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Why I Ship Johnny/Female V: Part 2

[Part 1] [Part 2]

This is Part 2 of my essay series on why I ship Johnny and female V. Back in part 1, I covered why I ship female V specifically with Johnny and not male V, as well as some thoughts on Johnny’s sexuality. This time, I’m looking at Johnny himself. (Content warning: there is some discussion of rape and how rape is handled in fiction.)

Johnny, ambiguity and age-old romantic tropes

Look, I’m just going to come out and say this: part of my interest in this ship is thirsting over Johnny. And when I’m interested in something, whether it’s an intellectual, creative or sexual interest, I like to do what I always do – analyse it to death. So what is it about the actor, the performance and the character that makes Johnny as attractive as he is?

Keanu Reeves himself, obviously, can’t be ignored here. He has a gorgeous face and voice, but crucially, he’s distinctively beautiful. Obviously, everyone has the right to be into what they’re into, and I don’t want to shame anyone for their tastes. But I do not understand people who are into the blandly beautiful. Sure, there’s nothing wrong about, let’s say, Chris Evans. But what’s right about him? Where are the snags that catch your attention and hold it? Where’s the life?

Reeves, meanwhile, is attractive because he’s unusual. He has long, dark hair, but he’s regularly photographed at public events with it mussed-up. He has a chiselled face, but his cheekbones are high enough that he looks alien. He has all the charisma of any Hollywood actor, but, whether this is him as he is or an especially well-calculated image choice, it comes off as genuine. When watching interviews with him, you feel less in the presence of a star and more an especially fascinating stranger at a party, one who, despite bursting with witticisms and stories, somehow wants to talk to you most of all.  

There’s also an element of age ambiguity here. Reeves is in his fifties, and while age suits his looks better than youth did, it shows. Meanwhile, Johnny the character is in his thirties when he dies, and to match this, the animators smooth out Reeves’ face and darken his beard. They also give Johnny the (unrealistic but glorious) organic arms of a dedicated bodybuilder. So what Johnny ends up with is the presence, confidence and charisma of an older guy, combined with the physicality of someone younger. It’s potent, to say the least. It also adds to Johnny’s uncanniness as a character. He’s caught between maturity and youth, life and death, humanity and machine; he’s hard to pinpoint no matter where you look. And whether you express this academia-style, as, ‘the gothic associates uncanniness with sexuality’, or internet-style,  as, ‘I’m a monster/robotfucker’, this is, as the kids say, pretty damn hot.

This uncanniness, as well as Reeves’ looks and performance, also offset some of the more unlikeable aspects of Johnny’s personality. This is best illustrated by the concept art created for Johnny before Reeves was brought on board. (Found courtesy of the lovely folks at r/LowSodiumCyberpunk.)

As you can see, they had a lot of Johnny’s look already nailed down. But this makes the differences all the more startling. This Johnny looks like he’s been dragged through the wringer. His hair is messier, and he seems to be getting premature wrinkles and balding. He’s strung-out, with a genuinely hopeless cast to his face. His look is also a lot more dated. While our Johnny has elements of the old rocker, the jean jacket, bandana, V-necked black jumper and aviators clipped to the tank top root this Johnny inescapably in 1980s music and fashion.

Why is all this relevant to shipping Johnny with V? Partially because I’m shallow, I’m not going to lie. But it’s also because making Johnny look like this would have made him much more obviously an intrusion. A guy dressed like this next to 2077’s booty shorts and space buns is like a ghost in a ballgown next to a woman in jeans. He’s not just out of time; he’s been irrevocably left behind. Johnny’s face here also has much less in the way of possibility. Where our Johnny says, ‘maybe your life would be better if you listened to me’, this Johnny screams, ‘my way is hopeless, but you can’t ignore it’. It’s leaning much more into the tragic aspects of Johnny’s character and of the genre of cyberpunk. And don’t get me wrong – I love that artwork, and think that angle would be an interesting artistic choice.

But making Johnny a tragic intrusion like this removes the element of seduction, so to speak, from his character. What makes Johnny attractive, ideologically, sexually and romantically, is a balance of certainty and uncertainty. On the surface, he’s passionately, blazingly certain of his politics, his music and himself. If you’re taking a leap of faith, whether that’s fighting against the corpos that rule your life or hopping into bed with an engram, what draws you to it is the kind of confidence that makes you doubt your own certainties. Yet too much of that can be off-putting. Nobody wants a partner who’s so cocksure (pardon the pun) that they don’t listen to what you want, and nobody wants a political ally who’s gone so far into their own rhetoric that they can’t convince those outside it.

Therefore, the common factor across all the ways Reeves’ looks impact our perception of Johnny is the balancing of two seemingly opposing things. Keep that in mind, because it only gets more relevant the deeper into this ship, and Johnny’s attractiveness, we go.

Of course, Reeves’ looks are far from the only thing he brings to the table. His acting, across body language, facial expressions and voice acting, is incredible. I want to take a look at his voice acting, as well as his voice generally, first.

I’m not familiar enough with the subtleties of American accents to pinpoint why, but Reeves’ accent sounds slightly different to the more generic accents of other famous actors. Perhaps it’s because he’s Canadian. Either way, his consonants are less harsh on the ear than other A-list actors, his vowels less elongated. He speaks slowly, sounding as if he just woke up. His voice is mellow and soothing; it’s the sort of sound you could take a bath in.

(For reference purposes, I’m listening to this Cyberpunk trailer as I write this, as well as, um, this video that I’ve watched far too many times. XD)

Obviously, to play Johnny he has to modify that laid-back aspect of his voice. But it’s interesting how his natural voice and his ‘Johnny’ voice bounce off each other. Reeves is able to pull off a much more belligerent Johnny than many actors could, precisely because of that laid-back quality his natural voice has. Think of that ‘impressive cock’ line. It’s made as funny as it is because of the total lack of shame in how Reeves delivers it. But in the mouth of an actor like, let’s say, Robert Downey Jr, that level of shamelessness would just come off as annoying. Reeves uses his natural voice to amp up Johnny’s, for lack of a better word, Chad-ness, far beyond the place another actor could manage. Because he has that base of softness, he can go hard on Johnny’s arrogance.

Why is this relevant to Johnny’s attractiveness as a character, as well as why Johnny/F!V are a fascinating ship? To develop a character well, you have to have an extremely solid base to start on – and that base is where a lot of writing and acting falls down. The audience has to know intimately what a character is usually like, or who they seem to be, before burrowing into the character further is made effective. That equal hard/soft approach means that when Johnny does soften later in the game, it seems both unexpected and inevitable. Even as the harsh tone and words were conveying one thing, that softness underneath was always conveying another. But the fact that Reeves can go hard on the arrogance makes that change much more impactful than it would be in another character. Once again, we’re seeing an equal balance of two seemingly opposing qualities, not openly leaning towards one or the other.

There’s also some aspects of the body language Reeves and the animators give to Johnny I’d like to focus in on. While I’m not an actor, nor am I a psychologist, and therefore am likely to have missed things, there were a few things I noticed when going through footage of Johnny in pivotal scenes. (If you spot something I haven’t talked about, please reply or reblog! I’d love to get a back-and-forth discussion going.)

Over and over again, Johnny’s body language has two layers. There’s what I’m calling the ‘douchebag’ layer, which is where Johnny seems insultingly relaxed. The scene when V and Johnny first meet, as well as the scene at the diner, have two great examples of this. Johnny gets into V’s space, but it’s slow, catlike. There’s no urgency when he leans in, nor when he stands over V.

Similarly, at the diner, he tells V he doesn’t want to kill her anymore – something pivotally important for their relationship and the plot - while putting his arms behind his head and his feet up on the table. It communicates, at least on the surface, a real sense of disrespect. ‘I don’t give a shit’, says his posture, ‘whether you hate and fear me or not’. His threatening slowness when they first meet, meanwhile, communicates that he doesn’t think V is a competent opponent. Why should he hurry if he can get her any time?

At least, that’s what it looks like. Take a look from 9:40 onwards here. Sure, he swings his legs up on the table – but not before hurrying into the diner booth and tapping his fingers rapidly on the table. Even when he gets into that relaxed posture, he’s bouncing his leg the entire time. Those catlike movements I talked about when they first meet? If you look from 5:42 here, they’re there. But they’re also interspersed with banging his head incessantly against the wall, pacing back and forth and glitching unpredictably all around the room.

This is where the second layer of Johnny’s body language comes in. Underneath all that casual condescension, he communicates constant, frenetic energy, even anxiety. Even in his default, idle animations, it’s extremely rarely that Johnny communicates real coolness and calm. He covers constantly racing thoughts and feelings with a slick persona.

What this does is very like the hard/soft balance of the voice acting I talked about earlier. Because the ‘douchebag’ layer of body language is the most obvious one, you pick up on that first. But the other layer is there throughout Johnny’s entire arc, and it goes into your brain on a much more subconscious level. Then, when Johnny’s guard does come down, it seems like a natural development of his character while still being a surprise. Once again, there’s that knife-edge balance between two disparate qualities. And for me, attraction always lies in the space between.

There’s also something highly sexual about the way he gets into V’s space when they first meet, the way he stands over her. When first playing the scene where they first meet, it felt like watching the moments before an act of rape. You see him first as he leans over you while you’re still in bed. He beats you to the ground, smashes your head into the window, and towers over you while you’re collapsed on the floor. Given the context of him taking over your body, the overtones are unmistakeable.

