(441) here we are + links

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Good God, the new Blogger interface is disgusting. I won't be posting often because I don't have the time but this also makes it almost impossible to do. What a terrible, terrible change.

I am still exhausted after my exams. But guess who passed the bar exam on her first try? :P And I didn't do it traditional way and learned that in classes over the 3 years. No. I worked and learned all the stuff on my own, after 8h in the office and on weekends. And I passed. I'm already learning for the next one. This blog is not going to be updated a lot, but you can always find me on letterboxd and twitter. 

I did take small breaks during my studying before the exams and obviously did so for Babyteeth which was just lovely. Ben doesn't have anything lined up on imdb which is very depressing. 

I love him, I love him

Fuck that, he's too good for the Academy.

Meanwhile, Harry Styles is sporting mustache in Italy. Have we not been through enough this year as it is?

At least he also gave us this but I still haven't listened to that. I'm scared it may kill me.

365 Days is a disgrace, but it is also hilarious. It makes perfect sense this comes from the same country as I do. Also how the hell was that directed by a woman and there is more female than male nudity? 

Do people not know what "dad bod" looks like? Jesus Christ...

I watched a bunch of movies since last RF, you can check all my reviews and diary entries on LB. I was sick again for almost 2 weeks with another sinus infection so that's when I really caught up on a lot of stuff and averaged about 5 movies a day.

The best scene from the stuff I've seen, other than things with Mendo, was definitely the boat scene from Miami Vice. The song, the editing, the sound, the way he took his jacket off and clicked her belt....oh my God. 

I watched all 3 seasons of Ozark and while season 2 was hard to get through season 3 was one of the best seasons of TV I've ever watched. The female characters on the show are so wonderfully written and the performances are great. Ruth is so badass. She reminds me of Trixie in Deadwood. And Wendy's brother looked like Keanu so that was a plus.

I'm finally properly watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and it's beyond hilarious. Charlie Day makes me laugh so hard and my God he is BEYOND ADORABLE. And the way the characters become crazier and more horrible over the course of the seasons is incredible. It's delightfully dark and outrageous and I'm so impressed the show is so popular considering today's laughable overly correct climate. 

We keep getting promo stuff for WW1984 (1,2) and here's possible sneak peek at the score. All of this is making the wait for the movie even more unbearable.

Depp and Succubus' trial happened and it's a real shame it isn't televised. Some of the developments - 1,2,3.  Not only did she use the whole movement for personal gain and invalidated it - I am sure incels are now going "she lied so they all lie" but she is just terrible at everything. How dumb do you have to be to look this hot and be this bad at framing and manipulating men. I am sure even the gold digger whore community renounced this moron. And when the hell is WB going to recast Mera?

Mario reviews 365 Days

Courtney, Sonia , Gemma and Brittani write about Palm Springs

Katy reviews Relic

General: Blackout

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Today tragedy struck. I wanted to watch "It Chapter Two". First I watched the special features, which lasted about 90 minutes. Very informative. Then I started the film. After 17 minutes the picture froze. I thought there might be a smudge on the disc, so I cleaned it. I put the disc back in, and it didn't load at all. So I tried another disc. Nothing. My Blu-ray player is dead. Can you imagine how bad that is for me? I have to rely on the poor contents of streaming services. Ugh.

My Blu-ray payer isn't under guarantee, so I'll buy a new one tomorrow. The repair costs would probably be more than a new player, and I'd have to wait a week. Is it a coincidence that today is the hottest day since I moved to Germany? Probably not.

Classic Movie Review: Deep Cover (1992)

The Rotting Zombie's Round-up of Horror News for July 2020

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Another month into this dreadful year and added to my list of woes is a bad back I seem unable to fully recover from, and the more surreal incident of the phantom attic rats. I have a week off work in a weeks time, it will be my first proper time off since February (I had 4 days off at the end of May, but that was due to my mother dying so wasn't exactly a happy relaxing period). I am looking forward to getting some rest and relaxation as am currently feeling quite burnt out from this draining year! Video game update for July...I was quite deep into Control, but then something newer and shiner came along (Ghost of Tsushima) so I have briefly shelved that. I have also been playing more Dead by Daylight recently, it's one of those weird games where I feel I will never be at a stage where I can comfortably put up a measured review.

A bit late as I received the email about this at the end of June! Arrow Video Channel's July lineup included undead comedy Zombie for Sale, as well as Gamera: The Complete Collection which brings together all 12 films (the collection is also coming out on Blu-ray on the 17th August (UK) and 18th August (NA)). These films went live on the channel in the US and UK from 1st July and are joined by Creepshow 2, Bloodstone and Black Rainbow. 

Hand in hand with this news is the Arrow Video Blu-ray releases for July. Zombie for Sale, Black Rainbow, and Inferno of Torture came out on 7th July, Hiroshima on the 14th, and Bloodstone and Life is a Long Quiet River coming out on 21st July.

Lake Michigan Monster, a 'black-and-white nautical nightmare' will be available on the Arrow Video Channel and Digital HD on 3rd August in the US and UK. This comes from writer/director/actor Ryland Brickson Cole Tews and is about a bizarre sea captain on a quest to kill the sea monster that killed his father. The film is also enjoying a 24 hour virtual premiere on 31st July, though I am not sure this blog post will be up in time for you to see that. Still, try the link if you want to try and get a late ticket!

Finally, the Arrow Video Channel releases for August sees alongside Lake Michigan Monster, classics Tenebrae and Children of the Corn joining the platform, as well as The Untamed, Inferno of Torture, The Comic, The Case of the Scorpion's Tale, The Black Report, and Black Test Car.

Terror Films have formed a new partnership with Playnow Media. They are a leader in niche-specific, long-tail VOD/OTT channels across a variety of streaming services. Titles, including The Taking of Deborah Logan and Hell House LLC are now on the channel.

