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Additionally, the photo’s caption notes that it’s day 63 of filming.
“As the Avengers and their allies have continued to protect the world from threats too large for any one hero to handle, a new danger has emerged from the cosmic shadows: Thanos. A despot of intergalactic infamy, his goal is to collect all six Infinity Stones, artifacts of unimaginable power, and use them to inflict his twisted will on all of reality. Everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment – the fate of Earth and existence itself has never been more uncertain.”
Avengers: Infinity War stars Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Benedict Cumberbatch, Benedict Wong, Scarlett Johansson, Brie Larson, Cobie Smulders, Elizabeth Olson, Jeremy Renner, Sebastian Stan, Peter Dinklage, Chadwick Boseman, Chris Hemsworth, Karen Gillian, Bradley Cooper, Samuel L. Jackson, Paul Rudd, Josh Brolin, Paul Bettany, and Mark Ruffalo.
In a move that seems designed to annoy a good chunk of its fanbase, Netflix cancelled Sense8 on June 1st, the first day of Pride Month.
Sense8, directed by Lilly and Lana Wachowski, follows eight individuals across the globe. Slowly, they discover they’re connected through their senses and thoughts. Season One premiered in 2015 to critical acclaim and popularity. Season Two took two years to produce – only to be abruptly cancelled a month later.
However, the move seems to have ignited the Sense8 fanbase in a way Netflix has never seen before. In the last five days, angry fans have taken to Twitter, Tumblr, and even Change.org to petition Netflix for a renewal, or at least some answers. Not only that, but they’ve been swarming Netflix with angry phone calls.
I just called Netflix to try to #RenewSense8 – the person I talked to was so nice. He encouraged me to get friends to call in, so PLEASE DO.
Sense8 is incredibly unusual with how much backlash it’s generated from its cancellation. Like the screenshot above says, usually after a few days, people move on. However, this time, it’s different.
The Change.org petition for Season 3, 94,000 signatures away from being complete, gives one explanation.
“It is not just a tv show, to watch for fun, instead of just being that, Sense 8 has given the world a new way of seeing others: with acceptance, love and understanding.”
With the world getting scarier all the time, it’s an important message. Critics called Season One too political and cheesy. However, Season Two was exactly what the world needed after the sharp downturn of 2016. Lito comes out as a gay man at the Sao Paolo Pride Parade, for those who can’t come out of the closet. Nomi and Amanita propose to each other, for those around the world who can’t marry those they love. Capheus starts fighting for his neighborhood as somebody who understands the area; for those who feel downtrodden and ignored by their leaders.
WHY CANCEL SENSE8?
The short answer is: Nobody’s quite sure. The secondary aim of the petition on Change.org is to get some sort of definitive answer from Netflix. Unfortunately since Netflix refuses to release viewer numbers, it’s hard to say. Metro pinpoints the issue when it brings up that while Netflix apparently ‘needed to cancel shows’, Sense8 was cancelled unfinished while 13 Reasons Why got a second season it doesn’t need.
Overall, it’s not a good look. In the wake of a tough year, networks should be giving diverse shows a chance to shine. Instead they’re being systematically axed and discouraged, spitting in the face of people who need these shows.
At least we have the promise of four more Adam Sandler movies on the horizon.
One-hundred-plus years of filmmaking provides a long, rich, and deep history to look back on. Retro reviews and analysis of old films are practically necessary full-time specialties. Month after month, films release, vying to make as much money as possible. Some rise, some fall, but regardless of financial success, it’s never a sign of a lasting effect. A great example is the little-mentioned 2012 film released just eight years ago. 2012 made nearly 800 million dollars and effectively vanished off the face of the earth.
So, where does that leave past box office champs? Let’s take a look back ten, twenty, and thirty years ago at the biggest movies released in June.
The Star
Believe it or not, at one point in time Nicolas Cage had a string of action hits. It started with Face/Off, then Con-Air (in the same month!) and maybe ended here, 10 years later, with a sequel to National Treasure. Book of Secrets was the second film in the watered-down Indiana Jones series. Cage is his typical off-kilter self. Cage was so Cage-y that earned himself a Worst Actor at the Razzies.
