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themonkeycabal · 4 years ago

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Wandavision Ep 6 Spoilers

No really, spoilers.

Previously on Wandavision — Wanda told SWORD to shove their drones right straight up their asses, Vision woke up to the reality that his utopian sitcom life was in fact a dystopian hellscape, their children were extremely creepy, and Agnes was being bizarre as hell and super sus. In the real world, Acting Director Dick was a dick, and Darcy and Jimmy welcomed Monica into their sciencey weird-crime-fighting team. Monica also mentioned an aerospace engineer she knows, which some suggest may be the first mention of Reed Richards in the MCU. I have conflicted feelings about the Fantastic Four. Mostly I never liked them. But, I'm open to revising my opinion.

Oh, and also X-Men 'Verse Pietro showed up suddenly and that was fun.

Anyway. the roommate and I tried to sort out a timeline — so Monica unBlips and goes back to work at SWORD three weeks later. AD Dick tells us Wanda stole Vision's body nine days previously. That means, just three weeks ago Wanda was in the middle of a battle, lost her boyfriend, was Snapped, was then unsnapped to fall right into the middle of another battle. Lost THREE additional teammates. And then sometime in the following week found out a shady government agency had Vision's body and she probably went "OH HELL NO". Because that's what I would say. So she goes to SWORD, dents a few doors, takes Vision's body and swans off to New Jersey. Look, she's been through a hell of a lot in the last couple weeks, is what I'm saying. I don't blame her a tiny bit. But, also, I don't think she's entirely behind this.

10-year old boy plus video camera = the 90s. Obnoxious opening credits. But, you know, I kind of liked them (as a one off). WAYYY better than last week's.

It's Halloween, and *sigh* Billy is breaking the fourth wall and narrating to the camera. There's childish twin bickering as you expect, Tommy's the wild and crazy twin, and Billy's the buttoned up twin. And Pietro is passed out on the couch at 4 in the afternoon. Living his best life. He teasingly scares the boys, chases them around, and there's awkward child acting.

Wanda comes down the stairs in the classic Scarlet Witch costume, and says she's a Sokovian Fortune Teller. Sokovia was more wild than I realized.

Genuinely funny flashback to Wanda and Pietro trick-or-treating in Sokovia as kids, 'the year we got typhus'. lol. Was it the fish that gave them typhus? Or was that just a special treat? Wanda doubts this version of events, and Pietro suggests she suppressed the memory due to the trauma. This gives Billy the chance to tell the camera that mom's been weird since uncle Pietro turned up to crash on their couch.

Next it's Vision's turn to appear in the classic Vision costume. Yikes. Wanda thanks him for humoring her, and he says there were no other clothes in his closet and they have a very weird second where he's not playing along and she's not sure what to do, and then he breaks into sitcom character says something about "just kidding, i know how much you love mexican wrestling" like it's a luchador costume, and then there's some super weird flirting. TMI you two.

Meanwhile, Pietro is a large child and the kids love him, of course. So there's that.

Back to Wanda and Vision, she's ready to take the kids out trick-or-treating, but Vision says he can't go, he's on the neighborhood watch and must patrol the streets ever-vigilant for wild gangs of child hooligans who might TP trees. He's gone off-script and it takes Wanda a second to figure out how to play this. She says it's the boys' first Halloween so he has to be there. Pietro breaks up the almost argument and says he can be a father figure-type and he'll help with the boys. Vision's still pretty off-script but Wanda doesn't fight it but looks uncertain, and he goes off to protect the night — or early afternoon.

Pietro is a child hooligan and wants to go do hooligany things with the kids. Wanda says he doesn't have a costume and he grabs Billy and they speed off only to return dressed in classic Quicksilver duds. Well, cheap-looking, thrown together Quicksilver duds. I laughed. The hair. lol. Good one.

Outside in the real world. The Hex field is still kind of glowing red and making bad force field noises. It only started doing that when Wanda got pissed in the last ep. Oh, goody, it's Acting Director Dick. I've learned his name is Hayward. I don't care.

Blah blah Stompy Mc-I'm-In-Charge blah. Monica is not pleased about the whole trying to kill Wanda with a missile while she was talking to her plan. AD Dick just says "now we know who we're dealing with". Um … what? You tried to kill her and her response was to tell you to go away. Yeah, boy, she's a monster.

Darcy is there to helpfully remind AD Dick that Wanda made him look like the fool he is. ILU girl. "Hey, there he is; the guy who almost got murdered by his own murder squad." Jimmy just makes a 'i'm so disappointed in you and your choices' face at him in the background.

I despise characters like Hayward. They are so tedious. Narratively they are there to incite conflict, but given the situation conflict naturally exists, surely there are other ways to bring up/drive that tension without the trope of the government heavy ready to solve the problem with the most extreme amount of force available to him. OH no! Our plucky heroes will have to find a way to save the day and fight the Man! Can they do it? Boring. It's too bad General Talbot went insane and then died; he could probably give tips on How Not To Be That Guy.

Anyway

Hayward wants to know if Darcy works for him and she's like "dunno my dude", Monica claims her, AD Dick says "which one of you is the sassy best friend" and Jimmy's like, that is quite enough Acting Director Not Very Nice Man. "There's no time to diminish your colleagues when you're about to start a war you can't win." AD Dick just wants to take out Wanda so the whole nightmare ends. Monica's like um, we literally do not know what's going on. Like, for real we have no clue. So that might not, in fact, end the nightmare, Director Murder Britches.

They argue a lot and Director Dick goes off the rails. Dude's like more unhinged than seems warranted. Unless he's just so embarrassed that he pissed himself when Wanda returned his murder drone to him, he's decided SHE MUST BE DESTROYED FOR THE GOOD OF … NEW JERSEY AND MY SOILED UNDERWEAR OR SOMETHING.

"Captain Rambeau, you are an impediment to this mission!" Oh no! He's gonna tell her all about how hard it was to survive in a post-blip world, all those lucky blipped don't know what it was like! You just can't understand! Monica tells him not to use that as an excuse to be a coward. I'm so bored with this scene. Let me guess, the trio will have to go behind his back to save the day.

"Maybe it's a good thing you weren't here with your mother died. Because, clearly you don't have the stomach for this job." … non-sequitur much? Or is he saying she would have inherited the Director-ship (which should probably not be how that sort of agency works, let's be real). Is this scene five hours long, or does it just feel that way?

The Dick banishes the trio from his base.

"Hayward is way over-stepping his provisional authority". Jimmy Woo, you're so great. Monica says he's up to something. Yeah a tactical nuke and murder. Clearly he doesn't want to actually solve the problem, he just wants the problem to go away with a big show of macho explosions and whatnot. I suspect he might be in over his head, like he was not meant to be Acting Director, let alone Director. Also, he's a boring cliche stereotype and I loathe it.

JIMMY! I legit did not see that coming. He just pure hauls off and clocks one of the soldiers escorting them off the base, to a transport truck or something. Monica seems just as surprised for a second but then she's like "hell yeah!" and jumps in. Darcy sort of stands back and watches. lol. "Why didn't anyone tell me the plan?"

Oh look, it's my shipping container! They put the soldiers in there. Guys, it was for Hayward. Come on.

The trio disguise themselves with ponchos, which is a big step up from the usual MCU disguise of "baseball hat". That was a good bit in Ant-man and the Wasp "it's not a disguise, it just looks like us at a baseball game" (I watched that like last week. I missed Luis). Anyway …

Back in the sitcom world. The kids are ready for their early afternoon trick-or-treating. They're still talking to the camera. It's so awkward. I'm not a fan. I get it's meant to reproduce the very 90s Nick-era sitcoms and so, you know, it's spot on. Still, though.

Pietro is encouraging and supportive. "Unleash hell, demon spawn!"

Dang there are a lot of kids in that neighborhood. Wasn't Vision wondering last episode why there weren't any kids? Is the program correcting itself?

Wanda tries to test Pietro, asking him about some kid at an orphanage when they were kids. Pietro calls her on it, and says he knows he looks different. Wanda wants to know why that is. He says, "You tell me. I mean, if I found shangra-la, I wouldn't want to be reminded of the past, either." Hmm.

The kids speed off with uncle Pietro. Wanda wanders over to talk to neighbor Herb, who has a g-man earbud in and is clearly part of the neighborhood watch. In the background Pietro is stealing all the candy and smashing pumpkins and spraying the place with silly string. The hijinks are so wacky. Wanda tells Herb maybe Vision can help out with the chaos, and Herb says Vision isn't on duty. Oh no, he lied to her!

Herb goes weird "is there something I can do for you, Wanda? Do you want something changed?" Hmmm.

Elsewhere Vision is wandering the wild streets of Westview. He finds people caught in some type of weird decorating loop, the woman seems trapped but aware.

Commercial time! What the fuck was that. "Yo-magic! The snack for survivors." No, really, what the fuck.

Night has fallen, the twins and the twins walk the streets. Wanda's making the boys give back all the candy they stole. She says Pietro is a bad influence. He says "I'm just trying to do my part, kay? Come to town unexpectedly, create tension with the brother-in-law, stir up trouble with the rugrats, and ultimately give you grief. I mean, that's what you wanted, isn't it?"

"What happened to your accent?"

"What happened to yours? Details are fuzzy, man. I got shot like a chump in the street for no reason." AHAHAHAHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHAHA! no really AHAHAHAHAAH! Thank you, Pietro! Holy shit, perfect. That's some delicious shade. I expect to see this gif'd fifteen different ways when I load tumblr today.

"Next thing I know, I heard you calling me. I knew you needed me."

The kids interrupt. And now all of a sudden Tommy can zoom. Character development!

Everyone is so careful to give Wanda what she wants. Why? She's not cruel. Who wants to keep her pacified? And whoever it is cannot possibly be pleased with AD Dick messing things up. Assuming it's an outside or outside-ish force/entity, of course. I mean, I don't think she's doing this entirely, she might be the battery powering it, but despite her thing last episode to get SWORD to leave her alone, she does seem a little confused about the where, why, and how things are going.

"Don't go past Ellis Avenue." Just a kid thing or a boundary of the sitcom control world?

In the real world, our heroes are sneaking through a tent city and into the server room. The scene with Pietro and Wanda discussing his accent is playing in the background. Darcy seems put-out that Pietro was recast. lol. "He brought the wrong face."

Darcy hacks into Hayward's devices. "Hayward figured out a way to look through the boundary." "And he didn't share it with the group." I don't like Hayward.

Something is blipping on the map on the computer. Jimmy asks if it's Wanda, but Darcy says "it's tracking the decay signature of vibranium". So Vision. Monica wants to know why Hayward is tracking Vision. Well, I'd super like to know what SWORD was doing with Vision in the first place, because they weren't just storing him, they were doing something. So …

Jimmy notices that there are other dots, the ones closest to Vision, who are other residents. Jimmy says the ones near the edge of town are barely moving.

Back to Vision. He's found a cul-de-sac to patrol. Everybody's frozen in place, the street lights flicker. Eerie. They're all dressed for Halloween. Does this mean the field is shrinking, or the effects spreading and so it's closing in, slowing and then freezing people who were earlier moving about just fine? Vision is unaffected by this whatever it is. He turns himself into himself and flies off, up above the town. part of the town is dark, and part alive with voices and laughter.

He spots a car at the edge of town. It's Agnes. She seems frozen-ish, but when he asks what she's doing there, she says "Town Square Scare. Where is it?" all robotic like. Vision helpfully tries to give directions. lol. "Took a wrong turn, got lost" she says.

Vision touches her head and she wakes up. "You! You're one of the Avengers. You're Vision. Are you here to help us?" "I am Vision. I do want to help. But, what's an Avenger?"

Hmm. Well, I guess he did say last week that he couldn't remember anything before Westview.

"Am I dead?" she asks. "No, why would you think that?" "Because you are."

What was news coverage after the Snap like, do you suppose? I mean, ridiculous, of course. But, like, I think they had bigger problems then wondering about snapped/dead Avengers, didn't they? Well, maybe not. "WHERE ARE AVENGERS TO HELP US?" or "HOW DARE THE AVENGERS NOT HELP US!" "TOTALLY THIS IS ON THE AVENGERS!" "WE'D ALL BE DEAD WITHOUT THE AVENGERS!" "NUHUH! BOO AVENGERS!" "EXCEPT VISION WHO DIED HEROICALLY, WE ALL LIKE THAT AVENGER!" "TONY STARK AND PEPPER POTTS SHARE THE DECORATING TIPS THAT TRANSFORMED THEIR RUSTIC RESTORATION PROJECT INTO A CHARMING FAMILY HOME".

Agnes starts screaming "Dead" at Vision. She's not coping well. Vision says he's going to try and reach outside town and try to figure this all out. "How? No one leaves. Wanda won't even let us think about it." I SUSPECT YOU, AGNES! Why would Wanda keep everybody trapped and miserable? I could see if she did it on accident, but this implies she's purposefully hurting people. I don't buy it. Agnes, again, seems to be in the right place at the right time to make Vision doubt Wanda. You're a very suspicious character, Agnes.

She starts to laugh. "All is lost." Vision touches her had and she resets to sitcom Agnes. Somehow she can move again, she turns the car around on Ellis Ave and heads back into town. So, that answers that.

Vision walks across the Eillis Ave to the field beyond.

Meanwhile, Darcy continues to hack. Monica gets a text and says "that's it! My way back into the Hex will be here in an hour." Jimmy's all ready to boost a ride to take her to meet her aerospace buddy. But, Darcy says, nope. Can't do it. Monica's been through the Hex twice, and it's rewritten her cells. "It's changing you." Monica is undaunted. "I know what Wanda's feeling and I won't stop until I help her." Alrighty then.

Jimmy's finally going to get to hotwire a car! But wait, Darcy's not going with them. AD Dick has something hidden behind one last firewall. Darcy thinks it's big and can help them. She's going to find it.

I don't think Jimmy had to hotwire that humvee. It just started right up. Motorpool, pfft - they always leave the keys.

Back in Westview. Halloween continues at Town Square. Pietro asks Wanda where she was hiding all those kids. Whu? Says Wanda. "I assume they were all just sleeping peacefully in their beds. No need to traumatize beyond the occasional holiday cameo, amiright?" What is Pietro. "Hey don't get me wrong, you've handled the ethical considerations of this scenario as best you could. Families and couples stay together. Most personalities aren't far from what's underneath. People got better jobs. Better haircuts for sure."

"You don't think it's wrong?"

"Are you kidding me? I'm impressed. It's a pretty big leap from giving people nightmares and shooting red wigglywoos out your hands." No, really, what is Pietro? "How'd you even do all this?" Hmmm.

"I don't know how I did it. I only remember feeling completely alone. Empty. Just endless nothingness." She looks back at Pietro and for a second he's dead Pietro. Poor Wanda.

Darcy continues to hack Hayward's systems. Cataract classified weapons something something. They're still tracking Vision. Who continues his walk across the field and comes to the hex. He tries to push through it. Looks painful. SWORD rolls out to go overreact at him. He makes it through the barrier, kind of. It's a struggle.

Hayward standing there looking like a jackass "he really does want out, doesn't he?" Like he’s just amused by this turn of events, or watching a lab rat try to get out of the lab.

Darcy's standing behind watching all of this. Bits of Vision sort of fly off and back into the Hex. Darcy says "oh no!" and runs towards him, screaming for them to help him. Way to give away your sneaky hiding, girlfriend.

In Westview. Billy looks up, he can hear what's going on outside. "I hear daddy in my head. He's in trouble."

Vision calls for help, while SWORD prioritizes arresting Darcy. Phil Coulson would never have behaved like this. Boo to SWORD. Vision is dissolving. It's kind of gross and sad.

Wanda asks where Vision is, and Pietro interrupts "Don't sweat it, sis. It's not like your dead husband can die twice." Wanda wallops him with some red wigglywoos.

Billy sees soldiers and thinks Vision is dying. Wanda stops everything and makes a big red boom. The Hex appears to be expanding. Whoops, now you've done it AD Dick. He runs away like the brave brave guy he is. They leave Darcy handcuffed to a jeep. "Are you serious right now?"

The Hex overtakes Vision and then Darcy. Trapped soldiers become clowns, and we're in the circus. Well, SWORD seems like a circus, so Wanda's not wrong. I'm pretty sure Jimmy and Monica made it, but sadly the bravest Director who ever braved also escaped. He deserved to be a circus clown. Better luck next week, Wanda.

Credits.

Well, I just don't know anymore.

Hayward doesn't care about Wanda, except where I think because of this someone will figure out what he was doing to Vision's body. And Vision is ultimately the thing he cares about in all this. I hope Wanda drops a house on him.

Hmmm.

Quit suggesting I watch Age of Ultron next, Disney. It’s not happening.

#wandavision #wandavision spoilers #wandavision liveblog

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brave-clarice · 4 years ago

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“Clarice” Liveblog: Episode 2

Again, some extremely unfashionably late hot takes.

(Special thanks to @kathrynethegreat and @special-agent-pendragon for encouraging another liveblog!)

Clarice is working out! And eating junk food! I love it.

and cleaning her gun!

hey, Ardelia is drinking what I’m going to assume is her grandmother’s “smart people tea”.

Krendler disciplining Clarice already is infuriating but appropriate.

“I lost control.” Oh no, I don’t like that. Don’t make Clarice unstable. Her mental and emotional state never had anything to do with her failing career.

getting weird mixed signals from Ardelia. Last week, she obviously didn’t want Clarice to lie/stick to the script Krendler gave her, but now she’s telling Clarice she messed up by not doing so...?

“I better know you if you’re calling this early.” Amen, Ardelia.

I’m in love: this cinematography is straight out of the film (when she’s flying to WV with Crawford)!

“When’s the last time you went back to Appalachia?” “It’s been years.” What??? It has NOT been years--Clarice was JUST in West Virginia last week as well as in Silence, and she arguably attended college there as well. (UVA is at least nestled in the mountains, and you don’t have to drive far outside the Albemarle Valley to hit Appalachia proper.) After all the details about her character they’ve been nailing, they miss this glaring error?

I like the tiny details she’s noticing (like the guy biting his nails). Not only because she’s an investigator, but because it’s reminiscent of Hannibal’s influence (imo).

Clarice Is Short: The Saga continues

still not getting any creepy vibes off Krendler. He’s going to be much less effective as an antagonist if he isn’t lewd as well as a dick.

I really don’t care for the way the opening “credits” fade out from the death’s-head moth to Clarice’s face. There are MANY animals that represent her, or parts of her, in the books--lions, lambs, horses, and of course birds--so this choice feels empty and lazy to me.

also lazy: having a fellow agent straight-up tell her in episode 2 “you shouldn’t be in the Bureau.” Maybe in two or three years, after some further “Death Angel”-type incidents, I could see this blatant rudeness, but not yet.

“Reesey”? Thanks, I hate it.

this flashback must be of Clarice’s little brother. That answers one question I had last week. That said...Clarice’s brother doesn’t play the same role in her story that Mischa does in Hannibal’s--but this sure feels like a Mischa-esque flashback.

good: they’re finally getting to the source of Clarice’s actual trauma!

bad: this is NOT how Clarice found out about her father. In fact, that whole incident is laid out in detail in the novels, and there’s nothing overly literary/un-cinematic about it, so this feels unnecessary. “The police are here! Something happened to Daddy!” No, bad! Show, don’t tell!

she would’ve known better than to introduce herself to that kid as “Clarice Starling, FBI,” come on now.

were they regularly able to wire tap hair clips in 1993?

actually, nothing in this show looks very 90s to me so far. I’m sad about it.

so in eighteen months, Ruth Martin has gone from a junior Senator to the Attorney freakin’ General, and now she might run for governor?? At least let her get settled in one position of power first, why don’t you!

yet more Buffalo Bill flashbacks...alas.

are they trying to make this guy another surrogate Hannibal character? He’s commenting on Clarice’s accent and the dryness of her skin, asking about who she “left behind”...it all feels very Hannibal. (I know he’s a Charismatic Cult Leader trope, too--but when played off of Clarice...)

“Ew.” “I hate this guy.” I laughed.

I understand that Clarice probably feels conflicted re: her siblings in the book, but I’m really not digging the flashbacks of this Tim Burton character her brother.

@ the writers: Clarice already has the lamb backstory/symbolism, too. We don’t need this Little Brother stuff.

*shrieking* Mrs. Starling! At the sink washing the blood out of his hat!!!

...aaand they had to ruin it with the brother’s painfully bad dialogue. Will still be good for gif-making, though.

are we supposed to interpret all these flashbacks as Clarice being incapable of controlling her emotions/state of mind? She keeps losing herself in memories and emerging all doe-eyed and panicky. I don’t like it.

not to be a broken record but...Clarice should be TOUGH. Again, Ardelia only saw her cry once in seven years. But she’s more worked up in this scene than Jodie was in Memphis!

when Mr. Cult Leader shouts “Agent Starling! Agent Starling!” he sounds exactly like Hannibal calling her back to his cell in the asylum. That has to be intentional.

damn, wish that I could look as good five minutes after I’ve been crying as Clarice does.

I LOVE that Ardelia gets to be the crucial behind-the-scenes book-smart partner to Clarice’s action heroine.

AG Martin’s just playing politics by turning a blind eye to the crooked sheriff. But when her own daughter was just kidnapped and almost killed, she looks like a real hypocrite.

gosh, Rebecca Breeds is great. I already hope she gets nominated for an Emmy.

so Krendler is...doing the right thing???

Clarice’s father was definitely not a sheriff. I hope she’s just exaggerating for dramatic effect. (Maybe this will be clarified later.)

she couldn’t just sit with a manipulative guy without getting emotional, but she’s cool as a cucumber while telling an extended story about her father? HmmMM.

sometimes her mannerisms and facial expressions are so much like Jodie’s that it’s uncanny, like here when she leans forward to confront the Cult Leader.

“She did it.” Damn straight!

another great callback to Silence. this show’s camera crew knows its stuff!

“He’s concerned I have some residual trauma from Bill.” I. Hate. This. Subplot--and all its OOC implications.

“Catherine was close to her father, too.” Ooh, a nice allusion to the novel! Clarice makes note of their “common wound,” the loss of a father, when she’s in Catherine’s apartment in Silence.

she is just SO pretty.

little Clarice looks a LOT like Rebecca Breeds. I hope we see some more of her.

The Good:

the continuing visual nods to the Silence film via cinematography

Mama Starling!!!

Clarice’s “The World Will Not Be This Way Within the Reach of my Arm” attitude, refusing to leave without helping the victims.

Ardelia Mapp coming in clutch!

Clarice being, generally, a badass

and using psychological tricks/mind games to pin the antagonist...that’s the woman who disarmed a monster with just a few words.

Rebecca Breed’s acting has been phenomenal so far.

I like Clarice’s haircut a lot better when worn down (though it’s not very practical for fieldwork, so we probably won’t see it much).

The Bad:

the continuing Buffalo Bill-related Trauma Subplot. Ugh.

all the flashbacks to Clarice’s brother (and the not-so-subtle suggestion that her brother is, symbolically, another lamb).

will the real Paul Krendler please come forward? this guy is so TAME.

the other agents’ hostility towards Clarice needs to be toned down slightly so that it can escalate. Otherwise, where’s the tension?

is this actually 1993? I’m not feeling it. Shouldn’t it have a little of that Season 1/2 X-Files aesthetic? Please give me more than once-an-episode references to pagers and fax machines!

that glaring Appalachia continuity error...it’s still bugging me.

I missed the overt Hannibal references, even though they’re not necessary to any part of this episode. A lady can dream!

Overall, I really liked this one despite my various issues with it. It started shakily but built to a great finish. The emphasis across both episodes on Clarice being in the FBI not just to “get out, get anywhere,” but out of a genuine desire to help victims has been wonderful. I just hope they don’t swerve too far into the “too traumatized and emotionally compromised to function” lane. It would be a disservice to Clarice’s character and to her journey (and would smack too much of “Hannibal really did prey on her weak mind/brainwash her”.

Things I’d still like to see: More of her personality. Her hobbies and interests. That she’s cleaning her gun is great! Now let’s see “Poison Oakley” practicing her sharpshooting skills. Or car shopping. Or clothes shopping to show off her “developing taste.” (Ardelia can come!) I’ll take literally anything. Give us more of Clarice’s sense of humor as well. She had some subtle funny moments in the pilot, and it’s nice to see Rebecca smile for a change.

And Krendler? Smear that man in grease! I appreciated a happy ending even though Clarice’s career is, as we know, already in a downward spiral--the last thing we want is for every episode to be a slog, especially when a good chunk of the audience hasn’t read the book and doesn’t know Clarice is doomed to fail in the Bureau.

However... Krendler’s not a “redemption arc” kind of character. Or even a “run-of-the-mill sexist asshole” character. This is a man who spent seven years systematically sabotaging a young woman’s career because a) he was jealous that she solved the Gumb case before him, and b) she wouldn’t fuck him. He was a Justice Department official working fist-in-glove with a serial child molester who was planning some of the heinous vigilante justice imaginable. THAT’S why his very gruesome end at Hannibal’s hands felt deserved--even Clarice thought so! In short, he needs to get nasty.

Anyway, thanks for coming to another long-overdue TedTalk. Fingers crossed that the next one will be more timely (aiming for Sunday night)!

#Clarice Starling #clarice #cbs clarice #rebecca breeds #once again I apologize for how late this is #and how long and somewhat ranty lol #please let me know if you want more ♥♥♥#media [cbs show]#char [clarice starling]

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josmoore · 4 years ago

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𝕄𝔸𝕂𝔼 𝔸 ℙ𝔸ℂ𝕋 𝕎𝕀𝕋ℍ 𝕐𝕆𝕌 𝔸ℕ𝔻 𝔾𝕆𝔻 —

𝕚𝕗 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕕𝕠𝕟'𝕥 𝕞𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕚 𝕤𝕨𝕖𝕒𝕣 𝕥𝕠 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕚'𝕞 𝕘𝕠𝕟𝕟𝕒 𝕞𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕪𝕒

𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕘𝕚𝕟𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕗𝕒𝕞𝕚𝕝𝕪

full name: josiah barnabas moore

reason for name: both names were chosen by his mother — josiah, meaning god has healed, was her father’s name, and barnabas, son of consolation, was his father’s name before him

nickname(s): jo, jos, josie, jojo / sparrow’s nicknames for him are plentiful and do not make the cut

date of birth: may 2, 1995

age: twenty-six

gender + pronouns: cismale + he/him

place of birth: roswell, new mexico

parents: oliver moore + laurel moore ( née abrams )

siblings: sparrow ( twin ) / jade ( older sister ) / rowan + wyatt ( older brothers )

relationship with family: grew up very close with all of his siblings, particularly sparrow and jade but became distant after their parents’ divorce as his father and his siblings all left roswell / tried to keep in touch with siblings but unsuccessful save for jade and rarely his brothers / extremely close with his mother

pets: several colonies of bees in hive boxes out back behind the trailer

𝕡𝕙𝕪𝕤𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕝

height: 5′11

build: broad / muscular / athletic

nationality: american

ethnicity: a mix of several, including english + russian + ashkenazi jewish

distinguishing facial features: bright blue irises / thick + bold eyebrows / sharp jaw

hair color: brunet that lightens in the summer

usual hair style: wild unruly curls held back with a rolled bandana / lil’ bun sometimes

eye color: bright, light blue

complexion: tanned from years outside tending to the bees ( read: farmer’s tan ) / freckled shoulders

disabilities: alcohol use disorder / intermittent explosive disorder

what do they consider their best feature?: he doesn’t think he has one, but if he had to answer, his mama always said it was his eyes

worst they’ve ever been injured?: gouged his right thigh open on some jagged fencing when he was running from the cops one night as a teenager trespassing on walker air force base + needed fourteen stitches / extensive second degree burns from a radiator bursting at the shop a few years back / broke three ribs in a fight one time and could barely move for about a week

𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖

favorite outfit: a pair of well-worn levis / white cotton t-shirt / brown leather work boots / maybe one of his brothers’ old hand-me-down flannels depending on the weather

glasses? contacts?: twenty-twenty vision

personal hygiene: clean + showers daily but still smells like motor oil and cigarettes

jewelry? tattoos? piercings?: woven bracelet his sister made him when they were kids / a crystal tree of life inside of wire pendant shaped like the star of david that his mama made by hand worn on a chain around his neck / several tattoos, the most notable of which are an orchid on his neck + the roman numeral v on the inside of his right ring finger + a laurel branch over his heart + hebrew script on his left hip reading לחיות לא במראה אלא באמונה, or live not by sight but by faith

what does their voice sound like?: kind of gruff, the rough around the ages that comes from years of smoking cigarettes and shouting at rowdy bargoers

style of speech: slow and quiet / takes his time talking / loud when he’s agitated or feeling argumentative

accent?: a bit of one, influenced by a lifetime in new mexico and his mother’s southern roots

unique mannerisms/physical habits: twists his curls absently when he’s tired, a trait he’s had since he was a kid / chain-smoking, pacing and picking at his cuticles when he’s anxious or upset / playing with the pendant his mama gave him when he’s thinking

left handed or right?: right-handed

do they work out/exercise?: working 90+ hours/week is enough, he’s dead on his feet if he’s off the clock

𝕓𝕖𝕝𝕚𝕖𝕗𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕔𝕥

known languages: english

zodiac: sun taurus / moon cancer / ascendant sagittarius

gifts/talents: playing the fiddle / winning rigged carnival games / mixing a damn good drink

religious stance: jewish, raised in a jewish/catholic household / observes only major holidays + holy days

political stance: liberal

pet peeves: gossip / fidgeting / lying / unnecessary or dull conversation / tourists / alien talk

optimist or pessimist: realist / pessimist

extrovert or introvert: introvert

𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕒𝕔𝕪 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕣𝕖𝕝𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕡𝕤

relationship status: single / interested in one ( 1 ) blonde gremlin

sexual orientation: bisexual / not open about it

ideal mate/qualities they look for in mate: argumentative / affectionate / adventurous

ever been in love?: maybe, but he’s not sure he knows what it feels like / tbd / could be rn who knows?

what’s their love language?: acts of service / quality time

most important person in their life?: mama moore, no question

𝕧𝕠𝕔𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟

level of education: diploma from roswell high school

profession: mechanic + bartender

past occupations: none / got a job at sanders’ before he’d fully graduated high school

dream occupation: fulltime beekeeper

passions: beekeeping + bee rescue / his family / mixology / music / woodworking + construction

attitude towards current job: grateful he has the income of both, even if it is absolutely exhausting

spender or saver? why?: spending, but not by choice — mama’s medical bills on top of the simple cost of living mean there’s not a lot to save after everything’s paid up anyhow, but josiah doesn’t bat an eye handing over damn near his entire paycheck for her

which is more important – money or doing something they love?: right now it’s the money, because the health of the person he loves most is on the line and he’s struggling enough as it is to make ends meet, but sometimes when he’s laying in bed at night he thinks how nice it would be, in a perfect world, to work just forty hours a week doing something he loves

𝕤𝕖𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕥𝕤

phobias: the ocean / natural bodies of water

life goals: stay in touch with his family this time around / save as many bees as he can / find love maybe

greatest fears: losing his mother / turning into his father / pushing away everyone he cares about / being alone after mama moore passes and all of his siblings leave again

most embarrassing thing ever to happen to him: probably causing a scene at jj’s birthday and being yelled at that he’s just like his daddy in front of a whole crowd of people / but also somewhere, on somebody’s phone, exists a video of him blackout drunk on tequila and shirtless, dancing to black velvet by alannah myles, on the bar of the wild pony sometime in winter of last year

something they’ve never told anyone: sometimes when mama’s asleep, he goes into her room and sits down on the floor by her bed and just cries until his head aches worse than his heart or he falls asleep

biggest regret: the first time he ever picked up a bottle + realized it was a comfort

compulsions: constantly working / being in a state of motion or busy / drinking

police/criminal/legal record: a colorful list of misdemeanor charges including assault / battery / public intoxication / trespassing / vandalism / resisting arrest / driving while intoxicated

vices: cigarettes / whiskey / long drives / late night conversations with daphne / phone calls to jade

𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕗𝕖𝕣𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖𝕤

hobbies: beekeeping / reading / woodworking / violin ( though not so much anymore )

favorite color: aegean blue

favorite smell: gasoline / meyer lemon / the dryer sheets out of the laundromat dispenser

favorite food: anything his mama used to cook / a full diner breakfast literally any time of day

favorite book: silent spring by rachel carson / walden by henry david thoreau

favorite movie: romeo + juliet directed by baz luhrmann

favorite song: nights in white satin by the moody blues

coffee or tea?: coffee, no cream but sweetened with honey

favorite type of weather: clear skies / warm / breezy

most prized possession: the family trailer, under his name when he became his mother’s p.o.a.

most used word or phrase?: for fuck’s sake

#☽ ⋆ [ about ]#roswelltask #alcohol tw #injury tw #hospital tw #cancer tw #insects tw #this is literal shit but i have been working on it for days #and wanted to post it before work #so i can finally start working on sulley's

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allie1804-fan · 5 years ago

Text

A Doorway is Opened (Chapter 2)

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It was June 2020 and progress was being made with plans to re-open film production - Keanu would soon be heading back to Germany to continue shooting the Matrix 4. With the lock-down restrictions on meeting friends lifting, Keanu invited Hannah to dinner at his house. He even cooked - a dish of spaghetti with prawns, fresh tomato and lemon that his sister had taught him. This would be their first meeting in 2 months and their last in 2 months due to the shooting schedule.

After dinner, they went through to his living room and sat on the sofa to talk through the latest draft of the script.

“So, you’re glad I pushed you on this aren’t you? Gave you something to do in lock-down huh?”

“Yeah OK you win”, she laughed. “I’m grateful to you for giving me the confidence to try”

She carried on:

“You know these past couple of months I’ve felt like the clouds have lifted, the clouds of grief …. and I know that’s partly just time passing but it’s also thanks to you and your friendship” she spoke in an almost whisper. When she met his gaze he was blushing again!

“The screenplay gave me a real focus for the first time since Mark died you know other than helping the boys and just putting one foot in front of the other”

He nodded his understanding

“I kind of feel like a plant coming back to life after a long dark winter”

He smiled to think he’d helped her to loosen grief’s grip on her soul.

“I heard a theory about this before. They said that your grief is always the same, the same size and just as painful but your life grows around it and cushions the pain”

Keanu nodded his agreement

“For me” he said, “sometimes my grief bursts forth like an alien from my chest when I least expect it. I hope we find a way to express your concept in the movie when it’s made - I love it so much. You have some beautiful ways of explaining grief”

“Well like I said, that one’s not mine, it’s just one I found that really resonated with me”

“You’re too modest”

They looked at each other. Somehow, the atmosphere had changed with the sharing of such deep feelings. Keanu looked at her, soft brown eyes holding hers for a few moments longer than felt comfortable. Suddenly he shook his head as if a shiver went through him

“Where are my manners, would you like some more wine”

“I better not, I’m driving and I’ve already had one glass” she said.

“You could always sleep over, in the spare room I mean, I mean I’m not hitting on you or anything, not that I wouldn’t want to, oh God! ……….”

By this point, Hannah had started laughing at his befuddlement and he started to giggle as well.

“Sorry for being such a dork – could you stay though?” he beseeched her with his eyes, or do you need to be back for the kids?, I know I sound like I’m begging, I kind of am I guess ……….. it would just be nice to talk some more ………. I mean what with we me going away for 2 months, Facetime just isn’t the same!”

Hannah took pity on him and placed her hand on top of his and stroked it softly

“1 I don’t need to be back for the boys, they’re at their grandparents this week and so 2, yes I could sleep over and 3 yes please, more wine!”

Keanu beamed and leapt up to fetch the bottle from the kitchen.

“What were we talking about before I started being a total dork?!

Hannah chuckled “oh grief, death, our usual cheery stuff!”

“Oh yes, of course we were, what else is there after all?!”

A ghost of a smiled showed on Hannah’s face.

“Do you mind telling me some more about Mark? How long were you together”

“Wow, over 30 years - we were just kids when we met, literally in elementary school. But we didn’t go out until I was 17, nearly 18. I guess I kind of stalked him until he caved in! We knew we were in love about a month in I guess and we got engaged whilst at uni but married just after. I was 23 so we had been married 27 years when he died”

“Wow you were so young to be getting married!”

“I know right! - when I think Toby is already nearly that age, it freaks me out big time. Anyway, I guess you almost know the rest, from the book. We were lucky in so many ways to find each other and stay in love throughout.

A comfortable silence fell as she reflected and wondered about his romantic history. She hoped their current intimacy meant it would be OK to ask.

“What about you? Who have been your big loves, if it’s OK to ask”

“Sure – I mean I think I can be confident of not seeing any of this in next week’s National Enquirer! Let me see, errrrm there was Penny. She drove with me from Toronto to LA when I left there to pursue my career. It wasn’t exactly serious - she knew how focussed on my acting I was, but she was special, my first steady girlfriend I guess.”

Keanu then told her about a few other steady girlfriends in the 80’s and early 90s. None of them had lasted beyond a year. Film and promotional schedules often overtook his time and took him away from LA making it hard to sustain relationships.

“And then there was Jennifer. We had a long distance thing largely as I was away filming the first Matrix not long after we hooked up. I think that added in my head to the romance of it all. Writing her letters on my little typewriter after long days on set, posting them from thousands of miles away. Once I got back to LA things felt less sure, she was never confident in us, always needing reassurance and I think she found the celebrity thing both exciting and overwhelming - like she was part way a fan, partly my lover, you know? Then she got pregnant and everything changed”

“Oh so Jennifer was the mother of your baby, the one who died?”

Hannah knew this one fact about him but had steered away from looking stuff up on-line about it. She counted him as a friend now so if anything was to be shared, it had to come from him.

“Yeah, Ava’s mother. 19 years ago…….so much water under the bridge.”

“Do you think about her often now?”

“Who? Jen or Ava?”

“Both I guess”

“Yeah sometimes. You know in a sliding doors type way, especially at Christmas. That’s when we lost Ava. Christmas Eve 1999. What about you, do you think about your lost babies?”

“Yes sometime of course ……. but I think it’s different for me. My lost babies paved the way for Josh. If they’d lived, he wouldn’t be here, so I don’t mourn them as maybe you mourn your daughter, do you see? Of course I do think of them and every Christmas we’d hang stars and angels on the tree for them. That’s how we remembered them and the pain of their loss.”

Hannah was quiet for a few moments, remembering

“Do you have a way, a ritual to remember Ava? Do you and your family do something to remember her?”

“I guess they always just try to make sure I’m not alone at Christmas. That’s threatened to happen a couple of times and then Brenda or Janey or Alexandra have stepped in you know to rescue me! Stop me embodying my meme!”

“Your meme?”

You know, “Sad Keanu”?

“That one must have passed me by! I’ll get the boys to explain to their boomer mom!”

“I’m so glad you’re a boomer mum as you say and not all over it when it comes to press and internet stuff about me. It’s refreshing. Makes me feel I can be me without all that stuff informing who you think I am. Sometimes it gets in the way with new people, you know? I know I can be myself around my old old friends like Alex (he was in Bill and Ted) and Rob (he was in the band with me)

“Wait you were in a band?”

“Yes back in the 90s, Dogstar. Our folk thrash punk band”

“Sounds interesting – I clearly wasn’t paying enough attention back in the 90s!”

“Well we weren’t exactly topping the charts so that would probably explain it!”

“Can I hear some of your stuff?”

“Sure”

Keanu fetched some cds and had a look through to pick a song, going for “And I Pray”.

“Gosh, a man of many talents” she praised “what did you play?”

“the bass”

“Cool”

“wanna listen to some more music? I can hook up my phone to the speakers and we can play things on Spotify”.

“Sure, so you’re au fait with all the new tech? I took me ages to get there and I still have loads of cds and vinyl”

“me too - believe me I’m generally way behind the curve with technology but my god-daughter and my kid sister both played a role in bringing me into the 21st century”

They spent the next couple of hours, huddled on the sofa, scrolling through music choices on his phone and sharing both his and her favourites as well as reminiscing about bands they’d grown up listening to and great concerts they’d been to.

It was around 1am, with Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” softly playing that Hannah’s head lolled onto Keanu’s shoulder, the impact startling her back awake

“sorry, sorry” she said embarrassed

“hey no worries, you wanna go to bed now?” he asked

“Yeah, as you saw, my eyes are closing”

“Come on, let’s get you set up in the guest room, I’ve got a spare t-shirt you can sleep in if you like and there’s a new toothbrush in the en-suite with your room.

The room was a pretty one, perhaps decorated with his god-daughter in mind she thought. Once he’d shown her where things were and how to work the shower, Keanu bade her goodnight with a light kiss on her cheek. Despite being so tired, it took Hannah a good half hour to fall asleep. She touched the cheek where he’d kissed her and giggled inwardly at herself for feeling like a giddy teenager. In the past 2 months, she’d recognised her growing fondness for Keanu, putting it down to a mix of absence making the heart grow fonder and the Covid crisis making her susceptible. She’d found him very attractive way before she met him but she certainly hadn’t expected that he would reciprocate those nascent feelings. Tonight his lingering gaze as they talked about grief, his befuddlement trying to get her to stay and his soft goodnight kiss all made her wonder and maybe even hope. Tomorrow was another day.

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#keanu #keanu reeves fanfic #keanu reeves fanfiction #keanu reeves imagine #fluff #romance #miscarriage #stillbirth #same age

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screamhole · 4 years ago

Text

MY DATE WITH DEATH: A TRUE MEMORY & STORY

Did I ever tell you about my date with Death? Well, it’s a pretty horrible day where I’m at, so what better way to kill it than by spinning up one of my famous stories? And let me tell you, this one spins like a Beyblade in Hell on acid!

Folks, let me tell you about the time I died, and all the fun I had along the way.

It all started in the bathroom, as so many classics do. I was brushing my teeth in the shower, as I am wont to do (note to reader: this means ‘as I want to do’; it looks dumb written out, but it’s actually smart as hell). Shower-brushing is a small time-saving trick of mine, which I never fail to apply on the daily. This day was no exception. I was all over those holy molars of mine when suddenly, I lost my footing on a bar of soap that I stand on (another of my time-saving manoeuvres) and I came tumbling down onto the slip mat. Slip is right, I thought, and would have made a note of that zinger had the toothbrush not become stuck in my windpipe. Choking, as I recall, I scrambled out of the tub and, knowing the house was empty because my wife Angie was at work, I rushed over to the neighbours’ apartment. Maybe they had air at their place, I thought. Sadly, I wasn’t quick enough; I was inches from their door when my body just couldn’t go anymore, and I collapsed on the landing floor. Luckily, I wasn’t naked; I had paused on the way to put on several pairs of pants.

So that was it. Dead. Me. Me = Dead. Except it wasn’t how I expected. I mean, I wasn’t seeing all-nothing, or even all-black. In fact, I got up and saw myself, lying there, all-dead-and-all-soapy. “Ghost!”, I said. And I was right. I was a ghost. A ghost who got to hang around and see it all, as it unfolded over the next few hours: the neighbours finding me, the two police officers standing over my stiff, sud-ridden corpse. “What do you think, Sarge?” said the young one. “Another shower-sex hallway suicide?” “Don’t be stupid, kid” said the sergeant. “This guy’s wearing pants. I think we can chalk it up to a classic toothbrush-in-the-neck life hack gone wrong.” “Good think I put on all those pants” I quipped, realising immediately that it was pointless because they couldn’t hear me. They couldn’t hear me! Damn, that was the deal, wasn’t it? You have to get all of the talking out of the way while you’re livin’. But there was so much I still needed to say about dyin’! This chin could be wagging forever, let me tell you. That’s some deal, huh? The one thing we all want to know about and here I am in the middle of it, with lips too stiff and dead to flap about it. How’s that for ass blastwards? So there I was, with a hell of a story to tell. And I knew there was only one person I’d be able to tell it to.

Whoopi Goldberg.

My grandma was dead. Is dead. She was dead, and now she is dead... again. Am I making sense here? She told me about the first time she died, back in the 90s. She was sucking on a Werther’s Original when it went down the wrong way and got stuck in her toaster and burned her house down. Lying on that hospital bed, she was legally dead for a good 27 minutes before they realised and resuscitated her (I think they were too busy watching some dumb Patrick Swayze movie on the communal television to notice). Thinking back, we all felt like she had gone crazy while she was dead, but now it seems there might have been some true-speak in all that wack-talk of hers. “If you ever die,” she once said to me as a kid, “If you die and you have to say something to a loved one, go to Whoopi Goldberg. I saw it. She helped me tell your grandfather he had soup on his good pants in the hospital, it was driving me crazy and was probably what set me off dying in the first place. I know it will work, son. If you need her, she’ll be there for you”. With those words in my ear, I packed a bag and headed out in search of Whoopi.

I made it to the airport, and was having trouble scanning my passport with no corporeal form, when out of nowhere the whole room grew dim. People froze in motion, and there was an icy chill which took over the whole space. And then, a small light, like from the end of a tunnel, grew from behind the baggage claim. A screeching whistle came with it, before a train of bones roared past my face. The brakes braked, and as the bones ground to a halt out stepped a cloaked figure from the carriage.

“Hello” he said. “You’re dead”.

“I’m dead?” I asked.

“You’re dead” he said. “And I’m Death.”

“You’re dead too?” I asked.

“That’s right, I am Death” he said.

“Me too” I said.

“I doubt it, kid” he said. “Anyway, sorry I’m late. There was some protest at Limbo station. All the staff walked out right after this demon... you know what? Not important. What is important is that you kicked your bucket. So hop on in, pup, next stop is your new forever home: Hell. OH. OH! That is, unless you want to play chess?”

I turned away from the stranger. “Sorry, I don’t play that game… not anymore, that is.” I was kind of hoping that he would dig into my deep dark past relationship with the game of kings.

“Suit yourself, friend” said Death. “Half the pieces are missing anyway. The one chess set on this hell train, you think these devil freaks are gonna put it back neatly? Fat chance. Anyhoodle, let’s get moving, up you come”.

“I’m really going to Hell?”

“Yeah” said Death. “Frickin’ Hell City, USA. And unless you wanna effin’ play chess, kid, I don’t wanna hear any more fuckin’ back talk. Hop the eff on”.

I couldn’t believe it. I had to escape; to re-live, and tell the tale of what death is like, and also what Death is like (note: make clear very handsome in second draft). A plan formed in my head, just like the plan to do a checkmate on the other guy forms in the head of a grand master chess player. “Oh, but Death,” I said “I really do want to play, but like you said we can’t play on that old set. It has no bishops”. “That’s how we like it in Hell,” said Death, “it’s really more of a drinking game. Anyway, I take your point, kid; this chess board sucks. But where do you suggest we find a decent travel chess set at this hour, in this realm of existence? You got one in your great coat?”

“No” I said. “But I think I have an idea. Let’s make a stop in… New York (maybe?)”

Luckily, my plan worked out. I had managed to guess Whoopi Goldberg’s exact location: a Starbucks on 6th Avenue (note: check real place). I had also tricked Death into taking us there on the promise there’d be chess, and also he wanted a coffee. The train of bones crunched through the coffee shop window, shattering the glass and grinding the tables beneath it. Thankfully, this all played out in the dead dimension so it was totally fine. No one noticed. No one, that is, except Whoopi.

“What the hell?!” she cried, jumping back from her table.

“Whoopi,” I said climbing down, from the bone train, “you’ve got to help me. I’m dead and I know for an absolute fact you can send messages to the living.”

“Oh I get it,” said Whoopi, “you think just because I played a medium in that movie that I can really talk to dead people?”

“Listen Whoopi, I’ve never even seen Sister Act, so please don’t assume I would be so irrational and quick to judge people like that. Instead of accusing me of stuff, how about you accept that you’re talking to a real ghost right now, and so therefore I am right.”

“Oh my God” said Whoopi. “I guess I can speak to ghosts. I guess all my years on The View have made me capable of speaking to anyone”.

“Yeah: you, Jimmy Kimmel, Graham Norton… all supremely cursed folks. Talk-show hosting is a real double-edged sword. Back to me, though. Whoopi: can you call my wife and tell her I loved her? Oh, and also I won’t be able to make it to our Saturday UNO game for obvious reasons. Oh, oh, and that the obvious reasons are that I’m going to Hell on the bone train with Death. Sorry, so much has happened today, I forget to bring people up to speed.”

“I guess I don’t have much of a choice” said Whoopi. She closed her script for Sister Act 3 and opened up Skype, making a call to the account details I gave her. The little jingle played before a familiar voice answered.

“Angie?” said Whoopi. “This is Whoopi Goldberg”

“And?” said my wife.

“Angie, I’m calling on behalf of your departed husband.”

“Oh my god,” Angie said. “What has he done now?”

“He’s dead, actually,” explained Whoopi, “choked on a toothbrush before you got home. The police must have taken him away but stopped for lunch, so they’ve not gotten a chance to let you know about it. He wants you to know that he loves you, Angie. You were the best thing in his life. Doesn’t sound like tough competition for a man who loved toothbrushes and chess, but all the same, he wanted you to know.”

“Cool, good to know” said Angie. “Hey, one second: does this mean that he’s talking with you right now?”

“Yeah,” said Whoopi “his spirit is here. Right now he’s looking at his hair in the window, even though he’s literally invisible.”

“Well, if he’s really there,” said Angie, “I’ll ask him something only he would know and that will prove ghosts are real. What’s my favourite colour?” “Shit…” I said. “Uh, I dunno, green maybe”.

“Uh, I dunno, green maybe” said Whoopi.

“Wow, that’s spooky”, said Angie. “It’s actually purple, but that idiot always thinks it’s green. He even painted the house green for our anniversary. What a dunce. Ok, cool, tell him no worries. If he can make it home tonight for UNO, great, but I’ll not be holding my breath.”

“Don’t worry, my wife,” I said. I have a plan”

“Don’t worry, his wife, he has a plan,” said Whoopi.

“I’ll definitely not wait up then. Thanks Whoopi. We loved you in Sister Act by the way” said Angie, and hung up.

“Ah, guess I have seen it,” I told Whoopi. “Well, thanks for your help. I guess there’s only one option left: I’m gonna have to kidnap and murder Death”.

“Why don’t you just beat him at chess and win your life back, like in that movie?” asked Whoopi.

“For the last time, Whoopi, I don’t remember Sister Act at all!” I said. “More to the point, I don’t play chess. Not after… that night.” I was kind of really hoping someone was gonna ask about the deep dark past thing. It’s not often I get to tell these stories.

“Suit yourself, kid” said Whoopi. “I guess you’re going to Hell, then”.

The bone train door slammed open.

“Ok kid,” said Death, “it’s been 50 minutes now. Do they have my mocha frapp or what? Are we gonna play chess now, or what? Honestly? I kind of feel like you’re using me for some kind of plot thing that’s going on for too long, and I just want to play some games to take my mind off the fact that my job sucks forever. You + Me = Hell, RIGHT NOW.”

Think fast, I thought, at a normal thought-speed. Suddenly, it hit me.

“Alright, Death. Time to play, for my very soul.”

“Sweet,” said Death.

“But not at chess.”

“Ah, Jeez!” Death groaned.

“No, I could never play chess again. It’s actually a really cool and dark story that I haven’t had a chance to tell, but maybe I could tell it if…” “Yeah, yeah, what’s the game, kid?” said Death, doing the wrap-up-the-story hand gesture with his bone-fingers.

I pulled a pack of cards from my great coat pocket (as in, the coat pocket is really great, it’s just a regular modern fashionable coat).

“UNO?!” cried Death. “Kid, you really are going to Hell.”

“Not if I can help it,” I said. “I was taught by the best: my wife. She made me the player I am today. And she takes no prisoners. So yes, Death. I’d wager my life on the back of her teaching”.

Death pulled up a table, and leaned his scythe against the coat rack.

“Whatever, dude. Just deal ‘em out.”

I played Death best of three. Best of three is right, I thought. More like the best three games of my life, let me tell you. They had to be, given what was at stake. We tied one-to-one. Death learned the game so fast, and he was soon a worthy competitor. It was down to the knuckle, which was unfair given his were so much more visible. We were down to two cards each, and it was his turn. I had to pull it out, but these last two cards were the worst I could have had. He slammed down a green 3.

“This is it, kid. This next card’s a ticket to Satan’s ass. STANDARD CLASS.”

I flipped a yellow 3.

“UNO,” I declared, “and guess what, Death? You were so busy sassing me, you forgot to say UNO yourself, so you have to PICK UP.”

Death shuddered realising his mistake.

“What?! No!” he cried. “Ah, fuck this game! Why couldn’t we have played Demon Party Drunk Chess anyway. Oh my god, these cards suuuuuck!”

The last card was one of those wild cards you can write on. “I’m done, Death. And my custom rule is that you have to give me my soul and my life back.”

“The game’s over kid. Also, I don’t think that’s a real rule you can make anyway. But a bet is a bet.” He waved his hand, doing cool Death magic or something. “Now get back to living before I do something I regret”.

I felt my spirit form fading as I regained my life inside my body. It looked kind of like that scene with Marty McFly in Back To The Future where he’s almost erased from existence.

“Wow,” I said. “This is just like that movie”.

“Yep.” said Death, walking away sulkily. “Just like Sister Act.”

“Thanks for everything” I said. “So long.”

“You know, it is a shame. I would have liked to play with you again. But I don’t have friends much anymore. Things have been a little tough since the whole… incident.”

“Suit yourself, kid" I said, vanishing into the air.

“Oh well I guess I could stop by now that you mention it, ok thanks, see you and your wife tonight at 8??”

Damn, I thought. My body had left that realm, but his words followed me. I guess it wouldn’t be the worst date I had in my life! I thought (man I gotta write these zingers down). “See you then, Death” I whispered, my voice going all ethereal. “See you then.”

I woke up in the ground, soil trickling onto a cheap coffin the cops had stuffed me in. Weeping, some folks were throwing handfulls of dirt into the hole where I was lying. I didn’t recognise them, I think they just wanted a day out at the graves. I bust through the lid of that thing like it was cardboard, and climbed out. “Come on guys” I said, pushing off the coffin lid. “You gotta throw more dirt on than that, I haven’t got all day. If you give me a shovel I’ll get it done much faster.” And I did. And when I was done filling my own grave, I walked home, knocked on my door, and was met by my beautiful Angie. “Boy, did I miss you” I said, shaking her hand in a friendly manner.

“You have soap in your hair” she said.

“I know. And soil in my shoes babe, it’s a weird combination. But there’s also love in my heart. And if you’ll have me, I am ready for UNO. Speaking of which, I may have invited a friend along…”

So there you have it. That’s how me and my wife Angie got ourselves a weekly dinner date with Death, of underworld fame. And you know what? It’s a lot of fun having him round. It can be hard to make friends as a couple, and he’s a good guy. Even though I sometimes worry a little too much about our fate beyond this lifetime, every time I hear that screechin’ bone-train a-comin’, I smile knowing it will all be ok. In fact, I think I hear it coming now…

…ok never mind, it was just my wife screamin’ at me again.

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adamwatchesmovies · 4 years ago

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To Grandmother’s House We Go (1992)

For reasons which escape me, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were the biggest child stars of the '90s. I guess it was because they were cute little twins? It certainly wasn’t due to their acting abilities or choice of scripts. The Holiday “classic” To Grandmother’s House We Go is proof they weren't particularly choosey.

Single mom Rhonda (Cynthia Geary) tries her best to take care of her twin daughters Sarah (Mary-Kate Olsen) and Julie (Kate Olsen). Between her job at the convenience store and their burning desire to see their great-grandmother at Christmas time, they're a handful. After their latest exasperating antic, they decide to give mom a break and leave for Granny’s house. Their way there is by hitching a ride with Eddie (J. Eddie Peck), who drives a delivery truck and has been puttin’ the moves on mom. When he discovers the girls and tries to bring them back home, the vehicle is stolen by criminal duo Harvey and Shirley (Jerry Van Dyke and Rhea Perlman). If this weren't bad enough, the winning lottery ticket Eddie just bought… is still with the girls!

There’s contrived, and then there’s To Grandmother’s House We Go contrived. The two girls just happen to hide in the delivery truck the man who happens to know their mother is driving. On the way home, it happens to get stolen by a pair of bandits. Oh and the two girls just happen to pick the winning lottery tickets for Eddie, who happens to leave the ticket with them when they are kidnapped. This incredible string of coincidences shows just how much padding the film contains. This is little more than a bunch of barely sitcom-worthy plots strung together. Hopefully, these move fast enough to distract you. Otherwise, you'll realize how flat and uninteresting the main characters are. Like in all of the Olsen twins’ childhood films, the two don’t really play human beings, they play a collective idea of what cute twins might do when doing harmless shenanigans. It might've been enough to distract its intended audience back in the day. For everybody else, it’s like being forced to babysit the pair of kids who just destroyed your chances of getting that big promotion you were hoping to get.

Clearly, nobody cared. This was a paycheck for everyone - including the kids - so nobody brought their A-Game to the set. They just had a couple of cute kids and hastily threw a holiday special together. The jokes are lame. The writing shoddy. Within seconds, To Grandmother's House We Go becomes intolerable for any adult unfortunate enough to sit down with it. (TV version, December 8, 2018)

#ToGrandmother'sHouseWeGo #movies #films #movieReviews #FilmReviews #Christmas #ChristmasMovies #JeffFranklin #BoydHale #Mary-Kate Olsen #Ashley Olsen #OlsenTwins #1992movies #1992films

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adme55 · 6 years ago

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It seems almost impossible that an on-screen pair can weave the same magic like they did 20 years ago. But Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit-Nene have actually managed to pull that off with ease. The duo, who is seen on TV shows these days promoting their new film 'Total Dhamaal', have made viewers sit up and gape at their striking chemistry, even as they sway to 'Dhak Dhak Karne Laga' and their other hit songs from the 90s. In a fun chat with Bombay Times, the two talk about reuniting on the big screen after almost two decades, how they have maintained their friendship over the years and what’s common between them. Excerpts...

Anil, was it total dhamaal working with Madhuri after 18 years?

Anil: Actually, it’s a little more than that; I think we last faced the camera together 19 years ago. Yes, it was total dhamaal with Indra Kumar (director) being there and the three of us coming together after 'Beta'. It was a lot of fun with the entire star cast. Madhuri has worked before with most of the actors, be it Ajay (Devgn), Arshad (Warsi) or Jaaved (Jaaferi). The whole vibe was very good. It didn’t feel like we were shooting after such a long gap. Also, Madhuri and I have kept in touch over the years.

Madhuri: I remember he had come to Denver. He visited me when my kids were small. We had so much fun shopping...

Anil: Your husband (Dr Sriram Nene) bought me a pair of boots.

Madhuri: Yes, Denver is known for boots — the cowboy kind of boots.

Madhuri, when you learnt that Anil is paired with you in this film, did that make you more comfortable and sure about taking on this project?

Madhuri: Absolutely! When Induji (Indra Kumar) came to me with the script, I loved it. I asked him who would play my husband and he said he would be approaching Anilji. I said it would be great to have all of us in this kind of a mileu.

Anil: I will let out a secret today. Before we signed on the dotted line, Madhuri and I were in touch over this and we kept asking each other, ‘What do you think about this? It’s sounding great’. And then, we both decided that we should do it. Yes, Madhuri and I are coming together after a long time, but this is an ensemble film, where there are 12 people and all have equal roles. That’s the beauty of this film.

Madhuri: We also felt that it would be perfect if the two of us did this film. It would not make sense for anybody else to pair with either of us.

According to you, what’s the one thing that hasn’t changed about the other?

Anil: The most important thing is, she is humane. She has been the same since the time I first met her. From within, she has not changed as a person at all. She looks so beautiful because from the inside, she is calm, happy and relaxed. Her smile has not changed at all, likewise, her dancing remains unchanged after all these years. When I see her dance, I feel the same magic. The only thing that is different now is that she has two beautiful children and a great husband.

Madhuri: I don’t think Anil has changed either. Of course, with everything that’s happening on social media, he has turned quite savvy. I was surprised because he is usually reticent, but now, he is out there and ready to experiment on that level. Otherwise, I can see he has the same drive to work hard and succeed. He has the same energy and manages to get everyone going. We were on a TV show sometime back, where he just took the reins in his hands and said, ‘Come on everyone, let’s make this more enjoyable’. With Anil, what you see is what you get. There are never any layers; he is honest and straightforward. What he says is what he means, always. What he said about me just now is exactly what I would say about him. It’s all about keeping the child within you alive. I feel the same as I did years ago. I can’t believe I have kids who are that big. I look at them and say, ‘Really?’

Anil: God has been kind. When you look at your journey in terms of your personal or professional life, you know that you are blessed. These things make a lot of difference because kabhi kabhi journey mein utaar-chadhaav zyaada ho jate hain and that can take a toll on a person. What’s common between the two of us, I think, is that we have always had our priorities right. Sometimes, you have to make a sacrifice in your professional life if you feel that priority has to be given to your personal life. I would do that. She is also like that. The way she got married, decided to move to the US, it’s remarkable. Around that time, she did 'Pukar' (2000), which was appreciated, then 'Devdas' (2002) — one of the biggest hits. It’s not easy leaving behind all the glamour and the hustle-bustle.

What was it like when you visited her in Denver?

Anil: It was not just a house, it was a home. It was quiet, peaceful and pure. They were leading a beautiful life away from everything. To be honest, I could do it for a week or 10 or 20 days maximum. After that mujhe lagega ki ab Mumbai ka crowd chahiye.

Madhuri: But I was very happy and loved it. I enjoyed that phase of my life.

Anil, when you first heard that Madhuri was getting married and shifting base, how did you react?

Anil: It didn’t come as a surprise to me because it was just a matter of time. I think that she tied the knot at the right time .

Madhuri: I remember when I met him (Dr Nene), I felt, ‘This is it’. Anil and I were promoting Pukar in those days.

Anil: And most questions asked to both of us were about her marriage. Maine kaha thoda Pukar ki bhi baat kar lo yaar.

Madhuri: Yeah, I remember that!

Both of you have acted in 17 films together. What was the rapport like?

Anil: There was mutual respect for each other. At least I respected her. Did you, Madhuri?

Madhuri: (Laughs!) Of course. That was mutual.

Anil: I got along with her parents and had been to their home many times. We have had meals together and also, I specifically remember the poha I had at her place. Madhuri and her family would also visit my home. There was a certain connect between all of us. Ghar mein aana jaana tha.

Madhuri: It’s a friendship that lasted even after I left from here.

Anil: Talking about 17 films, I remember while we were doing those films, we were very competitive as well.

Madhuri: Koi bhi scene mein koi bhi shot chodne ka nahi! I would be like Anilji ne mere se accha kiya, now I have to do this better than him.

Anil: All the directors were in love with her, so I had to put in double the effort. I would try to charm my directors, but that wouldn’t work. They would take more time to light up her close-ups.

Madhuri: That’s the case with any heroine...

Anil: Aapka kucch zyaada tha! On a serious note, Madhuri really helped me with my dancing.

Madhuri: He is being very modest; he has his own style of dancing.

Anil: My dance is very Chembur...

Madhuri: Yes, that charming Chembur flavour (laughs!)

Anil: For me, dance is all about having fun and going with the feel of the music. I would go with the rhythm rather than focus on the choreography.

Madhuri: Some of the dances were sensuous. But the innocence with which Anil did it gave the whole sequence a beautiful effect.

Unlike all those films, which were about love and romance, Total Dhamaal is an out-and-out comedy where both of you play a couple that’s constantly fighting. What kind of prep went into this?

Madhuri: I had to be myself, get my absurdity right. The scenes here are very different because nobody talks like that and you have to make it look convincing. I love these kind of comedies.

Anil: In these kind of films, you have to be spontaneous and instinctive because it’s all about timing. For the first time, I am playing a Gujarati character. So, my prep was to get the dialect right, match up to Madhuri and look as fresh as her.

Madhuri: He would tell me, ‘I’m going to be there in the next schedule, you better come prepared’.

Anil: We play a couple, who has a 14-year-old child. In real life, I have a daughter (Sonam K Ahuja) who is 33. So, I had to work out everyday for this film. The idea was to look convincing.

Madhuri: Luckily, I have a son who’s 13. But I agree that the physicality has to look right.

Anil: Otherwise, people can make fun of you. Trailer mein logon ko pata chal jaata hai.

After this outing, are the two of you looking forward to doing more films together?

Anil: We are both available, writers and directors please make a note. We can come as a package deal!

Madhuri: Two for the price of one...

Anil: No, no aisa nahin hoga and I’m sure you won’t agree, too. Jokes apart, we would love to work together. It’s up to the filmmakers. We would be more than happy even if they are first-time directors, who have something interesting for us.

Madhuri: Yes, anyone who can present us differently.

Is there any film of another on-screen couple that you think the two of you would have done really well?

Anil: All of them!

Madhuri: (Laughs!) I have never really thought of it like that. When I watch a movie, I just watch it like an audience.

Anil: Actually, there are films that Madhuri has done with Salman, Aamir and Shah Rukh, where I think that they were the best choice. Whether it’s 'Hum Aapke Hain Koun' (1994), 'Dil' (1990) or 'Dil To Pagal Hai' (1997); they are irreplaceable. They look so convincing. I can’t imagine myself there.

Madhuri, according to you, which are Anil’s best performances?

Madhuri: There are many. I loved his performances in '1942: A Love Story' (1994), 'Kishen Kanhaiya' (1990) and 'Eeshwar' (1989). Even 'Woh Saat Din' (1983), I couldn’t believe that an actor could perform like that in his first film. Among our films, I would say 'Beta' (1992) and 'Pukar'.

Anil, which ones would you choose from her repertoire?

Anil: She was brilliant in Pukar. There are many, but I was mesmerised by her performance in Hum Aapke Hain Koun as well. That, according to me, made her one of the finest leading ladies on celluloid. That film is for posterity and even after 100 years, you can pull out any close-up and it will be timeless.

Given that yours turned out to be one of the biggest hit pairings on screen in Bollywood, it’s interesting to note that your first film together actually didn’t take off....

Anil: We did one song for the film titled 'Bajrangi', but it didn’t take off. We then did 'Hifazat' (1987), which did average business, though one song, 'Batata Vada', became very popular.

Madhuri: N Chandra was editing the song from 'Bajrangi', and at that time he was also planning to make 'Tezaab' (1988). He saw me in the song and decided to cast me in 'Tezaab'. Sometimes, things happen for the best.

Anil says that this is the best phase of his life in terms of the way he feels and the work he is doing. How would you describe this phase of your life?

Madhuri: I have enjoyed every phase of my life. This is new and there are some good roles out there. I have my family, it’s wonderful to watch my kids growing up and I am enjoying time with my husband.

Is Dr Nene looking forward to watching 'Total Dhamaal'? Has he watched the funny trailer showing Anil and you fighting?

Madhuri: Yes and after watching the trailer, he said, ‘'Thank God, you are not like that in real life.’

#madhuri dixit #anil kapoor #total dhamaal #bollywood

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amandajoyce118 · 6 years ago

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Captain Marvel Easter Eggs And References

My goal for Easter egg lists is always to get them up within a week of a movie’s opening, or the same night that a television episode airs, but I’ve had an injured wrist/thumb that has made writing difficult. So, Captain Marvel hasn’t been delayed because of a busy life, but because I’ve been trying to rest my hand. I’ve been wearing a brace and thumb stabilizer for most of my day for the last few weeks, so I should be getting back to normal soon.

As usual with my Easter egg lists, this list assumes you’ve seen the movie, and the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for that matter. There will be spoilers. You have been warned. I’m sticking mainly with comic and MCU references, so you won’t find a lot of pop culture ones here. If you want someone to give you the 90s rundown, I’m sure you can find it online.

The Stan Lee Tribute

Every MCU movie opens with the same sequence, highlighting the heroes that are part of the universe. This is the first Marvel movie to hit theaters since Stan Lee’s death, so they did something a little different. That sequence instead highlights him. The color scheme and the background text remains the same, but none of the actors are there, just shots of Stan Lee from different movies and red carpet events. I won’t lie. I’ve teared up a little every time I’ve seen it.

Hala

Both the name of the main planet and the capital city in the Kree Empire. MCU fans saw it before in Guardians of the Galaxy, though it was a bit darker and didn’t seem as tech-friendly. It makes me wonder just what happened in the years in between.

“There are tabs for that.”

Not an Easter egg, but a tiny bit of world building. Going into this movie, I think most people knew that Carol Danvers AKA Vers was really from Earth. But, I find it interesting that Yon-Rogg is so quick to offer Carol a Kree sleeping aid. It reinforces the idea we’ve seen on Agents of SHIELD that human and Kree physiology are relatively compatible.

Supreme Intelligence

Less of an Easter egg and more of a direct comic book adaptation, the Supreme Intelligence is also an A.I. in the comics. There, it’s made up of all of the minds of the smartest and most distinguished Kree after they day. That’s presumably what Yon-Rogg’s “join the collective” comment meant in the movie as well. The idea of it becoming the person you most admire is created for the movie.

Carol’s Inhibitor

The comics have tried many different inhibitors on characters with super powers over the years. The X-Men usually have collars. Alien species like their neural inhibitors though, which is what Carol appears to have when she trains with Yon-Rogg. Kudos to the MCU for keeping their tech consistent across movies and TV since it appears to be the same type as what Quake ends up with in the future on Agents of SHIELD. Interesting that Daisy’s is embedded in her brain tissue while Carol’s is on the surface of her skin. Something changed in the decades in between - probably the fact that Carol was able to disable hers. Then again, so was Daisy.

Starforce

This is considered a group of supervillains in the comics, so perhaps movie fans might have expected their turn if they knew that. A few of the members are different in the comics. For example, Yon-Rogg isn’t a member, but Ronan the Accuser is. ScreenRant did a good job at running down who’s who in the movie version since they’re all comic book characters. You can see that here.

Torfa

Torfa is a relatively new creation in the planets. It first popped up in 2014, which tells you the movie pulls from a lot of the new comic book continuity. Like the movie, Torfa was a planet where refugees lived. Also like the movie, not all of them survived the hostile atmosphere, though in the comics, it was chemicals, not Kree that were hostile. Carol also had it out with Starlord’s comic book dad there.

Talos

Talos is in the comics, but apparently he’s also a Star Trek reference. Not a Trekkie, though I do find the franchise interesting, so I’ll direct you to this article for a full explanation.

Carol’s Look

One of Carol’s most iconic looks in the comics is her mohawk. She gets it for the movie in the form of her helmet keeping her hair in place. Her uniform, with the green color scheme, is one all of Starforce uses, but it’s also a nod to the original Captain Marvel’s uniform in the comics. In fact, the color changing of her suit appears to be a nod to a few other costumes she had in the comics too. The red, yellow, and blue came later. I’m just glad we didn’t have her bathing-suit like uniform of her Ms. Marvel days.

Maria “Photon” Rambeau

Maria is created for the movie (her daughter is from the comics), and though we learn more about her much later, we see her callsign on her jet during Carol’s early flashbacks. Photon is actually one of the many superhero names Monica Rambeau uses in the comics. Nice touch.

Carol’s Family

Carol’s family flashbacks only ever show us her brother and her father. We don’t get much of an idea about her homelife other than her relatives not wanting her to be as rough as the boys. That’s very much a part of her comic book background. Her father favors her brother so much that, even though Carol has the better grades growing up, he only pays for her brother to get a university education. Carol joins the Air Force for the free tuition and to prove she’s as good as the boys to her father. (It’s also interesting that we never see her mother since a recent retcon in the comics has her mother as a Kree refuge and Carol’s birth name as Car-El as she’s half Kree.) It’s also interesting to note that a lot of Carol’s major stories in her classic comics involve her losing her memories and having to figure out who she is all over again.

Lieutenant Trouble

It’s a cute nickname for Monica with Carol’s military background. It’s also a nod to another little girl Carol new in the comics with the same nickname and Monica being a police officer in the comics when she’s introduced as an adult. She’s also from Louisiana, just like the Rambeaus are in the movie.

Dr. Lawson

We’ve got some genderbending going on for the new generation. In the comics, the original Captain Marvel is Mar-Vell, a Kree soldier sent to Earth to monitor the planet as it gets destroyed by Galactus. Mar-Vell comes to sympathize with humanity and turns on the Kree to help the humans. He also takes the guise of a scientist with NASA named Dr. Lawson while he’s undercover. Sounds familiar, except her Lawson and Mar-Vell are a woman and the race she sympathizes with are the Skrulls. The original story also had Mar-Vell and Carol ending up in an accident with a piece of Kree technology that left Carol with his powers. I love the twist on this origin story. There’s plenty of nods to the source material without Carol’s jealousy of Mar-Vell from the comics, and without her playing second fiddle to a heroic dude for a long time.

Project PEGASUS

In the comics, Project PEGASUS is a unit researching alternative energy sources. It also acts as a prison for those with superpowers. We’ve actually seen mention of it in the MCU before. For the MCU, it was created in the 1940s when Howard Stark found the Tesseract in the ocean while looking for Captain America. It was a joint venture between the Airforce, NASA, and what would become SHIELD to study it. It gets a mention in a few of the tie-in comics for the MCU movies, but specifically, Tony Stark mentions he wants files on it to JARVIS when he’s going through his dad’s stuff in Iron Man 2. A sign for it also appears on the wall in a SHIELD facility in Agents of SHIELD.

Blockbuster And Radio Shack

A+ choices for the businesses for Carol to run into. Two companies that are essentially extinct 20 years later, but were cutting edge at the time. (From what I understand the Blockbuster scenes were actually filmed at the last Blockbuster left in the US. It’s in Arizona. Go figure.)

True Lies

True Lies gets noticed in the video store because Carol shoots the standee, but the spy movie is known for a fighter jet sequence, and it was the first true “blockbuster” movie because it cost over $100 million to make - unheard of in 1994. The fighter jet prop used in it was also repurposed and used in The Avengers, so it’s like Easter egg inception here.

Universal Translator

So much is made about alien races speaking English in the MCU. In the comics, pretty much anyone traveling through space has a universal translator built into their ship or their helmets. This one off mention from Carol reminds us of that, though she’s likely speaking English anyway.

Coulson the Skrull

Phil Coulson appears as a rookie agent in the 90s. I’d wager this is one of his first big jobs since he’s still on evidence collection. You know him from the Iron Man and Avengers movies as well as, you know, Agents of SHIELD. I like that he’s the one a Skrull simulates instead of Fury because there were so many theories about who could be a Skrull when they were announced for this movie. It’s also a nice misdirect from Marvel that there’s concept art out there of Fury’s transformation from a Skrull, but not Coulson’s.

And, I mean, Nick Fury’s not an Easter egg, so I don’t need to remind you he basically started the MCU with Hulk and Iron Man, right? Though this movie does make me worry about his driving record in the MCU. He seems to end up in a lot of accidents.

Stan Lee And Mallrats

Stan Lee’s cameo is extra special because it’s also a nod to a real life cameo of his. How very meta. The script he’s holding on the train is for Kevin Smith’s Mallrats, where he really did say the line, “trust me, True Believers,” something he also said a lot in his editorials in the comics.

Kelly Sue Deconnick

When Carol gets off the train, she passes a woman with red hair and glasses in her walk. That’s Deconnick. She wrote the Captain Marvel comic book series a few years ago that this movie pulls a lot of its nods (and aesthetic) from. We can likely credit her with the surge in popularity Carol’s seen the last few years, and the reason she had a movie in development at all.

1989

In case there’s anything noteworthy for you in the year Carol ended up in Hala: Ron Perelman bought Marvel Entertainment Group, the massive X-Men Inferno story arc played out, the new Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD comic launched, and Jubilee made her comic book debut.

1995

Likewise, for Carol’s return to Earth: the Age of Apocalypse comics launched, Thor made his 400th comic book appearance, comic books like The Fantastic Four and The Amazing Spider-Man had landmark issues as well, and a bunch of Punisher comics were cancelled, only for Marvel to turn around and launch a new Punisher comic later in the year. The Skrull Kill Crew mini series also launched.

SHIELD Logo

Thanks, Carol for calling out the fact that a covert group shouldn’t put their logo on everything. Fans have been saying that for years. Also, nice touch that it’s not the sleek and modern logo we see in Agents of SHIELD, but the older one seen on the Wall of Valor in the MCU before.

“Smile for me.”

I know that Brie Larson was asked about this moment in an interview and said it wasn’t an Easter egg. But the fact that she was criticized so much by male fans for not smiling in promotional materials made me add this to the list.

SHIELD Medical Examiner

Nelson Franklin played him. He also appeared in an episode of Agents of SHIELD. Maybe they’re just relatives.

A “Full Bird Colonel”

Carol calls Fury this during their chat at Pancho’s. His military history before joining SHIELD is right in line with the comics. Of course, he was from New York, not Alabama there. He also says he likes the B’s and spent time in Budapest. Not the same mission as Hawkeye and Black Widow though, right?

“Just Fury”

Nick Fury also points out that he only goes by Fury. Not Nicholas. Not Nick. Just Fury. I intend on going back and finding when in the MCU someone calls him Nick to his face. Maybe it’s like a distress signal for him.

“You look like someone’s disaffected niece.”

Fury says this to Carol when he points out her clothes not fitting in on a secret base. But it reminded me of the comments about her looking like Emily VanCamp, who plays Peggy Carter’s niece Sharon.

The Welcome Wagon

Carol’s not familiar with the term, though Fury is. Probably because that’s what they call the intake program for new “assets” with SHIELD. That’s what Coulson eventually wants Skye to do when he adds her to his team in Agents of SHIELD.

Ronan The Accuser

You probably recognize Lee Pace’s character from Guardians of the Galaxy. In that movie, he was after a little purple gem that turned out to be the Power Stone. He’s a Kree purist, out to conquer neighboring lands and make sure the Kree stay in power. He’s not all that different here. His mention of coming back for the weapon and the woman at the end is likely a nod to him pursuing other Infinity Stones, even if it’s not clear that he knows what they are here. By the time of Guardians, he’s got whole rituals he’s participating in, which includes painting his face in Blue Kree blood. It doesn’t look like he’s quite that fanatical here. He does, however, inspire loyalty in Korath, who eventually works for him directly, which does make me wonder what happened to Yon-Rog after this and how much Korath told Ronan about their encounter with Carol on Earth as well.

“That’s a flerken.”

Goose likely gets his name from Top Gun, but he gets his alien identity from the comics. In the comics from a few years ago, Carol has a companion on her spaceship - a cat named Chewie. As Rocket Raccoon points out to her, “that’s no cat. That’s a flerken.” Like Talos, Rocket was right. Chewie ends up having a whole litter of flerkens. Goose just eats things and people at convenient times.

Women Flying Combat

Maria notes that women weren’t allowed to fly combat in 1989. That’s true. They weren’t allowed to fly combat until 1993, a few years before the movie is set. The first woman to get to after the ban lifted? That would be Jeannie M. Leavitt. Now Brigadier General Leavitt, she actually trained Brie Larson for her role in the film and appears in the new Air Force ads.

ASIS

The name given to Lawson’s new aircraft, as mentioned briefly by Maria, is ASIS. It’s a nod to Marvel’s Ultimate universe where that version of Captain Marvel developed it. Carol was his head of security, and his girlfriend, in that universe.

A Kree Blood Transfusion

We find out that when Carol was brought to Hala, she needed a blood transfusion to stay alive. I like this nod to GH-325 on Agents of SHIELD, but it does make me wonder why Carol was saved from going mad. Is it because that particular Kree on the series had something in his blood that made everyone end up with it driven to find the ancient city? Is it because Carol was already brainwashed into thinking she was Kree? It’s interesting that Kree blood often comes with messing with memories though.

A Kree Imperial Cruiser

Mar-Vell much have had some military connections when she left Hala and came to Earth if she had a cruiser. We’ve seen them before in the MCU commanded by Ronan’s people. The design here is basically the same, but again, it looks like she’s got more tech, likely because the scientific nature of her work. It does make me wonder if she ever ran into the other smaller ships stationed near Earth that were monitoring the planet for Inhuman activity. (Remember the ones left in orbit to destroy the inhuman abominations in Agents of SHIELD?)

The Tesseract

The Space Stone certainly gets a lot of mileage in the MCU. Hydra wanted it, SHIELD experimented with it, Loki stole it, and now, we found out what else SHIELD was doing with it besides Fury’s secret weapons making team. Lawson, though we see her as part of the air force, is a SHIELD scientist. Like I said, PEGASUS is a joint effort by a few groups. She’s using the Tesseract for space travel though, like it should be.

Quadjet

Nice touch that Carol and Maria use a quadjet to rescue the Skrulls. Why? Because just a decade later SHIELD is using the later model - a quinjet.

Carol Stopping The Warheads

This imagery, like a lot of what comes with Carol glowing and flying, is straight out of the comics. She actually flies into Earth’s atmosphere and slows a sentinel from crashing to Earth in one comic. It looks nearly exactly like this sequence, except, you know, there are other Avengers with her in the comics.

Sizzling Power Lines

We hear the crackle of electricity and see power moving along the lines when Carol brings Yon-Rogg to Earth. This looks to be a nod to how her power works in the comics. She doesn’t just magically produce photo blasts. She absorbs ambient energy from her surroundings to fuel herself. That’s why she doesn’t technically need to eat, or even why she doesn’t need to breathe in the vacuum of space. Her power converts energy around her to sources to sustain her.

Mother Flerken

This has to be a nod to the fact that MCU movies don’t drop F-bombs, though Samuel L. Jackson loves them.

Mar-Vell. Two Words.

Fury mistakenly calls Mar-Vell Marvel. Carol corrects him. That’s kind of how the Captain Marvel term came to be in an alternate universe in the comics though. No one could pronounce Mahr-Vell in the Ultimate universe, so people called him Captain Marvel.

“We found her, and we weren’t even looking.”

I know that this is a nod to Fury’s eventual gathering of the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye together. But this is also a reminder that for decades, SHIELD was seeking out people with powers. As Agents of SHIELD showed their audience, some of those people were then locked up and exploited by Hydra agents working undercover. SHIELD still likely has a lot of super powered skeletons in its closet.

Mid Credit Scene

What a surprise. Captain Marvel will show up after the pager is activated in Avengers: Endgame. We’re all surprised, right? (Sarcasm, I know.)

Special Thanks

During the credits, there are a slew of comic creators listed in the special thanks section. Among them are heavyweights like Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Waid, Ralph Macchio, Gene Conway, Jack Kirby, and Chris Claremont. I honestly missed that section the first time and didn’t read them fast enough to catch more. But they aren’t directly responsible for Captain Marvel, but instead had a huge effect on Marvel comics as a whole with massive runs for different properties.

Post Credit Scene

Goose coughing up that tesseract was necessary for Fury to later use to attempt to develop weapons, just like Hydra, in a secret SHIELD program that Captain America won’t like in The Avengers.

A few side notes:

Coulson’s Gut

To be perfectly honest, I feel like Coulson’s part was originally just a generic rookie SHIELD agent in the script. I think when they got the chance to add Clark Gregg to the cast, a few things changed, like this exchange between Fury and Carol about going with your gut instead of following orders. That has always been Coulson’s thing. And, even though Fury is always yelling at people to follow orders, it’s actually how he operates too. It’s why he’s always set up ways for himself, and his proteges, to work around the system. I like that it was touched on here since it’s such a big part of Agents of SHIELD.

Coulson’s Kree Knowledge

Does this create a plot hole? Coulson specifically remarks to Fury at the end of the movie that he heard a Kree took out his eye. But when Lady Sif made her appearance on Agents of SHIELD, Coulson had no visible reaction to her telling him that Kree were one of the blue skinned aliens she knows of. Also, does Coulson even know they were (mostly) blue? After all, he might not since his only face to face with a “Kree” was Carol. It makes me wonder if he suspected the alien that provided GH-325 was Kree all along. Obviously, this is just the kind of thing that happens when universes expand, and it can all be explained away with SHIELD’s use of their memory machine on him, but it still makes me wonder.

Fury And The Women Around Him

I love the theme in the MCU of Fury surrounding himself with powerful women. We’ve seen that Maria Hill is his right hand over and over - even when she was working for Stark. We also saw that he and Natasha Romanoff were close. He trusted her to do the dirty work Steve Rogers wouldn’t. We also know he trusted Sharon Carter and Melinda May to report to him directly during their spy work. Now, Carol Danvers inspires the Avengers Initiative and he invites Maria to work with him after spending one mission with her. I want to meet Fury’s mom. Because she must have been one hell of a woman.

That’s it. Anything I missed? Feel free to tell me because there’s no way I caught every Easter egg.

#captain marvel #marvel comics #marvel easter eggs #agents of shield #iron man #easter eggs

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markharmonparadise · 7 years ago

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Mark Harmon and His Family Enjoy Staying out of the Hollywood Spotlight: "It's Who We Are" (EXCLUSIVE)

May 30, 2018 8:00 am By Closer Staff

On NCIS, no case ever stumps naval investigator Leroy "Jethro" Gibbs, but in real life, Mark Harmon, 66, has long been befuddled by one mystery: fame. "My parents kept things real — I had no idea they were famous," says the son of sportscaster Tom Harmon and actress Elyse Knox. "In fact, it didn’t hit me until one day when I was riding in the car with my father in Ann Arbor, MI — I was maybe eight and could barely see above the dashboard — and we stopped at a crosswalk. Suddenly, we were surrounded by people who recognized my dad and were really thrilled to see him. I remember looking at this man I thought I knew so well and thinking, Who are you?"

Millions of people ask the same question about Mark to this day. He’s the star of TV’s No. 1 drama yet he maintains an intense sense of privacy. He’s raised Sean, 30, and Ty, 25 — his sons with wife Pam Dawber, 66, with whom he recently renewed his vows in a quiet backyard ceremony — to keep similarly low profiles. "It’s not even a choice. It’s who we are," Mark explains. "We stay home. A lot. I’m not a Twitter guy or a Facebook guy. Our sons aren’t into that, either."

Interviews with Mark as well as his family members, friends, and co-workers reveal a portrait of a consummate professional who values his home life above all else — and keeps it separate from his career, even during periods of severe personal and professional stress. "Mark is a shining example of the way it should be done," NCIS co-star Sean Murray exclusively tells Closer. "He’s incredibly grounded, works hard, and knows that family counts most."

Those are lessons Mark learned early in life. "My father wanted me to be self-motivated," he recalls. "I was taught the only way to go about getting something was with everything you had." That he did, becoming a football star for UCLA and working as a roofer, carpenter, and shoe salesman before getting into acting at the urging of Ozzie Nelson, his sister Kristin’s father-in-law (she’d wed Ozzie and Harriet’s son, Ricky, in 1963).

"I’d never been on a set before," Mark says of his 1973 acting debut on the Nelson family’s sitcom Ozzie’s Girls. "My character comes to the door in a gorilla outfit, and I got to say, 'My name’s Harry King Kong. Which way to the Empire State Building?'"

It was an inauspicious start, and the situation didn’t improve as Mark toiled in short-lived shows like the rescue drama 240-Robert (he played Deputy Dwayne "Thib" Thibideau) and the overheated soap Flamingo Road. He romanced Road co-star Cristina Raines for four years, but they split in 1984. "She will always be a very special lady to me," he said.

But Mark was looking for true love. "When I marry, I want it to be everything this town says it can’t be," he boldly declared in 1986. "I’m not into catting around." He met his match in Pam, who was introduced to him at a party thrown by a mutual friend. She had made a list of qualities she was seeking in a man — strength, intelligence, independence, sensitivity, sensuousness, warmth, and a sense of humor — and Mark ticked off every box. They wed in 1987, and Sean and Ty came along soon afterward.

While Pam had enjoyed success on the small screen with the sitcoms Mork & Mindy and My Sister Sam, she put her career aside to raise the kids. "I had children and it was like, 'I’m not going to chase this fame thing,'" Pam says. "I wanted to drive my kids to school. I wanted to be there for their birthdays and bring cupcakes and doughnuts. And I was very happy to do it."

Meanwhile, Mark’s career was really starting to cook with his breakout role as a heartthrob plastic surgeon on the critically worshipped hospital drama St. Elsewhere. But after three seasons, he felt lost in the teeming ensemble. "Mark’s a leading man, so I could understand his frustration," producer Tom Fontana tells Closer. "After all, he was a quarterback." In a groundbreaking plot twist, his heterosexual character contracted AIDS and left the show, but there were no hard feelings. "He did a great job with a challenging storyline," says Fontana. "We’ve stayed friends."

Trouble brewed on the home front, however: Kristin had gotten mixed up with drugs during her marriage to Ricky, and after the rocker died in a 1985 plane crash, she went off the deep end. Mark engaged in legal wrangling to win custody of her son, Sam, then 12, and convinced Kristin to enter rehab. "Nobody but my brother could have talked me into this, because I trusted him," Kristin said. Ultimately, Mark dropped his bid for custody and was granted visitation and Sam remained close to his mom until her death in April at age 72 from a sudden heart attack.

Mark and Pam have steered Sean and Ty clear of drugs and other temptations by being hands-on parents. That was another bit of hard-won wisdom for Mark. "I was in the jungles of New Guinea making a not-very-good movie [Till There Was You] when my firstborn took his first steps," he says. "No job is worth missing life’s most important moments."

He’s since served as a sterling role model to his sons, proving himself a real-life hero by saving two teens trapped in a wrecked Jeep near his LA home in 1996. Mark smashed the windshield with a sledgehammer and extracted the youths before their vehicle exploded. "I owe everything to him," said one of the survivors. "I have no doubt I wouldn’t be alive."

Mark’s career hit a lull in the 90s, but a guest shot on The West Wing put him back on the TV map, and in 2003 along came NCIS. The show had a rocky launch, as Mark clashed with creator Donald Bellisario over scripts arriving late and a zoo-like atmosphere on the set. Bellisario left and was replaced by Gary Glasberg, who became one of Mark’s closest friends and ran a tight operation, but Glasberg tragically died in his sleep at 50 in 2016. "That hit Mark very, very hard," an insider tells Closer.

Still, Mark righted the ship and continues to weather on-set storms, like co-star Pauley Perrette’s controversial recent departure amid allegations that Mark’s dog bit a crew member. "Mark’s very sensitive to the people around him," co-star Rocky Carroll assures Closer. "The reason it’s such a great working atmosphere is he wouldn’t have it any other way. You can just tell the kind of upbringing he had."

Mark leads by quiet example, à la Gibbs. "Like his character, he’s a functional mute," jokes Michael Weatherly, who left NCIS to star in his own CBS hit, Bull, in 2016. "Mark is a very old-fashioned, old-school gentleman, and I’ve learned a great deal at his side."

When fans recognize Mark — like they did his dad all those years ago in Ann Arbor — he remains the ultimate gent. "It’s hard to walk through airports even in the most out-of-the-way places without being surrounded by people who love the show — and that’s nothing to complain about," he says. "I’ve done TV shows where I walk through airports apologizing." No doubt he handled that with equal grace.

For more on Mark Harmon, pick up the new issue of Closer Weekly, on newsstands now — and sign up for our newsletter!

#Mark Harmon #Pam Dawber #Sean Harmon #Elyse Knox #Tom Harmon #Closer18 #news

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karenpadecky · 7 years ago

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Closer Magazine Interview with Mark Harmon Mark Harmon and His Family Enjoy Staying out of the Hollywood Spotlight: "It's Who We Are" (EXCLUSIVE) May 30, 2018 On NCIS, no case ever stumps naval investigator Leroy "Jethro" Gibbs, but in real life, Mark Harmon, 66, has long been befuddled by one mystery: fame. "My parents kept things real — I had no idea they were famous," says the son of sportscaster Tom Harmon and actress Elyse Knox. "In fact, it didn’t hit me until one day when I was riding in the car with my father in Ann Arbor, MI — I was maybe eight and could barely see above the dashboard — and we stopped at a crosswalk. Suddenly, we were surrounded by people who recognized my dad and were really thrilled to see him. I remember looking at this man I thought I knew so well and thinking, Who are you?" Millions of people ask the same question about Mark to this day. He’s the star of TV’s No. 1 drama yet he maintains an intense sense of privacy. He’s raised Sean, 30, and Ty, 25 — his sons with wife Pam Dawber, 66, with whom he recently renewed his vows in a quiet backyard ceremony — to keep similarly low profiles. "It’s not even a choice. It’s who we are," Mark explains. "We stay home. A lot. I’m not a Twitter guy or a Facebook guy. Our sons aren’t into that, either." Interviews with Mark as well as his family members, friends, and co-workers reveal a portrait of a consummate professional who values his home life above all else — and keeps it separate from his career, even during periods of severe personal and professional stress. "Mark is a shining example of the way it should be done," NCIS co-star Sean Murray exclusively tells Closer. "He’s incredibly grounded, works hard, and knows that family counts most." Those are lessons Mark learned early in life. "My father wanted me to be self-motivated," he recalls. "I was taught the only way to go about getting something was with everything you had." That he did, becoming a football star for UCLA and working as a roofer, carpenter, and shoe salesman before getting into acting at the urging of Ozzie Nelson, his sister Kristin’s father-in-law (she’d wed Ozzie and Harriet’s son, Ricky, in 1963). "I’d never been on a set before," Mark says of his 1973 acting debut on the Nelson family’s sitcom Ozzie’s Girls. "My character comes to the door in a gorilla outfit, and I got to say, 'My name’s Harry King Kong. Which way to the Empire State Building?'" It was an inauspicious start, and the situation didn’t improve as Mark toiled in short-lived shows like the rescue drama 240-Robert (he played Deputy Dwayne "Thib" Thibideau) and the overheated soap Flamingo Road. He romanced Road co-star Cristina Raines for four years, but they split in 1984. "She will always be a very special lady to me," he said. But Mark was looking for true love. "When I marry, I want it to be everything this town says it can’t be," he boldly declared in 1986. "I’m not into catting around." He met his match in Pam, who was introduced to him at a party thrown by a mutual friend. She had made a list of qualities she was seeking in a man — strength, intelligence, independence, sensitivity, sensuousness, warmth, and a sense of humor — and Mark ticked off every box. They wed in 1987, and Sean and Ty came along soon afterward. While Pam had enjoyed success on the small screen with the sitcoms Mork & Mindy and My Sister Sam, she put her career aside to raise the kids. "I had children and it was like, 'I’m not going to chase this fame thing,'" Pam says. "I wanted to drive my kids to school. I wanted to be there for their birthdays and bring cupcakes and doughnuts. And I was very happy to do it." Meanwhile, Mark’s career was really starting to cook with his breakout role as a heartthrob plastic surgeon on the critically worshipped hospital drama St. Elsewhere. But after three seasons, he felt lost in the teeming ensemble. "Mark’s a leading man, so I could understand his frustration," producer Tom Fontana tells Closer. "After all, he was a quarterback." In a groundbreaking plot twist, his heterosexual character contracted AIDS and left the show, but there were no hard feelings. "He did a great job with a challenging storyline," says Fontana. "We’ve stayed friends." Trouble brewed on the home front, however: Kristin had gotten mixed up with drugs during her marriage to Ricky, and after the rocker died in a 1985 plane crash, she went off the deep end. Mark engaged in legal wrangling to win custody of her son, Sam, then 12, and convinced Kristin to enter rehab. "Nobody but my brother could have talked me into this, because I trusted him," Kristin said. Ultimately, Mark dropped his bid for custody and was granted visitation and Sam remained close to his mom until her death in April at age 72 from a sudden heart attack. Mark and Pam have steered Sean and Ty clear of drugs and other temptations by being hands-on parents. That was another bit of hard-won wisdom for Mark. "I was in the jungles of New Guinea making a not-very-good movie [Till There Was You] when my firstborn took his first steps," he says. "No job is worth missing life’s most important moments." He’s since served as a sterling role model to his sons, proving himself a real-life hero by saving two teens trapped in a wrecked Jeep near his LA home in 1996. Mark smashed the windshield with a sledgehammer and extracted the youths before their vehicle exploded. "I owe everything to him," said one of the survivors. "I have no doubt I wouldn’t be alive." Mark’s career hit a lull in the 90s, but a guest shot on The West Wing put him back on the TV map, and in 2003 along came NCIS. The show had a rocky launch, as Mark clashed with creator Donald Bellisario over scripts arriving late and a zoo-like atmosphere on the set. Bellisario left and was replaced by Gary Glasberg, who became one of Mark’s closest friends and ran a tight operation, but Glasberg tragically died in his sleep at 50 in 2016. "That hit Mark very, very hard," an insider tells Closer. Still, Mark righted the ship and continues to weather on-set storms, like co-star Pauley Perrette’s controversial recent departure amid allegations that Mark’s dog bit a crew member. "Mark’s very sensitive to the people around him," co-star Rocky Carroll assures Closer. "The reason it’s such a great working atmosphere is he wouldn’t have it any other way. You can just tell the kind of upbringing he had." Mark leads by quiet example, à la Gibbs. "Like his character, he’s a functional mute," jokes Michael Weatherly, who left NCIS to star in his own CBS hit, Bull, in 2016. "Mark is a very old-fashioned, old-school gentleman, and I’ve learned a great deal at his side." When fans recognize Mark — like they did his dad all those years ago in Ann Arbor — he remains the ultimate gent. "It’s hard to walk through airports even in the most out-of-the-way places without being surrounded by people who love the show — and that’s nothing to complain about," he says. "I’ve done TV shows where I walk through airports apologizing." No doubt he handled that with equal grace. #MarkHarmon #NCIS

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weekendwarriorblog · 4 years ago

Text

The Weekend Warrior’s January 2021 Preview

Happy New Year!

So we’re gonna do things a little different this month. If it works out, I might do this as a regular thing until I feel comfortable writing about box office on a weekly basis again. It may be a long while. As you’ll see, this is a fairly comprehensive preview of the month ahead, as it stands on the first day of posting this, which hopefully is Wednesday, January 6.

I will be updating this post regularly with reviews and any date changes, etc. If you want to keep track of which movies I’ve reviewed, your best option is to bookmark my Rotten Tomatoes page, since more than likely, any new reviews will be added there at the same time they’re posted here.

Why do I have this bad feeling that doing the column this way is just gonna give me more work? (I was correct. Instead of writing about 6 movies every single week, I ended up writing about nearly 30 movies in one week.)

What’s surprising is that there are far fewer wide releases in January than any previous year, as I only count two or three in total. That’s not good.

Definitions:

Theatrical – Movie will play in any number of movie theaters, either in select locations or nationwide. Some of these may have a digital/VOD component.

Streaming – Movie is available to watch any time as part of a subscription streaming service aka Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Apple TV+, Shudder, Hulu, etc.

Virtual Cinema – Movie is available to watch through a ticketed system which shares profits with any number of local or nationwide arthouses or festivals. Some of these may be geoblocked.

VOD – Video on Demand, movie can be rented, downloaded and watched either for a set amount of time (24 hours+) or bought to watch any time, available on a variety of platforms including iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, Fandango Now and others. (Also may be called “Digital,” “PVOD,” “TVOD,” or merely “On Demand,”)

TUESDAY, JANUARY 5

Digital/VOD: Gun and a Hotel Bible (Freestyle Digital Media) Scooby Doo director Raja Gosnell teams with Alicia Joy LeBlanc to adapt the award-winning play starring Bradley Gosnell as Pete, a desperate man who is about to commit a violent act when he encounters Daniel Floren’s Gideon, a personified hotel bible, as they get into a philosophical discussion. It will be available to buy or rent on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, DirecTV, On Demand, YouTube Movies, Vudu, Xbox, & FandangoNOW.

Streaming:

History of Swear Words (Netflix) No less than Nicolas Cage stars in Season 1 of the “educational series” on swear words that goes into the origins of all of your favorites!

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6

Virtual Cinema:

MY REMBRANDT (Strand Releasing) Dutch filmmaker Oeke Hoogendijk’s documentary looks at a few of the just 37 private owners of Rembrandt paintings, particularly Amsterdam’s Jan Six, a young art dealer and member of a family who has owned many Rembrandts, but he’s obsessed with an unknown painting that might even have Rembrandt having painted himself into the picture. Another owner, Baron Eric de Rothschild, is obsessed with selling two paintings, creating a bidding war between two top art museums. The film will be available through New York’s Film Forum Virtual Cinema and others.

Streaming: SURVIVING DEATH (Netflix) The new six-episode doc series is directed and exec. produced by Ricki Stern (Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work) and based on Leslie Kean’s best-selling book that looks into the possibility of an afterlife.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 7

Streaming:

FEATURED FLICK!

PIECES OF A WOMAN (Netflix) Kornél Mundruczó’s drama starring Vanessa Kirby and Shia Labeouf as a Boston couple who lose their baby in a difficult home delivery will hit the streamer. You can read my review of the film here.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 8

Theatrical:

FEATURED FLICK!

ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI… (Amazon Prime Video) Regina King’s narrative directorial debut will open in more theaters after playing in Miami over the past few weeks will expand to other cities nationwide for a one-week theatrical release before streaming on Prime Video. You can read my reviews of the film here and here.

FEATURED FLICK!

THE REASON I JUMP (Kino Lorber) Naoki Higashida’s best-selling book that was translated into English by David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas) is turned into an arty doc directed by Jerry Rothwell. It’s based on Higashida’s revelations as a 13-year-old boy suffering dealing with autism blended with portraits of five other young people with autism.

Quick Thoughts: I haven’t read Higashida’s book or its English translation, but it makes a beautiful and lyrical accompaniment, as narrated by Jordan O’Donegan, for this look inside the life of a number of young autistic people, as their parents talk about trying to help their children without fully understanding what they’re going through. In many ways, this doc may offer some of the best insights into what it’s like to be autistic or dealing with an autistic family member in order to create some much-needed empathy for a condition so many face. The film is haunting and even horrifying at times, but it’s beautifully filmed to create a fully immersive experience.

REDEMPTION DAY (Saban Films) Hicham Hajji’s action thriller stars Gary Dourdan (CSI) as U.S. Marine Captain Brad Paxton whose wife Kate (Serinda Swan) is kidnapped by a terrorist group while working in Morocco, which forces him back into action to save the woman he loves. It also stars Andy Garcia, Ernie Hudson and Martin Donovan, and it will get a limited theatrical release and be available on Tuesday, Jan. 12, On Demand and Digital.

Quick Thoughts: While Hajji seems to bring some authenticity to this Mideast revenge thriller, the film starts out as a tribute to our fighting troops but then soon turns ridiculous, first with the kidnapping of his wife less than 24 hours after going to Morocco, and then some of the politics involved with helping her. Eventually, Dourdan goes in guns a-blazin’ in a way more apt for a movie from the ‘90s, and Hajji undoes a lot of the good will the film would have received if things were handled even somewhat tastefully. Appearances by better-known actors like Garcia, Hudson and Donovan tends to distract from the story more than adding or enhancing what was already a problematic premise.

IF NOT NOW, WHEN? (Vertical) Actors Meagan Good and Tamara Bass make their directorial debuts with this movie about four high school friends (Good and Bass are two of them, presumably) who are brought back together to help one of them during a crisis. From the official summary: “It’s a story of love, forgiveness and the incredible bond between women.)

Digital/On Demand:

STARS FELL ON ALABAMA (Samuel Goldwyn Films) V.W. Scheich’s romantic comedy stars James Maslow as successful Hollywood agent Bryce Dixon who returns to Alabama after 15 years for his high school reunion, only to learn that he is one of his few friends not married with children, so he pretends his client Madison Belle, to pretend to be his girlfriend. American Idol winner Taylor Hicks appears in the movie as himself.

FEATURED FLICK!

THE DISSIDENT (Briarcliff Bryan Fogel’s documentary about the murder of journalist Jamal Kashouggi will be released On Demand today via ITunes. Reviewed in the previous Weekend Warrior column.

Deon Taylor’s thriller Fatale (reviewed last month) will also be available to watch via VOD starting today.

Streaming:

WORTH WATCHING!

PRETEND IT’S A CITY (Netflix) No less than Martin Scorsese directs this 7-part limited series about his long-time friend, critic and essayist Fran Lebowitz, as they explore New York City, presumably pre-pandemic. As someone who is celebrating my 34th year in New York City this week, I absolutely loved the series. Lebowitz is absolutely hilarious and Scorsese really pulls some amazing stories from out of her in this series that’s like a “how-to” for anyone who might ever want to live here. A truly joyful albeit crotchety take on New York living, which is the perfect combination to keep this series entertaining.

FEATURED FLICK!

HERSELF (Prime Video) Phyllida Lloyd’s dramedy, starring Clare Dunne (who co-wrote the script) as a single mother trying to create a home for her two daughters and who decides to build an affordable home for them, hits the streamer today. Also reviewed in the previous Weekend Warrior column.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 10

Critics Choice Super Awards The inaugural edition of the Critics Choice’s genre film and television awards show will be broadcast on the CW tonight, hosted by Kevin Smith and Dani Fernandez.

******************************************

TUESDAY, JANUARY 12

Digital/VOD: SKYFIRE (ScreenMedia) The Simon-West directed thriller is set on the Tianhuo Island in a Pacific Rim volcanic belt where a young scientist (Hannah Quinlivan), who has invented a volcanic warning system, returns to prevent more death only to find that it’s been turned into a volcano theme park by Jason Isaacs. Okay, then. This will available On Demand.

THE BID (GVN Releasing) Marquis Boone’s directorial debut has him and co-writer Richard Harris (not that one) playing Philadelphia rappers who get framed by a police officer who sends them to prison to fight the prison system from the inside. As I started that last sentence, I presumed it was a comedy until I got to the last half of it.

CURSE OF AURORE (Freestyle Digital Releasing) Mehran C. Torgoley’s horror film is about a “Dark Web” thumb drive found by a YouTuber that involves a trio of American filmmakers including Liana Barron’s Lena, who are in Quebec researching the true crime case of a young girl named Aurore Gagnon, murdered in 1920 by her parents in a case of child abuse. As the filmmakers investigate the place where she was killed, they experience paranormal occurrences… and yes, it’s 2021 an we’re still getting Blair Witch Project “homages.”

GO/DON’T GO (Gravitas Ventures) Alex Knapp writes/directs and stars in this “psychosexual thriller” in which he plays the sole survivor after an unknown cataclysm with visons of his best friend Kyle (Nore Davis) introducing him to Olivia Luccardi’s Kay, the love of his life. It will be out via digital and cable VOD platforms.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13

2021 New York Jewish Film Festival This long-running series from Film at Lincoln Center will run virtually this year, beginning with the Ophir Award-winning Here We Are from director Nir Bergman (who won Best Director), a road trip tale of a divorced dad hitting the road with his autistic son. The festival’s centerpiece is Winter Journey, co-directed by Anders Østergaard and Erzsébet Rácz, and starring the great Bruno Ganz. The festival also includes Israel’s entry to this year’s Oscars, Ruthy Pribar’s Asia. You can read all about the films in the program here and can get a 17-film All-Access pass for the entire line-up for $125.00.

FEATURED FLICK!

THE WHITE TIGER (Netflix) Ramin (99 Homes, Man Push Cart) Bahrani directs this comedic adaptation of Balram Halwai’s 2008 Man Booker Prize-winning bestseller. Halwai is played by Adarsh Gourav, as it follows his journey from being a poor driver who uses his wit and cunning to become a successful entrepreneur in India. Although Balram has been trained by society to only be a servant, he finds a way to work his way up through the system and try to change things from a new position within society. This will get a very limited theatrical release today before hitting Netflix on January 22.

Streaming: STALKER: THE HUNT FOR A SERIAL KILLER (Netflix) Tiller Russell’s docuseries tells the story about a serial killer that struck Los Angeles in 1985 in the middle of a record-breaking heatwave, the victims ranging from six to 82 years old.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 14

Theatrical/On Demand: BLOODY HELL (The Horror Collective) Alister Grierson’s violent horror-comedy stars Ben O’Toole as a man with a mysterious past who flees the country to escape his personal hell only to end up somewhere much worse. It opens in select cities and On Demand, and then will be on DVD and Blu-ray on Tuesday, January 19.

Streaming:

LOCKED DOWN (HBO Max) The Doug Liman-directed romantic comedy, starring Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor, about a heist set during a pandemic that’s written by Steven Knight will hit the streamer today. This movie was fully made during the pandemic.

HUNTED (Shudder) The live action English debut from Persepolis and Chicken with Plums director Vincent Paronnaud will stream on Shudder today. It stars Lucie Debay as Eve, who becomes the target of a misogynistic plot against two men who pursue her through the forest where she’s forced to survive. From the synopsis: “But survival isn’t enough for Eve. She will have revenge!” (Okay, that exclamation point is my own. Definitely sounds like something that would require one.)

FRIDAY, JANUARY 15

Note: This is Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday weekend, so many government agencies and schools are off on Monday. Not sure that will really have an effect on anything.

Theatrical:

THE MARKSMAN (Briarcliff/Open Road) (NEW REVIEW!) Liam Neeson stars in his second theatrical release in the past six months, Robert (Trouble with the Curve) Lorenz’s action-thriller in which Neeson plays a rancher on the Arizona border who ends up defending a young Mexican boy who is trying to escape from cartel assassins that followed him into the States. I haven’t seen this yet, nor do I know if I’ll have a chance. I’m guessing this is being released as a typical January release and not as an awards contender with the Oscar deadline pushed back to February 28.

Mini-Review: Here we’re into a brand new year, and yet, we’re getting the third movie about an old man watching over a young child. This time it’s Liam Neeson as Vietnam sniper Jim Henson, who is living on his ranch in an Arizona border town with his dog Jackson with financial problems that might take his home away from him. A chance encounter on the border when Jim witnesses a single mother with her son being chased by the cartel, leaves the mother dead and the young, Miguel (Jacob Perez), in danger of being next. Jim decides to take the boy across the country to his family in Chicago, chased the entire way by the cartel.

While The Marksman attempts to create a topical action-thriller, it isn’t one that necessarily feels very timely, only because we’ve seen so many border-set movies over the past few years, maybe for obvious reasons. Director Robert Lorenz is a long-time Clint Eastwood collaborator, both as producer and assistant-director, and you probably will notice a number of similar stylistic flares in common – you also can totally see Eastwood playing the Neeson role if he was twenty years younger.

The movie comes across more like last year’s Let Him Go rather than Neeson’s own 2020 movie, Honest Thief, and maybe that’s for the better since this seems to be better suited for his specialized skills, both in terms of action and drama. Not that there is a ton of action in the movie, but the few shootouts and chases are decent enough, but nothing too insane. I’m sure ultra-liberals might have issues with certain scenes like how easy it is for Jim to buy a gun or teaching the young Miguel to use one, but that just seems creating an unnecessary political overlay.

While the majority of the film is Jim and Miguel on this road trip, there’s a nice role for Katheryn Winnick as Jim’s border police—well, it’s never really clear if she’s his daughter or not--but otherwise, the Mexican actors are not particularly good compared to Neeson – sadly, very stereotypical – and the writing is probably on the weaker side compared to the score by Sean Callery that goes a long way towards enhancing the emotions and tension when needed.

The Marksman is a decent enough dramatic thriller that feels a little by-the-books but gains enough humanity from Neeson’s performance to make it a worthwhile watch.

Rating: 7/10

THE DIG (Netflix) Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes star in this drama that takes place just before WWII with Mulligan playing a wealthy widow wo hires Fiennes’ archeologist to excavate the burial mounds on her estate in which they make a historic discovery. I like when movie titles are very literal like this one. Will be released to select cinemas before its Netflix debut on January 29.

MLK/FBI (IFC Films) Sam Pollack’s doc that’s had a successful festival run will get a small limited run as well as be available On Demand today. As the title implies, it studies the FBI’s attempts to discredit Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as his movement towards the Civil Rights Act continues to gain momentum. I didn’t like this as much as a few of Pollack’s other docs, including the recent Two Train Runnin’ and his co-directed doc, Mr Soul!

SOME KIND OF HEAVEN (Magnolia Pictures)

Lance Oppenheim’s first feature doc, co-produced by Darren Aronofsky, looks at the largest retirement community in America, the Villages in Central Florida, where a few residents are unable to find happiness despite the community’s pre-packaged paradise.

Quick Thoughts: This was a very different movie than I was expecting, since at first it seemed to thrive on the quirky personalities of the resident and their party-centric activities, but it then quickly focuses on three very particular cases, an elderly man named Dennis who is living in his van on the site of the Villages, trying to find himself a relationship (hopefully one with money). There’s also a couple who has been married for 47 years with a woman who has to deal with her husband’s ever-increasing eccentric behavior that involves drugs and troubles with the law. Lastly, there’s a widow who is trying to find happiness and companionship in the Villages, which is a particularly lonely experience as she goes from one group or club to another. All three of these stories keep the viewer invested but especially Oppenheim’s look at loneliness of people in that age group, which made it impossible for me not to think of my mother who has been suffering through the loneliness of the pandemic and not being able to be around other people her own age because of it. A terrifically insightful film that makes you think and hard about your own aging and mortality.

FLINCH (Ardor Pictures) Camron Van Hoy’s crime-thriller stars Daniel Zovatto as a young hitman who lives with his mother (Cathy Moriarty) who falls in love with a girl (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) who sees him kill someone. Since he can’t kill her, he instead brings her home and learns there’s more to her than he thought. This will ALSO be on TVOD starting on Tuesday, Jan. 21.

ACASA MY HOME (Zeitgeist, Kino Lorber) Romanian filmmaker Radu Ciorniciuc’s directorial debut doc, which premiered at Sundance last year (receiving an award for its cinematography), about the Enache family who lives in harmony with nature in the wilderness of the Bucharest Delta. When the area is turned into a public national park, they’re forced to move to the city where things are very different. It will open in select cities and via virtual cinema.

GOODBYE, BUTTERFLY (Gravitas Ventures) Tyler Wayne’s directorial debut is this crime thriller starring Adam Donshik (House of Cards) as Ryan Olsen, a family man whose five-year-old daughter is murdered, but with no leads, Ryan starts suspecting his oddball neighbor Stan (Andy Lauer), so Ryan takes the law into his own hands. This is getting day and date theatrical with TVOD (no idea what that is) and digital.

VOD:

AMERICAN SKIN Nate Parker’s second film as a director following the Sundance Prize-winning Birth of a Nation has him starring as a Marine veteran working as a school janitor who tries to fix things with his son, who is killed by a police officer who isn’t even put to trial for the death so he takes matters in his own hand. The drama also stars Omari Hardwick and will be available on iTunes and other VOD platforms.

Two of my favorite movies of 2020, Emmerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman (Focus Features), starring Carey Mulligan, and Paul Greengrass’ News of the World (Universal), starring Tom Hanks, will be available starting today via PVOD, rentable for 48-Hour rental. These both should be in the Oscar race, so don’t miss them!

Virtual Cinema:

TRIBUTE TO SAM POLLARD Film at Lincoln Center is running a one-week retrospective to editor, producer and director Sam Pollard to tie in with the release by IFC Films of MLK/FBI, which played at the New York Film Festival last year. It will include some of his own docs (including, hopefully, the excellent Mr. Soul!), as well as his collaborations with Spike Lee, St. Clair Bourne and Henry Hampton. Hopefully, there will be a line-up as it gets closer to the series start, and I’ll add that when it becomes available.

FILM ABOUT A FATHER WHO (Cinema Guild) Over a period of 35 years between 1984 and 2019, Lynne Sachs used various media, including 8 and 16mm film, videotape and digital images to capture a portrait of her father, Ira Sachs Sr, a Park Cit, Utah businessman, in order to understand the web that connects a child to her parents and a sister to her siblings. This will open in Virtual Cinema through the Museum of the Moving Image, Laemmle and others around the country. MOMI will also be holding a 30-year virtual retrospective of Ms. Sachs’ work, starting on Jan. 13.

MY LITTLE SISTER (Film Movement) Switzerland’s official Oscar entry is Stéphanie Chuat and Véronique Reymond’s drama starring Nina Hoss (Phoenix) as Lisa, a brilliant playwright who has stopped writing and now lives with her family in Switzerland. She dreams of returning to Berlin to be with her stage acting twin brother Sven (Lars Eldinger from Proxima) who is facing an aggressive leukemia. Lisa’s attention to her brother causes a rift in her marriage, but she hopes to write something that will get Sven back on stage before the inevitable. You can find a list of theaters showing this via virtual cinema here.

THE WAKE OF LIGHT (Laemmle) Renji Phillip’s drama stars Rome Brooks as a young woman who has to choose between seeking love with Cole (Matt Bush), a young man she meets who wants her to join him on his road trip, or caring for her aging father . This will have a virtual theatrical release through Laemmle Theaters today and then be available through Digital Platforms on February 15.

MANDABI (Janus Films) Senegalese novelist and the “father of African film” Ousmne Sembène’s 1968 film about an unemployed man who finds a windfall of money will get a release through Film Forum’s Virtual Cinema.

Streaming:

OUTSIDE THE WIRE (Netflix) Anthony Mackie stars in Mikael Håfström’s sci-fi thriller, playing android officer Leo who is teamed with drone pilot Harp (Damson Idris) to locate a doomsday device in a militarized zone before insurgents do.

WANDAVISION (Disney+) The long-awaited Marvel Studios television series that ties directly into the MCU, spinning-off Elisabeth Olsen’s Wanda and Paul Bettany’s Vision into their own series that seems to be playing with other dimensions and worlds but also

ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI… (Amazon Prime Video) Regina King’s powerful drama will finally stream on Prime Video, so those who haven’t had a chance to see it at a festival or awards screening or in theaters will get to see it. Woohoo!

SATURDAY, JANUARY 16

Streaming: SERVANT (Apple TV+) Season 2 of the M. Night Shyamalan produced thriller series will debut. I hope to have some more to write about as it gets closer, since it’s currently under embargo.

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MONDAY, JANUARY 18 VOD/Digital:

STALLONE... FRANK, THAT IS (Branded Studio) Derek Wayne Johnson’s documentary takes an in-depth look into the life and career of Frank Stallone, the younger brother of the far-more-famous Sylvester Stallone, whose own four decade career has earned him three Platinum Albums, ten Gold Albums and five Gold Singles… which is odd, since I don’t think I could name a single one of his songs. He’s also done soundtracks for many of his brother’s films including The Expendables 2, the first three Rocky movies, Rambo II and more and appeared in 75 films and TV shows. Obviously, I’ll need to watch this doc to learn more about him.

YUNG LEUN: IN MY HEAD (Momento Film/Nonstop Entertainment) Henrik Burman’s doc about Swedish hip-hop artist Yung Leun aka Jonathan Leandoer, who turned his love for rap music into a career by making music on his computer and putting the results up on YouTube, but soon, the imaginary character he has been portraying starts to take over, leading to drugs and mental illness.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20

Virtual Cinema:

THE SALT OF TEARS (Distrib Films) Philippe Garrel’s black and white drama about toxic masculinity involving one young handsome man put amidst three vulnerable women will play as part of Film Forum’s Virtual Cinema.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 22

Theatrical:

NO MAN’S LAND (IFC Films) Conor Allyn’s thriller stars Frank Grillo as border “vigilante” Bill Greer, whose son Jackson (Jake Allyn) accidentally kills a Mexican immigrant boy while on patrol. Although Bill tries to take the blame, a Texas Ranger, played by George Lopez, urges Jackson to flee south via horseback into Mexico to hide out, chased by both rangers and Mexican federales, as he seeks forgiveness from the boy’s father (Jorge A. JIminez). Simultaneous theatrical and VOD.

FEATURED FLICK!

OUR FRIEND (Gravitas Ventures/Universal) Casey Affleck, Dakota Johnson and Jason Segel star in Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s adaptation of Matthew Teague’s novel The Friend: Love is Not a Big Enough Word (adapted by filmmaker Brad Ingelsby), which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2019. It tells the story of the Teague family – Afleck’s Matt, a journalist, his wife Nicole (Johnson) and their two daughters – and how their life is upended when she’s diagnosed with terminal cancer, forcing Matt to take on more responsibilities as her caretaker and parent, so the couple’s friend Dane (Segel) offers to help out. The film will be in select theaters and On Demand.

THE HUMAN FACTOR (Sony Pictures Classics) Oscar-nominated doc The Gatekeepers director Dror Moreh takes a look at the peace process between Israelis and Arabs over the past thirty years through the eyes of American mediators, spending time with all of the key players in the conflict trying to find a solution.

BROTHERS BY BLOOD (Vertical) Jérémie Guez’s revenge thriller, based on Pete Dexter’s novel, stars Joel Kinnaman as Peter Flood, who as an 8-year-old saw his little sister be killed in a reckless driving accident, for which his father sought violent revenge. 30 year later, he’s still trying to deal with his guilt and tries to distance himself from his family crime business and his cousin Michael (Matthias Schoenarts) who has been rising up in the business. In select theaters, and on VOD/Digital.

PG: PSYCHO GOREMAN (RLJfilms/Shudder) Steven Kostanski’s horror-comedy follows siblings Mimi and Luke (Nita-Josee Hanna, Owen Myre), who resurrect an ancient alien overlord who had been entombed million years ago, nicknaming the evil creature “Psycho Goreman” aka PG (Matthew Ninaber), using an amulet to make him obey their wishes. Soon, lots of PG’s friends and foes from across the galaxy realize he’s been released, and they come to Mimi and Luke’s town to resume their battle. This will also be in select theaters, On Demand and digital.

BORN A CHAMPION (Lionsgate) (NEW ADDITION!) Dennis Quaid and Sean Patrick Flanery (The Boondock Saints) star in this mixed martial arts film directed by Alex Ranarivelo (American Wrestler: The Wizard) that hits select theaters, digital, and On Demand today before being released on Blu-Ray and DVD on Tuesday, January 26. Flannery plays fighting legend Mickey Kelly, who lost a blood-soaked jujitsu match in Dubai only to learn many years later, that his opponent cheated, so he has to get in shape for a revenge match.

Digital/VOD/Virtual Cinema:

IDENTIFYING FEATURES (Kino Lorber) (NEW ADDITION!) Having just won the Gotham Award for Best International Feature on Monday (after winning the audience and screenplay awards in the World Cinema category at Sundance last year), Fernanda Valadez’s Mexican border thriller will be released on Kino Marquee and via various virtual cinemas nationwide. It stars Mercedes Hernandez as middle-aged Magdalena, who has lost contact with her son after he’s left their town to cross the border into the U.S. to find work. She ends up following on an equally dangerous journey to find him while a young man named Miguel (David Illescas), recently deported back to Mexico crosses paths with her.

ATLANTIS (Grasshopper) Ukraine’s Oscar selection is this film from Valentyn Vasyanovych set in a desolate post-war Ukraine where former soldier Sergiy delivers the rare resource of water and volunteers his time to recover the dead bodies of fellow soldiers in hopes of healing. This will open exclusively in Metrograph’s Virtual Cinema system Friday.

NOTTURNO (Super) (NEW ADDITION!) Gianfranco (Fire at Sea) Rosi’s new documentary is Italy’s entry to the Oscars, as the filmmaker spent three years on the borders of Iraq, Kurdistan, Syria and Lebanon capturing the day every day life that follows the tragedy of the dictatorships and civil wars within those countries. It will get an exclusive virtual cinema launch today and then be available on Hulu and On Demand starting Jan. 29.

COMING CLEAN The new doc from Ondi Timoner (Dig!, We Live in Public) takes a comprehensive look at the opioid crisis, and the part in it played by Purdue Pharmaceutical and how it deceived patients (and doctors) to lure them in and get them hooked. Available via Virtual Cinema after its virtual festival run.

PREPARATIONS TO BE TOGETHER FOR AN UNKNOWN TIME (Greenwich) Hungarian filmmaker Lili Horvát makes a love story set in the male-driven world of neurosurgery, starring Natasa Stork as Márta Vizy, who returns to Hungary after time in America to discover that a colleague with whom she had a passionate affair says he’s never seen her before. This will open in Virtual Cinema at Film at Lincoln Center and other places. Part of Lincoln Center’s Virtual Cinema, as well as Hungary’s official entry for the International Film Oscar.

BREAKING FAST (Vertical Entertainment) Mike Mosallam’s romantic dramedy set in West Hollywood stars Haaz Sleiman as Mo, a practicing Muslim who recently had his heart broken. When All-American Kal (Michael Cassidy) agrees to come to nightly Iftars (the traditional Ramadan meal), they soon learn that they have more in common than they thought. Available on VOD and digital.

Streaming:

THE WHITE TIGER (Netflix) Ramin (99 Homes, Man Push Cart) Bahrani’s comic adaptation of Balram Halwai’s bestseller hits the streaming service today.

THE SISTER (Hulu) Neil Cross adapted his own novel Burial into this four-part original series starring Russell Tovey as Nathan, who has been keeping a secret from his past, a party that ended with the shocking death of a young woman. Only Nathan and Bob (Bertie Carvel) knew what happened, but then Bob appears on Nathan’s doorstep with horrifying news.

PIXAR POPCORN (Disney+) The Disney streamer debuts a series of short films starring your favorite Pixar characters from Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Cars and The Incredibles.

Blown Away and Busted! (Netflix) Season 2 of the glass-blowing competition reality series and Season 3 of the amateur celebrity sleuth series begin.

Fate: The Winx Saga (Netflix) Brian Young’s live-action version of the Italian cartoon “Winx Club,” a coming-of-age journey that follows five fairies as they enter the magical boarding school called Alfrea.

Derek Delgaudio’s In and Of Itself (Hulu) The comedy directed by Frank Oz and exec. produced by Stephen Colbert that’s “a new kind of lyric poem.” Telling “the story of a man fighting to see through the illusion of his own identity, only to discover that identity itself is an illusion.” Yeah, no idea what that means but even Oz isn’t able to describe it, so that’s pretty weird.

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 26

Theatrical:

WRONG TURN (Saban Films) Mike P. Nelson’s remake of the 00’s horror franchise will debut as a Fathom Event today. It stars Charlotte Vega, Adain Bradley, Bill Sage, Emma Dumont, Dylan McTee, Daisy Head, Tim DeZarn and Matthew Modine. It involves a group of friends hiking the Appalachian Trail who… you guessed it… make a wrong turn and end up in the land of the Foundation, a community of mountain dwellers who want to protect their lifestyle.

Digital/VOD:

CAGED (Shout Factory) Aaron Fjellman’s thriller stars Kenyan-born actor Edi Gathegi (The Blacklist), Melora Hardin, Angela Sarafyan, Tony Amendola and James Jagger. Gathegi plays an affluent African-American psychiatrist who is convicted of murdering his wife (Sarafyan) and sentenced to life and put in solitary. While trying to file an appeal, he’s pushed to the breaking point by an abusive female guard (Hardin), causing him to question his innocence and sanity.

#LIKE Sarah Pirozek’s thriller stars Sarah Rich as a Woodstock, NY teenager named Rosie who a year after her sister Amelia’s death from suicide after being cyberbullied learns that the man responsible (Marc Menchaca) is back online looking for new victims. It will be available via TVOD on iTunes, Amazon Prime, Vudu, FandangoNow and more.

A WOMAN’S WORK: THE NFL’S CHEERLEADER PROBLEM (1091) (NEW ADDITION!) Yu Gu’s documentary, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2019, will be released on VOD today. It looks at a couple cases of professional NFL cheerleaders who re making far less than deserve, almost working at minimum wage while having to pay out of pocket for their own beauty, transportation and uniforms, putting them into debt. So they sue the Oakland Raiders in a class-action lawsuit.

WEDNESDAY, JANURY 27

Streaming: PENGUIN BLOOM (Netflix) Glendyn Ivin’s adaptation of Bradley Trevor Greive’s novel stars Naomi Watts as Samantha Bloom, an Australian mother of three boys who travelled with her husband Cameron (Andrew Lincoln from The Walking Dead) in 2013 and became paralyzed from the waist down after falling from a rooftop. She ends up bonding with a black and white bird her kids name “Penguin” that helps her heal.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 28 The Sundance Film Festival begins today, running until February 3. Hope to have some coverage here and on Below the Line.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 29

Theatrical:

FEATURED FLICK! THE LITTLE THINGS (Warner Bros/HBO Max) John Lee Hancock directs this psychological thriller that puts Oscar winner Denzel Washington back into Bone Collectormode, as he plays Kern County Deputy Sheriff Joe “Deke” Deacon, who is sent to Los Angeles to gather evidence but ends up looking for a killer terrorizing the city with a local Sergeant, played by Oscar winner Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody). Getting involved in the case, brings up secrets from Deke’s past. A third Oscar winner, Jared Leto, presumably plays the killer. This will be in theaters and streaming on HBO Max day-and-date. I will have a review for this closer to release.

FEATURED FLICK! SUPERNOVA (Bleecker Street) Harry Macqueen’s drama stars Colin Firth and Stanely Tucci as twenty-year partners Sam and Tusk, who travel across England in a camper van visiting friends, family and places from their past after a life-changing diagnosis that will test their love for each other. Look for my review of this very soon.

FEATURED FLICK! MALCOLM AND MARIE (Netflix) (NEW ADDITION!)

A week before its debut on the stream, Euphoria creator Sam Levinson’s new drama, starring John David Washington and Zendaya, will hit select theaters. Made during the pandemic, Washington plays a filmmaker on the night of the premier of his first feature gets into a very heavy conversation about their relationship with his partner (Zendaya) who doesn’t think he appreciates her and her contribution to his craft. Will have a review of this sometime later this week.

SAINT MAUD (A24) (NEW ADDITION!) Rose Glass’ acclaimed directorial debut starring breakout star Morfydd Clark as Maud, a hospice nurse who becomes obsessed with saving the soul of her dying patient (played by Jennifer Ehle) but sinister forces try to stop her. This will get a theatrical release today and then will get some sort of Epix Pay TV release on February 12. The movie just received eight nominations from the London Film Critics Circle, but honestly, I saw the movie so long ago, I don’t really remember it very much.

APOLLO 11: QUARANTINE (NEON) (NEW ADDITION!) This new doc short by Todd Douglas Miller follows up his Emmy-winning documentary, Apollo 11, this one covering the astronauts of the first spaceflight to the moon as they quarantine for three days after arriving back on earth. This will open in IMAX theaters this day and then be available On Demand starting February 5.

FINDING YOU (Roadside Attractions) Brian Baugh’s adaptation of Jenny B. Jones’ novel There You’ll Find Me is a romantic drama starring Rose Reid as violinist Finley Sinclair who is studying abroad at an Irish coastal village after failing to get into a New York music conservatory. Once there, she meets heartthrob movie star Beckett Rush (Jedidiah Goodacre) who is there filming his fantasy-adventure franchise, and a romance blooms between them.

THE NIGHT (IFC Midnight) Kourosh Ahari’s horror-thriller stars Shahab Hosseini and Niousha Noor as a married couple with a baby who take shelter in the eerie Hotel Normandie after a night out partying with friends. Over the course of the night, they realize they’re locked in with a malevolent force.

HAYMAKER (Gravitas Ventures) Nick Sasso wrote, directed, edited and stars in the action-thriller in which he plays a retired Muay Thai fighter working as a bouncer who rescues a transgender performer (Nomi Ruiz) from a thug and becomes her bodyguard and protector in a relationship that also forces him back into the world of fighting. It will open in select theaters, On Demand AND Digital.

Virtual Cinema: DEAR COMRADES! (NEON) (NEW ADDITION!) Andrei Konchalovski’s 1962-set Russian drama about a rebellion and a strike following the rising of food prices in the industrial town of Novocherkassk and the massacre that follows. Following its December one-week qualifying, it will open in virtual cinemas this Friday (Jan 29) and then will be available On Demand and on Hulu starting February 5.

On Demand/Digital:

SAVAGE STATE (Samuel Goldwyn Films) David Perrault’s French-tinged Western takes place at the start of the Civil War as a family of French colonists in Missouri decide to return to France, but first they have to cross the entire country to get back to New York, led by a dangerous mercenary named Victor (Kevin Janssens).

Virtual Cinema: WHAT HAPPENED WAS... (Oscilloscope) Actor Tom Noonan’s 1994 directorial debut is a dark comedy about dating based on his own play, starring Noonan and Karen Sillas as co-workers who are stuck together on a Friday night after an intimate dinner that goes sideways. This won the Grand Jury Prize and Screenwriting Award at the 1994 Sundance, and will be added to Film Forum’s Virtual Cinema.

THE FUNERAL HOME (Uncork’d Entertainment) (NEW ADDITION!) Mauro Iván Ojeda’s supernatural thriller, which premiered at the Fantasia Fest last year, will hit virtual theaters today before its digital release on Tuesday, February 2. It’s about the dysfunctional family of an undertaker who experience all sorts of paranormal manifestations, but it could just be that they’re all MAAAAAD!

THE REUNITED STATES (Dark Star Pictures) (NEW ADDITION!) Ben Rekhi’s doc is about a group of unsung heroes trying to bridge the political and racial divides in the country as it’s being ripped apart at the seams.It will be available via virtual cinema today and on VOD platforms February 9.

Streaming:

THE DIG (Netflix) The Cary Mulligan-Ralph Fiennes drama is scheduled to hit the streamer.

PALMER (Apple TV+) Justin Timberlake stars in the Fisher Stevens-directed drama as an ex-convict who strikes up a friendship with a boy from a troubled home, played by Ryder Allen. It also stars Juno Temple and June Squibb.

BEGINNING (MUBI) (NEW ADDITION!) Georgia’s (the country, not the state) Oscar entry is the debut feature from writer-director Dea Kulumbegashvili, a drama about a Jehovah’s Witness who undergoes a dramatic crisis of faith. Ila Sukhitshvili plays Yana, the wife of a Jehovah’s Witness leader whose community is attack from an extremist group that creates Yana’s discontent to grow.

WE ARE: THE BROOKLYN SAINTS (Netflix)

The new four-part docuseries from Rudy Valdez (The Sentence) looks at the youth football program in East New York, Brooklyn, where the Brooklyn Saints program gets 7 to 13-year-old boys ready to play and succeed in athletics, while also creating a community.

That’s it for January. Again, check back over the course of the month to see what reviews/movies have been added. Hopefully, we’ll be back to your normal weekly Weekend Warrior by February, but we’ll see.

#TheWeekendWarrior #MonthlyPreview #Reviews #Movies #Streaming

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grillosource · 7 years ago

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Frank Grillo (Kingdom, Captain America: Civil War) goes on an E-ticket thrill ride in the new Netflix film Wheelman, available today, who is just out of prison, but is in debt to the mob and has to pay off his IOU before he can be free and clear.

“He owes the mob this one job, but ultimately he just wants to reconnect with his daughter, have a relationship, and be a regular guy, and it’s just not happening,” Grillo tells Parade.com in this exclusive interview. “Not that night, and that’s where you get the conflict and the tension.”

What starts out as a simple bank robbery turns into a high stakes race-to-survive when things quickly go bad. With a car full of money and his family on the line, the clock is ticking to figure out who double-crossed him and the only person he can trust is his 13-year-old daughter.

During our conversation, Grillo talks more about racing through the streets at Boston late at night, working with wife Wendy Moniz, will there be more Purge movies in his future, and more.

This movie was very stressful to watch because there’s so much that can go wrong at any moment. What was it like to film? Did you feel that tension when you were filming it?

Yeah, we were under a time constraint. Obviously, we were shooting at night, and it was the first time that Joe Carnahan and I were producing a film, and I knew that if we didn’t keep the tension in the script, the way it was setup, we would have a pretty big failure on our hands. So, there was a lot of that sense of we’ve got to keep this tense and interesting. It was a lot of work, but about midway through, we had the feeling that we had something cool.

So tell me a little bit about Wheelman, and this is my pun for the day. What drives him?

I often say you come to a place in life when you’re a man, where you’ve run out of time, and you have to make a choice, and that’s either live a simpler life that is maybe not as exciting, but you take care of your family, and you be a stand up guy, and I think that’s Wheelman. I think that’s what this guy is going through.

Did you have to take driving lessons? I talked to Ansel Elgort when he did Baby Driver, and he did.

Yeah, I did. You know, I worked a little bit with some [stunt drivers] just for a day, but I race motorcycles and stuff. I’m a bit of a speed demon. I know my way around a car pretty well, so I was confident.

The great thing about the people in Boston is they really laid out the red carpet for us. They closed streets down, so I knew it was safe enough that I could go a little crazy, but it was me. Mostly 90 percent of it is practical. It’s me driving and talking at the same time. So it was fun. I mean, listen, I got to be a wild man for 19 days.

As an actor, when you don’t have your whole physicality because you’re stuck in a car, is that harder?

Yeah, it is hard because you can’t be too big. You can’t do too much because I have a camera in front of my face mounted on the car, or I have a camera in the car on the side of my head. So, I really had to prepare this movie. This was a great opportunity for me, and so I prepared a lot, so I knew where this guy was emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, psychologically, and physically at any given moment in the film. I was always in it, and there was nothing manufactured about it. It was a great experiment that I think we pulled off.

You have an executive producer credit on this. How did you go about making that transition to working behind the camera?

Joe Carnahan and I had been looking to do something together since we did The Grey, and he found this script through Jeremy Rush who was a PA at the time. We brought it to CAA, our agents, and we said we want to produce it. We have a new company. We want to be boots on the ground. Netflix came in and they bought it and they agreed we should produce it and we were off to the races.

I just did another TV show for Netflix that we produced, and another film called El Chicano that we produced. So now our company is going to do The Raid and three other films that are in the pipeline, and so we’re off.

Does having a business degree from college help you be a producer?

Not at all. I don’t know what it helps you with, but it’s generally not that. You know Hollywood is a business based on relationships, like many businesses. So it’s really about knowing how to execute, and Joe and I have been in the business long enough that we both know how to execute, and then just maintaining great relationships, so that’s the struggle.

Wendy Moniz, your real-life wife, plays your wife in this. You met onGuiding Light, so what’s it like to work with her all these years later?

It’s so funny because for the past three years, I was doing a show called Kingdom, on DirecTV, and so we hired her. Wendy came and played my love interest for one season, I think eight episodes. So we had just worked together about a year ago, very closely, very intimately, and then, obviously, had done Guiding Light, and she was on another pilot for a TV show of mine, Battery Park, so I’m used to working with her. I think she’s amazing. She’s working on Yellowstone right now with Kevin Costner, Taylor Sheridan’s new show.

When I look at your roles from Kingdom to The Purge franchise and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, it seems as if they’re all very physical, tough guys. Is that something that you relate to, or is it typecasting?

You know, it is a little bit of both, but, I think, I found this niche like Liam Neesen did with Taken. You know I’ve got chops. I can act pretty well. I’m a blue-collar guy. I’m an authentic guy. I did grow up fighting and I am a bit of a rough-around-the-edges fellow, and people believe me when I’m in those situations. So in my later career, it’s turned into a real cottage industry for me. I think once or twice a week I get offered a film that is very physically oriented, so that seems to be where I’m going. I love it and I have fun doing it. I love to stay in shape, so it’s all worked out well.

Is there possibly another Purge movie in the future, or is that over?

Definitely. There’s a Purge 4, but I am definitely not in it. Those days are over for me.

Any other sequels that you’re going to be doing?

I have a movie coming out called Beyond Skyline, which is a sequel, and I just was in a movie in China called Wolf Warrior II, which just made $900 million in China. It’s the second largest domestic film in the history of movies, behind Star Wars. So, now I have a very big presence in Asia, which is great for our business because that’s a burgeoning film market. I don’t think I have any more sequels. I think I’m done with sequels.

What else is coming up?

I’m going to do a movie called Donnybrook with James Badge Dale and Jamie Bell, which is based on a novel, and then we’re going to do a movie called Decoy with Andy Garcia and Tyler Posey, and then I have another movie after that. That’s what life is now.

So few soap actors will make the transition. Why do you think you were successful? Is it because you only did the one contract?

I wasn’t a soap actor. I got there. I knew what it was. I knew I was only going to be there for a short time. I tried to make the best of it. It was fun for a minute. I was young. I got paid a little bit of money, but that was never my trajectory. From about a year after I got on the show, I wanted to get off the show. Melodrama and daytime television wasn’t what I was looking to do with my life.

Wheelman, written and directed by Jeremy Rush, begins streaming on Netflix today.

#frank grillo #netflix #interview #wheelman

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cinephiled-com · 7 years ago

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New Post has been published on Cinephiled

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Interview: Robin Campillo Explores the Work of ACT UP Paris in the Powerful French Film ‘BPM’

In Paris in the early 1990s, a passionate group of activists goes to battle for those stricken with HIV/AIDS, taking on sluggish government agencies and major pharmaceutical companies with bold, invasive actions. The organization is ACT UP — the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power — and its members embrace their task as a literal life-or-death mission. Director Robin Campillo (They Came Back, Eastern Boys), who joined ACT UP Paris himself as a young gay man, tells a riveting story in this film, BPM (Beats Per Minute), of how the ragtag organization helped bring about big changes.

In the Paris college classroom where the members of ACT UP PARIS meet to argue debate strategy and plan its protests, a newcomer named Nathan (Arnaud Valois) is attracted to one of the group’s most outspoken members, Sean (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart). Eager to push the limits in disruptive public confrontations, Sean grows testy and impatient with the more moderate approaches advocated by the group’s leaders, Thibault (Antoine Reinartz) and Sophie (Adèle Haenel). There is an urgency driving his radicalism — his health is more fragile than many of the other gay and straight activists. As the group scrambles from boisterous street demonstrations and boardroom face-offs to dance floors pulsing with light and rhythm, Nathan and Sean’s relationship deepens. As Sean gets sicker, their passion sparks against the shadow of mortality, and the community of activists plots its most dramatic protest yet. I sat down with Robin Campillo and actors Arnaud Valois and Nahuel Pérez Biscayart to discuss this moving film.

Danny Miller: I knew nothing about ACT UP Paris but I did know one of the founders of ACT UP Chicago, Dan Sotomayor, who died in 1992 when this film takes place. I’m sorry I didn’t get involved with the group at the time since I now really see the value of that kind of confrontational political action. Robin, having been a member of the organization, was this something you’ve long wanted to make a film about?

Robin Campillo: Yes. I have always wanted to do a film that touched on the AIDS epidemic but it took me some time to find the heart of what I wanted to say. I wrote some earlier scripts that I put away and more recently found myself thinking of this time in my life in the early 90s when I got involved with ACT UP. It was so not my personality to become militant in any way, but I was so angry and upset at the inaction at the time. I’ve always felt that the most popular political position is indifference. That remains a major problem in our society and it’s something that’s very difficult to fight against.

Do you think it’s because so many HIV-positive people were dying all around you that many people who never saw themselves as radical in any way became these courageous activists?

Yes, absolutely. Mobilization is always very hard to do, but you’re right, it’s because so many people were dying — we felt we had no choice. It’s very rare to have this political window where you can actually start to change things. ACT UP started here in the United States and we were very inspired by the American model. I was an editor for a TV news show and was editing a lot of stories about ACT UP. I heard the president of ACT UP Paris in one of these reports and was very impressed. And then, to be honest, one night I had this sex date planned very close to the place were ACT UP was meeting then, but the guy stood me up. I was upset about that and decided to go to the ACT UP meeting instead — which completely changed my life!

Wow, that’s the best story about being stood up that I ever heard!

(Laughs.) Many people in France at that time (and everywhere) were very afraid and intolerant of gay people, especially because of AIDS. So we decided to use that as a weapon. We would burst into all these events at different organizations and it was very powerful. Amongst ourselves we’d laugh at the effects we had on people — if they were afraid of us, we were going to make them even more afraid in order to make groups take action to help all the people who were getting sick.

I know this film is fictional, but I’m assuming if any character was based on you, it must be Nathan?

Yes, to some extent. Like me, Nathan is a newcomer, he’s shy, and he never thought he would end up an activist. And when Nathan is taking about his past in the film, it’s basically me. I actually wrote that text about 10 years ago for an AIDS conference, and I was very happy to put those words into Nathan’s mouth.

Arnaud Valois: And that was the only scene in the entire film where Robin said, “You have to say it word for word, stick to the text!” The only one.

Robin Campillo: It’s true. Of course, Nathan is much calmer than I was at the time. I really like my characters to have lots of contradictions, I’m not into archetypes that don’t really exist in the real world. I don’t make films because I completely know the characters, I make them because I want to discover the characters along with the audience. The first draft of the character that I write is never going to be the final character, I leave a lot to my actors.

