Apr 24 2024

Notable Genre Anniversaries in 2024, Part 1 of 2

“When you go after honey with a balloon, the great thing is to not let the bees know you’re coming.” — Winnie-the-Pooh

Technically, the properties I’m presenting in this “2024” edition of the “Notable Genre Anniversaries” should/could have been done in 2019, since I go in 5 year increments. But, I somehow missed them back then. Another thing: I was going to cover the Jaws franchise this time around, since the novel originally came out in 1974. But, then I realized that I already covered it in 2020 in celebration of the 1975 film. Oops.

In any case, I have four more anniversaries to celebrate this year. However, rather than “kill myself” trying to get all four done this week for a single post, I decided to split them into two posts of two each. Here we go for Part 1…

“Mad” Max Rockatansky (1979; 1980 in U.S.): 45 years

On the off chance you’re unfamiliar with it, Mad Max was a post-apocalyptic, dystopian action film from Australia starring Mel Gibson. Society is breaking down in future Australia, gangs are gaining more power and territory, things are generally going down the tubes. Gibson’s ‘Max’ is the top pursuit man of the underfunded Main Force Patrol (MFP) — one of the last remaining law enforcement agencies. When his family is killed by a gang, the enraged Max (in his souped up Pursuit Special) becomes the gang’s worst nightmare.

Former physician George Miller teamed with amateur filmmaker Byron Kennedy to develop an outline for their story concept. Then they added first-time screenwriter James McCausland to the team, and he worked mostly on the dialogue. In addition to contributing personal funds, they earned money for production by circulating a 40-page presentation. Young, American-born Mel Gibson impressed Miller and casting director Mitch Matthews in his audition, and he was signed for the lead role. Most of the biker gang extras were members of actual Australian outlaw motorcycle clubs, and they had to ride their own motorcycles on camera, as well as when commuting to and from shooting locations.

Production had a lot of issues (many due to casting, budget, and time constraints), and it involved a lot of “guerrilla filmmaking”, which then led to “guerrilla editing” of both picture and sound in post-production. On a positive note, Mad Max has the distinction of being one of the first Australian films to be shot with a widescreen anamorphic lens. The film would go on to win Australian Film Institute awards for Best Editing, Best Original Music Score (by composer Brian May (not the guy from Queen)), and Best Sound, along with a Special Award for Stunt Work. There were four additional AFI nominations, and the film won the Special Jury Award at the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival.

Critical reception of the film was generally negative, due primarily to the violence and dark tone, though Miller got a nod from Variety. On the other hand,

“Mad Max grossed A$5,355,490 at the box office in Australia and over US$100 million worldwide. Given its small production budget, it was the most profitable film ever made at the time and held the Guinness World Record for the highest box-office-to-budget ratio of any motion picture until the release of The Blair Witch Project (1999)…. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 91% approval rating based on 64 reviews, with an average score of 7.8/10; the site’s ‘critics consensus’ reads: ‘Staging the improbable car stunts and crashes to perfection, director George Miller succeeds completely in bringing the violent, post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max to visceral life.’ The film has been included in ‘best 1,000 films of all time’ lists from The New York Times and The Guardian.”

There were two live-action sequels (1982, 1985) with Mel Gibson, then a new film in 2015 (starring Tom Hardy as ‘Max’), the last one winning six out of ten Academy Award nominations. Miller directed or co-directed all four films. A spinoff prequel is on its way for 2024, and possible additional sequels are in development. The franchise’s influence in popular culture is evidenced in other films and TV series, various music genres (from pop to metal) and music videos, animated TV series episodes, video games, novels, comic books, manga, professional wrestling, etc.

Winnie-the-Pooh (1924): 100 years

Once upon a time, there was a friendly, kindhearted, but not-so-bright, Silly Ol’ Bear that lived in the Hundred Acre Wood with his friends Piglet, Kanga, Eeyore, Tigger, et al. They were often visited by a young boy named Christopher Robin, who joined them on adventures, picnics, games, and musings about life, love, and friendship. They all sprang from the minds of English author A.A. Milne and illustrator E.H. Shepard.

The bear was originally named “Edward Bear” when he first appeared in Milne’s poem, “Teddy Bear”, in the Feb. 13, 1924, edition of Punch. The name ‘Edward’ came from a teddy bear Milne had given his son, the real Christopher Robin, for his first birthday in 1921. By the time the poem was republished in Milne’s book of children’s verse, When We Were Very Young (Nov. 6, 1924), the child had re-named the toy. ‘Winnie’ was the name of a brown bear they saw at the London Zoo, while ‘Pooh’ was what Christopher Robin Milne called a swan that he fed every morning. Milne’s popular character first appeared publicly as ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’ (though the hyphens would eventually be removed) in a Christmas story commissioned and published by the London Evening News newspaper (Dec. 24, 2025).

Winnie-the-Pooh’s design came from ‘Growler’, the teddy bear of Shepard’s son Graham, which was more cuddly than young Milne’s “gruff-looking” teddy bear. Many of the other animal characters were based on Christopher Robin Milne’s other stuffed toys. ‘Hundred Acre Wood’ was based on the very real Five Hundred Acre Wood in Ashdown Forest in East Sussex, a few miles from the Milne country home. Many other locations in the stories — from a particular clump of trees to a prominent hilltop or a footbridge — are associated with very real places in and around the forest.

The first collection of Pooh stories appeared in the book Winnie-the-Pooh (1926), published by Methuen in England, by E.P. Dutton in the U.S., and by McClelland & Stewart in Canada. It was “an immediate critical and commercial success.” Milne and Shepard put out a successful sequel, The House at Pooh Corner (which introduced the ‘Tigger’ character) in 1928.

