The Adventures of Robin Hood

This past Month of May marked an anniversary of milestone movie.   The Adventures of Robin Hood celebrated it's 80th Anniversary

 Showcasing its then rising stars Olivia DeHavilland and Errol Flynn. The duo would go on and star in eight films together, Robin Hood was already the third time the pair had worked together on screen.  Placing them up with notable Hollywood on screen couples, like Spencer & Hepburn, Bogart & Bacall, Hanks & Ryan, and Sandler & Barrymore.

On the week of the film’s Anniversary, Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment released the trailer of the next generation of Robin Hood to hit the big screen. Starring Taron Egerton and Jamie Foxx, Robin Hood is set to hit theatres on November 21, 2018;  The Adventures of Robin Hood was not the first theatrical released film, there was a movie starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. that was released in 1922.  His son, Douglas  Fairbanks Jr.  was offered the title role on this version, but turned it down specifically because of his close relation with his father and to avoid drawing comparisons , So he opted out of the movie  when the role was offered, which eventually ended up for a young Errol Flynn.

The film is a milestone for a few reasons, at the time. It was the most expensive movie ever made, with a budget reaching 2 million dollars, there were only eleven Technicolor cameras in existence, and the film used all eleven during its filming schedule. By year end The Adventures of Robin Hood  was the biggest box office draw for 1938. Making back more the double its projected budget in a time when the united states was still in an economic downturn with unemployment reaching 19%, which was 5 percent increase from the previous year,  The movie went on to win 3 Oscars, for best Art Direction, Editing, and most importantly original Score.  Erich Wolfgang Korngold was the composer; its significant because prior to the 1939 academy awards the only recipient of best original score was the head of the music department from a big Hollywood studios. Korngold was a composer, born in Hungary; he was a child protégé, composing music for operas.  The irony was Korngold got cold feet and desperately wanted to back out of making the music of the movie when he realized the scope and the using a full orchestra to compose the musical score.  The producers held him to his contract and he became the first composer to ever win.  Opening the door for future composers such as Hans Zimmer, James Horner and up and comer Tyler Bates. Talented individuals to steer and over see the musical development of a movie to help tell its story.   

It is also the movie that created the character of Maid Marian to be the love interest for Robin, in earlier incarnation and story adaptations Marian was not featured before this movie and now has become a staple character of Robin of Locksley and his story. Since its release 80 years ago, there has been over 100 interpretive retelling of this story in film, television, and animation.

Peter Rabitt

To put into a placement context, Stars Wars the Last Jedi crossed over into 2018 as the number one Movie at the box office.  Jumanji:  Welcome to the Jungle, slowly crept in and took over the number one spot for 3 weeks until February 9^th.  Which was when Peter Rabbit Debuted, for that weekend at number 2# and held that spot for three weeks on the global market after bowing out of theatres after a 13 week run.  What is remarkable is it’s a movie that went under the radar, and besides its small commercial spots it had a rather small media buzz surrounding it. Now with Avengers Infinity War, just released Peter Rabbit is ranked the 9^th highest grossing film of 2018 thus far.

The original book was published over a hundred years ago by author Beatrix Potter in 1902, five more books /stories were released between 1904  to 1912, and it grew and continues grow and become a timeless bestselling children’s book.  Growing up myself, I remember being exposed to the water painted imagery of the stories and of Potter’s characters. So when watching the movie in theatre it was no surprise to witness a cross-section of ages attending the movie, representing all generations, grandparents, children, adults both young and old. 

The Peter Rabbit movie represents a star powered Cast of 2017. Voiced by late show host James Corden, who at the time of this films’ release was saturating the market with his presence. He has done voice work for the movie Trolls and most recently playing Hi-5 the central sidekick in The Emoji-movie; he  ran his Car-Pool Karaoke specials on the CBS network and hosted specials like the Tony Awards and the 2018 Grammys.  His movie Co-stars where two of the most sought after women in Hollywood during 2017 – Daisy Ridley (Star Wars) and Margot Robbie (Suicide Squad), Peter Rabbit’s live Co-stars Rose Bryne (X-Men First Class) and Domhnall Gleason (General Hux of Star Wars), pulled off a remarkable on screen  performance and are respected and versatile talents in their own right.   

