What If…, “Thor Were an Only Child?”, Review!

This seventh episode of What If...? showcases a Thor who has not proven his worth and learned responsibility, instead he is Party Thor!  In a van in the middle of nowhere, for some reason the headlights are on, and we hear Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) saying, “For the win. This is it.”  She is amusing herself flicking peanuts into a coffee cup and on her umpteenth time, makes it.  Then, the equipment starts beeping, so Darcy wakes up Jane Foster (Natalie Portman).  This would be the first time Portman appeared as Jane since Thor: The Dark World (2013).  She tries to contact the director S.H.I.E.L.D. about an alien invasion, but gets the dial tone.  Jane tries again noting that the Star Alpha Icarus flared and was destroyed.  She is talking to a rep from Parks and Rec, I’m thinking she’s talking to Andy Dwyer.  Darcy gets Jane to go up top to see the cosmic light send a blast across the sky.  In Las Vegas, the blast strikes the streets, an Elvis impersonator says, “Holy moly!”, very funny!  The light reveals shadowy forms including a big guy who makes an announcement to the people of Midguard, this is obviously Chris Hemsworth, who hasn’t been in the MCU since Avengers: Endgame (2019).  

They are awed until Thor steps into the light as the Party Prince!  Hemsworth has been able to bring more humor to the part since the second Thor movie.  This is Party Thor unleashed with a rave to rock the universe!  The Watcher explains that the timeline changes can happen with relationships, in this case, Loki.  Odin returns Loki to the frost giants.  This is told in a sequence of comic book panels, wonder about who is the artist?  Thor is casual as Frigga (Josette Eales) sets her husband into the Odinsleep to recharge.  Eales is an actress who appeared in the comedy, Blended (2014).  Frigga is off to go with her sisters and tells Thor as king that he must study and not party with Heimdall watching him. The Warriors Three, Fandral (Max Mittleman), Volstagg (Fred Tatasciore), and Hogun (David Chen), plus Sif (Jaime Alexander) question Thor as they head down steps.  Mittleman voiced Hobgoblin in the 2017-2020 Spider-Man cartoon and Chen provided voices in the animated film, Superman: Man of Tomorrow (2020).  Alexander’s last MCU appearance was voicing Sif in "What If…The World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?"  

Thor tells them that the party will be at a place unwatched by Heimdall, Midguard.  At Vegas, Thor welcomes The Executioner, intro’d in Thor: Ragnarok (2017), to the party.  Also there is Jane and Darcy, Jane is scanning the party to determine who was the first extraterrestrial to arrive and finds Thor.  She is about to talk to him, when Darcy points out Howard the Duck (Seth Green).  Thor is having a group of Skrulls shapeshift their faces to look like himself.  He is tapped by Jane and he has to look down at her.  Thor shows her the food at the party including a cake tasted by the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) and his assistant, Topaz (Rachel House).  Party Thor, as he is credited, really feels like Thor: Ragnarok instead of the first Thor.  Jane tells him about the destruction of Star Alpha Icarus eighteen months ago.  She shows him the star on her iPad and he recognizes it as another party site. Jane tells him that it destroyed a planet, but Thor is more interested in the “light box.”  Thor says she’s a genius and then faltters Jane about her eyes.  Howard the Duck takes Darcy to get some nachos.  Jane dances with Thor as the Grandmaster acts as dj. 

Nebula (Karen Gillan) rolls some dice next to Korg.  Volstagg crashes into a pool which amuses Drax (Tatasciore again). Elvis gets Darcy and the Duck married!  Jane and Thor get “Magic” and “Science” tatoos!  It all turns to white.  The aftermath of the party.  Jane is wakened in bed by a cell phone call and then a knocking at the door.  Brock Rumlow (Frank Grillo) is knocking on the door when Jane opens it, Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) steps forward.  She explains why is Acting Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.  Nick Fury tries to crash the party, he is charged by the bouncer, Korg!  The helicarrier hovers above Vegas, Jane tries to explain what she did before the party, and Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) reports that the party is spreading around the world including Pennsylvania Dutch Country, funny!  He also reports that Thor is flying, Jane asks where, and Maria notes to Paris.  Rumlow brings a case he calls the “last resort.”  Inside, is the pager that Maria activates to summon Captain Marvel.  Thor is taking pics in Paris when Fandral and Sif come up warning him.  It is the Frost Giant Loki.  He is also there to party.  They notice a shooting star.  It heads towards them and revealed in a bright light is Captain Marvel (Alexandra Daniels).  

