#when Glen stars in a reboot WHAT THEN

[hangmanbradshaw]

One of these days I’m gonna write my Independence Day TGM AU

#it’s alive and well in my head #this is my fave movie of all time ugh #Steph’s stuff #when Glen stars in a reboot WHAT THEN

[wat-the-cur]

Even more JayBob headcanons:

. I said before, that Bob was so withdrawn during “Clerks”, because he was tired. You could just put Bob’s demeanour in that film down to early instalment weirdness, but I want a headcanon to explain it. I believe that, on the day that “Clerks” took place, Bob was too tired to mask. Bob in “Clerks” is Bob completely unmasked. To an outsider, he would appear to be ignoring Jay, or annoyed with him. I think he was, partially, because Jay had woken him early that morning after a hard day before at the Mall. But, Bob’s lack of expression, or reaction does not indicate a lack of attention, nor does it indicate unhappiness, at least not always.

I think that Bob developed his big reactions and facial expressions from a young age, because he spoke so little, and sometimes could not speak at all. His mother encouraged him to smile, frown, nod, shake his head, to let people know how he felt, or what he wanted, when he could not tell them verbally. He started really exaggerating, because people would not always catch more subtle expressions, or movements. He thought it was a little funny to copy the cartoon characters he loved on TV. Making funny faces was a small price to pay for the comfort of being silent.

He was especially happy to do it for Jay, whom he wanted to understand him the most. Jay, for his part, has difficulty reading other people. He had a chart of expressions given to him by a teacher when he was little, that he would carry in his pocket and take out when he spoke to people. While Bob does feel he can safely unmask in front of Jay (hence, his lack of expression in “Clerks” is not commented on), he is happy to make himself easier for Jay to read when he has energy. Hence, Jay can read Silent Bob really well, but struggles with everyone else.

. I feel like Bob was given a formal diagnosis of autism as a child, due to his partial non-verbalism. Jay, on the other hand, had most of his symptoms put down to “behavioural issues” and was put in the same category as Bob in school, under the umbrella of “special needs” without ever getting a diagnosis, or very much help. He was largely just categorised as a naughty child, who might have a “problem”. Only one teacher ever attempted to help him out, the one who gave him his expressions chart, but she could only do so much.

. Jay had some difficulty getting his words out in order as a child and was offered a little help by the same teacher who gave him his expression chart. This still shows every so often in his adult life (“He can’t not speak it good, like we do.”)

. Bob uses echolalia when feels he can speak, but does not feel able to form unscripted statements. Hence, the Star Wars quotes, and his Glengarry Glen Ross speech in “Reboot”.

. Bob is a religious viewer of the Mooby cartoon. He has collected Mooby merch since he was a child. He has it all displayed in his room, where he can look at it all. (Seriously, look at his reaction to the Mooby store in “Chasing Dogma” and tell me it doesn’t scream “special interest”. He reacts with the same joy as he does to his John Hughes videos.)

. Both Bob and Jay are same fooders, but especially Jay. Jay is very sensitive to tastes and textures. He feels happiest and safest with sugary food. He will often replace square meals with sweets and cakes, hence why he steals so much.

. Where Bob is prone to shut down and/or cry in overwhelming situations, Jay will become louder and angrier. His outburst near the end of “Dogma” was Jay entering a meltdown, having his head hugged without warning being the straw that broke the camel’s back.

. Jay hates being touched without warning, and when he is touched, he wants it to be by someone he trusts. Bob’s touch comforts him, so he allows and seeks it, where he would not from many others. After a meltdown, Jay likes to lean, or lay on Bob, enjoying the pressure and familiarity.

. Jay’s. Catchphrases. Are. Vocal. Stims.

. Also, because they spend so much time together, they end up sharing each other’s stims. (Looking at you, dance scene from “Clerks II”).

. Luckily, they have the same taste in music, because Jay frequently finds songs that he will play on a loop for five solid days, dancing all the way.

. Their long hair is a stim toy all on it’s own, but they cannot stand it getting in their faces, so they wear their hats most of the day, even in the house, even in the summer.

. To everyone else, it seems that they are extremely vicious with each other, but because they have spoken to each other this way their whole lives, their words not strike them as being very harsh. That said, they have developed an awareness that other people might get upset by it, or Bob has, hence Bob smacking Jay every time he says something insensitive to a friend.

#view askewniverse #jay and silent bob #jay/silent bob #jay derris #silent bob #clerks #clerks 1994 #headcanons

[briebysabs]

PH ~Complaints~

This is the first of several pieces I will be making about this series. Reading Pandora hearts was an experience to say the least and I wanted to organize my thoughts into separate categories, because it’s too much to post out normally. Also I’m insane and I think it’ll be fun for me at least. These posts will contain spoilers but maybe it’ll spark people’s love for the series. Maybe it’ll get people to buy the manga volumes. Maybe the stars will align and it manifests an anime reboot (delusional).

With that out of the way, we will start with my complaints and nitpicks of the series. Which isn't a lot but there will be explaining to do here. As a disclaimer, these are things that I found worth mentioning and may not be any issues you had reading. I am going off my initial reading of ph too so if I miss anything, don’t come at me lol.

-> The most notable complaint I need to talk about first is early ph. But I bring it up because this is the main thing that can turn people away from the series. “The early chapters are slow” is a complaint I heard before starting ph. Upon looking back, it wasn’t necessarily slow for me and I enjoyed those parts. But when reading, it was chaotic and felt like nothing was moving. It felt like we were rushing to nowhere. I took several breaks because it was so overwhelming. And I wasn’t reading them physically but off of sites, I know a lot of you remember Bezarius, Liam, Shalon lol. The wonky translations in the early chapters aren’t mochijun’s fault of course, but it didn’t help matters for me.

So much information was jam-packed with an already intricate story. And granted, later on in the 50s-60s chaps, the world makes more sense. But when you haven’t gotten to that point, it’s a lot to take in. You can compare early parts of ph and vnc to see exactly what I mean. VnC’s introductory chapters are much more polished. And some stories work better that way but in ph’s case for me, the direction wasn’t clear. I mean you know the objective, finding Alice’s memories but after that it was just a bunch of “huh???” It wasn't until we met Elliot and Leo, eventually Rufus that everything became more coherent. And you can argue, “yeah you’re supposed to be confused” which is valid but it was a bit messy for me, and I know it's inspired by Alice in Wonderland.

But not only was it confusing and can be perceived as slow (though again not for me), these chapters are long. Certainly not a complaint, I loved having long chapters. But if you’re confused af, you feel as though the plot isn’t moving, and you have these long chapters to add. I see why people may drop the series because “it’s too convoluted and the author doesn’t know what they’re trying to say.” I don’t agree with that but I understand if they weren’t able to go past chapter 35 or something. But we all must remember this was mochijun's first real series. So I understand as well why its beginnings aren't that grounded and can forgive that.

->The second complaint is that there wasn't enough characterization of the Baskervilles squad (as in Lottie and her gang I'm excluding Zwei here) as individuals. What do I mean by this? You can say “well they weren’t that important” which I kinda disagree with because they were the antagonists we were worrying about for half of the story as they searched for their leader Glen.

We got depth given to them as a group, we see that there is a genuine, familial bond. I wanted to know their past or backstories and the most we got from was Lily. You can say we got Lottie too but I don't know I was left wanting more. We know Doug and Fang got Lily’s tattoo in solidarity which is my favorite moment from the squad. But who are they y’know? Fang had such a cool design, how did he join the Baskervilles? Doug is a nothing character. I haven’t read the light novels so these questions could be answered there but having read the manga, we should’ve gotten more.

-> Going from that, the whole Glen thing. Again, might be explained more in the light novels but from manga content, I wish we got more explanations and lore. Who was the first Glen? Who is Levi? He’s someone who we deserved more insight into and what made him so detached.

-> I wish we had more chain on chain fights. I read somewhere that mochijun had struggles mapping out action scenes so they were kept to a minimum. But I think due to that, we don't get to see the true extent of these chains' powers. And yes, Break's condition prevented him from using his chain much. But Break and Vincent's dynamic was great, a final showdown between them with their chains would've been so cool. Mad Hatter vs. Demios we were robbed...

-> Isla Yura in general. Not gonna lie, I forgot he existed. I can respect the role he played, especially knowing now mochijun based Dr. Moreau off him. He was a worthy threat and his obsession with Jack makes sense. But his personality just wasn’t it and rubbed me the wrong way. Stereotypical queer antagonist from the 2000s, we did not need this.

->This might be a biased one but Cheshire should've been a prominent character. We see he’s important to Alice but we got a whole mini-arc with him in the beginning, him appearing in the Break backstory and then he's gone until the final 8 chapters. I also wish he behaved like the cat he’s inspired by. Sassy, mischievous with a dash of dark humor. (though now I say that, Oz does have some of that). There was just so much potential that we simply didn’t explore with him.

-> Speaking of such, Sharon and Ada were so underused. I was expected more from Sharon’s arc and her Eques chain is so cool but that didn’t happen. Every moment with Ada was fantastic but she’s mostly put to the side which sucks. Her relationship with Oz was lacking for me, he comes back from the Abyss and we do not see him think of Ada until 15 chapters later? Her overall reactions to Oz dying essentially after the finale, learning her father’s death, none of this is there. These two had potential, Sharon even being part of the main five, that wasn’t delved into.

-> Vincent and Ada. Okay, lemme break it down. I kinda love them, they didn’t get together which was sad but was the best choice to make. But I do question why this relationship exists. To be honest, until the last 14 chapters I thought she dropped them completely. I was wondering what was the point of making them a whole thing and having read to the end, I still kind of think that. We got two or three main interactions with them and then we just never got back to Vince/Ada until the finale. It was as though the plot simply couldn’t make time for them, it was tightly knit at this point and everything was heading for utter insanity. But then, we get the emotional climax of Vincent’s character. We get Ada telling Vincent “I forgive you”. It hits hard because Vince is a top 5 character for me. But in terms of their relationship, it didn’t feel earned. I don’t think it was developed enough to get such a heavy moment like this.

Their last encounter from what I remember was in the headhunter arc, Ada telling Vince she’ll always be by his side. And while we see he cares about her safety then, I don’t think that means what they have is strong enough to break the self-hatred Vincent has built up for years. Why did it have to be Ada? I know Gil wasn’t getting through to him but if he told Gil what’d he had done. That he indirectly caused the tragedy of Sablier, and Gil really said fuck it, held him down and screamed “I forgive you! The outcome might’ve been the same. Vincent respected Elliot. Vincent looked up to Jack. Vincent grew to care about Ada. But to me, the only person he loved in this world was Gil. And in his last moments, that is all he had. So this whole Vince/Ada thing, while I enjoy them and definitely needed more, at the end I doubt how necessary it was for either of their characters.

->At last, the ending. I love the ending, let’s get that out of the way. Two things I need to say though. One, it did conclude faster than it should’ve. It’s not to a degree where it significantly brings it down but we could have used 5, 6 more chapters. Chapter 104 should’ve been cut in half, 104 ends with “see you later Gilbert” and 105 is total epilogue. That way, the events of 104 get to sink in with the reader. Second, and I know you saw this coming, Reim marrying Sharon. This is the one thing I see most fans have an issue with for the ending and I completely agree, this did not make any sense. It felt like the biggest last minute decision. I think mochijun and the magazine had reached the end of their rope because no one got together in the end. Oz and Alice didn’t become canon really, Gil is too gay, Elliot’s dead so we couldn’t even get elleo implied canon.

(Though you can make a whole other thread arguing how their entire relationship already was from how intimate they were) We all knew Rufus wasn’t gonna marry Sheryl, Vince and Ada went their separate ways. So it was just “alright, um….someone’s gotta get with someone.” And from what I know, there’s no artwork or moment in the series that hints in the slightest that this would happen. We never get a teasing moment from Break about them, Reim and Sharon are friends but the main connection between them is Break. I don't buy the whole "Break's death affecting Sharon deeply and she found comfort in Reim who shared her pain" because you don't have to marry someone who understands your grief. They can just be there for you as a friend. And there was no signs of romantic attraction AT ALL.

Which makes me doubt mochijun planned or even wanted to do this. Her hands might’ve been tied by higher-ups and she had no choice but to include this to deliver the finale she had in mind. This is pure speculation so I could be wrong but with that, this essay I guess, wraps up. There’s other stuff I may not have mentioned, like the jury thing is so absurd but I want to reserve that for my mochiverse theory. When it's all said and done, Pandora hearts is still an amazing series, mochijun has definitely improved as an author. My vnc-ph comparison post which may be after this one will elaborate on that in more detail. Thank you for listening to my rant. What are some complaints or nitpicks you had with ph?

#pandora hearts #ph #jun mochizuki #oz vessalius #manga #ph manga #Gilbert nightray #vincent nightray #sharon rainsworth #ada vessalius #baskervilles #anime #tumblr #anime tumblr #Mochijun #overall thoughts #Alice in Wonderland #post #fyp #pasted from twitter #lol

[popentertainment-moviereviews]

THE FALL GUY (2024)

Starring Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham, Teresa Palmer, Stephanie Hsu, Winston Duke, Ben Knight, Matuse, Adam Dunn, Zara Michales, Ioane Sa'Ula, Gregory J. Fryer, Madeleine Wilson, Kalkidan China, Angela Nica Sullen, Di Smith, Megan O'Connell, Jack Doherty, Jason Momoa, Heather Thomas and Lee Majors.

Screenplay by Drew Pearce.

Directed by David Leitch.

Distributed by Universal Pictures. 126 minutes. Rated PG-13.

Do you remember The Fall Guy? It was a fairly popular TV series in the 1980s, Lee Majors’ post-Six Million Dollar Man vehicle, in which he played a Hollywood stunt man who had a side gig as a bounty hunter. It was fairly popular in its day. It was never a huge hit but did well enough to last for five seasons (from 1981 to 1986) and it made a popular pin-up girl of its co-star Heather Thomas.

However, once it was off the air, it left very little of a pop cultural footprint. I used to watch it fairly regularly when it was on the air, and even I can just barely recall it. It was never overly successful in syndicated reruns, and as far as I can find it is not currently on any of the streaming services or nostalgia cable networks. (You can purchase old episodes through Prime Video and Apple TV, though.)

All of which begs the question: Is there really an audience that has been waiting around for a motion picture reboot of this particular show? I mean, I get it, Hollywood will try to revive just about any intellectual property for which they have the rights, but will anyone out there really care enough to go out of their way to see it?

The makers of The Fall Guy movie took an interesting tack at resolving that potential problem: They just assumed most people would barely remember the source material, so they pretty much ignored it.

The main character still is named Colt Seavers, and he still is a stunt man, and series stars Lee Majors and Heather Thomas have cameos during the closing credits, but otherwise this film has very little in common with the cheesy, sincere 80s action TV vibes of the series. (The original series was created by notable TV hack Glen A. Larson, who also created Knight Rider, BJ & the Bear and Battlestar Galactica.) And, wisely, the film dropped the whole strange bounty hunter plot device, instead just making Colt a stuntman who becomes involved in a criminal conspiracy and dangerous thugs through his work in filmmaking.

Therefore, the film becomes a very meta, very modern action comedy (with a big romantic subplot) starring A-listers Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. However, as much as Colt (Gosling) and his beautiful film director ex Jody (Blunt) are tortured by the “what ifs” in their relationship and are being drawn towards reconciliation, the romantic aspects of the film feel a bit like an afterthought.

What The Fall Guy really loves is filmmaking and stunts. That’s what the movie is really about – a love letter to “The Unknown Stuntman” – as the original series theme song, covered here by Blake Shelton, explains.  

Director David Leitch (Bullet Train, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2) is a former stuntman and he obviously wants to celebrate the lifestyle. Therefore, The Fall Guy is full of huge, over-the-top chases, explosions, fight scenes and shootouts – as well showing the behind-the-scenes minutiae and skill that is necessary to make the stunts work.

So, while the story itself makes very little sense, it’s not really supposed to. It’s a wild and funny, over-the-top ride that turns out to be better than you would have expected.

Part of that is due to the obvious charisma and chemistry of the stars. Although you don’t really totally buy into Gosling and Blunt’s characters’ love story, you have to admit both are very easy on the eyes and extremely likable as actors, which gives The Fall Guy an additional shot in the arm.

Jay S. Jacobs

Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: May 2, 2024.

#The Fall Guy #2024 #Movie Review #Ryan Gosling #Jay S. Jacobs #Youtube

[aion-rsa]

How Final Destination Went From Real-Life Premonition to Horror Phenomenon

https://ift.tt/30jSLcc

The year 2000 was a scary one for horror films and not always in a good way.  

