Founded by Maxwell Gaines in 1944, the Entertaining Comics brand (a.k.a. EC Comics) initially specialized in educational comics and stories aimed at children. But after Gaines died in a boating accident in ’47, his 25-year-old son William took control of the company and changed its direction, exploring the genres of horror, sci-fi, and satire while bringing us classic titles like Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror, The Haunt of Fear, Weird Science, WeirdFantasy, and Mad. Sadly, EC Comics was at its peak when parents started to worry about the negative effects reading comic books could have on their children, leading to things like a Congressional hearing that blamed comic books for juvenile delinquency – a claim that was backed up by the book Seduction of the Innocent, written by psychiatrist Fredric Wertham. So by 1956, EC Comics ceased publishing all of their titles except for Mad. Those classic EC Comics have enjoyed an enduring popularity over the decades, though, and now The Hollywood Reporter has broken the news that Oni Press will be reviving the brand!
According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Oni Press, the publisher perhaps best known for the breakout indie hit Scott Pilgrim, has partnered with William M. Gaines Agent, Inc., the rights holders of the EC line, to launch all-new stories with A-list comics creators beginning this summer.“
Oni’s publisher Hunter Gorinson told them, “EC Comics is one of the most artistically important and culturally significant publishers of all time. In ways both artful and shocking, EC confronted the darkness lurking behind the thin facade of American society — a throughline of radically confrontational storytelling that we intend to both uphold and escalate with the first new EC tales in decades. We’re challenging ourselves to evolve EC’s relentless energy and fearless sensibilities in ways never before attempted. These are intense comics for our intense times.“
Corey Mifsud, executive director of William M. Gaines Agent, added: “This is not an exercise in nostalgia. These are comics meant to get people talking and to keep them up at night.“
The first two titles we’ll be seeing from the new EC Comics are both anthology comics: the horror series Epitaphs from the Abyss (the first issue will reach stores shelves in July) and the sci-fi series Cruel Universe (which will make its debut in August). A Cruel Universe cover can be seen at the bottom of this article.
Oni’s editor-in-chief Sierra Hahn is overseeing the revival of EC Comics. The creative teams behind the new comics include “writers such as Jason Aaron (Thor), Brian Azzarello (100 Bullets), Rodney Barnes (Killadelphia) Christopher Cantwell (Briar), Chris Condon (That Texas Blood), Matt Kindt (BRZRKR) among others. Among the artists are Kano (Immortal Iron Fist), Peter Krause (Irredeemable), Leomacs (Rogues), Malachi Ward (Black Hammer: The End), and Dustin Weaver (Avengers). Buttressing the creative is designer Rian Hughes (TheMultiversity) and cover artists Lee Bermejo (Batman: Damned), Greg Smallwood (The Human Target), J.H. Williams III (Sandman: Overture).”
William Gaines remained the publisher of Mad until he passed away in 1992. Even though EC stopped publishing horror comics in the ’50s, stories told in the comics they did publish have been brought to the screen in films (Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror) and on TV (Tales from the Crypt), and were a source of inspiration for Creepshow.
Are you glad to hear that EC Comics is coming back? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
In 1984, Milos Forman brought Amadeus to the big screen in an epic tale of secrets, scandals and buffoonery amongst the world of esteemed musical composer Wolfgang Mozart. The film was based on the 1979 stage play by Peter Shaffer. The UK broadcast network, Sky, has been developing a new TV series adaptation of the play in the past few years, and the ball is now rolling with the casting of the story’s central figure. Deadline has revealed that White Lotus actor Will Sharpe has now been cast as Wolfgang Mozart in the Sky original series.
The synopsis of the show, per Deadline, reads, “Adapted from Peter Shaffer’s stage play, Amadeus is set within the musical hub of bustling Vienna at the end of the 18th century, as the 25-year-old titular character arrives in the city no longer a child and determined to carve his own path. Recently unemployed and without the management of his father, Amadeus finds an unlikely ally in a young singer who will become his wife, the fiery Constanze Weber Mozart. Her connections help bring him into the orbit of the court composer Antonio Salieri, setting the three of them on a collision course that will ultimately define their lives and legacies for years to come.”
