FILM 1928: GLASS

FILM 1928: GLASS

TRIVIA: Samuel L. Jackson said of working with James McAvoy on the movie, "As good as I like to think I am or what I do and how I do it, watching somebody transform characters in front of your eyes and have an argument with four different people is pretty amazing."

James Mcavoy based one of his twenty-three multiple personalities on a young Saoirse Ronan, whom he worked with in the film Atonement (2007).

While promoting the movie at the 2018 Comic-Con, writer and director M. Night Shyamalan noted that the film was "a once-in-a-lifetime movie in that Disney arm Buena Vista International, which owns the rights to Unbreakable (2000), and Split (2016) studio Universal Pictures, agreed to team for the film." He continued saying, "I don't think this will ever happen again, where two studios had two IPs they completely owned, and I said, 'Can we make a sequel to both, and you guys share it?' and they said 'Yes.'"

Sarah Paulson accepted her part without reading the script, even though her role was originally written for a man, for the opportunity to work with director M. Night Shyamalan. 

When David Dunn is taken into the mental hospital, the first camera feed seen is labeled H20. David's weakness is water which hints that the hospital is dangerous to him.

Although Disney owns the rights to Unbreakable (2000), director M. Night Shyamalankept the rights to any potential sequels to himself, so that the studio could not make one without his involvement. Such was his desire for creative control that he co-financed Glass (2019) by mortgaging his house.

DIRECTOR CAMEO: M. Night Shymalan played a customer at the Dunn Security store and recognized David Dunn as a former security guard at the stadium and credits him for putting him on a good path. In Unbreakable (2000), Shymalan cameoed as a drug dealer whom David has a run in with.

FILM 1587: DOCTOR STRANGE 

TRIVIA: Before becoming the Sorcerer Supreme, Stephen Strange received training at an Eastern monastery. Benedict Cumberbatch spent his gap year volunteering as an English teacher at a Buddhist monastery in Darjeeling, India. He had stated that the experience was very profound and influential on his life, and sought to draw from this experience in preparing for the role.

Doctor Strange's creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko based his appearance on Hollywood actor Vincent Price; the character even bears the middle name of Vincent.

According to Kevin Feige, the concept of magic in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is inspired by The Matrix (1999) and the fantasy works of Stanley Kubrick and Hayao Miyazaki: "Have you watched the Cosmos (1980) series? That's magic, the quantum physics. If somebody knew how to tap into that stuff, what's the difference between that and magic? You don't get into it in Harry Potter, but if a scientist went to Hogwarts he'd find out how some of that stuff is happening! We're not going to spend a lot of time on it, but there will be some of that, particularly for a character like Doctor Strange, who goes from a man of science to a man of faith and who traverses both worlds. And sometimes there won't be an answer! Sometimes he'll want an answer - 'How is this happening?' - and nothing."

In 1992, Wes Craven was set to direct. Later in 2001, David S. Goyer was going to write and direct. In 2008, Guillermo del Toro was brought on as director. In 2014, Mark Andrews, Jonathan Levine, Nikolaj Arcel, Scott Derrickson and Dean Israelite were on the shortlist to direct. In the end, Derrickson was officially announced to helm the film.

Cinematographer Ben Davis cites the Disney experimental film Fantasia (1940) as a visual influence on the film: "It has a very psychedelic grounding, and most of the work is about other dimensions."

FILM 1517: MYSTERY MEN

TRIVIA: According to Ben Stiller in an interview on Late Show with David Letterman (1993), he and Greg Kinnear got into a heated argument on the set. Afterwards, Stiller tried to be released from the film.

Tom Waits' odd hand gestures when explaining the psychofrakulator were the result of him writing his dialogue on his fingers and reading the words as he went along.

A number of the sets used in the film are the same sets used in Batman Forever (1995).

The Mystery Men were the supporting cast of an underground superhero comic book called the Flaming Carrot. Mr. Furious and the Shoveler were the only ones from the comic to make it into the movie. Captain Amazing was created as a replacement for the Flaming Carrot, who was felt to be too bizarre to bring to the silver screen.

The Bowler's stream-of-consciousness monologue in support of independent filmmaking at the conclusion of the film was originally not intended to be included in the finished print. Janeane Garofalo was instructed by director Kinka Usher to say whatever came to her mind at the time (Usher simply wanted to use up some excess film.) Usher liked her performance so much he edited it into the final print.

CAMEOS: Michael Bay (noted action director) and Riki Rachtman, (former host of MTV's Headbangers Ball (1987)) as two of the Frat Boys. Bay asks "can we bring the brewskies?".