She cancels the party.  Thor likes calling her "party pooper."  Her punch sends Thor flying which makes Prince Loki laugh.  Next, Captain Marvel’s upper cut sends Thor into orbit.  Carol Danvers is about to send away the party goers, but is struck by Mjolnir.  Thor winds up his magic hammer and sends her to Stonehenge, “`Tis a magic place”!  Like National Lampoon’s European Vacation (1985) before it, the standing stones fall.  Captain Marvel socks him to Monument Valley.  He summons Mjolnir and continues the battle.  Of course, we wanted to see Thor take on Captain Marvel, this is a silly, superhero fight on the level of Superman II (1980). We get some goofy closeups of Thor getting smacked around.  He blasts Captain Marvel with Mjolnir, but this only charges her up with “phenomenonal cosmic power”!  She punches him back to Vegas.  She later realizes that she can’t send away Thor without causing destruction to the planet.  Episode seven is a combination of Thor: Ragnarok and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) similar to what is promised with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.  It is just a world party, if you take it seriously, you are just a party pooper.  This is really a comedy episode of What If...?, the first part is real fun, but no real consequences until the end which is very Weird Science (1985)!     

Three Pagers out of Five!   

#WhatIf, #ThorWereAnOnlyChild, #KatDennings, #NataliePortman, #ChrisHemsworth, #JosetteEales, #MaxMittleman, #FredTatasciore, #JaimeAlexander, #SethGreen, #JeffGoldblum, #RachelHouse, #KarenGillan, #ClarkGregg, #CobieSmulders, #AlexandraDaniels.  

 

Happy Birthday George R.R. Martin!

Happy Birthday George R.R. Martin!  Martin was at the 70th Emmy Awards when the show took Outstanding Drama Series for Game of Thrones and Best Supporting Actor for Peter Dinklage playing Tyrion Lannister.  He started writing science fiction stories and the first one was published by Galaxy magazine in 1971. Marting wrote his first novel, Dying of the Light, in 1976.  It established his “Thousand Worlds” Universe which includes Nightflyers.  His novelette, Sandkings was published in Omni magazine in 1979.  The story was awarded the Hugo Award from the World Science Fiction Society and the Nebula Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America for Best Novelette.  It was adapted with episodes of The Outer Limits in 1995 and 2000.  The story follows a wealthy man who collects animals and purchases four colonies of tiny, telepathic sandkings which of course become dangerous.  George R.R. Martin published his novella, Nightflyers (1980) which covered a deep space voyage, in the ship with the book's title, to find an alien spaceship, but the mission is complicated by the ship’s computer. 

 R.R.étrospective, the 2017 French publication of GRRM: A Retrospective (2003), and later Dreamsongs: A Retrospective (2006).  

Nightflyers was made into a movie in 1987 and a new series started on SyFy in 2018 and lasted ten episodes.  Martin started writing on the first season of the 1986 Twilight Zone series.  The one series I was familiar with George R.R. Martin was Wild Cards.  It was an anthology shared universe with different authors.  The world has New York in 1946 infected by an alien virus that transforms people into heroic Aces and mutated Jokers.  It is in development for television.  In 1989, Martin was a writer and producer of Beauty and the Beast starring Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman as Vincent.  Still, he was frustrated with television and went to crafting his fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, which begun with A Game of Thrones (1996).  HBO began adapting the books in 2011 when Martin had his fifth book A Dance with Dragons. He has written a few episodes and collected Emmy and Hugo awards for the show.  The Game of Thrones show concluded in 2019.  House of the Dragon, the prequel series, is created by George R.R. Martin and Ryan Condal who co-created the sci fi Colony series.  It is based on Martin's book, Fire & Blood (2018), to be released in 2022.  Happy Birthday George R.R. Martin!

#GeorgeRRMartin, #WildCards, #GameOfThrones, #Fire&Blood  

Happy Birthday Joe Kubert!

Happy Birthday Joe Kubert!  Joe Kubert’s first professional work was on Catman Comics #8 (1942) for Holyoke Publishing.  He also worked on Fox Comics’ Blue Beetle and also colored the reprints for Quality Comics of Will Eisner’s The Spirit.  Kubert started at DC Comics with Leading Comics #8 (1943) featuring the “Seven Soldiers of Victory” super team for All-American Publications which became DC Comics.  There was a limited series Seven Soldiers by Grant Morrison in 2005.  Kubert became editor of St. John Publications with Three Dimension Comics #1 (1953).  He also created at St. John, the prehistoric hero in Tor, in 1,000,000 Years Ago (1953). Tor was published by DC Comics, a series that ran from 1975 to 1976, Eclipse Comics, Tor 3D (1986), Epic Comics (the creator owned Marvel line) in 1993.  Kubert also worked on a limited series, Tor, in 2008.  He returned to DC working on Our War at War #32 (1952).  

