#Eddie Murphy Productions

[of-fear-and-love]

Halle Berry in Boomerang (1992)

#halle berry #eddie murphy #boomerang 1992 #boomerang #1992 #1990s film #90s movies #romcom #romantic comedy #I mean there isn't a lot of comedy in this one I'll be honest #the production design is the best part of it lol #reginald hudlin

[redcarpetview]

Eddie Murphy to Receive the Cecil B. deMille Award at the 80th Golden Globe® Awards

Courtesy of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association®.

    The Hollywood Foreign Press Association® (HFPA) has announced that Golden Globe Award® winner and six-time nominee Eddie Murphy will be honored with the coveted Cecil B. deMille Award at the 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards.

     The highly acclaimed star of legendary films such as 48 Hours, Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop, Coming to America, The Nutty Professor, Dreamgirls, and others will accept the honor at the 2023 Golden Globe Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023 airing live coast-to-coast from 5-8 p.m. PT/8-11 p.m. ET on NBC and streaming on Peacock.

     “We’re honored to present this year’s Cecil B. deMille Award to the iconic and highly esteemed Mr. Eddie Murphy,” said HFPA President, Helen Hoehne. “We’re thrilled to be celebrating the lasting impact on film and television that his career – in front of and behind the camera - has had through the decades.”

     The Cecil B. deMille Award, historically chosen by the HFPA Board of Directors, is presented to a talented individual for their outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment. Past recipients of the Award include Jane Fonda, George Clooney, Morgan Freeman, Oprah Winfrey, Robert De Niro, Audrey Hepburn, Harrison Ford, Jodie Foster, Sophia Loren, Steven Spielberg, Denzel Washington, Robin Williams, Tom Hanks, and more.

    In a career that has spanned five decades, Murphy’s multi-faceted and moving performances, such as his role as singer James Thunder in “Dreamgirls,” have earned him a Golden Globe Award, SAG Award, Emmy Award, and Academy Award nomination.

     Murphy was most recently seen starring in the Amazon streaming hit “Coming 2 America,” the long-awaited sequel to his 1988 box-office hit, as well as portraying legendary underground comic personality Rudy Ray Moore in the Netflix biopic “Dolemite Is My Name,” a performance that garnered him Golden Globes nominations for Best Picture Comedy/Musical and Lead Actor Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

      In 2020, he received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his return to Saturday Night Live.

    Murphy starred in the 1997 hit comedy The Nutty Professor in which he portrayed multiple characters and received Golden Globe and other award nominations. He also was the voice of Donkey in the Oscar-winning animated film Shrek and its sequel, Shrek 2, which is the top-grossing animated film of all time. Murphy won an Annie Award and earned BAFTA and MTV Movie Award nominations for his performance in the first Shrek, and he reprised the role of Donkey in the final installment of the hugely successful franchise, Shrek Goes Fourth.

     Murphy’s additional feature credits include Mulan, Dr. Dolittle, and Dr. Dolittle 2, Life, Bowfinger, Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, Daddy Day Care, Norbit, and the drama Mr. Church. Murphy’s upcoming projects include co-starring in the romantic comedy You People and producing and starring in Beverly Hills Cop 4. In 2015, Murphy received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor Award from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

     Produced by Dick Clark Productions and Jesse Collins Entertainment in association with the HFPA, the Golden Globe® Awards are viewed in more than 210 territories worldwide. Helen Hoehne is president of the HFPA. Adam Stotsky, President of dick clark productions, and Barry Adelman, Executive VP of Television at dick clark productions will serve as executive producers.

                                                                                                                     # # #

#Film #Hollywood Foreign Press Association #Eddie Murphy #80th Annual Golden Globe Awards #Golden Globe Awards #Dick Clark Productions #Jesse Collins Entertainment #HFPA #Golden Globe® Awards #naomi j richard #naomijrichard #Naomi Richard #RCV #Red Carpet View #Cecil B. deMille Award #Helen Hoehne

[marisatomay]

Eddie Diaz is literally the best Ryan Murphy Productions character since Santana Lopez

[menouthis]

Buddie Karaoke Scenes

In the middle of the deleted karaoke scene debacle, I think people forgot one important fact. Before I talk about that, I understand why they cut off that part. It's mostly cost-benefit. In order to include that scene, they need to pay royalty to the song owner. Normally this isn't a big deal. But this time there's limited space for it (they only got around 1 minute play time they could include in the midst of all the madney contents). In comparison, "Island in the Stream" as performed by JLH and KC has a total of 2m36sec play time. 1 minute is miniscule, probably only 1 or 2 verse of the song can be included.

So from the production POV, it's not worth paying the royalty for the song when they can only include 1 minute play of the song. It's not even worth it for BTS content if they don't have enough footage to cover the song. They'll probably release the footage without the song but I wouldn't hold my breath for it. Personally I'm not too hot of the song choice either. I wanted something more romantic similar to "Island in the stream" and from the 80s. So my hope is that they'll create another karaoke scene in the future that is longer and for more appropriate content (Buck and Eddie episode).

Anyway now I get to the point of the most important part: even though they didn't use the footage, they scripted and shot the footage. In media production, you don't shoot scene just because you feel like it. It takes a lot of efforts, production crew, actors needing time and courage to perform the song, etc. Basically it's a lot of money spent just to shoot the scene. Unless it's intentional and had good reasoning about it, the stakeholders which includes Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuck, and Angela Bassett (she's an EP/Executive Producer btw) will grill production and Tim.

Basically there was an intent to progress Buck and Eddie's relationship and hint of their future direction. Unfortunately there wasn't enough time for it and the hint was already served in the early portions of the episode and the fact that they kept Buck and Eddie together for the majority of the episode. They made sure to show Eddie displaying hints of jealousy/discontentment when he sees Buck and Tommy having physical interaction. They also put Buck and Eddie in partner outfits, where both cosplay as Crockett the queer-coded character from Miami Vice.

There was a reference to The Wedding Singer, a film about two star-crossed lovers who fall in love with each other while engaged to the wrong people. The writing also showed that Eddie was the only one who didn't leave Buck during the Bachelor's party. Eddie was then shown practically all over Buck once everyone had left.  Finally the episode ended up showing Eddie running around with Buck fixing problem they didn't actually caused in the first place (at least not directly). This pretty much a way to highlight the fact that they'll always be there for one another whether it's for fun or in crisis. 

#evan buckley #eddie diaz #buddie #ryan guzman #oliver stark #911 on abc

[mazzystar24]

this episode really burnt any last hope i had of buddie actually becoming canon

i just knew they were gonna force bucktommy and then have eddie just be ‘supportive best friend’ but now that it’s actually out there i’m so disappointed

just completely ignoring the past 6 years of buildup between buck and eddie

anyway ig it was fun while it lasted

I wouldn’t lose hope AT ALL

Like yeah they’re pushing buck and Tommy and Eddie and Marisol a little bit but there are SO MANY things that warrant buddie optimism:

• the fact that they gave us bi buck in the first place

• THE INTERVIEWS bro I only saw snippets so far of the newest because travelling and yada yada but in one when asked about Tommy and buck, lou flat out said we should be happy abt bucktommy and that it can be a trial run to work out the kinks if buddie were to go canon and also Ryan saying that as far as Eddie’s sexuality goes, Eddie is very catholic and grew up a certain way but is learning he can explore a little more (aka unlearning comphet🫡) and something about how there is/will be the amount of queer rep expected in a Ryan Murphy/tim minear show (a lot) - I love Ryan sm cos he FEEDS us

• they saw ratings stay HIGH (I think they rose even??) with the Tommy and buck kiss so now all the issues Tim described as being factors to consider when deciding whether to make buddie canon are now non issues- actors= on board, Network and higher ups= love queer rep, Ratings = staying high (and I think rose from the kiss but i don’t wanna misinform)

• Eddie’s whole storyline this episode is just confirming the existence of his catholic guilt, like it’s the most ridiculous stupid storyline they could’ve chose but maybe this was its purpose cos that’s the only thing that makes sense to me

