Thursday, June 20, 2019

Nickelodeon Announces the Return of "Are You Afraid of the Dark?"

Nickelodeon Reimagines Beloved Anthology Are You Afraid of the Dark? As Brand-New Limited Series

Production to Begin this Month on Three-Night Event Premiering October

Share it: @Nickelodeon #AreYouAfraidoftheDark

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nickelodeon is reimagining its chillingly beloved anthology, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, as a brand-new limited series premiering this October (2019). Through three hour-long episodes, the series introduces an entirely new Midnight Society group of kids who tell a terrifying tale about the Carnival of Doom, only to have the events of the story come to life. Production on the new Are You Afraid of the Dark? will commence this month in Vancouver, Canada.

The new members of the Midnight Society are: Gavin, played by Sam Ashe Arnold (Best.Worst.Weekend.Ever.); Akiko, played by Miya Cech (Rim of the World, Always Be My Maybe); Louise, played by Tamara Smart (Artemis Fowl, The Worst Witch); Graham, played by Jeremy Taylor (It, Goosebumps 2:Haunted Halloween); and Rachel, played by Lyliana Wray (Top Gun: Maverick, Black-ish). The Carnival of Doom’s ringmaster, Mr. Tophat, is played by Rafael Casal (Blindspotting).

The Are You Afraid of the Dark? limited series is produced by ACE Entertainment (To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, The Perfect Date) with ACE founder Matt Kaplan and Spencer Berman serving as executive producers. The series is written by BenDavid Grabinski (Skiptrace) and directed by Dean Israelite (Power Rangers movie, Project Almanac), both of whom will also executive produce.

Inspired by the classic art of storytelling, Nickelodeon’s original Are You Afraid of the Dark? (series ran from 1992-1996 and 1999-2000) broke the mold by exploring a whole new genre of entertainment. One of the net’s most iconic series from the ‘90s, Are You Afraid of the Dark? delivered riveting stories of horror to young audiences, all from a kid’s perspective. Are You Afraid of the Dark? was created by D.J. MacHale and Ned Kandel.

Nickelodeon, now in its 40th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The brand includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, digital, location based experiences, publishing and feature films. For more information or artwork, visit http://www.nickpress.com. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB).

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"LEGO City Adventures" Debuts Sat., July 22nd on Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon Debuts LEGO® City Adventures, Brand-New Animated Series on Saturday, June 22, at 11:30 a.m. (ET/PT)

Share it: @Nickelodeon @NickAnimation #Nickelodeon

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nickelodeon and the LEGO Group today the all-new high-stakes CG-animated comedy series, LEGO® City Adventures, will premiere on Saturday, June 22, 2019, at 11:30 a.m. (ET/PT). A rollercoaster ride of fantastic fun, the series (10 episodes) depicts the funny, smart, and dynamic slices of life within the sprawling and diverse LEGO City community, following the absurd and action-packed adventures of its residents. Premieres continue Saturdays at 11:30 a.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon.

    “We’re thrilled to partner with Nickelodeon for this important evolution of LEGO CITY given how well positioned they are to engage children and families with relevant programming.”

“LEGO CITY is our strongest evergreen property globally, and for the first time we are leveraging episodic content to establish characters and personalities that bring the city to life,” said Jill Wilfert, Vice President, Licensing & Entertainment for LEGO Group. “We’re thrilled to partner with Nickelodeon for this important evolution of LEGO CITY given how well positioned they are to engage children and families with relevant programming.”

“The LEGO brand is known for creating imaginative and innovative content for kids, and we are excited to collaborate with the LEGO Group to bring the unique characters, style and humor of LEGO City Adventures to life on Nickelodeon,” said Layla Lewis, SVP of Global Acquisitions and Content Partnerships, Nickelodeon.

LEGO City Adventures explores the intertwining paths of the city's everyday heroes as they work together to stop a mysterious master criminal who begins to wreak havoc on their town. In the premiere episode “Cubs and Robbers,” a movie promotion stunt goes wrong, unleashing a humongous ‘Cubby the Cop’ balloon on the city. Then, in “Billy the Bug,” Fire Chief McCloud accidentally buys a malfunctioning Twirly Hat for her nephew.

Citizens of LEGO City introduced throughout the series include: Sergeant Duke DeTain (Joe Zieja, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4), an overly heroic cop; Freya McCloud (Misty Lee, DC Super Hero Girls), a crisis-ready fire chief; Shirley Keeper (Alex Cazares, The Loud House), the grumpy street sweeper; Harl Hubbs (Daniel MK Cohen, Fixed), an overeager handyman; Tippy Dorman (James Arnold Taylor, Star Wars: The Clone Wars), an expert doorman with a secret; Solomon Fleck (Roger Craig Smith, Avengers Assemble), the dedicated city mayor; Percival “Wheelie” Wheeler (Mick Lauer, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal), a skateboarding police chief and more.

