When aging Latin lover Maximo (Eugenio Derbez ) is suddenly dumped by the older woman he married for money, he moves in with his estranged sister Sara (Salma Hayek) and her 10-year-old son, Hugo (Raphael Alejandro). Determined to return to the lap of luxury, Maximo uses Hugo to meet a rich widow—and learns that love and trust must be earned.

Directed by comedy veteran Ken Marino and written by Jon Zack & Chris Spain, the film features a standout ensemble cast, including Rob Lowe, Kristen Bell, Raquel Welch, and Rob Corddry.

And we’re giving away three copies!

To enter, please send an email with the subject header “Latin Lover” to geekcontest @ gmail dot com and answer the following:

Co-star Kristen Bell first worked with director Ken Marino on this television series and subsequent reunion movie?

Please include your name, and address (U.S. only. You must be 18 years old).

Only one entry per person and a winner will be chosen at random.

Contest ends at 11:59 PM EST on September 3rd, 2017.

Facebook.com/HowToBeALatinLover

Produced by Todd Tucker, David Guc,
Ronald L. Halvas, Tom Harrison, Brett Stimely
Written by Zack Ward
Story by Ronald L. Halvas, Todd Tucker
Directed by Todd Tucker
Starring Caleb Thomas, Eric Roberts, Doug Jones,
Juliet Landau, Christian Kane, Sarah Lancaster

When an outcast teen named Tim is beaten up by a group of bullies he wishes to seek revenge. After coming across an old book he inadvertently calls upon The Trickster, an ancient spirit of Halloween who lures the bullies into deadly tricks rather than giving treats.

But in true horror fashion the Trickster’s games start to take their toll on Tim when people other than the bullies become the target of the Trickster’s games.

The Terror Of Hallow’s Eve is a middle of the road horror film with a predictable plot and passable acting, but does have a good sense of fun and creepy atmosphere.

While the film does nothing new, it is chock full of homages to horror classics such as Halloween (1978), Demons (1985), and Puppet Master (1989) among many others which will be fun for fans to spot. Plus, The Terror Of Hallow’s Eve features numerous effective effects set pieces with high quality creature and gore effects along with a strong sense of spooky atmosphere.

The Terror Of Hallow’s Eve is a decent, fun movie but I can’t recommend anyone rush out to see it.  But if you come across it and are feeling nostalgic for a horror film reminiscent of “the old days”,  I wouldn’t hesitate to check it out.

Well, there’s is no reason to leave the house this fall.

Netflix has provided us with enough Disney movies, ‘90s nostalgia, tons of original content and good, old fashioned cinema classics to keep us cinefiles homebound and hermit-like until winter.

This month’s offering will make folks want to Netflix n’ chill for reals.

SEPTEMBER 1

Amores Perros  (2000)

Alejandro González Iñárritu’s trilogy of stories about three strangers connected by a car crash in Mexico. This is the first installment in the helmer’s “Trilogy of Death”, which includes 21 Grams and Babel.

City of God (2002)

“The streets of the world’s most notorious slum, Rio de Janeiro’s City of God, are a place where combat photographers fear to tread, police rarely go and residents are lucky if they live to the age of 20. In the midst of the oppressive crime and violence, a young boy will grow up to discover that he can view the harsh realities of his surroundings with an artistic eye.” – Miramax site, which is miraculously still up and running

Dead Poets Society (1989)

The late, great Robin Williams tour-de-force perf that mixes part stand up, part serious bearded  Williams as a prep school professor who teaches teens that poetry is cool.

Deep Blue Sea (1999)

A great, bad movie in which Samuel L. Jackson gets eaten by a shark during a dramatic monologue and LL Cool J sings the theme song.

Instead of the trailer, here is the music trailer. Don’t say I never did anything for you:

Disney’s Hercules  (1997)

Before Disney packs up all its toys and goes home, check out as many of its offerings on Netflix as you can. Here is the Mouse’s take on the Greek myth, sans the familicide.

Disney’s Mulan (1998)

In this Disney version of historical event and/or mythology, the legend of Hua Mulan, a woman who donned armor to fight against the Huns. Also gave birth to the great Matchmaker meme.

Final Fantasy XIV: Dad of Light  (Netflix Original Series)

“A father and son rekindle their bond through the online role-playing game Final Fantasy XIV in this live-action series based on a true story.”

Fracture (2007)

A legal drama in which hot shot lawyer Ryan Gosling takes on would-be killer Anthony Hopkins.

Gangs of New York (2002)

Martin Scorsese brings his special brand of ultra-violence to 1800s New York, featuring a one-in-a-lifetime turn from Daniel Day-Lewis as Bill the Butcher.

Gone Baby Gone (2007)

Before he was BatAffleck but after Gigli, Ben was on the path of amends by taking the director’s seat and offering up this eye-opening dramatic mystery starring little brother Casey as a detective on the trail of a missing kid.

High Risk (1981)

James Brolin stars in this cash heist pic that features Anthony Quinn as a drug dealer.

Hoodwinked (2005)

Mediocre animated fare that attempts to make Red Riding Hood interesting outside of the Shrek universe.

Hotel for Dogs (2009)

It’s a hotel. For dogs.

My work is done here.

Jaws (1975)
Jaws 2  (1978)
Jaws 3 (1983)
Jaws: The Revenge  (1987)

It’s Christmas in September! This fall, Netflix gifts us with one of the greatest movies ever made, the mediocre sequel, a bad movie that makes little sense without the 3D (or with the 3D really), and the explanation as to how Michael Caine can afford that new beach house.

And here is my favorite scene from Jaws 3 in 3D, in which Jaws attacks the Go-Gos:

NOTE: You really should watch Jaws 3 in 3D. It makes a world of difference. It’s by no means a better movie, but ups the entertainment value tenfold.

LEGO Elves: Secrets of Elvendale (Netflix Original Series)

“Armed with a powerful amulet, a teenage guardian is tasked with protecting her little sister — and all of Elvendale. Based on the popular web series.”

Little Evil (Netflix Original Film)

“In this horror-comedy, a recently married man who wants to bond with his stepson begins to fear that the boy is a demon.”

Maniac (Netflix Original Series)

Justin Theroux stars in this American remake of the  2014 Norwegian series about a man in a mental hospital who lives a life of adventure without leaving the cozy confines of his straight jacket.

Narcos  (Season 3; Netflix Original Series)

“The true story of Colombia’s infamously violent and powerful drug cartels fuels this gritty gangster drama series.”

Outside Man: Volume 2  (Netflix Original Series)

“Award-winning filmmaker Reggie Yates travels around the world tackling big issues such as gun violence, racism, gay rights and addiction.”

Pulp Fiction (1993)

Quentin Tarantino’s game changer that made Miramax a force to contend with, put Travolta back in the public eye and gave Americans a chance at Cannes.

Requiem for a Dream (2000)

Want to never, ever do drugs again while feeling abject pity and slight disgust for Jennifer Connelly? Well. Do I have a movie for you…

Resurface (Netflix Original Film)

“A suicidal war veteran finds like-minded souls in Operation Surf, a surfing program that helps traumatized soldiers heal while riding the waves.”

Shaq & Cedric the Entertainer Present: All Star Comedy Jam
Shaquille O’Neal Presents: All Star Comedy Jam: Live from Atlanta
Shaquille O’Neal Presents: All Star Comedy Jam: Live from Dallas
Shaquille O’Neal Presents: All Star Comedy Jam: Live from Las Vegas
Shaquille O’Neal Presents: All Star Comedy Jam: Live from Orlando
Shaquille O’Neal Presents: All Star Comedy Jam: Live from South Beach

She’s Gotta Have It (Original Netflix Series)

“Nola Darling is back. See her struggle to define herself and divide her time among friends, job, and three lovers in this new take on Spike Lee’s classic film.”

The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography (2016)

“Portrait photographer Elsa Dorfman found her medium in 1980: the larger-than-life Polaroid Land 20×24 camera. For the next thirty-five years she captured the “surfaces” of those who visited her Cambridge, Massachusetts studio.” – Official site

The Last Shaman  (2016)

A slightly hipster docu drama about a depressed man going on a journey of self discovery.

The Lost Brother (2017)

Spanish-language thriller about a man who returns home after the murder of this family to get involved with shady folks and shady dealings.

The Rugrats Movie (1998)

Tommy deals feelings of jealousy after his parents bring home brand new baby brother Dil. A perfect pic for ‘90s nostalgia.

The Secret Garden (1993)

Keep the ‘90s nostalgia going with the Frances Hodgson Burnett adaptation about an orphan sent to live with a stodgy uncle and a crippled cousin.

The Squid and the Whale (2005)

Noah Baumbach’s arthouse comedy about two brothers caught in the middle of their parents divorce.

Who the F**K is that Guy: The Fabulous Journey of Michael Alago

“Filmmaker Drew Stone to direct biopic of Michael Alago, the music executive responsible for signing Metallica, White Zombie and others. The film will explore Michael’s music career as well as the NYC downtown scene of the 70s, 80s and 90s.” – Official Facebook page

SEPTEMBER  2

Vincent N Roxxy (2016)

Low rated True Romance knock-off about a punk rocker and a loner who find love and go on the run.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBtQYs5CWs8

SEPTEMBER  4

Graduation (2017)

“Acclaimed filmmaker Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days) returns with this searing human saga about a father driven to extremes in order to protect his daughter’s future.” – IFC Films

SEPTEMBER  5

 Carrie Pilby (2016)

A former child prodigy finds herself without friends or a job and is ordered by her therapist to shake things up.

Facing Darkness (2015)

“In the spring of 2014, the Ebola pandemic was sweeping across West Africa. One organization stepped up with people and resources to provide compassion and care in the Name of Jesus. But when the deadly virus infected its own medical personnel, including Dr. Kent Brantly, the epic crisis truly hit home for Samaritan’s Purse and its leader Franklin Graham.” – Official site

Like Crazy (2011)

Anton Yelchin (RIP) and Felicity Jones play college kids who fall in love but are ripped apart due to visa issues.

Marc Maron: Too Real (Netflix Original)

“Battle-scarred comic and “GLOW” star Marc Maron unleashes a storm of ideas about meditation, mortality, documentary films and our weird modern world.”

Newsies: The Broadway Musical (2017)

It’s the Disney deal that keeps on giving! Watch the live stage version of the failed musical from the ‘80s.

SEPTEMBER  6

A Good American (2015)

“A gripping docu-thriller about a groundbreaking surveillance program, the brilliant mastermind behind it and how a perfect alternative to mass surveillance was killed by NSA-management for money – three weeks prior to 9/11.” – Official site

Hard Tide (2015)

Like The Incredible Journey, but with a nine-year-old and a junkie instead of cute animals.

SEPTEMBER  7

The Blacklist (Season 4)

The primetime antics of the “Concierge of Crime,”  Raymond “Red” Reddington, played by James Spader.

