#featuring: maureen johnson.

[bookaddict24-7]

(New Young Adult Releases Coming Out Today! (August 6th, 2024)

___

Have I missed any new Young Adult releases? Have you added any of these books to your TBR? Let me know!

___

New Releases:

Dance of the Starlit Sea by Kiana Krystle

Medici Heist by Caitlin Schneiderhan

This Is Not A Dead Girl Story by Kate Sweeney

Loving, Ohio by Matthew Erman , Sam Beck (illustrator)

Silent Sister by Megan Davidhizar

Better Left Buried by Mary E. Roach

The House Where Death Lives by Various

The Girl with No Reflection by Keshe Chow

This Ravenous Fate by Hayley Dennings

Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson

Here Lies A Vengeful Bitch by Codie Crowley

Witty in Pink by Erica George

The Empire Wars by Akana Phenix

Maradonia & the Guardians of the Portal by Sofia Nova

A Family of Killers by Bryce Moore

New Sequels:

Ami (Guardians of Dawn #2) by S. Jae-Jones

___

Happy reading!

[lgbtqreads]

New Releases: August 6, 2024

Middle Grade Crushing It by Erin Becker On the soccer field, Magic Mel is in her element. She’s ready to lead her team to victory at the city championship in her new role as captain. Off the field, however, is a totally different story. Mel can’t get a handle on her class presentation, her friend group has completely dissolved, and her ex-friend-current-teammate, Tory, is being the worst. The…

[belle-keys]

A lot of the “spicy” romansce fantasy authors that kind of pioneered the sub genre (SJM, Jennifer l armentrout, laura thalassa etc) all started in YA, and then in mid series, they shifted and grew with their audience to go more adult in themes.

Do you think Cassandra Clare should have done the same thing and missed this opportunity? Would you have preferred if she reflected this? I personally feel like her fandom would still be as strong as ever if she followed her colleagues suit.

Or do you think that she stayed good sticking to her roots and her writing voice lends itself to not have more adult type of romances and benefits from a fade to black shall we say.

In her latest kickstarter, one of the four novels that are in it, will feature 10 spicy romantic couples from shadow hunters universe. Given this is crowd funded it makes me wonder if, if it were up to her, she would have gone more adult themed but her publishing contract held her back from it. But then from a publishers pov, isn’t that shooting yourself in the foot? All the authors I mentioned above changed their contracts I feel to reflect the direction the audience knew would give the most captain gain.

I would love to know your thoughts on this 🤭.

I don't think Cassie ever wanted to write romantasy or spicy romance-fantasy as her main "vocation".

I think I picked up on this when she deleted a lot of Julian and Emma smut scenes from The Dark Artifices because they didn't serve the progress of the story. Cassie has her indulgences, but she tends to not be overly focused on writing romance or smut in the grander scheme of the fantasy story. Cassie's guilty pleasure in writing seems to be writing semi-unnecessary angst and fluff between close friends more than anything, not spice.

I'm quite glad we're getting some spice from the Kickstarter project, and I think the reason she's making this an additional, optional project and not part of the main series is because she knows it's just for fun; it's not her main "thing", just an additional treat.

So all in all I'm quite happy she didn't follow with the Sarah J. Maas and company trend. And frankly, neither did Cassie's close writer besties either. Neither Holly Black nor Maureen Johnson nor Sarah Rees Brennan have gone into smutty adult fantasy either, so I get why it's not Cassie's preference. Cassie seems more set on establishing herself as a "serious" high fantasy writer now, hence rubbing elbows with George RR Martin.

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

WTNV Quick rundown - 141 - Save Dark Owl Records

Read the rest here!

Featuring the voices of Kate Jones as Michelle Nguyen, Maureen Johnson as Maureen, Meg Bashwiner as Deb and co-written by Brie Williams.

The prison of your own mind is undergoing budget cuts. Welcome to Night Vale.