But again, crucially, that frantic body language and his lines are the complete opposite of how someone behaves when making the kind of power play that rape is. The pacing, the panicked words and the fact that he’s caught off guard all communicate disempowerment. While it’s still a violent, frightening scene, it’s not a monstrous one.

Why is that relevant to discussing Johnny’s attractiveness, and Johnny/V? Because rape fantasies and male domination are some of the oldest tropes in the book for M/F romantic arcs. Done properly, they play on desires of sexual submission without explicitly acknowledging the kink, depict the eroticism of that liminal space between humanity and monstrosity I talked about earlier and allow you to fantasise about being deeply wanted. Of course, that last bit isn’t a factual depiction of rape in real life. But in the fantasy, the story, the idea of being ravished is partially about being special, being so uniquely attractive that the guy loses all control of himself. If you have a more conservative or repressed view of your sexuality, the ravishment/rape fantasy also allows you to fantasise about sex without seeing yourself as a slut. (This post is a great look at that last idea as applied to the movie Labyrinth, if you want to find out more.)

The idea of sexualised monstrosity is also everywhere in the tropes used to characterise Johnny. He’s a troubled rockstar, an angst-ridden artist who died tragically young, a violent political rebel, part human and part supernatural creature, a charismatic, cocky, seemingly heartless guy, who just might have a heart if you look deep enough. What all these tropes have in common is the promise of both reassuring humanity and fascinating, exciting monstrosity.

Reeves’ and Johnny’s looks combine strangeness and humanity. Reeves’ voice acting moves between soaring arrogance and languid softness. Johnny’s body language combines fear and overconfidence. And the use of age-old romantic tropes in an unexpected context, as well as the use of these specific romantic tropes, knit all the effects of the other things together to create that balance between the human and the strange. He’s unusual enough to be interesting, human enough to seem real and associated with all our cultural symbolism of an attractive man. With all that going on, how could you not find him hot as hell?

But the thing about these tropes is, they’re also so common they’re clichéd. Not just in fandom, but all across Western media and art. So what lifts Johnny and Johnny/V out of being something generic? What makes them so fascinating that I’ve written thousands of words about them? What, in short, makes them different?

That’s what I’ll go into next time.

[Part 1] [Part 2]

Speed

Today’s entry will mark the first official 4K home video release I am writing about. I already own a few other 4K UHDs, and a couple of months ago, I watched my first 4K video at home with 2001’s The Fast and the Furious. However, I already covered that movie’s BluRay release here several years ago, so I will not be dedicating another entry for it, other than to say that the 4K upgrade pops and makes it look like a new release. Today’s entry is for 1994’s Speed (trailer). Before diving into this movie, I noticed one of the tracks from this film’s score repeatedly used throughout sounds awfully like one of the main themes I primarily associated with the Metal Gear Solid franchise. I have no idea if this was pointed out before, and I just overlooked it all these years, or maybe I am grasping at straws. Click or press here to take a listen and decide for yourself. 1994 was a hell of a year for Hollywood movies primarily transpiring from a highway with The Chase, Speed, and the OJ Simpson Bronco chase….oh wait (although I highly recommend the ESPN 30 for 30 on it, simply titled: June 17th 1994). The majority of Speed has a straightforward premise: serial bomber and local madman Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper) planted a bomb on a bus rigged to explode once the bus drops below 55 miles per hour. Police officer Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) is alerted to this by the bomber himself to exact revenge on Traven after successfully rescuing hostages from an elevator Payne armed at the beginning of the film.

From there, for the middle hour of this nearly two-hour film, the action almost entirely takes place on the bus. Traven makes a grand entrance onto the bus by commandeering a Jaguar and having its owner (Glenn Plummer) take the wheel so Traven could heroically leap onto the bus and save the day. It would not be that easy of a rescue mission as Payne has eyes on the bus, and Traven has to play by his rules and get him his $3 million ransom to disarm the bus. Without question, the middle hour on the bus is the best part of the film. The opening half-hour is an excellent appetizer with the elevator hostage crisis that Traven and his partner, Harry (Jeff Daniels), successfully foil. However, once the action shifts to the bus is when Speed takes off. Shortly after taking control of the bus, one of the passengers freaks and inadvertently shoots the bus driver, and a fellow passenger, Annie (Sandra Bullock), takes over the wheel. Throughout the film, Annie and Traven have wonderful chemistry, and I could not help but root for the duo throughout. Every couple of minutes, there is a new potential conflict to overcome to keep the bus going over 55mph. The film wisely peppers in brief dialog exchanges to let the movie breathe just enough before the next hurdle makes itself present.

The film's standout moment is the major obstacle for the bus to overcome when it encounters a stretch of unavoidable highway under construction and missing a hearty chunk of the road. Traven’s solution is that since that stretch of a road is on an incline, they may clear that gap if they build up enough speed! That epic stunt hits all the right notes, and I got goosebumps all over again re-watching it, and odds are, I bet you did too if you have seen this movie. If you have not, then watch this scene and see for yourself by click or pressing here. A lot of the critical discussion in the aftermath of this movie was if that jump was realistically possible. The best thing I can do is to compare it to another film, Road Trip, which is likely a better indicator of what could happen when attempting such a feat. Once the middle bus portion of the film is over, there are still about 20 minutes left where Traven tracks and chases down Payne in a subway station. The movie felt over once the bus portion had such a satisfying conclusion that it almost feels wrong to keep sticking with the film by this point, but I recommend you do since there is a satisfying payoff in the form of Payne’s demise. I have to share a story now when I first saw this film at around 13 or 14 on VHS. My dad’s VCR had what seemed to me at the time was a revolutionary feature where if I kept pressing the pause button repeatedly, it would slowly, frame-by-frame, play the film in super slow-motion. At that age, I thought this was a fantastic way to get the most out of the biggest stunts in action scenes. My favorite moment exploiting this feature was seeing Traven and Payne wrestle around on the top of a subway train until Payne was not watching his field of vision, and a warning light lead to his sudden beheading. I slow-motion replayed that sequence countless times in my awkward, early teenage years. Suffice it to say, Hopper plays the out-of-his-mind bomber perfectly, going so far as to make sure he receives his appropriate cinematic comeuppance.

The director ensures the many passengers on the bus maximized their minutes to the point I where it feels like you are right there with them!

Two audio commentaries are the only extra features of the 4K disc in this 4K/BluRay combo pack. One is with the director, Jan de Bont, and the other is with producer Mark Gordon and writer Graham Yost. Props are to whoever decided to subtitle the commentary tracks. I very much appreciate it! I first started to bounce back and forth between the two commentary tracks, but Bont was way too relaxed and had too many pauses to hold my attention, and I finished up with his track within five minutes. However, Yost and Gordon are very much engaged from beginning to end and have fun cracking jokes and sharing memories throughout. Some quick takeaways I got from them were how they wanted to film a major scene outside of a sports arena, dealing with critics poking holes at how unrealistic their stunts were, and how watching the movie felt very different at the time of the commentary recording just two months after 9/11. The BluRay disc contains the remainder of the bonus features. Inside Speed is a four-part feature lasting just under an hour breaking down the visual effects, stunts, and location sequences, but half of it also contains an HBO First Look special hosted by Dennis Hopper that hits all the right kinds of cheesy mid-90s EPK nostalgia that it is worth checking out. Aside from 12 minutes of extended scenes and a Billy Idol music video that seems totally off base with the tempo of the film, there are a couple of Action Sequences mini-features breaking down some of the stunts. I highly recommend watching the one dissecting how they did the bus jump, as it shows raw footage of what really happened when they shot it, and showed footage of some of the specific safety measures they instilled to make that stunt as safe as possible and had some eye-opening interviews with the stunt driver before and after.

After watching that old VHS copy nearly a dozen times, Speed wound up being one of my favorite action films I got burnt out early on and never bothered upgrading to a DVD or standalone BluRay. Watching it again in 4K all these years later breathed new life into it for me. I am not an expert at breaking down video quality by any means, but watching the 4K disc on my 4KTV gave the impression of this having far more current production values. The editors somehow managed to remove all the old film grain defects for a smooth 4K upgrade. If you have not seen Speed yet, then it has everything you could want out of a mid-90s action movie with explosions, gripping thrills and stunts, dramatic rescues, plenty of zinger one-liners…..and a Billy Idol theme song. Pardon me while I attempt my best Dennis Hopper impression here, “Pop quiz, hotshot, which 1994 blockbuster that takes place primarily on a bus is a perfect candidate for beer and popcorn movie night at home?” Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs 3 12 Angry Men (1957) 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown 21 Jump Street The Accountant Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Atari: Game Over The Avengers: Age of Ultron The Avengers: Endgame The Avengers: Infinity War Batman: The Dark Knight Rises Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Bounty Hunters Cabin in the Woods Captain America: Civil War Captain America: The First Avenger Captain America: The Winter Soldier Christmas Eve The Clapper Clash of the Titans (1981) Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special The Condemned 2 Countdown Creed I & II Deck the Halls Detroit Rock City Die Hard Dirty Work Dredd The Eliminators The Equalizer Faster Fast and Furious I-VIII Field of Dreams Fight Club The Fighter For Love of the Game Good Will Hunting Gravity Grunt: The Wrestling Movie Guardians of the Galaxy Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Hell Comes to Frogtown Hercules: Reborn Hitman I Like to Hurt People Indiana Jones 1-4 Inglourious Basterds Ink The Interrogation Interstellar Jay and Silent Bob Reboot Jobs Joy Ride 1-3 Justice League (2017 Whedon Cut) Last Action Hero Major League Mallrats Man of Steel Man on the Moon Man vs Snake Marine 3-6 Merry Friggin Christmas Metallica: Some Kind of Monster Mortal Kombat Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpions Revenge National Treasure National Treasure: Book of Secrets Nintendo Quest Not for Resale Old Joy Payback (Director’s Cut) Pulp Fiction The Punisher (1989) The Ref The Replacements Reservoir Dogs Rocky I-VIII Running Films Part 1 Running Films Part 2 San Andreas ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery Scott Pilgrim vs the World The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Shoot em Up Slacker Skyscraper Small Town Santa Steve Jobs Source Code Star Trek I-XIII Sully Take Me Home Tonight TMNT Trauma Center The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2 UHF Veronica Mars Vision Quest The War Wild The Wizard Wonder Woman The Wrestler (2008) X-Men: Apocalypse X-Men: Days of Future Past