• the parallels and POINTED lines this season are off the charts- as a general rule in film EVERYTHING IS INTENTIONAL think checkovs gun type thing SO MANY LINES just have to mean something

• it seems the leaked script was legit and the fact they scrapped the “brother” line is VERY telling, this means either the script was a draft and they didn’t like it and it didn’t feel right orrr that they edited the line out in post production which could be recent and could mean they waited to see the ratings for the bucktommy kiss before either confirming buddie platonic to please whatever homophobes that popped up or to roll with buddie and not confirm or deny yet

•also we knew Tommy is here briefly

Look maybe I am just delusional and enjoying it but seriously I do NOT think anyone should lose hope at all

Love ya guys and stay delulu comrades🤝🫡🫡

#911 #buddie #evan buckley #eddie diaz #911 abc #911 fox #evan buck buckley #911onfox #911 spoilers #buckley diaz family #asks open #send asks #answered asks #asks

[awardseason]

2023 Critics’ Choice Awards — Film WINNERS

Best Picture “Avatar: The Way of Water”  “Babylon” “The Banshees of Inisherin”  “Elvis”  “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — WINNER “The Fabelmans”  “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”  “RRR”  “Tár”  “Top Gun: Maverick”  “Women Talking” 

Best Actor Austin Butler – “Elvis” Tom Cruise – “Top Gun: Maverick” Colin Farrell – “The Banshees of Inisherin”  Brendan Fraser – “The Whale” — WINNER Paul Mescal – “Aftersun”  Bill Nighy – “Living”

Best Actress Cate Blanchett – “Tár” — WINNER Viola Davis – “The Woman King”  Danielle Deadwyler – “Till”  Margot Robbie – “Babylon”  Michelle Williams – “The Fabelmans”  Michelle Yeoh – “Everything Everywhere All at Once” 

Best Supporting Actor Paul Dano – “The Fabelmans”  Brendan Gleeson – “The Banshees of Inisherin” Judd Hirsch – “The Fabelmans”  Barry Keoghan – “The Banshees of Inisherin” Ke Huy Quan – “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — WINNER Brian Tyree Henry – “Causeway” 

Best Supporting Actress Angela Bassett – “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” — WINNER Jessie Buckley – “Women Talking” Kerry Condon – “The Banshees of Inisherin”  Jamie Lee Curtis – “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Stephanie Hsu – “Everything Everywhere All at Once”  Janelle Monáe – “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” 

Best Young Actor/Actress Frankie Corio – “Aftersun” Jalyn Hall – “Till”  Gabriel LaBelle – “The Fabelmans” — WINNER Bella Ramsey – “Catherine Called Birdy”  Banks Repeta – “Armageddon Time”  Sadie Sink – “The Whale” 

Best Acting Ensemble “The Banshees of Inisherin” “Everything Everywhere All at Once” “The Fabelmans”  “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” — WINNER “The Woman King” “Women Talking”

Best Director James Cameron – “Avatar: The Way of Water” Damien Chazelle – “Babylon”  Todd Field – “Tár” Baz Luhrmann – “Elvis” Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert – “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — WINNERS Martin McDonagh – “The Banshees of Inisherin” Sarah Polley – “Women Talking”  Gina Prince-Bythewood – “The Woman King”  S.S. Rajamouli – “RRR”  Steven Spielberg – “The Fabelmans” 

Best Comedy “The Banshees of Inisherin” “Bros” “Everything Everywhere All at Once” “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” — WINNER “Triangle of Sadness” “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent”

Best Animated Feature “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” — WINNER “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” “Turning Red” “Wendell & Wild”

Best Foreign Language Film “All Quiet on the Western Front” “Argentina, 1985” “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths” “Close” “Decision to Leave” “RRR” — WINNER

Best Original Screenplay Charlotte Wells – “Aftersun” Martin McDonagh – “The Banshees of Inisherin”  Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert – “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — WINNER Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner – “The Fabelmans” Todd Field – “Tár”

Best Adapted Screenplay Rian Johnson – “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”  Kazuo Ishiguro – “Living”  Rebecca Lenkiewicz – “She Said” Samuel D. Hunter – “The Whale” Sarah Polley – “Women Talking” — WINNER

Best Cinematography Russell Carpenter – “Avatar: The Way of Water” Linus Sandgren – “Babylon”  Roger Deakins – “Empire of Light” Janusz Kaminski – “The Fabelmans” Florian Hoffmeister – “Tár” Claudio Miranda – “Top Gun: Maverick” — WINNER

Best Production Design   Dylan Cole, Ben Procter, Vanessa Cole – “Avatar: The Way of Water” Florencia Martin, Anthony Carlino – “Babylon” — WINNER Hannah Beachler, Lisa K. Sessions – “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Catherine Martin, Karen Murphy, Bev Dunn – “Elvis” Jason Kisvarday, Kelsi Ephraim – “Everything Everywhere All at Once”  Rick Carter, Karen O’Hara – “The Fabelmans” 

Best Editing Stephen Rivkin, David Brenner, John Refoua, James Cameron – “Avatar: The Way of Water” Tom Cross – “Babylon”  Matt Villa, Jonathan Redmond – “Elvis”  Paul Rogers – “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — WINNER Monika Willi – “Tár” Eddie Hamilton – “Top Gun: Maverick”

Best Costume Design Mary Zophres – “Babylon” Ruth E. Carter – “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” — WINNER Catherine Martin – “Elvis”  Shirley Kurata – “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Jenny Eagan – “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”  Gersha Phillips – “The Woman King”

Best Hair and Makeup “Babylon”  “The Batman”  “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”  “Elvis” — WINNER “Everything Everywhere All at Once”  “The Whale” 

Best Visual Effects “Avatar: The Way of Water” — WINNER “The Batman”  “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”  “Everything Everywhere All at Once”  “RRR” “Top Gun: Maverick” 

Best Song “Lift Me Up” – “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” “Ciao Papa” – “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” “Naatu Naatu” – “RRR” — WINNER “Hold My Hand” – “Top Gun: Maverick” “Carolina” – “Where the Crawdads Sing”  “New Body Rhumba” – “White Noise”

Best Score Michael Giacchino – “The Batman” Justin Hurwitz – “Babylon” John Williams – “The Fabelmans”  Alexandre Desplat – “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”  Hildur Guðnadóttir – “Tár” — WINNER Hildur Guðnadóttir – “Women Talking” 

#critics choice awards #critics choice #critics choice 2023 #cca 2023 #winners

[the-plot-blog-thing]

For Fun: Here's My Favorite Disney Songs That Were Deleted/Changed In The Final Film (Part 4)

"Someday" was meant to be Esmeralda's song in Hunchback of Notre Dame, but was replaced by "God Help the Outcasts" in the final version. It was sung over the credits, however, and both would be sung in the stage adaptation.

"Shooting Star" was the original "I Want" song from Hercules, but was cut for being "too soft". I could take either or, but "Go the Distance" is still a classic.

"I Can't Believe My Heart" was Meg's original song. It was cut for similar reasons as "Shooting Star". I definitely prefer the version we got.

Stephen Schwartz, who wrote the lyrics for Pocahontas and Hunchback with Alan Menken as well as all the music for Wicked, was originally tapped to write the music for Mulan. He left early in production to work on the music for "The Prince of Egypt" at DreamWorks. "Written In Stone" is the only song of his version available to listen to. It would've been in the spot where "Reflection" exists in the final film.

Speaking of "Reflection", when composers Matthew Wilder and David Zippel joined the film after Schwartz left, they wrote a much longer version of the song. The fact that this version is not in the film is a crime.

"Keep 'Em Guessin'" would've been Mushu's song as he introduces himself to Mulan, but Eddie Murphy's dialogue worked much better, and made things much more succinct. The song is enjoyable imo, tho.

