ThaOGDreamWeaver

There's a whole section called "The Corman Film School" on his Wikipedia. I'm a serious film nerd and didn't know a third of them. (And maintained a sense of humour about it. Per Ron Howard, Corman said "do a good job on this movie, and you'll never have to work for me again.") I also didn't know he directed the OG version of Little Shop Of Horrors - with a young lad called Jack Nicholson on the cast. But the thing that makes me happiest to know of all - he's still alive, and still working, at age 97.

For a big guy, he's often very economical with his movement, voice and presence, which gives him this air of menace and power in reserve. And while I don't necessarily recommend you see Knock At The Cabin, Dave's relentlessly earnest and maybe-psychotic Len Brocht is the standout character.

Unless he's been ordered not to disclose the role, Prinze has said he's not really a fan of the idea. Kanan has one of the great sci-fi exit scenes and the guy should be left in peace. But. Maybe he's trying to conceal his involvement, or they hadn't waved a big enough cheque at him at the time. There's the obvious way that Caleb could reappear via timey-wimey stuff using the World Between Worlds (boo!). The other is that a Loth Wolf named Dume with oddly similar markings appeared to Ezra in a dream sequence. So Kanan may be quite capable of reaching out through the Force in other ways. Plus, who doesn't want a Loth Wolf around? Whoosa good boy? WhoosagooddeadJediOHYESYOUAREyesyouaaaarrree. 15/10.

Our lorb? Are you still playing Ratchet & Clank in 2023? Like I say, it's an overused thing. But occasionally, it produces decent results. The Rock basically is the Rock rather than an actor (and the only time they've strayed too far off that core persona likeable-badass with Black Adam, it's not gone well.) Cena, given James Gunn's direction, gleefully subverted his WWE persona for The Suicide Squad and the Peacemaker series and has shown himself capable of surprising range in other flicks. And then of course there's Dave Bautista, who's done Blade Runner 2049, GOTG, Glass Onion, and more, and generally turned out pretty well. Hoping he gets more to do in Dune Part Two, but he's a much more terrifying Beast while he's around...

Foo Fighters X Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Live @ O2 / Explicit) Rick Astley - Highway To Hell (Live @ Glastonbury)

Per Wikipedia and Fandom (which was ripped off from the old Marvel Database), Kraven is a maniacal big game hunter, given powers and longevity by a serum from voodoo priestess Calypso. He'd need to be, since by the time of his first Spidey adventure he's in his mid-fifties. But the whole Beastmaster riff is new (if he allies with gigantic guard-digesting bats, we'll know what's up). The comic version is a proficient combatant in all forms and with most kinds of weapon, has enhanced senses, and trains attack animals. I guess the psionic link or whatnot saves the movie from having to do a Rocky training montage with lions/eagles/hamsters/whatever. The WWE-to-flicks pipeline is also overused, but they can hit marks, do stunts, pose, and say the odd line. Which is pretty much all you need for a half decent cape flick. And well, Kraven is fond of the odd bit of grappling. To whit, I present one Seth Rollins: recent WWE Champion, appropriate stature and physicality, and one of the few people for whom the Kraven outfit can be considered an upgrade, because DEAR SWEET GODDESS IN ASGARD WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE. Does Jimmy Buffett have fans in goth subculture? I dunno...

I had a sudden flashback to Roger Corman. He had (for him) a solid hit with Star Wars/Magnificent Seven knockoff Battle Beyond The Stars, then spent the next 20 years making even cheaper knockoffs of his own movie recycling the same FX and music. This feels very much like Sony went the same way, but creating a knockoff of Morbius is... a choice. More thoughts: Russ Le Roq is phoning in a performance as thinly-veiled Sergei Prigozhin clone (also a choice, given current events). Big retcon to Kraven's background, but comes out a bit less silly than before... ...sadly, they didn't retcon the outfit as well. Dahling, neck ruffs were so last Met Ball, and nobody wears real fur any more. Sam Taylor Johnson should make a decent meal of any dramatic meat they throw him, but the physicality would be much more Momoa territory. Wikipedia says the last few reels should have a time-jump and physical change, for which no CGI was used (probably too expensive. Gonna have to be one hell of a muscle suit though. I don't think anyone could get through enough chicken to bulk that much.) Their "Rhino" isn't a guy in a suit, they're some other kinda science experiment. So it's yet another hero vs similar villain boss fight. Meh. Director is JC Chandor, after Equalizer's Antoine Fuqua (say that carefully) decided against the project. He is, oddly enough, an award-winning indie darling having a crack at a corporate cape gig. Because that's never been done before, always goes well, and the director doesn't ever get chewed up and spat out by the machine in the process. At all. Oh, and I note that Kraven seems to have Beast Mastery / Savage Melee powers, which would be an interesting MM combo choice. So if Sony execs are reading this and quietly stealing our content, how about this rather clever, wisecracking psychic goth girl with healing powers and a penchant for terrible puns? I can do a treatment in a couple of days... EDIT: checking into Taylor-Johnson, his next gig's more interesting - playing a missing movie star in the big screen adap of yet another 80s teatime favourite, The Fall Guy. Though how they're going to convince people Ryan Gosling should play a washed up stunt guy with a face like a leather bag full of hammers is another question. Lee Majors, naturally, is in it, so maybe he's Colt Jr?

