#annie murphy icons

[slashericons]

Black Mirror, S06E01 —Joan Is Awful

[editfandom]

Joan - Black Mirror, S06E01

[iconseries]

[stevensgus]

Alexis Rose I love you <3

[broadwaydivastournament]

BROADWAY DIVAS SUPERLATIVES: Bosom Buddies - Icons Only

Yes, yes, there are so many iconic friendships on and around Broadway (Bernadette and Mary Tyler Moore, especially), but this time there's no "other" option.

Video Clips & Stories Beneath the Cut: More Polls

Angela Lansbury & Beatrice "Bea" Arthur: Angela and Bea first met in 1965 during rehearsals for the production of Mame, in which Angela played the titular Mame, and Bea her "bosom buddy" Vera. Both women would earn Tony Awards for their iconic, never-to-be-bested portrayals. They remained lifelong friends for the next five decades until Bea's death in 2009, where Angela hosted her memorial service at the Majestic Theatre. As the story goes, Angela's legendary Jessica B. Fletcher is named "B" for Bea.

"She was a class act and a real joy to work with. When I first met her I thought I was meeting this patrician, classically trained actor, but she has a mouth like a longshoreman. No kidding. She loved telling dirty limericks." - Bea Arthur on Angela Lansbury, 2003.

Ann Reinking and Bebe Neuwirth: Forever linked by dance and the great Bob Fosse, Ann and Bebe met in passing during the special 3,389th performance of A Chorus Line, but would not come to know each other closer until Sweet Charity, where Annie took over Charity for Debbie Allen during the run, and Bebe played Nickie (Tony Award). They remained dear friends until Annie's death in 2020, working together in Fosse, and of course, the 1995 revival of Chicago that persists to this day.

“I fell in love with her, I continued to fall in love with her. I am in love with her forever. There was a trust between us, there was a connection between us that was beyond anything that had any logical explanation. I felt sometimes--this may sound strange, but it’s the truth--I felt sometimes I looked in her eyes and I time travelled.” - Bebe Neuwirth on Ann Reinking, 2021

Carol Burnett & Julie Andrews: Though they may have never starred in an official Broadway show together, Carol and Julie are too iconic to pass up here. They met in 1961 and are both still alive, kicking, and enduring friends. They did a series of television and stage specials together, including Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall (1963, Emmy Award), Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center (1971) and Julie & Carol: Together Again (1989). They also both starred in Putting it Together as the part, one after the other. And as a story goes, Carol and Julie were "caught" kissing as a prank on their friend Mike Nichols, but were instead discovered by Lady Bird Johnson.

"As we sat in the darkened hotel hallway on the sofa in front of a bank of three elevators waiting for him, we started to feel rather foolish, and we thought 'Let’s do something to make him laugh.' We decided to pretend we were making out," she said at the time. "He’d called our room and said he was coming right down, so we thought, well, the first person off the elevator would be Mike. But it wasn’t." - Julie Andrews recounts the story to Oprah magazine.

Chita Rivera & Gwen Verdon: Before there was Annie and Bebe, there was Chita and Gwen. The original Velma and Roxie duo in the 1975 Chicago, Chita and Gwen remained friends until Gwen's death in 2000. As Chita recounts, Gwen Verdon was the first person to tell her she had her own talent and didn't need to be her understudy. Years later, they were starring together in Chicago. Chita and Gwen shared the role of Charity (alongside many others) in the benefit concert production of Sweet Charity in 1998. It would be Gwen's final stage appearance. Though Fosse brought his own drama, Chita and Gwen never fell out.

"Our relationship was what it was from the day I stood beside her in “Chicago.” She was a strong woman. She was private. She used to, which is really kind of cute because I would call her on it, sometimes dramatize a story and would say, “Isn’t that right, Chita? Don’t you remember that?” And I wasn’t even there. I would find myself saying, “Yeah, absolutely.” She was so terribly funny, really, really funny." - Chita Rivera on Gwen Verdon, 2019

Donna Murphy & Marin Mazzie: Donna and Marin met while doing the Passion workshop in 1993, and their friendship endures to this day, despite Marin's death in 2018. After all, "and should you die tomorrow, another thing I see: your love will live in me." Marin sang at Donna's daughter's christening. Donna sang at Marin's remembrance concert. She still writes her memorial posts to Marin each year on the anniversary of her passing. Donna played Mother in the earliest workshop of Ragtime, before Marin took over and made that role what it will always be.

"She would always be the first person to say "how are you doing?" That kind of kindness and selflessness in a way--it's not that I didn't appreciate it then--I really did. So I don't need to smack myself in the head and say "why didn't you realize how rare and beautiful it was?" I did. What I couldn't calculate was how much I miss it." - Donna Murphy on Marin Mazzie, 2018.

Kelli O'Hara & Victoria Clark: Our first and only mother-daughter duo, though who is mother and who is daughter is up for debate. Kelli and Vicki met playing mother and daughter in the 2005 The Light in the Piazza as Clara and Margaret Johnson. They remain dear friends to this day and the only pair alive, well, and not dangerously close to death... Kelli and Vicki, trained opera singers, also reunited for Dido and Aeneas in 2016. Their friendship has survived a few awkward situations, such as being up against each other (alongside fellow Piazza star Celia Keenan-Bolger, and that's a story in and of itself) for the role of Nellie Forbush in South Pacific.

"I just started calling her Mother, because I felt like I could be who I was without covering up. Why she called me Mother back is pretty obvious, but she was, for me, always the rock. I felt like, Okay, she loves me, warts and all. Hopefully." - Victoria Clark on Kelli O'Hara, 2016.

[popculturebuffet]

Batmarch Finale: Batman (1989) Review: At Long Last Joker Dancing on Parade Float

Hello all you happy batpeople and it's time for the finale of Batmarch! It's been a fun ride that really made me love the character again and it ends here with something i've been wanting to do since the start of this blog: IT's time to talk about Tim Burton's Batman, the 1989 classic blockbuster that created the first superhero movie boom, solidified the caped crusader as a dark brooding vigilante in the public eye, and gave us not one but two iconic scenes of joker dancing to prince music that live rent free in my head forevermore.

Batman took almost a decade to get going, with Producer Micheal Uslan, a comic book historian who taught a succesful course on comics as literature, wanting to take batman back to his earlier days as a mysterious figure of darkness. His timing was great as by the late 70's when he started his crusade for the caped crusader, Batman had been on a course back to those very roots thanks to the works of Neil Adams and Denny O'Neil. Comic fans ate up a darker batman and Batman returned to being a creature of the night.

The problem was for most audiences.. he was a creature of camp. While I adore the Adam West Batman, i'm honestly shocked i've only covered ONE episode of that gloriously goofy series, it left a mark on the character, with everyone assuming "Well that's what batman is". It's a common trait in comic book adaptations: TV and Movies reach a wide audience. It's why most people think Scott Summers is a plank of wood instead of a tatctical genius with a lot of baggage.

