Inside The Walt Disney Archives at the Bowers Museum!

This is the 50th anniversary of the Disney Archives so there are many special events during the exhibition, check out: https://www.bowers.org/index.php/current-exhibition/inside-the-disney-archives-50-years-of-preserving-the-magic.  I was there for Story by Disney: Inside the Craft and History of Storytelling at The Walt Disney Studios with Don Hahn which was on Sunday, March 8th.  The exhibition has opened and will close on August 30th so you will have some time to go.   The Bowers Museum is located at 2002 N Main St., Santa Ana, down the road from Disneyland.  It was the first time I’ve been to the museum and was fascinated by the water fountains and statues at the entry of the museum.  Also, there were incredible historical artworks from Asia, Africa, and South America around the museum.  I loved the Gemstone Carvings: The Masterworks of Harold Van Pelt.  Still, let’s get to the Disney exhibition. 

Inside The Walt Disney Archives, photo by the author.

I have been to a previous Walt Disney Archives exhibition at the Ronald Reagan Library and seen many items from the archives over the years.  It is very special to see the items from the archives so it is definitely worth the trip!  The exhibition is down a hall and you can see Dumbo flying overhead which is too much fun.  There is a standee of Walt before you enter the exhibition rooms.  On the left is the recreated desk of Walt Disney which I saw before and actually went to Walt’s office above the firehouse in Disneyland.   There is a display of Disneyland artifacts on the right including the map of Disneyland.  Then, there is an animator’s desk.  This leads to a hall that has faux books for the archives and a few displays.  Then, a display of props from Mary Poppins, the Davy Crockett cap, and Zorro’s sword.  On the left is a display of Mickey Mouse stuffies.   

Early Disneyland map, photo by the author.

There is a row of the prop books that opened the animated films like Sleeping Beauty.  Production artwork from various films, I noted Harrison Ellenshaw’s work, and promotional posters including Batman.  You face the queen from Snow White in the window displays that were on Main Street.  This opens up to the rest of the exhibition; on the left displays of costumes, in front is The Haunted Mansion display, and on the right what seems like Audio-Animatronics that were retired.  On the right, what interested me, was the Alien Audio-Animatronic which was in the dark hallway of the Nostromo.  Now, to see it up close and in the bright light, is cool.  There was also a RX-24 pilot figure from Star Tours which I’ve seen before.  Then, there was the Haunted Mansion tombstones, hitchhiking ghosts, and “stretching” paintings all of which were in the previous archives exhibit, but great to see again.  

Alien from the Great Movie Ride, photo by the author.

What was new was the line-up of costumes; Frozen costumes from the parks, the Flynn costume from Tron: Legacy, Dick Tracy’s yellow coat, Julia Roberts’ dress from Pretty Woman, costumes from Mary Poppins Returns, and the highlight for me, The Rocketeer and his rocket pack!  There was a display of hands and mask from Shape of Water.  In the next room is a case with Winnie the Pooh from Christopher Robin (2018), the family puppets from What About Bob? (1991), Jack Sparrow’s compass, and the Dead Man’s Chest (with heart). Behind them was props including a life size Roger Rabbit reference, Wilson from Cast Away, props from Beauty and the Beast, and The Guide from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  At the end of the room is the Szalinkski’s Shrinking Machine from Honey I Shrunk the Kids (1989) and the Baloo live action reference head from Jungle Book.  Next door is a room of vehicles; the Model T from Absent Minded Professor (1961), the Gee Bee model from The Rocketeer (1991), and Herbie from Herbie Fully Loaded (2005).  

GeeBee from The Rocketeer, photo by the author.

In another room was a large case with a reference model of Pride Rock.  Behind it are costumes including the wiring pyjama from Tron, the dark coat of Judge Doom from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, costumes from Maleficient, and the sword of Mulan from the new movie.  Next to it is the costume and car from Ford v Ferrari.  A Disney Legend statue is shown as well as the photographs of the Legend imprints that are at Disney Studios. The lecture by Don Hahn was in a theater.  He showed slides including the famous hand print on a cave and also many of the artworks that are the basis of storytellers and creativity.  Hahn showed live action reference, the famous ones from Snow White, Peter Pan, and also Frozen.  Also, the animals brought in to be studied by the artists, and Hahn noted the police tape that he jokingly said was to protect the artists.  He was showing various corporate logos and added, “Now part of the Walt Disney Company” which was funny. The exhibit itself is impressive, you can see pics and read descriptions, but you should actually experience it yourself.   

