Steve Pond's Blog, page 2067
November 16, 2019
Does ‘Doctor Sleep’ Have a Post-Credits Scene?
Devotees of Stephen King have had a big year, with an absolute deluge of King adaptations hitting both the big and small screens. “It Chapter Two.” “Pet Sematary.” “In the Tall Grass.” “Castle Rock” season 2. Probably something else I’m forgetting because Box Office Mojo no longer helps when I need to remember all the Stephen King movies. And now, finally, “Doctor Sleep.”
“Doctor Sleep” takes place 40 years after the events of “The Shining,” and we see Ewan McGregor as Danny Torrance, who is plagued by the memories of the Overlook Hotel and his own alcohol abuse issues. However, he soon meets Abra, (Kyliegh Curran), who has the same gift he does. At the same time, a cult called The True Knot, led by Rose the Hat (Rebecca Ferguson) is looking for new children to kidnap for something sinister. Mike Flanagan directed and also wrote the screenplay.
So after enjoying the two and a half hours of “Doctor Sleep,” should you stick around till the end of the credits, in the hopes of seeing some kind of bonus scene? Not that we think that a sequel is coming, since King didn’t write a follow-up. But maybe, since we’re in one of the busiest times ever for adaptations of his work, they might tease some other Stephen King adaptation. Or, you know, maybe even just to slip in one more scene to haunt you when you go to bed after watching it.
Also Read: 'Doctor Sleep' Film Review: King-Crowned Horror Sequel Suffers When It's a Kubrick Homage
Whatever rationale we might dream up for there being a post-credits scene, the answer is, unfortunately, that “Doctor Sleep” has no post-credit or mid-credit scene. Once the movie is over and the credits begin, there’s no more content for you to watch.
Of course, it’s always nice to stick around for the credits anyway, because a lot of people worked a lot of hours to bring this cursed picture to life. But if you absolutely need to bail as soon as the movie proper has ended, then you can do just that without worrying about whether you’re missing something important.
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Mike Flanagan's 'Doctor Sleep' Is a 'Tremendous Achievement,' and 7 Other Shining Reviews
When Does ‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian’ Take Place?
(This post contains a minor spoiler for “Star Wars: The Mandalorian”)
There’s a lot of major stuff going on right now in the world of “Star Wars,” what with “Fallen: Jedi Order” hitting stores this weekend, and the novel that bridges “The Last Jedi” to “The Rise of Skywalker” landing last week, and “Rise of Skywalker” itself just a month away. Oh, and also the first ever live-action “Star Wars” TV show, “The Mandalorian,” came out on Disney Plus this week.
The new streaming service launched with just a single 39-minute episode of “The Mandalorian,” followed by the second on Friday, as Disney Plus defies the binge-watching trend that Netflix started to go with a week-to-week model. The rest of the eight-episode run will come each Friday through the end of the year.
The episode itself inspires a lot of questions, because it’s very vague on a lot of details. It just kinda drops viewers into this story of a bounty hunter (Pedro Pascal) — a Mandalorian like Boba Fett and Jango Fett before him — as he gets tangled up with some bad folks and takes on a job that looks like it’s gonna put him in some deep water.
Also Read: 'Mandalorian' Director Deborah Chow to Direct Obi-Wan Kenobi Series for Disney+
But I’m not gonna get much into those details, because this post isn’t about those spoiler-type details. What it is about is when “The Mandalorian” takes place in relation to the movies and other pieces of “Star Wars” media. And if you just turn on the show and watch it without reading up on it and all that then you don’t have a lot of clues to work with.
The answer, by the way, is that “The Mandalorian” is set a few years after “Return of the Jedi.” This is not a secret, as Jon Favreau and co. have said numerous times that it’s set between the Original Trilogy and the new Disney trilogy — which take place 30 years apart. But it’s important to note that it’s much closer to “Return of the Jedi” than it is to “The Force Awakens.”
