The Titans, “Origins”, Review!

We pick up with the fight between the Nuclear Family and our heroes in Washington D.C.  The Nuclear Family take Rachel out to their station wagon and they are watched by Kory in her car.  Kory looks at the picture of Rachel.  This flashes back two days, Kory takes a flashlight before going to Rachel’s former home in Traverse City.  She breaks the window to enter the house, spotlights the blood stain on the floor, and then compares Rachel photo to the family photos on the wall.  Kory enters Rachel’s room, noting the deadbolts and crosses.  She checks the floor which has a displaced board and opens it to take out a box and see Rachel’s mother with her child.  It says “St. Paul’s, 2005” on the back. She hears footsteps.  Kory walks out and identifies herself as FBI to the police officer.  She knocks the officer over the stairs. Then, she takes out the other two officers downstairs.  Kory emerges from her flash back, watching the station wagon start up.  Coolville, Ohio, snow covers some of the land, Biff and Sis are playing a game during the drive.  They stop at a gas station, Rachel is in the restroom trying to escape out a window, but her hands are tied and Nuclear Dad is outside.  He sees Kory approach and says, “Oh gosh.”  I predicted it would be Kory that would save Rachel since she was introduced in the pilot.  

She sends a blast of flame that throws Nuclear Dad through the door.  Kory asks Rachel if she knows who she is and takes her away.  The rest of the Nuclear Family walk up and finds Nuclear Dad incinerated.  Next, we have the hospital bed as Dove unconscious.  Hank is there watching over her.  Dick looks in on them.  We flash back to Gotham City fifteen years ago.  A detective, Jessica Perez (Liza Colon-Zayas) tells young Dick Grayson that Bruce Wayne is going to be his foster father and that his parents may have been killed.  He walks into Wayne Manor and checks out his room and then wardrobe.  Dick takes his duffel bag to leave, overhears Alfred, and then goes to the window.  He leaps off and catches a tree to flip to the ground.  We see the shadow of Bruce Wayne at the window.  It resolves to Dick at the hospital. Hank sees him and walks out of the room.  He asks if Dick knows the person who have Rachel, but he doesn’t know and vows to find them.  Dick receives a phone call from the Detective Jessica Perez, she updates him about the intrusion at Rachel’s house, that the woman with magenta hair was seen taking Rachel.  Also, that Detective Rohrbach is dead.  On the road, Rachel reaches out to Kory’s arm, she explains she can feel emotions, but can’t with Kory.  She takes the St. Paul’s photo from the purse. The “Origins” in the episode title seems to be about Dick Grayson and some of Rachel.  

THE TITANS -- “Origins” -- Steve Wilkie/ @2017 Warner Bros Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

They reach a diner and no one disturbs them so they order food.  A man, Travis (Stephen Puchalski), tries to be a bully.  Kory sends Rachel to the car while she brutally takes care of Travis and his two friends.  She gets the chicken and waffles in a bag for Rachel.  Dick speeds in his Porsche down the road.  Flashback, Jessica Perez tells Dick about running away, and that Bruce Wayne also lost his parents.  Dick returns to the manor, he sees the portrait of the Wayne family, and then goes to the garage.  He stops at the Porsche and then drives it on the streets of Gotham.  Two police cars pursues the speeding Porsche and then shifts gear and leaves them behind.  Dick pulls into the ruined gas station.  He flashes his badge and sees the burned body. He copies the security cam footage of the gas station and then reviews it on his ipad.  Dick scans Kory and Rachel, then the license plate of Kory’s car, he uses a retinal scan and then locates the car at St. Paul’s Convent in Covington, Ohio.  Kory pulls up to the convent and rings the doorbell.  It is answered by a sister  (Meagen Fay) who recognizes Kory and then turns to Rachel.  At a table, the sister explains that Kory was looking for Rachel a year ago at the convent.  The sister takes Rachel to her room which has a doll.  Kory shows the sister a key which she says is from Scooter’s Roller Palace.  

Chicago, the Nuclear Family enters a building, they reach the room of Dr. Adamson (Reed Birney).  Nuclear Mom reports their failure and Dr. Adilsen knows of the woman.  He is about to destroy his creations (in the comics it is Dr. Shanner), but looks out to the window and says, “Her father will reveal us.”  Dr. Adilsen says he can’t come into this world without Rachel’s welcome.  He decides to give them another chance with another father.  At Scooter’s Roller Palace, Kory opens a locker, and finds an envelope with another key to Stash N’ Dash Storage.  She returns to find Rachel eating fries.  Kory asks about the detective, Dick, who tried to help her.  Rachel asks for change for the arcade, Kory gives her a hundred dollar bill, she goes to play Twilight Zone pinball.  Behind her is a teenage boy with green hair, Garfield Logan, who gives tips.  It seems they kinda like each other.  Dick pulls in his Porsche to the roller rink parking.  He goes to talk to the woman with magenta hair. They know each other. Dick goes to take Rachel away, but she is not happy.  Dick, Rachel, and Kory walk to the parking lot.  Rachel says she’s not leaving without Kory.  Rachel is angry at Dick leaving her and unleashes her power shattering car windows.  Dick drives them back to the convent and Garfield watches them leave.  There is a hint of Trigon, Raven’s demon father from the comics, but he is clearly identified so far.   

THE TITANS -- “Origins” -- Steve Wilkie/ @2017 Warner Bros Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

Detective Jessica Perez goes over the charges against Dick.  He wants to find his parent’s killers to kill them.  Bruce Wayne watches from behind the one-way window. At the mansion, Dick finds a letter and it says that he can’t find the answer in revenge and that he will teach him.  The figure of Bruce Wayne appears behind him.  Bruce Wayne appears in shadow, unclear, and we don’t get hints at Batman at this point.  At the convent’s church, Rachel says everyone leaves her, and Dick agrees.  He says the loss won’t go away, but the pain can be controlled only by herself.   Dick gives Rachel time alone, then hears his Porsche pull away, Kory is driving it.  The sister brings Rachel a drink and she falls asleep on the sister’s shoulder, drugged?  Rachel has driven the Porsche to the storage room and opens the gate.  Inside is a tanning bed, she plays a recording of her findings about Rachel, and sees pictures of ravens.  She takes a flashlight and sees alien writing.  Rachel wakens on a gurney.  She is lifted onto a bed from the gurney and the sister locks her in the room.  Dick finds Kory at the storage room and begins taking pics with his cell phone of her research on the walls.  Rachel sees her dark self, which must be her father, asking to let her in.  Dick and Kory work out the clues and Kory thinks Rachel is part of a prophecy.  Rachel sees the shards of the window she broke fly toward her, she screams, Kory says, “She’s the destroyer of worlds”, and Dark Rachel is now free.  The storage room shakes, Kory and Dick look outside, to see the convent burning.  Flocks of ravens fill the sky.  The convent burns and Rachel runs into the forest.  I already saw the pic and title of the next episode, but yes, Garfield is the next hero to try to help Rachel.  This is a getting the team together episode, we get a hint of Rachel’s destiny, but she has not become Raven yet.  