The series will reunite Sharpe with Joe Barton, the writer of Giri/Haji. Barton will be overseeing the writing duties as Julian Farino will be in the director’s seat for the show. Amadeus is set to be produced by Patrick Melrose producer Two Cities Television in association with Sky Studios. Sky says that this new adaptation will be “fresh, intimate and irreverent, and will feel at times in the hands of the characters themselves.”
Amadeus will be executive produced by Paul Gilbert, Megan Spanjian, a non-King of Pop Michael Jackson, known for Patrick Melrose, and Stephen Wright, whose work includes Blue Lights. Farino, who was also involved with Giri/Haji and Alice Seabright, whose credits include Chloe, Sex Education, are set to share directing duties. Barton, Sharpe and Farino also serve as executive producers. NBCUniversal Global TV Distribution will be handling the international sales.
A24 is planning to give Civil War, the latest film from Alex Garland, the director of Ex Machina, Annihilation, Devs, and Men, a theatrical release on April 12th. A trailer for that film can be seen in the embed above and another one, which just arrived online this morning, can be found at THIS LINK. And while we still have several weeks to wait before we’ll have a chance to see Civil War, Garland and A24 are already moving forward with another project… which just happens to be another war movie. As of right now, the other project is simply known as Untitled War Movie.
This Untitled War Movie is a collaboration between Garland and Ray Mendoza, who served as the military supervisor for Civil War. Garland and Mendoza have written the screenplay together and will be co-directing the film.
The first news of this project was broken a couple weeks ago, when Deadline revealed that Charles Melton – whose credits include May December (pictured below), Heart of Champions, Secret Headquarters, American Horror Stories, Poker Face, History of the World: Part II, and Riverdale – has signed on to star in the film. JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray notes that Melton is “a great, great actor. Amazing in a May December.”
Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich of DNA and Peter Rice are producing the untitled war movie. A24 will be handling the global release of the film. As Deadline notes, this is just like any Garland project in that “details behind what the film is about are being shrouded in secrecy.”
In addition to directing the films mentioned in the first paragraph, Garland has also written The Beach, 28 Days Later,Never Let Me Go, and Dredd, among others. (There have been claims that he directed Dredd as well.) A couple weeks ago, it was announced that Garland and 28 Days Later director Danny Boyle are working on a sequel called 28 Years Later, which may be the first entry in a trilogy of sequels.
Are you looking forward to Civil War? What do you think of Garland following that one up with another war movie? Share your thoughts on his Untiled War Movie project by leaving a comment below.
Following in the footsteps of Dolph Lundgren, Thomas Jane, and Ray Stevenson, Jon Bernthal took over the role of Marvel Comics character The Punisher, a.k.a. Frank Castle, in the second season of the Netflix series Daredevil. Bernthal’s version of The Punisher then got his own show on Netflix for a couple seasons. Now Bernthal is reprising the role in the Marvel / Disney+ series Daredevil: Born Again – and during a recent night of filming, The Punisher (or someone wearing the Punisher skull logo) was spotted on the set! Images and video showing this person on set can be seen at the bottom of this article, but beware of SPOILERS! If you don’t want anything about Daredevil: Born Again spoiled for you, stop scrolling now.
Now, if you’re here for spoilers… We don’t know for sure whether the person wearing the Punisher skull in this scene is meant to be Frank Castle or not. Apparently the scene was being acted out by a stand-in, not Bernthal. Whatever the case, we see this guy sharing the screen with another Marvel character, White Tiger… and things don’t turn out very well for White Tiger, which fits in with the history of the character in the comic book source material. Scroll down to spoil the character’s fate. If you want to have a better idea of what’s going on with The Punisher and White Tiger in this story, click over to ComicBookMovie.