Michelle Nyugen says she is throwing a fundraising party as the opening of a new Burger Barn/GladTown Record's store has essentially put her out of business and made it so she can't pay her bills. Cecil says he will be there doing a remote broadcast to help drum up interest.

Ironically his sponsor is the very store that is putting Dark Owl Records out of business. This answers both Michelle and Maureen when he appears. Maureen pours iced coffee on his laptop and Cecil rushes off to find something to clean it with.

During this time both Maureen and Michelle take over the broadcast briefly. Maureen waxes slightly poetic about Michelle then says she was crawling around in the vents which eventually opened up so she could run and led back here, where she plans to take a nap on the piles of old CD-ROMS etc. Michelle reveals that she doesn't remember where her house is and hardly leaves her store, so doesn't know what/where she'd be without it.

Her neighbour, Matt (who is a giant coconut crab who lives under the lot behind the store) emerges from the ground and starts to murder the partygoers because he hates parties. Michelle kicks most people out and allows Matt to eat anyone wearing airpods to calm him down. According to Cecil he's also super boring to talk to.

The owner of the new store, Jules, sends Michelle a cheque with the rest of the money she needs and a letter saying that in order to not be sent to The Cavern they need at least one competitor in town so they're paying for Michelle to stay open.

Cecil finally returns and signs us off.

Weather: "A Pale Sun Rises Over New York" by Scrawnyman

Deb, drunk, gives us an ad for the DMV which reads like a relationship bit.

There's a cake at the party with thick black frosting and undulating tendrils and an effigy of the Burger Barn/Gladtown records store with pins sticking out of it.

Stay tuned next for the clack-clack-clack of CD cases being browsed, like a fluttery little heartbeat in the darkness. Goodnight, Night Vale. Goodnight.

Proverb:A good way to tell if an artistic idea is worthwhile is to remember that the most successful video game of all time is “a plumber steps on turtles”, so who knows?

[witchyfashion]

With a breathtaking array of original stories from around the world, P. Djèlí Clark, Amal El Mohtar, Garth Nix, Darcie Little Badger, Sheree Renée Thomas, and two dozen other fantasy and science fiction geniuses bring a new and exciting twist to one of the most beloved figures in fiction, witches, in never-before-seen works written exclusively for The Book of Witches, compiled by award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan and illustrated by award-nominated artist Alyssa Winans.

Witches! Whether you know them from Shakespeare or from Wicked, there is no staple more beloved in folklore, fairy tale, or fantasy than these magical beings. Witches are everywhere, and at the heart of stories that resonate with many people around the world. This dazzling, otherworldly collection gathers new stories of witches from all walks of life, ensuring a Halloween readers will never forget. Whether they be maiden, mother, crone, or other; funny, fierce, light and airy, or dark and disturbing; witches are a vital part of some of the greatest stories we have, and new ones start here!

Bringing together twenty-nine stories and poems from some of the greatest science fiction and fantasy writers working today, including three tales from a BIPOC-only open submission period, The Book of Witches features Linda Addison, C.L. Clark, P Djeli Clark, Indrapramit Das, Amal El Mohtar, Andrea Hairston, Millie Ho, Saad Hossain, Kathleen Jennings, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Cassandra Khaw, Fonda Lee, Darcie Little Badger, Ken Liu, Usman T. Malik, Maureen F. McHugh, Premee Mohamed, Garth Nix, Tobi Ogundiran, Tochi Onyebuchi, Miyuki Jane Pinckard, Kelly Robson, Angela Slatter, Andrea Stewart, Emily Teng, Sheree Renée Thomas, Tade Thompson, and E. Lily Yu—and contains illustrations from three-time Hugo award-nominated artist Alyssa Winans throughout. This extraordinary anthology vividly breathes life into one of the most captivating and feared magical sorceresses and will become a treasured keepsake for fans of fantasy, science fiction, and fairy tales everywhere.

https://amzn.to/48Loftf

[libertyreads]

November TBR--

November is going to be a crazy month for me IRL so I’m keeping my TBR short. But I’m so excited to get my eyes on the new Truly Devious book about a month and a half early. I also have a couple of rereads and a couple romance novels I’m looking forward to getting to this month.