The Worst of 2019 (So Far)

And now we get to the opposite of yesterday’s post: the worst of what we’ve seen so far. Time to give them a proper thrashing before they (hopefully) fade into obscurity. Disappointingly, there's a general lack of films that were bad but in an interesting way. Mostly, it’s either been the same sorta dreck we usually get with a couple of unusually offensive stories and a couple of soul-crushingly bad superhero flicks. Curious? Read on.

10. Serenity

I like to save my #10 spot on the “Worst of” list for a movie that has a chance of becoming a favorite among those who love bad movies. Serenity is competently enough made that it does not belong in the same category as The Identical or Runaway. It’s another kind of bad movie, the kind that baffles anyone who sees it and who will have film historians scratching their heads in the future. It’s not quite on the same level as 2017’s “The Book of Henry” but close. Top-notch actors at the top of their career in a story so poorly conceived it would’ve been brilliant if it weren’t awful and utterly absurd.

The revelation that everything we've been seeing is actually part of a video game programmed by an angry teen who hates his abusive father, and that his actions are tied to those of Matthew McConaughey's character is the kind of nutty decision someone at some point should've questioned. My advice? Surprise some unsuspecting friends with it. Periodically pause the movie so they can write down how they think it'll all fit together and then watch their faces as they're proved wrong.

9. After

I’m not going to remember After down the line so this is my opportunity to give it another flogging. I can’t believe fan-fictions of real people is a real thing and that one of them was deemed legitimate and popular enough to be turned into a movie. It plays out like the clone of a clone of a clone of Twilight. At least that movie had danger in the form of vampires and werewolves. This has nothing to offer except embarrassing drama and a prepubescent’s idea of what romance and love look like. I saw it in the theater with a friend and thank goodness she was there; it made what would've been a chore... slightly more bearable.

8. Dumbo

I’ve already gone on about how I feel about Disney’s string of live-action remakes. For the most part, they fail to validate their own existences; they’re just copies of the original but with “real” actors dancing around animated backgrounds, objects and locations instead of everything being traditionally animated. Dumbo isn’t like Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast. It does try new things. It diverges from the source material significantly in the worst way. The titular character winds up playing second banana to a bunch of circus performers no one cares about and in the end didn’t contain an inkling of the emotion the 1941 version did.

7. Dark Phoenix

This one’s a triple-whammy. Not only was it a deeply disappointing way for Fox’s X-Men series to end, it retreaded old material in a way that was worse than X-Men 3: The Last Stand AND it was a box office bomb. By the time the story finally comes alive… it’s just about over. The whole thing feels like a mistake, bringing in aliens and asking us to invest in characters we just haven’t had enough time to fall in love with. Makes me wonder what the future of the characters is going to be like. Yes there are a number of heroes and heroines we haven’t yet seen, but are people going to care, even when the brand gets a new coat of paint from Marvel Studios?

6. Men in Black: International

Was anyone asking for the Men in Black series to return? Maybe if they'd had a dynamite story this could’ve overcome the public’s general disinterest, but this was an extremely generic plot you could figure out easily minutes in and lost touch with what endeared us to the first. Even with the combined forces of Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth failed, it to generate many laughs. Worse, to make sure I got any references or Easter egg it might drop, I re-watched all of the previous Men in Black movies, including the horrific Men in Black 2.

5. Replicas

This movie goes about itself in such a convoluted way. First, Keanu Reeves plays a scientist working for a company that wants to transplant the mind of dead soldiers into androids. Then, his family is killed in a car crash, prompting him to use the mind transfer tech to put their memories into new clone bodies of themselves. Problem is, he only has the means to clone three out of four family members. This means he has to erase all memories of his youngest daughter from the others’ brains. Following me so far? Good because it keeps going from there. Actually, that’s just the start of it. It’s a classic case of TMSGO - too much sh*t goin’ on. Even with all that, it STILLL managed to have gaping plot holes. No surprise it came and went as quietly as possible.

4. Hellboy

This one hurt. I wanted to see a superhero horror film badly. The early interviews I read about them wanting to adapt Mike Mignola’s books more closely than the Del Toro films got me excited. I was a little apprehensive when the trailers showed some goofy stuff but I figured these were included to draw people in. I should've listened to that sinking feeling. The actual film is awful, one giant mistake after another. Without a doubt, this featured the year’s worst special effects and even this I could've forgiven but the would-be humorous tone was badly misjudged and the story bloated with way too many elements that might've worked... if we weren't also trying to tell the character's origin at the same time. Hellboy ends with a teaser promising more and there’s no way we would’ve seen a sequel even if this had made money at the box office. Cool demons though, for what it’s worth.

3. Shaft

Looking back, I’m struggling to think of anything worth seeing in Shaft. I hated the film’s approach at comedy, particularly when it reverted Samuel L. Jackson’s John Shaft into the kind of man who proudly doesn’t understand modern sensibilities and spews out one homophobic joke after another. The plot was uninspired and uninteresting - not to mention generic - and none of it felt like it belonged on the big screen. On the upside, it prompted me to view the original trilogy with Richard Roundtree and those were enjoyable.

2. Simmba

Simmba is unlikely to be on the “Worst of 2019” list next January. It probably won’t be at the #2 spot. The film mixes two wildly different tones but not well. It begins as a romantic crime comedy, a dated one, sure. Simmba staging a phoney crime in order for the woman he’s attracted to to call him for help and then use the call as an excuse to stay with her through the night is creepy but I guess it might’ve passed like 20 years ago in North America. What makes this a bad film is the way it then introduces a character’s gang rape and murder as a way to prompt the anti-hero onto a righteous path. From there, it turns into this vigilante revenge film that has disturbing implications. You probably haven’t heard of it before now, much less seen it. I don’t recommend you check it out.

Runner Ups:

Aladdin

A controversial choice, as many casual filmgoers seem to have fallen madly in love with it (similar to the way they ate up 2017’s Beauty and the Beast) but honestly, what does this film do better than 1992’s Aladdin? Add an unmemorable song for Princess Jasmine to sing? Reduce the number of talking animals in order to give us more… nothing? Pile on the CGI to the point you wonder why it was made with live-actors in the first place? Like the innumerable direct-to-video sequels of classic films who've been all but forgotten, I tell you this Arabbian adventure won't endure.

Tolkien

So much potential squandered on a boring story. It didn’t take an astute viewer to recognize the film was crippled by the studio failing to obtain the rights to Tolkien’s actual work. I get the feeling we'll see another shot at a biography of J.R.R. Tolkien in a couple of years and this will be the Christopher Robin to the much superior Goodbye Christopher Robin.

The Hustle

It’s an unfunny comedy, what more is there to say? Rebel Wilson makes yet another bad career choice playing the same character she always plays. I only realized it was a remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels while writing my review, which is unfortunate. Hopefully I can expunge this film from my memory soon enough and forget anything it might’ve spoiled about the original Bedtime Story or the 1988 remake.

1. Unplanned

The numerous instances of technical incompetence - mostly coming from the performers who are given lackluster material - would be enough to condemn Unplanned to this list. What made me hate the film is the way it blatantly lies and attempts to manipulate the audience into further entrenching themselves in a certain point of view through cheap, manipulative means. I can respect that genuine passion was poured into the project but the way it goes about it is shameful. Do not go see it, even if you're curious.

Yuck. That last one really left a bad taste in my mouth so I'm going to talk about a movie I did enjoy and am enthusiastic to direct you towards Alita: Battle Angel. Rosa Salazar as the titular Alita impressed me and I really dug the action scenes. I'll also right a wrong from last year by reminding you to find and watch Paddington and Paddington 2, both movies I should've put on my "Best of" lists the years they came out. I don't know what I was thinking but I keep coming back to these in my head. They're excellent for kids and adults.

And with that said, the list is over. Back to our regularly-scheduled film reviews until something big comes up. Thoughts or comments on the list are welcome and I hope you enjoyed reading.

