Darren Franich

2 weeks ago | draftlandscene.substack.com | Darren Franich

The new Mission: Impossible is the strangest Mission: Impossible. Tom Cruise climbs into a sensory-deprivation coffin to mind-meld with a computer megamind. The President sends Tom Cruise into the freezing ocean, where he finds a submarine and takes off his clothes. Hayley Atwell stares upon Tom Cruise with the seductive-yet-restrained awe of a nun hot for Jesus. The bad guy has a biplane — no, two biplanes! The opening credits arrive around, I think, minute 18.

2 months ago | vulture.com | Darren Franich

Rachel Zegler in Snow White. The first proper industry headline about a new Snow White arrived in October 2016, a wild month in human history to plan anything nine years ahead. Since then, the U.S. has torn itself between progress and retrenchment, smash-cutting from a young Black president to the two oldest white ones. Meanwhile, the biggest studio in Hollywood steadily remade its most legendary animated successes with flesh-and-blood actors.

2 months ago | flipboard.com | Darren Franich

17 hours agoThe star of Disney's latest live-action movie reportedly upset executives, and the studio later hired a "social media guru" to vet posts ahead of the film's release. Rachel Zegler, star of Disney’s live-action “Snow White,” reportedly shocked studio executives after she followed up a social media …

Feb 14, 2025 | vulture.com | Darren Franich

She looks like the Israeli flag on disco night. Blue cape, white bodysuit. A headband, because it’s 1980. The Incredible Hulk #256 introduces Sabra, “super heroine of the State of Israel,” when the green Goliath rampages through Tel Aviv.

Jan 16, 2025 | draftlandscene.substack.com | Darren Franich

David Lynch made mysteries. Who killed Laura Palmer? Who killed your wife? Whose ear is that? Who are you? What the fuck is going on? Crimes to solve, puzzles to piece together. I’ll spend the rest of my life messaging friends new revelations about his work: a number decoded, a connection uncovered. The magus was a stylist, too, curator of a specific neon-sexy bloodgore region of throwback Americana.