Showing posts with label Mission Impossible. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mission Impossible. Show all posts

Saturday, July 22, 2023

Negromancer News Bits and Bites from July 16th to 22nd, 2023 - Update #18

by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

You can support Leroy via Paypal or on Patreon:

ENTERTAINMENT AND CULTURE NEWS:

CELEBRITY - From THR:  For the first time since his medical emergency, Jamie Foxx speaks publicly, releasing a video on his "Instagram" page.

TELEVISION - From DeadlineFX's "Aliens" television series has begun filming in Thailand, but are filming scenes that don't include SAG-AFTRA actors.

MOVIES - From YahooEntertainmentAntonio Banderas recalls Steven Spielberg's prescient words about CGI on the set of his film, "The Mask of Zorro" (1998). This is the 25th anniversary of the film's release.

MUSIC - From Deadline:  Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter and recording artist, Sheryl Crow, calls out country singer Jason Aldean over his violent and obviously racist song, "Try That in a Small Town."

OPPENHEIMER - From Deadline:  Actor Cillian Murphy talks about his starring role in "Oppenheimer" and about working with Christopher Nolan again.

From VarietyMatt Damon had told his wife he was taking a break from acting unless director Christopher Nolan called. Then, Nolan called about "Oppenheimer"...

STREAMING - From DeadlineParamount+ has unveiled a first look at "Pet Sematary: Bloodlines," a prequel to Stephen King's 1983 novel. "Pet Sematary."

MEDIA - From Deadline:  Lionsgate seems to be in the lead to buy the film and television entertainment company eOne (Entertainment One) from Hasbro.

STREAMING - From Variety:  NBCUniversal's streaming service, "Peacock," has raised its prices for the first time since its launch.

BOX OFFICE - BoxOfficePro:  The winner of the 7/14 to 7/16/2023 weekend box office is Paramount Pictures' "Mission Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One" with an estimated take of 56.2 million dollars.

From Here:  A review of "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One" by Leroy Douresseaux

From Deadline:  Director Christopher McQuarrie considered using the "de-aging" process for Tom Cruise in order to create a young Ethan Hunt, but ultimately chose not to go with it.

OBITS:

From Deadline:   Legendary American singer, Tony Bennett, has died at the age of 96, Friday, July 21, 2023.  He career spanned decades and generations. He made his first recordings in 1949.  He had his first hit in 1951 ("Because of You").  He recorded his first album in 1952 ("Because of You"), which would be one of over 100 albums released.  Younger audiences discovered Bennett in the early 1990s and continue to do so, listening to his catalog of jazz, traditional pop, show tunes, and big band, to name a few of the genres of music in which he has performed. He won 19 Grammy Awards and received the Grammy "Lifetime Achievement Award."

From Deadline:  American actress Josephine Chaplin has died at the age of 74, Thursday, July 13, 2023.  The daughter of legendary filmmaker and actor, Charlie Chaplin, and British actress, Oona O'Neill, Josephine made an appearance as a child actor in her father's Oscar-winning film, "Limelight."  Her other roles include "Canterbury Tales" (1972), "Jack the Ripper," and "A Countess from Hong Kong" (1967), which was also her father's final film.

From Deadline:  Film and television producer and director, Robert Lieberman, has died at the age of 77, Saturday, July 1, 2023. As a film director, his best known work is the science fiction cult classic, "Fire in the Sky" (1993). As a TV director, he helmed numerous series, including multiple episodes of USA Network's "The Dead Zone" and Syfy's "The Expanse."  Lieberman directed over two thousand TV commercials and in 1980, he won the first Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards for "Best Commercial Director," one of two that he won in that category.

WRITERS/ACTORS STRIKE:

From THR:  Production works at Warner Bros. Animation (66) and at Cartoon Network (22) have gone public with their attempt to unionize via The Animation Guild.

From Variety:  Halted film productions due to the writers and actors strikes are costing each Hollywood studio at least 600,000 dollars per week.

From Variety:  Said at a strike meeting: “Without a transformative change in SAG-AFTRA’s current contract with the AMPTP, the acting profession will no longer be an option for future generations of performers, and actors already working in the industry will need to pursue other careers in order to survive.”

From Deadline:  If you are a "social media influencer" who is NOT  a member of SAG-AFTRA, you can be barred from future membership for promoting a film or television series during the actors' strike.

From Variety:  The SAG/AFTRA strike begins in New York and Los Angeles.  Hollywood actors began striking today, Fri., July 14th.

From Deadline:  The site has the video of the powerful strike speech given by SAG-AFTRA president, Fran Drescher, the actress best known for CBS' former sitcom, "The Nanny."

From Deadline:  Concerning the Hollywood writers strike (via the WGA), the Hollywood Studios (as represented by the AMPTP) is to let the writers go broke before resuming talks deep into the Fall.

From Deadline: SAG-AFTRA is already preparing strike picket signs in case the actors' strike begins next week.

From Deadline:  WGA is picketing the New York City filming location of the 12th series of FX's "American Horror Story" (entitled "Delicate") after series co-creator Ryan Murphy threaten litigation against an east coast strike captain.

From THR:  TV super-producer, Ryan Murphy, in a letter from his attorney to the leadership of the Writers Guild of America, threatened litigation against Warren Leight, an East Coast strike captain and Strike Rules Compliance Committee member who has subsequently forfeited those positions.

From Deadline:  The Hollywood studios via the AMPTP has given Canadian actors a new contract, including a 5 percent raise.

From Deadline:  Writers Strike puts the spotlight back on the challenge from writers for animation productions to be covered by the WGA.

From THR:  Studios won't give writers better pay, and now, are laying off janitors.

From Deadline:  The Directors Guild of America (DGA) has reached a tentative new three-year deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). So what does the Writers Guild (WGA), currently on strike and negotiating with the AMPTP, think of that deal.

From Deadline:  Netflix shareholders declined to support the 2023 pay packages of top executives during a non-binding vote at the company’s annual shareholder meeting on Thursday.  The vote won't prevent these execs from getting their loot (an total of $166 million), but this is a rare public rebuke.  The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has urged shareholders to vote "No" because the pay was "inappropriate" at this time.

From Deadline:  Warner Bros Discovery chief David Zaslav gave the commencement address at Boston University. There he was met with jeers and also chants of "pay your writers" from picketers and from some in the audience.

From Deadline:   President Joe Biden speaks on the Writers Guild of America strike.

From Deadline:  Retaliation! The studios have starting informing writer-producers who have "overall" and "first-look" deals that such deals are being suspended.

From Deadline:  Retaliation!  Prolific HBO creator, David Simon, who is best known for "The Wire," is one of the many writers who have had their overall deals suspended the studios due to the WGA strike.  Simon has been with HBO for 25 years.

From Deadline:  The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is on strike.

From Deadline:  Disney, HBO/HBO Max, and CBS have sent letters to showrunners (the TV equivalent of film directors) instructing them to return to work, inspite of the writer's strike.

From Deadline:  The WGA's chief negotiator, Ellen Stutzman, talks about the state of the writers' strike, including the lack of engagement on the part of the strike's other party, AMPTP.

