Cruella Review!

Cruella is a fresh live action adaptation with a complex lead, fun characters, and tells its own story!  The film is of course based on the Disney film, 101 Dalmatians (1961), Betty Lou Gerson voiced Cruella there!, which in turn was based on the 1956 novel by Dodie Smith.  There of course was a live action 101 Dalmatians (1996) with Glenn Close as Cruella DeVil, John Hughes was the screenwriter!, and she reprised the role in the sequel, 102 Dalmatians (2000).  Close is named as executive producer in this movie.  Cruella was also played by Victoria Smurfit in the fantasy series, Once Upon a Time starting in season 4!  Let’s get into the Disney live action adaptations of their animated classics and characters.  Specifically, we have a focus on a villain with Maleficent (2014) based on Sleeping Beauty (1959).  It changed the villainess into a hero, but just loses the fun of the animated film.  Cruella is directed by Craig Gillespie who also directed I, Tonya (2017) and some dramas for Disney including The Finest Hours (2016).

The screenplay has a number of writers, a story by Aline Brosh McKenna, who wrote The Devil Wears Prada (2006) which is said to bear similiarities with Cruella.  Also, Kelly Marcel, who wrote Saving Mr. Banks (2013) which had Emma  Thompson as P.L. Travers,  and Steve Zissis, he was a co-creator of the comedy series Togetherness.  Emma Stone who of course was in the musical, La La Land (2016).  It has a screenplay by Dana Fox, screenwriter for the comedy Isn’t It Romantic (2019), and Tony McNamara, creator of the comedy series, The Great.  It currently playing in theaters and premiere access on Disney+.   It opens with birthing pains and the arrival of the naked baby which is noted by narrator Cruella (Emma Stone).  Emma Stone who was of course in La La Land (2016), though no singing parts here, maybe in the sequel?  The baby has the distinctive black and white hair and taken on a stroller by her mother, Catherine (Emily Beecham).  The actress played The Widow in the action show, Into the Badlands.  Passersby are disturbed by the baby’s hair, but Catherine still checks on the baby, her necklace hangs with the red stone.  Cruella explains that the necklace is the reason she is dead.  We’ve had in Tangled (2010), Flynn Rider say that he died too, we have to work out if this is true.  

In the house, the grown-up girl, now 12 (Tipper Seifert-Cleveland) is upset at her mother’s sweater for a doll.  Siefert-Cleveland was in the fantasy Emily and the Magical Journey (2020).  Catherine says her name is Estella not Cruella, but the girl rips up the sweater.  I like the contrast of her good/evil nature seen in her hair and names.  She is taken to a boarding school by her mother on a bicycle.  Estella doesn’t want to be Cruella and also doesn’t want to wear the school hat.  She changes out of the red school jacket and into her own white and black jacket.  Estella tries to introduce herself, but ends up being brushed aside by school bullies.  Instead, a young girl, Anita (Florisa Kamara) introduces herself.  Kamara was in the action series, Bulletproof.  Estella gets into a fight with the bully and gives him a thrashing.  She is later thrown into a dumpster, but finds the terrier puppy, Buddy, who becomes her lifelong friend.  Yes, Cruella is known for her viciousness to dogs and wanted to make a coat out of them, but maybe there is more to her story.  Still, she is brought before the headmaster (Leo Bill) and tries to expel her, but Catherine and Estella try to withdraw first from the school.  Catherine drives her daughter to London to help her dream of being a fashion designer, Estella is excited to go to the Regent’s Park Fountain, this seems to be the Readymoney Drinking Fountain in the east side of the park.  Estella promises to be “less trouble.”

Her mother mentions that she needs to make a stop to get help from a friend before they go to London.  Estella wakens to see they have entered the gate of Hellman Hall and they drive to the cliffside mansion.  The posh partygoers are all dressed up in Elizabethan finery.  Catherine gives Estella the necklace, a “family heirloom”, and also tells her to stay in the car.  When her mother leaves, Estella is too fascinated by the fashion and leaves the car.  Catherine meets with a gentleman (Mark Strong) whom we later know as John.  Strong is known for playing villains like Dr. Sivana in Shazam! (2019), but his character is slightly more complex.  Estella hides under a food cart to see the fashion show, but Buddy escapes.  She tries to go after him, but is caught by John who sees her black and white hair.  Three vicious Dalmations start to chase after Estella and Buddy.  So, we see these dogs as unkind, meanwhile Catherine speaks to her friend while a storm rolls in.  Estella has reached outside to see the meeting, The dogs chase Estella, she falls, and they turn to knock over Catherine to the rocks and sea below!  The death of Catherine and other moments may be disturbing to younger viewers, take note of the PG-13 rating, and the 2 hour, 14 min. run time!  Estella runs when the rain falls leaving behind the necklace.  

