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Everything Old is New Again, Vol. 16 - June 2020

By Hunter Bush

Welcome welcome, one and all. The quarantine persists and I would hope that if you're reading this, you are still socially distancing and taking care of yourself. But - to paraphrase my jr. high sex ed teacher - just because you're playing it safe doesn't mean you can't have fun. And around here, fun means Movies! In EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN it specifically means the movies that are Remakes of older flicks, or Adaptations of some other work or even Long-Gap Sequels to some long ago film that someone was just dying to add to the legacy of.

Since the film world is currently light on premiers, I've expanded the scope of the column to include films meeting EOINA criteria coming to streaming services no matter when they were originally released. BUT, streaming services are notoriously difficult to track down release date info for so... basically I'm doing my best here, y'all and many many thanks to Allison Yakulis, my partner-in-crime, for helping with the research here.

Without any further ado, let the Quarant-EOINA commence...

AMAZON PRIME:

PREMIERS:
June 8th:

LOST IN OZ: SEASON 1: PART 2 - An animated series inspired by the Oz book series begun by L. Frank Baum in 1900 with The Wonderful World of Oz. This second season of the show takes Dorothy (Ashley Boettcher) and crew to the Deadly Desert and sees her butting up against the Nome Kingdom and even making friends with the King of the Nomes, Roquat (Garrett McQuaid) who happens to be roughly her age. I'm not wild about the animation style myself but it isn't horrible and apparently Gina Gershon does a voice, so that's rad. On the other hand Roquat says the line "You made me want to be a better Nome" which is a dumb-as-rocks line anyway even if I weren't suspicious it was a As Good as it Gets reference. Which I am.

June 26th:

IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE: SEASON 1: PART 2 - Based on the 1985 children's book written by Laura Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond, there's no trailer I could find for this one but a few episodes were floating around. The voice work is good and the stories are kind of what you'd expect out of any old children' show (they've added a bunch of animals to the cast though which is ...odd) but what impressed me most was that the animation really reminded me of Bond's original illustrations! Like I said, this seems like any old kids show which is a loss. It would actually be great if each episode followed the progression that was the hook of the original story: the Mouse wants something > someone acquiesces to his demands > things escalate until eventually > someone learns a lesson. I feel like not enough people read this book in their lives, especially those HBO Max morons who are apparently going to deliver something they are calling "The Snyder Cut" of Justice League to all those whiny grown-adult-children who somehow have deluded themselves into the idea that the only thing standing between themselves and "good" Justice League movie was lack of input from Zach Snyder. LOL yikes. All I'm saying is it sets a dangerous precedent. If you give a mouse a cookie, he's gonna demand the Snyder Cut.

June 29th:

A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL - Based on the John Preston's non fiction book from 2016, this mini-series likewise chronicles the trial of British Parliament member Jeremy Thorpe (Hugh Grant) who is accused of hiring a hitman to kill his alleged former lover Norman Scott (Ben Whishaw). To be honest, this seems a little sleepy for me. There’s a lot of Thorpe pacing in some very English rooms, talking tersely to other people about what’s going on as opposed to actually showing things as they happen, from what I could tell by the trailer. You do get Hugh Grant saying "My little bunny..." with just about as much menace as that line could handle before collapsing under its own weight. I dunno. I might skip this one.

ARRIVALS:
June 1st:

The Age of Innocence (1993) - Adapted from the 1920 novel by Edith Wharton.

Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (1987) - Loosely adapted from the Allan Quatermain novel by H. Rider Haggard from 1887! That's 100 years earlier!

The Ant Bully (2006) - Adapted from the 1999 John Nickle children's book.

Beer For My Horses (2008) - Co-written by Toby Keith and Rodney Carrington (who also star in it) based on Keith's song of the same name.

Beowulf (2007) - Based on the Old English epic poem dated to somewhere between 975 to 1025. That’s about 1000 years earlier!

Blitz (2011) - Based on the 2002 Ken Bruen novel.

Blue Like Jazz (2012) - Based on Donald Miller's semi-autobiographical novel from 2003.

Burnt Offerings (1976) - Based on the 1973 novel by Robert Marasco.

The Care Bears Movie (1985) - Based on the toy line that began in 1983, which was inspired by greeting cards painted in 1981 by Elena Kucharik.

Cavedweller (2004) - Adapted from Dorothy Allison's 1998 novel.

Chinese Box (1997) - Inspired by Paul Theroux's 1997 novel Kowloon Tong.

Day of the Dead (2008) - Loosely inspired by George Romero's 1985 Day of the Dead, which was the third film in his zombie trilogy after Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Dawn of the Dead (1978).

The Disaster Artist (2017) - Greg Sistero & Tom Bissell's 2013 tell-all book about the making of The Room (2003), this flick was previously covered in my proto-EOINA column. *Also streaming on Netflix beginning June 1st.

