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Goth Chick News: More Stranger Things – Yes Please!

Goth Chick News: More Stranger Things – Yes Please!

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Stranger Things video gameIn a Goth Chick News first, I am hitting this same topic two weeks in a row. But from the comments last week, I’m pretty sure you won’t mind.

It appears many of us went face down into the new Netflix sci-fi / horror offering Stranger Things and did not come up for air until all eight episodes of season one had been well and truly binged. Sticky-fingered and woozy, some of you even did a convenience store run then came back for a second go to be sure you hadn’t missed anything.

The creators of our latest obsession, Matt and Ross Duffer (aka “The Duffer Brothers”) have made no secret of the fact that they’re hungry to create a season two and speaking with IGN last week (if by chance you haven’t binged, there’s mild spoilers there), they revealed that the next season will likely take place a year after the events of the finale, in order for them to tell the story the way they want to tell it.

And please Netflix, leave them alone and let them do their thing.

But what about that one-year gap, you ask? What will become of us after the third or fourth go through season one, when the air is thick with Aquanet and the withdraw symptoms make us believe we might be able to fit back into those leather pants?

Oh the humanity!

But fear not – the Duffers and Netflix have foreseen this horror and provided for it.

Now gather round…

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Fantasia 2016, Day 2: Some Monsterism (Guillermo del Toro press conference and master class, The Dark Side of the Moon, Creature Designers — The Frankenstein Complex, and Rupture)

Fantasia 2016, Day 2: Some Monsterism (Guillermo del Toro press conference and master class, The Dark Side of the Moon, Creature Designers — The Frankenstein Complex, and Rupture)

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Blade 2Friday, July 15, began early for me. I headed down to Fantasia’s De Sève Theatre to watch a 2 PM press conference with the winner of this year’s Cheval Noir Award, Guillermo del Toro. I’d already decided that afterwards I’d head to the festival’s screening room and watch one of the movies I’d be unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict, a German suspense thriller called The Dark Side of the Moon. Then I’d go to the Hall Theatre to watch Creature Designers — The Frankenstein Complex, a documentary about the makers of movie monsters in the 1980s and 1990s. That was to be followed by a master class on monsters given by del Toro to the Creature Designers audience. I’d wrap up my night with Rupture, a suspense movie with science-fiction elements.

You can watch the hour-long press conference with del Toro here. A few things struck me, then and also now as I look back in the light of hindsight and of other movies I’d see at Fantasia this year.

As del Toro recalled his start as “part of a monster-kit geekdom,” I found him remarkably and indeed touchingly open about his love for monsters. From his discussion of learning English by reading issues of Famous Monsters of Filmland with a dictionary, to his analysis of Frankenstein’s monster as a holy figure (and it’s worth noting that he never simply said “Frankenstein,” but always “Frankenstein’s monster”), del Toro emphasised the power and meaning of the monstrous and how the idea of the monster has inspired him and his filmmaking voice. He recalled making Blade 2 where he told star Wesley Snipes that he didn’t understand Blade or why Blade was killing vampires — Snipes should take care of Blade, and del Toro would handle everything else.

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The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Arsenic and Old Lace

The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes: Arsenic and Old Lace

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In Brooklyn during World War II, a pair of black widows were luring men to their deaths. They preyed upon older, lonely men without family or close friends. With a “Room for rent” sign hanging in the front window of their idyllic-looking home, they fed arsenic-laced wine to their victims. A male relative who lived with them buried the bodies in the basement, with no one the wiser. The women were in fact little old ladies: think Aunt Bee as a serial killer.

But a nephew came over and found a body in window seat – the thirteenth victim. He slowly realized that his two loveable old aunts were killers. Then, his brother, a murderer on the lam from the police, showed up with his lackey in tow. It’s a hardboiled, true crime story that curiously, is largely forgotten today.

Just kidding! It’s actually Arsenic and Old Lace, a smash stage play that became a popular movie starring Cary Grant, Raymond Massey and Peter Lorre. The play ran on Broadway for 1,444 performances and is still in wide use today.

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Goth Chick News: Our New Netflix Obsession – Stranger Things

Goth Chick News: Our New Netflix Obsession – Stranger Things

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Stranger Things Poster-small

Having begun my career as a lifelong geek quite early, I have learned that if anyone but my closest friends tell me I’m going to love this (book, movie, game, music), I’m probably not going to.

