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dutchyderpbox · 5 years

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOTHER!

Seriously, what are the odds of Mother’s 30th anniversary falling on the year of the pig? And Porky is mysteriously absent from Smash Ultimate. Maybe there really aren’t any coincidences. All these signs makes it a perfect time for Nintendo to do absolutely nothing. Well, I guess a spirits board event isnt ‘nothing’, per say.

So, I’m just gonna ramble about my feelings about this franchise and my journey with it. So, like I assume many of you my age, hadn't heard of an ‘Earthbound’ prior to playing Melee back in the early 2000′s. Ness wasn't a character I remember playing a lot of, but I did like his taunts (OK!) and Fourside was one of my favorite stages. Then Brawl came around and we got the shy boy named Lucas and a big ass stage. Oh, and some music. That was nice, but I was more excited for Sonic The Hedgehog being in a smash bros game.

I didn’t get interested in the franchise until around 2012/2013(maybe) that I found myself browsing on Youtube and by chance I ended up on a video called “Earthbound, The Dark Side of Mother” by Game Theory. inb4 GAME THEORY?! REEEEEEEEEEE

I was completely blown away by the video, and it remains one of my favorite GT videos. I got me interested in playing the game for myself and seeing what I missed out on.

So I downloaded a ROM, booted up my emulator and had a blast! I fell in love with the game’s sense of humor, the combat system, the music and the sprites, as well as the underlying unnerving atmosphere of it all. Walking through Onett and hearing that music for the first time was oddly nostalgic and it reminded me of where I used to live when I was 6 with my Mom. It reminded me of when you play pretend with your friends and travel to distant lands and fight strange creatures and use common household items and pretend they were swords or axes. And sure, I got stuck on some spots, like the maze with those moles who all think they’re the strongest, but it was an otherwise pleasant ride!

Next up on the list was Mother 1, or Earthbound Beginnings, which I started playing in the Summer of 2014. Finding a translation for the NES rom I had sucked, and I had heard that there was a better one for the Mother 1+2 GBA game that we also never got, so I played a translated version of that Mother 1. It came with an item at the beginning of the game that made things easier because apparently the game has a nasty difficulty spike. I think I game over’d the most in this one of the 3 games. While I cant say I enjoyed it as much Earthbound, I still had fun with the game, and was satisfied by the end of it. It also made me retroactively feel bad for Giygas/Giegue/Geeg/The Geek. I was surprised by certain songs originating from Mother 1 being reused in Earthbound, like Humoresque of a little dog, Snowman, and the music at Lloyd’s school. I dont really have much to say, other than Pippi is cute chad, Teddy has Kamina shade and the Josuke hairdo, and that that one factory maze can burn in hell. Also, remember how at the end Ninten’s dad was like “Hey hold on, this might not be over yet!” I dont think anything became of that. I would have liked Mother 1 and Earthbound to have had more of a connection. Maybe answer questions like where Ninten and his crew were during Earthbound? I think they could have been cool mentor characters for the Chosen 4. Oh well. Happy Birthday, Mother 1! If any of the 3 games deserves a remake, it’s you.

And then there was one. After beating the first two games, I immediately decided to end my journey by playing Mother 3, which I had heard was the best one. And having played it, I can safely say that I agree. I’m glad I didnt get spoiled on anything because this game blew me away. Not only did we have more of a story this time around, we had chapters and character development! The sprites were updated and more expressive, the humor was on point, the music fit perfectly and when this game wanted to break your heart, it did just that. I also liked that the main setting was on an island with a town of residents with names, and that we got to see them all grow older as time passed. I also liked the theme of the game being a sort of nature vs technology, as shown from the game’s logo, and how the town became more distant and empty as Porky’s happy boxes began filling every home. The gameplay was still fun as always, and certain fights, like the Barrier Trio, gave me a run for my money. When they struck their last, spectacular pose, I was laughing hard and felt relieved! ...Too bad the Masked Man took the needle anyways. When I got the the final fight, I had a mixed feeling of sadness and dread and it only got worse as the intermissions kept happening. And the ending to that fight and the game as a whole...Sheesh, they really know how to punch your heart, huh? And when you get to the final screen with the restored logo...it’s just perfect. “No crying until the end”, huh? Well, I bawled at the end, so how’s that? Thanks, Mr. Itoi. And shout out to the team of fans who translated the entire damn game by themselves, cause they did a fantastic job!

Mother is one of my favorite game franchises of all time, and I hope it continues to get exposure and introduce new generations of players into the crazy, noisy bizarre worlds of these games. The games also served as inspirations to many other games, like Undertale, which I loved as well. I heard that there is some official poll going on in Japan right now that’s asking fans what they want from the franchise. If I’m being honest, other than more official merchandise spanning all 3 games, my pipe dream for years has been getting a Mother Trilogy Remake where the characters and setting looked like those official clay figures. While a Mother 4 would be cool, I’m kinda content with how open-ended things are. Plus, if Itoi isn't on board or doesn't give his consent, then what’s the point? Also, I’d love for Porky to get in Smash cause we need more Mother and villain reps, but I doubt he’ll make the cut. Considering the track record so far, the last two DLC fighters are gonna be 3rd party characters, which is fine.

Anyways, that’s all I got. Happy 30th Anniversary, ya’ll! May the power that be grant us our wishes for Porky in Smash, Mother 3 world-wide re-release and a Mother Trilogy Remake.

Fuzzy Pickles!

