Giles: Right. It’s good to see you. Um, no need to panic.
Oz: Just a thought: poker: not your game.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Season 3: Episode 4 – “Beauty and the Beasts”
My goal for 2016 is to get back in the habit of posting trailers on a regular basis, something which I sort of abandoned in the last half of 2015 (it’s a long story). And what better way to start than with the latest trailers for Suicide Squad and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. I haven’t been particularly enthusiastic at the prospect of a DC Extended Universe of films, designed to combat the wildly successful Marvel Cinematic Universe, following the release of Man of Steel two and a half years ago. I was not a fan of Man of Steel (nor of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy before it, which is not a part of the new Universe but which obviously influenced its tone), and the fact that the second film they’re attempting is such an obvious push to get an Avengers-style film out (Superman! Batman! Wonder Woman! Flash! …Aquaman? Cyborg?) makes the film feel too forcefully commercial in an already overly-commercial genre. But what I do find interesting about the DCEU is that its two upcoming films already feel very different. If there’s one criticism of the MCU I’ll entertain, it’s that the films generally aim for the same sort of tone, and despite a good amount of variety among the films they all feel kind of similar, as if they’re different chapters in the same book rather than individual movies. And while Batman v Superman feels like more of the same following Man of Steel, Suicide Squad’s latest trailer makes it seem like the film was made by an entirely different studio. And what really surprises me is how much these latest trailers have changed my level of enthusiasm for the films, though in completely opposite directions from each other. Take a look at the Suicide Squad trailer below and then read on for my thoughts on it and Batman v Superman.
I particularly wished to serve my friend Aubrey. His agent absconded with all his prize-money; the court of appeal reversed the condemnation of two neutral vessels, leaving him £11,000 in debt. This happened when he was on the point of becoming engaged to a most amiable young woman. They are deeply attached to one another; but since her mother, a widow with considerable property under her own control, is a deeply stupid, griping, illiberal, avid, tenacious, pinchfist lickpenny, a sordid lickpenny and a shrew, there is no hope of marriage without his estate is cleared and he can make at least some kind of settlement upon her.
HMS Surprise – Patrick O’Brian
Badger: He won’t deal with me direct. He’s taken an irrational dislike.
Jayne: What happened? He see your face?
Badger: He’s a quality gent. Nose in the air like he never wun gwo pee [“smelled a fart”]. Don’t find me respectable. But you, now I figure you got a chance.
Mal: You backed out of a deal last time. Left us hanging.
Jayne: Hurt our feelings.
Mal: You recall why that took place?
Badger: Had a problem with your attitude is why. Felt you was… what’s the word?
Jayne: Pretentious?
(Mal gives Jayne a confused/surprised look)
Badger: Exactly! You think you’re better than other people.
Mal: Just the ones I’m better than.
Firefly – Episode 4 – “Shindig”
Spock: Nothing, Captain. No contacts, no objects in any direction.
Kirk: Care to speculate on what we’ll find if we go on ahead?
Spock: Speculate? No. Logically, we’ll discover the intelligence which sent out the cube.
Kirk: Intelligence different from ours or superior?
Spock: Probably both, and if you’re asking the logical decision to make
Kirk: No, I’m not. The mission of the Enterprise is to seek out and contact alien life.
Spock: Has it occurred to you that there’s a certain inefficiency in constantly questioning me on things you’ve already made up your mind about?
Kirk: It gives me emotional security.
Star Trek – Season 1: Episode 2 – “The Corbomite Maneuver”
This post is part of the Backstage Blogathon, hosted by Movies Silently and by Sister Celluloid, focusing on the various ways the entertainment industry portrays itself on film.
I’ve long been a fan of all things Mel Brooks, and I have a particular fondness for The Producers. Brooks’ first film, which earned him his only Academy Award, isn’t as brilliantly funny as Blazing Saddles or Young Frankenstein, nor as specific a parody as Spaceballs or Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Nevertheless, it’s definitely a classic, anchored by two perfectly matched comedians and featuring one of the most hilarious musical numbers of all time. But until I decided to write about it for the Backstage Blogathon, I had never really considered its portrayal of the entertainment industry and what it has to say about putting on a show (or even a movie). It was always such a silly premise, two producers trying to swindle money away from old women by putting on a sure-fire flop, that the wackiness distracted from the fact that the film is genuinely a satire of getting a show made, specifically in the way it approaches the various players involved in putting on the production: the writer, the director, the actor, and of course the producers.
Oz: How do, Debbie?
Debbie: Hi, Oz. Hey, you’re not doing jazz band this year?
Oz: Oh, can’t take the pressure. It’s not the music that’s hard, it’s the marching.
Buffy: We have a marching jazz band?
Oz: Yeah, but, you know, since the best jazz is improvisational, we’d be going off in all directions, banging into floats… Scary.
Willow: He’s just being Oz.
Oz: Pretty much full-time.
Buffy the Vanpire Slayer – Season 3: Episode 4 – “Beauty and the Beasts”
‘He would not do anything rash?’
‘Never in life. It’s true, you know; quite true,’ he added, seeing that Sophia was not wholly persuaded that Jack at sea and Jack ashore were two different persons.
HMS Surprise — Patrick O’Brian
The Love Pirate 