MVD Entertainment and Rue Morgue Magazine have launched Midnight Movie Unchained. This is an offshoot of the SVOD service Midnight Movie Society and is a free channel exclusively at Roku. It is designed to offer more traditional horror. The titles are from the MVD film catalog, from underground horror to cult classics.

Summer Hill Films have recently released ultra-low budget horror The Luring on Amazon, YouTube Movies, Google Play, iTunes and other streaming platforms. The film is about a man named Garret who tries to recover the memories from his tenth birthday. He is unaware that he lost them due to a horrific event that occurred there. This surreal psychological thriller was filmed at director/producer, Christopher Wells old family home in Vermont a week before it was sold.

Lection, the post-apocalyptic political drama from David Axe (SHED) is out now thanks to Gravitas Ventures, I will leave it up to the press release to sum up this unique film: 'The world ended. Then they had an election. The apocalypse wasn't loud. They forgot how to make things. They forgot how to run things. They even forgot...how to talk to each other. Now in the aftermath, do the residents of an isolated village entrust their ruined society to the victims of its collapse? Or do they ask those who wrecked it to try to make it right again? Who's in charge? How do they even decide?'

Me and the Devil is to be released on 1st September under the HNN Presents banner of Bayview Entertainment. This comes from Italian filmmaker Dario Almerighi and is about the unravelling of Mario (played by Antonio De Nitto) after his fiancee dies in strange circumstances during a holiday. The film shares its release date with Master Pieces.

A crowdfunder campaign has started for the female driven psychological thriller Callback which comes from HorrorScreams VideoVault and FoxTrot Productions. It is about a struggling actress Sonia (Jennifer Nangle - The Last Roommate) who snaps when her successful friend Jessica (Jackie Falcon - Lockdown) gets the role she wanted, and ends up kidnapping her. The Indiegogo campaign can be found here.

A new clip has been release for upcoming horror anthology Realm of Shadows. This anthology promises that all its stories are based on real events, and is to feature such notable horror icons as Tony Todd (Candyman franchise), Michael Berryman (Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes) and Tamara Glynn (Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers). The clip is from the segment Dreamlady. 

Radar Pictures are in development of an auditory horror film called Unseen, with Jen and Sylvia Soska set to write and direct this. It is based on BlindSide, an audio-only mobile adventure game. The film is about a couple who wake up blind in a nightmarish world. It sounds like it will join the growing sub-genre of horror about sensory deprivation (Bird Box, A Quiet Place, Creature in the Dark)

Polestar Studio's Evergreen Is the Blood was due to be filmed in July and is based on a screenplay written by award-winning filmmaker John Reign (who also directs and stars in this) and William Long. The film is about a man who is living as a recluse after the death of his family. It turns out a lair of vampires are living in the woods around his secluded home. 

The next episode in the paranormal show We Want To Believe is now out. The title is a bit of a mouthful; Episode 3: The Demon Jar Part Three. This episode sees the team continue their investigation at an apparently haunted hotel. Check it out for yourself via YouTube. 

Evil Dead documentary Hail to the Deadites is to have its world premiere in August at the Fantasia International Film Festival. This documentary is about the fans of the iconic franchise and includes interviews with the cast, crew, collectors, fans and more. Of course, with the ongoing pandemic the film festival has been revamped as a virtual festival. The documentary should be up to watch on the Fantasia online platform from August 20th to September 2nd. It's 'geo-blocked' to Canadian audiences only for some reason.

The trailer for season 6 of The Walking Dead spin-off show, Fear the Walking Dead has dropped. I've only ever seen one and a half seasons of this show so it is about high time I get around to catching up with events. The new season premieres on Monday 12th October at 9pm on AMC.

 

UK based dark cinematic rock artist Brocarde has released the official music video for World Upside Down. This self-directed video features Ray Luzier (KoRn) on drums, and the song is taken from new EP, Love Me Till I'm Beautiful that came out on 19th July.

Continuing the pandemic theme, darkwave act Thrillsville has put out a new video for song Lockdown. It made its premiere on ReGen Magazine. Rani Sharone from the group stated "This song was directly inspired by the unrelenting restlessness of being 'stuck on lock-down'. In essence it's a romantic song about longing for a normal night on the town."

   

Horror board game Slice & Dice will be available for pre-order from 11th August. This is a deck building strategy game from Horror-Fix creator Ash Hamilton. The blurb for this says 'In a dash to either kill or save the game's victims, players will have to not only defeat the victims themselves, but other players in combat as well. Ever wondered if Chucky could go head to toe against Leatherface? Well, Slice & Dice looks to answer that question and more.' This will be on Kickstarter for pre-sale.

Final news is with David Moody (author of the phenomenal Autumn series of zombie novels). After suffering a heart attack earlier this year (another nail in the coffin of 2020) he is now thankfully recovered and set to release a new book. The Bleed: Rupture is the first in a three book series that he is writing with Chris Philbrook (Adrian's Undead Diary) and Mark Tufo (Zombie Fallout). The book is out now in paperback, ebook and as an Audible exclusive audiobook.

Quick Sips - Tor dot com July 2020

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Art by Rovina Cai

Tor was not joking around this month. Two short stories and four novelettes makes this the biggest release month they’ve had in a while, and the works range from tie-ins to larger settings to some very stand alone. Fans of Tamsyn Muir and Seanan McGuire (of which there are many, I know) will be happy that they return to popular series, and there’s some interesting works interrogating uploaded consciousnesses, mythical games, and the deteriorating nature of reality itself. There’s a lot to enjoy, and a lot to get to, so I’ll cut this short and just jump into the reviews!