Artwork is from here: https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=56436164

#mother 30th anniversary #MOTHER #MOTHER 1 #MOTHER 2 #MOTHER 3 #earthbound #earthbound beginnings

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ampersands-and-guitars · 5 years

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Endgame Reaction (spoilers)

You know, I hate it when fans get angry when a movie doesn’t go the way they personally wanted or expected. I try to not be that person, but man is Endgame making that hard.

I was a huge fan of Infinity War. I’d never felt that devastated coming out of a movie theater and I felt that it just hit all the right notes and set up an incredible solution. But I’m still trying to process Endgame, and I’m not sure it is a complementary follow up to Infinity War.

Criticisms

The deaths of Loki, Gamora, and Vision were, to me, the heart and emotional anchor of Infinity War. Those deaths deserved emotional payoff in Endgame. We had Thor walk right past Loki in Asgard and not even look at him, there was one brief reference to Vision, and only a quick moment between 2014!Gamora and Peter that was a weirdly light moment.

Thor’s trauma from Infinity War was mocked and played for laughs even though Cap ran a support group.

We spent so much time talking about time travel, joking about time travel, and figuring out the logistics of time travel that we didn’t have enough time to wrap things up in a satisfying way. It leaves the audience to connect all the dots re: What happened to 2014!Gamora (dusted, I guess, but Peter seems to be searching for her — does that mean 2014!Thanos and crew are not dead, but somewhere else in time?), the fact that Peter and Ned and probably MJ were all conveniently snapped together so that they could finish out their high school years together, how Old Cap got to the bench, how the hell society will readjust the the other half of the population returning, what Avengers will continue the legacy of the OG6, etc. We can figure most of these things out, but as of right now they’re just head canons.

The shift in focus with characters was a bit odd to me from Infinity War to Endgame. Of course we always love and care about our OG6, but...I don’t know. There was a lot of weight put on Doctor Strange, Wanda, the people of Wakanda, and the Guardians in Infinity War. To have this one be focused on the OG6 was to be expected given the snap, but I wish we could’ve spent more time with everyone else other than the battle sequence.

Also with that...I’m not sure this movie carried the emotional weight I anticipated. Infinity War was devastating. This one was...kinda more like the 2012 Avengers movie in tone for me for the first half of the film, at least. It was certainly incredibly sad in parts, obviously, but on a whole I didn’t feel as moved as I thought I should at the conclusion of a 22-film saga. It felt kinda...empty?

I totally understand not wanting to erase the five years that went by after the snap. A lot of babies were born and life went on. But that puts the people who come back from the snap in an awkward, potentially devastating spot. What if their spouse remarried or died? What about the people who missed five years with their children that they’ll never get back? What if a family member committed suicide because it seemed like the end of the world? What about the plant and animal life that is now suddenly back — wouldn’t that cause a catastrophic event on its own? What about the people who died as a result of the snap, like in car accidents? I completely agree with Tony’s logic. But I don’t agree with the writers that they chose to jump five years ahead in time instead of maybe like, six months or a year. Five years is way too much time to expect the world to go back to normal, sorry.

Nitpicks:

How did Nick Fury not get a single line when he started the Avengers Initiative?

How did he and Carol not have even a tiny reunion after what we just saw them go through?

In fact, another way this film didn’t match with what immediately preceded it: Nick signaled for Carol, and then we saw Carol showed up at the compound asking for Nick. How did she know to go rescue Tony and Nebula? How did the Avengers on Earth know Tony needed to be rescued?

We’re just like...not gonna talk about Vision?

We’re just not gonna worry about the fact that 2012 has a branch alternate timeline now because Loki escaped? It was just an oopsie-daisy? (I know, it’ll lead to his Disney+ show and I’m SO EXCITED, but the reaction from Tony and Scott was freaking weird.)

After all that Nebz didn’t have an true opportunity to get revenge on her father, eh? K.

I am feminist through and through and find it SO important for good women’s representation in media, but ugh that moment where all the women came together in battle felt kinda cringeworthy. It was just so ham-fisted. Seeing all of the women displaying their powers and fighting like badasses would’ve been enough. But all of them just so happening to be together at the exact same moment on a giant battlefield? Alrighty then.

If I were Taika Watiti I’d be a lil pissed that all the development in Ragnarok is just POOF. Gone. Love me some Valkyrie though. I can’t believe Thor casually handing the throne to her didn’t summon Loki to stab him right then and there.

Loved:

Loved Nebula throughout. Loved her growth and relationships with Rhodey and Tony. Loved the idea of 2014!Nebula switching places with present day Nebula and bringing forth the 2014!Thanos and crew. That surprised me and was a cool twist. I also like that present day Nebula had a chance to talk to 2014!Gamora.

Tony’s anger when he was first rescued and brought back to Earth was excellent. He was completely and entirely right, IMO.

Loved the throwbacks to old movies and extra details we got to see. I’m partial to 2012 New York (moments of Sassy!Loki made my life), but I also loved Tony’s conversation with his father.

LOVED the battle scene. Goosebumps everywhere. What an incredible moment. It felt very Lord of the Rings, which is a very good thing in my book.

I thought Tony’s death was beautifully done. I think Cap was the more obvious (and better) choice to die as he was already living out his second chance at life. But if Tony had to die, I thought it was handled well. I cried. I cried a lot. Love you 3000, Tony.

Final Note: I am admittedly a fan of the more space-oriented Marvel films a-la Thor and Guardians. I always kinda knew I possibly wouldn’t enjoy this Earth-based story as much as the space-based Infinity War, but...oy. I’ve been sad all day at how disappointed I am. It didn’t help that this movie got GLOWING reviews that I’m currently not understanding. I’m hoping another viewing will change my mind.

