A single mom named Gabbie hires a tour guide, a psychic, a priest, and a historian to help exorcise her newly bought mansion after discovering it is inhabited by ghosts.
Haunted Mansion is a 2023 American supernatural horror comedy film directed by Justin Simien from a screenplay by Katie Dippold. Ben Matthias (LaKeith Stanfield), an astrophysicist developing a camera to detect dark matter, meets and marries Alyssa (Charity Jordan), a ghost tour guide, and becomes entranced with her belief in the supernatural. After Alyssa dies in a car accident, Ben gives up his career and continues to run her ghost tour.
Years later, recently widowed doctor Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) and her son Travis (Chase Dillion) move from New York into Gracey Manor to turn it into a bed and breakfast, only to learn that it is haunted by ghosts.
Ben is visited by priest and exorcist Father Kent (Owen Wilson), who hires him to photograph the ghosts at Gracey Manor. Ben is initially incredulous until he returns home and is haunted by a ghost Mariner who forces him to return to the mansion. Ben learns that Gabbie, Travis, and Kent have also fallen victim to hauntings, forcing them to stay in the mansion.
Ben and Kent recruit Harriet (Tiffany Haddish), a psychic with legitimate powers, and steal blueprints to the mansion from haunted house historian Prof. Bruce Davis (Danny DeVito). The group funds a hidden séance room. Harriet manages to contact the spirit of Gracey who leaves a written message instructing them to talk to the legendary medium Madame Leota (Jamie Lee Curtis). Upon trying to do so, a mysterious entity forces Harriet out of the house. Bruce arrives shortly afterward and becomes haunted.
It’s the go-word that filmmakers say at the start of every take, as the cast springs to life on camera.
Action is the very thing that sets motion pictures apart from still photography, and while it took some time to compile, here’s my list of the top seven greatest action movies of all time.
1. Face Off (1997)
Nicolas Cage, who’s actually John Travolta, gets thrown into a supermax prison and stages a riot to break himself out.
A cop redefines ‘deep undercover’ by surgically grafting the face of a criminal mastermind onto his own head – a gambit that backfires when said criminal steals his face and crawls into bed with his wife. It sounds preposterous, if not downright insane. Also, the two principals are played by Nicolas Cage and John Travolta. Twenty-five years later, though, you wish contemporary Hollywood would have the guts to try something so bonkers.
2. Predator (1987)
The endgame as Arnie’s battered Dutch faces off against his nemesis and comes out on top.
Somewhere amongst the flying cartridges and exploding rifle grenades is a critique of American foreign policy in the ‘80s. If it’s in Central America, it’s a threat and probably needs blasting with a minigun – and in retrospect, probably its environmental policy too.
Predator’s primal joys come in the continuous changing of the odds, never heavily in favor of humankind in the first place, as one after another of its commandos gets offed, leaving only one for the climactic showdown.
3. Heat (1996)
Heat is an action fan’s dream, provided that dream includes room for the serious topic of professional compromise, marital dysfunction, and parental abandonment. The movie’s main protagonists Vincent (Pacino), a hard-driving lieutenant, and Neil (De Niro), a wary career criminal looking for that proverbial last job, both have commitment issues; their game of cat and mouse involves a ton of collateral damage. When the movie breaks out the guns, it becomes abstractly beautiful, especially during a brazen midday bank robbery scored to Brian Eno’s pumping synth beats. It’s a scene of urban warfare that’s never been eclipsed.
4. Die Hard (1988)
The image of Bruce Willis walking on broken glass could be taken as a poignant metaphor for life’s little brutalities. It isn’t exactly what pseuds would call High Art.
The story is so ingenious, it’s incredible no one had thought of it before. A group of terrorists invades a state-of-the-art skyscraper and takes the inhabitants hostage. Their only hope is a man locked in with them, yet free to roam, a lone hero who must pick off the bad guys one by one, arcade-game–style, until he reaches the Big Boss.
