#Honor among Reeves
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The Watcher: Powdered Shellfish
The boys are huntin' a killer this week with The Watcher, starring Keanu Reeves. Grab your red string and badge, because things are about to get inquisitive. Jokes this week including: Seattle's Best Place to Get Murdered, Luke's kryptonite, a big wet surprise and Keanu doing a little dance.
#hanksy panksy#honor among reeves#keanu#keanu reeves#media#podcast#small podcast#film#lol#funny#movie#comedy podcast#the watcher#2000s#Spotify
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240501 - Variety on Twitter:
Keanu Reeves, Jung Kook, Hayao Miyazaki Among Gold House’s A100 Honorees
#240501#jungkook#jeon jungkook#jeon jeongguk#jungkook bts#bts jungkook#bts updates#bts#bangtan#twitter
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A Yautja in a polyamory relationship with two humans
Zarak
gender: male
species: Yautja
status: Clan Leader
homeworld: Yautja Prime
sexual orientation: bisexual, polyamorous
mates: aurora reeves (human), manuel torres (human omega)
Character Sketch:
Zarak is a formidable and respected leader of a large Yautja clan residing near a human settlement. Known for his strength and strategic prowess, he has taken it upon himself to protect the settlement and establish trade deals with the humans. Due to the low birth rates among female Yautja, several male clan members have formed relationships with female humans as mates. Some even engage in polyamorous relationships, having both male and female human mates.
Zarak, having lost his mate and two sons to a xenomorph queen during their sons’ first hunt, has been mourning their deaths for over a century and a half. However, he rarely reveals this vulnerable side to his clan. Although he has had affairs with female Yautja, none have resulted in any offspring. The females understand that he is not interested in a long-term commitment after a few nights together.
One fateful night, while Zarak is at the human settlement to renew the treaty with Colonel Reeves, he senses the presence of two humans nearby. As he lays eyes on them, time seems to stand still. The male and female humans, named Manuel Torres and Aurora Reeves (Colonel Reeves’ daughter), respectively, notice Zarak's arousal upon seeing them. Zarak is intrigued by their presence and learns that Manuel is an omega, and both Manuel and Aurora are ovulating simultaneously.
After the treaty is signed, Zarak spends his days impregnating his new mates, Manuel and Aurora. He does not withdraw from either of them until they both become pregnant with his pups. Zarak also allows Aurora to conceive a child with Manuel. This is the first time he has witnessed humans engaging in sexual activity. Weeks later, Aurora found out she was pregnant with Manuel's child, while Manuel is fucking thrilled that he is pregnant with Zarak's pup. Due to Manuel being in his late forties when he conceived their pup and it's a human/yautja pregnancy, it's considered as a high risk pregnancy according to the human doctors back at the human settlement. Zarak accepts Aurora's child with Manuel as his own, as it will be his and Manuel’s pup's half-sibling. Aurora explains to Zarak that human pregnancies typically last up to nine months, or ten if the baby is overdue.
After the explanation, Aurora has given birth to a beautiful human baby girl. Shortly a month later, Manuel has also given birth to their beautiful human/yautja hybrid pup, a female as well. Zarak believes that both girls will grow strong and bring great honor to the clan when they come of age, have strong warrior mates and bore them a lot of younglings in the future.
Zarak is a complex character, embodying strength, leadership, and a deep sense of loss. Despite his stoic exterior, he is capable of forming deep emotional connections and desires a polyamorous relationship with both male and female humans. He is committed to ensuring the survival and growth of his clan, even if it means forming unconventional alliances and expanding his family in unique ways.
Aurora Reeves
Gender: Female
Species: Human
Homeworld: Yautja Prime
Status: Civilian
Relatives: Colonel James Reeves (Father)
Sexual Orientation: Pansexual, Panromantic, Polyamorous
Mates: Zarak (Male Yautja Clan Leader), Manuel Torres (Human)
Aurora Reeves is an eighteen-year-old human female who stands out among the tiny group of civilian humans on Yautja Prime. Born and raised on the planet, she has never set foot on Earth but has heard countless stories about it from her father, James Reeves, a Marine colonel who has commanded the human settlement for nearly twenty-five years. Despite being the only female in the group of two hundred fifty people born on Yautja Prime, Aurora has found solace in her adventurous spirit.
Aurora enjoys venturing out of the settlement to interact with the neighboring Yautja clan's younglings. She finds joy in learning about the local wildlife, exotic plants, and fauna of the planet. One person who has become a close companion to Aurora is Manuel Torres, a marine from Earth who has been spending time with her. Despite her virginity, Aurora feels a strong attraction towards Manuel and contemplates giving herself to him.
Aurora discovers that some male humans, including Manuel, possess an additional sex organ for reproductive purposes. These individuals are referred to as "omegas" by her father and the other settlers. As part of a treaty made over fifty years ago with a neighboring Yautja clan leader named Zarak, fertile women, including the omegas, are expected to help increase the clan's numbers. The female Yautja population has been slowly decreasing over the past half-century.
Every five years, the treaty between the humans and Yautja is renegotiated. After the treaty is finalized, the settlement celebrates with multiple bonfires and a feast. During one such celebration, Aurora finds herself sitting with Manuel by one of the bonfires when Zarak, the clan leader, approaches them with a visibly aroused demeanor. James, Aurora's father, intervenes and explains that Aurora and Manuel have become breeding mates to Zarak.
Although initially upset about leaving her father, who has been her sole caretaker since her mother's death during childbirth, Aurora begins packing her belongings. She even includes all of her father's favorite hunting knives as bloody payback as a wedding gift for Zarak. As they enter Zarak's territory, Aurora and Manuel are brought to his beautiful home, adorned with trophies from his past hunts.
Zarak takes them to his massive bedroom to initiate the mating process. He starts by having anal sex with Manuel to ensure Aurora's comfort with sex. Zarak spends hours pleasuring Manuel until he reaches climax, causing Manuel to finally pass out from the multiple orgasms. Zarak then turns his attention to Aurora, slowly entering and exiting her with his massive knotted penis finally breaking her hymen and claiming her virginity.
From Aurora's perspective, giving her virginity to Zarak feels like a trophy he has conquered during a hunt. Zarak blesses Aurora and Manuel to have sex with each other, as he has never witnessed humans engaging in such acts. Manuel is overjoyed by this revelation and immediately begins having sex with Aurora giving her multiple orgasms until she passes the fuck out. He has always desired to impregnate her while simultaneously carrying Zarak's pup.
Zarak explains that Yautja pregnancies last eleven months, which can be challenging for the human body. Human pregnancies typically last nine months, or ten if the baby is overdue. A few months later, Aurora found out that she is pregnant with Manuel's child. Shortly after, Manuel was shocked and is also pregnant but with Zarak's pup, requiring him to be more cautious in the later months. Aurora was going several rounds of very heavy sex with Zarak and Manuel to celebrate both of their pregnancies.
During their pregnancies, Aurora and Manuel experience heightened sexual appetites, which Zarak eagerly satisfies. Threesomes become a regular occurrence, with Manuel in the middle, pleasuring Aurora from below while being pleasured by Zarak from above. A few days later, Aurora's water breaks two weeks early, signaling the imminent arrival of their child.
Although Zarak is not the biological father, he raises Aurora's child as his own, alongside Manuel. After eight hours of labor and nearly forty-five minutes of pushing, Aurora gives birth to a beautiful baby girl. The sound of her daughter's cries brings immense joy to Aurora and her mates. Zarak coos and chirps at the little human, treating her as his own pup until Manuel gives birth to their own.
A month later, Manuel's water breaks, and Zarak alerts the clan healers for the birth of their pup. Manuel endures twenty hours of labor and pain, as human/Yautja pregnancies are more challenging in the final three months. Finally, Manuel pushes their female pup into the world, and Aurora is thrilled that her daughter now has a half-sister to grow up with. Aurora doesn’t mind breastfeeding their beautiful female pup at the same time with her daughter. She eagerly awaits the opportunity to become pregnant with Zarak's pup next.
