Soul Review!

Soul was released on Disney+ on Christmas Day.  The film is co-directed and has a story and screenplay by Pete Docter who also directed the brilliant Inside Out (2015).  His co-director is Kemp Powers, he adapted the drama One Night in Miami, and also worked on the story and screenplay.  Mike Jones also wrote Soul’s story and screenplay, he wrote the screenplay for the upcoming Luca.  A movie about the afterlife is challenging like Coco (2017).  There are some brilliant movies like Albert Brooks’ clever comedy Defending Your Life (1991) and what I consider the most beautiful and developed afterlife worlds in What Dreams May Come (1998).  The opening with the Disney logo has an off-key middle school band playing “When You Wish Upon a Star”, very funny jab at the parent company.  The teacher, Joe Carter (Jamie Foxx), has them play another jazz song, but it has no energy, most the kids don’t play.  Foxx is of course known for playing Ray Charles in the 2004 film. 

Connie (Cora Champommier) on trumpet is filled with the energy of jazz and takes it solo.  She is mocked by the other kids.  He explains that what she did is good and tells them about going to the Half Note jazz club.  Joe starts playing, he has long fingers, and this gets the attention of all of the students.  The jazz compositions are by Jon Batiste who is on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.  The score is by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.  He is interrupted by the principal who tells him that he is hired full time.  Joe is not enthusiastic, he was meant for to play jazz.  Being a teacher and inspiring others will fill the world with more jazz, life should be fulfilling, but Joe doesn't understand he is narrow minded and a little selfish.  At his mother, Libba’s tailoring shop, she (Phylicia Rashad) is excited at his steady job.  Rashad also was in Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey.  She doesn't understand her son's need to perform like his father.  Joe gets a call from a former student, Curley (Questlove), who now has a gig as a drummer for Dorothea Williams.  Questlove is of course in the band The Roots and was a writer of a song in Detroit (2017).  Curley tells Joe that he could try out for Dorothea’s quartet.  Joe races over to Dorothea’s club and meets with Curley.  Dorothea is on stage playing the sax.  Joe watches in awe.  

Dorothea (Angela Bassett) is unimpressed at a middle school teacher.  She has him tryout on the piano and Joe is uncertain about what song they are practicing.  Dorothea just starts playing, Joe picks up, and then starts his off riff and we get him silhouetted in blue.  It looks like Joe is getting lost.  When he finishes, he looks up to see Dorothea and the rest of the band silent.  She tells him to get a suit.  Joe is excited, talking on the phone, and not paying attention to traffic and the street around him.  He falls in a manhole and lands as tiny, blue version of himself in the darkness.  It looks like in the afterlife you turn into Casper the Friendly Ghost.  There is only echoes of his voice, he sees the black stairs go to a nova of white, but runs down the stairs that look like reverse piano keys.  He meets three spirits that are waiting to go to the Great Beyond.  Joe sees them turn into balls that are blue and then white going into the nova.  He starts running, there are crowds of blue spirits, and then Joe falls off the stairs into darkness.  Joe falls through abstract dimensions before falling into giant, blue stalks.  

He is surrounded by tiny baby spirits.  A tall, line form appears before him, calling herself Jerry (Alice Braga).  The actress was in the New Mutants film.   She thinks he is a mentor.  Joe wonders if it is Heaven and Jerry explains that he is in the Great Before.  In What Dream May Come, a familiar figure acts as a guide to help the soul understand what it is happening, there is also a “guardian angel” in the Twilight Zone episode “A Nice Place to Visit” (1960).  Jerry transforms into an equestrian from and takes Joe and several baby spirits along.  At the stairs, two bureaucrats notice that there is a soul missing.  This seems like a very unorganized afterlife.  Jerry points out white structures that the souls go to the pavilions to get personalities.   She points out that the souls go to the Earth portal, a gap where the baby souls drop down.   Joe attempts to leap down, but ends up back in the Great Before.  He is given the choice to be a mentor or return to the stairs and he takes the sticker badge.           

       

The accountant, Terry (Rachel House), meets with Jerry to tell her about the lost soul.  He goes to check on the files, it is several rows of files on a block that extends to a warehouse.  Joe goes to see a Mentor training video in a theater called the You Seminar.   The host shows the personalities that fill a soul, a dial of different aspects with one missing slot which the host calls the Spark.  He says that the mentors can go to the Hall of Everything to find the one thing that will inspire a person and also the Hall of You, that shows the life story of a mentor that could give the Spark.  This gives Joe the thought of helping a soul be inspired by jazz and returning to the club.  After the presentation, another Jerry (Richard Ayoade), matching up mentors with souls.  Ayoade voiced Zero in The Mandalorian and also Mr. Pickles in The Boxtrolls (2014).  Joe finds that he has the sticker badge of Dr. Borgensen!  Jerry says that he is matched with 22 and goes to struggle with her to go on stage.  