She makes her escape in a truck that drives into London, Estella slips away, and reaches the park fountain.  The girl blames herself for her mother’s death.  Morning, she finds two boys     , young Jasper (Ziggy Gardner) and Horace (Joseph MacDonald) stealing money from citizens.  Also, a tiny chihuahua with an eyepatch named Wink.  A police officer blows a whistle and starts after the orphan kids.  Estella follows Horace and Jasper to their hideout a drop in the ceiling with some mattreses at the bottom.  Jasper wants her to join their gang.  She says she has to dye her hair and we shift to the adult Estella (Stone) with short, red hair.   We also get the Rolling Stones’ “She’s A Rainbow”, other reviews say the songs are too much, but I think they are complementary.  The grown up Jasper (Joel Fry) and Horace (Paul Walter Hauser).  Fry was in Paddington 2 (2017).  Hauser was in I, Tonya (2017).  Jasper is the clever one, Horace is just funny, superior to the cartoon duo.  Their thieving is just some fun, we don’t get the consequences of the victims, and it all seems like they are stealing from the rich.  Estella makes disguises for the trio.  During one job in a hotel room, Estella stares at the House of Baroness billboard.     

 

Later, after the failed job, Jasper and Horace throw her a birthday party, Jasper has arranged a job for Estella at the Liberty department store.  Estela speaks to her mother at the fountain and then starts her new job. The Zombies’ “Time of the Season” plays as we get a sweeping move through the store, past customers, workers, and finally to Estella scrubbing the floors.   She tries to get the attention of her boss, Gerald (Jamie Demetrious) about the front window display.  Tossing out the rubbish, Estella sees Jasper and Horace who have brought her lunch, the trash spills and she’s locked out.  She returns to face an angry Gerald who gives her the punishment of cleaning his office.  Estella has played by the rules, worked hard, and only gets brushed aside.  The store has closed and she sees liquor in Gerald’s cabinet so with Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Were Made For Walking”, Estella almost finishes the flask and wanders to the front window.  The next morning, she is wakened by the knocking on the window by Horace, the display has the mannequin’s dress altered and the entire room covered with Estella’s designs!  It is impressive!  Still, Gerald enters and is shocked taking her into the store, but this is the arrival of The Baroness! 

Estella slips away with Jasper and Horace.  The Baroness (Emma Thompson) exits her car in Breakfast at Tiffany’s style.   Emma Thompson, the other actress named Emma, who was also in another adaptation, Beauty and the Beast (2017) playing Mrs. Potts.  She is formidable, one step ahead of all of Cruella in everything, but fashion.  To the side is her assistant, Jeffrey (Andrew Leung).  The actor stars in the mystery show, Queens of Mystery.  She enters the store meeting with Gerald about the window display.  The Baroness becomes the mentor and nemesis for Cruella.  Estella is caught and The Baroness sends Jeffrey to give her a card.  She runs out with Horace and Jasper to her new life. In the morning, Estella heads over to the House of Baroness, The Baroness wants to get ready for the new fashion show.  Estella puts together an outfit that The Baroness slices off the sleeves and nicks Estella arm, she smiles.  Later, Estella looks in at the thrift store, Second Time Around, run by Artie (John McCrea).  He starred in the detective show, Girl/Haji. Artie later becomes Cruella’s fashion ally.  Another ally, is the now older Anita (Kirby Howell-Baptiste).  The actress was on the comedy series, The Good Place.  The fashion, costume design by Jenny Beavan who also worked on The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018), is spectacle.  I would not mind another Cruella film, maybe with Emma Stone picking up from this movie, in the 80’s?, ad handing it off to Glenn Close!  There is a mid-credit scene! Cruella isn’t simply about her rise as a villain, this is about image, escaping your past, and living in a harsh world.      

Four Necklaces out of Five!  

#Cruella, #CraigGillespie, #EmmaStone, #JoelFry, #PaulWalterHouser, #MarkStrong

A Quiet Place Part II Review!