Producer/director/author Don Hahn, photo by the author.

#BowersMuseum, #InsideTheWaltDisneyArchives, #TheRocketeer, #DonHahn

Happy Birthday Sean Astin!

Happy Birthday Sean Astin!  He has many iconic roles including Mikey in The Goonies (1985).  I liked his role of Sgt. Richard “Rascal” Moore in the war film, Memphis Belle (1990). In 1992, Astin voiced Dylan in three episodes of The Legend of Prince Valiant animated series.   It was really the lead in the biographical drama, Rudy (1993), which is my favorite part for Sean Astin.  He played another soldier, Patella, working in a tank in Courage Under Fire (1996) based on the story of Karen Walden, the first woman to win the Medal of Honor.  In 2000, Astin played another iconic role as the Hobbit gardner turned hero, Samwell Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.  The fantasy trilogy continued with The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).

Then, Sean Astin ventured into the post-apocalyptic world of Jeremiah (2003-2004) as Mister Smith.  Astin made everyone laugh in the comedy 50 First Dates (2004).  He also voiced Kodi, the son of Balto in the Balto III: Wings of Change (2004) animated movie. Next, Astin played Twoflower in the mini-seres, The Color of Magic (2008), based on the Terry Prachett fantasy books.  For Disney, he voiced the lead in Secret Agent Oso (2009-2012).  Astin also voiced Raphael in Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012-2017) cartoon.  He played Jim Kent in the horror series The Strain (2014-2015) based on the book by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan.  Astin had a great role as Bob Newby in Stranger Things (2017).  Then he was in the “Blurred Lines” episode of Supergirl.  He returns as narrator for Captain Underpants: Epic Choice-o-rama.  Happy Birthday Sean Astin!

#SeanAstin, #Rudy, #TheLordoftheRings, #StrangerThings

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) Review!

Birds of Prey stands out for me as one of the most comics accurate films and perfectly captures Harley Quinn and the other characters!  There seems to be a slight title change with Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey.  It is not confusion like other long titles, I just said to the ticket taker, a ticket for Birds of Prey.  I think the problem is the rating.  The popularity of Harley Quinn is seen in the opening weekend of Suicide Squad (2016) with $133.7 million compared to Birds of Prey’s $33 million.  The former is rated PG-13 which opens to a wider audience than adults with an R rated movie.  So the question might be is it important that Birds of Prey have an R rating, in an interview the filmmakers said the rating gave them freedom.  Besides the language, there is some adult content, a little gruesome violence, but I think the story could be told with bringing these into a PG-13 friendly film without compromising anything.  The film is directed by Cathy Yan who previously directed Dead Pigs (2018), a comedy and drama about a diverse group of people in Shanghai.  It is written by Christina Hodson who also wrote another franchise movie, Bumblebee (2018).  The female cast and filmmakers have fun with the action and laughs of the film.  

The story is told through the perspective of Harley Quinn, Margot Robbie, and this is one of the best depiction of the character from Batman: The Animated Series.  She first appeared in the episode, “Joker’s Favor” (1992).  This year, Robbie played Kayla Pospisil, in the drama out of the news, Bombshell, and depicted Sharon Tate in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.  Harley brings us up to date with a Warners Animation opening of her history.  This is brilliant since the character began in animation and also brings in The Joker, but as the classic comic book appearance, not any live action actor.   Robbie has fun with the part, she takes Harley from an anarchistic, insane place to recovering from a break-up that had made her into the Joker’s girlfriend.  We shift to live action, and see her getting a hyena she names Bruce (the Batman connections are dropped here and there), also glimpses of her wild life including her time at the roller derby something that was in Harley Quinn #10 (2014).  Watching is a young fan, Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Bosco), she is a street kid from a broken home with a talent for picking pockets.  Bosco has had roles in episodes of television shows.  Cain is a different character in the comics introduced in Batman #567 (1999).  A daughter of assassins who is mute, she is 16 at her first appearance, and eventually becomes Batgirl then Orphan.  Her role in the movie is to act as the MacGuffin,  the object central to the characters’ actions. 

