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El Conde – Movie Review

Well hello there movie lovers! It’s Slick Dungeon here and I am back to review yet another Oscar nominated film from 2023. I’m talking about the film that answers the age old question of what if a Chilean dictator was actually a vampire? And what if that film was shot beautifully? Then I must be talking about the seriously odd film, El Conde. This one is a bit of a weird ride so if you haven’t seen the film yet, fly on over to see the movie and come back here to read the review.

What’s it About?

The film starts out with a voice over telling us the story of a French soldier named Claude Pinochet. This dude is a vampire and he is found out. Mobs do what they do and try to kill him but he survives. He takes on a new identity and watches the French Revolution happen. From this point forward, Claude vows to suppress any destructive revolution he can in the world.

We then fast forward to 1935 where Claude joins the Chilean army and changes his name to Augusto Pinochet. If that name sounds familiar, that is because Augusto Pinochet was the real life dictator who overthrew the socialist government of Salvador Allende in 1973. Turns out he was a vampire. In this movie both metaphorically and literally. He demands his family refer to him as “Count” and he decides to fake his own death after years of ruling Chile with an iron fist.

He moves to a remote farm with the rest of his family and starts to lose interest in life. But his family also knows they are owed an inheritance out of Pinochet’s ill gotten gains. The only problems are that Pinochet is practically immortal and he has forgotten where he hid all his treasure.

One night someone starts killing people in the town of Santiago and consuming their hearts. Augusto’s family assumes this is him, deciding to extend his immortal life even further. But, in reality this is Fyodor, a white Russian who has worked for Pinochet for years and is the only person Augusto has turned into a vampire. The family is unaware of Fyodor’s part in the murders but they know their inheritance is at risk.

This is where a nun named Carmen comes in. She is hired to find out what happened to the money and to destroy Augusto Pinochet once and for all. She uses her charms to get information out of the family about all of their terrible secrets and tries to exorcise Pinochet. But Pinochet is too strong and seduces Carmen, allowing him to turn her into a vampire.

This prompts the narrator to reveal who she is and take action. It turns out the narrator is the mother of Augusto Pinochet and Margaret Thatcher. (checks notes) Yep, that Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher comes to reveal the truth to Pinochet who she is and demands that he kills Carmen. But it turns out becoming a vampire was all part of Carmen’s plan to expose the corruption of the Pinochet family.

Fyodor is having none of that and he captures Carmen and burns up the extensive documentation she has of the crimes of the Pinochet family. Then, Fyodor and Augusto’s wife, Lucia try to kill Augusto. But he’s been a vampire for longer and he is able to kill both Lucia and Fyodor.

Margaret and Augusto flee and the family is left to face a group of nuns looking for anything they can find. Augusto decides to remain in the country and wait to find more leftists to destroy.

All in all, the film has a bit of magic realism to it with a bit of an insane plot. But it’s well acted and comes together well enough.

The Cinematography

Whether you like the plot or not, the film is not up for best screenplay or picture, it is up for best cinematography. This is a category that can often be confused with directing. Basically, cinematography is the totality of how a film looks. Everything you see on screen, from the lighting, to the angle of the camera, to the focus and the camera movement falls into the category of cinematography. As an audience, it’s one of those things where you might be hard pressed to explain it but you know it when you see it.

El Conde is shot in a black and white style, reminiscent of the old Universal monster movies like Dracula or Frankenstein. I’m always a sucker for a film brave enough to choose black and white and look like a monster movie. But it also plays with this trope by letting the vampires in question look like pudgy old men who don’t seen so threatening when you take a close up look at their wrinkled faces. And the story also interplays with this style by having the characters be people who we know did real and terrible things in our own reality. Just because someone looks like a pudgy old man does not mean he is not capable of great cruelty if he has access to power.

The visuals from the film stay with you long after you have seen it, which is another good sign of great cinematography. There is no doubt this film looks great and is well made. A great example of the showcasing of the cinematography is when the family is at dinner and we are able to see all the schemings and machinations of the family members. Add in scenes where vampires are flying over the city in sweeping camera motions to frame the dictator as something dangerous and above us.

The soundtrack also works well here, using mostly classical sounds to reinforce the idea of this being something like, but not quite, a true monster movie.

As far as whether or not this will win, it is at this point hard for me to say. Out of all the films in this category I have so far only seen El Conde and Oppenheimer but I hear great things about the cinematography in Poor Things and Killers of the Flower Moon so I think this will be a category with some tough competition.

In Conclusion

The acting is good in the film, the directing is competent but the cinematography is actually outstanding whether or not El Conde wins in the category. As far as a film experience, this movie won’t be for everyone. You have to be comfortable with a bit of dark humor, a bit of magic realism, an amount of gore and a pretty over the top plot to enjoy it. But it will be one of the most unique films you see this year if you watch it.

Vampirically yours,

Slick Dungeon

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Nimona – Movie Review

What’s up film fans? Slick Dungeon here once again reviewing one of the 2024 Oscar nominated films. This time I watched a movie about a girl with spirit teaming up with the most wanted man in the realm in the animated feature Nimona. This is one of the films up for Best Animated film for 2024. Be forewarned there will be spoilers in this review. If you find that sort of thing problematic, put on your armor, head over to your couch, learn what a real monster is by watching the film, and then come on back here to read the review!

What’s it About?

Nimona starts out like a classic fairy tale, with a narrator reading from a book about a kingdom in the past with a hero named Glorantha who vanquished a monster. We then fast forward a thousand years and that same kingdom is basically a medieval yet futuristic kingdom protected by an elite class of knights who prepare to fight monsters. A wall has been built around the city to keep any monsters at bay as well.

An unusual event is happening in the kingdom because for the first time a commoner is about to be knighted. This is Ballister Boldheart. He is worried about the reaction to his knighthood but his boyfriend and fellow knight Ambrosius Goldenloin reassures Ballister before the ceremony.

But at the ceremony, things go about as wrong as they can. Ballister picks up his sword which is rigged to kill the Queen. Acting quickly, Ambrosius disarms his boyfriend by, well, literally taking his arm off. Before he knows it, Ballister is a wanted fugitive, trying to hide from his fellow knights and clear his own name. He goes into hiding and crafts a prosthetic arm for himself.

