#(in the trailer already how?!?! disney has hit a new low!)

[iamnmbr3]

Disney: Oh you liked Loki’s badass armor? Well SIKE BITCH! It’s gone. He’s gonna wear a beige trash bag now. Oh and you liked his cool, regal bearing and dry wit? Well that’s all gone too! He’s got the same name and the same actor and that’s it! Whatcha gonna do about it? Just shut up and be grateful we didn’t rename him Clowno McFartface and recast him too.

Sony: Oh you’re all shipping symbrock? Ok. Have a symbrock rom com trailer for Valentines Day! :) Oh you want Venom & Eddie being domestic and making breakfast? Here. Have an actual canonical hilarious domestic breakfast scene in the trailer! Thanks so much for engaging with our content! :) 

[faequeentitania]

TROS

I don't think I ever talked about this since I've kind of drifted away from the thick of things this past year, but TROS is everything I feared about JJ taking the final chapter. I'll give him this: the dude can set things up—I still love TFA, I think that they hit a good balance with that movie as far as introducing new characters and reacquainting us with the SW universe, catching us up on the time we've been away and how things changed after the events of ROTJ, with just the right amount of callback to the OT. But when it comes to anything beyond that: he cannot. stick. the landing. Star Trek is a prime example of another franchise he breathed new life into (yes! I LOVE the 2009 reboot! It's literally what turned me into a ST fan!) but he crashed and burned with the second movie he tackled, and Star Trek: Into Darkness committed the same cardinal sin that TROS did; leaning WAY too hard on nodding and winking references to TOS while a) not actually doing anything good with the "reimaged" plot and b) the stuff they DID "change up" was bad and/or meaningless.

Not only that, but he has a HISTORY of lying to his audiences; he did it with LOST ("it's totally not purgatory you guys!!"), he did it with Star Trek ("What! No, Benedict Cumberbatch isn't Khan! HE'S DEFINITELY NOT KHAN YOU GUYS."), so the fact that he lied to our faces about the hopeful ending of this movie, he lied about not retconning TLJ, he lied about his use of Rose in the film—it's not surprising to me but it's still fucking infuriating and I hate him for it.

So my expectations for this film were already pretty low. Then the first trailer with Palps dropped, and my expectations sank even further; I don't believe for a NANOSECOND that "he was the endgame all along!" Bullshit. Utter and complete bullshit. He was a last minute scramble to replace Snoke, and nothing in the UNIVERSE can convince me otherwise. I tried to keep a smidgen of hope, y'all. I tried so hard to believe that maybe, just maybe, there were enough people on this project to check and balance each other to make it shake out alright; I never expected to LOVE it, but I tried to have hope that I'd at least like it well enough. But as I kept saying to my mom as the release date crept ever closer, "I'm so fucking afraid of this film because there are SO MANY WAYS they could fuck it up."

Hahaha don't you just love being right?

I don't even really know where to begin, because I've already seen a lot of people covering detailed, thorough ground on the subject, but I'm honestly just astounded that it ended up THIS much of a garbage fire?? If I rolled my eyes any harder during this film they were going to fall out of my fucking head. There was just no emotional depth to ANYTHING? Jesus Christ the DIALOGUE. Ben and Rey, the TWO HALVES OF THE SAME PROTAGONIST, barely spoke??? And pretty much any time they did, it was fucking exposition about Rey's —GAG—secret heritage. Don't even get me started on that bullshit.

I swear to god, the opening crawl started at 10:30pm, and I felt the need to check the time at 11:40. BARELY AN HOUR into the film and i was already dying for it to be over. Y'all, I swear to god, the last time that happened to me in a movie was the fucking "Avatar The Last Airbender" trainwreck.

The more I think about this movie the angrier I get. The wasted actors. The wasted characters. The wasted potential. The wasted plotlines. This is a slap in the face to every fucking person who ever defended the sequel trilogy, and I hope Disney becomes painfully, VIVIDLY aware of that fact.

George Lucas, I am so sorry. I've talked some shit about you in the past, but your universe did not deserve this and I'm so sorry your legacy was so violently shit on.

[actionfigureinsider]

New Middle Grade Graphic Novel by Shannon and Dean Hale, Illustrated by Victoria Ying, Hits Stores Everywhere Books Are Sold on January 7, 2020

  Available to Preorder Now

This January, lasso in the New Year with Diana: Princess of the Amazons, a new middle grade original graphic novel from DC.

Perfect for readers ages 8-12, Diana: Princess of the Amazons is written by New York Times bestselling co-authors Shannon and Dean Hale and illustrated by popular artist Victoria Ying. This heartwarming tale follows 11-year-old Diana as she navigates the highs and lows of growing up as the only child on the entire island of Themyscira. It’s a story about family and friendship, learning from mistakes, and finding inner confidence.

The Hales are veterans in the children’s publishing space and are the co-authors behind acclaimed and fan-favorite novels and graphic novels including the Princess in Black series, Rapunzel’s Revenge, and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, among others. Both are longtime fans of Wonder Woman, and this book marks their first project with the character and first work with DC.

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“I was so excited to write about young Wonder Woman,” said Shannon Hale. “I always wondered what it would feel like for young Diana to grow up as the only child in her world. How extraordinary—but also potentially lonely. We started from there and got to explore who Wonder Woman was as a child, and challenge her with an adventure that would help shape who she would become.”

  “Wonder Woman has always been one of my favorite superheroes, but Diana has been one of my favorite heroes, full stop, super or not,” added Dean Hale. “To have the opportunity to tell a story in her formative years, to provide one of the many story ‘ingredients’ that combine to make her the hero she becomes, was an incredible honor.”

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Diana: Princess of the Amazons also marks Ying’s first work with DC and her very first graphic novel. Ying comes to DC from an animation background, having worked on such hit Disney films as Tangled, Frozen, and Wreck-It Ralph, among others. Ying has also written and illustrated several children’s picture books and was thrilled to work on this original story starring Wonder Woman.

  “It was a real treat to explore Diana as a child,” said Ying. “I had a blast drawing her and felt like I got to be her friend too.”

  Leading into its January on-sale date, Diana: Princess of the Amazons has already received critical acclaim from such outlets as Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, and School Library Journal, among others. The book was also selected by IndieBound’s prestigious Kids Next list for winter and is one of DC’s most anticipated releases of 2020.

  “Diana: Princess of the Amazons is DC’s first solo Wonder Woman graphic novel geared toward middle graders, and we are thrilled with the reception so far,” said Michele Wells, vice president and executive editor, DC Books for Young Readers. “The Hales’ heartfelt reimagining of Wonder Woman combined with Ying’s playful and energetic illustrations make this original story a great introduction to the iconic superhero. Its debut will mark one of the largest print runs we’ve set since launching our young reader program, and we can’t wait to share this book with the next generation of Wonder Woman fans!”

  Diana: Princess of the Amazons will hit stores and online retailers everywhere books are sold on January 7, 2020 and is available to preorder now. See here for a sneak peek at the story and here for the official trailer.

  Diana: Princess of the Amazons

Written by Shannon and Dean Hale

Illustrated by Victoria Ying

Colored by Lark Pien

Lettered by Dave Sharpe

MSRP: $9.99

On sale everywhere books are sold on 1/7

  Cut off from the rest of the world, Diana has had an idyllic childhood on Themyscira. But now, at 11 years old, she’s beginning to feel more and more isolated. Though she has many “aunties” and a loving mother, she is an only child. THE only child, in fact.

After an escapade goes wrong, Queen Hippolyta chastises Diana for not living up to the Amazon standard. Diana just can’t seem to measure up, no matter what she does! Literally every other person on the island is an adult proficient in their trade and mighty in body, while she is gangly, sometimes clumsy, and not particularly proficient in anything. She’s not Wonder Woman yet. What Diana needs is a friend—someone her own age whom she can talk to. But when she decides to take matters into her own hands, she may just make a monster instead.

DC DEBUTS OFFICIAL BOOK TRAILER AND EXCERPT  FOR DIANA: PRINCESS OF THE AMAZONS New Middle Grade Graphic Novel by Shannon and Dean Hale, Illustrated by Victoria Ying, Hits Stores Everywhere Books Are Sold on January 7, 2020…

[angel-with-a-pipette]

Title: The Perfect Time

Summary: The final clash on the Keyblade Graveyard started and the severity of the situation hit Sora for the first time. They might fail. They might die. So he has to make a choice now. Sokai. Contains spoilers from the KH3 trailers.

Rating: T

Genre: Romance, Humor

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Disney/Square Enix.

I want to thank @generalcaraway , @rapis-razuri and @scoobysnack1107 ! The three of them came up with the idea of adapting a certain scene from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End for Sokai and allowed me to run off with their idea and add my own twist to it :3

Special thanks go to @phoenix-downer , her translation and interpretation of the “Chikai” lyrics helped me a lot in adapting this scene for Sokai :D

Also available on: ao3 | ff.net

Please enjoy!

Dust hit Sora's face as he stepped off of the gummi ship and onto the badlands. It was an unwelcoming world, void of vegetation and life. Somehow, it didn't surprise Sora that Xehanort had chosen this place for the final battle.

He turned around. As always, Donald and Goofy were right by his side, giving him an encouraging smile that calmed his nerves immediately. And they were not the only ones. More gummi ships landed and their passengers exited, throwing glances around the world before all of their eyes landed on Sora, immediately softening their expressions.

Together, they would end this insanity, he was sure of it.

Sora turned back forward and looked at a wall of dust far ahead. He didn't need to wait for a blurry figure to slowly become visible to know that Xehanort was near – the chaotic energy of an intense amount of Darkness was enough to warn him. Soon, Xehanort appeared clearer, his arms crossed behind his back as an arrogant smile spread over his lips. It didn't take long for shadowy figures to appear behind him, all dressed in their black coats, hoods drawn up to hide their faces.

Of course, he had come with his Seekers of Darkness, just as Sora had come with his Guardians of Light.

Xehanort stopped a good thirty meters away from Sora. The tension in the air rose as Xehanort spread his arms theatrically.

“Today,” he started proudly, “we join the other Keyblade Wielders and leave our mark on fate. I have waited patiently,” he clenched his fist and Sora heard the leather of his glove creak, “but together, we shall unlock the Keyblade War's secrets!”

With a wave of his hand, the dust to his right settled, allowing Sora and the others to see the field that spread along the horizon. Upon further inspection, Sora realized it was a field of abandoned Keyblades.

“Yes,” Xehanort nodded as understanding spread over the faces of Sora and his companions, “this is what is left from the first Keyblade war. A true Keyblade Graveyard. And soon, your Keyblades will join them.”

“Why?”

Xehanort quirked an eyebrow at Sora's sudden exclamation. Before he could answer the boy however, he continued. “Why are you doing this?”

A chuckle escaped the old man.

“Knowledge – and power. Whoever will open the door to Kingdom Hearts will be reborn as something far greater than human. And someone greater than human will be able to shape the world in their image. Finally, Light and Darkness will exist in true equilibrium and people will stop to shun the Darkness.”

Sora snorted. “They only shun the Darkness because of people like you who abuse it.”

“A dumb island boy like you wouldn't understand.”

“Maybe. But at least I understand that life is precious and shouldn't be played with, unlike another dumb island boy.”

Sora couldn't help the self-satisfied grin that spread on his lips after he heard Xehanort's low growl. Cockily, Sora flipped his hair back with a turn of his head and added: “We'll end this, here and now.”

To his surprise however, Xehanort recovered and a wicked expression crossed his face as he raised his hand slowly.

“I was hoping you'd say that.”

A cold shudder ran down Sora's back, but he didn't have time to contemplate Xehanort's words as he jerked his hand up quickly. The world began to tremble and the ground directly beneath Xehanort and his Seekers rose up high, far out of reach for the Guardians of Light.

“Let the Keyblade War begin!”

Xehanort snapped his fingers and somewhere far away, a clock chimed. One of the Seekers jumped off of the cliff, creating a small crater upon contact with the ground below him. Small black creatures started appearing, moving erratically around him and they revealed the Seeker's identity before he even lowered his hood: Ansem, Seeker of Darkness.

Several whizzing sounds resounded behind Sora and he now, too, flicked his wrist to summon his Keyblade before he charged.

Everything about this situation reminded him of the Battle of the one hundred Heartless back in Radiant Garden. Enemies started surrounding him quickly and every slash of his Keyblade hit another Heartless. With practiced ease, he rolled out of the way of a claw aimed at his head and with a single swing of his Keyblade, the Wyvern that had attacked him disappeared.

He heard a second far-away chime when the ground shook and more enemies started popping up: Nobodies. Xemnas must have joined the fight now and it made the battlefield more hectic.

Avoiding Nobodies was harder. They were pretty nimble and quick, nothing like the slow and sluggish heartless. They kept Sora on his toes and so it took him until the third clock chime to realize that he had lost sight of his friends.

Panic started to bubble up inside of him.

“Kairi! Riku!”

His attacks grew more hectic and less precise as he hacked his way through the battle field, searching frantically for his friends. He hadn't felt this panic back in the Radiant Garden fight – but his panic still seemed so strangely familiar, as if the memory of it was just out of his reach...

There!

Finally, he saw a glimpse of pink and silver in the distance and he followed this direction just in time to see a Neoshadow appear behind Kairi, its claws ready to sink deep into the unsuspecting girl's skin. Sora jumped and as he pierced the Heartless to protect her, he suddenly remembered.

This didn't remind him of the battle of the thousand Heartless in Radiant Garden. It reminded him of the battle upon the Black Pearl. And the panic hadn't been his – it had been Will's when he had been too scared to lose Elizabeth to waste another second.

And when Sora saw Kairi twirl gracefully to the side, shooting an icicle at an enemy that had tried to sneak up on Sora and his heart attempted to beat out of his chest, he finally understood Will's impromptu proposal.

It was now or never.

“Kairi!”

She didn't react immediately, being engrossed in a fight with one of Xemnas's Nobodies, so Sora grabbed her arm once she had defeated it and pulled her close. Confusion spread over the girl's face, but before she could ask him what was wrong, Sora already blurted it out.

“Will you share a paopu with me?”

Kairi's eyes widened and her mouth fell open as a soft blush started to spread on her cheeks.

A fourth chime resounded when suddenly, a Claymore separated Sora and Kairi from each other. They quickly recovered and parried Saix's attack.

“I don't think this is the best time!” Kairi squeaked, her voice an octave higher than usual as she threw a quick glance back to Sora. “We're in the middle of a battle here!”

Together, they were able to shove Saix back, just in time for Lea to swoop in with his Keyblade, engaging Saix in a one on one fight that allowed Sora and Kairi to take on new Heartless that were closing on on them.

“It's the perfect time!” Sora shouted over his shoulder while slashing an attacking Dancer Nobody across the chest. “I might not get another chance to do this!”

The far-away clock chimed for a fifth time and it was the only warning Sora got before he ducked and rolled out of the way of a couple of arrows that were shot at him. Xigbar, hovering high above the ground, grinned as his relentless attack made it impossible for Sora to do anything but dodge and he thoroughly enjoyed it.

But that also meant that he completely neglected his cover.

Kairi seized her chance and sprinted towards him, using a Large Body's huge belly to propel herself into the sky. She grabbed Xigbar's arm and used her momentum to hurl him over her shoulder to the ground, away from Sora.

The latter had now jumped back into the fight and used a couple of fire spells to clear his way until he was close enough to grab Kairi's arm once more. She stumbled into him and the contact between them made Sora shiver at the same time that the sixth chime resounded over the land and thunder started rumbling in the distance. Sora ignored it however and only focused on Kairi, her body pressed flush against his, and he relished in how right it felt to hold her like that.

“I'm done making empty promises. I love you and I want to be with you.”

Again, Sora had rendered Kairi speechless as his steady gaze focused on her. His heart flipped when he saw Kairi's blush intensify and he felt the sudden need to lean down and –

The screech of a Nobody made the two of them jump apart, Keyblades raised high as they did their best to parry every attack, hacking and slashing at their enemies. This time when Sora reached out for Kairi, she extended her arm towards him, reaching out just as much and a short smile danced over Sora's lips as they pulled each other close.

“I've made my choice,” Sora told her, expression as serious as he'd ever been in his life, “what's yours?”

Staring into his eyes, Kairi hesitated for a second, before replying.

“Riku.”

Sora's face contorted in confusion and disbelief as he repeated her words.

“Riku?!” Sora would be lying if that didn't sting a little. But it made no sense for Kairi to say Riku's name, did it?

A huge grin spread over her lips and she couldn't control the giggle that escaped her as she confirmed it.

“Riku!”

As the clock chimed for the seventh time, Kairi turned away from Sora, but to his relief, she grabbed his hand and interlaced their fingertips as she pulled him along, eyes frantically searching for what he assumed to be their silver haired friend.

She finally spotted him a few meters away, defeating a Dusk that had tried to attack King Mickey and Sora felt himself being dragged closer to him, all while he kept swiping at the enemies that they passed.

“Riku!” She called out again, and a short glance her way told her she had his attention.

“Do you have the paopu with you?”

“Do I what?!”

Caught off guard by Kairi's question, Riku turned his body fully towards her which was a mistake. With the eighth chime, another Seeker jumped onto the battle field and exploited Riku's inattentiveness, kicking him in the gut. Not wasting a single second, Sora let go of Kairi's hand and charged at the hooded figure with Kairi on his heels. Thankfully, Riku recovered rather quickly and so the three of them exchanged blows with who turned out to be the Xehanort from the past.

“The paopu I asked you to get for me the next time you're on the play island,” Kairi continued as if it was the most normal thing for her to ask this question while also cartwheeling out of the way of one of Xehanort's attacks at the same time. Meanwhile, Sora's nerves flared up upon hearing her words, making him stumble into his next attack.

Did this mean..?

“I know which paopu you mean!” Riku replied impatiently as he went into Ghost Drive to charge at Xehanort, wearing him down enough for Sora to blast him away with a well timed Explosion.

After he high-fived Sora with a grin, he turned back to Kairi.

“Why are you asking?”

Kairi's cheeks flared up and that definitely made Sora's heart pound faster. It also seemed to surprise and distract Riku, as none of them became aware of the Shadow Heartless that slowly appeared beneath their feet. He raised an inquisitive brow at which Kairi blushed harder still, but yet managed to give Sora the most dazzling and disarming smile they had ever seen.

“I want to share it with Sora.”

A wonderful, amazing tingling feeling spread in Sora's chest and made his face light up upon hearing her words. Like the lovestruck fool he was, he immediately gravitated towards Kairi, dopey grin on his face, and reached for her free hand. She squeezed it lightly and Sora was ready to ascend to heaven then and there.

“Now?” Riku yelled in disbelief, startling a few of the Shadows enough to cause them to puff away again as they heard the clock chime for the ninth time. Gambler Nobodies popped up out of nowhere, effectively separating the friends as they rolled, flipped and cartwheeled to safety, raising their Keyblades once they found stable footing again.

“So,” Kairi spoke up again once she had defeated enough enemies, allowing her to take a breath again, “do you have it?”

Riku, who had just thrown his Keyblade at an enemy in an attempt of a Strike Raid attack threw an incredulous look at Kairi.

“I'm a little busy at the moment?!” He exclaimed and caught his Keyblade before doing a 360° turn, defeating several Heartless that had tried to swarm him with one swipe, “Can't you two wait until after the fight?”

Sora couldn't help the low whine that escaped his throat, and no matter how much Riku would tease him about it in the future, he would refuse to admit that in this moment his voice skipped a few octaves.

But it also caught Riku's attention, so Sora decided to pull his biggest guns: His puppy-dog eyes and infamous pout.

“Riku, please!”

As soon as Riku's eyes landed on him, he flinched, and Sora knew he had won.

“Fine, fine!” Riku sighed in exasperation, “Cover me!”

With his trademark grin, Sora immediately rushed to his best friend's side, keeping the enemies away from him as he rummaged around in his pants pocket until he got hold of the coveted fruit.

“Kairi, catch!”

Simultaneously with the tenth chime, Riku threw the paopu in the air, sending an Aero spell right after to ensure it would reach its destination that was Kairi's upturned palms. The moment the paopu was safely cradled between her hands, Riku and Sora changed places. Sora rushed to Kairi's side, fighting his way through a wall of enemies only to hesitate when he ended up in front of her. Suddenly, the teens grew aware of the severity of the commitment they were just about to take and both felt their cheeks flame up as they looked into each others' eyes. With a soft, uncharacteristically shy smile, Kairi held the paopu up in between them and Sora raised a shaking hand to grasp the other end of the fruit.

“From now on, I always want to be with you,” Kairi declared and Sora gently moved the paopu towards Kairi's lips so she could take the first bite. A shudder ran through him when he felt her fingers move over his to grip the fruit more tightly to do so, before she pulled back.

To Sora's surprise, Kairi immediately summoned Destiny's Embrace again and charged forward, not letting go of the paopu while she stabbed the Neoshadow that had appeared behind Sora. He quickly  returned the favor by attacking the Dusk that had started wiggling their skinny limbs in anticipation of wrapping them around Kairi's arms.

Safe for the moment, Sora swallowed thickly as his eyes found Kairi's again. He had to make it perfect.

“I –“

The next shadowy figure appeared at the eleventh chime, landing right between Sora and Kairi, forcefully ripping them apart. The figure's gloved hand was clenched around the paopu.

“Isn't this cute?” The figure asked as he lowered his hood, revealing spiky, black hair and golden glowing eyes. Vanitas. “Gee, what should I do now? Squash this ridiculous fruit?” His grip on the paopu tightened and juice started to slowly trickle down his black leather glove. Anger started bubbling up Sora's chest. How dare he? “Or would the princess love to her destiny to be intertwined with mine instead?” Vanitas asked her with a devious grin, the pitch of his voice lowering further as he raised the fruit up to his face. His fists already shaking, Sora was about to charge at his doppelganger when suddenly, the paopu was wrenched from Vanitas's hand with a spark and it came to hover over their heads. Before he knew what was happening to him, Braveheart crashed heavily into Void Gear, catching the boy off-guard and causing him to lose his footing for a second. Sora took advantage of the confusion and retrieved the floating paopu with a high jump as Riku put all of his weight into his Keyblade to keep Vanitas down.

