Fox just snuck out their first trailer for Independence Day: Resurgence:
Gotta be honest… this look intriguing. In the two decades since the original Independence Day, the landscape of alien invasion films has gotten much more threatening, much darker. And it looks like Roland Emmerich got the memo. Don’t expect subtlety either way.
Independence Day: Resurgence also shows us the glorious return of Jeff Goldblum. Along with him, the film stars Liam Hemsworth, Joey King, and Maika Monroe along with William Fitchner and Vivica A. Fox. Here’s a quick synopsis:
We always knew they were coming back. After INDEPENDENCE DAY redefined the event movie genre, the next epic chapter delivers global spectacle on an unimaginable scale. Using recovered alien technology, the nations of Earth have collaborated on an immense defense program to protect the planet. But nothing can prepare us for the aliens’ advanced and unprecedented force. Only the ingenuity of a few brave men and women can bring our world back from the brink of extinction.
Independence Day: Resurgence hits theaters June 24, 2016.
It really should come as no shock to anyone that last night onSaturday Night Live they had a sketch about Star Wars: The Force Awakens. While this sketch doesn’t live up to the hilarity of the Star WarsAudition sketch from a few weeks back, this one was funny because it rings true with a lot of Star Wars fans. The premise behind the sketch is that Star Warstoys are for ages 6 and up … way up. Check it out !
How many people know Star Wars collectors who are that hardcore?
Personally, I’m a huge Star Wars fan but I’m not so sure that I’m as intense as these guys. If you could excuse me , I have to go dust of my Kylo Ren action figure.
Lucasfilm and visionary director J.J. Abrams join forces to take you back again to a galaxy far, far away as Star Wars returns to the big screen with Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
The film stars Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew and Max Von Sydow. Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk are producing with Tommy Harper and Jason McGatlin serving as executive producers. The screenplay is by Lawrence Kasdan & J.J. Abrams and Michael Arndt. Star Wars: The Force Awakens releases in U.S. theaters on December 18, 2015.
If you were to look at the entirety of the Star Wars franchise from “The Old Republic” onwards, one thing would become abundantly clear. The Jedi are terrible at protecting the galaxy. For an order blessed with prophetic sight and the ability to intuitive disturbances to the fabric of the universe, they tend to do a sub-par job at keeping the peace and are often blind to obvious existential threats.Every few generations they underestimate their opponents, let their guard down and are brought to the brink of extinction. The Sith Empire, the Eternal Empire, Palpatine, the Yuuzhan Vong and the One Sith have all brought the Jedi Knights to their knees throughout the literature. It would almost lead one to question whether or not the existence of the Jedi did the galaxy more harm than good. A full 137 years after the Battle of Yavin, the Jedi Order cannot seem to catch a break. War, death and destruction follow the Jedi like a specter, forever intertwined in the order’s destiny. If you name happens to be Skywalker, you are almost certain to end up right in the middle of it. Yesterday we looked at one of the earliest point in the timeline, but for the year that’s in it we look back to the future with Star Wars: Legacy.
Written by John Ostrander (the man behind DC’s Suicide Squad), Legacy is the story of Cade Skywalker a former-Jedi turned bounty hunter, and his struggle against the new Sith Empire lead by Darth Krayt. Taking place over 100 years after Return of the Jedi, it’s a incredibly introspective story that explores the pressures and responsibilities that come with the name Skywalker. Cade has long-since abandoned his life as a Jedi, adapting to and enjoying his life as a scoundrel. A deeply troubled young-man, he rejects the vague notions of destiny and duty that have been drilled into him since birth. Sith rule is a fait accompli in his mind. Cade isn’t concerned about rebelling against the Sith Empire, but rather simply making his way in it. As the Jedi reemerge he is forced to confront his past, while not losing the life he has crafted for himself. He is more anti-hero than most Star Wars protagonists and the story is all the more compelling for it. The darker sides of his personality are explored as he struggles to walk his own path. This turmoil is brought to the forefront through his budding relationship with the beautiful, but equally deadly Darth Talon.