Four Wing Dings out of Five! 

#TheTitans, #Origins, #LizaColonZayas, #MeagenFay

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, “Chapter One: October Country”, Review!

The Halloween traditions continue with the debut of the new Robert Aguirre-Sacasa series on Netflix.  The sub-title refers to a collection of stories by Ray Bradbury published in 1955.  The character of Sabrina was introduced in Archie’s Madhouse #22 (1962) by George Gladir and Dan DeCarlo.  She might be known as tv movie in 1996 and a television series, Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996-2003) played by Melissa Joan Hart.   Roberto Aguirre Sacasa and Robert Hack produced a comic book that ran for nine issues with the same title as the current program.  The opening credits features artwork from Robert Hack. I like the peek and the original Dan DeCarlo art.  It opens with narration by Kiernan Shipka who plays Sabrina.  We see the moon and a pan down to the town of Greendale, this is the town that is next to Riverdale, and also mentioned on that show.  She explains that she is turning 16 and has to choose between the witch world and the human world.  We move into a showing of Night of the Living Dead (1968) at the Paramount Theater.  Sabrina is smiling eating popcorn with her boyfriend, Harvey Kinkle (Ross Lynch) with his arm on her.  Shipka is fine as a lead, but Lynch doesn’t have fun with his part.  After the movie, Sabrina in her red coat walks with her friends, Roz and Susie,  an explains why the zombies moved quickly.  She bumps into Mrs. Wardwell (Michelle Gomez).  Sabrina invites Mrs. Wardwell to come with them to talk about the movie.  Mrs. Wardwell excuses herself to grade papers.  It doesn't seem to be the same world as Riverdale.  

Mrs. Wardwell is driving in the rainy night.  She suddenly sees the form of a young girl in the road and swerves to avoid her.  Mrs. Wardwell goes to check on the girl, she appears behind her at the car, and pleads for help.  She drives the girl back to her cottage.  At the diner, Sabrina and her friends discuss the themes of the movie, then Sabrina kisses Harvey.  At the Spellman Mortuary, Harvey chases Sabrina, kisses her again, and gives her the gift of a necklace.  Sabrina enters her house and uses her magic to turn on the radio.  Mrs. Wardwell pours tea for her guest.  The girl says the woods attacked her.  Mrs. Wardwell explains that there was a witch hunt in Greendale and thirteen witches were killed.  The girl asks about Sabrina.  Mrs. Wardwell knows her as a student at Baxter High where she teaches.  The girl goes into demonic voice says she knew Sabrina’s father who married a mortal.  She uses her power to throw a scissor into Mrs. Wardwell’s neck.  The girl kneels by the blood pooling from Mrs. Wardwell, recites a spell, and takes her form.  She promises to bring Sabrina to the Dark Lord.  Sabrina is startled awake, she goes to her calendar with the 27th unmarked and the 31st her 16th birthday and Dark Baptism.  She looks at a black and white photo of her parents.  Sabrina looks out at the night and a bat shatters her window.  Sabrina takes inspiration from it and becomes Batgirl? She lifts up a heavy book and with some words brings down the book. 

CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA -- “Chapter One: The October Country” -- Diyah Pera/Netflix.  

Morning, Sabrina walks into the kitchen greeting her aunts and cousin Ambrose (Chance Perdomo).  Her Aunt Zelda (Miranda Otto) is looking at the newspaper.  Otto of course is known for playing Eowyn in the Lord of the Rings films.  Hilda tells her to be a rabbit underneath her pillow to sleep.  She is played by Lucy Davis who was perfect as Etta Candy in Wonder Woman (2017).  Hilda has prepared a drink to cleanse her body as Aunt Zee explains.  She wants Sabrina to chose her familiar which she says is a goblin in the form of an animal.  Sabrina says she wants to use a summoning spell to ask for a familiar.  She also adds that she wants her new name to be Edwina Diana to honor her parents.  Sabrina goes to bury the bat in the pet cemetery, Ambrose is there, and explains it’s alright to be nervous.  Sabrina tells him that he was born a full witch and didn’t have to say goodbyes to mortal friends.  Ambrose explains he has been in house arrest for 75 years. Ambrose is an interesting character, kinda related to Sabrina as a cousin, but he seems to understand the challenges Sabrina faces.   Sabrina walks into the forest, rings a bell and carves symbols into the ground.  She addresses the spirits of the forest to bring a familiar.  There are three witches whom Sabrina calls the Weird Sisters; Prudence (Tati Gabrielle), Agatha (Adeline Rudolph), and Dorcas (Abigail Cowen), they circle her asking if she will be attending the Academy of Unseen Arts.  The witches try to bully her into staying out of the school.  They recite a spell in unison, Sabrina realizes it is a curse, and they vanish.  Her nose bleeds and Sabrina runs off.  