“I've been waiting three years for this to happen,” Riku hissed and swung his Keyblade around, shoving Vanitas further away, “don't you dare ruin this for them.”

At this moment, Sora wanted to hug Riku. Badly.

It meant so much to him to see how much Riku wanted this for his friends, always supported their relationship even if it was more teasing than serious in the past. But hearing first-hand that his best friend was 100% supportive of them gave Sora a new confidence boost and with his heart at peace, he turned back to Kairi, and she eagerly curled her fingers around Sora's hand and the fruit.

“No more lies,” Sora started and looked Kairi deep in the eyes, “no more empty promises. Starting today, I swear we'll always be together .

Tenderly, Kairi maneuvered the fruit to Sora's lips. He bit a piece off, savoring its sweet taste all while never averting his gaze from Kairi.

This was it. They had finally shared a paopu.

Sora's heart was ready to burst from his chest with excitement when Kairi's smile widened into one of her toothy grins he so adored.

Laughter filled the air as Sora tugged Kairi closer to wind an arm around her waist and pressed his forehead against hers. He felt their breaths mingle and he was ready to seal their promise with a kiss – hadn't Unversed started to spawn right around them. Together, Sora and Kairi fought their enemies as the clock relentlessly chimed for the twelfth time, both still holding on to one end of the paopu each, connected by it and their oath.

This time, Kairi came closer to Sora and dismissed her Keyblade to snake an arm around the back of his neck and pull him all the way down, but again, they were surrounded by enemies that they had to finish off together.

When this happened for the third time, an exasperated “Wak!” startled Sora for a second and a barrier formed around him and Kairi. He blinked in confusion until he saw Donald, his trusty staff held high.

“Just kiss already!” He quacked at them impatiently, waving his staff around frantically and causing Sora to blush. He was moved by Donald's action, as he was by Goofy's encouraging nod, but it didn't make the matter any less embarrassing. A quick glance in Kairi's direction made him realize that Kairi didn't fare any better with the tips of her ears burning up, but nevertheless, she smiled sweetly at him and at this moment, he knew it didn't matter what everybody else thought or saw.

She was his home.

He dismissed his Keyblade and wrapped his free hand around Kairi's waist to pulled her closer. She immediately responded by brushing her hand through Sora's hair until she reached the nape of his neck. The paopu was safely cradled between their arms and bodies as Sora leaned in, finally embracing Kairi's lips with his own.

It was everything he ever dreamed of, he decided, as he felt Kairi's lips move against his, first slowly and shyly, then boldly and demanding. Sora barely heard the happy “Aaaaaw!” that escaped Donald and Goofy, nor did he really notice them clubbing and smacking a small Heartless with their weapons as it dared to interrupt their perfect moment of watching their honorary son finally kiss the love of his life. No, all of this was lost to him as he tasted cherry chapstick on Kairi's lips and took advantage of a small sigh of hers to deepen their kiss.

It was over way too quickly however when he heard the thirteenth chime. With how things had progressed so far, Sora knew which Seeker of Darkness would be entering the battlefield now, not to mention that with him, all Seekers and Guardians were finally engaged in battle.

Somewhat hesitantly, Sora and Kairi pulled back from their kiss, eyes glued to each other. Sora let his free hand glide along Kairi's cheek tenderly and she leaned into him for a moment, desperate to remember every single second of their moment. As Donald's barrier began to vanish, they separated reluctantly and Sora let their paopu slip into one of his pockets when Master Xehanort started approaching them. On his right side, he felt Kairi interlace her fingertips with his, on his left side, he felt Riku step up, Keyblade drawn and aimed at Xehanort. After squeezing Kairi's hands reassuringly and exchanging a nod with Riku, he summoned Kingdom Key again, followed by Kairi summoning Destiny's Embrace.

It was time to defeat Xehanort once and for all.

[georgialouisea]

Action

Action Square Filled: Actor Dean Pairing: Dean x Reader, Chris, Justin (omcs). Warnings: Fluff, nervous Dean. Summary: Dean finally meets his new costar. Word Count: 1250 Written/Created for @spnaubingo 

AU Bingo Masterlist

“Hey, how’s it going man?” Chris sat down next to Dean, handing him a cup of coffee.

“Hey, yeah good, you?” Dean took the cup with a smile.

“Good, you got a long day?”

“Yeah, I have a few scenes with Y/N later, I haven’t even met her yet.”

“Well good luck,” Chris smirked.

“What? What does that mean?” Dean sat up straighter.

“Well she can be a bit short with you, if she’s tired it’s worse, she hates it when new people mess up, I mean she’s carried the show for years so -”

“You’re serious?”

“Yeah.” Chris nodded before taking a sip of coffee.

“Great.” Dean’s head fell into his palm.

“Just don’t mess up or piss her off.”

Dean was on set over 30 minutes before he needed to be, he stood behind the cameras, his arms crossed as he watched you.

“Doctor, is she going to be okay?”

“She will be, she has a long road of recovery ahead of her.” You smiled at the woman closing the file in your hands, as it closed the weight shifted and it slipped from your hands.

“Goddammit Y/N.” Justin huffed beside you. “Right give me the file, I’ll do it.”

A few takes later when Justin dropped the file you couldn’t contain your laughter. “See not so easy!”

“Whatever Y/L/N.” Justin laughed. “Do we have to do the file?”  

“Yes, It’s a file, why are you two so crap at closing it?” The director yelled.

“There’s a crapload of paper in it!” You held it up.

“Deal with it!” The director shouted again.

Rolling your eyes you turned around to face the actress playing the distressed mother.

3 takes and 2 laughing fits later you were done with the scene, ignoring the calls of your name you made a beeline for the coffee cart. A man stood next to you, he wore the same dark blue scrubs and white coat you were in.

“Hi, I’m Dean.” He smiled at you his hand extended.

“Hi, I’m Y/N.” You shook his hand with a smile.

“Yeah, I know.” He grinned at you, the queue moved, releasing his hand you both moved with the queue.

“You were in the new superhero movie right?” You recognised him from the film you’d watched a week earlier with your brother.

“Yeah I was, nothing major but I’m here now.” He shrugged.

“Welcome, we have a lot to film this afternoon.”

“Yeah, I’ve filmed a lot in the past few days, I hardly know this place, I know my way from my trailer to set that’s it.”

“Want a tour?”

“No, I’m sure you’re really busy.”

“We have time, hey Debbie can I get my usual and Dean what do you want?” You asked turning to him.

“No, It’s okay I’ll get mine.”

“My treat.” You smiled. Dean ordered his coffee, paying Debbie you handed Dean his coffee.

“So…”

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry, I’m just nervous, I heard some things but you’ve already proved that they’re not true.”

“Which are?” You stopped walking.

“No, it’s nothing.”

“Well, who did you hear them from then?”

“Chris.”

“Great.” You rolled your eyes.

“What?”

“Chris has been kicking off any competition early for over a year,” Justin smirked, his arm wrapping around your waist. “He’s so jealous of anyone better looking than him.”

“Justin.”

“What? I’m being nice, Dean’s major competition.

“Wow.” Dean’s brow furrowed.

“Stop making him uncomfortable.”

Justin kissed your cheek before taking a step away from you. “Have fun you two.” He smirked winking at you before walking away.

“Are you two?” Dean asked.

“No, we’re friends.”

“Y/N, Dean!” Someone shouted across the open space.

“Coming!” You yelled raising a hand giving a small wave.

5 hours later you were beyond exhausted, Dean was ploughing through the scenes he was trying his hardest to avoid messing up. When a heavier scene started you noticed Dean was tense, his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

“Hey, can we take a few, honestly I need a nap.”

“Yeah, let’s call it for the day on Y/N and Dean, you’ve both had long days, you guys go home.”

Walking offset you kept a few paces behind Dean.

“Hey.” You called, reaching out for him. He stopped and turned around.

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay?” Your voice dropped as you reached him.

“Yeah, I just - I don’t know.”

“Okay.” You smiled at him, you watched his every move. “Come here.” You held your hand out to him, he took it and let you lead him wherever you were going.

Opening your trailer door you pulled him inside. “What is it? Do you just need a break?”

“I don’t know, maybe, I’ve read the script I know what happens, it just hit me I guess, how are you so calm about it all?”

“Years of practice, emotional scenes get me, especially ones I relate to, we all get emotional, it’s okay.” You smiled at him flopping down on your bed. “Want to get some food?”

“Sure.” Dean nodded, his voice was low.

Instead of going out for lunch you both settled on going back to your apartment, in the mood Dean was in you didn’t want any fans interrupting you. Sitting on your sofa you grabbed another slice of pizza from the box between you and Dean.

“Feeling better?” You smiled at him.

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s fine, I’m glad you’re okay now though.”

A knock at your door made you jump slightly, putting your beer down you got up to answer it you relaxed when you saw it was the mailman with the scripts for the next few episodes, signing for them you held them in your arms walking back into the room you dumped them on the table.

Grabbing the newest script you sat down and started to skim it, a few scripts and a few beers later you looked up at Dean.

“Well, we best get used to hanging out with each other.”

“Why?” He looked over at you, the football game on the TV ignored.

“Well in a few episodes time we’re going to be in an on-call room together.”

“What?” Dean sat up almost choking on his beer.

“Yeah, here look.” You handed him the script.

“Wow, steamy.” He raised his brows.

“Very.”

“So what are you doing tomorrow after work?” He dropped the script and looked up at you.

“Nothing why?”

“Well come to mine and I’ll cook us dinner.”

“Dean you don’t have to do that.”

“My treat.” He smiled.

“Well okay then.”

“I can’t believe you guys have won this for 6 years in a row.” Justin held the award in his hands.

“What do you not think we’re TV’s hottest couple?” You smiled at him.

“Shut up you know what I mean, where’s your husband anyway?”

“On set, he should be here soon.”

“Hey.” Dean walked into your trailer. “Hey, Justin.”

“Look what you two won.” He waved the statue around.

“Again?”

“Thanks, babe, real confidence boost.”

“Shut up, you’re stunning, you ready to go for dinner?”

“Yup.” You stood up taking his hand.

Walking offset together you gave Dean’s hand a squeeze. “Have I ever told you how much I love you?”

“Occasionally.” Dean smiled. “Have I ever told you how happy I am you were so nice to me when we met?”

“Occasionally.” You laughed. “So where are we going?”

“I was thinking pizza and beer at home.”

“Perfect.”

-

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[attacksoftheclones]

THE LAST JEDI REVIEW

SPOILERS ahead, you have been warned. Also #long post.

-

I had so much faith in this film. I had so much faith in Rian. With overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, I know my opinion on this film lies within the minority – but here it is anyway.

To get my thoughts on The Force Awakens out of the way, my problems and gripes with the film were the same of that of many others. To sum it up, yes I agree that it was a retread of A New Hope and I thought it fell short greatly in terms of world building. When you have a galaxy from a long time ago in a place far, far away, the possibilities are endless – I didn’t want to see a Tatooine 2.0 or a third Death Star renamed as Starkiller Base. I also felt that the lack of explanations given paired with the abundance of questions it produced tarnished much of it. What additionally disappointed me about Episode VII again much like many other people, was additionally how much more childish it felt compared to other Star Wars films, an obvious attribution to Disney’s reign on the franchise following the six installments of Lucas’ story. There were things I liked, though. I thought Finn was an interesting character and really enjoyed the idea of having a stormtrooper that defected to the Resistance and I anticipated exploring the mentality involved in both making that decision and how such a decision would have consequences in The Last Jedi. I of course enjoyed having a female heroine and finished the film aching for answers on her past just as everyone else had. Of course, what I was most desperately excited for following The Force Awakens was the return of Luke Skywalker.

Whilst I have been vocal (on twitter) about the issues I did have with the film, my excitement for The Last Jedi was in no way diminished. I do not dislike the sequel trilogy for the sake of a preconceived agenda, I would say I was very open to this film. The trailer already established a clearly beautifully shot and notably darker take on the trilogy, something I have come to prefer as a prequel fan as I like the complexity that comes along with it. My excitement was further enhanced because The Last Jedi was the first Star Wars film I was going to see in a cinema and I was keen to feel the excitement of a midnight premiere. I knew experiencing the opening credits for the very first time simultaneously with everyone else, booming with John Williams’ iconic score would be thrilling to say the least. And it was.

The opening was strong, Poe and BB-8 were as endearing as ever. Surpassing his mandate from General Leia and at the risk of increasing the already dangerously high casualty rate of the Resistance, we are introduced to an “at all costs” Poe in this film that largely sets up his arc for what is to follow – which turns out to not actually be much, much like the rest of this film. I never disliked Poe Dameron in any way following The Force Awakens but I knew this film had to really “ignite a fire” in the character for me to become attached to him solely because the previous film produced very little Poe content to go off of. We know he is a fantastic pilot and anything further than a more hot-headed attitude really isn’t established for Poe in this film. Poe spends his time battling his superiors Leia as well as the newly appointed Admiral Holdo, suffering the disappointment of being demoted for the recklessness that we see from him in the opening scene that costs the Resistance more than they can bear. Poe’s arc ventures little from arguing and to be fair wouldn’t have been as dissatisfying if it weren’t so ridiculously dragged out by director Rian Johnson as the only arc for the Resistance, other than suffering from a low supply of fuel. Yes, it was good to see a more of the reality of war in the Star Wars universe which hasn’t really been explored since the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars (although being aired on Cartoon Network of course did limit this in areas). We watch the spirit of the Resistance suffer and dwindle, but this unfortunately is carried out through an ultimately pointless and boring side arc of being low of fuel and being tracked by the First Order that left me sighing every time a scene transitioned back into one at the Rebel base. Whilst part of this of course is also due to the anticipation of desperately wanting answers to Rey and Luke’s futures on Ahch-To, the overall story for the Resistance is a back and forth, cat and mouse quest where nothing is ultimately achieved by the end of the film.

Which brings me to: Finn and Rose.

Finn, or should I say the writing of this character, disappointed me in this film and I left incredibly frustrated. From the trailers and TV spots I expected to see Finn and new character Rose (who I was enormously excited to see for both diversity reasons as well as her portrayal by the amazing Kelly Marie Tran) infiltrating the First Order undercover where we would ultimately see Finn finally rid himself of the burden of his unfinished business with the Order, particularly with Captain Phasma. I hoped to see Finn tackle the trauma of returning to the place that birthed him into a life of indoctrination and anticipated a showdown between himself and Phasma who was ultimately representative of his suffering. Instead, Finn (after disappointingly initially attempting to escape the Resistance) along with unknown Resistance mechanic Rose are sent secretly by Poe to put an end to the tracking of the Resistance fleet by the First Order. This arc was convoluted and even positive reviews will tell you that their adventure is unnecessary and unexciting. Providing little to absolutely nothing for the ending of the film, Finn and Rose’s adventure felt like a trip right out of Star Wars especially on Canto Bight, where every alien species in sight was blanketed in brown and absent of the diversity and colour we were introduced to in the prequels. The character shrouded in secrecy by Lucasfilm up until the release of this film, DJ (portayed by Benicio del Toro) whom Finn and Rose meet along the way (much to their later dismay) was additionally not at all worth the mystery that surrounded him and delivered nothing but a petite punch to what little direction this film had. When the time came for them to go undercover as First Order officers, the battle I so looked forward to seeing between Finn and Phasma was short and as a consequence anticlimactic. If that were not disappointing enough, by the film’s end pairing Finn and Rose together romantically with little foundation for this plot point felt cheap and took away from the heroic moments they did have throughout the film. Whilst I don’t personally believe any romance is necessary between Rey and Finn at all or for any character for that matter,The Force Awakens did poke at the possibility and this was only furthered by Finn’s constant mentioning of Rey throughout The Last Jedi. This caused any romantic direction for Rose and Finn to additionally seem one sided on Rose’s part.

Luke. I struggle to decide where to begin in writing about one of my all time favourite Star Wars characters in this film, mostly because I am genuinely insulted at how the character whose heart and spirit was the savior of the original trilogy was treated. Despite Mark Hamill making it publicly known that he initially completely disagreed with the direction Johnson wanted to take Luke in in this trilogy, I did not fear a change for Luke Skywalker. I was excited to see what could torture Luke’s soul so much that he would isolate himself from everything and everyone he has ever known and place himself alone on an island with the sole purpose to die there (as he makes clear in the film), wishing for the Jedi to come to an eternal end. I expected something, being either an action from Rey or a reminder of his old self, to eventually charge him back into action, allowing us to see a changed Luke Skywalker but one who still held all the heart-warming elements of his personality we have come to love. I know this would have been a predictable route and that we were told to expect the unexpected, but I will not shift from the belief that this is what would have been most true to Luke’s character.

Luke acknowledges early on that leaving the island as a one-man force against the First Order will do little to change the drastic state of the fight and I agreed with this. I agreed with his feelings of failure and disappointment after having his nephew destroy his new Jedi order and the unquestionable devotion he put into it. After all, this was a character we know has always followed his heart and to have that backfire would undoubtedly shake him and his core values. What I did not agree with was the extremely snarky attitude of the character, one that would leave Rey hopelessly chasing after him in circles around the island. One that would leave her to sleep without comfort and shelter, one that would refuse to train her despite two small lessons he agreed to give her in some cold-hearted attempts, in which once realising that she had great potential leads him to abandon her in her fear. Luke never returns to the fight with Rey in the Millennium Falcon, although we do at least get to see him momentarily revisit it. He doesn’t oversee the training of a new apprentice. Luke remains on the island and in an utterly bizarre end, he projects himself apparently so powerfully through the force into battle with Kylo Ren whilst actually still in meditation on Ahch-To and somehow gains a cocky and uncomfortably amusing persona (he slow motion dodges Kylo’s hits and winks awkwardly enough to almost break the fourth wall) as a now all powerful Jedi master. This effort presents him as seemingly immortal until it is over and we see Luke disappear into his cloak in front of a sunset much like Obi-Wan’s death in A New Hope. However much like the final confrontation with Kylo Ren it is confusing, unclear and most of all dissatisfying as it doesn’t even feel real, especially as we have never seen the force used in this way before and much like Leia’s use of the force in this film it is quite jarring. I’m already preparing for the “Is Luke Skywalker really dead?” theories, although I do believe with the film’s ending that the answer is yes. It is clear that this trilogy wants to be free of the burden of appealing to original fans of the franchise in ridding itself of Lucas’ founding characters to entirely become its own – which whatever that is, is also totally ambiguous in this film’s cluttered and shambolic end. The destruction of the Skywalker lightsaber was infuriating to say the least, not only as a metaphor for Disney’s cleansing of anything remotely Lucas in this franchise but as an insult to the franchise’s most iconic characters – Anakin and Luke. I felt as if I were witnessing a punch in the gut to Luke saying “I am a Jedi, like my father before me”. The way this trilogy began already majorly undermined the victories of Return of the Jedi, but this film went even beyond that as if it were to render it meaningless especially with the characterisation of Luke. I unapologetically hate everything Disney has done with Luke Skywalker especially as I truly believe that in his heart he is truly the child of his mother, Padmé and this film unlike the original trilogy following the prequels was in no way reflective of that. And I’m not even going to give time to that bizarre green milk and fish scene.

In no way do I mean disrespect to the amazing Carrie Fisher when I express criticism of Leia in this film and what she was given to do. Of course as always it is amazing to see Leia doing what she does best – where she is in a position of power as General Organa and fighting ever so bravely for the Resistance. As mentioned before, I was incredibly disappointed with the Resistance arc considering the Star Wars universe provides endless possibilities for arcs that exceed dwindling fuel supply. Yes, I understand that this was supposed to be more of a ‘war film’ than previous episodes and thus resources and lack of them are a reality of that, but considering this has never been an evident problem particularly during Star Wars: The Clone Wars and additionally how exaggerated this difficulty was by the duration of the arc it took me out of the film. When Rian Johnson and others had stated that Leia’s ending had been left untouched and that she leaves this film with a definitive and dignified end, I expected something big from Leia. Instead we largely see Leia pondering in this film and reprimanding Poe. No I did not want Leia killed, but considering she spent the majority of this film in a coma I feel an actual end to her story here would have been more effective. I hated that she was sidelined by a coma as if any other storyline other than her being unconscious wouldn’t have been better for her. She’s the Leia and she deserved to be able to leave a lasting punch in The Last Jedi. I was so excited to see Leia use the force, but what we saw was the moment that took me out of the film the most. It was quite frankly cringe worthy and uncomfortable to watch and I’m sure many who did enjoy the film would still agree. I felt as if I were Han Solo, desperate to shout “that’s not how the force works!”. I feel that with the knowledge of Carrie’s passing, with some clever editing they could have easily given Holdo’s final act for the Resistance to Leia. It would have truly showcased Leia as the ultimate Resistance fighter. Instead, I fear a poorly executed off screen death.

The Last Jedi has long endured the speculation of force ghosts ever since its’ predecessor, particularly with the release of concept art for the return of Anakin’s force ghost. An appearance of Obi-Wan was practically expected by many including by myself, especially as his voice was heard in The Force Awakens and it would have been fitting to see his reintroduction with the recent news of the Kenobi standalone film. It would have been the perfect way to tie all three trilogies together for continuity purposes, which I already felt this trilogy was in need of. Despite my pro-prequel agenda which I will admit to without shame, I believe this was completely necessary for this film. To have the return of Anakin particularly would have served so many uses whether he spoke to Luke, Rey or Kylo Ren. In an era that lives in the shadow of Darth Vader (who has several mentions in this film), if anyone’s input was needed it was the man behind the mask’s. Instead, original trilogy nostalgia was again used to drive the audience with the return of the clumsily edited addition of force ghost Yoda. If you know me personally you would be aware that I am not a fan of the character at all, but with that aside the Yoda we did see I still believe to be out of character. I do not believe that Yoda would have encouraged the complete removal (well literal burning) of the Jedi teachings even after the rise and fall of the Empire. Modifications and large ones at that yes, but a complete disregard for them I do not feel he would be an advocate for. I fear such a lack of rules regarding force users now will pose more problems for future films more than anything else as it now seems unclear who gets to hold a lightsaber and who does not.