Escape From Alcatraz (1979) - Based on J. Campbell Bruce's 1963 non fiction book.

Flood (2007) - Based on the 2002 book by Richard Doyle.

Hans Christian Andersen: My Life as a Fairy Tale (2003) - Loosely biographical, this film features adapted excerpts of some of Anderson's stories.

I Am David (2003) - Based on the 1963 novel by Anne Holm, originally titled North to Freedom.

The Ladies Man (2000) - Based on Tim Meadows' character from Saturday Night Live.

Leprechaun: Origins (2014) - Reboot of the Leprechaun franchise begun in 1993. *The rest of the series is also hitting Prime June 1st.

The Natural (1984) - Adapted from Bernard Malamud's 1952 novel.

Rare Birds (2002) - Based on screenwriter Edward Riche's 1997 novel.

The Running Man (1987) - Loosely inspired by Stephen King's 1982 novel.

Saturday Night Fever (1977) - Inspired by the New York Magazine article Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night by Nik Cohn (1976).

Stanley & Iris (1990) - Inspired by the 1982 novel Union Street by Pat Barker.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) - Inspired by Stephen Sondheim & Hugh Wheeler's 1979 stage musical.

The Waltons: Seasons 1 - 9 (1972 - 1981) - TV series adaptation of the 1963 film Spencer's Mountain, which was an adaptation of Earl Hamner Jr.'s novel from 1961.

June 9th:

Precious (2008) - Inspired by Sapphire's 1996 novel Push.

June 16th:

Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) - Inspired by the toy line / animated series / comic book entertainment franchise juggernaut that began in 1984 . Previously covered in my proto-EOINA column.

June 26th:

Shutter Island (2010) - Based on Dennis Lehane's 2003 novel.

CBS ALL ACCESS:

PREMIERS:
June 13th:

STRANGE ANGEL: SEASON 2 - Based on the biography Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of John Whiteside Parsons by George Pendle, this series dives into the unusual history of the man known as Jack Parsons: rocket science pioneer and noted occultist. Both of those things interest me personally, but when you put them together it's better than a Reese's Cup! You got your "man's defiant spirit venturing out into the unknown void" in my "sex magick practitioner, student of Aleister Crowley and sexual rival of L. Ron Hubbard who also practiced the so called "dark" arts"! Yum! Besides all the expected space-race stuff and magic society stuff, this season also seems to introduce heroin (I think?) which is not something I immediately recall from the bit I know of Jack Parsons' life. Somehow the first season of this slipped by me but it is absolutely my shit and I will be tuning in. I just wish they'd called it "Strangel".

June 25th:

TWILIGHT ZONE: SEASON 2 - This reboot of the Rod Serling-created series (which ran on CBS from 1959 to 1964) returns for its second season! The trailer for this one is very reminiscent of the trailer for Season 1 before that dropped: some intriguing dialogue, a lot of recognizable faces and tons of quick-cut Easter Egg references to the original series. This time around, the onscreen talent is pretty stacked: David Krumholtz, Gretchen Mol, Ethan Embry, Jimmi Simpson, Morena Baccarin, Gillian Jacobs, Chris Meloni, Billy Porter, Joel McHale, Jenna Elfman, Thomas Lennon, Paul F Tompkins and more! But, as if that weren't enough of a draw, the behind-the-scenes talent is just as impressive with episodes written by Glen Morgan (!), Oz Perkins (who is also directing that episode), Heather Anne Campbell and Jordan Peele among others, with episodes directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, Perkins, and Ana Lily Amirpour, again among others. That's quite a talent-rich season of sci-fi weirdness we have coming our way. As for the refs to the earlier Twilight Zone, I spotted some broken spectacles, a tiny robot and heard a line of dialogue along the lines of "they're not the monsters, we're the monsters" and I'm sure I didn't catch it all! My few stylistic issues with the first season aside, I'm super enthusiastic for this return!

June 30th:

INSTINCT: SEASON 3 - Based on James Patterson's 2017 novel co-written by Howard Roughan, this is a weird one. The tone is hard to nail down. If you've never read Pattterson before, it's perfect beach reading: light in tone, just dark enough in subject matter to keep you interested, sexy but just enough and brisk; essentially he's the pepper shaker to Janet Evanovich's salt (at least in my opinion). This series, which I have yet to watch, seems to lean heavier on the humor and quirk and go light on the gore. You've got Alan Cumming as snarky loner author Dr. Dylan Reinhart who is approached in season 1 by Detective Lizzie Needham (Bojana Novakovic) to solve murders that seem inspired by Reinhart's last book. I guess they either didn't catch that killer yet, or they did and decided they like working together or maybe they did but then other murders with ties to Reinhart began cropping up because as I said, this is the third season. To say that Cumming is playing the character as "colorful" would be an understatement, as in some of the clips I saw he borders on straight-up cartoonishness, but I don't know... there's something about this that makes me think I could dig it. I once got into a routine of playing Scrabble and drinking tea while burning through an old roommates DVR collection of Bones episodes, and I think this might scratch a similar itch: trashy, but also just repetitive enough to tune it out when you want.