Along the way, we see Harley “adopt” a hyena she names Bruce (there are Batman connections), at an exotic pet shop.  The shifting of time with Harley’s narrative is fun, it has the “feel” of the comic books, it leads to her drinking at the club of Roman Sionis.  He is played by Ewan McGregor, Roman is a brutal crime lord who was a privileged elite, but lost out on his family fortune.  McGregor was also in the Stephen King adaptation, Doctor Sleep, and was the title character in Christopher Robin (2018).  The character is also known as Black Mask first appearing in Batman #386 (1985).  In the absence of the Joker, he feels entitled to things, including the Bertinelli Diamond that later involves Cassandra.  He is helped by Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina), who is a scarred killer, he wasn’t identified earlier so he just seemed like a random henchman.  He first appeared in Batman: Shadow of the Bat #1 (1992) and was played by Anthony Carrigan in Gotham.  We also see trophies of masks that is his obsession that includes taking the faces of his victims!  So, in a sense he is the former life of Harley, wanting the freedom to do what she wants, and a figure of power that was Mr. J.  

Harley decides to announce her break up with the Joker by running a truck into the Ace Chemical plant that led to her transformation into Harley.  Side note, the scenes of Gotham City, somehow made me think it is a regular city and not Gotham.  It was filmed in Los Angeles, maybe it was the West Coast location, sunshine, and lack of Gothic architecture.  The next morning, she is about to enjoy her "perfect egg sandwich", but is chased by Renee Montoya played by Rosie Perez.  She is a relentless detective, but has male officers taking credit for her accomplishments.  Montoya is another character that debuted in Batman: The Animated Series with the episode “Pretty Poison” (1992).  Perez was in the horror comedy The Dead Don’t Die (2019) and was in the action series Bounty Hunters.  Montoya is opposed by the captain who used her for his promotion, played by Steven Williams, and she tries to get help from Assistant District Attorney Ellen Yee played by comedian Ali Wong.  We shift to the club bringing in the singer, Dinah Lance (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) known by her stage name, Black Canary.  The character was introduced in Flash Comics #86 (1947) and also played by Katie Cassidy in Arrow.  Smollett-Bell is in the horror show, Lovecraft Country, and was in the drama One Last Thing (2018).

Black Canary was part of the original Birds of Prey team both in the comics and the 2002-2003 show.  Her Dinah is trying to get by since she lives in the same run down building as Cassandra.  She ends up working as a driver Roman Sionis when he sees she can fight saving Harley.  It seems strange that she “calms” Roman, but he is not attracted to her.  Also, I don’t know where her fighting has come from, her mother was a superhero in the comics.  Woven through the narrative is a mysterious assassin, called the Crossbow Killer, but really The Huntress.  The mirror scene where she practices her secret identity is funny.  This is Helena Bertinelli played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead.  The character first appeared in All Star Comics #69 (1977) and was also part of the comic book Birds of Prey.  Winstead was in Gemini Man (2019), but memorably in another comic book adaptation, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) as Ramona Flowers.  Harley’s flash back story shows the young Helena (Ella Mika) when her family is killed.  She takes her revenge on the killers in Gotham.  I really like that the other Birds of Prey are impressed by her fighting.   

All of their stories are wrapped up with Harley Quinn, Cassandra Cain, and Black Mask.  The action is some of the best in superhero films, Chad Stahelski, director of John Wick, worked on the film.  When we have the team coming together, it is ultimately the goal of women fighting for themselves, and great scenes.  You can truly see why a human like Harley Quinn could take on multiple opponents and the police scene is where she truly comes into form.  It is easy to get caught up in Harley Quinn’s craziness including her beaver in a tutu which is funny.  Her story is to go from post-break-up to breaking some bad guys with the Birds of Prey.  This is an origin story for the team and possibly they can spin-off into their own film.  I would like more of the Birds of Prey, Harley Quinn (of course with Poison Ivy), and more movies from the cast and especially Cathy Yan.  She brings such energy, pacing, and wildness to Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) that makes it one of my top DC movies.  