SEPTEMBER  8

#realityhigh (Netflix Original Film)

“When nerdy high schooler Dani finally attracts the interest of her longtime crush, she lands in the cross hairs of his ex, a social media celebrity.”

BoJack Horseman  (Season 4; Netflix Original Series)

“Meet the most beloved sitcom horse of the ’90s, 20 years later. He’s a curmudgeon with a heart of…not quite gold…but something like gold. Copper?”

Fabrizio Copano: Solo Pienso En Mi (Netflix Original Special)

“Chilean comedian, actor and director Fabrizio Copano performs a Netflix-exclusive stand-up set taped before a live audience in Buenos Aires.”

Fire Chasers (Netflix Series)

“As California’s 2016 fire season rages, brave backcountry firefighters race to put out the flames, protect homes and save lives in this docuseries.”

Greenhouse Academy  (Season 1; Netflix Original Series)

“When teen siblings Hayley and Alex enter an elite boarding school, they find rivalry, romance and a mystery related to the recent loss of their mom.”

Joaquín Reyes: Una y no más (Netflix Original Special)

“Well-known for his celebrity impersonations, Spanish comedian and artist Joaquín Reyes stays in his own character for this new stand-up special.”

Spirit: Riding Free  (Season 2; Netflix Original Series)

“When city-turned-country girl Lucky meets a wild mustang named Spirit, she feels … adventures, find genuine friendship, and discover what it means to be free!” – Official site

The Confession Tapes  (Season 1; Netflix Original Series)

“This true crime documentary series investigates cases where people convicted of murder claim their confessions were coerced, involuntary or false.”

The Walking Dead (Season 7)

Rick and the gang continue to roam around, find a new place to rest, fuck it up, and move on while they kill and get killed by walkers. Sorry. Did I ruin it for you?

SEPTEMBER  9

Portlandia (Season 7)

Hipsters take on hipsters for domination in smirky comedy.

SEPTEMBER 11

The Forgotten (2004)

A grieving mother is told that her son never existed in this mind bending thriller.

SEPTEMBER 12

Jeff Dunham: Relative Disaster (Netflix Original Special)

“Ventriloquist Jeff Dunham brings his rude, crude and slightly demented posse of dummies to Ireland for a gleeful skewering of family and politics.”

SEPTEMBER 13

Offspring (Season 7)

Aussie TV show about an obstetrician looking for love.

Ghost of the Mountains (2017)

Beautiful Disney docu about the snow leopards of China.

SEPTEMBER 14

Disney’s Pocahontas (1995)

More Disney goodies! This time, the Mouse completely fabricates this historical tale about the Native American princess by aging her up and having her find love with a man twice her age. Don’t look up the facts on this one. It will make you sad.

SEPTEMBER 15

American Vandal  (Season 1; Netflix Original Series)

Netflix spook that asks the daring question: “Who drew the dicks?”

Best. Trailer. Ever.

First They Killed My Father (Netflix Original Film)

“A 5-year-old girl embarks on a harrowing quest for survival amid the sudden rise and terrifying reign of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Directed by Angelina Jolie.”

Foo Fighters: Back and Forth  (2015)

“The history of the Foo Fighters comes alive in this documentary, from their demo tapes through the creation of their 2011 album Wasting Light.” – Netflix blog

George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2011)

Martin Scorsese takes a look into the world of the late, great George Harrison through interviews, concerts and home movies.

Larceny (2017)

Dolph Lundgren stars as a former CIA operative who takes a gig to break into a bank.

Project Mc²: Part 5 (Netflix Original Series)

“Teenage spy McKeyla teams up with three other super-smart girls to become secret agents who use their science and tech skills to save the day.”

Strong Island (Netflix Original Documentary)

“Yance Ford’s powerful documentary examines the racially charged murder of the filmmaker’s brother, his killer’s acquittal and the family’s response.”

VeggieTales in the City (Season 2; Netflix Original Series)

“With exciting trips to the big city, the ski slopes and beyond, the Veggie friends expand their horizons and learn valuable faith-based lessons.”

SEPTEMBER 18

Call the Midwife (Season 6)

“Call the Midwife, based on the best-selling memoirs of the late Jennifer Worth, tells colorful stories of midwifery and families in London’s East End. Inspired by the memoirs of Jennifer Worth, Call the Midwife follows the nurses, midwives and nuns from Nonnatus House, who visit the expectant mothers of Poplar, providing the poorest women with the best possible care.” – Official site

The Journey Is the Destination (2016)

The story of photojournalist Dan Eldon who left his life in London to document the stories of life in Africa.

SEPTEMBER 19

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (2017)

The Mouse’s retelling of its own classic toon in creating a new trend of adapting its own catalog into live action insta-classics.

Jerry Before Seinfeld (Netflix Original Special)

The comedy legend’s new special includes heaps of jokes that made him famous, as well as vintage footage.

Love, Sweat & Tears – Keeping Romance Alive After Menopause

“Death, taxes, and menopause are unavoidable facts of life. Love, Sweat & Tears is a groundbreaking, inspirational, and humorous look at the a long-taboo subject that will impact both women and men during their lifetimes.” – Official site

SEPTEMBER 20

Carol (2015)

Rooney Mara falls for Cate Blanchett in 1950s New York. But it’s the ’50s, so things get complicated.

SEPTEMBER 21

Gotham (Season 3)

Fox series about the early days of Jim Gordon, when Bruce Wayne was fighting acne and when Catwoman was more teen angst than angry.

SEPTEMBER 22

Fuller House (Season 3; Netflix Original Series)

“The Tanner family’s adventures continue as DJ Tanner-Fuller shares a home with her sister Stephanie and friend Kimmy who help raise her three boys.”

Jack Whitehall: Travels with My Father (Season 1; Netflix Original Series)

“Comic Jack Whitehall invites his stodgy, unadventurous father to travel with him to odd locations and events in an attempt to strengthen their bond.”

The Samaritan (2012)

Samuel L. Jackson pays for another addition to his house with this role in which he plays yet another career criminal.

SEPTEMBER 23

Alien Arrival (2016)

Prisoner of war is sent to outer space on a dangerous mission in order to gain freedom.

SEPTEMBER 25

Dark Matter (Season 3)

“Alliances shift, secrets are revealed and the past becomes present in the quest to prevent intergalactic war.” – Official site

SEPTEMBER 26

Bachelorette (2012)

Dark, dark comedy about a group of gals that gather to “celebrate” the marriage of their own. Starring Rebel Wilson, Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher and Lizzy Caplan.

Night School (2017)

“Indianapolis has one of the lowest high school graduation rates in the country. For adult learners Greg, Melissa and Shynika, finally earning their high school diplomas could be a life-changing achievement.”

Restless Creature: Wendy Whelan (2016)

Docu on dancer Wendy Whelan and her struggles as she joined the New York City Ballet in 1984.

Terrace House: Aloha State (Season 4; Netflix Original Series)

“The beautiful island of Oahu is host to a new batch of six strangers who share a single roof, multiple conflicts and no script in this reality series.”

SEPTEMBER 29

Big Mouth (Season 1; Netflix Original Series)

“A surreal animated comedy series from real-life best friends Nick Kroll and Andrew Goldberg explores teenage adventures in puberty.”

Club de Cuervos (Season 3; Netflix Original Series)

“A brother and sister battle high expectations and each other after inheriting a soccer team. A series from the creators of Nosotros los Nobles.”’

Gerald’s Game (Netflix Original Film)

Netflix gets in on Stephen King mania by adapting this novel about sex games gone wrong.

Real Rob (Season 2; Netflix Original Series)

“Go inside the world of comedian and actor Rob Schneider in this comedy series that follows the ups and downs of his career and family life.”

Paul Hollywood’s Big Continental Road Trip (Season 1; Netflix Original Series)

“Gear up for a fast-paced journey as celebrity chef and avid auto enthusiast Paul Hollywood takes in the cars and culture of France, Italy and Germany.”

Our Souls at Night (Netflix Original Film)

“Seeking a connection, a widow, Addie Moore (Jane Fonda), pays an unexpected visit to her Colorado neighbor, Louis Waters (Robert Redford), a widower.”

The Magic School Bus Rides Again (Season 1; Netflix Original Series)

“Ms. Frizzle’s sister — voiced by Kate McKinnon — takes her class on a slew of wild science adventures in this update of the beloved animated show.”

Just one year in, the Harold Ramis Film School at The Second City has already set the bar for creative comedic storytelling.

Honoring The Second City alum and famous writer/director of classics like “Groundhog Day,” “Caddyshack,” and “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” the Harold Ramis Film School does justice to its namesake by fostering young comedic talent through a curriculum based on Ramis’ own sensibilities. Ramis strongly believed in not only studying screenwriting and filmmaking, but also in the importance of classic literature, film, and TV.

Heralded as the first film school to focus solely on comedy, HRFS was established in 2016 to be a creative haven for comedic writers, directors, and producers — something that is sorely lacking in Hollywood.

Now its first 15-student class is poised to graduate on Sunday, Aug. 27, and to commemorate the milestone, HRFS is planning a full day of festivities including a graduation ceremony, student-work screening, and celebration.

Chairman Trevor Albert, a longtime Ramis collaborator, producer of “Groundhog Day” and “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” and self-proclaimed “first student of the Harold Ramis Film School,” couldn’t be more impressed with the talent in the class.

“A year ago, a diverse collection of brave comedic storytellers from across the country showed up in Chicago to join our inaugural program,” said Albert. “A year later, I’m blown away to see how beautifully these filmmakers have refined their craft, thrived as collaborators, and exceeded all expectations. This group includes writers, directors, and producers who — I’m confident — will leave their mark on the entertainment industry.”

As a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ Student Academy Awards committee, Albert has screened more than his share of student films (he estimates more than 100 hours each award season).

“I’ve worked in Hollywood for years and have never seen such a concentration of inspired comedic voices in one place,” Albert said.

Founded on the cornerstone of creative collaboration, HRFS has successfully become a unique academic institution with its multifaceted curriculum that combines comedy theory, writing, filmmakers’ laboratories and seminars led by industry all-stars like Paul Feig (“Bridesmaids,” “Spy,” and “Freaks and Geeks”).

“When Harold’s wife Erica Mann Ramis and Andrew Alexander, the CEO/Executive Producer of The Second City, floated the idea of creating this school, I was immediately intrigued. I thought the possibility of teaching young people comedic film storytelling under the roof of The Second City was an inspired idea,” said Albert.

Many of The Second City’s former pupils have come out to support the film school, including Steve Carell, Keegan-Michael Key, Eugene Levy, Tim Meadows, Andrea Martin, Catherine O’Hara, Bob Odenkirk and Martin Short, are all alums of the famed institution and currently sit on the film school’s advisory board.

Rounding out the star-studded board are icons and industry giants like Judd Apatow, Betsy Beers, Doug Belgrad, Stuart Cornfeld, Paul Feig, Joe Flaherty, David Kramer, Debbie Liebling, Adam McKay, Masi Oka, Amy Pascal, Gigi Pritzker, Erica Mann Ramis, Jay Roach, Bob Teitel, Betty Thomas, Dave Thomas, Peter Tolan, and Emma Watts.