That all aside this movie, screenplay adaptation is modernized but kept somewhat out of time, it takes place in rural England. And stays truthful to the original source material; scenes from movie are framed that it takes its imagery directly from the art panels of children’s book.  There is also water painted animations peppered into this film to bring some nostalgia and added layering to the story’s developing plot. And we revisit key central characters like Old man McGregor played by seasoned actor Sam Neil.  You don’t see cell phones or overtly modernized technologies, yet modern era trains and buses, and Harrods famous department store are showcased.

Peter Rabbit and Domhnall Gleason’s Character Jeremy Fisher can be both viewed as villainous unrepentant, self-serving characters of the story; or protagonists who eventually find a point in which they need to change for the better. Peter is child-like unaware of his consequences, but like a child feels entitlement and as such displays possessiveness.  Fisher is a perfectionist, who seeks only reward for his merits of his vane lifestyle choices. The movie works not to offend but strike familiar chords to young and old, music is very contemporary and lyrics have been modified, the sight gags are physical comedy and are  on par with the three stooges, but pushes the boundaries to engage those with short attention spans.

Is it any good?, the vicious comedy,  and the music  are solid reasons to sit back and take in this spectacle, Corden gives Peter Rabbit Charisma and such a cool confidence that viewers are constantly engaged by the direction of this character.  The movie tries to top itself and offer a new level of zany  on almost each hop forward.  Its no surprise to hear that Sony Pictures  announced  Peter Rabbit 2 for February 7^th, 2020 release, with Will Gluck the original film’s director and co-screenwriter , to return and create this largely anticipated sequel

    

Vertigo 50th Anniversary

Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo celebrates its 50^th anniversary, a film which eventually was deemed a classic after having a luke warm critical reception during the time of its release and under performed at the box office.  The crux of the story was "boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy meets girl again, boy loses girl again".   Vertigo was the film that introduced the use of the dolly zoom – an in-camera effect that distorts perspective. The lead actor played by Jimmy Stewart is an early retired detective suffering from a combination of acrophobia (an extreme fear of heights) and vertigo (a false sense of rotational movement).

The girl is Hollywood starlet Kim Novak   playing a dual role of Madeleine and Judy, in this American film noir.  Novak is the femme fatale who psychologically fractures Scottie, Stewart’s character and propels him further down this spiraling mystery over his obsession of woman who looks like someone else.     

The screenplay was adapted from a French novel titled ‘From among the dead’, French director Francois Truffaut who extensively interviewed Hitchcock and written a book of the auteur-director, suggested that possibly the authors of the novel had specifically written the story for Hitchcock, in which they denied. Behind the scenes Vertigo imitates Hitchcock's own sadistic treatment of actors, directly mirroring his trademark production of fetishised cool blondes. 

As for its female star, Kim Novak saw this script as an analogue of the Hollywood star system in which she was a property.  In a subversive way Vertigo 50 years later solidifies the historical purpose of the #metoo movement,  Critics  have interpreted Vertigo variously as "a tale of male aggression and visual control; as a map of female Oedipal trajectory; as a deconstruction of the male construction of femininity and of masculinity itself; as a stripping bare of the mechanisms of directorial, Hollywood studio and colonial oppression.

Artistically, Vertigo for its time was bold and revolutionary, breaking cinematic ground as did Orsen Well's Citizen Kane.  in 2007, AFI ranked Vertigo as the ninth-greatest American movie of all time.

Action Comics Issue #1000

Jim Lee & Scott Williams

Besides Star Wars and Star Trek, One of the greatest top tier sources of fan fiction that has encompassed different mediums over the year, and has monikered the grandfather of the superhero archetype is Superman. 
April 18^th, 2018 saw the release of Action comic #1000, an extremely rare milestone accomplishment that celebrates 80 years of this beloved DC Character.  Conceived from a Canadian heritage, Superman was a comic strip, an 11 year- run Radio Serial, multiple comic book series, multiple television series, multiple animated series, a motion picture franchise, and a set of Video game titles.

Steve Rude 30s

Frank Cho 40s

 This April, variant covers representing each decade from a different artist will be featured, including a blank cover, and a Primary cover designed by Jim Lee and Scott Williams , bringing the total of 10 different covers to this issue. The issue is an anthology of short stories commemorating or celebrating the iconic hero.

Dave Gibbons 50s

Michael Allred 60s

Jim Steranko 70s

Joshua Middleton 80s

Dan Jurgens 90s

Lee Bermejo 2000s

Most of the covers are not by artists who were active in the period, but rather artists whose work feels inspired by the period, with Steve Rude tackling the Superman of the 1930s, Frank Cho covering the Superman of the '40s, and Watchmen's Dave Gibbons hitting the '50s. Madman creator and the artist behind Batman ’66 Michael Allred is attached to the 1960s. Jim Steranko trusted with the 70s who has not done a lot of work with DC but had drawn a variant for Before Watchmen: Rorschach #1.  Joshua Middleton came onto the comic book scene in the 2000’s but his most recognized Superman contribution was Superman/Shazam!: First Thunder and is in charge of the 80s.  Leaving the most likely to be the most popular artist and cover which might be the biggest seller for monetary purposes is Dan Jurgens  for the 1990’s cover, Dan is the current writer for Action comics  but was the definitive artist for Superman in the 1990s . While Lee Bermejo, who recently did an exclusive Justice League theatrical poster, will draw 

2018 marks the 40^th Anniversary of the motion picture release of Superman. Starring a then unknown actor, the late Christopher Reeve.  Director Richard Donner casted him after watching Reeve's Performance on play in New York, playing a duo role of a young man and his grandfather.  The Tagline being you will believe a man can fly.  Was significant because the status of effects prior to the Donner's film was categorically very low-end and not taken too seriously.  The motion picture revolutionized the perception of the superhero genre being box office draw and giving authenticity to a fictional character that was otherwise marginalized to little children.  Donner's contributions to the first 3 films  before studio execs and behind the scene dealings altered Richard Donners’ involvement and vision is still considered unprecedented.  The current president of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige, upon graduating from USC went to intern and then work under Richard Donner and his wife Lauren at the beginning of his career, working on the set of Volcano with Tommy Lee Jones, and You’ve Got Mail with Meg Ryan and Hanks that eventually led to Lauren Donner having Feige sit in and work with Bryan Singer to work on the first X-men Movie, which led to his own eventual path with Marvel. 

Superman 1978 were the character reveal takes place one hour into the film, something unheard of even today, took a mature approach to the material and as such elevated a b-level picture genre and  paved the way for ruling genre today. The kids who grew up enthralled and caught up with both the star wars saga and Superman franchises are the movers and shakers of the business today.  It’s a reflection of the enormous impact that these characters or franchises have had on the modern movie landscape today.
One of the contributing stories of Action comics #1000 is a  co-written piece by Richard Donner.

Planetariums

A resurgence of space and space exploration had re-entered the public consciousness largely due to the accomplishment of Tesla founder Elon Musk; the CEO of SpaceX.  And with familiar liaison to the stars Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson who occasionally makes a public appearance to help generate interests and inform the public at large with the on-goings of space exploration and how we should view the final frontier with fresh 2018 eyes.

I had the opportunity to visit the Museum of Natural History in New York City, where the Hayden Planetarium resides; and Neil deGrasse Tyson is currently the director and curator of.

Outside Hayden Theatre

 The Planetarium displays the most accurate depiction of our galaxy, by charting our stars and giving a detail account of where we are, and what is happening for, both in and beyond our solar system, in one of the most remarkable motion picture captured simulation of space that is simply hard to rival.

The Hayden Planetarium was opened to the public in 1958 and reopened in 2000, where it remains today available to the public with daily visits.  In Ontario, The McLaughlin planetarium which opened in 1968 was the premiere source to view the stars in an immersive avenue until 1995 when it was abruptly closed due to government cut backs.  In that time a Toronto college campus – Seneca College had a planetarium which had operated for nearly thirty years and had closed shortly thereafter; re-named after Canada’s first female astronaut Roberta Bondar, in 1982,

Griffith Observatory, LA

Now there exists many other planetariums in cities across our planet, largely as part of a university or  research facility, but there are remarkable locations like in Alexandria, Egypt at the Arab Academy of Science and Technology, The Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, famed for a slew of television and Film landmark appearances ,and in Japan Nagoya City Science Museum, Nagoya which hosts the biggest planetarium in the world. In which the public can still view the stars and take in the scope and vastness of space.

