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[doamarierose-honoka]

Batman is back with a vengeance. Three years after HBO Max and Cartoon Network first announced Batman: Caped Crusader — the adult-oriented animated series that was eventually canceled by the since-renamed Max streaming service, only to then be picked up at Prime Video — the new Batman TV show is about to hit the small screen. Set in 1940s Gotham City, Caped Crusader is described as "a reimagining of the Batman mythology through the visionary lens" of executive producers Bruce Timm (Batman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond), Matt Reeves (The Batman and The Penguin), and J.J. Abrams (Alias and Lost).

"We are beyond excited to be working together to bring this character back, to tell engrossing new stories in Gotham City," Timm, Reeves, and Abrams said when announcing the series in 2021. "The series will be thrilling, cinematic and evocative of Batman's noir roots, while diving deeper into the psychology of these iconic characters. We cannot wait to share this new world."

Below, ComicBook is shining the Bat-Signal on everything we know so far about Batman: Caped Crusader, including the voice cast, release date, and the rogues who will populate the first solo Batman animated series in more than a decade.

Where Can I Watch Batman: Caped Crusader?

To watch Batman: Caped Crusader on Amazon's Prime Video, you'll need either a Prime Video subscription ($8.99 per month with ads, or $11.98/mo for ad-free) or an Amazon Prime membership ($14.99 per month with Prime Video ads, or $17.98/mo with ad-free Prime Video).

Batman: Caped Crusader Release Date

All episodes of Batman: Caped Crusader will premiere Thursday, August 1st, on Amazon Prime Video.

How Many Episodes Is Batman: Caped Crusader?

Batman: Caped Crusader season 1 consists of 10 episodes. In 2023, Prime Video announced a two-season order for the new series.

What Is Batman: Caped Crusader About?

The official description: "Welcome to Gotham City, where the corrupt outnumber the good, criminals run rampant and law-abiding citizens live in a constant state of fear. Forged in the fire of tragedy, wealthy socialite Bruce Wayne becomes something both more and less than human — the Batman. His one-man crusade attracts unexpected allies within the GCPD and City Hall, but his heroic actions spawn deadly, unforeseen ramifications."

Who Voices Batman in the Batman: Caped Crusader Cast?

The Batman: Caped Crusader voice cast includes Hamish Linklater (Midnight Mass) in the title role as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Christina Ricci (Yellowjackets) as Catwoman/Selina Kyle, Jamie Chung (Gotham) as Harley Quinn/Dr. Harleen Quinzel, and Diedrich Bader — a DC veteran whose credits include episodes of Batman Beyond, 2006's The Batman, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and the Max adult animated series Harley Quinn — as Two-Face/Harvey Dent.

Announced cast members in as-yet-unrevealed roles include Mckenna Grace (Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire), Toby Stephens (Percy Jackson and the Olympians), Reid Scott (Venom), Dan Donohue (For All Mankind), Gary Anthony Williams (Hailey's on It!), Jason Watkins (The Crown), John DiMaggio (Futurama), Krystal Joy Brown (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power), Michelle C. Bonilla (9-1-1: Lone Star), Eric Morgan Stuart (Fallout 4), Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants), and Minnie Driver (The Witcher: Blood Origin).

Batman: Caped Crusader Villains

A cast announcement video revealed Linklater's Batman voice and the Dark Knight's rogue's gallery: The Penguin, Catwoman, Two-Face, Harley Quinn, the pyromaniac Firebug, Natalia Knight (in the comics, a reformed career criminal with photosensitive skin known as Nocturna, the mistress of the night), the phantom criminal called Gentleman Ghost, and Clayface (the Golden Age Clayface of the 1940s was Basil Karlo, a once-famous character actor and makeup expert turned costumed killer). Caped Crusader reimagines Dr. Harleen Quinzel as Asian American — and Bruce Wayne's psychologist. Here, her alter-ego as the jester-costumed Harley Quinn is independent from the Joker, who is noticeably absent from the roundup of Batman characters.

Batman: Caped Crusader Characters

Batman – A cold, remorseless avenger of evil, seemingly more machine than man. Forged in the fire of tragedy, every fiber of his being is dedicated to the eradication of crime. (The Batman suit is influenced by the character's earliest appearances in Detective Comics, by creators Bob Kane and Bill Finger, with longer, narrow ears, a collared cape, and with black gloves rather than the original purple.)

Bruce Wayne - To the public at large, Bruce Wayne is a shallow dilettante, apparently wasting his parents' vast fortune on frivolous pursuits and hedonistic pleasures. In fact, he's an elaborate facade, carefully constructed to divert attention from his activities as Batman.

Selina Kyle / "Catwoman" – Selena Kyle is a blithe and pampered heiress whose family lost their fortune after her father was imprisoned for embezzlement. Despite having the silver spoon yanked from her mouth, Selina refuses to quit living in the lap of luxury and becomes Catwoman as a "fun" way to maintain her lavish lifestyle.

Dr. Harleen Quinzel / "Harley Quinn" – Despite a personable and bubbly demeanor, Dr. Harleen Quinzel is a brilliant psychiatrist who treats some of Gotham's elite. However, as Harley Quinn, she is a different person, entirely. A creepy, quiet, calculating menace who secretly dispenses her twisted justice to the truly despicable among her elite clientele.

Commissioner Jim Gordon – Former beat cop close to retirement, Gordon was hired to play along with the corrupt system and run out the clock till he can draw a pension. But they've sorely underestimated Jim Gordon. His unassailable character brings him into conflict with dirty cops and crooked politicians, alike. Not to mention, he has to reckon with a deranged vigilante beating up Gotham's criminals.

Clayface – Thanks to his "unique" facial features, screen actor Basil Karlo has been forever typecast as a B-movie heavy. Frustrated by the limitations his appearance put on both his career and personal life (he fell hopelessly in love with his co-star), Karlo turned to an experimental serum that promised to change his face. However, not only does this serum ultimately disfigure his face, but it ruptures the last of his sanity – creating the tragic, vengeance seeking villain, Clayface.

Batman: Caped Crusader Creators

Batman: Caped Crusader comes from Warner Bros. Animation (My Adventures with Superman, Bat-Family), Abrams' Bad Robot Productions (Lovecraft Country, the Star Trek films) and Reeves' 6th & Idaho (2022's The Batman, The Batman – Part II). Along with Abrams, Reeves and Timm, Batman: Caped Crusader executive producers include head writer Ed Brubaker (DC's Batman comic, Gotham Central), James Tucker (Justice League Unlimited), Daniel Pipski (The Penguin), Rachel Rusch Rich (Castle Rock), and Sam Register (Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part One and Part Two).

[moorheadthanyoucanhandle]

CRITICAL RACE FEARY

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The Blackening--Eight attractive African-American college friends gather at a fancy cabin in the woods for a Juneteenth reunion. After a short stretch of playing spades and drinking over-sugared vodka Kool-Aid, they quickly find themselves at the mercy of a maniac, forced to play a twisted board game called "The Blackening" with their lives as the stakes.

The game is focused on black identity; the questions involve black history and culture, and the group is forced to single out a victim on the basis of which of them is "the blackest."

The director is Tim Story, who helmed the Ride Along movies. Here he's working with a really well-crafted, intricately funny script by Tracy Oliver and Dewayne Perkins (based on a short by the sketch-comedy group 3Peat) that teases the long and intense love-hate relationship between black audiences and horror movies. It does this less subtly, perhaps, than Jordan Peele's films do, but with a solidly higher ratio of out-loud laughs.

