#part of me thinks of bichirs

[meowmeowuchiha]

Man....I should get back into fish keeping...

I still have a (sorta) pair of Betta persephone...but I need more....motivation? Enthusiasm? Both? To do much more.

[penrose42]

I've always struggled when prompted with what I want out of life/how I want to live/general life goals, etc. However I think I'm finally at a place where I can verbalize what I want and now I'm going to list them here not only as a testament to the betterment of my mental health and maturity but also to my future self to reflect upon and hopefully go 'yeah I did that'. So here goes:

I want to live somewhere where I don't need a car to interact with my surroundings. I want to live within walking distance to a grocer, to cafes/restaurants, to other 3rd places. I want to be able to live without needing something I despise to function and live. I don't want to live in a city, however. Too noisy and busy for my liking. I want to look outside and see trees and mountains, not cement and steel. I want to hear birds and wind, not traffic and road rage.

I want a job that I enjoy but is also respectful to me as a worker. I don't want a job at some superstore with a million other employees just scraping by on paycheck to paycheck where the bosses are just the people who kissed ass the best and they don't care if I live or die. I want to be somewhere small, where my talents and interests can shine and I can be a part of why the clientele come in; just to have a friendly chat and I can really help them and their experience. I don't want to rush them in, get them what they want at lightspeed, then tell them to fuck off, leaving both me winded and them feeling like I don't care.

I want a partner. I want someone who undoubtedly will stick by me through thick and thin. I want someone to spend long nights talking to about anything and everything, then wake up in each other's embrace. I want someone who tells me that they love me at every convenience, who makes me feel like to them I'm the most important person in the world. I also want to be there for them, to help them grow and achieve their dreams as well. I want to be as much there for them as they are for me, and we can tackle whatever the world throws at us as a team.

I want to maintain aquariums again. I want to keep monster fish again and I want to go even bigger with my setups. I want to keep Redtail Cats, Gar, Bichirs, Arowana, you name it. I want to have a pond and keep a Wels Cat or maybe even an Alligator Gar (assuming the climate permits). I also want a catio so that my cat can go outside and enjoy himself without me worrying he'd leave and never return.

I want to travel. I want to see the Georgia and Monterey Bay Aquariums. I want to see Crater Lake in Oregon. I want to see my friends that live on the opposite side of the continent. I want to see Malibu Creek State Park, both for me and my dad (we're both M*A*S*H* fans). I want to see Jellyfish Lake in Palau and I want to see Great Whites in South Africa.

I want to keep streaming, but I don't want it to be a job. If I'm comfortable enough financially I want to disable all ads and just play games for fun. I want to share my experiences with stories and keep vibing and hanging out with cool people on the internet. I want to play the games I want and I want to dissect the story and characters and everything down to every minutia and share how I feel about it. I want to do the thing our species has been doing since the dawn of time and I want to enjoy it without the threat of infuriating my audience with a bombardment of ads in their face.

I want to start HRT. I've been telling myself for months now that I'm going to start but I've been too nervous to even think about it and have been distracting myself with anything and everything to not do the thing. I want to be androgynous, however to me it speaks to a larger issue.

I want to be able to do the thing. I don't want my anxiety to control me. I don't want to live in fear but fear is all I know. My instinctual shut downs and avoidance have lead me to feel as though I've wasted my 20's and I don't want it to take any more. I don't want to be scared of not knowing or whatever possible outcome, even if it's in my favor. I don't want to be afraid of change and uncertainty. I don't want to cower and think of the worst. I want to do the thing.

[the-invisible-queer]

I WATCHED CHAOS WALKING

Meaning I've watched all of Nick's films that are available to watch

I am a slut for sci-fi movies that don't seem like sci-fi. I very much enjoyed it. It had Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley, Mads Mikkelsen (my beloved), Cynthia Erivo (wifey) AND fucking Demian Bichir which I was so not prepared for.

The first half was very much a "why do men" situation.

Nick played Mads' son Davy Prentiss Jr. The movie gave us cowboy Nick which is iconic being that Nick was born in Dallas.

He had an accent and everything.

He was a fucking dick but he played the part well. His role was minor but we got to see him get his shit rocked twice.

I think he did decent in it. His accent killed me but at least it was better than his Brooklyn accent in Midway.

But I mean he doesn't have to go far for the southern accent because I'm pretty sure Papa Jonas is from Nashville.

[pallanophblargh]

Inktober commission #6 is the Longest Boi for @kingyo-diva ! I have to admit, there was a while there where I wondered how I was going to fit all of him on the paper. It’s good to draw some creatures that are out of my usual repertoire, and this guy was a joy to draw on top of that.

Sepia acrylic ink wash on Stonehenge paper (the paper is now tired, ha!)

[greensparty]

This Month In History - June

This was quite a month for pop culture anniversaries! Here’s just a few:

June 5, 2001: Amensiac released

In June 2001, Radiohead’s 5th album was released. Here is my piece I wrote in 2016. Happy 20th Amnesiac!

June 10, 2011: Super 8 opens

In June 2011, J.J. Abrams nostalgic monster movie was released. No one ever talks about this movie and I can’t understand why. It’s one of Abrams’ best films. Set in 1979, a group of suburban teens make a movie on super 8 and capture a train derailing...and more. I saw this in the movie theater opening weekend and loved the nostalgic feel of the movie. Not only was it about kids in the 70s trying to make a film on super 8, but it felt like a throwback to the early films of producer Steven Spielberg. I named it my #27 Movie of the 2010s. Happy 10 Super 8!

June 11, 1986: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off opens

In June 1986, one of my all time favorite teen comedies was released. Here is my piece I wrote in 2016. Happy 35th FBDO!

June 12, 1981: Raiders of the Lost Ark opens

In June 1981, the very first Indiana Jones movie was released. Here is my piece I wrote in 2016. When I interviewed co-star Karen Allen in 2017 she said the following “I’m aware that people still love the movie, and that it is still passed down from father-to-son and mother-to-daughter, etc. I know its a film that has this wonderful legacy. Do I spend a lot of time thinking about that in my life? No, I don’t. I appreciate it. When I meet people who love the film it’s a lovely connection for me to make with the world because Marion Ravenwood is a character I loved playing and it’s a character people really enjoyed. But when I just live my normal day-to-day life, I can’t say any film I’ve ever done is a part of my day-to-day life. I live in a small town part time, and New York City part time. And in NYC, they might say “Yo, I liked your film!” and that’s about as excited as they get. And where I live in the small town, I’ve lived there for years, so I’m just the person people see every day at the post office or wherever.“

me and Karen Allen in 2017

As I write this Indy Jones 5 is in production! Happy 40th ROTLA!

June 18, 1996: Odelay released

In June 1996, Beck’s magnum opus was released! Here is my piece I wrote in 2016. Happy 25th Odelay!

June 19, 1981: Superman II opens

In June 1981, the highly underrated Superman sequel was released. Here is my piece I wrote in 2016. Happy 40th Superman II!

June 21, 1966: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opens

In June 1966, Mike Nichols cinematic debut was released. Here is my piece I wrote in 2016. Happy 55th WAOVW!

June 24, 2011: A Better Life opens

In June 2011, Chris Weitz’ powerful drama about undocumented immigrant workers was released. Actor Demian Bichir was deservedly nominated for an Oscar. It was a film that resonated for days after I watched it. I named it my #34 Movie of the 2010s! Happy 10 Better Life!

June 25, 1976: The Omen opens

In June 1976, one of my favorite 70s horror films was released. Here is my piece I wrote in 2016. Happy 45th The Omen!

June 30, 1971: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory opens

In June 1971, the greatest Roald Dahl adaptation was released. Here is my piece I wrote in 2016. Happy 50th WWATCF!

[encyclopika]

Animal Crossing Fish Explained - Habitats #7

Brought to you by a marine biologist mucking around in the wetland...

CLICK HERE FOR THE AC FISH EXPLAINED MASTERPOST!

In the game, this tank is called The Big River and that’s...kinda true? It looks like the Amazon River when it’s flooded, honestly. With the Arapaima and Piranha in there, it also gives me real Amazon vibes. So, I’m going to call this the Tropical River tank, but more specifically, it’s a flooded river (given by the trees in there) and is therefore a wetland. 

We have talked about rivers when we went over the Temperate Flowing River Tank. That tank is more akin to what we imagine when we think “river”. Just like ponds and lakes, though, lots of rivers have different characteristics. Many large rivers, like the Amazon or the Mississippi, overflow during the rainy seasons, flooding the land around them and forming wetlands. Sometimes these wetlands are permanent and some are seasonal, but either way, they are an important part of the river’s cycle. During these times, animals that can’t swim very well are chased out of the area and are replaced by aquatic life. Some animals, like frogs, depend on this overflow because now there are many more places to lay their eggs or avoid land-based predators. Crocodilians move further into the surrounding land with more water from which to hunt and hang out, as do waterfowl and freshwater dolphins. And of course, now fish swim around tree trunks!

Sorry, not sorry, freshwater dolphins fascinate me.

Anyway, let’s talk wetlands now, because they are very important places, despite the fact humans try to get rid of them (which, slightly understandable because this is where mosquitoes thrive, but still...the destruction is mostly for development because there’s nothing smarter than building shit exactly in the spot you watched flood). Wetlands purify water, support wildlife and humans, protect against storm surge, and even mitigate climate change by being fantastic at absorbing atmospheric carbon. There’s more, so look it up or ask me if you’re interested.

But let’s talk about the different kinds of wetlands, because there are many and yet I find a lot of people don’t know the differences. There are three major categories that are then divided further by the type of water in them, the substrate, etc.

^By Douglas A. Wilcox, Todd A. Thompson, Robert K. Booth, and J.R. Nicholas - USGS Document, Circular 1311, Lake-Level Variability and Water Availability in the Great Lakes, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19748553

Marine/Coastal Wetlands - just as they sound, these are your wetlands closer to the ocean. We have already talked about one such Marine Wetland - the estuary! Salt marshes and mangrove swamps also fall into this category. Mangroves are really amazing flooded, coastal forests accentuated by mangrove trees.

From this site.

Inland Wetlands - typically freshwater. Include flooded river basins, like our Tropical River Tank, as well as swamps, bogs, marshes, fens, etc. Swamps support woody plants, like trees, whereas a marsh is characterized by smaller non-woody plants, like grasses. A bog is somewhat like a marsh, but it is characterized by the presence of peat, or decaying plant matter. There are other habitats like a bog, such as a fen, but they are characterized by other factors, such as pH. All of these decaying, wet flats are collectively known as mires. 

Human-made Wetlands - Yes, we get our own category, because, like beavers, we are ecosystem engineers, for better or worse. These are your aquaculture ponds for fish farming, irrigated land for farms and rice paddies, decorative ponds, wastewater ponds, and reservoirs, among others. 

The animals in the Tropical River Tank are as follows:

Dorado :: Piranha :: Arowana :: Arapaima :: Saddled Bichir

And there you have it. Fascinating stuff, no?

[aion-rsa]

Godzilla vs. Kong Writer Talks About Spending 8 Years in the MonsterVerse

https://ift.tt/3uiXJ5q

This article conatins spoilers for GODZILLA VS. KONG.

Aside from studios Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures, and certain behind-the-scenes executives, the four MonsterVerse movies to date have embraced largely different creative and directorial visions for each outing. This includes the latest installment Godzilla vs. Kong. But even though all four movies have had different directors, somewhat different tones, and mostly different casts, one of a handful of constant names has been that of Max Borenstein.

Borenstein has had a writing credit on all four MonsterVerse movies, starting with penning the screenplay for 2014’s Godzilla. Since then he’s co-authored the screenplay for Kong: Skull Island (2017), gotten a story credit for Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) and is back to full screenplay credit (with Eric Pearson) on Godzilla vs. Kong.

Of course Hollywood screenwriting is a tricky field: many projects have multiple writers come and go during development, production and even post-production, with the issue of who wrote what and how they’re credited an often complex negotiation between producers, agents, and the Writers Guild. But Borenstein (whose other projects include executive producing the TV series Minority Report and The Terror Infamy) has legitimately had a hand in the evolution of the MonsterVerse since the start.

With Godzilla vs. Kong off to a–yes, we’re going to say it–roaring start at a still-reopening and recovering worldwide box office (including nearly $50 million in the U.S.) and streaming away on HBO Max as well, Den of Geek got on Zoom with Borenstein shortly before the movie’s launch to discuss the development of this fourth–and perhaps final?–entry, its relationship to the other films, and what these iconic monsters mean to new generations of fans.

Den of Geek: You’ve been involved in each of the films up to this point. What was the process for this one? How many iterations of the story were you involved in?

Max Borenstein: I’ve been involved in the franchise in different ways from the beginning. I helped with Godzilla, the first film. It was a kind of a rebuild of the script from brass tacks when Gareth Edwards came on board to direct, and we worked really closely together. And I stayed more or less on that movie from then through production.

It was in post-production on that, that the head of Legendary at the time, Thomas Tull, and Mary Parent–who was then a producer and is now running Legendary–and Alex Garcia, who’s the exec there who’s really been overseeing the whole franchise, first came to me and asked if I was interested in being involved in writing a Kong movie that would sort of bring Kong into that universe. For Thomas, who was really the big fan and the kind of driving force behind it, it was always about creating a universe where ultimately we can bring those two together, like the Avengers, in Godzilla vs. Kong.

So those were kind of the marching orders from the very beginning, at least for me, once it was clear that we to some extent had cracked the code on the new American version of Godzilla. And through the years, I was involved on and off in every one of these films, but Godzilla vs. Kong was the one where I at this point, had become part of the brain trust, so to speak.

How did Godzilla and Kong change from the previous films?

By this point it was clear we had done the groundwork in terms of filling out what these monsters were, how we envisioned Godzilla, what level of anthropomorphic attachment they had to people, and how unknowable our Godzilla was. There have been so many different Godzillas over time. So we developed that and we developed an idea of how our Kong fit into the spectrum of different King Kongs over time.

Really for me, the mandate of this film was: how do we finally allow Godzilla and Kong to carry their own movie? In the previous films, because we were sort of establishing them, we always had these human characters who were our way in, and they still are. But more and more in this film, Godzilla and Kong are the stars, and everybody else is a supporting character.

Is it a challenge to come up with interesting human characters, especially when you know that people are there to see the monsters fight?

Yeah, it is. It’s always a challenge. And I think one of the challenges of it is scale. It’s very different from the superhero franchises, because in superhero franchises, your characters are actual people who also have superpowers. But in the case of Godzilla and King Kong, particularly Godzilla and Kong in this iteration, you’re operating at a scale that’s not human. It’s societal, it’s global. When they do something, it has a much larger impact. It’s much harder to have a human character have too much agency with these creatures without stepping into inventing devices that control the creatures. We do some of that, but on some level, it becomes boring if people are just piloting these guys.

So the challenge is how do you create human characters that allow us to experience that while not taking too much of the spotlight? I think we honed more and more as we went forward, that if you see the human characters less as protagonists in the traditional sense and more as supporting characters in the stories of Godzilla and Kong, they become crucial in storytelling. They’re not carrying the movie, but they might be like Simon Pegg in the Mission: Impossible movies, where there’s charm and there’s humor, and there’s emotion that comes from those characters. But they’re not being asked to carry the movie in the way that a star would, because our stars are Godzilla and Kong.

Did you know early on that Millie Bobby Brown and Kyle Chandler would be coming back from Godzilla: King of the Monsters?

Yeah. By the time I came into this project, those kinds of bones were in place. It evolved somewhat, but we knew largely what the cast of characters was going to be. They were kind of Camp Godzilla, and then Camp Kong was the main characters, Alexander Skarsgård and Rebecca Hall, and those guys.

Read more

Movies

Godzilla vs. Kong: A Brief History of Mechagodzilla

By Don Kaye

Movies

Godzilla vs. Kong: Where The MonsterVerse Should Go Next

By David Crow

Was Mechagodzilla always the secret villain?

Well, it’s funny. Because like I said, a lot of the bones for this one were in place by the time I kind of came in, in terms of those decisions. But I had originally written Mechagodzilla into [Godzilla: King of the Monsters]. It was very similar in the sense of being an opportunity for the human characters to have some agency at the scale of the monsters, which is one of the hardest parts of these stories.

It was something I really quite liked, and ultimately [KOTM director] Mike Dougherty, as they were developing it, kind of put it aside. But I was really happy that we had brought it back in Godzilla vs. Kong, because it felt like one of the main challenges of Godzilla vs. Kong is neither Godzilla nor Kong is a villain. We’re rooting in different ways for each, we’re connected in different ways to each.

So it felt essential to have a third thing. Round one goes to Godzilla and round two goes to Kong. The question is in round three, rather than having one or the other win, how can we have the two of them develop a grudging respect for one another and go up against the third thing. Mechagodzilla felt like this perfect route into that.

It’s fun how you tied him back to King Ghidorah by using Ghidorah’s skull as a control panel.

Yeah, totally. It had different kind of evolutions and expansions as we went along and then contractions, but it was always those two characters, Serizawa and Simmons [the Apex Cybernetics scientist and CEO, played by Shun Oguri and Demián Bichir respectively], who both are interested in this idea of being able to act at the level and the scale of the creatures. But each has a very different kind of perspective on what they want to do with that power and how that can corrupt them. Ultimately it got slimmed down, but still I think retained its fundamental sort of core.

When it came to the final battle, was there any point where one of them was going to lose or was it always planned that both of them would survive?

No, neither Godzilla nor Kong were ever going to lose. There were different moments of how far we took it in terms of Kong taking a beating, but the two of them were always going to gang back up and work together.

Have there been discussions about what comes next? Do you have ideas for a fifth film?

There have definitely been ideas thrown around. I can’t say I’m appraised on the absolute latest right now, but I know that it’s all about this being the kind of Avengers moment and hopefully people respond and audiences will dig the way that we’ve kind of wrapped up this initial chapter of the Monsterverse.

What about a Monarch TV show where they would chase different monsters around the globe?

Again, I couldn’t speak to whether anything like that has been discussed, but that’s something I’ve always thought would be really fun. It would allow you to get into a different kind of storytelling in a different kind of scale that has a little bit more X-Files vibe within that universe. I’ve always thought that’d be cool.

Over the course of the four movies, what elements do you feel the most ownership of?

These are such collaborative endeavors, as are just movies of this scale in general, and in particular movies like this that are so reliant on what you’re building in post-production in terms of creatures and everything. But every now and then, in the actual writing, there’s some dialogue here and there that makes you think, “Oh, that was mine. I’m proud of that.” The “let them fight,” moment from Godzilla is one, and there are a couple of moments in this one, like when Rebecca Hall says, “Kong doesn’t bow to anyone.” Things like that are moments that I’m proud of that made it into the movie, because those are the kinds of moments of dialogue that you look forward to in a movie like this.