Created and produced by LEGO Group, LEGO City Adventures is also produced by Flaunt Animation (Scotland) and Passion Pictures (France) and written by Jon Colton Barry (Phineas and Ferb), Steven Banks (SpongeBob SquarePants), Jamie Moyer (Modern Family) and Brian Hunt (Second City Chicago). Jason Oliveri is the executive in charge of LEGO City Adventures for Nickelodeon.

Following its U.S. launch, the series will roll out on several of Nickelodeon’s international territories in fall 2019.


About Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon, now in its 40th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The brand includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, digital, location based experiences, publishing and feature films. For more information or artwork, visit http://www.nickpress.com. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB).

About The LEGO Group
The LEGO Group is a privately held, family-owned company with headquarters in Billund, Denmark, and main offices in Enfield, USA, London, UK, Shanghai, China, and Singapore. Founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen, and based on the iconic LEGO® brick, it is one of the world's leading manufacturers of play materials. Guided by the company spirit: "Only the best is good enough”, the company is committed to the development of children and aims to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow through creative play and learning. LEGO products are sold worldwide and can be virtually explored at www.LEGO.com. For more news from the LEGO Group, information about our financial performance and responsibility engagement, please visit http://www.LEGO.com/aboutus.

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Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Review: "Us" Comes After Us

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 5 (of 2019) by Leroy Douresseaux

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

Us (2019)
Running time: 116 minutes (1 hour, 56 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence/terror, and language
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Jordan Peele
PRODUCERS:  Jason Blum, Ian Cooper, Sean McKittrick, and Jordan Peele
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Mike Gioulakis
EDITOR:  Nicholas Monsour
COMPOSER: Michael Abels

HORROR with elements of mystery and thriller

Starring:  Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Anna Diop, Cali Sheldon, Noelle Sheldon, Madison Curry, Ashley McKoy, and Napiera Groves

Us is a 2019 horror film written and directed by Jordan Peele.  The film focuses on a family terrorized by group of doppelgängers.

Adelaide Wilson (Lupita Nyong'o) is married to an ambitious man, Gabriel “Gabe” Wilson (Winston Duke), and the couple has two precocious children, daughter Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and son Jason (Evan Alex).  When she was a child, young Adelaide (Madison Curry) had a terrifying experience at the boardwalk at Santa Cruz beach after she wandered away from her parents and entered a hall of mirrors.  Now, something from her past has returned,  “Red” and “Tethered,” it threatens her family and everything she believes.

I consider Jordan Peele's Get Out to be a landmark film, with its allusions to the dangers people of color, especially African-Americans, face in America.  When you get past that, Get Out is also a clever allegory to the enslavement and exploitation of black people by white people.

Jordan Peele's new film, the much anticipated Us, is one I think that I will spend days... or even longer... unpacking.  Saying that this film has themes of oppression, the crisis of human existence, and the difficulty of really knowing even the people closest to you is just to scratch the surface.  This movie is multi-layered and rife with allegories, metaphors, and symbolism, so much so that I think that some commentators have bought in too much to the idea that this film's most dominate idea is that we are our own worst enemies.  The film does indeed point that out, but much of this film's narrative delves into the nature of evil and the suffering of the oppressed.  One might even describe this film as being about a slave insurrection, but that might be a bit too much of a stretch for some viewers, especially those who think Green Book is just the movie we need for these times in America.

That aside, Us is truly a horror movie, almost like a slasher film with a few touches of apocalyptic fiction.  The chase – the pursuit of the victim(s) by the killer(s) – has never been done the way Peele does it in Us.  Peele does what only a skilled horror movie director can do, put us right there with Adelaide and her family as they run away from a threat that not only wants to kill them, but also wants to enjoy some torture time before the stabbing and screaming.  Us' killers are as relentless as Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers.  [Meanwhile, Biblical foreboding suggests that an even larger danger looms.]  I don't think any other horror movie has made a pair of scissors as scary as Us does, although there have been some gruesome moments featuring scissors in horror movies going back decades.  Peele makes scissors scarier than horror movie machetes, axes, and large kitchen knives.

As Us' “scream queen” (of a sort), Lupita Nyong'o gives a riveting and hypnotic performance as Adelaide.  I must say that if a horror movie lead every deserved an Oscar nomination, Lupita certainly deserves one for her turn as Adelaide.  The great actress Kathy Bates won a best actress Oscar for playing Annie Wilkes in Rob Reiner's film, Misery (1990), which was based on a Stephen King novel.  With that in mind, Lupita deserves at least an Oscar nomination.

I don't think that Us is quite on par with Get Out, but Us is equally (if not more) thought-provoking.  What does it all mean?  I guess in the end the meaning is all up to Us.

9 of 10
A+

Friday, March 22, 2019


The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Monday, June 17, 2019

BOOM! Studios from Diamond Distributors for June 19, 2019

BOOM! STUDIOS

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Dark Horse Comics from Diamond Distributors for June 19, 2019

DARK HORSE COMICS

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DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for June 19, 2019

DC COMICS

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Dynamite Entertainment from Diamond Distributors for June 19, 2019

DYNAMITE

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