SPOILER Magazine Holiday 2020

OUR TEAM Editor-in-Chief

Galaxy

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The Greatest Writing Team in Our Universe

Matthew Mclachlan Vanessa Bellew Robert Napolitano David Grand Phuong Pham Natalie Reade Michael Bernardi Ethan Brehm Moses Gamer Social Media Manager Thor the all mighty Advertising Ads@SpoilerMagazine.com Sponsorship sponsorship@SpoilerMagazine.com Press Please send all press releases to: press@SpoilerMagazine.com Please send all review material to: review@SpoilerMagazine.com Subscriptions For all subscription enquiries please contact: sub@SpoilerMagazine.com Check out our website for details on how to get our DIGITAL EDITION Circulation Do you want this magazine at your local book store, comic book hangout, toy shop, or anywhere else for that matter?

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INSIDE OUR y UNIVERSE x a l a

by G Welcome to SPOILER,

2020 will be a year that will live in infamy for the rest of our lifetime and beyond. It’s a year overshadowed by a virus; a year that will go into the history books for kids to read about 300 years from now; a year that, for better or worse, has changed our lives forever. As much tragedy that has happened this year, it’s also given millions of us the opportunity to stop, look, and hit the reset button on life. We’ve read books we never read, watched shows and movies that have been on our lists for years, begun projects and hobbies we had always said we were saving for a rainy day. Well that “rainy day” definitely happened. And even if you’re forced to be isolated and alone for months to come, just know you’ve still got us.

As tough as 2020 has been, we at SPO!LER have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. It’s not easy to launch a magazine, but looking back at what we’ve accomplished over this past year, I’d say 2020 was very good to us. In just one year our writers and designers have knocked the ball out of the park with the daunting task of building up a magazine from the ground floor and helping to make it THE destination for thousands of readers and fans each month.

I’m so proud of our team and can’t applaud them enough for always delivering amazing content issue after issue. And this issue is no different. With easily our largest so far, we’re relentlessly committed to packing in as many quality articles and interviews as we can to help you all through these often sluggish days. Seeing all of the love and appreciation we’ve received throughout this year has made it worth every ounce of energy we’ve exerted to bring this magazine to you. And we’re just beginning.

This holiday season we’re set to launch SpoilerMagazine.com, a central fandom hub.

Each day we will bring you news and discussions about movies, TV, comics, gaming, books, and more, along with a handful of celebrity interviews each month. We ask that you make us your official destination for all things pop culture. You won’t be disappointed. Trust me, it’s going to be phenomenal!

Whether you celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah—or both—we hope your holiday season is just as merry and bright as any other year. We believe 2020 was just a rest and preparation period for an amazing 2021. Either way, pandemic or no pandemic, we’re right here alongside you the whole way. We’re going to continue to grow bigger and stronger next year, and continue to deliver this same amazing content!

I Love You All...

Galaxy Galaxy EDITOR-IN-CHIEF @ComicConRadio holiday 2020|

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table of contents

FEATURES

64 Karen David

38 Katherine McNamara

60 IN Hollywoodland

SPOILER MAGAZINE TABLE OF CONTENTS

150 Rick Cosnett

71 Yetide Badaki

the watch

77 Jessica Sherif 126 Lochlyn Munro

12 10 Must Have Toys For This Holiday Season

18 10 Collectibles Hiding in Your Home

24 25 Movies to Watch this Holiday Season

the base 54 The Cave

118 A Nerd’s Guide to Surviving in Isolation

Alfred Pennyworth

34 Let Superheroes Be Super and Heroes 86 At The Movies with Ethan Brehm 138 The Batman Trailer 142 The Just Us League: Quarantining with Clark 158 The Last Jedi 164 Grease is F*cked Up 168 Bruce Campbell Beyond Evil Dead 172 Obscurity Spotlight

110 Alt-Christmas Movies to Mix into your Holiday Viewing

178 Pokemon Snap 184 Comic Book Review

www.spoilermagazine.com | Follow us on Instagram: @SpoilerMedia

March 2020 |

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BY Robert Napolitano

Some people think it’s fun to shop for kids.

Others find it torturous. Despite which side you lean towards, we’re here to help.

MR. POTATO HEAD This is our list of MOVIN’ LIPS the 10 hottest WHAT IS IT?: This version of the classic detachable toy comes with toys on the martwo sets of electronically moving lips that sing and talk, programmed with 4 ket for boys and different pop song parodies and over girls aged 3 to 13. 40 different phrases.

WHY IT’S COOL: Mr. Potato Head is about as OG as it gets. Millennials grew up watching Toy Story, but the world’s most famous spud has been available since the ‘50s. Now, Mr. Potato Head is revamped again for a new generation, but adults will find enjoyment in this one as well.

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Meme/Takara Tomy/Hasbro/American Girl/Baby Alive/ Hasbro/LEGO/Imaginext/Batman/DC/Rubik’s Brand

OSMO GENIUS STARTER KIT WHAT IS IT?: A set of puzzles and games that pairs with an interactive iPad app teaching kids about science, math, and vocabulary.

WHY IT’S COOL: This toy here turns an iPad into a learning game.

Let’s be serious, a lot of kids hate math and science in school, so any way to get them interested in the subject at a young age is a home run.

LEGO (Previous Spread)

AMERICAN GIRL JOSS KENDRICK, 2020 GIRL OF THE YEAR

Marvel/Disney/Sesame Street/Pokemon/Star Wars/Minions/Illumination Entertainment/ Universal/Mr. Potato Head/Hasbro/Playskool/Osmo/Beyblade

WHAT IS IT?: We learn from Joss’ accompanying book that she’s a surfer who switches sports to cheerleading.

Joss was born with hearing loss, so the challenges that come with cheering are much different than surfing. The doll comes with multiple accessories as well.

BEYBLADE BURST TURBO CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLE SET

WHY IT’S COOL: Few things are as traditionally American as an American Girl doll. This year’s version of the all-American girl breaks down stereotypes within her sports, and becomes a role model for girls to overcome their fears by really challenging themselves. This is a great addition to any American Girl collection.

IMAGINEXT DC SUPER FRIENDS TRANSFORMING BATMOBILE R/C

WHAT IS IT?: A remote control Batmobile that transforms into raised “battle mode” at the push of a button and shoots projectiles. Comes with miniature Batman figure.

WHY IT’S COOL: It’s a little bit pricey, but if your little one is a fan of Batman, this is the toy of the year.

Even Dad’s gonna hog this remote control Batmobile that spins and launches Bat discs.

WHAT IS IT?: Based on the manga franchise, players battle their spinning tops inside of this enclosed arena, equipped for the first time with course diverters. Focused more on tournament-style play, the set comes with six different “beys.”

WHY IT’S COOL: Hasbro’s spinning top toys have been around for years, but the futuristic look of this latest set is undoubtedly the coolest yet. To keep up with the times, you can also download the app and compete with friends online.

baby alive doll: baby grows up!

WHAT IS IT?: This interactive doll eventually transforms from a newborn baby to a big girl. She grows four inches taller and her hair even gets longer.

WHY IT’S COOL: I’ve watched enough horror movies to know that talking dolls are no good. But kids love them and I hafta admit this one is actually kinda adorable. Baby Grows Up! takes interactive dolls to another level. As a bonus, she has two language options, English or Spanish, and can be reset for repeated play.

LEGO MARS RESEARCH SHUTTLE

WHAT IS IT?: A buildable space shuttle that’s 9 inches long and comes with a Mars rover, a Helidrone, a storage drone, and a spaceman.

WHY IT’S COOL: At least 8 out of 10 kids love to play with LEGOs. You can stat check me on that one, but I’m pretty sure it’s a fact. Your kid gets to work on creativity and motor skills, and they don’t even realize it. Plus what’s cooler to build than a spaceship?

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CIRCLE SOCIETY JOJO SIWA ROLLER SKATES

WHAT IS IT?: Neon pink and green roller skates designed

by YouTube personality Jojo Siwa.

RAZOR POWER A2 ELECTRIC SCOOTER

WHAT IS IT?: This foldable electric scooter can cruise up to speeds of 10 mph with a 40 minute charge duration.

WHY IT’S COOL: Lightweight and compact, this is a fantastic gift for kids 10 and up. Younger kids can handle the slower speed cap, and older ones can actually feel like they’re cruising without getting too dangerous. Just make sure parents are around and, of course, wear a helmet. With a weight limit of around 145 pounds, some adults can even whip this bad boy around if they please.

Razor/Circle Society/Nintendo

WHY IT’S COOL: It’s been a long time since roller skates were considered cool—and I mean a long time. But in fairness to you old school skaters, it looks like they’re making their long overdue comeback. Circle Society without a doubt has the hottest styles on the market. Retro in aesthetic, this pair of DayGlo-inspired skates looks straight out of 1989 in the coolest way possible.

NINTENDO SWITCH AND SWITCH LITE WHAT IS IT?: Nintendo’s video game system and its handheld counterpart.

WHY IT’S COOL: If there’s one company always adapting to America’s youth, it’s Nintendo. With every passing generation they seem to come through with another hit product. And not only do the kids love it, but parents are now getting sucked back in to variations of the games they grew up on as well. Back in the ‘90s, we had the Super Nintendo and the handheld Game Boy, but now the two systems are virtually one in the same.

Gen-Z is working with the Switch, which can be used as both a handheld device or a home system on the big screen. Especially in recent vintage, Nintendo leads the way in family bonding gameplay with systems and games that can not only be enjoyed solo, but can be fun in group settings as well. This is easily the hottest toy out.

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Based on the writings of

Bruce Lee

JONATHAN TROPPER BANSHEE FROM J U S T I N L I N DIRECTOR OF F A S T & F U R I O U S FROM

CO-CREATOR OF

FRIDAYS AT 10pM ©2020 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved. Cinemax® and related channels and service marks are the property of Home Box Office, Inc.

®

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Money’s super tight around the holidays

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10. tools

If you’re the type of person who’s always in the garage or doing yard work, then you know which tools you never use. If you’re not that type of person, then you might have hundreds of dollars worth of handy tools wasting space.

Go through what you have and take advantage of the internet.

Anything you find is likely being sold on eBay at any given moment.

9. COMIC BOOKS

This is a special type of art that got the “nerdy” stigma early on, but the more time passes the cooler comic books have become in pop culture. Whether it’s hot commodities like Iron Man, or no-name comics (because you never know who the next Iron Man is gonna be), the right book in mint or near-mint condition can sell for anywhere between 3 and 7 figures.

Barbie/Mattel, Inc./Metal Gear Solid/Konami/Sam Howzit/Comic Books/danni4keeps/Getty Images

It always is, but 2020 even more so than usual. Any little bit helps, and if working overtime isn’t a option (or you’d rather spend your time with family) now’s the perfect time to rummage through the attic, search the basement, clean the garage—whatever you’re working with, just be resourceful. For those of you hoarding collectibles waiting for their value to mature, now’s a great time to cash them in. However, some of you are sitting on a gold mine and don’t even realize it. Whatever the case may be, here’s hoping this list can help you score some extra holiday cash.

Star Wars/George Lucas/Disney/DC/Jim Lee/ Marvel/Stan Lee/MLB/Topps/NBA/NFL/NHL

M By robert napolitano

8. BARBIES

A 4. STAR WARS

Since its release over 60 years ago the name Barbie has become synonymous with dolls. Little did people know at the time, but with each passing year these dolls have gained value, and every once in a while somebody turns a 20-year-old Barbie doll into a small fortune.

Disney has given us more sequels than we can stomach in recent years, keeping the enthusiasm behind Star Wars at the forefront of society’s mind. However, old and rare collectibles are always better. Anything you find pertaining to the original trilogy is where the big bucks are at the moment. So hang on to the toys from the new movies so that years from now you’re not lamenting what you should’ve hung on to.

7. FURNITURE Most of the time they’re hefty and a real pain in the butt to move, but people are always looking for furniture. Vintage and foreign are usually good sign, and of course condition is a huge factor, but you’d be surprised what a unique looking chair or table can really sell for on eBay, Mercari or even Craigslist.

5. POKÉMON CARDS 6. ACTION FIGURES There are tons of different kinds of action figures out there, but the most popular ones often go hand-in-hand with the movies that are popular. However, rarer franchises are sought after as well.

Also, complete sets might get you money quicker, and new-in-thebox figures are will make you a little more dough—and if you have both, you just might be in luck!

“Gotta catch ‘em all” might be the greatest marketing slogan ever used for kids’ toys. There are around 900 different species, with over 9,000 cards to collect in the English sets and around 7,000 in the Japanese sets at the time of this printing, so catching them all is a tall task for even the most diehard Pokémon fanatic.

While most commons can go for a couple quarters to a few bucks, the rare ones (look for the first edition badge) can go for as high as 6 figures.

3. Sports Cards

For years now people have known the potential value in a Michael Jordan baseball card. or a limited edition Ken Griffey Jr. baseball card. As society becomes more and more virtual, something as traditional as a sports card can now be worth thousands and thousands of dollars.

Cards are appreciating in a way only art can.

It can be overwhelming dealing with, in some cases, thousands upon thousands of pieces, but thankfully the internet makes it easy for you to check the worth of any cards you find lying around.

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Coca-Cola/NBA/MLB/NFL

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2. COCA-COLA

The random Coca-Cola merchandise you can come across is insane, and these days almost anything attached to the brand is considered a collectible. Unique is great, but vintage is most important in terms of value.

For example, a prototype glass Coke bottle sold on eBay for around $250,000 in 2011.

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1. SPORTS MEMORABILIA This expands far past sports cards.

These are jerseys, balls, figurines, magazines, autographs, and much more. If you have anything Michael Jordan from the ‘80s or ‘90s, it could be worth a small fortune.

If it was ever in the hands of the athlete, himself, it could be worth a big fortune. A signed picture?

A game-used jersey? If you can prove it’s the real McCoy, you can make good money on it.

You could have 50, 100, or 1,000 bucks just lying around your house, but you won’t know unless you look. Don’t believe me? Go browse random toys and collectibles on eBay and take a quick peek at not only what’s selling, but how much it’s selling for. It will blow your mind.

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The Polar Express/Warner Bros./Castle Rock Entertainment/Peanuts/Charles M. Schulz/CBS/Lee Mendelson Company/Sony/ CAA-GBG/Why Him?/20th Century Studios/Elf/New Line Cinema/How the Grinch Stole Christmas/Universal/Dr. Seuss

BY ROBERT NAPOLITANO

THE SUMMER HEAT IS GONE, HALLOWEEN HAS PASSED and once again the holiday season is upon us. This year, sadly, it might be hard to get into the holiday spirit, but few things help the way a good family classic can. A lot of us ran out of TV and movies to watch after these last 6-7 months, but I doubt any of us were watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas back in August.The coolest (and probably uncoolest) part about most Christmas movies is that they’re only really enjoyable this time of year. Along with these 25 I added a few honorable mentions that weren’t theatrical releases. Even though these TV specials could supplant any of the other films on this list to get you into the spirit of the holiday.

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HONORABLE MENTIONs A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) If you ever attended elementary school ever, there’s no way you haven’t seen A Charlie Brown Christmas at least once.

These days, teachers likely don’t play the VHS tape on the last day before Christmas break like they used to, but this holiday classic has graced airwaves each year since the ‘60s. If you have a youngster at home, it’s your job to keep the tradition alive.

Frosty the Snowman (1969) When I watch these Rankin/Bass specials I find it interesting that, despite coming out over 50 years ago, they’re still just as good now as I’m sure they were back then. This is a story about a group of kids who build a snowman named Frosty. When they place a magical top hat on his head, he comes to life. The special is the epitome of what Christmas magic is all about.

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Frosty the Snowman/NBCUniversal/Rankin-Bass/The Year Without Santa Claus/ABC/Rankin-Bass/Miracle on 34th Street/Michael DeCristofaro/20th Century Studios/Krampus/Legendary Pictures/Universal/Dutch/20th Century Studios/Jingle All the Way/20th Century Studios

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THE POLAR EXPRESS (2004)

KRAMPUS (2015) I figured I’d start my list off with a horror film since there are so few good ones for this time of year.

I don’t consider Krampus to be a classic by any stretch, but if Christmas horror is your thing, then this is a good one to check out. Based on European folklore, Krampus is a horned beast that punishes naughty children on Christmas. Let a naughty kid watch this movie and I bet they’ll be a little bit nicer next year.

The duo who gave us Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis) bring us one of the best animated Christmas movies of all time. Hanks stars as not only the young boy protagonist, but also the boy’s father, the narrator, the train conductor, a hobo, a Scrooge puppet, and even Santa Claus, himself. That’s quite a lot of roles, but Hanks proves to be the perfect man for the job.

The film is a coming-of-age story about self discovery, but best of all, it’s a movie that can be enjoyed by kids AND their parents.

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The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974) The title sounds like a kid’s worst nightmare. Rankin/Bass’ 1974 TV special introduced us to the Snow Miser and the Heat Miser, and made some of us wonder if it’s really possible for Santa to be sick on Christmas. This movie’s themes of giving and generosity will always remain relevant.

With so many changes as far as how we view content nowadays, I hope millennials do their best to keep these specials a tradition for the next generation to grow up on.

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DUTCH (1991)

This is probably one of the more unexpected entries on the list.

Starring the man I’ll forever know as Al Bundy (Ed O’Neill), Dutch follows a working class man who offers to drive down to Atlanta to pick up his girlfriend’s bratty 13-year-old son (Ethan Embry) from school in order to bring him home for the holidays.

As the man and the boy’s relationship goes from bickering and pranks to genuine bonding, the chemistry between the characters develops and feels real. The movie thrives off of O’Neill’s blue-collar Al Bundy-like demeanor and the relatable dynamic between its two leads.

JINGLE ALL THE WAY (1996)

As many of you may remember, back in the ‘90s, well before everybody over the age of 8 had the internet at their fingertips at all times, people actually had to physically go to the store to buy gifts. Looking back, we may long for the more personal experience, but at the time it was nothing but stressful, especially when the items were hot. Few people are more aggressive and physical than last-minute Christmas shoppers.

Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a dad who learns this lesson the hard way while trying to win back his son’s affection by trying to get him the ever-popular Turbo Man action figure he wants for Christmas.

This movie exemplifies a very ‘90s conflict and is guaranteed to remind you why you love Amazon so much. holiday 2020|

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M MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (1947)

It seems like the younger the person is, the less likely they are to go back and watch old movies.

I get it, sometimes even the most iconic classics can feel dated, but they’re still classics for a reason.

Today, Christmas movies are a dime a dozen, but back in the day, that wasn’t really the case. Miracle on 34th Street holds up just as good as any movie you can find from the ‘40s. It follows Kris Kringle, an old man who claims to be Santa Claus.

Once beloved by many, people begin questioning his mental health.

The name “Kris Kringle” stuck so well that it has since become interchangeable with Santa Claus.

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A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983)

This movie has become so popular that TNT and TBS have been airing a 24-hour marathon of it every Christmas since 1997. Each year it’s the easiest movie to find. Everyone remembers a toy on their wishlist as a kid that they begged their parents for incessantly. For little Ralphie, that toy is a Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle BB gun. He’d give anything for it, and the more he hears, “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid,” the more he wants it. A sleeper hit upon its original release, A Christmas Story has accumulated a rabid cult following over the years due to its nostalgic themes and often dark humor.

TRADING PLACES (1983)

Lifestyles don’t get more opposite than those portrayed by Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd in this holiday classic.

Critics have called this the movie that brought back the screwball comedies of the ‘30s and ‘40s. Already known for his SNL tenure and hilarious comedy specials, this film helped turn Murphy into one of the biggest and most bankable box office stars of the ‘80s.

The ultimate story about nature versus nurture, Aykroyd’s character, because of a bet between the brothers who own the brokerage firm he works for, trades places with Murphy’s—a broke street hustler willing to do whatever it takes to make a quick buck.

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FOUR CHRISTMASES (2008)

If you love Christmas, then four of them sounds great...in theory. That is, until you have four separate families—all crazy in their own way—to make happy.

Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon’s characters are the perfect married couple, but this Christmas they have to do the impossible. Even the craziest of families can muster up a way to enjoy each other’s company this time of year.

Everybody believes their family is nuts, which makes this so relatable. Having a big family is a blessing no matter how crazy they might be, especially around the holidays, and this movie is a good reminder of that.

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JUST FRIENDS (2005)

This is one of those movies that can really be watched any time of year if you’re into rom-coms. However, the snow, the caroling, and the decorations make it that much better to watch come December. Long before Ryan Reynolds ever graced us with his iconic role as Deadpool, he still had that same dry humor and undeniable charm.

In Just Friends, he plays a guy who used to be the fat kid in high school. He got friend-zoned by the girl of his dreams (Amy Smart), and now, ten years later, he reluctantly returns to his home town as a certified dime piece: a thin and handsome LA hotshot on the outside, yet the same love-struck fat kid on the inside. As far as Christmas romcoms go, this one ranks towards the top.

WHY HIM? (2016)

Have you ever had a boyfriend or girlfriend you waited until the holidays to introduce to your family? If not, it’s very possible you might someday.

And if they’re anything like James Franco’s character in Why Him?, I’d recommend not waiting so long. Franco plays a rich, lovable, but over-thetop oddball. He’s very easy to like, unless, of course, he’s dating your daughter. Bryan Cranston plays the perfect straight-man/protective father. Franco’s desire to be liked by his girlfriend’s dad and Cranston’s refusal to give his approval is what really brings out the funny.

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BAD SANTA (2003)

Miracle on 34th Street/20th Century Studios/A Christmas Story/MGM/Bad Santa/Sony/Dimension Films/Trading Places/Paramount/Four Christmases/Warner Bros./Why Him?/20th Century Studios

Just Friends/New Line Cinema/The Nightmare Before Christmas/Disney/Tim Burton

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You’d be hard-pressed to find an actor as born for a part as Billy Bob Thornton is as Willie T. Soke, a mall Santa by day, a thief by night, and a 24/7 sex-addicted alcoholic. As you can imagine, Bad Santa is very raunchy for a Christmas movie, but with Thornton as the lead we wouldn’t want it any other way. The funniest parts come when Willie meets a dimwitted little chubby boy named Thurman Merman. Thurman’s the nice, innocent type of kid who can’t help but attract bullies.

When Willie finds out Thurman’s parental situation is a bit shaky, he develops a soft spot for the kid that you can clearly tell is out of character for him. As far as black comedies go, this is a very hard one to top.

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THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (1993)

Few people do Christmas quite like Tim Burton, and this movie is a prime example of that. Its unique goth style has helped keep it relevant throughout the years. Few movie characters have been tattooed on people’s bodies as often as the Pumpkin King, Jack Skellington, and his love interest, Sally. Although the film’s style is very much Halloween (the town they live in is even called Halloween Town), but with the Christmas subject matter, this is a great one to watch either time of year. holiday 2020|

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NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION (1989)

This is the third in the original trilogy of National Lampoon’s Vacation series starring Chevy Chase.

Another family holiday classic, this comedy has more of a slapstick style of humor than the rest on this list. Chase is one of the best comedic actors of all time, never more evident than in his portrayal of the cynical every-dad Clark Griswold.

This one focuses a lot less on the vacation aspect than the previous installments, but still the perfect way to end the trilogy. You don’t have to watch the first two films to laugh at and enjoy this one.

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ADAM SANDLER’S EIGHT CRAZY NIGHTS (2002) Almost every entry on this list is Christmas related. This one, however, is Adam Sandler’s gifts\ to the Jews. The film, the title of which comes from perhaps Sandler’s most famous SNL bit, “The Chanukah Song,” is an animated comedy/musical about an alcoholic troublemaker in desperate need of some holiday spirit. Not only does the comedian voice several characters, including the lead, he also co-writes and produces the film, which includes a hilarious soundtrack to go with it.

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National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation/Warner Bros./Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights/Happy Madison/Sony/Columbia/Scrooged/Paramount/Batman Returns

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BATMAN RETURNS (1992)

SCROOGED (1988) The story has been retold at least dozens of times, but Bill Murray’s version of Ebenezer Scrooge is without a doubt the best of the bunch. In a spin on the Charles Dicken’s classic, A Christmas Carol, Murray’s Frank Cross is a cold, arrogant, and extremely successful TV executive who plans to stage a live production of A Christmas Carol all the while living out a variation of the story in his own real life. This modern take on the 1843 novella would end up being a big box office success, in large part thanks to its lead actor. Don’t get me wrong, the writing and directing are very good, but what Murray is able to bring to his character is the difference between a good movie and a holiday classic.

Since we at SPO!LER love our superheroes, it’s only right this movie makes the list. Another one of Burton’s fringe Christmas films, Batman Returns is given a unique environment for a superhero movie as the director uses the holiday as a backdrop for the story. If you like superhero movies anyway, this one does a great job of incorporating the holiday spirit, even if it does so with a dark outlook. It also has a star-studded cast surrounding Michael Keaton in the title role, with actors like Michelle Pfeiffer, Danny Devito, and Christopher Walken all holding down strong supporting roles.

THE NIGHT BEFORE (2015) While most great holiday movies focus on family, The Night Before focuses on friends, and how over time you’re bound to grow apart.

That doesn’t mean you have to lose touch or can’t hang out. Of course you can. But a spouse, some kids, and a career make it much harder to do so. That’s just life, and that’s what’s so relatable about this movie. What’s funny about it, aside from its kickass trio of leads (Seth Rogen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Anthony Mackie), is that these three grown men spend the night acting like high schoolers just trying to party, smoke weed, and do drugs. It’s everything you’d want and expect out of a Seth Rogen comedy, only this time it all goes down on Christmas Eve.

08 GO (1999) Loaded with familiar faces, this is one of those movies that you can instantly tell is from the ‘90s. Its use of crime and dark humor, and the way it’s told from multiple points of view is very Tarantino-esque.

It’s much more fun if you don’t know the plot ahead of time, but just imagine the troubled, post-high school youth of the late-’90s, a Christmas Eve rave, and an excessive amount of drug use. Topped off with an ecstasy dealer in a Santa hat, played by Timothy Olyphant, this is a fun movie to watch any time of year, but if you haven’t seen it before, there’s no better time than now.

DC/Warner Bros./The Night Before/Columbia/Sony/Go/Columbia/Edward Scissorhands/20th Cenury Studios/Tim Burton/Gremlins/Warner Bros.

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EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (1990)

This is Tim Burton’s 3rd film on this list, and without a doubt the weirdest of the bunch, which really says something.

Some people might consider “weird” an insult, but I’m using it here as a total complement. I love weird, I love Johnny Depp, and I love Edward Scissorhands, which blends fantasy, suburban America, and a dash of Frankenstein. You have to watch the film to get a real feel for its Christmas themes, but the fact that it’s one of Depp’s most iconic roles is reason enough to go watch it.

GREMLINS (1984)

More black comedy than horror, I’d still rank Gremlins as the creepiest movie on the list (all due respect to Tim Burton). A young man is given a mysterious little creature known as a mogwai as a Christmas present from his dad. There are three rules to caring for a mogwai: no sunlight, no water, and no feeding it after midnight. By the time these rules are all broken, there’s a pack of “gremlins” running around town destroying the neighborhood on Christmas Even like a bunch of savages.

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X die hard (1988)

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THE SANTA CLAUSE (1994)

If you haven’t seen The Santa Clause in a while, it’s easy to forget that *SPOILER ALERT* Tim Allen kills Santa. It was an accident and it wasn’t bloody or graphic, buuut ...Santa still got killed ...in a Disney movie. It’s pretty hilarious, really.

There’s also a lot of body shaming for today’s standards as Allen’s character eventually and inadvertently turns into Santa Claus himself. I think it’s all in good fun, but apparently there are some people on the internet who disagree. Regardless, I definitely recommend putting this one on your “must watch” list.

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For years people have debated whether or not Die Hard is considered a Christmas movie. While I can see both sides of the argument, the events in the film all go down on Christmas Eve, in the middle of a Christmas party no less, so I’d say it fits the criteria. 32 years and about 37 sequels later (no, really!), John McClane is still one of the most well-known action heroes of all time. It takes a special kind of badass to walk on broken glass barefoot while carrying an automatic weapon and hunting down terrorists.

Lucky for the franchise, Bruce Willis is the perfect man for the job.

Die Hard/20th Century Studios/Disney/The Santa Clause/Disney/Buena Vista/How the Grinch Stole Christmas/ Universal/Dr. Seuss/Elf/New Line Cinema/Home Alone/Hughes Entertainment/20th Century Studios

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How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) Originally a book, then a cartoon TV special from 1966, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! was finally made into a live-action film in 2000 when Jim Carrey and director Ron Howard teamed up to give us this instant classic, which is still new enough that its popularity hasn’t waned. Even with a box office duo like this, it seems like a big gamble, but, as we’ve seen, an even bigger payoff. Carrey’s balance of comedic genius and unhinged goofiness is why it’s hard to imagine anybody else in the role.

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02

elf (2003)

Will Ferrell has delivered some classic characters over the last 20 years, but few, if any, have hit quite like Buddy the Elf in this hilarious Christmas movie for all ages. Buddy’s a grown man who thinks he’s an elf, so obviously it’s pretty damn goofy. And if you like goofy, this will be sure to make your sides hurt. The part when Buddy accuses a man of being one of Santa’s little helpers is one of the funniest scenes I’ve ever seen in my life. Even if the silly humor isn’t your thing, this one’s so good that you should just give it a watch, for Christmas’ sake!

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HOME ALONE 1 & 2 (1990, 1992) I can’t say everybody would have these films at #1, but if you were born in the ‘80s or ‘90s, there’s no way at least one of the Home Alone movies doesn’t crack your top 3. The two films are so good I grouped them together, since you really can’t have one without the other.

Written by the late John Hughes—a man who has written more classic movies than you can count on two hands—Home Alone stars Macaulay Culkin in easily the most iconic role of his career, a crafty little kid named Kevin McCallister who is accidentally left at home as his family goes away on vacation. Then there’s Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern who are absolutely hysterical as the two clumsy burglars that try to invade Kevin’s house when they think no one is there.

There are so many iconic scenes between these two movies that you literally lose count.

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Dark Horse/Amazon/The Boys/Dynamite Entertainment/Amazon/ Iron Fist/Jessica Jones/The Defenders/Marvel/Netfli

There are an endless number of reasons why people love superheroes.

Two of the most obvious are their qualities of both “super” and “hero.” So, when creating great super-hero content, having those two aspects be an essential part tends to be a no-brainer. However, in the ever-popular superhero genre of film and television these days, there seems to be a growing trend in which the main conflict of the story involves our beloved hero/heroes not being super or heroes. Instead, the writers tend to focus more on other aspects of the story that rank much lower on the list of what we as fans find exciting about these characters.

So, this is my two-page-long rant

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about why that is and how there’s nothing wrong with showing these incredible heroes at their peak and why limiting them for conflict’s sake is a bad idea.

Sure, heroes lose their powers, struggle to keep them, or fight inner demons about using said powers all the time and overcoming those hurdles can be an interesting story arc. However, more often than not, I find heroes in their own TV shows being put into crazy situations, ripe for power-using, only to have them just not use their powers for some reason. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched one of these shows and said, out loud,

The Flash/Supergirl/Legends of Tomorrow/Batwoman/Arrow/Teen Titans/DC/The CW/Warner Bros./The Umbrella Academy

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BY MATTHEW McLACHLAN

“Just use your powers!” A similar aspect appears in superhero team-ups, in which, what usually transpires is bickering amongst the group for 90% or more of the show with the team only fighting together once or twice over 8 to 10 episodes. The Defenders show on Netflix had 6 ½ hours of show and they fought together twice. The Umbrella Academy had 2 seasons and they only fought together once per season—and the second one was a “gotcha” moment where it didn’t technically happen.

Now, I get that writers want the characters to grow, to introduce other characters, and to develop the plot all to have our heroes get their big show-stopping moment at the very end, but when having the character wait to use their powers to their full potential goes against the logic of the very character people are tuning in to watch, it feels pretty lame. Sure, having a warm blanket thrown on top of you feels good after you’ve

The Defenders/Marvel/Netflix (Previous Spread)

been lying on your bed freezing for an hour, but you know what feels even better? Having the warm blanket on top and feeling comfortable and cozy the entire time. You see what my sloppy metaphor is trying to get at here?

We can enjoy what makes our heroes great without taking away the greatness in the first place, we just need the right set of circumstances for what already makes them great to work even better.

With all that being said, my intention here is not to be a Negative Neckbeard and just spout what’s wrong, I’ve got some suggestions that may help.

Ya know, to all the showrunners and head writers who, for some reason, don’t automatically hate me and randomly decide to heed my advice which they definitely didn’t ask for. Instead of taking away from our heroes or holding them back in some way in order to create conflict, why not add on? How badass would it be to

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Endgame has them working together throughout, facing conflict after conflict, with most everyone at their full potential, which I believe is a major aspect as to why this film is the best in the franchise—the four thousand heroes fighting together at the end being another one. See, working together!