The film really gets going when a shapeshifting girl named Nimona shows up and wants to be Ballister’s villainous sidekick. Ballister is still trying to clear his name, Nimona is looking for a friend, and the two basically team up to figure out what is going on.

There are plenty of fun action sequences where Nimona shapeshifts and Ballister attempts to maintain his innocence while doing things that look guilty on camera. Meanwhile, Ambrosius is torn between his loyalty to the crown and his love for Ballister.

Ballister also tries to get Nimona to stop shapeshifting and just be a regular girl. But, of course, that’s not who Nimona is and she doesn’t take kindly to being told what to do.

Throughout the film we find out that Nimona is more than what she seems until it is revealed that she is actually the monster that was banished a thousand years ago. But there is more to the story. Nimona, it would seem, is the one who was wronged for just being who she is. She was never trying to hurt anyone.

Things come to a head with both Nimona and Ballister where it looks like Ballister is the most wicked man in the realm and Nimona is about to destroy the city. But through their connection, Ballister is able to pull Nimona back from the brink of destruction and clear his own name. Thus the two of them become heroes while the real villain, the Director, who plotted everything from the beginning is exposed to the masses.

The heroes come together, Nimona is seen for who she is, Ballister is lauded for his bravery and he is able to have a life with Ambrosius. This is all done with a good amount of punk rock attitude.

The Animation

The animation is solid and it’s a neat blend of past and future which brings about a unique look for the film. The action is frenetic and satisfying and it has a killer soundtrack as well. The voice talent is strong, especially with Rhiz Ahmed as Ballister and Chloë Grace Moretz as Nimona.

While the blend of past and future is innovative, and the look of the film is unique, the animation isn’t so compelling as to be anything you haven’t seen before.

The Fun factor

The story is solid and the soundtrack is good but what makes this movie stand out is the sense of fun here. Nimona’s attitude is decidedly unconventional and it’s honestly refreshing to see that in an animated film. Even as she’s planning to do evil things, you can’t help but be on her side. And with Ballister as the foil to her attitude the whole thing just works pretty well.

It’s definitely one of the more enjoyable Oscar picks this year and is worth a watch if you enjoy animation.

In Conclusion

While Nimona has a lot going for it, and I do recommend it as a viewing experience, I don’t think this one will win the Oscar. The biggest innovation here is letting the characters be themselves in a world where most animated characters have to fit in a neat little box. The way the movie plays around with identity and the understanding of what makes a hero or a villain is nice to see. But ultimately, there were better animated films released in 2023 and Nimona would be a pretty long shot to win. Winning an award is not the only reason someone should watch a movie though. Look, if you are wanting a good time with an animated film, you could do much, much worse than Nimona. If you haven’t seen it, I do recommend it. Just don’t hold your breath expecting it to win the Oscar.

Heroically yours,

Slick Dungeon

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Rustin – Movie Review

Hey film fans, Slick Dungeon here! I’m back to review another film nominated for an Oscar in 2024. This time I watched the biopic about Bayard Rustin who was a notable civil rights intellectual and activist and was instrumental in organizing the March on Washington in 1963. The film is simply titled Rustin and stars Colman Domingo as the title character. Domingo is up for Best Actor for his performance in the film. Be forewarned this review contains spoilers for the film and those who have not read enough history books to know who Bayard Rusin was. If that sort of thing bothers you, give the movie a watch and then march right back here to read the review.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

What’s it About?

I’m sure most of us are familiar with the March on Washington in 1963 where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous, “I Have a Dream” speech. Who people may not be as familiar with is one of the most instrumental coordinators of the event, Bayard Rustin.

Rustin was an activist who already had a long history of fighting for civil rights before the idea of the event ever happened. He had worked closely with MLK about nonviolence techniques and helped to protect the property of Japanese-Americans who were interred during World War II. He had a long history of fighting for the rights of people he saw as being treated unjustly.

He was also an out of the closet gay man at a time when there were literally laws against being gay. Add to that the fact that he was at one time a card carrying member of the Communist Party, USA and you can imagine there were plenty of people both within and outside of the civil rights movement who did not like him.

While Rustin had a long and storied career and accomplished more things than I can cover in this blog post, the film focuses in on the most famous of his achievements. At a time when he was more or less shunned from the civil rights movement, he was able to get back into the good graces of Martin Luther King Jr. and organize the most iconic of all of the civil rights marches.

The film portrays some of the relationship troubles Rustin had, along with his professional struggles. Yet, with determination and skill he is able to win people to his side and lay the foundation for what would come next for the fight for civil rights. He has to maneuver through political setbacks, attacks from the press, and his own relationships in order to pull off the event.

It’s no surprise to anyone now that the event was successful but the film does a good job of portraying just how much effort went into it becoming a reality in the first place. If you don’t know the story behind it, the film does a decent job of capturing what was going on at the time but it obviously can’t cover everything.

The performance

If you are already familiar with the story of Rustin’s role in the March on Washington then the reason to watch the film lies in the portrayal of the man by Colman Domingo. It is a powerhouse of a performance and Domingo sells every second of screen time he is in. We can feel his pain and see his determination every time he is in a scene. Domingo is most definitely an actor who is deft enough to play an actual figure from history with believability and aplomb.

While the film overall leaves some things to be desired, for example the mashing together of several of Rustin’s real life relationships into one or two characters, the performance is flat out outstanding.

Bayard Rustin’s tale in the organization of the March on Washington is a story that should be told more often, however, focusing only on this time period leaves so much of the man’s life out of the film that it is almost incorrect to call this a biopic.

I would love to have seen a longer film, starring Colman Domingo, that truly went in depth into the entirety of Bayard Rustin’s life. But I cannot fault the performance one bit.

In conclusion

While this film is not perfect, and the directing and cinematography are nothing exceptional, the acting on the part of Colman Domingo is worth the price of admission. And the film, at least, begins to shine a spotlight on a man who was a true pioneer in the work of civil rights and social justice.

As good as this performance was by Colman Domingo, I think he is still a long shot for winning the Best Actor Oscar this year. He has some incredibly talented competition in the category. But, with a performance such as this one, he’s sure to have another shot in coming years.