In Toronto, excluding the Ontario scienc

Museum of Natural History, NYC

e centre which is merely an Imax theatre,

The only currently operating planetarium resides in the University of Toronto Campus, a 25 seat planetarium that is open for small gatherings and periodic public openings or screenings.

There is a mobile planetarium in Ontario where a space journalist and astrophotographer take a portable dome show of the stars and planets on the road as they visit seniors and children in a journey through the cosmos.

Lost in Space 20th Anniversary

April 3^rd marked the 20th Anniversary of Lost in Space: The Movie.  Starring established television actors Matt LeBlanc of Friends, and Lacey Chabert of Party of 5, who at the time were still shooting their respective shows during the making of this movie.  Plus a headlining credible cast of William Hurt as the Patriarch of the family John Robison and a now fellow academy award winning actor Gary Oldman as the treacherous Dr. Smith.  On paper it seems this film would have been considered a bona fide hit with Akiva Goldsman co-writing the movie, who back then was considered one of the go to script doctors in Hollywood.

Blarp a poorly executed CGI Character

 In addition to writing the screenplay to Lost in Space the movie, this was Akiva’s first time listed as a producer. The technology and mastery of many special effects that are used today never existed during the making of this movie and the company had to outsource to several creative local production companies to work on its grand scale production sets and special effects to create this final product you see today. The film was shot at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England. So Akiva and company did not have ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) or a nearby establishment that housed this level of production, to work on dailies or pre/post production set ups.  As explained on the blue-ray special features, and commentary of Lost in Space (1998).  

Lost in Space (1998), has one stunningly lesser known accomplishment, it’s the first movie of 1998 to reach #1 at the box office.  It was nicked named the Iceberg, being that the film replaced James Cameron’s Titanic at the Box Office Mountain top, which had remained number one for 15 straight weeks since December of 1997.  An accomplishment still unsurpassed to this date; and really the only record Marvel Studios can’t break and surpass.

The series is also unique in the sense it continues to move forward in chronology. The original series lasted only three seasons from 1965 – 1968, making this movie’s debut on the 30^th anniversary of the series’ final episodes. The Series took place in the year 1997, when production of the movie transpired, so in the visual sense the world of Lost in Space physically existed during 1997, on fully realized large production set.  The blue-ray special features - highlights the set design as one of the films greatest strengths.  As we move forward 20 more years on the month of the release of the motion picture to April 13^th, 2018.  We are presented to the release of a new television series featured on Netflix.  This will introduce The Robinson family and their journey to an audience of a new generation; as the story is being brought back to life 50 years later.  As we the audiences are shown the year 2048, the acclaimed time period the Netflix series claims to start, 30 years in our future. And like its predecessors when we look back at the Netflix series at the alleged year, we can then judge how far technology and effects have held up.

50th Anniversary of 2001: A Space Odyssey

The theme of April is Space.

On April 2^nd, we celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

 A film that was largely discussed and debated during the time of its release, and arguably still to this day, the meaning behind the movie remains an enigma and there are a few theories of what we the audience was witnessing.  A contemporary filmmaker that resonates to leaving the interpretation of a film to its audience is Alex Garland with is debut and sophomore movies Ex-Machina and Annihilation respectively.  Examining the human condition against technology, nature and the identity of one’s self; while holding centre court to the truth of our underlining instinct of self preservation.   There have been other directors or auteur visionaries like Rod Serling or Hitchcock who have come close to the realm of Kubrick’s imagination and vision, but never to his level.