And look, I know that putting together a TV show or film, especially one in the superhero genre, is incredibly difficult. I’m not trying to crap on anyone in particular, I just know that a lot of fans would love to see our favorite heroes at their full potential and being the characters we know and love with their powers amped up to 11. We watch these heroes because we love what they do and how they do it. So, instead of them always being knocked down a peg, being morally conflicted, or just not using their powers for no reason at all, let’s have our heroes encounter conflict and succeed despite being at their full potential, showing everyone why they’re called super-heroes in the first place.

have our hero/heroes at their full potential, using their powers, and being at full superhero and yet it still not be enough? That’s one of the main reasons Batman is so great. He is almost always at his peak, being the best that he can be in every way, yet he faces foes who challenge him, making him adapt his methods, think differently, and work in completely new ways in order to defeat said foe. And isn’t watching a hero struggle at their full potential infinitely more interesting than watching them kinda be a hero and barely get by? Look at the first Avengers movie versus Endgame. The first one had them bickering up until the last act. Most people I know skip to the last 20 minutes to watch them fight together. Now,

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at both the good and the bad with a healthy positivity that we all need to have, especially right now. Perhaps it’s the same outlook that’s allowed her to mine for the silver linings in life and help guide her towards the massive success she’s been able to garner.

At only 24-years-old, Katherine has already made tremendous strides in her career, with the momentum still moving forward, even despite everything that’s going on. Hopefully, we’ll get to see her in action as the new Green Arrow soon, but for now, we can rest assured that she still has a long, long career ahead of her.

Interview by Galaxy Intro by Ethan Brehm

in the fandom world, you can’t get much bigger

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Katherine’s intelligence is that of a woman much older, but her exuberance and youthful charm establish a balance that keeps fans wanting to know even more about her. Well-spoken and incisive, the actress has such a perspective for living in the moment and appreciating both the little things in life as well as the huge opportunities that she has, making the most out of both as the optimist that she is.

With us, she’s able to reflect on the current state of the world and the industry as a whole, and looks

spoiler

I know nowadays you get to go to so many conventions throughout the year, but how did you feel at your very first convention?

katherine mcnamara

Katherine McNamara (Previous Spread)

K and much more revered right now than Katherine McNamara.

After making huge waves from her starring role on Freeform’s Shadowhunters, based on The Mortal Instruments book series, Katherine came aboard the CW’s immensely popular Arrow during its 7th season as the titular character’s daughter and became a fan favorite instantly.

At the end of the series’ 8 season run, her character, Mia, took over her father’s reins as the Green Arrow and there are plans for her to be the main character on a purported spinoff series, with Arrow’s penultimate episode serving as the backdoor pilot for the potential series. While there’s a virtually unanimous consensus that’s clamoring for this spinoff to come to fruition, there’s a little thing called the coronavirus pandemic that seems to be standing in its way...for now. The Arrow fanbase is strong, and Katherine’s talents and popularity are unstoppable, so it should only be a matter of time.

But the actress’ popularity isn’t just due to her talents on screen, but her personality off screen. Her magnetism is undeniable and her kindness is completely and absolutely genuine, with fans fortunate enough to experience her charisma each year at a variety of conventions.

Graduating from college at 17,

It was probably one of the most surreal experiences of my life. It was New York Comic Con. We had just finished shooting Shadowhunters literally the night before. Alberto Rosende, who played Simon Lewis on the show, and myself had finished the final scene of the first season, then we jumped on a plane with the rest of the cast and flew to New York City and the next morning was New York Comic Con. I had never been to a Comic Con before. I didn’t know anything about it and the show hadn’t even

Katherine McNamara/Shadowhunters/Netflix/Freeform/Cassandra Clare/Disney/Arrow/DC/Jim Lee/The CW/Warner Bros./Getty Images

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aired yet. So the first experiences of audiences seeing anything that we had shot was actually directly before our panel. They aired the first seven minutes of our pilot episode for that panel audience. First of all, it was already overwhelming, because we got there and they said, “Oh my gosh, you guys, we can’t believe it—the panel is sold out! There’s standing room only.” Most of us had never even done a Comic Con panel before or anything like it, so we were already in over our heads and so excited to show the show to people, but we had no idea what to expect. And I will never forget, we were standing behind the stage—and we had never seen this footage either— and we were watching the first seven minutes of the show as a mirror image behind the screen, getting to listen to the audience’s reactions for the first time. It was so magical. I remember I was shaking. And then we just went right out on stage and had the warmest welcome and the best panel. It was such a family from that moment forward and it was just so wonderful.

spoiler

Even before the Shadowhunters pilot released to the public you had all these fans already falling in love with you. The Shadow community is just incredible.

blood, or something else in your veins, it’s the choices you make that make you a hero, and it’s love and the family you create that’s most important.

spoiler

katherine mcnamara

It really is. And it really speaks to the spirit of the Shadowfan, as we call them. They are such an incredible community and have taken everything, kind of, beyond the show, beyond us, beyond these characters, and really have created this amazing community of love and acceptance. But it all stems from the book series. I love YA books and I grew up reading them, and when I read The Mortal Instruments series, that’s what struck me most about it—it’s a message that we carried forward in the show as well: no matter who you are, no matter who you love, no matter if you have angel blood, demon

You’re named one of Vanity Fair’s Breakout Bunch, you’re a singer-songwriter, you recieved the 2018 People’s Choice Award for top female TV star for your role on Shadowhunters, you got a Teen Choice Award, etc.

How does it feel being you right now?

katherine mcnamara It’s very odd this year, honestly. But above anything, I’m just so grateful. You know, I grew up thinking I was going to be an economist and I never even knew

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spoiler

Shadowhunters took you on this path and opened many doors for you. Then Arrow, I think, solidified you as that badass person who can do anything. Both of them elevated you to this iconic realm in our universe. Did life change after you were on those shows?

katherine mcnamara

Arrow was such a gift. Coming off of Shadowhunters, I didn’t think I would be part of another story that was that iconic. [Shadowhunters] had such a mythology and legacy to it, and the cast and crew and the fandom were such a family, I didn’t know how I was going to process that. But luckily I ended up booking Arrow and was able to throw myself right into another family and another very intense show with a legacy and a mythology. And it sort of distracted me from not having Shadowhunters in my life on a daily work basis anymore. But I was so grateful to be thrown into a

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Katherine McNamara/Shadowhunters/Netflix/Freeform/Cassandra Clare/Disney/Arrow/DC/Jim Lee/The CW/Warner Bros./Getty Images

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that being an actor was a job. And then I started doing theater and I absolutely fell in love with storytelling. And just the fact that I’ve been lucky enough to play some really, really wonderful characters that have changed my life and been able to touch the lives of other people, and been a part of some really wonderful work families and amazing fandoms. I can only hope that my career will continue to have a similar trajectory and I get to keep telling amazing stories and living all these different lives.

show that was at such a precipice.

Stephen [Amell] and Emily [Bett Rickards] had built up these two characters of Oliver and Felicity for so many years and had done so with such nuance, and built the relationship to such a beautiful point, that getting to be the result of that relationship was such a huge honor. And when I auditioned for the show, I had no idea that that’s the role they were looking for.

Obviously, they were keeping all of that under wraps. The actors are often the last to know about these things [laughs]. But I didn’t even know that I was auditioning for Mia Smoak until after I had booked the part. I got a call from the showrunner, Beth Schwartz, and she called me and said, “Hey, congratulations! We’re so happy to have you part of the show and can’t wait to start working with you. By the way, everything you know is a lie.

You’re actually Oliver and Felicity’s kid and we don’t even know what your name is yet, but we’re going to figure that out.” [laughs] So I went, “Wait a second, wait a second, what is happening?!” And I knew immediately, having been in the world of Comic Cons and fandoms, I knew what a big deal “Olicity” was and how beloved it was to the fans.

I knew it would be such a huge

responsibility, but I was ready for it. It’s exciting. I went back and I watched the entire series and I tried to pull as much as I could from the two characters and see what the amalgamation of the best and worst of Oliver and Felicity would personify as and I tried to put that into me, and I think the writers did an amazing job of giving me the tools and the backstory to do that.

spoiler

I remember this one post, you said you didn’t even know about your role on Shadowhunters until you found out on Twitter, and then the same with Arrow.

Like you said, actors are often the last to know, but that is a weird coincidence.

Does this happen to you often?

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of these roles and this resurgence and this questioning of the norms of everything in the industry, it’s a very exciting time, but it also leads to a lot of last-minute things. But hey, we roll with the punches. The show must go on and we figure it out as we go along.

spoiler

Do you think Hollywood is opening its doors to strong, well-rounded female roles?

katherine mcnamara

I think that’s kind of the nature of the business. It all seems very glossy on the surface, but really behind the scenes, things happen so fast and everything’s constantly changing. Especially right now in film and TV, even before 2020, with all this new media and so many new opportunities with all the streaming platforms, and also socially what’s happening. I came into this whole world of fandoms right at the time where there’s this huge resurgence of complex and interesting and badass and empowered female characters. Those were the characters I always looked for as a kid. Mulan and Pocahontas were my favorite Disney princesses because they were the ones that stood up and fought their own battles. But now, moving forward, being part of the community of all

katherine mcnamara

I do, actually. I see it happening more than I even realize. And it always takes me by surprise in the most wonderful of ways. It’s the simplest thing. You would think that if we are humans telling human stories that diversity would be a given—whether it’s diversity in gender, or sexual orientation, or race.

But for some reason it often isn’t. I mean, I don’t think there’s anything to blame, but I think the most important thing to focus on is the choices we make moving forward in seeking out those opportunities, even if it’s a story or time period where the roles seem limited, or the gender roles and norms are not as open as they could have been— how do you subvert that? And how do you take it and make a new play on it that someone might not have thought of? I was having a director’s meeting for a film the other day, and I was talking to these directors and producers—they all happened to be men—and we were talking about this role that I was discussing with them, and they were the ones who brought it up—and I had already been thinking about it—and said, “You know, this role could be seen one way, but we are thinking about giving it this spin and this

twist that’s not necessarily in the text, but we want to subvert what people might see on the surface of this character.” And I was so pleasantly surprised by that and so wonderfully astounded, and I really am seeing a turn in this industry.

I’ve fallen into this world of sci-fi/fantasy where I’ve gotten to play roles like Sonya in Maze Runner and Clary in Shadowhunters and Mia in Arrow, and I’ve only had the most wonderful of experiences. I give the showrunners and the writers [a lot of credit], particularly because I’ve lived with Mia and Clary for much longer, they took so much care to make sure that neither character was ever stagnant and that Mia and Clary had so much room to grow, and every season I would look back and go, “Wow! Something happened here. She changed. She grew as a person, and there’s so much depth to her storyline and her journey beyond what’s happening around her.” And I’m so gratified by that. holiday 2020|

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Do you feel, from when you first started to now, a lot of things changed in Hollywood, and do you think it’s easier these days to get on shows like Shadowhunters?

katherine mcnamara

That’s a really interesting question.

I don’t think anything is ever easy necessarily, but this industry is a lot more open than it used to be.

I’ve been very lucky in a lot of my experiences. In the time when I started in this industry, compared to a lot of the stories I’ve heard, I think a lot of things were already in motion to change. But it’s a really nice period of time right now to see the industry being more open to unorthodox ways of getting media out there and stories coming to fruition. You have people from all ends of the industry and parts of the world and walks of life, who are coming in and getting their shot to have their story told and their voice heard. And I think that’s the beautiful thing about art, and that’s sort of why I do what I do, and what I think the role of artists is. Especially in times where the world is troubled, it’s our job to hold a mirror to the human experience and to allow people to cathartically experience the human life cycle, and also to escape at times. And there’s all these varying different things that art and storytelling serve. We live in a world where so many people are looking for the perfect selfie and Instagram likes, and striving for these almost inhuman standards

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of perfection, but what I love about being an actor, in particularly a lot of the roles that I’ve gotten to play, is we get to highlight the broken and imperfect and sometimes ugly parts of the human experience. When you’re covered in tears and crying over the loss of someone you love, or fighting for something that you’re going through, or struggling through any kind of human experience, hopefully it allows people to relate and to realize that everybody has ups and downs in their life, and we all have the strength within us to get through them somehow.

spoiler

Which one of the characters that you play do you feel you’re most similar to?

Katherine McNamara/Shadowhunters/Netflix/Freeform/Cassandra Clare/Disney/Arrow/DC/Jim Lee/The CW/Warner Bros./Getty Images

spoiler

I would say Clary, for sure. When you play a character, you pour blood, sweat, and tears into them. They become a little piece of you and you become part of them. So there’s a little bit of me in every one of the characters I play, and that’s something that instantly drew me to Clary.

As soon as I read the pilot, I felt a part of her and connected with her on a level that I never really have with a character. In retrospect, my journey as a human being and Clary’s journey in the story were very much paralleled. Clary was a girl who turned 18 and got thrown into this world that she knew nothing about, and had to form a family and find her power and figure out how to be part of this new world. I felt very much the same. I was 19 when I started Shadowhunters and 23 when I finished it, and I found a family. I have friends and brothers for life now because of that show. I grew up and learned so much about myself and about life. So many things happened to me during that show that it’s an experience that will be very near and dear to my heart.

spoiler

Who is your celebrity crush?

katherine mcnamara

[laughs] I dunno, I grew up watching all the old movies from the ‘40s and ‘50s, so I guess my first celebrity crush was probably Fred Astaire.

Growing up as a dancer, and as somebody who just loved watching this sort of grace and ease that he had.

Gosh, I don’t know if I could pick one.

I haven’t thought about that question in so long.

spoiler

Well, you know, if you say something, they’re gonna think you like them or something like that [laughs].

katherine mcnamara spoiler

I know you’re a great traveler and you’ve been all over the world. What is it that you love so much about traveling?

katherine mcnamara

I always learn something. I never thought I would leave Kansas City as a kid, and now that I have the opportunity to travel and to learn so much about the world and about other cultures and countries and people, I’m just so fascinated by humanity. I think that’s why I’m an actor. I love seeing all the beautiful places in the world and learning about the people who live there and how they view life and how they live life. I always find it to be so fascinating. It makes the world feel simultaneously larger and smaller.

You feel more connected to humanity as a whole, but also appreciate how big and beautiful our world actually is.

[laughs] Well, maybe it would help me. I am single ya know.

spoiler

You’re such an inspiration, but who inspires you?

katherine mcnamara

Oh goodness, that’s sort of a twofold question. To pick one, for example, actresses like Viola Davis. She always uses her platform to speak about things that she cares about and really

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important social movements and causes. But also as an actress, she’s done so many diverse media and roles, and in her work itself, she always has this ability to go from the strongest and most powerful woman in the room to the most human and vulnerable person in a matter of seconds, and I just find that to be so inspiring. I love Sam Rockwell’s work as well because he’s played every kind of character, from lovable to vile and everything in between, and yet somehow always finds a way to humanize every person he portrays with such a specificity that I aspire to. But aside from that, I feel very lucky to have grown up in a family of really strong women who are passionate about what they do and so invigorated to educate themselves and to learn about the world—and they’re also dedicated to their families.

I meet a lot of women who grew up with this sort of dilemma of, “Do I have a family or do I focus on my career? What do I do?” And that was always such a puzzling question to me because growing up, it was never family or career.

It was always, “If you work hard

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T and dedicate yourself to the things you care about, you can make your life whatever you want it to be.”

There is no one set path. There is no choice that you have to make. I grew up surrounded by women who had done just that; who had chosen “and” instead of “or.” And I’ve always been inspired by that. I’ve seen the women in my family go through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, and always come out with a smile on their face and love in their heart, and that’s always something I’ve always aspired to.

spoiler

Everything you do, you do it with a smile. I heard that you’re one of the kindest people on set, and off set as well. Why does everyone always say you’re so nice?

katherine mcnamara

Katherine McNamara/Shadowhunters/Netflix/Freeform/Cassandra Clare/Disney/Arrow/DC/Jim Lee/The CW/Warner Bros./Getty Images

I don’t really know. I just was raised to treat everyone with the kindness and respect that you would want to be treated with. Especially on set, it’s something that I’ve always really loved and respected about this industry, that every single person in every department is an artist and an expert in their own realm, and we really, truly could not create the sto-

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and building this world together, which is why the show was so seamless. So I would try and take that with me, and I was lucky to have the example of people like Isaiah Mustafa and Harry Shum Jr., who had been in the industry for so long and had been part of huge legacy shows like this, who were able to show me the ropes on how to take that leadership position. I was 19 when I started Shadowhunters. I had no idea what I was doing as far as being a lead on a show. Not only being on set all the time, but also making sure everyone was happy and comfortable and feeling like they were a part of something.

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ries and the worlds that we create without every single person on that set doing what they love and creating their art to the best of their ability. That’s something that I knew of already, but I really learned and saw on Shadowhunters, which is why that show will always be so special to me. I’ve never been a part of a set where every department works so seamlessly and so symbiotically together and every single person there is excited to tell this story and make it better and to push each other. I have countless memories. The prop department made our cast a table on wheels that would wheel from set to set—this round table that we all sat at, and the crew would come hang out with us there too. I mean, we spent 10 months a year making this show and we were in the trenches together—in the rain; in the snow; in the cold; at night; at 6 in the morning; when it’s the beginning of our day; or when it’s the end of our day—but I have so many memories of being around that table with somebody from the stunt department, and a writer, and half the cast, and somebody from props and costumes, and set deck, and we’re all talking and brainstorming and workshopping ideas, and giving each other ideas about everything. And there is no ego involved. If somebody has a creative idea that could serve the betterment of the story as a whole, it was fair game to say it and not feel weird about it. That’s something I found so beneficial, because then everybody was feeding off of each other’s energy

Everybody knows about your fandoms. They all know about Shadowhunters and Arrow—you can’t get much bigger than that; they’re on everybody’s TV sets all around the world. You must be so busy, what do you do with your spare time?

katherine mcnamara

Well, I don’t like spare time, I’m very much a workaholic [laughs].

I’ve had to learn how to use spare time—this year especially. In a normal world, I travel in my spare

time because making memories and learning are my favorite things in the world. But this year, I’ve been doing a lot of hiking and exploring the natural spaces around where I live. I bake a lot.

Something I did at the beginning of quarantine is I [laughs] did sort of a reverse trick-or-treating sort of thing—baking is very therapeutic for me—where I baked a bunch of cookies and a bunch of other baked goods when LA was still in major lockdown and I had to get out of my house. So I got in my car and I drove to all my friends’ houses around LA and dropped little bags of cookies at the end of their driveways and just waved in my mask from my car and jumped back in and drove away. And just to get to see somebody’s face that was not on a screen, and be outside in LA and do something that was safe and just a little bit therapeutic, that was probably my favorite thing I’ve done all year.

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Has COVID affected you tremendously, or have you been able to find positivity from it?

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katherine mcnamara

I mean, look, it’s been really tricky.

It’s something that everyone has been able to find ups and downs in.

I’m a stubborn optimist and I always look for the silver lining despite anything. But I think what COVID has done, and this time on our own, has forced all of us to look at ourselves and pull all of the skeletons out of our closets and really look at it as a clean slate—not only individually, but as a society—where we can kind of take a step back and go, “Okay, what are the bad habits that we’ve gotten into and what are the things we’ve let slide for far too long? And how can we be better and how can we fix that? And how can we move forward in a way that’s going to

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make a real difference in making this world a better place?” It’s been really amazing to see that. I’ve done a lot of soul searching personally and professionally, and it’s given me time to do even the silliest of things. I made a home office for the first time in 10 years. I built a bookshelf and made a space for me to actually work from home, which has been amazing. I’ve learned how to do so many different things, and I’ve read books that I’ve never had the chance to read and gone through and seen films that I would have never ever gotten the chance to look at otherwise. I think for me, it’s made me realize that ultimately, connection and understanding and human interaction is what feeds my soul. And again, I think that’s why I do what I do for a living, because that search for true connection is something that has kind of been the driving force in my life, I’m realizing. Ultimately, I always try and leave people with this: I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs in my life, but I got to this point where I realized that life is all about choices. And no matter what you’re going through—whether you wake up feeling great or wake up totally

on the wrong side of the bed—life is all about the choices that you make and the perspective you choose to have. Every day we have the opportunity to choose to have a great day, or to choose to have a terrible day.

And it’s all down to having the wherewithal and the strength to make that choice. And it’s not always easy.

Everybody has bad days, and everybody has moments where they feel like the whole world is against them.

What I think another thing this year has made us all realize is that we’re all in this together and this world is a weird, crazy, topsy-turvy place, but the more we can project kindness and love and unity and positivity into the world, the better everyone is going to be in the long run.

spoiler

I know you probably don’t think you’re a celebrity, but do you ever get used to being a celebrity?

katherine mcnamara

Oh no, I really don’t think of myself as a celebrity, nor do I think I ever will. I think the moment that I think of myself as a celebrity is the mo-

ment that I have a real problem. To me, I’m just an actor; I’m a storyteller. I just want to keep being a weird little chameleon and telling stories and being able to touch people’s lives and remind people what it means to be human—whether I’m in front of the camera or behind the camera or on stage, I just hope that it makes someone feel something and I can make someone’s day just a little bit better.

spoiler

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You’re on a very fine list of celebrity redheads—do you feel honored to be on that list?

katherine mcnamara

Katherine McNamara/Shadowhunters/Netflix/Freeform/Cassandra Clare/Disney/Arrow/DC/Jim Lee/The CW/Warner Bros./Getty Images

[laughs] I do, actually. Whether it’s

Jessica Chastain, Nicole Kidman, Amy Adams, all these amazing people in this world, I’m always astounded to be among them.

We shot Shadowhunters in Toronto, and there’s a thing called the Toronto International Film Festival that happens every year. And it’s always exciting when you’re sequestered away—although I love Toronto—but when you’re there for 10 months and you don’t really get to be around the rest of the industry a lot, it’s exciting when the industry comes to Toronto. I think it was my first TIFF, I remember I was at some event for In Style magazine, and I looked around: Nicole Kidman on one end of the room and Amy Adams on the other end of the room and I was somehow between the two of them, and I went, “Oh my goodness, I don’t even know how to feel right now because I’m in the presence of the greatness of the redheads.” [laughs] You know, I love changing my hair color, but I always will be a redhead inside. There’s a spiciness to it, but I love it.

chance to do A Little Night Music on Broadway for a year. And when I first got to New York, I was this bright-eyed, 14-year-old from Kansas City who just moved to New York. And A Little Night Music is, of course, a Stephen Sondheim show, and Stephen was having a party at his house for the cast and crew. And I wanted to not be the first one at the party because I was still new, so I decided, “Okay, I’ll go 15 minutes after the party’s supposed to start.” And I get to Mr. Sondheim’s home, and they show me to the room where the party is, and the only people there so far are myself, Stephen, and

spoiler

Have you ever nerded out seeing someone you love and admire?

katherine mcnamara

I grew up doing musical theater and absolutely love it, and I had a

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Angela Lansbury. And I’m going, “Okay, Legend #1, Legend #2—what am I supposed to say—a 14-year-old from Kansas City?” But we ended up having a lovely conversation. I think I just started talking about the cheese board until I could figure out what my brain was doing. Ultimately, what it comes down to is, I find the people who have had the most success, and the people who I’ve had the pleasure to meet who are legends in their own right, are still the most kind, human, down-toearth people, because that’s how they’ve managed to deal with all the ups and downs that the industry can throw at you. They’re still themselves and they’re still human beings at their core and they’ve maintained their feet firmly on the ground. And I think that’s the most important thing no matter what happens.

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spoiler

Do you feel all these old actors— even ones from the ‘80s and ‘90s— are being neglected? Because we had some amazing talents that rocked the world. This was a time before Instagram and Twitter. You have to imagine, these people made it worldwide without social media and platforms like that. Do you think we take them for granted?

katherine mcnamara

I’m not sure. I’ve always appreciated the classics, so I have really been influenced by all of those forces regardless. I’m not necessarily up on what all the kids are doing and saying [laughs]—I’m still figuring

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out TikTok—I have no idea. It’s one of those things where I think it’s up to us to continue to celebrate those classics and continue to honor the work that’s been done and the people who have paved the way and paved the path that we’re lucky enough to continue.

It’s something that I loved so much about Arrow—even though it’s a very different situation—but the fact that Stephen [Amell] had sort of built this legacy for so many years, and created the character of, not only Oliver Queen, but the character of the Green Arrow and what the Green Arrow stood for, and, as the hero, being the sort of lone wolf that opens up to a team, and yet still very much is an independent, sort of dark anti-hero—I felt so much responsibility to stay true to that in Mia and to carry that forward. And if I’m lucky enough to get to continue to play Mia, now that she’s officially the Green Arrow, that’s something I guard very closely.

spoiler

What was it like to work with

Stephen Amell? He was so perfect for that role. Arrow could have gone on forever and nobody would have ever gotten bored with it.

katherine mcnamara

It’s true. Stephen is so smart and working with him, I learned so much.

Katherine McNamara/Shadowhunters/Netflix/Freeform/Cassandra Clare/Disney/Arrow/DC/Jim Lee/The CW/Warner Bros./Getty Images

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I always appreciate actors who take such pride in their work and have such a specific work ethic to care and be so detail-oriented about the story. That’s the thing about Stephen—he remembered everything from every episode, and every detail of every storyline ever.

And the fact that he would apply those things and continue to hold the show to a very high standard and make sure that everything was done in the best way that it could possibly be done, everything was in his power. Getting to work with him and learn from him and fight alongside him, he really was a dad to me on that show and was so wonderful every step of the way, in guiding me and passing the quiver, as it were.

But everybody on that set was so great. And being a part of that story, and even, if you’re a fan of the DC TV shows, getting to be part of “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” it’s one of those moments where you have to

just pinch yourself and go, “Wait a second, I’m sorry, I’m at work right now, and there’s a couple of Supermen, and Batwoman, and Supergirl, and the Green Arrow, and the White Canary, and the Flash, and all of these incredible characters in their super suits and I’m in my super suit, and somehow we get to all fight bad guys together? What is this? This is far beyond anything I could have possibly imagined for my life.”

up loving all these things. I watched the Justice League cartoons every weekend as a kid. You never imagine that it’s possible for your life, because I’m just me. You know, I’m just this kid from Kansas City who likes to tell stories and is a huge math nerd. But getting to be part of these worlds and tell these stories, it’s amazing and it’s so much fun! To be able to go to work everyday and have a blast with the people that you really care about and make such incredible friendships, and really be able to tell stories that also mean something to people and touch people’s lives and help people through, whether it’s just a distraction from their hard day at work or helps them sort through real dilemmas that they’re having in their lives, it makes me feel grateful every day to be able to do what I do for a living and just have these opportunities, and I’m just so thankful.

spoiler

Outside of being Mia Smoak and the new Green Arrow, what other superhero would you like to be?

katherine mcnamara

I always say I’d love to have the power to heal. Just because I feel like, when you have a superhero team, everybody always picks, like, “Oh, I wanna fly, or I wanna have laser vision, or I wanna do

spoiler

Did you ever in your wildest imagination think you were gonna be part of one of these franchises?

katherine mcnamara

I never ever thought I would have the opportunity to do anything like this. And I think it’s so cool. I grew

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A this or that.” But ultimately, if you’re gonna be out there saving the world on a superhero team, somebody’s gonna get hurt, somebody’s gonna trip on something—probably me—and somebody’s gonna need to be patched up, so you gotta have somebody on the team who can fix that and keep going. So that’s the role that I would love to fill.

spoiler

Aside from being an amazing actor, I know you’re a singer. What would be the theme song of your life right now?

“Seasons of Love” from Rent [laughs].

katherine mcnamara

spoiler

Oh, that’s such an interesting question. My brain is spinning. I’m thinking about “Seasons of Love” from Rent [laughs] I don’t know. It’s been such a retrospective year that it’s really just highlighted the fact that life kind of is a journey and it’s all about these moments, and all about the people who crossed your path and the things that come into your life. That song has been part of my life for so long.

It’s certainly one that we used to belt out on our singalong nights on the Shadowhunters set. So yeah, I’ll say

What would you like people to remember about you?

katherine mcnamara

I think, ultimately, if I’m to be remembered for anything, I want to be remembered for working hard, being a good person, doing something to make the world a better place, and for telling good stories. I would hope.

I dunno, I love what I do, and I like to work hard, and hopefully something that I’ve put out into the world is meaningful to someone and leaves the world a little bit better than when I came to it.

spoiler

If you could dress up as anyone for Halloween, who would it be?

katherine mcnamara

I’ve been thinking a lot about this. I mean, I love Halloween, and I actually have a trunk of costumes and prop

pieces in my house that I tend to pull things out of when I need a costume. I think I’m just a couple pieces away from a Michelle Pfeiffer classic Catwoman situation, which is probably, if I were to dress up, what I would go with. Just ‘cause it’s fun and I miss running around in leather all the time [laughs].

But I dunno what I’m doing this year. I’ve got some friends who are part of my quarantine pod and we all happen to love horror movies, so maybe we’ll get together with some food and some movies. Or maybe we’ll do some of my reverse trick-or-treating again.

spoiler

What celebrity would you rate as a perfect 10?

katherine mcnamara

I would say somebody like Viola Davis. Or Kristen Bell. They’re just these individuals who just tend to spread light wherever they go. And they tend to just bring other people up with them and make other people feel loved. Aside from that, they tell amazing stories and seem to have incredible work ethic. They’re people who I look up to.

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spoiler

What is one message you would love to give to your fans?

Katherine McNamara/Shadowhunters/Netflix/Freeform/Cassandra Clare/ Disney/Arrow/DC/Jim Lee/The CW/Warner Bros./Getty Images/Little Savages

katherine mcnamara

I think the biggest message I could give to anybody who’s been a follower of my work or a fan of anything that I’ve done is, “Thank you.” I pour my entire being and my blood, sweat, and tears into every role that I play; every story I tell; every job that I do. And the fact that there are people out there who get excited about it and look forward to it and appreciate it and are moved by it in any way, whether it’s just entertaining or they take some deeper meaning away from it, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to do what I love for a living if it wasn’t for each and every one of them. And doing these Comic Cons and traveling all over the world, I’ve gotten to meet so many incredible individuals and people with the most strength I’ve ever seen and the most incredible stories and the most interesting lives.

It’s brought so much to my life and it’s been such a gift that I have eternal gratitude and awe and respect for each and every one of them.

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SPOILER MAGAZINE

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Alfred Pennyworth A column dedicated to The Dark Knight, his Bat-family, and the world he fights and protects‌ And other silly Batman stuff. holiday 2020|

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BY MATTHEW MCLACHLAN

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carrying the tray, making a smarmy comment, and cleaning up Bruce Wayne’s dirty underwear after a sweaty night of crouching on rooftops, there is so much more to the guy that it’s a crime people have him as “just the butler” as their main image of him. First of all, before joining the Wayne family in their philanthropic adventures, Alfred was a Special Operations Executive operative, having received honor and ethics for his time served while still maintaining connections within the intelligence community to this day.

During his time as an operative, he acquired some pretty bombass medical training where he learned to bandage most wounds, remove bullets, and perform some pretty major surgeries, helping keep Bruce Wayne out of the hospital and protecting his identity as Batman

and all of the would-be medical bills from no doubt bankrupting him. Along with his medical training, being an operative taught Alfred how to handle himself in a tussle. Although not as qualified as everyone else in the Bat family when it comes to self-defense, Alfred knows how to throw a punch or two, easily escape being tied up without disturbing the cut of his suit, and has boasted about being unsuccessfully kidnapped over 27 times.

Prior to learning how to wreck people and then

Batman/DC/Jim Lee/Legendary Pictures/ Christopher Nolan/Gotham/Fox/Warner Bros.

A littered with guns, mobsters, riddles, bombs, poison, ninjas, immortals, clowns, cops, and the occasional weird love affair between adults dressed as animals. It’s a thrilling place full of adventure, danger, and things looming on every corner and rooftop that’ll be sure to get your blood flowing. And then there’s Alfred Pennyworth. The butler in the background most notable for his tranquil demeanor, John Waters mustache, and devastatingly dry wit. This helpful housekeeper may seem like a boring, bland, wet blanket amongst the sexy, crime-fighting, action packed bat-world, but I’m here to tell you that Alfred Pennyworth fits in perfectly. “Oh, come on, Matt,” I hear you screaming at your preferred method of reading this magazine, “There is nothing sexy about Alfred Pennyworth!” Well, my Geeklings, what if I were to tell you… there is.

Typically seen as the guy

Batman/DC/Jim Lee/Gotham/Fox/ Warner Bros. (Previous Spread)

The world of Batman is an exciting one,

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put them back together, Alfred dabbled in the performing arts. And by “dabbled” I mean he is a well-trained, world class actor. He does a very convincing Bruce Wayne impersonation which he usually utilizes over the phone, he puts on a disguise and character whenever Batman needs him in the field, and he teaches Bruce various acting methods to help maintain his own disguises convincingly as well as how to be more menacing as Batman. On the flip side of his brain, Alfred is a f*cking genius. He has mastered computer programming, electrical engineering, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, nanotechnology, and biotechnology which allows for him to singlehandedly build, program, and maintain much of Batman’s next-gen technology, gadgets, and Bat-computer. And to top it all off, he takes care of an entire mansion and its grounds. Do you know how dusty a room gets if it’s not cleaned regularly? It gets dusty! Now imagine there being a few dozen bedrooms, half as many bathrooms, a ballroom, dining room, endless acres of land to landscape, and a God damn Batcave to deep clean! Okay, yes, I’m sure he outsources most of that, but even scheduling all of that to be cleaned

is a bitch! And ya know what else is great about Alfred? He’s a master at breeding roses. That’s right, roses.

He even created his own species called “The Pennyworth Blue” and that’s just nice.

Of course, all of that would look great on any resume for a crime-fifighting vigilante looking for a badass butler/engineer/doctor/actor/rose wizard, but none of that is the reason why Alfred is amazing and vital to Batman’s success or Bruce Wayne’s sanity. It’s because Alfred loves Bruce to a fault. Yeah-yeah, cue the “awwww” from the audience, but it’s true. Bruce Wayne is Batman because something broke inside of him the night his parents died which forces him to push forward in his fight against crime no matter the cost, but he’s only able to be Batman because something also broke within Alfred that night, forcing him to devote his entire life to Bruce, protecting him, helping him, and making sure he is taken care of, also no matter the cost. No, it may not be as obvious as money, gadgets, training, or vehicles, but Alfred’s attention, devotion,

and love to this broken orphan is the most important tool in Batman’s toolbelt, having been kept alive and relatively in one piece by this surrogate father through his entire crime-fighting career.

So, the next time people think Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth is “just the butler,” you ask them how many people would want to have an emotionally scarred boy left in their care whom they couldn’t stop from leaving their home, only to have him return years later an even more

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Batman/DC/Jim Lee/Warner Bros./Christopher Nolan/Legendary Pictures

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broken man and wait for him night after night as he goes out to fight the criminal underworld all while sitting in a mansion by themselves, contemplating whether or not there was anything they could do to save this man’s mind and soul from the dark torment that he puts himself through every moment of his existence all while hoping and praying he comes home alive each night or at the very least in one piece and the only thing they can do to offer any sense of respite or comfort after stitching his body and setting his bones is to ask if he’d prefer chamomile tea or green and after he refuses

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both along with a full meal, they make a sarcastic quip because it’s the one frail attempt at keeping themselves from shattering into a million pieces at the sheer pain and weight of it all? None is the answer to that question! No one would! Why? Because whether we realize it or not, Alfred Pennyworth has had an even more emotionally taxing job than Batman since his crusade began and I think that Alfred is a saint and a hero for doing his job without hesitation or complaint while almost never being acknowledged, thanked, or just asked how the f*ck his day was. So, Alfred Pennyworth, from all of us here at SPO!LER magazine, we salute you, good sir.

Batman/DC Comics/Warner Bros./Gotham/DC Entertainment

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Interview by Galaxy Intro by Ethan Brehm

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In reality, many of them don’t work at all. The three women behind the 2020 short film In Hollywoodland not only met their original $30,000 goal, but exceeded it by more than ten thousand dollars. The loyalty of their individual fan bases and the intrinsic originality living within their unique take on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland are only a couple of factors that have contributed to the project’s success.

Yetide Badaki, Jessica Sherif, and Karen David all serve as producers on the passion project, which was funded through an IndieGoGo campaign launched back in 2018. Created for the love of art, not with money in mind, the film possesses an integrity that not only inspired people to donate, but made them feel good about doing so. Badaki catalyzed the campaign after writing a script that reimagines Alice’s adventures through Wonderland by placing her character, Zodwa, a struggling actress, into a whimsical, surrealistic modern-day Hollywood for an opportunity of a lifetime. The story focuses on the truly absurd realities of the industry, fusing fantasy and reality to make the two indistinguishable.

The film business is just that: a business. However, the first part of that refers to an art form: film. But so often is that piece of the phrase forgotten about or simply lost (down a rabbit hole, perhaps?). So when three successful figures from that business create a project with nothing but their creative and cohesive vision

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in mind, it’s guaranteed to transcend the screen itself and their earnest objective becomes contagious.

Badaki’s story was conceived years ago, before the industry’s inequality discussion had really become viral or part of the mainstream conversation. The actress, who also stars in the film, wanted to depict her own challenges in Hollywood and the plight that had plagued her career, along with the careers of many of her contemporaries.

Yetide is known for her roles as Bilquis on the Starz series American Gods and Chi Chi in This Is Us, but the Nigeria native has seen her own fair share of ups and downs in this industry, which have all helped inspire and carve out her story in a way that can relate to countless others, while also remaining extremely personal.

Her co-star, Karen David, has seen a different path, yet similar obstacles.

Moving to London to study acting at 17, Karen cut her teeth in theater

In Hollywoodland/Jessica Sherif

not every crowd funding campaign is a success.

before eventually landing her first job as a series regular on the British TV show Waterloo Road. Now the actress stars in shows like Legacies and Fear the Walking Dead. A seasoned musician as well, Karen has yet discovered another talent in producing, which she incidentally studied over her nearly-two decade tenure as an actress in Hollywood.

Jessica Sherif serves as director on the project. The Spanish-born filmmaker began her career in investigative journalism on the Emmy-winning Dan Rather Reports, never thinking scripted media was really an option for her, despite a lifelong love of cinema. She understands the medium with such a refreshing perspective and realist-mentality that allow her

In Hollywoodland/Jessica Sherif (Previous Spread)

W to continue making her art without the distractions that accompany the inherent expectations of the viewer.

She really is the perfect person for a relentless concept such as this.

The three brilliant women have such a chemistry and love for one another, which has become imbued into their production. They say you shouldn’t work with your friends, but it’s that very friendship that’s made this project such a success. Everyone is so on board with this vision, helping establish the congruous feel of the film. Fans will undoubtedly be clamoring to see another project from this dynamic trio in the very near future.

On a small production like this, things aren’t always going to run smoothly, especially with innate pressures of making your many supporters proud, but also in the same way that there’s pressure with any

creative endeavor. However, here, the team was working with a little over $40,000 and trying to craft an entirely new world on screen. But when things do run smoothly and you and your team work harmoniously with the same mindset, everything clicks.

A project of any kind relies so heavily on everybody supporting one another, but when the concept and the stakes are high, that reliance is of even greater importance. Every so often you strike gold and find yourself surrounded by a team who supports you with constructive criticism rather than toxicity, allowing for magical things to happen.

In Hollywoodland is not only supported by fans of these three talents, but by people who love the arts. The film is commentary on the industry and creativity as a whole.

Unfortunately, in our school system, the arts are mostly relegated to being an extracurricular activity, if not cut from schools altogether. If more of a requirement for the arts were insti-

lled in our schools, then perhaps we would have more of a melting pot of voices urged to express their own creativity in the first place.

The success of Badaki’s campaign is proof that enough people are invested in seeing diverse entertainment. However, when it comes down to it, the best projects are those that can be enjoyed regardless of their context, with true testament coming from the actual excellence of what you’re watching on screen.

Only then will any of that context mean something in the long run and make an impact. In Hollywoodland strives to prove a point, which will surely get across due to the quality of the film itself. This is Badaki’s love letter to Hollywood, and when you love something, you want them to be the best it can be.

This trio is further proof that success in Hollywood is more than possible for women in an industry overrun with a male presence at the production, writing, and directorial levels. They’re an inspiration for young women aspiring to express their own selves creatively. Nobody’s stopping you from going out and assembling a team and fulfilling your vision.

And if you can find a few others who believe in your vision as well, then the sky’s the limit. november holiday 2020|

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diverse. And it’s been a great learning curve for me as a producer. Then to act in it was such a bonus. To play such a beloved character who is just so snarky, it has been so thrilling and so much fun.

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SPOILER

Karen david

by Galaxy

SPOILER

Karen, I have had the pleasure of chatting with you on several occasions on my talk show and I have seen you go from Legacies, to Fear the Walking Dead, to many other shows, and now you’re rocking your own projects, look at that.

Karen david

You know, I’m very grateful for these different sorts of milestones and chapters in my life, but it’s all about timing and finding the right timing.

You have to go through this journey, as we all know, through the ups and downs, twists and turns. Goodness knows, as an actor, for me, I’ve certainly faced my share of gazillions of rejections, or coming so close to something so big that could be life changing but then it didn’t go my way [laughs]. You know, paying your dues, being the struggling broke actor out of drama college. But I think it goes for anything in life, you do what you do because you love what you do. And as long as you have that passion and focus, and you have a good head on your shoulders, and you have perspective—I think those are tools that my teachers and my parents and my mentors have instilled in me, and that has held me in good stead with navigating this journey we call life. I had always wanted to produce, but it was a question of timing. Opportunity comes when the timing and preparation meet together. The stars kind of aligned when I met Jess, and Jess introduced me to Yetide. I just love everything about this project. What it represents. What it stands for. That it’s inclusive and

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You’re absolutely right. The stars truly aligned, and everything happens for a reason. I couldn’t agree with you more!

SPOILER

How did the name come across “In Hollywoodland”?

Karen david

Working with such hard working women who never fail to amaze me with their patience, their tenacity— Jess and Yetide—the attention to every detail, the care and the thought to everything, I just admire their work and their work ethic so much.

They certainly have taught me so much in this process as well. Coming into this project, when I read the script, it wasn’t In Hollywoodland.

It kinda went throughout different transformations. Ideally, we loved the name La La Land, but that was taken obviously. We didn’t want that.

We wanted our short film to have an identity of its own. So we were kinda thinking, then, Hollywoodland. When we think back to Alice in Wonderland, we wanted to find something in there that would mesh into the idea that these are the trials and tribulations of a young woman of color navigating her way through the ever-changing tides in our industry. And personally, it’s something that I completely

relate with, which is why I wanted to come on board and be a part of this project. So we were trying to go through names, and we were stuck with Hollywoodland. We were quite happy with that, but then we remembered that there was a movie called Hollywoodland too. Then we thought, “Well, if we add ‘In’ Hollywoodland, because it’s like Once Upon a Time IN…” So we thought, “Okay, we could say that because we’re kinda paying homage to the fairy tale opening from the storybooks that we read when we were children.” But we finalized with In Hollywoodland. It’s not really as glamorous an answer, but we definitely had to go through the administrative boring points of finding our identity which still captures the essence of what our story’s all about.

SPOILER

I heard that you and Yetide are such talented producers. Jess thought you two were pros, but this is your first producing gig. Has all your acting experience helped you to learn the right and wrong way to produce a project?

Or is it the camaraderie that you have that makes you want to go above and beyond?

Karen david

It’s a bit of everything. Jess is extremely kind and very giving. Definitely one of the hardest working producers and directors in the making that I know. I’m so excited about her future. She’s working on some very exciting projects. I learned a lot from Jess’ amazing examples that she set while going through this process.

And Yetide the same. Definitely being on set, I love to watch and observe.

And I studied journalism and a bit of film and TV early on before I went to

Karen David/Getty Images/Shuttershock/IMDb/The Scorpion King 2/Universal/Fear the Walking Dead/Image Entertainment/AMC/Skybound Entertainment/Valhalla Entertainment

If it wasn’t you in that role in In Hollywoodland, and Yetide writing and starring in it, and Jessica directing, it wouldn’t have been the same.

Karen David/Shuttershock (Previous Spread)

drama college, because I wanted to know what was entailed behind the camera, below the line. I’m constantly in awe of all the hard working crew members from different shows that I’ve worked on. And I watch and observe. I see my showrunners, I see my producers who are putting together something so magical and they make it look easy. But really, behind closed doors, it is blood, sweat, and tears. And it’s trying to keep all the fires burning at the same time and multitasking on a whole new level.

My showrunners from Galavant, John Hoberg and Kat Likkel, were such great mentors for me for my first time producing. One thing they did say was being a producer can sometimes be a very thankless job [laughs], but our job is very much about keeping everything going, moving forward, making sure everyone’s happy and comfortable, and making sure that if there’s any challenges or problems that arise that you deal with them with a very open mind

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and think about the greater good for what you’re making and what you’re producing. That’s some of the best advice that they gave me. [They also said] that if there’s something bugging you about a shot, you’ve gotta speak up, because if you need another shot just in case, get that extra shot if you can so that you’re not struggling in the editing room. And it’s just little things like that that they were so wonderful about in my sort of “Producing 101” [laughs]. And having someone like Jess and Yetide as well. One thing I will say is that throughout this process, communication was key, and we were communicating with each other night and day, day and night, 24/7 on every detail especially because I was in Austin filming or in Atlanta filming, and Yetide was

in Toronto filming, so we were in different time zones. So that made it even more challenging. But Jess was so great about just reining things in and keeping everything organized.

She was very much the nucleus of Yetide and me, and our ever-changing filming schedules, so we were able to get there in the end. It’s been such a thrilling experience. To see the fruits of our labor with everyone involved, to this point now where we’re going from different festival to festival, I cannot even begin to express how magical this experience is. My heart aches that we can’t be at these different festivals physically, because it’s one thing to be a first-time producer going to these festivals, but it’s another to just be at these festivals and be surrounded by a creative community and fellow filmmakers physically.

It would’ve just been so wonderful to be in that energy, but we had to do it virtually this year. And hats off to all the film festivals, from Bentonville Film Festival to American Black Film Festival, Catalina Film Festival, and Hollyshorts—everything’s going to be virtual, and they have worked so hard around the clock to create such such an enriching experience virtually where we’re all on Zoom getting to know each other. I’m so grateful to these film festivals for their hard work and organization, to be able to organize something virtually and to bring female filmmakers and filmmakers from all over the world in this virtual realm. holiday 2020|

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SPOILER

A Do you feel like you didn’t reach your full potential because of coronavirus and its many restrictions and rules?

This goes for everything in life, when we are presented with challenges— and certainly this pandemic has really challenged each and every one of us to the core—mentally, emotionally, physically, financially—it’s been really, really tough. And more tough for some others as well. My parents have always told me that in this moment that we find ourselves in, we have the power to pick ourselves up and make a choice of how we react to what is happening, and there is no wrong answer to this because everyone reacts differently to what is happening in this pandemic. Certainly in the beginning it was very overwhelming to try and wrap your head around, and try to digest everything that was happening. It felt a bit surreal. And then to have to quarantine—none of us had ever been through this before. So that fear and anxiety that was building up amongst everyone of the unknown and the uncertainty and not knowing how long this was going to be around for, it doesn’t help. In regards to film festivals, Jess, Yetide, and I, before that we had taken a slight break. We had applied to a bunch of film festivals, but then we stopped initially because we didn’t know [what was going to happen].

And certainly the film festivals had a lot to navigate and digest, as well, to figure out how they were going to move forward. So when we found out that we got accepted to these other

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wonderful film festivals and saw what they were doing, that really gave us hope that this year is not cancelled.

This year is very much happening, but it’s happening in a very different way. And that’s called survival. That’s how we rise to the occasion and we show the resilience of humanity. That truly is so inspiring for me to see how communities, neighbors, friends, families, loved ones, have all come together to move forward, and move forward with purpose. Because right now more than ever we need that with everything that is happening.

And 2020, I know a lot of people want to cancel it, but I refuse to cancel it because it is a year that has humbled me even more. 2020 has been a year of very valuable lessons. As painful as it has been to see so many innocent lives lost, it is a year that has certainly brought more humility, more gratitude, and more purpose to my life, and more clarity to what truly matters.

I feel that health, as well—my mom has always said from the start as little girls, “We are nothing without our health and that is something to celebrate every day, and thank our bodies every day for the miracles that our bodies and our glorious brains are doing to keep us healthy. And then everything else is truly a bonus.”

Looking at this whole festival route and everything that we’re doing, yes it’s virtual—okay, it might not be the same as being at a festival—but we’re so grateful that it’s happening, that we are adapting, and that we are making it work. And we continue to inspire and help one another in our amazing, creative community.

Karen David/Getty Images/Shuttershock/IMDb/ Galavant/Once Upon a Time/ABC/Disney

Karen david

SPOILER

What’s the message you’re trying to convey with this movie?

Karen david

With our short film, I think it’s for any person who feels marginalized or excluded. It is a celebration of inclusivity and diversity, and how that should be the norm. It shouldn’t be a topic or an issue. It should just be representing the fabric of our lives and representing the world that we live in. I can relate to the storyline very much, unfortunately, and I know a lot of men and women in any industry in the workplace who have experienced either verbal, emotional, or sexual abuse or harassment. It’s sad. 2020 is the year where we’re ripping off the Band-Aid and starting to heal these wounds, and starting to have these very important and necessary and uncomfortable conversations. I’m not saying it’s all doom and gloom being an actor in our industry. I’ve met some of the most incredible human beings in my life and I’m a better human for it. But like anything in life, you’re going to meet some great people, and sometimes you’re going to meet people who are not so great.

And I find that, as I grow up a year

older each year that goes by, I now gravitate more towards compassion and empathy, trying to understand where those that create trouble and problems—where is it coming from?

It has to be something that is happening in their lives that is taking away from them living their best versions of their lives and of themselves. And that makes me very sad for them. But at the same time, we need to have these conversations about some of these experiences, and know that the main important message in this is to not be afraid to use your voice to be your authentic self and to love yourself for who you are. There is only one version of each and every one of us. And that is all the world needs. One. One of each and every one of us to be the change that we want to see in this world. And the timing of the release of our film could not have happened at a more important time with BLM, with everything happening with the division that we have politically, with climate change, with everything. This is the time that we need to find our authentic voices and to find that clarity and to use this year of 2020 as hindsight truly. And to be able to move forward with no fear. To move forward with purpose, with compassion, with empathy, and with patience.

SPOILER

Is producing something that’s going to be happening in the coming years for the three of you? The world can learn a great deal from films like In Hollywoodland.

Karen david

I’m writing a lot at the moment. I have some wonderful mentors who

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are helping me with some scripts and I’m really excited to get it into pitch motion and begin to create stories with inclusivity and diversity. To see change happen, we have to be part of it. And it’s so important that each and every one of us remember and remind ourselves that our voices are so important and so powerful. With voting, the elections, some people might think, “Well, I’m just one vote.” No, you are one very powerful vote. I’m so in awe and inspired by today’s youth and seeing how woke they are and how aware they are of what is happening. Just seeing them becoming more instrumental in wanting to create fundamental change; in wanting to be part of the change that they want to see in the world today. That gives me so much hope and fire and determination with everything that I do in my life. I want to be part of this global community that wants to create a better world for each other. And that starts with the stories that we tell as well. I want to see more inclusivity and diversity on screen and to tell their stories. So that drives me as a producer, and I’m so excited to get cracking with that as well. I’ll still do my acting. I love my acting. I’m so grateful to be a working actor, and as long as there are those great roles, I should be so lucky and so blessed. But in the meanwhile, I’ll also include this producing hat and writing and wanting to be a part of creating content—hopefully meaningful content that will inspire others to do the same.

SPOILER

I remember seeing you in many smaller budget movies from the UK. To go from those movies into all these amazing TV shows you’re in now, and then producing, this has been such a long and prosperous road for you.

Karen david

Yeah, it’s been a long night as far as paying your dues. But it’s something I’m really proud of and, I know it sounds very cliche, but I’m glad I went through the struggle. I’m glad I know what it’s like to struggle.

Facing adversity and challenges like that starting out, it just makes you hopefully a better and more compassionate human being. And as an actor, it’s all about empathy in telling this beautiful story of the character that you’re playing. It’s funny because, some people who may not know my backstory, they immediately just assume that it happened [so easily]. And I can honestly say it didn’t. It took many years of hard work and just loving yourself and having faith in yourself. Also having faith, as my dad said, in letting go and letting things happen the way they do because the most important thing is just to focus on your joy, on your peace, on your happiness, and continuing to thrive and grow, and constantly learning. You do those things and everything else tends to fall into place in your life. Growing up, that was really hard for me to commit to—to understand what my dad was saying. But certainly now, in hindsight looking back, he was absolutely right—annoyingly so when our holiday 2020|

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SPOILER

If there is anything you can express to your lovely fans, what would it be?

Karen david

I adore my fans. they are so giving of their time; of their energy. And they’ve done it continuously for years. I have fans who have followed me right from the start of my journey and they’re still here cheering me on.

And I just love them and adore them.

I want each and every one of my fans to know, and I always tell them, that I am cheering each and every one of you on. And to be able to have my followers as part of this community on my pages—I’m so proud of them because they’re so patient with one another. Even when they disagree, they are kind to one another. They’re very compassionate and empathetic. They help each other. They uplift

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each other. And I could not be more proud of my community of fans on all my social media pages. Because that’s what they do. They are rays of sunshine. I’m so honored to be able to witness—even in a small way through social media—their journey, and I’m certainly honored to have them on this journey that I’m on. I can’t imagine not having them on this journey with me. They make it so much more worthwhile and continue to teach me and inspire me each and every day. So I’m very grateful for them and it’s so wonderful. As Josh Gad said about, God rest his soul, the wonderful Chadwick Boseman, “Chadwick was a next-level good human.” And my fans—I’m so proud of them because they’re all next-level good humans. They are spreading a pandemic of kindness and that’s what I want. People mistake kindness for being weak. People mistake niceness for being weak. There’s so much strength to those who are nice

Karen David/Getty Images/Shuttershock/IMDb

and kind. And so much strength to those who are compassionate and empathetic. You can look at Chadwick Boseman, I think this is why we feel the loss of his life even more so, because he truly was a superhero in front of the camera and off camera.

And if there’s anything we can learn from Chadwick it’s to raise our voices for good purpose. Like the great John Lewis—God rest his soul as well— said, “Good trouble is good.” [laughs]

Yetide Badaki/American Gods/Starz/Lionsgate/Freemantle (Right Page)

N parents are right about all the things they taught us. It’s so true. You have to kinda just trust that everything will fall into place as long as you put in the good work and have a good attitude on your shoulders. And to know the difference between constructive criticism and criticism. Because often those who really care about you are the ones who give you the hardest time in the most productive and positive way. So I’m really blessed to have such good people in my life, and hopefully I can continue to do more good projects and work with more inspiring people in our community.

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good message to everyone during these times.

Yetide badaki

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SPOILER

In Hollywoodland is the short film everyone is talking about, and you wrote it. I did not know you’re a writer.

Yetide badaki

[laughs] Yes, it’s been a wonderful, incredible leap onto the other side after quite a few years in front of the camera, and getting to do it with these ladies has been a gift. That’s part of the reason why I wanted to do it. Everybody’s been speaking about working on the other side of the camera for quite awhile. I know Karen has been very interested in producing for quite awhile, and Jessica in directing, as well as producing. But this was a wonderful microcosm to look more at the production company side of things that I’ve been searching into, and actually putting out into the world for the first time something I’ve written. It was exciting, nerve-racking, all of the feelings, but it’s been a joy.

SPOILER

The entire team of In Hollywoodland is wonderful. Karen is one of the nicest people in the universe. She’s extremely talented. Jessica is very talented, nice and caring as well. This trio happened in the heavens, do you feel that?

Yetide badaki

[laughs] Absolutely. This was also— there are very specific things that I think added to this alignment. There

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are many similar things that we care about. There are a lot of things that we’re seeing that we’d like to be a part of changing. So all of these things brought us together. As you said, something made in the heavens it feels like. It’s something that occurred because we not only wanted to work on the other side, but there was a very specific way that we wanted to be involved. We’re looking to create the change that we want to see. I think that’s really the thing that pulled us together to create together—those aligned ideas.

SPOILER

Each of you bring such uniqueness to the table. You are sending such a

It’s actually interesting the way that festivals are adapting and evolving in this strange and different time we live in. A lot of them are creating these very specific streaming platforms for their content. So in a lot of ways, some of these films are reaching even more people because it’s not localized in just one space. There are people from many different areas who get to view this all at the same time. Again, it’s back to the peaks and valleys that we’re living in. It would have been wonderful to get together and see people again. Remember that? [laughs] But this was a deeply personal and deeply cathartic experience writing it. And I think especially now, there is such an importance in individuals realizing the power of their voice. And knowing it doesn’t have to be a lion’s roar; it doesn’t have to be this really grand thing. It’s just taking that moment to own your voice, and we exemplify that within the film—that last moment when Zodwa looks straight at you and says, “Enough.” It’s not screamed; it’s not yelled; it’s just stated. And there’s the power in the simplicity of that.

SPOILER

Do you feel that a lack of inclusion is still happening?

Yetide badaki

Yeah, what’s been interesting is this came from a space of writing what

Yetide Badaki/Getty Images/IMDb/American Gods/Starz/ Lionsgate/Freemantle/Erin Simkin/Syfy/Shuttershock

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you know, and also because, in discussing with Jess and Karen, and lots of people within the industry, you hear these echoed concerns. But what continued to interest me is—it’s back to that microcosm—it’s not just Hollywood. It’s across platforms. I remember having a conversation with someone from aerospace and there were many similar concerns. Scientists; technologists; businesspeople; across the board, these concerns of inequities that have not been fully addressed. And what was inspiring about playing with it within the realm of Wonderland was that you could point out the absurdities by placing it within this world. But these absurdities occur within everyday life— whether it’s pay inequity, or opportunities offered to individuals. If you really were to look at them on paper, they’re completely absurd. So we got to play with that with In Hollywoodland and got to approach that. And to see people’s responses and to see how it’s received, it feels like it’s reso-

nating, which is incredibly exciting.

Getting people to directly address the absurdities, it is adding to this change that we are hopeful for.

SPOILER

You teamed up with a fabulous multicultural team in hopes of breaking barriers. It’s so lovely.

Yetide badaki

That’s one thing that gets me so excited. You have the incredible Karen David, the incredible Jessica Sherif, and then on both sides of the camera, in every area, there’s so much beautiful inclusion. There are moments where Jessica would call “cut” and I’m looking out on the other side and I’m seeing this myriad of beautiful tapestry of what I see of the world when I walk out the door. I wanna go through a whole bunch of things. Like, Rose Fadem-Johnston, our incredible cinematographer. I also love Rachel Lee Payne-Darrow who

did our set design, and Arula Ratnakar who did that. That incredible design for our credits at the end, and also she was a concept illustrator.

Joshua [Cole], who was incredible as our editor. And I’m not even getting to all of these. And then we’re talking cast. Jen Richards, who I adore.

Dom Burgess, who, I mean, that man is brilliant in every single way. Luke Youngblood, the same. All of them brilliant, all of them I adore. It gives me so much joy to look at this team.

It’s exactly the kind of thing that Jess, Karen, and I were hoping for. To see that kind of beautiful tapestry.

SPOILER

Are you gonna keep pushing this to film festivals in 2021 so that it has the opportunity to be seen?

Yetide badaki

Yes! Because when we talk about this team, it also includes these individuals who also made us happen, holiday 2020|

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SPOILER

When you wrote In Hollywoodland, did all three of you sit down and write and go over ideas?

Yetide badaki

This was actually written years ago.

I wrote this when I was still an apartment manager in North Hollywood.

That was my survival job [laughs]. As an actor, there are a lot of long moments of struggle before you get on a set. I realized I was becoming a really good apartment manager. Like, really good. And there was this initial moment of frustration because I didn’t come to LA to be a really good apartment manager. What was wonderful is that Jess and I became friends quite a few years ago and there was a time, about two years ago or so, that we would meet up for coffee and just

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talk about the state of things. And she was an inspiration. We started talking and I said, “I have a couple of things that I wrote.” And she said, “Send them to me.” So I sent this one and she said, “I want to direct it.” And from there, it was incredible because, as you know, she’s really good friends with Karen. And she asked Karen if she would be interested in reading.

Karen was incredible. As we started going forward, Jess would say things like, “Okay, what are some things you could do in the writing to make it more practical for doing a really short shoot?” since we were all working in so many different places. I was doing American Gods at the time and there would be rewrites that would happen, and it was great because not only in that process did we get to collaborate, but afterwards when we had to try and edit, we were all in different places. I was in Toronto, Karen was in Austin, I believe, and Jess was in Los Angeles. This was before Zoom. I think it was on FaceTime. And Josh would be on there as well. And we were going through all this footage we had and piecing all of this together. I think a great example of that was the incredible scene with Dom Burgess as Caterpillar, and he had given this incredible performance. There was so much beautiful imagery laid out as our DP, Rose, was

Yetide Badaki/Getty Images/IMDb/American Gods/ Starz/Lionsgate/Freemantle/Shuttershock

which is this incredible fan crew. A lot of people who heard about the concept and said, “You know this is a crowd-funded film?” We literally could not have done it without the participation of everyone around us.

So one of the things that became incredibly important was ensuring that there were as many ways as possible for also this whole group to see it, and for everyone else who it would resonate with to be able to see it. So the festivals are an incredible way, because of the streaming services that they have, to put it out into the world, and it’s also a great way to meet others who are very like-minded, who are also working to create that change. But in the end, yes, because the hope is to share something that resonates. While we are going to continue this wonderful joyful journey through the festivals, we will have it so that it’s able to reach as many people who want to see this as possible.

able to create, but there was so much more that we wanted to do with it to further elevate. We just worked it between the three of us. Notes from every single side. Trying it in many different ways. Adding more effects.

Putting sound under certain words.

And out of this beautiful, collaborative process, this really chilling, but deeply resonant scene came about.

Again, it’s been a gift to be able to work with such collaborators.

SPOILER

You wrote this years ago, but maybe if this came out years ago, it wouldn’t have the same impact. Do you think “Hollywood” will accept this?

Yetide badaki

One of the earliest things that I said about this piece is that it is actually

E SPOILER

Do you feel you’ve been incorrectly labeled as “just an actress,” and are you hoping with this short film to start to show the many different sides of Yetide?

Yetide badaki

a love letter to Hollywood. It’s a love letter because it’s saying, “I love you, and I also want to tell you some of the things that we may want to look at.” If that wasn’t the case, it’s not even a discussion. The people know that these are characterizations and amalgamations of many different people experiencing different frustrations and inequities. Most of the people that I spoke with who worked in the movies in these different roles recognize those moments. They know it’s not a person. It is a literal characterization of that inequity. And so people have actually been very open to it, and have been very responsive, going, “Yep, that is one area that we do see issues.” And that’s the whole feel of the piece. It’s not only hopeful, but moving into a space of action and inviting everyone who views it to move into that space of action as well. And that’s why at the very end, Zodwa looks directly at the audience and uses that moment to connect and say, “Okay, now we can collectively say, ‘Enough.’”

Although there is some truth to the idea that even the journey of this further led to an evolution—a growth—I think you hit it right on the head when you said that there are so many more sides of me. And I hesitate to speak for the other ladies, but I would think that’s another unifying idea, that there’s so much more that we, as individuals, have to offer, and so many parts that when people get to know us they become privy to.

But on this journey, we get to shine a light on this and get to share the many different sides that make up the whole of each of us.

SPOILER

The topics you’re covering in regards to this project are completely fascinating. You’re expressing things in such artistry and you’re tapping into something that you probably haven’t before.

Yetide badaki

Oh my goodness, I don’t know why that just made me emotional. But I hope that people do find resonance, and from the resonance feel agency.

The ability to create…in whatever way. When I say “create,” I’m not only talking about visual arts that’s specifically related to our traditional senses of artistry. I’m saying “create,” whether it’s creating a space for something, or creating more seats at the table in whatever industry. Inspiration means the world to me because I know as an individual how important it is and how much it affects me when someone shares something that makes me feel like I have agency; I can do something; my voice matters. That is of utmost importance to me and I hope that we are actually able to share that.

SPOILER

I want your projects to succeed because you’re teaching a wonderful lesson. I hope everyone who reads this article can sense that, and these lessons are what’s going to help form the future. It’s artists like you, and Jessica, and Karen, that will create change. I’m so happy our industry is changing because of people like yourselves. It’s like a new frontier. Again, caring and being compassionate and nice is not weakness, because you are not weak. You’re powerful.

Yetide badaki

Thank you. Oh my goodness, thank you. I’ve always said about coming up in this business, “I will get there,” but what was even more important to me holiday 2020|

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Yetide Badaki/Getty Images/IMDb/American Gods/Starz/Lionsgate/ Freemantle/Shuttershock/The Magicians/Syfy/Lev Grossman

was how I got there. And to see this mirrored with this whole group of people—with Karen, with Jess, every single actor and crew member on this team—I think it’s incredibly important that people realize that love is not passive. Remember that. A lot of people take it to be, as you said, weakness. But the most powerful things I’ve seen occur are all deeply rooted in love. And it doesn’t mean that it’s a smile all the time, but it does mean that you’re willing to get in and do the work. I’ve been lucky to be able to find a team that’s ready to do that.

Aside from In Hollywoodland are there any other projects that you’re working on?

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Yetide badaki

Third season of American Gods is coming out January 10th. We did a panel for New York Comic Con in October. It’s been fun to diversify. I’ve been doing more writing. But I also got to do an audio book by Akwaeke Emezi, who wrote The Death of Vivek Oji, which has been getting great feedback from New York Times, NPR, Oprah’s Book Club, it’s been a fascinating journey and been really personal for me to be able to be a part of something that speaks very specifically to the queer Nigerian experience, which I hadn’t been able to do before.

Jessica Sherif (Right Page)

SPOILER

SPOILER

If there’s one thing you can tell your fans, what would you tell them?

Yetide badaki

That I know things are very strange right now, but I hope that they’re finding their inspiration, and I hope that they’re finding their voices, and I hope that they’re feeling the power that is within themselves.

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SPOILER

Jessica how did the project get conceived?