Stories:

“The Ones Who Look” by Katharine Duckett (10823 words)

No Spoilers: Zoe is an arbiter at Ethical Empire, a company that specializes in giving people a path to the afterlife. The premise is simple enough--people get points or lose point based on their actions, based on the ethical system that they have signed up for. People who earn enough points can buy their way into an uploaded consciousness experience where they’ll live in a heaven that they design. Zoe has her own baggage about the system, even as she works for the company running it, even as she has her own electronic angel and devil on her shoulder. Even as she gets into a relationship with a guy from work, a relationship that costs her points, but that opens up new possibilities to her, new sensations and a revelation that shakes her to her core. The piece is quiet and slow, aching and reaching, and it builds up a complex ethical situation and dilemma that Zoe must navigate all on her own.

Keywords: Uploaded Consciousnesses, Relationships, Games, Heavens, Sins

Review: I really like how the story builds the idea of this game, this app, this system that would allow people to live in a way constantly being judged. Which at first seems like the last thing that people would want. But at the same time, it really feels real to me because people want to be forgiven, want to be absolved, want to know in some measurable way to assure them they are good. That they are getting into heaven. Only it’s all built on a lie. On a series of lies. First that those things can be measured, that they are objective and not just the subjective call of people like Zoe who have to weigh these questions. And second that there is a paradise waiting for anyone. Because the secret is that there really isn’t, that it’s been too difficult to do, especially large scale, and that most people end up not in paradise but a purgatory where they are stored while only the very rich enjoy what they are promised. And even they don’t get it all, because there is something that doesn’t translate, something that the company is hiding from everyone. And I love the way that Henri, the man Zoe has a relationship with, knows what he’s doing is wrong. The ways that everyone knows that so much of what they’re doing is wrong. But they do it anyway. For a variety of reasons. But mostly because they’ve been given something where they don’t have to feel completely responsible for their actions. Where they are making choices, sure, but that the ultimate judgement is in someone else’s hands. And I love that when the veil gets pulled back, when Zoe becomes one of those women who look, she sees the system for what it is, and is able to act, to tear it down, because it’s become a prison in so many ways, a lie that saves no one. That serves no one but the super wealthy, and even then, not really. It’s just another corruption, a tool of exploitation, and she leans on her own judgement, her own ability to judge right from wrong, to guide her actions. And it makes for a wonderful and wrenching and ultimately freeing read!

“The Necessary Arthur” by Garth Nix (11355 words)

No Spoilers: Tamara is an archaeologist who’s visited by a strange person who starts talking about an elaborate and possibly magical game. Which of course sounds totally made up, so she tries her best to ignore. Turns out the person isn’t exactly lying, though, for all they’re also not really telling the whole truth. But Tamara’s out of options, and is Merlin apparently, and a new game is ramping up whether she wants it or not. At stake? Who knows! But at least her life, and maybe the lives of everyone on the planet. What does she have to do? Steal a baby. Because...the baby might be Arthur reborn. Cool, cool. The piece is fun, fast, and knows full well it’s kind of ridiculous. But that’s part of the charm, and the story does a good job of blazing ahead regardless, toward a mysterious and dangerous future.

Keywords: Magic, Games, Kidnapping, King Arthur, Archaeology

Review: I do love how kinda random this whole situation is, and how it comes about because the All Powerful Gamemasters that choose Tamara as their Merlin...just aren’t very good at the game. They are ranked low, and that sort of explains why they show up at random, get pissy at Tamara for not doing more for them, and then saddle her with substandard equipment. Of course, on a narrative level it means she’s just as much wondering what’s going on as the reader, which allows for the info dumps to be delivered seamlessly, bringing everyone up to speed on what’s going on without losing the flow or voice of the story. And the world building is interesting, casting a cycle of games, where myths or folklore are repeated. And the idea of the once and future monarch isn’t new, something that the story plays with, incorporates into this larger international and perhaps intergalactic situation. Tamara becomes Merlin, and a new child that is born becomes Arthur. The why and how of it aren’t explored or revealed and in many ways aren’t important. They are things that will be revealed in time, like who They are, and for the moment the focus is on the panic and confusion and action of being thrown into the deep end of a very strange and very important Game as one of the primary pieces. Not the Arthur, perhaps, but the Merlin is important all the same, and I like the small nods as to what’s happening. The way that Nimue shows up at the end, adding all the implications that go along with that. As a game, there are rules and there is structure that seems to bend toward the same old patterns. But there’s also the sense that this could be different, that this time anything can happen. It’s not guaranteed that Arthur is going to win, or lose, or die. The past has set the expectations, but that doesn’t mean that’s how this round of the Game will go. And I like that, and am definitely down for reading more in this setting/story. A fine read!

“Juice Like Wounds” by Seanan McGuire (5893 words)

No Spoilers: This story follows three children in a place known as the Market, a place that many doorways, many portals, lead to. It’s a place driven by fair exchange, where everyone is expected to bargain in good faith and even children have to find ways to barter for what they need. The children are: Moon, who seems to have always lived in the Market; Mockery: who has escaped to the Market and likes it much better than her world; and Lundy, who has come to the Market but intends to return to her own world someday. The three become friends and try to navigate the market, and before too long come up with a plan that would allow them to get a lot of credit at the Market, enough to ensure their safety for some time. Except, as the story is up front about, the outcome is steeped in tragedy, as many fairy tales are.

Keywords: Portal Fantasies, Bargains, Markets, Wasps, Friendship

Review: The story doesn’t try to hide that it’s a tragedy, that something Bad is going to happen. It tips it’s hand about the face that one of the three girls is going to die, and there’s really no way of making that better. And the piece builds the girls quickly, drawing them from archetypes, showing how they fit together, their friendships rivers that feed the landscape of their lives. They are driven by a desire to be comfortable, to be safe, something that doesn’t seem at all like the greed that get most in trouble when they come to the Market. And I like how the story circles that idea of fairness and trade, that inherent part of the Market that is everyone has to work for it. Which...is a complex idea, and is hard to enforce, and harder still to enforce without tragedies like this. On the surface, it all seems on the up and up. Less is expected of children, so they can have no problem surviving, exactly. Except that they still can’t “afford” places to stay where it’s warm and safe. And that idea of “affording” is a vital one for me for the story, because the girls find a person who hated the structure of the Market and was punished for it. Which might seem like justice but for the fact that it’s still a kind of capital punishment. And really, people still die. Not just the one girl but a second that the story doesn’t give equal weight to because she’s the monster of the story. But still just a girl fleeing something, come to this place only to be lost again. The piece layers its tragedies carefully bringing such hope in the girls’ friendships that it then leads to a small, trickling stream. Obviously this is set in a wider universe, and it’s possible that there’s some extra context that would expand on what’s here. For what it is, though, the story is powerful and sharp, complicating the idea of fair barter, of bargains, of stories, and showing that even those things labeled as fair rarely are. A great read!

“Everything’s Fine” by Matthew Pridham (4732 words)

No Spoilers: Eric is up for a promotion and kind of nervous about it. To try and give himself an edge, he tries out a new knot for his tie. And then he walks to work. The details of the story, the plot itself, aren’t really what moves the piece along, though, or what gives it its speculative edge. Rather, the speculative elements, the deep and unnerving horror, comes from what happens around Eric throughout his day. With the implication that it’s not new, and certainly not going away. The piece is strange, a twisting nightmare that creeps in from the edges, that has to be willfully pushed away. In that struggle, though, there is only the semblance of community and care, and something very grim indeed lurking at the core of the setting.

Keywords: Employment, Cosmic Horror, Willful Ignorance, Relationships, Television

Review: For me the piece does a lot of interesting work with incremental change, assumed powerlessness, and willful ignorance. Everyone has to pretend that the world is not a nightmare hellscape. That everything is normal. That it’s great. When, obviously, it isn’t. Which isn’t something new. It’s something people do on a great many things, from climate change to politics. Because the problems seem too large, seem like there’s nothing to be done. So those who have it good enough pretend it doesn’t matter. And have to, because if they let on that they know, that it terrifies them, then they become the next target. Eric is especially good at it, and he does his best to help those around him, like his friend Sandra, but the horror takes its toll, and there’s a lot that almost breaks through their armor, through the indifference that they have to carefully and constantly maintain. It’s a nice statement on how people can desensitize themselves to horror, make it a normal part of their lives, and also fail to fully do that, fail to guard themselves fully against the horror that they’re refusing to acknowledge. There’s always a price. It comes in anxiety, in a weight that never leaves them. Even when they’re home, with people they care about, it never quite leaves. And it’s a nice way of showing that, even as what it’s showing is people who are safe enough that ignoring it just works for them, even if it also kinda doesn’t. And perhaps in showing these people the story is pointing at those who most need to wake up and stop going with the flow for the sake of their own comfort, their own promotions and normalcy. But that sort of a system only gets worse, and eventually crushes and corrupts everything. A fine read!

“Yellow and the Perception of Reality” by Maureen McHugh (8799 words)

No Spoilers: June’s sister was involved in an accident in a lab. No one’s exactly sure what kind of accident, but it ended with the scientist in charge of the experiments dead, one of the assistants dead, and the other assistant, June’s sister Wanda, with extensive brain damage. Not damage they can see or measure, really, but something that’s left Wanda without the ability to properly process the world. She’s getting better, but it’s a slow thing, and in the mean time June is left with questions and with the frustration of having a sister who can’t understand her, who can barely recognize her. The truth behind the research that might have led to the accident, and the fallout from that, is what drives the story, as well as just the bone tired grind that June goes through, trying to do what she can while grieving, never allowed to stop.

Keywords: Science!, Perception, Octopuses, Family, Experiments, CW- Nursing Homes

Review: Well it’s another one I can add to my octopuses in short SFF list (Claude makes a fine addition). And mostly I like the way the story shows the sort of walking toll that June lives with, working as a case worker, juggling work and this family tragedy that has engulfed her. That has put her sister in a place where she can’t really understand what’s going on with herself. Where, just maybe, she’ gotten a glimpse of something that she shouldn’t have. And the story is all about perception. About the ways that we interact with the universe. About what reality is, and how we might perceive it or, well, not. How we might obfuscate reality because that perception is actually an evolutionary disadvantage. If that’s the case, and if Wanda has gained access to being able to experience reality on that level, it speaks to how damaging that is. How it takes away the ways we have learned to cope with limited perceptions. Coping mechanisms that are vital because they render reality in ways that are easier to navigate. That might be lies but are lies that work, that provide avenues to exist without being overwhelmed. Perception for humans in this way, our sensory apparatuses, are filters to keep out the most damaging and overwhelming information. What’s left might be a shadow on a cave wall, but that’s the level we’re capable of understanding. At least if you’re certain researchers. And I like that June mostly rejects that. Not because she has science to back it up but because she knows that a cynical view that misses out on the ways people really can surprise you. It means her sister is a lost cause. When really what that does is just shut a door. I like that June doesn’t really have an answer to it, can’t say how she thinks people can handle the full weight of reality. But obviously people carry weights all the time. Some people much more than others. The idea that it must be too much because some cannot carry it is an unconvincing argument. And while June might not know the hows, the math of it, that doesn’t mean she can’t hope. A fine read!

“The Mysterious Study of Dr. Sex” by Tamsyn Muir (8549 words)

No Spoilers: Camilla and Palamedes are friends coming up through the complex bureaucracy of Sixth House, in a setting where necromancy is common. Palamedes is something of a prodigy in the field, only thirteen but already pushing among much older scholars and archivists. He seems to have a very bright future (and indeed, the story is told by Cam, the narrator, from some point far in the future it seems, capturing this episode from their childhoods), and this story articulates why. Because he’s observant, careful, and talented. Because his mind works to find patterns, to solve puzzles. And because there are puzzles everywhere. It’s a fun piece, a mystery that’s not really about a crime having been committed. And it’s a buddy adventure that gives a neat glimpse at a fascinating setting.

