#kingsley ben adir x reader

[enchantinglyjade]

Shining My Love on You

Bob Marley/Kingsley Ben-adir One Shot

Bob Marley x Blk!Fem!Reader Note: Girl, I did it. This is just a quick little idea I got from the song Sun is Shining by Bob Marley. I don’t know much about Jamaican culture so I hope nothing in here is disrespectful. Most things/dialogue comes directly from the movie just to make sure I'm getting things like the dialect correct. Also, like my Elvis content, this fanfic derives from the biopic and has little correlation to the actual musician nor the actual actor, but rather the character that both come together to create.

-

Monday morning

The sun shines over the city of Kingston, giving each of its inhabitants a sweet sting upon their skin. The wind blows tenderly, cooling an otherwise hot morning. 

Bell bottoms cover the scraping of a young man’s shoes against the sand and rubble as he passes through town. The breeze catches beneath his unbuttoned jean jacket, causing it to flair gently behind him. As he walks, he catches glimpse of a rusted, teal pick up truck parked outside one of the shops, bags of green, yellow, and red mangoes piling out of the back. A woman takes four bags into her hands, lifting them from the truck with a bit of a struggle.

With a smile, he jogs over. As he approaches, his ears pick up on the faint static of a radio coming through the front door and pouring out onto the streets. “Here, let me help ya with that.”

The woman looks up in surprise, but smiles back nonetheless. “That’s very kind of you. Thank you.”

He takes in her face; her bright eyes, her braided hair, her youthful spirit. Not the first time he’s seen her around, he realizes. “Ah, that’s no problem.” He says, following her into the shop with bags of the fruit in his hands.

It is a small building, but its authenticity shines through down to the freshness of every seed and the care behind every wipe of the windows. “This yours?” He asks as he looks around after placing the bags on the front counter near the register.

“My mother’s” She answers, taking fruit by fruit from the bags and placing them on a nearby cart. “She’s with child, so I’m in charge for now.”

“Ah, I see.” He nods out. “You live in that yellow house on Hope?”

Her eyes contort in confusion from his sudden personal question and her movement stops, looking at the seeming stranger with a more cautious approach now. “How’d you know?” She asks slowly.

He chuckles at her expression. “I live near. I seen you pass by.”

As she takes him in, her face begins to soften, a feeling of ease settling in her stomach as she remembers his long hair and slender build playing football around the neighborhood from time to time. “Thought I recognized you. I’ve heard my cousins speak of you. Bob, is it?”

He can’t help but grin when he hears his name flow from her lips. “Me that is.” She tries to hide her blush when she notices the softness in his voice and the savor in his eyes as he gazes down at her. He chuckles at her shyness, finding it endearing how she’s trying her best to focus on the fruit in front of her. “I’ma head back home,” He says softly. “But when you need help with your mangoes again, you know where to look for me.” He smirks as he backs slowly towards the entrance, still taking in the way her aura fills the shop.

She shakes her head with a chuckle before an offering comes to her mind for the kind man. “Before you go.” She stops him suddenly, grabbing a ripe fruit from the top of one of the bags. She tosses it his way, where he catches it with ease. “On the house.” She says as she resumes unpacking the bags.

His grin widens, thumbing the smooth skin of the mango as if in hope to find the subtle heat her fingertips had left behind on it. “I appreciate it.” His eyes glance up thankfully.

She lets her gaze wander over her shoulder where she makes contact with him one last time. A small smirk appears on her cocoa lips as she gives him a quick once over before turning back with a satisfied hum.

Wednesday morning

Palm trees stand still above the streets, no breeze to be felt. The rising sun already blazes, peeking out from behind the mountain tops with readiness. Rooftops glisten with heat, the usual busy streets not quite as busy today.

Despite this, the man decides to go for a jog, making sure to accidentally pass by a particular shop on his way through the city. His green running shorts bounce with each step, his shirt darkening as it gathers the moisture that rises from his brown skin.

The familiar shop then approaches. He hears that same radio music playing, it’s static seeming louder today. The doors are open, but no one joins her inside, so she spends her shift feeling the music instead. The shelf in front of her is just nearly stocked before she can’t help but dance to the beat coming from the front of the store. She moves slowly in place, twirling her wrists out to her sides. The window behind her allows the pastel pink and yellow of the sunrise glow to outline her body, nothing but her faint silhouette apparent to the man's eyes. He can't stop himself from staring in amazement, hypnotized and inspired by her body.

As she turns, he makes her out clearer now. Her large hoop earrings graze the side of her throat as she sensually rolls it to the song, beaded hair braids making music of their own as they gently clap together along her spine. The charm around her neck falls into the divot of her chest next to the small drops of sweat that dew the surface of her skin. He lets himself take in every detail of her beauty down to the very colors of the beads around her waist. The small glass spheres peek out over her skirt as she stretches her arms out above her head; green for vitality, red for love, black for protection.

She rotates once more in place. Then, as her eyes open, she can’t help but naturally focus on the familiar face in the doorway. He leans against the frame with an enraptured expression. However, instead of jumping back in surprise, she lets out a small laugh, letting her arms fall back down to her sides. She feels her shoulders drop gently, feeling an odd sensation of relaxation in his presence. “Do you always spy?” She asks, cocking her head to the side.

He pauses for a moment, chuckling to himself with an endearing smirk as he looks down at her. “Do you ever not stare at a rainbow?” 

She finds herself unable to say another word, finally allowing her lips to curl in a similar fashion. 

“Warm day for dancing, don’t you think?” He teases, crossing the barrier into the solitude of the shop.

But, she only shakes her head, taking small steps in his direction. “Never too warm for freedom.”

He can only smile more. “I like that.”  And her laugh makes a feeling in his chest become warmer than any Jamaican day.

Friday morning

The woman hangs laundry outside the yellow house, her cousins yelling in the yard next store as a small black and white ball gets kicked around in the lush green grass. 

The radio plays, as it always does, filling her company enough as the rest of her family busies themselves with a game. Her feet move, as they always do, filling her boredom as her hands repeat a similar motion.

She picks up a small, worn red shirt, grasping a pin in her other hand. As she raises her arms, her eyes instinctively focus on something behind the clothes line, someone. 

She chuckles, pinning the shirt to the line before giving him her full attention. “Back again.” She taunts playfully, walking from the laundry basket.

“Dancing again.” He takes notice with excitement. 

Her feet move towards the gate, casually drifting towards his side. “Of course.” She responds.

He stands in front of her gate, leaning his arms across the fence in wonder of crossing the other side. “I love that you can’t help but dance.” Her blush returns as does her gaze to the wet clothes hanging about the yard, but this makes his mind wonder even more. “You’re a very beautiful woman.”

As she looks up, she’s met with a more captivated and earnest face than she had previously gotten used to, but she snickers it off. “You’ve a habit of saying that nowadays.”