According to Hank Azaria, the cast argued constantly with each other over the comedic tone of the film.

As the team enters Dr. Heller's amusement park workshop, creepy music is heard. This is not just incidental music, but turns out to be Dr. Heller practicing on a 'waterphone', the strange cylindrical device with steel wires he can briefly be seen holding. The waterphone is primarily used in the motion picture industry in the composition of creepy incidental music.

In an odd parallel, Tom Waits actually creates curious machines from junk and hardware store purchases, in the same way that his character (Dr. Heller) does. Waits' machines are musical, and one is 6-stringed steel dumpster.

A subtle reference to William Shatner: once, while recording lines for the video game Star Trek: Judgment Rites (1993), Shatner pronounced "sabotage" strangely and was asked twice to repeat the line. He finally blurted, "Don't tell me how to act - it sickens me!" In Mystery Men (1999), this line is repeated by Ben Stiller. Later, Janeane Garofalo says to Stiller, "You say 'sabotage', I say 'saboTAGE'," another Shatner quote from the Star Trek recording session.

Ricky Jay's character tells Captain Amazing, "I'm a publicist, not a magician." Jay is in fact a well-known magician.

In a 2011 interview with A.V. Club, Hank Azaria claimed that during production Kinka Usher declared "I'm going back to commercials when this is done. I've had enough. I'd much rather do my cool little one-minute shorts that I make than deal with all this nonsense."

FILM 1233: TANGLED

TRIVIA: The longest animated Disney film since Fantasia (1940).

According to the animators for Flynn, he's meant to be 26 years old, thus making him 8 years older than Rapunzel, who is 18 in the film - the largest age gap between any other Disney princess couple.

This is the first animated Disney "princess" film to get a PG rating by the MPAA. All other Disney "princess" films got a G rating.

The character design of Flynn came from the process which was called the 'hot man meeting' by Nathan Greno and Byron Howard, during which they set up a meeting with all of the female employees of the studio in one room and asked them for their opinions of what made a man good looking in order to create Flynn's character design with features such as eye color, hair color and style and body type. Video footage showed concept art and photos of various male celebrities, including Johnny Depp, Hugh Jackman, Brad Pitt, David Beckham and Gene Kelly on the walls of the room.

Rapunzel is the first Disney Princess with supernatural powers.

Disney's 50th animated feature.

The descending lantern that Rapunzel lifted back skyward was the one her parents, the king and queen launched from the palace veranda. It was the only one with the royal symbol of the sun on it.

You will find Pinocchio in the Snuggly Duckling, right after the cupid is swung to the right of the screen. You will find him in the top right corner in the rafters.

In the marketplace, when Rapunzel looks at the mosaic of herself, the camera cuts from her eyes to the tile eyes of the picture and - very briefly - there is a clarinet musical motif that is exactly the same as the motif in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), when Cameron is looking at the pointillist painting and the camera cuts between Cameron's eyes and that of the child in the painting. The moment is just a fraction of a second; just after that, Rapunzel looks at the clarinet player walking behind her and smiles.

According to Glen Keane, the movie's visual style (a three-dimensional painting) was greatly inspired by the Romantic painting "The Swing", by the French rococo artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard: "A fairy tale world has to feel romantic and lush, very painterly." For a clear idea of what was intended, the animators duplicated the picture in 3D to achieve a shot containing depth and dimensions.

Natalie Portman was considered for Rapunzel and her audition recording was used for a pencil test.

BOOK 113: BORN WEIRD: ANDREW KAUFMAN

A family drama unlike any other from the internationally acclaimed author of All My Friends are Superheroes.

The Weirds have always been a little peculiar, but not one of them suspected that they’d been cursed by their grandmother.

At the moment of their birth Annie Weird gave each of her five grandchildren a special power that she thought was a blessing. Richard, the oldest, always keeps safe; Abba always has hope; Lucy is never lost and Kent can beat anyone in a fight. As for Angie, she always forgives, instantly. But over the years these blessings have proved to be curses and ruined their lives.

Now Annie is dying and she has one last task for Angie, her favourite grandchild. Angie has to gather her far-flung brothers and sisters and assemble them in her Grandmother’s hospital room so that at the moment of her death, she can lift these blessings turned curses.

MY VERDICT: I liked this book, it was quirky and interesting but it was missing something.  It was missing some depth, and with so many characters I suppose this is not surprising.  It was a little flat but on the whole I enjoyed reading it, it was easy and entertaining.  Not as good, nowhere as near as good as his first.