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Nick Broomfield’s Dark Rock Doc

Rockism, in case you don’t know the term, is the school of thought that holds the noisy “purity” of rock ‘n’ roll to be morally and aesthetically superior to the “corruption” of pop. There are numerous iconic examples of rockism. It was there in the postpunk ’80s hipsters who found the Replacements and Joy Division to be superior to Michael Jackson or Madonna. It was there in the rock-crit establishment of the mid-2000s mounting its collective attack on Coldplay. And it was there, just last week, in The New York Times when Jeff Tweedy, the leader of Wilco, printed an excerpt from his new book in which he apologized, in a “My name is Jeff, and I’m a rockist” sort of way, for having trashed ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” in his indie youth; what he now realizes, only 47 years after it was released, is that it’s a great song. (At this rate, Tweedy, who’s 56, will be ready to see the light about Lady Gaga around the time he’s in assisted living.)

But judging from Nick Broomfield’s documentary “The Stones and Brian Jones” (opening Nov. 17), the seminal assertion of rockism may have come from deep inside the rock world itself. And that would be how Brian Jones, the founding member of the Rolling Stones, created the group in 1962; how he established it as a British-white-boy blues band (in the early days, the Stones would cover Howlin’ Wolf and Bo Diddley and Willie Dixon); and how, after Mick Jagger and Keith Richards began to compose the songs that made the Stones famous, he turned on them for diluting what he thought was the group’s true mission: to remain a blues band.

According to Zouzou, the ’60s French actress and pop singer who was one of Jones’s revolving-door girlfriends, here’s what Brian said about “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”: “It’s vulgar, it’s awful, it’s out of tune, it’s nothing.” Jones did not approve of the music that Mick and Keith were writing. He hated that Andrew Loog Oldham, who took over as the band’s manager (a post that, until then, had essentially been held by Brian), wanted them to be more pop. Jones was a purist, a rockist, a bluesist, a retro snob.

But here’s what’s nuts about that. “The Stones and Brian Jones” says that Jones, in establishing the Stones as a blues band, forged a musical-spiritual template that carried through the rest of the band’s career — and who would disagree? It’s not as if the Stones ever ditched their blues roots. When I started listening to them, as a teenager in the ’70s, I’d put on my copy of “Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!” and be haunted by the despairing beauty of their live rendition of Robert Johnson’s “Love in Vain.” The documentary includes early clips of the band on TV, at one point forming a listening circle around Howlin’ Wolf, and the fact that they brought Black culture — the foundational DNA of rock ‘n’ roll — into countless people’s lives is not to be trivialized.

Yet what made the Stones great is that, like the Beatles, they merged their roots reverence with countless other influences, forging their own sound and mystique. Who would take those early Stones albums, which were full of dogged covers (like the early single “Little Red Rooster”), over “Aftermath” or “Beggars Banquet” or “Let It Bleed”?

As the documentary reveals, the real reason that Brian Jones got stuck in his rockist stance is that, as a personality, he turned out to be that unstable and dangerous thing, an insecure megalomaniac, boiling over with jealousy and resentment. After launching the Stones (by placing an ad in music magazines and hiring all the members), he emerged as the band’s leader. He was the most handsome of them, and he got the most girls; he was an alpha rebel who wanted to be king of the hill. But there was a slight impediment to his ambition: the volcanic talent and androgynous movie-star charisma of Mick Jagger. Even back in 1963, when he was still shaking maracas onstage, Jagger already had his slithery insolence, and it set the crowds aflame. The Stones, as the film captures (with astonishing clips), had their own Beatlemania. Their concerts didn’t just provoke screaming — they were nightly riots.

Brian Jones looked like a golden boy, but he couldn’t compete with Jagger. Onstage, under his helmet of hair, Brian stood rather stiffly, like a more invisible George Harrison or one of the Beach Boys. That sort of staid sexiness worked fine for them, but next to Jagger Jones looked like an extra. And so it was only natural that Mick, along with Keith (his songwriting partner), began to lead the band. The power nexus had shifted. There’s a cringe-worthy clip in which a television host keeps asking Jones about his method of songwriting, and Jones, who didn’t write any songs, looks like he wants to sink into the floor.

Yet he coveted what Mick and Keith had, even as he cultivated a superiority to their music. And that’s the psychodrama “The Stones and Brian Jones” is about. Brian Jones has always been a fabled and mysterious figure, and the movie captures why. Though he started the band, he was in many ways a glorified sideman who destroyed his life out of self-loathing.

I should add that Nick Broomfield, in terms of how he positions the film, wouldn’t quite see it that way. Broomfield, who narrates the documentary, talks about how he met Brian on a train in 1963, when Broomfield was a 14-year-old schoolboy, and it’s clear the filmmaker has never lost that besotted hero worship. “The Stones and Brian Jones” digs deep into the Jones mystique, trying to make the case for him as a misunderstood “genius.”

The evidence? He had the vision to form a band of British blues rockers in 1962. He had a rock star’s sense of entitlement. And though he was an efficient rhythm guitarist, no more and no less, in the recording studio he was an instinctive musician who could pick up almost any instrument and create something dynamic with it. There are several fabled examples of what he added to Stones tracks. He played the flute on “Ruby Tuesday,” he played the marimba on “Under My Thumb” (my third favorite Stones song, after “Gimme Shelter” and “Brown Sugar”), and he played the sitar on “Paint It Black.” All three of those additions are incandescent. So Brian had a knack. But the more successful the Stones became, the more miserable it made him, because he knew, deep down, that their success wasn’t contingent on him.

And no small thing: He was a reckless counterculture sociopath.

Unlike the other Stones, Brian came from a bourgeois background, but his parents were straitlaced stuffed shirts whose approval he craved, even though he could never get it. So he acted out. His pattern was to find a woman in her late teens, move in with her family, get her pregnant, and then move on. He did this five times before he was 25. (He ultimately had six children, none of whom he took care of.) And his drug use was legendary. He was an acidhead and a speed freak who would stay up for a week at a time, balancing the amphetamine with Scotch-and-Cokes, which he would drink from morning till night.

His dissolution started early, and he would probably have left the band had it not been for his relationship with Anita Pallenberg, which lasted for two years. They were a glam power couple — socialites in the new rock aristocracy of Swinging London — and it was that cachet that saved Brian, for a time. It made him cool again, rejiggering the power balance within the Stones. He and Pallenberg lived inside their own cult bubble of social cruelty. They would mock the people around them, and we hear a terrifying anecdote from Linda Lawrence, one of Jones’ exes, about how she showed up one day with his young son, and Brian and Anita looked out the upstairs window of their townhouse and refused to let them up.

Jones and Pallenberg worked together on “Degree of Murder,” a 1967 West German film directed by Volker Schlöndorff, which starred Pallenberg and had a soundtrack composed by Brian. Schlöndorff is interviewed in the documentary, and his most telling anecdote is that at the 1967 Cannes Film Festival, Pallenberg showed up with Jones, but she left with Keith Richards. For Brian Jones, that was the beginning of the end.

By the time the ’60s were imploding, Brian had become more than an addled drug abuser. He’d given in to his inner head case. The other Stones, fed up with his erratic and abusive behavior, kicked him out of the band, and he died, infamously, just three months later, drowning in his swimming pool on July 3, 1969. It’s telling that Broomfield, whose “Kurt & Courtney” (1998) was built around a rather compelling conspiracy theory about the death of Kurt Cobain, attempts no such thing with Brian Jones, even though there have been theories over the years that Jones was murdered. When you see “The Stones and Brian Jones,” the arc of his self-dissolution is so clear that the notion that foul play was involved would seem almost preposterous. Yet what struck me, by the end, is how powerfully sad his story was. Brian Jones had a life that almost anyone would envy, yet he didn’t like who he was; in many ways, he remained an unhappy little boy. He was the first of the 27-year-old ’60s substance-abuse casualties (Jimi, Janis, Jim Morrison), but as “The Stones and Brian Jones” demonstrates, the drug that killed him was toxic narcissism.

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November 10, 2023

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Rockism, in case you don’t know the

Tech

Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak Is ‘Doing Good’ After Minor Stroke

When Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, suffered a dizzy spell on Wednesday, he took a precautionary trip to the hospital and learned that he had suffered a minor stroke. A day later, he said in an interview, the hospital released him and he was “doing good.”

The health scare came during a trip to Mexico City, where Mr. Wozniak, 73, was slated to speak at a conference called the World Business Forum. The dizzy spell hit him as he was typing at his computer, he said. The hospital did an M.R.I., he added, and determined that he had a small capillary leak as well as symptoms of vertigo.

Mr. Wozniak flew home to Los Gatos, Calif., on Thursday and was waiting for dinner to be served when he talked with The New York Times. “I’m back home and feeling good,” he said.

The worst part of the experience, he said, was that the hospital required him to stay on a gurney for 24 hours and wouldn’t let him roll onto his side. The health scare, he added, means that he will have to cancel a number of trips for speaking engagements in Dubai; Medellín, Colombia; and Baku, Azerbaijan.

“That’s life for me in the busy times,” Mr. Wozniak said of the travel.

Known as “Woz,” Mr. Wozniak teamed with Steve Jobs to build the first Apple computer in 1976. The business they built helped popularize the personal computer and became one of the world’s most influential technology companies.

Mr. Wozniak left Apple in the 1980s but has remained close to the company and regularly attends its high-profile events. His legend at Apple helped him build a huge fan base among tech enthusiasts, and his celebrity broadened beyond tech in 2009 after he became a contestant on the popular show “Dancing With the Stars.”

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November 10, 2023

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When Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple,

Video

‘Memory,’ ‘The Bikeriders,’ WGA Awards Come In and Out of Oscar Season – IndieWire

This week on “Screen Talk,” host Anne Thompson is joined once more by guest Marcus Jones, IndieWire’s Awards Editor, TV & Film, to discuss the last of fall festival season and the beginning of the winter awards calendar.

Comparing notes on their experiences at the 2023 AFI FEST, the pair duel over whether or not opening night film, the world premiere of Netflix’s “Leave the World Behind” starring Julia Roberts and Mahershala Ali, is worth the watch.

More importantly, Thompson and Jones touch on whether “Memory,” winner of the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at Venice Film Festival this year, has a shot at any awards nominations now that the film finally secured distribution from new company Ketchup Entertainment. Predictions are also made about the fate of “The Bikeriders,” which was just taken off of Disney’s release calendar, pending the conclusion of the SAG strike.

AFI FEST also gave the duo a chance to see even more Best International Feature submissions, from Cannes winner “Four Daughters” to Italy submission “Io Capitano,” and J.A. Bayona’s “Society of the Snow,” which does a masterful job retelling the story of the Uruguayan rugby team that crash landed in the Andes in 1972, and had to take drastic measures to stay alive long enough to be rescued.

Following up on her piece earlier in the week, Thompson shares her thoughts on the Writers Guild of America postponing their annual awards until April, including what impact it may have on the screenplay Oscar races. Meanwhile, Jones explains why the change could provide a boost to television shows eligible for the 2024 Emmys.

Speaking of TV, the host and guest discuss which shows they are currently watching, from upcoming Paramount+ comedy series “Colin from Accounts,” an Australian import, to marquee Disney+ series “Loki,” now midway through its second season.

Lastly, Thompson recommends new documentary release “Beyond Utopia,” a thriller that in part captures a family’s arduous escape from North Korea, while Jones gives kudos to inventive A24 comedy “Dream Scenario” starring Nicolas Cage.

Watch the full episode above or listen to it below.

Screen Talk is produced by Azwan Badruzaman and available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify, and hosted by Megaphone. Browse previous episodes here, subscribe here, and be sure to let us know if you’d like to hear the hosts address specific issues in upcoming editions of Screen Talk.

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November 10, 2023

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This week on “Screen Talk,” host Anne

Kicks: Emily Ratajkowski had legs for days in leopard print stiletto boots as she dashed around New York City this Thursday

Entertaintment

Emily Ratajkowski has legs for days in leopard print boots as she steps out in NYC… after her love interest Stephane Bak is spotted hugging a gal pal

Emily Ratajkowski had legs for days in leopard print stiletto boots as she dashed around New York City this Thursday.

The 32-year-old supermodel wrapped her impressively svelte figure in a burnt-orange coat, tying it around at the waist to emphasize her petite frame.

Letting her silky dark locks tumble over her shoulders, she accentuated her screen siren features with flattering makeup.

She added a splash of glitz to the look with a pair of earrings before heading out into the city to refresh herself with a cool beverage.

Just one night earlier, the sizzling bombshell joined a star-studded guest list at a party for Rabanne’s collaboration with H&M.

Kicks: Emily Ratajkowski had legs for days in leopard print stiletto boots as she dashed around New York City this Thursday

Mover and shaker: The 32-year-old supermodel wrapped her impressively svelte figure in a burnt-orange coat, tying it around at the waist to emphasize her petite frame

In a tantalizing picture that surfaced on social media from the bash, she could be glimpsed enjoying a hobnob with Chloe Sevigny.

Emily draped her statuesque figure in a shimmery sequin mini that fell flatteringly against her impressively taut midriff.

She teamed her silver dress with a saucy pair of black leather stiletto boots that went up nearly to the knee, throwing her vertiginous legs into relief.

That same night, Emily’s latest fling Stéphane Bak was elsewhere in New York City sharing a warm embrace with a gal pal.

Stéphane is a steamy French actor whose American work includes the Wes Anderson films The French Dispatch and Asteroid City.

He and Emily set off a swirl of romance rumors last month when they were spotted stealing a passionate kiss on the streets of Paris.

However an insider quickly informed DailyMail.com that the two of them were just indulging in ‘a good time,’ not pursuing a serious relationship.

”If you are funny, you have a chance with Emily – and Stéphane is very confident, has a great sense of humor and is easy to get along with,’ the source explained.

