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https://blackgirlnerds.com/how-donald-glover-is-bringing-spider-mans-hypno-hustler-to-life/

Since Sony acquired the film rights to Spider-Man, the company has tried to create a fictional universe surrounding the character. It started with Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy with Tobey Maguire as the protagonist. But following the commercial and critical flop that was The Amazing Spider-Man 2, starring Andrew Garfield, Sony’s dream of a shared cinematic universe collapsed.

However, it was rekindled with the company’s collaboration with the MCU. That brought us the fantastic Homecoming trilogy, which concluded with all three Spider-Men fighting a common enemy.

Meanwhile, Sony separately redeveloped Venom, starring Tom Hardy. They then followed that up with Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which crossed over with the MCU’s version of Spider-Man. This placed the two characters in the same fictional universe. Thus, Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU) was born.

Besides Spider-Man, Venom, and Morbius — which already launched — Sony is developing several other releases based on Marvel characters, including Kraven the Hunter and Madame Web. Now reports suggest that Donald Glover, an American entertainer, is developing a Spider-Man movie.

However, it’s not a live adaptation of Miles Morales. Instead, Glover is attached to star and produce in a featured film set in the SSU (Sony Spider-Man Universe) centered around the Hypno-Hustler.

Donald Glover already has a history with Spider-Man. He was the inspiration for the character of Miles Morales, voiced Miles in the Ultimate Spider-Man animated show, and portrayed Prowler in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Now, he’s attached to play Hypno-Hustler, in an upcoming film.

Admittedly, Hypno-Hustler isn’t a major villain in the Spider-Man comic book universe, nor the most-loved. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. The character is frequently listed among the worst villains in entertainment media. The D-List supervillain from the Marvel Universe debuted in 1978 in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #24. Named Antoine Desloin, the leader of a band called the Mercy Killers, Hypno-Hustler uses hypnotic technology within his music to hypnotize his audience to rob them.

In his debut story, he tried to rob a nightclub in which the Mercy Killers performed — but the job was complicated by Peter Parker, who was present at the venue with his friends. Peter’s spider-sense picked up on the Hustler’s tricks and warned Peter, so he covered his ears in time. Of course, the audience fell into a trance and delivered their valuables to the Mercy Killers while Peter changed into his Spider-Man costume. He confronted the Hustler, who unleashed all of his tricks on Spider-Man, including the gas and the retractable blades from his boots.

Since then, Hypno-Hustler has become an obscure gag character in Spider-Man stories—something that the Spider-Man rogue’s gallery doesn’t lack. But the good thing is that he wasn’t neglected by the writers. In fact, despite his branding as quite possibly the worst Spider-Man villain of all time, the Hypno-Hustler regularly made minor appearances in some pretty major plots, as well as cameos in various Spider-Man animated series and video games. So, he’s not so obscure that he’s completely unrecognizable by the fandom; he’s just a less-loved villain. But how does Glover fit into all this?

Well, as stated before, Donald Glover has been a fan-favorite when it comes to the Spider-Man cinematic universe. Though the actor didn’t play Peter Parker, he got to voice Miles Morales. He also appeared in a brief role in Spider-Man: Homecoming, in a now-deleted scene portraying Miles Morales’ uncle. But now he’s portraying a villain and not a favorite one at that. It would seem that Glover is interested in the musical and comedic side of the character, which could work for him, considering his experience in the worlds of comedy and music.

But Glover isn’t the only entertainer attached to this project. Miles Murphy, the son of actor and comedian Eddie Murphy, is on board as the project’s writer. If Sony decides to give them free rein to make the campiest nonsense possible, the upcoming Hypno-Hustler film could avoid the fate that befell Morbius—the one where the resulting film is an incredible bore. Additionally, the character of the Hypno-Hustler doesn’t have canon baggage in terms of actually defined backstory and history, so he could be, just like Venom, reinvented as an antihero rather than a goofy villain.

In fact, it could sit well with the cinematic tone of Venom, who is another fan-favorite antihero set to cross paths with Spider-Man. Especially now, when many wild and comedic narratives have used Spider-Man’s strange but grounded world for comedy, particularly when said narratives highlight the surprisingly nuanced nature of characters who don silly costumes to oppose superheroes like Spider-Man. Deadpool is a really good example of this; the new cinematic interpretations have humanized the over-the-top “merc with a mouth” and made him into one of the most beloved antiheroes.