Thus studios either flat out rejected them or wanted a comedy in the vein of the adam wast show. Or rejected it for reasons like "It would be called Batman and Robin and we just had a film with robin in the name tha tbombed" or "It and Annie are both "from the funnie" pages and Annie just bombed (yet did INCREDIBLY well on home video)"

Thankfully the film got rescued as, with John "Giant Mechanical Spider Peters" getting on board, he suggested they do what they did with superman: promote the hell out of the film and the script they had and hope someone buys into the hype. Sure enough it worked as Warner Bros picked up the film and to my suprise they already owned DC Comics, the rights simply got sold off for the reasons film rights to properties often do

So Warner was eager to get the property back in house and profit off it.

With that it was time for a full script by Tom Mankiewicz who based it largely on Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers short but memorable run on Detective Comics I wasn't aware of till doing research for this review, but now happily own. Rogers was even brought on to do concept art. The script went through NINE revisions according to wikipedia, but all were based largely on tom's original. Directing wise Joe Dante and Wes Craven were both considered and i'd loved to see what their version of the film would've been like. Ivan Reitman also was, but wanted a comedy starring billl murray with the studio eyeing eddie murphy for robin.

Thankfully the success of Pee Wee's Big Adventure lead Warner Bros to go with their new golden boy, who was just coming off production of another soon to be hit, Beetlejuice, Tim Burton, pictured here looking like Batman's goth best friend he takes in the batmobile to get him out of the house.

I'd pay so much to see that version of this movie.

Burton wasn't a comic fan , but upon getting the project was a fan of recent hits The Dark Knight Returns and The Killing Joke, and was fascinated with what batman could be. Meanwhile Warner brought in Englehart himself to make a draft. Burton then brought in Sam Hamm, a rookie screenwriter and HUGE fan of the character who quickly proved to be the perfect fit, tightening up the screenplay: he removed Robin (something no one was sad about as he was a studio mandate), replaced Silver St Cloud (Bruce's love intrest during the Englehart Run) and Rupert Throne with Vicki Vale and Carl Grissom and the script was set.

So casting began. After a number of more traditional leads were considered, Burton went with Micheal Keaton at the suggestion of Peters, who felt Keaton has the tortured quality batman needed. It was a great call as he fit both sides: he was stoic and comanding as batman, but as bruce was perfectly absentminded, as if he was far away, yet still charastmatic and likeable. It was a good contrast and also made it easy to see why no one suspect this guy was batman.

Unfortuantely the fans.. were not pleased. Yes even then peopl ewere liable to throw hands over casting decisions before seeing them proper. I've not been imune to this: I liked Ben Affleck but wasn't sure he fit batman, only to be proven wrong when he was easily one of the saving graces of Batman V Superman and it's regretful he couldn't be batman in a better movie.

Fans worried that Keaton , who up to this point had mostly been in comedies, meant the film would be camp like the tv series and film again, to the point this MADE HEADLINES. The studio even breifly considered reasting, but burton held firm.

If your curious other actors considered were Pierce Brosnan (who had no intrest in doing a comic book movie), Mel Gibson (dodged a bullet there), Kevin Costner, Charlie Sheen (Another bullet dodged, too much tiger blood to be a bat man), Tom Selleck, Harrison Ford and Dennis Quaid. None of these really.. feel right, and it's burton's first choice before realizing Keaton was it , the green goblin himself Willam Dafoe, that woul'dve worked with what he was going for. None of these actors are bad, even sheen and gibson are good actors just..awful human beings, they just don't fit the part. Sheen in paticular feels like the worst timeline and I pity the earth that got saddled with frat bro batman.

Naturally every hero needs a good villian and while another row of talent was considered, the studio and Peters heavily pushed for Jack Nicholson over other competiors such as Brad Douriff, Tim Curry, and David Bowie, all versions of this film i'd LOVE to see in some other timeline. That said Nichelson was the perfect choice.

How they finally nailed him down is my faviorite story I found from the documentary: So Nicholson was open to it, liking the part but to lock it down wanted them to meet him for horseback riding. Burton , nature's perfect indoor kid, was naturally deeply uncomfortable on a horse and i'd pay good money to get the picture they claimed existed of Tim Burton on a horse with Jack Nicholson. I find it fascinating in of itself that Jack Nicholson rides horses and has a deep love of horses. That's a thing that fits, but just never occured to me. The most uncomfortbale horse ride ever netted him the part and Nicholson trusted burton completely on set and spoke highly of him in the documentary.

The final main cast addition came due to , of all the possile reasons, a horse riding accident. No it wasn't tim burton himself, but Sean Young, who'd been cast as Bruce's reporter love intrest Vicky Vale and had to bow out, replaced by Kim Bassinger.

Rounding out the cast we have Robert Whul as local reporter and only one digging into this batman case Knox, Cool School owner and operator Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent, Pat Hingle as Comissioner Gordon, acting legend Jack Palance as crime boss and the joker's boss Carl Grissom, and Tracey Walter as Joker's NUMBER. ONE. GUY. Bob.

Promotion for the film was something unique. Nowadays we're used to big, omnipresent ad blitzes with our blockbusters, a huge swath of adds to let you know THIS FILM'S A COMIN. YOU CANNOT ESCAPE THIS FILM. I DON'T CARE IF YOUR AMBVILENT ABOUT ARTHUR AND THE KING YOU WILL GET 20 ADDS FOR IT JACOB. THE HYPE MACHINE HATH SPOKEN.

To start Jon Peters helped cut a teaser trailer, wanting to get SOMETHING out to show that no, this wasn't going to be like the Adam West show stop calling me about it dennis. The trailer was only a minute and a half, had no music behind it, something I only found out, and is clearly just whatever clips they had that were ready. You can find it here. It's throughly intresting.

It also.. works. While it's only a short teaser, it gets across what this film is, shows both joker and batman enough to get hyped, all while not spoiling the film. Granted they probably didn't have enough footage yet TO do that but still, it's a well done teaser with only one or two bits feeling like their just.. thrown in there and given the time crunch to get this in front of a teast audence, I can salute that it's still works.

And it worked MASSIVELY. People bought tickets JUST to see this teaser, bootlegs of it sold like hot cakes. It was meant to get people hyped up for what this film actually was.. and it DID, erasing doubts Keaton wasn't batman and showing people just what they were getting.

Warner then went all in promoting the hell out of this film, to the point Marvel's she hulk did a parody of this where a new super heroine does a simliar add blitz: There was cereal, tiger games, merchandising of all kinds. It was a huge gamble as if the film failed to live up to the hype... it'd be a joke NOTHING could live down, would sink the careers of everyone involved from production on down, and possibly destroy warner.

Naturally though.. it didn't. The gamble paid off. It's almost like if you actually RELEASE a film and have faith in the creators, you'll make money. The film was a massive success leading to three more films in this series and a mind boggling 11 theatrical and 60+ total films JUST starring the batman. That's not getting into team movies.

So join me under the cut as we see if , after 35 years of excellence, this film still lives up to the hype in a genre now packed with classics.

Bat Class and Bat Style:

Starting out with the style of the film, it can't be overstated the sheer impact this film had on Gotham city as a place. Before this it was mostly a standard city, just more of a crime hole than most. It was weird reading some of that very Steve Englehart run I mentioned and seeing Gotham. .as a pretty standard metropolis, if not obviously THE metropolis.