From Deadline:  What went wrong between the WGA and AMPTP? What could they not agree on that led to a strike?

From Deadline:  The site explains the WGA strike: the issues, the stakes, movies and TV shows affected, and how long it might last.

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Friday, July 14, 2023

Review: "MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - Dead Reckoning Part One" Embraces the Impossible

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 32 of 2023 (No. 1921) by Leroy Douresseaux

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)
Running time: 163 minutes (2 hours, 43 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 intense sequences of violence and action, some language and suggestive material
DIRECTOR:  Christopher McQuarrie
WRITERS:  Christopher McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen (based upon the television series created by Bruce Geller)
PRODUCERS: Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Fraser Taggart (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Eddie Hamilton
COMPOSER: Loren Balfe

ACTION/ADVENTURE/SPY/THRILLER

Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Frederick Schmidt, Maria Garriga, Cary Elwes, and Henry Czerny

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is a 2023 action-thriller and espionage film directed by Christopher McQuarrie and starring Tom Cruise.  It is the seventh film in the Mission: Impossible film series, which is based on the American television series, “Mission: Impossible” (CBS, 1966-73), that was created by Bruce Geller.  In Dead Reckoning Part One, Ethan Hunt and his IMF team race to obtain half of a key that is connected to something that could be a doomsday device.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One opens in the Bering Sea.  Beneath the surface, an advanced Russian submarine, the “Sevastopol,” prepares to test a new AI (artificial intelligence) system.  But disaster strikes.

Later, Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny), the director of the IMF (Impossible Mission Force), offers IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) a new mission.  Should he accept, Hunt must retrieve half of a mysterious cruciform key.  It is currently in the possession of his ally, the former British agent, Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), who also has had a 50-million-dollar bounty placed on her.

Next, Hunt and his team – Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Luther Stickwell (Ving Rhames) – must trace the current holder of the second half of that cruciform key to a buyer.  However, the mission is complicated by the intercession of new players:  Grace (Hayley Atwell), a professional thief; Alanna Mitsopolis (Vanessa Kirby), a black-market arms dealers also known as the “White Widow;” and Paris (Pom Klementieff), a French assassin.  The most shocking new player is Paris' boss, Gabriel (Esai Morales), a powerful terrorist with an intimate connection to Ethan Hunt's past.  Ethan and his IMF team clash with these new people in a struggle for a key that is connected to something that could rule the world or destroy it, The Entity

I divide the six Mission: Impossible movies into two trilogies.  Mission: Impossible (1996), Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), and Mission: Impossible III (2006) make up the first trilogy.  Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011),  Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015), and Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) form the second trilogy.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is something new.  It was originally meant to be the first part of a two-part send off for Ethan Hunt, but that has apparently changed.  Still, Dead Reckoning Part One feels like the beginning of the end.  It's as if Ethan is facing his ultimate test, a mission in which most of the potential resolutions can make things worse for the U.S. and the rest of the world.  Honestly, this feels like a mission in which Ethan should not survive.

That aside, should you choose to accept this mission, dear readers, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is a non-stop thrill machine full of heart-pounding races, car chases, standoffs, and Tom Cruise running more than he ever has.  I balked at the runtime of two hours and forty-three minutes, but the film doesn't feel that long.  It's always moving and grooving to a electrifying pace.  The plot is a bit thin, and even that thinness manages to be a bit convoluted, but Dead Reckoning Part One moves too much to allow you to think about any inconsistencies.  Why think about plot when the action and thrills are so mesmerizing and exhilarating?  I had seen several video clips of Ethan Hunt's motorcycle cliff dive, which is the super-big stunt in Dead Reckoning Part One, but seeing the entire thing on the big, silver screen still made me nervous.  That's the peak power of the extravagant action movie treats that this film offers.

Dead Reckoning Part One has beautiful cinematography and a hypnotic, pounding film score, and killer production values.  Everyone is dressed so nicely, and all the sets put the art in art direction.  The cast is amazing, and I couldn't get enough of Pom Klementieff's Paris.  But the stars here are true movie star, Tom Cruise, and director Christopher McQuarrie.  They wanted to give people a reason to come back to movie theaters, and they have.  Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is the kind of high-quality and breath-taking entertainment that demands to be seen in a darkened movie theater with a bunch of other people as equally thrilled as you or I are.

8 of 10
A
★★★★ out of 4 stars

Friday, July 15, 2023


The text is copyright © 2023 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Review: "MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2" is Still on Fire

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 31 of 2023 (No. 1920) by Leroy Douresseaux

Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)
Running time: 123 minutes (2 hours, 3 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of violent action and some sensuality
DIRECTOR:  John Woo
WRITERS:  Robert Towne; from a story by Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Barga (based upon the television series created by Bruce Geller)
PRODUCERS: Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Jeffrey L. Kimball (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Steven Kemper and Christian Wagner
COMPOSER: Hans Zimmer

ACTION/ADVENTURE/SPY/THRILLER

Starring: Tom Cruise, Dougray Scott, Thandie Newton, Richard Roxburgh, John Polson, Brendan Gleeson, Rade Serbedzija, William Mapother, Dominic Purcell, Nicholas Bell, Kee Chan, Antonio Vargas, and Ving Rhames with Anthony Hopkins

Mission: Impossible 2 is a 2000 action-thriller and espionage film directed by John Woo and starring Tom Cruise.  It is a sequel to the 1996 film, Mission: Impossible, and is based on the American television series, “Mission: Impossible” (CBS, 1966-73), that was created by Bruce Geller.  In Mission: Impossible 2 (also known as M:I-2), Ethan Hunt battles a rogue fellow agent in a bid to obtain a genetically modified virus.

Mission: Impossible 2 opens in a lab at Australia's Biocyte Pharmaceuticals.  There, Dr. Vladimir Nekhorvich (Rade Serbedzija), a bio-genetics scientist, sends a message to his old friend, “Dimitri,” which is the cover name for Impossible Mission Force (IMF) agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise).  Nekhorvich's employer, Biocyte Pharmaceuticals, has forced him to create a biological weapon, which he calls “Chimera,” and a cure for it, which he names “Bellerophon.”  Biocyte's CEO, John C. McCloy (Brendan Gleeson), plans to profit from Bellerophon as cure for Chimera after the virus is released into the unsuspecting world.

Nekhorvich injects himself with Chimera and carries Bellerophon with him and heads to the U.S., where he hopes to meet “Dimitri.”  However, he is intercepted by IMF agent Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), who is, in some ways, Ethan Hunt's equal and opposite.  Ambrose and his men steal Bellerophon and begin their hunt to obtain Chimera, not knowing that it was inside Nekhorvich.

IMF Mission Commander Swanbeck (Anthony Hopkins) orders Hunt to lead his team – computer hacker, IMF agent Luther Stickwell (Ving Rhames), and helicopter pilot, William “Billy” Baird (John Polson), on a mission to get Chimera before Ambrose does.  Swanbeck also orders Hunt to add to his team a professional thief named Nyah Nordoff-Hall (Thandie Newton), who was, until recently, Ambrose's girlfriend.  Can Ethan trust Nyah, or has he gotten to close to her?  And is Ambrose more than a match for Ethan?