1. Half-Blood Prince.

2. Across the Universe by Beth Revis-- Everyone (and their mother) probably knows the premise of this book and I’m so excited to get to it. This is a Sci-Fi/Mystery novel which I’ve discovered is my jam. Amy wakes up from her cryogenic sleep 50 years early thanks to someone onboard trying to kill her. Can she get to the bottom of it before it’s too late?

3. The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson-- Keeping with the Sci-Fi is a book that had some hype when it first came out, but the hype is dying down so I’m ready for it. An outsider who can travel between worlds discovers a secret that threatens her home and her fragile place in it. Parallel worlds? Shut up and take my money. Oh wait...they already did.

4. The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson-- The fourth in the Truly Devious series and a reread for me. Stevie Bell and her friends go to a camp under the guise of being camp counselors, but in reality they’re there to solve a murder from 1978.

5. Nine Liars by Maureen Johnson-- THE ARC! I’m so, so happy I get to read this one early. The Ellingham crew go abroad to study, but also to solve a double-murder cold case from 1995. Oh, the nostalgia is going to kick me right in the chest. I can already tell. This one comes out at the end of December.

6. His Curvy Friend by Mary E. Thompson-- A romance novel I got for free through Apple Books. This is the first book in a small town romance series. Book one follows a couple of friends as they try to deal with their feelings for each other and what that would mean for their friendship.

7. Stupid Love by Tara Wyatt-- Another friends to lovers romance that features a playboy and his friend. This one seems to be set in a big city and feature a male love interest whose primary concern is not breaking his friend’s heart. I read from Tara Wyatt last month and enjoyed what I read so I’m excited to read a full length novel from her.

8. Unraveling Eleven by Jerri Chisholm-- Book 2 in a series and another reread for the month. This is a dystopian series set in the future. Humanity has built cities underground in order to protect themselves from the sun ravaged world. But they build their new society with a hierarchy in place based on who was able to give the most money to the project. This leaves the poorest in society in the worst social and economic situation. And Eve isn’t going to take it anymore.

9. An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard-- I don’t remember a ton about this book. I remember hearing about it from some booktuber’s video and adding it my 40 Books to Read Before 40 project almost immediately. A new and rare magician is the only one who can stop the magic of New York from fading. But Sydney doesn’t want to help the system, she wants to destroy it.

[heavenboy09]

Please Wish This Legendary Actress Of Disney Magic 🙏 A Very Happy Birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊

She is an American actress and singer. Particularly known for her work in musicals on Broadway, and for having achieved mainstream success across stage, film, and music, Menzel has been nicknamed the "Queen of Broadway" for her achievements and reputation as a prolific stage performer. Her accolades include an American Music Award, a Billboard Music Award, and a Tony Award, as well as nominations for a Daytime Emmy Award, three Drama League Awards, and four Drama Desk Awards. In 2019, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and was named a Disney Legend in 2022.

She was born on May 30, 1971, in Manhattan. She grew up in New Jersey until about age three, when her family moved to Syosset, New York, on Long Island. Her parents are Stuart Mentzel, a pajama salesman, and Helene Goldberg, a therapist. She has a younger sister named Cara. Menzel is Jewish, and her grandparents emigrated from Ukrainian Haisyn. Menzel attended J. Irving Baylis Elementary School in Plainview, New York, and then Syosset's H. B. Thompson Middle School and Syosset High School.

When Menzel was 15 years old, her parents divorced and she began working as a wedding and bar/bat mitzvah singer, a job that she continued throughout her time at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in drama in 1992.