The Untold Truth Of Always Be My Maybe

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The Untold Truth Of Always Be My Maybe

There is no maybe about it: at all times Be My probably is one Netflix long-established film you must undoubtedly watch. Starring Ali Wong and Randall Park, the film has been hailed via critics and viewers alike as a recent and hilarious success. So just how did this gem of a movie come to look the sunshine of day? For those who proposal the on-screen chemistry between Ali Wong and Randall Park was pretty super, you’re not on my own. Correctly, a part of that possibly on account that the comedic duo goes back a very long time, all the means back to school at UCLA, if you can consider that! They met within the late Nineteen Nineties at a pal’s position, the place mentioned pal was once internet hosting a fried rice cooking competition, as pronounced by The Washington put up.The two were additionally part of the LLC Theatre enterprise, a comedic performing arts crew that Park co-established. And in a twist that confirms all too evidently that truth is stranger than fiction, perpetually Be My maybe premiered at the Regency Village Theater in Westwood, which is where UCLA is placed. The surreality of that was not lost on them, either. Wong informed variety that being in Westwood was once, quote, "a trip." "superb. High-quality, as always. Ta-ta, Julianne!" "ok, to start with, you sound like rely Chokula." For as much acclaim as normally Be My perhaps is receiving, the movie could by no means had been made if now not for a fateful 2016 interview Wong did with the new Yorker. Wong used to be riding excessive from the success of her Netflix particular child Cobra, and he or she acknowledged that she and Park had been seeking to make a precise movie for years, their, quote, "version of When Harry Met Sally." Of course, by means of their "variation," Wong presumably intended an Asian take, as there aren’t exactly a ton of rom-coms in the market with Asian-American leads.It didn’t take very long for the phrase to get out about it after that, and boy did the web reply. Vulture even put out a plea to Hollywood, begging to get the movie green lit. Park recalled in an interview with The Washington post: So Wong and Park received to writing the script, along with screenwriter Michael Golamco. The rest, as they say, is history! When Harry Met Sally wasn’t the only movie that Wong and her crew appeared to for inspiration even as birthing always Be My possibly into existence. The 1992 famous person-studded comedy Boomerang, starring Eddie Murphy, used to be additionally a movie Wong had in intellect when fleshing out the characters and meditating on the comedic aspects of the film. She instructed Rolling Stone: moreover, Wong favored that the premise of Boomerang used to be black staff working at a black promoting company, anything she found clean, and, quote, "empowering." She dished: The late 2010s marked an uptick in the amount of movies starring Asian-American actors, like loopy wealthy Asians and To all the Boys I’ve loved before. Continually Be My might be is a welcome addition to these groundbreaking movies, and it quite is the first of its form.Director Nahnatchka Khan gushed in an interview with variety: The equal holds true for Jordan Peele’s Us, a horror movie predominantly starring black actors. Furthermore to that, Park and Wong emphasized that it was equally fundamental that they make a amazing film, as individuals wouldn’t wish to see it in any other case, it had to be great. Wong joked: invariably Be My perhaps is stuffed with many little moments that Asian american citizens resonated with in a specified manner, similar to Judy telling Sasha: "We Koreans use scissors for the whole lot." and Sasha preparing unsolicited mail musubi for dinner. Those moments are major, as they allow families descended from immigrants to peer bits of their possess daily lives on the monitor in front of them. Whilst that used to be certainly intentional, Park additionally desired to make certain that the film wasn’t rife with stereotypes or populated via characters that viewers would expect. The actor defined to The Washington submit: To that end, they sought to make the relationship between Marcus and his dad, who does not speak with an accent, affectionate and close. "howdy. At some point, you are gonna must take a threat on whatever, son." That flies in the face of the stereotypical portrayal, which suggests Asian moms and fathers with thick accents.One of the crucial many hilarious and bitingly smart elements of the movie is Marcus’ band, good day Peril. With intelligent lyrics and fun performances from the actors, you cannot aid but crack a smile when the band takes the stage. And sure, that is the noted Bay discipline rapper Lyrics Born on stage with Marcus. Plus Dan the Automator honestly produced all of the hiya Peril songs, in step with Pitchfork. And get this: Park even wrote his own lyrics. It most commonly helps that he had his own ’90s hip-hop band, unwell again, to use as concept.You might no longer have caught it, however Park very intentionally named the band good day Peril for a purpose. In an interview with Pitchfork, he published: How intelligent are you able to get? It used to be pretty unimaginable to overlook that Daniel Dae Kim performed the role of Brandon Choi, Sasha’s fianc. You would have well-known him from his work in misplaced as Jin-Soo Kwon or possibly as Jack Kang in insurgent, the sequel to Divergent. While we’re over here questioning why he would not have his possess James Bond film but, Kim used to be simply hugely stoked to be cast in Wong and Park’s movie.In an interview with form, he gushed: Plus he says he loved attending to play a jerk. Hey, he possibly the sweetest man in real lifestyles, however Kim seems to be a professional at enjoying jerks! "So, you need me to head to San Francisco alone?" "that’s the great thing about it. We would each be in new environment. We might be aparttogether." And Wong knew what she was doing with this casting, too. The actress shared: You could have noticed some subtle cultural details in continually Be My probably. For instance, within the establishing, Sasha and Marcus remove their sneakers when they come indoors, only replacing them when it’s time to leave. That’s corresponding to Judy pointing out that Koreans use scissors for the whole thing.However a few of these touches were the work of director Khan, whose movie debut is arguably a visionary one. She wanted to make certain that the time and location, the San Francisco Bay discipline in the ’90s, was reflected within the film, mainly for Asian-american citizens. She defined in an interview with the los angeles occasions: So, should you felt transported to a San Francisco where the rent wasn’t so darn excessive and there weren’t hipster coffee shops all over the place, that’s the motive why.Kimchi stew. Lemongrass dumplings. Free shumai. And yes, even venison sous vide, complete with headphones… "Comes with headphones so which you could hear the sound of the distinct animal you might be about to eat, illustrating nature’s life to death cycle." In so many scenes in invariably Be My perhaps, food plays an most important position, each as a marker of cultural identity and a drive that can either convey individuals collectively or destroy them apart.Food is fundamental in each tradition, and, on this film, viewers are treated to the cuisine that’s gigantic in Asian-American traditions, corresponding to Korean and chinese food. Lest we omit that Sasha is a chef, and a very successful one at that! To that end, it makes complete sense that they employed famous person chef Niki Nakayama as a consultant for the movie. Director Nahnatchka Khan advised the los angeles times: Who’s hungry now? All of the places they filmed within the film had a enormous feel of situation, person who felt acquainted, especially when you grew up in the Bay field within the ’90s as Wong did. And although Park grew up down south in l. A., he put a number of himself into his character, Marcus.In an interview with NPR, Park shared: And, you realize what? That fairly comes via. Suppose it or now not, Park actually brought facets of his loved ones onto the film set: above all, these artwork. He defined: All of that helped make things believe as exact and nearly the heart as viable for him. When you saw the trailer before gazing always Be My maybe, you knew Keanu Reeves was going to show up at some factor. But in the event you did not, you might have fallen out of your chair when he turns up as a satirical version of himself as Sasha’s date."Jesus Christ." "Oh my God, you are bleeding!" "You see how convenient that was once, Marcus?" recollect that dinner scene? Yeah, it was once clearly one of the vital funniest moments of the movie, whole with lines from Reeves like the characters’ $6,400 meal costing "not up to a residual paycheck from my hit film speed." Of course, Wong and Park wrote the function explicitly for Reeves with out understanding if he’d simply take it. But much to their shock, he did, and he reportedly was a whole blast to work with. Wong had some unique reasons at the back of this casting, too. In an interview with Vulture, she confessed: verify out certainly one of our newest movies right here! Plus, much more list videos about your favourite stuff are coming quickly. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don’t leave out a single one. .

WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND March 29, 2019  - GODZILLA vs. ROCKETMAN vs. MA

As I mentioned over at The Beat, this is gonna be a doozy of a weekend, one where we can see some interesting things at the box office as three fairly strong movies open against the second weekend of Disney’s Aladdin.

The big (and I do mean “BIG”) movie of the weekend, and one I quite enjoyed was Mike (Krampus) Dougherty’s GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS (Warner Bros.), which continues the story set in Legendary Pictures’ 2014 reboot and adds new characters, and more importantly, MORE MONSTERS!!! I think there are still fans of Godzilla out there who will want more monsters and hopefully an interesting way to build on the Shared Universe being created by Legendary with next year’s Godzilla vs. Kong. I hope this movie does well enough that they keep making these movies, which I’m sure aren’t inexpensive.

You can read my review of that here, and check out my interview with Mr. Doughtery over at The Beat.

A movie that I was surprised by how much I LOVED LOVED LOVED is Dexter Fletcher’s ROCKETMAN (Paramount), starring Taron Egerton as singer/songwriter Elton John.  It’s a straight-up jukebox musical of a biopic that uses John’s songs as the framework to share his memories with Egerton singing most of the songs himself. He’s absolutely amazing, and I wouldn’t even be remotely surprised if he is nominated and wins in the Lead Actor category, because he gives an unprecedented performance.  (I’m hoping I can finish up my glowing review of the movie soon, but as you can surmise from the above, I loved the movie and I recommend it highly to anyone not interested in Godzilla – but I question those who aren’t interested in Godzilla, too.)