For 2001: A Space Odyssey Kubrick shares screenplay credit with sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke. What makes this detail extraordinary is that the novel which Arthur C. Clarke wrote. Was written during the same time of making 2001: A Space Odyssey, and in fact Kubrick deliberately influenced Clarke’s interpretation of the story to differ. As he shot many scenes with Clarke present and never used the footage in the final cut, and conversely shot many scenes with Clarke absent and included those takes in the finished draft of the movie. As a result the novelization of A Space Odyssey became a very different story and interpretation to the actual film itself.    Besides his visual genius, Kubrick is astonishingly specific and almost hauntingly particular with his choice of musical score, the score is a motif in his films and repeats at particular sequences, (Battle Hymn of the republic –with Dr Strangelove; the bombastic instrumental of Musica Ricercata: ll in Eyes wide shut, or the entire unnerving score of The Shining) With this case, it’s the imposing black monolith that book-ends A Space Odyssey.  At the dawn of mankind the monolith lends itself to form an epiphany for early man to establish a tool; to advance himself to dominance of his environment, and in the opening minutes we see it was a large bone from an animal carcass to create that dominance.  We fast forward to present man, the tool is a space station to explore regions of the galaxy, and the developing technology of HAL an artificial intelligent mainframe computer.  To demonstrate how far advanced man’s evolution has become. The idea of an A.I. becoming more advance and self aware than its’ creators is a shared trait to Ex-Machina. The final act of entering a wormhole and accelerating the protagonist Daves’s lifespan in an alien environment we are shown his progression from a 3^rd person perspective as opposed to using traditional dissolves, wipes or a montage to show the passage of time.  The Monolith re-appears at the end of Dave’s lifespan and transports Dave reborn as a star-baby’ the evolutionary next step of mankind being introduced back to the world (Earth). It makes little connective sense but in the process of jumping into the next evolution, it would be confusing to those who exist from initial stages of evolutionary change.

It’s safe to say 2001: A Space Odyssey is a mind expanding movie, a national treasure of American film history and the grandfathered architect of the sci-fi genre. Its musical score is memorable, which now is used in many parodies, to which can be said as often imitated but never duplicated, a testament to the master craftsmen - Stanley Kubrick.

Infinity Stones and the Villians who seek them

This entry of Ray-views is to enlighten those who have not watched many of the marvel movies and want to go into the movie with an understanding of the potential stakes, and what is the infinity war generally about.

First and foremost the objects of great interest are the infinity gems/stones.

Benicio del Toro as The Collector

It’s sometimes difficult to get into the storyline without making reference to the varied comic books, and the significant characters that greatly affected the history and mythology of the stones.  Names like Adam Warlock will be thrown around and the collector, both have been introduced in the cinematic universe, but to a far lesser degree. So that aside, what are the Gems and where are they currently as we open into the infinity war movie?

There are 6 infinity stones,  5 of which has been revealed to us the viewing audience and the final one is most likely to be obtained in Infinity war: part 2 or the untitled  Avengers  4 movie slated for release May 3^rd 2019.

In an explanation given during a scene in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. one.  Benicio del Toro who plays the collector gave the following introduction. “Before creation itself, there were 6 singularities. Then the universe exploded into existence and the remnants were forged into 6 concentrated stones”.

In a recent issue of the Guardians of the galaxy comic.  An easier interpretation was given by posing the following concept.   If you were to view the universe as a simulation, then the infinity stones would be the source code of said simulation.  

Let’s look at these stones and where are they now.

The Space Stone/gem – color blue – located inside the Tesseract/Cosmic cube – First seen in the first Captain America movie.  Its real power was revealed when the Red Skull held it with his hand and it opened a portal to space, that launched his existence into space (allegedly). After being re-discovered with Captain America frozen inside a plane for nearly 60 years, it was used to open a wormhole over New York City to allow for an interplanetary alien invasion as seen in The first avengers movie.  It was last seen in Thor Ragnork, as the Villain Loki took the cube from Odin’s Asgardian vault before their planet was destroyed and is most likely  obtained by Thanos as the film concludes with Thor and the surviving Asgardians being intercepted by Thanos ‘s Massive Q-ship. – Meaning we are going to open the Avengers Infinity War with Thor captured  and tormented by Thanos as seen by  a glimpse of the latest trailer and Thanos possessing his first stone by breaking open the Tesseract.

