Happy Birthday Michael Biehn!

Happy Birthday Michael Biehn! He begun his genre career playing a Sandman in an episode of Logan’s Run.  Next, Biehn played Tom Reardon in the tv movie, A Fire in the Sky (1978).  One of his finest roles was as Sgt. Kyle Reese, time traveling to 1984 to save the future from The Terminator (1984).  He returned to collaborate with director James Cameron playing Corporal Dwayne Hicks in Aliens (1986).  One of my favorite roles was in the horror film, The Seventh Sign (1988) where Biehn played Russell Quinn, a lawyer who is witness to the Biblical apocalypse.  He returned to work with Cameron on his sci fi film, The Abyss (1989), as Lt. Coffey.  Another brilliant film was Tombstone (1993) which had Michael playing Johnny Ringo, the drunk gunslinger taking on Doc Holliday in the one fo the best westerns. 

                      CURFEW -- MICHAEL BIEHN -- Gareth Gatrell/Tiger Aspect                                           Productions Limited 2018

He played Commander Charles Anderson in the action movie, The Rock (1996).  Biehn starred in the western tv series The Magnificent Seven (1998-2000) playing Chris Larabee.  In 2002, Biehn starred in the sci fi film, Clockstoppers, directed by Jonathan Frakes.  He played Sheriff Hague in the Planet Terror segment directed by Robert Rodriguez in the Grindhouse (2007) film.  Michael Biehn co-wrote and directed the thriller The Victim (2011) playing Kyle Limato.  Biehn was Buzz in the 24 Hour Rental tv series.  Next, Biehn was King Yannick in The Scorpion King 4: Quest for Power (2015) released on Netflix.  He starred in The Shadow Effect in 2017.  Biehn starred as Roadkill Jim in a 2019 episode of the action show Curfew.  He played Reynolds in the thriller Red Handed (2019). Biehn is in a second season episode of The Mandalorian.  Happy Birthday Michael Biehn!   

#MichaelBiehn, #Aliens, #Tombstone, #TheVictim, #TheMandalorian 

Happy Birthday David Warner!

Happy Birthday David Warner!  If you need a suave villain, you call David Warner.  He begun his career with many roles in tv, in the mid-60s he starred as King Henry VI in The War of the Roses.  Keith Jennings in the horror movie, The Omen (1976), was played by David Warner.  He was in the 1978 Holocaust tv mini-series.  Warner entered the genre scene with Time After Time in 1979 playing the sinister Dr. John Leslie Stevenson.  Then, he became the definition of Evil in Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits (1981).  He received the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in Masada.  Warner followed that up with Ed Dillinger and the ruler of the Grid, Sark, in Tron (1982).  He was in the 1989 Star Trek V: The Final Frontier as Federation diplomat, St. John Talbot, Chancellor Gorkon in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), and was in two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. 

PENNY DREADFUL -- DAVID WARNER, HENRY TREADAWAY -- Jonathan Hession/Showtime.

Also in 1991, Warner played Thomas Eckhardt in David Lynch's drama series, Twin Peaks.  In terms of comic book films, he was in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991).  Warner played Jor-El in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.  He voiced a few cartoons including playing Ra’s al Ghul in Batman: The Animated Series.  Also, voicing Archmage in the Gargoyles animated series.  In horror, he played Dr. Madden in H.P. Lovecraft's Necronomicon (1993) and also Dr. Wrenn for John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness (1994).  In 1997's Titanic, Warner played Lovejoy, the valet of Billy Zane's Cal.  David Warner played Lord Downey in the television adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather (2006).  He starred as Professor Grisenko in the “Cold War” (2013) episode of Doctor Who.  Warner was Abraham Van Helsing in Penny Dreadful (2014).  He was in the BBC Ripper Street (2016).  Warner played Admiral Boom in Mary Poppins Returns (2018).  A brilliant actor with a wide range.  Happy Birthday David Warner!  End of Line.  

#DavidWarner, #Tron, #Titanic, #PennyDreadful, #RipperStreet 

Re:tro Re:view - Kindred: The Embraced

Kindred: The Embraced (1996) is the best modern vampire story! It was created by John Leekley who also worked on the mini-series The Blue and The Gray (1982) and later created the werewolf series, Wolf Lake (2001-2002). The show is based on the role-playing game, Vampire: The Masquerade (1991) by Mark Rein-Hagen. The game was part of a larger series, World of Darkness, covering other members of the supernatural.  

The Kindred is their own name, vampires is the name given by humans, the Embrace is how Kindred turn humans into Kindred. The Masquerade is the protection that the Kindred enforce that vampires are fictional, they are in every part of society, the opening has the line "We're all around you." It lasted only eight episodes with one episode, “Nightstalker”, that was unaired. The pilot episode is entitled “Original Saga”, the latest collection has the expanded pilot, “Kindred: The Embraced.” 