Both of the Star Wars film trilogies to date have been heavily influenced by Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”. The Original Trilogy focuses on a reluctant Luke as he rises to the occasion to become to the hero of the Rebellion. The Prequels offer an interesting spin on this concept with Anakin always wanting to be a hero, but being ultimately unable to embody what the means and turning to the Dark Side as a result. Legacy continues that tradition of examining the hero’s journey in fascinating ways by presenting us with an utterly unlikable and at times detestable main character. Cade is very much like Han early in the series, but with the added challenge of having to bare the expectations and hopes of a galaxy. The series asks what kind of impact a legacy can have on an individual and how you can distinguish yourself so that the past doesn’t define you. This forces the young Jedi to confront, in both a figurative and literal sense, the specter of Luke Skywalker. Although he may wish otherwise, Cade is a Skywalker and the series is about learning what exactly that means for him.
Darth Krayt is an odd character. His new Sith Order abolishes the rule of two which had dictated Sith custom for millenia. Krayt has trained most of his followers since birth in the ways of the Dark Side. The followers of the One Sith sport the traditional red and black tattoos of the Dark Side with the most skilled of their number being granted to title of “Darth”. It would be a spoiler to delve into Krayt’s true identity (the hint is in his name), but suffice to say, he is former Jedi from the Clone Wars era who through a combination of advanced technology and Sith sorcery has extended his life. The revelation itself is unsurprising for as the Dark Lord himself notes, “the Sith are always reborn through the ranks of the Jedi”. Krayt’s cunning and strategic foresight make him an effective and brutal antagonist. His age proves to be little hindrance when it comes to demonstrating his strength as both a duelist and Force-user, if nearly two centuries of studying in the ways of the Force make him the fiercest Dark Lord that galaxy has ever faced.
The designs of the members of the One Sith are quite Gothic in nature. Indeed, certain characters such as Darth Nihl look like they belong in a Marlyn Manson tribute band, not hunting Jedi. In many ways their designs hearken back to the dark Temple of Doom inspired characters from Tales of the Jedi. Its a subtle recognition of the cult-esque nature of the Sith Order and its impact on the individual. Despite having some interesting characters in their midst, the One Sith amount to yet another hidden sect that having consolidated power over the years emerge from Korriban to take over the galaxy. How many times is this going to happen in the Expanded Universe before people get tired of it I wonder? In the series’s inaugural issue Darth Krayt notes that Palpatine’s mistake was not ensuring that every single Jedi had been killed. Perhaps the Jedi Order could have take a note from his book when it came to the Sith.
The series features an interesting third faction in the conflict known as the Fel Empire, the reorganised remnant of the old imperial regime. Emperor Fel himself is a perplexing character, a decedent of a Jedi and proponent of the Light Side of the Force. His Empire is not the tyrannical despotism of that characterised Palaptine’s regime, but neither is it a true democracy. He values the stability and peace that can be obtained through authoritarianism. Power is the Fel Empire’s ally and its motivator. Unlike former Empires, his is a benevolent, albeit, flawed institution. Compared to the Empire of the One Sith, his is the lesser of two evils. As a result he forms an uneasy alliance with what remains of the Jedi Order. The reader is in a sense, co-opted into supporting him and his regime. It can be unsettling for the reader to find themselves rooting for a dictatorship, but such is the complexity of war. Legacy showcases a realpolitik understanding of the galaxy where marriages of convenience are arranged and moral compromises reached for the sake of peace.
The Imperial Knights are Force-users trained by the exiled Emperor Fel as his answer to the Jedi Order. They exist as part of “the Grey”, a philosophy which rejects the traditional Jedi dogma of Light and Dark Sides. For “the Grey”, the Force is neither inherently good nor evil. What matters is the ends for which that power is used. They were sworn to uphold the Force as tool for achieving the greater good and to punish those who did otherwise including their own Emperor should the time come. The silver Lightsabers they carried are symbolic of their rejection of absolutes. It is a refreshing change of pace from the near objectivist view of the Force often perpetuated by some Star Wars media.
The artwork of the series is phenomenal, perfectly capturing the essence of the Star Wars galaxy. Although various fill-in artists appear from time to time, the main contributor in this regard is Jan Duursema. Her interiors do more than just replicate the setting of the films, they push the forward the envelope creatively ensuring that the galaxy feels both familiar and new at the same time. Throughout the series we see designs that reflecting an ever-evolving galaxy in terms of technology and culture. From the star-fighters, droids and fashion, the galaxy is constantly changing and Duursema does a fine job of showing us what difference a century makes.
Star Wars: Legacy is a bold entry in the franchise. It dares to go where no series had gone before and challenges some of the preconceived notions of what a Star Wars story could be about. It led the way for Dark Horse to tell more ambitious and thought-provoking stories, something its sister-series; Knights of the Old Republic also excelled at. In 2013, Dark Horse released a sequel which focused Ania Solo; the great, great grand-daughter of Han and Leia which offered another perspective on the future of the galaxy, but was otherwise unable to capture the heart of the original. Recently George Lucas hinted that his idea for a sequel trilogy would have focused on Vader’s grand-kids, noting that Disney didn’t understand that Star Wars was in actuality a family drama with some nice star-ships thrown in for good measure. An intimate, character-driven narrative can be made infinitely more enjoyable when it is is framed in the context of intergalactic conflict. This was something that the Prequels attempted and succeeded at to varying degrees, but Legacy masters. Rather than making films that act as a checklist of past triumphs, Disney would do well to take note of what Lucas has to say. Legacy shows that there is merit in such an approach.
Join us tomorrow as well look at the current Marvel comic book series. In the meantime, why not check out yesterday’s article on Tales of the Jedi.
Summary: Discovering the conspiracy behind his accident, Hyakki seeks vengeance against the doctors who ruined his life.
Things really got out of hand in these episodes. Once it dawns on Hyakki he has been the victim of wrongdoing, he grabs a katana and starts cutting off the limbs of those who caused his misfortune. Hazama is quick to sympathize with him, especially once it has been revealed that the reason behind the car accident had been to take out another doctor who was more popular in the hospital the conspirators worked at and they wanted his job. Man, office politics can be murder. Literally, murder.
Once again the path to becoming an unlicensed doctor is shown to be the better way for Hazama. Again, there were few if any episodes in this entire series where him staying on the straight and narrow was to his benefit. Yes, as a prequel it perfectly serves to showcase why in the future Hazama as Black Jack will prefer to work outside of the regular medical channels, but an episode where following the rules being of a benefit would have truly helped to showcase some good internal drama for the character and the audience watching.
With Hazama taking money for doing ghost surgeries at the end of part 3 and having a complete disdain for medical politics there is little to keep him from becoming the infamous underground doctor he is known to be in the future. One more episode to go and this sadly overlooked series will come to a close. Hopefully, this show has garnished enough popularity to see more adaptations of works by Osamu Tezuka in the future.
Having attended San Diego Comic-Con roughly 4 times since 2000, the growth of the pop culture extravaganza has been unlike anything seen before. It has given birth to an overcrowded con season, studios prepping specifically for conventions, and a spike in genre programming across television, cable, and streaming platforms.
The first Comic-Con, called the Golden State Comic Book Convention, was held in a hotel in 1970 and attended by less than 1,000 visitors. 45 years later and the event has grown into a behemoth that sees 100,000 + attendees regularly since 2005. SDCC currently occupies the San Diego Convention Center, a sprawling venue right outside downtown San Diego that covers about 5 city blocks, and even that isn’t enough space. The past few years have seen the event spread to nearby hotels, movie theaters, and even using the nearby Petco Park (home of the San Diego Padres) for events. If you haven’t made the decision to go when tickets go on sale, you aren’t going. The past few years have bought consternation from CCI (the parent organization of the event) and attendees because of long wait lines, peak hotel prices, and the logistics of getting 100,000 plus people into a city with a population of about 1.3 million people. There has been talk of moving the event, and now that is a very real possibility as the current agreement goes until 2018, but a city resolution being voted on may halt expansion of the convention center, which may lead to the event leaving the only home it has known for 45 years, and it should.
San Diego is a great city and part of the experience is enjoying what the city has to offer, but the event has grown beyond what San Diego is capable of. Outside cries of “tradition”, there is no logical reason the event to stay in a place that can no longer support it and here are some great alternatives.
Las Vegas
Photo: Las Vegas Convention Center
Conventions and parties, that’s what Vegas does. Hosting everything from Star Trek Celebration to Britney Spears, Vegas is a solid choice. No more worrying about hotel space or lack of entertainment options not convention related, the city presents a unique venue and may also widen the audience. The space Las Vegas provides can give the event a place to breathe and using satellite locations is easily manageable. Also, who doesn’t want to see Elvis meet Sailor Moon, then sit down at the blackjack tables with Boba Fett?
Anaheim
Anaheim Convention Center Photo: ACC
Already hosting Wonder Con (another event run by CCI) which moved from San Francisco in 2011, Anaheim is trying to position itself as a destination for conventions, special events, and being known for something other than Disney Land. Recently completing a large scale expansion it is now the largest exhibit space on the west coast and hosted Star Wars Celebration in 2015.
Los Angeles
Los Angeles Photo: LA Tourism Board
The most logical choice on paper, but also from a convenience and logistical point of view. DC has recently moved their whole operation to Burbank, and Marvel Studios operates there as well. The city knows how to handle large scale events, and handling Comic-Con would be a breeze when compared to events like the Academy Awards. It also makes getting studios and stars of attendees favorite shows easier to get as everything is right there.
Change is hard for the fandom, but change is necessary for growth and Comic-Con moving to a place better suited to handle that growth is going to make it better for attendees and all involved
Agree? Disagree? Want to freeze me in carbonite? Let me know in the comments
The ninth season of Doctor Who has seen many highs and a few lows (i.e. “Sleep No More”) and now it is time to say goodbye, until the Christmas Special. The season finale is coming off the back of the great “Heaven Sent”, raising the question can “Hell Bent” live up to that.
After spending four and a half billion years in a Time Lord Confession, Dial The Doctor escapes and finds himself on his home world of Gallifrey, breaking free from the pocket dimension he left it in. The Doctor is forced into conflict: the leadership of his race who trapped him and finding a way to save Clara, even if it means fracturing time itself.
“Heaven Sent” did set a high standard for “Hell Bent” and the series overall, a strong character driven episode that was a dark examination of The Doctor’s psyche. It was a tight, taut and a well-crafted mystery, being like Doctor Who version of Moon and Dark City. It was the series at its best and “Heaven Sent” deserves to be seen as an instant classic and “Hell Bent” could not match our lofty expectations.
“Heaven Sent” was a very experimental episode because of its sole focus on The Doctor. “Hell Bent” is a convenient episode, a big scale story spanning to the end of the universe, facing off his old foes and being prepared to break the laws of time for his own ends. “Hell Bent” starts off strong, being a showdown between The Doctor and The Lord President of the Time Lord (Game of Thrones‘ Donald Sumpter replacing Timothy Dalton). The desert setting and standoff on the outskirts of Gallifrey’s capital had the air of a Western because of its atmosphere and shooting style. It is great to finally see the Doctor’s home world in the rebooted series in its glory: we only had glimpses in previous seasons. Hopefully, we will get to see more of Gallifrey and its dynamics of the planet. The Cloisters mainframe was an excellent location where many of The Doctor’s famous enemies are trapped and begging for death.
When it is revealed how The Doctor plans to save Clara which undercuts the impact and emotion of her death in “Face the Raven.” One of the big rules in Doctor Who is The Doctor and his companions cannot cheat death, no matter what. He tried to rewrite history in “Water of Mars” has an adverse consequence on the people he saved and in “Father’s Day” Rose nearly destroyed the human race when she tries to stop her father’s death. Steven Moffat has to go through some serious writing gymnastics to justify this change. If Moffat can bring Clara back from the dead surely, he could find a way to get Amy and Rory from 1930s New York. To be fair, the finale does set up an excellent prospect for a spin-off series.
The finale is structured liked the ending for Season 3, having three radically differently styled of episodes linked together with an overarching story. Season 3 started with an episode at the end of the universe, going to modern-day Britain – where The Doctor and his companions are trying to stop The Master’s plan; the final episode set a year after where The Master has taken over the world, and Martha has to travel the globe to find a way to overthrow the overlord. Season 9’s three sees The Doctor and Clara go to the trap street to solve a murder mystery – the second episode seeing The Doctor having to face his demons and in the finale, he goes against his own race. The resolution to the episode is pretty much a role reversal of what happened to Donna Noble at the end of Season 4.
“Hell Bent” also shows a male Time Lord regenerating into a woman. This is meant to give us more evidence that Time Lords can change gender and most importantly set the precedent that The Doctor could become a woman.
Season 9 has been a much better outing for Peter Capaldi and The Doctor than Season 8 was. “Hell Bent” does end the season on a slight whimper considering the set up in “Face the Raven” and “Heaven Sent”, but it is still great to see Gallifrey properly and sets up more story opportunities for the future.
If there is one area in which George Lucas excels beyond anything else, it is world-building. The Star Wars universe is the ultimate sandbox for the creative mind. For decades it has provided writers, designers and artists the opportunity to explore a vast number of planets, cultures and traditions. Whether your interests lie in the intricacies of Mandalorean warrior-politics or the rise and fall of the legendary Cantina Band, you can guarantee that there is some Expanded Universe work to satisfy your curiosity. Comics have played an important role in contributing to the Star Wars universe since its inception. In 1977, the original Marvel adaptation proved to be a vital component of the pre-release marketing campaign and 107-issue helped to cement Star Wars in the cultural hive-mind. In the 1990s the comic-license passed to Dark Horse Comics with the release of Dark Empire. Despite featuring an utterly underwhelming story, fans responded well to Dark Empire and the series launched two decades of good quality story-telling from Dark Horse. Beginning in 1994, the publisher began releasing Tales of the Jedi, a prequel series set 5000 years before Episode IV: A New Hope in the era known simply as “The Old Republic”. Needless to say, C-3PO won’t be turning up to say “hi”.
Comprised of eight story-arcs over thirty-five issues, Tales of the Jedi delved deep into galactic history covering the Great Hyperspace War, the Golden of the Sith along with the rise and fall of Jedi Knights Ulic Kel-Droma and Exar Kun. For many years, this series marked the earliest point in the Star Wars time-line with stories set even longer ago and in a galaxy very different than what we had come to expect. Indeed, the early story-arcs look more like Conan the Barbarian with a cyber-fantasy twist than the traditional spaghetti western in space of Star Wars past. Indeed, the darksiders that appear throughout the series are presented as more or less insane religious cultists ruling their culture through fear. They are certainly not scheming Sith of the Prequels. At times, this can be problematic as their designs are reminiscent of the Mayan priests and priestesses of ancient times.
The two principle characters are Ulic Qel-Droma, a young padawan destined to fall the Dark Side, and Nomi Sunrider, a young woman trying to come to terms with her connection to the Force all while raising her young daughter alone. The two develop an intimate bond as the series progresses, but Ulic’s tragic fall to the Dark Side forces Nomi in the spotlight as ostensibly the main character. This focus on Nomi leads to the series best moments, providing a truly impressive female character that Star Wars has often lacked or underused. Nomi is a character who suffers from her introduction. Reluctant to be fight or become a Jedi, the death of the husband forces her to take up his Lightsaber and defend what’s left of her family. In doing so, she must learn to overcome her insecurities and find her place in the universe once more. Its pretty shameful that it wouldn’t be until The Force Awakens that the notion of a female lead in a Star Wars story would be reflected on the big screen.
The characters featured in this series are not your typical protagonists. Their designs challenge traditional notions of what we thought a Jedi to be. The Jedi Order is decentralised, spread across the galaxy with masters teaching padawans without any strict central guiding authority. What is particularly noteworthy is the diversity of Jedi that we encounted. Master Thon is a triceratops-esque quadruped who uses the Force to communicate and to wield his Lightsaber. To the uninitiated he is a mindless creature, to those willing to learn and look beyond the physical, he is a bastion of wisdom. Master Ooroo on the other is hand is literally a giant jellyfish floating in a jar. You can tell the artist were having a great laugh designing a lot of these characters. Its an originality in concept that cantina scene had once pioneered and perhaps, hasn’t been seen since.
Crude is only word to describe the look and aesthetic of the comic. The technology of the Original Trilogy may have appeared worn and used compared to the sleek designs of the Prequels, but Tales of the Jedi showcased a galaxy that had yet to find its footing. A key example of this divergence of style are the Lightsabers which are a much more primitive design than we would later see. Indeed, the energy their blades release is rather unstable when compared to their contemporaries. Indeed, eagle eyed readers would do well to note the similarities with Kylo Ren’s Lightsaber. Similarly the droids are quite basic in appearance, demonstrating a minimalist style reminiscent of early Star Wars concept art.
Let’s talk a bit about the men behind this series. Tom Veitch is an infamous comic-book writer who was a central player in the “underground comix movement” of the 70s, although he is primarily known for his work within the Star Wars universe. He created the Light and Darkness War series and has done extensive work with DC He is also the man behind the Dark Empire trilogy, but we won’t hold that against him. His Tales of the Jedi arcs represent not only his finest work in terms of story-telling and characters, but his biggest contribution to the canon. However, he is also responsible for those atrocious Superman at Earth’s End and deserves whatever slagging comes his way in that regard. Kevin J. Anderson is a sci-fi author of some note and a recipient of the Bram Stoker Award his debut novel; Resurrection Inc. Anderson would go on to write the incredibly enjoyable Jedi Academy trilogy of novels which focus on the legacy on a certain character featured in Tales. His arcs find their targets moreso than Veitch’s. The closing arc; “Redemption”, is particularly deserving of praise acting as a perfect albeit heartbreaking culmination to the story-line.
This series is the precursor to the legendary Knights of the Old Republic with many of the events of this comic informing its story-line as well as establishing the look, feel and atmosphere of that game series. While this branch of the Expanded Universe is now considered to be part of the Legends timeline, “the Old Republic” is the era least impacted by the great purge. Regardless of its official status, it is essential reading for those who want to a story steeped in mythos, with strong female characters and an arc of redemption rivaling Vader himself.
Join us tomorrow as we go back to the future and discuss Star Wars: Legacy. In the meantime, why not check out yesterday’s article on our Top 5 Lightsaber Duels.
Krampuspulls off something which nearly every other Christmas movie writes to Santa about: it creates an understanding for why this flawed season is crucial to society. As a piece horror, Krampus utilizes its genre’s strengths in order to avoid the pitfalls which commonly dominate typical holiday fare. There is a sect of the population up in arms (as if everyone isn’t up in arms about something everyday) that their seminal holiday is being treated with a disregard for humanity. There is another sect that brushes Krampus off as ancillary to the season, trying to distance themselves from the negative stereotypes portrayed on screen. The movie believes quite the opposite and is, in fact, the purest distillation of the Christmas spirit to grace our screens in quite some time.
At their very basest, horror movies serve as cathartic punishment; a representation of our personal and societal misgivings and the comeuppance that we deserve for our transgressions (see The Cabin in the Woods). We look in on the world of a horror film and are able to place ourselves as masks on the faces of the characters we most identify with. Sitting from a safe distance, we can advise our cinematic doppelgängers and execute this catharsis when punishment is doled out and still emerge from the other side. We have come to accept this corner of entertainment but largely only as part of a season, willing to ignore the pleasures and necessity of horror as part of our daily (ok, fine… weekly or monthly) ritual. The same works both ways: the Christmas spirit needn’t die out once December 26th hits, giving a full new year to be selfishly debaucherous. Krampus melds these different seasons and makes sense of them both as being necessary to the human experience.
[SPOILERS AHEAD FOR KRAMPUS!]
Much has been made about the ending to the film* and the entirety of understanding the movie’s importance to Christmas rests upon this conclusion. Once Max’s (Emjay Anthony) entire family has been captured by Krampus and his band of evil elves and Christmas toys, he is left to fulfill the prophecy laid forth by his Omi (Krista Stadler) by being the only survivor after having forsaken his letter to Santa and therefore summoning the Anti-Claus. Max decides not to succumb to his grandmother’s childhood fate of accepting this fact but instead confronting Krampus and asking for his wish back. He has only wanted for Christmas to be “as it used to be” when everyone at least acted like they loved each other and never meant for this sort of horror to befall his family. His sentiment is in exactly the right place. Except, this isn’t It’s A Wonderful Life and Max isn’t the hero in this story.
Krampus is portrayed as being the ultimate protector of Christmas. When Max’s Grandmother, Omi, tells the family of her encounter with Krampus, it is a poignant view of her home country in total turmoil after a war that decimated the population. The people around Omi didn’t treat the season with the reverence she did as a child and thusly were cruel, taking instead of making the sacrifice to give. When Krampus visits Omi and leaves her in bed after viciously taking her family, he gives her a knowing wink, making it clear that he acknowledged her wishes in reinstating her holiday standards. Krampus protected the holiday as Omi saw it to be and she, although terrorized by the experience every year, created a beautiful family as a result.
When Krampus leaves Max at the end of the film, the audience is tricked into believing Max’s act of defiance is a heroic moment. It is, in fact, the most selfish move of the story. Although Max didn’t know his simple act of tearing up a letter to Santa would bring about such an awful event, it is the principle of forsaking one’s own beliefs that stands as deserving of punishment. I’ve heard many people groan at this notion but this isn’t something exclusive to the horror genre. Bad things happen to those who doubt their good instinct in all types of film genres. Horror is simply the genre in which the stakes are heightened to an absurd ceiling which typically means life or death.
Krampus plays with the tropes of the Christmas genre many times throughout the story and does so most effectively at the end, after Max is tossed down the “Hellhole” and wakes up to a snowy Christmas morning. He scrambles downstairs to find his once unbearable family warmly opening up Christmas presents in the early sunshine. It’s almost as if it were all a dream.
Of course the movie wants** you to believe that as each family member reawakens to the reality of the situation once Max’s Krampus bell is revealed from under the guise of a gift. Everything happened. For real. The camera pulls out to reveal Max’s family living within a snow globe kept by Krampus in the midst of hundreds of other snow globes, likely containing other, less-than-reverent families.
I believe the ending of Krampus is punishment for those who forget what the holiday season truly means. The film opens with a Black Friday stampede, signifying that this is what Christmas has become. It is cannibalistic consumerism hiding behind the facade of love and good will. Max’s family is even at the forefront of this sensation as Max is seen fighting with other kids, needing his parents to intervene. Sure, he’s fighting on behalf of the Christmas he believes in but the director, Michael Dougherty (Trick ‘r Treat), seems to make clear his stance of going about good in the wrong ways.
Yeah, our own families might suck and we might really abhor the thought of being nice to those who we feel don’t deserve our empathy. But Dougherty also displays his meanest of tricks when presenting his characters as actual humans and not just traditional archetypes. When Max’s Santa letter is stolen by his cousins and read aloud at dinner, it causes the whole family to take a step back and realize how broken their situation really is. Instead of providing us a window to view these wretched people, Dougherty holds up a mirror and accuses us each as being the dimwitted uncle or the father and mother who has given up on love. We sit in our theaters of solitude and watch as turmoil unfolds, punishing those who are no less guilty than we are.
Krampus is a gorgeous film with the visual artistry of snow-fallen evil to the amazing puppetry of Krampus and his cohorts to the sinewy score weaving horrific strings and percussion in with orchestral Christmas classics. Some scoff at the idea of Christmas-horror and sometimes they may be right. When a movie is bad, a movie is bad. In this case, Krampus has its frost-bitten heart rooted firmly in the spirit of humanism and deserves to be held up as a treasure of multiple seasons, not as a pariah, stowed away in our basements for 11 months each year while we forget, then relearn how to be good people***.
*This article is drawn only upon the Krampus character as presented in the film, Krampus, and does not necessarily take into account the legend as it may be told traditionally.
**Though it’s never unfair in trying to fool you; the new hazy filter placed over the image immediately lets us know things aren’t as they’ve been portrayed throughout the film.
***Hey, Kirk Cameron, this is how you actually “save Christmas”.
2016 is set up to be a blockbuster showdown in the superhero film department. The question now, who has the best film and who will earn our box office love?
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice has the best chance to make the most money as it has a decent distance between other blockbuster competition. X-Men: Apocalypse will eat away at Captain America: Civil War‘s potential, 2016 has an overcrowded summer slate. It will be interesting how consumers spend their money and what they decide to see in the theater.
What film are you most excited about? Cast your vote! Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – March 25, 2016 Captain America: Civil War – May 6, 2016. X-Men: Apocalypse – May 27, 2016
Gotham City-based vigilante Batman travels to Metropolis to preemptively combat Superman, fearing what would happen if the latter is kept unchecked, while another threat endangers humankind.
Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice stars Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jason Momoa, Ben Affleck, Jesse Eisenberg, Gal Gadot, Jena Malone, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Diane Lane, Ezra Miller, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter, Michael Shannon, and Laurence Fishburne.
The film is set to open worldwide on March 25, 2016
Captain America: Civil War
Directed by Anthony & Joe Russo from a screenplay by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, Captain America: Civil War picks up where Avengers: Age of Ultron left off, as Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) leads the new team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. After another international incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability and a governing body to determine when to enlist the services of the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers while they try to protect the world from a new and nefarious villain.
Starring Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Chadwick Boseman, Emily VanCamp, Daniel Brühl, Frank Grillo, William Hurt, and Martin Freeman.
Captain America: Civil War is set for release on May 6, 2016.
X-Men: Apocalypse
Ancient mutant Apocalypse is unearthed after 5,000 years and recruits his four horsemen; Magneto (Michael Fassbender), Psylocke (Olivia Munn), Storm (Alexandra Shipp) and Angel (Ben Hardy). The Four Horsemen of Apocalypse try to reboot the world through destruction.
X-Men: Apocalypse is directed by Bryan Singer and stars Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy and Nicholas Hoult, Oscar Isaac (Apocalypse), Sophie Turner (Jean Grey), Tye Sheridan (Cyclops), Alexandra Shipp (Storm), Lana Condor (Jubilee), Olivia Munn, and Kodi Smit-McPhee.
The film is set in the 1980s, and we will see younger versions of previously seen characters.
X-Men: Apocalypse opens in theaters on May 27, 2016.
Ancient mutant Apocalypse is unearthed after 5,000 years and recruits his four horsemen; Magneto (Michael Fassbender), Psylocke (Olivia Munn), Storm (Alexandra Shipp) and Angel (Ben Hardy). The Four Horsemen of Apocalypse try to reboot the world through destruction.
‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ is directed by Bryan Singer and stars Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy and Nicholas Hoult, Oscar Isaac (Apocalypse), Sophie Turner (Jean Grey), Tye Sheridan (Cyclops), Alexandra Shipp (Storm), Lana Condor (Jubilee), Olivia Munn, and Kodi Smit-McPhee.
The film is set in the 1980s and we will see younger versions of previously seen characters.
X-Men: Apocalypse opens in theaters on May 27, 2016.