Batman is where , to my shock, Gotham was first portrayed as this art deco 40's style hellscape, a city of old buildings with the crime built into it's very foundations: a city of frequent nights, heavy shadows and plenty of places for an up and coming here ot perch and brood. It's an atmosphere that almost feels consuming: you can't escape gotham and it won't let you. It's a monster as much of a city. Batman the Animated series would build on this, making this what gotham was: a city with it's dark history seeped into it's stone that feels massive and endless, like no matter how much batman does the city is almost too big for him to ever fully save.

The rest of the style is after the 40's, a nice nod to batman premiering JUST before they started in 1939. We have large flashes on the cameras, reporters in suits the like.

I also realized this wasn't just a cool style choice, it's a thematic one: Most of Gotham wears these types of clothes, fitting with how Gotham is: a city with a long proud history.. but one it finds itself stuck in. A lot of those men in suits are either helpless goverment types who WANT to make things better but can only do so much like Gordon or Dent, or outright corrupt men like the various mob bosses who control it from the shadow. Even Knox , who tries to go for the scoop, is stuck in the old behaviors of sexisim, hitting on his photographer and creative partner vicki a lot nad being a possesive dick about her romance when it's none of his damn buinsess.

The people who may actually change this city are the ones who come off more with the time: Bruce most of the time wears looser suits or , in one scene casual clothes. The one time he dosen't is to fit in at his own party, to blend in so well Knox and Vale don't even notice he was behind them for a whole scene. When he's himself he's awkward, but also kind and charming. When he's his truest self batman he's calm, intmidating and of course dressed in a lot of rubber. He dosen't fit with Gotham.. but by doing so he can change it for the better.

Vicki is diffrent, fitting in a bit better but her hair and styles tend more toward practical, often wearing her glasses which look neat. Wish I had a pair like that. She brushes off Knox's comments, dosen't want anyone taking ownership of her and rightly calls bruce out for ghosting her (Granted he's also right ot try and get her to stop for one minute so he can tell her she's batman). She's trying to change it more by simply finding the batman, but it's still someone diffrent.

Finally we have the Joker, who stylistically dosen't deviate greately as jack.. but once he becomes something else, he changes. he wears the suit sure... but it's a bright purple with a giant boutiner. He wears makeup, but it's barely covering and by the time of the art heist there more for a joke than actual cover. His attempts to fit in are really more a joke than an actual attempt. Napier never really fit in... he simply stopped putting on the pretense once he became the joker.

Joker's moderness also comes through in othe rways; his biggest scheme heavily involves the rise of cosmetics and the television, using his then modern Smilex adds to stow paranoia. He vandalizes classic art for funsies to a dope prince song. And for his final masterstroke he captalizes on the greedhead nature of the 80's: he correctly figures if you throw enough money at people they'll forgive anything, and throws a ton of money into the crowd in the film's best scene, capering and hamming it up as he prepares to kill them all by luring them into one place. It's telling that the only two places in the film itself Prince's songs show up are with the Joker, who embodies the excess of the 80's while still having his classic 40's born design.

And since we're talking about him...

The Devil in the Pale Moon Light

Nicholson's joker is fantastic. I wasn't big on him for a long time.. but I realized on rewatch it wasn't the performance. Nicholson fucking nails it, having that manic energy hid with a genial calm that makes a good joker to me, that sort of charisma where you geninely can't tell if you'll end the scene as his NUMBER. ONE. GUY. or with a bullet in the belly. He's hammy as hell when he wants to be, deathly calm when he wants to be, and the only one who truly understands himself always.

Nicholson's joker strikes me as a mad Performanceartist, an interpretation I like: his jokes are carefully crafted pieces always done for a terrified audience of some kind. Only one of his kills or crimes post putting a smile on that face dosen't have an audience, Grissom, and he STILL puts on a show for him, shooting him to opera music while giggling like a mad man. Every other crime is a big show, which isn't inconsitant for joker. Every joker has theater kid tendencies, this joker is just the one who has the most thespian energy.

His schemes are also fantastic, props to Burton and the writers: their the right mix of operartic performance art and ghastly crime. From defacing a museum for the attention, to the utterly brillaint smilex ad which parodies the hell out of 80's ad trends and is one of the best joker scenes in media, perfectly capturing his sort of scheme, this versions love of a good performance, and the time it was in. The poor editing and his "Chances are you already own some" and the laugh after.. it's genius. Every piece is great. I also love the pen stabbing which I didn't really pay much attention to before but the mimes, the awesome as hell outfit, the "Uncle bingo" line.. it's so damn fun and the mundanety of the stabbing, feather quill or not makes it a shocker

The two best though are the ones embeded on my mind from childhood to present day: THe art scene is awesome and I love the way he says lawrence, with him just getting into general dicking around shenanigans because it's fun, saving a picture because it's horrifying. I also love his dickish "date" with vicky where he just calls all her glamour photo's crap. You can tell Jack Nicholson is loving EVERY second of this. Granted who wouldn't love grooving to Party Man, which is a truly awesome song. Prince didn't half ass it for this album and while his inclusion is a clear studio mandate Tim Burton didn't seem enthused about in the documentary, Burton still made it work perfectly. It's really hard to not make prince work granted, but it's still flawlessly used.

My faviorite scene of the film though... is Trust aka "Jack nicholson fucking destroys while riding on a blimp" Those hand moves, his expressions, bob and lawrence's grins as they throw money, the banger that is Trust behind him. While Partyman is good and really fits Joker, Trust is a fun banger jam that fits the party atmosphere of Joker's final gambit. The sight of joker throwing money everywhere while mugging is just.. peak joker and one of the best moments of the character and in superhero cinema period.

While Nicholson's joker is mostly celebrated there are two big points of contention, two elephants in the room to tackle.

The first is the fact we get Joker's name at all, that we know anything about him before he became joker as a huge part of his mystique is being this mysterious murder clown who just.. fell in a vat one day and that's all we know before he started chasing batman.

I prefer his past to be a mystery, it adds to the charm and the terror of this guy... but on this watch I felt the Jack Napier version still really works. Nichson does a good job making both Jack and Joker feel like two very diffrent people: Jack was a fairly unambitious hood who WANTED to run everything, but had no real plans for it, content to screw the bosses mistress and be done with it. It's easy to buy into corrupt cop Eckhart's view Jack has no future.. because he didn't. The second Grissom found out what he was doing, he set Jack up to die. Jack ONLY escapes ace chemicals alive due to pure luck: Gordon got informed in time to take over and stop a potetial execution and Bob turned out to be the best guy ever and held said Gordon hostage to get batman to let Jack go. And even then Jack's own impulsiveness nearly killed him, falling into the vat. He's ONLY alive because of sheer luck and knowing a good back alley doctor using tools he got from a dentist who mysteriously died a few decades back.

Jack is an impulsive trainwreck.. the joker.. is Jack with all his inhibitions stripped.. and tha'ts why knowing Jack works. Jack was a pretty common hood: even the Wayne murder, we'll get to that shortly, was just buisness as usual. Jack had ambitious DREAMS, but seemed content to just wait for Grissom to die naturally then take his empire.

