In Memory of Alan Arkin (1934-2023)

Alan Arkin (1934-2023)

The actor Alan Arkin has died. He was 89 years of age. His family announced it on July 1st. Arkin had a body of work spanning six decades and was known for his roles in "Catch-22", "Edward Scissorhands", "Grosse Point Blank", and "Argo".

Alan Arkin was born in New York in 1934 into a family of Jewish immigrants who came to the US. Beginning in 1957, Arkin made his film debut in a small part in the musical film "Calypso Heat Wave". He subsequently secured roles in movies, television and even as a Broadway actor, making his stage debut in "From the Second City" at the Royale Theatre in 1961. But his first significant role was that of a Russian sailor in Norman Jewison's 1966 Cold War comedy "The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming". Arkin's portrayal would receive him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. In 1967, he appeared in the psychological thriller "Wait Until Dark" with Audrey Hepburn. The following year, he was in a lead role as a lonely deaf-mute in "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter", for which he earned his second Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

The most notable role of Arkin's early career was Capt. John Yossarian in Mike Nichols's 1970 adaptation of "Catch-22". While his performance was strong, the movie got beaten by the similarly-themed "M*A*S*H", which came out in the same year. In 2006, Arkin would eventually play the heroin-snorting grandfather in the tragicomedy "Little Miss Sunshine". His performance earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

He also appeared in "Last of the Red Hot Lovers", "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution", "Fire Sale" (which he also directed), "The In-Laws", "Simon", "Edward Scissorhands", "The Rocketeer", "Glengarry Glen Ross", "Grosse Point Blank", "Get Smart", "Sunshine Cleaning", "Stand Up Guys", and "Going In Style". He also won acclaim for his performance as a fictional Hollywood producer in Ben Affleck's 2012 thriller "Argo", for which he received his Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. Later in his life, Arkin starred in the Netflix series, "The Kominsky Method", for which he earned back-to-back Emmy nominations.

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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Review

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Release Date: 1st June 2023 - Australia

Production Companies

Columbia Pictures (presents)
Sony Pictures Animation

Marvel Entertainment (in association with)
Pascal Pictures
Lord Miller
Arad Productions

Distribution

Sony Pictures Australia

Genre: Animation/Family/

Action

Rating: PG

Runtime: 140 minutes

Budget: $100,000,000

Box Office Gross: $690,897,910 (Worldwide)

Plot Summary

Reunited with Gwen Stacy, the friendly Brooklyn-based Spider-Man finds himself hurled across the universe, meeting a team of Spider-people tasked with

safeguarding its existence.

But Miles finds himself

at odds with the other

Spiders when the heroes clash over how to deal with a new threat. To protect the people he loves most, he must redefine what it means to be a hero.

Voice Cast

Shameik Moore - Miles Morales
Hailee Steinfeld - Spider-Woman/Gwen Stacy

Oscar Isaac - Spider-Man

2099/Miguel O'Hara

Luna Lauren Velez - Rio

Morales

Jake Johnson - Spider-Man/

Peter B. Parker

Issa Rae - Spider-Woman/

Jessica Drew

Andy Samberg - Scarlet Spider/Ben Reilly

Daniel Kaluuya - Spider-Punk/Hobie Brown

Jason Schwartzman - Spot/

Jonathan Ohnn

Brian Tyree Henry -

Jefferson Davis

Karan Soni - India Spider-

Man/Pavitr Prabhakar

Shea Whigham - George Stacy

Greta Lee - LYLA

Mahershala Ali - Uncle Aaron

Amandla Stenberg - Margo Kess/Spider-Byte

Jharrel Jerome - Miles G. Morales

Jack Quaid - Peter Parker

Rachel Dratch - Ms. Veber

Kimiko Glenn - Peni Parker

(Uncredited)

Ziggy Marley - Lenny

Jorma Taccone - Vulture/

Adriano Tumono/'67

Spider-Man

J.K. Simmons - J. Jonah

Jameson

Kathryn Hahn - Doctor Octopus/Olivia Octavius

Ayo Edebiri - Glory

Elizabeth Perkins - May/

Quippy Spider-Person

Nicole Delaney - MJ

Antonia Lentini - Betty

Atsuko Okatsuka - Yuri

Peter Sohn - Ganke

Melissa Sturm - Mary Jane

Lorraine Velez - Maria

Nic Novicki - Lego Spider-Man

Taran Killam - Web-Slinger

Metro - Metro Spider-Man

Josh Keaton - Spectacular Spider-Man

Sofia Barclay - Malala Windsor: Spider-UK

Danielle Perez - Charlotte Weber: Sun-Spider

Yuri Lowenthal - Insomniac Spider-Man

Live-Action Cast

Donald Glover - Aaron Davis (Cameo)