They are moved into the doorway which leads to the Hall of You.  The Twilight Zone episode has a Hall of Records and Defending Your Life has a defense attorney assigned as you review footage of your life to see how you move on from Judgment City.  This is a brown tinted world that has spotlights on Dr. Borgensen’s life.  22 (Tina Fey) explains that she has countless mentors of famous people who all failed.  Fey is of course known for 30 Rock and also Mean Girls (2004).  22 is a large, mushroom-like head blue spirit like the other baby spirits, but with reddish cheeks.  So 22 is a new spirit, but world weary voiced by Fey, really this leaves out the pre-teen audience.  Joe tries to explain he is not Dr. Borgensen and 22 shows him how to change the Hall of You.  It shifts to the blue light of his life which is Joe sitting around watching television and also his rap group.  He sees the turning point of his life at the jazz club with his father, but then the endless string of disappointments and sitting alone eating at a diner. 

Joe wants 22’s badge.  She tries, but it always reappears on her, 22 needs an Earth Pass.  Joe says he will help her, He wants her Earth Pass and 22 wants to stay in the Great Before.  Joe says jazz is his Spark, his music doesn’t interest 22.  Joe asks 22 why she sounds like a “middle aged white lady”, very funny, and she can sound like anyone, but her voice is the most annoying!  22 leads Joe to the Hall of Everything, a faintly gold tower that has every interest, but 22 just ends up saying, “Meh!”  The difficulty with 22 is that she hasn’t experienced anything before.  She’s seen and known things, but it is the difference of putting on a VR headset to go on a trip or watching a documentary and actually traveling there.  There is also The Zone where living persons are inspired and connect with the afterlife.  Moonwind (Graham Norton) is the pilot of a ship with tie-die sails sailing the Zone.  Norton is the long time host of his own chat show, The Graham Norton Show.  

Moonwind is also connected to the real world as a sign twirler!  We have 22 ending up with Joe’s journey and she actually experiences human life and finds it fascinating.  Joe gets caught up in trying to get to his gig that he doesn’t realize that their time is exciting her about being human.  He has become jaded about things that excite 22.  Yes, fulfilling his dream is important, but Joe has to appreciate things along the way. Terry tries to pursue Joe, but he only becomes a problem when he needs to for the story.  Donnell Rawlings voices Dez, Joe's barber, who speaks some truth he needs to hear.  Rawlings is from Chappelle's Show.  The vision of the afterlife is not stunning visuals or compelling like Coco or What Dreams May Come.   If you need some jazz inspiration, I would recommend the Rhapsody in Blue sequence in Fantastia 2000 (1999).  There is some predictable twists to Joe’s story, but it is an uplifting message.  Soul is about life, finding your purpose, and just a little jazz to go along with it!   

Three Earth Passes out of Five!   

#Soul, #PeteDocter, #JamieFoxx, #TinaFey, #PhyliciaRashad, #AngelaBassett, #AliceBraga 

The Outpost, “Where Death Lives”, Review!

Another attack on The Outpost has begun, Falista has shown her loyalty with her Red Kinj, and Talon has taken Wren and Zed to the Plane of Ashes.  It is a place with vents of flame, a quarry, and constant fall of ashes.  Everyone puts on masks, which seems like a fantasy version of what everyone is going through now, thanks makers of The Outpost!  I hope they show the characters in masks which would make a great promotion and it still ties into the show!  Zed is struck by Corbin and stopped by Talon’s knife and Wren’s words.  He wears strange goggles.  Corbin feels betrayed by Zed and not a little insane!  Munt walks to see the gate of The Outpost.  He knocks and pleads for Janzo to open the door.  Janzo is carrying a barrel and drops it to see Munt at the battlement.  He tells Munt that he can’t enter and wants him to go to go away.  Yavalla sees this through her kinj and says that the invasion has begun!  An infected woman, Ana, spreads a kinj to a washing woman and the guard Strom passes his kinj to another soldier.  

THE OUTPOST - - “Where Death Lives” - - IZUYA HOYLE, JESSICA GREEN, REECE RITCHIE - - Photo: Aleksander Letic/NBCU International © 2020 Outpost TV LLC. Courtesy of Electric Entertainment.

Tobin is training his soldier while Garrett reassures Gwynn in a red dress.  Tobin enters the quarters of Gwynn and sends away Warlita.  She works at the tavern and as handmaiden to Gwynn?  A Medieval multi-tasker!  Tobin says to Gwynn that he has given her the troops.  Tobin tells Gwynn that he will stay married and admits to his mistakes.  This is an honorable way.  He says that he felt love for Falista on Gwynn’s order for her death.  I sense that Gwynn will get back with Garrett and Talon will fall for Zed again.  In the Plane of Ashes, Wren admits that she is the healer who could have helped Corbin.  She tries to ask Corbin to help them and shows him his map.  Talon tries to ask him too.  Corbin wants Zed to enter the place “where death lives” from the episode’s title.  He has Wren promise that she won’t go to that place.  Gwynn looks out at The Outpost as Garrett reports the supplies.  He realizes that she’s thinking about Tobin.  She says that he loves Falista from childhood like she did with Garret.  They walk through the Plane of Ashes, Corbin thinks that Zed survived the battle, and Wren says it’s her fault.  Wren thought Corbin was poisoned and gave him an antidote that saved him, but it turned him violent.  Zed says that they have to stop Yavalla.  

