Category: Movies

Going to go see Last Jedi tomorrow.

I didn’t have any difficulty getting a ticket: of course, I’m going a 10 AM showing because the kids will be in school and mid-morning is the best time for me to catch a movie. I’m looking forward to it, without the same desperate urgency as from two years ago.  As a geek, I rather badly needed The Force Awakens not to suck.  From what I’m hearing, Star Wars: The Last Jedi will not have that problem.

Still: please, God, don’t let it suck.

Moe Lane

PS: This will be a spoiler free zone for Star Wars until at least the New Year. But two, three weeks isn’t so bad, really.

So they’re going to be rebooting She-Ra on Netflix.

Because we’re at that point in the Circle of Life.

Netflix is set to re-imagine the 80s classic cartoon, She-Ra and unleash a brand new series in 2018. She-Ra is a fictional character in the Filmation cartoon She-Ra: Princess of Power, debuting in 1985. A series of toys under her name were produced by Mattel. She is the alter ego of Princess Adora and the twin sister of Prince Adam/He-Man. She-Ra was intended to appeal to young girls in the same way that He-Man and the Masters of the Universe appealed to young boys.

Continue reading So they’re going to be rebooting She-Ra on Netflix.

Mouse eats Fox.

It is official:

The Walt Disney Company and Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. (21st Century Fox) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for Disney to acquire 21st Century Fox, including the Twentieth Century Fox Film and Television studios, along with cable and international TV businesses, for approximately $52.4 billion in stock (subject to adjustment).

[blah blah blah they’re totally doing a streaming service]

Immediately prior to the acquisition, 21st Century Fox will separate the Fox Broadcasting network and stations, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, FS1, FS2 and Big Ten Network into a newly listed company that will be spun off to its shareholders.

Continue reading Mouse eats Fox.

Witcher series moves along with coming to Netflix.

OK. I don’t know if I can approve of a Witcher TV series. It’s not because of the producer…

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich will adapt fantasy saga “The Witcher” into a series for Netflix, Variety has learned.

Like the stories on which it is based, Netflix’s “The Witcher” chronicles monster hunters who, with training and body modification, develop supernatural abilities at a young age to battle deadly beasts. Hissrich will serve as showrunner and executive producer. Her writing and co-executive producer credits include Marvel-produced superhero dramas “The Defenders” and “Daredevil” for Netflix and Starz’s “Power.” She is represented by UTA.

Continue reading Witcher series moves along with coming to Netflix.

So, it’s rumored that Star Wars: The Last Jedi Does Not Suck.

Of course, the people raving about it Not Sucking are mostly the kinds of people who could get to go to a Hollywood premiere. And, let’s be honest: those kinds of people have not been exactly impressing the rest of us with their perceptive abilities and ability to make informed judgments about things lately.  Still, at least one person in this roundup indicated that Things Go Boom, so we’re just gonna have to be hopeful, ya? We’ll find out Tuesday/Friday, when the embargo on reviews lifts / the movie comes out.

In the Mail: @HPLHS’s The Rats in the Walls.

This is why I buy the physical CDs (they throw in the mp3 version for free with a physical purchase, mind you). The HPL Historical Society always includes props with its Dark Adventure Radio Theater CDs, and The Rats in the Walls is no exception. This one came with a proclamation from King James I:

I must say: the HPLHS is very gamer-friendly. If I ever run a Cthulhu game using Lovecraft’s original stories, these props will be invaluable. Which is why they include them. I typically download the mp3 as soon as I can and then just gloat over the physical version later, but I pay the extra money without a qualm. It’s totally worth it.

Movie of the Week: ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service.’

For an interesting reason. Hayao Miyazaki’s Kiki’s Delivery Service is itself an excellent animated film — but I am not fascinated by it.  I am fascinated by the world that it’s set in.  It’s clearly set in a Trieste (yes, I KNOW where Miyazaki drew his visual inspiration from: now hush) that’s still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which means that this world never had a World War I, let alone a World War II.  That last link suggests a time period of the 1950s, which is confusing, because Kiki’s transistor radio (which looks like the first one mass-produced in 1954) odd: it’s picking up American radio broadcasts. If there are no American troops in Europe — which seems likely, given that it took the Cold War to put them there — then what’s letting Kiki pick up their transmissions*?

What is going on in that world? — Even putting aside all the stuff with witches and so forth. That’s interesting, sure, but I want to know why there hasn’t been more jet propulsion work done.

Continue reading Movie of the Week: ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service.’