Famously, Disney was working on a film set to release in late 2000 called Kingdom of the Sun. It was a sort of an Incan retelling of The Prince and the Pauper, with some magic and gods thrown in for good measure. It was supposed to be another grand musical on the scale of The Lion King, even sharing its co-director, Roger Allers. To match that scale, they brought in musician Sting to write the songs, thinking he'd bring the same energy that Elton John brought to Lion King's songs. Sting and co-composer David Hartley wrote three songs for this version. The first, "Walk the Llama Llama", would've been the opening song. It was to be sung by the main character, Pacha (here played by Owen Wilson), a teenage llama herder who coincidentally looks exactly like the spoiled teenaged Emperor Manco (played by David Spade). The song is Pacha expressing his love for the llama as he herded them. Pacha's singing voice would've been Sting himself in the final film. There also would've been a reprise halfway through the film and at the end, though nothing from these reprises has appeared online. Unfortunately, the only clean version of the song is this country-fied version by Rascal Flats on the Emperor's New Groove soundtrack.

The second song, "Snuff Out the Light", would have been sung by the villain of the film, Yzma (as played by Eartha Kitt). In this version, Yzma would have been an aging sorceress who hated the sun for causing her wrinkles. She would've discovered that Manco and Pacha swapped, and turned the real Pacha into a non-speaking llama. She would've manipulated Pacha into doing what she wanted. She planned to summon the Dark God, Supai to block out the sun so she wouldn't grow old. This song was fully recorded, and the sequence had quite a bit of animation finished on it before the story changed.

The third song, "One Day She'll Love Me" would have been the love song of the film, and been sung by Pacha and the emperor's betrothed, Nina. Pacha has fallen in love with Nina, but feels guilty for living a lie. Nina is starting to fall in love with him, but still believes he's Manco, and doesn't know why he's changing.

Continued in Part 5!

#disney #disney movies #disney animation #walt disney animation studios #disney songs #deleted songs #demos #the hunchback of notre dame #hercules #mulan #the emperor's new groove #kingdom of the sun #alan menken #stephen schwartz #david zippel #matthew wilder #sting #david hartley #Youtube

[hit-song-showdown]

Year-End Poll #37: 1986

[Image description: a collage of photos of the 10 musicians and musical groups featured in this poll. In order from left to right, top to bottom: Dionne Warwick, Lionel Richie, Klymaxx, Patti LaBelle, Mr. Mister, Whitney Houston, Eddie Murphy, Survivor, Mr. Mister, Robert Palmer. End description]

More information about this blog here

R&B is having its moment, as is the rise of adult contemporary, a genre with stylistic roots in soft rock and easy listening. The charity single is also continuing to be a popular staple of the decade, with Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, and Gladys Knight coming together to record That's What Friends Are For to raise money for the American Foundation for AIDS Research. Adult contemporary tracks have been charted by Billboard since the 1960's, but the genre will really reach its commercial peak in the 1980's. We even see some of the characteristics of the genre (slow tempo, lush production, specific keyboard/synth sounds, etc) appearing in some new wave tracks.

1986 also marks the rising popularity of "The Voice", Whitney Houston. While there was a lot of hype behind her in the music industry, her earlier singles found some difficulty taking off in the States. As I mentioned in a previous poll, MTV had an issue with refusing to play videos by Black artists, and Whitney's music was victim to that. Although, she has stated that the rejection was mostly from her music being too R&B for the channel. However, How Will I Know was released and the colorful music video was put into MTV's heavy rotation, introducing Whitney to a much wider audience.

#billboard poll #billboard music #tumblr poll #1980s #1986 #1980s music #dionne and friends #lionel richie #klymaxx #patti labelle #michael mcdonald #mr. mister #whitney houston #eddie murphy #survivor #robert palmer

[belleandkurtbastian]

I agree in principle with “Buck and Eddie hooking up at the bachelor party would be cheating and bad and a horrible thing to do to Tommy and Marisol” takes…

HOWEVER, the issue I have is that this exact storyline is something I have seen Ryan Murphy Productions do with its queer characters just… eleven years ago…

in S4 of Glee, Kurt has a new boyfriend, and then at a wedding he hooks up with Blaine, while stating that he’s unsure about his and Adam’s relationship status.

… to be clear, I am 100% certain that this ISN’T going to happen in 9-1-1, but the echoes of it are just… weird.

[imagitory]

Just for the record, guys? I've seen the new Haunted Mansion movie multiple times now, and it's really good. Like -- really good. It's like the filmmakers took into account all of the problems I had with the Eddie Murphy film after my mum and I first saw it in theaters back in 2003 while working on their project.

In the Eddie Murphy film, I felt like just about everyone -- excluding the actors playing Edward Gracey and the butler -- were miscast. The child actors weren't that great, the two servant ghosts weren't that memorable (aside from Wallace Shawn reminding me of Vizzini the entire time), Jennifer Tilly as Madame Leota was as terrible of a casting choice as Kristen Chenowith playing Maleficent (sorry, Descendants fans, but -- what??), and Eddie Murphy himself...yeesh. Worst of all though, the woman playing Eddie Murphy's wife was a wooden plank of an actor, which made it so hard to engage with her when she's arguably one of the most important characters in the narrative.

In this film, just about every single person is perfectly cast. Every last one. Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson...even Owen Wilson surprised me! Chase Dillon as Travis...that kid is going places, I'm saying it now! LaKeith Stanfield in particular was absolutely stellar: I even cried at one point, watching his performance, when I almost never cry at movies. Even Jared Leto -- who I admittedly don't know if I would've hired, given his history -- wasn't a bad choice, just as an actor. He certainly gave off "unlikable creep" vibes as the Hatbox Ghost -- so hey, I guess we have type casting, at least! I admittedly wouldn't have picked Jamie Lee Curtis to play Madame Leota, but she was still an infinitely better choice than Jennifer Tilly.

In the Eddie Murphy film, it leaned a lot on slapstick and pop culture humor, as opposed to any of the macabre dark comedy that the Haunted Mansion ride is known for. Eddie Murphy's style of humor really just didn't fit in with the tone of the original ride and the objectively beautiful Gothic sets the filmmakers had designed.

Yes, admittedly, the new Haunted Mansion movie uses pop culture references too (often in the form of rather forced product placements), but I won't lie, they still got a chuckle out of me, particularly since they weren't the only source of humor in the film. There were snappy retorts, cynical asides, subverted expectations, and -- of course -- dark humor, on tone with the ride. One rather funny bit ends up involving Ben and Father Kent trying and failing to convince elderly Bruce not to come to the Mansion after the old man says he's having heart surgery the following week, and later on, Bruce gets the particularly macabre one-liner "I'm too old to die!" right as he's being thrown in front of a speeding truck. We have Bruce cracking a joke to offer comfort during a really heartbreaking scene, rather than just to divert attention away from Ben's grief. We even have the rhyming headstones at one point!

The Eddie Murphy film focused way too much on Eddie Murphy's character being a "bad" father for working so much, rather than the way more interesting ghost story about Master Gracey and Elizabeth. We also get almost no references to the Haunted Mansion-canon characters aside from "Master Gracey" and Madame Leota.

In this new film, the backstories and personalities of the human characters tie INTO the story line with the ghosts, rather than distracting from it. Ben's dealing (very badly) with the grief of losing his wife Alyssa, which makes him particularly vulnerable to the Hatbox Ghost's machinations. Gabbie and Travis are similarly coming to grips with the loss of their husband/father. Travis is also having to contend with being the new kid in town and not having any friends while living in this haunted house that makes both things even harder. "Father Kent" gets hired to do an exorcism for Gabbie and Travis, only to get trapped by the ghosts himself, when he's not even a real priest, but he ends up using his own skill for persuasion and his strong emotional intelligence to bring in the other people they need to stop the Hatbox Ghost. Bruce has been obsessed with the lore surrounding the Mansion and similarly haunted houses for years, which makes him a valuable resource for exposition about the Mansion and later about the Hatbox Ghost's backstory. Harriet, as the resident medium, not only serves as the main combatant force against the Hatbox Ghost at the end since she has the power to banish him, but she gives great exposition about how our world fits in with the spirit world and this universe's "rules" about how they relate to each other. I kind of miss any real use of the Ghost Host, and I admittedly don't love this film's interpretation of Constance Hatchaway, since in the ride she's much more greedy and conniving, rather than just a flat-out maniac (plus, I'm sorry, but the story has both a ghost who chops people's heads off and another ghost who lost their head via decapitation and didn't connect their backstories together??) -- but we still have WAY more love for both the Disneyland and Walt Disney World's incarnations of the ride in this film than in its predecessor. There are even references to the creepy wallpaper and the bat-gargoyle stanchions in the queues!