While American Psycho and The Cell offered up visually striking nihilistic thrills to genre fans, the majority of horror movies released at the dawn of the new millennium were at best forgettable and, at worst, lamentable – yes, we’re looking at you, Leprechaun in the Hood.  

This was the year of duff sequels like Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, Urban Legends: Final Cut and, though it is painful to admit, Scream 3. Horror fans were screaming out for something different, something exciting. They found it with Final Destination.  

Discarding the stalk-and-slash thrills that had enjoyed a revival in the years following the release of Scream, Final Destination centered on a group of high schoolers who end up avoiding a fatal plane crash thanks to a premonition, only to discover there is no escaping death’s plan as one by one they are offed in a variety of brilliantly inventive “accidents”.  

Released in March of that year, Final Destination was a sleeper hit with word-of-mouth helping the film to clean up at the box office, earning $112 million off a $23 million budget with more than half of that coming internationally.  

To date, it has spawned four sequels as well as a variety of novelisations and comic book spin-offs while a franchise reboot is also on the horizon.  

Read more

Movies

The Final Destination Movies, Ranked

By Sarah Dobbs

Jeffrey Reddick has worked on several films during his career to date but he’s probably best known as the creator of Final Destination. It’s something he has come to terms with.  

“It’s probably going to end up on my gravestone, it’s such an ironic title,” he tells Den of Geek.  

“Sometimes I’ll be out and I will hear someone say ‘you just had a Final Destination moment’ and it will make me smile. The whole thing just took on a life of its own.”  

Nightmarish Origins  

A screenwriter and director, Reddick recalls how his neighbors in rural Jackson, Kentucky, would laugh when his six-year-old self would tell them about his plans to work in the movie business.   

An avid writer and reader of Greek and Roman mythology, he recalls spending his formative years watching horror movies with his friends. His mother was only too happy to indulge his burgeoning interest too, knowing it kept him out of trouble elsewhere.  

Reddick’s life began to change after he saw A Nightmare on Elm Street.   

“That film cemented my love of horror. I was this 14-year-old hillbilly from Kentucky but I decided I was going to write a prequel. I went home, banged it out on my typewriter and sent it to Bob Shaye.”  

The legendary head of New Line Cinema initially dismissed Reddick’s draft out of hand, returning it with a note explaining the studio did not “accept unsolicited material.”  

Undaunted, Reddick sent the script back with a note telling him “Look mister, I spent three dollars on your movie and I think you could take five minutes on my story.”  

Shaye was impressed and struck up a bond with the youngster that saw him sending everything from scripts to posters to Reddick during his teenage years.  

When Reddick moved to New York to study acting, age 19, he was offered an internship with New Line, which would become a full-time role despite acting being his “main passion.”  

“Diversity in casting was not a thing at that time,” he recalls.  

“My agent was like ‘I don’t know what to do with you as an actor. We can’t put you up for gangsters or pimps and you don’t rap and you don’t play basketball.”  

“So  I figured, screw it, I will just write stuff and put myself in it.”  

Reddick was present at New Line during their company’s early 90s creative heyday and credits the experience with helping him get Final Destination off the ground.  

“I learned a lot about how to get a movie made. I knew that to make a movie that connected with an audience you had to tap into something that was universal. Death is the ultimate fear.”  

As luck would have it, the idea actually came to Reddick while on a flight back to Kentucky.  

“I read about a woman who was on vacation and her mother told her not to take the flight she was planning to take home as she had a bad feeling about it. The woman changed it and the plane she was supposed to be on crashed.”  

At that point however the idea wasn’t Final Destination. It wasn’t a film either. It was an episode of The X Files.  

The Truth Is Out There  

“I was trying to get a TV agent at the time and they recommended I write a spec script for something already on the air. I was a huge fan of The X Files and thought about a scene where somebody has a premonition and gets off the plane and then it crashes and used that as the plot.”  

“It was going to be Scully’s brother Charles who had the premonition. He gets off the plane with a few other people but they start dying and Charles blacks out every time there is a murder so people suspect he is doing it.   

Read more

TV

I Still Want to Believe: Revisiting The X-Files Pilot

By Chris Longo

“The twist at the end was that the sheriff who had been investigating alongside Mulder and Scully the whole time had actually been shot and flatlined at the same time as the plane crash.  Death brought him back to kill off all the survivors, including Charles.”  

It would have made for a great episode except it was never submitted to The X Files. Reddick showed his spec script to some friends at New Line who were so impressed, they told him to develop it into a treatment for a feature, which was eventually purchased by the studio.  

Producers Craig Perry and Warren Zide were brought onboard to develop the story and set about tweaking his idea.  

“Originally the cast of survivors were adults because I wanted to explore more adult themes but Scream had come out and teenagers were hot again so New Line got me to change it”  

In a twist of fate, two established writers from The X Files, James Wong and Glen Morgan, were brought onboard to rejig Reddick’s script.   

“My version was definitely darker and more like A Nightmare on Elm Street,” he says.  

“In my script, death would torment the kids about some kind of past sin they felt guilty about. They would then die in these accidents that ended up looking like suicides.”  

For example, Todd’s death saw him chased into the family garage by an unseen specter where he accidentally ended up rigged in a noose triggered when his dad opens the automatic garage door.   

Death is all around us  

Ultimately that death scene and several others were ultimately scrapped in favour of what would prove to be the franchise’s calling card.  

Reddick credits Wong and Morgan with coming up with the idea of having the film’s key death scenes kicked off by a Rube Goldberg machine-like chain-reaction that would see everyday things colliding to create a lethal scenario. It was nothing short of a masterstroke.   

“It created this notion that death is all around us,” Reddick says.  

“Death would use everyday things around us. It made it more universal and allowed us to set the deaths in places where people go all the time. The payoff would be fun but it was the build-up that had you on the edge of your seat.”  

There was one major sticking point for the studio though: the presence of death, or rather the lack of.  

“I fought really hard to make sure we never showed death because for me, if you didn’t show it, it could be something someone, no matter their belief system, could project onto our villain. That was a tough sell for the studio. They would be like ‘this doesn’t make any sense, you can’t see it and you can’t fight it’ but that’s the point, it’s death.”  

“Luckily both James Wong and Glen Morgan were very insistent we never show it and tie it in to a specific belief system.”  

Reddick credits the move with helping Final Destination become “an international phenomenon”.  

“It struck a chord with people around the world. It broke out beyond the horror audience.”  

Casting dreams   

When it came to casting, Reddick had a clear idea of who he wanted in the lead roles, even if the studio’s opinion differed drastically.  

“I had a wish list with Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst as my two leads but New Line was like ‘well…’”  

He might not have got his first pick but Final Destination boasted an impressive cast of up-and-comers who had already made waves among teen audiences.   

Devon Sawa had starred in Idle Hands, while Ali Larter was known for Varsity Blues and Kerr Smith was a regular on Dawson’s Creek. There was even room for Seann William Scott, fresh from his breakout turn in American Pie who was drafted in on the recommendation of producer Craig Perry, who told Reddick “you’ve got to get this kid, he’s going to be huge.”  

Even so, Reddick was left a little unhappy.  

“One of the conversations we had early on was like ‘Just remember this is set in New York, which is one of the most diverse cities in the world so let’s make sure we have some diversity in the cast’ and they were like ‘oh we will’ and then there wasn’t anyone who wasn’t white in it.”  

New Line chief Bob Shaye did find a way to make amends on some level at least, casting Candyman horror icon Tony Todd in a cameo role as a mysteriously foreboding mortician.  

“He called me up and said they had got Tony Todd and I flipped out. He is an icon. Such a talented, serious actor.”  

As well as co-write the film, Wong took on directorial duties while each of the film’s death sequences would require careful planning, his first aim was to have the film start with a bang by creating as terrifyingly realistic a plane crash as possible.  

“We want to do for planes and air travel what Jaws did for sharks and swimming,” he declared in one interview.  

Yet the film would later garner criticism for its eerie similarities to the explosion and crash of TWA Flight 800 off East Moriches, Long Island, New York in 1996 where 16 students and five adults died.  

“There was some criticism that the movie was written to exploit this real-life crash,” Reddick recalls.  

“I even realised later they used footage from one real-life crash which I wasn’t particularly happy about.”  

Indeed, much of the news footage shown in the film actually came from the 1996 crash.  

That didn’t stop the film becoming a major hit and spawning a sequel within three years.   

Final Destination meets Game of Thrones  

Reddick returned to write the treatment for Final Destination 2, determined to move the franchise away from its teen Scream origins.   

“We had tapped into that zeitgeist and didn’t have to do that again. I wanted to expand the universe and subvert it, so I had it open by following a bunch of teens who are then killed off.”  

Once again, divine intervention led to divine inspiration for the opening set piece.  

“Originally, I was going to have it open with some kids going to spring break and they stop off at this hotel and there is a fire but the producers were not sure. Writers always say you should go out and live life – life informs you and a lot of inspiration comes out when I go out for a walk.  

“I was driving back to Kentucky to see my family and I got stuck behind a log truck and the idea just came to me. I pulled off the highway and called Craig and was flipping out with this idea for a log truck on a freeway.”  

The resulting freeway pile-up that leads to multiple deaths is one Reddick ranks as his “favourite scene in the entire franchise.”  

“The second film is my favourite. I wanted to create a sequel that didn’t feel like a remake of the first. It went in a more fun direction – but it’s still scary.”  

That first sequel also represented the last of which Reddick was formally involved in, though he remained very much in the loop as the Godfather of the franchise, revealing that producers had been “looking at scripts before Covid hit.” 

He also revealed that, at one point, things looked to be heading in an altogether different and thoroughly fascinating direction.  

“There was talk about setting a Final Destination back in Medieval times. Like Game of Thrones in Final Destination. Craig Perry worked with a writer and they talked about the idea and put a teaser trailer together [which has leaked online].   

“I would go and see that movie in a heartbeat but the studio said that the reason Final Destination was so popular was that element of deaths in normal, everyday situations.”  

Future Destinations  

Reddick hasn’t given up on a return to the franchise though, hinting at a “unique” idea he has for a new film that is simply too good to reveal yet.   

In the meantime, he has been busy writing and directing Don’t Look Back, a film that shares some surface similarities with Final Destination and is painfully relevant to society today.  

“It’s a mystery thriller about a group of people who witness someone getting fatally assaulted in a park and don’t help the person and somebody films them and puts it online. The public turns on the witnesses and someone or something is coming after them.”  

Eager to make more horror films and celebrate diversity in his work, Reddick remains immensely proud of Final Destination and the impact it has had on audiences.  

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“It’s cool. To have one movie that is going to be talked about after you die is a life goal. If that’s what I leave behind as a legacy that’s enough – but I still want more.” 

Don’t Look Back is available on DVD & Digital from 14th June

The post How Final Destination Went From Real-Life Premonition to Horror Phenomenon appeared first on Den of Geek.

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Close Enough Season 2 Review! or Josh Murders About 10 People

It's been hard to put into words just how wonderful a surprise this season getting released this month was. For starters before JG Quintel announced it last year shortly after season 1, I honestly was convinced season 2 wasn't happened. Do NOT get me wrong, Season 1 of Close Enough was one of the best parts of last year: It was funny, had a lot of heart, a great voice cast, and a great cast of characters that was throughly likeable and broke sitcom stereotypes, having a doofy husband and more straight laced wife with layers who clearly love and respect each other and BOTH can be prone to taking things too far instead of JUST Josh screwing up. Add in two great fellow leads Bridgette and Alex played by two of my faviorite va's, Kimiko Glen and Jason Mantzokus, whose name I finally learned how to spell, an adorable daughter and neat but out of focus neighbors and supors pearle and randy, and the show was just damn near perfect and felt like an improvement on regular show, taking the same humor and animation style but to an older cast and audience with more nuanced and likeable characters, and far more character development per episode. I wanted to see where the show would go.. but I was convinced given the show was leftover inventory from an animation block that never happened held over to give HBO Max some content it'd be canceled after one season, because I can't have nice things. But....

And very happily so: JG Quintel revealed the show had been picked up for season 2 not long after season 1 dropped, having listned to fans. As it turns out though they hadn't.. they just had a ton of faith in the show as I got ANOTHER bombshell earlier this month. While the show had showed up on the schedule for this month late in January, with no release date on said schedule, I wasn't 100% sure the show was coming back this month or that it wasn't just an error. But once again, I was wrong, it was earth all along, and they merely saved it for the press release for their adult animation lineup: alongside the huge and welcome bombshell they were the ones picking up the Clone High reboot and for two seasons, Close enough not only got two more seasons publicly announced, but fimrly revealed season 2 launched February 25th. LIke they likely had with infinity train the show was quitely picked up for another season, and they simply waited to announce it till the right time. Though unlike infinity train, they had faith in it to become a big hit and while they SHOULD HAVE with infinity train and should've accepted it was already a big hit simply not with the target demographic, it's still nice to see that after all it went through Close Enough not only got renewed but is now the network's flagship adult animated show, closely tied with harley quinn, and will likely go on as long as it wants to.

So naturally given I reviewed all of season 1 in the hopes i'td get renewed, I was happy to make room for season 2 and continue covering it and over the moon it was happening so soon. However I'm doing things diffrently this time: instead of flooding the tag with individual longform reviews, i'm reviewing the season all one go, to see if this format could work for me as I have tons of other shows i'd love to cover in this format that are either heavily comedic like say the Great North, regular show or the simpsons and thus dont' lend themselves to riffing as much and leave me less to do per episode, or more seralized shows like she ra or ones that are entirely complete like Steven Universe or Gravity falls that I could cover alone but this format could help expidite covering. Gravity Falls is also one of my patreon stretch goals if your instrested as is a whole lot of ducktales stuff, link on my blog. It also works with my much larger workload with a much tighter schedule, 6 reviews a week with a flex day in case I get behind so everything comes out as good as it posisbly can be, versus my original method of...

TLDR: One big post with smaller reviews each episode and an overall coverage of what changed this season and how good it is as a whole. We good? Good, then join me under the cut for some delightful sentient presents, couch ghosts, and jim fucking crunch as we get close enough to the heart.

I will never get tired of that image. I want it blown up and put on a banner at my funeral. But death plans aside let's get into the season

Slight Tweaks to a Great Formula: Given it's slice of life format based largely around likeable multi layered characters in comedic absurdity, not a lot has changed nor did it need to. What has are just simple tweaks to make things even better. For starters a natural result of getting to the episodes now produced directly for the 11 minute format means the pacing is much focused, subbing in full subplots for the occasional runner instead, and often only using what characters the episode needs. It will use the main five often, but the lack of subplots for the most part allows stronger focus on one or two characters to give the stories added weight and nuance and often laughs. While i'll always love season 1, this allows for much tighter stories and allows for everyone to get some major screen time instead of mostly Josh and Emily in season 1. It does mean we sadly get less of my boy Alex per episode but it's a sacrifice i'm willing to make if it means the show can grow and take more risks and evolve naturally. Though the former probably wasn't help by two of his three episodes being kinda weak, but i'll get to that.

The other noticeable change is Pearle and Randy. While they were promoted as main characters, even getting profiles along with the rest, they were in practice recurring characters in season 1, showing up pretty frequently but with only one starring episode for Randy and none for Pearle. And givne Pearle has an interesting backstory as a cop who likely had to put up with a LOT being a black woman officer, as well as raising a white redneck, while also being hilarious and having a fun energy to her, I felt they kinda wasted her in season 1.

Here though? Both have been bumped up to main cast proper, getting two focus episodes a piece (compared to the other main adults each getting three, some of those shared, and Candace getting one, hopefully more in the future as it was really good, along with, to my delight, mr.cambell also getting one), appearing far more in supporting roles and generally showing up with the main group a lot more. They still don't hang out with our loveable family all the time, but it makes sense as they have their own apartment and stuff to deal with, but it feels far more like their part of the main group. The show always treated them like this mine, but showing up more makes their friendships with their tenants feel more genuine, as it feels like their part of their lives more, whlie having their own to deal with we get to see now.

So while the series didn't change much, as I said it didn't need to and all of this is stuff is the kind of thing I wanted, especially Pearle getting a larger role and Randy being fleshed out from a dollar store version of muscle man into his own similar but difference character, and i'm happy to have it. So now i've talked about how the seasons' changed, let's talk about the episodes themselves. Grab a snack this is going to take a bit.