Creator/producer/publisher Stephen Slesinger bought US and Canadian merchandising, television, recording, and other trade rights to the Winnie-the-Pooh works from Milne in January 1930 “for a $1,000 advance and 66% of Slesinger’s income. By November 1931, Pooh was a $50 million-a-year business. Slesinger marketed Pooh and his friends for more than 30 years, creating the first Pooh doll, record, board game, puzzle, US radio broadcast (on NBC), animation, and motion picture.” Pooh and friends first appeared in color in 1932 on an RCA Victor picture record. That was, of course, the debut of Pooh’s trademark red shirt, as well.

When Slesinger died in 1953, his wife Shirley continued the business. In 1961, both Slesinger’s widow and Milne’s widow, Daphne, licensed the respective rights they controlled to Walt Disney Productions. Disney retained exclusive rights to the property until Jan. 2022, when the U.S. copyright expired and it went into the public domain. An independent filmmaker quickly capitalized on this by putting out a horror film titled Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023). (The UK copyright will expire in Jan. 2027.)

Between Slesinger and Disney (who have had legal disputes, btw), the Pooh franchise has continued to release live-action movies and featurettes, animated films, games, radio dramas, musical releases, TV series, musical shorts, unofficial sequel books, related books, stage productions,
and, of course, stuffed toys of Pooh and the other characters. A few of Milne’s stories were even adapted in the Soviet Union. Various of the Pooh productions have been translated into various languages, including Russian (of course), Polish, Hungarian, Latin, etc. Here is a Wikipedia quote regarding Pooh’s cultural legacy:

“Maev Kennedy of The Guardian called Winnie-the-Pooh ‘the most famous bear in literary history’. One of the best-known characters in British children’s literature, a 2011 poll saw the bear voted onto the list of top 100 ‘icons of England’. In 2003 the first Pooh story was ranked number 7 on the BBC’s The Big Read poll. Forbes magazine ranked Pooh the most valuable fictional character in 2002, with merchandising products alone generating more than $5.9 billion that year. In 2005, Pooh generated $6 billion, a figure surpassed by only Mickey Mouse. In 2006, Pooh received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, marking the 80th birthday of Milne’s creation. In 2010, E.H. Shepard’s original illustrations of Winnie the Pooh (and other Pooh characters) featured on a series of UK postage stamps issued by the Royal Mail.”

Who would’ve thought that this hunny-lovin’, Bear of Very Little Brain would be so popular a century later?

Stay tuned for Part 2 in the weeks ahead (and before I go on vacation in June)…

Apr 17 2024

10 Most Iconic Genre Villains on Screen

“It puts the lotion in the basket.” — Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs

Don’t know what got me thinking about this. I’m sure others have put out similar lists, but I thought it might be fun to come up with a list of my own.

Generally speaking, when I refer to “genre” by itself like this, I mean those genres that this blog is most focused on: action/adventure and sci-fi/fantasy. This sometimes overlaps with horror and war-themed movies, etc. So, no surprise that the first pair are where this list was pulled from. I decided to exclude supernatural and other horror-type antagonists (e.g., Dracula, Freddy Kruger, It, poltergeists). I also excluded kaiju and alien species in general (e.g., Godzilla, xenomorphs, Martians). Finally, while I was tempted to include the HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, I ultimately decided to limit my consideration of cyborgs, androids/robots, computers, and computer-generated “villains” to those of a generally humanoid appearance. Yeah, somewhat arbitrary, but I wanted to keep my list down to ten (for a change).

So, now that you have a good idea of the types of villains who qualified and who didn’t, here are my final ten most iconic villains from TV and (mostly) film, listed chronologically by first appearance:

‘Khan Noonien Singh’ from Star Trek’s “Space Seed” (1967) and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Any Trekkie/Trekker worth his or her salt knows about the augmented human known as ‘Khan’, but so do many people who are only casual watchers of Star Trek. He has the rare distinction of first appearing on a TV episode and then returning many years later in a film — second one in the franchise — that continued the TV series. Thanks to Ricardo Montalban’s inspired performance, the character became one of the most beloved of the franchise, despite being a villain.

‘Darth Vader’ in Star Wars films, beginning with Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)

The Star Wars franchise was a monster hit thanks in no small part to this enigmatic Sith Lord with cybernetic limbs and Force-based powers. The combination of David Prowse’s intimidating physique and James Earl Jones’ deep voice helped make Vader the awesome villain and household name that he has become to so many over the past nearly 50 years.

T-800 model terminator in The Terminator (1984)

The Conan movies made Arnold Schwarzenegger an action star, but this one made him a superstar. He became a cyborg — a hyper-alloy combat chassis covered in living human tissue — that could not be bargained or reasoned with. It felt no pain, no remorse. “And it absolutely will not stop… ever… until you are dead!” Cool! And nobody even cared that a cyborg from 40 years in the post-apocalyptic future had a thick Austrian accent.

‘The Kurgan’ in Highlander (1986)

“Happy Halloween, ladies!” Clancy Brown has been in a lot of series and films over the past four decades, but this was one of his earliest and quite possibly his best-known, as well. ‘The Kurgan’ was so-called because he was an Immortal from the steppes of Russia, part of the infamously cruel Kurgan culture. His savagery and complete disregard for life, as well as his later “playfulness”, made him quite a dangerous yet fascinating foe.

‘Clarence Boddicker’ in Robocop (1987)

Kurtwood Smith played ‘Boddicker’, cop-killing leader of a gang of thieves and thugs, in the original Robocop movie. This was another ruthless villain who had no problem hurting and killing people in gruesome ways and for fun, while throwing out one-liners and laughing about it. This, of course, made it all the more satisfying when Boddicker and his boys got their comeuppance thanks to our hero and his partner.