Joker by contrast is a mad artist: he sees gotham as his canvas, a toy to play with. He has all of jack's greed and drive, but none of his hesitance to act on it. He's impulsive but unlike jack, he thinks out his impulsive plans. He wants vicky kidnapped, but has his minons bring her, has a bunch of stuff ready and has a whole music video ready after. He barges in on her apartment but brings goons just in case. He's still impulsive enough to be the joker: He dosen't have a plan b for the parade, the pen stabbing comes off as "wouldn't this be neat let's do that", but it's still more than jack ever thought. Jack is truly gone: vestiges of him remain in his new self, he makes sure Grissom dies and wants to control gotham.. but he's now got the higher calling of mayhem: ruling gotham isn't because it's there.. it's because it's FUN. It works because it shows just how FAR joker can go, going from a midly high level enforcer, to a mad god whose only stopped by batman yanking hard enough. Jack works because, ala killing joke, it shows a mostly normal person becoming something far worse. The Joker has an origin and it informs him a bit.. but who jack was is gone by the joker and it's fascinating watching hwat he became.

So that brings us to the OTHER big change: Jack Napier killed Batman's parents. Now this one I agree was a bad idea: the tragedy of the wayne murders. .is that it was just some guy. Some random hood, sometimes named joe hill, shot two innocent people and doing so broke a child and created a bat. It being his future arch enemy feels contrived. Like IT HAD to be someone important because it was his destiny to be a vengeful orphan man! It can't have been just some guy it had to be a number one guy yes yes. It misses the point entirely and it just feels dumb and that reveal clouded my judgement. Jack on his own isn't bad but making him batman's parent's killer is just.. too much. That part sucks but everything ELSE about Uncle Bingo rules and one bad decision, that writer Sam Hamm swears wasn't his idea and came after it was in Burton's hands so blame accordingly, shoudln't negate such a fine performance.

Let's Get Nuts

Speaking of fine performances, let's talk about the Batman of the hour himself. While I went Joker first, Keaton's batman is awesome and has gotten it's due praise over the last few years.

Ironically a lot of what fans hated about him, his everyman looks and not being "muscular" are what make this bruce work. Much like Robert Pattinson's brilliant turn after, this is a Bruce who doesn't really socialize. Unlike Pattinsons he does put in the bare minimum, throwing parties and such... but it's clear while bruce is a known philanthropist, he's not really a big name figure in gotham beyond that. He's an inconspcious guy, so much that Vicky and Knox dont' even notice him or realize it is him. And that suits what he does great: he's so nondescript that once people start looking for batman they won't look there.

Not tha this secret identity being in danger is a big issue at first: Batman's experinced here, but also early enough he's just a myth: Only Knox thinks he's real and even he has no idea what this guy looks like. The criminals know, but both bruce and batman are unknowns at first and prefer it this way.

Bruce is a kind, gentle, down to earth guy: he quickly wins Vicki Vale over.. simply by showing an intrest in her work. It's subtly contrasted with the other two men in her life: Knox first notices her legs, hits on her mildly agresively and is a possesive tool, while Joker outright claims her and tries to kill bruce for stepping on his territory. Bruce wins Vicky over.. because he sees her as a PERSON and not boobs or a prize to be one. Basinger and Keaton have really great chemistry and while the two don't get a ton of scenes together, you see why Bruce takes to her so quickly.. and why he pushe sher away. His war on crime is ALL he has, and he dosen't want her getting caught in it, ironically taking away the agency that brought him to her. It's only when he realizes HOW much she means that he tries to open up. Then a clown shoots him but you know , thems the breka. It's telling when Alfred, to finally break this will they or won't they stalemate, brings her down he's not the least bit mad and is honest with Vicki and continues seeing her.. until she didn't come back for the sequel but that's a review for another day. A christmas day.

I bring up the relatoinship because it's what defines bruce, and while romances can be rushed in these movies.. this one works and fleshes bruce out. It creates a nice divide between the man he thinks he should be, the creatue of the night who scares a cowardly and superstitious lot, who dosen't flinch in any situation and is always calm.. with the all too human bruce who simply dosen't want to be alone. Well he has alfred but he can't rely on his dad forever.

As batman.. there isn't a ton to talk about as he's mostly stoic and badass. Keaton does a really good job of that.. but there's not a ton of expression other than "scowling and it's only in his final confrontation with the joker, his parents murderer he really emotes with pure unyielding rage. It's not bad.

There is one aspect that needs to be talked about though: This batman.. kills. It's a divisive idea as by this point batman's no killing rule was in place... but it's one I get Burton not using. He and those around him based this film on the earliest works, and in those.. Batman had no issue killing if he had to.

It works for me largely because Batman isn't wontonly killing: he uses the machine guns primarily to clear the way and presumibly, like the dark knight returns which is where Burton probably got the machine gun, their likely rubber bullets. The only person he truly tries to kill repeadetly is Jack. Not at the plant, as while it's said he drops him .. it really dosen't come off that way. It's left ambigious if batman did it on purpose or simply COULDN'T hold onto jack much longer. The only person Batman truly wants dead.. is the man who created him. Any other kills are mostly just life or death struggles. I prefer batman not to kill... but one who does so judciously still fits the character.

Finally before we move on we have the way his origin's done: While I said I didn't like the jack part the film tries to treat this as some big mystery.. with the problem being even in a post adam west pre burton world.. most people probably knew batman's parents were dead. It works to a point, but out of all the things in the film.. it feels like padding. We know why he's doing this, we're just waiting for Vicky to catch up and i'd be fine with that but ther'es juts.. nothing really added. She finds out his parents died. A matter of public record he didn't really bury. The only shocking reveal she finds is who killed his parents, which while a decen tswerve, couldv'e been hidden until the reveal. It just.. pads the film slightly, but not so much it obstructs it

The People of Gotham

Now for our side cast. Starting with our third lead we have Vicky Vale, she of the 80's hair, neat glasses and inconstient spelling in this review. Kim Bassinger does a great job with the character and they do TRY to flesh her out: she's been both a war reporter and a fashion photographer, is great at her career and while enamored with Bruce only takes his shit so far.

That being said while I do LIKE Vicky, it's largely down to the performance: Bassinger is a talented actress and i'd like to see her in more films. I mean i've only seen her in this, Wayne's World 2 and bits of Cool World. She did fine in all three, it's just clear she has talent and I hope to see her make a comeback if she wants. She makes a character given just enough sparkle.

That being said... plot wise.. Vicky's just there for exposition and as an object. They give her some depth, being a former war photographer, but the film's unintrested in exploring her as a person, instead having her explore bruce.

And get put in danger three diffrent times. I mean she only gets kidnapped once but it feels like she's mostly there to get scared or romance bruce. The romance plot IS important as it fleshes Bruce out as a person... but it's telling it's mostly to flesh HIM out. Vicky and him have chemistry.. but again that's because her actress is that good. I can kinda see why she didn't want to return for the sequel, and feel bad that her replacement of sorts got way more with her character. Vicky.. deserved better.