The Film
The original film wasn’t great, but it was fun. Director John Turtletaub returned for the sequel which isn’t great either — or much fun. Legendary critic Roger Ebert once said of the original “So silly that the Monty Python version could use the same screenplay, line for line.” So, you can only imagine how great Book of Secrets was.
As an action flick, it’s not bad. Produced by veteran action movie producer Jerry Bruckheimer, the film has moments where money is well spent. However, that script and the execution of it leave a lot on the table.
In June 2017 I predict …
When it comes to box office dominance in June of 2017, there are four contenders. Wonder Woman has super-hype going for it, and superhero movies tend to do really (REALLY) well at the box office these days, no matter the quality. Cars 3 will earn plenty too. The question is, how will The Mummy with Tom Cruise and the fifth Transformers movies do? I predict, in the end, Wonder Woman will be the biggest movie released this month.
This past weekend the much anticipated yet oddly not hyped DCEU film Wonder Woman opened. With it has come more praise than the DCEU has received in this Zack Snyder era of cinematic vision. While story points can be argued, the overarching feedback is positive. Where this film really wins is in an unfamiliar feminine aesthetic that feels like something that should’ve always existed in media narratives. In other words this movie understands that being a woman does not mean the journey is devoid of her committing justified violence and facing peril unflinchingly.
Ladies Issues
Male driven media usually has a difficult time defining women’s issues. The main aspect of that is in the idea that somehow women’s issues are so much more frivolous than men’s issues. Which could be why some of the film’s story elements felt as foreign as the shores of Themyscira. These women are self-possessed with purpose and drive that does not obsess over ideas of procreation. Instead the Amazons pursue flawless military form and execution. They govern by community and are led by a queen. The lack of overt tropey softness doesn’t take away from their femininity. Neither did the obvious musculature and warrior designations of the island of women. It merely confirmed what so many of us have desperately wanted to see portrayed on the big screen.
Common Trope Yet Refreshing
Diana is pure, bold, stubborn and relentless. This is a common discussion when penning strong male characters. Wonder Woman has undergone many character revamps over the years from her World War II beginnings. Her role of being able to make the tough decisions in the Trinity of Superman’s too forgiving ways and Batman’s machinations has only been recently established in the comic canon. This origin story for Diana Prince carries just enough of the original ideologies mixed with some of the more modern aspects of her comic journey to give her silver screen debut familiarity and new pop. She gets to convincingly become the hero this world needs her to be in more ways than one.
Wonder Woman and Visual Diversity
One of the more appealing aspects of Wonder Woman is some of the representation that the film prescribes to. While it’s not perfect it’s better than what a lot of super hero movies have openly participated in. From the variation of tones of women warriors in Themyscira to the diversity of her pack of game changers on the front lines of World War I. For such unbelievable scenarios the sight of people that are not normally filmed in such movies in prominent roles gave this film a gritty reality that helped to frame Diana. For the viewer the leaving of Themyscira is impactful from the difference in locale, dress and social norms. But mostly, what is obvious is the lack of diversity in the world she enters and how that lack of acceptance has impacted her diverse new allies.
Feminism as a Practice
Despite what many believe about the core tenets of feminism this film had not a single rude male bashing moment. Well not counting the places where Diana actually bashes men. As bad as it gets is just a statement that a woman could achieve happiness and pleasure without a man. If anything the character of Diana showed nearly blind devotion to the idea of the goodness inherent in humanity. Specifically she believes in men. She holds them to a high standard out of understanding what they can achieve. Her complaints are not nearly as naive as they are clutched to desperately to preserve her lack of hatred for men.
The Money Says
The record breaking opening of this movie is yelling at movie studios to produce more content like this. Very rarely does a movie of this nature get good critical review, feature a female superhero and is able to pass a Bechdel test. Wonder Woman is that film. It’s like a unicorn, riding the back of a dragon, as they chase a phoenix. For years the impetuous to not make films like this was lack of audience. At this point it’s a broken record because a few recent films have busted that theory. What else you got? The ball is in your court.
What standalone female super hero movies do you want to see?
American Made is one of two upcoming Tom Cruise movies with director Doug Liman, and it tells the (relatively) true story about a pilot and a hustler who takes on a job for the CIA.
Now we have the first trailer, and it’s full of snappy music and jokes and stunts and action and Tom Cruise getting covered in cocaine after crashing a plane.
Enjoy:
Barry Seal, a TWA pilot, is recruited by the CIA to provide reconnaissance on the burgeoning communist threat in Central America and soon finds himself in charge of one of the biggest covert CIA operations in the history of the United States. The operation spawns the birth of the Medellin cartel and almost brings down the Reagan White House.
I don’t know, seems a little goofy. The cocaine bit is funny at the beginning, but then the trailer just sort of trails off in a myriad of overly-familiar images and jokes. Maybe it’s just that Tom Cruise southern accent, which goes with him about as well as narrative goes with David Lynch. Nevertheless, Liman and Cruise have proved to be a good pairing, at least in the one film they’ve done together to this point, Edge of Tomorrow, so maybe this will work.
American Made also stars Domhnall Gleeson, Sarah Wright, the GREAT Jesse Plemons, and Caleb Landry Jones, and it opens September 29.
Do you agree with Wan’s sentiments? Sound off in the comments below.
“Wonder Woman hits movie theaters around the world next summer when Gal Gadot returns as the title character in the epic action adventure from director Patty Jenkins. Before she was Wonder Woman, she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained to be an unconquerable warrior. Raised on a sheltered island paradise, when an American pilot crashes on their shores and tells of a massive conflict raging in the outside world, Diana leaves her home, convinced she can stop the threat. Fighting alongside man in a war to end all wars, Diana will discover her full powers…and her true destiny.”
Wonder Woman stars Gal Gadot as the title character, Chris Pine, Robin Wright as Antiope, David Thewlis, Danny Huston, Elena Anaya, Connie Nielsen, Ewen Bremner, and Lucy Davis.
Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot asked pitted two superheros against each other and asked Chris Hemsworth who would win between their two characters, Diana Prince or Thor?
If this exchange shows anything it’s that the DC/Marvel rivalry is nonexistant. Obviously they are competition as any two businesses in the same field are, but besides that, fans sensationalize the bad blood between the two.
Who do you think would win between Wonder Woman and Thor? Comment below, let us know.
Wonder Woman is in theaters now; Thor: Ragnarok flies into theaters on November 3.
Terry Gilliam has wanted to make The Man Who Killed Don Quixote for as long as I’ve been alive it seems. And he’s come close a few times, even filming most of it with Johnny Depp in the lead before it all fell apart.
Well now, to the amazement of just about anyone who’s been following this project from the outside, Terry Gilliam has done the unthinkable: he’s completed shooting The Man Who Killed Don Quixote! It’s definitely a sign of the apocalypse, or something.
This is great news for fans of Terry Gilliam, and fans who want to see his wacky version go the Don Quixote myth come to life.
And speaking of Gilliam’s previous attempt to get The Man Who Killed Don Quixote up and running, fans of filmmaking should definitely check out Lost in La Mancha, the terrific documentary that’s also a painful examination of what can go horribly wrong on an extensive project like this.
This version of Don Quixote doesn’t star Johnny Depp, thankfully. Instead it stars Adam Driver and Jonathan Pryce in the lead roles. There’s no news as to its release date yet, so stay tuned for any updates.
This post will have Wonder Woman spoilers, read accordingly.
Wonder Woman might singlehandedly be able to save the DCEU from itself. The Warner Bros. cinematic universe has been struggling to find consistent footing to this point, to keep pace with Marvel’s own CU, and define itself as a coherent vision; but Patty Jenkins’ turn with the franchise, and her excellent film might be able to course correct the universe all by itself. It’s a solid entry into the genre, a great deal of fun, Gal Gadot is absolutely perfect and her and Chris Pine have wonderful chemistry. This is highly entertaining for two solid hours.
The only problem is, Wonder Woman‘s runtime is two hours and twenty minutes. Once again, another superhero film manages to make its way admirably through the bulk of its story before throwing up its hands and just tossing all the CGI they can at the finale to get us to the end credits; this time around it’s David Thewlis’s character being thrown in as the “real” bad guy, complete with awful Greek-myth armor (Greek, I guess?) and electrified fingertips (y’know, like Nuclear Man from Superman IV) once Danny Huston’s evil General Ludendorff is disposed of.
Marvel has their own issues with mind-numbing aerial battle climaxes that become indiscernible; DC’s version of this conundrum appears to be whiz-bang fireball destruction porn in the dark of night that is as weightless as it is ultimately meaningless to the story surrounding it. Not to mention hard to see and monotonous. Three of the four DCEU films to this point have suffered that same fate (even the outlier, Man of Steel, which had its climax set during the day, was so over-the-top with its complete and total city destruction and bleary-eyed kinetics that it turned into the whole reason for Batman v Superman to exist).
Wonder Woman isn’t the worst offender in this department, not by a long shot, and that’s because it’s easily the best film of the quartet. BvS had the forgettable Doomsday showdown amid a sea of fake fire, and Suicide Squad had… something. I don’t even remember how that one ended to be honest, but I am 100% certain it was at night, and it involved awful CGI. There’s a moment right before the “Final Battle” where Wonder Woman could have ended, when she kills Ludendorff. After this, Diana comes to realize her ideals of singular evil are no match for how terrible humans really are, and then we get the whole Thewlis diversion for a good fifteen to twenty minutes.
Why not have Diana and Steve simply end the threat at the airport and Diana could continue saving the day into perpetuity, etc. etc? They could even have Steve die still, if they really wanted. It would have been a slick, lean climax, it would have set up Wonder Woman for the future of the DCEU, and it wouldn’t be CGI for the sake of CGI. Instead we have to have this #epic showdown between Diana and a villain that feels conjured out of thin air from a character in the film we’d all but forgotten about by this point.
Nobody really knows how to end these superhero movies. There’s some sort of incessant need for the powers that be in these franchises to tie everything up with a nice, untidy, messy bow of mind-numbing explosions and fire and people floating and their actions having no real consequence. Diana saves the day, obviously, but she does it in a way that sure seems like she could have done it before we had to sit through all of this ugly noise.
The amazing thing here is how this final misstep doesn’t ruin Wonder Woman. Not at all, really, because everything leading up to that point had been terrifically entertaining and balanced. By the time the big noisy BvS showdown happened I was thinking about what to get for dinner, and by the time the Suicide Squad finale went down I was thinking about where I had gone wrong in my life to wind up in my current position. At least with Wonder Woman, the quality beforehand was enough to forgive what felt like obvious pandering to… I don’t know. Whoever likes these calamitous CGI climaxes.
Coop’s mind is still missing, as are clues to Hawk’s quest. But the world of Twin Peaks continues to grow in surprising ways. The mystery billionaire has (presumably) been revealed and Dr. Jacoby’s shovels now have a purpose. And, somewhere, BOB waits.
Spoilers, of course, follow …
The Case
Back in Buckhorn South Dakota, the coroner found Dougie’s wedding ring in the stomach of the beheaded man. His prints also set off a flag at the Pentagon relating to Major Briggs. Even as the local PD attempt to understand this new clue, the Department of Defense is on its way to check things out.
As for Cooper, he attempted to live a day in Dougie’s life by going to his office at Lucky 7 Insurance. Janey-E told him to call the person they owe money to, but of course, Coop has no idea who that might be. Instead, he called out one of Dougie’s coworkers as a liar and keyed into several words when Dougie’s boss handed him a number of case files. Sadly, Coop’s mind was still a blur and he stayed late to examine the shoes of a statue in the office park.
While Cooper’s winnings at the casino may inadvertently save the Jones family, it also attracted the attention of the casino boss (Robert Knepper). Blaming the casino manager for being in on a heist, he was more than happy to beat up the poor guy and fire him. Also, Jim Belushi is his bulldog, so we know he’s bad news. But is he the man looking to end Dougie’s life? He did not recognize Coop’s face on the casino video footage, so someone else must be behind that.
In fact, the hit men called their minder, herself terrified to find Dogie’s car was still in tact. She sent a message to her superior via Blackberry, which appeared to connect to a box in Buenos Aries. The car itself was finally destroyed thanks to some auto thieves. It also probably ignited a love of fire in the boy across the street who witnessed it all.
Meanwhile, Bad Cooper’s phone call created trouble for the Warden and left us with only one phrase: “The cow jumped over the moon.”
The Updates
Dr. Jacoby’s shovels now make sense. They’re part of his income stream as he is an Internet conspiracy vlogger called Dr. Amp. His show is clearly popular in Twin Peaks with the likes of Jerry Horne and Nadine Hurley (Wendy Robie) watching his broadcasts. He never really states what he believes except a general distrust of the government and an all encompassing poisoning of the Earth.
Oh, and for $29.99, you can buy one of his golden shovels to dig yourself out of the shit.
Shelly’s opinion of her daughter’s boyfriend was one hundred percent correct. Pale, strung out and driving a Firebird, he coaxed Becky into begging Shelly for money. Aspiring to be something like Hank Jennings or Leo Johnson, he comes off more hapless than a teenage Mike Nelson (Gary Hershberger); who throws him out of his office after receiving the boy’s terrible resume. In fact, it’s difficult to understand why Becky (Amanda Seyfried) is with him. Sadly, both Shelly and Norma (Peggy Lipton) recognized the behavior.
Based on the conversation Frank had with Harry, it seems the latter Truman’s illness is serious. Also, Hawk’s investigation continues fruitlessly.
The Questions
Did Preston find a difference in the prints between Cooper and Bad Cooper?
If BOB has been with Bad Cooper all this time, why is he a silent passenger?
Who was the bad news young man played by Eamon Farren at the Roadhouse?
Why does Janey-E ignore all the signs that something is seriously wrong with her “husband?” Did Dougie have similar episodes?
If the corpse in Buckhorn is Major Briggs, does that mean he faked his death and palled around with Bad Cooper all these years?
Will Nadine buy a shovel?
Not about Judy
While Phillip Jeffries was not mentioned this week, he haunts the episode. In fact, it is possible that he may have been the one to put the contract out on Dougie. The Blackberry message from the hit men’s handler relayed to that box in Buenos Aries, the city Jeffries vanished from in 1987. The box later turned into an artifact resembling the Phantasm ball from Part 3. Also, Jeffries’ vanishing acts are associated with the transmission of power and telecommunications. He could’ve been the source of the problems at the prison when Bad Cooper made his phone call.
Of course, that presumes they’re on the same side. If Jeffries tried to kill Bad Cooper and Dougie, is he on the side of the angels?
Damn Fine Joe
Though Twin Peaks continues to delay Cooper’s homecoming, it also continues to be laugh-out-loud funny. Cooper’s mindfog produces some amazing comedic moments. In the same vain, Candy Clark deserves recognition for her performances as well. Her scene as Frank’s wife Doris is stunning and funny. In fact, it also strengthen the notion that Frank really doesn’t belong in Twin Peaks. He’s too mild-mannered and grounded to handle the out-sized personalities.
Outside of town, the threads continue to be intriguing and the overall extension of pain and suffering to other cities makes a lot of sense.
At the same time, it’s also nice to finally see a story develop in town. The drug trade was referenced in Part 4, but players are starting to appear. And even though the Roadhouse is a more upscale venue these days, it still plays as the arena to the darker dealings in the county.
Hopefully, next week will see Cooper’s mind return and a payoff for Jade’s choice to mail his room key back to Twin Peaks.