She rose to prominence as a stage actress in 1996, making her Broadway debut as Maureen Johnson in the rock musical Rent, which earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. After appearing in several smaller-scale stage and Off-Broadway productions, in 2003 she originated the Broadway role of Elphaba in the musical Wicked, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. The popularity of the musical, Menzel's character, and her signature song "Defying Gravity" earned her a devoted musical theatre following. After leaving the show in 2005, she reprised the role in the musical's original West End production until 2006, becoming the highest-paid actress in West End theatre history. In 2014, Menzel returned to Broadway as Elizabeth Vaughan in the musical If/Then, for which she received a third Tony Award nomination.

Menzel began transitioning into film and television in the early 2000s. After reprising her Rent role in the musical's 2005 film adaptation, she was cast as Nancy Tremaine in Disney's musical fantasy film Enchanted (2007), eventually returning to the role in its 2022 sequel. She played recurring character Shelby Corcoran on the musical television series Glee from 2010 to 2013. Since 2013, Menzel has voiced Elsa in Disney's Frozen franchise, which includes two of the highest-grossing animated films of all-time. "Let It Go", a song she recorded for the first film, reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first Tony Award-winning actor to earn a top-10 song on the chart, and cementing her status as a crossover performer. Menzel has since pursued larger film roles, starring in the crime drama Uncut Gems (2019) and the jukebox musical Cinderella (2021).

Please Wish This Legendary Actress & Singer Of Disney Magic A Very Happy Birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊

You Know Her & You Just Gotta Love Her & You Never Wanna Let Her Go 💘 ❄

The 1

& The Only

IDINA MENZEL AKA PRINCESS ELSA 👸 ❄ #IdinaMenzel #PrincessElsa

[goodgrammaritan]

Anxiety and excitement are cousins; they can be mistaken for each other at points. They have many features in common--the bubbling, carbonated feel of the emotion, the speed, the wide eyes and racing heart. But where excitement tends to take you up, into the higher, brighter levels of feeling, anxiety pulls you down, making you feel like you have to grip the earth to keep from sliding off as it turns.

The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson

[lboogie1906]

Tracie Thoms (August 19, 1975) is a television, film, and stage actress and singer. She is known for her roles in Rent, Cold Case, The Devil Wears Prada, Death Proof, and Wonderfalls.

She was born and raised in Baltimore, the daughter of Donald H. Thoms, a VP of Programming at PBS and television director, and wife Mariana Davis. She started studying acting at age ten and attended the Baltimore School for the Arts.

She earned her BFA from Howard University. She attended the Juilliard School’s Drama Division as a member of Group 30 (1997–2001).

She played the part of Sasha in the US version of the television series As If. She was added to the cast of Cold Case, as the homicide detective, Kat Miller. She has made guest appearances on Law & Order and The Shield.

She has appeared in several movies, most notably in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Rent in which she plays Joanne Jefferson, lawyer and lover of Maureen Johnson.

She was featured in Porn ‘n Chicken and Brother to Brother and The Warrior Class. She appeared in The Devil Wears Prada as Lily. She has completed filming on the Descent and will soon begin filming Jimmie. She appeared in Death Proof.

She made her Broadway debut in Drowning Crow. She has appeared in several off-Broadway and regional productions, including Up Against the Wind, The Oedipus Plays, A Raisin in the Sun, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Exonerated, and The Antigone Project. She played Etta, Diana Prince’s assistant, in Wonder Woman Pilot. She had a role in the 2014 version of Annie, playing Annie’s “fake mother”, a character based on Lily St. Regis in the original musical. he appeared in the Broadway revival of Falsettos as Dr. Charlotte. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[bookaddict24-7]

(New Young Adult Releases Coming Out Today! (December 27th, 2022)

___

Have I missed any new Young Adult releases? Have you added any of these books to your TBR? Let me know!

___

New Sequels:

Nine Liars (Truly Devious #5) by Maureen Johnson

___

Happy reading!