‘Hans Gruber’ in Die Hard (1988)

Who can forget Alan Rickman as the “cultured”, German criminal mastermind behind the attempted bearer-bond heist at Nakatomi Plaza one Christmas? It was Rickman’s first major film role and, thanks to his immense talent, helped to launch himself, the Gruber character, and Die Hard all into the iconosphere. Even his death (at the hands of protagonist ‘John McClane’) became an iconic part of film history. “Happy trails, Hans!”

‘Hannibal Lecter’ and ‘Buffalo Bill’ in The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Who could forget these two — so different, yet both so evil. The urbane but violent and cannibalistic ‘Dr. Lecter’ was masterfully played by Sir Anthony Hopkins in one of his most noted roles. Cross-dressing, butterfly-raising ‘Bill’ (aka ‘Jame Gumb’), on the other hand, was an odd serial-killer who skinned his victims for his own gruesome purposes. The latter was played to creepy perfection by Ted Levine. I can’t imagine the film being done without either one of them.

T-1000 model terminator in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

The first Terminator movie was originally going to be a T-800 vs. T-1000 scenario, but I’m glad Cameron (and his co-writers) held off on it until the sequel, when they could be more confident in the technology for the “liquid metal” effect of the T-1000. I think it was that effect, plus Robert Patrick’s machine-like portrayal of the T-1000, that made it such a cool character and sucessful film.

‘Agent Smith’ from the Matrix films (1999)

Hugo Weaving invested such cold, calculating menace into this character, partly due I think to the particular way of enunciating and other mannerisms he gave it, that one couldn’t help but listen carefully when he spoke and wonder how Neo, Morpheus, et al. could possibly defeat it. “It” being a program — an A.I. within the A.I. that created the Matrix itself — with a Terminator-like determination to stop the rebels and ultimately exterminate the humankind that it “hates” so much.

Whaddayathink?

I’m sure some of you are thinking, “But, what about… and… “. And, yes, I definitely considered others (e.g., Gene Hackman’s ‘Lex Luthor’ in Superman, Jack Nicholson’s ‘Joker’ in Batman, a couple James Bond villains, the Gunslinger in Westworld, et al.). But, for me, they didn’t quite cut it for inclusion in my Top 10. Feel free to share your list. Maybe you’ll convince me to update mine….

Apr 10 2024

Casting Update on “NCIS” Prequel Series

“What’re you lookin’ at, probie?!” — Special Agent Mike Franks, “NCIS”

It was just this past February that I wrote (in one-third of a newsy post) about an in development, CBS prequel series in the “NCIS” franchise: “NCIS: Origins”. Since then, a few casting announcements have come out, so I wanted to get caught up on them. I considered waiting until they cast a young Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard, but then I discovered that he didn’t join NIS/NCIS until Dec. 1992. Since the new show will be set in the 1991/1992 timeframe to begin, Ducky may not appear in the beginning or at all in Season 1.

So…

Austin Stowell (Whiplash, Bridge of Spies) will take the lead as new NIS agent — the agency doesn’t become ‘NCIS’ until 1993 — ‘Leroy Jethro Gibbs’, Gunnery Sergeant (USMC), assigned to a new team based out of Camp Pendleton. Stowell is pushing 40, as was Gibbs at this point in his career. As far as I can tell, Stowell seems like a pretty good choice. Btw, he already has experience with the franchise, having played a Marine corporal in the second season of “NCIS: Los Angeles” (2010).
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Mariel Molino (The Shade, “The Watchful Eye”) will play a new character, ‘Special Agent Lala Dominguez’. She is “a former Marine who navigates her 1990s male-dominated field with a steely resolve and a dark sense of humor. When a tormented Leroy Jethro Gibbs joins her team, the ensuing story between these two enigmatic outsiders is filled with sparks and turns that will keep the audience guessing.” (Note: The series begins after Gibbs’ first wife and their daughter were murdered, which longtime viewers of the original show are familiar with.)
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Kyle Schmid (“Six”, “Being Human”) has signed on to play NIS team leader (and mentor to Gibbs) ‘Special Agent Mike Franks’, a recurring character played by Muse Watson in “NCIS”. Franks is a proud Texan, thick-skinned, and “a born leader with an unwavering moral compass who’s determined to find justice by any means necessary.” I can see Schmid as a younger version of Watson, and early 40s is the right age. Schmid has played tough characters, even Navy characters, before, and I expect this will turn out to be a good piece of casting.
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Most recently, casting for a couple more new characters were announced. Diany Rodriguez (“The Blacklist”, “Twisted Metal”) once played ‘DHS Agent Garcia’ in an episode of “NCIS: New Orleans” a few years back. Now, she will have the role of “‘Special Agent Vera Strickland’, a no-nonsense, sharp-witted Brooklynite who’s tough as nails and never minces words. She’s spent her entire career being underestimated by misogynistic morons (as she calls them), but if it’s a fight those good ol’ boys are looking for, then it’s a fight they’re going to get.”

Tyla Abercrumbie (“The Chi”, “Low Winter Sun”) will be ‘Field Operation Support Officer Mary Jo’. In a nod to government acronym-mania, she calls herself the “HSIC” (Head Secretary in Charge). She is the lifeblood of the Camp Pendleton office, and she knows “where the bodies are buried.” Sounds like a fun character!

As long as the writers don’t overdo the womyn-fighting-for-respect-amongst-a-bunch-of-sexist-jerks angle, I think I may enjoy this show, which is scheduled for the 2024-2025 season. First, though, I really need to check out the last two NCIS spinoffs…

Apr 3 2024

Rogue Titans Academy

“Ex Astris, Scientia!” — official motto of Starfleet Academy

Time for a few genre news updates that you might have missed. (Or not. Indulge me…)

First up… Star Wars: Rogue Squadron. The film was announced in Dec. 2020 with a release date in Dec. 2023. Wonder Woman‘s Patty Jenkins was set to direct from a story she would collaborate on with Matthew Robinson (Love and Monsters). But, as reported in Nov. 2021, Jenkins’ busy schedule with other projects resulted in the film getting shelved with an uncertain future.