Rey and her parentage continued to be built up throughout this film and I won’t lie and say it wasn’t my number one question going into this film. I did expect her to be no one, but I also expected some sort of alternative (and original) reason for her strength with the force. Whilst I don’t expect every strong force user in the galaxy to be a Skywalker or a descendant of someone related to or in affiliation with one, Rey as the daughter of some unknown junk dealers will not leave this movie free of Mary Sue claims (although I don’t intend to promote those claims either). If she had the force and had undergone training both in the previous film and in this film she would be free to express such strength but without it, Rey feels poorly written and left me not caring for her as much as I had truly hoped to in this film. The lightsaber plot point was also completely thrown out of the window with it now not so seemingly belonging to Rey anymore. Rey was barely trained in this film, so nothing should have changed since just weeks earlier in film time. If we are being told to accept that she is so powerful on her own, why is her power continuously linked to Kylo Ren’s by Johnson in this film? Rey also felt extremely poorly written by Johnson due to a very clear lack of continuity with the character between this film and the last, especially considering that The Last Jedi picked up just moments from The Force Awakens and Rey should not have suffered any discrepancies in character at all. Of course she was not going to be as bubbly and excitable as she had been in the previous film, but so much about Rey was wrong in this film. The Rey who had no problem telling men to stop taking her hand and that she would not give them anything became a Rey that suffered forced and utterly unnecessary sexual tension and who became flustered at the sight of a shirtless man. It is completely out of character for Rey to have even considered trusting Kylo Ren, as if he had not just killed someone she saw as a father figure just weeks before when all she has ever wanted was family. Rey cries at Kylo Ren proving yet again even after a brief team up with her that all he wants is power, again as if she should not already hate this man with every fibre of her being. Even Rey’s identity quest is yielded to Kylo Ren as it is he who reveals her parentage to her. Rey is never left to stand on her own in this film, instead she is forced into a somewhat parallel arc with Ren that never allows her the same independence as she exemplified in the dynamics we see within her friendship with Finn. Rey desperately needs to be written into some sort of solidarity where she can finally have her own concrete idea of herself and I believe this would most effectively occur in a situation where this trilogy’s big three finally unite and share the same path (and in doing so additionally allowing for a more concise end to the frayed path The Last Jedi has created).

Lastly, Snoke. His early scenes with Kylo Ren genuinely had me thinking that the character was far more terrifying than I had initially ever expected. I knew that the intention was for him to be more evil than Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious and I began to prepare myself for this. However, the first issue I found with the Supreme Leader was that we still are never offered a backstory or context for the character. We know Snoke is old and lived to see the rise and end of Darth Vader. So where was he during that time? How did he come to power? Why does he not know that it was Vader who defeated the Emperor and brought down the Empire, returning to the light as Anakin Skywalker? Rey is apparently made eventually aware of this, but neither Kylo Ren nor Snoke seem to be aware despite having far more of an interest in the man that the galaxy feared the most. The other great conflict I had with this character was that for someone apparently so powerful, he was killed so easily. For him to not have the ability to sense a lightsaber being turned against him by his own apprentice was the thing I was most surprised got through the writing room, especially considering the reason Vader was never able to overthrow the Emperor all those years was because Palpatine would have sensed such a betrayal through the force. Someone supposedly more powerful than Palpatine not being able to do the same was unrealistic and disappointing particularly because I enjoyed Snoke and Kylo’s scenes in the first act of the film, as well as the first act of the film in general.

Overall the film felt crammed, messy and long. Much of the film could have been shown the light of the editing room again to tighten the many series of events occurring simultaneously. Whilst beautifully shot with some breathtaking cinematography and stunning visuals, some shots felt included for the sake of showing what magic could be worked with the camera and CGI in 2017. This film suffered from the weight of a tiresome back-and-forth battle with an inconclusive end that didn’t seem to forge any path for its sequel and where neither side of the fight ever actually ever feeling large enough to dominate the galaxy in the way that the Empire did. The film was crowded with characters but barren of any development for them, in some cases true character not seemingly present at all. This film suffered from the consequences of mystery box storytelling, where no reward is gained by the audience because the “mysteries” that have been hyped up detract from all else. “I am your father” is arguably the greatest cinematic reveal of all time, but it was not advertised to be that way prior to the film’s release, allowing it to have its’ full intended shock value effect. A movie sold to audiences as one that holds great reveals and twists in an already established and ever-expanding universe was bound to disappoint, especially with fan culture today. Additionally, the humour of this film was often jarring and too “2017” for the Star Wars saga. Not already being a fan of Kylo Ren as a villain in any way, I would surprisingly have to say Adam Driver gave the best performance. However it is hard to say where Kylo Ren goes next, having now eliminated both his enemies (Han and Luke) as well as his accountability to the Supreme Leader. I additionally found the soundtrack for this film to be the least memorable Star Wars score to date, although Rey’s Theme made a welcome return.

Ultimately I know many people have loved and will love this film and I think everyone has “their” Star Wars. Mine is clearly not in this era and I’m happy to accept that. It isn’t because my ‘ship’ or theory did not come true, but rather my worst case scenarios did. Yes I’ll see Episode IX, but I now have a completely new idea and set of expectations for what Star Wars is today and it just doesn’t happen to be my favourite. Again, I never wanted to hate this trilogy for the sake of it and I had no intention to. I am of course also ready to accept that there are those with opinions that are the complete opposite of mine.

Now if you need me, I’ll be rewatching Episodes I-VI.

[recentanimenews]

Anime in America Podcast: Full Episode 7 Transcript

  What do you remember from your first time seeing anime on TV? Find out how all this came to be and more as Crunchyroll's Anime in America podcast takes some time to speak with author and scholar Roland Kelts and Toonami's own Jason DeMarco in the latest episode! Read on for the full episode 7 transcript below. 

  The Anime in America series is available on crunchyroll.com, animeinamerica.com, and wherever you listen to podcasts. 

  EPISODE 7: RAISED BY TV

Guests: Jason DeMarco, Roland Kelts

  Disclaimer: The following program contains language not suitable for all ages. Discretion advised.

  [Lofi music]

  In February 1963, a guy named Fred Ladd got a call from NBC’s Jim Dodd. Somebody from NBC liked Fred’s work on a series created by taking 30- to 50-minute European cartoons that were cut into 5-minute segments and dubbed for release under the title “Cartoon Classics” and recommended Fred to Jim. 

  The mystery NBC agent had seen a cartoon on TV during a trip to Japan that he thought might play well on American television. After screening an episode, so did Fred. Jim Dodd asked if he’d be interested in dubbing and localizing the cartoon. That cartoon, or anime as we call them today, was an Osamu Tezuka led Mushi Production titled Tetsuan Atom.

  NBC recognized the need for new cartoons, as childrens’ entertainment on TV just wasn’t being served. At the time, many networks were airing libraries of animated films that had finished their theatrical runs. TV cartoons were expensive to make, both in raw production costs and because shows required 52 episodes for syndication so networks could continue to air reruns for long periods to recoup the licensing costs without the program becoming stale. 

  They saw Japanese cartoons as the perfect solution to this problem, predicting a low price tag, even with the added cost of dubbing. If Tetsuan Atom was a hit, they could continue picking up Japanese cartoons at cost to fill out their programming schedules. 

  There was just one problem though. The cartoons were um… they were Japanese.

  [Lofi music]

  NBC had made an executive decision to not hide the fact that the cartoons were of Japanese origin. Meaning that if asked they weren’t going to deny it, but they weren’t going to advertise it either. Lingering post-war sentiments and xenophobia might ostracize exactly the audience they were aiming for. But fortunately Tezuka, influenced by Disney, was a practitioner of what’s known as “mukokuseki,” or “statelessness.” The appearance of his characters and the setting of his works were ambiguous, allowing any viewer to more easily identify with them or, today, allowing an anime avatar on Twitter to argue that anime characters are supposed to be white. [Whistle]

  Anyway, the idea worked. Many of the earliest anime fans have similar stories about not even knowing that many of their favorite childhood cartoons were Japanese at all until much later in their lives. Just like in episode two when you didn’t realize that in the Power Rangers suits were just Japanese people fighting other Japanese people in puddy outfits, speaking japanese, then recorded over in english cut with american footage. Or you didn’t know as a kid that Muppet Babies was animated by the same studio that made Dragon Ball Z. Who would’ve thought?

  Basically, to them, it was just another cartoon.

  But anyway, things get a little rocky with Tetsuan Atom. 

  To that point NBC had been working with an agent representing Mushi Production named Kazuhiko Fujita, who shocked them by shooting down their initial offer. Just as they were reassessing what to do, one Kiyoshi Fujita (no relation) discovered the situation and got both Mushi Production and Fuji TV onboard with the deal. This might seem a little confusing, but it becomes important later on...

  So, Fred dubbed the pilot episode to present to the NBC reps and by summer of ‘63 they were all convinced they had a hit. He would go on to dub the entire 52 episode series using spare studio space with three voice actors at a cost of 1,800 USD total per episode before Tetsuan Atom, now retitled Astro Boy, aired on WNEW-TV channel 5 in New York as a test run before launching on NBC’s own Channel 4 network nationwide to popular acclaim and, according to Fred, launching the anime industry as we know it today.

  Overjoyed with the international success of Astroy Boy in the U.S., Tezuka returned to NBC looking to sell them on the upcoming adaptation of his manga Jungle Taitei Leo, submitting his entire plan for the series pre-production to the broadcasting company to make sure it would meet MCAA standards and now I guess we’ve gotta talk about American television in the 60s  for a little bit.

  [Lofi music]

  The reason Tezuka submitted his plan ahead was because three whole episodes of Tetsuan Atom didn’t make the cut to the Astro Boy series because of their content and, if not for a visit by Fred to Mushi Production, that number might’ve been six. America wasn’t interested so much in the cartoon they were licensing as much as the raw animation and were more than willing to change just about everything in the show to suit American tastes and meet MCAA broadcasting requirements.

  Too much violence? Cut it out. Character death? No! They’re just knocked out. Police man have a Japanese name? Let’s just change it to Officer McLaw, because… cops are Irish. At the time… and also now, uh American cartoons were expected to have each episode be a self-contained story. If some clever editing on the U.S. side couldn’t transform a “to be continued” into a “the end,” sometimes they’d have the Japanese studio redo the end. Consequently, that’s how Tetsuan Atom became Astro Boy… also maybe a little guilt over that whole atomic bomb thing.

  When it came to Jungle Taitei Leo, NBC had some demands. Cut all the “law of the jungle” violence. Cut Leo growing up and having kids (NBC had sold Astro Boy as a new Pinnochio and were using a Bambi angle for Leo), and also no Leo dying at the end. Tezuka... agreed to change all of it, which basically made the new story nothing like his original work. And the series, slated for 76 episodes, was also cut down to 52 to meet NBC’s broadcasting requirements. Also they changed Leo’s name to Simba to avoid comparisons to the MGM lion, who I’m sure you had no idea was named Leo, and then to Kimba after it was brought up that Simba was just the word for Lion in Swahili and I’m sure you can’t imagine anyone being that uncreative...? Um...

  Fred was on the forefront of many of these changes, editing and changing just about every aspect of NBC’s anime pickups in whatever way he thought would appeal to an American audience. But it should also be said that he was basically on the forefront of almost every TV anime Americans laid eyes on through the 90s. If he didn’t work on it personally, he was often instrumental in connecting creators with licensors to make it happen. His contribution to anime in America can not be understated. If it’s any consolation, Fred himself wasn’t a fan of Toei’s Japanese localization of his own original film, “Pinocchio in Outer Space”...

  …

  I repeat: Pinocchio in Outer Space.

  [Clip from Pinoccio in Outer Space trailer plays]

Older woman: Where’s Pinocchio now, daughter? 

Younger woman: Well, he began to grow selfish and inconsiderate. 

Jiminy Cricket?: We have to do something! Think you can hypnotize that big lummox? 

Other Person: I don’t even know where his eyes are!

Jiminy Cricket?: In his head, genius.

[Clip ends]

  You remember the guy who’s NOT in outer space? Imagine him in outer space. And that’s the, that’s the guy who was in charge of anime. 

  Anyway, look it up…it’s not anime so it has no place in this podcast.

  Then Mushi Productions began to run into trouble. Tezuka had already taken over the industry in the same way a Walmart moves into your small town and destroys all local businesses owned by your friends and family. He set his production costs to a dangerously low $3,000 per episode which, along with his nationwide reputation as a master of his craft, forced other studios to drop to his price point or drop out entirely. Many of them, unable to compete with his raw reputation, chose the latter. This set a precedent that the industry is still feeling the affects nearly 60 years later.

  Mushi was already running at the lowest possible cost while increasing their production efforts to put their cartoons up to American standards. Typical American cartoons were comprised of around 6,500 cels while Japanese cartoons clocked in at only 4,000. Mushi was still trying to catch up when Fuji Network and NBC demanded Mushi’s next production be in color… I should probably mention that all anime before this had been in grayscale. The whole world, actually. Color hadn’t been invented yet, so this was a BIG ask.

  Tezuka wasn’t sure how to tackle that task, so Mushi’s Kaoru Anami called Fred to ask for help, which led to him arranging a meeting with Disney’s Preston Blair in which he showed them the ropes. The result was Jungle Taitei Leo becoming the first color anime in 1966, Mushi’s production costs reaching a new peak, and maybe just maybe possibly Disney’s first contact with the inspiration for a certain controversial 1994 animated film about an unnamed jungle animal.

  Mushi was now relying on American investment in their productions to break even and then… NBC started rejecting Tezuka's projects.

  Tezuka’s take on the Chinese classic Journey to the West, “Goku no Daibouken,” was turned away because Goku was too mean. The mideval fantasy featuring a princess pretending to be a prince and getting into sword fights, “Ribon no Kishi,” was rejected due to what can best be described as “sex switching” panic, the modern word for that being transphobia. W3, a story about three aliens disguised as animals exploring the Earth to decide whether or not it was a universal threat was rejected for… no particular reason is clear but it’s about three animals deciding whether or not Earth should be destroyed, so... yeah. And finally Dororo, which just recently got a new adaptation, which I’m gonna guess got rejected because of violence and also “sex switching” panic over Dororo dressing as a boy. So there’s that. 

  Tezuka was afraid of antagonizing NBC by shopping his product elsewhere. After being forced to produce Goku no Daibouken at a loss, however, Mushi ended up selling Ribon no Kishi and W3 to Joe Oriolo, the co-creator of Casper the Friendly Ghost, of all things. 

  [Casper the Friendly Ghost theme]

  Ultimately it wasn’t enough. Mushi would enter a decline and, with blood in the water, new studios started popping up, many helmed by Mushi’s own former staff, and began looking to the U.S. to sell their works. In 1968 Tezuka would form a new studio, Tezuka Productions, leaving Mushi to its troubles as it circled the drain and finally went bankrupt in 1968.

  By the late 60s other studios were shopping out their works to America. Kazuhiko Fujita (if you remember him?) reemerged, having convinced Television Corporation of Japan (or TCJ) and Tatsukono to let him shop out international rights for the next several years. Among them, TCJ’s 8 Man, and Tetsujin 28-go, and Tatsunoko’s Space Ace, and Mach GoGoGo. NBC didn’t bite but ABC picked up 8 Man, pretty reasonably given the current market trends simply retitling it “8th Man.” When NBC and ABC passed on Tetsujin 28-go, Fred himself picked up the license, starting his own Delphi Associates Incorporated to localize it and releasing the series as Gigantor through Trans-Lux which, he claims, eclipsed even Astro Boy in its popularity. Mach GoGoGo ended up getting acquired directly by Trans-Lux and released as Speed Racer, becoming the most successful anime hit in the U.S. for years.

  [Speed Racer Opening! (original version)]

  At the time, Japanese studios were very focused on selling their works to America. TCJ was unwilling to sell the first 26 episodes of Tetsujin 28-go’s 52 episode series because they didn’t believe it was up to American standards and were even willing to go back and make changes to the ends of the latter 26 to keep with America’s self-contained story requests. 

  Tatsunoko had offered to go back and add color to the entire black and white Space Ace series for NBC, even coloring one episode as a sample, before they were turned down for another cartoon called “Cool McCool,” which may have been for the best since Fred had planned to change Ace’s name to “Ring-O”... because he threw rings…

  Anime fell on hard times in the 70s as public outcry against violence and advertising on children’s programming heated up. ACT, or A-C-T, or “Action for Children’s Television” had started up in ‘68 and had their sights set directly on cartoons, driving several titles like Space Ghost and Fantastic Four off the air before the turn of the decade. By the early 70s they were petitioning the FCC and were breathing down Jimmy Carter’s neck the moment he got into office in ‘77. Their power would diminish in the 80s with Reaganomics pulling back the FCC’s ACT-directed demands on programming, but during the 70s even the edited down violence of Fred Ladd’s localizations were unsafe.

  In the span of six years, American capital had vastly changed the landscape of Japanese animation, only for America to suddenly pull away and leave Japanese studios to pick up the pieces. While America was having another conservative moment, Japan’s animation industry headed in the opposite direction, moving into a new era of space-faring science fiction and increasing mature themes. 

  Even as Astro Boy was still airing on TV, some great minds started to think, “what if, instead of adapting Japanese cartoons, we just hired Japanese studios to cheaply animate OUR ideas instead?” These geniuses worked at Videocraft International and would quickly partner with Toei animation to produce the first ever cartoon produced in America and animated in Japan, the King Kong Show in 1969 [King Kong show intro]. They would go on to animate the 1981 Spider-Man, G.I. Joe, Inspector Gadget, Transformers, My Little Pony, The Jetsons, The Smurfs, and even… yes… even Muppet Babies. 

  Japanese studio Topcraft was also an early adopter, partnering with American Rankin/Bass in 1971 to produce a number of animated series like “The Jackson 5ive” that’s spelled with the number “5,” instead of an “F.” And several notable animated films from the 80s like Frosty’s Winter Wonderland, The Hobbit, and The Last Unicorn. All these projects were produced, written, and voice acted by Rankin/Bass in the U.S., while the animation was done at least in part but usually entirely by Topcraft.

  The relationship lasted until 1985 when Topcraft went bankrupt and got bought by someone you’ll remember from the previous episode, Hayao Miyazaki, who changed its name to the infamously difficult to pronounce “Ghibli” [“gh” pronounced like “geo”], or “Gibli?” [“gh” pronounced like “get”], or… “Ghibli” [“gh” pronounced like “yee”]. Some of its other animators formed Pacific Animation Corporation to continue working with Rankin/Bass on series like ThunderCats and Silverhawks before also retreating to Ghibli three years later when Walt Disney bought out their studio in 1988 to form Walt Disney Animation Japan to churn out all their direct-to-video movie sequels in the 90s…

  Tokyo Movie Shinsha, or TMS, was another studio that jumped on this trend. After a 1981 collaboration with French DIC Audiovisuel animating Ulysses 31 before animating a number of series with DIC’s new American arm. Over the next few decades TMS would animate cartoons for ABC, CBS, DIC, Disney, and Warner Brothers. Among their long list credits are cartoons like DuckTales, Tiny Toons, Ghostbusters, Gargoyles, and Batman: The Animated Series. Who would’ve thought? All the arguments we’ve had over Avatar: The Last Airbender, and EVERY American cartoon is up for debate on whether or not it’s anime. All of them. 

  One of the earliest adopters was famous televangelist and Christian known for hating ALL of his neighbors, Pat Robertson. Between 1981 and 1983, Robertson’s conservative evangelical Christan television network and production company, the Christian Broadcasting Network, or CBN for short, [55 Years of the Christian Broadcasting Network] recently revamped as a cable network, connected with Tatsunoko Production to produce two 52 episode series. First Super Book, which chronicled the events of the Old and New Testament; and it’s companion series Flying House, in which three kids, a professor, and a robot, travel through time to witness… numerous events of the New Testament… I guess being around for some of the Old Testament stuff would’ve been a little too much for the kids, so I understand. 

  The 1980s of course saw the rise of cable TV. Regulations of cable infrastructure relaxed causing a subscription increase from 16 million to 53 million households over the decade and a concurrent rise in cable programming networks from 28 to 79. Imagine that FEW networks. But at the time, that meant way more channels and way more airtime to fill, dramatically increasing the need for low budget animated content. By 1986, Japanese companies were starting to catch on to their own value, and so was Japanese yen, and those two factors together caused a rate increase of 40% between 1986 and 1988. At which point many U.S. groups did what they do best and found a cheaper option which meant turning straight to Korea.

  Anyway, basically, even if you’re not an anime fan, if you like cartoons at all, even a little bit, chances are you’re at least a fan of Japanese animation. Although nowadays, it’s uh, mostly Korean.

  Now I’ve already complained about Fred’s modifications to anime to make it unnecessarily family friendly, but for this next part I have to advise that you remove your children from the room or the car or wherever you’re listening to this podcast.

  The end of the 70s marked the beginning of a decade long bloodbath, what I call the hackjob era of anime. We’re not just talking localizations anymore but wholesale editing room carnage of Japanese source material to build entirely new stories. If you’re into Slasher cinema feel free to check out the Harmony Gold episode for more of what follows. It all started with one man… listeners be advised.

  As stated before, anime was out for most of the 70s with only films, mostly Toei adaptations of Western fairytales like Puss ‘n Boots, making their way to our shores, until a man named Sandy Frank attended the April 1977 Marche International des Programmes de Television in Cannes, excuse me, I do not speak French, where Tatsunoko was showing off one of its latest anime titled Kagaku Ninja-tai Gatchaman, or Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. The following month he sat down for the premiere of Star Wars and kept thinking back to that cartoon that had all the same elements as the movie he was watching in animation form.

