Yes No Maybe So: Mortal Kombat (2021)

by Ben Miller

Since 1993, production studios have tried again and again to adapt a video game for movie audiences and again and again they have failed.  Some of these films have been dumb fun (Angelina Jolie’s Tomb Raider), some have been seriously-minded disasters (Assassin’s Creed), while others have been financially viable misfires (Warcraft) or just outright catastrophes (Super Mario Bros.).

Paul W.S. Anderson tried his hand at it with 1995’s Mortal Kombat to the tune of $122 million worldwide.  Warner Bros, producer James Wan and director Simon McQuoid will try again with the aptly titled Mortal Kombat (2021 version).  The new red-band trailer just dropped, so let’s do a round of Yes, No, Maybe So...

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FYC: Soundscapes and Music

by Nathaniel R

The Film Bitch Awards continue with ballots for Best Score, Best Sound, Best Original Song, and in the non-Oscar parallel category Best Adapted, Combined, or Song Score (since so many films opt to have scores that lean into "soundtracks" as opposed to "scores" if you know what we mean)...

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Showbiz History: Matt Dillon endures, Reality Bites opens, and Three Billboards peaks

6 random things that happened on this day, February 18th, in showbiz history...

1928 Sonja Henie wins her first of three consecutive gold medals in women's figure skating (a feat that's never been equalled in women's figure skating). Hollywood comes calling in the mid 30s (back when they used to make movie stars of famous athletes -- see also Buster Crabbe, Esther Williams, and Johnny Weismuller) and she headlines several hit films, starring with One in a Million in 1936...

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Streaming Review: "I Care A Lot" (Netflix)

by Christopher James

Rosamund Pike cares a lot, not about her elderly wards, but about winning.Music and The Mauritanian weren’t the only movies that showed up at the Golden Globes without people having seen the film. Rosamund Pike nabbed a nomination in the Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy for the Netflix film I Care A Lot, which some critics saw during the Toronto International Film Festival. The Globes have long loved Rosamund Pike, even nominating her for A Private War in 2018. Is this latest nomination a case of the Globes being goofy, or is Pike awards worthy in this new black comedy?

The answer is yes and no on both fronts. Pike uses “Amazing Amy” ability to establish a horrifying, gleefully bloodthirsty businesswoman who fleeces the elderly. Unfortunately, she does so in a vehicle that points that talent in the exact wrong directions...

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The Furniture: "Mank", Crusader Against Tackiness

"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber. (Click on images for magnified detail)

Opulence isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Sometimes things that are expensive are worse. This is the message of Mank.

Or, rather, a message. But much of the film’s impact does spring from an acknowledgement that it would be cost-prohibitive to replicate the colossal excesses of the real Hearst Castle. Production designer Donald Graham Burt is pretty clear about that in this short video feature about his work. So, rather than trying and failing, they did something different...

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