Keywords: Paperwork, Necromancy, Archives, Puzzles

Review: Yes, I know, I’m probably one of the few people who hasn’t read the associated novel(s), but for the most part I think the story can be followed by readers unfamiliar with the work. Not seamlessly, unfortunately, as I feel there’s plenty of context and a few things that I was just flat out missing that I would have liked to know more, but I guess, given the story is fun and has a nice mystery/puzzle element to it, just makes for added incentive to try out out the larger works. For what it is, I like the relationship between Cam and the Warden (Palamedes), and between them and their superior, the Archivist in charge of the operation. They make for a strong detective and sidekick team, the Warden playing Holmes to Cam’s Watson. The mystery is interesting, a locked room...well, no one is quite sure at the start. A murder? A heist? Something else? The truth falls squarely in that “something else” avenue and it’s interesting to watch the pair put the pieces together, especially when it’s layered further with a literal puzzle that must be solved. I like the way it deepens the mystery and the while I feel I’m missing something about the importance of the content of the puzzle, it’s a neat way of closing out the story and I like the feel of it, the way that it closes out, the way that it seems to imply so much more about the characters and the complicated places they’ll be in when they’re older. But here, simpler, too friends solving a bit of a mystery, and getting a good laugh in at the end of the day. The setting is certainly striking, too, this strange world of necromancers and what seems like an academic bureaucracy. People navigating forms and permissions while it feels like this is happening on a space station? Something like that? It’s a neat mishmash of genres and elements and the result is fun and fresh. A delightful read!

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Flame Toys "Batman: Arkham Knight" Hito Kara Kuri Arkham Knight 7-inch action figure

Watch Movies TV -Pre-order Batman: Arkham Knight Hito Kara Kuri Arkham Knight at BBTS (link HERE)

Captured alive by The Joker, Jason Todd suffered cruel physical and mental torture. He was brainwashed to hold a deep-rooted grudge against Batman and fully intended to kill the vigilante after making him suffer. He later became the Arkham Knight, the mysterious commander of a vast militia of mercenaries. To defeat Batman, he allied himself with Scarecrow and managed to gather Gotham City’s most powerful villains who invaded Gotham and forced its evacuation during the events of [Batman: Arkham Knight].

From the famous DC game Batman: Arkham Knight, Flame Toys presents the Arkham Knight in a new stylization called Hito Kara Kuri! It is a fully painted, high-grade action figure standing around 7.2 in tall. Parts of the joints are made of die-cast so any action is stable without compromising great performance. There are over 80 points of articulation, enabling a wide range of dramatic poses.

Product Features: 7.2 inches (18.29cm) | Made of plastic and die-cast | Over 80 points of articulation | 3 Pairs of hands | 2 Pistols | Rifle | 2 Rifle accessories | Knife | Sheath

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Click on them for bigger and better view.

John Adams, TV mini-series (2008)

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John and Abigail Adams, during their younger days in the
Boston area. There's never any doubt as to just how tough
people had to be just to survive in those days. Without some
North Face gear and a Costco nearby, most of us probably
would have been dead inside a month.

A great, dramatic look at one of the less glamorous founding fathers of the United States, looking at some of the seminal moments during the United States' formation and its earliest decades as an independent country.

Based on the book by best-selling biographer David McCullough, John Adams is a 7-part mini-series that dramatizes the many key actions, momentous occasions, and shifting relationships in the long life of the U.S.'s second president. It was this show that taught me, along with probably millions of other people, just how many critical moments in U.S. history involved Adams in one way or another. It's not always dramatic, often depicting Adams's moments of intense boredom and isolation from more important events. And there are plenty of moments dedicated to his relationships with his wife and children, which can often be slower and more tender. But if you enjoy a sense of an authentic, well-rounded look at an important historical figure, then it's hard not to like this.

The show is divided into its seven episodes based on fairly distinct periods in the life of John Adams and the country:

1. His time as a respected lawyer in Boston, before the actual start of the Revolutionary War.
2. The events that build up to the Founding Fathers deciding to declare Independence from Britain, officially declaring war against the most powerful army in the world. 
3. The Revolutionary War, most of which Adams spent in Europe trying to gain support from potential ally nations such as France and Holland.
4. After the U.S. defeats the British, Adams is back in the U.S., representing Massachusetts and negotiating with other states' representatives to form the new government.
5. Adams's eight years as the country's first vice president, serving under George Washington.
6. Adams's single four-year term as the country's second president.
7. Adams's twenty-five years of post-presidential "retirement," mostly back on his farm in Massachusetts. 

George Washington's inauguration in Philadelphia. David
Morse's turn as the country's quiet but beloved first president
was just one of the countless great performances throughout
this series.

Across all seven episodes, we see how Adams was a highly principled, honorable man who stuck to his convictions with intense ferocity. Ferocity, in fact, which often repelled colleagues and sometimes even friends and allies. By all accounts, the man had a vicious temper which often cost him greater support. The show does nothing to sugarcoat this part of his nature, often showing his frequent blowups at anyone who spends more than an hour or two with him. This is one of several aspects of the show which set it apart from many other biopics - it makes very clear that, in more than a few ways, the subject was not always easy to like. But this also drives home the fact that his merits were strong enough to overcome them. As disagreeable and pugnacious as the man could be, John Adams's integrity was such that he reached the highest offices in the country. Even modern historians rate his presidency as generally a positive one, despite only being one term.

All of this is brought to life through amazing film techniques and production values, on every possible level. The acting is impeccable, with Paul Giamatti turning in a masterpiece performance as the stocky, snarling, combative man of rule and law. Playing his wife - noted mind Abigail Adams - was Laura Linney, who exhibits every bit of the intelligence, tenderness, and toughness that the real Mrs. Adams apparently had. And every one of the many supporting actors nailed their roles, from the most famous to the lesser-knowns and unknowns from over two centuries ago. If you know anything about this time period, there's plenty of fun to be had in seeing how founders like Franklin, Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, and others are depicted, and there's plenty to be learned about those people we don't read much about in our history books in school.

