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popentertainment-moviereviews · 1 year

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THE SON (2023)

Starring Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, Zen McGrath, Anthony Hopkins, George Cobell, Hugh Quarshie, William Hope, Julia Westcott-Hutton, Akie Kotabe, Kenny-Lee Mbanefo, Isaura Barbé-Brown, Reza Diako, Joakim Skarli, Rachel Handshaw, Nancy Baldwin, George Potts, Danielle Lewis, Rene Costa, Erick Hayden, Mercedes Bahleda and Shin-Fei Chen.

Screenplay by Florian Zeller & Christopher Hampton.

Directed by Florian Zeller.

Distributed by Sony Pictures Classics. 123 minutes. Rated PG-13.

There is a serious, tragic story being told in The Son. The acting – particularly Laura Dern, Hugh Jackman and Anthony Hopkins – is stellar. The writer/director was Oscar-nominated for his last film, The Father.

So, why does The Son feel much lesser than The Father? In fact, it often feels melodramatic and manipulative.

It is a story which sadly many families can relate to. Hugh Jackman plays Peter Miller, a remarried father on the corporate and political fast track. His oldest son Nicholas (Zen McGrath), who is still living with his first wife Kate (Laura Dern), seems to be having a mental break. He is depressive, skipping school for weeks at a time, lying to his parents, angry, refusing to take his meds, and just possibly suicidal.

Kate feels at the end of her rope trying to care for Nicolas. Peter has been somewhat out of the picture, living his new life with his younger second wife Beth (Vanessa Kirby) and their new baby. However, Peter always had an extremely chilly relationship with his own father (Anthony Hopkins), and he wants to be a better father for his own son. Therefore he invites Nicolas to move in with them, however the kid is sullen, angry and constantly keeping secrets.

Try as the might, they can’t seem to reach the kid. And frankly, neither Peter nor Kate is probably equipped for their son’s special needs. But the kid is unwilling to get serious treatment, and even when he says he is trying he usually isn’t.

It may seem that I am blaming Nicolas, which I am not. He is simply in a mental state where he almost can’t help harming himself and others.

The Son is based upon a play written by Zeller (called Les Fils in his native France), as was The Father (Le Père). And honestly, The Son would probably work better on the stage than it does on screen, where the seams in the story are more noticeable.

McGrath has a nearly impossible job trying to come to terms with this erratic character, who is manically depressive at one moment and upbeat the next, constantly trying to hide his reactions and negotiate the costs.

However, the son in the title is probably just as much referring to Peter as it is to Nicolas, because his own childhood with his distant father probably colors many of the mistakes he makes with his own son. And, frankly, eventually it seems like the screenplay is piling on him. Much of what happens in The Son is probably inevitable, but it doesn’t make it any easier for the audience to stomach.

It's probably not a coincidence that the film, which was originally slated for release late last year to vie for Oscar nominations, was pushed back a month. While it is very well made and stunningly acted, The Son is not quite as important and insightful as it thinks it is.

Jay S. Jacobs

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#The Son #2023 #Movie Review #Hugh Jackman #Jay S. Jacobs

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zebrabaker · 4 years

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Families Lost and Found

Here we go, a brand new story, ft Jasonette, with a side of badass Marinette.

Marinette had many fond memories of being young. Her Mama singing her ancient lullabies as she combed her jet black hair. Visiting with Aunt Talia twice a year, and meeting her Godson Damain Al Ghul. Celebrating Chinese New Year with her maternal family in China, and being slipped small weapons along with her hongbao, eating jian dui with her cousins in between lessons. Her Aunties teaching her how to use her beauty to beguile and bewilder. Her Uncles showing her how to hold a knife. Her Maa-Maa showing her how to sew hidden pockets into all her clothes, and Ah-Gung showing her the many pressure points on a man that could cripple someone in seconds. Her older female cousins taught her how to use her bu yao as a deadly weapon, all the soft spots on a person that would hurt the worst when stabbed with the sharpened hair ornaments. Her older male cousins lessons were in subterfuge and misdirection. By the time she was seven, Marinette was well aware that most girls her age weren’t taught these things. But hey, Marinette was the next head of the Parisian branch of the Triad. Her younger cousin Bridgette would be her second in command, as she was the daughter of Maa-Maa and Ah-Ghung’s second child, Marinette’s Uncle Lee Cheng. Marinette knew her second and third cousins were scattered across Europe, ruling their branches with a velvet covered iron fist, as they were all taught, by family law.

She had been on her way home from a ‘family gathering’, really just a meeting at the front Cousin Yo owned, a large rental hall that could be equipped for any even. In reality, it was a trimonthly gathering of all heads of the Triad’s French branch. They were all, aside from her and her mother, from different cities across the country. She was almost back to her penthouse when she saw it, a man leaning against the wall of her building and staring at the five star Italian restaurant across the street. The restaurant that just so happened to be her eighteenth birthday gift from Mama, and a front for a smuggling ring the Triad had started almost ten years ago. They didn’t smuggle drugs or guns, but refugees, people who needed a new place to call home for some reason or another. Could he be a cop? Or worse, from the Russians? They had been rearing their heads again, trying to push their experimental heroine blend onto Triad streets, and Sabine had been sure to stomp them into the dust.

Waving her hand nonchalantly, her guards paused, and Marinette advanced on the man. His eyes snapped to hers, and his gaze seemed to bore into her very soul. His hair was peeking out from under a rather beat up beanie, and most of it was black, aside from a few white strands hanging over his eyes. She could see that under his mismatched clothes, he was wrapped like a mummy in bandages.

“Sir, are you okay?” She asked, raising her hands to show she means no harm.

“I... I’m from Talia. She said to find -” He manage to get out, before his eyes roll back in his head and he drops like a brick.

“Boys!” Marinette calls, and her guards, two men from the Italians, ‘gifted’ to her as goodwill gifts on her sixteenth birthday, Tony and Bobby, leapt into action, grabbing the man under the arm and throwing his arms over their shoulders. Marinette grabbed her key card from her phone wallet and swiped it at the keypad that opened the door to the lobby. The building was owned entirely by members of the Triad, filled with families of those in service to the organization. It was securely guarded 24/7, and the higher up in the building you were, the higher ranked you were. Marinette was in the penthouse, an entire floor to herself. Her guards and closest confidants had apartments on the floor just below her. Waving off the doorman, Marinette made her way straight for the elevator bay and pressed the call button for her personal elevator.

The ride was agonizingly slow, but after what felt like hours, the car arrived at her hallway. Digging her keys out of her purse, Marinette quickly unlocked the door and ushered her guards inside.

“Set him on the couch and go home, I need to check him for injuries.” Tony and Bobby shared a discomforted look, but nodded and obeyed her orders. Marinette quickly grabbed her first aid kit from the bathroom, a massive, clunky thing that could probably stock a small doctor’s office for days. When she came back, the man was still asleep on the couch, breathing slowly and deep. Now that she looked him over more carefully, his clothes were clearly stolen, as none of them seemed to fit quite the same. With a sigh, Marinette drew the medical scissors from the case and began to casually cut away his jacket. Underneath that was a hoodie, with presumably another layer underneath. This would take a while. Sighing, Marinette pulled away and threw aside the scraps of material. There didn’t seem to be any blood on him, but she would have to keep going to be sure. After the hoodie came a long sleeve shirt and a tank-top, and he was left coated in bandages from the waist up. He was swaddled like a damn mummy, oddly enough. He had mentioned Auntie Talia...could she have? No, Great-Uncle Ras would never allow some random outsider or underling to be bathed in the pits, he was far too possessive for that.

Right as she started cutting upwards from the hem of the man’s pant legs, he sat bolt right up, gasping. He saw her and scrambled backwards, while Mari just raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him.

“Where am I?” He demanded, eyes darting around the living room.

“Relax, my name is Marinette, and you’re in Paris, in my penthouse. I found you outside, you collapsed. My guards and I brought you in. I started cutting away your clothes so that I could assess you for injuries. I believe you’ve had some experience with my Auntie Talia and her League, and she sent you to find me. She would have said to find ‘she who rises’. It’s the meaning of my name, Marinette. Now, please sit down. I’m not armed, and I don’t intend to harm you. Look, you can pat me down if you need to make sure I’m not armed at all.” The man gave her a wary look, before taking a deep breath and sitting back down on the couch, perched on the very edge of the cushion. Good, Auntie Talia had instilled him with some preservation instincts.

“So, Auntie? I’m going to assume you’re related to Ras and Damain, then.”

“Not at all.” Marinette scoffed. “My family runs the Parisian Triad, and all future heads are trained by the League for a year and a day. Ras trained my mother at the same time as Talia was beginning to train. They consider themselves sisters, making Talia my Auntie. I am, however, Damian’s godmother. He’s a sweet boy, once you put aside the homicidal tendencies. Are you hungry? I can have the place across the street, the one you were staking out, run us some food. Anything specific you want? Their ravioli is to die for.”

“That would...that would be great. I’ll eat anything.” The man (who looked to be around her age, late twenties) seemed caught off guard by her kindness.

“So, it appears you have me at a disadvantage. You know my name, but I don’t know yours.” Marinette commented, texting James, the head chef of Nona Gina’s to bring over her usual plus a plate of ravioli.

“My name is Jason. So, you mentioned the Parisian Triad.”

“Yup. My Mama is the current head, I have a year and a half before I take over. Tradition states I become head on my twenty-fifth birthday.”

“Any chance you’re looking for a new body guard? I’m gonna need to find a job, and I can guarantee that I’m good.” Marinette paused, thinking for a moment. Both her guards were more than adequate, but Bobby had come to her last week, and asked to be transferred to a more sedate job, as his wife (Laura, a lovely woman) had just birthed their third child, and he wanted a little more time off. Jason, on one hand, was likely League trained, and probably had no where else to go. On the other hand, he was a complete unknown, and it would be a week at least before she would be able to contact Auntie Talia and have a response as to whether the man was telling the truth. Well, Bridgette always said she was too soft.

“Good news for you is, I am. You can start as soon as the family doctor looks you over and gives you a clean bill of health. The issue is, what will your cover be?”

“Er, cover?” Jason asked.

“I’m going to need an excuse to suddenly have a random guy escorting me all over Paris, and it’s not exactly common knowledge that I’m the next head of the Triad. I’m also something of a public figure here in Paris.” Marinette blushed at the reminder. Her brand, MDC, had taken off not long after she graduated, thanks to Jagged bragging about her at every turn. “I mean,” she snorted. “we could go the route of claiming you’re my boyfriend or something.” Giggling, Marinette stood and made her way towards her room. “Try to think of something, while I grab a quick shower. I can’t stand family meetings.” Leaving Jason seated on the couch, lost in thought, Marinette shut her door behind her and fired off a quick text to the number saved as “Auntie T’ in her main phone, before grabbing a pair of pajamas from her walk in and heading to the attached bathroom. She had some thinking to do.

#jasonette #maribat #badass marinette #tw: triad #FLAF #my writing

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jmsa1287 · 4 years

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A Year in Review: The 25 Best Films of 2019

This list may seem a few months late from the rest of the media, but I consider the movie season to stretch 14 months, from the start of the Sundance Film Festival in January through the end of the Oscars ceremony in February. This year's movie season was shortened as the 92nd Academy Awards were held about three weeks earlier than usual, commencing on Feb. 9. Of course, South Korean director Bong Jon-ho's "Parasite" took home the Best Picture prize making history as the Academy's first-ever non-English language film to take home the top award.

Now that the Oscars have officially wrapped up, and the 2020 movie season is revving up (to a weak start), I feel comfortable with sharing my favorite 25 films of 2019. From box office hits to smaller gems, below is a breakdown of the top films that debuted last year.

25. “The Beach Bum,” directed by Harmony Korine

24. “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” directed by Marielle Heller

23. “Toy Story 4,” directed Josh Cooley

22. “Alita: Battle Angel,” directed by Robert Rodriguez

21. “The Lighthouse,” directed by Robert Eggers

20. “A Long Day’s Journey into Night,” directed by Bi Gan

19. “Doctor Sleep,” directed by Mike Flanagan

18. “6 Underground,” directed by Michael Bay

17. “Uncut Gems,” directed by Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie

16. “The Nightingale,” directed by Jennifer Kent

15. “Hustlers,” directed by Lorene Scafaria

Lorene Scafaria's "Hustlers" might be the most fun film of 2019, composed of brilliant shots and serving as a spotlight to showcase Jennifer Lopez's talents. Mostly set during the 2008 recession, the film is a condemnation of late stage capitalism while following a group of strippers, played by Lopez as well as Constance Wu, Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart and more, who drug wealthy men and steal from them — until their crimes catch up with them.

14. “The Farewell,” directed by Lulu Wang

An impressive debut feature from Lulu Wang, "The Farewell" is a special kind of family tale, featuring a breakout performance from comedian Awkwafina. Rooted from Wang's true story (which was first turned into an episode of "This American Life"), "The Farewell" is unlike any kind of family drama you've seen; a deeply personal, sad but ultimately uplifting film about the things we choose to tell (and not tell) those closest to us.

13. "Asako I & II," directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Following up his six-hour film "Happy Hour," Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi's "Asako I & II" clocks in at just two hours but still manages to pack in a number of the same themes. Here, a young woman named Asako (Erika Karata) briefly falls in love with a handsome boy named Baku (Masahiro Higashide) in her hometown in rural Japan before he suddenly vanishes. After moving to Tokyo a few years later, Asako spots Baku — but he tells her his name is Ryohei (also played by Higashide). From there, a relationship blooms and unravels. Similar to "Happy Hour," Hamaguchi's effortless ability to draw an emotional response from the ebbs and flows of deep, personal relationships (between friends, family, lovers) is unparalleled.

12. "Climax," directed by Gasper Noé

Gasper Noé is often hit-or-miss with most movie audiences. His films are always provocative and his latest feature "Climax" is no exception. Set in the 90s, a French dance troupe rehearses a routine ("Climax" opens with the single best scene of 2019) before celebrating for the night with some snacks and sangria — which someone has spiked with LSD. The rest of the film plays out like a perverse whodunnit while the group, led by Sofia Boutella, tries to figure out what's going on before losing their minds and allowing deep secrets ruin their lives.

11. "The Irishman," directed by Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese's long-awaited return to the gangster flick resulted in a three-and-a-half-hour epic. "The Irishman," which reunites Marty with Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, also stars Al Pacino (the first time the actor appeared in a film by the acclaimed director), as Jimmy Hoffa. The film is Scorsese's most meditative work outside his films about religion. There is as much subtext to the film as there is text, making "The Irishman" a dazzling feat of filmmaking and storytelling, featuring outstanding performances from its three leads.

10. "Gloria Bell," directed by Sebastián Lelio

Since his 2017 breakout film "A Fantastic Woman," Sebastián Lelio's career has been quite quiet. Nevertheless, the English-language remake of his own Chilean-Spanish film "Gloria," re-titled "Gloria Bell," is a stunning piece of filmmaking. Starring Julianne Moore as the titular character, the film follows the middle age single woman through the ups and downs of her dating and family life. It's an unassumingly beautiful film that is gorgeous and features one of Moore's best performances to date.

09. "Her Smell," directed by Alex Ross Perry

Alex Ross Perry's career has dramatically shifted since working with Elisabeth Moss on the 2015 thriller "Queen of Earth." Instead of making quirky New York City centric love stories (a la Noah Baumbach and Woody Allen before him), Perry once again teams up with Moss for "Her Smell." Structured like a five-act play, the film follows Becky Something (Moss), the leader of an all-girl punk group. In what is Moss's best performance to date, Becky is an addict and downright evil at times as she manipulates those around her. It's a dizzying feat of filmmaking that puts Moss to the test.