Four Bertinelli Diamonds out of Five! 

#BirdsofPrey, #CathyYan, #MargotRobbie, #EllaJayBosco, #EwanMcGregor, #RosiePerez, #JurneeSmollettBell, #MaryElizabethWinstead 

Happy Birthday Jessica Green!

Happy Birthday Jessica Green!  One of her earlier roles was Kiki, an alien girl in the sci fi family show Lightning Point, also called Alien Surfer Girls (2012).  Next, she was in the true life drama Rise (2014).  A film role was in the thriller Red Billabong (2016).  She has a cameo in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017).  Green had a cameo as Lexx in “The Mettle of Man” (2018) episode of Ash vs Evil Dead.  Then, she played Cleopatra in the Roman Empire series.  Currently, Green is cast as Talon, the last of the Blackbloods, a trained warrior who may have the key to saving the world of The Outpost.  Season 2's finale had Talon and Gwynn defend the Outpost, but then had it taken over by Blackbloods!  Season 3 will air starting this summer!  Happy Birthday Jessica Green! 

#JessicaGreen, #AlienSurferGirls, #RedBillabong, #TheOutpost

FIDM 28th Art of Motion Picture Costume Design Exhibition!

Around the time of the Academy Awards, this year on Sunday, February 9th, there is the Art of Motion Picture Costume Design at the FIDM Museum, 919 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles.  It is free and you can take non-flash pictures.  The exhibiton opened on February 4th and closed on March 21st.  Check out more information at FIDMmuseum.org.  The exhibition has a long wall once you enter the building, the right side leads to the gift store, and left side begins with a display of the costumes of Angela Bassett (Ramonda) and Lupita Nyong’o (Nakia) from 2018’s Black Panther.  On the opposite wall is the Academy Award won by Ruth E. Carter.  To the side is the costumes of Joker by Oscar nominee Mark Bridges.  The center piece is the costumes of Elton John worn by Taron Egerton in Rocketman with designs by Julian Day.  There is the familiar, red sweater of Fred Rogers from A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.  Past it, is the dresses from nominee Jacqueline Durran, for Little Women. 

   

Costumes from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, photo by the author.

Then, there are circus outfits from Dumbo and then the facing wall has several costumes from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by nominee, Arianne Phillips.  The wall on the right features nominee, Sandy Powell’s costumes from The Irishman.  Followed by three superhero costumes from Captain Marvel.  Then, the facing wall, has several outfits from nominee, Mayes C. Rubeo’s Jojo Rabbit.  I like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’s capture of the period, but what looks more like costumes seem to be Little Women’s dresses.  The next room is stunning since it has three displays from Missing Link.  There are various figures of the different characters in a display case and above it is the style board of the various swatches and designs for the characters.  Then, there is characters in a scene with Sir Lionel Frost (Hugh Jackman) leading the way, Mr. Link (Zach Galifianakis) behind him, leading a horse next to massive logs.  This is the most detailed display that I’ve seen for the exhibitions about costume design.  

Style board from Missing Link, photo by the author.

Across from Missing Link’s displays is various costumes of Captain America, the sign notes that they are from Avengers: Endgame, but really these are from various MCU films; Avengers (2012 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014).  At the end of the room is the various dresses from Maleficient: Mistress of Evil with designs by Ellen Mirojnick.  The opposite alcove has costumes worn by Felicity Jones from The Aeronauts.  The next room on the wall to the left has costumes from the Downton Abbey movie, nice period costumes, but not too much elegance.  There are the soldier uniforms from 1917.  What stunned me was that there were black and white robes from a film called Shadow, a film from Zhang Yimou.  There there are dresses from Harriet which I found more diverse in design that what I saw from Little Women.  On the opposite wall is outfits from Hustlers, then Ford v Ferrari, then Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.  What seemed new was the helmeted uniform of Zorii Bliss, Keri Russell must be tiny!, and the full costume worn by Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams).  The center piece is an alien from the Coachella festival in the movie.  Basically, the costume design was uninspired, up close there was no real detail that was interesting.  