Sabrina walks to the school and showers trying to scrub away the curse.  She finds Susie crying at her locker about four football jocks who pulled up her shirt to check her gender identity.  This would be handled differently in Riverdale, the gang would ask around the school, Betty and Veronica would find the football bullies, and bring the punishment.  Sabrina stomps over to Principal Hawthorne’s office to explain what happened.  Without names, Principal Hawthorne (Bronson Pinchot) says that Susie should move to another school.  Sabrina later tells Harvey, but he thinks the team will keep silent.  Then, Mrs. Wardwell walks up to them, and in her office, says that Principal Hawthorne is the problem.  She also mentions his fear of spiders.  At her home, Sabrina tears off the page of Principal Hawthorne from her yearbook.  At lunch the next day, Sabrina suggests to Roz and Harvey about a club, she dismisses her birthday.  Watching over all of this is a crow.  Sabrina and Harvey are walking in the forest (the forest is out of focus, almost otherworldly), he suspects she’s hiding something, Sabrina reveals that she was born in the forest. She also admits she’s a half-witch.  Harvey is upset at her goodbye and Sabrina uses a spell to take away his memory with a kiss.  You might say a super kiss like in Superman II (1980). Sabrina returns home to tell Ambrose and asks for his help with the spell for Principal Hawthorne.  Sabrina tells her aunts about the curse.  Aunt Zelda says it’s because she’s the daughter of a High Priest. 

CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA -- “Chapter One: The October Country” -- Diyah Pera/Netflix.  

Aunt Hilda has Sabrina break an egg in a bowl and sees that it is a blood curse.  It really the casual Satanism that is disturbing.  She tells her niece to use salt water baths and reversing candles for several weeks to remove the curse.  Sabrina says that the Weird Sisters implied her parents death was not an accident.  Aunt Zee says her father had a lecture at the Vatican when the plane crashed.  Sabrina takes the salt water bath and falls asleep.  She wakes up hearing a baby cry in the forest.  Sabrina sees her parents and walks out of the bathtub.  She asks if they will be going to her baptism and then sees two children, a twin?  Sabrina lifts the blanket to see baby feet with one infant and the other goat legs!  She wakes up from the vision, dream, she puts on a bathrobe and walks up to the attic.  Ambrose is there and she tells him not to kill Principal Hawthorne only scare him.  Ambrose places his picture in a glass case of spiders.  They cast the spell sending spiders swarming into Principal Hawthorne’s house.  He wakes in his tv chair to find them crawling all over him and screams in terror.  Happily, Sabrina returns to her room, closes the window that has claw marks.  A dark form is in the corner and says it came at her calling.  Then, a black cat, Salem, emerges.  This is another powerful figure that is entering Sabrina’s life.  The next day, Wednesday, the 29th, Sabrina says she wants to delay her baptism.  Aunt Zelda is upset and says it’s Hilda’s fault for not home schooling her.  She says it is the wish of her parents for Sabrina to become a witch.  

Ambrose talks to Sabrina and says that she will feel nothing from casting spells so she needs a malum malus.  He tells her that for a woman it is an apple of knowledge that might give her a glimpse of the future.  Ambrose tells to find the oldest tree.  The crow flies off and says what is happened to Mrs. Wardwell.  The club gets approved, named by Roz, WICCA, The Woman’s Intersectional Cultural and Creative Association.  Kinda sinister.  Sabrina goes to talk to Wardwell about the club and her hesitation about moving to a new school.  Mrs. Wardwell suggests working out the problem after school, but Sabrina says she’s going apple picking.  Ambrose is examined the body of a dead man.  He goes to tell the aunts there is something in the embalming room.  Ambrose shows them on the man’s arm a mark that doesn’t bleed, a witch’s mark, he suspects he was killed by a witch hunter. Harvey drives Sabrina in his truck and he goes off to find a pumpkin.  She sees a sign saying “Old Tree” in a maze.  A crow flies to the arm of a scarecrow.  The scarecrow attacks her, but Sabrina manages to escape.  Mrs. Wardwell manipulates a puppet of the scarecrow.  In the maze, the scarecrow is knocked down, by a beast that Sabrina sees as Salem.  She reaches the tree and finds a red apple with several green apples.  She asks the question takes a bite of the apple, it is covered with worms, and sees the hanged witches.  Out of the tree, breaks the monstrous goat form of the Dark Lord.  She spits out the apple and finds Harvey looking for her.  Sabrina returns home to find everyone with the High Priest, Faustus Blackwood (Robert Coyle), who is there to change her mind about the baptism.  It is difficult to recommend this series to young people who might be impressionable, even with fake spells, and it may be too teen like Riverdale for adults.  I do like the cast and hope that this series will find it’s direction.  

Three Scarecrows out of Five! 

#ChillingAdventuresofSabrina, #ChapterOneTheOctoberCountry, #RobertoAguirreSacasa, #KiernanShipka

Happy Birthday Cary Elwes!

Happy Birthday Cary Elwes! His first part was as James Harcourt in Another Country (1984) based on the play by Julian Mitchell.  It was also the debut of Colin Firth.  One of his treasured roles was as Westley in Princess Bride (1987).  Westley was the farm boy who later returns to save his True Love, Buttercup.  It was a memorable part of his filmography to the point that he wrote about the filming in his book, As You Wish (2014).  In Glory (1989), the historical war drama that followed the black volunteer regiment during the Civil War, the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Cary played Major Cabot Forbes in the  film.  Next, Cary raced against Tom Cruise as Russ Wheeler in Days of Thunder (1990).  He played a rival pilot in the comedy Hot Shots! (1991).  Cary played Lord Arthur Holmwood, one of the suitors for Lucy Western in Bram Stroker’s Dracula (1992) directed by Francis Ford Coppola.  Then, he had the lead role in the Mel Brooks comedy, Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993).  

Cary played Captain William Boone, a soldier assigned to the jungles of India, in the live action adaptation of The Jungle Book (1994). This was twenty years before the Jon Favreau movie.  In 1996, Cary played Dr. Jonas Miller who was a storm chaser competing against the heroes in Twister. He played astronaut Michael Collins in the From the Earth to the Moon (1998) mini-series.  Cary starred in The Outer Limits episode, “Ripper” (1999) as Dr. John York.  He tangled with another vampire as the cinematographer of Nosferatu, Fritz Arno Wagner, in Shadow of the Vampire (2000). Cary played Assistant Director Brad Folder in The X-Files (2001-2002).  He had another well known part as Dr. Lawrence Gordon, one of the captives of the Jigsaw Killer, in Saw (2004).  It was the first movie directed by James Wan.  Next, he was Sir Edgar in the fantasy comedy, Ella Enchanted (2004), based on the Gail Carson Levine novel.  Currently, he is in the third season of Stranger Things as Mayor Larry Kline.  Happy Birthday Cary Elwes!  