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This originated in Yetide’s mind. She wrote the story. We’ve been friends for a long time, and she was on break after American Gods season one and we met for a coffee and she was telling me about this story—how this is an allegory of being a black woman in Hollywood. And immediately as soon as she was telling me about this, I was like, “Can we make it??” I got so excited. And she was immediately like, “Yes, let’s do it!” And then the two of us were talking and wanted to bring in someone else. I’m also friends with Karen, so we talked about it with her, and she was immediately on board. She had wanted to get into producing, so she jumped at the opportunity and it’s been the trio ever since. It’s been an absolutely wonderful working relationship. I’m so thrilled. It doesn’t happen a lot in this industry when people just come together and treat each other with kindness, with respect, and work really hard and believe in something—especially for something like this, right?

It’s a passion project. And it’s just been fantastic and lovely. Also women working together—oftentimes, behind the scenes, you’re the only, or one of two, women in the room, so it was really lovely to have this different vibe. It was really fun!

SPOILER

Is In Hollywoodland your first indie project?

Jessica sherif

No, my background is in news and documentary. I worked for years in New York City directing, producing, and writing news and doc. I was

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always in love with scripted filmmaking, especially genre, but I didn’t grow up in an entertainment-related family, so it wasn’t even a possibility in my mind to work in the industry.

To me it was more a matter of luck, and honestly, I didn’t even see myself as a filmmaker because the women representation I saw—even though there were some at, say, the Oscars or something—were acting and costume design. And I tried both those things for a split second and was like, “Nope! Not for me!” So I still worked in TV, but I was working in news and documentary. I worked with Dan Rather for several years and learned everything I know about writing, directing, and producing from him and his team. And I eventually saw women in these different positions and just decided that this is something I’ve always loved. I wanted to get into something scripted as well without giving up documentary, which is still a huge love of mine. So I moved to LA. I did the jump and I started with short films. I’ve done several short films before this one. Started out producing, writing, and directing as well, and then I’ve been focusing solely on directing now. And I love it. Like most directors, I started in [short films], and then the next step, when things reopen, will be features.

I’m also looking at TV directing. I’ve shadowed a number of shows. Before the pandemic hit, I shadowed an incredible director, Stephen Cragg on the series finale of How to Get Away with Murder. So that’s the next step.

Jessica Sherif

Jessica sherif

SPOILER

What was it like working with Dan Rather? It must’ve been nerve-wracking.

Jessica sherif

Not really actually [laughs], it was kinda the opposite. It was the most thrilling thing. So Dan, how I met him, I was in grad school for journalism. I had worked at MSNBC, CNN, a couple of different places, and then I worked on this local news show in New York and—we’re talking, I think, 11 years ago, 10 years ago—and I wanted to do a story about the evolution of journalism, even back then. I mean, it’s a completely different story today. And I really wanted to sit down with Dan because I grew up watching him and loving him—in Canada, we still watched American news [laughs]—and I pursued him for the better part of 6 months. And he said yes. He came to our little studio in Midtown Manhattan and we shot a sit-down interview, and the next day he called me in and offered me a job on the spot. And so that’s how

H I learned. Oh my goodness, my first week, I flew to Missouri for a story.

It was nuts. I was learning from him and a lot of amazing producers who were with him from CBS and moved over with him—this was Access TV. Mark Cuban basically financed it and really, truly let us do real investigative journalism. So I got to experience the journalism of the ‘70s and ‘80s, without network control or the consumerist aspect of the news that’s sort of happened [over the years].

SPOILER

You have to have a certain mindset for investigative journalism, in regards to creative filmmaking does it help to have that experience?

Jessica sherif

I actually think both are incredibly complementary to each other. And I think you see it more and more with directors who do both—I mean, Scorsese does both—but you know, also directors, especially with investigative journalists, there’s a minutiae of things—you need to be aware of so many things. You’re—even though I hate this word—multitasking in a way.

You need to be in a constant state of alertness and be aware of so many moving factors, and that’s exactly

how investigative journalism is as well. And also there’s an attention to detail I definitely got from working with Dan, and that is something that is also so beneficial to directing.

I definitely learned tools that you wouldn’t think applied to scripted, but actually really do. To me, at its core, it’s storytelling.

In journalism, you really, really learn to understand people and to talk to people, because these are real lives.

These aren’t actors portraying things.

So you’re being very mindful of being accurate, of being kind, of being compassionate, but also upholding your standards. So all these details are then skills that you’re able to use on set on such a different level with your crew, with your actors, with the studio, with the network. I think it’s the skill set that’s completely compatible between one and the other, even though the final project has certain differences and the way of making the film might have differences. You see with Ava DuVernay also—I truly believe great directors are able to go in both, because those kinds of skills are able to move between documentary and scripted.

SPOILER

Was filmmaking something you wanted to do early on, or did this develop later on in life?

Jessica sherif

I fell in love with films at a very, very

young age. I loved the old school Batman movies with Jack Nicholson.

I loved Alien—Ripley was my hero [laughs]. I mean, Jurassic Park—just growing up in the ‘90s. I was born in Majorca, a little island in the Mediterranean. My mom’s North African, so I had family in Algeria. And then my dad was a diplomat at the time and worked in Africa and Europe, so they kinda selected Majorca as a little island in the middle of everything.

So growing up there, it wasn’t even something where I put two and two together. Nobody in our family or our circle of friends worked in entertainment, so it wasn’t at a very young age, “Oh, I’m gonna be Spielberg.”

First of all, because all the directors or filmmakers that I would see were males, so it doesn’t even cross your mind when you’re a child, especially as a woman because representation is so important. But my love of film was always there. When I was a teenager, as one of my best friends Christina always reminds me, I used to tape over my parents’ family videos. I would write really, really, really bad versions of Dawson’s Creek, of really dramatic scene stuff [laughs], as I was going through that myself, and then shoot that with my dad’s camera. It didn’t even cross my mind that this could be something that I could do professionally. So it’s not like ever since I was a kid I was like, “Ooh, I’ll be a director,” because that wasn’t even a possibility. And that’s why I’m so, so big on representation. Because I think that that’s where it starts. holiday 2020|

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That’s it!” And it’s the perfect mix between those two worlds, which was Yetide’s initial idea and this allegory of how Hollywood can feel like Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland [laughs] if you think about it.

SPOILER

What is the film about?

R C So the next kid who’s like me, right now, she gets to look up and see the Patty Jenkins of the world. And Patty Jenkins was working back then, it’s just that they weren’t visible. So she sees that, and all these other incredible women she can look up to and be like, “Wait, this is what I want to do.”

SPOILER

In Hollywoodland is such a cool name. What was the genesis of that?

Jessica sherif

There was a whole name saga [laughs]. I believe the first draft I ever read was called Hollywoodland, which is the title of a Ben Affleck movie from back in the day, and then we changed it to Wonderland for that reason. I’m a huge preparation person. Pre-production is one of the biggest parts of filmmaking, but as you’re on set, no matter who you are, where you are, what you’re doing, the project will take on a life of its own. And as we were shooting it, we realized, “Wait a minute. Wonderland is half of our story.” Half of the story is Wonderland, half of the story is Hollywood. So then we wanted to go back to the original Hollywoodland title. But because it already existed in a feature that had come out relatively recently, we kinda took a step back and were like, “Okay, what is this movie? What’s the title?” And I can’t remember who pitched it, but In Hollywoodland almost felt, “Yes, this is perfect.” Because “In Hollywoodland,” it almost has movement to it. It’s not just the name of the place. You’re dropping into it; you’re physically in there. But those were discussions the three of us kept having and immediately it clicked. And we were like, “Yes!

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It’s a dark fantasy short following Zodwa, an actress who gets this once in a lifetime audition, and then stumbles into Hollywood, which is not exactly what she thought it would be, filled with all these characters that represent different figures that we know from filmmaking. For example, the Rabbit is her agent, the Queen of Hearts, who is Queenie in this case, is a casting director, the Caterpillar is this head of studio who we call Donald Craps, and the director, who we call Hatter, is the final step when she finally lands the role. That’s the part that’s really cool about doing a dark fantasy, at least for me, is we leave it up to you of whether it’s real or not. I like to think it’s real. This is the world that Zodwa is in. Hollywoodland is this place that is an inspiration, this mashup of Hollywood and Wonderland, but what she’s going through is very real. And as she has these different moments with these different people, whether it’s the agent telling her, “You have to change your name. Let’s make it more ‘white girl’”; whether it’s the studio head sexually assaulting her. You have all these different levels of it that we got to reference and kind of work through.

And because of the magic realism and the dark fantasy, we got to do it in a way that’s more heightened than it would be otherwise.

Jessica Sherif/Star Wars/Disney/George Lucas/Shevenge/Pixie Propaganda

Jessica sherif

SPOILER

I know the three of you probably went through all kinds of stuff creating this film. But as the director, there’s a lot that falls on your shoulders, not to mention being friends. Did you feel tremendous pressure?

Jessica sherif

The friends part is so interesting, because they always say, “Don’t work with your friends.” So the only nerve would have been, “Oh no, these are friendships I value. I hope this goes well.” But that part, my goodness, I’m so happy. We really lucked out and truly worked so well together.

And sometimes you hear horror stories of friends working together.

So that part was amazing. If anything, it didn’t create a source of stress, it created a source of support. In terms of the actual directing of it, the fact that it’s a dark fantasy, the fact that this is magic realism, the fact that the rules of our world don’t apply here is so exciting for me as a filmmaker, but also means that, obviously following the script, you’re the one setting the visual rules for this. It allows so much freedom, but at the same time you’re starting on a blank slate, so there’s a lot more to

C cover. We really talked to a lot of people. Our cinematographer, Rose Fadem-Johnston, is incredible, and she has a background in a lot of sort of fantastical elements, and a brain that just—we were pitching ideas to each other and just getting so giddy about it. So to me, and this is applicable for this film, but for any other film as well, it’s truly [about] your creative vision. But then it’s, “Who do you surround yourself with?” Because creative vision is all well and good, but if you don’t have these people who can help you put it together, then you’re not going to go anywhere. And so, the cinematographer, our production designers, Rachel [Lee Payne-Darrow] and Tammy [Trinh], our costume designer, Jacqueline [Garvey]—they all truly went above and beyond to create something that, again, our rules don’t apply here. It’s a lot more work in that sense, but it’s also a lot more creative freedom. And so everyone kinda sunk their teeth into it and everyone was super open.

Yetide as the writer was so open to all

these ideas that we were throwing at her. The final scene, we shot Yetide on a green screen, and then we shot a model of that room, so it’s actually not real. And this was an idea of our cinematographer, who was like, “Hey! What if we did this?” It was not the budget and our production designers totally killed, and I don’t know how they did that. And I immediately jumped up and went, “Yes! This is amazing!” And so did Yetide and Karen. A lot of people don’t even realize it when they watch it the first time.

She wakes up in the quote-unquote real world, but I wanted it to feel not that real so that, again, you’re not sure which part is real and which part is not, and which part is she really dreaming. And this idea also that sometimes in LA and in Hollywood, you’re like, “Wait, is this really real or is this hollow? Is this plastic? Is this not reality?” So that’s a great example of all these brains coming together and everyone having each other’s backs and being so encouraging to people’s creative ideas. And I think, again, that’s what makes my job as a director so thrilling is that all these incredible humans really support you in accomplishing your vision.

SPOILER

movie watching is so subjective.

Different people are gonna interpret it in different ways. So anytime at festivals, when they ask, “What was your intention with this?” I always reply with the same thing: “Well, my intention is ‘one thing.’” And Yetide’s intention; and Karen’s intention is one thing. How people receive it and interpret it is completely removed from [our intentions], because [their reception of it] doesn’t just have to do with the project that we put out. It has to do with their own experiences, with their background, how they feel things, how they react to what we made. Losing sleep? No. Nervous?

No. At the end of the day, I’m trying to put stuff out there. I’m still learning. I’m still at the beginning of what will hopefully be a long and awesome, hard working career. I just put it

Are you nervous that the public is going to receive the film in a certain way that is not the actual message you are sending?

Jessica sherif

No, not even a little bit. This is really an interesting question. I personally think that I cannot control how my art is received because, by definition,

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out there and then kinda see what happens. I think that’s part of the excitement to me. That’s one thing that I like about film festivals is hearing different people’s reactions. And if it’s going to be something negative, so be it. That’s how life is. Not everyone’s always gonna like us. We just keep moving, keep our heads down, and keep doing the work.

SPOILER

You’ve worked with some of the best talent in the world, which might be just as valuable of an education as your schooling.

Jessica sherif

I agree with you. You learn by making. My sister’s an incredible writer and she went to one of the most prestigious writing schools. And yes, obviously it helped shape her writing.

But she always says, “You just gotta keep doing it, and that’s how you keep growing.” And I agree with that 100%. I’m excited for the future. The way I look at it is, right now, I consider myself very lucky that I’m able to work during this lockdown and pandemic. I’m working on my first feature documentary. We’ve been editing and I’m very excited for that, but I can’t say what it’s about yet.

And then just writing towards being able to, hopefully after we get safely through this, doing my first scripted feature as well.

SPOILER

Is In Hollywoodland the first of many projects for you three as a team?

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Jessica sherif

I mean, in this industry, unfortunately, it always comes down to money. And stories about underrepresented voices, whether it be women, people of color, LGBTQ, people with disabilities, it’s just not where a lot of people put in their money. If tomorrow someone came in and was like, “Hey, here’s a couple million, let’s make the feature version,” the three of us would jump in headfirst of course. I think another big thing for me, especially as a director and storyteller, is to tell stories that I see around me; to have people on screen who represent the life as I know it. And even though, yes, there’s been MeToo, there’s been Time’s Up, and our country’s in the middle of complete madness right now—there’s some progress, but at the same time, in our industry, it’s still very male, very white, very straight, for the most part. Yes, there’s some changes.

And here’s the thing, we need those stories—we need white, male, straight stories, but just as much as we need all the other stories, which right now are being lumped into this other thing. So to me, another part of this project, and of all the other projects that I’ve been doing, is how can I start putting money where my mouth is and telling the kind of stories that I want to hear more about? And telling the kind of stories that I can speak about? And this is very much a story about being “others.” About people who don’t fit in a certain thing.

Whether it’s as an immigrant—I’m Arabic, I’m a woman—whatever it

might be. And for Yetide and Karen, also their own. And tons of other people involved in the film. I think it’s very important for me to dive deeper into all these other experiences and showcase them in the work that we do, and use our voices in that way. To me, that was also a very important thing. And to Karen and Yetide, just as much. That was one of the first things—even when we chose our cast and our crew, we were committed to diverse casting and inclusivity, both in front and behind the camera. And I’m so glad that we did. Again, diverse inclusivity doesn’t mean “no men” or “no white people.” It means that everyone is equally represented and everyone has a voice and everyone

Jessica Sherif

is respected in the same way, and it just creates such an amazing work environment. I just want my sets and my projects to reflect the world as I know it. Just because a story is about a certain voice doesn’t mean only people with that same voice will enjoy it. I think Black Panther is the best example of this. A film can be both something that represents something specific and more strongly to a certain demographic, but the rest of the demographics can relate to it, can understand it, can appreciate it. The power of movies is incredible. The power of TV; of storytelling.

And when you give people like Ryan Coogler the money and the trust, and go, “Yes! Go for it!” then you create something that transcends ethnicity; that transcends gender; transcends anything else. Everyone, including my old white dad [laughs], loved it.

And many more. I think it’s exactly that. At the end of the day, yes we still need to make an effort to include those voices. We still need to make a point of giving more chances to all these people who are “others” in this industry. But when the project is out, just look at it for its merit; look at it as a fun ride; look at it for its visual artistry. And that’s hopefully where we will get to one day.

H SPOILER

We wish the three of you great success with this film and future films.

If you can share one dream of yours with the fans what would it be? And is there anything in the books after In Hollywoodland?

jessica sherif

I mean, my secret dream is to have a Judd Apatow-like Justice League of powerful, badass female talents. Honestly, this is such an amazing experience. I would jump at the opportunity to work with both of them in any capacity again. I know we’re all crazy busy. I know they’re both on set. We don’t have anything in the books right now, but when the opportunity presents itself, I would love to work with both of these incredibly talented humans. I wanted to say one last thing: For two people, who this was their first go around producing—I mean, Yetide has been writing for awhile, along with Karen, but this was her first produced screenplay—both of

them knocked it out of the park. The grace, the patience, the professionalism with which they came at their producer duties was just fantastic.

And I’ve worked with producers with experience who couldn’t hold a candle to these ladies. It’s something I like to tell them: “You realize how incredibly you handled this?” And if they wanted to—I mean, producing—they are definitely very, very well-suited for that. We premiered at Bentonville, at Geena Davis’ film festival, which was amazing! And the bittersweet part of having our release this year is that all of our screenings and festivals are online. All of these fests are amazing and they’re still doing a lot of panels. And at Bentonville, it legit was a love-fest [between myself, Yetide, and Karen], and the moderator also was like, “Oh my goodness, we can tell you guys love each other!” holiday 2020|

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SPOILER MAGAZINE

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(Amazon Prime)

Every so often a new filmmaker comes along who lets you know right away that he or she is here to stay. And all too often, those filmmakers have small budgets for their first movies, which probably doesn’t lend itself well to a story revolving around an alien invasion.

However, Andrew Patterson doesn’t care. His debut, The Vast of Night, is the latest example of a brand new director funding his first film himself on a micro-budget. But more importantly, his cinematic sensibilities are out-of-this-world. With a DIY style that rarely shows through, Patterson manages to not only make an amazingly economic picture, but also the best alien invasion film in years.

The story takes one point of view of a potential alien invasion, following two teenagers from a small New Mexico town in the 1950s. Everett (Jake Horowitz), a local radio disc jockey, is the guy everyone calls when they need electrical help. He’s friends with Fay (Sierra McCormick), a high school student

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Directed by: Andrew Patterson Cast: Sierra McCormick, Jake Horowitz, Gail Cronauer

who’s also a switchboard operator, often putting calls through to Everett on his radio show.

One night, Fay hears a strange noise over one of the phone lines and patches it through to Everett to see what he thinks.

Everett puts it on the air to see if anybody out there has any information about the eerie sound. From there, the two characters are sent down a giant rabbit hole.

The Vast of Night is a masterclass in filmmaking. Not just because the shots look crisp, but because the choices and camera tricks are never in vain. Never does Patterson use self-indul-

gent gimmicks with nothing else to offer, meant only to impress an audience. There’s an artistic conscience to it all.

The Vast of Night/Andrew Patterson/Amazon

The Vast of Night

The Vast of Night/Andrew Patterson/Amazon/Palm Springs/Hulu/Neon/Critical Thinking/Vertical Entertainment/Arthur Christmas/Aardman/Long Shot/Summit Entertainment/Lionsgate/Birds of Prey/DC/Jim Lee/Warner Bros./The Muppets Take Manhattan/The Jim Henson Company/TriStar Pictures/Halloween/John Carpenter/Miramax/Blumhouse/The Perfect Score/MTV/Paramount/Shazam!/DC/Jim Lee/Warner Bros. (Previous Spread)

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The entire first 15 minutes consist of a wide shot following our two leads and it’s hard to make out their faces. The use of strictly natural light at night time doesn’t help. The restrictions are bothersome at first and it’s admittedly difficult to connect with these characters, causing us to want to know about them even more. Over the course of the movie, Patterson uses odd techniques like this, such as dialogue over a completely black screen, drawn-out push-in shots that could make Coppola blush, or an incredible one-take that zooms through the streets of town, only to slow down once it reaches the gymnasium, continuing to move, but this time, panning through the crowd and surveying the townspeople.

Maybe my favorite scene is the nearly-10-minute take of McCormick playing operator, switching calls around as she discovers the strange noise. Not only is McCormick’s acting impressive, but the way the scene is shot is unique. Instead of plopping the camera onto a stand, there’s an actual guy behind the lens, putting in his share of work

as well. The frame stays pretty steady, but there’s a humanity behind it; never perfectly still, rather bobbing ever so slightly and infrequently so as to still preserve the energy that was built prior to this sequence, and to give even more energy to a long scene. Even when the director doesn’t design things so we necessarily notice the camerawork, there’s still something there worth noting.

The filmmaking goes beyond just looks, but has a huge impact on the storytelling. When you have several long scenes with a lot of dialogue, that

dialogue has to be intriguing. At one point, a man named Billy calls into the radio station to tell his story about the noise. He talks for nearly ten minutes, and at times Patterson even turns the screen black in order to adjust the audience to a completely auditory experience. It’s like he’s telling a ghost story. The turn of phrase is so compelling that we’re fully engrossed.

As much as these long scenes rely on gripping dialogue, they are carried by fantastic acting.

Patterson knows who his strongest performers are. McCormick has her time to shine, but so does Gail Cronauer, who plays Mabel Blanche, an old lady who tells the kids of her own experience with aliens. She’s talking for large chunks of the script, but never flinches. She keeps her emoting at a bare minimum, while still conveying the perfect amount of eeriness.

In the tradition of classic horror/suspense films, The Vast of Night is chill-inducing without needing to give us anything visual to stimulate those emotions. The focus is on the storytelling, itself, with the director showing how efficient he is whether there’s a lot of talking or very little. holiday 2020|

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silly movie fiction. There was some credulity in logical conspiracies, but not of the supernatural. We feel that ingenuousness forming in this town. We sense that these people are hearing of aliens for the very first time.

The Vast of Night is such a beautiful film that it’s impossible to discuss everything here, and moreover, you can take literally any aspect of the movie and have a fun time dissecting the choices and artistic direction behind it. This is one for true film nerds. But what heightens every impressive technical feat is its entertainment value.

It’s refreshing when an ingenious filmmaker on the technical side is also so much in tune with his audience to craft something that’s enjoyable to watch as well. I see Andrew Patterson being a force in this industry for years to come and I can’t wait to see what he can do with a bigger budget and more resources. Even though we know he doesn’t need them.

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challenge altogether.

Everything about The Vast of Night is an intentional decision. Patterson sets his film in the 1950s not just for the retro aesthetic, but to juxtapose the naiveté of America with some seriously crazy ordeals that could only be believed in today’s world. The director doesn’t just passively set the film in that era, but maximizes the time period every chance he gets.

The ignorance angle has been used before when placing sci-fi amidst a decade in the past, which is why Patterson includes Fay, who’s not really a conspiracy theorist, but interested in advanced technology and believes in imaginative concepts the world has yet to see any inkling of, like smart phones or GPS. On the other end of the spectrum is Everett. In the 1950s, there were few humans who had ever heard of alien conspiracies. The ones who had relegated such concepts to

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With a DIY style that rarely shows through, Patterson manages to not only make an amazingly economic picture, but also the best alien invasion film in years.

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For everyone who loved Cloverfield because it was like the anti-Independence Day, The Vast of Night takes the minimalist mystery approach to a whole new level. Paying obvious homage to anthology shows such as The Twilight Zone, it’s also reminiscent of classics such as 1956’s The Invasion of the Body Snatchers or 1951’s The Day the Earth Stood Still.

There are moments we wonder if there will be any surprises along the way. The end result is fairly predictable, but getting there is not. Falling in line with Patterson’s budgetary limitations, the story must offer something of substance outside of grand visuals or crazy effects. When you get to the end of the film, there’s a tendency to wonder what this is all about. You know there are some deeper themes at play, but may not exactly know what the movie is trying to tell us on a subconscious level.

The Vast of Night is about belief.

Regardless if we’re right or not, it’s easier for us to believe things if we want them to be true, whether it be conspiracies, morals, personal decisions. But to believe something we don’t want to be true is not only more challenging, but more frightening. And just because we don’t want something to be true doesn’t mean it’s not. It’s easy to attribute strange phenomena to something rational and explainable. In this circumstance, belief is different from faith, which challenges our belief when it both falls in line with our lifestyle AND when it doesn’t. That’s a different

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Palm Springs (hulu)

Directed by: Max Barbakow Cast: Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, J.K. Simmons

Time loop movies are an incredibly difficult task to undertake, mostly because it’s impossible to watch one (or write one, for that matter) without immediately thinking of Bill Murray’s 1993 hit Groundhog Day, which has since become synonymous with the sub-genre. More recently, there has been somewhat of a resurgence with films like Edge of Tomorrow and Happy Death Day, and even TV shows like Russian Doll. But one thing that’s for certain is there are still some fresh new ideas out there. Palm Springs is the proof.

Unlike most other time loop movies, this one begins with the protagonist already inside the loop. In fact, he’s been there for quite some time now.

Andy Samberg plays Nyles, a reluctant wedding guest accompanying his girlfriend, who’s a bridesmaid. Nyles is drinking heavily and acting strange. He

who over-analyzes his situation. He doesn’t take the meticulous time to learn about everyone and everything within the world he’s stuck in, He’s just living his life, unquestioning of the reasons behind it. That is, until he starts hitting on the Maid of Honor, Sarah (Cristin Milioti), and they have a particular tryst which sends her down the portal, getting her stuck in the loop as well.

Sarah, who has issues of her own, joins Nyles in using their predicament as an excuse to be hedonistic.

However, she’s at an earlier, more reckless stage in her experience, which Nyles tries to guide her out of. Certain character developments whip you around a bit and come off as rushed, but don’t let these lapses detract from the urgency at hand.

Palm Springs, which I don’t believe takes place in the city itself, rather the surrounding environs (it’s filmed in Santa Clarita), brings a fresh perspective in both the framing of the time loop and the cause behind it. In the past, we’ve seen characters in other films stuck in their purga-

even gives a very poignant and thought-provoking toast. It turns out, Nyles has lived out this day many times before.

There was an earthquake in a nearby desert mountain that caused a mysterious cave to open up, containing an amber vortex that launches anyone who enters back to the last time they woke up, sealing their recursive fate. Every time the person falls asleep or dies, they must live the day over again.

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mistry with Milioti is magnetic.

However, the best performance is by J.K. Simmons, who plays Roy, another man who got sucked into the time loop after a night of drinking and drugging with Nyles. In fact, he hates Nyles for it and finds therapy in killing him over and over again.

As Nyles explains, death can’t happen, but pain is very real.

The way Simmons portrays Roy is reminiscent of some of Sam Elliott’s most iconic performances, but with a bit more roughneck attitude.

Palm Springs acknowledges both the burden of living a repetitious life, as well as the comfort of routine, even if it ignores certain natural flows of thought. Ultimately, going outside of what’s comfortable is what helps us grow and better ourselves, and usually it helps when we’re able to connect with others. But also, if we’re forced into an unfortunate situation, the only escape is to find the beauty in your reality. Even if you’re living the same day over and over again, there’s no reason why you can’t find paradise there.

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Screenwriter Andy Siara covers all of the necessary ground when compiling this incredibly smart script. Events are well-diagrammed and the complicated plot is never confusing.

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Palm Springs/Hulu/Neon/Critical Thinking/ Vertical Entertainment

torial loop for reasons only the universe can explain, getting out of it after some sentimental karma thing happens. But Palm Springs is much more nihilistic than that. The answer can’t be that easy.

Like a good magician, director Max Barbakow plays with the audience’s perspective with some sleight-of-hand and misdirection. We expect one thing based on the forced perspective we’ve been presented with, but there’s another truth we hadn’t even thought of yet right around the corner. Screenwriter Andy Siara covers all of the necessary ground when compiling this incredibly smart script. Events are well-diagrammed and the complicated plot is never confusing.

There’s a spirituality and existential aspect, perhaps as expected, but the film often diverts to flippant and absurdist humor now and again. The tone is a bit uneven, with the comedy playing a more intermittent role, but there’s a levity underneath the story’s darker realities. The result is a very left-of-center

version of a concept that’s already never boring.

The Andy Samberg here isn’t the outrageous comedian we’re used to seeing. The situation he’s stuck in is almost always more ludicrous than his character himself. Alongside his usual Lonely Island crew behind the scenes, the SNL alum manages to tone down his portrayal of a lazy drunk stuck in a time loop.

He gives emotional and austere moments that I don’t think I’ve ever seen him give, and his che-

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critical thinking (VOD)

Directed by: John Leguizamo Cast: John Leguizamo, Rachel Bay Jones

John Leguizamo takes his second directorial turn with Critical Thinking, based on a true story about a group of inner-city youth who defies odds to win the National Chess Championship back in the ‘90s. This is far from the first movie about chess, or even minority chess players, but unlike many similar projects, this one is executed with a blend of rawness and youthful charm.

Leguizamo also stars as the high school teacher and chess club moderator, Mr. Martinez, a guy also raised on the streets, understanding of where these kids are coming from, constantly leveling with them and meeting them halfway. This dude is written to be insanely likable, and he is. We also get to know the lives of five

teenagers, almost all people of color, each from a slightly different background, mastering the game of chess. Their problems are from both within and without; from one another and also from the system as a whole. A lot of time is spent on these characters’ subplots, yet their stories never really get wrapped up neatly, and I actually don’t mind it.

In an early scene, one of Martinez’s new students gets shot and killed, letting the audience know that this ain’t no Coach Carter, even though some similarities between the films are glaring in both tone and theme. This is a chess film with an R rating, and we’re aware of that in the back of our minds. There’s tension coming from everywhere all the time for these kids, which simulates, for the audience, life in the streets as we’re constantly on the edge of our seats afraid something terrible is right around the corner.

The script by Dito Montiel (Man Down) is stronger than it lets on, with careful navigation of plot tropes. Like most chess movies, Critical Thinking shows how lovers of the game are able to apply much of the game’s philosophy to the real world. Again, this is nothing new, and situations definitely teeter on melodrama as we’re constantly feeling submerged in emotional depth. However, the plot narrowly avoids cliches for the most part. The film has a justified bone to pick with the system which sets these kids up to fail, but never dwells on it, allowing the story itself to paint the picture for you.

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occasional over-seriousness does have its advantages as we get one of the most unintentionally funny moments I’ve seen in a while when the character Ido (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.) gets into a violent fight with his crime boss. The match scenes early on lack a deal of suspense, especially before the audience understands what to expect out of the premise and learns where to look for suspense during the matches. The film doesn’t take much time educating us on the basics of the game. Leguizamo’s character spends his classes teaching intermediate players about advanced strategy. This can get confusing for those new to the game, but someone with a somewhat-decent understanding of chess should be able to see past the esoteric references eventually.

Critical Thinking may not be perfect, but there’s a charm to its sloppiness in a Bad News Bears type of way. And while the team in the story does have the talent to rival the journey, the journey, itself, is somehow even more challenging than the actual chess matches.

This is one of those films that many of us may feel obligated to like because of its profound content, but it’s fun enough that we’re able to support those inclinations in good faith as well.

Nine Stories Productions/Netflix/I’m Thinking of Ending Things/Netflix/Likely Story/Bill & Ted Face the Music/United Artists Releasing/Orion Pictures

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Leguizamo gives a stellar performance as the Cuban-American teacher, doing an excellent job with his often-large chunks of dialogue, melting into his role. The actor plays the affable chess coach with ease and is the obvious star of the show, but doesn’t need to carry the film on his back due to the charisma of his young cast mates. While still mostly unrefined, the supporting actors get the job done with heartfelt performances that pack a punch as they’re each able to take control of their emotional shifts along the way. Antagonists are often presented as exaggerated stereotypes or mustache-twirlers, but they’re never available for long enough to leave a lasting impression, which is a positive. The villain here is the actual culmination of all these obstacles.

Leguizamo’s direction, albeit not flawless, pulls the film together as he

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This is a chess film with an R rating, and we’re aware of that in the back of our minds.

focuses on the relationship-building between the leads and makes sure that their bonds come off as sincere as possible. While the personalities of the actors show through, there isn’t a lot of humor on display outside of just empty banter.

The characters joke around, but there aren’t really any actual jokes. However, the

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B+

Other Notable Releases

The Devil All the Time (netflix)

The Rental (VOD)

A I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Netflix)

A The Tax Collector (VOD)

ACritical Thinking/Vertical Entertainment/The Rental/IFC Films/Black Bear Pictures/ The Tax Collector/RLJE Films/Cross Creek Pictures/The Devil All the Time

Bill & Ted Face the Music (VOD)

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Arthur Christmas (2011)

While far from the first Christmas movie to give us a peek behind the scenes of how Santa and his elves get the job done during the busiest night of the year, Arthur Christmas does so with a fresh mind and an inventiveness that goes above and beyond even the most well-thought-out scenarios.

Viewing Santa Claus as a hierarchical position rather than an infinite being, the animated film follows Santa’s younger son, Arthur (James McAvoy), a clumsy, scrawny young man in charge of answering children’s letters. He’s all into the magic of Christmas

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and still possesses that wonder and awe that we typically lose well into adulthood.

The story opens on Christmas Eve as Santa (Jim Broadbent) flies around delivering presents with the help of about a thousand elves. Actually, it’s the elves who do almost all of the gift delivering as the elderly Santa Claus, now on his 70th Christmas, struggles to even stay awake. Instead of a sleigh, he rides in a massive spacecraft that puts entire towns within its shadow. There are no reindeer because this thing is powered by technology. At the helm of the operation is Arthur’s older brother, Steve (Hugh Laurie), back at the North Pole. Much like mission control would monitor an astronaut in space, Steve is in constant communication with his father, watching every angle of the operation, with a room full of elves at computers behind him making sure nothing goes wrong.

And yet, something still does go wrong. In fact, only one thing: a child somehow fails to get her present. Just one child. Unrealized until Santa is back home and everything is packed up, the incident is written off as an unfortunate loss as Steve says there’s nothing he can do about it. He convinces his dad not to worry either and they all just go to sleep.

Arthur Christmas/Aardman

Directed by: Sarah Smith, Barry Cook Cast: James McAvoy, Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy

Arthur is crushed, yet determined to make things right. He’s urged on by his grandfather (Bill Nighy), who held the prestigious Santa position over 70 years ago (these Clauses live a long time), to take the present to the girl himself. Grandsanta shows Arthur his old sleigh, which everyone thought had been chopped up for firewood decades ago, and the two of them set off on a wild adventure. Obviously, many things go terribly wrong along the way, but the pitfalls feel inevitable once you discover how senile Grandsanta can be.

Just like the best Christmas movies, Arthur Christmas taps into the feeling we have for the holiday as kids and figures out how to evoke that same ethos for us now as adults. However, the filmmakers never vilify the characters who don’t share that sentiment. Each person—Arthur, Santa, Steve, Grandsanta—is at a different stage in his life, and we’re made to sympathize with that fact without feeling like we’re being manipulated to feel a certain way about them.

For the younger viewers, the comedy will almost always fly right over their heads, but won’t go unappreciated by their parents. The wry humor never quite becomes broad, maintaining a

more subtle approach as Aardman, the studio behind this film and others like Shaun the Sheep, often does with their projects. The comedy is found in small details in the background or quick, almost murmured lines by characters that go unacknowledged.

The dialogue is minimally important and reserved mostly for jokes.

Directors Sarah Smith and Barry Cook commit a sharp focus on effective visual storytelling. You could watch this movie on mute and still firmly grasp the plot, as well as the emotional trajectories of the characters. The duo doesn’t resort to overlong montages either. Each scene has us feeling like we’re there with our characters.

As fun as this movie is, it also has some things to say, speaking to how these days, especially, more convenience can typically ruin nostalgia and get in the way of sentiment. Oftentimes, sentiment is born from the time it takes for us to do something—things that a faster, more efficient way of operating our culture can’t possibly match up with: putting a record on a turntable, driving over to Blockbuster to pick out a movie or two, writing a letter to a loved one, going to the mall to shop for Christmas presents. But when Santa flies through the world at light speed, he doesn’t have time to

stop and take note of who’s getting which gift. He can’t see the kids’ faces as they look under the tree, experiencing Christmas vicariously through their eyes. Those kinds of experiences get lost through the more high-tech operation that the holiday has turned into. Steve and the elves have Christmas down to a science, but no amount of technology can replace or bring back, the feelings you get from doing things the old fashioned way.

Arthur Christmas is an immersive experience—one that probably couldn’t be done as effectively through a live-action medium, which is a rare feat in today’s current animation climate when it comes to movies that revolve around human characters. So much thought is put into every detail of this world—both high-tech and simplistic, appealing to both aesthetics, but very much favoring one over the other. It’s at the top of the best Christmas movies to come out in recent vintage, not just because of how it brings us into this highly-creative world, impressing us with its inventiveness, but in how it makes us love its world even more when all that stuff is gone.

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The comedy is found in small details in the background or quick, almost murmured lines by characters that go unacknowledged.

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Long Shot (2019) Directed by: Jonathan Levine Cast: Charlize Theron, Seth Rogen, June Diane Raphael Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron are different in many ways. One is a constant funny man, famous for endorsing marijuana and making raunchy sex comedies. The other is one of the best actresses of our generation, transformative in every role she’s ever been in. Her elegance would have fit in easily with that of the icons of Hollywood’s Golden Age. On paper, a romantic comedy featuring this pair as a happy couple doesn’t seem to make any sense.

But seeing it play out actually forces you to recognize the insane talents of the two actors on screen—each king and queen of his and her own world, coming together to make something really good with a solid team behind them as well. You realize the power of talent.

2019’s Long Shot follows Rogen’s Fred Flarsky, a writer for a liberal media outlet. He does crazy stuff like posing as a neo-Nazi and nearly

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getting a swastika tattoo (he’s Jewish) in order to expose the group in an article. Fred is a stoner slacker in the vein of Rogen’s most famous roles from Knocked Up or Pineapple Express. But here, he leaves the apathy behind. Like many 30-something bachelors, he only owns two pairs of pants and only wears one jacket ever, but he also writes for a liberal media outlet His website was just bought out by a very conservative media magnate, so Fred quits in protest.

Jobless, he attends a charity fundraising event with his best friend Lance (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), and runs into his former babysitter, Charlotte Field, played by Theron, who also happens to be U.S. Secretary of State. At first, Charlotte is unsure why Fred looks so familiar, but approaches him and it all comes back to her. Little does she know, Fred’s been in love with her since

he was 12. She offers him a job as her speech writer, since her “humor scores” are down with the public. His work is a hit with everybody, but the prestigious Charlotte starts falling for him in return, which causes panic amongst her team as they get her ready for her presidential. Fred doesn’t exactly fit in with Charlotte’s image.

Rogen is very much in his element, doing what he does best. He’s a flawed protagonist and often a bumbling fool, but also actually has some real smarts, which helps to justify his bizarre observations and the unique spin he always seems to put on things. Giving us some of his best comedic riffs in a few years, Rogen ensures the comedy never lets up unless it has to, and director Jonathan Levine lets him do his thing while moving the story along at a brisk pace.

Theron levels up the otherwise runof-the-mill—albeit clever—irreverent comedy and even gives it tinges of high-brow. She brings a level of emotion you just don’t see in even the classiest rom-coms. And even more impressively, Rogen feeds off of it. Not that he’s incapable of such a task, but he’s also never really been given the material.

Together, the actors have an incredibly natural chemistry, but the movie

Long Shot/Summit Entertainment/Lionsgate

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doesn’t just rely on them. The script, written by the talented Dan Sterling and Liz Hannah, is excellently crafted as well. Sterling’s credits include The Office and another Rogen vehicle, The Interview. Hannah co-wrote the Steven Spielberg journalism drama The Post, but has yet to flex much of her chops other than that. The pairing is perfect. One writer provides the political patois while the other brings the comedy.

The drama between Fred and Charlotte never feels forced and, for the most part, stays away from the more controversial political topics. For a political film in today’s climate, Long Shot does a good job representing two opposing sides of our country despite its dual protagonists being liberal democrats.

Instead, it focuses on the difference between sacrifice and compromise. Is it okay to play the game to get to your desired result as long as you still stay focused on your core principles?

These dilemmas apply to both sides of the line.

Long Shot mocks the public’s priorities when it comes to choosing a political candidate, but also how they lack acceptance of opposing sides.

Charlotte gets to where she is by allowing defeat

in certain areas, while knowing it may ultimately contribute towards her bigger goals.

Fred’s best friend, Lance, is a republican, which is news to Fred. He learns that Lance has been keeping the truth a secret in order to be accepted by him.

When Fred realizes the pressure he’s put on his friend, whom he loved anyway, never thinking about his political views, he learns that sometimes you have to make sacrifices for the ones you love and can often do so without compromising your own philosophies.

Long Shot is silly if you really stop to think about it, but what makes the film so great is how it forces you to go along with its notions anyway. The love story elements are very old school, but the humor is fresh and vibrant, tapping into the strengths of both Theron and Rogen, respectively. The odd pairing relies heavily on the individual talents, but because both are masters at his and her craft, the end result is pure gold.

Is it okay to play the game to get to your desired result as long as you still stay focused on your principles?

These dilemmas apply to both sides of the line.

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Birds of Prey

and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn Directed by: Cathy Yan (2020)

Cast: Margot Robbie, Rosie Perez, Mary Winstead of how she wronged them.

Detective Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez) is on her trail as well, in search of an expensive diamond with some history. Quinn also happens to be looking for the diamond. She was given until midnight to find and “return” it to crime lord Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor). Roman, much like everyone else in town, wants Quinn dead, but this may just be the way she gets her immunity.

Roman is the typical Gotham villain—a real live wire. An unpredictable, metro-sexual madman who loves carving people’s faces off for no reason whatsoever. As for the diamond, it’s inside the intestinal tract of Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco), a teenager with sticky fingers. She picks the pocket of

Roman’s henchman and winds up with a bounty on her head. She and Harley form a bond as Harley tries to help her evade Roman.

The narrative jumps around in time a lot, especially early on, and floods us with extraneous events and characters only included for the sake of humor or world-building. However, the film stays locked in to its very specific, hectic style, and director Cathy Yan navigates the admittedly intricate script in a way that keeps the confusion to a minimum.

The action is a particular highlight, with surprisingly creative stunts and fight sequences.

Birds of Prey is essentially about the layers of villainy. Harley Quinn is a villain, but unlike Roman—or the Joker, for that matter—she has a bit of a heart, even if it’s not on display for everyone to see.

There’s no distinct trajectory for her cha-

Birds of Prey/DC/Jim Lee/Warner Bros.

If you were a bit tentative about DC’s Birds of Prey following the abysmal Suicide Squad a few years ago, you’re not alone. The latter was all style and hardly any substance. The script felt too much like a comic book and we barely cared about any of its characters—let alone Harley Quinn. So a spin-off focusing directly on the villain accomplice didn’t necessarily make us jump for joy. However, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is much better than its predecessor.

This one actually has some surprises up its sleeve.

Margot Robbie returns as the baddie Harley Quinn, the former girlfriend of the infamous Joker.

Her link to Gotham’s most notorious villain has given her a pass with everyone around town. She has upset a lot of people over the years, but has been able to get away with her crimes due to the fear her boyfriend evokes. It’s why she’s not too quick to tell everyone that they broke up. In fact, it takes her awhile. But when the information leaks out after a night of drunken recklessness, the entire town attempts to exact their revenge on her all at once. This becomes a running joke throughout the film as we’re briefly presented with profiles of random people who Quinn has wronged with an outline

And Robbie is much better this time as well. We’re actually able to get inside her character’s head to see what makes her tick—with the help of some well-utilized narration—and she’s given much more to do.

What surprises me the most is how impactful these performances are. Everyone is pretty great, from Robbie to Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s sneaky turn as the self-made assassin with a vengeance. But perhaps the one who caught me most off guard was Jurnee Smollett’s role as the kick-boxing, lounge singing Black Canary, who’s begrudgingly serving as Roman’s chauffeur. The young actress has been around since the ‘90s (Denise in Full House), but this is her biggest project yet. She mostly plays it racter, and that’s a good thing. Her development is a slow burn, as it should be with a corkscrew linearity such as this. These dynamics give the film a sort of Western vibe, where the town hires an antihero to save the day and he or she teams up with other antiheroes to defeat the actual evil dude.

Some of the relationships in the film go greatly underdeveloped, perhaps because of the overabundance of characters.

A character enters the picture and we’re expected to care about them after only 2 minutes of screen time. We’re even told to be emotionally invested in Harley’s relationship with a hyaena, who serves no purpose whatsoever. But at least Harley, herself, is developed. This would, of course, be a complete contrast to her role in Suicide Squad where she was basically relegated to serving as a punchline machine and a wild card plot device.

range are never gratuitous—each one carefully calculated for the given moment.

Birds of Prey feels cohesive in its madness—from the swirling camerawork to the ADD-inducing narrative—even if the tactics may possess a small amount of smoke and mirrors to distract from a lack of motive for Quinn.

But this film may be more of a character study than it leads on. There’s a fluidity among the chaos, and a maniacal and unflinching nature that fits right in with its title character. There’s a lot of fun to be had if you can get past its man-hating message.

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cool as an eventual ally of Harley Quinn, but can flip a switch with the best of them. She has lows exploding with conviction and highs filled with a napalm intensity.

McGregor also gives a solid performance. The veteran never plays the villainous part how you would expect anyone to play it. Roman Sionis is a sadistic, power-hungry maniac, yet McGregor’s inflections and mercurial

Harley Quinn is a villain, but unlike Roman—or the Joker, for that matter—she has a bit of a heart, even if it’s not on display for everyone to see it.

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The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) Directed by: Frank Oz Cast: Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz There was a lot wrong with 1981’s The Great Muppet Caper. Following the masterful debut feature, The Muppet Movie from 1979, the expectations were high, but instead we got something totally disjointed and unclear, blending Golden Age theatrics with a heist caper that didn’t exactly work. With the third installment in the film series, 1984’s The Muppets Take Manhattan switches directorial duties from Jim Henson to puppeteer Frank Oz, and happens to benefit from a much lower standard.

This time, the plot fits the tone.

Much like The Muppet Movie pays homage to Hollywood, this one takes Kermit and pals across the country for an ode to Broadway. The gang just finishes their low-level stage production of Manhattan Melodies for their college classmates, when it’s suggested they try to produce it for Broadway. Kermit, initially skeptical of the idea, is urged on by Fozzie, Gonzo, and the rest of the Muppets to give it a try.

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Upon arriving in Manhattan, they discover that getting enough backers to put a show on Broadway is not easy at all. As their funds run out, they mutually decide to split up and try to make it on their own. Rowlf the Dog works at a dog kennel in Delaware, Fozzie joins real bears in hibernation, and Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem get a job in Pittsburgh playing at a retirement home. Kermit stays in New York and works at a restaurant to earn money, himself, while hustling to sell the play.

The Muppets Take Manhattan/The Jim Henson Company/TriStar Pictures

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Miss Piggy secretly stays in Manhattan to spy on Kermit and his new human friend, Jenny (Juliana Donald).

There’s some jealousy of course, but then things get complicated when Kermit gets hit by a car and loses his memory.

The themes never get too thick, but there are some nice notions about diversity and family. Apart, when they separate to be with their

as the original 1979 movie. The Muppets exist as struggling members of society rather than fictionalized versions of themselves. Great Muppet Caper was grandiose, but plotless. This one puts less focus on stylistic decisions—especially where they don’t need to be—and more focus on being a movie that showcases the Muppets and their strengths.

Oz, who also did script rewrites, brings much-needed heart to the film.

Much like the first movie, The Muppets Take Manhattan feels like a personal project and the Muppets, themselves, are very relatable here. We feel their emotion and plight. This film isn’t content with being only a farce, but something of substance; proof that these fuzzy creatures are capable of the same feelings and conflicts as you and me.

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own kinds, the Muppets are complacent, but never truly happy like they were when they were with one another. It’s their diversity that makes their experiences more fulfilling and their lives more complete.

The final musical production is beautiful, but ends somewhat abruptly. The movie up until then does a fine job balancing the love story between Kermit and Piggy with the premise about showbiz, but ultimately doesn’t quite satisfy both story arcs.

Just like most Muppet movies, the plot often gets pushed aside for a long string of vaudevillian bits with dad joke humor. But much more than its predecessor, The Muppets Take Manhattan possesses a lot of the same spirit

It’s their diversity that makes their experiences more fulfilling and their lives more complete.

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Halloween (1978)

Directed by: John Carpenter Cast: Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tony Moran

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king high school student Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her friends.

Laurie keeps seeing the mysterious killer from afar and believes she’s in danger, but none of her friends believe her. They don’t realize their own lives may be in danger as well.

Curtis is definitely our star, playing her iconic role with a crisp efficiency (by the way, did she ever look like she was in high school?), but the best acting is done by Pleasance. As the zealous doctor, he gives a very real, natural, and even macabre performance, opting out of a more cliched approach and avoiding the potential stereotype Loomis could have easily turned into.

The story often feels underdeveloped in its simplicity and bare-bones approach. Carpenter crafts the suspense really well and perfectly maximizes the scary imagery of his villain to create something truly terrifying. However, the director occasionally sells out by distancing himself from realistic character decisions and sensible situations for the sake of a good scare or to build up suspense. For a smart girl, Laurie takes her eyes off Myers far too often when faced with him one-on-one. And the famous ending is memorable, but could have

Halloween/John Carpenter/ Miramax/Blumhouse

There’s no doubt that John Carpenter’s 1978 horror film Halloween changed the game for the entire genre. It helped popularize the trend of women as heroines, along with the eventually-overused first-person perspective for the killer. Taking notes from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho along with some others, Carpenter brings the slasher concept to a whole new level and ushers in a slew of imitators during the slasher craze of the 1980s.

Halloween may not have invented all of the tropes it uses, but the film definitely establishes itself as the blueprint for the countless that followed in its footsteps.

The movie opens up in 1963 as a 6-year-old boy, Michael Myers, violently murders his sister on Halloween night. Fast forward to present day 1978, the day before Halloween, and Myers has escaped from the mental institution he’s been in for 15 years. His psychiatrist, Dr. Samuel Loomis (Donald Pleasance), believes Michael is planning on returning to his old house where he committed his crime all those years ago.

He’s not far off. Myers begins stal-

really serve the vibe he’s going for. Although, he could have done a better job with decorating his set in the spirit of the season, or showing more characters dressing up in costumes perhaps.

Fortunately, Carpenter does an amazing job stylistically—no matter what the season—and shows us why he ended up becoming so beloved by horror fans throughout the next decade and beyond. But Michael Myers looks so creepy all by himself, so it shouldn’t be that hard to make the film around him scary while also making a few smarter decisions here and there.

He could have easily had it both ways.

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been saved for the sequel. Because of it, nothing ends up being concluded and the entire spectacle now seems to be in vain in a movie that already doesn’t do enough to incentivize the story’s plot points in the first place.

Carpenter does something slightly frustrating every once in a while when he confuses the audience’s perspective with Laurie’s to heighten our reaction. For instance, she’ll be looking at the killer, then the camera will cut away, then cut back to the same spot to show that he’s not there anymore (insert violin shriek). But Laurie has been looking at him the entire time, so why should we feel like his sudden disappearance means anything eerie? And why should we feel any uneasiness from that at all? She would have seen him as he walked away.

Despite its name, Carpenter doesn’t quite tap into the Halloween ethos as well as he could.

He relies on his characters’ solitude as a source for the creepiness during a holiday that’s associated with crowds. Furthermore, he mostly opts out of showing kids running amuck outside as they trick-or-treat, as that wouldn’t

Carpenter crafts the suspense really well and perfectly maximizes the scary imagery of his villain to create something truly terrifying.

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The Perfect Score (2004)

Directed by: Brian Robbins Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Erika Christensen, Chris Evans 2004’s teen heist comedy, The Perfect Score, came at the very tail end of the teen movie craze/deluge of the late-’90s and early-’00s. It’s a film that follows a Breakfast Club-array of high schoolers who are all having trouble passing their SAT tests. One is the class salutatorian (Erika Christensen), another an athlete (Darius Miles), another a stoner (Leonardo Nam), another a punk-rocker (Scarlett Johansson), and the last two serve as the everyman—one is an average student (Brian Greenberg), while the other is above average (Chris Evans).

Replace the detention room with the SAT offices, where these six college hopefuls plan a heist to steal the answers to the test. Along the way, we learn about the different characters and their motives and desires, all

while having a few laughs.

However, the themes aren’t anything to be laughed at. however. The characters, several times, mention how it’s unfair that colleges determine who someone is by a number. Or how, all their lives, they’re told to be unique and different, when all the system wants them to be is just like everyone else. The movie makes

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These characters often become so focused on their resentment of their own pigeonholed stereotypes that the film, itself, almost turns into a stereotype.

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some fantastic points, even if they’re hidden underneath wacky humor and oft-forced sentiment. These characters often become so focused on their resentment of their own pigeonholed stereotypes that the film, itself, almost turns into a stereotype.

But the concept is smart, even when the script falls into typical conventions. About 20 minutes in, Evans’ character has the test answers in his hand, but—oops!—he accidentally puts them into the shredder instead of the copier. At times the antics are sitcom-y, but the eye-rolling doesn’t become too overbearing if you consider the era and the mediocrity of the film’s contemporaries.

There are some nice surprises along the way, and the characters are all likable, especially Leonardo Nam’s stoner, Roy, who’s the obvious comic relief. But Nam perfects the sloweddown Bill & Ted timbre and offers some of the movie’s most memorable moments. The main attraction is the heist, itself, even though it’s a lot less exciting than it is humorous.

Admittedly, I enjoyed my time watching The Perfect Score, much like I did when I first watched it in theaters as a freshman in high school. Back then, college felt like a lifetime away— heck, I had just gotten into high school—but so was the responsibility of critiquing movies in a more pensive way. I may look at the themes with a different lens today, but I think there’s something to be said about how much I enjoyed the film at both points in my life.

The Perfect Score/MTV/Paramount/Shazam!/ DC/Jim Lee/Warner Bros.

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shazam!

(2019)

Directed by: David F. Sandberg Cast: Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Asher Angel

DC Films is currently experimenting with hiring micro-budget horror directors onto their film projects.

They had success with James Wan (Saw) at the helm of 2018’s Aquaman, and now they’ve doubled down with David F. Sandberg (Lights Out) directing Shazam! However, Sandberg’s credits aren’t quite as impressive, which isn’t always a bad sign.

Shazam! (you must include the exclamation point) isn’t an awful movie. In fact, it’s quite entertaining. But that’s almost entirely due to Zachary Levi in the title role and Jack Dylan Grazer as his sidekick/ best friend. Mark Strong is pretty good as the villain, but he’s fairly expendable.

The movie somehow manages to be darker than its DC predecessors despite stepping away from the dark blues and grays of Zack Snyder’s perennial palette. The bright red and yellow suit of our hero pairs excellently with the occasionally wicked details thrown into the film.

The story is set during Christmas time, but the skies are always gloomy. This is a movie that has fun with contradictions.

We open up with a villain backstory. When Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Strong) was a child, he was given the chance to prove himself to a wizard (Djimon Hounsou) who tested his willpower in search of a fitting successor. Sivana failed and returned back to his regular life with his belittling father and bully brother. It’s sad, really. But when Sivana grows up, he hunts down the wizard and takes the forbidden orb that was used to test his willpower in the first place. He becomes possessed by seven different entities, all coinciding with the seven deadly sins.

In present day, a teenager, Billy

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Batson (Asher Angel), is searching for his mother, who abandoned him at a carnival when he was young.

He eventually gets adopted again into a new foster home and becomes friends with Freddy (Grazer), a crippled teenager who gets picked on at school. When Billy gets fed up with seeing his friend get tormented, he stands up for him. With his powers running out, the wizard summons Billy to his mysterious hideout in another realm and allows him to take his place. Billy is instantly transformed into a much older man wearing a spandex suit and a cape (Levi), and he has superpowers.

We’re unsure whether there was much discernment behind the wizard’s decision, or if it was made in more of a panic. Either way, whenever Billy says the word “Shazam” he turns from teenager to Levi.

We go a good 45 minutes into the film before we even see Levi, but it’s never boring before that. We’ve been given some good setup and emotional investment for our characters on both sides of the fight.

We want to see what happens next.

When Levi comes into the picture, that entertainment amps up.

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Unfortunately the film then no longer relies on its script, but rather the talents on screen.

There are points in the movie that drag. By the time Billy is performing his powers for spare change, we’re very ready for the plot to develop past that. Also, he was zapping ATMs for loads of cash 10 minutes earlier, so why do we need to see the street performer bit? And then later, the lengthy and underwhelming fight scene at the end is a series of incomprehensible action that feels gratuitous. I get it, we’ve just been introduced to some new “characters,” but after the ninth finger zap, the audience is losing interest.

We need to get to the point.

This is a superhero movie, so there are certain elements it’s required to have. At some point we know Billy is going to encounter Dr. Sivana. However, when the supervillain finally becomes part of Billy’s story, I find myself cringing a little. Perhaps due to the fact that this moment is compounded with a curious bus sequence that’s improbable for several different reasons, but I also just wanted to watch more of Billy learning about his powers and using them as a typical teenager would, as long as it makes sense.

Then it dawned on me that this movie is good for that reason and that reason alone. Sure, it’s pretty darn funny, but it’s also very typical once you get past

the Big body swap concept. In Spider-Man, Peter Parker is also a teenager gifted with superpowers, but his nobility comes out right away—almost like he was “chosen.” In Shazam!, we never feel like Billy deserves his powers. He’s sympathetic, but not necessarily likable.

Just because a kid gets superpowers doesn’t automatically mean that he’s going to use them for good (or evil).

Teenagers are irresponsible and self-absorbed by nature, so to show Billy enjoying powers a bit too much feels about right.

Aside from Levi and Grazer, and sometimes Strong, the performances are pretty lackluster, and at times cringe-worthy. I’m not sure why it’s so difficult to find better talent for the ancillary characters. It doesn’t help that nearly every character in this movie is either incredibly saintly or terribly bad (If I had never been to Philadelphia and my only reference point were this movie, I would be convinced that rude people made up 85% of the city). Which makes the sympathy given to Sivana all the more unexpected and nearly out of place. However, when the villain throws his brother out of a 20-story window, it almost feels good. But, Sivana’s drive and motive ends just about there. As humanized as Sandberg tries to make his characters, there’s not much be-

yond their backstories, aside from one big moment from Billy and basically everything we get from Freddy, who’s probably the real star of this movie. Levi is funny, but given absolutely nothing to do emotionally and we usually forget he’s the exact same character as Billy.

Shazam! hits all the requisite marks, but the narrative isn’t always fluid. The storytelling is great when it plays with the premise, but when it falls back into typical superhero conventions, it doesn’t quite know what to do with them. While this is a huge step up from the notorious Justice League films (as were Wonder Woman and Aquaman), there’s a corporate fine-tuning I just can’t quite shake. Aquaman felt like a product of a filmmaker, but this one feels like the product of a studio. However, there’s still a lot of fun to be had.

”

[We] never feel like Billy deserves his powers. He’s sympathetic, but not necessarily likable.

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you may be alone, but there are still some options for you. Perhaps you just want a variety during the Christmas season. Christmas movies don’t have to be overt. While some utilize their merriment to juxtapose a dark, twisted premise, others simply relegate the holiday as a milieu to offer a more subconscious setting. Something as subtle as snow falling, or red and green lights in the background, or “Jingle Bell Rock” playing over the radio is enough to put you in the yuletide mood.

Even though many of us prefer a more traditional approach, a good balance is fun to have too.

Alt-Christmas comes in all shapes and sizes: some will be straight-up horror, others dark comedy, while one or two may combine elements of both…or neither. These entries prove that Christmas movies don’t necessarily need to be cheery or filled with feel-good sentiment to make for a certain watchability, or even evoke some sort of nostalgia.

Nostalgia can come in all forms, but the feeling still remains the same. Here are some of our favorite alternative Christmas movies to mix in with our usual holiday fare.

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Black Christmas (1974)

This 1974 classic is not only an early example of Christmas horror, but one of the first and most influential slasher films of all time. Set in a college sorority house, the girls notice that the members of their sorority are slowly going missing.

They begin receiving creepy phone calls with a breathy voice on the other end. Little do they know, the missing girls have been murdered, and the killer is actually living in their attic playing house with their corpses. This isn’t just another cheap slasher, but one of the fathers of the sub-genre, along with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre from

the same year, laying the groundwork for the likes of Halloween, Friday the 13th, and countless others. However, the film avoids the common exploitation traits that have riddled the horror genre for decades to follow. The scares aren’t cheap, but highly effective, and director Bob Clark gives us a sort of puzzle to solve as he unfolds the plot slowly throughout the movie.

Clark would later go on to make the cult holiday classic A Christmas Story, which employs one or two subtle horror moments itself. Black Christmas is creepier than many of the movies it influenced and easily stands on its own, with or without its holiday context, but the Christmas elements add a contrasting warmth to all the demented plot points.

Black Christmas/Warner Bros./Silent Night, Deadly Night/TriStar Pictures/Anchor Bay/Lionsgate/Gremlins/Warner Bros.

If It’s a Wonderful Life or Home Alone isn’t your style

Better Watch Out/Well Go USA/Rialto Distribution (Previous Spread)

he had been a “good boy” that year, his parents would still be alive.

When he’s 18, he gets a job at a toy store and is asked to dress up as Santa for the kids, which turns out to be a really, really bad idea. While the exploration of the effects of

The Nightmare Before Christmas/Tim Burton/Disney/ National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation/Warner Bros./

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trauma gets lost somewhere in the middle, Silent Night, Deadly Night is definitely a sick, twisted alternative to your favorite Christmas classics, and one that can’t ever be unseen—especially if you accidentally stumble across it as a child.

Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)

Controversial upon its release, this Christmas slasher is not one to watch with your young ones (not that most of these are, really).

Parents and critics alike lambasted the movie’s marketing during its release, which depicted Santa Claus as an evil killer. TV ads played during broadcasts of Three’s Company and Little House on the Prairie with many kids becoming frightened of Santa. Undermining the film’s overall poignancy, its reputation overshadowed the story itself, which covered the topics of PTSD and childhood trauma. When Billy was 5-years-old, his parents were killed in front of his eyes by a man dressed as Santa Claus. The event obviously haunted him his entire life. He grew up hating Santa, whose image is ubiquitous during this season, and believing that if

Black Christmas is creepier than many of the movies it influenced and easily stands on its own, with or without its holiday context.

gremlins (1984)

Perhaps the truest alt-Christmas movie ever, Gremlins matches the cheeriness of the season with a sardonic flair. Not quite a horror film, this one just might have been in a league of its own back in 1984.

Director Joe Dante, known for his dark sense of humor, managed to actually turn this black comedy into a Christmastime staple. Despite only tangential references to the holiday, its essence seeps through so much that when it originally came out, critics and audiences were perplexed by its June release date. A teenager is given a mysterious mogwai from his dad. Sweet at first, the mogwai turns out to be the gift that keeps on giving. The small creature of folklore, upon getting wet, spawns more mogwai, which wreak havoc all over town, destroying property and even killing some people. Gremlins is definitely more comedy than it is horror, but its uniquely indecisive tone has helped it earn a massive cult following throughout the years. holiday 2020|

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(1987)

Compared to the ever-popular Christmas alternative, Die Hard, Lethal Weapon might very well be as overt as Miracle on 34th Street.

At first glance, the holiday setting may seem frivolous. No snow, no lights, just LA heat and subtle atmospheric touches. If you were distracted enough, you’d hardly realize it was Christmastime at all.

But the film feels like Christmas no less than it does in Los Angeles during this time of year. If you look closer, you’ll notice a plethora of Christmas trees in the background, characters drinking eggnog, and people around town, good or bad, always making sure to say “Merry Christmas” before they leave the room. On the outside, the film is about a murder investigation, but deep down, it’s very much concer-

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H national lampoon’s christmas vacation (1989) “Where do you think you’re going?

Nobody’s leaving. Nobody’s walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We’re all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here.” Leave it to John Hughes to give us one of the most absurd and subversive Christmas comedies of the ‘80s. The writer objectively pens the best of the Vacation series, putting together the most entertaining qualities of the first two to create a solid third installment. Clark Griswold is dead set on hosting the best Christmas ever, but this proves to be very difficult with a house full of rowdy relatives.

As stubborn as he is, it’s that same

obsession that nearly renders the holiday pointless for him, speaking to our own fixation with making Christmas perfect at all costs, thus forgetting why we’re doing it in the first place. Perhaps the most minimalistic of the franchise, it’s that very tunnel vision that allows the film to acquire the focus it needs. The ideas and gags are finally fully-developed rather than shoehorned, featuring some of the series’ highlights, such as the running joke with Clark’s pretentious neighbors, whose Christmas keeps getting incidentally ruined as a result of Clark needing to have a perfect one. As concentrated as the movie is on the holiday, there’s such a comedic resentment towards its obligation to be so. Christmas Vacation seems to be smiling at us as it takes our coat, yet still shows a glimmer of indignation behind its eyes simply because we’re there to begin with—a sentiment so relatable this time of year, no matter how hard you try to avoid it.

Lethal Weapon/National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation/Warner Bros./Batman Returns/DC

Lethal weapon

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ned with Mel Gibson’s character’s depression and how depression cultivates itself much easier during this time of year. Gibson plays LAPD cop Martin Riggs, who teams up with Roger Murtaugh, played by Danny Glover. The Christmas setting is anything but frivolous and much more important to the story than you would think.

batman returns (1992)

Tim Burton’s followup to his iconic 1989 Batman film may not be the most obvious choice for this list, but there’s no doubt that it’s a Christmas movie all the way. Michael Keaton returns one last time as the Caped Crusader and has to eventually bring down Danny DeVito’s Penguin, who serves as an anti-Grinch in his backwards trajectory. Although we lament the villain, it’s for a much different reason than our favorite green slenderman. From the opening sequence, the film is oozing with gaudy Christmas decor as Penguin, as a deformed infant, is thrown into the sewer by his parents. Not only is Batman Returns a movie set at Christmastime, but the plot relies on that very setting. In true alt-Christmas fashion, Burton utilizes the holiday to juxtapose the seediness of Gotham City, a tone he’s not unfamiliar with, concocting the best and most poetic example within the superhero medium. Characters and buildings are decorated for the holiday, and at one point, a squad of villains descend down an ornament-filled Christmas tree.

The Christmas themes run deep, with Burton imbuing his film with a unique pathos for the holiday that almost defies explanation.