In a recent podcast interview, Jenkins revealed that she had signed a deal with Lucasfilm right about the time the SAG-AFTRA strikes began. Now that that business has all cleared up and the possible Wonder Woman 3 project has been cancelled, she is freed up to get the Rogue Squadron development underway. Her priority now is getting a completed script to Lucasfilm. Fingers crossed that everything progresses smoothly and we finally get a good, new addition to the Star Wars franchise.

Switching franchises,… James Gunn and DC Studios recently announced that a live-action Teen Titans movie is being added to the slate of projects revealed back in Jan. 2023. The film will be written by Ana Nogueira, an actress (“Hightown”, “The Blacklist”) whose only writing credit — at least, on IMDB — is the currently-in-pre-production Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. I hope this is a good choice — “new blood” and all that — but part of the problem we have seen with disappointing genre films lately is due to relatively inexperienced writers and directors. So, this may not bode well.

The film will have no connection with the live-action “Titans” TV series that recently ended its four-season run. I think this is a good thing. For one, that show had a decent finale; for another, I hope that the film will be somewhat “mature” but less dark (whether for a standalone or first film) than the TV series was. I also hope the casting and writing are more faithful to the source material.

As of this post, no announcements have been made about cast, director, plot, or tentative release date.

I wrote last week about the Star Trek: Section 31 movie that recently finishing filming. But, another highly-anticipated Star Trek project is “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy”. It has been almost exactly a year since CBS/Paramount announced that the much-rumored streaming series had indeed been approved and a first season ordered. Filming was set to begin in 2024 for a likely 2025 premiere.

Development slowed during the strikes and further news had been virtually non-existent. Until last month, that is, when franchise-boss Alex Kurtzman revealed a few tidbits about the young adult-oriented series in an interview with Collider. For example, the writers and set-builders are now hard at work during the pre-production phase (more on this later), but filming should begin late this summer. The first season is expected to have 10 episodes, but it probably won’t air until sometime in 2026.

“There’s a lot of different kids from a lot of different places. Some of them want to be there, some of them don’t want to be there. It’s gonna be a fundamental reinforcement of all the things we love about Starfleet, in general.” — Alex Kurtzman

Kurtzman also stated that (re-)building “that optimistic future that is Roddenberry’s essential vision… is very much going to be at the heart of Starfleet Academy.”

More recently, it was confirmed that the show will take place in the “Discovery” time period (i.e., 32nd century). But, whether or not the beloved Lt. Tilly will be involved has not been confirmed at this stage. No cast at all has been announced. But, we do know that Tawny Newsome, who voices ‘Mariner’ on “Lower Decks” is part of the writing team. Gaia Violo (“Absentia”, “Blood & Treasure”) is show creator, and Kurtzman will share executive producer and showrunner duties with Noga Landau (“Nancy Drew”, “See”).

Incidentally, in a recent ST cover story, Variety revealed that Paramount is going all out on this project, building the largest single set ever created for a “Star Trek” TV show. The central set for the series, used for the Academy’s atrium, will use the entire 45,900 square foot soundstage at Pinewood Toronto.

“A sprawling, two-story structure that will include a mess hall, amphitheater, trees, catwalks, multiple classrooms and a striking view of the Golden Gate Bridge in a single, contiguous space.”

Sounds impressive! As long as the stories and characters are written well, too, I will remain cautiously optimistic.

Mar 27 2024

What’s Up with “Star Trek: Section 31”?

“Emperor Philippa Georgiou joins a secret division of Starfleet tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets and faces the sins of her past.” — official synopsis of Star Trek: Section 31

OK, let’s go back a little bit.

Early in 2019, it was confirmed that Michelle Yeoh’s ‘Emperor Philippa Georgiou’ (transported from Mirror Universe to Primary Universe) would be starring in a new “Section 31” spinoff series, written by Bo Yeon Kim and Erika Lippoldt. But, in April 2023 it was announced that the series was being reworked(?) into a one-off(?) Star Trek: Section 31 movie, written by Craig Sweeny — with Kim and Lippoldt still sharing credit — and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi. Yeoh enthused,

“I’m beyond thrilled to return to my Star Trek family and to the role I’ve loved for so long. Section 31 has been near and dear to my heart since I began the journey of playing Philippa all the way back when this new golden age of Star Trek launched. To see her finally get her moment is a dream come true in a year that’s shown me the incredible power of never giving up on your dreams. We can’t wait to share what’s in store for you, and until then: live long and prosper (unless Emperor Georgiou decrees otherwise)!”

The film is said to be a cross between Guardians of the Galaxy and Mission Impossible. Other than that production was scheduled to begin later in 2023, news since last April has been scarce. However, ScreenRant‘s John Orquiola put forth a theory that this film could function as a “stealth sequel” to “Star Trek: Enterprise”. After the Guardian of Forever (aka Carl) sends her back in time,

“Georgiou’s ultimate mission may be to either take control of Section 31 or possibly even put an end to the organization. But perhaps this could entail Philippa learning the secrets of how Section 31 began, which ties into the 22nd-century founding of the United Federation of Planets, i.e. the timeframe of Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) and ‘Star Trek: Enterprise’.”

(Dismantling Section 31 or even retconning it out of the timeline completely would certainly please certain Redditors.)

A month or so ago, it was confirmed that principal photography had finally begun in January and the following actors had joined the cast: Omari Hardwick (“Power”), Kacey Rohl (“Arrow”), Sam Richardson (The Tomorrow War), Sven Ruygrok (“One Piece”), Robert Kazinsky (“Second Chance”), Humberly Gonzalez (“Ginny & Georgia”) and James Hiroyuki Liao (“Unforgettable”). There are three more people listed with them — four, if you include Yeoh — in the movie’s IMDB’s entry. Alas, other than for Yeoh, we have no names or other information regarding these characters.