[bergoozter]

8, 17 and 35!!

8. a book you finished in one sitting

the christmas guest by peter swanson

17. a book with a yellow cover

beach read by emily henry

25. a book featuring the found family trope

the truly devious series by maureen johnson

[grandalfthegaygnome]

Books of the week

Wof books 8-14 By :Tui T Sutherland

Dragons that may be gay or maybe not

Dead mans folly By: Agatha Christie

Murder mystery featuring Hercule Poirot

Truly Devious By: Maureen Johnson

Murder mystery series where the kills stack up

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

WTNV quick rundown - 81 - After 3327

Featuring Maureen Johnson as Intern Maureen.

To err is human. But to err is also computer. We’ll have to find another test to reveal which of us are secretly bots. Welcome to Night Vale.

Intern Maureen drops by the studio with her new beagle puppy. Cecil is instantly enamoured with the cute pup. Maureen is still trying to get Cecil to sign a letter saying she completed her internship. She has a new one, 'leading an army or whatever'. He still won't sign it. Sensing he's distracted, she leaves.

She leaves in the company of the boy Cecil saw her with before and whom he doesn't trust.

The Museum of Forbidden Technologies hosts a lecture by Night Vale High’s AP auto shop teacher Nick Teller. Of course, since learning about most technology is forbidden, it is required of him to wear a burlap sack over his head and have a white noise machine blasting through the lecture.

He gets frustrated with this and removes the sack, switching off the white noise maker. He then tells people how to save energy which includes a generator that runs indefinately on no fuel that he has invented.

He also mentioned how an experiment he did before caused a boat to start jumping through parallell time and space, causing him to have to fake his death and change his whole life to evade the consequences.

Cecil continues to repeat what he's saying, making him an accomplice in the forbidden learning of new things. Cecil was doing this on purpose so that he could get a couple of weeks off work. Between reeducation sessions, he manages to get chores done and spend some time with Carlos. He also visits Nick, who says he doesn't mind his new job and is 'feeding' the cars as well as grading pictures.

Weather: "Table Song" by Katie Kuffel

NV leaves offerings of fruit and Rolaids for the Eternal Scouts in their glass cases in front of City Hall.

Wednesday is Take Your Daughter To Work Day. Wednesday is Put Your Daughter To Work Day. Wednesday is Teach Your Daughter How To Do Whatever Simple Task It Is You Are Paid To Do And Then, Once She Has Mastered It, Slip Away And Leave Her As Your Replacement Day.

Dark Owl Records is having a sale, especially on art which has no real value, and Michelle wants to know what albums you want so she can throw all the copies she owns in the trash because it's become too popular. She burns this statement into Cecil's lawn.

Harrison Kip testifies against Hiram, speaking about how he was tricked into raising a sand golem for Hiram. He also says that he was so ashamed he's been living far out in the desert which is mostly peaceful but he recently saw something which scared him but he doesn't say what.

Cecil likes the show 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' which is some kind of lawyer show in NV.

Stay tuned next for an unexpected gain in cabin pressure. No mask will help you. We weren’t prepared for things to go this way. And good night, Night Vale. Good night.

[rg060295]

This list includes a list of 5 anthologies coming out between now, and the end of the year! I am based in the UK and therefore all dates and relevant links I have found reflect this!

In These Hallowed Halls: A Dark Academia Anthology

Published by Titian Books on September 12th 

Look I have not really enjoyed any dark academia I have read, nor have read from any of these authors so this is a risky choice. However, this is the season for dark academia and I am intrigued. This collection of 12 stories includes well known authors of the genre (sub genre?) Olivie Blake & M.L. Rio as well as David Bell, Susie Yang, Layne Fargo, J.T. Ellison, James Tate Hill, Kelly Andrew, Phoebe Qynne, Kate Weinberg, Helen Grant & Tori Bovalino. 

