If the Avengers met the Universal Monsters, but they were kids and had way less firepower, you’d have The Monster Squad. Much like how the Ghostbusters team up to battle ghosts (which is even mentioned in the above trailer!), the Monster Squad is a group of kids forced together to defeat monsters. And not just any monsters, The Monsters: Dracula, Wolfman, Mummy, Creature, and Frankenstein is there too. It’s a quintessential 1980s kids in peril movie that I grew up with and love unequivocally. You can read a bit more about it here.
Where can I watch The Monster Squad?
The Monster Squad is currently streaming on paramount+ (and Pluto, with ads). You can also rent or buy from Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube, Apple TV, Vudu, and most other digital services. If you like it and want to know more, there’s also a documentary called Wolfman’s Got Nards directed by the star of the film, Andre Gower, with an appearance by a certain io9 reporter whose writing you’re reading right now. I’m biased, but it’s good. This one is streaming on Hoopla, Vudu (for free, with ads), Tubi, and Pluto. It can be bought or rented at the same places as the original.
According to The Information (paywall), Fortnite movie discussions form part of a wider conversation at Epic about the possibility of launching an entertainment division focused on scripted video programming.
The site’s sources claim Epic is exploring new ways to grow its brands at a time when its ambitions in the mobile games space are being restricted by its legal battles with Apple and Google.
Epic has hired several executives from Lucasfilm this year, including its new president of special projects, Jason McGatlin. He was formerly vice president of physical production at Lucasfilm and was executive producer of all the Star Wars films released by Disney.
Netflix’s definition of a successful show has been opaque at times, to put it mildly, but the company might have just provided some meaningful transparency. The streaming service has launched a “Top 10 on Netflix” website that shows the charting movies and TV shows on the service, both English and non-English. You’ll see both global and country-specific data to back up the rankings, including total viewing hours and the number of weeks on the chart.
You’ll also find all-time stats and the list of countries where a given title is charting. Netflix even lets you download lists in Excel or TSV formats if you crave raw data.
The initial rankings don’t provide too many surprises. The star-studded Red Notice was by far the most popular movie worldwide based on time spent, racking up 148.7 million viewing hours in its first week. Yara was the most-watched non-English title with nearly 18 million views. The latest season of Narcos: Mexico topped the English TV list with about 50.3 million hours after two weeks, and it won’t shock you to hear Squid Game dominated non-English TV with 42.8 million million hours and nine weeks in the top 10.
Yes, Netflix was aware its viewing metric favors longer-running movies and shows. It planned to “occasionally” offer specialty charts to give popular productions in certain fields (such as documentaries) their due. However, the company said it wouldn’t reveal how many people have finished a given movie or series — it believed all hours were relevant, whether you were distracted (think Netflix and chill), rewatching a favorite show or fixating on an individual scene.
The site won’t answer every question about Netflix’s rankings. You may know which shows are getting the most viewing time, but you won’t know just what it takes to get a renewal or sequel. Still, the potential effects are significant. Observers could better tell whether a title’s viewership really matches the hype, or which countries are driving demand. And while studios are likely very aware of how their releases are faring, the site might push some to ‘optimize’ their lineups to ensure consistently high rankings.
Not to mention, the trailer makes no mention of the Dowager Countess’ health, as she was diagnosed with cancer in the prior movie. We hope the sequel film answers our burning questions about all of this.
Downton Abbey: A New Era features the original cast and several notable additions—including Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Carter, Brendan Coyle, Dockery, Kevin Doyle, Joanne Froggatt, Harry Hadden-Paton, Robert James-Collier, Leech, Logan, Elizabeth McGovern, Sophie McShera, Middleton, Lesley Nicol, Smith, Imelda Staunton, Penelope Wilton, Hugh Dancy, Laura Haddock, Nathalie Baye, Dominic West and Jonathan Zaccaï.
Hello again fans of the silver screen, my latest ‘Movie Memories’ article for Lanarkshire Live takes a look at one of cinema’s most legendary icons – The Duke, John Wayne.
”John Wayne, The Duke , was one of Hollywood’s most famous and successful actors, but he was more than that; he epitomised the western film which, for many people, epitomised America” – Scott Eyman, western historian.
The enormous popularity of western movies can be traced back to the silent era of mainstream cinema. In 1903, Edwin S Porter directed The Great Train Robbery – the first moving picture to tell a story and the genesis of film editing – and the assembly line for westerns was underway.
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John Wayne began his legendary filmography in the silent flicks of the 1920s. By the time of his final starring role in The Shootist (1976) he had 169 feature films to his credit.
Wayne won the Best Actor Oscar at the 1970 Academy Awards for his role as Rooster Cogburn in True Grit (1969). During his acceptance speech, he remarked: “I wish I had put this eye patch on a long time ago.”
It is worth digressing here for a moment to remember a non-western movie that has endured the test of time.
In the John Wayne collection of classic movies, there is often one that comes to mind – the 1952 production The Quiet Man , which was critically acclaimed as John Ford’s greatest triumph, and earned him his fourth Academy Award for Best Director.
Beautifully photographed in the lush countryside of Ireland, Winton Hoch’s astonishing Technicolor photography (for which he won an Academy Award) has cemented the images of The Quiet Man within the hearts and minds of viewers across the decades.
Airdrie great-grandmother and retired teacher Mary Strang shared her memories of her favourite John Wayne movie: “I first saw The Quiet Man at the Pavilion Cinema in Airdrie in 1952 on a date with my boyfriend, and future husband, David. I love this film, it has a simple story, the scenery is spectacular and John Wayne and the beautiful Maureen O’Hara are a pleasure to watch.
“The story unfolds at a leisurely pace, giving you time to relax. It opens your eyes to a simple way of life before World War I that is long since gone. The film is rich in nostalgia and today I can enjoy it over and over again on stunning Blu-ray.”
The late fifties saw the return of this classic for a three-day engagement, once again at the Pavilion. I loved it, and so did my mum; it was a cinematic treat that we watched twice.
In a first release review of the film, movie critic Andrew Sarris hit the nail on the head when he wrote: “ The Quiet Man is a movie of deeply felt sentiment for an unregainable past, for tradition and ceremony, and the camaraderie in the community.”
The Quiet Man (1952) saw John Ford win his fourth Academy Award for Best Director, with the film “enduring the test of time”
The Duke and director John Ford teamed up once again to produce a western masterpiece in 1955. The Searchers was a considerable financial success for Warner Brothers and is revered by critics and moviegoers alike as one of Wayne’s finest pictures.
The heart of Wayne’s art is the image he projects as a direct, angry, and unbending character, daring anyone to test him and prepared to deposit your backside on the ground with a punch in the jaw.
Howard Hawks was one of the greatest directors in Hollywood, a highly-skilled cinematic craftsman, who in the fifties became intrigued with the growing popularity of the American western TV series that was also a major hit in Britain; Gunsmoke (1955) and Wagon Train (1957) were the inspiration for kids’ cowboys and Indians playtime and street culture.
Children’s cowboy outfits and toy cap pistols were all the rage and that would continue for many years as more western shows were introduced. The cultural phenomenon stirred Hawks to make a western movie classic.
John Wayne was back in the saddle after an absence of four years playing the sheriff in the 1959 Warner Brothers classic Rio Bravo , produced and directed by Hawks.
Hawks and Wayne had mutually disliked Fred Zinnemann’s 1952 movie High Noon for what they regarded as a lack of professionalism on the part of Gary Cooper’s Sheriff Will Kane .
As Hawks put it: “I didn’t think a good sheriff was going to go running around town like a chicken with his head off asking for help, and, finally, his wife had to save him.”
Hawks wanted to make a western with the precisely opposite point of view – a lawman who feels it’s a matter of pride to count only on other professionals.”
Rio Bravo is a classic western where all the elements work largely due to the brilliant cast of John Wayne ( John T. Chance ), Dean Martin ( Dude ), Ricky Nelson ( Colorado ), Angie Dickinson ( Feathers ), Walter Brennan ( Stumpy ), Ward Bond (Pat Wheeler), John Russell ( Nathan Burdette ) and Claude Akins ( Joe Burdette ).
William first saw Rio Bravo in the summer of 1959 at the New Cinema in Airdrie
Chance’s sheriff of the town that gives the film its title becomes the target of ruthless land baron Burdette when he arrests the man’s drunken brother Joe for murder.
When Wheeler offers to lend him his drovers as deputies, Chance refuses on the grounds that these men would get themselves killed worrying about their wives and families.
Filming commenced in the summer of 1958 at the old Tucson Studio, just outside of Arizona, built in 1939 for the 1940 movie Arizona . Today the old studio is a major tourist attraction where visitors can experience what life was like in the old west.
The opening scene in Rio Bravo , when Dean Martin, craving for a drink, enters the saloon has no dialogue; it’s almost a tribute to the silent film era.
Because the movie starred a crooner, Martin, and a teen idol, Nelson, it has a surprise musical interlude where Martin sings My Rifle My Pony and Me and Nelson belts out Get Along Home Cindy , accompanied by Walter Brennan on the harmonica.
Rio Bravo is a classic that looked like money from the beginning. It is generally regarded as one of the last great westerns, produced towards the end of the golden years of Hollywood. It was a box office hit that earned $5.5 million before it was released in Britain.
I was one of the Monklands kids sitting in the New Cinema, Airdrie, in the summer of 1959 keenly anticipating the lights dimming and the curtain going up when there was a big cheer when Daffy Duck appeared in the classic Warner Brothers cartoon Drip Along Daffy .
Rio Bravo is “generally regarded as one of the last great westerns produced towards the end of the golden years of Hollywood”
This was a take on the western movie and the program starter to settle youngsters down to enjoy the thrill of Rio Bravo .
It was a fabulous and exciting movie experience with the added bonus of John Wayne in glorious Technicolor; a totally unforgettable Saturday afternoon matinee event in the days when films were painstakingly produced and processed instead of digitally printed, where the special effects take over.
Following the release of Big Jake in 1971, which was a huge success and saw a 64-year-old Wayne as the number one box office star in America, The Duke opted for something more demanding than the pictures he had been making.
The Cowboys began life as a 1971 novel by William Dale Jennings who also drafted the screenplay for the 1971 movie version.
Filmed on location in New Mexico and Colorado in Technicolor and Panavision, The Cowboys is a movie that has great pictorial beauty on a grand scale, and the 70mm widescreen process is most impressive in capturing the gorgeous scenery through a combination of long shots and panoramic images that give the viewer a keen sense of perspective especially in the fabulous cattle drive sequences.
Another excellent cast was hired for this film including Wayne ( Wil Andersen ), Roscoe Lee Brown ( Jebediah ), and Bruce Dern ( Asa Watts ).
Warner Brothers released The Cowboys as a full roadshow 70mm presentation, complete with overture intermission and exit music. I first experienced this classic at the 1971 Australian premiere in Melbourne at the Forum Cinema one of the city’s magnificent picture palaces.
Wayne was an American original. A legendary popular icon who, in 1999, was hailed by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest male stars of classic American cinema.
He died on June 11, 1979, succumbing to lung cancer. But thanks to digital technology, his library of films is being preserved and restored for future generations to enjoy.
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Whether you are sick of social media, want to get away from endless notifications, or just want to read all your news all in one spot, an RSS reader can help. RSS stands for “really simple syndication.” It’s a protocol that allows an RSS reader to talk to your favorite websites and get updates from them. Instead of visiting 10 different sites to see what’s new, you view a single page with all new content.
There are two parts to RSS: the RSS reader and the RSS feeds from your favorite websites. RSS has been around a while now, so there are a lot of very good RSS readers out there. Most of them feature built-in search and suggestions too, so you don’t have to go hunting for RSS feeds yourself. You just might discover some cool new sites to read, too.
I’ve been using RSS for over a decade, and recently spent a few months trying out almost a dozen different RSS reader services. The picks below are the best RSS readers available right now. Once you’ve found one you like, put it on one of our Best Tablets or Best iPads for easy reading on the go.
Photograph: Inoreader
Inoreader offers a well-designed readable interface, good search and discovery options, and a nice set of features that are both beginner-friendly and offer plenty of options for advanced users. There’s a web interface, as well as iOS and Android apps. Inoreader handles more than just RSS feeds—you can add email newsletters, Facebook pages, Twitter searches, and podcasts too.
Advanced users will like extra features like keyword monitoring. Enter your search terms and Inoreader will search all your feeds for any mention of that keyword or phrase and then create a feed of just those articles. You can also do the opposite and hide articles matching a phrase. Inoreader also offers a nice automation system you can use to create rules and filter your feeds, giving some higher priority. For example, you could get a push notification every time WIRED publishes a new review, but not the rest of our content.
The automation does require a pro account. Pro accounts also get some other nice features, like the ability to integrate with IFTTT and Zapier, an offline mode for the mobile apps. It also includes my personal favorite: keeping your YouTube account in sync with your RSS reading. You can watch YouTube videos in Inoreader, and next time you log into YouTube, you won’t have a ton of unwatched videos.
CODA” – now in theaters and on Apple TV+ – comes along, smiles easily spread across faces as deaf actors and characters finally get their chance in the spotlight.
“CODA” – which stands for “child of deaf adults” – is the story of 17-year-old Ruby (Emilia Jones), the hearing child of deaf parents (Oscar-winner Marlee Matlin and Troy Kotsur), who’s caught between helping her family’s fledgling fish business in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and pursuing her singing aspirations in college.
“CODA” marks a moment of unbridled joy for deaf communities – finally, yes, significant representation since 1986’s “Children of a Lesser God” – though it doesn’t come without its critics, who advocate for stronger authenticity in media representations of deaf and CODA culture.
As with any marginalized group, they are not monolithic.
“My hopes were so high, and I was so disappointed at the missteps and missed opportunities,” says Jenna Beacom, a sensitivity reader and young adult author. “And so much is misrepresented, especially deaf people’s competence and ability to thrive in 2021.”
Delbert Whetter, chief operating officer and head of business affairs at Exodus Film Group, thought otherwise.
“After seeing so many stories where people with disabilities are depicted as helpless, forlorn souls needing to be rescued, it is so refreshing to see a story with deaf characters that are small business owners and leaders in their fishing community, with depth and nuance that rival and even exceed that of their hearing counterparts in the story,” says Whetter, who is also vice-chair of the disability nonprofit RespectAbility.
Review:Brilliant ‘CODA’ is a moving, must-see movie that will inspire you to sign up for Apple TV+
What ‘CODA’ got right
The film, written and directed by Siân Heder (“Tallulah”), was a hit out of the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize for drama as well as best director and best ensemble. Apple TV+ purchased the film for $25 million.
Audiences and reviewers quickly hailed the movie – and rightly so, according to members of deaf communities.
Whetter appreciated the film’s ensemble with multiple deaf characters – what he calls “a rarity.”
“This matters a great deal because one, there are so many amazing deaf performers out there who deserve opportunities to be seen; and two, by only making films with only one deaf character, Hollywood closes itself off from the opportunity to tell incredible stories rooted in our communities and culture,” Whetter says.
The ASL dialogue also impressed him.
“Credit must be given to the ASL consultants on the film, and to (Jones) as well, whose facial expressions and body language were so on point, it is almost hard to believe she wasn’t raised by a deaf family,” Whetter says.
‘We are not costumes’:Why Marlee Matlin put her foot down, insisting ‘CODA’ cast deaf actors
Deaf writer Sara Novic enjoyed that the film allowed its characters to exist beyond their deafness. Deaf characters not only have sex in the film, but Ruby’s father tries to give his daughter a sex talk via sign language – which one can only laugh-cry at.
“I liked that these characters were sexual beings – deaf and disabled people are often neutered or virginal in movies and books, and that’s extremely boring and inaccurate,” Novic says.
James Viscardi, a CODA himself, felt the film accurately portrayed his experience.
“That isolated experience of being the ears/mouthpiece for your family, and how that forces a child to grow up fast, I thought rang very true to my own experience,” Viscardi says. “I was also into music as a child, and so this story hit way closer to home for me than anything.”
Quite the ensemble:Fall in love with ‘CODA’? Marlee Matlin’s co-stars (deaf and not) give standout performances
What ‘CODA’ could have done better
With praise, however, comes backlash, too.
Beacom is deaf and has a 20-year-old hearing daughter – also an accomplished singer and part of a high school choir, like Ruby. But she didn’t feel uncomfortable watching her sing like Ruby’s family does in the film.
“I have been in the exact position shown in the movie, sitting in the audience watching her sing,” Beacom says. “And I have been nothing but thrilled for her and her successes.”
“Overall, I’m thrilled that the movie exists, in the sense of contributing to more deaf representation and hopefully more opportunities for even better representation,” Beacom says. But she’s also “very disturbed by how negatively the movie portrays the deaf and CODA experiences.”
Ruby serves as the primary interpreter for her family, even in situations where there could’ve been a paid professional there, such as in a courtroom or doctor’s office.
“There is an absolutely mind-boggling lack of professional ASL interpreters,” Beacom says. “I get that the family is isolated, and I get that they don’t have much money, and some of the more incidental interactions make sense.”
National Association of the Deaf CEO Howard A. Rosenblum, notes, however, that this is the case across many other settings.
“American society has changed in many ways, including stronger disability rights that have empowered many deaf adults to rely less on their hearing children as was portrayed in ‘CODA'”, Rosenblum says. “Nevertheless, there are still many hearing children today who function as the family interpreter for their deaf parents, although this should never happen in formal settings like a courtroom or a hospital where professional neutral interpreters are required.”
Novic concedes, too, that the film is somewhat of a cliché – “coming-of-age misfit in your family” – but “three real deaf leads is unprecedented and really exciting.”
Still, communities crave more.
“More stories of, about and by deaf and hard of hearing people are needed in every shape and form to portray the full range within the truly diverse deaf and hard of hearing community,” Rosenblum says. “By employing deaf and hard-of-hearing actors, the public is given opportunities to see these differences in our society.”
Another point of contention: The film is centered on a white family. Did it have to?
“I’d rather Hollywood accept that there is a great thirst for unique stories centering Black deaf people and the people we love, and fund and produce those films,” says Adrienne Gravish, group director and consultant with Deaf Talent Media and Entertainment Consulting.
Twitter user @ashleyodiliaa wrote before watching the film: “As a Black coda, I have many thoughts, and most are critical. But, this is the first time I’ve seen CODA representation in film. I’m prepared for the sea of interesting emotions to come.”
Sundance awards:Crowd favorite ‘CODA’ and Questlove’s ‘Summer of Soul’ take top honors
Why ‘CODA’ is still worth seeing
For Novic, seeing any representation onscreen at all brings her to tears.
“Pretty much every time I see a deaf performer on stage or screen I cry, and CODA was no exception,” she says. “I am so hungry for authentic representation of deaf people in our media that it’s an overwhelming feeling just to see a glimpse of yourself on the screen. It’s almost a relief.”
Sundance 2021: ‘CODA’ star Marlee Matlin talks inclusion, calls on Hollywood to ‘hire more deaf actors’
Google hasn’t completely given up on RSS. Earlier this year, it started testing a Follow button in Chrome on Android, which allows users to get updates from websites on the new tab page. As of today, the feature is available in the browser’s stable build, so all Android users can try it.
If you’re running Chrome 94 or a pre-stable version, you might already see the Follow button in the menu. Otherwise, as Chrome director of engineering Adrienne Porter Felt wrote on Twitter, you can switch on the feature manually. Go to chrome://flags, search for “web feed” and enable the setting. Although the Follow button is only available on Android for now, Felt suggested it’s coming to iOS next year.
The feature won’t quite have the same level of utility as dedicated RSS readers, of course. It might not make up for the terrible decision to kill Google Reader all those years ago either, but it could be a handy way to stay on top of updates from your favorite websites.
HD Kumaraswamy was speaking about ministers who were caught watching porn in the Assembly (File)
Vijayapura, Karnataka:
Former Karnataka Chief Minister and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy on Tuesday said he has nothing to learn from the RSS “Shakha” as he alleged that people who had been trained there have indulged in watching “blue film” at the legislative Assembly when the session was on.
The JD(S) leader was responding to state BJP President Nalin Kumar Kateel’s recent invitation to him to visit an RSS Shakha and learn about the activities of the Sangh.
“… I don’t want their (RSS) companionship. Haven’t we seen what was taught in RSS Shakha? How to behave in the Vidhana Soudha… watching blue films when the Assembly session was on. Isn’t such a thing taught to them (BJP) at RSS Shakha? Do I have to go there (to RSS shakha) to learn this?” HD Kumaraswamy asked.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the bypoll campaign, he said, “I don’t want their Shakha. Whatever I have learned from the Shakha, the Shakha of the poor is enough. I have nothing to learn from theirs (RSS Shakha).”
HD Kumaraswamy was referring to an incident in 2012, when three ministers were caught on camera as they allegedly watched pornography on their mobile phones in the state Assembly during its proceedings, causing an embarrassment to then BJP government.
The three ministers had resigned following the incident.
Recently while referring to a book, HD Kumaraswamy had said that the RSS, as part of its “hidden agenda”, has created a team of bureaucrats in this country who are now placed at various institutions.
The BJP governments at both the Centre and in Karnataka were functioning on the directions of the RSS, and PM Narendra Modi is its “puppet”, Mr Kumaraswamy further said.
Following this, Nalin Kateel had invited him to come to an RSS Shakha and learn about the Sangh’s activities.
