Tag: movies

My Top (and Bottom) Media for 2021 – Blogmas 2021

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Welcome to the world of hyper focus.

This year I went from one fandom to another, with a third being started and paused. No really, I can flat out confirm that I really haven’t done much in way of media this year. But let’s break it down, because why not, right?

In terms of TV, my favorite is obviously 9-1-1. I discovered the show by way of Tumblr, when I was looking to get out of the TOG fandom community. While not the perfect show in any sense, I really have enjoyed it. What I really like is the feeling of family I’ve found thanks to discord. I love pretty much all of the characters in the show, and most of the storylines as well. Season Five may be a fever dream, but it’s still pretty good.

Following closely behind is of course the spinoff, 9-1-1 Lone Star. This one is a major surprise to me because I never figured I would enjoy it nearly as much as the OG. It features two of my favorite couples, #Tarlos (TK and Carlos) and the Ryders (Judd and his wife Grace). Honestly, the only reason this show isn’t tied with the OG show is because it have a problem with being the Owen Strand show. (And the fact that Owen keeps on forgetting that he has a son. It’s an issue I want to play with in the next few days.)

Also included on this list is One Chicago, which I’m grouping together because of the fact it is so intertwined. Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D. are both really good shows that are more grounded in reality, especially when compared to 9-1-1 and Lone Star. But I do have some problems with certain characters and storylines, and honestly some of the choices the writers have made. I’ll be getting back to these two shows very soon.

I have also fallen for all the new Marvel content. WandaVision, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, and Hawkeye have all impressed me in various ways. All four shows had strong messages that really stood out. They’re not perfect (I’m looking at you Loki), but they are a lot of fun. I also include Black Widow and Shang-Chi on this list, as both were pretty great.

Before we get to the things I think weren’t worth my time, I want to highlight the two films that I think were okay. Not great, but not terrible. Step Up: Revolution was a fun little ride, but there was little substance to it. MindGamers was a literal mind fuck, but it had Oliver Stark, so it automatically is better than bad.

And now on to the negative.

One of the biggest disappointments I watched this year was Into the Badlands. I really really wanted to like it, but it was boring and unimaginative. I have a full review on why I wasn’t a fan, and why I DNFed the entire series midway through the first season. But it just… wasn’t worth it at all.

And then there’s Chicago Med. Now, I won’t say I hated it. I will just say it bored me. I don’t want to go into too much detail because I’m trying to finish off the first season, but I will just say that it’s a medical drama that just isn’t for me.

The new Animaniacs also debuted late last year, though I didn’t get to it until the beginning of this year. It did not live up to the original show in any way. I never thought I’d want to turn off the show I had loved all throughout my childhood.

And finally, the show that I DNFed, but that I’m returning to at some point. I watched part of the new S.W.A.T. series starring Shemar Moore and thought I’d really like it, but I just got stuck with it. It’s on my list of a show to catch up with once I finally finish One Chicago.

As you can see, it’s been a pretty light year. I stuck with the show that really got me hooked again (especially after leaving The Old Guard fandom behind). Hopefully next year things can get more back on track and I’ll be able to watch more.

Until next time!

WTF Did I Just Watch – Blogtober 2021

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

So, I like the actor Oliver Stark. He’s pretty talented, and he’s one of the stars of 9-1-1. Obviously that means that I’m going to go looking to see what else he has made in the entertainment industry.

Today on Discord, a group of us got together to watch one of his films. It was a trip, and that’s putting it mildly. We decided to do this because this week there isn’t a new episode of 9-1-1, but because of time zones and people’s schedules, we’re watching the same film three times.

We watched 2017’s MindGamers.

Let me start by making it very clear that this is an R-Rated film., for violence, language, some minor sexuality, and drug use. Also, there is some visible animal injury, though it was done in CGI. Be forewarned, it’s something I wish I could have known about because I would have probably skipped this film if I had a clue. So, under seventeens, stay away. Over seventeens should also stay away, because I literally just watched the thing and I can’t tell you what the hell I just watched. It’s a mind screw, easy.

MindGamers tells the tale of a group of students who make an amazing scientific breakthrough. They discover how to link people’s minds through a quantum computer. Unfortunately, this discovery leads them down a series of events that doesn’t quite end well for the gifted students.

Oliver Stark plays Dylan, one of the students. He’s portrayed as a young and free man, taking some fun drugs, but is also exceptionally smart. He dresses in an alternative style which sticks out in most scenes. No, serious, he sticks out. Most everyone else is wearing normal clothes. But he’s hot, even before he started working out for 9-1-1 and bulking up.

The thing about MindGamers is that it’s trying too hard to be too many things. There subtle references to many of the popular Sci-Fi films of the decade. On top of that, but religion plays a surprising role, both as a good thing, and a bad.

Another big issue I had was in the editing. It was hard to figure out what was considered reality and what was in the characters’ heads at many points. I get that they were trying to do something interesting, but it missed it’s mark several times. At one point on Discord, the group of us watching together (six I believe), all said at the same time that we had no fucking idea what we were watching. I swear several scenes were edited out of the final release.

The cast was… fine I guess. Oliver got to show off his parkour abilities at one point. Sam Neill was in this, to my great surprise, and I may have wept for his career for a moment. (Not Oliver’s, he was just getting started at this point.) The only other person who stuck out was Tom Payne, because he landed the lead role of Malcolm Bright on Prodigal Son, and I saw beyond too many promos for that show when I was blasting through 9-1-1 earlier this year.

I think this film was trying to be smart and trying to say something. Unfortunately, whatever it was trying to say got lost in translation, at least to me. You may enjoy it, but the only time I’ll pick this one up on my own is when I’m having a wine night. Watching it tipsy may change my opinion.

Until next time!

The Old Guard 2 News – Official x3

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

It’s taken 421 days. A bunch of unofficial announcements. A disappointing bait and switch during a weeklong press event. A twitter and tumblr takeover.

Yesterday, at 10:15 AM PST, Netflix finally officially announced the sequel.

I’ll be honest, I really wasn’t expected to hear anything until next month, as just yesterday Netflix announced a three hour fan event called Tudum. I’d assumed we’d hear something at that point. After all, The Old Guard was listed on the official list twice. And since Charlize Theron was in the teaser video as well, I had hope.

But I guess the Powers That Be finally heard us, and they teamed up with Deadline to officially announce the sequel… and something else.

So, within all the hype of the announcement, it took us fans a moment to notice something about the tweet. We have a new director. Seriously, I don’t think anyone actually noticed for like ten minutes.

Gina Prince-Bythewood has stepped aside to let someone else helm the sequel.

Now, I’m not pissed about this. Prince-Bythewood did such an amazing job with adapting the source material. She advocated for so much, including the van speech and also to give Nile her voice in the film. She pushed so hard every step of the way, including making sure that the post production team was more than 80% female, which is basically unheard of in Hollywood. It looks like there was a scheduling conflict that caused her to have to step back as director, though she still remains as a producer.

Victoria Mahoney has signed on to direct the sequel.

Up until yesterday, I only knew of her because of her making Star Wars history when she was handpicked by J.J. Abrams to direct the second unit on Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, making her the first woman to do so. She has directed episodes of some of the most popular and high profile shows on television, including Grey’s Anatomy and Lovecraft Country. But I’m okay with this. She seems to know her way around a camera, and how to direct for both the silver screen, and the small screen.

Prince-Bythewood seems to have been the one to handpick her replacement. Or, at least heavily recommend her.

And there’s this other thing. I’m not exactly worrying about this person taking over. A friend on Twitter happened to be looking back on some of her tweets (she’s friends with Ava DuVernay, so plus one) and discovered that she watched The Old Guard right after it premiered… and she got it. She got everything that the film was trying to say.

I think we’re in good hands.

On the flip side, we also got the news that the entire cast would be returning! I’m actually really excited about this. The cast has remained on friendly terms (at least from what we’ve seen from social media), and I’m hopeful that will continue.

The only real wonder any of us have right now is that we don’t exactly know when filming will start. The thing is, all of the cast is involved in multiple projects. Currently, production is scheduled to begin during the first quarter of 2022, which would make a realistic premier timeframe of winter 2022, or Spring 2023, depending on postproduction.

All in all, I’m very excited that finally, we have the confirmation from Netflix themselves that this is happening. And now the fans can cheer on the cast and crew every step of the way.

Until next time!

Happy Anniversary to The Old Guard!! (TOGTakeover Recap)

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Quick note: for some reason this didn’t post yesterday, though it was scheduled to do so. My apologies for any confusion.

A year ago today, what has become on of my favorite films released onto Netflix with not that much fanfare. I certainly didn’t hear about it, and at the time I was watching films in all of the genres that The Old Guard was sectioned into. (I watched it like two weeks later thanks to Tumblr.)

I had been planning to do a rewatch and livetweet it, but today has been a pretty exhausting day (moving beds around, it’s a thing). So instead, I want to talk about it more generally.

Over on Twitter, TOGTakeover has been an event started by nicelytousled on Tumblr. Every day they have posted a prompt or question to the fans, who all answered in such spectacular fashion. I wanted to go ahead and go through some of my answers here, and also expand on them.

Day One: Favorite Character. So like many answers, this one was hard to answer because truthfully, I love them all in different ways. But for this I went with the complex, complicated character brought to life magnificently by Matthias Schoenaerts. Booker stole most of the scenes he was in (the others were taking by KiKi Layne). I love characters that make mistakes and have to atone for their actions. And Schoenaerts brought all sorts of emotion to the role, in a way that the comic just didn’t really do. At least in my opinion.

Day Two: Favorite Action Scene. I was late to answering this, so I had a snarky response. “Since answering ‘the whole damn movie gave me the sequel please’ wouldn’t be in the best taste…” Anyway, I went with the plane fight. There’s something about Nile’s raw anger and emotion verses Andy’s sarcastic smile that just does it for me every time. And I have to give the fight team and cinematographer credit. It really looks like they are making full contact, even though we all know they aren’t. Props to them.

Day Three: Favorite Relationship. I absolutely copped out on this one. Because my feed on Twitter was filled with posts about the two obvious relationships (Joe and Nicky’s romance of the ages and Andy and Quynh’s tortured romance), I decided to focus on a relationship that was a bit broader. I focused on the found family aspect of the film. Even though the team is broken several times (Lycon succumbing to his wounds in front of Andy and Quynh, Quynh being dragged away from Andy (and Joe and Nicky, though they weren’t with the two women at the time), Booker’s actions splitting the team, and then the team leaving Booker at the end of the film), there is very much a sense of family. Andy is the eldest sister, Joe and Nicky the older brothers (… don’t think too much into this metaphor, just go with it), Booker the younger brother, and Nile the new sister just finding her footing. It works for me.

(Also, like less than an hour after I posted that, we got the news from Charlize Theron about the sequel, so you can imagine how the event changed.)

Day Four: Favorite Domestic Scene. There aren’t really too many “domestic” scenes in the film, if you really think about it. At least not with more than two members present. But I absolutely have to go with the Marrakech meeting scene. The family is together, baklava is gambled on and Booker takes Nicky’s money, and of course plans are made. There’s such a good atmosphere in this scene that it really sets the tone for the entire film.

Day Five: Favorite Antagonist. I just couldn’t decide on who I wanted to focus on for this day. A lot of people used it to attack Booker, which, okay, fair. But I really detest the true villains in this one. So instead, I went for James Copley, the other turncoat in the film. If you really think about it, did he at least have good reason to do what he did? Okay, probably not. But his heart was in the right place.

Day Six: Favorite Quote. This film is beyond quotable, but one quote still stands out to me, so much so I want to hang it on my wall. “Just because we keep living, doesn’t mean we stop hurting.” Booker’s pain comes through so much during the campfire cave scene, and this quote is absolutely in my mind when I think about the film. It’s absolutely true in so many ways.

Day Seven: Favorite Outfit. Okay, look. Nile has the best wardrobe in the entire film, full stop. From her plane outfit, to that amazing green and white bomber jacket during the rescue, to her pub outfit. I want to shake her stylist’s hand please.

Day Eight: Favorite Moment from the Comics. Am I fully prepared to get yelled at for saying that I’m not a fan of the comics? Yes, yes I am. I just cannot take the art style of the main series. However… the first issue of the prequel/anthology comic Tales Through Time has a scene where Nicky and Joe dance in a park, and it’s just wonderful.

Day Nine: Favorite Cast Member. This is one of those questions where there is no wrong answer. The whole cast if perfect and priceless and wonderful and I cannot wait to see them again.

The true answer is that I would sell my soul to meet Matthias Schoenaerts. Fight me.

Day Ten: Favorite Song From the Soundtrack. So, I do this thing where when I wake up, I mess with this “daily playlist”. It usually just has ten songs on it, but I listen to it when I’m driving (if not listening to a podcast or the rare audiobook), when I’m in the shower, or when I’m trying to write. The Old Guard soundtrack has made almost permanent status on that list. The song on there the longest (because I checked)? “The World We Made” by Ruelle. It’s from the church fight, and it’s fire.

Bonus Question: Song to be Included in the Sequel? I don’t have a specific song that should be included. What I would love is to have songs that feature artists from whatever countries end up being in the film. It would put another “multicultural” spin on the series, which can only be made better at this point.

Day Eleven: Favorite Headcanon. So I had two for this prompt, but I only posted one because I honestly didn’t want to deal with some of the anti!Booker squad. Yes, they exist, and they annoy me.

The first headcanon is the one I posted. I think they collect degrees a la The Cullens. Between all of them, they have received a degree in pretty much every subject. At one of their more isolated and secure safehouses, they have every degree sorted by year and earner. They’ve also made a game out of it. If someone within a hundred years gets a duplicate degree to someone else, they have to by the alcohol for the original earner for a decade. Joe and Nicky do it all the time just to annoy Booker.

The second headcanon is something I’ve really thought about, and I even used it as a throwaway line in “The Genius Immortal”. Joe and Nicky weren’t angry at Booker for betraying them and letting them get captured. That was just annoying. No, they were more pissed because Andy lost her immortality, and they took out that anger on him. Once they completely cool down and whatever, he’ll be back with the team before the end of five years, give or take a month.

Day Twelve: One Thing You Want to See in a the Sequel. (The question was adjusted due to the sequel being officially announced by Charlize) For this one, I decided to ignore the “one thing” and run with it. So my original answer was, and I quote, “Booker Redemption. Family Feels. Nile finding her place in the team. More of the Immortal Husbands, and damnit give us that Andy/Quynh kiss. (And Joe’s shorts. I beg you.)” I’m not picky. Not at all.

Day Thirteen: What the Movie Means to You. I was brief on twitter, so here is where I’m going to expand my answer.

When I found The Old Guard in July, I wasn’t in the best place. I was depressed. I’d been out of work since April, thanks to their lackluster response to the pandemic. I was playing Lego games to try to stay sane, but that was honestly stressing me out. And I was coming off the disaster that was The Reading Rush (which was completely canceled this year, for obvious reasons). I was a mess.

I happened to go onto Tumblr, and I saw that some of my mutuals were posting about this Netflix film with good LGBT+ representation. And I was intrigued, you know? But I honestly didn’t put too much stock it what Tumblr said, because their suggestions had always been hit or miss with me. But after a few days and seeing that more mutuals were also loving the film, I took a chance. I turned it on. Two hours later I was a changed woman.

The community can be toxic sometimes. The battle lines can be drawn and redrawn a hundred different ways. But there’s something about this movie. I always see something different every time I watch it. Maybe a line hits differently, or I notice a slight gesture that I hadn’t seen before. There is always something.

This film changed my life. That’s why I can’t shut up about it.

Until next time!

(As a quick aside, it’s really surprising to see that Netflix and Skydance failed to even mention the film today, even though they have done so for other properties on their debut anniversaries. The fans are not exactly having it tonight.)

The Old Guard 2 CONFIRMED! Again!

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Haha, yes I went there. Let me explain.

So, back at the end of January, Production Weekly announced that The Old Guard 2: Force Multiplied was in Active Development. The fandom went wild, because that was the first time we had some sort of confirmation.

Then, in April during an Instagram AMA, Matthias Schoenaerts (Booker) answered a fan question regarding whether there were plans for The Old Guard 2. His answer was a very big YES.

On June 15th, Greg Rucka, co-creator and writer of The Old Guard (both comic and film) said during an interview that the script was done and in the hands of Netflix. He also implied that there would be an announcement in a few weeks.

By the way, that interview came on the heels of the massively disappointing “Netflix Geeked Week”, which I did a write up on earlier this month. Basically Rucka just got the fans to put away their pitchforks because TOG had been in one of the press releases, and then never made an appearance during the week long live stream. We all now believe that contracts were being finished.

And that now leads to now.

On Monday, someone decided to start a movement called TOG Takeover. Each day, fans of The Old Guard would tweet an answer to a prompt, while also tagging Netflix and Skydance. It’s been pretty popular, and growing each day. I’ve been taking part, and keeping up with everything while I’ve been dying of my lovely sunburn (which is getting better, finally).

So there I was yesterday, standing in line at Michaels to buy a planner, when Twitter started to explode. Now, I was just expecting another slew of retweets of people’s responses to TOG Takeover. No, not five minutes prior, Variety.com published a blurb for their “Just for Variety” column.

The title was this: Charlize Theron Says ‘Old Guard’ Sequel Script Complete, Filming to Begin Early Next Year (EXCLUSIVE) (If anyone wants to see it in full, here is the link.)

You can probably imagine how Twitter reacted.

Yes, it’s been a damn party.

Like 99% of the posts from the hour after that little blurb came out were people screaming, thanking everyone and their personal God, and basically losing their collective minds. It was beautiful. It was also hilarious, but that’s just because of how many people said the same thing within seconds of each other.

Basically, we have had everyone except for Netflix confirm the damn sequel at this point. Two actors, the writer, and hell, a production announcement. Will we get an announcement? At this point, I’m not waiting for one. We’ll probably hear something at the end of 2021, or maybe before/as filming starts in 2022.

But suffice to say, TOG Takeover technically worked. Name another fandom that had a complete meltdown over sixty one words. (Then again, we all died over the 145 words in Joe’s “van speech”, so I shouldn’t be talking.

So, yeah. I’m a very happy person right now.

Until next time!

Netflix’s Geeked Week – A Review

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

This past week, Netflix has hosted on their various social media sites a virtual con-like experience called “Geeked Week”. It was a celebration of all things geek on Netflix.

And, it was! There were a lot of announcements, and a good variety of chosen properties.

But that’s where my compliments end. You see, when they announced the show, the press release mentioned The Old Guard. For that reason, we expected something. Maybe not the official sequel announcement (mention in Production Weekly and Matthias’ IG story aside), but at least something. The blooper reel, the Church deleted scene (which we know exists), a discussion with the director, or with the writer. Just something.

We got nothing. Ok, well, that’s not technically true. During the sizzle reel that was used as a bumper between the main 40-ish minute show and the hour plus long post show, there was a quick shot of Andy and Nile’s fight scene on the plane that lasted just over a second.

And that’s it.

Unless I’m incorrect, which is totally possible because I’m picky and I don’t really watch a lot of Netflix originals, every other property in the sizzle reel was mentioned or talked about. In some way.

But not The Old Guard. Not this week. Especially not during Pride Month. (Added insult to injury).

So, for that reason alone, I’m fuming. But let me talk about the rest of the show before I completely lose my temper (again).

The show was structured between an approximately 40 minute main show with the two hosts, then a hour plus long post-show with an additional guest or two. The main show featured most of the announcements, while the post show was more of the deep dives and talks. It was also made more casual.

The main show was… a mess. There were a variety of announcements each day, each within a basic theme (main properties, sci-fi/fantasy, comics, animation, and video games), though there was some overlap. A good example is that Cobra Kai was talked about on the final day (gaming), but only in the post show. It would have fit in better earlier in the week.

The two hosts, who I will discuss later, would banter and set up each property, usually with some very awkward jokes that didn’t always land. It was especially obvious when there wasn’t a trailer to debut, because it seemed like vamping between storyboards or set photos just didn’t work. There was a weird focus on some shows, which could be over five-eight minutes (Captain Laserhawk from today was a near seven minutes, with very little to show for it). Other things that people were really excited about would barely get two minutes during the main show, including Shadow and Bone and The Witcher. You know, two of the biggest properties on Netflix right now.

The post show also wasn’t that good. The two hosts were joined by one person every day (except for Thursday, where there were two guests), and they went into a deep dive approach with what was shown during the main show. For Sweet Tooth, the main show gave us the blooper reel. The post show was two of the stars eating candy from around the world. Other times it was discussions with directors or actors or animators. All could have been well and good, but the format dragged on for too long. Each segment seemed to take longer and longer.

At some point, they would also do something interactive. One day was the hosts being quizzed on how to spell some fantasy words (I am not joking), hosted by the guy who created one of the languages in Game of Thornes. (No, I’m not looking up the name of the language. I don’t care that much). It… wasn’t pretty. Another day had them playing Pictionary with various Netflix titles, and two of the hosts kept drawing penises as the beginning of each drawing. Because nothing says humor more than drawing a dick. Yesterday, they were gifted new action figures from Masters of the Universe, and they opened them and played around. Because content. Then one of the hosts spent the rest of the time building a Gundam model kit, which made things awkward. They kept trying to include him into conversations, but he was too concentrated on building.

It just didn’t work. The two hosts, who I’m not naming on account that this really isn’t their fault, didn’t have much to work with. It was clear that the banter and jokes was prewritten, and it felt as though they hadn’t been able to over the script before going live. Especially the first two days, everything felt stilted and awkward. It also didn’t help that a good portion of what they were showing was more like announcements instead of trailers, with the images already on timers. If and when they sped through lines, they had to wait for the images to catch up, which led to a lot of dead air.

Honestly, it was a mess. Sure there were some announcements that I was generally excited for (Locke and Key confirmed for October), and a lot of the fandoms were happy with the Shadow and Bone season two announcement, but it felt like… pandering? I guess that’s the word I’m going with. 80% of what was shown could have easily been dropped onto Twitter or Youtube, with no one to be the wiser. Instead, a bloated and inconcieved show was brought to light, and it was clear that whoever was running it didn’t exactly know what they were doing.

