#who at nickelodeon thought it was a good idea to put resources into a live action version of the show AGAIN

[popcorn-hero]

CH 291 Thoughts

So we already know at this point that the Hero Society is backwards and needs to be reconstructed. Reading further and further into the chapters, I started to think back on a show on Amazon “The Boys” where

 “ most of the superheroes in the series' universe are corrupted by their celebrity status and often engage in reckless behavior, compromising the safety of the world.:”- Taken from Wikipidea on the premise of The  Boys

Now the Boys is in no way, shape, or form 100% similar to the BNHA universe, but there are some themes that I think both point out.

Marketing and Branding and Public Perception.

Just as in The Boys, being a Hero is not only about status, its about a brand. In The Boys, the Seven (the main hero team in America) can be seen everywhere. I would provide screen shots, but I dont feel like it (lol)

They are on Cereal, Movies, soaps, sporting events,ect

The show highlights how being a Hero is not about saving lives, but its about maintaining a brand and good public ratings (sounds familiar)

Coming back to the image I posted, we see Hawks, Wash, Ryukyu, and other heroes (Im assuming) on billboards ads.

The fact that in the BnHA world, heroes have “Agencies” already sounds like some type of Nickelodeon casting. And that goes back to Stains point about the lack or “real heroes” nowadays. Its about being famous and reputation.

Moving on, I’m about to back track to something I said a few months ago 

You then raise people to submit to this idea of what it means to be a good civilian and self-police. Legitimate Dominance as I mentioned before: Specifically, Socially legitimate dominance

According to sociologist and philosopher Max Weber, we have 3 types of authority

Charismatic: power based on the exceptional qualities of an individual, such as his or her heroism or sanctity

The heroes of the story

Traditional: power that is justified by a belief in long-standing customs

The government

Legal: based on the legality or acceptability of rules and laws that outline appropriate courses of action

“it is when we follow rules because we believe in the process, regardless of who is giving us the order. “

the civilians and the heroes

From the  International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences by  James Wright he write he comments the following about  Vilfredo Pareto

…..He [Pareto] argued that the elite class is maintained by the circulation of especially apt nonelites into the ruling group. Mosca takes a more sociological approach to the study of elites by emphasizing structural and organizational factors in the maintenance of elite classes, such as their superior organization and their control of resources.

Noneleites= the heroes: We know there is financial and political gain associated with being a hero (even more so when you are in the top percent)

The society that BNHA exist in creates an environment for people to be villains: ”Its as if they created the problem just to get credit for solving it”

The society creates an environment where it’s not abnormal to send children into high risk raid without experience of this kind:

The society creates an environment of the idolization or heroes and strips away independence on ones self.

I’m bringing that excerpt up in response to this

Here we ca see that “can’t you see-kun” is visibly in denial on the possible implication that a hero, his ideal, can be anything but just. Because we are taught that heroes are inherently good, and can only do good- we put our trust and faith in them, because we have been conditioned to perceive them as good.

And now to the last part

Yes, the damage is done. This whole arc is what I believe to be the catalyst to the reform the hero society, and even just being a civilian with a quirk. I think going forward, we might get more of the HPSC and how the students comes to terms with their roles/goals/and ambitions going forward

These are the next generation of Heroes entering a time where things might make a huge revolutionary turn. It is going to be this generation that has to restore societies faith and challenge the status quo thats been so far.

#bnha 291 #mha 291 #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha #mha #manga spoilers #bnha manga #bnha meta #mha meta #bnha analysis #mha analysis #popcorn-hero #bnha deku #bnha shoto #bnha bakugo #bnha dabi #i bet theres is a bunch of horrible grammar

[frederator-studios]

Bird Banfe: The Frederator Interview

You might be surprised, talking to people in the animation industry, at how rare it is to encounter a still-kicking passion for cartoons. Bird Banfe is, to borrow Drake’s term, a real one. A recent SCAD Grad with mad Storyboarding skills, a deep investment in Scooby Doo and a penchant for pink, Bird's enthusiasm for her craft emanates from her, an enlightened power not unlike those of the magical girls she grew up idolizing. Hearing Costume Quest’s Production Coordinator speak with conviction, knowledge and love for the shows that shaped her, and those she now helps shape, it’s abundantly clear that her passion is an unstoppable force, and when it comes to Bird’s dreams, my sense is that it’s never been a question of ‘whether’—simply one of ‘when’.

How did you break into the animation industry?

I got the chance to intern at Nickelodeon during my last year at SCAD, on Spongebob. Totally by accident!

Cool! How does one “accidentally” become a Nicktern?

The Dean of our school was PO’d because Nick representatives were visiting campus, but it was finals and nobody knew, so people weren’t showing up. My friend who worked in the animation building called me up and was like, “Hey, there are Nick people here doing general interviews. Come do one!”

So you bailed on whatever you were doing and went?