Historically yours,

Slick Dungeon

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Nyad – Movie Review

Anette Benning and Jodie Foster star in Nyad

Hey film fans! Slick Dungeon here back to review another Oscar nominated movie for you. This one tells the tale of a determined swimmer who achieved the nearly impossible, and did it far later in life than anyone would expect. The movie has two Oscar nominations, one for Annette Benning for Best Actress, and one for Jodie Foster as Best Supporting Actress. Do be warned there will be spoilers below for the film, and a sports event you could easily google. Still, if you hate that sort of thing just keep swimming away until you watch the movie and then swim on back here to read the review.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

What’s it About?

You know how everyone is feeling super hero movie fatigue right about now? Well, I’ve had film fatigue for a different genre of film for a long time. The inspirational sports drama film fatigue. I honestly can’t say I have seen anything new in this kind of movie since Rudy. Typically in these films there is an athlete or a team with the desire to win something or do something that hasn’t been done in sports. The said athlete or team faces adversity and challenges and nearly gives up. But in the end something changes and they become more determined and push on through the obstacles to win said game, medal, record etc. It can be moving and inspiring but it’s nothing unexpected. I wish I could say Nyad pulled me out of this fatigue but far from it.

This is not to say the real life Diana Nyad is anything other than an incredible inspiration with an amazing story. And this is also not to say that there weren’t stand out performances in this film. I’m just saying you aren’t going to find anything you don’t expect here.

The film tells the tale of Diana Nyad (Benning) who tried several times in her life to swim the Straits of Florida unassisted until she accomplished her goal. This swim is one of the most difficult open water swims possible and everything from severe weather to dangerous ocean life, not to mention the currents themselves, could easily derail the best swimmers in history.

When she was young and a star swimmer in her twenties, Nyad attempts the swim. She does the best she can but ultimately she can’t make it.

We then fast forward to Diana in her sixties. She’s had a successful career and is basically troubled by the lack of exceptionalism in the world. Something, to her, is missing. She spends most of her time with her friend, Bonnie Stoll (Foster). Her life is happy enough but she wants more.

Diana decides to once again hit the pool. She’s pushing herself to the limits to see if she could make another attempt at the swim she failed at decades ago. She tells Bonnie about her plan to get back out there and attempt the swim again.

A team is assembled around Diana and soon we have all the pieces for her to make another attempt. In this attempt the ocean currents push her off course far enough she has to quit.

Determined not to give up, Diana tries once again. This time she is injured by a box jellyfish which can be lethal to humans. She nearly dies.

Still determined not to give up, Diana tries again, this time after consulting with an expert on jellyfish who helps her create a protective suit. She goes out once again but this time is defeated by disastrous weather conditions.

By this point, Diana’s team are all pretty tired of making the attempts and try to convince her to give up. It goes so far that several of her key supporters quit, including Bonnie, her coach.

Finally, still determined not to give up, Diana apologizes to some of the members of her team and they all gradually, if reluctantly agree to make one more attempt. This time they face dangers and challenges but luck, weather, and the marine life are all favorable enough that Diana is close to completing the swim. She gets close to giving up, but Bonnie, Nyad’s coach and friend, hops in the water to give Diana one last inspirational speech to push her through. At long last, after four failed attempts at the most difficult swim in the world, Diana does the impossible and completes the swim.

Throughout the film we see flashbacks of Nyad’s childhood and see that her father inspired her to want to do the swim in the first place. We also see the darker side of her life as we get flashbacks of a coach who abused several young female swimmers. It’s not until after this man dies that Diana truly confronts her trauma and it’s not until after this that she completes the swim.

Also throughout the film we see Bonnie inspiring, pushing, consoling, and sometimes angering Diana all in an effort to get Diana to push through and give her all. Diana’s obsession nearly ruins the lives of several people in her orbit but ultimately, through Bonnie’s leadership they prevail.

The Performances

While this type of movie may be a formula I am tired of, I can separate out the performances here. Annette Benning gives an impressive, if stoic performance. Physically this film must have taken a lot out of her as I am sure she had to spend hundreds of hours swimming. As far as the character of Nyad goes, she doesn’t seem to have much character growth. She basically goes from determined to even more determined. And while, in life, this makes for an interesting person, on film it feels rather dull. Annete Benning does transform well into her character but other than be determined enough to win the race, and mildly change her attitude towards her past and her teammates, not much happens here.

On the other hand, Bonnie, played by Jodie Foster, goes through a roller coaster of emotions. She has to deal with an entire team of people, including an athlete that is so obsessive she nearly bankrupts her whole team. Bonnie goes from reluctant coach to cheerleader, to caring friend, to knowing just the right thing to say at the right moment. Foster’s performance here is impressive and brings much needed life to the film. When Foster is encouraging Nyad to walk the few feet of sand she has to in order to ultimately complete the swim, you can feel how emotional it is for her. To be fair, Benning’s face was covered up with lots of prosthetics in this scene so it’s harder to read to begin with. But when the camera looks at Foster, it’s easy to see she is giving her all to the character.

I don’t know if either actress will win in their categories but between the two performances, I think Foster’s is the stronger of the two.

In Conclusion

The story truly is inspirational but I’m not sure the film does it full justice. The performances by the lead and supporting actresses are impressive but may not be the best ones of the year. The directing, cinematography and all the rest of it is fine but not incredible. The reason to watch is definitely for the performances but the rest is just what you would see in any of those inspirational sports films.

If you haven’t seen this movie and you are curious about the performances of the two actresses then give it a watch. But, if you are looking for inventive film making or a different kind of sports film, this is not going to scratch that itch. The most notable part of the story is the actual accomplishments of the real Diana Nyad and I think if you were to watch a documentary or read an article about her, you’ll likely find it more inspirational than the biopic here.

Swimmingly yours,

Slick Dungeon

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Marvel 616 Review – Strange Tales #110 [A Story]

Strange Tales #110 Photo Credit: Marvel, Writers: Stan Lee, Ernie Hart, Artist: Dick Ayers

Strange Tales #110 is a landmark issue in the history of Marvel 616. It establishes repeat villains teaming up against one of our heroes and contains the introduction of a new hero to the universe. Because there are two important stories here, I will be splitting my review of the issue up into two parts. This time I will be going over the A story, which features Johnny Storm in his most intense battle to date against not one but two of his mortal foes.