The thing that I’m proud of is what you feel when these two characters finally come together–the emotional investment, I think, that we’ve built. When you get to that moment at the end, when Godzilla and Kong square off, not as enemies, but as allies, it’s the kind of thing that I feel proud of because I think we’ve done a lot of work to get to a place where we’re invested in these two characters and we feel kind of thrilled at the fact that the two of them create this grudging alliance.

What are your feelings about the original King Kong vs. Godzilla?

I had watched it when we started working on this, and it’s super campy and fun and hopefully we did it justice. It’s one of those films that it felt a lot like playing with your toys on the floor where you take the two toys that don’t go together, and suddenly they’re together in the same story. I always thought that one of the best parts of that whole franchise is the playful quality of just taking Kong, who has nothing to do with that world, and throwing him in there. That’s why those films always captured my imagination in that way.

What do you think that these monsters represent nowadays?

I think they’re both vessels. Godzilla certainly over the course of the decades has been a vessel for, at times our fears — whether it be fears of nuclear annihilation initially, or environmental degradation, the anxieties of the moment have been sponged up by Godzilla in different iterations over the years. Certainly Kong has evolved from his earliest days of being kind of a somewhat problematic kind of colonialist metaphor for “the other,” and over time has become just an iconic beloved character.

When these characters take on this scale, there’s this philosophical term, “hyperobject,” which this philosopher Tim Morton talks about–something so large that it touches everything and everyone all the time. You can’t have any conversation about anything without kind of also talking about it. Climate change is one of those things that’s just ubiquitous and everywhere. So is the pandemic. There’s not a single moment of any day or a single thing we do right now where COVID isn’t having some kind of impact because it’s on a scale that touches everyone around the world.

So [Godzilla and Kong] reveal to us the fact that we’re all connected, which is easy to forget when we live in big glass skyscrapers and we ignore the other people around the world. Hyperobjects bring us into connection. Godzilla and Kong, creatures of this scale that can hop around the world and touch everyone haphazardly and create tumult and chaos, reveal that in our globalized world, we are all connected for better and for worse. To me, that’s really what this movie is kind of all about.

Godzilla vs. Kong is out in theaters and streaming now on HBO Max.

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The post Godzilla vs. Kong Writer Talks About Spending 8 Years in the MonsterVerse appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3dDoPNV

[thismoviefucks]

So I just finished watching the extended version of The Hateful Eight (orig. cut 2015/ext. cut 2019, dir. Quentin Tarantino) that's on Netflix. I haven't seen the original cut in some time, but I remember loving it. I really dig the slow-burn, mostly pretty quiet (until the end of the second act or so, at least) atmosphere of the picture, and the sparse but in my eyes perfectly cast dramatis personae really sold me on it.

So, right off the bat, pretty much everything I love about the original cut is magnified a bit in this extended cut.

First things first -- this is a long movie. This is a fucking time investment. 210 minutes (3 and a half hours), to be precise. That's not an easy ask of a filmmaker. I mean, the original was already a solid 3-ish hours, which is the upper bound of most casual filmgoers' cinematic attention span already. And then he goes and adds an extra 42 minutes of footage. But Netflix, being enterprising as they are, decided to cut into four 40-50 minute chapters to solve that problem, with a recap and a title sequence at the front and the full credits at the back.

This is the biggest of my grumbles with this movie, and to be honest I'm sure Quentin is probably not particularly stoked about it either: The way this is presented cheapens the experience by making it feel like it's The Stand or something. I'm admittedly something of an elitist dickface when it comes to the state of film as a medium. I think the experience of watching a movie should feel like you're, well, watching a movie. Quartering a finished movie into chunks with a fucking recap makes it feel instead, if only for a minute, that I'm watching some post-Game of Thrones event-show BS. That's just the way I feel about the presentation. I don't think it kills the movie by any means, just a gripe I have with what was undoubtedly a decision by Netflix (those known good idea havers, grumble grumble) that slightly cheapens the experience of this very grandiose, movie-ass movie.

Apart from that, though, it's all good news. Again, I haven't seen the original in a minute, but I didn't even really notice the extra footage (except a slightly overlong travel montage in the first chapter, and even with that dragging slightly it didn't feel like it didn't belong or anything). Apocalypse Now Redux this is not -- the footage that's here just adds to the atmosphere that was already there. This movie feels like a stage play at times, a very Chekhovian character study, but with strong underpinnings to Tarantino's well-established-by-now style. All the usual thumbprints are here: graphic violence, spaghetti Western influences, white dudes saying racial slurs (I get that this is the period it's set in, Quentin, but come on, dude), and the requisite amount of Quentin's very talented friends filling out the cast, along with some new faces which by and large absolutely kill it in this. Among the Tarantino regulars, we've got Kurt Russell having the absolute time of his life hamming it up as The Hangman, donning a vaguely John Wayne manner of speaking; we've got Tim Roth as a chipper Englishman; we've got Michael Madsen being quiet and suspicious; and we have Samuel L. "Motherfucking" Jackson as the de facto protagonist for most of the movie, a free black bounty hunter with a history of war crimes. And among the new faces, there's Jennifer Jason Leigh who really shines in the latter half of the movie after her character stops being a punching bag for Kurt Russell -- more on that later; we've got the legendary Bruce Dern as an old piece of shit Confederate general; there's Demián Bichir as a one-dimensional walking Mexican stereotype (which is a shame, because the man can act; watch Soderbergh's Che and you'll see him turn in a killer performance as Comrade Fidel himself) and there's Walton Goggins, a man with a funny name who has apparently been in multiple movies I've seen playing bit parts (including Tarantino's Django Unchained, apparently) as an upbeat and definitely racist ostensible-sheriff and once-upon-a-time loyal Confederate. That's the eight of the title, and with the exception of Bichir (who's doing the best he can with, uh, what he was given) they all turn in absolutely incredible performances. I'm talking these cats could all be nominated for Best Actor and it'd still be a competition.

So those two pins we put in earlier about the movie's, mmmm, not great aspects, let's revisit those quickly.

First off, Jennifer Jason Leigh's character. The first half of this movie is not kind to this woman. She gets fuck-all in the way of good writing, and is mostly a prop and an object for Kurt Russell's character to violently abuse until the guy gets offed in bloody fashion (as you do in a Tarantino picture), after which she turns into -- gasp! -- a real character, and a fucking good one too. So, okay, better writers than me have already written their piece about this problem. I feel like "maybe it's not great that Leigh exclusively gets punched in the face for the first half of this 200-minute movie" isn't a particularly hot take at this point. Could you argue that Tarantino was trying to make the Hangman look like a piece of shit? Yeah, certainly, if not for the fact he plays it almost exclusively for laughs. Is it funny to me that this guy clearly doesn't think of Daisy as human? Nah, not really.

Second off, who knew Quentin "I purposely put, like, fucking 100 N-words into this script 'cause I'm a white dude with auteur license and nobody can stop me" Tarantino maybe isn't the greatest with racial politics? Could've fooled me! The character of Bob, played by Demián Bichir, does jack shit for most of the movie except say "cabrón" every now and then. He is easily the most underwritten character, and when you have him as one of the eponymous Eight maybe that's not such a good thing. He gets no real personality apart from "he's a bad liar." It's a fucking shame, it really is, and a waste of a damn fine actor. You can do better, Quentin. Come on.

Anyway, those (admittedly pretty small in the grand scheme of things) problems aside this could pass for one of Quentin's best. I think it's worth a watch, just have a few sodas ready for the 200 minute runtime, and try your best to get past the couple small bumps it hits along the way.

This movie fucks.

[buttergeist]

The Nun (Corin Hardy, 2018)

“What’s the opposite of a miracle, father?”

[I deeply hate spoiler alerts, but this personal review/reflection will include spoilers]

I really liked the lighting and the overall aesthetic of the film. The use of red lights is a (relatively) subtle touch that emphasizes the otherworldliness of the Abbey. I also enjoyed a majority of the cinematography, especially during the slower parts of the movie. The use of switching from a symetrical frame to increasingly more asymmetrical frame enhanced the increasing uneasiness, especially during a particular scene with Father Burke (Demián Bichir) and The Abbess (Gabrielle Downey).

The film was fairly enjoyable; it had moments that were genuinely frightening (though many of those moments were jumpscares); I enjoyed the performances by the leads, though admittedly I am very biased to Taissa Farmiga. However, I felt like the story was lacking in that the whole plot of the film was layed out and solved in the first 15 minutes of the film. There were also moments in the film that felt unrelated and ultimately unnecessary to the film, such as the detail in the scene where the bartender in Beirtan tells Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet) about the child commiting suicide. Additionally, use of CGI made the scenes that featured CGI overwhelmingly cheesy, and the film would’ve been much better without a majority of the CGI effects. One glaring example is the glass shattering effect in the scene where Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga) is being slowly circled by Valak, who takes the form of the shadow of a nun projected on the wall: It was a genuinely scary moment, right up until the mirror shatters upon seeing Valak’s reflection and the shards come flying toward the screen.

Finally, the ending felt underwhelming. Though the film is a prequel to The Conjuring (James Wan, 2013)—and specifically The Conjuring 2 (James Wan, 2016)—I didn’t like how the film began and ended with Ed and Lorraine Warren. think the film would’ve not only been completely fine and comprehensive without those beginning and ending scenes, but I think the film would’ve been better without them as their inclusion ultimately felt like over-explanation.

I think it had some pretty promising potential, the actors did well, I liked the characters (particularly Sister Irene and Frenchie) and once again—a pretty solid aesthetic; but in the end it just fell a little flat for me in some areas, particularly in climax and conclusion. Minus 85% of the CGI; some minor, unrelated “plot” points; and the beginning and end; not bad.

[marsanj47]

Fancast: The Rayner Family

I’ve decided to do a fancast for these individual people for a live action movie or tv show, if it were to happen right now.

Kyle Rayner

We’ll start off with the main man himself, Kyle Rayner. Kyle’s dad is “Aaron Rayner,” real name Gabriel Vasquez, and his mom is Maura Rayner. He is half Irish, on his mother’s side, and half Mexican, on his father’s side. The guy is perpetually in his 20s, so the actor that plays him has to be in his 20s as well. And since I’m trying to do a fairly accurate fancast, it’s important, to me at least, that the actor also has some Mexican and Irish descent. So, I decided to go with a fairly popular fancast for him, who is half Mexican and part Irish, English, Scottish, German, and French:

Tyler Posey

Maura Rayner

Next, let’s go with the most important woman in Kyle’s life, his mom Maura. Now, Maura hails from Ireland, so I went with an actress who is a first-generation American with two Irish immigrant parents. She also needs to be old enough to believably have a son who is in his early to mid 20s. So I went with:

Moira Kelly

Gabriel Vasquez/Aaron Rayner

Finally, the last member of the “Rayner” family (I put Rayner in quotes because that’s not his real name) and quite frankly the one I had to be more picky with, Gabriel Vasquez aka “Aaron Rayner.” Gabriel Vasquez was born in Mexico to two Mexican parents, and he immigrated to the United States when he was still a baby. He would eventually grow up to be an agent in the CIA. I looked at actors between the ages of late 40s to late 50s who had some Mexican heritage. I also had to narrow down my list by height, because Tyler is 5′10 and Moira is 5′4 so Kyle had to have gotten his height from his father. I also had to eliminate anyone who I think couldn’t pass as being a current, or more likely former, CIA agent. In the end, I decided to go with:

Demian Bichir

Bonus Casting!!! Kylie Rayner

This one is more for fun. Now, we have been, briefly, introduced to a gender-bent version of Kyle who hails from Earth-11, named Kylie Rayner. This one, I didn’t have to be that exact, seeing as, at best, she would probably on show up in a tv show or movie for a little bit, or, at worst, doesn’t show up at all. She still has to be in her 20s though. Now, I did say I didn’t need to be that exact, but it did end being up that way. I present to you all, an actress who is half Mexican and half Irish:

Lindsey Morgan

So, what do you all think?

[darringauthier]

The Grudge (2020)

Genre: Horror

Who's In It: Andrea Riseborough, Damian Bichir, John Cho, Betty Gilpin, Jackie Weaver, Frankie Faison, William Sadler, Lin Shaye

Who Directed It: Nicolas Pesce

Plot: A house is cursed by a vengeful ghost that dooms those who enter it with a violent death.

Running Time: 94 Minutes

IMDB Score: 4.3

Metascore: 41

Rotten Tomatoes: Critics 29% Audience 23%

Why I Watched It: I've seen all the American Grudges and the first couple Japanese films so I guess I'm in on the series.

How I Watched It: Netflix Canada

Random Thoughts: So the numbers aren't kind here. I do find it funny that many horror films get destroyed by bad reviews. Well critics and I'll count audiences don't fancy a horror film they tend to bury it. For me a lot of them are bad but I wouldn't say they deserved 29% that seams a bit harsh. Personally I think people do it cause horror films are low hanging fruit and it's ok to just go off on them. As a genre fan I see a film like this and get stuck, is it good no not really but it doesn't completely suck. So I sit and think wow I have to defend a film I wouldn't really recommend, tricky.

What I Liked: First off say what you want about the film, this has a very good cast. It has a solid genre cast and some really good actors. I will say everyone is good here. Yes I will say this film was better than I thought it would be. The one thing most of the Grudge films have going for it is the creepy factor and this one has it too, it has a real sense of dread to it. The atmosphere is good and you get a sense that violence or at least something disturbing is likely to happen at any time.

I said this has a good cast and it does but it's also very weird as well, Shaye and Sadler are genre vets and they're both very good, Shaye as usual is a standout. Riseborough is miscast, the character is a very bland horror lead, she's a cop, she's a single parent that's all we got. Bichir does some nice shading, we don't learn a lot about him but he seems to have layers and we learn some of his backstory so he feels more of a full character. Cho and Gilpin are wasted or under used take your pick. I would have liked to see this film with them as the leads.

The film does build very well and it does more pretty well, the tone and pacing are both good here. The directing is workmanlike but not bad and the score is good.

What I Didn't Like: Oddly the film is bland and one note. It moves from scene to scene and it goes about it's business but you never get got up into it at all. This is one of those films where there's a lot going on and yet nothing really happens and the film keeps you at an arm's distance you're never sure if you actually care about the characters.

The film also does something that I've seen a few times recently they don't have an end game to defeat the "evil". Three quarters in and you realize you can't really beat the spirit. They tell you once you enter the house you're doomed, well you can't unenter a house, so they come up with an idea hey lets burn the house down, you still entered it but it will kill the spirit, sadly you don't kill the spirit. So you realize where this is going and I think this is what hurts the film the most, you have a film called The Grudge that has been redone a few times yet you go in with nothing new. There is no twist to the film, it adds nothing to the cannon and honestly we didn't need it. What it does is kind of confuse people who want to watch the first one. Here's the tricky part it's not really a sequel, not really a remake of the English or Japanese film, you can call it a re imagining but it doesn't do that either.

The scare are also not really there either, the dread like I mentioned is there but it never really goes anywhere. Honestly except for one scene it's not that gory or intense, this is an R-Rated film on tone alone.

Final Thoughts: So it's not as bad as you might have heard but it's still not good, it's decent it's a film that does some things right and if you're a horror fan you've seen a lot worse, the cast alone is worth the watch. I just wish it had more style and energy.

Rating: 5/10

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior 3/19/21: SXSW, Zack Snyder’s Justice League,The Courier, City of Lies, Happily and More!

Remember a couple weeks back when I stated the plan was to bring back the Weekend Warrior as a regular weekly series again? Yeah, well if you looked for a column last week and wondered what happened, I just didn’t have time to write one. And I also just haven’t been able to get back on the ball in terms of writing reviews. It just takes a lot of time to watch all the movies let alone review them the way I did last year. I honestly have no idea how I did it last year, but things have been busier than ever at Below the Line, which does throw a bit of a spanner into any extracurricular plans.

The big event this week is the annual SXSW Film Festival, which I’ll be taking part in virtually, and somewhat tangentially, watching as much as I can while still doing other things. It’s been a while since I’ve attended SXSW in person, but it tends to have great docs, especially music docs. In fact, this year’s Opening Night Film is the documentary, Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil, about Demi Lovato’s drug overdose from 2018 and its aftermath. Other music docs of interest include Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché, about the late frontwoman from early punk band X-Ray Spex through the eyes of her daughter; Mary Wharton’s doc Tom Petty, Somewhere You Feel Free made from archival footage of the late singer making his 1994 record “Wildflowers”; Alone Together about Charlie XCX’s pandemic record; Under the Volcano about George Martin’s AIR Studios Montserrat; and it gives another chance to see Edgar Wright’s excellent, The Sparks Brothers, which was picked up by Focus Features after Sundance. There’s also an amazing doc about Selma Blair’s fight with MS, Introducing, Selma Blair, which is equal parts heartbreaking and inspirational.

SXSW also has pretty solid Midnighters, and there’s a number of those I’m also looking forward to, including Travis Stevens’ Jakob’s Wife, starring horror legends Larry Fassenden and Barbara Crampton, who were so great in my buddy Ted Geoghegan’s We Are Still Here. (No coincidence since Stevens produced that movie.) And I hope to watch a few others like Lee Haven Jones’ The Feast, Jacob Gentry’s Broadcast Signal Intrusion, and Alex Noyer’s Sound of Violence. We’ll see how much I get to see this week, cause it’s a lot of movies over only a couple days, basically from Tuesday through Saturday.

Closer to home at the Metrograph, the still-closed movie theater is doing a virtual series called “Bill Murray X6” which has already shown Lost in Translation and What about Bob? With Rushmore screening until Thursday, and then The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou available through Friday. Become a digital member for just $5 a month! This past weekend I saw a really amazing 7-part doc series called Untitled Pizza Movie by David Shapiro. In fact, I stayed up late on Sunday to watch the whole thing since it was leaving the digital screeners, but it’s a very entertaining, intriguing and personal story about the director, his friend and partner in crime Leeds, who he went around to different NYC pizza shops in the ‘90s trying to find the perfect slice, and then they come across pizzaman Andrew Belluci at the world-famous Lombardi’s in Soho. The project that took over 20 years to make follows what happened to the three men, but mainly Leeds and Belluci as they have ups and downs that ultimately leads to Belluci starting his own pizza joint in Queens. Everything that happens in between is quite fascinating.

I saw a couple other movies this past weekend including Robin Wright’s Land, which I quite enjoyed, and the rom-com Long Weekend, which came out last Friday but I totally missed. Land is a pretty amazing directorial debut that’s mostly a one-woman show with her character alone in the wilderness until she runs into trouble and meets Demian Bichir’s kindly Samaritan and they become friends. Directed by Stephen Basilone, Long Weekend stars Finn Wittrock and Zoe Chao in what starts as a meet cute rom-com and turns into something much deeper with a couple sci-fi-tinged twists, a bit like Palm Springs, but much more grounded. I loved the two leads and how Basilone made a romantic comedy that actually was romantic and very funny, as well. Both movies I recommend.

Getting into some of the streamer offerings this week, ZACK SNYDER’s JUSTICE LEAGUE will hit HBO Max on Thursday, so we can finally see whether or not that extra money and work paid off. I’ll be reviewing this over at Below the Line, so won’t spend too much time here. I figure that anyone who has been waiting for this will watch it, as will anyone who has been curious about it. As you can read from my review, I was quite impressed by the film as an achievement in finishing what is clearly a far superior film to the 2017 theatrical release. Some of the highlights include great stuff between Ray Fisher’s Cyborg and his father, a far more fun introduction to The Flash that was cut from the 2017 release and just some insanely crazy good action. I can’t wait to watch the movie again.

Kicking off on Friday is the anticipated Marvel Studios series, THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER (Disney), bringing back the title characters played by Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan, who were introduced in one of the MCU’s better movies, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I was sent the first episode and unfortunately, there’s an embargo until Thursday afternoon, but I do think that MCU fans are gonna be thrilled with the first episode, especially with the Falcon’s opening action sequence, which is like something right out of the movies.

Okay, fine, so let’s get to some new movies and some real reviews…

Probably the movie with the widest release this weekend will be THE COURIER (Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions), starring Benedict Cumberbatch, which I’m guessing will be in 1,000 or so theaters. The movie premiered at Sundance way back in 2020 under the significantly worse title of “Ironbark” with plans to release it later in the year, but then COVID happened. I’m not sure if Roadside Attractions planned for this to be an awards movie, but after a few delays, releasing it in mid-March just days after the Oscar nominations, I’m guessing probably not?

Directed by Dominic Cooke (On Chesil Beach) from a screenplay by Tom O’Connor (The Hitman’s Bodyguard… wait, WHAT?), this Cold War spy thriller set in the early ‘60s stars Cumberbatch as Greville Wynne, a British businessman who is coerced by agents from MI6 and the CIA (repped by Rachel Brosnahan) to smuggle Russian secrets from military man Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze). Greville’s trips to Moscow start getting more and more dangerous under the shadow of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and his wife (the always great Jessie Buckley) wants him to stop taking the trips. It all leads up to a pretty exciting second act as the KGB starts to figure out what Greville and Oleg have been up to and work to put a stop to it.

I have to admit that as much as I enjoy a good spy-thriller, a lot of this reminded me of Cumberbatch’s earlier film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – yes, the John Le Caree adaptation, which I was never a particularly big fan of. This has similarities in that it starts out fairly slow, making me think this might be one of those well-made, well-acted movies that are just plain boring cause the subject doesn’t interest me. I’m sure when this was greenlit, there was probably more relevance to the situation between the U.S. and Russia, although this is obviously a British production and maybe something better to watch on the Beeb than in a movie theater.

In general, the stuff with the two men and their families tends to be the best part of the movie. I wasn’t familiar with Merab Ninidze beforehand, but he’s a really good actor who holds his own in scenes with Cumberbatch. Although Cumberbatch’s performance is significantly better here than in The Mauritanian, that’s definitely a better movie, so even in the last act which sees Wynne in a Russian jail, it just doesn’t compare. This is the second film with Rachel Brosnahan in which she didn’t really impress me much after hearing how great she is on Mrs. Maisel. Even so, the movie did make me want to go back and rewatch the beginning again to see if maybe I wasn’t as focused on it, as it should be.

As far as box office, I don’t have much hope for this making more than $2 or 3 million this weekend, since it seems more like a prestige platform release that would have to build audiences from rave reviews or positive word-of-mouth. Coming out so long after its festival debut (kinda like that Thomas Edison movie a few years back) may have helped people forget about the midling festival reviews. Even so, this movie just doesn’t have much buzz or interest from #FilmTwitter who has had its tongue so far up the superhero movie ass this week between Zack Snyder’s Justice League and Marvel’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier to pay much attention to this. (Hey, facts is facts!)

Johnny Depp and Forrest Whitaker star in Brad Furman’s crime-thriller CITY OF LIES (Saban Films), which is about the real-life search for the killer of the Notorious B.I.G. aka Biggie Smalls with Depp playing Detective Russell Poole, who ended up on the case in 1997, and Whitaker playing reporter Jack Jackson, doing a story on Smalls for the 20thanniversary of the unsolved murder.

Based on the book “Labyrinth” (the movie’s original title), it’s a story that takes place in two time periods, Los Angeles in the ‘90s after the Rodney King beating and L.A. riots and how it’s made the criminal element that surrounds rap mogul Suge Night. It begins with Poole investigating the death of a black police officer named Gaines, shot by a white police officer (Shea Whigham) in what is seemingly a road rage incident. As Poole investigates, he learns about police corruption in the force including a number of officers tied directly to Knight.

As Jackson interviews Poole to try and find out who killed Biggie, we flashback to Poole’s investigation and interaction with some of those corrupt cops and being put into extremely dangerous situations. The movie isn’t bad, especially the scenes between Whitaker and Depp, who gives a far more grounded performance than we’ve seen from him in recent years. Even so, the performance that really impressed me was Toby Huss as Poole’s superior, who just brings something new to the tough head detective role we haven’t really seen.

Regardless of what you think of Depp’s activities off-camera, this is a fairly solid crime thriller (as was Scott Cooper’s Black Mass), and though you never actually get to see Biggie, Tupac or Suge Night, it’s an interesting examination into a period in L.A. that seems so long ago but still rings true to what’s been going on in the last year.

BenDavid Grabinski’s HAPPILY (Saban/Paramount) is a dark comedy-thriller starring Joel McHale and Kerry Bishé as Tom and Janet, a happily married couple who annoy their friends by still having sex on the regular whenever they possibly can. In fact, their friends decide to uninvite Tom and Janet to their planned couples’ weekend because they’re so annoyed by them. One day, a mysterious man (played by Stephen Root) shows up at Tom and Janet’s house, one thing leads to another and they kill and bury him. Thinking that the man’s visit might be part of a friend’s prank, they go to the planned couples’ trip, trying to figure out if the prankster has gotten suspicious about what they’ve done.

For the sake of transparency, I met Grabinski at my very first Sundance ever as he was friends with some of my colleagues, but I never spent a ton of time talking to him. This film impressed me, since it’s a prtty strong debut from him, one that benefits greatly from a strong cast that includes Paul Scheer, Breckin Meyer (who I didn’t even recognize!), Charlyne Yi, Natalie Morales and more, making for a really solid ensemble dark comedy that reminded me of the tone of last year’s The Hunt or Ike Barinholtz’s The Oath or a great lesser-seen movie from last year, Robert Schwartzman’s The Argument. Dark comedy isn’t for everyone, and this is definitely a little mean-spirited at times, but more importantly, it’s very funny and tends to get crazier and crazier as it goes along.

More importantly, I loved Grabinski’s musical choices from Devo’s “Working in a Coal Mine” to not one but two OMD songs, and great use of Public Image Limited as well. The way Grabinski puts this together comes across like a hipper and fresher Hitchcock, and while it might not be for everyone, I could totally see this killing at a genre fest like Fantastic Fest or even this week’s SXSW. It’s clever and original and rather intriguing how Grabinski puts all the various pieces together.

Hitting Shudder on Thursday is Elza Kephart’s horror-comedy SLAXX (Shudder) about a possessed pair of jeans brought to life to punish the practices of a trendy clothing company, which it does by terrorizing the staff locked in overnight. Didn’t get to watch this before getting bogged down in SXSW but definitely looking forward to it.

Another horror film coming out this week is the horror anthology PHOBIAS (Vertical), exec. produced by the filmmaking team “Radio Silence” (Ready or Not) with segments directed by Camilla Belle, Maritte Lee Go, Joe Sill, Jess Varley and Chris von Hoffman. The stories follow five dangerous patients suffering from extreme phobias at a government facility with a crazed doctor trying to weaponize their fears.

Jeremy Piven stars in Paolo Pilladi’s LAST CALL (IFC Films) playing real estate developer Mick, who returns to his old Philly neighborhood and must decide whether to resurrect his family bar or raze it. I actually watched a few minutes of this, but apparently, IFC Films isn’t allowing reviews, so I have nothing more to say about the movie beyond the fact that it’s coming out on Friday.

Opening at the newly reopened Film Forum – currently doing a hybrid of in-person and virtual cinema – is Chris McKim’s doc WOJNAROWICZ: F**K YOU F*GGOT F**KER (Kino Lorber), premiering virtually on Friday. It’s about David Wojnarowicz, one of the loudest voices in the ACT-Up movement during the ‘80s who died of AIDS himself in 1992. (Correction: Film Forum actually isn’t reopening until April 2.)

A few other things this week include Aengus James’ doc AFTER THE DEATH OF ALBERT LIMA hitting Crackle about Paul Lima, a son obsessed with capturing his father’s murderer who has remained at large in Honduras due to a failed legal system. Because of this, Paul travels to the Honduras with two bounty hunters to find and capture the killer.

Lastly, streaming on Topic Thursday, there’s Parliament, directed by Elilie Noblet and Jeremie Sein, about a young man named Samy who arrives in Brussels after the Brexit vote trying to get a job into the European Parliament without really knowing how it works.

That’s all for this week. It might be a while before I can get The Weekend Warrior back into some sort of fighting weekly shape, but I’m doing the best I can right now, so let me know if you’re reading any of this.

[brian-lozano91]

Alien: Covenant movie review

Alien: Covenant is the sequel to Prometheus and the Prequel to the first Alien film and the sixth film in the Alien franchise. Directed by Ridley Scott (Alien, Prometheus), the films stars Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride and Demian Bichir. The story is. Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, members (Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup) of the colony ship Covenant discover what they think to be an uncharted paradise. While there, they meet David (Michael Fassbender), the synthetic survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition. The mysterious world soon turns dark and dangerous when a hostile alien life-form forces the crew into a deadly fight for survival.

 Alien: Covenant is an ambitious film that has good ideas and waste them, just like Prometheus. Let's start with the good. Michael Fassbender just like in Prometheus is the best part of the whole movie. He plays both David and Walter, who are both androids. He plays both very mysterious and does a good job giving them both different characteristics. David is played more sinister, the way he moves, talks and sounds. And Walter is more like Bishop from Aliens, or like Data from Star Trek. He acts like an android, with no real emotions. You don’t really know what is going on with both characters and I like that Michael Fassbender was able to that in this film. Danny McBride was also a stand out in this film. He didn’t feel out of place, he did a really good job. Katherine Waterston is a good Ellen Ripley clone, not that she is a clone of Ripley but their is no difference between the two characters. However that is also a bad thing. Then the rest of the actors did a fine job, they played their roles fine. Also the design for the xenomorph and the new aliens was really unique. Also the kills in this film are beautifully gory, on par with some of the other kills in the franchise.

However this film has few positives and way more negatives, so many negatives that I hate this stupid movie. So let's get to it. One of the biggest negatives are the characters, the characters in this film are really bad, all their actions make no sense. For example, their suppose to go to this one planet in order to settle it and put a colony their. But the computer senses another planet closer however they don’t know what's there or if it’s breathable. So any person would say stay on course. Only one person go up to the captain to question him, then they get their none of them where helmets. Doesn’t matter if the planet is breathable, you don’t know what's in the air or what not. Later on David has the captain follow him to one of the Alien eggs, so what does the captain do he looks right into the egg even though this Android has acted weird and was doing weird things before. So any rational person would’ve been skeptical and probably would not put their head into a mysterious egg you just saw. Then of course he gets attacked by a facehugger.

 Which leads into the next problem, the plot of the movie which includes the lore of the Alien makes no sense. Reason being is that they make it where David is the one who created the Xenomorphs, which means he made the eggs and has been experimenting with them. Which is why we get different looking Aliens. The way I see it Ridley Scott only see’s his movie as canon and the rest of the sequels didn’t happen. But that’s stupid because you gonna piss off a lot of fans who love Aliens which is the sequel to the first movie. Also we never see David experiment with the Aliens or with anyone. A lot the information he gives us is just told to us and we never see it. The only thing we do see is a flashback of David killing the Engineers on their home planet. We don’t know why he doesn’t say. This is the big problem, everything he explains that happen is so much more interesting then what was in the film.

I believe what happen is that they heard the negative response to Prometheus, which is that convoluted plot, dumb characters and no Aliens. To be fair we didn’t need Aliens in that movie, the most interesting things were the engineers and what they were doing and why they were made at us. So instead they shoehorned the Alien in here at the end. It feels so forced like the studio put their so people would recognize something. Even though the Alien look great and in my opinion beautiful (I’m weird), so did the other creatures. But man it didn’t belong here, I wish the whole movie was about David doing different experiments and fighting the engineers.

 Then we get the main lead Daniels played by Katherine Waterston. I want to talk about her briefly because she doesn’t really do anything for the plot. She is suppose to be the Ellen Ripley of the movie but she doesn’t really do anything. Also in the original Alien we didn’t know who was going to survive at end Ripley was just a random character that survived at the end of the film. In this since she is the only female character that actually has some kind of character and has the short hair, you know from the start that she is the main hero. She has some character development but not much. All the characters are expendable just their to die. We barely know anything about them. This film is basically a slasher film pretending to be smart. For example, their is a shower scene and the alien shows up and kills the couple. It felt like something out of Friday the 13th.

 This film was very disappointing, which makes me sad because I thought Ridley Scott had finally came back because of The Martian. Liking taking two steps forward and ten steps back. I don’t know why he feels that he needs to make these films and erase all of the other lore that was established. It feels very egotistical and he doesn’t get it, it feels like George Lucas where he doesn’t understand what made the first film so great, now he just cares about making it look slick and convoluted plot. This is one of the worst films of the year don’t see this film. Don’t give it money, so we don’t have to see more of these Alien films ever again.  

1 out of 5 stars

[jeramymobley]

Cannes Lions: A Bold Choice for Health & Wellness Grand Prix

Before he embarked on his duties as the 2018 Cannes Lions Health & Wellness Jury President, InterbrandHealth Executive Creative Director R. John Fidelino identified what he was hoping to see in the hundreds of entries for creative work that he and his fellow jurors would be judging this year.

“For me, ‘great’ in healthcare can’t just be beautiful—or just raise awareness,” he stated about his benchmark for assessing entries in Health & Wellness, for the first time running concurrently with the broader Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and not before. “It’s work that inspires you to act. It empowers you to do something for your health.”

.@Cannes_Lions Health & Wellness Jury President, R. John Fidelino, shares how he's thinking about this year's competition- and the challenging yet meaningful endeavor the jury will undertake this week. #CannesLions pic.twitter.com/3j9U2uijmG

— InterbrandHealth (@IBHealth) June 14, 2018

On Monday Fidelino announced a surprising winner for the Health and Wellness Grand Prix: Corazón, a 43-minute film by New York’s Montefiore Medical Center that debuted at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival.

.@IBHealth’s Executive Creative Director. R. John Fidelino takes to the stage to introduce the Health & Wellness Lions winners at #CannesLions.

Check them all out on https://t.co/IGhydlW94x tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/xfx9NXnFMQ

— Cannes Lions (@Cannes_Lions) June 18, 2018

Tackling a tough subject, Corazón tells the story of a Dominican sex worker who receives a new heart. In essence a long-form organ donation PSA, the narrative film is based on a true story.

The long-form branded content project’s tagline, “Give Your Heart,” is a literal call to action urging people to register with Donate Life America in under 15 seconds, starting by pressing their phones to their hearts. The campaign, which launched in April, included Times Square billboards and a mobile-optimized website,

“Corazón” was the stand-out work that clearly met the jury’s five criteria for the Lions Health Grand Prix, according to Fidelino: “Raising the profile of health and wellness, exploring how to push the category forward, technical precision, responsibility, and fusing health and wellness into everyday lives.”

It also represented a bold creative commitment by the client, a healthcare system based in the Bronx, New York. “It shows that the client actually is able to improve or advance their reputation while calling attention to a sign health issue,” he added.

The film stars Cuban actor Ana de Armas as Elena Ramirez, a prostitute with a terminal heart condition. Her last hope is to make her way to New York City for surgery, finding a champion in Dr. Mario Garcia, played by Academy Award-nominated actor Demian Bichir.

De Armas, the rising 30-year-old Cuban star who shone in War Dogs and Blade Runner 2049, plays Elena, an increasingly frail woman who manages to get a medical visa, arriving in the Bronx and eventually getting a mechanical heart implanted. The first half of the film is shot on location in the Dominic Republic, where Elena was working any jobs she could, from service work to sex work, to support her sister and grandmother.

According to an article on the project, De Armas and Bichir were set to reenact the surgery, but two days before the scheduled shoot, a patient was admitted to Montefiore to undergo to exact same operation, and was open to being filmed. Dr Goldstein, the top mechanical heart surgeon, called Hillcoat with an unusual offer: did they want to film the real thing?

From the winning entry submission:

115,000 Americans are currently waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. Although 98% support organ donation, only 1 in 5 New Yorkers is a donor. Considering these statistics, how do you get young people to register as organ donors? You make them feel something—then make it easy to become part of the solution. Montefiore Hospital, founded in New York in 1884 on the belief that all human life is worth fighting for, saw an opportunity: move people to action through the power of film. By creating a compelling piece of entertainment, we connected a younger audience to the importance of organ donation, then made it easy for them to become part of the solution through interactive mobile technology.

After months of research with Montefiore Hospital, we discovered the true patient story of Elena Ramirez and developed a 48 minute cinematic film. By telling the compelling story of one woman, we seamlessly showed the audience the value of organ donation, and what Montefiore itself stands for. Corazón is more than just a film; it’s a complete effort to effect real change. An integrated campaign drove viewers to watch Corazón, and interactive mobile technology made it easy for viewers to give their hearts in just 15 seconds.

Impact: Within hours, all Tribeca Film Festival showings of Corazón sold out. The critical response has been extremely positive, celebrating the film’s ability to rally audiences behind the cause of organ donation. In the campaigns first week, 10 million watched Corazón – Give Your Heart content. Over 1,000 New Yorkers per day watched Corazón the film. Hundreds of New Yorkers gave their hearts, registering as new with Donate Life America. Since 1 donor can save up to 8 lives, the campaign has potentially saved thousands of lives already.

In just one week since campaign launch: —Over 25 million people connected with Corazón – Give Your Heart in New York alone —10 million people watched Corazón – Give Your Heart content —10,000 New Yorkers saw Corazón the film —Hundreds of hearts given so far, saving thousands of lives —1 organ donor can save up to 8 lives.

“Corazón brings to light the experience that sadly thousands of families face—the journey to a new heart as well as other organs. Elena like all mechanical heart recipients still needs a heart donation. We hope this film will inspire viewers to become organ donors and #GiveYourHeart,” stated David Fleming, Donate Life America President & CEO.

It also scored with the Lions Health judges for favoring accuracy and authenticity, also featuring an actual surgeon in the film. “It’s very authentic,” Fidelino commented. “Heath and wellness, as well as pharma, needs to be precise to be credible.”

View the Grand Prix winner here and the other entries here.

The post Cannes Lions: A Bold Choice for Health & Wellness Grand Prix appeared first on brandchannel:.

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Godzilla vs. Kong: Comparing the 1962 and 2021 Versions

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he following article contains Godzilla vs. Kong spoilers.

After three movies of build-up, the battle lines are drawn. The mighty Godzilla goes toe-to-toe with the titan gorilla King Kong over who is the alpha of the MonsterVerse. While the movie doesn’t have the epic, apocalyptic feel which came with its predecessor Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla vs. Kong does deliver on the crazy fight scenes and makes good on a rivalry that has long had its foot in pop culture—if only because of an incredibly silly film from 1962.

The original King Kong vs. Godzilla is not a movie that’s aged well, but there’s something so fitting about seeing a giant ape trade punches with a giant lizard, then and now. It’s surprising it took this long to get a real rematch, but at least now we don’t have to deal with the heresy of seeing Kong depicted as a guy in a rubber costume.

Now that we have our second chance at this titanic showdown, let’s see how the two incarnations compare.

Place in the Kaiju Series

King Kong vs. Godzilla, despite its marquee crossover title, was actually very early in the line-ups for its respective franchises. Well, sort of. King Kong and its sequel Son of Kong both came out in 1933. The King Kong series wasn’t all that prolific, so there wasn’t another installment until the versus movie, nearly 30 years later.

The idea of King Kong being part of Toho’s kaiju continuity would also continue with one sequel in 1967’s King Kong Escapes, this time introducing Mechani-Kong, the robot double of the iconic ape. Interestingly enough, King Kong beat Godzilla to the punch with that gimmick as Mechagodzilla wouldn’t be introduced for another few years, in part inspired by Mechani-Kong.

After that movie, King Kong was pulled away from Toho’s hands and nothing was done with the franchise until nine years later, when the original was remade by Dino De Laurentiis.

As for Godzilla, he had yet to really find his footing before stepping into the ring with Kong. Oh sure, the original Godzilla film is a stone cold classic, and the sequel Godzilla Raids Again was decent enough, mixing the original’s atomic terror with the introduction of giant monster vs. giant monster action. But that was all the beast had going for him around that time—and in each of these previous appearances he was still the heavy. All those ridiculous battles with Mothra, Rodan, Gigan, and the like would happen after 1962. Thus King Kong vs. Godzilla was not the culmination, but the event to kickstart decades of “Godzilla vs.” films.

As for Godzilla vs. Kong, the film marked the (first?) climax of Warner Brothers’ latest attempt to mimic the shared universe model which has made the Marvel Cinematic Universe so successful. And even with only four movies under its belt, the MonsterVerse is shockingly one of the more successful and coherent attempts to pull off one of these in Hollywood in the last decade. (See the Dark Universe for when it goes disastrously wrong.)

At the very least, the lead-up is perfectly done. 2014 gave us the initial Godzilla film; 2017 brought Kong: Skull Island, which took place decades earlier but was connected due to including the monster-studying organization Monarch; and 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters built on the 2014 film by adding more recognizable kaiju, throwing in a couple Kong cameos, and even loosely setting up the confrontation in the end credits.

While King of the Monsters didn’t do great financially, Warner Bros. was already too deep in the creation of Godzilla vs. Kong to stop. So they lucked out in getting at least one more chapter out of the pile.

The Folly of Men

I was going to compare the human characters from the two movies, but… I barely recall anything from King Kong vs. Godzilla and I just rewatched it.

But whatever. These elements are just padding that we have to power through. The stuff in the new movie about Millie Bobby Brown and the husky kid from Deadpool 2 sneaking around for the sake of exposition isn’t worth talking about. Instead let’s consider how each movie deals with man’s hubris.

Godzilla vs. Kong has Walter Simmons (Demián Bichir) as the big villain, playing a cross between Lex Luthor and the Most Interesting Man in the World. The idea that Godzilla exists to protect mankind is an insult to him. He feels that it belittles the human race. Hence the creation of Mechagodzilla. By building that robot, Simmons feels that man will once again be the apex predator and ruler of its own destiny. This foolish point-of-view not only pushes the destructive plot that winds up killing countless people, but his supposed control over Mechegodzilla turns out to be his undoing.

Back in the 1960s, King Kong vs. Godzilla plays with a more comedic version of hubris that still feels relevant. Mr. Tako, the head of a pharmaceutical company, decides he wants to capture King Kong. Why? Because he’d make great publicity for his product in commercials. What does King Kong have to do with medication? Who cares! It’s sensationalism, baby!

In the end, this titanic clash happens in part because a CEO wanted to sponsor it. Mr. Tako doesn’t meet a fate as dark as Simmons, but that’s mostly because he’s too much of a goofy dork for us to really want to see him get murdered by a giant beast.

Introducing Godzilla

One of the most amusing things about King Kong vs. Godzilla is the differences in storytelling between the American and Japanese versions released in 1962. In both versions, an American submarine gets stuck in an iceberg and when it gets loose, it accidentally unleashes a pissed off Godzilla. Being that this is only Godzilla’s third movie (well, this Godzilla’s second if we’re being technical), it would be pretty easy to just say that Godzilla was buried in an avalanche in Godzilla Raids Again and now he’s free. However, the dubbing in the American version suggests Godzilla’s been there since prehistoric times.

Since Godzilla had yet to befriend any benevolent, squealing moth larvae, Godzilla was all about being a giant, destructive asshole at this time. The iceberg probably didn’t help. To paraphrase Dennis Leary: imagine taking a cold shower and multiplying that by fifteen million times. That’s how pissed off the Zilla’s gonna be. So in either edit of the film, King Kong vs. Godzilla’s lizard is the villain.

Read more

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The Legendary Pictures Godzilla of the MonsterVerse is also pissed off in his first appearance in Godzilla vs. Kong, but that’s considered an actual surprise. Filmmakers had just spent two movies establishing Godzilla as some kind of noble protector of humanity. Having him show up and wreck everything is considered out of character. While Godzilla isn’t the most developed character in this film, he at least comes with a sense of intriguing mystery at the start.

Introducing King Kong

Just like in the original King Kong, Kong’s deal in the 1962 movie is that he’s just chilling on his own island when foreigners have to come over, disturb him, and drag him off for their own entertainment. Actually that’s him in both of his Godzilla movies, although it’s a bit more complicated in Godzilla vs. Kong.

In the new movie, his original home of Skull Island is toast, so they put him in his own version of The Truman Show and create a fake habitat. Kong hates this, but it’s for his own good, as leaving will certainly annoy the hell out of the already-irritated Godzilla, and outside the habitat is a perpetual typhoon.

So moving Kong in this movie is a tale of necessity. In the original, it was a decision made out of greed. Now that I think about it, it’s kind of a neat touch that in King Kong vs. Godzilla, it was the Japanese who unleashed the American creation while the Americans unleashed the Japanese creation in Godzilla vs. Kong.

Round One

The main thing both first fights have in common between the two movies is that Kong gets absolutely wrecked. In the new movie, Kong is drugged and taken away on a ship, something that also happens to him in the Toho original (and the original, original from 1933 for that matter). But this time, Godzilla comes for him and goes for an immediate throwdown. Even if Kong wasn’t already the underdog on paper, he is also bound by metal chains, drugged, and in the water. Godzilla is seaworthy. Kong is not (and likely smells really, really bad when wet). Kong’s very survival is a miracle.

As for the original showdown, their first meeting in 1962 is very brief. Godzilla has the high ground and Kong tries throwing rocks at him. After getting a chest-full of radioactive fire breath, Kong decides to step away and consider his options. He’s smart enough to nope on out of there.

Bulking Up for the Rematch

Taking a break from the fisticuffs, both incarnations of Godzilla continue to just wreck shit. Good for them.

The two versions of Kong go on their own diverging adventures, however. The 1962 Kong kidnaps another woman and climbs up a tower, only to get captured again again. Consider it a slightly more humanitarian version of the 1933 movie’s ending. The 2021 Kong goes on a Legend of Zelda quest to the center of the Earth, discovering the catacombs of his ancestors and getting equipped with a rocking axe ready to chop up Godzilla.

Just… remember to go for the head. Trust me, it can make half a universe of difference.

Round Two

Give credit to the folks from the original, they are actually able to set up the kaiju brawl in an area that is relatively lacking in human casualties. Using electric cables to guide Godzilla and a collection of balloons to carry a drugged King Kong (sort of recreated in the new movie at one point), the big fight occurs near Mount Fuji.

Initially, Kong tries to make up for his lack of fire breath by just throwing rocks over and over again. Godzilla is able to knock one of them back with his tail, but Kong persists. He also starts using his superior agility, which turns out to be his undoing. Kong rolls circles around Godzilla until slamming his own head into a boulder. That spells the end for the gorilla, as Godzilla stomps an absolute mudhole into his hide.

Kong has a far better second round in the remake, using his axe to absolutely ruin Godzilla’s night in the bright lights of Hong Kong. Despite Godzilla’s breath being treated like a level three Street Fighter super, Kong is able to evade it and prove that he was absolutely on Godzilla’s level after all.

After putting Godzilla through a building and dazing him for a bit, one of the boring human protagonists refers to Kong as the winner of round two. Then again, Godzilla isn’t finished by a long shot.

Final Battle

Funny thing about King Kong vs. Godzilla. Originally, it was meant to be Kong fighting a kaiju version of Frankenstein’s Monster. Although they switched it up, the writing of the fight was only slightly finagled. That’s why when King Kong looked to be ready for a dirt nap, he was revitalized by suddenly being zapped by a bunch of random lightning. Supposedly, King Kong getting strength through electricity was just an unused idea from the original movie concept.

Electric Kong went full Hulk Hogan on Godzilla, throwing him around like a rag doll and powering through his offense. It would have been more awesome if it didn’t look so damn silly, to the point that they briefly depicted the fight with puppets.

In the end, King Kong and Godzilla tumbled into the sea. In this continuity, Kong was able to overcome any watery advantage Godzilla would have had and rose up victorious. Then years later, that stupid, orange Godzilla book from my elementary school library claimed the Japanese version had Godzilla win and–due to it being a pre-internet age–so many of us believed the lie.

Those of you who know, know.

Godzilla v Kong has Godzilla spring back up from taking his lumps so he can absolutely demolish Kong. It’s like he’s insulted that Kong got some licks in and makes Kong’s final run in the old movie look weak. Eventually, Godzilla almost mortally wounds Kong with some stomps to the chest and walks off while Kong can only defiantly roar back at him.

Here’s where things get similar, but different. In a plot device reminiscent of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Mechagodzilla shows up in the third act. It’s a fairly clever take on another previous incarnation of the robot duplicate. In the Toho Godzilla continuity of the 2000s, Mechagodzilla was built atop the original 1950s Godzilla’s bones, which caused the first Godzilla’s ghost to gradually take over. This time around, Mechagodzilla is possessed by the mind/ghost of King Ghidorah from King of the Monsters. That’s why Godzilla has been in a mood. He senses the return of his old nemesis and it’s driven him into a frenzy.

Kong, meanwhile, is once again revived by being electrocuted back to health. This time it’s by the human characters and not random lightning, but the reference is definitely deliberate. Kong and Godzilla beat up the metal pretender, growl at each other, and go their separate ways. Maybe they’ll meet again if we get some kind of modern adaptation of Destroy All Monsters.

Who’s the Winner?

In the end, we’re left with two very different stories, even if the newer movie tries to reference the former a few times over. In the ‘60s, we received a wacky movie featuring Godzilla getting an overall 2-1, but losing in the third and most important battle. The modern one is silly in its own way and also gives us 2-1 in Godzilla’s favor, but it’s pretty apparent that Godzilla absolutely owns this matchup. It isn’t a victory for Kong to so much win a fight as it is for him to stand up and prove that he’s able to draw blood against the best.

It’s not a better version of the story, but a better version of the idea. Having these two behemoths duke it out is such a rich concept that’s only really been done well in unofficial video games like Rampage, Primal Rage, and King of the Monsters. King Kong vs. Godzilla from 1962 was merely okay, and charitably good enough. Now we get a real cinematic crossover brawl that makes good on what we really want?

Let’s see Legendary remake Frankenstein Conquers the World. Seriously.

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Wise up Wednesday! Oddball species - some of the oddities of this world. One thing i have noticed, as have many others, is that i tend to love the more bizarre looking species that this planet has inhabiting it. Don't get me wrong I love all animals, but some of my favourite species are just bizarre looking or are relatively unheard of by most people. I have no idea why i like them so much, or why i'm more drawn to liking them over the more 'normal looking' creatures 😂 So I have tried to come up with a list that consists of just 6 animals, 1 from each of the 6 basic animal groups (these are: invertebrates, mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish), that i considered to be my favourite. It has been one of the hardest lists i have had to come up with 😂 Without further ado, i present my top 6 oddball species! And yes, these are real! #1) Sarcastic Fringehead (neoclinus blanchardi) - fish representative Other than its prehistoric looking exterior and the fact it kind of looks like the creature from Star wars episode 1 at times (the gooberfish/opee sea killers just incase anyone was wondering what i was on about), it hides a rather colourful interior that is revealed as a form of elaborate defensive display. It's mouth is literally a giant rainbow umbrella! Now if that's not cool then i don't know what is! #2) Pink underwing moth, the caterpillar to be precise (phyllodes imperialis) - invertebrates representative I find all moths beautiful, and this one is no exception. It looks a weird sooty grey colour overall until you see the striking fuschia pink underwings that stand out from a mile off. But it's actually the caterpillar I adore as it has a rather interesting defense mechanism. It has a 'painted skull' style marking behind its head that it will show to imminent threats by tucking its head around into its belly. I like to call them sugar skull caterpillars as they remind me of the beautiful painted skulls from the day of the dead celebrations. #3) Hellbender (crytobranchus alleganiensis) - amphibian representative Literally a giant salamander with beautiful mottled patterns. I love salamanders and axolotks anyway, but the supersized versions are just so cute! So this animal (along with the chinese giant salamander) are just definite wins for me 😁 the fact that amphibians like these are so endangered as well makes them all such rarities that deserve attention. #4) okapi (okapia johnstoni) - mammal representative A rather odd looking creature that looks like several animals mashed together. These aling with jerboas have intrigued me since i saw them in an encyclopedia when i was in primary school (so since about 6/7 years old). I wrote a science paper in year 2 about them and nobody believed they were real until i brought this encyclopedia in to prove it! They are such secretive animals that utilise 'disruptive camouflage ' to break up its outline and help it remain hidden in the forest habitat. They have prehensile tongues and their closest living relatives are actually giraffes. #5) Hoatzin (ophisthocamus hoazin) - bird representative Where to start! Apart from the fact that when i was growing up this bird reminded me of the artists renditions of a prehistoric archeopteryx, this bird has a rather offensive nickname. They are called stinkbirds..... Cows take ages to digest their food because of what they eat right? Well these birds are the same, their diet of leaves are very difficult to digest, so much like the cow it has evolved with a foregut fermentation system to help it break down the tough plant matter, and its thought they are one of the few (if not the only) birds to have this adaptation. But because of their diet they also have a natural odour that smells like cow dung 😕 And the chicks have very prehistoric adaptations to help them evade predators, they have claws on their wings! They would normally nest above water so that when a predator approaches the chicks will just fall out of the nest into the water below until its safe. They then use these claws to climb up the tree back into the nest again. #6) rough backed litter snake (xenodermus javanicus) - reptile representative AKA The dragon snake, and its the only snake of this genus. These snakes have beautifully glossy scales with 3 pronounced ridges running down its back that make it look like the mythical beasts out of old stories. Their appearance alone just leaves people in awe. An incredibly rare snake in captivity due to the delicate nature, that coupled with the fact its so elusive in the wild means not much is known about its behaviours. It is considered as a 'real' mythical beast by many because of this. Some honourable mentions of critters considered for this list are: Gharial, devils flower mantis, goblin shark, mantis shrimp, saiga antelope, isopods, jerboa, fairy armadillo, aye aye, lamprey, siren, atlantic wolfish, lung fish, arowana, bichir, palawan binturong, mourning bird, frogmouths and potoos, trilobite beetles, banded linsang, chinese giant salamander, coelocanth, viper fish, angler fish, kagu, glass frogs, chinese softshell turtles, vinegaroon, and the solenodon. And believe me, this is a cherry picked list of the oddities i love! And they are all real creatures that are still alive today, with some deserving a lot more attention than they are getting. After the recent news of the death if Sudan, the last male noryhern white rhino in the wild (and therefore the fundamental extinction of this subspecies), I have made this wise up Wednesdays feature a focus on oddballs - most of which need help and acknowledgement before its too late. Just because a species numbers are not yet critically low doesn't mean we shouldn't be working on raising awareness about it or protecting it. Conservation of a species is a very complex isdue and its seemingly getting more complex with the amount of people there are on the planet. I think though that after reading about the coverage on sudans death, this issue has really been highlighted, and i personally have thought that there are 2 key elements as to why the entire situation is so unfortunate. The first part is obviously his death itself (because thats never nice) and the inevitable extinction of this subspecies - that is tragic no matter how you look at it. The second reason i find it unfortunate is the fact that only when 'all viable hope was lost' did so many people actually show acknowledgement to the species and the plights it faced, stating 'they were angry', or how much of a shame it was. But without his death many of these same people would not of known these creatures existed or needed help, and i find that a real tragedy because they didn't show this much compassion when more could of been done to prevent this. There are so many species on the planet right now that are in a similar situation and are likely to go the same way if we continue to give things such little acknowledgement. The amphibian crisis for example. Right now there is still time to prevent it from happening. There have been talks of trying to rekindle the lineage of the northern white rhino via artificial insemination, and the fact that this is a subspecies maybe warrants the involvement of other closely related subspecies to be involved in rekindling the lineage again. The southern white rhino is the other subspecies of white rhino and has a large enough population to entertain this idea. These are simply discussions i have read about in various articles so have no idea whether its plausible or not right now. The inclusion of such odd (and possibly incorrect) information though is to elaborate a point further, it was a subspecies with close relatives, so nominate races and other species still presently exist meaning it isn't entirely lost. Some species though are not so lucky, the sumatran rhinoceros for example is an entirely unique species with NO CLOSE LIVING RELATIVES. If this species was the one in the news right now there would be no chance of rekindling it. It would truly be gone, especially seeing as its closest relative was actually the prehistoric wooly rhino from the ice ages. What i'm basically saying is that it's a shame that so many species are not given the recognition they deserve when they aren't pretty much extinct. All species in my eyes are worth recognition and preservation - even the oddballs! So don't wait around until theres nothing left, many of these species are wonderful and so unique that it would be a shame to not appreciate them :) And with a little more awareness being raised i hope it makes more people realuse whats out there and how important it all is. It doesn't matter if its in abundance now, just don't make the mistake and wait till its pretty much gone before giving them recognition :) **images from Google as i haven't managed too see some of these wonders yet! One day i shall though, I would hate to not see these beauties!* www.facebook.com/TheLokiDiary #wiseupwednesday #lokisdiary