At The Outpost, the zinj guards infect the door guards to open the way for Yavalla’s army!  She has her followers march on The Outpost!  They walk in and no one seems to think this is unusual!  Falista is tearful when Tobin enters and tells her that he is already married.  She is worried about her Red Zinj, but Tobin says he will be there for her.  They start kissing as man and wife.  They have reached a entrance in the Plane of Ashes.  Corbin wants to stay outside with Wren.  She wants to break her promise and enter, Corbin says he will go with her.  They take torches to enter the cavern.  Corbin says that he killed Talon’s father, but he seems confused.  Wren says Corbin and two warriors were the only survivors.  They continue down the cavern with Corbin and Zed with torches.  Zed tries to tell Talon that her father is dead.  Wren puts them on the right path finding out they are misguided by Corbin.  The United are entering the Outpost and Janzo is suspicious especially seeing the rat detector has fallen.  Warlita has Two's zinj and Janzo realizes that they all have zinj.  Garrett has the queen protected and swings down to help Janzo. 

THE OUTPOST - - “Where Death Lives” - - JAKE STORMOEN, AARON FONTAINE, ANAND DESAI-BAROCHIA, IMOGEN WATERHOUSE  - - Photo: Aleksander Letic/NBCU International © 2020 Outpost TV LLC. Courtesy of Electric Entertainment.

 

They try to block off a tunnel to the hordes of the infected.  Tobin and his soldiers fire crossbows to stop the United.  He finds that his soldiers are overwhlmed and leaps down and is able to jump through the barricade.  Some women and a man try to infect Falista and she stops them with her Red Zinj.  She locked herself in a door and they try to break through.  A hopeless situation, but of course we have Talon searching for the Black Zinj!  Tobin wants to rescue his wife.  Janzo tells him to use an escape hole.  At the cavern, they have reached the bottom, Wren takes the lead, she finds two dead guards.  Talon is sad that her father isn’t there.  They search for the Black Zinj.  Corbin is worried at a box.  The bald man is given a axe to chop at the door and looks in Shining style.  He opens the door and enters with the others.  He notices the wind blowing through a window as Falista hides under a table.  The man sees her, but he is killed by Tobin!  She kisses him before their escape!  

The United stand outside like statues.  Tobin and Falista make their way across the battlement.  The United start to rush them, Tobin has them swing across, he holds the United off as Falista climbs the buildings.  She uses her Red Zinj to save him.  Tobin is stabbed in the side!  He leaps across to safety, but is struck by two arrows!  We may not get a happy ending for all of the characters!  Tboin is taken aside wounded with Falita and Garrett calls for Janzo.  He says to Falista that it is too late.  Janzo apologizes to Gwynn.  Tobin dies.  It seems like we always have consequences with this series, a great showcase for Aaron Fontaine as Lord Tobin, but I do hope somehow the Black Zinj or some power can bring him back to the show in some way.  Garrett holds Gwynn.  At the cavern, there is a bearded Blackblood who is struck by tridents and Talon realizes that it is her father.  Wren says he hasn’t decayed!  Corbin did say death doesn’t die, we have seen Yavalla couldn’t be destroyed, it looks like Talon’s father has been immobilized, but still in a state of undeath!  A very good episode with some truths revealed, fateful consequences, and The Outpost again threatened!  

Four Zinjes out of Five! 

#TheOutpost, #WhereDeathLives, #Corbin, #AaronFontaine

Re:tro Re:view - Logan’s Run!

Logan’s Run was released one year before Star Wars and it falls into the hard sci fi genre. It is based on William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson’s 1967 novel. Nolan produced further books in the Logan Trilogy; Logan’s World (1977) and Logan’s Search (1980). The director is Michael Anderson who also directed The Dam Busters (1955), a war film that has sequences influential to Star Wars, and also the Academy Award winning adaptation, Around the World in 80 Days (1956).  The screenplay adaptation was by David Zelag Goodman who also wrote and won the Academy Award for Lovers and Others Strangers (1970) and also the thriller Straw Dogs (1971). The film won a Special Academy Award for its effects, by L.B. Abbott, and later was turned into a 1977 television series.  

The movie opens with a title card explaining the future of the 23rd century. Humans take refuge in a giant domed city and now live only for pleasure with work handled by “servo-mechanisms.” It also notes that life ends at thirty, it is 21 in the book, this is the sci-fi expression of youth culture. There is an electronic score that is masterfully done by Jerry Goldsmith. We hear it as we pan down from a stormy sky to the domed city which looks like fluorescent blobs, jellyfish, lit by pinkish colors. As we move from brush on the hills, the pebbled texture of the domes are visible, it moves to the central dome. It looks like a miniature, but the design is so cool, plus the shot looks like Superman (1978). Inside the dome is the city, a giant lake with pyramid-like and colorful structures. Tubes that are used for transport crisscross the area. 

