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You all get a surprise bonus post before the end of the year! I have several Christmas-themed posts I'd like to do, but I figured I would space those out. (I kind of set a break neck pace for the end of the year anyway and I've run out of time.) I did want to do one this year, so the first one that came to mind was my favorite holiday special of all time, 1991's A Wish For Wings That Work.
Poor little bird and his gimpy little wing-arms. (Credit: Amblin Television)
The concept is quite simple. Opus is a penguin who wishes he could fly like other birds. Opus is voiced by Micheal Bell, who I think is perfect casting. His voice comes through gentle and earnest, which fits the character of
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Welcome back to The SoraRabbit Hole-- a pop culture positivity blog, now spanning two decades! This is the first installment of my new series, SoraRabbit Plays. In this series I will take a look at tabletop games that I enjoy. I'll talk about rules, mechanics, comparisons to other games, and review the game and any expansions I may have collected. (I'm big on expansions.) Keep in mind that I am by no means an expert. All my observations will be painted by my personal taste and personal gaming experiences. (Not that that's a bad thing. You may be able to benefit from my point of view.) For the first edition of this feature, I will be looking at one of the newest games in our ever-growing collection, the living card game from Fantasy Flight released in late 2019, Marvel Champions The Card
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As should be evident by my internet handle, I really love Kingdom Hearts. How much do I love it? Well, I'll just say this: I wore Sora socks at my wedding and walked into our reception wielding a homemade Keyblade that Cocoashade and I worked on together. Instead of a wedding cake we had cookies in the shape of Paopu Fruit. All that should tell you what you need to know. I have several posts planned about some of the individual games in the series, but I know the best way to tackle something like this is to start with an overview post. So this entry will be explaining the Kingdom Hearts series, my history with it, and discussing the (admittedly) overly complex story line that has unfolded over the past 18 years. This is a pretty big undertaking. Kingdom Hearts started out very simple, th
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Welcome back to my three part overview of the Kingdom Hearts series. In the first installment I explained some of the characters, terms, and concepts. In this one, I'll get into the individual games a bit. Each of these games deserve their own posts (I'm working on posts for Part III and Dream Drop Distance now) but we'll see where I go with this down the road. As I said last time there's so much going on in the Kingdom Hearts series that it would take more than three posts, but I'm going to get into as much as I can.
Stupid wizards. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)
In these posts, I'll do a quick summary, not going too in depth on the gameplay mechanics and differences between the games. I
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Welcome back to my massive overview of the Kingdom Hearts series. In Part 1 I went over the characters and concepts. In Part 2 I went over the first three games, two of which were numbered installments. This will be the rest of the games to this point. Just bear in mind that I will be very sparse in my details on Dream Drop Distance and Part III because those will be later posts.
This is wildly unsafe. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)
After Kingdom Hearts II we had several side games while we waited for the next numbered installment. Although these were side games, they were incredibly important and vital to the plot. (They were also fun games in their own right.)
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Gwenpool is a real oddity in comicdom. She's a gender-swapped homage to a composite character... a parody of a parody... meta being meta about meta. Gwenpool is hard to explain unless she's been experienced, but I'm going to attempt to explain her in this post.