Yeah! I had like 30 minutes to throw on an outfit, a little makeup. I thought it went awful. Which is how you can expect an interview to go, with no preparation and barely any clue what it’s for. I didn’t hear anything for a couple months, so I figured, eh, good learning experience. Then on the last day of school, I got a call at like 9pm from an unknown number, and didn’t pick up. They left a voicemail - and it was my interviewer! She said she had something to tell me. I was like, “What?! It’s been two months! This could still be a thing?!”

And on the last day of school!

The last day of school - period. I was driving home to New Jersey the next day. No job lined up, flipping out. We got in touch, I waited a bit more, then I got a call from the Spongebob team. From a Skype interview with them, I got the job.

What were your responsibilities on Spongebob?

The same as a PA. Handling files for artists, organizing things, picking up tasks to help the production along. On Spongebob specifically, I did a lot of archiving backgrounds. The show has these beautiful, physical painted backgrounds. Handling those was probably the coolest part of the job. It got really weird sometimes. It’d be like, “Here is the interior of Patrick’s mouth and it’s really gross.” And I’d have to search around to label it, because they go into Patrick’s mouth in like 3 different episodes.

Wow, so you became the in-house expert on Patrick Star mouth shots.

It was a lot of fun! I learned a lot about how animation works. In art school, they don't teach you anything about production. I didn't know what to expect, or really what was expected of me! I'm good at organizing, I know Photoshop, and I work really hard. Those things carried me through the internship.

Backing way up - when did you know you wanted to work in animation?

A lot later than most people would say. I wasn’t drawing on the walls when I was two. I was drawing! But about as much as any kid would. I wanted to be a Veterinarian for most of my life. In sophomore year of high school though, I realized I have a lot of story ideas, and original characters - all the stuff that kids who really like anime would have. And I knew I’d go insane if I didn’t have a creative job. That decided it for me. Not, “I really want to do this!” more, “I can’t imagine a world where I’m satisfied with a different career”.

So as a junior and senior, you geared yourself toward animation?

Yeah - my Uncle was working in visual effects, mainly for superhero movies, so I knew someone ‘who does that’. I knew it was an option, not an intangible dream. I was in art classes throughout high school, because they were fun. But then I started going to an art studio after school to take animation, painting, and life drawing classes - the last of which was a big shock to me.

Oh, wow - you did all the right things!

When you know people who do it, they’ll tell you! “Go take your life drawing classes—there are no other kids in high school drawing naked people, you’ve gotta do it”. I got advice from a lot of people and followed it the best I could. I applied to a bunch of art schools for animation, though none in California. Not even CalArts - wasn’t even a blip on the radar (off my surprise) It was too far for my family! We picked Savannah, and I’m really glad. I had a great time at SCAD.

What did you like best about animation at SCAD?

It was a good fit for my personality. I was very much the go-getter in college - you know, a try-hard. And the school has a ton of great resources if you want to put in the work. SCAD is set up in a way where if you take advantage of everything that’s there, and are willing to work, you'll prosper.

Going into animation, did you have a focus in mind? 

I knew from my animation classes in high school on that I wanted to storyboard. I figured that out quickly, mostly because my teacher steered me toward it. He was like, “You’re good at this. You need to keep doing it.” I was like “Okay, will do.” (laughs) I think every role in animation is interesting, and I’m not too picky. I’m sorta glad somebody made that decision for me!

Are you now looking for avenues into storyboarding from production?

Definitely, but I’ve loved my time in production. I can’t see myself doing it forever, but, remember I said I was a big go-getter in college? I pushed myself really hard. I don’t want to say I burned out, but... I wanted time for myself. To learn how to be an adult, do things like cook for myself. Working in production has given me time to breathe and figure out what I value in the industry. 

For example - I was accustomed to that air of, “Oh, you want to be on a show with clout, a show that people know”. I realized on Spongebob how little that really means. Tell anybody in the industry you’re on Spongebob and they’ll go, “That’s cool” and maybe mention their friend on the show. It wasn’t ‘celebrity status’, you know? Maybe to my Grandma, but not to people here. I’ve come to see it’s much more important to find a team that really works with you, and Costume Quest was that team for me.

Did being part of a great team help you shelve the art anxieties?

Oh yeah. When I first started in production, part of me was like, “You need to get into art, now. You need to be doing this, this, and THIS you should have done yesterday!” Tons of pressure. But on Costume Quest, I realized, “These are really great people. I like being around them, I like coming to work every day. I don't want to leave.” So I decided I'd do everything I could with this show and this team. And that’s been very fulfilling. Not in a way that I expected—but in a way where I’ve learned about what I need in a workplace.

What’s your Big Goal in animation, if you have one now?

I always feel embarrassed saying this, because I'm just starting out. But I have lofty goals of being a Creator. I just want to make something that’s important to young girls growing up. Thinking about the things that were important to me as a little girl, I want to foster that.

What kinds of Things?

