Movies and TV Shows

Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel all shared messages of solidarity with victims, while Meyers also called on the world to maintain its humanity: "We are most at risk of losing our own humanity when we are justifiably blind with rage and sadness."

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/israel-hamas-attacks-jimmy-fallon-stephen-colbert-jimmy-kimmel-1235613872/

Elon Musk allegedly came to Amber Heard‘s defense amid talks his former partner would be fired from “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.”

Per a new Variety report, the Tesla and X (formerly known as Twitter) owner is reported to have strong-armed Warner Bros. into keeping Heard cast as Mera in DC’s long-delayed “Aquaman” follow-up.

According to Variety, Warner Bros. and “Aquaman” director James Wan sent a letter to Heard’s attorney Karl Austen after the film‘s 2018 release to share the decision that Heard would be dropped from the sequel, citing a lack of chemistry with star Jason Momoa.

However, per Variety, Warner Bros. decided not to fire Heard after her former boyfriend Musk and his attorney sent a “scorched-earth letter to Warner Bros. threatening to burn the house down” if Heard was not back in the sequel.

DC Studios could not immediately be reached by IndieWire for comment.

Rumors that Heard would be fired from the “Aquaman” franchise resurfaced amid the defamation trial with Heard and her ex-husband Johnny Depp, with the suit filed in 2019 followed by televised court proceedings in 2022. Heard alleged Depp led a PR “smear campaign” against her, resulting in a “very pared-down version” of her original “Aquaman 2” role.

“I fought to keep my job and the biggest movie opportunity I had to date [with] ‘Justice League’ with the option to [star in] ‘Aquaman.’ I had to fight really hard to stay in ‘Justice League’ because that was the time of the divorce,” Heard said while on the stand. “I was given a script [for ‘Aquaman 2’] and then given new versions of the script that had taken away scenes that had action in it, that depicted my character and another character, without giving any spoilers away, two characters fighting with one another, and they basically took a bunch out of my role.”

Reportedly, Heard appears in only 10 minutes of the sequel. Wan told Entertainment Weekly earlier this year that the sequel was never meant to focus on Heard’s character.

Also during the trial, notes of Heard’s therapy sessions were included in court documents, which Depp fans later paid to access and shared online. Heard claimed while in therapy that “Aquaman” co-star Jason Momoa drunkenly harassed her on set, including, per her point of view, dressing up as Depp.

Heard’s notes read, “Jason said he wanted me fired. Jason drunk — late on set. Dressing like Johnny. Has all the rings too.”

A DC spokesperson told Variety, “Jason Momoa conducted himself in a professional manner at all times on the set of ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.'”

An insider who was on the London set in 2021 told Variety, “He isn’t dressing like Johnny Depp. He has always dressed in that bohemian style.”

“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” is set for a December 20 release date.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/6578850

After 23 years of film criticism, I was back in front of the screen as a civilian. I had no idea what I would find. --by former NY Times film critic A.O. Scott

Ninety-nine percent of WGA members voted to support the contract in a vote that ended on Monday.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/writers-guild-ratifies-strike-ending-contract-with-studios-1235606524/

The streamer is touting the tune-in for the opening episode of the Marvel series.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/loki-season-2-premiere-ratings-1235612838/

…or just possibly screengrabs of Polar Express…?

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/798651

Interesting article. Bayard Rustin was also an anti-communist but considered himself a socialist. He was often lumped in with "the Establishment." He did work with MLK, Jr., who himself worked with communists, but he was considered to the right of MLK. Still, he did leave a legacy and was considered good a politicking and getting what he and his constituency wanted, from what I understand.

Thirty years ago today, Demolition Man first hit theaters, pitting Sylvester Stallone against Wesley Snipes in a crime-free but killjoy future where even minor vices have been declared illegal. The passage of time hasn't quite elevated this sci-fi action comedy to the legendary status of Die Hard or Lethal Weapon, but it's still an under-appreciated gem of '90s action movies, precisely because it unapologetically leans into the massive explosions and campy humor with wild abandon.

(Spoilers below, because it's been 30 years.)

