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basicrese · 4 months

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oh my gods i could cry right now, i really could.

so here's my reactions to the first two episodes of Percy Jackson and the Olympians (long post ahead):

Episode 1

To start, I know we've seen and heard this from the trailer and sneak peeks already but hearing the line for real from the first episode, oh I almost lost it right then and there. This has been YEARS in the making.

Baby percy already embodying the snark and sass from facial expressions and internal monologue alone, i love him

In a similar regard, I know we've already seen it from sneak peeks but the possible Blackjack cameo made me so happy 🥹

The portrayal of the mist is everything I wanted and more actually

Sally being a Medusa ally, i know that's right!!!!!

"appointment to see Mr. Kane?????" "at D'angelo's??????" They're making me go crazy because all these subtle name drops and I have no idea if they're just tiny easter eggs or if they mean something in the long run 😩😩

the design for Mrs. Dodds as a fury?????? absolutely amazing and I love how they carried that entire scene out; how she was there one moment and gone the next and that Percy didn't suddenly turn into this invincible warrior. It perfectly set up the suspiciousness of what just happened because it all happened so fast and there was no room for Percy to process what actually happened because suddenly no one even knows who she is. BUT YET there's a momentary flicker of guilt and hesitation in Grover's face and curiosity in Mr. Brunner's (just as it was written!). You can almost hear Percy's inner monologue doubting their words because it didn't add up to their body language but simultaneously doubting his narrative too because everyone is proving what he saw otherwise.

"I'm all wet now" as Sally, dripping wet because she had just been basking in the rain, goes to hug him. there is little to none seriousness in this child's body

"You fell in love with God? Like Jesus?" unseriousness.

the very intentional lighting during the goodbye scene in the way it only cast golden on half of Percy and Sally's faces

the depiction of Sally being crushed like ofc we know she's being held captive in the Underworld BUT PERCY DOESN'T AND HE THINKS HE JUST WATCHED HIS MOTHER DIE IN SUCH A BRUTAL WAY RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS EYES I COULD SOB LIKE THE WAY HE FOUGHT? THAT WAS ALL RAGE AND DESPAIR.

ngl Percy just dropping names left and right made me so anxious with the whole "names have power thing" HJGKLDSBSG had me going "don't say his name out loud!!" during the car scene

oh that end-credits was gorgeous. and the way it depicts the entire story even ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

the sneak peek of camp after the credits, we're about to eat!!!

i did not realize rick even cameoed until i saw it on twitter help

Episode 2

"You drool when you sleep." SCENE EVERYBODY CHEERED

Mr. D passed out while holding a can of coke is the only way he could have been introduced actually (and the first Peter Johnson!)

The Big House is so pretty???

The vulnerability in Percy's voice when he was asking for help to find his dad i can't do this 🧎🏻‍♀️

THE. CAMP. IT'S SO VAST AND BEAUTIFUL I COULD ONLY DREAM OF TIMES LIKE THESE IN THE PAST. also the way i'm taking it right now is that the cabins are already so gorgeous so when annabeth revamps the place by tlo? they are going to go crazier with the set design i fear

the supposed red herring on the scoring that makes you think luke is gonna bully percy but he's actually a good guy that'll be a mentor figure to him WHEN THAT IN FACT IS THE REAL RED HERRING LIKE IT'S THE GENIUS OVER GENIUS FOR ME

i was kinda lost on who the other guy with luke and percy was at first until i realized it was chris. he doesn't know what'll happen to him when the fourth season rolls around like laugh while u still can chris

percy already advocating for the unclaimed, he has always been a real one!!!

grover you sweet little satyr i need to give him a hug. the protector also needs to be protected 🥹

the way i could tell there would be an answer to the god of disappointment joke help; like they're quips to you percy but they will actually have answers to every rhetorical question you throw their way 😭😭

"ignoring me is one thing, but he doesn't get to ignore you." one thing about percy, his mother always comes first 🙏

i can't get enough over the gorgeous cinematography I CAN'T

dior embodies clarisse's pride and cruelty with such accuracy but she's so pretty i wanna forget how mean she is LMAO

the percabeth dynamics already going so strong i could cry, like that first interaction???

i love ms. annabeth chase so much she is everything to me, the poise! the confidence! the leadership!

the capture the flag sequences oh it was everything

"I am Sally Jackson's son!" EXACTLYYYY

overall, i am going through the motions and it has been absolutely beautiful so far and everything down to the cast, crew, production, set design, costume design, scoring, cinematography has been done immensely well. i can't believe we're actually here 🥹💙

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pjotvshownews · 2 years

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From your own guesses do you think they'll have a little nico / bianca cameo in the episode where they're in the casino?

I don't know. I imagine they won't officially cast the roles yet because they will be very important and they might want to wait so they can make sure to get those castings right instead of rushing just for a cameo now when we're a few years from their big plot in the books and the future of the show isn't 100% guaranteed yet past season 1. Not to mention, if they cast those roles now, the actors playing them would age a few years before they got to film the events of Titan's Curse, but the characters are supposed to be stuck in a time limbo and not age, so that wouldn't work completely. However, Rick did say they put easter eggs and such in the script, so there might be a reference to them at the casino, if we don't see them there fully. But, once again, I don't know, and any guesses I have hold no more weight to them than any other fan theories.

#ask

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amplesalty · 2 years

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Christmas 2021: Day 2 - Home Sweet Home Alone (2021)

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Two...hundred thousand dollar ugly dolls!

Now, the scheduled Home Alone movie this year would have been part 5 which actually takes place at Christmas again unlike that stepchild part 3. However, when life gives you the bounty of a fresh sequel hot off the presses then who am I to ignore it? Only a few weeks ago actually this arrived on Disney+ so I’m striking while the iron is hot and joining in on everyone’s hot takes. This movie is all thanks to Disney’s ongoing efforts to assimilate all media ever as it came with their takeover of 21st Century Fox. ‘New Home Alone’ was probably someway down on that list of talking points when people were more interested in Marvel essentially taking back control of the X-Men and Fantastic 4. Quite frankly, the big return on Disney+ that I’m waiting for is the new Honey I Shrunk the Kids. They got Rick Moranis back and everything! So long as people stop randomly assaulting him for no reason we should hopefully get to see what they’re making sometime in the next couple of years.

Home Alone is also in the news right now due to the original house being listed on AirBNB for one night only. An overnight stay at the low, low cost of only $25. I’m surpised it’s so cheap and that it doesn’t come up more often. I guess if you owned that house you’d probably get sick of all the random people doing location visits, and you probably wouldn’t need the money anyway, but it you rented that out a couple of times a year to some diehard fans, you’d probably cover the cost of your mortage. Maybe the cost is some sort of tier system, like for $25 you don’t get to sleep in that nice comfy four poster bed in the parents room. You probably have to share with Fuller, he wets the bed!

The big speculation around this new version was of course what role Macaulay Culkin might play in it. Would little Kevin be making his return, all grown up? After all, we did get that Google voice assistant commercial the other year, maybe that was just a teaser to something bigger? Spoiler alert; No. Not so much as a cameo. He even went so far as to tweet his non-involvement on the day the trailer came out. A trailer which apparently had nearly 80,000 dislikes on YouTube in the first few days following its upload. Not that you can tell now since YouTube took that away, strangely coincidental that they did so almost immediately after this and the likes of the new Nintendo premium online membership video being disliked into oblivion.

There is a cute little easter egg though where we see that Kevin has transitioned his anti-burglary skills into the lucrative world of home security. Wonder where he got that logo from?

Our Kevin analogue here is young Max Mercer who is surprisingly English for no adequately explained reason. Max is played by Archie Yates who was also in JoJo Rabbit. I still need to see that, I assume I’ll enjoy it based on the involvement of Taika Waititi. Max’s mother, Carol, is played by Aisling Bea who also has an English accent going on which seems to have been a topic of discussion online considering she’s Irish. I really don’t get why they’re English because it never really comes up in movie. The only thing I can think of is them trying to close a plot hole because when the big realisation that Max has been left home alone happens, it’s suggested that she ring one of her neighbours so they can go check on him. To which she points out that she doesn’t know any of the neighbours because they’ve only recently moved and the only people they do know are back in London. That just seems really unnecessary though, surely you could just as easily explain it away with them being American but having only just moved? Maybe all theAunts, Uncles etc that aren’t on this trip are several states away. Or maybe they just never bothered to get to know their neighbours? Or maybe their neighbours are all arseholes so they don’t keep contact? As we’ll see later on though, I suspect there are no actual neighbours even around...

Max’s father is American by the way so presumably all the annoying cousins and the like that are on the requisite trip that leaves Max by himself are on his side of the family. I had to go back to check who Max’s father even was because he shows up precisely twice within the whole movie; once right at the start and then again right at the end. I spent the whole time thinking Carol was a single parent.

The whole extended family are immediately one of the negative points of the film. If you think back to those first movies and, whilst being minor roles, some of the family members are big characters like Buzz or Uncle Frank. Even Fuller who is purely one note still serves as another straw on the camel’s back that leads to Kevin finally flipping out. Here you barely even see them outside of a wall of noise right at the start where Max decides to duck out and watch TV on a head rest display in the garage and promptly sleeps right through the taxi pickup the next morning. The only one you ever notice is Uncle Blake who is just really loud and obnoxious and is a big victim of the writer’s need to include as much dialogue as possible that deals in either modern day or dated references. Like when Blake describes his niece taking selfies in front of the Uber as ‘Hashtag ill judged’ or his comment on the Mercer’s not having a landline on which to call Max as ‘They don’t have a landline because it’s not 1993. What do you want me to do next, beep him after I’ve listened to the new MC Hammer joint?!’

Bizarrely, much of the focus throughout is placed on a completely separate family; the McKenzie’s. They’re having to sell their home in order to downsize due to dad Jeff’s ongoing unemployment. It’s here that Max crosses paths with them when he urgently needs to use the toilet so his mother takes him to the McKenzie’s under the pretence of a house viewing. It just seems really odd, like Max is being sidelined in his own movie, like this whole home defence thing is just tacked on to this melodrama about a family’s financial woes.

Max runs afoul of Jeff as Jeff is taking some family heirlooms out of storage, namely some old dolls which Max assumes Jeff plays with and says he’s one of ‘those guys’, whatever that means. He also calls him Frankenstein due to how tall he is, to which Jeff gives him the speech about how actually it would be Frankenstein’s Monster because Frankenstein is the Doctor. Oh God, is this how I sound? Carol makes conversation about how one of the dolls was on a antiques type show recently where some old lady bought one for $10 and sold it for 5 grand. Jeff later discovers that his doll with the ugly upside down face is a rare production error worth over $200k but can no longer find it and assumes the little brat took it because he wouldn’t give him an orange soda.

The aforementioned Max sleeping through the taxi to the airport takes place and he discovers that he’s all alone. Much like Kevin, he splurges a little by playing video games, riding an ironing board down the stairs, jumping on a trampoline whilst riding a yoga ball and tries to do a little internet browsing. Or, as he puts it; “alright internet, show me your worst...”. Eww, creepy.

He also does a little cosplay as Tony Montana.

And even recreates the cocaine scene but with peanut M&M’s.

But that’s not the only dress up he does. GENDER POLITICS IN MY HOME ALONE? DISNEY GONE FULL WOKE! CHILDHOOD RUINED!

Meanwile, back at the McKenzie’s, Jeff’s much more successful brother is in town and is watching a little TV which seems to be some sort of Sci-Fi remake of Angels with Filthy Souls remake. There’s some very Palpatine/Mace Windu vibes going on here before Johnny pulls out some form of cosmic ray gun and starts blasting away. Jeff’s brother questions why they always have to remake the classics considering they’re never as good as the originals. You know movie, just because you’re being all meta and pointing it out doesn’t excuse you for doing the exact same thing.

Jeff and his wife Pam decide they need to go take back the doll in order to save their home from the windfall, something they discuss openly unaware that Max is still here. He misconstrues their talk of ‘selling the ugly boy to some old lady’ and imagines being sat around being force fed gross old lady candy whilst they clean his cheeks with their hankies. Jeff’s failure to input the right code on the security system leads to an interesting development...

Officer Buzz! Because there might not be a Culkin cameo but there damn sure is a Devin Ratray one! Though, this is a little awkward when Pam starts flirting with him to try and get him to leave. These writers sure are keen on clearing up their plot holes though as they then have Buzz call off a phone call made by the Mercer family who report Max being left home alone. Apparently Buzz’s little brother Kevin makes the same call every year as a prank. Nice to know he’s able to laugh about it now. They also cover the whole cops thing doubly with Max having a vision of him telling Buzz the truth, only for it to be turned back on him and his mother stuck in jail for abandoning him. Is this what writers have to do nowadays, try and pre-empt all the videos that come out from the likes of RLM and Cinema Sins?

Interesting note; amongst Max’s traps are several bottles of generic diet cola with Mentos alongside in order to make into impromptu explosives. Apparently Disney have no issue paying for the licence to show the actual eBay but stop short when it comes to Diet Coke. Or maybe Coke don’t like being associated with this whole thing. I wonder if they take down YouTube videos where people do that.

I think there’s long been this idea of the latent maniacal tendencies with Kevin McCallister in the first two movies, all those violent acts on the Wet Bandits that he likes a little too much, and that’s something that this movie isn’t shy about following. Don’t let the diet coke bombs or the icy drive way fool you. Sure it’s inconvenient to be sprayed with coke or to fall on your arse but he’s just lulling you into a false sense of security. His very next trick after those two is setting the wife on fire.

Okay so maybe it only goes as far as her feet but still, Jesus! I thought this might have toned things down it a bit since it’s on Disney+ but it’s still as bad as ever.

I mean, he shoots Jeff in the head with a pool ball fired from one of those pneumatic t-shirt gun things they have at American sports games. Pretty sure Jeff would be dead.

Not quite, Max straps a VR headset to him so that when he wakes up, he’s tricked into thinking he’s on the edge of a cliff. So, not only is he inflicting physical damage, now he’s mentally torturing too. Only, this is a very specifically designed VR game considering that Jeff can look down and see his actual body since he sees the Santa suit he’s wearing in order to trick Max in case he woke up. Either that or Max was able to code his own VR game with the Santa suit in the few hours between finding out the plan and now.