Magical girl shows (laughs). Sailor Moon, Tokyo Mew Mew, Cardcaptor Sakura. The very ridiculous, very pink, frilly stories, where the message is usually “Love is the most powerful thing in the universe”. But I think those stories are really important! Empathy is important to teach people, and cartoons do that, today more so than ever. Plus, kindness is actually what kids want: when we tested our show, we got feedback that the kids didn’t like it when our characters were mean. When I was growing up, there weren’t as many US shows that talked about interpersonal dynamics, or hit on the empathy theme: “people are different from you, that’s why they behave differently.” That’s probably why anime was so fundamental to me then. Spongebob wasn’t talking about things that felt important to me at that age, but Naruto was. I’ve always been attracted to stories about people learning what it means to grow up and make the world a better place, and where the characters are fun to watch doing that. Costume Quest definitely is that, to me. I just really like all the characters.

Who are your favorite of the characters? Which ones do you identify with?

I definitely identify with Wren the most—which is not something I should admit to. Very much the stubborn, rough-and-tumble personality. I look at her and go, “Yup, that’s me as a kid.” My favorite character is Rudy, which is really weird. It’s that crazy YouTube-popstar personality - the one associated with “YouTube celebrity” which I just find hilarious. And I love Reynold. I like the dynamic between him and Wren the best.

Do you have a favorite episode of Costume Quest?

My favorites are always the Reynold ones, because they have so much heart. You really feel for the kid. He goes through a lot, and he cares a lot; there’s just no way you can’t. I’ll say “Scout’s Honor”. Of all the episodes we’ve done, that’s probably the one that puts a smile on my face the most. The board artists and writers packed a lot of funny stuff in there, and I love singing along with it.

What have you liked best about working on Costume Quest?

The people, first of all. And it’s just a good show. I live for those moments where I can watch something then go to my friend later and be like, “Remember that part?” and crack up about it. Costume Quest is a lot of that for me.

Anything you’d like future fans of the show to know?

Keep an eye out for a little clown doll. We got a haunted doll last summer, off eBay. His name is Little Richie and he moves around the office. It's so funny. It was actually Julian (interviewed here!) who decided to start hiding him in some of the backgrounds. So he’s now a fun little Easter egg - or a continuity error,  depending on the sense of humor of whoever you ask. It’s been so fun having him crop up all over the office. In the freezer, behind a plant. Suspended from the ceiling.

What are your favorite cartoons?

I love love love loved Scooby Doo as a kid. I still do. I love those ridiculous straight-to-video WWE crossovers. They are my guilty pleasure in every sense of the word. So bonkers. There’s John Cena standing next to Daphne. It's great. I was Scooby for Halloween for 5 years. I was obsessed, but not for any reason that I can parse today as an adult. I think I just like dogs. I really liked Chowder. That show, especially that style, stood out to me when I was deciding to pursue animation. Same with Flapjack, a similar vein of style and humor. And with both, it’s these lead characters who are just sweet kids, nothing but nice. Courage the Cowardly Dog I loved, even though I was the most easily scared kid in the world. You might think, “Oh, Scooby-Doo, Courage the Cowardly Dog, you must like scary things.” Not at all. I was deeply afraid. I just loved dogs that much. PowerPuff Girls was huge for me. These days, I have to keep up with every episode drop of Steven Universe or risk getting it spoiled. Star Versus and OK KO! are great too, and Ducktales I really enjoy putting on.

What are you working on now? Do you feel pretty motivated to go do your personal work after the work-day? 

My portfolio. And it’s hard. It’s really hard. It took time, but I’ve come to terms with that. You can’t burn yourself out. You have to put body first and figure out the balance you need in life, in order to be happy. I’m also the type that works a lot better in an office setting. So I’m prone to coming into the office at a weird time, if I actually want to get something done. At home, I never get anything done. Unless it’s Sunday. Sunday is my work day. Saturday’s my sleep day.

Bird is now Production Coordinator on Final Space. Follow her on Twitter. Costume Quest will premiere in 2019 on Amazon Prime Video - keep an eye out!

Thank you for the interview Bird! And for helping make Costume Quest the extraordinary show that it is <3

- Cooper ❀

#The Frederator Interview #frederator #scad #costume quest #scooby doo #spongebob #animation #nicktern #production #storyboard artist #storyboard #final space #sailor moon #chowder #cartoons #cartoon #interview #artist

[weekendwarriorblog]

WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND August 9, 2019  - ONE CHILD NATION, VISION PORTRAITS, PEANUT BUTTER FALCON and lots more!

For this week’s column, I’m going to put a little more focus on two excellent documentaries out this week, even though there’s a few narratives worth checking out, as well..