The writing is incredible. While the show is based on David McCullough's biography, the scripts were all written by Kirk Ellis, who seemed to have a brilliant eye and ear for distilling key moments into efficient scenes, taught with gravity and emotion. My wife, a poet with an especially keen ear for anachronistic language, was extremely impressed by the authentic diction used throughout the show. This was probably due in part to Ellis's drawing from Adams's and others' original notes and correspondences. However it was done, there's a wonderfully genuine, erudite sound to the dialogue that reminds us of just how learned and articulate this country's leading minds were at the time.

In the third episode, we're treated to more humorous moments,
such as the sore thumb John Adams trying to bully his way
through a wildly decadent France. His partner, Ben Franklin
(far left) had no such trouble in the libertine country.

Then there are the visuals. The sets and costumes are amazing. Not in a dazzling way, but rather they looked like they could have been the very real places the events depicted occurred and the very real clothing that these people wore. I can't be sure, be it seems that there was no artificial lighting used at all - only candlelight when necessary, giving an even deeper sense of authenticity to the look and feel of everything. Going a step further, the showrunners decided not to use any type of makeup or cosmetics that didn't actually exist at the time. We see freckles and skin discolorations, badly stained teeth, and frizzy hair aplenty. Some viewers might find this unpleasing to look at, but I enjoyed the almost tangible reality of it.

The only thing about this entire show that got to me a bit by the final couple of episodes was a minor visual element - that the show uses a ton of closeups. And I don't mean regular closeups. I mean "you can count each scraggly hair in Paul Giamatti's nostrils and ears" kind of closeups. For much of the show's length, this shoulder-to-shoulder proximity works well to convey intimacy, but there was a point where it eventually made me feel a bit claustrophobic.

This is just a great show, and it always will be. I would love to see the same treatment given to several other key figures in this country's history, or any country's history for that matter. Short of reading a thorough biography of a key historical figure, this is maybe the best example of how to tell such a story in cinema. 

Netflix: Review of THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY SEASON 2: Superhero Siblings in the Swinging 60s

Watch Movies TV - July 30, 2020

The first season of "The Umbrella Academy" came out around February of last year. However, despite the positive word of mouth surrounding it, I did not really watch TV series at that time, so I never got to see it at all. However this year, ever since the quarantine was imposed and an excess of free time opened, I relented and began to watch various TV series streaming on Netflix as well, English language or otherwise. 

"The Umbrella Academy" was a series based on a Dark Horse comic book series written by Gerard Way and illustrated by Gabriel Bá. This TV series version was created for Netflix by Steve Blackman and developed by Jeremy Slater. 

The members of the academy were: Number One was Luther (Tom Hopper), who had super strength. Number Two was Diego (David Castaneda), who had mad skills with knives. Number Three was Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman), whose voice can order and control behavior. Number Four was Klaus (Robert Sheehan), who can communicate with spirits of the dead. Number Five (Aidan Gallagher), who was left unnamed, had the ability to teleport himself in space and time. Number Six (Justin H. Min) was Ben, who had four powerful tentacles for fighting. Number Seven was Vanya (Ellen Page), who had been excluded from the group exploits, for her apparent lack of powers.

In the first season began in 1989, when Sir Reginald Hargreeve (Colm Feore) adopted seven children with special abilities and trained them to become a group of superheroes, with the help of his chimpanzee assistant Pogo (Adam Godley and Ken Hall) and their android mother Grace (Jordan Claire Robbins). The kids lived under Sir Reginald's draconian rules, which later led to rebellion and disbandment when they grew up. 

Years later, they reunite as adults (except Five who remained a 13-year old boy as time traveling messed up his growth) to solve the  death of their father and how it related to a major event which was about to destroy the earth in 10 days. However, hot on their heels was a pair of ruthless assassins Chacha (Mary J. Blige) and Hazel (Cameron Britton) who had been sent by the mysterious Handler (Kate Walsh) to foil their plans. 

After the cataclysmic event which ended Season 1, this second season finds the brothers and sisters thrown into the tumultuous early 1960s in Dallas, Texas, before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The season starts with a high note as Five dropped in to witness a colossal fight of his siblings against Russian soldiers threatening a nuclear end of the world. As the episodes went along, the siblings all get involved with several other important issues of that day, like false religious cults, homosexuality, autism, the Vietnam War draft, and specially, the black civil rights movement. 

The second season still featured the same aspects I liked about the first. There was still that tense dysfunctional family dynamics going on among the siblings, which can be as funny as they were exasperating. The special effects of the fight scenes seemed to have been upped a few notches upwards as the action became more violent and destructive, with those scenes set in a board room and on a dental clinic being the bloodiest. This new season also brought back those eclectic choices of pop songs (ranging from jazz standards to rock & roll, from 80s New Wave to Billie Eilish) which appropriately accompanied key scenes. 

This series cannot really escape comparison with the X-Men and their mutant superpowers. Similarities between Seven and Jean Grey, or Five and Nightcrawler may certainly seem uncanny. However, their characters and their powers were given their own additional twists and dimensions to make them fresh. One's dim-wittedness, Two's hero complex, Three's seductive grit, and Four's flamboyance will lead them to their own individual adventures with new colorful characters. Time travel scenarios usually result in big plot holes, but this one had no obvious ones. Each episode ended with a cliffhanger which made it irresistible to watch the next show right away to see what happens, making this easily binge-able. 8/10

IT Chapter One [2017] (5 Stars)

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Yesterday my IT box set arrived in the mail. Both chapters on Blu-ray. I can't remember when I was so excited to receive films in the post. I thought I might be able to watch both films in one day, but I underestimated the attention I have to give my grandson. I pick him up from kindergarten at 12:30 every day, but he's very slow walking home. He gets distracted easily. Today I didn't get home until 3:20, despite it only being a half mile walk. He stopped to play frisbee with one of his friends in front of the Catholic church. He got an ice cream from a shop. He watched garbage trucks and other interesting vehicles as he walked. He saw one of his friends playing in her yard, so he went in to play with her. He wanted a pretzel from the bakers' shop. And finally he got home. I was exhausted from the heat – it was 31 C today – so I needed to take a nap as soon as I handed him over to my daughter. That left only enough time for one film today.