These stars are paying it forward, creating the comedic safe space they always wanted but never had.

“A lot of former film school students I’ve met throughout my career talk about how they felt alienated being a part of a school where comedy wasn’t taken seriously or was even shunned,” said Albert. “We have assembled an extraordinary group of filmmakers and educators and created a school that, not only celebrates, but truly honors comedy. I think that makes us pretty unique. Although we’re in our early days, the Harold Ramis Film School seems to be working brilliantly.”

Enrollment for the 2018 Winter session is now open, which runs from Jan. 22, 2018 until Dec. 17, 2018. To enroll or learn more information on the Harold Ramis Film School, visit the website at www.ramisfilmschool.com or follow along on Facebook and Twitter using @RamisFilmSchool.

About The Harold Ramis Film School

Founded in 2016, the Harold Ramis Film School (HRFS) at The Second City is the only film school in the world focused entirely on comedy. Over the yearlong program, HRFS immerses aspiring filmmakers in comedy theory, comedic film production, screenwriting, improv, and storytelling through a unique teaching style inspired by the comedic legend and The Second City alumnus Harold Ramis. The methodology behind HRFS is true to the core values of its namesake, revolving around creative collaboration, an in-depth curriculum and hands-on mentoring from industry titans, many of whom sit on the institution’s advisory board.

So I’m watching Game of Thrones season seven’s penultimate episode,“Beyond the Wall,” and I should be freaking amped. It’s Jon Snow, Sandor “The Hound” Clegane, Jorah Mormont, Tormund Giantsbane and dudes beyond the Wall, fighting an army of ice zombies.

Look! It’s Beric Dondarrion with a flaming sword like Azrael, hacking away at ice zombies! He already killed an undead bear in the same gotdang episode. And that flaming sword is real, actual fire!

The standoff of the men on a rock surrounded by wights was tense, thrilling, and well shot. (It should be; series veteran Alan Taylor, who also made Thor: The Dark World, directed it.) This felt like some of the best bits of The Walking Dead.

Yet amid all the action and who-will-die-next drama … I couldn’t stop thinking, “This is dumb, this is dumb, this is dumb.”

Because I knew somebody was going to save all the dudes who counted, even as Tormund was almost dragged under the ice. Bam, there was The Hound. And just as Jon was set to keep on fighting in the teeth of certain doom – again – out came Daenerys riding Drogon, the dragon so badass that they just changed one letter to name him.

Just like, on The Walking Dead, Rick and Darryl would run off into a mess of walkers and somehow not die. Because they’re too cool and popular to die. The fake-outs don’t fake me out anymore.

That bothers me, because unlike The Walking Dead, we know Game of Thrones is ending soon. Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss already have outpaced George R.R. Martin’s books, so they are not adapting anything anymore.

Counting season seven’s finale, we have only seven episodes left. The world has been contracting rapidly, characters once far flung are side by side, winter is here, the dragons are powerful, and the dead have risen.

As a result, Game of Thrones the show of slow-burning, novelistic storytelling and political intrigue we came to know and love has changed into a turbo-paced, full-on fantasy epic. It’s becoming clear that Benioff and Weiss are slapping the paint on and blowing up the big stuff to make sure we don’t notice the shoddy details.

You’re telling me neither Jon, Beric, nor any of those other snow cowboys could bother to shout “Aim for the Night King, over there!” to Daenerys?

You’re telling me none of those MFers wouldn’t have just pulled Jon onto the dragon so they could get the fuck out of there? He’s the dude in your friend circle who wants to stay too long at the club and gets in trouble.

You’re telling me that I’m supposed to buy an episode of a TV with, like, a baker’s dozen last-second rescues in one episode?

I don’t even know the distances between places! But you’re telling me that Daenerys and the dragons traveled from Dragonstone to north of The Wall that quickly? They must travel, like, 100 miles an hour. And how many miles did Gendry run to return to the gate at Eastwatch and a raven flew to Dragonstone that fast? How long were Jon and the boys on that rock?

The timing in “Beyond the Wall” was so bad that Taylor, the episode’s director, publicly acknowledged the timeline was “a little hazy” but defended it as “plausible impossibilities” and “I hope the story’s momentum carries over some of that stuff.” Sure thing, chief.

Add to this that we have had not one bit to understand the White Walkers, the Night King, and why they’re doing what they’re doing. I don’t think it’s enough that they are death, therefore they are evil, and that death seeks to claim the world.

On this show, where each character has a motivation, I want to know who the Night King is and why he’s doing any of this. If it’s a dead king who is regretful in death and so envious of the living that he would rather make them all dead, that’s good. Just give me something!

I mean, other than that the Night King is hella good at javelin. The U.S. Olympic Team literally asked about him on Twitter.

The show’s gonna reveal that Bran is actually the Night King, isn’t it? I’m gonna be so mad.

As stomach-droppingly sad as it was to see Viserion killed and turned into a wight, I still kept thinking: “Where did the wights get thousands of yards of giant chains from to pull the dragon out of that lake?”

Deep sigh.

The Arya-Sansa feud really bothers me this season, and it really went beyond the pale in “Beyond the Wall.” We’ve already known that Arya dove into killer psychopath by now, but the show gives in to a terribly hackneyed trope of when the psycho walks up to somebody with the business end of a lethal weapon pointed at someone, only to spin it around and hand it to that person.

Ugh! If Sansa had a medicine cabinet in the bathroom, I’d expect Arya to show up when it’s closed.

It’s not a problem that Arya and Sansa would be at odds, even now. Each of them have experiences and goals that could come at cross purposes very easily, and organically.

Arya’s blood-and-revenge path and killing machine training could leave her as a radicalized zealot who seeks to defend the Stark family and Winterfell at all costs. Sansa’s years as a captive of horrendous men could see her learning from Cersei’s success in holding power while fearing how men handle it and seeing how good she is at using power to manage Winterfell and its knights.

The problem is how contrived it all feels. Arya can’t stop jumping between admiring Sansa’s leadership skills and accusing her of being power-hungry. And despite seeing the Lannisters’ treachery kill off nearly everyone in the family, you’re telling me she can’t understand how Sansa would have been forced and/or tricked into writing that letter in service of a plot to get their father killed?

Instead, she’d still be hung up on Arya liking pretty dresses, in some fantasy-epic version of Taylor Swift’s lyrics to “You Belong With Me” with the But she wears short skirts, I wear T-shirts / She’s cheer captain and I’m on the bleachers bull-pucky?

Come on, my Westerosi!

You’d think half of this wouldn’t even be happening if the show followed the logical steps of Arya and Sansa having just one actual conversation in which they tell each other what happened to them. All we needed was one honest, vulnerable conversation in which both Arya and Sansa discuss how the Westerosi patriarchy denied them from becoming what they wanted to be – Arya a brave knight, Sansa a capable noblewoman.

Because they were girls, they instead were put through hells of abuse, rape, torture, deprivation and heartbreak. They both had to fight, claw, and kill their way to their respective destinies by toppling repeated injustices.

Arya and Sansa could discuss how their father, Ned, was an honorable man who surrounded them with honorable brothers – even a bastard half-brother – but failed to prepare any of their children for the evils of men. That they had to learn about them all in horrific ways, or lose their lives.

Because Arya and Sansa are reaching their destinies after learning such lessons, they could claim sisterhood above all and not fall for ploys from Littlefinger, whom they already know means them nothing but harm! Him and his smirky behind.

Right? Right.

If Benioff and Weiss can’t get this bit right when flying solo without George R.R. Martin’s books to guide them …

If they already messed up Dorne and other woman-centered stories on the TV show …

If they write and film rape scenes without knowing it …

If they write a show with a white savior and the two top characters of color are both ex-slaves still serving the blondest blonde on the show …

Then how in the world are they going to tackle the complex minefield of gender dynamics that Confederate would entail?

Maybe they’re not the geniuses everybody thought they were. Or at least HBO shouldn’t have so much faith in them that they run a press release on radioactive idea of “What if the South won the Civil War?” with no script or idea of how the show might work without becoming the 21st century’s Birth of a Nation.

I gave up on The Walking Dead after they spent season six teasing Negan and then cliffhanging on whom he was gonna kill. I don’t regret my choice, either. Got so much of my time back.

I’m not leaving Game of Thrones, even as it gets stupid. The awesome parts are still awesome, just seven episodes remain, and I’m ready to see how it all ends.

God knows George R.R. Martin’s never finishing those dang books!

Produced by Alex Garcia, Topher Grace,
Daniel Posada, Jason Tamasco
Screenplay by Gerry De Leon, Greg Lisi
Directed by Isaac Rentz
Starring Topher Grace, Anne Heche, Alona Tal,
JC Chasez, Lauren Lapkus, Taye Diggs,Paul Scheer,
Rob Riggle, Brian Husky, Lesli Margherita

I love musicals: movie musicals, Broadway musicals, I even enjoyed High School Musical (don’t judge me). While none are able to capture the golden age and talent of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, some come quite close to at least being entertaining.

While Opening Nightis far from Fred and Ginger, it is surprisingly one of the most honest movies about the Broadway life. In the spirit of Noises Off, Opening Night is a love letter to Broadway’s often forgotten heroes, the stage manager.

Topher Grace plays Nick, a terribly failed Broadway actor who now works as a stage manager (at least he’s not a waiter) for the Broadway Musical, “One Hit Wonderland.” Like every failed actor, Nick struggles with commitment, has ruined his relationship with his girlfriend and is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. But wait…there’s more.

Just as Nick’s life is falling apart, it’s “One Hit Wonderland’s” opening night and Nick feels this is the best time to juggle his nervous breakdown, manage disasters awaiting backstage and have an Iylana Fix My Life self-evaluation at the same time.

One Night Wonder is an honest portrayal of the theater life and is an unexpected delight that had me laughing and dancing in my seat. Grace is a natural who handles the script with ease while effortlessly delivering the script’s hilarious jokes, cool one-liners and a plethora of toe-tapping laugh-out-loud musical numbers and dance-offs. Never managing to take itself too seriously, it pokes fun at the backstage shenanigans with such precision it feels more like a mockumentary in the vein of This is Spinal Tap with characters who you can find working in any musical.

Despite the movie’s large cast which includes Taye Diggs, Anne Heche and NSYNC’s J.C. Chasez, these real-life Broadway actors  adds to the story’s authenticity, while never feeling overstuffed. Expert writing contributes to the director’s ability to only focus on characters and storylines that’s needed to move the story forward. It is in this rare moment where everyone onscreen is important to the story no matter how small their role.

Adding to the movie’s charm is how in-tune the script is with its audience. The movie by a musical theater fan for musical theater fans. Yes it’s painfully corny and predictable but so are a majority of musical theater productions. People watch musicals to make them feel good (except for Dancer in the Dark) and this is actually what this musical accomplishes. While this can be a turn-off for many, this adds to the movie’s ability to have fun with its material.

