This Blue Beetle article contains spoilers.
At the start of Blue Beetle’s second act, protagonist Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña) asks an important question: “Who the hell was Blue Beetle?”
A lot of viewers wondered the same thing when the Warner Bros. movie came to theaters earlier this year and they’ll likely be asking it again now that the movie is streaming on Max. People don’t ask that same question of Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman, but not because Blue Beetle is at best a C-lister in the DC Comics bullpen. Rather it’s because the man behind the Blue Beetle mask has changed several times since Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski debuted the character in 1939.
The big-screen adaptation introduces Blue Beetle as Jaime Reyes, who is a recent college grad forced to the superhero identity after receiving an alien scarab from Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine), the daughter of inventor Ted Kord,...
At the start of Blue Beetle’s second act, protagonist Jaime Reyes (Xolo Maridueña) asks an important question: “Who the hell was Blue Beetle?”
A lot of viewers wondered the same thing when the Warner Bros. movie came to theaters earlier this year and they’ll likely be asking it again now that the movie is streaming on Max. People don’t ask that same question of Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman, but not because Blue Beetle is at best a C-lister in the DC Comics bullpen. Rather it’s because the man behind the Blue Beetle mask has changed several times since Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski debuted the character in 1939.
The big-screen adaptation introduces Blue Beetle as Jaime Reyes, who is a recent college grad forced to the superhero identity after receiving an alien scarab from Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine), the daughter of inventor Ted Kord,...
- 11/20/2023
- by John Saavedra
- Den of Geek
Four-time Grammy winner Lenny Kravitz will perform for Sunday’s emotional “In Memoriam” segment on the Oscars 2023 ceremony. While only 40-50 people are generally remembered for the television ceremony hosted by Jimmy Kimmel on ABC, over 200 people will be recognized on the Academy’s webpage starting that evening.
SEEWho is Performing at the Oscars 2023?: Full List of Presenters and Performers
Here is a lengthy list of many contributors to film who died since last year’s Academy Awards ceremony:
Mary Alice (actor)
Gil Alkabetz (animator)
Kirstie Alley (actor)
Burt Bacharach (composer)
Angelo Badalamenti (composer)
Simone Bär (casting director)
Joanna Barnes (actor)
Carl A. Bell (animator)
Jeff Berlin (sound)
David Birney (actor)
Bruce Bisenz (sound)
Robert Blake (actor)
Eliot Bliss (sound)
Nick Bosustow (shorts)
Albert Brenner (production designer)
Tom Bronson (costume designer)
James Caan (actor)
Michael Callan (actor)
Donn Cambern (editor)
Irene Cara (songwriter)
Gary W. Carlson (sound)
Marvin Chomsky...
SEEWho is Performing at the Oscars 2023?: Full List of Presenters and Performers
Here is a lengthy list of many contributors to film who died since last year’s Academy Awards ceremony:
Mary Alice (actor)
Gil Alkabetz (animator)
Kirstie Alley (actor)
Burt Bacharach (composer)
Angelo Badalamenti (composer)
Simone Bär (casting director)
Joanna Barnes (actor)
Carl A. Bell (animator)
Jeff Berlin (sound)
David Birney (actor)
Bruce Bisenz (sound)
Robert Blake (actor)
Eliot Bliss (sound)
Nick Bosustow (shorts)
Albert Brenner (production designer)
Tom Bronson (costume designer)
James Caan (actor)
Michael Callan (actor)
Donn Cambern (editor)
Irene Cara (songwriter)
Gary W. Carlson (sound)
Marvin Chomsky...
- 3/10/2023
- by Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Arrow Season 3, Episode 3: “Corto Maltese”
Written by Erik Oleson & Beth Schwartz
Directed by Stephen Surjik
Airs Wednesdays at 8pm Et on The CW
Remember when Arrow was just the story of a guy getting revenge on the people who fucked over his less-than-honorable father? Arrow‘s grown (and grown up) quite a bit since the first season of the show, a rapid expansion of settings, characters, and people who know that Oliver Queen is Arrow (seriously: remember how many people found out last season?). And every now and then, Arrow stumbles a bit under the weight of keeping so many people and plot lines up and running at any given time in Starling City – unfortunately, “Corto Maltese” is one of those hours, an entertaining episode held back by the sheer amount of material it’s trying to cram in (and in some cases, straight rush through) as it begins...
Written by Erik Oleson & Beth Schwartz
Directed by Stephen Surjik
Airs Wednesdays at 8pm Et on The CW
Remember when Arrow was just the story of a guy getting revenge on the people who fucked over his less-than-honorable father? Arrow‘s grown (and grown up) quite a bit since the first season of the show, a rapid expansion of settings, characters, and people who know that Oliver Queen is Arrow (seriously: remember how many people found out last season?). And every now and then, Arrow stumbles a bit under the weight of keeping so many people and plot lines up and running at any given time in Starling City – unfortunately, “Corto Maltese” is one of those hours, an entertaining episode held back by the sheer amount of material it’s trying to cram in (and in some cases, straight rush through) as it begins...
- 10/24/2014
- by Randy Dankievitch
- SoundOnSight
Opens Feb. 6
There's an irresistible, mythic power to stories of underdog triumph. For sports fans, high on the list of the most inspiring of such tales is the against-all-odds victory of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team. Taking on the world champion Soviets, sweeping the Games and winning the gold medal, the strictly nonpro team also roused Americans when, the film "Miracle" posits, they needed it most.
In an about-face from his debut feature "Tumbleweeds", director Gavin O'Connor has made a family-friendly but far more satisfying drama. Working with the producing team behind the terrific baseball film "The Rookie", the helmer has achieved outstanding verisimilitude in his dramatization of matches that made history. But what will make the film compelling even for audiences who never heard of the miracle on ice is Kurt Russell's taut, nuanced portrait of Herb Brooks, the coach who gave "tough love" a whole new meaning. "Miracle" is bound to be a solid scorer for Disney.
Sometimes overreaching to support its central theory, Eric Guggenheim's script lays out the political/social context of 1979-80, when Americans felt increasingly beaten down and hopeless in the face of the Iranian hostage crisis, gas shortages and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In one of the best moments, Brooks tells his wife (Patricia Clarkson) that while fans are urging him to "beat the commie bastards," he views the Soviet team simply as the world's best hockey players.
Brooks is determined to create a crew that can play the same "fluid, creative" style of hockey as the Soviets, who had dominated the sport for almost two decades. Hired seven months before the Lake Placid (N.Y.) Games, the University of Minnesota coach uses an unorthodox approach to turn a ragtag bunch of college athletes into a world-class team. Underlying the coach's single-mindedness is a lost Olympic opportunity that haunts and drives him. When he barks at his players, "Common men go nowhere", the self-knowledge is apparent.
Though his tactics often border on the sadistic, the coach shrewdly unites his players by antagonizing them and wearing them down, in the process making them not only a team but a highly conditioned one.
The screenplay effectively conveys this through grueling practice sessions, but there are occasional lapses when characters insistently state the theme in ways that don't ring true.
For the team, the filmmakers sought hockey players who can act and actors who play hockey. As a result, the scenes set on ice have an immediacy, and the fresh-faced performers are believable. Eddie Cahill ("Friends") makes his screen debut as the legendary goalie Jim Craig, and Olympian Buzz Schneider is portrayed by his son, Billy Schneider.
Still, there's little real sense of the sport itself or of team dynamics until the payoff: the extraordinary re-creation of the climactic game against the Soviets, seamlessly combining the cast's skating with ABC Sports commentator Al Michaels' original play-by-play. Daniel Stoloff's vivid widescreen camerawork and the vigorous editing of John Gilroy put the viewer right in the action.
Russell's portrayal of Brooks (who served as a consultant to the filmmakers and died last year before the movie was complete) gets all the mannerisms right, whether he's studying home movies of games or tensely chewing gum from the sidelines. He deftly shows the cracks in the self-contained facade, and there's a particularly poignant moment when he walks away from the rink to savor his victory alone -- making the film's final rah-rah voice-over all the more disappointing and unnecessary.
In her biggest studio role to date, indie queen Clarkson imprints a slim role with her usual wry intelligence, while Noah Emmerich fits the bill as the assistant coach who plays good cop to Brooks' taskmaster. The period comes alive in the production design of John Willett and costumes by Tom Bronson, while Mark Isham contributes a generic score.
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Mayhem Pictures
Credits:
Director: Gavin O’Connor
Writer: Eric Guggenheim
Producers: Mark Ciardi, Gordon Gray
Executive producers: Justis Greene, Ross Greenburg
Director of photography: Daniel Stoloff
Production designer: John Willett
Music: Mark Isham
Co-producer: Greg O’Connor
Costume designer: Tom Bronson
Editor: John Gilroy
Cast:
Herb Brooks: Kurt Russell
Patti Brooks: Patricia Clarkson
Craig Patrick: Noah Emmerich
Walter Bush: Sean McCann
Doc Nagobads: Kenneth Welsh
Jim Craig: Eddie Cahill
Mike Eruzione: Patrick O’Brien Demsey
Jack O’Callahan: Michael Mantenuto
Rob McClanahan: Nathan West
Ralph Cox: Kenneth Mitchell
Mark Johnson: Eric Peter-Kaiser
Dave Silk: Bobby Hanson
Mike Ramsey: Joseph Cure
Buzz Schneider: Billy Schneider
Running time -- 136 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
There's an irresistible, mythic power to stories of underdog triumph. For sports fans, high on the list of the most inspiring of such tales is the against-all-odds victory of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team. Taking on the world champion Soviets, sweeping the Games and winning the gold medal, the strictly nonpro team also roused Americans when, the film "Miracle" posits, they needed it most.
