BethR

I have been looking forward to Blinded by the Light ever since I saw the first trailers, and it did not disappoint. Everyone with me agreed. While I liked Yesterday much more than kenmorefield did, I agree that Blinded is more nuanced and thoughtful--doubtless because it is based on biography and history, rather than being a fantasy. Would Hairspray be an example of a musical bildungsroman framed around a woman's experience? What about Dirty Dancing? Coal Miner's Daughter? Charlotte O'Sullivan of the Standard acknowledges the male-centric issues, but loves it anyway: O'Sullivan also suggested another woman's musical bildungsroman: the Amy Winehouse documentary, Amy (dir. Asif Kapadia). I have not seen it and am not familiar with Winehouse's music, but FWIW...

Perhaps a planet where The Lion King is the only musical in any form?

Six more cast members reported, with descriptions hinting at outlines for the series. Whedon again seems to be showing his ability to cast distinctive actors.

Woman #2 has obviously been living on some other planet.

Twelve cast members announced, along with some intriguing character descriptions. It's starting to look good. Among the new names: Olivia Williams (Dollhouse), Nick Frost (The World's End), and Eleanor Tomlinson (Poldark).

Backlisted podcast will be discussing Hoban's Riddley Walker in the next month--it's been announced on Twitter, but isn't listed yet among the "Episodes." This unusual literary podcast is devoted to "giving new life to old books," or, according to the "about" page, "how and why some books stand the test of time." I've picked up a few good recommendations from them, and enjoyed their discussions of obscure books/authors that I happened to know already.

I haven't seen this movie yet, and probably won't because Tarantino's violence and I don't mix, but here's Jezebel's Rich Juzwiak on misogyny in Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood.

I'm looking forward to this one.

I guess I'll just note here that the Constantine character (played by the same actor) was brought back on CW's Legends of Tomorrow series, adding a dark supernatural thread to the sci-fi time-travel plotlines.

Premiere date Sept. 26, 2019. Promo summary: "An Ivy League professor [Whitford] becomes director of a rural church choir." You know that's going to be a bucket of laughs. https://youtu.be/Gv2fXZfsqYE

On the question of prequels enhancing the originals: Maybe with books more than movies/TV. The book The Sword in the Stone, as part of The Once and Future King, is lovely and plays a significant role in White's partially reworking Malory as a bildungsroman. Works well as a standalone, too. The cartoon, unfortunately, is a travesty. In terms of GoT-world plot, there's not much in the prehistory of GoT that seems interesting, unless they can create compelling characters. I might not have stuck with GoT either, if I hadn't cared what happened to Arya. Other book prequels that work, IMO: The Magician's Nephew, which I will defend to the death (figuratively) as the 6th Narnia Chronicle, rather than the first, because it refers to earlier books and also expects a level of maturity that LWW perhaps does not. Another is Dorothy Dunnett's House of Niccolo series (8 books), a historical novel sequence that is effective on its own, but also a prequel to her earlier Lymond Chronicles (6 books)--that's not really a spoiler, as she says as much in the preface of HN book 1. You don't need to know that before reading, but HN does add significantly to a re-read of LC.

I agree with your review, Ken. For me, Mindy Kaling's performance salvaged the movie, so I ended up on the positive side. Also, having just seen Men in Black: International, I enjoyed comparing/contrasting Emma Thompson's suiting choices. But yes, it could have been better.

I don't know what your timeline is, but the Yesterday trailers look good.

NBooth has accurately summed up my experience with MiB:International. It was diverting, and the theater was nicely air-conditioned

Haven't seen anything of Deadwood, but I wish the late David Lavery were here to see this movie, because he would doubtless have been delighted. He edited this anthology back in 2006 and frequently mentioned the show as one of the all-time greats.