I divide the six Mission: Impossible movies into two trilogies.  Mission: Impossible (1996), Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), and Mission: Impossible III (2006) make up the first trilogy.  Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011),  Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015), and Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) form the second trilogy.

That's just my personal thing.  M:I-2 is its own thing.  Directed by Hong Kong auteur, John Woo, the film features the hallmarks of Woo's directorial style, including his “bullet ballet” action sequences, stylized imagery, slow motion action and character drama scenes, Mexican standoffs, and fight sequences that recall the Chinese martial arts sub-genres “wuxia” and “wire-fu.”  However, the film doesn't really kick into high gear with some of Woo's best flourishes until its second half.

The first half of the film focuses on Ethan Hunt's obsession with Nyah Nordoff-Hall, which mirrors Sean Ambrose's obsession with her.  This “love triangle” allows Woo and his screenwriters to build tension between Hunt and Ambrose that explodes with jealousy and rage and eventually leads to a fight to the death.  M:I-2 may be the film in this franchise in which Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt shares the most screen time with other characters, especially Newton's Nyah and Scott's Ambrose.

Anyway, the film really begins to rumble in the second half.  The last half-hour or so is a masterpiece of directing, film editing, cinematography, and stunt coordinators and stuntmen.  My high rating is mainly because of this exhilarating last act, which makes me want to see this movie again.

Tom Cruise was in his late 30s when Mission: Impossible 2 began filming, yet he looks much younger onscreen, about a decade or so (at least to me).  His long hair, that boyish grin, his immature and petulant anger and jealousy would be largely gone 19 months later when his trippy drama, Vanilla Sky (2001), arrived in December 2001.  So for me, Mission: Impossible 2 is a good-bye to the Mission: Impossible film franchise's beginnings.  The series would rapidly begin to morph with the third entry, and boyish Tom Cruise would finally give way to adult Tom Cruise.  At least, I now remember why I loved this film so much 23 years ago, and now, I want to see it again.

8 of 10
A
★★★★ out of 4 stars

Tuesday, July 11, 2023


NOTES:
2001 Image Awards (NAACP):  2 nominations: “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture” (Ving Rhames) and “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture” (Thandie Newton)


The text is copyright © 2023 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Negromancer News Bits and Bites from May 22nd to 31st, 2022 - Update #41

by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

You can support Leroy via Paypal or on Patreon:

ENTERTAINMENT AND CULTURE NEWS:

BOX OFFICE - From Deadline:  In the final tally, the Memorial Day holiday weekend domestic box office take for "Top Gun: Maverick" is a record 160.5 million dollars.

From BoxOfficePro:  The winner of the 5/27 to 5/29/2020 weekend box office is Paramount Pictures' "Top Gun: Maverick" with an estimated take of 124 million dollars.

From TheWrap:  With an estimated 156 million dollars at the domestic box office, "Top Gun: Maverick" has broken the Memorial Day weekend box office record. The surpasses "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" which grossed 153 million dollars during the 2007 Memorial Day weekend.

From Here:  Here is my review of "Top Gun: Maverick."

From THR:  On review aggregator, "Rotten Tomatoes," "Top Gun: Maverick" has tied "Mission: Impossible - Fallout" (2018) as the best reviewed Tom Cruise movie of all time.

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MOVIES - From TheWrap:  Indie entertainment company, A24's horror films ranked from best to worse.

MOVIES - From Variety:  Here is a first look at Oscar-nominee, Bradley Cooper, as legendary Broadway composer, Leonard Bernstein, "Maestro."

MOVIES - From WorldofReelDavid Cronenberg says that he has an idea for a movie starring "Twilight Saga" costars, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.

TELEVISION - From Deadline:  Oscar-winning actress Jodie Foster will appear in the fourth season of HBO's anthology series, "True Detective."  Entitled, "True Detective: Night Country," it will be Foster's first major adult TV role.

SCANDAL - From CNN:  Former reality TV star, Josh Duggar ("19 Kids and Counting") was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison, a $10,000 fine, and 20 years of supervised release, during which he cannot have contact with minors.  In December 2021, Duggar was found guilty of "receipt of child pornography" and "possession of child pornography"

ANIMATION - From DeadlineSamuel L. Jackson will join Chris Pratt's in Alcon Entertainment's animated "Garfield" film.

TRAILERS - From TheWrap:  Paramount Pictures has debuted the first trailer for "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (the seventh film).  The film is due July 14, 2023.

BOX OFFICE - From Variety:  The winner of the 5/20 to 5/22/2022 weekend box office is Marvel Studios' "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" with an estimated take of 31.6 million dollars.

From Here:  My review of "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness."

NETFLIX - From TheWeekNetflix is apparently trying to end its "war" with movie theaters, but the streamer will have to make deals with its adversaries, AMC Theaters and Regal Cinemas.

POLITICS - From WashPostRussia has permanently banned 963 U.S. citizens from entering the country.  The list includes President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris and even actor Morgan Freeman.

CANNES - From Variety:  "Three Thousand Years of Longing," the new film from director George Miller ('Mad Max" series), received a six-minutes standing ovation during its world premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.  The film stars Tilda Swinton as a solitary academic and Idris Elba as the genie she finds.

OBITS:

From Deadline:   Tytyana Miller, the daughter of rapper Master P, has died at the age of 29.  Paramedics found her unresponsive early Saturday, May 28, 2022.  She had appeared in the WE TV series, "Growing Up Hip Hop."

From Deadline:  The television and film actor, Bo Hopkins, has died at the age of 84, Saturday, May 28, 2022.  He was best known for appearing in films such as "The Wild Bunch" (1969), "American Graffiti" (1973), and "Midnight Express" (1978).  I remember him for his appearance in two mid-1970s films, "White Lightning" (1973), with Burt Reynolds, and "Posse" (1975), which was led by Kirk Douglas. A prolific TV actor, Hopkins appeared in over 100 films and TV series.

From Deadline:   Actor Ray Liotta has died at the age of 67, Thursday, May 26, 2022.  Liotta was best known for playing mobster Henry Hill in the 1990 Martin Scorsese film, "Goodfellas."  He was also known for playing Shoeless Joe Jackson in "Field of Dreams" (1989) and "Ray Sinclair" in "Something Wild" (1986).  He was currently experiencing a career resurgence.

From Deadline:  Hollywood mourns and remembers Ray Liotta.  This article includes comments from co-star Robert De Niro ("Goodfellas").

UVALDE, TEXAS MASS SHOOTING:

From YahooAP:  An 18-year-old gunman slaughtered 19 children and two teachers on Tues., May 24th, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas.  All 21 victims were in the same 4th grade classroom at Robb Elementary.

From DallasNewsJoe Garcia, the husband of Irma Garcia, one of the two teachers killed at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, has died of a heart attack two days after the murder of his wife.  They had been married for 24 years and had been high school sweethearts.

From Axios:  Texas gubernatorial candidate, Beto O'Rourke, interrupted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's gaslighting press conference on the Uvalde elementary school mass shooting.