Netflix Daredevil cast members Charlie Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Elden Henson, Deborah Ann Woll, and Wilson Bethel are back for Daredevil: Born Again, reprising the roles of lawyer Matt Murdock / costumed crimefighter Daredevil, criminal kingpin Wilson Fisk, Murdock’s associates Foggy Nelson and Karen Page, and Benjamin “Dex” Pointdexter / Bullseye.
Daredevil: Born Again went into production last year – then when the strikes hit, it underwent a creative overhaul that, according to D’Onofrio, has ensured that this new series is now directly connected to the Daredevil series that ran for three seasons on the Netflix streaming service. As of the Daredevil-related series Echo, all of the Netflix shows (which also included Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and The Defenders) have been made canon to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So the versions of the Daredevil and The Punisher characters we’ll be seeing on this show are the same ones fans previously saw on Netflix.
Dario Scardapane, who worked on Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan and the Netflix series The Punisher, was brought in to serve as showrunner on Daredevil: Born Again during the creative overhaul. The behind-the-scenes shake-up also led to Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, the directing team who were at the helm of multiple episodes of Moon Knight and Loki season 2, being hired as directors on the show. Matt Corman and Chris Ord were previously the head writers on the show, but they were let go.
Are you looking forward to Daredevil: Born Again? Take a look at these spoilery images of White Tiger and maybe The Punisher (or maybe not), then let us know by leaving a comment below.
SPOILER WARNING – – – – White tiger and The punisher seen on set of Daredevil born again
When it comes to arguably the biggest acts in rock music history, how does one go about making a film adaptation that lives up to the legend? The King of Rock ‘N’ Roll, Elvis Presley, would get his own flashy, epic treatment courtesy of Baz Luhrmann’s visual flair in 2022. But for a band like The Beatles, how do you truly capture the journey in a feature film? Director Sam Mendes has the answer. You do four feature films. Deadline has the breaking story that the Skyfall, Spectre and American Beauty director will audaciously attempt to cover the story of The Beatles with four films, which will each concentrate on a member of the band.
Mendes’ vision involves having each movie tell the story from each Beatle’s point of view and will interconnect with the other films. The 1917 director conceived of this grand idea and had pitched it to Hollywood, but it was Tom Rothman and Elizabeth Gabler at Sony Pictures who would end up winning the chance to take on this massive project. Mendes spoke with Deadline about the deal coming together, “We went out to L.A. just before Christmas to pitch the project, and it’s fair to say we were met with universal enthusiasm. The reason Sony stood out from competing offers was down to Tom and Elizabeth’s passion for the idea, and commitment to propelling these films theatrically in an innovative and exciting way.”
Sam Mendes’ production company, Neal Street Productions, will be partnering up with Sony Pictures Entertainment for the films, and Mendes will be on board as the director of all four. According to Deadline, this will be marking the first time Apple Corps Ltd. and Beatles members – Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, as well as the families of John Lennon and George Harrison – have granted the full life story and music rights for a scripted film.
Neal Street Production partner Pippa Harris commented, “This project springs from an idea of Sam’s which he had over a year ago, and it’s a testament to his creative brilliance and powers of persuasion that Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Sean Lennon and Olivia Harrison responded with such warmth and enthusiasm as soon as he spoke with them. […] To have The Beatles’ and Apple Corps’ blessing to do this is an immense privilege. From our first meeting with Tom Rothman and Elizabeth Gabler, it was clear that they shared both our passion and ambition for this project, and we can’t think of a more perfect home than Sony Pictures.”
Filming wrapped on director Eli Roth‘s adaptation of the Borderlands video game series from Gearbox and 2K way back in June of 2021. A year and a half later, Deadpool director Tim Miller had to step in to handle the project’s two weeks of reshoots because Roth had the chance to finally – after sixteen years – make a feature based on the Thanksgiving faux trailer he put together for the Quentin Tarantino / Robert Rodriguez collaboration Grindhouse. The Borderlands reshoots have been completed, Thanksgiving has come and gone, and Lionsgate is now gearing up to finally release Borderlands into the world on August 9th. Although we still have a while to wait for this one, People has gotten their hands on a couple images from the film, and you can check those out at the bottom of this article.