Where we are in “The Mandalorian” is just a bit after the “Aftermath” novels, which detailed the collapse of the Empire’s power after the second Death Star was destroyed and the Emperor defeated. The Empire’s collapse is a recent state of affairs in the show, as we see when the Mandalorian’s client (Carl Weathers) tries to pay him with Imperial credits, which the bounty scoffs at because “the Empire’s gone.”
Also Read: 'The Mandalorian': How Pedro Pascal's Bounty Hunter Differs From Boba Fett
I should note that the Empire is not completely gone at this point — after the war ended, the Empire still had some territory left, with the remaining leaders choosing to sit back and casually re-build and re-arm before starting another war decades later as the First Order. And we see a few Imperials still shuffling about on the show. But the Empire was still mostly gone, and certainly no longer the government in whatever part of the galaxy the Bounty Hunter’s Guild has set up shop.
It’s a bit interesting that “The Mandalorian” doesn’t really play up the greater situation in the “Star Wars” galaxy at all given another detail that we’ve gotten during the run-up to the Disney Plus launch: that “The Mandalorian” will provide some info about how the Empire made the transition into the First Order. Clearly, the situation that this bounty hunter finds himself in at the end of the episode will lead us into some big-picture worldbuilding. But we’ll see how long it takes to get there.
Related stories from TheWrap:
Disney+ Has More 'Star Wars' TV Shows in Development, Bob Iger Says
Here’s What Happens Next With Negan and the Whisperers in the ‘Walking Dead’ Comics
(Spoilers ahead for the November 10 episode of “The Walking Dead” on AMC)
It’s been what feels like forever since the Whisperers made their big move last season, killing off more than a dozen protagonist characters in one fell swoop. Ever since there’s been an uneasy peace that pretty much everyone knows will have to end at some point, but no one quite knows what the breaking point will be. But if the TV version of “The Walking Dead” follows the same path as the comic book version, then we certainly got a big clue the last couple episodes about when the war is coming.
And with Negan ending this week’s episode as, apparently, a full-on member of the Whisperers, it’s a good bet that all out war will once again be upon us by the mid-season break. If the show does with Negan what the comics did at this point in the Whisperers storyline, that is, which is not guaranteed. It’s always possible that Angela Kang and co. will do something surprising take things in a different direction. We’ve already got a major wild card this season in the form of Gamma (Thora Birch), who is a major Whisperers character who has no comics equivalent — so we have no idea what part she’ll play in all this.
So last week we saw what Negan got up to after escaping Alexandria. The first big development was that he ran into a teenager from Alexandria — he never said what his name was, but his father was a Savior and he wants to be a Savior too. He wants to help Negan out, assuming that he’ll go someplace to revive the Saviors from scratch. Of course, Negan is a very different character now, with eight years in a cell changing him pretty dramatically.
Also Read: 'Walking Dead': What Did Carol Really See, and What Did She Hallucinate?
But then this kid murders a random woman and her young son, and Negan responds by killing this Savior boy and then marching into the Whisperers camp and offering up his services.
This week, he spends the entire episode hanging out with Beta (Ryan Hurst), as Beta shows him how they make their skinsuits and Negan tries to convince him and Alpha (Samantha Morton). And at the end of the episode he wins over at least Alpha and manages to join up for real. “Whatever you want. Whatever I got. It’s yours,” he declares to the Whisperer leader as he kneels in front of her.
For those who have read the “Walking Dead” comics, this scene is a sign that this whole storyline with the Whisperers is about to come to a head, and an actual war is on the horizon. And that escalation will occur because of what Negan does next.
That’s assuming the show will follow in the footsteps of the comics, of course, which is not a given. I don’t actually know how this will play out on the “Walking Dead” show. But for those who are freaking out right now about what Negan’s deal is and can’t wait to see it play out in the final two episodes of this half-season, this is all we’ve got to talk about.
Also Read: 'The Walking Dead' Renewed for Season 11, Lauren Cohan to Return as Series Regular
OK, so here’s the part where I talk about the potential spoilers. If you have somehow read this far even though you don’t wanna know how this situation plays out in the comics, you should bail right now.
So in the comics, Negan starts spending a lot of one-on-one time with Alpha, and they have a lot of philosophical discussions about life and their respective approaches to leadership and whatnot — “discussions” is probably not the right word, given how condescending both Alpha and Negan are. But you get what I mean. It seems that Negan is jockeying for Beta’s job, as Alpha indicated he would in this week’s episode.
But it only seems like it. In reality, Negan is just waiting for the right moment to strike.
Also Read: Here's Your First Look at the Third 'Walking Dead' Series (Photos)
During one of these intense philosophical discussions one night, Negan abruptly cuts Alpha’s throat and tells her corpse that he never actually wanted to be a Whisperer anyway. And then sneaks out of the camp with her head.
Beta finds the corpse later, and her death means he’s in charge of the horde now. And in a fit of rage, he sends it at the communities, and the war begins for real. And this war is the final act for the story of the Whisperers.
But like I said before, it’s entirely possible that things won’t play out this way. If it does, though, I’d expect Alpha’s death to happen before the mid-season hiatus, with the war happening during the spring half of season 10.
Either way, we’ll find out very soon.
Related stories from TheWrap:
Lauren Cohan May Return to 'The Walking Dead' 1 Season Earlier Than Expected
'Walking Dead': What Did Carol Really See, and What Did She Hallucinate?
‘Ford v Ferrari’ Speeds to No. 1 While ‘Charlie’s Angels’ Crashes at Box Office
Fox/Disney’s “Ford v Ferrari” is the lone bright spot in an otherwise poor weekend at the domestic box office. After grossing $10.9 million on Friday from 3,528 screens, James Mangold’s racing biopic is currently projected for a $29 million opening.
While the Chernin-produced film has a reported $97 million budget, its subject matter has global appeal and audience reception has been extremely strong, giving it a chance to leg out as an alternative to “Frozen II” in the coming weeks. Along with its 91% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an A+ on CinemaScore and a 4.5/5 rating from Postrak audience polls.
But below “Ford v Ferrari,” the November doldrums have continued as Sony’s “Charlie’s Angels” joins “Terminator: Dark Fate” and “Doctor Sleep” as the third straight box office flop to hit theaters. Made on a reported $48 million budget, Elizabeth Banks’ revival of the all-women action series is only projected to gross $8.6 million from 3,452 screens. While audiences gave the film a B+ on CinemaScore, reviews are mixed with a 59% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Also Read: 'Joker' Crosses $1 Billion at Global Box Office
“Charlie’s Angels” may lose the No. 2 spot to Lionsgate’s “Midway,” which is currently projected for an $8.5 million second weekend and a 10-day total of just under $35 million. In fourth is Paramount’s “Playing With Fire,” with $7.6 million in its second weekend and a $24.6 million estimated $10 day total. Universal’s “Last Christmas” completes the top 5 with $6.6 million and an estimated $22.4 million 10-day total.
In the No. 8 spot is Warner Bros./New Line’s “The Good Liar,” which is meeting the lower end of box office projections with an estimated $1.6 million grossed on Friday and a $5 million opening from 2,439 screens. Reception was somewhat positive with a B on CinemaScore and a 62% RT score.
Finally, Warner Bros./Village Roadshow’s “Joker” has officially become the first R-rated movie to gross $1 billion worldwide, crossing the mark on its seventh Friday in theaters. The film is estimated to gross $5.2 million this weekend for a North American total of $322 million, $13 million shy of the domestic total of “Aquaman.”
Related stories from TheWrap:
'Joker' Crosses $1 Billion at Global Box Office
November 15, 2019
Colbert Reveals the Winner of Donald Trump’s Rap Contest and Yeah, It’s Putin (Video)
Stephen Colbert ended the week by poking fun at a Donald Trump-themed rap contest, with a gag in which the winner turned out to be exactly who you’d expect. The twist: The winner’s rhymes were actually uh, kinda dope.
For those who missed it, the #MAGAChallenge is a social media rap competition that encourages Trump supporters to spit some verse in support of the Orange one. It kicked off in September but simmered mainly under the radar until a week ago, when Trump announced on Twitter that he will invite the winner of the challenge to the White House.
Now, it’s not clear how the winner would even be chosen — plus Trump has a history of just straight up lying about this kind of thing. But on Friday’s episode of “The Late Show,” Colbert rolled a funny short video claiming that Trump had selected his winner, and shocker, it was Vladimir Putin.
Also Read: Trump #MAGAChallenge at TikTok Rival Triller Sparks Resignations, Protests (Exclusive)
But then the clip continued with Vlad’s winning raps and as it turns out, he — or more accurately whoever on Colbert’s writing staff came up with them — kicked some ill rhymes.
If you can’t watch video yet, here are the lyrics:
Privet
About to win the rap tournament
Or MAGA challenge, whatever is the word for it
Listen to the rhymes
You can see I’m out here earning it
Killing the beat, and pretending it’s a journalist
I’m like if 2 Chainz
Annexed the Ukraine
I’ve got more bars then cocktail on Blu-Ray
Quid pro quo problems?
Call Russia to-day
You trust me more than your own CIA
Invite me to the White House
Which I want badly
I got ideas for next election make you much happy
Until then I’ll be out here
Having fun rapping
The new Puff Daddy, call me Buff Vladdy
We’ll amass riches
Doing bad business
No one ever finds out, I keep facts hidden
Slick Raps
Even though I lack pigment
Show some love Donald, the way your dad didn’t
Watch the whole clip below. (Also, “privet” is Russian for “hello,” in case you were wondering.)
On #LSSC tonight: We found a winner of the #MAGAChallenge pic.twitter.com/eAdkm9kONo
— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) November 16, 2019
Related stories from TheWrap:
Trump Attacks Ousted Ukraine Ambassador Mid-Hearing, Schiff Suggests It's 'Witness Tampering'
Donald Trump Jr's Book Tops NY Times Best-Seller List, but There's a Catch
Netflix Orders Rosa Salazar-Led ‘Brand New Cherry Flavor’ Series
Netflix has given a series order to “Brand New Cherry Flavor,” an eight-episode horror-thriller with Rosa Salazar tapped as the lead, a Netflix representative told TheWrap.
Eric Lange (“Escape at Dannemora”), Catherine Keener (“Kidding”), Manny Jacinto (“The Good Place”) and Jeff Ward (Marvel’s “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”) have also been cast in the series, based on the horror novel by Todd Grimson, published in 2011 by Schaffner Press.
Netflix describes “Brand New Cherry Flavor” as telling the story of Lisa Nova (Salazar), an aspiring film director in the sun-drenched but seamy world of 1990 Los Angeles who embarks on a mind-altering journey — from the streets of Beverly Hills to the forests of Brazil — of supernatural revenge.
Also Read: 'Klaus' Film Review: Animated Santa Claus Origin Story Nails the Magic Better than the Comedy
Nick Antosca (“The Act,” “Channel Zero”) and Lenore Zion (“Billions,” “Channel Zero”) are writing the series, which is produced by Netflix and UCP. Antosca, who is under an overall deal with UCP, will serve as executive producer via his Eat the Cat banner, as will Zion. Another “Channel Zero” alum, Arkasha Stevenson, will direct the first episode.
Salazar’s other recent roles include Netflix’s “Birdbox” and alongside Maggie Gyllenhaal in “The Kindergarten Teacher.” She also recently starred as the title character in “Alita: Battle Angel” and in the series “Undone.”
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