The Space Stone or Tessaract was first used in WWII (1941), by the Nazis using its energy signature to create weapons to disintegrate their enemies.  If revealed , in its true power, the Space stone  allows its user to be omnipresent or everywhere at once;  thus far it has been used to teleport beings anywhere they want, moving objects, and changing the distance of things by warping space itself. (In the comics it is usually the purple stone)

The Reality Stone/gem – color red – referred to as the Ether and was first seen on Thor: Dark World. It was used as a weapon to revert the universe, or warp the universe back to a darker age, by turning matter into dark matter.  It appears as shifting flying ooze.  In its alleged fully realized state, the reality stone becomes a wishing stone granting its user anything in the universe to be possible or impossible. Meaning having the ability to bring anything you want into existence as it can defy every law of physics.  It was last seen being handed over to the collector at the end of Dark World. However, in Guardians of the Galaxy volume one, a movie that was released a year later.  The Collectors’ home and collection of things appeared to be obliterated by the power stone; and so the exact current location is unknown.  It is only surmised that collector may still be in possession of the Ether.

The Ether

(In the comics it’s usually the yellow stone)

Power Stone

Power Stone/Gem – color purple- was kept in an orb container, was first seen on Guardians of the Galaxy volume One . Like the name states, its power; in can enhance the users’ strength, durability, speed, it can shred a planet into nothingness in a single blast and give the user omnipotence when the stone is fully accessed. And when combined with other infinity stones it can boost all of their powers too. Currently the power stone is in the protection of the Galactic police department known as the Nova Corp. The stone was last seen at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy volume one. (In the comics it’s usually the Red Stone)

The Mind Stone/ Gem – color yellow - It appeared in both Avenger’s movies.  It was first revealed in Loki’s scepter and used to control the minds of those the scepter touched like Avenger Hawkeye, Dr.

Helen Cho and professor Selvig. It was the cause that made Ultron both Sentient and murderous and gave life to Vision and provided his extraordinary powers with his vibrainium body (The use of vibranium is extremely multifaceted as seen in the Black Panther movie).  The Mind Stone’s potential when fully realized, can connect with every single mind in the universe or in existence at once; and can gain access to all the thoughts & memories and have complete control of the mind, plus enhancing the abilities of those who are psychics.  (In the comics it’s usually blue)

Time stone in the Eye of Agamotto

The Time Stone/Gem – color green – It first appeared in Dr. Strange and is housed inside the talisman called the Eye of Agamotto and protected by the sorcerer Supreme – Doctor Stephen Strange. It allows its user to manipulate time. Moving it forward and backward, speeding it up or slowing it down on either a single object or everything around the person, or in the instance of the showdown with the Evil Entity known as Dormamu it can create a time loop, trapping its occupants indefinitely. As its true power is the ability to take control of all of time. (It is usually Orange in comics)

The Final stone is the Soul Stone. – Currently unknown location – It has not been introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe thus far.  – Its orange in comics - It has the ability to take control of all living and dead souls, It can corrupt and change souls and take control of all life in the universe.  It can also open a gateway to pocket universes where souls can live i.e. Heaven or Hell.

According to comic storyline, when the Gems/Stones are place together they communicate to one another, allowing the wieldier of the Stones to track and find other infinity stones.

Once the stones are brought all together, in the case of Thanos Gauntlet glove he will be Omnipotent and Omnipresent, and wield god-like power. As the exposition given in the second trailer of infinity war by Gamora, played by a green skinned Zoe Saldana , Thanos wants to eliminate half the life in the universe, and he can do that in a snap of his finger or a whisper. 

Next, if the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy are the heroes  then let’s look at the opposing villains.

At The official reveal of the black order (Children of Thanos as they are sometimes referred to) took place during D23 Expo as part of ToyWiz  toy-line.

There are 4 characters in the movie that are showcased by ToyWiz.

In the comics they are not really Thanos’ Children but his generals who do his bidding

They were first introduced in 2013, in issue Eight of the new Avengers, so they, in a comic book time frame are fairly new characters.

Corvus Glaive –Thanos most loyal servant and right hand man, In the comics Corvos betrayed his

own people just to be in good favor with Thanos. He possesses super strength and speed, but is nowhere near the level of power of Thanos.  His Staff; which is a blade, if remains intact, keeps Corvos immortal. He is an expert tactician and strategist, and has used his skills to destroy worlds with the help of his wife a fellow black order member Proxima Midnight. He possesses a genius level of combat, in the way that he observes and studies every form of combat and warfare; that planet has engaged in                                                                     and figures out the best way to invade and attack that planet.