The first doc I want to talk about is Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang’s ONE CHILD NATION  (Amazon Studios), an amazing look at the edict by the Chinese government in the ‘80s --  one that ran right up until fairly recently -- which pushed for families to only have one child in order to help the country’s struggling economy. The idea is that the less children to feed, the further resources can be spread. This “suggestion” was one that became a huge problem for families as young women were being kidnapped and sterilized after having one child and some families had to give up their second child for adoption, often against their own desires... though they were also given much needed money and food.  It’s an edict that becomes even more nefarious when you consider that women are having important personal decisions about having children being made for them by the government. (Sound familiar?) The running storyline through the movie involves a teen girl, whose twin was taken away for adoption when she was very young, as the filmmakers help her reconnect with her now-teen twin in America. Her story is so moving that if the two of them were actually reunited in the film, I probably would have broken down and had one of the ugliest cries I’ve ever had during a movie. As it it, it’s already a heartbreaking and emotional film with the situation so well portrayed by the two filmmakers, and it’s a movie I connected to from my osmosis having lived in Chinatown for 26 years. 

I imagine it will be on Amazon relatively soon, but if you’re a fan of great documentary filmmaking, you might want to seek this out in New York (at the Film Forum), Boston, L.A. and other cities this weekend.

I next want to talk about Rodney Evans’ VISION PORTRAITS (Stimulus Pictures), which opens exclusively at the Metrograph following its premiere at SXSW earlier this year. 

Not many people know this but a little over a year ago, I was dealing with my own vision problems where I had a scratched retina from shingles, but I was also having trouble with deteriorating vision in both eyes. I’m actually surprised that more of my editors didn’t ask me about why most of the pieces I submitted were zoomed in 175-250% as my eyesight got worse, but it was getting to the point where I wouldn’t be able to read any black writing on white background and had trouble reading some comics when letterers got a bit too creative with the word balloons. It got pretty serious until last year when an opthomologist suggested I get cataract surgery.

Filmmaker Rodney Evans has been dealing with his eyesight problems for years, but they had been getting worse as his filmmaking career progress. In a moment of introspection, he decided to interview other artists with vision impairment to see how they deal with it while making their art. These include dancer/choreographer Kayla Hamilton, writer Ryan Knighton and photograph John Dugdale, as the film also follows Evans own path in order to get a procedure to help alleviate his blindness.

The film is fascinating, especially the idea of “passing” as sighted, something I had to deal with during my own declining eyesight. (BTW, I’m fine now as I had that cataract surgery and I now wear reading glasses for most computer/phone activities.)

Evans will be at the Metrograph all weekend doing QnAs for his film with a number of special guests (including Winter’s Bone director Debra Granik on Sunday!) so if you’re interested in knowing more about how those with vision problems can still be creative artists, this is worth checking out. It’s not a sexy movie, but it’s an important one. It will open in L.A. at the Laemmle Royal on August 23.

I also want to mention that Garret Price’s doc Love, Antosha will open in New York at the Quad Cinema on Friday, and if you were ever a fan of actor Anton Yelchin, then this amazing doc with interviews with so many of the filmmakers and other actors he’s worked with is heartbreaking but essential. It’s an amazing list that even includes Nicolas Cage reading letters from Anton to his mother – brilliantly, no less -- but it’s also wonderful to hear such wonderful things about Yelchin from those who worked with him and called him friend.

Also, if you haven’t had a chance to see Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am, now’s a good time to learn more about this amazing author who passed away earlier this week. It’s still playing in select cities but hopefully Magnolia Pictures will be able to get it out to more theaters with her passing.

There’s a LOT of wide releases this week, and it’s a pretty mixed bag. I’ve seen three of the movies, and one of the ones I liked I can say that I liked it – the other one is under embargo. I guess it might be more obvious which is which when my reviews turn up at The Beat later this week.

I will say that I enjoyed Tom Shadyac’s BRIAN BANKS (Bleecker Street), starring Aldis Hodges and Greg Kinnear, quite a bit, since I have friends in prison who have dealt with the broken justice system where it’s easier to make a plea deal and prevent many hours in court with lawyer hours billed. Banks was a Long Beach, California high school football star who was accused of rape. Although the allegations were false, he takes a deal and gets thrown in jail for eleven years, destroying his dreams of being in the NFL. Out on probation, Banks tries to get his football career going again but discovers that the limitations of his probation and a GPS ankle bracelet makes it impossible, as well as impossible to get a job. He turns to a lawyer with a group who works on getting those falsely accused exonerated and begins an uphill battle against the California justice system. The movie is quite meaningful and inspirational to watch Banks’ story being told with Hodges giving an excellent performance as the football player. I never knew about Banks, so I was fascinated by the film, although I’m sure there will be cynical people out there who feel that this is a cooking cutter legal film that doesn’t have the dramatic fireworks of other such films. I actually liked that Shadyac, who had nearly retired from the business after making low-brow comedies like Ace Ventura, Bruce Almighty and Evan Almighty, would return to tell something that’s more meaningful and important. I’m just not sure if anyone will want to pay to see this in theaters, so its wide release is fairly risky, but it’s a worthwhile venture for sure.

I’m not sure I’ll ever get around to seeing Paramount’s DORA AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD, just ‘cause I’ve never watched the Nickelodeon cartoon, although it certainly looks cute, and I always love seeing Michael Peña (Ant-Man) and Isabela Moner was amazing in last year’s Instant Family. I guess I’ll see if I can get to this eventually, but it’s not a priority for me.

