#Michael Robert Johnson

[helmstone]

BBC announces King and Conqueror

BBC announces King and Conqueror

The BBC has announced a new historical drama King and Conqueror. Filming next year in Iceland, it’s the story of King Harold and William the Conqueror. The new eight-part historical drama series stars James Norton as Harold, Earl of Wessex and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as William, Duke of Normandy. Written by Michael Robert Johnson and with the opening episode directed by Baltasar Kormákur, King and…

[adamwatchesmovies]

Pompeii (2014)

While I didn't enjoy this film, that doesn't mean you won't. No matter what I say, the people involved in this project did it: they actually made a movie. That's something to be applauded. With that established...

Pompeii wants to do for its titular city what Titanic did to the ship. Along the way, it borrows more than a few elements from Ridley Scott’s Gladiator. Sometimes, mixing two seemingly incompatible things works out but you don’t always get Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, if you know what I mean.

In 79 A.D., Milo (Kit Harrington) is a talented gladiator called “the Celt” by the romans who wiped out his tribe and enslaved him. Brought to Pompeii, he catches the eye of Cassia (Emily Browning) when he helps get her carriage out of the mud. She is returning home, tired of the corruption of Rome and of Senator Quintas Attius Corvus (Kiefer Sutherland), who has been relentlessly pursuing her hand in marriage. While Milo and Cassia both look for a way to escape their worlds, mount Vesuvius looms in the distance, belching more smoke than usual…

This movie assumes you’re stupid, which is much worse than it being stupid itself. Pompeii ominously shows Vesuvius every 10 minutes. In no time, you become exasperated. Take a poll. How many people could even name an Italian volcano besides the who destroyed Pompeii? Who even knows anything about the city besides the way it was destroyed? You want to establish crucial plot points ahead of time but this film overdoes it to the point of comedy. When James Cameron brought us back to the doomed ship, he made the effort to sweep us off our feet. The Heart of the Ocean, lavish sets, stories of ordinary people looking for a better life and above all, the romance. By the time that iceberg showed up, we were so invested in Jack and Rose we'd almost forgotten a disaster was incoming. Paul W.S. Anderson wants to do the same thing. Unfortunately, the clumsy dialogue and feeble story means you never fall for the would-be lovers. Seemingly aware of this, the film instead tries to dump a bucket of action on the screen as a distraction. Are we not entertained? Nope.

The resemblances between Pompeii and Ridley Scott’s epic sword-and-sandal adventure can’t be coincidental. It steals entire scenes and then proceeds to do them so badly you’ll be in stitches. It’s trying so hard to be epic, particularly when lava begins pelting the Roman city and Milo races through the streets, dodging flames, falling debris and, most dangerous of all - Kiefer Sutherland chewing the scenery. Did we even need a villain? All he does is make the whole thing seem contrived. What are the odds the one man Milo swore vengeance upon is in the same town as him on the day the volcano erupts. Not only that, the villain happens to be pursuing the same woman as Milo and with the same passion that burns away common sense. The idea is for the calamity to heighten the tension, for us to desperately cling onto the hope that things will work out. I doubt anyone watching will be kept in suspense.

Considering the films it’s impersonating, Pompeii has the good grace of being mercifully short. Also noteworthy are the special effects - the disaster sequences look great. Otherwise, this whole thing is a write-off whose only purpose would be to be shown as a double-bill with either Titanic or Gladiator to prove once and for all that those films are good. Seeing a cheap knockoff gives you a new appreciation for the original. (On DVD, November 23, 2019)

[sam-blackbird]

Here’s my 9/11 pipeline, inspired by the work of @gender-luster and @lena-cant (and completed with researches on my own)

+ something I just remembered: since 9/11 there was a popularization of the news tickers (continuous info moving at the bottom of the TV screen)

(Please ignore the red underlining, i haven’t found out yet how to fix it, will update if I success to remove it) (also please forget some formulations, English isn’t my first language).