Then, just the other day, Kazinsky posted on social media that the film had completed filming, saying that it had been “one of the greatest experiences of my life.” He lauded director Osunsanmi as “the most exceptional captain I’ve worked under, leading a cast that is incomparable.” He also gushed about his fellow castmembers, saying, “these talented individuals will revolutionize the world of [Star Trek] with their unparalleled chemistry and camaraderie. The constant laughter, support, and love we shared every single day is something I will cherish forever…. As a devoted Trekker, I believe you’ll love it.”

The post-production phase is now officially underway….

I gotta tell ya, I loved the idea of Georgiou in a “Section 31” series. Lots of room for development of both the character and the stories and lore about the organization. So, when it transformed into just a movie, I was mightily disappointed. I didn’t care why they changed it… I was just miffed. I didn’t find out until recently, but here are the real reasons (as per The Hollywood Reporter):

“Between Yeoh’s schedule, fears of having too many shows going on at the same time in the franchise, and a desire to enter the feature film event space, a decision was made to shift Section 31 into a movie.”

My personal disappointment aside, I should probably just be glad the project didn’t get completely canned, and I sincerely hope Yeoh et al. put together a very smart and fan-satisfying film. If it does so well that it functions as a backdoor pilot for a “Section 31” series or possibly a movie sequel or two, then all the better. After all, Kurtzman already wants to do a Star Trek made-for-streaming movie every couple of years.

Star Trek: Section 31, set to premiere in 2025, is produced by CBS Studios and will air on Paramount+. Alex Kurtzman, Rod Roddenberry, Olatunde Osunsanmi, and Michelle Yeoh are among the executive producers.

Mar 20 2024

Do You Confuse These Movies, Too?

Have you ever had some actor in a movie you were watching remind you of another movie s/he was in, but you can’t remember the title of that other movie, so you do some research and when you finally track down the movie in question, you realize that the actor wasn’t in it after all? So then you realize there must another, similar(?) movie, featuring the actor you had in mind (maybe), and off you go on another search…?

Or, maybe there are a couple movies that came out close together and with very similar titles and/or plots, and you know this, but you can never remember which is which?

Yeah… same here.

Sometimes it’s something about the plot or setting, sometimes it’s something about the main star. Or, maybe it’s a combination. But, there are certain movies that I just have trouble keeping straight. Sure, if I look them up on IMDB, I realize the differences. But, ask me again a few weeks later, and chances are 50/50 that I’ll confuse them again.

So, I have spent some time recently dredging up from the part of my mind where I store “movie trivia” those that tend to confuse me. I figure, if I share them with you, maybe some of you can identify with the same problem, and we can commiserate….

Chinatown (1974) and The China Syndrome (1979)

The first is a 1930s period piece starring Jack Nicholson (as a P.I.) and Faye Dunaway “caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder.” The second stars Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, and Michael Douglas and involves a cover-up at a nuclear power plant. Near as I can tell, the only reason I confuse them is because they are both drama/thrillers that came out in the ’70s and have the word “China” in the title. (Btw, I don’t think I have watched either one.)

Blazing Saddles (1974) and Silverado (1985)

These two are both Westerns, but the first is a comedy starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder, whereas the second is a crime/thriller starring a host of big names — e.g., Kevin Kline, Brian Dennehy, Kevin Costner, Danny Glover, Linda Hunt, et al. Other than the “Western” connection, I’m not sure why I often confuse them. Maybe my first viewings of the films were not that far apart — say, some time in the late-’80s or early-’90s?

Like Normal People (1979) and No Other Love (1979)

I think my confusion about these two is understandable. They were TV movies that came out the same year and are both about a mentally-challenged man and woman who meet, fall in love, and want to get married. The first starred Shaun Cassidy and Linda Purl, while the second starred Richard Thomas and Julie Kavner. I saw them both as a kid and enjoyed them.

Time After Time (1979) and Somewhere in Time (1980)

In the first one, Malcolm McDowell plays H.G. Wells; Mary Steenburgen and David Warner also star. There is time-travel involved. In the second, Christopher Reeve is a Chicago playwright who — you guessed it — travels back in time to meet an actress (Jane Seymour). Christopher Plummer also stars.

The Final Countdown (1980) and The Philadelphia Experiment (1984)

Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen star in the former film, as “a modern aircraft carrier is thrown back in time to 1941 near Hawaii, just hours before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.” In the latter, Michael Paré, Bobby Di Cicco, and Nancy Allen star, as a U.S. Navy destroyer escort participates in a Navy “invisibility” experiment in 1943 that inadvertently sends two sailors forty years into the future. So,… more time-travel, each involving a large naval vessel, one going backward to WWII and one forward from WWII.

Blow Out (1981) and 8MM (1999)

First, we have John Travolta as “a movie sound recordist [who] accidentally records the evidence that proves that a car accident was actually murder”. (John Lithgow and Nancy Allen co-star.) Second, Nicholas Cage plays “a private investigator… hired to discover if a ‘snuff film’ is authentic or not.” (Joaquin Phoenix and James Gandolfini co-star.) Some similarity, of course, though the latter film is much darker.

Why Me? (1984) and Second Sight: A Love Story (1984)

Two more TV movies, also released in the same year. Glynnis O’Connor plays a military nurse who is horribly disfigured in a car accident. She falls into depression, her husband (Craig Wasson) can’t cope, but things look up when a talented surgeon (Armand Assante) thinks he can reconstruct her face. For comparison, Elizabeth Montgomery plays a woman who lost her sight 20 years earlier and stays isolated, because she doesn’t trust people. Then a romance develops with a man she meets (Barry Newman), and she must decide if she wants to go through with an operation to restore her sight. For many years, I thought I remembered Montgomery starring in Why Me?