Proxmia Midnight is the best warrior in black order, for the cinematic universe, Marvel may 

not include the union of Proxima and Corvus, and  just have them  be represented as Thanos’s soldiers. Her fighting style and ability is unmatched, she possesses enhanced strength, invulnerability, and her weapon of choice is a spear, and when she throws it, it becomes lethal black light, which can cut things down to a molecular level, and it never misses its target. The spear posses the power of a supernova, and the spear can produce nets that has the weight of a star. It’s notable to point out, that in the comic books her spear struck the hulk causing him to revert back to banner automatically.

Super Giant – a character from the comic who will not appear in the movie, she is an omnipath,

Super Giant

which means she operates at the absolute highest level of telepathy, and essentially she is a telepathic vampire, meaning she feeds off ones intelligence, and any intelligence she gains from her victims Thanos gains that knowledge as well, before she completely devours the minds of her victims.

Ebony Maw – the character we see holding Dr. Strange hostage with spike and needles to his face, in the second trailer to infinity war. He is referred to being the most dangerous member of the black order,   He possess the ability to manipulate any situation to his favor. He is known as a whisper, someone 

Ebony Maw

who can affect your brain with mind webs that leave behind a spider like creature. And once it gets in your head he can gain all your secrets and control you to do whatever he wants, complete domination of your mind. Like Corvus Glaive he is a genius tactician and strategist, and sets out to make sure other people or minions do his dirty work, he is protected by a protective force field and has the ability to teleport.  It’s to note in the comic books, he took complete control over Doctor Strange, he used Strange to release extremely dangerous multidimensional creatures .

Black Dwarf

Black Dwarf  He is essentially the muscle of the group, he is a massive enforcer, he possesses super strength and his skin is unbreakable, He is the brother of Corvus Glaive and sister –in-law is Proxima Midnight.  It’s to note that in the comics he lead the invasion in Wakanda , but the technology and fierce fighting style of Black Panther’s Guards was able to stop this behemoth and they were able to cast him out of Wakanda. But his strength is on Par with the Hulk .

 In an indirect way the black order represents the infinite stones .

The power stone that is absolute power, strength and energy – that can be manifested as Black Dwarf

The reality stone – the ability to manipulate people to obtain certain goals and tactics, and recognizing the environment around them – that can manifest into Corvus Glaive

Mind Stone – Super Giant

Beetlejuice 30th Anniversary

This March, celebrates the 30^th Anniversary of the motion picture Beetlejuice.

A breakout film for its entire principal cast. 

Where the title character was an anti-hero, whose villainous demeanor became both the driving force and selling point of the movie.

Beetlejuice was one of the few comedies/horror comedies to ever win an Oscar. It took home gold for best make-up, and was surprisingly a commercial success making over 5 times its initial budget at the box office.  As it also became one of the top tier best selling DVDs to close out 1988.

Director Tim Burton and star Michael Keaton returned the following year to collaborate on “Batman” which arguably was what stimulated this entire superhero franchise. The 1989 Batman became the fifth highest grossing film of all time during that period.

Alec Baldwin and Winona Ryder reunited again later that summer in “Great balls of Fire”, The Jerry Lee Lewis autobiographical movie. But like Burton and Keaton respectively, found a greater cult like following in 1989 with the release of “Heathers”, and the Cinematic Debut of the Jack Ryan character in Tom Clancy’s” The Hunt for Red October”.  

Critical success in 1989, went to Geena Davis who won an Oscar for best supporting actress in her role on “The Accidental Tourist”.

Beetlejuice spawned a critically successful animated series which debut the following year on ABC’s Saturday morning line-up before bowing out as a weekday series on Fox kids in 1991. It became a staple of Millennial’s childhood pop-culture, while holding an enduring appreciation from both Generation-X  and Baby Boomers for its relatable protagonist Lydia Deetz (played by Winona Ryder) and its infusion of classic music from Harry Belafonte. 

 And utilizing a the sense of inclusion with its final act, displaying a traditional family gathering of sorts amongst different generations and using extraordinary forms of slapstick surreal humor, gothic horror comedy, and black comedy, in such an array of adventuress settings that it was eye candy for the mind, and nostalgia for the soul; in an otherwise simple but innovated suburban/country life.