That’s great — and what a lot of responsibility it gives to you, Arnaud and Nahuel. You’re both amazing in the film. Did you also feel a big responsibility to learn as much as you could about those times and the AIDS crisis?

Arnaud Valois: We read a book called ACT UP by Didier Lestrade, the first president of ACT UP Paris, we watched a lot of archival footage of the protests and some documentaries, but you know, Robin told us he did not want us to become experts on the subject — he wanted us to be like our characters, young and a bit naïve, and just go with the flow.

Nahuel Pérez Biscayart: I also watched this amazing documentary called Silverlake Life: The View from Here, from 1993 that was made by two HIV-positive guys who were filming each other and then one of them dies first and then the other. It was such a strong film — real-life first-person stuff about how the sickness really goes. For me, that was the perfect film to watch to understand what my character was going through, I didn’t watch any fiction films of the subject. Then, of course, it was just a matter of trust. I think a good director is someone who sees in you something that you may not be seeing. When you have that kind of trust, the energy just starts flowing, I didn’t just feel like I was playing a character, I felt like something bigger was happening.

I wasn’t there, obviously, but as an audience member, I had the feeling that the same kind of bonding that was happening within the ACT UP Paris group in the film was actually happening with the actors on the set.

It exactly was! Even though we were so different, each person in the cast was just so completely different from one another.

Robin Campillo: And that was the case in ACT UP, too. I wanted to recreate that energy and diversity, and that space and electricity that can happen between people. There’s such possibility when that happens.

Nahuel Pérez Biscayart: Some movies about real events think that they have the answers, that each character has the solution. Nobody gets lost in those films. But that’s not what this film is about at all.

After being in this film, do you feel like you’re more of an activist than you were before?

Arnaud Valois: More aware, that’s for sure, and more concerned.

There are so many analogies you can make to today when you watch this film, even apart from the AIDS crisis. I feel like we’re all being called on to become confrontational activists. Maybe we need an ACT UP Trump movement.

Robin Campillo: Sometimes it takes traumatic events to change a person. I remember reading this science fiction book when I was a kid that was about these aliens coming to Earth and some of the people on Earth really worked hard to learn the aliens’ language but then they discover that the act of speaking their language makes them actually become the aliens. That’s kind of how I felt in my life when I found ACT UP — I became someone different, a foreigner, a stranger to myself. And there was no possibility of going back to how it was before.

You could almost say it’s the other way around — that you were alien before and then you found your real self.

Maybe. But one of the things I love about cinema is that I think it can do that, too. A film can change you and make you feel like a stranger to yourself.

Does ACT UP Paris have an honored position in France these days? Or is the group dismissed as a bunch of troublemakers?

It was certainly not respected at the time by many people. It’s funny, though — to hear the discussions among people at Cannes when we brought the film there, you’d think that everyone loved ACT UP and that everyone was somehow involved with the group. All French people were in ACT UP like all French people were in the Resistance during World War II. No one collaborated with the Germans, right? It’s nice to make these claims now in retrospect but it’s just not true. Most were not on our side back then — we were just a bunch of fags and dykes and way too dodgy to be accepted at the time.

I love that this film does not rely on any of the stereotypes that many American films that touch on the AIDS epidemic do.

Nahuel Pérez Biscayart: Yeah, it’s a very unusual film compared to typical American cinema. Who are the main characters? You can go through half the film and not know. Who are the heroes? Who’s dying? Who’s in love with who?

The length of the film alone (2 hours and 20 minutes) would make American producers go nuts. Robin, did you get any pressure to shorten the film?

Robin Campillo: Not by my producers, but the programmer of Cannes called me and said they really loved the film but it was just too long so could I possibly cut it?

How did you respond?

I said, “Yes, I’ll try my best” and then we told him we cut seven minutes but in truth we only cut one! (Laughs.) They never noticed.

I wouldn’t have minded if it were an hour longer. I would have liked a whole film on Sophie, or the mother, or Thibault — any of those characters.

I love to think that when you see characters that they have an entire world of their own that we’re not seeing — that we don’t know them enough. Characters exist more like that in novels but in cinema, for some reason, characters are often ridiculously narrowed. Why do we have to do that?

I’m sure you’re aware of the horrific attacks against the LGBTQ community here since Trump took office. I assume it’s a much better situation in France right now?

I mean, Macron is not openly attacking LGBT groups, but he doesn’t really care, it’s not a subject he ever discusses. He really doesn’t know very much at all.

youtube

BPM (Bests Per Minute) opens today in Los Angeles and will be playing in select cities nationwide.

#ACT UP #AIDS #Arnaud Valois #BPM (Beats Per Minute)#Nahuel Pérez Biscayart #Robin Campillo #Interviews #What's Hot

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bellabooks · 8 years ago

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Artist Valentine M. Smith on her creative spirit and finding inspiration in queer fandom

One of the coolest things about queer media communities is not just the art that comes out of them, but the support they can provide. We’re in an age, thanks to the internet, where artists can share their work with everyone; it’s the kind of art that helps us make it through long hiatuses, tough storylines, and reminds us why we love the characters we do (and why we want them to kiss, probably). We may not have many TV shows and movies at our disposal out here in the LGBTQ community, but what we have helps people find a voice and acquire an audience. You may know Valentine M. Smith from the rad art she’s made for shows like Carmilla, Wynonna Earp, Orphan Black, and more. She’s also done work for novels (Snowball Earth), magazines (THIS), films (Lyle, Bury Your Tropes) and webseries (Couple-ish, Haunted or Hoax). This week I sat down with Valentine to talk art, queerdom, and how we can better support our queer content creators. Erin Carter: Let’s start with the basics: did you go to school for art? Valentine M. Smith: I did, I have a BFA in illustration from the University of the Arts, which is in Center City, Philadelphia. I really liked that school because I knew their illustration program was good, and because it wasn’t just a visual arts school. We had a film department, dance, theatre; I got to take a lot of different things because of that. EC: So you had access to all these other things, why illustration? VMS: Honestly because when I was little I was bit by the film bug. I wanted to do film and I wanted to be a director for a little while; I wrote scripts and I’d cast people for table reads as a twelve year-old. I was like, “We’re making movies!” And they were terrible but as a twelve year-old, no other twelve year-old want to take that seriously so it was easier for me to just draw it and do it all myself, to basically storyboard it in comic form, rather than rely on all these other people…because we were twelve. Then I got more interested in music. I learned to play the drums, I was in a lot of bands so my creative outlet went from film to music. In high school I came back to art and thought, “Oh, I’m not so terrible at drawing anymore!” Because that was a big thing for me, I was really discouraged because I wasn’t good and I wasn’t, at that moment, willing to put in the time [to improve]. EC: How did you work past that fear of not being good enough and decide to start putting in the time? VMS: Sometimes you’re really motivated and sometimes you’re really not. It comes down to just being able to push past it and do the work. Finding different ways to stimulate your learning. When I started getting serious about it is when YouTube was becoming a bigger thing, so I used to watch all of my favorite comic artists draw on YouTube. They’d do livestreams and I remember being up late at night, sitting at my desk drawing, and I’d watch someone else do a livestream and it was like, “It’s basically like we work together!” That was so driving for me. EC: Who were some of your influences or inspirations early on? VMS: Becky Cloonan, I love Becky Cloonan. She’s the reason I picked up a brush and tried to brush ink for the first time. The first time I saw her she was in a picture in Wizard magazine and she was wearing a Phoenix shirt, and I was so mad. I wanted to wear Jean Grey shirts and hang out at cool comic-cons! She was a big one because there weren’t that many women in comics, and I feel like as a kid in the 90s, the big comic artists were all men. They were all drawing really muscled up dudes in spandex and I was like, “That’s nice, I know how to do that, but there aren’t any ladies here.” And I remember literally thinking, “I don’t know how I’m going to get a job.” I also remember looking at other artists in fine art, because there were more women in fine art, and Tara McPherson was a big one for me. Those were the big two. EC: It’s no secret you’re a horror fan; what draws you to that genre? VMS: I think, early on, fear was one of the most tangible emotions that I could emote in my work. Because it was really easy to scare someone, and I’m really good at making blood splatters so when I realized this I was like “SOLD.” I’ve also had really weird dreams so a lot of it I think comes from just being an anxious human being. I always really liked horror movies because there was power in the fact that you could make something that’s fake and transition it into something so real. Also in the sense that it wasn’t just horror but the things horror could represent. A lot of the horror movies that I was into were low-budget, made by people who really loved them, and it seemed more attainable, to be able to go out there and say, “I can make something, here it is.” EC: How did you come into doing work for movies and TV shows? VMS: While I was in university, and drawing every day, in the thick of it, I watched American Mary. This was at a prime time where I had found horror, I found my home, and I felt so comfortable there. So I watched the movie and it was this little gem of an indie film, made by people who wanted to put something out there. It was made by two women, starring women, it was a dream team. I started making art for it because I was really passionate about, and then the Soska sisters found my work. They’re really supportive of their fans and so they shared my work, and got me to a wider audience. And all the good indie horror films were coming out of Canada, so it really put Toronto on my radar. I felt, if I want to be involved in weird independent horror, I needed to go there and be in that. EC: Horror put Toronto on the map for you, so how’d you make the jump to things like webseries and queer television? VMS: I already had the Canada seeds planted, and then I stumbled on Carmilla. Being part of the LGBTQ community, I’m always looking for content. It had the same feel for me; I was already into the little indie darlings, and projects that people were trying to make, and being a part of a lot of those you know that everyone is kind of struggling. It’s this understanding that you’re on the same team and you’re trying to make it work. So I started drawing things up for them because I was passionate about it and I wanted other people to know about it. Doing sketches and character studies became a daily routine for me because I was trying to draw more and get better, so I ended up focusing on that and it would carry over into my other work. I was always really interested in the physicality of acting and how it changes an actor’s body in the sense that there’s a character being housed in there, and I wanted to be able to capture that in my drawing. I had never made the crossover to include LGBTQ work in my own stuff until Carmilla. EC: How has that helped you incorporate more LGBTQ content into your work? VMS: A lot of it is commissioned based, but those are now the projects I’ll seek out and that I want to get jobs for. It’s very similar to the horror community in that it’s smaller than the wider mainstream but they’re very loyal. Working with LGBTQ stuff became more personal, more important and moving for me, and I realized that I needed to be doing it. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I thought, “I never thought of being here, but now I know that I need to be.” EC: What made that switch flip? VMS: It just happened; I worked on Carmilla stuff and I just thought, “I have to keep doing this, this is really important to me.” Being a queer person myself, I liked the work I was making and I liked the person I was when I was making that work. And the thing is, we have creators, but we need to get into those higher seats. We need to be making more work because they can’t tell us that we’re not making things, or that there aren’t jobs for us, or that we aren’t there for the jobs, because we are. There’s no excuse. EC: So basically just make all the things. VMS: Basically, and make it gay! There’s such a starvation within the community for any kind of representation. EC: You were saying that, when you started doing Carmilla stuff, it was at a time when you were actively trying to draw every day. Did you see yourself improve or your style evolve? VMS: I got so much better! The real improvement started right before then; there are these certain pieces that you make that stick in your mind, and you can point to it and know that something changed. I remember I did a university assignment where you had to pick a book and do the book cover. I did a cover for American Psycho and it was the first time that I used my black ink exclusively, and did my textured, cross-hatch marks which is present in a lot of my pieces now. That’s the one that triggered me to study my black and white work, and when Carmilla came along I was finding figures and studying likenesses. It really helped me be able to work quickly, it got me to make better choices, and it helped me figure out a lot of my process. EC: And you do a lot of commissions now for characters and things like that, have you always done those? VMS: Up until Carmilla taking off, the personal commissions I got from people were always tattoos. I’m from a very small town so if somebody finds out you draw they’re like, “oh will you draw my tattoo,” and it’s like give me some dollars and I will do it. After people realized I was interested in drawing queer-specific media, and I got involved in a lot of that, I started getting commissions for characters for the first time. I had never had that happen before. I remember printing my own All Cheerleaders Die shirts because there was no merch, and that’s what drove me to do a lot of this stuff. I’d love this thing and there would be nothing for it, so I had to make it. EC: How’d you end up in Toronto? Did changing environments affect your work at all? VMS: To be perfectly honest, anytime you change cities and you’re a freelance anything, your whole network shifts. The illustration community in Philadelphia is very tight, and I knew a lot of people who could get me in contact with others so I had a lot of opportunity. But it wasn’t the work that I really felt I needed to be doing at the time. I had done my first movie poster out of school for Lyle, which was an indie horror movie starring two women in a queer relationship; it was meant for me. So it was starting to get there, but there’s that joke that goes, “But mom, I’m famous in Canada!” And that’s honestly what was happening, my work was more well known outside of where I was. The work that was being made that I wanted to be a part of was in Toronto. Through a series of weird, miraculous things I got to come up here for FanExpo in 2015, and it was the first time I had really seen the affect my work had had, in any sense. Before that I had been doing work on the side to make ends meet, and then I came up here and I was met with such warmth and support from a community. After that I thought, “I need to do more of this, I need to be here. I don’t care what happens, I have to end up here for just a little bit and give it a try.” EC: You also do a lot of original pieces, what motivates those? VMS: My shorthand is very different from my longform illustration. Art is my outlet and it’s something that calms me down, especially in the way that I work. A lot of that black texture and white speckled work happened because I work quickly, and it became a form of mediation that centered me. It wasn’t just an aesthetic thing, it was an actual process; when I’m doing that it makes me stop to think about the marks that I’m making and what I’m putting down on the page, it allows for that cerebral aspect. I also have a list of things I like, and if I think of more things I put them on that list so that I keep working even when I don’t have jobs or commissions, or if I feel really drained and want to make something that I want to make for the sake of it. If I have to do something colour for work, I’ll do black and white work for myself and vice versa. A lot of my original work is from all the things that have inspired me before; there’s a lot of horror, weird uneasiness, tattoos, and I like drawing hands and people and buildings. I like drawing anything, it’s all good. EC: What kind of projects do you get stoked on? VMS: I know what I get STOKED about. EC: Listen, I’m from California. VMS: I get stoked on anything original, anything film related because that’s a huge part of my inspiration. And anything that’s a new challenge, honestly. It’s partly you trying to figure out what a patron wants, but they came to you for a reason. When someone comes to you with an idea, you’re like, “I really like this but let’s see if we can make it better.” I really enjoy collaborations, as someone who works primarily in a solo studio. I really like getting other voices in there and making something better than what we could have made alone. It’s cool because somebody put that confidence in you; it’s scary, but I feel like fear has always been such a part of doing my work that I feel more at home with it. As an illustrator, it’s your job to figure out what someone wants, you’re a problem-solver, period. Whether it’s editorial, books, film, branding, it all carries over in the sense that there’s a problem and you have to figure out a solution, and that’s exciting. EC: What’s your dream project? VMS: I just want to be more involved. I want to be more in control with the whole process, I really want to brand something. Whether it’s a movie or a shop or a clothing line, I want to create cohesive visuals across a thing. I get to do that now with the Snowball Earth series; there’s a second book in the works and we’re designing the book covers to link up with each other, we had that in plan from the beginning. If you’re making a project, it’s important for it to look the same across the board, you should have the same people on so it looks and feels complete. For a film, the poster should suit the visual style which would suit whatever kind of merch you want to do, and all of those themes that are important in the media would be translated into something that would work illustratively. Especially with movie posters nowadays, a lot of mainstream movie posters are just a bunch of heads on a thing and it doesn’t look good. I know you want to sell your movie with your star, but let’s figure out how to make that look good as well. For FanExpo last year, I got commissioned to do a Carmilla poster and it was designed with the intent of having people sign it. You want them on there so you can recognize them and they can recognize themselves, but I didn’t want to do a bunch of weird shape heads. I made it into a pattern that flows but also looks like a weird old pulp novel; it accomplished having them there but it wasn’t something with just a bunch of floating heads. EC: Why is working within the queer media world important to you? VMS: It’s important to make queer media right now because we just don’t have it. People who aren’t a part of the minority see something new coming in and they think, “Well you have this one, so why aren’t you happy?” because they’ve never experienced being starved for representation. We just don’t have that many choices in a mainstream, accessible sense. We can’t go to a theatre and see multiple queer couples in multiple movies doing completely different things. It might be queer, but is it a fun, queer, sci-fi drama? Or is it a queer horror movie? We just don’t have it so we’re trying to make it. As someone a part of that who is a creator, it’s really important to me that, regardless if anyone is going to give us something to stand on to make it, we just have to because they’re not going to. They don’t want to put their money on what they conceive to be a risk. We’re really people just existing in the world, and a lot of what we want to see now is just that, we just want to exist. In order to make that happen, sometimes we have to do it first, and I’m not afraid to. And I think that a lot of people aren’t afraid to right now, and we’re very loyal to each other in the sense that, if we see someone making something and it’s good, we’ll absolutely help out. I will be more willing to work with a queer creator on making queer content and sacrifice some other part, whether I do it on my own time or if we have to work with a smaller budget to get it made. I’m willing to make those sacrifices because we need it. EC: What can people do to better support queer creators? VMS: You just have to put your money where your mouth is. If you say you want this stuff and you say you want to see it or buy a shirt to support a movie or person, you unfortunately have to put money in. That’s how we survive, that’s how I survive. I’m a full-time freelance illustrator, so when I sell prints or original work or do commissions, that puts a roof over my head, it allows me to have a sense of stability in my life so that I can create more work. I can’t make more things if I can’t pay rent. If you can’t contribute with whatever your talents are, put money into it. And that’s how projects are being made these days, through things like crowd funding, because if they aren’t going to give us the money to make it we’re going to band together. If you’re part of an audience and you want or like something, spread it around, and credit where credit is due. That’s a big thing. Unfortunately, there’s this hive mind thing where it’s like, “this was made and now I can show everyone,” and the creator in question gets lost along the way, so when I see something cool I want to know where it came from so I can go back to them and support that person. If you don’t do that along the way, you’re hindering a potential new client or audience. [Bringing it back to the artist] also creates a good sense of community in general, it comes full circle. EC: What kind of advice would you give to aspiring illustrators? VMS: Draw from life! You’re going to hate it at times, but the whole thing about drawing is that you’re drawing what you see. In order to get better at drawing you have to get better at seeing, in the sense that you have to be able to process that there is something in front of you and however way you choose to interpret that you have to just draw it. It will build your visual vocabulary in your brain. If you spend your time drawing trees, every tree is different, so you’ll know how to draw a tree and if you draw different ones you’ll know how to pull out an oak versus a pine out of nowhere because you’ll have that visual vocabulary. The same goes for figures; please practice figures. It doesn’t have to be in the traditional sense, with all the proportions right, but you do have to do that early on, you have to learn the rules so you can break them. You have to learn what exists and then what can exist. I used to hate doing figure drawing because I felt it had to be perfect, and then once you get to the point where you’re getting it is when you can start to tweak it. I had this professor, Tim Bauer, he has done so much work, he’s an amazing man. He’s quit illustration like three times and come back because we all have this thing inside of us that pushes us to do it whether we like it or not. He would make us do these exercises where we had to draw a wonky shape on a piece of paper and he’d say, “Make the figure exist in that,” and you’d go, “What? How am I supposed to make this in this weird amoeba that I’ve drawn?” You’d end up with these figures that were strangely distorted and, once you let go, you realize there is no certain way it has to be. There are no limits, whatever process works for you isn’t going to work for the next person, and that’s okay. That took me a long time to be okay with, I kept trying to fit into a certain mold and once I let that mold go, I was listening to myself and listening to my body, listening to the way my mind worked and processed things. This was easier for me in black and white which is why I started doing it so much, because if my brain works like this, it’s harder for me to fight that than it is to give into that and see where it can take me. So just follow what feels right. It’s okay to experiment with anything and everything. It’s okay to look at styles you like and imitate them for a piece or two to see how that person is thinking. But take what you’ve learned, strip it away, and keep certain things. Whatever somebody else is doing is not going to work for you, and once you figure out what does it honestly opens your mind; you can make anything! I’ve felt more free since I realized how I work. Figuring that out is really hard, and I struggled with it for a long, long time. EC: And it’s a constant process too, you consistently have those moments of realization. VMS: It’s an evolution! You can pinpoint those pieces, like I said earlier, where something has changed. You might be stagnant for a while and think nothing is happening. When you go back to look at the work as a whole, lay it all out and look at what stayed, what went away. Figure out what was working and if you look at it and think, “Why am I not doing that anymore?” then pick it back up. It’s a constant evolution of your style, yourself, of the things you’re interested in, of your influences. Take all of that, smoosh it into a ball, then put it in a blender, then throw it away and pick it up again, and then you’ll be ready. The work will be better for it if you put your own spin on it. You can find Valentine’s work at valentinemsmith.com, as well as @valentinemsm1th on Twitter and Instagram. http://dlvr.it/Pb1xZZ

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