For first time director Issac Rentz, Opening Night is a wonderful achievement that adds to everything that’s wacky and unique about the Broadway industry. Enjoyable and carefree, it’s the definition of forgetting your troubles, getting happy and chasing all your cares away.

Opening Night is now available on DVD from Wolfe Video

More test pilots and this time they are oddly linked.

Remember that test pilots are never meant to be seen by the public at large and are usually proof of concept for the networks or direct sales tools like the entries Defenders of the Earth test pilot.

The Ghost Busters is not the animated version of the 1984 hit movie but is in fact a 1975 live action kids series from Filmation.

Starring Forrest Tucker, Larry Storch, and Bob Burns (as Tracy the Gorilla) the show followed The Ghost Busters (note the space between the words) as they had their adventures attempting to bust ghosts (duh).

Lasting 15 half hour episodes the show was a modest hit on Saturday mornings for 70’s kids but eventually just faded into the ether of time with only a small VHS release of a few episodes in the mid 80’s and occasional reruns now and then.

In 1984 Columbia Pictures was producing this relatively large budget film called Ghostbusters and it seems that someone in legal never bothered to check if there was already a Ghost Busters property (for legal purposes that space in the title was of little consequence). How did they overlook such a vital issue? When the script was written in 1983 it was titled GhostSMASHERS… so there was no conflict until that was deemed… frankly… a dumb title.

Filmation still had the legal use of that title which put Columbia in a bind. They were already too far into production to alter the title as it was said many times in the film so negotiations with Filmation commenced. For a measly $500,000 and %1 of all profits (with Hollywood accounting that is $0) Columbia got the name.

After the film was a monstrous success Columbia wanted to move into the realm of animation to continue this new franchise. At first they negotiated again with Filmation and Filmation even made up preliminary ideas for the cartoon but eventually Columbia backstabbed them and went with cheap animation company DiC (known in the industry as “Do It Cheaper” for their low quality animation). Filmation head Lou Scheimer regretted not thinking far enough ahead and in the 1993 book Animation by Filmation said “We should have asked for the animation rights for their (Columbia’s) Ghostbusters as part of the settlement.”

Not content to just sit back and get screwed, Scheimer (ever the shrewd business man) figured that since he still owned the Ghost Busters (space in the title) he could capitalize on not just the newfound popularity of the Ghostbusters “brand” but also compete directly against Columbia.

Filmation’s Ghostbusters (now one word) was created in 1986. This was not a simple cash in though… this was an actual continuation of the 1975 series with the now adult children of the original Ghost Busters (alongside Tracy) facing a new set of threats. In fact Larry Storch and Forrest Tucker even returned as their original characters in this series.

The show lasted 65 episodes in first run syndication and in many markets was (ironically to both parties I am sure) paired right beside the Columbia series The Real Ghostbusters.

Since this was first run syndication the show was sold direct to the TV stations rather than a network (a trade the Scheimer picked up while selling Masters of the Universe a few years prior). What we have here is a quick 8 minute “test reel” (more or less an industry only trailer). As with Defenders of the Earth this spoke directly to the programming heads of TV stations. Being an early version you can already see that some of the character models are a little off from the final version and even plot details about the characters are altered. A nice rare glimpse into something very people had seen before the internet age. Also yes that is Alan Oppenheimer narrating this “test pilot”. Oppenheimer is best known as the voices of Skeletor and villain Prime Evil in this very series.

Lets go, LETS GO Ghostbusters!

Well Columbia had their own Ghostbusters cartoon obviously which they titled The Real Ghostbusters as a way to simply be dicks to Filmation for having the audacity fight them in this areana.

They also had to test it out just like Filmation did although this is more of a proof of concept test than a selling test. The first season ran on Saturday mornings on ABC with season 2 running in first run syndication (this is where it bumped directly into the Filmation Ghostbusters) and finally landing back on ABC for its final season.

You might notice a few things right off the bat here. No dialog as the voices had not been cast yet but that the Ghostbusters theme used here is not the Ray Parker Jr. version… well not the mix from the movie anyway (bet he still has to pay Huey Lewis though). Also note that the character models are a little off with the exception of Peter… he looks very different from the final version that would air. This was due to likeness rights. None of the actors wanted to license their images to the cartoon… or they wanted way too much money depending on who you ask. That is why the cartoon version only superficially resemble the actors from the movie yet this test pilot version Venkman does look a little closer to Bill Murray so I wager that is why he was changed so drastically.

Nice to see how this evolved into the show that everyone loved. Personally I was also a Filmation Ghostbusters man myself.

The year’s biggest R-rated comedy and runaway hit with audiences and critics alike, GIRLS TRIP, arrives on Digital October 3, 2017 and Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand on October 17, 2017, from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.  Follow four best friends on an adventure of a lifetime as they reunite for a weekend of fun, festivities and outrageous adventures only to learn they are not as strong apart as they are together. With over an hour of exclusive UNRATED bonus content, GIRLS TRIP Blu-ray, DVD and Digital versions feature even more of the group’s outrageous shenanigans with deleted and extended scenes, gag reel and more that will have everyone laughing again and again!

When four lifelong friends, known as the Flossy Posse, get together nothing can stop them but themselves. As the four independent friends reunite from across the country and travel to New Orleans for the annual Essence Festival, sisterhoods are rekindled, wild sides are rediscovered, and there’s enough dancing, drinking, brawling and romancing to make the Big Easy blush.

Director Malcolm D. Lee (Best Man Holiday, Barbershop: The Next Cut) delivers an over-the-top laugh fest with an all-star cast as the Flossy Posse including Regina Hall (Best Man Holiday, Think Like a Man Too), Tiffany Haddish (Keanu, “The Carmichael Show”), Jada Pinkett Smith (Bad Moms, “Gotham”) and Queen Latifah (Chicago, “Star”). Produced by Will Packer (Ride Along franchise) and with a screenplay by Kenya Barris (“Blackish”) and Tracy Oliver (Barbershop: The Next Cut) GIRLS TRIP is a riotously funny and outrageous delight not to be missed!

BONUS FEATURES on BLU-RAY & DVD:

• Deleted Scenes
• Gag Reel
• Planning The Trip – Planning a girls trip has never been more fun. Go behind-the-scenes with cast and crew to see how this hilarious comedy came to life.
• Outrageous Moments – Laugh along with cast and crew as we reveal the hilarious hijinks captured on set.
• The Essence of NOLA – Discover the soul of New Orleans and what the Essence Music Festival brings to this great city.
• Extended Performance “Because of You” by Ne-Yo
• Deleted Scenes with Commentary by Director Malcolm D. Lee

Facebook.com/GirlsTripMovie

Dynamite Entertainment is pleased to announce they have once again partnered with charity bundling site, Humble Bundle, to provide the most extensive and complete collection of digital Battlestar Galactica comics ever-before offered! This latest promotion highlights the work of some of the biggest authors in the publisher’s catalog and features 100 issues of Dynamite’s best entries into the Battlestar Galactica universe, including several Humble Bundle only exclusives!   With close to 3,000 pages, 17 single issues, and 18 collections (collecting 83 single issues, for a grand total of 100 issues), this ultimate and limited-time only deal launched August 23^rd at 2 pm eastern, and is available for a very limited time! This Dynamite bundle can be found by visiting humblebundle.com/books/battlestar-galactica-book-bundle

Dynamite Entertainment has published Battlestar Galactica comic series since 2006, focusing on each incarnation of the franchise from the classic continuity of the 1978 television series, to the Galactica 1980 follow-up, and finally to the reimagined series airing on Syfy from 2003 through 2009. Most recently, Dynamite published Battlestar Galactica: Tales from the Fleet Omnibus, featuring the work of writers Kevin Seamus Fahey, David Reed, Joshua Ortega, Eric Nylund, Brandon Jerwa, and Robert Place Napton, along with artists Nigel Raynor and Jonathan Lau.

“We have had the privilege and enjoyment of contributing many tales to the star-spanning mythos that is Battlestar Galactica since 2006, along with the pleasure of working with some of the greatest creators in the industry to add epic new adventures to the beloved series,” says Dynamite CEO/Publisher, Nick Barrucci. “We are now more than honored to partner with the amazing people at Humble Bundle to offer Battlestar Galactica fans everywhere the most extensive collection of our Dynamite BSG titles available anywhere.”

Part of the proceeds from the Battlestar Galactica Humble promotion will contribute to the AbleGamers Foundation, a non-profit charity dedicated to breaking down the barriers of economic and social isolation for people with disabilities through their disabled gamers assistive technologies that allows those with limited real-world mobility to experience what it is like to walk, run, climb, drive and even fly – in a virtual world.

The “Pay What You Want” model offers readers the chance to unlock 100 comics (17 single issues and 18 collections made up of an additional 83 issues) totaling close to 3,000 pages!

The $1 core will give comics fans access to:

• Classic Battlestar Galactica #1
• Classic Battlestar Galactica #2
• Classic Battlestar Galactica #3
• Classic Battlestar Galactica #4
• Classic Battlestar Galactica #5
• Battlestar Galactica Vol. 1 (NEW! Collects 5 issues)
• Battlestar Galactica Ghosts (NEW! Collects 4 issues)
• Galactica 1980 (Collects 4 issues)
• Battlestar Galactica Classic Starbuck Collection (Collects 4 issues)

Those who pay more than the $8 tier price will also unlock all of the above PLUS:

• Battlestar Galactica Classic Vol. 1 Memorial (Collects 5 issues)

• Battlestar Galactica Vol. 2 (Collects 4 issues)
• Steampunk Battlestar Galactica 1880 Collection (Collects 4 issues)
• Battlestar Galactica Cylon War Collection (Collects 4 issues)
• Battlestar Galactica Season Zero Vol. 1 (NEW! Collects 7 issues)
• Battlestar Galactica Final Five (NEW! Collects 4 issues)
• Battlestar Galactica: Cylon Apocalypse #1
• Battlestar Galactica: Cylon Apocalypse #2
• Battlestar Galactica: Cylon Apocalypse #3
• Battlestar Galactica: Cylon Apocalypse #4
• Battlestar Galactica: Pegasus One-Shot

$15 or more will get you all of the above PLUS:

• Battlestar Galactica Origins Omnibus (Collects 11 issues)
• Battlestar Galactica Classic Death of Apollo #1
• Battlestar Galactica Classic Death of Apollo #2
• Battlestar Galactica Classic Death of Apollo #3
• Battlestar Galactica Classic Death of Apollo #4
• Battlestar Galactica Classic Death of Apollo #5
• Battlestar Galactica Classic Death of Apollo #6
• Classic Battlestar Galactica Vol. 2 Adama Gambit (Collects 8 issues)
• Battlestar Galactica Six (NEW! Collects 5 issues)
• Battlestar Galactica: Gods & Monsters Collection (Collects 5 issues)
• Classic Battlestar Galactica Vol. 3: Folly of the Gods (Collects 5 issues)
• Battlestar Galactica Vol. 3 (NEW! Collects 4 issues)
• New Battlestar Galactica: Humble Bundle Digital Premiere One-Shot

The Battlestar Galactica Humble Bundle is available for a limited time only. Gain access to these great savings, and complete your Dynamite Battlestar Galactica collection today, by visiting https://www.humblebundle.com/books/battlestar-galactica-book-bundle.

To find a comic shop near you, call 1-888-comicbook or visit comicshoplocator.com

For more information, please visit Dynamite.com

In honor of Jack Kirby’s 100th birthday yesterday, acclaimed novelist Glen David Gold discusses the importance of Kirby’s work and how The Demon was the perfect comic for a child coming of age during the 1970s.

Gold is the author of the novels Carter Beats the Devil and Sunnyside and has written comics for DC and Dark Horse, and for “The Thrilling Adventure Hour” and “Welcome to Night Vale.”

This piece was originally published by DCComics.com and is reposted with their permission.

Gone, Gone, the Form of Man…

Jack Kirby was the greatest genius that mainstream American comics ever had. The breadth of his imagination was equaled only by his skill at getting it to look good on paper. He created characters, worlds, genres, ways of perception that we’ll be mining for another century, if we have one.

When I first saw his work, I hated it.

In 1973, I was nine years old. I’d discovered comics on the bus ride from school. The driver, Steve, was fond of stopping for snacks and picking the latest stuff off the spinner rack to keep the small hoodlums on his route entertained. Though there were a lot of 100-page Giants, Steve was a Herb Trimpe Hulk man and thus I was a Herb Trimpe Hulk man. This became stamped on me, part of my identity, the moment I mentioned it to my therapist. (I was in therapy, by the way—my childhood was of the class and decade where having a therapist was somewhat like having an allergist is now.)

Late in one of our sessions, my therapist handed me a Jack Kirby comic. I’d never seen one before. Adults are sometimes so wrong about childhood intrigues that they end up being right. I was a sensitive kid, and the formula “the madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets” appealed to me. I’m sure it was also catnip to a mental health professional. I can see the logic behind his gift—Kirby created the Hulk, the Hulk involved transformation, the comic in question had those things in common…but it was The Demon, issue #16. I said, Thank You.

It was the most terrifying comic I’d ever seen.

The cover had no word balloons on it, just a silent, beautiful, frightening woman extending her arms in triumph over a yellow creature (it had to be The Demon, I knew) in a medieval torture device that forced him into a painful squat while a masked servant held a torch over him. The interior was equally horrifying. The Demon fights a horned monster, is choked by poison gas, is branded on the forehead (thus enslaving him), and while completely helpless is beaten by a faceless gladiator, then returned to human form (still being tortured and controlled) and is forcibly aged (while screaming!). He’s only rescued by a series of evil folks betraying each other, one of them turning into a living sarcophagus and another dragged off into a void by horned tentacles. In the last couple of pages, the villains are gone, but the mists and embers of their extraction are joined by lengthening shadows that suggest the darkness was still encroaching. The End.

Oh, also: THE END. It was the last issue of the series.

Even though I hated it I couldn’t stop looking at it. And I mean “looking,” in that I couldn’t read it. There was something so frightening about the pictures that I felt that engaging in the words would pull me through a door I might not exit again. Maybe Kirby had co-created The Hulk, and maybe there was transformation going on here, but otherwise the stories couldn’t be more different. Was it a good thing to transform into The Demon? I couldn’t tell. There was no way I explained this to my therapist, as I didn’t understand it at the time, but the overwhelming issue for me was that I didn’t know who to cheer for.

Pretty much every earlier time seems like a simpler time, but 1973 was its own horror: overseas war and Washington corruption and threats from Russia and violence in our streets. There was anxiety in the air fueled by fresh questions about who our enemies actually were. My parents’ marriage was ending, and so I faced the same questions—only far more personally—with every waking moment. Were my parents still the people I knew or had they transformed too?

Kirby’s view of the “enemy” was incredibly nuanced. He grew up in a slum, and fought in a gang against other kids, and when he was an adult he fought Nazis as a scout for General Patton’s army. He killed Nazis with the same hands he later used to draw the characters that so terrified me. His hatred of fascism caused him to create Darkseid, and many people smarter than myself have seen Darkseid’s quest for the Anti Life Equation as an overt reference to that political movement’s most coherent strategy, suppression of free will.

The nuance Kirby brought to this discussion begins, to me, with comments like those he made to The Nostalgia Journal in 1969:

Interviewer: At least give the villain a chance because evil does win.

Kirby: No. I feel that nobody wins….A victory is a static concept. There’s always going to be somebody around, in a hidden corner, plotting against you.

But as to who that “somebody” is, Kirby was even more specific:

Darkseid is what we mean when we say ‘the powers that be.’…He is what we mean when we say ‘them,’ but what we really mean is ‘us.’

In other words, to him, the question of good and evil wasn’t “us versus them,” but an internal conflict. This is what fueled The Demon—the creature and his human host Jason Blood aren’t separate. In fact, in the final panel of the final issue, Blood says “That thing you saw—exists!! We are one!” It’s not like you and I are good, and evil is parked with “them” or “the other guy.” Instead, we all have Darkseid or The Demon in us, which makes conflicts a lot more complicated. Particularly when your parents are getting divorced.

My parents were civil to each other, even a little frosty, which was fine. I was fine. Everything was fine. I didn’t want to go anywhere or do anything—I just wanted to read my comics until I understood them better.

I have no idea how I got the whole series of The Demon. 1973 came with ridiculously good access for comics in pharmacies and markets, and there were actual comic book stores driving distance from my house. I’m going to assume here that a certain enlightened family friend bought them for me, sensing that age nine was the time to ask certain questions. (Also: he took me to see Barbarella, and he was a child therapist, a set of facts that either makes his judgment calls reasonable or utterly insane.)

I used to open up the comics to the double splashes in the series and stare at them until they seemed to talk back to me. I wasn’t used to this part of a comic book. Kirby had used double splashes infrequently at Marvel, but they became a staple of his 1970s DC work from his very first issue of Jimmy Olsen. When his ideas were so huge they over spilled the page, he worked his strange magic with them. As an adult, I note their inevitably weird perspective—Kirby kept it in his head, which meant it bows and warps in such a way that the characters seem to move as your eye scans across the page. You get trapped in them. They’re meant to be not just looked at but experienced.

I was in the habit of lining up the final four double-page spreads—from issues 11-14—because they seemed to tell a story to me. The Demon confronts a variation of Frankenstein’s Monster in the first one, leading in the second to a roomful of monsters, which in the third explodes into flames. In each of them, The Demon is leaping, punching, confronting, ready for action. That’s the kind of story I recognized.

But then the fourth piece (above) turned everything upside down. The Demon is floating near a creature with a woman’s face and hair-like tendrils that are capped with the souls of the damned. It’s a strange composition in that the normal Kirby dynamics—his way of forcing a reader to engage with the action and anticipate turning the page—is stalled out. It’s as if, with the momentum of the first three splashes over, he was telling us “this is what happens after all the storytelling you anticipated ends. Here is eternity.” Not peace, not triumph. There was just…this…constant…tension. This felt strangely adult to me.

Here’s how childhood works: at some point, the stories you needed to understand where the horizon line is, and which ways are north and south, turn out to be way too simple to explain what you’re seeing with your own two, suddenly-educated eyes. My father lived in one city and my mother another. When I got on a plane, one of them would sometimes hand me an envelope with documents for the other to sign. Once, my father also handed me an ancient comic, brown tape on a heavily-rolled spine, that he’d actually had to go to a comic book store to buy: Hulk #3! It was an eleven-year-old comic book, as far back in the Marvel universe as I’d ever seen, an artifact of the Big Bang. I know he felt pretty good, having so perfectly nailed what his kid would want.

But something had changed. To my eyes the Hulk of 1963 was cool, but limited, the characters underfed and weedy, the storyline far too simple and childish. The art was great, but in a fairy tale kind of way. My father had a new girlfriend. My mother was starting to date. “Of course they should,” I thought, and I felt very adult thinking this. My parents spoke kindly of each other in front of me. There were no villains or heroes, just people who had grown apart, and this, too, struck me as terribly sophisticated to know.

My memory skips some of the harder beats of ages nine and ten, but I stopped riding on Steve’s bus. My therapy was over. Mom and I were moving. I was starting to hit that awful moment where my body was lumpy and I tended to knock things over without meaning to—in other words, I was heading into puberty, and in further, other words, I was transforming.

Gone, Gone
the form of…

I had insomnia, a lot. One night in my new house I finally read The Demon #16. It turned out The Demon is imprisoned and punished by his oldest foe, Morgaine Le Fey. She is one of Kirby’s smiling, sexy, evil, powerful women—starting with the rough immoral babes of the 1950s romance comics and continuing with the Enchantress and Karnilla the Norn Queen. Like those others, Le Fey seeks to break this creature’s will, in this case so that he will give her the Philosopher’s Stone. This is an object with seemingly infinite power, the latest in a line of McGuffins—cubes, nullifiers, boxes, amulets—that Kirby designed.

Having now read the series, I see a strange powerlessness in that final issue—the Demon barely acts, and when he does, he mostly fails. Instead, he’s mostly acted upon and abused. I tend to see autobiography where maybe I shouldn’t, and if not in Jack’s life in this case (why wouldn’t the lead character of a comic getting cancelled get kicked around by forces larger than himself?), then in my own.

I had gone to a private school for “gifted students” which made a sort of Charles Xavier promise about us. At first, I thought maybe I could be a superhero with the powers of my enormous brain. It was an origin story that was never really executed. My brain was just a normal brain. I left that school, the household around my parents’ marriage collapsed, and now I was kicked around by whatever fate had planned.

Jason Blood’s rescue begins when Glenda Mark, his human friend, stumbles over the stone herself. She tries to bring down his tormentors with it, but it’s stolen by a wizened lackey named Warley. His own greed allows him to be consumed by “hosts of evil,” on top of which are tongues of “nether flame” with a very specific purpose. “Like the mark on my forehead,” Blood says, “the flame can destroy or enslave the soul of any creature.”

How is it that at age 11 or 12, whenever it was at night that I should have been asleep, that I suddenly understood this? I felt like I’d been through those flames somehow. I’d begun to think of myself as not part of a family, but tossed around by a somewhat-malevolent force with no real end in sight.

Even here, with Kirby dipping into a bag he had a thousand times (the bad guys want an artifact; the artifact has power), the threat is against free will. This time it’s not a political movement, like Darkseid’s, or the Nazis, but a smaller, more personal hell. Jason Blood fights back, consuming the flames with his own spell. The outcome looks awful—he collapses against a wall that has burn marks on it in the shape of tentacles. It doesn’t feel as if anything is over, just halted for the meantime, and that too felt like a realistic view of the world for a kid spat out on the other side of divorce. Was this satisfying? No. Was my life satisfying?

