The other day, I was rummaging around in some old stuff when I found this. The blog Thumbs & Ammo collected movie posters or screencaps with firearms replaced by a thumbs-up.
Some of my favorites are below.
And saving the best for last:
Epically hilarious! 😀 Looks like the blog hasn’t been updated in a good while, though. Shame.
Images via Thumbs & Ammo
Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
Actor Dame Maggie Smith has passed at the age of 89.
I’m most fond of her role as Dowager Countess Violet Crawley in Downton Abbey. It is one of the best in that franchise—most of the characters are interesting and all of the acting is fantastic, but hers topped it by far. Already two years ago, you could tell from the footage of the second movie, Downton Abbey: A New Era, that she was getting very old and fragile. I remember thinking at the time that I wouldn’t be surprised if that was to be her last performance. (It wasn’t, but almost.)
I also love her snarky Professor Minerva McGonagall from the Harry Potter movies. In addition, in the non-SFFnal work of hers I’ve seen she’s always been consummate, even if the roles themselves might sometimes be lukewarm.
Rest in peace, Dame Maggie. You will be missed.
Image: giffed screenshot from Downton Wars: Episode 2 – The Evil Butler Strikes Back, found via Primogif
In honor of the movie Deadpool & Wolverine coming out next week, here’s a lovely tidbit concerning an earlier Wolverine movie. Sir Patrick Stewart apparently had the following to say on seeing Logan for the first time with an audience at the Berlin Film Festival in 2017:
“It was Hugh [Jackman] and [director] James Mangold and myself, and when it got to the last 10 minutes of the movie, it was emotional and intense, and I could feel myself getting choked up. Then I looked over at Hugh and he was wiping his eyes, and I thought if Wolverine can weep at a movie, Charles Xavier can do the same thing. Then Hugh reached over and grabbed my hand and we held hands for the rest of the movie.”
-Sir Patrick Stewart
HUGE props for Hugh Jackman and Sir Patrick—it’s not always easy being a man and showing emotion in the Anglo-American world, never mind when you’re supposedly this tragic tougher-than-nails superhero. (Sorry, sorry, bad pun very much intended!)
(I do appreciate Sir Patrick so much—he’s such a humane and decent man, not to mention a superb actor!)
Lang, Brent. “Patrick Stewart on ‘Logan,’ Harvey Weinstein and Returning to ‘Star Trek’.” Variety, December 05, 2017.
Image via IMDB
Serving exactly what it sounds like, the Quotes feature excerpts other people’s thoughts.
Three and a half years ago, I spotted a tidbit about an Odysseus movie being in development. Since then, I’ve kept an eye out for more news.
There still is an IMDb entry for the movie, and it still lists the project as “in development”. Nothing significant enough to warrant further publication seems to have happened, however.
I don’t know whether the ancient world mini-boom has officially busted, or whether there wasn’t enough money, or what. It sounded like an interesting project, though. Perhaps it still has a chance.
Image: Hugh Jackman on Twitter
Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
The new Doctor Who season started this past weekend, on Sunday October 07, 2018. The big thing, of course, is that Jodie Whittaker makes her doctorial debut in season 11! I have some thoughts on it. But first, the official trailers:
Doctor Who: Series 11 Trailer by Doctor Who on YouTube
Doctor Who: Series 11 Trailer #2 by Doctor Who on YouTube
I get chills from both! 😀 Although the music choices for trailer 2 seem a little odd—I suspect I might be missing some cultural references here.
I haven’t seen the first episode yet, so I only have previously shared glimpses, various reports, and other people’s reactions to go by. Reading to the rescue, then! Below are quotes from some of the most interesting writeups I found.
Spoiler warning is in effect! (Also, because some quotes are quite long, I’ll pop the rest behind a cut.)
Actor Carrie Fisher lays it out in a Twitter comment on criticism of her appearance in The Force Awakens and proves she was so much more than a pretty face.
Serving exactly what it sounds like, the Quotes feature excerpts other people’s thoughts.
Carrie Fisher, actor, author, advocate, script doctor, and Resistance General extraordinaire, has passed at the age of 60.
Rest in peace, dear Ms. Fisher. Your honesty, fearlessness, and spirit will be missed.
In the words of Tough Love Leia on Twitter:
Image via carriefisher.com
Post edited for formatting.
Jareth: “You remind me of the babe.”
Goblin 1: “What babe?”
Jareth: “The babe with the power.”
Goblin 2: “What power?”
Jareth: “Power of voodoo.”
Goblin 3: “Who do?”
Jareth: “You do.”
Goblin 4: “Do what?”
Jareth: “Remind me of the babe.”
This year marked the 30th anniversary of the release of Labyrinth by director Jim Henson. This past weekend FantomEvents ran some special Labyrinth showings in theaters. We didn’t go due to schedule issues (=work, work, work) but instead watched it at home.
As a geeky kid of the 80s, I have very fond memories of the movie. It’s mostly because of its visuals, but I do like the fantastic lines—great for learning English with—and voice acting as well.
Sarah: “Did you say ‘Hello’?”
Worm: “No, I said ‘allo’, but that’s close enough.”
(The worm was one of my very first tastes of dialectal / regional English!)
If my memory serves, the puppetry effects in Labyrinth are mostly better than in The Dark Crystal, Jim Henson’s previous fantasy movie. (Note to self: Find out if I can rent / stream The Dark Crystal. Local library to the rescue!)
Some of the songs, too, have become long-time favorites, especially “As the World Falls Down” by David Bowie.
Ballroom Scene – Labyrinth – The Jim Henson Company
As a kid, I didn’t really understand how someone could like Bowie’s music, but that one song opened my eyes. (Ears?) I still love it, and the ballroom scene with its floating props.
Bonus find: Stephanie at Make and Tell shares her “the babe with the power” wall art printable.
What’s your favorite Labyrinth memory?
Images: Labyrinth DVD case by Eppu Jensen. The babe with the power printable by Stephanie at Make and Tell.
This post has been edited.
In the Seen on Screen occasional feature, we discuss movies and television shows of interest.
Browsing Tumblr the other day, I ran into what looked like stills from a scifi series. My immediate reaction was “What is this? Who’s she? I wanna see it!!”
Turns out they were indeed scifi show stills. The pictures come from an article by Dalton Ross on Entertainment Weekly. He talked with The Expanse showrunner Naren Shankar about a new character introduced in season 2, and shared these photos.
The commanding presence that drew my eye is marine Roberta “Bobbie” Draper from Mars, played by New Zealand actress, model, and boxer Frankie Adams.
Mr. Shankar talked about casting Ms. Adams for the role:
“When you ask a casting director to find a 6-foot half-Polynesian, the response is usually one of stunned silence, like, ‘Really?’ And we were like, ‘Yeah, really.’ We’ve been very conscious about maintaining the ethnic identity of the characters in the book as much as humanly possible. And we were really intent on doing that with Bobbie.
“We actually looked in the U.K., Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, Hawaii, and New Zealand. And when [co-author] Ty Franck saw the first casting tape on her, he said, ‘That’s her, that’s her,’ right away. She’s a professional boxer, as well as being a model and so she had the physicality and a very interesting, unusual kind of face you rarely see on television. She’s awesome and we couldn’t be more delighted to have her on the show.”
I have to say that the third shot (above) reminds me a lot of the 2004 Galactica reboot. I’ve only seen the pilot for The Expanse, though, and that streamed over a very hiccupy connection. It looked interesting, but for some reason or another I never got back to it.
I seriously hope that Bobbie won’t just be another case of Strong Female Character syndrome. Kick-ass female characters can be awesome, and they are definitely an improvement over women as mothers or love interests. But I’m done with women written as one-dimensional beings, be it demure damsels in distress or forceful fighters.
I want the people in my entertainment to be complex and three-dimensional regardless of their gender. Whether The Expanse delivers or not will remain to be seen, though. (Haven’t read the books that it’s based on, so I’ve nothing to go on there.) Apparently I now must check out season 1 in order to see season 2 when it comes out. 🙂
Images Rafy / Syfy via Entertainment Weekly
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Actor Alan Rickman has passed. Apart from a fantastic Professor Severus Snape, Rickman brought to life both on stage and screen numerous other characters, including my favorite Colonel Brandon in the 1995 adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility.
Sense & Sensibility – Weep You No More Sad Fountains via anotherrainbow2008
I also have fond memories of his performance as Alexander Dane / Dr. Lazarus in Galaxy Quest and the sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (with the unforgettable delivery of “Because it is dull, you twit, it’ll hurt more!”, on the desirability of a spoon as a torture device).
Rest in peace, sir. You will be missed.
Co-Geeking 
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