Manuel Torres
gender: male
status: staff sergeant
species: human (omega)
homeworld: earth (stationed on Yautja Prime)
sexual orientation: bisexual, polymorous
mates: Zarak (male yautja clan leader), Aurora Reeves (human)
Manuel Torres is a complex character stationed at a human settlement on Yautja Prime. In his late forties, Manuel is the only staff sergeant on the settlement to be an omega, which has made him feel isolated and frustrated. He has been seeking sexual satisfaction from the other male marines, but their physical attributes do not meet his sexual preferences or give him major orgasms in bed. Manuel has a strong desire to become pregnant again, as he fondly remembers carrying and raising his three sons, each fathered by three different men. However, his sons have all grown up and are now living their own lives on Earth.
Manuel's attraction has recently shifted towards Colonel Reeves' eighteen-year-old daughter, Aurora. Despite her being a virgin, Manuel has developed a deep emotional connection with her while serving as her guard detail. He has been patient and understanding, waiting for Aurora to be ready for a physical relationship. However, during a feast after treaty negotiations with a neighboring Yautja clan, Manuel's dreams of being with Aurora are interrupted when the clan leader, Zarak, discovers their mutual fertility. Colonel Reeves intervenes, explaining that Manuel and Aurora have become Zarak's mates as part of the treaty negotiations.
Aurora, upset by the situation, took all of her father's favorite hunting knives as a symbolic wedding gift to Zarak. Manuel and Zarak were both impressed by Aurora's fiery temperament, which further arouses their desires. They return to Zarak's clan territory, where Manuel is fascinated by the hunting trophies displayed in Zarak's massive home. In Zarak's room, Manuel and Zarak begin to engage in passionate anal sex, with Manuel reveling in the pleasure of Zarak's large and satisfying knotted penis to ensure Aurora is comfortable with sex. Manuel's womb expanded to its limits with Zarak's seed, and he experienced intense physical pleasure before passing out.
While Manuel was unconscious, Aurora lost her virginity to Zarak with his blessings. Manuel wakes up to find that Aurora and Zarak have been engaging in passionate sex, and he joins them in their lovemaking. They all experience intense pleasures, both Zarak and Manuel like enjoying double penetrating Aurora’s pussy making her cum really hard until she passes out herself. Aurora explains to Zarak that human pregnancies last nine months, while Yautja pregnancies last eleven months. Manuel and Aurora discover that they found out they were both pregnant just a month and a half apart, with Manuel carrying Zarak's pup and while Aurora is carrying Manuel's child.
Being pregnant at almost the same time as Aurora, making Manuel really happy to see her body swell with their baby inside of her young fertile womb. Even his own fertile womb is also swelling very nicely and happily with Zarak’s pup growing inside of him and rapidly as well like all yautja pregnancies post to be. Both Aurora’s and Manuel’s sexual appetites rapidly increased since becoming pregnant. Zarak was extremely thrilled to satisfy his mates’ sexual needs throughout the day and night. Even Aurora and Manuel have sex with each other while Zarak enjoys watching two pregnant people having sex. While his pregnancy processed along, Manuel began to experience lower back and pelvic pains due to his and Zarak’s pup increasing weight. Doctors’ from the human settlement and the clan healers have paid very close attention to his pregnancy. Both parties agreed that after Manuel’s pregnancy he should get his tubes tied due to his age, but still have sex with Aurora and Zarak after the pup is born. Zarak and Aurora both gave Manuel a lot of love, attention and affection made him very happy. He is even happier when his pup with Zarak and child with Aurora start kicking each other from inside of their wombs. Zarak’s eyes also twinkled when both babies started to kick again when he had his hands on both of his mates’ pregnant bellies.
Manuel agrees to let his sons on Earth know about their upcoming half-siblings, and they are excited to become big brothers. Two weeks later, Aurora spent eight hours giving birth to a beautiful human baby girl weighing 10 pounds 8 ounces, followed by a month and a half Manuel enduring a very difficult twenty-hour labor with a loss of some blood to deliver his and Zarak’s beautiful female Yautja hybrid pup weighing up to 20 pounds and 10 ounces. Manuel feels a sense of completion and fulfillment, having given birth to four children and fathered one with Aurora. His life has taken an unexpected turn, and he looks forward to the future, including the day when his sons will meet their new siblings during a visit to Earth.
Description:
Zarak: 9'2", yautja (white with purple markings); Manuel Torres: 5'11", human(omega); Aurora Reeves, 5'11", human
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2023 at the Movies: A Year in Review
2023 has been an odd year for American cinema in particular, between overall tepid box office outside of a few big hits and the combination of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes affecting release dates as well as promotional tactics. (Just so we're clear, this is a Union Solidarity Blog) But it was a fascinating year artistically nonetheless, especially on the blockbuster end. What this list aims to achieve is sort of a capsule review of the theatrical releases I saw (not counting streaming-only films even if I ended up seeing theatrical releases ON streaming) and how I felt about them in capsule review form. And even then, there's still stuff I need to catch up on like Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Oppenheimer, Elemental, or Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. Anyhoo, on with my list, in chronological release order:
John Wick: Chapter 4: Much like its titular hero, there are perhaps some signs that this franchise could benefit from taking a bit of a rest. Some of the worldbuilding is going from knowingly absurd to just plain absurd, and a couple early action beats, while fun (NUNCHUCKS), are a little familiar in terms of director Chad Stahelski's neon-as-fuck aesthetics. Ultimately, it's not too much to derail things, as Keanu Reeves proves a capable grounding lead like always, and the Parisian third act is giddy, comically overblown violence in the grand John Wick tradition that reaches an unexpected poignancy. The supporting cast might also be one of the best in the series; while Asia Kate Dillion's unflappable Adjudicator is missed from the last installment, we do receive Bill Skarsgard doing an OUTRAAGEOUS French accent as a smarmy villain you really want to see dead by the end of this, Donnie Yen as a clever, funny spin on the blind swordsman trope, Rina Sawayama is both badass and touching, Shamier Anderson stands out by dialing down, and my beloved Clancy Brown has some of the best implicit "are you fucking kidding me" reactions I've seen in a while.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie: I was honestly dreading this for a while. Illumination Entertainment is a perfectly cromulent animation studio who makes films that, with a couple exceptions, represent pretty much everything I dislike about American family filmmaking: loud, hyperactive, deficient of nutritional value, and did I mention loud? But the trailers started impressing me in terms of how well they adapted the candy-colored toybox Nintendo aesthetic to a wider theatrical scope. And if nothing else, casting Jack Black as Bowser would probably be pretty awesome (spoiler alert: he was). Thankfully, it manages to be an immensely entertaining, zippy adventure film that minimizes potential annoyances at nearly every turn. This is primarily thanks to a ready-to-play, enthusiastic voice cast (outside of Black, I particularly like Pratt and Day's brotherly dynamic and Anya Taylor-Joy doing a Disney Princess-esque comedy action spin on Peach), a smartly simple story structure, and leaving a lot of potential open for the future like Seth Rogen's lovable ready-for-spinoff-movies Donkey Kong. It may not rock the boat, but it was better than it had any business being, and that counts for a lot in my book.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: The Marvel Cinematic Universe and I are admittedly on a bit of a break. Not because they're doing anything WRONG per se, just that a lot of their shows and movies haven't enticed me as much in the past year. I did get out to see this, though, which is both the best all around MCU film since Endgame and very possibly the best film of its own trilogy. James Gunn pulls out all the stops emotionally for his Marvel swan song (godspeed to you over at the still-in-progress trashfire that is Warner Bros. Discovery, good sir), crafting a beautiful, resonant journey for all the characters. The ensemble cast fires on all cylinders, for one. While Bradley Cooper is the obvious vocal standout as Rocket takes center stage, it's assuredly the role of Chris Pratt's career (other non-Mario/Marvel directors, take note! You can in fact have this guy be funny, credibly tough, AND sympathetic instead of missing out on the other two), Zoe Saldana navigates a difficult emotional dance, Pom Klementieff finds real heart in Mantis, Dave Bautista is still one of our most interesting wrestlers-turned-actors in the choices he makes, Karen Gillan has slowly become of the MCU's MVPs as Nebula, Will Poulter is endearingly dunderheaded as a comedic take on Adam Warlock, and Chukwudi Iwuji proves a truly vile villain who exemplifies the maxim of "if you really want an audience to just HATE a motherfucker, have him torture cute animals". And of course Gunn's musical tastes remain impeccable, such as a Beastie Boys needle drop that prompts a truly bitchin' fight scene (oddly the second time this specific song happened this year in a Pratt-led vehicle). It's funny, it made me ugly cry at SEVERAL points, and I got to see a psychic cosmonaut dog beat people's asses with her mind. What more could I want?