And then there was my biggest gripe with the Eddie Murphy film -- that at the end, the curse is broken and all the little ghosts are "set free," leaving the "Haunted Mansion" largely abandoned. You know -- when the whole POINT of the Haunted Mansion is that it's filled with 999 happy haunts who want to be there? It'd be like ending a Pirates of the Caribbean film with Captain Jack Sparrow joining the Navy! Yeah, screw that -- this new film has their ghosts stay and make themselves comfy alongside their new living residents. Talk about an awesome fantasy for kids -- I would've loved living in a house like this Mansion, full of fun happy haunts who host rocking parties every Halloween!

But yeah -- I wouldn't say this film is perfect, of course...but if you're a fan of the Haunted Mansion ride, and want a film that captures its sense of creepy, Gothic beauty and dark humor without being needlessly gory or graphic, there's a damn good chance you'll love this. I know this movie should've been released in October and it's not really the "spooky time of year" right now, but please consider giving it some support in theaters, where the actors and writers who deserve your love will get a larger piece of the profit pie for their hard work than when films go to streaming.

#haunted mansion #haunted mansion (2023) #disney #reviews #the haunted mansion #opinion #analysis #seriously though this is why the film was released now -- we all know disney's trying to plug it up the wazoo on disney+ for halloween #and yeah again -- writers and actors get paid much less for streamed films than from box office totals :I

[outrunningthedark]

Um does Oliver even have control over his IG anymore? It's all work stuff. He posted his dog on his photography account the other day lol. I really think the big account is just a promo thing right now, not Oliver, so this is definitely the time when no should be looking into his posts on there.

Thank you! Even if it's Oliver posting because he gets a reminder (a post takes all of a minute at most, not out of the question) the main account has kept the promo as generic as possible. If there's Buddie content to be found, it's because of a trailer that he had no hand in piecing together, not because he's sharing the pic of Eddie with his hand on Buck's shoulder or something from the basketball scene to let us know Ryan is part of it, too. With how much ABC is (apparently) banking on Ryan Murphy Productions to become the next Shondaland, it can't come as a surprise that the cast's public social media pages are going to keep reminding followers to tune in next month. We may not be the majority, but every little bit helps.

#anonymous #tina speaks #tv: 911 #tv: 9-1-1 #oliver stark

[scotianostra]

Happy Birthday Scottish actor Richard Wilson.

Born Ian Colquhoun Wilson,July 9th 1936 in Greenock, he went on to study science there before completing his National Service in Singapore with the Royal Medical Army Corps. Wilson was a late convert to acting as he worked as a research scientist in Glasgow until the age of 27. He then trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) in London. Before his most famous role as Victor Meldrew, he participated in theatre productions in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Manchester. He also directed several plays.

After several bit parts in TV shows including The Sweeney and Some Mothers Do Have 'Em' in 1978, he portrayed a regular character in the show A Sharp Intake of Breath'with David Jason between 1977 and 1980. This was followed by lead roles in the show High and Dry in 1985, and Hot Metal in 1988. It was in between these two series that I first noticed Richar Wilson in the fantastic BBC Scotland series Tutti Frutti with a host of other Scots, including Robbie Coltrane, Maurice Roëves and Katy Murphy, Richard was Eddie Clockerty, the group's devious and exploitative manager, I remember fondly the scenes he shared with Kate Murphy as his lippy secretary Miss Toner.

Wilson then won his most famous role as Victor Meldrew, although he initially turned down the part as he was younger than the character, in the sitcom One Foot in the Grave. The line 'I Don't Believe It' became the character's catchphrase, the show ran for ten years before they finally bumped him off

After One Foot in the Grave, Wilson enjoyed roles in 'High Stakes' and Life As We Know It' in 2001. Between 2002 and 2004, he appeared in several TV movies including Jeffrey Archer: The Truth and King of Fridges

Wilson returned to a recurring TV show in the form of Born and Bred' between 2004 and 2005 and has since made the transition from a grumpy old man to a wise, old apothecary in Merlin, which debuted in 2008 and finished in 2012. Since then he has been picky with his roles and not appeared in too many shows, however a wee look at Indb tells me he has two projects on the go just now, Everything I Ever Wanted to Tell My Daughter About Men also stars Alan Cummings and How Sweetly it turns.

Richard has devoted his time to working for the gay rights campaign group Stonewall he is also a patron for the Scottish Youth Theatre and has been a long-term supporter of the charity Sense.

Wilson was planning to reprise the iconic character of Victor Meldrew for one night only at The Edinburgh Fringe a few years back but in the run-up to the event the actor suddenly fell ill and had to pull out.

It was later revealed he suffered a heart attack but remembers nothing of it. He told BBC Radio 2′s Graham Norton:

“I had a heart attack and fell off a balcony. I don’t remember a thing about it.The great thing about the accident – I’m going to mention because I’d love to know who it was – the great thing about the accident is that there was a doctor walking by, and if he hadn’t been walking by, I wouldn’t be talking to you now"

The veteran actor is still working, latest roles have been in Around the World in 80 Days in 2021, A new film, Sweetly It Turns is next for Wilson.

#Scotland #scottish #actor #one foot in the grave #happy birhtday #telivision #theatre #cinéma

[elliehopaunt]

By Matt Grobar

EXCLUSIVE: Sheryl Lee Ralph (Abbott Elementary), Timothy V. Murphy (Appaloosa) and Bruce Greenwood (The Fall of the House of Usher) have boarded The Fabulous Four, a new comedy from Bleecker Street, which has entered production in Georgia under an Interim Agreement from SAG-AFTRA.

The actors join an ensemble that also includes Susan Sarandon, Bette Midler, and Megan Mullally, as previously announced. Ralph takes over the role of Sissy Spacek, who was attached as of last fall but was forced to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. Bleecker Street nabbed North American rights to the pic last October and will release the film in U.S. theaters in 2024. UTA Independent Film Group and CAA Media Finance arranged the financing and brokered the deal for U.S. rights, with Sierra/Affinity repping international sales.

Written and directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse, the Cannes prize-winner best known for her Kate Winslet pic The Dressmaker, the film follows three life-long friends (Sarandon, Mullally, and Ralph) who travel to Key West, Florida to be bridesmaids in a surprise wedding of their college girlfriend Marilyn (Midler). Once there, sisterhoods are rekindled, the past rises up again in all its glory, and there are enough sparks, drinks and romance to change all their lives in ways they never expected.

Richard Barton Lewis’ Southpaw Entertainment is producing alongside Lauren Hantz of Hantz Motion Pictures.

An icon of stage and screen, Ralph has won an Emmy and numerous other accolades for her portrayal of kindergarten teacher Barbara Howard on Abbott Elementary, the ABC mockumentary that has emerged as one the most popular scripted series on linear. The show, created by and starring Quinta Brunson, was renewed for a third season in January but only recently returned to the writers’ room, following the conclusion of the WGA strike. Otherwise perhaps best known for her Tony-nominated turn as Deena Jones in Broadway’s Dreamgirls, Ralph has also been seen in Mistress with Robert de Niro, To Sleep with Anger with Danny Glover, The Distinguished Gentlemen with Eddie Murphy, and Sister Act 2 with Whoopi Goldberg, along with such series as Moesha and Ray Donovan.

Most recently recurring on Law & Order: Organized Crime and ABC’s The Company You Keep, Murphy previously reprised his role in Uni’s comedy MacGruber on the same-name Peacock series. Other recent credits for the actor on the TV side include S.W.A.T., Snowpiercer, Westworld, and True Detective, to name just a few. Additional feature credits include In Full Bloom, The Lone Ranger, and National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

Greenwood puts in a stellar turn as Fortunato Pharmaceuticals CEO Roderick Usher in Netflix’s Edgar Allen Poe-inspired miniseries The Fall of the House of Usher from Mike Flanagan, which bowed on the platform earlier this month. He also recently starred in the Fox medical drama The Resident, which ran for six seasons, and will soon appear in fantasy pic The Invisibles with Tim Blake Nelson and Gretchen Mol, among other projects.