Place to be: Just one night earlier, the sizzling bombshell joined a star-studded guest list including Chloe Sevigny (right) at a party for Rabanne’s collaboration with H&M

Emily has conducted a whirlwind, headline grabbing love life in the wake of the collapse of her marriage to movie producer Sebastian Bear McClard.

She has had on-off flings with DJ Orazio Rispo, and in the intervening time has run around with such names as Pete Davidson and Eric Andre.

This March she locked lips with Harry Styles in Tokyo, provoking a swirl of criticism on account of the fact she is supposedly gal pals with his ex Olivia Wilde.

‘Olivia and Emily were friends and this is a betrayal,’ a source with inside knowledge exclusively informed DailyMail.com.

In a subsequent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Emily dismissed the kiss by saying she was not ‘not thinking about guys’ but ‘sometimes things just happen.’

DailyMail.com exclusively revealed that she was locked in conversation with Tom Brady during billionaire Michael Rubin‘s Fourth Of July party in the Hamptons.

However Tom has since taken up with Russian model Irina Shayk, whose dating history features Kanye West, Bradley Cooper and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Sebastian, whose credits include the Adam Sandler vehicle Uncut Gems, had a courthouse wedding to Emily in 2018.

Hunk-tastic: That same night, Emily’s latest fling Stéphane Bak was elsewhere in New York City sharing a warm embrace with a gal pal; he is pictured Monday

The pair welcomed their baby son Sylvester in March 2021, only for their marriage to fall apart last year under a cloud of rumors about Sebastian’s fidelity.

When news broke that they had split, a Page Six source said Sebastian ‘cheated. He’s a serial cheater. It’s gross. He’s a dog.’ Emily then added fuel to the conjecture by liking a tweet that read: ‘can’t believe that little b*** cheated on emrata.’

It emerged this March that Sebastian has faced ‘grooming’ allegations and been fired by Elara Pictures, the production company of the Safdie brothers, whom he worked with on Uncut Gems and the Robert Pattison starrer Good Time.

Sebastian was at the time tangled up in mediation with the Safdies, alongside his divorce proceedings and custody battle with Emily.

Emily has remained tight-lipped in public about the circumstances leading up to her divorce, telling the Los Angeles Times that she was ‘scared’ of being more candid because ‘I’m learning that outspoken women don’t often get their children.’

Benny Safdie, one of the brothers whom Sebastian used to work for, recently broke his public silence about the accusations.

‘It’s disgusting, and when you find out something about somebody that you didn’t realize, you just have to be much more careful,’ Benny told GQ Hype. ‘It’s a lot, and it’s not something that you want to have happen to anybody. And when you find it out, the one thing that you can do is really just take control.’

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November 10, 2023

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Emily Ratajkowski had legs for days in

Movies

‘The Marvels’ Review: You’ve Seen This Movie 32 Times Before

As with a lot of studio-created girl groups, the women fronting “The Marvels” are carefully styled, wear coordinated outfits during their big numbers, have a few flashily choreographed moves and, because they’ve clearly put in the rehearsal time, know how to harmonize (more or less). The group has been created for maximum bankability, familiarity and relatability, and to that instrumental end, it delivers exactly what you expect of it and not a single thing, idea or beat more. Its members are nice, even at their most ostensibly fierce, and so unrelievedly bland that it feels like an affront, especially to all the women here doing so much hard work.

This is the 33rd movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which continues to expand even as its cultural interest and resonance diminish. “The Marvels” will dominate the box office, of course, at least during its opening weekend, just because it will flood theaters. It’s pointless complaining, I know (believe me), but it’s frustrating what weak tea this movie is because the director, Nia DaCosta (“Little Woods,” “Candyman”), has talent, the cast is appealing, and there’s a lightly gonzo scene that shows you what the other 100 minutes could have been. It’s almost as if the suits at Marvel Studios know it doesn’t matter if their movies are any good.

Once again, Brie Larson plays Captain Marvel a.k.a. Carol Danvers, a former Air Force pilot who inadvertently picked up her superpowers once upon a time. She kept on flying throughout the decades, though sometimes without a craft, hurtling through space and fighting alongside the Avengers all while maintaining her dewily youthful looks. When she first appears here, she is hanging out with her scene-stealing orange tabby, Goose (played by Tango and Nemo), on her spaceship and doing something important-looking. Soon, with Goose perched on one shoulder — no spacesuits here — this very special cat lady is zipping off to a planet and into another over-plotted, overextended escapade.

This time she’s joined by two super-empowered beings from the small screen: Kamala Khan a.k.a. Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani), a Captain Marvel superfan from Jersey City (and Disney+); and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), an astronaut (introduced as an adult in the series “WandaVision”) who’s part of S.A.B.E.R. In the interest of moving this review along — and because I had no idea what Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) was doing in space with a bunch of uniformed lackeys (other than barking orders with his usual gruffness) — here is how the movie’s production notes describe S.A.B.E.R: “a space station covertly acting as Earth’s first point of contact and defense from a rapidly expanding universe.”

Written by DaCosta, Megan McDonnell and Elissa Karasik, “The Marvels” reunites old friends and foes while introducing new characters and developments, all of which will presumably be folded into future installments, as is the Marvel way. The big fights and minor tension are principally generated by the villainous Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), the ruler (or, in Marvel-speak, Supremor) of the Kree people; she wields a mighty hammer and bears a grudge against Captain Marvel. In one of the larger set pieces, Dar-Benn takes brutal aim against other enemies. As terrified men, women and children flee and buildings fall, the scene briefly summons up visions of our world, which the movie otherwise strenuously ignores.

As is always the case with Marvel directors, DaCosta’s principal job seems to be to keep the greased gears moving as she folds in innumerable close-ups of happy, sad and mad faces, all of which are meant to remind viewers that their heroes are just like us, only super. To underscore this point, Kamala’s fangirl shtick goes on too long; the character is doodling images of her idol when the movie opens and sometime later wears a T-shirt emblazoned with Captain Marvel’s image. Once the character calms down, so does Vellani, an appealing performer with comic timing who nicely bounces off both Larson and Parris. They, in turn, have been given an unfortunate surrogate mother-daughter dynamic that is fortunately underdeveloped because all you really want to do is watch Goose, who’s indeed golden.

The Marvels
Rated PG-13 for bloodless cartoon violence. Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes. In theaters.

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November 10, 2023

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As with a lot of studio-created girl

Feds’ Canceled, ‘Good Doctor’ Spinoff ‘Good Lawyer’ Axed at ABC

It’s not a great day for spinoffs at ABC. The network has axed “The Rookie: Feds” after one season and will not move forward with “The Good Doctor” spinoff, “The Good Lawyer.”

The spinoff of ABC’s “The Rookie,” which was renewed for a sixth season, stars Niecy Nash-Betts as Simone Clark, the oldest rookie in the FBI Academy. The procedural was introduced as a two-part event during the current fourth season of “The Rookie,” where Officer John Nolan (Nathan Fillion) and the LA division of the FBI enlist the help of Simone when one of her former students is a suspect in a terror attack.

Alexi Hawley and Terence Paul Winter are co-creators, co-showrunners and executive producers. Mark Gordon, Niecy Nash-Betts, Nathan Fillion, Michelle Chapman, Bill Norcross, Corey Miller, Michael Goi and Bibby Dunn are executive producers. Entertainment One (eOne) is the lead studio and international distributor of “The Rookie: Feds,” a co-production with ABC Signature, a part of Disney Television Studios.

In June, Nash-Betts shared her hopes for a Season 2 pickup with Variety, noting the importance of her character Simone Clark, a Black woman who pursued her dream of joining the FBI at 48. “I’m happy for little Black and brown girls to see something that they can aspire to be. Less than 1% of Black women make up the FBI. She’s a Black woman over 40 in the FBI. She’s not married. She’s an equal-opportunity dater, if you know what I mean. Like, who is this unicorn? If she were a real person, she would definitely be my homegirl. She’s in her second act and she is making the best of it.”

Additionally, “The Good Doctor” spinoff, “The Good Lawyer,” has also been scrapped.

The series received a backdoor pilot order at ABC in January with Kennedy McMann and Felicity Huffman set to star. The episode aired on March 6, during Season 6 of “The Good Doctor” on March 6, focusing on Freddie Highmore’s Dr. Murphy putting his faith in a young lawyer who has obsessive-compulsive disorder (McMann).

Huffman, who famously starred in ABC’s hit “Desperate Housewives,” was set to star highly regarded attorney and partner Janet Stewart, who had “a fierce intellect and dry wit.”

Sony Pictures Television and ABC Signature produced.

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November 10, 2023

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It’s not a great day for spinoffs

MCU

Loki S2’s Yggdrasil Twist Explained: Thor Connection Revealed

The final episode of Loki Season 2 involved a Yggdrasil, which isn’t only a connection to Thor but holds huge implications for the MCU Multiverse.

Loki’s Yggdrasil Twist Revealed

Warning – This article contains spoilers for the finale of Loki Season 2.

Loki‘s Season 2 finale found the God of Mischief wrestling with the decision to kill Sylvie and spare He Who Remains in order to save the Sacred Timeline.

In the end, Loki chose to sacrifice what he wanted, which was to stay with his friends, by taking He Who Remains’ place.

In doing so, Loki not only freed the Multiverse but saved its dying branches by forming a tree in the shape of Yggdrasil.

Yggdrasil is the name for the World’s Tree, an Asgardian concept where each root or branch represents one of the Nine Realms.

Thor defines the Yggdrasil to Jane Foster in 2011’s Thor, saying, “Your world is one of the Nine Realms of the cosmos, linked to each other by the branches of Yggdrasil, the World’s Tree.”

This article is developing. Check back for updates!

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November 10, 2023

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DCU

Are Today’s Comic Book Writers Actually Interested in the Characters They Are Writing?

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There’s no denying that comic books change over time. Characters change and evolve. However, at the core of a character there are essential elements. Some of these elements may revolve around superficial aspects like a costume or a power set. However, it’s the deeper more substantial attributes that tend to hook readers for the long run. If over the course of his 80 plus year history Batman behaved wildly different, or changed his modus operandi readers would drift away, right?

This actually did happen. Batman was on the verge of cancellation until Julius Schwartz righted the ship in the late ’60’s and early ’70’s. Perhaps, the best way to look at this is that the ship was righted and Batman instead of getting cancelled, went on to even greater success when the stories and characterization leaned into the core elements of the character instead of presenting him as a nearly wholly different character walking around in a recognizable costume.

One can’t blame those writers for following the entertainment trends of the era, it only makes sense. Except when it doesn’t; when the approach doesn’t fit the core essentials of the character. Those writers were crafting tales that fit popular trends because it’s what they thought would sell, they were not, however, focusing on the elements that had made Batman popular to begin with. And, this is where we are today.

It’s not hard to see how many of today’s comic book writers are writing for the time and not for the character. It’s not easy to always balance that. You can’t write Batman like he’s still in 1940, unless it’s a period piece of course. The trick is to keep the character grounded at his core while exploring relevant issues that make the story feel contemporary while losing nothing of what makes Batman who he is. Unfortunately, it seems many writers in comics today are making these same mistakes. DC Comics as a whole seems to not understand the difference at times. There are some recent examples we can look at to see what’s going on as we explore what makes a character that character especially ones with a long publishing history.

Alan Scott, The Green Lantern

There are different kinds of changes that can be wrought on a character, marriage, children, death of a loved one, loss of powers, etc….. Sometimes, characters can be reinvented, though it seems that it’s rarely for the better as a reworking that eliminates the core elements of the character most likely will alienate fans of the character. There’s a lot of this going on at DC Comics in a number of titles, and the most recent example is Alan Scott, The Green Lantern. This is easily the most incendiary topic in this editorial. It would’ve been such even had writer Tim Sheridan not gone on X (formerly known as Twitter) to essentially call anyone who did not support the book as a homophobe or bigot. He has actually completely overlooked the larger issue, which is the topic here- Is Tim Sheridan actually interested in the character of Alan Scott and his 80 year history?

Alan Scott first appeared in All-American Comics #16, cover dated, July 1940. That first story presents the origin of The Green Lantern. While there was very little deep or nuanced storytelling during the Golden Age for the character, writers did eventually pair up Alan with an adversary, the Harlequin, a criminal who would not only match wits with the Green Lantern, but who was also interested in his romantic affections. This should be familiar to readers as Batman and Catwoman have had a similar relationship since their first meeting back in Batman #1 (Spring 1940). While Bruce and Selina never dated or got married in the Golden Age, the two flirted with Selina even trying to put aside her criminal ways at times . Batman let her go on more than one occasion because he was so enamored with her, including that first appearance. It wouldn’t be until the Bronze Age that Bruce and Selina got together, got married and had a daughter in continuity. It was the continuity of Earth-Two, but it’s a very similar situation to Alan Scott and Molly (The Harlequin) Mayne.

Like the Bat and the Cat, Alan and Molly finally got married in the Bronze Age. Both pairs of characters had a similar dynamic as hero/villain/love interest. Bruce and Selina’s marriage resulted in daughter, Helena Wayne, the Huntress, but ended in tragedy as Selina died trying to protect her family after a false claim by a former confederate. Devastated, Bruce was never the same and died in action a few years later. Alan and Molly got married only after Alan learned that his first marriage had resulted in the birth of twins that his wife had hidden from him. When Alan and Molly got married in their twilight years (Infinity, Inc Annual #1) they had a ready-made family. Not to say it was always easy (Alan had to rescue her soul from Hell at one point), but the couple remained happily married until Flashpoint and the launch of The New 52 in 2011 when all previous DC continuity was restarted.