Granted, my adult tastes have widened a bit, but to this day if you ask me to choose between watching a current episode of Grey’s Anatomy or How I Met Your Mother versus MST3K or Twilight Zone, the question is barely valid. This is why the morning coffee-machine-conversations at my “day job” never involve topics to which I pay much attention.

That is until last week, when I overheard a raving endorsement for the Netflix series Stranger Things.

As stated, I would normally have ignored what I heard were it not for the phrase, “…think of it as Goonies, meets Stand by Me, meet It.”

Okay, the speaker knows these three movies well enough to wrap them into a comparison? About one Netflix series?

Stranger Things merited a bit of investigating.

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Star Trek Movie Rewatch: Star Trek V – The Final Frontier (1989)

Star Trek Movie Rewatch: Star Trek V – The Final Frontier (1989)

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Star Trek V pics 3-small

Early on I was inclined to be charitable about Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and I wasn’t really sure what all the fuss was about. As you may be aware, the consensus seems to be that it was one of the worst of all of the Star Trek movies.

But up until about the halfway mark I didn’t quite get it. Not that the first half of this movie is a masterpiece, mind you. But as the second half began to unfold I started to catch on.

The plot can be dispensed with in a few words. Spock’s half-brother — one of those free-spirited emotional Vulcan types — commandeers the Enterprise and sets off to the center of the galaxy to find God. Which doesn’t seem to be all that far removed from the premise of the first Star Trek movie. Which also featured an abundance of scenes of people trying to look awed but mostly looking dopey. Since there’s little drama or interest to be found in this premise there’s also some standard stuff about Klingons with bad intentions lurking about.

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Time to Railroad: Still On The Train

Time to Railroad: Still On The Train

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VU1Last time I was talking about the idea of there being a time to railroad. In other words, that there’s a time when the supporting technology, or maybe just the zeitgeist, allows for a concept or invention to finally flourish. The railroad itself is the ultimate example of this idea technologically, and you can look at my last post for examples of TV or movie concepts whose time to railroad popped up in the last ten years or so.

But I also wanted to take a look at a couple of TV shows that got derailed because – maybe – they were ahead of their time.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least touch on two related works, The Princess Bride, and Firefly, both of which “failed” at the time of their production, and both of which have become cult classics since. To be honest, I don’t think either of these was before their time. Above, around, beyond, maybe, but not before. Princess Bride was marketed badly – like trying to find only one shelf for a cross-genre book. The studio just didn’t know what to do with it. Firefly suffered more, I think, from lack of backbone – I mean to say, patience – on the part of its network. Either that or the audience which seems so huge to us in the Fantasy and SF community is actually quite small when compared to the population at large. Maybe Firefly would have flourished if it had been on another network, where the numbers would have looked better.

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Goth Chick News: So There Really Was Something In The Woods…?

Goth Chick News: So There Really Was Something In The Woods…?

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The Woods movie banner

In spite of the fact John O will not allow us to borrow the Black Gate dirigible for a road trip (air trip?) out to the San Diego ComicCon, we followed all the many developments of last week from afar, with maniacal interest. After all, this is where we see what we have to look forward to on the entertainment front as we slog through another Midwest winter.

From world-class cosplay to the many celebrity appearances it was difficult to decide where to look first – unless of course you’re obsessed with a good horror movie, in which case the place to look was the many trailers which made their debut during the week.

We had glimpses of Justice League, Kong: Skull Island, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman and a television-series version of The Exorcist starring Gina Davis, which actually looks pretty interesting if you don’t mind priests fighting demons with guns instead of holy water.

But an unexpected treat came in the form of the screening of an upcoming found-footage horror film called The Woods.

From what we are told, during the screening the posters for The Woods in the theater lobby were swapped out for ones simply titled Blair Witch, and audiences were informed that they were about to watch a direct sequel to the 1999 horror blockbuster that started the craze: The Blair Witch Project.

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Hear John Goodman Give a Speech Straight Out of Lovecraft in Kong: Skull Island

Hear John Goodman Give a Speech Straight Out of Lovecraft in Kong: Skull Island

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Among the many fascinating trailers shown for the first time at Comic-Con this weekend (including those for Justice League and Wonder Woman, which we showcased here, and the first official trailer for Dr. Strange) was a special Comic-Con trailer for Kong: Skull Island. Produced by the Legendary team behind the latest film version of Godzilla (see Ryan Harvey’s rave review here), the film is also a set-up for the upcoming Godzilla Vs. Kong megapicture.