So, Ep1 is out. Thoughts: All in all... mixed bag for Ep1, and another reason Marvel / Disney are about to have angry strikers from another union on their tail.

While we're not fighting over who controls the 'verse... an example of that corporate partnership stuff for you. If you've seen Across The Spider-Verse already, you probably didn't spot the placement for Hyundai... ...because they worked it in pretty cleanly. This isn't always the case and there have been some truly terrible placements in the past (hello, Fringe fans). But this is pretty decent... So what does the movie get out of this? Well, there's a 30" animated spot for the new car, done in-Spider-universe. Which is going to be hammered out by Hyundai centrally, all of their dealerships where they buy ads locally, posters, billboards, quite nifty test-drive competitions... all told, about $20m of well-written, well-targeted activity that doesn't come out of the studio's bottom line, and helps get the flick into people's heads.

The Ataris - Boys Of Summer #happysolstice #blessedbe

True. But then again, much as nerds like us like to think we're the arbiters of all things capey, you'd be surprised how many people neither know nor care about casting choices, industry plans, or even canon. Those ignorant FOOLS... [FX/GRAMS: lightning crash, dramatic organ tones] ...ahem. Sorry, not sure what happened there. All the vast majority of genpop want is to have a good time, maybe with stars they know, and get a tiny thrill of adrenaline, joy, sadness, laughter, mystification, feel something that they wouldn't do in a normal day. And this flick don't do that enough to get people raving about it and butts on seats. It's a B-grade movie with a AAA price tag. And not just for the studio. We're in a recession. And if I'm going to blow twenty-eight sodding quid on a first-run movie, I wanna be near-guaranteed a good time. (Thought: the "new release" premiums that cinemas have put on some flicks pad the box office, but may also be acting as a deterrent. Maybe drop the price and have a better fill rate if you're not confident in the flick?) EDIT: if I have one annoyance about the retcon, it's that they cut both Cavill and Calle's return scene in favour of [BAT-REDACTED]. I know they wanted to recast Henry but could have left the door open: and Sasha Calle did a pretty solid job here. Kinda hoping her casting is kept for Gunn's grimdark Supergirl flick.

Given how muddy the original is in the final multiverse-collapse sequence (claimed intentionally: as you're supposed to be "in the speedster POV", though it could also be "running out of renderfarm budget") , it's probably going to be even more unwatchable on a hookey copy. Or airplane versions, for that matter.

To get butts on seats for a flick of this scale, you need: Wide-opening distribution: you have to convince distro networks that this flick is worth booking on a large number of screens Good audience word of mouth (positive reviews help, especially with a movie that's a relatively tough sell in Peoria like Dune, but audiences like what they like) Wide-scale promotion - TV, internet, press tours, partner events and promotions, to get this into the forefront of ticket-buyers' minds. In the right way, of course, so you need... The right promotion strategy - building up the talking points you want around the movie - managing audience expectations to give them enough to wanna see it, but not give the movie away. (eg: Jurassic Park and Avatar both teased everything apart from the biggest reveals in their campaigns. Those WOW moments then came through reviews and word-of-mouth. This year, the D&D flick went big on socials, word of mouth, well-targeted previews and playing up the fun aspect - even if I think they gave too much away.). In Flash's case... #1: Check. Industry types looked at the film, looked at the market, and even if cape flicks have been underperforming a bit lately, decided to take a big punt on it. But that'd have been decided months ago. Possibly years, given the delays. #2: ...ish. Reviews are "it's good, but", and... well, just read our colleagues' opinions above, and we're naturally more cape-friendly than the average population. Definitely a mixed bag. People wanna see Badass Grandad Keaton, and without spoilering, he ain't around quite enough to see it through to the end. #3: This was a problem. Sure, it's been all over TV and internet: per Deadline, Warners spent $31.7m on spots. But no interviews. No press tour. No late-night bits (Keaton is very good value for these... but was conveniently away filming Beetlejuice 2 at Pinewood. EDIT: I forgot - even if he'd been available, most late-night crews are shut down for the WGA writer's strike.) They practically had to roll Ezra into the premiere strapped to a trolley like Lecter. And no corporate partner wants to slap this guy on a lunchbox, have him buying their cars or Happy Meals, and that kind of secondary promo is a surprisingly strong way of doing things these days. #4: Nope. Strategy has been solidly focussed on saying "it's a quality movie" and stressing Ezra's performance, all of which makes you more conscious That Stuff is hanging awkwardly over it. They've also given away WAY too much: you can watch almost the entire movie online already from promo clips, and other than the first Keaton reveal, there's barely a WOW moment left to tease. So if I had to sum up the industry buzz, it's good, but not quite as good as it thinks it is... and not enough to forget its issues. That's not an easy thing to sell.