The Brave and Bold #1 (1955) introduced the Viking Prince with the team of Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert as artist. Kubert was exclusive to DC helping to ink Showcase #4 (1956) which introduced the Barry Allen Flash and launched the Silver Age of comics!  In 1959, the Kanigher and Kubert team introduced Sgt. Rock in Our Army at War #83 (1959).  Kubert produced a limited series, Sgt. Rock: The Prophecy in 2006. Gardner Fox and Kubert created the Silver Age Hawkman, Katar, in Brave and Bold #34 (1961).  He returned to the character with Joe Kubert Presents #1 (2012).  In 1972, Joe Kubert started work on Tarzan with issue #207, an epic run.  One of Joe Kubert’s great legacies was forming the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art with his wife Muriel in September 1976.  There is an incredible number of comic professionals from that school. Later, Kubert drew the graphic novel, Fax from Sarajevo, in 1996.  We lost Joe Kubert on August 2012, but his comics and legacy lives on.  Happy Birthday Joe Kubert!

#JoeKubert, #Tor, #VikingPrince, #SgtRock, #Hawkman, #Tarzan, #JoeKubertSchoolOfCartoonAndGraphicArt, #FaxFromSarajevo 

The Outpost, ”Something to Live For”, Review!

Our heroes need to destroy the bodies of the last two Masters.  313 has escaped and wakened his people, the Kahvi!  Janzo and Wren see the wakened Kahvi and 313 wants lokma.  He threatens Janzo and Wren, knocking both of them out.  There is a stream of energy coming from the skelikor.  Janya has drawn the life force from a village.  Talon walks with Luna who is tossing around a dagger.  They make a wager on Luna throwing a dagger and Talon coughs throwing off her aim.  Then, Talon throws both daggers.  Munt fills up a flask of water and asks Zed and Nedra about life in the Plane of Ashes.  She says Zed was too busy hunting in the Plane of Ashes.  Munt enjoys their exchange smiling.  Nedra wants Zed to enjoy the beauty of this world, will Zed die, gasp?  Garret checks on the empty prison.  Talon looks out to see a burning village and then Luna.  Looking at the map, Zed is looking to see their destination.  

THE OUTPOST - - “Something to Live For” - - ADAM JOHNSON, REECE RITCHIE, TAMARA RADOVANOVIC - - Photo: Aleksandar Letic/NBCU International -- © 2021 Outpost TV LLC, Courtesy of Electric Entertainment. All rights reserved.

Nedra finds some blue flowers that take her interest.  She notes that there is a warm spring warming the flowers and trace it to a cliff crack that will lead underground.  Janzo is asleep, bound, Wren moves over to him, he is bleeding from his wound by his ear.  They find a pod.  Garret sees that the lab is wrecked.  313 knocks him out from behind with a wooden hammer.  Talon sees a storyteller with a crowd gathered around him.  Luna points out his trick, setting fire from his palm, he wants offerings to save their village.  Talon walks up to this “ambassador to the gods.”  He closes his chest of offerings and tries to run away.  She trips him and plucks off the fake zinj on his forehead.  The villagers take their valuables and leave to evacuate villages under Talon’s suggestion.  Zed has reached the tomb of the other Master with the others carrying a torch.  It is lit by purple.  He tries to use his sword to pry it open, Munt uses his hammer to slam the hilt.  Nedra adds her sword blade.  They open the crypt and reveal the Master, Golu.  So Zed has Golu’s zinj and he heads there to destroy him?  Not a great plan.  

Zed stabs the body of Golu.  Levare appears and strikes at them.  Munt saves Nedra and Levare teleports away.  They remove the body and put it on a pyre, Zed throws the torch.  If they dust him, they should scatter the dust, take it a few miles away and drop some every few paces.  Maybe throw in some chicken ashes.  Nedra, and Munt reach the forest, a horse rider is coming, he takes the scope and sees a Master riding, Tera, Zed knows he has a black kinj.  Zed wants to face him alone.  He takes Munt and Nedra’s hands to hide his purple kinj.  Wren and Janzo go back to back to try to untie themselves.  313 wants them to help his son.  Zed faces Tera who realizes he doesn’t have a zinj.  He strikes the Master with his sword against the Master's staff.  Zed is struck in the leg with the staff, but pierces Tera's chest with his sword, and kicks him against a tree!  Munt is confronted by Levare, she stabs him with the sword!, his zinj emerges.  She ports to see Tera and pulls free the sword.  Munt is bleeding when Nedra arrives.  Will Munt be saved?  The ending of series kinda softens the blow of his possible loss.  

THE OUTPOST - - “Something to Live For” - - REECE RITCHIE - - Photo: Aleksandar Letic/NBCU International -- © 2021 Outpost TV LLC, Courtesy of Electric Entertainment. All rights reserved.

He wants Nedra to take the zinj and leave him, no!, Munt is dying?  She wants Munt to tell Zed something if he comes by, but has to walk away to keep the kinj safe.  Night, Talon plays the octa card game with Luna by a campfire, they set down to sleep and Luna asks about Garret.  She tells Talon that she should marry him, everyone thinks the same!  If Talon doesn’t marry him, Luna will!  Warlita is checking on Garret’s wound and he gets up.  The only place left is the cavern.  313 cuts Janzo free and he begins to pull off the coccoon off of a Kahvi, 313’s son!  Janzo gives her some oil that Wren told her to use.  He is not successful.  313 comes at Janzo with his knife.  Wren kicks 313 and Janzo takes the knife.  Then, Garret arrives with guards!  Tera walks the forest with his stab wound, Zed is beneath him, without any weapons.  He returns to Levare and she tells him to take the kinj from Munt.  A game of Keep Away Kinj?  

He realizes that Munt doesn’t have to kinj and reaches out to kill him!  Zed knocks Tera down with a staff and strikes the Master.  Levare ports away.  Zed leaves Munt and takes up his sword to save Nedra.  He walks up to her, Zed yells at her to give him the zinj, Nedra says she wouldn’t be missed.  They kiss, finally!, and runs to protect the zinj!  Zed runs to see Nedra fighting with the beast, then Levare kills her!  Nedra’s death seems all too soon, we have just gotten to know her, excellent performance Tamara Radovanovic!  Tera turns her to dust and the zinj floats up.  Levare ports away and Tera rides off, Zed falls to his knees, he places the flower next to Nedra’s dust.  Garret gives a sword to 313.  Janzo and Wren convince Garret to spare him so he takes 313 back to prison.  Morning, Talon and Luna reach the resting place of Aster.  Janya follows the purple kinj to the coffin.  She sees the body of Golu turned to dust and uses her power to reform him!  I haven’t ever seen someone use magic to turn dust to life.  He awakens with his purple kinj.  The only Master to be revived is Aster!  There are some fine moments in this episode of The Outpost, but there are just too many deaths at this point!  

Four Daggers out of Five!  

#TheOutpost, #SomethingToLiveFor, #Nedra, #TamaraRadovanovic, #SaveOurOutpost

What If…, “Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?”, Review!

 What If has Killmonger fulfilling his plans, he was not entirely wrong, but some of the writing is inconsistent here!  The opening is the beginning of Iron Man, this seems to be on repeat with this show, Afghanistan, we have the military convoy driving along.  Tony Stark (Mick Wingert) is riding along until the ambush.  Wingert played Tony in the episode, “What If… The World Lost Its Mightest Heroes”?  The actor has the devil-may-care playboy down which is public persona of Tony, but not his deeper side.  Stark sees the missile with Stark Industries logo, it is tossed by Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) and explodes!, he continues firing his rifle.  Killmonger tells him that the Ten Rings are sending reinforcements, he doesn’t seem to know anything about who and what power is behind the Ten Rings.  He walks off with Stark. It is great having Michael B. Jordan back as Killmonger, but we all know he is a villain, right?  The Watcher shows glimpses of the MCU 1.0.  We’ve seen most of the Avengers with only a cameo of Thor and then get a repeat of Stark.  

The Watcher explains that his injury changed Stark from a hero.  True, but he did see a Stark Industries munition that almost killed him, but I guess that is unimportant.  He is at his press conference announcing that Stark Industries would no longer produce weapons, he is there with Obadiah Stane, voiced by Kiff VandenHeuvel who provided voice for video games and the Tom and Jerry Show shorts.  In the audience is Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau, his second episode) and Pepper Potts (Beth Hoyt). It seems like this is Hoyt’s first voice role and she is known for comedy programs.  Killmonger is now in his dress suit, it looks like his assassin cover is blown.  Tony is still a billionaire with a quick joke.  He resolves himself to create better weapons and brings in as his chief of security,  Lieutenant Erik Stevens also known as Killmonger.  Happy notes that his boss passed him up for the promotion.  Christine Everhart (Leslie Bibb), the reporter from the first movie, asks the question of how Lt. Stevens appeared at the battle when his units was stationed far from that point. 

Killmonger admits he found plans to kill Stark while undercover for the Ten Rings.  Stane tries to cut short the press conference, but Erik reveals that the assassination was funded by Obadiah Stane!  Killmonger shows all of the documents pointing to Stane.  Stane knocks out a security guard, but is punched out by Happy!  Later, Tony is having a drink with Erik, they seem to be bonding, but of course Killmonger is a mastermind.  He gives him the COO position with Pepper questioning it.  The big part is that Tony can hack into any computer especially with Jarvis, but doesn’t dig into Killmonger’s past?  Pepper leaves them to meet with Rhodey (Don Cheadle).  He gives her the military intel on Erik, but Pepper is still suspicious.  Tony shows Erik his garage including the Jericho turned into a firearm.  Killmonger tells Tony about his automated drone, Project Liberator, and Stark agrees to build it with Stark tech.  He drops a joke about worst case ending up with an “expensive Gundam model”!  Very funny.  

Erik and Tony work together on the work benches to build the robot.  Killmonger uses his fighting skills which are matched to the bot, another Big Hero 6 (2014)-type scene.  At a test, Erik faces his creation, but it falls down in a heap.  Jarvis (Paul Bettany), we finally get him after the build, saying the mecha was overloaded.  Stark theorizes that they could use a miniature arc reactor, wasn’t the arc reactor built (with Yinsen) when Stark was injured, then made larger when he returned?  Killmonger suggests they use Vibranium and tosses him a ring, doesn’t this set off the alarm bells?  Agent Coulson was involved, how about Nick Fury?, not interested in any of these developments?  He knows that Ulysses Klau could get him some Vibranium, Pepper disagrees with him, and Killmonger is on her side.  So Tony sends in Rhodey.  We get the African coast, which is where we saw Klau in Avengers: Age of Ultron.  Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) shows Rhodey a Dora Milaje spear, I’m not how it ended up in the black market.  

He sells it for $10 million, once Rhodey accepts, Klaue takes him to a refrigerated room filled with Vibranium.  It seems implausible that that much Vibranium went outside of Wakanada and that Klaue was just building it up, not using it for weapons.  Klaue suddenly gets report of a breach, Rhodey tries to contact Killmonger, the villain retreats into the shadows. The gunmen are taken down by the Black Panther!  Rhodey shoots his gun at the Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), the bullets are deflected, he wants the Vibranium. I like the return of Boseman after the really good What If…? episode.  Killmonger strikes T’Challa and Rhodey down with a sonic weapon.  He takes care of both of them.  We had changes of villains into protagonists what comes to mind is What If #22 (1980), “What If Dr. Doom Had Become a Hero?” Really, it should be “What If Killmonger Killed the Marvel Universe?”  Killmonger uses the Vibranium to make battle droids very like Star Wars: Phantom Menace (1999) as part of his manipulations.  He gets General Ross (Mike McGill) to build the bots.  I really like the return of the Black Panther cast; John Kani (why would T’Challa be Black Panther with his father still there?), Angela Bassett, Danai Gurira, and Ozioma Akagha as a young Shuri! This What If? episode has the merging of Iron Man and Black Panther casts which is great, but the story problems are numerous!   

Three Stark Liberator Drones out of Five!  

#WhatIf, #KillmongerRescuedTonyStark, #MichaelBJordan, #MickWingert, #DonCheadle,#BethHoyt, #JonFavreau, #ChadwickBoseman, #JohnKani, #AngelaBassett, #DanaiGurira, #OziomaAkagha, #AndySerkis, #MikeMcGill  

Hispanic Actors in Films and Television!

Today’s Deadline article, https://deadline.com/2021/09/hispanics-latinos-marginalized-popular-movies-usc-annenberg-report-1234833808/, covered the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative which noted the Hispanic representation in film right at Hispanic Heritage Month.  I did not see specific films that did have Latino actors.  In The Heights is a film that celebrates Hispanic people, but was ignored by that audience and really the rest of audiences.  If you don’t support such films, then studios won’t make them.  It featured a screenplay by Quiara Alegria Hudes and starred Anthony Ramos, he’s currently filming Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), and A Star Is Born (2018).  The other lead is Melissa Barrera, born in Mexico and has strong Mexican television credits.  In the cast was also Jimmy Smits, his mother is Puerto Rican, he played Bail Organa in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) and the Star Wars prequels, he was also in the David Ayer crime drama, Tax Collector (2020).  Lin Manuel Miranda, represents Puerto Rico, created the musical, has a supporting part in the film, also starred in Mary Poppins Returns (2018), and has songs featured in the animated film, Encanto, set for release on November 24th.  He is directing tick, tick…Boom!, his first film.  

Other films: Patricia Velasquez, born in Venezuela, starred in Malignant, also The Curse of La Llorona (2019), and the Mummy movies.  Daniela Melchior, Hispanic, born in Portugal, was in The Suicide Squad.  Morena Baccarin, Brazilian descent, was in the Deadpool films, the Gotham television series, the Greenland (2020) film which is getting a sequel, of course Firefly, and the recent V series.  Eiza Gonzalez, Mexican heritage, was in Godzilla vs. Kong, Bloodshot (2020), and Baby Driver (2017).  Demian Bichir from Mexico City, also in Godzilla vs. Kong, the remake of The Grudge (2020), and Alien: Covenant (2017).  One of the co-stars of Blade Runner 2049 (2017) is Ana de Armas, born in Cuba, also starring in the Eli Roth thriller film, Knock Knock (2015), and she will be in the upcoming Bond film, No Time to Die.  Reprising his role in the sequel is Edward James Olmos, he is of Mexican descent and very active in the community, he was in the series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and of course well known for the recent Battlestar Galactica as Admiral Adama.      

Michael Pena, was in this year’s Tom & Jerry, also Fantasy Island (2020), Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019), and of course the Ant-Man films.  Let’s focus on the Dora film; the lead was played by Isabela Merced, her mother is Peruvian, she was also in Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018) and Transformers: The Last Knight (2017).  Her mother was played by Eva Longoria, a Mexican-American actress and one of the strongest voices for the Latinx community, she is known for her breakout role in Desperate Housewives.  Benicio Del Toro voiced Swiper, Swiper!, no swiping!, he is of course known for playing The Collector who was in an episode of What If…?, Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and the Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).  He of course starred with Merced in Sicario: Day of the Soldado, and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017).  The Dora film also starred Mexican writer, director, and actor, Eugenio Derbez, he was in The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018), Geostorm (2017), and the comedy How to Be a Latin Lover (2017).  We also have Cuban-American singer, Camilla Cabello, stars in this year's Amazon Prime film, Cinderella.   

Melissa Collazo has Puerto Rican parents, starred in Freaky (2020) and the CW Swamp Thing (2019), and Stranger Things.  In television, there is Danny Ramirez, he is of Colombian and Mexican descent, born in Chicago, is in Falcon and the Winter Soldier as Joachim Torres, he will be in Top Gun: Maverick.  Selena Anduze, who is from the US Virgin Islands, starred in WandaVision as Agent Rodriguez, also Swamp Thing, and had a cameo in Venom (2018).  Erik Valdez, his father is of Spanish and Mexican descent, is featured in Superman and Lois.  Inde Navarrette, who has a Latino father, is also in Superman and Lois.  The characters don’t stray from their Latino roots, but the name of Valdez’s character is Kyle Cushing.  There is a planned HBO Max series that has a Hispanic main character, Blue Beetle, that will star Jahmil French, his background is Hispanic, Native American, and African American.  I’m currently watching the recent Fantasy Island, it stars Roselyn Sanchez, born in Puerto Rico, she was also in Rush Hour 2 (2001) and the action movie, Act of Valor (2012). 

I found that most of what I watch does have Hispanic actors, there are certain films like In The Heights, it had a weak box office of $43.9 million with a budget of $55 million and then Dora and the Lost City of Gold was more successful with a $119.7 million box office and a $49 million budget.  Both were previous franchises, maybe musicals are not a strong interest to the Hispanic audience, I recall the movie Zoot Suit (1981), and of course, West Side Story (1961) with an upcoming Steven Spielberg directed West Side Story, set for a December 10th release.  The actress playing Maria, Rachel Zegler, she has a Colombian mother, is already a breakout star in her first film.  She’s next in Shazam! Fury of the Gods, for 2023, and playing the lead in the live action Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  The legendary Rita Moreno from the 1961 original film returns to this year’s version.  She was in the recent One Day at a Time series.  Will West Side Story have a stronger box office than In The Heights?  Possibly with a change in the current situation?  I also find that in terms of representation, DC films and television have an edge of Marvel movies.  These are the talented Hispanic filmmakers, to support them and the community, it is important to watch their films and television work!  

#InTheHeightsMovie, #LinManuelMiranda, #QuiaraAlegriaHudes, #AnthonyRamos, #MelissaBarrera, #JimmySmits, #Malignant, #PatriciaVelasquez, #TheSuicideSquad, #DanielaMelchior, #Deadpool2,  #MorenaBaccarin, #GodzillaVsKong, #EizaGonzalez, #DemianBichir, #BladeRunner2049, #AnadeArmas, #EdwardJamesOlmos, #DoraAndTheLostCityOfGold, #IsabelaMerced, #MichaelPena, #EvaLongoria, #BenicioDelToro, #EugenioDerbez, #CamilaCabello, #Cinderella, #Freaky, #MelissaCollazo, #TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier, #DannyRamirez, #WandaVision, #SelenaAnduze, #SupermanAndLois, #ErikValdez, #IndeNavarrette, #BlueBeetle, #JahmilFrench, #FantasyIsland, #RoselynSanchez, #WestSideStory, #RachelZegler, #RitaMoreno  

Re:tro Re:view - Star Wars: The High Republic #6!

Star Wars: The High Republic #6 continues the battle against the Drengir!  Last issue, “Attack of the Hutts”, had Sskeer using his connection to the plant-like Drengir to make them think that life on Sidri Minor was “unclean.”  The day is saved, but he collapses!  The cover by Phil Noto has a massive Rancor with Marshall Avar Kriss riding it and carrying her green lightsaber!  “The Galaxy Unites”, part of the new story arc “Heart of the Drengir” is by Cavan Scott and Georges Jeanty.  We see at the opening, the planet Daivak, the first appearance of this planet, in the Outer Rim.  Keeve Trennis in narration explains that the Drengir are taking “hundreds of worlds”!  The inhabitants, green-skinned aliens with yellow, gem-like eyes trying to run from the Drengir! 

Then, we get an epic two page splash with Rancor, Avar Kriss in on one of them, the other is ridden by a Jedi twin, the Hutt, Myarga, advancing on his hover chair, and the other twin riding a hover vehicle. Myraga glories in the battle using his Hutt beams on his chair.   The Hutt notes that he could have destroyed the Drengir with deathcharges, a new explosive that has a Death Star effect?  It is nice to see a Hutt in active battle.  The Jedi twins note that it would have killed all organic life.  On Starlight Beacon, monitor Estala Maru wonders if Marshall Kriss made an error allying with the Hutts.  Master Gios appears via hologram telling Maru that the council may agree with him.  The head of Starlight Beacon operations notes that Drengir are being slowed down by the unsteady alliance.  Gios asks about Master Sskeer.  

This moves to a large panel of the Trandoshan Jedi kept in a stasis field as Keeve watches him.  Doctor Gino’le has told her that the Drengir infection has not progressed, but she feels through the Force that he is slipping away.  This is a first time that Gino’le has been seen, he is a snake-like Jedi with a wide face and small eyes at the side like a frog.  Keeve demands another scan from Gino’le.  The Jedi twin Terec has found the settlers bound in Drengir vines!  On the battle lines, Marshall Kriss is communicating with Terec when her Rancor is struck by the Drengir vines!  She leaps off it as the Rancor falls.  Marshall Kriss uses the Force to hold back the vines.  Myarga blasts the corrupted Rancor and Marshall Kriss send for reinforcements from Starlight Beacon!  This is another war involving the Jedi.  

Keeve rejects the call for reinforcements and instead deactivates the stasis field and enters.  Sskeer’s Drengir arm sends vines to take over Keeve!  She enters the white Drengir vines and purple world of the Drengir and sees again Sskeer.  They hug, a nice reunion. Sskeer, fully Trandoshan, notes that they are in the world, the Root Mind, where Drengir communicate with each other.  It kinda reminds me of The Green in Swamp Thing.  He tells his former apprentice that they need to get to the center of the Root Mind, but Keeve is overwhelmed by the vines.  Back on Daivak, Myarga notes that the Drengir are just duplicating faster than they can be destroyed.  Marshall Kriss notices that their song, she contacts Maru who checks on Keeve.  He shows Avar Kriss a hologram of Keeve inside the stasis field! 

Keeve tells the Marshall they are looking for the Heart of the Drengir, in the Root Mind, but together she and Sskeer are not strong enough to reach it.  Maru and archivist Orbalin use the Force to add to Keeve’s efforts.  Wow.  Very cool.  Sskeer tells Keeve to take the white vines and they are pulled, they are distorted by the movement, interesting effect.  They have reached the center, Sskeer calls it the Great Progenitor, and it is on a rocky world with stormy skies.  Keeve connects with its mind and it sends, in the Drengir world, a vine to pierce Keeve’s guts.  Sskeer reaches for his arm and in the real world, rips off his Drengir arm!  The move saves them, but Sskeer thinks of it as a failure.  Keeve shows him the scratches on her gloves, a mysterious planet where they can find the Great Progenitor and maybe win this war!  Star Wars: The High Republic #5 is interesting contrasting a battle with an inner journey to defeat a galaxy-wide threat!  

Five Lightsabers out of Five!  

#StarWarsTheHighRepublic, #TheGalaxyUnites, #DoctorGinole, #RootMind, #TheGreatProgenitor 

Malignant Review!

 Malignant begins with some chilling horror as we peel back the story of Madison and then it becomes a gore fest!  James Wan directs the film along with co-writing and producing it.  He is well known for his horror movies, starting with Saw (2004) to The Conjuring 2 (2016).  Wan has moved to other genres like Furious 7 (2015) and Aquaman (2018).  Malignant has a story co-written by Wan’s wife, Ingrid Bisu, who acted in The Nun (2018) and this year’s The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.  She also stars in this film.  The co-story writer and screenwriter is Akela Cooper who co-wrote the screenplay for the horror film, Hell Fest (2018) and has upcoming The Nun 2.  The film begins with some stylish logos distorted by a television screen.  It opens at night, with a towering, seaside hospital out of Gothic stories.  We get that is the “Simion Research Hospital, 1993.”  A video starts of Dr. Florence Weaver (Jacqueline McKenzie) making a recording about a dangerous patient named Gabriel.  McKenzie was in a 2006 episode of Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King.  

