August 2024

Total Film

The Modern Guide to Movies

Total Film1 min read
Welcome to TOTAL FILM
The interstellar terror of Alien is something that has haunted film fans for decades now. If, like me, you weren't even alive when it first debuted, you still keenly felt its threat. VHS box art, those whispered playground rumours about something bur
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Teasers number's Up
Winning $3.6 billion on the lottery is most people's idea of a dream come true. But what about a lottery where people can legally kill you to steal your prize money? That's the premise of breathless new action-comedy Jackpot from director Paul Feig.
Total Film1 min read
Call Sheet
Curious what Fede Alvarez has been up to since his last film in 2018? For one thing, he built a 1:1 replica of Bilbo's Bag End house in his back garden for his kids, and TF has seen the pics. The Crow director Rupert Sanders and I lamented that when
Total Film2 min read
Hot Right Now
While Rian Johnson's star-studded Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery has hogged much of the casting news these last few months, it's now the turn of a new murder-mystery movie, The Wives, to be the talk of Hollywood, with Oscar-winner Jennifer La
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Strike Team
Gathering together a stellar cast, including A-listers like Halle Berry, Mark Wahlberg and J.K. Simmons, action thriller The Union takes all the familiar tropes of the spy movie and adds a new, unique aspect. Where typical cinematic secret agents don
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Witche's Brouhaha
The task: create a spin-off from one of the most inventive and popular of all of the Marvel Disney+ series. Exactly how do you up the ante after WandaVision? 'Right out of the gate with the question that haunts me at night. Good job,' Agatha All Alon
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Finding Faith
Jason Schwartzman's Ben Gottlieb is in a low place when we first meet him in Between the Temples. A cantor questioning his faith, he's also grieving his late wife, living with his mother (Caroline Aaron) and her meddling partner (Dolly De Leon), and
Total Film1 min read
Blood Count
NOSFERATU OPENS IN CINEMAS ON 3 JANUARY 2025. ■
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Gods And Monsters
Zack Snyder promises audiences an epic, brutal and sexy animated adventure in this upcoming Netflix show. The eight-part series brings the 300 director's grand vision of ancient Norse mythology to life – complete with some familiar gods, including Th
Total Film2 min read
A Wing And A Prayer
There's a lot that's changed since the 1989 publication of James O'Barr's The Crow, particularly when it comes to portrayals of women. The director of the latest adaptation, Rupert Sanders, tells Teasers that he wanted to focus on the tragic love sto
Total Film2 min read
Belfast And Furious
Teasers is in Belfast for a sit-down with Kneecap, a trio of rappers whose name, like the tricolour balaclava sported by one of its members, harks back to Northern Ireland's infamous Troubles. A bullet in the kneecap used to be a non-lethal way for p
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Next Big Thing
She may only be 16, but Ariana Greenblatt has already had the kind of career most veteran actors would envy. The go-to for younger versions of iconic characters (Ahsoka Tano, Avengers: Infinity War's young Gamora), Greenblatt also memorably schooled
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Rewriting History
Reimagining Terry Gilliam's anarchic 1981 time-travelling comedy Time Bandits for television, Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement (along with co-creator Iain Morris) have assembled their own motley gang of thieves for an adventure through time and spac
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The Ll Word
General elections are like buses. Sometimes they appear in rapid succession, other times, you wait so long for one you have to check the news to see if the whole system has collapsed. After nearly five years, Rishi Sunak, Keir Starmer, Ed Davey and C
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Shell Yeah
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were revitalised for a new generation in Mutant Mayhem, the movie reboot produced by Seth Rogen that truly put the emphasis on the teenage as the reptilian bipeds battled outsider status and longed to fit in at high s
Total Film2 min read
Going Ape
'It's based on a Carl Hiaasen book, so I can't take credit for that!' producer Bill Lawrence (Ted Lasso, Shrinking) says of Bad Monkey's opening. The loose limb, dredged up in Florida - 'the floating-body-parts capital of the word,' as Lawrence calls
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Sound Bytes
PRODUCTION COMPANY BLUMHOUSE HAS LAUNCHED BLUMHOUSE GAMES, WHICH WILL PRODUCE HORROR VIDEO GAMES. DIRECTOR YANN DEMANGE HAS EXITED MARVEL'S LONG-IN-DEVELOPMENT BLADE REBOOT, DUE FOR RELEASE NEXT YEAR.
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Can We Talk About?