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse: Into the Spider-Verse was a revolution and a revelation for what the American animated film industry could accomplish artistically and technically. How could a sequel possibly live up to it? Across does, against all odds, proving to be the Empire Strikes Back to the original's Star Wars in terms of going darker/more complex on the emotions and to greater visual heights (albeit with the caveat that maybe next time, we can manage the production better and not crunch people so much). Co-directors Justin K. Thompson, Kemp Powers, and Joaquim Dos Santos (who I've stanned as one of our best animation action directors from Justice League Unlimited through Voltron Legendary Defender) craft a propulsive narrative that asks big questions about who and what Spider-Man is. And while those will have to wait to be fully answered in the third installment, what it sets up is no less compelling or thrilling. Shout-outs in particular go to Hailee Steinfeld, who has to anchor this film with Gwen as much as Shameik Moore's still-iconic Miles; Daniel Pemberton for an outstanding score; Oscar Isaac for giving rich complexity to Miguel O'Hara, who could have felt like a boorish bully in lesser hands; and Jason Schwartzman for not just proving he transitions REALLY well into voicework between this and projects like Klaus, but being by turns pathetically funny and terrifying in ways I've never heard him be as the Spot. Can't wait to see where that goes next time in particular.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny: "Pleasant surprise" comes to mind. While I never hated Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as much as most, it was definitely a little underwhelming as a possibly final Indy adventure. (Not helping is that Steven Spielberg immediately turned around and made an infinitely better indy movie in the form of The Adventures of Tintin) So I was curious to see how going to the well for seemingly the real final adventure would work this time around. Thankfully, director James Mangold proves he has a good eye for creative action, even if nothing here quite reaches the heights of the original trilogy, and Harrison Ford does some of his best acting in ages as a weary, burnt-out Indy; one always got the sense that THIS was much closer to his heart than Han Solo. Phoebe Waller-Bridge is a terrific foil to him, joyously amoral (or so she says), while Mads Mikkelsen finds a new spin on coldly cruel cinematic Nazis; he has a tense reintroduction scene that had me squirming in my seat. Add in a slam-bang ending and a touching epilogue, and I'm pretty happy with where things end up for our favorite archaeologist. A solid B+, which we could use more of nowadays.
Also they Poochie-d Shia LaBeouf, which is hilarious to me on several levels.
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One: The Mission: Impossible franchise has undergone a curious metamorphosis from where it started as one of many oldies TV adaptations in 1996 to a purposefully old-school action franchise. Director Christopher McQuarrie has become a pro at these over the last three installments, and Dead Reckoning (now no longer a part one, as the back-in-production followup will be retitled) has lots to offer both large and small for action fans even outside of the continued spectacle of Tom Cruise Possibly Wants To Die On Camera. Obviously the big stunt sequences remain a draw, like a terrific car chase through Rome or the climactic journey onboard the Orient Express because trains are ALWAYS bitchin' locations in movies. But just as good are pleasures like a tense cat-and-mouse game in an airport where nobody's quite sure whose side Hayley Atwell's thief Grace is on, Henry Czerny coming back to the franchise after 27 years and looking as shiftily patriotic as ever, Pom Klementieff on this list for the second time looking really hot as she whoops ass, and Cary Elwes getting an unexpectedly choice exposition monologue. Plus the whole deal with the A.I. villain ended up being, uh, fairly relevant.
Barbie: A brilliant human comedy from an unexpected source. This could have gone wrong in so many different ways, I can easily imagine a version that's WAY more lugubrious and, crucially, much less funny. But director/co-writer Greta Gerwig has quickly become one of our best talents between this and the wildly-different-but-has-more-in-common-than-you'd-think Little Women (I also still need to see to heard-it's-excellent Lady Bird). With an infinitely clever script (I love in particular that the "real world" is just as ridiculous in its own way as Barbieland) and Sarah Greenwood's impeccable production design, Gerwig and her cast craft a feminist fable that remains light and funny even at its most strident and angry. Margot Robbie has never been better, hilarious and gut-punching by equal measure, America Ferrera ends up as the unexpected heart of the piece, and Ryan Gosling is absolutely hysterical as Ken while still making him intensely sympathetic. He and Robbie deserve Oscar noms in particular. No, I'm not kidding. Might expand this one to a full review at some point tbh.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem: I missed this in theaters and regret it immensely, given that this is a hilarious, cheerfully irreverent take on characters who've really managed a surprising amount of relevance in the modern age. Actually having teen actors voice the Turtles makes them feel so authentic, and they're matched well by an equally game cast like Ayo Edebiri's thoroughly modern April O'Neill, Jackie Chan as a more bumbling-but-heartfelt version of Splinter than usual, and Paul Rudd going full surfer bro as Mondo Gecko. And of course the scribbled-notebook underground comics vibe of the animation is a neat bit of full circle aesthetics if you know these guys' origins.
Wish: All of you are wrong and being dumb about this movie. It's not that I can't grok some of the criticisms as being legitimate, to be fair; for example, the songs, while very good on their own IMO, don't always hit the iconic level of a Frozen or Encanto. But the vitriol with which they've been expressed, and this odd narrative that Disney is in the toilet artistically and needs to nebulously "fix" things, is something I can't at all agree with. It's gorgeously rendered, for one; yes, I would potentially like to see a return to full 2D animated films for the studio at some point too. But if they're gonna experiment even marginally with CGI, I applaud co-directors Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn making it look this painterly as a starting point. And as with a lot of modern Disney, there's real richness and inner life to these characters. Ariana DeBose is a winning heroine as Asha, who feels distinct from other "princesses" by essentially being working class and unionizing the kingdom. And Chris Pine as Magnifico is a Disney Villain for the ages, blending real complexity in his relationships with scenery-chewing madness. (Also am I the only one who got major "studio executive/CEO" vibes off him?) If this is "mid" or "bland" Disney, I really question what some of y'all are seeing that I seemingly can't.
Also I liked the 100th anniversary references, sue me. The last one in particular gets points for quiet charm rather than grandstanding.
The Boy and the Heron: Hayao Miyazaki, anime's favorite grumpy old man, comes back out of retirement for like the fifth time. Seriously, remember when Princess Mononoke was supposed to be his last film 25+ years ago? I'll believe his "last film" is truly his last when he's in the cold, cold ground. Regardless of the continuing saga of Old Man Won't Retire Because He Seemingly Can't Be Alone With His Own Thoughts, this is a brilliant, haunting spectacle of animation that might be a new favorite for me. Some have called it confusing, whereas I go for "dreamlike", possibly his most to date. Nearly every frame is suffused with longing and melancholy (though this also has some of Miyazaki's best comedy in a while), and, oddly like Wish, this feels like a true career reflection, if a bit more fraught and questioning what legacy truly means. Joe Hisaishi contributes possibly his moodiest, most dissonant score, with little of the bombast or whimsical charm that typifies his music, but it works unfathomably well. Credit also to the dub, with Robert Pattinson as funny and menacing as you've heard, but Luca Pandoval is also excellent as our stoic lead Mahito, Florence Pugh manages to be both a total badass and a funny old woman (it makes sense in context, I promise), Christian Bale puts forth a fascinating two-step with his boisterous father, Gemma Chan and Karen Fukuhara nail some complex emotional turns, Willem Dafoe nearly steals the whole thing in under two minutes, Dave Bautista makes a real meal out of a part not much bigger than that, and Mark Hamill finds resonance as a tired old man.
#movies#analysis#criticism#disney animated canon#wish 2023#tmnt mutant mayhem#john wick#atsv#mission impossible#the boy and the heron#barbie#the super mario bros movie#indiana jones#guardians of the galaxy volume 3
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20th Anniversary Nothing Like a Dame Concert, Honoring Marin Mazzie
By sheer coincidence, out of the eight Divas in our tournament to appear in the luminous Nothing Like a Dame concert in 2016, six of them are in this week's round. So, let's talk Women.
Pictured: Marin Mazzie with (L to R) Karen Ziemba, Tonya Pinkins, Judy Kuhn
Held as a benefit for the Actors Fund (now named the Entertainment Community Fund), the Nothing Like a Dame concert specifically went towards the Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative. The Entertainment Community Fund is an organization that provides "human services nationally for people who work in film, theater, television, music, opera, radio and dance." Many of our Divas have served on the board or various committees. Services include health and wellness resources, housing, financial assistant, senior care, etc.
Pictured: Marin Mazzie with (L to R) Donna Murphy, Karen Ziemba, LaChanze, Bebe Neuwirth, Ali Stroker.
Diva Bebe Neuwirth (of next week's polls) directed a lineup of women that included Tonya Pinkins, Judy Kuhn, Donna Murphy, Mary Beth Peil, Marin Mazzie, Karen Ziemba, and LaChanze (also of next week's polls) among many others. Oh, to have been in the room...
Pictured: (1, 2, 3) Donna Murphy, Mary Beth Peil, Marin Mazzie, Karen Ziemba. (4) Bebe Neuwirth, Marin Mazzie, Phyllis Newman, Donna Murphy.
Highlights of the night included the "Marinettes" (Donna, Mary Beth, and Karen) singing a medley of songs including "Wunderbar," "The Greatest Star," and “Wait Till You See Her,”; Judy Kuhn singing "Ring of Keys," and Tonya Pinkins giving a "chilling version of Dianne Reeves’ “Endangered Species.”
Pictured (L to R): Tonya Pinkins, Judy Kuhn, Erin Hill, ???, Phyllis Newman, Donna Murphy, Mary Beth Peil, Marin Mazzie, Karen Ziemba, LaChanze, Christine Ebersole, Julie Halston, Ali Stroker, Bebe Neuwirth.
Since 2016, the Nothing Like a Dame concerts, as far as I can find, have not proceeded. And what are we as a society doing to bring back concerts bursting at the seams with women?
youtube
The night ended with Marin Mazzie taking center stage on a little black stool with a field of sunflowers behind her as she sang Kander and Ebb's "But the World Goes Round." The song reached new poignancy for a woman fighting ovarian cancer. Less than two years later, the world stopped, and one of the brightest lights of Broadway went out for good. As the song goes, "and sometimes your heart breaks // With a deafening sound," but for the rest of us, the world really does go round.
(Was this just an excuse to post a lot of pictures of Marin? Maybe...)
Donate to the Entertainment Community Fund
#broadwaydivastournament#musical theatre#marin mazzie#karen ziemba#donna murphy#mary beth peil#tonya pinkins#judy kuhn#bebe neuwirth#lachanze
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List of Mandalorian Armor Color Meanings (Canon and Fan-Made included in this list)
* Black: (Canon)
- (Quest for) Justice
* Famously Worn By:
- Boba Fett
- Tarre Viszla
- Members of Clan Eldar
* Blue: (Canon)
- Reliability
* Famously Worn By:
- Jango Fett (accents)
- Mandalorian Neo Crusaders: common/lower ranks
- Bo-Katan Kryze
- Paz Viszla
- Heavy Infantry
- Nite Owls
- Koska Reeves
- Axe Woves
- Army (lower ranks)
- Popular among Mandalorians
* Yellow: (Fandom based)
- Remembrance
* Famously Worn By:
- Higher ranks of Mandalorians
- Members of Clan Rook
* Gold/Sand: (canon)
- (Quest for) Vengeance
* Famously Worn By:
- Mandalorian Neo Crusaders: Field Marshals
- The Armorer
- Clan Wren
- Ursa Wren
- Tristan Wren
- Boba Fett (pauldron)
- Clan Vevut’s Sigils
* Copper: (fandom based)
- Unknown
* Famously Worn By:
- Unknown
* Gray: (canon)
- Mourning a Lost Love
* Famously Worn By:
- Jango Fett
- Pre Viszla
- Din Djarin (the Mandalorian)
- The Mandalorian Guard
- The Mandalorian Royal Guard
- Boba Fett (jumpsuit)
* Green: (canon)
- Duty
* Famously Worn By:
- Boba Fett (chest plates)
- Popular among Mandalorians
- Members of Clan Eldar
* White:
- A New/Fresh Start (canon)
- Purity (fan based)
* Famously Worn By:
- Imperial Supercommandos
- The Clone Army
* Orange: (canon)
- a Lust for Life
* Famously Worn By:
- Mirta Gev
- Sabine Wren
- Members of Clan Eldar
* Red: (canon)
- Honoring a Parent
- Love
* Famously Worn By:
- Boba Fett (helmet/vanbraces)
- Ghes Orade
- Revan
- The Armorer (accents)
- Maul’s Supercommandos
- Higher ranks of Mandalorians
- Members of Clan Jeban
* Maroon: (fan based)
- Power
* Famously Worn By:
- Boba Fett (helmet/vanbraces)
* Crimson/Scarlet: (canon)
- Defiance
* Famously Worn By:
- Mandalorian Neo Crusaders: Rally Masters (mid commander rank)
* Brown: (fan based)
- Valor
* Famously Worn By:
- Din Djarin (The Mandalorian, early season 1)
* Pink: (fan based)
- Respected or Respecting Someone
* Famously Worn By:
- unknown
* Silver: (fan based)
- Seeking Redemption
* Famously Worn By:
- Din Djarin (the Mandalorian)
- Mandalorian Neo Crusaders: field veterans on the front lines
- Members of Clan Rook
* Custom Painted:
* Famously Worn By:
- Sabine Wren
* Purple: (fan based)
- Luck
* Famously Worn By:
- Sabine Wren
- Members of Clan Rook
#starwars#tv shows#mandalorian#the mandalorian#disney plus#star wars#tv series#Mandalore#mandalorian armor#clan#armor#color meanings
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The case for helping boys and men in education
By: Richard Reeves
Published: Apr 8, 2024
When feminist scholars cite a “gendered injustice,” it was once a safe bet that they would be referring to inequities disfavoring girls or women. No longer. The feminist philosopher Cordelia Fine, for example, now uses the term to describe the wide gaps in U.S. education where, as a group, boys and men are lagging behind their female peers (Fine, 2023).
To say that the male–female education differences amount to an injustice is a strong claim, and one that can safely be left to scholars of justice like Fine. But it is clear that these gaps are at the very least a serious problem which demands a stronger response from policymakers (Reeves, 2022a). In what follows, I:
Describe some of the gender gaps in educational outcomes in the U.S.
Distinguish between three different policy approaches to tackling them: gender-neutral, gender-sensitive or gender-based policies.
Describe examples of policies in each of the three categories.
Propose and defend both gender-sensitive and gender-based policies to help boys and men.
GENDER GAPS IN EDUCATION
There are wide gender gaps favoring girls and women at every stage in the education system. But the ones getting the most attention are in higher education. On college campuses, the educational underperformance of men becomes suddenly obvious: they aren't there. There is a bigger gender gap in higher education today than in 1972, when Title IX was passed. Back then, 57% of bachelor's degrees went to men. Within a decade the gap had closed. In 2021, 58% of degrees went to women.1 We have Title IX–level gender gaps, just the other way around.
This gap is the result of both lower rates of college enrollment and lower rates of completion. In 2021, 51% of women graduating high school enrolled in a 4-year college, compared to 36% of men. Immediate enrollment rates into a 2-year college had no gender gap, at 18% for women and 19% for men. Having enrolled, women are more likely to complete their degree, and especially to do so quickly. Among women matriculating at a 4-year public college, 47% will have graduated 4 years later; for men the equivalent graduation rate is 37%.
These gaps reflect disparities that have emerged much earlier in the education system. There is a small and shrinking gender gap on the SAT and no gender gap on the ACT.2 (This is one reason why colleges and universities which go test-optional in admissions see an increase of 4 percentage points in the female share of students.) But there are wide gender gaps on most other measures, most importantly on GPA. The most common high school grade for girls is now an A; for boys, it is a B (Fortin et al., 2013). Girls now account for two-thirds of high schoolers in the top decile of students ranked by GPA, while the proportions are reversed on the bottom rung. Girls are also much more likely to be taking Advanced Placement, Honors, and International Baccalaureate classes (National Center for Education Statistics, 2012).
“There is now wide consensus that gender inequalities are unfair, and lead to wasted human potential,” says Francisco Ferreira (2018), Amartya Sen Chair in Inequality Studies at the London School of economics, commenting on education gaps. He adds, echoing Fine: “That remains true when the disadvantaged are boys, as well as girls.”
Narrowing gender gaps in educational outcomes is an important goal for policy; and today, that means concentrating on boys and men.
GENDER-NEUTRAL, GENDER-SENSITIVE OR GENDER-BASED POLICIES?
There are three broad policy approaches to tackling these challenges: gender-neutral, gender-sensitive, and gender-based.
Gender-neutral policies aim at improving overall educational outcomes, without any explicit consideration of gender in their design or implementation. Of course, gender differences might be considered in any evaluation, along with factors such as race or ethnicity, or socio-economic background. But they might not, especially if there is no specific intention to narrow gender gaps. At the extreme, gender-neutrality veers into gender-blind approach: some school districts, for example, do not even routinely track differences in outcomes by gender. But improving schools overall would of course benefit boys (and in the lower-performing schools may help them the most, as an unintended byproduct of the policy).
Gender-sensitive policies are not restricted to males or females, but are implemented with the explicit goal of offering greater help to one or the other. Policymakers identify programs or initiatives that, on average, disproportionately benefit females or males.
Gender-based policies are restricted to one gender or another, with the stated goal of helping either women or men, typically in the spirit of attempting to level the playing field where it is tilted one way or the other, or in domains where equality of outcomes is seen as intrinsically important for social welfare reasons (such as political representation).
These categories are similar to those used by Klein (1987). She distinguished between “intentional” educational policies with regard to gender gaps and “general” ones, which have “no specific intentions related to gender, but with unintended effects on females.” The key difference is that I add a middle category: in my framework, gender-sensitive policies are “general” in the sense that they are not restricted to only one gender, but are “intentional” in the sense that they will have a bigger effect on one or the other.
EXAMPLES OF POLICY APPROACHES
This typology could be applied across policy areas. In politics, quotas for women or women-only candidate shortlists are examples of gender-based reforms, which I have argued for elsewhere (see Reeves, 2021). In employment, increasing access to flexible working or to paid leave are gender-sensitive policies, with the explicit goal of improving outcomes for women, especially those with caring responsibilities, without restricting access for men.
In health policy there are a number of provisions made exclusively for girls and women, especially in terms of prevention. These include obvious examples, such as screening for breast cancer. But they extend to some less obvious cases, too, such as screening for adolescent anxiety, which is covered without cost under the Affordable Care Act for girls and women, but not for boys and men. But I'll focus here on education policy, providing examples of existing policies or programs under each heading.
Gender-neutral policies
The list of gender-neutral education policies is of course a very long one. The vast majority of programs and initiatives are aimed at improving outcomes for all students, regardless of gender. As a general proposition, this is just as it should be. The case for focusing resources to help one gender more than the other, or even to the exclusion of the other, requires strong evidence that a) there is a significant gender gap to be addressed; and b) that there are programs that will help to address that gap, by helping whichever group is at a disadvantage. So investments in Head Start, School Improvement Grants, or the Teacher Incentive Program (TIP), or broader policy fronts such as raising teacher pay, expanding charter schools, or widening school choice are not aimed at helping female students or male students, but all students, and should be judged against that goal. To take a more specific example, the well-known ASAP program, for example, was not aimed at helping men or women, but students in general. And it does, pretty much equally well for women and men.
There are some complexities here, however. Like all classifications, my three-fold typology does not capture some of these nuances. In particular, policymakers have to be, or should be, alert to unintended gender differences in the impact of gender-neutral policies. There are a surprising number of policy reforms that generate positive results for girls or women, but not boys and men. Perhaps the most striking is the Kalamazoo Promise, a full-dollar free college program in the Michigan town. According to the evaluation team, “women experience very large gains,” in terms of college completion (increasing by almost 50%), “while men seem to experience zero benefit” (as cited in Reeves, 2022a). There are many other similar cases (for a fuller account, see Reeves, 2022a, 2022c).
There are also some evaluation studies where the opposite proved true, with boys benefiting more than girls. This includes Boston's expanded pre-K program. But at least in mainstream education (vocational training is a very different story, as we'll see), these are the exceptions to the pro-female rule. Josh Angrist and co-authors (2009) wrote, “These gender differences in the response to incentives and services constitute an important area for further study” (p. 17). They do indeed. But as far as I can see, nobody has heeded this call. At the very least, these results suggest that policymakers and scholars need to be much more sensitive to differential effects by gender and their potential implications for program design.
Most scholars are puzzled by the gender difference in impact of some of these programs, which were unexpected, and definitely not intended. These programs were gender-neutral in theory, but turned out to be gender-sensitive in practice. Whether that is a feature or a bug depends on how far you think male or female educational outcomes are most in need of a boost—and there are good arguments for each.
It is easy to imagine the opposite result from a gender-neutral policy reform happening, too. For example, there is good evidence that boys fare even worse in poor-performing schools than girls do: this is one reason why gender gaps in education are almost always widest in poorer families and communities. Let's assume that Policy X, which is gender-neutral in intent, significantly lifts up the weakest schools. This would likely have an even more positive impact on boys, than on girls. Again, while not the goal of Policy X, this gender difference in impact might reasonably be seen as a feature, rather than a bug.
Gender-sensitive policies
These are policies that aim to help one gender or the other, without restricting the benefits of the policy to that gender. Current investments in increasing the share of school-based mental health professionals, for example, are being explicitly linked to the alarming evidence of growing mental health problems among adolescent girls in particular. But of course boys will have access to these extra resources too. (Especially if some of the counselors and psychologists are male, but that's an issue for another day.) Likewise initiatives to improve campus safety will benefit all students, but particularly women, and women's safety is, correctly, the main goal of such initiatives.
Changes to assessment mechanisms, aimed at improving relative outcomes for women or girls, as well as for other demographic groups, are another example of a gender-sensitive policy. A high-profile example is Thomas Jefferson High School, a highly-ranked, STEM-focused school in Virginia. In 2020 the school dropped its admission test, switching to a lottery system among 8th graders with high enough grades. In the first year alone, the female share of entering students rose from 42% to 46% (Fairfax County Public Schools, 2021). (At the time of writing, the new policy has been struck down by a federal judge because of its disproportionately negative impact on Asian American students, one example of a battle playing out at educational institutions around the nation.)
Similarly, changes to college admissions policies downgrading the role of standardized tests, are aimed at increasing diversity in general on college campuses, but are also supported for being of particular benefit to women. That's because, as noted above, there is a big gender gap in GPA, and a small gap on the SAT and ACT. Indeed, the main effect of colleges going “test optional” in their admissions policy is to significantly increase the female share of students—by about 4 percentage points—according to Bennett (2021).
Of course, there are also boys who do not perform as well on tests as on other measures, and who will benefit from these changes in policy. But overall the impact will be to favor girls and women.
Gender-based policies
Certain policies are aimed solely at one gender. The scholarships available to women studying STEM subjects are an obvious example in the education field. Likewise, the Women's Resource Centers available on most college campuses. The provisions of the Women's Educational Equity Act (WEEA) of 1974, which was effectively defunded in the 1980s but reauthorized in 2001, are explicitly channeled towards programs and initiatives to support girls and women in the education system.
Perhaps the most obvious example of gender-based policy in education is the creation of single-sex schools and colleges. Single-sex colleges were once the norm, but now are relatively few in numbers, especially for men. There are only 26 women-only colleges remaining, and three all-male colleges (excluding institutions for religious training).
But the trend has been strongly in the other direction. Since 2006, public schools have been exempted from the sex discrimination laws that prevented the creation of single-sex schools. This was one result of the 2002 No Child Left Behind legislation, with Senator Hillary Clinton being a crucial vote for this provision, citing her own educational experience at Wellesley, an elite women's college. By 2014, there were 850 single sex public schools (including charter schools), up from 34 in 2008 (Rich, 2014). The evidence on their effectiveness, for either boys or girls, is mixed.
