the Darkness, which looks at the 5 Browns, a group of Julliard-trained sibling pianists who rose to stardom only to be devastated when it’s revealed that the three sisters were sexually abused by their manager father Keith Brown. It opens at the IFC Center for a single-week run.

Also opening at the Cinema Village and in select cities is John Kauffman’s Heartlock (Dark Star Pictures), a love story about a female prison guard, played by Lesley-Ann Brandt,  who becomes the subject of affection from a charming male convict (Alexander Dreymo) who wants to use their relationship to help him escape.

STREAMING

The main film streaming on Netflix on Friday is Jonas Akerlund’s POLAR, his follow-up to Lords of Chaos, which premiered at Sundance last year and comes out a few weeks later. Based on the Dark Horse graphic novel, it stars Mads Mikkelson as assassin Duncan Vizla, known as the Black Kaiser, who is getting ready for retirement in a suburban town when he’s dragged back into one last job, but when it goes wrong, Duncan’s new love interest (Vanessa Hudgens) is dragged into it. I’ve never read the graphic novel, and I’ve generally been mixed on Akerlund’s films, but this one is definitely in the same absolute insanity realm of his earlier film Spun with a lot of crazy over-the-top performance from the likes of Matt Lucas (Little Britain) and Johnny Knoxville (Jackass), but in this case, it’s not a good thing. Mikkelson gives another stellar performance, and Hudgens is also quite good (didn’t even recognize her) but the craziness surrounding them from Lucas and the other assassins sent after Duncan made it hard to enjoy the film, especially compared to Mikkelson’s other upcoming film Arctic, but hey, it’s on Netflix so I’m sure people will watch it anyway.

Speaking of which, I also want to note that last week, I didn’t notice that a science fiction film called IO: Last on Earth, starring Margaret Qualley (Novitiate),was also streaming on Netflix. I haven’t watched it yet, but one of the writers also co-wrote Claire Carée’s Embers, which is one of my favorite festival discoveries from the past few years.

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

The Metrograph has a couple new series starting Friday, including Hou Hsiao-Hsien in the 21st Century, featuring 35mm prints of four of the Chinese filmmaker’s recent films: Millenium Mambo, Three Times, Flight of the Red Balloon and Café Lumieré. Then on Saturday, the Metrograph will show the classic Gone with the Windto kick off its Produced by David O. Selznick series, and there’s some great stuff to come, including Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellboundand Rebecca.  The theater will also be screening a 35mm of Ken Loach’s 1991 film Riff Raff, starring Robert Carlyle, who would breakout in Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting. On top of that, Kay Francis: Queen of Pleasure continues with William Dieterle’s Jewel Robbery (1932) and 1929’s The Cocoanuts this weekend, while this weekend’s Late Nites at Metrograph  option is Chantal Akerman’s News from Home  (1977) and Playtime: Family Matinees shows the 2015 animated film Shaun the Sheep.

THE NEW BEVERLY  (L.A.):

Weds. and Thurs. see double features of the 1977 film The Late Show and ‘78’s The Big Fix, starring Richard Dreyfuss. Friday sees a double feature of American Graffiti  (1973) and The Lords of Flatbush  (1974) with More American Graffiti (1979) added on Saturday… for just 10 bucks!The weekend family matinee is 1947’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, starring Danny Kaye.  The Sunday/Monday Franco Zeffirelli double feature is Romeo & Juliet (1968) with Brother Sun, Sister Moon  (1972). Tarantion’s Jackie Brownonce again plays at midnight Friday and the Tuesday Grindhouse triple feature is Katt Shea’s Poison Ivy  (1992), Streets (1990) and Stripped to Kill  (1987), which is already sold out online but may have more tickets at the door.

FILM FORUM (NYC):

Far Out in the 70s: A New Wave of Comedy, 1969 - 1979 continues with La Cage Aux Folles and The Seduction of Mimi on Wednesday, double features of Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? and Theater of Blood on Thursday, Woody Allen’s Sleeper and Bananas on Friday, then Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, Monty Python and the Holy Grail on Saturday, and Papermoon, What’s Up, Doc? starring Barbara Streisand and Woody Allen’s Play It Again Sam on Sunday. As part of the series focusing on the great filmmaker and actor Elaine May, Film Forum will show A New Leaf (1971) and Mickey and Nicky (1976) next Tuesday. The weekend’s Film Forum Jr. is Gordon Parks’ 1969 film The Learning Tree.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

Beginning another fun series of double features this weekend with Argento/De Palma with a double feature of Suspiria and Carrie on Thursday, Blow Out and Inferno on Friday, and Dressed to Kill and Tenebrae on Saturday. Saturday sees a special presentation of Craig Owen’s The Silent Film Era at the Alexandria Hotel, while the 1916 Douglas Fairbanks film His Picture in the Papers will also screen on Saturday with live music accompaniment.

AERO  (LA):

The AERO is offering an eclectic mixed bag of films this weekend including the 4k restoration of Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire (1987; Janus Films) on Friday night, David Fincher’s Fight Club  on Saturday, and the WC Fields comedy My Little Chickadee (1940) on Sunday night.

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

Continuing the theater’s attempt to keep up with ‘90s Cinemax with its X-rated fare, Just Jaekin’s erotic drama Emmanuelle (Kino Lorber; 1974) will screen in a special engagement, leading up to next week’s Beyond Emmanuelle Just Jaeckin retrospective and Erotic Journeys: The Many Faces of Em(m)anuelle. 

IFC CENTER (NYC):

On Friday and Saturday at midnight, the IFC Center will show the 4k restoration of Dario Argento’s Suspiria as part of its Late Night Favorites series. While The Image Book opens here on Friday, Weekend Classics: Early Godard  continues with a 35mm print of A Woman is a Woman  (1961) and Waverly Midnights: The Feds screens Michael Mann’s Manhunter(with Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal coming in the next two weekends!)

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART  (LA):

Friday night’s midnight screening is the Rocky Horror Picture Show follow-up Shock Treatment (1981).

MOMA (NYC):

This week’s Modern Matinees: Sir Sidney Poitier offerings are A Patch of Blue  (1965) on Weds, They Call Me Mr. Tibbs! (1970) Thurs, and No Way Out  (1950) on Friday. MOMA is also screening Ida Lupino’s Never Fear (The Young Lovers) (1950) to end its 16th annual To Save and Project series, although there’s a couple second screenings for those (like me) who only just found out about it now.

That’s it for this week… next week, it’s February! Already?? While many movie writers are still at Sundance and others are preparing for Super Bowl Sunday, Sony releases the crime-thriller remake Miss Bala.