By adopting this approach, Donald Glover can take an otherwise disliked and overshadowed villain and add a comedic twist. He could reinterpret him as an antihero whose narrative could nudge the Spider-Man universe towards a more lighthearted, comedic tone—something that would align perfectly with both Homecoming-type movies and the goofy gimmicks of some of Spider-Man’s lesser-known enemies.

https://blackgirlnerds.com/january-is-national-slavery-and-human-trafficking-prevention-month/

The United Nations defines slavery as the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised. In other words: a person forced to work against their will and who cannot leave because they are threatened, beaten, or otherwise hurt. Human trafficking is the illegal trade of people for forced labor, sexual exploitation, and commercial sexual exploitation. This also includes organ harvesting from children and adults.

While human trafficking has been used by organized crime groups around the world, it has become more widespread due to globalization and technology access — especially in third-world countries where poverty rates are high enough that some people may see selling themselves into slavery as an easy way out.

Slavery is the practice of owning and exploiting people as property. Enslaved people are bought and sold for their labor, often working for nothing or at a very low wage. Enslaved people have no rights of their own, cannot leave or protest their conditions, and live in abject poverty. They are frequently subjected to violence, sexual abuse, and starvation.

Slavery has existed for centuries but remains a horrible reality today that many aren’t even aware of. People who are trafficked into slavery are often forced to work without fair pay in agriculture, construction sites, and factories; they may also be forced into prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation.

There are no precise figures for the number of enslaved people around the world. The International Labor Organization estimates that 50 million people worldwide are victims of modern slavery. Experts believe that the numbers continue to rise each year, which makes it even more important for us to work together to fight this crime.

People are enslaved for many reasons, including debt bondage, human trafficking for sex or labor markets, and slavery for ritualistic purposes.

Human trafficking is different from smuggling and illegal immigration because it involves exploitation in the form of forced labor or sex trafficking. Smuggling can be done with consent, while human trafficking involves deception and fraud. Illegal immigration also falls under smuggling if there’s no deception involved — such as when migrants voluntarily enter a country illegally to look for work (though they may face deportation).

There are many signs that someone is being trafficked. They may have bruises on their body, be fearful when talking about their situation, and not know who they turned over control to after coming into contact with traffickers. They may claim they were forced into labor or prostitution through threats made against them or their family back home.

The numbers are horrific and disturbing. While 80 percent of human trafficking victims are women and girls, males can be victims, too. Additionally, members of the LGBTQIA community are specifically targeted by traffickers. While many adults are victims of trafficking, the average age of entry into sex trafficking is 11-14 years for victims. Of the estimated 27 million enslaved people, approximately half are children. Two children are trafficked into sexual exploitation every single minute.

Yes, you read that right.

Human trafficking is a crime against humanity. It is distinct from forced labor because it entails more than one party transporting victims across international borders. Transportation itself becomes the key to carrying out the crime. While forced labor may happen within national borders and can often be traced back to local networks, human trafficking relies on globalized networks that move people around the world for exploitation purposes.

Black women and girls are disproportionately represented as victims and survivors of trafficking. Traffickers admit that, if caught, they believe that trafficking Black women would land them less jail time than trafficking white women. Black girls who are victims of sex trafficking are arrested on prostitution charges and often punished as perpetrators rather than supported as victims.

We don’t need to look any further than Cyntoia Brown. A victim of child sex trafficking, Brown claimed that a man by the name of Johnny Allen paid her money to have sex with him and that she feared for her life during the encounter. Ultimately, she shot and killed him and was sentenced to life in prison. She was only 16 years old. After outrage and pressure from Black leaders, her case was brought back to life, and she was released in August 2019.

The subjects of slavery and human trafficking cause us to remember the persecution of Black people and how it began throughout the world if not before, the time of Colonial America. During this time, when humanity needed a source of cheap labor, slave owners turned to the continent of Africa for their solution. They kidnapped and enslaved the native people and put them in boats to be sold in markets like animals, rather than people.

Fast-forward many years, during the Civil War, President Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in the rebelling states. When the war ended, a time known as Reconstruction began. Still, Black people were persecuted for using their rights as citizens of the United States. Even now, there are laws within the criminal justice system that are heavily weighted against Black people. Persecution has endured for hundreds of years.