Then, we get a close-up of the diamond-like palm crystal on a baby’s hand. Outside of the Nursery, tapping on the glass, is Logan 5 (3 in the book) played by Michael York. The actor played Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (1968) and more recently was Basil Exposition in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999). He has a ruby-colored palm crystal called a Life-Clock. Logan 5 is joined by Francis 7, Richard Jordan, he replaced another actor. Jordan was in the Western Rooster Cogburn (1975) and I recognize him from Dune (1984). They are wearing the uniform of Sandmen, the law enforcement of the dome, black uniforms with silver bars on their chests. Logan 5 is looking at Logan 6 whom he thinks will become a Sandman and Francis 7 strikes the window which activates an alarm. They take a small vehicle through the tubes to reach the Arcade.  

Here we get the toga-like outfits of the citizens that are colored according to their age; the youth up to age 8-16 (yellow), teens 16-24 (blue), and red is 24-30.  The incredible costumes are by Bill Thomas who also worked on Spartacus (1960) and the 1974 Cathy Lee Crosby Wonder Woman tv movie. They discuss how Carousel works and Francis 7 says it’s “one for one”, one dies, one is born. There is a gong sound as people are walking about the Arcade. The arena is circular with several rows of seats. The computer (voiced by Virginia Ann Ford) calmly says that Capricorn-15s are about to undergo renewal. The large ruby crystal in the center glows as white robed figures enter to cheers. They take off their hoods in what look like death masks, black openings for their eyes and mouths, they hold up their hands showing their blinking palm crystals.  

The computer says, “Rise”, then a large white crystal sends down a circular tube of light. The Capricorns throw off their robes, it is a red spandex outfit that turns white at the top. They start to lift into the air, the crowd shouts, “Renewal!”, and explosions end the lives of the Capricorns.  Logan 5 gets a message that there is a Runner in the Great Hall. 

He leaves and Francis 7 follows.  Logan 5 is listening to his device called the Follower that beeps as the Runner gets closer. A Runner in red robes is shot at by Logan 5, his gun pulses and causes a green-flared explosion.  They are having a game of it, Logan 5 smiles saying, “Run Runner!” The Runner lifts himself to another level, the Sandmen fire around him like target practice, and then Francis 7 shoots the Runner so he falls to his death. This is contrasted with the gruesome deaths of the Carousel.  

Logan 5 checks the face of the Runner, his Follower shows a picture of a balding man, he finds out that the Runner had a Face Change at New You. Logan 5 collects the Runner’s belongings including an ankh necklace. A clean-up crew descends on hover vehicles and spray the body disintegrating it. Later, Logan is relaxing in his apartment. Logan 5 activates a wall called the Circuit, it brings a man in red, and he sends him away. 

The other figure in this Teleporting Dating Wall is Jessica-6 played by Jenny Agutter. She may be otherwise best known for Nurse Alex Price in An American Werewolf in London (1981), but she was also Councilwoman Hawley in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). Jessica 6 wears a very revealing, thin, green robe and also an ankh necklace. It is amazing that the film’s costumes and some incidents got a PG rating. Logan 5 is ready to take her to his bedroom, but Jessica 6 refuses. Jessica 6 says she is sad since someone she knew was killed in Carousel.  

Logan 5 says he doesn’t kill Runners, he terminates them, so he would be a Terminator? He shows Jessica 6 his red palm-crystal. Francis 7 interrupts them walking in with two women. Jessica 6 slips away. He throws up a globe that drops down pink gas, but we don't see what happens from that point. The computer asks Logan if knows the word “Sanctuary”, he says no, and the computer explains it is a “Pre-Catastrophe” term for a “place of unity.” The ankh and Sanctuary are connected to Runners. The “unaccounted Runners” number 1,056. 

Logan 5 is given a mission by the computer to find Sanctuary outside of the Dome and destroy it. He places his hand on the chair undergoing Retrogram and this makes his Life-Clock blink. So Logan 5 now has to be a Runner himself. He has Jessica 6 as an ally and goes to New You for a different face encountering assistant Holly 13 played by Farrah Fawcett-Majors before her star making turn in Charlie’s Angels. Their quest also includes the menace of the mirror-like robot, Box, voiced by Roscoe Lee Browne. They eventually encounter an older character played by Peter Ustinov. The HBO Max streaming has more of the adult content than the PG version. Logan’s Run is a fascinating, dystopian future world with two engaging leads!   

Four Life-Clocks out of Five! 

#LogansRun, #MichaelAnderson, #MichaelYork, #JennyAgutter, #RichardJordan  

Wonder Woman 1984 Review!

