ThaOGDreamWeaver

Those two showing up or even cameoing would be awesome. (Mind you, I like Ocean's 11. Even Don Cheadle/Basher's accent, since it's fun trying to guess what the hell it's supposed to be. Awight?) I get the feeling it could be good or enjoyably terrible*, not unwatchably terrible, and right now I have zero idea which. Also - and please yell at me if this would be very very wrong... ...would anyone else be up for a Tiny Tina's Wonderlands movie? *For calibration purposes - enjoyably terrible: Flash Gordon (saved by Brian, Ornelia, Max & Queen), Xanadu (💓ONJ), Ishtar **Unwatchably terrible: the original Whalin/Wayans D&D movie, Jupiter Ascending (Eddie Redmayne's amazing scene-chewery aside), Cats, Nic Cage's Wicker Man (NOT THE BEES!!!).

Right. We may finally have an answer as to who the mysterious red-and-blue folks are. They're Imp- LUCASFILM PR: Whoah there honey, this isn't released till September. We have top men working security, how do you know? Er... just saw it on Twitter? LUCASFILM PR: Top... Men. Seen that movie too, and I've felt the fear induced by the Disney assassins. Stop the growling, it's out there now. LUCASFILM PR: We demand to know how you came by these plans.. LEGO PR: er... hej guys. Ve heård shøuting. Is something wrøng? Oh hi there. This you? LEGO PR: yes, this is right good, is it not? LUCASFILM PR: oh hell not you lot again DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THE WORD EMBARGO MEANS?? LEGO PR: Toy buyer deadlines are different - and vell, we just vild og crazy guys, ja? The set was first revealed - though not full details - in May at Celebration. The chase ship - a "Tac-Pod", which does look like a dinky Fiat 500 version of Imperial Assault craft - looks both mean and slightly pathetic. Doubling on that is the name of the Imp on board it, one Syril Karn. (I, for one, ain't scared of anyone called Cyril, mean frowny face or not.) However, we finally get an answer as to what the red-and-blue types are. Syril is listed as Deputy Inspector Karn - so Imperial police. We've not seen those around before in SW, but it does make sense in this new context. - Places that are occupied would have a metric ton of troops around, heavy visible presence, and military running the show. - Tatooine is theoretically Empire but a trade and tactical backwater, and pain in the backside. Give that s*** detail to a few unfortunates you don't like. - A place that's either fully annexed or willingly joined an Empire doesn't need occupation forces full time - they just need to keep on top of the daily rote of actual crime, keep a weather eye out for any signs of rebellion (which at this point are only bubbling under), and indulge in a little light corruption and profiteering on the side. Probably. Hence, cops. Hence, Gestapo-type storylines. However, I'd bet that if Cyril has chased our heroes off-world, he ain't gonna get much help from the proper Imps. Outfits like these like their hierarchies and entitlements. The only other thing this tells us is that Lucasfilm are charging more for the branding than before. This fairly small set is an eye-watering €70 - considering the vastly fancier anniversary edition Galaxy Explorer set I just got suckered into buying is only €100, t'would appear fans are not terribly happy.

One for all the budding film editors out there.

The Internet, yet again, is undefeated.

My nerdery is clearly not all-encompassing. Read this and thought when the hell did the Berenstain Bears take on the Xenomorphs? Would happily read that one to my great-nieces. And while the first flick was watchable for me (the less said about Requiem, the better), the AvP comics were better...

Funkytown - Lipps Inc Funkytown / I Feel Good - Lucky Chops NY (Live at Herald Square)

New clip released ahead of next week's launch. It's tiny, but I wish I hadn't watched this. (No, it's not bad, I think it's good, I just wish I hadn't known ahead of time). Feels like a weird choice for a preview clip/EPK release. So THE WHOLE THING is behind a spoiler. Also, if you don't want to know, stay off the Twitters or film sites until the show launch. For those who want to see...

The Band ft The Staples Singers - The Weight (Live @ The SF Winterland Ballroom/The Last Waltz)

Watchin' Out - The Split Decision Band

Rock Candy Funk Party - Octopus E

Redtenbacher's Funkestra - Theme From Diamond Tiger

Speedometer - Make It All Right

As I've said (way too many times) before: Disney is using D+ the right way. Sure, they're cashing in a fair bit, but they're using it to play around with new kinds of stories in their properties, in this less-risky environment, and see what flies. As they say in the article: whether the Space Wizards universe can handle this kind of intense storytelling - that requires more of the audience's belief and involvement... is a question. And one we won't be able to answer But a darn good question to ask.

...and more drinking. (Diet Dr Pepper under 18, diet beer over 18, mead for special occasions.) TBH I guess that's what they're aiming for - the spirit of fun, casual, slightly insane freeform gameplay with a bunch of Greatest Hits thrown in. Apparently, it's a Forgotten Realms based flick. But - again, thinking Lego Movie here - taking the core mechanics of the world and running with them rather than note-perfect accuracy. As long as they don't throw in cheese lines like "did your Charisma just fail you?" I'll be happy enough. (Or if they give those all to Hugh Grant.)

...or any time Jack Whitehall was on it, in my case. Still don't know what they're up to with Good Omens 2. With that in final edit (wrapped in March) and Anansi Boys in post-prod, Neil's gotta be pretty busy right now...

I think Qilin is the Chinese version and Kirin/Girin is the Japanese/Korean version, which looks a bit more like a deer. With a beard. And mostly on fire. Reminds me. Haven't had a Kirin in a while, and now I want the good sushi, dammit. Harry Styles - Music For A Sushi Restaurant (How did this kid get so funky all of a sudden?)

