Yes, No, Maybe So: "Sonic the Hedgehog"

by Tony Ruggio

One of these days big Hollywood will get a video-game adaptation right. Judging from Sonic’s teaser trailer, one that has sent Twitter into a frothing hate-frenzy and earned more dislikes than likes on Youtube, November 8, 2019 will not be that day. I don’t know a thing about the Sonic the Hedgehog games though I vaguely remember playing them once or twice as a child. Until this week I had no idea the character had a discernible fanbase. That being said, there’s something oddly intriguing about a project so ill-advised.

Let's do the Yes, No, or Maybe So treatment after the jump...

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353 Days Until "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"

Behold. It's the first image of Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The film is still a year off, as it won't hit theaters until July 26th, 2019. The release date was originally August 9th, a tasteless choice as that will be the 50th anniversary of Sharon Tate's grisly murder at the hands of Charles Manson's followers. Tate was famously married to Roman Polanski and 8 months pregnant at the time (Tess, an Oscared hit in 1980, was dedicated to Tate, who had hoped Polanski would adapt it to screen). No signs of pregnancy in this photo so perhaps the film will not go there directly (we hope not).

The lead characters are a fictional actor (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stunt double (Brad Pitt)...

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Tall Glass of Marsden

by Jason Adams

Things that are hot right now: Stephen King adaptations. Things that are hot always: James Marsden. And finally the twain are meeting with In the Tall Grass, the just-announced adaptation of King's novella (co-authored with his son Joe Hill). The story's about "a sister and brother who venture into a vast field of grass in Kansas after hearing a boy's cries for help" which turns out to have been a bad plan of action. Then again "doing anything" inside a Stephen King story usually turns out to have been a bad plan of action...

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Beauty vs Beast: Listen to the Lady in the Radiator

Jason from MNPP here -- this Thursday David Lynch's cult masterpiece Eraserhead is marking its 40th anniversary! 40 years have passed and I still haven't seen anything like it. Even among Lynch's work it still feels singular - you know how there's the blue key in Mulholland Drive that opens the little box? Sometimes I feel like Eraserhead is the blue key. Everything flows through it. It's his beautiful brain's Rosetta Stone, but good luck deciphering it. Anyway let's celebrate the film with this week's round of "Beauty vs Beast" shall we...

PREVIOUSLY You guys gave James Marsden a very happy birthday week, giving his Enchanted performance a whopping 85% against Patrick Dempsey's. That's one of the soundest beatings I think we've ever had. Said PoliVamp:

"Prince Edward all the way. He's so enthusiastically sincere that, even if the sex was terrible, he'd still find someway to make sure you enjoyed it."

Beauty vs Beast: Two Princes

Jason from MNPP here, wishing a happy 44th birthday to the perennially underrated James Marsden today! He's not so underrated that he's ever really gone without work at least (and he's currently riding the zeigeist a bit with the success of Westworld, although I don't know if his moon-eyed compoke Teddy is really what's keeping anybody coming back to that show week after week) but underrated he still somehow seems. That's an impressive impression to give for someone as breathtakingly gorgeous as him! No small feat.

I suppose it's the "Nice Guy Loser" role he's been called on to play time and again - we've watched him watch The Girl go off with the right Mr. Right so many times we've built a stockpile of empathy for him. Speaking of, for today's for "Beauty vs Beast" let's hit up just one of those roles, the 2007 hit film Enchanted (which insanely is turning 10 in November, can you believe it)...

PREVIOUSLY Last week's It Comes at Night contest between Joel Edgerton & Christopher Abbott's survivalist characters was a tight race for a bit but the latter pulled out in front eventually taking 62% of your vote - said Nick T:

"Their scenes together were my favorite parts of the film, their beards my favorite characters."