A Quiet Place Part II achieves the most difficult part of a sequel, working perfectly as a compansion, but expanding on the Quiet Placeverse and bringing all of the tension and jump scares!  John Krasinkski gives a short introduction welcoming theater goers back to the movies.  This is the film that is critical to see in a theater, enclosed, dark, with others sharing in the Quiet experience.  The original A Quiet Place (2018) featured writers Bryan Woods and Scott Beck, but this movie features Krasinkski taking on the script alone and directing.  The original movie just left expectations with what happened to the family.  This film seems more closed, except if it goes into the nature of the creatures.  Spoilers for the original!  It opens in an empty town, we hear the flapping of an American flag, the creak of hanging street light, and it’s blinking clinks.   The sound design is impressive in this film, credit to sound designer, Malte Bieler, supervising sound editor, Erik Aadahl, returning, and sound effects editors Matt Cavanaugh and Chris Diebold.  We see a truck park and out comes the father of the family, Lee Abbott (Krasinski).  This is a welcome return for his character, we saw him die in A Quiet Place, but this is a flashback.  

He goes into a pharmacy and buys some oranges and passes the space shuttle toy that was critical in the first film.  Lee picks up some water bottles.  He sees the owners watching some kind of accident on television.  Lee passes a German Shepherd in the back of a truck and heads down an alley to reach a baseball field.  He is late for bringing the oranges to the players.  He meets with his wife, Evelyn (Emily Blunt) and their son, Beau.  Blunt is in the upcoming Jungle Cruise.  Lee joins his daughter, Regan (Millicent Simmonds), the actress was in an episode of the dramatic series This Close.  They communicate through American Sign Language with Simmonds, a deaf actress.  There is some scenes where it is from Regan's perspective which is brilliant, it adds to the tension when the sounds that draw the creatures can't be heard by your protagonist.  Lee sees his friend, Emmett (Cillian Murphy) is watching his son play.  Murphy stars in the crime drama, Peaky Blinders, and is an incredible actor, but I consider this his best part.  Evelyn’s son, Marcus (Noah Jupe) is nervous going up at bat.  Jupe was in Ford v Ferrari (2019).  

Evelyn tries to sign for Marcus to be calm.  His character arc is to overcome his later fear and pain to act in confidence.  Marcus strikes out, again Evelyn signs calm for him, and then he sees a massive object descending in the sky!  This is the arrival of the creatures, unnamed, but I think of them as Harpies, a bird-woman in Greek myth whose songs lure people to their deaths.  The creatures appearance is a great design carried over from the first movie.  They are still strange, vicious, and unpredictable.  The Harpies' origin is mysterious, but I would think they are an advance force to kill off populations.  They seem unintelligent creatures so I think some extraterrestrial intelligence sends them down possibly to eliminate problems so they can collect resources.  Lee takes away Regan in the panic.  Evelyn runs with Marcus and Beau.  I like the pairing of child and parent.  They scramble to escape, the dogs bark at the presence of the creatures, Lee and Regan see the rampage of the creatures.  A police officer tries to shoot them.  They are invulnerable until forced to open their petal-like heads, but vicious with their claws.  People are torn from the street.  

Lee runs with his daughter into a restaurant and takes cover under a table.  There are other townspeople hiding, a teen girl is on the phone, Lee covers the mouth of a man whispering a prayer.  A creature is prowling outside the restaurant’s window.  A noise gets it’s attention and it shatters through the window.  The Harpy, that’s my name for it, starts slashing apart people.  Lee and Regan run out the back door and hop a fence.  Evelyn and Marcus are in the family station wagon.  We get the passenger perspective in one masterful long shot as Evelyn drives through the chaotic streets.  The director of photography is Polly Morgan who also worked on the sci fi movie, Lucy in the Sky (2019).  It reminds of the continous shot, also in a car, featured in Alfronso Cuarón sci fi epic, Children of Men (2006).  She tries to swerve through traffic and people attacked by the creatures.  Then, has to back up when a bus is about to hit them!  This is day 1 of the invasion.  Marcus screams and this cuts to the end of the first movie.  Editing is by Michael P. Shawver who was also one of the editors on Black Panther (2018).    

We found in A Quiet Place that Lee was working on a hearing aid, a chochlear implant for his daughter.  It also turned into a weapon which we see here, Regan places it on a speaker to amplify the sound that causes pain to the Harpy.  It’s petals open leaving a vulnerable head region that Evelyn blasts with a shotgun.  This is a minor victory since the family still has to survive against the creatures.  Evelyn takes the family to the burning barn and has her children stay outside.  She takes in new baby with her.  Regan leaves to find her father’s research on the Harpies and map to other signal fires around the area.  She takes the chochlear implant and speaker.  Regan’s strategy is take up her father’s work and find a way to strike back at the Harpies.  Evelyn puts an oxygen mask on her baby and then goes into the flooded basement to pick up an oxygen tank.  Regan goes up to light the signal fire and work out a direction the family can go for help.  They are able to walk past the line of white sand onto leaf covered roads and finally to an abandoned steel mill.  The brilliance of the Quiet Placeverse is offering a vision of the apocalyptic world that was attempted in Walking Dead, but here brings all of the range of despair, hope, a paradise, and a beginning.  A Quiet Place Part 2 has a fascinating world, enough creatures and jump scares, plus some incredible acting by all of the cast!  