Here’s the truth about history: Repeating issues are different from enduring issues. Repeating issues return and continue to infect society forever; they will simply adapt to each new situation and find the cracks in the resistance against them. Enduring issues are issues that, while persistent, can be made right through intentional work. Issues are not just one or the other, they have many layers. The issues of marginalized groups not having voting rights or equal protection under laws are issues that can ultimately be fixed, but the underlying issues of intolerance and inequality cannot.

There are many ways you can help prevent human trafficking and support survivors: You can take action against human traffickers by contacting your legislators about policies that could limit trafficking; donate money to organizations like Coalition Against Slavery & Trafficking (CAST); volunteer at an anti-trafficking organization; or raise awareness by talking about modern slavery with friends and family members who might not know about it.

Modern slavery and human trafficking are serious crimes that many people are unaware of. But we can all do something about it by spreading awareness about this issue and supporting organizations doing the work to prevent it.

https://nerdist.com/article/modern-trailer-for-star-wars-empire-strikes-highlights-epic-adventure-of-franchise-and-movie/

The Empire Strikes Back is a great movie. It’s also arguably the most important sequel ever. It definitely deserves a glorious and moving trailer. But back in 1979 and 1980, movie trailers featured cheesy voiceovers that made it hard to understand the tone of the movie. Thanks to a fan recut, Empire now has the serious and adventurous trailer it deserves. This modern Star Wars trailer is classic 2020s, complete with a slow version of the theme music and many hero shots. There are also the disembodied voices of Emperor Palpatine and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Even though we’ve seen the movie countless times, watching this trailer gives us goosebumps. Now we can’t wait to see the movie all over again.

Though the modern vision of this Star Wars trailer does introduce the new character Lando Calrissian, there are no shots of Yoda. The lack of spoilers is admirable, though we’ve definitely seen modern previews that give away too much. This may be more of a teaser. There are some great shots of new planets like Hoth, Dagobah, and Bespin but little about the plot. The modern trailer, which we saw on Boing Boing, is one of many on the Floris De Canne YouTube channel. They also put together modern trailers for Star Wars‘ A New Hope, Return of the Jedi, The Phantom Menace, and Revenge of the Sith. 

We have seen other modern trailer takes for Empire Strikes Back. This one really plays up the fact that it’s Episode V, though that’s not mentioned in any of the real trailers we’ve seen for the movie. Those, like the one below, narrated by Harrison Ford, sometimes include scenes that didn’t make it into the final cut of the movie. Other trailers, meanwhile, showed lightsabers without any color added.  

In contrast to the modern trailer treatment, fans also recently made a perfectly retro Andor opening credits sequence. If Star Wars came out in timeline order and Andor premiered in 1975, there would be plenty of camp, low-definition, and interesting font choices. Of course, we all know what happens in the movies. But it is a lot of fun to reimagine what may have gotten us excited for them across time.

Melissa is Nerdist’s science & technology staff writer. She also moderates “science of” panels at conventions and co-hosts Star Warsologies, a podcast about science and Star Wars. Follow her on Twitter @melissatruth. 

The post We Got Goosebumps From This Modern STAR WARS Trailer for EMPIRE STRIKES BACK appeared first on Nerdist.

https://blackgirlnerds.com/review-nicolas-winding-refn-makes-his-netflix-debut-with-the-visually-striking-revenge-fairytale-copenhagen-cowboy/

If you’ve ever wondered what the take on the superhero genre from Nicolas Winding Refn (The Neon Demon) would look like, Netflix has you covered in the new year. 

Four years after directing his first television series Too Old to Die Young, the Danish visionary returns to streaming with Copenhagen Cowboy, a neo-noir set in his native Denmark. The six-episode series was penned during the pandemic by Refn and co-writers Sara Isabella Jønsson Vedde (Miss Osaka), Johanne Algren (Kamikaze), and Mona Masri (Snabba Cash). The production was also a family affair with his wife, filmmaker Liv Corfixen (My Life Directed By Nicolas Winding Refn) executive producing the series which stars their daughters Lola and Lizzielou.  

The female-centric story of Copenhagen Cowboy follows Miu (Angela Bundalovic), a young woman of mysterious origins. We first see her in the servitude of an older woman Rosella (Dragana Milutinović), just one of the many evolving masters employing Miu as a “good luck charm” or “lucky coin.” Her seemingly magic abilities aren’t explicitly explained, but she’s able to help greedy people with things like fertility issues and migraines. 