The Last of Us showrunner Craig Mazin wrote the initial screenplay for Borderlands, but removed his name from the project after the script was rewritten by Roth, Juel Taylor, Tony Rettenmaier, Joe Crombie, Chris Bremner, and Sam Levinson. Zak Olkewicz wrote scenes for Miller during the reshoots. Elements from drafts Aaron Berg and Oren Uziel wrote before Mazin have reportedly made their way into the film as well. So there were a lot of cooks in the kitchen on this one.
The film stars Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Edgar Ramirez, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ariana Greenblatt, Florian Munteanu, Haley Bennett, Olivier Richters, Gina Gershon, Cheyenne Jackson, Charles Babalola, Benjamin Byron Davis, Steven Boyer, Bobby Lee, Ryann Redmond, Penn Jillette, and Janina Gavankar, who plays “a new, key character” called Commander Knoxx, someone who has not been in the video games. Jack Black provides the voice of the robot Claptrap. Here’s the synopsis: Lilith (Blanchett), an infamous outlaw with a mysterious past, reluctantly returns to her home planet of Pandora to find the missing daughter of the universe’s most powerful S.O.B., Atlas (Ramirez). Lilith forms an alliance with an unexpected team – Roland (Hart), a former elite mercenary, now desperate for redemption; Tiny Tina (Greenblatt), a feral pre-teen demolitionist; Krieg (Munteanu), Tina’s musclebound, rhetorically challenged protector; Tannis (Curtis), the scientist with a tenuous grip on sanity; and Claptrap (Black), a persistently wiseass robot. These unlikely heroes must battle alien monsters and dangerous bandits to find and protect the missing girl, who may hold the key to unimaginable power. The fate of the universe could be in their hands – but they’ll be fighting for something more: each other.
Borderlands is produced by Arad Productions’ Avi Arad and Ari Arad, along with PICTURESTART’s Erik Feig. Gearbox founder Randy Pitchford serves as executive producer with Strauss Zelnick of Take-Two Interactive. James Myers and Aaron Edmonds are overseeing the project for Lionsgate, while Emmy Yu does the same for Arad Productions and Lucy Kitada and Royce Reeves-Darby are overseeing for PICTURESTART.
Are you looking forward to Borderlands? Take a look at these images, then let us know by leaving a comment below.
From the director of Frozen… no, not that one… the better one, comes a throwback horror film to the days when slashers were filled with blood, revenge, and bewbs. Join JoBlo Horror as we take you down to the bayou with Adam Green’s Hatchet (watch it HERE).
Welcome to our horror party, kids, where we take some horror films (good or bad) and make a fun game out of it. I’m Mike Conway, and today we break down all the gory bits of Hatchet, released in 2006. Hatchet follows Ben, a recently dumped twenty-something who was taken to a Mardi Gras celebration with his buddies to get over her ex. When Ben decides there’s too much nudity to be had, he and his friend Marcus ditch the group to find a haunted boat tour. However, when their boat gets stranded, they find themselves being hunted by Victor Crowley, a deformed and vengeful ghost. As the group tries to survive the night, they face gruesome and supernatural challenges, with Victor Crowley relentlessly pursuing them.
So, what type of party is this movie? Well, according to our scale, this party promises some old-school fun. And as always, I’ll be making a drink to tie in with the movie:
CROWLEY’S RUM PUNCH
1 ½ OZ SPICED RUM
1 ½ OZ RED WINE
¾ OZ SIMPLE SYRUP
¾ OZ LIME JUICE
¾ OZ TRIPLE SEC
ON CAMERA
Cheers Everyone.
THE RULES
As with any game, there are some basic rules you must follow. For today’s game, take a drink when: – There is a horror cameo – When Ben mentions his ex -When an alligator is shown or mentioned – When you hear the name Victor Crowley – Every time the tour guide changes his accent – When there is nudity -And finally, with any kill.