While I can’t say much about the Guillermo del Toro-produced André Øvredal-directed SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK (CBS Films/Lionsgate) due to a review embargo, it’s based on the (apparently controversial) young adult horror novel series of the ‘80s, featuring a cast of younger newcomers like Zoe Colletti, Michael Garza, Gabriel Rush and Austin Zajur. I guess I can say that fans of old school horror films will probably like the use of practical FX in creating the creatures of urban legend, giving the movie a nostalgia factor we don’t frequently see in modern horror films.

I’ll have an interview with Øvredal later in the week, as well as a review, both over at The Beat.

I never read the Vertigo Comics series THE KITCHEN (New Line) when it was first published in 2014, but it offers an interesting premise of women taking over the Irish mob in 1978 Hell’s Kitchen, New York with three fantastic actors in Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish and Elisabeth Moss. You’ll have to wait for my review later today to see if it works or not, but you can read my interview with filmmaker Andrea Berloff right here.

I also haven’t read the novel THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN, which has been adapted by Fox starring Amanda Seyfried, Milo Ventimiglia with Kevin Costner voicing a dog, but I haven’t seen any of the dog movies this year, so this one won’t be the exception.

You can read my thoughts on the box office of the five movies above over at The Beat.

LIMITED RELEASES

Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz’s PEANUT BUTTER FALCON (Roadside Attractions/Armory Films/Endevor Content) was a nice surprise that premiered at the SXSW Film Festival. The idea of Shia Labeouf and Dakota Johnson (from the “50 Shades” movies) on a road trip with a young man with Downs’ Sydrome (breakout star Zack Gottsagen) sounds like it could be absolutely horrifying, so imagine my surprise when this turned out to be fairly warm and wonderful and actually quite funny. A lot of that comes from Gottsagen who is quite funny, and the movie allows you to laugh with him rather than at him, which is sometimes the case with movies involving mental disabilities. It’s a very enjoyable film that might have some appeal to wrestling fans – the title of the movie is Zack’s wrestling name and his goal is to get to a wrestling school run by Thomas Hayden Church. But there are some fun wrestling cameos in the movie as well. Maybe it’s no surprise that it actually won the Audience Award at this year’s SXSW Film Festival, as well.

It’s opening in New York, L.A. and a couple other cities like Austin, Dallas and others on Friday. For transparency, my friend Susan McPhail has a small role in the movie…but I liked the movie anyway :)

I was definitely intrigued by Bart Freundlich’s AFTER THE WEDDING (Sony Pictures Classics), which premiered at Sundance and starred Michelle Williams and Freundlich’s wife Julianne Moore in a gender-twist on the Susanne Bier movie of the same name from 2006, which starred Mads Mikkelsen, who was excellent in the movie. Williams and Moore are also very good in this movie which has Williams as a woman working with underprivileged orphans in India who travels to New York to meet with the CEO of a business looking to invest money in the program. Once there, she’s invited to a wedding, only to learn that the father of the groom is a former boyfriend (played by Billy Crudup). I’m not sure how much more I can say about the developments that occur, because they might be somewhat surprising if you haven’t seen the original movie but it leads to some high drama with Freundlich continuing his streak from the underrated Wolves a few years back. This opens in New York and L.A. this Friday.

Casey Affleck’s third movie as a director, LIGHT OF MY LIFE, might have gotten a festival release or a better theatrical release than the one normally given by Saban Films, but the allegations against him and the whole #MeToo movement has probably made it harder to sell the movie, especially with the filmmaker/star not doing interviews.

Tom Donahue’s doc THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING (Good Deed Entertainment),o opening at the IFC Center and in L.A., features some of the prominent female voices in Hollywood talking about the underrepresentation (and underpayment) of women in the movie industry. The film includes an amazing roster includes Geena Davis, also one of the film’s exec. producers, Marisa Tomei, Jessica Chastain, Meryl Streep, Rashida Jones and many, many more, and hearing what they have to say about their experiences in the industry is very enlightening and important.

Hari Sama’s THIS IS NOT BERLIN (Samuel Goldwyn), opening in New York at the IFC Center this Friday and in L.A. on August 23 is an intriguing coming of age film set in 1986 Mexico City, which harks back to Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma last year. It involves a seventeen-year old named Carlos (played by Xabiani Ponce de Léon) who doesn’t fit in but starts finding himself when he gets involved in the post-punk scene at a nightclub, although his best friend Gera (José Antonio Toledano) has trouble adjusting, causing fiction in the friendship.

In many ways, this remined more of Cuaron’s earlier film Y Tu Mama Tambien, although it’s a little more erratic in terms of tone, as well as being somewhat predictable about where things might go wrong. What’s especially interesting is the exploration of sexuality by the two friends in the movie and how that is affected as they go further down a rabbit hole of drugs and depravity.  The movie also stars Roma’s Marina de Tavira as Carlos’ mother, and while it probably won’t be for everyone, Sama offers a great new voice on the international filmmaking circuit.