At this year’s Toronto Film Festival, Bleecker Street nabbed U.S. rights to James Hawes’ One Life, starring Anthony Hopkins, and the starry British comedy Fackham Hall, which goes into production next year. The company also locked down UK rights, alongside Elysian Film Group and Anonymous Content, to Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron. Upcoming releases include the Meg Ryan-helmed rom-com What Happens Later, coming to theaters November 3, which she leads with David Duchovny, and Sara Bareilles and Jessie Nelson’s Waitress: The Musical, out December 7 with Fathom Events.

#sheryl lee ralph #bruce greenwood #bette midler #susan sarandon #megan mullally #the fabulous four

[a-blog-for-venting-i-guess]

Watches Haunted Mansion 2023 with friends: Yeah that was alright. Product placement was insane though, took away from the serious scenes. Also it was too dark. Like literally could not see much.

Immediately watches the 2003 version with the same friends: omg that was way better, you can actually see what’s happening, the mansion set is amazing, it’s funny, and it was weirdly wholesome. The jumpscares got us good too.

My big takeaway from the experience is that the new movie suffered from fragmentation, being way too dark (likely to hide bad cgi but still), the weird Hollywood thing now where jokes and plot scenes have to be harshly separated instead of allowed to organically happen as the story progresses, and no real emotional investment. It’s hard to care when the main person with an actually tragic backstory interrupts said backstory with a Baskin Robbins ad. It doesn’t come across like the guy is telling the story and that was one of the details, it’s like it was crammed into the script. But that criticism aside, the Eddie Murphy movie was about a dad learning to put family first. What it meant to truly love them. Especially his wife, who he’d especially taken for granted.

There’s a small detail in the script that probably should’ve gotten fleshed out more, where the dad tells his daughter he works so much so he can give her and the family a better life than what he had. And the daughter is like, “wow dad, I didn’t know you had a bad childhood,” and he immediately gets defensive, saying his childhood wasn’t bad. It shows that it’s not that his life was ever hard, he’s just obsessed with prestige. Just like the main villain. Ultimately the dad is able to recognize he can’t give up so easily like he’d done before with working right before the family trip, even if it means losing something he thought he really valued, and without hesitation ruins his BMW to save his family, but the butler can’t get on that level and gets dragged to hell.

It’s not groundbreaking by any stretch but it’s something. Like, there’s an emotional through line there. A character arc.

Compare that to the 2023 version where there’s more this overall theme of, moving on and overcoming grief. And finding strength with others. Again, not groundbreaking but the difference is emotional investment. The movie takes itself more seriously but loses the connection because we only find out what happened to the guy’s wife like well over an hour into it and the bloated cast puts other reveals on the back burner too. Like the priest being a fraud or the fortuneteller’s self worth bit. The priest thing doesn’t get introduced until right before the final confrontation and no one really cares, meanwhile the fortuneteller finds her confidence, OFFSCREEN!

Instead of developing our cast or having them actually interact with the GHOSTS in a HAUNTED MANSION (beyond asking for plot details), we go on a detour to find out who the bad guy is, what his backstory was, and where his hat is. And on this detour we find out he was a horrible no good very bad man so don’t feel bad when he’s dragged down to green hell at the end.

Last note, interesting how both films ended on the saints go marching in and during the day vs at night.

Last last note, Haunted mansion 2023 just didn’t click with me for a variety of reasons. While haunted mansion 2003 isn’t a perfect movie. It’s got issues, I think the mom should’ve figured out the home owner was off way sooner and why didn’t the butler burn the letter, but I like it’s heart.

#haunted mansion #disney haunted mansion #haunted mansion 2023 #haunted mansion 2003 #haunted mansion spoilers

[popculturebuffet]

Batmarch Finale: Batman (1989) Review: At Long Last Joker Dancing on Parade Float

Hello all you happy batpeople and it's time for the finale of Batmarch! It's been a fun ride that really made me love the character again and it ends here with something i've been wanting to do since the start of this blog: IT's time to talk about Tim Burton's Batman, the 1989 classic blockbuster that created the first superhero movie boom, solidified the caped crusader as a dark brooding vigilante in the public eye, and gave us not one but two iconic scenes of joker dancing to prince music that live rent free in my head forevermore.

Batman took almost a decade to get going, with Producer Micheal Uslan, a comic book historian who taught a succesful course on comics as literature, wanting to take batman back to his earlier days as a mysterious figure of darkness. His timing was great as by the late 70's when he started his crusade for the caped crusader, Batman had been on a course back to those very roots thanks to the works of Neil Adams and Denny O'Neil. Comic fans ate up a darker batman and Batman returned to being a creature of the night.

The problem was for most audiences.. he was a creature of camp. While I adore the Adam West Batman, i'm honestly shocked i've only covered ONE episode of that gloriously goofy series, it left a mark on the character, with everyone assuming "Well that's what batman is". It's a common trait in comic book adaptations: TV and Movies reach a wide audience. It's why most people think Scott Summers is a plank of wood instead of a tatctical genius with a lot of baggage.

Thus studios either flat out rejected them or wanted a comedy in the vein of the adam wast show. Or rejected it for reasons like "It would be called Batman and Robin and we just had a film with robin in the name tha tbombed" or "It and Annie are both "from the funnie" pages and Annie just bombed (yet did INCREDIBLY well on home video)"

Thankfully the film got rescued as, with John "Giant Mechanical Spider Peters" getting on board, he suggested they do what they did with superman: promote the hell out of the film and the script they had and hope someone buys into the hype. Sure enough it worked as Warner Bros picked up the film and to my suprise they already owned DC Comics, the rights simply got sold off for the reasons film rights to properties often do

So Warner was eager to get the property back in house and profit off it.

With that it was time for a full script by Tom Mankiewicz who based it largely on Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers short but memorable run on Detective Comics I wasn't aware of till doing research for this review, but now happily own. Rogers was even brought on to do concept art. The script went through NINE revisions according to wikipedia, but all were based largely on tom's original. Directing wise Joe Dante and Wes Craven were both considered and i'd loved to see what their version of the film would've been like. Ivan Reitman also was, but wanted a comedy starring billl murray with the studio eyeing eddie murphy for robin.

Thankfully the success of Pee Wee's Big Adventure lead Warner Bros to go with their new golden boy, who was just coming off production of another soon to be hit, Beetlejuice, Tim Burton, pictured here looking like Batman's goth best friend he takes in the batmobile to get him out of the house.

I'd pay so much to see that version of this movie.

Burton wasn't a comic fan , but upon getting the project was a fan of recent hits The Dark Knight Returns and The Killing Joke, and was fascinated with what batman could be. Meanwhile Warner brought in Englehart himself to make a draft. Burton then brought in Sam Hamm, a rookie screenwriter and HUGE fan of the character who quickly proved to be the perfect fit, tightening up the screenplay: he removed Robin (something no one was sad about as he was a studio mandate), replaced Silver St Cloud (Bruce's love intrest during the Englehart Run) and Rupert Throne with Vicki Vale and Carl Grissom and the script was set.

So casting began. After a number of more traditional leads were considered, Burton went with Micheal Keaton at the suggestion of Peters, who felt Keaton has the tortured quality batman needed. It was a great call as he fit both sides: he was stoic and comanding as batman, but as bruce was perfectly absentminded, as if he was far away, yet still charastmatic and likeable. It was a good contrast and also made it easy to see why no one suspect this guy was batman.

Unfortuantely the fans.. were not pleased. Yes even then peopl ewere liable to throw hands over casting decisions before seeing them proper. I've not been imune to this: I liked Ben Affleck but wasn't sure he fit batman, only to be proven wrong when he was easily one of the saving graces of Batman V Superman and it's regretful he couldn't be batman in a better movie.

Fans worried that Keaton , who up to this point had mostly been in comedies, meant the film would be camp like the tv series and film again, to the point this MADE HEADLINES. The studio even breifly considered reasting, but burton held firm.