From USAToday:  Beto O'Rourke's outburst at Gov. Greg Abbott's Uvalde news conference shows the spine Democrats need.

From BostonGlobeSteve Kerr, head coach of the NBA's Golden State Warriors, asks "When are we going to do something?"

From NBCNews:  A Robb Elementary teacher describes "the longest 35 minutes of my life" and the terror she now feels.

From NBCNews:  The Uvalde school district had an extensive safety plan, but 19 children were killed at Robb Elementary anyway.  Even security plans that appear to be up to the latest research-based standards may have gaps and fall short of preventing the worst-case scenario, experts said.

From MSNAngeli Rose Gomez, the mother who was handcuffed outside Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, was able to get inside the school and rescue her two children.

From YahooNews:   Daniel Defense, the maker of the rifles used by the Uvalde massacre killer, has used "incendiary ads" in the past, including one in which a toddler holds one of its rifles.

From TheIntercept:  The police aren't obligated to protect anyone NOT in their custody, as the Supreme Court has ruled twice.

From RollingStone:  Right wing lies about the Second Amendment and why they tell them are killing America's childrne.

From Vice:  The law enforcement personnel in Texas that arrived at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas on Tues., May 24th did the opposite of what their own training documentary videos show.

From Vox:  Uvalde police keep changing their story.

From TheDailyBeast:  The families in Uvalde, Texas who lost loved one in the Robb Elementary massacre say that the cops there are "Nothing more than cowards" and that they need to pay for doing nothing while a gunman rampaged through the school last Tues, May 24th.

From TheNewYorker:  Thoughts and prayers, Uvalde, Texas. This is the America that Republicans and the right wing have being thinking about and praying for all these decades.

BLM-BUFFALO:

From ABCNews:  A 18-year-old white MAN shot 13 people, killing 10 at a Buffalo, New York Tops Friendly Markets supermarket on Saturday, May 14, 2021.

From Truthout:  The racist attack in Buffalo at the Tops Friendly supermarket was crafted to terrorize us.  We can fight back, and here’s how we fight back.

From WGRZ:  Who are the victims of the Buffalo Tops Friendly Markets grocery store shooting. This comes from local station WGRZ Channel 2 and includes video and some victim photos.

From BuffaloNews:  One of the 10 Black murder victims of the Buffalo massacre was Katherine "Kat" Massey.  She was a leader in her community and civil rights activist and advocate for education.

From NewYorkPost:  One of the 10 Black murder victims of the Buffalo massacre was Andre Mackniel. He was at TOPS Supermaket to pick up a birthday cake for his son.

From Truthout:  The racist attack in Buffalo, NY at the Tops supermarket was crafted to terrorize us, so here is how we fight back.

From CNN:  What is known about the 18-year-old MAN, Payton Gendron.

From NPR:  198 mass shooting this year ... so far.

From Truthout:  White supremacist massacre of 10 people in Buffalo, NY shows that the “Alt-Right” ideology leads to murder.

From RollingStone:  Buffalo rampage killing is "Straight Up Racially Motivated Hate Crime."

From InformedCommentRene Binet, the originator the "great replacement" was a French Nazi, and he saw all American as "Negroes," an "impure mestizo 'race'."

From WashPost:  Only 22 people saw the live-stream of a white terrorist kill Black shoppers at the Buffalo Tops Friendly Markets supermarket, but millions have seen it since...

From GuardianUK:  Buffalo Tops Friendly Markets shooter may have been motivated by "eco-fascism," a focus on overpopulation and environmental degradation.

From RSN:  "What Lessons Have We Learned From the Buffalo Shooting?" by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

From Truthout:  “Innocent” White People Are Also Complicit in the Anti-Black Murders in Buffalo by George Yancy.

From Truthout:  "Black Lives Matter" cofounder discovered that Alicia Garza has learned that her name is mentioned in the Buffalo Tops supermarket killer's manifesto.

From GuardianUK:   Cornell West says, "Trump isn't out there with a gun, but he's enabled this war against Black people.

From Slate:  From the Tulsa Race Massacre to the Buffalo Tops Friendly Markets shootings: the legacy of anti-Black violence.

From Truthout:  After mass shootings, Republicans shield white supremacists from scrutiny

UKRAINE:

From TheDailyBeast:  Russian soldiers allegedly raped and killed a 1-year-old Ukrainian boy and have reportedly raped or sexually abused children as young as 9 months old.


Thursday, May 26, 2022

Paramount Debuts the First Trailer for "MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 7"

Paramount Pictures released the first trailer for the film, “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” on Monday, May 23rd, 2022.  The stars Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Henry Czerny, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, and Frederick Schmidt, all of whom will reprise their roles from the previous films.  Newcomers include Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, Esai Morales, Rob Delaney, and Cary Elwes.  The film is written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie.

The film opens in theaters on July 14, 2023.

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Saturday, June 5, 2021

Negromancer News Bits and Bites from June 1st to 5th, 2021 - Update #14

by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

You can support Leroy via Paypal or on Patreon:

ENTERTAINMENT AND CULTURE NEWS:

MOVIES - From WeGotThisCovered:   Christina Ricci has been cast in a mystery role in "The Matrix 4."

AMAZON - From InTheseTimes:  Bezos the Great and Powerful: Beyond the dangers of corporate consolidation, Amazon’s acquisition of MGM has exposed an American economy that’s mostly make-believe.

CULTURE/BLM - From THR: Tom Hanks penned a guest essay for The New York Times on Friday in which he called for the truth of the Tulsa race massacre to be taught in schools.

POLITICS - From Variety:   Facebook says that it will suspend former president Donald Trump from its Facebook and Instagram social media platforms until at least January 2023.  Further, Trump will only be reinstated "if conditions permit."

STREAMING - From Deadline:  Emmy-winning actor, Billy Porter, and executive producer Greg Berlanti are developing a TV series, "Fruits of Thy Labor," for NBC's "Peacock" streaming service.

ANIMATION - From Deadline:   Nickelodeon has released a teaser trailer and art form the "Spongebob Squarepants" spinoff, "The Patrick Star Show."

MOVIES - From Deadline:   Hong Kong actor and filmmaker, Donnie Yen, is joining Keanu Reeves in "John Wick 4."

MOVIES - From Deadline:  Despite all Tom Cruise's cussin' and hollarin', production on "Mission: Impossible 7" in the U.K. will shut down for 14 days because of a positive COVID-19 test.

FILM FESTIVALS - From Variety:   The lineup for the 2021 Cannes Film Festival has been announced.  This year's festival will be held from July 6th to 17th, 2021.

DISNEY - From Deadline:   "Indiana Jones 5" will begin filming in the United Kingdom next week, according to sources.

BOX OFFICE - From Deadline:   Paramount Pictures brings resurrects movie-going with "A Quiet Place Part II" ... or do "Deadline" says.

STREAMING - From Deadline:   Actor Sebastian Stan (Marvel's "Winter Soldier") has posted a new photo of himself as the rocker, Tommy Lee (of the band "Motley Crue") to promote Hulu's limited series, "Pam & Tommy."