THE CASE FOR GENDERED EDUCATIONAL POLICY
Many of the gaps in educational outcomes described above justify policies with the explicit intent of improving outcomes for male students, both in absolute terms and relative to female students. Gender neutrality won't cut it when gender gaps are this wide, in either direction.
Here I'll argue for some policies that range from gender sensitive (such as more vocational educational opportunities) to gender-based (such as starting boys in school later) to those that are arguable a mix (such as incentives for men to enter the teaching profession).
Such policies are only justified when the evidence for both the scale of the problem and the efficacy of the solution are strong. This is not only a matter of good policy but of good jurisprudence. In United States v. Virginia (1996), Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote that, among other requirements, the state must provide justifications showing the need for policies separating students by sex that are “genuine, not hypothesized or invented post-hoc in response to litigation. And [they] must not rely on overly broad generalizations about the talents, capacities, or preferences of males and females.” This suggests, as Lettie Rose et al. (2023) wrote in the Georgetown Law Review, that “claims must have concrete empirical evidence behind them to succeed” (p. 807). This was in reference specifically to single-sex schooling in higher education, but the same legal test may apply more broadly.
Against that backdrop, I argue for:
Expansion of technical high schools (gender-sensitive)
A recruitment drive of male teachers (mixed)
Starting boys in school a year later (gender-based)
More technical high schools
There is strong evidence that vocationally-oriented learning benefits boys and men more than girls and women—on average, of course. For example:
A 2023 MDRC evaluation of the seven founding P-TECH programs in New York City, for example, which are vocationally-oriented 9–14 initiatives based on a three-way partnership between high schools, employers, and community colleges. Male students were 9.9 percentage points more likely to obtain a postsecondary degree within 7 years of entering high school. There were no statistically significant gains for female students (Rosen et al., 2023).
An earlier evaluation, also by MDRC, of Career Academies, small, vocationally oriented high schools, which generated a 17% earnings boost, equivalent to an extra $30,000, over the 8 years of the follow-up study, for male students. There were no statistically significant gains for female students (Kemple & Willner, 2008).
A study of Connecticut's statewide system of 17 technical (CTE) high schools in Connecticut, which collectively educate around 11,000 students, or 7% of those in the school system, showed a 10 percentage-point higher graduation rate for male students than for those in traditional schools. Their wages were 33% to 35% higher by the age of 23 and there were no apparent gains for female students (Brunner et al., 2021).
There are currently around 1,350 vocational secondary and high schools in the U.S., accounting for about 6% of all public high schools (National Center for Education Statistics, 2022). Of the 98% of school districts that offer CTE programs, only 12% have a full-time, CTE-focused high school (Gray & Lewis, 2018). We should aim to add at least 1,000 new CTE secondary schools across the nation by 2030. Assuming an additional cost of $5,000 per student for these schools (the Connecticut level of extra funding), this goal could be achieved for around $4 billion a year.3
Given the results of the evaluation studies, only showing benefits for boys overall, should these be single-sex schools? No. Even if, in general, girls derive less benefit from attending these schools, some girls will, and they should not be denied access to this opportunity, just as young men in Kalamazoo should not be denied the Promise Program. As Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote, requiring the Virginia Military Institute to become coed, differences on average between male and female learners do not as a rule justify separation. VMI might be a better learning environment for the average boy compared to the average girl, Justice Ginsberg conceded, but this did not provide a justification for excluding girls “whose talent and capacity place them outside the average description” (United States v. Virginia, 1996). (Today, around 12% of students at VMI are women.4)
But the expansion of technical high school I propose does have the explicit intention of helping boys and young men. Success would be judged primarily against that metric. If the schools skew heavily male, that should be considered good news, not bad news. At the margin, it would make sense to market these schools primarily to male students. It would, in other words, be a gender-sensitive policy.
More male teachers
The male share of K–12 teachers is now 23%, down from 33% at the beginning of the 1980s (Ingersoll et al., 2018). Male teachers are especially scarce in elementary and middle schools. There is some limited evidence that male teachers can help boys learn more effectively. Thomas Dee (2006) estimated that if half the English teachers from sixth to eighth grade were male, “the achievement gap in reading [between girls and boys] would fall by approximately a third by the end of middle school.”5 On the other hand, work by Michael Hansen and Diana Quintero (2018) found no strong evidence that male teachers are associated with better outcomes for either girls or boys, though points to “suggestive evidence” that male teachers of color might be. And a recent Danish study finds no positive impacts from male teachers in the last year of primary school (if anything, female teachers seem to generate better outcomes for both boys and girls; Kjaer & Jakobsen, 2023).
I think it's fair to say that we don't know for sure what the benefits of more male teachers would be, certainly in terms of narrow educational outcomes. But there are of course broader cultural and social factors here too which are necessarily harder to measure. For sure more work on this question is needed. But assuming that one way to help boys is to recruit more male teachers, or at least to stem the downward trend in male share, how?
I propose the provision of scholarships for men training as K–12 teachers, in particular, but not exclusively, men of color and men intended to teach English, where men are even more underrepresented than in most other subjects. These would be akin to the ones available to women pursuing STEM subjects and careers. Since the main goal of such scholarships would be to help boys, it should be seen as a gender-sensitive policy. But in implementation it would be a gender-based policy, since only men would be eligible.
Redshirt boys by default: Gender-based
Boys develop, on average, a little later than girls. The gap is mostly in the development of non-cognitive skills, which are important for school success especially in adolescence. This fact should influence education policy. Specifically, by default, boys should start school a year later than girls, completing an extra year of pre-K. This is already fairly common practice in more educated and affluent families. Among summer-born boys with BA-educated parents, the redshirting rate was 20%, according to an analysis of 2010/2011 data by Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, my counterpoint partner here, and Stephanie Howard Larson (Schanzenbach & Larson, 2017). In one DC private K–12 school (who shared their data with me on condition of anonymity), 30% of senior boys were older than the cut off dates for school entry for their cohort, compared to 7% of girls (Reeves, 2022b).
There's some evidence that being a year older helps boys, especially those from lower-income backgrounds:
In a predominantly low-income and racially diverse sample, Cascio and Schanzenbach (2016) found that being a year older had a positive impact on test scores in eighth grade, reduced the risks of repeating a grade before high school, and improved the chances of taking the SAT or ACT at the end of high school. But the benefits for boys were at least twice as big as for girls on all the outcome measures through 8th grade, and by high school only boys were seeing any gains.
A study by Cook and Kang (2018), using data from North Carolina, found that redshirted children are doing significantly better in both reading and math by the end of third grade, especially boys. Looking at gender gaps within racial groups, they found that the 10% redshirting rate among White boys reduced the overall gender gap among White students in third grade reading by 11%.
A Norwegian study (Flatø et al., 2023) exploits a sharp change in policy away from redshirting, introduced at different times in different regions, and finds that the option of a later start increased adult earnings by 4% for redshirted boys from the younger end of the cohort. The positive effects of a later school start were greatest for boys from lower-income families, who were also most likely to be redshirted under the previous policy regime.
The idea here is not to force children of either sex to start at a certain age, but to change the “default setting” so that boys start school somewhat later. I have previously argued that the default should be set a year older for boys. But the evidence suggests much bigger benefits for the younger boys. So I would now argue for setting the default entry birth date for boys at 6 months later than for girls. Parents would be at liberty to override the default, to either hold back their daughter or accelerate their son, just as they are in the current system (except in Chicago and New York where redshirting is prohibited). The point here is that on average boys develop a little later and could benefit from the “gift of time,” not that all boys will, nor that many girls would not also benefit.
An obvious objection to such a blunt policy intervention is that all such systems are blunt tools. There is a good deal of overlap in the development of boys and girls, at any chosen age, with the degree of overlap depending on what yardsticks are selected. But the same is true of children in one grade and those in the grade above or below, separated only by the blunt tool of an age cut-off for school entry.
A key plank of this proposal is that the students who do start school later get a longer dose of pre-K. And most of these will be boys: that's the point of the policy. Whether these extra resources are justified will depend on how the long-run educational and economic outcomes of boys change as a result, which is an empirical question, and possibly a legal one too. So some careful evaluation of pilot studies is essential. But the key point is that such a gender-based policy should not be ruled out tout court, given the gender gaps we now see in education.
A much more robust policy response to the educational challenges of boys and men is needed. These should include both gender-sensitive interventions, such as vocational learning and recruiting more male teachers, and gender-based interventions, such as a later school start for boys.
#Richard Reeves#education gap#education#higher education#gender gap#education system#religion is a mental illness
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John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
How do you follow a film like John Wick? The 2014 ballet of violence was such a pleasant surprise because it took a plot that’s been done to death and revitalized it. That’s where John Wick: Chapter 2 finds its purpose: by expanding on the world at the characters within it to make what was familiar new.
Set about two weeks after the first film, everyone now knows that assassin John Wick (Keanu Reeves) has come out of retirement. For crime boss Santino D’Antonio (Riccardo Scamarcio), this is the opportunity to collect a debt John owes him.
Like before, the stunt choreography is the reason to buy an admission ticket. By now we sort of know Wick’s preferred method of dispatching his enemies but it’s still plenty of fun to watch him efficiently and methodically take out anyone foolish enough to stand in his way. Director Chad Stahelski even throws in a couple of new tricks to make our jaws drop, like a scene in a bar that involves a pencil and not much else. There’s a particular death in that scene that’ll have you squirming, and you’ll love it.
If you think the only appeal is the violence, you're wrong. There are several points where the cinematography and staging are a wonder to behold. A climactic scene set in a hall of mirrors is a great example. Amazingly, cinematographer Dan Laustsen was able to shoot real people performing real stunts in this tiny enclosed space while keeping the cameras out of any reflections and making it look as good as it does. Oh, and shoot it in a way that’s easy to follow, which is the most impressive aspect.
So far, we’ve talked about what you’d expect from a John Wick film. What’s new? The side characters and large chunks of world-building. John is back in an environment he sought to escape. We caught a glimpse of it previously but now, writer Derek Kolstad gives us a good look. This world hiding in the shadows has its own politics, codes of conduct, currency, honor system and rules. Piecing how it all works is loads of fun because it makes so little sense it makes perfect sense. Countless assassins are hiding among us. The busker playing violin in the subway? They’re hiding a gun in their instrument and are ready to take someone out as soon as they get the call. Think that’s weird? Try wrapping your head around the secret society of killers disguised as vagrants! You have to believe these people spend most of their bullets taking each other out rather than high-ranking politicians who’ve made enemies, which actually makes the movie much more digestible than you’d expect. Like Sin City’s Marv said “I love hitmen. No matter what you do to them, you don't feel bad.” When these hired killers take each other out, they’re not people with jobs; they’re targets for John to take out. The secret society is so busy with itself that there's no room for police officers to respond or innocent civilians to get in the way/be taken hostage. Anyone and everyone has a gun hidden on their person. It’s so absurd it removes you from the weight of what all of these deaths would mean had this film been set in the real world.
John Wick: Chapter 2 (which is not going to be the last in the series) is not as surprising or fresh as the first but it makes up for it. Common, Ruby Rose, Laurence Fishburne and Claudia Gerini all play memorable characters with small but important roles. They join Lance Reddick, John Leguizamo and Ian McShane in the pool of actors who give the world a lot of personality. Once again, the fight scenes and gunplay are spectacular. It’s got more than a few brilliantly shot scenes, and its fast pace means the 122-minute running time flies by like nothing. If you liked the first, you'll want to see this one too. (March 26, 2022)
#John wick: Chapter 2#John Wick#movies#films#movie reviews#film reviews#Chad Stahelski#Derek Kolstad#Keanu Reeves#Laurence Fishburne#Ruby Rose#Riccardo Scamarcio#Common#Lance Reddick#Bridget Moynahan#John Leguizamo#Peter Stormare#Franco Nero#Ian McShane#2017 movies#2017 films
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A long weekend means more time for movies! Forgive me Florence, I just wasn’t in the right headspace for A Good Person. Maybe next weekend. ❤️🩹
I was, however, fully in the mood for some escapism and ultimate movie magic. And this weekend delivered!
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I could watch Keanu beat the shit out of dozens of stunt performers for hours. Gimme, gimme, gimme! 🤩 What a ride, I absolutely love this franchise and hope it keeps going. I can’t believe I haven’t gotten sick of the formula yet. But then again that’s the power of Keanu Reeves. If you’re not too turned off by violence, take yourself to a dark theater, get your favorite snacks, and take in all the beautiful fight choreography and wonderful performances from the whole cast. I need Bill Skarsg��rd and Donnie Yen in everything.
And then we have Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
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I love you forever, Chris Pine! Goddammit is that man charming, funny AND ridiculously good looking. I owed him one for not supporting the last film he released in theaters. To be fair, he didn’t do too much to support it either. 🤭 But I’m so happy he’s been promoting this one across the globe. Serving looks and charisma everywhere he goes. I just saw this one beat John Wick at the box office this weekend.
Fingers crossed this encourages the studio to green light a sequel. It has the potential to develop into a franchise too. This cast deserves it, their chemistry was fantastic. If you’re cool with the same level of action you’d get out of a Marvel or DC film, this one gave a similar vibes. Also, did I mention Chris Pine??
#john wick 4#dungeons & dragons#oof and regé-jean page in dnd?#🥵🥵🥵#this weekend was about watching pretty men get knocked around#god bless the movie gods#captain fine#the immortal#keanu reeves#chris pine#Youtube
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Feeling Minnesota: Party Surrogate
The boys are headed back into another flick with a state in the name, and the results pretty much speak for themselves. Steal your brother's family with this week's episode on Feeling Minnesota! Jokes include: America's Not Funniest Home Videos, that Subway smell, a movie that's totally a comedy, stages of grief and reminiscing about college.
#Hanksy Panksy#Keanu Reeves#Keanu#Reeves#Cameron Diaz#Feeling Minnesota#Minnesota#Movie#Film#Media#Movie Podcast#Honor among Reeves#lol#Indie Podcast#Small Podcast#Podcast#Spotify#Easy Listening
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Thoughts on some stuff I've watched over the past few months
Everything, Everywhere, All at Once: Certainly, one of the most original takes on the multiverse I’ve ever seen.
Dune (Part I): Could have used less visions of Chani and more scenes fleshing out minor cast members, especially Doctor Yueh.
Matt Reeve’s The Batman: A Batman movie where he spends more time using his detective skills than his martial arts training? Hell yes. Plus, the soundtrack and aesthetic are just great.
Renfield: Gory and campy (and I mean that in a good way).
The Green Knight: While impeccably acted and sumptuously gorgeous (when it wasn’t so dark I could barely make out anything) it didn’t feel very Arthurian to me nor did I find it a good adaptation of the romance given the movie’s thematic inversion of said source material.
What If? S2: While I loved the last two episodes I felt this season as a whole was weaker than the first.
Loki S2: Hands-down, the best thing to come out of Marvel Studios since Endgame. Helps that its the only part of the MCU to have a memorable soundtrack.
The Fall of the House of Usher: Started and ended strong but sagged somewhat in the middle due to the one-death-per-episode format. (Also doesn't help that nothing ever topped the very first death in terms of intensity.)
Dnd: Honor Among Thieves: Good fun for the whole family.
Stardust: An interesting adaptation in that it feels tonally and thematically different from the book. That isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy the movie a great deal but rather it feels like a different sort of fairytale, which is pretty fitting actually.
GoldenEye: My very first Bond movie. Good but nothing to write home about.
The Suicide Squad: Feels like an edgier version of the GOTG, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but an aesthetic that can grow tiresome upon repeat exposure.
#personal#about me#movies#mcu#dcu#the fall of the house of usher#james bond#dungeons and dragons#renfield 2023#the green knight#dune part one#everything everywhere all at once#stardust neil gaiman#the suicide squad#loki series#book adaptation
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2023 Movie Reviews
(films I watched between January and June)
5 stars
Puss 'n Boots The Last Wish (2023): Gorgeous animation, solid antagonists, and I loved the message.
Everest (2015): A disaster film but one that is both well-made and based on a real event, the 1996 expedition. There were a lot of characters to keep track of so I did get lost a few times but the emotional moments hit, especially the ending.
4 stars
John Wick 4 (2023): a mostly satisfying climax to the series, even if some of the scenes went on a little too long. New characters were great and I would love to see more of them if they return in the wider series now that John's story is seemingly done.
3 stars
DnD Honor Among Thieves (2023): A lot of fun, really liked the characters, even if some arcs felt underdeveloped.
Tranformers RotB (2023): Better than the weaker Bayformers entries but didn't have the same heart as Bumblebee (2018). The characters, aside from the human leads, felt a little underwritten and fight scenes just didn't have the same weight (not sure if it's a CGI problem or a choreography problem).
The Watcher (2000): Keanu Reeves plays a serial killer and it's strangely compelling, especially his interactions with James Spader's lead character. Extra points to the one victim that fights back and almost survives. Rest of the film is very mediocre and marred by early 2000s style editing.
2 stars
Antman Quantumania (2023): a middle of the road MCU film, not much more to it than that. Which is pretty disappointing after I loved the first two, this one just didn't have the same heart. Villain was cool at least, though I'm not sure he's interesting enough to be the new arc villain of the MCU. Definitely felt like the film was cut up in post-production.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008): A pretty lackluster remake that recontextualizes fear of nuclear war into fear of global warming but doesn't portray that message as well. Keanu Reeves' version of Klaatu works surprisingly well; he's much colder than the original and just the right level of unsettling that fits with the difference in his mission. Wish the rest of the film was better because I actually like the updated ideas.
The Rain Killer (1990): A noir-esque film that just doesn't work. Characters act in borderline nonsensical ways that accidentally make it compelling in that I was trying to figure out motives but that doesn't make it satisfying. Horny and generally mysogonistic and the story isn't good enough to make up for it.
1 star
The Legend of Hercules (2014): Scott Adkins as Amphitryon is the one bright spark in this because he's just having fun as an over the top villain. Shame the rest of the film is bland and boring and just generally a lacking re-telling of the Hercules myth (I swear they made changes that make it feel more Christian and I don't know how to feel about that).
#movie review#puss n boots the last wish#everest 2015#john wick 4#antman quantamania#dnd honor among thieves#transformers rise of the beasts#the watcher 2000#day the earth stood still remake#the rain killer 1990#legend of hercules 2014
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Beyond the Cape: Warner Bros 'Superman: The Christopher Reeve Story' to Elevate an Icon's True Heroism on the Big Screen
The Man of Steel Flies Again: Warner Bros Acquires 'Superman: The Christopher Reeve Story'
In a recent thrilling development, Warner Bros has cinched a deal to add a touch of nostalgia to their robust portfolio with 'Superman: The Christopher Reeve Story'. The project promises to delve deep into the highs and lows of the beloved actor who defined the role of the iconic superhero for a generation. This powerful narrative will trace Reeve's journey, bringing his extraordinary legacy back to the silver screen in a way fans have never seen before.
A Cultural Icon Resurrected
Christopher Reeve, known for his quintessential portrayal of the Man of Steel, left an indelible mark on the hearts of fans worldwide. His tragic horse-riding accident and subsequent activism for spinal cord research gave his story a depth that transcended his on-screen heroism. Warner Bros' decision to craft a film around Reeve's inspirational life story highlights a recognition of the impact he had both in and out of the cape.
Script and Spectacle
The cinematic tribute has attracted high-caliber creative talent, with proven success in portraying nuanced biographies. Scriptwriting chores have been entrusted to a scribe with a reputation for delivering heartfelt narratives. While no details on the style of the film have emerged, the creative team is expected to balance reverence for Reeve's legacy with captivating storytelling to chart the emotional highs and lows of his remarkable journey.
More Than Just a Superhero Tale
'Superman: The Christopher Reeve Story' aims to be more than just a recount of Reeve's career-defining role; it seeks to shed light on his heroic advocacy that inspired millions even after his portrayal of the Man of Steel. Fans can anticipate a heart-touching exploration of Reeve's determination and courage, his drive to push the boundaries of medical science, and his unyielding spirit in the face of adversity. This biopic is all set to honor Reeve not just as an on-screen legend, but as a real-life hero to many.
Fanbase and Expectations
The announcement has generated waves of excitement among Reeve's fans and superhero enthusiasts alike. The actor's family expressed their endorsement, confident that the film will do justice to his legacy. As the project progresses, expectations soar. With such personal and widespread relevance, the critical and commercial responses hold high potential for this forthcoming biopic from Warner Bros.
Up, Up, and Away
As Warner Bros takes the helm to bring 'Superman: The Christopher Reeve Story' to life, audiences worldwide are eagerly waiting for another opportunity to look up in the sky. It's not a bird, nor a plane; it's the enduring legacy of Christopher Reeve, ready to inspire once more, elegantly captured in a poignant narrative that transcends time. This biopic is poised to be more than a flight of fancy—it's an homage that aspires to soar as high as Reeve's own indomitable spirit.
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'In the Summers' and 'Porcelain War' win top prizes at Sundance Film Festival
PARK CITY, Utah
“In the Summers,” an affecting, years-spanning drama about a complicated parent-children relationship, nabbed the Grand Jury prize at the 40th Sundance Film Festival, while the top honor for documentary went to “Porcelain War,” about a Ukrainian couple who craft fragile, intricately painted ceramics while war rages around them.
Those two awards, announced Friday in Park City, Utah, both honored directorial debuts. “In the Summers,” written and directed by Alessandra Lacorazza, poetically follows an imperfect father and his daughters over nearly two decades. Lacorazza also won for directing.
“To the queers, to the Latin, to the immigrants, this is for you," said Lacorazza, a Colombian American filmmaker whose film is set in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
“Porcelain War,” which follows last year’s “20 Days in Mariupol” as a Sundance documentary prize-winner that captures the war in Ukraine, was made by Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev.
“This award is because of the bravery of the people of Ukraine,” said Bellomo. “And this award is for the beauty of the people of Ukraine.”
“Sujo,” about an orphaned boy trying to escape the grip of Mexican cartel violence, took the Grand Jury prize for world dramatic cinema. “A New Kind of Wilderness,” about a Norwegian family living off the grid, won the jury award for world documentary.
The Festival Award, voted on by Sundance audiences, went to “Daughters,” Natalie Rae and Angela Patton’s moving documentary following four girls as they prepare for a special daddy-daughter dance with their imprisoned fathers. “Daughters” also won the audience award for U.S. documentary.
Sean Wang's “Dìdi,” a coming-of-age film about a 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy, took the audience award for U.S. dramatic film. “Dìdi” also won a juried award for its ensemble.
“Ibelin,” which was acquired by Netflix out of Sundance, won the audience award for world cinema documentary and a juried award for Benjamin Ree's direction. The film follows the story of Mats Steen, a Norwegian who died of a degenerative muscular disease at the age of 25. Only after his death did his parents discover how widely known and celebrated Steen was online for his personal blog and via World of Warcraft.
“Girls Will Be Girls,” about a Himalayan boarding school, won the audience award for world cinema drama. The Darren Aronofsky-produced “Little Death,” starring David Schwimmer as a TV writer, won the NEXT Innovator award. The NEXT audience award winner was the Irish drama “Kneecap,” about a Belfast rap trio, co-starring Michael Fassbender.
Award winners are available to stream on the festival's website through the close of Sundance on Sunday.
Sundance winners often go on to be some of the most acclaimed films of the year. Last year's festival produced Celine Song’s “Past Lives," nominated for best picture and best screenplay on Tuesday by the Academy Awards. Other Sundance titles to reach the Oscars include 2022 best picture-winner “CODA,”“Summer Of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)” and “Minari.”
The 40th edition brought high-profile films including Jesse Eisenberg's well-received “A Real Pain,” starring him and Kieran Culkin; the Will Ferrell, Harper Steele road trip “Will & Harper"; and the emotional documentary “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story.”
This year, “A Real Pain," which also picked up a screenwriting award for Eisenberg, was among the top sales, selling for $10 million to Searchlight Pictures. Neon acquired Steven Soderbergh's ghost story “Presence.” And the buzzy horror thriller “It's What's Inside" sold to Netflix for $17 million.
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