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Over the last few years, Star Wars has seen its share of problems. From a fan base that's continually at war with itself to several directors either being removed or leaving their assigned projects, the massive franchise has not been safe from turmoil.When The Rise of Skywalker was initially in development, Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow was slated to helm the feature. As it got closer to development, he was taken off the project. While there are numerous stories that have been all over the internet, Kathleen Kennedy has now made a statement regarding why he didn't direct the final movie in the Skywalker saga:"Colin was at a huge disadvantage not having been a part of Force Awakens and in part of those early conversations because we had a general sense of where the story was goin
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Nothing defines early 2000’s television more than the uprising of the reality television star: there have been celebutantes, dating show contestants, and “survivors” of various types infesting the media for the past few decades with no signs of stopping anytime soon. Proving Andy Warhol’s concept of everyone’s “15 minutes of fame,” we’ve seen an embarrassing assortment of personalities come and go, while others have lingered around us like a stubborn venereal disease over the years. It is a subject matter that has been oft-parodied, and here we have yet another example of this that nobody asked for.Steven Jay Bernheim’s satirical Reality Queen! explores the highs and lows of the reality star as we follow an heiress’s antics in front of the public eye. London Logo (
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Rian Johnson's latest film has turned into quite the success for the studio and the director. After his Star Wars film, Johnson decided to make a swift turn into a different genre. And it proved to be a financial positive for all those involved. Now, Lionsgate has commissioned Johnson to develop a script for a potential sequel to the hit film. Apparently, the new project would no focus on the same family from Knives Out but would have Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) investigating a new crime. With huge word of mouth, excellent box office, and critical momentum, Knives Out proved to be a worthwhile venture for all involved. A sequel that sees the Craig character returning to solve another murder mystery would most likely be a welcomed addition. From the time Knives Out was
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Even as the final film in the Skywalker saga continues to separate fans and critics, the movie seems to be cranking out some decent numbers at the domestic box office. While it's still trailing Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi, the newest Star Wars movie will claim a third weekend as the champ in the U.S.. With it's numbers faltering a bit, the movie will see another $36 million in ticket sales over the post holiday run. Bringing in another $11 million on Friday alone, Disney and Lucasfilm surely won't be disappointed after once again beating down its competition. However, with the only other big budget contender being Jumanji: The Next Level, it didn't really have too much to contend with. Still, The Rise of Skywalker is not really up to snuff with other entries in the saga. Currently,
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How do you like "Shitsville"?Although The Hitcher (1986) was panned by most critics on its release, it stands out from the myriad of other '80s slashers because it feels more like an allegory than a straightforward tale of a killer and his victims. The story starts out unassuming as it follows a young man named Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell) who is on the road delivering a car from Chicago to San Diego. The skyline on the highway is filled with dark and foreboding storm clouds, a sign of things to come. A torrential rain starts to fall and he sees a lone figure staggering up the road. Impulsively he stops and offers the man a ride. As he opens the door to the sopping wet figure he quips "My mother told me to never do this." His mother was right.The hitcher's name
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Years before Larry Clark’s Kids dove headfirst into the drug (and sexual) abuses committed by juvenile delinquents, Last Exit to Brooklyn director Uli Edel made one Hell of a debut with his searing and unforgettable chronicle of the 1970s Berlin music/drug scene Christiane F. A profoundly disturbing swan dive into filth and vermin, the cult classic continues to be referenced in movies and pop culture including The Green Infernoand most recently Climax. And yet the film itself, one of a kind which could be never made with today’s child labor laws, remains a timeless time capsule of sorts by being about an ongoing epidemic afflicting youths to this day despite taking place in a bygone era.Based upon a series of tape-recorded interviews with the title figure which were published
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The TMS Top 5 of 2019Many of The Movie Sleuth writers have considered 2019 a great year for cinema. From blockbusters, to indie titles, and foreign films, our top 5 shows the same diversity we saw in the theater this year. Although there were dozens of great features to pick from, this is what we came up with by using a group voting system. Hopefully you enjoy our picks. #5 MidsommarIn a follow-up to critically-acclaimed Hereditary, Midsommar delivers as another idiosyncratic horror film. Midsommar also functions as an inverted allegory: wherein the “bigger”, more diegetic story is that of a cultish group who celebrates the Summer Solstice through sacrifice; the “smaller” story, but perhaps the more salient one, is that of a young woman who is trying to figure out her way through a r