Demolition Man started out as a spec script by Peter Lenkov, then a recent college grad eager to break into Hollywood. (Lenkov went on to create his own shared fictional TV universe with the interconnected reboot series Hawaii 5-0, MacGuyver, and Magnum P.I.) Lenkov was a Lethal Weapon fan and envisioned an action movie about a cryogenically frozen "super cop" who wakes up decades in the future in a world largely free of crime, where he must battle his criminal arch-nemesis. As for the title, Lenkov had been listening to Sting's "Demolition Man" constantly because the cassette player in his car was broken. Inspiration strikes in nonlinear ways.

Warner Bros. ultimately optioned the spec script and hired Daniel Waters (Heathers) for the rewrites. It was Waters who brought the comedic elements to the story, along with other substantial changes. The studio hired Marco Brambilla to direct; it was his first feature film. Originally, Steven Seagal was supposed to star, with Jean-Claude Van Damme playing the villain; Brambilla chose to cast Stallone and Snipes instead and their acting styles meshed well. The same could not be said of Lori Petty, originally cast as the plucky female cop and love interest Lenina Huxley. She and Stallone didn't get along—Petty described their dynamic as "oil and water"—and she was ultimately replaced by Sandra Bullock.

The film opens in a dystopian version of 1996 Los Angeles as LAPD Sergeant John Spartan (Stallone)—aka the "Demolition Man" because of the major property damage that typically results when he's on the job—tracking psychopathic crime lord Simon Phoenix (Snipes) to an abandoned building, where Phoenix has holed up with a busload of hostages. Spartan successfully arrests Phoenix, but not before the entire building blows up. When the corpses of the hostages are found in the rubble, Spartan is charged and convicted of manslaughter, joining Phoenix in "cryoprison," where they remain frozen until 2032. That's when Phoenix is thawed out for a parole hearing, only to escape into what is now a megalopis called San Angeles.

San Angeles is a seemingly utopian society headed by one Dr. Raymond Cocteau (Nigel Hawthorne), with almost no violent crime. So the San Angeles police are simply not equipped to deal with Phoenix, who commits multiple "murder-death-kills" within his first few hours of freedom. Lenina Huxley (Bullock) suggests they unthaw Spartan, since he captured Phoenix the first time. And Spartan finds himself trying to hunt down a homicidal maniac while navigating a brave new world where alcohol, swearing, eating anything that's bad for you, and intimate exchanges of precious bodily fluids (i.e., kissing, sex), among other things, are now illegal. Plot twist: Cocteau actually masterminded Phoenix's escape so that the latter could take out the leader of an underground group of rebels ("scraps"), Edgar Friendly (Denis Leary).

Demolition Man topped the box office in its opening weekend and went on to gross $159 million worldwide against its $77 million budget—not a blockbuster hit, but not a colossal failure either. It was widely viewed as a comeback vehicle for Stallone, whose career had flagged somewhat after a string of box office disappointments. (Stallone is currently enjoying yet another "comeback" in the streaming crime drama Tulsa King.) Critical reviews were mixed; not everyone was a fan of producer Joel Silver's over-the-top approach to action flicks. But this is the man behind the Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, and The Matrix franchises—now all classics—plus the first two Predator films. Whether you appreciate his extensive oeuvre or not, there's no denying he was a major influence on film in the late 1980s and 1990s.

The fictional future of Demolition Man is one where the Oldies radio station plays jingles from 20th century commercials and where all the restaurants are Taco Bell, which apparently won the "franchise wars." (It was changed to Pizza Hut in the film's European release, because Taco Bell was less well known overseas.) The ultra-processed food served therein isn't even remotely appetizing, but it did inspire the real Taco Bell to recreate the fictional version at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con for the film's 25th anniversary.

And who can forget the meme-worthy mysterious three seashells Spartan encounters in the bathroom in lieu of toilet paper? How they work is a running gag that is never explained, but one assumes it's some kind of futuristic bidet. Waters said in a 2018 interview that initially he couldn't figure out a good future restroom concept and started calling his screenwriter friends for ideas. He reached Larry Karaszewski (Ed Wood) when Karaszewski was literally on the toilet and mentioned a bag of seashells on the shelf. "I was like 'seashells! I’m gonna work with that,'” Waters recalled, and the rest is pop culture history.

