Marvel announces Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge Comic Miniseries

While guests will have wait until Fall of 2019 to visit Disneyland’s new Star Wars themed areas, the journey to Black Spire Outpost on the planet of Batuu begins in April, in print form anyway.  Marvel Comics announced yesterday that a mini-series based on Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge will be released in April. The story will focus on an Ithorian trader Doc-Ondar and will take place in and around Black Spire Outpost which is the setting for the upcoming Star Wars themed areas for Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Florida.

While Marvel is tight lipped about the story, writer Ethan Sacks, in an interview with StarWars.com, provided some detail about what access the team had to Disney Imagineering and how it impacted the story:

Our series will give fans the chance to visit Black Spire Outpost months ahead of voyaging to Batuu in person. Armed with top-secret sketches and information from Walt Disney Imagineering and Lucasfilm, we are keeping this authentic to the spirit of this rich new setting. I’d tell you more, but I already have the death sentence on 12 systems….

Brucie and The Beast: Glass review

Before the acquisition of Marvel Studios, there were very few bonafide superheroes in the Disney catalogue. It wasn’t until M. Night Shyamalan’s  2000 ode to comic book culture, Unbreakable, that Disney (via it’s Touchstone Films Division) had a real super powered hero in the Bruce Willis’s David Dunn. Flash forward 17 years to Universal’s psychological horror film Split that anyone remotely thought that there would be a continuation of David Dunn’s story. As another of Shyamalan’s famous (or infamous) inevitable twists, the character appeared in final credits scene. Since the release there has been a quiet build-up of anticipation for a completion of the trilogy. That anticipation comes to an end with Glass.

The film picks up in the events following Split where James McAvoy’s character Kevin Crumb has been taken over by multiple personalities who collectively refer to themselves as The Horde, led by the animalistic personality known as The Beast.  Dunn and The Beast confront each other in the first act which is suprising being that the matchup of the two superpowered characters is the main selling   point for the film. Both are arrested during the fight and are sent to a psychiatric hospital under the care of Sarah Paulson’s Dr. Staple who specializes in treating individuals who view themselves as comic book characters. Also at the hospital is Unbreakable’s criminal mastermind Elijah Price, played by Samuel L. Jackson. Price is also known as Mr. Glass due to his brittle bone disease. A Dunn/ Glass reunion is something audiences were looking forward too, but proves to be uneventful being that Price is catatonic for two-thirds of the film.
There is a cast of forgettable supporting characters from the prior films: Dunn’s son, Elijah’s mother, and the lone survivor, and now Stockholm Syndrome girlfriend of the cannibalistic Beast. These characters do little to advance the story. Speaking of “story”, M. Night Shyamalan’s knack for using narratives to take the audience down divergent paths is present, but doesn’t pack the punch it did in The Sixth Sense or even Unbreakable, itself a love letter to comic book fans.

The plotlines of life imitating comic book art was ground breaking back in pre-MCU 2000. Now audiences are well accustomed to comic book story arcs and troupes. And that fact itself is what hobbles Glass from telling the story it is trying to tell. Shyamalan still feels the need to utilize exposition to inform the audience of something it already knows too well.  The film is far from a bust. The action sequences are thrillingly choreographed, especially when we see Dunn and The Beast face-off in evenly matched battles with no apparent CG enhancements. McAvoy transitions between Crum’s multiple personalities fluidly, even adding a few new ones. It is unfortunate that The Beast personality dominates the majority of screen time, but this isn’t Split. The score was disjointed, building to a crescendo at odd points in a few scenes, dampening the tension. There is ample enough fan service, especially when Glass and Dunn slip into their familiar costumes. And, of course the obligatory cameo by Shyamalan, which generates a few chuckles. The “big twist” at the end is basically just there.
The film does represent a unique partnership between two rival studios, with Universal handling the domestic distribution, and Disney the international. Maybe we will see a Split scare house at Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights. Here’s hoping we don’t get a David Dunn Stunt Spectacular at Disney Studios.  Glass is a fairly solid and fun superhero film that doesn’t quiet resonate as relevant in a world full of Avengers and Aquamen.  It’s not a bad film, it’s just 19 years too late.

A Very Black Hole Christmas

A current trend among cinema fans is to debate whether some films such as Die Hard or Gremlins are or are not Christmas movies. Many proclaim that merely occurring during the holiday qualifies a movie as being a holiday classic. On these merits, I state my case that Disney’s The Black Hole is a Christmas movie. I am going to go where no man has dared to go, but you will see that the end justifies the means. In 1978, Walt Disney Studios released their first PG rated film as an answer to the success of Star Wars, The Black Hole. The film tells the story of a failed mission of the spaceship Palamino to discover “habitual life in outer space” and the subsequent fight for the crew’s survival against a madman and his robots, a ghost ship The Cygnus, and the titular Black Hole.

While the merits of the film have been debated over the years, very little attention has been paid to the admittedly tenuous relationship between The Black Hole and Christmas. Although not stated in the film, the fantastic novelization by Alan Dean Foster places the discovery of the seemingly derelict Cygnus as December 24th.  Additionally, the comic strip adaptation by the legendary Jack Kirby places the Cygnus discovery near Christmas as evidenced in this panel:

A final and weakest connection is when the interior illumination of the seemingly abandoned Cygnus is triggered. The young hotshot member of the Palamino, Charlie Pizer, states that the ship lights up like a tree on Christmas morning. Right now you may be quoting Captain Dan Holland, saying “I think the guy is nuts,”  but I think it’s definitely worth investigating.
Although not part of most families’ Christmas playlist, The Black Hole deserves its place in the pantheon of holiday classics.

Disney goes to Hell!

The early days of The Disney Company was a time of experimentation.  Walt Disney and legendary animator Ub Iwerks were charting new ground with the first animated short with sound; Steamboat Willie.  The collaboration between Disney and Iwerks spawned two very different cinematic visions in 1929.  The Silly Symphony shorts, Springtime and Hell's Bells were markedly different in terms of style and theme. Whereas the Walt Disney directed Springtime was a happy, jaunty short featuring the new "more realistic" animation trend, Hell's Bells, Directed by Iwerks was a nightmare fuel driven macabre short in the older "rubber hose" style of animation.

The imagery included a lead devil directing his minion demons to milk fire from a dragon cow (seriously) and dance for his pleasure.  The obedient demons were rewarded by being fed to the Devil's pet, a Cerberus.  The demons eventually turn on their master and send the Devil to his fiery demise.  The short accentuates the vastly different surreal style that Iwerks pursued in spite of Walt's direction for happy, kid friendly fare, eventually leading to a rift and Iwerks' departure from the company.

It's not to far a reach to surmise that the depiction of the Devil in the popular retro-video game, Cuphead, would be inspired by Hell's Bells.  The short has achieved "Song of the South" type status and has apparently been shunned by Disney as it has not been released in any official format by the company.  Thankfully, the entire short is available on YouTube. The Halloween season is a perfect time to enjoy this lost Disney gem!

Marilyn Manson releases song from The New Mutants soundtrack

80’s and 90’s goth kids rejoice (as much as a goth can!) The 90’s alternative scene icon, Marilyn Manson has released a new video for his song Cry Little Sister from the upcoming Marvel film, The New Mutants. If the song title looks familiar, it’s because it was originally recorded by Gerard McMahon for, arguably the best vampire flick from the 80’s, The Lost Boys. It was also redone by industrial artist Aiden. In a surprise move, Manson dropped a video for his version a few days ago. Technically it has been out since the middle of June, but only attached to movie a few days ago.

While Marilyn Manson may not currently be a household name, he was the center of the industrial music scene of the late 80’s and early 90’s along with stalwarts Nine Inch Nails and White Zombie.  Manson’s music spurned a national discussion on the impact of music on violence with the “new” phenomenon of school shootings starting with Columbine. He hasn’t released a relevant record since the start of the New Millennium, and was reduced to a laughing stock during an unfortunate appearance on The Walking Dead review show, The Talking Dead.  This isn’t Manson’s first foray with music for film. He submitted a redo of This is Halloween as a bonus track for the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack.

So why Manson? Why this song? Why on a Marvel soundtrack?  The answer is the very nature of The New Mutants. The marketing for the film presents it as a hybrid superhero / horror film, with many horror elements evident in the recently released trailer. Let’s hope that Marvel’s gamble will pay off, and more horror elements can find their way in to the Marvel filmography. With the collapse of the planned Universal “Dark Universe” of classic movie monsters, the time is right for a Marvel Monsters film featuring the Marvel versions of Dracula, Werewolf by Night, Frankenstein’s Monster, The Living Mummy, and The Man-Thing.

Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy coming to Walt Disney World?

Disney Parks Blog  just announced two new Halloween themed overlays coming to The Magic Kingdom during Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. The first is a new spooky experience at Pirates of the Caribbean including a new interactive experience where guests join the Pirates looking for a new character named Gunpowder Pete.
The second announcement is a new soundtrack and effects for Space Mountain for the Halloween season.  It can be speculated that the popular Ghost Galaxy overlay at Disneyland's version of Space Mountain will be duplicated in Florida. Ghost Galaxy features a loose narrative, scary soundtrack, and jump scare projections. No additional information regarding either update is currently available.

Seasonal overlays have been popular for years in Disneyland in the form of Christmas themed Small World overlay, and the hugely popular Nightmare Before Christmas themed Haunted Mansion Holiday.  Walt Disney World's first ever overlay was Jingle Cruise adding holiday jokes and props to the Adventureland classic ride, The Jungle Cruise. So why hasn't the Florida park had the same guest opportunities as California's Disneyland? The answer may be in the makeup of the guests themselves.  While Walt Disney World is the number one international tourist destination in the world, Disneyland caters to a more local clientele.  Whereas Disneyland guests may come to the park multiple times a year, typical non-Florida resident guests and international guests my only be able to visit Walt Disney World once in their lifetime.  Imagineers may be less likely to change the experiences for those who want to experience the original attractions.
That may be changing with the two new Halloween experiences and the announced addition of the Mad Tea Party, also transplanted from Disneyland.  One can assume that, based on feedback, more temporary changes may be on the horizon, especially with the 50th Anniversary just around the corner in 2021.  Could the EleTRONica experience be on the way for the opening of the new TRON coaster in Tomorrowland?  Here's hoping!

Sabacc to the Future - Solo: A Star Wars Story

Okay, all cards on the Sabacc table. I entered the theater with tepid interest. In pre-planning for this review, I floated titles like “So Low” and “Smuggler’s Blues.” My friend, who invited me to the screening, echoed my sentiment that this may be the first “non-event” Star Wars movie. As the lights darkened and the familiar blue words flashed on the screen, I sat with apprehension, mostly due to the well-documented drama behind the camera as well as the vitriol being spewed on social media. A certain Sith Lord would have found my lack of faith disturbing. I did take solace in that I unequivocally trust the reliable direction of OG Star Wars fan Ron Howard, who took the Bantha reins from fired directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller due to “creative differences” with Lucasfilm’s Grand Moff Kathleen Kennedy.

What is abundantly evident is that Solo: A Star Wars Story is a love letter to the scruffy, Nerf-herding scoundrel, crafted by Star Wars veteran Lawrence Kasdan and son Jonathan. The first act of the film, set on the ship-building yards of Corellia, is where we meet young Han, played by Alden Ehrenreich, and his girlfriend/fellow thief Kira, played by Emilia Clarke. Full of exposition, the first third of the film seems to drag on in spite of a speeder chase and narrow escape in which Han elects to join the Galactic Empire as means to get off Corellia, leaving Kira behind. It’s when Han meets up with a band of smugglers, led by Woody Harrelson, that the film finds its footing and the pace quickens. Harrelson’s character Becket inadvertently sets up events leading to Han meeting Chewie, where they are forced into their first team-up. It’s a great scene that I won’t spoil. Han and Chewie then join Becket’s group with Westworld fan favorite Thandie Newton to pull off the Great Hovertrain Robbery. It’s the first of multiple thrilling heists with double-dealings that send Han down the path to scoundrelship.

Throughout the film, we are introduced to setting and characters that provide copious amounts of fan service while expanding the mythology of Han Solo. Some of the most exciting scenes involve events referenced in the original trilogy. Seriously, I wanted to be sitting at that fateful game of Sabacc where Han won the Millennium Falcon from fellow scoundrel Lando Calrissian, played to perfection by Donald Glover. Or who wouldn’t have loved to ride along during The Kessel Run, which, according to Han, made The Falcon famous?  Both scenes are a blast to watch, and are definitely worth the price of admission, as is a character reveal that caused an audible gasp across the theater.

Many fans will be split on the noteably missing references to both the Jedi and the Force, neither  of which have a place in this part of the galaxy.  Solo: A Star Wars Story delivers on all fronts with great casting, a stirring score, and thrilling action scenes. The film will surprise many fans who can put aside preconceptions and open up their hearts to a self proclaimed “terrible person,” who eventually makes good. Most importantly it answers the burning questions of how Han got his last name, or who gave him his signature blaster pistol. Okay, maybe not burning questions, but good to know!