What killed me (besides the lack of acknowledgement of TOG) was that the viewers were expecting more. Instead of release dates, it was a dripple of news that could have been tossed onto Twitter. Instead of a full trailer, there were teasers. And instead of new content, in several places there was the rerelease of trailers and whatnot that had already been out.

It’s here that I want to quickly point something out. Due to being teamed up with Summer Game Fest, Friday had to be the day for video game properties (which I would also say was the worst day). Geoff Keighley was a guest host. It just didn’t work. The dynamic that had been established between the original two hosts was thrown off, because Mr. Keighley was on the stage from the moment they went live, instead of just in the post show. Also, having the video game properties on Friday meant that one of the big fan favorite series would have to wait to have any information dropped until Friday. In layman’s terms, no one got any inofrmation on The Witcher until the end of the show. And it wasn’t a lot of info anyway.

In all honesty, this would have been better off as a one or two day event, even if it was tied into the Summer Game Fest. Stretching it to be 2-2.5 hours shows across five days just felt like a waste. There was a lot of wasted time, a lot of annoyed fans, and a lot of information left on the cutting room floor.

… Which brings me to now, nearly twelve hours after the final show wrapped up. Most of this has been written for days, only edited as the show went more downhill. I actually had to step away from the computer at one point, because I was getting so annoyed at the continued avoidance of all mention of TOG. Actually, here’s a fun thing: I got timed out of Twitch chat three times for mentioning TOG. And the first two times I was being respectful. (The last time I was snarky and I’m not sorry.) All day I’ve taken to commenting on the Netflix Geeked account, reminding them that TOG still exists and damn it, the one year anniversary is a month away, just make it official.

But I digress. In summary, Netflex done goofed with “Geeked Week”. It was not a success, and it only trended briefly. Over the course of the week. In contrast, Summer Game Fest was trending all day yesterday, and most of today. I wouldn’t be surprised if that continued throughout the entire E3 event.

Alas, this may come back. Hopefully not. I don’t think my stress can take it.

Until next time!

The Old Guard 2 CONFIRMED!

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Yeah… I knew this would happen.

On Tuesday, I woke up early, deciding to pull a joke while on stream. I took this lovely letter board sign I received from January’s Owlcrate and made a sign.

I’d planned to change the sign every stream, and make it something I would show off every stream. Because honestly, I was willing to do almost anything to get this film green lit.

Anyway, as I finished off the sign, the Old Guard discord I’m apart of (Immortal Disasters) started blowing up. And for a pretty good reason too.

A small entertainment news site called “The Illuminerdi” was reporting that The Old Guard sequel was confirmed.

Now, after we all celebrated for like ten minutes, someone on the Discord pointed out that the site wasn’t exactly the most reliable. So… it was probably fake. Which we all knew, of course. We’ve just been so desperate to have the sequel green lit that we’ve started celebrating whenever TOG gets a damn mention, forget about lies about the sequel.

After we all calmed down a bit, we all started scouring the internet for a reliable source. In fact, we spent the next 36 hours doing just that. I was even checking during my Tuesday stream, during cutscenes. I showed off my sign during the stream, in the fleeting hope that showing it off would tell the Powers That Be that we would love the damn sequel.

So. Wednesday.

It was mid-afternoon here in California. I was just minding my own business at about 4:30pm, trying to finish the post that went up way late for this blog, when my phone lit up with a message from discord. (I have my notifications set to pop only when it’s on certain channels, or when I’m pinged. Because otherwise, my phone would never stop lighting up.) So I took a five minute break and clicked on it.

Someone happened to be digging through a publication called Production Weekly. Not through the actual pages (which would have cost like $75), but through the summary that is publicly available. Basically, it just lists all projects listed inside the publication. They’d come across the issue dated for yesterday, January 28th.

And there it was, about three quarters of the way down the page. Right after Obi-Wan Kenobi. In plain, capital letters.

The Old Guard Chapter Two: Force Multiplied.

Hey guys, it’s a primary source. We all flipped.

So, yeah, it’s confirmed. And then someone was amazing enough to pay for the issue, so we got more information then just “Hey this exists!”

It is in ACTIVE DEVELOPMENT. By that, it means that all the contracts are signed and we’re in pre-production. Basically, that means that the script is being worked on, casting is commencing, and probably costuming and well, everything but actually shooting the film. Oh, and we got the quick summary (which is as expected). (We all still want the title to be 2 Old 2 Guard, but alas, stupid comic name title we get to deal with.)

The only thing we are honestly waiting for is Netflix or Skydance to post about it. In the industry, the film is confirmed. It’s in black and white. But they haven’t said anything. I figured we’d hear something via Twitter by today, but alas, as of 5PM, nothing. But that’s ok, because it will come.

(And TOG did got nominated for a GLADD award the other day, which Netflix and Gina, our director and new Co-Writer!)

But I am salty about one tiny little thing. Remember that sign idea? Well, I had already done day two’s when we got the word. So I changed it up.

And yes, I’ve shown that off on both Wednesday and Thursday’s streams. Because I’m ridiculous.

Ok, I’m off to make dinner and prep for tonight’s bonus stream to finish off Disneyland Adventures! Pop in if you want to, I promise I won’t bite.

Until next time!

I Watched 25 Films with the TOG Cast (Wrap Up) – Blogmas

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

25 days, 25 films (and two tv shows). And man, am I burned out.

This month, I have managed to watch a film or TV show starring someone from the cast of The Old Guard, because why not, I love this film. I had days where I watched films while dealing with headaches. I watched in the mornings and late at night. I changed my plans about ten times, especially for the last five days. It’s been a trip.

To recap, I’ve done two check in posts, where I talked about the following films in order: Tutti i santi giorni (Luca Marinelli), The Italian Job (Charlize Theorn), Murder on the Orient Express (Marwan Kenzari), They Call Me Jeeg (Luca), Far From the Madding Crowd (Matthias Schoenaerts), The Martian (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Aladdin (Marwan), The Bigger Splash (Matthias), Fabrizio De Andre: Principe libero (Luca), If Beale Street Could Talk (KiKi Layne), Æon Flux (Charlize), Racer and the Jailbird (Matthias), Ricordi (Luca), and Doctor Strange (Chiwetel). That was up to December 14th.

For the rest of the month:

On December 15th, I wasn’t feeling good, but I watched What Happened to Monday, with Marwan Kenzari. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really impressed with the film. I felt that most of the characters were just one note, and it’s something that’s been done before. Marwan didn’t have much to work with, but he did alright with what he had. It was better than The Mummy… which isn’t saying much. Why was he being screwed by English-language films pre-TOG?

On December 16th, I still felt like death, so I rewatched A Little Chaos, with the always adorable Matthias Schoenaerts. Look, I’ve seen it before, and I loved it. He has this way of making every scene so damn perfect, even when he’s not the focus of the shot. The film is honestly one of my favorite films of 2020.

December 17th was when I watched Atomic Blonde with Charlize Theron. I was finally feeling better, and this film blew me out of the park. I though the story was strong, including the twists that came in a justifiable manner. The fight scenes were tight and choreographed well. The cameramen deserve raises, because the cinematography was on point. It deserves the sequel that is coming, hands down.

On December 18th, I sat down and watched Una questione privata (Raibow: A Private Affair) with Luca Marinelli. And honestly… I just wasn’t impressed. Luca is fine, the storyline is fine, the Italian countryside is picturesque as always… but it feels like the film ends about ten minutes too early. The main plotline doesn’t get solved in any way. It just… stops. It doesn’t really work for me, unfortunately.

December 19th was reserved for Marwan Kenzari’s Wolf. Which destroyed me. 100%. I cried. A LOT. This was a powerful film, and I thank one of the amazing people on Tumblr for sending me a copy with subtitles, because the English dub was terrible. My tweet regarding this film basically says it all: “Mr. Marwan Kenzari, how dare you destroy me twice in one day. How the hell am I supposed to sleep at night knowing that you exist and can make me sob with just one word or look? (Wolf was fantastic. Like, damn near perfect. Holy hell.)” Worth it.

On December 20th, I was starting to feel burned out, so I watched KiKi Layne’s first short film, Veracity. It was only 20 minutes long, but I really enjoyed it. It’s a tale as old as time: girl meets girl, girl kisses girl, girl gets outed by someone opening the damn door during the make out scene, girl gets ostracized by the entire student population, girl gets shut down by girl, girl and girl decided to be friends, because that’s what is important. And KiKi nails it. I really enjoyed this one, and it revitalized me to finish this little challenge.

On December 21st, I wasn’t really up to watching a film. So, while wrapping my Christmas presents, I watched episodes 3-10 of Fx’s Trust. Luca Marinelli plays an Italian mobster and kidnapper… and it’s such a problem that he’s so damn hot. No seriously, it’s a problem. The camera loves his ass, and especially his ass in tight pants. Or when he’s smoking. It’s an issue. One that I love. (Also, I love it. One of my favorite mini-series I watched this year.)

On December 22nd, I decided to watch a trash film called Collide with Marwan Kenzari. And yes, it’s a trash film. It felt like it was aiming for the “so bad it’s good” title, but missed, by a damn mile. The cast was horrifically miscast (why are Anthony Hopkins and Ben Kingsley in is mess???), the script was dull, repetitive, and unimaginative, and honestly, it’s been done before, and done better. Marwan is completely wasted and written out of the back half of the film. It’s a mess.

But we did get this gif, so it’s not all bad.

December 23rd is when everything started hitting me, and wow was I tired. So, I ended up watching half of the The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix, with Harry Melling playing a good character! Now, I haven’t finished the series, I have three episodes left, but I’m waiting for Mom so that we can watch it together. But was I saw made it absolutely clear why this mini-series is considered one of the best released projects on Netflix. Because wow. And Harry knocked it out of the park. I knew he took his craft seriously (I mean, look at his post-Harry Potter career, it’s awesome), but this show proved he has a lot still left up his sleeve.

On Christmas Eve, December 24th, I picked my last movie to watch, mostly because I had to save a bunch for next week because Mom. I decided to watch another Disney remake, The Lion King, with Chiweter Ejiofor as Scar. And, well. That was a war crime. And assault on my childhood. Just, how. There was no reason to consider making a live action remake of this Disney classic. None at all. And yet they did. And it’s terrible. It didn’t have the magic of the original film. It just… exists. Also, they put Beauty and the Beast‘s “Be Our Guest” in place of the hula scene. Just. No. Please. Never. (Marwan, I need that gif down here.)

As for today, it still counts. And there’s really only one movie that I can watch today that really encompasses what I’ve seen for the past 24 days. So, after this post goes live, with our 25 pound turkey in the oven (named Kaysanova, because reasons), I’m watching The Old Guard. Don’t judge me. I’m in the mood for some wonderful fun. And damnit, I didn’t get my Christmas miracle (a.k.a. sequel conformation) for Christmas, so I need happiness.

And if you’re curious, Kaysanova is the ship name for Yusuf “Joe” Al-Kaysani and Nicolo “Nicky” di Genova from TOG. We’re not that creative. (Nile and Booker’s ship name is Book of Nile, so at least this one is fun. But I like Book of Nile. No judgement.)

With that, I call this little idea done. I was going to continue on to the New Year, but I’m just getting burned out. Besides watching TOG today, I think I’m just gonna go play a good game or something and relax for a couple days. I have a couple more films I want to watch (Martin Eden with Luca and Rust and Bone with Matthias to name two), but I’m gonna take my time on those. I’m just… exhausted.