MY REVIEW OF ROCKETMAN

I wasn’t quite a big fan of Tate Taylor and Octavia Spencer’s MA (Universal), a thriller with a fun premise that finally puts Spencer in the spotlight with a leading role. That said, I do feel like it gives way too much away in the trailers. It’s definitely a weird and pretty effed up movie, and Spencer is great, as is the young cast, but it just didn’t connect with me or wow me as much as I hoped. I wish I had more time to write a review, but I will have an interview with Tate Taylor soon. (Honestly, the interview didn’t go great, which didn’t help when I wasn’t that enamored with the film in the first place.)

LIMITED RELEASES

My favorite movie of the weekend, outside of Rocketman, and one of the few I’ve seen is the new film from Denys Arcand (The Barbarian Invasion). THE FALL OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE (Sony Pictures Classics) seems like a different movie from him, starring Alexandre Landry as Pierre Paul Daoust, a courier who happens upon a botched robbery and ends up taking millions of dollars left behind by the robbers.  Of course, he uses his newfound riches to hire a high-priced escort (Maripier Morin), who he falls in love with, and hires an ex-con imprisoned for money laundering (Remy Girard) to be his financial adviser. Unfortunately, the gang whose money he stole and the police are all looking for the money, and they get very violent with anyone they think might know where it is.  It’s another fantastic ensemble piece from Arcand that has all of his humor but is a bit darker and more violent, and there are aspects of the film that reminds me of the films of David Mamet. Ultimately, it’s quite an amazing fable about how if you help out others (as Pierre Paul does), things will come back to you in return.

Filmmaker Brian de Palma is back with DOMINO (Saban Films), which stars Game of Thones’ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as a Danish police officer named Christian who wants to get justice for his partner killed by an ISIS member. This puts him into a conflict with a CIA agent (Guy Pearce) who is using that ISIS member to trap others. Sadly, I haven’t had a chance to see this, but it also stars Carice van Houten (from Black Book) and it will be in theaters and On Demand this Friday.

Premiering at Film at Lincoln CenterFriday is Dominga Sotomayor’s Too Late to Die Young (KimStim), which takes place in 1990 as Chile transitions to democracy as seen through the eyes of a 16-year-old named Sofia. The movie premiered at last year’s 56thNew York Film Festival, and Sotomayor will be in town for screenings on Friday and Saturday.

Premiering at the Metrographto correspond with and tie into the theater’s Northern Ireland: Battle of Images series (see below in Repertory) is Donal Foreman’s THE IMAGE YOU MISSED, which goes through thirty years of footage left behind by his late father Arthur MacCaig (who has two movies in the series) and shows never-before-seen images from the war in Belfast, Northern Ireland. I’m deploy interested in the “Troubles” that plagued the area for decades, and I hope I can get over there to see this and some of the movies in the series.

Some interesting stuff at the IFC Center (and possibly other locations) this weekend, including  A.B. Shawky’s Egyptian film Yomeddine, as well Joshuea Riehl’s doc The Russian Five about how a quintet of Russian hockey players helped save the Detroit Red Wings in the late ‘80s. (This has actually played in other parts of the country, but I missed the listing. Sorry!) Richard Miron’s doc For the Birds (Dogwoof) also opens there, looking at a woman named Kathy who has 200 pet chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys. It will then move to the Laemlle Monica on June 14.

New York’s Film Forum gets Gerald Fox’s doc Leaving Home, Coming Home: A Portrait of Robert Frank (Greenwich) starting Wednesday about the famed photographer.

I wrote about Andrew Slater’s doc ECHO IN THE CANYON (Greenwich) when it opened in L.A. last week, but I finally got a chance to watch it before it opens this Friday at Angelika Film Center, and it’s much better than I expected. The film covers the California Sound out of the Laurel Canyon area in the mid-60s, which included the Beach Boys, the Mamas and Papas, as well as the Byrds and others. I was never really into that scene or music so much but hearing some of these songs again in this context gave me goosebumps, as Slater and exec. producer Jakob Dylan, who does many of the interviews, did a fantastic job telling the story of this music scene.

LOCAL FESTIVALS

There’s some great festivals taking place in New York and surrounding areas as well as a place quite a bit away.

Let me start by mentioning that the New York African Film Festival continues on Thursday up at Film at Lincoln Center, beginning with Frances-Anne Solomon’sHERO: Inspired by the Life and Times of Mr. Ulric Cross, about a West Indian lawyer who joined the Pan-African movements in the ‘60s. The Centerpiece of this leg of the festival is Joel Karekezi’s The Mercy of the Jungle on Saturday about the Second Congo War. It’s quite a rich line-up that you can read about at either of the links above.

Next, let’s go down to the IFC Center for the 3RD ANNUAL SPLIT SCREENS FESTIVAL which celebrates the “Art and Craft of Television” with a number of amazing events and screenings, beginning Weds. May 29 and running through Monday, June 3. People who attend can see an early screening of Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us and Deadwood: The Movie (see streaming below), as well as events/presentations for CBS’ Instinct with Alan Cumming in person, as well as Pamela Adlon’s Better Things (she’ll be there, too!) and a special presentation of (S)Heroes: Women of Action.  Check out the schedule, because if you’re into television, there is a LOT of great stuff here every year. (I attended theVanguard Award presentation last year for Sandra Oh, for instance.)

If you don’t mind hopping on a train trip out of the city, you should try to get out to the 5th GREENWICH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, which will present early screenings of lots of movies, as well as panels and presentations with Eva Longoria Baston and Bobby Walker Jr. receiving special honors. Some of the filmsbeing shown include Gurinder Chanda’s Blinded by the Light, Tom Shadyac’s Brian Banks as well as Mads Brügger’s doc Cold Case Hammarskjöld and the doc I Want My MTV. Local animation house Blue Sky Studios has a special panel on Sunday, and there’s also an anniversary party including a performance by Kesha, so this is a pretty big deal.

A bit off the beaten path is this year’s Overlook Film Festival, held in New Orleans, which is becoming one of the must-attend genre film festivals. (Of course, I’ve never attended.) It’s being billed as “a four day celebration of all things horror in America’s most haunted city,” opening with Jim Jarmuch’s The Dead Don’t Die and Tate Taylor’s Ma, but also including a bunch of films that have played festivals like Ant Timpson’s Come to Daddy, starring Elijah Wood, and Peter Strickland’s In Fabric, which both played the Tribeca Film Festival.

Basically, there’s a lot to do this weekend if you’re not busy with some of the movies mentioned above.

STREAMING AND CABLE

I’m really looking forward to the Netflix romantic comedy ALWAYS BE MY MAYBE, which stars stand-up Ali Wong and Randall Park (one of my favorite comic actors) as childhood friends who have an awkward tryst in college and suddenly run into each other 15 years later. The two actors co-wrote the script, it’s directed by Nahnatchka Khan, exec. producer of Park’s show Fresh Off the Boat, and it also stars Daniel Dae Kim (as Wong’s fiancé who breaks up with her) AND Keanu Reeves! Can’t wait to see this!

Also premiering on Netflix Thursday is the Ava Duvernay=directed series When They See Us (premiering a night early at the Split Screens Festival mentioned above) about the Central Park Five.

HBO will premiere David Milch’s Deadwood: The Movie, which I’ll have to watch but only after rewatching the three seasons which ran from 2004 to 2006, which I haven’t watched since then.

I don’t have DC Universe (yet!) but premiering this Friday is the new SWAMP THING series produced by James Wan, which might finally give me the excuse to subscribe to the network so I can see this as well as Doom Patroland other things I’ve been meaning to check out.

Also streaming on Hulustarting Saturday is Ryan White’s doc Ask Dr. Ruth about Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the Holocaust survivor turned sex therapist who celebrated her 90thbirthday last year.

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

This is a huge week at the Metrograph as they’re kicking off an extensive Jim Jarmuschseries with some of his best movies, ranging from his earliest film Permanent Vacation (1980) and Stranger than Paradise (1984) right through his 2016 films Paterson and the Stooges doc Gimme Danger. Jarmusch will be there for select screenings, although as of this writing, it hasn’t been announced which ones. This weekend sees Down by Law (1986), Dead Man (1995) and Stranger Than Paradise.

I’m also intrigued by another new series called Northern Ireland: Battle of Images, a series of docs and shorts about the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland. Sadly, I haven’t seen any of what they’re showing but I generally trust the Metrograph programmers and many of the films in the series only screen once, so don’t miss out.

Late Nites at Metrograph  presents Georges Franju’s 1960 thriller Eyes Without a Face which inspired both John Carpenter’s Halloween and Billy Idol’s hit song, while Playtime: Family Matinees is Jacques Tati’s Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953), which is a great introduction to the French mime-turned-filmmaker. Also, on Wednesday, Metrograph is presenting a new restoration of Derek Jarman’s little-seen 1990 film The Garden (Zeitgeist/Kino Lorber), starring Tilda Swinton, which was never been released on DVD or Blu-ray.  (Tilda will introduce a screening of this Tuesday night as well as be there for a sold-out screening of Sally Potter’s Orlando.)