Story generates a fine ensemble buzz with his excellent cast, all of them unknown to me except for SNL veteran Jay Pharoah, and Diedrich Bader as the token "Ranger White." The comedy outweighs the terror here, although the masked, crossbow-wielding killer is a creepy presence. Overall, this movie is the meta-slasher send-up that Scream only thought it was--truly witty, and truly about something.

The Flash--This feature vehicle for the venerable DC superhero has a terrific opening. It involves [spoiler!] a collapsing hospital building, and our harried hero's efforts to corral a maternity ward's worth of newborns plummeting from a window. There's an inventive panache to the multi-tasking gags here that Buster Keaton himself might have appreciated. But the exhilaration of this set piece isn't reflected in what follows.

Launched in 1940 as Jay Garrick with a Mercury-like helmet and rebooted, with the winged cowl, as Barry Allen in the '50s, The Flash can move so fast that he can not only dodge bullets or cross a continent in seconds, he can literally do what Cher only wishes she could do: turn back time. In this story, Barry (a charmingly callow Ezra Miller) decides to go back and prevent the murder of his mother (Maribel Verdú) which of course screws up the space-time continuum. As a result he must team up with a slacker version of himself from a different time-stream to undo the mess he's made, and deal with multiple versions of iconic characters, including Michael Keaton enjoyably returning to the role of a rather Howard Hughes-like Bruce Wayne/Batman.

If all this sounds to you a lot like the "Multiverse" from over at Marvel, I can only tell you it seemed that way to me too, and not to this movie's benefit. Despite some playful uses, the Multiverse's bottomless stockpile of do-overs and variant replacement characters was already getting on my nerves in the Marvel flicks, and this DC spin on it has the same effect: a dilution of the dramatic stakes.

There's some amusement, I suppose, in the many cameos by various versions of the characters, but it's a dorky, narratively inert amusement, more like a Renaissance masque or pageant than an epic. It feels like fan service, of a particularly OCD kind; like Charles V winding and re-winding his clocks, it's a futile effort to synchronize different versions of pop myths that should simply be enjoyed in their wonderfully irreconcilable diversity.

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Diedrich Bader on American Housewife Season 1

as Greg on American Housewife [S01 E02]

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The Batman Vs. Dracula (2005)

Looking back, I feel like the initial fandom reaction to The Batman says a lot more about Batman fans than it does about the show itself. There's a certain resistance to change when it comes to long-running iconic superheroes, a preference to stick to "what works" rather than reinventing the wheel. Not helping is that this series was coming off 10+ years of Batman: The Animated Series and the rest of the DCAU, which many (myself included) consider to be a definitive portrayal of the character and many others within DC Comics. Helping even less was the fact that Justice League Unlimited ran alongside this series' first couple seasons and was affected stupidly by the Bat-Embargo. But the other side of that is that there are many different kinds of Batmen who are equally valid in their interpretations because of the skill of the artists and actors involved: Adam West is as legitimate a Batman as Kevin Conroy, Michael Keaton, Diedrich Bader, and all the others. And so we come to The Batman Vs. Dracula, probably the strongest singular effort out of this particular telling.

On a dark night like many others, trouble brews in Arkham Asylum. Penguin (Tom Kenny) and the Joker (Kevin Michael Richardson) have escaped after hearing about a haul of treasure in Gotham Cemetery from another convict. While Joker ends up tending with Batman (Rino Romano), the Penguin manages to seemingly find the crypt with the cash stashed inside...only to accidentally awaken the ancient vampire Dracula (Peter Stormare). Dracula quickly enthralls Penguin to serve as basically his Renfield and moves towards feeding and converting others into his army (a clever kid's-movie workaround to him simply killing them). He also begins to make inroads in high society, and both Bruce and Batman have to work quickly to combat this growing evil...

Despite my opening paragraph being in the interest of fairness, it's not as if The Batman doesn't have some genuine underpinning flaws. While the character designs by artist/producer Jeff Matsuda (just coming off Jackie Chan Adventures at the time) are certainly distinct and memorable in their anime flavorings, they often lack a certain humanity that the DCAU or contemporaries like Teen Titans held, often concentrating on extravagant grotesqueries for the villains in particular. And the writing was often more juvenile and less sophisticated, lacking a sense of genuine threat or atmosphere (one smells whiffs of executive meddling in this). But the show did improve after those early growing pains, and I would say seasons 3 and 4 averaged out to "pretty good", benefiting in particular from the introductions of stalwarts like Batgirl and Robin and having a number of very solid episodes. It also did have some legitimately compelling takes on the Rogues Gallery, such as an aged-down Poison Ivy as a friend of Barbara's, the Riddler eventually revealed to have been born out of betrayal and abuse, Clayface taking the usual role of Two-Face as a tragic figure who was once Bruce's friend, a quietly intimidating Hugo Strange, and a genuinely novel read on Harley Quinn.

While they are absent here (the continuity of the film is unclear, but given the police blame Batman at first and try to violently arrest him, it seems to take place in the first two seasons, pre-Gordon), it does make up for a number of those aforementioned weaknesses. While the writing is still on a less meaty level than a film like Mask of the Phantasm or Return of the Joker, there do exist some potent character beats like Bruce's disquiet at initially thinking the Joker is dead after a seemingly fatal encounter and his pity at his nemesis' eventual vampirizing. Gotham feels a lot more properly gothic, with gloomier tableaus and color palettes on display. The fight scenes have a lot more genuine danger courtesy of sequence directors like Sam Liu (who's become the reliable workhorse architect of DC's DTV movie line) and Brandon Vietti (later the director of Batman: Under the Red Hood and co-producer on Young Justice), benefiting from the DTV format's higher rating. Dracula is genuinely formidable in the way he's able to toss Batman around, and an early brawl with Joker has him feeling far more dangerous than usual. The horror lands with genuine effectiveness, particularly creepy imagery involving essentially vampire x-ray vision, Bruce's nightmares about his parents' death (though I think I've had a lifetime of seeing Martha Wayne's pearls fall on the pavement), and a standout scene in a blood bank.

The voice acting was also a mixed bag at first, with Rino Romano in particular being compared unfavorably to Conroy's definitive hear-it-when-reading-the-comics performance. And while he's not my favorite, I look upon his take a lot more kindly now; he was always a pretty good Bruce Wayne, getting plenty of meat to chew on here with both that and an abortive romance with Vicki Vale (Tara Strong, solid as ever). Plus, as Batman, he gets some genuinely badass line deliveries, especially at the end. Richardson had the daunting, looming ask of taking on the Joker after Mark Hamill codified the character in animation, and he took to it with gusto. Always one of the strongest performers on the series, he has a lot of fun here with going even wilder and manages to be genuinely unsettling in spots. Kenny has the bulk of the comic business here, alternately simpering and sleazy, and you know you're in for a good time when that's what he's being asked to do; at one point, he leers at an image of Vale and exclaims "Nice jugulars!" The real surprise is Stormare, who tones down his Swedish accent and usual predilection towards hamminess in voiceover to offer a more coiled and aristocratic menace for Dracula, which works quite marvelously. (It's also kind of funny to hear this in light of his role as Godbrand in Castlevania and how here, he wishes to resurrect his bride Carmilla, when the relationship is...quite different on that series). If there's a weak link, it's Alastair Duncan as Alfred, a fine actor who never quite managed to hit the right balance of warmth and snark for the stalwart butler in my opinion, though he gets a couple good quiet moments here.

I can't say even now The Batman is my favorite version of the character or holds up as well as some of its on-the-air contemporaries. But given that we've had far more varied and colorful takes on the property since, it's easier now to see it as of a piece with those rather than having the unenviable task of following up a series that redefined the American action landscape. And Dracula shows what it could have been all along, if it'd been given the chance.