In June, London's Prince Charles Cinema advertised a private showing of a new film called, ominously, The Last Screenwriter. The kicker? It was written entirely by AI. 'Created' by Swiss director Peter Luisi, The Last Screenwriter concerns a scriptwr
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Court In The Act
I was not on the list,' jokes François Ozon, the prolific French director behind everything from Swimming Pool and Under the Sand to By the Grace of God. The 'list', allegedly set to be circulated during the recent Cannes Film Festival, consists of 1
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This Way Madness Lies
When Chinese director Wei Shujun (Striding into the Wind) read the crime novella Mistakes by the River by Yu Hua, he fell immediately for its atmosphere. 'If I had to describe it, I would say it's like sailing on a ship in the dark,' he notes, talkin
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The Hero
The Outsiders and Rumble Fish made Matt Dillon one of the most sought-after stars of the 1980s. Unlike some of his peers, though, he went on to enjoy an eclectic career that will soon see him playing Marlon Brando – in French – in biopic Being Maria.
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Unsafe Place
Fede Alvarez has a question for Total Film: 'What do you prefer, Alien or Aliens?' But before TF can respond with a wellrehearsed speech ('Objectively? They're both unimpeachable masterworks. Subjectively? Aliens all day, baby!'), Alvarez reveals thi
Total Film2 min read
Great Egg-spectations
'Cameron loved Don't Breathe. I think Stephen Lang showed it to him while shooting Avatar. So Cameron invited me to the set of Avatar 2 just to show me all the technology. Four years later I was having a discussion with my co-writer Rodo [Sayagues] a
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Alien Evolution
Other than a puzzling appearance on a mural, the traditional xeno doesn't appear in Ridley Scott's first prequel. Instead, we get the Aethon/Deacon, born from the union of a tentacled Trilobite and an Engineer. Key features include a fully organic ap
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Darkness Binds Them
In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie, evil has risen. Sauron, formerly Halbrand, walks upon the ashen mountains of Middle-earth having recently unveiled himself to Galadriel, while Adar, the father of orcs, regroups with his children. Yet dark
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Paradise COST
Zoë Kravitz's directorial debut, Blink Twice, revolves around a billionaire jetting off with friends and a group of young women (and a man) to the lush environs of his privately owned paradise. When events take a turn, one island-goer, Frida (Naomi A
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Charlie Vickers
How different was playing Halbrand/Sauron this season? I had an absolute blast. It was me and Charlie [Edwards] working in a room, doing everything in sequence. But man, after a whole year of hiding secrets, and then a whole press tour of hiding secr
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Domestic Disturbance
Stuck in the Middle with You by Stealers Wheel never sounded quite the same after Quentin Tarantino used it to accompany Michael Madsen's ear-slicing torture of a tied-up policeman in Reservoir Dogs. Anybody who saw the David Fincher version of The G
Total Film6 min read
The Nature of Evil
Daniel Kokotajlo isn't wearing his influences on his sleeve, but they are on the wall. When Total Film hops on a Zoom call with the director and writer of upcoming throwback chiller Starve Acre, framed posters sit over each shoulder – The Wicker Man'
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Disc World
Every so often, one extract from the show Hot Ones goes viral on social media. In the clip, host Sean Evans asks Matt Damon about the macro conditions behind the oft-repeated sentiment of: 'They're not making movies for me any more.' The star's descr
Total Film1 min read
Boutique 101
'We're well-regarded for the care and quality we bring to each of our releases,' says Arrow's James White. 'Arrow's primary focus has been horror, cult and genre, but we release a wide range of classic and foreign titles as well.' Bruce Lee at Golden
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Five Star Turns
Shyamalan's wunderkind status was confirmed with this astonishing ghost story that gave us an against-type Bruce Willis, an all-timer child performance, and one of the most talked-about twists ever. Arguably Shyamalan's best film, Unbreakable is a st
Total Film14 min read
'I'm Still Very Inspired — Maybe More So Than Ever' M. Night Shyamalan
When Total Film sits down with M. Night Shyamalan in a London hotel in late May 2024, the 53-year-old writer/director is in a thoroughly reflective mood. Though he's here to talk to TF about Trap, his latest mystery-box experience about a serial kill
Total Film1 min read
M. Night Shyamalan In Numbers
