Soon to join the ranks of classic book film re-adaptations is Lord of the Flies, according to Deadline. Except this time around, the story will feature a cast of entirely young women. Because…well…it’s hard to say.
This adaptation comes by way of Scott McGehee & David Siegel, directors of What Maisie Knew, the Bee Season, and The Deep End.
All of these are dramatic stories, and their ability to tell a coherent story through the eyes of children isn’t in question. The choice for an all-women adaptation is.
Before the trolls of the internet cry in triumph at the prior line, no, I’m no advocating for women to never have parts written for men. 99% of the time, it does not matter that the part is led by a man. This, however, is the 1% where it does.
Lord of the Flies, for those who didn’t catch it in high school English class, is an iconic William Golding novel about a group of young white British school boys who crash land on an uninhabited island. Their supposed civilized nature descends into chaos as they try to survive.
The important part here: it’s a story about the toxicity inherent in masculinity, and the adult form of social order that the boys attempt to replicate.
Golding has commented before on his choice to include only boys, wanting to show what happens when boys try to replicate government. As in the government that, both then and now, is primarily made up of men.
There’s something to be said about telling a story of aggression and toxicity in a group of young girls stranded on an island.
That story, whatever it might be, is one best told and brought to life by a woman. And it shouldn’t be called Lord of the Flies.
So then why make it at all? From the directors’ own comments, it seems like a sincere – though inherently flawed – desire to look at gender conventions of aggression and tell an interesting story using a source material they both love.
From Warner Brothers? It sure looks like a cashing-in on what they perceive as a “trend” of women-centric films, a la Wonder Woman, Girls Trip, etc.
While they’re support, whether genuine or not, for women-plentiful films is a good thing, WB needs to think more critically about what projects they are adapting, and who they choose to do it.
The live action Teen Titans adaptation finally has a team captain in Brenton Thwaites as Dick Grayson/Nightwing.
Thwaites is best known for his starring role in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. He previously appeared in films like The Giver, Gods of Egypt, Maleficent, Oculus,The Signal, Son of a Gun, and the Australian TV show Home and Away.
Dick Grayson is the adopted son of Bruce Wayne, and dons his own cape as Robin alongside Batman to save Gotham. In Titans, we’ll see Grayson as young man looking to be his own hero, alongside other famous former teens – Starfire (Anna Diop) and Raven (Teagan Croft).
Titans debuts in live-action next year on Warner Bros.’ DC-digital service. Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, Akiva Goldsman and DC Entertainment’s Geoff Johns are on as executive producers, with Goldsman, Berlanti, and Johns writing the script.
Our favorite mutant teenage brothers recently hit a milestone with their ongoing series. It became the longest running TMNT series of all-time. Now is a great time to be a Turtles fan, they’re firing on all cylinders through multiple titles. TMNT Dimension X is a cosmic trip through the weirdest of the weird, which is often the best of the best.
***SPOILERS LIE AHEAD***
Krang is going to trial and the Turtles have to collect a number of high profile witnesses to testify against him. Our four heroes and their Dimension X allies must race against the cybernetic assassin, Hakk-R, hired to eliminate the witnesses.
The witness featured in this issue is Totus, a planet entity composed entirely of living plant organisms. Krang experimented on the planet, leaving a portion of it as a wasteland. The story of the mutated outcasts in the wasteland is a tragic one, but not without an uplifting resolution.
This is the fifth and final installment of this mini-series, each issue has been an intoxicating delight. Taking the characters deeper into the strangeness that Dimension X offers is spectacular fun.
Every creature, planet, environment, and sequence is well crafted and chock full of eye candy. Reading like a Saturday morning cartoon special with the weird cranked up to eleven.
As always, the dynamic between the four brothers is excellent. Dialogue is crucial with these characters in comics, Devin Grayson makes them sing. The witness featured in each issue instantly clicks with the turtles, whether they be a classic character or new creation.
Dimension X‘s script transports readers back to their favorite Saturday morning cartoon memories. Krang and his hired assassin are deliciously dastardly and function like an old school villain duo.
Issue five isn’t the strongest of the bunch visually, but it still delivers and hits hard when it needs to. The colorful layouts and creative character designs have been a major highlight throughout the series. Craig Rousseau and Leonardo Ito do wonders together in filling each panel with life.
This mini-series will easily become an essential for all TMNT fans. Kevin Eastman’s ongoing series is fantastic, Dimension X is a perfect compliment and timeout from the main book.
Hopefully readers who enjoy this strange five issue arc will jump onto the regular series to finish out the trial of Krang and stick around after that. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans have a lot to be happy about right now.
Overall, the book and series are nonstop fun from top to bottom. A perfect balance of lighthearted silliness and explosive ninja action with so much character it’ll make your heart swell.
Yet that will change in Game of Thrones‘ eighth season.
“The Dragon and Wolf” reveals that Jon (Kit Harrington) is now in love with Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke). It also ends with the two engaging in sex. Further marking it icky, the two of them do no realize they are aunt and nephew, respectively. Incest seems to be a common thing in Westeros, doesn’t it?
In Game of Thrones lore, Daenerys is the much younger sister of the late Rhaegar Targaryen. Twenty-odd years prior, he falls in love with Lyanna Stark, sister of Ned. They would run off together, prompting Robert’s Rebellion to start.
In the seventh season, Samwell Turly learns Rhaegar got an annulment for his first marriage in order to marry Lyanna. After the Rebellion ends, Ned finds Lyanna on the verge of death with an infant Jon Snow. Lyanna dies after making Ned promise to look after her son.
According to Bran Stark, Lyanna tells Ned that Jon’s real name is Aegon Targaryen. Thus he is not a bastard but rather heir to the Iron Throne. Bran and Samwell plan to tell Jon as soon as possible.
Talk about elaborate!
The question is what will happen now? Technically, Jon is within his rights to claim the Iron Throne, but he needs proof of his origins. Bran’s visions might be hard to prove, but Samwell has evidence of Rhaegar’s second marriage. It begs one to wonder if Jon will believe them, but he did listen to Bran’s warnings about the Night King. Yet we must remember he never did want to be the King in the North.
There is also the issue of how Daenerys will respond. While Jon swore fealty to her, the truth would affect their relationship. Furthermore, Dany is still hell-bent on taking back the Iron Throne.
One thing is clear: Cersei Lannister will not welcome the news. Since she’s lost her children, she remains fixated on preserving her status as Queen. However, two Targaryens will be a major threat to Cersei’s reign.
Then there’s still the issue of the undead…..
Game of Thrones‘ final season will premiere in 2018 or 2019.
Today, the horror streaming network Shudder is releasing all four episodes of Neil Gaiman’s Likely Stories, adaptations of short tales written by the author of American Gods and Sandman.
The miniseries is described by Shudder as follows:
“Adapted from Gaiman’s dark tales, this collection of distinct, odd and brilliant short stories is both cinematic and strange. In each film, each character is compelled to share their story and we’re drawn into their very act of telling tall tales. While each episode has its own lead character, they are backed by an ensemble cast that play across all four bold and original films.”
Check out the teaser here:
From Gaiman’s short story collection Smoke and Mirrors, Foreign Parts tells the tale of a celibate young man who suddenly contracts a venereal disease which makes him more confident.
Also from Smoke and Mirrors, Looking for the Girl is about a photographer who tells an interviewer about his endless search for a seemingly ageless model.
Feeders and Eaters is a more traditional horror story of an elderly woman with an insatiable hunger for raw meat.
From another Gaiman short story collection called Fragile Things, Closing Time is about a man remembering a story of when he was young, when a gang of peers took him into a sinister house in the woods.
Check back for reviews on the miniseries shortly.
Will you be checking out Likely Stories on Shudder?
One of the biggest stories of 2017 and 2018 is the return of Luke Skywalker in ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi.’
As the pressure mounts to not spoil the film, Mark Hamill did a phone interview with the Associated Press this past week and the actor explained how Luke has changed.
‘Absolutely. Luke changed, I think, more than the other characters in the original trilogy, from callow farm boy to a Jedi in training to finally a Jedi master. What you’re talking about is what really fascinated me. Between “Return of the Jedi” and “Force Awakens,” there’s just decades of history that’s unknown. So I was wondering how they’re going to handle all this. Now, obviously, with “Force Awakens,” J.J. (Abrams) had a full plate. It was inevitable that they would push me down the line. I was sorry I wasn’t able to work with any of the original actors again. But it’s not about us anymore. In this new one, I was saying to Rian Johnson: I need to know my backstory. It was kind of unclear. You read where he is now and what he’s doing now and sort of have to fill in the blanks for yourself. So I did do a backstory myself. It’s not about Luke anymore, so it’s not really important. But I had to make sense of it for myself. What Rian came up with, I was stunned,’ said Hamill to the AP.
The line, ‘What Rian came up with, I was stunned,’ gives me chills every time I read it. Hamill is very excited to explore the past 34 years, but he understands his time has passed, and it is now in the hands of a new generation of heroes.
‘A thing that felt maybe wrong about coming back was the fact that the original trilogy had a beginning, a middle and an end. But there’s two ways of looking at that. On the one hand, it had closure. But if you look at it another way, it’s the story of how Luke went from becoming a farm boy to a Jedi and then the story ends. It would be like telling the story of how James Bond got his license to kill and became 007, and the story ends,’ said Hamill to the AP.
The actor knows he has some unfinished business. The photo below is proof.
About ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’
The Skywalker saga continues as the heroes of The Force Awakens join the galactic legends in an epic adventure that unlocks age-old mysteries of the Force and shocking revelations of the past
‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi,’ which is written and directed by Rian Johnson and continues the storylines introduced in ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens,’ stars Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, Andy Serkis, Benicio Del Toro, Laura Dern, and Kelly Marie Tran.
‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ hits theaters on December 15.
How important is it that Rian Johnson gets Luke Skywalker right? Comment below.
With the weather being unpredictable in recent weeks, many people are searching for alternative forms of entertainment. Luckily for us, Marvel’s latest Blu-ray release, Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 2 graced us with its presence this week and it’s chock full nerdy goodness. The gag reel is one of the best one’s I’ve ever seen on a Marvel release. What makes this release stand out amongst the crowd of Marvel films is the quality of the featurettes.
“In the Director’s Chair with James Gunn” –
This is a very insightful 10 minute look into the methods Gunn uses with the crew and his cast. The whole cast loves him and chimes during this segment. The biggest laugh out loud moment was with Michael Rooker when he called his director the most handsome man he’s ever worked with.
“Reunion Tour: The Music of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” –
For anyone who has seen the Guardians films, music plays a key role in influencing the tone and even the dialogue in both releases. Gunn spends time discussing his influences and diving into what musical genre had an impact in both Guardian films.
“Living Planets and Talking Trees: The VFX of Vol. 2” –
Visual effects play a larger role in Volume 2 and we learn more about this from special effects guru Christopher Townsend. The VFX team get into how they went about creating the living planet EGO and the sequence which ultimately leads to his demise.
“Showtime: The Cast of Vol. 2” –
What’s great about this segment is the amount of interaction we are treated to amongst the cast. We get an extended look at Bradley Cooper’s recording session and get to see Rooker cutting up with a Sylvester Stallone on set.
“Guardians of the Galaxy: INFERNO” –.
Take the disco era, mix it with outrageous costumes, multiple cameos, and David Hasselhoff to add some flavor. While it’s hard to come up with a word to describe this “music video”, this trainwreck made me laugh so hard it brought tears to my eyes.
Three X-Men books were tied into the Inhumans Vs X-Men event: Uncanny, All-New, and Extraordinary. While the three series are all by different writers and artists, they all followed the same model for the crossover event. Each issue is a focused character piece, observing how the war between the two groups of heroes affects several X-Men individually. This concept was an excellent editorial choice, as it created a sense of unison between the three books and increased the weight of the events. In fact, it’s a shame that the crossover issues of Uncanny Inhumans didn’t use the same model. Oddly, that series didn’t even intersect with the events at all but followed an entirely different set of characters who weren’t at any of the battles. The story was fun but just didn’t feel necessary. But the X-Men went for pathos, and it made the finales stronger.
Because all three volumes acted more like a series of one-shots, reviewing them all at once makes it a little odd. So this review will focus on the best issues from each volume, and an overall assessment of the volume, including art and writing.
Uncanny X-Men: Superior Vol 4: IvX
(collecting issues 16-19, Annual 1)
Writers: Cullen Bunn, Anthony Piper (Annual)
Art: Edgar Salazar, Ken Lashley (#17, Annual), Anthony Piper (Annual)
This volume was probably the weakest out of the three series, but it still had some great moments. The first issue focused on Fantomex, the next on Sabretooth struggling with his inner demons as he tries to help Monet fight her own. The finale saw Psylocke in a brutal fight with Magneto, but ultimately a rushed story. The annual had a great story about Elixir coming back with immense power, and a fun story with Domino.
But the best story goes to issue #18, which focused on Xorn, who wasn’t even a member of the team, oddly. Xorn spent the series protecting mutants who fell victim to the Someday organization, offering them a haven in his monastery. Then the war hits, the X-Men take over New Attilian, and someone needs to play warden. Xorn, Archangel, and Sebastian Shaw take command over the city, and the “Sleepers” that Someday exploited became prison guards. Xorn, striving for peace, is conflicted with his role and feels that he has betrayed the Sleepers by putting them into a conflict that they came to him to avoid in the first place. We don’t get a lot of Xorn stories, so an entire issue dedicated to him was great to see, and it developed him nicely—especially his final decision on where he would go after the war. (SPOILER: The moon!)
Overall, the art serves well, and the writing is probably the strongest the series had in its entire run. Lashley’s issue in Limbo was probably the best drawn, just for the landscape.
Overall: ★★★½
All-New X-Men: Inevitable Vol 4: IvX
(collecting issues 17-19, Annual 1)
Writers: Dennis Hopeless, Sina Grace (Annual), Rex Ogle (Annual)
Art: Mark Bagley, Paco Diaz (#19), Andrea Boccardo (Annual), Cory Smith (Annual)
The series had the best art of the three books. Here, we get stories from Iceman and his Inhuman boyfriend Romeo, who wants no part of this war. Best revealing to the rest of the original five that they are lost in the timeline when he brings them back in time and reveals they never left, and, one of the cutest stories yet, Idie’s first date.
For this volume, it is also #18 that stands out, focusing on young Cyclops. He hates himself for what his older self-has caused. But then something happens—Mosaic takes over his body, right after possessing Magneto. Because of this, he sees what happened to Old Cyclops, that he died from the M-Pox virus and it was Emma Frost who started the war between X-Men and Inhumans. The curse he’s felt for months that he would grow up to be a terrorist is lifted, and he’s pissed. It was the best way to conclude Cyclops character arc for this volume. Now he can go back to being hopeful.
Overall: ★★★★
Extraordinary X-Men Vol 4: IvX
(collecting 17-20)
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Art: Eric Koda (17, 19), Victor Ibanez (18,20)
The series with the best writing out of all three books also had the worst art. It’s inconsistent, and both artists tend to make the characters look like mushed clay. These stories deserved a lot better. We get Forge making peace with both Storm and Old Man Logan. In fact, Logan and Forge need to go on more adventures together. Magik likewise comes to terms with how she had to kill Sapna to protect X-Haven. And there’s a cute adventure of the X-Men saving Cerebra after the final battle in Inhumand Vs X-Men.
Without a doubt, and the best issue not just in this book, but in all three, is #17—and the focus isn’t even on a major X-Men character. At least, not directly. This story shows what was at stake for the mutants more than any other. A teenage girl goes looking for Storm as her little sister is dying from M-Pox. All her sister wanted since having to go to X-Haven was to meet Storm, and the older sister is set on making that happen, even as the X-Men ignore her, and Storm is preparing for war. It’s an important moment for Storm too, a reminder that they don’t have time for diplomacy. Spoiler…it’s a sad story. It would have been a beautiful story if the art was better.
Overall: ★★★★
X-Men Prime
(collected in both All-New X-Men: Inevitable Vol 4, and Extraordinary X-Men Vol 4)
Writers: Cullen Bunn, Mark Guggenheim, Greg Pak
Art: Leonard Kirk, Ken Lashley, Ibraim Roberson
This didn’t need to be collected in two volumes, other than maybe to pad All-New X-Men’s final trade. It fit well at the end of Extraordinary X-Men though, since a lot of it dealt with Storm wanting to leave the X-Men after leading them into war (something Medusa also did in Uncanny Inhumans). Using Kitty Pryde worked wonderfully, as she was out in space during the entire conflict, and is coming in fresh, seeing the wounds that M-Pox caused, and the confusion over what to do next. Her choice, and stories teased to come is enough to make any X-Fan excited.
Deadline.com has reported that Scott McGehee (The Deep End) and David Siegel (The Deep End, Suture, What Maisie Knew) have partnered with Warner Bros to create a new, modernized iteration of Lord of the Flies, William Golding’s classic contribution to the Western Literary Canon. However, their intention is to adapt the novel with a very particular, key twist: the film, which famously focuses on a group of young boys stranded on an island who descend into madness once the social order they’ve constructed crumbles, will replace its male cast with an all-female one.
In a conversation with Deadline, Siegel said of their modern Lord of the Flies: ““We want to do a very faithful but contemporized adaptation of the book, but our idea was to do it with all girls rather than boys. It is a timeless story that is especially relevant today, with the interpersonal conflicts and bullying, and the idea of children forming a society and replicating the behavior they saw in grownups before they were marooned.”
In addition, McGeehee discussed the subject matter of the novel, describing it as “aggressively suspenseful, and taking the opportunity to tell it in a way it hasn’t been told before, with girls rather than boys, is that it shifts things in a way that might help people see the story anew. It breaks away from some of the conventions, the ways we think of boys and aggression. People still talk about the movie and the book from the standpoint of pure storytelling. It is a great adventure story, real entertainment, but it has a lot of meaning embedded in it as well. We’ve gotten to think about this awhile as the rights were worked out, and we’re super eager to put pen to paper.”
Each of what the two men had to say about the subject was promising, and their previous work, which has focused heavily on depicting trauma through the eyes of young people, is certainly promising. An all-female Lord of the Flies sounds fascinating.
The only foreseeable issue here is that there are no women currently attached to the project, and this is likely to be a point of (mostly rightful) contention among consumers of the film. A group of men telling the story of a group of young girls getting violent with each other on an island is likely to take on sexist undertones. However, with the right talent attached to the project, this could easily be averted.
Here’s to hoping they manage to get the right people on board.
Geoff Johns has once again revealed an exciting new Doomsday Clock detail over on Twitter. The very generous DC President and Chief Creative Officer tweeted the below image:
The image is prior existing Watchmen art by Dave Gibbons. Doomsday Clock is scheduled to hit comic shops on November 22, just in time for a long Thanksgiving weekend.
DC Comics presents to you a 12-issue maxiseries from the critically acclaimed team of writer Geoff Johns, artist Gary Frank, and colorist Brad Anderson. You are not prepared for what lies ahead within these pages, good readers.
What do you guys think? Does this mean Rorschach will be taking on the Justice League? Or perhaps he will be teaming up with them to fight Doctor Manhattan (seeing as how he did die at the end of Watchmen either seems unlikely, but hey it IS comics…).
As always more details should be on the way in the coming months and you can always count on us at Monkeys Fighting Robots to bring you the latest! Comment and discuss below!