The Episodes!:

Josh Gets Shredded: 

Our premier and honestly it's a solid one with a singular premise on poking fun at gym culture, though in a nice twist Jim Crunch, the guy who runs the Gym Josh ends up going to to strengthen his core to play with Candace and whose voiced wonderfully by Kevin Michael Richardson is a genuinely good guy and there's no horrifying twist with him. He just wants Josh to get ripped and dosen't know his training is keeping josh from candace. IT's a simple setup of a father doing something for his daughter but getting distracted by it and while not new it works well here and we get plenty of fun gym jokes, including an exchange from Jim and Josh when Josh wants to become an "absolute unit", which in this case ends up meaning turning into the hulk but with the glowing firey eyes of an angry god, feels like it came straight out of the hockey bros from letterkenny, which is a good feeling to have. There's also a nice setup with Candace wanting to play king kong with Josh due to seeing it in class (Specially the Peter Jackson remake, also Candace knows who jack black is which I buy because of who her daddy is. I wouldn’t be surprised if Josh had Saving Silverman on a loop for several days until emily threw it out the window like a frisbee. ), which kicks off the whole thing.. and ends with ultra instinct hulk josh taking her to the top of a building and swatting away helicopters. It’s more of an average episode for the series and the runner about Emily being REALLY hot for buff josh comes off as a weaker version of the plot from family guy where Lois likes a thinner peter, apart from one inspired bit where in order to talk to him about candace without getting distracted, Emily pours an entire bag of ice down her pants.. and subtly after Josh talks about becoming an absolute unit, it’s gone nad rather than animation I like to believe it melted. Still a decent start to a great season. 

Meet the Frackers: A Randy Spotlight episode and unlike his season one episode rather than be a subplot in another episode it’s a full episode about him. And the starting incident is great as the gang gets their ancestry results back from costco, with Emily and Bridgette having ancestors in Guadalajara and Kiyoto.. and Josh being white (”Can you believe it?”). Alex coming from a long line of creeps is also pretty funny, those are his actual results by the way. 

But what the episodes truly about is Randy finding out his parents are alive in Malibu after Pearle claimed they were dead when he was a kid. She had a very good reason though: Randy’s parents were serial gas thieves, and Pearle nearly caught them one night with the two chucking him at her to escape. And to her credit Pearle TRIED to reach out to them once they ended up in jail for their crimes.. but they again chucked him at her which is hilarious. She simply didn’t want him to feel abandoned. He instead feels betrayed. 

His parents are hilariously white trash and played by two faviorite va’s of mine, David Kochner and Wendy Malick, who i’m happy is finally playing a lead roll on Owl House. They drink redneck maragretihas and eat mcribs (As Randy puts it “God’s favorite sandwich!”) every day and still steal gas, just legally now as frackers. Naturally though the two are still assholes and soon use a carnival as a cover to illegally frack and it’s up to Randy an dhis real mom to stop them> It’s a touching story with Randy genuinely wanting to hlep his mom, though I feel it would’ve been more interesting if Randy’s parents hadn’t been scum an dhe had to genuinely deal with having three parents now. Still it was worth it for some great lines from Malick and Kochner , so it works. Decent ep. 

Sauceface: Now we come to both one of the best eps of the season, and the series so far, and one of it’s most unique as it stars Candace and dosen’t feature the other main cast hardly at all, only Emily who kicks things off by, in a great bit, breaking Candace’s illusion their rich as “they live in a castle with alex and bridgette”, with her slowly realizing “Were poor”. Which is just a very kid thing to think that your parents are rich when they very much aren’t. 

But the episode really is a crime boss parody story, as the title would imply as Candace and her best friend start selling hot sauce, which is banned from the school due to it’s political correctness having gone mad and it being offensive to “sensitive palates” (They’ve also banned general tso’s chicken for mitlarialism and everything bagels for being “too much”). This leads where you’d expect: Candace getting drunk with power and forgetting why theys tarted, wet willies, and an art room brawl, all leading to candace’s friend getting pinched and candace having to use the money to buy Mr. Cambell a pelaton to get him off their backs, which leads to this lovely exchange “YOur letting them off just because they bought you a present?” “This is a 2000 dollar bike”. We also get the subtle reveal Mr. Cambell is gay which given how straight the main cast is, is nice.  But this was a great one with too many good gags to mention, a great setup, a great rolling stones song played during the montage I do not know the name of, and I hope we get other candace advnetures at her school in the future, because this was a real delight. Again one of the best episodes of the season. 

The House Guest From Hell: Speaking of best episodes, this is probably the best pairing of episodes yet, as both are standouts of the season. 

Emily’s old friend Becca drops back into her life, to everyone’s annoyance as Becca is an utter leech who constantly take advantage of Emily’s lack of boundaries with her to constantly talk about whatever drama she’s wrapped herself in and mooch off her. Josh and Bridgette want her to set firm boundaries, but Emily fails to and instead only gets Becca to set boundaries with her boyfriend.. which leads to her moving into the apartment temporarily, and annoying the hell out of everyone. Becca is a great character, being that asshole in the most over the top and annoying way possible, to the point she takes alex’s room, watches tv on a loop and doesn’t seem to realize Emily is married (Despite being part of her bridal party), or that candace is Emily’s daughter and not a tiny butler (Which Candace assumes is a game. )

Naturally for this show things escalate hilariously as Emily finds out she’s pregnant when she tries to throw her out and the pregnancy is escalated.. and we soon find out it’s because the pregnancy is demonic: She has Hecate as her dula (And Alex naturally asks if she’s single, get it guy get it), needs goats hoves, locusts and the blood of the innocent (Which is the only item that trips josh up who hopes they can get it at costco, which made me have to pause as I could not stop laughing). This would be funny enough. .but what takes it into making this episode a classic is when Emily tricks her boyfriend Luke over he’s unsurprisingly a devil.. but also a hilariously over the top douchebag dudebro played by Beck  Bennet, who it’s not only nice to see outside of ducktales, but is also just totally game. Luke is so odious it wraps around to being funny, to the point he unsurprisingly hits on Bridgette while his girlfriend is in labor, messily makes out with her and they try to move in, though thankfully Emily cathartically screams Becca out midbirth. Also they end up going to hell, with Luke getting there by doing donuts. Yes really. This episode is a treasure and does the series schitck of taking a relatable problem and escalating it to perfection. 

Joint Break:

Another unsurprisingly good one, as Pearle deals with the fact that despite her decades of service, the force’s health plan doesn’t cover her needed hip surgery after she slides over a car wrong (Which also leads to a great riff on the old csi Miami parody). She then finds herself between her oath as an officer and her needs for help as she befriends a gang of saucy old women at water aerobics who are also bank robbers and want to cut her in. And they provide a tempting offer, getting what their owed and ti feels like a genuine dilemma, even if Pearle ends up siding with the police, not that she should. It’s also full of great bits of the old lady gang weaponizing stereotypes about old people, with the three of them dawning classic old lady getups to fool an officer, and having one of them i a walker slowly cross the street to stop an armored truck. Fun stuff helped by their leader being voiced by Jane Lynch, continuing this season’s red hot guest star streak, not that the series has ever been light on them (They got David Hasselhoff and weird al in season 1, so yeah), but this season ramps up the good guest voices to the point there’s one per episode almost. 

Cyber Matrix: This one’s okay though the setup is good. Unsurprisingly given both his dale gribble-esque penchant for conspiracies and his hipster holier than thou ways, Alex has never had a smart phone, and has a very old flip hone that’s horrifc to look at and naturally gets destroyed, leading to him getting addicted to the thing.. and this being the show it is fusing with it. What makes this one is the climax, as the rest of the main group scramble to take out the cell tower so Alex’s phone doesn’t upload him to the cloud while Josha nd Alex open everything they can to slow her down. The result is the phone hacking Emily’s and ordering packages, task rabbits to punch her inthe face (With randy taking it so they can go) and outright hijacking a car in a clever chase. The ending though does sink this as suddenly their in veirutal reality again and it just feels weird given the series, while not really using continuity much so far, dosne’t have negavite continuity punch out endings outside of this one ep and I hope this dosen’t happen again. Otheriwse a decent one if sadly not one of Alex’s best and he equally sadly onlyg ets one truly great episode this season, compared to having a good chunk of the best plots last season. Still you can’t win em all and i’m sure my boy will return to form and said great episode, which we’ll get to soon, certainly shows they didn’t loose their touch. They just fumbled a bit and that’s okay. 

Haunted Couch: Balancing that out is the fact that Bridgette, who didn’t get nearly as many good eps as Alex or as much focus as the rest, gets some great episodes this season with this one being my out and out favorite as it fleshes her out more and has some really great gags. Josh brings in a street couch (And he and Emily’s argument over it is great including him using the fact she forced them to get a savings account as leverage somehow), just as Bridgette is in emotional turmoil over her latest boyfriend suddenly ghosting her. 

Naturally she ends up falling for a REAL ghost, a french couch designer who had a habit of cheating on his lovers, died for it by one of their hands, and his soul ended up bound to the couch. Naturally hea nd Bridgette hit it off and we get a LOT of good stuff in a montage as the two take the couch everywhere, and her friends, minus Alex who surprisingly rather than being jealous, simply dosen’t like the fact there’s a ghost in the house technically haunting them which surprisingly goes nowhere, are happy for her and like him after the initial shock wears off, though Josh still wants to sit on the couch. He and Bridgette even have really good sex using Randy’s body, with him being a willing vesel for Marcus. And i’d just like to point out that an intensely weird comedy show that also has a sentient present, bob vila with saw hands, and dude bro satan in this very season, 2/3 of those to come.. STILL did this better than wonder woman 87, as they actually asked someone to let the ghost of the couple use his body so they could fuck, and he gave full consent to it. And no I sitll haven’t let that go, it was a very bad plotline with nightmarish implications and the fact close enough did it better in a joke, they also have the song from ghost in the background by the by, than a big budget movie from the same company, is a really large bilboard saying:

But while the episode was thoroughly interesting and funny.. it’s what happens next that makes it one of the series best. While the series is amazing at comedy, it’s the character growth slid in between it that makes it so awesome and this episode is a great example. Bridgette turns cold towards Marcus as it’s clear he’s serious, and he’s even moved a tooth brush in. She gets more and more hostile until eventually Marcus calls her on it, and prevents her from leaving with a vortex of furniture.. which could’ve gone bad very quick but instead just means she has to face him.. and is hit with a rather painful relization when he asks “Do you what me to, how you say, ghost you?” (She explained the concept earlier). She says no.. but quickly a series of flashbacks puts the previous breakup in context as the guy she was seeing asked to leave a toothbrush, a  simple escalation and she got real nasty real quick without saying what the problem was. We see more of this with a previous boyfriend and hilaroiusly one before that guy who not only had a toothbrush in a ringbox but was also in a hot air ballon she casually cuts the anchors too and has float away. Which does mean Bridgette probably killed a man but that’s one compared to josh’s 10 this season. Yes, 10. We’ll get to that. 

Point is she realizes “oh shit i’m the dick”, and has a genuine talk with Marcus, realizing why: “You know how women feign being submissive because society’s taught them to so they don’t get raped or murdered or kidnapped?” “Oui”, best bit of the episode and damn if it ain’t horribly true. But due to tha Bridgette simply got terrible quick to scare guys off when she really just wanted to break it off instead of take things further and breaks it off with marcus.. and is surprised and relieved when he doesn’t want a big fight and takes it acceptably, Marcus having grown from his past of being a women using cad and genuinely wanting to treat them better. For once Bridget gets to have an emotionally mature breakup with someone, and while you could say her relationship with alex is like that, it’s very clear from an upcoming episode it wasn’t a very clean break at first and while their amicable now their marriage was a hot volcano of arguments. This allos Marcus to pass.. if also destroying the couch to Josh’s misery. An instant classic and one of the season’s highlights and one that really fleshes Bridgette out a bit by giving another reason for her relationships not working besides alex that fits the character perfectly and has her grow from it. 

Also just a quick sidenote, this episode vaguely reminded me of the Nightmare Time, theater troupe team starkid’s zoomcast I highly recommend set in their hatchetfield multiverse, episode “Jane’s a Car” , which is about a man’s wife possessing his car and also involves an object. Both are very diffrent mind you, Jane’s a Car ends up way more depressing, but its’ stil la story involving ghost fucking though Bridgette found a vesel instead of straight up fucking a couch the way tom went to town on that car. It also involves the lead’s perosnal issues, if far more severe in Jane’s a Car’s case, reflected by their relationship with a ghost. I mean it is a stretch but these are the weird connectoins my brain makes and I mostly bring it up because an  upcoming episode in the season goes from kind of similar but only to me to very similar, and a very fun concidence that these two episodes existed in the same year, especially since this happened last year with this show and Ducktales. But first josh doing a murder on some people. 

Man Up:

Okay for starters the title man up reminds me of this short lived abc sitcom I never saw but given it was about three guys tapping into their “inner man” it sounds like aresnic somehow took the sentient form of a tv show. This actual poster for it not only proves the point but why it lasted one season if not why the hell I remembered this existed at all despite never seeing it, not recognizing anyone in it and not wanting anything to do with it. 

Given I have 8 more episodes to go after this one, I do not have time to disect all the way that poster is a waking nightmare, though i’d love to, and instead i’m going to talk abotu the episode itself. The intro is funny enough, with the Ramierz-Singletons going to a bank for Candace’s first bank account, the Bank of Hollywood. An alien seemingly attacks, it turns out to be a promotional stunt with high budget effects a great gag in of itself, but Josh runs out on his family.  Naturally he’s horribly rattled by this, and wants to be a better dad, a John McClane type. So two things: I now want a crossover with this show and brooklyn nine nine along with the hatchefield one in my head and the regular show one most fans want. And the second is that John wasn’t the best dad or husband, and both the original film, the sequel josh saw, and the fourth film all spell this out. The fifth does too but I feel if I wish hard enough a good day to die hard will just spontaneously cease to exist and we’ll all be happier that way. 

So Pearle agrees to help him, and we get a fun training montage, with Josh protecting a candace made of eggs Alex made, because of course he did, and an emily made of the same because of course he did, and get punched in the junk by randy in a dog costume, as you do. He actually feels tough and is ready for phase 2, pearle hitting him with something unexpectdly.

Instead what he thinks is Phase 2 is actually a die hard style hyjacking of Emily’s company christmas party, which josh misses due to being in the bathroom after panickily running into corn. As a result.. we get josh killing about 8-10 people not realizing it’s not a simulation but not really caring about that part when it’s revealed. Which granted it is in self defense but he still kills a LOT of people this episode, and I will be forever haunted by the fact that stringbean can REALLY do some murders. Seriously who knew JOSH had it in him. That is terrifying to comprehend. Naturally after he john mclanes his way up, he finds out it wasn’t a simulation panics but instead of running away runs the hans gruber knockoff, whose sadly not very entertaining out of the building and onto some exploding corn, saving the day, earning his family’s respect and cemnting himself as a badass. The reveal of what the text actually was is just.. perfect as it’s just a bat on a string with Alex saying “he’s totally going to shit”. The perfect capper to good ep only hampred by hans being really weak.. seriously he just has a weird sentence sturcture tha’ts hte joke. They can do better. Otherwise a good die hard parody. John would be proud. 

Handy:

Another decent one not a standout but it has a truly astounding bit. Randy finds out, after going to Guy Fieri’s flavor diaster for Pearle, that she hired another handyman and he’s not good at his job as as he puts it “I’m going to do what troubled young men have done for years : i’m going to sea!”. Which is funny enough but leads to him stranded on a desert island, hallucinating and then meeting his idols in handy manning who may or may not be hallucinations: Bob Vila, The Ikea Mascot (Who speaks only in pictures and is a fun gag despite never having seen him before this episode) and my favorite tim the tool man taylor, whose tie is constantly pointed up for some reason and who amazingly only speaks in grunts. I didn’t know I needed this so thank you close enough. We also get the three helping with bob turning his hands into buzzsaws, ikea man creating nails and screws and Tim using his head as a tool. All accurate to their original shows and in ikea man’s case brocures. Really good adaptation. But through this he discovers the clog the guy is trying to fix at the house is loadbearing and rushes home to save the house, leading to a fun actoin scene and a weird version of the celebration from the end of return of the jedi, complete with force ghosts. So we also get a tim taylor force ghost which I did not know I needed and as much as that show makes my stomach churn I badly hope shows up in the finale of last man standing. A decent one and givne how I keep sayin ga decent episode over and over you can kinda see why I didn’t review all these. LIke season 1 I simply don’t have a full review in me for every single one of these episodes. We’re now at the halfway mark, only 8 more to go, I envy the dead, let’s do this. 