[rooneywritesbest]

2020: Harley Quinn Takeover

  As the time of writing this. We are exactly one month away from the release of Birds Of Prey/ Harley Quinn the movie. The marketing for the black and red jester will officially be in full force from now on. It’s still ironic to think, and actually imagine a character who was created by the great Paul Din all the way back in 1993. When the Emmy award-winning Batman The Animated Series was still gracing the screens of fans that appealed to all ages of demographic. The jester appeared as a side character or a write-off, but fate has it has turned into one of the most popular, and influential icons of comic book media.

  Now in the early days of 2020. Harley Quinn has a successful animated series on the upcoming app of DC Universe. However many feel the platform is still finding it’s footing compared to say Netflix or Disney+. Moving on the show Harley Quinn is bloody, definitely NSFW, and only intended for viewership of mature audience status. Setting aside the preference of concern.

 The show is riddled with star-studded talent. Ranging from Kaley Cuoco from Big Bang Theory as Penny, and even Tony Hale as Doctor Psycho. 

 Even JB Smoove from Curb Your Enthusiasm as Leon. Now on this property plays one of Poison Ivy’s plants named Frank. He is sarcastic, but also able to toy and tease ivy. The interaction between the two is quite genius writing.

 There is so much to say about the cast. Alan Tudyk is a legend to be able to play as Joker with his sardonic humor, and his emotions of hatred and jealousy towards Harley. Then being able to switch into Clayface, and spin a different tone from the Clown Prince of Crime.

 The presence of the Bat still looms in Gotham with Diedrich Bader once again taking up the cowl of the Dark Knight. From his tenure on Batman Brave And The Bold. Bader still brings the same charisma of the part, and actually gives a breath of comedy due to the wacky nature of the series.

 Also can’t forget Ivy is voiced by Lake Bell, and nails everything about the character. Definite MVP for the majority of the season so far.

 Many will ask how is the dynamic between Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. The seeds for there comic accurate relationship have definitely been planted, but at the same time, Ivy is in more of a sister role. In the show, Harley’s plot thread is that she just broke up with the Joker. Only due to Ivy stepping in and telling her to see past the guilt of stock holm syndrome. 

 Another thing to realize, Harley is trying to find Independence, and the world she inhabits is one that doesn’t take her seriously because she was a henchman or let alone female. Quinn eventually does and finds a crew of people like her. Many, who are forgotten from the world due to their appearance or moral actions. Then, Of course, there are zany side adventures, but they all loop around to the commentary of realizing how depressing the world of DC comics really is. 

 The Harley Quinn show brings a lot of that to light. Joker is abusive and treats Harley as a trophy. However, In reality, Joker doesn’t care about Harley. He only cares about his battle with Batman. Essentially the yin to his yang. 

 There is so much that this property reveals, and of course, there are tons of Easter eggs for eagle-eyed DC fans. However maybe we shouldn’t notice the colorful costumes, but the emotional state that these fictional characters inhabit through the actors bringing them to life.

 See the thing I started to realize is that every episode of this freshman season has a purpose or goal of sorts. The answer is to understand a moral or fact about life

 Just like Birds Of Prey with the title of the film being Emancipation. Harley is seeking to be her own woman. She longs to identity as her own self. Not just someone seeking refuge and acclaim as Joker’s punching bag. Huntress is looking to atone for her sins, and Black Canary is really kept in the shadows with a lot being kept under wraps.

 At this period of time, I can only guess and predict. However, one thing I can state and bring to light is that the DCEU is creatively groundbreaking due to the ingenuity of aesthetic. I truly feel that DC has found a way to compete with the mouse. The key is doing films that have there own identity, and direction from the mind of visionary directors. Todd Philips opened the door with Joker. Now the blueprint lies on the table let’s see what Cathy Yan does with Birds of Prey releasing Feb 7th this year.

 Also, remember if you want to see Harley Quinn take deep shade at the DC Universe while also revealing many hidden layers of ethos. Tune in every Friday on The DC Universe app.

 “Remember 2020 is the year of Harley Quinn, and this is her world. We’re just living in it”

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Masters of the Universe: Revelation Shows Kevin Smith’s Classic Inspiration

https://ift.tt/3bqzyLr

Masters of the Universe will once again have the power, this time on the platform of Netflix, which has unveiled a new animated series shaped under the creative auspices of geek royalty in showrunner/executive producer Kevin Smith. Consequently, the latest iteration of the Mattel Toy property, which dominated pop culture during the 1980s, is carrying classic-inspired sensibilities, as the new show’s first images clearly prove. It’s a retro direction—in stark contrast to other revivals of the property—that Smith confirms was no accident.

Two years after it was announced, Netflix animated revival Masters of the Universe: Revelation has officially revealed a first array of preview images (seen just below), with a release date set for July. Said images (mostly) check off a “who’s who” lineup culled from the franchise’s famously deep well of characters. However, the aesthetics appear to be an artful amalgamation of the 1982-launched property’s early era—notably Filmation’s 1983-1985 He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series, which remains its most famous version—and Mike Young Productions’ 2002-2004 contemporary reinvention of the same name, the latter of which stylistically leaned into the technology aspect of the property’s traditional medieval-meets-sci-fi motif.

“Narratively, our show is set up as the next episode in the legacy ‘80s animated series,” explains Smith in a statement. “This is a continuation of that story. We’re playing with the original mythology and characters, and revisiting and digging deeper into some of the unresolved storylines. Visually, we also made the conscious decision to lean into the Masters of the Universe line of toys for inspiration as well.”

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Smith certainly chose the right property from which to draw inspiration from toys, and, naturally, Mattel already has an impressive-looking 7” scale Masters of the Universe: Revelation action figure line ready to hit toy shelves (complementing its current retro-styled “Origins” line,) upon the show’s release. The classic-minded, toy-friendly visuals create a formula that could make the series into a worthy revival; a notion compounded by the star-studded voice cast the series has put together. Indeed, the presence of characters such as “the most powerful man in the universe” himself, He-Man (voiced by Chris Wood), and his blue-skinned, bone-faced, fists-shaking rival, Skeletor (Mark Hamill) are a given, but the show’s list of iconic-in-their-own-right supporting players makes it worthy of attention even from those uninitiated with the franchise or who still choose to see it through the satirically flamboyant lens of the Prince Adam “What’s Going On?” meme.  

Mattel

Revelation’s list of toy-destined characters consist of Evil-Lyn (Lena Headey), Teela (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Man-At-Arms (Liam Cunningham), Roboto (Justin Long), Trap Jaw and King Randor (both voiced by Diedrich Bader), Queen Marlena (Alicia Silverstone), Moss Man (Allen Oppenheimer, the original voice of Skeletor), Sorceress (Susan Eisenberg), Orko (Griffin Newman), Cringer (Stephen Root), Mer-Man (Kevin Conroy), Tri-Klops (Henry Rollins), Beast Man (Kevin Michael Richardson), Scare Glow (Tony Todd) and Stinkor (Jason Mewes, you know, since it’s a Kevin Smith joint). Additionally, the series will introduce some newcomers like Priestess (Cree Summer) and Andra (Tiffany Smith), the latter of whom seems to be inspired by an obscure character from the 1980s-era Masters of the Universe comic book series published by Marvel under its kid-friendly Star Comics label (which simultaneously published a title for its currently movie-bound rival franchise, ThunderCats).

“I watched all of the TV series growing up, it was everywhere in the ‘80s,” continues Smith. “These characters started off as toys and ended up becoming part of the global pop culture fabric. So much of this show has been possible because of the love and affection for this world at every level of production and the fandom surrounding this franchise. A big reason we got such top tier voice talent is because people genuinely want to be a part of this world. So many of us were touched by these stories and these characters early in our lives and were so happy to come back to Eternia.”