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

If I get this up on time, you may be able to see the Weds. matinee of Howard Hawks’Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), starring Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe. Weds. and Thurs. sees a double feature of Eve’s Bayou  (1997) and Daughters of the Dust  (1991), while Friday and Saturday is a Dorothy Arzner double feature of Dance, Girl, Dance(1940) and The Bride Wore Red  (1937). This weekend’s KIDDEE MATINEE is one of my favorite early Disney movies,The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes  (1969), starring a very young Kurt Russell. Friday night’s Midnight movie is Tarantino’s Death Proof, while Saturday’s midnight is the Canadian comedy Outrageous! (1977), starring Craig Russell – no relation to Jane or Kurt, I imagine. Monday afternoon offers a matinee of Neil Jordan’s Anne Rice adaptation of Interview with a Vampire (1994), starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. Also, Sunday and Monday sees double features of Stanley Donen’s gay comedy Staircase (1969) and John Huston’s Reflection in a Golden Eye (1967), starring Elizabeth Taylor.

FILM FORUM (NYC):

The Jewish Soul: Classics of Yiddish Cinema continues its run with Edward Ulmer’s 1940 musical comedy American Matchmaker. Harold Lloyd is back at Film Forum Jr with his 1923 film Safety Last! with piano accompaniment. Also, the international retrospective The Hour of Liberation: Decolonizing Cinema 1966 – 1981continues over the weekend with the 1969 Brazilian film Macunaima, the Bolivian film Blood of the Condor (also from 1969), Nelson Pereira dos Santos’ How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman (1971), Med Hondos’ 1970 filmSoleil O (which is supposed to get a 4k restoration soon), Perfumed Nightmare  (1977) and more.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

TheCassavetes/Scorsese: Love is Strange isn’t quite finished yet, but on Thursday, it continues with Love Streams  (1984) and Casino  (1995).Thom Anderson will be on hand to show his 2003 film Los Angeles Plays Itself on Friday, then on Saturday, there’s a Malcolm McDowell double feature of Cat People in 35mm(1989) and Time after Time (1979). There’s a special FREE event on Sunday for the TV show Good Girls with a panel of the creators/cast that’s followed by a screening of the 1980 movie 9 to 5.

AERO  (LA):

The late French filmmaker Agnes Varda gets a tribute double feature with screenings of One Sings, the Other Doesn’t  (1977) and the 2017 doc Faces Places on Thursday, and then Whit Stilman has a TRIPLE feature Friday for the 25thanniversary of 1994’s Barcelona, along with Metropolitan (1990) and The Last Days of Disco  (1998). Saturday sees a Terry Gilliam double feature of 1985’s Brazil – my all-time favorite #1 film by the way – and 1981’s Time Bandits, and there’s a family matinee of Brian Levant’s The Flintstones  (1994) with Levant in person, celebrating the film’s 25th anniversary. Not to be outdone by Metrograph, they’re showing a double feature of Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger than Paradise  (1984) and Down by Law  (1986) and next Wednesday, there’s a free screening of Jarmusch’s new movie The Dead Don’t Die.

IFC CENTER (NYC)

This weekend, Waverly Midnights: Parental Guidance shows Mary Lambert’s movie based on Stephen King’s Pet Sematary  (1989), Weekend Classics: Love Mom and Dad will screen the classic Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), and Late Night Favorites: Spring will show Dario Argento’s 1977 film Suspiria… again. (Has anyone not seen it at this point?)

ROXY CINEMA (NYC)

The Tribeca hotel-based theater is showing Luchino Visconti’s 1963 film The Leopard in 35mm on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, eand then the ‘80s classic The Lost Boys (also on 35mm) Friday.

FILM OF LINCOLN CENTER(NYC):

Ester Krumbachova: Unknown Master of the Czechoslovakia New Wav eends Wednesday, while the reshowing of Sergei Bondarchuk’s 7-hour 1969 adaptation of Tolstoy’s War and Peace (winner of the Foreign Language Oscar that year) will run this week through Thursday.

MOMA (NYC):

Abel Ferrara: Unrated wraps up this week with China Girl  (1987) on Weds., 2005’s Mary on Thursday and then Ferrara’s fairly recent Alive in France on Friday. TheJean-Claude Carrière series also continues.

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

The Queens-based theater is also showing Thom Anderson’s 2003 film Los Angeles Plays Itself on Friday (as part of an “Essay L.A.” program), but obviously, if you read above, you know that Anderson will actually be in L.A. that night. Saturday afternoon, Jackie Chan’s Police Story  (1985) is playing as part of MOMI’s “See It Big! Action” series.

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART  (LA):

This Friday’s midnight movie is the Beatle’s A Hard Day’s Night  (1964).

Next week, it’s Universal’s animated sequel The Secret Life of Pets 2 vs. Fox/Disney’s Dark Phoenix! Plus Mindy Kaling and Emma Thompson’s Sundance hit Late Night is also released.

What Cyberpunk Red Can Teach Us About 2077: Johnny Silverhand, 4th Corporate War, And More

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What Cyberpunk Red Can Teach Us About 2077: Johnny Silverhand, 4th Corporate War, And More

Cyberpunk 2077 can’t come soon enough. After years of waiting, the highly-anticipated first-person action-RPG’s release date was confirmed for April 16, 2020, at E3 2019. While that’s still a little while away, we’re fortunate in that he fine people at R. Talsorian Games have released the jump start kit for Cyberpunk Red–the latest edition of the tabletop RPG franchise that Cyberpunk 2077 is based on called Cyberpunk 2020.

Cyberpunk Red acts as a sequel to Cyberpunk 2020. It’s set in-between the events of the tabletop original and the upcoming game. If you do the math that’s 57 years unaccounted for, so that’s a lot of new details about the Cyberpunk universe being revealed here.

Below you can find all the biggest new lore, history, and character tidbits. You’re welcome to watch the video version above.

Table of Contents [hide]

Story Background

Before we really dig into Red, let’s dive into a bit of background from the Cyberpunk 2020 creator himself, Mike Pondsmith. In a previous interview we conducted with the famed creator, he described Cyberpunk’s world as such:

Cyberpunk 2077 is based in the world of tabletop RPG, Cyberpunk 2020.

“The 2020 world is a fusion of many types and elements of the overall genre. And it’s about a combination of technology gone wrong but being used by people in novel ways up against large megacorporations, powerful people, and powerful forces, governments, etc that are all conspiring to keep people oppressed and stomped on.”

While you can create any sort of Cyberpunk city or setting you’d like in the tabletop RPG, the books and the upcoming game focus on Night City, an urban sprawl between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

As Pondsmith said, corporations (are mostly) calling all the shots and doing what they can to keep the people oppressed. While governments still exist, they rarely pose much of a threat to the corporate overlords.

The lack of government regulation has left the megacorporations free to start conflicts on a whim with little repercussions. These wars have been dubbed the “Corporate Wars,” and typically end in lots of bloodshed.

The 4th Corporate War

Cyberpunk Red takes place in 2045 after the Fourth Corporate War, a bloody conflict started in 2021 by Aquacorps CINO and OTEC and later escalated by Militech and Arasaka. As different corporations aligned with either Arasaka or Militech, an all-out war was waged between different corporations across the planet. The megacorps rolled through countries, broke international laws, and hired private armies to do their bidding.

The 4th corporate war inevitably ended with the death of over half a million people.

In an attempt to put an end to the war, Johnny Silverhand aka Keanu Reeves and the Solo (hit-man) Morgan Blackhand led an attack on the Arasaka headquarters in Night City. During the raid, a small nuclear bomb was detonated and leveled most of Night City, killing over half a million people. Despite knowing that the bomb was supplied by Militech, the US president put the blame on Arasaka and nationalized Militech. The increased pressure reduced Arasaka to a Japan-only corporation for the next ten years.

Due to the combined efforts of Miltech and national armies, the 4th Corporate War was put to an end.

Welcome to the Time of the Red

The end of the 4th Corporate War ushered in the Time of the Red. So why is it called Cyberpunk Red? Well due to the mass destruction and radiation from the 4th Corporate War, a “red pall hangs over the skies worldwide.” However, the radiation isn’t that big of a threat because most people living in this universe already had radiation filters installed in their bodies.

Cyberpunk Red is named after the red skies that filled the world after the nuclear destruction at the end of the 4th corporate war.

With major cities in shambles, people have been reclaiming the once-abandoned towns and settlements throughout the country. As you’d expect, bandits and other questionable types roam the wilds. Most people who venture beyond the cities stick with armed nomad caravans.

Meanwhile, in 2030, sweeping reconstruction projects take place across the world. Especially in Night City which had its city center leveled. However, in the interim, the city outskirts and districts less affected by the bomb have become overcrowded.

By 2045 the first Mega Building is erected. These are huge buildings designed to safely house as many people as possible. V’s apartment in the 2077 gameplay reveal demo is located in a Mega Building. As the narrator says in the video, these apartment buildings have everything one could possibly need and typically form micro-societies within Night City.

In 2045, Night City’s NCART subway system has also seen better days. While it’s still functional, flooding is a common occurrence and it gets delayed frequently. According to Red’s world book, “City planners are working to raise a majority of the track into a new monorail configuration, but that will take time and money the city doesn’t have.” Something tells us this monorail system will be completed by the time 2077 rolls around.

The NET

To kick off this new era, the NET as we know it, or rather as we’d know it from Cyberpunk 2020, has been wiped out. Originally you were able to travel the world and into space via the NET, but the infrastructure that allowed for that kind of freedom had been destroyed. After the 4th Corporate War, Netrunners had to physically jack in to local networks if they wanted access.

The Time of the Red introduced city-wide networks called DataPools.

