Swiftian

WWE is not the only company in bed with them though. Huge multinational companies, banks and governments do business with them all the time knowing full well what a bunch of wankers they are and the potential for some bad PR. Again, leaving morals aside, from a purely business perspective the deal made sense.

Probably not a common feeling in the IWC, but I actually feel bad for WWE here. They're stuck between a rock and a hard place. Setting aside morals for a second here, most businesses would bite off the hand offering them millions of dollars to do what they already do but on a bigger scale. They would've been idiots to turn that deal down from a business standpoint. Likewise, they wouldn't be smart to renege on the deal now and potentially get sued for breach of contract. They have shareholders to answer to who would prefer not to lose their investments. On the other hand, it would be bad PR to fly over there now and put on a show for a murderous regime when "the world is watching!" Not that the wider world is concerned about a wrestling company, but while other western companies and governments are doing deals with Saudi Arabia behind closed doors, WWE is doing theirs in full public view with pyrotechnics. I'm actually really interesting to see how they handle this on Raw and Smackdown. I'd imagine they'll still build towards the matches but downplay the location of those matches. If the show does go ahead, I can imagine it being quite downbeat.

Hey, I've watched some horror movies this month... The Unknown (Tod Browning, 1927) Lon Chaney stars as a guy on the run who has disguised himself as a circus freak with no arms (his arms are always strapped to his torso in a straightjacket type contraption) and has learned to throw knives with his feet (among other tasks) He falls for the daughter of the circus owner (a young Joan Crawford) who hates men's hands, in particular the gropey variety. He realises that he has been able to function very well with just his feet in everyday tasks so he pays a visit to some crazy surgeon to remove him of his arms. While he's away recuperating, his girl has learned to not hate hands so much after all and is schmoozed by his rival. Quite an odd, twisted movie. Hellraiser (Clive Barker, 1987) I never saw any of this but I remember being terrified by the imagery of this as a kid, so even though I don't find horror movies particularly scary, I felt an unusual sense of dread as I began this. In the end, it was quite goofy though. As mentioned above, the make up effects are top notch (I'll always prefer practical over CGI) but the film itself is quite convoluted and not horrific in the slightest. Nightbreed (Clive Barker, 1990) Later research told me this was the long pined for director's cut with 40 mins more footage. I can't imagine how awful the theatrical release was because this was awful. The only interest it held was, again, the practical effects and the bizarre choice to set the thing in Calgary so it was fun to see a couple of second unit shots of the city. He Knows You're Alone (Armand Mastroianni, 1980) Early slasher movie probably only known now for being the first onscreen role for Tom Hanks. He shows up midway through the movie as a character's new boyfriend but then weirdly never appears again. For a slasher, it was actually lacking any gore with very little blood. The only scene that would qualify (a decapitated head in a fishtank) actually made me laugh out loud for its cheap waxiness. Dracula (Terence Fisher, 1958) 45 year old Peter Cushing was quite sprightly wasn't he?

A Home Alone remake with DX as the crooks and little Drake Maverick as Kevin would be money. Book it WWE Films.

That's no Hungarian guy. He's from Bronson, Missouri. Also, they got an Alec Baldwin lookalike and soundalike too.

and not burning them.

Speaking of Teddy Hart, this guy's IMDB director credits are fun - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9873357/

I'm reminded of Patton Oswalt's bit about George Lucas - "Hey, you love John McClane, right? Well here he is as a little kid and his mommy washes his tank tops for him"

This was Kevin Owen's reasoning too.

Seems like a not very well thought through idea having Renee Young on commentary while her husband gets viciously mauled. She has to act all confused and surprised like the other commentators instead of going "WTF are you guys doing? Leave my Dean alone!!" When AOP and Maverick first showed up in that walking backstage bit, I initially thought it was a poor Shield cosplay.

He's also been cast as Manson in the next season of Manhunter so more than one director is seeing it.

The Other Side of the Wind, Orson Welles' final unfinished film now finished. Been looking forward to this for a long long time.

On the topic of movie notebooks, critic Bilge Ebiri recently posted his father's notebook from the 1950s on. It's kinda beautiful. https://mobile.twitter.com/BilgeEbiri/status/1025890889921712128

I looked it up on cagematch. Surprisingly the Curt Hawkins loss record isn't gimmicked. He's 209 matches without a win (so slightly lower than their number) Last time he won was against Apollo Crews on 8 Nov 2016. He only has two other wins prior to that after re-signing with them the previous month (a dark match and a house show)