If your curious other actors considered were Pierce Brosnan (who had no intrest in doing a comic book movie), Mel Gibson (dodged a bullet there), Kevin Costner, Charlie Sheen (Another bullet dodged, too much tiger blood to be a bat man), Tom Selleck, Harrison Ford and Dennis Quaid. None of these really.. feel right, and it's burton's first choice before realizing Keaton was it , the green goblin himself Willam Dafoe, that woul'dve worked with what he was going for. None of these actors are bad, even sheen and gibson are good actors just..awful human beings, they just don't fit the part. Sheen in paticular feels like the worst timeline and I pity the earth that got saddled with frat bro batman.

Naturally every hero needs a good villian and while another row of talent was considered, the studio and Peters heavily pushed for Jack Nicholson over other competiors such as Brad Douriff, Tim Curry, and David Bowie, all versions of this film i'd LOVE to see in some other timeline. That said Nichelson was the perfect choice.

How they finally nailed him down is my faviorite story I found from the documentary: So Nicholson was open to it, liking the part but to lock it down wanted them to meet him for horseback riding. Burton , nature's perfect indoor kid, was naturally deeply uncomfortable on a horse and i'd pay good money to get the picture they claimed existed of Tim Burton on a horse with Jack Nicholson. I find it fascinating in of itself that Jack Nicholson rides horses and has a deep love of horses. That's a thing that fits, but just never occured to me. The most uncomfortbale horse ride ever netted him the part and Nicholson trusted burton completely on set and spoke highly of him in the documentary.

The final main cast addition came due to , of all the possile reasons, a horse riding accident. No it wasn't tim burton himself, but Sean Young, who'd been cast as Bruce's reporter love intrest Vicky Vale and had to bow out, replaced by Kim Bassinger.

Rounding out the cast we have Robert Whul as local reporter and only one digging into this batman case Knox, Cool School owner and operator Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent, Pat Hingle as Comissioner Gordon, acting legend Jack Palance as crime boss and the joker's boss Carl Grissom, and Tracey Walter as Joker's NUMBER. ONE. GUY. Bob.

Promotion for the film was something unique. Nowadays we're used to big, omnipresent ad blitzes with our blockbusters, a huge swath of adds to let you know THIS FILM'S A COMIN. YOU CANNOT ESCAPE THIS FILM. I DON'T CARE IF YOUR AMBVILENT ABOUT ARTHUR AND THE KING YOU WILL GET 20 ADDS FOR IT JACOB. THE HYPE MACHINE HATH SPOKEN.

To start Jon Peters helped cut a teaser trailer, wanting to get SOMETHING out to show that no, this wasn't going to be like the Adam West show stop calling me about it dennis. The trailer was only a minute and a half, had no music behind it, something I only found out, and is clearly just whatever clips they had that were ready. You can find it here. It's throughly intresting.

It also.. works. While it's only a short teaser, it gets across what this film is, shows both joker and batman enough to get hyped, all while not spoiling the film. Granted they probably didn't have enough footage yet TO do that but still, it's a well done teaser with only one or two bits feeling like their just.. thrown in there and given the time crunch to get this in front of a teast audence, I can salute that it's still works.

And it worked MASSIVELY. People bought tickets JUST to see this teaser, bootlegs of it sold like hot cakes. It was meant to get people hyped up for what this film actually was.. and it DID, erasing doubts Keaton wasn't batman and showing people just what they were getting.

Warner then went all in promoting the hell out of this film, to the point Marvel's she hulk did a parody of this where a new super heroine does a simliar add blitz: There was cereal, tiger games, merchandising of all kinds. It was a huge gamble as if the film failed to live up to the hype... it'd be a joke NOTHING could live down, would sink the careers of everyone involved from production on down, and possibly destroy warner.

Naturally though.. it didn't. The gamble paid off. It's almost like if you actually RELEASE a film and have faith in the creators, you'll make money. The film was a massive success leading to three more films in this series and a mind boggling 11 theatrical and 60+ total films JUST starring the batman. That's not getting into team movies.

So join me under the cut as we see if , after 35 years of excellence, this film still lives up to the hype in a genre now packed with classics.

Bat Class and Bat Style:

Starting out with the style of the film, it can't be overstated the sheer impact this film had on Gotham city as a place. Before this it was mostly a standard city, just more of a crime hole than most. It was weird reading some of that very Steve Englehart run I mentioned and seeing Gotham. .as a pretty standard metropolis, if not obviously THE metropolis.

Batman is where , to my shock, Gotham was first portrayed as this art deco 40's style hellscape, a city of old buildings with the crime built into it's very foundations: a city of frequent nights, heavy shadows and plenty of places for an up and coming here ot perch and brood. It's an atmosphere that almost feels consuming: you can't escape gotham and it won't let you. It's a monster as much of a city. Batman the Animated series would build on this, making this what gotham was: a city with it's dark history seeped into it's stone that feels massive and endless, like no matter how much batman does the city is almost too big for him to ever fully save.

The rest of the style is after the 40's, a nice nod to batman premiering JUST before they started in 1939. We have large flashes on the cameras, reporters in suits the like.

I also realized this wasn't just a cool style choice, it's a thematic one: Most of Gotham wears these types of clothes, fitting with how Gotham is: a city with a long proud history.. but one it finds itself stuck in. A lot of those men in suits are either helpless goverment types who WANT to make things better but can only do so much like Gordon or Dent, or outright corrupt men like the various mob bosses who control it from the shadow. Even Knox , who tries to go for the scoop, is stuck in the old behaviors of sexisim, hitting on his photographer and creative partner vicki a lot nad being a possesive dick about her romance when it's none of his damn buinsess.

The people who may actually change this city are the ones who come off more with the time: Bruce most of the time wears looser suits or , in one scene casual clothes. The one time he dosen't is to fit in at his own party, to blend in so well Knox and Vale don't even notice he was behind them for a whole scene. When he's himself he's awkward, but also kind and charming. When he's his truest self batman he's calm, intmidating and of course dressed in a lot of rubber. He dosen't fit with Gotham.. but by doing so he can change it for the better.

Vicki is diffrent, fitting in a bit better but her hair and styles tend more toward practical, often wearing her glasses which look neat. Wish I had a pair like that. She brushes off Knox's comments, dosen't want anyone taking ownership of her and rightly calls bruce out for ghosting her (Granted he's also right ot try and get her to stop for one minute so he can tell her she's batman). She's trying to change it more by simply finding the batman, but it's still someone diffrent.

Finally we have the Joker, who stylistically dosen't deviate greately as jack.. but once he becomes something else, he changes. he wears the suit sure... but it's a bright purple with a giant boutiner. He wears makeup, but it's barely covering and by the time of the art heist there more for a joke than actual cover. His attempts to fit in are really more a joke than an actual attempt. Napier never really fit in... he simply stopped putting on the pretense once he became the joker.

Joker's moderness also comes through in othe rways; his biggest scheme heavily involves the rise of cosmetics and the television, using his then modern Smilex adds to stow paranoia. He vandalizes classic art for funsies to a dope prince song. And for his final masterstroke he captalizes on the greedhead nature of the 80's: he correctly figures if you throw enough money at people they'll forgive anything, and throws a ton of money into the crowd in the film's best scene, capering and hamming it up as he prepares to kill them all by luring them into one place. It's telling that the only two places in the film itself Prince's songs show up are with the Joker, who embodies the excess of the 80's while still having his classic 40's born design.

And since we're talking about him...

The Devil in the Pale Moon Light

Nicholson's joker is fantastic. I wasn't big on him for a long time.. but I realized on rewatch it wasn't the performance. Nicholson fucking nails it, having that manic energy hid with a genial calm that makes a good joker to me, that sort of charisma where you geninely can't tell if you'll end the scene as his NUMBER. ONE. GUY. or with a bullet in the belly. He's hammy as hell when he wants to be, deathly calm when he wants to be, and the only one who truly understands himself always.

