Rise of the Batmen!

I'm not a great Batman fan, but I loved the Rebirth series Detective Comics which introduced a group, called The Team? or Gotham Knights?  The name of the group is unclear, but the title of the story is "Rise of the Batmen" by James Tynion IV with art by Eddy Barrows and Alvaro Martinez.  The first arc, Detective Comics #934-940 (2016), is compiled in the Detective Comics Vol. 1 Rise of the Batmen trade paperback.  Batman realizes that he has to form a team when Gotham City is threatened by the mysterious Colony.  He appoints the leader, Batwoman, Katherine Kane, since she has the military training.  We get a deeper look into the Kane and Wayne families.  Bruce Wayne is her cousin, Bruce's mother, Martha Wayne, her maiden name was Kane. There was an early version, Kathy Kane, but the modern version was introduced in 52 #7 (2006).  Of course, we saw Ruby Rose playing Batwoman in the “Elseworlds” episodes of The Flash, Supergirl, and Arrow.  Which is spinning off to her own series. The other lieutenant is Red Robin, Timothy Drake, he is a trained computer hacker, second only to Oracle.  He is deadly with his battle staff.  He is third incarnation of Robin after Jason Todd, played by Curran Walters in The Titans, so it will probably be some time.  Drake’s introduction was in Batman #436 (1989) and his identity as Red Robin was in Robin #181 (2009).  This character is not realized in live action.   

Next, is Spoiler, Stephanie Brown, she is the daughter of the criminal mastermind, Cluemaster, but has trained with Catwoman and Batgirl.  Brown’s first appearance was in Detective Comics #647 (1992) and then became Spoiler in the next issue.  One of my favorite characters, also she hasn't made it to television or movies.  Then, there is Orphan, Cassandra Cain, she has assassin training, but she is friends with Red Robin and Spoiler.  She doesn't really speak since language was left out of her training.  The introduction of Cain was in Batman #567 (1999) and she became Orphan in Batman & Robin Eternal #26 (2016).  One of the interesting parts of the Birds of Prey movie is the casting of Ella Jay Basco as Cassandra Cain.  The most unusual team member is a villain, Clayface, Basil Karlo, an actor whose powers has turned him into a massive creature.  He has a tragic story.  Clayface is of course one of Batman’s classic villains and first appeared in Detective Comics #40 (1940), but his modern version is in the New 52’s Batman #1 (2011).  Brian McManamon played Clayface in Gotham.  It would be great if The Team or Gotham Knights is formed (in part?) in the Batwoman tv series.  I would like to see Spoiler in the team, maybe Clayface, and I hope Orphan (if her movie appearance doesn’t prevent it).  

#RiseoftheBatmen, #RubyRose, #Batwoman, #Spoiler  

I Am The Night, “Pilot”, Review!

This is a limited series is executive produced and directed (two episodes) by Patty Jenkins.  Jenkins is the director of Wonder Woman (2017), she directed Monster (2003), and also directed episodes of the crime series The Killing.  Executive producer and writer of several episodes is Sam Sheridan, husband to Patty Jenkins, he his also the writer of the tv series SEAL Team.  It aired on January 28th and continues next Monday on TNT.  There are touches of film noir in this mini-series, I analyzed Kiss Me Deadly (1955) for a film studies class, of course have seen Chinatown (1974), and brushed up on the genre so I can make the connections.  We get a push-in across the Sparks, Nevada desert into the home of Jimmy Lee (Golden Brooks) who is checking her daughter’s hair for school.  Brooks was Ruby Jeffries in Hart of Dixie (2012-2013), she was earlier in two episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise, and was also in The Darkest Minds (2018) film.  Her daughter says she wants to be normal as we move to a closeup of her face.  This is Pat (India Eisley).  The actress is known for playing Ashley Juergens in The Secret Life of the American Teenager (2008-2013), but also starred as Eve in Underworld Awakening (2012) and in the drama Adolescence (2018).  We get the date, 1965, as Pat walks with her two friends, Nina (Monique Green) and Tina (Shonique Shandai), to school.  They pass Lewis Ferguson (Dabler) who compliments Pat.  It seems that he is forward, but there is a certain charm to Lewis.     

In class, they pledge allegiance, at lunch, a girl asks to sit with Pat, but another girl says the table is only black girls.  This brings up race relations for this time and our own.  On a beach, we get surfers making fun of Jay Singletary (Chris Pine) as walks past a fence to a house.  Pine of course was Steve Trevor in Wonder Woman, The Finest Hours (2016) was a real life Coast Guard rescue that had Bernie Webber part of it, and he voiced Peter Parker in last year’s .  He starts taking pictures of a woman with an older man at a house.  They scream at him and the woman starts running after Jay with his camera.  She says he will ruin her.  Jay says she wanted to be famous.  Singletary forms our second narrative thread.  His reporter is our way into the crime centered in L.A.  In the school parking lot, Lewis smiles at Pat, this gets a black girl angry at her.  Nina breaks up a potential fight.  Then, they spot a strange man who is watching Pat in a car across the street.  Jay is making a call in a phone booth and his boss asks about the pictures.  He tells him that his camera is smashed, his boss rages, and Jay smashes the phone.  We can see Singletary embodying the deterioration of the central figure that is in film noir.  

At a hospital, Pat walks with her mop and bucket, then Lewis catches her and then kisses her.  He goes back to sorting towels. Night, they both walk together, Lewis says he is hoping to get a place of his own, and Pat wants to join him.  They kiss when a police car illuminates them.  An officer questions Pat and she says she is mixed race.  The other officer sends Lewis away. Then, Pat runs away.  Jay heads over to a bar with Peter Sullivan (Leland Orser) talking to his young reporter about journalism.  Jay joins them who wants an assignment.  Peter checks and mentions a press conference at the morgue about Janice Brewster.  The reporter asks if Jay writers for the L.A. Times and he says he writes for the Examiner.  Peter explains that he was a marine in Korea, at 18 he was a reporter for the L.A. Times, but took on a story, Peter adds, “Some stories will eat you alive.”  Pat returns home, Jimmy sees her as she sits in a chair drinking and smoking, and her mother says he’s a loser.  Jimmy says she’s better than the town.  Pat mentions the white man.  Jimmy drunkenly says she was supposed to be Lena Horne, a dream dashed because of her daughter.  Pat is confused, but her mother leaves her.  Later, she resolves to sneak into her mother’s room, Jimmy is sleeping off her drinking, and her daughter takes a box from her closet.  There is always a secret in film noir.  

In her room, she opens an envelope, and opens a birth certificate of one Fauna Hodel, whose mother was a white woman named Tamar Hodel.  Pat repeats the name that will change her life. Morning, Jimmy is ready for work, when her daughter confronts her with name Fauna Hodel.  Her mother is offended and wants the birth certificate.  Pat screams that she will go to the police.  Jimmy admits that her name is Fauna and explains that a woman gave her baby to her in a casino restroom.  She was married to a preacher and he left them.  It is a stunning performance by Brooks, a mixture of emotions, but the truth comes out.  The series is based on Fauna Hodel’s book, One Day She’ll Darken: The Mysterious Beginnings of Fauna Hodel (2008).  She tells Fauna that her family is rich and she has to keep her name.  Jay in a suit rushes over to cut in the line of reporters going into the morgue with his camera.  The officer tells him to get his pass and Jay goes to his car to get a medical coat.  He wanders into the hospital and pulls out a gurney from an ambulance.  At another hospital, the Sisters of Mercy hospital, Fauna is mopping up seeing a family with a newborn baby.  She sneaks into the records room and pulls out her file.  Fauna is our detective uncovering the secrets that connect her with Jay Singletary. 

I AM THE NIGHT -- “Pilot” -- INDIA EASLEY -- TNT/Clay Enos.   

Jay is checking the toe tags of the bodies covered in sheets in the morgue.  A body is rolled in and Jay freezes until the attendant walks away.  A touch of humor.  He finds the body and pulls off the sheet to see her body taking pictures with camera.  Jay hears voices and decides to slide into an empty door.  It is closed by someone, he flicks open his lighter to see the body around him, and then starts to laugh.  This almost a breaking point, they pull him out, and he is cracking up laughing.  It seems like PTSD, the situation has brought up wartime horrors.  Handcuffed, his camera is broken, and he is beaten before being thrown into the back of the car.  He finds that he has fallen on another beaten prisoner, Lewis.  At the hospital, Fauna asks Lewis for some change.  She takes it and hides.  In the phone booth, she reads from the adoption papers that there is a Dr. George Hodel in Los Angeles.  Fauna introduces to him, the voice of Jefferson Mays, herself as Tamar’s daughter.  He invites her to see him in Los Angeles and hangs up.  Pat is contacted by Sister Sarah (Sheila Shaw) who tells her that her mother died.  Her ties to her home seem to be lost so Fauna is compelled to try to find her family in a dark place.  

Fauna runs off and heads back to her home.  She screams for her momma, then sees her at a neighbor’s car, Fauna goes into the house to pack a suitcase.  Jimmy says she wanted Fauna to feel loss.  She can’t believe Fauna is leaving to Los Angeles.  Fauna is about to board the Greyhound bus and tells Lewis it will only be a week.  The bus pulls away and the mysterious man follows her in his car.  This of course leads her down a dark path connecting her to Jay Singletary.  Jay wakes up in a car, bloody, released by his fellow Marine, Eddie, he shrugs off any charges. The bus stops at a motel and Fauna gets a bottle of pop.  She is joined by a stranger in a coat who sees her pull away in the bus.  Night, Jay returns to his apartment, he scrambles around for drugs, and then has a belt, ready to hang himself.  Then, he gets a phone call from Jimmy who asks him if he wrote about George Hodel.  At the bus stop, Fauna calls the house of her grandfather.  She calls his house, she finally gets Corinna Hodel (Connie Nielsen) who tells her that he is dangerous.  There is a shot of George Hodel at his decadent party.  We are drawn into a story that ties into the Black Dahlia mystery.  There is a number of films directly dealing with the murder including Brian De Palma’s The Black Dahlia (2006) based on the James Ellroy novel.   We see real life pictures of Fauna Hodel and Jimmi Lee Simpson.  

Four Cameras out of Five!

#IAmtheNight,#PattyJenkins, #IndiaEisley, #ChrisPine  

Star Wars: Resistance, “The Doza Dilemma”, Review

We have TIE fighters roaring past First Order Star Destroyers and looming over them is the Starkiller Base, a new opening for the show, there is Commander Pyre and Captain Phasma talking to Kragan, the pirate captain, in hologram form.  His attack has not put Captain Doza in a panic and Kragan counters with asking for triple the money.  Commander Pyre says in exchange, Kragan has to take something “close” to Doza, Torra?!  At Colossus Base, Synara is contacted by the Kragan hologram, he sends over two pirates, Drell (David Shaughnessy) and Valik (Jennifer Hale), in a container.  Kragan wants Synara to take the container to Doza’s tower so she can “come home.”  At Zee’s place, Tam and Torra are playing darts when Kaz sees Synara.  Torra brings up the new Drone Blaster game and invites her friends including Synara.  At her room, she starts using her blaster, while security droids pass in the hall.  Synara blasts all of the drones impressing everyone.  She says her father took her hunting.  Kaz’s turn comes up empty.  Synara gets a signal and excuses herself.  Torra gives her security code.  

STAR WARS: RESISTANCE -- “The Doza Dilemma” -- Disney/Lucasfilm. 

Captain Doza speaks with Commander Pyre in hologram.  Torra interrupts them and leaves.  Captain Doza ignores his request for First Order troops.  Kaz says that he wants to check on salvaging parts.  Synara has opened the container and sees the two pirates, Drell is Valik is Palliduvan like Aurra Sing.  Kaz and BB-8 are walking at night and see the pirates across the way.  They try to follow the pirates.  The pirates climb up a rope to enter the tower.  Synara asks what they are looking for and the blast door drops as they say Torra. Drell shocks four of the security droids with a grenade. Buggles, Torra’s pet, growls as the shadows the pirates fall on Torra.  Synara contacts hologram Kragan angry at his plans.  A droid informs Captain Doza that security droids are deactivated and Torra s missing.  Kaz runs into Synara who tells him that Torra is in trouble.  They see the pirates on speeder bikes flying away in the night.  Torra kicks Drell in the head.  

Captain Doza discovers that his laughter is kidnapped and sends the Aces.  Kaz detects the pirates and has BB-8 send the pirates’ location.  He takes the Fireball to pursue them.  Kragan reports to Commander Pyre’s hologram.  Commander Pyre reports that payment will be sent.  The Pirates fire on the Fireball as Torra reaches Kragan’s sail barge.  Kaz sends Captain Doza the location and he sends the Aces.  A First Order shuttle lands, Vonreig blasts Drell, and rescues Torra!  Major Vonreig informs Captain Doza that his daughter is being returned.  He calls of the Aces to escort Torra back. Instead of destroying the pirates that kidnapped her in the first place?   Torra hugs her father.   Vonreig says that some First Order stormtroopers will stay.  Kaz sees the shuttle at the base.   Hologram Kragan says the deal is off.  Kaz checks on Synara and BB-9 brings his suspicions about Synara.  This is an average episode that furthers the First Order story so it seems like the last two episodes were filler.  

Three Lightsabers out of Five! 

#StarWarsResistance, #TheDozaDilemma, #Drell, #Valik  

Happy Birthday Elijah Wood!

Happy Birthday Elijah Wood!  Elijah had a very early role playing a video gamer in Back to the Future Part II (1989).  Next, he was in Forever Young (1992) discovering Mel Gibson’s pilot who has been put in cryogenic freeze.  He took the lead role in The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993) directed by Stephen Sommers.  Elijah was one of the students fighting the teachers possessed by parasites in The Faculty (1998) directed by Robert Rodriguez.  It was in 2001, that Elijah took a defining role as Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.  He traveled to Mordor in The Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers (2002) and then fulfilled his task as Ringbearer in The Lord of the Rings: The Return fo the King (2003). 

Elijah Wood at the One Ring Con, 2006, photo by the author. 

Elijah played the villainous serial killer, Kevin, in Sin City (2005) based on the Frank Miller graphic novels.  He was the voice of the lead penguin, Mumble, who has to dance in George Miller’s animated Happy Feet (2006) and the sequel Happy Feet Two (2011).  Elijah had a brief cameo reprising Frodo in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012).  He provided the voice of the lead, Beck, a program joining Tron in the animated series Tron: Uprising (2012-2013). Elijah was on the other side of an invasion at a school as a teacher fighting kids infected by a strange virus in Cooties (2014).  In 2015, he fought alongside Vin Diesel as Dolan 37th, a priest tasked to fight witches in The Last Witch Hunter.  Elijah played Todd Brotzman, a sidekick to the detective investigating the supernatural in the BBC series, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (2016-1017).  Lately, he voiced rival pilot, Jace Rucklin, in Star Wars: Resistance!  Happy Birthday Elijah Wood! 

#ElijahWood, #TheLordoftheRingsTheFellowshipoftheRing, #HappyFeet, #StarWarsResistance 

Rent: Live Review!

I am a Renthead, saw the L.A. production, and of course the 2005 film.  The production is directed by Alex Rudzinski.  It starts out with a message from Jonathan Larson circa 1996.  We get the color-soaked rendition, it goes straight into song with Roger Davis (Brennin Hunt) and Mark Cohen (Jordan Fisher).  The power goes out and then the curtains go up with the audience cheering and the stage lights lighting up the stage.  The audience is ringed around the stage and under the rafters.  The cast hangs from one side of the rafters and the other is the band.  Good singers.  Tom Collins (Brandon Victor Dixon) is about to go to their apartment, but is beaten up before being found by Angel (James Lyva).  Roger’s solo works, I’m familiar with the notes, and it just seems like a regular production.  Still, he needs some extra umph to his singing.   Mimi Marquez (Tinashe) is also good a little flirty, but I must be conditioned with all of the glances that were in the other productions. There is a cast introduction that it is taped from last night, it was live then, and that there will be a performance with the full cast at the end.  Tom arrives and announces Angel.  The crowd goes wild to the appearance of Angel Dumott Schunard.  I almost can’t gauge the singing over the crowd cheering, I think her voice broke at one point.  The party is over when their former roommate, Benjamin Coffin III (Mario), now part of the establishment that wants Maureen's performance to be cancelled. 

Joanne Jefferson (Kiersey Clemons) remarks, “This is weird”, Mark adds, “Super weird”, language is replaced there.  The tango dancers are in the rafters with spotlights as Mark and Joanne dance on stage.  Narration is given about the AIDS epidemic, I believe this is by the original Roger, Anthony Rapp.  The support group is led by Cy, Keala Settle, who was brilliant in The Greatest Showman.  This of course shifts to Mimi with her Cat Scratch number.  She walks from her changing room to the and rafter.  Mimi sings and dances to the camera which follows her.  Again, the crowd is charged up.  She opens the door and goes down the stairs to sing for Roger, kisses him, and throws him on the bed.  Mimi’s vocals are joined by the cast.  The support group walks the steps on the opposite stage so we know where were the rest of the singers.  Al of the audience carry lights so it looks like hundreds have filled the stage as each singer joins the support group, kinda powerful.  The end of the song fades to black with no applause.  The sequence with the homeless woman is kept which is brave.  The “Santa Fe” number wanders around the stage.  We get more of Roger as a recluse and he finally goes to see Mimi when she goes to see his dealer.  The multiple singers lead to Maureen Johnson (Vanessa Hudgens) arriving on her motorcycle.  This production saves the introduction of Maureen which was early in the movie version.  

Maureen’s performance has some extreme overacting, she even has a cow pattern pants and a horned helmet, her weird comments gets laughs from the audience.  Hudgens does get the extended long note.  It seems like the audience or a crowd is moved close to the stage.  Mark helps in covering her attached to cables with a drape and Maureen is lifted above the stage while the audience moos.  The Life Cafe picks up right after the performance.  I really like the long table with the cast moving in dance.  Fisher’s vocal range doesn’t explode with the “La Boheme” number.  Leather and latex?, again another lyric change.  We get Benjamin interrupting with Mimi.  Roger and Mimi’s duet leads to a platform that is lifted high.  The spinning tables is great staging.  Another Jonathan Larson quote as we get New Year’s Eve with the “Seasons of Love” as Mark relates the AIDS diagnosis of his friends.  It starts with the support group and goes out around the stage with Mark.  Keala Settle gets part of the “Seasons of Love” song.  Her singing of course is amazing.  Fisher and Hunt have some stage diving at their duo song.  There is a film showing an explanation of Jonathan Larson and his picture.  Then, the original cast members are shown singing "Seasons of Love." Idina Menzel (Maureen Johnson) singing, wow, Jesse L. Martin (Tom Collins) singing, and Keala Settle soloing.  The best part of the television production is that it is not an interpretation of the lyrics like the earlier Grease: Live, but has a staging that recognizing the stage production, the adult content, and lyrics. This production is something special.   

Four Posters and Screenplays out of Five! 

#RentLive, #BrenninHunt, #Tinashe, #JamesLeyva, #JonathanLarson

The Kid Who Would Be King Review!

The Kid Who Would Be King is a ray of Arthurian hope in these dark times.  The film is written and directed by Joe Cornish who earlier wrote and directed Attack the Block (2011).  It is about a teenage gang of outcasts taking on an alien invasion only they can stop.  The new film is about young outcasts taking on a sorcerous invasion only they can stop.  So I see a connection between the stories.  I’m a tremendous fan of Arthurian stories in novels and film.  The standout is John Boorman’s Excalibur (1981) which has some echoes here.  

I rank King Arthur (2004) directed by Antoine Fuqua up there for the historical Arthur.  Then, First Knight (1995) which is based on Chrétien de Troyes’ Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart.”  The construction of the Arthurian story is there, but given a modern day kid’s take, all centered around the story of a boy, his single mother, and his friends.  The film begins with an animated telling of King Arthur’s story, it reminded me of a comic book artist, but has the classic children illustration which leads to the book, The Knights of the Round Table.  We have the sorceress Morgana vows to return to a world without hope.  King Arthur says that Excalibur will be there.  

This moves from the attic with the book down to the kid, Alex Elliot (Louis Ashbourne Serkis), who has to hurry to school.  Serkis is of course the son of Andy Serkis who is also known for fantastic films.  He and the other kid actors are perfectly cast, Alex is an average boy who has to keep the hope, his values, when the world wants to take it all away.  Alex is working on a science project, his planet rolls onto newspaper, and gets a message stuck to his sun.  His mother, played by Denise Gough who was in Robin Hood (2010 and last year’s Colette, helps to fix the sun.  

Alex checks his phone and sees that his friend Bedders has been texting him for help.  He leaves his home at Malory Road, a nice nod to Sir Thomas Malory, writer of Le Morte d’Arthur.  Alex rushes to Dungate Academy, Dungate is a village in Kent, England.  He finds Bedders (Dean Chaumoo) hung upside down by the school bullies, Lance (Tom Taylor) and Kaye (Rhianna Dorris).  Taylor was Jake in The Dark Tower (2017) movie.  Dorris was Penny Parker in the Secret Life of Boys television series.  Both characters are bullies, but still likeable. We also find why they are bullies and how they can become true knights.  

The coins fall from his pockets.  Alex stands up for his friend, Lance pushes him down saying he is king, and Bedders thanks him for the save and tries to show him a magic trick.  Bedders is plucky, but needs a little confidence. Later, Alex lets out his anger on Lance.  He is given detention by Mrs. Lee (Noma Dumezweni). The actress  was Miss Penny Farthing in Mary Poppins Returns (2018).  Alex’s mother is troubled that he was in trouble at school.  He gets detention and is threatened by Lance.  Alex runs after detention and runs through a gate of a construction site.  

Lance and Kaye corner him at the edge of a building and Alex falls!  They leave him after the accident and Alex recovers on a hill of dirt.  He finds a sword in a construction pillar and draws it out.  Alex hears a police car and runs back to home with the sword.  This switches to the underworld prison of Morgana, played by Rebecca Ferguson, she is lashed to a pillar with vines threaded over her body.  Ferguson was in The White Queen (2013) tv miniseries, The Greatest Showman (2017), and Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018).  Morgana is part seductress like Helen Mirren’s character in Excalibur and also ruthlessly hunting the kids finding their weaknesses.  Her dark magic travels through the vines to our world.  

Alex has Bedders over to work out what is the sword and he uses Google to translate the writing on the sword’s guard.  He dubs his friend a knight.  The next day, walking out of Stonehenge is very much naked teenaged boy, played by Angus Imrie.  He was in the Stephen Fry series Kingdom, an episode of Father Brown, and was also in the drama, Pond Life (2018).  This is the young Merlin who seems to be so driven on his mission that he is eccentric in dealing with normal life which is fun.  His magic has gestures, called sigils, that have click, pops, and snaps instead of just waving around fingers.  Merlin goes to a shop and uses his magic to get the shopkeeper’s Led Zeppelin shirt.  

Then, he hypnotizes police officers to take him to London.  Alex and Bedders return to school and find a new classmate, Merlin calling himself Martin in a too short school outfit, and he stares at Alex at every class.  Alex tells Bedders that Martin is too strange and they need to stay away from him.  At night, Morgana calls up a burning, undead knight to take the sword.  These creatures are so monstrous they may frighten younger children.  Alex finds that his mother is missing during the battle.  Time is stopped at night when Morgana sends her knights and only Alex and his knights can stand against them.  Excalibur doesn't seem to have any powers, it doesn't cut through the burning blades of the undead knights.  

Later, Bedders picks up a construction sign to use as a shield.  This figures in later on in the film.  Alex manages to dub Lance and Kaye who are of course Sir Lancelot and Sir (really Lady) Kay.  The Alex and Bedders team find out that Merlin can take his adult form as Sir Patrick Stewart.   He was of course Leodegrance in Excalibur (1981) besides playing Jean Luc Picard in television (including the upcoming series) and film, as well as Charles Xavier, lastly in Logan (2017).  Merlin sneezes into owl form or his adult form which is a cameo, but allows Stewart to play a wizard like his colleague, Sir Ian McKellan.  The battle takes Alex to Tintagel and Glastonbury Tor, places well known in Arthurian legend.  

Alex is on a quest to find his father and finds an answer with his aunt Sophie played by Genevieve O’Reilly who was Mon Mothma in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016).  They have to race to defeat Morgana before the eclipse when she will finally enter the real world.  There is a greenish tint to her powers that is a nod to the harsh, green light in Excalibur.  Merlin has to train the knights, using his powers of metal duplication to give swords to other knights, and this is something that has Bedders practicing.  I have been to Glastonbury Abbey, a rumored place of King Arthur’s Tomb and a place for the Holy Grail, a sequel?  I hope the film’s Chivalric Code inspires young people and all audiences.  This is an excellent movie to start off the new year!  Hail King Alexander and His Knights! 

Four Construction Signs out of Five! 

#TheKidWhoWouldBeKing, #JoeCornish, #LouisAshbourneSerkis, #RebeccaFerguson 

Re:tro Re:view - Furious 7!

Furious 7 ranks as one of the best action films of all time, at least 3/4 of the film, with the final confrontation changing in tone and action movie believability.  3/4th is of course better than most action films and makes it definitely worth watching.  I’m not a heavy watcher of the Fast franchise, I saw Tokyo Drift, and the end of F&F 6.  Still, it was F7 that got me to the theater.  The film is directed by James Wan which led to him directing last year’s Aquaman!  It was written by Chris Morgan who was the screenwriter for The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, (2006), Fast & Furious (2009), Fast Five (2011) and Fast & Furious 6 (2013).  

Of course, this is the final film for Paul Walker, in all of his roles he had a charisma that makes the audience sympathetic to his character.  F7 showcases his character, with the rest of the seven.   The sequel, The Fate of the Furious (2017) directed by F. Gary Gray was ok.  The film opens with the comatose Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), injured in F&F6, who is watched over by his brother, Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham). Deckard is a ruthless, mysterious villain who suddenly appears, he will be in the upcoming Hobbs and Shaw movie spinning off of the Fast and Furious franchise.   

We slowly get a pull back that shows this and also that Deckard threatens the doctors with caring for his brother and we roam the halls where we see unconscious guards and a hospital that looks like it went through a war zone.  It is clear that Deckard is a one man war.  This shifts to the Diplomatic Security Service office of Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) who was introduced in Fast Five.  He is there with fellow agent, Elena (Elsa Pataky), and he walks her over to her car.  Hobbs returns to find Deckard at his computer and it is fighting time.  Statham vs. the Rock, it is a brutal fight, but I’m still not certain how Statham could shrug off a punch by Johnson.  I also don’t get how Hobbs wasn’t alerted to an attack on Owen’s hospital and that Deckard was not captured by security cameras.  Elena fires at Owen and he responds with a grenade that throws Elena and Hobbs out of a window and onto the roof of a car.  Deckard escapes with the data on Dom’s crew.  Hobbs doesn’t brush himself off and walk away, he ends up in a hospital with arm and leg cast, but injury doesn’t stop the Rock.   

Now we get Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) racing through the desert until they reach Race Wars.  They of course are the racing team from The Fast and the Furious (2001) with Dom as the ex-con who has formed his family of friends.  It is clear that Letty has lost her memory from her near death in Fast & Furious (2009).  She returned to the franchise in Fast & Furious 6 (2013).  Race Wars is filled with slo-mo shots of women in bikinis and more than a few butt shots, and this goes on until the film finishes with Dubai.  There’s a cheap cameo of Izzy Azalea greeting Letty.  Dom tests Letty by having her race which she wins, but then Letty becomes overcome with memory flashes in a crowd and drives away.  Then, we get the close-up of Brian (Paul Walker) at the wheel and this cleverly (spoiler!) resolves to Brian driving a mini-van to drop off his son.  Brian is a former undercover cop turned FBI agent from the first film.  

At Dom’s house, he talks to Mia (Jordana Brewster), apparently his sister, but this wasn’t clear to me being new to the franchise.  He also gets a package from Japan.  Mia reveals that she is pregnant with another child, but is worried that Brian isn’t adjusting to a suburban life.  Then, he gets a phone call, teased at the end of F&F6 of Han (Sung Kang) who first appeared in Tokyo Drift and hit by Deckard, dies in a crash.  Deckard calls Dom to threaten him.  I don’t get how Deckard goes from L.A. to Japan when he already has the identity of most of the team in L.A. to go to Japan to kill one of the team.  Dom notices the call is from Japan, looks at the package, and pulls Mia away.  Brian at the mini-van with his son, slams the door, and is knocked into it by the blast.  Dom goes to Hobbs’ hospital room and is told that Deckard is a rogue special forces agent.  Dom then travels to Japan to return Han’s body for a funeral.  In the background is Twinkie (Bow Wow) and Dom meets up with Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) from Tokyo Drift who gives Dom some personal items including a photo of Gisele (Gal Godot) who was killed in F&F6 (don’t worry she becomes Wonder Woman) and a cross necklace.  

A return to L.A. with the funeral of Han attended by the rest of the family; Roman (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej (Ludacris) from 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) and then Fast Five (2011) to this film.  Luda is actually appealing as a hacker, but Tyrese just gets annoying.  Dom notices a black car and races after it.  The L.A. streets are in the downtown area, but suddenly they get past the Staples Center.  They smash their cars in a game of bull charge with Dom pulling out a large wrench, but Deckard pulls a gun.  He is driven off by agents repelling down from the overpass.  The agents are led by a character named Mr. Nobody played by Kurt Russell.  It is great to see Russell as a leader in an action movie, he was of course Snake Plissken in Escape from New York (1981) and entered the MCU in the same year as Furious 7 as Ego in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.  He makes a deal to find Deckard through a device called the God’s Eye and its programmer, Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), she settles into one of the seven with a later bikini shot coming out of the beach water.  Emmanuel was of course in Game of Thrones as Missandei and also the Maze Runner films as Harriet.  

The crew set, it’s off to the car jumps from a cargo plane, a race down the Caucus Mountains to stop an armored bus, and then onto Dubai.  The international setting, tux and dresses in Dubai, are all James Bond.  The fighting scenes are some of the best with Brian facing henchman, Kiet, played by Tony Jaa.  The fights are mostly close-up blurs with the fast movement by both actors and Jaa is able to inject acrobatic speed into the running and jumps.  Also, there is the best woman fight scene with Rhonda Roussey vs. Letty (she took down Gina Carano in F&F6).  What is surprising is seeing Roussey throwing some martial arts moves that look beyond what she does in the UFC rink (and in a dress!).  The villain, Jakande (Djimon Hounsou) reminds me too much of Korath from Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) with the beard.  The problem with F&F6 for me is that the action scenes seemed to ignore physics and laws of gravity.  This film keeps it within the James Bond realm of believability (of course enhanced with CG effects), but I think the credibility is stretched with a missile blasting drone through the streets of L.A. with an attack helicopter getting almost no notice from the police.  The ending is fitting tribute to Paul Walker while also working with the story of the film centered around the theme of family.

Four NOS’ out of Five! 

#Furious7, #JamesWan, #JasonStatham, #PaulWalker 

Ewok Diets? Omnivore or Carnivores?

Ewoks are the lovable teddy bears on the moon of Endor introduced in Return of the Jedi (1983).  They seem to be the dominant species, sentient, and hunters.  So it is an assumption that they are cannibals from C-3PO’s translation of the Ewoks, “I'm rather embarrassed, General Solo, but it appears that you are to be the main course at a banquet in my honor.”  I’ll get into that later, but also that the Ewoks have helmets of the Imperials, again assuming that they ate them!  First, you don’t have them actually eating meat.  They don’t look at Han as a meal.  Also, Luke doesn’t sense cooking Han is a true threat.  There is the trap of the meat-like creature, but that’s a trap, most likely not meant to catch a humanoid, more like a capture of a large creature.  Let’s first deal with the helmets, the Rebels who are also at the celebration, would not allow the Ewoks to eat the defeated Imperials even those that died.  The point is that you shouldn’t assume anything especially if it is all implications.  

So let’s go to that Han Solo offering.  This does not indicate that eating humans are a normal meal item.  Note: there are no humans on the moon until the arrival of the Imperials and later the Rebels.  If you take into account the Ewok films, which are non-canon, then the Ewoks would have seen friendly humans even earlier.  Also, they would see the humanoid Marauders as hostile.  Why would humanoids be a part of their diet?  I attribute the actions of the Ewoks to the appearance of C-3PO as a god figure.  They may attempt the cooking as a means to honor C-3PO, but they may have been confused.  It may have been the strangeness of the Rebels appearance on the moon or even fear of the Imperial presence.  There is suddenly another moon object in the sky and also at the same time humanoids in skull-like shells appear.  Don't you think this would terrify every Ewok?  The Rebels attempt to convince the Ewoks that they are friends of C-3PO.  

I think the Ewoks may be confused that C-3PO was bringing along humans as an offering, confusing them from friends and companions.  This strange theory I attribute to fans who have tried to find a dark side to the Ewoks.  The only look we have seen of Ewok life is seen in the Ewok films; The Ewok Adventure 1984) now with the sub-title, Caravan of Courage, and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985).  These of course are non-canon, but both stories are by George Lucas.  We do not see the Ewoks actually eating, just berries, but in their family hut there is greens in a basket, a melon-type fruit, and other fruits.  Walking around are chickens which could be used for eggs or even meat.  They may seem like livestock, but they may also be pets.   What we see in the Wicket family hut is baskets of fruits, but not any hanging or storing of meat or places to cook meat.  Again, I see meat as a supplement for Ewoks, Ewoks are primary vegetarians and are possibly omnivores.  We will have to see how the canon material depicts the Ewok diet.  Maybe there will be a Wicket’s How to Prepare Imperials cook book.  

#EwokDiet, #ReturnoftheJedi, #TheEwokAdventure, #EwoksTheBattleforEndor

Captain EO The Ride Proposal!

Captain EO is currently not in use as an IP. It was shown in a theater where the seats rocked until I was seasick, then just taken out. I was thinking it would be like Buzz Lightyear Astro-Blasters, but shooting enemies doesn't seem right. I think it can be remade as a ride attraction. First, outside of the queue is a mini-stage where some dances from the film is shown on two screens. A nice preview of the ride itself. Guests are brought up, young and adult, to dance the dances from the film or their own dances.   

The crowd, of course, is encouraged to join in. The hosts are in the orange costumes of the dancers. The winners are showcased and I imagine this performance may be two months before the opening of the ride so winners may be invited to ride first or given some kind of prize like a plastic necklace with a “medal.” Disney is really trying to get dances with guests going and this is the best opportunity to try Michael Jackson's dances. I would also like a singing competition like karaoke. Young, teen, and adult singers can get up on stage to sing one of the Captain EO songs with lyrics on the screen and the best get a badge, button, for Honorary Member of the Command.  

I really hope that some of the actors and filmmakers will be there for the opening of the ride. Rusty Lemonrade, Tony Cox, and maybe Francis Ford Coppola? Then, I imagine the rest of the queue will be screens showing scenes of the movie, this may be tied as the Command summation of Captain Eo's activities. Maybe it starts out with a record and profile of Captain Eo and his crew. This leads to a four person vehicle, the current trend is trackless so if so then it may be trackless.  

The point is the ride vehicle is large, the front two riders have a three-four inch console where there are "guitars" that pivot to the side once riders board.  

The guitars would be about four inches long, if swung to right and left, there would be about two inches between guitars. It is meant to be small for adult and kid sizes and not block riders’ view or interfere with the ride. This is so riders can be right or left-handed. They do not have strings, but it may have the look of strings, but the actual instrument has buttons that riders push to "play" the chords. In the back is the keyboards and drums. The drums don't have drumsticks, they are basically two pads which you press. This would be similar to the Rock Band video game. The point is to have an electronic "band" to play instruments along the ride, but it could be just one instrument if that is easier for a ride vehicle.  

There is a brief scene where the riders test out using the instruments. Then, you are taken into the ride passing the Captain in the ship, does it have a name? Maybe this is finally revealed here. I think the ships will be seen on a large screen similar to the Harry Potter ride. At certain points in the ride, the keys or chords will flash or flash in a pattern, the riders when they hit the correct sequence will activate lights or other special effects, blasts of mist or a spear jabs with the guards, on the ride. I also see it as a combination of animatronics of Major and Minor Domo, Idey and Odey, Hooter, and later Supreme Leader.  

Then, you get the scene with the Queen, where riders rock out. Who would not like the chance to rock out with Michael Jackson? Finally, you are thanked by a character, Commander Bogg? for a successful mission. At the shop at the end of the ride are shirts, the Captain EO jacket, and play instruments. Of course, there are stuffies of Hooter and Fuzzball, but I really want to see the set of the Captain EO crew and of course there is no Captain EO action figure yet. I would like to see a soundtrack of the James Horner music and of course all of Michael Jackson’s songs (if possible) from the show.This would revitalize the Captain EO IP, would not take up too much space for the ride building, and use existing ride technology. Also, a great tribute to Michael Jackson and all of the creative people who worked on the film.  

#CaptainEOtheRide, #MajorMinorDomo, #Hooter, #CommanderBogg

Star Wars: Resistance, “Dangerous Business”, Review!

The title is confusing, does this hint at the Tom Cruise movie Risky Business (1983)?, if so a poor connection to an adult comedy.  Some bird creature flies to Colossus Base, the openings are getting repetitive, why not start with all of the aliens in the market and shift to the Fireball crew?  Yeager checks on the status of the ship.  Tam and Neeku find that Kaz has updated all of the parts and Tam thanks him.  He has a deal to watch over Flix and Orka’s shop in exchange for parts.  Kaz heads off with BB-8.  The shop owners are about to leave.  They need to visit Flix’s mother.  He is joined by a customer who wants premium oil.  Kaz has his fingers bitten by the pet Gorg he names Bitey, he stumbles around, and BB-8 finds it.  Another alien customer is there, Teroj Kee (John Ennis), and wants a phase connector.  Kee is a Keteerian alien, seen in Last Jedi, he has a modified head of the chef alien, Dexter Jettster, with teeth, and fappy ears.   Kaz checks and finds one already sold in the back.  Bitey, the pet gorg, bites Kee so Kaz takes his demands for parts.  He says he wants all of the parts delivered to his storage locker in Dock 23, D-23?  So the spy angle is dropped?  This is just about the wacky adventures of Kaz?  

STAR WARS: RESISTANCE -- “Dangerous Business”  -- Disney/Lucasfilm. 

All of the parts are on a hover lift and Kaz moves it over as BB-8 watches the store.  Kee has Kaz covered with a blaster and locks him in the container.  He orders a worker to drop the container in the water.  Kaz contacts BB-8 who is busy with the gorg Bitey.  BB-8 heads over to the Docking Bay and sees Kee blast open a door to get a phase connector.  The worker has the container moved and BB- zaps Kee to roll away at his attacks.  Kee tips over a metal shelf to trap BB-8.  Kaz finds a blow torch and also a lens which he uses to cut open the door and the container falls.  The worker finds Kaz is hanging to the crane arm.  He drops down and BB-8 explains that Kee took the phase connector.  Kaz follows the alien to a ship where he brings in the phase connector.  He then sees stormtroopers pass.  Kaz tries to move the phase connector, but again is bitten by the gorg.  The stormtroopers order Kee to launch.   

The ship with the containers starts to leave Colossus Base.  Kaz sneaks past the stormtrooper with Bitey.  He tempts Bitey and the gorg leaps at the controls.  It sends the ship toward the ocean.  Kaz escapes the chaos of the crash, but Bitey is lost.  He takes an escape pod and leaves behind the crashed ship.  Bitey climbs on the escape pod window.  Via hologram, Taraj meets with Commander Pyre.  Kaz returns to see the mess Kee made trapping BB-8.  Flix and Orka return.  Orka likes Kaz’s solution to taking care of Teroj Kee.  They explain that a phase connector is used to break up asteroids for mining. This hints at Starkiller Base, but it seems like a confusing name why not vacuum shifter?  If there is such a powerful device, why not use it against capital ships? or take out shielded bases?  It is all a strain to keep this thread going with a wandering story.  

Two Lightsabers out of Five! 

#StarWarsResistance, #DangerousBusiness, #TerojKee, #Phaseconnector  

Landspeeder Ride Proposal for Galaxy’s Edge!

The Rise of the Resistance ride at Galaxy’s Edge excludes me and also I think the Millennium Falcon ride, two rides, no go.  I can’t go on rides with drops or sudden movements; rollercoasters, spinning rides, and even StarSpeeders!  I understand that there is a need for thrill rides for parks.  Still, there is also a need for a high capacity, low thrills ride like the Peoplemover.  This why I’m thinking of a Landspeeder Ride, it would not fundamentally alter the landscape of Galaxy’s Edge, plus it would allow guests to really take in the park expansion.  There is a future expansion area planned past the Millennium Falcon and between Mickey’s Toontown.  I see this ride as an area next to the queue for Rise of the Resistance or the expansion area, you board land speeders that look like Luke’s X-34 land speeder, but of course modified for four persons and smaller.  The Landspeeders are of course linked together like the Peoplemover so it is an almost continuous load and unloading of guests.  There are controls for the hover lift and accelerator (which are just for show).  At the back of the line of land speeders is the engines.  

Detail of the landspeeder cockpit, Science of Star Wars, 2012, photo by the author. 

Once the doors close, you lie back and then before leaving the loading area hear, “Activate hoverlift.”  There is a slight bump as you are lifted up (really the ramp), hearing the accelerating land speeder sound effect, and are taken along the edge of Black Spire Outpost.  There is narration by Poe Dameron (or any member of the Resistance if needed) about the Rise of the Resistance or Millennium Falcon if at the expansion area and that tensions are high in Batuu.  Poe explains that you are needed to send out a secret transmission to the Resistance.  There is static as the First Order intercepts the transmission.  Captain Phasma (or another First Order officer, Commander Pyre from Star Wars: Resistance?), orders the land speeders to return to base.  Poe cuts off the communication and says he will restore the land speeder's course.  The land speeder veers and Captain Phasma is heard ordering stormtroopers!  Poe assures you that you are far enough from any stormtroopers.  

Next, you are taken to the town or the rocky outcroppings outside of the town.  Two stormtroopers are seen in a shadowy enclosure and are given the order to fire.  Their blaster rifles flare and we get puffs of smoke from their blasts as the land speeder pulls away!  Poe says that the bad news is that the blasts have made the rock shelf unstable.  There are rocks that start to shift and a boulder begins to tip!  There is a rumbling sound and you hear Yoda say, "Reach out and use the Force!"  The rumbling stops and the rocks settle.  Poe says that they were lucky, it seems like some force saved you.  You hear the digital signal as the transmission is made to the Resistance.  Poe thanks you for the successful mission.  He says that you are all safe and pass fellow passengers bringing deliveries to the Resistance.  You return back to the loading and unloading area and Poe welcomes you back anytime.  Simple mechanics and storyline, but it has some fun with repeat rides.  

#LandspeederRide, #GalaxysEdge, #PoeDameron, #CaptainPhasma