OBITS:

From Deadline:   The actress Romy Walthall has died at the age of 57, Wednesday, 19, 2021.  Her first screen was in 1984 and her last in 2011.  Walthall made appearances in some of the biggest television series of the 1980 and 90s.  This included "T.J. Hooker," "Moonlight," "Matlock," "In the Heat of the Night," "L.A. Law," and "The X-Files," to name a few.  Walthall also had small role in the director John Woo's hit movie, "Face/Off," starring Nicolas Cage and John Travolta.

From Deadline:   American stunt coordinator and film director, Buddy Van Horn, has died at the age of 92, Tuesday, May 11, 2021.  Van Horn was actor Clint Eastwood's stunt double and was credited as the stunt coordinator on Eastwood films from 1972 to 2011.  Van Horn also directed three films in which Eastwood starred, "Any Which Way You Can" (1980), "The Dead Pool" (1988), and "Pink Cadillac" (1989).

From XXL:   Dashawn Maurice Robertson, known as the rapper "Lil Loaded," has died at the age of 20, Monday, May 31, 2021.  Lil Loaded came to fame in 2019 when his song, "Blocc Baby" went viral.  He self-released his one studio album, "A Demon in Blue," October 2020, as a digital download/streaming.


 

Saturday, December 19, 2020

Negromancer News Bits and Bites from December 13th to 19th, 2020 - Update #25

by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

Support Leroy on Patreon:

ENTERTAINMENT AND CULTURE NEWS:

BLM - From WashPost:   The Rev. William H. Lamar IV is the pastor of the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington D.C. that was attacked on Sat., Dec. 12th, 2020 by members of the racist group, the "Proud Boys."  The "Boys" were in Washington for a pro-Trump rally/riot.  Rev. Lamar wrote an opinion piece for the "Washington Post" entitled "My church will replace our Black Lives Matter sign. Will America replace its racist myth?" One of the quotes is "...that White men can employ violence to take what they want and do what they want and call that criminality justice, freedom and liberty."

COVID-19 - From CNN:  US sees record Covid-19 cases as CDC advisory group votes to recommend Moderna vaccine

CELEBRITY - From THR:   Inside Johnny Depp's self-made implosion.

CULTURE - From YahooEntertainment:   The last "Blockbuster" video rental store keeps chugging along and is the subject of a new documentary, "The Last Blockbuster."

AWARDS - From THR:  The New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) names "First Cow" its best film of 2020.

STREAMING - From YahooEW:   New set photos from "Coming 2 America," Netflix's sequel to the classic Eddie Murphy film, "Coming to America," include an image of Wesley Snipes.

MOVIES - From DirtyMovies:   There will be another entry in the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" film franchise in 2021.  "Dirty Movies" analyzes what went wrong with the last two entries.

TELEVISION - From Deadline:  NBC is working on a reboot of its classic legal comedy, "Night Court" (1984-1992), with Warner Bros. Television.  John Larroquette, who won several Emmy Awards for the show, will return as "Dan Fielding," and Melissa Rauch ("The Big Bang Theory") will play the role of Judge Abby Stone, the daughter of the late Judge Harry Stone (played by the late Harry Anderson).

TELEVISION - From Deadline:  ABC is in early development on "Pine Valley," a prime time follow-up to its daytime soap opera, "All My Children," which ended its run on the network in 2011.

TELEVISION-BLM - From Variety: "Heroes" Was Supposed to Be Leonard Roberts’ Big Break. Instead, It Nearly Broke Him. An African-American actor speaks about his poor treatment on the set of the former NBC series.

TOM CRUISE - From Deadline:   Tom Cruise Goes Off On Crew After Covid Breach On ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ London Set – Hear The Audio.

From YahooMovies:  Apparently, five crew members have quit "Mission: Impossible 7" over Tom Cruise's tirade against them for allegedly breaking COVID-19 protocol.
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SPORTS-BLM - From MLB:   Major League Baseball has long celebrated the legacy of the Negro Leagues. But for the first time, MLB is officially recognizing that the quality of the segregation-era circuits was comparable to its own product from that time period.  Addressing what MLB described as a “long overdue recognition,” Commissioner Rob Manfred on Wednesday bestowed Major League status upon seven professional Negro Leagues that operated between 1920 and 1948. The decision means that the approximately 3,400 players of the Negro Leagues during this time period are officially considered Major Leaguers, with their stats and records becoming a part of Major League history.

COVID-19 - From GuardianUK: US Covid Deaths Pass 300,000 as First Americans Receive Coronavirus Vaccine

MOVIES - From YahooEntertainment:  As we acknowledge the 25th anniversary of Michael Mann's film, "Heat," which starred Oscar-winners, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, we revisit an interview in which Pacino talks about his friendly rivalry with De Niro.

STREAMING - From Deadline:   Lily James and Sebastian Stan (Marvel Studios "Winter Soldier") will play model/actress Pam Anderson and rock musician Tommy Lee in Hulu's biopic about the infamous celebrity couple.

MOVIES - From Deadline:   Chris Pine is in talks to star in "Dungeons & Dragons" for eOne and Paramount Pictures.  Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley are set to direct from a script they wrote.

SPORTS - From YahooSports:   Major League Baseball's Cleveland Indians are dropping "Indians" from their name.  Here are the possibilities for a new name, including a Negro League name.

BLM - From Deadline:  Tyler Perry has donated $100,000 to the legal defense fund for Kenneth Walker, the boyfriend of Breonna Taylor, the medical worker murdered in her apartment by members of the Louisville Metro Police Department.

BOX OFFICE - From Deadline:   The winner of the 12/11 to 12/13/20 weekend box office is "The Croods: A New Age" with an estimated take of 3 million dollars.

COVID-19 - From YahooNewsAP:  Trucks with first batches of COVID-19 vaccine in US get ready to roll

CHRISTMAS - From YahooNews:  Rare planetary conjunction means a rare "Christmas Star" will light up the night for the first time since the year 1226.

OBITS:

From THR:   American dancer, actress, and choreographer, Ann Reinking, has died at the age of 71, Saturday, December 12, 2020.  She is best known for her association with the Broadway musical, "Chicago," both as an actress (1977 and 1996) and as a choreographer (1996).  In 1997, she won a "Tony Award for Best Choreography" for the 1996 revival of "Chicago."  Reinking was nominated for a Tony three other times.

From Variety:  The spy-turned-spy-novelist, John le Carre, has died at the age of 89, Saturday, December 12, 2020.  During the 1950s and 1960s, le Carre (born David John Moore Cornwell) worked the British "Security Service" (MI5) and "Secret Intelligence Service" (MI6).  By the time he left the service, le Carre has already published three novels, including the international bestseller, "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold" (1963).  Ten of his novels have been adapted into film, including 2001's "The Constant Gardener," which became the 2005 Oscar-winning film.

From RollingStone:  Iconic country music singer, Charley Pride, has died at the age of 86, Saturday, December 12, 2020 of complications of COVID-19.  Pride was a pioneering African-American country musician and is one of only three Black members of the "Grand Old Opry," and he was inducted into the "Country Music Hall of Fame" in 2000.  In 1971, at the "Country Music Association Awards, Pride won the "Entertainer of the Year" award.  Pride was a three-time Grammy Award winner, and received the "Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award" in 2017.