ARRIVALS:
June 1st:

Election (1999) - Adapted from Tom Perrotta's 1998 novel.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) - Adapted from the 1973 Lois Duncan novel. *Its 1998 sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is streaming on HULU beginning June 1st.

DISNEY+:

PREMIERS:
June 12th:

ARTEMIS FOWL - Originally set to be released back in August 2019, I wrote about it in EOINA Vol.10. I guess it was quietly shelved? Anyway Diz+ is calling this an "original". From what I recall, this flick is based on the first two books in the book series created by Eoin Colfer and the vibe I get from the plot descriptions is "kitchen sink": old world fairy magic meets Men In Black -looking technology with a subplot involving the Russian mob?! Nothing in the trailers looks especially unique and, biggest of sins, they've got Dame Judi Dench running around looking like the queen of the BeetleBorgs! For shame!

June 19th:

MUPPET BABIES: PLAYDATE: SEASON 1 -  I can't find anything like a proper trailer for this but from the 3 photos on their IMDb page I'm hazarding a guess that this features puppet versions of the Muppet Babies interacting in meat space with real life children. My initial reaction to this was distaste because I've only ever known the Muppet Babies from their 1984 animated incarnation (which was itself based on the Muppets created by Jim and Jane Henson in 1955) but if there's anything like actual hope left in the world, this will retain some of the magic that the Henson company has always brought to children's entertainment.

ARRIVALS:
June 19th:

Tinker Bell and the Pirate Fairy (2014) - A Direct-To-Video film a.k.a. The Pirate Fairy, based on characters from Disney's Peter Pan (1953) based on the works of J.M. Barrie.

June 26th:

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010) - Based on The Lightning Thief the 2004 book by Rick Riordan.

Tarzan (1999) - Animated film based on Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs from 1912.

Tarzan 2: The Legend Begins (2005) - DTV sequel to the above.

HBO MAX:

PREMIERS:
June 16th:

LOONEY TUNES CARTOONS - There's nothing like a trailer for this. So as I searched for information, I wondered: what would this be? Some new adventures involving the beloved cartoon characters created by an assortment of folks at Warner Brothers beginning in 1930? What kind of hijinks would they get up to? What format might they take? Might they be classically hand-drawn, stand-alone cartoons of the usual 6 - 10 minutes? Will they be attempting to update these characters into our modern world? Will the Tunes have cell phones? Perhaps Daffy Duck will steal the plans for Porky Pig's Tesla-like electric car or maybe Bugs Bunny will go viral on TikTok. Maybe Marvin the Martian runs afoul of a Space Force? Nah. It's not believable that anyone would name something Space Force, that's just fucking stupid. There are a few images to be found, which inspired a wee bit of hope in me. The characters, though not exactly the way I remember them looking, aren't terribly off-model; the backgrounds at least give the impression of being the old school hand-painted variety and they seem to have maintained the title cards - cartoons called Bubble Dum, Dynamite Dance and Boo! Appetweet are on the docket.

POPEYE - Similarly to the Looney Tunes above, I'm curious what form these potential new Popeye cartoons will take, but unfortunately I can't find a single smithereen of information. I *guess* this might be some new stories and adventures starring Popeye the Sailor Man and his cast of supporting characters created by Elzie Crisler Segar in 1929 for a King Features comic strip. What modern era shenanigans could Popeye get up to?  Maybe Bluto's baseball record is tarnished over his use of Popeye's performance-enhancing spinach? Perhaps Olive Oyl encourages Popeye to switch to vaping his veggies? Maybe Wimpy will lure celebrities and influencers to an island for the Byrger Festival promising to pay them on Tuesday, but he never does! Only time will tell!

June 21st:

PERRY MASON - As a character, defense attorney Perry Mason first appeared in a series of novels by Erle Stanley Gardner beginning in 1933. The character then appeared in numerous other media including film, radio serials and, probably most well known, a CBS TV series starring Raymond Burr. This adaptation is a prequel series, leaning heavily on a noir tone with Matthew Rhys as Mason and, though the trailer was pretty fleet-footed with regards to plot details, it did have a pretty good Thom Yorke song playing throughout and just really grabbed me. My pre-existing fondness for Burr's performance aside, this really appealed to me and I hope to be checking it out soon (if I can ever figure out if I'm capable of watching HBO Max that is...)

