The cold months have finished and the hiatus is finally over, the time has returned for the guys from Nowhere to show off their junk. As I let that opener sink in, I will give you the traditional reminder of what this column is all about and avoid hate mail or unsolicited nudity.
Show Us Your Junk is the reoccurring article from Nowhere California that can be summed up as an ongoing pop culture show and tell. The team behind Nowhere are hardcore nerds and collectors, so they have some stories to share and they hope you will be ready to jump in the mix, but more on that later.
In this installment, I stick my toes into the world of unboxing and show off my latest delivery from Loved Again Media..
Loved Again Media is a movie addict’s dream and I’m not being paid to say that. This is a company to take a bigger look at and this will not be the last time you hear about this service on Nowhere California.
It’s a given, the world of Hollywood will stick to a sure thing and we are looking down the barrel of more reboots and remakes. The question is what property will be that best bet and Miramax has put their chips on the FLETCH line… again.
The studio has announced that the investigative reporter, originally played by Chevy Chase, will return to the big screen (or small, depending the state of movie viewing) with Jon Hamm entering the role of Irwin “Fletch” Fletcher.
“Fletch’s duration over audiences – whether told on paper or the big screen – entertains all and we could not be more thrilled to see what twenty-first century twist these artists create,” said Miramax CEO Bill Block.
The FLETCH world has been in a holding pattern for several years, with reboots that have gotten lost in pre-production hell. Now, with this development, the fans of this franchise can look forward a new chapter for this character. Along with acting duties, Hamm will step into the role of producer with manager Connie Tavel. Also, Greg Mottola is set to direct this production and television writer, Zev Borow is set to pen the screenplay.
“Producing this film with Jon has been a long-time dream of mine and with Zev and Greg on board to write and direct, I really believe that this will be an exciting and modern reimagining of this beloved character,” said Tavel.
Since this is a developing story, a production start date hasn’t been announced and details can change at random, but key plot points have been released. The film will be set in modern days, so we’ll not have a 80’s nostalgia flashback, and will take its story from the 1976 novel “Confess, Fletch” In which a mysterious series of events lands Fletch in the middle of multiple murders, with one of the cases names him as a prime suspect. During his attempts to prove his innocence, Fletch has to search for his fiancée’s stolen art collection and this collection is her only inheritance from her missing, but presumed dead father.
The pieces are in the right place and Fletch could stand a chance of a franchise resurrection, but are the modern movie goers ready for the return of this comedy icon or has this hero been lost in the forgotten cult film wastelands. As the film breaks away from the pre-production hell, fans can hope it’s time for Irwin’s return to the spotlight.
Nowhere California has a history of looking at every side of the street when it comes to movies, we will watch the tent pole blockbusters and we will take the road less travel to find those hidden gems. This mentality developed into the on going series of “Why Not?” episodes of the podcast and the evolution will continue into our digital underground.
The world is in a crazy place and some outlets are hard to find, so within the walls of this article we will hopefully point you in the direction of a movie that might not make it to your radar. This column will be on going and will point you in the direction of where to find these selections, but for now, it’s time to enter the underground with our first selection.
Line Of Duty was released in 2019, directed by Steven C. Miller and written by Jeremy Drysdale. The film follows police officer Frank Penny (played by Aaron Eckhart) Penny goes from his normal beat into a rogue world, when he goes into a personal investigation into the abduction of the police chief’s young daughter. During the early stages of Frank’s investigation, he crosses path with internet reporter Ava Brooks (played by Courtney Eaton) who becomes his unwanted sidekick as she streams his actions to the web.
This movie blends the action world into the modern era of social media where anyone can be a reporter, with the possibility of putting their bodies on the line in the name of news. It is easy to look past this movie as the typical rogue cop movie, but the production and cast breath important life into a film that could be easily lost in the streaming shuffle.
It would be easy to fall into the normal movie review checklist, but I would like to stand with this recommendation and open our doors for your feedback. The links below will lead you to the different ways you can watch this movie and we would love for you to tell us your thoughts about Line Of Duty…
In the current news cycle, some good news is welcome treat and some great nerd news is a dish to savor. As we wait for the next season of the Disney+ series “The Mandalorian”, some casting information has been released and it’s possibly a fantasy casting dream come true. Rosario Dawson will be joining the cast for the new season slated for release this fall (..hopefully)
Dawson has made a career on a path she has controlled and has chosen projects that weren’t about the check, but about the creation of something special. Now, as she enters this galaxy, Rosario is rumored to be playing the role of Ahsoka Tano and this rumor has sparked a lot of excitement in the Star Wars universe.
The character of Ahsoka debut in the feature film version of “The Clone Wars” and was voiced by Ashley Eckstein. This character continued her evolution through the REBELS animated series and developed a fan following that continued to grow, after the original series came to an end.
This news is still developing and the production of “The Mandalorian” seems to not have been stalled by the current state of the world. As new information is released and rumors become fact, we will continue to watch this story.
In an event that could rival the 1909 blast that rocked Tunguska, the Ghostbuster’s universe has been giving an early Christmas gift in the form of the first trailer for the upcoming Ghostbusters movie, this movie has been officially titled “Ghostbusters:AfterLife”..
As most of the Nowhere California listeners know, the guys from Nowhere have their hands in a second podcast known as “The Ecto Pod” and this podcast delves deep into the vast world of the Ghostbusters franchise, so you can only imagine that we have a lot to say and we do.
This episode is packed with our thoughts and theories towards this movie. Also, our excitement is on full display and we will continue to keep our listeners update with new information. If you want to subcribe to “The Ecto Pod” you can search for the it on any of your favorite podcast search engines, so keep locked in to Nowhere California and The Ecto Pod as we get closer to the release date in 2020.
Ghostbusters:AfterLife Will Be In Theaters July 2020
As 2019 comes to a close and the mourning continues for the ones we lost in Avengers: ENDGAME, one question continued to linger and one of those answers came in the form of the first trailer for MARVEL Studios: Black Widow.
The announcement of Natasha Romanoff’s solo movie excited the MARVEL universe, then ENDGAME left the movie watching public wondering about this movie and which direction we would see this character take. Luckily, the studio didn’t travel the same road as 2005’s Elektra and we are traveling back to the world post Captain America: Civil War.
The trailer drives us quickly into Natasha’s return to the world that built her and her attempts to disappear from the radar, but a life of a Red Room spy isn’t that easy and we see her reconnect with some “family”, one of them being a nostalgic Red Gaurdian (played by “Stranger Things” David Harbour).
Black Widow clearly shows the spy thriller vibe that The Winter Soldier gave us in the early phases of the Infinity Saga, but in a completely different world and it’s the world of a character that deserved a solo adventure.
Bond, James Bond is back. This time he is no longer 007 and has retired from Mi6 to live out his days with his true love Madeline played by Lea Seydoux. In an art imitating life situation Bond is thrust back into the dangers of Mi6, just like star Daniel Craig had been thrust back into the Bond universe. During the press junket for James Bond 24 know more specifically as Spectre, Craig had said that it was his final Bond. But, with the fans maintaining the stance of 1 more film with Craig, and a script that enticed Craig to return to the role, Columbia announced James Bond 25: No Time to Die with Craig returning for shaken Martinis one more time. Now don’t get the notion that he is now back for more; during an interview this week Craig has confirmed that this is definitively his final Bond.
After a small sizzle reel was released online, fans speculated a trailer would be released in November as it seems 6 months before release seems to be the standard timeline for a trailer. Columbia pushed the release of the first trailer to December 4, 2019.
Premiering in the morning tandemly with 5 character posters the trailer came in at 2 minutes 38 seconds. The trailer did not bury the lead, with the opening showing Bond being chased, fired at by henchman on motorcycles and finding out he had been betrayed by Madeline. Now in the world of deception and misdirection this could be a different scene just taken out of context, but with what the trailer furthered showed us, it is very obvious Bond will have to fight one more time in order to survive. This time he will not be 007, as that title has been given to a new Mi6 agent: Nomi, a no nonsense, paid her dues, Mi6 agent.
The most anticipated character to arrive with this movie is the new villain: Safin. Safin is being played by Academy award winner, and a much loved actor of our show, Rami Malek. With Rami’s sky rocket to fame after Bohemian Rhapsody, and his titular role as Elliot Alderson on Mr. Robot coming to an end fans were wondering what he would be doing next. Taking on the role of the facially scarred Safin, put Rami in a position to be one of the top Bond villains, behind Christoph Waltz and his portrayal of Bloefield, whom coincidently also makes a return in this film.
Also returning to the movie are: Ralph Fiennes as M, Naomi Harris as Moneypenny, and Ben Whishaw as Q, a character who Bond expresses his emotions for by claiming he missed Q. I don’t want to give much of the trailer away, as I feel it needs to be seen rather that read about, but there the Bond staples in this trailer, and a lovely homage to the infamous Bond opening credits. The only remaining staple to be announced by Columbia is what famous singer or band will take on the opening credits song whos past songs have been performed by the late Chris Cornell, Jack White and Alicia Keys, Adelle, and Sam Smith.
No Time to Die the 25th Bond film will be released to theatres on April 8th, 2020.
Sid Haig was the most intimidating interview I had ever had the pleasure of conducting, mind you that I am using intimidating in the most positive meaning of the word. During the early days of Nowhere California, we crossed paths with Sid at the 2013 Days of the Dead Convention and my anxiety stepped forward as I tried to figure out how to approach this larger than life presence.
As a fan, I knew I wanted to simply shake the man’s hand and thank him for his talents. As a rookie podcaster, I needed to figure out the best way to approach this icon and hope to pick his brain, even for a few moments. It would be easy to say that his role as Captain Spaulding was the nerves inducing factor, but that would be partially true, it was the over 6 decades of film work that would make some of the most seasoned journalist speechless and I’m standing there hoping that I would remember how my mouth works.
“Josh and I were very lucky to meet this man at one of our first cons, The Days of the Dead Con. He was very generous with his time, a true gentleman. He gave us a very funny and wonderful interview. Sid has left a beautiful body of work and another bright shining star appears in the heavens,” Philip Morgan, one of the original guys from Nowhere, commenting on the passing of Sid.
As you can hear from that conversation and Phil’s comments, Sid treated us like this was second nature for us and helped us feel like we belonged. That is a trait that could be considered rare in any aspect, let alone a convention, but Sid was definitely a rare individual.
Sid Haig’s first film credit is listed in 1960 and the most recent Rob Zombie’s “3 From Hell” could be one of his last completed film roles, it was his recent work with Rob Zombie that brought him into a new generation and let a new breed of film nerds dive into his past work, which could be looked at as a visual history/evolution of Hollywood.
Rob and Sid first worked together for the music video for “Feel So Numb” off of Zombie’s 2001 album “The Sinister Urge”, this lead to Rob casting Sid in the iconic role of Captain Spaulding in the “House of 1,000 Corpses” Captain Spaulding and the entire Firefly clan became a new generation’s horror icons, this spotlight led Sid into becoming a convention staple and gave fans the ability to hold court with the man behind the clown make-up.
“I remember running into Sid Haig at San Diego Comic Con as he was exiting the autograph upper level. I didn’t want to jam a camera in his face so I opted to simply say “I loved your work with Rob”. Sid simply said “Hey thanks man!” in that southern drawl of his. He turned and asked my name and we chat for bit as we caught an elevator down. His last words to me were “Did you wanna grab a pic or something before I split?” I thanked him and said the conversation was better than any photo. He shook my hand and I left genuinely impressed with how personable and human the fearsome Captain Spaulding turned out to be. Gonna miss ya Sid,” these are the words of Nicholas Dye. He wanted to share this memory of Sid and this is a memory that rang throughout the night and into this morning.
It was an understatement that the fans loved Sid and the lucky fans that would get a chance to talk to Sid knew he loved us back. The floors at most conventions could be a slow moving cattle call, but there are always must visit tables and Sid’s was one of those. Sid was ready for any fan and it seemed like money never was that important as he was ready to take pictures with anyone for free and has donated some of his money earned at conventions to charities.
“Whenever a legend in any capacity is taken from us, it’s hard to put the words together that express just how heartbroken we are. Sid was not only a Horror icon but a Hollywood icon in his own right. Sid saw a second resurgence in his career after “House of 1000 Corpses” and being thrust back into the spotlight showed people this man who’d been in the acting game longer than most of his fan base had been alive. Sid was a staple in the Horror convention circuit, and that is where I was first able to meet this wonderful man. The one aspect of Sid’s appearances that set him apart from others was he only charged for his autograph. If you wanted to come up and say hi, he was very welcoming. Wanted to take a picture with him using your own camera, absolutely free, so long as you didn’t make him stand up. Sid was always a great conversationalist and had the ability to enthrall all those around him with great stories. I remember my 3rd Days of the Dead convention I approached his table to discuss having him do a small interview for our convention coverage. “Don’t ask me for a fucking interview anymore,” was his response. I felt utterly defeated. I had finally annoyed the man himself and I will forever be on his bad side. “Just hit the damn button and we will do an interview, I like you guys so you don’t need to ask anymore,” he said in the same tone as someone who tells a college student they don’t need to ask to go to the restroom anymore. It was at that moment I knew we had become a memorable presence at the Horror convention scene, cause if Sid Haig liked us, then everyone else can fuck off! I will always have a spot in my heart for Sid, and I am happy he is finally at peace. I wish his family well, and if there is some kind of an afterlife, I know Sid is up there asking someone to go to lunch with him,” these are the words of Douglas Porter and his thoughts on this icon that we were lucky enough to cross paths with.
The 2016 Days of the Dead convention was the last time I crossed paths with the man, there was a signing event at Dark Delicacies for the Holliston Season 2 Blu-Ray, but the convention was our last conversation with the man and my last chance to pick the brain of a true Hollywood legend.
The conversation might have been brief, but I enjoyed every moment of it and I still was in awe by that moment in my podcasting life and the reality of Sid Haig liking us, let alone remembering us is still an absolute honor. In 2013, we stepped on that convention floor as nobodies and left feeling like we belonged. In 2016, we entered that convention as an actual force and still felt like fans that could hold court with the captain.
In Hollywood, the label of legend can be stuck to a lot of people and there are some names that do not deserve that honor, Sid sure as hell deserved that status. He has his DNA attached in almost 7 decades of filmmaking and the film nerds of the world should consider ourselves lucky to have that vault to look through.
Thank you Sid for sharing your talents with the world. Oh Captain, Our Fucking Captain.
This weekend, Anaheim CA was the host to the annual D23 Disney Expo. Sprawled across the Anaheim Convention Center D23 is the Comic Con of Disney Studios. The 3 day event covers many aspects of the ins and outs happening within Disney. It has also become a showcase for many of the Disney properties and has become the host of many award ceremonies that Disney uses to honor what they have termed as “Disney Legends”. Much like Hall H in San Diego, Disney uses a large part of the convention halls, to
premier upcoming Disney Films, TV shows, and Documentaries. The main focuses of this year’s D23 were the launch of the new Disney streaming service, Disney+. The service will be launching November 12 th and will be the home of the past and future Disney media. New and Past movies, and TV shows will be hosted on the service, and subscribers to the service will also be able to add-on packages, unlocking things like ESPN, and other Disney owned subsidiaries. The other focus of D23 was the ever growing universe that is Star Wars.
Disney purchased the hibernating giant that is Lucasfilm from George Lucas on October 30 th , 2012 for the sum of $4.05 Billion dollars. Since the purchase Disney has begun to put Lucasfilm in hyperdrive.
They have created 4 movies (The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, Rogue One, Solo: A Star Wars story) with the 5 th movie, The Rise of Skywalker premiering December 20 th . They have produced 2 television shows
(Star Wars: Rebels, and Star Wars: Resistance), as well as countless web shorts. They retconned all current novels and comics to bring the “expanded universe” to a close, so that they could keep a linear story continuity in place to help control the new Disney narrative of Star Wars.
Disney begun their Star Wars announcements on Friday with Kathleen Kennedy (CEO, Lucasfilm) presenting the upcoming projects in a very Steve Job like format to the audience. The first announcement was for the 3 rd television series by Disney titled, The Mandalorian. The Mandalorian is a story set 5 years after the events of The Return of the Jedi. The story will follow the title character, simply dubbed “The Mandalorian”, played by veteran actor Pedro Pascal as a bounty hunter traversing the galaxy far from the reaches of the “New Republic”. This new show, written and produced by newly
awarded “Disney Legend” Jon Favearu will be more of a “a version of a show that took place after Return of the Jedi, after the revolution, after everybody’s done celebrating because the Empire is gone,” he said. “And then chaos reigns because there’s no central government in the galaxy and so it degrades into a world where, like the old Samurai movies and the old Westerns, where the gunfighters are roaming and people are fighting for their own safety.”
Rounding out the cast is former UFC fighter turned action movie starlet Gina Carano, veteran action movie actor Carl Weathers, actor/filmmaker Werner Herzohg, Breaking Bad villain Giancarlo Espisito, and New Zelander actor/filmmaker Taika Waititi who will be providing the voice of fellow bounty hunter, IG-11. Disney/Lucasfilm have been very selective of what they have shared in regards to the
show in the past, but they debuted a poster for Season 1 of the show:
They also premiered the first trailer for season 1:
Following on the tails of The Madalorian, Kennedy brought out actors Alan Tudyk and Diego Luna, 2 of the stars of the Star Wars standalone film Rogue One. Disney had previously announced a series following the adventures of Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), and K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) but details have always been very scarce. Sadly, details were not abundant on Friday, as the only pieces of information that were given is that its definitive place in the canon timeline is concurrent with the timeline of other post
Revenge of the Sith stories known as “The age of Rebellion”, and that the series will begin shooting in London next year. Alan Tuydk did offer up what he felt was a great title for the show: “Kay-Too Fast, Kay-Too Furious: A Cassian Andor Story.”
The biggest news to come out of Friday was the confirmation of a rumor that has been floating around the Star Wars community in one fashion or another since the completion of the prequel trilogy in 2005. News this week reinvigorated the rumors of an Obi-Wan Kenobi story, with such industry papers as The Hollywood Reporter, and Vanity Fair picking up the story as well. Kennedy doing her best to be settle, set up the audience to bring out one more actor, although by the amount of cheers that occurred before
she even mentioned the actors name, the audience was pretty clued into what was happening. That actor of course was young Obi-Wan Kenobi himself, Ewan McGregor. McGregor asked Kennedy to, infront of all the witnesses in the building, ask him if he is playing Obi-Wan Kenobi again. With resounding applause Kennedy asked this question to McGregor, who followed up with a simple yet Star Wars history defining, YES!
The story is now being touted as a Disney+ series, as compared to the long rumored movie trilogy, and there were no details given at the panel other than the confirmation of McGregor’s attachment and that the series which has its entire first season fully written will begin filming next year. The new current timeline was tweeted by Ryan Penagos, Vice President and Creative Executive of Marvel New Media.
This new timeline also confirms the official titles for each era of the series. Prequel stories, such as the trilogy films and the Clone Wars TV show, take place during the “Age of Republic” Stories between Solo: A Star Wars Story and Return of the Jedi take place at the “Age of Rebellion” Rounding out the end of the timeline everything from post Return of the Jedi which ends with The Rise of Skywalker exist within the “Age of Resistance”.
Disney also teased some episode 9 news with the release of the first “official” poster. There has been a teaser poster released previously but this is one is the first main poster to be made. This will be the poster that begins being placed in prominent locations in theatres nationwide.
Saturday was the big episode 9 day with the main panel stage being taken over for The Rise of Skywalker. Kathleen Kennedy, and J.J. Abrams were joined by cast members: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, Keri Russell, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo, and Naomi Ackie. However, much like the Cassian/K-2SO announcement, there was not much in the way of details shared beyond what we already now. J.J. told a very heartwarming story about Carrie Fisher,
which included him discussing her influence on him making the decision to return to helm The Rise of Skywalker. New cast member Keri Rusell the star of the J.J. Abrams tv show Felicity, shared some of her excitement of being part of the Star Wars saga. Hitting the point home with a nice quip about her son now finding her cool. The panel completed with a First-Look “sizzle” reel of footage from The Rise of Skywalker. Many news outlets broke the story of the footage, going into great detail of what was seen,
as Disney did a great job preventing this footage from leaking online. Disney, ever the media buzz generator did upload the footage to the official Star Wars YouTube channel early Monday morning.
The footage does a great job in furthering the point that this film will be the conclusion of the multi-generational story of the Skywalker saga. Disney announced earlier this year that The Rise of Skywalker will be the definitive conclusion to the 9 movie series, as they have no intention of further telling the Skywalker story. But instead intend to move the series outside the Skywalker saga and being to tell new stories occurring in all parts of the timeline. Disney did not include Star Wars media in their Sunday programming, but focused more on the theme park and upcoming hotel’s future. A trailer for the 2 nd
ride for Galaxy’s Edge, The Rise of the Resistance was shown and subsequently leaked online. At the time of writing this article, Disney has not released the trailer on any official source, and has not made movements to have the leaked footage removed from YouTube.
As the release date approaches, we here at Nowhere California will be sitting down once more to discuss all of what has been released prior to the premier of the movie, and give our opinions, theories, and emotional stories that are tied to the youth defining franchise. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker premiers in theatres nationwide December 20th,2019 with early bird screenings beginning on December 19th,2019.
As the saga continues, the first teaser trailer of the episode 9 has been revealed to the world and, with some time passing, the debates are still at a fever pitch and the legion of Star Wars loyalists continue to replay our first taste of “The Rise Of Skywalker.”
The Christmas gift that keeps on giving and a continuing pattern for this leg of the Star Wars universe, this trailer gives our first look into the conclusion of the “Skywalker Saga” and the cinematic aftermath of “The Last Jedi”.
The time frame from episode 8 to 9 hasn’t been set in stone, but in this trailer we get a glimpse of where our favorite characters are at and a quick vision of the legendary Carrie Fisher getting to appear in this finale. JJ Abrams and the Fisher family decide to use unused footage to bring our princess and general to the screen one more time.
The trailer for “Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise Of Skywalker” brings us many moments from both sides of the force, as no one can deny their excitement from seeing Lando back in the pilot’s seat of the Millennium Falcon to the goose bump inducing shock of hearing that all too familiar laugh of the emperor.
There is still a long road ahead for the movie going public and the guys from Nowhere recently gathered to discuss this trailer. Also, they take a look back at this recent trilogy in the unforgettable franchise.
Ghostbusters:AfterLife Will Be In Theaters July 2020
Black Widow Hits Theater May 2020
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