Martin Freeman and Morena Baccarin (Deadpool) star in Jason Winer’s rom-com ODE TO JOY (IFC Films), which opens in select cities and On Demand this Friday. In it, Freeman plays a man suffering from narcolepsy who tries to overcome it when he falls in love. Also starring Melissa Rauch, Jake Lacy, Jane Curtin and more.

Lastly, Robi Michael’s psychological thriller Every Time I Die (Gravitas Ventures) stars Drew Fonteiro as a man who is murdered at a lake sending his consciousness travelling through the bodies of friends to warn them of the killer. Very high concept indeed...

STREAMING AND CABLE

As far as Netflix this week, I am looking forward to seeing the new crime and martial arts series WU ASSASSINS, starring Iko Uwais from The Raid and more recently, Stuber, which will debut on Thursday. There’s a lot of great martial arts talent in the movie including Mark Dacascos as well as Summer Glau from Firefly, so this should be a fun show. I’m even MORE excited for return of the series GLOW for its third season this Friday with Geena Davis being added to the mix. I love this show, maybe because I remember watching GLOW so fondly in the ‘80s.

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

As part of the ongoing Juraj Herz, retrospective of the Czech genre filmmaker, the Metrograph is premiering a new 4k restoration of his 1969 black and film The Cremator starting Friday, although the series will end on Thursday. This week, the Metrograph is also starting a new month-long series called “Godard/Karina Late Nights,” showing four of the collaborations between the French New Wave master and his muse Anna Karina. This Friday and Saturday, the series will screen the 1964 classic Band of Outsiders. This week’s Late Nites at Metrograph is Seijun Suzuki’s 1966 Yakuza crime-thriller Tokyo Drifterand the weekend’s Playtime: Family Matinees is Joe Johnston’s 1989 Disney family comedy Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, starring Rick Moranis. Also this Thursday is the latest installment of The Academy at Metrograph with the Oscar-nominated Mexican film Like Water from Chocolate (1992) with director Alfonso Arau in person. There are still some seats available but it might be sold out by the time you read this.

THE NEW BEVERLY  (L.A.):

Tarantino’s rep theater continues to mostly be booked up with mostly sold out shows of his ninth film Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood, although the Weds matinee is the Rock Hudson/Doris Day classic Pillow Talk (1959)and the weekend’s KIDDEE MATINEE is Norman Tokar’s Sammy, the Way Out Seal from 1963.  Saturday morning is also the latest installment of the Bev’s “Cartoon Club.” Monday’s matinee is Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsidersfrom 1983.

FILM FORUM (NYC):

The premiere downtown NY arthouse continues its impressive “Burt Lancaster” series this week with a lot of fantastic films including John Sturges’ Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957) on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and Robert Aldrich’s Ulzanna’s Raid (1972) on Thursday, Saturday is also John Frankenheimer’s Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) and Seven Days in May (1964), then on Sunday, Run Silent Run Deep (1958), plus the Forum will also screen the 1968 film The Swimmer, Elmer Gantry (1960) and MUCH more! In other words, this series is a bonanza of Lancaster riches, and next week begins another great repertory series!

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

This weekend’s series is “Rutger Hauer Remembered” with a screening of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner  (1982) on Thursday, a 35mm double feature of Ladyhawke and Flesh + Blood (both from 1985) on Friday, a TRIPLE feature of The Hitchhiker (1986), Nighthawks  (1981) and the more recent Hobo with a Shotgun (2011) on Saturday, and then The Blood of Heroes and Blind Fury on Sunday.

AERO  (LA):

The AERO gets in on the retrospective bandwagon of one of Iran’s most respected filmmakers with “A Taste of Kiarostami,” beginning on Thursday with the late filmmaker’s recent films Like Someone in Love (2012) and 24 Frames (2017), Friday’s double feature is Taste of Cherry  (1997) and Ten (2002) and then Saturday is Close-Up  (1990) and The Wind Will Carry Us (1999) – most of these include a short, as well. The series concludes on Sunday with a triple feature of Abbas Kiarostami’s Koker Trilogy: Where is My Friend’s House?  (1987), And Life Goes On (1992) and Through the Olive Trees (1994). I’ll be perfectly honest that my knowledge of Kiarostami is not what it should be, but hopefully those in L.A. will check out some of these movies even if they don’t get the amazing Godfrey Cheshire hosting them.

Wednesday’s installment of the “Greg Proops Film Club” is a screening of Babette’s Feast and the AERO is getting in on the midnight movie craze on Friday night by showing David Lynch’s 1977 Eraserhead in conjunction with “Cinematic Void.”