22 Years old when he made debut film Praying with Anger, while a student at NYU $672.8M The worldwide box-office total of Shyamalan's highest-grossing film, The Sixth Sense 16 Feature directing credits to date 2 Oscar nominations for The Sixth Sense
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Screen
FULLY REALISED GIBBOUS MORE WAXES AND WANES CLEAR AND CRESCENT DANGER PURE CHEESE We couldn't see them in time for this issue, so head to gamesradar.com/totalfilm for reviews of the following:
Total Film4 min read
Fly Me To The Moon 12a
OUT NOW CINEMAS 1978 A faked Mars mission is at the centre of Peter Hyams' pacy, chase-crammed thriller. 2000 A wobbly satellite dish threatens a global TV blackout during the moon landing in this charming Aussie comedy. 2016 Real-life NASA maths whi
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I Saw The TV Glow 15
OUT 26 JULY CINEMAS Evading easy categorisation, Jane Schoenbrun's vivid follow-up to We're All Going to the World's Fair can be read as a transgender allegory, one that compellingly explores the idea of being born into one existence, feeling you sho
Total Film3 min read
Longlegs 15
OUT NOW CINEMAS A little Nicolas Cage goes a terrifyingly long way in Osgood Perkins' movie, a serial-killer-procedural-slash-occult-delving creepfest that confidently echoes The Silence of the Lambs and Zodiac before spinning off wildly on its own d
Total Film3 min read
Hundreds Of Beavers 12a
OUT NOW CINEMAS Buster Keaton, Tex Avery, Caddyshack, Evil Dead II, George Miller, arcade games, crazed TikTok videos with animal filters… blend all of those influences together and you might begin to explain the inspired absurdity of Hundreds of Bea
Total Film3 min read
The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare Tbc
OUT 25 JULY PRIME VIDEO After the sober-ish combat story of The Covenant, Guy Ritchie reassumes caper positions for this WW2 thriller. Far from playing to his strengths, the result is a blasé relapse for a director prone to glib stylings and posh-blo
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Maxxxine 18
OUT NOW CINEMAS The past ain't finished with you, Maxine,' yells Kevin Bacon's odious private dick in writer/director Ti West's trilogy-closing slasher tale. Following prequel Pearl, this sees Mia Goth reprising her wannabe porn-star character from f
Total Film1 min read
Thelma 12a
OUT 19 JULY CINEMAS A pistol-packing first-time leading lady in her 90s, June Squibb (Nebraska, Inside Out 2) is the motor driving this wildly charming revenge-com. Her Thelma is a sweet but stubborn LA oldster scammed out of $10,000 by a fake caller
Total Film3 min read
Didi 15
OUT 2 AUGUST CINEMAS When incorporating social media in their stories, modern teen flicks tend to focus on the gossipy, going-viral aspects of influencer culture. But for lots of young people, some online spaces can be appealing meeting grounds for e
Total Film3 min read
Skywalkers: A Love Story 18
OUT NOW CINEMAS 19 JULY NETFLIX Ahead for heights is a strict requirement for this pulsepounding documentary, in which two Moscovian daredevils set out to scale the world's second-tallest skyscraper without ending up in handcuffs or falling to their
Total Film3 min read
Blur: To The End 15
OUT 19 JULY CINEMAS Ayear on from their triumphant shows at Wembley Stadium comes Blur: To the End, a documentary capturing the band's 2023 reunion. Once it was all about Britpop, Parklife and the Oasis rivalry; now there's middle age and dodgy knees
Total Film3 min read
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F 15
Foley artistry… OUT NOW NETFLIX It's been 30 years since we last saw Eddie Murphy's motormouthed Detroit cop Axel Foley tearing up LA in Beverly Hills Cop III. But now he's back, still silver of tongue as he brashly disobeys orders, but also followin
Total Film1 min read
Malcolm X 15
1992 OUT 29 JULY BD, 4K UHD, DIGITAL EXTRAS Poster/Art cards (4K only), Deleted scenes Often faint-praised as his most 'conventional' film, Spike Lee's Malcolm X biopic is bolder – and more contentious – than its rep suggests. From initial conception
Total Film1 min read
Point Break 15
1991 OUT 5 AUGUST DVD, BD, 4K UHD, DIGITAL EXTRAS Featurettes, Additional scenes, Stills gallery (4K/BD only) It just jumps off the screen. I live for that,' beams Patrick Swayze in Make or Break, a featurette that accounts for half of the 45 minutes
Total Film3 min read
The Last Starfighter 12
1984 OUT NOW 4K UHD, BD EXTRAS Commentaries, Featurettes, Booklet Inspired as much by T.H. White's Arthurian saga The Once and Future King as Star Wars, this sci-fi adventure centres on Alex Rogan (Lance Guest), a teenager whose sole escape from his
Total Film1 min read
Election 15
1999 OUT 29 JULY 4K UHD EXTRAS Commentary, Featurettes A history teacher on the ropes, a divisive student, an eyeball problem, a lie, a resignation… On the surface, Alexander Payne's second feature pre-empts his recent The Holdovers. But you'd need t
Total Film1 min read
Extras