Though it all ends rather anti-climatically when they actually stop and just talk for 5 seconds and realise this has just been a rather absurd and escalating series of misunderstandings. The whole thing feels entirely unjustified though considering that the McKenzies are really bad people. Sure it was a bit torture porny at times in the other movies but ultimately the Wet Bandits or Marv and his missus were getting their comeuppance. They were out to burgle the house, kidnap that Prince or even kill Kevin that one time so it’s not so bad that he’s fighting back. Here though, all the McKenzies want is to get their doll back, plus you’ve sat through their backstory on their money troubles, so to have Max firing bags of sugar at Jeff’s ghoulies or weights at Pam’s head is completely out of line. You knew where you stood with those other movies, you had clearly defined bad guys. You didn’t have a harrowing flashback revealing Harry turned to crime in order to fund his mother’s dialysis.

Maybe I’m not giving the team behind this enough credit though, maybe Max is meant to be the bad guy? That might have been an interesting twist actually, where the McKenzie’s are a lot more innocent and quickly realise they’re in over their head, regretting even going to the house and realising they should have gone about things in a more normal way, but Max thinks it’s an act or gets caught up in inflicting the violence with all the booby traps. As it is, you want to sympathise with him for being left on his own but it’s hard to do that when he’s nearly killing these people who are struggling and just doing what they have to in order to keep their kids in the only house they’ve ever known.

That whole home invasion sequence is made especially pointless when it turns out the creepy doll was actually at the McKenzie house the entire time and Jeff’s nephew had just taken it to play with. He nearly ruins everything by throwing it down the stairs but luckily Max jumps in to save the day. Good job he did too because they’re going to need to split the sale of that thing in order to fix all the damage they did at the Mercer house.

On the one hand, I kinda liked this in my usual ‘so bad it’s good’ way as I was able to point and laugh at all the dumb stuff going on and it’s nice to revel in the fan service moments like the Buzz cameo or the familiar music cues like Setting the Trap or Somewhere in my Memory. But objectively it’s not very good, it suffers from that kid’s movie thing where all the grownups talk in this weird way with the references or trying to use cool words to be down with the kids. Like Pam referring to the local schools as ‘lit’ whilst trying to entice one of the prospective house buyers. And for a Home Alone sequel it feels like it entirely misses the point of the whole franchise considering it spends a good chunk of time pushing the kid to the side in favour of other side characters and then not even having convincing bad guys for the big ending sequence. I appreciate it’s a bit of a change which is welcome when you’re on the sixth entry to the franchise but it feels really misguided here. Maybe there’s a way you could do it whilst keeping that same sort of family friendly tone and not going into horror or something but to me you can’t tone down the villains without amping up the other side to balance things out.

#Christmas 2021 #Home Alone #Home Sweet Home Alone #Home Alone 6

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glapplebloom · 3 years

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Which of these soulless corporate movies is the least soulless?

Welcome to the Space Jam. Its your chance to do your dance at the Space Jam. Alright? Alright. Both movies are about a Basketball Star Teaming up with the Looney Tunes to play Basketball. So let’s see which one is the better of the two, starting off with...

THE STORY

Original - Aliens have come to kidnap the Looney Tunes. So they decide to have their fate decided by a Basketball Game. But when the Aliens stole the talent of other NBA players, the Looney Tunes decide to kidnap Michael Jordan (yes, they kidnap Michael Jordan as pointed out by Teen Titans going to the old Space Jam Website). After Hijinks they win the game.

Sequel - Lebron’s son got kidnapped by Al G. Rhythm and to get him back he must beat Al in a Basketball game. Thing is he is forces to get a team and he was sent to the Looney Tunes world where he finds Bugs alone. The others are seeing other Warner Brother properties so Bugs and Lebron work together to get them back. Thing is Lebron wants some heavy hitters and despite his efforts he only got toons. Even worse, the basketball game is not straightforward, more people’s lives are on the line and Al got his son to play for his team. Only until Lebron learned that he shouldn’t push people to be like him do the toons come back and win the game.

Winner - Sequel. Calling the original a plot is giving it too much credit. Its more of a concept that is put together than an actual story. If New Legacy’s story is more complex, its only because it has actual progression as things change.

THE BASKETBALL STAR

Original - As a kid, Michael Jordan was destined for greatness. He knew he wanted to be a big time basketball star and as a promise to his dad will also become a baseball star. He retired and is trying his best, but he’s not a good baseball player. It doesn’t help that others are treating him as something special (because they all want some free shoes ~Starfire). So when the Looney Tunes kidnap him, he didn’t want to help until the Monstars messed with him. Now back in the game Michael plays like he never lost a step and help the Looney Tunes win.

Sequel - As a kid, Lebron wants to play basketball. But he’s also a kid so he enjoys having fun like playing a Gameboy Game complete with Bugs Bunny’s Crazy Castle. But because of that, he lost the game. His coach at the time said he could become a great basketball player if he focused. So he did and became King James. Now an adult, he wants his kids to be basketball players too, but his youngest son prefer to make video games. This causes a riff that allows AL G. Rhythm to manipulate his son to work with him. Lebron, forced into the Warner Serververse has to make a team and is stuck with the Looney Tunes. He thinks they could win if they stick with the fundamentals but between the new rules and bias ref, they’re losing badly. So badly an argument breaks out between him and the Toons during halftime. When he figures out he’s treating them like his son, he realized the only way to win is to let them be them. With that knowledge, he ask his son for forgiveness and earns it. After winning the game, he lets his son go to the E3 Game Camp instead of the Basketball Camp.

Winner - Sequel. Lebron has an actual connection with Looney Tunes as a kid, was excited to meet Bugs, has a character arc that takes place throughout the entire movie. Even if you think he’s a bad actor, he at least felt like he was invested in the story.

THE REFERENCES

Original - For Background Easter Eggs, you got a few Looney Tunes Alumni, though they do repeat. Cameos feature other Basketball Stars and Bill Murray. And references are to things of the 90s: Dennis Rodman, Pulp Fiction, Beethoven and Babe, and for some reason Disney. I think the most clever is Larry Bird appearing. In one of the few sports things I know, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan were rivals. How do I know this? I played an NES game about their rivalry.

Sequel - Background and References subtle and not were all about Warner owned properties. As old as Casablanca to as new as Rick and Morty. We got to see the DCAU once more, references to old Looney Tunes gags and places, MC Hammer, Hanna-Barbera, Mad Max: Fury Road (and one I think is a Nostalgia Critic Reference) and so much more. In fact here’s a video featuring them all. Favorite of mine, Michael Jordan’s Cameo.

Winner - This is all your own preference so feel free to pick who you think wins here.

THE SOUNDTRACK

Winner - No competition. Between the title song (turned meme), the inspirational song (sang by someone who doesn’t know how to use a toilet), and the Monstars Anthem the new one can’t compete. But I will say for those thinking that Porky Rapping is “cringe”, the original also had a certain Rabbit rapping.

THE VILLAINS

Original - The Big Bad is Mr. Swackhammer, owner of Moron Mountain and voiced by Danny DeVito. Sadly he doesn’t do much but be the big bad boss of Nerdlucks. As their tiny small self, they don’t leave much of an impression but they really stand out after stealing the talent of stars and become Monstars. They become big, mean and slightly more different.

Sequel - Al G. Rhythm is an algorithm the Warner Brothers studios use to help make movie ideas. He wants some recognition and thinks if he can get Lebron on board he can earn it. Sadly, when Lebron refused, he didn’t take it well. So when he saw Lebron’s son take interest in him and ran away from Lebron, Al used that to his advantage. With that, he makes Lebron force to play a basketball game while manipulating his son to not only allow him access to his data but get him to play as well. The Goon Squads are a result of that as its Lebron’s son’s data on other basketball players mixed with superpowers.

Winner - Give Don Cheadle a Disney+ Show Disney! As great as Danny DeVito is, he’s just not in it long enough like Al. Can be manipulative yet also very agro.

THE TOONS

This category will be done differently. I’ll be focusing on their takes on Bugs, Lola, and the Rest. I am not including Daffy in this equation because he’s perfect in both.

Bugs - In the original, Bugs is Bugs. Wisecracking, carrot chewing, master manipulator as always. In the Sequel, he’s one of the few that stood in Looney Tunes world because that’s where he could be him. But the loneliness made him miss everyone (after all, how can he pull off schemes and pranks without victims). And while in the original Bugs saves Lola from being squashed, Bugs risks his life to ensure Lebron doesn’t get deleted when executing the glitch. It makes Bugs’ actions seem more noble than just saving the girl he likes.

Lola - In the original, she’s a “sexy” no nonsense girl who plays basketball, and that’s it. And despite her attitude, became a damsel in distress and Bugs’ prize for rescuing her. in the sequel, she wants to do her own thing, even doing an Amazon Trial to become one, but failed to complete it when Lebron and Bugs was in danger and finding out Lebron’s son was in the line. So she’s there to give the team another good player and also be a moral support. In fact, its thanks to her that Lebron realizes what he’s been doing to his son.

The Rest - If the original got one thing over the Sequel, its number. A lot more Looney Tunes play in their game in comparison. With the exception of Granny who was a cheerleader, every toon was in the game at one point. I can’t say the same for the Sequel. With that said, the Sequel did get to show their personalities more. Like compare Wile E. in both. In one he gives the Monstars a bomb. The other has him using an Acme device, placing bird seed on the button to get the Roadrunner to press it repeatedly, only to have himself be caught in said machine. They all got the chance to do their thing instead of sharing a spit take.

THE BIG GAME

Original - The Looney Tunes are losing badly in the first half. Why? Because they didn’t go looney for... Reasons. After being tricked into drinking Michael’s “Special Drink”, then they decide to go looney. This allows them to catch up but then the Monstars decide to take them out, which they do despite these attacks being pretty tame to what they can normally take. With a few seconds to go, Michael scores one more basket to win.

Sequel - The Looney Tunes are losing badly in the first half. Why? Because Lebron is forcing them to play normal basketball despite their opponents and the game itself is anything but normal basketball. When they came back, they came back Looney and managed to catch up and even get ahead. But then Al decides to cheat since he controls the game. Thanks to this being the kid’s game, they know that if they perform a glitch they can take control away from Al long enough to score one more point and win. And thanks to Bugs’ sacrifice and his son moving a power up right underneath him, Lebron slam dunks the final point and wins.

Winner - The sequel. There was no reason for the Looney Tunes to be less looney in the first half in the original and its short live as each one gets taken out. Meanwhile the Sequel gives a valid reason for everything to happen.

My Winner - Space Jam: A New Legacy

Both movies are basically overgrown commercials trying to get you to buy stuff. The original was based off a Shoe Commercial and banking on your nostalgia on Looney Tunes and Michael Jordan the Basketball player to make you interested in seeing him back on court and new Looney Tunes content. The new one is basically for HBO Max. And both movies have also not credited people who deserve to be credited. But between the two of them a New Legacy actually feels like its trying to justify its existence.

Lebron has a connection with the toons through childhood, has actual stakes in the game, and actually feels invested in the events. The original was basically the Nike commercial stretched to a movie length. And to me, that makes a New Legacy a better movie.

#other

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salvatoreschool · 4 years

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All The Vampire Diaries and The Originals Easter Eggs in Legacies Season 2

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With so many unpredictable twists and such a lovable cast, Legacies is such an enjoyable series even if you were previously unfamiliar with the shared Vampire Diaries universe. But for those of us who did watch the flagship series and its first spin-off The Originals, Legacies is also a treasure trove of Easter eggs and references to our favorite characters and moments from the former CW dramas.

Legacies' first season was filled with nods to our fallen favorites like Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Klaus (Joseph Morgan), the reappearance of memorable items like Caroline's (Candice King) ballgown and reverse kyanite rings, and it built up the mythology of The Merge and nature's loopholes. While that was all fun and good, Season 2 raised the stakes (excuse our pun) with the returns of Freya Mikaelson (Riley Voelkel) and Kai Parker (Chris Wood), plus dozens of cheeky references for Vampire Diaries and Originals fans to pick up on.

As of now, Legacies Season 2 is on hiatus after production shut down amid the coronavirus outbreak, but the show is planning to resume production on the remaining Season 2 episodes later this year. In the meantime, you can check out all The Vampire Diaries and The Originals Easter eggs and references in Legacies Season 2 so far below.

• We still haven't gotten our Caroline Forbes return, but the Season 2 premiere confirmed she was still off living in Europe, searching for a way to help the twins avoid the Merge and getting Lizzie (Jenny Boyd) the help she needed over the summer break.

• Alaric (Matt Davis) dropped the sweet reveal in Episode 6 that the reason Matt Donovan (Zach Roerig) is no longer sheriff is because he's now the mayor of Mystic Falls!

• That same episode, Lizzie took Damon's (Ian Somerhalder) Camaro for a spin, revealing to Sebastian (Thomas Doherty) that Damon had given it to the twins for their sweet sixteen.

• When Josie (Kaylee Bryant) traveled to New Orleans in Episode 6, not only did TVD fans get a one-sided phone call with Caroline but Originals fans got a wall full of photos of their favorite characters when Josie looked in at Rousseau's.

• Of course, the best aspect of this NOLA trip was the very welcome return of Freya Mikaelson, who revealed that she and Keelin (Christina Moses) now have a son Nik, which is presumably short for Niklaus. We also got to see such an emotional Freya and Hope (Danielle Rose Russell) reunion, which has us wishing for more Originals cameos soon!

• In Episode 9, Hope made a casual reference to her old friend Vincent (Yusuf Gatewood), who once gave her advice on what to do about a mora miserium.

• And while this isn't a Vampire Diaries or Originals Easter egg, Episode 9 also showed us Lizzie and M.G. (Quincy Fouse) reading Crisis on Infinite Earths comics. This was a cute nod to The CW Arrowverse, which includes many TVD universe alums, including Stephen Amell, Rick Cosnett, and Chris Wood.

• Another TVD favorite got a shoutout in Episode 11 after Emma (Karen David) told Dorian (Demetrius Bridges) she needed to go help Caroline with the Merge problem, only for him to tell Emma that Caroline could call Bonnie (Kat Graham) instead.

• We also got a great little flashback to the video Kai recorded in The Vampire Diaries Season 6 in Episode 4 when M.G. needed the camera to film Lizzie and the then-invisible Sebastian.

• Of course, that little glimpse of Kai was only the appetizer before the show served us Kai's full-blown return when the Saltzman's got trapped in the prison world with him in Episode 12. Seeing Kai again provided ample opportunities for the show to reference some of the heretic's signature moves, like singing karaoke and leaving video messages — including one in which he shouted out Damon, Bonnie, and Katherine (Nina Dobrev). We also learned that not only has Kai's ruthlessness not changed since we last saw him, but neither has his love of Zima!

• There were a handful of other Bonnie and Bennett family references during Kai's two-episode stint on Legacies, including the fact that Bennett blood is key to escaping the prison world and Kai mentioning Bonnie's teddy bear, Ms. Cuddles, when Josie said she spelled the mora miserium to be invisible. And after Kai does get out prison world in Episode 13, he went searching for the ascendant which he found in a stuffed elephant, giving us yet another Ms. Cuddles reference. (This show, much like Bon Bon, just can't get enough Ms. Cuddles!)

• But as fun as it was having Kai back, the prison world episodes also reminded us of the pain he caused on Vampire Diaries when Alaric had to operate on Lizzie with the aid of a Laughlin clamp, which was invented by Jo (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe). Once the Saltzmans escaped the prison world, Alaric finally got his long overdue vengeance on Kai for killing Jo at their wedding by beheading everyone's favorite villain in Episode 13.

• All the Kai references weren't the only blasts from the past in the prison world episodes either. It was enjoyable to see the Salvatore Boarding House refitted to look like it looked on Vampire Diaries and the actress who played young Josie on TVD, Lily Rose Smith, also returned for flashback scenes at the school.

• After the trauma of the prison world and everything else the Salvatore students went through, in Episode 14 Emma sent them into a noir simulation which she likened to a chambre de chasse, a pocket dimension used multiple times on The Originals.

• Caroline got another sweet shoutout when Josie explained in Episode 16 that her subconscious was a fairytale because her mom used to read them to her as bedtime stories.

• As Alaric pointed out, the spell Josie used to transfer her siphon ability into a coin in Episode 16 was the same spell her mother Jo used when she transferred her magic into a hunting knife to stop Kai from merging with her when they turned 22.

Legacies Season 1 is available to stream on Netflix.

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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The Suicide Squad Character Guide, Easter Eggs, and DCEU References

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This article contains major spoilers for The Suicide Squad. We have a spoiler free review here.

The DCEU is alive and well and dividing its time between Corto Maltese and Belle Reve prison. James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad gives us the most DC characters in live action in any one movie ever assembled!

OK, fine, the vast majority of them die. And a fair portion of them most folks have never even heard of. But it still counts!

And yes, there are DC Comics Easter eggs in the movie, but perhaps not as many as you might expect. So we’ve decided to split the difference. We’re gonna give you the lowdown on all the characters, especially the obscure ones, and talk about what their existence in this movie means (or could mean) for the wider DCEU. And we’ll still give you all the DC Easter eggs we were able to spot. A real bargain, even though this article didn’t cost you anything!

Let’s take it from the top (cue the Jim Carroll Band’s “People Who Died”)

HARLEY QUINN

What else can be said about Harley Quinn that we haven’t already said a thousand times? You know who she is, you know where she’s from, and you know all about Margot Robbie’s iconic, for-the-ages performance.

And while the DCEU is pretty loosely connected these days, this is definitely the same Harley from the 2016 movie, although somewhat less male gaze-y in her attire, and one who has definitely moved on from her relationship with the Joker (who doesn’t even get mentioned in this film!). Harley already knowing Rick Flag, Captain Boomerang, and Amanda Waller is all the proof you need that this is a sequel to that film, however loose it may be.

Harley’s relationship status and attitude means that the events of 2020’s Birds of Prey movie also definitely happened, and they’re even referenced (albeit in passing). Hell, you could even say that Harley’s grand escape and the “Harley-vision” that accompanies it comes right out of some of the weirder moments of Birds of Prey. But that’s basically it. We’d like more of Robbie as Harley on our screens, though.

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What does Harley Quinn mean for the DCEU? Harley’s intro in 2016’s Suicide Squad helped establish that of all the characters kicking around the DCEU, Batman was the most experienced, as she, Joker, and Bats shared a history dating back several years. At this point, Harley is practically the linchpin of old DCEU continuity, and one of the last remaining cinematic ties to Ben Affleck’s portrayal of the Dark Knight.

BLOODSPORT

The version of Bloodsport we meet in this film bears very little resemblance to his comic book incarnation. The comics version of Bloodsport first appeared in 1987’s Superman #4 by John Byrne, and while elements of the comics character made it to the film, the guy Idris Elba is playing is quite different from his comics counterpart. Let’s start with the similarities…

The name, both the codename and his real name of Robert Du Bois? Check. The thing about him shooting Superman with a Kryptonite bullet? Also check. The rest? Ummm…it’s a loose interpretation.

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Here, Bloodsport has a seemingly never ending arsenal of high tech weapons, which fold and collapse out of each other, meaning he’s seemingly always got the exact tool for the job. But in the comics, Bloodsport was equipped with a tiny teleporter (thanks Lex Luthor!) which allowed him to seemingly “materialize” whatever weapon he needed at any given moment. The comics version of Bloodsport was much less of a “purely competent badass” and much more of a tragic, traumatized, and deluded figure…and a mass shooter, to boot.

This isn’t quite a comics thing, but when Bloodsport throws his earpiece in disgust near the end of the film after having enough of taking orders from Waller and company, it’s vaguely reminiscent of the final shot in the first (and by far the best) Dirty Harry movie, when Clint Eastwood’s Harry Callahan, disillusioned with the constraints of the system, flings his badge and walks away.

What does Bloodsport mean for the DCEU? It’s a little frustrating to know that Henry Cavill’s DCEU Superman is still out there having adventures that we’ll probably never get to see. Cavill deserves another chance in the cape, damn it! Alas, Warner Bros. seems to have different (and very cool) plans for Superman on the big screen these days.

PEACEMAKER

Peacemaker is a weird character, folks. The character first appeared back in 1966, and wasn’t a DC character…he was published by the now defunct Charlton Comics, whose characters like the Question, Blue Beetle, and Captain Atom were later acquired by DC and folded into their own continuity. And you know what else those characters have in common? They became the inspirations for the main characters in Watchmen, with Watchmen’s Comedian functioning as a kind of adaptation of Peacemaker.

Comics Peacemaker is pretty different (except in looks) to the guy we meet in this film, though. Initially a pacifist using non-lethal weapons, he was reinvented by DC in the ‘80s as a bloodthirsty character with some serious mental issues. Namely, he believed that the souls of the people he killed were then trapped in his distinctive helmet and talking to him. Uhhhh…

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He’s popped up a handful of times in DC continuity over the last 35 years, but there’s no version of the character you could safely consider definitive. He’s appearing in the current (and very good) run of DC’s Suicide Squad comics, as well. Like Bloodsport, the origin explained for him onscreen here has nothing to do with his comics counterpart.

What does Peacemaker mean for the DCEU? Well, he’s still alive (as we see in that post-credits scene) for starters. He’s also getting his own HBO Max series, which James Gunn is showrunning, writing, and directing quite a bit of. And since he’s still loyal to Amanda Waller, it would seem that any future Suicide Squad sequels will rest firmly on John Cena’s broad shoulders.

RICK FLAG

Ah, Rick Flag, we hardly knew ye. Joel Kinnnaman gives Flag a much more likeable makeover in this film, and the character is even rocking a yellow t-shirt in honor of the John Ostrander-written Suicide Squad comics of the 1980s that influenced so much of this film.

In the comics, Rick was a career military man, like his father before him (we assume this is also Rick Flag, Jr. just like in the comics). Screen Rick’s sense of duty and honor would seem to indicate that’s the case here, too.

What does Rick Flag mean for the DCEU? Well…unfortunately, he’s dead, so not much. Unless it turns out that Task Force X has been cloning Rick Flags for use on Suicide Squad missions for years or something, we don’t expect to see him again. In any case, that sure was an epic way for him to go out!

KING SHARK

Whoever thought that a ‘90s Superboy villain would become one of the most beloved characters of the blockbuster season? The Suicide Squad isn’t King Shark’s first foray into live action (that would be The Flash TV series) but this is easily his biggest stage yet.

Since his first appearance in 1994, King Shark has been a Superboy baddie, an Aquaman villain, has fought for the bad guys in assorted Crises, a kinda ally to a different version of Aquaman, and our personal favorite, a member of the Squad-adjacent team of antiheroes and mercenaries known as the Secret Six, where writer Gail Simone delivered some of the character’s most memorable and delightful moments.

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Oh, and when we first meet him he’s trying to read William James’ The Varieties of Religious Experience. But it’s upside down.

What does King Shark mean for the DCEU? Well…we would very much like to see him show up in Aquaman 2, known as Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. It would be a tremendous missed opportunity if not, even if it’s just for a cameo. Don’t those weird/adorable/scary Clyrax just look like they were designed for James Wan’s Aquaman world?

And c’mon, James Gunn’s next DC movie should absolutely be Secret Six, where King Shark is really most at home!

AMANDA WALLER

Viola Davis is a national treasure, and her Amanda Waller performance makes the character perhaps the most malevolent of all these kind of not-quite-good guys. Sure, we’ve had other live action Amanda Waller performances, but nobody captures the no-nonsense, morally gray Waller like Davis has here.

What does Amanda Waller mean for the DCEU? At the end of the first Suicide Squad movie, we had that little tease of Amanda dealing with Bruce Wayne and General Wade Eiling. While the DCEU as a whole isn’t terribly connected these days, it would be great if we could see more of Davis’ Waller lurking in the shadows, pulling the strings, and maybe even putting events in motion that ultimately lead to the formation of that aforementioned Secret Six team…

That being said, we’re not holding our breath for it, either. Then again, it’s quite easy to imagine a world where Waller is taking a pronounced interest in someone like Black Adam coming out of hiding.

STARRO

The villain of The Suicide Squad actually began life as…a Justice League villain! And not just any Justice League villain, the FIRST Justice League villain! Yes, Starro has been kicking around DC Comics since 1960 and the very first appearance of the JLA.

While kaiju-sized from the start, Starro’s very creepy ability to spawn spores that are essentially facehuggers didn’t come around until a post-Alien world. This suddenly made Starro a much cooler, and more in-demand threat, and despite there being 17 years between their first and second appearance, since then, Starro has become a regular pain-in-the-face for the entire DC Universe.

Thinker naming the creature “Starro the Conqueror” as a derisive nickname is a reference to how the character is referred to in the comics…and it was literally the text on the cover of its first appearance.

We get lots of imagery of group shots of “Starro zombies,” folks wearing the ol’ Starro facehugger. That’s a recurring image in the comics, and one that comes to mind is the cover of Justice League Europe #26.

Oh, and that’s Taika Waititi voicing Starro, in his second role in the film! (more on the other one in a moment)

What does Starro mean for the DCEU? Well, aside from the fact that we’ve been robbed of a Justice League vs. Starro movie now, there’s no reason to believe that we couldn’t potentially have Starro back. A spore could have escaped. Starro themself could be a giant spore of its own hivemind.

And while it’s unlikely that we’ll get Starro as a primary antagonist ever again in a DCEU film, it would be pretty cool to see the creature or the species referenced in something like the upcoming HBO Max Green Lantern Corps TV series.

CAPTAIN BOOMERANG

One of the few returning characters from the first film, Jai Courtney’s Captain Boomerang…dies pretty early in the movie. He’s even more gleefully over the top here than he was in 2016, which is pretty appropriate. Boomer was a founding member of the comic book version of the Squad (reluctantly of course) where he was always portrayed as the most dislikeable and abrasive of all the characters.

What does Captain Boomerang mean for the DCEU? His death here is a genuine surprise, though. Captain Boomerang has always been a pretty high profile Flash villain. And yes, we had that little cameo of him and Ezra Miller’s Flash in the theatrical version of Justice League, Courtney seemed destined to appear one day in at least a small role in some version of The Flash movie for WB. Alas, that now appears to be off the table. Ah, well…

THE THINKER

There have been so many different versions of Thinker in DC Comics history and…Peter Capaldi is playing none of them. Not a one.

This is a brand-new (sorta) version of the character named Gaius Greeves. He looks like an unnamed version of Thinker who appeared in DC’s post-New 52 continuity in 2014, though, and that character definitely had a Squad connection.

What does Thinker mean for the DCEU? Historically, Thinker in various incarnations has been a Flash villain. Hell, a version of the character was the primary baddie on an entire season of The Flash! But like our pal Captain Boomerang, any hope of seeing Thinker match wits with the DCEU Flash are now over.

Although wouldn’t it be kinda cool if the DCEU gets around to introducing Jay Garrick and we learn that ol’ Gaius once had a beef with him? OK, fine, we’re not counting on it, either.

POLKA-DOT MAN

Poor Abner Krill couldn’t be more different than his comic book version…despite his remarkably accurate costume. Polka-Dot Man is a Batman villain dating all the way back to 1962, except there, he wasn’t the unfortunate recipient of an alien virus with grotesque polka-dot mutations and vomiting and…oh you get the picture.

Comics Abner Krill just had a costume full of trick, high-tech polka-dots. He um…he was not a major villain.

What does Polka-Dot Man mean for the DCEU? Other than the STAR Labs connection, and we believe this is the first mention of STAR Labs since the “Snyderverse” collapsed, not a hell of a lot. Abner is dead, and he ain’t coming back. Although it’d be pretty awesome if it turns out that it was Batman who put Abner away, since we know that in DCEU continuity Bats has been punching bad guys longer than anyone else.

RATCATCHER

Daniela Melchior’s Ratcatcher 2 is a brand new character created for this movie. We think she rules. However, if you’re looking for a comic book connection, we need to go back to her “dad” played in that cool Taika Waititi cameo.

Ratcatcher first appeared in a 1988 issue of Detective Comics, where he was a disgruntled former murderer who was kidnapping everyone responsible for putting him in prison, and holding them prisoner in the sewers. Oh, and he controlled rats. He was far less sweet and charming than either of our DCEU Ratcatchers. Oh, and that story has a panel where Batman vomits sewage because he nearly drowns in it. Good times.

But even that pretty malevolent comics Ratcatcher probably isn’t quite the Ratcatcher of the DCEU. After all, Ratcatcher 2 is named Cleo Cazo, and comics Ratcatcher was Otis Flanagan, and Otis didn’t seem nearly as sympathetic as Taika’s performance here.

What does Ratcatcher mean for the DCEU? Other than the possibility that this was someone else Batman put in Belle Reve? Not a lot. Although since Ratcatcher 2 lives on, we’d love to see her in another Suicide Squad movie, or make her a cornerstone of a live action Secret Six or something.

SAVANT

In the comics, as in this film, there isn’t a heckuva lot to say about Savant. What’s interesting is that he was a key player in one of Gail Simone’s earliest Birds of Prey storylines. Michael Rooker looks remarkably like his DC Comics counterpart in that wig, though.

What does Savant mean for the DCEU? Going forward? He’s dead, so not much. But in the past? Is it possible he ran afoul of Birds of Prey’s Huntress or Black Canary and that’s how he ended up in the Squad? We’d like to think so.

Also, one interesting bit about ol’ Savant. He started off as a guy who thought he could be a costumed vigilante. Of course, he was in it for all the wrong reasons and got a stern talking to from Batman and that set him on his life of crime. We’d like to imagine Ben Affleck’s Batman telling Michael Rooker’s Savant “you’re not morally equipped for this job,” just like he did in the comics!

TDK

“The Detachable Kid” is actually a riff on an obscure Legion of Super-Heroes and Legion of Substitute Heroes character named…Arm-Fall-Off Boy. I couldn’t make that one up if I tried, folks. His powers are identical, although his comics look is pretty different.

What does TDK mean for the DCEU? OK, so bear with me for a moment…what if TDK is actually from the 31st Century and ended up back here somehow before he found himself stuck with the Squad? Until they say otherwise, this is my headcanon. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go write up a headline called “How The Suicide Squad Confirms the Legion of Super-Heroes in the DCEU” which will get me hate mail for the rest of the summer.

BLACKGUARD

Blackguard is a pretty minor DC villain, mostly notable for being the baddie in the very first Booster Gold comic! He’s a much beefier, more heavily armored character than the guy we get on screen here, but honestly…not much more interesting. And yes, his name really is Dick Hertz.

What does Blackguard mean for the DCEU? Look, if Blackguard exists, Booster Gold exists. I’ve been waiting for a Booster Gold movie forever now, and it’s long overdue. It’s time. Come to think of it, this would also be perfect for James Gunn to direct.

WEASEL

Weasel was a Firestorm villain from the 1980s who…was actually a dude in a weasel suit. A disgruntled college loser who took revenge on people later in years for uh, calling him a weasel back in their younger days. The character was later revamped as a more kind of, well, traditionally animalistic/weaselly figure, but the version we meet in this film has more in common with Bloom County’s Bill the Cat than any of his DC Comics incarnations.

What does Weasel mean for the rest of the DCEU? He’s still alive! Count your children! Bring on Firestorm! OK, but in all seriousness, Firestorm would look pretty cool on a big screen budget.

JAVELIN

Javelin was a Green Lantern villain, believe it or not. See, back in the day, Green Lantern was powerless against the color yellow, hence this guy’s color scheme. Flula Borg has a remarkably accurate translation of Javelin’s comics costume in this film, and the character is pretty much exactly as he was portrayed in his early comics appearances, cool accent and all.

Amazingly, this is the second Watchmen connection of this piece (wait, what?). You see, Javelin was created by Len Wein (editor of Watchmen) and Dave Gibbons (co-creator and artist of Watchmen). So, not quite as direct a connection as Peacemaker, but a connection nonetheless.

What does Javelin mean for the DCEU? As far as I’m concerned, this is proof that Earth has a Green Lantern, despite the fact that we haven’t seen a modern day, human Green Lantern Corps member in official DCEU continuity yet. But someone had to put him in Belle Reve, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s Hal Jordan.

MONGAL

Mongal is a member of a warlike, and immensely powerful alien race. She’s also the daughter of Mongul, the ruler of Warworld and the villain of one of the greatest Superman stories ever told, “For the Man Who Has Everything” by the Watchmen creative team of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Mongal um…didn’t live long in the comics, either.

What does Mongal mean for the DCEU? If Mongal exists, then this is proof that Mongul and Warworld exists. And once again, I am annoyed that Henry Cavill isn’t getting another shot as Superman. An adaptation of “For the Man Who Has Everything” would actually be a brilliant move for the DCEU, albeit a weird one.

If Warner Bros. wanted to do something more traditional with the character, the Superman “Exile” story would also make for great big screen fodder, taking Superman offworld and into Mongul’s gladiatorial contests. Anyway…there’s two more DCEU Superman movies that should have happened for ya!

CALENDAR MAN

That’s Sean Gunn in a cameo as Calendar Man (yep) shouting “You fucking pussy” in Belle Reve.

What does Calendar Man mean for the DCEU? Hey, maybe we’ll get a live action adaptation of Batman: The Long Halloween one day! On second thought, maybe that’s not such a great idea.

DOUBLE DOWN

And right behind him? That would be Double Down, a playing card themed villain perhaps “best” known as a minor Flash villain.

What does Double Down mean for the DCEU? Pretty much exactly what you’d expect. Feel free to imagine he was locked up by Ezra Miller’s Flash, though.

JOTUNHEIM

The fortress known as Jotunheim here does indeed have a comics connection. It was the site of the comic book Squad’s very first mission in 1987’s Suicide Squad #1. That being said, the nature of the mission itself and even the location couldn’t have been more different than what we got in the movie, but it’s a nice little callback.

It isn’t the only reference to that famed first issue, either! The yellow shirt Rick Flag wears throughout this movie (minus the logo) was also pioneered in that comic, and there’s also…

JOHN ECONOMOS

Steve Agee’s non-King Shark motion capture performance is as John Economos, one of Waller’s flunkys. In the comics, Economos is the warden of Belle Reve, and he also first appeared in Suicide Squad #1 which was written by…

JOHN OSTRANDER

Wait, John Ostrander isn’t a DC character! No, but he IS the person most responsible for the Suicide Squad as we know them. He has a cameo in the film as “Dr. Fitzgibbon.” This isn’t a DC Comics character, but it IS the second time Gunn has snuck a “Dr. Fitzgibbon” into his films…the other was in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie when a Dr. Fitzgibbon was treating Meredith Quill as she was dying.

SENATOR CRAY

A throwaway line in the film refers to “Senator Cray,” and this is no accident either. Senator Joseph Cray was indeed a minor Suicide Squad character, who only appeared in three stories. He was corrupt, so the idea that anyone is playing golf with him in the DCEU doesn’t say great things about them.

CORTO MALTESE

DC fans will recognize the fictional nation of Corto Maltese from its central role in Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, and Lynn Varley’s incredible The Dark Knight Returns. From there, you’ll know it from its mentions in Tim Burton’s Batman movie and various namedrops on assorted Arrowverse TV shows. The Suicide Squad marks the first time we’ve spent significant time there on the big screen.

But the Corto Maltese name goes back further than The Dark Knight Returns. Miller named the fictional country after Hugo Pratt’s beloved comic book series featuring a sailor of the same name.

It doesn’t appear that Silvio Luna, Matteo Suarez, or the Herrera family depicted in the movie have any additional comics connections, though.

What does Corto Maltese mean for the DCEU? Well, if we ever get that live action Dark Knight Returns adaptation with Ben Affleck, this place will be a movie hotspot once again!

GBS

It’s always a nice touch when we see a TV broadcast coming from a GBS network. GBS is the Galaxy Broadcasting System, one of the biggest fictional news conglomerates in the DC Universe. It’s owned by Morgan Edge, who depending on what version of the character you’re looking at has connections to Darkseid and Apokolips (paging fans of Zack Snyder’s Justice League) or Krypton (hello Superman & Lois!).

What does GBS mean for the DCEU? Not much, but it’s popped up in several movies now, and it’s one of the few pieces of worldbuilding connective tissue still holding the DCEU together.

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Spot anything we missed? Let us know in the comments!

The post The Suicide Squad Character Guide, Easter Eggs, and DCEU References appeared first on Den of Geek.

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chicagoindiecritics · 4 years

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New from Every Movie Has a Lesson by Don Shanahan: REWIND REVIEW: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

(Image: hollywoodreporter.com)

For an occasional new segment, Every Movie Has a Lesson will cover upcoming home media releases combining an “overdue” or “rewind” film review, complete with life lessons, and an unboxed look at special features.

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

Big as a billboard in some places and as small as a mobile ad in others, the marketing imagery of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker touts the tagline “The Saga Will End.” There’s something to be said for finality, especially with a 42-year-old franchise as venerated and cherished as this one. The virtues of remembrance, culmination, gratification, and other such lofty notions loom so much larger when an entity is billed to be the last of something important. The movie in disc form hits store shelves everywhere today.

LESSON #1: THE DEFINITION OF “FINALITY” — Diving deeper beyond the basic “something that is final” meaning, the dictionary of this galaxy describes “finality” as “conclusiveness,” “decisiveness,” or “an ultimate act, utterance, or belief.” J.J. Abrams’ massive space opera follows his own The Force Awakens and Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi to aim so very badly for those traits. In many peaks of scope and emotion, his movie achieves such finality. In others, overindulgence and disarray put question marks on the value or vindication of all this promised fulfillment.

Going back to the tagline, the key word out of that poster’s sentence becomes “will.” As grand of a finale as The Rise of Skywalker builds itself to be, the likelihood of its stewarding studio turning off this cash cow is zip, zilch, and zero. This saga had an ending already in 1983 and another in 2005. Those had legitimate finality. Time will tell if this one, and its willy-nilly trajectories, will resonate strong enough or long enough to be of honored and revered significance.

ANTICIPATORY SET AND PRIOR KNOWLEDGE:

.Announcing his presence to the galaxy (and to us immediately in the yellow title scroll), a resurrected Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) has elevated the First Order into the Final Order with his Sith influence and the manufactured might of a colossal new fleet of Star Destroyers. His orders to his acolyte, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), are simply to “kill the girl.” That embattled female target remains Rey (Daisy Ridley), who has spent the undetermined amount of time since the Battle of Crait on the sidelines away from Resistance efforts to continue her Jedi training under the tutelage of General Leia Organa (the late Carrie Fisher).

LESSON #2: CONFRONTING FEARS— As she continues to grow in immeasurable power and skill, Rey endures visions abound of possible future fates that hinge on an eventual rubber match with the former Ben Solo. Matching a quintessential Star Wars motif, Rey has become the next emerging hero obligated to stare down the opposition with a will strengthened by summoned bravery. With “never be afraid of who you are” encouragement, Rey’s fears are hefty emotional obstacles made thoroughly compelling by Daisy Ridley’s lead performance, her best in the series. She may not be given the best scripted material (more on that later), but the actress squeezes every drop of rooting vulnerability out of this crucial plight.

Meanwhile, Rey’s supportive comrades and Resistance operatives, including Poe (Oscar Isaac), Finn (John Boyega), and Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), help her stay a step ahead of Kylo Ren and his masked squad of weaponized knights. Flanked by their handy droids, the tight crew zealously join Rey’s pursuit of items and information deemed vital for the fledgling revolutionaries being able to bring the fight to Palpatine instead of awaiting overwhelming decimation. The invisible ticking clock urgency to blow enemies away and prevent “all for nothing” disappointment sets the plot off on numerous (as in too many) busy-bodied and lightspeed races and chases with weakly-presented MacGuffins in the crosshairs.

LESSON #3: THE VALUE OF PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL SUPPORT— Long has Star Wars been about populating a heightened unity in support of influential individuals. Call it amassing an army or the intimate recruitment of trusted friends. For Rey, her verbalized chant is the powerful wish of “be with me.” It is answered with “we have each other.” Whomever stands behind the lead antagonist or comes to the aid of the lead protagonist does so with fervent dedication and multiplying motivation. True to this now ancient battle of dark versus light, not all assistance entering the fray comes in corporeal form.

MY TAKE:

J.J. Abrams has always been more than capable at delivering sheer adventure for the silver screen. His urge for kinetic energy is answered by the polished production teams. Borrowed from good buddy Steven Spielberg, two-time Oscar-winning production designer Rick Carter teamed with VFX concept artist Kevin Jenkins to create otherworldly arenas of flash and flair. J.J.’s trusty cinematographer Dan Mindel (five previous collaborations between them) captured the accelerated action set to every possible hymn, horn, and hurrah from retiring composer legend John Williams. Merging four decades of cues and themes with impeccable placement and push, Williams earned that 52nd career Oscar nomination. Flying through this fantastical world will always remain a rousing treat. The wonderment and magic is there.

That said, no amount of razzle-dazzle filling eyes and ears can cover up the glaring examples of questionable creativity and incomplete development enacted by Abrams and lead screenwriter Chris Terrio. Even in a third film meant to wrap up storylines, The Rise of Skywalker compels itself to introduce even more tangents and swerves. It has characters that answer questions with more questions and moments ringing with vague parables rather than stamping cemented mythology. The arcs for Ridley and Driver fare the best, but the periphery is scattered with superfluous glaze. The isolation elements of The Last Jedi slowed matters down to create tangible suspense. This overpacked trilogy capper favors sprinting set pieces instead. Moving at a rush does not automatically or always create one in return, magic be damned.

To explain more crosses into spoiler territory, but there are downright mistakes here that expose the distance between forming merely a sense of finality, albeit a forcibly telegraphed one, and garnering a true, earned, and fitting consummation. Gauge all of this ambition straight toward the many synonyms of “finality.” Measure this film for “decisiveness,” “totality,” “resolution,” and even “integrity.” You may find its force more thin than thick.

3 STARS

EXTRA CREDIT:

(Image courtesy of Disney)

For the first time in quite a while (re: see every Marvel disc release in ten years), Disney has finally put out a stellar disc release worthy of full purchase ahead of merely a digital download of the feature itself. All it took was a legitimate and immersive behind-the-scenes documentary that actually showed the full filmmaking process. Little seven to fifteen minute featurettes can’t do that, no matter how many of them you pretend to pack on a second disc, not when half of them feel like sales pitches instead of documentation.

The Rancor-sized beast feature in question is the feature-length The Skywalker Legacy documentary. Running a rich 126 minutes, the documentary follows the film’s production process from pillar to post. The access and observational intimacy into the process is phenomenal. Best all, they merge little flashbacks to the making-of footage of the original trilogy, making that “legacy” in the title the perfect term.

Those callbacks are some of the best moments to savor in the documentary because they each pile on a full circle of reflection and completion. For example, to see and hear Anthony Daniels compare walking onto the Tunisian heat with uncertainty in 1976 to stepping off the set in the same costume for the last time over 40 years later as a legend is beyond a treat. It’s a moment of pure satisfaction. Moments and threads like that are echoed and repeated for Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and the memory of Carrie Fisher, especially how this production had to remember here while finding a way to go on without her.

Probably the best legacy moment captured in The Skywalker Legacy is when director J.J. Abrams brought composer John Williams on the set to film a first-time cameo. After Williams finishes shooting his bit, J.J. has the octogenarian look around the “junk” around his character’s workshop table. Each tarnished prop in view was purposely constructed to represent all 51 of Williams’ Oscar-nominated scores. That’s an incredible display of easter eggs that will drop your jaw and just a taste of the complete devotion and keen respect J.J. Abrams operates with the entire shoot.

The figure to watch (and being watched) the most is Abrams. His insistence, no matter the time, resources, and expense, to shoot with as many physical layers of creation and authenticity as possible is extremely commendable. From black bean quicksand and an alien festival to the wild energy of scene-stealing stunt coordindator Eunice Huthart, the massive volume of sets, costumes, vehicle rigs, and puppetry is off the charts. The armies of people who train and put their heart, soul, and sweat into work that may only be seen mere seconds or minutes on-screen is dizzying. All the while, his skillful focus and constant smile make the pressures and expectations and returns look invisible.

Outside of the feature-length centerpiece, there are few more samples of blockbuster dessert. They come in the form of five smaller featurettes. Even these still beat the Disney/Marvel entries of talking schills and put their focus on the stories behind the movie.

One of the best of them is “Aliens on the Desert.” It’s a quick six minutes, but it outlines all of the set-up work in Jordan, where the visiting humans are the foreigners to the rugged vistas, that happens even before the circus-level main unit arrives. The scale of teamwork and practicality from the gear-loaded teams is something not normally shown for behind-the-scenes material that more often loves their headliners. The 14-minute “Pasaana Pursuit” feature is similar in its background focus.

If artistry gets you awestruck, you will enjoy the “Cast of Creatures” featurette. Like their shining moments in The Skywalker Legacy, the merger of makeup, engineering design, and puppetry have long made the fictional living things in Star Wars more tangible than any CGI power. This short is a tribute to the folks underneath the heavy gyros, foam, and rubber shells. The new droid D-O also gets a quick five-minute-and-change video on its character genesis of the more mechanical nature.

The final featurette is “Warwick & Son” and it’s the smile-inducing parting glance to the special features and nine-film saga. This snippet chronicles actor Warwick Davis returning to the Ewok role of Wicket and the chance to bring his aspiring actor son Harrison in to play his Ewok kin. Like the legacy circles earlier, to hear and see Warwick’s journey and sage maturity being celebrated is delightful. This caps a truly fantastic disc of special features.

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ramajmedia · 5 years

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Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood leaves a big mystery behind: did Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) really kill his wi

Did Once Upon A Time In Hollywood's Cliff Booth really kill his wife? Quentin Tarantino's 9th film largely ties things up quite neatly - and violently - at the end of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, with the Manson murders being avoided and Cliff (Brad Pitt) and Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) killing the members of the Manson Family who in real life murdered Sharon Tate (played here by Margot Robbie).

However, one of the biggest questions Once Upon A Time In Hollywood leaves behind is what really happened to Cliff Booth's wife? Throughout the first half of the movie, there are a number of allusions to Cliff killing his wife, which is somewhere between a dark rumor and a badly-kept secret on Hollywood lots, with various whispers going around about him and some people we meet believing he truly did it.

Related: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood Breaks Tarantino Formula (& That's Why It's Great)

Tarantino isn't interested in providing an answer, preferring instead to let the mystery hang over the movie and color Cliff's actions, allowing audiences to make up their own minds. But while Once Upon A Time In Hollywood doesn't 100% confirm things either way, the clearest answer is that, no, Cliff Booth didn't kill his wife.

We don't see Cliff Booth kill his wife in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, and nor do we see her death presented in any other form, which means that we're instead left to draw our own conclusions based upon what else we see and hear in the movie. And in that regard, Tarantino frames the key mentions of the death in a flashback, and the circumstances ostensibly just before it happens as a flashback-within-a-flashback. It's a hazy memory, which is our first indicator that things aren't quite as they seem.

It comes when Cliff jumps up onto Rick's roof, and we go back to the set of The Green Hornet. First, we hear Rick trying to convince Randy (Kurt Russell) to hire Rick, and while Randy is unsure as to whether or not Cliff killed his wife, his own partner, Janet (Zoë Bell), totally is. So it's through Cliff's own flashback to those events we hear of it, and then within that he flashes back to the boat, where we see him arguing with his wife, Billie (Rebecca Gayheart), a harpoon gun sitting in his lap. There's no resolution to this moment: although things between the pair are clearly heated, and Billie is taunting him, Tarantino chooses to cut away before any violence (real or not) can take place.

The context of the memory, and the memory-in-a-memory, is important. This isn't a scene where a regretful Cliff is thinking about how he killed his wife, or at least it doesn't seem that way. It's instead him ruminating on how that ill-fated boating trip, where his wife did die in some way, has come to define his entire career, and that makes more sense if he didn't actually do it. We hear the waves at the end, which suggests this was an accident, albeit a suspicious one, and that makes the death of Billie a greater tragedy, but also makes Cliff's own story tragic as well.

Related: The True Story Behind Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

While Cliff Booth is a fictional person, Tarantino does draw upon some real people for the character and his story in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Like much of Rick Dalton can be found in Burt Reynolds, so too can Cliff be seen in Reynolds' friend and stuntman Hal Needham. And like with Dalton/Reynolds, Tarantino very much wants to celebrate Needham's legendary accomplishments here, which is why Cliff is one of the heroes of the story (and would be very off if Cliff then did kill his wife).

Looking beyond that, however, there is an obvious and direct parallel to the death of Billie Booth in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, and that's the tragic (and still mysterious) case of Natalie Wood. Wood, a Hollywood star through the 1950s and 60s, drowned on November 29, 1981, at the age of 43. The incident came after she had been on a yacht with her husband, Robert Wagner, and their friend Christopher Walken, but there were a number of conflicting statements and unknown factors around what happened. Wood's cause of death was later changed to "drowning and other undetermined factors", and in 2018 Wagner was named as a person of interesting into the investigation into her death. What happened remains heavily debated, but Wagner killing her is a common theory.

There are other cases Tarantino might have drawn from too: the director has mentioned a stuntman who got away with murder, although there's no clear record of who he means, while actor Robert Blake is another comparison. Blake was a former Western actor and army veteran, giving him a link to Booth, and was tried and acquitted for the murder of his wife, Bonnie Lee Bakely, but was later found liable of her wrongful death. All of these instances fit with not only Cliff, but Once Upon A Time To Hollywood's approach to history.

Tarantino's new film is about the mythologizing of the era and in many ways righting wrongs. It's a Hollywood fantasy where Sharon Tate can be saved. Another example is Cliff refusing to have sex with a minor, which feels like a commentary on Roman Polanski's sexual assault. In Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, these things don't happen. So if Tarantino is subscribing to the notion that Wood was killed by Wagner, then it wouldn't fit to have Cliff kill his own wife and get away with it. If Cliff killed his wife, it's more likely that Tarantino would show it, but instead this ties not only into his mythologizing of Hollywood's past, but touches on the idea of assumed guilt, and the way rumor can spread around the system. It's a delicate line to try and walk on, but given where Cliff's story goes, it only really works if he is innocent.

Related: Everybody Who Plays A Real Person In Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Leonardo DiCaprio is the defacto lead actor in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, but Brad Pitt's Cliff Booth is its biggest hero. Sure, he's not the traditional sort: he doesn't seem to care at all what people think of him, and he's not exactly a saint. There's a certain coldness behind his laidback charm which suggests that, yes, he has killed people and could do so again, but that comes from being a war veteran, not a wife-killer. Ultimately, while he's far from perfect, we're supposed to buy into the idea of Cliff as a good guy.

If Cliff did kill his wife, then that falls apart, and is even worse at the end of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. When he's so brutally murdering the members of Manson Family, which includes repeatedly smashing the head of Patricia Krenwinkel (Madisen Beaty) into just about anything he can find. If they're the actions of someone who murdered his wife, then it becomes less heroic and just more violence against women from a man with a history of it, and puts Tate's own survival on the actions of someone who did something truly terrible.

On the flip side, if Cliff didn't kill his wife, then his arc works much better. Cliff already seems like a tragic figure based on what we see of his life apart from this incident, but this is what really seals it: that he's a man haunted by those ghosts, and has been punished by Hollywood for a crime he didn't commit - and yet, in the end, finds a sense of redemption by becoming the hero, after so long just being the stunt double. It's also stronger for his and Rick's friendship, which is worse if Rick believes in him but he really is a killer. That's much more in fitting with the kind of fantasy story Tarantino is telling in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Cliff's actions throughout the film - and in particular his uses of violence - are typically justified within its internal logic. His wife dying was a tragic accident, which then loops into Once Upon A Time In Hollywood being the tragedy - and redemption - of Cliff Booth.

More: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood: Every Easter Egg, Tarantino Reference & Cameo

source https://screenrant.com/once-upon-time-hollywood-cliff-booth-kill-wife/

#screenrant

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adambethyname-blog · 7 years

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Revisiting the “Game of Thrones” Pilot, Six Seasons Later

After watching the season seven finale of “Game of Thrones” last night live and seeing how the web of seven seasons of violence, drama, sex, murder, and betrayal all wove together into an intricate web of a single coherent story, it occurred to me that I needed to go back and re-watch the entire series with that fresh knowledge in my head.

How many hints and subtleties did I miss in the over 70 hours of programming? “Game of Thrones” does not do you any favors either. There are long breaks between seasons and you only get to digest the show an hour at a time so little details get missed or forgotten. Not to mention, there have been several major characters recast during the show which add to the confusion. I can remember on several occasions my wife saying, “Who is THAT guy?” only to find out that he was the OTHER guy from last season who was recast.

It would take weeks to look back at the entire series and see if you can pick up every nervous face, curious glance, or sly smile so I thought I would just look at the pilot for little hints as to what was to come. How much foreshadowing was in pilot which aired April 17, 2011 titled “Winter Is Coming.”

From the opening, white walkers were an immediate threat: It seems to be a right of passage in the Seven Kingdoms, “What did YOU do when you first saw a white walker.” We meet a handful of the Night’s Watch who venture north of the wall who come across a group of mutilated wildlings. As the group retreats to the Wall, they are hunted down by the white walkers posse which includes a child that was part of the wildling group (which always reminded me of Rick encountering the first little girl zombie in the pilot of “Walking Dead”). One member of the Watch deserts and keeps on going where he’s caught by the guards of Winterfell and Ned Stark. Apparently, Winterfell served as the goalie for the Wall. I guess it’s like the immigration checkpoint for anything fleeing southward.

Cut to Winterfell. Arya already hates Sansa:

It seems comical after the last two episodes of season seven considering how the sisters had a “who had it harder” conversation, but while Sansa is praised for her needlepoint skills, Arya looks on in disgust. She then sneaks outside and shows up Bran while he works on his archery skills with Rob Stark and Jon Snow while Ned and Caitlyn Stark look on from the balcony.

Just like season six, no one believes the white walkers are real or a threat: Will is beheaded in front of the Stark boys, even Bran. Ned and Bran have a moment regarding the execution. Bran heard Will’s story about the white walkers. Ned replies, “The white walkers have been gone for thousands of years.”

“So he was lying,” replies Bran, but Ned dismisses Will as a “madman.” You can tell looking at Ned’s face he has trepidation about his response so he purposely keeps it vague like he was called before a Senate subcommittee.

FORESHADOWING! “I’m not a Stark:” As Ned and company are returning to Winterfell they come across the body of a dire wolf which we are told should not be south of the wall (the Seven Kingdoms has some immigration issues). The mother dire wolf is dead but leaves five pups where are divided amongst the Stark children (Rob, Arya, Sansa, Rickon, and Bran). Bran asks, “what about you?” to Jon who replies coldly, “I’m not a Stark.” It seemed like a throwaway line of exposition back then.

Cut to King’s Landing, the death/murder that started the “Game:” We meet Cersei and Jamie Lannister mourning over the death of John Arryn who was Hand of the King. Jamie and Cersei are discussing John “knowing something” about the two of them and that caused his death. More on this later.

Back to Winterfell, word of John Arryn’s death reached Ned and he’s wary of a promotion: Ned is the guy who’s flying under the radar at the office with little or no responsibility and doesn’t want that promotion because he’ll draw attention to himself. We also get a glimpse of Weirwood tree which becomes integral in Bran’s transformation into the Three Eyed Raven.

We find out from Caitlyn that a “fever” took John Arryn which contradicts Cersei and Jamie’s suspicion that it was murder. She also says that the King and his entire entourage are coming North to visit. They have a look like they just got audited. Ned knows he’s going to be asked to become Hand.

Unintended Comedy - Sansa and Joffrey Make Flirty Looks: It’s laughable now considering their twisted history, but when Joffrey rides into Winterfell with the king’s entourage, he gives Sansa a “How YOU doin’?” look…

Which Sansa returns….

Oh girl… if you only knew…..

“If your sister had, lived we would have been bound by blood,” : our first reference to Ned’s sister Lyanna who died after being kidnapped eloping with Rhaegar Targaryen. We found out that Robert was supposed to marry Lyanna but Lyanna skipped town with Rhaegar and eventually birthed Jon Snow. King Robert and Ned go to the crypt to pay homage to Lyanna and this conversation sets the stage for Robert and Ned’s houses to join - his son (Joffrey), and Ned’s daughter (Sansa). Robert says that in his dreams he “kills him every night” to which Ned remarks that the Targaryens are gone, but Robert says, “Not all of them.”

And on cue we meet Daenerys and Viserys: Dany has come a long way since the pilot. She doesn’t even take her clothes off anymore because “feminism” or something. Her creepy brother, Viserys, takes off her dress and marvels at her “woman’s body.” After seeing the finale last night maybe incest isn’t such a big deal for the Targaryens. He talks big and warns his sister not to “wake the dragon” by not being “perfect” today which makes you laugh if you know what’s coming. The little blonde freak needed to heed his own advice. But we get a little tease about Dany when she gets into a scalding hot bathtub without flinching.

Sansa can’t wait to get married: we can’t fault her ignorance, but she literally BEGS Caitlyn to force a marriage to Joffrey.

We meet Uncle Benjen who rides up on Jon Snow: Benjen is the member of the NIght’s Watch who saved Jon from the white walkers in the penultimate episode of season seven. He rides into Winterfell on a weekend pass from the wall and hugs Jon who he obviously loves as a non-bastard nephew. Jon begs him to take him to the wall and make him a member of the NIght’s Watch. Jon says he doesn’t care about having a family or children.

…and then Tyrion… : We already know the “imp” from a scene earlier that didn’t have any Easter Eggs, but Tyrion is lurking in the shadows. He calls Jon “the bastard” as if it’s an insult. The two get a long so well in later seasons. it’s funny to see their first meeting in the stables as they are both considered outcasts at a party. “Never forget what you are… wear it like armor and it can never be used as a hedge,” is the advice Tyrion gives Jon. It’s ironic considering Jon is actually a Targaryen. “Never forget who you are.”

Not much else happens as far as foreshadowing goes. We see Dany marry Khal Drogo and we meet Ser Jonah Mormont who gives Dany a wedding gift of a bunch of books (no wonder he’s in the friend zone). Also, Dany receives three dragon’s eggs which she is told has turned to stone but are still something to look at.

“The things we do for love,” After the king’s hunting expedition leaves, Bran goes parkour and starts climbing the tower walls, despite promising his mother he wouldn’t and he walks in on the biggest shock of episode one. Jamie and Cersei getting it on. So this is what they thought John Arryn found out about. Jamie catches Bran, asks him his age and then says, “The things we do for love,” as he shoves Bran out the window. Ironic considering that Jamie all but threatens Cersei to kill him in the season finale of season seven for daring to suggest Cersei keep her word to the other kingdoms, yet she can’t bring herself to order the Mountain to kill Jamie despite the fact that he’s leaving King’s Landing presumably to join the battle or rat Cersei out to the other leaders. Yes, “the things we do for love” indeed.

It was a strange trip looking at the characters in the first episode ever. Tyrion looks like an extra from “Point Break.”

Cersei’s hair is closer to that of Princess Leia than Clair Underwood and many of the dead are still alive - one even has a penis that was lost! There’s even a sad cameo by Hodor who is standing in the background of one of the scenes makes you miss the big lug. So, winter is coming… I have a lot of TV to watch.

#game of thrones #HBO #Season 6 #Finale #Winter Is Coming #White Walkers

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aussie-hermit · 7 years

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Today I went and saw Universal's The Mummy, the first in a modern reboot of the Universal Monsters Series, with Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella, Russell Crowe and Annabelle Wallis.

When I first heard they were doing a modern take of the mummy I was ecstatic, and then I heard they were casting Tom Cruise as the lead and I was less so.

I was worried they were going to try and remake the 1999 one (you know with Brendan Fraser) and they were going to botch it in an attempt for money grabbing. The very first mummy film - the 1932 black and white film with Boris Karloff - and the 1999 adventure film are the ones I treasure very deeply and you can’t meddle or try to rewrite these. No doubt their attempt to reboot the classics such as The Mummy, Frankenstein and other classics of the horror genre can only end in failure.

However, this film was solid - it has flaws don't get me wrong and there could have been things that could have been better written or done better but as the first rebooted classic monster film it was good.

I'll touch on what I liked and what I thought makes this film worth watching and what I didn't like before suggesting what I think might have made it even better.

And please be warned, SPOILERS BELOW

What I liked:

- They didn't mess with the classic Imhotep story but built from it The story of Imhotep's love for Anck-su-Namun is the driving force of the 1932 and the 1999 Mummy stories, so you can’t mess with this story. I was worried they would try to change it but instead they borrowed the concept of it which I loved. Ahmanet basically sells her soul to the Egyptian god Set for power after her half brother is born, essentially removing her as heir to the throne. She then kills her father, his son and mother. As she is about to bring Set into the world through a human sacrifice she is mummified alive and buried in a secret tomb - and seriously they had plenty of warning signs around that tomb that screamed 'DO NOT LET HER OUT!'. But of course when she is released, she has chosen Nick (Tom Cruise) as her 'Chosen One' who will be sacrificed to bring Set into the world and sets out on the war path to accomplish this. So it follows the same basic plot of the original mummy story but isn't rewriting it.

- They did some research I was ecstatic when I found out Ahmanet was the mummy, she's actually a deity in the Egyptian mythology so the fact they looked into the mythology for inspiration of who this mummy could be made me happy. And also there is a Crusader tomb - based off an actual crusade into Egypt in the 1100's I believe - which plays an important role in the story, especially since they stole and hid something crucial to the story.

And Set was not the god of death but of chaos and violence - this annoyed me but in the grand scheme of things....I will moderately ignore this.

- Sofia Boutella as Ahmanet

Sofia Boutella! She was my main motivation to see this movie, and she did not let down! She was fantastic as Ahmanet. She was a beautiful, terrifying and powerful villain and I loved her!

- The effects The effects of the mummies was top notch, they looked like a real desiccated corpses and their movements were insanely creepy. This really brought an element of horror.

- Russell Crowe as Henry Jekyll Bit iffy about Russell's role in the film but he was perfect as Jekyll! He's sort of rounding up all these 'evil' things to study, contain and destroy them and he keeps medicating himself to stop him from turning into Mr Hyde, whom he also plays as really well. I'd really like a prequel that explores how he came into the position he's in, in this film and how he developed a medicine to keep his alter ego at bay.

- His dead mate comes back to haunt This reminded me of An American Werewolf in London and I wouldn't be surprised if that's where they got inspiration for it. So Nick's friend Chris (Jake Johnson from New Girl) gets bitten by a big ass spider in the tomb, which no one even considers looking at, and becomes a zombie who Nick ultimately kills. Cue post plane crash, and he begins to haunt Nick, sometimes just being a smart ass but more or less to help. He does get revived at the end but I wished they had more scenes of Chris being a little smart ass that only Nick could hear.

- The Easter Eggs Now when I noticed these I was bouncing in my seat, in this place where they're keeping all these 'evil' things you see a skull with vampire teeth and I noticed a preserved hand of the Creature from the Black Lagoon. I need films of this ASAP. Also when Jenny is trying to save Nick from Hyde she hits the guard with a gold book, specifically the Book of Amun-Ra from the 1999 film. This means that the 1999 story exists within this universe and makes me monumentally happy. In the next installment I demand a cameo of Brendan Fraser as an old and tired Rick O'Connell. What I didn't like:

- Flat main characters Tom Cruise's character didn't have enough depth for me and I found him quite boring. He was a marine who looted stuff from sites he shouldn't have been at and sold them on the black market - that's pretty much his entire background I got. I didn't feel any sympathy for his character or that he had anything driving him. I liked Wallis' character Jenny more than Cruise's, she slapped Nick and didn't put up with any of his shit and she caught onto the fact that by removing Ahmanet's sarcophagus from the tomb was a terrible idea first. She was the only smart one! However this was all overshadowed by the fact that Jenny was only used as a plot device - he stole her map after a one night stand which led them to the tomb, she's the reason he won't join Ahmanet and when she's killed he only then willingly becomes a sacrifice to bring her back. If they had moved beyond this I think her character would have been stronger.

What I would improve:

This might annoy some people but I think if they had made either Nick or Jenny of Egyptian descent it would have given the characters and the story more depth.

Hear me out.

If Jenny was a Egyptian archaeologist she is then given a degree of motivation to protect historical and cultural artifacts of her ancestry. Also gives more tension between Jenny and Nick - he steals artifacts of significance to sell on the black market, not really any different than the British taking artifacts from Egypt. Bonus is if she's still not used as a plot device.

If Nick had Egyptian ancestry but was removed from the culture - say his mother is Egyptian but his father is American and/or raised in America where he is surrounded by modern American culture - would be interesting. Like maybe his grandmother told him stories and such and is his only real connection to Egypt but he still becomes a thief and sells artifacts on the black market. Throws it in Jenny's face that white people did it for years so she can stop acting high and mighty, or something similar.

Just by adding Egyptian ancestry maintains a connection to the Egyptian culture, not just through the mummy. Pretty much after the opening where they explain Ahmanet and leave the tomb having found her, I found a lack of connection to the Egyptian culture.

This is where the 1999 film did better, even though the main cast was primarily Caucasian they had significant connections to Egypt and the culture.

It also adds in tension outside the romantic option which in this film I felt was unnecessary, maybe if they had handled it differently I'd be fine with it.

These are just my opinions and thoughts, you can agree, disagree or whatever.

Overall it was a solid film, with some flaws and things that could have been done better but still entertaining and a good start for a reboot of the Universal Monsters.

I give it 6.5/7 out of 10

#the mummy #the mummy 2017 #copperdragon #my review #movie review #review

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brianjaeger · 5 years

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2019 Academy Award Best Picture Nominees Guide For Those Who Haven’t Actually Watched Them

It’s the 91st time Hollywood comes together to pat themselves on the back and this year marks the 5th time I’m bringing you the rundown of every Best Picture nominee so that you aren’t the “goddamn idiot” someone at your Oscars party is referring to when they ask, “Who invited this goddamn idiot?” Only, as in 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 (check out the hyperlinks for previous years’ rundowns - and likely some jokes that don’t age very well) - this is all based on the name of the film, the poster for the movie, or things I’ve heard while flipping past Extra or E! So take it all in and enjoy my tips on things to say to other guests so that your party has an ending that is more like Ally’s and less like Jackson’s!

Black Panther

After Creed loses in embarrassing fashion to Ivan Drago’s son, he tats up, grows that hair out, and heads to outer space. After landing on a planet right between the planet from Avatar and Naboo, pissy Creed picks a fight with a space prince who was bit by a radioactive space panther in the movie that had audiences saying, “I bet Forest Whitaker is in this movie. How is Forest Whitaker not in this movie? I’m honestly shocked that Forest Whitaker is not...oh, yup, there he is.”

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

A little insider Easter egg here - Wakanda backwards spells Adnakaw, which happens to be the name of Thor and Loki’s OTHER brother who is going to save everyone in Avengers: Endgame. He’ll be played by...Forest Whitaker.

In a deleted scene, Black Panther’s brother, The Pink Panther, visits to check out the Wakandan castle’s attic and then installs fiberglass insulation.

Spike Lee really turned the super hero movie genre on its head with this didn’t he? (Pause.) Oh. That was...um...oh, well um... (Slowly walk backward out of the room and do not return.)

BlacKkKlansman

The Chapelle’s Show’s first skit-to-feature length film gives the big screen treatment to the story of Clayton Bigsby. Based on the success of this film, 2019 also saw the big screen adaptation of The Chapelle’s Show’s “What Men Want” skit to a movie starring Taraji P. Henson. In 2020, anticipate a feature length Rick James biopic, a Playa Hater’s Ball film, and “Game, Blouses: The Movie”.

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

This film marks Ricky Jerret’s first acting role after he was cut from the Miami Dolphins by Charles Greane - who he thought was his friend - for his use of PEDs.

This film holds the distinction of having the highest number of different spellings on social media - just barely edging out Bohemian Rhapsody and The Favourite (well, in America).

Reggie Miller purchased a seat in the front row of the Oscars and is planning to wear a The Favourite jersey and baseball cap, then spend the entire show heckling Spike Lee and screaming, “See?! How does it feel the other way around?!”

Bohemian Rhapsody

Bohemian Rhapsody is a French film with a title that can be loosely translated into English as “The Sassy Singing Lad With The Donkey Snout”.

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

A bit of trivia for you. Did you know that Freddie Mercury wasn’t his first choice for a stage name? It was actually Fred Mercury.

A bit of trivia for you. Did you know that Brian May wasn’t his first choice for a stage name? It was actually Brian February.

A bit of trivia for you. Did you know that Queen’s first band name was actually Princess and they didn’t become Queen until they married Prince...and enjoyed a Purple Reign? Yup - I will show myself out now.

The Favourite

Rain droups on rouses! This perioud piece stars Oulivia Coulman, Emma Stoune, Joue Alwyn and Nichoulas Holt! It’s abot a grop of people in the contry of England that’s two hors long and y will find fabulos!

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

This is the movie about a Queen that doesn’t end with an AIDS diagnosis...I think.

Wigs and bodices accounted for 48% of the film’s budget.

The film’s title has nothing to do with the plot or characters and is instead a sly attempt to influence the outcome of the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences members’ voting.

Green Book

In this sexual thriller, we see the raw, animal side of Kermit the Frog as he provides details from his Little Green Book of every single Muppet he’s fucked. With an original working title of Fifty Shades of Green, we’ll see how Miss Piggy was at first a mousy and demure fill-in interviewer whose sexual spirit was awakened by Kermit’s dominant yet mesmerizing magnetism. Kermit also does some butt stuff with Bunsen Honeydew and gets down group style with all of The Electric Mayhem.

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

There’s an odd cameo halfway through the movie where Mahershala Ali enters a gas station on the road and encounters a man in his late 20′s/early 30′s who says in a southern drawl, “I’m Stephen Dorff and I’m your partner,” then another Stephen Dorff, this one in his 40′s limps up and says, “And I’m Stephen Dorff. I’m also your partner,” then finally an old drunk one in his 70′s hobbles up and says, “I’m Stephen Dorff and I too am your partner!”

Mahershala Ali generally tried to avoid Viggo Mortensen, who continually would run up saying, “Dude, Mahersh! We have to get matching tattoos of the number two - for the two of us to commemorate this journey that we’re on together. It’s what you do with your cast mates!” When Mahershala would decline but say it was nice what Viggo and the cast of the Lord of the Rings trilogy did together, Viggo would walk off grumbling, “Hidalgo got a tattoo with me...”

*Before the next comment - be sure to do a thorough research on Google and on social media to determine the prevailing public opinion of if Green Book is a remarkable cinematic achievement faithful to the story of Don Shirley and Tony Vallelonga’s relationship and an examination of the complicated issue of race and its impact on friendship and business OR if it’s just another white savior movie before you speak, so that you can make sure that you’re aligned with whatever is currently the popular thing to say at that moment in time about this movie. Then say...

Ahem. This is the same director who wrote and directed a scene in Movie 43 where Hugh Jackman is on a blind date with Kate Winslet and has prosthetic testicles hanging under his neck which go into her mouth - and that’s, like, it.

Roma

Set in a world with no color, this movie is about a bunch of people (mostly children) hugging on a beach who may or may not be related to each other, may or may not be involved in some kind of national tragedy in either Italy or Mexico, and may or may not be sick, dying, sad or overcome with joy. I honestly have no clue on this one. But it IS on Netflix.

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

They say that Alfonso Cuarón painted a realistic picture of his childhood in Roma which is the exact same tactic he employed in making Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Netflix forced Cuarón to cross promote other Netflix titles throughout the film, so there is an odd scene in which Cleo’s son meets his Big Mouth Hormone Monster to talk about masturbation and then later on the family enters The Upside Down (or Al Revés de Abajo). Also, every single cast member gets a stand-up comedy special.

Yalitza Martínez plays a housekeeper here and after this star-making turn, she’s got it MAID!

A Star Is Born

Jackson Maine wants to create a star. But after consulting a high school astronomy textbook, he learns that the only way that a star is truly born is to squeeze atoms of light elements under enough pressure for their nuclei to undergo fusion. He closes the book and says, “To hell with that science shit,” then gets drunk and just hires Lady Gaga to write a song that sounds like she’s a child screaming at her mom to watch her do a dive at the community pool.

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

As a first-time singer, Bradley Cooper devoted countless hours over several months in order to unlock the instrument of his voice to become a mostly-inoffensive singer. As a first-time director, Bradley Cooper bought one of those chairs with “Director” on it.

Bradley Cooper refused to urinate for the duration of filming until the big Grammy’s scene so it played better on film. He did poop a lot during filming though.

The young actress from Eighth Grade is already planning her Oscar bait remake of A Star Is Born to come out in 2043 where SHE plays the aging star and enters a romance with a young male singer played by Boy from Bird Box.

Vice

As the DC Comics universe continues to expand, we finally get the origin story of Batman arch nemesis and super villain, The Penguin.

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

Unable to shake his Saturday Night Live roots, Adam McKay decided to insert a scene late in the movie where - unannounced - the real Dick Cheney walks in to surprised applause from the audience and Christian Bale acts flustered before stammering out that it is an honor to meet him. Cheney pauses for the awkward “oh my god, can you believe this” murmur to die down in the audience and then stiffly delivers, “You know, Christian, you could have just worn a fat suit for this role.” The audience erases all memory of the terrible atrocities that the man has committed during his lifetime and erupts into wild clapping and bark-laughing like seals while Christian and the rest of the cast just have to hand it to the guy for being such a good sport about it all.

Dick Cheney is just happy that A Star Is Born is in the field this year so that in defiance of Vice he also doesn’t have to root for any movies about gay guys, black people, immigrants, or foreigners.

While watching the film, Laura Bush continually had to remind a startled and frightened George W. that no, he was not trapped up in the big movie screen.

#oscars

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tarstarkasnet · 7 years

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Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders

2016 Screenplay by Michael Jelenic and James Tucker Directed by Rick Morales I was super excited to hear about Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders when it was announced that Adam West and Burt Ward would be reprising their roles from the 1960s series, even more so with Julie Newmar also around as Catwoman. As you have probably guessed from the large amount of campy super hero flicks TarsTarkas.NET has covered over the years, the television series that inspired many of them is a big deal, so any thing that means more of the cool magic that it was is great. It turned out better than I imagined, it’s one of the best animated films DC has put out, and they have put out a few good ones! (and a few….not so good ones!)

The film is jam packed with the flavor of the original series – wild alliteration, pop-up word balloons during action scenes, random labels on object, Robin declaring “Holy ______” every few seconds, all sorts of random bat gadgets, Batman and Robin figuring out the most obscure Riddler clues in the universe, and the ever-present incompetent police force. There are cameos from almost the entire era, really the only thing missing was Batgirl. Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson’s quiet evening at home is interrupted with the big four villains – Joker, Catwoman, Riddler, and Penguin – hijack a television show just so they can leave a Riddler clue behind. From that, Batman and robin deduce that the criminals are out to steal a duplicating ray, while Catwoman schemes to turn Batman just slightly evil so they can be united in love. But her plan fails and after one thing leads to another suddenly everyone is fighting in outer space to stop the villain’s schemes of duplicating more Earths so each one can control a Gotham City. It wouldn’t be Batman if things were that simple, and they aren’t. For Batman soon does jump to the side of the rogues, and takes over Gotham City by himself. Well, lots of himselves, thanks to the duplicating ray! It’s up to Robin and Catwoman to try to turn Batman back to the side of good before he makes a play for the entire planet!

Not only were there more Easter Eggs than a Cadbury’s factory, but Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders even had its own original story that both honored and had lots of fun with the entire history of Batman. We have our beloved campy 1960s Batman, but once under the influence, he starts acting like the darker knights of later films, disappearing while characters aren’t looking (something they verbally remark about!) and quoting Michael Keaton’s turn. Even the word balloons change, from campy sound effects like “KRAMM!” or “KER-PLOW!” to more violent words like “GORE!” and “BLUDGEON!”

Despite the “serious” turn, the film never takes itself too seriously while still being 100% consistent with the feel of the original. It’s an amazing achievement, and shows that revivals like this could work with other franchises. At one point Robin and Catwoman free a plethora of prisoners to help fight the Batman army, which allows an array of guest star cameos from all sorts of obscure villains. The other two Catwomen also show up briefly as Batman begins seeing triple (Four Krusties!), and they slam a bit of The Dark Knight Returns in a throwaway gag.

There is even a ton of great lines, just a small sample of which are below:

“An intergalactic spaceship is just another tool in a crime fighter’s arsenal.” — Batman

“The only thing a cat hates more than water is the vacuum of space.” — Catwoman

“You do want to ensure the safety of the prisoners and all that garbage, don’t you?” — Catwoman

“Holy Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!” — Robin dropping a sweat film reference!

Just pretend I quoted the entire script. Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders doesn’t hide what it is, and you will go into it knowing if you already enjoy the style or not. The only thing that could be better is if there was more, and there will be! A sequel is already in the works, and it will have William Shatner as Two-Face! Here’s hoping Batgirl finally pops up there as well! Batman 66 has gotten a lot of love the past few years, from the long-delayed DVD release to a quality comic series and now the great animated film, here’s hoping the love train continues as long as possible!

Rated 10/10 (joking logo, dinosaur, potion, special gas, so many antidotes, camera position, clowning around, signs explain everything, dancing, signs explain more than everything)

Please give feedback below!

Email us and tell us how much we suck!

And all the fight graphics in gallery form! #gallery-0-3 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-3 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-3 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-3 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders (Review) Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders 2016 Screenplay by Michael Jelenic and James Tucker Directed by Rick Morales…

#Adam West #animated #Batman #Batmania #Burt Ward #James Tucker #Jeff Bergman #Jim Ward #Julie Newmar #Lynne Marie Stewart #Michael Jelenic #Rick Morales #Sirena Irwin #Steven Weber #Thomas Lennon #Wally Wingert #William Salyers

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funnythingshere0-blog · 6 years

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Matt's Inside Line: Scoop on Supergirl, Arrow, Grey's, Manifest, #OneChicago, Star, Legends, Supernatural and More

New Post has been published on http://funnythingshere.xyz/matts-inside-line-scoop-on-supergirl-arrow-greys-manifest-onechicago-star-legends-supernatural-and-more/

Matt's Inside Line: Scoop on Supergirl, Arrow, Grey's, Manifest, #OneChicago, Star, Legends, Supernatural and More

Is Supergirl stirring a super rivalry? What surprising alliance will form on Manifest? Which #OneChicago character’s “punk” roots will be exposed? Are Arrow‘s Felicity and Diggle on the same page? Read on for answers to those questions plus teases from other shows!

In Season 3B, there was a bit of a rocky storyline between Supergirl and Lena. In Season 4, will they be able to repair that and continue to work together? —Victoria “Their arc and their story as friends is a slow burn…,” Melissa Benoist told us at The CW’s Fall Launch event. “I can’t say where I think/I know it’s headed, but… it’s a Lex Luthor and a Superman story.” Benoist promised that we’ll still see lighter moments ‘tween her and Katie McGrath (“Kara and Lena are the best of friends”), though “a secret identity in the midst is not exactly a good ingredient for a friendship with a Luthor!” she notes with a laugh.

On Arrow, what can you share about Diggle and Felicity’s interactions while Oliver is in prison? –Jennifer “In the second episode, we’ll see how they’re working together, because obviously they both want to see Diaz behind bars,” showrunner Beth Schwartz answered when we hand-delivered your Q. “But there’s definite tension, for sure — with everyone,” Dinah, Curtis and Rene included. “Some people want to go back to how it was, and some people have moved on. So that will be the challenge at the beginning of the season.”

Any news on the upcoming premiere of Legends of Tomorrow? Specifically regarding Avalance? –Stefanie The forecast calls for an avalanche of Avalance goodness.

Who/what will be the villain this season on Legends of Tomorrow? –Kevin As the wackadoodle new trailer suggests, pissy fairy godmothers and murderous unicorns are among the magical mischief-makers Sara & Co. will face on a weekly basis. But when it comes to the Big Bad, “It’s complicated. Because it changes,” co-showrunner Keto Shimizu told us at The CW’s Fall Launch event. “I don’t know if I can say it specifically without giving it away. But I will say it’s sort of ‘humanity’s own failings.’” (Being The CW, you can trust that Humanity’s Failings will be played by someone young and attractive.)

I want to know everything about Manifest! —Kristi Would you settle for something? Because show boss Jeff Rake told me that on or around Episode 8, “We’re going to discover an important alliance, unlikely as it is, between [NSA Agent] Vance and Ben, as they both come to discover that things are going on that neither of them know about.”

What’s next for Chicago Fire‘s Stella? —Rachel This Wednesday’s episode delves into Stella Kidd’s past. “There’s going to be someone from her high school days who’s going to show up at the firehouse and tell us a few more things about Stella,” showrunner Derek Haas previews. What did Miranda Rae Mayo learn about her character in the process? “I found that back in the day, she was a bit of a punk,” the actress shares. “She was a bit of a troublemaker, had purple hair at prom, so that’s fun. Looking at who she is, who she’s become and the Stella that we know today, all of that makes perfect sense.”

Will we see any former Grey’s Anatomy series regulars returning in guest appearances in Season 15? —Eduardo Funny you should ask. An upcoming episode will pay tribute to a number of deceased characters, although, sadly, it will do so without the assistance of their portrayers. The Nov. 1 installment finds the docs of Grey Sloan “remembering loved ones they lost” when a patient whose family is celebrating Day of the Dead is admitted, per the outing’s official logline. A Grey’s source, however, tells us the episode will not include any new footage of “dearly departed” T.R. Knight (who played George), Chyler Leigh (Lexie) or Eric Dane (Mark).

So excited about Legacies, are there any shout-outs or Easter eggs in the pilot episode? —PaperCarta TVLine’s Andy Swift reports that while the pilot establishes Legacies as an entity all its own, the first episode is absolutely peppered with nods to both The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, some more subtle than others. In addition to a pivotal cameo from TVD‘s Matt Donovan (played by Zach Roerig), longtime fans will pick up on familiar names, stories and even spells.

Any news yet on Salvation? —Sharon I’m hearing that a decision on Season 3 might not be made until the end of the month.

I’m “all in” for the Conners spinoff. Any scoop? –Craig CBS’ Living Biblically didn’t make it to a second season, but the comedy will enjoy a mini-revival of sorts when in The Conners‘ second episode, Lindsey Kraft plays a character who crosses paths with both Sara Gilbert’s Darlene and Johnny Galecki’s David. (If I may connect the dots: Gilbert co-starred with Kraft in Living Biblically, while Galecki was one of the short-lived sitcom’s EPs.)

Anything new on Hawaii Five-0? –Ellie ‘Member when we told you that Ian Anthony Dale won’t make his Season 9 debut until Nov. 2? Well, when he does show up, I’m hearing that viewers will “see an Adam like they never have before” — until, that is, Danny intervenes.

Any scoop on This Is Us? —Rebecca We were wondering just how heavily American Gods‘ Yetide Badaki will recur as the late William’s neighbor Chi Chi on this season of the NBC juggernaut, so we asked. “I can say that I have a couple more episodes to shoot,” the actress shared earlier this month.

Now that the bunker on Supernatural is running like a well-oiled machine, Sam is in Dean’s position as the leader and everyone has formed a tight family unit, what is Dean’s role? How does Dean fit in? —Adder “I think Dean is really proud that Sam could step up and not just be the kid brother,” executive producer Eugenie Ross-Leming says. “It’s sort of the fulfillment of some of Dean’s goals, so it’s not a bad thing. And they level off. They resume a relationship that they’re comfortable with.”

Can I get any scoop about Chicago P.D.? —Carlynn Showrunner Rick Eid plans to shed light on Hailey’s background with what is “a really, hopefully, powerful episode that explores that exact issue.”

Anything on the new season of Star? —Liam Showrunner Karin Gist tells the Inside Line that Season 3 of the Fox drama “is all about what it’s like after our characters get a little taste of success. How do they manage this new fame when their personal lives are all taking unexpected twists and turns? There’s more sex, more drama and more music as they fight to stay together while feeling the pull to strike out on their own. Meanwhile, Carlotta’s personal struggles with Jahil’s death take her on an emotional journey that reveals her deepest secret….” (Personally, all I heard was “more sex.”)

Are there any details about the 100th episode of The Flash, and when that cast party might happen? —Jen We tried again to crack the 100th-episode nut, but Candice Patton was the very best soldier, holding her cards close to the vest. After reminding that costar Tom Cavanagh fittingly directed the milestone hour, she said, “For fans, it’s special in the sense that it kind of really revisits what makes our show special.” As for any Easter eggs that eagle-eyed viewers might collect, “There’s a lot of good stuff that I wish I could say to you right now that’s happening… but I can’t, unfortunately,” Patton deferred. “But there are a lot of special things happening in that episode.” And regarding the party, all you need to know is that TVLine will be there with Wells, er bells, on.

Do you have any spoilers for Chicago Med‘s Will and Natalie? –Allyson The recent drama in Will’s personal life, and the secret he must keep as a result, “really drives a wedge between [him and Natalie],” star Torrey DeVitto previews. The storyline also finds the doc “butting heads quite a bit” with his brother Jay, who is “basically going to be like an honorary Med character this season,” actor Nick Gehlfuss says. “He’s coming over quite a bit.”

Real questions from real human beings get real answers! If you need the Inside Line on a favorite show, email [email protected]! (With reporting by Vlada Gelman and Kim Roots)

Source: https://tvline.com/2018/10/17/supergirl-season-4-spoilers-kara-lena-friendship-luthor-rivalry/

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aion-rsa · 6 years

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Ant-Man and the Wasp: Complete Marvel Universe Easter Eggs and Reference Guide

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We're tracking down every Marvel reference in Ant-Man and the Wasp! Here's a complete guide for you.

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Gavin Jasper

Ant-Man and The Wasp

Aug 4, 2018

Marvel

After seeing everything build up into Avengers: Infinity War, the Marvel Cinematic Universe hits another big milestone with its twentieth movie, Ant-Man and the Wasp. Peyton Reed’s sequel to 2015’s Ant-Man (AKA the moment when we just kind of accepted that Marvel could get away with nearly any concept and make it a hit) is in theaters now and acts as both a follow-up to the original and Scott Lang’s misadventures in Captain America: Civil War.

Absent in Infinity War, Ant-Man only got a shout-out as being under house arrest. Now we get to see what that’s all about, taking place a short while before that big blockbuster. Here are some Easter eggs and references from Scott Lang’s Day Off.

Lots of spoilers coming!

THE WASP/JANET VAN DYNE

Clever thing about the movie is that the title has a double-meaning. It’s both about Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne as well as Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne. Janet had a short scene in Ant-Man in full costume in a flashback, but here she’s an actual character. Janet first appeared in Tales to Astonish #44 back in 1963. Much like Hank, Janet was one of the original members of the Avengers and was even the one who came up with the team name at the end of the first issue.

Wasp’s movie death/disappearance is, in retrospect, very similar to Bucky Barnes’ comic book death in the sense that she sacrificed herself and seemingly died to prevent an enemy rocket from killing innocents. Her return has more in common with Brian Michael Bendis’ run on Avengers.

In the story Secret Invasion, Wasp was infected with tainted Pym Particles that turned her into a living bomb. Thor prevented her from causing massive destruction, but she still dispersed into nothingness. Towards the end of Bendis’ run, she was able to communicate with several Avengers and let them know that she was in fact alive and marooned in the Microverse. Hank and the others were then able to rescue her and bring her back to the normal world.

GHOST

Ghost was introduced in Iron Man #219 (1987) by David Michelinie and Bob Layton. While the appearance and powers are on-point, the comic and movie versions are pretty different. For one, the comic villain is a white male and is obsessed with destroying corporations. His real name has never been revealed, but according to his origin, he was a brilliant programmer who was exploited, manipulated, and almost murdered by his bosses. While mostly a villain, he spent a good amount of time as an anti-hero member of the Thunderbolts.

As far as I know, Ava Starr is a brand new character. Her father, on the other hand, is Egghead. Introduced in Tales to Astonish #28 (1962) by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Larry Lieber, Egghead was your run-of-the-mill mad scientist. But hey, he was a regular thorn in the side of Hank Pym, so that’s something.

BILL FOSTER

Hank Pym’s old friend first showed up in the pages of Avengers #32 (1966) and almost a decade later, he became a superhero. In the movie, he mentions working on something called Project Goliath, based on enlarging people, which is fitting since his hero monikers have included Black Goliath and just plain Goliath. He’s basically most well-known for being the big casualty of the Civil War comic series.

Er, as long as you don’t count Captain America in the aftermath.

JAMES WOO

FBI agent James Woo has a long history in Marvel Comics. Originally appearing in Yellow Claw #1 (1956) by Al Feldstein and Joe Maneely, Jimmy Woo was an agent out to oppose the Yellow Claw, one of your usual “yellow peril” racist comic villains of that era. He was later turned into a SHIELD agent and had a role in a task force put together to stop Godzilla back when said monster had its own Marvel series.

Woo is mostly known for leading the Agents of Atlas, a team of obscure and forgotten comic characters from the 1950s. Originally, it was a one-off story from the What If series back in the 70s, but the concept was brought into canon in the mid-00s. Listen, if dorky SHIELD agent Phil Coulson can get a TV spinoff, I think dorky FBI agent James Woo can get an Agents of Atlas spinoff. The world is ready for Gorilla Man and his robot buddy.

Even though this is Woo’s first actual MCU appearance, he did get namedropped on Agents of SHIELD as being a contact on Melinda May’s cell.

SONNY BURCH

Much like Ghost, Burch is another Iron Man villain being repurposed for Ant-Man. In the comics, Burch was only around for a single storyline back in 2003-2004. Introduced in Iron Man #73 by John Jackson Miller, Jorge Lucas, and Phillip Tan, Burch had more in common with the film version of Justin Hammer than his own movie counterpart. Burch was a businessman who exploited a legal loophole that gave him ownership of some older Stark armor tech. Caring more for profits than regulations and quality, he tried to exploit this technology and it became publicly disastrous. He ended up shooting himself rather than face charges.

GEOFFREY BALLARD

Although he didn’t get much screentime, the FBI agent contacted by Burch and given the tip to catch Hank and Hope is a supervillain in the comics. With the villain name Centurion, he debuted in Black Goliath #4 (1976) by Chris Claremont, Rick Buckler, and Don Heck. Even though he first showed up in Bill Foster’s comic, he ended up being more of a Ms. Marvel villain.

MISCELLANEOUS

- Scott’s daughter Cassie early on remarks, “I wish we could shrink for real.” Much like with Bucky Barnes wielding the shield and Jim Rhodes cracking wise at the silver Iron Man armor, this sounds like foreshadowing. Teenage Cassie followed in her father’s footsteps in the comics as Stature, a member of the Young Avengers. With the rumors of Cassie being a teenager in Avengers 4, we’ll see if there’s more to this quote than meets the eye.

- While being kidnapped, Scott is watching Animal House (1978). More specifically, he’s watching a scene where Pintlo (Tom Hulce) and Dave Jennings (Donald Sutherland) have a pot-fueled discussion about how there are galaxies within atoms.

- Kurt talks up Baba Yaga, a bogeywoman of Russian folklore. She has at least made some appearances in Marvel Comics, usually in relation to Captain Britain.

- Luis makes a strained reference to the Budweiser “Wassap” commercials which aired...in 1999. Almost 20 years ago. Oh my God. Why am I just now recognizing these gray hairs?

- When Bill Foster notices a bunch of ants crawling through the lab, he lets out a hammy, “It’s them!” At first glance, this might seem like a basic line, but it’s almost definitely a subtle joke reference to Them!, the 1954 movie about giant ants. The same film is being watched by Scott, Hope, and Cassie at the end of the movie.

- According to his cameo, Stan Lee apparently did a lot of acid back in the 60s. Sounds about right.

- The mid-credits scene takes place during the final moments of Avengers: Infinity War after Thanos snapped his fingers. While Scott survives, Hank, Janet, and Hope aren’t so lucky. Even alive, Scott is stranded and the post-credits stinger adds a question mark to, “Ant-Man and the Wasp will return.”

Any other references you noticed? Sound off in the comments!

Gavin Jasper is going to be a good boy for the rest of this year and then ask Santa for an Agents of Atlas movie. Follow Gavin on Twitter!

from Books https://ift.tt/2KUxjnu

#aion-rsa #Books

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latesthollywoodnews · 6 years

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Drake's "I'm Upset" Video is an EPIC Degrassi Cast REUNION

Jeremy Brown - Latest News - My Hollywood News

Drake’s “I’m Upset” Video is an EPIC Degrassi Cast REUNION, Hollywood Celebrity News 2017.

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Online Hollywood Celebrity News, Walt Hollywood Pictures Celebrities, Drake’s “I’m Upset” Video is an EPIC Degrassi Cast REUNION.

New Hollywood Celebrities 2017 Hollywood Celebrity News & Marvel Studios, LLC (originally known as Marvel Films from 1993 to 1996) is an American motion picture studio based at The Walt Hollywood Studios in Burbank, California and is a subsidiary of Walt Hollywood Studios, itself a wholly owned division of The Walt Hollywood Company, with film producer Kevin Feige serving as president. Previously, the studio was a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment until The Walt Hollywood Company reorganized the companies in August 2015.

Can you watch Hollywood Celebrities anywhere without Internet?

Downloading a Celebrity from the Hollywood Celebrities Anywhere app saves the video file onto your device so you can watch it without an Internet connection. You will need to be connected to the Internet to download your Celebrity. Once you have finished downloading, you can watch your downloaded Celebrities offline and on the go.

How can I watch Celebrities on my phone without using data?

Download videos to your Android device, iPhone, or iPad 1. Make sure your device is connected to Wi-Fi or your mobile network. 2. Open the Google Play Celebrities & TV app . 3. Tap Menu Library. 4. Next to the Celebrity or TV episode you’d like to download, touch the download icon.

Why was Hollywoodland created?

With limited finances, Walt had to find affordable land. It was also important that his park be located near a major highway. In August of 1953, Hollywood and his partners selected a 160-acre orange grove in Anaheim, California to be the site of Hollywoodland. The construction of Hollywoodland began during the summer of 1954.

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Drake recruits his ENTIRE Degrassi cast mates for “I’m Upset” music video and the internet LOSES IT.

This is gonna go down as one of the greatest reunions of ALL TIME.

Drake went back to his Degrassi roots for his “I’m Upset” video, and fans are HERE FOR IT. You’ll recall that Drake starred as Jimmy on the Canadian teen drama series from 2001 to 2009, and until now it seemed like Drake wanted to leave that part of his past in the past. Lucky for us, he must’ve had a change of heart, because he got the WHOLE Degrassi cast back together for “I’m Upset.”

The clip features Drake and his former Degrassi classmates fittingly reuniting at the school’s 11-year-reunion. And the entire video is just one familiar face after another. There’s Shane, Spinner, Ellie, Marco, Paige, Craig, Terri, Hazel, Ashley, Ms. Kwan, Mr. Simpson, Toby, Derek, Danny, Connor, Emma, Manny, Liberty, Mia, and Jane. And that, my friends, is the power of Drake.

Nina Dobrev, who played Mia on the show, looks like she’s having the time of her life riding a tricycle through the halls and mouthing the lyrics.

There’s one joke in the video that alludes to the time Drake’s character, Jimmy, was shot at school. The video shows the shooter, fellow student Rick, being chased down through the halls by some of “Jimmy’s” new friends.

You gotta admit that’s pretty amazing. And if that’s not enough of a crazy easter egg for ya, there’s also an epic Jay and Silent Bob cameo.

The video ends with the Degrassi theme song, as well as shots of the cast today shown next to old footage from the original show. Talk about a nostalgia fest.

Degrassi and Drake fans can NOT get over how amazing the video is, and they’re taking to Twitter to share their excitement. One fan Tweeted QUOTE, “I REALLY NEEDED THIS I DIDN’T KNOW HOW MUCH I NEEDED IT UNTIL DRAKE GAVE IT TO US” while another wrote QUOTE, “Drake’s Degrassi reunion for his “I’m Upset” video is everything Degrassi fans needed and more. The fact that he showed old videos of the cast when they were kids and used the Degrassi theme song at the end of the video. DRAKE IS THE GOAT DON’T @ ME.”

And if all this isn’t enough to make our day, Drake also announced his new album, Scorpion, will drop on June 29th.

Alright guys now I wanna hear what you think of the “I’m Upset” video — does it have you wanting to go back and binge all of Degrassi? Or start it if you’ve never seen it? Sound off in the comments below, and then click right over here to hear Ariana Grande and Troye’s sexy new song, “Dance to This.” Thanks so much for watching, and be sure to hit that subscribe button for more News Feed! I’m your girl Joslyn Davis and I’ll see you next time!

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Hollywood Celebrities 2017 & Film News, Drake’s “I’m Upset” Video is an EPIC Degrassi Cast REUNION.

The Walt Hollywood Company operates through four primary business units, which it calls “business segments”: Studio Entertainment, with the primary business unit The Walt Hollywood Studios, which includes the company’s film, music recording label, and theatrical divisions; Parks and Resorts, featuring the company’s theme parks, cruise line, and other travel-related assets; Media Networks, which includes the company’s television properties; and Hollywood Consumer Products and Interactive Media, which produces toys, clothing, and other merchandising based upon Hollywood-owned properties, as well as including Hollywood’s Internet, mobile, social media, virtual worlds, and computer games operations. New Hollywood Celebrities 2018, Drake’s “I’m Upset” Video is an EPIC Degrassi Cast REUNION.

https://www.myhollywoodnews.com/drakes-im-upset-video-is-an-epic-degrassi-cast-reunion/

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