#CaryElwes, #PrincessBride, #AsYouWish, #SAW

Re:tro Re:view - Dagon!

I was on the search for the film that most captures the “feel” of the writings of H.P. Lovecraft.  He is highly influential in the horror field in such films as The Night Gallery episodes, “Cool Air” (1971) and “Pickman’s Model”, Necronomicon: Book of Dead (1993), Re-Animator (1985), and the Masters of Horror episode “H.P. Lovecraft’s Dreams in the Witch House” (2005) both directed by Stuart Gordon.  He directs Dagon (2001) with a screenplay by Dennis Paoli his collaborator on the previous works.  If you are interested in reading more, look up the book, The Lurker in the Lobby: A Guide to the Cinema of H.P. Lovecraft (2006) by Andrew Migliore. 

It interviews Guillermo del Toro, John Carpenter, artist Bernie Wrightson, and Stuart Gordon. Side note: if gore and nudity which are trademarks of schlock-cinema bother you, by pass this film, it is part of Stuart Gordon’s style.  H.P. Lovecraft’s writing is a horror of the mind, he crafts such a world in his local New England and far off lands, with references to texts and an almost scientific understanding, that you are pulled in, but I warn everyone, his dark world view is dangerous.  It is of course partially based on one of my favorite Lovecraft stories, The Shadow over Innsmouth (1936).  The setting has been moved from Lovecraft’s Massachusetts town of Innsmouth to the Spanish town of Imboca.  

We get the sun shining through the sea as the titles run, a flashlight pans across the screen as a scuba diver, Paul (Ezra Godden), approaches.  He finds an underwater sculpture in a fish shape with a hole in it’s center.  The scuba diver swims towards the massive, gaping hole.  He heads down the hole with his flashlight revealing strange frescos.  The scuba diver brushes aside dirt from the sculpture revealing gold.  His fingers trail across the gold until he finds the pale face of a woman (Macarena Gomez, hey Macarena!).  It is revealed that she also has a pale, fish-like tail.  She swims towards him and removes his mask, then reveals fangs as she closes in for a bite.  This was used much later in the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011).  

He wakes up startled from the nightmare in bed with his girlfriend, Barbara (Raquel Merono).  Paul says he has had the same nightmare.  His girlfriend has convinced Howard to invest with them.  Barbara kisses Paul’s body, but he is not interested.  An attractive Spanish woman and pale guy? It seems this could only happen with casting.  He checks on his stock on his laptop while Barbara reminds him they are on Howard’s boat off the coast of Spain.  She unplugs his laptop and tosses it over the side of the boat.  He freaks out.  I get that Godden is trying to play a nerdy guy, but the whining is just too much.  He was also in “Dreams in the Witch-House.” Vicki (Brigit Bofarull), sunbathing on a towel, and Howard (Brendan Price) looks on. 

Vicki heads below.  Barbara hears some chanting and Howard says it probably from the village.  Howard also sees the oncoming storm.  The chanters are bringing in the storm?  Storm clouds roll in from the village and Howard tries to steer the boat away from the reef. The boat is thrown towards some rocks and cracks the hull.  Vicki screams for help, they scramble down to find the rock has trapped her legs.  Howard gives Paul a signal pistol to alert the villagers.  He fires a flare and then uses binoculars to find that the village is empty.   Paul returns to the others and says they will have to take a raft in to the village.  Howard stays with Vicki, their waist is nearly covered with bloody water from Vicki’s wound, actually blood would dilute in sea water so it wouldn't be so heavy in that water.   

We get the grounded boat, poor effect, with the blood streaming downwards(?) and then some dark shape swims towards it.  Barbara and Paul head out on the raft in the storm.  Barbara cleverly has a raincoat and Paul wears a Miskatonic sweater.  Miskatonic University is of course the center point for all of H.P. Lovecraft’s tales.  The storm seems to be random, Paul can fire a flare in it, and then the storm hardly makes waves with the boat.  They collide with something and their raft has a leak.  Something boils in the water, Vicki screams, and Howard shoots at the water.  The motor fails so Barbara and Paul start rowing towards shore.  They reach the dock as rain soaks the village and find it empty.  Really I think the first order wouldn’t to find help, but they look for an axe and medical supplies to return to the boat.  

Vicki leads Paul towards the singing in the church.  Paul sees the church’s name, “Esoterica Orde De Dagon” with the symbol out of his nightmare.  I think that’s good reason to avoid it.  They knock on the door, the chanting stops, and the door opens.  A priest (Ferran Lahoz) appears and take them out to the docks.  Paul points out the wrecked boat with only it’s mast seen in the stormy waters.  They get the priest to tell the pale fishermen to take them out to the boat.  The priest someone has to stay to contact the police.  Unusual.  Paul is suspicious about the priest.  He hugs Barbara, then Paul boards the fishing boat, the pale fisherman knocks into him.  Paul finds a fish hook dug into his palm and pulls it out.  This is gruesome and not really necessary, but ok.  Barbara waves to him as the fishing boat leaves the dock.  

The priest tells her to use the telephone at the Hotel Del Mar, the hotel by the sea, and she sees his hand is webbed.  This is an indication of the Innsmouth hybrids with the Deep Ones.  She passes a pale man in a hood in the village.  Then, a strange, white face in the window.  Barbara reaches the hotel and asks for a telephone from the desk clerk (Jose Lifante) with pallid complexion.  She tries to make a call, the clerk grabs for her, then Barbara backs up into the priest.  Both of them attack her.  Barbara is an interesting character, decent actress, up to the point of her capture.  The fishing boat reaches the boat grounded on the rocks and Paul leaps onto it.  Paul searches below deck and only finds Vicki’s yellow towel.   The fishing boat returns to the dock.  

The priest is there and explains that Barbara left to find the police.  He says she left for Santiago, 50 kilometers away, and will return for him in one hour at the hotel.  This is where the film returns to The Shadow over Innsmouth.  Paul goes to see the silent desk clerk.  He finds Barbara’s lighter.  The clerk doesn’t say a word, just stares, Paul asks for a room and he turns, it looks like three slashes or slits on his neck.  He hands him a key and Paul heads upstairs.  Paul enters the room and finds the light switch doesn’t work.  He sits in the chair to rest and is startled by what looks like Barbara passing him.  