If alcohol isn’t your bag, there are plenty of other things to choose from. Cannabis if legal in your state, delta 8, 9, 10, or whatever the hell number they’re at now, caffeine, hot sauce, anything. Just know your tolerance. This is supposed to be fun; we don’t want to send you to the hospital. Basically, don’t be a dumbass.
So, with that list, we are going to travel back to 2006, the year that not only saw Justin Timberlake bring sexy back but also the year Adam Green brought the slasher back, and break down exactly why this deserves an entry into our horror party. And it all starts at the beginning. Right at the jump, we are introduced to a father and son on a boat in the swamp. And hey, look, a gator. It may be dead, but drink up anyway. And you may as well keep that glass to your lips because another one pops up right about… here. While the pair are out hunting these bad boys, the son, Ainsley, makes it clear he doesn’t want to be there by taking a piss in the swamp. This, in turn, pisses off the gator, who lunges at Ainsley and nearly ruins his weekend. Still not finished, he hops off the boat into the woods to finish what is apparently the piss of the century. When he returns, he sees his father torn open. While he assumes it was the gator, the POV shot suggests otherwise and chases Ainsley down. The unseen assailant then proceeds to completely rip the guy apart until the swamp becomes quiet. The cold open ends with the opening credits with Marilyn Manson’s “This Is The New Shit” very fittingly blasting through our speakers.
This opening oozes with some of that classic slasher formula we had been missing for quite some time. Characters who bicker at each other? Check. Fake-out jump scares? Check. Killer’s POV? Check. Awesome kills? Double check. From the beginning, Adam Green shows us how passionate he is about slasher movies by introducing us to two characters played by actors who are no strangers to horror. If you ever wondered what happened to Joshua Leonard after he got his teeth removed in The Blair Witch Project, well, here he is… and apparently still missing his teeth. The dad really needs no introduction, as this absolute legend has been responsible for giving us nightmares all throughout our childhoods with Freddy Krueger. And these two aren’t the only horror veterans to show up, but more on that in a bit.
From there, we are thrown right in the middle of Mardi Gras, filled with partying and, by my count, twelve sets of boobs I can’t show here, but take my word for it. Sorry, thirteen. Ben is taken to the party of all parties by his group of friends, one of whom is played by director Adam Green, to get over his ex-girlfriend, when in reality, he would rather be home, probably wanting to create the newest hit videogame. He ditches the group and brings his friend, Marcus, with him. Ben had been told of an awesome haunted boat tour, and once he found the place, he was greeted by yet another horror vet: Candyman himself, Tony Todd. He tells the boys he doesn’t do any more tours since he was sued and directs them to someone else who will do it at Marie Laveau’s House of Voodoo, led by tour guide Shawn, who has an accent just as bad as those in True Blood.
On the tour bus, we are introduced to the characters we will spend the majority of our time with until they get axed, that is. There’s our Girls Gone Wild knockoff trio Jenna, Misty, and Murray brother Doug Shapiro. While technically not horror, folks who grew up in the 90s may recognize Mercedes McNab’s Misty from both Addams Family flicks. Rounding off the cast are elderly couple Jim and Shannon and our obvious final girl, Marybeth.
Once they get on the boat, everyone quickly learns Shawn may not be the tour guide he says he is as he crashes the boat. They are forced to get off and head into the woods to look for help. Marybeth reveals she is only on the tour to look for her missing father and brother, the ones killed in the opening, and tells the legend of Victor Crowley. Victor was a deformed boy who was kept hidden by his father, played by fan-favorite Jason actor Kane Hodder. One night, some kids decide to scare Victor by throwing fireworks into his home, which sets it on fire. Trying to free his son, the dad takes a hatchet and breaks down the door. However, the blade busts through the door and kills Victor.
