Here are some of the topics I felt like voicing my opinions about:
The King's Man Trailer
Well, this looks equal parts "the same movie as before" and "totally different from the previous two."
I'll see it. I was really disappointed with the second movie after being an IMMENSE fan of the first one. Let's hope this gets things back on track with another good one.
Lashana Lynch Will Be the Next 007
So reports are saying that Lashana Lynch's character in the next Bond film will be "007" and I have a lot of opinions about this, because there are a lot of different roads they can go, and some of them are awful.
"There is a pivotal scene at the start of the film where M says 'Come in 007' and in walks Lashana who is black, beautiful and a woman. It's a popcorn-dropping moment. Bond is still Bond but he's been replaced as 007 by this stunning woman."
"Bond, of course, is sexually attracted to the new female 007 and tries his usual seduction tricks, but is baffled when they don't work on a brilliant, young black woman who basically rolls her eyes at him and has no interest in jumping into his bed. Well, certainly not at the beginning."
Okay, so if you're telling me the movie starts with Bond having retired and he's no longer 007, I'm fine with that...to an extent. I've already criticized how this will be the third out of five Daniel Craig movies that revolve around him being too old and washed up. That was a mistake from the onset of Skyfall.
But if he's no longer 007 because he's not in MI6, then yeah, by all means, there should be another 007, because why wouldn't there be? And if you want to make it a black woman, I'm okay with that, too. There's nothing that says the 00 agents can't be female or have to be Caucasian.
However, I do hate that it seems, based on the way this is all phrased, that this is done SPECIFICALLY for the political agenda. It seems like their goal is to just target "woke" audiences as a source of revenue and marketing, and that's not only stupid and poor tactics, it also doesn't serve the purpose of a movie, nor does it show any kind of skill or earnest rapport. It's as annoying as companies acting like they genuinely care about LGBTQ+ mindsets during last month, just to drop it again, because it's hip. This description REEKS of "it'll get people talking, and if anyone doesn't like our movie, we'll call them sexist/racist" like so many things are nowadays.
And I can see them going down a particularly annoying path, where Lynch's character is better than Bond at everything, showing him up, proving herself to be invulnerable (like Rey in Star Wars) just to prove a point. She spurs his flirting, because she's above it. She saves him, because he's not stronger than she is. She gets along better with M, who calls her better than Bond, etc.
That's bullshit, if that happens, because this is a James Bond franchise, and the only way I'll be okay with that is if Lynch's character then dies or it turns out she's the villain, and Bond has to take up the mantle again and come out of retirement and win back his spot as the premiere secret agent.
If the character is great, by all means, give her spin-offs, but don't make her 007 going forward. Make her someone who isn't a 00. If the character is not good enough for her own movies, don't even try to do anything like that at all.
And this could all be blown out of proportion, too, just like how every movie tends to have someone say "My character isn't like all the other Bond girls. She's actually really strong and independent and she rejects Bond's advances." only for most of them to turn out exactly the same, but they're just hitting those marketing buzz phrases and patting themselves on the back.
This could be a train wreck, terrible decision that will backfire and cause nothing but negativity surrounding a movie that has gone through tons of troubles and would really hinder the end of Craig's run as Bond, or it could be just a story of a new 007 temporarily replacing Bond until the status quo is reestablished and we move on to recasting a new "James Bond, Agent 007" for the next film.
I'll reserve some judgment for now, but if they really try to make another person 007 going forward that isn't James Bond (yes, that applies to other men, too, as I don't want "007 - Chet Anderson" as a character to follow), then I'm going to have to stop being a fan of this franchise, the way that I've grown to dislike Star Wars and have no faith in Terminator anymore.
Power Rangers: Legend of the White Dragon
A Kickstarter is out there (with a teaser) for a Power Rangers fan film that actually looks pretty damn interesting. Of course, it has some cheese to it, but hey, the Green/White Ranger is my favorite and this looks like a more mature "what if" future storyline that merges those two together. Tommy's the man.
Could Kraven be from Wakanda?
Take it with a grain of salt, but something is going around that the next Spider-Man movie may have Kraven in it, and his backstory might be that he's from a tribe in Wakanda that was cast aside, which is why we don't see his group in Black Panther.
That sounds pretty cool. I'd be down for that, especially if they go with the thing I've been saying for a long time in that if Kraven is in a movie, we need Scorpion in that movie, too, to be a more physical fight for Peter.
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot Red Band Trailer
Big fan of Kevin Smith and the Clerks series. Strike Back is my #2 favorite, probably, just behind Clerks and above Mallrats. While this didn't make me crack up, I'm seeing it opening night anyway.
Halloween Kills & Halloween Ends
Two sequels to the most recent Halloween film have been announced. Hey, at least these have actual titles, right? Because it doesn't make any sense that there have been 3 movies called Halloween where one is a reboot (makes sense) and the other one is a sequel to the original one, making it effectively a reboot of Halloween 2, but not called Halloween 2. It really should have been something like "Halloween ___"
Kills? Ends? The titles sound kind of dumb.
