Some thoughts on the Golden Globes


Tonight, I covered the Golden Globe Awards for the Lens via Twitter/X. The full list of winners can be found here.

It was an interesting setup, with comedian Nikki Glazer hosting. She didn’t take up too much time on stage, and I like to think that save for the opening monologue, she kept things moving.

Not all of the jokes hit. There were some embarrassing moments with Harrison Ford and Anthony Mackie. While both Awkwfina and Melissa McCarthy (who looked great for the evening) were good, I kind of wanted things to move on a little quicker.

The Brutalist was the Best Picture winner of the evening. The film also won Best Actor (Adrian Brody) and and Best Director in Brady Corbet. This may give the film an interesting chance come Oscar-time. The film beat out high Drama features such as Edward Berger’s Conclave (which managed to pull the Best Screenplay), Denis Villeneuve’s Dune Part Two and James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown.

Jon M. Chu’s Wicked, which some felt was the front runner for the Musical/Comedy was somewhat eclipsed by France’s Emilia Perez, which took home Golden Globes for Zoe Saldana, Best Non-English Film and Best Picture (Musical or Comedy). Wicked did manage to win the newly minted Cinematic and Box Office Achievement award.

Bringing in Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley as presenters for Best Male Actor in a Series was cool to see, watching them play off their pairing in The Substance. Demi’s win for Best Actress was a major highlight for the evening. She, along with Zoe Saldana and Colin Farrell (for HBO’s The Penguin) had some of the best speeches during the show. Colin thanked everyone under the sun, including Craft Services. Also loved the Best Picture (Non-English) winners for Emilia Perez. Colin Farrell thanked everyone from Cristina Milioti to Craft Services. Kieran Culkan beat out his Succession co-star Jeremy Strong for Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain, adding to the notion that Roman might have been the best of the Roys (if not Shiv). It was also great to see Sebastian Stan win for A Different Man. That was a long time coming as I’ve been a fan of his since The Covenant.

Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross won Best Score for Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers. I thought that The Wild Robot would take the Best Animated Film category, but Flow won that, and it honestly looks like a wonderful film.

In TV, it was all about Hacks and Shogun. Both shows dominated the awards with wins for Jane Smart (Hacks), Anna Sawai, Hiroyuki Sanada and Tadanobu Asano (for Shogun). I was particularly happy with Asano’s win, who I thought should have also won an Emmy.

Ghost Stories, Dir. Levi Morgan, Short Film Review by Case Wright


Hello Horror Fans! My midterms are over and in 7 Months I will be digging for buried treasure in the Great State of Texas! BOOM!!! I wanted to celebrate my midterm conclusion with a review of a promising horror short film. The premise is intriguing: Ghost Stories, but the Ghosts are telling them. Now, this will either be great or truly truly terrible….. BRB. I was WRONG!

The film reminded me of Andrew Bird’s “Sisyphus”
Listen Here:

Wasn’t that great? Yeah, it was! The idea of just letting things go. Whatevs. Like that attitude, they didn’t really put in the effort to make the film pop. The stories just weren’t that funny.

The ghosts are in Walmart white sheets with holes cut out. We’re talkin 100 dollar budget so far.
The first story is a the ghost intends to scare a newlywed couple by hiding under the bed and then jumping out; instead, he’s trapped under the bed as the couple has 2 hour relations! Kinda Funny.

The second ghost story, I really couldn’t follow it. They did not put the extra time to make sure that the story and joke worked. The film headed into “C” territory and I was hoping that maybe it’ll have a strong finish? No. The ghosts like the film are mediocrities. Do the ghosts team up to scare someone? Yes, but it fell as flat as Sisyphus’ boulder.

This short did have a beginning, middle, and an end. They definitely spent time on it. The writing was not the greatest, but they tried to make the jokes and work and not beyond their proposed narrative. In that context, the short was pretty good.