Costumes from Us, photo by the author.

Continuing on there was costumes from Last Christmas.  I was fascinated by the dress worn by Michelle Yeoh’s character, Santa, it has a faded jade color and intricate gold and flower designs, but this fades into a brown at the bottom, as if the character was once fancy, but now that has all faded.  I was equally stunned to see the outfits worn by Lupita Nyong’o from Us, the bloody shirt of Adelaide and the scarlet outfit of Red.  The last room has costumes from The Laudromat and next to it is three outfits from Aladdin.  I’ve seen the costumes before, but I will say, I think they are the best in the exhibition in terms of just fanciful designs and intricacy.  Great work by Michael Wilkinson.  Next to it is the costumes from the Eddie Murphy comedy, Dolemite Is My Name.  Finally, there are three outfits from Booksmart.  The opposite wall has costumes from Knives Out.  There is an incredible diversity of movies on display at FIDM.     

#FIDMMuseum, #AcademyAwards, #Joker, #StarWars 

Happy Birthday Elijah Wood!

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

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

#ElijahWood, #LordoftheRings, #TheHobbitAnUnexpectedJourney, #StarWarsResistance 

Doctor Who, “Spyfall Part I”, Review!

The premiere episode of season twelve of Doctor Who is here!  It is currently streaming on BBC America in case you missed it.  There was also a showing in the theaters of part one and two at the theaters.  The episode written by Chris Chibnall begins with a pan down to reveal the Ivory Coast of West Africa.  A soldier (Melissa De Vries) with a sniper rifle is targeting a truck through her scope.  Something moves in the rocks behind her and she screams!  Then, it shifts to night over the Pacific Ocean, there is an aircraft with passengers.  A man (William Ely) asks a woman with glasses (Sacharissa Claxton) about a wash bag.  She takes it and enters the wash room to remove a message from toothpaste.  The woman uses her glasses to record the coded message and then eats it.  Again, there is a strange light as a blurry figure reaches for her.  Next, we have Moscow, Russia at night.  An Asian, young man (Brian Law) runs in the streets and reaches the safehouse.  The man rests on a couch and then looks up to see the blurry figure falling towards him!  The spy element mixed with a new Doctor Who monster is perfect. 

DOCTOR WHO - “Spyfall, Part I” - MANDIP GILL, TOSIN COLE, JODIE WHITTAKER, BRADLEY WALSH - Ben Blackall/BBC Studios. 

Then, we get a basketball game at Sheffield, Yorkshire.  The ball is passed to Ryan (Tosin Cole), a closeup as he sets himself up for a throw.  He does so and it bounces off the rim. Ryan is alone in his disappoint as his friends leave.  Tibo (Burom Tihngang), Ryan’s friends, asks him about his health problems to explains his travels with the Doctor.  They both see men in black suits with sunglasses in front of a car.  At her family’s home, Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill) argues with her sister, Sonya (Bhavnisha Parmar) over giving her Ryan’s number.  Meanwhile, their father, Hakim (Ravin J. Ganatra) struggles with getting Alexa to work.  Najia (Shobna Gulati) worries over Yasmin taking time off work.  At the Sheffield police station, Yasmin’s boss, Sgt. Sunder (Asif Khan) doesn’t like her time away from being a probation officer.  He hints at her time away is undercover work.  They see the men in suits.  At a doctor’s office, Graham (Bradley Walsh) is finishing his exam, the doctor notes that he is healthy.  Graham leaves the hospital to see the mysterious men.  This is a great peek at ordinary life with Team Tardis of course disrupted by something unusual.  