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

The Quad begins an impressive new series called “Beach Reads: From Sun to Screen” with a number of classic movie adaptations of some classic novels, including Airport (1970), The Deep  (1977), Arthur Hailey’s Hotel (1967), Mark Robson’s Valley of the Dolls (1967) – just cited in Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood – John Sturges’ Ice Station Zebra (1968) and many more classics. In conjunction with the New York premiere of the doc Love, Antosha, the Quad will also be showing two of Anton Yelchin’s latter-day films, that doc’s exec. producer Drake Doremus’ Like Crazy(2011) and Jeremy Saulnier’s Green Room (2015), both which are excellent and worth seeing. (And another major oops from last week is that I forgot to mention the Joan the Maid 4k Restorations showing at the Quad, so hopefully they’ll continue through the weekend.)

IFC CENTER (NYC)

Weekend Classics: Staff Picks Summer 2019 is Caroline’s pick of Louis Malle’s 1958 thriller Elevator to the Gallows, showing Friday through Sunday at 11AM. Waverly Midnights: Staff Picks Summer 2019, chosen by Shelby, is Harmony Korine’s Julien Donkey-Boy (1999) starring Eewen Bremner, and Late Night Favorites: Summer 2019 is Gore Verbinski’s The Ring from 2002. Also playing through the weekend is the IFC’s 60thanniversary 4k restoration of Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, starring Cary Grant, which will play most days in the early evening.

BAM CINEMATEK (NYC):

BAM’s new series “Punks, Poets & Valley Girls: Women Filmmkers” begins on Wednesday with Penelope Spheeris’ Suburbia (1983), which will be followed on Thursdsay by two more amazing music docs, The Decline of Western Civilization and The Decline of Western Civilization: The Metal Years. The series also includes Susan Seidelman’s Smithereens (1982) and Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), Bette Gordon’s Variety and lots more as it runs through August 20.

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

The “Summer Matinees: Fantastic Worlds” series continues this week with the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse… in 3D! playing Weds. through Sunday at noon. MOMI will also have a 30thAnniversary screening of Spike Lee’sDo the Right Thing on Friday night, plus “See It Big! 70mm” continues with screenings of Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma (also from last year) as well as one or two more screenings of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

FILM OF LINCOLN CENTER (NYC):

Michel Gondry’s swill get a FREE screening at Governors Island’s Parade Ground on Friday night starting at 7pm. I missed this last week (what else is new?) but FilmLinc’s “Another Country: Outsider Visions of America” continues with a cinematic look at the immigrant experience.

ROXY CINEMA (NYC)

This week’s rep stuff includes the 1967 film Personaon Weds. and Saturday, and the 1963 Jean-Luc Godard film Contempt, starring Brigitte Bardot, Michael Picoli, Jack Palance and Fritz Lang as himself.

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART  (LA):

This week’s midnight offering is a weird one… DreamWorks Animation’s Shrek (2001)!

#WhatToWatchThisWeekend OneChildNation PeanutButterFalcon BrianBanks VisionPortraits Movies Reviews TheKitchen ScaryStories

[healthandfitnessrecipes-blog]

What it&#039;s like to star in a Target ad: scoop from the mom of a child with disabilities

https://healthandfitnessrecipes.com/?p=8828

This guest post is from longtime online friend Natalie Hammer Noblitt, a mom of three based in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley. Her oldest, 10-year-old Nicolas, is "positive, friendly and curious" she says. He's also one of the first children with disabilities—Nic has cerebral palsy—to star in Target back-to-school ads, currently running on major TV networks, cable and at movie theaters, too. Here, Natalie gives the backstory. Five years ago, we moved from Chicago to L.A. for my husband's job, and I discovered that there are quite a few families here who have kids in the entertainment business. I joked about getting the kids into modeling and acting. Nic has always enjoyed being in front of the camera—he's taken dance, baseball and swim therapy at California State University, where he’d often get chosen or volunteer to speak about his experiences. He became very comfortable using a microphone and speaking to the group.

Nic with siblings Eliza, 5, and Nathaniel, 6

Inclusion has been our family motto for a long time. One of the reasons we were excited about moving to California is the state’s reputation for being very accessible to wheelchair users, something we struggled with as Nicolas neared school age in Illinois. But accessible doesn’t always mean inclusive. We’ve experienced many challenges getting Nic the support he needed at a general education public school. His neighborhood school told us up front they’d never dealt with a child in a wheelchair or walker before. Other families at school sometimes didn’t understand why he was mainstream and wondered if the expense of his supportive services him might take away from their children’s resources. Even in a very open minded and well-funded school, misconceptions persisted. We wanted this for Nic—and other children like him—because we haven't seen many images in the media that represented them. That has begun to change in the last couple of years, but when Nic was small we would get so excited any time we saw a child with a wheelchair in a commercial or on a TV show. As a family we loved the idea of letting Nic pursue his talents, and also show others that kids with disabilities want to be social and involved. We knew if he could be embraced by the media it might also help other kids feel they are visible, too. Social challenges also exist when your child is the only one at his school with a visible disability. We started asking around about agencies Although there are agencies in LA that are known for working with kids with disabilities, we ended up approaching DDO Kids because we’d heard great things about their agents from other families. A traditional kids talent agency seemed to make sense so Nic would be considered for roles that both called for children with disabilities and ones who weren't asking for those characteristics. I’m not aware of other children who have a visible disability among the roster of children they represent. The agency signed Nic in the summer of 2017. Next we got headshots taken, signed up for all the casting sites where actors and models need to be listed (which all require monthly or yearly fees), and got a work permit from the state of California. Grades and attendance are important factors in getting approved for a minor’s work permit. When you are a child with complex medical issues — needing to take time off to see specialists and have procedures done during the school year — your attendance doesn’t always look perfect. We had to work with the permitting agency and show them Nic's IEP before we could get his work permit approved. (We go through that process again every six months to keep it legal for him to work.) These are some of his professional shots, taken by photographer Kendra Kabasele.