Paul checks on her, but the woman has the face of a mermaid and spits out fake CG tentacles.  He wakes from the nightmare and hears voices as villagers in raincoats gather in the square.  They see him and starts to scream.  Paul hears footsteps and finds the deadbolt is missing from his door.  He uses his pocket knife to remove the deadbolt from another door and barely is able to reattach it to the front door.  Paul slams into the door to the next apartment and is able to close it as the hordes of strange growling people close in.  The feeling of strangeness is very Lovecraft.  He had a fear of strangers so he Innsmouth-like villagers is very much in line with his writings.  

Paul falls into a slaughter house.  He sees the skin of Howard.  The villagers look for him, he uses fuel to set fire, and get them in a panic.  Paul carries out a frame of skin and then runs into an old, homeless man, Ezequiel (Francisco Rabal).  He tells the story of the town that was town of fishermen when he was a boy (Victor Barreira), but the catch soon runs out.  A sea captain, Captain Cambarro (Alfredo Villa) says to the church, he can bring in a new god, Dagon.  The fish comes in as well as gold.  The town turns against the church and Captain Cambarro kills the priest.  His parents are sacrificed to Dagon.  Paul wants to get a car to escape and Ezequiel leads him to the house of Xavier Cambarro (Joan Minguell), the grandson of the captain.  

He hobbles out of his car using crutches.  Ezequiel explains that the people of Imboco are changing, readying to go to the sea.  Ezequiel goes to drunkenly distract Xavier’s men.  Paul goes into the car, but is only able to set off the horn so scrambles into the house.  He runs into the house and into the room of a woman, Uxia, who is in bed wearing a purple nightdress.  She has the face of the mermaid.  Xavier checks on his daughter, Paul is hiding at the door, and she sends him away.  Uxia says she’s been waiting for him.  She kisses him and then his hand slides down to her tentacled body.  It gets more stranger, very misogynist, and violent as Paul finds out what is his destiny in Imboca.  An Innsmouth movie still has potential, but this horror film has some of the Lovecraft tone and story. 

Three Lighters out of Five! 

#Dagon, #StuartGordon, #EzraGodden, #RaquelMerono

Re:tro Re:view - The Conjuring!

The Conjuring is a horror sensation! I’ll start off saying that I’m no fan of horror, I grew up on the Friday the 13th (1980) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), but the slashers and gore just didn’t have interest for me even with Scream (1996). The one bright spot was The Grudge (2004). So I was at Wonder Con, I think I was waiting for another film, and saw The Conjuring panel. There was James Wan, Lorraine Warren, the paranormal investigator of the film, Andrea Perron (the daughter played by Shanley Caswell, she and Cindy are attacked by the spirit on the wardrobe) and Cindy Perron (the person portrayed by Mackenzie Foy, she sleepwalks and goes into the wardrobe). 

What captured my imagination is that the entire stadium (myself included) gasped and was shaken by the clip of the clapping game. This is the film by James Wan who also directed Saw (2004) and Insidious (2011). It was written by Chad Haynes and Carey W. Hayes. The movie begins with the brooding score by Joseph Bishara (who also scored Insidious) and the dark logo of Warner Bros. which already sets my nerves on edge. We hear the interview subject, Debbie (Morganna May) interviewed by Ed Warren played by Patrick Wilson who was also the lead in Insidious. Then, there is the close-up of the cracked eye of Annabelle, when I saw it I was about to walk out of the theater, but I was staying just to see if I could take it.  

Debbie explains that the doll would be found with it’s arm or leg moved. The actual Annabelle is a large Raggedy Ann doll which is just as scary. Then, we see Debbie with her roommate, Camilla (Amy Tipton) and the heading “Annabelle Case - Year 1968.” Lorraine Warren asks if they thought if the doll was possessed. She is played by Vera Farmiga, who is absolutely brilliant here, her performance along with Wilson centers this film. Camilla contacted a medium who said the spirit of a seven-year girl named Annabelle Higgins was lonely. They explain that they are nurses and gave permission for the spirit to possess the doll. Shudders from me.  

The ladies return to the apartment and see a scrap of paper that reads, “Miss Me?” They see Annabelle in the corner and find her with red crayons in her hand. They enter the spare room they had left Annabelle and find broken pictures and red scrawling all over the room. A crayon rolls on the floor. Freaking out. Debbie takes Annabelle to the bin outside of the apartment. Then, they hear a knocking, it becomes a pounding. Debbie opens the door and sees the message. Camilla hears a knocking and opens the door. This is a movie that runs shivers throughout the movie.  

Ed explains that there never was an Annabelle, Lorraine continues that they were tricked, by an “inhuman spirit.”  This is part of a film strip presentation that Ed has his assistant,  Drew Thomas (Shannon Kook), stop.  They are presenting to a university and the question is asked about the location of Annabelle, Lorraine says “Someplace safe” which is true.  The couple go over the various descriptions they have been called and end with Ed and Lorraine Warren.  We get an explanation of Lorraine as a clairvoyant and Ed as the only non-ordained Demonologist acknowledged by the Catholic church.  They had many cases, but this one was kept from public until now, this was said by Lorraine Warren at the Wonder Con panel.  

There is a last text, “Based on a true story.”  I was fascinated by the Warrens story and special ordered The Demonologist (1980) by Gerald Brittle. I had to special order it since book stores did not carry it on their shelves at the time of the movie, it is now on shelves.  The Warrens are well known for investigating the Amityville House, not in the films, but it has tonal similarities here.  It pans up to a window again with the score loud, until the color resolves, and we get the sound of children.  Then, we get the heading, “1971 - Harrisville, Rhode Island.”  A station wagon and moving van pull up to the house.  Roger Perron (Ron Livingston) announces that they reached the house.  What is great about Wan’s direction is that the terrors are strong, but there is enough parts where we get family life and the normal life with the Warrens and Perrons that kept me going.  Then, we get the mother, Carolyn Perron (Lili Taylor) shuffling all of the kids inside.  Roger sees at the door the family dog, Sadie, who stands outside the door.  Smart dog.  