The Last Starfighter (1984) and Flight of the Navigator (1986)

“Starfighter”… “Navigator”… Earth boy flies in alien spaceship… etc.

Night of the Creeps (1986) and Slither (2006)

I know I saw the first one many years ago, probably on VHS. I think it was while at college, ‘cuz I used to freak out one of my roommates (or, maybe it was my brother?) by making the noise that the slithery, leach-like “creeps” made. I don’t remember if I ever saw Slither, but I may have seen the trailer years ago. It shows a swarm of critters similar to the “creeps”… thus the confusion.

Stand and Deliver (1988) and Lean on Me (1989)

I saw both of these movies way back when. They are not “genre” movies, but I highly recommend them. The first stars Edward James Olmos as a high school math teach who patiently works with and inspires students in his inner-city school to learn calculus. The second stars Morgan Freeman as a “dedicated but tyrannical” principal of an inner-city high school who clashes with students, the school board, and city officials, yet he inspires students to respect themselves and others and to put in the work to better themselves academically. (Both films are based on true stories.)

Double Impact (1991) and Maximum Risk (1996) and Replicant (2001)

In the first of these films, Jean-Claude Van Damme plays twin brothers who are separated but re-united to avenge their parents’ deaths 25 years later. In the second, JCVD plays a French cop investigating the death of the twin brother he never knew he had. In the third, JCVD plays a serial killer and the genetic clone created to help track and stop him. (Actually, that third title should be a clue that it’s the one with the clone.)

Falling Down (1993) and Breakdown (1997) and Changing Lanes (2002)

First: “An ordinary man [Michael Douglas] frustrated with the various flaws he sees in society begins to psychotically and violently lash out against them.” (I think I remember that his car breaks down early on.) Second: “A man [Kurt Russell] searches for his missing wife after his car breaks down in the middle of the desert.” Third: “A young lawyer [Ben Affleck] and a businessman [Samuel L. Jackson] share a small automobile accident, and their mutual road rage escalates into a feud.”

Ransom (1996) and Payback (1999)

These two both star Mel Gibson. In the first, he plays a multi-millionaire whose son is kidnapped, but then he uses the ransom money he gathered as a bounty instead. (Gary Sinise and Rene Russo co-star.) In the second, he plays a man out for revenge, not to mention his share of the money, after he is left for dead following a successful heist. (Gregg Henry, Maria Bello, and Lucy Liu co-star.) Not that similar a plot, but they are near enough in release and possibly look & “mood”, have the same actor as the central character, plus it has been awhile since I watched either one, so maybe that’s enough for my mind to sort of lump them together?

Volcano (1997) and Dante’s Peak (1997)

I actually remember a bit of hubbub when these two were both announced to be releasing the same year. We have a city official and a seismologist (Tommy Lee Jones and Anne Heche, respectively) dealing with a volcanic eruption in downtown Los Angeles. Or, we have a volcanologist (Pierce Brosnan) and friend (Linda Hamilton) dealing with a volcanic eruption next to a popular, countryside town. Details may be different, of course, but still very similar.

Impostor (2001) and Surrogates (2009)

Gary Sinise stars in the first one, alongside Madeleine Stowe, Vincent D’Onofrio and Mekhi Phifer. “In the future, an alien race uses androids as bombs to attack Earth. A government weapons specialist is accused of being one such android and sets out to prove his innocence.” Bruce Willis stars in the second one, alongside Radha Mitchell and Ving Rhames. “Set in a futuristic world where humans live in isolation and interact through surrogate robots, a cop is forced to leave his home for the first time in years in order to investigate the murders of others’ surrogates.” Obviously, the “android duplicates” thing is what occasionally confuses me about these two.

Insomnia (2002) and One Hour Photo (2002)

Anyone who only thinks of Robin Williams as doing comedy really needs to watch these — but with some time in between. The first one has two L.A. detectives (Al Pacino and Hilary Swank) investigating a murder in a small northern town. The second one is about a mentally unstable photo developer who makes a local, upper-middle class family the target of his obsession. Williams plays a creepy bad guy in each one, and they were released the same year, so my confusion is somewhat justified.

Phone Booth (2002) and Cellular (2004)

In the first one, Colin Farrell plays a publicist who is trapped in a phone booth by a hidden extortionist (Kiefer Sutherland) who will shoot him with a sniper rifle if he tries to leave. Forest Whitaker and Radha Mitchell are in it, too. Chris Evans stars in the second one as a young man who receives an emergency phone call on his cell phone from a woman (Kim Basinger) who claims to have been kidnapped and whose husband and child have been targeted next. (William H. Macy is in it, and Jason Statham does a rare turn as a villain.) These two came out pretty close together, but it’s probably just the similarly-themed titles that confuse me a bit.

Whew! Any of those confuse you, too? There are probably a few more that occasionally throw me, but those are the ones I managed to come up with. Any you want to share that you sometimes get confused about? If so, please do below.

Mar 13 2024

More Fantastic Four Casting Reactions

“What gives this family its purpose and its joy isn’t the destination… it’s the journey.” — Fantastic Four Vol 1, #511

Last October I gave my thoughts on certain casting rumors, story possibilities, etc., for the upcoming Fantastic Four movie. Since then, we’ve had some updates on casting, which I would like to give my two cents’ worth about. (Yeah, that was a few weeks ago and I’m a bit slow — hey, I was busy! 🙂 )

We now know that Vanessa Kirby (M:I-6 & M:I-7, Hobbs & Shaw) has been confirmed to be playing Susan Storm / Invisible Woman. As I said in my earlier post, she’s certainly talented but I don’t think she has the right look. The Hot Mic’s Jeff Sneider was also proven correct in the casting of Joseph Quinn (“Stranger Things”) as Johnny Storm / Human Torch. While relatively inexperienced, and not someone I would have picked, I think he may be an OK choice. (They better make him blonde, though.)