Nicholson's joker strikes me as a mad Performanceartist, an interpretation I like: his jokes are carefully crafted pieces always done for a terrified audience of some kind. Only one of his kills or crimes post putting a smile on that face dosen't have an audience, Grissom, and he STILL puts on a show for him, shooting him to opera music while giggling like a mad man. Every other crime is a big show, which isn't inconsitant for joker. Every joker has theater kid tendencies, this joker is just the one who has the most thespian energy.

His schemes are also fantastic, props to Burton and the writers: their the right mix of operartic performance art and ghastly crime. From defacing a museum for the attention, to the utterly brillaint smilex ad which parodies the hell out of 80's ad trends and is one of the best joker scenes in media, perfectly capturing his sort of scheme, this versions love of a good performance, and the time it was in. The poor editing and his "Chances are you already own some" and the laugh after.. it's genius. Every piece is great. I also love the pen stabbing which I didn't really pay much attention to before but the mimes, the awesome as hell outfit, the "Uncle bingo" line.. it's so damn fun and the mundanety of the stabbing, feather quill or not makes it a shocker

The two best though are the ones embeded on my mind from childhood to present day: THe art scene is awesome and I love the way he says lawrence, with him just getting into general dicking around shenanigans because it's fun, saving a picture because it's horrifying. I also love his dickish "date" with vicky where he just calls all her glamour photo's crap. You can tell Jack Nicholson is loving EVERY second of this. Granted who wouldn't love grooving to Party Man, which is a truly awesome song. Prince didn't half ass it for this album and while his inclusion is a clear studio mandate Tim Burton didn't seem enthused about in the documentary, Burton still made it work perfectly. It's really hard to not make prince work granted, but it's still flawlessly used.

My faviorite scene of the film though... is Trust aka "Jack nicholson fucking destroys while riding on a blimp" Those hand moves, his expressions, bob and lawrence's grins as they throw money, the banger that is Trust behind him. While Partyman is good and really fits Joker, Trust is a fun banger jam that fits the party atmosphere of Joker's final gambit. The sight of joker throwing money everywhere while mugging is just.. peak joker and one of the best moments of the character and in superhero cinema period.

While Nicholson's joker is mostly celebrated there are two big points of contention, two elephants in the room to tackle.

The first is the fact we get Joker's name at all, that we know anything about him before he became joker as a huge part of his mystique is being this mysterious murder clown who just.. fell in a vat one day and that's all we know before he started chasing batman.

I prefer his past to be a mystery, it adds to the charm and the terror of this guy... but on this watch I felt the Jack Napier version still really works. Nichson does a good job making both Jack and Joker feel like two very diffrent people: Jack was a fairly unambitious hood who WANTED to run everything, but had no real plans for it, content to screw the bosses mistress and be done with it. It's easy to buy into corrupt cop Eckhart's view Jack has no future.. because he didn't. The second Grissom found out what he was doing, he set Jack up to die. Jack ONLY escapes ace chemicals alive due to pure luck: Gordon got informed in time to take over and stop a potetial execution and Bob turned out to be the best guy ever and held said Gordon hostage to get batman to let Jack go. And even then Jack's own impulsiveness nearly killed him, falling into the vat. He's ONLY alive because of sheer luck and knowing a good back alley doctor using tools he got from a dentist who mysteriously died a few decades back.

Jack is an impulsive trainwreck.. the joker.. is Jack with all his inhibitions stripped.. and tha'ts why knowing Jack works. Jack was a pretty common hood: even the Wayne murder, we'll get to that shortly, was just buisness as usual. Jack had ambitious DREAMS, but seemed content to just wait for Grissom to die naturally then take his empire.

Joker by contrast is a mad artist: he sees gotham as his canvas, a toy to play with. He has all of jack's greed and drive, but none of his hesitance to act on it. He's impulsive but unlike jack, he thinks out his impulsive plans. He wants vicky kidnapped, but has his minons bring her, has a bunch of stuff ready and has a whole music video ready after. He barges in on her apartment but brings goons just in case. He's still impulsive enough to be the joker: He dosen't have a plan b for the parade, the pen stabbing comes off as "wouldn't this be neat let's do that", but it's still more than jack ever thought. Jack is truly gone: vestiges of him remain in his new self, he makes sure Grissom dies and wants to control gotham.. but he's now got the higher calling of mayhem: ruling gotham isn't because it's there.. it's because it's FUN. It works because it shows just how FAR joker can go, going from a midly high level enforcer, to a mad god whose only stopped by batman yanking hard enough. Jack works because, ala killing joke, it shows a mostly normal person becoming something far worse. The Joker has an origin and it informs him a bit.. but who jack was is gone by the joker and it's fascinating watching hwat he became.

So that brings us to the OTHER big change: Jack Napier killed Batman's parents. Now this one I agree was a bad idea: the tragedy of the wayne murders. .is that it was just some guy. Some random hood, sometimes named joe hill, shot two innocent people and doing so broke a child and created a bat. It being his future arch enemy feels contrived. Like IT HAD to be someone important because it was his destiny to be a vengeful orphan man! It can't have been just some guy it had to be a number one guy yes yes. It misses the point entirely and it just feels dumb and that reveal clouded my judgement. Jack on his own isn't bad but making him batman's parent's killer is just.. too much. That part sucks but everything ELSE about Uncle Bingo rules and one bad decision, that writer Sam Hamm swears wasn't his idea and came after it was in Burton's hands so blame accordingly, shoudln't negate such a fine performance.

Let's Get Nuts

Speaking of fine performances, let's talk about the Batman of the hour himself. While I went Joker first, Keaton's batman is awesome and has gotten it's due praise over the last few years.

Ironically a lot of what fans hated about him, his everyman looks and not being "muscular" are what make this bruce work. Much like Robert Pattinson's brilliant turn after, this is a Bruce who doesn't really socialize. Unlike Pattinsons he does put in the bare minimum, throwing parties and such... but it's clear while bruce is a known philanthropist, he's not really a big name figure in gotham beyond that. He's an inconspcious guy, so much that Vicky and Knox dont' even notice him or realize it is him. And that suits what he does great: he's so nondescript that once people start looking for batman they won't look there.

Not tha this secret identity being in danger is a big issue at first: Batman's experinced here, but also early enough he's just a myth: Only Knox thinks he's real and even he has no idea what this guy looks like. The criminals know, but both bruce and batman are unknowns at first and prefer it this way.

Bruce is a kind, gentle, down to earth guy: he quickly wins Vicki Vale over.. simply by showing an intrest in her work. It's subtly contrasted with the other two men in her life: Knox first notices her legs, hits on her mildly agresively and is a possesive tool, while Joker outright claims her and tries to kill bruce for stepping on his territory. Bruce wins Vicky over.. because he sees her as a PERSON and not boobs or a prize to be one. Basinger and Keaton have really great chemistry and while the two don't get a ton of scenes together, you see why Bruce takes to her so quickly.. and why he pushe sher away. His war on crime is ALL he has, and he dosen't want her getting caught in it, ironically taking away the agency that brought him to her. It's only when he realizes HOW much she means that he tries to open up. Then a clown shoots him but you know , thems the breka. It's telling when Alfred, to finally break this will they or won't they stalemate, brings her down he's not the least bit mad and is honest with Vicki and continues seeing her.. until she didn't come back for the sequel but that's a review for another day. A christmas day.

I bring up the relatoinship because it's what defines bruce, and while romances can be rushed in these movies.. this one works and fleshes bruce out. It creates a nice divide between the man he thinks he should be, the creatue of the night who scares a cowardly and superstitious lot, who dosen't flinch in any situation and is always calm.. with the all too human bruce who simply dosen't want to be alone. Well he has alfred but he can't rely on his dad forever.

As batman.. there isn't a ton to talk about as he's mostly stoic and badass. Keaton does a really good job of that.. but there's not a ton of expression other than "scowling and it's only in his final confrontation with the joker, his parents murderer he really emotes with pure unyielding rage. It's not bad.

There is one aspect that needs to be talked about though: This batman.. kills. It's a divisive idea as by this point batman's no killing rule was in place... but it's one I get Burton not using. He and those around him based this film on the earliest works, and in those.. Batman had no issue killing if he had to.