5. Gladiator (2000)
Gladiator is a box office hit that dramatizes Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius’ (Russell Crowe) experiences. When the ambitious traitor Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) murders Maximus’ father (and family) and claims the throne for himself, the protagonist is forced into slavery and becomes a gladiator who fights through the ranks to exact revenge. Director Ridley Scott’s beloved film is known for its engrossing portrayal of history, and it does an excellent job of depicting the life-or-death fights between gladiators. The risks only escalate as Maximus faces off against increasingly skilled foes, and audiences may find themselves watching the more stressful battles with bated breath.
6. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Mad Max Fury is the ultimate Mad Max movie, which means it might just be the ultimate action movie. Director and co-writer George Miller, who created the original Mad Max in 1979 on a nothing budget, took the fourth film in the series to unparalleled extremes of incredible post-apocalyptic intensity and relentlessness, staging some of the greatest chase and fight scenes of all time with a bravado, abandon, and physicality rarely seen in today’s CG-fests.
Tom Hardy stepped easily and solidly into the title role left behind by Mel Gibson, but the beating heart of the movie is Charlize Theron’s Furiosa. As full of wrath as her name suggests, she embodied a feminine force to be reckoned with and a new paradigm for a future ruled over by toxic men.
It may have been Max’s name in the title, but this action behemoth belonged to the women.
7. Django Unchained (2012)
Quentin Tarantino’s first full-throated Western—even though it’s technically set in the South—continued the iconoclast filmmaker’s penchant for rewriting grim histories into invigorating power fantasies. And there’s little on the big screen as powerful as the sight of Jamie Foxx’s Django in front of a Mississippi plantation, watching it burn to a cinder. Even better, he doesn’t just watch. Nay, he and his horse are dancing in the firelight.
It took good people, extraordinary circumstances, stubborn curiosity, and booze. It was the founder’s ambitious co-founder and spouse, Shanelle, and her family farm, which had enough corn to make for a few batches.
Industry outsiders put it all in the bottle. But still, Chris was the only Black man in the room at trade events. He decided to make that different. Du Nord did what needed to be done.
From the fury came the fuel. The team’s actions became a Foundation. Both for others and for Du Nord.
The brand didn’t start with a grand plan. Just good booze. Then they just did it. And you can, too.
Du Nord Foundation In 2020, it became clear that the community needed different types of support. In the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the pandemic, the Du Nord Foundation was founded to address racial inequities and build economic justice in the Twin Cities.
The band of outsiders and aficionados working to make change from inside the glass, the economic system, and the whole damn world.
The Leading Ultrasonic Proximity Platform LISNR® is enabling secure and seamless data transmission through a secure and scalable software solution.
LISNR® sends micro-communications using sound between devices with standard speakers and microphones.
In 2012, one single belief brought LISNR’s founders together: ultrasonic audio is better. These individuals understood the growing need for a device- and platform-independent solution for sending short communications back and forth at the software level. They believed that companies shouldn’t have to spend on costly hardware or processes to drive more frictionless and connected experiences.
Over the past 7 years, LISNR has raised over $35M and pioneered many advancements in ultrasonic technology, ultimately driving its usage in payments today.
LISNR’s proximity solutions ensure secure, seamless, and contactless data transfer. Powered by a ubiquitous device and OS platform, LISNR’s non-captive near-field association provides proof-present authentication enabled through proximity tokens.
Gro Intelligence‘s analytics provide valuable and actionable insights in agriculture, climate, and the economy.
The world’s most powerful data and analytics platform for agriculture.
Since 2014, the Gro platform has helped companies, financial institutions, and governments gain a better understanding of the complex ecosystems in agriculture, climate, and the economy.
Gro’s data and analytics examine the combined effects of supply, climate, demand, and price to empower customers to make confident decisions and anticipate future outcomes.
Gro utilizes human intelligence to create unique Gro data series that address gaps in fragmented data and improve existing datasets. Additionally, Gro develops robust predictive models covering supply, demand, yield, climate, pests, and diseases.
Gro’s data includes satellite images, detailed price data, and hard-to-find sources from China. It forms the foundation for the brand’s analytics.
BET announces an original three-part documentary of its iconic music series,
“Rap City,”
As BET continues its year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop.
“Welcome To Rap City”
Unlocks the
“Rap City”
Vaults, airing never-before-seen footage of iconic Hip Hop stars while providing viewers with a historic look back at the vital role of BET in amplifying Hip Hop across three decades.
Over three consecutive nights, the special features some of today’s hottest Hip Hop stars, behind-the-scenes movers & shakers, and the original
“Rap City”
Hosts who cemented this show into Hip Hop history.
The highly anticipated documentary series
“Welcome To Rap City”
Premieres Tuesday, October 10 at 8 PM ET/PT, followed by
“BET Hip Hop Awards”
2023.
“We are thrilled to commemorate Rap City, a series much like the genre that was ahead of its time, and proudly show viewers the impact this series had on music and culture over our three-night event,”
Said Sam D. Walker II, VP of Music Specials and Productions, BET.
Making its debut in 1989,
“Rap City”
Was the preeminent hip-hop series dedicated to rap music videos, important cultural commentary, and interviews with the stars of the moment, along with freestyles from artists including A Tribe Called Quest, Common, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Geto Boys, Eve, Jadakiss, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Killer Mike, LL Cool J, Ludacris, OutKast, Snoop Dogg, The Diplomats, Trina, and many more.
#Clique, what’s your favorite hip-hop song from your favorite rapper?
In this TV and film collage, we have the breathtaking Viola Davis and a rundown of my favorite on-screen time of the actor.
Viola Davis, 57, is one of our greatest actresses working today, and she has an Oscar, an Emmy, and two Tonys to prove it.
She’s made a career of playing fiercely independent women: mothers and wives, housekeepers and professors, and even a first lady. Here, six of the complex and complicated roles that have made Viola Davis an awards magnet and my favorite.
Fences (2016)
This adaptation of the 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winning August Wilson play finally won Davis her Academy Award, and it’s an emotional doozy of a film. It’s the 1950s in Pittsburgh, and sanitation worker Troy Maxson (Denzel Washington, 67, who also directed) is a once-promising baseball player who was too old to play in the majors once the league was desegregated. Davis plays his long-suffering wife Rose, a role that earned her a Tony during the play’s 2010 Broadway revival, and she bears the weight of his bitterness and infidelity while remaining a rock for her family.
How to Get Away with Murder (2014-2020)
TV showrunner Shonda Rhimes, 52, has never shied away from creating complex female protagonists, but she may have outdone herself with Annalise Keating, a brilliant law professor who wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. Keating was filled with contradictions, at once selfish and a mentor to her students, arrogant and vulnerable, coolly professional and a hopeless romantic. Watching her work her magic in a courtroom was like witnessing a lioness take down prey, and in 2015 Davis became the first Black performer to win the Emmy for best actress in a drama.
The Help (2011)
In this gently moving Civil Rights drama, Davis and eventual Oscar winner Octavia Spencer, 52, star as Aibileen Clark and Minny Jackson, two housekeepers working for white families in 1963 Mississippi. When Southern society girl Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone) decides to begin interviewing them for a journalistic exposé about the racism they face from their white employers, the tight-knit community begins to unravel as personal secrets are revealed. Despite having to shoulder the burden of systemic and outright racism at every turn, Davis’s Aibileen maintains her warmth and quiet strength throughout, which is especially on display in the love she feels for the young white girl she cares for. Say it with us:
“You is kind. You is smart. You is important.”
Aww.
Waller (2023)
The series centers on the mercurial and political Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), who is a senior civil servant and director of ARGUS. She established the Suicide Squad in her quest to assemble a team of expendable metahumans who would be used to execute covert operations against dangerous threats.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020)
Davis earned her fourth Oscar nod for yet another August Wilson adaptation, this one set over the course of one sweltering summer day in a Chicago recording studio in 1927. The real-life blues singer Ma Rainey and her bandmates (including the late, great Chadwick Boseman) record an album and discuss the ways Black artists have been exploited by a racist entertainment industry that respects the art but not the artist. Davis delivers a tour de force, equal parts regal and raging, sweat-drenched and swaggering.
The First Lady (2022)
Davis recently stepped into some very famous shoes to play Michelle Obama, 58, in this Showtime political anthology series, which also starred Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt and Michelle Pfeiffer as Betty Ford. While some critics weren’t entirely convinced by her portrayal, we give her bonus points for taking on the unenviable task of tackling a contemporary figure whom everyone has an opinion on. She doesn’t treat the former First Lady with kid gloves, instead portraying her as a real woman with strong opinions, a quick wit, and a fun-loving relationship with her husband and kids.
#Clique, which of these movies/series is your favorite and why?
Loki resumes his role as the God of Mischief in a new series that takes place after the events of
“Avengers: Endgame.”
The mercurial villain Loki steps out of his brother’s shadow to embark on an adventure.
“Loki”
Is an American television series created by Michael Waldron for the streaming service Disney+, based on Marvel Comics featuring the character of the same name.
Tom Hiddleston reprises his role as Loki from the film series. He finds himself out of time and in an unusual place, forced against his godly disposition to cooperate with others.
After stealing the Tesseract during the events of
“Avengers: Endgame”
2019, an alternate version of Loki is brought to the mysterious Time Variance Authority (TVA), a bureaucratic organization that exists outside of time and space and monitors the timeline.
They give Loki a choice: face being erased from existence due to being a
“time variant,”
Or help fix the timeline and stop a greater threat. Loki ends up in his own crime thriller, traveling through time, hunting a female version of himself named Sylvie, played by Sophia Di Maltino.
This is definitely one with a lot of goosebumps. A group of five high schoolers embark on a shadowy and twisted journey to investigate the tragic passing three decades earlier of a teen named Harold Biddle, while also unearthing dark secrets from their parents’ past.
Do you have Goosebumps yet? Well, you’re about to!
“Goosebumps”
Is an upcoming American horror comedy television series. The
“Goosebumps”
Trailer introduces us to the five high schoolers and Justin Long‘s character being possessed by a ghost about 40 seconds in.
Justin Long portrays English teacher Nathan Bratt, who is the focal point. It’s clear from the trailer that Justin Long’s character is new in town, and he quickly learns that rumors of hauntings may not be rumors at all.
“Goosebumps”
Will debut on Friday, October 13, 2023, on Disney+ and Hulu.
Five episodes from the ten-part series will premiere as part of the streamers’ annual
“Hallowstream”
And
“Huluween”
Celebrations.
#Clique, is this something you’d love to watch on the day of its release?
This black-owned natural care brand provides all that we need, and healing takes prayer, trust, and patience. When we focus on healing the heart (inner self), everything else falls into place.
ALittlePeace helps hearts heal and relieve the stress and anxiety of everyday life by supporting the body’s natural healing process to encourage synergy, harmony, and balance.
It all began when the founder developed scalp eczema. She searched for products to help alleviate her eczema, but she couldn’t find any. This brand was created to provide an Eczema Scalp Treatment, an all-natural, steroid-free scalp therapy. After creating the treatment, the founder felt that the brand still needed a shampoo to complement the moisturizer. Thus, an Eczema Shampoo was made.
When the production team discovered that the products could heal, they extended their talent to skincare and now herbal teas. Every product created is representative of natural remedies.
ALittlePeace was founded because of the need to help people heal. We understand the journey of healing and just want to give people a little peace along the way. #Clique, what are your thoughts on this?