There were rumors about Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us”, “The Mandalorian”) and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (“The Bear”, “Andor”, “The Punisher”) being involved, and announcements last month (Feb. 2024) confirm that both actors are indeed co-starring in this film. Chilean-born Pascal will play Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic, the leader(?) of the team, whereas Moss-Bachrach will bring pilot Ben Grimm / The Thing to life for audiences this time around. (I am assuming that CGI and/or motion-capture technology will be involved.)

I have to admit, I am not big on the idea of Pascal as Richards. Indeed, the first time I heard or read the rumors about this, my heart sunk a bit, just as it did regarding the idea of Antonio Banderas portraying Galactus (which has not been confirmed). Don’t get me wrong, I generally like Pascal and have enjoyed his performances in a number of things (e.g., “Game of Thrones”, Triple Frontier, “The Mandalorian”). In a few others, he was OK (e.g., “The Mentalist”, Wonder Woman 1984, though my main beef with that last one is the way the character was re-written for the film). But, I strongly believe that, even if he can manage the appropriate voice and mannerisms required to pull off the role, he definitely has the wrong look for playing ‘Reed Richards’. He’s also a touch too old. (Reed may be a few years older than Susan, but the gray at his temples is supposed to be premature!)

Moss-Bachrach, on the other hand, might do a pretty good job, and he doesn’t have to worry about looking the part — unless they show flashbacks to before he transformed or Reed gives him a device for temporarily reverting to human form or simply projecting a hologram of what he used to look like (assuming the use of de-aging tech). I’ve only seen him in a few things, but he does seem quite talented. Plus, like ‘Ben Grimm’, he is Jewish-American. (In fact, he’s the only actual American among the four portraying this all-American team/family.) I don’t know that I would have thought of him for this part, but he might do surprisingly well.

As Snarky Jay said on her podcast, “These are relatively unoffensive [sic] casting choices, right? But, they’re also kind of underwhelming. How about we get somebody that matches the role we’re asking them to play?” My thoughts exactly!

That’s all I’ve got for ya, ladies and gents. See y’all next week!

Mar 6 2024

Three More Don’t-Mess-With-Me Novel Heroes

“Read the Orphan X series. You’ll thank me later.” — David Baldacci

Nearly ten years ago, I wrote “Three Don’t-Mess-With-Me Novel Heroes”, in which I gave brief descriptions/recommendations of three action/adventure heroes who star in their own book series. I have written a handful of similar posts (slightly modified format) but of different types of heroes/series. So, I thought it was about time I wrote a “don’t-mess-with-me” follow-up about three more heroes of the same type. (It took me awhile to finally read a sufficient sampling of each.) Maybe you will find one or more of them interesting enough to give ’em a try….

1) “John Milton” series by Mark Dawson

John Milton has spent a decade working as an operative (mostly assassinations) for Group Fifteen, a little-known, off-the-books kill-squad division of UK’s MI-6. When we meet him in the first novel, The Cleaner, Milton has become increasingly disillusioned by the moral grayness of his work, and the guilt has driven him to drink. He decides to take a “sabbatical” and disappear for awhile, but his boss has reluctantly decided to “retire” him. Fortunately for him, Milton is G15’s #1 operative and pretty good at staying under the radar… mostly. Meanwhile, he travels the world, trying to balance the scales, as it were, by helping people he comes across who are in dangerous situations and can use someone with his skillset.

I have read the first three novels (out of 23) in this series, as well as the first prequel novella. There are many similar series out there based on a current or former government assassin or other special ops type. Yet, this one feels a bit different from those I’ve read. Part of it might be that the main character is British (as are his former employers), but it has a very different feel from others I have sampled. In any case, I have enjoyed what I’ve read so far — both the character and the stories. They have a very street-level realism to them. The series has been called “a cross between James Bond and Jason Bourne,” but I think it is more of a cross between Bond (for the secretive and British aspects) and Jack Reacher (for the solitary and brutal parts), yet very much its own thing.

Btw, I belong to a fairly big city public library, but they only have the first novel of this series in paperback. (There are no hardcovers.) I finally bought three omnibuses, so I now have the first nine novels plus a couple novellas in print form. But, if you don’t want to go that route, you can get the Kindle versions, which are relatively cheap or free to borrow with Kindle Unlimited.

2) “Gray Man” series by Mark Greaney

Greaney’s character is Court Gentry, 36, who effectively trained with tactical officers at his father’s SWAT school. He was recruited by the CIA and worked in covert ops, earning himself quite a reputation. He was given the call-sign ‘Sierra Six’ (or just ‘Six’) when he joined an agency irregular rendition task force nicknamed the ‘Goon Squad’. Things went bad on one op (or maybe he was framed), and his old bosses marked him for neutralization. Gentry escaped before they could “render” him, killing a few teammates in the process. Nowadays, Gentry works as an assassin-for-hire in the private sector, and many in the biz would call him “the best”. He has a new nickname, too. He is now known as the Gray Man, due largely to his ability to “blend in” so well wherever he may be, and to seemingly slip in and out of the shadows.

Sometimes the Gray Man gets jobs through an Englishman by the name of Fitzroy, owner of Cheltenham Security Services, but that’s not always reliable. Other times, Gentry takes on work from shadier groups, though he does have loose guidelines for determining which missions to accept. If he can morally justify the assignment, he’ll probably take it, especially if he needs the funds. But, when Gentry’s old CIA employers close in on him, he disappears again, blending in and trying to stay out of trouble. Not surprisingly, trouble tends to find him.