Villain team ups are pretty standard these days. They show up in comics constantly and there have even been a few movies and television shows where we’ve seen this happen. DC had perfected this type of story long before the Marvel 616 universe started to do it. But, it is always interesting when a hero we know has to go up against a new combination of evil characters. Johnny Storm, aka, The Human Torch has had his share of enemies both on his own and with his family The Fantastic Four. Two of the most dangerous for him were The Wizard and Paste-Pot Pete. The Wizard uses all kinds of gadgets and tricks to trap the hero while Paste-Pot Pete has a special glue gun that proves surprisingly adept at trapping Johnny. Ridiculous names aside, these guys are dangerous.

The issue starts with a teaser page, like most of the early 616 universe does but this one has my favorite pre-read warning so far where we are told to be cautious if we have a heart condition before we read on.

The story then gets going with a few panels showing Johnny Storm making his way as The Human Torch through an obstacle course he has set up for himself. He is compared to a trained athlete but it is noted that if Johnny makes a mistake, he doesn’t lose a game, he could lose his life.

Johnny next hits his school books which at one point mentions wizards. This gets Johnny’s mind drifting and he starts to remember The Wizard who he faced off against in the past. He takes a look at his scrapbook and we get a flashback scene reminding us of the last time Johnny faced The Wizard. This is a pretty common technique in the earlier Marvel 616 stories because they could reuse old art and fill up pages at the same time with adding just a bit of narration.

And, of course, it’s not just The Wizard who gets this treatment. We next see Johnny reminisce about ol’ Paste-Pot Pete himself. For a guy with a paste gun he sure got close to getting rid of Johnny. He had The Human Torch strapped to a missile and everything.

At the end of his reminiscing, Johnny wonders where both The Wizard and Paste-Pot Pete are now and what they are doing. It’s no surprise to the modern reader that we then find out, and it’s not good.

Paste-Pot Pete has returned to the country and he is clearly looking for revenge against The Human Torch. Pete realizes he alone is not enough to go against the super hero and he remembers how The Wizard nearly took Johnny out. The only problem? The Wizard is in solitary confinement at a place called Cortraz Penitentiary. And The Wizard still holds just as much of a grudge as Pete does.

Luckily for The Wizard, Paste-Pot Pete has some truly incredible paste. It’s so good, it can be used to make powerful binocular lenses.

Pete figures out the delivery schedule for the food supply trucks and hijacks it. Paste-Pot Pete makes his way into the jail and he is apparently a quick draw with the paste gun because none of the guards are fast enough to stop him. He then uses the same gun to glue onto The Wizard’s cell door and uses the, “reverse suction switch” on his gun to pull the door off.

Needless to say, The Wizard is all in on the plan to get our favorite hothead. The Wizard even has a little gas pellet he cooked up in prison that blows the gates open so the pair can make their escape.

But, like any good super villain team up, there is tension almost from the start. The Wizard basically starts giving Pete orders which he doesn’t take too kindly to. The plan is to first discredit and humiliate The Human Torch and then defeat him permanently.

Immediately they frame Johnny for being a spy. Reed and the rest of the FF call Johnny up to make sure he is okay. Johnny basically takes this the wrong way thinking his team thinks he can’t handle himself.

Johnny is ridiculed at school for being a traitor although some kids defend him. Not being one to take this sort of thing lightly, Johnny has a plan.

We switch perspectives back to the villains who read in the newspaper that one of the world’s richest men is going to arrive in town. The Wizard plans to wait until the man takes his nightly walk and then rob him. He’s also going to frame Johnny for this by wearing his asbestos suit, making it look like it’s Johnny in the dark.

Rest assured The Human Torch has this well in hand as it’s him who was walking down the street. He was just disguised.

The villains run back into their house where The Wizard has laid several traps for our hero. They get Johnny into a room which is basically a hall of mirrors. The Human Torch flounders for a bit as he tries to find a way out.

Johnny gives up momentarily and asks the bad guys what is next. They tell him they are going to flood the room with a fire extinguishing liquid The Wizard has invented. But first, Paste-Pot Pete pastes The Torch to the floor.

The villains then make the classic villain mistake of leaving the hero. Johnny thinks fast and makes a flame version of himself. He then burns the paste off of his feet to free himself. He then uses as much heat as he can to burn his way out through the ceiling of the room.

In another part of the house, the bad guys put their little contraption to work and watch what they think will be Johnny’s demise. But they soon notice that the figure disappears. This does give Johnny just enough time to recharge his power and come after the bad guys. Pete and The Wizard aren’t exactly friends but they both basically vow their revenge on Johnny as they are taken away by the police.

The kids at school are once again fans of The Human Torch and Johnny complains he missed so much schoolwork because of needing to fight the bad guys. And this is where the story ends.

While this may not have been overly groundbreaking it was a fun story and it showcased how even minor villains teaming up against a Marvel hero could make things much more difficult. Over the years, The Fantastic Four and The Human Torch alone will be dealing with plenty of villains getting together.

If this was the only story in this issue relevant to Marvel 616 it might only be mildly interesting. Yet this issue has something else worth noting.

Next up on the reading list we’ll be reading about the introduction of the sorcerer supreme himself as we see Dr. Strange in Strange Tales #110 [C story]!

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Elemental – Movie Review

FIRE AND WATER – Set in a city where fire-, water-, land-, and air-residents live together, Disney and Pixar’s “Elemental” introduces Ember, a tough, quick-witted and fiery young woman whose friendship with a fun, sappy, go-with-the-flow guy named Wade challenges her beliefs about the world they live in. Featuring the voices of Leah Lewis and Mamoudou Athie as Ember and Wade, respectively. © 2022 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.

Hey there film fans, it’s Slick Dungeon! I’m back to review another Oscar nominated film. This time I’ll be reviewing the latest entry from powerhouse animation studio Disney/Pixar, Elemental. The film is about a hotheaded element who meets an element fluid enough to go with the flow. Be forewarned there will be spoilers below so if that sort of thing bothers you, watch the movie and then come on back here to read the review.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

What’s it about?

While on the surface this is basically a rom-com with most of the trappings you find in that genre, at its core, Elemental is about the immigrant experience. There is a big city where most elements live called Element City. This city has lots of air, earth, and water elements. More rare are fire elements.

Two such elements are Bernie and Cindie Ember. They immigrate to Element City with their daughter Ember and set up a shop called The Fireplace. With them, they also bring their blue flame which represents their traditions and culture.