Nic started auditioning for commercial and theatrical parts right away. He enrolled in acting classes for children wanting to act in commercials, TV and movies. He had a blast and wanted to keep going, so we felt we were on the right path. The classes led to meeting his manager, April Baker of Stagecoach Entertainment, who joined his agents as part of his representation. She's helped us build relationships in the industry, and also happens to be the manager of one of the other kids in the Target commercial. The first commercial Nic booked was a Burger King spot that ran in Mexico and Turkey. At the beginning of 2018, he booked a role in a print campaign for a major sports brand (yet we still haven’t seen the results of that work). Later he landed a Nickelodeon summer promotion role, but the final cuts only show him very briefly. DDO Kids submits him for all kinds of roles appropriate for his age. He’s auditioned for TV shows, movies, commercials, print jobs and online content. You never know how a project is going to turn out, or if you child will be cut altogether, so we all have to be patient and not be disappointed if something doesn’t turn out the way we think. We’ve explained to Nic that while he can have a lot of fun doing these auditions and projects, it is a job and professionalism and hard work are expected if you want to keep getting roles. It’s taught him about saving money, paying taxes and a lot of other really practical skills that will be good for him later in life. (Because we live in California, child actors working in the industry are subject to special laws that protect kids on the amount they can work and where the money goes—money put into a special account can't be accessed by anyone except the child when they turn 18.) Nic also really enjoys seeing all the behind the scenes work that goes into putting together a commercial or film project. We’re a Target household, and Nic’s entire outfit the days he auditioned for Target came from the store. We were so excited when we got the call from his agent that he got the gig—he popped a wheelie in his wheelchair! He’d been doing this for a year and sometimes auditioned for projects 5-7 times a week. I reminded him how much work he’d put in to get to this point. The crew and director were all so accommodating and kind when we filmed at the end of June. The director wanted to take Nic’s wheelchair use into consideration: He’d have Nic show how fast he could get from one point to another, and learned some of the nuances of wheelchair use. He realized Nic needed to take time to put on his wheelchair brakes if they wanted him to stay still. Nic was proud to show off his speed and spinning ability. He was supported and cheered on for motivation just like all the other kids were. The two outfits Nic wore in the spot were tailored to fit him just right. I went out and bought them at the store’s as soon as they were in stock because they had become so meaningful to us.

Nic's favorite thing on set was getting to meet the other child actors—and of course the food from craft services. Who doesn’t love a good buffet and plentiful snacks?! I really enjoyed meeting the parents on set or at auditions, sharing tips and just connecting.

Nic and friends on the Target ad set

Being the parent of a child with a disability can be isolating, but I’ve experienced so many warm, open parents of other child actors. We’ve connected on social media and everyone is so supportive. Still, we’ve also gotten some reminders about why it’s important to show that kids with disabilities can do this. Some people have made it clear they think the commercial was a “pity hire,” or questioned Nic’s ability to perform and memorize lines. That’s truly not the case. Nic works very memorizing lines when needed and has learned to be incredibly professional. He goes in to all the auditions by himself, without my help, answers questions from the casting directors and has a real sense of why he wants to do this. Our family juggles a lot to make the auditions happens, and I help promote him online because many casting directors now want to see kids with a social media following, or use it as a visual resume to see what kid actors do in their free time. We will only work with projects that we feel have the right message and motivation. And we love to see directors putting disability-specific roles into projects to make the cast better represent all families. Another cool thing is Nic has inspired his younger brother and sister to try acting. We’ll see if his siblings enjoy it as much as he does! Nic first saw the Target commercial at the end of July, when we were visiting with my sister in Colorado. He was so excited. "It turned out a lot cooler than I imagined," he said. I've asked Nic what he enjoyed about the experience. "It's very fun and exciting to be on TV and know that people might recognize me," he said. "Even if you look different than everybody else, it's good for all those different types of people to be seen on TV. If people see kids in wheelchairs it might be good for them. Sometimes I know kids make fun of others who are different." Yesterday we had a meeting with Nic's agents and without my asking him to, he thanked them for helping him get some really fun jobs. They asked how he thought he looked in the Target commercial. He said, "I think I did awesome." Images of Nicolas alone and with siblings by Kendra Kabasele Credits: Original Content Source