#blond jon saga

[spicy-apple-pie]

i so vividly remember Jon having light blonde hair…. everything I’ve ever seen about him had him with blonde hair and now I’m looking through my likes and— he’s not blonde?? he has black hair and It’s very evident…. how did I delude myself so much.

thank you for making me snap out of my delusions

no no no wait this changes everything...

Anon has looked at post with Jon in them and thought he was blond. This is crazy. A lot of people were speculating that anon might've seen Jon once when he was in a disguise or confusing him with Chris. But they weren't.

But that begs the question, why did my art make this person see that Jon has black hair? Coincidence? Am I the choosen one? What does this all mean??

[tentacledwizard]

Tumblr User tentacledwizard Reviews: National Treasure

[absolutely INEXCUSABLE longpost ahead. Im sorry for being a Nick Cage fan. Not really, though. Also, SPOILERS for the first National Treasure movie.

    Hey, everyone, it’s your favorite reviewer t-wiz. Back at it again, posting like 5 days after seeing the actual movie. I know everyone must have been dying of anticipation. Well, so was I. We’re all in the same boat. And that boat is called the Charlotte, which is where the secret lies. That’s right: the movie was National Treasure. So I may get a little overexcited in this review.

Let me set the scene. @cgtg hosted another moviy nite on Friday. This time, the movie was Ghost Town starring Ricky Gervais. …Nobody really enjoyed it. I was only there for the last 20 minutes, and it sure wasn’t as fun as Employee of the Month. So I suggested National Treasure, starring the inimitable Nicolas Cage. The fact that I have a “nick cage” tag on my blog should probably tell you some things. I find his current status fascinating, as his thespian commitment is oft-regarded with snickering. He was fairly restrained in this movie, but still did a good job. I have a bit of a history with this movie. I first put it on as payback for having to see 50 First Dates, and was pleasantly surprised (by, among other things, Riley Poole). So I’m happy I got to see it again for like the third time in one month.

PLOT:

National Treasure is the kid-friendly saga of Benjamin “Ben” Franklin Gates (Nicolas Cage), whose family has been consistently wrapped up in a quest for a stash of treasure. This treasure is a big deal. Pharaohs longed for it. This whole group called the Knights Templar were big Treasure Stash stans. A secret society called the Freemasons are also closely involved. Turns out many of the founding fathers were also Freemasons (I’m pretty sure this is actually true). So of course Kid Ben learns this from his grandpa in a spooky attic, but his dad (Jon Voight) is all “heck nah son, treasure is NOT where it’s at.” And he has a point! The search for the “National Treasure” has clue after clue after clue, and it requires Cage to make some truly insane leaps in logic (especially in the sequel. Yes I have seen both films). But it is consistently entertaining. Don’t worry, I won’t go through the entire plot because that would just be a synopsis. 

Okay. So we’ve set up a MacGuffin (the treasure) and Grandpa Gates has given us a clue (“the secret lies with Charlotte”). Time to fast-forward to the frozen North, where Nick Cage’s adult face appears in all its shining glory. So does his hairline. I’m a bit concerned- shouldn’t his face be covered up better? It must be freezing. Oh well. A Bri’ish chap named Ian (Sean Bean = oddly pleasing name) and a former cubicle worker named Riley (Justin Bartha) are also members of the expedition. They unearth a ship called the Charlotte, and inside is a clue that leads to the Declaration of Independence. Ian offers to “borrow” the Declaration. Ben, being a historian, is all “heck nah Ian, stealing important documents is NOT where it’s at.” Ian is all “A fair point, however, consider the following: Gun.” We get some tasty blue and orange color contrasts, the stunning revelation that the Brit was NOT to be trusted, and a badass explosion. 

After this, shit gets real. Well, it was real from the start. It simply snowballs in realness throughout the movie. Benjamin and the non-evil expedition member, Riley, take this issue to the FBI, among others. The FBI will also get involved later on in the movie. Ben meets Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger), who is the love interest by way of being blonde and also knowing stuff about American history. Truly a match made in the National Archives. She tries not to laugh at their outrageous story. He patronizes her coin collection. They part ways, sure to meet again.

After failing to convince anyone the Declaration is in danger, Nick, I mean Ben, decides to steal it before Ian’s team can. Turns out stealing important documents is where it’s at.

Resident smartguy Riley tries and fails to talk Ben out of it.

Hey, it’s an important clue, and it has some serious historical value, and Ian has to pay for his perfidy. It’s nice to see/hear Ben and Riley when they’re not obscured by a haze of ice, because Riley is amazing. More at ten. Thus begins DECLARATIONTHEFT 2004, aka Awesome Heist Sequence. I love this scene. We get to see the early-2000’s CGI in all its glory. We get to see Riley and Ben do their thing. (Ben’s thing is history and secret clues. Riley’s is techy stuff.) Also the scene transitions? If I knew a thing about camerawork, I probably wouldn’t even mention this. But hey.

Then the actual theft happens, and it’s pretty neat. Nick must go from National Archives employee to nerdy guy at a gala to, well, Declaration thief. Meanwhile, the British have weapons and they’re not afraid to use them. Kudos to Riley for being the guy in the chair. Double kudos to Abigail for having to put up with the thieves. Triple kudos to the giftshop lady for taking Visa.

Wow, this got long! This is what I get for summarizing the first part of the movie instead of ACTUALLY REVIEWING. Okay, here goes.

REVIEW:

National Treasure, as I’ve said, is important to me. Sure, it seems pretty formulaic, but it’s fun. I got this inexplicable glee out of seeing Nick Cage work out each impossible clue. He is operating on a level we cannot understand. Every little plot-relevant thing about American history I could remember was like a major win for me.

This is an action movie, not a rom-com, so it’s certainly less character-driven than, say, Employee of the Month. The characters tend to be more developed stock characters, so it’s pretty hit-or-miss. For instance, Abigail and Ian are the mandatory Blond Love Interest and British Bad Guy. There’s not much to say about either. However, the Disapproving Parent, FBI Man, and Guy in the Chair were unexpectedly great. Especially that last one. 

There are plenty of great scenes: heists, dungeon crawling, tomb raiding, Nick Cage talking. The soundtrack is also good: they’ll have the usual action-adventure track and then give us a sudden drum lick like it’s no big deal. Okay, I admit that this is a very silly movie. And I am probably very silly for writing so much about it. But so what, it’s entertaining. Certainly not as homoerotic as Employee of the Month, but after all this is kid-friendly. As long as you don’t really tear into whether the “treasure” stuff is plausible, this is great to watch! 

Not only that, but Nicolas Cage was great to watch. His performance was oddly hypnotic, just as in every other movie he’s ever been in. My father was roasting his appearance for the entire movie, but I won’t get into that whole can of whales. On to the characters part.

CHARACTERS:

Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicolas Cage). Ben Gates is a dedicated treasure hunter and historian. He supplies a considerable amount of the movie’s intense autism vibes (perhaps I am projecting, considering how much I vibe with this). However, I don’t like how condescending he acts towards Abigail. If I hadn’t seen the sequel, I’d probably still be annoyed by this. Like she’s unwillingly in your getaway van, show her a little courtesy and stop telling her to shut up. I wish he didn’t have so much casual misogyny. :| As I’ve said, Nick Cage was oddly mesmerizing as he did things like splonk off bridges and steal sacred American documents. I cannot think of him as “kinda cute actually” the way I did of Dane Cook, but that’s definitely for the best. Everyone thinks I have a celebrity crush on Cage. They don’t UNDERSTAND. 

Uh. Sorry, got off track. So Ben’s character kind of captures the crux of Cageness, in a way. Nobody understands how important this quest is to him, and he has to go by “Paul Brown” to avoid being a laughingstock. Do I see parallels with how Nick Cage changed his name from Coppola to Cage? I mean, they are there, but I’m probably looking into it too much. Side note, I enjoyed Ben’s one brief display of raw hopelessness. It’s the sort of thing you chuckle at when it’s taken out of context, but so are many of Cage’s big movie moments.

Not much else to say about his role in this movie? Nick Cage certainly does “adventure hero” well. His most “Cagey” moment in both movies is absolutely when he faked a drunk argument with Abigail and then screamed “HAGGIS” at a Buckingham Palace guard. But here I am getting ahead of myself. The entire moviy nite group was surely gazing at Nicolas Cage’s hairline and aquiline nose for the entirety of the film. We basked in the sound of his soft ‘s’s and ‘t’s. We tried to parse his historical theories. Truly, his mind contains galaxies. Ben/Nick Cage operates on a whole other level than what we would believe.

(aaa look at him ok im done now)

And with that said, let’s move on to the other man of the hour. That’s right, Riley Poole (Justin Bartha). Man, I love this guy. What can I say, I’m a sucker for sarcastic guys in chairs. Bonus points for nerd glasses. Riley gets all of the points. He is a gem. I’m pretty sure there was a whole article on Medium about his character, so maybe check that out if you are genuinely interested in this thing I’m typing here? 

So yeah, Riley is very much the guy in the chair. He provides comic relief, but is also a genius in his own right. Unlike Ben, he never seems to act self-righteous about this. Riley has this great mix of sarcasm and sincerity, and he’s a good foil to Ben/Abigail’s historical ramblings. Autism king tbh. I enjoyed his occasional infodumps.

Riley is also 10/10 in the sequel. We see more of his self-sacrificial side and low self-worth. He’s intelligent and funny, but in the end he just doesn’t see himself as that important. Except he is! He makes things happen! Without him, Ben would never have gotten the Declaration. 

And that’s what makes Riley compelling to me. Yes, he is a silly nerd from a silly 2000’s action movie. But you just kind of want to let him know that he deserves better from Ben and everyone who dismisses him. Probably by shaking his shoulders and yelling in his face, since I’m not sure how else one would get it across.

All in all, Riley is our king. And that’s not all there is to say on the matter, but I think I covered most of it. Riley should consume some jams and jellies. He’s earned it.

Dr. Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger): The holy trio of autism is complete? She fills in the “blonde love interest” void, but she does have interests and a personality of her own. Abigail is an archivist at the National Archives, so she’s probably the most qualified to handle the Declaration of Independence.

 I, on the other hand, am not qualified to talk about Abigail. I don’t remember much about her, other than the fact I just stated. She’s pretty smart and helps on Ben’s insane treasure quest. She… collects campaign buttons as a hobby? She has an alleged German accent? Yeah, so she’s not a bad character but I don’t have much to say about her. At least not in this movie. A shame. I am glad that she recognizes Ben’s sense of entitlement for what it is, and their relationship over the two movies is reasonably entertaining. Her sibling relationship with Riley is 10/10 as well. So that’s Abigail. We love to see ladies who understand what’s going on!

Ian Howe (Sean Bean): Ah yes, Mandatory British Bad Guy. Now, Ian is a treacherous piece of shit. He has many allies, and is just as obsessed with the treasure as Ben. But where Ben, Riley, and Abigail solve clues based on historical facts, Ian just keeps tags on them and then uses brute force to get what he wants. This is shown particularly well in the Declarationtheft scene- Ben and Riley have this whole heist planned out, whereas Ian’s guys are like “GUN.” As I’ve said, Ian is treacherous. He gets antsy at even the most temporary alliance. He seems to know Ben pretty well, as they played poker in the past. I imagine the movie would have been more yaoiful if they’d had more scenes together.

Patrick Gates (Jon Voight): The dad. Like Riley, he is a foil to Ben’s treasure hunting stuff. Like pretty much everyone, he is also very competent and knows what’s going on. I liked his father-son relationship with Ben, and the way both of them make dubious bluffs in times of crisis. I have some stuff to say about his relationship with his ex-wife in the sequel, but this is a review of the first movie. So anyways, Patrick sees the search for what it probably is: a goose chase. He keeps it real!

Agent Peter Sadusky (Harvey Keitel): Now this is another wise guy. Sadusky is an FBI agent who’s seen it all. He wants to get the Declaration back, and he knows someone has to go to jail for stealing it. And who stole the Declaration??

(Epic scenes ensue.) 

Dead Guy: A casualty. Yeah, he DIES. It is so sad. We hardly knew him. Oh wait, we didn’t know him at all. Ever. Welp.

Money-Driven Child: I have no idea where Riley found or hired this kid but he is hilarious. I don’t even know who plays him. Whoever his actor is, I hope he is doing well and avoiding nefarious Brits.

Cashier: She takes Visa. It makes a pretty funny scene. 

 And that’s a wrap on National Treasure. This film is a national treasure. Great camera work and scene transitions, great action scenes, and an all-around awesome (and very 2000’s) film. I eagerly anticipate the next moviy nite, as it may feature the actor for Jorge (EOTM.) If you made it this far, thank you for reading and I’ll see you approximately Friday. Long live Nicolas Cage.

[cristalconnors]

MAY SCREENING LOG

49. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks, 1953)- 7.7

50. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (David Slade, 2010)- 5.7

51. Belle de Jour (Luis Buñuel, 1967)- 7.0

52. Beau is Afraid (Ari Aster, 2023)- 8.9

53. Mildred Pierce (Michael Curitz, 1945)- 8.6

54. Dangerous Liaisons (Stephen Frears, 1988)- 8.3

55. Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)- 9.2

56. M3GAN (Gerard Johnstone, 2023)- 8.2

57. Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (Pierre Földes, 2023)- 8.3

58. De Humani Corporis Fabrica (Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel, 2023)- 8.8

59. The Civil War (Ken Burns, 1990)- 8.5

60. Monica (Andrea Pallaoro, 2023)- 8.4

61. Gaslight (George Cukor, 1944)- 8.7

62. While You Were Sleeping (Jon Turteltaub, 1995)- 7.5

63. The Craft (Andrew Fleming, 1996)- 8.5

[moviesbest]

Wicked (2024)

✨ FANTASY | MUSICAL | ROMANCE ✨

Step into a reimagined world of "The Wizard of Oz," where the rivalry between two powerful witches takes center stage in this modern adaptation.

Elphaba, once a kind and unique child with green skin, becomes the infamous Wicked Witch of the West after years of mockery and torment. Glinda, the bubbly, blonde fairy, blessed with beauty and wealth, was always adored and envied by everyone.

Their journey begins at a magical academy where they form an unexpected friendship. Alongside them are Fiyero, the charming heartthrob, and the enigmatic Wizard of Oz. As their paths diverge, the battle between Light and Darkness, Beauty and Ugliness, Good and Evil intensifies.

🌟 Premiere: November 24, 2024 🎬 Directed by: Jon M. Chu ✨ Starring: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Marissa Bode, Ethan Slater, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Keala Settle, Bronwyn James, Bowen Yang

Get ready for an epic saga of magic, rivalry, and destiny. Follow for more updates and exclusive content!

🔗 [Watch the Official Trailer]

#Fantasy #Musical #Romance #WizardOfOz #Elphaba #Glinda #MoviePremiere #JonMChu #CynthiaErivo #ArianaGrande #TumblrMovies #ComingSoon

[oatmilkenjoyer69]

July 2023 Media Breakdown

Movies:

Armageddon (1998) - Michael Bay

Iron Man (2008) - Jon Favreau

Asteroid City (2023) - Wes Anderson

Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974) - Martin Scorsese

We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) - Lynne Ramsay

Past Lives (2023) - Celine Song

The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) - Chris Weitz

Dead Calm (1989) - Philip Noyce

Ghost in the Shell (1995) - Mamoru Oshii

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) - Howard Hawks

Gilda (1946) - Charles Vidor

The French Connection (1971) - William Friedkin

Le Mépris (Contempt) (1963) - Jean-Luc Godard

Barbie (2023) - Greta Gerwig

Oppenheimer (2023) - Christopher Nolan

Bringing Up Baby (1938) - Howard Hawks

In the Heat of the Night (1967) - Norman Jewison

Murder in Harlem (1935) - Oscar Micheaux

TV Shows:

Justified - Season 3 (2012)

Books: Completed

Ninth House (2019) - Leigh Bardugo

A Dreadful Spendor (2022) - B.R. Myers

The Wolves of Calla (2003) - Stephen King

Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Reshaped America (2023) - William Sommer

Hell Bent (2023) - Leigh Bardugo

The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter (2017) - Theodora Goss

Books: In Progress

The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women’s Roles in Society (2023) - Eleanor Janega | 60%

Jane Eyre (1847) - Charlotte Brontë | 38%

Orlando (1928) - Virginia Woolf | 8%

Music: Top 3 Albums

DANCING ON THE PEOPLE (2019) - Sofi Tukker | dance/electronic & house

Hold the Girl (2022) - Rina Sawayama | pop rock

Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book (1957) - Ella Fitzgerald | jazz

Music: Top 3 singles

vampire (2023) - Olivia Rodrigo | pop rock

Where U Are (2016) - Rina Sawayama | pop rock

Boys (2021) - Hippo Campus | alternative/indie

Cultural and Artistic Pursuits 💅:

Saw Ramy Yousseff live

Went to Flying Home in Durham

Learned new notes on the clarinet and worked on my sight reading

Started my roommate’s Christmas gifts (crocheted items)

Made 5 crochet bandanas and learned a new granny square pattern

Did the Barbenheimer Experience

[jadj]

Spider-Man 4 Plot Ideas

Alright, currently learned that Sony is in the works for a potential 4rth installment of a live-action Spider-Man and wit upcoming content of the web-slinger. here are my plot ideas that's based on a couple of theories I got.

#1. PETER'S NEW LIFE

Since No Way took place during Peter, Ned, & M.J.'s time trying to go to a university and after Dr. Strange casted the spell to erase everybody's memories of Peter, there's a close up to the table at his apartment with a G.E.D. test nearing the end of the film. The fourth film should have a two year time skip, showing Peter attending a university going for a Computer Science or Technical Engineering major. He's still saving people as Spider-Man, but he's seen a new hero from the New York residents.

He would be a part-time student and full-time employee at a coffee shop, the same one where M.J.'s at, for this story idea he SHOULD NOT succeed restoring his her and Ned's memories back in the fourth film, it will be great to just focus on Peter's new life, with a more slice of life focus sprinkled her and there with his redo as a vigilante, no super villain(s) at the moment. How would he bump into Ned? At the university of course, since Ned was trying to sign up for the same university as Peter.

This whole plot is a somber slice of life story where Peter spent these two years getting by in life: Taking care of himself financially, saving people from crooks, going to college, and working at a barista struggling with the desire to get close to them, due to his deep concern to get his friends due to being a hero.

#2. JON WATT'S GWEN STACEY

Since she already made her appearance in live-action for the Amazing Spider-Man film back on the 2010's, and the Peter from this film met her and dated her during his time at university. It would awesome to see how Jon Watts would include one of Spider-Man's love interest form the graphic novels. While Peter is torn between restoring M.J. and Ned's memories back or never befriend them. Meanwhile he's going to school and meets a specific smart blonde girl in one of his classes, that same girl may befriend him and over time they become close pals.

This particular plot idea is leaning towards the somber slice of life approach still, added with internal conflict to Peter's struggle to get his former girlfriend and friend back. He would get along well with somebody new, and they'll build a foundation over their affinity for science and whatever similar fascinations. He may feel a bit guilty for this newfound friendship because he may think he's "replacing them". However, towards the end he could ultimately make his choice to move on from his past and carry on with new life and learning to accept to let his friends be for their own protection.

#3: GHOST SPIDER SIDEPLOT

What would be Gwen's fate? Honestly, I would think it'll be awesome to hint at the idea of Gwen becoming Spider-Gwen, or Ghost Spider in this version of Peter Parker/Spider-Man. So, adding some hints in the middle of the fourth film that Gwen is skilled making little gadgets, involved in boxing or any combat sports club, and/or very curious about the red and blue hero, wanting to help out the city in the same way. Or she might become Ghost Spider, AFTER finding out Peter's secret identity, keeps it a secret, and want to join him, just make his vigilantism halfway easier to manage. This version of Ghost Spider clearly wouldn't have spider powers, but would use homemade tech, stealth, and expert fighting techniques.

#4: RETELLING OF THE SYMBIOTE SAGA

The end credit scene where Eddy & Venom disappeared out of the pub, Venom panics and doesn't want to go. He left a spec of his goo on the pub counter. This is where the random plot ideas for the fourth and possibly fifth installment of Jon's version Spider-Man. I don't think introducing a symbiote in the 4rth film is necessary. however, this plot idea can work for a 5th film. Maybe that back goo infects a random pub attendee, and it keeps spreading to multiple people, maybe a science organization gets their hand one somebody boned with the symbiote, researching them. That person escapes, and rampages through New York, Spider-Man and Ghost Spider fight it, and they win, but peter gets a little of that symbiote on his suite, where he'll go through the process of becoming what he did from the many times Symbiote!Peter has been retold. Gwen along some heroe(s), let's say.. Fantastic Four, since Mr. Fantastic was the one from the graphic novels he researched the symbiote and had some knowledge of it than Peter. Hell, Mr. Fantastic could be apart of the organization researching the prior host before they rampaged.

These are my random plot ideas that sounds awesome takes on how to expand Jon Watts' version of Spider-Man and it's world post No Way Home. Curious, what are your plot ideas you think would be nice to see?

[postguiltypleasures]

About those recent reblogs

Incase anyone reads this enough to suddenly be concerned about why I suddenly reblogged a bunch of post relating to Der Ring de Nibelungen its a combination of things. First, I am interested in the opera cycle and occasionally find myself drawn to it. In a little while the Metropolitan Opera will do the whole cycle  and I’ve never seen in its entirety, (or for the matter, in the correct order. I saw parts 3 and 4 one year, followed by part 2 years later. I’ve never seen part 1.) Last Wednesday, Dark Horse comics rereleased P. Craig Russell’s adaptation, and I considered buying it, but I have so much to catch up on and anyway I had just read this article on the far right’s attraction to occult symbols which gets into the popularity of the Nibebelungen amongst Nazis and Neo Nazis. It felt kind of wrong to buy the book after reading.

But I’ve often felt that people who are interested in modern fantasy are wrong to directly avoid Der Ring. Sure it is associated with Nazis, but it’s so influential that if you don’t deal with it directly, you’re cutting yourself off from a means of making future fantasy less racist, better for everyone. This article from last February gets into how some contemporary writers using post Wagnerian fantasy writers like Tolkien as inspiration end up less sensitive to how things would read to minorities than they would like to think. Maybe learning through a work that everyone agrees is problematic would help get one used to the idea that you can’t just look at past texts so uncritically. Also, as Alex Ross wrote in an essay I linked to in response to an earlier post:

There is a widespread conception of Wagner’s cycle as a bombastic nationalistic saga in which blond-haired heroes triumph over dwarfish, vaguely Jewish enemies. Wagner unquestionably left himself open to this interpretation, but the “Ring” is not at all what it seems. It is in fact a prolonged assault on the very idea of worldly power, the cult of the monumental—everything that we think of as “Wagnerian.”

I’m also belatedly catching up with Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Filre (I just finished A Storm of Swords and now feel I have to choose between the TV or book versions of the series).  I started thinking about what this epic takes from the Der Ring, and suddenly it hit me: lots of people comment on how much incest is in GoT/ASoIaF, but is it possible that all of it is in response to how Der Ring’s version of Siegfried is the product of the incestous union between Siegmund and Sieglinde? Siegmund and Sieglinde are twins just like Jaime and Cersei.  Sieglinde has a terrible husband just like Cersei. But Jaime and Cersei’s offspring includes the monstrous shit Joffrey instead of a chosen one hero like Siegfried. That and the Targareyn’s tendency towards madness can be read as a rebuke to the kind of pure race subtext in the Siegmund/Sieglinde coupling. A lot of writing about the series is about how it subverts a lot of genre expectations, but I’ve found very little that explicitly compares it to Der Ring, and what I have found is more about similarities, not possible subversions. But I’ve just started so if you want to point me towards something I’m missing, please do.

(It’s worth noting that the series’s actual characters with possible “chosen one” status, Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow have the biological relation to each other as Brunnhilde and Siegfried. But I have no idea where this is going, so I’m not going to say anymore.)

Also could Tyrion be a response the “dwarfish, vaguely Jewish enemies” in Der Ring? Tyrion’s is clearly one of the more sympathetic characters in either version of the series. His relationship to his siblings is not too different from Hagen’s (technically not a dwarf, but the illegitimate son of one, Alberich) to his, Gunther and Gutrune. Only Tyrion get the chance to kill his controlling father, unlike Hagen who is controlled by his father through his dreams.

[pxyiyk]

Download If I Can't Have You: Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance, and the Murder of Her Chldren PDF BY Gregg Olsen

EPUB & PDF Ebook If I Can't Have You: Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance, and the Murder of Her Chldren | EBOOK ONLINE DOWNLOAD

by Gregg Olsen.

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Read More : READ If I Can't Have You: Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance, and the Murder of Her Chldren

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Description

In If I Can't Have You, bestselling author Gregg Olsen and co-author Rebecca Morris investigate one of the 21st Century's most puzzling disappearances and how it resulted in the murder of two children by their father.Every once in a great while a genuine murder mystery unfolds before the eyes of the American public. The tragic story of Susan Powell and her murdered boys, Charlie and Braden, is the only case that rivals the Jon Benet Ramsey saga in the annals of true crime. When the pretty, blonde Utah mother went missing in December of 2009 the media was swept up in the story – with lenses and microphones trained on Susan's husband, Josh. He said he had no idea what happened to his young wife, and that he and the boys had been camping in the middle of a snowstorm.Over the next three years bombshell by bombshell, the story would reveal more shocking secrets. Josh's father, Steve, who was sexually obsessed with Susan, would ultimately be convicted of unspeakable perversion. Josh's

[spicy-apple-pie]

You are indeed the chosen one.

Even when you posted the ss of Jon eating noodles on your damijon acc I saw him with blond hair, I processed that his hair was blonde in the photo but I just saw reality with your art??

Even in other fanart I saw, it was always blonde. It’s literally what I looked for when trying to find proof that I wasn’t crazy, then I see that it’s black…

you’re the chosen one…. 💛

me curing you of blond jon

(also, let me get this straight. You saw the panel of Jon in the original supersons as blond (or perceived it i guess) but saw jon with black hair in my panel?? That's fucking insane.)

[bellysoupset]

Halloween Saga - Part 7

Final stretch!

Leo felt like he had hit the mattress to sleep and his phone had started to ring right away.

It wasn't true, his alarm telling him Marisa should be arriving soon was set to three hours from the moment they got back into bed, but fuck if that wasn't what it felt like.

He groaned, rubbing his eyes and sitting up, glancing worriedly in the direction of his boyfriend in case the alarm had woken him up... And found an empty spot. Leo frowned, Jonah was the one who was supposed to be asleep.

Out of the two of them, he had been the one who was running on nothing but fumes, since he had worked during the morning of the Halloween party and then everything had been so convoluted since that he had barely summed three hours of sleep with all his short naps put together.

"Jon?" Leo rubbed at his neck, turning his head around until he heard a clicking noise and then he got up from the bed, walking out of the room, "Jonah?"

"Here," Jon called from the living room and Leo raised his eyebrows as he took in the scene before him. Jon was curled up on the far end of the couch, with JD sprawled on his lap as he scratched her behind her ears.

"I thought you were going to sleep, babe," Leo frowned, coming closer and smoothing a hand over JD's pale fur, smiling as she tried to grab his hand.

"Couldn't sleep," Jonah looked a mess, his eyes were deep in the socket and his face was a sickly shade of grey, "I'm super nauseous."

"Nerves?" Leo guessed and his boyfriend hummed in agreement, looking absolutely defeated.

"I called Bell's mom," Jonah mumbled, grabbing JD when she attempted to move to Leo's lap and pulling her to him, avoiding his boyfriend's eyes, "I got her a hotel next to the hospital, but she's going straight to the ICU."

"You did... I thought she was going to stay with us," Leo said, confused, "Jon, this isn't right-"

"I can afford the hotel," Jonah said calmly, "and it would be best for her to be close to her daughter and I really can't deal with guests right now, Leo."

Leo's mouth snapped shut. In his haste, he hadn't really given Jonah any thought. He hadn't considered what having a guest they didn't know would mean, especially in such a messy moment. At least JOn didn't look offended or wounded, just really tired.

"I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"No," Jon shook his head, "you did the right thing. Luke's got tunnel vision right now, but Bella would want her mom. You're a great friend, baby... I just can't-"

"It's okay, I got you," Leo yawned, moving closer and squeezing Jon's knee, "do you wanna come back to bed? We have the rest of the day off anyway..."

Jonah rolled his eyes, "off work maybe, I have so much of the university stuff to do-"

"Jon," Leo glared at him, "no. Just no, okay? Take a damn break, you look like death warmed over."

The corner of Jon's lips lifted up in an amused smile, "pot calling the kettle black here, baby. Did you take your meds?"

"I did, I'm fine," Leo rolled his eyes, Jon always brought up his medication whenever he wanted to imply he looked like hell. As if missing one dose could be spotted so clearly, "really, I'm alright... No news from the hospital?"

"None," Jonah leaned his head back, gulping down, "Vince is still there and Wendy left just now, to go to the station... I should be with her. I should be doing something..."

"You did everything you could, Jon," Leo reached in, twirling a tight curl around his finger, "and no news is good news, right? You said it yourself that these surgeries take time..."

"...I know, I just hate sitting here, feeling useless."

"You're just a man, Jonah," Leo leaned in, planting his forehead to Jon's and squeezing the back of his neck, "come to bed and get all the sleep we can get, you know tomorrow is going to be chaotic, because the surgery will work and Bella will wake up, okay?"

"Okay," Jonah nodded, then slumped forward, pulling Leo into a hug and buried his face on the blonde's neck, "let's go back to bed."

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

"Are you absolutely certain you don't want me to come with?" Vince's softness from before, the pulling down on the corner of his lips in a sad pout, had vanished. Instead Wendy was looking at his brows furrowed in an annoyed manner, his lips pressed in a stern line.

"No, I need you to stay and let us know about Bell... And I need to do this alone," she shook her head, "I love you, but I need to figure this one out on my own."

"You still haven't made up your mind?" The disdain tinged his words for a brief second and Wendy flinched. She knew damn well what Vince thought of this whole situation, his fury had only been made worse by the fact that Bella had gotten hurt in the fight.

However, Wendy was not going to be strong armed into sending a guy to prison without evidence. She was adamant on keeping a clear head, not let her feelings get the best out of her and end up accusing an innocent.

Whatever-was-his-name was the third blonde in a group of five. She had been asked to identify him and since her memory from the party was splotchy at best Wendy had been worried, but she shouldn't have worried.

The minute her eyes laid on him, she knew it.

He wasn't as tall as the guys in her friend group, but he was buff, with a greasy blonde bob, the tips dyed green. Deep sunken eyes, with a dead stare.

Wendy took a step back when he stepped forward in the line and the officer frowned, "Ms. Marshall?"

"That's him," she wrung her hands, trying to ignore the prickle of anxiety as the memories returned with a surprising vivacity.

Jonah with an arm wrapped around Bell's shoulders as she dragged him away. Wendy frowning at the bottom of her drink, finally tasting the salt. The whole room feeling stuffy and starting to twirl around her, her legs barely working as she made her way to the balcony area to catch some air. Those sunken eyes with droopy eyelids staring at her, hands on her arm, brushing over the side of her boob as he said "Let's go for a walk..."

Her trying to shove him off, mouth refusing to obey as she tried to form the words "no, stop touching me."

Leo grabbing her arm with such a force it'd leave a bruise, shoving the guy off of her and practically growling, "she's drunk, get your hands off of her." Bella jumping... Wendy's knees folding down as Jonah cradled her head... Bella's head slamming on the ground, as the guy grabbed her by the hair, Leo jumping in the fight with fists first...

"Ms. Marshall?"

"I- I need a second, just a second," Wendy said hurriedly, rushing out of the room, a hand pressed to her lips and nose as she suppressed a retch. She stumbled into the women's bathroom and beelined to a stall, shoving off the lid just in time for all the bitter coffee she had been drinking all day to come back up.

Her eyes stung, heart racing and ears buzzing. She didn't need further evidence of the night, not when the memory was so clear, not when she knew for a fact had him been the responsible for drugging her or not, he had for sure tried to take advantage of her. He was for sure the cause behind Bella fighting for her life in a hospital bed now.

He'd for sure do it again, if that dead, unresponsive stare was anything to go by.

Wendy sat back down on her heels, panting over the soiled water for a minute more, until she stopped feeling her heart in her throat and the horrible acidic mess trying to crawl up. She flushed it, walking out of the stall and to the sink and scowled at her reflection.

These past twenty hours had put her self-control to test. She hadn't felt this weak and vulnerable since... Since she was sixteen.

"Fuck this," Wendy scoffed, leaning in to wash her mouth and splashing cold water on her face, dabbing it away with some paper towels. She opened her purse, grabbing her little necessaire and fishing out her make up, forcing her hands to steady as she wiped away the smeared mascara and reapplied it on her bottom lashes.

She was not going to allow the moment of panic to get to her, it was not some greasy predator who was going to undo her.

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

Bella opened her eyes to a bright, stark white. Wherever she was laying down, it was freezing cold. Her head was hurting, throat burning when she tried to make any noise.

This was scary. She couldn't turn her head at all, only stare at those bright lights-

"Hey, sweetie," a familiar voice said, then a shadow loomed over her, "Bella? Can you hear me?"

"Yes..." She couldn't raise her voice above a whisper.

"You're alright now, honey," the shadow said, calmly and Bell felt a tear slide down her cheek. She couldn't move her arms, couldn't do anything.

"Am I dying?"

"No, of course not, you're not," the figure reassured her again, then pulled back. Bright white lights blinded her and then Bella was out once again.

She woke up anew to a different voice, now in a fully dark room. She couldn't tell where the voice was coming from. Sounded like an older man, saying "on a scale of one to ten, how much does it hurt?"

"I wanna go home," Bella whispered, heart hammering away.

"Can you tell me your name?"

"N-no," she choked up, trying to move her body. Was someone holding her down? Her arms felt impossibly heavy, "I want Luke, where's-he?."

"Dear, what is your name?"

"I - I don't... Isabella," she tried turning her head, tearing up again. Her neck cramped, her cheek got pressed on something, "I wanna go home..."

"You're alright, Isabella," the voice told her, "Lucas will see you soon, we're gonna move you to the room."

"...Room?" Bella asked, but the voice didn't answer her anymore. She blinked against the exhaustion, trying to stay awake and communicate just how scared she was, but it was to no avail.

She opened her eyes to another dark room. This one was mildly illuminated and Bella licked at her dry, chapped lips, eyes darting around.

No longer she was in the bright place or the dark one, she was... In a hospital bed. Surrounded by flowers up to the ceiling.

Bella tried to move, only to feel the pressure holding her down once more, but when she looked down, she realized it wasn't that she was tied, but that Luke was holding her.

He wasn't asleep by her bedside with his hand holding hers, like she had seen in movies before, but slumped forward, cheek meeting the side of her mattress, top of his head touching her hip, one arm thrown over her waist.

"Luke," she tried to call out, hoping he'd wake up, but her voice was too weak, her throat too dry and raw, "Lucas."

He didn't even twitch and she let out a frustrated huff, glancing around the room again. Bella had never seen that many flowers in her life, not even when they had broken up and Lucas had been gifting her all sorts of things to get her back.

She closed her eyes, already exhausted just by being awake for thirty seconds and when she opened them again, the room was much lighter, although it wasn't fully morning yet.

Luke had moved just enough to press his cheek to her thigh, facing her now and Bella dizzily blinked, struggling to put him on focus. Everything felt hazy, her body was completely disconnected from her brain.

Bell reached out, then poked his cheek, right where she remembered there being a black hole last time she saw him. He frowned in his sleep, then opened his eyes and Bella let out a relieved sigh as she met them.

Then Luke's eyes widened and he jumped up, straightening up so fast that the armchair almost tipped back with him, "Bella!?"

His voice felt like someone had just yelled right in her ear. Bella let out a groan, grimacing as his shout echoed in her head and Lucas' snapped his mouth shut, moving closer, eyes wide.

"Bell?" he whispered, "Bell, oh my god, you're awake..." his hushed voice broke off and Bella watched his eyes tear up, whole face turning red as he tried not to cry and failed, "you're awake, I- I thought-"

"Luke," just saying that hurt and she grimaced, causing him to sniffle and shake his head, wiping away the tears.

"You-You're in pain," he sounded distraught still, hitting the button right next to her bed, "I-I can fix this, I can-" he pressed the button again, before reaching in, shaky hand cupping her face, "hi baby..."

Bella wrinkled her whole face as she felt her eyes sting, from pain and exhaustion. She let out a shaky breath, trying to communicate just how much everything hurt, how scared she was... How relieved she was Luke was there.

"Lu, I'mscared..." she slurred, words scratchy and barely making out and Lucas shook his head, leaning in even more and pressing his lips to her forehead, right over her left brow.

"You're alright now," he said, voice rough, thumb wiping the tears that were leaking out her eyes, "I got you, I promise. Nothing's gonna happen to you."

Bella let out a sob and then whimpered when it made her head throb even more. It was too much, the pain and the confusion all getting jumbled together, Lucas' fleeting touches both soothing and overwhelming.

A nurse burst in the room and Luke pulled back, but still whispered, "she's awake and she's in pain, can you give her anything?"

"I already paged the doctor, Lucas," the nurse said and stepped closer - a guy, mid thirties, with a head of curls.

"Hi Bella," he said gently, "I know you're scared, but we're taking very good care of you, alright?"

She tried to nod, only to find that she couldn't with how stiff her neck was, so Bella only let out a small noise, throat hurting like she had swallowed glass shards. Her vision started to grey at the corners.

"I'm going to get you some ice chips, they'll help with your throat," the nurse said sympathetically and stepped out of the room, returning less than a minute later with a paper cup filled with ice pallets. He handed it to Lucas, then busied himself with the other monitors, jolting down her vitals in the clipboard.

"Here," Luke whispered, holding a plastic spoon to her mouth, "it'll help, Bell."

The ice was a shock once it touched her lips and she shuddered, but obediently opened her mouth just enough for Luke to feed her the ice pallets. The soothing was immediate and Lucas opened a huge, relieved smile as he heard her let out a sigh.

"Better?"

"Better," Bella croaked, opening her mouth again for more and feeling slightly more awake, "what happened?"

"You tell us," the nurse responded, before Lucas could speak. He snapped his mouth shut, "what do you remember, Bella?"

She racked up her memory, only for a headache to spring forward. Until then the pain felt like she had hit her head, but the hard thinking felt different. Worse. There was a hole in her memory and it ached like a mental bullet wound.

"I... I don't remember," she looked at Lucas', alarmed, "Luke, I don't remember, I don't-"

"Shhhh, it's okay, it's okay," he was once again all over her, hand stroking her cheek, keeping her from moving, "it's alright, baby. You hit your head, it's normal."

New black spots danced in her vision, but Lucas kept chanting reassurances, a hand rubbing her arm up and down. He was so warm and she was freezing cold...

"I don't like this," Bella whined, head lolling to the left, cheek meeting his hand, "Luke..."

"The doctor's gonna be here in a second, Bell. The pain will pass soon..."

Her eyes felt so damn heavy, it wasn't fair. She wanted to stay awake, to understand what the hell was going on... But sleep was painless and it sounded more and more alluring.

Bella closed her eyes, "I want to go home..."

Over her head, Bella vaguely heard Luke worriedly asking if she was allowed to sleep, if this was expected...

When she opened her eyes again, there were more people in the room. A tall man wearing a white coat, was standing before her bed. Lucas wasn't near her bedside anymore, her mother was.

"Mom...?" Bella groaned, more lost than ever and her mother let out a choked out sob, a big smile opening on her face.

She said something and Bell frowned, eyes darting around the room in confusion and zeroing on Luke. He was leaning against the opposite wall, having just looked up once she spoke and he smiled at her.

"Bella, you're with us?"

"I'm... Yeah..." she turned to look at her mother again, confused, "mom, I don't understand you..."

Her mother looked up to the doctor, alarmed, "she no longer knows Spanish!?"

"She's just drowsy, Ms. Martinez," the doctor chuckled, "give her a minute. Hi Isabella, I'm Doctor Sullivan. How are you feeling?"

"Tired," Bella answered honestly, yawning, "my head hurts."

"From one to-"

"A six," she said quietly, looking away when Lucas scoffed "that's a sixteen" from across the room.

The doctor smiled at her, "alright, you're a tough one, Isabe-"

"Bella," she corrected, frowning and he nodded in understanding.

"Bella," the doctor stepped closer, "I need to examine you, Bella, is that alright? I'm going to touch your head and ask a couple questions so we can understand the extension of the damage."

Bella gulped down, looking nervously from the incredibly tall man, to her mother, then to Luke.

"Do they have to be here?" the words fell out of her mouth and her mother let out an offended gasp, while Lucas sighed, pressing his hands to his face to shield a frown from her.

The doctor shrugged, "no, of course not," he looked between the two visitors, "if you'd please step outside..."

Marisa grumbled something in Spanish at being pulled away from her daughter's bedside and planted a kiss on her forehead, her lips too strong, causing Bella to wince. Luke hesitated, holding the door open for his mother in law and looking like he wanted to do anything but leave.

"I'll be right outside," he said, then stepped out, shutting the door gently.

Bella's shoulders dropped and she sank back against the pillows, the doctor looking at her curiously.

"That's new," he said softly, "most people would want the opposite," he moved closer and Bella shrugged, wincing as it pulled on her neck.

"They worry too much," she glared at his hands as the doctor moved closer, clicking on a button on her bed and making it sit up slightly, "you were in the dark room."

"In the post op," he smiled at her, "you remember that?" then he continued "tell me if it hurts" and started touching around her head gently.

"I thought you were Death..." Bella grimaced and he let out a hearty chuckle.

"Death? Now, I'm old, but that's just mean..." he teased, then his fingertips ghosted over something that caused Bella to let out a cry and curl on herself.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm not touching anymore," he said, planting a steady hand on her shoulder, "I hope you like sleeping on your stomach, Bella. That's a nasty cut you got in the back of your head."

"Your work," she groaned, breathing through her mouth and staring at her lap. The hospital blankets were a baby green and she felt queasy as all hell.

"No," Sullivan shook his head, "the ones we made are right here," he lightly touched over her ear, finger ghosting on a her tender scalp, "you feel that?"

"Yes," Bella swallowed the nausea on the base of her throat, squeezing the blankets, "the other one...?"

"My guess is as good as yours," he gently pushed her back against the pillows, "hurts when you lie down like that?"

"Just a little," there was a rushing in her ear and Bella gulped down, "so the questions?"

Dr. Sullivan let out a snort at her attitude, but he didn't make any comment, getting to the task at hand. Certain things she got right, Bella could tell from the wrinkle on his cheek that appeared whenever he was suppressing a smile. Her age, her full name, the date, how much was 2+2 and how much was 16 divided per 4. Other things, not so much, such as a logic puzzle: Imagine we're playing Russian Roulette. I'm going to put one bullet in a six chamber gun and then shoot. Empty. Do you want me to spin the chamber again before shooting or not?

"...How is this a fucking question?" Bella groaned, rubbing her temple and the doctor smiled at her.

"Luke said you're good with numbers, Bella."

"Uhm... Not today," she yawned, "I don't know."

"That's alright, we'll try it again some other day. Can you tell me what happened the night you got hurt?"

Her heart dropped. She hated the holes in her memory, they made her feel... Exposed, as if she was lying through her teeth as she told him about a Halloween party and then... "My friend got hurt," Bella frowned, "where's Wendy? Is she alright?"

"You mean Dr. Marshall?" the man cleared up, "she's fine, don't you remember her? In the room?"

"The death room?"

"The death room," he chuckled, "she fought with her supervisor to be let in. You have a nice group of friends here, Bella."

"Family," she corrected, smiling, "can I see her?"

"I'll ask Dr. Marshall to come up as soon as we're done here," then he raised an eyebrow, "if you're not too sleepy."

"I'm not," Bella blinked, forcing her eyes to remain open, despite feeling like she might just fall asleep any second now, "I've just woken up, I'm awake."

"Alright," he wrote more down in his clipboard, then glanced at the door, "we're done here, unless you want me to know anything else. Do you need more pain medication?"

"When can I go home?"

He rolled his eyes, "let's get you through today, first, how about?"

"Uhm..." She leaned back, "okay..." she fought hard to keep her eyes open as Sullivan moved to the door, opening it, but much to Bella's frustration, her energy was slipping between her fingers like water.

She was just drifting off when she felt Lucas taking her hand in his, squeezing it and intertwining their fingers.

[aion-rsa]

How a Batman 1989 Deleted Scene Cost Sean Young the Co-Starring Role

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1989’s Batman is widely regarded as a time-tested, transformative entry for the comic book movie genre, and its $411.5 million worldwide gross ($872.8 million adjusted for inflation,) certainly shook an unsuspecting film industry to its core. However, for actress Sean Young, who was initially set to co-star in the film as Vicki Vale opposite Michael Keaton’s Caped Crusader, it represents a point in which misfortune pulled her away from a prospective mainstream breakthrough. Indeed, not only did a pre-production accident force her off the film, but the scene for which she was preparing ended up getting cut from the movie!

Director Tim Burton’s choice of Sean Young for Batman’s leading lady role, photojournalist Vicky Vale, seemed auspicious, since it brought the genre experiment a rising star with pertinent gravitas from roles in then-recent offering like Blade Runner and Dune, along with dramas like No Way Out and Wall Street. It was a positive outlier against the buildup from the film’s 1988 production, during which it was preemptively savaged by fans and critics over Burton’s selection of comedic character actor Michael Keaton—fresh from starring in Burton’s 1988 hit, Beetlejuice —as opposed to a conventionally imposing action movie star. However, a fateful accident would see blonde bombshell Kim Basinger take the role of Vicki, depriving Young of the film’s defiant, industry-altering success.

Amongst a normal number of revised permutations, the Batman script, written by Sam Hamm and Warren Skaaren, once had equestrian leanings—initially involving Vicki—designed to build toward a major action sequence. Consequently, in a setback that now resides in the realm of comic book movie legend, Young, who had been in London for four weeks of read-throughs and rehearsals for Batman’s imminent production in Pinewood Studios, was practicing her horse-riding skills when she was thrown off and sustained a fractured arm. That led producer Jon Peters—who had purportedly convinced Burton to cast Keaton—to suggest that the incapacitated Young be replaced with Kim Basinger, as cameras were set to roll in a week. The suggestion was immediately accepted, resulting in the replacement being quickly flown in, costing Young what was to be the biggest role of her career.

“They did spring the horse-riding thing on me, and I fell and had an accident,” explains Young in a recent interview with The Daily Beast. “Could they have kept me on the show and shot around my arm? They probably could have. I think [producer] Jon Peters had this hard-on for Kim Basinger, and he saw an opportunity to exit me, and he did. And no one ended up being very happy with that choice. But it is what it is. I had an accident and then got walked to the door.”

Warner Bros.

The scene in question was the intended start of Bruce Wayne and Vicki Vale’s first date, set at Wayne Manor. While the final cut started the date inside the dreary, echoey estate, the date would have instead started outside, at the horse stables. There, we briefly see the two riding horses—with Vicki coming across as the more experienced rider—before they dismount and kick off their flirtations. In an example of intended foreshadowing, Bruce says, furtively alluding to his secret crimefighting exploits, “Horses love me. I keep falling off. Maybe that’s why they love me. You should see me, I’m one big mass of bruises.” At that point, they walk off to a patio on which Alfred (Michael Gough) awaits them with a bottle of champagne,” at which point their date continues inside. Indeed, it’s a minor scene, and, as we were meant to see later in the film, Vicki’s horseback riding was merely a plot device designed to set Bruce on an arc for his own horseback action sequence; an aspect that lends Young’s role-costing accident a cruel element of irony.

The eventual payoff to the stable scene would have manifested after a scene that did make the film (at least partially), in which Bruce visits Vicki in her apartment, hemming and hawing as he tries to muster up the courage to reveal to her that he’s Batman. Of course, the Joker (Jack Nicholson)—enamored with Vicki—then interrupts at the door, resulting in a confrontation with Bruce that ends with Joker—after dropping the crucial clue of the “You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?” line—shooting Bruce with a pistol, leaving Joker convinced that he killed him before leaving Vicki with an offer to consider. As we saw in the movie, Bruce secretly lined his shirt with a bullet-stopping metal tray, and pulled a Batman-esque disappearing act on Vicki after Joker departed. However, this scene was initially designed to kick off an elaborate chase sequence.

Read more

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Batman 1989: The Long Journey and Enduring Legacy of a Superhero Classic

By David Crow

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In a major contrast from Batman’s onscreen form, early drafts of the script’s apartment scene had the Joker kidnapping Vicki after he revealed the suicide of girlfriend Alicia (Jerry Hall), and smashed the porcelain mask that covered her acid scars. Indeed, the famous, “You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs” line was to be followed by a dramatic cut, after which we see that Vicki was taken by the Joker and his men in their convoy of purple vehicles. At this point, Bruce arrives on the scene to find a mounted policeman in bad shape, sporting a familiar unnatural grin delivered by Smilex gas. Thus, without any other vehicle nearby, Bruce commandeers the cop’s horse and proceeds to chase down the Joker’s convoy. As the chase through Gotham starts to prove fruitless, a red symbol light flashes on Bruce’s belt, at which point a Volkswagen Bug—conspicuously going 70 mph—closes in on him, revealing the driver to be Alfred, who arrives bearing a bundle of fresh Batman attire, resulting a quick pit-stop before the rescue commences. It’s a major divergence from the film itself, in which Vicki wasn’t taken by the Joker at all, save for the climactic scene atop Gotham Cathedral.

“Falling off that horse was something kind of—I couldn’t hang on. There’s kind of a poetic symbolism about that,” lamented Young back in 2005 DVD documentary Shadows of The Bat: The Cinematic Saga of The Dark Knight. “In a way, I look back at that particular time in my life and I go, ‘Wow, I wish I’d been able to hang onto that horse. I wish I’d been able to do that.’ Because then the turning point in my particular career—I would have been able to stay on the film, I would have been in a big box office hit, I would have been able to go on to other big box office hits. That kind of domino effect would have occurred in my career. That was the turning point in my career where that didn’t happen.”

DC Comics

The horseback scenes, while ultimately cut, weren’t as excessive as they seem in retrospect. That’s because it was always clear that Burton’s version of Batman was to reflect the darker elements that came into prominence with Frank Miller’s groundbreaking, profoundly influential 1986 DC Comics miniseries The Dark Knight Returns. By no coincidence, that comic story contains a scene in which Batman rides a horse off into battle; an element of the story that created iconic imagery. Thus, it was merely a reflection of the revolutionary influences—divorcing Batman from the comical stereotype from the 1960s Adam West TV series—that helped form the film. Additionally, one draft even used this sequence as the vehicle to set up the origin story of Robin.

Yet, the saga of Sean Young and Batman continued in the public sphere—sans horses. As the sequel that would eventually become 1992’s Batman Returns had just cast Michelle Pfeiffer for the key role of Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Young felt slighted for not having been given the chance to audition for the part. It’s an understandable feeling, given the way she was unceremoniously recast, which belied any serious volition for her to field the part, since they could have possibly shot around her broken arm during the production’s initial months. Consequently, Young started what became a very public campaign to be cast as Catwoman. This culminated in a 1991 appearance on The Joan Rivers Show (seen just below), in which Young showed up in a homemade Catwoman getup and—through a sultry performance of the character evocative of Eartha Kitt—took Tim Burton to task on his apparent reluctance to even meet with Young in any capacity.

“Even if he wasn’t even going to use me in the sequel, I can’t understand why he wouldn’t at least see me. He wouldn’t see me,” exclaimed Young—at this point out of character—to the late talk show host, who then brought up the rumor that Burton thought the Walkie-talkie Young liked to carry during those days was a gun. “How would I know what he thinks,” Young responded. “He wouldn’t see me, he ducked me, he ran. And then later on, my agent told me that he was going to hire a bodyguard because I was like a dangerous lethal person.”

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Nevertheless, Batman‘s nixed horseback scenes ultimately proved to be a major undoing for Sean Young. Her status as a rising headliner evaporated after that tumble. She would subsequently suffer from, as she now alleges, being blackballed by prominent Hollywood figures such as Steven Spielberg, Warren Beatty and, yes, Tim Burton. In fact her most prominent post-80s movie was the co-starring (twist-touting) role in 1994’s Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, which Young says she only landed because star Jim Carrey advocated on her behalf in spite of studio Morgan Creek. Yet, Young has always worked steadily, and was recently seen in director Tracy Wren’s 2020 drama, Rain Beau’s End, with multiple movies still on her backlog. So, don’t discount the prospect of a potential Sean Young-issance just yet.

The post How a Batman 1989 Deleted Scene Cost Sean Young the Co-Starring Role appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3vWGuIP

[cinemedios]

La fantástica conclusión de 22 películas de Marvel Studios y el film más taquillero de la historia.

El material adicional celebra a Stan Lee, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Thor, las mujeres de Marvel, los hermanos Russo, además de ofrecer escenas eliminadas y  errores graciosos.

La película de Marvel Studios Avengers: Endgame, el culminante final de 11 años de recorrido cinematográfico sin igual en el que los Avengers se enfrentan por última vez a Thanos, tuvo el mayor récord de audiencia de la historia en su fin de semana de estreno y en este momento es una de las películas con mayor recaudación de todos los tiempos.

El 16 de agosto, los fans de Avengers están invitados a reunirse una vez más para el estreno en formato físico en Blu-ray™ y DVD.

Los fans que lleven a su hogar “Avengers: Endgame” obtendrán horas de material adicional con sus realizadores y miembros del elenco favoritos que ayudaron a crear el Universo Cinematográfico de Marvel.

PREORDENA AQUÍ

Los extras incluyen un tributo al gran Stan Lee; la historia del casting de Robert Downey Jr. como Iron Man; la evolución del Captain America; el impactante arco dramático de Black Widow; la experiencia de los directores Anthony y Joe Russo al mando de “Avengers: Infinity War” y “Avengers: Endgame”; la realización de una batalla épica con las mujeres del MCU; la creación de Bro Thor; escenas eliminadas y con errores graciosos del rodaje y mucho más.

El imperdible capítulo final de la saga de 22 películas del MCU, “Avengers: Endgame”, se presenta en diversos formatos para garantizar que los fans tengan la mejor experiencia de visualización de entretenimiento hogareño.

MATERIAL ADICIONAL:

Blu-ray:

Visionaria introducción – Introducción de los directores Joe y Anthony Russo.

Comentario de audio – Comentario en audio de los directores Anthony y Joe Russo, y los guionistas Christopher Markus y Stephen McFeely.

COMBO (Blu-ray+ DVD+ BR Bonus):

Recordando a Stan Lee – Los realizadores y el elenco rinden homenaje al gran Stan Lee en una afectuosa mirada a sus participaciones especiales en las películas del MCU.

Marcando el tono: el casting de Robert Downey Jr. – Escucha la historia de cómo Robert Downey Jr. fue elegido para interpretar a Tony Stark en la película original de “Iron Man”, que lanzó el MCU.

Un hombre fuera del tiempo: la creación del Captain America – Rastrea la evolución del Captain America junto a los responsables de establecer el aspecto y la personalidad de este héroe cautivante.

Black Widow: cueste lo que cueste – Sigue la historia de Black Widow tanto dentro como fuera de Avengers, incluidos los desafíos que enfrentó y superó a lo largo del camino.

Los hermanos Russo: camino a Endgame – Mira cómo Anthony y Joe Russo enfrentaron el desafío de dirigir dos de las películas más impresionantes de la historia del cine… ¡una a continuación de la otra!

Las mujeres del MCU – Las mujeres del MCU comparten sus opiniones sobre lo que sintieron al unirse por primera vez en una épica escena de batalla y al formar parte de un elenco histórico.

Bro Thor – ¡Su aspecto cambió pero su heroísmo se mantiene! Visita el detrás de escenas para ver cómo se creó la versión de Bro Thor.

Seis escenas eliminadas – “Frutos goji”, “Bombas a bordo”, “El peor ejército de la galaxia”, “Solías vivir en este maldito lugar”, “Tony y Howard” y “Los Avengers se arrodillan”.

Escenas con errores graciosos – Ríete junto al elenco en esta épica colección de errores, bloopers y torpezas del rodaje.

Visionaria introducción – Introducción de los directores Joe y Anthony Russo.

Comentario de audio – Comentario en audio de los directores Anthony y Joe Russo, y los guionistas Christopher Markus y Stephen McFeely.

ESPECIFICICACIONES DEL DISCO (se aplican solo a la película):

Productos:                  

(Blu-ray+Dvd),DVD y Blu-ray

Duración:

Aproximadamente 181 minutos

Calificación:

PG-13

Audio:

BD: inglés Dolby Atmos; español latinoamericano 7.1 Dolby Digital Plus; francés canadiense 5.1 Dolby Digital; audio descriptivo en inglés 2.0 Dolby Digital.

Blu-ray: inglés 7.1 DTS-HDMA, español latinoamericano y francés canadiense 5.1 Dolby Digital, audio descriptivo en inglés 2.0 Dolby Digital.

DVD: inglés y español latinoamericano 5.1 Dolby Digital, audio descriptivo en inglés 2.0 Dolby Digital.

4K UHD Digital: inglés Dolby Atmos (algunas plataformas), inglés 7.1 Dolby Digital Plus (algunas plataformas), inglés 5.1 y 2.0 Dolby Digital, español latinoamericano 5.1 y 2.0 Dolby Digital, francés 5.1 y 2.0 Dolby Digital, audio descriptivo en inglés 2.0 Dolby Digital.

HD Digital: inglés 7.1 Dolby Digital Plus (algunas plataformas), inglés 5.1 y 2.0 Dolby Digital, español latinoamericano 5.1 y 2.0 Dolby Digital, francés 5.1 y 2.0 Dolby Digital, audio descriptivo en inglés 2.0 Dolby Digital.

SD Digital: inglés 5.1 y 2.0 Dolby Digital, español latinoamericano 5.1 y 2.0 Dolby Digital, francés 5.1 y 2.0 Dolby Digital, audio descriptivo en inglés 2.0 Dolby Digital.

Subtítulos:                  

UHD: inglés SDH, español latinoamericano, francés canadiense.

BD: inglés SDH, francés canadiense, español latinoamericano; DVD: inglés SDH, español latinoamericano.

Digital: inglés SDH, francés canadiense, español latinoamericano.

Subtítulos ocultos:

Inglés (en los formatos Digital y DVD).

SINOPSIS

Avengers: Endgame de Marvel Studios cuenta en su elenco con Robert Downey Jr. como Iron Man, Chris Evans como Captain America, Mark Ruffalo como Bruce Banner, Chris Hemsworth como Thor, Scarlett Johansson como Black Widow, Jeremy Renner como Hawkeye, Brie Larson como Captain Marvel, Paul Rudd como Ant-Man, Don Cheadle como War Machine, Karen Gillan como Nebula, Danai Gurira como Okoye y Bradley Cooper como Rocket, con Gwyneth Paltrow como Pepper Potts, Jon Favreau como Happy Hogan, Benedict Wong como Wong y Tessa Thompson como Valkyrie. Josh Brolin regresa en su papel del infame villano de la película, Thanos.

Los personajes del Universo Cinematográfico de Marvel restaurados al universo en “Avengers: Endgame” incluyen a Benedict Cumberbatch como Doctor Strange, Chadwick Boseman como Black Panther, Tom Holland como Spider-Man, Zoe Saldana como Gamora, Evangeline Lilly como The Wasp, Elizabeth Olsen como Scarlet Witch, Anthony Mackie como Falcon, Sebastian Stan como Winter Soldier, Tom Hiddleston como Loki, Pom Klementieff como Mantis, Dave Bautista como Drax, Letitia Wright como Shuri, Angela Bassett como Ramonda, Michael Douglas como Hank Pym, Michelle Pfeiffer como Janet Van Dyne, Cobie Smulders como Maria Hill, Winston Duke como M’Baku, Linda Cardellini como Laura Barton y Vin Diesel como Groot, con Chris Pratt como Star-Lord y Samuel L. Jackson como Nick Fury. También repiten sus papeles previos en la saga Rene Russo como Frigga, John Slattery como Howard Stark, Tilda Swinton como The Ancient One, Hayley Atwell como Peggy Carter, Natalie Portman como Jane Foster, Marisa Tomei como la tía May, Taika Waititi como Korg, William Hurt como el secretario de Estado Thaddeus Ross y Robert Redford como Alexander Pierce.

La película de Marvel Studios “Avengers: Endgame” fue dirigida por los directores ganadores del Emmy® Anthony y Joe Russo a partir de un guión original de Christopher Markus junto con Stephen McFeely. Kevin Feige produjo la película y Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Michael Grillo, Trinh Tran, Jon Favreau, James Gunn y Stan Lee son los productores ejecutivos.

El equipo creativo de los directores Anthony y Joe Russo también incluye al director de fotografía Trent Opaloch (“Avengers: Infinity War”, “Captain America: Civil War”); el director de arte Charles Wood (“Avengers: Infinity War”, “Matrix”); los editores Jeffrey Ford, ACE (“Avengers: Infinity War”, “Captain America: Civil War”) y Matthew Schmidt (“Avengers: Infinity War”, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”); la diseñadora de vestuario nominada tres veces al Oscar® Judianna Makovsky (“Avengers: Infinity War”, “Captain America: Civil War”); el supervisor de efectos visuales nominado al Oscar Dan DeLeeuw (“Avengers: Infinity War”, “Captain America: Civil War”); el supervisor de efectos visuales nominado seis veces al Oscar Dan Sudick (“Avengers: Infinity War”, “Black Panther”); y la coordinadora de escenas de riesgo Monique Ganderton (“Avengers: Infinity War”, “Atomic Blonde”).

Detalles y fecha de estreno del blu-ray y DVD de ‘Avengers: Endgame’ La fantástica conclusión de 22 películas de Marvel Studios y el film más taquillero de la historia…

[gaycoruscant]

91 Questions Tag

Thanks to Liv ( @sixty-seven-protons ) for tagging me to answer this mountain of random facts

THE LAST – 
 1. Drink: Water
 2. Phone call: My friend trying to tell me I was late for a band meeting (yikes!)
 3. Text message: Jon, quote: “oh” as said in reference to being decked in front of the emoji movie theater.
 4. Song I listened to: “DKLA” by Troye Sivan
 5. Time you cried: Idk, Thursday??? Last Wednesday????? Something like that.

HAVE YOU EVER –
 6. Dated someone twice: No
 7. Been cheated on: No I’ve always been a single pringle 8. Kissed someone and regretted it: Nope
 9. Lost someone special: I guess
 10. Been depressed: Yeah tb to November when it was real bad
 11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: no

LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS –
 12. The yellow color of a ripe wheat field in the sunset
 13. Forest green
 14. Sapphire blue

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU –
 15. Made new friends: Yeah! I went from having friends who were only friends at school to having actual people to hang out with, plus a few more
 16. Fallen out of love: I’ve fallen out of crushes
 17. Laughed until you cried: Yep. It was with that shittyflute Toxic video. Look it up. It will CHANGE you.
 18. Found out someone was talking about you: Not really, no
 19. Met someone who changed you: Hell yeah @ my friends
 20. Found out who your true friends were: For the most part.

MORE – 
 21. Kissed someone on your facebook? No I don’t have facebook
 22. How many of your facebook friends do you know in real life? Zero, as in I have no facebook and no facebook friends
 23. Do you have any pets? My dog Lucy!!!
 24. Do you want to change your name? Not really anymore but there was a time where I wished I was named Tara
 25. What did you do on your last birthday? Fucking band camp
 26. What time did you wake up? 8 in the morning (thanks, band)
 27. What were you doing at midnight? Drowning myself in the sweet sweet voice of Troye Sivan
 28. Name something you can’t wait for: To hang out with my friends in a few days
 29. When was the last time you saw your mother? Yesterday
 30. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life? I’d make my good ol’ Texas small town more gay-friendly
 31. What are you listening to right now? Wind chimes
 32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom? No.
 33. Something that is getting on your nerves? Unwanted questions from family members.
 34. Most visited site: This wonderful hellsite

SCHOOL – 
 35. Elementary: The good ol’ days. My gay self was gay as FUCK back then but did anyone know? No. Did anyone care? No. But I was happy with all my friends and we gossiped and played games like lava monster at recess. Then FIFTH GRADE comes along and, story time! Toxic masculinity (aka my brother) makes a stupid comment that goes “why are all your friends girls” in that stupid prepubescent boy mocking voice and my submissive childhood self gives in and decides to change to be “more like the other boys” and that is where my life went to hell.
 36. Middle: OH BOY!!! Puberty + new school + new insecurities thanks to my new friend Toxic Masculinity = a very bad few years
 37. High: To summarize: Fuck masculinity I’m gonna be GAY and there’s nothing you can do to stop me from being my feminine self (except force me to hide myself from homophobes)
 38. College: A Concept: I go a prestigious high-end Ivy League, 3000 miles away from the homophobes I deal with daily. I get a nice boyfriend and we live a nice apartment together. We love each other very much and help each other in our studies and we support each other’s artistic endeavors. I graduate top of my class and become a well off scientist/poet and we get paid well enough to marry at age twenty-eight and pay off our student loans by the same time. Life is gay. Life is good.

ME – 
 39. Hair color: Dirty blond
 40. Long or short hair? It’s short
 41. Do you have a crush on someone? Not right now
 42. What do you like about yourself? My mind (mostly). My body? Not so much
 43. Piercings? Nah I’m good
 44. Blood type: ???????????? Bitch I don’t know
 45. Nickname: One friend called me Nowickipedia and it kind of caught on
 46. Relationship status: www.pringles.com
 47. Zodiac sign: Leo
 48. Pronouns: Honestly I don’t care. He/him is what I’ve used most of my life (thanks, assigned gender! 🙃) but she/her is fine and they/them is ok too.
 49. Favorite TV show(s): STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS & STAR WARS: REBELS (God I’m such a nerd)
 50. Tattoos: No
 51. Right, ambidextrous, or left-handed? Right handed, but I text and use my phone with my left hand and all my other right handed family members think I’m crazy.

FIRST – 
 52. Surgery: None
 53. Piercing: None
 54. Sport: Flag football fourth grade (see 35, subject: masculinity and a desire to “fit in”)
 55. Vacation: Disneyland
 56. Pair of trainers: What is this asking? First pair of physical trainers to help me pump iron??? (Actually it’s probably shoes but who calls shoes trainers??)

CURRENT – 
 57. Eating: Nothing
 58. Drinking: Nothing
 59. I’m about to: ????? No plans just sit at home all day
 60. Listening to: The AC

FUTURE – 
 61. Waiting for: A horribly sappy romantic subplot to happen sometime in the next ten years
 62. Want: To see my friends
 63. Married: Hopefully
 64. Career: Paleontologist? Astrobiologist? Poet? So many options I need to decide.

YOUR TYPE – 
 65. Hugs or kisses? Hugs, but only because I’ve never kissed anyone
 66. Lips or eyes? Eyes 100000% I wrote a song and like thirty poems about them so….
 67. Shorter or taller? Taller probably because I went out in public and everyone was shorter than me and I got a bunch of dysphoria surrounding that so yeah (but honestly it doesn’t matter)
 68. Older or younger? I don’t care
 69. Nice arms or nice stomach? Both. A nice stomach to use as a pillow and nice arms that can hold me tight.
 70. Sensitive or loud? Idk
 71. Hook-up or relationship? Relationship. No sex-repulsed hopeless romantic like me is settling for one night of doing it dirty.
 72. Troublemaker or hesitant? Idk 73. Kissed a stranger? No way
 74. Drank hard liquor? Nope nope nope alcohol is disgusting
 75. Lost contact lenses/glasses? No
 76. Turned someone down? Once when I was still in the closet and I found out a guy had a crush on me but my homophobic brother knew he had a crush and told me so when the boy finally got enough guts to ask me to homecoming I went into panic mode and said no (sorry!) 77. Sex on first date? Nooooooooooo way. Sex would have to be like seven months in when we’ve gotten used to chillin with each other and got past at least twelve dates.
 78. Broken someone’s heart? Maybe. (See 76)
 79. Had your heart broken? Oh boy yeah when I had my first crush on a boy (the crushes on girls before don’t count they were influenced by Toxic masculinity) I ended up telling him and I was Devastated™ but is that heartbreak if it’s a crush? Idk.
 80. Been arrested? Nope
 81. Cried when someone died? See Padme Amidala’s funeral, Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005).
 82. Fallen for a friend? The only way I’ve ever crushed on someone

DO YOU BELIEVE IN – 
 83. Yourself? For like a few days at a time
 84. Miracles? Ehh sort of
 85. Love at first sight? Yes
 86. Santa Claus? No
 87. Kiss on first date? Wait until the fourth
 88. Angels? @ my friends (mutuals = friends)

OTHER – 
 89. Current best friend’s name: I refuse to put just one!
 90. Eye color: Blue
 91. Favorite movie: Jurassic Park, Star Wars: the Complete Saga, Interstellar, Arrival, Mulan

I tag @vanillabeanniall @uswntinharmony @knightcrawlers @rogueleadxr @apple-bottom-dean @solitudeontatooine and any other mutuals I have who want to do this

[itunesbooks]

If I Can't Have You - Gregg Olsen & Rebecca Morris

If I Can't Have You Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance, and the Murder of Her Children Gregg Olsen & Rebecca Morris Genre: True Crime Price: $8.99 Publish Date: May 20, 2014 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Seller: Macmillan In If I Can't Have You , bestselling author Gregg Olsen and co-author Rebecca Morris investigate one of the 21st Century's most puzzling disappearances and how it resulted in the murder of two children by their father. Every once in a great while a genuine murder mystery unfolds before the eyes of the American public. The tragic story of Susan Powell and her murdered boys, Charlie and Braden, is the only case that rivals the Jon Benet Ramsey saga in the annals of true crime. When the pretty, blonde Utah mother went missing in December of 2009 the media was swept up in the story – with lenses and microphones trained on Susan's husband, Josh. He said he had no idea what happened to his young wife, and that he and the boys had been camping in the middle of a snowstorm. Over the next three years bombshell by bombshell, the story would reveal more shocking secrets. Josh's father, Steve, who was sexually obsessed with Susan, would ultimately be convicted of unspeakable perversion. Josh's brother, Michael, would commit suicide. And in the most stunning event of them all, Josh Powell would murder his two little boys and kill himself with brutality beyond belief. http://bit.ly/2VIcykG

[spotlightsaga]

Kevin Cage of @spotlightsaga reviews... Okja (2017) TV-MA @netflix Release Date: June 28, 2017 Director: Joon-ho Bong Writers: Jon Ronson, Joon-ho Bong Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama Score: 5/10 **********SPOILERS BELOW********** It's 2017... And at this point, it really does feel like Netflix could do no wrong. They are dropping television series and films out of thin air, along with Amazon and Hulu with names like Naomi Watts, Winona Rider, Sean Astin, Paul Reiser, Adam Sandler, David Tennant, Vincent D'Onofrio, and that's not even scratching the surface. Pretty much everything Netflix has released in the last few years has been hailed by critics, bloggers and fans alike... But does all this original material really deserve this high praise?! That's where things get a little sketchy... You see, people are very passionate about their streaming favorites... VERY passionate... And when a company is on fire, I think the majority can be almost afraid to call things what they are. Luckily, you found one such group that could give a fuck! Oh, are you surprised we dropped an 'F-Bomb' in the first paragraph of a review about a young South Korean girl who befriends a doomed GMO ¿Superpig/Dog/Elephant/Manatee/Rhino? Don't be. 'Okja' looks, walks, but definitely does not talk like a kids film... There are 'Fucks', 'Shits', and literal shit being used as ammo, as apparently if you turn Okja around and slap him on the butt, ever so slightly, he shoots out pellets like a special edition weapon on 'Call of Doody'. Listen, I'm not going to sit here and act like I didn't enjoy Okja, because I did, to a degree. It's got a bit of magic to it, the CGI is very well done, and Okja is the most magnetic being on the screen... But what does that say for those top notch, award winning actors and actresses like Tilda Swindon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano, Steven Yeun, Devon Bostick? It's not the actors that are to be blamed here... Okja keeps the audience right there with it for a good first half of the film. The issue is we've seen this before... This is basically 'Babe' with a more captivating creature, hardcore language, and Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal giving us entertaining, over-the-top characters that are almost unrecognizable to their star's name and face. Tilda plays Lucy Mirando (and later her money loving, 'take-no-shit' twin sister) a woman who has a long term plan of undoing the negative stigma surrounding their family business. Lucy has created 26 lovable 'superpigs' and sent them all around the world to grow in different climates and conditions, to see which superpig grows the best... And she's going to use sniveling TV Personality Johnny Wilcox (Jake Gyllenhaal) to be the face of the competition and judge each pig to see which one is the biggest and the best... But uhhh... 10 years later. No, that doesn't make much sense... But it does give our semi-lovable young lead, Mija (Seo-Hyun Ahn) plenty of time to connect and grow up with the pig, developing an unarguable deep seeded relationship with her grandfather's would-be prize winning super-pig, Okja. He lies to her repeatedly and tells her that the pig has been bought and it's theirs now. There are a lot of convenient and unexplainable plot devices, twists and turns that really make no sense along Mija and Okja's adventure. Okja of course wins the competition... 10 years later - how Mirando Corporation kept people interested that long, we don't know. It did keep the interest of a group of animal activists called the 'Animal Liberation Front', led by Jay (Paul Dano) and Blond (Daniel Henshall, a man who still creeps me out from his way too convincing performance of John Bunting in Australia's 2011 'The Snowtown Murders'). Mija is pretty much one-note throughout the film, but that's covered with humor, intense action sequences, and CGI flavored emotions... CGI is a flavor at Baskin-Robbins, right? Wait, does Baskin-Robbins even still exist? I haven't seen one of those in years. Dammit, see what this film does? Suddenly, halfway through the film the loose writing that introduces characters and has them say and do things that make no sense in context to their nature, allegiances and temperament starts wearing thin and 'Okja' loses any magic or momentum it had built from the beginning. I'm not entirely sure that this film knows what it wants to be besides, you know, a broad statement about GMO foods and non-vegetarians. Joon-ho Bong directs... I quite enjoyed his 2013 Science-Fiction outing he directed called 'Snowpiercer'. That film, also starring a transformative Tilda Swinton, was even more chaotic than 'Okja', but it's tone was more even throughout the film. You got a sense that 'Snowpiercer's vision was thought through extensively, unlike the uneven 'Okja'. Character motivation was a huge problem throughout 'Okja', and ultimately was what turned me off from the film. 'Okja' was a review request by a good friend of Spotlight Saga's so we thought it was time to breakaway from our normal television routine and give it a try, especially since there were so many great reviews just filing one by one on top of each other. The main question? 'Will Okja make me cry? Is it too sad?' No. This film is clearly being enjoyed by a great number of people... Will that hold up? I doubt it, but for now, that Netflix name and the critical hype that's synonymous with the worldwide brand is keeping the movie 'buzz-worthy'. Ugh, did that term just show my age? Ultimately 'Okja' has some cute moments, some good action sequences, great CGI, and the actors do the best they can with characters that aren't written with depth in mind. I could think of worse ways to spend 2 hours... But I could also think of a million and one better ways too. 'Okja' wants to say fuck a lot, but it doesn't want to pull the trigger and give you an ending that's too upsetting. There is a looming fear that things will end badly but 🚨*spoiler alert*🚨, they don't. Like a lot of current Netflix entries, this one is overrated and its message literally smashes you over the head like a sledgehammer at a county fair. Netflix has been dropping more and more films lately and even screened this one at Cannes... The ambition is there, but the execution is sloppy at best. Let them continue to cook up films and perfect their recipes... Stick with their television series for now, because 'Okja' just isn't it. A darker ending to match its tone or more coherent character motivations would have served this film better. It's not bad by any means, but it's certainly not as great as everyone wishes it to be.

[hermanwatts]

Science Fiction New Releases: 30 May, 2020

Deadly alien games, pulp champions, and electronic warfare fill this week’s science fiction new releases.

Annihilation! (Outcast Starship #1) – Joshua James and Daniel Young

A disgraced captain. An alien invasion. One last shot at redemption.

When Eli Bryce stumbles upon a plot to attack Earth, he shrugs it off. He’s not in the Earth-saving business.

Two decades after he was banished from his homeworld for a disaster that still haunts him, Eli and his crew of misfits struggle to survive on the outskirts of the galaxy.

But when Eli, goaded by his estranged daughter, rescues a near-dead castaway with an impossible secret, everything changes.

Eli might have no choice but to get back into the Earth-saving business.

Worse, he might have to grow a conscience.

Banner of the Stars: Volume 3 – Hiroyuki Morioka

The Countdom of Hyde, Jint’s star system of birth, has been freed from enemy occupation.

The Empire must now reestablish its dominion there, with Jint as its liege by birthright. Yet the self-sufficient planet Martin is as fiercely and hostilely anti-imperial as ever. Moreover, he has to negotiate with the planet’s heads of state… his own foster parents!

While he may have Lafier and more former comrades of his to help him in his struggles, only he can ultimately decide where his true loyalties lie – with Martin, or with the Empire.

The Cosmic Warrior #1 – Jon Del Arroz and Cloves Rodrigues

A peaceful alien people…

…are in dire need of a champion.

Two species have shared custody of the Jolan world for centuries, resolving their disputes through trials of combat in the arena. But now, a great prophecy states that an outsider will come and upset the balance of power of the world. The evil Phobos will do anything–including kill–to stop the prophecy from coming true.

Blue Angels pilot, Captain Daniel Sawyer, is the man chosen as the Jolan champion.

Can he save their world… and survive to tell about it?

CyberSpace – Matthew Mather

China and Russia threaten America not to intervene as simmering tensions between India and Pakistan escalate. One after the other, missiles are launched that destroy satellites in orbit…

After long years apart, Mike Mitchell is reunited with old friends on a fishing trip in New Orleans. He brings his son Luke, now eight years old, while his wife Lauren attends a business meeting in Hong Kong.

Suddenly, worldwide GPS signal goes out. Cell phones stop working. Communications go down. Within hours, almost all international borders are closed as conflict spreads around the globe.

Thousands of planes are stranded in the air as Mike discovers that his wife Lauren took an overnight flight from China to Washington that morning. With satellites falling from the sky and rolling blackouts sweeping the nation, Mike must fight his way across the country in a desperate race to save his family.

But this is only the beginning as the shocking truth comes out, in a new generation of warfare that will forever change the world…

Deadland Drifter – J. N. Chaney and Eli Leigh Drake

When a dental appointment goes sideways, former Union Operative Jack Burner wakes to find himself drugged, and imprisoned.

And he’s given a choice: assassinate an Admiral… or allow himself to be killed.

With no other option, Jack reluctantly accepts the mission, only to find himself being trailed by a mysterious blonde woman… and she may or may not want him dead.

As if dealing with a terrorist group wasn’t enough.

With the fate of the Admiral and thousands of lives hanging in the balance, Jack stands in the middle of an event that could ignite a war on the edge of the Deadlands and Union Space.

Despite his exceptional abilities, training, and tenacity, even Jack has little to no chance of preventing this particular powder keg from exploding.

He’s going to need a miracle.

Debt of Honor (The Embers of War #1) – Christopher G. Nuttall

A year ago, the war against the Theocracy ended. But it didn’t bring peace.

Admiral Kat Falcone was lucky—her side won the war. But without an external threat, Kat’s homeworld government, the Commonwealth, begins to burst. The galactic war may be over, but there is a civil war on the horizon.

The king and parliament disagree over the Commonwealth’s future. The Commonwealth’s first recession is plaguing corporations. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs. And the colonies are demanding their share of power. The Commonwealth has become a ticking time bomb, just waiting to explode.

Meanwhile, the Theocracy is making one final, desperate bid for power. As the external threat looms and the internal threat grows ever larger, Kat and William will need to join forces in order to save the Commonwealth. But it may already be too late.

A Line in the Sand (The Frontiers Saga: Rogue Castes #14) – Ryk Brown

An enemy lashing out in desperation… An alliance poised to expand… A new fleet of ships to help them… A covert mission to get answers…

The Dusahn Empire has been contained for the moment. But there is much work to be done in order to keep them from reasserting their dominance over the Pentaurus sector.

As much as Captain Scott wants to see the Empire destroyed, he may have no choice but to find a way to coexist with them.

Mako (The Mako Saga #1) – Ian J. Malone

It’s just a game…or is it?

On the heels of his divorce, down-and-out history professor Lee Summerston doesn’t have a lot going for him—a nowhere job at a third-rate college with kids who don’t care about anything except how to slide through class. All of that changes, though, when Lee leads a team of old friends to virtual glory as the first-ever group to beat Mako Assault, a revolutionary new game that has emerged from nowhere to take the Internet by storm.

As a reward for their achievement, the group is flown to meet the game’s mysterious designer and assist in developing the follow-on game Mako 2.0. But what they find when they get there is more than they’d expected…much more.

Mako’s intent was never to entertain its players. It was to train them.

Science Fiction New Releases: 30 May, 2020 published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/