He lets just barely a second pass between her words before he responds. “And I mean it more and more every time.”

Despite his earnesty, she laughs it off again, but her heart begins to speed faster with each word of cherishment she receives. “Is that why your eyes always trail my way?”

He chuckles. “When you find a beautiful flower, you can’t help but watch it blossom.”

She hums at his natural poetic way of speaking, finding it entertaining and having to bite the inside of her cheek to stop from smiling. “Many flowers you be finding?” She questions with teasingly squinted eyes.

He smiles at the suggestion. “None quite like you.”

Saturday evening

She locks the shop doors after making her last sale. Her back is heavy with exhaustion, her feet sore with work. She lets out a deep breath, closing her eyes to find her center and ease her stress for the time being, at least until she can make it back home. She slumps her bag over her shoulder and begins to walk, the moon beginning to climb the side of the mountains, shining through the telephone lines to light the dimming streets. But when she finally nears her front gate, she finds the man there once again.

He leans over the fencing just as he did the day before, staring longingly, almost nervously up at the faintly lit windows of the house.

“Bob.” She calls out quietly, almost in question as to why he’s there.

He turns in surprise as he hears the sound of her voice to his side and straightens his back out. His usual smile doesn’t yet appear on his face, which causes the woman’s stomach to worry. “Been looking for you. Wanted to talk to ya.” He stammers out.

She readjusts her bag nervously on her shoulder, quickly looking him up and down. “What ‘bout?”

He looks down at the ground and his throat bobs with a swallow. “I can’t stop thinking ‘bout you. All the time.” A chuckle escapes his lips, his cheeks blushing from the embarrassment of his own nervousness. He decides to just get it out finally, consumed by the feelings she brings him. “I want be with you.” He states with a soft firmness in his tone.

Her heart flutters but her brain tells her not to show it. “I thought you just flirting… not that you want me.” She challenges her feelings reluctantly so, not wanting to believe something so good.

He shakes his head with an unbelievable grin. “I want you like a tree wants soil… like a mango wants a cute shop in Kingston to be sold at.”

A laugh escapes her lungs before she looks tenderly up at him. “You’re sure?”

He takes a step forward, a teasingly dubious hum responds to her question. “You think me not know what I want?”

Her voice drops quieter as he nears her, feeling his air cascade down her skin. “What you know?” She breathes out.

He lets his belly fill and deplete with air once as he relishes in their energies beginning to finally collide. “I know I gotta fight for the things I believe in.”

Her hands reach forward to place above each breast of his, feeling them expand beneath her fingertips, feeling the distinct thump that echoes throughout his ribcage.

His gaze drops down to her lips but just as quick re-find her eyes, the want is there, but his need searches her eyes for her soul, not her touch.

“And what do you believe in?” She asks.

The hands once at his sides, reach out to cup her waist, thumb rolling over the small beads he had noticed only a few mornings ago, gently pressing the rounded glass against her skin.

The sensation sends a shiver through her body, causing her shoulders to shake and her bag to slide right off, thumping to the ground at her feet. A quite gasp escapes her lips as her eyes are forced to break away from his at the sudden disruption.

With a chuckle, he hooks his thumb under the strap, letting his fingertip graze the length of her arm. Her eyes can't leave his hand, feeling his subtle warmth cascade past her elbow and trickle down the sensitive bone of her forearm until the bag acquires balance on the concrete.

He lets the strap fall to the ground as well, then finds solace at her waist once again. His lips widen slightly before answering her. “One heart. You and I.”

Her breathing falters, wanting to reach out for him, but she can't help but disappointingly let her eyes break away from his again. “Had me heart broken more times I can count, Bob. How can I believe in the one?”

One hand is removed from her waist, reaching towards her face. He curls his fingers, placing them beneath her chin for her to rest upon. The thumping of his chest becomes more present to her, but her mind can only focus on the tingling of her cheek as his thumb rolls over it as it did her waist moments before.

Their eyes lock onto the others, not daring, not thinking to move away. She can feel him, and he her.

Her palms stream up the cloth of his button up towards his neck, simultaneous to him leaning forward for her, and then it happens. They collide.

His mouth is soft, barely moving, so he can make out the feeling of her warmth against him, make out the feeling of the passion that flows through each of her veins and connects with his. Their lips crash in the same way a wave can smoothly cascade a beach, but alter its sand entirely nonetheless. It is earth changing, weather inducing.

She holds his face against hers, the skin of their lips barely breaking away as their foreheads connect and their hearts press together to join as one.

His lashes fan between her own, opening to scan the emotion in her gaze, opening to make her a promise he intends to keep. “Well, here I am.”

Would you ever write fanfics of the new Bob Marley movie? Kingsley Ben Adir was amazing in it.

Yo lowkey! That actually sounds fun. He was really good in that movie, I'll think about it lmao

[svnnywrites]

why is no one writing fics about him???

[swift-writes]

Yours (Gravik X F!Reader) - NSFW!

Warnings: Smut, Bondage, Unprotected Penetrative Sex, Good Boy Kink, Mummy Kink.

Not Proofread

——————————————————————

“We can’t sleep until the mole is found, Mia!” Gravik was pacing around my room in the compound in only his boxers and a tank top, it was 1:30am. “They’re really starting to get in my nerves, this plan can’t go wrong now.” He ground his teeth together in frustration, digging his nails into his palms and eventually settling in a chair, spreading his legs wide.

I was nervous, it was hard to pin the blame on someone else when I was the mole myself, I’m lucky that Gravik trusts me for now. “I’m sure it was Pagon, you saw how much he was trying to deter your plans.” I stood up, and walked towards him in the chair. I knelt down and rubbed my hands up and down his thighs, hoping to distract him from his investigation.

“It seems to easy don’t you think, the mole wouldn’t reveal themself like that infront of everyone, he was my 2nd in command and clearly wanted to embarrass me infront of everyone else.” He was clearly angry now, his Welsh accent was growing thicker and I could hear the saliva sloshing with his words.

“Well you can’t find the mole if you aren’t well rested can you?” I slid my finger up the leg of his boxers, slightly teasing the underside of his balls. He grunted and weakly thrusted his hips.

“What’re you doing Mia?” He was staring directly into my eyes, clearly trying not to show his desperation and pleasure.

“Just some stress relief, do you not like it.” I advanced further, sliding my hand until my wrist rested on his inner thigh and my fist was secured tightly round his shaft.

“I- No, it’s great.” He thrusted his hips harder this time, his length sliding through my fingers, leaving my hands rested against his crotch.

“Do you want me to keep going, I can take charge if you want.” I smirked, not just because my plan was working but because I was finally doing what I wanted to with Gravik.

“Yes, God please. Just make me feel like this, keep making me feel good.” I almost lost control as the pleasure dragged raspy whimpers from his throat, making my core increasingly wet.

“Get on the bed then big boy, let me help you out.” He obeyed immediately, peeling off his tank top and following with his tight boxers. He climbed onto the bed on his knees and I couldn’t resist to keep my hands off him: I slide my hands down his flexed, muscular back and squeezed his ass, almost kneading it’s softness in my hand. His whimpers were causing an eargasm I didn’t know I needed.

Once he was laid down, I reached for some rope I had nearby from one of my training sessions and commanded him to put his hands together on the bar that served as my headboard. I tied his hands to it and did the same to his legs at the bottom of the bed.

His hips were thrusting into the air, his body desperate for my touch as he squirmed against his restraints. I grasped his cock lightly in my fist, straddling his thighs to stop his hips moving. “Is this mine?” I asked, teasing him as I swiped my thumb over the tip and lightly squeezed him.

He was struggling against his binds, panting and gasping for breath. “Yes, yes. It’s yours, all yours.” His tongue slipped from his mouth, letting him pull in some needed air.

“Mmmmm, good. I like the sound of that.” I stripped my clothes and leant down, pressing my body against his legs before taking his tip into my my mouth and sucking hard, as if I was trying to milk everything from his balls.

I could tell the ropes were going to mark him, he was struggling hard, forced to submit to the pleasure he was feeling. “Ughhh.” He let out a gargled groan as I inhaled the rest of his cock until his balls rested against my chin and my nose mashed itself against his tickling happy trail. His unholy noises only served as fuel to my lustful fire and I bobbed my head, willingly choking myself on his meat as I pushed Gravik’s body to the edge.

His body was slowing its struggles but his voice was making noises I didn’t think a skrull could make. When he was audibly near his peak, I pulled off, giving one last teasing lick to his tip before letting him struggle.

“Please… please. I need to come, don’t leave me on the edge.” He arched his back and groaned, trying to rut against the air.

“You need to prove that your going to be a good boy for me, how are you going to do that?” I slightly slid up his body, grasping his cock and slapping it against my soaked folds. He whimpered and quietly mumbled an answer. “Can you repeat that baby?” I know that he’s asking me to ride his cock but I decided to string him along a bit more. “One more time baby, mummy can’t hear you.” As he began to quiver his lips in speech, I slide the rest of the way up his body, feeling his abs grind against my vagina and his pecs slap softly against my thighs. I then slid on to his face before he could finish his speech and slotted my hips against his face, letting his lips finish their movements against my own lewd ones.

“Ughhhh, I think this is definitely going to prove it. Don’t you?” I ground my hips against his face, muffling his mumbles and letting all the vibrations add to my own pleasure. His tongue was lapping at me hard, desperate to get drunk on my juices. I pulled off before he could get too much of a taste and noticed his arms desperately trying to pull free in an attempt to hold me against his face.

I chuckled, tracing my fingertip over his heaving chest and straining abs as he tried to regain his breath. I reached up with my other hand and slid my thumb between his lips, using my other fingers to the wipe the mess from around his mouth. “I think you’ve proved yourself, haven’t you?” He enthusiastically nodded, not daring to move his lips from my thumb.

I slid myself back down his body, straddling his hips and lightly stroking his erection over my slick folds. His mouth was quivering from the sensation, not struggling anymore in an attempt to appear compliant. His eyes were glossy and desperate, my slow strokes increasing his urgency to release. “Please mummy.” I chuckled, not because I’d managed to get him off my scent in his investigation, but because I had him whimpering and submissive underneath me.

The seductive noises combined with the pretty movements of his chest and tensing thighs and my urgency for him eventually grew over my need to tease him. I lined myself up above his crotch and slowly slid onto him, feeling the stretch from his girth, despite the slick that had formed in my walls. I groaned as he whimpered and leant down, pressing my face into his glistening chest, the smell of sweat and musk filling my nose.

His length pushed deeper inside me than anything I had used or people I had had before. It slid onto my sweet spot, pressing deeply before slightly passing it. I whimpered feebly, gnawing on the soft skin of his pectorals and licking the hard nipples. I weakly lifted my hips before pushing them back down, my energy already spent even though Gravik had only been inside me for 30 seconds.

I screamed suddenly when Gravik changed his skin to a skrull, expanding his cock inside me and breaking his binds before turning back to his disguise. I whimpered against his chest, my walls clamped down on his cock as he used his hands to grip my ass, thrusting up roughly. I screamed and gagged as if my throat was choking on him again. I was loud enough that multiple people in the compound must have woken up.

“GRAVIK!” I screamed, clawing at his arms and chest for stability. He swapped our positions and I was placed on my back, my legs swung over the hunk above me’s shoulders. His thrusts were fast, rough and unforgiving, making me jealous of all the skrulls that had a better chance of being with him forever. I reached up, my whole arm shaking as the bed rocked loudly against the wall, and pulled his face towards mine, his chest to my breasts.

He smirked like a lustful demon and pushed his panting tongue between my waiting lips. The kiss was harsh and unrelenting, our lips slobbering over the other person’s as his chiselled v line collided roughly with my hips. He pulled off, licking his lips deliciously before growling and pushing himself faster for the final stretch.

The bed was smashing against the wall now, chipping the wooden parts and clanging the metal parts. There were a few knocks on the door, asking if I was ok. Gravik replied for me, “JUST ONE FUCKING MINUTE.” He screamed at the door, never taking his diluted eyes of my wide ones as he pounded me deeper into the mattress. My voice box couldn’t muster a scream loud enough to vocalise my pleasure. I was forced to claw at his sculpted body or pull him further into my with my legs around his hips.

5 minutes later, my eyes were dropping as exhaustion flooded over me, my whole core overstimulated from every inch of Gravik’s cock. He, on the other hand, was livelier than ever, forcing each thrust deeper and harder than the last. Over our sexual din, I could hear murmurs outside the door, women giggling over the thought of Gravik and men reprimanding their leader. The man above me paid no attention as his hips began to stutter and his throat gargled. He pressed a kiss to my lips, not pulling off as his dick swelled inside me, pushing as deep as he could, his balls drew up against my ass and he filled my pussy with his thick, milky seed.

I whimpered as he instantly pulled out, slipped on his boxers and tugged open the door. “What!” He commanded, his Welsh accent making me twitch on the bed hysterically. The people outside stuttered as they stared at his almost-naked body, the fresh scratches all over his torso and arms, his shaking thighs, soaked beard, swollen lips and half erect cock in his boxers. The silence was deafening, no one had a word to say so he slammed the door and joined me in bed again, removing his boxers to hold me as intimately and freely as possible.

I curled up against his chest in a foetal position, purring against his body. “Your mine aren’t you baby, my little mole forever.”

I didn’t even care that he knew, I had just been ruined by him and nothing else mattered. “Yes I’m yours.”