Five Cochlear Implants out of Five! 

#AQuietPlacePart2, #JohnKrasinski, #MillicentSimmonds, #CillianMurphy, #EmilyBlunt, #NoahJupe. 

Bad Batch, “Rampage” , Review!

The Havoc Marauder flies through hyperspace, Tech has fashioned a comm device for Omega as a gauntlet, she tests it out and Echo says it is not a toy.  You do know this will show up as a toy soon?  Omega asks why they are headed to Ord Mantell.  This is the planet in the Mid-Rim, mentioned by Han Solo, “The bounty hunter we ran into on Ord Mantell changed my mind.”  It was shown first in the comic book, Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir #2 (2014) based on an unfinished Clone Wars episode.  So this would be the first time we’ve seen it in animated form.  Hunter wants to know why the bounty hunter is after her.  Wrecker does power lifts with the Gonky!  Echo knows someone who might help, Cid, he was trusted by the Jedi.  We have the shuttle approach a city in the desert.  The Havoc Marauder lands in a spaceport.  

Walking onto the streets, Omega has to repeat the rules, an improvement over last episode with Omega wandering off.  Plus, she does have the comlink.  Echo leads them to a basement area and the squad takes off their helmets.  It looks like some sort of bar, Echo notes that he only knows Cid by reputation, Hunter asks a female Trandoshan (Rhea Perlman) about Cid.  Trandoshans are the same species as the bounty hunter, Bossk.  Perlman is best known as Carla Tortelli in Cheers and she provided voices in Robot Chicken.  While the squad argues over the fate of Cid, Omega realizes that she is Cid, she uses her comm to point her out.  In Cid’s back room, Echo plugs in to show an image of Fennec Shand, Cid doesn’t recognize her.  Still, she can find who hired her for a job.  

Cid sits and regards a massive horn telling them about a kid named Muchi taken by Zygerrian slavers.  The slavers were introduced in the Clone Wars episode, “Kidnapped” (2011).  This was adapted from the Clone Wars comics by Henry Gilroy.  Wrecker asks about the bounty and says it will be split 70/30 which makes Wrecker happy.  Cid hands Hunter a data chip on the bounty.  The Havoc Marauder flies across the desert.  Wrecker complains about his headache, he received it during the crash landing in “Replacements”, and then tries to shrug it off, uh-oh.  It looks like they will have to understand the inhibitor chip which may bring in Rex.  Tech explains that the slavers are hiding in the ruins of a city.  Echo has to explain slavers to Omega.  The squad in helmets regards the city and a ship with electrobinoculars.  Tech scans a child whom Omega says is Muchi.  Hunter sends her back to the ship.  

The squad moves stealthily to the city and Hunter sends Echo on lookout.  There is something moving in the ruins.  He spots two speeder bikes.  Then, he senses the creature, and draws his blaster.  The rest of the squad sees Echo fall!  The winged creature, a Brezak, knocks down the squad and they are struck by bows firing the nets using the electro-whip technology.  Brezaks were seen in “Slaves of the Republic” (2011).  Cid is confering with a hologram of what looks like Bib Fortuna (Matthew Wood) speaking Huttese.  Gonky walks up to Omega who has made her clone trooper doll into a Bad Batch doll!  She hears voices and goes into hiding.  Two Zygerrians with blaster rifles check the ship, but Omega manages to slip away from the blaster cannon with a backpack of supplies.   The Zygerrians leave on their speeder bikes.  Omega tries to contact the squad with her comlink, but gets no response. 

Omega uses the electrobinocular to see the squad are captured.  It was a trap!  The squad are in binders and shock collars.  Wrecker tries to reassure the child. She is of the Falleen race, green, repitilian skin, introduced as Prince Xizor in Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire.  They were made canon in “Eminence” episode of Clone Wars.  A Brezak climbs up a tower watched over by a Zygerrian commander.  They notice that Omega is slipping into the city.  The commander, Raney (Liam O’Brien) with one blind eye says that they are now slaves.  O’Brien is a voice actor who worked on several series including Star Wars: Rebels.  They gesture Omega over to their gear, helmets and blasters.  She slips trying to sneak in and knocks down a rock.  Wrecker kicks a rock to knock over a Zygerrian as a distraction.  Omega is clever enough to take on the Zygerrians and may be enough for the Bad Batch to take them on, maybe with some help!  This is a fun episode of the Bad Batch that may have gotten them an ally, some secrets including an origin!, and I will probably have to watch Return of the Jedi again with a little sadness!