June 25th:

ADVENTURE TIME: DISTANT LANDS - Based on the extremely weird fantasy adventure/sci fi series created by Pendleton Ward for Cartoon Network in 2010, Distant Lands seems to be a series of stand-alone tales, each focusing on a different character. The premier episode of the series looks centered on BMO (traditionally voiced by Niki Yang, but I couldn't actually confirm their involvement in this - though it does *sound* like the regular BMO voice to me) the genderless sentient computer that stands about a foot and a half tall. In the trailer I watched, BMO and a bunny-person companion visit a world on the brink of a global-scale gang war between two warring species and BMO sets their sights on solving the crisis. BMO also has an alien blob-thing companion that changes shape and apparently frequently BMO wears it as a cowboy hat? Anyway, it looks cute. I loved Adventure Time (though admittedly I fell off in the final few years) and I'd be excited to check this out.

DOOM PATROL: SEASON 2: - Based on numerous incarnations of the Doom Patrol comics series (originally created in 1963), this series is inherently very bonkers. Doom Patrol, as a comic, is not like the other kids, so to speak. Unlike most traditional comics released by the major labels, the Doom Patrol were allowed to become almost a true punk rock comic: weirder and smarter and darker than anything else on the stands in their time. Instead of tackling technicolor-clad villains who wanted money, power or land, the Doom Patrol were recovering the stolen city of Paris from a painting it was transported to by villains whose entire motivation was kind of just "wouldn't this be a weird thing to do"? The series has seen many different iterations over the years and this TV series seems to be touching on different bits from each of them. If you enjoyed FX's show Legion, I'd imagine Doom Patrol might appeal to you as well.

ARRIVALS:
June 1st:

The American (2010) - Based on the 1990 novel  A Very Private Gentleman  by Martin Booth.

A Cinderella Story (2004) - Based on the Cinderella fable which dates back to (checks notes) 7 BC. That’s over 2000 years ago! (okay, I’ll stop)

Another Cinderella Story (2008) - The sequel to the above.

A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song (2011) - Third in the trilogy of the above.

Black Beauty (1994) - Adaptation of the 1877 novel by Anna Sewell.

Bridget Jones's Baby (2016) - Third in a trilogy of films based on Helen Fielding's 1996 books series which began as a satirical newspaper column in 1995.

Cabaret (1972) - Loosely based on the 1966 Broadway musical by John Kander and Fred Ebb which was itself inspired by Richard Isherwood's semi-autobiographical novel The Berlin Stories (1945) and the play I Am a Camera (1951) by John Van Druten.

The Champ (1979) - Remake of the 1931 film of the same name.

Chicago (2002) - Adaptation of the 1975 musical by John Kander, Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, which was inspired by the 1926 play by Maurine Dallas Watkins.

Clash of the Titans (2010) - Action-heavy reboot of the action adventure film from 1981, inspired by the Greek myth of Perseus.

Doubt (2008) - Written and directed by John Patrick Shanley based on his stage play Doubt: A Parable (2004).

Dreaming of Joseph Lees (1999) - Based on a story by Catherine Linstrum.

Dune (1984) - Based on Frank Herbert's 1965 novel. Also featured on a previous episode of the MJ podcast Hate Watch / Great Watch, so check out the flick and then listen to HWGW Ep.8.

Flipped (2010) - Based on the 2001 YA novel by Wendelin Van Draanen.

Full Metal Jacket (1987) - Based on Gustav Hasford's 1979 novel The Short-Timers.

Heaven Can Wait (1978) - Based on the play by Harry Segall.

Heidi (2005) - Based on the 1881 novel by Johanna Spyri.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) - Based on the 1937 novel a.k.a. The Hobbit or There, and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) - Sequel to the above.

The Hunger (1983) - Loosely based on Whitley Strieber's 1981 novel.

In Her Shoes (2005) - Based on the 2002 novel by Jennifer Weiner.

The Iron Giant (1999) - Based on the 1968 novel by Ted Hughes The Iron Man.

The Last Mimzy (2007) - Loosely based on the 1943 short story Mimzy Were the Borogoves by "Lewis Padgett" (a pseudonym for Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore).

Lifeforce (1985) - Based on Colin Wilson's 1976 novel The Space Vampires. Also featured on a previous episode of the MJ podcast Hate Watch / Great Watch, so check out the flick and then listen to HWGW Ep.13.

Light's Out (2016) - Based on director David F. Sandberg's 2013 short film of the same name.

Like Water For Chocolate (1993) - Based on the 1989 novel by Laura Esquivel.

Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) - Using the Warner Brothers characters created beginning in 1930.

The Losers (2010) - Based on the Vertigo comics created by Andy Diggle and Jock.

McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) - Based on the 1959 novel just called McCabe by Edmund Naughton.