By the time The New 52 launched, fans of Alan Scott had more than a costume and power set to like about the character. Heck, even more than just the fact he was a traditional hero! During the Bronze Age, writers, chiefly Roy Thomas filled in the gaps between the Golden Age and “the present” to develop a more complex Alan Scott with compelling story elements in his long life. Not only had Alan been duped into marrying Rose Canton (the Golden Age Thorn) but he’d fathered two children with her in their short marriage whose existence she’d hidden. It was a surprise to Alan when he found out and it provided a whole new avenue of stories and character nuance to explore. Alan’s relationship with his children Jennie-Lynn (Jade) Hayden and Todd (Obsidian) Rice were central to Alan’s character from the mid ’80’s until Flashpoint in 2011. When Todd was revealed to be gay, it provided a whole other level to the friction between father and son that had been present since their first meeting. Even if it wasn’t intended by creators Roy Thomas and Jerry Ordway, it was a natural interpretation of his character that writer Marc Andreyko seized upon when he outed Todd in Manhunter Volume 3 #18. This insightful reading of the character by Andreyko was not only a contemporary element for inclusion, but yet another addition to Alan Scott’s story that grew the character deeper and more complex. Scott is a man of the 1940’s and homosexuality was viewed very differently than it is today, or in the ’80’s when Rice was first created.

Even outside those aspects of Alan Scott specifically related to his sexual orientation, he was shown in the Bronze Age and beyond to have a very close friend in Jay Garrick, the original Flash. Their bonding extended to their respective wives as well. This was 80 years of storylines and character development when all was seemingly thrown away when James Tynion IV retconned Alan’s sexuality in the Green Lantern 80th Anniversary issue.

With the launch of The New 52, DC Comics presented a new take on the concept of parallel Earths and the multiverse which had played a significant role since its introduction in The Flash #123. In Earth 2 #1 (2012) we meet Alan Scott, a young man unencumbered with any history as he is a brand new version of the character who has yet to become Green Lantern. This Alan Scott is gay. Writer James Robinson wanted to have a gay character since Obsidian had been wiped from existence with Flashpoint. Making Alan Scott this new gay character makes sense in a metatextual way.

The New 52 Earth 2 characters were last seen with any sort of significance in Earth 2: Society #22 in 2017. In a matter of five years, the New 52 Alan Scott was obsolete as DC had already launched the Rebirth initiative with the promise that the original Justice Society of America would return “soon.”

After a time travelling appearance in Justice League #32 (2019), the Justice Society of America including Alan Scott and Power Girl (more on that later) returned not only to continuity, but the present in Doomsday Clock #12. It would’ve seemed that the original Golden Age Green Lantern was back with his history and character intact. It was then a surprise that raised many questions about Alan and his history and family when the aforementioned Green Lantern 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super-Spectacular retconned Alan’s sexuality.

With the publication of Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #1, this mini-series serves to re-contextualize Alan’s history. With that being the purpose, how much are DC Comics interested in the substance of the character of Alan Scott? When you eliminate a character’s history and motivation, relationships etc, what’s the interest in the character then? All that’s left is the superficial aspects, a name, a costume, a power set? Is Alan Scott: The Green Lantern writer, Tim Sheridan actually interested in the attributes that made Alan Scott a founding member of the JSA? The stories that have shaped him? The substance of his character as a founding member of the JSA and one of the first heroes of the DC Universe? The established history with his teammates, and family? Or, is Sheridan interested in the idea of Alan Scott? Is he just a JSA character that can provide representation? Is he invested in the established history and depiction of Alan Scott or simply writing the story of a gay man in the 1940’s?

If the substance of Alan Scott’s history and character attributes are changed is it really still the same character, or is it the substance of a new character wearing the superficial particulars we associate with Alan Scott? We can’t see how much history has changed, because very little has been done with that so far. We’ve seen Jade and Obsidian in Infinite Frontier, but there’s no guarantee they are still in play. The same goes for Molly Mayne-Scott. Is that marriage still something that’s part of these characters’ history? In this recontextualization will we learn that Alan lied and misrepresented himself to both his wives? Is this an heroic action? We’ve seen a retcon in Justice Society of America and The New Golden Age that indicates Molly had a son who has grown up into a character known as The Harlequin’s Son. This is new, so what else has changed? A quick examination of Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #1 depicts what we do know has changed.

In this first issue, Alan is blackmailed by FBI head J. Edgar Hoover in joining the JSA. This is a massive change from the established origin of the JSA. The JSA formed when British Agent Intrepid asked The Flash, Green Lantern (and Batman in pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity) to help with a mission in Europe which was first told in DC Special #29 (September 1977). It led to all the founding members coming together with a final save of Washington, DC from a special Nazi bomber and stopping the assassination of U.S. President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Is this still the JSA’s origin? If so, was Alan Scott involved?

While some of the ideas that Sheridan introduces are compelling and fitting for the story of a gay man from the 1940’s, it doesn’t fit Alan Scott ‘s 80-plus year history. Changing something about a character that fundamentally changes the character’s history and make up does not honor the substance of the character or engage the fanbase that’s built up around the character over the years. For Alan Scott, that’s 80 years. There have been so many stories with so much consistency in Alan’s portrayal, changing things doesn’t genuinely fit. He’s now a reluctant hero not that interested in using his power to fight evil and and is being controlled through blackmail. It’s a change that seems to be there for other reasons and is not pertinent to the core of the character. What if Superman was Superman only because he was being blackmailed over the fact he was an alien. What if that was the mitigating factor in his decision to be on the JL and/ or to be a hero at all?

It’s this that raises my question about Sheridan’s interest and even DC Comics’ interest in the character. It doesn’t make sense to move a character away from the aspects that brought the character appeal over the years. Ignoring these established things in favor for traits that are topical would logically turn fans away as seen with Batman in the ’50’s and ’60’s. It’s something we’ve seen recently with another well established character that has since changed back.

“Ric” Grayson

The reasons behind the “Ric” Grayson era of Nightwing may be different from the motivation for changing Alan Scott’s sexuality, but the results are the same. When Nightwing was struck with amnesia he developed a new personality that severed all his relationships with the Bat-family- Bruce, Alfred, Barbara Gordon, his brother Robins, etc. Not only were these relationships severed, but “Ric” forgot his history and his personality shifted somewhat. Without Dick Grayson as part of the Bat-family, memory of his history or friendships and his past as a blank slate…he was no longer the character people liked. He was no longer the character that appealed to readers. “Ric” was a different character, with a different outlook on things and different relationships. While this direction may have garnered new fans, and kept some, readers were ecstatic to have Dick return.

Essentially, everything people liked about Dick Grayson was gone with “Ric.” Dick is a character that has a long history and to eliminate that takes away what people like about the character. It’s no different than what’s being done with Alan Scott. The change to “Ric” was an in-story change, but the results were the same. This situation is different when compared to Alan Scott because it doesn’t appear that DC or the writers didn’t care about him. Instead, it felt like they wanted to either kill time or have a reason to change his name from “Dick.” It’s important to remember, however, that like Batman before him in the 60’s, readers lost interest in Nightwing because he was divorced from the elements that had made him popular. There are some other DC Comics characters that are suffering the same treatment as Alan Scott.

Power Girl … Paige Stetler ?