To be accurate, it was slightly more than one film. I also watched the extra features on the Blu-ray disc, which lasted almost an hour. First I watched the deleted scenes, and I have to admit, it was right to delete them. Sometimes deleted scenes are painful omissions, cuts made just to shorten a film to an acceptable length, but the extra scenes on this disc were either unnecessary to the film, or they would have distracted from the action.

There was a featurette on Stephen King, a featurette about Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise and a featurette about the actors in the Losers' Club. The last two fascinated me in their presentation of the child actors. The Pennywise featurette was as much about the children as it was about Bill Skarsgard himself.

What interested me most was hearing the children talk. They have the same mannerisms as in the film, talking fast or slowly (with the exception of Jaeden Lieberher not stuttering). Evidently the director allowed the children, most of whom were only 13 at the time of filming, to bring their own personalities into the film. That's not what acting is about, but it provided more realism. In preparation for the film the children spent two days together making friends and getting to know one another. While filming the barriers between real life and the film were blurred. Were the characters talking to one another, or were the actors talking to one another? The end result is very effective.

Pennywise was kept away from the children for as long as possible. This was also to create realism. The director wanted their fear to be genuine when they saw him for the first time. Also, the final scene where the children leave was deliberately filmed on the last day. The children (the actors) were sad, knowing that they would soon be going home and not see one another again, so the director wanted these emotions to flow into the scene itself. Who is this Andy Muschietti? "IT Chapter One" was only his second film, so where did he develop the skill to direct it so skilfully? Where did he learn how to deal with child actors? I'm impressed.

Bill is the leader, despite his stutter.

Beverly is unable to develop emotionally because she's sexually abused by her father.

Richie is the boy who talks before he thinks.

Eddie appears sickly, but it's really hypochondria induced by his mother.

Stanley is a rabbi's son struggling with his Jewish heritage.

Ben is young and overweight, the primary target of school bullies.

Mike comes from the only black family in town, making him a target of racist abuse.

Success Rate:  + 18.0

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Classic Movie Review: Husbands (1970)

Quick Sips - Fireside Magazine #81

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Fireside Magazine closes out July with four new stories that deal with family and with bargains. Often with bargains that don’t exactly go as planned. A faerie queer who kidnaps a child only to find herself getting involved in the life of the mother. Spice traders opening up a new market in the shadow of colonialism. Workers trapped in a place where they are always outsiders, exploited, making connections no one expects. A magical being of water making a bargain much deeper than the words used to contain it. The works look at how bargains are often made with one side trying to cheat the other, and how that can be avoided, and how sometimes it can’t be. It's a lovely bunch of stories, and I’ll get right to my reviews!

Stories:

“The Ransom of Miss Coraline Connelly” by Alix E. Harrow (1480 words)

No Spoilers: Framed as a series of letters authored by Queen Jaref the Third, Empress of the Black Realms, to Constance, a young mother, the piece outlines a situation that will likely be a bit familiar to some. A faerie kidnapping. A ransom to be paid with time, with nine years of Constance’s life. A decision to make. But from there the story doesn’t trace the familiar lines. Because Constance isn’t in the familiar situation, isn’t at first sure how to react, has been struggling with postpartum depression and bills and all number of things that might make her daughter being kidnapped by a magical being almost seem like a stroke of luck for everyone involved. Jaref is struck by it, though, and it resonates in her, makes her keep reaching out, keep sending messages to Constance. Until she gets through, though the fallout from that, the aftermath, isn’t what anyone might have expected. It’s a tender and fun read, captured with a charming voice and a wonderful subversion of tropes.

Keywords: Faeries, Bargains, Children, CW- Depression, Letters, Queer MC

Review: This story is both a lot of fun and a real emotional punch, because it takes this kind of campy, familiar fantasy thing (Labyrinth! woo!!!), which already had some grimness to it, and complicating that. Because the idea of a child being kidnapped and then ransomed back isn’t exactly a happy one. It’s terrifying. But the expectation of those stories is that the mother (or sister, or babysitter, or etc) will find a way to win back their child without having to pay the price. It’s a game, and even the fae seem to know that. There’s the expectation of the dance, the struggle, and when Jaref doesn’t get that, she really isn’t ready for it. Because it turns out she’s stumbled into something much more grim than even her game of stealing children. Because Constance is deeply depressed, dealing with a host of stresses on top of being a (presumably) single mom and all that comes with it. So it’s not a story about Constance finding her gumption and coming out of her depression through pluck and determination for the sake of her child. And I love that the story is aware of that line of attack, that Jaref herself takes it before backing off, before understanding what exactly is going on. And she doesn’t stop reaching out, doesn’t stop trying to get to Constance. Not to “fix” her and not to use her baby as leverage to change her, but to just...help. To give her not a magical cure except that she uses magic to ease some of Constance’s burdens, and takes on some of the work, to give Constance time to recover and maybe heal. Which is exactly what she needs, and it’s such a wonderful moment where both Jaref and Constance sort of find each other and find a way to reach together for what will help them both. It doesn’t minimize or dismiss what’s happening with Constance while still grounding the narrative through the letters of Jaref, and through the slow shift the story manages a deep emotional journey that really hits. A fantastic read!