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Thanks for reading <3

Requests are open :)

[watchtowerindistress]

gravik stans unite!!!

dude there's not a single gravik fic out there? what is going on here?? when you finish the finale last week, thinking people were busy getting their fix, but nope 🤷🏻‍♀️

[byorder-fanfic]

Dating Ben Younger

Gif by @johnnymartin which is pretty much a godsend cause there isn't a lot of content for him!

They say be the change you want to see in the world and I wanted more ben x reader content, so here we are i guess! Feedback is always appreciated and I'm hoping to do more writing for a lot more underappreciated character in the future.

Okay so lets start this off with the most obvious- Ben is the most gentlemanly boyfriend in the world

He would go proper courtship

Fancy meals, taking you coat and pulling out your chair, walking you home, the whole package

A lot of it might be making up for his really busy schedule

He tries not to bring his work home but his rank as Colonel is a really big part of him and his life

Lots of car dates!

(Abseloutely no explosions though. None at all. I refuse to acknowledge anything that happened in season 5.)

It would be practical because he's always on the move and it would mean he could very easily fit time with you in on a very busy schedule

Plus, it would also put you out of danger cause as a member of military, it would probably be best for his relationship to not be very public

He would park somewhere inconspicuous and you could just jump in and drive all over town

It wasn't the most romantic but you got to talk and hold hands and kiss without worrying too much who would see

He would also take you to the races

As the 'only cavalryman who could ride a horse', Ben has always loved horses but he hasn't actually ridden since the war

Too many bad memories

But he still likes to get dressed up and watch the horse racing- especially when you're by his side

He isn't a gambling man by any means but it becomes a tradition that the two of you would pick a horse each to put a few pennies on and make a competition out of it

It is one of his favourite things, watching you scream and jump in excitement when your horse overtook his

It is also one of the very few times where he can just relax

If you live together, you will probably have to be good at the gentle art of persuasion

He would be glued to the desk

Telling you he'll be in bed in a few minutes

And it always ending up being a few hours

So you'd learn to start coming up behind him and rubbing his shoulders, coaxing him away from the work on his desk with every trick in the book

Nonetheless, he seems like a very domestic kind of guy

Probably does the dishes and makes dinner and helps with chores around the house

He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who argues. Instead, you'd just have conversations and try to talk honestly about whatever's upsetting you

And at the end of the day, you'd probably sit down in bed reading together cause you're basically an old married couple

Anyways, I love him...so please take this as a sign to write more Ben Younger x reader fics honestly we need more of them!

[aion-rsa]

Link Tank: Celebrating 55 Years of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

It’s been 55 years since the release of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! Here are some surprising facts you might not know about the animated special.

“Lee Mendelson hadn’t planned on a career in animation. But when television sponsors saw the filmmaker’s documentary about cartoonist Charles Schulz, they asked if the two could team up to produce a Christmas special based on Schulz’s Peanuts strip. The result, A Charlie Brown Christmas, was seen by roughly half of all households watching television during its premiere on CBS on December 9, 1965. Mendelson went on to produce other Peanuts primetime specials, but 1966’s It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown remains one of the most endearing.”

Read more at Mental Floss

Halloween or A Nightmare On Elm Street? Which slasher horror movie franchise is the greatest of all time?

“Having triumphed in the first, second, third, and fourth rounds, two franchises remain. Here, in the finals, the madman stalker of the ’70s takes on the quipping, deformed nightmare terrorizer of the ’80s. Who will take it home: the killer who never says a word or the one who never shuts up? Keep reading to see which of these long-running series we name the winner of our Ultimate Slasher Franchise Tournament. And then scroll past those results to the reader’s poll, where you, the fans, have a chance to name a different winner.”

Read more at The A.V. Club

Check out Audition, Cure, and more of the greatest Japanese horror movies ever made.

“It’s nearly Halloween, so there’s a good chance you’re in the mood for some horror. Might I tempt you with some from Japan? Below are some—certainly not all—of Japan’s bloodiest and creepiest horror films. You might have seen some of these, but hopefully, there will be something new here to check out. You may have seen none, and if you like horror, consider these an introduction to the world of J-horror.”

Read more at Kotaku

Could Marvel’s Secret Invasion Disney+ series introduce the X-Men to the MCU?

“Based on the comic book storyline of the same name, the Disney+ series is set to focus on the conflict that breaks out when it is discovered that a legion of Skrulls has begun secretly invading Earth by posing as various superheroes, politicians, and other powerful figures. Secret Invasion is also set to introduce some high-profile actors to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Emilia Clarke, Olivia Colman, and Kingsley Ben-Adir, though, it’s still unclear who any of those actors will be playing in the series.”

Read more at Inverse

Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, and an absolutely unrecognizable Jared Leto shine in the new trailer for Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci.

“Growing up with an Italian mother meant that things like House of Gucci really get me excited about my Sicilian roots. In a new trailer detailing the downfall of the Gucci family and the murder of Maurizio Gucci by his ex-wife, Patrizia Reggiani, we get to see more of this cast of Academy Award winners and nominees shine. Honestly, Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani is something I probably would have dreamt for as a kid, and lucky me, Ridley Scott just gave it to me with no questions asked.”

Read more at The Mary Sue

Discover the most compelling reason to pay a lot of money to upgrade your Nintendo Switch to the new OLED Pro.

“It’s not uncommon for console makers to release refreshed hardware late into a gaming machine’s life cycle: the countless iterations of the Nintendo GBA, DS, and 3DS are all proof of that. So with the Nintendo Switch well into its fifth year, and rumors of an upgraded pro version still just rumors, Nintendo is clearly aiming to rekindle hardware sales for the holiday season with the Switch OLED. It’s not a complete overhaul, but if you’re mostly a handheld Switch gamer that upgraded screen is a genuine treat for the eyes that’s going to be hard to resist.”

Read more at Gizmodo

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[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior Christmas - New Year’s Edition – WONDER WOMAN 1984, NEWS OF THE WORLD, PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI..., PIECES OF A WOMAN, HERSELF, SYLVIE’S LOVE and More!

Welcome to the VERY LAST Weekend Warrior of the WORST YEAR EVER!!! But hopefully not the last column forever, even though I already plan on taking much of January off from writing 8 to 10 reviews each week. It just got to be too much for a while there.

Because it’s the last week of the year, there are a lot of really good movies, some in theaters but also quite a few on streaming services. In fact, there are a good number of movies that appeared in my Top 10 for the yearover at Below the Line, as well as my extended Top 25 that I’ll share on this blog sometime next week. I was half-hoping to maybe write something about the box office prospects of some of the new movies, but after the last couple weeks, it’s obvious that box office is not something that will be something worth writing about until sometime next spring or summer.

(This column is brought to you by Paul McCartney’s new album “McCartney III” which I’m listening to as I finish this up… and then other solo Beatles ditties picked for me randomly by Tidal.)

First up is easily one of the most anticipated movies of the year, or at least one that actually didn’t move to 2021, and that’s WONDER WOMAN 1984 (Warner Bros.), Patty Jenkins’ sequel to the 2017 hit, once again starring Gal Gadot as Diana Prince. I reviewed it here, but basically the sequel introduces Wonder Woman arch-nemeses Barbara Minerva aka Cheetah, as played by Kristen Wiig, and Pedro Pascal’s Max Lord and how an ancient artifact gives them both their powers, as well as helps to bring Diana’s true love Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) back despite him having disappeared presumed dead in WWI. As you can see by reading my review, I thought it was just fine, not great and certainly not something I’d make an attempt to see a second time in a 25% capacity movie theater. Fortunately, besides debuting in around 2,100 movie theaters across the nation, it will also be on HBO Max day and date, which has caused quite a stir. Being Christmas weekend with no work/school on Monday, I can see it still making somewhere between $10 and 12 million, but I can’t imagine it doing nearly what it might have done with most theaters only 25-30% full at the maximum and that theater count being roughly half the number it might have gotten during the “normal times.”

Paul Greengrass’ Western NEWS OF THE WORLD (Universal) reteams him with his Captain Phillips star Tom Hanks, this time playing Captain Jefferson Kidd, a Civil War soldier who travels from town to town in the Old West reading from newspapers to anyone who has a dime and time to listen. After one such reading, he discovers a young girl (Helena Zengel) on her own, having spent the last few years with a family of Native Americans who were killed by soldiers. Together, they travel across America as Kidd hopes to bring the girl to her last surviving family members.

I already reviewed Greengrass’ movie for Below the Line, and I also  spoke to Mr. Greengrass, an interview you can read that right here (once it goes live), but I make no bones that this was one of my favorite movies I’ve seen this year, and it’s not just due to the fine work by Greengrass and his team. No, it’s just as much about the emotion inherent in the story, and the relationship between the characters played by Hanks and Zengel.  

I’ve watched the movie three times now, and I’m still blown away by every frame and moment, the tension that’s created on this difficult journey but also where it leaves the viewers at the end that promises that there can be hope and joy even in the most difficult and turbulent times. It’s a wonderful message that’s truly needed right now.

Listen, I’m not gonna recommend going to a movie theater if you don’t feel it’s safe – I’ve already spoken my peace on this at a time when COVID numbers were much lower – but this is a movie that I personally can’t wait to see in a movie theater. I honestly can’t see the movie making more than $3 or 4 million in the open theaters considering how few people are willing to go to movie theaters. Obviously, this isn’t as big a draw as Wonder Woman, but it is a fantastic big screen movie regardless.

Also opening in theaters this Friday is Emerald Fennell’s directorial debut PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN (Focus Features), starring the wonderful Oscar-nominated Carey Mulligan as Cassie Thomas, a woman who has revenge on her mind. Cassie spends her nights picking up guys in bars by pretending she’s so drunk she can barely walk, then humiliating them and presumably worse. When she encounters an acquaintance from med school in the form of Bo Burnham’s Ryan, the two begin dating, though he ends up awakening a darker side to Cassie that seeks revenge for something that happened back during their school days. (Honestly, if you’re already sold, just skip to the next movie. That’s all I want you to know before watching it.)

I was ready to love Fennell’s movie when it opened with a disgusting shot of gross stock market bros in loose-fitting suits gyrating in slow motion before one of them tries to pick up a totally soused Cassie at the club. It’s a scene that really plays itself out quite well, and then leads into Mulligan’s character allowing another clear scumbag (played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse, maybe as a slight-older McLovin?) before turning the tables on him as well.

There’s going to be a lot of talk about this movie after people see it, since it’s one of those great films that begins a lot of conversations. I imagine most women of a certain age will love it, but some men might see themselves in some of the characters (even Burnham’s) and wonder whether Cassie just won’t take crap from any man or if she’s a full-on misandrist. One thing we do know a lot is that she does this sort of thing a lot, and there’s something from her past that has driven her involving something that happened to her female friend in med school. I’m going to stop talking about the plot here, because I definitely don’t want to spoil anything who hasn’t seen the movie, but the second half of the movie is as deeply satisfying as Tarantino’s Kill Bill in terms of the surprises.

You’ll realize while watching what a treat you’re in for when you first watch Mulligan’s amazing transformation from pretending to be drunk to being completely cognizant and just all the emotions we see her go through after that. Of course, we never really know what she’s actually doing to the guys she lets pick her up -- she keeps a notebook with guy’s names and a quizzical counting system, so we can only imagine.

Fennell’s screenplay is fantastic but her work as a first-time director in maintaining the the tone and pacing of the movie is really what will keep you captivated, whether it’s the amazing musical choices or how Cassie dresses up to lure men. There’s also a great cast around Mulligan whether it’s comic Burnham in a relatively more serious role, but one that also allows him a musical number. (No joke.) Fennel’s amazing casting doesn’t just stop there from, Jennifer Coolidge as Cassie’s mother to Laverne Cox as Gail, her workmate/boss at the coffee shop – both of them add to the film’s subtle humor elements. Alfred Molina shows up to give a show-stopping performance, and Alison Brie also plays a more dramatic role as another one of Cassie’s classmates. I can totally understand why the Golden Globes might have deemed the movie a “comedy/musical” (for about two days before going back) , but putting so many funny people in dramatic roles helps give Promising Young Woman its own darkly humorous feel. All that darkness is contrasted by this sweet romance between Cassie and Ryan that’s always in danger of imploding due to Cassie’s troubled nature.

The biggest shocking surprise is saved for the third act, and boy, it’s going to be one that people will be talking about for a VERY long time, because it’s just one gut punch after another. I loved this movie, as it’s just absolutely brilliant – go back and see where it landed in my Top 10. As one of the best thrillers from the past decade, people will be talking about this for a very long time 

Promising Young Woman hits theaters on Christmas Day, and presumably, it will be available on VOD sometime in January, but this is not one you want to wait on. If you do go see it in theaters, just be safe, please. No making out with random men or women, please.

Regina King’s narrative feature debut, ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI... (Amazon Studios), will ALSO be in theaters on Christmas Day, and though I’ve reviewed it over at Below the Line, but I’ll talk a little more about it here just for my loyal Weekend Warrior readers.

Yet another movie that made my Top 10, this one stars a brilliant quartet of actors --  Kingsley Ben-Adir, Leslie Odom Jr., Aldis Hodge and Eli Goree—as four legendary black icons: Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, Jim Brown and Cassius Clay, on the night after the last of them wins the World Boxing Championship against Sonny Liston in February 1964. The four men meet in Malcolm X’s hotel room to discuss what’s happening in their lives and the world in general, as well as Clay’s decision to join the Nation of Islam, just as Malcolm X is getting ready to leave the brotherhood due to philosophical differences with the group. In fact, all four men have philosophical differences that are discussed both in good humor and in deep conflict as they disagree on their place in a white-dominated world in a year before the Civil Rights Act would be signed.

First of all, there’s no way to talk about this movie without discussing the Kemp Powers play on which it’s based, and we can’t mention that without mentioning that Powers also co-wrote and co-directed Pixar’s Soul, which will be available on Disney+ this Friday. It’s a fantastic script and King put together a fantastic cast of actors who really give their all to every scene. In the case of Leslie Odom, Jr., you really can believe him as Cooke, especially in a number of fantastic performances pieces. Likewise, Goree looks a lot like Clay both in the ring and out, carrying all of the swagger for which he would become more famous as Ali.

I’ve seen the movie twice already and if you’ve looked at my Top 10, then you already know this is another one that made my cut, so I don’t think I need to give it a much harder sell. I’m sure you’ll be hearing a lot about this one on its journey to Oscar night when hopefully, King becomes the first woman of color to be nominated in the directing category. Or rather, she’ll probably tie for that honor with Nomadland director Chloé Zhao.

If you don’t feel like going to theaters for this one, you’ll be able to catch it on Amazon Prime Video on January 15, too… you’ll just have to wait a little longer.

Also, the new Pixar animation movie, SOUL, directed by Pete Docter (Up, Inside Out) and co-directed by Kemp Powers (remember him?), will hit Disney+ on Christmas Day, and I reviewed it here, so I probably don’t have  lot more to say about it, but it’s great, and if you have Disney+, I’m sure you’ll be watching it.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a screener for Matteo Garrone’s PINNOCHIO (Roadside Attractions), which also opens in about 700 theaters on Christmas Day. This adaptation stars Robert Benigni as Geppeto, who famously starred as Pinocchio in his own version of the classic fairy tale from 2002. That other movie was “Weinsteined” at a time when that just meant that a movie was ruined by Harvey Weinstein’s meddling, rather than anything involving sexual assault.

Another great movie hitting streaming this week is Eugene Ashe’s SYLVIE’S LOVE, which streams on Amazon Prime Video today. It stars Tessa Thompson as Sylvie and Nnamdi Asomugha (also a producer on the film) as Robert, who meet one summer in the late 50s while working at Sylvie’s father’s record store. He is a jazz musician who is on the rise, but their romance is cut short when he gets a gig in Paris but she refuses to go with him. Also, she’s pregnant with his child. Years later, they reconnect with her now being married with a young daughter (clearly Robert’s) and they realize that the love between them is still very real and true.

This is the first of three movies I watched this week where I went in with very little knowledge and absolute zero expectations. Like everyone else on earth, I am an avid fan of Ms. Thompson’s work both in movies like Thor: Ragnarok and smaller indies. She’s just a fantastic presence that lights up a screen. While I wasn’t as familiar with Asomugha’s acting work – he’s produced some great films and acted in a few I liked, included Crown Heights – there’s no denying the chemistry between the two.

What’s kind of interesting about the movie is that it combines a few elements from other great movies released this week, including Soul and A Night in Miami, but in my opinion, handles the music business aspect to the story better than the much-lauded Netflix movie, Ma Raimey’s Black Bottom. Frankly, I also think the performances by the two leads are as good as those by Boseman and Davis in that movie, but unfortunately, Amazon is submitting this to the Emmys as as “TV movie” rather than to the Oscars, so that’s kind of a shame.

This is a movie that’s a little hard to discuss why I enjoyed it so much without talking about certain scenes or moments, or just go through the entire story, but I think part of the joy of appreciating what Ashe has done in his second original feature film is to tell the story of these two characters over the course of a decade or so in a way that hasn’t been done before. That alone is quite an achievement, because we’ve seen many of those types of movies over the years (When Harry Met Sally, for instance).

What I really liked about Sylvie’s Love over some of the other “black movies” this year is that it literally creates its own world and just deals with the characters within it, rather than trying to make a big statement about the world at the time. Maybe you can say the same about Soul in that sense, but you would be absolutely amazed by how much bigger an audience you can get by telling a grounded story in a relatable world, and then throw in a bit of music, as both those movies do.

So that’s all I’ll say except that this will is now on Amazon Prime Video , so you have no excuse not to check it out while you wait for Regina King’s equally great One Night in Miami to join it in mid-January.

Hitting Netflix on Christmas day is Robert Rodriguez’s WE CAN BE HEROES, his sequel to his 2005 family film The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl – not his best moment -- which follows the kids of the Heroics, a Justice League-like super group. They’re all in a special school for kids with powers but they have to step up when the Heroics are captured by aliens. Want to know what will happen? Well, you’ll just have to wait for Christmas Day for when my review drops to find out whether I liked it more or less than Rodriguez’s earlier film which SPOILER!! I hated.)

The first thing you need to get past is that Shark Boy and Lava Girl are now man and wife, and just that fact might be tough for anyone who only discovered the movie sometime more recently. There are other familiar faces in the Heroics like Pedro Pascal, Sung Kang, Christian Slater, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and more, so clearly, Rodriguez is still able to pull together a cast.

The movie actually focuses on YaYa Goselin’s Missy Moreno, daughter of the Heroic’s leader (Pascal) who has also retired. Just as aliens are invading the earth, Missy is put into a school of kids with superpowers, all kids of various Heroic members. Sure, it’s derived directly from The X-Men and/or Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, so yeah… basically also the X-Men. We meet all of the kids in a great scene where we see them using their powers and learn their personalities, and honestly, they really are the best part of the movie.Probably the most adorable is Guppy, the very young daughter of Shark Boy and Lava Girl, played by Viven Blair. Oddly, Missy doesn’t have any powers so she feels a bit fish-out-of-water in the group even though, like her father, she proves to be a good leader.

As much as I really detested Rodriguez’s Shark Boy and Lava Girl movie, I feel like he does a lot better by having a variety of kids in this one, basically something for everyone, but also not a bad group of child actors. (There’s also a fun role for Adriana Barraza​.) There are definitely aspects that are silly, but Rodriguez never loses sight of his audience, and wisely, Netflix is offering this as a Christmas Day release which should be fun for families with younger kids who might see this as their first superhero movie.

More discerning viewers may not be particularly crazy about visual FX, all done as usual in Rodriguez’s own studio but some of them look particularly hoaky and cheap compared to others. (I mean, that’s probably the appeal for hiring Rodriguez because he’s able to do so much in-house. In this case, he got all four of his own kids involved in various capacities of making the film.)

We Can Be Heroes is clearly a movie made for kids, so anyone expecting anything on part with Amazon’s The Boys will be quite disappointed. It’s probably Rodriguez getting slightly closer to Spy Kids than he has with any of his other family-friendly movies, but one shouldn’t go in with the expectations that come with any of the much bigger blockbusters released these days. Personally, I enjoyed that fact, and I totally would watch another movie with this superteam.