Stallone built his career on macho tough-guy roles in films like Rambo and Rocky and Spartan is very much in that vein, but it's nice to see him show his comedic chops in Demolition Man—sometimes poking gentle fun at his macho tough guy image. Spartan's rehabilitation program while in cryoprison trained him as a seamstress and his bemusement at being compelled to knit Huxley a sweater is spot-on. There's even a bit of Hollywood insider humor when Spartan learns about the Schwarzenegger Presidential Library. (Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger were longtime rivals and Schwarzenegger did indeed enter politics ten years later as governor of California.) Stallone's low-key deadpan delivery makes a nice foil to Snipes' scenery-chewing portrayal of Simon Phoenix. Phoenix is a bit of a one-note villain, but Snipes makes him entertaining and always fun to watch, plus he gets to show off his killer martial arts moves.

Demolition Man was Sandra Bullock's big Hollywood break, and while she was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award (Worst Supporting Actress) for her troubles, a lesser actress would have fared much worse. Bullock was perfect for the role of Lenina Huxley and her bubbly on-screen charisma easily marked her as a budding major star. (It didn't take long. Speed debuted the following year, rocketing her to the A-List.) Huxley finds her SAPD job rather dull until Phoenix and Spartan burst onto the scene. She idolizes the late 20th century—even if she can't get the slang quite right ("you can take this job and shovel it!")—and learned to fight by watching Jackie Chan movies. She's the perfect guide to help Spartan (and the audience) navigate the near future.

The film holds up surprisingly well even 30 years later. Sure, "political correctness" is now "wokeness," and socio-political divisions are arguably a bit more hardened. But Cocteau's San Angeles provides an always-relevant cautionary tale of how unscrupulously opportunistic "leaders" can take advantage of tragedy (in this case a devastating earthquake) to sow chaos and fear to gain and maintain power. Some have interpreted Demolition Man as being some kind of Libertarian manifesto, embodied in Leary's epic rant about wanting the freedom to eat a cheeseburger and run naked through the streets if he feels like. I think that's a misguided take that misses the film's true point (although I love Leary's rant as much as anyone).

Waters has said that he had no intention of being overtly political when penning the script; he was just having fun and it's easier to mine schmaltzy fake peace and love for laughs than a brutal dystopian regime. The film ends with the inevitable fall of Cocteau's dictatorial New World Order—a future that absolutely nobody wants, regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum. Water's ultimate "message" is that the people of San Angeles must now figure out how to balance those two extremes (overly controlled order vs. chaotic anarchy) and build a new functional democratic society where individual freedom will sometimes give way to the greater good, and vice versa, so that everyone can thrive. That remains a timely message—one might even say it's timeless.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/6480108

#JackFisk #ProductionDesign #KillersOfTheFlowerMoon

cross-posted from: https://derp.foo/post/297499

There is a discussion on Hacker News, but feel free to comment here as well.

Let's look back at Series Two of the modern era of Doctor Who, Russell T. Davies' second season, and David Tennant's first season as The Tenth Doctor. It was here that the series' shift into a global phenomenon began, and Tennant became the face of the modern era of Doctor Who in the same way Tom Baker is still associated with the classic era of the series. Yes, hardcore fans would prefer to say William Hartnell was the true face of the show or Jon Pertwee was their Doctor, but casual punters still think of Baker, partly because he was on the show longer than anyone else.

Just as Davies cast Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor after working with him on the miniseries The Second Coming the year before, Tennant had starred in Davies' cheeky, comedic, postmodern version of Casanova in 2005, the year Ecclestone premiered in Davies' revival of Doctor Who. There Tennant carried a whole series for the first time, playing a sexy, roguish rake, and seemed a natural to take over when Ecclestone left after only one season.