It opens with the Golden Gate Bridge as it is about to wake up to the morning. The series has very moody music by J. Peter Robinson who also composed music for Charmed. This resolves to a rooftop where a man is being pursued by others. A car races into a warehouse, out of it is Detective Frank Kohanek (C. Thomas Howell) and his partner, Sonny Toussaint (Erik King). Howell is of course a well known actor and at that time had the lead role in the crime drama Baby Face Nelson (1996).  

King was also in television with the crime series,  Missing Persons. Frank is after Julian Luna and his bodyguard.  Sonny notes that Frank is dating Julian’s lover. The man, Stevie Ray, is fighting with the other two men in coats on the rooftop.  ne of them is Eddie Fiore (Brian Thompson) who rips off a tv antennae and stabs it into the man being held down. Thompson is an incredible genre actor including playing the Alien Bounty Hunter in The X-Files. Eddie is part of the Brujah clan, violent and ambitious.  

Frank and Sonny confront Eddie and his henchman with their guns, but the killers leap off the roof!  The dying man suddenly sets on fire with the sun and says to tell the Prince he said nothing. At the coroner’s office, Sonny says the man burned mysteriously. The coroner, Charon (Basil Hoffman), named after the boatman of the underworld?, suspects it’s spontaneous combustion. At a bayside mansion, Julian Luna (Mark Frankel) wants to find the murderer of his bodyguard. Frankel had the lead role of Carlton Dial in the action series Fortune Hunter.  

Unfortunately, Frankel died in a motorcycle accident in 1996. Julian is the Prince of San Francisco and part of the Ventrue clan who are the wealthy heads of corporations. He confides with Archon Raine (Patrick Bauchau). Archon calms Julian down. Julian suspects a traitor. At a hotel is Frank and his date, Alexandra (Kate Vernon), he vows to take down Julian. Frank notes that Alexandra is pale and she excuses herself. Alexandra finds a woman using drugs in the restroom, her eyes flare yellow, and then she returns to Frank with a drop of blood on her dress!  

They return to apartment and kiss passionately on the couch.  The show’s soap opera aspect is fun.  We see Julian order his driver to go to the club.  Frank and Alexandra kiss by the roses on the outdoor patio, but they are interrupted by a page from Sonny about Julian.  The Haven club, this is an interesting name since havens are sanctuaries for vampires in the game, Julian walks out with a well-dressed woman, Lillie Langtry (Stacy Haiduk).  Haiduk was also Katherine Hitchcock in SeaQuest 2032.  

Lillie is the head of the Toreador clan which is mostly artists, but she is one of the most deadly Kindred. She warns him about Eddie Fiori’s ambition to take over San Francisco after taking L.A.  They walk over to a group of bikers, led by Cash (Channon Roe) of the Gangrel clan who says that Stevie Ray, the destroyed vampire, was his sire. Roe was in the thriller Persons Unknown (1996).  The Gangrels are animal-like Kindred with a certain nobility in the series. Eddie is in a car and gives orders to shoot at Cash. Julian offers the bodyguard position to Cash. The political and crime element of the series brings so much depth to this world.  

A strange gun appears from Eddie’s car and shoots phosphorus rounds at the motorcycle gang.  This is seven years before the silver nitrate rounds in Underworld (2003). The gun is thrown away and picked up by Sonny with Frank confronting Julian. Lillie and Julian return to the mansion, Julian heads to the basement filled with paintings, he is met by his bald ally, Daedalus (Jeff Kober).  He is an actor in many genre series and movies like Tank Girl (1995). Daedalus is the leader of the Nosferatu clan whom are pale and unusual looking, but while deadly, Daedalus has the gentle heart of an artist. 

Julian wants to send Daedalus to talk to Eddie Fiore. He also notes about Frank Kohanek and Daedalus says that he can threaten the Masquerade. The coroner calls Frank to tell him something is unusual with the body. Out of one of the body doors comes Daedalus! He commands the coroner to cut himself with his scalpel, then sinks his fangs into his arm, it is creepy! Daedalus returns to the body container when Frank arrives, he hears moaning, and then sees the coroner under a sheet! Julian brings wine and some glasses to Lillie’s bedroom. She takes Julian over to her bed and then bites his wrist! They kiss and Julian mentions Frank.

Archon stands over them and mentions that Julian’s grandchild died. He tells Lillie that he was married, but was Embraced after she died. Julian finds Alexandra outside of the mansion.  She asks Julian to spare Frank’s life. Later, Julian reaches the cemetery, his headstone reads that he died in 1899. He goes to talk to the gravestone of his wife, Evelyn, about burying their grandchild, August Octavio. Julian lies on her grave and then sinks into it! Later, Julian speaks before the casket of August abut the winemaking business, he is interrupted by the arrival of the motorcycle riding Sasha (Brigid Brannagh). The actress was previously in the comedy series True Colors.  

Sasha is human, but gets involved in the Kindred world and has a romance with Cash. The other human who becomes important is Caitlin Byrne (Kelly Rutherford), who is a newspaper editor and becomes Julian’s lover. Rutherford was in The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. The show was perfect vampire series, ahead of its time, twelve years before the True Blood show. It had a perfect cast, for the last DVD set, there was the coda of Daedalus: Last Will and Testament, so in the era of vampire chic, I would like to keep the series like Alexandra's roses. Kindred: The Embraced has a fascinating world of horror mixed with loyalty, beauty, factions, and great characters.

Five Roses out of Five!   

#KindredTheEmbraced, #MarkFrankel, #CThomasHowell, #KellyRutherford, #JeffKober, #StacyHaiduk, #BrigidBrannagh, #ChannonRoe, #BrianThompson, #PatrickBauchau, #ErikKing 

Happy Birthday Lynda Carter!

Happy Birthday Lynda Carter!  She won Miss World USA in 1972.  Her first television role was in the television drama, Nakia, playing Helen Chase.  Carter’s iconic part was the title role in Wonder Woman (1975-1979).  She played actress Rita Hayworth in the 1983 tv movie, Rita Hayworth: The Love Goddess.  In the frontier series based on James Fenimore Cooper, Hawkeye (1994-1995), Carter played Elizabeth Shields.  She played Governor Jessman in the comedy Super Troopers (2001).  Then, she starred in Sky High (2005), the high school for kids with super powers, playing Principal Powers.  Carter played Pauline in The Dukes of Hazzard (2005).  

In the 2007 episode, “Progeny” for the Smallville series, Carter played Moria Sullivan, the mother of Chloe Sullivan given powers by Kryptonite.  She began playing President Olivia Marsdin in the Supergirl series.  In October 2006, on Wonder Woman’s 75th birthday, Carter attended an UN ceremony.  It named Wonder Woman Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Women and Girls with Gal Gadot.  This was withdrawn after criticism in December.  This year, she returned to the role of Governor Jessman in Super Troopers 2.  On April 3rd, 2018, Lynda Carter was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  In the fourth season of Supergirl, Carter returned to play President Marsdin.  Happy Birthday Lynda Carter! 

#LyndaCarter, #WonderWoman, #SuperTroopers2, #Supergirl  

Happy Birthday Daniel Radcliffe!

Happy Birthday Daniel Radcliffe!  His first film role was as Mark in John Boorman’s The Tailor of Panama, the thriller based on the John le Carre novel.  Then, Radcliffe began his long running and iconic parts in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001).  Next, he was in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005).  After Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), Radcliffe appeared in the drama, December Boys (2007), and then starred in the tv movie, My Boy Jack (2007).  Also in 2007, he starred in the play Equus in London and New York.  Radcliffe continued with the series starring in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), appeared in Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (2010) for the theme park, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010), and finally Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011).  It is a brilliant adaptation of the J.K. Rowling novels following young wizard Harry Potter growing up and learning at Hogwarts while facing his destiny to ultimate face Voldemort.  

Also in 2011, he was in the Broadway production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.  Leaving Harry Potter behind, Radcliffe was in the horror film, The Woman in Black (2012).  Next, he played Beat poet, Allen Ginsberg, in Kill Your Darlings (2013).  Radcliffe had the part of Ig Perrish in the horror movie Horns (2013) which has him waking to find horns that has the power to reveal secrets and hopes to find the killer of his girlfriend.  Radcliffe had a part in the comedy Trainwreck (2015) and played Igor, the assistant of Victor Frankenstein (2015).  In 2016, he played the corpse, Manny, in Swiss Army Man (2016).  Radcliffe portrayed Walter Mabry, the tech genius who challenges the Four Horsemen in Now You See Me 2 (2016).  He played Nate Foster, an F.B.I. agent going undercover as a white supremacist in Imperium (2016).  In Beast of Burden (2018), Radcliffe plays Sean Haggerty who has an hour to deliver cargo to keep his wife alive.  He was in the action comedy Guns Akimbo (2019).  Rex Dasher was voiced by Radcliffe in the animated Playmobil: The Movie (2019).  Radcliffe is currently playing Craig and Prince Chauncley in the comedy series Miracle Workers.  Happy Birthday Daniel Radcliffe!   

#DanielRadcliffe, #HarryPotter, #KillYourDarlings, #MiracleWorkers

Cursed, “Nimue”, Review!

Cursed has debuted on Netflix promising a violent prequel world to the Arthurian legends!  It is based on the Cursed (2019) novel written by Tom Wheeler and illustrated by Frank Miller.  Wheeler created the superhero series series The Cape which ran from 2010 to 2011.  Miller is known as a writer and artist for comic books like 300 (1998) and also has created and co-directed Sin City (2005).  His artwork in the novel is heavily silhouettes and blocky forms that emerged from his work on the Ronin (1983-1984) comic series. They are also executive producers for the show.  

Wheeler wrote the scripts for the first two episodes.  We cross a lake as we get the text that this is a lost story about the “Sword of Power”, Excalibur, that was wielded by a woman.  We told that before King Arthur, it was used by a queen.  Below the lake, a figure falls, bleeding.  This is Nimue, also known as the Lady of the Lake, played by Katherine Langford.  She of course is known for playing Hannah Baker in the Netflix adaptation 13 Reasons Why.  A crossbow bolt has pierced her shoulder and she drops down the lake.  We hear her voice recalling her story.

This shifts to the title sequence that has the surreal graphics of the novel.  We pick up with Nimue riding a white horse, Old Boy, towards her village by the lake.  Ravens whirl in circular patterns, interesting effect.  Walking through the village is a young boy (Billy Jenkins) stealing from other villagers.  Jenkins was also Seraph Sam in the sci fi series Humans.  Nimue walks up with her horse and sees that Squirrel has stolen a flask.  She goes to gather flowers for her offering.  Nimue hears voices in the wind.  She turns to see a fawn that seems to speak to her about death.  

It is killed by the arrow of a villager, Benum (Kaine Zajaz), who mocks Nimue about her father who has left her.  Nimue threatens him and then unleashes her power, greenish veins appear (silver in the book), sending the wood of his bow wrapping around his throat!  She releases him when given stern words by her mother, Lenore (Catherine Walker).  The actress was in the horror film, The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw (2020).  Nimue is upset at her treatment from the villagers.  Her mother as High Priestess, Chief Druid, insists that Nimue attend the ceremony.  Nimue's people are the Sky Folk, no particular connection to the sky, but are superstitious, yet rely on druids to guide them.  

Nimue takes her flowers to the ceremony with her mother as Summoner honoring a former member burning in a pyre.  The sky turns dark in an eclipse!  Lenore calls on The Hidden, which seems to be the nature spirits, fairies.   They are choosing a new Summoner.  The sparks swirling in the pyre and form into a column.  It swirls around Nimue.  The other members think Nimue is a witch.  It is more of a developed conflict in the novel.  Still, Nimue refuses her call and the moon breaks from the eclipse.  Lenore confronts Nimue in the village.  Nimue walks away and her friend, Pym (Lily Newmark) catches up to her at her hut.  Newmark plays Pym, it seems named after Henry Pym, Antman?, and the actress was also in the historical drama Misbehaviour (2020).  

Nimue insists on taking a ship from Hawksbridge.  We move next to an older man sitting next to a young boy in cart.  This is Father Carden played by Peter Mullan who also played James Delos in the Westworld series.  He mentions demons and holds a clover to the boy’s hand which turns leafy green.  A Red Paladin pulls away the screaming boy.  We see that crosses are burning as is most of the village below Father Carden.  Then, Father Carden leads the Red Paladins from the village.  The conflict between druids and the occupying force is usually Romans, but in the Arthurian tradition, it was unusual blend of religion and Celtic traditions.  

CURSED -- “Nimue” -- KATHERINE LANGFORD, DEVON TERRELL -- Robert Viglasky/Netflix. 

Lenore is asked to tend to a wounded Moon Wing (Lola Shaw), she seems like a child-like girl with what looks like wings.  This Moon Wing is dressed like a fairy?, but has white fur and a bluish color on her scalp.  She explains the attack by the Red Paladins as Squirrel watches from outside of the hut.  We see the image of the trees burning and out of it is The Weeping Monk (Daniel Sharman).  The Red Paladins are headed to the village.  Lenore is asked about their king, Uther Pendragon, he is the father of King Arthur with a complicated history.  This turns to a hooded man who faces two men in a tavern.  They are looking to collect gold from Merlin (Gustaf Skarsgård).  He played Floki in the drama series Vikings.   

Merlin instead threatens one of them with his knife.  Merlin is a fascinating character in all of the Arthurian adaptations.  Here, he seems powerless, but Nimue must connect him back to his real power.  At the seaside castle, Castle Pendragon, King Uther (Sebastian Armesto) is given the report that Father Carden and the Red Paladins have destroyed two dozen Fey villages.  Fey is another term for the fairies.  The peasants have turned against Fey and Uther himself because of the drought.  Merlin is brought in and says that he can get the Shadow Lords to stop the Red Paladins.  He stumbles away drunk at Uther’s insistence on rain.  Merlin finds a dead bird and then goes to his tower to find a circle of dead or dying birds.  Nimue rides with Pym to Hawksbridge.  

They find the ship is missing and left the previous day.  They move through the city and find a performer played by Devon Terrell.  He previously played Horatio in the drama Ophelia (2018).  The singer introduces himself as Arthur entranced by Nimue.  Of course, an adult Arthur is too early in this pre-Arthurian tale, maybe he inspires the later King Arthur.  This seems like a meet-cute that involves Arthur with Nimue.  She has a destiny to control her powers and lead her people against the Red Paladins.  This of course involves Excalibur and Merlin.  It seems like the first episode covers up to page 71 of the 400 page book.  Cursed gives a strong female hero, a good cast, and an interesting take on the Arthurian legends!   

Four of The Hidden out of Five! 

#Cursed, #KatherineLangford, #DevonTerrell, #GustafSkarsgard 

Happy Birthday Benedict Cumberbatch!

Happy Birthday Benedict Cumberbatch!  One of Cumberbatch’s early film roles was a supporting part as Paul Marshall in the adaptation Atonement (2007).  His iconic role was playing Sherlock Holmes in the contemporary setting of London in the series created by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, Sherlock (2007-2017).  In 2011, he was in the National Theater Live’s presentation of the Danny Boyle directed Frankenstein.  He portrayed the Necromancer in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012).  In 2013, he played the villain in Star Trek: Into Darkness.  Then, he took the part of real life Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate (2013).  Cumberbatch later voiced Smaug and the Necromancer in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013).  Benedict Cumberbatch had a brilliant role playing the genius Alan Turing working to break the Nazi codes in The Imitation Game (2014).  He voiced Classified, the British wolf and leader of the North Wind in the animated Penguins of Madagascar (2014).  

Benedict Cumberbatch completed the Hobbit trilogy in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014).  In 2015, he played the lead role of National Theatre’s production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.  Cumberbatch entered the MCU portraying Dr. Stephen Strange in Doctor Strange (2016).  He played a surgeon finding a cure for his trembling hands learning from the Ancient One and becoming Master of the Mystic Arts.  Cumberbatch had a cameo as Doctor Strange in Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and then this year’s Avengers: Infinity War taking on Thanos.  He had acclaim for his title role in the television drama, Patrick Melrose.  Cumberbatch was in the Andy Serkis directed Mowgli playing Shere Khan.  He also had a lead role in the animated movie, The Grinch (2018).  Cumberbatch was Colonel Mackenzie in the war film, 1917 (2019).  The Current War: Director’s Cut has been released with Cumberbatch playing Thomas Alva Edison. Review here: http://geektruth.blogspot.com/2020/07/retro-review-current-war.html  He is in the Cold War thriller, The Courier, this year.  Happy Birthday Benedict Cumberbatch!     

#BenedictCumberbatch, #Sherlock, #DoctorStrange, #TheCurrentWar 

Happy Birthday Kristen Bell!

Happy Birthday Kristen Bell!  Kristen had the iconic role of Veronica Mars (2004-2007), clever show created by Rob Thomas.  Next, she had the lead role in the comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008).  I actually took notice of Kirsten in the show Heroes (2007-2008) playing Elle Bishop with electrical powers.  She played Zoe in the Fanboys (2009) film.  Bell voiced Cora in the animated movie, Astro Boy (2009). She returned as Sarah Marshall in Get Him to the Greek (2010).  Bell joined the musical Burlesque (2010) as Nikki.  Then, she was in the horror film, Scream 4 (2011), as Chloe.  Bell then starred in Colin Trevorrow’s debut film, Safety Not Guaranteed (2012). Then, Kristen Bell had another iconic role voicing Anna in the animated film, Frozen (2013). The klutzy, but spunky princess who could sing a duo with Idina Menzel charmed everyone.  

She also returned as Veronica Mars in the 2014 film that was crowd funded.  Bell returned to voice Anna in the Frozen Fever (2015) short that ran before the Cinderella live action movie.  She followed that short up voicing Priscilla, the sloth workers at the DMV, in Zootopia (2016) animated film. Bell was one of the Bad Moms (2016), Kiki, in the comedy movie.  She returned as Anna in Olaf’s Frozen Adventure (2017) that ran before the film, Coco.  Then, Bell was back as Kiki in Bad Moms Christmas (2017).  Kirsten Bell starred as Eleanor Shellstrop in the primetime television comedy The Good Place which ended in 2020.  She voiced Jade Wilson in Teen Titans Go! To the Movies (2018).  Later, she also voiced Anna in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018).  Bell has returned as Veronica Mars in the 2019 season.  She also voiced Anna in Frozen II (2019).  Bell voiced Molly Tillerman in the animated series Central Park.  She hosts and executive produces Encore!, a reality show bringing back musical casts, for Disney+.  Happy Birthday Kristen Bell!   

#KristenBell, #VeronicaMars, #TheGoodPlace, #Frozen2

Jurassic World: Alive - Battles!

We covered starting play with the mobile game, Jurassic World: Alive from Ludia, now let’s get a more in-depth look.  The battles of course are at the containers under the orange Supply Boxes.  The trick of course is leveling up.  Your dinos will be a match if they are equal or higher in level.  My Level 1 dinos were no match for a Level 6 T-Rex!  You evolve dinos, level up using coins you win through Supply Boxes, at the lab.  So you create dinos if you have enough DNA, level them up, and of course form your team, about four dinos.  Just in case you missed it you collect dino DNA through darts that you shoot from drones.  You can hit dinos with the target reticle, regular hits will get you 15 points of DNA, a bullseye is 35 to 110 points, so you should get at least one bullseye.  I found an edge in battles with my Level 11 Baronyx, it was just luck that I got it from the daily bonus.  

The other part is the Sanctuaries, I think this trains dinos instead of instantly evolving them, you can select three of your dinos.  You can Interact, play with your dino, kinda rare with the Supply Boxes, give them a Toy, such as a tire for a dino to prod, and give Food, a bail of grass or a giant fish.  Recently, I tried out the Scent capsule, it is located in the backpack icon to the bottom right of your screen.  Once you activate it, all sorts of dinos appear, so remember load up on darts.  I bought 120 of them at the store with dollars that I collected from the Supply Boxes.  This brings several dinos in your area so you can draw a number of DNA samples.  Note that this will take some time, hours, so you may have to pause other activities.  Also keep in mind that you might have dinos that you want to level up so you will want to get their DNAs, but there are so many dinos attracted by the scent that you will want to save up for new ones.  

Next is Tournaments. My dinos are now high leveled, around 11 for the Byronyx so the early tournaments are at around level 6.  What they do teach you is that dinos have certain advantages.  My favorite is now the Nodosaurus, he is heavily armored so can take hits that shred the life of other dinos, and he has a bone-breaking tail club, so basically any button you hit will work!  I usually send in Nodo first to access the strength of opponents.  The prehistoric beasties are fun. I like the Brontotherium, big rhino guy with a clawed horn, he charges and has shields, you have to be careful to send him in to take on groups at the right time.  The other is the Feral Lion, he prowls through the grass, and slashes.  Strangely, there is the Parasaurolophus, a harmless duck-billed dino, but at level 1, he tore apart my powerful dinos! I've entered PvP battles, four wins, one loss, the loss had my team shredded, then the opponent brought in a Level 11 bronto that finished them off!  You can check the Jurassic World Alive Wiki if there is something you might have missed.  Oh, and I did find Blue, but didn’t draw enough DNA!

#JurassicWorldAlive, #LudiaGames, #ScentCapsules, #Sanctuaries

Happy Birthday Sir Patrick Stewart!

Happy Birthday Sir Patrick Stewart!  He began as an actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company and started acting on television with a 1967 episode of Coronation Street.  Stewart had the lead in the adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South (1975).  He had a brief part as King Leondegrance, father of Guinevere in John Boorman’s Excalibur (1981).  Then, he was Gurney Halleck, ally to Paul Artredies, in David Lynch’s Dune (1984).  Next, Stewart was Dr. Armstrong in Tobe Hopper’s horror film, Life-force (1985).  Stewart had a long running part as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994).  He had a cameo as King Richard in Mel Brooks’ comedy, Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993).  Stewart starred in Star Trek films teaming up with William Shatner’s Captain Kirk in Star Trek: Generations (1994).  He played Prospero in The Tempest on Broadway in 1995.  Stewart also won a Grammy for narrating Prokofiev: Peter And The Wolf.  Then, he starred in one of the finest of the Next Gen films, Star Trek: First Contact (1996) clashing with the Borg during Earth’s first contact with Zefram Cochrane.   

Next, Stewart was Star Trek: Insurrection (1998). He voiced Seti in the Dreamworks’ animated film, The Prince of Egypt (1998).  In 2000, Stewart took the part of Professor Charles Xavier launching another franchise in X-Men.  He was made Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2001.  The last Next Gen film for Patrick was Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).  Then, he returned as Professor X in X-Men 2 (2003). He played Henry in the tv adaptation of the brilliant play The Lion in Winter (2003).  Then, he was directed by Russell Mulcahy in the tv movie of Mysterious Island (2005).  Stewart voiced Mr. Woolensworth in Disney’s animated film, Chicken Little (2005).  He was Professor Ian Hood investigating sci fi mysteries in Eleventh Hour (2006).  Stewart starred in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006).  He shared the stage with Ian McKellan in Waiting for Godot in 2009.  He was knighted in 2010 by Queen Elizabeth II.  Stewart also voiced Bill Shakespeare in the animated Gnomeo & Juliet (2011).  Stewart provided many voices on the Family Guy animated series (2005-2014).  He returned as Professor X in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) trying to save the future. Stewart’s final time as Charles Xavier was in Logan (2017).  He has of course returned as another fan favorite role with Star Trek: Picard! mStewart is currently reading Shakespearean sonnets on Twitter, he is on the 80th sonnet for his 80th bday!  Happy Birthday Sir Patrick Stewart!

#PatrickStewart, #StarTrekTheNextGeneration, #Logan, #StarTrekPicard

Happy Birthday Harrison Ford!

Happy Birthday Harrison Ford!  He started out in television and one of his early film roles was in A Time for Killing (1967) playing Lt. Shaffer, a Confederate soldier trying to escape to the Mexican border.  Ford, it is well known, decided to become a carpenter, but took the part of Bob Falfa in George Lucas’ American Graffiti (1973).  He had an iconic role of course as Han Solo in Star Wars (1977).  He returned to the role in The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978).  Ford had a cameo role in Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979) playing a soldier identified as G.Lucas.  Next, he starred alongside Gene Wilder in The Frisco Kid (1979). He returned to Star Wars in The Empire Strikes Back (1980). In 1981, Ford took another iconic role as Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark.  He starred in a dystopian sci fi film playing Rick Deckard in Blade Runner (1981).    

Then, he completed the Star Wars trilogy with Return of the Jedi (1983).  Ford returned with the bullwhip in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).  Next, he turned to drama with the Peter Weir directed films, Witness (1985), and The Mosquito Coast (1986).  Ford also went into comedy with the Mike Nichols’ Working Girl (1988).  He finished the Indiana Jones trilogy with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).  Then, he starred in the Tom Clancy adaptation, Patriot Games (1992), playing Jack Ryan.  Ford played an older Indiana Jones in the episode of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, “Young Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Blues” (1993).  He played Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive (1993).  Next, Ford was in the Jack Ryan film, Clear and Present Danger (1994).  Ford played President James Marshall in Wolfgang Petersen’s action film, Air Force One (1997).  

He ventured back into sci fi with Jon Favreau’s Cowboys & Aliens (2011) which adapted a comic book.  Ford played Colonel Graff in the adaptation of the sci fi novel, Ender’s Game (2013).  He made an incredible return as Han Solo in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).  Ford also returned in another sci fi film, as Rick Deckard, in the brilliant Blade Runner 2049, directed by Denis Villeneuve.  Ford was at the opening ceremony for Galaxy's Edge and gave a touching tribute to Peter Mayhew for their beloved starship now flown by others!   Ford voiced the Rooster in The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019).  Then, Ford completed the Sequel Trilogy with Rise of Skywalker (2019).  This year, he played John Thornton in Call of the Wild directed by Chris Sanders and based on the Jack London novel.  Harrison Ford has brought us many iconic roles so Happy Birthday Harrison Ford!   

#HarrisonFord, #StarWarsTheForceAwakens, #BladeRunner2049, #CallOfTheWild 

The Old Guard Review!

The Old Guard is an action movie with a mysterious group of warriors!  The film is directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood who also wrote and directed the romantic film, Beyond the Lights (2014).  It is based on the graphic novel by Greg Rucka, who also worte the screenplay, and featured art by Leandro Fernandez.  There is the falling of bullets on a floor, there are bodies of soldiers, and then we see the body of Andy (Charlize Theron) with her deathly stare. Theron has Andy as a world weary and experienced warrior.  Her name isn’t said at any time until much later in the film.  We hear her voice wondering if she has met her end.  There are boots that walk up to see her body.  Next, there is Andy walking in sunglasses, in sun-bright Morocco.   She makes her way through the streets as a man rides a motorcycle to meet with her.  Andy hands Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts), a book, a first edition of Don Quixote, 1612 in English.  Schoenaerts was in the Terrence Malick drama, A Hidden Life (2019).  Booker is a part of the team and his involvement is important.  He has a mission, a hostage situation in the Sudan, she tries to refuse and Booker notes that Joe and Nicky are at the hotel.  

While Booker checks in, Andy looks at the news reports of conflict deaths, she doesn’t notice of a group of tourists women taking a selfie.  She goes over to take there picture, sees herself caught in the photo, and deletes it.  Booker takes Andy to the room where she is reunited with Nicky (Luca Marinelli) and Joe (Marwan Kenzari).  Marinelli was in the drama series Trust.  Kenzari played Jafar in Aladdin (2019).  Nicky and Joe may have an interesting relationship, but it is not shown until later.  The men all speak in Italian, languages is one of the few characteristics they have for their long lives.  Nicky has brought Andy some baklava.  The men bet on Andy and she takes a bite to identify ingredients and also location where Nicky bought the dessert.  Booker and Andy walk through a rainy marketplace to meet with ex-CIA agent, Mr. Copley (Chiwetel Ejiofor).  Ejiofor is an Academy Award winning actor who was last in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019).  The character is similar to the Watchers in the Highlander franchise.  Copley debriefs Andy about the mission, they are seen by Nicky using a sniper rifle while Joe adjusts the channel to listen in on the conversation.  He says his wife died two years ago.  Andy says the payment will be charged after the mission.  

A helicopter takes the group, dressed mostly in black with sunglasses and weapons, to the South Sudan.  Night, at a camp, guards are taken down by Nicky’s sniper rifle, and they cut through the wire gate.  The group takes down soldier, one by Booker’s sword, they see the children’s shoes.  The door is breached and and they enter an empty room.  I imagine an explosion would cause the girls to scream.  An ambush, gun men shoot them, and we get a repeat of the opening.  An experienced team wouldn’t stand there when the lights shine on them.  We see the life back in Andy’s eyes, a bullet drops from Booker’s cheek, and they try to quietly get up.  They are immortals in the Wolverine-style.  This group is interesting with the Highlander-type story of the costs of immortality.  The mercenaries are surprised to see them alive and the Old Guard ruthlessly kills them, Andy using her labrys, this is a double bladed axe from ancient Greece.  She realizes there are no hostages.  A camera, with Copley watching, is destroyed by Andy.  He makes his report with a photo of the team and a Civil War photo that has a notation that one of the soldiers may be Booker.  The Old Guard buries the girls’ shoes and Andy says that they know about their existence and they have to find Copley.  

Afghanistan, U.S. soldiers are armed, one them, Corporal Nile Freeman (Kiki Layne) passes out candy to the local kids.  Layne was in the sci fi film Captive State (2019).  Nile is our point of view character, a warrior, but the world of The Old Guard is new to her.  She sent on a mission to escort a local woman and takes with her several women soldiers.  Nile lowers her gun, takes off her helmet, and shows Afghani women a photo of a man.   The other soldiers keep watch as Nile speaks translated by the woman about finding the man.  The lead woman says there is no man around.  She later eyes a door.  The soldiers cover the door as the translator leads the other women away.  Gun fire.  The door is kicked in and Nile shoots the gunman.  He falls and Nile tries to keep him stablized.  The gunman uses a knife to slash her throat and then dies.  Dizzy (Natacha Karam) tries to cover the wound with her hand, the sound starts to fade, and a tear drops from Nile’s eye.  The sun is overheard as a train passed with the Old Guard in one of the cars.  Andy falls asleep and has visions of Nile along with the others.  Nile suddenly wakens from her vision with a patch on her throat.  

The Old Guard tries work out the identity of the woman in their visions.  Visions is new for immortals, my guess is that every period of intense violence results in the appearance of another of The Old Guard, a former warrior.  Andy tells them she is a Marine in Afghanistan.  She says that has been 200 years since they had a new member.  She has others go to Paris to find Copley while she retrieves the new recruit.  Booker has sketched Nile and gives the page to Andy.  She leaps out of the moving train.   At the base, soldiers Jay and Dizzy go to check on Nile, they find her up without the patch.  They are stunned to see that Nile has completely healed which she says is from a skin graft.  The soldiers pass a box of Merrick Pharmacuticals.  At a presentation in London, Copley watches Steven Merrick (Henry Melling), CEO of Merrick Pharmaceuticals.  Melling is known as Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films.  He also appeared in the Coen brothers’ film, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018).  His character is the typical corporate leader who wants to control what is unusual in this case The Old Guard.  Merrick says he needs all of The Old Guard for Dr. Meta Kozak (Anamaria Marinca).  He has Copley work with Keane (Joey Ansah) to capture them.  

At the base, Nile is informed that she is being sent to Germany for tests, her fellow soldiers are silent at her walking in.  I think most soldiers who have a member somehow recover from a mortal wound, wouldn’t shut down, they would love that a KIA is back for any reason.  Nile finds time for herself before two soldiers go to tell her that her transport is ready.  Andy knocks them out and flips the gun that was held by Nile.  She introduces herself as Andromache of Scythia.  This could be the mythological Andromache, wife of Hector of Trojan War fame.  Andy drives the unconscious Nile across the desert in a Humvee.  If it was stolen from the base, the Humvee can easily be tracked by satellite or helicopter.  Nile revives from the jostling in the back of the Humvee.  She has no restraints of any kind, mistake, and kicks open the rear hatch to roll out.  Andy stops the Humvee and shoots Nile in the head.  She gets frustrated at the revival time for Nile.  It is a tense relationship, but they need each other.  Later, Copley calls Andy the “Eternal Warrior”, I think this is a nod to the Valiant Comics character who is also immortal.  The pacing is a bit slow, but the action scenes are strong.  They have to recover lost team members from Merrick Pharmaceuticals to confront this threat to their existence.  The Old Guard features an action spin on immortals, violent, but with some interesting characters.  

Four Labrys out of Five! 

#TheOldGuard, #GinaPrinceBythewood, #CharlizeTheron, #MatthiasSchoenaerts, #LucaMarinelli, #MarwanKenzari