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Terrence Malick is and always will be an important contributor to the cinematic medium to learn from and respect. He has also arguably hit a bit of an artistic rut in recent times following the heights defined by his still divisive Palme d’Or winner The Tree of Life. With his sprawling and abstract last three films Knight of Cups, Voyage of Time and Song to Song, we saw the once patiently planned and precise filmmaker rapidly churning out films whose signature style bordered on self-parody at best and indulgent at worst. While not overtly bad (I enjoyed all three), for a filmmaker of Malick’s caliber the films presented for fans as well as detractors what appeared to be a moment of artistic crisis for the director. Even publications such as Cineastecouldn’t help bu
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Ever since his work on David Fincher’s 1995 modern neo-noir classic Se7en, the Iranian-French director of photography Darius Khondji became instantly recognized as one of the film industry’s finest cinematographers the movie world had ever seen. Born in Tehran, Iran to an Iranian father and French mother, the soon-to-be cinema giant moved to France during his youth where he was introduced to the world of moviegoing. Quickly inspired to start making his own films, Khondji generated a handful of Super-8 short films before making the leap to the United States to study at UCLA, NYU and the International Center of Photography. It was during this time two of his film professors (one of whom taught Martin Scorsese) persuaded Khondji to follow his true vocation as a film cinemat
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Disney+ has made millions of Star Wars fans happy. Offering us the first ever live action television series for the brand was one of the best things to happen in a long time. And the show, The Mandalorian proved to be a massive hit for them. Now, with the first season wrapping up this week, it looks like we're finally getting an minor tease for the second batch of episodes. Jon Favreau took to Twitter today to post about the next season which looks to be coming in Fall of 2020. With that said, the future of televised Star Wars looks good. We'll soon be getting the Obi-Wan limited run series, the Cassian Andor show, and potentially another secret project they're working on. Season 2 of #TheMandalorian coming Fall 2020 pic.twitter.com/8VQYLDMQ0V— Jon Favreau (@Jon_Favreau) Decembe
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The first season of the Disney+ Star Wars show The Mandalorian has concluded. And damn, it hit like a ton of bricks. As some have complained that some episodes haven't moved quick enough, this one is pure fire. From front to back, we're given action that lets us know that there are actual stakes with this extension of the universe. Not everyone is going to survive. And that's okay. At long last, Star Wars feels like its getting a makeover that gives weight to the violence on screen. As the first ever live action show set in the galaxy far, far away, the pairing of Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau's work has proven to be nearly impeccable. In only eight short episodes, they've revitalized Star Wars fandom with something we can rally behind as The Rise of Skywalker continues to cause a
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“I want to do something splendid...something heroic or wonderful that won't be forgotten after I'm dead. I don't know what, but I'm on the watch for it and mean to astonish you all someday.” Steeling her resolve with a sharp breath and a self-assured nod of the head, Jo March (Saoirse Ronan) gathers her nerves and confidently struts headlong into a den of vipers, that parlor of patriarchy known as the publishing house. Her ink-stained hands give the lie to her claim that she's shopping around stories "for a friend," and she squirms uncomfortably while the myopic editor (Tracy Letts) slashes her story to ribbons, only to offer her $20 for his final cut. Knowing better than to look a gift horse in the mouth, she takes the offer, as that's the best a young woman of her station is
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With only 8 days behind it, the latest Star Wars movie is hurdling through space towards a great worldwide box office haul. Even though fans are still quite divided over the last entry in the Skywalker franchise, Disney is looking at an excellent tally that will definitely solidify Episode IX as another successful December movie. While it's still trailing the numbers from The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, the JJ Abrams directed sci-fi fantasy flick has already crossed the $500 million mark in only 8 days of worldwide release. As of today, it's already at $518 million and still counting. The film raked in $32 million in U.S. ticket sales on Christmas day alone, bringing its current domestic gross to $258 million already. Looking at social media trends and commentary, it seems
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CG animated films are a dime-a-dozen these days – littered in between the big Pixar or DreamWorks releases are generally far less ambitious films from smaller studios, generally short on story and with the barest hint of character development and seemingly extant only for marketing potential (which usually ends up relatively nonexistent anyway). So, it’s difficult to get excited when yet another animated family film hits theatres, particularly around the holidays. 20th Century Fox’s Blue Sky Studios, the creators of the Ice Age and Rio franchises, is banking on its newest release, Spies in Disguise, to work up some hype this holiday season.There have been plans to flesh out Lucas Martell’s 2009 animated short, Pigeon: Impossible for several years, but the resulting feature has very little