When I discovered comics, I read them the way you’d unwrap candy bars, eager for the rush, ready to finish one off and pick up another. But when I finished reading this issue, I felt a little ill.

There would be further to come for Kirby—more Kamandi, then OMAC, Our Fighting Forces, then his return to Marvel, then animation and more. But for me, the most consequential comic book of this era was that random, transformative issue of The Demon. As a child, it only frightened me viscerally. But as a young adult, I’d seen just enough of the grey areas of the world, the places where a person’s intent could be blurred with both good and evil, to understand one of Kirby’s other slogans a little too well.

Accepting it as both a promise and a threat, I prepared myself for Jack Kirby’s messages from The World That’s Coming.

Glen David Gold’s three-part memoir I Will Be Complete is forthcoming from Knopf in June 2018.

America’s largest and longest running horror film festival, Screamfest Horror Film Festival, is proud to announce the first wave of its official 2017 film line up.  In its 17^th year, the festival, which will run from Oct. 10-19, 2017 at the TCL Chinese in Hollywood, has launched careers – providing a platform for filmmakers and actors to showcase their latest work to enthusiasts and general audiences. Actor and producer Dominic Monaghan (Lord of the Rings trilogy, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, TV’s “Lost”) will serve as this year’s festival ambassador.

“I am extremely honored to serve as this year’s Screamfest ambassador,” said Monaghan.  “I applaud Screamfest and its Founder and Festival Director Rachel Belofsky for embracing the work of filmmakers and actors in the horror genre.  I’m a big fan of this space, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of a fest that truly acknowledges unique and creative work.”

Screamfest Horror Film Festival will offer unique access to some of the most creative forces in the horror genre through film screenings, Q&As and conversations with some of the most captivating artists working in the industry today.

“We are thrilled to partner with Dominic Monaghan at this year’s Screamfest,” said Belofsky.  “He is an amazing actor and filmmaker who understands the vision of this festival.  His experience in the industry alone, I am certain, will inspire other actors, filmmakers and horror film enthusiasts.”

The festival is best known for discovering Paranormal Activity in 2007. Other past premieres include 30 Days of Night, Let the Right One In, The Grudge, The Fourth Kind, The Collection, Trick ‘r’ Treat, The Human Centipede and Diary of the Dead. Wes Craven, John Carpenter, Sam Raimi, Clive Barker, Eli Roth, James Wan, Zack Snyder, William Friedkin, John Landis and James Gunn are just some of the filmmakers who have supported the festival year after year.

Film festival badges are currently on sale at www.ScreamfestLA.com and individual film tickets will be available end of September 2017. All screenings are open to the general public. Winners will receive a 24 karat gold dipped skull trophy designed by the legendary, Academy award-winning special make-up effects creator, Stan Winston, who partnered with the festival until his passing.

Screamfest Horror Film Festival is proud to announce that the following films have been admitted to the festival – the first wave of the 2017 line up.

DEAD ANT (USA) 2017

Directed by Ron Carlson
Written by Ron Carlson
Produced by Ron Carlson and Stephanie Hodos
Cast: Tom Arnold, Sean Astin, Jake Busey, Ryhs Coiro, Leisha Hailey, Cameron Richardson and Danny Woodburn

World Premiere
When the “one-hit-wonder” glam-metal band “Sonic Grave” embark on a trip to coachella in hopes of a comeback, their peyote trip pit stop in Joshua Tree incites an “unworldly” viscous attack, and they must “rock” themselves out of harms way.

LEATHERFACE (USA) 2017

Directed by Julien Maury, Alexandre Bustillo
Written by Seth M. Sherwood
Produced by Carl Mazzocone, Christa Campbell, Lati Grobman, Les Weldon
Cast: Stephen Dorff, Lili Taylor, Sam Strike, Sam Coleman, Vanessa Grasse
North American Premiere

In Texas, years before the events of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, in the early days of the infamous Sawyer family, the youngest child is sentenced to a mental hospital after a suspicious incident leaves the sheriff’s daughter dead. Ten years later, the Sawyer teen kidnaps a young nurse and escapes with three other inmates. Pursued by authorities including the deranged sheriff out to avenge his daughter’s death, Sawyer goes on a violent road trip from hell, molding him into the monster now known as Leatherface.

RUIN ME (USA) 2017

Directed by Preston DeFrancis
Written by Trysta A. Bissett, Preston DeFrancis
Produced by Rebecca G. Stone
Cast: Marcienne Dwyer, Matt Dellapina, Chris Hill, Eva Hamilton, John Odom, Cameron Gordon, Sam Ashdown

LA Premiere
Alexandra reluctantly tags along for Slasher Sleepout, an extreme event that is part camping trip, part haunted house, and part escape room. But when the fun turns deadly, Alex has to play the game if she wants to make it out alive.

TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID (MEXICO) 2017

Directed by Issa López
Written by Issa López
Produced by Marco Polo Constandse
Cast: Paola Lara, Hanssel Casillas, Rodrigo Cortes, Ianis Guerrero, Juan Ramón López

LA Premiere
We are in a Mexican City turned into a ghost town by the drug-war. Estrella is 11, and when her mother vanishes, she makes a wish: she wants her mother to come back. And mom does return—from the dead. Terrified, Estrella escapes and joins a rag-tag gang of other children orphaned by the violence, all escaping their own past. But she learns that in a city ruled by death, you can’t simply leave the ghosts behind; they walk with you wherever you go.

TODD & THE BOOK OF PURE EVIL: THE END OF THE END (CANADA) 2017

Directed by Craig David Wallace and Rich Duhaney
Written by Charles Picco, Craig David Wallace
Produced by Andrew Rosen, Sarah Timmins, Jonas Diamond
Cast: Alex House, Maggie Castle, Bill Turnbull, Melanie Leishman, Jason Mewes, Chris Leavins

U.S. Premiere
Continuing where the cult TV series left off, Todd & The Book of Pure Evil: The End of The End: The Animated Feature Film returns to Crowley Heights to find Todd, Jenny and Curtis grieving the loss of their dear friend Hannah. The three must reunite to fight evil when the Book of Pure Evil returns to Crowley High, bringing with it some familiar faces as well as some new foes. But these enemies are merely warm-ups to the final battle with their greatest nemesis yet: The New Pure Evil One.

TRAGEDY GIRLS (USA) 2017

Directed by Tyler MacIntyre
Written by Chris Lee Hill, Tyler MacIntyre
Produced by Armen Aghaeian, Tara Ansley, Anthony Holt, Edward Mokhtarian, Craig Robinson, Cameron Van Hoy
Cast: Brianna Hildebrand, Alexandra Shipp, Kevin Durand, Jack Quaid, Craig Robinson

LA Premiere
Best friends Sadie and McKayla are on a mission to boost their social media fandom as amateur crime reporters hot on the trail of a deranged local serial killer. After they manage to capture the killer and secretly hold him hostage, they realize the best way to up get scoops on future victims would be to, you know, murder people themselves. As the @TragedyGirls become an overnight sensation and panic grips their small town, can their friendship survive the strain of national stardom? Will they get caught? Will their accounts get verified?

TRENCH 11 (CANADA) 2017

Directed by Leo Scherman
Written by Matthew Booi, Leo Scherman
Produced by Tyler Levine
Cast: Rossif Sutherland, Robert Stadlober, Charlie Carrick, Shaun Benson, Karine Vanasse

U.S. Premiere
In the final days of WWI a shell-shocked tunneller must lead an Allied team into a hidden German base…100 hundred feet below the trenches. The Germans have lost control of a highly contagious biological weapon that turns its victims into deranged killers. The Allies find themselves trapped underground with hordes of the infected, a rapidly spreading disease and a team of German Stormtroopers dispatched to clean up the mess. The only thing more terrifying than the Western Front… is what lies beneath it.

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Screamfest is sponsored by Shock Top, Birns & Sawyer, European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation,Dapper Cadaver, Screenplay.com, InkTip, Elma, Horror Pack, SellAScript.com, Screen Queensland, and Simple DCP.  Screamfest is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.  Screamfest is made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs.

ABOUT SCREAMFEST HORROR FILM FESTIVAL

Formed in August 2001 by film producer Rachel Belofsky, Screamfest Horror Film Festival is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that gives filmmakers and screenwriters in the horror and science fiction genres a venue to have their work showcased in the film industry. Among the numerous films that have been discovered and/or premiered at the festival include “Paranormal Activity,” “30 Days of Night,” “Trick ‘r Treat” and “The Human Centipede.” For more information, visit www.ScreamfestLA.com or email info@screamfestla.com.

Months of speculation have finally been put to rest: Daniel Craig has publicly confirmed that he will indeed return to portray James Bond for his fifth 007 adventure. He says this will be his final turn as 007, but as the shrewd contractual politics of the Bonds of yesteryear prove, never say never. Bond 25 does not yet have a title, nor has a director been named, but the film already has a firm booking date to open in U.K. theaters November 8, 2019. The U.S. release will follow a few weeks later.

For fans of the grittier, earthier approach of Daniel Craig’s four movies, his return is terrific news. Not only has the Bond series reached new critical and commercial heights during his tenure, but the new movies have established a firm thematic continuity that the earlier Bond movies only flirted with. 2015’s Spectre concluded on a deliberately ambiguous note for the Bond series, and if Craig’s fifth movie is, in fact, his final tour of duty, so much the better if he is given an opportunity to go out with a bang. For those of us who recall pre-Spectre reports that Craig was already contractually obliged for Bond 25 even before Bond 24 was finished, the whole “Will he or won’t he return?” media circus appears to be a blatant publicity stunt, perhaps fuel for the fire of what is reportedly intense Hollywood studio bidding to secure the distribution rights for Bond 25 and beyond. And, also, to keep folks talking about James Bond during what will ultimately prove to be a tie for second-longest gap between 007 movies.

With Craig back in the tuxedo, the return of the Skyfall/Spectre MI6 team seems a certainty: Ralph Fiennes as “M;” Naomie Harris as Moneypenny; Ben Whishaw as “Q;” and Rory Kinnear as Tanner. As for following through on the open-ended finale of Spectre: it will be crucial for Léa Seydoux to reprise her role as lingering Bond Girl Madeline; something tells me we haven’t seen the last of Dave Bautista’s hulking henchman Hinx; and Christoph Waltz has already stated he’d return to play Ernst Stavro Blofeld again only if Craig likewise returns, which we now know to be a done deal—Waltz’ reprisal of the role will mark the first time in the storied history of the 007 series that Bond’s chief nemesis will have the same face as in the previous movie.

As for fans who disliked the Bond/Blofeld sibling rivalry backstory shenanigans in Spectre, returning screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have an opportunity to make amends.

The biggest question mark now is who will direct Bond 25. Unless EON makes director Sam Mendes another ludicrously lucrative offer he cannot refuse, he’s out for good (and probably, by extension, so too is composer Thomas Newman). Director Christopher Nolan has long been rumored to be a frontrunner to take the reins of the Bond series, but he’s been appropriately cryptic when discussing his potential future involvement with the series.

Though Nolan sounds like he’s waiting in the wings for Bond 26 so he can soft-reboot the series and introduce a new actor as 007 in 2022, I wouldn’t necessarily rule Nolan out for Bond 25. If he’s on the case, and EON is keeping it under wraps, it’s very likely the leisurely timeline for Bond 25 is a byproduct of Bond producers EON waiting for Nolan to be fully available, much like they waited for Mendes to finish his stage productions before a return for Spectre—once the theatrical run of Dunkirk winds down and the Oscar season is in full swing, I suspect the momentum of Nolan and his film in the 2017 Academy Awards race will be the perfect boost to publicize the announcement of Nolan’s involvement in Bond 25. Another enticing prospect: if Nolan does get the gig, we can all look forward to hearing composer Hans Zimmer put his indelible spin on Monty Norman’s immortal “James Bond Theme.” Further, the return of Spectre cinematographer and Nolan collaborator Hoyte Van Hoytema would be most welcome.

Beyond Nolan, three other exciting directors have been named as contenders for Bond 25: Denis Villeneuve (Sicario, Arrival, Blade Runner 2049), Yann Demange (’71), and David Mackenzie (Hell or High Water). For what it’s worth, Bond directors have traditionally been English, or at the very least citizens of the United Kingdom, so that would seem to rule out French-Canadian Villeneuve and French-born Demange. That leaves Scottish-born filmmaker Mackenzie as the yet-unnamed heir apparent to take over the 007 director’s chair.

If a Bond 25 by David Mackenzie has even an inkling of the fever evident in merely the trailer for his film Hell or High Water, we’re in for a wild and dangerous ride.

Written by Matthew K. Manning
Penciled by Jon Sommariva
Inked by Sean Parsons
Colored by Leonardo Ito
Published by IDW Publishing
Released July 2017
Price: $19.99
ISBN: 9781631409097

As Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo and Raphael discover Kraang technology is active in New York they rush to investigate.

Over in Gotham City, Arkham Asylum has seen a mass escape of deadly inmates. Batman tracks down Two Face who reveals to him that a mystery ally has given them access to portals that escape to another world.

In the sewers, the turtles encounter Clayface and narrowly manage to defeat the monster before sending him back through a portal.

As Batman, Batgirl and Robin are investigating another portal in Gotham, on its opposite side in New York, the Heroes In A Half Shell are doing the same.

Batman crosses over to New York (TMNTverse) with his team and the heroes are quickly forced to team up with one another to battle the combined might of villains from both worlds.

As the villains run riot through the Big Apple and they are all distracted, an evil mastermind plots to control both cities and it will take every hero (and maybe a few villains) working together to save the day!

Ken Jeong (The Hangover, Ride Along 2) and David Hasselhoff (“Baywatch,” Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 2) star in the most hilarious and outrageous comedy of the year, Killing Hasselhoff, now available on DVD and Digital from UPHE Content Group. Co-produced by the team behind 2017’s Baywatch and David Hasselhoff himself, the laugh-out-loud movie is packed with a host of celebrity cameos including comedian Howie Mandel (“America’s Got Talent,” “Deal or No Deal”), musician Kid Cudi, and The Hoff’s original “Baywatch” partner in life-saving crime, Gena Lee Nolin (“Baywatch,” “Sheena”). Rounding out the cast is Jon Lovitz (The Ridiculous Six, Grown Ups 2), Rhys Darby (Flight of the Conchords, The Boat That Rocked) and Jim Jefferies (Tainted Love, Legit).

What started out as a regular week quickly turns into the worst few days of his life when Chris (Jeong), a struggling nightclub owner, fails to pay back a loan shark and decides the only way to get the money is to kill his pick in the annual “Who Will Die This Year” celebrity death pool: David Hasselhoff. Aided by his friends Fish (Darby) and Tommy (Jefferies), Chris desperately tries everything he can to off the master of slow-motion running and claim the jackpot. But the task is not as easy as he thought, especially when your target is The Hoff!

Killing Hasselhoff, comes filled with exclusive and hilarious deleted scenes taking viewers further into the film’s crazy adventure.  And we’re giving away a copy on DVD!

To enter, please send an email with the subject header “The Hoff” to geekcontest @ gmail dot com and answer the following:

How tall is The Hoff?

Please include your name, and address (U.S. only. You must be 18 years old).

Only one entry per person and a winner will be chosen at random.

Contest ends at 11:59 PM EST on September 10th, 2017.

In a world without Mr. J, Harley Quinn has teamed up with Batman and Nightwing in the latest animated DC movie. Confirmed by writer and producer Bruce Timm as part of the DC Animated Universe aka Timmverse, Batman and Harley Quinn is the first PG-13 installment in the universe.

Cussin’, fartin’, raunchy boudoir humor and a bizarre Batusi musical segment complete with a 70s rarity “Don’t Pull Your Love” followed by Harley Quinn blasting out Blondie’s “Hanging on the Telephone” puts a little spike in the punch of your typical Batman: The Animated Series adventure. Batman & Harley face off against Poison Ivy and Jason Woodrue a.k.a. The Floronic Man. Batman Kevin Conroy and Nightwing Loren Lester reprise their roles from the original series with Melissa Rauch voicing Harley. Even Mr. Timm gets in an off-camera cameo as Booster Gold!

Those familiar with recent New 52 lore will recognize the force of The Green as the supernatural swamp energy running the world. Poison Ivy and Plant Master are going all in to combat the destruction of the Earth and The Green by putting a plan in to place that will turn all living creatures into plants. An Inconvenient Truth indeed! In order to sway Pam from making this green-thumbed gaffe, Nightwing and Batman track down Harley who has gone off the grid for a bit. Not only that, but also in line with current DC continuity, she has gone straight. I mean, Joker’s dead, right?

There are some memorable and honestly hilarious parts of this movie, not least of all the aforementioned fart scenes. Batman wants to give Harley a chance the whole time, and she thinks he’s too tense (an old psychiatry joke!), but Bats and Harley need each other to save all life on the planet. Dick gets a little tired of her antics at points, but after him and Harley have a tickle fight all is forgiven.

Over on the side of evil, Poison Ivy and The Floronic Man aren’t the easiest bedfellows either. Floronic Man is the bossy type, and Pam isn’t exactly positive that getting scientists to formulate a serum that will turn everyone into plants is the best way to save the planet. If only she could be convinced by her best friend that this is the wrong path to take…

Newest DC animation director Sam Lui makes up for his bizarre and somewhat off-putting Batman: The Killing Joke adaptation by having fun with this movie. Its sexy, light and fun and it breathes new life into the 25 year old Batman property. Watch this one after you catch up on the Blu-Ray of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm to see two very different takes on the same world. Batman and Harley Quinn owes just as much to Batman ’66 as it does to any DC animated property.

The voices aren’t the only carry over from the Timmverse, there is also the character designs (or as I like to say, “Original Recipe” Harley), the Batmobile and overall look from the animated show with modern injections of 3D modeled vehicles and backgrounds. Coming in at an hour and 14 minutes there is plenty of space for the story to grow like a weed!

At the top of the film Nightwing tracks down Harley and ties him to the bed. What follows earns the film the PG-13 rating! Hot stuff, even though we only really see Dick and Harley in an extended tickle fight, interrupted by The Dark Knight himself.

Luckily we hadn’t seen the last of Bruce Timm after he stepped down as supervising producer at DC animation in 2013. We’ve seen some of his best work since then including Justice League: Gods and Monsters and Superman 75 (short).

As the architect of so much great Batman lore it would be a shame to see him go! Chalk Batman and Harley Quinn as a big win and hopefully a resurgence of Timmverse genius. Let the legend live on in movie form.

Batman and Harley Quinn is available now on Ultra HD Combo Pack
(including 4K), Blu-ray Deluxe Giftset, Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD
and Digital HD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.

Welcome back to Graphic Breakdown!

It’s the end of August! Summer is winding down. Let’s talk Comics!

All Star Batman #13
Written by Scott Snyder
Illustrated by Rafael Albuquerque

Well, here we go. The second to last issue of All Star Batman. It’s been a great run thus far and Snyder and Albuquerque are ending this series on a high note. I love this creative team very much. I love them so much that I read American Vampire straight through. They do some great work here as well.

This issue shows some of the demons Bruce faced in his past.

These events are weighing him down as he’s trying to prevent the Genesis Engine in being used for evil. He may be too late though. He also finds it may be at last time to throw down in an all out, knock down fight.

Snyder writes Batman like none other. He is sharp and smart in his interpretation each time. The dialogue is sharp and strong and he’s a master at this point. The art is masterful as well.

This is shaping up to be a great ending to a very good book.

RATING: A

Bombshells United #1
Written by Marguerite Bennett
Illustrated by Marguerite Sauvage

It’s the all Marguerite show here over at the Bombshells comic.

The last series ended on a high note and this one starts off the same way. This is such an interesting start and they really start off with a bang.

Bennett decides to start the tale in the year 1943.

Wonder Woman answers a call for help from two young girls. The girls tell Wonder Woman that their families have gone missing and are now in Internment camps. Wonder Woman has to team up with the Bombshells to get them back.

Bennett does an amazing job of making this storyline sing. The plot made me wince a little. Yet, she is not afraid to milk the concept for all it’s worth.

The art by Sauvage is great, too.

This is a nice restart to the book for sure.

RATING: B

Red Hood and the Outlaws Annual #1
Written by Scott Lobdell 
Illustrated by Tyler Kirkham

Lobdell has done such a great job writing this book.

Honestly, month to month this has been the most solid, consistent book in DC’s Rebirth line.

It’s fast paced and funny like very few books are. This is a nice Annual as well.

Nightwing stops by because Red Hood need his services.

Why, you ask?

One of those pesky circuses has come to Gotham City and with it, there is a bunch of new criminal activity. That’s no fun. Nightwing must lend a hand to put this activity to rest and make the big top a safe place.

The interplay between Nightwing and the Red Hood makes this book soar.

They dislike each other and it shows. The art by Kirkham is pretty decent as well. A good Annual for a solid book.

RATING: B+

Black Racer and Shilo Norman Special #1
Written by Reginald Hudlin 
Illustrated by Denys Cowan

It’s always good to read a book by Hudlin. He’s a writer who crafts involving stories.

Here, he takes two characters that I didn’t think too highly of and makes them work. This is a solid book and I quite liked it.

Shilo Norman takes up the role of Mister Miracle! He follows the example of Scott Free and he tried to continually cheat death!

He pushed himself to the limits, and that’s when the Black Racer starts chasing him! This leads to a cosmic chase with the Black Racer chasing him as he is hunted throughout the universe.

I loved this book!

The writing was fast and fun and the art was perfectly awesome. Cowan is a great, classic artist and he proves why yet again.

This is a really great and wild story that evokes Kirby while bringing us something new.

RATING: A-

Darkseid Special #1
Written by Mark Evanier
Illustrated by Scott Kolins and Chris Burnham

I love Darkseid.

I’ll read anything with him in it. He’s one of the great comic book villains.

Evanier is a great classic comic book writer and this shows why he should be writing more comics.

There’s been an escape from Granny Goodness’ orphanage.

This makes Darkseid super angry. Darkseid then has to track down the escapees and capture them. Once he does it’s time for punishment…Darkseid style!

The story is a bunch of fun.

Evanier really handles Darkseid well. It moves at a brisk pace. The art works well with the story too.

I love these Kirby books.

We need more of them on the stands. Like now.

RATING: B+

Supergirl Annual #1
Written by Steve Orlando
Illustrated by Steve Pugh

This is part two of the “Emerald Eradication” storyline. It’s pretty decent. Orlando is a strong writer and he writes a decent enough story here. It’s not going to change the world but it is entertaining enough.

Supergirl’s powers are out of control!

It’s fun to watch her try to keep it together. While this is going on, the Emerald Empress tries to get the upper hand on Supergirl.

Will she succeed?

It’s a good time watching this all happen!

The art by Pugh is good. I’m glad to see he’s getting work again in mainstream comics.

Pick this up if you’re a completist.

Its not groundbreaking again, but it doesn’t embarrass itself at all.

RATING: B-

Justice League of America #13
Written by Steve Orlando
Illustrated by Ivan Reis

I haven’t been covering the Justice League of America lately, but I have been reading and enjoying the book.

Steve Orlando is a good writer and he entertains here very well. This latest storyline is quite groovy.

The Justice League takes a trip to the Microverse. They are hot on the trail of the missing Ray Palmer (the Atom).

Their ship crash lands. There is a mysterious being who claims to know the Atom.

All this leads to some crazy comics!

Orlando keeps things moving and keep things entertaining. I love his style. Speaking of style, Ivan Reis is awesome. I love his work on this title.

This is a good book overall.

Pick it up.

RATING: B+

Wonder Woman #29
Written by Shea Fontana
Illustrated by Jesus Merino

I’m not a huge fan of the current Wonder Woman creative team. I enjoyed Greg Rucka’s run a lot more. This just feels weak after that run and Jill Thompson’s amazing graphic novel. Here we go!

This is part four of the “Heart Of The Amazon” storyline. New writer Shea Fontana hasn’t found her ground on this book yet.

The story is interesting enough. Five bounty hunters are on her trail. A cabal wants her DNA and wants it now. Will they get it?

Fontana’s writing just didn’t excite me. It doesn’t help that Jesus Merino isn’t doing great work here. This is an okay book at best.

Hopefully this book picks up.

RATING: C

Grand Admiral Thrawn. Saw Gerrera. Obi-Wan and Maul’s final rematch. The game-changing third season of Star Wars Rebels is coming home.

Star Wars Rebels: Complete Season Three will arrive on Blu-ray and DVD on August 29, The Star Wars Show announced today. The critically-acclaimed season brought the story of Star Wars Rebels closer to Rogue One and the original Star Wars trilogy, while also bringing in more elements of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and raising the stakes for the Ghost crew.

Bonus Features:

• Return To Mandalore: Explore where Mandalore fits within the Empire’s regime – and whether Sabine can unite her people against the Imperial forces.
• Thrawn: A Legend Reborn: Learn Thrawn’s significance in Star Wars lore, and what the future may hold for this memorable villain.
• Apprentices to Outcasts: Kenobi And Maul: Track two adversaries who’ve clashed throughout Star Wars history, and find out why the time was right to conclude their story.
• The Original Rebel: Saw Gerrera Returns – Extended: Meet the Original Rebel. This exclusive extended version features Forest Whitaker discussing the character he brings to life in both Rebels and Rogue One.
• Five Audio Commentaries: Featuring Dave Filoni (Executive Producer), Justin Ridge (Supervising Director), Kilian Plunkett (Art Director), Keith Kellogg (Animation Supervisor) and Joel Aron (CG Supervisor: Lighting & FX)
• A Rebel Alliance: Discover how the formation of the Rebel Alliance in Rebels ties into the Rogue One timeline – and the exciting story possibilities that lie ahead for season 4.
• Rebels Recon: Go behind the scenes with the cast and crew in 19 entertaining and information-packed episode recaps!

And we’re giving away 5 copies!

To enter, please send an email with the subject header “STAR WARS REBELS” to geekcontest @ gmail dot com and answer the following:

Which one of these actors did not reprise their role on Star Wars Rebels?

• James Earl Jones as Darth Vader
• Forest Whitaker as Saw Gerrera
• Genevieve O’Riley as Mon Mothma
• Denis Lawson as Wedge Antilles

Please include your name, and address (U.S. only. You must be 18 years old).

Only one entry per person and a winner will be chosen at random.

Contest ends at 11:59 PM EST on September 10th, 2017.

Five best friends from college (Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer and Zoë Kravitz) reunite 10 years later for a wild weekend getaway in Miami. Their outrageous antics and hard partying result in hilarious unexpected consequences which land them in a seemingly impossible situation to escape.

And we’re giving away five copies!

To enter, please send an email with the subject header “Rough Night” to geekcontest @ gmail dot com and answer the following:

In Rough Night, what country is Kate McKinnon’s character from?

Please include your name, and address (U.S. only. You must be 18 years old).

Only one entry per person and a winner will be chosen at random.

Contest ends at 11:59 PM EST on September 10th, 2017.

Produced by Adam Carl & Julian Fort
Written and Directed by Julian Fort
Starring Leon Russom, Gregory Sims,
John Wesley, Stuart McLean, Costa Ronin,
Eve Mauro, Larry Cedar,Charles Dierkop

I am a big fan of the, where do I know that guy from?, game. It’s always a good time when you are watching something and an actor creates such an itch at the back of your head you have to hit pause and spin up IMDB, just so you can get relief. Is there anything more satisfying than the relief you feel when you can say, “That’s where I know that guy from!”

The Midnighters is full of “that guys” and it makes it a lot of fun to watch.

The plot is not a new one. Aged ex-con bank robber gets pulled into one last job by his estranged son.

Unsurprisingly the son isn’t completely transparent and the plot goes sideways.

It doesn’t matter that it’s a movie you’ve seen before. It has enough nuances and twists you can really enjoy it anyway.

There is also something special about “that guys” that have been stage actors for 100 years and have guest starred on an episode of a dozens of different series, or have been long time supporting characters on other shows. They are professionals from top to bottom. It’s a skill that only comes with years of clawing your way in the entertainment industry. You hit your mark, because if you don’t, that production company won’t cast you again. You deliver your lines, exactly as written, because if you don’t, that director won’t want to work with you again. You master your facial expressions, body language and other subtleties that get you cast in small speaking rolls for over 40 years.

The star of this movie is Leon Russom and he defines, that guy. This movie is worth watching for him alone.

Julian Fort wrote and directed The Midnighters and as writing and directing debuts go, it was a pretty decent effort. The dialogue is human and natural. The conflicts, while not particularly original are believable. The movie isn’t particularly long and I think it could have been really interesting if he had fleshed out the script a little more. There were a couple of side plots that got glossed over. I don’t think he really spent enough time on the father/son relationship either.

However, if you have 90 minutes to kill and you like heist movies, this won’t disappoint you.

Leon Russom wouldn’t allow it. He’s too much of a pro.

3.5 out 5 stars

For screening information visit themidnightersmovie.com

Produced by Marco Jocic,
Djordje Stankovic, Filip Kovacevic
Written by Filip Kovacevic,
Masa Senicic, Ivan Senicic
Directed by Filip Kovacevic
Starring Stojan Djordjevic, Daca Vidosavljevic,
Sten Zendor, Vidan Dojcinovic, Bogdan Petrovic,
Tihomir Stanic, Dejan Cicmilovic, Zarko Stepanov

There is nothing quite as disjointing as déjà vu, that feeling that we have been in the same place before.

It is unnerving to look around and sense that you have gone through the same motions, the same path, and the same interactions, especially if it ends in a less than favorable outcome.

This is the fate of our main character in Incarnation. The race to inevitability and struggle to change what is already written makes for an interesting and gripping thriller from writer/director Filip Kovacevic.

Upon waking on a bench in the city center, a young average-appearing man (Stojan Djordjevic) realizes he has lost all of his memories. While he tries to figure out what is going on, four masked assassins appear and dispatch him with ease. What should be the man’s death is short lived, as he wakes up again on the exact same bench, with the only memory being his recent demise. Each time he comes closer to solving the mystery, but it is the twist at the end that will leave audiences to discuss Incarnation long after the film closes.

The first thing that you will notice is the sparse dialogue. The phrase “speak only to improve the silence” is almost a guiding principle here, with Kovacevic preferring to let the heightened emotions and frequent chase scenes lead the narrative. The curious case of the young man’s memory loss unfolds with the audience being as aware or in the dark as the character. At no point do they receive clues to put them “ahead of the game”, though I would be lying if I said I did not spend a fair amount of time seeing if I could solve it before the man himself did. The story stays enticing even when the details in the beginning are few. Oddly enough, this makes his deaths become frustrating not because of affection for the character as much as the viewer’s perverse focus on finding his truth.

The payoff of this engagement is a twist that I did not see coming in the least, and I found myself immediately wanting to discuss the partially unsolved mysteries left on the table. This is the hallmark of a good thriller; the rolling of the credits immediately spurs more theorizing and debate once you leave the cinema. I appreciated that not all questions were answered completely, asking us as viewers to work out an answer that may change from person to person. To be wrapped up in a bow is a nice ending, but not necessarily one as engaging as what Kovacevic has crafted.

Besides being a treat to exercise the mind, the film is also visually striking, with a rich and vibrant palette for the bustling city center and judicious use of multi-toned grays, whites, and blacks for his journeys off the grid. This color scheme makes the bright red of the eventual blood spatter stand out even more starkly when the end of each “loop” occurs. The varying endings combined with the shot for shot symmetry in the beginnings is an interesting choice, as if you are watching several cuts of the same film in succession.

As he learns more clues, the loops become satisfyingly longer, and much more engaging. Given the several times he is resurrected, it is a technical wonder that this film, shot over three summers, maintains such amazing continuity in light of the significant challenges that multiple months off had to provide, as well as the use of a full scene reset rather than a montage. With each sudden awakening on the bench, the character must watch as life goes on in much the same way for everyone else, heightening the feeling of loneliness and dread.

The fact that there are so many discussion topics at play adds to the complexity of Incarnation. Larger themes to be addressed range from knowing thyself to the existential dread of being out of control while realizing that you are both the source and solution to your problem. There will undoubtedly be those who are unsure about how this film will settle with them.

But when the questions left are as good as the questions answered, it is worth watching and finding where you lie.

For more information, visit www.voidpictures.com