Like a snowball rolling downhill, Bad Santa is relentlessly twisted, but not necessarily more than it needs to be.

the nightmare before christmas (1993) With his groundbreaking 1993 film, Burton goes all in on his love for alt-Christmas with his passion project that fuses Christmas and Halloween to the point that, nearly 30 years later, fans are still debating which holiday it rightfully belongs to. Undoubted-

ly a little more Christmas than its counterpart, Nightmare embodies the yuletide spirit, along with a love and appreciation for the holiday, but does so from a unique standpoint as it views our sentiment and nostalgia with an intangible outlook. Most, if not all, of us love Christmastime for the feelings it evokes, but we can’t always put our finger on why. The film (with the help of Hot Topic) coincided with the goth revival of the ‘90s and helped shape the emo movement of the ‘00s. It wasn’t the first movie to speak to outcasts and non-conformists, but this time it felt more intentional and direct. And even crazier, it was released by Disney— this thing was mainstream! Our hero, Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King living in an all-Halloween town, grows tired of the holiday and seeks something new. Discovering a land filled with Christmas, Jack adopts the holiday as his own, but doesn’t quite get it yet. The Nightmare Before Christmas has come to represent our own disenchantment with holidays as we grow older, especially as we beholiday 2020|

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downhill, Bad Santa is relentlessly twisted, but not necessarily more than it needs to be—a film so poetic it could almost be considered a traditional Christmas movie. However, its specific brand of Coen-esque dark comedy puts this one in a league of its own; a paradigm for the alt-Christmas crowd that will entertain without destroying any holiday spirit.

come more aware of the over-commercialization of everything that we previously viewed as pure. What was once a magical time can find us desperately pining for those same sentiments as adults. We swear it’s still there, but sadly that’s not usually the case. However, if we dig a little deeper, we may find that magic reinvigorated for us once again. Or perhaps it never left after all.

rare exports: a christmas tale (2010) bad santa (2003)

When it comes to R-rated Christmas comedies, Terry Zwigoff’s Bad Santa is as good as it gets. Admittedly off-kilter, the movie isn’t for everyone, but there’s enough heart mixed into the cynicism to make it a worthy watch during the season.

In fact, this is a story where the heart and cynicism are incessantly clashing with one another, trying to find a convergence. Billy Bob Thorton plays the titular character, a curmudgeonly con man who poses as a mall Santa each year to perform low-profile heists with his partner. However, this particular Christmas, he befriends a shy young boy with a sweet heart who brings out the best in him, which threatens to compromise his task at hand. Like a snowball rolling

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Many believe the tradition of Santa Claus originated in Finland. Filmmaker Jalmari Helander couldn’t agree more. His Finnish film is rooted in his homeland tradition of Joulupukki, a pagan tradition

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which some believe helped shape the modern image of Santa Claus.

Rare Exports explores these roots as it follows a young boy, Pietari, as he spies on a group of excavators who stumble across an ancient burial ground made to imprison some mysterious creature. Believing this unearthed being is the real Santa Claus, Pietari soon discovers that this particular version of Father Christmas may not be very nice at all. Helander mixes this adventure with some dark fantasy and horror elements, but despite all that, the eerie tone of Rare Exports is surprisingly cohesive as the filmmaker manages to tap into childlike wonder while getting under our skin as well. The ending is so satisfying and a testament to his incisive vision.

Better than most in the Christmas horror subgenre, this one embraces the season on an aesthetic level with its visual warmth contrasting the sick and demented scenarios at play.

better watch out (2017)

These days, Christmas horror is seemingly a dime a dozen, so it’s tempting to overlook another entry that appears to promise standard conventions. However, Better Watch Out is much more than meets the eye. Starting out as a home invasion plot, it quickly transforms into something else entirely: a reverse Home Alone where the bad guys are the ones setting up the boobytraps. One of the funnier films on this list, Better Watch Out is more twisted than spooky, especially after the first act, emphasized with an almost-snarky, but mostly tongue-in-cheek, red and green atmospheric glow. Better than most in the Christmas horror sub-genre, this one embraces the season on an aesthetic level with its visual warmth contrasting the sick and demented scenarios at

play. However, the movie never dips into torture porn, keeping focus on the kinetics of the story instead. The influences may be worn on its sleeve, ranging from the aforementioned Home Alone to the very non-jolly Funny Games, but writers Zack Kahn and Chris Peckover (who also directs) give these classics a slight twist. Appropriately, the film sticks truest to the ‘80s slasher genre, giving us one of the best modern day Final Girls with Olivia DeJonge’s Ashley.

It’s almost impossible to talk about the plot without giving anything away, but if you’re in the mood for something completely different, yet still apropos of the season, then this one should take you on a very fun ride. holiday 2020|

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Well, 2020 isn’t what we thought it was going to be.

G It isn’t going at all like we’d hoped.

Depending on where you live, you may be at or near the 9-month mark on your personal, regional, or national quarantine. That’s almost a whole baby. Mazel tov, it’s a pandemic!

If you live in New York City, like me, you’ve been bunkered down since midMarch and even though sometimes you read articles that said there wouldn’t be a vaccine until 2021, you were reading just as much about how following guidelines and precautions would help us outsmart the virus in a matter of weeks. Worst case scenario, we’d be opening up again starting in July.

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And we did. We started reopening again in July. That’s true.

But we’re still—or we should be, anyway—wearing our masks every time we go outside, social distancing, washing our hands after any contamination from the outside world, using antiseptic sprays and hand sanitizer when we can’t access a sink and soap, self-quarantining, getting tested, and trying to maintain small, well-controlled pods of people we care about who are like-minded about the kinds of health risks they’re willing to take.

There’s also no end in sight.

It may have been okay for some of you so far. Maybe you have cars available and you could take off at a moment’s notice and travel safely to

Broadway Latino/Unsplash/Ali Yaqub/AFP/Reuters/Big Bang News/ Johannes Eisele/Getty Images/John Taggart/New York Times/CNN

BY Vanessa Bellew

somewhere new for a day or two. Maybe you could have outdoor gatherings with your friends (hopefully with your masks on, six feet apart, taking all the necessary precautions) so you could enjoy the summer weather and stave off some loneliness and cabin fever.

But, as the adage goes, Winter Is Coming.

That’s right: if you’re experiencing some mixture of regular depression, pandemic depression, existential dread, and/or the crushing weight of a national political nightmare, get ready to add our old friend Seasonal Affective Disorder!

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve always loved a good pandemic storyline.

Horror and science fiction are two of my favorite genres (and if you combine them, you can shut up and take my money), and I will devour a good zombie outbreak in any artistic medium. So I, of course, had certain expectations for what a situation like this would look like.

I’ve had what I lovingly call my “apocalypse backpack” in the closet nearest my front door for over a decade now, and while it is in actuality just a go-bag for natural or man-made disasters, it does include a copy of Max Brooks’ Zombie Survival Guide (a surprisingly well-researched forreals survival guide). I keep other useful items in it: an emergency blanket, a paper map of New

York City and the surrounding areas, a fold-up trowel, a hunting knife, a pocket knife, a military-grade compass, a knife sharpener, a fire starter, a first aid kit, a book on medications and where to find them in nature, a Green Beret survival guide, water filtration straws (I have quite a story about the time I had to drink non-potable water in the Rockies and, let me tell you, never again)...

I haven’t had to/gotten to use any of those items during this pandemic.

Even when New York City was the epicenter of the outbreak in the United States, when the store shelves were ransacked and empty

W like something out of a postapocalyptic movie, and going out into the street felt a little like living in occupied Paris, there was never a need for that particular set of tools.

Movies, TV, graphic novels, regular novels, they all promised me more 28 Days Later and less The Martian. Even pseudo-realistic fare like Outbreak or Contagion feel fast-acting. Catastrophic, sure, but at least the virus, like a well-bred lady, knew when to make an exit.

COVID-19 is like that one party guest you didn’t even want to invite, who shows up early with something only they want to eat, takes too much of the good snacks and drinks, gets obnoxiously drunk, and then refuses to leave even after you’ve indicated several times that you have to get up really early the next day.

Before I continue, I want to clarify that I am by no means intending to make light of what is a serious and traumatic experience. Those of us who stayed in New York through the worst of it know better than most the very real and horrifying toll a pandemic like this one can take. I know many people who got sick, who are still sick. I know many people who lost loved ones. I know some of the incredibly brave ER nurses who worked through blinding exhaustion in the worst-hit hospitals while

people died alone in the hallways.

Pandemics are real. They are terrible.

This one is costing us all dearly.

This global crisis has felt endless, especially in the United States, and given that a vaccine will likely not even be deemed safe until 2021, much less manufactured for and properly distributed to the over 7.5 billion people in the world, we are now going to have to come to grips with the fact that we will continue this way through the winter, at the very least.

We’re not living in a Mad Max situation yet, and for that we should be grateful, but living in isolation for extended periods of time, especially as the Earth tilts my part of the planet away from the Sun and that everimportant Vitamin D, presents its own gruelling challenges. There are reasons, after all, that escapist apocalypse stories rarely involve depictions of humans struggling to create routines for themselves to give shape to longterm isolation. They certainly never involve what to do about building a space for yourself to be able to

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effectively work your day job (if you still have one) from home.

Adulting is hard enough when you get to break up the monotony with parties and lovers and restaurants. Adulting when the rewards are almost entirely intrinsic and your loneliness and depression are making you prone to apathy can feel like a series of never ending tasks that would make Sisyphus want to give up.

I know a little something about that struggle, being someone whose mental health tends to make mundane, everyday errands into monumental undertakings. I’ve been doing really well for a long time now, but as the gray New York City winter approaches, I can feel the beginnings of a mild depression creeping insidiously through me. I will not be able to go home for the holidays. I haven’t had a hug since May. I live alone and I am taking quarantine seriously.

Earlier today I cried on the phone to a friend because I realized I’m scared of what this winter will bring. Quarantining is already hard enough without adding freezing temperatures, flu season, and constant dreariness to the mix.

But then I remembered my secret weapon. My superpower. How I’m going to make it through this period of intense solitude.

So today I’m going to share with you the secrets to surviving isolation and the ever-grinding gauntlet of adulthood. It may just get you through the winter.

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The secrets are: structure...and imagination.

I’m not going to tell you about structure. That’s for cognitive behavioral therapists and people with a better attention span than mine. Besides, that’s not fun or nerdy and this is a fun and nerdy magazine.

But I am going to tell you about…

Imaaaaaaaaginaaaation!

While using your imagination can be a delightful experience, a good time—or even play time—is not what we’re going for here. What we’re going for is adaptation with the aid of a little dash of escapism.

In adaptation, expectations are everything. If your expectations are that normally you’d be able to go ice skating with your friends or have big holiday parties full of merriment or kiss a stranger at midnight as the new year dawns, this winter is going to disappoint you. If you’re already not feeling particularly buoyant, disappointment can be debilitating to your mental and emotional well-being. So the thing to do is to set your expectations in such a way that what you look forward to adapts to your actual situation. Then you take those new expectations and you let your brain enjoy itself by adding the excitement of superpowers or magic or thrilling circumstances.

TL;DR: My acting mentor, Ken Schatz, says this best. “If you feel like you can’t do something, invite

or invent someone who can.”

Let me give you some examples.

When I was a teenager and I was overwhelmed with life, but I still had homework I needed to get done, I would pretend to be Hermione Granger.

I would sit in my room with the door closed and talk to myself out loud in her voice. I would pretend that I was chastising Ron and Harry for not getting/doing their homework and I would explain it to them, pedantically, as I did it. I would read sections of the textbook out loud to them. I would walk them step by step through my calculus problems. And eventually, in this way, I would finish my homework.

Once upon a time I really hated running. It hurt in ways it shouldn’t have—my jaw would tense up and it would give me an excruciating headache—but I knew I needed the exercise and I wanted very much to be someone who ran. I would pretend to be Sydney Bristow from Alias, running through the park because she needed to

Ben Solomon/New York Times/Getty Images/NU/Zeit Online/Johannes Eisele/AFP/The Epoch Times

make a dead drop to her CIA handler, always watching over her shoulders to be sure she wasn’t being trailed by the bad guys. It helped me get out and go running in the first place. It helped me keep going even when it hurt.

I’ve used Sydney Bristow for other things as well. Like when I’m skiing on a particularly steep slope or otherwise challenging myself physically, I will hum the theme song from Alias to myself and pretend I’m Sydney on a mission. It makes me feel courageous. It makes me feel competent and in charge of the situation. It makes me, believe it or not, ski better.

Sometimes I use her for when I’m working out generally, at home or in a gym, but I’ve also pretended to be an X-Man training in the Danger Room or a Starfleet officer exercising to stay fit for duty.

I do a lot of Starfleet. I’ve pretended to be an officer on the Enterprise-D who finds it soothing to do a holodeck program that lets her do laundry like they did in 21st century New York City, lugging your clothes down the street and to the laundromat. I’ve pretended that the A/C unit in my window is the sound of the ship’s warp drive and I’m skimming through the galaxy with no anxieties about stalled careers or whether or not I forgot to pay the electric bill or that embarrassing thing I said three years before in front of all my friends. It’s helped me sleep.

A few months ago I moved into an apartment by myself for the first time ever. There are a lot of ways in which this is wonderful, but it also means even more isolation. My mental health is totally dependent on my ability to take care of myself and my space, to build structures and routines that keep me going, and setting my expectations ahead of time on maybe having to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas alone in my apartment with my cat.

I named this apartment Deep Space Mine (get it?). This winter I’m going to pretend that I’m in isolation in deep space, not because of a global pandemic, but because I’m on a mission that is bigger than me, bigger than holidays with family, and that I have been chosen to take this journey,

alone, inside, for months, because the Federation needs me to do so. I’m going to pretend that I’m choosing it for myself. That I am prepared for it. That I’ve taken my cat into space with me and that I have designated areas and times for my activities: exercise, play, cooking, cleaning, relaxation, sleeping, etc. I get to look forward to subspace calls with my friends and family.

Sometimes I can go on space walks in the cold for supplies or land on a remote planet to get out of my vessel. But I’m setting my expectations for what’s ahead just as carefully as I’m setting my phasers to stun.

You could imagine anything that helps you; Anything that thrills you. You could be a pirate at sea if you’d like, or deep in the climes of Mordor

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Leganes Activo/Bloomberg Quint/AFP/Infobae/ CBS Sports/The Epoch Times/Getty Images

W with Frodo and Sam. Maybe you’re Batman tinkering in your Batcave or Lara Croft searching for artifacts. You could be in space or under water or deep in a mountain bunker. You could be a scientist working on a lab in Antarctica, or a survivor in Fallout, still in your shelter. You could be Shepard, crash-landed on a strange planet, working to fix your craft, or Robert Neville, scavenging New York’s streets for supplies, or Mace Windu in meditative solitude. You could even be a Sim! Whatever your universe of choice is, whatever lights your fire, invite your

imagination to join you there. Hell, maybe you could invite other people’s imaginations to join you there too!

Whatever it is you try, may I suggest some kind of mission or endgame to shape this time, to keep you working toward something beyond yourself.

Something to give you purpose.

It’s possible you aren’t in as severe a quarantine situation as I am. It could be you’re going into summer, not winter, or that you have a car or family living with you. Maybe your area isn’t as hard hit by COVID-19 as mine has been. But if you need it, this superpower can be yours too.

It may seem childish. It may feel silly or embarrassing or even, God forbid, too nerdy. But when your mental health is on the line, when loneliness is looming, please feel free to borrow my tried-and-true methods for survival.

It might help.

You might even have fun.

And we’ll all get through this together.

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Interview by Galaxy Intro by Ethan Brehm

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fan growing up, he empathizes with the dos and don’ts of fan interactions and has the ultimate goal of making sure they walk away feeling important themselves. His realism and compassion has made him into the ultimate fandom celebrity.

Down to earth and one of the coolest dudes we’ve ever interviewed, Lochlyn doesn’t possess any of that Hollywood phoniness you hear so much about, nor does he give anything away that isn’t part of who he truly is as a person. Much like some of his biggest characters, there are layers to unfold, and we were fortunate enough to be able to dig a little deeper.

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How did you start acting and why did you choose a career in the arts?

Lochlyn Munro

To tell you the truth, I was really hoping to play pro sports. I played hockey my whole life, so that was where I was headed. I was a musician in high school. I used to play in high school rock bands and what not. I broke my femur pretty bad playing hockey, and while I was laid up, I got back into playing music, decided that’s

Lucky Eight Pictures/In the Name of the King 2/20th Century Studios/Uwe Boll/Lost Girl/Showcase/Sony

sinister characters on the CW’s teen drama Riverdale, but in real life Lochlyn’s calming presence has made him a favorite among his co-stars and fans alike. His brilliant character acting for over three decades has helped him become a real actor’s actor, and someone who we can always rely on to give us something great on screen. In fact, his comforting demeanor is perhaps one of the reasons why he worked so well as the villainous Black Hood—a John Doe-esque psychopath who tries brainwashing his young daughter—our heroine.

Working in this industry since the ‘80s, Lochlyn feels that he is still getting better as an actor, and we see it too. With a supporting role on a show with a stacked cast—including a who’s who of veteran stars from the ‘80s and ‘90s—the Canadian, time and time again, gives us some of the best performances and most memorable moments of the series, especially during his time as the infamous serial killer.

Lochlyn has such a mellow speaking voice, but there’s so much joy underneath his cadence. Able to flex between ultra-stoic and downright irreverent, the actor has been able to maintain a storied catalogue in both drama and comedy roles. Cutting his teeth in the fandom world with both Riverdale and 2003’s Freddy vs. Jason, Lochlyn has yet to appear in a superhero movie. We at SPO!LER think he would make an incredible Captain America—he even has the look for it.

The way Lochlyn understands the fan experience is the way every celebrity should approach their meet-and-greets. A big NHL

Lochlyn Munro/Riverdale/The CW/Warner Bros./Archie Comics/Getty Images/Death Valley/Cinematic Pictures

lochlyn munro played one of the most twisted

a route that I wanted to take, and as I was playing music in little pubs and places around where I was at the time—Vancouver, British Columbia—I started to meet people who were getting involved in the film and television community and I kinda got the bug from that. I started out somewhere around ‘86 or ‘87, and

Lochlyn Munro/IMDb (Previous Spread)

the first role that I booked was on the first year of the TV show 21 Jump Street, so that’s kind of how it started.

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Look at Canada now, it’s like a farm growing Hollywood stars.

Can you say that you were part of a group that paved the way for the Canadian Hollywood scene?

Lochlyn Munro

When I started out, the circle of guys with me—Jason Priestley was in that group, so I would say he was definitely the first guy who broke out with 90210. But definitely, there were a limited amount of actors in Vancouver at that time. That group of guys, we all were just able to get a really great start cutting our teeth in the business by all the productions shooting in Vancouver at the time.

And we were able to go down to Los Angeles with a resume and a bit of work under our belts, so it worked out really good. And now they’re hiring the leads for American TV shows right out of Canada, so it’s come leaps and bounds since 1987, that’s for sure.

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Why comedy?

Lochlyn Munro

I didn’t actually start out in comedy. Most of the stuff that I did was drama. I feel like I always had a good sense of humor. Growing up, my father

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had a good sense of humor—my whole family—and it just lent itself well to doing the comedy stuff. I really don’t know. Once I started doing comedy—the problem with Hollywood, is then they think that’s all you do, so that’s all the stuff they want you to do [laughs]. There is a lot of dramatic work around the comedic films that I did, it’s just that the biggest films lent themselves more to comedy. Which I enjoy.

It’s all about story and creating characters, whether it be drama or comedies, but neither one do I really gravitate towards. I just enjoy telling stories and creating characters.

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White Chicks was the second movie that I did with the Wayans family. I did Scary Movie with them first. I just remember Marlon getting a hold of me and asking me if I’d be interested in doing this film that they’d be doing. And I said, “Well, what is it?” And he said, “Shawn and I are going to be these white women in this film” [laughs]. Whenever they say stuff like that, I just shake my head and I go, “Yeah, sign me up man, I’m in.” You know, the great thing about working with the Wayans family in general is that they’re so open to improv and about bringing ideas. And if they work, great. If they don’t, you just pick up and try again.

They never make you feel afraid to go big, and that’s what I really enjoy about working with them because you can absolutely just make a fool of yourself.

SPOILER

Which movie do you think was that breakout movie for you where you felt, “Okay, now I think people know me”?

Lochlyn Munro

I think doing Dead Man on Campus, because it was the first MTV/Paramount co-production, it got tons of exposure. Just from when we were promoting the movie, we

One of the movies that stands out to me is White Chicks.

You were hilarious.

What was your experience with that?

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TV shows or film—it’s the same.

You’re trying to create dimension in the character, you’re trying to create these backstories, you’re really trying to evolve what you’re creating. I must say, the talent on our show, right from the young kids, up to the parents of course, is pretty amazing, so it’s an easy show to work on because everyone’s so talented. It’s a lot of fun to create scenes in that show, just for the fact that everyone brings their A game. It really raises the bar.

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the world when we do Riverdale promotions and conventions, people always want to talk about White Chicks or Night at the Roxbury.

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were doing so many MTV things back when Carson Daly was hosting. I find that definitely was something that gave me a lot of exposure. And then Paramount took me from that movie and then put me in A Night at the Roxbury, and from there I went on to Scary Movie. So Dead Man on Campus and then Night at the Roxbury were definitely the ones that gave me the extra push over the hump.

SPOILER

When you hear the theme song from A Night at the Roxbury, do you shake your head?

I want to see you in a superhero series. If there was one brand, Marvel or DC, which one would you lean towards?

Lochlyn Munro

Ahh, you know what, man, I’ve always wanted to be Captain America [laughs] so that would be fun. Spider-Man would be a great character to play as well, so that kinda shows you where I’m leaning. I don’t really have a Marvel or DC—you know, they’re both pretty interesting to me, and I enjoy them. My son is 14, so I see all of those films with him,

When I see you on screen, I see this seriousness in your face, but then when you smile, everybody’s like, “Okay, okay, he smiled, everything’s okay.”

Lochlyn Munro

[laughs] I never really thought about that.

SPOILER

Riverdale is doing really great. It’s a hit, and it’s gonna stay in TV land for a long time. What’s your experience with that series?

Lochlyn Munro

You’re shooting a little bit more page count per day. Other than that, creating characters—whether it be

[laughs] Definitely when I hear it, all those memories come. Sometimes we’ll be in the car and that song will come on and my kids will just kind of glance over at me and have this little wry smile. It’s interesting to be part of something that’s such a cult hit. I gotta tell you, everywhere I go around

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Lochlyn Munro/Riverdale/The CW/Warner Bros./Archie Comics/Getty Images

Lochlyn Munro

O teresting, my daughter actually reads off camera for me now. That’s a little more surreal to me than anything because she’s actually pretty good [laughs].

SPOILER

Have your kids ever thought about getting into acting?

Lochlyn Munro

and they’re a lot of fun. It’d be really interesting to be on a movie of that scope. I’ve never been on a movie of that scale with a lot of green screen and action and visual effects.

SPOILER

Has your son ever suggested you doing a superhero movie?

Lochlyn Munro

[laughs] Not really. I mean, we’ve always talked about Captain America and stuff, but he’s never actually outright said, “Hey, Dad, you should be in one of these.” My kids don’t really look at me like that. To them, I’ve always been an actor right from the day they were born, so they just kinda know what I do for a living. My daughter’s 17, and every once in a while she’ll suggest certain projects that I should gravitate towards [laughs]. Once in a while, when I’m on the road or having to send something to a director or a studio, like a taped audition or whatever, it’s in-

I don’t think it’s so much about acting.

Definitely my daughter would be interested in the filmmaking process. She does a lot of short films at her high school. She directs and writes those, and they all act in them as well, but she’s more towards the storytelling aspect of the business, so that might be a route that she takes. You never know. Maybe my son [would lean] a little more towards the performance end of things, but they’ve never really come out and said, “Hey, we wanna be actors.”

only thing that I would suggest is to make sure they have a couple years of college and education under their belt just in case. I think my success was that I was just too naive to even think that I wouldn’t be successful, so that’s either a good thing or a bad thing. I’m pretty fortunate that everything worked out the way it did.

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SPOILER

What would you say to them if they did?

Lochlyn Munro

[laughs] Well, you know, it would be kinda hypocritical if I said “no,” right? The

Have you seen a difference in Hollywood since you started?

Lochlyn Munro

Well, a lot more people make decisions. Back in the day, when I would test for TV shows and stuff like that, you’d meet, hypothetically, with Aaron Spelling and Duke Vincent, and they’d go, “Yeah, we like this kid.” Then they would say, “Hey, we’ll meet you at Fox tomorrow. We want you to test for this show.” And then you’d go over to Fox and there’s the head of casting for Fox and Aaron Spelling and Duke Vincent, and you’re sitting in an office performing auditions.

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interesting. Other than that, there’s a lot more content out there. At first, when everything was going digital and there were all these television networks and stuff, people were a little worried about where it was all gonna go. But it’s just created so much more content for actors and the percentage of employment is so much higher. When I started, there was pretty much just CBS, NBC, and ABC, and Fox was kinda the new kid on the block. So now there’s much more opportunity.

SPOILER

Do you feel all these people involved nowadays can affect the quality of the project?

Lochlyn Munro

Yeah, I think a lot of times decisions on casting are not a creative choice. Now, you’ve got all these other

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Lucky Eight Pictures/Charmed/Warner Bros./ CBS/A Night at the Roxbury/Paramount/SNL

go, “Okay, the producers like you.

You have to go test at Touchstone.”

So you go over to this theater at ABC and test in front of 50 people, and those people go, “Yeah, we kinda like him, let’s bring him in for the execs for ABC.” And you go back to that theater, and instead of 50, there’s 100. It’s weird. And out of 100 people, is everyone gonna go, “That’s our guy”? Back in the day, decisions were made by the creative people.

Now, they’re made by the business end, because all those people who run those studios aren’t necessarily people who came out of making films. They’re people who came out of law school and things like that. So that’s a big difference. Another big difference is, back when I started out, you were either a TV actor or a film actor. Now, there’s no line there.

People are doing everything, so that’s

things that lend to it, regarding social media numbers and weird things like that. So yeah, it’s a lot different. With there being so many more outlets, too, the budgets have come down because everything is about advertising dollars, right? So the more that the advertising dollar has to be stretched around, the more the budgets come down. And then what that means is budgets come down for setting aside whatever you have alloca-

ted for cast. A lot of times, number one and two on the call sheet get paid a lot of money, and the rest of the people on the call sheet are a take-it-or-leave-it situation.

SPOILER

Do you feel like you have to do more for less these days?

Lochlyn Munro

Sometimes, which doesn’t bother me. I understand the business side of things as well. I know where I am in the pecking order of actors. And yes, I feel like I have recognizability, and I feel like my work gets better and better as I get older, and more confident and creative. But on the business side, I understand what they need and how it works. So if it means that I work more, then that’s fine with me.

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day things like every other human being is dealing with. My kids are pretty active, so it’s been tough for them with no sports and the way they have to do school is different. But I feel like our industry is starting to get up and running, and I think they’re taking the necessary steps to keep everyone safe. It’s important to be as strict and do whatever they can do— testing, face masks, however you have to do it—because we have to try to have as clean of a record as we can when we try to open up the industry, and it will only do great things for everyone involved. So I’m really excited for everything to get up and running again.

SPOILER

You don’t look like you aged a bit.

Do you eat healthy or is it genetics?

Lochlyn Munro

[laughs] Well, what I always tell people when they ask me is that I grew up in the northern part of Canada. So basically half my life was spent in cryogenics. I was frozen pretty much half my life [laughs].

That’s what it is.

SPOILER

You have four projects releasing this year— Dead Voices, Broil, Sniper: Assassin’s End, and The Color Rose. Is it difficult working on so many projects simultaneously?

Lochlyn Munro SPOILER

What has life been like for you during COVID?

Lochlyn Munro

My industry shut down for six or seven months, so that affected me. Just day to

Once you get on set and immerse yourself in the story, you fall into the characters you’re playing and the directors carve the path on how they want to tell the story, so

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SPOILER

Do you enjoy going to fan conventions?

Lochlyn Munro

I gotta tell you, I used to get asked a lot way back, sort of after Freddy vs. Jason. And at that point, I was like, “I sit at a table and I sign stuff for people? It seems kinda odd to me.”

And I finally did one and I realized I enjoyed it way more than I thought because the people who would come up to the table are just such film fans or TV fans. They love it and live for it and they’re so knowledgeable in their filmographies. So I found it a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. And of course with Riverdale, we do a lot more conventions and it’s just interesting to see how excited people get just to come and meet people from their favorite TV shows. Mind you, doing Riverdale, the conventions are lovely, but they’re also filled with 14- to 17-year-old females tryna get their hands on Cole [Sprouse] or KJ [Apa]. Those ones are a little strange for me [laughs], but I love kids and my kids are kinda in that age, so I totally get it and totally understand it, so it’s fun to interact with the younger kids. And then when we do the horror conventions, it’s interesting to see people come in cosplay. It turned into a whole different world than I thought it was, so I actually enjoy it.

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Lochlyn Munro/Riverdale/The CW/Warner Bros./Archie Comics/Getty Images/IMDb/A Night at the Roxbury/Paramount/SNL/Secret Liaison/Lifetime Television

I don’t find that hard whatsoever. I quite enjoy kinda going from one type of film to the next and playing different characters and exploring.

It keeps it kinda fresh and exciting. The part I hate the most is wardrobe fittings—that’s the worst.

SPOILER

How did it feel at your very first convention?

Lochlyn Munro

It was a little odd, because you just think of yourself as like everyone else—get up in the morning, grab my coffee, put my pants on, go to work—but the way that I try to treat the fans is to remember what it was like when I was young and I would meet an NHL hockey player, and if they took time to talk to you and ask you questions, I just remember how exciting that was and how it made me feel that they would take their time to just be interested in what’s going on with me. So that’s what I try to do whenever I’m approached by anyone, whether it be conventions or airports or whatever, I try to give them the time because I understand it. It’s

an exciting thing. Yes, I’m just a human being, but I’m also a guy who comes into these people’s living rooms once a week, and now they have a personal connection with me, so I try to go out of my way to give people the time because I know how it made me feel.

SPOILER

Are you doing any virtual conventions?

Lochlyn Munro

I did a couple. We did a couple for the South America fan base.

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Do you think they’re another version of us?

Lochlyn Munro

Riverdale is really big in Brazil and those types of areas. I’m still scheduled to do in-person appearances next year for, I believe, Paris and Germany, but if they need to do those virtually, we can do that as well. We’re just trying to reach out to as much of the fan base as possible, whether it be a little Zoom chat or whatever. That’s kind of a fun thing for fans to have a 5 minute chat with some of their favorite people from their favorite TV show. So whatever I can do to help out to kinda keep the fan engagement going, that’s what we’ll do.

SPOILER

Do you believe in ghosts?

Lochlyn Munro

Yeah, I think I do. I believe there’s a parallel universe.

Yeah, I would tend to think it’s more of another version of us. It sounds more interesting [laughs]. I’ve never actually experienced it, but it’s the same as extraterrestrials. I’m always open-minded to the fact that there’s no way it can just be this planet in this universe.

SPOILER

Any new projects coming up?

Lochlyn Munro

I just finished doing a really interesting arc on the TV show The Good Doctor and I just finished an action-thriller with Bruce Willis called Apex. I have a really wonderful family drama called When Time Got Louder based on a family that has a non-verbal autistic son. Really wonderful story. Willow Shields plays my daughter. Elizabeth Mitchell plays my wife. Just fantastic actors; really wonderful human beings. And a few things that I’m hoping to start up here before Christmas. Just keep pluggin’, man. My kids eat a lot [laughs].

SPOILER

Your social media game is on point.

You have a pretty good following on Instagram!

Lochlyn Munro

Yeah, I think that most of my following are people who just hope that I’ve smoked Cole Sprouse’s cologne or my elbow’s touched KJ Apa. The social media thing—I wish I was better at it.

Do I need to post my new headshot on my Instagram and do all that stuff? I dunno. You know, I’m a guy in my 50s, man. The social media aspect is really hard. I understand that it’s necessary

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and the studios and networks want you to do it, and I do enjoy the fan engagement whenever it’s necessary, but I don’t really need to post what I eat for breakfast. But some people love it.

Lochlyn Munro

I think you have to take it all with a grain of salt. Being a performer, you’re setting yourself up. Doing what I’m doing for a living, some people are going to like what Lochlyn Munro does. Some people are gonna think he’s a hack. It’s like, if I put on my social media that I’m a Democrat, then I get killed by the Republicans; if I put that I’m a Republican, then I get killed by the Democrats. You just have to have a thick skin. It’s like anything. It’s probably why most performers shouldn’t read what the critics have to say about their movies, right?

You just live your life and try to be the best human being you can.

How I judge myself is definitely not by social media. That’s just a platform. There’s certain things you can stand up for because of that platform, and I have no problem with people doing that, but maybe I’m wrong—maybe people want to see all the random things that I do. I dunno, should I video myself taking my garbage out to my

curb? People find that interesting [laughs]. I try to do little snippets on sets from shows because that’s a world that not everyone gets to live and I kinda take it for granted and get jaded by that because it’s something that I’ve done for so long. But I do understand that the fanbase gets really excited when they see you on set on a different show, working with other actors that they know, so I try to put that out there. But I also don’t wanna be the guy who, every show that I’m on, hafta let everyone know how much that I’m working. I don’t wanna be that guy—that’s kinda weird.

I get aspects of it, but I should be a little better. It’s definitely humbling that that many people are waiting on bated breath to see what you post. I do think about that stuff when I’m working on projects. If I’m able to post stuff from that project, then I will as much as I can because I know people get excited about that.

SPOILER

It’s been wonderful chatting with you Lochlyn. Can you give a tiny Season 5 Spoiler?

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Lochlyn Munro

I’m hoping for some interesting twists and turns for Riverdale season 5, so let’s leave it at that. Here’s the thing about Riverdale—I’m sure the cast would be more than willing to share the things that we do, but the thing about the Riverdale writing team and the showrunners is they keep everything from the actors until the day of the table read for the next episode. We have no idea. I had no idea I was the Black Hood until I became the Black Hood. They were like, “By the way, your character is now this guy.” And I’m like, “What?!” You just never know over there, but it keeps it kinda fun. And it also keeps us on our toes and surprises us anytime you read a script. Just really good people over there and I enjoy doing that show.

And I hope I get a chance to be a bigger part of it—we’ll see.

Lochlyn Munro/Riverdale/The CW/Warner Bros./Archie Comics/ Getty Images/IMDb/Badge of Honor/Hollywood Media Bridge

Isn’t it crazy these days, people get judged based on their social media page?

Triton Films/Jurassic Predator: Xtinction/K2 Pictures/Inner Media/Leverage Entertainment

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by Michael Bernardi

Hope is a movie trailer. It is two minutes that shows you

no matter how chaotic the circumstances; how bad the intentions; how heavy the burden; how exhausting the struggle; how scary the future—this film is just over the horizon. It demands you overcome the obstacles to get there. It convinces you it will be worth the journey.

The first The Batman trailer gives me hope.

Before I react to the trailer, I need to talk about how we should refer to it. It is the The Batman trailer. As in, “Did you see the The Batman trailer?” It cannot be, “Did you see The Batman trailer?” because the title of the film is THE Batman. If you saw the Batman ‘89 trailer, you would say, “I just watched the Batman trailer.” You would not say, “I just watched Batman trailer”—which is the equivalent of what you’re doing if you say “I just watched The Batman trailer.” Embrace the double “the.” It’s awkward, but it’s correct. I will die on this hill.

The trailer itself opens with the isolated sound of unfurling duct tape. The sound is jarring and unpleasant and perfectly sets the tone for what you’re about to see.

And what you see is a masked individual kneeling over a motionless man as he tapes him up. That cuts quickly to the finished product: the man’s face fully enclosed in duct tape with the phrase “no more lies” written on it. It’s bold and shocking, but not

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surprising. Thanks to years of conditioning by film and television, I know the onscreen presence of duct tape is never good. It’s the prop of crimes and catastrophes. Not one part of me expected to hear that sound and then see someone actually taping a duct.

These opening moments are fantastic because the style is immediately so stripped down; so raw.

The perpetrator we see could be the Riddler—it is a Batman movie, after all, and Paul Dano is playing the Riddler—but the style made me forget that I would even be identifying Batman characters. I was instead intrigued by the unsettling mystery and bizarre circumstances of what was happening. A murder. A killer.

A message. It isn’t until Batman appears on the screen that this trailer comes across as anything other than a gripping detective noir. Which is good news since the director, Matt Reeves, has said that’s exactly the type of movie he plans to make.

The style also plays to a gritty, cerebral aspect of Batman that has not had a complete or adequate exploration in any of the films up until now. That is his skill as a detective. Batman is known as The Dark Knight, but he is also known as The World’s Greatest Detective. He is not just a sadomasochistic demon ninja, but also a genius of deductive reasoning and criminal investigation. In his truest form, Batman is

Gotham’s Sherlock Holmes. So, feel free to treat yourself by putting on your most caricatured Christian Bale Batman voice and growl-shouting, “Elementary, my dear Watson!”* You should do it. We all need this right now.

The rest of the trailer leans into its detective story and psychological thriller aspects. We see another “Riddler” victim after he crashes into what looks like a funeral. We see Batman and the Gotham police at odds. We see shady locations and shadowy figures. We see Batman/ Bruce trying to solve a case more than defeat a villain. I could feel the urgency and desperation of the detective’s pursuit. I could sense there was a foul, hidden truth undergirding the whole story. I was reminded that Batman is the embodiment of

The Batman/DC/Jim Lee/Warner Bros.

Batman/DC/Jim Lee (Previous Spread)

vengeance, of course. And all throughout I was surrounded by that raw, seedy, stripped down, thread-bare style. There is a close of up of Batman’s boot soles. Later on, Bruce is wearing the black makeup around his eyes he would use to darken them through his cowl. His batmobile is a souped-up muscle car, not a military tank-like tumbler. He doesn’t have a batpod. He has a motorcycle that’s…a motorcycle. It all makes Batman appear less polished, less proficient, less reliable, and even more hell-bent than Batmans past.

Reeves’s Bruce Wayne is a justice fanatic with a DIY obsession. This film looks to take Batman further down a path carved out by Nolan. It seems that if Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy grounded Batman in what was realistic, then Reeve’s The Batman tries to bury him in reality.

The hope from the The Batman trailer feels nice. It is also ironic that a fictional world filled with so much darkness could provide hope in our real world that has been so dark.

I’ve wondered why it does. Perhaps it’s the sweet distraction. Maybe it’s the beloved character’s rebirth.

It could be that this interpretation of Batman, even after so many others, is edgy and unique and, yet, also pure and classic. I think it’s all of those. But for me, at least, this trailer gives me hope because for two minutes I got to imagine a reality where an individual—who I, from my position of om-

nipotence, know is undoubtedly good and just—works almost entirely on his own to wrestle back control from an out-of-control society.

I was able to bask in the fantastical fiction of a place where one tireless hero with limitless resources can fight against the corruption, greed, ignorance, intolerance, and evil that, in our world, I so often feel powerless to fight. *In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, while Sherlock does say “Elementary” and “my dear Watson,” he never actually

says the exact phrase “Elementary, my dear Watson.”

That phrase was made up by people impersonating the character or misremembering the written dialogue; as a result, it became a common, colloquial “quote.” It’s the same as Darth Vader’s famous line from The Empire Strikes Back. The actual line is, “No. I am your father.”

That, however, is typically misquoted. So, feel free to treat yourself by putting on your most caricatured Christian Bale Batman voice and growl-shouting, “Luke, I am your father!” Go ahead.

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Planet said most t’s happened. Metropolis has declared a citywide quarantine. The Daily and file for unememployees can work from home. Perry told Clark and I to take a break ployment. He said he’d call if he needs us. silver lining is it In spite of the fear and uncertainty of this pandemic, the extremely thin think I’ve become might be nice to slow down and take a break. I can’t tell Clark that. He’d righteousness ated caffein by complacent. And he’s always assumed I’m endlessly fueled pped investigating when, really, I’ve just always been worried that if I stopped moving—sto not needed, which is and chasing down leads and blah blah blah—I’d become irrelevant. Or less altruism (and, bound by fueled worse. Meanwhile, Clark, SUPERMAN, who is endlessly always need him. He’ll let’s be honest, solar radiation) will never stop moving. The world will still be on call 24/7. d a crazy advanced Oh, and I mean the “on call” thing literally now because he just receive the DOD, intelligence “cellphone” device from the Pentagon that links to it, The White House, an nations. It’s a agencies, the EU, the UN, and several African, Asian, and South Americ pretty insane contact list. of the United States When he got it, I asked Clark how he planned to identify the President the couch. from me at looked in his contacts. He stopped fiddling with the cellphone and “What do you mean ‘identify’? he asked.

I stood in the bedroom “Like, what will you call him? What will he be named in your phone?” doorway smirking at him.

“Um, I guess “Mr. President.”” He said, still sort of confused. “Why, what him?”

else would I call

the gravitational I sighed and said, “Nothing, Clark. For a moment, I forgot that you are singularity of neutral politics in the universe.” ively. “I uphold

“I’ve always thought it’s good that I’m not political,” he said a little defens ideals and values and the common good.”

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. And even though I I could feel him reassuring himself; even becoming a bit self-satisfied to push back here. had I point, had almost always fundamentally agreed with him on this

time when you need to “Yes, you do,” I said and I looked right in his eyes, “but there comes a ly at odds with certain recognize that those ideals and values and the common good are actual directly or indirectly will kinds of politics. And your commitment to upholding those things t.” put YOU at odds with those politics too. You will become political by defaul I appreciated it. I He looked away and I could see that he was really considering my words. about so many do to didn’t want to go on and on about the issue like I, admittedly, was wont things. So, I decided to wrap it up.

“All I’m saying is seeking the middle ground isn’t always the most noble After a pause he said, “Well, you’ve always said, ‘Clark, you’re the most awful world.’” He gave me a sly smile.

path.”

noble thing in this

I rolled my eyes and as I walked back into the bedroom I said, “Oh please. in the world more noble than you.”

There are things

best Scarlett O’Hara I heard him gasp dramatically. “How dare you?!” he exclaimed in his movie in” night. out, “order recent voice. We had watched Gone with the Wind for our most “Name them!” he demanded.

“Noble gases,” I retorted. “They’re perfectly neutral. Just like you. Don’t

get jealous.”

“Oh GOD!!” Clark moaned. “Periodic table burns?! Come on, Lo!” I knew he could hear me chuckling now. “Whatever,” I said.

“Besides, noble gases are great for all kinds of stuff. Helium balloons,

neon lights…”

interrupted him. “Par“THAT’S your big sell for noble gases?!” I shouted incredulously as I ty decorations and ‘We’re open’ signs?!”

Superman/DC/Jim Lee/Warner Bros./ Legendary Pictures (Previous Spread)

fine. I’m just like Clark was laughing now too as he tried to respond. He finally said, “Ok, see yourself as the hyan inert gas. So, if I’m helium, I guess that you, my reactive partner, very thin atomic line drogen in this relationship. That may be true, but just remember it’s a between them. Hydrogen can become helium just like that.”

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As he said “that” he snapped his fingers, but it was a little too hard and the tiny shockwave broke the glass in the picture frames on the side table.

“Well said,” I responded in my most impressed voice.

“Hey, not to suddenly change the subject,” Clark said, “but why do you think they gave me this thing?”

I walked back into the living room and he was dangling the cellphone.

“They said it would send me text alerts. I mean, they know I have super hearing, right? People call out and I help.”

“Clark, it’s 2020. Nobody calls when they can just text.” I could tell he didn’t agree, but he accepted it. Clark liked to call people. “Also, I need to borrow that later.”

“Why?” “I have some questions for Mr. President about contouring.”

I don’t remember what Clark said after “No,” but it doesn’t matter. The President never responded.

Anyway, I digress. My point is that there’s a lot of talk about who is needed these days. The “essential” roles. And it makes me think. And I just don’t want to be left behind sitting alone on the couch in our apartment. Just me and the glow of the TV on “order out, movie in” night. *

*

*

It’s been a few weeks of quarantine. Clark and I are getting on each other’s nerves. A little.

Sometimes a lot. Never all the time, but always not never—as my Grand ma used to say.

He’s pissed because with everyone home, there’s very little need for him right now. And with the global catastrophe being an invisible virus that infects the human body, there’s no way for him to use his powers to help. Stuff still comes up, for sure. He’s been gone occasionally, but not regularly like before.

I told him that things are safer now. “Even the car insurance companies are refunding people,” I said. “Is Superman insured? Maybe you could get in on that.”

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Superman/DC/Jim Lee/Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures

He didn’t laugh.

The ups and downs are starting to make me seasick. We’re calm, then we’re annoyed, then he’s restless, then I’m bored. I’ve taken to social media.

Today I was scrolling through Twitter and I saw a great tweet that said, “My wife and I play this fun game during quarantine, it’s called ‘Why Are You Doing It That Way?’ and there are no winners.” I made a quick puff of air out of my nose. Not so much laughter, but a low-key physical substitute for it. I wanted to read it to Clark, but I let the impulse pass.

I wasn’t over our argument from earlier. Then I thought of an old joke from Jim Gaffigan.

“Every couple argues. Whenever you see another couple argue, aren’t you always like, ‘That’s sad. They don’t communicate like us…Oh that’s right, you’re not talking to me.’” I started to laugh for real.

“What’s so funny?” I heard Clark ask from the TV room. His tone was more challenging than curious.

“Nothing,” I replied.

“Then why are you laughing?” he asked flatly.

“Because I’m losing my mind,” I quipped. Clark gave a grouchy grunt. A few moments passed as I wondered how long before quarantine made my quip true.

“Lo?” “Yeah?”

“Don’t you mean you’re cracking up?” I could hear a small smile in his voice.

“Mmmmmm. I see what you did there,” I said.

Now the invisible wall between us was down. We each apologized. He said he shouldn’t have chastised me about how I clipped the bag of tortilla chips shut (he removes the air, folds the bag, then clips). I said I shouldn’t have gotten so defensive and angry (I just scrunch the top of the bag a little and clip it). He blamed my poor technique for our last bag going stale.

I blamed his purchasing “family size” bags that took too long to eat, so they went stale. We agreed from now on he’d buy regular size bags and I’d use his clip method.

As we finished heating up our leftovers for dinner, I told Clark to listen as I started a song on YouTube. Upright bass began to play.

“What is this?” He asked.

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sweat the techniI turned around and mouthed along with Eric B. and Rakim, “Don’t que…Don’t sweat the technique.”

Clark chuckled. “I see what you did there,” he said.

I’ve gotten Clark into ‘90s rap and hip-hop. It’s paying off. *

*

*

It’s May and, over the last few days of Clark being home, annoyed, and news, he started to really learn about people.

watching the

and anyone who Clip after clip of lunatics screaming at doctors, scientists, politicians, ” and just “rights they perceived as “oppressors.” They were yelling about “freedom” and the only yelling he generally whining like petulant children. Clark just watched. It was pans banging at heard these days. Most everything else was quiet except for the pots and 7pm for the essential workers. us when Clark Yesterday, we were sitting, silently letting the latest news wash over low. spoke. It actually startled me. His voice was strained and d and read. Too “People on Krypton became like this according to the records I’ve watche e with oppression and privileged for their own good. Too selfish. They confused inconvenienc part in the collectheir g believed accountability was tyranny. They thought acknowledgin was weakness…” tive was somehow the death of the individual. They believed empathy “I’m sorry, honey. I know it’s tough.” been cuddling on Clark let out a sarcastic, “Ha!” I leaned away from him where we had the couch. I furrowed my brow as he continued. y PTSD. I keep “I’m watching this nonsense and I’m having this weird, interplanetar ntly, has it under appare nt, Preside The se. texting The White House and they have no respon control.” e we should chan-

I was trying to be calm for him. I reached for the remote as I said, “Mayb ge the channel.”

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Superman/DC/Jim Lee/Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures

just SITTING here He blocked my hand and said, “What difference will that make?! I’m as an afteralmost And, ” watch. while the whole planet shelters in place. I might as well

I’m going through is thought, he looked at me and said, “And how could you know that what tough? You’re a part of this too, Lo. You’re human too!”

That’s when I leaped off the couch and spun around to stand and face gh.

him. I had had enou-

a dog I had caught “Hey!” I shouted as I pointed at him. Clark looked at me and froze like I know it’s tough trying to steal food off a plate. “I know it’s tough because I have EYES. it or not, Clark, because I read and write about other PEOPLE. I know our history. Believe s! And I do failing l societa into t insigh Krypton is not the only available relevant source of and be species human the not need to BE from another planet to have the capacity to analyze aware of its malignancy. shouldn’t, but now “Look, I know you get frustrated when you can’t intervene because you around you in this you can’t intervene you because you CAN’T. And I’m not going to tiptoe not the stand-in for apartment like that’s somehow MY fault. I didn’t cause the virus. I’m cally Americans, specifi tion, Mother Nature. And I’m not the stand-in for the human popula threat to all of us isn’t now that you’ve suddenly realized after all this time that the deadliest mindset; insidious something obvious and visible like Luthor or Brainiac. It’s us! It’s our against our own and unseen until it’s exposed to other like minds. Our Kryptonite is acting d, and it can’t remove best interest. And it’s hardwired into every one of us. And it can’t be And right now, be controlled. It can only, sometimes, MAYBE, be contained. If we’re lucky. we’re not! and becoming the “So! Unless you plan to control it by doing a complete philosophical 180 h the dumb, screaming god-king of this petri dish planet, or punching masks straight throug the remote!” me hand and faces of its most virulent inhabitants, stop being a dick I dropped myself back onto the couch. Clark was silent. He handed me lled up Netflix.

the remote and I pu-

Clark turned to me and said, “I’m sorry. It’s just…”

“I know,” I said. “I’m sorry too.”

“What movie do you want to watch?” he asked.

“Something funny,” I said. “What do you want to order?”

“Pizza.”

I pulled the blanket over us and kissed him on the cheek. By the glow my phone.

of the TV, I reached for

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there can be an unfortunate side effect of loving

C

a certain actor and his character on a fandom show: They tend to get killed off. Rick Cosnett had two very popular roles on two massively popular shows. On The Vampire Diaries, he portrayed Dr. Wes Maxfield, the antagonist from the fifth season who met a grisly fate. Despite his menacing role, audiences couldn’t get enough of Rick.

On The Flash, his character Eddie Thawne was beloved. Eddie sacrificed himself for his friends’ lives. His death rocked the characters within the show, as well as fans at home.

Barry Allen, who was good friends with Eddie, was so shook up that he spent the following months working alone. The fandom was arguably even more devastated. Fortunately, since his exit on the series back in 2015, fans have been able to catch Rick at conventions to mend their still-aching hearts. However, this year it’s a lot trickier with every physical convention getting cancelled.

Always keeping himself inspired and busy, Rick might be one of the few actors who actually started a project during the global pandemic. His Instagram microseries, The Vaucluse Daily, was created during COVID with fellow actor Adam DeLaunay, and has formed a nice following. The pairing has been playing these satirical characters for years, but has now introduced them to a new media.

The success of The Vaucluse Daily is hard evidence that Rick’s popularity goes beyond just these mega hit fandom shows. With an attitude of a man who always seems to be enjoying life, the actor’s magnetism is radiant and his charisma undeniable, no matter if his characters are good

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Interview by Galaxy Intro by Ethan Brehm

or bad. Fans just can’t get enough of Rick Cosnett. The Zimbabwean native teases us with a couple of projects in the works.

SPOILER

You have so many fans out there, from The Vampire Diaries, The Flash and so forth. Do you feel all that love?

Rick cosnett

Yes, I do. I feel so overwhelmed, to be honest, that I have been lucky enough, for whatever reason—I can’t explain the rules of the universe, Galaxy, but something has led me to be in these specific shows that people go absolutely crazy for and have such a heart connection to the story, to the background. And they couldn’t be more appreciative of the fact that I put my heart and soul into them as well. From my angle that I’m coming

from, which is acting, which I’m so in love with—and then I become in love with the story too and it’s just a really big love fest—I’m constantly overwhelmed with messages that I get from people asking me all these different questions. Most of them are [laughs] about when am I coming back to The Flash. That’s a big one, which I’m always so flattered by. Not to mention, all the Vampire Diaries family—these people all over the world. It is absolutely insane. I was at a Comic Con in Rome a couple years ago and all these people were just screaming, “Reeky, Reeky, Reeky!” [laughs] And I love that. I love the adoration, I’m not gonna lie, but it’s also wonderfully entertaining for this little boy from the middle of the bush in Zimbabwe, where I come from originally, and it’s very overwhelming being in all these different places all around the world where people know who you are. It’s very gratifying when you put a lot into your work. It’s really wonderful that people are so involved in the story and really have a connection inside of themselves to all the different parts of that story. It’s really exciting.

SPOILER

R

Talking about Flash, that was one of the first shows I saw you on. I was like, “He’s gonna go forever.” But I realized your character wasn’t a character that goes on forever. And that’s the issue I think a lot of fans can’t deal with, because you come out as a favorite and people fall in love, but then the character is gone.

Rick cosnett

I think it’s also such a beautiful tragedy, isn’t it? And something that for me, and also the fans, it’s so genuinely sad and bittersweet that it sort of makes it beautiful in a way. It’s like that sweet sorrow sort of thing, which is both hurtful and loving at the same time. There’s something in that that’s kinda beautiful.

SPOILER

After your death on the show, did you get a lot of mail from fans who were devastated?

I still do. Grown men saying, “I’ve never cried before, until you died.” [laughs] It was a team effort, the killing of Eddie Thawne, so I can’t take all the credit for it. But it was definitely an event in all our lives.

SPOILER

The first time you went to a convention and you spoke in your true accent with your fans, were they shocked that it was so posh?

Rick Cosnett/CNN/The Flash/DC/Warner Bros./The CW/The Vampire Diaries/CBS/Warner Bros./The CW/Getty Images/Shuttershock/IMDb

Rick Cosnett/DevinShotMe (Previous Spread)

Rick cosnett

Rick cosnett

Yes. I think one of the first ones I did was in England. I mean, I don’t really have any connection to England, but I do sound British, go figure [laughs].

I’ve always kinda wanted to be in a British period drama because that’s what I know all about is English period dramas. I’m absolutely obsessed. Always have been [laughs].

Actually, Michael Malarkey, who played Enzo on Vampire Diaries, and I, we did a panel together in Birmingham and we were just both on fire.

And we were suddenly just doing—I don’t know what we were doing— all these different characters. We were doing [Absolutely Fabulous].

[Michael is] an American who has a British accent on the show, and I’m a Zimbabwean-Australian who has an American accent on the show, so I think they were all very confused and hopefully wildly entertained. Because I know how fascinating it is for me. For example, I’m obsessed with Toni Collette, the actress, to almost stalkery levels [laughs]. I’ve only met her a few times. Keep her well away from me. The Queen needs to be left alone [laughs]. I know how fascinated I would be, just seeing stars from shows I love. I can’t get enough detail

about the way that they are in real life and how different they are from their characters, and all their delicious stuff. So I hope people get a kick out of it with me.

SPOILER

In 2020, you made this big announcement on Instagram and the world did a double take. How did that go with all your fans?

Rick cosnett

That was really, really great—the response, and I guess, the surprise.

Because we’re all human and we go out in this world as it is right now, with certain social conditioning.

There’s still so much stigma around being homosexual, being different, not fitting into the mold of the people around you—the society you grew up in. And there’s so many things that are the same in different countries.

Even though I was in the middle of nowhere in Zimbabwe, it was similar to what people have been through in so many different countries around the world. Some more severe than others. Also, I was terrified because I cared so deeply about my acting career, to be honest. I had come out when I was at drama school, because it was important at drama school—we

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quite something. My sister texted me the next day and she’s like, “Ooh, making headlines.” And I was like, “What??” Because I sort of made the video and I was like, “Alright, here we go. Here’s a little somethin’.” And then kinda forgot about it. But I’m also very inspired by so many people who have written to me that I’ve given them courage. I’m so inspired by people like Miriam Margolyes, the British actress who’s so wonderful, and she’s a lesbian and she just gives courage to other people. And I love that. I want to always be courageous and always follow in the footsteps of such wonderful [people].

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SPOILER

Afterwards, were you relieved and happy with your decision?

Rick cosnett

I was so relieved. I felt so free. I felt very good afterwards. It was like this huge relief. I didn’t realize how much I was holding myself back by not being able to just “be.” And also my work, which I care about so deeply, is a state of being, where you get to a place of truth where you can just be and you don’t have to put anything on top. Just existing as you are, as nature made you—whatever that is.

Putting labels on it, as well, is kinda harsh too, but I suppose we have to to get it to a place where there are no labels. I feel authentic. I feel a part of this world, if that makes sense. I feel worthy of sitting here, of talking to you, of doing great films, great things, because I am just what I am, and that is one of the most important things you can do in life.

I always want to be on the cutting edge. I always want to be ahead of the curve. I don’t want to be archaic and regretting things in life. You really have to run with it. You couple that with hard work and really working on what I think is good stuff. I really can’t

Rick Cosnett/The Flash/DC/Warner Bros./The CW/The Vampire Diaries/CBS/Warner Bros./The CW/Getty Images/Shuttershock/IMDb

were really getting to the truth of ourselves and doing all that crazy, wonderful, emotional work. But when I came to Hollywood, my agents would say, “What are you gonna do?

What do you think you should say?”

So I noticed that it was a thing. You also want mystery in the minds of your viewers to be able to go to all sorts of places in your characters where they’re not thinking about you personally. They’re thinking about the story and the character, which is the most important thing to me when you’re creating stuff. So I was terrified, but I love it when I’m terrified, because it also means that there’s something to break through into a new realm. I was definitely ready because I felt like I was really censoring myself in my career. There was something holding me back, so I was like, “Let’s just clear all the airwaves.” Instead of one day, when no one remembers me and I’m 95 going, “I’m gay in my personal life,” [laughs] and they’re like, “We don’t care anymore.” I certainly was surprised that I was suddenly on CNN and the New York Post. It was

go wrong. I’m having a life coaching moment with you here, Galaxy.

SPOILER

A lot of wine companies owe you for their 20% increase in business, because that night, when you announced this, all these women went out and bought four bottles of wine and were crying.

Rick cosnett

[laughs] To be honest, from the women in particular, I felt so much love and support. It almost became that they liked me even more. A lot of my hardcore fans—I have this one great fan, Emmaline, for example— some of these French girls, they’ve been following my career for awhile.

And I dunno, they seem to love me even more [laughs], which is so great because it makes me just adore them too. Because there was obviously some kind of connection they had with me [before]. I’m not that naive to not know that they said they were attracted to me on screen. But it’s all a projection. At the end of the day, it’s just a fantasy anyway, right? I was really pleasantly surprised how much more they liked me after that. I think it’s really cool. I like people to like me [laughs]. As much as I can say I don’t need it, it is nice when it happens.

People have just outpoured their love of me after doing this and it’s such a wonderful reward when you start to be more of yourself and people

I’m honored to be part of something that is already so established and people are already on board with 100%. It was like, “Y’all better watch out. I’m comin’ prepared!” I was playing Dr. Wes Maxfield on The Vampire Diaries and I went down to Rio, which was my first convention, with Ian Somerhalder and Kat Graham, and one of the first girls who walked into this little private signing room, she looked at me and just burst into tears, just flowing out of her eyes. And that really, from the get go, just struck me, like, “Wow!” There’s really nothing like it. I just adore all you fans out there, thank you so much for all your love and support. As much as I’ve given to my work and working towards being on these shows, which did take me a long time in drama school and struggling, it really is an incredible way to be welcomed into the hold. I’m very grateful for that.

K

reward you for it. It’s so encouraging.

I feel very honored that I got, like, all these fireworks.

SPOILER

SPOILER

Rick cosnett

Obviously, you haven’t really been to any conventions this year. What do you think conventions are going to be like in 2021?

Rick cosnett

It’s gonna be so fun! I was supposed to go all over, like on a tour this summer. I was going to St. Louis and Philadelphia. I’m hopefully going to Wales next April, but we’ll see how things go. It’s going to be so incredible, isn’t it? It’s gonna be really exciting.

SPOILER

Fans have always loved you! There’s gonna be five lines for you now at every convention.

Rick cosnett

My first big [TV] show here was The Vampire Diaries, and before I’d been on the show, there was just a picture of me released saying I’m gonna be playing X-character on the show. I had a Twitter account, and I was with my sister and we couldn’t refresh— we couldn’t scroll fast enough with people just saying, “I love you.” I was really taken back by that. It put everything into perspective as well.

I found out recently that you’re a cousin of Hugh Grant. Does that come up a lot?

No, but I’m determined for the day when people start asking him. When people go, like, “I heard Rick Cosnett’s your cousin.” [laughs] That’s basically my life’s goal because he doesn’t know who I am…yet. We’re like third cousins. But his first cousins I actually met when I was doing a play last year in Scotland, by total coincidence. Isn’t that crazy? Like, we were hanging out with them while I was doing a play all month because they were doing a play next door at the festival. Turns out, they’re my third cousins too, and Hugh’s first cousins. It was just quite spectacular. And we also have other people who know him. It was one of those things where, when we were kids, there was a tiny picture

of him in a magazine before he was even famous, and we were screaming because my dad was like, “That’s our cousin!” We were telling everyone, “Our cousin’s in a magazine, guys!”

SPOILER

And look at you now, Rick.

Rick cosnett

[laughs] Ugh, look at me now! I’m in a magazine now.

SPOILER

Are there any upcoming projects people can look forward to?

Rick cosnett

There are, but I can’t say exactly what it is. But yes, now that things are opening up. You can follow me on Instagram and I’ll let you know. It’s more TV stuff. I’m also doing this little Instagram series called The Vaucluse Daily. It’s @thevauclusedaily and it’s basically these two South African housewives, Jill and Sue, and the goings-on in their harbor-front property in Sydney. And I play Jill, and my very good and talented friend, Adam, plays Sue. We’ve been playing these characters for over 15 years now, and they’re finally seeing a different light of day on Instagram, in this medium.

We only started 2 or 3 months ago.

People are obsessed, it’s really cool.

It’s really fun. I’m really proud of our work on there. It really cracks us up, if nothing else. I mean, we cry and

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little something up. Just wait for Kitty, people. Just wait!

SPOILER

I feel you have a wonderful imagination and always doing something creative.

Rick cosnett

We’re only limited by our imaginations, and those are really infinite. I think what’s so great about all these comic book shows and sci-fi shows is that the imagination gets ignited

in such a deep way in us.

It’s such a driving force beyond, for example, The Vaucluse Daily, and a couple of things that I’m also developing on the side. It’s all about getting into that space; into that creativity, and really going for it. For a lot of people—with The Flash, for example—comics get ignited in childhood and then it continues through. I remember Thundersub, which is this anime cartoon. I was obsessed with it. I had such a deep,

Rick Cosnett/The Flash/DC/Warner Bros./The CW/The Vampire Diaries/CBS/Warner Bros./The CW/Getty Images/Shuttershock/IMDb

O

scream at it. It’s very specific white women from South Africa who have moved to Australia. Australians really get it, and everyone else is getting it too because they can also relate.

There’s people like that all over the world I think. And hopefully we’re making a lot of social commentary on there too. We’re tryna bring that satire.

Jesse Martin, from The Flash, and I are still really good friends. I’m hoping we’re gonna collaborate on something bigger very soon. Because we did the short film The Letter Carrier a few years back with a lot of The Flash crew, which was really cool.

I would love to continue that. There’s something in the works there. There’s also another character who I have called Kitty Cosnett—a lot of my fans know what I’m talking about. Carlos [Valdes], who was on The Flash actually named her. There will be a show coming out with Kitty. We’re just putting the pieces together right now, so maybe by the time this comes out, I might have a

deep love of it. And I think, a lot of the time, what connects the fans to us and to the story is their own experience in their own lives of growing up with it, or connecting to their imagination in that way.

SPOILER

If you can share one message to all your fans around the world what would you tell them?

Rick cosnett

I just wanna say, “You guys, stay fabulous and wonderful. Keep the faith during this time. Really just do whatever you need to do to get into your imagination and really enjoy living in the moment. And more importantly, just being who you are underneath all of it, and feeling comfortable in that.

I give you the courage to do that every day as you give me the courage.”

SPOILER MAGAZINE

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BY ethan brehm

If The Rise of Skywalker tarnished The Force Awakens for me, it made me like The Last Jedi even more. I’ve made it no secret that I had my issues with the newest Star Wars installment, mainly for how the film undermines much of what The Last Jedi—and, in turn, The Force Awakens—accomplished.

If you believe in the spirit of a trilogy, you should want to see the story played out no matter what the cost. And no matter how you feel about any previous installments.

In basketball we say, “A shot created is a shot that needs to be taken.” Apparently J.J. Abrams doesn’t play basketball I know the events in Star Wars aren’t real, but part of a moviegoing experience is believing that the movie is real while you’re watching it.

This is called “verisimilitude.”

However, making the viewer conscious of changes made to the overall story’s natural trajectory, retconning

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everything you’ve already seen throughout two movies, takes you out of that immersive experience of living inside these films. The verisimilitude of the trilogy diminishes when things begin to feel made up on the spot.

After watching The Rise of Skywalker, it made me stand behind Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi much more—not only because the writer/director got unjustly spit on afterwards by casual fans, but because now those who loved TROS (which pretty much only consists of the people who disliked TLJ) see Abrams as a hero, “saving”

this trilogy from what Johnson “did.” But look at the credits: J.J. Abrams was a producer on The Last Jedi! He oversaw and okayed this movie! It’s safe to assume he even liked the direction it was going in as well.

Star Wars/Lucasfilm/Disney

anyone familiar with the series.

But for one, this film expands the lore of the Jedi. Johnson takes risks here, and delves deeper into the world of Star Wars, elaborating on its already-expansive universe.

TLJ is about the force and how it impacts the characters and the emotions behind them, becoming the driving “force” behind everything they do.

Star Wars/Lucasfilm/Disney (Previous Spread)

Even still, after watching The Last Jedi a second time, I’ve realized one thing: Rian Johnson understands Star Wars much better than Abrams.

In The Force Awakens (and only in The Force Awakens), it’s clear that Abrams understands the entertainment aspect of Star Wars, but Rian Johnson seems to grasp the franchise on its deeper levels— its essence, so to speak. Whatever J.J.’s movie lacks in depth, The Last Jedi makes up for and then some.

In fact, The Last Jedi is perhaps the most realized Star Wars movie since The Empire Strikes Back. It’s similar to the 1980 film in a lot of ways—most of which I’m not going to pontificate about here because they should be pretty obvious for

I know the events in Star Wars aren’t real, but part of a moviegoing experience is believing that the movie is real while you’re watching it.

Johnson also fully embraces those themes of good versus evil. At one point, Benicio del Toro’s character tells Finn that “good guys” and “bad guys” are just made up words.

And Finn’s journey here seems to bring him to that same place. del Toro is right to a certain degree. While there’s still an ultimate good and an ultimate evil, pinning those labels on holiday 2020|

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quick decisions are what make us heroes or villains; that designation is established from how we handle each situation. But these instances usually represent a bigger picture.

Johnson seems to have a VERY clear view of what he’s trying to do and say.

And don’t even begin to talk about disliking this movie because of how it portrays Luke Skywalker.

That’s a fallible argument and one most likely traced back to a Mark Hamill interview stating his own displeasure with his character in Episode VIII, and now you’re just parroting the party line. Can you admit that it’s possible Hamill doesn’t understand Luke as well as, say, George Lucas, or even Rian Johnson?

On the surface, Johnson crafts an aesthetically splendid Star Wars film as well. The locations are beautiful. Unlike The Rise of Skywalker, this movie spends time at each location and lets you live in them for a while—something else Abrams doesn’t truly care as much about. In Star Wars, you should want to visit even the scummiest of places. In TROS, most of the sets are just unappealing and we’d like to leave.

Star Wars/Lucasfilm/Disney

ourselves doesn’t leave room for us to make mistakes, which, as this film lets us know, are what’s important for our own growth— ultimately helping us achieve that ultimate good.

Good and bad are sides we choose—the umbrellas—but there are levels underneath those umbrellas. Finn escaped the bad to join the good, but he’s still operating under his own conscience; finding his own way— and questioning. So is Poe—also on the good side. And even moreover, so is Kylo Ren, on the bad. Is Luke just as much of a monster as Kylo Ren because he almost murdered him? No, because he ultimately chose not to. He chose the good over the evil. Those

Johnson never compromises his goal for the cheap reward from casual fans. He makes The Last Jedi a movie for true fanatics and Star Wars nerds.

The film is simply for those of us who appreciate what Star Wars is really about at its core: the force. Casual fans (aka most fans) may moan and groan when the esoteric “force jargon” comes flying at them, but the real devotees eat this stuff up.

And don’t get it twisted, those same true fanatics can appreciate the more action-oriented aspects of the franchise just the same (which TLJ does exceptionally well).

The Last Jedi is also a war movie (it’s in the title), and Johnson utilizes creative tactical strategies rather than just going through the motions by executing pivotal

moments with mere cliches.

We’ve seen with Johnson’s most recent movie, Knives Out, the filmmaker is a master at avoiding cliches. Similarly, TLJ ramps up in a big way and evokes a sense of true despair, akin to the feeling we get when Han goes down into the carbonite chamber—but this is on a somewhat bigger level for the world within the film. To execute a Star Wars movie properly, the filmmakers have to create that feeling of despair. Why? Because Star Wars is also about hope. And how we can find hope amidst despair. Because when that hope ultimately does arrive, the feeling of relief is unmatched.

I stand my ground when claiming The Last Jedi is far superior to The Rise of Skywalker. Many will disagree.

But then again, there are

Johnson never compromises his goal for the cheap reward from casual fans. He makes The Last Jedi a movie for true fanatics and Star Wars nerds.

people who actually say the prequel trilogy is better than the original (shudder). I don’t really give those people much credence.

However, I urge any of you who don’t like The Last Jedi to go back and re-watch the original trilogy and then the sequel trilogy...and do it fairly close together. Pause.

Rewind. Listen to large chunks of dialogue a couple times over.

Absorb every detail it’s throwing at you until you can grasp everything it’s trying to say. If then, you still don’t love The Last Jedi, or even like it, I must question whether you ever truly loved Star Wars to begin with. holiday 2020|

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Grease/Paramount

By Matthew McLachlan

VIEWING AUDIENCES THESE DAYS HAVE BEGUN TO LOSE their patience for dated storytelling and problematic elements, even going back to classic films to call them out for their bullsh*t. And sure, some of these films represent the time period in which they were set, along with the questionable morals and actions that come with said time period, but there are some movies that are so timelessly problematic, it’s pretty baffling they were even made in the first place, let alone not eventually eradicated from existence.

The poster child for problematic sh*tshows is the (somehow still) age-old classic film, Grease. That’s right, folks, zip up your leather jackets and tighten your pink scarves, ‘cause this cinematic cringe-fest is f******cked up. With sexism galore, emotional shaming in every conversation, and the plot being a greasy pile of turds, how anyone thought this tale would

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make a decent musical, let alone eventual film is beyond me. So, as someone still active in the theatre world today, I believe it is my artistic and moral duty to point out this movie’s undeniable flaws and burn this mother f*cker to the ground. Shall we?

With women being treated like sex dolls that get passed around town and talked down to like misbehaving rescue dogs, I assume that any woman who actually likes this movie watches it with their eyes closed while smacking their ears as hard as possible. But don’t worry, they gave the women pink jackets and their own little gang, so, ya know, it’s equal. On top of the sexism, there are so many off-hand remarks or displays of sexual misconduct that I had to rewind on multiple occasions to make sure I wasn’t still hallucinating from the terrible cartoon intro.

Did they just casually say the creepy dance-show host tried to date-rape a high schooler? I mean, for f*ck’s sake, the very first scene involves Sandy telling Danny that she has to go back to Australia, Danny kissing her, trying to escalate the situation to sexy-time when Sandy says, “Danny, don’t spoil it,” to which Danny says, “it’s not spoiling it, Sandy, it’s only making it better.” Yiiiiiiikes. So, the answer to

the age-old question is “yes, she did put up a fight.” This movie might as well be called “Boys Will Be Boys” or “From A Different Time” and it makes me want to apologize to every woman for this movie existing.

One of the worst aspects of Grease is one I only realized on my rewatch and that’s the fact that literally everyone in this film is an asshole. In the very first scene, Danny gets mad about accidentally falling and crushing a sandcastle, to then throw sand in Sandy’s face.

Points for irony, I guess, but you’re still an asshole, Danny. With every line of dialogue having people being

Grease/Paramount (Previous Spread)

complete tools to each other, one of the most unbelievable parts to this movie is that they’re all “friends.” I mean, for f*ck’s sake, the girls have an entire song where they make fun of someone behind their back!

And what’s worse than the outright douchebaggery everyone displays is the constant pressure for everyone to hide their emotions and act as tough as possible. In fact, the one moment two dudes allow themselves to show any emotion to the other, they get so excited that they punch each other in the dick before hugging, then pull away out of embarrassment when they realize their “friends” are watching.

‘Cause, ya know, gay, I guess. The only people who are not complete tools are all of the side characters who are infinitely more interesting and whom I wish this movie was actually about. Eugene? The friendly nerd who gets gay jokes thrown at him for no reason? Where the f*ck is his musical number? The badass female body-shop teacher who isn’t a butch stereotype and supports her students even outside the classroom? Where’s her time to shine? Not to mention this is the only time a high school football coach wasn’t a complete dick. One of the worst elements to this film is the fact that it focuses on the wrong people.

And by “wrong” I mean take your pick

as to what I mean by “wrong.”

One of my biggest gripes is probably the one no one ever talks about: the music. On my rewatch, I realized that the reasoning for almost every song being sung is pretty batsh*t crazy. What’s that? You suck at being a beautician? Well, why not have a creepy guy who hasn’t been in the movie this entire time troll you about it through a doo-wop number with all your “friends.” Got your d*ck slammed in a car door at the drive-in?

Go block the movie screen before bitching about it on a swing-set for two solid minutes. Though the songs themselves are catchy, it doesn’t take away from the fact that the characters themselves are a shimmying dumpster fire. It’s hard to really get into a decent song when you just want all the characters to shut up. Of course you all go together like “ramma-lamma-lamma-ka-dingity-dinkydong,” because none of that goes together and you all suck as people.

You know what would’ve made Grease better? Besides less misogyny, fat-shaming, homo-phobic jabs, and casual references to date rape?

One easy fix to Sandy’s character could’ve changed the entire story.

Instead of making Sandy this diabeti-

cally sweet, goodie two-shoes, what if there were moments where she was shown enjoying cars, racing, and maybe even showing Danny a thing or two about car engines? What if she actually likes the things he does but feels like she has to act a certain way. That way, by the end of the film when she becomes a greaser-gal in pants that look painted on, she’s actually being true to herself after all this time. Same goes for Danny “dick-head” Zuko. If, by the end, he is finally able to show his soft sensitive side that is referenced throughout the film, his enjoyment of athletics, and giving up his BS greaser façade, the two would’ve let the events of the film take them on a journey to who they truly are—despite peer pressure from those around them— which ultimately would’ve brought them together, sending a pretty decent message. But nah. Suppress your emotions, verbally assault your friends, and change for your significant other so you’ll fly off into the sky in a car built by teenagers. What a message, Grease. Some things may age like a fine wine but you age like a dead rat trapped under the floorboards. holiday 2020|

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the first things that come to mind are the Evil Dead films. While that trilogy is often lauded as a cult classic, Campbell’s storied career is filled with other notable works.

The Adventures of Brisco Below are some County, Jr. of the actor’s One incredibly unique memorable roles television series that Bruce Campbell was a part of was The outside of his Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. chainsaw-wielding The series follows the story of dashing cowboy, Brisco County, hero.

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The Evil Dead/Sam Raimi/Renaissance Pictures (Previous Spread)

When most people think of Bruce Campbell Burn Notice Burn Notice was a brilliant but short-lived television series on the USA Network. The show starred Jeffery Donovan as former U.S. spy, Michael Westen, who has been “burned” and dumped in Miami, Florida where he then moves in with his mother who resides there. Due to Westen’s

USA Network/My Name is Bruce/Image Entertainment/ Dark Horse/Bubba Ho-Tep/Vitagraph Films

by phuong pham

search for a mysterious orb that fell from the heavens and what exactly it does. Along the way, Brisco makes some new friends in the way of uptight lawyer, Socrates Poole, the beautiful and cunning Dixie Cousins; “frenemy” and rival, Lord Bowler, and many other colorful characters.

The most interesting thing about this series is that it takes place in the old west while incorporating elements of science-fiction. The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. is an episodic series, much like many of its contemporaries from the early ’90s. In addition to the greater underlying plot regarding the mysteries of “the orb,” viewers are introduced to thrilling new adventures each week. Aside from the action-packed narratives, the series is stuffed with clever dialogue and genre crossing—a truly original and entertaining series.

The Evil Dead/Sam Raimi/Renaissance Pictures/The Adventures of Brisco County Jr./Warner Bros./Fox/Burn Notice/

My Name is Bruce

“burned” status, he no longer has the government’s resources to assist him when he runs into obstacles. He then decides to use all the knowledge he’s gained as a U.S. spy to help those he encounters along his journey who are in dire need. However, Westen still needs help to get by as a productive member of society as his employment history has become compromised as well. Enter: Sam Axe. Axe (played by Bruce Campbell) is a former colleague of Westen’s from the FBI who often assists him with his assignments so that Westen can stay afloat. Not the average retiree, Axe struck a “graymail” deal to keep details of a mission under wraps in exchange for a first class ticket to Miami, where he currently resides. When Axe isn’t helping get Westen out of trouble, he is often drinking or spending time with his numerous wealthy girlfriends who fund his lifestyle. The show lasted 7 seasons and Campbell’s character Sam Axe became so popular that he garnered his own spin-off show, The Fall of Sam Axe, which served as a prequel to the events of Burn Notice.

My Name is Bruce is a delightfully meta film in which Bruce Campbell portrays a narcissistic, exaggerated version of himself (rather similar to his character in the Ash vs.

Evil Dead series) Bruce, while on location for a film, is kidnapped by an overzealous fan of the actor and ends up fighting evil for real to save a small town. Jeff, the plucky teen who is a massive fan of the B-list actor firmly believes that Campbell is the salvation for his small town based on his body of work. In turn, Campbell believes that he is part of a production of another B movie.

The premise lends itself to a plot that is reminiscent of Three Amigos but updated for a newer generation.

And while Sam Raimi was not involved in the project, the movie is heavily inspired by the charming campiness we all know and love from the Evil Dead series (including a nod to “shemps.”)

Bubba Ho-Tep One of the more unique vehicles of Bruce Campbell’s career is the absurdist horror-comedy Bubba Ho-Tep. The film follows Campbell as an elderly Elvis Presley impersonator who resides in a Texas nursing home. Campbell’s character is joined by his friend, an African American man who believes he is President John F. Kennedy.

The nursing home is largely uneventful up until an Egyptian mummy appears and steals souls from the inhabitants in a most peculiar manner (to say the least).

The unusual story is adapted from a Bram Stoker Award-nominated novella written by Joe R. Lansdale.

Fans of John Dies at the End will recognize Don Coscarelli as the director and screenwriter of the film adaptation of the book by David Wong. Bubba Ho-Tep film received with mostly positive reviews by critics and audiences alike and quickly achieved cult status. holiday 2020|

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by Matthew McLachlan

it’s the era that spawned some of comic’s greatest heroes as well as cementing comic book giants Marvel and DC within the hearts of the American public. But to the avid comic book fan and historian, the Golden Age of comics is, what we in the biz like to call, “cheesy as f*ck.” Now, I know we’re supposed to pretend to like the Golden Age of comics, but this is a safe space my Geeklings! Take your shoes off, smoke your doobs, and talk sh*t about the Golden Age if you wanna!

With terrible dialogue, tacky costumes, and storylines we are still trying to undo today, this epoch of comics may have created some of our greatest heroes around, but

by God did it spawn some serious stinkers. So many, in fact, I literally had to choose who I wanted to verbally light on fire this issue. So, I decided, “Why just one?!” Which brings me to the crap-tastic heroes that I believe embody the most ass-backwards characteristics which could only stem from the Golden Age of comics, and that is, of cour-

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se, the Bullet family.

First up in the group is the OG bullet himself, Bulletman. Originally published by Fawcett Comics in 1940, Bulletman blasted all over pages, showing the world what a full-grown man in red tights, a silver “bullet-shaped” helmet, and definitely not looking like a silver-tipped penis at all, can do. Having dreams of becoming a police officer since his father died in the line of duty, James Barr decides to avenge his father’s death by devoting his life to fighting crime. That dream is swiftly shat on when he’s rejected from the police academy for physical reasons, which, I’ve heard is kind of important. After begrudgingly taking a job in the ballistics department, Jim doesn’t quite find the vengeance he’s looking for in a dusty basement

B Bulletman DC Comics

Ah, the Golden Age of comics. Spanning from 1938 to 1956

measuring bullets, so he decides to use chemistry to create a “crime cure” that gives him chemically induced superhuman strength and intelligence, which I’m pretty sure is just Monster Energy Drink. He then invents a bullet-shaped “gravity regulator helmet” which allows him to fly around and deflect bullets, making me wonder if any of these writers knew what science was.

On his maiden crime-fighting voyage, Bulletman decides to play it safe and low-key by bursting through the walls of a known gangster’s home, beating the piss out of him, and throwing him in jail. Ya know, low-key. After a short time of defeating bad guys and apparently subtly, Bulletman decides that he wants to fight crime looking like an erect silvery penis, but he wants to fight crime looking like an erect silvery penis…with a friend. Enlisting the help of his girlfriend and

Bulletman DC Comics (Previous Spread)

B

later wife, Susan Kent, to aid him in his justice seeking, Jimmy creates a second helmet for Susan, giving her some of his Monster Energy Drink to make her strong, smart, and ready to punch through walls, turning her into…Bulletgirl! Nope, not Bulletwoman, Bulletgirl. Remember, this is the 1940s and we’ve come a long way since then, kinda. After Bulletgirl’s arrival, the pair fight a variety of weird villains who don’t have a Wikipedia page. The most notable villains include: The Unholy Three, the Son of Dracula, the Man Without a Face, the Black Spider, and the Limping Mummy. All of which are coincidentally sexual positions my girlfriend refuses to let me try.

After several years of this dynamically lame duo zooming around, kic-

king people’s ass in their dong-helmets, the comic’s publishing company, Fawcett Comics, hit a few legal snags that sent the characters lapsing into public domain for a time.

Over the next twenty years, the duo pops back up here and there within DC comics, fighting with a few names you might actually recognize, until the big bad reset button of the DC comic universe, the Crisis on Infinite Earths, came and sent the bullet buddies on their merry way and into comic oblivion forever. That is…until Bulleteer arrived! Yay, a third one!

Created in 2006, Bulleteer is basically Bulletgirl if you gave her a fraction of the clothes, more muscles than I’ll

ever have, metal skin, and the same stupid bullet helmet and costume that, remember, definitely doesn’t look like the male anatomy. The newest victim of the Bullet gimmick is Alix Harrower, a teacher and wife to Lance Harrower, a research scientist who creates a metallic smartskin that makes the person wearing it indestructible and gain superhuman strength. So much for Monster Energy Drink, Jim and Susan. With the hopes of becoming just like his heroes Bulletman and Bulletgirl, Lance proves that his judgement is even worse when he decides to use the metallic smart-skin on himself.

However, the metal skin quickly covers his entire body, suffocating him, and ending his poor decision making for good. Before dying, though, he touches his wife Alix, making the smart-skin engulf her body as well, though she is saved by her wedding band, which Lance was not wearing that day. Goooossssiiiip.

With her husband now dead and her appearance as a metal-lady frightening her students, Alix quits her job and spirals into a depression. Another blow hits when, and I’m quoting Wikipedia here, “Alix discovers her deceased husband’s superhero dreams stemmed from a fixation on superhero-based pornography and an online affair with ‘Super Sally Sonic,’ an immortal superhuman porn star.” I read that out loud to my girlfriend and she was convinced I made all that up.

Distraught with this new information

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Best Appearance

Bulleteer appears as part of Wonder Woman’s all-female strike force and ends up saving Washington D.C. from robots. After the encounter, Bulleteer nervously tells Wonder Wo-

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Bulletman DC Comics

and her being a metallic monster, Alix decides to end it all and looks for something strong enough to kill her. On her search, she just stumbles upon a train wreck and just so happens to save everyone inside. Ya know, like what happens on walks when looking for death. Now getting the sweet sweet taste of heroism, Alix decides to become a superhero and Bulleteer is born. Alix’s time as Bulleteer is kinda meh to be honest.

Reluctantly fighting crime, joining the Justice League kinda, and becoming a bodyguard to a mermaid movie star at a convention for C-list superheroes. What a life. In her most recent appearance, it is discovered that she is the descendent of the very first superhero Aurakles and is destined to stop an evil race of futuristic humanoids at some point. But for now, she flies around with very little clothes on with a giant “bullet” on her head, fighting crime whenever she feels like it. I have no doubt that Bulletman and Bulletgirl would be proud, maybe.

man that she must not have any idea who she is, to which Wonder Woman tells Bulleteer that she indeed does, making Bulleteer’s day and showing that just a little bit of kindness can go a long way, you assholes.

Worst Appearance

Bulleteer ends up having a very long drawn out fight with Super Sally Sonic, the porn star superhero that ruined her marriage, which involves Sally crushing Bulleteer with a fridge and Bulleteer bitch slapping Sally with a car engine. It is later revealed that Sally goaded Alix’s husband Lance into doing his experiment knowing it would kill him, all out of jealousy for Alix, who apparently lived the life Sally always wanted. Oh, and Alix ends up crashing a car with Sally in it, which bursts into flames, killing Sally instantly. Yeah, I don’t know, either.

Random Fact

The bullet-shaped helmet created and worn by Bulletman and Bulletgirl is what gives them their power of flight and the ability to dodge bullets. The helmet is so powerful and indestructible that, at one point, Bulletgirl gets run over by a Nazi tank without a scratch but is somehow just knocked unconscious. Which, seeing as she can fly and just burst right through a tank at will, her being anywhere near the wheels of one seems a little suspect, leading me to believe she took a nap and told Bulletman she got run over when he caught her. Hey, that’s what I would do.

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P K

BY MATTHEW MCLACHLAN

Ever since these elemental beasts became

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even evolve into their next evolution, allowing for some pretty hilarious interactions. So, if you’ve ever dreamt of beaning a Pikachu in the face with an apple or shoving various Pokémon into water or lava, boy do I have a game for you, ya freak. Probably one of the coolest aspects of this game is the actual taking of said Pokémon’s pictures. The

Pokémon/Nintendo

crack cocaine for kids back in the early ‘90s, I have always enjoyed the world of Pokémon.

But when it came to new games (that always come in pairs for some reason), endless new TV shows, and using your phone camera to catch Pokémon on top of a stranger’s ass, nothing has ever gotten me nearly as excited about these cute little idiots like Nintendo 64’s classic and devastatingly underrated masterpiece, Pokémon Snap.

For those of you who have never experienced the majesty that is Pokémon Snap, well, sucks to be you. The concept is simple: you’re given a camera, stuffed into a hovercraft, and then tossed around an island of wild Pokémon with the sole purpose of taking their pictures. Sound lame? You’re lame.

Throughout the game you’re given various objects that help you interact with each Pokémon allowing for better pictures, more points, and all sorts of secrets to be unlocked. What’s better is each object has a unique effect on every Pokémon, causing them to fight, dance, or

Pokémon/Nintendo (Previous Spread)

Pokémon/Nintendo (Previous Spread)

P game doesn’t let you get away with going buck-wild and snapping away like some photo-horny amateur. After all, you only have 60 photos on your camera roll. No-no, you gotta line up the shot, frame it correctly, get a great pose from your Pokémon subject, and then snap that sonuva bitch just right. When all that is done, you then have to choose which photos to show Professor Oak, who rates your shots, gives you points, and unlocks objects and levels based on how well you did. I’m telling you, this shit is exciting.

Each level helps showcase specific Pokémon elements, allowing for one elemental type to dominate each level.

However, the game doesn’t shy away from other random types showing up in each level, allowing for unique and usually bonkers interactions between two very different Pokémon types (A Zubat flying around holding a Pikachu hostage? Hilarious. A Meowth getting tornado bitch-slapped by a Pidgey? Perfect). Each level carries its own set of secrets and hidden Pokémon that you’ll no doubt end up beaming items in every direction and snapping pictures of all sorts of stupid crap that Professor Oak will then make fun of you for. But the best thing about the levels is how they all have a plethora of Pokémon, each with its own unique trajectory and actions that keep the game full

and active. In fact, you might be surprised that out of the original 151 Pokémon, only 63 of them show up in the game. You may think you’re being duped at first, but the truth is, if there were any more Pokémon added on each level, it would be far too crowded, turning Snap into a very different type of video game.

As simple-minded as this game sounds, it truly is a lot of fun. The first of its kind that allows you to fully interact with the world around you and become a part of it, giving you one of the most direct instances in a video game where you can say, ““Whoa! I did that!” It’s no wonder the game has maintained a cult following since its release 21 years ago, leading many to wonder, why the hell hasn’t there ever been a remake or sequel? Well, I am here to spread the good news, my geeklings, as a new game is officially in the works for the Nintendo Switch, aptly titled New Pokémon Snap!

With an announcement trailer showing all new locations, amped up graphics, smarter A.I. mechanics for more interesting Pokémon interactions, as well as what looks like hundreds of Pokémon to snap, this new game is sure to scratch the itch you’ve had for over two decades and allow for new fans to experience others watching them play and ask, confused, “So…the whole point is to just… take their picture?” Why, yes…yes, it is. *turns to camera and gives thumbs up* holiday 2020|

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DEADPOOL KILLS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE #3

Written by: Cullen Bunn | art by: Dalibor Talajic | Colors by: Lee Loughridge We’ve already seen Spider-Man get his brains blown out, Thor drown in the rain, and The Hulk get decapitated, all by our favorite fast talking anti-hero. Knowing Deadpool will stop at nothing to finish off the rest of them is a given, how he’s going to do it is the question. Three issues in and I have to say, each kill has been unique in its own right and even though you know who’s gonna win, they did a great job of keeping us invested in and curious about who’s next on Deadpool’s hit list.

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The bad

They clearly knew they wanted to wrap this series up in four issues, which only sucks because there was so much room to dig in deeper and really explore why Deadpool gets off on being different than the rest of the Marvel Universe. He’s the black sheep, so to speak, but if the conflicts were just a little more personal this would be hands down my favorite comic book series of all time.

Deadpool/Marvel/Stan Lee

The Good

The Veredict

It lacks the depth most of us lean on to really become invested, but it makes up for it in bloodshed and humor. The art is on point, the flow is nice and smooth, the only problem with it is I would’ve liked more of a back and forth.

Deadpool vs. Wolverine NEEDS to be epic. This series just seems to kill off its heavyweights one by one without much of a struggle.

It’s a very cool comic that every comic fan can enjoy, it’s just a bit disappointing knowing that it has the potential to be even better.

score

8.5

Deadpool/Marvel/Stan Lee/Batman/DC/Jim Lee (Previous Spread)

DEADPOOL KILLS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE #4

Written by: Cullen Bunn | art by: Dalibor Talajic | colors by: Lee Loughridge

The Good

The look and style of this issue (and more importantly, the entire 4-part series) is everything you’d want in a comic book. It covers all the bases: blood splatter popping off the page, bits of humor juxtaposed with constant violence, and an ensemble of superheroes that would be impossible to top. If you can get on board with watching the heroes we grew up adoring get their asses handed to them by Deadpool, then there’s very, very little not to love about this series.

The bad

It’s not that it feels rushed because I’d argue that this issue is

paced the best of all four. Again, my only complaint is that it feels like the fights are too short, which is just a sign of how great it is, considering I just wanted more of it. Maybe it’s greedy, but if they wanted to drag out the back and forth between Deadpool and the entire Marvel Universe, I don’t think anybody would mind one bit.

The Veredict

I absolutely love this entire series.

If you’re a fan of witty humor, dynamic action, and superhero-on-superhero violence, there’s zero chance you won’t enjoy this issue, along with the other three in the series. This isn’t the all-time best Deadpool series, but it’s pretty damn close.

Even if you love all of Marvel’s heroes, there’s something oddly satisfying about Deadpool slaying these nearly-unbeatable superheroes who treat him as the outcast (even though that’s how he likes it).

score

9.5

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BATMAN: legends OF THE DARK KNIGHT

Written by: Howard Chaykin | art by: Gil Kane | Colors by:Steve Oliff It delivers the goods. That’s the best compliment I can give this issue. Despite having zero superpowers, TV and movies have helped turn Batman into the most popular superhero of all time. That means there’s a ton of Batman comics out there, a lot of which become watered down over time. That’s bound to happen with certain comics, it’s unavoidable and lots of issues will get lost in the mix. This one does a great job of being exactly what you want and expect out of your typical Batman comic: colorful art and loaded with fight sequences.

The bad

While it’s a solid comic, it doesn’t do anything to really separate itself from a traditional Batman comic. That doesn’t mean it’s not a good book—it just means it’s not a great one.

The Veredict

The story relies heavily on what we already know about Batman.

Considering how iconic he is,

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I think that’s the right move.

There’s no need to deep dive into Bruce Wayne’s background.

We know it. Instead, this issue is jam-packed with action which, especially for the younger readers, is exactly what the fans want. If you read ten Batman comics I can damn-near guarantee this will rank somewhere between three and six on your list.

There’s nothing wrong with that.

On the Batman curve, that makes it a very good read and definitely one I’d recommend, especially to newcomers or preteen-to-teen readers.

score

7.0

Batman/DC/Jim Lee/Sabre Tooth/Marvel

The Good

SABRE TOOTH Death Hunt #1

Written by: Larry Hama | art by: Mark Texeira | colors by: Steve Buccellato

The Good

There are four criteria I typically judge a comic book by: story, art, action, and humor—in that order.

While I enjoy humor in comics, it’s the most expendable of the bunch when talking about what makes a comic great. That’s how I would describe this one. There’s no humor, but it’s made up for with a strong story, amazing artwork, and nonstop action and conflict.

The bad

My only knock on this one is that it has the movie equivalent of a lot of jump cuts. That can work fine, but not when it feels like the characters are talking at each other instead of to each other.

This isn’t an issue in the second half, but early on it makes it a little harder to get into a good rhythm.

The Veredict

What this comic delivers artistically is easily my favorite thing about it. The dialogue is solid, but it’s the visuals that really keep it flowing. It’s action packed

score

8.5 and loaded with several kick-ass characters including a last page surprise appearance. Starting strong but finishing even stronger, the cliffhanger makes reading issue #2 a must. Keeping it strictly on Sabre Tooth, you’d be hard-pressed to find an issue better than this one right here. holiday 2020|

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100 BULLETS

Staring at the Son (PT3) Written by: Brian Azzarello | art by: Eduardo Risso | Colors by: Patricia Mulvihill

This is the first comic book I’ve ever read where the use of colors is by far my favorite aspect. The whole art team killed it with this issue, but the stylistic use of colors is what takes this book to the next level. The blending of so much red and orange, filled in with the eerie dark tone is a perfect mood setter and something even the best comic books rarely utilize to their full potential.

The bad

I can sit here and nitpick at little things some people might not like. For instance, there’s a lot of explicit dialogue so it’s not a book suited for all ages. But if you’re 16 or older and like comic books, the

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100 Bullets/Vertigo/Wolverine/Marvel

The Good

dialogue is only going to make it better. But to be honest I don’t have a bad thing to say about this comic.

The Veredict

If you flip through this issue and don’t read a single word of it, it still kicks ass because of how good it looks and how pleasing it is to the eye. In any visual medium colors can set the tone as well, if not better, as any other tool at the artists disposal. Another thing I love about this comic is that you don’t have to be into superheroes to enjoy this. It’s pretty rare you’d be into comic books if you don’t like superheroes, but if for some reason that’s the case then this is an absolute must-read. It’s a gritty, badass, crime story of a comic book and I can’t say enough good things about it.

score

10.0

WOLVERINE

The Best There Is #2 Written by: Charlie Huston | art by: Juan Jose Ryp | colors by: Andres Mossa

The Good

It looks awesome. Much like the Deadpool review I gave, the artwork is on point. The way the violence and blood pops off the page makes the experience engaging. We’re also introduced to a villain I previously knew nothing about, which is always a nice change of pace. Other than that, there’s very little to like about this one.

The bad

If the story lived up to the art, this book would be at least an 8 out

of 10, minimum. Sadly, much like issue #1 from this series, it does not. It’s like the fifth installment of the Friday the 13th series—it’s just a cliche of the rest of them, so nothing stands out since it’s exactly what you knew it would be. Nothing more, nothing less.

The problem with that in a comic book is it renders the reading experience meaningless since you don’t remember what you just read as soon as you put the book down. This just feels like a comic we could do without and nobody would know the difference.

The Veredict

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a decent book, but unless you’re just flipping through to check out the art it’s definitely not a comic I would recommend. It’s right on par with the previous issue, so if you’re a fan of that one, you’ll enjoy this one too. However, if you were hoping this series gets better with the second installment, I’d say go check out the countless other options when it comes to Wolverine or X-Men comics.

score

5.0

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SILVER SURFER In Thy Name #1

Written by: Simon Spurrier | art by: Tan Eng Huat | colors by: Jose Villarrubia Silver Surfer is one of the easiest heroes to root for. I’m part of the group that finds Silver Surfer wildly underrated, so maybe I’m a little biased,, but this is a great comic for readers of all ages. While anybody can enjoy it, it’s the perfect book for kids just getting into comics. As you get older your taste is likely to adapt and evolve, and suddenly cursing and bloodshed is like the coolest thing ever.

But if you are looking for a good wholesome comic that looks good and delivers a meaningful story, this is it.

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The bad

There’s not a whole lot to knock if you ask me. It gets off to a slow start, yes, but for good reason.

It’s to set the mood. There’s plenty of action to come, but Spurrier doesn’t throw it all at us at once. If you’re big on violence and bloodshed, this isn’t an issue for you, but that doesn’t mean it lacks action by any means.

The Veredict

Indie comics aside, it’s rare to find a comic with this much heart. That’s what I love about most Silver Surfer comics, but especially this series. He’s all alone in the galaxy and no matter how much good he does it always comes back to that simple fact.

If you can find a way to get your readers to connect with a superhero so much that you actually feel their pain (think when Peter Parker’s uncle dies in Spider-Man) it just gives your character a type of empathy that gets you invested whether you realize it or not.

Silver Surfer is the perfect hero to create empathy for and the team did an excellent job of that in this issue.

score

9.0

Silver Surfer/Marvel

The Good

silver surfer in thy name #2

Written by: Simon Spurrier | art by: Tan Eng Huat | colors by: Jose Villarrubia

The Good

This issue (and the series thus far) does an incredible job of utilizing “show, don’t tell.” Of course you need some good dialogue, and this delivers, but your eyes are constantly moving with the flow and it makes the read not only enjoyable, but feel like it flies right by. I think these books have been ideal for a kid that’s just getting into comics.

The bad

There are bits and pieces in the middle where so much is going on that a young kid reading it might get a little confused. And that’s normal, but still doesn’t always fit in with the target of this kick-ass comic book for kids of all ages.

The Veredict

Judging by these first two issues I love where the series is heading. It’s more than entertaining enough to keep the young fans turning the page, but again, what I really find special is the fact that the older the reader, the more likely they are to connect with the Silver Surfer and appreciate the depth that was given to him by the creators. There are a lot of great Silver Surfer comics, but so far this issue and series can stand toe-to-toe with any of them.

score

9.0

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