On a side note: the way these were presented - along with the whole harvester rescue sequence - made Leto a more convincing pilot and frontline leader than the Lynch version, and Paul a brighter, braver and more promising (if accident-prone) young buck. There's an XBox Flight Simulator tour with designer Patrice Vermette where you can get a closer look at the rig (though you may want to mute the other two talking heads, who are... deeply irritating.)

Just a thing: for once, Reddit has Won The Internet. In response to threats that subreddits would be closed down if they stopped posting monetisable content, several subs have obliged... ...as long as it's pictures of John Oliver being sexy. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-65949412 John has put his successful OnlyFans career on hold to grace them with this - and more, if you click through to the thread: ...and dear Goddess, the replies are worth the price of admission too.

...that is... a take for the ages. Knowing what I know now, there's just too many odd bits and jokes I'd just go yarghnonono at. (Same as any time I ever see Louis CK in a room with a woman, and/or a pot plant. #StopAspidistraAbuseNOW.) Music's easier to process out of context. I mean, the late great Tina Turner is known for Proud Mary, and because how much she OWNED THAT later on, just quietly erases the idea that Ike's name was first on the sleeve... and on the royalty cheques. BTW, it's possible people took your advice. Flash's four-day opening weekend wound up at $64m... $3m behind Black Adam. Not great.

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.* *Answer not valid in New Jersey, where what's blowing in the wind smells funny. --Y. Warner, The Wheel Of Morality

Douglas Adams on politics... "No," said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, "nothing so simple. Nothing anything like so straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people." "Odd," said Arthur, "I thought you said it was a democracy." "I did," said Ford. "It is." "So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't people get rid of the lizards?" "It honestly doesn't occur to them," said Ford. "They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want." "You mean they actually vote for the lizards?" "Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course." "But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?" "Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?" See also:

The Barbusters - Light Of Day

Fabulous Thunderbirds - Tuff Enuff

Cherry Poppin' Daddies - Zoot Suit Riot

The Cooltrane Quartet - Should I Stay Or Should I Go

Industry news: while Flash is still stuck on a $70m opening weekend prediction - not great, not terrible, especially when there's been zero press tour or late-night appearances for any of the cast, and big-name corporate partners stayed well away from secondary promo (y'know: Happy Meals, Walmart merch, those cringey tie-in car ads - yeah, all trite stuff, but surprisingly effective at putting a flick into public awareness and butts on stalls)... ...it seems Gunn and Safran like Muschietti's work. So they've greenlit Batman: Brave And The Bold, based on Grant Morrison's run. This will be the official DCU Bat-starter, and Matt Reeves' work will be off in the Elseworlds.

Cavill's been getting the rough end of the stick lately. Leaves Witcher to do Supes again, but Black Adam doesn't do the business, and WB-D implode and reboot the universe without him... and Netflix recast with a spare Hemsworth for next season. Then the SOE film with Guy Ritchie ran into some issues, his disturbingly luxuriant facial hair surprisingly not one of them. And to add insult to injury, the buggers at 'Flix cut Season 3 in half. He maybe gets to play at being a Space Marine if Amazon and GW can pull off the WH40k series. Nevertheless. If you need a bit of smouldering, grunting, scowling and gratuitous muscle shots in your life, Geralt is back for a five-episode run, split into two volumes across the summer. Whether or not this is a handover arc where Geralt gets knocked off or retires to make little monsters with Yennifer, we won't know, but expect a mid-series cliffhanger or two.

Babylon 5, aka The Only Cool Thing Amigas Ever Did, is one of the very few richly woven sci-fi series where every character has their time and their meaning. And gets development, classy lines, ups and downs, moments of weakness and badassery, even jokes. (Well, except Kosh, but Vorlon humour's a little odd and has been known to kill the unwary). B5: The Road Home is a tie-in animated movie that lets John Sheridan (and writer Mike Straczynski) revisit every era of B5's existence, as well as quite a few alternate ones. A large chunk of the cast have returned - with the late lamented Mira Furlan, Andreas Katsulas, Tim Choate and Richard Biggs replaced by new voice actors.