Sadly, as Andrew Bird sang in “Sisyphus”:
“History Forgets the Moderates” Yes, you have to let art breathe and go places that are new, but that takes A LOT of work and they were NOT up to that commitment.
I think like “The Moderates” of Bird’s song, this short will be forgotten.

Nitro+ Mascot Super Sonico Gets Own Anime Series


Super Sonico.

Two words that literally will elicit either two reactions from fans of all things Japanese pop culture. One reaction would be a groan and a shaking of the head that a mascot for a Japanese software company will get her own anime series. For these individuals it’s bad enough that she’s flooded the collectibles’ market with everything Super Sonico from vinyl figures (even one that’s 1/2 scale), posters, keychains, bedspreads, pillow cases and uncounted more things made to separate an otaku from their cash.

The other reaction would be on the other side of the spectrum. A reaction of unrestrained glee. Super Sonico has almost become not just the mascot for Nitro+ but for the current trend in Japanese pop culture that goes by the label of moe. So, Super Sonico finally having her very own anime series was just the logical progression for a character that’s already on everything else sold in Japan and overseas.

From the press release from Nitro+…

“The staff of the Japanese software maker Nitroplusconfirmed on Saturday that a television anime adaptation of its Super Sonico mascot has been green-lit. Nitroplus already opened a website for SoniAni -Super Sonico the Animation-, which was first announced at the Nitro Super Sonic 2013 event earlier in the day.

Super Sonico is the mascot girl of the “Nitro Super Sonic” events held by Nitroplus. In her back story, she is already a photoshoot model, game character, and a musician, even as she studies as a college student. She is also part of a three-piece girl band named “Daiichi Uchū Sokudo” (Fastest Speed in Space) as the vocalist and guitarist.

The character already inspired her own line of games, and figures including a giant 1/2-scale statue. Super Sonico is also appearing in Namco Bandai GamesSuper Heroine Chronicle for the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita systems and even in a promotion for THQ’s Saints Row: The Third game.”

The question that should be going through the minds of fans until it’s announced would be which anime studio will do the animation and when the series will have a premiere date.

Source: Anime News Network

Rozen Maiden Manga to Get More Anime, Desu


When I first returned to watching anime and reading manga a little over 4 years ago one of the series that I really enjoyed and continue to enjoy since has been the series from the art duo of Peach-Pit. This series about living dolls and one hikikomori boy named Jun Sakurada reminded me that anime wasn’t just cute and disposable entertainment with simple writing. This series wasn’t just cute to look at, but had writing that struck a balance between comedy, drama and, for a series about dolls, it was dark and melancholy.

Rozen Maiden is the name of the series.

Now comes word that the manga that is still on-going will be receiving a new series (already two seasons and two OVA’s have been released) after almost 6 years of no new anime content. There’s no word of when the new Rozen Maiden series will premiere in Japan and whether it’ll get licensed for a release in North America, but just the news that the project has been green-lit should delight fans of the series. For one thing it’ll mean more desu.

Source: Anime News Network

High School DxD gets 2nd Season


News that should make fellow site writer and contributor pantsukudasai56 very happy just came down the pipeline. According to Anime News Network the shonen series High School DxD has been given the greenlight for a second season.

While details about this second season has been, for the moment, quite sparse the fact that the season is now in production means that it’s not just a promise of one, but a guarantee that more harem hi-jinks involving the clueless Issei Hyodo and the beautiful, albeit demonic, girls of his high school. This is a series that’s definitely more about comedy than anything serious and/or thought provoking. Then again one can only survive on dramatic and deep anime for so long. Some levity needs to be mixed in with the dark and High School DxD certainly delivers in that front.

The popularity of the series (and the new season should get quite a welcome from its fans) also stems from the fact that it is a harem anime that also involves some very ecchi (fan service) moments. While this type of anime doesn’t appeal to everyone it still attracts a huge number of anime fans.

There’s no word when the new season will air, but until then I’m sure pantsukudasai56 will be anticipating ew stuff from his favorite character on the show: Koneko Toujou.

Source: Anime News Network