  Star Wars’s massive success spurred Frank. He secured the license from Tatsunoko’s Yoshida brothers then called your friend and mine, Fred Ladd, to see if he would be interested in working on the localization. New York-based Fred wasn’t crazy about the idea of helping a production that would be based out of California and rejected the offer outright when he heard that the lead would be not a writer, but an animator from Hanna-Barbera.

  Now I may have my own issues with some of Fred’s editorial choices when it came to localization, but I have to respect his instincts here because Sandy Frank Entertainment had a unique approach when it came to the source material... And by that I mean none of them knew Japanese and they didn’t bother finding anyone who did. Despite having the scripts, they basically used none of them, instead watching the episodes and basically kinda interpreting what they saw, generally hacking the anime to bits, adding a cute R2-D2-like character to lighten the mood, and slapping the title Battle of the Planets over the finished product before sending it straight to millions of children's eyeballs in 1978.

  And it bombed… so badly. It bombed so badly, in fact, that Turner’s Henry Gillespie would end up calling up none other than Fred Ladd to fix it. Imagine having the foresight to say “no” to a project, and then collecting a check to come fix it, and not have to have your name on it. Sounds dope. They relocalized the whole thing from the original source material and gave it the new title G-Force. And here I have to give Fred some credit, along with lighter FCC restrictions under- [sigh] oh f- I don’t wanna give Reagan props. But [sigh] it w- yeah, it was Reagan. It was Reagan. Reagan lightened FCC restrictions. So anyway, G-Force aired in 1986 to mostly negative criticism, failing to even reach the success of Battle of the Planets, but it seems that was mostly due to Battle of the Planets fans complaining that G-Force was too different… from Battle of the Planets, which was too different from the original Japanese source material. Sometimes you just can’t win, I don’t know what to tell you. I’m sorry. Oh, and if you need any other evidence that Frank may not have known what he was doing, his second claim to fame is the raw number of his movies that have appeared on Mystery Science Theater 3000. The show where they make fun of movies? Yeah.

  [MST3K Sandy Frank song]

  Next came Force Five in 1980, from Jim Terry Productions, a chop job of five different Toei robot anime: Divine Demon Dragon Gaiking, Planetary Robot Danguard Ace, Getter Robo G, UFO Robot Grendizer, and Sci-Fi West Saga Starzinger. 

  Then Voltron in 1983 from World Events Productions, a shmooshing together of Beast King GoLion, Armored Fleet Dairugger XV, and Lightspeed Electroid Albegas. 

  Then the most infamous of them all, Harmony Gold’s Robotech, a chimera of Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber Mospeada in 1985 which I promised myself I would only speak of in the Harmony Gold episode, so we’re gonna move on.

  By the 90s, Streamline and AnimEigo had set up shop and moderately successful but critically acclaimed anime films like Akira, Totoro, and Kiki’s Delivery Service were beginning to make their way to theatrical runs and VHS in the U.S. In fact the proliferation of VHS and the rise of video stores and rental shops like Blockbuster and Suncoast were allowing smaller startups to get into the game with smaller dubbing operations that couldn’t afford to tamper too much with the source material before making direct-to-video releases. Anime was a growing subculture in the U.S. before it finally hit the mainstream in the late 90s…

  The 90s would also be the beginning of a historic shift in TV anime in the U.S., rather than editing and rebranding anime for American consumption, one network began marketing anime as a distinct medium. It was the beginning of a new era of “not kids stuff” “adult” animation straight from Japan. I’m talking of course about SyFy channel’s global showcase.

  In the early 90s SyFy, or as it was known back then… SciFi, began airing anime films, OVA, and TV shows courtesy of Streamline Pictures and Central Park Media. Titles like Dominion Tank Police, Vampire Hunter D, Project A-Ko, and even Akira all showing up on TV in (most of) their violent glory and distinctly getting called out as Japanese products.

  This was just the beginning of a rapid acceleration in awareness of anime that would hit critical mass with two titles. The mid 90s saw America’s introduction to the biggest shonen and shoujo franchises to ever hit the continent, both of which came close to stumbling and falling into obscurity right out of the gate: Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon.

  America had its first taste of Toriyama’s take on the Chinese epic, Journey to the West, with the late 80s with Harmony Gold’s production of the movies Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies and Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure which renamed Goku and Bulma to Zero and Lena [Mystical Adventure Harmony Gold Dub clip]. They started on the TV series proper but didn’t make it very far since it was... not well received, resulting in what’s known today as the lost dub. But let's not dwell on Harmony Gold too much… because I hate them. They’re bad.

  Also, the voice of Zero is also the voice of Naauta in the english dub of Fooly Cooly. So that’s just a fact that I know.

  Dragon Ball Z was another story… I should probably specify that Dragon Ball Z is the sequel to Dragon Ball in which Goku grows up physically but not mentally at all, whatsoever, even a little bit. In the early 90s, a bright-eyed Japanese American anime fan by the name of Gen Fukunaga was surprised that one of his favorites, Dragon Ball Z, hadn’t made it over to the states. So, he did what anyone would do in his situation and contacted Toei to see if he could license and distribute the title in the U.S. himself. Seeing as how Gen was just starting up his company and Dragon Ball Z was one of Toei’s most coveted titles, Toei encouraged Gen to pick something else and said no.

  With help from Nagafumi Hori was a big name in Toei’s live action arm, they reconsidered the proposal, inked the deal, and in 1994 Funimation was born.

  Funimation partnered with Saban Entertainment, a company already involved in localizing Japanese live actions such as Power Rangers, to finance and distribute, and then sold out the home video rights to Pioneer Entertainment who then got a company called Ocean Studios to produce a dub. Saban was very strict about violence so they probably shouldn’t have even been working with DBZ but we ended up getting the first 67 episodes cut down to a 53 episode run in which blood was digitally painted out and mentions of “death” became “the next dimension.” With which I am very familiar.

  DBZ entered syndication and found its way to Fox in 1996 but was cancelled two years later in 1998, inconveniently in the middle of the battle against the Ginyu Force right when Goku shows up in an episode titled “Goku… Super Saiyan?” And Americans are left with the biggest cliffhanger in the history of anime. Even bigger than just any episode of Dragon Ball Z, where you think something’s gonna happen and then they spend the next half hour charging up. More on that later.

  Sailor Moon had an even rockier start. Having premiered in Japan in 1992 to massive success, its similarity to the hit adapted Super Sentai series known in the U.S. as Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and millions in toy sales made it an attractive license in the U.S.

  DIC and Toon Makers entered a bidding war for the license which thankfully DIC won, since Toon Makers mostly wanted the rights to adapt their own Saban-esque hybrid production featuring live action actresses who turn into animated magical girls flying spaceships. 

  ...No!

  So the first 89 episodes were cut down to 82 to remove scenes of violence against children, nudity, and, if you’ll excuse the expression, to “de-gay” the series. These episodes were dubbed over with some name changes, and the series entered syndication on U.S. television on the UPN Network, home of Moesha, September 11th 1995, we were so young, and thrown into the entertainment industry is commonly referred to as a “dead” time slot in the early morning due to a lack of confidence in the IP, creating what in the Greek tragedy industry is commonly known as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

  Low viewership put production of future dubs on hold and the first 65 episodes were re-run three times and word got out that DIC [DIC Logo - What Were You Really Thinking?] planned on dropping Sailor Moon from syndication. Chi Ming Hung, a Sailor Moon fan and graduate student in physics at State University of New York at Stony Brook, would not take that news lying down. She launched an online campaign which became known as S.O.S. or “Save Our Sailors”, at www.saveoursailors.org or https://www.saveoursailors.org, which gathered over 30,000 signatures, citing much better ratings in Canada where Sailor Moon was being broadcast in a prime television time slot.

  The petition was a success, and in 1997 Sailor Moon moved to USA Network and production began on new dubs. The Save Our Sailors campaign is often cited as an early example of the power of anime fan activism when fans coming together could still create positive change rather than resulting in the DOXXING of helpless victims on Twitter.  

  At this point both Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon had a strong fanbase but nothing approaching mainstream recognition. Anime remained an obscure curiosity in the massive ecosystem of American media, but all that would change in the year 1998, the most significant year in anime in America since Astro Boy first aired on American television in 1963. 

  [Lofi music]

  1998 would be anime’s big breakout moment into the American mainstream or, as one man described it, anime’s big bang.

  [Explosion]

  DeMarco: The big bang for anime on TV really was two-fold. It was Kids’ WB getting Pokemon, and then Toonami getting Dragon Ball Z. 

  That was Jason, or one half of the second coming of Fred Patton in this analogy I’ve been setting up.

  DeMarco: I am Jason DeMarco, the co-creator and runner of Toonami. I’ve been working at Turner, now Warner Brothers, for 23 years. 

  Jason DeMarco and Sean Akins are two individuals most responsible for making anime what it is today as the co-creators of [Toonami intro] Toonami, a television programming block that you’re probably familiar with if you’re old enough to know what cable TV is, and perhaps the most referenced origin point in the anime fandom. All born from the time-honored television tradition of trying to fill broadcast time. A humble staffer at TNT, Jason was brought on by Sean to pitch a block for afternoon and evenings on Cartoon Network that could recycle re-runs from Turner’s large library of old cartoons.

  DeMarco: It was like a reel. It was a very focused, three to five minute reel that contained everything we thought we might want in there, [“Timeless” by Goldie starts] that we thought was cool. So it was like, it was a lot of footage of skaters, it was a lot of hip hop and drum and bass, it was anime clips of I remember we- we bootlegged footage, we bootlegged clips of Dragon Ball Z because we had a, at the time Atlanta had a video store that only catered to Japanese folks [music ends]. And so we would go there and rent Dragon Ball Z VHSs that were not subtitled or in any way translated, just to watch them. We would watch the DBZ movies like Bardock and stuff like that, but without knowing what the fuck was going on, just cause we thought they looked amazing. So we bootleg duped one of those and cut in footage of that, and then we had footage of like Thundercats and like, you know older action cartoons, Space Ghost, and then we mixed that with robots and skaters and film rollout and comic books. It was like we were trying to sort of show, we wanted to create a block that wasn’t just an afternoon action cartoon block, but that represented all the things that we thought kids might be into. Or cool kids, anyway. At the time. And so it was this mishmash of stuff, and I remember we cut it to a drum and bass song. Goldie, “Timeless,” I believe. And that was our pitch, and then we called it Toonami, and then we had the logo made and it was like this crazy bubble 90s font, and so that was the pitch and then basically that’s what they saw “oh okay, that looks cool, let’s give them a little bit of money and see what they do.” 

  So, umm, basically anime wasn’t originally part of the deal, but Jason really wanted it. They started out with adjacent titles like the aforementioned Thundercats and “American” hybrid productions of several anime like Robotech and Voltron but, since anime was still cheap, they eventually got some budget to buy some real anime. Namely, Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z.

  DeMarco: Well, we wanted it in there from the very beginning, but initially they said “look, we’re not gonna give you any money for programming right away, we’ll give you money to make this packaging stuff to make it into something, but for now, you’re just going to have to re-run what shit we already have lying around.” And so they already had the rights to I think Thundercats and they already had the rights to Herculoids and Space Ghost and Birdman and there was like a couple of other cartoons. And then we started off, and they started coming to us and saying “well what else would you want us to show?” And we said “have you heard of this show ‘Robotech?’” And they got Robotech pretty cheap, and then I think it was Sailor Moon came along, the opportunity to get Sailor Moon, and then we pushed them to get Dragon Ball Z. And they didn’t know what the fuck we were talking about, but they were able to find- it was airing at that time in cable markets, you know, like it wasn’t national, but it was in certain places. And so we were able to get the Ocean dub and so we started airing Dragon Ball Z, and from there it just totally took- like Sailor Moon did really well, and the Dragon Ball did incredibly well, and from there we were allowed to sort of pick and choose, as long as it fit something that could be shown to kids, we could kinda pick and choose the anime for a while. 

  The block launched its first anime in 1998 and, while many of us recall what an explosive moment it was in retrospect, it took a while before Jason and Sean realized the scope of what they’d created.

  DeMarco: The day Toonami launched was probably Gil turning in the tape an hour before they went live, because they fucked around with it until the very last second. And nobody, there was no anticipation anyone was going to give a shit. It was literally just work, like “ah, woo, got that thing turned in.” And really, we were so disorganized and we were just all in our 20’s, you know what I mean, that it was a miracle that we got the tapes turned in every week, let alone that the block kept going. But yeah, there was no, it wasn’t like now where there’s instant feedback and you know 10 minutes later if your thing has been well received. It was like, there was, I mean there- the internet was not what it is, we were barely using email, so you certainly weren’t going on social media sites and getting instantaneous feedback on everything you’re doing. You had to wait a week for the ratings to come in, and then you had to wait months before you actually heard out in the world what people felt about your thing. I mean, the first time I realized people were really into Toonami was, I think, a year or two in, when we went to a con for something and were like “huh, there’s a lot of people here who like Toonami,” you know, or we did a contest called the “Space Ghost Coast to Coast,” where we gave away a bunch of trips to um… Six Flags across the United States. And I remember that like there were so many people that called in that it like broke the phone line, and that was an indicator like “oh, people like our stuff.” But that’s the only way you knew back then. 

  Even as Jason and Sean were waiting on ratings data, what would grow to become the largest anime fan community in the United States were tuning into Cartoon Network and watching Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon for the first time. That includes myself. Within a few years these titles, which had already played on Network TV but were no more recognizable than any other series that played for brief stints on television, would osmotically rise to a level of ubiquity where even the most media illiterate can recognize a picture of Goku or Usagi-er-Serena, [cough] Serena [Sailor Moon clip of a character saying “Serena”] even if they don’t know the characters’ name. 

  It was on Toonami that the newly dubbed episodes for both series were finally broadcast, in DBZ’s case finally ending the years-long cliffhanger of the “Goku… Super Saiyan?” episode. He of course wasn’t. Goku didn’t become a Super Saiyan until 42 episodes later in “Transformed at Last.”

  Soon the two were joined by titles like Ronin Warriors, Gundam Wing, and the many Tenchi series and eventually other tentpole titles that would pull in a new generation of fans like Cowboy Bebop, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Naruto, and Fullmetal Alchemist. For the next 10 years, all the blockbuster series that fans credit with inspiring their interest in Japanese animation were almost universally delivered to them through Toonami. 

  The block has even evolved with changes in the industry, existing today as a prestige spot for modern anime, where the most popular simulcast series eventually find their way to network TV.

  DeMarco: Steaming, and a lot of shows have streaming-specific deals, I mean it’s changed everything from our deal structures to what we pay to how quickly we need to try to get shows on the air to how fast shows are dubbed. I mean, the speed of access to streaming means that your average anime fan who’s watching Toonami now has already watched whatever we’re showing subbed on Crunchyroll. So they’re watching it a second time, because they wanna see the dub. And so for us, it sort of, it allows us- first of all, we’ll know when shows are hot because they’ll hit places like Crunchyroll and people’ll start talking about them and saying “hey, you guys should check this out!” And second, everything moves faster. Like, we’re showing The Promised Neverland in a couple weeks, and it literally just finished, the sub version just finished its first season and we’re going to have the dub on a couple weeks later, you know? And I think we’re going to see that window get tighter and tighter and tighter until it’s simultaneous premieres for all kinds of shows. So it’s changed everything, and for fans I would argue for the better.

   It’s no exaggeration to say Toonami may have been the most significant event in the history of anime localization in North America. Nowadays, if you speak to any anime fan between 25 and 40, they almost universally trace a straight line back to Toonami as their point of discovery for the medium, making its creator Jason DeMarco and Toonami’s robot host TOM two of the most beloved names in the fandom.

  Now all this was great for the young adult fandom, but even as Toonami was lifting up the action shonen series of the 90s to mainstream popularity, a company called 4Kids was infiltrating kids programming and toy sales with some titles that would become as notorious for their popularity among children as they were for their parents complete inability to understand them.

  DeMarco: I mean, it kinda did what the streaming boom is doing now. It just flooded money into the anime business and so there was a gold rush. It was like Dragon Ball became a massive hit, and then Pokemon became a massive hit and a massive merchandising success; and the success of those two shows and then Naruto behind them just sort of blew the doors open and sort of suddenly everybody was in the anime business.

   The Pokemon anime hit America like a runaway Rhyhorn, airing on Kids’ WB on September 8th 1998, followed by Pokemon Red and Blue just 20 days later, then trading card game in December [Kids’ WB Pokemon bumper], almost immediately becoming the most popular childrens’ program in the U.S. with the games selling almost 10 million units, and the cards becoming ubiquitous at the picnic tables of every school recess in the nation. 

  While DBZ and Sailor Moon were still picking up steam but ultimately still passable as just another “show my teenager is into,” the Pokemon craze was impossible to ignore and the reaction by parents and the media was... I will just say violent and probably more than a little racist. Like, a lot racist. 

  The panic over Pokemon frequently became the subject of national news as legions of parents, pundits, and “licenses experts” tried breaking down this strange Japanese cartoon show from every angle to reveal its nefarious intent and definitely gave themselves away by calling it an “invasion.” Among the earliest complaints were that the series promoted violence, smoothly skating over American’s proud 50-year legacy of sensibly chuckling at a cat getting crushed, set on fire, or having its skin ripped off in the pursuit of an anthropomorphized mouse. Or also its proud history of… real life violence.

  It was also accused of promoting gambling and addictive behavior, with newscasters referring to schoolyards as black markets for Pokemon trading cards ignoring contemporary American products like Magic: The Gathering or “the classics” like… baseball cards. This shit went on for YEARS, and I distinctly remember the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game entering that same conversation which had never really stopped shortly after its release almost half a decade later in March 2002.

  If you weren’t around back then you probably got a small taste of what it was like during Niantics recent release of Pokemon GO with national news agencies blaming inattentiveness caused by the game for multiple assaults against players rather than… y’know… our country just not really being that a safe place?

  If anime had a mainstream moment, it wasn’t Akira or even Dragon Ball Z, but Pokemon that was the first encounter, at least knowingly, between the majority of Americans and Japanese animation, setting off an arms race among media and toy companies for more of these cheap kids cartoons with merchandise options and launching a thousand articles titled “Watch out parents, BLANK is going to be the NEXT Pokemon!”

  Fox Kids led the charge to catch up, broadcasting Digimon: Digital Monsters in August 1999 and partnering with 4Kids for Yu-Gi-Oh! in September 2001.

  These franchises were obviously profitable on their own but even more so because media conglomerates found that even after 40 years of dealing with Americans, Japanese license holders were woefully ill-equipped to leverage the valuable IPs they were putting on the international market. And in this, 4Kids was also well ahead of the curve.

  Kelts: Japan is still relatively provincial and isolated, so marketers tend to focus exclusively on Japan. And then when it comes to a foreign market, they just get confused or lack confidence and then they often just get a foreign partner. So in the case of Pokemon, which is classic, Pokemon signed away, back in 1996, they signed away all their subsidiary rights to an American company called 4Kids based in New York and they got something like $11 million overnight from 4Kids, and then they got nothing else.

  Interviewer: [groan]

  Kelts: So while Pokemon was taking off, TV series, and the feature films, anime feature films, selling out cinemas, the card games, everything, the creators, the five companies that created it here in Japan were getting nothing. They finally went to court back in 2004 and the legal team from Nintendo USA managed to get the rights back, eventually. 

  Of course, we’ll get into to that later… and that voice, by the way, was Roland Kelts, a Japanese American writer and journalist who literally wrote the book on the pop culture exchange between Japan and the U.S.

  Kelts: You know, I ended up writing a book called “Japanimerica,” and that was because the publisher, the American publisher called Palgrave MacMillan came to me. I had written about Miyazaki Hayao, and I’d written about Haruki Murakami, the novelist, and various Japanese artists, so they asked me if I’d consider doing this book about anime and manga in the United States. At first I said no, because I thought it’s not really that popular in the U.S., you know? I didn’t, I didn’t really think anybody would care that much. And then um- because I was already living in Japan so I started, I was back in New York and I started poking around and talking to college kids and you know started realizing that “wow, they know a LOT [laughing] about Japanese pop culture.” 

  Taking advantage of Japan’s less sophisticated understanding of international rights, 4Kids made fortunes off Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! with tricks like large upfront payments that didn’t provide any royalties for physical sales or merchandising, making sublicense contracts with other American companies to obfuscate their numbers, and outright cooking their books. They lied. 

  But seven-digit sums weren’t the only things 4Kids was editing. They were also editing… uh, everything...

  Perhaps the greatest irony of the Pokemon panic era was parents crying about the violence in cartoons that were specifically edited for American consumption. It’s almost as if the broadcasters knew that parents' tolerance for violence and sexual content were lower in the U.S. than they were in Japan. And nowadays we look back at the 4Kids onigiri erasure [Pokemon: Jelly donut clip] and Yu-Gi-Oh! replacing guns with characters literally pointing their fingers to look like guns and we sadly shake our heads, but given the fits people were having over the edited down versions, it’s more difficult to criticize that decision.

  It’s important to note that 4Kids is probably most notorious for their edits because of bizarre decisions like giving Sanji a brooklyn accent but just about every anime that made it to TV was edited for content in some way. 

  In addition to some breakout IPs, there was one more component to anime’s exploding popularity at the turn of the millenia that’s more difficult to quantify. Kids who grew up with the internet were entering their teens and the internet itself was developing more sophisticated  ways of bringing together communities of like-minded people.

  Kelts: The internet suddenly enabled fans to not only access the content, eventually, but also as you put it, to fansub the content and get it out there. And then at the same time, really important part of it was community. Because of the internet, fans could find other fans. So it didn’t matter if you were in Nebraska or New York City, you could like go “hey, man, are you into this? I’m into this, this is- this is awesome!” And that builds up a whole sense of confidence and community and you know, sharing of tips and ideas, and it also eventually communicated to the Japan side that “wow, there’s a lot of people out there who [chuckling] who like this shit,” you know? Like, I think the internet was magic. 