Things seem to go relatively well at first. Bernie is successful at his business and he promises the store to his daughter once she is ready. Bernie does seem to have a serious dislike for all water elements. And while Ember is good at most things in the store, she does have a tendency to lose her temper at customers. Also, in general, the community is not entirely accepting of fire elements because, well, they can catch things on fire, and that would be bad.

We jump ahead a few years and Ember is grown up. She’s still helping her father with the store most days but he is near retirement. Ember has one last thing to do to prove herself. She has to get through the red dot sale day without losing her temper. The sale starts and things go okay at first but customers are customers and soon Ember heads down to the basement to let off some steam. She heats up and soon a pipe in the shop bursts. It looks like Ember has ruined the day.

But then, a city inspector comes out of the pipe. This is Wade Ripple who is a water element. He is horrified at the state of the shop but sympathizes with Ember. Still, he has to do his job and he writes up some citations that could get the shop closed down.

Ember does everything she can to convince Wade to ditch the citations but she’s too late and it’s out of his hands. But he is again sympathetic to her situation and allows her to meet some of the higher ups who could reverse the ruling.

In the process of all this, Ember ends up lying to her father about what happened to the shop. Wade and Ember also discover that the real problem has to do with the gate of the city.

As you can guess, in any rom-com, the lies pile up, the romance heats up, and it all comes to a head in a disastrous situation. But, in the end, things work out. Ember and her father are still on good terms even though she has decided not to run the family store and even though she is dating a water element.

The Animation

As with any Pixar film, the animation here is incredibly good. The design of the elements themselves is fun and enjoyable and the backgrounds make an entirely fictional setting look basically real.

This type of skill is what has won Pixar plenty of Oscars in the past but I would not say this film is breaking any new ground in animation here. While the style is good and it matches the story well, there isn’t anything we haven’t seen before visually. That’s not to say it is not an impressive feat. To still be this good at making an animated story work is saying something in and of itself. Pixar has nothing to be ashamed about in this film and I am not sure why it didn’t catch on with audiences so well. I think perhaps the marketing is to blame but if you have not seen it, this is worth a watch for the visual experience alone.

The Voice Acting

As far as the voice acting talent goes in this film, it is spot on and perfectly cast. All of the characters sound like you would expect them to and this, combined with the great animation makes for a very engaging viewing experience.

In conclusion

While the animation is great and the story is solid, in a lot of ways this film feels too conventional. It is nice to see the immigrant experience depicted in animation and I think that will resonate with a lot of audiences. The love story is fairly standard and ends the way you most likely guessed it would end. However, the film doesn’t quite push enough envelopes to make it stand out over other Pixar films. It is undoubtedly one of the best animated films of the year but I don’t think it is, in fact, the best one.

As far as whether this film will win an Oscar, my prediction is it is between Elemental and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Either one could win but my money is on Spider-Man. (Please don’t bet on anything based on my predictions because I am often wrong.)

Elementally yours,

Slick Dungeon

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Flamin’ Hot – Movie Review

Well, hello there film fans! Slick Dungeon here, back to review a bit of an oddball of a film full of grit, determination, innovation, exaggerations, Cheeto dust, and a potential Oscar winner. I am talking, of course, about the “true” story of Flamin’ Hot, telling the tale of how one of the spiciest snacks in the world came to be. Somehow this film is full of controversy, more inspiring than expected, and an Oscar contender. That’s right, this movie could technically win an Oscar. Fair warning, if you don’t want your eyes tearing up as if you’ve inhaled that famous fiery red orange concoction, this review contains spoilers. You have been warned. Although, can you really spoil a product line? Um, yeah I guess you can. Anyway, if you want to watch the movie first to stay spoiler free, do that and then come on back here for the review.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

What’s the Story?

Before I get into the review, there is, strangely, a bit of background to cover here. Flamin’ Hot is meant to depict a real life story about a man who goes from janitor at a Frito Lay manufacturing plant to inspirational executive at Frito Lay, opening up a new market with an innovative product line. Only… that may not be the full truth here. There have been multiple articles debunking the story of Flamin’ Hot in places like The New York Times, The LA Times, and NPR.

Regardless of the controversy, the filmmakers charged forward with making this movie, claiming the story was never about Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, but actually the story of the life of Richard Montanez. There are some facts here which are not in dispute at all. Montanez was, indeed, a janitor at Frito Lay. And he did become a top executive of PepsiCo. To me, that can be inspirational all on its own and anyone who can claim that sort of accomplishment should be proud.

What’s a little less clear is if he actually had the idea of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos or if it was more of a high level executive group idea.

I’m not here to figure out what the truth is. This ain’t that kinda blog. What I am here to do, is review movies. So I’m going to take this from the perspective of a film goer and see if the movie works, if it is worth watching, and how well it was made.

Why Review This?

There are a lot of movies out there. Personally, I am not in favor of this trend we have where the movies have started becoming not stories of people but products. Take for example, Air, Blackberry, and Tetris. While these are technically about the people behind the products, one could argue these films are nothing but one giant advertisement for said product. Heck, even Barbie could be considered that but at least it isn’t trying to say it’s based on a true story.

In the case of Flamin’ Hot, we have another, “based on a true story” style film about a product line. But here’s the thing. This year I want to try to review every film that is up for any kind of an Oscar in 2024. (Don’t hold me to that, there are a ton of movies on that list but I will do my best) And guess what? Flamin’ Hot is nominated for an Oscar. Best Picture? Nope. Best Director? Nope. Best Actor? Nope. This movie is nominated for… Best Original Song.

Yeah, so even if the movie itself is embroiled in some controversy, even if the story is pushing one that is more favorable to a whole corporation than to a single movie goer, the song could still be the best one in film from 2023. The song that is nominated is called The Fire Inside with music and lyrics by Diane Warren. Will it win? Never take my predictions as true on Oscar stuff because I have a pretty low percentage of being right. However, my prediction is this will not win best song because it has too much competition from Barbie.

By the way, the song only shows up during the credits so I watched the whole movie just for that. Since I did watch it, I might as well tell you about it. Spoilers follow.

A rough beginning

Richard Montanez is a hard working kid in southern California. He stands out in school where most of his classmates are white and they make fun of him for being Mexican and eating burritos. Not one to overlook an opportunity, Richard has the idea of letting some of the white school kids eat one of his burritos. The kid loves the burrito because, well because burritos are amazing as everyone knows. So Richard decides to sell his burritos for a quarter to the kids at school. Already he has a solid head for business.