At a garage, the Doctor (Jodie Whittaker), with welder’s goggles, is busy working on the underside of her Tardis on a lift with dangling cables.  She is on her phone leaving a message to the fam, then she sees the cars, one of which has Graham in the back.  On the night ride, the Doctor lets the team in on her plan to go along to find out who sent for them.  The agent checks the malfunctunting navigation screen and it suddenly vaporizes him!  They are caught in a wild ride as the accelerator pedal drops.  The car stops and the screen notes that they will die.  It hurtles backwards through traffic, the Doctor can’t stop it with her sonic screwdriver, and the screen sends out blasts.  Graham notes that the road is ending and the Doctor uses the car’s mirror to reflect the ray back at the screen!  She slams on the brake and the car just reaches the edge of the road touching traffic cones.  A voice (Stephen Fry) questions what has happened, he identifies himself as C, and that they were meant to be taken to MI6 in London.  At night, we get the MI6 building, impressive since I stayed at a hotel just four buildings away on the other side of the street.  

DOCTOR WHO -- “Spyfall Part I” -- JODIE WHITTAKER -- Ben Blackall/BBC Studios. 

The Tardis is being taken across a hall, C mistakes Graham for the Doctor, he asks for the help of the Doctor.  I do like Fry as the head of MI6 and his letter name.  C explains that agents are being attacked across the world and takes them into an examining room.  The woman with glasses is now on a hospital bed.  The Doctor realizes that her entire DNA was re-written, just a “shell”!  C shows Team Tardis briefcases of equipment including laser shoe guns.  Next, he shows them a file on the man that the agents were investigating, Daniel Barton.  He is the founder of VOR, a company “more powerful than most nations.”  The Doctor asks about the MI6’s best man, “Horizon Watcher”, but C says he sacked him.  The extraterrestrial threats should be handled by U.N.I.T. or Torchwood and the Doctor says they are all gone.  The Doctor decides to call Horizon Watcher and gets a picture of a fish.  C says that Barton worked for MI6, but may be working for someone else, then he is shot!  Team Tardis hurries out of the room as the creatures pull themselves from the walls.  

The Doctor sets her phone on the Tardis console and explains that coordinates were hidden in the fish photo.  Graham looks and sees the creatures are trying to breach the Tardis door!  The Doctor activates the Tardis and the creature is thrown from the door.  She decides to split up with Graham to go see Horizon Watcher in Australia and then Yazmin and Ryan are on the other team.  She gives Yazmin a bio-scanner.  In San Francisco, the VOR building, Ryan sets their identities as Yaz as a journalist named Sofia and himself as a photographer named Logan.   They enter and are met by Daniel Barton (Lenny Henry), casually dressed with glasses.  Then, we get a home set in the Great Victoria Desert in Australia.  Watching the materialization of the Tardis is a man in a chair. Two security guards, Seesay (Darron Meyer) and Browning (Dominique Maher), are surprised at it.  He introduces himself as O (Sacha Dhawan). The Doctor and Graham inspect O’s house looking at his collection, she calls him a hoarder, and Graham looks through his Fortean Times.  He confirms that O heard about C getting shot and connects it with the agents.  Graham pulls back a curtain to show a computer center.   

DOCTOR WHO -- “Spyfall, Part I” -- JODIE WHITTAKER -- Ben Blackall/BBC Studios.

At the interview, Yaz sets the bio-scanner as a recorder, Ryan takes photos scanning him.  He takes one of Barton’s id card and duplicates it.  Barton has to cut the interview short and invites them to his birthday party at his house.  Yaz sees on the bio-scanner that Barton is 93% human.  Browning wonders about the desert night.  O finds that his sensors are activated.  Lights suddenly turn on as the agents are armed.  The Doctor uses her sonic screwdriver and senses the creatures.  Seesay orders them back in the house as they try to protect them.  Browning swings her gun at the lights flashing in and out.  The creature, a figure of light, in what seems like a hat appears.  Browning fires at it, but the creature is unaffected.  They overwhelm the two guards.  O uses his console and activates the house defenses setting up a barrier that stops the creatures.  One has survived and enters the house, the Doctor uses her sonic to drop a trap, and contain the creature.  The Doctor questions the creature that says it’s from “far beyond.”  They are ready to take the universe! 