Peggy Lu - Mrs. Chen (Cameo) (Uncredited)

Crew

Directors - Joaquim Dos Santos,

Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson

Creator: Spider-Man - Stan Lee (Uncredited)

Writers/Producers - Phil Lord and

Christopher Miller

Writer - Dave Callaham

Executive Producers - Brian Michael Bendis,

Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey,

Rodney Rothman and Aditya Sood

Producers - Avi Arad, Amy Pascal

and Christina Steinberg

Co-Producers - Julie Groll,

Alonzo Ruvalcaba and Rebecca Karch Tomlinson

Production Designer - Patrick O'Keefe

Visual Consultant - Kevin Aymeric

Art Director - Dean Gordon

Character Designers - Kris Anka,

Brie Henderson, Mauro Belfiore,

Jesus Alonso Iglesias, Evan Monteiro,

Joseph C. Moshier, Omar Smith,

Ami Thompson and Christine Tseng

Heads of Story - Octavio E. Rodriguez

and Miguel Jiron

Head of Character Animation - Alan Hawkins

Senior Animation Supervisor - Humberto Rosa

Supervising Animators - Chad Ellis,

Emmanuel Gatera, Chelsea Gordon-Ratzlaff,

Rohini Kumar, Robert Lehman,

Nicholas Nostbaaken, Jeff Panko,

Daniel Pozo, Philip Rudolph, Adam Sarophim,

Samuel Arturo Rico Vazquez and Kelsey Wagner

Lego Animator - Preston Mutanga

CG Supervisors - Benjamin Aguillon,

James Carson, Patrick Cohen, Pablo Holcer,

James Park and Benjamin Hendricks

Heads of Layout - Tom Bruno Jr. and

Rich Turner

Visual Effects Supervisor - Mike Lasker

Editor - Mike Andrews

Supervising Sound Editor - Geoffrey G. Rubay

Sound Designers - John Pospisil,

Kip Smedley and Alec Rubay

Re-Recording Mixers - Michael Semanick

and Juan Peralta

Additional Re-Recording Mixers - Ryan Collins

and Gary Summers

Foley Artists - Gregg Barbanell,

Alex Ullrich and Jeff & Dylan Wilhoit

Music - Daniel Pemberton

Music Supervisor - Kier Lehman

Review

When it came out in 2018, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a smash hit. It was an incredible animated film that introduced me to multiple versions of Spider-Men, each coming from a parallel universe. I had no idea they existed until I browsed the internet. Fans and critics took notice and dubbed it the best Spider-Man movie, which made it hard to top and is better than the previous live-action iterations by Sam Raimi, Marc Webb and the MCU. Though No Way Home comes close to succeeding it. However, when word got out that there was to be a sequel that was supposed to be bigger than its predecessor, I found myself speechless.

Despite my worries about ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE not living up to the expectations of the original film, it proved me wrong and was a worthy successor. The team at Sony Animation realised how successful the first instalment was and decided to expand the Spider-Verse and find new ways to invent the plot for this sequel. The movie is an immense effort for those involved in the first film, including Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who returned as its writers and producers. The animation still has the comic book style and is better than the original, but the film got overstuffed with visuals. However, each universe had its colour scheme and animation style, including Gwen Stacy's, which was in pink and blue.

There has been so much growth in the characters in this film since we first saw them. Particularly Gwen and Miles, who are now older and are dealing with their teenage years while at the same time helping out their cities. This film contains so many easter eggs that fans will not miss. As in the first movie, the voice acting was outstanding, particularly Oscar Isaac, who is a standout and nails the role of Miguel O'Hara.

ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE is the penultimate film of the soon-to-be Spider-Verse trilogy and is even better than the original. The ending reminds me of the cliffhanger of The Empire Strikes Back and is left open for a sequel, Beyond the Spider-Verse, which won't be out until next year. It takes everything that made the first film special and adds it. The great thing about animation is that it is an art form of cinema, not entertainment for young kids, which most people have said. Still, I give this movie ten out of ten.

Star rating: (10/10) Best Movie Ever

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