I have only read the first three books in this series, but the thirteenth just came out last month. So far, each story is very different from the others. (However, I read Book #3, Ballistic, right after reading the second John Milton book Saint Death, which was somewhat confusing, ‘cuz they both involved our hero “hiding out” in Mexico and getting caught up in something with drug cartels.) The Court Gentry character is continually being fleshed out, there are fun/interesting plots, and good groups of supporting characters. Overall, an enjoyable read in the action/adventure, spy-thriller genre.

A quick note: If you watched Netflix’s “The Gray Man” film (w/ Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans), you have some idea of what the series is about. But, like most such adaptations, it was rather commercialized and, imho, has a very different feel than the original novels.

3) “Orphan X” (aka “The Nowhere Man”) series by Gregg Hurwitz

See that white guy coming out of the coffee shop, walking this way… in the black sweatshirt and dark jeans? I’d say he’s under 6′ tall, mid-30s, fit but otherwise average looks and build, right? He may not stand out in a crowd, but that works for him in his line of business. What business? If you ask him, he’ll say his name is Evan Smoak and he’s a salesman of industrial cleaning supplies to restaurants, etc. But, …

I have it on good authority that the dude is the urban legend known as the Nowhere Man. If you or a loved one is in over your/their head with some dangerous people — drug dealer, bookie, street gang, kidnapper, corrupt cop, etc. — he might be able to help. He’s got mad skills. But, you can only contact him if a former client of his knows your problem and passes his business card to you on the down-low. (They can only do it once.) If it sounds legit and he can help, he’ll arrange a meet to get more info.

How did Smoak get his skills? You didn’t hear it from me, but he was recruited out of an orphanage by some “mystery man” when he was twelve. He got special training from his mentor (the “mystery man”) and a select group of instructors. Eventually, he became a regular operative for the Orphan Program, an off-the-books, assassin program known by very few even in the U.S. intelligence community. He was quite successful as “Orphan X”. But, after a few years, he’d had enough and broke ties with the Program. (Sound familiar?) Then, new management decides to scrub the program altogether, and that includes eliminating currently surviving Orphans and those still in training. Orphan X refuses to cooperate. It helps that he was able to use certain resources available to him to secretly remodel a top-floor, city condo into a veritable fortress. And “they” don’t know where he lives… yet.

As of this writing, I have read Books 1-3, but there are currently nine in the series. Both the character and the setting are different enough to set them apart from similar action thriller series. There’s some humor, too, usually around Smoak’s dealing with a variety of neighbors, the Homeowners’ Association, his quasi-love interest and her kid. Very enjoyable! In fact, I’m in the mood for one now, but it will have to wait until I finish the Reacher book I’m slowly working my way through. Fun, fun, fun!

I hope you have enjoyed these write-ups. Let me know if you try one and what you think. If you enjoy another series of this sort, please share your recommendation(s)!

Feb 28 2024

My 5 Most Anticipated Films of 2024

Yeah, I know. We are two months into the year already, and I am just now putting out a list of upcoming 2024 movies.

If I had put it out at the end of Dec. 2023, I probably would have had to extend the main list to seven and included Argylle and Ballerina. As it is, the former has already been released, and the latter has been re-scheduled for 2025. On the upside, I do have more up-to-date titles and release dates.

So, in order by release date (subject to change, of course), here are my most anticipated films of the year…

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (Mar. 29, 2024)

There’s just something about giant apes and lizards… Seriously, though, I love these particular kaiju and their Legendary incarnations. It may seem a little hokey, but teaming them up again — this time against more apes and one especially cunning one, apparently — looks from the trailer to be a really good move.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (Apr. 19, 2024)

This film, directed by Guy Ritchie, hasn’t been on my radar for long, but I’m all for it. The fact that it’s about a crazy, violent, special strike force — including Henry Cavill and Alan Ritchson — pulled together for a special mission during WWII makes it all the more appealing. And it’s based (however loosely) on a real, historical team, too!

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (May 10, 2024)

These apes are smaller than in the film mentioned above, but the characters and story are very interesting for other reasons. I hope this is the beginning of another ‘Planet of the Apes’ trilogy, and that we will eventually see 20th- or 21st-century human astronauts flung into the future to encounter this ape-dominated Earth developing before our eyes.

Deadpool & Wolverine (July 26, 2024)

To be honest, I don’t care for some of Deadpool’s humor (which is typical of Ryan Reynolds), due to its often profane or vulgar nature. That aside, I do find Reynolds to be very creative and clever. The biggest draw for me, however, is the team-up with Wolverine. Gotta problem with that, bub?

Alien: Romulus (Aug. 16, 2024)

This horror/sci-fi film is co-written and directed by Fede Alvarez (Don’t Breathe, The Girl in the Spider’s Web). It sounds like the vibe will be similar to that of the original Alien film, though the endangered humans will be a group of “young people”. What is most encouraging to me is that Ridley Scott saw a rough cut and said, “It’s f*#%ing great!”

Since I can’t seem to limit my lists to the number I decided on, here are four more that I am also quite hopeful about:

The Fall Guy (May 3, 2024)

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (May 24, 2024)

Twisters (July 19, 2024)

Venom 3 (Nov. 8, 2024)

I notice that most of my choices are parts of franchises. (In the case of Twisters, it being only the second film, I guess this film makes the property a “franchise”. I’m not sure if The Fall Guy film is technically part of a franchise, though I did enjoy the original TV series with Lee Majors.) I guess that’s a good thing, ‘cuz it indicates that I have enjoyed previous films about the same subject, or at least in the same fictional universe.

Excuse me while I go pop some popcorn (extra butter)…

Feb 21 2024

Heroes and Aliens

Quantum Musings on Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Action/Adventure