From RollingStone:   10 essential Charley Pride songs, according to Rolling Stone.
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From Deadline:  The actress Marguerite Ray has died at the age of 89, November 18, 2020.  Ray was the first African-American regular on the CBS soap opera, "The Young and the Restless," playing the role of Mamie Johnson from 1980 to 1990.  Ray was also a regular on "Sanford" (1980-81), NBC's sequel series to "Sanford and Son."
 
 
 


Friday, July 3, 2020

Review: "Mission: Impossible - Fallout" Goes All Out

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 13 (of 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)
Running time: 147 minutes; MPAA – PG-13 for violence and intense sequences of action, and for brief strong language
DIRECTOR:  Christopher McQuarrie
WRITERS:  Christopher McQuarrie (based upon the television series created by Bruce Geller)
PRODUCERS: Tom Cruise, J.J. Abrams, Christopher McQuarrie, and Jake Myers
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Rob Hardy (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Eddie Hamilton
COMPOSER: Lorne Balfe
BAFTA nominee

ACTION/ADVENTURE/SPY/THRILLER

Starring: Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Vanessa Kirby Michelle Monaghan, Wes Bentley, Angela Bassett, and Alec Baldwin

Mission: Impossible – Fallout is a 2018 action-thriller and espionage film directed by Christopher McQuarrie and starring Tom Cruise.  It is the sixth film in the Mission: Impossible (M:I) film franchise, which is based on the American television series, “Mission: Impossible” (CBS, 1966-73), that was created by Bruce Geller.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout is a direct sequel to 2015's Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.  Fallout finds the members of the Impossible Mission Force (IMF) racing against time after a mission to obtain plutonium goes wrong.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout opens two years after the events depicted in Rogue Nation, which saw Agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team take down Solomon Lane (Sean Harris), the anarchist mastermind who was the leader of the international criminal consortium, the Syndicate.  Now, the remnants of the Syndicate have reformed into the terrorist organization known as “the Apostles.”

Hunt and his two longest serving IMF teammates, technical field agent, Benjamin “Benji” Dunn (Simon Pegg), and IMF agent Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), are in Berlin, Germany to buy three plutonium cores from Eastern European gangsters before the Apostles do.  The mission goes awry, which forces Hunt to track the cores to whomever or whatever organization now has them.  The person who may know the cores' whereabouts or have them is the mysterious Alanna Mitsopolis a.k.a. “the White Widow” (Vanessa Kirby).

Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett), the new Director of the CIA, is furious at Hunt and current Secretary of the IMF, Al Hunley (Alec Baldwin), for failing to secure the plutonium.  Director Sloane insists that one of her agents, August Walker (Henry Cavill), an assassin working for the CIA's Special Activities Division, accompany and Hunt and his IMF team to Paris to meet the Widow.  What Hunt doesn't know is that a recent ally, former MI6 agent, Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), is also tracking Hunt, and her mission may or may not be a danger to Hunt's.

I divide the six Mission: Impossible movies into two trilogies.  Mission: Impossible (1996), Mission: Impossible II (2000), and Mission: Impossible III (2006) make up the first trilogy.  Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011),  Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015), and Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) form the second trilogy.  Each film in the first trilogy has a different director and a different tone or sensibility.  The second trilogy only has two different directors, Brad Bird for Ghost Protocol and Christopher McQuarrie for Rogue Nation and Fallout.  However, beginning with Ghost Protocol, the films depict IMF as being a team of outsiders fighting both to save the world and to justify its existence, if only for a moment of goodwill immediately after a successful mission.  Afterwards, the security state apparatus of the United States is back to mistrusting the motives of IMF or to being downright hostile to it.  This intensifies the recent films' sense of drama and also sets them apart from earlier M:I films.

The recent film, Fallout, is the best of this second trilogy or second lot of films.  It certainly lives up to both the words “mission” and “impossible” in its name.  Every thing upon which Ethan Hunt embarks is a mission; these can't be adventures or mere chases because every move has a purpose.  The “impossible” comes in because the missions always involve these impossible set pieces, and Fallout sets a new standard in M:I insane set pieces.

Tom Cruise may be Hollywood's most consistent action movie star and its most ambitious.  As of the release of Fallout, the M:I film franchise was 22-years-old, with the seventh and eighth installments already preparing for release in 2021 and 2022 respectively (as of this writing).  One can call M:I III a bit of a box office misstep (but not by much), but as of Ghost Protocol, the franchise has been bigger, better (in some ways) and tastier with each new film.  Fallout, to date, is Tom Cruise's most extravagant, deliriously fun film, blending mind-bending action set pieces with brutal, physical, man-to-man fights that are sometimes to the death.  Cruise is so hungry to blow our minds ever more with each film that he actually was hurt performing a crazy and dangerous stunt himself.

In Christopher McQuarrie, Cruise seems to have found the perfect director for his aspirations for this franchise.  McQuarrie began his Hollywood career as a screenwriter and won an Oscar for writing The Usual Suspects.  In the last decade, however, he has proved to be a director of imaginative and inventive macho films that balance high octane action and conspiratorial intrigue.  McQuarrie gives us meat-and-potatoes action films, but the meat is of a high quality and the potatoes are sustainable and artisanal.  It is no coincidence that this already-good franchise has found a way to improve since McQuarrie began directing it and writing its screenplays.

The supporting cast is also excellent, with Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg finding places to shine next to Cruise's supernova.  Angela Bassett chews up two of her scenes; it is easy to take this magnificent actress for granted.  Of course, you will regret it.  I have to admit Henry Cavill impressed me in a way he has never before, and I have to say that I loved every moment of Rebecca Ferguson.  And it is always good to see Alec Baldwin.

At the end of my review of Rogue Nation, I wrote, “Seriously, Tom Cruise is as glorious as ever as Ethan Hunt.”  That remains true, and Mission: Impossible is also as glorious as ever.  I love it so much that I will say even to people who are not fans of the franchise: see Mission: Impossible – Fallout.  For a moment while I was watching this film, I thought to myself, “M:I has replaced James Bond.”  Yikes!

9 of 10
A+

2019 BAFTA Awards:  1 nomination: “Best Sound” (Gilbert Lake, James Mather, Chris Munro, and Mike Prestwood Smith)

Saturday, May 30, 2020


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Thursday, April 30, 2020

Negromancer News Bits and Bites from April 26th to 30th, 2020 - Update #21

by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

Support Leroy on Patreon:

BLACK AMERICA AND COVID-19 - Crisis or... :

From YahooGMA: (4/28) - Rana Zoe Mungin, a 30-year-old teacher from Brooklyn, died on Monday, April 27th for COVID-19.  She had twice been denied a test for the coronavirus after showing symptoms.  Her family and friends blame racial disparity in the health care system.

From RSNWashPost:  How COVID-19 is a perfect storm for Black Americans.

CORONAVIRUS/COVID-19 NEWS - Hollywood and Beyond:

From YahooNews:  The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has added six possible new symptoms of COVID-19.