Alan Scott isn’t the only JSAer suffering an identity crisis that suggests the writer isn’t really invested in what made the character popular. Power Girl has recently been relaunched in a new eponymously titled ongoing series from DC Comics. Power Girl has been around for nearly 50 years, like Alan Scott, the New 52 resulted in a new version of the character. Unlike Alan Scott, the New 52 version had minor changes to the character. Especially notable is that Power Girl maintained her personality, attitude and a very similar history with one of the most significant aspects being retained, her friendship with Helena Wayne, the Huntress. This is of course the New 52 version of the Huntress who managed to be very similar to her original incarnation with all the essential elements intact. While there is now a third version of Helena Wayne appearing currently in Justice Society of America, it’s her bestie Power Girl who’s suffering at the hands of writer, Leah Williams.

The chief element of Power Girl’s characterization that fans point to for liking the character is her personality. From the outset, she was portrayed as a brash, confident, outspoken young woman. She’s always wanted to be her own and make her own way and not rely on her cousin, Superman. More than anything this has defined her character. Her history after the Crisis on Infinite Earths suffered, but her original origin was returned to her in 2005. Through it all she maintained her personality that had won her fans. It is very perplexing then that despite professing that the Power Girl in current continuity is this original version when the most glaring inconsistency is her personality in this new series by Leah Williams. It’s diametrically opposed to what readers have come to love about the character. It’s like seeing Batman as a snarky, wise-cracking, bombastic street acrobat. It just isn’t who the character is. Furthermore, the writing itself contradicts the stories that are referenced in the comics themselves as well as the official DC Comics blog that servers as a primer for readers on the character and this series.

The blog states that this version of Power Girl is the original pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths, Earth-Two version. It references her first appearance in All-Star Comics #58, her changing back story and return to form in JSA: Classified. What’s confounding is that while these new stories by Leah Williams reference her past, including the Karen Starr identity and supposedly her job as a Tech company entrepreneur, Williams doesn’t appear to understand the substance of them.

In the back up stories from Action Comics #1051-1053, PG is being attacked by Johnny Sorrow. He claims that he and Power Girl are the last two survivors from their universe. If PG is from the original Earth-Two, this doesn’t make any sense. It’s well established that Psycho-Pirate is the only other survivor from Earth-Two as well as the only one who remembered the Multiverse for decades after the Crisis on Infinite Earths wiped out the multiverse. Furthermore, Johnny Sorrow was never an Earth-Two character. He appeared in Earth 2: Society, but the blog makes it clear that the Earth 2/ New 52 Power Girl is a different character, and these new stories aren’t about her. In fact, Johnny Sorrow made his first ever appearance anywhere in New Earth continuity (post-Crisis, post-Zero Hour) in Secret Origins of Super-Villains 80 Page Giant #1, (December 1999). He would have no memory of any life on Earth-Two, since he never appeared in that continuity.

The blog explains that Power Girl was raised in a simulation on her symbioship, however the title scrawl from Power Girl #1 says she was sent to Earth to watch over baby Kal-L. Both Kryptonians were sent as infants so PG could certainly not look after baby Kal-L as she was a baby herself. Her ship took longer to arrive, and thus she was raised by it arriving on Earth as a young woman when it took longer than anticipated.

The blog states that she doesn’t wear the “S” symbol because she didn’t work long with Superman on Earth-Two. This is patently false for a number of reasons. Her reason for not wearing the “S” can be found in All-Star Comics #64, her 7th appearance ever as seen in the image below.

And interestingly, the blog clearly indicates that the All-Star Comics stories are part of her past, a past that did include time together plus she made the decision about the “S” BEFORE she revealed herself to the world. Also, the title scrawl mentioned above claims she DID work along side Superman.

One of the most curious and off-putting aspects of Power Girl’s portrayal in this series is her 180 degree personality shift. The blog claims the biggest thing for PG is her identity:

“A Power Girl so far removed from her point of origin, so many worlds and continuities away, that anyone would have a hard time telling who she’s really supposed to be—much less herself. This is a Power Girl who needs to undergo some serious soul searching to find out what she’s really about, which is where we find her today.”

It’s not clear how PG got to this point. We have the Karen Starr identity referenced so we know that part of her history is intact. The blog says she has returned with the rest of the JSA during Doomsday Clock. The quote from the blog above tries to make readers believe that she’s having some sort of identity crisis, but as it states elsewhere in blog, that was resolved in Infinite Crisis and the JSA: Classified storylines. Leah Williams suggests these identity issues in her stories, but never explains how PG went from a confident, independent woman insecure, unsure of herself and dependent on Superman for an identity (she wears the “S” now). When did that happen? It’s diametrically opposed to how she’s always been portrayed. It doesn’t make sense and it appears that Williams (and blog writer Alex Jaffe) isn’t aware of the substance of the character. To Williams she’s just an alternate Supergirl, instead of a distinct character that has always behaved differently from the main universe Supergirl. In fact, it appears that is the length and breadth of Williams’ understanding of Power Girl.

There’s another bizarre quality to Williams’ portrayal of Power Girl. She writes Power Girl like she’s new to Earth, like her rocket landed, she met Kal-L and a few days later found herself lost and showed up on the main DC Earth. She seems wholly unconnected with her past with the JSA which is currently on display in Justice Society of America which is currently publishing. That book acknowledges Power Girl’s past and provides a depiction that is in line with her established personality.

The question remains: Is Leah Williams actually interested in Power Girl as a character? Does she understand anything about her history or personality? These are the elements that won Power Girl fans over the years. Williams seems to be ignoring them outright, or she’s just ignorant of them to begin with and has made no attempt to make them make sense. Either way, it points to a lack of interest in the character other than the most basic superficial description, simply an alternate Supergirl, like Sheridan’s Alan Scott, a version of the character that doesn’t utilize the history of the character and shows no interest in the substance of the character.

And, There’s More…

This situation isn’t confined to Power Girl and Alan Scott. The new Wonder Woman series from Tom King’s pen indicates much the same. King is known for his controversial takes on characters, more often that not bending characters to fit the stories he wants to tell. The new Wonder Woman is no different, and in this case the intent from the outset seems less rooted in an interest in Wonder Woman, but a desire to tell a story that requires great leaps in status quo and characterization to make work. When did all those Amazons emigrate to the U.S.? Are there even enough Amazons on Themiscrya to be statistically significant even if they ALL moved to the U.S.? Why would Diana sit by and wait if the killer was identified as an Amazon immediately? Why wouldn’t she investigate immediately? The real reason is that that is not the story King wants to tell. He doesn’t even seem to want to tell the story from Diana’s POV as The Sovereign is narrating the tale. Very little so far indicates that King is interested in Wonder Woman outside the broadest definition of her.

It’s not new though, Human Target depicted all the Justice League International characters wildly out of character except for Guy Gardner. He was already broken so King didn’t have to break him. Strange Adventures turned the hero, Adam Strange into the villain. King does it in nearly all of his stuff, the most notable outlier being Superman, “Up in the Sky” which perfectly depicts the Man of Steel. If a writer has to change the fundamentals of a character is his/her interest really in the character or the idea of the character?