Goodreads // Storygraph // Amazon //

Peach Pit 

Published by Dzanc Books on September 12th 

A collection of 16 stories about and following unlikeable, unhinged and monstrous women. Which basically sums up some of my favourite types of short story collections. With story description makes it sound similar to other collections such as Out There with a bit of Cursed Bunny. Edited by Molly Llewllyn and Kristel Buckly featuring stories from; Lauren Groff, Deesha Philyaw, K-Ming Chang, Megan Giddings, Sarah Rose Etter, Chaya Bhuvaneswar, Alicia Elliott, Chana Porter, Alice Ash, Maisy Card, Vanessa Chan, Chantal V. Johnson, Amada Leduc, Alison Rumfitt, Yah Yah Scholfield & Aliya Whitely.

Goodreads // Storygraph // Amazon //

Mermaids Never Drown 

Published by Titian Press (UK) / Feiwel & Friends (US) on September 26th 

From the team behind Vampires Never Get Old (which you may know about from the Story ‘First Kill’ which became a Netflix show) comes a second Young Adult collection exploring mermaids. Edited again by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker and featuring many well known and beloved YA authors such as Darcie Little Badger, Kalynn Bayron, Preeti Chhibber, Rebecca Coffindaffer, Julie C. Dao, Maggie Tokuda-Hall, Adriana Herrera, June Hur, Katherine Locke, Kerri Maniscalco, Julie Murphy, Gretchen Schreiber, and Julian Winters. I am particularly excited to see Darcie Little Badger who I have loved both their long work (Elatose) and their short fiction (in Love Beyond Body Space and Time) and also I am intrigued by June Hur who I have only read Historical mystery work from so this will be a different spin.

Goodreads // Storygraph // Amazon //

Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror 

Published by Random House on October 3rd 

An anthology I surprisingly only found out about when putting together this list. Out There Screaming is a collection of stories edited by writer and director Jordan Peele. It is an anthology of ‘all-new stories of Black horror, exploring not only the terrors of the supernatural but the chilling reality of injustice that haunts our nation. Alongside an introduction from Jordan Peele it also features stories by Erin E. Adams, Violet Allen, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Maurice Broaddus, Chesya Burke, P. Djèlí Clark, Ezra Claytan Daniels, Tananarive Due, Nalo Hopkinson, N.K. Jemisin, Justin C. Key, L.D. Lewis, Nnedi Okorafor, Tochi Onyebuchi, Rebecca Roanhorse, Nicole D. Sconiers, Rion Amilcar Scott, Terence Taylor, and Cadwell Turnbull. 

Goodreads // Storygraph // Amazon // Libro.fm //

The Book of Witches 

Published by HarperVoyager on August 1st (US) and October 26th (UK)

Edited by Jonathan Strahan the editor from The Book of Dragons and featuring art from artist Alyssa Winans throughout This is large collection focusing around witches featuring 29 stories and poems from well known contemporary SFF authors; Linda Addison, C.L. Clark, P Djeli Clark, Indrapramit Das, Amal El Mohtar, Andrea Hairston, Millie Ho, Saad Hossain, Kathleen Jennings, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Cassandra Khaw, Fonda Lee, Darcie Little Badger, Ken Liu, Usman T. Malik, Maureen F. McHugh, Premee Mohamed, Garth Nix, Tobi Ogundiran, Tochi Onyebuchi, Miyuki Jane Pinckard, Kelly Robson, Angela Slatter, Andrea Stewart, Emily Teng, Sheree Renée Thomas, Tade Thompson, and E. Lily Yu. This is a must pick up for me for two reasons, I enjoyed reading The Book of Dragons last year, and found some new favourite short stories, and two it includes some of my favourite authors. So even if I only enjoy their stories this would be a win for me!

Goodreads // Storygraph // Amazon // Libro.fm //

[thattransboyaled]

for the book recs! 7 and 35 :)

7. a book you did not finish

the vanishing stair by maureen johnson, i didn’t finish it because i hated most of the characters lmao. i liked the first book but i was fed up with the characters by the second book.