Godiego - Birth Of The Odyssey (aka Monkey Magic) (Side note: somewhere in my parents' house is an original BBC 45 single of this - for some obscure reason, the BBC bought it off NHK and showed it to happy kids and baffled parents as a Saturday teatime thing.)

Your Wiki-Fu is exceptional... ...but are you a match for mine? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longma - fabled winged horse and relative of the western stories of pegasi (...but with dragon scales, because who doesn't love dragons?) I guess J2TW doesn't allow them to fly, for the same reason Gandalf doesn't let Frodo hitch a ride with the Eagles and just drop the damn thing straight into Mount Doom. Never gonna get 3 books and a movie series out of that... Dharma - Waves (Also, if you happen to have a link to a vid by the Taiwanese Buddhist Metal band of the same name, do let me know)

Or even other abstract beings, for that matter. (Oh, and Kirby delivered this bit brilliantly 😁)

Nini - Long Ma 龍馬 ("Dragon Horse" / Pegasus)

Afterlife ft. Rachel Lloyd - Sunrise

She's not-too-subtly called out Ellis in interviews and EPKs. Mischievous bugger... then again, I suppose that's in character too? Fry is in this as well as Gilbert, aka Fiddler's Green. Haven't quite got to that bit yet...

...heh. So, while greedily anticipating the new clutch of children of the night this series will doubtless inspire, a quick note... Sweet Freya in Asgard, Neil's only gone and done it. Admittedly, he'd learned a lot from personally showrunning Good Omens, and working on American Gods and Anansi Boys. And pitched it with the highly experienced David Goyer to multiple networks and streamers, to the ones who were prepared to throw the most money and creative freedom at it. Netflix took a punt on it: it's now #1 in over 100 countries and getting serious critical reviews. It is, as they say, a thing. And the two best episodes... Some other notes: Brit comedians Sanjeev Bhaskar and Asim Chaudhry kill it (and each other) as Cain & Abel.. ..and you are not emotionally ready for Gregory. His two minutes of screentime will Pixar you into blubbering submission. There are few more reliable practitioners of Haughty British Evil than Charles Dance, and he naturally nails Burgess. Jenna Coleman turns up as a stylish, snappy and substantially cleaner genderflipped Constantine (due to WB internal rights issues rather than Neil's whims), but who is just of much as a shambles as a human being. And a surprise bonus of Patton Oswalt as Matthew, who serves not only as Dream's guide but our Everyraven asking pertinent questions (like "...why are we going to Hell again?") Still working my way through the final three eps - which are basically The Doll's House... ...and I'm presumably about to get destroyed by Martin Tenbones. Again.

Tests with an NY audience allegedly had mixed to poor reactions to pacing: cast scored good to average. CGI, final cut and post-prod wasn't done yet, so there were some holes. That said, my Bothan spies tell me the briefing about "testing poorly" and "quality issues" come from a very small coterie of executives.

As far as I can see with the Shazam flicks, they're building that into the storyline - as Billy grows, so do his needs, responsibilities, so on. It's 100% a kids' movie with a slightly weird premise: but ran with it and made it a very decent offering. Zach Levi also pulls off the supermanchild schtick with aplomb. Side note to the side note: my only gripe with the first Shazam was the same I had with most of Marvel - they had a villain problem. A good antagonist has to be challenging, not a duplicate of the protagonist, have a fleshed backstory of their own, and have a proper actor attached to it. They hit three out of four - even if Sivana had equal-ish powers, the catch was he knew what he was doing. Mark Strong is a reliable and dependable baddie, did good work with what he was given and given some pretty horrific/OTT sidekicks. But didn't feel a whole person like Keaton's Tooms, Molina's Doc Ock or Dafoe's Osborn. This time, they get to deal with Mirren and Liu. Good luck, kids. As far as the Amber Heard stuff goes - regardless of any toxic fandom or on-set issues: never heard of her before the first Aquaman, her Mera didn't really seem to build any chemistry with Momoa (or anybody, for that matter) and carried off neither warrior nor princess. Personally I'd kill off that fairly thin character in a messily final way rather than recast, and work up someone new. Clarke is interesting in that they've worked together before and can play to each others' strengths. But I was thinking more a Jane Foster type, maybe an aquatic archaeologist or marine biologist (Jenna Coleman, Mischa Barton, Steph Adams...?) to mirror his upbringing, give him an anchor back on land, and someone to share the same wonder he felt when he entered this world. And who equals his presence with her own, balancing his strength with smarts, which gives you new plot options. Big ol' rewrite/reshoot but it'd be worth it.... ...am I rambling? I'm rambling. Keaton - an actor's actor and not a man to suffer fools. He was apparently great to work with for Holland, understood the nerves and helped everybody out (despite relentless teasing and Bat-jokes). And that new kid works his ass off. Keaton's gonna respect that. Miller, on the other hand... was allegedly going through some things on-set, with diva meltdowns, performative mumbling/ranting/chanting etc when he didn't "get" the scene (ie: hadn't prepared), and at least one production-stop/crisis meeting. Ezra, doubt you're reading this, but y'aint Brando yet and you don't get to waste crew or performers' time. In short, I'd heard him described as "talent" rather than "actor" before (not a compliment). Now, he's gone through "difficult" (ouch) and out the other side to "problematic". That is not a word you come back from easily. Much as donning the cape again is fun, I'm not sure Keaton wants his name on this incarnation of the franchise or to work on chaotic sets again.