I’ve always felt (and I think a lot of people feel this way) that Empire Strikes Back is a stronger film than its follow up, Return of the Jedi. It doesn’t impact my love for the trilogy, it’s just how it is. That might just have to be my final opinion on Infinity War and Endgame too.

#endgame #endgame spoilers #casey writes stuff

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ssinkpress · 3 years

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FROM: July 12, 2021.

SADIE SINK ON FEAR STREET, STRANGER THINGS, AND HITTING HER STRIDE

IN NETFLIX'S SLASHER TRILOGY, SHE PLAYS A CAMP OUTCAST BATTLING BOTH THE SNOTTY POPULAR CROWD AND SINISTER SUPERNATURAL FORCES

MTV NEWS STAFF 07/12/2021

By Annie Zaleski

When Sadie Sink connects with MTV News on a recent Monday, it's mere hours before the in-person premiere for Netflix's Fear Street trilogy. Later that night, the actress — who's perhaps best known for portraying Max on Stranger Things — would be spotted in Los Angeles State Historic Park wearing a black bandeau top, wide black pants, and hefty boots. On the phone, however, the Texas native reveals that this very morning, she realized this screening was exactly two years to the day after the premiere for Season 3 of Stranger Things.

Much has changed for Sink during this time. She turned 18 (and is now 19), graduated high school, and made some important decisions about post-grad life. But one of the most transformative things she did was film Fear Street Part Two: 1978, the second part of a horror-slasher film trilogy loosely based on R.L. Stine’s books. The film is released Friday (July 9) via Netflix, while the first movie, Fear Street Part One: 1994 was out on July 2. (The third and concluding installment in the series, Fear Street Part Three: 1666, is due July 16.)

Where Fear Street Part One: 1994 followed a group of teens growing up in a cursed small town, Fear Street Part Two: 1978 takes place in 1978, at a rural summer camp for teenagers with pure evil lurking beneath its wholesome exterior. Sink plays Ziggy Berman, a camp outcast who finds herself battling not just the snotty popular crowd, but sinister supernatural forces that have plagued residents of nearby towns for centuries.

While outwardly tough and tomboyish, Ziggy has a rich emotional interior, owing to a turbulent family life. That potential for depth appealed to Sink. "When I was looking over the script, at first glance, you can check her off as a very aggressive and intense character who's mad at the world. All of these things are true,” she says. “But what was important to me was to go and find moments that she was a little bit softer, and the moments that showed more of her vulnerabilities."

To prepare Sink for the role, Fear Street trilogy director Leigh Janiak recommended the actress watch a few slasher movies, including Friday the 13th and Scream. ("I think I got through some of them, because they're very scary," she says lightly.) And while Sink sees the parallels between Fear Street Part Two: 1978 and these classic horror films, "for the most part, I took it for what it was," she says. That's one reason Fear Street Part Two: 1978 feels so fresh: Sink wasn't beholden to clichés, but free to embrace her own spin on the horror genre.

The actress has some previous experience with supernatural stories, as she appeared in 2019's horror-thriller Eli, portraying a teenage girl with a spooky secret about her true identity. However, her acting resume tends toward theater (her first big break came in the 2012 Broadway revival of Annie) or more straightforward dramatic roles. In fact, she notes portraying Ziggy Berman also involved far more stunt work than she had done in the past, and was a much more physical role; among other things, she had to build up her stamina since so many scenes involved running.

"They require you to just really throw yourself into it and be out in the elements and really be in the moment, you leave everything out there," Sink says. "I became a lot more comfortable, you know, screaming on camera and doing things that feel so unnatural and ridiculous sometimes." Surprisingly, filming a horror film isn't all fear and anxiety, however: "There's this energy that's so fun on the horror-movie set," she adds. "And even though, sometimes, it's actually pretty tense and scary when it needs to be, for the most part, weirdly it feels a little bit more lighthearted than when you're doing something that's more dramatic."

That vibe has a lot to do with the approach of Janiak, who previously helmed and co-wrote 2014's equally suspenseful Honeymoon and who directed all three Fear Street films over one summer. "I'd wanted to work with Leigh for a while," Sink explains. "And in the lookbook that she put together, and sitting and meeting with her and hearing her talk about the films, she had a really strong and clear vision for all three of them." After the films wrapped, Sink's instincts were proven right — not just about Janiak's work ethic, but also her personality.

"She's probably the coolest person I know. On set, she was very encouraging and understanding. She made it a really fun environment. The great energy that she created on set really translated into the film. We were just having so much fun, and when watching the 1978 movie, you see that. The cast bonded so well together. It felt like a great, fun summer-camp experience."

The retro feeling (and retro music) of Fear Street Part Two: 1978 is reminiscent of Stranger Things at times. However, the actress sees distinct differences between Ziggy and her beloved Stranger Things character Max, a skateboarding and arcade game enthusiast who has also weathered family and personal challenges in a town plagued by weirdness. "Max still has this innocence about her. And I think she really enjoys being a kid and being free and everything," Sink says. "Ziggy is very misunderstood and wants to be seen as an adult because she's wise beyond her years. So the role is definitely more mature than my work than I've done on Stranger Things. It was stepping into something different."

Although the 2020 pandemic lockdown interrupted production of the latest Stranger Things season, Sink notes the cast picked up filming again without missing a beat. "It's an incredible season,” she says. “And the scale of it is just so massive this year. I think people are really going to enjoy it." It helped that Sink made the most of the break, and actually used the downtime to become closer to Max. "If anything, I just had more time to read through the scripts and connect with her even more this season. [I've been] playing the same character since I was 14, so you get to know her really well. You're able to slip in and out of character. But during the pandemic, I was missing set and missing the scripts, and, and I missed Max a lot, too."

The 2020 lockdown ended up being formative for Sink for plenty of other reasons, as well. She built on her love of writing and took up journaling during the long stretch of time at home. Turning 18 also meant she effectively is now considered an adult in the eyes of the acting industry, which removes schooling requirements and limitations on working hours. "It was a big change," she admits. "But I was so ready to get back to work that it didn't even faze me."

For the moment, Sink also decided to forgo college and focus on her career, although she "can definitely see myself going one day" in the future. "When I was younger, it was like, 'Oh, of course, I'm going to college,'" she says. "And then you actually get to that point and you're like, 'Wait, I don't know if this is the right idea. I think that would be too much for me right now.' And if I've learned anything from the pandemic, it's [to] take it one day at a time. You can't predict the future. So that's what I'm doing right now, I'm playing it by ear."

In the meantime, Sink is keeping busy: In addition to filming Stranger Things, she recently wrapped a drama called The Whale (with Darren Aronofsky and Brendan Fraser) and is also starring in the upcoming film Dear Zoe, in the role of a teenager navigating through the aftermath of her younger sister's death. "It's been a busy year so far. I kind of went straight into the fire from doing absolutely nothing for eight months, and then having a pretty stacked schedule. This summer, I'm hoping to relax and do absolutely nothing for a little bit."

Sink certainly deserves the break. "All these big changes were happening in my life, I had a lot of personal growth, I think. And I came out of the pandemic being so grateful for work and being able to be on set and being able to safely surround myself with faces that I'd missed so much."

#mtv #pressfs #fs #stseason4 #2021

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weekendwarriorblog · 5 years

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WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND December 14, 2018 - Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse, The Mule, Mortal Engines, Once Upon a Deadpool

After two weeks with just one wide release between them, we’re back to the slew of releases that are going to vie for business over the holidays, and while this weekend is fairly busy, next week is going to be absolute madness! One thing that needs to be remembered is that the early part of December always tends to be slower than usual as people spend more time/money buying Christmas gifts for others and getting in some overtime before the holiday break. Because of this, many movies released over the next two weeks might not completely achieve their opening week potential, instead setting things up for some serious legs over the Christmas-New Year’s break. It happens every single year and it creates an environment where you can have movies like The World’s Greatest Showman and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle opening moderately but having ginormous legs.

SPIDER-MAN: ENTER THE SPIDER-VERSE (Sony)

What was once seen as the low-man on the superhero totem pole for 2018 is now looking to be the biggest surprise of the year, as this animated take on the popular Marvel superhero is given new life via animation and a shift to a few newer and younger takes on Spider-Man than have been seen in the live-action movies.

Spider-Man: Enter the Spider-Verse came into being during the Amy Pascal exit deal that got Sony and Marvel Studios co-producing Spider-Man films like last year’s hit Spider-Man: Homecoming, one of Sony’s two huge blockbusters from 2017, as well as one of the studio’s top 5 biggest hits. This one is produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who has had huge success with Sony Pictures Animation with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and its sequel, as well as the R-rated 21 Jump Street and its sequel. They also helped launch Warner Bros’ LEGO movie brand with The LEGO Movie, which grossed $469 million worldwide and has a sequel coming out in a few months.

This is a somewhat different superhero movie, not only because it’s animated, but also because it focuses on the character Miles Morales, voiced by Shameik Moore fromDope, and then surrounding him with alternate versions of Spider-Man, including one voiced by Jake Johnson (Jurassic World) and the popular Spider-Gwen, voiced by Hailee Steinfeld. There’s also odder incarnations like Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham, voiced by John Dulaney, as well as different takes on popular Spider-villains.

Critics so far have been raving about the movie with the movie currently at 99% Freshwith 104 reviews (at this writing). Much of that has to do with the unique comic storytelling and innovative animation that makes it look unlike any other animated movie. The movie had sneak previews this past Saturday in IMAX theaters, which will also help generate word-of-mouth for the film’s wide release Thursday night.

What’s good is that this is a PG-rated Spider-Man movie that will allow younger kids to see it who might not be able to convince their parents to take them to a PG-13 Spider-Man movie, but also, the fact that Miles Morales is black and Latino means the movie could attract an even larger urban audience than other Spider-Man movies. We’ve already seen that the demand is out there for more diverse superheroes with the success of Marvel Studios’ Black Panther to the tune of $700 million domestic.

Obviously, the movie has a lot going for it, and not just the fact that Spider-Man continues to be one of the most beloved and recognizable superheroes out there even with the twists introduced in this movie. Last month, it didn’t seem like Enter the Spider-Verse could crack $30 million but with all of the buzz and hype generated from the press, as well as awards attention, this could be seen as a viable family offering with Ralph Wrecks the Internet having already been around for three weeks.

Expect Enter the Spider-Verse to open at #1 with $35 to 40 million and though it has Warners’ Aquaman AND Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns nipping at its tail in a week, I think its uniqueness will help drive word-of-mouth so that it has a nice spike over the holidays much like Jumanjidid last year. In other words, don’t be shocked if this one leaves theaters with $150 million or more sometime next year.

My Review of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

THE MULE (Warner Bros.)

Clint Eastwood is back with his second movie of 2018, and this is not the first time the filmmaker has released two movies, although this might be the first year where neither of those movies are vying for awards. More importantly, this is Eastwood’s first appearance in front of the camera since 2012’s Trouble with the Curve co-starring Amy Adams, which opened with $12.2 million on its way to $35.7 million gross. This movie has Eastwood playing a farmer who takes on jobs delivering drugs to make ends meet… no, I’m not sure why he doesn’t get his mule to do that, since the movie is called “The Mule” but whatever.

On top of that, the movie co-stars Bradley Cooper, coming off his huge blockbuster Oscar fodderA Star is Born, which is close to grossing $200 million, plus Cooper previously starred in Eastwood’s highest-grossing movie to date, American Sniper. That movie grossed $350 million and was one of the biggest films that year.

The movie is opening in December as counter-programming to just about everything else, trying to interest older men and women, especially those in the Red States, who may be too old or disinterested in an animated Spider-Man movie. Reviews are still embargoed as of this writing, but I get the impression that they will be better than some might expect.

Even so, it’s hard to imagine The Mule will do nearly as well as Sniperor even Gran Torino, but opening it relatively wide rather than platforming it like those films, Warner Bros. probably wants this to be an option for holiday-viewing during that week everyone is off around Christmas.

Because it’s opening in the tougher weeks before Christmas, The Mule probably will open lower than normal, probably in the $14 to 16 million range, but if it’s any good, it should act as decent counter-programming to the superhero fare and musicals of the season, so maybe it can do closer to $65 million than the $35 to 50 million of other recent Eastwood offerings.

Mini-Review: It’s safe to say that if you go into Clint Eastwood’s movie thinking you know all of what to expect from the trailer and general plot, you’re likely to be wrong.

In his second movie (at least as a director) of 2018, Eastwood plays Earl Stone, a Peoria, Illinois-based horticulturist who has fallen on hard times to the point where he’s losing his greenhouse, but he’s also been dealing with family issues, including an estranged daughter (played by Clint’s daughter Allison Eastwood) and an angry ex-wife (Dianne Wiest). At a reception for his granddaughter’s wedding, he meets a young man who gives him a business card to earn some extra money driving; turns out that he would be delivering drugs for the Mexican cartel, but the Earl money makes doing so, and what he’s able to do with that money seemingly makes it worth it.

Earl Stone is another great Eastwood character, a cranky curmudgeon, completely incorrect politically, but also quite lovable. Reteaming with his Gran Torino writer Nick Schenk – working from a New Yorkerarticle -- gives Eastwood another chance to play with his public perception as a cranky old man, which he seems to relish, but also, it allows him to play with a different version of that character than in Gran Torino.

As Earl gets better at his driving gig, the DEA is on his tail in the form of Bradley Cooper, Michael Peña and their supervisor, played by Laurence Fishburne, who insists that they get some busts. It’s fairly obvious that Earl is either going to be caught or killed as long as he continues.

In many ways, the film gave me some of the same feelings I had while watching David Lowery’s underrated The Old Man and the Gun, starring Robert Redford and Casey Affleck. The movie is warm and funny during the first act but it eventually becomes more of a cat-and-mouse tale of Earl and his handlers trying to avoid the DEA, which

It’s also impossible to ignore the incredible work by Dianne Wiest as Earl’s wife, a role that gives her a lot of opportunities to show how deserving she was to receive two Oscars and how equally deserving she would be to get a fourth nomination.

The results are an intriguing morality tale that keeps you invested in Earl’s story throughout. It isn’t a perfect movie, but honestly, if this ends up being Clint Eastwood’s swan song, either as a director or actor, then he’s going out on a high note. Rating: 7.5/10

MORTAL ENGINES (Universal)

In any other year or weekend, this adaptation of Philip Reeve’s 2001 Y.A. novel, the first of a series of four books, being adapted by the team behind The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit may have been one of the biggest movies of the holiday season. Unfortunately, that probably won’t be the case.

The fact that I knew next to nothing about this movie which comes out Friday – it involves giant Battlebot-like cities on wheels, apparently -- is proof there was a major fail in some aspect of this movie’s marketing strategy. Sure, I’ve seen quite a few trailers and none of them impressed me more than the ones for that Nutcracker that I really wanted to see for a while. But at least that movie had a known name-brand from decades of Christmas pageants and name stars; are that many fans of the Mortal Engines book really clamoring for this movie?

Sure, it’s exciting that it was written and produced by Peter Jackson with his frequent collaborators Fran Walsh & Philippa Boyden, since we haven’t seen anything from them since The Hobbit trilogy ended in 2014, but even those started to peter out with each installment. The Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey opened with $84 million in 2012, but the third installment The Battle of Five Armies opened with $30 million less and grossed $255 million vs. $300 million domestically.

This adaptation is directed by Christian Rivers, who won an Oscar for his visual effects work on Jackson’s King Kong, and he’s been doing visual FX or other duties on most of Jackson’s films over the years. Probably the only exciting names in the credits are that of Hugo Weaving of the aforementioned Lord of the Rings and the Matrix trilogy, as well as Stephen Lang from the Avatarfranchise, however many movies that ends up being. It stars Icelandic actor Hera Hilmar, best known from Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina and the short-lived Da Vinci’s Demons show. She stars opposite Robert Sheehan, who recently appeared in Bad Samaritan with David Tennant.

Beyond the fact that there isn’t a big-name star to get people interested, the enthusiasm towards Y.A. material has deteriorated greatly in recent years with series likeDivergentand The Mortal Instrument movies failing to the point where they were moved over to television. Popular books like The 5thWave, The Host and The Giver have faltered with bigger name stars, as has The Maze Runner trilogy, which to Fox’s credit, they completed even with the decrease in interest from moviegoers. Since then, they failed to find an audience with The Darkest Minds, while the lower-budgeted The Hate U Give(also starring Amandla Stenberg) is doing slightly better (hopefully boosted by its wins at the L.A. Online Film Critics this past weekend).

And then there are the early reviews for the movie, which are not good and that won’t help convince anyone on the fence to shell out their hard-earned cash to see this.

Even though Mortal Engines is opening in over 3,000 theaters, I just don’t feel very much excitement for the movie among non-readers, especially when compared to Into the Spider-Verse. Because of that, I feel like it might end up in the $13 to 15 million range, which would be absolutely horrible. It also might fall short of 2ndplace against Clint Eastwood’s The Mule, only because Clint is a much more solid known quantity with moviegoers.

Mini-Review: Imagine if you’re an FX artist who has been working with a visionary filmmaker like Peter Jackson for most of his career, and one day, Mr. Jackson comes up to you and says, “Christian,” (because that is your name) “I want you to direct my latest script, and you can use the finest production designers and FX people that money can buy.” And he plops this script he wrote with his frequent collaborators down in front of you and it’s something called “Mortal Engines.” You read it with interest imagining all the amazing visuals you can use to bring the world of this script to life, and you take on the role eagerly even though you’ve never directed a big budget feature film before. I certainly don’t want to pass judgment or cast aspersions on director Christian Rivers for his background in FX, because it’s almost become a cliché when an FX guy direct a movie, and that movie is better for its visuals than for the story or characters.

The central story revolves around these enormous tank-like moving cities including “predator cities” like London that are larger and vaster than the small moving villages they overcome and grind down for fuel and parts. Hannah Shaw is the inhabitant of one such city (Hera Hilmar) that’s engulfed by London, but she has a vendetta against London’s lead archivist Thaddeus Valentine (Hugo Weaving), but she ends up stranded outside London with a young Thaddeus protégé named Tom Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan) after an altercation with Valentine. At the same time, London has been at war with the non-traction Asian region of Shan Guo, represented by the rebellious Anna Fang (Jihae), who recuses Tom and Hannah as they’re being chased by Shrike (Stephen Lang), a “Resurrected,” basically a walking metal skeleton, much like the Terminator, who pursues them to get to Hannah.

Other than Hugo Weaving and the unrecognizable Lang, this is a cast with so little charisma you rarely care about any of the characters, nor can you keep track of who is good, who is bad, who is this or that person? Are they important? Do we care if they die? That’s not a good place to be when you’re hit in the head with so much narrative and so many wild locations and vehicles, which granted, are quite glorious to behold. No one can say that the production design, art and visual FX teams didn’t put in the work to make Mortal Engines a fantastic-looking film.

Regardless, Mortal Engines feels like a big-screen Y.A. adaptation coming too late in the game when the Twilight and Hunger Games franchises have managed to sate that audience’s appetite, which tries to hit us over the head with a “war is bad” message, which is also likely to fall on deaf ears. Better idea? Skip this and go see Peter Jackson’s WWI doc on Monday instead (see below), because there’s just so much more to get out of that movie then watching this one. Rating: 5.5/10

ONCE UPON A DEADPOOL (20thCentury Fox)

Opening Wednesday is a strange anomaly of a superhero movie, being a PG-13 rerelease of Deadpool 2, which came out earlier this year and grossed $318.5 million domestically. It’s a little strange to think that Fox would try to squeeze out a few more pennies by releasing an edited/censored version of the movie, but apparently there’s new footage being advertised including scenes with Fred Savage.

Again, this seems like it’s competing directly against the stronger Spider-Man: into the Spider-verse. Playing in just 500 theaters (and opening on Wednesday) means it’s going to be tough to make much of a mark over the weekend. I do think that there may be some college-age guys who might go see this instead, but it definitely feels like Deadpool 2 ran its course months ago. It might break into the bottom of the top 10 with around $2.5 to 3 million but even that might be overly-optimistic.

On the other hand, Yorgos Lanthimos’ acclaimed period comedy The Favourite will be expanded into around 525 theaters by Fox Searchlight to take advantage of the buzz from awards and nominations of which more will roll out this week.

With three new wide releases and more to come next week, the returning movies are going to start losing theaters fast, so we could see some bigger drops for movies like Ralph Breaks the Internet and Fantastic Beasts in particular.

This week’s Top 10 should look something like this…

1. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse (Sony) - $36.5 million N/A

2. The Mule (Warner Bros.) - $14.6 million N/A

3. Mortal Engines (Universal) - $12.8 million N/A

4. The Grinch (Universal) - $9 million -40%

5. Ralph Breaks the Internet (Disney) - $8.6 million -47%

6. Creed II (MGM) - $5.3 million -47%

7. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (Warner Bros.) - $3.3 million -52%

8. Bohemian Rhapsody (20thCentury Fox) - $3.2 million -48%

9. The Favourite (Fox Searchight) - $2.9 million +200%

10. Once Upon a Deadpool (Fox) - $2.7 million N/A

LIMITED RELEASES

Before we get to the weekend’s limited releases, I wanted to give a little added attention to a new documentary directed by Peter Jackson that will premiere via Fathom Events in select theaters for two nights only, Monday December 17 and December 27. THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD (Warner Bros.) is a fantastic documentary that shares stories from World War I through recorded interviews with some of the men who served, used to narrate black and white silent footage that was filmed during the “war to end all wars,” Jackson being commissioned by the Imperial War Museum to make a movie out of the archived footage and audio recordings. It isn’t as simple as that might sound, because Jackson took that black and white silent footage, colorized it, used computer FX to make it 3D and added sound FX to really put you into this horrifying trench war. It’s really amazing to watch what starts out as a black and white film with an old aspect ratio expanded to fit the big screen as it becomes more and more vivid and detailed. It’s also crazy to think that everyone we see or hear in this movie is very likely dead since 2018 is the 100thanniversary of the end of World War I. You can find out where this is playing on Monday at the Fathom Events site, and I highly recommend it for History Channel enthusiasts because it’s a very different experience of a war that hasn’t been covered in quite this way before.

Barry Jenkins’ long-awaited follow-up to his Oscar-winning Moonlight is IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK (Annapurna), his adaptation of James Baldwin’s novel, which opens Friday after an acclaimed festival run. It stars newcomers Kiki Layne and Stephen James as Tish and Fonny, a young couple in love who run into troubles when Fonny is erased leaving the pregnant Tish to have to deal with trying to get him released as well as having a baby on her own. The drama also stars Regina King as Tish’s mother, a role likely to get her an Oscar, and Colman Domingo as her father. I’ve become quite fascinated by Baldwin since watching the doc I Am Not Your Negro, and I was definitely interested in how he might tackle a fictional story, which is already having a deep social impact and relevance with African-Americans. You can read more of my thoughts from out of the New York Film Festival, where the film had its US premiere, but I liked the film quite a bit more on second viewing, especially how the love story between Tish and Fonny was portrayed by two fantastic young actors. The movie will open in select cities this week, then slowly expand before being nationwide on Christmas Day.

From Lebanon comes CAPERNAUM (Sony Pictures Classics), the new film from Nadine Labaki (Caramel), which follows a young street kid named Zain (Zain Al Rafeea) who tries to survive after running away from home, angry about the way his sister and other kids are being treated by his foster parents. This is another fantastic film by Labaki that gives you some idea about the issues faced by Lebanon, including poverty and immigration and how they’re related. Zain Al Rafeea carries the film beautifully. It will open in New York and L.A. on Friday and likely will expand further if it gets an Oscar nomination in January.

A thematic sequel to the Norwegian disaster movie The Wave, John Andres Andersen’s THE QUAKE (Magnet) tells another story from the same series of earthquakes that rocks Norway. It will open in scattered cities but mostly can be seen On Demand via various platforms.

On Thursday, Netflix’s post-apocalyptic thriller Bird Box, based on Josh Malerman’s 2014 novel, will be released into select theaters Thursday before its Netflix streaming debut on December 21. Directed by Susanne Bier, it stars Sandra Bullock as the mother of two children who are blindfolded and led through a post-apocalyptic setting. Adapted by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Eric Heisserer (Arrival), it also stars Trevante Rhodes (Moonlight), John Malkovich, Sarah Paulson, Jacki Weaver, Rosa Salazar and Danielle Macdonald. I hope to write more about this next week after I’ve actually seen it.

After a controversial director’s cut screening last month, Lars von Trier’s The House That Jack Built (IFC Films) will get a presumably toned-down version released in select cities, although this version also runs 151 minutes, so who knows? It stars Matt Dillon as a serial killer who we watch killing various victims (including Uma Thurman) as he converses with a mysterious being (played by Bruno Ganz) on his way to the underworld.

Sam Abbas writes, directs and stars in The Wedding (ArabQ Films) about a young Muslim man preparing for his wedding to Sara (Nikohl Boosheri), although he has been keeping his homosexual inclinations a secret as they go against his religious upbringing. It will open at the Cinema Village in New York (with Abbas and other guests in person for a shows all weekend) on Friday.

Big River Man director John Maringouin’s Ghostbox Cowboy (Dark Star Pictures) stars David Zellner (of the filmmaking Zellner Brothers responsible for Damsel and Kumiko the Treasure Hunter) as Texan Jimmy Van Horn as a huckster cowboy who arrives in Shenzhen with ambitions of economic success with the help of his friend Bob Grainger (Robert Longstreet). This darkly comic morality tale also opens at the Cinema Village but it’s currently available On Demand.

Another movie barely getting a theatrical release is Matthew Brown’s Maine (Orion Classics), starring Laia Costa (Duck Butter, Life Itself) and Thomas Mann from Me, Earl and the Dying Girl about a woman who decides to hike the Appalachian trail solo until her trip is disrupted by a young American hiker, played by Mann. It’s in select theaters on Thursday then streaming On Demand Friday.

Fans of animation should always be up for this year’s 20th Annual Animation Show of Shows, which celebrates its 20thyear with some fantastic offerings like “The Green Bird,” Taiko Studios’ “One Small Step,” which had me ugly-crying at its story of a young girl’s dreams of becoming an astronaut, Alain Biet’s highly-innovative and hypnotic “Grands Canons,” Veronica Solomon’s eerie “Love Me, Fear Me” from Germany and many, many more. More than likely, some of these animated shorts might end up on the Oscar shortlist, but you can find out for yourself when the program opens at the Laemmle Theater on Friday then at New York’s Quad Cinema on Dec. 28.

STREAMING

Besides Alfonso Cuaron’s ROMA, which will start streaming on Netflix after a few weeks in theaters, Sunday will see the anticipated debut of Springsteen on Broadway, as the Boss finishes his run on Broadway with his one-man show as a taping of one of his shows streams on Netflix.

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

Things are getting mighty busy at my local repertory theater with a couple new series, including In the Year of the Grifter, an interesting series of films about con-men, frauds, fakes and such, which will include everything from Orson Welles’ Mr. Arkadinand F for Fake to Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, Frank Oz’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, David Mamet’s House of Games and The Spanish Prisoner, as well as Stephen Frear’s The Grifters (likely where the series got its name). This amazing-looking series will run through the New Year, so check out the trailer below!

vimeo

The Metrograph has already begun its self-explanatory Miyazaki at Studio Ghibli, which mainly runs through the weekend tie-ing into the Miyazak doc mentioned above, but it could end up being extended through the holidays. If you’re a fan, you probably have already seen the six films being shown on DCP. Opening Friday is a digital restoration of Alexsey German’s 1998 oddball dark comedy Khrurstalyov, My Car!! (Arrow Films) which covers similar territory as The Death of Stalin in a far more madcap way. It really wasn’t for me.December’s offering from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences is Richard Donner’s 1988 holiday classic Scrooged with Carol Kane, Karen Allen and co-writer Mitch Glazer appearing after the (sold out!) Saturday screening then showing two more times next week.Also on Saturday, you can check out the “Dream Double Feature” of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) and the musical Top Hat (1935), both on 35mm, and later that evening, it’s the original Predator (1987), wrapping up the theater’s Bill Duke series. (Those last four are all on Saturday, so I might be moving into the Metrograph that day.)

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

Wednesday and Thursday sees a double feature of The Last Safari and Shoot Out, while Friday is a double feature of Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! and Motorpsycho! (sadly, already sold out online) and another midnight screening of Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. The weekend begins the holiday classics like The Muppet Christmas Carol for the kids on Sunday afternoon, and Saturday night’s midnight screening is 1980’s Christmas Evil. Then on Monday and Tuesday is a double feature of Miracle on 34thStreet (1947) and Santa Claus: The Movie (1985).

FILM FORUM (NYC):

The Film Forum will show a 4k restoration of Yasujiro Ozu’s The Flavor of Green Tea over Ice (1952; Janus Films) for a one-week run, and this weekend’s Film Forum Jr. is Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life, which also continues at the IFC Center below.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

The Egyptian will show the classic Auntie Mame (1958) starring Rosalind Russell on Wednesday (sold out) and Thursday nights. Filmmaker William Friedkin will be at the theater for a double feature of To Live & Die in L.A. (1985) and Cutter’s Way (1981)on Saturday, while Sunday is a restoration of Detour (in conjunction with a sneak preview of Karyn Kusama’s new crime drama Destroyer on Friday night).

AERO (LA):

The American Cinematheque’s theater will also be celebrating Japanese Anime legend Hayao Miyazaki (in conjunction with the doc mentioned above) with the series The Never-Ending Hayao Miyazaki, including screenings of My Neighbor Tatoro (Thursday), Spirited Away (Friday), a double feature of Howl’s Moving Castle and Kiki’s Delivery Service on Saturday and then the doc screened on Sunday.

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

Running for the next three weeks is the Quad’s Rated X series, which includes the likes of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, John Waters’ Desperate Living and Female Trouble, the controversial Last Tango in Paris, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1 and 2 and many many more films that raised the ire of the MPAA. Also on Friday, the Quad will premiere a 4k restoration of Luchino Visconti’s 1971 film Death in Venice, an adaptation of Thomas Mann’s novel about a German composer on vacation in Lido.

IFC CENTER (NYC)

This weekend’s Late Night Favorites is Alejandro Jodorowsky’s El Topo, while Weekend Classicspresents the Coen Brothers’ True Grit. This weekend’s Shaw Brothers Spectacular is Buddha Palm from 1982.

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART (LA):

Friday’s midnight movie is Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands from 1990.

FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER (NYC):

Christian Petzold: The State We Are Inwraps up on Thursday, which leads directly into Jacques Tourneur, Fearmaker, a retrospective of the 2ndgeneration French filmmaker responsible for 1942’s Cat People, 1943’s I Walked with a Zombie, 1944’s Days of Glory, 1964’s The Comedy of Terrorsand many more, all which will screened with others, many in 35mm. This looks like another fantastic series with many films being screened that haven’t seen on the big screen in many decades.

MOMA (NYC):

Modern Matinees: Douglas Fairbanks Jr. presents 1928’s The Barkeron Weds, John Irwin’s 1981 film Ghost Story on Thursday, and then back to 1929 with Our Modern Maidens on Friday. This series will continue through the end of the year. Italian actor and filmmaker Ugo Tognazzi gets his own retrospective called Ugo Tognazzi: Tragedies of a Ridiculous Man running through the end of the year.

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

For some reason, I missed the first half of MOMI’s retrospective of Pawel Pawlikowski, who won an Oscar for Ida and has the fantastic Cold War out next week. This weekend you can see The Woman in the Fifth, starring Ethan Hawke, My Summer of Love featuring a very young Emily Blunt, and a reshowing of Ida. Not only that, but the museum is kicking off a Cher retrospective (to coincide with the opening of The Cher Show on Broadway?) with A Cher For All Seasons. If I lived closer to Astoria, I might check out some of the movies screening including Silkwood, Suspect, Moonstruck, Mermaids a director’s cut of Mask and many more. MOMI is also screening the doc Marwencol on Saturday night to coincide with the release of Robert Zemeckis’ adaptation Welcome to Marwen next week.

That’s it for this week. Next week, out of the frying pan and into the fire with FIVE more wide releases leading into Christmas. The big one are Aquaman, Mary Poppins Returnsand Bumblebee, but there are a couple others.

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