The VOR building is after hours, Ryan and Yazmin use the counterfeit i.d. to enter Barton’s office.  Yaz puts the device to download all of the data from Barton’s computer.  She brings up that she hasn’t given Ryan’s number to her sister.  Ryan sees that Barton’s i.d. has been used and they hide behind a couch.  He has sensed that the creatures are there and they threaten him.  They want the project to continue.  Barton leaves and Yaz wants to check the computer, the creature appears, and uses its power to sweep him away.  Yaz finds herself in an empty, green world with strange columns like giant synapses.  Ryan runs out the building and sees the creatures showing up all over the building.  Yaz sees the creatures scattering through the columns.  There is something happening to the creature in the box.  Yaz is suddenly in the box!  Team Tardis must infiltrate Barton’s estate James Bond-style with formal wear, uncover these mysteries, and find out who or what is behind them.  Another mystery is that O has gathered information on the Doctor which is something that the team has uncover.  

Five Sonic Screwdrivers out of Five! 

#DoctorWho, #SpyFallPart1, #JodieWhittaker, #BradleyWalsh, #MandipGill, #TosinCole,  #SachaDhawan.   

2020 Top Expected Movies!

2020 promises some movies that were long delayed, some with trailers, and others with little information.  Wonder Woman 1984 was set for release on December 2019, but pushed back.  The trailer was released on December 8th, 2019 and the film will finally be in box offices on June 5th.  The first movie is the best comic book adaptation in the modern era.  Black Panther followed up the next year and overshadowed Wonder Woman at the awards, but its sequel is set to open two years from the opening of the first movie.  I like the 80’s setting and hope the Amazons find their way in the sequel.  Next, A Quiet Place Part II, again the original was stunning.  We are more familiar with the horror so it will be interesting how the filmmakers will raise the tension.  The trailer released on January 1st seemed to show the terror dimension is in the humans like Walking Dead, but I hope the creatures evolve like in the Tremors sequels.  The sequel comes out on March 20th.  

Then, there is Dune, I have the most excitement over the potential of this film.  I think Brian Herbert as producer will bring the movie in line with the Game of Thrones political complexity and sci fi concepts of the novel.  Of course, there is Denis Villeneuve as director, who stunned me with Blade Runner 2049.  Once, he was announced, this catapulted the film to top anticipated.  Dune stands as the same level as Lord of the Rings in terms of masterpiece so I hope this cinema work will be equally award winning.  No trailer or full cast announcement, but the release is December 18th.  Death on the Nile, I loved Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express (2017), I love the 1974 film.  There was also a 1978 adaptation of Agatha Christie’s novel, but again I want to be surprised at both stories.  His first Agatha Christie film had a great cast and it looks like it will be same with this one.  No trailer yet, but I can’t wait for October 9th when it opens.  

The top five movie is Raya and the Last Dragon was the animated movie that was previewed at D23 Expo.  This one took my breath away at its beauty.  It is another Walt Disney Animation film that stood out to me far from Pixar’s Onward.  The screenwriter, Adele Lim, appeared at D23 Expo and also worked on Crazy Rich Asians (2018).  Awkwafina, also from that movie, provides a voice really becoming prominent as an actress.  This would rate higher with a trailer.  It opens on November 25th!  Mulan which has the potential to be a standout to the other animated film adaptations.  There is room to expand on the licenses taken in the original which may have offended the Chinese audiences and also appeal to world audiences.  The trailer that dropped on December 5th showed only hints of the animated movie and no songs, but I hope those parts are being saved for the film.  Mulan opens in theaters on March 27th. 

February 7th brings us Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn.  Probably most filmgoers will not use the full title when buying tickets.  The comic book Birds of Prey was Oracle, Huntress (who reappeared in Crisis), and a young Black Canary.  The film by Cathy Yan features Harley Quinn, who hasn’t been a part of the comic book team, with Margot Robbie standing out from Suicide Squad (2016), Huntress, Black Canary (two original team members), Orphan, and Renee Montoya, two of the cast from the Batman comic book.  The first trailer was released on October 1, 2019, its focus on Harley Quinn took away from the group dynamics, maybe this will be revealed later.   Jungle Cruise is another movie that wowed me at D23 Expo.  It was announced in 2017 with Dwayne Johnson posted a pic of himself on the attraction boat in April 10th.  He appeared with Emily Blunt at D23 Expo, he arrived in a boat through the audience, and Blunt showed up on a car on stage.  They both showed trailers from the perspective of their characters, very clever, I hope this shows up somewhere in the movie. The trailer showed some of the fun on October 11, 2019 and the movie will open on July 24th! 

The Universal Blumhouse monster films seem to be headed with Invisible Man directed by Leigh Whannell.  He has shown potential with the action of Upgrade (2018) and of course his work with the Insidious movies.  The trailer was released on last year on November 7th.  The modern setting is good, but even more is the perspective and terror of Elizabeth Moss' character being stalked, topical and relevant.  The Invisible Man appears in theaters on February 28th!  The next expected movie is New Mutants.  The new trailer just dropped and of course there has been long delays and uncertainty.  I don’t care.  I liked Dark Phoenix and don’t think it marked a turn to the X-Men franchise.  If the movie discards the Demon Bear storyline by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz, I wouldn’t mind.  If Sam Guthrie’s power is to literally turn into a cannonball, okay.  I really like the cast and the film’s director, John Boone from The Fault in Our Stars (2014), believing in the project.  It has been delayed so long, the anticipation is high for me in whatever form it takes on April 3rd.   

There were some problems I had with Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), but I’m finding I like it more and more as time goes on.  Godzilla vs. Kong will hopefully be the Kaiju Movie of Kaiju Movies!  No trailer yet, but I’m hoping this is just all out Kaiju action.  It comes out on November 20th!   So let’s move to Titanos and cover Eternals!  The characters were created by Jack Kirby as a solo creation.  He had finished working on Darkseid and the New Gods at DC.  Kirby went deep into the cosmic part of the Marvel Universe, but with really human (Eternal) characters!  The closest the MCU has gotten to Kirby was Thor: Ragnarok (2017), but I have yet to see Kirby action on film.  I want to see the extreme poses and fists right at the camera!  I have hope that director Chloé Zhao from The Rider (2017) can bring the Kirby sensibility to screen and maybe with the complexity of Neil Gaiman and John Romita, Jr.’s 2006-2007 series. Eternals hits theaters on November 6th.  

I loved the November 27th trailer for Artemis Fowl, again I met the author, Eoin Colfer, at Comic Con.  Also, this is another Kenneth Branagh movie that somehow got shuffled from its August 9th, 2019 release and now opens on May 20th!  Another film that was delayed is King’s Man, with trailers in July and September, and pushed back from November 15, 2019.  I like the last movie in the series directed by Matthew Vaughn, Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017).  This looks like fun and has expanded from the Secret Service comic book from Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons.  The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, I think the director Michael Chaves needs to step up the horror.  I saw his last film, The Curse of La Llorona (2019).  I love The Conjuring franchise and this is time it is without James Wan.  It is coming out on September 11th.  

There may be surprises with long awaited sequels like Bill & Ted Face the Music, Keanu Reeves is just having an endless string of hits, and this one opens on August 21st, Coming 2 America opens on December 18th, the original is beloved, Eddie Murphy is having a resurgence with Dolemite Is My Name, funny, and his director, Craig Brewer, is helming the sequel with a Kenya Barris screenplay!  Will Bloodshot launch a Valiant Universe of movies?  It is opening on March 13th, not my favorite character, but Vin Diesel seems like he can play this part.  Could West Side Story fulfill Steven Spielberg’s dream of making a musical?  The 1961 film is one of my favorite musicals and I met some of the cast.  I have hope with the casting of Ansel Elgort from Baby Driver (2017).  The Jets will be making a scene on December 18th.  The same day as Dune? I'm picking Dune.  I’m gun shy about musicals with movies like Cats.  Will there be some surprises with dramas and other films?  Most likely.  What films can make you hardly wait?  

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