Onto Alexander Knox, who is probably confusing those of you who haven't seen the film. Knox is a reporter and is intended as mild comic relief at times. In practice he's aged like fine cheese on a sidewalk covered in radioactive ants and pudding. His first words upon seeing Vicky "Hello Legs"

He then offers to do nudes and in general just.. tends to hit on her often, while she clearly just wants to work with him and is only putting up with her bullshit because she's so clearly used to sexist bullshit and come ons at this point. I DO think some of this is intetional as there's a contrast in how he greets her and how Bruce greets her: Knox recognizes her work, but is mostly interested in

While Bruce you know.. sees her as a person. That said Knox.. is also creepily posessive, telling her not to go out with bruce, not getting what she sees in him, and clearly being jealous. He's just kinda there to set up that batman's been a thing and is mostly seen as a myth then ceases to be relevant but sticks around the film anyway. He does go after some guys with a baseball bat but it's too little too late.

Finally out of our heroes side, we have Alfred. Micheal Gogh dosen't get a ton to do, but really owns the roll, giving you the impression of a man who simply dosen't want to see his surrogate son spend his whole life in a cave. he says as much outright but you can see just how HAPPY he is that Bruce has Vicky and how much he dosen't want him to loose her. He dosen't get to do much.. but his one big action was a source of contention for Sam Hamm, as it was added after. Alfred takes Vicky to the batcave. In Hamm's words "That would be his last day of employment"

Alfred... is Bruce's dad. Not biologically, that we know of, but he raised Bruce. Even by this point in the comics it was clear Alfred was just as much a faithful retainer as he was Bruce's dad. Bruce would get mad about something like this.. but he'd never fire Alfred as a snap judgement, especially when Bruce WAS GOING TO TELL VICKY ANYWAY. Alfred likely knew this. All Alfred did was eliminate a step. It wasn't like Alfred invited his acapella group, the Alfredpellas, down there.

We then have Alicia. Alicia dosen't get much to do as this script REALLY wasn't intrested in women but is intresting. My friend Jess the Vampire pointed out when we watched this she's kind of a proto harley quinn: someone deeply intrested in the Joker despite how he abuses her. At first it's fairly equal: Jack gives her attention Grissom isn't and him becoming joker shocks her but isn't bad. Then he horribly scars her as an art piece, and abandons her for Vicky and the sheer trauma causes her to throw herself off a building. It's a tragic story as she didn't relaly do anything wrong, she just had bad taste in men: first Grissom then Jack then Joker. It's not as layered as poor harley, but it's a good first draft and adds to what a monster Joker is. He just makes her into his horrifying art then throws her away when he's done.

Finally out of the major characters we have Bob. Bob is a quiet MVP in this film, Jack's best friend and #2 and Joker's Number. One. Guy.

What I hadn't noticed before is even pre joker.. Bob is LOYAL to Jack. He gets Eckhart not to shoot jack, and most importantly saves Jack from Batman at Ace Chemicals, holding Gordon hostage. From the go he's invauable to his bestie, helping make up for Jack's impulsivness. And while Jack just kinda shrugs, as he tends to, Joker recognizes this. He instantly makes Bob his NUMBER. ONE. GUY. and unlike grissom, who only said it in jest and as a veiled threat, Joker really seems to mean it. He has Bob stalk vicky for him, lure her to the musuem, all creepy shit sure but all stuff Joker needs vitally done and trusts Bob to do without any ulterior motive. And he does. Bob's also just fun: he capers a lot during partyman and is one of the best parts of Trust, his expression as he's throwing money gives me life. It also makes his death tragic. Bob was not a good guy, again he stalked a woman because he was told to.. but he was loyal and friendly.. and joker kills him simply because he got pissed off. His death is, fitting the joker, hilarious, just the casual way he asks for a gunt hen shoots bob with it, but it's a sad end to a NUMBER. ONE. GUY.

The rest of the side cast.. is pretty one note. Gordon is just the police chief, something that carries over to most other versions we've seen on film, Dark Knight being the exception. He has a great moment at ace chemicals but does fuck all the rest of the film except light up the bat signal. Harvey Dent is there to set up a future role that never comes for Billy Dee Williams. Grissom is memorable thanks to Jack Palance's delivery of "NUMBER. ONE. GUY. ", but otherwise is just a standard gangster man. The rest of the cast is mostly there to do plot and they do do it well but don't do much else.

Conclusion: And with that Bat March comes to a belated end. I enjoyed this review as it made me take a close look at a film I loved... and ended up loving it MORE. Batman has rough edges, some due to age some due to simply being one of the earlier comic book movies, but it' sstill damn good even today. It's a classic, a fun ride with banger performances, a lot of detail and deft direction from Burton. If you haven't watched it in a while, please do. If you have.. well do anyway it's that good.

Thanks for reading and thanks for enjoying batmarch

[donnatroyprincessofthemyscira]

ComicList: DC Comics New Releases for Wednesday, August 16, 2023, by Charles LePage.

Absolute V For Vendetta HC (2023 Edition), $125.00

Batman Detective Comics Volume 1 Gotham Nocturne Overture HC (2022), $29.99

Batman One Bad Day Complete Box Set, $159.99

Batman One Bad Day Ra’s al Ghul HC, $17.99

Batman Superman World’s Finest #18 (Cover A Dan Mora), $3.99

Batman Superman World’s Finest #18 (Cover B Darick Robertson & Diego Rodriguez Card Stock Variant), $4.99

Batman Superman World’s Finest #18 (Cover C Rafael Albuquerque Blue Beetle Movie Card Stock Variant), $4.99

Batman Superman World’s Finest #18 (Cover D Ariel Colon Card Stock Variant), AR

Batman Superman World’s Finest #18 (Cover E Meghan Hetrick Card Stock Variant), AR

Batman Superman World’s Finest #18 (Cover F Dan Mora Foil Variant), AR

Batman Volume 2 The Bat-Man Of Gotham HC (2022), $24.99

Batman White Knight Presents Generation Joker #4 (Of 6)(Cover A Sean Murphy), $4.99

Batman White Knight Presents Generation Joker #4 (Of 6)(Cover B Mirka Andolfo), $4.99

Batman White Knight Presents Generation Joker #4 (Of 6)(Cover C Walter Simonson), AR

Harley Quinn Black + White + Redder #2 (Of 6)(Cover A Chris Samnee), $4.99

Harley Quinn Black + White + Redder #2 (Of 6)(Cover B Joelle Jones), $4.99

Harley Quinn Black + White + Redder #2 (Of 6)(Cover C Annie Wu), AR

Hawkgirl #2 (Of 6)(Cover A Amancay Nahuelpan), $3.99

Hawkgirl #2 (Of 6)(Cover B Derrick Chew Card Stock Variant), $4.99

Hawkgirl #2 (Of 6)(Cover C Kaare Andrews Blue Beetle Movie Card Stock Variant), $4.99

Hawkgirl #2 (Of 6)(Cover D David Talaski Card Stock Variant), AR

Icon Vs. Hardware #4 (Of 5)(Cover A Rahzzah), $4.99

Icon Vs. Hardware #4 (Of 5)(Cover B Edwin Galmon), $4.99

Icon Vs. Hardware #4 (Of 5)(Cover C Sean Damien Hill), AR

Knight Terrors Catwoman #2 (Of 2)(Cover A Leila Leiz), $4.99

Knight Terrors Catwoman #2 (Of 2)(Cover B Tula Lotay Card Stock Variant), $5.99

Knight Terrors Catwoman #2 (Of 2)(Cover C Corin Howell Card Stock Variant), $5.99