Wonder Woman 1984 is finally out on HBO Max, is it worth signing up for the streaming service?, answer: yes, because there is also a wealth of content on HBO Max.  It is of course a follow up to the first Wonder Woman (2017) film, is it a worthy sequel to the brilliant movie?, answer: kinda.  Patty Jenkins returns to direct this film.  It is co-written by Jenkins along with Geoff Johns and Dave Callaham on the screenplay.  Callaham was one of the co-writers of Zombieland: Double Tap (2019).  I sense Johns is responsible for much of the story.  He worked on the story for Aquaman (2018), he also wrote the Aquaman comic book, but he did not write the Wonder Woman comic book.  I would hope a future Wonder Woman film brings in Gail Simone who actually wrote the comic and also the Wonder Woman (2009) animated film.  The previous film had a screenplay by Allan Heinberg who did write the Wonder Woman comic book.  The Wonder Woman film was interesting since it put a spin on Richard Donner’s Superman (1978), this film seems to follow Superman II (1980), an ok sequel.  

The opening has some moody music by Hans Zimmer, an incredible composer, he created the Wonder Woman theme in 2016’s Beavis.  He gives a jaunty score to the opening, but I didn’t sense too many additions to the rest of the score.  Gal Gadot returns as Wonder Woman, also producer, and she contributes to the opening narration.  She explains her childhood, Young Diana is played by Lilly Aspell, who reprises her part here.  She races through a forest in her golden armor.  It moves from a waterfall to the mountains of Themyscira, out to the beach, and finally to the cliffside arena.  It is filled with cheering Amazons.  This is not identified so new audiences might need to catch up.  We see an Amazon contestant use her lasso to whip across the arena.  Another whirls the lasso in a circle before using its tip to strike a target.  This are all actions that we see later by Wonder Woman.  What is confusing is that Wonder Woman’s mission in the comics and the last movie was to bring the ideals of the Amazons of peace to the outside world.  It seems that this has been sidetracked.  

Her mother, Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) watches from her platform.  Diana's aunt, General Antiope (Robin Wright) in black armor, goes to talk to Diana next to the line-up of other contestants, I did recognize Venelia (Doutzen Kroes) from the first movie.  The gong is struck and the contestants start their run, Diana scrambles up a ladder as the others run, it rotates and she flips up to the top platform.  It is great to see Aspell in a physical part, though her height might give the others advantage though.  The Contest is also a large part of the Wonder Woman mythos since her first appearance in All Star Comics #8 (1942).  It was Diana competing as an adult to prove she is worthy to return Steve Trevor.  Diana leaps into the sea followed closely by the Amazons swimming.  She reaches a black horse at the beach and this of course has Aspell showing her equestrian skills.  Diana reaches over to grab a bow and looses an arrow at a target sending up a blue smoke signal to lower her flag.  She is incredible at archery and horse riding, but gets distracted and gets knocked off her horse!  Diana slides down a ditch to get to her horse.  Somehow, she passes the three other riders who already passed the last target, and she just has to throw a javelin across the arena.  Still, she is taken down by Antiope and loses.  Antiope says she took a short cut and cheated so lost, only the truth is important.  This doesn't connect to the rest of the movie.   

Diana is consoled by her Hippolyta who points out the golden armored statue of Asteria and says that she should be patient.  There was an Asteria in Elseworld’s Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl (1998), but she didn't seem to be an Amazon.  A later flashback scene has a special cameo and also a mid-credit scene, don't miss it!  The other Amazons congratulate the winners of the Contest.   This shifts to Washington, D.C. with a jogger in multi-colored 80’s wear passes by several tv screens.  They show a commercial by Maxwell Lord played by Pedro Pascal.  He of course just finished season two of The Mandalorian.  The character was introduced in Justice League #1 (1987), I think this is a misuse of the character since he has no connection with the comics.  Lord plays the get-rich commercial pitch man which would be wealthy from the commercials alone.  We do have the addition of his son, Alistair (Lucian Perez) which again separates the character from the comics, why not a new character instead?  A red Corvette races on the street and then we get the jogger.  A red boot kicks the car from the jogger and it is sent spinning.  Lord speaks about a people backed oil company, Black Oil Cooperative, instead of Lord Technologies.  Some teen girls run off with stolen sunglass so the 80’s were a selfish time.  The girls knock over a bridge taking a wedding photo on a bridge.  A golden lasso swings her to the ground.  No capture of the thieving teens or the reckless drivers.    