Four Vibro Blades out of Five! 

#StarWarsBadBatch, #Rampage, #RheaPerlman, #MatthewWood, #LiamObrien  

 

Happy Birthday Sir Christopher Lee!

 

Happy Birthday Sir Christopher Lee!  He played various parts in television series, Tales of Hans Anderson (1952-1955). Lee was known for the Hammer horror films starting with The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) in which he played the monster and co-starred Peter Cushing.  This was also directed by Terence Fisher another longtime collaborator. He played his iconic role in as Count Dracula in Horror of Dracula (1958) directed by Fisher with Peter Cushing playing Dr. Van Helsing.  Next, he played Sir Henry Baskerville in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) with Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes.  He played another figure of horror in The Mummy (1959).  Lee was able to play the master detective in Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962).  He starred as Billali, follower of the lead character played by Ursula Andress in She (1965) based on the H. Rider Haggard novel.  He returned to his iconic role in Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1965) and then Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968).  Then, he was in 1967 and 1969 episodes of the spy show The Avengers.  There were more Dracula films with Count Dracula (1970) and Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970).  In the Billy Wilder movie, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970), Lee played Mycroft Holmes, brother to the famous detective.  

Sir Christopher Lee continued with Scars of Dracula (1970) and Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972).  He was in the horror classic, The Wicker Man (1973), as Lord Summerisle.  Lee played the deadly Bond villain, Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).   The recent iconic role for Lee was playing Saruman in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001).  Then, he was Count Dooku in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002).  Next, he returned as Saruman in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and finally The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).  His final appearance as Count Dooku was in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005).  He played Dr. Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) directed by Tim Burton.  Lee played First High Councilor in The Golden Compass (2007).  He voiced Count Dooku in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) released to theaters.  He was knighted in 2009.  Lee was Monsieur Labisse in Hugo (2011) directed by Martin Scorsese.  He starred in Tim Burton’s adaptation of the tv series, Dark Shadows (2012).  Lee returned as Saruman in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) and then The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014).  One of his last roles was voicing Angels of Notting Hill (2015).  Lee died in 2015, but he will always be immortal in his many films.  Happy Birthday Sir Christopher Lee!  

#SirChristopherLee, #HorrorofDracula, #TheManwiththeGoldenGun, #LordoftheRingsTheFellowshipoftheRings, #StarWarsAttackoftheClones

Superman & Lois, “Man of Steel”, Review!

This episode is directed by David Ramsey, John Diggle, in Arrow!  Superman has taken Jordan to the Fortress.   He flies his son into the Fortress still overwhelmed by sounds, Clark places the crystal in a console.  The voice of Jor-El reports that he must practice to filter out the sounds.  At the Kent farmhouse, Jordan puts on headphones.  Jonathan is frustrated that he has to cover for his brother.  Clark hugs Lois over Jordan’s pain.  Morning in Smallville, Lana calls Lois in what to check on with Edge.  She heads off for work.  Clark sees Lois’s work with the real Marcus Bridgewater who is older.  He wants to tell his sons everything about Superman.  Lois wants more info.  She wants to confront the man who was Bridgewater.  Leslie wants to send out a shipment to bait interested parties.  She opens the door and there is Lana.  Edge tells her that he wants the five best candidates.  

SUPERMAN AND LOIS -- “Man of Steel” -- TYLER HOECHLIN, ALEXANDER GARFIN -- Photo: Bettina Strauss/The CW -- © 2021 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.Photo Credit: Bettina Strauss. 

At the Kent farmhouse, Clark has a paper, “Focus on ONE Sound”, Jordan takes off the headphone and tries to focus on water dripping from the sink, he hears bugs chirping, the drops of water slam down, it is too much for him.  The RV of Luthor, he has finished work on the formerly crushed computer ball (Daisy Tormé), he hears a knock at the door and takes a gun from the refrigerator.  Luthor sees that it is Lois and puts the gun in his back.  He tries to invite Lois in and she says to meet her at.  This leads to a flashback where Lois kisses him in bed.  This repulses their teen daughter, Natalie (Tayler Buck)!  She was in the horror movie, Annabelle: Creation (2017).  They are distracted by the appearance of Superman in black.  I suspected who she was from the comics.  He is flying in the city along with other Supermen.  They level the city with heat vision!   

Jordan sees a clock and tries to concentrate on its sound, but gets overwhelmed by sounds and puts on the headphones.  The school bell rings, Jonathan checks on Sarah, she’s suspicous about Jordan’s disappearance.  He admits that Tag caused his headaches and Jonathan leaves disappointed that she didn’t care about his broken arm.  Lois kisses Clark and heads into the diner.  She meets with Luthor.  Clark enters the RV and the computer identifies him as Captain Luthor.  He says that an army will take over the Earth.  Lois gets a call from Chrissy about a possible shipment of X-Kryptonite.  Lois joins Clark in the truck.  The computer reports the intruder and shows video of Clark.  Lana meets with Avery’s mother, Emily (Leeah Wong), for the leadership program.  Driving, Clark goes over the identity of Captain Luthor, he has seen a van ten miles ahead.  Inside is two men guarding the cargo.  He has also seen that ahead of them is Captain Luthor with a rifle!  He aims his rifle at the truck. 

SUPERMAN AND LOIS -- “Man of Steel” -- WOLE PARKS -- Photo: Bettina Strauss/The CW -- © 2021 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Photo Credit: Bettina Strauss. 

 

Clark sees the armed men in the van.  He takes it away before the truck reaches Luthor.  Clark has brought the van to the edge of a canyon.  Luthor has the driver in a zip tie and throws a device to the back of the truck.  It explodes and Luthor takes out a suitcase that Clark can’t scan. Jonathan meets with a girl at school, she leaves, and Sarah disagrees with her.  Jordan at home tries to take off his headphone, but again sounds are overwhelming.  He sees a picture of Sarah on his cellphone, the sounds filter out and he hears her conversation with Jonathan!  Frustrated, he puts his fist in the wall.  Lena uses her super hearing to listen in on Luthor, Clark, and Lois’ conversation.  Luthor has a flashback with his daughter watching Lois reporting on television.  Superman rises behind Lois as she explains his weakness to Kryptonite.  

This Superman blasts Lois with his heat vision!  Luthor gives Lois the case for a meeting with Superman.  Lois has driven to the Smallville Gazette to meet with Chrissy.  She wants Clark to check the DoD about the captain.  Clark smiles.  In the alternate world, Captain Luthor prepares, having X-kryptonite and gives his daughter a chest plate.  They are working to build a device for her.  It looks like parts of a super suit.  They have assembled the suit that we saw Captain Luthor at the start of the series.  Jonathan arrives home and sees his brother.  He is suspicious about his conversation with Sarah.  Jonathan is angry and this overwhelms his brother who falls.  Lana has assembled five of the leadership candidates.  Edge brings up that Kyle should be a candidate.  Chrissy has researched that she can’t find Captain Luthor.  Superman arrives at the factory with Captain Luthor and the RV.  He brings up Lex Luthor.  

A military contact has researched this man.  Captain Luthor has the RV blast Superman with red light that weakens him.  The contact tells Lois that his name is John Henry Irons!   The character was introduced in The Adventures of Superman #500 (1993).  Also played by Shaq in the Steel (1997) movie.  The episode’s title refers to Iron’s identity as one of the Superman taking up the Superman name when he was fallen.  I get from the daughter that there was a Steel connection.  In the comics, his niece, Natasha takes up the Steel armor.  She first appeared in Steel #1 (1994).  Luthor has a massive hammer that he uses to slam Superman.  He says it uses kinetic energy.  Luthor throws it to slam Superman.  This is of course Steel’s classic hammer.  We have more mysteries solved with Iron’s daughter later saying the armor thinks it’s wearer is a Luthor.  We have some answers about "Captain Luthor", more of his world, and the struggle and victory for the sons of Superman in this episode of Superman & Lois! 

Five Kryptonite Crystals out of Five!  

#SupermanAndLois, #ManofSteel, #NatalieIrons, #TaylerBuck, #LeeahWong

Happy Birthday Sir Ian McKellen!