The Conjuring Wonder Con panel; James Wan, Lorraine Warren,  Andrea Perron, and Cindy Perron, 2013, photo by the author.

Nice camera work by John R. Leonetti that moves through the chaos of setting up house.  Cindy takes a wind chime to hang outside of the house.  She calls for April (Kyla Deaver) who has found a music box next to a tree, it seems to grow dark as the music plays, this is so wrong.  A game is played with Christine Perron (Joey King) blindfolded and spun around.  She hears her sister's clap.  This game is so not fun, I wouldn’t play it as a joke.  Christine asks for a second clap.  Carolyn sees Cindy (Mackenzie Foy) in the corner trying to be quiet.  Christine opens the basement door.  Nancy (Hayley McFarland) claps and Christine grabs her.  Something has broken, everyone huddles into the room, and Roger checks on it.  

He removes a board to check out the cob-webbed cellar with a match.  At the bottom, he sees a piano.  He places a box of matches on the stair and tells his family not to enter the cellar.  Roger sees his wife in their room, Sadie is barking outside, it seems like a normal, loving family.  In the morning, Carolyn wakes up and finds a bruise on her knee.  She checks on her kids and Nancy says there was a smell in her room, but it’s gone.  Carolyn notices that the clock is stopped at 3:07 and goes to see Roger checking out the cellar with a flashlight.  April goes happily looking for Sadie.  She screams and her parents rush to find that the family dog has died.  Of course the demonic has to take care of the dog that is trying to warn them.  

This shifts to “Monroe, Connecticut - Warren’s Home”, Ed is showing a reporter the room where all of the objects are cursed or part of some ritual.  He reminds his visitor not to touch anything.  Ed explains that he has a priest bless the room once a month.  The man asks why not throw them in an incinerator.  Ed tells him that it would only destroy the vessel, whatever evil in there, would go out.  He takes him to see Annabelle and we see Ed in the reflection of the cabinet she is in.  He finds his daughter, Judy (Sterling Jerins), there in the room.  Ed warns her about never going in the room.  Later, he finds Lorraine brushing Judy’s hair, and Ed tells her that the reporter might write a positive article.  She tells him, “Stop blaming yourself.”  The mystery of what happened is revealed in the film, part of the Warrens' arc here.  

Night, we see the clock ticking until it reaches 3:07.  Christine is trying to sleep, we move to a close-up, and then she is pulled that she thinks is a trick by her sister and roommate Nancy.  The tv is running static, Roger is asleep, and then is wakened by a thumping sound.  A door creaks open.  Shivers.  On the stairs is Andrea (Shanley Caswell) who says Cindy is sleepwalking.  This is the slow build up, Wan goes against the jump-scares, which makes us understand the signs of what is happening.  When the terror kicks in, it is relentless, Wan intended the film to get a PG-13 rating and it received a rated R “for sequences of disturbing violence and terror.”  An R rating for scariness, but it’s true, I’ve seen the film several times and I’m just spooked looking at darkened hallways and rooms.  The Conjuring which was intended by Wan to be called the Warren Files, probably not as scary a title, is terrifying and not for people who don’t like the scares.  Still, I wanted to see the film, to confront my fear, though I still haven’t finished the book on the Warrens.  The Conjuring is one of the best horror movies filled with pure terror! 

Five Music Boxes out of Five!  

#TheConjuring, #JamesWan, #VeraFarmiga, #PatrickWilson, #RonLivingston, #LiliTaylor, #KylaDeaver, #JoeyKing, #MackenzieFoy, #HayleyMcFarland, #SterlingJerins, #ShanleyCaswell 

Star Wars: Resistance, “Fuel for the Fire”, Review!

The rings around Colossus a race is going on as Kaz finishes work on the engine.  He is excited, but the others don’t share his enthusiasm.  Kaz starts up the engine and then it sputters.  He struggles with it and ends with black smoke.  Yeager wants him to finish at the end of the day.  BB-8 gives him a suggestion.  Kaz takes the engine to the daylight so he can see the race.  The engine puffs and starts rolling to the side, Kaz pulls at a cable, but it falls over the station into the sea.  Poor suggestion BB-8.  The engine is pulled from the sea and onto the hangar bay.  Yeager is angry at him focusing on the races.  Kaz doesn’t realize his responsibility is to be a mechanic even though he is a pilot for his mission as a spy.   He is getting a drink and talks to Aunt Z.  A fellow pilot, Jace Rucklin (Elijah Wood), introduces himself and then takes him to see his team; Gorrack Wiles (Eric Bauza) and Lin Gaava (Rachael MacFarlane).  Gorrack says Yeager is the best racer and has his own ship.  Rucklin takes Kaz on a “shortcut”, to speeder bikes.  It is obvious that Rucklin represents the fun that distracts from the work.  Fun isn’t part of Kaz’s mission.  

STAR WARS: RESISTANCE -- “Fuel for the Fire” -- Disney/Lucasfilm. 

They drop down to the sea and race to the sky ring.  Kaz leaps the speeder bike over Rucklin and takes the lead.  Still, his speeder bike sputters and Kaz leaps onto Rucklin’s bike before his speeder bike crashes. Back at Colossus, Yeager catches up to them angry at the two hours he took off duty.  Rucklin is happy at Wiles’ work on the bike.  Yeager shows Kaz the engine and says he might have regrets over taking him in.  Bucket blocks Kaz from talking to Yeager.   Kaz wonders about Rucklin and Neeku warns him about their group.  Kaz and BB-8 go to Rucklin’s hangar and looks at his racer.  Rucklin wants to see Yeager’s private ship.  He has BB-8 act as lookout while Bucket passes and then brings in Rucklin.  Bucket enters Yeager’s room and the others sneak in.  Kaz sees all of Yeager’s trophies and a picture that shows he was pilot at the Battle of Jakku.  Also, the picture shows his family; a wife and daughter.  Of course, Yeager is more of an interesting story with Poe, he may have lost his family because of the Rebellion.  Kaz goes to check on a door.  They hear Yeager and Bucket.  The two boys try to sneak away and then Tam walks in.  He tells Tam to give the kid a break.  Of course we know that Yeager is playing the tough taskmaster, but really because he cares about Kaz Mr. Miyagi-style.  