08. "Ad Astra," directed by James Gray

Brad Pitt won the Oscar for his performance in "Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood," but "Ad Astra" was his best performance in 2019. Following up his 2016 masterpiece "The Lost City of Z," director James Gray continues on his path of making ambitious epics, moving from the Amazon to the depths of our solar system. Here Pitt's Roy McBride is on a mission to find his father (Tommy Lee Jones), who is literally lost in space. Roy has to confront his issues with his father as he battles moon pirates, rabid baboons and his inner demons. "Ad Astra" is not only an impressive film for Grey, but Pitt's turn as the sad spaceman is nuanced and shows how much range the Hollywood icon actually has.

07. "Honeyland," directed by Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska

"Honeyland" made Oscars history when it became the first film to be nominated in both Best International Feature Film and Best Documentary Feature — and for good reason. Clocking in at just 85 minutes, Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska's stunningly beautiful film follows Hatidže Muratova, a beekeeper living in a remote village in North Macedonia. But "Honeyland" is so much more than that; it's a universal story about our delicate ecosystem, fickle Mother Nature, taking care of our family and having bad neighbors. In what may seem like a specific tale turns out to be incredibly relatable, with Stefanov and Kotevska achieving some of the best nonfiction filmmaking in years.

06. "Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood," directed by Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino's penultimate film "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood" is a love letter to Tinseltown. Here, he honors the summer of 1969 as the film industry is thriving with newcomers like Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and aging stars like Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio in his best performance ever). Rick is a TV villain and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) is along for the ride. "OUATIH" is more of a hangout movie than something one would expect from QT; it's more in line with the sophistication of "Jackie Brown" than the over-the-top cartoon violence found in "Django Unchained." Like Martin Scorsese's "The Irishman," "OUATIH" is a contemplative and meditative look at aging, youth culture and America through the prism that is Tarantino.

05. "Midsommar," directed by Ari Aster

Following up his horror masterpiece "Hereditary" just one year later, Ari Aster returned with the daylight gonzo vacation nightmare "Midsommar." Like with "Hereditary" and its star Toni Collette, Ari gets a stunning performance out of rising star Florence Pugh, who plays Dani. She just suffered a major tragedy and is decides to go on a trip to a remote village in Sweden with her aloof boyfriend (Jack Reynor) and his college pals. The trip, of course, is worse than anyone could have imagined and plays out in complete sunlight, making Aster's daytime nightmare incredibly upsetting and one of the most vibrant horror films ever made.

04. "Pain and Glory," directed by Pedro Almodóvar

Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar returned last year with "Pain and Glory," unlike any movie he's made in his nearly 40-year career. It's a deeply personal film and one of his most quiet and contemplative. It also reunites the filmmaker with Antonio Banderas — in his best role ever — who starred in Almodóvar's earlier films and his 2011 horror film "The Skin I Live in." Despite it being far removed from Almodóvar's oeuvre, it still fits in snugly with his work, resulting in a beautiful and self-reflexive film about age, lost love and the past.

03. "Little Women," directed by Greta Gerwig

On paper, remaking "Little Women" in 2019 might have seemed like a fool's errand. But Greta Gerwig's take on the classic story, and her follow up to her breakthrough film "Lady Bird," gave a new purpose to Louisa May Alcott's centuries old story about the March sisters living in Concord, Mass. During the Civil War. Here, Gerwig assembles the hottest cast of 2019 (Saoirse Ronan, Timothée Chalamet, Florence Pugh, Emma Watson, Laura Dern, Eliza Scanlen, Bob Odenkirk, Louis Garrel, Chris Cooper and Meryl Streep), enlists Alexander Displat for the score and Yorick Le Saux to carry out luscious cinematography. But it's Gerwig's breakdown of the story and her daring changes to the novel that make her rendition of "Little Women" vital and beautiful. She manages to retain the Alcott's tone and vibrance while bringing something wholly original to a story we've seen time and time again, proving Gerwig is a master storyteller.

02. "Parasite," directed by Bong Joon-ho

Bong Joon-ho's "Parasite" took the world by storm. A true tour de force, the South Korean film started hot out of the gate, winning the Palme d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival, blazing its way to win Best Picture at the Oscars earlier this month. And rightfully so — "Parasite" is a relatable tale about class struggle unlike any other film in its genre. Joon-ho, who has other masterpieces under his belt ("Mother," "Memories of Murder"), is in total control of his film; a true craftsman and storyteller, who knows how to build tension, introduce bits of comedy and create compelling characters. The film is complex yet fully understandable; a truly accomplished piece of filmmaking that will become a gateway for world cinema.

01. "Marriage Story," directed by Noah Baumbach

Noah Baumbach's "Marriage Story" is his most sophisticated and considered film to date. Following a couple (Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson) going through a divorce, Baumbach crafts a personal story with a raw script that is executed by astonishing performances from its two leads and its wonderful supporting cast (Laura Dern, Alan Alda, Ray Liotta, Merritt Wever). For so many films about finding love, there are few that are directly about the end of a relationship or divorce and Baumbach's intimate tale is a dazzling feat of not only writing, but acting and understanding of how all the moving pieces of a movie can coalesce into a breathtaking piece of art.

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eddycurrents · 5 years

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For the week of 7 October 2019

Quick Bits:

Batman & The Outsiders #6 concludes “Lesser Gods” from Bryan Hill, Dexter Soy, Veronica Gandini, and Clayton Cowles. We get another “Batman’s doing something naughty” hint as Ishmael and co attempt to turn Cass and Duke to Ra’s al Ghul’s cause. This is less a hard end than a twist to lead into what might be coming next.

| Published by DC Comics

Black Hammer / Justice League: Hammer of Justice #4 gives us an explanation for what the Stranger did to zap the heroes across their respective realities, even as the more hot-headed Justice League members continue to cause problems on DC’s Earth. I’m still loving the eerie darkness that Michael Walsh is bringing to the art. It keeps it more consistent with the feel established by Dean Ormston and Dave Stewart, making it feel more like a Black Hammer story.

| Published by Dark Horse & DC Comics

Blade Runner 2019 #4 concludes the first arc. Michael Green, Mike Johnson, Andres Guinaldo, Marco Lesko, and Jim Campbell have done a great job capturing the overall feel of the Blade Runner franchise and it pays off here with one hell of a harrowing end, with a nice twist for what’s to come.

| Published by Titan

Buffy + Angel: Hellmouth #1 begins the event in earnest, even though you really do need to read the prelude issue of Buffy the Vampire Slayer to get the real first part of this story, from Jordie Bellaire, Jeremy Lambert, Eleonora Carlini, Cris Peter, and Ed Dukeshire. It’s good. As Spike and Dru’s first step in opening the Hellmouth causes havoc through Sunnydale, Buffy and Angel team up to try to stop what’s coming next.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Catwoman #16 has some truly stunning, beautiful artwork from Joëlle Jones and Laura Allred. It might also have a huge change on Selina’s status. Though, how exactly it fits in with “City of Bane” or anything else is anyone’s guess. Still, very nice artwork.

| Published by DC Comics

Coffin Bound #3 is even darker and more disturbing than what we’ve seen in the first two issues, going deep into some of Izzy and Cassandra’s past, while Cassandra’s sister learns how to be a peeler. Dan Watters, Dani, Brad Simpson, and Aditya Bidikar are doing something very different with this series.

| Published by Image

Collapser #4 feels like both a test and a turning point for Liam, one that almost seems like he failed. Liam’s new manager turns out to be a “Star Person”, and it feels like she’s leading him into temptation, as we seemingly can’t trust what we see. Mikey Way, Shaun Simon, Ilias Kyriazis, Cris Peter, and Simon Bowland are continuing to delivering one of the best, strangest trips out there.

| Published by DC Comics / Young Animal

Contagion #2 keeps this largely street-level, only reaching out to the Avengers as more or less support for the moment, as Iron Fist tries to deal with further eruptions of the contagion. Ed Brisson, Stephen Segovia, Veronica Gandini, and Cory Petit certainly make this feel grim as everything continues to go wrong.

| Published by Marvel

Detective Comics #1013 reveals more of what Mister Freeze has been up to, pushing some rather disturbing experiments as he continues to try to find a cure for his wife. Including a rather troubling cliffhanger that looks like it might upend a lot of what we think we know about Freeze’s situation. Very entertaining story here from Peter J. Tomasi, Doug Mahnke, Keith Champagne, Christian Alamy, David Baron, and Rob Leigh.

| Published by DC Comics

Doctor Doom #1 is an offbeat debut from Christopher Cantwell, Salvador Larroca, Guru e-FX, and Cory Petit. While it shows us some of the day to day runnings Doom does for Latveria, it sets up a mystery as his countries missiles and more launch an attack on a moon project designed to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Nice bits of humour in this one.

| Published by Marvel

Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror - Season Two #1 is a welcome return of this series, with a fun lead story playing through many of Poe’s luminary tales in “The Tell-Tale Black Cask of Usher” from Dean Motter, Alex Ogle, and Julie Barclay. Really great seeing new work from Motter. This issue is rounded out by the usual poetry, prose pieces, and the return of Hunt Emerson’s Black Cat.

| Published by Ahoy

Event Leviathan #5 works further at the identity of Leviathan, throwing a few more suspects on the fire, along with the possible death of an important character. Also, you’re probably never going to guess who this issue points at being Leviathan. Gorgeous artwork from Alex Maleev as always.

| Published by DC Comics

The Flash #80 continues to dismantle the new forces and characters built up recently as Zoom and the Black Flash separately try to eliminate the force users. Great art here from Scott Kolins and Luis Guerrero. Kolins is the perfect choice to usher in this next stage in Zolomon’s story.

| Published by DC Comics

Gotham City Monsters #2 is even better than the first issue, working through Melmoth’s resurrection and gathering the team with invested purpose to bring about his end. There’s also added depth in that Melmoth may very well be right about part of his plan, just not necessarily in his execution. It could add some modicum of moral quandary depending on which way this goes. Steve Orlando, Amancay Nahuelpan, Trish Mulvihill, and Tom Napolitano are doing some very nice work here.

| Published by DC Comics

Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy #2 continues the confrontation with Woodrue, building on elements from Justice League Dark, even as something is very, very wrong with Poison Ivy. There’s a more refined, controlled humour here than what we see in the Harley Quinn series itself and it seems to fit the more serious tone of the subject matter. I’m really liking the art from Adriano Melo, Mark Morales, and Hi-Fi.

| Published by DC Comics

Hawkman #17 brings Carter’s battle with the Shadow Thief to a close, but he takes a turn for the worse as the title runs deeper into the “Year of the Villain” event and the fallout from The Batman Who Laugh’s infected. It’s interesting how Robert Venditti, Pat Olliffe, Tom Palmer, Jeremiah Skipper, and Richard Starkings & Comicraft deal with these multiple spinning plates. Especially that very nice cliffhanger.

| Published by DC Comics

Ice Cream Man #15 is one of the stranger issues, which is really saying a bit considering that the series itself is regularly very strange. It’s dark, with a protagonist who seems to be suffering a psychotic break. W. Maxwell Prince, Martín Morazzo, Chris O’Halloran, and Good Old Neon continue to work magic with this horror series.

| Published by Image

Invaders #10 continues “Dead in the Water” from Chip Zdarsky, Carlos Magno, Butch Guice, Alex Guimarães, and Travis Lanham. Some interesting complications here as Roxxon is further added to the mix and Roman starts making more problems for Atlantis. A really nice set up for something new from Steve and Namor too.

| Published by Marvel

Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity #1, like Harleen #1 before it, surprised me. There’s a current saturation of Joker and Harley Quinn stories at the moment, spurred on by the movies, and it kind of tempers expectations. Thankfully, though, the start to this story from Kami Garcia, Mico Suayan, Mike Mayhew, and Richard Starkings is really rather good. It sets Harley as a criminal profiler, trying to figure out Joker’s murders, really getting inside this new take on her character and developing a more grounded crime thriller. The art from Mico Suayan is gorgeous, presented in greyscale, in contrast to the full-colour, photo reference of Mike Mayhew for flashbacks. I thought it was an interesting choice to present it that way, bucking convention for the flashbacks taking on a faded appearance. It gives the overall story a grittier feel for the present.

| Published by DC Comics - Black Label

Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Allegiance #1 is kind of a slow start to this intermediary step between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker from Ethan Sacks, Luke Ross, Lee Loughridge, and Clayton Cowles. There’s an interesting bit of showing just how evil the First Order really is, but a lot of what we get here is a regathering of the team. Gorgeous artwork from Ross and Loughridge.

| Published by Marvel

Justice League Odyssey #14 sees Dan Abnett, Chriscross, Cliff Richards, Le Beau Underwood, Danny Miki, Scott Hanna, Rain Beredo, Pete Pantazis, and AndWorld Design keep building this new team to confront Darkseid and his “new gods”. I really quite like the inversion of what we saw at the beginning, as Jessica Cruz is now working with villains attempting to do something heroic. We also get a reveal of Okkult, who is probably who everyone thought he was in the first place.

| Published by DC Comics

Livewire #11 gets at a point that was seemingly dropped in the wake of Harbinger Wars 2 in what the US government and their arms-length black ops group did in the Massacre, of how problematic rounding up and murdering a group of people are via American laws. I love that Vita Ayala, Tana Ford, Kelly Fitzpatrick, and Saida Temofonte pick it up here and incorporate it into another angle for this political warfare.

| Published by Valiant

Loki #4 concludes “The God Who Fell to Earth” and Loki’s conflict with Nightmare in fairly inventive fashion. Daniel Kibblesmith has been delivering some fairly interesting ideas here while planting more seeds for different permutations.

| Published by Marvel

Oliver #4 was well worth the wait. Gary Whitta, Darick Robertson, Diego Rodriguez, and Simon Bowland pack this confrontation full of action, with some absolutely beautiful artwork from Robertson and Rodriguez. Some very harrowing character moments as the story takes its next turn.

| Published by Image

Outer Darkness #11 is insanely good as John Layman, Afu Chan, and Pat Brosseau give us the first part of the two-part “season finale” to the series. The crew take shore leave as Rigg goes about interviewing what we think are replacement crew and a meeting with his superior, and then...well, you’re really going to have to read this issue. Great stuff.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Pretty Deadly: The Rat #2 is magnificent, delving into more of the existing mythology from the previous volumes, while still continuing on the new narrative for this era that started last issue. The repeated incorporation of visual motifs inspired by the film industry is a very nice touch. Kelly Sue DeConnick, Emma Rios, Jordie Bellaire, and Clayton Cowles are giving us a very compelling mystery here.

| Published by Image

Ronin Island #7 pushes the bandits and the Shogun into confrontation and...none of it goes exactly to Kenichi’s plan. Greg Pak, Giannis Milonogiannis, Irma Kniivila, and Simon Bowland continue to unfold this story in interesting ways, while Hana and Kenichi’s childhood lessons come back to both haunt and empower them.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Shoplifters Will Be Liquidated #1 is an interesting debut from Patrick Kindlon, Stefano Simeone, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. Set within a rather expansive big box store, it presents an extreme look at consumer culture and the lengths that this store’s loss prevention staff goes to in order to get their man. It’s rather cutthroat, literally.

| Published by AfterShock

Sonata #5 unveils a bit more about the planet and the Lumani, revealing an interesting depth to their technology that’s seemingly been abandoned and their method of reproduction. Mixing that in with the action of trying to save members of the two colonizers in conflict keeps the pace moving along. Gorgeous artwork from Brian Haberlin and Geirrod Van Dyke.

| Published by Image / Shadowline

Spawn #301 continues the story and structure of #300, with Todd McFarlane, Greg Capullo, Jason Shawn Alexander, Clayton Crain, Jerome Opeña, Jonathan Glapion, FCO Plascencia, Peter Steigerwald, Matt Hollingsworth, John Rauch, Greg Menzie, Jay Fotos, and Tom Orzechowski breaking it down into numerous chapters, dealing with the various different elements. Some interesting new characters revealed again, even though we only get a bit about them.

| Published by Image

Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order - Dark Temple #3 reveals a few more secrets in the past, even as the Inquisitor searches for them in the present. Gorgeous artwork from Paolo Villanelli and Arif Prianto. It definitely feels like something weird is going on here.

| Published by Marvel

Star Wars Adventures: Return to Vader’s Castle #2 is another great entry into this series, with a central story illustrated this time by Kelley Jones and Michelle Madsen. It’s a wonderful monster story with one of Tarkin’s experiments, showing us what really makes up a monster.

| Published by IDW

Supergirl #35 sees Marc Andreyko, Eduardo Pansica, Julio Ferreira, FCO Plascencia, and Tom Napolitano juggling about as many plates as they are over in Hawkman. There’s “Year of the Villain” stuff and a rather deep tie-in to Event Leviathan as Leviathan makes a pitch for Kara to join him.

| Published by DC Comics

Superman #16 reunites Jon and Damian one last time before Jon heads off to join the Legion in the future, from Brian Michael Bendis, David Lafuente, Paul Mounts, and Dave Sharpe. It’s a fun, heartfelt send-off with some very funny moments, including a renaming of Leviathan that will hopefully stick.

| Published by DC Comics

These Savage Shores #5 brings an end to one of the most beautifully told stories in comics in the past few years. Ram V, Sumit Kumar, Vittorio Astone, and Aditya Bidikar have done an incredible thing with this story, giving new depth and nuance to tragic romance and the vampire story. This conclusion is heartrending as we see how far Bishan will go for love, in an epic confrontation between vampire and raakshas. Everyone owes it to themselves to read this series. Simply phenomenal.

| Published by Vault

Thumbs #5 is the conclusion to what has been a wonderful series from Sean Lewis and Hayden Sherman. There are some really interesting ideas, subverting the ideologies of both factions, showing realizations that maybe there might just be a better way.

| Published by Image

Triage #2 delves deeper into the three multiversal versions of Evie, contemplating how they came about while trying to figure out a way to stop whoever it is that’s hunting them. There’s some sweet and funny character moments with the main “normal” universe’s Evie and Tab. Phillip Sevy is doing a great job of juggling both the ordinary and extraordinary in this story.

| Published by Dark Horse

Vampirella/Red Sonja #2 is more fun from Jordie Bellaire, Drew Moss, Rebecca Nalty, and Becca Carey. The issues between Vampirella and Sonja become greater, even as they get a spell to understand one another. There’s a really nice mix of humour and action here.

| Published by Dynamite

Web of Black Widow #2 is another great issue. What Jody Houser, Stephen Mooney, Tríona Farrell, and Cory Petit are doing here feels perfect for Black Widow, giving us an action-packed story full of intrigue, even as it keeps us off-balance as to what exactly is going on.

| Published by Marvel

Wonder Twins #8 throws in a prison break and a high school reunion into the reasons why you should be reading this series. Mark Russell, Mike Norton, Cris Peter, and Dave Sharpe deliver another humorous chapter to this series, with some rather interesting heartbreak.

| Published by DC Comics / Wonder Comics

Other Highlights: Absolute Carnage: Miles Morales #3, Age of Conan: Valeria #3, Amazing Spider-Man #31, Animosity #24, Batman Universe #4, The Batman’s Grave #1, Battlepug #2, East of West #43, Future Fight Firsts: White Fox #1, Ghosted in LA #4, GI Joe: A Real American Hero #267, Go Go Power Rangers #24, Gwenpool Strikes Back #3, House of Whispers #14, Immortal Hulk: Director’s Cut #5, Joker: Year of the Villain #1, Jughead: The Hunger vs. Vampironica #5, Magnificent Ms. Marvel #8, Marvel Action: Spider-Man #9, Miles Morales: Spider-Man #11, Oblivion Song #20, Postal: Deliverance #4, Power Rangers: The Psycho Path, Powers of X #6, Reaver #4, Redneck #24, RWBY (print) #1, RWBY (digital) #4, Secrets of Sinister House #1, Star Wars: Target Vader #4, Thought Bubble Anthology 2019, TMNT: Urban Legends #17, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #49, Unearth #4, Usagi Yojimbo #5, Wonder Woman #80

Recommended Collections: A Walk Through Hell - Volume 2, Baltimore Omnibus - Volume 1, Battlestar Galactica Classic: Counterstrike, Battlestar Galactica: Twilight Command, Black Hammer ‘45 - Volume 1, Blossoms 666, Hack/Slash vs. Chaos, The Silencer - Volume 3: Up in Smoke, War of the Realms: Punisher, Wizard Beach

d. emerson eddy is ready for some shashlik.

#This Week in Comics

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sole-cuore-amore-e-droga · 5 years

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Tel Aviv 2019: Straight outta Latvia to Eurovision with a cinematic French rendez-vous

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Supernova with their strict-on decision to only focus on all that’s radiofriendly this year went to hell for me. I mean, I like me some pop tunes, but not those that are purposefully marketed to be enjoyed by the massive sheeps of the Eurofandom who usually fall for those songs by Michael James Down, Will Taylor, even Ylva & Linda... because at the end of the day they’re all just shallow and pointless outside the ESC bubble.

Well the best they could do is to accept some different winds out of nowhere! And so they did when the audition stage hit place and we guys got to witness the 33 shortlisted tunes for this year, among which of them are loudly and proudly different - like “Alligator” and “Grow”, which I did not fathom but I was also raging for their not qualification for - more precisely “Alligator” which was way more outstanding of those two I mentioned. The guys that performed that song were fun, their performance choice was fun, they could have totally rocked on Supernova... but alas.

In fact not that many alternative songs made it to the final down-to-16 cut! There might have been a couple of those that sound nothing a radio would play unless it’s not playing pop on its purpose (Laime Pilnīga’s ”Awe” comes to mind right away), but in the end of the day, not many of those survived and we were graced with some... choices, like letting Samanta Tina waste herself on a cocky-ass tune with terrible chorus rhyme-scheme and unbearable charisma and putting through the most Eirodziesma-like mess-fest with the Beaver guy on top of it. Honey I like you in costume but... not in this emploi.

I don’t blame them though, as one of non-blatant-pop tunes conquered the Latvian hearts for this year. These next Latvian people in Laura Rizzotto’s succession are collectively named Carousel and their song is “That Night”.

It sets a romantic mood throughout, like we all are reliving this magical last date - it was in a restaurant, the candles were lit, the restaurant looked vintage with bordeaux satin tablecloth on the table, and the couple is having a smooth evening... until the love runs out to the probably cold and rainy streets and the other half of the couple starts longing for one's love. That's all I can imagine with this.

So yeah, I really like this! It's got lovely instrumentation that doesn't need all the over the top instruments - just guitar, simple drums, etc.; the noir flair is distinct on here and that's not bad on here; this is just a simple and soft song that you too could play in your own restaurants when all the lovely couples have romantic dinners and sip wine. And in some kind of a French movie, too (with the lead role being a curly redhead artiste with striped sweater, looking for love in Paris (because it’s so romantic in there honhonhon). I'm not sure if the revamp touched upon this one little problem I noticed but the problem kinda seems to be that the chorus repeats. A lot. And verses are way too short that they could be easily forgotten against the 4th and 5th time one would be hearing the "lo-o-o-o-ove, where? Are? You?" line, and then lulled into sleep at how peacefully relaxing it is. Which is indeed of a problem because repetition has quite a bit of a negative effect on people. Yes, it gets the song onto your brain more easily, but the repetition drives people insane too. Just like it was suspected for “Story of My Life” (Belarus 2017) on its original version to be unable to be ‘stood’ - after the 2nd chorus, the rest of the song just went like “hey hey hayayayaho” until the end. Naviband fixed the problem by throwing in another vocal onomatopoeia in a form of the song bridge and I loved them for it, even if there still were too many “hey hey hey”s at the end, haha.

Final conclusion? Yep, issa good entry, and if anything it’s helluva underrated. Say what you want about it being “boring”, to me it’s somewhat fresh and exciting, because the melodies are pleasant, the instrumentation is top notch and Sabīne’s vocals are relaxing. Delightful starry night music, oh yes, thanks a lot for it, Carousel, I’m taking it.

Obviously, after they won Supernova, there was a lowkey uprising from fans who were dead certain on wanting Edgars Kreilis or Markus Riva to win, eek. Honeys, honeys. I do like those two as well, BUT for a bit of a mess that Supernova 2019 was with some of their decisions to include, I think it’s for the better they finally let themselves go lighthearted over it all rather than blatant tryhard to sound radio for the masses just cuz the NF wanted. Just forgive Carousel for winning, okay? Okay. ^_^

Approval factor: Definite yes from me, because why wouldn’t I rate it a yes. Yay brotherland!

Follow-up factor: For me personally this is miles better than Laura Rizzotto's last year's melodrama. Overall I think it just flows nice and is a delightful addition to the Latvian collection.

Qualification factor: This I cannot think about all too often but I am not sure if they'd... stand a chance anymore? I'd use to think it did, but that was weeks before supposedly much stronger entries rushed in, squeezing Latvia into an uncomfortable position. But I really hope it's just charming enough to kind of get through. Sort of. A little bit. I'm positive about it happening, but not that much. And a lot of older audiences might love it enough to vote it, too.

NATIONAL FINAL BONUS

I admit that I got way too heated about hearing Supernova’s new approach to selecting entries, but in the end it turned out that I didn’t need to worry all that much in the first place - some of those alternative entries we got were very nice (or at least the entries out of the standart overbearing radio-pop norm), both in their actual auditions (this time they were on an actual stage in front of a jury instead of the listeners pick-pocketing the submissions themselves) AND among the actual picks. But what else is there to be note-worthy in this year’s edition of this show?

• Well, among of the auditionees there were those too-weird-ass bands/artists (some of them I mentioned), and you saw me mention the “Alligator” song to you beforehand, which is done by an ambitious project ATOM.LV (so did I mention “Grow" by Waterflower and her show is worth mentioning as well <3 Those flowers in her hair, the hair color, the makeup, her overall image (it’s like Jamie-Lee upgraded) and the dance moves are ADORABLE <3333 but the song is... hmm... :c). And I’ll repeat myself - those guys rocked! I may have not been a massive fan of this but I can at least commend them - they had a good song structure going on, a clear message (alligators from the stars *catchy trumpet fanfare part* trying to probably conquer the world, yeah!) and an outrageous tribal image with that facepaint on! Awh hell yeah! Who wouldn't want THAT through the live shows??? Ah, only the Latvian juries ofc. (And me because I never got the appeal of this but I sure felt sad for 'em kids hoping and wishing for them through :x)

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• Thank Goodness I had my faves through - all hail Double Faced Eels! They're the little legendary pop band who went all their way to compete in some Youtube contest and have had sung with Bebe Rexha as the prize for winning it almost 1,5 years ago :o Believe it or not but I have heard of them way before their Sulernova stint - I got introduced to them through a friend, known on Tumblr as Soupgeist. :3 And I don't regret stanning a name I know, as "Fire", their entry in this year's 'Nova, was a pop-rock banger with some electro in! Granted the vocaliat might've had some troubles singing live but he still pulled it off nicely in the finals, with that energy coming out on top! Yeah yeah, uguns. 🔥

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• Like I mentioned earlier, there were people rooting for other favourites this year so heavily, and that annoyed the hell out of me, because I thought that Eurofans have some sort of evolving tastes that accept more than just pretty pop boys/girls with not-so-special songs? Well, I mentioned that Eurofans’ targets were Edgars Kreilis and Markus Riva. The latter felt so attacked about him trying to achieve his representation dream over and over he even tweeted about it once... well I did like his song “You Make Me So Crazy”, but I found it a little too overrated with the fans. So I did Edgars, but his song was way catchier and had way more personality than being a club track, I tell ya. Why would his song be renamed from “Fire” (yes, he partially shared a song title with that Double Faced Eels’s song!) to “Cherry Absinthe”, anyway? It gives it a bit more of an exciting feeling, tbh. ^_^ So I ended up rooting for him a little bit more out of the two ‘pretty’ pop boys, if I had to accept one of those kind of winners that everyone wanted (like everyone wanted just either yesyes or The Middletonz for Hungary this year).

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• There were a lot of other nice chosen songs too that I would’ve loved to discuss, but I just can’t not mention the Riga’s Beaver as one of the more memorable moments here. I did write earlier in this that I was disappointed though. Not because of the beaver being out of costume and coming at us as a young-to-middle-aged stunning lad, but because the Beaver-entry, “Tautasdziesma”, was a “Supernova”-times cluster-mess. I think of this as a charity music medley-parody of some sorts, and that doesn’t bode with me well, and sometimes I like parodies, like the one Klemen Slakonja (aka the guy who portrayed Putin for a musical number once) did in his country’s NF in 2012 (that he hosted) was fairly nice (although a bit too much), but... ehhh... at least the men are fine and their costumes were dandy.

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• Let’s not forget that those auditions had this one glorious thing going on during the performances - we saw shots of the jurors judging all of the 33 shortlisted acts with... rather less-than-enthusiastic looks, and man oh man were they fabulously done with this shit <3333

if that’s not a big indicator of them being too dead inside to be judging anything that day, then idk what is...

Anyway, I am finished with this review also, and I’m happy about it! I don’t think I can move any of this at a more quicker pace (seriously, I have to do so many more even during rehearsals!!!), but I am still trying to do my best. Good luck to the Carousel quartet and may they not flop in May! To hell with the naysayers sweeties, you’ll do just fine x ✨

#eurovision 2019 #tel aviv 2019 reviews #latvia 2019 #carousel #that night #latvia

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gokinjeespot · 6 years

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off the rack #1208

Monday, April 16, 2018

Today is going to be challenging here in Ottawa. Freezing rain overnight has left thick ice on everything. It's going to take a lot of muscle and time to scrape off any cars parked outside overnight. Penny has been going at hers for half and hour and she still hasn't left for work. I would normally go out and help her but I caught a bad cold and I feel like poop. I probably got the bug on the flight home from Cuba last Tuesday. My immune system let me down this trip.

Our week at the Brisas Guardalavaca resort in Cuba was near perfect. Beautiful sun every day. I took one of the resort bikes out for a ride on one of the only cloudy mornings, got rained on a little but made it back to the resort unscathed. I donned mask, snorkel and fins every afternoon but one to swim out to look for tropical fish on what remained of the reefs after last year's hurricanes. I'm happy to be home but I wish winter would finally leave the area. Just going to stay in today and try to get better.

Domino #1 - Gail Simone (writer) David Baldeon (art) Jesus Aburtov (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Killer Instinct part 1. It's my lucky day. The merc with the facial tattoo is back on the racks and she's being take care of by a writer and artist team that I like a lot. This story starts off with Neena Thurman's birthday but may end in her death day. If I didn't like this whole issue and the many guest stars so much, that last page guarantees that I will be reading the next issue.

Immortal Men #1 - Jim Lee, Ryan Benjamin & James Tynion IV (storytellers) Jim Lee & Ryan Benjamin (pencils) Scott Williams & Richard Friend (inks) Jeremiah Skipper & Alex Sinclair (colours) Carlos M. Mangual (letters). The End of Forever part 1. I used to get excited when I saw Jim Lee's name attached to a new project because his art was so fantastic. At least to me it was. His X-Men and Batman stuff made me go "wow". Now I look at his art and feel meh about it. This latest New Age of Heroes book introduces a team of immortals that are brand new to me. None of them made a positive impression. I didn't finish reading the Dark Nights Metal stories and this team ties in to that series so that's probably why I couldn't get into this debut. These Immortal Men will be short-lived.

Xerxes #1 - Frank Miller (story & art) Alex Sinclair (colours). I really liked 300 when it hit the racks 20 years ago. This new 5-issue mini promises to be just as good. This time the Greeks and the Persians go at each others' throats in 490 BC. I have an interest in ancient history so I'm going to follow this story to see what happens.

Exiles #1 - Saladin Ahmed (writer) Javier Rodriguez (pencils & colours page 4) Javier Rodriguez (pencils) Jordie Bellaire (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Here we go again with Blink leading a team of heroes to save the multiverse. This first issue introduces two team members and the big bad guy that they'll be facing. I liked this debut. It reminded me of the Unstoppable Wasp book with young Nadia. I really enjoyed Javier's art in Spider-Woman so I'm giving this new book a chance.

Batman #44 - Tom King (writer) Mikel Janin & Joelle Jones (art) June Chung & Jordie Bellaire (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). I loved the silent scenes where Selina picks out her wedding dress. Those pages are interspersed with flashbacks showing different times in Batman and Catwoman's tumultuous relationship. The lead up to the wedding has been amazing. I'm starting to get a bad feeling about the blessed event however. The "'til death do us part" part may be a nasty surprise that the creative team are going to spring on us. I really hope not.

Oblivion Song #2 - Robert Kirkman (writer) Lorenzo De Felici (art) Annalisa Leoni (colours) Russ Wooton (letters). Still liking this adventures in monster land series.

Runaways #8 - Rainbow Rowell (writer) Kris Anka (art) Triona Tree Farrell (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Julie Power/Lightspeed is all grown up. I remember reading Louise Simonson and June Brigman's book when it first hit the racks in 1984 and loving the Power Pack kids. I never would have thought that Julie would mature into the woman she is now and would be dating Karolina. Julie's visit to her girlfriend's is interrupted by a surprise villain who wants Victor's head. I was surprised because I thought he was a good guy now.

Superman #44 - Patrick Gleason & Peter J. Tomasi (writers) Doug Mahnke (pencils) Jaime Mendoza & Doug Mahnke (inks) Wil Quintana (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). Bizarroverse part 3. Thank Darkseid this story is over. This climax had more Bizarro characters so the confusion I felt while reading this issue was increased exponentially. Even the sound effects were Bizarro. I hope we get back to normal next issue.

American Gods: My Ainsel #2 - Neil Gaiman (writer) P. Craig Russell (script & layouts) Scott Hampton (art) Rick Parker (letters). Find out why this arc is called My Ainsel.

Spider-Man #239 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) Oscar Bazaldua (art) Brian Reber (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). The Sinister Six deliver their stolen S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier to the buyer. A special guest star team helps Miles to stop the handover. Somebody is going to die I bet.

Detective Comics #978 - James Tynion IV (writer) Javier Fernandez (art) John Kalisz (colours) Sal Cipriano (letters). The villain tips his hand this issue. I just noticed that all the ad pages were in the back of this book so that reading the story was a lot smoother. I wish every comic book was printed that way.

Avengers #687 - Mark Waid, Al Ewing & Jim Zub (writers) Paco Medina (pencils) Juan Vlasco (inks) Jesus Aburtov & Frederico Blee (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). No Surrender part 13. The Avengers find out what they're involved in as Voyager confesses to her duplicitousness just in time for the bad guy to ratchet up his threat to destroy the planet. The scene between Jarvis and Bruce Banner bodes well for the return of the Hulk.

Avengers #688 - Mark Waid, Al Ewing & Jim Zub (writers) Kim Jacinto & Stefano Caselli (art) David Curiel (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). No Surrender part 14. The Avengers need every hero they can assemble to defeat the Challenger after he crowns himself the Grandmaster Prime. It's going to take a lot of sacrifice to save the doomed planet. Who will not survive is the question.

Old Man Hawkeye #3 - Ethan Sacks (writer) Marco Checchetto (art) Andres Mossa (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Clint is hunting Thunderbolts and Bullseye is hunting Clint. We all know that Clint doesn't die in this story because he still has to go on a road trip with Old Man Logan. I'm curious to see how he survives Bullseye.

New Mutants #2 - Matthew Rosenberg (writer) Adam Gorham (art) Michael Garland (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). The team gets sent to the Arctic to deal with a giant problem. Meanwhile a new New Mutant makes a surprise appearance on the last page. Maybe Doug Ramsey will show up too.

Amazing Spider-Man #798 - Dan Slott (writer) Stuart Immonen (pencils) Wade von Grawbadger (inks) Marte Gracia (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Go Down Swinging part 2. I love the design of the new Red Goblin. The sacrifice that Peter has to make to keep himself and everyone he loves safe is huge. Now we'll see if he can come up with a way to beat the Red Goblin without his web shooters.

Marvel 2 in One #5 - Chip Zdarsky (writer) Valerio Schiti (art) Frank Martin (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Ben and Johnny find themselves in a universe where GalacDoom has eaten everything except Earth. Now he's going to eat it too. Then what? There's nothing left to eat. Not very bright, GalacDoom. Seeing the Silver Surfer and Emma Frost doing the Smallville thing was cool though.

All-New Wolverine #33 - Tom Taylor (writer) Ramon Rosanas (art) Nolan Woodard (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Old Woman Laura part 1. We jump into the future where Laura is queen of Madripoor after the good guys win Doom World War. Wait until you see who the POTUS is. Laura has only months to live due to a genetic glitch and one of the items on her bucket list is to kill Victor Von Doom. Someone shows up in the last panel and April 25, when the next issue hits the racks, can't come soon enough for me.

Astonishing X-Men #10 - Charles Soule (writer) Aco (pencils) David Lorenzo (inks) Rachelle Rosenberg (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). A Man Called X part 4. As much as I liked Aco's art in the Nick Fury mini, I didn't think it suited that spy versus spy story. It's perfect for this reality warping story though. The team tries to save the villagers of Fetters Hill in the Scottish Highlands from the villain Proteus before he can spread his madness even further. I'm interested to see how they do that.

X-Men Red #3 - Tom Taylor (writer) Mahmud Asrar (art) Ive Svorcina (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). The Hate Machine part 3. I don't remember much about the villain Cassandra Nova but it's clear she's one very nasty person in the first three pages. I'm not usually a fan of super hero teams but Tom Taylor writes the All-New Wolverine and Gabby and Laura are on this team so this book stays on my "must read" list.

Star Wars: Darth Vader #14 - Charles Soule (writer) Giuseppe Camuncoli (pencils) Daniele Orlandini (inks) David Curiel (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Burning Seas part 3. Vader is sent to the oceanic planet of Mon Cala to hunt down some surviving Jedi that slipped through the Empire's clutches when Order 66 was executed. The defiant Mon Calamari are thwarting his efforts. Mmm…calamari is yummy.

Captain America #700 - Mark Waid (writer) Chris Samnee (art) Matthew Wilson (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). So disappointed that a time paradox was used to beat the bad guy. All that matters to Cap fans is that Steve is back in the "present" and the series continues.

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kadobeclothing · 4 years

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Wild celebrity hair transformations in isolation from Jade Thirlwall’s natural look to Olivia Attwood’s dramatic bob

CELEBS across the world are currently in isolation and just like us, they’re missing their favourite hairdressers to sort out their tresses. However, a few have taken matters into their own hands… With some wonderful and some, er, unexpected results. 18 Elle looks cute with her strawberry pink hairCredit: InstagramPEACH CRUSH Maleficent actress Elle Fanning revealed she had ditched her bright blonde hair for a beautiful peachy-pink shade. Sharing a bathroom selfie with her 4.2 million fans, the 22-year-old looked cute as a strawberry button with her new hue. 18 Jennifer Love Hewitt really likes her new pink hairCredit: InstagramLOVE PINKActress Jennifer Love Hewitt’s grin says it all as she shows off the results of her at-home dye job. Captioning the Instagram pic, Jenn wrote: “The smile of a girl who just did at home hot pink highlights because what else can I do right now!” The 41-year-old, who doesn’t usually stray far from her signature brunette tone, gave a bashful apology to her longtime colourist, Nikki Lee. “Don’t be mad, lol,” she wrote, tagging Lee in her caption. “I really miss you!” 18 Jade’s hair looks beautiful in its natural gloryCredit: InstagramCURLY GIRLYLittle Mix star Jade Thirwall might be a thirst trap but her glorious natural-texture hair certainty isn’t. Not a dry end in sight! Since being isolated away from her regular mane man Aaron Carlo, the 27-year-old has ditched the straighteners and embraced her stunning natural texture. 18 Cheer up, Chris! Your hair doesn’t look that badCredit: InstagramTOTAL RECALLHello, Chris? The 90s called, it wants its boyband curtain ’do back. Jokes aside, if anyone can pull off this grown-out style it’s Love Island’s Chris Hughes. Just look at those blonde highlights and natural waves. Swoon! 18 Olivia Attwood proves she can pull of long of shorter hairCredit: InstagramLONG AND SHORT OF ITWhile colour and cutting are two hairdressing staples, extensions also need a lot of professional maintenance to stay looking great. Now sporting a long bob, Love Island fave Liv Attwood seems to have ditched her usual mane of longer locks for her natural length. And it looks stunning. PRETTY IN PINKJLo sizzles in hot pink underwear as she flaunts toned body on photoshootBENDY BRITBritney shows off figure as she does yoga workout to help keep her ‘sane’’SO WORRYING’Catherine Tyldesley reveals both her parents have been battling coronavirusGO ON MY SONGeordie Shore’s Aaron Chalmers welcomes baby boy with girlfriend Talia OatwayLOOKING ALL WRIGHTMichelle Keegan hits supermarket in rubber gloves – and still looks glamMOVING ONBachelor star Hannah Ann Sluss is dating a mystery man while in quarantineTIME’S UPDoctor Who’s ex show boss Steven Moffat won’t return to write new episodesbrotherly banterWhen is Brews Brothers on Netflix? Release date, cast and plotsimp-ly brilliantThe Simpsons drops new special on Disney Plus focussing on MaggieCRIME SCENEWhere is Vera filmed? Locations in Northumberland and Newcastle revealed 18 Luckily Bruce was on hand to give his daughter a haircutCredit: Instagram18 Bruce and Demi’s daughter seemed pleased with her close cropCredit: InstagramCLOSE SHAVEWhat do you do when you’re in isolation and your mum starts rewatching her smash 90s hit, G.I. Jane? Well if you’re Tallulah Willis it means asking your dad to get the clippers out and give you a number one all over. The 26-year-old shocked her followers last week when she revealed her dad, Bruce Willis, had shaved all her hair off. Fans on social media were quick to point out the striking resemblance between Tallulah and her mother Demi Moore in G.I. Jane. 18 Whoops! Iain Stirling’s girlfriend Laura Whitmore should stick to the day jobCredit: InstagramSCISSOR HAPPYLove Island narrator Iain Stirling may think his girlfriend Laura Whitmore can do no wrong but one thing she probably won’t be doing again is hairdressing. Showing off her skills to Instagram, Iain captioned the tufty, wonky-haired image: “Just let Laura cut my hair.” One fan joked: “With what? A spoon?” Ouch! Perhaps stick to the day job, Laura. 18 Tina showed off her pink new ‘doCredit: InstagramUP OUR STREETCORRIE’S Corrie star Tina O’Brien showed off her shocking bubblegum pink ‘isolation hairdo’ to fans on Instagram and they are loving it! The mum-of-two unveiled her gorgeous new hue to her followers, while pretending to look out of the window and reminisce about the days of ice cream vans. 18 Sophie’s natural curls are stunningCredit: InstagramCURLY SOPHGeordie Shore babe Sophie Kasaei has always had long, straight hair extensions but now in isolation she’s gone natural and embraced her gorgeous curly locks. The beauty, 30, wrote: “So yep this is the real me guys. Hair extensions out, make up off eyelashes gone obv I still have my brows on and aesthetics in place… my parents would be proud of me embracing my natural curls. Raise a hand for the curly hair gang Also sad there’s no curly hair emoji.” 18 Luckily he’s handsome so no one will be looking at his hairCredit: InstagramNICE BUNSChristiano Ronaldo looks delighted with his new ’do, courtesy of girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez. The 35-year-old former Manchester United superstar flashed a big grin and thumbs up as his 26-year-old love clipped his hair. Apparently insisting on keeping his man bun, he told his 210 million fans: “Stay home and keep stylish.” Spanish-Argentinian model Georgina, posted the same clip captioned “haircut by Gio” and a laughing emoji. 18 Kylie has gone for a lighter, warm apricot colourCredit: InstagramGINGER NINJAKylie Jenner, who is currently isolating at home with her daughter Stormi, showed off her shorter new length and lightened hair colour. Known for constantly changing up her styles, the queen of Instagram showed off her new dark-peach hue by Cassondra Kaeding, a Los Angeles based hair colourist whose clients include Rosie-Huntington Whiteley, Kate Hudson and Ciara. 18 Would the real Joshua Ritchie please stand upCredit: InstagramBLONDE HAZECheeky Joshua Ritchie is all smiles as he shows off his new bleach blonde crop to his 973k Instagram followers. The Love Island star unveiled his blonde ambition and revealed it was part of a ‘dye your hair’ challenge, before nominating several of Island alumni. Tagging series four winner Jack Charles, he quickly responded to the dare: “Never

”. Leave it to the professionals, Joshua! 18 Sultry Gaz has embraced iso life with a hot new lookCredit: InstagramRAZOR SHARPOne star who couldn’t wait to get the clippers out is Geordie Shore’s Gaz Beadle, who wasted no time in shaving off his hair just a week into lockdown. Uploading the photo on 29th March, he captioned it: “It’s off

#lockdownhair

”And it seems the dad-of-two is rather taken to his new ’do, uploading another photo and announcing: “Getting used to this look…

shaved hair don’t care….

” 18 The leader of the Beckham clan can pull of any lookCredit: InstagramGLORY DAYSIt must be 2004 because football hunk David Beckham is back to his glorious, shaved head. King of the changing haircuts, the patriarch of fashion’s first family debuted his drastic new look on Instagram after tiring of longer locks during isolation. Showing off the results of his trim with a black-and-white pic of his shaved bonce, he proved once again that he can pull off almost any hairstyle. 18 Cody let his girlfriend Miley Cyrus shave his hair – it must be loveCredit: InstagramBUZZING TO SEE YOUThe new Mr Miley Cyrus, Cody Simpson, let his girlfriend get busy with the clippers and shave off his former floppy-haired ’do. The 23-year-old musician let his 27-year-old beau give him a buzz cut as part of 4Ocean’s ‘Clean Cuts For Clean Oceans’ challenge to help remove trash from the sea. Keen to spread the word, Cody nominated pop superstar Justin Bieber. Over to you, Beibs. 18 Olivia’s pretty face and bubblegum pink hair makes her look sweetCredit: InstagramBUBBLEGUM QUEENLove Island star Olivia Bowen is now a bubblegum pink bombshell, after telling her fans it was “only a matter of time” before “hair boredom” struck. The 26-year-old looked beautiful in her photo for the ’gram, showing off her toned figure and impressive array of body ink. Olivia is currently isolating with hubby Alex Bowen and their two dogs at their new Essex home. 18 All hail queen Ari!Credit: ArianaGrande/TwitterSEVEN RING-LETSPop songstress Ariana Grande has ditched the straighteners, extensions and high ponytail for an altogether different look during isolation and her 180 million Instagram fans approve. One wrote, “Your hair !! thriving”, while celeb pal Katy Perry gushed: “Keep this look after quarantimes pls”. Got a story? email [email protected] or call us direct on 02077824220. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.

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bigyack-com · 4 years

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Oscars 2020: From Brad Pitt to 1917, here’s what to anticipate at 92nd Academy Awards - hollywood

After the shortest awards season in decades, the 92nd annual Academy Awards will get underway Sunday evening (Monday morning in India) at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The red carpet is being rolled out two to three weeks earlier than usual in a bid to freshen up a ceremony and potentially boost ratings.The truncated time table has put the normally bloated Oscars season on a diet (the show will also, for the second straight year, be hostless) and sent film academy members scrambling to finish their movie-watching — no small task in a year featuring a few three-hour epics like The Irishman and Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood.”Fittingly for a fast race, a movie about a mad dash has risen to the top of the heap. After winning nearly every major precursor award, Sam Mendes’ 1917, about a pair of British soldiers sent with an urgent message to deliver through recently-held enemy territory, is the favourite for best picture. Thanks to its technical dazzle, the seemingly one-continuous-shot 1917 is also likely to come away with the most awards, even without any acting nominations.