Birthdaze: This was the episode most heavily promoted in the trailer and for good reason as it’s the best of the season. Also relatable as while not having kids I do get how Kids Birthday parties feel and how they often end up weirdly close together. In this case both coalse as Josh and Emily have three birthdays in one weekend, their friends Emily’s friend Trish from “Cool Moms”, who is so far some of the only continuity the series has, but a nice sign it has it, and that we could see Jim Crunch (who rose from the grave after an utterly wonderful funeral) or Dog Boy again. Or this episode’s standout gifty. But we’ll get to that in a second.  So Josh and Emily well intentiondly decide to throw a party for the parents at the same time as Candace’s.. but end up neglecting Candace. While their idea is good, to reward the other parents for having to sit through so many parties, putting it at the same time was a horrible idea as giving a bunch of pent up people with low alcohol tolerance booze ends up resulting in drunken antics and them heckling the magicain... and given the world we’re in, that’s a horrible mistake as he makes the children disappear to a world of perptual brithday parties and forces JOsh and Emily to follow him if they want their child back.  What results is an utter delightly as we meet the wonderful and incomprable Gifty, a giant living present who works iwth the magician, named sardini, and is voiced by Kate Miccuci, heart eyes> Just.. evey bit with gifty is great, from her genuinely being animated and looking like a muppet, to her casually going demonic to explain if the kids stay too long they forget parents, to as seen up top playing a pipe organ that is apparently made of gold plated clown bones, and her best bit, which I posted on this very blog, where she assures the trapped kids if JOsh and Emily fail their final test, they’ll get to live of nutricious necco wafers before vomiting a giant cloud of them at the poor children. Those things are gross and we now knwo it’s because they come from a giant present’s stomach. 

We get a great montage before most of that of our heroes treking through a weird and awesome birthday landscape with too many good parts to mentoin, before finding Sardini who puts them through tests before they can get candace back.. and one of those are you human image tests via the ball from phantasm. As gifty puts it “We have to make sure your not a bot”. But the tests, about candaces faviorite things, help the two realize she liked them because they did it together, and a final talk with candace, as the final test has her ask why theyd idn’t want to spend time with her, with the two warmly apologizing and explaning why they did it but that they went too far. Candace reconclies with her parent,s the kids and our heroes go home, and Sardini finds himself sad no one stayed.. but at least he has gifty... and then start making love to her “Unwrap me!” which is far and away the best gag in the season’s best episode by a mile. 

Time Hooch:

Now to talk about two things I hinted at earlier: The only good Alex episode this season and the one that vaugely resembles one of the Nightmare Time episodes. And while their two very diffrent stories with very diffrent outcomes and only one of them involves this guy

And suprisingly it’s NOT close enough that has the eldtrich horrifying goat monster with a goofy cartoon voice who says things like “I’m coming for your ass Teddy Bear!” But both are stories about a sketchy (mildly for alex, entirely for Ted) middle aged man who feels one moment is where his life went wrong then accidently time travels after drinking 80 tons of liquor and decides to use said time travel to save a relationship, and fails at it in some fashion.  There’s even a jaunt to a distopian future with robots and cyborgs. So while it’s not 1:1, alex is far more sympathetic than Ted, Time Bastard is dark horror comedy, and it again dosen’t involve a horrifying goat man suprisingly enough, it’s till way too many happy coincidences for me to outright ignore. Also check out nightmare time and especially the musicals it spun off from The Guy Who Didn’t LIke Musicals and Black Friday. It’s good stuff. But I couldn’t help but make the comparison, or now imagine Alex, Ted and Professor Hidgens as some weird diasterious power trio. This is how my brain works now. 

But to the episode itself it’s just great from start to finish: Bridgette finds out while rumaging for an old photo in an old box of their stuff that Alex never signed the divorce papers. Turns out he was hoping they’d get back together.. and while not doing it and not telling her was a VERY selfish and horrible action.. you still sympathize with him. He hoped things would work out and they’d get back together, and given they had some close calls with that in season 1, to the point I shipped them, you can see where his sprig of hope came from. But with this he’s realized there probably isn’t any hope and drinks some old moonshine he and Josh made in college.  Said moonshine was from a recipie in an old blues record, the titular time hooch that true to form, allows them to travel back in time. And since he was thinking of when he thought the relationship truly hit it’s breakig point, when Bridgette at a sandwitch of his and he’d said in the heat of it he wished he’d never met her, they end up there and Alex tries to use it to help. Also Jason’s delivery of Alex saying what the recipie was “rye, barely, a dead man’s pocket watch, mixed under a full moon (Laughs) okay we probably should’ve seen this coming.  

Naturally here’s where it really gets intresting. As you’d probably guess, our heroes are the ones who made the sandwitch disappear and in desperation, alex kidnaps his past self before he can say the fatal words> We also get another spectacular bit where all past alex needs from alex to know he’s really him from the future is what year he was born (1982), meaning he’s defintely older than the rest of the cast. Though I wouldn’t be suprised if he was held back.. like at all. Look i’m not thinking too hard into it this is also a story about whiskey based time travel. 

But with that said intresting part takes hold as Josh’s past self reminds him of another fight that made things tense for a while.. and you can see where this goes. Alex keeps going back, and back, and back and back and back and back and back... and back, to try and stop the one fight, only to find a bigger one, leading to a montage.. to the point he ends up at the start of the relationship, the day they met at a college bar. The younger Alex’s have decided screw it it was always wrong, let’s end the relationship. 

We also get more of Alex’s backstory as it turns out he’s at a community college rather than UCLA, where he used to teach because of his own dumb actions: He met bridgette, let her enroll in his class and didn’t try to convince her to take another one. Don’t get me wrong the decade age gap and power dynamics are iffy.. but it’s not as bad as it could be. They met before the class, and it comes off more as both being too stupid or too horny to realize how her being in his class came off before it was too late. She got with him entirely on his merits, and yes he has some trust me.  Case in point.. Alex realizes a few things. The first is that no amount of time travel can save his relationship. They fought all the time clearly, and there were inherent problems. It’s also clear just from the series itself that while they have chemistry their just not that compatible as people. Bridgette is obessed with image, social media, and herself while Alex just two episodes ago called phones the downfall of society and likes feeling superior to the exact kind of person bridgette is. They have chemistry but sometimes it’s jut not enough. You have to have some common ground or your going to fall in a big hole. It’s honestly feels like a much more tolerable and realistic version of Leonard and Penny from the Big Bang Theory. And yes I know that show’s not the most popular with my core audience, nerds, and I bring it up because mom’s been watching it a lately, and any time I see Leonard and Penny on screen it annoys me into a tizzy as the two just have NO REASON to be together other than boning, and even then he’s apparently not a good partner so why then. They have nothing in common and she mocks and belittles him all the fucking time, mocking his hobbies, finding his job boring, and mocking him as a person. And not sharing hobbies or finding his job intresting would be fine, and still work but it’s the constant teasing about it that comes off far more vitrolic than probably intended that just makes me hope for a divorce. Here it’s not only much milder but they did actually get a divorce because their just diffrnet people and i’m not mad the ship was sunk. It was done in a poetic way. 

And part of that poetry is Alex realizing that as doomed as things ended up being, via a very sweet montage of their time together.. he realizes he can’t loose this all together. That sure he’d gain a lot and porbably woudlnt’ be living in a closet, but he’d loose all the good times, and he’d loose a friend. His marriage wasn’t so bad he wants to erase it it just ended and that happens. Naturally the other alex’s don’t feel that way but Alex stops them.. Josh is too drunk at this point to help, and ends up creating a time vortex. The vortex sends our heroes home, where Alex realizes his mistake and apologizes for it to bridgette and signs the papers in front of her.  As for the Alexs we get a horrifying and hilarous gag as, given they’ve all commented each other is handsome.. start having an orgy, and are later found in amber and their dna is used to create our alex apparently. How does that work?

Point is this episode.. is a masterwork. It’s emotoinal, hilarious, and really good character work, with Alex having a really stellar arc that shades him in and putts a final button in his and bridgettes relationship. And having seen many ships I like end horribly, it’s nice to have one end in a satsifying way like this. Also we see Alex in his borat thong, and i’d just like to point out how funny I find it that the same year they made a borat joke, specifically on it being from a decade or two ago, we ended up getting a second Borat movie. Very niceeee. 

World’s Greatest Teacher: This one was alright. On the bright side we got a Mr.Cambell episode! I”ve loved the guy since first meeting him in 100% no stress day, it was the first episode and that hasn’t changed and he’s always a bright spot when he shows up. So an episode about him dealing with a rival teacher, MS. Lake a twice a week music teacher gunning for his job and his students love sounded made for me. In practice he gets a bit too petty to be symapthetic which takes things down a peg, even if it turns out  Ms. Lake really is coming for his ass Teddy Bear, but it has enough good gags to help it still be a fun episode.

The biggest one and the biggest reason I sitll like the episode is Timothy’s coffe mug for world’s greatest teacher.. which naturally comes to life, possibly as a psychotic break possibly for real because of the show this is, and starts speaking in the dulcet tones of keith david. ANd i’ve made no secret I love and am thirsty for Keith David on this blog and never will, and having him voice an abusive fowl mouthed coffee mug  is something I dind’t know I need but boy did I always need it my entire life. Yes even as a baby. It’s just glorious every time he shows up. The climax is also great as the two teachers end up bonding over the greatest love of all and george micheal after Candace invites River to a part sh’esd having for her tooth coming out, and end up becoming frinemies, a nice solution i was glad to see. Even if i’ll miss evil keith david coffee mug. Rest in power my dude. 

Where’d You Go, Bridgette? The second major Bridgette episode of the season and like “Haunted Couch” this one’s an instant classic. After realizing Bridgtte’s already out of control addition to her phone has gotten even worse, Pearle confinscates it and takes her to detox. This leads to two great plots; Bridgette going into withdrawl, complete with an inspired nightmare sequence about her aps and missing her friends death because she was on her phone and the rest of the cast thinking sh’es been kidnapped because she’s not on social media, which while stupid is DELIGHTFULLY stupid and makes some sense given how glued to her phone she is. They end up calling a true crime podcast over, two egosticial college girls who quickly blame them for it despite it making no sense and their fans torm the apartment, and don’t belivie it when bridgette actually shows up.. It takes an inspired speech from Bridgette, whose developed as a person and after actually tasting a late for the first time sees how good they are, and Pearle posting that speech online to dismiss them and our heroes are saved. It’s an utterly amazing plot from josh being excited about the mob attacking them, to Pearle revealing part of the reason she’s so dedicated to helping bridgette is due to her own weird addiction to six flags, which is just so oddly specific I love it. 

The Erotic Awakening of A.P. Lapearle This one STARTED well, with Alex reading his viking erotic to everyone, and not getting that Candace maybe shouldn’t be there, only for Pearle to be the only one to actually enjoy it and be inspired by her enjoyment of his work to submit it to a publisher. The publisher ends up making a valid point that women want erotic fantasy from someone they can feel safe by and alex is well.. alex, so he suggests using pearle as a front. it goes how you’d expect: he wants actual credit, the publisher slowly pushes him out, she regrets it, they fight an army of fans and make them vomit with alex reading the book.. standard stuff. It’s just not very funny or a great insight into either characters, and is easily the weakest episode of the season.. though the next one gave it close compettition. 

Men Rock!

This one was a chore to sit through, and is only ahead of the last one because it has some really good josh bits and musical numbers which is more than the last one gave me so hey. In a nutshell Emily is on the verge of quitting her and Bridgette’s music careers as she feels they’ll never be famous only for their latest song Men Rock!, an ironic title for a sarcastic song poking fun at a bunch of toxic masculinty bs that is a good song, has hit it HUGE in a fictonal foreign dicatroship and get invited to go, reclutantly agreeing. If you haven’t seen the ep, you can still guess how this goes: say it with me THEY TOOK IT AT FACE VALUE. So our heroines have to help inspire the repressed women and inspire a bloody cou, helped by josh finding some improisoned femisinists in a bathroom. They also gain a fan. it has a few good gags, mostly Candace trying to remind her dad to help her find a place to pee after he keeps getting sidetracked by being taken back by Emily’s sucess. I’ts just a very bad, very predictable episode with very obvious misogyn is bad jokes. And misgoyny IS bad but other shows, paticuarlly tuca and bertie with one early episode, have tackeld this topic better. This episode did not. Last one. 

Secret Horse:

This one in stark contrast is one of the series best and an utter joy to watch. On a bad day for the whole apartment with some santa anna winds, an adorable, poofy mained utterly precious horse gets free and ends up at the apartment. Thus we get a vingettte episode, as the horse has a delightful adventure with each of our main 7, and each up tot he last try and hide the horse badly only for the horse to suddenly sprout up and help their mood.

I do love a good vinegtte episode, with two of my faviorite simpsons episodes being 22 short films about springfiled (Minus kirk dragging MIlhouse away from the bathroom, fuck you you balding asshat, it makes the episode hard to watch) ,and trilogy of error, and this is a classic example of it as we get some fun adventures fro each of the housemates: Candace plays with the horse, adorably so, Josh finds it in the garage as his car breaks down and takes them on an install with him, even stuffing them into a suit and we get a great bit of the horse getting fed sugarcubes and josh money. Brigette gets help living in the now instead of posting about it all the time.

My faviorite comes next as Alex needs new patches for his suit but obviouslyc n’t afford them so he takes the ponyt ot he track.. to help him pick which horses to bet on. It’s just such an inherntly funny idea, especially since it works, and really the horse is just hilarious wherever it ends up. It next helps randy win a skating contest, we get a touching story as Pearle misses her old tragically dead horse partner and uses our boy as a subtitute and finlaly we get emily who needs help relaxing and while she naturally calls animal control she hangs up as she falls for hte horse. The group all fight over the horse in the end, the horse leaves and they let it go home, wonder if it was a hallucination and it whizes on thier car. Overall a really great finale and a wonderful note to go out on. 

Overall Ranking I’ve decided eveyr time I do one of these, or a post season wrapup of a show i’ve covered every episode of the season to rank them from best to worst sooo

Birthdaze Time Hooch Haunted Couch Secret Horse Where’d You Go Bridgette? Sauce face Houseguest  From Hell Joint Break Josh Gets Shredded World’s Greatest Teacher Meet the Frackers Handy Man Up Cyber Matrix Men Rock!  The Erotic Awakening of A.P. Lapearle

And i’d like to note that outside of the bottom two hear.. I enjoyed ALL of these. WHich leads to

Final Thoughts; This season was excellent. It had everything the first season had the heart, the character and the utterly great sense of humor, and fine tuned it to be a well oiled machine I could hardly stop laughing at and with tons of great character stuff. Before it had the potetial to surpass regular show but now it has as despite having a few dud episodes itself, as is intievitble in any show, now, they still aren’t as bad as a lot of RS’s early misteps. And Regular SHow as a FANTASTIC show and really stuck the landing, so i’m only saying this is even better and can only go up from here. And even if it stays about the same quality wise, that won’t be a bad place to be. This season was near damn perfect, i’ll probably watch it again and again, and I can’t wait to devour more and given the current tragectory probably will this year. And I couldn’t be more excited.

If you like this blog follow for more reviews, become a patreon to help reach stretch goals or comission a review outright, details for the latter two on my blog. And i’ll see you at the next rainbow. 

#close enough #josh singleton #emily rameriz-singleton #bridget yoshida #pearle watson #randy watson #candace ramirez-singleton #hbo max #animation #reviews

[tabloidtoc]

Hollywood Reporter, September 25

Since I don’t have any tabloids  to add today, I’m going to add the Hollywood Reporter. I’ll do this when I run dry of tabloids. If you’d like me to add HR more often, let me know :) 

Keep in mind HR is an over-sized magazine, so some scans will be cut off. If you’d like something scanned that I cut off, again let me know

Lastly, there are a lot of ads in HR, especially For Your Consideration and Congratulations ads. Let me know if you’d like me to keep an eye out for ads for someone or something you’re interested in

Cover: Fall Style Glam Squads -- Hairstylist Bryce Scarlett, Margot Robbie and makeup artist Pati Dubroff 

Page 10: Contents, Cynthia Erivo

Page 12: Contents 

Page 23:  The Report -- How sky-high can massive TV library deals fly?, Heat Index -- Lizzo

Page 24: Who wants to buy DirecTV at a deep discount? 