Rucklin swipes a container from Yeager’s shelf.  Rucklin shows his cohorts the Corellian hyper-fuel, is this Coaxium from Solo?, if so it is not properly identified.   Bucket sees that the fuel is missing and races out of the room.  Bucket informs Tam and Neeku.  Kaz realizes it was Rucklin.  He runs off with BB-8.  Rucklin loads the Corellian hyper fuel into his racer.  He pushes past people and then takes a grate entrance telling Yeager he will explain later.  The racer engines start.  Kaz leaps onto the racer to stop Rucklin and opens his cockpit.  He hits the ejection seat and the racer explodes.  The seat falls and BB-8 attaches a cable to it.   Kaz with Rucklin holding onto him are pulled up by BB-8 and Yeager.  He goes to apologize to Yeager.  Rucklin is angry at him.  Yeager stops at hearing Rucklin stole the hyper fuel.  Yeager stares at the Sky Tower.  Back at the hangar, Yeager says he is not a good mechanic or spy, but he is a good person.  The races go on as he cleans parts.  The engine heads over the station, BB-8 bumps into Kaz, and he races to save the engine again.  We have two episodes of Kaz trying to learn his trade and fit in, but we move away from the racing, First Order and Resistance.  This is also ok, we get more of Kaz’s development, but we lose if this is important to the story of the Resistance.  

Three Lightsabers out of Five! 

#StarWarsResistance, #FuelfortheFire, #JaceRucklin, #ElijahWood 

Happy Birthday Jeff Goldblum!

Happy Birthday Jeff Goldblum! His career started as an unnamed thug in Death Wish (1974).  Jeff’s first genre film was 1974’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers as Jack Bellicec.  He was also part of the band as New Jersey dressed as a cowboy, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984).   He played gambler, Calvin “Slick” Stanhope in the Western, Silverado (1985) directed by Lawrence Kasdan.  One of his well known roles was as scientist, Seth Brundle, in David Cronenberg’s remake The Fly (1986).  He won the Saturn Award for Best Actor.  In 1988, Jeff starred as psychic Nick Deezy in Vibes and as the blue-furred alien in the sci fi comedy, Earth Girls Are Easy.  He had another career defining role as Dr. Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park (1993). There was another big blockbuster with Independence Day (1996).  

He returned as Ian Malcolm in The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997).  He voiced Aaron in the animated movie The Prince of Egypt (1998).  In 2004, he began working with Wes Anderson in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.  Jeff played Deputy Vilmos Kovacs in Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014).  He returned as David Levinson in Independence Day: Resurgence (2016) which is a fair sequel for me.  In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), he had a cameo as the Grandmaster, entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe.   Then, he went in full Grandmaster mode in Thor: Ragnarok.  This year, he focused Duke in Wes Anderson’s animated Isle of Dogs.  In Hotel Artemis, he played Orian Franklin also known as Niagara.  Jeff also had a cameo as Dr. Ian Malcolm in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.  Happy Birthday Jeff Goldblum! 

#JeffGoldblum, #SethBrundle, #IanMalcolm, #TheGrandmaster

Happy Birthday Christopher Lloyd!

Happy Birthday Christopher Lloyd! He of course started out in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) as one of the patients, Max Taber.  One of his iconic tv roles was as Reverend Jim Ignatwoski, a cameo that turned into a series regular, on Taxi (1978-1983).  An early genre role was as Commander Kruge, the Klingon fighting against Kirk in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984).  Then, he was John Bigboote in The Adventures of Bucakaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984).  He will of course be forever known in the charming, eccentric and brilliant Dr. Emmett Brown in Back to the Future (1985).  Christopher was also Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988).  Then, returned to play Doc Brown in Back to the Future Part II (1989).  He went back to the past, the Old West, and found Clara Clayton in Back to the Future III (1990).  One of the fun parts of playing Doc Brown was when he filmed several scenes for Back to the Future…The Ride in 1991.  Unfortunately, the ride closed in 2007.  

He also starred as Doc Brown in the live action segments of the Back to the Future (1991-1992) animated series.  Christopher played Uncle Fester in The Addams Family (1991) movie and it’s sequel, Addams Family Values (1993).  A nice part was his role as Al the Boss Angel in Angels in the Outfield (1994). Next, he played Uncle Martin, the Martian, in My Favorite Martian (1999).  Christopher was also in another theme park attraction playing Cap’n Jack in the Haunted Lighthouse (2003) directed by Joe Dante with a story by R.L. Stine. In the Tremors (2003) tv series he played Dr. Cletus Poffenberger.  Christopher starred in the Mick Harris directed episode of Masters of Horror, “Valerie on the Stairs” (2005).  He played the sorcery Tesselink in tv fantasy mini-series Knights of Bloodsteel (2009).  Christopher played Mr. Carl Goodman in the horror comedy, Piranha 3D (2010) and it’s sequel, Piranha 3DD (2012). He reunited with his Back to the Future co-star as Principal McTavish in a 2014 episode of The Michael J. Fox Show.  Then, he played Kroenig in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014). Recently, he was on SyFy’s 12 Monkeys (2017-2018) playing Zalmon Shaw. Happy Birthday Christopher Lloyd! 

#ChristopherLloyd, #CommanderKruge, #JohnBigboote, #DrEmmettBrown

Doctor Who, “Rosa”, Review!

We get a pan down to Montgomery, Alabama, 1943, this brings us us to a woman, Rosa Parks (Vinette Robinson) in a coat with glasses, paying her fee for the bus and the driver tells her to go to the entrance for coloreds.  The back of the bus is crowded.  The driver grabs her arm to forcibly remove her.  She drops her purse and sits in the seat with the “White” label, he screams at her, “Get out that door!”  The bus driver pulls away.  This is great to see the racial situation.  Then, we get twelve years later, 1955, an alley way where the Tardis appears!  The Doctor checks it, but it is not Sheffield, the ninth attempt.  Graham corrects her fourteenth.  The Doctor tells them the destination.  Graham is interested in seeing Elvis.  The Doctor is surprised that the Tardis is detecting Altron energy that runs the Tardis.  Ryan picks up a lady’s fallen handkerchief and he is slapped by her horrified husband.  This is a dramatic change from Legends of Tomorrow which takes it’s historical settings lightly.  Graham tries to calm down the situation.  It is stopped by a seamstress, Rosa Parks, who tells them about Emmett Hill.  They are all impressed when she introduces herself.  The Doctor scans Rosa as she leaves and finds Artron energy.  A man (Joshua Bowman) scans the Tardis, he blasts it, but it’s shields blocks it.  A threat to history with some futuristic technology. 