It works for me largely because Batman isn't wontonly killing: he uses the machine guns primarily to clear the way and presumibly, like the dark knight returns which is where Burton probably got the machine gun, their likely rubber bullets. The only person he truly tries to kill repeadetly is Jack. Not at the plant, as while it's said he drops him .. it really dosen't come off that way. It's left ambigious if batman did it on purpose or simply COULDN'T hold onto jack much longer. The only person Batman truly wants dead.. is the man who created him. Any other kills are mostly just life or death struggles. I prefer batman not to kill... but one who does so judciously still fits the character.

Finally before we move on we have the way his origin's done: While I said I didn't like the jack part the film tries to treat this as some big mystery.. with the problem being even in a post adam west pre burton world.. most people probably knew batman's parents were dead. It works to a point, but out of all the things in the film.. it feels like padding. We know why he's doing this, we're just waiting for Vicky to catch up and i'd be fine with that but ther'es juts.. nothing really added. She finds out his parents died. A matter of public record he didn't really bury. The only shocking reveal she finds is who killed his parents, which while a decen tswerve, couldv'e been hidden until the reveal. It just.. pads the film slightly, but not so much it obstructs it

The People of Gotham

Now for our side cast. Starting with our third lead we have Vicky Vale, she of the 80's hair, neat glasses and inconstient spelling in this review. Kim Bassinger does a great job with the character and they do TRY to flesh her out: she's been both a war reporter and a fashion photographer, is great at her career and while enamored with Bruce only takes his shit so far.

That being said while I do LIKE Vicky, it's largely down to the performance: Bassinger is a talented actress and i'd like to see her in more films. I mean i've only seen her in this, Wayne's World 2 and bits of Cool World. She did fine in all three, it's just clear she has talent and I hope to see her make a comeback if she wants. She makes a character given just enough sparkle.

That being said... plot wise.. Vicky's just there for exposition and as an object. They give her some depth, being a former war photographer, but the film's unintrested in exploring her as a person, instead having her explore bruce.

And get put in danger three diffrent times. I mean she only gets kidnapped once but it feels like she's mostly there to get scared or romance bruce. The romance plot IS important as it fleshes Bruce out as a person... but it's telling it's mostly to flesh HIM out. Vicky and him have chemistry.. but again that's because her actress is that good. I can kinda see why she didn't want to return for the sequel, and feel bad that her replacement of sorts got way more with her character. Vicky.. deserved better.

Onto Alexander Knox, who is probably confusing those of you who haven't seen the film. Knox is a reporter and is intended as mild comic relief at times. In practice he's aged like fine cheese on a sidewalk covered in radioactive ants and pudding. His first words upon seeing Vicky "Hello Legs"

He then offers to do nudes and in general just.. tends to hit on her often, while she clearly just wants to work with him and is only putting up with her bullshit because she's so clearly used to sexist bullshit and come ons at this point. I DO think some of this is intetional as there's a contrast in how he greets her and how Bruce greets her: Knox recognizes her work, but is mostly interested in

While Bruce you know.. sees her as a person. That said Knox.. is also creepily posessive, telling her not to go out with bruce, not getting what she sees in him, and clearly being jealous. He's just kinda there to set up that batman's been a thing and is mostly seen as a myth then ceases to be relevant but sticks around the film anyway. He does go after some guys with a baseball bat but it's too little too late.

Finally out of our heroes side, we have Alfred. Micheal Gogh dosen't get a ton to do, but really owns the roll, giving you the impression of a man who simply dosen't want to see his surrogate son spend his whole life in a cave. he says as much outright but you can see just how HAPPY he is that Bruce has Vicky and how much he dosen't want him to loose her. He dosen't get to do much.. but his one big action was a source of contention for Sam Hamm, as it was added after. Alfred takes Vicky to the batcave. In Hamm's words "That would be his last day of employment"

Alfred... is Bruce's dad. Not biologically, that we know of, but he raised Bruce. Even by this point in the comics it was clear Alfred was just as much a faithful retainer as he was Bruce's dad. Bruce would get mad about something like this.. but he'd never fire Alfred as a snap judgement, especially when Bruce WAS GOING TO TELL VICKY ANYWAY. Alfred likely knew this. All Alfred did was eliminate a step. It wasn't like Alfred invited his acapella group, the Alfredpellas, down there.

We then have Alicia. Alicia dosen't get much to do as this script REALLY wasn't intrested in women but is intresting. My friend Jess the Vampire pointed out when we watched this she's kind of a proto harley quinn: someone deeply intrested in the Joker despite how he abuses her. At first it's fairly equal: Jack gives her attention Grissom isn't and him becoming joker shocks her but isn't bad. Then he horribly scars her as an art piece, and abandons her for Vicky and the sheer trauma causes her to throw herself off a building. It's a tragic story as she didn't relaly do anything wrong, she just had bad taste in men: first Grissom then Jack then Joker. It's not as layered as poor harley, but it's a good first draft and adds to what a monster Joker is. He just makes her into his horrifying art then throws her away when he's done.

Finally out of the major characters we have Bob. Bob is a quiet MVP in this film, Jack's best friend and #2 and Joker's Number. One. Guy.

What I hadn't noticed before is even pre joker.. Bob is LOYAL to Jack. He gets Eckhart not to shoot jack, and most importantly saves Jack from Batman at Ace Chemicals, holding Gordon hostage. From the go he's invauable to his bestie, helping make up for Jack's impulsivness. And while Jack just kinda shrugs, as he tends to, Joker recognizes this. He instantly makes Bob his NUMBER. ONE. GUY. and unlike grissom, who only said it in jest and as a veiled threat, Joker really seems to mean it. He has Bob stalk vicky for him, lure her to the musuem, all creepy shit sure but all stuff Joker needs vitally done and trusts Bob to do without any ulterior motive. And he does. Bob's also just fun: he capers a lot during partyman and is one of the best parts of Trust, his expression as he's throwing money gives me life. It also makes his death tragic. Bob was not a good guy, again he stalked a woman because he was told to.. but he was loyal and friendly.. and joker kills him simply because he got pissed off. His death is, fitting the joker, hilarious, just the casual way he asks for a gunt hen shoots bob with it, but it's a sad end to a NUMBER. ONE. GUY.

The rest of the side cast.. is pretty one note. Gordon is just the police chief, something that carries over to most other versions we've seen on film, Dark Knight being the exception. He has a great moment at ace chemicals but does fuck all the rest of the film except light up the bat signal. Harvey Dent is there to set up a future role that never comes for Billy Dee Williams. Grissom is memorable thanks to Jack Palance's delivery of "NUMBER. ONE. GUY. ", but otherwise is just a standard gangster man. The rest of the cast is mostly there to do plot and they do do it well but don't do much else.

Conclusion: And with that Bat March comes to a belated end. I enjoyed this review as it made me take a close look at a film I loved... and ended up loving it MORE. Batman has rough edges, some due to age some due to simply being one of the earlier comic book movies, but it' sstill damn good even today. It's a classic, a fun ride with banger performances, a lot of detail and deft direction from Burton. If you haven't watched it in a while, please do. If you have.. well do anyway it's that good.

Thanks for reading and thanks for enjoying batmarch

#batman 89 #batman #michael keaton #jack nicholson #tim burton #kim basinger #alfred pennyworth #the joker #vicky vale #comics #warner bros

[spagheddiediaz]

k but christopher's hair.... are his curls also gelled back?? what is 911's vendetta against curls??

like yeah, some kids lose the curls as they grow but also I feel like there's a Conspiracy here

i’m so glad you asked ME this question bc i actually think i have an answer but it’s probably not the answer you’re looking for LMFAO

it’s a ryan murphy production, right? and i was in the depths of the glee fandom back in the day. and rm productions use a LOT of the same producers/cameramen (hi joaquin sedillo)/costume dept/etc

exhibit a:

(i can’t believe you made me put darren criss on my blog in 2024?)

exhibit b:

(i cannot believe this is on my blog either)

exhibit c: eddie diaz this season?

i think the conspiracy here is that the ryan murphy production team has a Thing for hair gel rip

#i answered this after a bottle of wine and i’m SO SORRY