Based on what we’ve seen of Cyberpunk 2077, We’d imagine this localized NET infrastructure is still present in the 2070s. As we saw in the 48-minute gameplay reveal, once V jacked into the Maelstrom gang’s network, she had access to the entire hideout.

However, in the Time of the Red, Netrunners had to own a set of fancy VR goggles called Cyberdecks if they wanted to jack in to a network. Based on what we’ve seen of Cyberpunk 2077, either you don’t need a cyberdeck to hack or they aren’t nearly as bulky as what’s described in Red.

Along with a series of localized networks, the Time of the Red introduced city-wide networks called DataPools. These can be accessed in one of two ways: Through a Data Term or cell phone-like device called an Agent. From what we can tell, local networks rarely interface with these DataPools.

Data Pools are essentially the internet if it was localized to a city. You can message people, share information, buy stuff, and research things, i.e. Facebook, forums, Amazon, and Wikipedia would all exist within the Data Pool. It’s also home to something called PopMedia, which is described as an “entertainment and news programming created by independent producers instead of MegaCorps.” According to the world book, it also boasts an “ungodly amount of trash.”

Chances are, your primary communication device in Cyberpunk 2077 will be your Agent. In Cyberpunk Red, Agents come in three forms: Basic, Expensive, and Luxury. Agents can do pretty much anything a modern phone can do. Though, it is possible to reprogram an agent to act as a surrogate lover and purchase other complementary cybernetic enhancements to suit various needs…This sounds like a Cyberpunk 2077 sidequest waiting to be written.

Living in Red

Life in the Time of the Red can be difficult. Wars break out over fresh food so most people’s diets consist of Kibble and other synthetic foods. Even then, those meals aren’t always cheap. It’s hard to say what meals will look like in 2077, but considering Night City seems to be a bit more stable in CD Projekt Red’s RPG, we bet the food options will be a bit more diverse. After all, we do see someone eating with chopsticks in the reveal trailer. However, it’s still unclear if you will need to manage your hunger or if it’s just a means to recoup a bit of health like in The Witcher 3.

With the public transportation system constantly on the fritz, cars were your most reliable way of getting around during the Time of the Red. And while fancy cybercars did exist, they were expensive and hard to drive unless you were cybered up. Fortunately, good old fuel-burning cars are still kicking during Red.

The AV-4 is described as “the closest thing to a science fiction jet-car.” One of these popped up in Cyberpunk 2077’s debut gameplay.

While cybercars might be rare, Cyberbikes aren’t. These things can run off alcohol or water and are definitely present in 2077. In fact, during this year’s behind closed doors demo at E3 we got a glimpse of V riding a Yaiba-Kusanagi cyberbike.

Two other vehicles Cyberpunk Red mentions are the F-152 Aerogyro, which is basically a one-man helicopter, and the McDonnell Douglas AV-4. The AV-4 is described as “the closest thing to a science fiction jet-car.” These can reach speeds of 350 miles an hour and are typically reserved for corporate big-wigs and trauma teams. We’d say that the aircraft we see at the beginning of the gameplay reveal is one of these. Considering CD Projekt Red has said that you probably won’t be able to pilot flying cars or vehicles, we think it’s safe to say that transportation technology won’t make too many advancements before 2077. However, we bet we’ll see more cybercars.

And of course, one of the most important things for any cyberpunk is their style. CD Projekt Red released a series of images teasing some of the various styles. However, clothing does more for a cyberpunk than net them clout on the street. Depending on how much you’re willing to spend you can find jackets with built-in portable chargers, clothing that adjusts to the temperature, bodysuits that can change colors and textures, and undershirts that can harden into body armor. Hopefully, when 2077 comes out you’ll be able to give your netrunning ninja assassin a bodysuit that lets her cloak herself as she breaks into a corporate headquarters.

The People of Red

But what about Johnny Silverhand and Morgan Blackhand? Well, they should be dead. But if you’ve seen the E3 2019 trailer, it’s clear that Johnny is alive…at least in some form.

According to the Cyberpunk Red timeline, there are rumors that Johnny Silverhand’s body was found in cold storage in a body bank under the wreckage. This is just wild speculation but we hope you get to recover Johnny Silverhand’s body at some point during 2077.

Is Johnny Silverhand still alive in Cyberpunk 2077?

Morgan Blackhand, on the other hand, is rumored to be covertly working for President Kress and the US Government. We’re not sure exactly how could play a role in 2077, but based on the gameplay reveal you can pick Morgan Blackhand to be one of your character’s role models.

Source : Gamesport

Home Entertainment Consumer Guide: May 24, 2018

8 NEW TO NETFLIX

"The 40-Year-Old Virgin" "Bridge to Terabithia" "The Kingdom" "Mamma Mia!" "Only God Forgives" "The Phantom of the Opera" "Small Town Crime" "Wanted"

11 NEW TO BLU-RAY/DVD

"The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai" "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure"

The steelbook phenomenon has been an interesting one to watch, as films that diehard fans already own are re-released in collectible, exclusive, limited edition packaging. Personally, I'm a big fan of keeping physical media in existence and so anything that helps is good by me, especially when they're a pair of movies this fun. I'm a huge fan of Bill and Ted, and the news of a potential third movie should hopefully rekindle interest in the first two, especially the timeless original. The steelbook packaging (right) is gorgeous, and all of the previous special features have been imported. You should watch "Excellent Adventure" again. It's funnier than you remember. And let's go collect steelbooks if it keeps physical media alive!

Buy them here 

Special Features - Buckaroo "Into The 8th Dimension" – A Two-Hour Retrospective Documentary Including Interviews With The Cast And Crew Audio Commentary With Michael And Denise Okuda Audio Commentary With Director W.D. Richter And Writer Earl Mac Rauch "Buckaroo Banzai Declassified" Featurette Alternate Opening Sequence (With Jamie Lee Curtis) Deleted Scenes Jet Car Trailer Theatrical Trailer

Special Features - Bill & Ted's Audio Commentary With Star Alex Winter And Producer Scott Kroopf Audio Commentary With Writers Chris Matheson And Ed Solomon Time Flies When You Are Having Fun! – A Look Back At A Most “Excellent Adventure,”Featuring Interviews With Actors Alex Winter And Keanu Reeves, Producer Scott Kroopf, Composer David Newman, Supporting Cast Members, And More Theatrical Trailer

"Beyond the Hills" (Criterion) "Graduation" (Criterion)

Criterion's timing of new releases is always interesting. They don't pay attention to the theatrical market as much as some other studios, who commonly release special editions timed to new sequels or major projects from the same stars. But it does feel like May's releases have been slightly timed to something with which Criterion collectors are probably familiar, the Cannes Film Festival. Take for example, this pair of Cristian Mungiu films that premiered at the most famous film event in the world. Mungiu has been a darling of Cannes for the new century, winning the Palme in 2007 for "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," Best Screenplay for "Beyond the Hills" in 2012, and Best Director for "Graduation" in 2016. The latter two are now available in sturdy Criterion editions, including special features and fantastic critical essays. Mungiu is one of the more essential filmmakers of his era, and it's nice to see Criterion keeping up with his work as it's released, creating essential editions for any Blu-ray library.

Buy them here 

Special Features - Beyond 2K digital transfer, approved by director Cristian Mungiu, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray New interview with Mungiu The Making of “Beyond the Hills,” a documentary from 2013, produced by Mungiu Press conference from the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, featuring Mungiu and actors Cosmina Stratan, Cristina Flutur, Valeriu Andriuta, and Dana Tapalaga? Deleted scenes Trailer New English subtitle translation PLUS: An essay by film scholar Doru Pop

Special Features - Graduation 2K digital master, approved by director Cristian Mungiu, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray New interview with Mungiu Press conference from the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, featuring Mungiu and actors Adrian Titieni, Maria Dragu?, Malina Manovici, and Rare? Andrici Deleted scenes Trailer New English subtitle translation PLUS: An essay by film critic Bilge Ebiri

"Black Panther"

Will "Black Panther" be the first Marvel movie nominated for Best Picture? It's very possible, but whether it is or isn't, it has already become one of the most important films of 2018. Not only did critics fall head over heels for what is aruably the best MCU movie, but it also made a fortune, captivating audiences around the world to the tune of over $1.3 billion worldwide, top ten all time. To call "Black Panther" a smash hit seems inadequate. It's a movement. It's a phenomenon. And it's a great film. And Disney/Marvel has granted one of their biggest film an expectedly lavish Blu-ray treatment, complete with deleted scenes and hours of details on the making of the film. It's one of the biggest films of 2018, and it's been given a matching Blu-ray treatment.

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Special Features Director's Intro From Page to Screen: A Roundtable Discussion – Delve into the film's making Crowning of a New King – Explore the world of "Black Panther" in all its color and complexity The Warriors Within – Get to know Wakanda's women and the actors who portray them The Hidden Kingdom Revealed – Wakanda's diverse people Wakanda Revealed: Exploring the Technology Deleted Scenes U.N. Meet and Greet Okoye And W'Kabi Discuss the Future of Wakanda T'Challa Remembers His Father Voices from the Past Gag Reel Exclusive Sneak Peek at "Ant-Man and The Wasp" Marvel Studios the First Ten Years: Connecting the Universe Director's Commentary

"Early Man"

There are few film critics on Earth who love Aardman Animation as much as this one, but I was pretty mixed on their latest offering, a comedy about the collision between the Stone and Bronze Age. I don't just love the classics like "Wallace and Gromit" and "Chicken Run," but I'll go to bat for "Flushed Away" and "Pirates!" But the new one, while having its moments of inspired Aardman physical humor, feels shockingly thin and less ambitious than the humor that made them famous. It's more of a short film stretched to barely feature running time. Having said that, it's a perfectly serviceable family flick and certainly a better way to keep your kids occupied than a lot of garbage in the animated genre. You could do a lot worse. But most Aardman is usually better.