Even the new Birds of Prey comic doesn’t seem to really be interested in the core concept of the Birds of Prey. Kelly Thompson is approaching the book like the concept is just a team of women. She isn’t including founder Barbara Gordon, or centering the series on the relationship between Barbara, Dinah (Black Canary) and Helena (Huntress) Bertinelli. In fact, Dinah is the only one of these characters in the comic. Combined with the fact that the series reads like Thompson was looking for an excuse to write Harley Quinn, a character who has zero business being involved with the Birds of Prey, it again appears that the writer isn’t actually interested in what the made the Birds of Prey concept popular to begin with. Instead, it’s being rebranded as something else, which would indicate that this rebranding is what Thompson is actually interested in and not the substance of the concept as it was developed over the years. For Thompson, Birds of Prey is just a team of women characters, and again that’s the absolute basic definition of the concept with no substance.

The Balance Between Character and Story … Both Matter

I won’t say that some of the the stories mentioned above don’t have compelling aspects. However, the big question is whether or not they work for the characters with which they are associated. At one point comic book writers understood they were writing characters. Characters that had histories, personalities, ways of operating…. Readers were following these characters because of how they had been built up and developed over he years. Readers followed the continuing stories because they were invested in the substance of the characters. Like people in the real world, we are attracted to substance, not color, gender or any other superficial element. It’s the person inside that matters, and if that changes, that’s when relationships break down.

Even Alan Moore when writing Watchmen created his own characters instead of using the recently acquired Charlton characters that he had originally intended to use. That story would have destroyed them for further inclusion in the DC Universe. And, that’s what a lot of these writers are doing. Adam Strange can’t be used in the DC Universe if Strange Adventures is “in continuity.” The same goes for the characters in Human Target. Everything readers liked about Power Girl has been removed from her characterization. Fans just want to forget this run already, especially since they are getting the Power Girl they love over in Justice Society of America. Alan Scott is completely out of step with his history and characterization and Sheridan’s aspersions about the JSA make this series inaccessible to existing fans of the team and Alan Scott.

Creating new characters is the best option if one is not actually interested in existing characters but just the ideas of the characters and not the substance of the characters that have been developed through the years. There’s got to be a balance. Create a new character if necessary to tell a story, but don’t destroy or bend existing characters unrecognizably in order to tell a story. We can only hope that some of these takes get cancelled and return the characters who were beloved to begin with. We can also hope that writers will have the opportunity and means to tell their stories in a manner that will allow them to be judged on their own merit. With long standing characters it’s difficult to separate the quality of the story, the writing, the themes if they do not fit the character. It’s a balance, and the pendulum is swinging away from the importance of the substance of characters to simply the broadest definitions of them leaving the stories that MADE these characters left out in the cold.

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November 10, 2023

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Comics

Check Out Omni-Man’s Brutal Fatalities And Brutalities In Mortal Kombat 1

Omni-Man has descended into Mortal Kombat 1, with early access now available to those who own the MK1 Kombat Pass. We’ve seen some of his moves via the recent Kombat Kast and other updates, but now we get to take this evil Superman for a spin ourselves.

While his moves in the heat of battle are cool, let’s be honest: This is Mortal Kombat, which means we’re here for Omni-Man’s bloodiest finishing moves. We’ve assembled the Viltrumite’s Fatalities, his Fatal Blow, and a few of his Brutalities into one video, so you can see how ruthless he can be.

Here’s a rundown of each move in the video, along with a quick explainer on the moments from Invincible it pulls from:

Fatality 1: Trained Killer
- Omni-Man grabs his opponent by the neck and flies off, with the scene changing to the subway from Mortal Kombat 3. The two burst through the ceiling, and Omni-Man holds his foe in front of him as the train arrives, smashing both the opponent and the subway passengers into bloody bits.
- This references one of the most iconic scenes in all of Invincible, where Omni-Man does the same to his son Invincible in a Chicago subway tunnel.
Fatality 2: Like Putty
- Omni-Man grabs his opponent’s head and squeezes, first popping out an eyeball before ripping the head off. He then pushes the head through the rest of the body before stomping on it.
- This is an extended cut of the first kill we see from Omni-Man in his battle with the Guardians Of The Globe in the first episode of Invincible, as he smashes Red Rush’s head in a similar fashion, popped eye and all. However, Red Rush does not have his body split in half.
Fatal Blow: The Thinker
- Omni-Man flies at his opponent and knocks them into the ground, where he then brutally beats them with his fists before delivering a double fist pound to the head, which shatters their skull.
- This also references Omni-Man’s battle with his son, only this move calls back to the final moments before Omni-Man unexpectedly leaves.
Brutality 1: Behind You!
- Omni-Man turns his opponent’s head backwards, after which they fall to their knees, cough up some blood, and fall over.
- This is another reference to Omni-Man’s battle with the Guardians Of The Globe in the first episode of Invincible, in which he kills War Woman in the same fashion.
Brutality 2: Coming Through
- Omni-Man flies through his opponent, which causes their body to explode.
- This move likely references the scene in Invincible’s seventh episode, where Omni-Man dispatches an entire unit of special forces in cloaking devices. One of the soldiers is killed when Omni-Man flies at him with such force that his body bursts on impact.
Brutality 3: You Got Boned!
- Omni-Man grabs his opponent by the foot and smashes them on the ground repeatedly, with the final smash making the opponent’s head explode before Omni-Man tosses them away.
- This is also a reference to Omni-Man’s battle with the Guardians Of The Globe, specifically when he kills Darkwing in the same fashion.
Brutality 4: The Klassic
- The classic “uppercut an opponent’s head off” move that every character on the roster can use.

Mortal Kombat 1 is available now on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Omni-Man is available to download now for those who own the Kombat Pass DLC or a premium version of the game.

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November 10, 2023

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Festivals

The Must-List: Five of Our Favorite Super-Spooky Halloween Entertainments

The great irony of Halloween is that in subjecting ourselves to scares of the kitschy seasonal-grocery-aisle variety, we somehow inoculate ourselves, for a moment, the IRL horrors that so consistently plague us each day online in the news each day. But horror movies and other October-end entertainments aren’t necessarily always simply a distraction. Just as often they’re an honest expression of universal human anxieties, dressed up in a foul-smelling rubber mask from the ad-hoc aisles of your local Spirit Halloween retail outlet. (Seriously, what’s up with the inside of those masks? Gross.

Point is: scary movies are both fun and—in some weird way—necessary. Particularly as the evenings begin to dim and pumpkin spice flavonoids start to invade any and all commercially available foodstuffs. But! There are nearly as many different shades of Halloween comfort-viewing as there are of autumn leaves.

