#classic ED original aaron’s story

[bobbie-robron]

But now I do know ya. You know what? You’re still a stranger… and I don’t like ya. How sad’s that, eh? I don’t even like me own child. (Part 2)

Del denies having slept with Carl to Chas especially considering it was Aaron as the source. All that is for naught when Carl shows up (courtesy of Val calling him) and admitting the deed (‘a stupid fling’). Hurting with what happened with Carl, Chas tells Aaron she doesn’t like him, her own son. Well, that prompts Aaron to want to go home sooner and final harsh words from both mother and son in the last scene.

08-Feb-2006

[randomlyrankingthings]

Top 10 Horror Films (UPDATED)

10. The Conjuring (2013)

On paper, The Conjuring could easily be considered your average haunted house film. While that may be the case, we are following a fictionalised version of a true story. Ed and Lorraine Warren (played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, respectively) are paranormal investigators who agree to help a family in need, as they find their new house to be riddled with demonic possession. An extremely standard concept, but beautifully executed. I'm certain the hide and seek scene will remain an iconic horror moment for years to come.

9. Midsommar (2019)

This is going to sound strange, but this is the first cult-related film I have seen that actually runs the risk of warming you to the idea of a cult. I do believe, however, that this was the intention. Dani (Florence Pugh) begins the film with the devastating loss of her sister and parents. In an attempt to bring her out of her funk, her boyfriend invites her to a Swedish celebration with him and his friends. During the stay, Dani seems to find her place amongst the people there, but others are not so lucky. It's an intense watch, definitely only suited to the maturer audience, but do be prepared to end your viewing unsure of how to feel about what you've just watched.

8. Us (2019)

Who'd have thought that Jordan Peele would be creating such fabulously constructed horror films? Since his major success with Get Out (2017), this film had some big shoes to fill, and fill them it did. The film focuses on a family who are going on holiday to the seaside. It is clear from the get go, however, that the mother, Adelaide (Lupita Nyung'o), is not overly thrilled about the prospect due to a traumatic experience she suffered there as a child. We soon find out that her fears of this ordeal coming back to haunt her are not so far fetched. This is the kind of film that needs to be seen to be understood. Another home run for Peele.

7. As Above, So Below (2014)

For whatever reason, this film did not receive the best of critical reviews. As far as I am concerned, this is one of the more unique takes on horror. Archeologist Scarlett (Perdita Weeks) sets out to complete her dad's quest of finding the legendary Philosopher's Stone. In order to do this, however, she must go deep below the ground within the catacombs of Paris. Not an easy feat to begin with, which is only made more difficult the deeper she and her team goes. It seems the only wait out, is down.

6. The Descent (2005)

This is another one set below ground, but is arguably scarier than number 7 overall. We follow a group of female cave explorers as they embark on a new expedition. Without giving too much away, this new adventure proves to be more challenging than those previous, as the cave is home to some extremely terrifying creatures. While not necessarily the most original concept, the tense dynamics between the characters and the unexpected fast pace of the film and its plot development make this one wild ride. I went into it having heard it to be one of the scariest modern horrors, and it certainly lived up to its reputation.

5. Creep (2014)

Where to start with this cult classic. We have a horror film starring only two people, and said people also wrote and directed it. Usually, such low budget horror is not executed too well, but this film is one for the ages. Filmmaker Aaron (Patrick Brice) responds to an ad made by Josef (Mark Duplass), who wishes to have his entire day documented for his unborn son to see, as Josef has terminal cancer and does not expect to live to meet his child. As the day progresses, it is clear that there is something amiss. Be prepared to have a new favourite horror villain with this one.

4. It Chapter 2 (2019)

It Chapter 2 takes place 27 years after its predecessor, and the Losers Club's oath is put to work when Pennywise returns to Derry to take more children. While I thoroughly enjoyed Chapter 1, the all-star cast of Chapter 2 just takes the cake. We get to see our Losers as adults, struggling with the effects of the first film, and finding the strength to come together and fight their foe once more. Another beautifully executed film, which is sure to pull at your heart strings AND give you nightmares. Two for the price of one. How fun.

3. Ready or Not (2019)

This is a fun one. Definitely more of a comedy/horror, so if you're looking for a more lighthearted scare, then this one is for you. The film takes place on the wedding day of Grace (Samara Weaving) and Alex (Mark O'Brien). After the ceremony, Grace is informed that she must take part in the tradition of playing a game to welcome her into the family. Unfortunately for Grace, she chooses to play the one game that has a fine print - hide and seek. I'm sure fighting her way out of her husband's family home is not how she expected her wedding night to go. This film has it all; scares, humour, romance, and plenty of gore. It was the highlight of my cinema trips in 2019. Couldn't recommend it enough.

2. Train to Busan (2016)

Looking for the greatest zombie film ever made? Look no further. If you can get past having to read the subtitles, you've got yourself an absolute gem with this iconic South Korean horror. It's one thing to be stuck in a zombie-filled world, but it is another ballpark entirely when you're stuck on a train with them. That's the predicament Seokwoo (Gong Yoo) and his daughter find themselves in. This film will make you laugh, cry, and hide behind your pillow. I would never have expected to categorise a zombie film as beautiful, but I feel it is an appropriate descriptor for this amazing work of art.

1. The Conjuring 2 (2016)

No one ever seems to agree with me when I say that this film is scarier that the first of the series. I believe being British and knowing the Enfield Haunting well already might be the reason. The great thing about this film is that it goes against the usual tropes of the haunted house sub-genre. The Hodgson family have not newly moved into their home, they have in fact lived there for years already. After Mr. Hodgson leaves them, the family find themselves tormented by a number of demonic presences, and enlist the help of Ed and Lorraine Warren, who are not entirely convinced by the family's story. While this film always scares the shit out of me, I could easily watch it over and over again. Still can't watch it alone though.

[aion-rsa]

The Conjuring 2: The Real Story of the Demonic ‘Nun’ Valak

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The Conjuring 2 depicts the demon Valak as some horrific rendition of Cheech and Chong’s Sister Mary Elephant. But this Grand President of Hell is more cherub than dragon in the demonic hierarchy.

As the 62nd spirit in a 72-demon roster, Valak is no delinquent, although he’s been blamed for the two 1212 Children’s Crusades to the Holy Land, which resulted in thousands of teenagers from Germany and France being sold into slavery. Valak also retroactively gets the rap for the 1284 Pied Piper missing children incident in the German village of Hamelin.

The majority of what we know about Valak comes from the mid-17th century Goetic grimoire The Lesser Key of Solomon, a compilation of centuries’ worth of texts. Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers translated the works for the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a late 18th-century magical order. They were published by the notorious English occultist Aleister Crowley as The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King in the 20th century. Crowley added invocations, along with essays describing the rituals as psychological exploration. According to legend, the demons featured in the grimoire were the ones summoned by the King Solomon character in the Bible.

“The Sixty-second Spirit is Volac, or Valak, or Valu,” reads The Lesser Key of Solomon. “He is a President Mighty and Great, and appeareth like a Child with Angel’s Wings, riding on a Two-headed Dragon. His Office is to give True Answers of Hidden Treasures, and to tell where Serpents may be seen. The which he will bring unto the Exorciser without any Force or Strength being by him employed. He governeth 38 Legions of Spirits.”

Valak first appeared in written form in Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (The False Monarchy of Demons”). The text was an appendix in the 1577 grimoire De praestigiis daemonum (“On the Tricks of Demons”), by Johann Weyer, who himself was a Dutch physician, renowned occultist, and demonologist. That book listed 69 demons along with the proscribed rituals to conjure them.  The 72 Shemhamphorasch angelic names and seals came from the 1583 manuscript Le Livre des Esperitz (“The Office of Spirits”) by Blaise de Vigenère, and a now-lost work by Johannes Trithemius.

Valak has several names and titles, depending on the manuscripts and the translation. The spellings of the demon’s moniker range from Ualac to Valu, and Doolas to Volach in Munich Manual of Demonic Magic. A 1577 grimoire called the Book of Oberon lists a demon named Coolor, which is believed to be another name for Valak. This informed Reginald Scott’s influential 1584 grimoire, The Discoverie of Witchcraft.

Valak’s ranking is mainly listed as a “president,” but some manuscripts ranked him as a prince. Don’t let the titles fool you, every demon is called a duke, a king, or a prince. As a Lesser Key demon, Valak leads 38 legions of demons, though the number is also put at 30 and 27 legions of spirits, depending on the manuscript.  

The classical iconography of Valak is based on the ancient Greek deity Hermes, whose counterpart in the Roman Mythology was Mercury. Hermes is often depicted as wielding a staff called the caduceus, which is made up of two entwined serpents. The grimoires repurpose that into the two-headed dragon. The two-headed Dragon also has Hindu connotations because it symbolically refers to the arousal of Kundalini, represented by the fire snake. This is believed to be the origin of Valak’s association with snakes.

Humans have six categories for demons, according to Weyer’s Pseudomonarchia Daemonum: Empyreal, Aerial, Subterranean, Aqueous, Terrene, and Lucifugi, which means nocturnal. Angels reportedly recognize only two categories: Apokomistai, which are older, and Nekudaimones, which are younger and weaker. In order to take human form, a Nekudaimone has to possess a human or animal. An Apokomistai can take any form. Valak is an Apokomistai. When summoned, he reputedly appears as a child who uses innocence to lure victims to bad ends. This reputation led to the association with the Children’s Crusades, and the 130 children of Hamlin who went missing on June 26, 1248, even though there were no reports of demons at the time.

Investigators also found no demonic activity at the heart of the events behind The Conjuring 2. Instead they blamed the Enfield Poltergeist, according to the book This House is Haunted by Guy Lyon Playfair. The famous paranormal experts Ed and Lorraine Warren showed up unannounced in the British countryside and were dismissed from the property. They were there for a matter of minutes. That wasn’t the only disparity.

Valak is a male Demon and does not manifest in any female form. In full evocation, he anecdotally appears as a very pale man with black hair and dark eyes. There is no lore that has ever portrayed Valak as a nun. Director James Wan got the Nun character from a vision Lorraine Warren, played by Vera Farmiga in The Conjuring films, claimed she saw of a hooded entity in a swirling tornado vortex. Wan initially loved the CGI possibilities, but ultimately scaled it down to holy iconography. The Nun wasn’t even added to The Conjuring 2 until reshoots, Wan told Gizmodo. The Nun is played by Bonnie Aarons, who also donned the habit in Annabelle: Creation.

In The Conjuring 2, the Nun seems to be stalking Lorraine Warren. Not only does she see the Nun at the Amityville house, and in Enfield, England, but the demon also appeared at the Warren’s home before the investigations. While some viewers may see this as foreshadowing, the character was also angling for a solo feature.

Unlike The Conjuring films, The Nun (2018) was not inspired by a true story but by the 1986 movie The Name of the Rose, based on the book of the same name by Italian author Umberto Eco. That film starred Sean Connery as Friar William of Baskerville. Christian Slater played his apprentice. They investigate the mysterious death of a famous monk who lived in Benedictine abbey in Northern Italy. The monk was found dead in a vat of pig blood and the villagers blame the Devil. Taking a cue from Van Halen, The Nun runs with it.

Valak is seen as something more than a possessive force. Possessions are rare, and often part of a bargaining process. Believers might call it “the fine print.”

Read more

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Hereditary: The Real Story of King Paimon

By Tony Sokol

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The Conjuring Timeline Explained: From The Nun to Annabelle Comes Home

By Daniel Kurland

Valak is a heavily petitioned demon. He is used for curse works like revenge but is also thought to help find money through random events. He is who you call on when you want a raise or promotion, an inheritance, or before financial negotiations. Valak doesn’t work for free, however, and “Demonic Magick” demands certain sacrifices. Luckily, Valak is partial to licorice, as well as gin, knives, coins, and public proclamations in his name. He does not respond to sexual offerings or blood. Summoning Solomonic spirits is traditionally done through ceremonial magic.

Old grimoires are written from a Christian point of view, and the rituals are invocations. In the Middle East, Valak is a Djinni, known to us in the west as genies. Like Aladdin! The djinn are supernatural creatures in early Arabian mythology and theology during the Pre-Islamic period. The djinn were not immortal but were feared because they brought disease and madness. The 72 spirits represent 72 psychological pathologies of the unconscious mind. Djinn are summoned through evocation, allowing the Djinn to be redeemed.

According to an adept practitioner we spoke with, who declined to be named, organized religions demonize Valak and other Lesser Demons, in part, because they “imparted wisdom via the use of astrology. Which is an excellent tool that has ancient roots in all of mankind. It enlightens and empowers people which is exactly what organized religion wants to suppress.” 

But before you go rubbing any lamps with licorice sticks, the unnamed Goetic warns, “Wisdom is imparted, but not without a price. You have to really be empowered and very stable and sure of yourself if you want to work with them versus letting them control or overpower you. They do have a maleficent nature; however, without darkness light doesn’t exist either.”

The Conjuring 2’s Valak is a fun film creation. You don’t have to be Catholic to be scared of nuns. Cherubs, not so much. Even on a dragon with two heads, the image is far too accessible to convey what Wan needed. There are so many more horrid descriptions of angels and demons found in religious texts than Valak. But be assured, you never want to take candy from this baby.

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[edharrisdaily]

'To Kill a Mockingbird' Sets Free Performance for 18,000 New York School Students (Exclusive)

Aaron Sorkin's blockbuster adaptation of the Harper Lee novel will be the first Broadway play staged at Madison Square Garden, featuring the entire cast led by Ed Harris.

Early next year, roughly 18,000 students from New York City Department of Education public middle and high schools in all five boroughs will get one of the toughest tickets on Broadway, gratis.

Producers Scott Rudin and Barry Diller, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza announced today that Aaron Sorkin's smash Broadway adaptation of the classic Harper Lee novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, will play a free performance Feb. 26 for students in the arena at Madison Square Garden.

This marks the first time the massive venue has been used to stage a Broadway play, a single-performance event organized with support from James L. Dolan, executive chairman and CEO of The Madison Square Garden Company.

The entire Broadway cast, led by Ed Harris as Atticus Finch and featuring Nick Robinson, Eliza Scanlen, Kyle Scatliffe, LisaGay Hamilton, Nina Grollman and Taylor Trensch among the principals, will appear in the special performance.

The trenchant story of bitter racial injustice in the Deep South has been a box office phenomenon in director Bartlett Sher's production. It began preview performances at the Shubert Theatre on Nov. 1, 2018, and opened Dec. 13 to glowing reviews, playing to standing-room-only houses ever since and going on to become the highest-grossing American play in Broadway history. The show regularly pulls in $2 million or more a week; last week its cumulative tally topped $100 million.

"The only remotely unhappy thing about what has been an otherwise entirely thrilling and profoundly rewarding experience has been our failure at achieving diversity inside our building, especially where kids are concerned," Rudin told The Hollywood Reporter. "We felt a need to correct it ��� and to take a big step toward making that specific aspect of this production achieve what this play is, by definition, required to achieve. We simply had to fix it."

Rudin went on to acknowledge the invaluable help of his producing partner Diller, the generosity of Dolan in offering up the building and all its attendant support, and the passionate enthusiasm of the entire Mockingbird cast to be a part of the outreach involved in creating such a unique event. All tickets to the Feb. 26 performance will be provided free and exclusively through the NYC Department of Education, with no other tickets available.

"We are going to present what I hope will be a beautiful, hand-made, pop-up version of To Kill a Mockingbird — it's the Supreme store version of the show," continued Rudin. "It will be super-DIY, incredibly inclusive in how it's presented, re-conceived for the space and fully remade for this one-day event."

Indicating the power of theater as a teaching tool to expand our capacity for empathy, de Blasio commented: "That To Kill a Mockingbird will be shared by such a vast number of students who represent the widest imaginable spectrum of races, religions, sexual identities and abilities, seated in the round and facing one another, is what makes it particularly profound. I see this as a remarkable invitation to our entire vibrant creative community to find ways to engage with young people on this level. Events like this possess the power to change the world."

Dolan said he hopes this will be the first of many such impactful events at MSG.

In addition to the Broadway production, To Kill a Mockingbird will launch its coast-to-coast national tour in August 2020 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., with Richard Thomas playing Atticus. Rhys Ifans will play the small-town Alabama lawyer in another production scheduled to open in London's West End at the Gielgud Theatre in May. Harris and the current cast took over from the original ensemble, led by Jeff Daniels, when the Broadway engagement hit its first-year anniversary.

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 28 October 2019

Quick Bits:

Afterlift #1 is a digital original from Chip Zdarsky, Jason Loo, Paris Alleyne, and Aditya Bidikar. Very interesting concept here playing with a character who drives for a Lyft analogue in Cabit, leading to becoming a rather unique courier.

| Published by Jams & Jellies

Batman Annual #4 actually gives us many adventures and stories as we go through almost two months’ of diary entries of Batman’s exploits from Alfred, as told by Tom King, Jorge Fornés, Mike Norton, Dave Stewart, and Clayton Cowles. It’s a nice way to pack a lot of story into this annual in a fairly unique way, while also showcasing just how busy Batman really is. 

| Published by DC Comics

Black Panther #17 sets up for the next confrontation with N’Jadaka and his forces, also giving us a rather...awkward but interesting conversation between Storm and Nakia. Gorgeous art from Daniel Acuña.

| Published by Marvel

Bloodshot #2 continues the balls to the wall action as Bloodshot and the Black Bar conflict escalates, from Tim Seeley, Brett Booth, Adelso Corona, Andrew Dalhouse, and Dave Sharpe. It’s a bit of a throwback to a more action-oriented style, but it definitely works for Bloodshot. A nice change of pace to give a variety of storytelling.

| Published by Valiant

Conan the Barbarian #10 spins us the twins’ yarn as they plotted their revenge on Conan, from Jason Aaron, Mahmud Asrar, Matthew Wilson, and Travis Lanham. The art from Asrar and Wilson is gorgeous. The backstory building up to last parts of this story and the fate of Conan is gripping.

| Published by Marvel

Contagion #5 brings an end to this series from Ed Brisson, Adam Gorham, Veronica Gandini, and Cory Petit. Gorgeous and creepy art here from Gorham and Gandini. 

| Published by Marvel

DCeased #6 is surprisingly hopefully, even as everything dies and everybody hurts. It appears to be setting up a sequel, though likely to be incredibly bleak. Tom Taylor, Trevor Hairsine, Neil Edwards, Stefano Gaudiano, Rain Beredo, and Saida Temofonte conclude this series in epic fashion as we say goodbye to Earth.

| Published by DC Comics

Death’s Head #4 is another ending to a series this week, from Tini Howard, Kei Zama, Felipe Sobreiro, and Travis Lanham. Some very nice character work here for Death’s Head and Vee.

| Published by Marvel

Doctor Strange Annual #1 gives us a pair of tales. The lead from Tini Howard, Andy MacDonald, Tríona Farrell, and Cory Petit is a fun Halloween story dealing with the spirits haunting the Sanctum Sanctorum. Any art from MacDonald is a treat. The back up is a bit more deadly serious with Pornsak Pichetshote, Lalit Kumar Sharma, Sean Parsons, José Villarrubia, and Petit revealing a failsafe should Strange go rogue.

| Published by Marvel

Ether: The Disappearance of Violet Bell #2 continues to be incredibly inventive as Boone tries to track down the assassin. David Rubín’s art is absolutely amazing. And Boone’s continued inability to really think about anyone other than himself is telling.

| Published by Dark Horse

Excalibur #1 is another tick in the win column for “Dawn of X”. The X-Men dabbling in magic isn’t common, but Tini Howard, Marcus To, Erick Arciniega, and Cory Petit do so with amazing flair, fittingly taking us in through Otherworld, Captain Britain, and Betsy Braddock. Apocalypse’s new incarnation as  “ •|A| •” and his newfound interest in magic is fascinating.

| Published by Marvel

Five Years #5 spotlights Zoe’s rather elaborate imagination for coming up with ways to murder people. Granted, the Russian agent may well deserve it, but still... Terry Moore continues to deliver some unexpected twists as the end of the world inches closer.

| Published by Abstract Studio

Giant Days: As Time Goes By #1 is a one-shot finale special from John Allison, Max Sarin, Whitney Cogar, and Jim Campbell. It picks up roughly a year from the end of the series, dealing with why Esther has been missing from their reunions. It’s full of all of the humour that we’ve been used to and hammers home the power of friendship. Also, it gets very, very weird. 

| Published by Boom Entertainment / BOOM! Box

Harleen #2 works hard to portray Harley’s seduction by the Joker. Stjepan Šejić and Gabriela Downie portray it as an insidious, manipulative thing. It might appear romantic on the surface, but there’s definitely a darkness there. There are ideas of bringing back a monster from the edge of insanity, but the story makes you realize that some may well be beyond hope.

| Published by DC Comics - Black Label

Hellboy and the BPRD: Long Night at Goloski Station might well be the best of these new format tales yet, and both of the previous ones were incredibly strong. Here Mike Mignola, Matt Smith, Dave Stewart, and Clem Robins deliver a single issue story building on Hellboy’s confrontation with Baba Yaga, Sir Edward Grey, and demons. 

| Published by Dark Horse

Invisible Kingdom #6 begins the second arc, “Edge of Everything”, as the crew first try to find food and fuel and then run afoul of a salvage ship. G. Willow Wilson, Christian Ward, and Sal Cipriano keep things interesting as we start to see the crew’s life after Lux.

| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books

Invisible Woman #4 is disturbing, basically everything goes to hell and everyone that Sue was trusting to see this operation through has let her down. Or worse. Mark Waid, Mattia De Iulis, and Joe Caramagna set up a rather horrifying situation in this penultimate chapter. Again, De Iulis’ artwork is stunning. 

| Published by Marvel

Joker: Killer Smile #1 is essentially a psychological horror from Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino, Jordie Bellaire, and Steve Wands. It comes from the point of view of a psychiatrist, Dr. Ben Arnell, who is trying to get to the heart of Joker’s mental state. It’s not going so well and it appears like the good doctor is losing time, doing strange things, and possibly worse. Very intriguing beginning to this story.

| Published by DC Comics - Black Label

Knights Temporal #4 has some stunning artwork from Fran Galán, particularly during the gangster sequences where colour comes into play as another important storytelling element. There are some very nice twists this issue, making you wonder about a lot of what we thought we knew.

| Published by AfterShock

The Last God #1 is dark fantasy done right by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Riccardo Federici, Sunny Gho, Dean White, Tom Napolitano, Steve Wands, and Jared Blando. It gives us lying kings, heroes who weren’t rightly heroes, and a Lovecraftian terror returned to show the truth. It plays deep on resentment and distrust, and of a complete failure of institutions to uphold a decent society. All with absolutely stunning artwork from Federici, Gho, and White. This is a beautiful, haunting work.

| Published by DC Comics - Black Label

Last Stop on the Red Line #4 is very, very weird. We get a peek behind the masks of the monsters and it’s even stranger. There’s a very interesting mix of symbolism and the supernatural where we’re really not sure where one begins and the other ends. This was a very unique series from Paul Maybury, Sam Lotfi, and Adam Pruett.

| Published by Dark Horse

Mall #3 goes even harder into inter-faction warfare as it seems like all of the groups are at one another’s throats. Great world-building here from Michael Moreci, Gary Dauberman, Zak Hartong, Addison Duke, and Jim Campbell, with some interesting plot developments.

| Published by Vault

Manor Black #4 concludes the series as we see what essentially amounts to order vs. chaos as the old blood takes on wild magic. This doesn’t feel so much as a conclusion as an end to a chapter of a wider arc, leaving much unresolved. Hopefully we see more. The artwork from Tyler Crook is phenomenal.

| Published by Dark Horse

Marvel Zombies: Resurrection #1 is really damn good. Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Leonard Kirk, Guru-eFX, and Travis Lanham kick off this series with a new angle on the Marvel Zombies, playing up more on the horror angle, with a truly terrifying spread of the disease through a new vector. Gorgeous artwork from Kirk and Guru-eFX.

| Published by Marvel

Monster Planet #1 is the kind of thing that you used to see regularly published by Image and Top Cow, the military action comic that throws in horror elements, from Joe Brusha, Marcelo Mueller, Maxflan Araujo, and Taylor Esposito. It’s not bad, setting up a world where humanity has been turned into dinosaur-like beasts and the remnants of society need to turn to classical monsters for help.

| Published by Zenescope

The Necromancer’s Map #3 takes a bit of a different approach, giving us a fair amount of action as Tristan’s Will catch up with Bethany and co. as well as some great character building in between the action. Great stuff from Andrea Fort, Michael Christopher Horn, Sam Beck, Ellie Wright, and AndWorld Design.

| Published by Vault

The Plot #2 is wonderful horror storytelling from Tim Daniel, Michael Moreci, Joshua Hixson, Jordan Boyd, and Jim Campbell. Very creepy build of supernatural events once Chase Blaine and his family arrive back at his ancestral home. Hixson and Boyd’s presentation of the black, gooey masses are also disturbing.

| Published by Vault

Queen of Bad Dreams #5 concludes this excellent series from Danny Lore, Jordi Pérez, Dearbhla Kelly, and AndWorld Design. Rather interesting confrontation with and revelations about Eleanor Chase here.

| Published by Vault

Red Goblin: Red Death #1 is a one-shot featuring three stories set during Norman Osborn’s tenure as the Red Goblin at the end of Dan Slott’s run on Amazing Spider-Man. It’s kind of weird that it doesn’t instead tie-in with current events in Absolute Carnage, but it’s not bad for what it is. The art of the first two stories from Pete Woods is great.

| Published by Marvel

Relics of Youth #2 is even better than the first issue, delving deeper into the mysterious tattoos that the kids have been branded with and their connection to the island that they’ve landed on within the Bermuda Triangle. Matt Nicholas, Chad Rebmann, Skylar Partridge, Vladimir Popov, and AndWorld Design are telling a very compelling adventure here.

| Published by Vault

Roku #1 begins another mini-series focusing on one of the luminary villains in the Valiant Universe, this one from Cullen Bunn, Ramón F. Bachs, Stéphane Paitreau, and Dave Sharpe. It’s full of action and intrigue as Roku is hired by an unknown client to retrieve...someone. Things get more interesting as a new face stands in her way and we find out the unusual nature of the target.

| Published by Valiant

The Sandman Universe Presents: Hellblazer #1 is a homecoming of sorts for John Constantine, back to his old haunts alongside some of the other Vertigo corner of the DC Universe. Si Spurrier, Marcio Takara, Cris Peter, and Aditya Bidikar spin a yarn that reconstitutes John after a massive magic war led by an evil Tim Hunter. How exactly the pieces fit are anyone’s guess, but it’s a brilliant darker take resetting him here. 

| Published by DC Comics - Black Label / The Sandman Universe

Savage Avengers Annual #1, though largely a self-contained story, is still integral to Conan’s adventure through the Marvel universe and the overall narrative as he, Hellstorm, and Black Widow stumble across a human trafficking ring that bears the marks of Kulan Gath. Gerry Duggan, Ron Garney, Matt Milla, and Travis Lanham deliver a compelling story.

| Published by Marvel

SFSX #2 does further world and character building, showing us just how much has changed since the Party took over, and how utterly betrayed many of the people from the Dirty Mind felt of Avory abandoning them. Very interesting stuff from Tina Horn, Michael Dowling, Chris O’Halloran, and Steve Wands.

| Published by Image

Silver Surfer: Black #5 concludes what has been a very trippy series from Donny Cates, Tradd Moore, Dave Stewart, and Clayton Cowles. There are some very interesting revelations of the past here, and it really makes you wonder about the Surfer’s new incarnation.

| Published by Marvel

Star Pig #4 concludes the series, kind of, from Delilah S. Dawson, Francesco Gaston, Sebastian Cheng, and Shawn Lee. There’s some rather disturbing tentacles in this one.

| Published by IDW

Star Wars Adventures: Return to Vader’s Castle #5 brings an end to this round of the series. I think it’s a perfect approach for some all ages “ghost stories” within the Star Wars universe. Wonderful resolution for the framing story from Cavan Scott, Francesco Francavilla, and AndWorld Design.

| Published by IDW

Tales from the Dark Multiverse: The Death of Superman #1 is the second of these one-shots spotlighting DC events gone horribly wrong, this time giving us a much angrier Lois Lane’s grief at the loss of Superman to Doomsday. Jeff Loveness, Brad Walker, Drew Hennessy, Norm Rapmund, John Kalisz, and Clayton Cowles present her as vengeance against a world that didn’t deserve Superman’s grace, raising some of the questions that you’d often see in The Authority. Only, you know, kind of evil. It’s not bad, but definitely dark.

| Published by DC Comics

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #99 is the extra-sized penultimate chapter of “City at War” as all of the pieces begin falling into place for the grand finale. The story here from Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz, Dave Wachter, Ronda Pattison, and Shawn Lee feels truly epic and that something huge may just happen next issue. As it is, there’s still a ton of action here, some interesting developments with the Rat King, more disappointment when it comes to Raph, and something new with the mutagenic bomb.

| Published by IDW

Test #5 is very strange. Christopher Sebela, Jen Hickman, Harry Saxon, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou end this story as Aleph and Laurel find one another and a new way is planted, but there’s still seeds of something going awry.

| Published by Vault

Venom #19 largely plays out the end bits for the Maker and Dylan’s portions of Absolute Carnage, with some very interesting revelations. It seems like even bigger seeds are being lain for future stories here. Great art from Iban Coello and Rain Beredo.

| Published by Marvel

Witchblade #16 gives us the fight between Alex and Haley, after a few distractions and discursions. The stakes are pretty high here and there are a few rather tense moments as it plays out. Beautiful art from Roberta Ingranata and Bryan Valenza.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Wonder Woman Annual #3 is largely a flashback tale, set five years ago as Wonder Woman and ARGUS attempt to extract an agent sent to infiltrate Gorilla City to see the legitimacy of Grodd’s rule. What Steve Orlando, V. Ken Marion, Sandu Florea, Hi-Fi, and Pat Brosseau do with is establish a new backstory and interpretation for a very old Wonder Woman foe in a fairly interesting way that even ties in to Event Leviathan. It may strain a bit of credibility for the villainous turn, but that will largely depend on the follow-up.

| Published by DC Comics

Other Highlights: Archie 1955 #2, A Basketful of Heads #1, Batman and the Outsiders Annual #1, Chrononauts: Futureshock #1-4, Dead Man Logan #12, Fantastic Four: Grand Design #1, Fight Club 3 #10, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #13, Ironheart #11, James Bond 007 #12, Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance #2, Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Alliance #4, Jughead’s Time Police #5, Kick-Ass #18, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #44, Rick & Morty #55, The Ride: Burning Desire #5, Runaways #26, Star Trek: Year Five #7, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra Annual #3, Star Wars Adventures #27, Superior Spider-Man #2, Tremor Dose, Warlord of Mars Attacks #5

Recommended Collections: Amazing Spider-Man: Red Goblin, Amber Blake - Volume 1, Black Science - Volume 9: No Authority But Yourself, Deadpool - Volume 3: Weasel Goes to Hell, Dept H. Omnibus - Volume 3: Decompressed & Lifeboat, Dick Tracy Forever, Hit-Girl - Volume 5, Jimmy’s Bastards - Volume 1: Year One, Lucifer Omnibus - Volume 1, Marvel Action: Spider-Man - Book 2: Spider-Chase, Punk Mambo, Spider-Gwen: Gwen Stacy, Star Trek: The Q Conflict, Symbiote Spider-Man, Thor - Volume 3: Wars End, Tony Stark: Iron Man - Volume 3: War of the Realms, Vamps: The Complete Collection, War of the Realms: Uncanny X-Men, The Wild Storm - Volume 4

d. emerson eddy feels like stale, day old pepperoni pizza.

[fantomcomics]

What’s Out This Week? 10/2

HAPPY SPOOKTOBER Y’ALL

Bizarre Adventures #1 - Jed MacKay, Francesco Manna & Various

To celebrate Marvel's 80th, we're resurrecting one of its wildest creations, BIZARRE ADVENTURES! Within these pages you will see Shang-Chi take on a martial arts master, Ulysses Bloodstone battle a master of the dark arts, Dracula meet his match, and the Marvel debut of Achewood's Chris Onstad! These adventures will be thrilling, exciting and most definitely BIZARRE!

Copra #1 - Michel Fiffe   COPRA returns in the first issue of its all-new ONGOING SERIES! Acclaimed comics auteur MICHEL FIFFE picks up where his band of mercenary misfits left off, reintroducing the entire cast of his Suicide Squad-esque revenge machine in a brutal standoff against their own leader. Jump right into the thick of it with the world's greatest action team in this extra-length debut milestone-36 pages for just $3.99!

Dead Eyes #1 - Gerry Duggan and John McCrea

In the 1990s, DEAD EYES was a prolific stick-up man and hoodlum in Boston until he took down one last big score and disappeared. Nobody ever discovered the truth. He retired to be with the love of his life, but now he's back in the mask to save her. No one-not his wife, the mafia, or the cops-is happy that he's out of retirement. From JOHN McCREA, the artist and co-creator of MYTHIC and Hitman, and GERRY DUGGAN, the writer of ANALOG and DEADPOOL, comes the action, comedy, and drama of Martin Dobbs, a.k.a. DEAD EYES, the man who says he's descended from one of the original gangs of New York City. 

Ghost Rider #1 - Ed Brisson and Aaron Kuder

The Brothers Ghost Rider are back! Johnny Blaze ain't just the king of Hell-he's the warden too. He's the first line of defense between the demonic hordes trying to escape the joint and the lords of other hells making a play for his throne and all the power that comes with it - including a certain evil queen from his past! Meanwhile, Danny Ketch never wanted to be a Ghost Rider. Now that his brother's in charge downstairs, Ketch must take on the duty of Earth's Spirit of Vengeance full-time-no matter how much he'd rather be doing anything else...

Marvel Comics #1001 - Al Ewing, Amanda Conner & Various

THE BIGGEST STORY IN MARVEL HISTORY CONTINUES! WHO IS THE MYSTERIOUS NEW CHARACTER FROM MARVEL'S PAST? It was a story too large for any one issue, with too many classic Marvel creators who wanted to be a part of the fun! And so the party continues on with this additional celebratory issue, featuring additional secrets and revelations about the Eternity Mask and the person who now wears it!

Nomen Omen #1 (of 15) - Marco B. Bucci and Jacopo Camagni

No matter how fast you run, sooner or later your past will catch up with you. Enter Becky Kumar, a geeky twenty-year-old from New York City who is about to cross the veil between our reality and a realm of otherworldly truths. From writer and RPG creator MARCO B. BUCCI (Magna Veritas, Memento Mori) and artist JACOPO CAMAGNI (X-Men Blue, Deadpool The Duck) comes a tale of tales, witchcraft, and secrets for mature readers that rewires the rules of urban fantasy. #doyouwannaknowasecret

Ruby Falls #1 - Ann Nocenti and Flavia Biondi

Ruby Falls is a sleepy town. But sleep brings nightmares, and Lana is about to wake up in the middle of her hometown's biggest secret: the "disappearance" of infamously progressive Betty Gallagher during the mobster-ruled heyday of the old mining town. When details of the cold-case murder start to come out through her grandmother Clara's foggy, dementia-jumbled memories, Lana becomes obsessed with cracking the case, even if it splinters the peaceful town-and endangers everything she loves.  

Spider-Verse #1 (of 6) - Jed MacKay, Juan Frigeri & Various

Miles Morales finally feels like he GETS this Spider-Man stuff... and then falls through a portal! But isn't the WEB OF LIFE & DESTINY destroyed? Maybe not, True Believer. But who spun this new web? Regardless, Miles finds himself at the center of a multiversal adventure that will feature a who's who of creators and characters as the series spins forward!

Strange Skies Over East Berlin #1 - Jeff Loveness and Lisandro Estherren

MANKIND MADE IT TO SPACE. AND NOW SPACE HAS FOLLOWED THEM BACK. Herring is a disillusioned American spy stationed on the eastern side of the Berlin Wall, struggling with his role in a Cold War that seems to have no end. But when he's sent on a mission behind enemy lines to infiltrate East German intelligence, he soon learns the Soviets have a secret weapon that could change the tides of the conflict: an alien monster that they don't understand, and can't control. The Soviets are about to learn that they're not in charge of the monster - it's already in their minds and has twisted them to their will. Now now Herring must find a way to understand the impossible before it transforms him into a monster unlike any other.

Vampire State Building #1 - Ange, Patrick Renault and Charlie Adlard

The newest horror series from the artist of The Walking Dead, Charlie Adlard! Just in time for Halloween, get ready to be bitten from the first full color page. Terry Fisher is a young soldier on the verge of being sent away for active military duty, and is going to meet his friends at the top of the Empire State Building for a farewell party. But suddenly a legion of vampires attacks the skyscraper and massacres its occupants. Hounded in the 102 floors that have become a deadly trap, Terry must take decisive action to save himself and his friends - and the city of New York - before the army of abominations, and the terrible vampire god within, walled in the building since its construction, spill into the city!

This week is jam-packed with awesomeness, so whatcha scooping up, Fantomites?

[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.

[architectnews]

Rowan Residence, Franklin Canyon Park California

Rowan Residence For Sale, Californian Luxury Home, Robert Skinner, CA Real Estate, US House Photos

Rowan Residence near Franklin Canyon Park, California

Jul 12, 2021

Rowan Residence

Robert Skinner’s 1961 ‘Rowan Residence’ Restored, Updated and on the Market for $10M!

Location: California, USA

Source: TopTenRealEstateDeals.com

Robert Skinner was one of Los Angeles’ most renowned mid-century modern architects. A 1954 graduate of USC’s prestigious School of Architecture, Skinner’s homes made significant contributions to the style of L.A.’s Trousdale Estates, Coldwater Canyon and Beverly Hills. His most famous design, Rowan Residence, was built for the Rowan family in 1961 and appeared in the Taschen book Julius Schulman: Modernism Rediscovered, considered one of the foremost visual resources on the California Modern Movement. Mr. Skinner died in 2008.

Current owner Greg Cavic, a talent agent at United Talent Artists whose clients include Ed Helms, H. Jon Benjamin and Zach Galifinakis, purchased the Hidden Valley Estates home in 2012 and hired architect John Bertram to undertake a meticulous restoration that honors the original design, maintaining the spirit of the 1960s while updating the mansion for the current century with all new fixtures and state-of-the-art appliances. He has now listed it for sale at $10 million with agent Tori Barnao of Compass.

The single-story, split-level, 4,600-square-foot home sits on nearly half an acre of grounds designed by Elysian Landscapes. A patio with an outdoor wet bar, pool, BBQ and firepit are surrounded by mature trees and beautiful gardens with native plants for the ultimate in privacy and peace. Glass walls throughout allow seamless indoor/outdoor living and entertaining in a serene and elegant space.

Inside, Douglas Fir custom cabinetry, Terrazzo floors and Redwood accents provide a classic California atmosphere of warmth and beauty. A huge skylight in the courtyard entryway and another in the kitchen bathe the house in natural light. Fit for a chef, the kitchen includes the latest in top-of-the-line appliances, marble countertops, an island and a breakfast nook.

The spacious living areas include a fireplace and museum-quality LSI lighting and a step-down family room lined with bookcases and a unique hideaway cabinet for a flat-screen TV. A sprawling open floor plan connects the common areas, while the personal spaces are carefully delineated.

The primary bedroom has its own fireplace, floor-to-ceiling glass doors leading to a patio, an attached office, and redwood tongue-and-groove siding. The master bath is equally elegant with dual sinks, deep tub and separate shower lined with stylish matching tile. With four more bedrooms and five additional bathrooms, the “Rowan Residence” offers a unique opportunity to live in an architectural work of art in one of LA’s most sought-after neighborhoods.

Hidden Valley Estates is a gated community located in the famous Beverly Hills 90210 zip code. With a 24/7 gate guard, the neighborhood has long been a sanctuary for A-list celebrities, including Adele, Katy Perry, Nicole Kidman, Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Lawrence.

The Rowan Residence is only a five-minute walk from Franklin Canyon Park and within easy access of Coldwater Canyon Park, the Mulholland Tennis Club, and the Los Angeles Country Club.

The listing is held by Tori Barnao, Gersh Gershunoff and Aaron Kirman of Aaron Kirman Group at Compass

Source: compass.com

Photography: Juwan Li and Adrian Anz

Rowan Residence for sale, California images / information received 190821

Location: Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, USA

California Luxury Property

Luxury California Houses

Oak Pass House Architects: Walker Workshop photograph : Joe Fletcher Oak Pass House in Beverly Hills

Luxury House in Beverly Hills Design: Whipple Russell Architects photographers : William MacCollum, Art Gray Photography House in Beverly Hills

Trousdale Residence in Beverly Hills

Benedict Canyon Residence in Beverly Hills

Mirror House in Beverly Hills

Summit House in Beverly Hills

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Orum Residence, Bel-Air, Los Angeles, California, USA Design: SPF:architects photo © Matthew Momberger New Residence in Bel-Air

Los Altos Hills II House, CA Design: Feldman Architecture photograph : John Linden Los Altos Hills Residence in California

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Comments / photos for the Rowan Residence, California page welcome

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[multipleservicelisting]

Underselling the Vaccine

Want to get The Morning by email? Here’s the sign-up.

Good morning. We explain why the vaccine news is better than you may think.

Early in the pandemic, many health experts — in the U.S. and around the world — decided that the public could not be trusted to hear the truth about masks. Instead, the experts spread a misleading message, discouraging the use of masks.

Their motivation was mostly good. It sprung from a concern that people would rush to buy high-grade medical masks, leaving too few for doctors and nurses. The experts were also unsure how much ordinary masks would help.

But the message was still a mistake.

It confused people. (If masks weren’t effective, why did doctors and nurses need them?) It delayed the widespread use of masks (even though there was good reason to believe they could help). And it damaged the credibility of public health experts.

“When people feel as though they may not be getting the full truth from the authorities, snake-oil sellers and price gougers have an easier time,” the sociologist Zeynep Tufekci wrote early last year.

Now a version of the mask story is repeating itself — this time involving the vaccines. Once again, the experts don’t seem to trust the public to hear the full truth.

This issue is important and complex enough that I’m going to make today’s newsletter a bit longer than usual. If you still have questions, don’t hesitate to email me at themorning@nytimes.com.

‘Ridiculously encouraging’

Right now, public discussion of the vaccines is full of warnings about their limitations: They’re not 100 percent effective. Even vaccinated people may be able to spread the virus. And people shouldn’t change their behavior once they get their shots.

These warnings have a basis in truth, just as it’s true that masks are imperfect. But the sum total of the warnings is misleading, as I heard from multiple doctors and epidemiologists last week.

“It’s driving me a little bit crazy,” Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown School of Public Health, told me.

“We’re underselling the vaccine,” Dr. Aaron Richterman, an infectious-disease specialist at the University of Pennsylvania, said.

“It’s going to save your life — that’s where the emphasis has to be right now,” Dr. Peter Hotez of the Baylor College of Medicine said.

The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are “essentially 100 percent effective against serious disease,” Dr. Paul Offit, the director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said. “It’s ridiculously encouraging.”

The details

Here’s my best attempt at summarizing what we know:

The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines — the only two approved in the U.S. — are among the best vaccines ever created, with effectiveness rates of about 95 percent after two doses. That’s on par with the vaccines for chickenpox and measles. And a vaccine doesn’t even need to be so effective to reduce cases sharply and crush a pandemic.

If anything, the 95 percent number understates the effectiveness, because it counts anyone who came down with a mild case of Covid-19 as a failure. But turning Covid into a typical flu — as the vaccines evidently did for most of the remaining 5 percent — is actually a success. Of the 32,000 people who received the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine in a research trial, do you want to guess how many contracted a severe Covid case? One.

Although no rigorous study has yet analyzed whether vaccinated people can spread the virus, it would be surprising if they did. “If there is an example of a vaccine in widespread clinical use that has this selective effect — prevents disease but not infection — I can’t think of one!” Dr. Paul Sax of Harvard has written in The New England Journal of Medicine. (And, no, exclamation points are not common in medical journals.) On Twitter, Dr. Monica Gandhi of the University of California, San Francisco, argued: “Please be assured that YOU ARE SAFE after vaccine from what matters — disease and spreading.”

The risks for vaccinated people are still not zero, because almost nothing in the real world is zero risk. A tiny percentage of people may have allergic reactions. And I’ll be eager to see what the studies on post-vaccination spread eventually show. But the evidence so far suggests that the vaccines are akin to a cure.

Offit told me we should be greeting them with the same enthusiasm that greeted the polio vaccine: “It should be this rallying cry.”

The costs of negativity

Why are many experts conveying a more negative message?

Again, their motivations are mostly good. As academic researchers, they are instinctively cautious, prone to emphasizing any uncertainty. Many may also be nervous that vaccinated people will stop wearing masks and social distancing, which in turn could cause unvaccinated people to stop as well. If that happens, deaths would soar even higher.

But the best way to persuade people to behave safely usually involves telling them the truth. “Not being completely open because you want to achieve some sort of behavioral public health goal — people will see through that eventually,” Richterman said. The current approach also feeds anti-vaccine skepticism and conspiracy theories.

After asking Richterman and others what a better public message might sound like, I was left thinking about something like this:

We should immediately be more aggressive about mask-wearing and social distancing because of the new virus variants. We should vaccinate people as rapidly as possible — which will require approving other Covid vaccines when the data justifies it.

People who have received both of their vaccine shots, and have waited until they take effect, will be able to do things that unvaccinated people cannot — like having meals together and hugging their grandchildren. But until the pandemic is defeated, all Americans should wear masks in public, help unvaccinated people stay safe and contribute to a shared national project of saving every possible life.

THE LATEST NEWS

The Transition

President-elect Joe Biden picked two Obama-era regulators to oversee key financial agencies: Gary Gensler to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Rohit Chopra as the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Here’s Biden’s response to aides who use overly academic or elitist language: “Pick up your phone, call your mother, read her what you just told me,” he likes to say. “If she understands, we can keep talking.”

President Trump’s allies have collected tens of thousands of dollars from people seeking pardons.

Capitol Riot Fallout

From Opinion: Today is Martin Luther King’s Birthday. In a video Op-Ed, Martin Luther King III remembers his father’s economic message.

Media Equation: Fox settled a lawsuit over its lies about a murdered young man, but the network insisted that the settlement had to stay secret until after the 2020 election.

Lives Lived: Phil Spector was a pioneering producer who shaped the sound of pop music in the 1960s but who spent the end of his life in prison after murdering Lana Clarkson at his home in 2003. He has died, from complications from Covid-19, at 81.

Why sea shanties are suddenly viral

On TikTok in December, Nathan Evans, a 26-year-old Scottish postal worker and musician, shared a black-and-white video of himself singing a sea shanty — a traditional sailor’s work song — called “Soon May the Wellerman Come.” In the ensuing weeks, Sea Shanty TikTok was born.

Professional musicians, people driving in cars and even a Kermit the Frog puppet shared videos of themselves singing along. There were electro remixes. Some people began covering other songs, like “All Star” by Smash Mouth, in a sea-shanty style.

While the genre may seem like a strange one to go viral, the songs are relatively easy to learn. They also lend themselves well to collaboration, which TikTok’s functions encourage. An original goal of the sea shanty was to foster community, as sailors worked long hours aboard a ship.

“They are unifying, survivalist songs, designed to transform a huge group of people into one collective body, all working together to keep the ship afloat,” Kathryn VanArendonk writes in Vulture. And they’re especially fitting for a time when people are desperate for connection.

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

What to Cook

Spanakopita, the classic Greek spinach and feta pie, inspired this baked pasta.

What to Watch

“MLK/FBI,” directed by Sam Pollard, draws on long-secret documents to chronicle the F.B.I.’s harassment of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

What to Listen to

Hear new tracks from Flo Milli, Lana Del Rey and more — including a song that holds the single-day streaming record on Spotify.

    Multiple Service Listing for Business Owners | Tools to Grow Your Local Business

www.MultipleServiceListing.com 

The post Underselling the Vaccine appeared first on Multiple Service Listing.

from Multiple Service Listing https://ift.tt/2LYyPrd

[bobbie-robron]

Young (Original) Aaron’s story - COMPLETE!

2003

02-Dec-2003

24-Dec-2003, 25-Dec-2003 (Part 1 & 2, Part 3 & 4), 26-Dec-2003, 29-Dec-2003

2004

09-Feb-2004, 10-Feb-2004, 11-Feb-2004

17-Feb-2004, 18-Feb-2004, 19-Feb-2004, 20-Feb-2004 (Part 1, Part 2), 22-Feb-2004 (Part 1, Part 2)

26-Sep-2004

2006

03-Feb-2006, 05-Feb-2006

06-Feb-2006, 07-Feb-2006, 08-Feb-2006 (Part 1, Part 2), 09-Feb-2006

[tomemyxmen2017-blog]

The Best (and Worst) Free Comics of FCBD 2018

Of the fifty-two comics released for Free Comic Book Day 2018, there were an unsurprisingly high number of excellent comics in this year’s class. Here are my picks for the best of the best (with a few dishonorable mentions too) from the many choices available this year.

THE BEST

10. BERLIN by Jason Lutes (w, a, c). (Drawn & Quarterly).

Set in 1928 Germany, a journalist and an art student meet on a train to Berlin; when they arrive, the young student is surprised by what she sees, and the journalist must navigate a changing climate for the press. Narrated in part by the main characters’ writings (his reporting and her diary), this street-level view of Berlin prior to the rise of fascism is masterful and cinematic. Even in this preview, the sense of menace and dread to the events that are to come in the story permeates every page. Absolutely genius. Part of a series written over the past twenty years, this FCBD release promotes the hardcover omnibus of the series due for release in fall 2018.

9. STRANGERS IN PARADISE by Terry Moore (w, a). (Abstract Studios).

The issue opens with an exciting pickpocket scene in which Scott, a generic business type, has his phone and SIM card stolen. He later contacts his wife, Laura, to tell her that he’ll be late coming home and why, prompting Laura to stoically retrieve her run bag and leave home for good. The phone thief heads to Laura’s house to discover she’s already gone and runs into Scott; the thief reveals that “Laura” is actually Stephanie Kelly, a Parker girl caught up in treason and espionage. This is a dynamic, fully realized introduction to what seems like a fun and exciting story loaded with intelligent, powerful women kicking all kinds of ass.

8. ULTRA STREET FIGHTER II #1 by Ken Siu-Chong (w), Hanzo Steinbach (a), Marshall Dillon (l). (Udon).

Trying to shake off his dark side, Ken meets with Ryu to fight through his worst urges and achieve some balance in his life. The pair travel to Japan for some high-level meditation (and fighting, of course), but that only gets Ken so far. Later in San Francisco, Ken is surprised by an attack from Rufus, and during the battle, he learns to control his evil within. Although this comic attempts to apply drama to a fighting video game, the result is fun, colorful, ridiculous, and delightfully entertaining. What more could you want out of a Street Fighter comic?

7. SHADOWMAN by Andy Diggle (w), Stephen Segovia (w), Karl Bollers (e). (Valiant).

Alyssa and her guide Isiah explore the swamps of Louisiana at night, searching for the cause of cursed water that’s making locals sick. She encounters a monster, the Grinder of Bones, and tries to use magic to protect herself to no avail. She runs, and summons Papa Legba for guidance: in return, her friend Jack, now the Shadowman, appears from a portal to help her in her fight. With gorgeous artwork, beautiful coloring, and a plot like nothing else on the stands right now, this issue draws readers into this world so effortlessly that it’s hard to imagine someone reading this issue without being fully engrossed and wanting to pick up the whole series. Terrifically well-done.

6. THE GHOST IN THE SHELL by Max Gladstone (w), David Lopez (a), Nayoung Kim (color), Jodi Wynne (l), Alejandro Arbona (e), Ben Applegate (e). (Kodansha).

Major Kusanagi (aka Motoko) and Aramaki are intercepted by an American Ghost Force Squad while on a business trip to Shangai. After her arrest, Motoko dramatically escapes through the streets of Shangai and meets her old wartime enemy, Li; the pair must work together to save Aramaki and others. This issue, part of an upcoming anthology, is perhaps the most complete, cover-to-cover, issue released on FCBD. At a whopping forty-five pages, readers are treated to an entire story that is exceptional all on its own. This is a fabulous issue that will convert even the most stoic of non-believers into fans of this character and this series.

5. RELAY by Zac Thompson (w), Andy Clarke (a), Eric Bromberg (st), Donny Cates (st), Dan Brown (color), Charles Pritchett (l), Mike Marts (e). (Aftershock).

In this sci-fi story, a space traveler lands on a planet with an undeveloped population and offers them “the Relay,” a monolith that creates uniformity in technology and ideas. Is it intergalactic socialism, or will it be intergalactic fascism? The Relay seemingly destroys community identity and cultural heritage with a new sort of religion: ultimate fath in the monolith itself. This is an expertly paced and well-rendered metaphor that gives sci-fi fans something deeper to ponder.

4. MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS by Kyle Higgins (w), Ryan Parrott (w), Digo Galindo (a), Marcelo Costa (color), Ed Dukeshire (l), Dafna Pleban (e). (Boom!).

This one takes me back! Chosing to advertise its best-selling series, Boom! strategically used its FCBD option to bridge the gap between fans of the old TV show(s) and the current comics mythology, hoping to draw in readers who may have been overwhelmed by the thousands of different Power Ranger characters and their convoluted origin stories and missions. This issue is a straight-forward explanation of how the first episode of the original TV series connects to the comic storyline today, with some surprisingly awesome artwork and a shockingly murderous ending. The issue concedes its childish origins, but by the end, these aren’t your kids’ Power Rangers anymore!

3. AVENGERS by Jason Aaron (w), Sarah Pichelli (p, i), Elisabetta D’Amico (i), Justin Ponsor (color), Cory Petit (l), Tom Brevoort (e). (Marvel).

This issue, frankly, defied my expectations. As the official free preview to Marvel’s “Fresh Start,” there was a lot riding on this issue, the release of which coinciding with yet another reboot of the Avengers in the same week and a blockbuster weekend for the House of Ideas at the cinema a week prior. And it did not disappoint. In a direct follow-up to last year’s Marvel Legacy #1, Odin meets with Black Panther in the ruins of Asgard. Odin explains that he has fallen to Loki and his manipulation of a Celestial and requests that T’Challa kill Loki; he agrees. The story ends in another scene with Captain America and Thor reaching out to Tony Stark for a meeting between the three of them as a new Avengers era begins. Rather than using its FCBD offering to pump in half-assed action, Aaron instead tries to win new readers over with a well-told and interesting story setup. It is refreshing to see Marvel return to storytelling in its flagship series rather than resort to the redundant tropes of its recent past. Very well done.

2. JAMES BOND 007: VARGR by Warren Ellis (w), Jason Masters (a), Guy Major (color), Simon Bowland (l), Joseph Rybant (e). (Dynamite).

On a mission in Finland, 007 hunts down 008’s killer and exacts gruesome revenge. Later at MI6 Headquarters, M is assigned to take over 008’s case load, setting up a story that is simultaneously exhilirating for new readers and faithful in spirit to fans of the classic Bond. With darkly exquisite artwork throughout (particularly the Helsinki scene) and a character whose charm radiates off the page, it’s hard to imagine any comic fan not falling madly in love with this series.  Originally published in 2016, this issue and the rest of the story is already available in trade.

1.BARRIER by Brian K. Vaughn (w), Marcos Martin (a, c), Muntsa Vincente. (Image).

No comic in this bunch left my jaw on the floor and mouth agape quite like this one. In this exquisite story, Liddy discovers signs of a Mexican cartel using her land, which happens to be on the Texas-Mexican border, as a throughway for drug trades and illegal immigration. In a parallel story, Oscar migrates from his home in Honduras to reach the U.S., crossing onto Liddy’s land in the middle of the night. She finds him and holds him at gunpoint suddenly the pair are interrupted. It’s a contemporary story involving gruesome violence, cartels, guns, and sci-fi. Half the issue is in Spanish (a language deficit won’t detract from your enjoyment of the issue), and the entire book – at an impressive fifty-three pages – is elegantly printed in landscape format. The artwork is phenomenal. The writing is incomparable. This is simply a perfect comic book from cover to cover. Frankly, I’m shocked it was available for FCBD as it’s well-worth a cover price. I recommend this enthusiastically, and I can’t wait to pick up the whole series this month. An exceptional beauty of a comic.

THE WORST

3. SHADOW ROADS by Cullen Bunn (w), Brian Hurtt (w), A.C. Zamudio (a), Carlos Zamudio (color), Crank! (l), Charlie Chu (e). (Oni Press).

In this deeply convoluted introduction presumptively set in the late nineteenth century, we meet Henry Grey, a Native American and a Cambridge man who visits the British Museum of Natural History’s new Native American exhibit with remorse and perhaps disgust. He meets an elder at the Museum who gives him a magical ceremonial dagger carved from bone that ultimately lights up. En route home, his train passes through a Crossroads where Abigail Redmayne and Kalfu intercept him and bring him to the New Mexico Territory. What causes this issue to fail – aside from the onslaught of new characters to learn and an unexplained mythology to understand – is that by the issue’s end, we are no closer to knowing why any of these events occur. Why does Abigail bring Henry to New Mexico? What is so special about Henry? What’s the point of the glowing dagger? While a free comic book should purposefully leave questions unresolved to entice readers to find their answers in subsequent issues, this romp is sadly too obscure and complicated to elicit any interest.

2. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN by Nick Spencer (w), Ryan Ottley (o), Cliff Rathburn (i), Laura Martin (color), VC’s Joe Caramagna (l), Nick Lowe (e). (Marvel).

Facing off against America’s greatest threat – the Manhattan real estate market – Peter Parker and his buddy Randy look for an apartment when they are interrupted by a fight with Boomerang, Electro, Rhino, and Big Wheel. After a quick costume change, Spider-Man battles them all until Kingpin intervenes. Despite the Mayor’s apparent gratitude for Spider-Man, Peter drops his professionalism instantly and leaves the scene. Later, Randy and Peter settle on a new three-bedroom apartment with a third roommate: Boomerang himself. From the ludicrous dialogue, the boring trope-laden plot, the cartoonish graphic design, and the overall neutering of Peter Parker’s character, this was a deep, deep disappointment for me that goes beyond this single issue; if this was meant to be an advertisement for the new Amazing Spider-Man series, I’m afraid it did more to turn me off than on. In addition, despite picking up all fifty-two free comics on FCBD, this issue is the only one with running ink and cheap printing errors. Oh, Marvel. Why do you do this to me?

1. TANK GIRL by Alan Martin (w), Brett Parson (a), Warwick Johnson-Cadwell (a), Jonathan Edwards (a), Brett Parson (l), Martin Eden (e). (Titan).

This was perhaps my fault for setting my expectations too high. Having never read a Tank Girl comic and only vaguely understanding her origins from nineties samples and the Lori Petty film, I was expecting a post-apocalyptic badass who breaks the fourth-wall and uses ingenuity, humor, grit, and charm to fight the Man. Instead, I got an insufferable cutsey-wootsey romp about a woman face-punching an adult man after he ruined her birthday big wheel when they were children. In between this awful plot’s progression, vignettes either drawn by a child or rendered to look like it had been drawn by child are too annoying to attempt to read. The only enjoyable bit of this comic was the cover by Jamie Hewlett, who should have done the interiors as well.  

[aion-rsa]

Upcoming Movies in October 2020: Theaters, Streaming and VOD

https://ift.tt/3lducG3

October looks a lot different than it did only a few weeks ago. As the month many movie theater owners were hanging their hats on with the hope of a weekly deluge of new movies , October has recently been vacated by high profile features that include Wonder Woman 1984, Death on the Nile, and Candyman.

Yet if you’re  a cinephile or movie lover who is desperate for new stories and visions, it is not all doom and gloom. Between the streaming market of Netflix, VOD, and other platforms, as well as some smaller films willing to roll the dice on a limited theatrical release, there are still more than a few things to see in October 2020…

2067

October 2 (U.S. Only)

A high-concept science fiction setup if we’ve ever heard one, 2067 is the story of Ethan Whyte (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a young man born in a dystopian future where he learns that he might be the savior of humanity… at least that’s what people from an even more distant future are saying. In a plot twist that sounds, at least on paper, akin to a reversal of The Terminator, messengers from the future say Ethan is the key to saving the world and wish to transport him via time machine to an unknowable destiny. Chaos ensues. It’s a big idea, but we’re always game for someone swinging big in this genre.

Death of Me

October 2 (November 23 in the UK)

Darren Lynn Boseman, director of Saw II through Saw IV, returns to the horror genre again alongside Nikita’s Maggie Q and Westworld’s Luke Hemsworth. In this VOD release, the pair play a vacationing couple who wake up on an island with a horrible hangover. Yet a video on their phones seems to suggest the night before was even worse: Neil (Hemsworth) spent the evening brutally murdering his wife, as per the screen in their pockets. Nevertheless, here they are now, left with a lot of questions of what happened yesterday… and what can happen today.

Black Box

October 6

The first of Amazon Prime and Blumhouse Productions’ “Welcome to the Blumhouse” series, Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour’s Black Box has a tantalizing premise. Nolan (Mamoudou Athie) survived a car accident that took his wife, but it also took large swaths of his memory of her. So in order to regain his memory, and regain a sense of stability for his young daughter, Nolan undergoes an experimental treatment where his psychologist uses hypnosis to thrust him into his subconscious where he’ll be able remember his past and face his personal demons. Literally. 

Like something out of Christopher Nolan’s Inception, this horror movie shows how scary being trapped in dreams really is if all that’s in them is the stuff of nightmares…

The Lie

October 6

The second Amazon/Blumhouse feature is more of a psychological thriller than a straightforward horror movie. Originally premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2018, The Lie follows a father (Peter Sarsgaard) who discovers his daughter Kayla (Joey King) accidentally killed her friend… until she admits she may have actually murdered her.

How far will he go to cover-up his daughter’s sins? Well, that’s the logline, and it seems to be a gripping one, albeit reviews from TIFF were less than kind two years ago.

Hubie Halloween

October 7

Last year Adam Sandler warned the Academy that if he doesn’t win an Oscar for Uncut Gems he’d make a film so bad that it’d make “you all pay.” Well, he wasn’t even nominated and eight months after the ceremony, here we are with Netflix’s Hubie Halloween. It remains to be seen whether this is actually the bad one—for starters it filmed before Oscar nominations went out—but it is still very much a Happy Madison production, complete with major supporting roles for Kevin James and Rob Schneider.

Read more

Movies

Uncut Gems: The Real Noir in Adam Sandler’s Classic

By David Crow

Movies

Horror Movies on HBO Max: Hammer Films, It Chapter 2, Us, to Arrive in October

By Don Kaye

In the movie, Sandler plays Hubie Dubois, the town loser of Salem, Massachusetts. A lonely fry cook obsessed with Halloween, Hubie spends all year looking forward to decking out his home and town the same way Clark Griswold anticipates Christmas. But on this particular Halloween, the town appears besieged by actual supernatural forces, and finally Hubie will have his time to shine. Eh, it looks more amusing than The Do-Over and The Ridiculous 6?

Books of Blood

October 7 (U.S. Only)

Who doesn’t love anthological horror? Hulu certainly does, as they’re releasing Books of Blood, the latest adaptation of Clive Barker’s multi-volume series of short stories by the same name. Previous tales from Books of Blood have been adapted into movies as beloved as Candyman and as decidedly not as Rawhide Rex. In this film version, three stories are created for the screen by co-writer and director Brannon Braga. Here’s hoping it lands closer to the former?

Saint Maud

October 9 (UK Only)

The UK will be the first to get A24’s only horror movie this year. Lucky. The feature directorial debut of Rose Glass, Saint Maud follows an unhealthily repressed and zealous young woman: Maud (Morfydd Clark). Maud is technically a caretaker by trade, looking after people in hospice. But she also imagines herself to be something of an apostle, sent to save godless folks from their sins, particularly Amanda (Jennifer Ehle), the woman she’s living with as the in-home nurse.

Read more

Movies

Best Modern Horror Movies

By Don Kaye

Movies

Best Horror Movies on Netflix: Scariest Films to Stream

By David Crow and 2 others

It’s already a tense situation, even before Maud starts hearing voices and having images of ecstasy and Heaven, and demons and Hell. Rich with atmosphere and grueling anticipation of something horrible happening, Saint Maud is a great debut for Glass and a potential star-maker for Clark, who is skin-crawlingly pious as Maud, the young woman who’s wound up tighter than a jack-in-the-box.

The Wolf of Snow Hollow

October 9 (U.S. Only)

Debuting in theaters and on VOD, The Wolf of Snow Hollow is Jim Cummings’ follow-up to Thunder Road. That earlier, underrated movie was a delightful mix of comedy and drama that won the SXSW Grand Jury Prize. So the sophomore effort being a werewolf comedy-horror movie is intriguing. Indeed, Wolf of Snow Hollow is the rare lycanthrope yarn that’s told from the point-of-view of the would-be wolf hunter, Sheriff John Marshall (Cummings).

Following a series of grisly murders every full moon, the residents of Snow Hollow become convinced they have a wolfman on their hands, even if the frustrated sheriff refuses to accept the obvious. The film also marks the final performance of Robert Forster as John’s crusty mentor.

The War with Grandpa

October 9 in the U.S. (October 16 in the UK)

For most people, having Robert De Niro as a grandfather can be an imposing experience. But kids these days! That’s at least one amusing takeaway from The War with Grandpa, the delayed family movie that sees De Niro’s grandfatherly Ed enter into a prank war with his grandson Peter (Oakes Fegley) after upsetting the youth by moving into his old bedroom—Peter’s mom and Ed’s daughter Sally (Uma Thurman) forced them into the arrangement.

Read more

Movies

The King of Comedy: What’s the Real Punchline of the Martin Scorsese Classic?

By Tony Sokol

Movies

Al Capone: 9 Actors Who Played the Original Scarface

By Tony Sokol

Soon shaving cream reveals itself to be foam sealant stuck to De Niro’s face, and Peter’s oral report announces he is a louse. Oh, and there’s a dodgeball battle in which De Niro is aided by a squad of screen legends like Christopher Walken, Cheech Marin, and Jane Seymour, to squash the pups. Now things are getting serious…

Nocturne

October 13

The first of Amazon and Blumhouse’s next batch of original movies, Nocturne is the tale of a hellish rivalry between sisters. Genuinely. The feature debut from director Zu Quirke stars Sydney Sweeney as Juliet, the younger sister of fellow musician Vivian (Madison Iseman). While both young women are gifted pianists, Vivian is a prodigy and the center of Juliet’s envy. That is until Juliet finds the diary of another child prodigy at their prestigious conservatory who killed herself. The book includes all the late pianist’s hidden compositions… and symbols and incantations.

Ever heard the story of Faust? It seems like Juliet is about to get an up-close modern example.

Evil Eye

October 13

As the final Blumhouse effort to be released on Amazon Prime in 2020, Evil Eye hails from directors Elan and Rajeev Dassani and presents itself as both a psychological thriller and supernatural chiller. The truth of which it really is depends on how much you believe the eye of Usha (Sarita Choudhury).

Read more

Movies

How Jason Blum Changed Horror Movies

By Rosie Fletcher

Movies

Jason Blum: No Plans To Restart Universal Monsters Universe

By Don Kaye

For this mother of Pallavi (GLOW’s Sunita Mani) is convinced her daughter is necking with a new boyfriend (Omar Maskati) who’s the spirit of an evil abusive ex Usha escaped in her youth. Is he the vestiges of a half-remembered curse or the potential victim of a mommy dearest prone to snap judgements? Tune in to find out for yourself…

The Trial of the Chicago 7

October 16

“The whole world is watching.” That’s the chanted refrain of protestors in Aaron Sorkin’s second movie as director, but it might also apply to the level of anticipation regarding this major Netflix release and potential awards season darling. The movie itself is an old-fashioned legal thriller like Sorkin cut his teeth on with scripts like A Few Good Men, but Chicago 7 feels urgently (and depressingly) vital.

Following on the heels of the Chicago riots during the Democratic National Convention of 1968—riots later deemed to have been started by the police—eight men categorized as “the far left” are rounded up for a show trial by Nixon’s Justice Department where they’re charged with conspiracy.

Read more

Movies

Aaron Sorkin: Donald Trump Made The Trial of the Chicago 7 Movie Possible

By David Crow

Movies

Quentin Tarantino Calls The Social Network the Best Movie of the 2010s

By David Crow

The film features the same blistering abundance of dialogue Sorkin has become famous for, as well as his penchant for breezy fast-paced editing. But the political heft of the subject matter and the movie’s deep bench of an acting ensemble that includes Sacha Baron Cohen, Jeremy Strong, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Eddie Redmayne, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mark Rylance, and Frank Langella is what makes this one of the most thrilling movies of the year.

Honest Thief

October 16 (U.S. Only)

Liam Neeson plays a thief who wants a second chance. A bank robber willing to turn himself and $9 million in to be with the new love of his life. But then crooked FBI agents (Jai Courtney and Anthony Ramos) steal his money and frame him for murder instead. So he’s left with one thing to do: menacingly hiss over the phone, “I’m coming for you.” We imagine that trailer-ready threat was what Honest Thief was sold on during its elevator pitch.

Rebecca

October 21

Remaking Alfred Hitchcock remains a tricky proposition that has thwarted many filmmakers in the past. Readapting the only one of his movies to win the Oscar for Best Picture, Rebecca, appears all the harder. Yet everything we’ve seen from Ben Wheatley and Netflix’s luscious adaptation of the Daphne Du Maurier novel is highly encouraging.

With a winning cast that includes Lily James as the new Mrs. de Winter, Armie Hammer as her husband Maxim, and Kristin Scott Thomas as his menacing housekeeper Mrs. Danvers, the film opens with the young bride trying to step into the shoes of Maxim’s dead first wife, Rebecca. An apparent light of his mansion that has been long snuffed, Rebecca’s flame burns still if only because of Mrs. Danvers’ admiration for her late mistress… and maybe the ghost who prowls the house. This is archetypal Gothic horror, and with screenwriter Jane Goldman apparently keeping the novel’s original ending, we already feel seduced by the imagery.

On the Rocks

October 2 in the UK (October 23 in the U.S.)

Sofia Coppola and Bill Murray work together again. For the first time since their luminous Lost in Translation (if you ignore the ill-considered A Very Murray Christmas), the director and star are collaborating on this visibly intimate tale. It’s about an adult daughter (Rashida Jones) and her famous father (Murray) spending a weekend in New York City on an adventure after years of estrangement.

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The film, which also stars Marlon Wayans, premiered to a largely warm reception at the New York Film Festival and is already being written about as a spiritual successor to their original collaboration. Once more a woman in the midst of an existential crisis is aided by Murray between glasses of scotch. Who doesn’t want to pull up a seat and order another round?

Over the Moon

October 23

You probably don’t know Glen Keane’s name but you should. The longtime Walt Disney Animation Studios animator oversaw the design and animation of Ariel in The Little Mermaid, Beast in Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin in Aladdin, and Rapunzel in Tangled. With Over the Moon, he steps away from the Mouse and toward Netflix as a first-time co-director, alongside John Kahrs (an animator on Tangled and Frozen).

The trailer for the film is like a Georges Méliès fever dream from  as a little girl named Fei Fei (Cathy Ang) builds a rocket ship to take her to the moon. But once there, Fei Fei and friends meet a mythical moon goddess (Hamilton’s Phillipa Soo) who takes them on a candy-colored odyssey through the cosmos.

Synchronic

October 23 (U.S. only)

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Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead are two of the most intriguing new voices in science fiction. If you don’t recognize their names, go watch The Endless right now. One of the strangest and cleverest sci-fi yarns of the last decade, that film is now being followed up by Synchronic, another original tale that stars Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan. The specifics of the film remain vague other than it is about two New Orleans paramedics who investigate a series of murders caused by a new, bizarre designer drug. But we already know we can’t wait to watch what horrible side effects come from these poor bastards taking it.

The Craft: Legacy

It cannot be Halloween without at least one more horror movie coming out the week of. Thus enters The Craft: Legacy, Sony Pictures and Blumhouse Productions’ legacy sequel to the original 1996 The Craft. Like its predecessor, this follows an outsider who is the new girl in school (Cailee Spaeny). She may be ostracized by the popular kids, but she befriends fellow students who have alternative tastes… like witchcraft.

The original is a touchstone for millennials and Gen-Xers of a certain age, and this reboot looks to push the story into a more complex understanding of friendship. And if it doesn’t, it’s still a Blumhouse effort so it should have plenty of spooky jumps!

Relic

October 30 (US Only)

Dementia is at the heart of this very eerie chiller where three generations of women convene in an old family home which seems to be rotting from the inside. Robyn Nevin, Emily Mortimer and Bella Heathcote star in a slow build drama which delves into the horror of losing your sense of self, as Nevin’s matriarch goes missing for days and can’t remember what happened while her house is filled with odd notes, black mould and snippets of a life slipping away from her grasp. This is the feature debut of Australian-Japanese director Natalie Erika James and it’s a stylish, chilling and confident first feature with a final act that veers into full blown horror. Out already in the States on VOD it has a UK theatrical release in the UK.

The post Upcoming Movies in October 2020: Theaters, Streaming and VOD appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[moviepasstor]

December 2017 Movies

Here’s a look at major new releases for December and which ones I’m most looking forward to based on their trailers, using the following rating scale:

@@@@ = I definitely plan to see this @@@    = I might be interested in seeing this @@        = I probably won’t see this @           = No intention of seeing this, ever.

THELMA @@@@ (definitely plan to see this)

Carrie meets Blue Is The Warmest Colour. Trailer tells less story than I normally look for, but I'm guessing the US trailer-makers were trying to limit the use of subtitles. Plus, the visuals really sell this puppy, and that opening is a real grabber.

I, TONYA @@@@ (definitely plan to see this)

The trailer for this is hilarious. Looks like the filmmakers found the exact right tone to re-tell the weird Tonya Harding story.

DOWNSIZING @@@@ (definitely plan to see this)

Love this premise. Totally wish I could live in that world. Can’t wait to see where this movie goes with it.

THE SHAPE OF WATER @@@ (I might be interested in seeing this)

Pan's Labyrinth was okay, but I didn't love it enough to make something like this an automatic must-see. Looks intriguing and mysterious to be sure, but with a chance of not living up to the hype. I do like Michael Shannon and movies with deaf characters, though.

NOVEMBER CRIMINALS @@@ (I might be interested in seeing this)

Already streamable on Amazon but getting a small theatrical window, Ansel (TFiOS) and Chloe (If I Stay) return to YA adaptationland to solve a classmate’s murder. Looks as good or as bad as any other movie in the genre, which I usually enjoy.

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI @@@ (I might be interested in seeing this)

Sure, I’ll see this. But not because of that thing sitting next to Chewie.

THE GREATEST SHOWMAN @@@ (I might be interested in seeing this)

There already was a musical about Barnum, called Barnum. Not sure why we need one with new songs by the La La Land lyricists, since La La Land itself was so overrated. This looks like it won’t be much more than over-the-top spectacle, though probably entertaining enough for a MoviePass swipe.

FATHER FIGURES @@@ (I might be interested in seeing this)

Funny brothers Owen Wilson and Ed Helms on a zany quest to find their real father. This looks dumb enough that it might actually be fun.

THE POST @@@ (I might be interested in seeing this)

Spielberg, Hanks, and Streep aren't enough to automatically get my butt in a seat. Government secrets about Viet Nam doesn’t really interest me. A woman running a newspaper is old news to me. The only part of the trailer that pulled me in was First Amendment fight between the press and the White House, especially now.

And the rest...

THE DISASTER ARTIST @@ (I probably won’t see this)

Looks funny, but I feel like I’d have to see The Room to be in on the joke, and I haven’t, so I’ll wait on this one.

THE TRIBES OF PALOS VERDES @@ (I probably won’t see this)

Happy people. Pretty scenery. Sad people. Melancholy music. And it’s about what? Trailer doesn’t tell. Not compelled to find out. Sorry.

WONDER WHEEL @@ (I probably won’t see this)

Woody Allen directs another all-star cast and, meh. Face it, without the names (including Woody’s), the trailer would not be at all enticing.

JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE @@ (I probably won’t see this)

The Rock and a generic horror movie cast upgrade the Robin Williams classic with a whole different take that would have seemed more creative if it had been released as a new, original thing rather than branded entertainment.

PITCH PERFECT 3 @@ (I probably won’t see this)

Haven’t seen the first two, so unlikely I’ll see this, but now that I have MoviePass and it doesn’t look like I’ll need to catch up with the other two to be able to follow this, I have to admit that it doesn’t look all that bad.

CROOKED HOUSE @@ (I probably won’t see this)

2nd Agatha Christie adaptation in as many months, this one looks more faithful to its source material tonally, but Julian Fellowes tends to bore me. Has some possibilities but not in any big hurry to see it.

HOSTILES @@ (I probably won’t see this)

Super serious western from the writer-director of three movies (as listed in the trailer) I didn’t care all that much for. Starring Christian Bale.

MOLLY'S GAME @@ (I probably won’t see this)

Jessica Chastain stars in writer Aaron Sorkin's directing debut. I wish him luck, but this feels too much like last year's Chastain vehicle Miss Sloane, which was just okay.

DAISY WINTERS @ (no intention of seeing this, ever)

To say this little-girl/single-mom drama starring Brooke Shields looks like a TV movie is an insult to what TV is capable of producing with material like Gilmore Girls.

JUST GETTING STARTED @ (no intention of seeing this, ever)

If you liked Last Vegas you might like this. (PS: I didn’t.)

FERDINAND @ (no intention of seeing this, ever)

Kiddie cartoon with the official tagline "You Will Bullieve." To be fair, there were a couple funny lines in the trailer, but overall I’m too old for this one.

PHANTOM THREAD @ (no intention of seeing this, ever)

Paul Thomas Anderson once again sets out to prove he has irrevocably jumped the shark with The Master.

And finally...

ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD @ (no intention of seeing this, ever)

If the movie advertised in the trailer were being released, I would have given it @@@. Since it’s not, I refuse to see the quasi-remake that is coming out using all the same footage as the original unreleased version except for the scenes with Kevin Spacey, which have been re-shot with Christopher Plummer, on the grounds that this reshot version is an extreme and absurd overreaction. Ridley Scott should stick to recycling his old franchises. Maybe he can have Thelma & Louise teach Kevin Spacey a lesson.

[acousmetre-blog]

My Top 10 Film and TV Soundtracks of 2016

So I realize this is hella late. But I’ve had this list sitting on my computer since the beginning of 2017, and some of these films might get an in depth analysis in the future so you might as well know they’re my favorites first.

To get it out of the way, here are some of my honorable mentions: Luke Cage, Jason Bourne, Rogue One, Deadpool and Moana. I loved a lot of movies (and TV) in 2016 and technically my favorites list keeps going, so the music in these mentions was amazing, just not as impactful as my top 10. Also, my least favorite film music of 2016 was in Fences. It was poorly mixed and not timed well with the action or emotion on screen.

10. Nerve

Last but not least - inventive action flick, Nerve, directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schuman with original music by Rob Simonsen. Simonsen added a fresh electronic pulse that sounds like 80s synth keyboards with a remixing taste that takes this soundtrack to present day.

9. The Neon Demon

Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, this arthouse film is also full to the brim of electronica. But this tops Nerve because Cliff Martinez’s electronic world is just as lush as the bright blues and pinks of Refn. There is a breadth to his music, an intimacy to a single wavering note or a heavily reverbed music box melody, which is contrasted by a beating, full sonic spectrum experience matching the laser show on screen.

8. Hidden Figures

So I wouldn’t normally include a film score with Hans Zimmer’s name in my top ten (I might explain this point at a later time), but Hidden Figures earns this high spot for the work of Pharrell Williams, with Janelle Monae and Alicia Keys. The timing of the inspirational and happy pop music in the film makes Hidden Figures feel like a documentary: the audience paid attention to the important dialogue and then rejoiced with Pharrell’s catchy tunes as the strong women stride forward.

7. The Secret Life of Pets

This score by Alexandre Desplat felt like a return to a more classic style of animation, a Mickey Mouse era where music was considered more important than dialogue or sound effects. In The Secret Life of Pets the music perfectly hit every leap and laugh, without feeling overdone.

6. Jackie

This doesn’t happen often enough. Female composer, nominated for an Oscar and a BAFTA. You bet I was there opening weekend to hear the music of one of my favorites, Mica Levi. Jackie is a subtle and intimate film and her music reflected that with beautiful, close mic-ed chamber strings.

5. Kubo and the Two Strings

Among top Hollywood composers I think that Dario Marianelli as the widest range of styles. In opposition to Secret Life of Pets very happy score for a children’s movie, Marianelli’s music in Kubo and the Two Strings shows that an animated film can be just as serious and dramatic as any other film. Most of the score centers around Kubo’s magical instrument, and the lush accompaniment Marianelli creates around it. The inclusion of both Japanese and Western instruments and melodies and the combinations they create in the score gives a new musical color to an already colorful film.

4. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Want to return to the land of witchcraft and wizardry, but have all the Harry Potter movies and soundtrack memorized? Fantastic Beasts and James Newton Howard’s score will fill your Potter-void. A blend of Patrick Doyle’s Goblet of Fire score and Aaron Copland, perfect for the new American magical adventure. My favorite moment of music and visuals coming together was when we are first introduced to the awe inspiring Macusa building. Amazing.

3. Westworld

Ramin Djawadi’s score for Westworld manages to carry the emotional weight for all the complex story-lines that happen in Westworld. I loved the show and I very much loved how intricately the score wove in and out. The score fits well using recurring, repetitive themes that change as characters discover their own storylines. Ramin Djawadi used more synthesized sounds in the control room areas and more orchestra, western sounds out in the park. And the player piano!

2. La La Land

So I will 100% admit that I wrote this list while I was still swept up in the La La Land craze. I will not admit to how many times I saw La La Land in theaters because it’s outrageous. I will say that after many months of time away from the craze, Justin Hurwitz’s music stands up as a musical for the young creative. The music is catchy without being formulaic, and the lyrics are extremely emotive. My favorite song is “Audition (Fools Who Dream)”. I know there are many naysayers who wanted something else from this movie, but for me it was exactly what I needed.

1. Arrival

The up-and-coming combination of director Denis Villeneuve and composer Johann Johannsson can’t do much wrong in my book. Johannsson’s music for Arrival is more synthesized and ethereal than his music for Sicario, a better fit for the stand alone sci-fi. Also the use of a small chamber choir with many different melodic lines mirrors the importance of language in the film. Johannsson is really in his element with the combined electronics and live chamber groups, orchestrates both together beautifully and his synthesized sounds are equally expressive. Arrival’s score perfectly matched the impressive and interesting cinematography.

Well there you have it, a very late list. My last thought as I wrote out all these descriptions was how most of these do not have the full Hollywood blockbuster orchestra. I’m more fascinated by great uses of electronics/synthesizers chamber groups and pop (in the case of Hidden Figures and La La Land, kinda). There certainly were plenty of films out in 2016 with full orchestral scores but will there be a shift in the Hollywood sound? If so, I’ll be here commenting and analyzing.

[junker-town]

What’s your favorite NFL rivalry?

Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports

We picked a few of our favorites, including the NFL’s oldest rivalry and the silliest.

Familiarity breeds contempt. Nowhere is that proverb more true than the NFL.

Tightly packed divisions have created brutal rivalries between teams that see each other twice a year (and sometimes again in the postseason). The Cowboys and Eagles have battled every year since 1960 and the hate has never taken a day off that entire time. The Falcons and Saints have played 100 times, though the rivalry is mostly defined by their fans roasting each other for their high-profile embarrassing losses to other teams.

This year, the Seahawks and 49ers look ready to bring their rivalry back to the forefront of the NFL after it dominated the NFC from 2011-14.

The league’s scheduling process also ensures division champions face fellow winners the following year, pitting the league’s top teams in marquee, playoff-defining matchups on a near-annual basis. The Colts left the AFC East in 2001, but their consistent spot among the league’s top teams means they’ve played the Patriots 17 times since then.

Those are all good rivalries, but are they great ones? It all depends on what you look for most in a rivalry.

There’s really no wrong answer when it comes to deciding on a favorite rivalry, especially with so many options to choose from in the NFL. Here’s what a few of us picked, starting with two teams who’ve been doing this since 1921:

Packers vs. Bears

Full disclosure: I live in Wisconsin. It is a wonderful state with beautiful summers, a seemingly endless supply of amazing food, and mostly friendly people. Every small town has its own brewery and bars outnumber churches 3-to-1. And every tavern in this state worth its salt has this beauty prominently displayed in the jukebox.

Just listen to it. Your arteries clog up a little bit every time the “chorus” hits. If you put a glass of milk near your speakers as it plays, curds instinctively begin to form at the top. The lead singer declares this friendly rivalry is all in fun, then earnestly hopes Mike Ditka gets vehicularly manslaughtered. It is delightful.

I’ve been up here since 2010, a span in which the Packers are 16-4 against the Bears. And yet, my local watering hole (what’s up, Paul’s Neighborhood Bar?) acts as if every game against the team down south is the most important contest of Green Bay’s season. Every regular has a Bears story, whether it’s calling Jim McMahon a fraud, Jay Cutler “gutless,” or just pointing to the screen and chuckling whenever Mitchell Trubisky drops back to pass.

Packers-Bears is always an event, no matter the stakes. Packers-Vikings isn’t too far behind. And the Packers also play the Lions twice a year, though no one seems to notice unless Aaron Rodgers happens to throw a football to the moon and back that day. — Christian D’Andrea

Raiders vs. Chargers

This is a classic California rivalry between two original American Football League franchises — both of which will be playing in cities they have no business being in.

Both teams have rarely been good at the same time, with the 1980 AFC Championship Game their only postseason matchup in 60 years of existence. The Raiders won that game on their way to a Super Bowl victory, and also won the most famous Chargers-Raiders tilt two years earlier: the Holy Roller, a fumble by Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler that fortuitously found its way 10 yards downfield into tight end Dave Casper’s hands in the end zone for a winning touchdown. The play was so ridiculous it spawned a rule change, disallowing advancement of a fumble by anyone but the player who coughed the ball up.

Most of my life watching these two teams has involved failure, save for my freshman year in college at UC San Diego coinciding with the Chargers’ lone trip to the Super Bowl. I’ve watched a lot of bad, yet strangely watchable games between these two teams. My favorite Chargers-Raiders game — narrowly beating out watching Harvey Williams score four touchdowns on just seven touches in San Diego in 1997 — was an abomination of a contest in 1998.

Rookie quarterback Ryan Leaf and someone on the Raiders named Donald Hollas helped both sides combine for five interceptions and eight sacks. The game was eye-gougingly bad, with the Chargers leading 6-0 while holding Oakland under 100 yards of offense for the first 58 minutes. The teams combined for 27 punts, including 16 by the Raiders’ Leo Araguz, a record that still stands. But all of a sudden there was life, in the form of withered veteran quarterback Wade Wilson, in his penultimate NFL season, unleashing a 68-yard bomb to James Jett with 1:38 remaining to give Oakland a victory they had no business getting.

This was the Raiders’ drive chart for the game, which nicely encapsulates both teams’ relevance for the last quarter century:

The Chargers actually played in Los Angeles before the Raiders — the Bolts’ inaugural season (1960) was in LA before they moved to San Diego. But the Raiders’ 13-year stay in LA still resonates locally, so much so that the Chargers have yet to gain any traction in the city since moving back north on Interstate 5. Now in their third season back in Los Angeles, Chargers home games are famous for having more fans rooting for their opponents.

2020 will bring new stadia for both teams, with the Chargers moving with the Rams into SoFi Stadium and the Raiders calling Allegiant Stadium home in Las Vegas, their third city in franchise history. The cities will be unfamiliar, but the Raiders-Chargers rivalry has always been a little weird so it seems fitting. — Eric Stephen

Bills vs. Jaguars

Ah yes, a rivalry as old as ... last year.

You’re probably rolling your eyes at the suggestion that the Bills and Jaguars — two teams with a combined seven winning seasons in the last 20 years — are the best rivalry in the NFL. But what makes a good rivalry, exactly?

If it’s competitiveness, this duel has qualified lately. The Jaguars squeaked out a 10-3 win over the Bills in the playoffs in January 2018. Buffalo evened the score 10 months later with a 24-21 victory that included a brawl that got Bills defensive end Shaq Lawson and Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette ejected.

If it’s trash talk and contempt, Jalen Ramsey stirred up plenty of trouble with the Bills before forcing his way out of town. He called multiple players on Bills sideline trash, and made it publicly clear that he thinks quarterback Josh Allen is trash too.

But what’s really important is that Duval and Bills Mafia found each other, because they’re a perfect pair.

Jaguars fans do things like bellyflop into pools of mayonnaise and proudly reign as the troll kings of the NFL. Earlier this season, the Jaguars went all out taunting poor Sam Darnold about ghosts.

And Jacksonville has its perfect trolling target in Bills fans: A fanbase that will always go to bat for its team, and proudly dive through tables to show support.

Unfortunately, the goofiest rivalry of 2018 has lost a little bit of its luster a year later. Ramsey was the main instigator on the field and now he’s in Los Angeles. The Jaguars and Bills didn’t land on each other’s schedule, robbing us of a Josh Allen vs. Josh Allen battle.

But the good news is that there’s a chance the teams will meet in 2020, and a guarantee that they’ll see each other in 2021. When they do, there will be another clash of two unique fanbases and the rivalry will for sure be back on. I can’t wait. — Adam Stites

Steelers vs. Ravens

The AFC North has every different rivalry you can think of: Intrastate (Bengals-Browns), interstate (all the others), old school (Browns-Steelers), Art Modell created (Browns-Ravens), and the one that’s not healthy for anyone (Steelers-Bengals).

But there’s only one that is both fierce and consistently competitive: Steelers vs. Ravens. You know whenever these two teams face off, either side could win — and it’ll probably be close.

Pittsburgh holds a 28-23 series lead over Baltimore, including a 3-1 record in the playoffs. Since the rivalry began in 1996, each franchise has won two Super Bowls apiece.

They also have two of the longest-tenured current head coaches in the NFL. Mike Tomlin became the Steelers’ head coach in 2007, and the Ravens hired John Harbaugh the following year. The rivalry was heated before the Tomlin and Harbaugh eras, of course, lest anyone forgets when Joey Porter hopped on the Ravens’ team bus to try to fight Ray Lewis. However, there’s no denying they have ratcheted up the intensity after both coaches came on board.

Since 2008, the series is tied 13-13, while 19 of their games have been decided by one score (14 of those by three points or fewer). They’ve met three times in the postseason. In six of those seasons, they’ve finished 1-2 in the division standings.

There was that time Haloti Ngata accidentally broke Ben Roethlisberger’s nose (and later cited it in his retirement speech). And that time Terrell Suggs was investigated (and cleared) for saying there was a bounty on Rashard Mendenhall and Hines Ward. And all the times Suggs needled Roethlisberger.

Don’t forget Ward leveling Ed Reed, Tomlin getting in Jacoby Jones’ way, and the Immaculate Extension, either.

Underneath all the hate, there’s real respect, though, and that’s what sets it apart from so many other rivalries in the NFL. Even as most of the faces have changed, that begrudged appreciation for each other — and the level playing field — has remained the same. — Sarah Hardy

Those are just *our* picks. Which NFL rivalry is your favorite? Let us know in the comments.

[douxreviews]

The Lion King (2019) Review

Mufasa: "Everything you see exists together in a delicate balance. While others search for what they can take, a true king searches for what he can give."

We've currently in an age where just about everyone has a fairly strong opinion on the live-action (or in today's topic's case, hyper-realistic) Disney remakes of animated classics taking the box office by storm every four months. And of course I'm not going to make myself exempt from that camp either, my judgment in this area boils down to heartily enjoying stories that put spins on or offer a reinterpretation of well-known Disney characters like Christopher Robin and Maleficent, while finding it more trying to have the same merriment towards films that more or less just recreate a Disney film shot by shot, e.g. The Jungle Book or Beauty and the Beast.

Jon Favreau's take on The Lion King falls into the latter category, but just assigning a film into a classification like that isn't meant to make it seem like the entire film is all uninspired. As he did with The Jungle Book, Favreau practically succeeds in his efforts to bring to the screen a Sahara that feels larger-than-life, with varieties of life brimming all around. It's trickier here though than in The Jungle Book to say with certainty whether Favreau can be credited entirely as the original 1994 The Lion King has already laid all the groundwork for Favreau to work with. What I mean by that is though this film's opening 'Circle of Life' montage may look grand and impressive at first, it's because it's the 1994's sequence recreated almost seamlessly.

For the three people that have been living under a rock for the last twenty-five years, The Lion King follows a straightforward narrative: Simba (JD McCrary and Donald Glover) is prepared by his father King Mufasa (James Earl Jones) to one day take his place as the King of the Pride Lands. Mufasa's brother Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor) feels cheated out of inheriting the throne and conspires to have Mufasa killed and Simba driven out of the Pride Lands. When Scar's reign ultimately diminishes sources of food and water for the other animals, it takes the help of Timon and Pumbaa (Billy Eichner and Seth Rogan) and Simba's childhood friend Nala (Shahadi Wright Joseph and Beyoncé) for Simba to embrace his destiny and challenge his uncle for the throne.

The animals in this story are only as captivating as their voice actors, and for the most part, the actors do a brilliant job of emulating the personalities and mannerisms we've come to associate with these creatures ever since their first appearances back in 1994. Specifically, the highlights for me were John Oliver as the hornbill Zazu, and admittedly, Eichner and Rogan do bring an enormous amount of personality to the meerkat Timon and warthog Pumbaa, roles I was skeptical were a bit miscast at first. There's also something to be said about Florence Kasumba, Keegan-Michael Key and Eric Andre as the hyenas Shenzi, Banzai and Ed respectively, who were my personal favorites from the original flick. Though they aren't really sources of comic relief like they were twenty-five years ago, they are instead re-envisioned as truly menacing antagonists. In broad daylight, spotted hyenas don't look all that chilling, but stalking about in the darkness and illuminated only by moonlight is another thing.

James Earl Jones is synonymous with many of his roles, and Mufasa no doubt is one of them. I suspect that this was the sole rationale Favreau used to bring Jones back to voice the character in question, but part of me felt his performance here was not as commanding or as powerful as it sounded in 1994. Something a tad bizarre for me was how this film's script seemed a fusion of dialogue pulled straight from the 1994 film and dialogue penned by Jeff Nathanson for the remake. This resulted in some scenes (take the confrontation between Mufasa, Zazu and Scar at the beginning) feeling like the actors were reading lines off of two entirely separate film's scripts, and in turn, a jarring aura settling to them as back-and-forth transitions between dramatic tones and more witty tones occurred. Perhaps Jones was simply going through the motions with this film, and in that sense, perhaps it was for the best then that Jeremy Irons did not return to reprise the role of Scar as he may have had a similar approach. Ejiofar as Scar isn't a deal-breaker, but he's not particularly memorable either. In any film's case, it's difficult for a viewer to get into a character's head when their voice and their words are expressive, yet their faces aren't.

Yes, probably the most glaring issue with The Lion King is that when the decision is made to make the animals all hyper-realistic, the film immediately loses an advantage animation has, and that is expressions. With animation, it's much easier to allow animals to resonate with an audience because they can feature humane aspects and distinguishing color schemes and characteristics. All of that is lacking here, and if you want to see for yourself, you needn't look further than the 'I Just Can't Wait To Be King' sequence. Music-wise, it's my favorite sequence of the film, but it's near-impossible to tell apart the young Simba and Nala when they're racing among herds of animals, for no reason other than they look the same. Take another film for example, Andy Serkis' Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, a film which also features hyper-realistic animal characters that speak, but the difference here is that Serkis knew it was important to incorporate motion-capture performances from actual actors into the film, and overlay those performances onto the animals, therefore allowing those characters to also be expressive.

For those still on the fence about this film, my sincere recommendation goes out then to viewers who are more impressed and affected with seeing how far computer generated imagery has come since 1994, as there isn't much doubt that this film's graphics aren't awe-inspiring at times. However, for those that have a genuine love and appreciation for the original animated The Lion King, I'd say you're better off just popping that one in the disc player for old times' sake, as 2019's The Lion King will over and over again just remind you of it. I think I've had my fill of the Disney Renaissance remakes, I just shudder to think of what will happen when Disney takes aim at Hercules next, and we'll have to all find a way to make sure people know when we're talking about Hercules, and not Hercules, Hercules, or The Legend of Hercules.

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Aaron Studer loves spending his time reading, writing and defending the existence of cryptids because they can’t do it themselves.