  Where before you’d have to bust your ass searching through webrings to find a site with some GIFs of your favorite anime, new communities on message boards and IRC made your fandom searchable and interactive, and eventually gave way to Reddit and the apparently maligned Gaia Online… 

  But no longer did you have kids in the mid-west discovering anime, thinking they were literally the only person in 10 square miles that liked it, and eventually switching back to football so they’d have something to talk with their friends about at school. Now they could log on to a forum dedicated to their favorite shows and give up their social life entirely. The internet had already been a growing force in anime fandom but combined with Toonami and Pokemon, its effect was multiplied.

  The supplying force of media companies looking for cheap, timeblock-filling animation and niche fandom or creator-driven localization were giving way to a huge demand specifically for more of that good Japanese stuff...

  Kelts: There were certain artists, a limited number of artists and producers, Tezuka was one of them, who wanted their work to have an international audience. And at the time, “international” meant “American,” mostly, back in the 60s and 70s. So Tezuka and the Yoshida brothers, who made Speed Racer and Battle of the Planets- oh, sorry, and Battleship Yamato, but most of it [chuckles] most of that story was driven by demand. Which is to say that in most cases, Japanese artists and Japanese studios did VERY little to really promote their work overseas. And part of that was linguistic problems, part of that was Japan’s relative isolation from the rest of the world, and so when you talk about the explosive growth in the 2000s, you know late 90s, early 2000s, that was really heavily demand driven. I mean, that was a lot of Americans- and other nationals, Europeans, French especially, actually demanding the work from Japan. 

  [Lofi music]

  And so the early 2000s saw anime as a real mainstream force which would only continue to grow until now 20 years later Michael B. Jordan is doing Naruto fashion collabs and Kardashians are citing TRIGGER anime as the inspiration for their hair color and Porter Robinson is joining forces with A-1 pictures to make his own anime music video and also Megan Thee Stallion is being interviewed by us, Crunchyroll, on Instagram Live during quarantine? But it wasn’t quite so easy…

  The rising prominence of Toonami, Pokemon, and some blockbuster movie releases created a firm following for anime in the U.S. after the turn of the millenia, but anime would soon become a victim of its own explosive growth. Big media companies like Warner Brothers, Fox, and Sony were suddenly interested in investing in anime again and they brought their monolithic pocketbooks to the bidding wars which caused the costs of licensing anime to skyrocket.

  Japanese companies were also moving into the U.S. market, cutting out the middleman to manage their own properties in the U.S. and further increasing competition. Aniplex opened a division based out of Santa Monica called Aniplex of America and Japan Content Investments, or JCI, was formed by several Japanese interests to essentially act as a lender to help U.S. companies spend more on anime titles.

  Even as new titans of the shonen genre in Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece rose to prominence, labeled by the American fandom (and pretty much only the American fandom) as the “Big 3,” many of the companies that had spent the past 20 years building up the anime industry into what it was were beginning to buckle under the pressure. Saban was broken up and sold to Disney in 2001, Streamline’s new owner Orion didn’t want to compete in the anime market and the company slowly withered until its 2002 closure, and the U.S. branch of Manga Entertainment stopped licensing new properties and was reduced down to a skeleton crew in 2004. 

  Then... the recession hit, the anime bubble burst, and things got WAY worse.

  Geneon suddenly closed in 2007 for reasons that are still unclear. Central Park Media had been on a steady decline throughout the decade and finally filed for bankruptcy in 2009. 

  Alright, I’m about to drop a lotta acronyms and uh, company names, so maybe grab a pen and paper… or a tablet, iPad, whatever. Maybe one of those Toshiba laptops that convert into a tablet? Y’know, it’s the future. I’ll give you a second. 

  Okay.

  AD Vision, or ADV for short, went through probably the most spectacular closure in 2009. The year before, 30 titles had disappeared from ADV’s website, and Funimation later announced they had been added to their own library as part of a partnership with ARM (part of the aforementioned JCI), which I will from henceforth refer to as ARM [pronounced like the body part], because it makes sense. Unable to pay back its licensing loans to ARM, ADV split its assets, licenses, and debts into multiple companies: Sentai Filmworks, Section23 Films, Valkyrie Media Partners, Seraphim Studios, and AEsir Holdings, with AEsir Holdings acting as the fall guy to absorb the debt and go bankrupt. Section23 was allegedly named after the subsection of Texas Debt law that allows a company to pull this kind of move. Obviously that didn’t go over very well, because three years later they were embroiled in a lawsuit with Funimation to the tune of $9 million dollars for “breach of contract” which I’m sorry to report ended in an undisclosed settlement out of court.

  4Kids’s shady dealings would come home to roost when in 2006 Pokemon USA reclaimed the Pokemon anime from them as of season 9 and 2007 and 2008 saw them losing their programming blocks with both Warner Brothers and Fox. Then in 2011 4Kids ended up on the receiving end of a lawsuit with TV Tokyo and Nihon Ad Systems for “underpayments, wrongful deductions, and unmet obligations” for almost $5 million dollars for their handling of Yu-Gi-Oh!, which is probably generous considering it’s estimated 4Kids had made over $150 million dollars thanks to Yugi Muto. 4Kids maintained the rights to Yu-Gi-Oh! but they entered a death spiral, filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy in the midst of the court proceedings. In the following year 4Kids would lose the broadcast rights to Dragon Ball Z Kai to Saban, Yu-Gi-Oh! to Konami, and they would have to pay out another $1 million dollars to The Pokemon Company International. In 2012 they announced they would be reincorporating into 4Licensing Incorporated which itself entered bankruptcy in 2016.

  This was a scary time in anime fandom, as the financial backlash of the multiple closures traveled across the Pacific to Japan, rocking the market in an industry that had begun to rely on international investment. Companies that no longer existed couldn’t renew licenses, causing a huge number of anime to fall into limbo, disproportionately affecting the most culturally important anime as licence holders now recognized their value while American publishers have since been unwilling or unable to pony up the cash to secure it. 

  Maybe the most iconic example of this was Neon Genesis Evangelion, which remained in the wind for a decade after ADV’s collapse and was only recently rescued when Netflix licensed it for what was likely an irresponsible amount of money (yet somehow not enough to cop the rights to Fly Me to the Moon?).

  Things were looking bad for the anime industry at the end of the decade. Markets were in a tumultuous state, prices for anime licenses had been driven to unattainable peaks, and a new competitor was emerging...

  While the industry floundered, a new generation of tech savvy youth suddenly had an easy alternative to spending $25 at Suncoast for a four episode DVD or waiting for a series to show up on Toonami. Piracy was easier than ever and now had some considerable advantages over legal channels when it came to distribution. Unburdened by negotiating licensing deals, managing physical distribution, or quality checking their product, file sharing services had made pirates the quickest source to watch new anime.

  “Piracy is a service problem” is a famous quote by Valve’s Gabe Newell which I personally believe is bullshit, but something had to change to pull anime out of its nosedive.

  And, since someone is paying me to talk about this, obviously something did.

  [Lofi music]

  Thank you for listening to Anime in America, presented by Crunchyroll. If you enjoyed this, please go to Crunchyroll.com/animeinamerica to watch some of the shows we mentioned in this episode, like Naruto or Fullmetal Alchemist. You can watch free, with ads, or get a 14-day free premium membership because… I like you, and my personal opinion is what matters.

   Special thanks to Jason DeMarco and Roland Kelts for taking the time to talk with us. 

  This episode is hosted by me, Yedoye Travis, and you can find me on Instagram at ProfessorDoye or Twitter @YedoyeOT. This episode is researched and written by Peter Fobian, edited by Chris Lightbody, and produced by me, Braith Miller, Peter Fobian, and Jesse Gouldsbury. 

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[81scorp]

More thoughts on Tangled

I thought that all of my thoughts on Tangled might be a little much to read if put into one editorial, so I decided to divide it into two. Here`s the second half. You broke my SPOILERS ! Small constructive criticism

On the fence: Rapunzel hiding the satchel Where did Rapunzel hide the satchel? On her body I mean, before the scene where she gives it to Eugene in the boat. How about: She could have left the tower with her own, selfmade handbag to carry small stuff, like provision. When Gothel gives her the satchel she could take the crown out of it and hide it in her handbag and give it to Eugene later. "But if you`re gonna question the realism why don`t you also question why her hair doesn`t get dirty from being dragged on the ground or get stuck more often?" you might say.

Because A: Tangled seems to operate more on a fairytale logic than a Looney tunes logic where characters can pull things out of thin air whenever it`s convenient and the satchel was too important to the plot to be hidden in such a way.

B: I am very selective in my pedantic nitpicking. However: Rapunzel and Eugene`s sleeping place wasn`t that far from the castle. It`s possible that Rapunzel had time to run and get the satchel in the time it took Eugene to go and buy the lanterns. She could then have hid it behind her back until she knew what boat they were gonna use and then hide it on the boat. (Kinda how (I assume) Eugene hid the lanterns.) Besides, even if the satchel technically was too important to the plot to be hidden in such a looney tune kinda way it`s still technically a small thing in the plot that I didn`t really thought about until I looked a little closer and put a little extra thought into it. At the end of the day, I`m willing to let this slide. On the fence: Eugene getting hanged for stealing a crown People think that the punishment doesn`t fit the crime, that the hanging was just a way to raise the stakes and make it more dramatic. How about: Instead of being escorted to the gallows, he was being escorted to a boat that would take him to a prison-island where he would be locked up for who knows how many years. However: I don`t mind the dramatic punishment. It may have been disproportionate to the crime, but I like the raised stakes and it worked for the story. The Queen recognizing Rapunzel The last time she saw Rapunzel she was a blond baby, and now this grown up brunette shows up and she still recognizes her? Yes, if you`ve seen the scene you remember that they looked alike and that the Queen looked at her for a few seconds to find similarities. But how does she know she`s not some lookalike impostor? It would have been better if there was one more little thing that could help confirm Rapunzel`s identity. How about: Rapunzel was born with a flower-shaped birthmark behind one of her shoulders and the only ones who knew about it was the King, the Queen and Mother Gothel. And when they`re reunited the Queen checks her shoulder to be absolutely sure. But I guess most of us are willing to overlook this little detail because of the fairytale tone of the movie and because we know what Rapunzel`s been through. After all her hardships and struggles we want her to have her happy ending damnit! 2D animation and 3D animation This isn`t the first time Disney has done a fairytale musical or a computer animated movie but it is the first time they have combined the two. I like that they try something new, sure I would have liked if it was 2D, but I have no problem with the 3D. I just hope that there is still room in the future for some more handrawn Disney movies and that they don`t disappear completely. I wouldn`t mind seeing some more movies made with the Meander animation, like in Paperman. At least Disney`s last handdrawn movie wasn`t Home on the range. Tangled ever after Schopenhauer once said that a happy ending is an illusion created by the curtain closing at the right moment. What he meant is, and let`s be honest, most stories are about (Or at least involve) suffering and struggling. After the hero and heroine have suffered enough they are finally reunited in each other`s arms, the curtain closes and it`s a happy ending. Had it not ended there, the two lovers would once again have been separated and forced to struggle and suffer until they found each other again. If Tangled got a sequel Rapunzel and Eugene would once again have to struggle and suffer and it would weaken the big happy ending in the first movie. However, Hollywood does this all the time. Star wars: A New Hope ended happily and in the sequel Luke and his friends are back to hiding from and fighting against the Empire. Another important part of the movie and the fairytale it was based on (and the biggest reason why the filmmakers decided to not make a sequel) was Rapunzel`s insanely long hair which was cut in the movie`s climax. Without the most important thing it had in common with the fairytale it was based on, a sequel to Tangled would just seem forced. But if Disney were to make a sequel, what more could they actually tell the audience? Do we really want them to have a tragic turn of events just to make an interesting sequel? Was there a story left to tell and if so, what would it be about? Rapunzel and Eugene didn`t get married in the end of the first movie but a wedding was mentioned. In the end we got a short fim called Tangled ever after. I like it. The cartoony slapstick reminds me of the classic Tom and Jerry cartoons and I like that they continued the story with a short film. Not everything has to be big and feature length. Sometimes some things work best in a small scale. In the short film Eugene and Rapunzel take a back seat to Pascal and Maximus, which makes sense since their story was already told and pretty much came full circle in Tangled. And they still can`t get Eugene`s nose right! Tangled the series Just found out that they`re making an animated tv series that takes place between the first movie and the short film. It kinda, sorta weakens what I wrote about making sequels earlier since it kinda, sorta works as a sequel. How do I feel about a tv series? Cautious optimism. It could be good. I shouldn`t have high expectations but I hope that they at least give names to the unnamed Thugs from the Snugly Duckling. I mean seriously, you get recognizable actors like Brad Garrett and Jeffrey Tambor and you don`t even give their characters names? Tangled and Frozen If you haven`t seen Frozen or read my previous editorials

Do you want to read some SPOILERS? Ah yes, Tangled and Frozen. By the time I`m writing this they are, so far, Disney`s only 3D animated fairytale based musicals. That`s probably why people compare them to each other.

I like Tangled more than Frozen, that does not make Tangled objectively better than Frozen, nor does it make Frozen objectively worse or even bad. You can like one thing without hating the other. But why do I like Tangled more? I think one of the reasons (the reasons I can explain at least) is expectations.

First time I saw Tangled it surprised me, not just with the songs but also with three great scenes in a row: the Kingdom Dance scene, the wordless scene with the King and Queen (It hit me right in the feels!) and the big lantern scene. Suddenly this silly adventure comedy had become very heartwarming and a little bit more mature. Now you may say: "But it`s Disney, heartwarming is kinda their thing." Yes, but for a while they toned that down to focus more on silly comedies. Frozen is very hyped and it has led to it getting a lot of hate, something I think is sad because it`s not a bad movie. It is the hype that is the problem. Tangled was (in my experience at least) not as hyped as Frozen. (Probably because Disney wanted to keep the part about it being a musical a secret.) Because of that some of the best scenes were not shown in trailers and teasers, at least not much, to my knowledge, making it more pleasant to see them for the first time in the cinema. When Disney learned from Tangled that people like 3D animated musicals they made sure to play the Crap out of "Let it go". I Usually try to avoid hype. But then I saw a video where movie critic Kyle Kallgren mentioned Frozen in a list of movies that he recommended. He said: "Never before have I seen a Disney film with so many subversions". That word: "Subversions" (A word that I at that time thought meant the same as "toned down" or "avoid".), and the fact that Kyle usually watches highbrow movies, made me think that it was gonna be so much more different from the ordinary Disney films than it actually was. Plus, he also spoiled that it was sisterly love that saved the day. (But he didn`t go into details how it happened and fortunately he didn`t reveal the twist with Hans, all he said was "false prince". I assumed that Hans was a good guy (but not her true love) pretending to be a prince.) So curse you Mr Kallgren! Curse you for unintentionally raising my expectations about this movie only to find out that, while not the movie I thought it would be, it was still good and technically lived up to your description! May you be forced to watch godawful movies that... uh... uhm... Nevermind. But, like I said, his description was technically accurate.To it`s credit, Frozen has some new twists that we haven`t seen before, or at least often, in Disney movies. Where Tangled stayed more true to the Disney formula, Frozen gave us some new things. Like a clever villain who fools not just the heroines but the audience as well, platonic sibling love saves the day, not romantic love and we get a Disney queen (who plays an important part in the plot) who`s not evil. Another factor that makes me feel the way I felt about Frozen is (and this is very subjective) feels. Like I said before, I went into the cinema to see Tangled with low expectations and was surprised. The wordless scene with the King and the Queen before the release of the lanterns poked me right in the feels. Next Disney movie was Wreck it Ralph and much like Tangled I didn`t have high expectations about it. I saw it because a movie with a scene where several famous videogame badguys (like M. Bison and Bowser) meet in a support group seemed too hilarious to miss. I expected it to be funny and I was right, but then there were some good scenes with Ralph and Vanellope that hit me right in the feels. I thought it was just gonna be a silly comedy about videogame characters! Well played Disney, well played. This was also the first time I experienced Disney`s strategy of lowering our expectations and intentionally misleading us (Disney you magnificent bastards!). With two Disney movies in a row giving me the feels I think it`s understandable that I would expect their next movie (that was well recieved by critics) to do the same. Unlike Tangled and Wreck it Ralph my expectations with Frozen were not low, but relatively high-ish, like they usually are for most animated Disney movies. Frozen met my expectations much more than it exceeded them and it did not give me as strong feels as Tangled and Wreck it Ralph did. I didn`t feel that different from what I usually feel when I watch a good animated Disney movie. With Frozen I was waiting for that little extra thing that it technically never promised to give me. But you can`t really judge a movie`s quality (or likeability) based on how much feels it gives you, because feels are not necessary and there are many other things that can work to a movie`s advantage. However, there are some cases where some Disney movies have aged well for me and made me feel a little more when I´ve rewatched them after a few years. When I watched Beauty and the Beast as a little kid I liked it, but mostly for the humour. When I watched it again in my thirties a few years ago I remember seeing the dancing scene between Belle and Beast in a new light. Beast was being nervous and gulped while Belle was calm and gently took his hand and put it around her waist. I realized that this was probably the most intimate experience he had ever had with anyone, not so much physically but emotionally. This was not just a dance, this was a moment where a man was coming out of his shell and learning to trust someone else. If I`m not mistaken there are a few seconds where he looks where he puts his his feet but then gets more confident and realizes: "Hey, I`m getting good at this! I don`t need to look where I put my feet, it`s coming to me naturally!" In a way, this is a scene where Beast transforms on the inside. I love the line sung by Mrs Potts: "Both a little scared, neither one prepared", it sums up Belle and Beasts relationship perfectly. It`s a tale as old as time because it`s a tale worth retelling. My first-time experience with Brave was similar to my first-time experience with Frozen. I expected it to be different because it was Pixar. After watching it I felt: "It wasn`t bad, but it felt very conventional for a Pixar movie". It was on TV a couple of weeks ago, I gave it a watch and it had changed for me. The emotional moments had more of an impact on me this time and it gave me some feels. And don`t get me started on Dumbo. Who knows, maybe if I watch Frozen a second time some day in the future, now knowing better, I might see something in it that I didn`t see before and maybe it`ll give me the feels. Or maybe not. Like I said, a movie doesn`t have to give you the feels to be liked, and Frozen has other things that works to it`s advantage. Finally saw the Frozen fever short by the way. It`s as I expected: a cute, small project one would do between bigger projects. Cute songs, good animation and some funny moments. It does what it can with the short runtime it has. Yes, Frozen has flaws, but so does Tangled, and in both cases (for me at least) most of them are small and overlookable.

Tangled`s strength is it`s simplicity and humour. It also had the luxury of being the first 3D animated fairytale based musical. Frozen, not having the same luxury, has it`s strength in more memorable songs and challenging some of the tropes in the Disney formula. So, who wants a piece of cake?

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior February 28, 2020 – THE INVISIBLE MAN, GREED

Welcome to Leap Weekend (if there is such a thing) as we get that one extra day of February for the first time in four years before we leap (get it?) headlong into March’s proverbial lion on Sunday.

This past weekend, 20th Century’s Call of the Wild did far better than anyone had projected as it benefited greatly from being one of the most Disney-friendly movies produced by the former Fox-house, as well as the solid reviews. Even though I probably had one of the highest projections for the weekend at $17 million, it ended up blowing that away with $25 million, coming out just below Sonic the Hedgehog. This coming weekend it might surpass it. Brahms II fell short of my already-low prediction. (Also, Impractical Jokers: The Movie ended up making $2.6 million in 357 theaters last weekend, just missing the top 10. Makes me curious how many more theaters it will expand into this weekend... but we’ll get back to that in a bit.)

Thankfully, this weekend we only get one new wide release, and it’s a good one, as Saw and Insidious co-creator Leigh Whannell takes on HG Wells’ THE INVISIBLE MAN (Universal) with Elisabeth Moss playing the unseen killer’s primary victim, one who believes her toxic and abusive ex Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen from “The Haunting of Hill House”) is dead, but in fact, he’s just invisible!  I know, it sounds cornier than it actually is. By the time you read this, I’ll have probably already written my full review so you already know that I kind of dug what Whannell did here.

This will be an interesting test to see if Moss can bring her popularity from shows like “The Handmaiden’s Tale” and “Mad Men” to the big screen since she really hasn’t been the lead in many big studio releases. Obviously, she had a fairly big role in Jordan Peele’s Uslast year, which was also produced by Jason Blum for Universal, and that did decently by opening with $71 million. (That movie got a huge boost by being Peele’s follow-up to the Oscar-winning Get Out with the amazing Lupita Nyong’o.) A few months later, Moss’ co-starring role in the WB graphic novel-based crime thriller The Kitchen tanked even with support from bigger stars like Melissa McCarthy and Tiffany Haddish. The Invisible Man will be a good test to see if Moss can carry a major wide release, already having a strong fanbase, especially among critics thanks to last year’s indie Her Smell.

There’s a pretty long history of Universal’s Classic Monsters being brought back to the screen with Dracula and Frankenstein getting the most iterations -- some more successful than others. Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 movie Bram Stoker’s Dracula was one of the bigger hits for the time, grossing $82 million after a $30 million opening, and this was 1992 money, mind you.

Just ten years ago, Universal’s The Wolf Man opened with $31.5 million over the Presidents Day weekend and ended up grossing $61.9 million, the name value of its title character helping quite a bit but only for that opening weekend. Even though it was universally (ha ha) panned, Tom Cruise’s The Mummy reboot also opened with $31.7 million (in the summer) although it failed to kick-start Universal’s planned “Dark Universe” shared universe of films. The lack of quality for those projects may hurt The Invisible Man with moviegoers who have felt like they’ve been burned too many times before, but we’ll have to see how the critics feel about it. (Reviews so far are mostly positive, at the time of this writing.)

Going back further, the Paul Verhoeven thriller Hollow Man, starring Kevin Bacon, opened with $26.4 million on its way to $73.2 million, so I can’t see any reason why 20 years later, The Invisible Man can’t find similar success.

Sure, there’s been a serious downturn on horror over the past two months with so many pretty mediocre horror movies getting released, few of them doing well. The name brand of The Invisible Man and the Blumhouse branding (not to mention Universal’s marketing, which has done a decent job with the trailers and commercials) should allow it to make $26 to 30 million (maybe more?) – it won’t have a problem being the #1 movie at the box office this weekend regardless.

My Review of The Invisible Man

My Interview with Leigh Whannell over at VitalThrills.com

The Invisible Man shouldn’t have a hard time taking #1 whether it ends up on the low point of projections or breaks out with something closer to $30 million or more. Even more interesting to watch is the bottom of the top 10 and whether last week’s Emma or Impractical Jokers: the Movie might break into the top 10 depending on their respective expansions. The latter might have a slight advantage since it might be targeting 700 to 800 theaters or more while Emma is only expanding into about 100 theaters before its nationwide release next week.

Also, apparently the popular manga series “My Hero Academia” is coming to the big screen starting tonight with the nationwide release of My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising, but since I know almost nothing about the series or how many theaters it might open in, there’s not much more I can add. Maybe it’ll do well enough to break into the top 10, but who really knows?  The previous movie grossed $5.5 million domestically with an August ‘18 opening, and presumably, its sequel can do even better with the series being even more popular. I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt that it could end up with $3 million over the weekend if it opens in 500 or more theaters, but it’s really a stab in the dark here.

1. The Invisible Man (Universal) - $30.6 million N/A (up $2 million)*

2. Call of the Wild (20th Century) - $15.4 million -38%

3. Sonic the Hedgehog  (Paramount) - $14 million -47%

4. Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey  (Warner Bros) - $3.5 million -48%

5. Bad Boys for Life (Sony) - $3.5 million -40%

6. My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising (FUNimation) - $3.1 million N/A* (based on 550 theaters - note that this opens Weds i.e. today)

7. 1917  (Universal) - $2.6 million -38%

8. Brahms: The Boy II (STXfilms) - $2.5 million -57%

9. The Impractical Jokers Movie (TruTV) - $2.2 million -15%* (based on 750 theaters)

10. Jumanji: The Next Level  (Sony) - $2.1 million -35%

11. Emma. (Focus Features) or Parasite (NEON)   - $1.7 million (down .3 million)

*UPDATE: Giving Invisible Man a little boost since it’s opening in about 600 more theaters than my earlier projection plus the reviews have mostly been positive which will definitely help. Still no actual theater counts for My Hero Academia and The Impractical Jokers movie, so I guess we’ll have to see when numbers come in Saturday where they end up.

LIMITED RELEASES

This week’s FEATURED MOVIE is GREED (Sony Pictures Classics), the new collaboration between Michael Winterbottom and Steve Coogan, whose earlier films, 24 Hour Party People and “The Trip” movies (a fourth one coming out this summer!) are some of my favorite British comedies. In this one, Coogan plays Sir Richard McCreadie, the “King of High Street,” who has earned a reputation for his billion-dollar fashion store empire by negotiating wholesalers’ prices down, even when it means the already poorly-paid workers overseas are deprived further of anything close to a fair wage.

The film is told through a pseudo-doc format as McGreadie’s family and staff are preparing for his lavish 60th birthday soirée in Greece, complete with a facsimile version of Rome’s Colosseum so that “Greedy” McCreadie can fulfill his fantasies of being Russell Crowe in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator. What could possibly go wrong? The story is told through McGreadie’s biographer Nick (the amazing David Mitchell from Peep Show in a rare movie role!) who is going around the world talking to those who know McGreadie to get interviews for a video profile to be shown for the event.

Greed takes on a fairly standard mockumentary format with Winterbottom (who also cowrote this screenplay himself, another rarity for the filmmaker) putting together an impressive cast that includes Isla Fisher as McGreadie’s wife Samantha and Shirley Henderson as his mother (despite her being the same age as Coogan). Much of the humor comes from the comedy-of-errors surrounding this celebration with one thing going wrong after another but things getting progressively worse whenever McGreadie steps in to try to fix things.

The funny thing about watching Greed is that I spent most of the movie convinced it was a biopic about a real person ala 24 Hour Party People, vaguely remembering certain events as something I remember hearing about. Thanks to my old Beat editor Hannah Lodge for pointing out that the movie was in fact loosely based on the true story of billionaire Sir Philip Ross Green, someone I wasn’t even remotely familiar with but clearly was enough in the public consciousness to make me realize this film was loosely based on fact. (I’m sure that many will touch on the toxic masculinity clearly displayed by McGreadie which lines up with accusations about Green, who has repeatedly had his knighthood in danger of being repealed for his behavior and actions.)

I found Greed to be very funny but with a clear and poignant message about what the likes of “Greedy” are regularly getting away with at the expense of beleaguered workers in poverty-stricken countries. In that sense, it doesn’t hit the viewer too hard over the head with its message but still gets it across as well as any actual doc might. There’s also a great Knives Out style turn that will appeal to those who have gotten tired of the wealthy doing whatever they want and getting away with it.

There are other movies I’ll probably be watching this week and a few others that I won’t have a chance to watch.

Andrew Heckler’s BURDEN (101 Studios) premiered over two years ago at the Sundance Film Festival, but it’s finally being revived and released.  It involves a Ku Klux Klan museum opening in a small racially-diverse town in South Carolina in 1996 and how it affects the people of the town. The story mainly revolves around Garrett Hedlund’s Mike Burden, a top soldier for the local KKK head Tom Griffin, played by Tom Wilkinson, who is odds with the local preacher, Reverend David Kennedy (played by Forrest Whitaker) about that museum. When Mike falls for a single mother (Andrea Riseborough), he has to start deciding whether he can leave the KKK despite his inbred hatred for blacks, including Kennedy, who helps him when Griffin turns the town against Mike. This is a decent drama that I wanted to like more because it deals with a really important message about allowing love to overcome hatred. It’s a strong story (based on true events) that features some amazing performances, but particularly from Riseborough (once again virtually unrecognizable!), but also Hedlund and Whitaker, both playing very difficult roles. I guess the problem is that Mike’s inevitable road to redemption is so bumpy with so many ups and downs, you love him, you hate him, he’s good, he’s bad… it really created quite an erratic tone whereas a tighter script could have made this a movie as good or better than Spike Lee’s BlackKklansman. It’s a shame, but I still it’s worth watching since it does deal with issues like racism and hatred that seem to constantly raise their ugly head even when we think there’s hope for a better world. It’ll open in select cities this Friday.s

Speaking of Sundance, Benh Zeitilin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild was all the rage at the festival all the way back in 2012, eventually getting four Oscar nominations, and he finally releases his follow-up WENDY (Fox Searchlight), a re-envisioning of the classic Peter Pan mythos. It once again features a group of no-name non-actors with Devin France in the title role and Yashua Mack playing Peter Pan.

Albert Shin’s moody thriller DISAPPEARANCE AT CLIFTON HILL (IFC Midnight) stars Tuppence Middleton (“Sense 8”) as Abby, a young woman who witnessed a kidnapping at Niagara Falls when she was a girl, who decides to return to home there to see if she can figure out who was responsible.

Apparently, John Turturro’s THE JESUS ROLLS, in which he reprises his bowling character from the Coens’ The Big Lebowski,is opening in select theaters this weekend. Turturro directed the movie that co-stars Bobby Cannavale, Audrey Tautou, Susan Sarandon and Sonia Braga, and for some reason, I thought it was opening on March 20 but apparently, it will be at the IFC Center starting this weekend!

Matthew Pope’s feature debut, the thriller Blood on her Name (Vertical), stars Bethany Ann Lind (from “Ozark”) as Leigh Tiller, a woman who discovers a body of a dead man with his blood draining out onto the floor, and she decides to cover it up while also feeling like she needs to return the body to the man’s family. It will get a special screening at the Nitehawk in Wiliamsburg on Thursday night with Pope, Lind and co-writer Don Thompson doing a QnA, and then will be On Demand (and other select cities) on Friday.

Next up is The Whistlers (Magnolia), the new film from Romanian filmmaker Cornelio Porumboiu (12:08 East of Bucharest, Police Adjective), and it’s a rare Romanian film that’s less than two hours long! It’s a policeman trying to free a crooked businessman from a Romanian prison, first travelling to Gomera, one of the Canary Islands, where he has to learn the local dialect that includes hissing and spissing. Bummed I missed this one. It will open at the Film Forum downtown and Film at Lincoln Center uptown, plus other cities.

Alex Thompson’s Saint Frances (Oscilloscope) is written by and stars Kelly O’Sullivan from “Sirens” as 34-year-old Bridge, who finally catches a break and gets a much-needed job taking care of a six-year-old (Ramona Edith-Williams) and also meets a nice guy but when she gets pregnant, it avoids to unexpected complications with her young liege.

Opening Thursday night at the IFC Center is James Sweeney’s rom-com Straight Up (Strand), starring Sweeney as Todd, an obsessive compulsive gay twenty-something who suddenly gets the existential feeling that maybe he isn’t gay after all. Meeting Karen Finlay’s Rory, a struggling actress, the two form a bond around their conversations.  Sweeney and some of his cast will be doing QnAs at the IFC Center on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

Lastly, D.W. Young’s doc The Booksellers (Greenwich) looks behind the scenes at the world of rare books with appearances by Parker Posey, Fran Lebowitz and Gay Talese. It opens at the Quad in New York and other cities.

Also screening at the IFC Center Weds night is Stuart Sweezey’s excellent music doc Desolation Center, which looks at the efforts by an L.A. concert promoter to hold indie rock/punk shows in the Sahara Desert in the early ‘80s featuring the likes of Sonic Youth, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Red Kross, Swans, Einstürzende Neubauten and more! The special screening will include a QnA with Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo and Steve Shelley, and having seen it at Rooftop Films last summer, I highly recommend it to fans of any of those bands.

LOCAL FESTIVALS

The big regional film for the New York area, and it’s one that I have yet to be able to attend, mainly since it takes place so far uptown, is the 10thannual Athena Film Festival, which is quite an amazing achievement for my friend Melissa Silverstein and her Women and Hollywood for putting this on for ten years.

This year’s fest runs from February 27 (this Thursday) through March 1 (Sunday), kicking off with Unjoo Moon’s I Am Woman, a biopic about Helen Reddy, who famously wrote that song in the ‘70s. It closes on the 1stwith Suffragette director Sarah Gavron’s Rocks, starring newcomer Bukky Bakray as a teen girl trying to take care of her younger brother and herself. The centerpiece films are Liz Garbus’ Lost Girls, starring Amy Ryan; Haiffa Al-Monsour’s The Perfect Candidate and the Oscar-nominated documentary For Sama. The festival includes a mix of new and already-released films including Harriet, Toni Morrison: the Pieces I Am and lots more. Click on the link above for the full schedule and program of films.

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

Metrograph wraps up its month-long “To Hong Kong with Love” this weekend with the fictional anthology Ten Years (2015), James Leong’s 2018 film Umbrella Diaries: The First Umbrella (chronicling the recent revolution in Hong Kong) as well as a work in progress screening of Leong’s If We Burn. “Climate Crisis Parables” continues with Lars von Trier’s Melancholia (2011) shown again, as well as Bong Joon Ho’s Snowpiercer from 2013, Antonioni’s cRed Desert (1964) and Tarkovsky’s Stalker (1979). Also this weekend, Welcome To Metrograph: Redux will screen the ‘80s classic Beverly Hills Cop (1984), starring Eddie Murphy, as well as Abel Ferrara’s equally classic Bad Lieutenant (1992), starring Harvey Keitel. Also screening Saturday evening is Jeff Kanew’s Black Rodeo (1972) as well as Vincent Gallo’s Buffalo ’88 (1998) and then Claude Chabrol’s 1960 film Les Bonnes Femmes on Monday night. This weekend’s Late Nites at Metrograph  is Ingmar Bergman’s Persona (1966) while Playtime: Family Matinees  is David Lynch’s The Straight Story (1999) a good introduction of Lynch for the kiddies?

ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE BROOKLYN (NYC)

Tonight’s “Weird Wednesday” is 1985’s softcore gladiator film The Perils of Gwendolyn (hosted by my pal, the wonderful Heather Buckley!). Showing earlier this evening (but sadly sold out) is the Tom Cruise/Brad Pitt classic Interview with the Vampire (1994). Thursday begins the Alamo’s “VHStival” with a screening of the 1987 flick Video Violence, and then next Monday’s “VHS Vortex” movie is Evil Spawn, also from 1987. Next Tuesday’s “Terror Tuesday” is the 2005 movie House of Wax and then next week’s “Weird Wednesday” is the classic Robocop 2 (1990) plus there’ll be a screening of William Friedkin’s Sorcerer from 1977 earlier next Weds, which more than likely will also sell out.

Over on the West Coast, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Downtown Los Angeles (which would earn you 4,256 points in Scrabble if you could even fit it on the board) is playing Voyage of the Rock Aliens (1984) as its “Weird Wednesday” tonight (it’s sold out) and then Thursday night is the J-Horror Bloodbath double feature of Demon Within and Biotherapy that New York got earlier in the month. (Also, sold out! Sorry!) Also on Saturday, the appropriate Amy Addams comedy Leap Year will screen in the afternoon. Sunday is a double feature of Destin Daniel Cretton’s movie Short Term 12, starring Brie Larson, is paired with Brett Haley’s new film All the Bright Places with Haley and writer Liz Hannah on hand to answer questions. You can either choose between that or Pawel Pawlikowski’s 2005 film Summer of Love, starring a very young Emily Blunt. Monday’s already sold-out “Out of Tune” hosted by my buddy Jeremy Wein (who keeps forgetting to tell me about these before they sell out!) is the Electric Light Orchestra and Olivia Newton-John collaboration Xanadu from 1980. Next week’s “Terror Tuesday” is Brian Yuzna’s Society from 1989 with the director in attendance.

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

Wednesday’s Afternoon Classic is Vincente Minelli’s An American in Paris (1951), starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron, while the Weds/Thursday double features are Freebie and the Bean and Busting, both from 1974. 1992’s Candyman will screen as this week’s “Freaky Friday” and then Friday’s midnight movie is True Romance (again) and the Saturday midnight movie is Arthur Hiller��s The Hospital  (1971) starring George C. Scott. This weekend’s Kiddee Matinee is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix from 2004 and the Monday’s matinee is Wesley Snipes in Passenger 57 (1992).

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

Friday is the rescheduled Retroformat 2020 screening of 1913’s Traffic in Souls while Saturday begins a series of “Weinmar Variations” (free with RSVP!), German films made between 1919 and 1933 with musical accompaniment. Pandora’s Box from 1929 will screen on Saturday night and then Sunday’s “Sunday Print Edition” is Vincent Minelli’s The Clock (1945). Lav Daz will appear in person on Sundayfor a screening of a restoration of his 2001 film Batang West Side with a series on the Philipino filmmaker shared with Aero.

AERO  (LA):

Thursday’s “Antiwar Cinema” matinee is The Mouse That Roared (1959), starring Peter Sellers and then Thursday night is a double feature “Salute to Kelly Reichardt” with Old Joy and River of Grass with Reichardt in person. Saturday is a series called “The End of History: The Cinema of Lav Diaz,” screening 2013’s Norte: the End of History with Diaz in person. Sunday evening’s double feature continues the Kelly Reichardt series with two of her picks: 1953’s Ugetsuand 1970’s Little by Little.

MOMA  (NYC):

Modern Matinees: Jack Lemmonwraps up this week with 1954’s It Should Happen to You on Weds, Blake Edwards’ 1962 Days of Wine and Roses on Thursday and 1968’s The Odd Couple on Friday. (The next series will focus on the great Cicely Tyson!) The “Theater of Operations” film series also continues with Werner Herzog’s Lessons of Darkness (1992) on Sunday. The “It’s All in me: Black Heroines” series will screen David D. Williams’ 1993 film Lillian and All by Myself: The Eartha Kitt Story (1982) on Wednesday and more running through the weekend. “Television Movies: Big Pictures on the Small Screen” also continues through Friday.

NITEHAWK CINEMA  (NYC):

Out in Brooklyn the Nitehawk in Williamsburgwill show the 1998 horror sequel Bride of Chucky on Friday night at midnight and Allison Anders’ 1993 film Mi Vida Loca as part of its “California Love” series on Saturday morning. (Not rep but another option for Saturday morning is seeing Rashaad Ernesto Green’s Premature which will screen at the Nitehawk on Saturday with the amazing Zora Howard and cinematographer Laura Valladao doing a QnA. (Also on Monday, the Nitehawk will screen the incredible 2018 doc Varda by Agnès, which I highly recommend. Meanwhile, Prospect Park will screen Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain from 2005 on Saturday morning and then IT will screen Premature on Monday, again with Howard and Valladao doing a QnA in case you have to miss the event on Saturday.

BAM CINEMATEK (NYC):

Starting Friday, BAM is doing a special series “Kelly Reichardt Selects: First Cow in Context” which will offer screenings of movies that inspired the indie filmmaker’s upcoming film, First Cow, which opens March 6. This weekend’s offerings include Agnès Varda’s The Gleaners and I, the 1953 Japanese film Ugetsu, Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali (1955), the 1978 Italian film The Tree of Wooden Clogsand more, as this runs through Weds with Melville’s Le Cercle Rougefrom 1970.

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

This weekend’s “See It Big! Outer Space” offerings including Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi classic  Alien and John Carpenter’s 1974 film Dark Star, which was said to be an inspiration for Scott’s film. As usual, Kubrick’s 2001:  A Space Odyssey will screen on Saturday afternoon as part of the exhibition.

FILM FORUM (NYC):

Elem Klimov’s Come and See will continue through the weekend, as will Visconti’s L’Innocente, while the weekend’s “Film Forum Jr.” is Barbra Streisand’s Yentl from 1983 and then keep an eye out next week a new series called “The Women Behind Hitchcock,” which should be fairly exciting.

ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES (NYC):

Dušan Makavejev’s 1971 film WR: Mysteries of the Organism screens tonight and Sunday, as part of “Dušan Makavejev, Cinema Unbound” (that should really pull people in) while “Dream Dance: The Films of Ed Emshwiller” runs through Friday. To be perfectly honest, I know nothing about either of these filmmakers and if their films interest you, you’d be better off clicking on the links and doing some reading. Sorry.

IFC CENTER (NYC)

This week’s Weekend Classics: Luis Buñuelis Diary of a Chambermaid from 1964, while the Waverly Midnights: Hindsight is 2020s is Tim Burton’s 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes, starring Mark Wahlberg, and Late Night Favorites: Winter 2020, it takes the weekend off.

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

Pandora and the Flying Dutchman will run through the weekend to next week but with only one or two screenings a day, but then on Friday, the Quad will pick up the new 4k restoration of Horace B. Jenkins’ Cane River (1982) that has been playing at BAM the past couple weekends with the filmmaker’s son Sacha Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.

ROXY CINEMA (NYC)

Thursday’s Nicolas Cage movie is Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans from 2009.

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART  (LA):

Friday night’s midnight movie is WilliamFriedkin’s Cruising (1980), starring Al Pacino.

STREAMING AND CABLE

This week on Netflix, we get Brett (The Hero, Hearts Beat Loud) Haley’s romantic drama All the Bright Places, starring Elle Fanning and Justice Smith, on Friday, as well as the first season of I’m Not Okay with This, a new series from the Stranger Things team, starring Sophia Lillis from It, and the South African spy thriller series Queen Sono, as well as the second season of Altered Carbon with Anthony Mackie.

Next week, it’s March, and the latest Disney-Pixar movie Onward takes on Ben Affleck in Warner Bros’ sports drama The Way Back. I’m not sure if I’ll be given a chance to see either.

By the way, if you read this week’s column and have read this far down, feel free to drop me some thoughts at Edward dot Douglas at Gmail dot Com or send me a note on Twitter. I love hearing from readers!

[immedtech]

The Morning After: How Android stifles competition

Hey, good morning!

You've made it to Friday. To reward those efforts, we take the official Tour De France game to task for being, well, rubbish, test out the expensive modular motorcycle of the future, and spell out this summer when it comes to esports schedules.

It's probably better just to wait for the battery to recharge.Zero motorcycle's modular battery is one pricey upgrade

Electric motorcycles can be a tough sell. Hybrids and electric cars can save a driver money in the long run, that doesn't really apply to motorcycles which already get excellent mileage on gas. That said, on bikes like Zero's, you can silently cruise around without frightening the neighborhood pets with a bombastic exhaust. Oh and there's also the incredible electric torque. Senior Editor Roberto Baldwin says Zero's FX is a fun, nimble commuter bike with a modular battery pack that, sadly, most people won't use.

#CloneWarsSaved. 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars' to return on Disney's streaming service

At Comic-Con, Clone Wars supervising director Dave Filoni made the surprise announcement that a new 12-episode season of the Star Wars show will arrive on Disney's upcoming streaming service, and showed off a quick teaser trailer.

From 'League of Legends' to 'Fortnite', esports are in full swing.It's peak esports season: Here's how to watch the games

Thinking of watching the best video game players in the world battle it out for millions in prize money? Well, here's a handy viewing guide for upcoming matches in five major esports titles: Overwatch, League of Legends, Fortnite, Arena of Valor and Call of Duty. It's nearly championship time for most of these games, so matches are primed to be extra exciting.

Hardware variety does not equal choice in software. Hey Google, Android actually does stifle competition

Sundar Pichai knows that the choice of mobile OS nowadays boils down to Android or iOS. He published a blog post yesterday in response to the European Commission's competition decision against Android, which opens saying, "If you buy an Android phone, you're choosing one of the world's two most popular mobile platforms."

In Pichai's post, he acknowledged that with Android, the company can "offer phone makers the option of pre-loading a suite of popular Google apps..., some of which generate revenue for us." Cherlynn Low lays out how Google is stifling competition, even while it's battling with Apple for mobile dominance.

Maybe don't go for the fully tricked-out model.Apple's slim MacBook Pro design could be holding back its i9 CPU

The 2018 15-inch MacBook Pro lets you crank up the processor power by swapping in an Intel 2.9GHz six-core Core i9 CPU for an extra $300. But the chip seems to be struggling when it's handling power-hungry tasks, to the point where the average clock speed is vastly below the advertised performance of the CPU. Some tests even showed that it fared worse than the i7 model.

A deal with Cargo offers snacks and phone chargers on the road. Uber drivers can sell you goods during your ride

Uber has formed a partnership with Cargo to give drivers free boxes full of goods they can sell to passengers through a mobile app, ranging from snacks to phone chargers. Drivers in Los Angeles and San Francisco can pick up the boxes today at Uber's support centers (known as Greenlight Hubs), and there are plans to expand to other cities with Cargo service (including New York City, Atlanta and Dallas).

But wait, there's more...

After Android, is Google's Fuchsia OS the next thing?

Tempow turns any old Bluetooth speakers into a surround sound system

'Iron Fist' season two hits Netflix on September 7th

Nissan's Leaf E-Plus may offer more range and extra power in 2019

DC's streaming service will cost $8 per month

VW will build its electric microbus and crossover in the US

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- Repost from: engadget Post

[geneticandunattainable]

I hope the next ten songs help to ensure the diversity of this year’s list, but lord knows there’s even more to come.  This chunk is home to indie folk, hip hop/R&B, Icelandic rock (with a distinctly American sound), and several electro-pop tracks.  I hope the 20 tracks you’ve seen at this point continue to confound and delight, with plenty of new songs you’ve never had the opportunity to hear.

40. Honeysuckle – “It’s Getting Late”

Boston produces yet another independent folk group – this one a trio, with outstanding three-part harmonies to boot. Comprised of Holly McGarry, Benjamin Burns, and Chris Bloniarz, Honeysuckle performed at Newport Folk Festival in 2015 and continues to tour New England in support of other folk acts.  This track specifically grabs you straight from the start with the warm banjo; the charm offensive continues with multiple instances of highlighting the harmonies, instrumentation, and arrangement, with lyrics focusing on the nature of time and change.   Their profile continues to grow with attention from NPR, among other publications, so keep your ears open for future success. 

39. Tep No – “Me and My Guitar”

Not much is known about producer Tep No besides the fact that he briefly sought an acting career in LA before moving back to his native Canada.  Now based in Toronto, his music typically blends several genres, utilizing electronic sounds with pop sensibilities and fusing melodies with otherworldly synth beats. The vocals on this track are practically spoken word, delivered over a swirling mix of looped chants, samples, and – you guessed it – guitar.  The result is an outstanding choice for any low-key summer mix you have planned for a few months from now.  This song is so great, it wouldn’t be out of place on a new season of The OC; those of you who know me personally realize the weight of that statement. 

38. Hayley Kiyoko – “Gravel to Tempo”

I almost feel embarrassed to love this song as much as I do, and initially placed it higher on the list before finding stronger tracks.  I had never heard of Hayley Kiyoko before this song, but it turns out she has a DCOM (Disney Channel Original Movie for those of you past puberty), CSI spin off, and ABC Family Freeform show under her belt already.  The Japanese-American actress and singer dropped this gem in late summer, with slick production that doesn’t feel heavy handed.  The track utilizes more electro-pop sounds with Kiyoko’s breathy vocals to highlight the insecurity everyone feels at different points in their lives.  She channels teenage angst in a way that feels validating; a standout line being “I thought I was depressed/But I think I just needed to cry.”  Regardless of how other people talk about her, Kiyoko is determined to do things her way, sporting a middle finger to the world. Given the grief we all faced in 2016, it was a message that felt particularly appropriate.  

37. Brian Fallon – “Nobody Wins”

The Gaslight Anthem’s lead vocalist decided to work on a solo album during a recent hiatus from the band.  This classic return to American anthems shows his time off was time well spent.  His signature raspy vocals carry a buoyant and bouncing song with a surprisingly dark subject of acceptance after death. The guitar strums and steady backing rhythm sound straight out of a John Cougar Mellencamp album in the 80s, complete with the unexpected lyrical content.  What shouldn’t be surprising after listening to the track is that he recorded it in Nashville with the help of producer Butch Walker, who co-wrote the song and also played guitar for the entire album.  This song is a welcome blast from the past from an artist who hopefully has a bright future.

36. Ben Abraham – “I Belong to You”

"I Belong to You” is a love song for the ages from Melbourne-based singer/songwriter Ben Abraham.  There is something absurdly charming about the fact that his Australian accent is front and center in his singing voice, which CMJ described as “delicate yet booming.”  His parents are Indonesian folk stars, which may have influenced his own style, integrating harmonies and poignant arrangements.  “I Belong to You” is yet another song that makes it difficult to listen along without tapping your foot, incorporating a lilting guitar, a xylophone, and even hand snaps to woo the audience.  It certainly doesn’t hurt that this wonder from Down Under is rakishly handsome.  There’s little not to like here, as this burst of sunshine will leave you smiling all day. 

35. Solange feat. Q-Tip – “Borderline (An Ode to Self-Care)”

A Seat at the Table is an outstanding album from a consistently strong artist who just so happens to be sisters with Beyoncé.  Her song “Losing You” placed fourth on my list for 2012, and while “Borderline” doesn’t quite match that track, it’s still incredible in its own right.  Solange makes allusions to Aaliyah and A Tribe Called Quest, with Q-Tip working multiple levels of production.  The song itself is an interpolation of “Electric Relaxation,” a gem from the group back in 1993.  Aaliyah comes through when Solange references the 2001 hit “More Than a Woman” near the end of the song.  “Borderline,” though, is so much more than its musical references; it’s a track that directly addresses police brutality against black Americans.  The political track reminds its listeners that it’s okay to temporarily ignore the violence in an attempt to stay sane.  As Solange told W magazine, “To be able to get up and tell my child to have a wonderful day and know that he’ll be protected and nurtured and loved and treated like an equal contributor to society, I sometimes have to choose to not look.”

34. Kaleo – “Way Down We Go”

Icelandic rock band Kaleo has been bubbling under since 2012, but finally achieved moderate success with “Way Down We Go” in 2016.   It’s been used on myriad television shows, and most recently popped up in trailers for The Good Fight and Logan.  The four members of the band grew up in Mosfellsbær, near Reykjavík, but are now based in Austin. The blend of blues and rock are a strong production choice, with hard-hitting drums, strong guitars, ubiquitous reverb, and haunting looped vocals all working to make the song one you can’t forget.   The chorus alone will be stuck in your head for days, making this a solid choice for playlists in the year to come.

33. Chance the Rapper – “Blessings”

Chance had a huge year, breaking out into the mainstream to unprecedented success - especially without a label - in no small part due to his legendary verse on Kanye’s “Ultralight Beams.”  It’s fitting then, that the arguable highlight of his Grammy-nominated (and history making) mixtape.  As an avowed atheist, I can contend you don’t need to feel particularly pious to enjoy the conviction of Chance and vocalist Jamila Woods, who has collaborated with him in the past. Pitchfork agreed, noting it as "one of the strongest rap albums released this year, an uplifting mix of spiritual and grounded that even an atheist can catch the Spirit to.”  The keyboard is strong throughout, invoking a soulful church service only augmented by the improvisations from Donnie Trumpet.  The laid-back vibe of the track seems to personify Chance’s illustrious grin, with the end product more a profession of faith than a prayer.

32. The Head and the Heart – “All We Ever Knew”

With every album this sextet releases, one can note an upward trend of rising confidence. The group originally formed in Seattle, but the bulk of this album was written in Los Angeles - Montecito Heights, to be specific.  Previous albums had the group compared to the Avett Brothers and Fleet Foxes, but the production on their third signaled a clear direction change, and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros wouldn’t be completely off base as a point of reference.  However, this song is in its own world for the band in regards to its success, topping two separate alternative charts on Billboard.  Starting with a simple vocal and piano, the song builds to an explosion of noise within the first fifty seconds.  The consistent build of instrumentation and playful tone are such a joy to hear. They’re truly firing on all cylinders at this point, and I cannot wait to see what they have in store for us next.

31. Banks – “Trainwreck”

Here’s a thought guys – respect the women in your life.  I’d hate to be on the other end of a song like “Trainwreck,” apparently penned as a kiss-off by Banks to “a guy I never wanted to kiss.”  The doom-filled beats and almost trap texture on display here is a newer sound for Banks, who previously appeared on my 2014 list. Taylor Swift doesn’t have shit on her lyrics, though, with lines like “It’s quite depressing, there is no fixing to the problem when you’re talking to an idiot,” and a chorus that simply repeats “I had to get away” over and over again.  The entire aesthetic here is glamour noir, leaning into the darkness without ever sacrificing an ounce of the snarly pop that’s become her signature sound.  “Trainwreck” is a clear standout from the year, and a rare track that would find itself at home on a workout playlist just as easily as a compilation for Halloween.

[wbwest]

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West Week Ever: Pop Culture In Review - 1/13/17

In movie news, we got a trailer for CHiPs, starring Dax Shepard and Michael Peña. That’s right, the California Highway Patrol are gonna get their own film. And I couldn’t give two shits. I’ve probably seen 3 episodes of that show in my lifetime, so there’s no nostalgia factor for me there. I’m going into this the same way I went into Starsky & Hutch – another show I’ve never seen. I thought the trailer, however, was kinda funny. I’ve heard a lot of folks ragging on it, as they see it as the “21 Jump Street Model” being applied to the CHiPs franchise. I feel like, without it being a comedy, there’s not really much you can do with that concept. It’s cops on motorcycles. How do you add drama to that? One of them gets a flat tire? I like the fact that it’s a comedy, though the trailer is far from the funniest thing I’ve seen. There’s no way I’m setting foot in a theater to see it, but I’m totally gonna watch it, either via Redbox or “Other”. I mean, Peña is a national treasure. He’s great in everything he does, and I feel like the only reason he doesn’t get more accolades is due to his alleged ties to Scientology. Anyway, a CHiPs movie is coming. Tell your grandpa!

During the Television Critics Association winter press tour, The CW surprised everyone by announcing the early renewal of 7 shows, including Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, The Flash, Supernatural, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and Jane the Virgin. This is a major win for Ex-Girlfriend, seeing as how it’s the lowest rated show on broadcast television. This will also be whopping season 13 for Supernatural, which I can’t even believe. I joked on Twitter that star Jensen Ackles must’ve made some kind of Faustian deal around season 5 that he can’t figure out how to get out of. Like, those dudes are completely typecast at this point, where they have nothing to look forward to other than a life on the convention circuit. But it’s good work if you can get it!

Anyway, the most surprising news was that The CW was resurrecting Constantine, starring Matt Ryan…as an animated series. Yes, Constantine will join Vixen as a CW Seed original webseries. Ugh. I’ve expressed my disdain for webseries in the past, but it’s not like I was gonna watch it anyway. I only liked Constantine in his cameo on Arrow, but never watched his series. And the Vixen CW Seed show was so forgettable that I can’t even remember if I finished both seasons. But who knows? Maybe this will be good? I’ll wait til someone I trust recommends it.

Surprising no one, it’s being reported that Girl Meets World is being shopped around to other platforms. In recent interviews, it was revealed that Disney Channel wouldn’t let the show explore some themes that the writers wanted, but I still think it got pretty heavy for Disney fare. Anyway, I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up at Freeform or Netflix. It seems like everyone would be on board, and maybe it could last as long as its predecessor.

In the world of comics, it was announced that Brian Michael Bendis would be writing a Defenders comic, to be released around the time of the Netflix series of the same name. The series will feature Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist. I feel this is bad news for writer David Walker, however, who happens to be writing the current Power Man and Iron Fist comic. Sure, there are multiple Spider books and multiple Iron Man books, but I just don’t see those guys carrying multiple books, especially considering the low sales on PM & IF. I don’t know if I’m looking forward to this or not. On the one hand, I love Jessica Jones and, besides Miles Morales, think she’s the greatest Bendis contribution to comics. I also love how he writes Luke Cage. He got his chops writing Daredevil, so he should be good there, too. At the same time, he’s not the writer he used to be, so I’m not sure if he’s got “It” right now. Still, I’m a dumb fanboy, so I’ll be checking it out when it hits stands.

Things You Might Have Missed This Week

The cast of Downton Abbey has been told to clear their schedules for a possible film. I still need to get past season 4, so I don’t even know what a movie would be about at this point.

Love Connection is returning to the airwaves, courtesy of Fox. Chuck Woolery, however, will be replaced by Bravo’s Andy Cohen.

Speaking of Fox, primetime soap Empire was renewed for season 4. I finally gave up on it this year, so good luck with that!

Breaking Baddie Gus Fring is rumored to be showing up on Better Call Saul next season.

American Horror Story has been renewed by FX for seasons 8 and 9. I’ve never seen any of them, but I know some of y’all liked the early seasons at least.

David Goyer and Justin Rhodes have been hired to write a Green Lantern Corps film, which will star Hal Jordan and John Stewart

This adorable 4-year old, Daliyah Marie Arana, has already read over 1,000 books and visited the Library of Congress as Librarian for the Day

Sky TV in the UK was going to air a special about Michael Jackson, but the episode has been cancelled after fan backlash when a photo of White actor Joseph Fiennes as Jackson was released

The 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards were held last Sunday, celebrating the best in television and film. Surprising everyone, freshman show (and former West Week Ever recipient) Atlanta won the Golden Globe for Best Musical or Comedy in Television. To top things off, though, its creator and star, Donald Glover, won Best Actor in a Comedy. It was well deserved, as the show was nearly perfect, and Glover was behind all of it. Well, Glover’s week got even better a few days later, as he inked an exclusive development deal with FX Productions. The only bad news was that FX announced season 2 of Atlanta will be delayed until 2018 because Glover’s so damn busy. After all, he’s got to film his Lando Calrissian scenes for the upcoming Han Solo film. So, I think it’s safe to say this was Donald Glover’s week, which is why he had the West Week Ever.

Programming Note: I’m skipping next Friday because it’s the inauguration, and I’m sure this post will be the last thing on your minds. BUT tune in next Wednesday for West YEAR Ever!

[chicagopdlover]

Tarantino First Look; Academy Class Questions; Chalamet's 'Beautiful Boy' Trailer; L.A.'s "Influencer-Only" Mural

Tarantino First Look; Academy Class Questions; Chalamet’s ‘Beautiful Boy’ Trailer; L.A.’s “Influencer-Only” Mural

What’s news: Leonardo DiCaprio unveiled the first look at Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood . Plus: Lingering questions about the Academy’s record new class, Dana Brunetti launches a new company and an “influencer-only” mural arrives in Los Angeles. — Erik Hayden June 27, 2018 What’s news: Leonardo DiCaprio unveiled the first look at Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood . Plus: Lingering questions about the Academy’s record new class, Dana Brunetti launches a new company and an “influencer-only” mural arrives in Los Angeles. — Erik Hayden Academy Class Questions Having sifted through the 928 member list unveiled by the film Academy, Scott Feinberg has a few questions about the direction of the organization: 1. Is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences still an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences? In order to meet its diversity goals, the Academy — and, in particular, its largest division, the actors branch — is increasingly inviting people to become members who are tremendously talented, but whose talents have primarily manifested themselves in other media. 2. If you’re good enough to win an Oscar, why aren’t you good enough to join the Academy? I do believe that there is one circumstance under which someone who has not amassed a large body of standout work should still be invited to join the Academy, and that is if that person has made a contribution to a film that was deemed excellent enough to merit an Oscar. 3. Is Oscar campaigning about to go crazy? With the latest class added, this will create the highest number of Oscar voters since the period spanning 1938 to 1945, when certain classes of members of outside guilds, including the now-defunct Screen Extras Guild, were granted full voting privileges, bringing the size of the voting rolls to approximately 12,000. Full column. Elsewhere in film… ► MoviePass parent stock hits new low. The company is losing about $45 million a month on its plan that gives subscribers 30 movie tickets for the price of one; it may need to spend $1.2 billion more if it is to stay afloat and keep growing ► Mark Wahlberg, Peter Berg reteam for Netflix film. The duo have set their next project (their fifth together) with the movie Wonderland , an adaptation from Robert B. Parker’s detective series. Sean O’Keefe penned the screenplay. ► Pete Davidson to lead indie Big Time Adolescence . The SNL star will join Machine Gun Kelly and Griffin Gluck in the pic. The film, which will begin shooting next month, will be the directorial debut of Jason Orley. ► Annapurna president to exit company. Marc Weinstock is leaving after less than two years in that role. According to insiders, his decision to depart is amicable and he will not be replaced. ^Sony’s Quentin Tarantino Manson drama unveils first still. Leonardo DiCaprio posted an image of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood , with him and Brad Pitt featured. First look. ► Amazon unveils Beautiful Boy trailer. Steve Carell, Timothée Chalamet and Maura Tierney star in the drama from the streamer that hits theaters Oct. 12. Full clip . ► Dwayne Johnson’s Skyscraper scores rare China release date . Legendary Entertainment and Universal’s action thriller has locked down a July 20 date, securing a spot right in the midst of Beijing’s summer blackout on imported Hollywood fare. ► Lionsgate finds new film group marketing chief. Damon Wolf, currently co-head of marketing at Sony, will join the studio Jan. 1. His recent campaigns include work on Baby Driver and Don’t Breathe . ► Constantin Film buys production group Hager Moss. The Munich-based production outfit is best known for its dramas and for crowd-pleasing films, including Oktoberfest . ► Independent Film and Television Alliance leaders renew contracts. Jean Prewitt and Jonathan Wolf have each re-upped for another three years with the trade association. Prewitt has headed the group since 2000. ► Writers Guild of America East unveils board candidates . It’s election season for the guild, which revealed a list of 16 candidates nominated for 10 open seats on its council. In Heat Vision : Marvel’s wait-and-see LGBTQ character approach. Graeme McMillan writes: Studio chief Kevin Feige recently confirmed queer characters are coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which lags behind the comic book publisher. Full column. Mega TV Deals It’s official: Fox will be the new home of WWE SmackDown Live, Marisa Guthrie writes: + Fox: The new five-year agreement will commence Oct. 4, 2019, and will give Fox two hours of live event programming 52 weeks each year. It is worth $205M annually, and $1.025B over the life of the pact. + NBC: The network said that is has closed a new five-year pact to keep the Monday night showcase Raw on USA Network. That deal is worth $265M annually, a big premium over the current pact, which is worth about $150M annually for both properties. Currently both programs air on NBCUniversal’s USA. Full story. Elsewhere in TV… ► Charter greenlights its first scripted series. Bad Boys spinoff L.A.’s Finest , starring Jessica Alba and Gabrielle Union, has been ordered by Charter Communications. The 13-episode drama will premiere in 2019. ► HBO casts Jeremy Irons in Watchmen pilot. The actor will topline the pilot from Damon Lindelof. While the pay cabler has remained mum on details, Irons will likely play an imperious lord of a British manor. ► Freeform cancels Famous in Love . Sources say the Disney-owned cabler wanted more money from SVOD partner Hulu for a potential third season amid clashes between star Bella Thorne and showrunner I. Marlene King. ► Lionsgate inks Dear White People showrunner to deal. Fresh off a third-season renewal, showrunner Yvette Lee Bowser has signed an overall deal . Under the pact, Bowser will create new projects for the studio. Quoted: “It seemed like, you don’t need to murder someone that’s committing suicide. I thought the firing was overkill. She’s already dead.” — Jerry Seinfeld to USA Today on Roseanne Barr ‘s firing. ^Can Netflix transform the TV landscape in the Middle East? With over 400M potential viewers, the region has vast potential, but with little variation in programming, audiences are starved for original content. The streaming giant could change all that. Full column. ► ITV COO, CFO to step down. The U.K. TV giant said that CFO and COO Ian Griffiths has advised the board of his intention to retire in the next 12 months. The company is searching for a successor. ► Endemol Shine names head of non-English scripted drama. Lars Blomgren, producer of the Scandinavian series The Bridge , has been hired as the new head of scripted across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. ► Fox Searchlight’s TV division fills out exec ranks. The new arm of the company has tapped Kara Buckley and Danny Samit as vps of television production. The division has yet to launch its first project. ► Sony shutting down Crackle in Canada. The video hub will shift some of its Canadian inventory to two new local ad-supported VOD services, via a partnership with Sony Pictures Television. Dana Brunetti launches new TV and film company. He is teaming with former Relativity exec Keegan Rosenberger to create Cavalry Media with “moderately-priced, premium” programming that includes the Columbus series Hispaniola. The budget for a film will be in the $40M-$80M range. Details. L.A.’s Influencers-Only Mural A stunt: Stroll down Melrose Avenue and there it is: A blue mural with a pink heart and angel wings. A security guard stands out front, next to a sign that reads, “For verified influencers and people with over 20,000 followers only,” Natalie Jarvey notes. What that means. What else we’re reading… — “Comcast hunts for additional cash.” Amol Sharma and Dana Mattioliis report that the company is “exploring tie-ups with other companies or private-equity investors that could provide additional cash as the cable giant pursues a costly acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets.” [ Wall Street Journal ] — ” How’s he gonna react when there’s a scandal?” Joe Pompeo on CNN: “So much appears to hang on the Jeff Zucker-John Stankey bromance. For now, everyone is saying the right thing.” [ Vanity Fair ] — “Hollywood’s instant antihero.” Reggie Ugwu’s Benicio Del Toro profile: “he’s been a strikingly economical player, if not always the most valuable one, averaging an unusually high ratio of memorable moments.” [ New York Times ] — “What does ABC want from The Conners ?” David Sims writes: “The network canceled Roseanne and ordered a rebooted version of the show without its star, but what kinds of stories is the spinoff hoping to tell?” [ The Atlantic ] — “Prince estate signs deal with Sony Music to re-release 35 catalog albums.” Colin Stutz notes: “The deal also includes rights to other previously released singles, B-sides, remixes, non-album tracks, live recordings and music videos recorded before 1995.” [ Billboard ] From the archives… + 10 years ago today: On June 27, 2008, Pixar unveiled WALL-E, a sci-fi adventure that would become a summer hit with critics and audiences. Flashback review. Today’s birthdays: Sam Claflin , 32, Khloé Kardashian , 33, Wagner Moura , 42, Tobey Maguire , 43, J.J. Abrams , 52. Follow The News Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. ©2018 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved. Unsubscribe | Manage Preferences | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use June 27, 2018

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[milocrespi-blog]

My Little Pony: The Movie (2017) Review

At Last.

As far as animated films go there was no other film that I was more anxious, yet terrified to see than My Little Pony: The Movie. The film of the heavily popular current animated series of the same same has finally hit the big screen.

But I was a bit concerned with it at first. Don't get me wrong, when I saw the teaser trailer for the film I was hooked, but my biggest concern was on whether or not the film would work as a standalone film. So when I left the theater for the first time impressions, I surprisingly had mixed feelings on the film. I returned home frustrated, I had difficulty getting any sleep, I was stressed for no reason the next day. So I thought that in order to alleviate my problems, I decided to go see it a second time. And I am happy to say that I had a much more pleasant experience re-watching it.

But that's not to say that there aren't any flaws in the film. Far from it. One flaw includes the story. It's not a bad story, but it is very weak; and this was the element that I was worried about before. Since this is a movie that is primarily made for the fans and younger audiences, I feel that non fans wouldn't get into this because the story is not very strong or interesting. I think I found it the most noticeable when at the film's second act low point. Not to spoil anything, but the way that it's handled felt stock in my case. Now true the reasonings behind the character's decisions made sense when you look at from their viewpoints, but the scene's end result had me rolling my eyes. Thankfully I was able to accept it as well as the rest of the story upon the second viewing. Yes, I thought that the story was very weak, and it is a legit problem for introducing this film to newcomers, but it's something that's basically harmless on re-watches.

The Storm King: Good lord was he bland. He's trying to be funny like Hades from Disney's Hercules, or even Discord for that matter, but he's still trying to be intimidating like Tempest at the same time. His writing was really weak, and his screen time is about as brief as the time it takes for you to finish reading this review. So again, he's not only un-interesting, he's also barely given enough screen time in order to be seen as captivating. Ok, so those are just some flaws, they're easy to overlook for me. So what's the problem here? It can be described in one word: Purpose. You may have already noticed that The Storm King doesn't have a whole lot of screen time. You know who else doesn't have a lot of purpose to this movie? The three princesses. Yeah, as soon as they show up, they're instantly tuned to stone and are essentially gone for the rest of the movie and are only used as plot devices. Michael Peña as Grubber? Geez, has anyone ever heard about "forced comedy relief" before? The same also apply's to the Pirate scene. We spend ~ 10 min with these guys, and when the scene involving them is finished it makes you wonder what was the point of even having that scene if we're not going to spend a lot of time on it? And that's the main problem with this movie for me: there are so many things that either could've been cut or could've been given more screen time to develop. You know how people really like to market the "Extended Edition" of certain movies - not using it as a means to fix really crucial elements in the film but only using it as a marketing gimmick - this is the one instance where an extended edition copy of a movie could be a godsend. We could get extra footage of the Storm King so that way we can not only get to see more of his character and his personality, but also leave more of an impact. We could see more of the pirates so they can feel more developed, and hell we could give more screen time for some of the Mane 6 cause there's a few of them that really need it!

So with that said...let's talk about the stuff that I liked. I don't think I need to say this, but the animation was stellar. This is some of the best 2-D animation I have seen in years. The visuals are so stunning, the characters are so expressive, and the movement so smooth. If this movie didn't have the animation, then I would've been singing a different tune. Because in my opinion the animation is the movie's saving grace. Although I really do agree with Cellspex's criticism about the characters movement. Everyone moves really slow in this movie, which works well in some scenes but not in others.

The characters are also pretty good, both the old and the new. For a while I wasn't as big a fan of Tempest Shadow as much as everyone else. But after listening to Emily Blunt's performance and seeing her act very intimidating towards other the characters, I decided to change my thoughts on her. She's very graceful, very quiet, and massively powerful (kind of like Maleficent in a way). My only problem though is that her past and overall character is very one-noted. She's not the kind of character who would be described as "complex." But it was Emily Blunt's performance, the design and intimidation that sold her for me; not really the character herself. I thought Capper was very charming, I thought the pirates were fun (and by that I mean that their musical number was fun, not so much in the personality department), Kristen Chenoweth as Skystar was...ok. The voice acting was pretty good too, for the most part. A lot of these actors brought their A material, and it shows. I wouldn't really say that the film was particularly hilarious, but there were a few jokes and reactions that got a chuckle out of me here and there. I was surprised that Pinkie Pie was the emotional center of the film. She has some of the most dramatic scenes of the film, and I'm thoroughly pleased (Although I would've liked to have seen some of her 4th wall breaks in the film, I thought that would've made the film a lot funnier). And not to mention, she's not forced comedy relief and actually get's to express drama! The others do get things to do, but my biggest disappointment was with Fluttershy. She's barely given anything to say or do. She's only given - yes, I counted - 22 lines in this movie, and that's not even counting the moments where she sings along (again, an extended edition would be really nice so that way she can stick out in the group).

On that subject, the music was pretty good. Ok maybe not every song is memorable, but I found myself tapping my foot to quite a few of them on the way out. It did take me a really long time to get used to it, but Rainbow by Sia...I mean damn. True in terms of vocals it was a bit distracting because she sounds like she's slurring all of her lines, but in terms of lyrics and rhythms, this song is amazing. I occasionally end up in very dark places in my life; but whenever that happens I can always seek comfort from my very supportive friends and family, and that usually makes me overwhelmed and kind of saddened knowing that I receive a lot of love. This song is kind of like that: it's sort of the song equivalent of a hug after a long depression. It's not the greatest song ever, but it is one that I like to listen to a lot.

So as a whole, I thought the movie was fine, as is. Is it perfect? No. Much like the show itself, you will never hear me say that this movie is great or perfect. Its failings do exist, and they are big and distracting ones if your looking for a movie that has a good narrative. Again, this did indeed bother me when I first saw it and I was stressed out the ass the following day. I generally dislike movies that require the audience to watch or read something in order to fully appreciate something whether it be a movie or a show. Remember, I had conflicting feelings about Wonder Woman, and in the end I acknowledge that the movie is great for D.C fans, and only ok to everyone else. The unneeded characters is a big, BIG issue for me; I can maybe ignore the weak story, but the way the movie throws in all of these pointless and brief scenes and characters and clichés is something that I cannot defend. If there's one thing that I'm glad about this problem, is that I finally came out and admitted something that I really didn't like about the film. For most of my weekend I went through denial thinking that this movie is good, but now that I confessed that the film has a weak spot, I can hopefully relax for once.

But I'm really hoping that shouldn't be enough for you to turn down this film if you're a non fan, cause there's a lot of talent and effort that went into this film (of course I know that it's a fool's wish to think that). If the story were a little bit more original, if some of the characters were more fleshed out, then I think we would've had something really special here. Is the film challenging? No. But like the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, it doesn't have to be challenging in order to be fun.

5.5/10 Slightly Above-Average

[mobilesluts]

New Post has been published on http://uplust.pw/2018/01/10/americas-test-kitchen-season-16-trailer/

America's Test Kitchen Season 16 Trailer

Content is still king. With Dalian Wanda Group’s $3.5 billion acquisition of Legendary Entertainment in January, this year’s media and entertainment M&A activity kicked off with a bang that hasn’t slowed down.

Comcast’s $3.8 billion acquisition of DreamWorks Animation just three months later continued the trend of content consolidation and IP aggregation. Both transactions have varying motivations, but the common denominator is access to franchises and content that can be leveraged across the parent companies’ various business units.

Content and digital transformation strategies have driven M&A activity so far in 2016, with no signs of slowing down — and thus providing clues about where we’ll see activity during the rest of the year.

One major trend that continues is Chinese investment flowing into the United States. Almost 50 percent of all U.S.-targeted M&A transactions from foreign investors came from China in Q1, and media and entertainment is a significant driver of that figure. In addition to acquisitions, there were a number of investments in U.S. film studios, including Film Carnival’s $500 million investment in Dick Cook Studios and Perfect World Pictures’ $500 million investment in Universal Pictures’ upcoming film slate.

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China’s continued interest in gaining insight into how Hollywood works is paying off for both sides of these deals. This insight will continue to help them ramp up their own production capabilities and speed up their ability to compete with the current global content creators. As a result, Chinese investment and M&A in U.S. media and entertainment should continue throughout 2016.

Wanda’s massive Legendary transaction allows it to vertically integrate content production with its exhibition business. Its announced acquisition of Carmike Cinemas in March for $1.1 billion added more theatres to its current count, which already includes other global exhibitors. This news came days after Wanda announced plans for a $3.3 billion theme park outside Paris. When viewed as a whole, this ecosystem of content and distribution outlets positions Wanda as a global media and entertainment leader for the foreseeable future.

In China, Wanda also holds a trump card over the other major studios in that it is a Chinese-owned/operated business, allowing it to navigate and potentially circumnavigate the Chinese theatrical quota system. Wanda’s ability to leverage its insider position with future Legendary productions, as well as its own forthcoming Wanda Studios at Qingdao, should give Wanda a significant market share in the theatrical film industry going forward.

Comcast’s acquisition of DreamWorks Animation gives it a wealth of content that it can use across its numerous lines of business, including its cable subscription service (Xfinity), theme parks (Universal Parks and Resorts), cable networks (USA, Syfy, Sprout), digital platforms (Watchable, Seeso) and production companies (Universal Pictures, Illumination Entertainment).

As the digital ecosystem expands, traditional studios are seeing an opportunity to diversify their tech and content strategies.

The potential overlap in animation capabilities with Illumination Entertainment is complicated, but could help Universal compete against Disney’s formidable one-two punch of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios (if managed correctly). Comcast and NBCU also now have access to AwesomenessTV’s target demographic, production capabilities and original IP. The key to this transaction will be the extent to which they successfully integrate their content cross-platform. Content strategy factored heavily in Warner Bros.’ move to acquire Korean Drama SVOD service DramaFever for an undisclosed sum, which will help the studio broaden its digital presence. Korean dramas are big business around the world, and WB has made a bet on proven content to widen its market reach. FuboTV, a soccer-focused SVOD service, raised $15 million led by 21st Century Fox, and Turner led a $15 million round in Mashable. As the digital ecosystem expands, traditional studios are seeing an opportunity to diversify their tech and content strategies.

Virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR) investment has ramped up in “the year of VR,” taking in $1.1 billion through February alone. Most of that investment was Magic Leap’s Series C round of funding at almost $800 million, but other companies involved included MindMaze with a $100 million round and Wevr with a $25 million round. While consumer products are still in the early phases, the overall excitement and wide-ranging applications for VR and AR are driving investment for those who want to get involved early.

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Following Baobab Studios’ $6 million round in December, Penrose Studios raised $8.5 million in March, highlighting a competitive race to become the go-to VR content creator for immersive animated content. Comcast Ventures recently led a $6.8 million investment in Felix & Paul Studios, producers of cinematic VR experiences. Investors see this industry as a tremendous growth opportunity, with projected industry potential revenue of $120 billion by 2020, according to Digi-Capital. It doesn’t appear that investment and M&A will slow down anytime soon.

Live streaming has had activity as well, with IBM’s purchase of UStream for a reported $130 million being the biggest transaction of 2016 so far. Twitter made a strategic decision to purchase the live-streaming digital rights for 10 Thursday Night Football games this year. The $10 million price tag was especially low, considering Yahoo paid a reported $15-$20 million for the rights to live-stream one game last year. This gives Twitter a way to flaunt its Periscope functionality, potentially acquire users, increase engagement and recoup some of its investment with a limited amount of ad inventory that it will retain.

The NFL gets to broaden its distribution, experiment with alternative revenue streams, target a younger demographic and, ultimately, create more competition for the NFL’s overall rights when they expire in 2022. It is very possible that the future of NFL broadcasts may lie with a digital-first platform like Netflix, Amazon, Facebook, Google or Twitter, each of whom has deep enough pockets to bid for the opportunity to capture the most valuable must-see live content in the United States. Expect the other professional sports leagues to watch this development closely.

The rest of 2016 should continue to see plenty of activity across the media and entertainment space as companies brace for the future of mobile and digital consumption trends.

Based on activity in 2016 thus far, it’s clear we haven’t seen the end of key transactions. Paramount Pictures is looking for a strategic investor to build out its international and digital capabilities, which would provide key content and IP access to the investor (although this process has become very muddled recently). Yahoo is fielding multibillion-dollar offers for its core business, and Anonymous Content, creators of Oscar darlings Spotlight and The Revenant, as well as TV hits True Detective and Mr. Robot, is reportedly looking for a minority investor. Another area that could see more investment is the e-sports industry. It is expected to be a $1.1 billion industry by 2019, and traditional sports insiders are paying attention. Former Los Angeles Lakers basketball player Rick Fox bought his own e-sports team for a reported $1 million in December, while former and current athletes Shaquille O’Neal, Alex Rodriguez and Jimmy Rollins have recently invested an undisclosed sum in e-sports team NRG. FaceIt, an online e-sports platform, raised $15 million in January. Brands and advertisers are beginning to spend money in e-sports as they take advantage of the massive viewership opportunities for targeted demographics.

The rest of 2016 should continue to see plenty of activity across the media and entertainment space as companies brace for the future of mobile and digital consumption trends. Consolidation of content and the need for diversification in the digital environment will fuel interest from traditional players like telcos and major studios. Investment from China does not appear to be slowing anytime soon, so expect those eye-popping headlines to continue throughout 2016 as it plays the long game.

VR will begin to consolidate around content and tech, allowing leaders in both areas to emerge by the end of the year. As e-sports continues to gain traction via mainstream coverage and traditional advertising opportunities, it won’t be long before we see e-sports live events vying for the same eyeballs as the current pro sports leagues and attracting additional investment dollars along with them.

[bestmovies0]

Space capes, a royal wedding, and 25 other pop culture things to look forward to in 2018

Sense8, Avengers: Infinity War, Veep, and 24 more things to look forward to in 2018

Image: Mashable Composite/ Netflix/ Disney/ HBO

At the end of 2016, we naively hoped 2017 would be better. Instead, 2017 turned out to be so bad that we’re basically dreading 2018. Because if there’s one thing we learned this year, it’s that no matter how nasty things get, they can still get worse.

And yet.

SEE ALSO: 10 TV presents we can’t wait to see in 2018

The other big lesson we got this year was that even at the worst of days, there’s always gonna be stuff to adoration, and still more stuff to look forward to caring.

So, sure, 2018 is likely gonna suck. But it won’t be all bad, and we know that because there are at least 27 things we expect to be freakin’ awesome over the next 12 months.

In no particular order TAGEND

1. Cap’s beard in Avengers: Infinity War

Yes, we already got a glimpse of it in the trailer. But imagine how much better it’ll look in action: ruffle as Cap flies through the air to punch a bad guy, rustling as Cap strokes it thoughtfully, standing stiffly at attention while Cap delivers an inspirational speech. Honestly, Cap’s beard might already be our new favorite Avenger.

2. Rihanna hosting the Met Gala

Just weeks before “shes trying to” pull off a robbery at the Met Gala in Ocean’s 8 !

3. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s press tour for Mary Poppins Returns

See a delightful new image from the upcoming #MaryPoppinsReturns: https :// t.co/ bT7ErH7iF1 pic.twitter.com/ aRo8IHaSKm

— Oh My Disney (@ OhMyDisney) December 28, 2017

The Hamilton mastermind is one of of the most likable celebrities we have right now, and no one is better than Disney at deploying starring charisma.

4. Find out what the hell the next Cloverfield movie is about

We have no earthly notion what’s going on with this film, formerly titled God Particle , but that’s part of the fun.

5. Eating all our moods in Donut County

If 2017 made you want to take everything in the whole world and hurl it in a big hole, Donut County is here to realize that dream. You play as a pit, and as you swallow more and more things, the hole grows and changes to help you ingest absolutely everything. Perfect.- Kellen Beck

6. Westworld ‘s Samurai World

Remember when Westworld Season 1 ended in 2016, and we mourned because 2018 felt so far away? Well, it’s virtually here now- and with any luck, the new running of episodes should take us into some new corners of the universe, including Samurai World.

7. Eleanor and Chidi’s romance( probably) in The Good Place

It seems inevitable that these two will be back in each other’s arms, even if the hows and whys aren’t quite clear.

8. Beyonce at Coachella

Even those of us who can’t afford tickets will be scouring the web for clips and pics from this momentous occasion. And since Eminem will be there too, dare we hope for a live performance of “Walk on Water”?

9. Paddington’s stay in prison

Do you think they’ll let us bring marmalade sandwiches into the visitor room?

10. The What We Do in the Shadows em> spinoff

If you haven’t realized Taika Waititi’s laugh-out-loud funny vampire mockumentary yet, do that- and then keep your eyes peeled for news on Wellington Paranormal , a Tv spinoff about the oblivious cops.

11. Chance the Rapper becoming Chance the Actor

That SNL hosting gig was no fluke- Opportunity the Rapper is ready to show off his chops as relevant actors. His first feature film performance will be in Slice , an indie fright flick about the murder of a pizza delivery guy. It’s from A24, so you know it’ll be idiosyncratic and likely brilliant.

12. Something something Winter Olympics

We never truly plan to watch the Winter Olympics. It merely kind of happens, and then we find ourselves getting behavior more invested than we expected, and by the end of it all we’re armchair experts in a bunch of athletics we never knew we ever desired.( Ditto the World Cup .)

13. Henry Cavill’s Mission: Impossible 6 mustache

Aside from my fashionable nipple attachments this didn’t feel so bad. Becomes out that behind me is a 1980 ft virtually sheer drop. I say “turns out” but my adrenaline was highly aware of it at the time! Seriously though, I am so appreciative of all the unbelievable places that this movie has taken me and all of the wild and wonderful things that it has asked me to do. #MI6 #MoustacheImpossible #Norway

A post shared by Henry Cavill (@ henrycavill) on Nov 9, 2017 at 3:09 am PST

This contractually obligated mustache is the reason Henry Cavill’s upper lip seemed so funny through much of Justice League . Time to find out if it was worth it.

14. Trans talents get the spotlight in Pose

Everyone in Hollywood love paying lip service to LGBTQ inclusion; far fewer people in Hollywood are actually doing something about it. Ryan Murphy is one of those few. With over 50 LGBTQ characters- including, according to FX, “the most trans series regulars ever” on American TV- and trans writers and administrators behind the camera, Pose is a show that actually walks the walk.

15. Harry and Meghan’s royal wedding

Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle, December 2017. pic.twitter.com/ HrAc9FeN 51

— Kensington Palace (@ KensingtonRoyal) December 21, 2017

A few weeks after the due date for Will and Kate’s third child. It’s a big year for the Windsors!

Speaking of which …

16. Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown

Alas, Claire Foy’s time as Queen Elizabeth II has come to an end. But we expect Olivia Colman will do a brilliant job of stepping into her sensible, low-heeled pumps in Season 3.( Presuming The Crown Season 3 actually arrives in 2018, that is- Netflix has yet to announce a release date .)

17. Jonah Ryan’s presidential campaign in Veep

Should Jonah Ryan actually win the White House, Veep ‘s reality might ultimately become as darknes and depressing as ours.

18. The liberate of Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote

This film’s famously troubled 20 -year development process is itself the stuff of legend( and the subject of a 2002 documentary ). Which is why it blows our heads to recognize we are able to actually get to see it next year. No, seriously- Gilliam’s ultimately finished killing it and everything.

19. Sense8 getting the finale it deserves

Netflix cancelled the sci-fi drama in June 2017, but the subsequent outpouring of heartbreak and adoration was so overwhelming that they were inspired to greenlight a two-hour finale episode. Savor it, sensates – you’ve earned it.

20. Jessica Jones get a new jacket in Season 2

We enjoyed the leather jacket, but it’s about time our favorite don’t-say-superhero expanded her wardrobe.

21. The first girl Doctor

Peter Capaldi will be affectionately missed, but we cannot wait to see what Jodie Whittaker will do as the 13 th Doctor- and the first one in a female body.

22. Mahershala Ali and Carmen Ejogo in True Detective Season 3

Sure, True Detective has had its ups and downs. But if Ali and Ejogo are in, so are we.

23. The long-awaited return of Kingdom Hearts

Kingdom Hearts II came out more than 12 years ago, and as the years dragged on the possibility of setting up the series turning into a trilogy seemed less and less likely. But Kingdom Hearts III is actually, ultimately coming in 2018 with all of the Disney and Final Fantasy characters we’ve come to desire. And now that Disney owns half of the amusement world, maybe we’ll get to run into some new characters in the series, like the Avengers or some porgs.- Kellen Beck

24. Joe Cornish’s next movie

If you watched Attack the Block ( starring future stormtrooper John Boyega and future Doctor Jodie Whittaker ), you know exactly why we’re eager to read director Joe Cornish’s sophomore try, The Kid Who Would Be King .

25. Regina George’s Broadway debut

It’s time to see Mean Girls in a whole new light- by which we mean stage lighting, since the musical adaptation hits the Great White Way this year.

26. Lando Calrissian’s space capes in Solo: A Star Wars Story

can you guess whose wardrobe this is? #UntitledHanSoloMovie pic.twitter.com/ 1gB17Rt1vN

— Ron Howard (@ RealRonHoward) July 11, 2017

Donald Glover is one of those dudes who can pull off a brown velvet tux and make it appear easy. Lando Calrissian is one of those dudes who has an entire closet full of sweet space capes just waiting to be worn. This casting could not be more perfect.

27. Jason Statham combating a prehistoric shark in The Meg

Sometimes you simply want to watch a movie about a ridiculously muscular humankind fighting a ridiculously giant animal.( See also: Dwayne Johnson’s Rampage .)

WATCH: Apparently, this is the coloring you will see everywhere in 2018

Read more: http :// mashable.com/ 2017/12/ 30/ pop-culture-2 018 /

from https://bestmovies.fun/2018/01/03/space-capes-a-royal-wedding-and-25-other-pop-culture-things-to-look-forward-to-in-2018/