They will be unable to “contain” Gabriel.  The lights flicker.  There is eerie music by Joseph Bishara, if you need a spooky score call in Bishara, he provided the music for The Conjuring movies.  A security guard informs Dr. Weaver that Gabriel got out.  The lights flicker and there is a shrieking noise.  She meets with Dr. Victor Fields (Christian Clemenson) who tried to use electroshock on Gabriel, but it seems he was absorbing the electricity, look out Electro!  Clemenson was in Buffy the Vampire Slayers' 1999 episode.  I should have recognized him as Socrates Poole in The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (1993-1994).  Dr. Fields says that Gabriel had reached the records room.  A facility that cares for patients with powers kinda reminds me of The Shop in Stephen King’s Firestarter (1984).  A medical worker is hurtled out of Gabriel’s room and slammed against the wall. A security guard takes a tranquilizer rifle from a case.  Dr. Weaver is warned by a nurse (Patricia Velasquez) about entering the room.  A brief cameo, but Velasquez was last in The Curse of La Llorona (2019). 

She sends the security guard to take down Gabriel.  He takes up the tranquilizer rifle, but his arm is taken into the door, he screams, and a bone juts from his arm!  The lights begin to spark and shatter.  Dr. Weaver picks up the rifle and fires, but gets an ear piercing feedback.  Once that ends, Dr. Weaver sees the dead bodies of medical workers.  She orders the security guards to strap down Gabriel.  We see the skeletal face of Gabriel through the plastic and a radio broadcasts his distorted voice threatening to kill them.  We get a closeup of Dr. Weaver saying that they have to “cut out the cancer”!  If you pay attention to the credit scenes many secrets from the film are shown among some gruesome medical procedures and charts.  This shifts to the present day where we have a nice, three story house and a station wagon pulls up.  A woman, Madison Mitchell (Annabelle Wallis) with a coat gets out, but has to struggle since she is very much pregnant.  Wallis was Mia Form in Annabelle: Creation (2017).  

She finds her husband, Derek (Jake Abel), just sitting on the bed watching tv.  Abel starred as Adam Milligan in the series, Supernatural (2009-2020).  Madison has just come back from work and her baby is causing her some problems.  She turns off the tv and Derek confronts her about getting pregnant.  The guy doesn’t seem busy with work, yet they can afford a three story house?  He gets angry and pokes Madison’s belly, she pushes him back, and he slams her head against the wall.  Derek tries to apologize and then runs off to get some ice.  Madison recovers and then locks the door.  She slides down the door leaving a blood trail!  Madison reaches for the back of her head and sees blood on her hand.  Derek tries to open the door and says it was an accident.  Night, there is a mist around the house, Madison is asleep in her bed.  Strange, that she hasn’t called the police or a doctor for the injury and also to check on the baby.  Derek is sleeping on the couch.  He is woken up by noises and hears the tv coming on going through all of the channels. 

It looks like Madison is on the couch.  Chills.  The lights go out and when he turns on the lights again, she is gone.  The couch cushion lifts from the impression of Madison?  The next moment is shocking!  Madison wakes up gasping.  There is blood on her pillow.  She goes down stairs and finds her husband, at least his body with his head to the side.  A dark shape rises from behind him!  The strange, twisted-around creature knocks her from the door.  She tries to run away and close the door of the nursery, but the creature slams into the door sending her to the floor striking her head with a crunch.  Later, the police arrive, Detective Kekoa Shaw (George Young) and his partner, Detective Regina Moss (Michole Briana White).  Young starred in the horror series as Grace.  Kekoa investigates Madison's case drawn into the supernatural events.  White was in the sci fi movie, Songbird (2020).  Regina is the cynical officer to counter the supernatural.  They are told it was a home invasion, but no forced entry, don’t need it for demons.  

An officer, Winnie (Bisu) goes to Kekoa, it’s obvious she has a crush on him.  She shows them the body.  At the hospital, Madison, bruised, wakes up and sees her sister, Sydney Lake (Maddie Hasson).  The actress was in the horror movie, We Summon the Darkness (2019).  She tells her sister about the attack.  Sydney has to inform her that she lost her baby girl and Madison screams in anguish!  In the morning, Madison is met by Kekoa, he tries to talk to her, but she’s in shock.  Walking in is Sydney in a princess dress which she wore for her job at Family Planet!  Sydney explains that Derek kept the sisters separate.  Kekoa tells her after he spoke with Madison’s doctors that she had previously three miscarriages.  A sobering part of the movie.  Sydney hugs her sister and takes Kekoa’s card.  The mystery of Gabriel is tied to Madison and the research hospital.  Gabriel is on a killing spree for revenge, reminds me of V in V for Vendetta (2005).  It shifts to the Seattle Underground Tour with a mysterious character played by Jean Louisa Kelly.  Once it became clear what was happening, it just became a standard kill fest so was less spooky for me, but still violent and the events were still a little creepy.  Malignant has some dark secrets and a chilling beginning, but standard horror for the rest of the movie!  

Four Tranquilizer Darts out of Five! 

#Malignant, #JamesWan, #AnnabellWallis, #MaddieHasson, #GeorgeYoung, #MicholeBrianaWhite, #IngridBisu.