Whether you’re a unabashed gorehound with a taste for ultra-intense indie horror or a comedy nerd with a soft spot for trick-or-treat silliness, you no doubt have some sort of perennial Halloween viewing ritual. What are some of ours? GLAD YOU ASKED. Let’s take a look at this month’s Must-List to find out:

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (Episode: “Fear, Itself”)

Why we love it: October is the ideal and most obvious time to revisit Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Though each Halloween episode of the series is wonderful in its own way (shout-out to sexy-ghost Willow), it’s “Fear, Itself” (Season 4, Episode 4) that I still watch every year. The Scooby Gang finds themselves trapped inside a fraternity house of horrors, as fear demon “Gachnar” exploits their deepest anxieties (It fans will enjoy meditating on this theme again, sans clowns.) I appreciate the too-real exploration of how the things that scare us most are intrinsically tied to the things most important to us. Sure, the episode has zombies, witchcraft and werewolves—it is Buffy after all—but “Fear, Itself” (first aired in 1999) marks a major turning point in the series, where it moved beyond monsters-of-the-week in favor of bigger existential questions about good, evil and everything in-between. It’s also one of the funniest episodes of the series. What are you waiting for? Watch it on Hulu! Look: Giles wears this hat in the episode. COME ON.

IT’S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN (1966)

Why we love it: A Charlie Brown Christmas usually sucks up all the love, but my preferred Charles M. Schulz-brand holiday export is 1966’s Halloween-themed It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Directed by Bill Melendez (who directed several Peanuts programs throughout the decade) the CBS special finds the iconic cartoonist’s coterie of melancholic tots—zigzag enthusiast Charlie Brown, football-based tormentor Lucy, kid sister Sally, chair-hating pianist Schroeder, disconcertingly filthy Pigpen, “Peppermint” Patty, et al.—engaged in various angst-riddled Halloween shenanigans. But the two plot threads that really stand out are “flying ace” Snoopy’s totally imagined battles with WWI-era aviator villain “The Red Baron” and poor, mixed-up Linus’s quixotic dedication in waiting for an appearance by the titular Great Pumpkin—a Santa-esque seasonal figure of his own creation. The results are heartbreaking, wistful and adorable in equal measure, in that nostalgic bitter-taste-of-childhood way that the great Mr. Schulz was always so deft at creating. I dare you not to love it.

AUDITION (1999)

Why we love it: When I was in college, I signed up to take an Asian-horror cinema class. But nothing could have prepared me—or my eyes—for Audition, Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike’s gruesome, startling, even nauseating thriller. If you’re looking for a cutesy Halloween-themed movie to watch with friends over candy corn and hot tea, you’re in the wrong place. Audition starts out slow, but methodically builds to a moment of utter monstrosity. No spoilers here, but if you’ve seen the film you definitely know exactly what I’m talking about. This film explores themes of revenge, trauma, repression and shifting power roles—at first quietly and subtly, eventually leading to the big payoff moment towards the end of the film. To say there’s “memorable imagery” is an understatement. Check it out—or don’t!

THE WORST WITCH (1986)

Why we love it: I probably haven’t seen this since the first George Bush was President, but for several years during my brain’s most formative stage of memory-making the go-to VHS tape in our house around Halloween was The Worst Witch—HBO’s 70-minute 1986 adaptation of Jill Murphy’s supernatural YA novel of the same name. Though my memories of the program are pleasantly foggy in that fuzzy-childhood way, the thing that mostly jumps out in my mind is that The Worst Witch was TOTALLY Harry Potter before Harry Potter. A young Fairuza Balk plays Mildred Hubble, an underachieving and unpopular student at something called “Miss Cackle’s Academy for Witches.” Eventually (spoilers!) poor Mildred is redeemed, singled out for her extraordinary qualities—what they are, I don’t quite recall—by visiting “Grand Wizard” Tim Curry. Shot on dicey ‘80s-era video and featuring charmingly corny visual effects, The Worst Witch is indeed as delightful as it sounds. You won’t regret checking it out.

THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999)

Why we love it: I grew up in a woodsy town in southern New Jersey. And when I first watched 1999’s cult classic The Blair Witch Project, directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. I never saw the place the same way again. What was truly terrifying for me was the film’s minimalism; the lo-fi found footage aesthetic that just made everything seem so real. The majority of the film is just darkness. A single flash, a woman face—that’s all you needed to completely freak me out. The sound of the footsteps creeping around the tent and the screams Heather makes when she’s looking for her friends? To this day it gives me chills.

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November 9, 2023

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Film

The Last Airbender returns to live-action in Netflix teaser

Gordon Cormier

Photo: Netflix

Oh, so this is the last airbender? We’ve heard that before.

Regardless of whether or not there will be more airbenders, Netflix has another last one on the way. The long-awaited live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender is making its way to the streamer next year, and they’ve got a teaser trailer to prove it. Filled with the same impressive and expensive special effects that helped make its previous animation adaptation, One Piece, a reality, the teaser is our first glimpse of the latest, if not the last, Airbender.

Avatar: The Last Airbender | Official Teaser | Netflix

Fans of the TV series will find a lot of recognizable characters here, including Aang (Gordon Cormier), an Avatar who is training his telekinetic powers so that he can manipulate the four elements: Water, Earth, Fire, and Air. (Oh, god, we hope we’re right about that description). Those powers are on display in the trailer, which uses Netflix’s considerable budget to make the animated magic a live-action and computer-generated reality.

The A.V. Club’s weekly film round up

Based on the Nickelodeon animated series of the same name, Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender is a long time coming. M. Night Shyamalan directed an adaptation of the series in 2010 that fans and critics hated in equal measure. The experience changed the course of Shyamalan’s career and the director seems much happier not directing $150 million fantasy movies. Nearly a decade later, in 2018, Netflix announced its series, which retained the help of series creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who left the show over creative differences.

To its credit, Netflix has certainly not given up on turning animated properties into live-action epics. The overwhelmingly positive response to One Piece must give fans some hope for The Last Airbender. Will this truly be the last Airbender? Only time will tell.

Avatar: The Last Airbender streams on February 22.

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November 9, 2023

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Gordon CormierPhoto: NetflixOh, so this is the

TV Producer’s Son Arrested After Woman’s Dismembered Torso Found in Encino Dumpster

November 9, 2023 @ 7:43 PM

Samuel Haskell Jr. was arrested on Wednesday after the dismembered torso of a woman was found in a dumpster in Encino, California, roughly four miles from the home in Tarzana he shared with his wife, Mei Haskell, her parents, and the pair’s three children. He is the son of TV producer Samuel Haskell Sr., founder and president of Magnolia Hill Productions.

Haskell Jr. is currently being held on $2 million bail.

Authorities report that Mei and her parents, Yanxiang Wang and Gaoshen Li, are missing. The pair’s three children were taken into state custody before being placed with family.

A homeless man found the torso while searching for recyclables in a dumpster near Ventura Boulevard and Rubio Avenue early Wednesday morning. The LAPD’s Det. Efren Gutierrez said, “A dismembered female wrapped in a plastic bag. It was just outside the dumpster.”

Haskell Jr. was arrested after authorities reviewed security footage from the area where the dumpster is located. They also found evidence of a crime in his home.

Tuesday night police received a report that someone had spotted a body in a black bag outside Haskell’s home, but they were unable to back up the claim.

Before founding Magnolia Hill Productions, Haskell Sr. was the Worldwide Head of Television at William Morris. He worked on a number of productions, including “Mad About You,” “Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” “Lost,” and “Kings and Queens.”

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November 9, 2023

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November 9, 2023 @ 7:43 PM Samuel Haskell