DOCTOR WHO -- “Rosa” -- Ben Blackall/BBC Studios. 

Sitting at a restaurant, Ryan’s knowledge of Rosa Parks is faulty, which upsets Graham.  Still, Yaz knows of her place in history.  The Doctor reads from a newspaper headline that it is November 30, 1955. The restaurant workers are disturbed at Ryan and Yaz sitting at a table.  The Doctor tells the others to go back to the Tardis.  Yaz and Ryan are inspired by Rosa Parks.  A police car rolls up.  Rosa Parks is walking and confronted by the man.  The Doctor has tracked the energy to the bus company, she opens a heavily padlocked room, and reach a suitcase with G.F.B. initials, it contains high tech equipment.  The man lets out blasts that send them running.  They take cover at a tanker, The Doctor confronts him, wielding a temporal displacement weapon.  He also has a vortex manipulator (first used by Jack Harkness in Doctor Who, brilliant tie-in).  The man doesn’t also know about Rosa Parks.  The Doctor takes her friends away.  They reach a motel with a Whites Only sign.  They sneak into a window, The Doctor chose the motel since the Tardis is being watched, and starts writing facts about Rosa Parks and the historic day.  Yaz says it was evening and with Graham’s help adds that she is a seamstress.   The Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver to wipe out the writing from the wall giving the mystery of her identity as Banksy.  A police officer is looking for non-white people.  Graham says they are making an invention, a cellphone, and says his name is Steve Jobs.  The officer enters the restroom and finds it empty.  

Yaz and Ryan are in an ally, he struggles to hold his temper, told by his Nan, and Yaz with her dad.  Graham calls for them.  The group in the room has Graham remembered the driver’s name, James Blake, and he misses Nan again.  They begin checking bus schedules and her home location.  Graham and the Doctor take the White seat.  Ryan is at the back of the bus and Yaz sits next to the Doctor unsure of where she has to sit.  The bus leaves off The Doctor and the Companions, they reach her seamstress building, and take her bus back.  The Doctor sits next to her thanking Rosa for helping them earlier.  She asks her questions to get free bus rides.  Rosa is uncomfortable with the Doctor sitting in a seat marked for Coloreds.  The Doctor moves out so the seat will not be given up.  Rosa asks her if winning the contest will allow her to sit anywhere.  The Doctor says no.  Ryan goes to follow Rosa.  Graham goes to ask about where bus drivers drink to ask about James Blake.  Rosa walks home with Ryan behind her.  She confronts him and says he wants to help with the fight.  The Doctor goes to check on the man out of time.  She scans the suitcase and throws it, the man blasts it to the future, and his weapon overloads.  The Doctor asks him about Stormcage (this is the prison that held River Song during the time of the Eleventh Doctor).  He is an escaped prisoner and ended up killing two thousand people.  I keep thinking this villain  has escaped from Azkaban.  

DOCTOR WHO -- “Rosa” -- Ben Blackall/BBC Studios. 

He has a neural restrictor, she smashes his vortex manipulator, he tries to choke the Doctor, but has to release her.  He says his name is Krasko.  The Doctor tells Krasko that she will stop him.  He is a villain who only uses devices, he will need allies with some kind of power to be a threat.  Rosa introduces Ryan to her husband and also Dr. Luther King (Ray Sasay)!  Ryan tells Dr. King that his Nan has passed.  Yaz is researching the historical details.  At a pool hall, Graham is shooting pool with James, he isn’t going to drive the bus, he’s going fishing.  Night, Ryan is stunned at talking to these great historical figures.  He thanks her and returns to the motel.  Cresko has changed the bus driver.  The Doctor has the plan to keep events the same.  She appears and Yaz give Elias Jr. (David Dukas), the new driver, the trip of a lifetime to see Frank Sinatra.  Graham and Ryan go fishing annoying James who wants to leave to stop a sit-in.  The Doctor has a clothing emergency, her ripped coat, Yaz stays to watch over Rosa and the Doctor tells her to have Rosa leave at 5:40.  James finds his bus with smashed windows by Krasko.  The Doctor tells Ryan to have the passengers wait.  Graham drives up a replacement bus.  The Doctor and Graham take a seat as Krasko watches.  Ryan runs to find a bus suspended notice.  Yaz asks what keeps Rosa going.  The bus takes in passengers.   Rosa finishes with the Doctor’s coat.  This touch is so great that Rosa Parks mends the Doctor's coat.   

Ryan faces Krasko in the middle of the road.  Who says “your kind won’t get above themselves.”  He blasts Krasko into the past?, he can affect the past as much as that time. Yaz has brought up Rosa, there is still empty seats in the back, Ryan runs in and goes to the colored seats.  The Doctor finds out they are part of history.  The driver, James, calls for black passengers to move, and Rosa stands up and takes her seat.  James changes the white label to Rosa’s seat and threatens to arrest her.  He goes to a phone booth to call in the police.  Graham watches as the police move to take away Rosa.  The Doctor recaps the historical events with the bus boycotts.  The Doctor says, “She changed the world.  She changed the universe.”  She opens the door of the Tardis to show the Asteroid named Rosa Parks.  I absolutely love that Rosa Parks effect is not only on history, but all of the universe.  Also, the Doctor relies on all of her Companions to help keep history on track and also their knowledge of history.  This is important, she doesn’t use her own knowledge or some computer, to look up historical details, it is work and memory that saves the day.  Ryan may have caused a greater threat sending Krasko further into the past, he’s yet another continuing time threat.  I like the clever nods to Banksy and Steve Jobs.  I absolutely love the subtle performances of the historical figures.  

Four Sonic Screwdrivers out of Five! 

#DoctorWho, #RosaParks, #VinetteRobinson, #JoshuaBowman