Knight Terrors Catwoman #2 (Of 2)(Cover D Dani Black & White Card Stock Variant), AR

Knight Terrors Catwoman #2 (Of 2)(Cover E Corin Howell Black & White Card Stock Variant), AR

Knight Terrors Nightwing #2 (Of 2)(Cover A Daniele Di Nicuolo), $4.99

Knight Terrors Nightwing #2 (Of 2)(Cover B Francesco Mattina Card Stock Variant), $5.99

Knight Terrors Nightwing #2 (Of 2)(Cover C Jason Shawn Alexander Card Stock Variant), $5.99

Knight Terrors Nightwing #2 (Of 2)(Cover D Vasco Georgiev Card Stock Variant), AR

Knight Terrors Nightwing #2 (Of 2)(Cover E Francesco Mattina Black & White Card Stock Variant), AR

Knight Terrors Punchline #2 (Of 2)(Cover A Gleb Melnikov), $3.99

Knight Terrors Punchline #2 (Of 2)(Cover B Dustin Nguyen Card Stock Variant), $4.99

Knight Terrors Punchline #2 (Of 2)(Cover C Ejikure Card Stock Variant), $4.99

Knight Terrors Punchline #2 (Of 2)(Cover D Lucas Meyer Card Stock Variant), AR

Knight Terrors Punchline #2 (Of 2)(Cover E Gleb Melnikov Black & White Card Stock Variant), AR

Knight Terrors Superman #2 (Of 2)(Cover A Gleb Melnikov), $4.99

Knight Terrors Superman #2 (Of 2)(Cover B Jon Bogdanove Card Stock Variant), $5.99

Knight Terrors Superman #2 (Of 2)(Cover C John Giang Card Stock Variant), $5.99

Knight Terrors Superman #2 (Of 2)(Cover D Mikel Janin Card Stock Variant), AR

Knight Terrors Superman #2 (Of 2)(Cover E Pete Woods Card Stock Variant), AR

Knight Terrors Wonder Woman #2 (Of 2)(Cover A Jae Lee), $4.99

Knight Terrors Wonder Woman #2 (Of 2)(Cover B Sebastian Fiumara Card Stock Variant), $5.99

Knight Terrors Wonder Woman #2 (Of 2)(Cover C Jeff Dekal Card Stock Variant), $5.99

Knight Terrors Wonder Woman #2 (Of 2)(Cover D W. Scott Forbes Card Stock Variant), AR

Knight Terrors Wonder Woman #2 (Of 2)(Cover E John McCrea Card Stock Variant), AR

Monkey Prince Volume 2 The Monkey King And I HC, $24.99

Nightwing The Joker War TP, $19.99

Penguin #0 (Cover A Belén Ortega), $3.99

Tales Of The Titans #2 (Of 4)(Cover A Nicola Scott), $4.99

Tales Of The Titans #2 (Of 4)(Cover B Christian Ward Card Stock Variant), $5.99

Tales Of The Titans #2 (Of 4)(Cover C Max Dunbar Blue Beetle Movie Card Stock Variant), $5.99

Tales Of The Titans #2 (Of 4)(Cover D Riley Rossmo Card Stock Variant), AR

Tales Of The Titans #2 (Of 4)(Cover E Dani Card Stock Variant), AR

Tales Of The Titans #2 (Of 4)(Cover F Chris Smanee Foil Variant), AR

Teen Titans Go Box Set Volume 1 TV Or Not TV, $29.99

Vigil #4 (Of 6)(Cover A Sumit Kumar), $3.99

Vigil #4 (Of 6)(Cover B Nimit Malavia Card Stock Variant), $4.99

Vigil #4 (Of 6)(Cover C Anand RK Card Stock Variant), AR

Wonder Girl Homecoming TP, $19.99

Wonder Woman By Brian Azzarello And Cliff Chiang Omnibus HC (2023 Edition), $150.00

Wonder Woman Volume 4 Revenge Of The Gods TP (2021), $19.99

Wonder Woman War Of The Gods Special Edition #2 (Of 4)(Cover A George Perez), $4.99

ABRAMS BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

DC Super Heroes The Multiverse Unfolds HC, $19.99

[newyorksrose]

gonna post this on rosie's blog since sandra's still gonna keep up that theft accusation and tumblr's block feature is hiding my response👏🏾

Hi @k4ndall, I’m aware this isn’t the first time you posted about me “stealing from Jessica” and because I no longer consider myself to be an active roleplayer, I thought I would confront this narrative head-on. Yes, I did use Marisa Abela for my OC Rosaria and no, that is not theft. Marisa is not from a super rare or old show. Industry was streaming on HBOMax the same time that Euphoria was.

Did you ever think that maybe I saw the program, considered using that FC for a new OC, but hesitated from bringing them to the roleplay community? Furthermore, Marisa is not the only FC you use for Jessica. If I recall right, when we were mutuals you used…

Melanie Scrofano

Olivia Cooke

Annie Murphy

Sydney Sweeney

Marisa Abela

You even entertained using Juliette Lewis for Jessica.

And let me be frank when I say none of these women look like the same person. Which is why I felt that using Marisa would ultimately NOT diminish your portrayal of Jessica.

I largely wanted to use Marisa Abela because Rosaria Scozzari is the sister to Salvatore Scozzari, since their FCs looked alike through their similar eyes and noses. I was already using him for Sal at the time of my “theft.”

Now, FCs aside, your belief that I copied you is honestly a shallow, surface-level examination of Rosaria Scozzari. Let’s go over the similarities of Rosaria and Jessica.

They both have office jobs. 

I’m inclined to portray Rosaria doing more average/low-paying office work. In the recent writing I’ve been doing, I depict her as a secretary. In the RPC, I depicted her as working at a bratva-owned insurance company that isn’t glamorous at all. But, this work is ultimately temporary for Rosaria, as she becomes a lawyer by the time she’s in her forties. In contrast, Jessica works on Wall Street which frankly, seems significantly better and higher paying.

They’re both Italian-American.

Jessica is a quiet girl who lives at home with her conservative family. Rosaria is extroverted, neurotic, and lives alone because she doesn’t want to live with her rambunctious family. Jessica is the older sister to her younger brother. Rosaria is the younger sister to Salvatore and Sonia.  Since leaving the RPC I’ve been exploring the paternal side of Sal and Rosaria’s family, which is composed of Italian-Brazilians. Which is interesting because I heard you had a OC who was Italian with roots from Argentine…

You act as though I stole the fundamental family headcanons of Jessica. Which I would consider the headcanons about the family-run candy store, the abundance of cousins, the cousin in an abusive relationship, or an office romance.

But let me say another thing: your depiction of Jessica on Wall Street isn’t original whatsoever. When I capped icons from that show for Rosaria I saw how many elements you actually stole from Yasmin, the character Marisa plays.

I recall you posting that this variation of Jessica spoke with a posh accent when at work. That’s an odd coincidence, considering the FC is an upper-class British woman.

The secret horny side for her co-worker. That’s an odd coincidence, considering you use the same character as a NPC that Jessica crushes on.