Page 26: Why Disney quietly launched streaming in the Netherlands, Theaters’ latest cash grab: ads after trailers 

Page 28: Emmys shocks, surprises and that big ratings stumble, who won big and who won big on TV, Emmy Heat Index -- Phoebe Waller-Bridge, HBO, Amazon, Ozark, Jesse Armstrong, Variety categories, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the women of Game of Thrones, Fox Entertainment 

Page 32: Box Office, Broadcast TV, Cable TV, Billboard Hot 100, Billboard 200 

Page 34: 7 Days of Deals -- Margaret Nagle, Penelope Ann Miller, Mia Kirshner, Lori Loughlin, Felicity Huffman, Bruce Holsinger, Greg Berlanti, Jessica Queller, Robert Rovner, Melissa Korn, Jennifer Levitz, D.V. DeVincentis, Ali Krug, Patrick Chu, Jeffrey Wright, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Dean DeBlois, Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds will star in a musical reimagining of A Christmas Carol, Joaquin Phoenix, Big Deal Exclusive -- Billy Joel’s music will be a scripted “arc-thology” called Scenes from an Italian Restaurant, Hot New Books with Hollywood Appeal -- The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Raven Lane by Amber Cowie

Page 35: Rita Wilson, Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver, Gideon Adlon and Lovie Simone and Zoey Luna, Mayim Bialik and Jim Parsons, Ryan Seacrest, Jared Padalecki will star in a Walker Texas Ranger reboot, Stephen Falk, Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson, Dan Levy, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Nahnatchka Khan, Kiefer Sutherland and Boyd Holbrook, Queen Latifah, Kendrick Lamar, Rep Sheet -- Cecily Strong, Chance the Rapper, Jason Bell, Jamie-Lee O’Donnell, Kevin Nash AKA Diesel, Next Big Thing -- Barbie Ferreira

Page 39: About Town -- Stephanie Ruhle of MSNBC 

Page 40: AllBright pitches women a diverse membership and professional cred to stand out amid multiplying options -- Jameela Jamil, Olivia Wilde, The Bungalows’ bar to entry -- Taylor Swift and Emma Stone, Eddie Redmayne

Page 41: Soho Warehouse, Cory Booker Q&A -- he’s a big fan of Supernatural 

Page 46: Yes, I Did Say That -- Bob Iger, Reed Hastings, Renee Zellweger, Thomas Lennon, Mike Schur, Mike Johnson, Oprah Winfrey, Demi Moore, Flashback -- Julian Fellowes in 2018 

Page 48: Rambling Reporter -- Robert Osborne, Billy Porter, Laverne Cox, Ricky Martin, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Padma Lakshmi, Shoshana Bean, Constance Wu, Hudson Yang, Charlotte Kirk, Kevin Tsujihara, Neil Marshall, Sylvester Stallone, Peter Bradshaw, Power Dining -- Issa Rae, Larry David, Helen Hunt, Jamie Foxx, Brian Grazer, Alicia Vikander brunching at Brentwood Country Mart’s Farmshop, Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Charlie Hunnam, Julie Bowen, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian 

Page 50: Hitched, Hatched, Hired 

Page 53: Emmy Awards -- Phoebe Waller-Bridge 

Page 54: Best Dressed -- Emilia Clarke, Rachel Brosnahan

Page 55: Mandy Moore, Naomi Watts, Michelle Williams 

Page 56: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Gwyneth Paltrow

Page 57: Julia Garner, Billy Porter, Sophie Turner, Kristen Bell 

Page 58: On the Carpet and Inside the Parties -- Jared Harris and Craig Mazin, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and boyfriend Martin McDonagh, Peter Roth with wife Andrea and Ann Sarnoff and husband Richard, Ted Sarandos and Jason Bateman, Billy Porter, Michelle Williams and John Landgraf, George R.R. Martin 

Page 59: Ava DuVernay and Ethan Herisse and Asante Blackk and Jane Rosenthal, Bob Greenblatt and Stephen Loguidice, Rachel Brosnahan, Joey King and Patricia Arquette, RuPaul, Jodie Comer 

Page 60: Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Anna Chlumsky, Peter Dinklage and David Benioff, Eugene Levy and Deborah Devine and Ben Stiller, Charlie Collier, Jeremy Strong and Jesse Armstong and Casey Bloys, Sophie Turner and Nina West, Lena Waithe and Ben Whishaw and Latesha Gillespie and Charlie Barnett 

Page 61: Kelly Kahl and Thom Sherman and their wives, Jeff Bezos and Bethenny Frankel, Norman Lear and Karey Burke, Jharrel Jerome and Korey Wise, Zendaya, Jeff Shell and daughter Anna, Rambling Reporter Emmy Edition -- Ted Sarandos, Jharrel Jerome, Korey Wise, Game of Thrones cast

Page 62: Regina King, Tony Shaloub and Alex Borstein, Robin Wright, Iain Glen and Kit Harington, Jaboukie Young-White, Seth MacFarlane, Adam Devine, Samantha Bee 

Page 64: THR and SAG-AFTRA Nominees Night -- Sterling K. Brown and Mandy Moore and Susan Kelechi Watson and Chris Sullivan, Michael K. Williams, Clea Duvall and Natasha Lyonne, Anthony Carrigan and Jared Harris and wife Allegra Riggio, Jennifer Salke and Bert Salke and Pearlena Igbokwe, Chris Silbermann, Lea Michele, Jeremy Gold and Marci Wiseman and Craig Erwich, Sarah Snook and Nicholas Braun, Aaron Paul and Joey King, David Nevins and Matthew Belloni and Josh Sapan 

Page 66: The Business -- Bill Damaschke 

Page 68: Digital -- Gamer’s Plight -- retire at 25? 

Page 70: TV -- Shane Gillis, SNL and the art of the post-racist-rant apology 

Page 72: Are Hollywood “Loan-outs” done for? 

Page 76: How to throw a viewing party for your own show, Power Shopping -- Cardi B., Ryan Murphy, Larry David, Cameron Diaz, Mark Wahlberg, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Kristen Stewart, Kate Hudson, Style News and Notes -- Teressa Foglia, Gerard Butler, Owen Wilson, John Mayer, Will Smith

Page 78: Becoming Judy -- designers Jany Temime and Jeremy Woodhead transformed Renee Zellweger into Judy Garland 

Page 82: Glam Squads -- Zendaya 

Page 83: Zendaya with makeup artist Sheika Daley and hairstylist Ursula Stephen 

Page 85: Margot Robbie with Bryce Scarlett and Pati Dubroff, Zazie Beetz, Rachel Brosnahan 

Page 86: Cynthia Erivo with makeup artist Terrell Mullin and hairstylist Coree Moreno 

Page 87: Emilia Clarke, Cynthia Erivo, Scarlett Johansson, Nicole Kidman, Brie Larson 

Page 88: Jennifer Lopez, Lupita Nyong’o

Page 89: Rachel Brosnahan with hairstylist Owen Gould and makeup artist Lisa Aharon, Florence Pugh, Margot Robbie 

Page 90: BTS Emmys -- Michelle Williams’ winning glam slam 

Page 91 -- Saoirse Ronan, Hailee Steinfeld, Charlize Theron, Zendaya 

Page 92: Comedy’s Civil War -- Shane Gillis’ SNL firing has exposed a growing rift in the stand-up world over what’s legitimate envelope-pushing and what’s just plain racist 

Page 94: Reviews -- The Politician 

Page 95: Fall TV Roundup, THR’s Social Climbers -- Actors -- Cole Sprouse, Tracee Ellis Ross, Unscripted TV -- American Ninja Warriors, TV Personalities -- James Corden 

Page 97: Backlot -- Elizabeth Banks on fighting to direct and her picks for president, Film Row gives assistants face time with top execs 

Page 98: A new film takes the case of Eric Garner -- who was killed by NYPD officers in 2014 -- to court 

Page 100: Armando Iannucci embraces his softer side for a timely David Copperfield starring Dev Patel 

Page 102: Has Korean filmmaking become a victim of its own success? 

Page 104: 90 Years of THR -- In the early 1960s Marilyn Monroe’s hairstylist was ‘God’

#hollywood #bryce scarlett #margot robbie #pati dubroff #cynthia erivo #game of thrones #got #kit harington #iain glen

[dyketectivecomics]

I’m the anon whose setting the bomb off by asking why season six won’t happen

TL;DR- bc Teen Titans (2003) ended! It wasn’t canceled! It was brought to a conclusion, that fans weren’t super happy with obviously, but it was an ending nonetheless.

I’d really like to encourage everyone in the fandom to read the interviews gathered by TitansTower (2nd half of the page) during the time TT03 actually aired. David Slack, Glen Murakami, & the crew have said over and over again, the original order for the series was for 4 seasons. WB hadn’t expected the popularity of the show to last past that, but it exceeded expectations and by the time season 4 was wrapping up development, they were asked to pen a movie and move forward with development for s5.

They had LOTS of ideas for season 5 too! More side characters they wanted to explore! More depth to get into the Brotherhood’s plot! But unfortunately, when they pitched the idea of a Longer season/more episodes, they were asked to keep it at 13 eps, the usual order. There were Talks about a possible 6th season & the crew started prepping for it and pitching it because, hey! they were passionate abt the show they were working on too! But WB ultimately decided to move onto other projects and guess what? So did the crew! Because that’s just what happens! Things end and you have to accept it and move on. Huh it’s almost like Things Chan-

(The rest under the cut here, is very much getting more into a Rant that veers way off topic (the Bomb is above mostly, the shrapnel is below lmao) & it hasn’t been proofread for errors bc I am, as the kids say, Big Mad. so Beware. You’ve been Warned) (also tagged: long post, in case the cut doesnt work for whatever reason, sorry mobile users RIP)

[[MORE]]

Even IF, for whatever reason, against all logic & reasoning they decided to Greenlight a sixth season, 12 years after this series ENDED. I GUARANTEE fans would find SOMETHING to bitch about every single step of the way. Just look at Young Justice. Much shorter timeframe between s2 and s3 getting picked up and yknow what fans are still doing? Being the Same Old Fans that Fans who Fan will Be.

Misinformation gets spread around every so often too, and I just wanna be really fucking clear: No amount of Toy Sales success/failure had anything to do with the show. No amount of the Demographics they Targeted vs Ones they Hit, had anything to do with the cartoons perceived ‘failure’. Especially considering that, again, they got a movie+5th season that hadn’t originally been planned for. So from that, no amount of fan petitions or campaigns were going to ‘bring it back’ because WB & the crew, again, had moved on to other projects. Because the show, as a production, had reached a natural conclusion.

Now sure, let’s fast forward to 2011/2012? The DC Nation block gets dropped into a SatAM slot. Nostalgia hits Big as, alongside new eps of Green Lantern:TAS & Young Justice, they showcase a plethora of shorts! One of which, is the New Teen Titans, done in that ~*adorable*~ Super-D form but with more or less the same style as the first cartoon.

Fans lose their minds and there’s a resurgence of petitions and letter writing campaigns (ones that I will readily admit to participating in because I was 15 and we all do DUMB things when we’re 15) And through all of this. WB/DC answers our Monkey Paw wish.

But here’s the thing abt the monkeys paw: you’ll get what you wish for, but it’s gonna come with a Big Ass Catch

And that catch, while they gave us the same lineup and same voicecast, they also gave us a comedy-focused & fully super-d/simplified style. And “fans” were Outraged with that.

But here we are again, 7 years later. And there’s a whole generation of fans who have forgotten the mistakes of the past, thinking and hoping against any kind of logic & blinded by nostalgia, that maybe JUST MAYBE. WB will revive a cartoon that ended in Two Thousand and Fucking Seven.

I tutor kids now who weren’t even born by then! The only Titans they know are TTG! And when they tell me they LOVE them, I say “that’s AWESOME dude! Did you know that they’ve got comic books abt them too?”

I tell them about the new generation of TTG! comics, the ones based on the cartoon they grew up with, not the ones I did. I let them know that there’s even more kid & teen heroes beyond the titans. And if they have a certain fav I let them tell me everything they love abt them and I tell them a cool Fact that might encourage them to find out more later!

Some days I HATE TTG, but I will NEVER tell a child that I hate something they love. I saw too much of that when I was growing up and I’ll be damned before I turn around and do the same damn thing to these kids.

Cartoons are a WONDERFUL medium to introduce a new generation of fans to these characters. And we should be encouraging WB to take more chances on bringing more of them to life. Not asking for the same few characters or groups to be redone over and over again.

Give me a Birds of Prey limited series! Give me a Secret Six Adult Oriented action-comedy! Explore that Amethyst short, with all its 80s game tech+magical girl anime aesthetic! Explore more Obscure characters with a quick 5-10 min story! Put a fresh new spin on a golden/silver age storyline (bc lbrhh some of them got WILD)

Just for the love of fuck stop pretending that One cartoon was the absolute Peak of Achievement and is the only thing that deserves to be revived or redone to death. Teen Titans WILL get another cartoon eventually. It’s like Scooby Doo and Batman. Its like Sherlock Holmes or Star Trek. It’s just a little early in its journey but it WILL have another reboot, another reimagining, another chance to shine for an entirely new generation. Everyone will have their preferences.

Just sit down, have a juice box and popcorn and enjoy ur fan servicey nonsense movie that you asked for But Didn’t Ask For, until we get that brand new series again.

TTG is gonna have to end eventually. And when it does, WB will be rubbing their hands together just biding its time until they can reboot the Titans again.

#long post #asked and answered #anonymous asks #randywrites #randyvents #I'm using both tags for archiving/post blocking purposes #(just in case ppl want to block my vents. i Totally Get It ur valid) #but i want y'all to understand its ok to reblog but if you try to Enter a Debate i WILL kneecap u #well. just block really bc I'm not about to Debate this #theres NO DEBATE. the show ENDED. its OVER. we almost had a CHANCE in 2011/2012 but??? is it REALLY any surprise that they took it in a #difference direction when all they had to go off was that the shorts were doing WELL #and that they probably wouldn't have been able to get the exact same crew back together anyways? besides the voice cast at least? #i was PSYCHED when they got amy wolfram to write a few eps of TTG!!! that had be HYPED! but she wasn't brought on as a Regular writer! which #is understandable! she probably had other shows she was working with! #like!!! enjoy the stuff these writers and artists have GONE ON TO DO INSTEAD #theres a lot of the same Spirit of TT there!! its just in something Else instead!

[sunshinetoday]

The Three Week Hiatus - What happened

I really can’t believe it’s been this long since we watched S11E06 episode of The X-files! I know that we had some Wednesdays when we could sleep instead of staying up until 4 am but now I am surer than ever, I don’t need that much sleep, I just want my show back 😂😂  And I really don’t wanna think about how in 4 weeks it will be over...So let’s not focus on that, yet, but rather.......  Here is a refresher for all information we learnt while there was the hiatus!

TV critics are so head over heels with Season 11 of “The X-Files” that it was just certified fresh at review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes. (X)

The Episode Titles and plots for the rest of this season:

“Rm9sbG93ZXJz,” airing Wednesday, Feb. 28 (8:00 PM-9:00 PM ET/PT) 

Plot: In a world of ever-increasing automation and artificial intelligence, Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) find themselves targets in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Episode written by Shannon Hamblin & Kristen Cloke; Directed by Glen Morgan.

Pictures: 

Well, excuse me…

11.07 | Rm9sbg93zxjz

Rm9sbg93zxjz 

happy valentine’s day!!!! here’s mulder and scully on a sushi date because they’re married

“Familiar,” airing Wednesday, March 7 (8:00 PM-9:00 PM ET/PT)

Plot: Mulder and Scully investigate the brutal animal attack of a little boy in Connecticut while suspecting darker forces are at play. Episode written by Benjamin Van Allen; Directed by Holly Dale. 

Pictures:

New Promotional Images for 'Familiar'

“Nothing Lasts Forever,” airing Wednesday, March 14 (8:00 PM-9:00 PM ET/PT)

Plot: While investigating human organ theft, Mulder and Scully uncover a mysterious cult consumed with macabre rituals. Episode written by Karen Nielsen; Directed by Jim Wong.

Pictures:

‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ Promo Photos Released (X)

The X-Files - Episode 11.09 - Nothing Lasts Forever - Promotional Photos (X)

“My Struggle IV,” airing Wednesday, March 21 (8:00PM-9:00 PM ET/PT) — Season Finale

Plot: Mulder and Scully rush to find an on-the-run William (guest star Miles Robbins) while the Cigarette Smoking Man (guest star William B. Davis) pushes forward with his ultimate plan.

Promos/Videos:

ALERT: What Do You Want To Believe? | Season 11 | THE X-FILES (X)

Preview: They Know Everything | Season 11 Ep. 7 | THE X-FILES

Scully & Mulder: Out Of This World | Season 11 | THE X-FILES (X)

The 10 X-Files Episodes We Ship Mulder And Scully Hard | SYFY WIRE (X)

Press:

Ep 8, Nothing Lasts Forever will air after episode 9 in the re-order! (X)

We figured out the best episode of ‘The X-Files’ of all time (X)

Reboots and Remakes: 47 TV Shows Making a Comeback, From ‘Amazing Stories’ to ‘The X-Files’ (X)  

‘The X-Files’ Mulder And Scully Are The Greatest TV Couple Of All Time (X)

The Best Will-They-Won’t-They TV Couples Ever — IndieWire Critics Survey (X)

David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson discuss the return of The X-Files (X)

WHY MULDER AND SCULLY ARE SCI-FI'S PERFECT COUPLE (X)

Duchovny speaks to Jesse Mulligan about his late blooming music career, plus being back in the X Files. (X)

X-Files Photoshoot From The 90’s Show Gillian Anderson And David Duchovny Like You’ve Probably Never Seen Before   (X)

EXCLUSIVE: David Duchovny On Gillian Anderson's 'X-Files' Exit: ‘I Can’t Imagine It Without Scully’ (X)

The X-Files: Season 11 Review (x)

Bits and Pieces:

New #TheXFiles teaser… Tomorrow… (X) 

For #TheXFiles fans who want a little tease of the tease… Here ya go (X)

FOX Channels Indo promo image (X)

Not to be a spoiler, but watch next week’s episode of The X-Files when this date plays a little role (X)

I swear to god Fox Mulder does not own those glasses. Those are Gillian Anderson’s. Fight me on it. (X)

Fox Mulder, enemy of machines for 25 years

Some details about @chimerart last #TheXFiles cover “Case Files FloridaMan #2” release in May by IDWPublishing.   

In other news:

Footage of a pre-Bafta awards dinner party in Mayfair, London on Saturday night featuring Gillian Anderson, Damian Lewis and Greta Gerwig. 

David Duchovny - “The X-Files” Press Conference in Los Angeles, CA - 10 January 2018 (X)

Gillian Anderson’s quest to find modern-day Suffragettes (X)

After all this break and not much happening, I’m ready to embrace the last 4 episodes & the greatest love affair of television! Give me Rm9sbG93ZXJz with no other actors but Gillian & David! Give me the sushi date on Scully’s birthday and then give me some well-lit romance with some afterglow! Thank you 👽🔦✖️

#gillian anderson #david duchovny #thexfiles #fox mulder #dana scully

[officialotakudome]

New Post has been published on Otaku Dome | The Latest News In Anime, Manga, Gaming, And More

New Post has been published on https://otakudome.com/peacock-streaming-service-review/

Peacock Streaming Service Review

NBC Universal is now the owner of a fresh in-house streaming service. Acting as a competitor to Netflix, Amazon Prime & perhaps more appropriately HBO Max, Paramount+, and CBS All Access the service unlike the aforementioned offers both a premium and free subscription option. While a handful of content is locked behind premium, the free offerings aren’t too shabby. 

Peacock is a 2020 over-the-top streaming service it is owned and operated by NBC Universal. It is currently available in free and premium ad & premium ad free subscriptions priced at $4.99 & $9.99 respectively. Annual premium tiers are offered at $50 and $100 respectively. 

Editor’s Note: This review is based upon the three different subscription tiers currently offered by Peacock. Peacock was reviewed on an iPhone SE 2nd Gen, Windows laptop, and Playstation 4.

Peacock’s user interface.

As everyone and their grandma is coming up with their own in-house streaming services to get a piece of the pie originally baked by Netflix it was only a matter of time before a Hollywood giant like NBC Universal got onboard. With streaming becoming ever more competitive and lucrative it is a bit surprising that NBC and Comcast hadn’t gotten on with their own service much sooner, especially after HBO Max was announced years prior to its initial launch. I will say that NBC Universal offering a free tier instead of forcing people to sign up out of the gate is a brilliant strategy. But if they want to entice people into sticking around they might want to offer a bit more on the originals side for free viewers.

Peacock’s channel guide.

THE GOOD: Peacock was launched in April 2020 for a preview to Xfinity users before opening up to the public just three months later. While I can’t speak from the perspective of the Xfinity customers that were lucky enough to experience the early build of the service as a public customer I can honestly say that so far, I’m impressed with what I’ve seen from Peacock. As I probably mentioned in my HBO Max review Peacock is a fresh service so some hiccups are always expected. But unless those technical issues are embarrassingly bad the content library will always be the big selling point for these things. 

So what exactly is offered from NBC Universal’s extensive, endless tape library? Quite a bit actually. From the free tier there’s a ton of options for starters next day access to premiere NBCU shows become available with no extra cost or cable provider needed. Live news and sports can also be accessed from the free tier, free users also have access to currently aired seasons regardless of whether they just aired weeks or months ago. Though some content is locked to premium due to being made a Peacock exclusive. This is a bit of a raw deal for fans of AP Bio which stars Glen Howerton as it suffers from this fate. Though in fairness, AP Bio was moved to Peacock because the series was revived for it after initially being cancelled following it’s second season. 

Peacock stands out by offering what other streamers don’t; an impressive free library.

In regards to the premium offerings of Peacock there’s the aforementioned AP Bio season three and it’s upcoming fourth season. For wrestling fans there’s also WWE content available from it’s run of documentaries. Speaking of, starting March 18, 2021 WWE Network will be absorbed into Peacock meaning the entire WWE library will become available in addition to premiere episodes of NXT, NXT UK, and 205 Live at no additional cost to premium subscribers. Peacock also has classic and modern films & TV shows like the original Jurassic Park trilogy, Everybody Hates Chris, Trolls World Tour, Superstore, and the original Saved by the Bell. Original to Peacock include a remake of Saved by the Bell, Curious George (which is apparently still on the air), a reboot of Punky Brewster coming in February, and other shows. 

Peacock offers a bold blend of old school and modern classics between it’s free and premium services.

THE BAD: It should be noted that this could possibly be pinned down to internet speed/amount of devices connected, but I have experienced some issues with the UI. For example, something so simple as starting from where I left off on an episode just flat out refused to work for me on Peacock. This was regardless of whether I was taking advantage of the premium or free options. Not everyone is going to have the same problem(s) as me at least I hope to God, but that’s a pretty dependent feature to just not work. There’s also a bit of heavy lag when browsing throughout the UI, most of this was on my laptop and PS4 so I’m going to give the service the benefit of the doubt by placing the blame on speed or lack thereof. While Peacock has one of the strongest free content libraries I’ve probably ever seen from a premium service I do think they could do a bit more to entice subs. For example, why not offer a season or half of a season for an original of the would be customer’s choice? Maybe offer select content from premium channels outside of first episodes? These are just some thoughts the fact that Peacock offers an annual ad tier at $50 is probably more than enough to satisfy people into signing up. 

Another thing hurting Peacock is the fact that many key NBCU properties such as The Office will be leaving the service due to NBCU signing those properties off to other services for a limited window exclusivity. There’s also a lack of major user profile features that kind of limits control for personal preferences. I’m more than sure these issues will be wrinkled out over time, but it’s something that’s definitely going to be a turn off for several potential customers. 

Peacock’s user interface for mobile.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: While still fairly young Peacock is making some smart moves to take aim at it’s competition. The free tier is way more impressive than it was expected to be though it admittedly has room to be even better which says a lot about Peacock’s potential. While the original content is nice I think Peacock might have a harder time making it a selling point compared to other streamers. There’s also some UI issues that need to be worked on depending on the device, but again this could be put down to speed. Some strong NBCU properties like The Office are also leaving the service soon due to previous deals which could be an unfortunate deal breaker for would be Peacock subscribers. Even with all of it’s issues Peacock has a strong future just simply based on it’s free offerings alone, but it’s variety heavy library does a solid job of helping it stand out from other streaming services. Otaku Dome gives Peacock a 78 out of 100.

[martaonthemove]

Paige Davis from TLC's "Trading Spaces" on Marta on the Move Podcast -Talks History of "Trading Spaces", Life During Social Distancing, Body Image, Being a Libra and more.

You know her name, and her amazing personality from the hit show Trading Spaces on TLC. Paige Davis hasn't stopped since being cast in the show in 2014. She has starred on Broadway, and you have seen her on Ellen, Oprah, Entertainment Tonight and more.

In 2018 she rejoined as host for the Trading Spaces reboot, and I was so pumped to be able to catch up with her in New York. We talk about her history being cast in Trading Spaces, how she isn't the person to ask about DIY projects, body image, being a libra, (We are the best!), keeping an at home workout routine during Covid, and more.

I love Paige, and wanted to do something special for this episode since she had recently lost her close friend and Trading Spaces designer Frank Bielec, along with her uncle to Covid weeks ago. I brought to the show four of Paige's closest friends to challenge her in a game of Two Truths and a Lie. It was a HILARIOUS and heart felt time.

Hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I did. Paige, us two Libra's shall dance together again in no time at all. ;)

Special thanks to Rodney Shwartz for helping me organize her friends together! WOOT!

This episode was made possible with the support of Campari USA and Natrona Bottling Company

"Natrona Bottling Company, makers of Red Ribbon Sodas, Red Ribbon Mixers and Jamaicas Finest Ginger Beer, has been serving the Allegheny Valley and Pittsburgh for 116 years. Coming from a time when every small community across the country had their own soda pop shop to call their own, we are one of only a few left that make our beverages the way pop was meant to be made. We produce our beverages with only cane sugar, the same bottling equipment (which is now antique) and a carbonation process called “pinpoint carbonation”. This old school process, which utilizes dry ice to create our bubbles instead of a manufactured co2, gives our sodas a small fine champagne like bubble that gently dance across your pallet with every sip. We are the last in the country to use this traditional process to continue to present you with a true authentic representation of what soda pop is supposed to taste like.

Sponsored by Natrona Bottling Company

Stay Refreshed, Stay Satisfied and Stay Happy. Drink Red Ribbon. Sincerely, Vito Gerasole Natrona Bottling Company CEO"

Campari America boasts a rich, comprehensive portfolio of more than 20 brands, including award-winning vodkas, whiskies, cordials, liqueurs, and rums.

"Campari America is a wholly owned subsidiary of Davide Campari-Milano S.p.A., which together with its affiliates Campari Group, comprise an international beverage powerhouse making it the sixth-largest spirits company in the world.

At the heart of Campari America are two legends in the American spirits industry. The first, Skyy Spirits, was founded in San Francisco back in 1992 by the entrepreneur who invented iconic SKYY Vodka. The second is the world-famous Wild Turkey Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, where they have been making the world’s finest whiskies since the 1800’s. Both companies were purchased by Davide Campari-Milano and together they form Campari America. Unrivaled in its quality, innovation and style, the Campari America portfolio is a top choice among distributors, retailers and consumers.

"Campari America is committed to profitable growth by combining its focus on brand building with innovation and functional excellence.

Campari America manages Gruppo Campari’s portfolio in the US with such leading brands as SKYY® Vodka, SKYY Infusions®, Grand Marnier®, Campari®, Aperol®, Wild Turkey® Straight Kentucky Bourbon, American Honey®, Russell’s Reserve®, Glen Grant® Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Forty Creek® Canadian Whisky, BULLDOG® Gin, Cabo Wabo® Tequila, Espolón® Tequila, Appleton® Estate Rum, Wray & Nephew® Rum, Coruba® Rum, Ouzo 12®, X-Rated® Fusion Liqueur®, Frangelico®, Cynar®, Averna®, Braulio® and Jean-Marc XO Vodka®."

Check out this episode!

[blogsarahjames]

How Would Goal! Look If it Was Made Today?

​

The Goal! film series, tracking the ascent of loveable Mexican maestro Santiago Muñez from a standout amateur player in Los Angeles into one of the best in the world, was a staple of a generation's footballing education.

If you're a mid-to-late 90s kid who came to terms with the sport at the beginning of the 21st century, chances are you spent hours in the garden or out in the street practicing step-overs, roulettes and audacious overhead flicks, having been inspired by the film to chap on your mate's door with a ball under your arm. 

If the Saudi Arabian group manages to buy #NewcastleUnited, maybe they’ll finally be able to buy a decent replacement for Santiago Munez

There was talk of a reboot in 2016, but it's maybe just as well that it got binned. Justin Bieber as the main man? No, you can keep it.

No, no; if we're going to reboot Goal! for 2020, we're going to do it right. And having already adapted ​Bend it Like Beckham, ​Mean Machine, ​Jimmy Grimble and more for the social media generation, here is 90min's pitch for how a modern version of the iconic movie would look.

The Team

In Goal! (2005):

Muñez, our hero for the next 1000 words or so, earns a trial with Newcastle United, after impressing out-of-work scout Glen Foy with an acrobatic finish in a Sunday League game in Los Angeles, where he and his Mexican family live.

In the context of the movie, the Magpies are faltered title challengers, and manager Erik Dornhelm (Marcel Iures) outlines their goals for the season in a press conference unveiling marquee signing Gavin Harris (Alessandro Nivola)

In Goal! (2020):

In theory, ​Newcastle still works. They finished 14th in 2004/05, and sit 13th in the league at present meaning they're in a broadly similar position. The studio probably didn't think that the club would go from consistently challenging for a Champions League spot to mid-table fodder so quickly.

So we're going to change things up for the sake of believability. We need a realistic top four challenger; ideally one who has recently (kind of) been in the title picture, and have aspirations of getting back in there

Arriving in England

In Goal! (2005): Santiago arrives on British shores, his trip having been funded by his gran after his dad stole his last €1200. Despite not having all of the correct papers, he is let through by a Newcastle-supporting immigration official because the club 'need all the help they can get.'

It then occurs to him he has no clue how to get from the airport (presumably Heathrow) to Newcastle, so he calls Foy from a phone box to ask. Foy then advises him on which train to catch and puts him up for the duration of his month-long trial.

In Goal! (2020): Our Santiago simply has to have the right papers; there's no way in hell an illegal immigrant gets into Brexit Britain that easily, but we can write around that.

There's no need for train fare; it's 2020, and for a trial at ​Tottenham, Santiago just needs to travel to the north of the city. An Uber is arranged. 'Been busy tonight, mate?' he asks in an overly posh/fake accent, trying to brush up on the culture after asking his 112 Twitter followers how to fit in.

His beach (backstreets of Enfield) montage is set to I Gotta Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas; we're lifting the tone a little.

The Adversity

In Goal! (2005): Santiago takes to a despicably muddy training pitch and gets the living bejesus kicked out of him by his mildly racist teammates.

He struggles to come to terms with it all; even more-so after a w**ker team-mate in the reserves who has had it out for him since day one steps on his inhaler, ultimately revealing his struggles with asthma to the coaches.

Seeing Almiron and Joelinton up front reminds me of the Newcastle glory days, Santiago Munez in his prime slotting them into Gavin Harris. Those were the days #newars

As if that wasn't bad enough for our emerging young star, he even gets stitched up by a couple of girls at a party, and has 'indecent' (but really tame) pictures sold to a newspaper; pictures which get back to the manager and his love interest Roz (Anna Friel).  

Oh yeah, and then his dad dies.

In Goal! (2020): We're not having any of the xenophobic nonsense in our version. Instead, it's some gentle ribbing about the fact he's only ever played 'tinpot' football in the states. The muddy pitch isn't a problem; we have all-weather astroturfs in the future.

He can't have asthma since he'd never pass a medical in the first place. Our boy's underlying knee injury that's exacerbated by a sly, well-placed kick when that nameless defensive midfielder susses it out.

And we're going to steer clear of the sex scandal altogether. It wasn't a big enough plot point to justify writing in the sort of cataclysmic controversy that would be required to almost disgrace a footballer in the current climate.

His dad still dies, though. We can't change that.

The Cameos

In Goal! (2005): There are no shortage of cameos from real-life footballers. The most notable one comes in the gym at the training ground, when Alan Shearer - then still a player - asks Santiago if he's finished with the leg press machine.

Santiago is later introduced by Harris to David Beckham, and ​Real Madrid teammates Zinedine Zidane and Raul at a nightclub. That has no real significance (in the first film, at least), but it's a nice nod

In Goal! (2020): For obvious reasons, it can't be Shearer. Instead, it's modern day Spurs legend ​Harry Kane, but instead of Santiago springing to his feet to offer the machine up right away, he just sort of shrugs and says he'll be five minutes. He's not intimidated by Kane in the slightest.

Beckham was the most marketable star in football back in 2005; nowadays it's ​Cristiano Ronaldo. So it would be he and two ​Juventus team-mates, probably the underwhelming combo of ​Aaron Ramsey and ​Paulo Dybala, that Santiago has a chance meeting with.

The Big Game

In Goal! (2005): As the movie enters its final straight, we get some 'actual' football. We see Patrick Kluivert net the winner against ​Chelsea to set up an explosive final day shootout, in which Santiago earns a start against ​Liverpool.

Our hero - having long-since gotten to grips with reserve football by this point - has the game of his life. He sets up Harris for the opener and the equaliser to make it 2-2, after 'Liverpool' (10 filler actors and the real Steven Gerrard) came from behind to lead.

Santiago then curls a free-kick into the top corner to ensure Champions League football for the Magpies, and they all lived happily ever after.

In Goal! (2020): We need to change it up, so it's a ​Son Heung-min winner against ​Manchester United that sets up the finale; which happens to be a final day North London Derby at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Let's say Arsenal are a point ahead of fifth-placed Spurs; so a win ensures Champions League football.

Following the vein of the original, the only 'real' ​Arsenal player is their most recognisable star ​Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. But he has a quiet game; Santiago's two assists and his last-minute winner (an acrobatic volley instead of a free-kick since that's more in line with what he's been doing for the entire film) clinches it.

The stadium erupts; our hero is redeemed, and Tottenham finally have something to celebrate.  

Ah, the magic of fictional cinema.

#football news

[aion-rsa]

Buck Rogers To Return in New Big Screen Reboot

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

The classic space opera hero Buck Rogers is coming back, according to The Wrap. Legendary Entertainment (Godzilla: King of the Monsters) has snagged the movie rights to the 92-year-old character, with producers Don Murphy (Transformers) and Susan Montford set to steer the project through Murphy’s Angry Films production company.

Buck Rogers brought sci-fi elements like ray guns, rocket ships, lasers and jet packs into popular culture, with the property’s vision of the future and emphasis on action and adventure influencing everything from Disney’s Tomorrowland attraction to George Lucas’ original concept for Star Wars.

The movie will bring Buck all the way back to his roots by adapting Armageddon 2419 A.D., the 1928 novella in which the character made his debut. Written by Philip Francis Nowlan and published in the iconic pulp fiction magazine Amazing Stories, the tale follows the adventures of Anthony Rogers, a World War I veteran who is investigating strange phenomena in an abandoned Pennsylvania coal mine for his company, the American Radioactive Gas Corporation, when he is trapped by a cave-in.

Exposed to radioactive gas, Rogers falls into suspended animation and reawakens 492 years later in the 25th century. What used to be the United States of America is now ruled by the Hans (i.e. the Chinese), who conquered the U.S. nearly 400 years earlier using fleets of airships armed with disintegration rays. Rogers joins a local “gang” and, using strategies he learned in the Great War, manages to help score a victory against the Hans and pave the way for a future reclamation of America.

A sequel to the original story, The Airlords of Han, appeared in the March 1929 issue of Amazing Stories, but the character, renamed Buck, really took off with the debut in January of that year of a daily syndicated comic strip. The strip ended up in some 287 U.S. newspapers at its peak, along with 160 international outlets.

It wasn’t until a year after the comic strip premiered, in January 1930, that Rogers first made his way into space in a story called “Tiger Men from Mars.” That in turn paved the way for the franchise’s turn toward space opera, even as it branched into radio in 1932 (making it the first sci-fi program to ever air on the radio), a 12-part movie serial in 1939 and, later, more comics, books, toys and video games.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Although there was a short-lived Buck Rogers TV series during the 1950-51 season, it was revived in 1979 by NBC after the pilot was released theatrically to good box office. Starring Gil Gerard as Buck and produced by Glen A. Larson (Battlestar Galactica), Buck Rogers in the 25th Century ran for two seasons and introduced a new generation to the venerable hero, this time as a NASA pilot who flies his ship through an anomaly in space and is left drifting in the void for 500 years until he awakens to defend Earth against the forces of the planet Draconia and other menaces.

Although a movie was announced as far back as 2008 with Frank Miller writing and directing, legal issues kept the franchise in limbo for the better part of the next decade. With Legendary now obtaining the rights, the plan is to launch a film franchise, a TV series and an animated component.

The post Buck Rogers To Return in New Big Screen Reboot appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/374MpS7

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

[brianjaeger]

2020 Academy Award Best Picture Nominees Guide For Those Who Haven’t Actually Watched Them

The 92nd Oscars are here and it’s time yet again for all of us to lord over one year’s worth of millions of people’s passions with the certainty of a judge at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show (which ironically takes places one day later) and say aloud, “This art is and forever shall be known as better than that other art!” 

Throw the notion that expression through the medium of film can exist simply to reflect a myriad of emotions and varied experiences right into the wind. We gotta know what that BEST art is, son!

So with mere hours left before Sunday’s spectacle, you’re probably asking yourself one question. “Brian, why do you keep doing this?” No, not that one. “Brian, Tumblr? Really? Does that still exist? Why don’t you spend the slightest amount of time to find a better medium for this?” No, not that one either. “But Brian, I haven’t actually watched any of these films. What am I going to do?!” Ah, now that’s the one. But fear not. I’ve got you covered. For the 6th time, I’m here to give you a rundown of what I think all of these movies are about without actually seeing them, along with some pithy little talking points to take into your Oscar parties to sound like a goddamn genius.

Ford V Ferrari

In this epic clash of man vs. nature set in the den of Harrison Ford’s summer home in Plano, Texas, the extremely hungry aging star has just had a large pie from Ferrari’s Pizzeria, located at 3949 Legacy Drive, delivered…and now it is time for battle. On the About Us section of their website, Ferrari’s Pizzeria makes a “promise to our customers to provide the best Italian food using recipes handed down from our Italian grandmothers.” Hold on to your Italian grandmothers, kids - that promise is about to be put to the test. (Yeah, it’s real.)

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

That cameo by Mater from Cars is really what pushed this film into Oscar contention.

Christian Bale's car in Ford V Ferrari is also an unwavering method actor and remained in character as a car for the entirety of production.

Who won? I'll give you a hint, in the long run, it was not the quality of life for the American working class!

The Irishman

In this gritty thriller, Lucky the Leprechaun’s father, Frank Leprechaun, an immigrant who worked as a farrier making horseshoes in Ireland before coming to America, wishes on a shooting star for a way to make a better life for his family. He finds that chance by doing hits for the mob and we see his first job take place under a pale moon, when he shoots a diamond store clerk in the heart, blood red ballooning out onto the green grass, like crimson and clover. Later, an aging Frank Leprechaun kills union leader Jimmy Hoffa and as he dies, he divulges the secret that Hoffa’s body is buried on a plantation in Lexington to Lucky. The young boy looks back and makes a firm promise to his dying father. “They’ll never get Kentucky farm.”

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

The de-aging technology used in The Irishman was so advanced that, while you can’t see it, De Niro's testicles are actually two inches higher in the first half of the movie.

The run time of the movie is 3 hours and 30 minutes which is also the average amount of time Netflix users scroll through options before deciding to just watch the same episode of The Office again.

In Ireland, this movie is known as The Man.

JoJo Rabbit

From M. Night Shyamalan comes the story of a scared young boy who claims to see Jewish people. While adults around him are trying very hard to see them too, it’s Adolf Hitler who helps the boy to overcome his fear and actually communicate with the Jews to understand them and realize that the reason that he can see them is because he can help them. And then at the end we realize that Hitler was actually a Jew himself THE WHOLE TIME!  

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

I thought it was just a bit on the nose that Taika Waititi chose to have JoJo sing her hit “Leave (Get Out)” at all the Nazis during the Allied occupation of Germany.

While juggling roles in Marriage Story and JoJo Rabbit, Scarlett Johansson would often get confused resulting in one day on set when she tried to cut Sam Rockwell’s hair in a bathtub.

Of all the nominated films, when it comes to winning Best Picture, this is…Nazi one! (Cough. Look around. Place your drink on the table. Slowly collect your coat, walk to the door, pause as if to turn, sigh, leave.)

Joker

It’s 1964 and Cesar Romero has established himself as a force in Hollywood. A multi-talented performer and veteran of WWII, Romero has amassed an impressive body of work playing roles as a versatile character actor, when he gets a call from his agent.

Agent: Cesar, I’ve got something that I think you’d be perfect for.

Cesar Romero: Is it a complex villain in a new Western? A dark turn as a gangster in a noir? A comedic foil in a Sinatra vehicle?

Agent: No. Better.

Cesar Romero: What is it?

Agent: Get this. An evil clown Batman nemesis…on TV!

(Silence.)

Cesar Romero: Um.

Agent: You’ll be kind of like a sidekick to Burgess Meredith! And guess what he is?

Cesar Romero: (Deep breath.) What is he?

Agent: Like a half-man, half-penguin sort of thing…I think. But he’s also evil! Oh, and you’ll also get to star alongside Julie Newmar!

Cesar Romero: Oh, well that may have legs. So, do we have a “will they, won’t they” dynamic?

Agent: Not at all! But she is evil too. And also part cat!

Cesar Romero: I do not understand any of what you are saying.

Agent: And it’s got Frank Gorshin!

Cesar Romero: And what is he? Let me guess. Like an evil frog person?

Agent: No, no! He’s The Riddler. It’s sort of the same exact deal as your character, only he doesn’t wear any makeup. Isn’t this wonderful?!

Cesar Romero: (Pause.) You have to be joking.

Agent: No, Cesar. YOU have…to be joking.

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

We still have a little bit of time for Joaquin Phoenix to die and win a posthumous Oscar for this role and keep with tradition. Then in 11 more years, a woman will win Best Supporting Actress for playing the Joker role and then in another 11 years the actual Joker will direct Joe Kerr in a reboot co-starring the Impractical Jokers…and win an Oscar.

I found the end scene touching when Arthur’s wife delivers his child and asks, “Arthur, what do you want to name your son?” And he replies, “Béla.”

Todd Phillips only made this big flashy blockbuster for the studio so that they’d let him do his deeply personal, intimate art house project, The Hangover IV.

Little Women

In a fresh take on a movie that I think is about some nuns living in a cottage during, fuck, I dunno like 1845? 1912? Aught 5? but there’s like a mean one, and a smart-and-sort-of-pretty-but-not-too-pretty one, and they probably have a dog, oh and a horse, and they have fights about vying for the love of the same boy they grew up with who is now some hot stud with poofy hair and poofy shirts and a nasally British accent, oh and there’s 2-3 other sisters that really just serve to further the main sister’s plot, and there is like fucking grass everywhere and how is all that grass not staining the shit out of those long flowy dresses that they always wear on their farm – or is it a glen? can you live ON a glen? – but later the guy marries the right one and he’s a strong man but is totally cool with her writing about some bullshit about being like a female doctor pioneer or something – oh and she’s wearing a straw hat with like a ribbon that’s always flapping the fuck around behind her – I forgot also that they only have one parent, the other is definitely dead and that comes up a little too often, and my mom and two sisters have to have tissues near the goddamn couch while they watch this seemingly 14 hour fucking miniseries or movie or Hallmark marathon because even though each of them could goddamn recite the dialogue from memory they still cry every…single…time…and OH MY GOD, CAN THIS ANNE OF GREEN GABLES, SOUND OF MUSIC, LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE OR WHATEVER THIS GIRL STUFF IS PLEASE BE OVER SO I CAN HAVE THE LIVING ROOM TV BACK TO WATCH BOY STUFF!

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

Not many people know this fact but on her death bed, Louisa May Alcott’s final request was that if a woman ever directed a film adaptation of Little Women they would absolutely under no circumstances be nominated for a Best Director Oscar. So, really, that’s on her.

To ants, these are very big women.

Alan Dershowitz and Prince Andrew's favorite film.

Marriage Story

Dr. Ellie Sattler has established her second career as a divorce attorney after years as a paleobotanist and now fights so that “woman inherits the earth”...or at least gets primary custody and more than half of the assets.

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

The roommates of Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig have become increasingly annoyed listening to several minutes of the two repeating, “No I hope YOU are recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with the Academy Award for Best Picture…and hang up first,” before ending their long phone calls every night.

While juggling roles in Marriage Story and JoJo Rabbit, Scarlett Johansson would often get confused resulting in one day on set when she tried to hide Robert Smigel in the attic.

Variety reports that a remake of Marriage Story is now slated for fall of 2026 with Colin Jost in the role originated by Adam Driver in a version of the story that will be produced by real life.

1917

The seventh and final installment of the 1910's saga follows the previous successful box office hits 1911: The First One, 1912: Now There's Two, 1913: Why Not Three, 1914: Get It? Years Are Sequential. That’s Really All This Joke Is, 1915: This Is The Fifth One (But Fourth Sequel), and 1916: 19 Fast 16 Furious.

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

Originally, the movie was supposed to have a ton of cuts between scenes but after saying, “Action,” a producer whispered to Sam Mendes that they only had budget left for one single take after hiring every single recognizable British actor still alive – so Mendes started screaming, “Run! You there, start shooting at them. Keep rolling! Keep running! Jump down that waterfall! Let’s go, people, keep up! Hide in those trees now! Oh look, more bad guys! Pew pew! Duck! Run over that way! Do not…stop…shooting!”

If this movie was called 2017, Colin Firth would have just pulled out his Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and texted, “Call off attack,” with a GIF of Admiral Ackbar saying, “It’s A Trap!” Then, mere seconds later he would have received, “lol k thx”.

1917 earned Benedict Cumberbatch a nomination for “Most Distressingly Off-putting Mustache”.

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood harkens back to a time long, long, long ago in Hollywood's history when the majority of top actors were white, the majority of directors were old men and individual parts of women's bodies were oddly objectified and sexualized. We’ve come so far since then!

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

Please don’t ruin the fun and let Brad Pitt know that a movie was actually being filmed around him from June to November 2018.

I didn’t think the film was particularly that great but every single person I know who lives in L.A. and is either in or adjacent to the entertainment industry corrected me that it actually is.

Oh, I’m sorry – I think you’re in the wrong place. This is the once upon a time where a man is burned alive with a blowtorch. If you’re looking for the once upon a time where a man’s eyes are drilled out of his face, well then, pal, you’re gonna want to go to Mexico.

Parasite

Oh. I’m sorry. I accidentally put a Best For'n Language Film here at the end of this list of the best ‘Murican films.

3 Things To Casually Inject Into Conversation To Prove You Saw The Movie And Sound Like An Expert:

Parasite was, by far, the best movie I read this year!

나는 기생충을 진심으로 감사 할 수 있도록 한국어를 배웠습니다.

Bong Joon-ho's Parasite might leave you asking who are the real bottom feeders in the black comedy about social structures. There's plenty of food for thought as this picture is deeper than than what it may seem like on the surface…is the word-for-word review from Rotten Tomatoes Super Reviewer Aldo G that I just read to you out loud after pulling it up on my phone here.

[tokupedia]

Kamen Rider 45th Anniversary File:Drive

2014-2015:

Godzilla returns for his 60th birthday to theaters in an American film adaptation reboot simply titled Godzilla. Unlike last time America did this stunt, the film was well done and was a success.

Fans celebrate and sing with Moon Pride with Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal, a modern reboot that fully adapts the original manga for the franchise’s 20th anniversary.

Ultraman Ginga got a sequel season on TV, Ultraman Ginga S. Ultraman X would come the following year and Tsuburaya would sign an exclusive streaming and simulcast deal with the California-based internet streaming company Crunchyroll to broadcast entries of the Ultra Series legally on the web. (despite Chaiyo being jerks and trying to stop the deal with the fake “We own Ultraman” thing again)

Zing Zing, AMAZING! As long as there is love in the world, Cure Lovely is invincible! Pretty Cure celebrates its 10th Anniversary with HappinessCharge Precure, which introduces the concept of non-super mode form changing to the shoujo series thanks to Kamen Rider writers on the staff.

The Super Sentai Series hits a rough patch with ratings and toy sales as ToQger and Ninninger come and go. Super Sentai celebrates its 40th year of existence on April 5, 2015 and for the first time ever, a Power Rangers actor cameos in a Sentai!

Japan finishes switching to full digital HD TV broadcasting. Now we can see all the pretty lasers, sparks and explosions in glorious high definition!

Shout! Factory shocked Ranger Nation with a bombshell, Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger was coming to DVD in the United States! Due to positive reception by fans and sales, the company would become the official distributor of Super Sentai DVDs in America!

Power Rangers celebrated 20 years of the franchise. The Mighty Morphin’ Red Ranger gets a spot in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as a balloon!

Power Rangers Super Megaforce frustrates longtime fans of the series, with reviews ranging from “meh, it’s okay” to fan rage of the highest caliber for the mishandling of such a special occasion as the 20th anniversary. It really is a divisive season.

Kikaider Reboot attempts to relaunch Kikaider for its 40th anniversary, but later Shotaro’s son and president of Ishimori Pro Akira Onodera would put the Kikiader’s licensing to Japanese filmmakers under indefinite lockdown as he was unhappy with the direction the film took.

Cyborg 009 comes to America again with a graphic novel adaptation in 2013, intended to be the first of a series of graphic novels featuring Shotaro Ishinomori’s super heroes (”The Ishinomori Universe Books” as they were to be called). After a year of waiting for the next one, fans are disappointed to hear from F.J. DeSanto that the next set of books were put on hold and then cancelled indefinitely due to Ishimori Pro’s “cultural issues” with the project. Thus, the planned Skull Man and Kikaider novels are cancelled during their early draft phase. 

The Garo Series turns 10 years old and a vast array of projects are announced and debut on TV, video and in theaters, increasing the franchise’s media output to levels never seen before.

The Patlabor franchise gets a series of live action films with Erina Mano (Kamen Rider Nadeshiko) as one of its stars.