I hope everyone had a wonderful and happy holiday season! I’ll be resuming my previous posting schedule starting next week (Monday-Wednesday-Friday) as this is the end of Blogmas. I hope everyone enjoyed the daily posts, because I am TIRED.

Until next time! (I need sleep)

Let’s Do The Movie Tag! – Blogmas!

~ Liz Harrison ~ 1 Comment

Hello all! I’m taking an easy, mental health day today. Because of that, I decided to do another challenge post, though this one isn’t a book challenge. No, this one is about the movies. It’s called, and I’m not joking, “The Movie Tag!”

Be prepared to laugh at my opinions, because they usually change at the tip of a hat. So this is as of today.

  1. Favorite movie of all time? This one changes on an almost daily basis. Right now it is, obviously, The Old Guard. I also would consider The Avengers to be one of the greatest films of my generation. Oh, and Iron Man for opening the door for everyone to like comic book movies again. And for making them actually serious, not just humor-filled. (For context, I did enjoy the Fox X-Men series as well as Raimi’s Spider-Man Trilogy, and Nolan’s Batman trilogy. But Iron Man really blasted open the door that needed to be hit.)
  2. Favorite scene from that movie? The first appearance of Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. It’s one of those scenes that sticks with you forever. Even now, with my JKR/HP issues, it’s one of my all-time favorites.
  3. Favorite actors/actresses? Matthias Schoenarts, Luca Marinelli, and Marwan Kenzari, KiKi Layne, and Charlize Theron. Hush your faces. I can hear the judgement from here.
  4. Most annoying actor/actress? I don’t really have any actors that I outright dislike. I’ll watch most anyone. I will say that strictly comedic actors don’t really click with me, so I just avoid those types of movies. Just don’t get my mom started on Woody Harrelson. She cannot stand him.
  5. Best director? Spielberg. Well, and most others. I’m not a director snob. I’ll watch whatever. There is no director that I don’t say “I’ll never watch a film from them.” (Through I currently have issues watching Joss Whedon’s films, minus the obvious.)
  6. Favorite guilty pleasure film? Besides the obvious, I actually watch Nerve a lot. It a pretty good YA adaptation, that fixes a lot of the issues I have with the book. I also was known to put The Italian Job on while studying during college, but I’ve outgrown that by now.
  7. Favorite tear-jerker? I sobbed in Endgame. Lost it during the first ten minutes, got it back only to cry during Hawkeye’s reintroduction, broke down for Nat, and was GONE at the end.
  8. Character from a movie that scared you the most? There was this 1980’s flick that was about a possessed house that terrorized this family. I can’t remember the name, but my parents watched it one night when I was supposed to be in bed when I was like six, and I snuck out and watched over the couch. I didn’t sleep for a week. I now have an irrational fear of those old black cat clocks with the ticking tails… you know the one I mean.
  9. Movie you love that everyone hates? I unironically love Push, which was a sci-fi X-Men style film with Chris Evans before he was Captain America. It also features Dakota Fanning, and she actually swears. Bite me, it’s fun. It’s also a terrible film with a flimsy plot and CGI techniques that just don’t hold up ten years later, but I love it.
  10. Movie you hate that everyone loves? Look, everyone can go on for years about how great the Lord of the Rings films are. I see them as nap time. I just can’t deal with them. And yes, I read the books as well. They make decent pillows.
  11. Favorite movie duo? Joe/Nicky (goes straight to hell). Serious answer? Tony and Peter, father and son.
  12. Favorite animated movie? I would die for Treasure Planet. It’s criminal that it didn’t do as well as it deserved. I’ve always regretted that I never owned it on VHS, and I just realized that I still don’t have it on Blu Ray. I think I need to update my Christmas list one last time…
  13. Actor/Actress crush? Currently? Matthias does things for me.
  14. Favorite movie villain? Voldemort, the modern day Hitler. The Um-bitch can be pushed off a cliff now. No, seriously. Voldemort is a great villain. Because he’s terrible. And by that I mean he’s not that scary at all. Honestly, Snape makes a better villain, and he’s a damn hero. The Um-bitch on the other hand is flat out terrifying.
  15. What movie surprised you the most? I went into Far From the Madding Crowd just so that I could watch Matthias Schoenaerts do a period piece. I came out a changed woman. I fell in love with the time period. In fact, I’ve seen it four time since.
  16. If you could only keep one movie what would it be? I hate this type of question. It all depends on mood. Obviously I would want a favorite. But if I said, say Endgame, I would be leaving so many other films behind. It’s a tragedy.
  17. Movie recommendation and for whom? Look, if you like superhero stories, watch The Old Guard. If you like reluctant heroes, watch The Old Guard. If you like found family stories, watch The Old Guard. If you want to see a movie that has a strong and well established gay couple that doesn’t suffer from the “bury your gays” trope, watch The Old Guard. My point has been made.
  18. One remake you wish had never been made? Like 90% of the Disney live action adaptations. Look, I get it. They want to keep the rights and they know there is a built in fanbase for the films. But it’s high time to come up with something more original. Hell, at this point, anything.
  19. About to die but could watch one more movie, what would it be? I don’t feel safe answering this question. I may get judged into oblivion. (For the non-serious answer, 2 Old 2 Guard, because we deserve it, damn it.
  20. Favorite movie genre/favorite movie from that genre? I still love the superhero genre, even though it has become oversaturated in the past ten years. And look above for my favorite flick.
  21. What’s the first movie you remember watching in theaters? I think it was Pokémon the First Movie. At least, that’s the one that I have the clearest memory of. But I’d been going to the movies from the time I was five, so I kinda remember seeing at least one Disney movie in theaters. I’m just not sure. So, I’ll take the easy answer and say Pokémon.