Unfortunately for Richard, rumors go around that he is not earning his money but stealing it. He ends up getting arrested and essentially gets caught up in a life of crime. This makes it difficult to get a stable job because he now has a criminal record and no formal education to speak of. However, he has a supportive wife, Judy, his friend from school. Richard is determined to go legitimate and after a bit of convincing and using his powers of networking and persuasion, Richard does land a job at Frito Lay. He’s working as a janitor and he has nothing to be ashamed of as he’s earning a decent paycheck, he’s stable enough although somewhat dependent on government assistance and things might be looking up.

Reaganomics

At first, it looks like Richard is going to make it big. He persistently asks knowledgable people about how the factory works, what the machines do, and it seems like he could be on the rise and able to do more than just clean factory floors. But, the 1980’s hit pretty hard when it came to cutbacks on government subsidies. Trickle down economics did absolutely nothing to help people in need, and inevitably, people began to lose jobs, corporations cut back on production, and Richard knew his job would soon be in jeopardy as well.

He basically stagnates in his role for a while as everyone just tries to hold on. Some of Richard’s friends get fired, no one seems to get promoted, and life, in general, is looking tough.

Video Created the Cheeto Star

Fate, it would seem, decides to step in. Richard watches a corporate video produced by the CEO of the company, Roger Enrico. In it, Enrico tells his workers to, “think like a CEO.” Yes, that’s right, a wealthy CEO is here to save everyone because somehow CEO’s have this magical ability to inspire people. (Insert sarcasm in that last sentence if you did not already)

Anyway, Richard does take this advice to heart. And he realizes a few things. First, Frito-Lay is not actually serving the market of the Latino population. They don’t seem to buy the chips. Second, there are spicy flavors everywhere. True inspiration hits though when Richard is consoling his sons as they eat elotes (Mexican street corn), and his son yelps that it burns. Richard asks if his kid is okay and the kid responds, “I like it. It burns good.”

If you have ever enjoyed a bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos you know exactly what that kid is saying.

Between this incident and the video from the CEO, inspiration has struck. Richard is about to change the world. Maybe not the world, he’s about to change food. Maybe not food, he’s about to change snack food. Yeah I think that’s where it lands.

Cue the Flamin’ HOt Montage

We see scenes of Richard and Judy taking unseasoned chips from the factory and trying every kind of hot seasoning they know of until they get their kid to say it, “burns good.” At the same time, some corporate dudes in lab coats are basically trying to do the same thing. In the movie, Richard says he doesn’t really know what was going on with that and this is basically the heart of the real life controversy. Were the spicy chips being produced by lab scientists paid by a corporation or did one guy have the idea to make the spicy powder? Or maybe both happened at sort of the same time. Who knows? Not me. Anyway, back to the review.

Finally, the recipe is perfected and Richard is happy with it. But there’s one huge snag. He’s the lowly janitor. Who is going to listen to him? Well, Richard decides he could call the CEO of the company. He does so, and miraculously ends up on the line with Roger Enrico. Richard has the power of persuasion and he’s able to convince Enrico they need to add a product line and save everyone’s jobs. Enrico is kindly, perceptive, and can relate to his workers. He behaves just like every company would want you to believe their CEO acts. Not in the interest of themselves or their shareholders. No, that would be beneath them. Enrico is a man of the people and he listens to his workers. Well, he supposedly did once at least anyway, according to the movie.

Enrico tells Richard to send him a box of the Flamin’ Hot chips and guess what? Enrico likes them.

Cue the moment our hero overcomes hardship and we all know we can’t live without a specific product

Even with Enrico’s approval it’s still a struggle to launch Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Richard is allowed to make 5,000 bags and put them on shelves. But, at first, they don’t sell. Why not? Lack of advertising! Richard gets friends and family from his neighborhood, factory workers, and basically anyone who will listen to hit the streets, pass out the chips and build buzz for the product. He specifically wants to target the Latino community which is underserved by Frito-Lay at this time.

This all turns out successfully and, as you probably know, there are a metric ton of Flamin’ Hot products flying off the shelves today. Richard moves up in life from janitor and becomes known as the, “Godfather of Latino Marketing.”

And the world becomes a happier place because we can eat Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

In Conclusion

Is this film worth watching? It was certainly entertaining, mostly due to the enjoyable performance of Jesse Garcia as Richard Montanez. The directing was competent on the part of Eva Longoria but nothing spectacular.

In the end Montanez being known for marketing fits really well with the film because this movie is basically marketing a brand. It’s trying to say that the Latino market was not being noticed by PepsiCo and thanks to the vision of one man, the company changed what it was doing which profited both the company and the community. Even if this story were completely true, this is still marketing. It’s trying to show PepsiCo and Montanez in the best light possible. It’s what companies want us to think about both their executives and themselves.

As far as a bit of entertainment, this film is fine. It’s not Flamin’ Hot though. It’s just average.

That being said, will there be Flamin’ Hot Cheeto dust on my fingers this Sunday when I watch the Super Bowl? Absolutely.

Spicily yours,

Slick Dungeon

Posted on by slickdungeon · 2 Comments

Flash Fiction Friday – At Death’s Door

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

Happy Friday everyone! Hope you all are having a good week. Here’s a little story I wrote, hope you like it!

At Death’s Door by Adam wright

Dee sat at her desk, laptop in front of her, warm coffee in hand and logged into the system. She worked her way through the myriad of safety and security protocols to enter the system. Putting in passwords when prompted, authenticating when needed, and feeling like this would never end, she barely registered Gary walking into her office.

Gary stood there in his slim fit suit, simple black tie and clean cut hair and cleared his throat. Dee ignored him. She opened her inbox and saw the backlog of work she had to do. Overdue on more projects than she cared to count, she knew answering Gary would delay things further. 

Gary knocked three times, the sound echoing in the little office. He wasn’t going away anytime soon. Dee noticed a slip of pink paper in his hand and had the sudden realization that this conversation was about to get serious.

“What do you want, Gary? I’m pretty busy. As always.”

“It’s not what I want. It’s from upstairs. We need to talk.”

Shit. Anything from upstairs was a pain. Hell, anything from downstairs was a pain also. But you can’t just ignore the orders from above, even if the messenger here was the most annoying person in the whole damn office. 