Though it seems like she lacks humanity, Miu is a good person at her core, seeking justice for the wronged. She finds herself going further and further into Copenhagen’s crime world, which is filled with temperamental gangsters and their various human trafficking empires from sex work to drug dealing. Her petite size is brought up often and she’s always talked about like she’s not there, but these things don’t seem to bother her. As one person says to her, “You’re a strange one.”

She’s passive, introspective, and generally emotionless, like the other enigmatic protagonists of the Refn-verse. The director told Cineuropa, “She is indeed of the very same, very dim, mysterious family as One-Eye, the Driver and Lieutenant Chang in Only God Forgives — a kind of alter ego I like to revisit from time to time.” 

The first couple of episodes drag, but things get more interesting once Miu meets restaurant owner Mother Hulda (Li Ii Zhang) and subsequently meets gang leader Chiang (Jason Hendil-Forssell). She later crosses paths with a wealthy serial killer Nicklas (Andreas Lykke Jørgensen) who is oddly similar to Michael Pitt’s Mason Verger in NBC’s Hannibal though not nearly as flamboyant or talkative. As described in the series synopsis, Miu also encounters her nemesis Rakel (Refn’s eldest daughter, Lola Corfixen) who makes a brief but memorable appearance.

Miu is an unconventional hero, super or otherwise. She has an ethereal quality that reads more like a mythical being with unseen and undefined supernatural abilities who we’re not sure is a witch, fairy, angel, alien, robot, or an enhanced human a la Winter Soldier. I predict that her blue tracksuit, glitter eye makeup, and bowl cut combo will be one of 2023’s top Halloween costumes. She sort of looks like an anime character, and, with her inexplicable fighting skills, the latter half of the series feels like she’s stuck in a twisted Nintendo game that can’t be won. 

Refn is a divisive artist often accused of valuing “style over substance.” He has received plenty of criticism for his films having characters gazing for long stretches without dialogue. The series does the same, and the prolonged silence is frustrating and intentionally uncomfortable. I wonder if this gripe inspired the writers to have a character say to Miu, “You’re stressing me out with your gaze.” But all the silent stares and awkward pauses build tension that gives the short yet brutal action scenes more of an impact. Refn also has a distinct brand of cinematic violence. He uses brutality in a way that isn’t glorified but stylized, telling Variety, “Art is an act of violence. It’s meant to violate you, penetrate your mind. It’s like giving birth. It’s beautiful, but also a violent act.”

There’s not a lot of depth in terms of plot and character development, but those elements aren’t necessarily sacrificed in favor of style. That’s just how Refn chooses to tell his stories. Instead of traditionally structured scenes, it’s like he’s created moving paintings. The stunning cinematography of Magnus Nordenhof Jønck (A Hijacking) further creates an otherworldly atmosphere with slow-motion sequences and sweeping shots.

Refn’s trademark of nearly nothing but neon lighting soaks the streets of Copenhagen, making the characters look like they’re perpetually in the red-light district of another dimension, or maybe hell. It’s this blend of the seductive and surreal that reminds me a little of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. Though the frequent unnerving sounds of squealing pigs (that sometimes come from human men) are more along the lines of Sorry to Bother You. 

Another Refn signature is the haunting synth-focused score from previous collaborators Cliff Martinez (Too Old to Die Young), Peter Peter (Pusher), Peter Kyed (Valhalla Rising), and Julian Winding (The Neon Demon). With dreamy synth-wave beats and striking red, magenta, purple, and blue hues, some scenes play like a music video. 

Similar to other auteurs like David Lynch and Yorgos Lanthimous, Refn has a specific style that doesn’t work for everyone. The six-hour series could’ve been a 2-hour film, but I appreciate his approach to episodic television, challenging the norms as he does with films. It’s not an ideal binge; perhaps only three episodes at a time. The sprawling story would be easier to digest in smaller doses. However, I doubt that’s anything Refn’s concerned about. 

Copenhagen Cowboy is a beautiful mind-bending noir crime thriller about exploitation and greed, as well as a revenge-fueled science fiction fairy tale. Anyone familiar with Nicolas Winding Refn’s previous work will know what to expect with this latest addition to his oeuvre — extremely slow-moving storytelling that requires patience and a reasonable attention span. 

Copenhagen Cowboy had its world premiere at the 2022 Venice Film Festival. The series begins streaming Thursday, January 5, 2023, on Netflix.