2021 Movies, Monster Movie Trivia, and Monster Music Trivia

2021 Movies

Here are some of the big movies coming out this year, most of which were delayed from last year. (Information from the IMDB.) We kick it off with a monster film I’m very excited to see after the recent trailers:

March 31
Godzilla vs. Kong
The epic next chapter in the cinematic Monsterverse pits two of the greatest icons in motion picture history against one another - the fearsome Godzilla and the mighty Kong - with humanity caught in the balance.
Director: Adam Wingard
Stars: Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry
Coming out on HBO Max same day.

May 7
Black Widow
A film about Natasha Romanoff in her quests between the films Civil War and Infinity War.
Director: Cate Shortland
Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Rachel Weisz

May 28
F9
Cypher enlists the help of Jakob, Dom's younger brother to take revenge on Dom and his team.
Director: Justin Lin
Stars: Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Martyn Ford, Charlize Theron

July 2
Maverick
After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy's top aviators, Pete Mitchell is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him.
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Stars: Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, Jean Louisa Kelly

Minions: The Rise of Gru
The untold story of one twelve-year-old's dream to become the world's greatest supervillain.
Directors: Kyle Balda | Brad Ableson | Jonathan del Val
Stars: Julie Andrews, Steve Carell, Lucy Lawless, Michelle Yeoh

July 30
Jungle Cruise
Based on Disneyland's theme park ride where a small riverboat takes a group of travelers through a jungle filled with dangerous animals and reptiles but with a supernatural element.
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Jesse Plemons, Edgar Ramírez

September 17
A Quiet Place Part Two
Following the events at home, the Abbott family now face the terrors of the outside world. Forced to venture into the unknown, they realize the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats lurking beyond the sand path.
Director: John Krasinski
Stars: Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Cillian Murphy, Noah Jupe

October 1
Dune
Feature adaptation of Frank Herbert's science fiction novel, about the son of a noble family entrusted with the protection of the most valuable asset and most vital element in the galaxy.
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Stars: Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Josh Brolin, Rebecca Ferguson

October 7
No Time to Die
James Bond has left active service. His peace is short-lived when Felix Leiter, an old friend from the CIA, turns up asking for help, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Stars: Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Rami Malek, Ralph Fiennes

Movie Trivia

Monster movies! Continuing with the theme. Guess the title from the tagline and year.

The ultimate in alien terror - 1982
At last, the night has a hero – 1990
You'll never know what bit you – 1999
Cute. Clever. Mischievous. Intelligent. Dangerous. – 1984
2 Terrifying. 2 Frightening. 2 Much! – 1987
Some Thing Has Found Us – 2008
In darkness, there can be light. In misery, there can be beauty. In death, there can be life... – 2006
They say there’s nothing new under the sun. But under the ground… - 1990

Music Trivia

More monsters! Name the musical artist from the song title and year.

Feed My Frankenstein – 1992
Bark at the Moon – 1982
Godzilla – 1977
Dream Warriors – 1989
The Thing That Should Not Be – 1986
Circle of the Cysquatch - 2006
Nightcrawler – 1990
Living Dead Girl – 1998

What delayed movies are you excited to see? (Yes, I will see Godzilla vs. Kong both in the theater and at home.) Know any of the movie trivia? How about the music trivia?
Next post will be March 3 for IWSG day – and I have some great news I’ve been sitting on!

Movie Inspirations for The Window, Resident Alien Review, The Little Things Review, and Movie News

Four Movie Inspirations for The Window by Dave Cole

In The Window, Brian Bingham is able to see into the future through an attic window. When it reveals his best friend’s death, Brian must find a way to change the future…or die trying.
While I don’t always know exactly where the inspiration for my books come from, these movies could have been somewhere in the back of my mind as I wrote The Window.

The Dead Zone – Based on The Dead Zone by Stephen King
Johnny Smith awakens from a coma years after a car accident with the ability to see a person’s future with a mere touch. After shaking the hand of an aspiring politician, Johnny sees a horrible future. Johnny resolves to kill the candidate before he rises in power. Great book and a decent adaptation of a Stephen King novel (not something I say often).