In fact, all the NPCs in Jessica’s life are from Industry.

So, all you did was portray Yasmin as an Italian-American woman. There’s nothing original or unique to your portrayal. If I used a new FC for Rosaria, you would not be claiming I stole from you. They would just both be white women who worked at an office, but MUCH different offices. In fact? They would probably be meeting at a bar getting drinks together and talking about the things that piss them off.

If Marisa was the sole FC you used for Jessica and I used her? That would be fucked up. But she was just one face in a collection of women who looked absolutely nothing alike.

[droughtofapathy]

top 3 encores shows?

Of the ones I've seen live in living color recently: 1. Dear World 2. Into the Woods 3. The Light in the Piazza

Objectively, the all-time greats were those iconic transfers: 1. Chicago (Bebe Neuwirth *and* Annie Reinking? I mean...come on...) 2. Gypsy (Patti LuPone reigning Mama Rose and you can quote me on that) 3. Wonderful Town (Donna Murphy, my beloved)

Productions I'd commit crimes to go back in time to see: 1. Follies, but you all know this already 2. Literally any Marin Mazzie production, but specifically Zorba 3. Hey, Look Me Over 4. Call Me Madam (the Carmen Cusack one) 5. Assassins (technically an Off-Centers production, but close enough)

[tomorrowedblog]

Friday Releases for June 30

Friday is the busiest day of the week for new releases, so we've decided to collect them all in one place. Friday Releases for June 30 include Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Nimona, Flying High, and more.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the new movie from James Mangold, is out today.

Harrison Ford returns to the role of the legendary hero archaeologist for this fifth installment of the iconic franchise.

Nimona

Nimona, the new movie from Nick Bruno and Troy Quane, is out today.

A knight framed for a tragic crime teams with a scrappy, shape-shifting teen to prove his innocence. But what if she’s the monster he’s sworn to destroy?

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, the new movie from Kirk DeMicco and Faryn Pearl, is out today.

Sweet, awkward 16-year-old Ruby Gillman (Lana Condor) is desperate to fit in at Oceanside High, but she mostly just feels invisible.

She’s math-tutoring her skater-boy crush (Jaboukie Young-White), who only seems to admire her for her fractals, and she’s prevented from hanging out with the cool kids at the beach because her over-protective supermom (Toni Collette), has forbade Ruby from ever getting in the water.

But when she breaks her mom’s #1 rule, Ruby will discover that she is a direct descendant of the warrior Kraken queens and is destined to inherit the throne from her commanding grandmother (Jane Fonda), the Warrior Queen of the Seven Seas.

The Kraken are sworn to protect the oceans of the world against the vain, power-hungry mermaids who have been battling with the Kraken for eons. There’s one major, and immediate, problem with that: The school’s beautiful, popular new girl, Chelsea (Annie Murphy) just happens to be a mermaid. Ruby will ultimately need to embrace who she is and go big to protect those she loves most.

Jack Ryan S4

The fourth season of Jack Ryan, the TV series from Carlton Cuse and Graham Roland, is out today.

Convergence has begun. John Krasinski is back for The Final Season of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan.

Flying High

Flying High, the new album from The Alchemist, is out today.

[thedaveandkimmershow]

What I'll remember about April are basically two things: this year's adventure in California and Linzy's shows with The Little Lies, Midnight High, and Annie J.

Oh and... taxes, getting moss off the roof, moving big, heavy rocks, and, of course, Daisy Jones & The Six. 😁

First: this year's adventure in California.

We start out at the beginning of April, timing that, quite perfectly overlapped with everyone else's Spring Break. So we traveled with a lot of travelers and we theme parked with a ton of theme parkers and we camped with a lot of campers.

Even Linzy was down in California for the first few days of our adventure. Not with us but in San Francisco catching up and having her own adventure with friends from Cornish who call The City by the Bay their home.

At the same time, the director of the Archbishop Murphy Wildcat Band was even closer to where we landed in southern California. Our friend, Keith Curtis. You see, he and the 2022-2023 Wildcat Band were finishing their second of two performances, the first at Disneyland and this second one at the Five Towers stage in Universal Studios Hollywood's City Walk. Which is where we caught up with him and spent some lovely time comparing recent histories.

A coupla days later, we got the chance to experience a full day at Universal Studios where we did everything Harry Potter and we took the studio tour that was a wonderful bit of Memory Lane for us. Across the entire experience, we managed a pretty decent balance of fun and relaxation. Huzzah!!!

One of the iconic features of these family trips is renting an Escape Campervan as our mini RV. Last time here we scored Nessie from the Seattle (ish) location. This year we scored Big Foot from the Inglewood location.

YESSSS!!!

Eventually we hit the road in Big Foot and launched ourselves into a different world where we were seemingly able to live more experience during the course of each day than we usually accomplish living our city life. In a way, the camp experience is more coordinating and collaborating with friends and family. It's more sitting around the table just chattin'. It's more time around the campfire... just chattin'. It's more together. Time definitely moves at a slower pace and we're definitely in no rush. We're not motivated to hit the gas. We can take our time. And we can choose to be distracted by nothing in particular. Sometimes several nothings.

During our time camping, we had the opportunity to play a lot of loud and boisterous Uno with teenagers. We found ourselves on a wildflower covered hill on the edge of nowhere taking pictures of orange and yellow loveliness. We were stunned by the nearness and bigness of the moon. We were blessed not once but twice to visit Kimmer's aunt who's in the best hands for memory care. She looks great...

...plus she was more engaged this time around, conjuring a bit of her old self with that laugh and smile of hers. And finally we had the absolute fortune to hang out around a campfire with family and friends, an experience ending in well wishes and fare-thee-wells all around, along with a deep conviction that this experience is very good for the soul.

Moving right along, well... almost right along, a bit of work also found some space within our adventure. You see, a business consulting challenge came up for Kimmer that was gonna need some input by the time we got back. So over the course of our time away we took some opportunities here and there and there to talk it through. And between that, as well as research on Kimmer's part, a plan was formed that, by the end of the month, has proven to be a solid plan. An even better path forward.

Not long after we returned, Linzy had a gig with The Little Lies at the Old Edmonds Opera House. The gig kicked off a bit of a Hell Week for her as the next day she had rehearsals for two other bands, Midnight High and Annie J, both with performances the coming Thursday at the Sunset Tavern.

After that, it was a steady schedule of practice, rehearsal, and work through Thursday night's performances which were brilliant, by the way. 😁😁😁

In semi-related news, a friend whose last album Linzy contributed vocals to and with whom she collaborated on one of the songs on that album, and who subsequently performed a couple concerts with them... asked her to collaborate writing songs in the fall for the next album.

In other, grown-up news 😉, we turned our taxes in right before the post office closed at 6 on the 18th... then celebrated the craziness of that day with some well earned relaxing at Pub 70. Also, we spent the last two weeks of the month with a bit of landscaping activity and cleaning the moss off the roof. Real home owner-y type things to do 'cause for sure no one would willingly undergo the tedium of removing moss from a roof or moving a bottomless pit of seriously heavy rocks from one part of the yard to another.

Of course Kimmer loved the experience. 😊

Of course the experience I loved (we all loved, actually) was experiencing our way through the first half of Daisy Jones & The Six in April. Linzy's a HUUUUUUGE fan and insisted we all watch it together.

Of course now we're hooked.

In the end, April was more packed than usual. More fun. More relaxation. More hard work. And definitely more super sized memories.

The beginning of the month did wind up being a break of sorts, a good opportunity to peace out, re-energize, consider a bunch, course correct a little, firm up the picture going into the coming months that's for sure a different picture than the one we had before we hit April.

So that's four months down. Eight to go.

And now...

May.

🙂

[redcarpetview]

Eddie Murphy to Receive the Cecil B. deMille Award at the 80th Golden Globe® Awards

Courtesy of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association®.

    The Hollywood Foreign Press Association® (HFPA) has announced that Golden Globe Award® winner and six-time nominee Eddie Murphy will be honored with the coveted Cecil B. deMille Award at the 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards.

     The highly acclaimed star of legendary films such as 48 Hours, Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop, Coming to America, The Nutty Professor, Dreamgirls, and others will accept the honor at the 2023 Golden Globe Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023 airing live coast-to-coast from 5-8 p.m. PT/8-11 p.m. ET on NBC and streaming on Peacock.

     “We’re honored to present this year’s Cecil B. deMille Award to the iconic and highly esteemed Mr. Eddie Murphy,” said HFPA President, Helen Hoehne. “We’re thrilled to be celebrating the lasting impact on film and television that his career – in front of and behind the camera - has had through the decades.”

     The Cecil B. deMille Award, historically chosen by the HFPA Board of Directors, is presented to a talented individual for their outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment. Past recipients of the Award include Jane Fonda, George Clooney, Morgan Freeman, Oprah Winfrey, Robert De Niro, Audrey Hepburn, Harrison Ford, Jodie Foster, Sophia Loren, Steven Spielberg, Denzel Washington, Robin Williams, Tom Hanks, and more.

    In a career that has spanned five decades, Murphy’s multi-faceted and moving performances, such as his role as singer James Thunder in “Dreamgirls,” have earned him a Golden Globe Award, SAG Award, Emmy Award, and Academy Award nomination.

     Murphy was most recently seen starring in the Amazon streaming hit “Coming 2 America,” the long-awaited sequel to his 1988 box-office hit, as well as portraying legendary underground comic personality Rudy Ray Moore in the Netflix biopic “Dolemite Is My Name,” a performance that garnered him Golden Globes nominations for Best Picture Comedy/Musical and Lead Actor Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

      In 2020, he received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his return to Saturday Night Live.

    Murphy starred in the 1997 hit comedy The Nutty Professor in which he portrayed multiple characters and received Golden Globe and other award nominations. He also was the voice of Donkey in the Oscar-winning animated film Shrek and its sequel, Shrek 2, which is the top-grossing animated film of all time. Murphy won an Annie Award and earned BAFTA and MTV Movie Award nominations for his performance in the first Shrek, and he reprised the role of Donkey in the final installment of the hugely successful franchise, Shrek Goes Fourth.

     Murphy’s additional feature credits include Mulan, Dr. Dolittle, and Dr. Dolittle 2, Life, Bowfinger, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Daddy Day Care, Norbit, and the drama Mr. Church. Murphy’s upcoming projects include co-starring in the romantic comedy You People and producing and starring in Beverly Hills Cop 4. In 2015, Murphy received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor Award from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

     Produced by Dick Clark Productions and Jesse Collins Entertainment in association with the HFPA, the Golden Globe® Awards are viewed in more than 210 territories worldwide. Helen Hoehne is president of the HFPA. Adam Stotsky, President of dick clark productions, and Barry Adelman, Executive VP of Television at dick clark productions will serve as executive producers.

                                                                                                                     # # #

[trascapades]

💙 #ArtIsAWeapon

#Mood #BlueMonday

Shout out to singer Lizzo @lizzobeeating for bringing #artist #AnnieLee's iconic painting "Blue Monday" to life during her performance of "Break Up Twice" on @nbcsnl this past weekend. I love this reference to the "Black Americana" artist - a documentary on her life and career would be cool!

•

•

Reposted from @nbaf As the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, Lizzo’s stage set and costume during her performance of “Break Up Twice” paid homage to Annie Lee’s painting “Blue Monday.”

Artist Annie Frances Lee was a Chief Clerk in the Engineering Department of a railroad. She passed on November 24, 2014 an internationally acclaimed artist and gallery owner known to art collectors the world over as "Annie Lee."

As an adult one Monday morning at five o'clock as Annie Lee tried to get it together, she came up with "Blue Monday." She wondered if anybody else felt as bad as she did having to go out on that cold winter morning to catch the bus to work. Annie Lee is a humorist and a realist and her style has been referred to as "#BlackAmericana."

Her works have been featured in "ER", Bill Cosby's spin-off show "A Different World" and Eddie Murphy's movies "Coming to America" and "Boomerang".

#Lizzo #SNL #SaturdayNightLive #MondayMood #BlueMonday #BlackArt #AfricanAmericanArt #BlackArtists #BlackWomenArtists #BlackGirlArtGeek #BlackArtLovers

[broadwaydivastournament]

Audra and Bernadette: The Last Remaining Ladies in Red

Audra McDonald vs. Christine Baranski Bebe Neuwirth vs. Bernadette Peters

It's just an objective fact that Audra and Bernadette are two of Broadway's foremost Divas. It's going to come down to this soon enough. But for now, here we are.

Audra and Bernadette overlapped just one episode on The Good Fight before Bernadette's character was carted off to prison (again, bigger Good Fight post later).

Along with an overflow of talent riches, Audra and Bernadette appeared on "Broadway for Orlando - What the World Needs Now is Love," a single release to raise money for the LGBT Center of Central Florida in the wake of the Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting in 2016. Coincidentally, Bernadette and Audra featured in back-to-back solos. Divas included: Andréa Burns, Carmen Cusack, Judy Kuhn, Rebecca Luker, Andrea Martin, Audra McDonald, Donna Murphy, Kelli O’Hara, Bernadette Peters, and Lillias White, among many other Broadway stars.

It's complete coincidence I continue to feature things that just so happen to contain Donna Murphy (thereby keeping her alive and well in this tournament).

Bernadette and Audra also starred in two separate film versions of Annie, based on the Broadway musical. Bernadette in the original 1982 version as Lily St. Regis (alongside Carol Burnett and Tim Curry, holy shit what a trio); Audra as Grace Farrell in the 1999 made-for-TV version, where her casting caused controversy for exactly the reasons you're assuming.

I favored the 1999 version myself, specifically because I was deeply in love with Audra, who was a young woman in her late twenties and already a three-time Tony winner.

There are no other Annie options. That is all.

[lemonadedits]

alexisrose icons;

like/reblog if you save or like it.

[rosedavid]

36 Annie Murphy BUST Photoshoot Icons

Requested by @danieljradcliffe​! Enjoy! 

Rules:

» please reblog if using and/or saving (or just to be nice)

» do not edit overtop or claim as your own; if you want different colors/backgrounds, please message me.

» icons are 250 x 250

» find all of my other icons here

» to save icons, right click on icon and open it in a new tab. save as pngs to preserve transparency