At a mall, ladies are jazzercising with men leering at them, strange promotion for exercise.  Some men walk into a jewelry store and one shows his gun at his waist.  There are two others watching outside.  The song for Lord's commercial is playing so we don’t get any 80’s tunes in the mall.  The leader of the thieves, Buzz Cut (Lyon Beckwith) wants the black market operation the jewelry store is running in the back room.  If there is black market goods, I don’t think a mall is a safe place.  One of the stolen goods is a mysterious gem-like object.  This is the McGuffin of the movie.  It becomes an almost Bruce Almighty (2003) situation.  There is no apparent connection with the thieves to Lord which is unusual that they had special knowledge of the black market goods.  The thieves walk out casually, but one drops his gun starting a panic.  The mall cops tell them to freeze, but they are about as effective as Paul Blart.  One of the thieves takes a girl hostage and threatens to drop her, but she is taken by Wonder Woman and dropped at a rocking horse.  Wonder Woman uses her tiara to knock out the security cameras.  The flying tiara technique is from the Wonder Woman tv show.  A little girl, Courtney (Rey Rey Terry) is stunned at Wonder Woman’s heroism and thrown into a giant teddy bear to protect her.  She defeats the thieves and gives a wink to Courtney.  The thieves wrapped in a banner are dropped on the top of a police car.  

The news reports similar reports of a female “savior” as we get the dark apartment of Diana.  There are photographs, it looks like Diana attended the wedding of one of her former friends and soldiers.  This movie sorely needs similar characters for comic relief and drama.  We also of course get photos of Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) whom sacrificed himself in Wonder Woman.  Pine was recently in the I Am the Night mini-series which had some episodes directed by Jenkins.  His return is  reversed with Steve awkward in the 80's, but this is just one scene.  She dines alone at a cafe.  It’s been 66 years!  Diana seems lonely, hasn’t picked up new friends, or a companion just to be company.  Also, she is disconnected from the Amazons who are still around.  I think important to the character she should at least return to Themyiscra to speak with her mother.  In the morning, jogging to work, is mousy Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig).  She of course is known for Bridesmaids (2011).  Wiig plays the timid, awkward character to a tee.  Her villainous turn is a bit like Catwoman in Batman Returns (1992).  The character first appeared in Wonder Woman #7 (1942), the Minerva version was in Wonder Woman #7 (1987), a classic villain for Wonder Woman.  There is also Wonder Woman's gold armor which was in Kingdom Come #3 (1996).  Wonder Woman is ok, most of the concepts are predictable and don't tie in well with the comic books, but the cast is good and the action is strong!  

    

Three Lassos of Hestia out of Five! 

#WonderWoman1984, #PattyJenkins, #GalGadot, #ChrisPine, #KristenWiig, #PedroPascal

Ahsoka Tano in the Star Wars story!

 The fifth episode of season two of The Mandalorian, “The Jedi”, is the introduction of Ahsoka Tano in the form of a new actress, Rosario Dawson, in live action form was great.  Still, in the upcoming Ahsoka series, I hope that key to her story would be a character played by Ashley Eckstein.  A pilot, a New Republic Ranger, or smuggler who is support or advisor to Ahsoka.  It seems with Dave Filoni as creator and executive producer he favors not only the character he created, Ahsoka Tano, but also Eckstein.  Ahsoka was introduced in the Clone Wars (2008) movie and then the series in that same year to her last episode in the fifth season finale, “The Wrong Jedi” (2013).  Then, it was a surprise when she was revealed as the mystery agent in Star Wars: Rebels first season finale, “Fire Across the Galaxy” (2015).  

We had a survivor of the Jedi Purge, technically Ahsoka is not a Jedi, she left the order in the fifth season so this does not contradict what Yoda said about the Jedi.  We did get what happened to Clone Troopers with “The Lost Commanders” (2015).  Ahsoka was now older carrying not only her double lightsabers, but they were white.  This was explained in the Ahsoka (2017) novel by E.K. Johnston.  It covered her time from Clone Wars to Rebels.  Highly recommended if you want to understand the character, I hope there is a follow up novel that covers what happened after Star Wars: Rebels to The Mandalorian, but this may be in the Ahsoka series.  Johnston should be a consultant or writer on the Ahsoka show.  It felt like there was a connection to Star Wars, the George Lucas Original Trilogy and Prequels in animated form with Ahsoka and Rex.  Still, we were stunned when Ahsoka’s former master was revealed as Darth Vader and he finished her in the second season finale, “Twilight of the Apprentice” (2016).   

This was an ending to the character, Star Warriors were lost, it made sense that we didn’t see Ahsoka in the Original Trilogy, but also we needed Ahsoka Tano in our Star Wars!  There was the “Ahsoka Lives!” movement and Dave Filoni wasn’t talking.  Luckily, there were flashback appearances of Ahsoka in Star Wars: Forces of Destiny in 2017.  I hope the makers of that series is moved to the Bad Batch animated show.  The start of the third season of Star Wars: Rebels was the two part movie, “Steps Into Shadow” (2016).   Lars Mikkelsen voiced the character of Thrawn in the series, good casting, if he is brought into live action.  It re-introduced Grand Admiral Thrawn, who was the Imperial mastermind in the Heir to the Empire (1992) by Timothy Zahn.  Unlike the Sequel Trilogy, this brought Legends characters into the canon, the Sequel Trilogy was you wasted your time and money reading novels and comics, that was the old Star Wars, now Legends.  Um, the Sequel Trilogy is Legends to me.  We heard Ahsoka press with her lightsaber to Morgan Elspeth’s throat about her master, Grand Admiral Thrawn!  Morgan Elspeth and Lang may play into early episodes of Bad Batch or maybe Ahsoka.  

It was a dark period with the rise of Thrawn and the lost Ahsoka Tano.  The protagonist of Star Wars: Rebels, Ezra Bridger (Taylor Gray) learned more about the Force.  In “Wolves and a Door” (2018), season four and the last season of the series, Ezra and Sabine Wren (Tiya Sircar) find the Gateway at the Jedi Temple.  On the temple is pictures of The Ones, the Father who holds the balance between the Daughter, the light side of the Force, and Son who represents the Dark Side.  Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka encountered them in “Overlords” (2011) in the third season of the Clone Wars.  Ezra noted that the Convor bird seen in the picture of the Daughter is connected to Ahsoka.  Through the Gateway in “A World Between Worlds”, Ezra hears the voices of Jedi; Yoda, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Obi-Wan Kenobi.  He finds himself in a Twilight Zone-like world of lines connecting the galaxy!  A Convor is above one gateway, Ezra sees the fateful battle of Ahsoka and Darth Vader!, he reaches in to pull her out at the last moment.  Minister Veris Hydan, voiced by Malcolm McDowell!, is trying to uncover the secrets of the Temple for the Emperor.  

When Ezra sealed the Temple, Hydan fell, but could he play a part in the Ahsoka show?  The Season Four finale and conclusion to the Star Wars: Rebels was “Family Reunion - and Farewell” (2018).  On Lothal, the Rebels led the resistance including Rex who is voiced by Dee Bradley Baker whom I know will have a live action part or parts in Ahsoka if Dave Filoni is in charge, Ketsu Onyo, a Mandalorian and ally of Sabine Wren, voiced by Gina Torres, she would be a perfect fit for Bo-Katan fighting for Mandalore possibly in season three of The Mandalorian.  Ezra stood on the bridge of Thrawn’s Star Destroyer Chimaera holding Thrawn with the Force as it was pulled into hyperspace.  The story then shifts to Sabine who explains that she has kept Lothal safe until the fall of the Empire with the Battle of Endor.  She is seen with Ahsoka in her white cloak and staff and leaving on a T-6 red and white shuttle that looks like a dagger.  

Season seven of the Clone Wars debuted on Disney+ on February 21st.  We picked up with Ahsoka in “Gone with a Trace.” She leaves the Jedi Temple on Coruscant and ends up in level 1313.  This introduced Trace Martez (Brigitte Kali) and her sister Rafa (Elizabeth Rodriguez).  What characters I don’t want to see in Ahsoka?  Trace and Rafa Martez!  Dave Filoni co-wrote the Martez episodes so they most likely will be in Ahsoka.  They seemed like spin-off characters.  Bo-Katan re-entered the Clone Wars with “Old Friends Not Forgotten” to battle Gar Saxon and Maul in the Siege of Mandalore.  We have seen her ties to Bo-Katan and Mandalore, but she still has the quest to find Ezra.  He will probably be found after Thrawn is discovered!  If you ignored the Star Wars animated series, then you weren't in the "Room Where it Happens", but you can still catch up!  It is interesting to track Ahsoka Tano’s story throughout Star Wars.  She is connective tissue for the Original Trilogy, the Prequels, Clone Wars, Star Wars: Rebels, and now The Mandalorian!  The Book of Boba Fett is set for Christmas 2021 so it is probable that Rangers of the New Republic and Ahsoka will be in 2022 or 2023, so we have much look forward to as the Star Wars story unfolds!  

#Ahsoka, #DaveFiloni, #AshleyEckstein, #RosarioDawson, #StarWarsTheCloneWars, #StarWarsRebels, #TheMandalorian    

Swamp Thing, “Loose Ends”, Review!

This is the finale of season one of the Swamp Thing and also the series since it was cancelled on DC Universe with the last episode on August 2nd.  The streaming service is still running with most of its content moved to HBO Max.  Swampy has learned about his true nature, he is not Alec Holland, the Green formed him in imitation of Alec including his memories!  He pulled the corpse of Alec from the swamp!  It is night at the swamp, Abbie is trying to console Swamp Thing, she still likes Alec.  Swamp Thing has sensed that there are men coming for him.  Swamp Thing sends Alec’s body into the water.  Morning, at the Woodrue House, Jason is tying up what is revealed to be his wife, Caroline.  At the tavern, Abby tells Liz what happened.  She explains that Maria is at the pyschiatric ward.   Liz opens her iPad to the cover of a Blue Devil comic, issue #1 (1984) with the Paris Cullins cover!  Jason promises Caroline that he can “fix” her.  He takes a box taking out the Swamp Thing’s organs.  

SWAMP THING -- “Loose Ends”  -- DEREK MEARS, CRYSTAL REED -- Photo: Fred Norris/ 2020 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. - © 2020 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Avery is checking on some armed men, he meets with Ellery, and is slammed by Ellery.  He knows what happened to Avery.  Sheriff Cable enters the hospital to check on her son, Matt, who was in a car accident.  The doctor tells her that he was drunk.  Liz is checking on Daniel, she sees a script next to a Blue Devil comic book, she goes to talk to him.  I think it was issue #13 (1985).  I love seeing actual comic books in a movie or television episode inspired by a comic book!  He is worried that the Blue Devil mask is worrying him.  Daniel drives trying to leave Marai and is not stopped at the city line.  Maria is screaming at voices in her padded room.  Hands start to reach out at her.  She wakens to see Xanadu in the room.  Xanadu says that she brought up demons to see her daughter.  She offers her peace, but at a cost.  Men are cutting through the swamp with Ellers.  They get a communication about the target.  A gunman swings his rifle around, he fires at trees, until he has to reload.  The Swamp Thing appears behind him. 

Abby enters Maria’s room and finds Xanadu is there.  Maria can only see her daughter, Abby and Xanadu leave, and she hugs Shawna Sunderland.   Avery is drinking and wants another one from Delroy.  He has lost everything.  Avery jumps at a customer entering the bar.  Delroy tells him about the accident with Matt.  Jason is cooking the organs.  Caroline has a blank stare.  He is about to feed her a spoonful of the Swamp Thing’s heart, but takes it first.  He suddenly drops the spoon and then writhes in pain on the floor!  Night, it is raining in the swamp, the men find the lost soldier in the trees.  They are blocked from returning through the swamp.  The trees start to close in on them.  The soldiers try to cut through the vines with machetes.  Jason struggles to pull himself up and breaks through a table with a vine.  Abby has entered Woodrue’s house.  Now Abby wants to take Caroline to the hospital, she left her behind last episode.  Caroline watches helpless in the chair.  

SWAMP THING -- “Loose Ends”  -- KEVIN DURAND -- Photo: Fred Norris/ 2020 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. - © 2020 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Sheriff Cable is next to Matt’s hospital bed, she draws her gun at Avery’s voice.  He leads her out of the room.  She holsters her gun at a nurse checking on Matt.  Avery tells the sheriff about Maria and a divorce.  Sheriff Cable stands up to Avery.  Jason is again cooking, Abby realizes that they are the body parts taken from Swamp Thing!, she thinks his plan is insane.  Abby stops him from feeding her, he throws her against a wall, but Jason is struck by a taser cable!  The soldiers try to cut through the swamp, one the soldiers tries to shoot the trees, and a vine takes him away.  The others face Swamp Thing!  Liz and Abby are at the Woodrue house as the police take away Jason.  Matt wakens and his mother reassures him.  Sheriff Cable leaves and has a deputy watch over her son.  She enters her car and sees her window has fog.  Avery sends a knife through her seat and takes her gun!  She wakens in the trunk of her car using her cell phone.  

Avery has sent her car into the swamp.  He watches as it sinks!  I think the Swamp Thing would know what is happening in every part of the swamp, but it looks like the producers are taking the series in a certain direction.  Avery walks back to his car, a desperate man, and starts coughing.  He spits out some kind of leech.  Ellery tries to run, but is slammed by the Swamp Thing against a tree!  He is freed by Swamp Thing with a warning.  He roars and is met by Alec Holland!  Alec brings up Abby who still believes in him.  Swamp Thing is left alone as it starts raining.  Abby is at the lab with a lantern.  Swamp Thing is there.  She says she cares about him.  Abby is fascinated about the Green.  Swamp Thing wanted to leave.  This is of course Beauty and the Beast, Beauty and the Beanstalk?  He still senses the Darkness.  Abby says they will fight it together!  

At the sheriff’s office, it is dark, he sees foliage and dead officers with thorns in their back.  He takes up a gun and a flashlight and then sees the demonic plant form of the former Jason Woodrue, now the Floronic Man!  This is the hideous villain with wood-like limbs and tufts of green.  He first appeared in Atom #1 (1962).  There is gunshots and a scream by Matt!  This of course would lead to the confrontation of both creatures, but we lost the rest of Swamp Thing!  This is the loss of one Vine for me.  The series has potential, a good cast and characters, I was expecting Avery to go fully in the Rot.  It is imperfect adapting the best comics, but kudos to the cast including Crystal Reed, Derek Mears, Andy Bean, Maria Sten, Jennifer Beals, Ian Ziering, Jeryl Prescott, Virginia Madsen, Henderson Wade, Kevin Durand, and Will Patton!  I would like to see the series continue on the CW or HBO Max or any form!  

Four Vines out of Five!   

#SwampThing, #LooseEnds, #CrystalReed, #DerekMears, #AndyBean, #MariaSten, #JenniferBeals, #IanZiering, #JerylPrescott, #VirginiaMadsen, #HendersonWade, #KevinDurand, #WillPatton