As it turns out, they are in front of the Crowley house, and this is where a good slasher movie becomes great. Throughout the remaining back half of the film, our cast gets taken out by Victor Crowley in the gnarliest of ways until only Ben and Marybeth remain. The pair end up impaling Victor and escape to her dad’s boat feeling Victor-ious. But naturally, the movie ends with one last scare as Victor emerges from the swamp. It’s a pretty simple plot, right? So, what separates this movie from the slew of other slasher films of the 2000s that disappear to the floor of your local Dollar Tree? Let’s start with Victor Crowley.
If there’s one thing the 80s gave us, it’s a great iconic slasher villain. Freddy, Jason, Chucky, Pinhead. They are the ones who survived and who we all still talk about to this day. The 90s gave birth to Ghostface, and sure, I’ll throw the Leprechaun into the mix, but nothing much else. I can hear people screaming Urban Legend and the Fisherman from I Know What You Did Last Summer now, but really, do you see anyone dress up like them for Halloween? What the 2000s was sorely lacking was a return to the slasher feel of the 80s with a killer who would stand out amongst the rest who tried… looking at you, Cupid from Valentine. And that’s what we got with Victor Crowley. With him, we got a rich enough backstory, terrific make-up with no mask needed, insane kills, and no mystery about who the killer is. He’s just a good old-fashioned killing machine who has three sequels of his own. While many of you will say he’s best as Jason, Kane Hodder is Victor Crowley all the way.
And speaking of kills, there are plenty. Adam Green had a rule when making this film, and it was to have no CGI. These kills are all practical effects, baby. And if you folks are playing this at home, let’s rip into them and see why each one kicks so much ass. After the two from the opening, we get our first kill 45 minutes in, along with the reveal of an adult Victor. After old man Jim gets bitten by a gator, he and his wife head to the house to look for help. Suddenly, Victor emerges from the shadows of the entrance and chases down Jim. No walking for this hulking figure as he chops into Jim. And holy shit, it’s brutal the way he just constantly brings that axe down. There’s absolutely no way he can make a “Jump to Conclusions Mat” after this. But it’s not as brutal as what happens to the wife. While trying to run away, Victor catches up to her and unhinges her face like an oyster. Even though you know a kill is about to happen with the well-paced tension and musical cues, it’s unfortunate the first of the group to go are the sweet old folks. Next up on the chopping block five minutes later is the sleazy Joe Francis stand-in, Doug Shapiro, whose real name is Samuel Barret. After fleeing from the group to only help himself, it’s natural he’d be next on the list. And really, I feel this slimy bastard does the most cardio of the entire group. After hiding in a bush, Doug feels the coast is clear and runs out immediately into Victor, who points his head in the direction he should have been running.
So, it’s been a while since I’ve seen this film until recently. This next kill legit scared the shit out of me. So, if it’s been a while for you and you want to go in fresh, jump this video up about 30 seconds.
Since Doug felt he should come first, that only means his Bayou Beavers are after him. While Ben and Marybeth separate, they leave Marcus, Shawn, Misty, and Jenna behind. A rustling suddenly happens in a bush behind Jenna. All four begin to debate who should check out the noise, which is the one thing you shouldn’t do in these flicks. Marcus gets nominated to check it out, which turns out to be a cute little misdirection. And then, a shit-your-pants jump scare. Seriously. My voice hit an octave I hadn’t been able to hit since I was a child. Crowley takes a belt sander and shaves down this Bayou Beaver and then chops off the head of Shawn with a shovel. While it may not be the best kill in the film (that one goes to the old folks), it is definitely the best scene in the movie. What makes this scene rock so hard is a nice blend of comedy, misdirection, and pure terror in a long take. The lack of music cues to make us jump makes it work even more and reminds me of a similar scene in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. And once they get away, and you think you have time to breathe, something else happens just two minutes later. Shit, man. Now you can breathe a minute. Unfortunately, Misty’s kill is offscreen. And this painfully brings me to the final kill.
Deon Richmond’s Marcus is, by far, my favorite character in the movie. Not only is he the comic relief, but he’s also the smartest character who should have survived. Let’s get into it. With a mere 7 minutes left in the film, one would think everyone makes it out alive with the burning of Victor Crowley. They all find a way to escape to freedom when he jumps out of nowhere. Jesus. Just look at how badass he looks. He catches up with Marcus and gives him the Jax from Mortal Kombat treatment. And if that wasn’t enough, in an homage to Kane Hodder’s famous kill from Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, he takes Marcus’ body and slams it on a tombstone.
We do get one more Friday the 13th reference with the sweet finale music as the pair of survivors float down the swamp and Crowley blasts out the water. However, even though Ben looks dead as shit here, we end up seeing his fate in Hatchet III. As for Marybeth? Well, Victor Crowley scares this poor girl so badly that she ends up changing into a better actress for the next one.
And that’s it. If you want to play the game at home using my rules, here’s the Party Movie Talley. You have: – 3 Horror Cameos – 4 Mentions of Ben’s Ex – 4 Gator Sightings – 15 Mentions of Victor Crowley – 3 Accent Changes from Shawn – 15 Breasts – And finally, 9 Kills from Victor Crowley
Hatchet was released in 2006 with a festival run and released on DVD in late 2007, which is when I picked it up. Fans went absolutely nuts for this film and eventually generated sequels that are just as fun. What was your favorite kill in this movie, and what would you like us to cover next? Leave us a comment, and we will see you on the next one.
A couple previous episodes of the Best Horror Party Movies series can be seen below. To see more, and to check out some of our other shows, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!
Sherlock Holmes is a character that has been iterated and reiterated for every living generation and a few dead ones as well. The character has been written in short stories, novels, films, TV, video games, and even comic books. No matter which direction you kick a can, you will likely hit someone who knows Sherlock Holmes and has their own version of them as “Their Sherlock.” For me, Guy Richie’s take on the pipe-smoking sleuth is the one that gets me the most excited about solving mysteries.
In particular, the first installment in the two-part series (with a long-delayed third potentially on the way) is a work of film that I rewatch often and am endlessly impressed by. And within that film, I think there is almost no better display of Robert Downey Jr.’s idea of what this 18th-century freelance detective was all about than the boxing match- also known as “The slow motion fight scene.”
In the scene, Sherlock Holmes is in the middle of a bare-fist fighting match with a large opponent. The scene’s purpose is to show how quick Sherlock’s intellect is and how many steps ahead of everyone he really is. After nearly giving up on the fight, Sherlock is motivated to continue after being spit on by the other fighter in front of Sherlock’s on-again-off-again romantic partner, Irene Adler (played by Rachel McAdams). He maps out a theoretical brawl in his head using deductive reasoning and basic anatomy to demonstrate Sherlock’s wits. The scene was shot with specially made cameras that could capture a high frame rate, such that the footage could be slowed to an almost still shot to capture the detail of the hit’s impact perfectly. This fighting style is one that RDJ practices in real life and has dedicated the 10,000 hours it takes to be an expert in Wing Chun kung fu. Despite being a seasoned pro, he did incur a few real-life injuries during the film’s production- as did one of his scene partners, who states that Downey accidentally hit him in real life.
The scene shows off Holmes’ sharp cleverness and fighting skills and the character’s emotional vulnerability to Irene Adler. In one VERY entertaining scene, this tells us a lot about our titular character. Make sure you check out today’s episode of Scene Breakdown, where we watch the scene together, break it down, and have a few laughs along the way.
Masters of the Air is the newest tribute to World War II veterans from Spielberg and Hanks. All of their projects on the subject, including Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers and The Pacific, concentrate on different aspects of the Great War and make for good viewing companion pieces. As the new series follows the men of the 100th Bomb Group (the “Bloody Hundredth”) as they conduct perilous bombing raids over Nazi Germany, the review from our own Alex Maidy spoke highly of the show. He stated, “It is unlikely that any series will equal the acclaim that Band of Brothers achieved. Still, the blend of feature film directors and a cast of actors more than up to the task, Masters of the Air is a powerful companion to that HBO series and ranks slightly higher than The Pacific.
The Pacific and Band of Brothers would go on to become landmark television and ushered in a grand viewership for HBO. Now, Variety reports that Masters of the Air has equally become a major hit as AppleTV+’s most-watched series launch in the existence of the programming platform. The series would even outperform Apple’s banner original shows like the popular and acclaimed Severance, The Morning Show and Hijacked. According to Variety, “viewership across all of Apple TV+ climbed by 65% worldwide when compared to the previous seven-day period. The streamer also maintained double-digit growth across more than 100 territories.”
Masters of the Air premiered on the streamer in late January and is still releasing episodes, with its sixth entry set to premiere on February 23. The finale is scheduled to be released on March 15. Hanks and Spielberg produce the show through their respective Amblin and Playtone production companies. Gary Goetzman produces along with Hanks for Playtone. Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey of Amblin Entertainment serve as co-executive producers of the series, along with Playtone’s Steven Shareshian, show writer John Orloff and Graham Yost.
While Spielberg and Hanks’ WWII shows sport large ensembles of established actors and up-and-comers, Masters of the Air features two stars currently making rounds in prominent film projects like Austin Butler, who broke out in the Baz Luhrmann biopic Elvis and will be seen in the upcoming Dune Part Two from Denis Villeneuve, and Barry Keoghan, who made a splash in The Banshees of Inisherin and the provocative Saltburn. Masters of the Air also features Callum Turner, Anthony Boyle, Nate Mann, Rafferty Law, Josiah Cross, Branden Cook and Ncuti Gatwa.
You remind me of the babe. What babe? The babe with the – woah! If there’s one thing we can’t shake from 1986’s Labyrinth, it’s not the remarkably inventive set design, the memorable characters from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop or the fantastic early performance from Jennifer Connelly. It’s the real scene-stealer and childhood-destroyer from Labyrinth – David Bowie’s junk. And if you thought you couldn’t rid your mind of it, imagine having to keep tabs on its size during filming.
Brian Henson – son of director Jim Henson – recently told ComicBook.com that Bowie’s “codpiece” actually changes sizes throughout the movie, which surely only the most devoted Labyrinth fans would have noticed. “The scene where it’s most prevalent I think, is the scene where David pretends he’s a beggar, and then pulls off the costume and stands up, and it’s the Goblin King. And that was, I think, maybe David’s first scene that we shot, so the codpiece was particularly big then, and then it got a little bit smaller. But the truth is yes, it’s absolutely deliberate. That’s from Brian Froud’s artwork.”
As for what David Bowie’s goblin represents – yes, it’s symbolic and not just for show – in Labyrinth, Henson added, “The codpiece represents male sexual aggression. Sarah is at a point in her life where she’s a child but she’s becoming a woman, she’s in that cusp period, and the character of Jareth is sort of an aggressive, adult, masculine sexuality, that is both terrifying to her and very attractive to her. So yes, it’s definitely part of the storytelling that he should have this codpiece that’s a masculine, sexual image, but nonetheless, they did shrink it a little bit a few days into the shoot.” From a character standpoint, it does make sense that Jareth’s masculinity and power would begin to dwindle as Sarah makes her way through the titular maze and defeats the Goblin King. We just never pictured it on the smaller end at all, what with the way Bowie flaunts it throughout Labyrinth.
David Bowie’s junk in Labyrinth is definitely the stuff of legend. Warwick Davis, who played a member of the Goblin Corps, said that the singer-actor stuffed upwards of seven pairs of socks down the front of his pants to enhance himself. While this might be slightly discredited by Henson, it does feel like a Bowie move.
Our own JimmyO recently visited the legendary Henson Studios, where he was able to discuss the recent 4K releases of both Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal with none other than Brian Henson and Toby Froud, who not only is the son of key Jim Henson collaborator Brian Froud and now works in puppetry but also played Toby – the kidnapped baby brother of Sarah – in Labyrinth.
What is the standout moment in Labyrinth for you and why can’t you shake the image of David Bowie’s codpiece?
SPOILER WARNING
via @/AnthonyweinVO 
(@AnthonyweinVO) 