“The Spice Market” by Sangeetha Thanapal (1726 words)

No Spoilers: Amaya is a girl sent to the spice market to buy coriander for her mother. On her way back, though, she overhears an interesting conversation and decides to listen in a bit more closely. The drama that unfolds is around a European and a group of local merchants (the story takes place in Thanjavur). The European has some spice he wants to sell. And not just sell, but enter into a relationship supplying it to the local market. It seems there’s a large supply of it just “opened up” in what will become South America. The piece builds around this historical moment without speculative element, instead focusing on the weight of what happens, the ways that colonial atrocities were truly global, feeding and fed by so much. Through it, Amaya is a spectator, an unwitting participant in something she can’t really understand, and perhaps pivotal in adding momentum to a tragedy that is going on unseen.

Keywords: Spices, Family, Trade, Colonization, Food, Markets

Review: I like how this story unfolds, taking a situation that has enormous historical weight and rendering it without. As in some ways this rather light story of a girl at market overhearing something she might shouldn’t have and getting involved with a change that alters a lot. That shifts global markets at a time when that concept was starting to get really complicated and traumatic thanks to European colonization of what would become known as the Americas. Under the seeming innocence of the situation, though, Amaya thinking that a spice would go well in some food, there is the larger tapestry that’s weaved into, where the spice is coming from a place being brutally invaded, where people are being murdered, enslaved, and otherwise used to line the pockets of the Europeans. There is the hint of this in the way that Amaya’s uncle questions the situation surrounding the spice, but it’s a worry that is quickly brushed aside. For me it shows that here is this instance of incredible interconnectedness. All in spice. All in trade. All in the things those institutions hide and obfuscate. It’s a complicated reading, for all the action and plots are straightforward. It hides a lot, and for me invites a deep reading, a careful consideration. The history it brushes is something grim and violent, and for all that, also full of flavor, life, and family. A great read!

“Bury Me Standing” by Dora Klindžić (1051 words)

No Spoilers: This story follows a pair of cities, Neograd, in the sky, where the wealthy live. And Beograd, below, where the factories are. And on the outskirts of Beograd, the Roma camps, where the workers in the factory live and try their best to thrive. Mostly they just get by, though, as the conditions in the factories aren’t good and the situations of the Roma never seem to improve. Still, there is song, and there is work, and there is hope, which the story captures well, as the people work to build the robotic servants for the wealthy of Neograd. It’s a yearning read, full of the ways the Roma take strength from song and community, carving what joy they can from the hostile environment.

Keywords: Robots, Factories, Employment, Servitude, Songs

Review: This is a rather difficult read, for the ways that it captures the hardship and the prejudice that people face who are deemed outsiders, other, expendable. Workers who don’t have many rights, who the managers aren’t really sorry to lose if there’s an accident. Who are seen most as thieves, and who have to deal with that extra level of scrutiny. Who make their homes, though, where they can, and who hope all the same to be able to provide for their families and give their young people as good a chance as they can. It’s not often much, but through it all there is song, and the wish that some day it might change, might be different. It’s a hope that’s passed down, sadly and not. Sadly because things don’t seem to change. Because the cycle just seems to keep on turning, crushing people. Because for all the work they do, the things they accomplish, the joy they manage to squeeze from the concrete of the factories and the city, they are still outsiders, still treated like garbage, still killed, still marginal. But it’s not because it does keep that hope alive, and maybe change is coming. At least, the piece seems to open up something with the robots being created. That maybe those robots have imprinted on the Roma. And maybe there will come a time when they can join together, when they can flex their power, when they can find something that is theirs and only theirs. When they can be free, standing. It’s a difficult piece but a wonderful one. Definitely go give it a read!

“Even the Clearest Water” by Andi C. Buchanan (1526 words)

No Spoilers: The narrator of this story is a faerie, or a member of the Fair Folk, a being who can exist as water, as a bird. A being who spends a lot of their time saving humans from drowning. But the rescue is not free. They make bargains for the act. So when they pull a young autistic girl, Cora, from the river she’s fallen into, there’s a price that must be paid. And it might be up to Cora’s mother, Rosalind, to pay. Or to argue her way out of. Rosalind’s no stranger to the bargains, after all, having met the narrator when she was young. And the two come to a new understanding, striking a bargain that will suit them both, neither of them quick willing to voice the reasons why they both are eager to offer, and to accept. The piece is grounded in the complex realities of grief, pain, and relief. It’s complex, and necessarily so, even while at its core it couldn’t be simpler—a story of a two people reaching out through loneliness and distance toward community and family.

Keywords: Waters, CW- Suicide, Rescues, Bargains, Family, Fair Folk

Review: I love the way this story complicates fae bargains. Because while they’re called the Fair Folk, rarely do their bargains seem so to humans. Because they operate on different scales, different priorities. Because it’s often more about what a human gives up rather than what the fae gains. For the narrator, they pull humans from the water in part because of what they might gain, but mostly it seems because they don’t want the humans to die. They care, for all they’re not supposed to show that. And in many ways I feel that the story is this delightful negotiation where the two sides, the narrator and Rosalind, are trying to hide that what they want is something that goes beyond bargains. The formal constraints are, well, a formality, and one that protects them from having to reveal that they really want something. That they want the other one to chose to be with them without it being a bargain. And they seem to me to understand that without saying it, both of them working within the rules of the bargain to escape those rules, finding in each other an equal who they don’t want to cheat, that they don’t want to swindle. The process here really is fair, for all that it takes the form of a process that is typically about one side being cheated. They find a way to be good to each other, to help without necessarily being asked, and to care without there being an obligation to, just because they are people who care. And though the system might cast that as weakness, they know in their hearts that there’s such strength and beauty and joy there that they both make a deal they know isn’t on the level. Because they both gain too much. It’s a wonderful exploration and twist on the fae trope, and so very worth checking out. A wonderful read!

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