Happy Birthday Ian McKellen! He has brought magic to our lives, but is esteemed as a theatrical actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company, I was fortunate enough to see his performance in Richard III at UCLA.  He played the lead in David Copperfield, a 1966 television serial based on the Charles Dickens’ novel.  McKellan was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1979.  McKellan’s first film lead role was playing the author in D.H. Lawrence in the bio film, Priest in Love (1981).  Mckellan was knighted in 1991.  He was memorable as Death in Last Action Hero (1993).  Then, McKellan portrayed Bill Kraus in the tv movie And the Band Played On (1993).  He played Geoffrey in Six Degrees of Separation (1993) based on the John Guare play.  One of my favorite roles was Sir Ian McKellan as the eccentric, but brilliant Reinhardt Lane in The Shadow (1994).   In 1995, he again took the lead role in Richard III.  Sir Ian McKellan played director James Whale in Gods and Monsters (1998).  Then, he was in the Stephen King adaptation, Apt Pupil (1998).  He had an iconic role as Magneto in X-Men (2000).  Then, there was another iconic part as Gandalf the Grey in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001).  

He continued as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and also Magneto in X2: X-Men United (2003).  Gandalf went into the west in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).  McKellan played Sir Leigh Teabing in The Da Vinci Code (2006) based on the Dan Brown novel.  Also in 2006, he played Magneto in X-Men: The Last Stand.  He was the voice of Iorek Byrnison in The Golden Compass (2007) which adapted the Philip Pullman book.  He reprised his part as Gandalf in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013). McKellan starred with Derek Jacboi in the television comedy Vicious (2013-2016).  He played Magneto in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014).  Then, completed Gandalf’s story with The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014). He played Sherlock Holmes in the drama Mr. Holmes (2015).  Another incredible part was as Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast (2017).  McKellan plays Henry Wriothesley in All is True (2018) starring and directed by Kenneth Branagh.  He has in Cats (2019) playing Gus The Theatre Cat.  This year, he is in the sci fi movie, Infinitum: Subject Unknown.  Happy Birthday Sir Ian McKellan!   

#SirIanMcKellan, #TheLordoftheRings, #X-Men, #BeautyandtheBeast, #AllisTrue

Happy Birthday Doug Jones!

Happy Birthday Doug Jones!  He is a gift for every genre film.  Jones started out as Mac Tonight from 1987-1989.  He had a role as a clown in Batman Returns (1992) and played Billy Butcherson in Hocus Pocus (1993).  Then, he played a kangaroo fighter in Warriors of Virtue (1997). His first association with director Guillermo del Toro was in Mimic (1997) . He terrified everyone as the Gentleman in the Buffy the Vampire episode "Hush" (1999). Another del Toro movie had him playing Abe Sabien in Hellboy (2004).  One of his greatest roles was as Fauno in del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth (2006).  Jones portrayed the Silver Surfer in Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007).  He returned as Abe Sapien and played two other roles including the Angel of Death in del Toro's Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008). Doug Jones had a role as Gerald in Felicia Day's The Guild and also played Saarebus in her Dragon Age: Redemption (2011).

Doug Jones had a part as the supervillain Deathbolt in 2015 episodes of Arrow and The Flash.  He was the alien, Cochise, in the Falling Skies tv series from 2013-2015.  del Toro brought him on again as his muse playing female ghosts in Crimson Peak (2015).  He also played The Ancient in del Toro's vampiric tv series The Strain from 2014-2016.  His latest part for del Toro was in his Academy Award winning film The Shape of Water (2017) as Amphibian Man.  At the same time, he was filming the brilliant part as the Kelpian Saru in Star Trek: Discovery.  We've had Saru's tory in Star This year, Jones is also in the sci fi anthology, Battle in Space: The Armada Attacks.  On top of his film and tv roles, Doug Jones is great to meet at conventions.  He embraces you, wraps you in a cocoon-like hug with his long arms, he is one of the most gentle souls I've ever met.  We wouldn't have believable aliens and figures of horror without him.  Happy Birthday Doug Jones!

#DougJones, #Hellboy, #PansLabyrinth, #TheShapeofWater, #StarTrekDiscovery

Fantastic Four: Life Story #1 Review!

The Marvel Age really begun with the Silver Age, the 60’s, with the Fantastic Four #1 (1961)  , and Fantastic Four: Life Story #1 re-tells their story across the years!  The fateful rocket launch of the FF first told by the immortal team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.  It has been re-told many times including the Ultimate Fantastic Four.  In the life story mini-series, the first one covered Spider-Man, ages the characters in real time.  Peter Parker started in the 60’s, like the original character, to the 2010’s. This series celebrates the FF who are having their 60th anniversary special with Fantastic Four #35 in August!  You already have that one on your pull list, right?  Daniel Acuña is the cover artist, it has the spaceship over a very spherical design of the team in normal clothes and superhero forms. There are Fantastic Four films, but it may be the Marvel Cinematic Universe version to be directed by Jon Watts.  Fantastic Four: Life Story offers possibilities.    

The 60’s is brought to you by Mark Russell, he wrote the Marvel Snapshots Captain America #1 (2020) issue, with art by Sean Izaakse, he also drew Emprye: Fallout Fantastic Four #1 (2020).  It is April 1961 at the White House, President John F. Kennedy has a meeting with two scientists, bepectacled, bald Ricardo Jones and Reed Richards with a streak of white at his temples.  I would actually like Reed to have the salt and pepper after the launch or in the next issue.  Ricardo Jones, this was a character like the depiction in this comics who first appeared in Fantastic Four #50 (1966) by Lee and Kirby.   The president notes the failures of the space program and also the headline of the Russian cosmonaut.  On April 12th of that year, Yuri Gagarin is the first person to orbit the Earth.  Richards promises a launch in three months.  Izaakse’s artwork has some of the character faces of Mark Bagley and a bit of Jim Cheung.   

The agreement is made that Dr. Richards is put in charge of the flight of the Cassandra 4 and Jones with ground control.  I really like the name of the spacecraft, the prophetess of the Trojan War, it has been retconned Marvel-1 in Fantastic Four #14 (2019).  Next, Reed tells Sue Storm about the cancellation of the flight by Jones.  He was concerned about Reed’s anti-matter fuel and says research will be needed until 1982!  Anti-matter has only been found as a few nanograms in particle accclerators in 2017.  Of course, Reed is more advanced than any human in his discoveries.  Sue keeps hope alive, this is her strength, saying that the ship will be dismantled the next day.  She is in a lab coat so may be a fellow scientist and joins the crew.  Of course, we also have her teen brother, Johnny, volunteering while eating ice cream.  He hints that he can cancel the mission with a phone call.  Reed wonders about a pilot and Johnny says he has an idea.  Ben Grimm, is drunk after losing his piloting job, at the Runway bar.  

He hoped to get married to his girlfriend Sally.  Johnny points out Ben to the others.  A few problems here, one, it was always Reed’s longtime friendship with Ben that put trust in his piloting skills, he was the jock and Reed was the geek.  Two, it is kinda confusing how a teen could know a hard drinking pilot.  Here is the other part, Ben is drunk, in this version, doesn’t have military experience.  I’m not certain why anyone would trust him to make a spaceflight.  They manage to get past the guard, Cliff, and appear in their flight suits.  This is basically their super suits which Reed says are inflammable.  There is no helmets, oxygen tanks, or communication.  Kinda silly for a spaceflight.  Reed tries to reassure Sue that if Ben can hit the abort button to safely return them.  Ben launches, the first time, but this airplane pilot has no problem?  Reed finds a problem with the cosmic rays interacting with the anti-matter.  

Johnny ignites and Sue fades away.  This is usually when they return to Earth.  Reed wants Ben to hit the abort button, but he has transformed.  Reed reaches out, stretching painfully, and hits the abort.  The parachutes are deployed and Reed is roused by the security guard, Cliff, and says he saw a vision.  Galactus, massive and cosmic, winds drawn in by his gapin mouth.  Reed describes it as “the death of everything.”  It seems like this flash of Galactus disrupted the mission.  Interesting, but I would think a more comic book explanation would be the Negative Zone.  If there is a MCU version, I think the space program that was being set up by S.W.O.R.D. (seen in WandaVision) could have been set up by the flight of the FF and they were lost in the Negative Zone. A new FF MCU movie should not have Dr. Doom anywhere until a later movie!  

Reed could detect some disruption, but it disappears, a trace of the Negative Zone.  The powers of the FF could activate on Earth and they return to space to investigate what happened, but end up trapped in the Negative Zone until current time.  Their return and adventures would be exactly the thing to inspire people after the Blip.   The FF are given a parade as the first astronauts, again I think they should be low key, not the celebrity superheroes yet.  Ben Grimm resentful of Reed is understandable, but Sue is the calming factor for him.  He should always be a part of the family not estranged.  They fight Mole Man, one of the foes from the first issue, Reed and Sue marry, this was in Fantastic Four Annual #3 (1965).  Reed still struggles with the vision of Galactus and has to face the jealousy of Ricardo Jones.  The issue ends with the birth of Franklin Richards, this was in Fantastic Four Annual #6 (1968), but the issue ends in 1969. Fantastic Four: Life Story #1 has places the FF in history and part of the real world, but also keeps some of their comic book adventures!  

Four Unstable Molecules out of Five!  

#FantasticFourLifeStory, #StanLee, #JackKirby, #MarkRussell, #SeanIzaakse, #RicardoJones