Tennant already had Science Fiction credentials: he had spent years playing bit parts and supporting roles in Big Finish audio dramas, though it would be decades before he played the Tenth Doctor on the audios. He played the dimension-hopping secret agent lead in Big Finish's audio adaptation of Bryan Talbot's The Adventures of Luther Arkwright (and will return in the decades-later sequel). He played a doctor in BBC Three's 2005 live broadcast remake of Nigel Kneale's The Quatermass Experiment, and he was on set in between scenes when he got the call that he had been cast in as the Tenth Doctor.

Davies and Tennant leaned into portraying The Doctor as a sexy geek, which went down a treat with a new generation of teenage female fans discovering the show for the first time. It was his Doctor that truly made the series popular with female viewers, on top of how many of them identified with Billie Piper's Rose. To have Tennant and Piper together was a double whammy of Secret Sauce. For male fans, Tennant made being a geek cool – he was cocky, cheeky, a chick magnet, and the smartest smart aleck in the room. What's not to like about this Doctor? Davies could use Tennant's popularity to start making really big swings with the show and establish many of the modern show's tropes that are still being used, possibly overused in some instances. It was here that the new Doctor Who really began to become the show it was meant to be. No wonder Davies brought him back to relaunch the show on its 60th Anniversary this year before he passes the torch to another new era.

Last night I resumed my Halloween-athon with Halloween IV: The Return of Michael Myers (1988).

I never watched most of these higher-numbered sequels when I was a kid, so this is uncharted territory for me. This film sought (as it says on the tin) to return Michael Myers to the franchise after fans were left confused and angry by his absence from the last installment. Apparently, John Carpenter and Debra Hill were originally attached to this and intended to produce 4 as a ghost story, but when Moustapha Akkad demanded that Michael return in the flesh, they left the project and sold their stake in the series. That's a real shame, because I would have loved to see more of Carpenter's vision for the series.

What this film ended up being is a soft-reboot of the series, following the plot of the first movie beat by beat, with a slight twist here and there to keep it from being a straight remake. Despite having been completely incinerated in a massive fireball, with visual confirmation of Michael's body being reduced to ashes, both he and Dr. Loomis reappear in this film with some minor cosmetic burns, and in Loomis' case, a limp. I guess a little of Michael's supernatural durability rubbed off on him. Not Laurie though. She's dead as a door-nail, off-screen (I think they said it was a car crash, but this movie cares so little about Laurie that they may not have even explained the cause), and the focus has shifted to her young daughter, Jamie (Danielle Harris).

Once again Michael is being transferred between facilities (instead of dumped into a pit filled with wet cement, for some reason), on the eve of the tenth anniversary of his worst crimes. The orderlies in the ambulance let slip that Michael has a niece, and he immediately awakens from his ten-year coma to go do something about that. Jamie is being raised by the Carruthers, and has a step-sister named Rachel (Ellie Cornell). Rachel will basically be this movie's Laurie, with the standout difference being that she can kind of talk to boys. Michael repeats his original routine pretty much exactly; killing a mechanic for his overalls and robbing the hardware store for his mask (which they are still selling, in the town where the murders occurred, ten years later. Yikes.)

Jamie mostly slots into the story where Tommy and Lindsey were in the original. She is relentlessly bullied by kids at school for her relationship to the 'Bogeyman', and is supposed to be watched by Rachel while their parents are off at a Halloween party. The one interesting thing about her character is that she seems equally drawn to and repulsed by Michael's story. She is too scared to go trick-or-treating, but changes her mind after being bullied, and asks to go buy a costume. The one she chooses is instantly recognizable as the clown costume that young Michael was wearing when he killed Judith back in 1963. As she tries on the mask she sees herself as Michael, and then sees Michael bearing down on her, ready to kill. It turns out to be a dream, or vision, but Michael really is either inside or just outside the store, at that moment, waiting to grab his Shatner mask. If you watch movies at all, or just have a basic understanding of foreshadowing, it's blindingly obvious at this point where the movie is going, even if I want it not to.

The plot unfolds just like it did the first time, more or less, with Michael bumping off a few more folks on-screen this time, and Loomis running around with a different Sheriff. There's also a mob of angry bar patrons who decide to go lynch Michael when they hear he's escaped, which is kind of fun. Overall though, it just feels far, far too similar to the original. They even recreate the original score almost exactly, rather than punch it up as in II, or create a new composition as in III.

The big 'twist' ending comes after Michael has been blown away by a redneck firing squad (which will surely keep him down this time...), and Jamie briefly touches his hand. Loomis is finally ready to breathe a sigh of relief when Jamie puts on her clown mask, proceeds up the stairs, and murders Rachel with a pair of scissors. We end on a close-in push on Loomis' face as he just howls "No! No! No!" over and over, as he realizes that whatever inhuman evil it was that animated Michael long beyond his limits, has passed into Jamie.

I'll be honest, I was bored most of the time I was watching this. Once I realized just how much it was going to retread the original, it was hard to stay focused. It's not badly made, and most of the elements that made the original great are here, intact, but there is nothing new or interesting about this installment. It really feels like Moustapha Akkad was trying to pull a fast one here, relaunching the franchise without its originators by just copying what they had made to the best of his ability. If Donald Pleasence hadn't returned for this, it would feel very much like a made-for-TV adaptation of the original movie, and his presence can only elevate the film so far.

I'll give this one 3/5 stars. I was tempted to go lower, but the film is not poorly made on a technical level. If the direct references to a prior film were removed, this would be an okay (but not great) remake of Halloween, and I do fundamentally like the Halloween formula. I am curious to see where it goes from here. If Jamie actually returns in full The Shape mode, I will be very pleased, but I'm not expecting it to happen. Speaking of The Shape, it is portrayed in this one by George P. Wilbur, and (no disrespect to him, he's had a long successful career in stunt work) it's just lacking something. At first I thought Michael was too visible most of the time, but in the original he stands in full sunlight, completely exposed a few times, and it's still scary. In this one he just lacks the presence necessary to be scary while completely silent, and it noticeably detracts from the experience. So yeah, I don't recommend this one unless you are a fellow completionist and your brain won't let you skip it. On to the next!

| Title | The Exorcist: Believer | |

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| | Genre: | Horror | | MPAA Rating: | R | | Runtime | 02:01:00 | | Release Date (USA): | October 6, 2023 | | Director: | David Gordon Green | | Main Cast: | Leslie Odom Jr, Ann Dowd, Jennifer Nettles, Ellen Burstyn, Norbert Leo Butz | | Summary: | A 12-year-old girl is possessed by a mysterious demonic entity, forcing her mother to seek the help of two priests to save her. |

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| Title | Foe | |

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| | Genre: | Science Fiction, Thriller | | MPAA Rating: | R | | Runtime | 01:50:00 | | Release Date (USA): | October 6, 2023 | | Director: | Garth Davis | | Main Cast: | Saoirse Ronan, Paul Mescal, Aaron Pierre | | Summary: | The lives of a married couple are thrown into turmoil when an uninvited stranger shows up at their door with a startling proposal. Based on best-selling author Iain Reid's novel. |

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| Title | The Royal Hotel | |

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| | Genre: | Thriller | | MPAA Rating: | R | | Runtime | 01:31:00 | | Release Date (USA): | October 6, 2023 | | Director: | Garth Davis | | Main Cast: | Julia Garner, Jessica Henwick, Hugo Weaving, Toby Wallace, Ursula Yovich | | Summary: | Americans Hanna and Liv are backpacking in Australia. After they run out of money, they take a temporary live-in job at a pub called ’The Royal Hotel’ in a remote Outback mining town. Soon they find themselves trapped in a situation that grows rapidly out of control. |

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New showrunners have been installed at ‘Chicago Fire’ and ‘FBI: International’ as ‘L&O: Organized Crime’ continues its search.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/dick-wolf-nbc-cbs-shows-reopen-writers-rooms-1235609123/

2h 11m | PG-13

A mysterious woman's escape from her harrowing captivity points investigators toward the dark truth behind an unsolved disappearance 13 years earlier.

This is a German tv show for Netflix. If you don't mind subtitles, this is a must watch if you like the kidnapped for years genre. It's a slow paced show, but I just couldn't stop watching. Only 6 episodes.