[beeclops]

[bugbugboy]

Sorry guys I'm obsessed with the old man again

[wwprice1]

I loved the Batman 85th variant covers! They all homaged famous covers and featured onscreen Batmen! 🦇

[kennedy-family-library]

Swearing-in ceremony and reception for President Kennedy Cabinet Secretaries, January 21, 1961.

[americas1suiteheart]

My top 10 babygirls because I love them🤭

10) Paul Dano

(He might just be the most babygirl coded of them all actually).

9) Michael Cera

(Y'all have to hear me out on this one I beg of you guys...)

8) Robert Sheehan

("I do like an accent,)🤭

7) David Tennant

(His nose, his hair, his eyes, EVERYTHING!?)

6) Aaron Taylor-Johnson

(I live eat and breathe for Vronsky ATJ, guys).

5) Brian Tyree-Henry

(Need I say less??)

4) Anthony Perkins

(PLEASE GOOD GODS HE WAS SO FUCKING PRETTY, LOOK AT HIM!)

3) Bob Odenkirk

(I could've chose a better photo but I love how silly Bob looks in this).

2) Brian Quinn

(My god I need him so bad).

1) Patrick Stump

(He's so cute, I love him and his sluttly little glasses and sideburns).

[fvcksolus]

fav it boys 🫶🏼

[mariailoveyou-guerin]

watched tenet for the 7th time first of all Neil and the protagonist are literally boyfriends been know since first time I watched it you can’t tell me other wise the way Neil kept coming back in time in revert to save the protagonist they IN LOVE YOUR HONOUR the give doctor and river song vibes 2nd how come I’ve watched this 7 times yet I ain’t know that was Aaron as Ives or maybe I did and just forgot Aaron Taylor discography insane this to bullet train now that’s marvel actor done great now rdj too cuz he’s in Nolan movie too! back to the movie I can without a doubt

say this is Nolan greatest film I’m sorry it’s this or memento that’s just facts and prestige is 3rd best Nolan movie ofc I’m so sorry people didn’t get tenet the first time or 2nd or 3rd time it’s literally one of the greatest movies and Nolan greatest movie no doubt in my mind I’m sorry y’all dumb and couldn’t understand the nuance of the movie the storytelling and plot but that’s just seems like you problem imagine not like one of the greatest movies bc you didn’t get it so you hated and gave it bad reviews ah fcvk it was also clearly racism involved cuz wryly the one time the main lead actor is black man in Nolan movie y’all hate it an give bad reviews and rankings it’s like how y’all treat every black lead movie especially the princess/superheroes movies bc y’all believe they taking away roles from ur fav same old yt actors

it’s clear it was racism that fuelled the hatred for tenet you can’t convince me y’all would’ve ate it up if it was yt actor y’all love who did the movie like y’all already loving Oppenheimer even tho y’all haven’t even seen it and will give great rankings reviews etc call it his

best work etc bla bla give it a high RT same old same old yt privilege sh*t while we on Oppenheimer was it hints in the movie bc they talked about him and atomic so much in the movie it’s like Nolan was giving us obvious huge clues hints that it was gonna be his next movie and it is the amount of times they talked about Oppenheimer atomic b0mbs grandfather of the blax2 it’s clear he was letting us know imagine if tenet and Oppenheimer was in the same universe that would’ve been so cool cuz they can invert themselves back in time what if they somehow found

a way it would’ve been so cool I know they can’t go that far back to a time where they weren’t born but its Nolan be most have a way of doing that it would’ve been so awesome cuz the guy we never met was getting things from the future what if he made sure Oppenheimer got the idea

the future or whatever that would’ve been the most mind blowing sh*t to ever happen in film imagine if Nolan created his own multiverse like this with tenet being a way for Oppenheimer sort of? and why do I feel we getting a tenet2 plz god tell me we are plz Nolan need them back

I need the boyfriends back I need to know how they met how he recruited her how he became aware of the whole thing from Neil and the protagonist perspective this time since we only saw Neil knowing the protagonist for years they literally been bfs for years I’m gonna end it all

bc why would the protagonist feel so strongly about a man he just met unless he subconsciously knew they were more he was crying for godsake over a guy he met few days ago max a month but he also knew Kat that long yet he been villing to risk her life for the mission timex2 again

[rolandrockover]

Get All Travelling Riverside Blues You Can Take

What must Paul have been thinking with Get All You Can Take (1984) ? "If I'm obviously stealing, then I'm stealing properly and with plenty of steam behind it?"

I think so, because Paul provided the steam and necessary power himself this time, and the result would bring tears of pride to the eyes of any qualified mechanical engineer.

The motif he has appropriated this time comes from Travelling Riverside Blues (1969) by good ol' Led Zeppelin, which itself is a freely interpreted cover version of Robert Johnson's Travelling Riverside Blues, which was released in 1961 but recorded in 1937.

The Led Zeppelin riff version is a kind of a slide guitar wave that builds up in wonderfully relaxed intervals, which each time anew, quite naturally, like warm summer rainwater that cleverly runs off through half a dozen gutters, only to lose itself again in pleasurably thick drops of colorful sound in the ground.

In the Kiss version, a very similar movement sequence takes place, only in a chrome-plated and machine-reinforced form. The only difference is that the built-up tension doesn't dissipate, but swings up and down again and again in this perfectly lubricated hydraulic construction, pumping the necessary energy into Paul as a matter of course, which he certainly needs to cut our ear canals into strips with his infamouse balls-in-the-zipper voice in the following verses.

So good it almost hurts, if you know what I mean (Wink emoji) .

Highlighted links should be as guaranteed here as klassik Paul holding his chest hair unasked up to the camera:

Travelling Riverside Blues (1969)

Get All You Can Take (1984)

Travelling Riverside Blues (1937/1961)

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Peter Montgomery at RWW:

After a rough year of scandal, electoral defeats, and effective counter-organizing, the anti-LGBTQ, book-banning Moms for Liberty put on a show of force at the Republican National Convention. A Moms for Liberty town hall Tuesday afternoon drew two governors, three members of Congress, and three state attorneys general. Also addressing the crowd were former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who now runs the Young America’s Foundation; Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts; anti-abortion activist and “Stop the Steal” leader Ed Martin; and Michael Seifert, who heads Public Square, a fast-growing network of “anti-woke” businesses.

The event started with a promotional video including footage of Donald Trump calling Moms for Liberty “the best thing that’s ever happened to America.” Martin, who was on the leadership team of the Trump-controlled RNC platform process, delivered an opening prayer and told the crowd that the Trump platform’s chapter on education—which denounces “gender indoctrination,” critical race theory, and “left-wing propaganda” while endorsing “universal school choice” and the abolition of the federal Department of Education—reflects the “fingerprints” and “extraordinary influence” of M4L.

[...] The first panel featured Sen. Ron Johnson and Reps. Byron Donalds and Harriett Hageman. Justice began with a question that teed up one of the gaslighting themes of the convention, asking about Trump critics “labeling anyone who stands for freedom” as “a threat to democracy.” Hageman denounced Democrats for demonizing conservatives and Donalds denounced “venom” from the left, both ignoring the brutally divisive and literally demonizing rhetoric that is a hallmark of Trump and the MAGA movement. [...]

The state attorneys general panel—featuring Lousiana’s Liz Murrill, West Virginia’s Patrick Morrisey, and Missouri’s Andrew Bailey—talked about legal challenges to Biden administration rules interpreting Title IX. In a discussion of limiting access to library materials, Bailey claimed that “the left wants to groom children” and “sexualize children.” Murrill called it an “attack on faith” for librarians to allow children to access books their parents don’t approve. The AGs also talked more broadly about right-wing Republican priorities like eliminating “Chevron deference”—which the Supreme Court majority recently did—to weaken the regulatory power of federal agencies. [...] Govs. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas took turns bragging about their states’ attacks on “gender ideology,” diversity, equity, and inclusion, and more. DeSantis talked about how the state is expanding its control over what is taught in public universities.

Anti-LGBTQ+ “parental rights” extremist organization Moms For Liberty held a town hall at the RNC in Milwaukee Tuesday afternoon, and various speakers lobbed unhinged attacks against the LGBTQ+ community and oppose academic freedom by supporting book bans and curriculum censorship.

See Also:

LGBTQ Nation: Ron DeSantis & Sarah Huckabee Sanders appear on extremist group Moms for Liberty’s panel

[sam-blackbird]

Currently designing a diagram of the 9/11 pipeline. Interested if any of you have any related event (after 9/11, I don’t do before) to share so I can add it.

So far i have reunited: MCR, Twilight, The Batman, Oppenheimer, Fifty Shades of Grey, the end of the Ellen show, Good Omens (including Michael Sheen and Neil Gaiman), Brazilian YouTube/ Brazilian Portuguese, and 9-1-1.

[laderniereseancedecedrique]

RED NOTICE (2021)

Il y a deux mille ans, Marc Antoine offrit à Cléopâtre trois œufs ornés de bijoux en guise de cadeau de mariage ; les œufs sont perdus au cours du temps jusqu'à ce que deux soient retrouvés en 1907.

En 2021, l'agent spécial John Hartley, un profileur du FBI, est chargé d'aider l'agent d'Interpol Urvashi Das à enquêter sur le vol potentiel d'un des œufs, exposé au musée du Château Saint-Ange à Rome, après avoir été informé qu'il pourrait même avoir déjà été volé. Alors que le chef de la sécurité dissipe leur inquiétude, l'œuf étant toujours exposé, Hartley dévoile que c'est une copie. Le voleur, Nolan Booth, rentre ensuite chez lui à Bali avec l'œuf mais Hartley, Das et une équipe d'Interpol l'arrêtent et récupèrent l'œuf. À l'insu de tous, Sarah Black, la principale concurrente de Booth connue sous le nom de "Le Fou", l'échange contre un faux. Le lendemain, Das, mise au courant que l'œuf récupéré est également une copie, emprisonne Hartley dans une prison russe avec Booth, croyant qu'il est complice du vol.

Black leur propose de travailler ensemble pour trouver le troisième œuf, Booth ayant révélé à Hartley qu'il sait où il se trouve. Hartley propose qu'ils s'unissent pour battre Black ; ils s'échappent de la prison et se rendent à Valence pour voler le deuxième œuf, propriété du marchand d'armes Sotto Voce. Ils rencontrent alors Black, qui a également l'intention de le voler. Voce appréhende les deux hommes tandis que Black révèle qu'elle travaille avec Voce.

Booth divulgue alors l'emplacement du troisième œuf et Black part pour l'Égypte où Booth prétend qu'il se trouve. Après avoir quitté Valence, Booth révèle à Hartley que l'œuf se trouve en fait en Argentine, dans un endroit connu de lui seul car inscrit sur la montre de son défunt père laquelle appartenait au conservateur d'art personnel d'Adolf Hitler ; en 1945, Zeich a fui l'Europe pour l'Argentine. Le duo trouvent le bunker secret où se trouvent d'innombrables artefacts nazis dont le troisième œuf. Black, qui n'est pas tombée dans leur piège et les a suivis, les menace d'une arme mais est interrompue par l'arrivée de Das. Hartley, Booth et Black s'échappent et, après avoir plongé d'une cascade, atterrissent dans un lac au fond. Booth découvre alors que Hartley et Black sont partenaires, qu'Hartley n'a jamais travaillé pour le FBI et qu'il est lui aussi "Le Fou". Booth, menotté à un arbre dans la forêt tropicale, leur donne alors l'œuf.

Au Caire, Hartley et Black livrent les trois œufs à un milliardaire égyptien comme cadeau de mariage de sa fille (à l'image du cadeau original de Marc Antoine à Cléopâtre). Le mariage est interrompu par un raid d'Interpol de Das. Six mois plus tard, Booth fait son apparition sur leur yacht, en Sardaigne ; il les informe qu'à la suite de ses révélations à Interpol, leur compte en banque aux îles Caïmans, sur lequel les 300 millions de dollars du milliardaire égyptien ont été versés, a été siphonné, les laissant sans argent. Booth leur offre une chance d'échapper à Interpol, sur le point de les capturer, s'ils l'aident à réaliser un nouveau braquage, au Louvre à Paris, qui nécessite trois personnes pour réussir. Alors qu'ils s'échappent, Das rédige une notice rouge à l'encontre du trio.

[eighties-o-rama]

V / V the Final Battle (1983-1984) TV Guide Advertising

[theuntitledblog]

Tenet (2020) - REVIEW

It's hard to know where to even begin with Tenet! I would start by saying that no other film Christopher Nolan has made has come close to being as much of a challenge for me as this . It's not like the general concept of inversion is that difficult to understand, but the way it's realized and utilized on screen just boggles the senses and I find myself unable fully process it. I saw Tenet again a couple of days ago and this was probably the first time where most of it started to slot together for me but even then the visual complexity is still hard to grasp the bigger and more ambitious the film gets. This is Christopher Nolan operating in a similar way as he did with Inception by constructing a complex film around a sci-fi concept and trusting that the audience can keep up. Tenet is a film I admired and generally liked upon release, it's a film I continue to revisit but unlike with Inception, Tenet is perhaps too challenging for some of the wrong reasons.

Despite being 2 and a half hours long, Tenet requires your full attention as well as your ability to keep up with the story as it moves constantly between so many locations, characters, ideas and even points in time. There's nothing wrong of course with trying to challenge your audience with complex ideas, but it is a problem when it requires multiple viewings to understand the basics and Tenet asks a lot of its audience. Nolan has been previously criticised regarding the quality of the sound in his movies and while I haven't generally agreed with this, here I think it's somewhat justified. On my first viewing there were lines of dialogue I couldn't pick up on which was compounded further by just how loud Ludwig Göransson's score is at times. I would point out that at no time was I unable to follow the main story or the stakes involved and if you can keep up then Tenet can be a rewarding experience. But there's no denying that Tenet is too convoluted for its own good and isn't as satisfying an experience than Inception was. But among its saving graces, the biggest for me is that I find it to be among the most intriguing films Nolan has made and my desire to fully understand it is because I admire so much of what it's attempting to be.

If you've ever wondered what a Christopher Nolan directed James Bond movie might look like, then Tenet is probably your best guess. Dealing with espionage, secret organisations, diverse and scenic locations plus heavy hitting, large scale set pieces and you'll see that the Bond vibes are there. Adding to the set up is a suave lead in John David Washington, a sinister Bond-esque villain in Kenneth Branagh and Robert Pattinson's mysterious side kick Neil who always seems to know more than he should and you have an interesting mix. The characters themselves are mostly service to the plot and aside from Elizabeth Debicki's Kat and Branagh's Sator, little is offered in terms of deeper understanding of their motives or back stories. But there's also no denying that Nolan is on fine form once again with huge, practical set pieces that look glorious on screen and can't help but keep your interest.

The inversion sequences are unlike anything I've seen and visually I find it impressive yet tough to process especially during the more complex sequences. What starts off with just bullets later progresses to cars, corridor fights, interrogation sequences and even a full scale battle. Even now I can't honestly say that I fully grasp what I'm seeing on screen nor how concepts such as Temporal Pincer movements affect the larger set pieces such as during the heist in Tallinn. Whether this is really an issue with myself or the film is definitely up for discussion but I think there's no denying that that Tenet, for me at least is difficult to fully understand. Nolan has said that you're not meant to understand everything about Tenet and while I think there's something to be said about ambiguity in films, I ultimately feel that Tenet is too complex to be as satisfying an experience as I hoped it would be ... at least not yet. Tenet is a film that is too interesting to ignore and will be a film I keep coming back to again and again.

VERDICT

Tenet represents one of the most challenging cinematic experiences I've ever had and it will likely prove too much for a lot of people. But this is a film that offers greater rewards the more you stick with it and while it isn't the best film Christopher Nolan has made, it is one of the most intriguing.

4/5