“I’m listening. What do they want?” Dee tried to keep her focus on the laptop but her ears began echoing in her head, the sounds of the outside world trying to crash in on her.

“First off, you have to know, Dee… if I can call you Dee… this isn’t from me.”

“Obviously. You already said it’s from upstairs.”

Gary’s hand shook as he stuck out the paper towards Dee. She didn’t take it.

“Okay, so just, please remember, I like you. It’s bad news but I don’t want it this way, they do. There’s nothing I can do to change their minds. They’re letting you go.”

Dee resisted the impulse to throw her coffee at Gary. She knew that would accomplish nothing. This was the time for a rational adult conversation.

“What does that mean exactly? Letting me go? Do they have any idea how important what I do is?”

Gary scratched at his collar but kept the pink slip in his hand.

“Look… it means what it sounds like. You don’t work here anymore. Your services are no longer needed. In fact, it is kind of unclear what you do. You show up here every day, same time, same coffee in hand. You log in, you go through an inbox and then what? What exactly happens at that point?”

Dee let out a long sigh. Explaining this to Gary would be impossible. Explaining to those upstairs was nearly impossible too. That didn’t mean her services were not absolutely essential. 

“Trust me. Without my services things are going to get… messy. There’ll be a lot of clean up nobody wants. I’m happy to sit here and do my job. I like my job. I’m not bothering anyone else. I just do my thing, wait for the annual check in, and move on with my life. What’s wrong with that?”

Gary crossed his arms, a sure sign he was losing patience. He set the pink slip of paper on Dee’s desk. She didn’t touch it.

“You’re not making any forward progress. Where’s your ambition? Where are your career goals? I mean, you’ve been doing the same thing day in and day out forever. It’s time for a change. It’ll be good for you. Good for all of us. We all need a change. Now’s the time for you to change too.”

Dee rocked back in her swivel chair and took in a deep breath.

“Gary, you have to just trust me on this. If I am gone, this place is going to have issues. Real issues. The people upstairs, and the people downstairs, are going to have to get involved. No one wants that, do they?”

Gary’s expression changed to one of feigned sympathy. Dee didn’t know why the people upstairs were such cowards. They should at least have had the guts to get rid of her themselves.

“I don’t have any choice here, Dee. I can help you pack up. Hell, I’ll buy you an iced latte on the way out. Don’t make me call security. Please?”

“Have they said I have done a bad job? Violated any rules?”

“No.”

“Then what ground do they have to stand on?”

Gary suppressed a small laugh.

“You know they never have been the type to stand on firm ground. But it’s orders. I have to carry out orders. Can’t you just go peacefully?”

Dee clutched her coffee and stood up. She grabbed her gray wool coat and her red leather purse and looked Gary in the eyes.

“I’m not doing anything that isn’t peaceful. I’m just telling you, this is a mistake. And it’s going to be costly. But, as you say, orders are orders. I’ll get my stuff and go. Just remember this: When you all want to bring me back in and ask me to clean up the whole mess, the answer is no.”

Her dignity intact, Dee walked out of the office and onto the street. All she had to do was wait. She was at a busy intersection where cars flew past, bikers made their way precariously in the bike lanes, and pedestrians jostled past one another. 

Twenty minutes later, it happened. A Ford Mustang hit a tan SUV in the intersection, a bicyclist caught between them. A head on collision, one that left no room for doubt about the fate of the bicyclist. Except, Dee no longer had a job. There was nothing she could do. The bicyclist stood, a piece of metal jutting out of his chest. It should have impaled him to death. He screamed in agony. There was still nothing Dee could do. He was going to be the first of many to meet such a fate. Reluctantly, she walked away, feeling the cool breeze on her face.

She walked the earth in those later days, watching all the pain go around, never able to end it. She wanted to help. But death was out of a job.

Posted on by slickdungeon

Marvel 616 Review – Tales of Suspense #42

Tales of Suspense 42 Photo Credit: Marvel Writers: Stan Lee, Robert Bernstein Artist: Don Heck

One of the harsh realities of reading all of Marvel 616 in order is you can come across a really engaging and landmark issue, as with the introduction of The Wasp in Tales to Astonish #44, only to have it be followed up with a rather bland and boring story the next issue. This is the case with Tales of Suspense #42. It stars Tony Stark aka Iron Man doing what Iron Man does. Fighting communists. Over and over and over again. That’s not to say I am not interested in reading those stories but at this point they are getting repetitive and at times seem designed just to fill pages. To be fair, they had to come up with a lot of content at the time on multiple comics so there is no way all of the stories are going to be great.

This issue starts with a page promising we’ll have a shocking surprise coming to us, “as the knight in shining armor walks straight into this, the greatest danger he has ever faced!” It shows Iron Man walking into the lair of someone named The Red Barbarian.

The action begins on a boat where a group of spies is proud of themselves for stealing the latest American atomic bomb. They figure they will be well rewarded by this Red Barbarian but to make sure everything is looking good, they decide to open the crate with the bomb.

But to their surprise, Iron Man is waiting in the crate. Turns out the whole thing was a setup by the F.B.I. Iron Man stops the crooks with the use of some of his patented transistor technology and uses magnets to cause their guns to fire away from him. The overhead magnet is so strong, in fact, that it pulls the bad guys up with the guns. Not sure why they didn’t think to let go of their weapons but we’ll just figure they panicked. Iron Man also explains his armor contains alloys that reject magnetic attraction so he is not affected by the magnet. Glad we got that cleared up!

The F.B.I. do show up to collect their prize but Tony warns them that the Red Barbarian is probably planning some new kind of mischief. This person seems to be news to the F.B.I. and all Tony really knows is the bad guy is known for his brutality and lives somewhere behind the iron curtain. So, not a lot to go on.

We next see Tony changing out of his Iron Man suit and going back to his lab. He is now storing his suit in a suitcase and he is working on what he calls a, “pocket-size disintegrator ray.”

We see his heavily guarded lab as Tony takes comfort in the fact that no spy can get inside. Tony then demonstrates his ray to the U.S. Military. He is able to disintegrate tanks and walls and tells the men how it could be adapted to destroy whole enemy fleets. He does warn them that it is not yet perfected. The military is suitably impressed and everyone realizes how devastating it would be if the technology got into enemy hands.