In an about-face from his debut feature "Tumbleweeds", director Gavin O'Connor has made a family-friendly but far more satisfying drama. Working with the producing team behind the terrific baseball film "The Rookie", the helmer has achieved outstanding verisimilitude in his dramatization of matches that made history. But what will make the film compelling even for audiences who never heard of the miracle on ice is Kurt Russell's taut, nuanced portrait of Herb Brooks, the coach who gave "tough love" a whole new meaning. "Miracle" is bound to be a solid scorer for Disney.
Sometimes overreaching to support its central theory, Eric Guggenheim's script lays out the political/social context of 1979-80, when Americans felt increasingly beaten down and hopeless in the face of the Iranian hostage crisis, gas shortages and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In one of the best moments, Brooks tells his wife (Patricia Clarkson) that while fans are urging him to "beat the commie bastards," he views the Soviet team simply as the world's best hockey players.
Brooks is determined to create a crew that can play the same "fluid, creative" style of hockey as the Soviets, who had dominated the sport for almost two decades. Hired seven months before the Lake Placid (N.Y.) Games, the University of Minnesota coach uses an unorthodox approach to turn a ragtag bunch of college athletes into a world-class team. Underlying the coach's single-mindedness is a lost Olympic opportunity that haunts and drives him. When he barks at his players, "Common men go nowhere", the self-knowledge is apparent.
Though his tactics often border on the sadistic, the coach shrewdly unites his players by antagonizing them and wearing them down, in the process making them not only a team but a highly conditioned one.
The screenplay effectively conveys this through grueling practice sessions, but there are occasional lapses when characters insistently state the theme in ways that don't ring true.
For the team, the filmmakers sought hockey players who can act and actors who play hockey. As a result, the scenes set on ice have an immediacy, and the fresh-faced performers are believable. Eddie Cahill ("Friends") makes his screen debut as the legendary goalie Jim Craig, and Olympian Buzz Schneider is portrayed by his son, Billy Schneider.
Still, there's little real sense of the sport itself or of team dynamics until the payoff: the extraordinary re-creation of the climactic game against the Soviets, seamlessly combining the cast's skating with ABC Sports commentator Al Michaels' original play-by-play. Daniel Stoloff's vivid widescreen camerawork and the vigorous editing of John Gilroy put the viewer right in the action.
Russell's portrayal of Brooks (who served as a consultant to the filmmakers and died last year before the movie was complete) gets all the mannerisms right, whether he's studying home movies of games or tensely chewing gum from the sidelines. He deftly shows the cracks in the self-contained facade, and there's a particularly poignant moment when he walks away from the rink to savor his victory alone -- making the film's final rah-rah voice-over all the more disappointing and unnecessary.
In her biggest studio role to date, indie queen Clarkson imprints a slim role with her usual wry intelligence, while Noah Emmerich fits the bill as the assistant coach who plays good cop to Brooks' taskmaster. The period comes alive in the production design of John Willett and costumes by Tom Bronson, while Mark Isham contributes a generic score.
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Mayhem Pictures
Credits:
Director: Gavin O’Connor
Writer: Eric Guggenheim
Producers: Mark Ciardi, Gordon Gray
Executive producers: Justis Greene, Ross Greenburg
Director of photography: Daniel Stoloff
Production designer: John Willett
Music: Mark Isham
Co-producer: Greg O’Connor
Costume designer: Tom Bronson
Editor: John Gilroy
Cast:
Herb Brooks: Kurt Russell
Patti Brooks: Patricia Clarkson
Craig Patrick: Noah Emmerich
Walter Bush: Sean McCann
Doc Nagobads: Kenneth Welsh
Jim Craig: Eddie Cahill
Mike Eruzione: Patrick O’Brien Demsey
Jack O’Callahan: Michael Mantenuto
Rob McClanahan: Nathan West
Ralph Cox: Kenneth Mitchell
Mark Johnson: Eric Peter-Kaiser
Dave Silk: Bobby Hanson
Mike Ramsey: Joseph Cure
Buzz Schneider: Billy Schneider
Running time -- 136 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
- 3/19/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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