Okay, look. I’m gonna be honest. I’m gonna namedrop The Old Guard until we get the third series of the comics, the prequel comics that Rucka talked about the other week, and the damn sequel, because it’s actually insane that it hasn’t been greenlight yet. The movie is one of Netflix’s most successful films of 2020, and it hasn’t got the contracts signed. Other films have been given sequel orders within a week of premier, which makes no sense. It’s maddening.

Anyway, that’s this fun little movie tag. It’s kinda fun to do a tag that doesn’t have anything to do with books for once. Time to scour the internet for more of them. I’m starting to feel the mood for them.

Until next time!

Mid-Month Movie Check In – Blogmas

~ Liz Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Welcome to the fifteenth day of Blogmas!

I’ve now watch 15 films by six different actors, taking place in more countries than I can count. It’s been an amazing experience to watch all these films, and to honestly see what I’ve missed for all these years. (For clarity, I’m counting the film that brought them all together as well. I swear.) Let me catch you up to where I am now.

For a recap, I’ve already watched Every Blessed Day (Tutti i santi giorni) with Luca Marinelli, The Italian Job with Charlize Theron, Murder on the Orient Express with Marwan Kenzari, They Call Me Jeeg (Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot) with Luca again, and Far From the Madding Crowd with Matthias Schoenaerts. I talked about my feelings for these films in my post on December 6th.

Now for December 6-14th.

On December 6th, I spent the evening watching The Martian with Chiwetel Ejiofor. I was inspired to read the book thanks to a TOG/Martian fusion fic on Ao3, so it’s only fitting that I watched this film during this month. I absolutely loved it. The film streamlined most the novel, taking out a lot of the extra plot lines that almost seemed to bog down the novel. Chiwetel did well in his role, and really sold it (though his accent kept on trying to break through). I really enjoyed this one.

December 7th was saved for Aladdin, the not-so-needed live action remake. I’m not a total fan of this trend, but this one is still entertaining on my second watch. (And I have a private love for the new song “Speechless.”) Marwan Kenzari plays hot!Jafar, and while he’s perfect, it’s really hard to see him fail at being evil. I’m in love with is heart eyes too much. I did enjoy my rewatch though.

December 8th was another rewatch, this time of The Bigger Splash with Matthias Schoenaerts (because I had a headache, and watching something with subtitles was far out of the question). Matthias is so damn good in this role. Hell, everyone is great, playing characters grounded in reality, but truly flawed. I need to see Matthias do is little smile every day, and that boy cries pretty. I enjoy this film so much, it’s weird.

On December 9th, I ended up watching Fabrizio De Andre: Principe libero with Luca Marinelli, with tells the life of Fabrizio De Andre, a famous Italian singer. It’s not a bad film, and Luca sells it, but the film is also three hours long, which is a total crime. Luca shows off his talent of singing though, and I need to see that for the rest of my life. I ended up breaking up the film into three hour long segments because of the length. But it’s a good film regardless.

Then there’s December 10th. I watched If Beale Street Could Talk starring KiKi Layne. And this film destroyed destroyed me. I was in tears for a good part of the film, and KiKi blew me away. This film has a powerful narrative to tell and a stellar cast to sell it, and they do it in spades. It deserves all the accolades it received, and deserved more. I haven’t stopped thinking about it, and it’s been a few days since.

… Can I skip December 11th? Please? No? Ok. I dragged myself through Æon Flux with Charlize Theron. Look, she has nothing to do in this film. It’s a terrible story, with a cast with no chemistry. If I didn’t know that this film actually had a budget, I’d think it was a film student’s attempt at sci-fi. It’s a nightmare. And coming off such a great film didn’t help this one.

December 12, Mom joined me in watching Racer and the Jailbird (Le Fidèle), starring Matthias. This is another film that blew me out of the water. I actually went into this film only knowing a few things. Matthias’ character Gigi is a gangster, he falls in love with Bibi, a race car driver, things go wrong after his final heist, and there’s a twist ending. And yes, that’s all true. But it’s all that and more. And WOW, did it surprise me. We really enjoyed it. So much so that Mom still hasn’t shut up about it.

On December 13th, I watched Ricordi? with Luca. Fun fact, I actually tried to watch this film about a month after I watched The Old Guard for the first time, and I turned it off pretty quickly. I managed to finish it this time, but it just struck me as really odd. I’m not a fan of non-linear films as it is, and this one really did a number on my head. It’s beautiful, but confusing as all get out.

December 14th, I rewatched one of my favorite Marvel films to date, Doctor Strange. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays the partner/side kick of the titular character, but has a bit of a change of heart during the final act of the film. Chiwetel does a great job with his role here, really selling Mordo. As an aside, I’m really excited to see his turn as villain in the sequel, whenever it comes out. (2022? I think?)

So yeah. This month has already had some successes, and some absolute bombs. The rest of the month is all movies I have never seen before. For many of them, I’ve just been delaying watching them because of distribution reasons. By that, I mean that most of Luca and Marwan’s filmography (and some of Matthias’ as well) aren’t really available to stream in the United States. Thanks to some oversees friends, I’m able to watch their films, and enjoy them with the people I love. I’m curious to see how these films go. I’ve heard great (and in the case of not so great) things about most of them.

Actually, since I’ve been enjoying this so much, depending on how I’m feeling, I may just continue on past Christmas (when I planned on ending this with a rewatch of The Old Guard for the 100th time) and go on straight until New Years Eve. I have enough films if I decide to do it. I’m just gonna wait until next week or so to make that decision. I don’t want to completely burn out, honestly.

Until next time!