From YahooNews:  Why does COVID-19 kill some people and hardly affects others?

From YahooNews:  Yahoo has a dedicated page of links updating news about COVID-19.

From Deadline:  The news site "Deadline" has a dedicated page for news about coronavirus and the film, TV, and entertainment industries.

From TheNewYorker:  The venerable magazine has a dedicate COVID-19 page free to all readers.

From YahooNews:  Re: the federal government's response to COVID-19: What if the most important election of our lifetime was the last one - 2016?

From YahooNews: (4/28) - A consumer group has launched a website to keep track of company and corporations that get those COVID-19 "Paycheck Protection Program" (PPP) small business loans.

From YahooNews: (4/28) - The United States has now has 1 million confirmed cases of COVID-19.

From YahooFinance:  The COVID-19 pandemic may finally cut the cord to cable TV for Americans.

From YahooNews: (4/26) - COVID-19 is breaking the American food chain.

From YahooNews:  (4/26) - An ingredient in the popular heartburn medicine, "Pepcid," is being studied as a treatment for COVID-19.

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS:

MOVIES - From Variety:  Oscar-nominee Adam Driver joins director Jeff Nichols for "Yankee Comandante."

MOVIES - Deadline:  Universal's "Trolls World Tour" (DreamWorks Animation) has earned an estimated $95 million in rental fees during its first 19 days in release on PVOD (premium video on-demand).

From Deadline:  After comments that Universal made in a "Wall Street Journal," the theater chain, AMC, says that it will not carry Univeral's films in its venues.  This is the latest front in the "day-and-date theatrical-VOD" battle.

MOVIES - From BleedingCool:  The Grammy-winning recording duo, Daft Punk, will compose the musical score for Dario Argento's next film, "Black Glasses," his first film in eight years.

POLITICS - From TheDailyBeast:  Fox New has apparently cut ties with MAGA sambos, the vlogging and social media duo, "Diamond & Silk."

STAR TREK - From BleedingCool:  Director Jonathan Frakes, a veteran "Star Trek" actor and director, talks about Season 3 of CBS All Access' "Star Trek: Discovery."

TELEVISION - From DeadlineRyan Murphy teases the return of American Horror Story's "Rubber Man."

TELEVISION - From YahooEntertainmentDr. Anthony Fauci, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, gets his wish.  Brad Pitt played him on the April 25th 2020 broadcast of "Saturday Night Live."

From YahooEntertainmentDr. Anthony Fauci is pleased with Brad Pitt's portrayal of him on SNL.

MOVIES - From Variety:  Paramount Pictures is pushing back the release dates of the next two "Mission: Impossible" films.  "Mission: Impossible 7" movies from July 23, 2021 to November 19, 2021.  "Mission: Impossible 8" moves form August 5, 2022 to November 4, 2022.

OBITS:

From Deadline:  The Indian actor, Irrfan Khan, has died at the age of 53, Wednesday, April 29, 2020.  He is best known to American audiences for his appearances in the films, "The Amazing Spider-Man" and "The Life of Pi" (both in 2012) and "Jurassic World" (2015).

From Variety:  The actor Gene Dynarski died at the age of 86, February 27, 2020.  Dynarski is best known for appearing twice on "Seinfeld," as "Izzy Mandelbaum, Jr.," and twice on the original "Star Trek," most memorably in the episode, "Mudd's Women."

From Deadline:  Country music vocalist (bass singer,) Harold Reid, has died at the age of 80, April 24, 2020.  Reid was best known for his association with the country, gospel, and vocal group, "The Statler Brothers.

From Deadline:  The former president and longtime member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Jorge Camara, has died at the age of 84, Friday, April 24, 2020 of cancer.  The Hollywood Foreign Press Association hands out the "Golden Globes" awards.


Thursday, April 18, 2019

"Batman: The Complete Animated Series" Leads 2019 Home Media Awards

Winners of the 2019 Home Media Awards Announced by ‘Media Play News’

CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Warner Bros. Home Entertainment’s Batman: The Complete Animated Series — Deluxe Limited Edition earned the top prize in the ninth annual Home Media Awards, which honor the best home video releases of 2018, taking "Title of the Year" and "TV on Disc of the Year." It also won "Best Complete TV Series Set."

    ‘Batman: The Animated Series’ Blu-ray takes top honors in 2019 Home Media Awards from Media Play News

Blu-ray Disc of the Year went to Warner Bros. Home Entertainment’s 2001: A Space Odyssey — 50th Anniversary 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray. It also won for Best Restoration.

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment/Marvel Studios won Best Theatrical Disc for Avengers: Infinity War, which also won for Best Superhero Disc.

Warner Bros.’ The Death of Superman was voted Best Direct-to-Video Movie, while Best Catalog Title honors went to Shout! Factory’s Creepshow: Collector’s Edition.

De Niro & De Palma: The Early Films, released by MVD Entertainment Group/Arrow Video, won Best Movie Collection.

Paramount Home Media Distribution scored a triple win with Mission: Impossible — Fallout, which won Best 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Best Digital Presentation of a Movie and Best Action Disc.

Best Digital Presentation of a TV Show went to HBO Home Entertainment’s Barry: Season 1. HBO also won Best TV Movie or Miniseries honors for Sharp Objects.

Winners were chosen by a panel of judges in conjunction with an online consumer vote for eligible titles submitted for consideration by studios and distributors.

The Home Media Awards presented by Media Play News is the most comprehensive awards program covering the home entertainment industry, with dozens of categories honoring the top releases by format, genre and technical achievement. Categories include Best Theatrical Title on Disc, Best Bonus Materials, Best 4K UHD Blu-ray, Best Box Art and more.

For a complete list of winners, visit www.MediaPlayNews.com/home-media-award-winners-2019


About Media Play News:
Media Play News, available at MediaPlayNews.com, is the voice of the $20 billion home entertainment industry, covering all aspects of personal entertainment from the moment it leaves the movie or TV screen and is readied for viewing in the home, in the car, or on a computer, tablet or smartphone. Media Play News also informs readers through daily e-mail newsletters and a monthly print magazine, and is available on social media as @MediaPlayNews on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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Tuesday, December 18, 2018

20 Films Compete for Visual Effects Noms at 91st Academy Awards

20 CONTENDERS ADVANCE IN VFX OSCAR RACE

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 20 films are in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 91st Academy Awards.

The films are listed below in alphabetical order:

“Ant-Man and the Wasp”
“Aquaman”
“Avengers: Infinity War”
“Black Panther”
“Bumblebee”
“Christopher Robin”
“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald”
“First Man”
“Incredibles 2”
“Isle of Dogs”
“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”
“Mary Poppins Returns”
“Mission: Impossible – Fallout”
“Mortal Engines”
“The Nutcracker and the Four Realms”
“Paddington 2”
“A Quiet Place”
“Ready Player One”
“Solo: A Star Wars Story”
“Welcome to Marwen”

The Academy’s Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee determined the preliminary list of films eligible for further awards consideration.  Later this month, the committee will select a shortlist of 10 films that will advance to nominations voting.