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Special Features Before the Beginning of Time: Creating Early Man Nick Park: Massaging the Funny The Valley Meets the Bronze Hanging at Aardman Studios: A Workshop Exploration

"A Fantastic Woman"

The ascendancy of Sebastian Lelio's "A Fantastic Woman" to such a place of critical prominence that it won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film was somewhat shocking. Sony Pictures Classics has always been a major player in that category, but I didn't see voters connecting with this story as much as they did (I expected "Loveless" or "Foxtrot" to win the prize). I think history will note the success of this film, the story of a trans woman's journey after the death of her lover, spurned by his family in her attempts to mourn. It's a powerful drama, anchored by Lelio's sensitive direction and a truly breakthrough performance by Daniela Vega, who should have been in the acting races for the Academy more than she was. One step at a time, I suppose. 

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Special Features "The Making of A Fantastic Woman" Featurette Audio Commentary with director Sebastián Lelio

"Game Night"

There are so many things to like about "Game Night," the clever comedy starring a perfectly-cast Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams as that couple you know that always takes game night with friends a little too competitively. When Bateman's brother, played by Kyle Chandler, initiates a murder mystery game to one-up his bro, it starts to get hazy as to what's a game and what's not. There are so many little things this comedy does right. It doesn't fall back on gross-out humor. It lets its couple act like actual couples. A lesser film would split up Bateman and McAdams instead of allowing them to work together. And it's perfectly cast down to even its minor roles. Although McAdams walks away with the movie, reminding us she has killer comic timing too.

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Special Features An Unforgettable Evening: Making Game Night - Featurette Gag Reel

"Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters" (Criterion)

As Paul Schrader's brilliant "First Reformed" is getting rapturous praise in theaters, Criterion digs into the vault and gives the 4k HD upgrade to what was arguably his best film as a director before his latest, "Mishima," presented with some spectacular special features. It's interesting to watch this unconventional biopic (which Roger included in his Great Movies) in light of "Reformed" as they share some similar themes and structure. Sure, "First" isn't as fragmented as this brilliant film but it's also a piece that relies heavily on narration, often over a man alone in a room (as Roger pointed out, a Schrader motif). The Criterion release is packed with great supplemental material, especially a fantastic commentary with Schrader himself and producer Alan Poul. Most of all, the movie itself looks GORGEOUS.

Buy it here 

Special Features New, restored 4K digital transfer of the director’s cut, supervised and approved by director Paul Schrader and cinematographer John Bailey, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray Two alternate English narrations, including one by actor Roy Scheider Audio commentary from 2006 featuring Schrader and producer Alan Poul Interviews from 2007 and 2008 with Bailey, producers Tom Luddy and Mata Yamamoto, composer Philip Glass, and production designer Eiko Ishioka Interviews from 2008 with Yukio Mishima biographer John Nathan and friend Donald Richie Audio interview from 2008 with coscreenwriter Chieko Schrader Interview excerpt from 1966 featuring Mishima talking about writing The Strange Case of Yukio Mishima, a documentary from 1985 about the author Trailer PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Kevin Jackson, a piece on the film’s censorship in Japan, and photographs of Ishioka’s sets

"The Other Side of Hope" (Criterion)

The thematicaly tied month for Criterion continues with another major fest premiere (this one from Berlin), the latest from the fantastic Aki Kaurismaki, whose dry sense of humor and deep humanism blend perfectly in this tale of an immigrant who finds sanctuary with a restaurant owner and his staff. This is a gentle, sweet little film that builds a surprisingly strong degree of emotional power and political statement by its final act. Criterion has a pattern of releasing more current foreign art house hits, often from IFC or Sundance Selects, and have sometimes taken criticism over some of the choices made in that department. No such criticism could be levied here. This is an excellent film that not nearly enough people saw when it was released. Make up for that now.

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Special Features New 2K digital transfer, approved by director Aki Kaurismäki, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray New interview with actor Sherwan Haji Footage from the press conference for the film’s premiere at the 2017 Berlin International Film Festival, featuring Kaurismäki, Haji, and actor Sakari Kuosmanen Aki and Peter, a new video essay by filmmaker Daniel Raim, based on a 1997 essay by critic Peter von Bagh, to whom The Other Side of Hope is dedicated Music videos Trailer PLUS: An essay by critic Girish Shambu

"Red Sparrow"

The latest Jennifer Lawrence spy drama is such an unusual film in that it's MUCH darker than your average multiplex blockbuster fare and yet also has that sheen of Hollywood product that sometimes holds it back from greatness. You should be warned though that this is a violent, brutal film, featuring more than one sequence of rape and torture, and that it runs over 140 minutes. Those are not the kind of elements that Hollywood studios usually allow into their blockbuster star vehicles. And so I'm tempted to give "Red Sparrow" a bit more of a pass than some other critics just because of the risks it takes. Still, it's an often unpleasant experience. You've been warned.

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Special Features A New Cold War: Origination and Adaptation Agents Provocateurs: The Ensemble Cast Tradecraft: Visual Authenticity Heart of the Tempest: On Location Welcome to Sparrow School: Ballet and Stunts A Puzzle of Need: Post-Production Director Commentary by Francis Lawrence 10 Deleted Scenes (With Optional Commentary by Francis Lawrence) Movies Anywhere Digital Code

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"There's a glitch in The Matrix". Anyone who was over the age of ten in 1999 should know what that statement means. The film, directed by the Wachowski Brothers - now Sisters- changed the face of action movies forever in one two hour block of time. The highly stylized look of The Matrix has been talked about and studied ever since its release and has influenced numerous film students and filmmakers for almost 20 years. It was only a matter of time before this classic movie was released in 4K and luckily that time is now.

Neo (Keanu Reeves; John Wick) lives in his insular world of computers. However, he always is searching for the elusive unknown…the matrix. When he is contacted by Trinity (Carrie- Anne Moss; Jessica Jones) he meets Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne; John Wick 2) and is given a choice…to remain ignorant inside the matrix or to step outside and find out what is really out there. Of course, he chooses the latter ( otherwise it wouldn't be much of a movie now would it). However, ignorances bliss is a popular saying and once he learns the truth Neo wishes he could go back…but he can't.

Morpheus explains that about 100 years earlier a war was waged between humans and machines (Terminator anyone?) and that human destroyed the sun in an attempt to stop the machines. Unfortunately, the machines figured out a way to harvest energy by creating human s in pods and letting them think they are alive, inside the matrix. Morpheus learns that there is a chosen one who he believes is Neo so he finds Neo and convinces him to leave the world he knows for the harsh reality outside the Matrix where creatures attempt to kill humans.

The role is what reinvigorated Reeves' career and it's easy to see why. He established himself as a leading man/action hero who is capable of amazing stunts. Moss is an interesting choice for Trinity because to me she comes across as much older than Reeves and I'm not sure I buy into the idea of them in a romantic relationship. Fishburne is commanding as Morpheus and he definitely exudes a leadership quality necessary for the role.

The Matrix 4K UHD Blu-ray is presented in 2160p from a brand new 4K scan of the original negative. Supervised by the original Director of Photography Bill Pope, ASC I dare say The Matrix looks better than it did in its original presentation in theaters. This is truly a top-notch transfer and really shows what this new platform can do. Greens for the "data world" are spot on, while the "real world" shows blue tones. Skin texture and sharpness have never been better. I dare say it was almost like watching a new film. The newly remixed Dolby Atmos soundtrack truly packs a punch. The world of the "Matrix" is now full enveloping you. This is most evident during the third act of the film in which the lobby scene and helicopter attack are played out. It is truly an orgasm for your ears and eyes.

Even with the high-quality scan of the film. The 4k UHD disc still contains five extras carried over from over releases included 4 commentary tracks and an introduction by the Wachowskis. The Blu-ray of the set (which is also remastered from the new 4K negative) contains the rest of the features including a feature-length documentary, 18 featurettes, the music of the matrix, and trailer and tv spots.

The movie itself is a masterpiece with camera angles and action sequences (can anyone say slow motion?) that were new and innovated at the time. They, along with the plot, have aged well and with the addition of the 4K quality, this film is once again an experience everyone should have at least once. I know there will be tons of Matrix fans out there who will be buying this latest version but it is definitely for anyone who appreciates movies and the craft of filmmaking.

Grade: A

About Allison Hazlett-Rose Allison Hazlett-Rose has always had a passion for the arts and uses her organization skills to help keep FlickDirect prosperous. Mrs. Hazlett-Rose oversees and supervises the correspondents and critics that are part of the FlickDirect team. Mrs. Hazlett-Rose attended Hofstra University where she earned her bachelors degree in communications and is a member of the Florida Film Critics Circle.

Read more reviews and content by Allison Hazlett-Rose.

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