Michel Stasko’s BOYS VS. GIRLS (Gravitas Ventures) is a fun retro-comedy that follows a war between the male and female counselors at Camp Kindlewood, which has just gone co-ed. At the center of it all is Dale (Eric Osborne) and Amber (Rachel Dagenais) as two teens who are in the middle of a meet-cute romance in the middle of a inter-gender competition called “Lumberman vs. Voyagers,” which I have no idea whether it’s a real thing or not.

I probably should have known I’d like this one from the catchy New Order-ish song in the opening credits, but listen, Wet Hot American Summer is one of my all-time favorite movies, and that was basically made to satirize ‘80s movies like Meatballs. This one falls more towards to the latter in terms of humor, but it also feels authentic to the ‘80s summer camp experience.

It helps that the grown-ups at the camp are played by the likes of Kevin McDonald from New Kids on the Block, Colin Mochrie from Whose Line is It Anyway and others, but it’s really about the younger cast playing teen boys and girls in the throes of puberty, something we all can in some way relate to. The young cast play a series of stereotypical young but there are a lot of funny tropes within them, as each of the cast is given a chance to deliver some of the funnier gags. This isn’t necessarily high-brow humor, mind you, but I love the fact that you can still make a movie about a time where you could still make fun of girl’s periods in school. (I’m kidding. I just put that in there cause I feel like I need to throw things like that into this column just to see if anyone is ACTUALLY reading it.)

The presumably Canadian Stasko is another great example of an independently-spirited filmmaker who has an idea for a fun movie and then just goes about making it, regardless of having big stars or anything to sell it besides many funny moments that can be featured a trailer, so that those who like this kind of movie will find it. Listen, Wet Hot American Summer wasn’t a huge hit when it was released. I still remember it having trouble getting a single screening at the multiplex in Times Square when it was released but over the years since it became sort of a cult hit (kind of due to Netflix having it to rent on DVD, I think).

Besides a fun script and cast, Stasko also find a way to include tunes that sound so much like real ‘80s songs we would have heard on the radio but aren’t quite the big hits that would have cost him thousands of dollars, but I really just enjoyed the heck out of the tone and overall fun attitude that went into making this movie.

Also on VOD now is Ian Cheney and Martha Shane’s fascinating and funny doc, THE EMOJI STORY (Utopia), which I saw at the Tribeca Film Festival when it was called “Picture Character.” (That’s what “emoji” in Japanese means, just FYI.) As you can guess it’s about the origins and rise of the emoji as a form of communication from its humble beginning in Japan to becoming one of the biggest trending crazes on the globe. I’m not that big an Emoji guy myself – I tend to use the thumbs up just for ease, but I do marvel at those who can put together full thoughts using a string of these symbols, and if you want to know more about them, this is the movie you should watch.

Now let’s cut ahead to some of the movies that will be opening and streaming NEXT week…

Hitting select theaters on Wednesday, December 30 and what really is my “FEATURED FLICK” for this column is Hungarian filmmaker Kornél (White God) Mundruczó’s PIECES OF A WOMAN (Netflix) before its streaming premiere on Netflix January 7.

Written by Kata Wéber, who also wrote Mundruczó’s earlier film, it stars Vanessa Kirby (The Crown) and Shia Labeouf as Martha and Sean Weiss, a Boston couple who lose their baby during a particularly difficult home birth and follows the next year in their lives and how that tragic loss affects their relationship with each other and those around them.

As you can imagine, Pieces of a Woman is a pretty heavy drama, one that reminded me of the films of Todd Field (Little Children, In the Bedroom) in terms of the intensity of the drama and the emotions on screen from the brilliant cast Mundruczó put together for his English language debut. I’m not sure I could use the general plot to sell anyone on seeing this because it is very likely the worst possible date movie of the year after Netflix’s 2019 release, Marriage Story, but it’s just as good in terms of the writing and performances.

At the center of it is Kirby – and yeah, I still haven’t watched The Crown, so shut up! I’ll get to it!!! – who most of us fell in love with for her role in Mission: Impossible - Fallout, but what we see her go through as an actress here really shows the degree of her abilities. But it also shows what Mundruczó can do with material that (like many movies) started out as a play. For instance, one of the first big jaw-dropping moments is the home birth scene that goes on for a long time, seemingly all in one shot, and Kirby is so believable in terms of a woman going through a difficult birth, you’d believe she has had children herself. (She hasn’t.)  I also don’t want to throw Shia Labeouf under the bus right now just because that seems like the trendy thing to do. (Without getting it, I believe FKA Twigs… but that doesn’t deny the fact that Labeouf is just the latest great actor that everyone wants to cancel.)

Anyway, to change the subject, we have to talk about Ellen Burstyn, who plays Martha’s meddling mother, who is quite clingy and overbearing, so when the couple lose their baby, she steps in to take to task the midwife she deems responsible (played by the highly-underrated Molly Parker). Or rather, she hires a family lawyer (Sarah Snook) to take her to court to get compensation for the loss of her daughter’s baby. The film’s last act culminates as their case goes to court.

Again, the film covers roughly a year after the tragedy and deals not only with how Martha and Sean’s relationship is affected and how it emotionally affects Martha in particular, but also how others around them start behaving towards them. It feels so authentic and real that you wonder where the screenwriter was drawing from, but Mundruczó has more than prove himself as as filmmaker by creating something that is visually compelling and even artsy while still doing everything to help promote the story and performances over his own abilities as a director. Doesn’t hurt that he has composer Howard Shore scoring the film in a way that’s subtle but effective.

Listen, if you’re looking for a comedy riot that will entertain you with funny one-liners and pratfalls than Pieces of a Woman is not for you. This is a devastating movie that really throws the viewer down a deep spiral along with its characters. The first time I watched it, I was left quite broken, and maybe even more so on second viewing.  (As we get closer to Oscar season… in four months … I hope this film will be recognized and not just thrown under the table due to Labeouf’s involvement. That would be as big a tragedy and misjustice as much of what happens in the movie.)

So yeah, in case you wondered why this also made it into my prestigious Top 10 for the year, that is why. :)

Also in theaters on Wednesday, December 30 is another terrific drama, the Phyllida Lloyd-directed HERSELF (Amazon Studios), co-written and starring Clare Dunne, as Sandra, a mother of two young girls, trying to get out of an abusive marriage, while making ends meet and providing shelter for her kids. One day, she learns about a way that she can build her own home, and one of the women she cares for offers a plot of land

Another movie that I really didn’t know much about going into, other than Phyllida Lloyd being a talented filmmaker whose movie The Iron Maiden, which won Meryl Streep her 500th Oscar, I enjoyed much more than the popular blockbuster hit musical, Mamma Mia! This is a far more personal story that reminded me of Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake, a smaller and more intimate character piece that shines a light on British actor Clare Dunne, who as with some of the best and most personal movie projects, co-wrote this screenplay for herself to act in.