Read more

TV

Masters of the Universe: Revelation Cast Revealed

By Mike Cecchini

Movies

The Masters of The Universe Movie and Its Wonderful Worldbuilding

By Mike Cecchini

Indeed, Masters of the Universe may have initially been conceived as a hybrid boy’s toys franchise that drew upon ideas from Star Wars, Conan the Barbarian and Jack Kirby’s Fourth World comic titles, but its amenability to world-building remains its bread and butter. Even in the initial, eventually-apocryphal versions of the mythology showcased in the earliest mini-comics included with the figures, the setting of Eternia was simultaneously savage, mystical and technologically wondrous; an idea that would be maintained across every iteration (even the cult classic 1987 live-action film flop,) throughout the ensuing decades. “Even if you’ve never watched a single episode of the show or don’t know this universe at all, you can jump right into the story,” lauds Smith. “It’s a really classic, universal action-adventure epic about growth, discovery, magic, and power. This series explores destiny in a fresh way. There’s a lot of reconciling with secrets, betrayal, trust, acceptance, love, and ultimately, loss.”

Of course, Masters of the Universe: Revelation won’t be the only recent representation of the Mattel IP in the pop culture panorama, seeing as Netflix ran five seasons of an animated revival for He-Man’s estranged spun-off sister, She-Ra and the Princess of Power, from 2018-2020. However, the continuity of that hyper-stylized series, which garnered a new generation of fans, is unlikely to be carried over here (although Revelation might eventually introduce a new She-Ra). Additionally, in 2019, Sony Pictures was deep into long-gestating plans for a new live-action Masters of the Universe movie from directors Aaron Nee and Adam Nee, based on a screenplay started by David S. Goyer, with Noah Centineo cast as He-Man. However, like many projects during the eventual pandemic, its lofty plans are currently derailed, and Centineo reportedly exited the picture this past April. Thusly, at least for now, Revelation will be the primary flier of the franchise flag.

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Masters of the Universe: Revelation is scheduled to premiere the five-episode first part of its inaugural season on Friday, July 23.

The post Masters of the Universe: Revelation Shows Kevin Smith’s Classic Inspiration appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[tabloidtoc]

National Enquirer, February 15 -- part 6 of 6

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Page 28: Megabucks Barbra Streisand has long lived with a secret addiction which is gambling on the stock market and the star's high-stakes hobby has husband James Brolin worried and is putting her $400 million fortune at risk -- Barbra rises early each weekday while James is usually asleep to catch the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange and if she finds anything interesting she'll start trading like crazy -- she's a natural born trader and she does her own research and weighs all the information then she acts on it -- the cost of risky high-stakes wagers is additional strain on her troubled 22-year marriage because James gets frustrated when Barbra is immersed in trading and she spends hours and hours on monitoring stocks; it's like he doesn't even exist

Page 32: Health Watch

Page 36: Tom Cruise's daughter Isabella Cruise is finally ready to take the plunge into having kids of her own -- after five years of marriage to fellow Scientologist Max Parker, Isabella has told pals she feels secure enough in her relationship to bring a child into the world -- Bella has seen two of her father's marriages fail and she wanted to make sure she and Max were in a place where they were solid enough to start a family -- Isabella didn't trust the institution of marriage but changed her mind now that she's hit the five-year mark and she and Max are extremely happy and they can't wait to welcome a baby in 2021

Page 38: Fuming Julie Chrisley slammed hate-spewing trolls who've targeted her biracial granddaughter -- the Chrisley Knows Best matriarch and husband Todd Chrisley currently have custody of eight-year-old Chloe who is the daughter of their son Kyle Chrisley and baby mama Angela Johnson -- Kyle who was diagnosed as bipolar has struggled with substance abuse and Angela copped a plea after being arrested for Medicaid fraud in 2016

* Television and movie icon Cloris Leachman died of natural causes at age 94 after a decades-long career she had planned to carry on despite her years -- work kept Cloris alive, vibrant and happy -- she has two more films coming out this year and would have done more if she could have

Page 40: Brash Lourdes Leon lashed out at fans with a series of acid-tongued barbs on Instagram but mom Madonna wasn't thrilled with her daughter's display -- Lourdes recently joined the social media site but when people started commenting on her posts, her replies left some in shock -- Madonna was less than impressed with her daughter's antics because there's a difference between having attitude and being controversial and just being rude and mean to people and it seems Lourdes still has plenty to learn on that front

Page 42: Red Carpet -- Beyonce at the Grammys over the years

Page 45: Spot the Differences -- Holly Robinson Peete and Diedrich Bader on the sitcom American Housewife

Page 47: Odd List

[chriswoodnetwork]

Kevin Smith's animated Masters of the Universe series at Netflix has lined up a powerhouse voice cast.

Mark Hamill, Lena Headey, Chris Wood and Sarah Michelle Gellar headline the ensemble for Masters of the Universe: Revelation, an anime-style series on which Smith serves as showrunner. The series will focus on the unresolved storylines of the iconic characters in the He-Man universe, picking up where they left off decades ago.

Mattel Television is producing the series. Smith executive produces with Adam Bonnett (Descendants), Christopher Keenan (Batman Beyond) and Rob David (He-Man and the Masters of the Universe). Susan Corbin produces. Powerhouse Animation (Castlevania) is the animation studio.

"I cannot believe the lineup of talent I get to play with," said Smith. "The incredible, star-studded cast that Mattel’s Rob David and Netflix’s Ted Biaselli assembled for our Masters of the Universe series will let any lifelong He-Man fan know we’re treating this cartoon seriously and honoring the legendary world of Eternia with A-list talent. Chris, Sarah, Mark, Lena and the other amazing actors and actresses have given performances so powerful and real in a show that features a talking giant green tiger. With these fantastic performers behind our characters, it’ll be crazy easy to immerse yourself in the swords and sorcery of our epic sci-fi soap opera."

Hamill will play the villainous Skeletor in the series. Game of Thrones star Headey plays Skeletor's right-hand woman, Evil-Lyn. Wood (Supergirl, ABC's Thirtysomething sequel) is Prince Adam/He-Man, and Gellar and Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones) play He-Man's cohorts Teela and Man-at-Arms, respectively.

The cast also includes Stephen Root, Diedrich Bader, Griffin Newman, Tiffany Smith, Henry Rollins, Alan Oppenheimer, Susan Eisenberg, Alicia Silverstone, Justin Long, Jason Mewes, Phil LaMarr, Tony Todd, Cree Summer, Kevin Michael Richardson, Kevin Conroy and Harley Quinn Smith. Oppenheimer, who plays Moss Man in the new show, was the voice of Skeletor in the 1983 He-Man series.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Superman: Red Son (2020)

Superman: Red Son is one of the greatest Superman stories - an impressive feat considering it twists some of the most iconic aspects of the character and turns him into a villain. While the film adaptation may not entirely capture the power of the original work, it makes slight tweaks that in some ways improve the story.

What if Superman was raised in the Soviet Union? Under Joseph Stalin (William Salyers), Superman (Jason Isaacs) is the ultimate agent of propaganda and Communism's firmest supporter. When the United States government tasks Lex Luthor (Diedrich Bader) to develop countermeasures against him, a rivalry that will span decades is formed.

Viewers will benefit greatly from being familiar with the Superman mythos. Lois Lane (Amy Acker), Batman (Roger Craig Smith), Wonder Woman (Vanessa Marshall), Brainiac (Paul Williams), and other familiar faces show up prominently. Recognizing how these alternate universe versions differ from the traditional interpretations gives the story much more impact. We're not merely wondering what Superman might be like if he was raised somewhere else, we're exploring what would happen to the man of steel if he used his powers to rule and battle alien threats. An immortal, invincible ruler who can see and hear everything, from which there is no escape. While Superman is an alien capable of incredible feats, he is also, ultimately, a man, and capable of being corrupted just like us. Lex Luthor is now the hero. Red Son is filled with reversals and re-imaginings of figures and events (both comic book and real-world) that are fun to discover and fill you with just the right amount of unease.

The book's essence is kept intact, with a couple of changes made here and there. Wonder Woman is given a bigger role, as is Louis Lane. On the negative side, there are a couple references to sex that are largely unnecessary. They feel like Warner Bros. Animation desperately trying to convince us that this story is serious, not for kids.

Those who have been following the DC Universe Animated Original Movie series will be disappointed by the quality of the animation. It’s but no better than your standard episode of Justice League Unlimited. While the comic featured terrific artwork, the style used was never integral to its impact, unlike Superman vs. the Elite or Batman: The Killing Joke. The simplified style used here is not a Kryptonite bullet shot at your heart, but it’s still a letdown.

On home video, a short featuring The Phantom Stranger accompanies the main feature. It’s a nice bonus but not on the same level as the one that accompanied Wonder Woman: Bloodlines. Superman: Red Son is one of the better DC Animated films in some time. The action is exciting, the references to historical events and characters are fun to decipher. The characters and plot capture your imagination. It never supplants the original work but makes a great companion piece to it. This is one I’ll excitedly revisit. (On Blu-ray, October 8, 2020)

[dailydcheroes]

Harley Quinn Animated Series First Look!

The series begins with Harley breaking up with the Joker after he screws her over, and deciding to strike out on her own. Over the course of the first season, we’ll see her try to become the “best badass supervillain that there is,” and she’ll cross paths with Doctor Psycho, Batman, Lex Luthor, Wonder Woman, and of course, Poison Ivy.

“She just doesn’t want to be Joker’s girlfriend anymore,” Cuoco said. “She wants to lead the pack, which I find very appropriate for this kind of day and age and vibe that we’re in.”

In fact, Cuoco said playing Harley has meant a lot to her given the current climate. “It has definitely been empowering,” she said. “To sit in a booth and scream and cuss and yell at boys for hours at a time, it has been an absolute blast. Not having to do hair and makeup has made it that much better. But it’s such an iconic character, so with all of that respect and love toward the character, we’re trying to bring a new spin to it, and I think the fans that love this type of show are really going to enjoy it.”

The Harley Quinn voice cast also includes Lake Bell (Wet Hot American Summer), Alan Tudyk (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Ron Funches (Powerless), JB Smoove (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Jason Alexander (Seinfeld), Wanda Sykes (black-ish), Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad), Natalie Morales (Bojack Horseman), Jim Rash (Mike Tyson Mysteries), Diedrich Bader (Veep), Tony Hale (Veep), and Chris Meloni (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit).

[dccomicsnews]

Directed by: Sam Liu

Written by: J.M. DeMatteis

Starring:  Jason Isaacs, Amy Acker, Diedrich Bader, Roger Craig Smith, Vanessa Marshall

Review by: Eric Joseph

Summary

Following the success of Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, it was really only a matter of time before another “Elseworlds” story found itself adapted for animation. This time, it’s the beloved Superman: Red Son getting the treatment, thereby bringing the work of writer Mark Millar and artist Dave Johnson to brilliant life.

If you don’t know the basics, here’s all you really need to learn going in: instead of baby Kal-El’s ship landing in Smallville, Kansas, it touched down in Soviet Russia. As such, the Comrade of Steel (Jason Isaacs) grows up to serve the state, and we meet alternate takes on iconic characters such as Batman (Roger Craig Smith), Wonder Woman (Vanessa Marshall), Green Lantern (Sasha Roiz), Lex Luthor (Diedrich Bader) and Lois Lane-Luthor (Amy Acker) in the process. And no, you weren’t reading that wrong – Lex and Lois are married!

Positives

Much like its predecessor in Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, Superman: Red Son succeeds in pretty much every respect. The plot is intriguing and the voice cast knocks it out of the park as per usual. It’d been quite a long time since I read the source material, yet I still found myself riveted by the story as it unfolded. And similar to how the adventures of a Victorian Dark Knight didn’t mirror what had been found on the printed page, neither does this. Rest assured that the DNA of Millar and Johnson’s work remains, but there’s quite a bit in the way of fresh content as well. This flick falls in the middle of “adaptation” and “inspired by”; it’s not as literal as, say, The Dark Knight Returns, but it’s not as far off as The Death of Superman, either.

What will likely enthrall viewers most is seeing that “nature versus nurture” aspect at play. Despite being brought up under a much different system of values, Supes is still a guy who wants to accomplish things for the greater good, deep down. However, power can corrupt, especially when you’re someone who can fly and shoot lasers from their eyes. Still, he’s not the tyrant his Injustice counterpart was, so expect his moral tapestry to be as grey as the costume he dons.

In my view, allowing for the story to span over the course of decades really shows how both Superman and his political opponents evolve. His rivalry with Luthor is intrinsically what you may expect, yet even that fella is more than your usual villain wearing the proverbial black hat. In fact, some of you watching this may find yourself wondering which guy to root for.

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Another major positive in this package comes in the form of its bonus content and, believe me, this Blu-ray release is pretty rich in that department. The DC Showcase: Phantom Stranger short is every bit as good as the feature presentation itself, and is my favorite of the latest round that kicked off last year.

Elsewhere, there’s an excerpt from the Superman: Red Son motion comic, a featurette dubbed “Cold Red War,” and a must-see first look at Justice League Dark: Apokolips War that lets us know way more about the plot than the trailer did. And if that weren’t enough, the two-part Justice League classic that was “A Better World” is thrown in for good measure.

Negatives

You know, there isn’t really much I can say about this film that’s bad, other than that maybe it dragged a little during the third act. Seriously, that’s it. This may not be something I revisit a million times as I have with Under the Red Hood or Mask of the Phantasm, but it left me quite impressed.

But if I’m to look at this very objectively, I imagine that the staunch purists will complain about how it’s not a carbon copy of the comic book – but were most of you really expecting it to be? If anything, a percentage of the audience may have a hard time digesting an interpretation of Batman who��s an outright terrorist, but just keep in mind they call it “Elseworlds” for a reason.

Verdict

If Superman: Red Son is to be any indication of what’s to come, then 2020 will be a very good year for DC animation. The bar has been set, and we can only hope the next offerings are every bit as enjoyable. And like I said moments ago, the bonus content was enough to satisfy this critic, so pick up a copy as soon as you can.

Blu-Ray Review: Superman: Red Son Directed by: Sam Liu Written by: J.M. DeMatteis Starring:  Jason Isaacs, Amy Acker, Diedrich Bader, Roger Craig Smith, Vanessa Marshall…

[justanothercinemaniac]

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #240 - Ice Age

Spoilers Below

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: I don’t think so?

Format: Digital HD

1) This is one of only two films where I only own digital copies of them as opposed to hard copies. In the case of Ice Age, it happened when I linked up MoviesAnywhere and Vudu (or possibly when I linked one of those to my iTunes account). My family owns a DVD copy so I did grow up watching it but I never thought it’d be part of my (re)watch. But a digital copy is still owning it, so here we are.

2) Meeting Scrat.

Scrap has become the most iconic part of the series and that is because (much like the Minions in Despicable Me) he is the franchise’s certified Scene Stealer™. His little adventures are so simple it’s genius: his motivation is simply to collect and/or store his nut(s). But the slapstick that ensues, the escalating sense of cause & effect, not to mention the vocals provided by director Chris Wedge have made him into an animation icon. He’s Blue Sky’s mascot and even has his own balloon in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Opening with Scrat is a strong way to start the film.

3) The herd migration immediately following Scrat’s adventure has a lot of sharp humor I didn’t pick up on as a kid. Namely the debate of, “How do we know it’s an Ice Age?”, the kids playing “Extinction”, and the character who thinks he’s on the cusp of an, “evolutionary breakthrough,” before trying to fly. It sets the wit for the tone up well.

4) Manny as portrayed by Ray Romano.

Manny’s character is well established immediately by his literal moving against the crowd when walking through the migration herd. He’s set up as abrasive and harsh but we’re also quickly given reason to root for the Wooly Mammoth.

Manny: “You know I don’t like animals that kill for pleasure.”

Ray Romano does great as the voice of Manny, in fact all three members of the herd are great. Romano plays against his “Everybody Loves Raymond” type of the sort of passive momma’s boy by being not only strong but assertive throughout the film. And it just feels right. It’s a good first character to meet.

5) Sid the Sloth as portrayed by John Leguizamo.

Leguizamo is nearly unrecognizable as Sid in this film. The amount of saliva you can just HEAR in his voice, the nerdy quality, but also the warmth and humor, I think Leguizamo gives the best performance in the film. Much like Manny, Sid is well introduced from the start when we learn his family has ditched him. We get the impression he’s a bit of a pain but also we can SEE he’s well intentioned if a little much. It’s understandable why people are hard on him while we are also given good enough reason to root for him. I like Sid.

6) Thing I didn’t pick up on as a kid: the rhinos Carl and Frank are totally a couple, right?

7) This movie is a lot funnier than I remember.

8) It is worth noting Manny’s line about, “animals that kill for pleasure,” sets up the rules of this world. There are carnivore characters we’re meant to sympathize with and root for in this movie. This line basically sets up the rule: killing for survival is fine but killing for pleasure is not. That is an important element when we’re introduced to our villain later.

9) The literal human element of the film - the nomadic hunters and gatherers - helps ground the film a little. It’s an element I appreciate and missed in the movie’s sequels which began involving dinosaurs and a flying saucer at one point.

10) Remember in note #8 when I mentioned the moral rules this film plays by. Well, the villain Soto is immediately breaking those rules. He wants to kill a BABY of the human leader just for revenge. A BABY. It’s not food, it’s not survival, it’s a Khan-esque mission of wrath and cruelty. And Soto is chilling. We actually don’t get to see much of him in the movie, but his mere presence shows off the threat he is. I think that comes at a combination of writing, voice acting, and design for the animal. I dig it.

11) Just an observation: like the Minions in Despicable Me (who Scrat is very much a precursor to), Scrat is best used in small doses sprinkled throughout the film.

12) The plot of this film is basically Three Men & A Baby set in the ice age with extinct animals (except Sid, unless his specific brand of Sloth is gone). But that’s a plot which inherently has a lot of heart to it, the idea of bonding and found family. It helps give the film an emotional core I appreciate.

13) It’s probably just my own interpretation and desire to see more representation in media, but I feel like there’s so much LGBTQ+ subtext in the movie and I dig that.

Diego [on Manny and Sid with the baby]: “Can’t have one of your own so you decided to adopt.”

14) Diego as portrayed by Denis Leary.

The third member of the herd, Diego is a wonderfully fleshed out character. We get the intimidating and fierce predator but we also have the heartfelt development where it is easy to root for him. It is believable that he finds a sense of family with Manny and Sid. I think this duality is well played by Leary, who is able to make Diego a threat in the beginning but also put enough heart/warmth in the performance that we like him as a character. All of this makes his changing sides towards the movie’s end feel natural, making him a nice final member to the herd.

15) The immediate Sid and Manny have with Diego is founded on mistrust, they EXPECT him to eat the baby, which creates a unique conflict at the heart of their relationship. It’s interesting seeing them overcome this conflict.

16) While strong as individuals, each member of the trio work well in the herd together. They have a fun chemistry and play off each other well.

17) The Dodos!

This is one of my favorite scenes from the film and that’s because I get the joke so much more now as an adult than I did as a kid. WE’RE WATCHING THE DODOS GO EXTINCT! The fast paced energy, slapstick elements, and unique characters which the dodos are make it a wonderfully entertaining scene. And Alan Tudyk voices the lead Dodo! (Along with two other characters in the movie)

18) I like how each member of Diego’s pack is voiced by someone noteworthy as its made up of Jack Black, Diedrich Bader and Alan Tudyk (again).

19) This got me laughing pretty hard, not gonna lie.

Female Sloth [lovingly, after seeing how Sid is with the baby]: “All the sensitive guys get eaten.”

20) “Send Me On My Way” is one of my favorite songs and this film introduced me to it, so I’ll always be grateful for that.

21) File this one under jokes I didn’t get as a kid.

Manny [when pacing Stonehenge]: “Modern architecture. It’ll never last.”

22) I might be Sid.

Sid [when offered to go through a dangerous short cut]: “No thanks, I choose life.”

23) I love the hall of ice gag, especially the alien at the end.

24) The ice slide sequence is really fun and one of the strongest “action” pieces in the film. It just has a sense of adrenaline and enjoyment to it that’s hard to beat.

25) The cave painting scene.

This is the heart of Manny’s character. The decision to animate this scene differently from the rest of the film helps to give it a sense of identity and almost nightmare like quality. Because it is a nightmare, but it still happened. In an absolutely heartbreaking moment we learn that Manny not only is a widower but he lost his child too. Usually in animated films it’s an orphaned kid but parents aren’t supposed to outlive their kids, so the fact that Manny had to go through that explains perfectly his isolationist tendencies.

26) A key moment of character development for Diego comes when he and the group are running across the river of lava (lake of lava? It’s lava). He realizes this herd will do something for him his pack wouldn’t: risk their lives for him.

27) This is the heart movie in one moment.

Manny [after Diego asks why he saved him]: “That’s what you do in a herd. You look out for each other.”

28) When Soto illustrates how to take down a mammoth (by backing them in a corner) there is a wonderful sense of tension. The visualization there really illustrates the stakes to come.

29) The climax of the film starts with a sense of fun and energy we’ve come to except so far, what with Sid’s snowboarding moves on full display as he outmaneuvers the tigers. But the change in tone to a more intense encounter involving Soto, Diego and Manny feels organic. There is a sense of tension here which works well and Soto’s dialogue-free death is particularly effective.

30) I think I’m definitely Sid.

Sid: “Ah, you know me. I’m too lazy to hold a grudge.”

31) The scene where Manny returns the baby to the humans carries a lot of tension. We know how badly this can go, we saw it in the cave painting. So the fact that it ends happily makes the emotional pay off even stronger.

32)

Manny [to the baby]: “We won’t forget about you.”

But we won’t mention you ever again in the sequels.

33)

Sid [expressing his dissatisfaction with the Ice Age]: “You know what I could go for? Global warming!” Manny: “Keep dreaming.”

34) The epilogue which showcases that Scrat is chasing that nut of his for 2,000 years is a perfect representation of his character. I dig it.

Ice Age is a lot of fun and, in hindsight, pretty underrated. I know that’s odd to say about a film that kicked off a five movie franchise, but the franchise became so different from the original movie and the original is still pretty unique in its setting and look. With a great wit, strong character, a good heart, and quality performances, it’s feasibly one of the best animated films from the early 00′s.

[jasonblaze72]

Transformers: EarthSpark Episode 1: Release Date, Spoilers & Streaming Guide

 Let us find out what Transformers: EarthSpark Episode 1 release date is. A forthcoming American computer-animated streaming television series, Transformers: EarthSpark, is based on the Hasbro Transformers franchise. The premiere is scheduled for November 2022 on Paramount. Nicole Dubuc and Ant Ward are its executive producers. Hasbro owns and controls the distribution of the series, which was created in collaboration with Nickelodeon and Hasbro's Entertainment One. ICON Creative Studio handled the animation for the project. Twenty-six episodes will make up the first season. In the latter half of 2022, the franchise Transformers: EarthSpark will debut. The EarthSpark continuity, in contrast to most others, is focused on a new generation of bots that were born on Earth following the Great War, together with their human family. There are numerous well-known characters there to help them on their way, many of whom have stylized versions of classic character designs. The EarthSpark brand includes the following: a played line, a comic, and a computer game. Transformers: EarthSpark Episode 1 Release Date Transformers: EarthSpark Episode 1 will air on November 11, 2022. Its countdown, therefore, has just two days left. Yes! Transformers Earthspark Season 1 Episode 1 will be released in only two days! After their family relocates to the little hamlet of Witwicky, Robby finds it difficult to fit in—that is, until he and his sister Mo come across the first-ever Earthborn Transformers. Plot Of The Show The Malto family moves from Philadelphia to the little village of Witwicky, Pennsylvania, many years after the end of the civil war between the Autobots and the Decepticons. There, young Robby and Mo Malto see the creation of a brand-new type of Transformer called a Terran, which they later bond with through unique cyber-sleeves on their arms. The Terrans assist the kids in finding their place in the world and defending their new life as family members while being coached by Bumblebee. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ez4WJZ4Hr4 Cast Of The Show Transformers: EarthSpark's voice cast consists of the following: Robby Malto, a 13-year-old child who was compelled to relocate to a tiny village, as played by Sydney Mikayla. Morgan "Mo" Malto, who is nine years old, played by Zion Broadnax, is Robby's upbeat sister. Twitch Malto is played by Kathreen Khavari. She changes into a drone that flies. Thrash Malto is played by Zeno Robinson. Bumblebee, played by Danny Pudi, is an Autobot scout who mentors the Terrans. Benni Latham plays Dorothy "Dot" Malto, an ex-soldier and park ranger who is the mother of Robby and Mo.  Also Read: Transformers 1 Ending Explained: Everything You Need to Know! The father of Robby and Mo, Alex Malto, is played by Jon Jon Briones. Optimus Prime is played by Alan Tudyk. Megatron, the Decepticons' commander, is portrayed by Rory McCann. Elita-1 is played by Cissy Jones She changes into an off-road SUV. Mandroid is played by Diedrich Bader. Nolan North plays the villainous Decepticon twins Swindle and Hardtop. Wheeljack, played by Michael T. Downey, is an Autobot scientist and mechanic. He changes into a rally vehicle. Agent Schloder, played by Marc Evan Jackson, is the brother of Agent Croft. Sean Kenin Reyes plays the mostly silent Decepticon Soundwave. Nicole Dubuc plays Skywarp and Nova Storm, two displaced Decepticon Seekers from the conflict. Arcee, played by Martha Marion, is an Autobot trooper. Executive Agent Croft is played by Kari Wahlgren. Mr. Smelt is played by Daran Norris. Sydney Mikayla (from Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts), Zion Broadnax (from Day Shift), Benny Latham (from Cornerstones: Founding Voices of the Black Church), Jon Jon Briones (from Ratched), Kathreen Khavari (from Dead End: Paranormal Park), Zeno Robinson (from Big City Greens), Danny Pudi (from Community), Alan Tudyk (from Resident Alien), Rory McCann (from Game (Better Things). Where to Watch Transformers: EarthSpark? On Paramount+, Transformers: EarthSpark Episode 1 will be accessible. If you are a resident of the USA, you can watch the upcoming release without any halt on Paramount+. You just need to subscribe to the service and then enjoy the series. To access the site and watch the series without difficulty, if you are located in a nation other than the US, you will need a top-notch VPN. Read the full article

[beautifulfaces-icons-and-gifs]

Diedrich Bader on American Housewife Season 1

as Greg on American Housewife [S01 E01]

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[coolchevistianofficialsite]

So, how exactly do we distinguish a celebrity that does voice work sometimes from a voice actor that sometimes does live action work? Given how there have been actors with roles in both voice acting and live action frequently like Mark Hamill, Diedrich Bader, Phil LaMarr, Marieve Herrington, Kate Micucci, Kimiko Glenn, Mae Whitman, Kevin Michael Richardson, Tom Kenny, Amanda Leighton, Daran Norris, and Khary Payton, the line does blue a bit between professional VA and celebrity.

Hmm interesting question since you mention a actual interesting topic since you are right in the points you made since Mark Hamill is know for his Star Wars role but he is also know for the Joker, Skips, Skeletor and The Skeleton King to mention and Kate Miucci which became the new Velma and her role as Julie on MotorCity and Webby on DuckTales

It seems that we have to learn that there are some celebrities where actually started in animation as voice actors like Marieve with her many Anime roles and the most obvious that was Seth MacFarlane which the latter became a musican and director.

I don't know how to call this just that there are actual celebirties actors who really want to make iconic voices like Phil,Kate,Seth & Daran since they started in animation before getting famous and they are others like Hamill, Kristen Schaal,Josh Gad, Emma Thompson,Steve Yeun or Scarlett Johanson who really want to make their roles iconic and understands and researched on voice acting unlike let's just Jeff Goldblum on Boss Baby 2 or Rihanna on Home where you can see that they made it for just another check

[aion-rsa]

Psych 2: Lassie Come Home Easter Egg and Reference Guide

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The following contains spoilers for Psych 2: Lassie Come Home.

As fun as 2017’s Psych: The Movie was, its 2020 sequel Psych 2: Lassie Come Home will likely supplant it in Psych-Os’ hearts, because it’s got 500% more Carlton Lassiter (Timothy Omundson). But how does it stack up to its predecessor in terms of Psych callbacks and pop culture homages? Using our Spencer powers of observation, we’ve tried to catch every recurring inside joke between Shawn (James Roday Rodriguez) and Gus (Dulé Hill), plus all the episodic-specific bits. It’s a feature-length Hitchcock homage, but it’s also the toughest Easter egg hunt of your life. C’mon, son!

Psych 2: Lassie Come Home Easter Eggs and References

The title is a reference to Lassie Come Home, the 1943 Lassie movie about the beloved dog making her way home from Scotland. A German-language remake came out early in 2020.

It’s always a treat to hear the Psych theme song “I Know, You Know,” performed by creator Steve Franks and his band The Friendly Indians.

Lassiter wakes up to Shawn and Gus hovering above him at the recovery clinic is a throwback to when they kidnapped him for his bachelor party in “Deez Nups” and he came to with them screaming “Surpriiise!”

Morrissey the rescue dog reprises his role from Psych: The Movie in being adorable, incredibly nosy, and oblivious to Shawn’s hissing commands.

Sarah Chalke’s nurse character Dolores is most likely a nod to San Francisco’s Mission Dolores church and cemetery, the location for Carlotta Valdes’ grave in Vertigo.

Right out the gate, Dolores is treated to the requisite Gus nickname: “My name is Shawn Spencer, and this is my partner Bill Poopingtons.” However, Shawn and Gus take a sidebar for a very meta argument about their ongoing bit (while fitting in another bit):

“Gus, don’t be the night your dad fell asleep inside your mom. We can’t just stop doing bits we’ve been doing for ten years. We have fans, they have expectations, there’ll be a huge backlash.”

“Shawn, we are two dumbasses, we do not have fans.”

Compromise: Gus gets right of refusal until they land on a nickname he prefers. And so:

Bill Poopingtons > All the Pips in One

Ding-Dong Ditch > Claude O’Dern > Big Poppa Pump > Lemon-a Lemon-a Lemon-a Liiime

Leggo My Eggo > Norman Brown Butter > Dijon Hounsou

Gus also calls himself Jermajesty, channeling some Jackson Five energy.

“Black Jello” was Gus’ nickname in their adult dodgeball league.

The Herschel House is likely a nod to Herschel Daugherty, who directed over two dozen episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents…

Gus and Shawn are still bickering over driving the drivers ed car, even if we don’t see it in the movie. They do manage to be just as bad at turning the right direction when riding a motorcycle together.

“Now I know this ‘goofy little white guy/sexy black dude’ routine the two of you have going like the back of my scrubs.” Sarah Chalke played Elliot on Scrubs, whose JD/Turk bromance walked so that Shawn/Gus could run.

Shawn calls Dolores “the nurse from Color of Night,” the 1994 Bruce Willis erotic mystery thriller that won a Golden Raspberry for Worst Picture.

The boys get Jamba Juice because you never turn down an opportunity for a Jamba.

Shawn likens Gus’ pubic hair to Eddie Murphy’s mustache in his 1987 stand-up film Raw.

Shawn offers the dismembered hand to Gus to “knuck it up softly,” per their penchant for fist-bumping. 

They later do fist-bump outside the old Psych offices, but not before channeling Han Solo and Chewbacca in Star Wars: The Force Awakens: “Gus, we’re home.” “[Wookiee sound]”

Psych has become a French-themed cat café… for now, at least. It’s not an alternative universe from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, but the current subletter’s pop-up business. The proprietor (not the girl from Orphan) is played by Allison Miller, James Roday Rodriguez’s co-star in A Million Little Things.

“I am a psychic. He is a sympathetic pooper.” Poor Gus’ intestinal system gets called out again.

Henry’s (Corbin Bernsen) put-on voice gets compared to Tom Waits, Kathleen Turner, Harvey Fierstein, and Diedrich Bader.

Shawn neglected to tell his landlord that he’d moved, which tracks with his behavior in the series finale “The Break-Up.”

Henry reveals that in addition to telenovelas, he enjoys zeitgeist-y sobfests: “You left behind a slow cooker with a three-pound roast in it. You nearly This Is Us-ed the entire block.”

“This Is Us—Dad, why are you watching that show? They have the same show on ABC but newer”: Shawn’s shoutout to A Million Little Things.

Lassiter mistakes Reese Kessler, his supposed shooter, for country music singer Conway Twitty.

Lassiter’s to-do list includes “tape Galavant,” the short-lived musical comedy fantasy series created by Dan Fogelman (This Is Us), in which Timothy Omundson played King Richard. It also includes items poking fun at Lassiter’s crankiness (“yell at nature,” “chirping bird d-day plan”) and tenacity (“solve black dahlia”), and heartstring-tugging items (“pre-register for ironman” as in the triathlon). He also has written down Shawn’s S.E.I.Z.E. mantra from his short-lived career as Lassiter’s life coach in “S.E.I.Z.E. the Day”: Seize Eggs I don’t know Zebra Eighties.

Juliet (Maggie Lawson) lying to Shawn sounds strange, though not as strange as Lupita Nyong’o—the Tethered Lupita—in Jordan Peele’s Us.

Shawn’s “romantic dinner” for Jules is the menu from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (jelly beans, pretzels, buttered toast, popcorn, and ice cream sundaes) because it’s all they had at the gas station on the way home.

That prompts an iconic “C’mon, son!” from Gus.

Gus’ ringtone is “I’m Mr. Bootyman,” which is both Henry’s ringtone and the song featured in Buzz McNab’s bachelorette party stripper routine in “Deez Nups.”

Gus’ (technically Jules’) green snuggie bears a striking resemblance to official Psych contest merch.

Lassiter spotting mysterious bleeding figures out his window is an homage to Rear Window.

Richard Schiff (as Dr. Herschel) was Dulé Hill’s co-star in The West Wing.

Potterhead Gus wants to know if there are any people hiding in the pipes of the Herschel House, “speaking in their own tongue, perhaps Parsel.”

The Psych boys’ map of suspects briefly includes the Hell Hag from Gus’ dreams in “A Nightmare on State Street.”

Shawn has only been to Norway once with his brother-in-law Ewan O’Hara (John Cena), but they don’t talk about that… Maybe that’s where Psych: The Movie went after its cliffhanger ending?

Ova’s Norwegian song/chant toast at the Viking’s Ice Den is very similar to the Swedish toast in “Right Turn or Left for Dead.”

Ova’s violent son Per is first described as “the bearded Daryl Hannah.”

Shawn’s excuse to Detective Buzz McNab (Sage Brocklebank) for being in Santa Barbara is that he forgot a frisbee signed by German writer/director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.

Shawn’s first reaction to Jules potentially being pregnant: “You know the windows in the loft don’t even fully close, right? I’m gonna have to replace them, otherwise this is Baby’s Day Out all over again.” As Gus reassures him, he always did get worked up over John Hughes’ worst idea.

At the old Psych offices, Shawn pulls out the jousting lance from “100 Clues”—as well as a pineapple! He looks about to ask, “Should we cut this up for the road?” (his question during the pineapple’s first appearance in the pilot, plus at the end of Psych: The Movie) but stops himself.

When Lassie believes that fellow patient Mr. Wilkerson (Kadeem Hardison) has been walking around, Shawn and Gus have to go “full Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” to interrogate the supposedly catatonic patient.

Shoutout to Jessie Spano’s infamous “I’m so excited, I’m so excited, I’m so scared!” speed speech from Saved by the Bell.

If it’s not Scrubs, the boys are getting compared to Ren and Stimpy.

Mary Lightly (Jimmi Simpson) returns in another incredible, extra-hallucinatory look into Shawn’s brain… this time as a baby, since Shawn’s got fatherhood on the brain.

“We got jackaled!” Gus shouts upon learning that Wilkerson can walk—a reference to “hitting the jackal switch,” or going into stealth mode.

Shawn has always had a thing for singer Jewel, even after the Civil War movie (1999’s Ride with the Devil) and the Bollywood song.

Of course there’s a nasty dance when Shawn and Gus figure out who they think is behind everything.

Gus declares that “I am not going to let you shoot Shules’ baby!” only for the Chief (Kirsten Nelson) to ask, “What’s a Shules?” That’s the fans’ name for Shawn/Jules, a cute nod to a series OTP.

And of course, we can’t forget the fact that Jazmyn Simon, who plays Selene, is Dulé Hill’s real-life wife.

More than once, Shawn quotes The Handmaid’s Tale in reference to Gus and Selene’s baby: “Praise be” and “Blessed is the fruit.”

Dolores compliments Lassiter’s “chest of hair plentiful enough to wake all of Destiny’s Child.”

Shawn comes up with possible names for Gus’ child: Shaft, Shaftie, or D’Shaft—just like Gus’ nickname Sh’Dynasty (with a “God’s comma,” or apostrophe) from “Santabarbaratown.”

They also both coo “c’mon son” to Selene’s womb.

Selene’s proposal to Gus includes his negotiation that he and Shawn have adjacent homes with connecting pools, a callback to Shawn and Gus talking about their dream setup in “The Break-Up”; as well as Pluto! She asks, “Will you make me the happiest woman on this planet, on Eres, and Pluto?”

Shawn tells Juliet that “you’re my person,” the iconic Grey’s Anatomy line (though one would argue that Gus more accurately is his person).

When Lassiter stands (shut up, you’re crying) to meet Marlowe (Kristy Swanson), they place their palms together—like they did when he would visit her in jail, like they did at their wedding. My heart.

Join us on the Easter egg hunt—let us know what references we missed!

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