The scene then shifts to The Red Barbarian’s headquarters where his men tell him of Tony’s new weapon. He demands the plans but his men say Stark’s compound is impenetrable, after which The Red Barbarian throws a ham at the messenger and threatens to shoot his incompetent staff.

As he is in his rage, The Red Barbarian is interrupted by someone who he thinks is Comrade K, a high ranking general in the communist party. This, however, is a ruse. The man is really someone who calls himself The Actor. He is able to mimic the look and manners of anyone he sees and claims to be the ultimate spy. The Actor changes his look to that of Tony Stark and claims he can steal all of Stark’s plans. The Red Barbarian hires him on the spot, promising him anything he wishes. The Red Barbarian also warns of what will happen should The Actor fail.

The Actor is quite bold in his claims as he says he can defeat both Tony Stark and Iron Man. He puts his plan into action by first impersonating a famous actor so he can get into the United States. The Actor then goes to the telegraph office in Washington D.C. and impersonates a senator. Next he finds the communist spies in the area to help him fake an entrance into Stark’s lab while Stark is away.

The Actor shows up at Stark’s lab once he knows Stark is gone. He tells the guards there, who assume he is Tony Stark, that the Pentagon meeting was cancelled and he has returned to his lab to do some work. The guards do try to stop the men with The Actor but he claims they are top men of the Pentagon and his office is open to them.

The ruse works well enough to get The Actor into the office where they go about the task of raiding Stark’s plans. While doing this, The Actor finds parts of Iron Man’s suit and puts the pieces together. He knows Stark is Iron Man. Deciding to keep the information to himself in case his life is threatened, he has the others find the plans for the disintegration ray. The Actor takes the plans and tells his men to wait for Stark and assassinate him when he returns. As Stark, The Actor dismisses all of Tony’s usual guards, telling them the Pentagon men will do the guard duty for the night.

The real Stark, realizing the invitation from the senator to the Pentagon was a fake, returns to his lab. The bad guys try to kill him but luckily he is still wearing his Iron Man chest plate under his clothes. Stark kills the lights and gets into his full armor and makes short work of the bad guys. He gets them to tell him why they are there, where to find The Red Barbarian, and when The Actor is scheduled to meet with his employer. To get there, Stark has to take a missile in order to arrive in time. The missile launch is successful and Stark arrives where he intended.

He stops The Actor who is driving on his way toward the headquarters. Iron Man basically folds up The Actor’s car as a way to keep the guy in place. He gags The Actor and walks right into The Red Barbarian’s headquarters.

Iron Man tells the bad guys he is The Actor and gives The Red Barbarian an attache case with a timed lock on it. He tells the The Red Barbarian the lock is a miniature atom bomb. Tony then leaves and goes back to let The Actor out of his trap. Tony flies away.

The Actor goes to The Red Barbarian to apologize for not giving him the disintegrator ray plans. The Red Barbarian flips out on The Actor and basically ends up shooting the guy (although we never see a body so who knows?).

Tony hears all this as he flies off and the story ends there.

While there are some mildly interesting things here, such as how close Stark is with the government, and how secure his compound is, for the most part this story is a bit of a dud. The bad guys are drawn like crude caricatures and borderline offensive. There are a couple of neat tricks like the suitcase for the Iron Man suit but we don’t learn much new here. It’s a passable story about espionage but it just doesn’t quite grab the reader and it really doesn’t help us understand Tony Stark or Iron Man more than we already do.

There are a couple of non-cannon stories in this issue of Tales of Suspense, one about a haunted house and one about a prisoner in the future who is taken to space. Both are much shorter than the Iron Man story and actually a bit more engaging in this case, although with decidedly less heroics. Those don’t count at all toward the larger story though.

Next up on the reading order we’re catching up once again with the hothead Johnny Storm as we read about him in the pages of Strange Tales #110!

Posted on by slickdungeon

To Save a Thorn (Aerieti Chronicles of the Fall, Book 2) – Book Review

To Save a Thorn by Electra Nanou

Note: this review was first posted on Reedsy Discovery, an awesome website that pairs independent authors and readers. To see the post there, click here.

If you are a book reviewer and want to contribute reviews on Reedsy Discovery, click here.

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SYNOPSIS

Why escape death by demon just to die at the hands of heroes?’

Taitu Jathaeri, a sixteen-year-old girl with arcane gifts, is impatient to leave her matriarchal home island to train at Mecanta’s Academy of the Arcane Arts.
But when her guardian, a recluse witch, is murdered, Taitu is tasked to go to the dreaded mainland, find a mage in the ruins of Old Anvadore, and give him the artefact Arjanna has hidden for twenty years.
But Arjanna had many secrets. The young Thorn must learn who to trust and whether the murderers who are now pursuing her could be her salvation or her ruin.
Has she unwittingly chosen the wrong side in a war that will release an ancient corrupting evil into the world of Itania?

To Save a Thorn is the second book of the Aerieti Chronicles of the Fall series. It’s largely self-contained and easy to follow without having to read the first book. That being said, reading them both adds context.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Taitu Jathaeri is a bit unusual in her little island community. She is able to cast magic, unlike most of the women who live on her home island of Ilja. The island is mostly comprised of women who live there in a matriarchal society. Due to her magic, Taitu is given to Arjanna, the only other person capable of casting magic on the island, to raise. Although grateful to Arjanna, Taitu still misses her mother and wishes to go to the mainland to learn more about how to wield her magic. Yet, there seems to be more to Arjanna than Taitu knew when a group of strangers attack and Arjanna taks Taitu with keeping a secret artifact safe and getting it to a mysterious stranger far away.

On her journey, Taitu encounters people who want to recover the artifact but are they trying to harm Taitu or save her?

Like the first book in the series, To Save a Thorn has a charming protagonist who you can’t help but cheer for as she makes her way in the world. The story is full of fun and magic and a thoroughly enjoyable read. If you read the first book in the series, it will be a bit easier to pick up on who is trying to help and who is trying to harm Taitu but either way you can read this volume as a stand alone book. This volume brings along some characters from the first book but introduces us to plenty of new ones.

The book fits in well to the larger story and it will be interesting to see where the series goes from this point on.

If you enjoy fun fantasy adventures with lots of different creatures, magic throughout the world, and charming protagonists, this book is for you.