This combination of photos shows best supporting actor Oscar nominees, from left, Joe Pesci in The Irishman, Al Pacino in The Irishman, Brad Pitt in Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood, Anthony Hopkins in The Two Popes, and Tom Hanks in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. ( AP ) Will Parasite become the first non-English language film to win best picture?Although Joaquin Phoenix, Renée Zellweger, Brad Pitt and Laura Dern all appear to be all-but-certain locks in the acting categories, there’s still the potential for a history-making upset. Momentum has swung behind Bong Joon Ho’s South Korean thriller Parasite, and some believe it has a chance to become the first non-English language film to win best picture.Such a win would be a watershed moment for the Academy Awards, which has long been content to relegate international films to their own category. But in an effort to diversify its largely white and male membership, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has inducted more overseas members in recent years. And just about no one has a bad word to say about t he widely praised class satire Parasite, the Palme d’Or winner at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and the first foreign language film to win top honors from the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

This combination of photos shows best actor Oscar nominees, from left, Joaquin Phoenix in Joker, Leonardo DiCaprio in Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood, Jonathan Pryce in The Two Popes, Antonio Banderas in Pain and Glory, and Adam Driver in Marriage Story. ( AP ) Tom Hanks and Spike Lee are among the presenters The official pre-show will begin at 6:30 p.m. EST on ABC. Among the presenters the academy will lean on in the absence of a host are Tom Hanks, Maya Rudolph, Spike Lee, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Chris Rock, Timothée Chalamet, Will Ferrell, Diane Keaton and Kelly Marie Tran.The ceremony will come just days after the death of Kirk Douglas, one of the last surviving stars of Hollywood’s golden age. Kobe Bryant, a 2018 Oscar winner for the short Dear Basketball, is expected to be included in the ceremony’s In Memoriam segment.ABC and the academy will be hoping a widely watched field of nominees — including the $1 billion-grossing Joker, up for a leading 11 awards — will help viewership. Last year’s show garnered 29.6 million viewers, a 12% uptick.Will Netflix dominate at the Oscars?This year’s Oscars comes amid a streaming overhaul throughout Hollywood. Hurrying to catch up to Netflix and Amazon, most of the major studios are prepping or have already launched their own streaming services, as have new entrants like Apple. Netflix comes into the Oscars with a leading 24 nominations thanks to The Irishman, Marriage Story, The Two Popes and the likely best documentary winner, American Factory.But despite spending heavily through awards season, Netflix may go home with only a few awards. The streamer is still seeking its first best picture win after Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma came up just shy last year.

This image released by Focus Features shows Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman in a scene from Harriet. ( AP ) Oscars so white Instead, this year’s Oscar favourites are largely movies released widely in theaters. They also predominantly feature male characters and come from male directors.After a year in which women made significant gains behind the camera, no female directors were nominated for best director. The acting categories are also the least diverse since the fallout of #OscarsSoWhite pushed the academy to remake its membership. Cynthia Erivo (Harriet) is the only actor of color nominated. Those results, which have been a topic in speeches through awards season, stand in contrast to research that suggests the most popular movies star more people of color than ever before.Also read: Oscars 2020: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is a memory piece for Quentin TarantinoTicket sales slumped about 4% last year despite the Walt Disney Co.’s record $13 billion in worldwide box office. Disney, which acquired 20th Century Fox last spring, accounted for an overwhelming 38% of domestic ticket sales. And yet Disney, aside from owning the network the Oscars are broadcast on, will likely play a minor role at the Academy Awards. The studio may win best animated feature with Toy Story 4 and possibly best editing for the Fox film Ford v Ferrari.And while Democratic candidates are vying for the presidency and votes are still being counted in Iowa, former President Barack Obama may well notch another win. The first film from his and Michelle Obama’s production company, American Factory, is favoured to win best documentary.Follow @htshowbiz for more Read the full article

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abitterlifethroughcinema · 4 years

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The Five (+1) Movies To Catch For the New Year

WOKE! 2020 Film Awards PReviews

by Lucas Avram Cavazos

It is a mighty and yet daunting task this ‘2020 thing’ that is upon us. I think inherently we all know that some things are going to shift, others will change, some will expand and a lot more are likely to im/explode. Despite the factuality of it all, one constant I will always turn to, and recommend to you my lovelies, is cinematherapy. It goes without saying that some upcoming movies, which are either now or soon to be at our local VOS movie theatres, are also about to sweep some awards and with Oscar nominations going live this second week of January, I believe the movies below will soon be water cooler twawk, so me here at A Bitter Life brings you a BCN in VOSE look at the five (PLUS ONE!) films to catch before awards season intensifies.

In fact, it was a rather decent year for some great fare and not such a hodgepodge of Marvel and Disney movies forced down our throats every other week. The film I must start off with on this 2020 Film Awards Preview would be the excellent South Korean film Parasite ####-1/2, unanimously chosen as the winner of this year’s Palme d’ Or at Cannes and easily gracing the top or near-top of most film critic’s lists this year, as well it should. Telling the story of a South Korean family, the Kims, who slowly become interlopers within the confines of the uber-wealthy Park family. Starting off with one of them acting as a tutor, they slowly find a way to fill a need for the Park family, all while acting as non-related good Samaritans…that is until a botched getaway vacation and an underground bunker with a tale to tell reveal themselves and send the two families into a quagmire that must be seen and lived to be believed. (Now playing all over BCN/CAT/ESP)

Next up would be my personal favourite this year, though very closely followed by the aforementioned film! Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ####-1/2 became, at least for myself, a redeeming factor in the oeuvre of Quentin Tarantino after the meh! feelings given off by his last big screen outing a couple of years ago. Taking the tragic, real-life story of the Manson Murders that ended the life of Roman Polanski’s then-wife Sharon Tate, director Tarantino buckles his audience into their seats and sends them into a time zone tunnel to 1969 Los Angeles. One of the things that has always revolved around a Tarantino movie is the element of revenge. Here, we have a different take on a true event, but the concept is widened by the director using actors Brad Pitt, Leonardo di Caprio and even Margot Robbie as conduits of a bygone era that give a peek into a mindset and time that usually must be lived to be remembered. The fact that we, the viewing audience, feel like we were actually there in ’69 and then also given the chance to make up our own mind as to a possible different ending to the Manson family murders is mere evidence of a great director/writer who seamlessly gives us a choose-your-own-adventure saga with superb cameos. Excellent cinema once again. (Soon on DVD/Blu-ray & VOD)

The next big film that has increased the star power and respectability factor of Happy Gilmore, uh I mean, Adam Sandler is the ever-loved and heralded film Uncut Gems ####. If we have to put some truth to power, it must be noted that part of the film’s appeal is that it is such a New York City film. When you then throw in the elements of a thriller mixed with the Diamond District of Manhattan AND a run-around plot that also includes ballers and entertainers like Kevin Garnett and The Weeknd playing themselves, what you get is a peek into what feels like a true-life crime show playing out in front of your eyes. Add in the ever-excellent Tilda Swinton and Natasha Lyonne, as well, and even despite the long 2-1/4 hour running time, what you get is Adam Sandler, under the direction of the Safdie brothers and along with the good graces of Netflix (who will also be distributing the film in Europe), becoming the new Comeback Kid. (To be released in BCN/CAT/ESP via Netflix on Jan.31)

While we’re on the subject…Netflix. Whatever your thoughts may be on the streaming site service (and others like it), it goes without saying that VOD services have become the wave of the future. Home cinema and entertainment centres/systems are what make for the latest in silver screen viewing. For the last three-plus years, the world cinema system (not to mention film academies and award outlets) have had to adapt to a new reality few probably ever even thought of before this new digital age. Just a few days ago, perhaps showing a bit of wane after receiving the most nominations, only two actress winners took home trophies, Olivia Colman as The Queen in The Crown and Laura Dern for A Marriage Story, reviewed below. With that said, famed director/ writer/ producer Marty Scorcese decided to go the Netflix route for his (likely) last mafia opus The Irishman ####, detailing the life story and inner workings of the Philly mob, while also detailing intricacies of the Teamster unions, Jimmy Hoffa, the Kennedys and the inner workings of the US mafia and its many minions. Financed by Mexican firm Fabrica de Cine (mad side-eye and furrowed brow) amongst Netflix and other studios for international rights, the production of the film apparently ballooned up to (and some reports even say, well beyond) $160 million. With just under 8€ million reaped at the worldwide box office (taquilla) coffers, it’s fair to say that this film in all its glory should have been edited to a slightly shorter length and intended for movie theatres. It has had a fairly great response by viewers on the streaming site du jour, but even Sandra Bullock garnered hella more viewers with her formulaic thriller Bird Box earlier in the year. As a student and tutor of history, the elements of the film that stood out to me went beyond the impeccable performances, specifically by Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa, but of course De Niro and Pesci as Frank Sheeran and Russell Bufalino, as well, but it was Scorcese’s capturing of that forgotten time around which we find so many Trump supporters harkening to, and it details the trials and tribulations of the working class then…and perhaps, even now. That aside, I abhorred the expensive de-ageing CGI process to make the Italian acting kings look younger…just vile. It was like they suddenly became animated secondary characters from a dropped scene in Spielberg’s Tin Tin film a few years ago…bloody odd for a live-action mafioso epic. Still…Scorcese is the only working director who can capture that essence of a time gone by and dress it in Hollywood’s finest if overly-priced storytelling. Which brings us to the other Netflix gem to catch…but only when emotionally prepared. (Now streaming on Netflix and select screens)

Marriage Story ####, a.k.a. that likely Oscar-nominated film that will require too many tissue moments, also makes its way to this list. Trust, I can get my heart strings pulled quite easily if the right sentiments abound, so I was non-plussed going into this because I had already heard from my film fest peops that it was a bit of a tearjerker. Undeniably, there is a brutally-displayed realness that envelops the main characters of this film, particularly actresses Scarlett Johansson and Laura Dern. Helmed by the wonderful Noah Baumbach, Johansson gives a near-best performance as former teen actress turned TV actress Nicole Barber, who separates from her NYC theatre-directing husband played by Kylo Ren himself, Adam Driver. When she takes a role and moves to LA, along with their child, things become even more real. There is a gutsy bravado that clearly makes itself beyond relevant, as the melancholy yet funny film continues, and I, for one, could hardly keep the sobs at bay with the ending of the film. This is the stuff that ‘rom-drams’ need last their heart, not that paltry shite fed to too many simpletons by Nicholas Sparks. (Now streaming on Netflix and select screens)

Aaaaaaaaand…lastly, Knives Out ####-1/2 rightly fixes itself into a final slot on this list because it is one of those long-lost wonders of vintage cinema…a star-studded quasi-whodunnit with wit and thrills and superb, serio-comedic acting by everyone involved. A mere smattering of those actors would be Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Spanish actress and Golden Globe nominee Ana de Armas, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette and even Don friggin’ Johnson! Following an investigation into the sudden death of famed mystery writer Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), who had just invited main members of his family to his mansion for his birthday celebration, we see the touches of a perfectly poised ensemble film. Director/writer Rian Johnson has really stepped up to the plate with the best of the new directors and fresh off his box-office behemoth Star Wars: The Last Jedi from a couple of years back, his helming a film like Knives Out really plays his hand heavily in his diversity and directing tenacity. The fact that he also wrote this fine piece of script and dialogue makes him even more worthy of a possible director nod and it goes without saying that the cast is undoubtedly the finest ensemble piece made and released in the last year, and if you’ve been seeking a classic feel of a film with a smart, sharp modern twist, this film will satiate any of those olskie-olskie longings of a nostalgic murder mystery that makes you feel good after you leave the cinema. (Now playing in BCN/CAT/ESP)

#cinema #ABitterLifeThroughCinema

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popentertainment-moviereviews · 4 years

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MY SPY (2020)

Starring Dave Bautista, Chloe Coleman, Parisa Fitz-Henley, Kristen Schaal, Greg Byrk, Ken Jeong, Nicola Correia-Damude, Devere Rogers, Noah Danby, Vieslav Krystyan, Basel Daoud, Ali Hassan, Olivia Dépatie, Keller Viaene, Jean-Michel Nadeau, Laura Cilevitz, Darrin Baker, Chris D'Silva, Rakhee Morzaria, Lindsay Mullan, Robin Archer, Karen O'Keefe and April Lee.

Screenplay by Erich Hoeber and Jon Hoeber.

Directed by Peter Segal.

Distributed by STXfilms. 99 minutes. Rated PG-13.

While I was in the preview screening of My Spy a few weeks ago, the world seemed to implode. Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson tested positive for Covid-19, the NBA season was cancelled indefinitely, and the United States suspended all travel from Europe.

Meanwhile, I spent the evening laughing with my fellow audience mates at the craziness that is My Spy.

To be fair, we’ve been under a lot of stress lately. Even considering that evening, I volleyed back and forth on whether to attend. In the end, I opted to go, wiped down my seat arm rests (and Pepsi cup and fruit snacks bag) with Lysol wipes, and settled in, prepared to run if I heard anyone coughing or sneezing in the audience.

Maybe they did and I missed it, because I was laughing too hard watching the endearing awkwardness of Dave Bautista playing a soldier turned spy named JJ. Perhaps on a second watch, in a less stressful time, My Spy will feel less fun, but for that night, it was just what the doctor ordered.

That is as long as you are of an appropriate age to watch a PG-13 film. This is definitely not the kids’ film that I anticipated. There is quite a bit of swearing, although, nothing that pushes it into the R range, and some crazy violence including catapulting bodies and a severed head.

Nine-year-old Sophie, played by Chloe Coleman, is super savvy bordering on super manipulative – the girl outsmarts JJ time after time. It makes for an interesting character, but maybe not what you want your under-13-year-old watching and emulating. It’s super cute and precocious, but not behavior you want to have played out on you.

So, the storyline is nothing really new. Strong ex-soldier lacking finesse and emotional intelligence has turned spy. He is on his last straw with his department head, gets paired with Bobbi, a goofy tech analyst, on what should be a no-brainer assignment – to survey widow Kate and her daughter, Sophie, who have recently moved back to the US from overseas.

Sophie is bright and easily realizes she’s being watched and quickly gets the upper hand on the bumbling JJ. Sophie uses JJ to chaperone her to social and school functions, until the two bond and Sophie decides to play matchmaker between JJ and her mom.

The trailer looked pretty terrible, the plot line too tired, the characters stereotypical. But maybe, just maybe, this was an attempt to lower expectations, because, as a comedy, this is where the film makes some surprising moves that poke fun of this usual overplayed genre.

JJ is funny and weird, quoting Notting Hill and fawning over Britney Spears. His complete lack of emotional intelligence is weirdly endearing, and the writers develop him into a stereotype worth delving into deeper.

Bobbi goes over the top in her fandom but grows into a character that is strong and unafraid to speak her mind to her hero when he is disregarding her talents.

And sure, on the surface, the gay couple who are neighbors seem superficial and silly, but they never give up on their running gag throughout the film.

Oh, and there’s a car chase scene with a Fiat. Be still my heart.

When I started writing this review, while theaters were still open for regular-but-socially-distanced business, I was willing to recommend this as a film worth leaving your house for. So, for sure, when you have the opportunity to watch My Spy, this is a film that I hope will fill a silly laughter void that may be missing in these quarantine days. I will definitely be watching it a second time!

Bonnie Paul

#My Spy #2020 #Movie Review #Dave Bautista #Bonnie Paul

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dawnasiler · 4 years

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Editor’s Picks: 27 of the Best Beauty Gift Sets Under $50 (That Look Like They’re Worth a Lot More)

If you're working within a tight holiday shopping budget, not to worry—it's still possible to spoil your loved ones, without spending a whole lot of cash.

Great gifts DO exist for less than $50 (US), and I'm here to prove just that!

By sticking with beauty gift sets, you'll definitely get the most bang for your buck, since they bundle multiple products for a much lower-than-usual price.

And this year, even the most bougie brands (like Omorovicza, Giorgio Armani and Tata Harper, to name just a few) are getting in on the under $50-action.

Keep scrolling to discover the best beauty gift sets on a budget.

The Best Beauty Gift Sets Under $50

Beauty gift sets from Lanolips, Fresh, Drunk Elephant, Caudalie, Glow Recipe, ILIA and Erno Laszlo.

Omorovicza Perfecting Duo

Omorovicza Perfecting Duo is from my most beloved luxury clean skincare brand (seriously, any gift from them I'd go crazy for!). This set includes a nourishing lip balm that you can't buy anywhere else, plus the famous multitasking face mist in limited-edition rose gold packaging.

Charlotte Tilbury The Gift of Pillow Talk Lips

Charlotte Tilbury The Gift of Pillow Talk Lips is for a "your lips, only better" effect. Pillow Talk, a nude-rose, is the best-known and most popular shade from this celebrity makeup artist line. Here, you're getting it in a full-sized matte lipstick and matching mini lip liner.

Caudalie Power Glow Essentials

Caudalie Power Glow Essentials are a trio of natural skincare products for normal to combination skin. They include the brand's iconic face mist in a full-sized glass bottle, plus travel sizes of the foaming cleanser (which I adore!) and face mask.

Skin Gym Jade Facial Workout Kit

Skin Gym Jade Facial Workout Kit contains three jade tools for sculpting your way to better skin. There's a Gua Sha, face roller and eye roller, and all can be used to decrease tension and puffiness and increase circulation.

Lanolips The #1 Essential Lip Tints Trio

Lanolips The #1 Essential Lip Tints Trio includes three full-sized tinted lip balms to heal dry lips while giving them a sheer wash of colour. The shades are Rose, Rhubarb and Perfect Nude, and they're all lanolin-based, with a glossy finish.

Glow Recipe Let It Glow

Glow Recipe Let It Glow gives you a mini skincare routine in three products. Start with the gentle gel cleanser (which I'm currently using and love!). The lightweight moisturizer can be worn alone or as a serum under heavier creams, and the sleeping mask works as both an overnight treatment or as a wash-off mask.

CLEAN Reserve Solar Bloom Eau de Parfum & Hair Mist Set

CLEAN Reserve Solar Bloom Eau de Parfum & Hair Mist Set is a twist on the typical fragrance gift, because it contains a full-sized hair mist—for infusing scent and nourishment into your hair! You also get a matching perfume, and both have sunny notes of citrus, orange blossom and coconut water.

Milk Makeup MVPs Set

Milk Makeup MVPs Set is an inexpensive way to try out seven bestselling products from the cool-girl makeup brand. They include a serum, de-puffing stick, primer, bronzer, highlighter, mascara, and lip and cheek tint.

Kiehl’s Smooth Skin Delights

Kiehl's Smooth Skin Delights

Kiehl's Smooth Skin Delights is a set of three travel-sized hand creams, perfect for tossing in your purse. One offer intensive repair for the driest skin; the other two are lightly scented with lavender and grapefruit.

Giorgio Armani Lip Maestro Set

Giorgio Armani Lip Maestro Set is for anyone who loves lip colour. You get three travel-sized tubes of high-pigment liquid lipstick, in pink, red and nude. The velvety matte formula couldn't be more luxurious.

Boy Smells Set of 3 Scented Votive Candles

Boy Smells Set of 3 Scented Votive Candles are being touted as the next "status candles." Whether or not you care about that, you'll appreciate that they're made from quality beeswax and coconut, and come in unexpected scents (like Ash, Kush and Cedar Stack in this set).

ILIA Mini Prime & Set Duo

ILIA Mini Prime & Set Duo stars two of the best clean products for a mattified complexion. One is a silicone-free and fragrance-free primer (which doubles as a moisturizing and firming face serum). The other is a translucent powder—in fact, it's the best powder I've ever used!

Erno Laszlo Eyes on the Holidays

Erno Laszlo Eyes on the Holidays is a set of 12 hydrogel eye masks to target puffiness, dryness and dark circles. Think of them as a targeted eye serum in mask form—they're packed with good-for-skin ingredients like niacinamide, algae and hyaluronic acid.

This Works Sleep On It

This Works Sleep On It is a set of three aromatherapeutic essential oil blends to calm the senses and promote deep sleep. Two are pillow sprays (so you can breathe them in as you're nodding off). The other is a portable rollerball to use whenever you need to de-stress.

Indie Lee Discovery Kit

Indie Lee Discovery Kit has three of the best clean beauty basics for all skin types. There's a brightening gel cleanser, hydrating toner mist, and a lightweight squalane oil. I'm the biggest fan of this line—see my full review here.

Fresh Sealed with Sugar Travel Size Sugar Lip Treatment Set

Fresh Sealed with Sugar Travel Size Sugar Lip Treatment Set is a perennial holiday favourite, a set of six travel-sized lip balms to tint and moisturize your lips. One is a clear plumping formula; the others are Coral, Rosé, Petal, Tulip and Punch.

Drunk Elephant The Midi Committee

Drunk Elephant The Midi Committee is a set of five products, offering incredible value for anyone new to this Instagram-friendly skincare line. You get a tube of one percent retinol, a hydrating serum, a lightweight moisturizer and a cleansing balm with an optional charcoal exfoliating booster. See my full review of this brand here.

Kevyn Aucoin Volumizing Lash Kit

Kevyn Aucoin Volumizing Lash Kit gives you one of the best eyelash curlers (I like it even better than Shu Uemura!), plus my Holy Grail mascara. If you've ever struggled with racoon eyes, this one's for you! It's a tubing formula, and it never ever smudges—all while creating gorgeous natural-looking lashes.

Nuori A Fresh Start Discovery Kit

Nuori A Fresh Start Discovery Kit is a set of five all-natural products from a line that's all about freshness. To avoid oxidation, no product stays on the shelf longer than 12 weeks! Suitable for all skin, they include a milky cleanser, moisturizer, eye cream, moisturizing mask and hand cream.

Laura Mercier Eyes of Gold Mini Caviar Stick Collection

Laura Mercier Eyes of Gold Mini Caviar Stick Collection gives you four creamy eyeshadow sticks that have long been a staple of celebrity makeup artists. The wearable shades are rose gold, copper, bronze and cocoa, and they're long-wearing and crease-resistant.

Tarte 9 Ways to Shine Cheek Wardrobe

Tarte 9 Ways to Shine Cheek Wardrobe provides endless options for tinting, shading and luminizing your cheeks. There are three colour families in the set—rose gold, gold and gunmetal—and each include a blush, bronzer and highlighter in complementary shades. That makes nine products in total; what a steal!

Tata Harper Glow Getter

Tata Harper Glow Getter is a set of two travel-sized skincare products from one of the most sought-after natural brands. Both the cleanser and the resurfacing mask (reviewed here) use willow bark extract, a natural BHA, to gently exfoliate and get a glow going.

Slip Silk Skinny Scrunchie Set

Slip Silk Skinny Scrunchie Set is an upgrade from ratty old hair elastics. These skinny scrunchies are made from pure silk, so they're gentler on your hair and won't create creases. You get six in this pack (choose from all black; gold, leopard and black; or the three shades shown here).

Herbivore Self-Love Body Ritual Kit

Herbivore Self-Love Body Ritual Kit is the cure for winter dryness. You get not one but two all-natural body scrubs to polish away dead skin (I reviewed both over here!). To lock in moisture, there's also a coconut-based body oil.

Oribe Ultimate Blowout Set

Oribe Ultimate Blowout Set is the ultimate in high-end haircare. The shampoo and conditioner help create glossy shine, while the heat-styling spray both protects your hair and reduces drying time.

Sephora Favorites Skincare’s Next Big Thing

Sephora Favorites Skincare's Next Big Thing

Sephora Favorites Skincare's Next Big Thing is a curated collection of 10 clean skincare products in travel-friendly sizes. You get a toner (reviewed here), serum, night serum, face moisturizer, body moisturizer, sunscreen, face mask, lip mask and two face oils.

Credo Glow & Go 7 Piece Set

Credo Glow & Go 7 Piece Set gives you seven of the clean beauty emporium's bestselling products for healthy, glowing skin. Among them are my favourite gel cleanser (reviewed here), an enzyme mask, two face oils, an eye cream, a vitamin supplement and a butt mask (!!).

Shop Editor’s Picks

Have you tried any of these brands yet? Which beauty gift set is on your list?

If you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission. See our Disclosure for more information.

Editor’s Picks: 27 of the Best Beauty Gift Sets Under $50 (That Look Like They’re Worth a Lot More) syndicated from The Skincare Edit

#skincare #beauty #makeup

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frustratedcastingdirector · 7 years

Photo

MARK RUFFALO HAD HIS FIRST TASTE OF ACTING AT FIRST COLONIAL HIGH SCHOOL IN VIRGINIA BEACH. EIGHTEEN YEARS AND LOTS OF STRUGGLES LATER, HE'S HIT THE BIG TIME.

The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA) - June 18, 2002

Author/Byline: MAL VINCENT, THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

THERE WAS A TIME when Mark Ruffalo's only claim to fame was as a champion wrestler at First Colonial High School in Virginia Beach. Acting was not on the radar screen.

Things have changed.

He's on the Hollywood A-list. The Los Angeles Film Critics Association gave him its New Generation Award in 2000. That same year, the Montreal World Film Festival gave him its Best Actor award for his performance in ``You Can Count on Me.''

He's starred with Robert Redford (``The Last Castle'') and he's appearing as an Italian-American Marine with Nicolas Cage in ``Windtalkers.'' Upcoming co-stars include Gwyneth Paltrow (``A View from the Top''), Meg Ryan (``In The Cut'') and Ashley Judd (Tennessee Williams' ``Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' on Broadway).

This is not just another story of local-boy-makes-good. This is most definitely local boy makes the big time. We're talking international fame and fortune - a long way from his role as one of the Sharks in the chorus of First Colonial High School's ``West Side Story.''

Sitting in the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles, Ruffalo, 34, showed some of that little-boy awe that some of his critics rave about. For a guy who plays Marines and is chosen for tough-guy roles, he is refreshingly down-to-earth, sensitive and honest. He's not at all the truck driver you'd expect.

``All this is something to take in stride,'' he said. ``It's taken so long to get to this point. I've been through the mill. This is no overnight success. It's been 18 years of going to auditions and getting turned down. Once every year or so, I'd think about quitting after people would ask me what I was doing. I'd tell them I was an actor, but they had never seen me in anything.''

He surprised Hollywood when he decided to direct a play at a small Los Angeles theater rather than to rush into a big movie after his ``You Can Count on Me'' success.

``I've had to reassess why I love acting and what it took to get here,'' he said. ``My main criterion should be that I love what I'm doing. I feel kind of tingly all over when people talk to me about all the offers, but it comes and goes. I'm not overly floored by it all. To tell you the truth, it rings empty when you finally get there. I'm fully aware that this type thing comes and goes. It can go more easily than it came.''

He describes Virginia Beach as ``a magical place to grow up. It was one of the few places I lived for more than a year. If it wasn't for the culture and ideas I got there, I never would have gone into acting.''

Ruffalo, the oldest of four children (a brother and two sisters), came to Virginia Beach from Kenosha, Wis., when he was 13. His father was a painting contractor who worked on nuclear submarines.

After Virginia Beach, the family moved to San Diego where there were lots of drugs. ``We had tearing apart and then anger, resentment and frustration.''

He is now close to his brother and two sisters. Both sisters, as well as his mother, are former hairdressers. His sister, Tonya, has moved back to Virginia Beach.

Ruffalo's local acting break came when a classmate broke an arm two weeks before the play ``Runaways'' opened at First Colonial, and he stepped in to play a detective.

He fondly remembers Nancy Curtis, his drama teacher there. ``I was the wrestling champ, but I was in awe of the people in Mrs. Curtis' class. I didn't feel I was as good as anyone there. I didn't want to get up and participate in class exercises.''

Curtis continues to teach drama at First Colonial.

``Mark has a genuineness that is very real. He doesn't hide anything,'' she said. ``He feels on a lot of different levels and is able to articulate all of them on stage. In high school, he initially was more interested in things that interest male adolescents. He had lots of girlfriends. I saw talent in him, but I felt if I pushed him, he might pull in the opposite direction.

``Finally, he came to me and asked if I thought he had any talent for acting. I told him that he definitely did. He seemed so excited about that - as if it was something he hadn't imagined.

``I haven't seen him or hugged him in a long time,'' Curtis said, ``but I'm sure that he remains the same person. I don't think all this will change him. I'm not surprised that he more or less just walked into the Stella Adler acting school and was accepted. He was always wonderful in auditions. He gets right to the heart of the character.''

After high school, college was not an option for Ruffalo.

``For one thing, the family didn't have money. For another, I couldn't see myself in college anyway,'' he said. ``We moved to San Diego and the family fell apart in many ways.''

The turning point in his life came because of a Virginia Beach tragedy. His best friend committed suicide at age 24. Ruffalo came back for the funeral.

``It was such a defining moment in my life. I loved him so much. It was such a needless tragedy. I saw the devastation that it caused to everybody. It made me value my life and my relationships. I knew, from that point, that I had to do something with my life - that I had to pull it together.''

The exclusive Stella Adler Academy of Acting welcomed him. Initially, he drove from San Diego to Los Angeles for the classes.

Eventually work came, mostly in independent films and television. He was in ``Committed'' with Heather Graham, Ang Lee's Civil War Western ``Ride With the Devil,'' and the disco-oriented ``54.'' He wrote and starred in ``The Destiny of Marty Fine'' which was first runner-up at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. On television, his series debut ``The Beat'' was a flop, despite the fact that it was created by Academy Award winner (``Rain Man'') Barry Levinson.

Kenneth Lonergan, who directed him to a Lucille Lortel Best Actor award off-Broadway, said, ``He's very peculiar and very appealing. He's drawn to playing the sort of person who is very open and simultaneously very distressed.''

Lonergan also cast him as the hippie brother of uptight Laura Linney in ``You Can Count On Me,'' the little independent movie that put him on the map.

He's married to actress Sunrise Coigney, whom he met on the set of ``The Beat,'' and they live near the small village of Callicoon in upstate New York with their 11-month-old son, Keen.

``Up until now, my life has been centered around the theater,'' he said. ``Suddenly, this little boy comes along, and I realize there is another center of the world - someone who really needs me. Keen is my best friend and the center of my life, probably from now on.

``When you move around the way I did and people come and go so much, it means something for me to have this kind of permanency now,'' he said.

But what about two actors in the family? Will the usual rivalry develop?

``The baby is taking up a good portion of my wife's life right now, but I think it's best to be married to another actor. It's a chaotic lifestyle that demands an enormous amount of understanding. At some point, I would be glad to stay at home and take care of the baby so that she can go back to acting.''

So, what did he buy with that first big paycheck?

``My first really substantial check was $30,000. That was a lot of money to me. I bought a little farmhouse in upstate New York. We love to canoe and snowboard. Since then, I've got a larger house in the same area. We have 27 acres of land. I've never had any money until now. I've always lived in other people's houses - people that would let me sleep on the couch so that I could go to auditions. Now, for the first time, I have some permanency.''

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A pretty nice article from Virginia Beach, though be mindful of some inaccuracies, as with any article. :-)

Credit to (and my thanks, always), to that magnificent repository of Ruffalo images, Mark Ruffalo Central, for the lovely photo to accompany the article.

#mark ruffalo #virginiabeachdays #OpenImageinNewTab

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eddycurrents · 5 years

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For the week of 22 July 2019

Quick Bits:

A Walk Through Hell #12 concludes what has been an excellent horror tale from Garth Ennis, Goran Sudžuka, Ive Svorcina, and Rob Steen with another trip into existential terror as we’re given a glimpse of what this is all about and what’s coming.

| Published by AfterShock

Action Comics #1013 keeps a lot of plates spinning as it works through elements of “Year of the Villain”, Event Leviathan, the ongoing Invisible Mafia story thread, and the Rose and Thorn revival. It’s kind of impressive as to how it remains entertaining and engrossing with as much going on.

| Published by DC Comics

Age of Conan: Bêlit #5 is another ending this week, as we finish off Bêlit’s coming of age origin story, as she confronts the Stygian priest and lays claim to her title of Queen of the Black Coast. Great art from Kate Niemczyk, Scott Hanna, Andrea Di Vito, and Jason Keith.

| Published by Marvel

Amazing Spider-Man #26 introduces us to the new Sinister Syndicate fully as they plan an attack on Boomerang. It’s kind of funny to see him still getting into trouble even now that he’s trying to stay legit. Great art from Kev Walker and Laura Martin.

| Published by Marvel

Ascender #4 gives us a few surprises in the fight between the vampires and the resistance. The grey washes, with mixes of red, from Dustin Nguyen on the vampire’s throneworld is very impressive.

| Published by Image

Batgirl #37 launches the new creative team of Cecil Castellucci, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Jordie Bellaire, and AndWorld Design with part one of “Oracle Rising”. There’s a nice battle with Killer Moth, emphasizing what some villains are doing in order to try to get noticed by Luthor to receive the offer, while playing up the expense that goes into crimefighting. Also, the Terrible Trio unleash something probably not too good.

| Published by DC Comics

Dark Red #5 concludes the first arc as Chip and Evie try to fight off an army of Nazi vampires. It’s good, with some nice funny moments. Great art from Corin Howell and Mark Englert.

| Published by AfterShock

Detective Comics #1008 is a straight-forward single issue story of Batman and Joker at the circus from Peter J. Tomasi, Doug Mahnke, Jaime Mendoza, Dave Baron, and Rob Leigh. It’s a refreshing change of pace from the extended arcs, even as it sets up a new threat in the “Year of the Villain” offering.

| Published by DC Comics

Dial H for Hero #5 gets a little meta as we dive into the Multiverse, the Heroverse, and the Bleed from Sam Humphries, Joe Quinones, Scott Hanna, Jordan Gibson, and Dave Sharpe. The use of breaking through panels, reproductions of old comics scenes, and a variation of styles just deliver phenomenal storytelling.

| Published by DC Comics / Wonder Comics

Dungeons & Dragons: A Darkened Wish #2 continues to fill in the backstory of the adventurers’ time with the White Sails, introducing us to the pitfalls that harried them, before giving more hints in the present of the nightmare that tore them apart. B. Dave Walters, Tess Fowler, Jay Fotos, and Neil Uyetake are delivering an entertaining fantasy tale here.

| Published by IDW

Fearless #1 is a new three-issue anthology mini-series spotlighting a number of the women of Marvel, both characters and creative talent. This first issue leads off with a continuing lead feature from Seanan McGuire, Claire Roe, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Janice Chiang, as Sue Richards, Carol Danvers, and Storm prepare to visit a girls camp as motivational speakers. There’s also an entertaining Mille the Model back-up from Leah Williams, Nina Vakueva, Rosenberg, and Chiang. And a very funny Jessica Jones story from the Captain Marvel team of Kelly Thompson, Carmen Carnero, Tamra Bonvillain, with Chiang. Though short, that last story is pretty much worth the price of the issue alone.

| Published by Marvel

Five Years #3 sees Tambi meet with Ivy and Julie to discuss that various nations around the world are dangerously developing Phi-alloy technology. Also a surprise appearance of people we thought were out. Great art as always from Terry Moore.

| Published by Abstract Studio

The Flash #75 delivers three stories for this extra-sized anniversary issue. The lead concludes the “Year One” arc. This is some of the best art that I have ever seen from Howard Porter, he and Hi-Fi just deliver amazing artwork here. There are also two back-ups, one hinting at things to come in the future for Barry and the other tying in to “Year of the Villain” as Captain Cold receives Luthor’s offer.

| Published by DC Comics

Guardians of the Galaxy #7 begins the second arc, “Faithless”, from Donny Cates, Cory Smith, David Curiel, and Cory Petit. It really introduces us to the new Universal Church of Truth as they take out an entire squadron of the Nova Corps and then worse things happen as the Guardians go off to investigate. I love the name for the Guardians’ new ship and that final page is one hell of a shock.

| Published by Marvel

History of the Marvel Universe #1 is an interesting project from Mark Waid, Javier Rodríguez, Álvaro López, and Joe Caramagna. It’s framed as Galactus telling Franklin Richards (at least I think that’s Franklin Richards) the history of the universe before it dies and the next is reborn. As expected, it’s dry facts, but it’s fascinating in how it’s comprehensively presented and the artwork from Rodríguez and López is jaw-dropping gorgeous. There are also annotations in the back to show where these events come from. It’s well put together and I highly recommended it to die-hard Marvel fans.

| Published by Marvel

Invisible Kingdom #5 concludes the first arc with an almost entirely one-sided battle between the Sun Dog and a Lux battleship. G. Willow Wilson, Christian Ward, and Sal Cipriano elevate the tension nicely through this issue and give a few surprises when everything seems grim and it looks like the end.

| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books

Killer Groove #3 wonderfully showcases one of Jackie’s cases as it intertwines with the music scene and criminal underworld. Ollie Masters, Eoin Marron, Jordie Bellaire, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou are doing a nice job with this series of crafting one larger story out of many separate smaller tales.

| Published by AfterShock

Lazarus: Risen #2 is another dense read. The series has always been hefty, but this new format has elevated things further, doubling up comics content and adding a prose short story, the letters pages, and extra content like gaming material and the usual in-world advertisements. I’m loving it. Greg Rucka, Michael Lark, Tyler Boss, Santi Arcas, Simon Bowland, Adam Christopher, and Crystal Frasier are definitely giving you your money’s worth and more here. Excellent comics content as the war between Carlyle and Morray/D’Souza heats up.

| Published by Image

Livewire #8 pits Amanda versus Jada for a final round. It’s still interesting how practically everyone is trying to portray Amanda’s actions as harmful and villainous. Great art from Kano.

| Published by Valiant

Martian Manhunter #7 sees J’onn and Diane uncover some of the results of the experiments that have been going on with the kidnapped and missing people, it’s horrifying. Incredible and haunting artwork in this one from Riley Rossmo and Ivan Plascencia.

| Published by DC Comics

Marvels: Epilogue is a short, but sweet, coda to the Marvels series from Kurt Busiek, Alex Ross, John Roshell, and Richard Starkings. It spotlights events from X-Men #98 through the eyes of Phil Sheldon and his daughters, capturing some of the awe, wonder, and terror that Sheldon experienced during the main series. The book is filled out with an interview with Busiek and Ross on their experience with the series and what it’s like to look back on it 25 years later, as well as interviews with the editors who worked on the book.

| Published by Marvel

Middlewest #9 sets out a new quest for Abel as he comes across the Nowak people. Skottie Young, Jorge Corona, Jean-Francois Beaulieu, and Nate Piekos are continuing to make magic with this series. The art is beautiful and the story is endlessly captivating.

| Published by Image

Psi-Lords #2 continues to investigate these four captives, changed for whatever reason by the Psi-Lords, and the habitat of their prison. An interesting jail hierarchy of gangs is revealed and a bit of a memory of the four’s lives before being captured. Gorgeous art from Renato Guedes.

| Published by Valiant

Star Pig #1 is weird. Very weird. Delilah S. Dawson, Francesco Gaston, Sebastian Cheng, and Shawn Lee give us the story of a kid on her way to space camp whose ship is struck and destroyed by an asteroid, saved by a space pig and a scavenger energy ball. It’s probably one of the more unique tales I’ve seen in a while.

| Published by IDW

Sword Master #1, like Aero before it, features two stories. In the first, Greg Pak adapts into English a tale from Shuizhu and Gunji of the titular hero, Lin Lie, and his quest to find his missing father. It’s an interesting start and the artwork from Gunji is gorgeous. The back up original story pairs Shang-Chi up with Lin in a story from Greg Pak, Ario Anindito, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Travis Lanham. It follows up on their appearance in the New Agents of Atlas tie-in to “War of the Realms” and presents an interesting antagonist on their trail.

| Published by Marvel

Valkyrie #1 is a wonderful debut from Jason Aaron, Al Ewing, CAFU, Jesus Aburtov, and Joe Sabino. We get some continued supporting cast from Jane Foster’s time as Thor, although with a new status quo, and an interesting hook in trying to track down Dragonfang, the former Valkyrie’s sword. The art from CAFU and Aburtov is beautiful.

| Published by Marvel

Warlord of Mars Attacks #2 continues this crossover of John Carter and Mars Attacks. It’s interesting how it incorporates Edgar Rice Burroughs’ stories as actual things in this world and explains how Mars as a dead planet and one as teeming with life as Barsoom could exist simultaneously.

| Published by Dynamite

The Weatherman Vol. 2 #2 gives us more of a look at the nightmare that has consumed Earth as the crew attempt to find the doctor who might be able to fix everything. It goes about as well as could be expected. The monster designs and execution from Nathan Fox and Moreno Dinisio are incredible.

| Published by Image

Web of Venom: Funeral Pyre #1 is another one-shot catching up on the wider world of Venom as we barrel headlong into Absolute Carnage. Cullen Bunn, Joshua Cassara, Alberto Alburquerque, Jay David Ramos, and Clayton Cowles give us a great story checking in with Andi Benton, the former Mania and occasional sidekick to Flash Thompson’s Venom.

| Published by Marvel

Wonder Woman #75 continues “Return of the Amazons” from G. Willow Wilson, Xermanico, Jesus Merino, Vicente Cifuentes, Romulo Fajardo Jr., and Pat Brosseau. This arc basically brings Wilson’s run around full circle to deal with some of the elements that kicked off her first issue as Diana faces off against Grail. Some really nice double page spreads with border art from Xermanico.

| Published by DC Comics

Other Highlights: Archie #706, Archie vs. Predator 2 #1, Bone Parish #11, Books of Magic #10, Clue: Candlestick #3, Curse Words #23, Doctor Strange #16, Farmhand #10, Freedom Fighters #7, Grumble #8, House of X #1, Justice League Dark #13, Lumberjanes #64, Magic: The Gathering - Chandra #3, Magnificent Ms. Marvel #5, Marvel Action: Avengers #6, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #41, Night Moves #5, Redneck #22, Secret Warps: Arachknight Annual #1, Shuri #10, Star Trek: The Q Conflict #6, Star Wars #69, TMNT: The Rise of the TMNT - Sound Off #1, Tony Stark: Iron Man #14, The Wicked + The Divine #44

Recommended Collections: Black Panther - Book 7: The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda Part 2, Go-Bots - Volume 1, Harrow County: Library Edition - Volume 3, House of Whispers - Volume 1: The Power Divided, James Bond: Origin - Volume 1, Lodger - Volume 1, Lumberjanes - Volume 12, Savage Sword of Conan - Volume 1: The Cult of Koga Thun, Self/Made, Star Wars Adventures - Volume 6: The Flight of the Falcon, Thor of Realms, William Gibson’s Alien 3

d. emerson eddy might well be a space lord.

#This Week in Comics

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news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog · 5 years

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What are we willing to cancel people over, anyway?

Beautube continues to be the messy hellscape that it is, but the feud that went down between two major YouTubers just goes to show that nobody is above drama. Still, James Charles has a history of problematic behavior — why did it take until now for the community to cancel him?

YouTube's beauty community was shaken on Friday when Tati Westbrook dropped a 43-minute video exposing her longtime friend and mentee James Charles. Among other reprehensible behavior, Tati also denounced his habit of allegedly sexually harassing straight men.

The takedown followed weeks of rumors, screenshots, and snarky reaction videos from other vloggers, so it wasn't new, but it was the catalyst that has other influencers distancing themselves from the teenage makeup guru.

If you're unfamiliar with the wild world of beauty YouTube, here's a rundown of all the people involved.

James Charles is a 19-year-old beauty maven who went viral in 2016 for not only wearing makeup in his senior photos, but also being extra enough to bring a ring light to emphasize his highlighter. Later that year, he became the first male spokesperson for CoverGirl. Since then, he's amassed an immense social media following — at its peak, he had 15 million subscribers on YouTube.

Charles' nearly overnight fame reached a climax usually reserved for traditional celebrities, not influencers, when he was invited to the Met Gala earlier in May. He raised eyebrows when he called the invitation "a step forward in the right direction for influencer representation in the media" in an Instagram post.

But after his rapid ascent to stardom, Charles is now crashing back down. He's been cancelled.

So I retook my senior photos & brought my ring light with me so my highlight would be poppin. I love being extra 💀 pic.twitter.com/7Qu1yu8U2P

— James Charles (@jamescharles) September 5, 2016

SEE ALSO: Men's makeup brands are discreet — and all over Instagram

Tati Westbrook is a 37-year-old makeup YouTuber who also owns Halo Beauty, a supplement company that sells gummy vitamins for strengthening hair and nails. Her direct competitor is Sugar Bear Hair, a similar company whose products have been endorsed by a variety of influencers, including the Kardashian-Jenner clan.

Tati has been "like a mother" to James, according to James himself. She took the budding star under her wing when his career was just kicking off — and he even did her wedding makeup.

Keeping up? Good, because this is where it gets messy.

On April 22, James posted an endorsement for Sugar Bear Hair on his Instagram story after the company supposedly helped him with a security issue during Coachella. Without naming names, Tati said she felt "lost" and "betrayed" on her Instagram story.

"When you do so much for people in your life and they not only don't return the favor, but they just don't even see you," Tati said in her tearful video. "I feel really used."

James publicly apologized in similarly teary Instagram story the next day, and told his followers that he "did not think about the competition."

"She has been like a mother to me since my first days in this industry," he said in his public apology, adding that he didn't accept any money for the post and that he uses Tati's vitamin brand daily. "And has given me more love, support, resources, and advice than I could ever ask for."

Fellow makeup YouTuber Gabriel Zamora — who you might remember from the YouTube apology fiasco in summer 2018 known as Dramageddon — weighed in on the situation. In a video posted on May 4, he chided Tati for her immature reaction.

"All these videos are being made where James is being made out to be this horrible human being and I'm just confused as to what happened," Gabriel said.

In response, Tati posted a video on Friday titled "BYE SISTER," a play on James' signature vlog intro, "Hi sisters!" The lengthy video dives into why Tati felt unappreciated by James, from his hesitation to promote her brand to his reluctance to collaborate with her. She publicly severed ties with him, concluding that it was "painful to lose someone you care about, that you thought would be in your life forever, but the chapter's closed."

youtube

Since dropping the video, Tati has been rapidly gaining followers as James loses them. Twitter users and other influencers paid attention.

drama aside, i have something to say.... ❤️https://t.co/Hn20TgNSzM❤️ pic.twitter.com/vRPFCTJIEJ

— Shane Dawson (@shanedawson) May 12, 2019

Image: Twitter Screenshot/Jefree Star

As of Monday morning, James has lost more than 2.5 million subscribers in three days, according to SocialBlade. Tati, meanwhile, gained more than 2.9 million since posting the video. To put that into perspective, as vlogger Callum Markie noted, Logan Paul gained 80,000 subscribers after filming a victim of suicide in Japan.

But the backlash isn't just over snubbing a friend — it's over a much more concerning issue. Although the majority of the video was about her personal relationship with James, it also shed light on his toxic habit of allegedly sexually harassing straight men.

"Oh my god, you tried to trick a straight man into thinking he's gay yet again," Tati ranted in her video, recalling a phone conversation she recently had with James. "And somehow, you're the victim."

She continued:

Tati was alluding to just one of many instances where James toyed with straight men. The receipts channel Spill laid out several examples, including his questionable relationship with model Gage Gomez. In April, Gomez posted a video calling James out for continuing to pursue him despite repeatedly turning him down.

"[He] pushed his emotions onto me to guilt me into trying something that I didn't want to do," the model said.

youtube

James has also publicly hit on Shawn Mendes, leaving suggestive comments on the singer's Instagram live videos and tweets.

He later apologized in a tweet, and said he was "sorry if he [Shawn] felt sexually harassed."

After Tati's video, others came forward. Someone who claimed to be a former classmate tweeted that James allegedly sexually assaulted her friend. Singer Zara Larsson also tweeted that James repeatedly hit on her boyfriend, despite knowing that he's straight. And in a supercut of James' vlogs, a Twitter user showed the numerous times the beauty guru admitted he enjoyed pursuing heterosexual men because "it's easier than you think."

It's about time James Charles stopped getting a pass for his repeatedly toxic behavior. But why did it take a video from Tati for the internet to finally cancel him? Twitter user @Quantum_King_ questioned why Tati protected James for years, despite public knowledge that he harassed men both in person and on social media.

Did Tati Westbrook expose a predator or did she harbour a predator until she felt under appreciated by him?

— Brokeryn Martell 🇱🇨🇯🇲 (@Quantum_King_) May 11, 2019

If James Charles would’ve promoted tati’s vitamins, do y’all think she still would’ve made that video exposing him for being trash? Let’s discuss

— femme fatale (@eliesaaab) May 12, 2019

And others pointed out how hypocritical it was for Jeffree Star, another member of the YouTube beauty community, to speak out against James despite his own problematic past. (Star has since deleted his tweet, but there is a screenshot included above.)

seeing my mutuals dragging james charles while simultaneously supporting jeffree star and it’s interesting pic.twitter.com/TJHlxo2tkv

— 𝖙 𝖉𝖆𝖜𝖌 (@tamiamakay) May 12, 2019

Is James Charles being canceled because of his actions, or because the internet loves drama? It's been nearly a year since Dramageddon tore Beautube apart, exposing multiple YouTubers for their racist tweets.

Somehow, James' own racist remarks weren't pulled into the whirlwind of cancellation. When he made a transphobic comment earlier in 2019 about how he wasn't "full gay" because he had been attracted to trans men, he received some backlash but got away relatively unscathed. Why is it Tati's video that's tanking his career?

Maybe it's because the internet is willing to give a pass to its faves, until it's time to grab some popcorn and watch a feud go down. It's good that the internet is finally done with James — the face of the beauty community absolutely should not be a predator. But nobody paid attention or sought to hold him accountable until there was a friendship break up involved.

The influencers at the center of Dramageddon have more or less recovered from 2018's Beautube culling. Gabriel Zamora continues to make videos. Nikita Dragun was just profiled in Forbes. Manny MUA is still releasing products from his makeup line, Lunar Beauty. Even Laura Lee, whose iconically terrible apology video fueled Twitter memes for weeks, seems fine according to Instagram.

Will James Charles' cancellation last, or will the internet accept him into the fold again like it did with Jeffree Star? Despite his many controversies, Star is a multimillionaire thriving on top of a massive beauty empire.

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"A lot of most of my career over the last two years has been about me making mistakes and trying to learn and grow from them," James stated in his apology video posted Friday. "And I haven't always done the best job of that. I can admit that, but I have always tried ... I wish I could say this is the last time that I make a mistake, but it won't be."

And as his beauty vlogger predecessors have proven, he's at least right about that. Will he stay canceled? Hopefully. Will more makeup-centered drama go down in the near future and take down more racist, transphobic predators? God, we hope so.

WATCH: 'Avengers: Endgame' is the most tweeted-about movie ever

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weekendwarriorblog · 5 years

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WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND April 19, 2019 - THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA, BREAKTHROUGH, PENGUINS

Yay! Another week where I haven’t seen any of the new releases! This is what happens when studios offer a single press screening rather than a few options, I guess.

After a rather dismal weekend, this weekend sees the release of a mixed bag of movies that will wrap-up the winter/spring movie season before Avengers: Endgame comes along and just destroys everything else in theaters. This is also Easter weekend and with no schools and many being off work for Good Friday, we’ll see a large bump with most movies being frontloaded for the weekend. (Easter Sunday is usually reserved for family meals, Easter egg hunts, etc, so not as much movie business.)

Beginning on Wednesday, we have two relatively family-friendly films in Fox 2000’s faith-based BREAKTHROUGH (20thCentury Fox) and DisneyNature’s PENGUINS (Walt Disney Pictures), again, neither which I’ve seen. The first is a higher-profile faith-based drama that’s being released in perfect timing with Easter, but unlike the movies of PureFlix, I feel that the marketing campaign could bring in a wider audience, especially with popular actors like Chrissy Metz, Topher Grace, Mike Colter and Dennis Haysbert. Penguinsis another Disney nature doc, this one a cute story about a penguin named Steve, voiced by Ed Helms, and its G-rating will help make it a choice for family with young kids over the holiday weekend.

Then on Friday (or rather, Thursday night) comes the latest horror film from producer James Wan, THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA (New Line/WB), which looks like another solid scare-fest even if the reviews out of SXSW weren’t as strong as the ones for Pet Sematary (which I still haven’t seen!) and Us (which I’ve seen twice). I’m definitely interested in checking it out, especially the work of director Michael Chaves, who has already been attached to direct the next Conjuring movie (although this one is not related).

Opening in 300 theaters Wednesday is the Bollywood release KALANK (FIP), directed by Abhishek Varman, a romantic drama about six characters looking for love in the town of Husnabad, North India.

Also opening fairly wide this weekend is Michael Berry’s adaptation of Riley Thomas’ stage musical Stuck (Eammon Films), starring Giancarlo Esposito, Amy Madigan, Omar Chaparroand Ashanti as four of six New York commuters stuck on a subway car, as they sing their stories to each other. Sounds more fun than what normally happens in New York when the subway car stops between stations.

Apparently, Bleecker Street plans on expanding Max Minghella’s Teen Spirit, starring Elle Fanning, wider, although I don’t have a theater count at this point in time, so I’m not sure if it’s expanding enough to get into the top 10 or how many areas it will be in.

LIMITED RELEASES

My favorite movie of the weekend is Pamela Green’s doc BE NATURAL: THE UNTOLD STORY OF ALICE GUY-BLACHÉ (Zeitgeist), which will open in L.A. at the Laemmle Monica Film Center then move to NYC on April 26. If you don’t know who Alice Guy-Blaché is then you really need to see this movie, since she was such an important part of cinema history. She was there from the very gestation of cinema in France as the first female director who was making so many inroads into various filmmaking techniques while being mostly ignored by the men in the industry, including those who documented the history of cinema. This is an amazing film to see all of Ms. Guy’s accomplishments, while also being demeaned by a philandering husband who took credit for much of her accomplishments. I was also amazed to learn while watching this film that Fort Lee, New Jersey used to be the hub of cinema in the early 20thCentury before Guy’s husband and others moved to California and set up Hollywood, mainly to get away from paying fees to Tom Edison. This is an amazing doc that I recommend highly if you consider yourself a film buff on any level.

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Another great doc opening this week – New York on Weds and in L.A. Friday – is Penny Lane’s new one HAIL SATAN? (Magnolia), which explores the Satanic Temple and its leader Lucien Greaves, who have created a political movement around the ideas that church and state should be kept separate. They do this by raising funds to set-up statues of Baphomet on the same capital grounds where governments have set-up statues of the Ten Commandments. They also do this with a sense of humor that reminds me of The Yes Men, whose own pranks have been documented well in film. Either way, this movie is not what you might think i.e. it’s not a commercial for Satanism as in the type that sacrifices babies. It’s just a group that uses the name of Satan to fight for religious freedom.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw plays a woman who goes on the run after her superpowers are discovered in Julia Hart’s FAST COLOR (Codeblack Films). This opens in select cities this week, and I’ve reviewed it over at The Beat.

It Follows director David Robert Mitchell’s new noir thriller UNDER THE SILVER LAKE (A24) seems to be getting dumped with a quick release in New York and L.A. on Friday before debuting for streaming on Amazon Monday. I guess the mixed reviews it got at its premiere at Cannes last year didn’t help matters. It stars Andrew Garfield as 33-year-old Sam who discovers the mysterious Sarah (Riley Kough) in his apartment swimming pool, but when she vanishes, he goes looking through L.A. to find what happened to her. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but it’s looking unlikely I’ll see it in theaters now.

Dame Judi Dench stars in Trevor Nunn’s RED JOAN (IFC Films), playing Joan Stanley, a widow living in retirement when the British Secret Service arrests her for giving classified information to the Soviets for decades. Based on a true story, it will open at the Landmark 57 and IFC Center in New York as well as other theaters and On Demand.

Tessa Thompson and Lilly James star in Nia DaCosta’s feature film directorial debut LITTLE WOODS (NEON), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last year, at which DaCosta won the Nora Ephron award. Thompson plays Ollie, a North Dakota woman who was once arrested for smuggling prescription drugs across the border, something she gives up until her pregnant sister Deb (James) shows up needing $3,000 to save their family home. I’m hoping to catch it again sometime this week, since I want to give it another chance.

Currently playing on DirecTV and opening in select theaters and On Demand Friday is Fred Wolf’s DRUNK PARENTS (Vertical Entertainment), starring Alec Baldwin and Salma Hayek. Semi-wealthy Frank and Nancy Teagarten are dropping their daughter off at college just before the repo man shows up at their door, so they do some drinking and hold a yard sale as to hide their deteriorating wealth.

Orange is the New Black star Taylor Schilling stars in Laura Steinel’s Family (The Film Arcade) as career-focused Kate Stone, who is asked by her estranged brother to babysit her ‘tween niece Maddie, as one night turns into a week.

Prolific Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo’s new movie Grass (Cinema Guild), will open at the Metrograph in New York. It’s a rather talkie piece that involves a bunch of people talking to each other in a café where a young woman (Kim Min-hee) eavesdrops and adds their characters to her story. I’m generally mixed on Hong Sang-soo, and this one seems a bit more artsy with less of a narrative, but I assume diehard fans will enjoy it.

Wanuri Kahui’s Kenyan coming-of-age drama Rafiki (Film Movement), the first Kenyan film to show at Cannes, will open at BAM on Friday. It follows the journey of Kena and Ziki, two young woman whose fathers are rival political candidates but who have formed a bond of friendship.

Just in time for 4/20 comes Robert Ryan’s doc Breaking Habits (Good Deed Entertainment) about Christine Meeusen’s decision to leave her cheating husband of 17 years with her three kids, reinventing herself as Sister Kate and setting up a cannabis farming business that would become the Sisters of the Valley medicinal marijuana empire.

Also, a reminder that Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, starring Adam Driver and Jonathan Pryce, is supposed to get a limited release this weekend after its Fathom Events “one night only,” although I have no idea of number of theaters or locations or anything.

LOCAL FESTIVALS

As with every weekend, there’s a lot going on, and in New York, up at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, they’re kicking off this year’s ART OF THE REAL on Thursday and running through April 28. The Opening Night film is Frank Beauvais’ Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream, compiling the thoughts and revelations of the filmmaker. I haven’t been able to get to any of the press screenings, but it usually has an interesting and diverse line-up which you can read more about at the link.

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

Fans of Brazilian cinema will want to check out some of the Metrograph’s new series about Brazilian filmmaker Nelson Pereira dos Santos, which runs from Friday through April 28. The movies range from his groundbreaking 1955 doc Rio, 40º to 2011’s The Music According to Tom Jobim with nine films, few of which have received distribution in North America. This week’s Late Nites at Metrographinclude Sion Sono’s Anti-Porno and Bertrando Bonello’s 2011 film L’Appollonide (House of Tolerance), neither which I’ve seen, but the weekend’s Playtime: Family Matineesis Disney’s The Love Bug, one of my absolute favorite films from childhood.

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

Besides showing Henri-Georges Clouzet’s murder-mystery Quai Des Orfevres on Wednesday afternoon, Tarantino’s rep theater is showing double features of Hitchcock’s Family Plot (1976) and the thriller Black Sunday (1977) on Weds. and Thurs, the classic Jack Lemmon-Walter Matthau The Odd Couple (1968) and Robert Redford/Jane Fonda’s Barefoot in the Park (1967) on Friday, then Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie (1980) and Ice Cube’s Friday (1995) on Saturday. This weekend’s KIDDEE MATINEE is a surprisingly recent movie in Universal’s Hop – cause it’s Easter weekend, get it? – and the midnight movies are The Hateful Eight on Friday night and the 1981 John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd movie Neighbors on Saturday. Sunday and Monday are double features of Only When I Laugh (1981) and I Oughtta Be in Pictures (1982). Monday afternoon is a screening of Martin Scorsese’s 1999 film Bringing Out the Dead, starring Nicolas Cage and Patricia Arquette.

FILM FORUM (NYC):

One of the repertory series I’m most excited about since first hearing about it is the Film Forum’s latest series “Trilogies,” which this weekend will show all three of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather trilogy, and Sergio Leone’s Western trilogy with Clint Eastwood: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1966) and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966). This weekend is also the start of Masaki Kobayashi’s The Human Condition, while Monday is a trilogy of films by Jacques Beckere called his “Paris Youth Trilogy,” including Antoine and Antoinette. Sadly, they don’t seem to be showing Edgar Wright’s Three Cornetto Trilogy as part of the series. :( This weekend’s Film Forum Jr. is the 1985 crime-comedy Clue, based on the board game.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

Word came out last week that Netflix is looking to buy the Egyptian, so hope they retain the repertory programming. Thursday is the new restoration of Bjork’s 1990 movie The Juniper Tree, Friday night there is a Brian Yuzna double feature of Society and Bride of Re-Animator, both from 1989 with Yuzna in attendance. Saturday sees a TRIPLE feature of Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness (1992), Waxwork (1988) and Fulci’s The Beyond (1985), all in 35mm!

AERO (LA):

The Aero’s “Classic Movie Clowns” series begins Thursday with a Harold Lloyd-Buster Keaton double feature of Safety Last! (1923) and The Navigator (1924), Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator (1940) plays on Friday, as well as a series of Silent Comedy Shorts (with live music!) on Saturday, as well as Laurel and Hardy’s Sons of the Desert (1933) along with their shorts Brats and Helpmates. Easter Sunday sees a collection of Bugs Bunny and Friends animated shorts and a double feature of Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko (2001) and Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead (1981).

IFC CENTER (NYC)

The IFC Center started its spring series last weekend, but I received the info too late to include. This weekend’s Waverly Midnights: ParentalGuidance is Hitchcock’s Psycho, while the Weekend Classics: LoveMom and Dad is Terms of Endearment and Late Night Favorites: Springis David Fincher’s Fight Club.

MOMA (NYC):

Modern Matinees: B is for Bacall this week shows the 1947 film Dark Passage on Weds, Howard Hawk’s To Have and Have Not (1944) Thurs, and The Big Sleep (1946) on Friday. Also the What Price Hollywood series continues with Clarence Brown’s 1931 film A Free Soul and Josef von Sternberg’s 1934 film The Scarlet Empress on Weds, the 1939 film Midnight and 1935’s Sylvia Scarlett on Thursday and more. They’re also showing Franco Rosso’s Babylonover the weekend.

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

This week’s series is See it Big! Action with screenings of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Seven Samurai, Anne of the Indiesand The Adventures of Robin Hood. On Good Friday, the family program is the animated Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

The Quad continues its Wild Things: The Ferocious Films of Nelly Kaplan this weekend with Charles and Lucie, Néa, The Pleasure of Love and more.

BAM CINEMATEK (NYC):

Thursday ends the The Anarchic Cinema of Věra Chytilováseries of the Czech film star.

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART (LA):

This Friday’s midnight offering is Panos Costamos’ too recent to be repertory Mandy, starring Nicolas Cage.

STREAMING AND CABLE

Streaming on Netflix this week is Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s SOMEONE GREAT, starring Jane the Virgin’s Gina Rodriguez as an aspiring music journalst trying to get her dream job at a magazine, even though that would mean moving to San Francisco. Her boyfriend of nine years (Lakeith Stanfield) decides to break up so she and her two best friends (DeWanda Wise, Brittany Snow) decide to go out for one last adventure in New York City.

#WhatToWatchThisWeekend CurseOfLaLLorona Movies TheWeekendWarrior #BeNatural HailSatan

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