35. a book featuring the found family trope

im gonna say murder most unladylike (the whole series) by robin stevens because hazel and daisy are the found family for me <3

[samprestonbigbadabruce]

Double Bill: Years Where A Director Made Multiple Movies - Part 1

It doesn’t happen very often, but every now and again, a film director releases multiple films in a singular year. Whilst sometimes it can be as simple as a film being held back for a period of time, other times it can be an example of a director having an amazingly productive year (yes, a slight sound of envy there). Curious about how often it happens, I decided to look back at some favourite directors and their release periods, quickly finding a surprising list of examples.

Because of that, I thought I’d do a couple of articles naming some examples, how both films performed and the comparisons between the two. They may also be a good opportunity for some unique movie marathon sessions?

One of the first I found was an Oliver Stone double bill from 1986, with James Woods starring in Salvador as an American photojournalist covering the Salvadoran Civil War, and Charlie Sheen in the classic Platoon, a near-autobiographical depiction of the Vietnam war as inspired by Stone’s own experiences. The two movies do have similarities in terms of focusing on an outsider trying to survive in a foreign war, Woods’ journalist more experienced in comparison to Sheen’s novice soldier. Interestingly, both films were a struggle to get made until Stone met British film producer John Daly, who agreed to finance both.

Salvador was commercially unsuccessful yet netted Woods an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, and Best Screenplay for Stone and Richard Boyle, but paled in comparison to Platoon, where it was a critical and financial success, with Academy Award nominations for Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay again (this time solo for Stone), and Best Supporting Actor for both Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger, and victories for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Sound. As a double bill, they offer fascinating depictions of introduction to foreign war, and are unflinching in the true horrors that exist.

Thirteen years later, Joel Schumacher was recovering from the critical bashing of Batman and Robin, and attempted a double bill comeback in 1999. The first was a Nicholas Cage-starring crime thriller called 8MM, and the second was a surprisingly smaller character based drama called Flawless, which featured Robert De Niro and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

The interesting element was the realisation that despite the issues with Batman and Robin, Schumacher still had the ability to interest two of the bigger dramatically respected actors in the world at the time. Both films put the focus on the actors, with Cage a classic noir private investigator, while De Niro played a security guard dealing with a stroke, demonstrating his tough man style with a vulnerability from his conversations with drag queen Rusty, played by Hoffman.

These two films seem an interesting double bill to watch when taking into consideration Batman and Robin, as both films are scaled back in comparison and demonstrate Schumacher’s ability with actors. 

Finally, we have Sidney Lumet, one of the most respected film directors of the last hundred years and his work from 1973. That year, Lumet directed two films that focused on police officers but from two different perspectives. The first is the British-based The Offence, while the second is the American-based Serpico.

The latter is the better known of the films, focusing on the real life tale of New York city based undercover police officer Frank Serpico, played by Al Pacino and dealing with the corrupt actions of his colleagues, eventually testifying against them. A widescale Crime Drama, Serpico is remembered for over 100 speaking parts and locations, as well as encompassing eleven years during Serpico’s time with the police force.

In comparison, The Offence is a much smaller and more intimate piece, focusing on interviews / interrogations between Sean Connery’s detective Johnson and his wife Maureen, Detective Superintendent Cartwright, and suspected child molester Kenneth Baxter. Despite both films dealing with the main character struggling with the world they inhabit, The Offence focuses more on a character committing a crime whereas Serpico revolves around an incorruptible hero.

However, what both films achieve are some of the best performances from both actors. This was one of Connery’s first major roles after finishing with the James Bond role, demonstrating a depth he rarely got to exhibit, while Pacino won a Golden Globe for his subtly intense somberness. Lumet was regularly credited for bringing out some actors best performances, so this double bill offers a fascinating depiction of the complex emotions for police officers.