When Drive was being planned; the producers had an idea of utilizing aspects of another cult favorite “Rider” show: Glen A. Larson’s cult 1980s TV show Knight Rider. In an interview, producer Takahito Omori even outright stated that Drive would be “Kamen Rider meets Knight Rider”.

Now imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but you need to be subdued to avoid lawsuits when you are dealing with TV. (Especially with tyrannical copyright strikedowners and suers like NBC Universal if you are simply doing a tribute). But the overall feeling is there in some regard: Rinna is Bonnie, we have a KARR expy on two accounts and a sentient A.I. in a car that accompanied a law enforcer. But that is where the some of the Knight similarities end as Drive tries to be its own thing, a quirky, sometimes goofy, sometimes serious show with sentient Hot Wheels cars, special tires that give the heroes super powers and a talking belt.

The planning involved Riku Sanjo, who fans remember from the beloved Kamen Rider W. He wanted a police procedural drama integrated into the action. Oddly enough, the original concept was to make the hero a former criminal and then revised into a crook turned cop!  This idea was bounced around before the TV Asahi network executives got into a hissy fit about an anti-hero as a lead and said/demanded that the hero should be “pure”. So they decided to just make the show about cops with the main hero being an officer of the leu. (as Peter Sellers used to say).

A second concept idea was the use of games but the staff thought the age demographic they were aiming for was “too young for that”. This will still come... eventually in another Rider show years later.

Another aspect that chose the direction of the show was a more somber one, the choice of a car as the main Rider Machine. Ishinomori famously claimed in an SIC story that “cars didn’t work” for Kamen Rider the last time they tried it. But according to the Asahi Shimbun in 2014, with the dwindling population and low birth rate of Japan, motorcycles are becoming less and less common in number on Japan’s roads. No extra babies being born means less future rebellious youngsters and some of those who have bikes registered are getting older and greyer. 

So the staff chose a car as 1: Cars are steadily beginning to rise in number on Japan’s roads and 2: small car toys like Hot Wheels are and always will be popular with the young male demographic. Plus the staff thought it would be “innovative” as unlike with Black RX, the car would be the main hero’s sole vehicle. Also helping the car motif was Carranger director Ryuta Tasaki being on the show as a consultant and episode director, who wanted to “break a few conceptions about Heisei Kamen Rider”. 

So after the decision, the production crew took a used 1992 Honda NSX, got some custom seating, racing style safety belts and trim from TS Tech, took her to a body shop and went to work. Several months of hard labor and custom parts made in-house and spare/modified parts donated from Honda later.....

We got a souped-up custom super machine! Sure, Tridoron doesn’t have a style that is to everbody’s taste, but in the show it can fly like a certain Delorean, turbo boost, shoot lasers and can go a little over 340MPH and drive itself!

The cars and speed didn’t stop with the main hero, as we got a TRON-lined high tech Mercedes-Benz AMG GT (the first non-Japanese manufactured car in the Kamen Rider series) and a modified Mazda Miata with machine guns as villain cars for the movies. 

Another cool aspect of Drive is the indirect Marvel connection, the main lead actor Ryoma Takeuchi is a fan of Marvel Comics. This shows as his portrayal as Drive is a sometimes Spider-Man-esque snarky superhero. But Ryoma also studied hard to learn English really for one purpose: To meet Stan Lee and tell him how much he loved Marvel. A year after his show ended, he did! 

(Yes, even in other superhero fandoms, Stan ”The Man” Lee will make that cameo! 94 and still awesome and kicking, God bless him!)

Word is Ryoma’s now trying to get into Hollywood to be a Marvel superhero on the American big screen or TV. If that doesn’t prove Ryoma is One of Us, what will?  (Good luck Ryoma! We’ll be cheering for you and we hope your dream comes true!)

Chris Peppler, a Japanese-American radio DJ was chosen to be the other half of Kamen Rider Drive: the KITT-esqe Mr. Belt. Since he was fluent in both Japanese and English, it gave him room to play around as an actor and his performance even spawned a Rider meme or two.

But now, let’s START OUR ENGINES! Cuz’ ALL WE NEED IS DRIVE!

DRIVE! TYPE: 45 File! 

The First Kamen Rider (Proto) Drive

Real Name: Roidmude Proto-Zero

“Those who are about to die do not need to know my name”

A scientist named Dr. Krim Steinbelt was working on a device called Core Driviars which he hoped could be used to benefit mankind.

His colleague Dr. Banno had borrowed his invention when his own research on advanced A.I. androids called Roidmudes hit a dead end. Krim wanted to help his friend and aided in the development of Banno’s research. But then Banno had other ideas and used the androids human mimicry ability to enact his revenge fantasies of destroying those who mocked or didn’t support his research without Krim’s knowledge. But Krim found out about Banno’s petty and sadistic behavior and ended their partnership.

Banno then intended to implant the negative emotions of humans into his creations so they would understand the concept of hate and violence and be used as his military force to conquer the world. 

However, Banno’s plan seemingly went awry as the 108 Roidmudes he built gained sentience and rebelled against their cruel creator and like so many films and TV about AI, they decide we fleshy meatbags are not worth protecting or keeping around.

However, Krim had a contingency plan if Banno’s evil work bore fruit. After his home was attacked and he was killed by a Roidmude, a protocol was activated to download his consciousness into a belt-like device and he reactivated an early Roidmude that didn’t have Banno’s programming installed into him. The evil Roidmudes initiated a disaster later referred to as the Global Freeze, where a large quarter of the Earth was slowed down by the Heavy Acceleration phenomenon the Drivairs in the Roidmudes created. Many people were hurt or died and thousands of buildings were destroyed, but then a savior came in the form of a black Kamen Rider. The Rider drove away the evil forces but could not destroy the Cores that keep them alive. The Rider eventually fell in battle when one of the stronger Roidmudes defeated him and discarded a helpless Krim aside. Some say he is dead....but is he really?

The second and current Kamen Rider Drive (Officer Tomari circa 2015)

Real Name: Shinnosuke Tomari

When all the Global Freeze ruckus was about to go on, two police officers were in pursuit of a suspect of the terrorist cell Neo-Shade. When one of the suspects tried to ambush Officer Tomari’s partner Hayase by cornering him, Tomari panicked and pulled out his gun intending to disable the crook. But then the Global Freeze wave hit and slowed Officer Tomari down, causing his bullet to miss and hit a flammable generator near Hayase. The generator exploded and Hayase fell with steel pipes threatening to crush him after he fell. Tomari tried to save his partner but was slowed down again unable to reach him. Thankfully, due to the slowdown, Hayase was still alive after the pipes fell but was badly hurt. But being the cause of his best friend’s injuries haunted Officer Tomari and he became a broken man, unable to focus on work and losing all motivation. 

He was transferred to a special investigations unit as Krim had a friend in the Police force who could pull the strings to find a candidate worthy of being the next Kamen Rider and formed the unit. Half a year later, Shinnosuke is still in that department but has a lax motivation to do anything at first, constantly being scolded for his slacking by his co-worker Kiriko. Upon hearing there may be a Heavy Acceleration case, he gets interested at first but is easily discouraged by his low self esteem. He keeps hearing a voice coming for the red car he drives telling him to not give up and offers him a chance to be a “warrior”. Shinnosuke is a bit weirded out by this but tells the voice he still refuses as he is a has-been. But the voice tells him he knows he has greater potential and then when Shinnouske finds where the voice is coming from, Krim attaches himself to Shinnouske which freaks him out. After investigating another attempted murder with Heavy Acceleration in the area, they find the suspect: Roidmude #029. Unable to save a bystander as even with the Shift Cars help, he cannot do much as he is ambushed by more Roidmudes.

Kiriko tells him he must use Krim and transform and the Shift Cars give him a brace and a red car to go with the belt. He uses it to become Kamen Rider Drive Type Speed.  After a bit of a learning curve, Drive makes quick work of the Roidmudes using his new powers. (though at least one survived the attack via his Core escaping to antagonize the hero next episode)

When the day is saved, Kiriko shows him their base of operations under the Kuruma Driver's License Center: the Drive Pit. She tells Shinnosuke they must keep the base a secret from the Special Investigation Unit and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. So Shinnosuke must investigate the cases of the Roidmudes to stop and eliminate them as the secret Kamen Rider of law enforcement and supported by his allies in the Special Investigations Unit.  Many twists and tuns happen along the way, with new allies, new powers and new dangers and mysteries around every corner!

Gear:

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Core_Driviars

The Drive Driver aka “Mr. Belt” - Krim’s current form and Shinnosuke’s partner. Unlike KITT from Knight Rider whom partially inspired his character, Krim can leave the car and be mobile to help his partner whenever and wherever he is needed and is a vital part of the Drive System’s functions.

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Shift_Brace

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Shift_Cars

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Shift_Car_Holder

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Tridoron Its full “Format Number” is the Tridoron-3000. 

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Tire_Specific_Items

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Handle-Ken

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Door-Ju

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Trailer-Hou

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Ride_Booster_Set - Go karts which combine with the Tridoron to change into hover conversion tech! Best of all, they were a free gift from Rinna, no $39,999.95 worth of body work needed!

Powers: 

Super Speed, enhanced strength and reflexes, weapons proficiency, Immunity to singularity events such as Heavy Acceleration if Shift Cars are on his person or his Core Driviar in his Rider Suit is active. 

The Shift Cars give a wide variety of powers:

Flame Generation and projectiles

Ninja based-powers such as cloning jitsu and throwing shuriken construct projectiles  

Spike projectile shooting

Entrapment of an enemy via a cage.

Twin Shields, Playing card projectiles and smokescreen/Coin projectiles, the coin ones depend on Drive’s luck though.

Teleports a fraction of Drive’s Body to another area or creates portals.

Enhanced power and defense

Gives Drive analytical power, enhanced reflexes and the ability to multitask and detect enemies from behind him. 

Enhanced Super Speed with rocket boosters and more power. Able to resist Super Heavy Acceleration.

Healing Factor, albeit a very painful one.

Self-repair to Drive’s armor

Nitro power boost to enhance speed

Hologram projections

A Drill that can pierce the Roidmudes!

Light projection to blind enemies

Grappling hook!

Spanner fist

chomping claws and elastic “tongue” on the claws.

freezing blast ability

Cement gun

Fire extinguisher and extendable robotic arm

Acme 10 ton weight and gravity distortions

lifting jack

Able to fuse the power of 3 Shift cars into one super ability or all of them. Able to resist all forms of Heavy Acceleration. Energy Shield

Also, like Fourze, Wizard and Deacde, Drive’s powers are compatible with Super Sentai powers as he can use a Ninninger Nin Shuriken to turn Tridoron into a Zord. Though that was just a one-off thing.

Signature Finishers:

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Full_Throttle_(finisher)

Weaknesses:

A big one is Shinnosuke needs Mr. Belt to transform and given that he is an A.I., that means he is vulnerable to hacking or tampering to make the once friendly scientist into a violent killing machine via evil programming and use Drive’s body in Type Tridoron to hurt others. 

The Shift Cars can be captured, immobilized or damaged. In some cases, the villains could even control them and use them against Drive.

Shinnosuke can be killed, even when in Rider form as the battle with Freeze seemingly showed. Meaning a more powerful opponent with devastating firepower can kill Drive if enough effort is put in or he somehow has no access to his defensive abilities. Despite being protected from singularities, he is not entirely immune to distortions in time and can be affected by them. (Though this was a bit inconsistent as he somehow remembered being a hero later when this happened.)

Stronger Heavy Acceleration waves can severely damage Drive or slow him down. But modifications and successions to his base Core Driviar system thanks to Dr. Hendrickson and Rinna in newer forms slowly negates this weakness to the point it is not an issue as he can maintain his movement. 

Enemies:

Roidmudes:

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Category%3ARoidmudes

Androids created by Tenjiro Banno and Krim Steinbelt who possess sapient, advanced level intelligence, human mimicry abilities and a wide variety of powers as well as the ability to generate Heavy Acceleration. 

In a nice nod to the original Kamen Rider, the low level types of Roidmudes are divided into three of the classic Rider mythology monsters: Bat Type, Spider Type and Cobra Type.

Roidmudes are capable of evolving to even stronger forms: Advanced, Giant, and the rare Super Evolved State, which grant Roidmudes new abilities and greater power and stronger Heavy Acceleration effects. Their goal is to create a utopia for their race by attaining The Promised Number of evolution.

Among the Advanced Roidmudes are several generals/leaders:

Heart 

Brain

Medic

Freeze

And their enforcer/reaper: the mysterious Mashin Chaser.

And secretly pulling the strings of these events from the shadows is.....

Tenjuro Banno/Gold Drive:

(The KARR to Krim’s KITT)

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Tenjuro_Banno

Tenjuro Banno was a horrible and insane human being and even worse as an A.I.. An abusive, petty, cold, manipulative, ego-driven, sadistic and narcissistic black soul who believed the world owed him tribute to his “genius”. Seeing those that help him as nothing but pawns, even his own family as his two kids need a therapist after all the stuff he pulled. He is the cause of the first Global Freeze as a “ test experiment” and planned everything, as the rebellion of the Roidmudes was no accident but planned by him. 

Like Krim, he uploaded his consciousness into an A.I. after being killed and slowly let his schemes come to fruition, even faking helping and reforming when reunited with his son and Krim to steal more tech Team Drive used and render it useless against him. He even managed to kill a Kamen Rider fans came to like over the course of the series. (I won’t say who though.)

He truly was a villain fans loved to hate for how dirty he played and demented he was, helped by the fact he was played by voice actor Masakazu Morita whom anime fans know can play crazy in a way that gives you shivers. He also was formidable as an evil Kamen Rider as he could pull off a wide array of powers, including swiping the weapons of the heroes away from them via teleport!

Neo-Shade: 

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Neo-Shade

A Terrorist group that Shinnouske was trying to track down before the series, they resurfaced in the final episode and were dissolved as their leader was captured. No seeming relation to the real Shade from Kamen Rider G other than its name.

Remember, the world has a drive that goes faster than ever, but as long as you yourself have a drive in life, you can be in Top Gear and go along for the Ride! 

Shinnosuke Tomari: A Kamen Rider’s flight into a dangerous world ...the world.... of the Drive Rider. *1980s synth music*

#kamen rider #45th anniversary #kamen rider drive #mr. belt #knight rider #cars #motorcycles #cops #android #kamen rider mach #kiriko shijima #tire koukan #chris peppler #top gear #like a spinning wheel #mashin chaser #roidmudes #stan lee

[cryptodictation]

SEAL Team: actor says series should win 4th season

The future of the elite squad; check out

If you are concerned about the future of SEAL Team, be brave. One of the stars of the series still doesn't think the attraction is ending.

Production is currently in the middle of its third season, and the ratings have been pretty solid lately. The attraction, in fact, has never been so good, winning high numbers week after week.

Therefore, when thinking about the audience, it seems that the future of SEAL Team it looks quite positive. Max Thieriot, who plays Clay Spenser, shared a positive opinion about the CBS series being renewed. Discussing whether SEAL Team could finish in the third season, due to the plots it has been showing, Thieriot said his thoughts to the TVLine.

Continues after advertising

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“No, I don't think that's the case. These teams are always evolving and the reality is that, at some point, we still cannot be in the same position in the team. It is simply not realistic. The team is the team, but the team is evolving. We will see the evolution of the team, but the Bravo Team is the Bravo Team.”, he said.

We are more relieved. Max Thieriot claims that the changes within the group are only stirring the course of history, when it comes to the SEAL Team's starting team. It is noteworthy that actor Coby Bell, who plays Warrant Officer Glen Mack, recently joined the cast of the reboot of Walker, Texas Rangers of the CW. He will act as a regular, which will decrease his participation in the SEAL Team.

End of season

Like many other series, SEAL Team had to finish production for the current season earlier due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Then, viewers will be seeing an unexpected ending in season three, since the last scheduled episode was not recorded. Fans, obviously, were concerned that the series would go unresolved if it wasn't renewed. But the chances, as Thieriot himself pointed out, are positive.

Incidentally, the actor also addressed the end of SEAL Team, because the finals of the season tend to always include a difficult time. This is the ideal mechanism to keep fans drawn during the series' vacation, while awaiting the return of new episodes. And it seems that this season, we will have this device – even if the final episode originally planned was not recorded.

“We're good at it, right ?. I don't know exactly how we're going to end it, since we ended up with a shorter season, but I know that the material we have from these episodes was quite epic … It all depends on CBS, but these next episodes are incredible. There are some really cool things that will make fans curious“. What will it be?

The unpublished episodes of the third season will continue to be shown every Wednesday in the USA by CBS. In Brazil, the first two seasons were made available by the Globoplay.

And you, what do you think will happen? Leave it in the comments. Also, keep track of all SEAL Team news here in the Series Mix.

The post SEAL Team: actor says series should win 4th season appeared first on Cryptodictation.

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