All very cool. But this most interesting part of the trailer for me (next to the peek at actress Brie Larson, who’s just been cast as Captain Marvel) was John Goodman’s brief speech, which is straight out of H.P. Lovecraft.

This planet doesn’t belong to us… ancient species owned this Earth long before mankind. I’ve spent 30 years trying to prove the truth. Monsters exist.

You tell ’em, Goodman! The world needs to know this stuff. Also, you should let everyone in on the giant insects of Monster Island.

Kong: Skull Island is directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts and stars Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Mitchell, Corey Hawkins, Toby Kebbell, Tom Wilkinson, Terry Notary, John Goodman, and John C. Reilly. It is scheduled for release on March 10, 2017.

See the Comic-Con Teaser Trailers for Justice League and Wonder Woman

See the Comic-Con Teaser Trailers for Justice League and Wonder Woman

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I quite enjoyed Zack Snyder’s Batman vs. Superman. One of the things I liked best about it was the care it took in setting up follow-up features in the DC Universe. Yesterday at San Diego Comic-Con, Warner Bros. unveiled some of the fruits of that careful planning, with the first teaser trailer for Justice League, and a full-length trailer for Wonder Woman.

Justice League features Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg, and looks like a lot of fun. Clearly following in the successful footsteps of Marvel’s Avengers, the film gathers an ensemble cast (including Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Amy Adams, Jeremy Irons, J. K. Simmons, Amber Heard and Willem Dafoe) and sets up an epic battle between Earth’s mightiest heroes and an extra-planetary menace.

Principal photography began on April 11, 2016, so this is obviously very early footage. Not a lot is known about the plot, but we do know that Batman assembles the team to take on the interdimensional threat of Steppenwolf and his army of Parademons, as hinted in the closing scenes (and this deleted scene) from Batman vs. Superman. Justice League is directed by Zack Snyder and scheduled for release November 17, 2017.

Be sure to check out the first full-length trailer for Wonder Woman, also released this weekend at Comic-Con. Wonder Woman, directed by Patty Jenkins, and staring Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Connie Nielsen, and Robin Wright, is the fourth installment in what’s now being called the DC Extended Universe. The producers have whole-heartedly embraced Wonder Woman’s epic backstory, including her origin as Princess Diana of Themyscira, warrior princess of the Amazons of Greek mythology. Gadot surprised me in Batman vs. Superman, pretty much stealing all the scenes she was in, and she brings a marvelous gravity to the role. The film is scheduled to be released on June 2, 2017.

Fantasia 2016, Day 1: Outlaws and Angels

Fantasia 2016, Day 1: Outlaws and Angels

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Fantasia 2016Thursday, June 14: as good a day as any to begin an adventure. I walked downtown that afternoon under looming clouds to Concordia University’s EV Building, where I picked up my accreditation for the 2016 edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival. I’d been looking forward to writing about this year’s festival for Black Gate virtually since last year’s had ended. Now things were finally about to begin. A laminated press pass, a festival schedule, a thick program book: the guide to the adventure unfolding over the next three weeks, to fantasy and horror and science fiction and a lot more.

Fantasia is a genre film festival that traditionally has a strong focus on Asian film. I’ve covered it for Black Gate both of the last two years, and I’m looking forward to doing it again, especially since this year marks the twentieth edition of Fantasia (spread over twenty-one years). Once again I’ll be posting in a diary format, covering the films I see in the order they’re shown while also reporting on special events accompanying the screenings — interviews, presentations, and whatever else comes along. I’ll try to get the posts up as quickly as I can, but realistically I’ll be seeing so many movies from now until the festival ends on August 3 that I don’t know when I’ll have time to type up my notes. There’ll probably be scattered posts from now until then, with a flood of posts following through August. We’ll see.

The festival proper began for me that Thursday evening at the De Sève Theatre, the smaller of the two main Fantasia theatres. I saw a western named Outlaws and Angels, which intrigued me since one of the leads is surnamed Eastwood. In this case, that’s Francesca Eastwood, daughter of Clint. I thought the casting choice was fascinating, and was also struck by writer/director J.T. Mollner’s decision to shoot the movie on 35mm film. I wondered how these things would work out; and besides, the only other movie showing at the same time was Kickboxer: Vengeance, a relaunch of the Jean-Claude Van Damme series from the 80s. Having seen the first three seasons or so of Community, I knew I’d only be able to think of that movie as Kickpuncher. Outlaws and Angels seemed like the clear choice.

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