Misery (1990) - Based on the novel by Stephen King from 1987.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008) - Based on the 1938 novel by Winifred Watson.

A Monster Calls (2016) - Based on the 2011 YA novel by Patrick Ness.

Must Love Dogs (2005) - Based on Clair Cook's 2002 novel.

My Dog Skip (2000) - Based on Willie Morris' 1995 memoir.

Mystic River (2003) - Based on Dennis Lehane's 2001 novel.

The NeverEnding Story - (1984) - Based on the 1979 novel by Michael Ende.

The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter (1991) - Sequel to the above.

Nights in Rodanthe (2008) - Based on Nicholas Sparks' 2002 novel.

The Parallax View (1974) - Based on the 1970 novel by Loren Singer.

Patch Adams (1998) - Based on the life of Dr. Hunter "Patch" Adams and the book he co-wrote with Maureen Mylander called Gesundheit: Good Health is a Laughing Matter.

Presumed Innocent (1990) - Based on the novel by Scott Turow from 1987.

Ray (2004) - Based on the life of Ray Charles.

Richie Rich (1994) - Based on the Harvey Comics character from 1953 created by Alfred Harvey and Warren Kremer.

Rugrats Go Wild (2003) - Crossover between the characters from Rugrats (the 1991 Nicktoon cartoon created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó and Paul Germain) and The Wild Thornberrys (a Nicktoon created in 1998 by Klasky & Csupó as well as Steve Pepoon, David Silverman and Stephen Sustarsic).

She's the Man (2006) - Inspired by William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) - Sequel to Guy Ritchie's 2009 film inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's character created in 1887.

Speed Racer (2008) - Inspired by the anime and manga character created in 1966.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) - Based on the Mirage Studios comic characters created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991) - Sequel to the above.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993) - Further sequel to the above.

Tess (1979) - Adapted from Thomas Hardy's 1891 novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) - Based on Audrey Niffenegger's 2003 novel.

TMNT (2007) - Also based on the Eastman and Laird teen turtle ninjas mentioned above.

Torch Song Trilogy (1988) - Starring and adapted by Harvey Fierstein from his 1978 play.

Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie (1997) - Based on the characters from Super Sentai which date back to the mid-70s.

Tweety's High-Flying Adventures (2000) - Based on the Tweety bird character created by Bob Clampett in 1942.

U.S. Marshals (1998) - A spin-off of Tommy Lee Jones' character from The Fugitive, which was an adaptation of the ABC TV series created in 1963 by Roy Huggins.

Unaccompanied Minors (2006) - Inspired by a story told on This American Life by Susan Burton.

Veronica Mars (2014) - Film continuing the storylines from the UPN / CW TV series beginning in 2004, created by Rob Thomas.

Wild Wild West (1999) - Loosely inspired by the CBS western TV series The Wild Wild West created by Michael Garrison, beginning in 1965.

Wonder (2017) - Based on the 2012 novel by R.J. Palacio.

X-Men: First Class (2011) - Based on the Marvel Comics characters created in 1963 by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee.

You've Got Mail (1998) - Inspired by the 1937 Hungarian play Parfumerie by Miklós László, the same play that inspired The Shop Around the Corner (1940) and In the Good Old Summertime (1949).

June 13th:

The Good Liar (2019) - Based on the novel by Nicholas Searle. Previously covered in EONIA Vol.12.

June 27th:

Doctor Sleep (Director's Cut) (2019) - Based on the 2013 novel by Stephen King, a sequel to King's 1977 novel The Shining and incorporating elements from Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film adaptation thereof.

HULU:

PREMIERS:
June 5th:

SHIRLEY - Though not based on any one specific work, this flick stars Elisabeth Moss as author Shirley Jackson. So, purely from a visual standpoint this looks lovely. I don’t know much about Jackson's personal life but depression and/or mental illness are hinted at, as well as a love affair and/or open relationship? While all that is interesting, Moss is the biggest draw here for sure. She's just a phenomenal actor and I'm glad to see her getting so many prominent roles in relatively short succession! Read The Old Sport’s review of it here!

June 19th:

LOVE, VICTOR - Though I couldn't find anything that expressly stated it, this is a TV series reboot of the film Love, Simon (2018) with which it shares a title and premise, writers and the font and poster design. Love, Simon was itself adapted from Becky Albertalli's 2015 YA novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda about a teen coming to terms with his sexuality and was previously covered in EOINA Vol.2 and later reviewed by me. The titular Victor (Michael Cimino) seems to also be new in town, which I feel changes the stakes as far as what his coming to terms with himself / coming out might cost. In Simon, Simon (Nick Robinson) is worried about disturbing the status quo of his established life: friendships, family and etc. and while being new in town makes a better jumping on point for new viewers -  you get to learn about the world as the character does - it takes away some of those emotional pillars. I don't think either is necessarily better than the other, just that it's an interesting change to make.

June 25th:

ONCE WERE BROTHERS: ROBBIE ROBERTSON AND THE BAND - This documentary is based in part on Robertson's 2017 memoir Testimony gives some insight into the history, impact and lasting importance of The Band, a group who helped codify the sound of Americana. Featuring archival footage and testimonials from numerous high profile musicians (Springsteen, Dylan, Clapton, etc.) and Martin Scorsese - who filmed The Last Waltz, the band's farewell concert in 1976 - among others, this has gotta be a must-see for most musicians. I know I'll be watching!

ARRIVALS:
June 1st:

Casino (1995) - Based on the nonfiction book Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas by Nicholas Pileggi (also 1995).

Charlie Wilson's War (2007) - Based on the nonfiction book Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History by George Crile III, 2003.

Constantine (2005) - Based on the DC / Vertigo comics character created by Alan Moore, Rick Veitch, Steve Bissette, John Totleben, Jamie Delano and John Ridgway in Saga of the Swamp Thing #37, 1985.

Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004) - Long-gap sequel to Dirty Dancing (1987) which is also streaming on Hulu.

Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974) - One of Hammer's numerous films produced from 1957 - 1974 using characters from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus (1818).

Happily N'ever After (2006) - CGI kids movie based on numerous fairy tales.

Happily N'Ever After 2: Snow White: Another Bite @ the Apple (2009) - Sequel to the above.

I Am Legend (2007) - Based on the Richard Matheson novel from 1954.

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998) - Sequel to the 1997 slasher I Know What You Did Last Summer, based on the 1973 Lois Duncan novel. * IKWWYDLS is streaming on CBS ALL ACCESS beginning on June 1st.

Losing Isaiah (1995) - Based on the novel by Seth Margolis.

October Sky (1999) - Based on the autobiography by Homer H. Hickam Jr., originally titled Rocket Boys.

The Pawnbroker (1964) - Based on the book by Edward Lewis Wallant (1961).

Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) - Mel Brooks' take on the Robin Hood stories, heavily inspired by Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991).

Sex Drive (2008) - Based on the YA novel All the Way by Andy Behrens.

Trade (2007) - Based on a New York Times article on sex slaves by Peter Landesman called The Girls Next Door.

Up in the Air (2009) - Based on the 2001 book from Walter Kim.

Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006) - Based on the short story Kneller's Happy Campers by Etgar Keret from 1998.

The X-Files (1998) - Film tie-in to the Chris Carter series begun in 1993.

June 2nd:

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019) - Inspired by the 1998 article Can You Say ... Hero? by Tom Junod.

June 7th:

Where's Waldo? - Series based on the Martin Handford book series begun in 1987, known as Where's Wally? outside the U.S.

June 12th:

Awakenings (1990) - Based on the memoir by Oliver Sacks from 1973.

Child's Play (2019) - Reboot/remake that reimagines the 1988 film by Don Mancini, Tom Holland and John Lafia.

June 15th:

Pan (2015) - Film prequel to the Peter Pan stories created by J.M. Barrie as a play in 1904 and a book in 1911.

June 19th:

Bean (1997) - a.k.a. Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie or Bean: The Movie, based on the Mr. Bean series created by Rowan Atkinson and Richard Curtis that ran from 1990 - 1995.

Hart's War (2002) - From the novel by John Katzenbach (1999).

La Bamba 1987) - Based on the life of Ritchie Valens.

Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007) - Sequel to Bean, above.

Out of Sight (1998) - Originally a novel by Elmore Leonard from 1996.

Zoom (2006) - Inspired by the YA book Amazing Adventures from Zoom's Academy by Jason Lethcoe

June 25th:

Charlie's Angels (2019) - Based on the ABC TV series that ran from 1976 - 1981, which was rebooted as a pair of films in 2000 (Charlie's Angels) and 2003 (Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle).

June 30th:

One for the Money (2012) - Originally a novel by Janet Evanovich in 1994.

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011) - 4th of the (currently) 6 film series beginning in 1996 based on the TV series created by Bruce Geller in 1966.

NETFLIX:

PREMIERS:
June 2nd:

FULLER HOUSE: SEASON 5, PART 2 - The latest season in this 2016 Where-Are-They-Now? reboot of the ABC series that ran from 1987 to 1995. This is the final season of the reboot which revolves around a triple wedding. Yay. I couldn't be less interested. I have nothing against Full House, which I'll admit I watched a LOT of in reruns after school, but wherever that series originally chose to close up shop (I couldn't even tell you) I'm sure I was perfectly fine leaving those characters there. And I also find nothing appealing in a television wedding really and very few shows I actively enjoy have done wedding episodes I actually like - Parks and Recreation had a great wedding episode, 30 Rock had a few just okay ones - but congrats to D.J. (Candace Cameron Bure) or whomever I guess.

June 4th:

BAKI: THE GREAT RAITI TOURNAMENT SAGA - This is a Netflix-produced 2nd season of the 2001 anime based on the Baki the Grappler manga by Keisuke Itagaki that was published from 1991 to 1999. This trailer is intense. The most musclebound of musclebound cartoon men just whipping each other’s muscular asses. The fighting seems to mostly be cartoon-ified martial arts or MMA - by which I mean I didn't notice any obvious superpowers to speak of - people move with that anime quickness but it seems mostly just regular fighting combat? There's some text onscreen about a devil and the son of a god finally battling and some dialogue about someone defeating someone else in front of a lady (oh! the embarrassment! the humiliation!) and then: The title comes up: BAKI in big cracked concrete letters with maybe some blood on them and I thought the trailer was done. But no! Another bit of text pops up that says MEANWHILE... and then DEATH ROW'S DEADLIEST INMATES ARE FREE ONCE AGAIN over shots of some musclebound men in suits running down a cement hallway. Now *that* is how you get my attention!

June 5th:

THE LAST DAYS OF AMERICAN CRIME - Based on 2009 graphic novel by Rick Remender and Greg Tocchini, this film takes place in an America that has introduced some kind of sonic weapon that prevents a target from committing any illegal activities. The day this "tone" was introduced, Graham (Edgar Ramírez) and his brother Rory (Daniel Fox) were engaged in a bank robbery and somehow Rory ended up dead. Sometime later, the present day of the trailer, Graham is approached by Kevin Cash (Michael Pitt) who intends to use the "tone" to commit a crime: the theft of 30 million dollars; the last crime in U.S. history! This is a really interesting concept and I'm very intrigued to see what else the movie might have up its sleeve.

QUEER EYE: SEASON 5 - This 5th season of the reboot of the 2003 Bravo series, the new Fab Five come to Philly! In the trailer I saw they were talking to a priest who has only recently come out as gay, a young lady who feels left out by being tall and a mother who lacks confidence in her parenting abilities. I dip in and out of Queer Eye from time to time, but you can bet I'll be checking out their Philly season! 

June 10th:

REALITY Z - Netflix produced Brazilian comedy horror (can I coin the genre Hahahorror?) series based on a British Hahahorror miniseries Dead Set (2008) which was presented like a zombie outbreak happening outside of the Big Brother house. Though the only trailer I could find was in Portuguese with no subtitles, a few things were clear: the reality TV show around which these events unfold is somehow based around Greek or Roman myths (?) and: all hell breaks loose. This could be a fun one!

June 12th:

KIPO AND THE AGE OF WONDERBEASTS: SEASON 2 - Adapted from Radford Sechrist's webcomic just called Kipo, this series didn't give me a lot of information. The trailer had exactly 3 lines of dialogue, two mentioned finding someone or something called Scarlemagne (which I'm spelling like Charlemagne, because that's how it's pronounced, but the spelling is just a guess) without giving any idea why they might want to find who- or whatever that is. The third line of dialogue was some kind of robot calling the two human (?) characters nerds, so I guess he's the sassy character. In between were a bunch of crazy alien (?) creatures and some gentle hip hop background music. It honestly left me really intensely lukewarm on something that I thought I would be dying to check out. I love monsters, aliens, creatures and etc. generally but this just couldn't muster the enthusiasm to try to sell me so, I think I'll pass.

POKÉMON JOURNEYS - This might be a Netflix original production based on the entertainment megafranchise that began as Nintendo videogames in 1996, but I can't say for sure because this doesn't seem to have an IMDb page yet. Okay so for the last time this column, let's all speculate on what kind of currently relatable adventures the gang in a new Pokémon show could get up to: Maybe Snorlax becomes a social media influencer, then gets ostracized by his friends who are annoyed that he keeps trying to sell them gummi vitamin meal replacement supplements? Perhaps Haunter gets into a polyamorous relationship with both of Doduo's heads? Maybe the local government botches the handling of a highly contagious disease so badly that all the Poké-Gyms are closed for three months and all the trainers are going to have to get therapy to deal with the mounting anxiety they feel about going out in public ever again? No? Too soon?

June 19th:

WASP NETWORK - Based on Fernando Morais book The Last Soldiers of the Cold War (2011), I couldn't find a proper trailer for this. I did find a sample scene but it was ...underwhelming. Two men sitting at a table in a restaurant discussing the secret plan to assassinate Castro. There was no tension and since it was devoid of context there were no stakes. Maybe I'll give this a look once it's up but seriously, for a company that so recently got so much flak for auto-playing trailers at the drop of a fucking hat, you'd think they'd make trailers for the stuff more available. But I've said all this before.

ARRIVALS:
June 1st:

All Dogs Go To Heaven (1989) - So, this does not actually meet EOINA criteria but the podcast I co-host, Hate Watch / Great Watch did an episode on it way back in May 2019. So watch this and then go listen to HWGW Ep.2.

Bad News Bears (2005) - Remake of 1976's The Bad New Bears.

Cape Fear - I'm actually not able to definitively find out if this is the 1962 original starring Gregory peck and Robert Mitchum or Martin Scorsese's 1991 remake with Nick Nolte and Robert De Niro, because this is yet another area in which Netflix stinks, but either way: probably worth the watch.

Casper (1995) - Based on the cartoon and comic character created by Seymour Reit & Joe Oriolo in the late 1930's.

Cardcaptor Sakura: Clow Card - Based on the manga created by the group Clamp that ran from 1996 - 2000, this could be some new adaptation but more than likely is a repackaging of one of the previous animated series which began in 1998.

Cardcaptor Sakura: Sakura Card - See above.

Cocomelon: Season 1 - Apparently this is a YouTube channel that does 3-D re-tellings of fairy tales & nursery rhymes.

The Disaster Artist (2017) - Greg Sistero & Tom Bissell's 2013 tell-all book about the making of The Room (2003), this flick was previously covered in my proto-EOINA column. *Also streaming on Amazon Prime beginning June 1st

The Help (2011) - Based on the book by Kathryn Stockett (2007).

The Lake House (2006) - American remake of the Korean film Il Mare from 2000.

Lust, Caution (2007) - An "erotic espionage film" based on a 1979 novella by Eileen Chang.

Priest (2011) - Loosely based on a 2002 Korean comic by Hyung Min-Woo.

The Silence of the Lambs (1991) - Based on the Thomas Harris novel from 1988.

Starship Troopers (1997) - Somewhat inspired, retroactively, by elements of Robert A Heinlein's 1959 story.

V For Vendetta (2005) - Based upon the 1988 DC / Vertigo miniseries by Alan Moore and David Lloyd.

West Side Story (1961) - Adapted from the 1957 stage play by Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim which was a reimagining of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet.

Zodiac (2007) - Based on the non fiction book by Robert Graysmith (1986).

June 5th:

Hannibal: Seasons 1 - 3 (2013) - Based on Thomas Harris' Hannibal Lecter characters and stories beginning with Red Dragon in 1981.

June 6th:

Queen of the South: Season 4 (2016) - Based on the Telemundo telenovela La Reina Del Sur (2011) which was based on a novel of the same name by Arturo Pérez-Reverte (2002).

June 8th:

Before I Fall (2017) - Based on the Lauren Oliver YA novel from 2010. Previously covered in my proto-EOINA column.

June 10th:

Legends of Tomorrow: Season 5 - Based on a whole buncha DC comics characters, spun off from CW's Arrow and Flash TV series.

June 12th:

One Piece - Netflix is repackaging "collections" of episode arcs from the anime (1999) based on the manga by Eiichiro Oda (1997) which has more than 900 episodes.

June 16th:

Charlie St. Cloud (2010) - Based on the book The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud (2004) by Ben Sherwood.

Frost/Nixon (2008) - Based on the 2006 play by Peter Morgan.

June 29th:

Bratz: The Movie (2007) - Based on the line of fashion dolls which debuted in 2001.

SHUDDER:

PREMIERS:
There does not appear to be any original programming coming to Shudder that meets EOINA criteria this month.

ARRIVALS:
June 5th:

Beyond the Darkness (1979) - A remake of the 1966 film The Third Eye.

June 12th:

The Treatment (2014) - Based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Mo Hayder, the film is also known by the title De Behandeling.

June 15th:

Child Eater (2016) - based on director Erlingur Thoroddsen's 2012 short film of the same name.

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Unsolved Mysteries recently got on the 'gram (@officialunsolvedmysteries), which is interesting. Does this mean there could be a new series or some other kind of update coming soon? That'd be interesting.

*sigh* Listen y'all. As I'm finishing this column, the world seems on the brink of total collapse yet a-fucking-gain and I'm just so, so tired. And I know that this column does not in any appreciable way help things, help these larger situations. But it gives me something to do, something to focus my attention on for some hours. I hope that it helps some of you out there as well. I hope you'll see something here that strikes your fancy and reach out (if you want to) and talk about it.

Thanks again to Allison for helping me assemble this column and to the entire MOVIEJAWN family for doing what you do (and special thanks to Ben and Kicks for the effort to post my nonsense). You can listen to Allison and I on each and every episode of Hate Watch / Great Watch if you so choose, and I thank you if you do.

Everybody be kind. Take care of yourselves and each other. Be safe. Long Live the Movies!