Minority Report – Based on Minority Report by Philip K. Dick
In the distant future, John Anderton is the head of the Precrime Division, where three mutant “precogs” can predict crimes before they occur, reducing the murder rate to zero. When Anderton learns he himself is predicted to kill a man in the coming week, he suspects he is being framed. He discovers the prediction was a “minority report”, where the precogs’ predictions didn’t all agree.

Next – Based on The Golden Man by Philip K. Dick
With the ability to see events just minutes before they happen, Cris Johnson works as a Las Vegas magician. When terrorists threaten to detonate a nuclear weapon in LA, the FBI approaches Cris to convince him to help her stop the upcoming apocalypse.

Tell Me How I Die (2016) – screenplay by James Hibberd
When a group of college students take part in a clinical drug trial, they begin to have visions of their own deaths. When the deaths begin to happen, they scramble to escape their own fate. They discover the killer can also see into the future. Can they survive when he always seems to be one step ahead of them?

The Window by Dave Cole

A dark window to the future…
Everything changed the day Brian Bingham looked out the attic window and saw something that wouldn't happen for another week. Through a mysterious window no one else can see, Brian gains a portal into the future. But the future is not always something he wants to see.
Brian has enough troubles in the present without worrying about the future. His parents are constantly fighting, his grades are plummeting, and his new relationship with Charlotte, a girl way out of his league, is in jeopardy.
When the window reveals his best friend's brutal death, Brian’s world is turned upside down. He must find a way to change the future…or die trying.

$13.95, 6x9 trade paperback, 170 pages
Print ISBN 9781939844767 / EBook ISBN 9781939844774
Young Adult – Paranormal (YAF045000) / Contemporary Fantasy (YAF019010) / Horror (YAF026000)
Find it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Goodreads

Find Dave Cole at The Math Kids

Reviews

Resident Alien

New show on SyFy staring Alan Tudyk (Firefly/Serenity, Rogue One, Tucker and Dale vs. Evil).
From the IMDB: follows a crash-landed alien named Harry who takes on the identity of a small-town Colorado doctor and slowly begins to wrestle with the moral dilemma of his secret mission on Earth.
The show and the characters are quirky. Think Northern Exposure and then add an alien whose mission is to kill all humans.
The show moves at a leisurely pace, punctuated by very funny, snarky asides from Tudyk. The alien learned how to speak English by watching Law and Order, so he also has a detective streak in him.
Again, the show is quirky, odd, and quite fun. Tudyk gets to be Tudyk at his snarky best.
Recommended!

The Little Things

From the IMDB: Kern County Deputy Sheriff Joe Deacon is sent to Los Angeles for what should have been a quick evidence-gathering assignment. Instead, he becomes embroiled in the search for a serial killer who is terrorizing the city.
Staring Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, and Jared Leto.
This is a very slow burn psychological thriller. It would be an average movie at best if not for the outstanding cast. Washington and Leto give great performances. Leto was indeed one creepy dude!
It was worth it on HBO Max, but I would’ve been disappointed in the theater. (It came out on January 29 in theaters and on HBO Max, who has a deal with Warner Brothers.)
Watch if you’re a big fan of the actors.

 

Movies and Stuff

Christopher Plummer passed away last week at the age of 91.
His career spanned eight decades. Eight! Just incredible.

From Screenrant: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 writer and director James Gunn reveals he cried a lot while writing the script for the Marvel Studios threequel.
Thor is still rumored to be involved, especially as the Guardians are in the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder.

They are rebooting The Man Who Fell to Earth as a series.
From JoBlo: Oscar-nominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor is set to lead the upcoming Paramount+ series The Man Who Fell to Earth. Based on the Walter Tevis novel and Nicolas Roeg’s cult classic 1976 film starring David Bowie, the series will follow a new alien character, played by Ejiofor, who arrives on Earth at a turning point in human evolution and must confront his own past to determine our future.
Ejiofor is a great choice and he’s been in countless films, including Serenity, Doctor Strange, and 12 Years a Slave.