There are aspects to the film that reminds me of many other quaint Britcoms in terms of creating a story where one person’s challenge is taken up by others who are willing to help, and in this case, it’s Sandra’s desire to build a house for her two quite adorable daughters while also trying to keep it secret from her abusive ex.

Dunne’s performance isn’t as showy as some of the other dramatic performances mentioned in this very column, but she and Lloyd do a fine job creating an authenticity that really makes you believe and push for her character, Sandra, surrounding her with characters who can help keep the movie on the lighter side despite very serious nature of spousal abuse (which also rears its ugly head in Pieces of a Woman). Oh, and don’t get too comfortable, because this, too, leads to an absolutely shocking and devastating climax you won’t see coming. (Well, now you will… but you’ll still be shocked. Trust me.)

Still, it’s a really nice movie with the house being built clearly a metaphor.  I know there’s a lot of truly fantastic movies discussed in this week’s column but don’t let this wonderful British drama pass you by, because you can tell it’s a labor of love for everyone who made it.

Herself will be in theaters for roughly a week starting December 30 before streaming on Prime Video on January 8.

In select theaters and on VOD on New Year’s Day is Roseanne Liang’s WWII thriller SHADOW IN THE CLOUD (Vertical/Redbox Entertainment), starring Chloë Grace Moretz as Flight Officer Maude Garrett, who is assigned to deliver a top-secret package on the B-17 bomber “The Fool’s Errand” with an all-male crew that throws her into a turret “for her own safety.” She ends up getting trapped down there as the plane is attacked by a creature that no one believes is out there, as they fight back against the unseen enemy, many secrets are revealed.

This is yet another movie I didn’t know that much about other than it has Moretz on an airplane, but there’s so much about the movie that both had me scratching my head but also has me quite deliriously amused that filmmakers could get away with some of the craziness that we witness. Maybe it’s not a surprise that the movie was co-written by Max Landis -- not exactly the most beloved screenwriter in Hollywood these days, and certainly not a critical favorite.

Again I really didn’t know what to expect so after Moretz’s character gets on the plane and is trapped in the turret under the plane, I thought that maybe I was seeing something similar to the one-location thriller 7500, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, which I wasn’t too big a fan of even though the actor was good. Moretz continues to be quite a phenomenal actor, but the mix of Mahuia Bridgman-Cooper’s music, which borrows as much from Soulwax (look ‘em up on Spotify) as John Carpenter, and the sexist attitude by the male crew towards Garrett made me unsure of what the movie was meant to say.

Much of the movie just has Moretz on her own with the men’s voices over the comms, which is not something that could possibly sustain a whole movie. Part of it is borrowed from a very well-known episode of “The Twilight Zone,” in fact.

but fortunately, it breaks from out of that deceit but then just starts getting crazier and crazier. I’m not even gonna tell you about what happens or what’s in the box Garrett is carrying or where things go, because honestly, I don’t think you would believe me.

I haven’t seen any of Ms. Liang’s previous films but when you realize how much crazy stuff she’s able to get way with, I’ll be really interested what she does next. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen any movie that’s quite as crazy as Shadow in the Cloud or one that makes me want to watch it again for that very reason.

Oscar-winning Icarus director Bryan Fogel’s doc THE DISSIDENT (Briarcliff), which opens in theaters Friday then will be On Demand January 8, follows the horrific assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey in September 2018, thought to be the work of the Saudi kingdom and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aka MBS.

I’m really fascinated by movies like this one and Ryan White’s recent Assassins – both which could be in the Best Documentary race at the Oscars in April, by the detective and investigative work done by both filmmakers to get to the bottom of murders that shouldn’t be possible and find those that are responsible. I’ll admit that I didn’t really pay much attention to this story when it was happening a few years back, so I don’t know how much of the details are new and exclusive to Fogel’s doc. He does get access to Kashouggi’s fiancé Hatice who had gone with Jamal to the Saudi embassy in Turkey to get proof that he was single and could marry when he vanished for days and then turne up dead.

Fogel also meets with another Saudi dissident now living in Quebec who goes through the events that led up to Kashouggi’s murder that involved a social media campaign against the journalist within a country where 80% of the population is on Twitter (!).

This is another fascinating doc by Fogel that I’m sure some will be more interested in due to its subject, but when it comes to investigative pieces that really take a deep dive into news from the headlines, Fogel has created another unforgettable doc.  (Also, it was absolutely little surprise to me that Fogel’s film is co-written by Mark Monroe, who has been involved with some of the best docs I’ve seen over the past 15 years or so…  just look up his IMDB credits!)

Opening at the Film Forum Virtual Cinema in New York for a one-week qualifying run is Russia’s movie for Oscar consideration, Andrei Kochalovsky’s DEAR COMRADES! (NEON), a black and white dark dramedy set in 1960s Kruschchev-era Russia. It involves a strike by locomotive workers when the government raises food prices, leading to chaos and a massacre that leaves a Communist party loyalist,  Lyuda (played by Julia Vysotskaya) who the film then follows. Unfortunately, I had a choice of either writing this column or watching this two-hour movie. I opted for the former (obviously) but I do hope to get to this later in the week and should be adding more on this movie once I do.

Also streaming in Film Forum’s Virtual Cinema starting next Wednesday, December 30, is Mario Monicelli’s 1960 film, The Passionate Thief.

Unfortunately, I also wasn’t able to get to Two Ways Home (Gravitas Ventures), In Corpore or Fire Will Come, which will open in Metrograph’s digital ticketing system.

Metrograph will also continue showing Tsia Ming-Liang’s Goodbye, Dragon Inn, Fruit Chan’s Made in Hong Kong, and lots of great programming over the holidays. It would be a great time to get yourself or a loved one a digital membership for just $50! (James Gray is also programming some of his own films like Little Odesssa and other favorites, like Richard Quine’s Strangers When We Meet, over the holidays.)

By the way, if you read this week’s column and have bothered to read this far down, feel free to drop me some thoughts at Edward dot Douglas at Gmail dot Com or drop me a note or tweet on Twitter. I love hearing from readers … honest! 

[svnnywrites]

Calling on all fanfic writers (again) to write about this man! Because I know I'm not alone in this obsession with him. If only I had the talent to write...

I mean, he's everything y'all like: evil, cold, psycho and so fvcking hot. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?????

[riddikulus394]

So true I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE 😭😭😭😭 PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD SOMEONE MAKE A FUCKING FANFIC OF HIM PLEASE!!!!! Omg wait, even better make and enemies to lovers fic about him ehrbdibeidbridbrjdbrkdbrkdbrk I AM FERAL FOR THIS MAN HELP he’s CRIMINALLY underrated 😭😭😭💀

why is no one writing fics about him???

[watchtowerindistress]

just look at him

Calling on all fanfic writers (again) to write about this man! Because I know I'm not alone in this obsession with him. If only I had the talent to write...

I mean, he's everything y'all like: evil, cold, psycho and so fvcking hot. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?????