OUT NOW July 2024 marks five years since the release of Ari Aster's cult-in-every-sense horror; celebrate not with an ill-advised rural getaway but by checking out A24's varied collection, which includes T-shirts, patches, an incense holder based on
Total Film2 min read
Classic TV Star Trek: The Next Generation
1987–1994 AVAILABLE ON DVD, BD, DIGITAL, NETFLIX, PARAMOUNT+ Star Trek was dead, Jim. Cancelled in 1969 after three seasons due to declining viewing figures, the sci-fi series was boldly going nowhere. However, buoyed by Star Wars mania and a boom in
Total Film1 min read
A Very Special Episode
THE MEASURE OF A MAN S2, 1989 The show's watershed moment involves a heady test of the main characters' mettle. Deeming android Data to be Starfleet property, Picard's bosses decide they need to take the tin man apart to see what makes him tick. And
Total Film2 min read
Classic Soundtrack Guardians Of The Galaxy
To say 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy has a heart of part plastic is no criticism. It's parked on Peter Quill's hip, and worth getting tasered for. More than background or mood music, soundtrack album Awesome Mix Vol. 1 is a narrative 'umbilical cord
Total Film4 min read
Games Preview
OUT TBC 2024 PC, PS5, SWITCH Summer Game Fest organiser and compere Geoff Keighley downplayed expectations before the show – which presumably didn't please the publishers who'd spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to appear. The game in the opening
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Fresh Spins
Andrea Datzman (Dug Days) steps into long-time collaborator Michael Giacchino's shoes for the life of Riley. She's a fine fit, threading her predecessor's Riley themes through gusty guitars with teen vim. A new friendship theme twists malleably from
Total Film1 min read
2 More
Deathless zen warriors, deer-pig cults, big words… This paired novel by Keanu Reeves and 'new weird' author China Miéville (Kraken) is a mutually on-brand haul of mixed intrigues. Immortal killer B could be Reeves' Wick/Neo combined; as B experiments
Total Film1 min read
Books Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Visual History
ANDREW FARAGO TITAN For a 'visual history', there's no shortage of text in this revised edition coinciding with the Turtles' 40th anniversary. From their 1984 indie-comic inception to the pop-culture phenomenon they quickly became, the Turtles have b
Total Film1 min read
Star Trek: The Illustrated Oral History
EDITED BY JONATHAN WILKINS TITAN Series mastermind Gene Roddenberry leads the charge in a comprehensive look back at the original 60s series. Comprising archive interviews with the extended cast and crew, this glossy volume also takes in the animated
Total Film1 min read
Movie Monsters Of The Deep
FAITH ROSWELL WHITE OWL 'There will always be monster movies starring creatures from the deep,' says the author of this entertaining chronicle of a subaquatic subgenre whose memorable highs (Jaws, The Shape of Water) have been swamped by a shoal of l
Total Film1 min read
The Crow: The Life, Death, And Rebirth Of A Classic Film
BRIDGET BAISS APPLAUSE Well-timed ahead of the upcoming Bill Skarsgård reboot, this revised and updated edition of Baiss' book explores the genesis of the 1994 cult actioner. Tragedy is a key theme, from James O'Barr's comic book (rooted in personal
Total Film2 min read
Is It Bollocks?
THIS MONTH UNDER PARIS ' SHARK SCENARIO Q In Netflix's Under Paris, a shark gets into the River Seine and reproduces via parthenogenesis. Jumping the shark? A Daniel Abel, Professor of Marine Science, Coastal Carolina University, and author of severa
Total Film1 min read
On Location
WHAT? In true-story dramedy Fisherman's Friends, the feel-good folk singers led by Jim (James Purefoy) frequent an idyllic pub on the north Cornwall coast. WHERE? The Golden Lion, 10 Fore St, Port Isaac PL29 3RB GO? This is an actual pub that's still
Total Film2 min read
Killer Masks
It wasn't until 1983's threequel that Jason Voorhees settled on his signature hockey mask. In the original, the killer was his mom. In Part II, he wore a sack on his bonce. Part VII introduced the boiler suit to complete the famous outfit. Darth Vade
Total Film1 min read
Reel Estate
FOR SALE This remote Alpine chalet near Grenoble would be ideally suited to a professional writer who spends long periods working from home. Close to hiking trails, this duplex has been undergoing renovations that are not yet complete, but there's pl
Total Film1 min read
Hindsight Corner
JUDE LAW SUPERMAN: FLYBY November 2013 '[Was I nearly cast as Superman?] Myth! Myth!' June 2023 'There was a process of flirtation [with the Superman role] going on… I tried [a costume] on and I looked in the mirror and part of me initially was like,
Total Film2 min read
Flop Culture
Why it was a good idea (on paper) The union between 28 Days Later's Danny Boyle (director) and Alex Garland (writer) looked set to go incendiary with this sci-fi intelli-thriller. Assembled presciently, a crack cast including Michelle Yeoh, Benedict
Total Film1 min read
Last Time Beyond Thunderdome: Underrated?
It's underrated if you compare it to some of Hollywood's recent rubbish. It's the lesser of five masterpieces. It's not underrated. Nothing happens in it. Mel looks bored. It's a great film, just unfortunate to be sandwiched between two of the greate
Total Film2 min read
Is It Just Me Or Is Tom Cruise An Underrated Actor?
Few movie stars can match the career trajectory of Tom Cruise. Since establishing himself as box-office gold in the 80s, the actor hasn't stopped pumping out the hits. He successfully weathered a few PR blips in the early 00s, and became, according t
Total Film3 min read
Deep Blue Sea
TOTAL FILM RETROSPECTIVE Being a real ocean enthusiast and shark conservationist, I didn't want to do an exploitation movie about sharks being bad,' remembers prolific Finnish filmmaker Renny Harlin. To combat this moral quandary, his first move was
Total Film3 min read
Intermission
How his life is measured in movies When it comes to reflecting on any significant events in my life, they're all marked by movie release dates. If I'm trying to recall my age at a certain pivotal moment, I'll always work backwards to get the year by
Total Film1 min read
Key Movies
Speaking a made-up language, Jovovich thoroughly convinces as Leeloo, and later described the runaway alien as her favourite role. Besson's uneven biopic is elevated by a suitably intense Jovovich as the iron-clad, bowl-cut-sporting Maid of Orleans.
Total Film2 min read
Milla Jovovich
Born in Ukraine and raised in Los Angeles, Milica Bogdanovna Jovovich rose to fame as a model, taking on assignments from the age of 12. Her first major acting credit was as co-lead of Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991), a film notorious for its teenag
Total Film2 min read
Donald Sutherland
When it was announced, in September 2017, that Donald Sutherland was to be awarded an honorary Oscar, he said, 'I don't deserve this. But I have arthritis and I don't deserve that either.' Sutherland, who died on 20 June, aged 88, most certainly did
Total Film3 min read
Golden Grahams
What do The Man with the Golden Arm, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, Spartacus, West Side Story, Broadcast News, Big, Goodfellas and Casino all have in common? Their title sequences are the work of graphic designer Saul Bass, whose legendary car
Total Film1 min read
Spider-movies
1 Which is the highest-grossing Spider-Man movie to date? 2 What new, simian nickname does Ned give Spidey in Far from Home? 3 Which actor filmed scenes as Mary Jane Watson that ended up being cut from The Amazing Spider-Man 2? 4 At the end of Spider
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Name The Frame
ANSWERS: 1. THE BLACK HOLE, 2. EVENT HORIZON, 3. PANDORUM, 4. FLASH GORDON, 5. THE THING, 6. ALIEN, 7. THE LAST STARFIGHTER, 8. DI STRICT 9. ■
Total Film4 min read
Dialogue Mail, Rants, Theories Etc.
TOTALFILM.COM VIDEOS • REVIEWS • TRAILERS • NEWS totalfilm.com twitter.com/totalfilm facebook.com/totalfilm totalfilm@futurenet.com I just rewatched the original Jurassic Park for the first time in two decades. I was blown away by how much tension I
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Total Film
EDITOR MATT MAYTUM matt.maytum@futurenet.com @mattmaytum DEPUTY EDITOR JORDAN FARLEY jordan.farley@futurenet.com @JordanFarley REVIEWS EDITOR MATTHEW LEYLAND matthew.leyland@futurenet.com @totalfilm_mattl NEWS EDITOR LAUREN MILES lauren.miles@futuren
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60 Second Screenplay
SPOILER ALERT! FADE IN: EXT. FOREST Many generations after CAESAR's death in the last film, apes are still the dominant species on the planet thanks to their superior intellect. And yet, NOA is part of a clan that collects eggs. NOA Father, Master of

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