Nominations for the 91st Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, January 22, 2019.

The 91st Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 24, 2019, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television.

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Thursday, February 8, 2018

New "Mission: Impossible - Fallout" Teaser Poster - Feb. 2nd, 2018



































Mission: Impossible - Fallout
In Theatres: July 27, 2018

Synopsis: The best intentions often come back to haunt you.  MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT finds Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team (Alec Baldwin, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames) along with some familiar allies (Rebecca Ferguson, Michelle Monaghan) in a race against time after a mission gone wrong.  Henry Cavill, Angela Bassett, and Vanessa Kirby also join the dynamic cast with filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie returning to the helm.

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

Cast: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris, Angela Bassett, Vanessa Kirby, Michelle Monaghan, Alec Baldwin, Wes Bentley, Frederick Schmidt.

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Saturday, April 16, 2016

Negromancer News Bits and Bites from April 10th to 16th, 2016 - Updated #46

Support Leroy on Patreon.

COMICS - From CinemaBlend:  The X-Men film franchise may return to the "the Dark Phoenix Saga" storyline.

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OBITS - From Variety:  Filmmaker Dan Ireland has died at the age of 57, Thursday, April 14, 2016.  Ireland may be best known for directing the 1996 film, "The Whole Wide World," a biopic of Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan the Barbarian/Cimmerian.

MOVIES - From Variety:  Kevin Hart and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson are in early talks to lead Sony's "Jumanji" reboot.

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MOVIES - YahooMovies:  A first look at the "Pete's Dragon" remake, due in August 2016.

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CULTURE - From RollingStone:  Matt Taibbi says college kids aren't the only ones demanding "safe spaces."

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BLACK LIVES MATTER - From RSN:  Michelle Alexander on Bill Clinton's fake apology for his attack on BLM activists.  Also an overview of the "New Democrats" and their 1994 crime bill.

From RSN:  Alexander says an apology is not enough.

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CRIME - From RSN:  Chicago Police have "no regard for minority lives." D'uh?

From the NYTimes:  And Chicago courts, judges, and prosecutors are racist, too.

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TELEVISION - From BleedingCool:  Crispin Glover has joined Starz's "American Gods," the TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman's fantastic novel.

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MOVIES - From TheTrackingBoard:  Andy Serkis is working on an adaptation of the horror novel, "The Ritual."

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TELEVISION - From Variety:  Amazon and Lionsgate are developing a drama series inspired by the characters and themes of Bob Dylan's songs.

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MOVIES - From Variety:  James Cameron plans to make four "Avatar" sequels.

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TELEVISION - From Deadline:  Stephen King's novella, "The Mist," has already been a movie.  Now, it is being developed as a television series for Spike.

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LAKERS - From YahooSports:  Kobe Bryant goes out with an explosion in his last game for the Los Angeles Lakers.

From YahooFinance:  Kobe's finale game sets a record for ESPN2 and causes Twitter some glitches and crashes the Lakers Twitter account.

From CBSSports:  The NBA thanks Kobe for 20 years.

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MOVIES - From Variety:  Warren Beatty is considering a sequel to his 1990 film, "Dick Tracy," which won an Oscar.  In the meantime, he is working on a film in which he plays infamous billionaire, Howard Hughes, whom Leonardo DiCaprio also played in "The Aviator."

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COMICS - From Variety:  Channing Tatum tweets that he has joined "Kingsman: The Golden Circle," the sequel to "Kingsman: The Secret Service."

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COMICS - From Variety:  Michael Keaton being considered to play a villain in 2017's "Spider-Man: Homecoming."

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COMICS - From YouTube:  Dark Horse Comics releases a trailer for its omnibus collection of the manga, "I Am a Hero."

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LAKERS - From GQ:  Nike's Farewell ad for Kobe Bryant is fantastic.

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COMICS - From BBCNews:  The titles of the new Spider-Man film is "Spider-Man: Homecoming."

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COMICS - From YahooMovies:  Will Smith talks about finally meeting Jared Leto, with whom he had scenes in "Suicide Squad."

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COMICS - From YahooTV:  Here's what you need to know about Marvel's "The Defenders."

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COMICS - From YahooMovies:  See the first trailer for Marvel Studios, "Doctor Strange."

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MOVIES - From YahooNews:  Of course, you know that the "Men in Black" franchise and the "21/22 Jump Street" film franchise are coming together for a mashup film...  Well, Sony has announced the title of that film - MIB 23...

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COMICS - From CinemaBlend:  "Deadpool" was a hit, but one thing the bosses at 20th Century Fox wanted could have ruined the film.

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COMICS - From BleedingCool:  Elton John may join "Kingsman: The Golden Circle," the sequel to "Kingsman: The Secret Service."

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MOVIES - From Variety:  MPAA chief touts record global box office and improved diversity in filmmaking.

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COMICS - From TheWrap:  Marvel to start filming "The Defenders" later this year, according to one of the stars.

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COMICS - From TheWrap:  At CinemaCon, Warner Bros. announced that Ben Affleck will direct a solo Batman movie.

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MOVIES - From TheWrap:  Sylvester appeared at CinemaCon and announced an untitled movie project with STX Entertainment.

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MOVIES - From Variety:  Tom Cruise promises "incredible set pieces" for sixth installment of "Mission: Impossible."

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MOVIES - From Deadline:  The Fast and Furious franchise is creating a new character to be played by Scott Eastwood, son of Clint Eastwood.

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MOVIES - From Variety:  Super movie producer, Frank Marshall, talks about many things, including his belief that only Harrison Ford should play Indiana Jones.

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BOX OFFICE - From Variety:  Melissa McCarthy's "The Boss" holds on to win the 4/8 to 4/10/2016 weekend box office with a take of $23.58 million.  "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" finishes second with $23.34 million.

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MOVIES - From Variety:  Steven Spielberg and Mark Rylance are reuniting for "The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara."  Rylance recently won an Oscar for Spielberg's "Bridge of Spies."

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COMICS - From Variety:  Tessa Thompson of "Creed" is joining "Thor 3."  She may be the female lead as Natalie Portman, who plays Dr. Jane Foster, is not returning.

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MOVIES - From Variety:  Although the live-action "Jungle Book" does not open in North America until this coming Friday, Disney is already developing a sequel.

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CULTURE - From NYTimes:  Congratulation, you're fired.

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BOX OFFICE - From BoxOfficeMojo:  The winner of the 4/8 to 4/10/2016 weekend box office is "The Boss," starring Melissa McCarthy, with an estimated haul of $23.4 million, although "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" is also in the $23.4 range.

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SPORTS - From TheVerge:  Michael B. Jordan joins Kobe Bryant for a new "Apple TV" ad.

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AWARDS - From YahooMovies:  "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" wins "Movie of the Year" at the MTV Movie Awards.

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COMICS - From TheWrap:  Early reviews of "Captain America: Civil War" are quite favorable.

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From BleedingCool:  Actor David Anders announces at Emerald City ComicCon that he will play "Loki" on TV... for someone.

TRAILERS:

From YouTube:  Trailer #2 for "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows."