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‘Gotham’ Recap S4E16: “One of My Three Soups”

By
John Nolan
-

In this week’s Gotham
we see the beginning of Jerome’s plan unfold, Barbara’s quick rise to power,
and Bruce and Selina’s complex relationship continue to grow. It was a wild
episode that will undoubtedly lead to a crazy series of events that Jerome has
in store for Gotham.
Tetch’s wild night
story arc: “There will be plenty of time to stab each other in the backs later,
but for now let’s stick to Jerome’s plan” –

The episode begins with a prison guard going to check on
Tetch. She is wearing headphones so she cannot get hypnotized by him.
Unfortunately for her, another guard wasn’t wearing headphones and Tetch was
able to get in her head. He gets this guard to kill all the other ones
surrounding his cell and goes to free Crane. Once Crane is out, the two of them
head over to let out Jerome and then release Arkham’s entire violent ward. Jim and the GCPD
arrive shortly after to try and clean up the mess that Jerome and co. left
behind at Arkham. Tetch calls and tells Jim to meet him in the city – Jim and
Harvey know that it is a set up, but they have no choice but to go.
When they get to the rendezvous point, they see a bunch of
hypnotized citizens and a dressed up couple standing in the middle of the
street. Tetch appears and tells Jim that he will wreak havoc on the city for
what Jim did to Tetch’s sister, Alice. Tetch then kills the couple in a very
brutal way and drives off while warning Jim and Harvey that many more of Gotham’s
citizens will die as the Gotham bell’s full roll. Jim immediately realizes that
this means the bells that ring at midnight and that Tetch will hypnotize people
to jump off of the rooftops once those bells ring. Jim and Harvey go up to the
roof and unfortunately their theory is proven right – every rooftop in sight has Gotham’s citizens lined up on the ledge, waiting for midnight to
jump.
Jim wonders how it is possible for Tetch to hypnotize so
many people at once, and then it hits him that Tetch must be broadcasting over
the radio. If they can find out what station the broadcast is coming from, they
can find Tetch and stop the mass suicide. Harvey immediately sacrifices himself
and gets in a car to channel surf until he finds the station Tetch is
broadcasting from – WZPZ – but immediately becomes hypnotized himself and goes
to the roof. Jim heads to the radio station and is able to sneak up on Tetch
and demands that he shuts off the broadcast, which Tetch refuses to do. Tetch
tells Jim that it is impossible to stop what is about to happen, he told the
citizens that they cannot save themselves. In a last ditch effort, Jim gets on
the airwaves and tells the citizens to save each other. Thankfully this manages
to break the hypnosis and they are all saved. Ha

My thoughts:  

Tetch is quite ruthless in this episode, but Jim matches
some of that severity when pulling out all the stops to try and save Gotham’s
citizens. It is really great to have Jim and Harvey back in their buddy cop
roles. Yes, there is still a little bit of the emo Jim talking about how he
doesn’t deserve to be Captain, but I think that will subside as we continue on.
In the meantime, sit back and enjoy these two together again going after Jerome
and his henchman.
Barbara’s new
endeavors story arc: “This is mine Tabitha, and I’m taking it” –

The severity of Barbara’s migraines are continuing to
increase and she is super sensitive to sound. She tells Tabitha that it feels
like memories are painfully trying to push their way into her head. Tabitha
scoffs at the idea that Barbara would let the pain stop her from getting the
answers she has been looking for. Barbara realizes that Tabitha is right and
lets the memories come flooding in and finally sees visions of how Ra’s brought
her back to life. She knows now that her hand is a beacon that is calling the
League of Shadows to Gotham.
Barbara and Tabitha go to Club Siren where the League of
Shadows is waiting. Barbara shows them her glowing hand and that Ra’s has named
her as his heir. Some of the members of the League don’t approve of having a
woman lead them, but Barbara quickly disposes of one to set an example for the rest. Barbara
realizes that the members of the League are afraid of her and she takes
advantage of this fear. She orders them to pledge their allegiance to her,
and all of them bend the knee. As they are doing this, the lights go
out and the female members of the League of Shadows mow them all down with Uzis.
They tell Barbara that these members were weak and needed to be disposed of and
there are hundreds of sisters of the League who are ready to follow Barbara. 
My thoughts:

Barbara being in charge of the League of Shadows can only lead
to some more madness coming Gotham’s way. She is as unstable as ever and giving
her more power will be trouble. It is curious to see what the League really
wants and what Tabitha’s role will be moving forward. It already seems like Barbara
has tossed her aside once this better opportunity presented itself.
Bruce vs. Jerome story
arc: “You don’t owe me anything Selina, you never did” –

While Jim and the GCPD are dealing with Tetch’s madness, Bruce
hears that Jerome has escaped Arkham and he convinces Selina to break into Jim’s
office to get Jerome’s file. Selina is still of the mindset that she owes Bruce for
his help with retrieving the jewelry even though Bruce keeps insisting that she
doesn’t owe him for that, or for anything else. Bruce feels responsible for
Jerome’s actions because he spared his life and is determined to catch him and
stop him. Selina thinks this idea is crazy and tells Bruce to just let it go.
Of course he can’t and that is where the two of them go their separate ways.
Jerome goes to visit his uncle Zach at a Gotham neighborhood
diner and immediately holds him at gunpoint. Uncle Zach did have a contingency
plan in place once he heard that Jerome broke out of Arkham, and that was to have the
old Strongman from the circus waiting for Jerome to arrive to have his back. The
plan goes swimmingly and the Strongman flips the script on Jerome and they begin to
torture him. Unfortunately for Uncle Zach and the Strongman, Bruce shows up at
the diner and Uncle Zach sends the Strongman to take him out. Jerome takes
advantage of this distraction and grabs the gun from Uncle Zach. Jerome forces
Uncle Zach to tell him the name of a school (St. Ignatius) that “she picked”, which
he writes down on a napkin for him because of Jerome’s poor memory, before
Jerome shoots and kills him. Jerome tells the Strongman to take care of Bruce
and then sits back and watches Bruce and the Strongman duke it out for a while,
really enjoying the show.
Selina comes to the diner as Bruce is still fighting
Strongman and knocks the gun out of Jerome’s hands. She aims at Jerome and
fires off a couple of misses before Bruce is able to stop her from continuing to
try and kill Jerome. Jerome manages to escape and Bruce and Selina once again disagree
about what the extent of Bruce’s responsibility for Jerome is. Selina leaves and
Bruce finds the note that says ‘St. Ignatius’ on it – cluing him in to the next
location of Jerome’s plan. Bruce calls Jim, who had just returned to his office
with Harvey after saving the citizens of Gotham, and tells him that Jerome will
be heading to St. Ignatius. Jim warns Bruce not to go and that the GCPD can
handle it, but Bruce shrugs this off and tells Jim he will see him at the
school. The episode ends with Tetch being transported back to Arkham, but Crane
and Jerome manage to break him free. While Tetch had the GCPD focused on him,
Crane was able to get his fear toxin and Jerome got the valuable information he
needed – it seems like everything is going according to Jerome’s plan.
My thoughts:

Jerome is a pleasure to watch. He
is a great villain and his antics are spot on for what Joker should be. I wonder who the ‘she’ is that Jerome and Uncle Zach were talking about. Luckily enough, I won’t have to wait much longer to find out! Bruce
is so different from the terrible party boy Bruce we saw for a lot of the
season. He has really progressed with shouldering responsibility and Selina can
see that he is a different person now. The dynamic of their relationship
continues to shift and I’m happy with the direction it is heading.
Next week on Gotham: 
Jerome is clearly after someone, but who? There is a message that goes on
screen that says “Who is the Joker?” Is it possible that Jerome isn’t or is it
saying that we are just going to learn more about “who” he is? I’m really not
sure, but sure as hell can’t wait to find out what is going to happen at St.
Ignatius!
 

Colin Trevorrow Returning To Direct ‘Jurassic World 3’

By
John Nolan
-



Jurassic World 3 has a director, same as the first director. After directing Jurassic World then passing the reins over to J.A. Bayona for this summer’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Colin Trevorrow is coming back to pick up the franchise’s third film.

Producer Steven Spielberg confirmed the news to EW and it’s not a complete surprise. Trevorrow, who has conceived the story for both movies so far, originally envisioned a three-movie arc. And he probably would have directed Fallen Kingdom if he wasn’t busy on The Book of Henry.

Trevorrow will be working with writer Emily Carmichael (Pacific Rim Uprising) to build the story, which presumably will bring back stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. Jurassic World 3 opens June 11th 2021.

John’s Take: “Ready Player One” Directed by Steven Spielberg

By
John Nolan
-

The apex of pop-culture cinema or a depressing look at a,
not so far-fetched, possible future? Well, I guess it really depends on who you
are. I’ll get this out of the way first, I was a BIG fan of Ernest Cline’s
novel from which the movie is pulled, it really is a great read. Needless to
say I was psyched for the movie to come out even that I knew, no matter how
good it was, people were going to hate on it for being to different from the
book. First off, yes, it’s massively different from the book but they maintained
the spirit of the source material perfectly. Second, even if they were
magically able to clear the rights for all of the major plot points references,
there’s no way they could adapt a 15-hour (that’s how long the audio book is)
novel to a two-hour movie. It just doesn’t work. So, if you’ve read the book or
not, go into this ready to enjoy it for the marvel it is.
Now that the book to screen disclaimer is out of the way let’s
get down to it. Ready Player One
follows Wade Watts in 2034 America, who goes by the gamertag Parzival in the
Oasis, a massive multiplayer virtual reality environment where most of society
spends their days. Thanks to climate change, an energy crisis, and all of those
other things Leo DiCaprio is always warning us about, the real world isn’t much
to see, so humanity ventures into a virtual one. Following the death of the
Oasis’s eccentric creator, James Halliday, a video is released with his will
which reveals a contest, a contest for which the winner will receive his untold
billions and a controlling stock interest in his company, Gregarious Simulation
Systems; they will control the Oasis itself. A worldwide rush ensues where
millions rush to find the three keys, which will grant them access to Halliday’s
‘Easter Egg’. The movie picks up five years after the start of the contest, no
one has found anything yet and interest is waning. That is until Parzival
decodes a hint that gets him the first key and instant celebrity. Joined by
fellow egg-hunters, or “Gunters”, Art3mis, Aitch, Shaito and Daito,
Wade/Perceval races through the Oasis to find the remaining keys and win
Halliday’s Easter Egg before Nolan Sorrento and his Sixers employee’s of multi-national
conglomerate IOI. Sorrento and his sixers want to ruin the Oasis with
advertising, prohibitive cost, and all around dick moves, not something in
which our heroes are interested. Parzival and the rest of the “high-five” have
to battle and avoid the IOI sixers in both the Oasis and the real world as the
goons at IOI begin hunting them in the real world; it all leads up to one
massive battle for Halliday’s easter egg.
I think the most impressive thing about the movie is how it could have gone. This thing has all of
the makes of a cult-classic that subsists only on pop-culture references. I
mean, the story isn’t all that novel, it’s essentially a futuristic Willy Wonka
with a disturbingly not unbelievable look at our future. The fact that it
transcends that can be held to one key factor, Steven Spielberg. Kids today may
not know the gravitas that the name Spielberg holds as well as my generation,
but they will now. Stevie has always put out high quality material but the
magic he brought during the 80’s and early 90’s has been somewhat missing. Ready Player One brings that back.
While most top directors have an identifiable style, like Tarantino’s out of
order storytelling, or Micheal Bay’s propagandistic camera movements, Spielberg
doesn’t have a visual style, he delivers a feeling. It really is amazing when
you catch him at the top of his game, the mixture of childhood adventure,
breathtaking visuals, and sweeping scores that he blends to deliver a
biological reaction that forces you to get lost in his world and recapture that
feeling you’d get playing Indiana Jones in the woods as a young boy or girl.
That’s exactly what I got while watching this flick. I judge a film by it’s
ability to engage me, to make me totally forget any real world stressors and
get lost in it’s narrative for a few hours. For the 2 hour and 20 minute
runtime of this film, I was IN the Oasis, and while the film did fire on all
cylinders I have to give credit to the captain at the helm, this is what made
him a house hold name, his ability to take anything and have it transport you
to a world of wonder.
All that being said, even Spielberg can’t make a delicious
meal with expired ingredients, thankfully all the bits of Ready Player One were farm fresh. I usually start with the cast and
I guess, in a way, I still am, but I would be remiss if I did not talk about
the visuals first. They. Are. Amazing. Seriously, totally sick. At least 60% of
the movie takes place inside the virtual world so the movie was going to hinge
on it’s quality. Seeing films like this really makes it a head scratcher when
you see big-budget films with bad CGI (Looking at you Justice League!), because this shows you what Hollywood artists are
capable of. There are large chunks of the Oasis action wherein the only things
you can identify as directly CGI are the characters, the sets and backgrounds
appear totally photorealistic, specifically one scene that takes place in a
certain classic horror movie. The shear detail of references and character
depth make this a movie that you will have to watch 7 times in slow motion in
order to catch every reference. The physical cast stands up to the task as well
with the standout being perennial on-screen villain Ben Mendelsohn doing what
he does best as the evil head of IOI, Nolan Sorrento. The rest of the main
cast, Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cook and Lena Waithe, Parzival, Art3mis, and Aech,
respectively,  all keep the train rolling
at high speed with Waithe providing some stand-out laughs that make me think we
are going to see a bit more of her in the future. Last mention goes to Simon Pegg
as the Steve Jobs to Halliday’s Steve Wozniack, Ogden Morrow. He has a lynchpin
role that I won’t spoil but I want to bring him up because, in one of the final
scenes of the film, Pegg delivers an absolutely touching performance that
shows, in the span of 30 seconds, that he’s capable of far more than just
making us laugh.
At it’s worst this movie is a fun watch. Obviously if you’re
not the type to enjoy a pop-culture reference, or 27, and if your only interest
in the 80s is about trickle-down economics then this movie probably won’t hit
you the way it did me, but it will still be fun to watch. For those of us in
the sweet spot, geeks who were born after 1975, this is going to become a must
watch film. I’ll also add in that you should definitely pick up Cline’s book on
which the movie is based but, as I always recommend, watch the movie first…then
read the book.

4.5 Out of 5

Timothy Olyphant Shoots A Bullet In ‘Deadwood’ Movie Hopes

By
John Nolan
-

Timothy Olyphant, who has been out talking up the second season of Netflix’s Santa Clarita Diet, just fired a bullet in the heart of Deadwood fans. HBO and Deadwood creator David Milch have been going back and forth on a movie for years, in hopes of giving the fan-favorite Western series some closure. While there have been rays of hope, even recently, nothing seems closer to fruition. And now Olyphant tells Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live (via EW) that it has no chance of happening…

“There’s no fucking way it will ever happen.”

Damn, Tim, tell us what you really think.  He continued with the tiniest glimmer of hope…

“I am hopeful. I mean I’m … I’m… I’m a huge fan of David Milch. The man means the world to me. It’s one of the most amazing creative experiences I’ve ever been able to be apart of, and I’d love to be … you know when you do these things you really miss the people. It would just be a lovely excuse to get all those people back together…”

Getting all of those lovely people back together again is the problem, though. Milch had reportedly finished writing the script last year, but as recently as January he was said to be giving it a rewrite. The difficulty is in lining up everyone’s schedules, and Deadwood had one Hell of a cast of actors who are much busier now than they were in 2006 when the series ended after three seasons.

On the plus side, HBO says they are committed to making the movie happening. In a statement to EW they said, “We are continuing to try and bring this group of actors together. With varying schedules, it is a challenge, but we are committed to finding a way and making the film.”

Just keep at it, HBO.

As for you, Timothy…you know what? Josh Duhamel doesn’t look like you. YOU look like Josh Duhamel. 

James Wan And ‘It’ Producer To Adapt Stephen King’s ‘The Tommyknockers’

By
John Nolan
-

I was only a matter of time before James Wan found his way to Stephen King. The man behind The Conjuring, Saw, and other horror franchises is looking to bring King’s The Tommyknockers to the big screen, joined by It producer Roy Lee.

Wan and Lee will be working alongside Larry Sanitsky, a producer on the 1993 TV series adaptation of The Tommyknockers. The sci-fi story, a rare one for King, follows a writer and her friend who unearth an alien spaceship that grants those exposed to it strange new abilities, although its influence becomes increasingly destructive. 

Makes sense for The Tommyknockers to be next on somebody’s list as it remains one of King’s most popular books, even outselling It. Not that King is much a fan of his own work in this case.  Wan is hoping to attract the attention of major studios and streaming services, and I expect there will be strong interest from both given the success of King projects on the big and small screen. [THR]

‘Pass Over’ Trailer: Spike Lee Takes ‘Waiting For Godot’ To The Streets

By
John Nolan
-

At the Sundance Film Festival a couple of months ago I was shocked to learn that Spike Lee had a new film there, titled Pass Over. Somehow it had slipped by me, and when a friend of mine saw it I asked him if Spike was actually behind the camera for it, not just a producer or something. Turns out, Spike had quietly shot the stage production of Antoinette Nwandu‘s play Pass Over at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, and turned it into a feature film.

The trailer for the filmed production is here, and it’s taking Spike back to the core themes that he built a career on. The play is a modern update of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. The story, much like Beckett’s, centers on two men waiting for a third, whiling the day away in endless conversation on a variety of hot-button topics. Lee gets credit for directing the film while Danya Taymor directed the stage production. Here’s the synopsis:

Moses and Kitch, two young black men, chat their way through a long, aimless day on a Chicago street corner. Periodically ducking bullets and managing visits from a genial but ominous stranger and an overtly hostile police officer, Moses and Kitch rely on their banter to get them through a day that is a hopeless retread of every other day, even as they continue to dream of their deliverance.


Starring  John Michael Hill, Julian Parker, Ryan Hallahan and Blake DeLong, Pass Over hits Amazon Prime on April 20th.

Adam Sandler And Jennifer Aniston Reunite For Netflix’s ‘Murder Mystery’

By
John Nolan
-

I think there’s enough empirical evidence to support the idea that Adam Sandler is at his best when paired up with a delightful female co-star. Whether it’s Drew Barrymore, Winona Ryder, Emily Watson, or even Joey Lauren Adams, Sandler brings out a little bit of extra charm for his female co-stars. Sandler starred with Jennifer Aniston in 2011’s Just Go With It and it turned out to be one of his biggest rom-com hits, and so it’s not at all surprising to learn they are teaming up again, this time for Netflix.

Sandler and Aniston will star in Murder Mystery, a comedy about a husband and wife duo who become murder suspects while on a European vacation. Sounds stupid, yes, and the script very well could be with James Vanderbilt (White House Down, The Amazing Spider-Man) writing it. Behind the camera is Workaholics director Kyle Newacheck, who recently helmed Netflix’s Game Over, Man!


I expect that if Aniston agreed to this then there’s more to Murder Mystery than it appears. Or at least I hope that’s the case. Sandler’s been pulling huge numbers for Netflix so we know they’re happy with him. Adding Aniston to the mix can only make those numbers shoot up higher. [Variety]

Mark Hamill Is Worried About Too Many ‘Star Wars’ Movies Too Soon

By
John Nolan
-

Damn! Lucasfilm might put out a hit on Mark Hamill at this point. Skywalker just can’t shut up about his dislike for Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi, talking about it so much that it’s not even newsworthy to cover anymore. But now he’s hitting at Disney’s pocketbook by telling people there are too many Star Wars movies. Hey man, watch out for the guy in the Mickey Mouse suit! Hamill tells Cinemablend…

“I will say they should pace themselves, because you don’t want to over-saturate it. I said to Disney, ‘Really? Five months after we come out comes [‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’]? Can’t you at least wait until Christmas?’ But they’ve got things booked – they’re doing Marvel and their own movies, so that’s beyond my purview.”

For the record, I completely agree with Hamill on this. My biggest fear is that Star Wars movies will no longer be special events, but just another blockbuster filling up multiplex space. That said, Marvel’s been putting out multiple movies for years and we still can’t wait for them.

But Mark doesn’t think there should be boundaries on the types of stories being told, and that expanding beyond the core trilogy is a good way to keep the franchise diverse…

“Well, there shouldn’t be a limit to the storytelling, as it’s a canvas that’s so infinite. With the standalone films, they can all have their own identity. Rogue One can be gritty and like a war film… I’m assuming, I don’t know, but I would assume that Solo will be more comedic-ly oriented because he’s a rogue, a scoundrel, and a gambler, and a womanizer and all those things. So I think the advantage of the standalone films is that they don’t have to follow the formula of a trilogy, so they can establish their premise, get it on, get it done and get out leaving the audience wanting more. So there are infinite possibilities.”

Now, would somebody hire this guy to do something so he can talk about anything other than what’s wrong with Star Wars? Thanks.

Miranda July Sets Evan Rachel Wood, Richard Jenkins, And Gina Rodriguez For Next Film

By
John Nolan
-

Miranda July was a hot ticket indie filmmaker after her debut feature Me and You and Everyone We Know, which Roger Ebert called one of the five best movies of the decade. However, she took her sweet time for a followup with 2011’s The Future, which was also warmly received. A couple of weeks ago Annapurna and Plan B announced they would be collaborating with July on her long-awaited third film, and now we’re getting a look at the cast she’s gathered.

July will work with her starriest cast yet as Evan Rachel Wood, Gina Rodriguez, Debra Winger, and Richard Jenkins are on board. Still untitled, we do know this will be a heist movie centered on a woman named Old Dolio (Wood) who sees her life turned upside down when her con-artist parents (Jenkins and Winger) invite a stranger (Rodriguez) to join their biggest heist.

Wood can be seen in the upcoming second season of Westworld, while Rodriguez just starred in Alex Garland’s Annihilation. Jenkins is coming off an Oscar-nominated turn in The Shape of Water while Winger was terrific in last year’s The Lovers. Good to see her keeping busy.

Strange, and a bit of a departure for July who apparently won’t be starring in this one. Shooting begins in May. [THR]

Jay Roach To Direct Michael Wolff’s ‘Fire And Fury’ TV Series Adaptation

By
John Nolan
-

You can’t turn on the cable news for even one second without “BREAKING NEWS” reporting on the latest scandal inside the White House. Hey, that’s what happens when you elect a reality show host and con man to be the most powerful person in the world. With all of the leaks from the Trump Administration we have a pretty good idea how unhinged everything is, but Michael Wolff’s best-selling book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House still gave us an unprecedented look at the chaos.

It was only a matter of time before Hollywood came calling, and now we know that Jay Roach will be directing the TV series adaptation of Wolff’s incendiary novel. We first learned of the project right around the first year anniversary of Trump’s inauguration. Roach was really the only guy who could do this, having previously directed political films Game Change, for which he won an Emmy, Recount, and All the Way. Remember when Roach was just the guy who did broad comedies like Austin Powers? That was a long time ago. Roach also was behind the camera for Bryan Cranston’s Trumbo, which also had a political bent.

No network is involved just yet but you can bet HBO, who released all of Roach’s other political movies, will be first on the list. [THR]

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