Elephant’s Child posts weekly writing word prompts and this month, I got to supply four weeks’ worth of words!
They range from movies to series to bands and finally some random goofy words.
Go check it out and write a flash fiction piece.

Seen any of those movie inspirations for The Window? Watched Resident Alien yet? See The Little Things? Any news surprise you? And can you create a flash fiction piece based on the words at Elephant’s Child’s site?

Next Monday is a holiday, so I will be offline and return the following week.

Insecure Writer’s Support Group, In Honor of Jo Wake, and New Releases

It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. I encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.


The awesome co-hosts for the February 3 posting of the IWSG are Louise - Fundy Blue , Jennifer Lane, Mary Aalgaard, Patsy Collins at Womagwriter, and Nancy Gideon!

February 3 question - Blogging is often more than just sharing stories. It’s often the start of special friendships and relationships. Have you made any friends through the blogosphere?

Have I made any friends? Hundreds! Some very special to me. And it was a total surprise when I began blogging in 2009. I had no idea I would come across so many friendly, giving, and amazing people. I met a few in the beginning, the through the A to Z Challenge, I met a ton more. Blogfests and platform building exercises brought more. Then the IWSG. And of course the early A to Z admins and all of the IWSG admins became great friends. I won't start naming people because we'd be here all day...

Thanks to all of you for caring and being a friend. You all rock!

In Honor of Jo Wake

On February 3, share a recipe that brings them warm memories of friendship and love in honor of blogger Josephine “Jo” Wake at Jo on Food, Life, and a Scent of Chocolate. who passed away December 16, 2020.

Jo was a dear friend for many years and one of the Dragon Fellowship, a special, private group founded by Father Dragon. We called her Grandmother Dragon and the group feels so empty without her.

Jo loved her asparagus. She would go out of her way to get it while in season and prepared it hundreds of ways.

Unfortunately, I really don’t like asparagus. But there is a special dish that speaks love and fond childhood memories to me.

Christmas Tree Spritz Cookies

My mother makes those cookies every year for Christmas and has since I can remember. She sends them to me now when she feels up to making them. They are pure Christmas Heaven.

I don’t have the recipe, but I found one at the Semisweet Sisters. (Photo credit also Semisweet Sisters.)

Join us and share your friendship and love recipe.

New Releases

From fellow Dancing Lemur Press author -
The Window by Dave Cole

A dark window to the future…
Everything changed the day Brian Bingham looked out the attic window and saw something that wouldn't happen for another week. Through a mysterious window no one else can see, Brian gains a portal into the future. But the future is not always something he wants to see.
Brian has enough troubles in the present without worrying about the future. His parents are constantly fighting, his grades are plummeting, and his new relationship with Charlotte, a girl way out of his league, is in jeopardy.
When the window reveals his best friend's brutal death, Brian’s world is turned upside down. He must find a way to change the future…or die trying.

$13.95, 6x9 trade paperback, 170 pages
Print ISBN 9781939844767 / EBook ISBN 9781939844774
Young Adult – Paranormal (YAF045000) / Contemporary Fantasy (YAF019010) / Horror (YAF026000)
Find it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Goodreads

Flight to Fez by Sean McLachlan

Only in Tangier could a literary event turn into a murder scene.
I’m “Shorty” MacAllister, private detective. I’ve investigated all sorts of crazy cases in this lawless town, tracking down con men and Nazi fugitives, anarchists and bank robbers, all the while running my own secret angle.
But I never thought that when I went to hear my friend Jane Bowles read her latest story I’d end with a murdered man in my lap, and an old war buddy getting pinned with the crime.
After that, things got a whole lot more complicated.

Find it on Amazon

How many friends have you made in the blogging world? Did you know Jo Wake? Is there a special recipe that reminds you of family or friends? Want to see the future in The Window?

Elephant’s Child posts weekly writing word prompts and this month, I got to supply four weeks’ worth of words! Give yourself a fun challenge and check it out.

I’ll be back on February 8 with some show and movie reviews.

Reviews – Wanda Vision, Westworld, Raised by Wolves, and Lovecraft Country; Dream Theater – Distant Memories Live in London Review; IWSG and More

Television Series Reviews

Wanda Vision
Blends the style of classic sitcoms with the MCU in which Wanda Maximoff and Vision -two super-powered beings living their ideal suburban lives-begin to suspect that everything is not as it seems.
You may have watched the first episode and really wondered if that was what this series was about. But, keep watching!
Structured like sitcoms in different eras, the episodes have moments of dread that make it creepy, especially in the middle of a wacky sitcom.
There are so many things going on. Marvel fans really need to pay attention to catch everything.
Three episodes in, I am super curious to see where this goes!

Westworld
Set at the intersection of the near future and the reimagined past, explore a world in which every human appetite can be indulged without consequence.
I wasn’t sure I’d like this show, but I dug the direction it went.
It’s an HBO series, so lots of nudity, violence, and language. (Like they do.)
The best part, besides the faux Western backdrop, is the main actors – in particular, Hopkins and Harris. And Harris is spectacular. Such a bastard!
My only complaint is it can get too talky sometimes.

Raised by Wolves
Androids are tasked with raising human children on a mysterious planet.
This is one bat-crap crazy show!
I thought I’d be turned off by the atheist versus religious narrative, but I find it intriguing.
It’s very violent and contains language. (HBO, no surprise.) It’s also very dark and extremely strange.
It’s certainly holding my interest.

Lovecraft Country
A young African-American travels across the U.S. in the 1950s in search of his missing father.
Interesting setting, especially with the paranormal elements thrown in.
HBO series, so no surprise - gore, nudity, and language.
It’s an intriguing show with a really likeable cast.
Not a lot of actual Lovecraft elements in it, at least not in the first few shows. But maybe more appear later.

Dream Theater – Distant Memories Live in London

This is two and a half hours of Dream Theater bliss!
It’s a CD-DVD combo pack, so you get the live concert two ways.
There is nothing better than watching masters of their instruments perform, especially John Petrucci, one of the greatest guitarists in the world.
Included in the performance is the album Scenes From a Memory done in its entirety. Something I never thought I’d see!
For any fan of prog rock, this is a must!

IWSG and More

Last week’s #IWSGPit Twitter pitch event was a huge success!
Thousands upon thousands of Tweets and quite a few with likes from agents and publishers.
Thanks to all the writers who pitched their manuscripts and to the IWSG Admins for monitoring the feed all day long.
If you participated, let us know what you thought of the events. And if you land a publisher or agent, definitely let us know!
We’ll be back next January with the next #IWSGPit.

The Write Life Top 100!
The Insecure Writer’s Support Group is once again on The Write Life’s 100 Best Websites for Writers.
This is now five years in a row for this honor.
Thanks to all of you for making the IWSG what it is.

Out now:
Witches’ Knickers by Angela Wooldridge
Martha is tidying the hedgerows while she tries to ignore what a mess her life is in. Molly and her sisters are uncovering a family secret.
Kelly is beginning to suspect that this spy training lark isn’t the fun adventure she’d hoped it would be.
Patsy is about to confront an old mistake.
Join them and many other characters in these fourteen contemporary short stories by Angela Wooldridge.
Find it on Amazon UK and Amazon US

In Honor of Jo Wake
On February 3, share a recipe that brings them warm memories of friendship and love in honor of blogger Josephine “Jo” Wake at Jo on Food, Life, and a Scent of Chocolate. who passed away December 16, 2020.

Have you seen any of those four shows and what did you think? Heard the new Dream Theater? Participated in #IWSGPit? Joining us for Jo’s tribute next week? It’s also IWSG week, so don’t forget!