Watchmen Trailer
This certainly looks ambitious. I don't know if I'll watch it, but it seems like they're trying, so that's good.
Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 4 Film Slate Announced
Oh boy is there a lot to unpack and talk about and speculate on with this.
Black Widow (May 1, 2020) = Not much new on this front. I'm still disappointed Taskmaster is the villain, as I think he's better suited for another film down the line, but at least Yelena is in it. Mark my words, though...Rachel Weisz is going to turn out to be Taskmaster and they're gender-switching the character. I guarantee it. And if I'm wrong, well, then, that guarantee sure sucked, didn't it?
Eternals (November 6, 2020) = I know almost nothing about The Eternals, so my opinion on this hasn't changed at all. The cast seems huge and I don't know the source material, or the work of director Chloé Zhao. This is basically like how I went into Guardians of the Galaxy the first time, in many ways.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (February 12, 2021) = Whaaaaat? We're getting the real Mandarin? That's awesome!!!!!
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (May 7, 2021) = Did not see that title coming at all, but I like it. Nightmare is confirmed as the villain, although I assume Baron Mordo will still pop up. But Scarlet Witch will be in this, which is very interesting. Maybe they're making her powers develop to the comics hex magic type stuff.
Thor: Love and Thunder (November 5, 2021) = Weird title. Love that Taika is returning. LOVE that they're continuing to do Thor films. I don't know where I stand on Natalie Portman coming back, but I do know that I have zero interest in Jane Foster taking up the powers of Thor. I just do not care about that storyline, and I feel like it's a weak/lame/transparent attempt to cash in on the female empowerment boom that has happened in the past few years with no substance and a hollow escape by saying if you dislike it, you're clearly sexist or something. And let me get this straight by saying if they announced that the film was going to have Eric Masterson take up the role of Thor, I'd dislike that just as much. I want my Thor to be Thor, my 007 to be James Bond, my Batman to be Bruce Wayne, my Spider-Man to be Peter Parker, etc. I would have been interested in so many options for another Thor movie, and not one of them would ever be "Jane becomes Thor."
No release date, or much info, for the following...
Black Panther 2 = I really love the pitch of having this be a war against Atlantis to introduce Namor, or to have Doctor Doom come into play here, or both. But we'll see. In either fashion, this was a must.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 = Necessary. I'm not sure why they don't have much to talk about with this, though, when it should be one of the ones that we're getting sooner than later, right?
Captain Marvel 2 = I dig the idea of the subtitle being "Higher, Further, Faster" if they were to go with that route, but I'm fine with it just being Captain Marvel 2. I think the first film is severely flawed and I hope they fix those issues, like giving Carol some actual personality and not setting it in a time frame for the sake of shits and giggles.
Blade = Really? I know Blade has some value, and people like the Wesley Snipes movies for how bad they are, but I'm disappointed in this. I wanted Midnight Sons and to combine Blade with Ghost Rider and Morbius and all. Also, Mahershala Ali is Blade, even though he was Cottonmouth? Further proof the television shows basically don't count.
Fantastic 4 = If anyone can figure out a way to make this work, it's this group. The MCU has its flaws here and there, but by and large, it's got a success rate of like 95%.
** Where's the next Spider-Man movie? What about X-Men? No Thunderbolts is REALLY surprising to me.
And then there's the television shows...
Loki = They're going with the idea of tracking what he did when he escaped with the tesseract in 2012. I still think that doesn't make much sense, as shouldn't Captain America have gone back in time and replaced the stone from before they ever took it? The time travel stuff in Endgame really doesn't make sense.
The Falcon and The Winter Soldier = Cool logo. Glad to hear that Daniel Brühl will return with the iconic mask this time around.
WandaVision = I still hate that title, and I'm still curious why it's rumored to be set in the 1950s, and I'm even more curious now that they've said this will include an adult Monica Rambeau. That just makes no sense to me without having more details, so I'm just bewildered and confused.
Hawkeye = Kate Bishop is confirmed. Neat.
What If? = Jeffrey Wright will voice The Watcher? AWESOME.
Avengers: Endgame Beats Avatar!
Finally!!! I'm so glad that such an awesome and deserving film like Endgame is now at the top of the food chain for the box office. It's so good, and Avatar was an underwhelming film that I really never thought should have been at the top. Hopefully, they don't just re-re-release the movie again and get the record again. If that happens, Endgame needs to be released another time and they can just play around with that.
Young Justice Renewed for Season 4
Overall, I love this series. There are problems with keeping the storyline going in a linear fashion, rather than just jumping to another thing like someone with ADHD, but having this series out there is an awesome thing, because it shows a more adult side to these characters that we don't get to see all that often, and a wide variety of cast members. Seriously, when's the last time you remember a spotlight being given to Tempest?
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THESE TOPICS?
LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW!
0 comments: