Posted by
The Dace Man
- Thursday, January 21, 2016
It's time to settle the score of some of the greatest battles never to happen in history! What would happen if a bear fought Popeye? How 'bout if Stephen Colbert went toe-to-toe with a mutated slice of pizza? Well the crew at The Dace Man Show are here to discuss the vast potential of such match-ups.
This episode The Dace Man faces off against Nicholas Andrew to debate whether Tribbles or Hydra would win a battle!
Welcome to The Duel!
The Duel is brought to you by Skybound's SuperFight! You can purchase the starter deck and all expansions here: https://www.superfightgame.com/
As always, check back regularly to see what Chris "The Dace Man" Dace is looking at (and no, not just porn), as well as all of the other bloggers here at Fanboys Anonymous. Remember, keyboard warriors: leave your feedback! Until the next time, for the few, the proud, and, of course, the Dacetacular, grab a beer—and in this case your SuperFight! starter deck!—and check out what's going on here in the Dace-Sphere. See ya next time!
Listen live to The Dace Man Show every Wednesday at 8 p.m. EST on Mega Powers Radio.
Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Batman: Bad Blood is the latest installment in the line of DC animated direct-to-video films that have been released over the past few years. Is it worth the watch or it is something that should be skipped?
Batman: Bad Blood—directed by Jay Oliva; written by J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Grant Morrison (comic book); starring Stuart Allan (Damian Wayne / Robin), Sean Maher (Dick Grayson / Nightwing), Morena Baccarin (Talia al Ghul), Steve Blum (Electrocutioner), Gaius Charles (Luke Fox / Batwing), James Garrett (Alfred Pennyworth), Travis Willingham (Heretic), Yvonne Strahovski (Kathy Kane / Batwoman) and Jason O'Mara (Bruce Wayne / Batman).
The first thing to do with these films is to establish what continuity they take place in. Some movies like Justice League: Gods and Monsters or Batman: Assault on Arkham are separate from one another and try to have as wide of a variety as possible. They're rather odd and they are very much hit or miss. Then there are the Batman Unlimited ones targeted towards kids and based off the Mattel action figure line. One look at those and you'll see an onslaught of characters thrown into random fight sequences for the sake of selling toys.
Thankfully, Batman: Bad Blood takes place in the same universe as the more serious films that are connected to one another, having started with Justice League: War and also including Son of Batman, Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, and Batman vs. Robin. This means the more modern story arcs are being told and the target audience is more teenagers and above than little kids, as evidenced by things like exploding heads and lesbian affairs. Yup, those two things are in this movie, although I won't spoil who does what.
What I will spoil, though, is that this story takes inspiration from Batman Incorporated, the Leviathan organization and other arcs following those connective threads. After the disappearance of Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson adopts the Batman persona and teams up with Damian Wayne to find out who is behind Bruce's supposed death and how to stop whatever their plan happens to be. Meanwhile, we're introduced to Batwing (Luke Fox, who must deal with the responsibility of following in the footsteps of his father, Lucius Fox) and Batwoman (Katherine Kane, who struggles to find a purpose to herself and a means to deal with the pain of loss)—two stories that feel a bit shoehorned in and don't have much time to breathe. I much rather would have preferred to see Batwoman and Batwing sit this one out to allow more time to be focused on Nightwing, as every story in this whole movie gets rushed. There just isn't enough enough time in just over an hour to set up all of the emotional stakes properly and flesh out a better story.
Then again, we're not watching these movies for Best Picture Oscar material, right? We watch them because they're easier-to-digest methods of reading comic books, and if you're a fan of the Batman series, you're bound to smile at all sorts of things in this movie. One of my favorite parts was seeing the inclusion of the C-list villains Firefly and Killer Moth, who happened to have pretty cool designs. Alfred gets a nice moment to show off how he's a bad ass, as Grayson puts it, which is a nice little scene that I appreciated as well. The characterization of nearly everybody is spot on, and these movies are giving me an even better appreciation for the Damian Wayne character. Plus, I've always thought Nightwing was massively underutilized, so more movies with him doing his thing gets a big thumbs up for me. I am curious, though, where Tim Drake and Jason Todd are in this universe, but their lack of inclusion here doesn't hurt the film.
The action is fun, the music isn't memorable but it does its job soundly (see what I did there?) and the overall tone of the film is what I was hoping it would be. Things in the Batman universe are always on the more sullen side, but there are jokes peppered throughout that break up the tension just enough to keep it from being too dour. The visuals are also something to commend, taking what I feel are the best character models from any animated superhero adaptation and not messing with the formula, only improving it. There are no weird body proportions with giant torsos or anything in this film as every character is muscular within reason.
Out of the films that have come out for this line, I definitely wouldn't rank this as my favorite, but I don't really have any fervent complaints about it, either. This is a perfectly adequate story for comic book fans to watch for an hour on a night when they're bored or something of the sort. If you're not a big fan of the Batman franchise, it likely won't strike much of a chord with you, so keep that in mind. If you are, however, I would definitely recommend it.
On the latest edition of the Movie Trailer Reactions podcast for Fanboys Anonymous, the panel breaks down their initial reaction and their overall thoughts about the latest trailer for Suicide Squad released earlier today.
Although this is the first official trailer released by Warner Bros. for the film, this is our second look at the movie after what went down with the San Diego Comic Con trailer in 2015. That was intended for just the crowd that that venue, but it was leaked online and Warner Bros. was essentially forced to put out the high quality version of it in response. That trailer received massive buzz and a wide variety of positive comments from the fan base, but does this trailer measure up?
Hosted by Tony Mango, the panel includes Caroline Oliveira and Mike Paden
Some topics we address:
Bohemian Rhapsody = copying Guardians of the Galaxy?
Will Smith is just Will Smith
The look of The Joker and Harley Quinn
No Ike Barinholtz? No Jim Parrack?
Who is Scott Eastwood?
What's going on with the monsters and the acid?
and more!
You can watch the podcast below. Make sure to subscribe!
OFFICIAL TRAILER:
TRAILER REACTION:
A secret government agency recruits imprisoned supervillains to execute dangerous black ops missions in exchange for clemency.
Suicide Squad will be released in theaters August 5, 2016.
Directed by: David Ayer
Written by: David Ayer and John Ostrander (comic book)
Starring: Will Smith (Floyd Lawton / Deadshot), Margot Robbie (Dr. Harleen Quinzel / Harley Quinn), Jared Leto (The Joker), Jai Courtney (Captain Boomerang), Cara Delevingne (Enchantress), Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flagg), Viola Davis (Amanda Waller) and Ben Affleck (Bruce Wayne / Batman)
Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Every year when the list of nominees for the Academy Awards is announced, it's always met with not only buzz about the best movies of the year, but also buzz about the films that were ignored in some fashion. In the past, we've had comic book fans upset that Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight wasn't given a Best Picture nomination, The Lego Movie not being nominated for Best Animated Feature, Jake Gyllenhaal for Nightcrawler and of course Ava DuVernay and David Oyelowo for Selma.
Sometimes, those criticisms are justified, and it just seems like the academy is filled with a bunch of out of touch, old white men who either have an agenda against a particular race, a particular genre of films, or whatever the case may be. Then again, there are those times where there are just way too many choices and only a few slots, and some great movies are going to miss out on being nominated. Often, people will complain if their preferences aren't nominated just because they liked that movie better and not because they think it's legitimately one of the best of the year.
All three of those possible reasons to take issue have been exhibited with the 88th Academy Awards, so let's take a look at some of the supposed snubs from the 2016 Oscars and break down just why they might not have been nominated.
Best Picture
More than any other award, the one that gets the most attention is Best Picture, and since everyone has their favorites, that naturally has the most amount of fuss surrounding it.
One of the biggest complaints is that Straight Outta Compton wasn't given enough credit, with a lot of people thinking it should have been in this category. At the moment, there are a lot of movies that I have yet to see, so I can't fully comment on the quality of them, but I do have to admit that Straight Outta Compton looked very interesting and I've heard really positive things about it. The same thing applies to Creed, which has even been met with a better reception (and an average 93.5% score on Rotten Tomatoes—amazing). Those two movies are receiving a lot of heat that they weren't nominated as they're predominantly African American and that there's a bias against those subject matters. I naturally can't speak to the voters themselves to assure everyone that they don't discriminate, but I would suggest people keep things in perspective and remember that Selma was nominated for Best Picture last year and 12 Years a Slave won the previous year and Beasts of the Southern Wild being nominated in 2012. More than the racial divide, I would think the bigger issue as to why these weren't nominated is the subject matter. Creed is a boxing film and the seventh in its franchise while Straight Outta Compton is about rappers. It's a chance the voters felt no real connection to those stories as they aren't as simple as some of the other nominees.
Some are complaining that Star Wars: The Force Awakens should have been nominated for Best Picture as well. As a fan of the movie and an even bigger fan of the franchise as a whole, I have to 100% disagree. It's a great addition to the series and it makes me excited for the future, but it's not Best Picture material. Monetary success is not a direct indicator to how good a movie is, or else we'd see nominations for Transformers: Age of Extinction, which was utter trash.
Inside Out is another that people are up in arms about. First off, I'd have to state that I'm not as big of a fan of that movie as many other people are, but even more than my personal preferences, I'd point out the Best Animated Feature category. This is essentially a cop-out to avoid nominating animated films in the regular Best Picture category (even though it's happened before with Toy Story 3) and it's just as good of an award in the grand scheme of things. At least you're not The Peanuts Movie or Minions which weren't even nominated for Best Animated Feature, right?
Best Director
The four biggest snubs I'm hearing about are Quentin Tarantino for The Hateful Eight, Ridley Scott for The Martian, Todd Haynes for Carol and Ryan Coogler for Creed.
Carol just strikes me as the type of film that has strong performances and a dramatic enough storyline to get noticed, but not something that requires as much directorial expertise as some of the other nominees. I would give more of a pass to Creed for breathing new life into a dead franchise, but isn't a big bulk of that just the screenplay and the performances as well?
The Martian definitely takes a step up as far as something I could see needing a steady hand at the wheel for director, and after a slew of bad films, Ridley Scott might have needed this vote of confidence. Perhaps the voters looked at this more as Matt Damon's performance holding up the film than anything else.
As far as Tarantino goes, I hate to say it, but I think this might be a vocal minority. The Hateful Eight hasn't been turning heads left and right. Even I, a Tarantino fan who considers Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction to be two of his top 10 favorite movies of all time, am waiting to see it later on.
Best Actor / Actress
Without a doubt, the man who most analysts are predicting will win Best Actor is Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant. Some are leaning more towards Eddie Redmayne for The Danish Girl while others are thinking it's a guarantee Matt Damon wins for The Martian or Michael Fassbender wins for Steve Jobs. Unfortunately for Bryan Cranston, I'm not hearing much buzz about him having a chance for Trumbo.
Cranston stands out as the nominee that most people would replace with another name. Is Johnny Depp the guy who should have gotten that spot with Black Mass? I watched the film, thought it was good enough to receive some nominations, and I would have been okay with Depp being rewarded for doing something different instead of playing another androgynous flamboyant character. I probably wouldn't have expected him to win, but it could have been nice to motivate him to do more films like this.
I can't speak for Michael B. Jordan in Creed (yet), but everything I've heard is that his performance is nowhere near as good as Sylvester Stallone's. That could have overshadowed him enough for voters to ignore him. If you want to talk about people stealing films, there's definitely more of a justification for Charlize Theron being nominated for Best Actress for Mad Max: Fury Road than Tom Hardy, considering how Furiosa was easily the biggest takeaway from the movie in pop culture. If Hardy were to be nominated, Legend would make more sense to me. Playing two characters at once should have given him an edge, right? Then again, it didn't work for Eddie Murphy all these years.
Will Smith is the standout to me for Concussion. That's another case where I've yet to see the film, but even on the trailers alone I felt as though he could have a nomination coming his way. I've heard great things and if those sentiments are correct, then I'm not surprised people think he should have taken Cranston's spot.
Miscellaneous Other Awards
Three people suggested for Best Supporting Actor are nine-year-old Jacob Tremblay (Room), Idris Elba (Beast of No Nation) and Michael Keaton (Spotlight). If Mark Ruffalo was given a nomination for the same film as Keaton, then the voters probably just thought he was better and didn't want to give two to the same film. With Elba, that film received no nominations and could be more out of spite for the Netflix platform than anything else. As far as Tremblay goes, until I see the movie, I can't say for sure, but it's just possible that his performance isn't good enough to put him in the running for an already stacked list.
Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth's song "See You Again" from Furious 7 has a ton of support from people wishing it were nominated for Best Original Song. Admittedly, this one does seem like an odd choice to leave out, especially considering how it's made significantly more impact in pop culture than any other song nominated. I have no idea about this snub...
With the screenplay awards, there's a mixed bag. Some think Amy Schumer should have been nominated for Trainwreck. Those people are ridiculous, I think. That movie is nothing special at all. As mentioned before, Quentin Tarantino's buzz for The Hateful Eight isn't loud enough to make me think a mistake was made in not nominating him. I do, however, think it's odd that Aaron Sorkin wasn't nominated for Steve Jobs, although if you look at the list, three of the five were nominated for Best Picture as well (if you count Inside Out for Best Animated Feature). If Steve Jobs were nominated for that award or Best Director, then I think it would have looked a bit more off.
I'm sure there are a ton of other films and the workers on those films that people feel should have been nominated in one way or another, and if you have any to add to the list, tell us! Should Ex Machina have been in the Best Picture race? Is Sicario being screwed over? Were you really hoping to see more attention given to Joy?
Hey, hey, hey, Dacetacular nation! Check out episode 135 of The Dace Man Show with hostsFrank Ward, Gibby, and Pattie McTitties!!
::SPORTS NEWS::
The NHL, MLB, NFL, and our favorite: curling!
::WEIRD NEWS WITH GIBBY::
Gibby brings the class to the show with weird things going on in the world!
::FRANK'S CORNER::
Frank-tastic facts for your everyday life
::CELEB NEWS::
Dace is back, and he's packing a punch since he's on some diet pills and Red Bull. Get ready Hollywood!
Plus the occasional game ofWho Said It, the crowning of The Doucebag of The Week,and much, much more, only on The Dace Man Show.
As always, check back regularly to see what Chris "The Dace Man" Dace is looking at (and no, not just porn), as well as all of the other bloggers here at Fanboys Anonymous. Remember, keyboard warriors: leave your feedback! Until the next time, for the few, the proud, and, of course,the Dacetacular, grab a beer—and in this case a comfy seat in front of your computer—and check out what's going on here in the Dace-Sphere. See ya next time!
Listen live to The Dace Man Show every Tuesday at 8 p.m. EST on Mega Powers Radio.
It's time to settle the score of some of the greatest battles never to happen in history! What would happen if a bear fought Popeye? How 'bout if Stephen Colbert went toe-to-toe with a mutated slice of pizza? Well the crew at The Dace Man Show are here to discuss the vast potential of such match-ups.
This episode The Dace Man faces off against Frank Ward to debate whether The Terminator or a Demon possessed car would win a battle!
Welcome to The Duel!
The Duel is brought to you by Skybound's SuperFight! You can purchase the starter deck and all expansions here: https://www.superfightgame.com/
As always, check back regularly to see what Chris "The Dace Man" Dace is looking at (and no, not just porn), as well as all of the other bloggers here at Fanboys Anonymous. Remember, keyboard warriors: leave your feedback! Until the next time, for the few, the proud, and, of course, the Dacetacular, grab a beer—and in this case your SuperFight! starter deck!—and check out what's going on here in the Dace-Sphere. See ya next time!
Listen live to The Dace Man Show every Wednesday at 8 p.m. EST on Mega Powers Radio.
Tim Curry, the man who brought the infamous fishnet-clad Frank-N-Furter to life in the Rocky Horror Picture Show 40 years ago, will be time-warping back for Fox's reboot of the classic Richard O'Brien musical, premiering later this year. Well, how 'bout that?
Curry, the Emmy Award–winning actor who originated the role in the 1973 London stage production and shortly after made his screen debut in the 1975 film version, will be joining the cast as the "Criminologist," a small narrative persona whom those familiar with late-night shadow cast performances mock for his lack of neck, thus creating an abundance of call backs.
The cult classic is the longest running film in history, strongly keeping its cultural phenomena alive in shadow casts throughout the world. The campy film, which plays homage to science fiction and B-rated horror of the 1930s through the 1970s, features deeper themes that includes gender and sexuality and has been reclaimed as a significant role in the LGBT community.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show centers upon newly engaged sweethearts Brad and Janet, who stumble upon Dr. Frank-N-Furter's castle after their car breaks down in the rain. They arrive on a rather special night, as the sexually ambiguous mad scientist holds his annual Transylvanian convention to showcase the birth of his newest creation: Rocky Horror, a tall man with blonde hair and a tan.
"I am very happy and excited to be part of this new event," Curry said in a statement.
Previously announced cast members include Laverne Cox (Orange is the New Black), who will be filling in Curry's iconic heels. Ryan McCartan (Heathers, the Musical) and Victoria Justice (Victorious) star as Brad and Janet, alongside Reeve Carney (Penny Dreadful) as Riff Raff; Staz Nair (Game of Thrones) as Rocky; and Adam Lambert (Glee) as Eddie. The roles of Magenta, Columbia, and Dr. Everett Scott have yet to be revealed.
This will be the 69-year-old actor's first live-action appearance following a stroke in 2012 that caused him to require a wheelchair. Last year, Curry made a rare red-carpet appearance when he was honored with The Actors Fund Lifetime Achievement Award at the Tony Awards Viewing Party in Los Angeles.
The two-hour musical will be directed, choreographed, and produced by Kenny Ortega (High School Musical, Michael Jackson's This Is It) and will air this fall on Fox. Lou Adler, who was the executive producer in the original film, will claim the same role in the reboot.
Do you shiver with anticipation for Fox's Rocky Horror reboot?
Have an opinion on any cast announcements you'd like to share?
Back in September, our Group Meeting podcast for that month was a breakdown of the television shows for the 2015–2016 season that we were excited about watching. On my part of that list was something called The Frankenstein Code, which didn't have a set premiere date at the time.
Eventually, I would go searching for this information and would find nothing. Why, you might ask? That's because the title of the show had changed to Lookinglass. Okay, whatever, maybe they had a rights issue that couldn't be cleared up or they decided that using the name Frankenstein in the title might turn off the audience in a way. Things happen.
Then, a few months later, I went looking to see if a premiere had been settled on, only to find out that the title of the show had changed again, this time to Second Chance. Funny, I would have thought "third."
Surprisingly, after all this insanity, I waded through the unknown to find out that Second Chance made its premiere on January 13th, so I was finally able to check it out. Is it worth getting into, or was this just a stalling tactic to prolong the release of an underwhelming show? Here are my thoughts on episode 1, entitled "A Suitable Donor" and the future of the series.
WARNING - SPOILERS BELOW
Premise / Storyline
Jimmy Pritchard (Philip Baker Hall) is a former sheriff who was forced out of the job after tampering with evidence in what he feels to have been a justifiable action to help keep the town safe. Why did he do it? What did he do, exactly? Those are left up to speculation as part of a mystery to be answered at a later time.
His son, Duval (Tim DeKay—also known as "that guy I always momentarily get mixed up with Nathan Fillion on par with how Elias Koteas and Christopher Meloni look alike as well") is an FBI agent whose partner is corrupt. When Jimmy stumbles upon Duval's partner being all bad guyish, Jimmy is killed.
Lucky for Jimmy, his body is taken by Otto Goodwin (Adhir Kalyan)—a genius with severe social problems who is experimenting with ways to cure his sister Mary (Dilshad Vadsaria) of cancer. They run a super mega successful corporation called Lookinglass (now you get where the title came from) and with their tech, they're able to bring Jimmy back to life in the body of his younger self, portrayed by Robert Kazinsky. By the end of the episode, we're left with some openendedness that implies that the series will consist of Young Jimmy helping Duval get rid of the corruption in the police force while also trying to repair his relationship with his son as well as his drunkard daughter Helen (Amanda Detmer), while Otto focuses on curing Mary rather than himself in the off-time that they aren't Young Jimmy's Alfred Pennyworth or Q, however you look at it.
Casting / Characters
For the most part, these are all perfectly fine. Robert Kazinsky comes off as TV lead material who is charming enough to be liked but has enough of an edge so you kind of associate him with being the "bad boy" antihero that people love so much. Basically, he's a jerk with a heart of gold. Philip Baker Hall is always great, so no complaints about Old Jimmy, that rascal.
Tim DeKay is somewhat of an opposition to Robert Kazinsky. On the surface, Jimmy is a crappier person than Duval, but behind the eyes of the viewer, Duval kind of comes off as less likable. That's a good thing if they're able to explore that some more, but it's a bad thing if Duval just becomes whiny or obnoxiously stubborn where no matter what, he continually reverts back to hating his dad.
Dilshad Vadsaria is gorgeous, and I don't know if that's making me like her character more than I normally would if she were played by someone ugly, which I'll admit is totally wrong, but it happens. That's why they cast beautiful people—sex sells. As beautiful as she is, she wasn't portrayed as "the sexy one" of the show, which goes to Nicky Whelan's character Bettina. She's a super hot prostitute and a very good one at that, it seems, so let's move on.
I could see the character of Mary Goodwin being a huge benefit to the show or something that becomes bothersome, depending on how they handle her. Right now, she comes off as "the responsible one" of the cast. She shows off that she's an astute businesswoman, but most of her decisions come down to saying what is right and what is wrong. Since they clearly don't want to show her off as "the intelligent one" (a position usurped by her brother, Otto) they need to make sure she goes more into the range of being the heart of the group rather than being a nagging shrew. I could love her for being the nicest and most caring of the bunch, or I could grow to just hate every time she opens her mouth if she's scolding people constantly and not doing much else.
Speaking of Otto, that character is annoying. Adhir Kalyan comes off to me as just phoning it in with his performance. I care more about Otto when other people are talking about him than when I'm seeing him on screen. That needs to change.
Kudos to Ciara Bravo for getting another show. I liked her on Red Band Society so I couldn't help but smile when I saw her pop up. It's always nice to see actors get more roles.
Amanda Detmer's Helen…pass. Derek Webster's Agent Strayburn…meh. Scott Menville's artificial intelligent program Arthur? Well, my reaction to that was basically "wait a minute, isn't that Robin from Teen Titans?" He's no HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey or even GERTY from Moon, but he'll do just fine.
Overall, I'm okay with this cast of characters we have in front of us, and it's just a matter of whether or not the writers have a solid enough plan of what to do with them going forward.
Future of the Series
Doomed. Sorry, but I can't be optimistic about this. I've seen way too many shows that I've enjoyed which seemed to have more buzz behind them get axed in their first season. If FlashForward and Forever and the aforementioned Red Band Society couldn't make it to a second season, why would I expect this one to be different? Even shows like Hannibal and Resurrection, which were able to come back, seemed to get preemptively killed off. In some instances, I have to imagine there just isn't support from someone at the top of the food chain that personally likes it, as they would be more than willing to bend the rules a bit for something that they genuinely love, but I don't see that happening here.
Second Chance had its network premiere on January 13th, but it was actually available on demand with a true debut of December 25th. I can't imagine many people tuning in Christmas day for it, but that probably did nothing but hurt this show's chances. The ratings for this first episode were rather low, scoring a 1.2. This is the second lowest of the network shows in that time slot, beating out only a rerun of CW's Arrow (which thankfully has gotten better this season than the last) and falling behind CBS's Criminal Minds (2.0), NBC's Law & Order: SVU (2.0) and ABC's Modern Family (2.6).
It probably doesn't help that the lead-in for Second Chance was American Idol of all things, either. Sure, that show was once a phenomenon, but it isn't anymore. This is the last season, so it's dying, giving off the impression that this just isn't a priority. A dead show that ran its course years ago and has a completely different target audience isn't going to help out a show that has had three title changes, little to no marketing, a previous release and is debuting on Wednesday night in the mid-season.
There's no chance this gets renewed, and seeing as how it's already had its episode order cut in October down to 11, I wouldn't even be surprised if it makes it to that number, sadly.
Watch or Skip?
That being said, I still would recommend it for people who are fans of the genre. It seems like it's an ambitious show that perhaps also just doesn't have enough ambition to stand out. If things were crazier, it could have been more divisive, which means that it could have never made it to the pilot stage to begin with or it could have been something that caught on better. The way it is now, it just seems like it plays it too safe to the point where everyone will view it as mediocre and unoriginal, so they'll write it off as not being worth their time. The choices made in regards to its debut and its marketing have effectively give it the gun that it will shoot itself with, but before the inevitable demise of this program, I'd suggest giving it a watch.
That is, of course, unless episode 2 is terrible, in which case Second Chance might not deserve a second chance.
What do you think of the show?
Are you going to be watching it, or are you passing?
2016 has started out with some very sad news. A few days ago, the world lost David Bowie. On January 14th, we lost beloved British actor Alan Rickman, who at 69 lost his battle with cancer.
The news came as a shock to his fans and fellow actors, who took to social media to mourn his passing.
Rickman as Harry Potter's Snape.
To no one's surprise, the Harry Potter family expressed their deep sadness.
There are no words to express how shocked and devastated I am to hear of Alan Rickman's death. He was a magnificent actor & a wonderful man.
Daniel Radcliffe posted on his Google Plus page an emotional statement, highlighting "how wonderful the British actor was despite what people might have assumed given his character's intimidating persona."
Emma Watson, aka Hermione, also posted heartfelt words on her Facebook page:
"I'm very sad to hear about Alan today. I feel so lucky to have worked and spent time with such a special man and actor. I'll really miss our conversations. RIP Alan. We love you."
Emma Thompson, Rickman's close friend and frequent collaborator (they worked together in Love Actually, three Harry Potter films, Sense and Sensibility and Judas Kiss) said in a statement that saying goodbye to the actor was "painful."
Alan was my friend and so this is hard to write because I have just kissed him goodbye. What I remember most in this moment of painful leave-taking is his humor, intelligence, wisdom and kindness. The intransigence which made him the great artist he was – his ineffable and cynical wit, the clarity with which he saw most things, including me, and the fact that he never spared me the view.
Rickman broke into Hollywood with his role as as the murderous German terror boss Hans Gruber opposite Bruce Willis in Die Hard. He quickly became known as one of the best "actor-villains" and went on to have over 60 film credits to his name, including the Sheriff of Nottingham in 1991's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, for which he won a BAFTA award, and Judge Turpin opposite Johnny Depp in 2007's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Posted by
The Dace Man
- Thursday, January 14, 2016
It's time to settle the score of some of the greatest battles never to happen in history! What would happen if a bear fought Popeye? How 'bout if Stephen Colbert went toe-to-toe with a mutated slice of pizza? Well the crew at The Dace Man Show are here to discuss the vast potential of such match-ups.
This episode The Dace Man faces off against Frank Ward to debate whether Miley Cyrus or The Kardashians would win a battle!
Welcome to The Duel!
The Duel is brought to you by Skybound's SuperFight! You can purchase the starter deck and all expansions here: https://www.superfightgame.com/
As always, check back regularly to see what Chris "The Dace Man" Dace is looking at (and no, not just porn), as well as all of the other bloggers here at Fanboys Anonymous. Remember, keyboard warriors: leave your feedback! Until the next time, for the few, the proud, and, of course, the Dacetacular, grab a beer—and in this case your SuperFight! starter deck!—and check out what's going on here in the Dace-Sphere. See ya next time!
Listen live to The Dace Man Show every Wednesday at 8 p.m. EST on Mega Powers Radio.
Posted by
The Dace Man
- Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Hey, hey, hey, Dacetacular nation! Check out episode 134 of The Dace Man Show with hosts Chris "The Dace Man" Dace, Frank Ward, and Gibby!!
::SPORTS NEWS::
The NHL, MLB, NFL, and our favorite: curling!
::WEIRD NEWS WITH GIBBY::
Gibby brings the class to the show with weird things going on in the world!
::FRANK'S CORNER::
Frank-tastic facts for your everyday life
::CELEB NEWS::
Dace is back, and he's packing a punch since he's on some diet pills and Red Bull. Get ready Hollywood!
Plus the occasional game ofWho Said It, the crowning of The Doucebag of The Week,and much, much more, only on The Dace Man Show.
As always, check back regularly to see what Chris "The Dace Man" Dace is looking at (and no, not just porn), as well as all of the other bloggers here at Fanboys Anonymous. Remember, keyboard warriors: leave your feedback! Until the next time, for the few, the proud, and, of course,the Dacetacular, grab a beer—and in this case a comfy seat in front of your computer—and check out what's going on here in the Dace-Sphere. See ya next time!
Listen live to The Dace Man Show every Tuesday at 8 p.m. EST on Mega Powers Radio.
Welcome to the latest edition of Making the Grade—a review format segment here on Fanboys Anonymous where we break down the five major components of something and give it a score based on the standard report card lineup: A, B, C, D, and F for a total failure.
The next report card is for a film which is getting lots of buzz right now and could potentially win the Academy Award for Best Picture very soon: The Revenant.
The Revenant—directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu; written by Mark L. Smith (screenplay), Alejandro G. Iñárritu (screenplay), Michael Punke (novel); starring Leonardo DiCaprio (Hugh Glass), Tom Hardy (John Fitzgerald), Domhnall Gleeson (Captain Andrew Henry), Will Poulter (Bridger), Forrest Goodluck (Hawk), Paul Anderson (Anderson), Kristoffer Joner (Murphy), and Joshua Burge (Stubby Bill).
WARNING - SPOILERS BELOW
CHARACTERS: C–
Our protagonist Hugh Glass is rather disappointing, not having much to him other than grunts of determination to avenge his son, Hawk, who is nothing much more than just "Glass's son who dies." By far, that's my biggest criticism when it comes to characters, as there should have been more there. In fact, nearly every single character is indistinguishable from the next, even if you look at their IMDB profiles. I can't tell you who Anderson, Murphy, or Stubby Bill were.
Bridger is a worthwhile supporting character and Henry is honorable enough that I liked him, but he didn't do a ton other than looking concerned. Again, underwhelming, even if I thought those characters were okay.
Fitzgerald, on the other hand, is great. He's the only one with more complicated motivations than pure revenge, he has the best dialogue, has the widest range of emotion and if this film weren't half his point of view, it would be a total drag.
ACTING: A
Leonardo DiCaprio does so well with so little in this that I really hope he does win Best Actor. To be fair, though, at this time we don't know who else is going to be nominated and I haven't seen a good number of the films getting attention (like Michael Fassbender for Steve Jobs) but I think Leo's competition is going to have to be pretty damn amazing to take this from him.
That being said, Tom Hardy steals the show. I actually think he's the better actor of the two in this movie, and by default, the best actor in the whole film. If he doesn't get at least nominated for Best Supporting Actor, that's a travesty, as he should possibly win it in my book.
Everybody else gets lots of credit for putting up admirable (albeit not memorable) performances in such harsh environments. That's a lot of dedication that I know I wouldn't be able to pull off.
VISUALS (FX, MAKEUP, COSTUMES, SETS): A+
Filming this movie in natural light and coming out with that result is absolutely amazing and worth of the A+ on its own right. This movie is beautiful and it even made me—someone who has no interest in nature and camping and whatnot—kind of wish that I could just sit by one of the streams for a bit, before inevitably wimping out because that's way too damn cold for me.
While the cinematography of the environment is virtually timeless, the makeup and the costumes and sets are all pulling the weight of bringing you into that specific time frame, and they all achieve that goal in spades. People are grimy and dirty and everything seems as harsh as it likely was.
MUSIC & SOUND: B+
There wasn't much music, but in this film, that was okay, as the silence spoke for it. Still, the lack of a memorable theme is a tad disappointing. Sound design is something that I've always said I'm not the most educated about, but I saw (I mean, heard) nothing that stood out to me negative about this movie and nothing that really made me wow. Perhaps that's another instance where it's best that I didn't notice a thing, as it means it was so believable that I just bought into it all happening for real.
TONE (ACTION, ROMANCE, COMEDY): A–
ACTION: If you go into this movie expecting it to be lots of explosions and fast-paced energy, you'll be disappointed, but you'll also be an idiot because it's not advertised like that at all. The level of action in this film is far above what it needed to do to tell the story and I dug it.
COMEDY: I might have chuckled twice or thrice, but I think one of those might have been at something obscure that I wasn't supposed to laugh at, like a random idiosyncrasy or a line delivered in a funny accent. This is definitely not a movie to see if you're looking for a pick-me-up.
ROMANCE: The love story in this movie wasn't so much a romantic one, but the love between a father and son/daughter, which were about as simple as they could get. The next closest thing was between Glass and his wife (or I guess Powaqa and those terrible French guys) and there's not much to say about that.
FINAL GRADE: A
So far, this is one of the best films I've seen in the past 12 months. I don't know if I'll be rooting for it to win Best Picture quite yet, as I need to see what it's up against, but if it did win, I don't think I'd be disappointed. There are definitely some flaws here and there that could be fixed to make this an absolutely amazing movie, but I'm still astonished by a good portion of what I saw. This is long and it's dour, but just because it doesn't wrap itself up in a neat little package to send everyone home smiling doesn't mean that it isn't good, or great. The best parts about this are easily the performances of Tom Hardy and Leonardo DiCaprio as well as the cinematography. Those factors alone mean this should get a recommendation to watch.
It's time to settle the score of some of the greatest battles never to happen in history! What would happen if a bear fought Popeye? How 'bout if Stephen Colbert went toe-to-toe with a mutated slice of pizza? Well the crew at The Dace Man Show are here to discuss the vast potential of such match-ups.
This episode, Frank Ward faces off against Dan Raup to debate whether a boy band or Ash would win a battle!
Welcome to The Duel!
The Duel is brought to you by Skybound's SuperFight! You can purchase the starter deck and all expansions here: https://www.superfightgame.com/
As always, check back regularly to see what Chris "The Dace Man" Dace is looking at (and no, not just porn), as well as all of the other bloggers here at Fanboys Anonymous. Remember, keyboard warriors: leave your feedback! Until the next time, for the few, the proud, and, of course, the Dacetacular, grab a beer—and in this case your SuperFight! starter deck!—and check out what's going on here in the Dace-Sphere. See ya next time!
Listen live to The Dace Man Show every Wednesday at 8 p.m. EST on Mega Powers Radio.
There's been a lot of talk lately about the return of a certain science fiction franchise. A lot of talk. Justified? Of course. However, another franchise is returning in just a few weeks, and those of us who grew up on its hypnotizing theme music, its elements of the fantastic and the scientifically extreme, the strong relationships—good and bad—among its key characters, and its myriad catchphrases that have been a part of our vocabularies for more than 20 years are chomping at the bit in anticipation of its arrival.
I speak, of course, of The X-Files, which returns on FOX with a two-part premiere, the first at 10pm EST on Sunday, January 24, and the second at 8pm EST the next night, Monday, January 25. Mondays at 8pm will be the time slot for the remaining four episodes of this six-episode return.
Trust No One. The Truth Is Out There. Apology Is Policy. Deny Everything. These are phrases that, in our 21st-century Internet-fueled world of disbelief and misinformation, ring truer than ever. We live in a world now of Edward Snowdens, where real people risk their lives for the truth. We also live in a world where our every action is recorded, where we can track a bomber at the Boston Marathon with the casual cellphone photos of people who were unknowing witnesses and a thousand different kinds of overhead camera footage. Watch one episode of a show like Person of Interest and you'll realize how truly public our lives really are.
In the time of The X-Files, the paranoia of men like The Lone Gunmen and Fox Mulder was seemingly laughable, even as we knew that the evil, corrupt Cigarette Smoking Man really was watching, listening, and manipulating things behind the scenes. Go back and watch The X-Files now and imagine those same plots, but throw in the Internet as it is today, not the early dialup version that appeared in the show. Imagine it with everyone carrying cellphones that have cameras and microphones the government can access and turn on at will, listening in whenever and wherever they choose. Imagine how many more people would have believed Mulder if he could have brought home a few selfies of himself with some of those aliens he so often came across?
The X-Files was a show ahead of its time in many ways because it foretold so much. Rewatching it is also a good time because of the many, many guest appearances by actors who went on to bigger and better things: Seth Green, Jack Black, Giovanni Ribisi, Ryan Reynolds, Lucy Liu, and B.D. Wong all appeared in just the first few seasons. Other, more well-known actors also made guest appearances, including Jodie Foster, Danny Trejo, Garry Shandling, Ed Asner and Lily Tomlin (who appeared together in "The Ghosts Who Stole Christmas," a must-see episode), Jesse L. Martin, and Bryan Cranston, who went on to star in Breaking Bad. In fact, legend has it that when they were casting Breaking Bad and Cranston's name came up, most of the producers were against him because they knew him only as the dad from Malcolm in the Middle. However, Vince Gilligan, who had worked on The X-Files, showed them "Drive," the episode Cranston guest appeared in, and it was that performance that won him the role of Walter White.
Where would we be today without Mulder and Scully? Think about the shows that populate television. How many shows before The X-Files were built on the premise that a man and a woman could work together and build a friendship and a trust without an ongoing sexual relationship, and how many came after? In the first episode of Bones, one example of just such a working relationship, FBI Agent Booth tells Dr. Brennan: "We're Scully and Mulder." How many involve uncovering conspiracies or government treacheries or supernatural occurrences? Look at the supernatural element of the show. How many shows that came after followed just that aspect? When he tries to debunk her in a Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode titled, "The Pack," Buffy Summers herself tells Giles, "I can't believe you, of all people, are trying to Scully me!"
The X-Files ended its run in 2002. By then, David Duchovny (Mulder) had been gone from the show as a regular for some time, and Gillian Anderson (Scully), though still a part of the show, had a less active role as the writers tried to build a new team with Agents Monica Reyes (Annabeth Gish) and John Doggett (Robert Patrick). However, in the post-9/11 America, the idea of government treachery and scheming had fallen out of favor in place of national pride and patriotism. Duchovny returned for the last few episodes and tried to help wrap up the series, but the thing about The X-Files was—and is—that there were always more questions than answers. A second movie, I Want to Believe, was made in 2008 (the first had been released in 1998 during the run of the show) but was generally panned by critics and fans alike; I know I, for one, like to pretend it never existed. I had loved the first film, Fight the Future, but the second? Indiewire described it as "fumbling…, like scrambling for a pen underneath the couch that you're sure should be there because you saw it roll there…six years ago." They had lost the path.
This new season, then, brings with it a great deal of expectation and hope, but it also needs to make up for what was done to our treasured memories in the 14 years since the show ended. I've heard nothing but good things thus far; Fox allowed those who attended New York Comic Con to view the entire first episode, and no one came out stomping and fuming. The few tidbits and soundbites that have been released have been promising, and I enjoy seeing the actors in interviews and behind-the-scenes clips because they seem to have enjoyed the work and the camaraderie. I want to believe, and so I choose to hold out hope not only for this six-episode season but perhaps for future additional seasons, if the truth continues to be out there.
Are you looking for the truth? Do you still believe? You can show your dedication with an "I Still Believe" selfie by going to Doyoustillbelieve.com. Let us know whether you'll be watching with as much anticipation as I will come January 24 and what you're hoping to see in the new season of The X-Files by commenting below!
Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Monday, January 11, 2016
The 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards took place January 10, 2016 on NBC, hosted by Ricky Gervais. Here are the list of winners for all of the categories.
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Series, Limited Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television
Idris Elba, Luther
Oscar Isaac, Show Me a Hero
David Oyelowo, Nightingale
Mark Rylance, Wolf Hall
Patrick Wilson, Fargo
WINNER: Oscar Isaac, Show Me a Hero
Original Score, Motion Picture
Carter Burwell, Carol
Alexander Desplat, The Danish Girl
Ennio Morricone, The Hateful Eight
Daniel Pemberton, Steve Jobs
Ryuchi Sakamoto, The Revanant
WINNER: Ennio Morricone, The Hateful Eight
Best Motion Picture, Foreign Language The Brand New Testament The Club The Fencer Mustang Son of Saul
WINNER:Son of Saul
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Actress in a Series, Limited Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television
Uzo Aduba, Orange Is the New Black
Joanna Froggatt, Downton Abbey
Regina King, American Crime
Judith Light, Transparent
Moira Tierney, The Affair
WINNER: Moira Tierney, The Affair
Best Television Series, Musical Casual, Hulu Mozart in the Jungle, Amazon Video Orange Is the New Black, Netflix Silicon Valley, HBO Transparent, Amazon Video Veep, HBO
WINNER:Mozart in the Jungle, Amazon Video
Best Motion Picture, Animated Anomalisa The Good Dinosaur Inside Out The Peanuts Movie Shaun the Sheep Movie
WINNER:Inside Out
Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Kirsten Dunst, Fargo
Lady Gaga, American Horror Story: Hotel
Sarah Hay, Flesh and Bone
Felicity Huffman, American Crime
Queen Latifah, Bessie
WINNER: Lady Gaga, American Horror Story: Hotel
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television
Alan Cumming, The Good Wife
Damien Lewis, Wolf Hall
Ben Mendelson, Bloodline
Tobias Menzies, Outlander
Christian Slater, Mr. Robot
WINNER: Christian Slater, Mr. Robot
Best Original Song, Motion Picture
"Love Me LIke You Do," Fifty Shades of Grey
"One Kind of Love," Love & Mercy
"See You Again," Furious 7
"Simple Song #3," Youth
"Writing's on the Wall," Spectre
WINNER: "Writing's on the Wall," Spectre
Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television American Crime, ABC American Horror Story: Hotel, FX Fargo, FX Flesh and Bone, Starz Wolf Hall, PBS
WINNER:Wolf Hall, PBS
Best Performance By an Actress in a Television Series, Musical, or Comedy
Rachel Bloom, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Jamie Lee Curtis, Scream Queens
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep
Gina Rodrgiuez, Jane the Virgin
Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie
WINNER: Rachel Bloom, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Best Screenplay, Motion Picture
Emma Donoghue, Room
Tom McCarthy, Josh Singer, Spotlight
Charles Randolph & Adam McKay, The Big Short
Aaron Sorkin, Steve Jobs
Quentin Tarantino, The Hateful Eight
WINNER: Aaron Sorkin, Steve Jobs
Best Performance By an Actor in a Television Series, Musical, or Comedy
Aziz Ansari, Master of None
Gael García Bernal, Mozart in the Jungle
Rob Lowe, The Grinder
Patrick Stewart, Blunt Talk
Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent
WINNER: Gael García Bernal, Mozart in the Jungle
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Series, Limited Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television
Caitriona Balfe, Outlander
Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder
Eva Green, Penny Dreadful
Taraji P. Henson, Empire
Robin Wright, House of Cards
WINNER: Taraji P. Henson, Empire
Best Motion Picture, Musical, or Comedy The Big Short Joy The Martian Spy Trainwreck
WINNER:The Martian
Best Television Series, Drama Empire, Fox Game of Thrones, HBO Mr. Robot, USA Narcos, Netflix Outlander, Starz
WINNER: Mr. Robot, USA
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical, or Comedy
Christian Bale, The Big Short
Steve Carell, The Big Short
Matt Damon, The Martian
Al Pacino, Danny Collins
Mark Ruffalo, Infinitely Polar Bear
WINNER: Matt Damon, The Martian
Best Director, Motion Picture
Todd Haines, Carol
Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant
Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
Ridley Scott, The Martian
WINNER: Alejandro González Iñárritu, The Revenant
Best Performance By an Actor in a Television Series, Drama
Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Rami Malek, Mr. Robot
Wagner Moura, Narcos
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul
Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan
WINNER:Jon Hamm, Mad Men
Best Performance by Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Jane Fonda, Youth
Jennifer Jason Leigh, Hateful Eight
Helen Mirren, Trumbo
Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina
Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs
WINNER: Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs
Best Performance By an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Paul Dano, Love
Idris Elba, Beast of No Nation
Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Michael Shannon, 99 Homes
Sylvester Stallone, Creed
WINNER: Sylvester Stallone, Creed
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama
Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Edide Redmayne, The Danish Girl
Will Smith, Concussion
WINNER: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Best Performance By an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Melissa McCarthy, Spy
Amy Schumer, Trainwreck
Maggie Smith, The Lady in the Van
Lily Tomlin, Grandma
WINNER: Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Best Performance By an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama
Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Rooney Mara, Carol
Saiorse Ronin, Brooklyn
Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
WINNER: Brie Larson, Room
Best Motion Picture, Drama Carol Mad Max: Fury Road The Revenant Room Spotlight
WINNER:The Revenant
What do you think of the results? Did your favorites win, or were you rooting for other choices? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Sunday, January 10, 2016
The Force Awakens is still super fresh in the world of cinema, but before we know it, Episode 8 will be sneaking up on us, just a few months after the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in December. We all know the end result of that film, but we don't know much of what's in store for us for Episode VIII, because we still don't really know the answers to a lot of the questions from Episode VII, oddly enough.
Despite being kept in the dark about a lot of details, it's up to us as obsessive fans to analyze every little piece of information in front of us and speculate about what's to come. That being said, what's my current assessment of the upcoming continuation of the Skywalker saga? Let's take a look.
Rey and Luke Skywalker
"Rey…these are your first steps." —Obi-Wan Kenobi
Obviously, Rey will be taking her next steps in Episode VIII by training under Luke Skywalker. I imagine there will be some hesitation on his part, similar to how Yoda put up a tiny bit of a fight against training Luke in The Empire Strikes Back, saying he's too old and he doesn't have his head on straight. The opposite will take place this time, though, where instead of Luke saying Rey isn't ready to be trained, he'll say he's not ready to be her trainer.
Luke obviously messed up big time somehow with rebuilding the Jedi Order. We don't know what happened other than that Ben Solo was sent off to train with him, Snoke got involved, turned Ben to the dark side, and after a slaughter, the Knights of Ren were formed.
It's been implied heavily that Rey is Luke's daughter, and I really hope that's the case instead of some kind of bait-and-switch tactic. Rey is just far too powerful in The Force to be a random person, there's no evidence that she's Han and Leia's daughter, and we need to keep the Skywalker lineage going because that family is the heart of the franchise. Kathleen Kennedy has said that the "saga" films do in fact follow the Skywalker story, and before you say Ben Solo fulfills that role, I present you with these points:
1) We've already seen Anakin go from a good young boy to an evil man in his 20s–40s before returning to the light side. Do we really want to see that exact same story take place with Kylo Ren, where we already skipped his years as a good kid? That means it's not only retreading the same ground, but it's doing it in a worse way. Kylo Ren shouldn't be redeemed.
2) Rey's parentage is an issue that needs clarification, and she doesn't have a last name for a reason. I wholeheartedly believe that's because they need to fill in the blank to make it Rey Skywalker.
So what about Rey's mother, if Luke is indeed her father? And why did Luke abandon her? And why does Kylo Ren know about her (and how much does he know, for that matter) but Han and Leia don't?
I'm assuming Luke will carry a lot of exposition with him during his scenes with Rey, where they'll be meditating and we'll see things in flashbacks. We'll establish a Mara Jade type character who will have been Luke's wife that Snoke killed during the initial attack that we partially see. Luke, having witnessed his pupils (particularly his nephew) kill the love of his life and mostly all of his students, will make it seem as though his daughter Rey died as well, but Kylo will be suspicious of it. We know that Kylo Ren has an ability to read minds, so it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine that Luke taught him that and could use that ability for other things, such as wiping the minds of others. He could have wiped Han and Leia's mind that Rey exists, similar to how C-3PO's mind gets wiped at the end of Revenge of the Sith. That would explain why Leia and Han feel a connection to her (because that doesn't remove their connection through familial bond and The Force itself) but they don't blatantly talk about the obvious "oh, hey, you're my niece" situation.
I'm hoping we see the ghosts of not only Yoda and Obi-Wan but Anakin as well. They could have advised Luke to do what happened to Luke—abandoning his child on a deserted planet in the hopes that it will keep her safe—because they know that it worked once before.
Kylo Ren
At the end of The Force Awakens, Snoke says that Kylo Ren will undergo more training. This will be a means for us to learn more about the Knights of Ren and the villains that we're dealing with. Some rumors are going around that Benicio Del Toro will be a member of this cult, but I'm not so sold. That seems too obvious, and it seems like if he's to be menacing at all, he needs to seem above Kylo Ren's pay grade, which would undermine why Kylo is the leader of them, as is stated in the film.
I do, however, think there could be some kind of a power struggle involved. If Del Toro does play a member of the Knights of Ren, maybe he's someone who thinks Kylo is not as good as he's made out to be and is trying to usurp his position as leader in order to gain favor underneath Snoke's tutelage. That would likely mean Del Toro's character is just some opposition for Kylo to overcome, kill off, and solidify why he's the man in charge (aka, the crybaby loser in charge)—but doesn't that seem underwhelming? Why bring in Benicio Del Toro just to kill him off in one movie? I'd say that's out of the realm of possibility, but look at what happened with Max von Sydow…
One way or another, Kylo Ren will still be searching for Luke Skywalker and Rey (Skywalker), and I would bet the farm that they reach Ahch-To at some point in the movie. Film logic dictates that someone in hiding will have to be discovered to advance the plot, and we know there needs to be another confrontation between Rey and Ren. Just please don't kill off Luke.
The Resistance / The Republic
I'm going to just start this section off with a bang: Lando is coming back, baby.
Okay, let's backtrack a little to catch up. The Hosnian system was destroyed in The Force Awakens, which was the current location being used as the headquarters of The Republic. Obviously, the galaxy will be in disarray, similar to how it would be if Washington, DC were attacked and the White House and Congress and everyone were wiped out. In the absence of leadership, many people will want to step up to fill that void, and I think that will be one of the central conflicts of this movie. It's even more firmly established as war time than in the previous film, so the National Guard has to take over. This is effectively the role The Resistance takes, so many will look to General Leia to be the new leader in command.
However, there will be opposition from others who will want to take charge. This, in fact, is where I would expect to see Benicio Del Toro's character come into play. I definitely see him being one of the people that has been arguing against her in an attempt to become heir to the throne, so to speak. He might even be revealed to have ties to The First Order as a traitor and a mole who escaped destruction on the Hosnian system because he was given advance warning.
Someone else I think will have escaped certain death from that attack is Lando Calrissian. That guy absolutely can't be written off as just having died between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, and no, I don't think they'll do the convoluted story of having him turn out to be Finn's father. Instead, I think he'll be in a similar climate to Leia. What we saw of Lando in the two films he's been involved in was that he went from being a scoundrel of a smuggler to ruling a mining facility as a somewhat responsible mayor or governor type, and then he acted as a commander in the military strike in the Battle of Endor. Why would we expect anything different from Lando than to have been someone who acts as a go-between for The Resistance military branch and The Republic governing branch? I expect to see him return as a diplomat of sorts who is on Leia's side to help fill in the gap left by Han Solo's absence in the film.
Finn & Poe Dameron vs. Captain Phasma & General Hux
One of my favorite aspects of The Force Awakens was the friendship between Finn and Poe. It doesn't take up much screen time, but it's powerful. Finn helps Poe escape, then carries on his mission. Poe owes him, big time. When Finn has recovered from his injuries, I think we'll see that he's become one of the most trusted members of the fleet and that he and Poe have a full-on Rush Hour buddy cop bromance established. They work well as a team, they know each other in and out, and they argue because they get along so well, which allows for that kind of honesty. This will be replacing the relationship of Chewbacca and Han Solo. (Side note: I have no idea what Chewbacca can do in this movie, which is why I think he should have died during the attack on Starkiller Base.)
Captain Phasma is supposed to still be alive, and she'll want to hunt down FN-2187 just as much as Kylo Ren will want to hunt down Rey. With the help of General Hux and his militia, Phasma has to be leading the search party for Finn. Not only does it make sense in the story, but it also is necessary to redeem her character. She was built up as being something awesome, and she was the exact inverted mess of that. Right now, Phasma looks like a complete joke who needs rehabilitation, and she needs to do that by being a bad ass.
My guess is that to kind of even the odds, while Finn helped Poe in the first film, Poe is going to volunteer to help Finn deal with his hunters in this movie. It's only fair, right? The only thing that I'm worried about, if this were the case, is that we've seen no interaction between Poe and Rey yet, and they can't spend an entire film away from each other again. Rey and Finn seem to have a love story brewing and I think the new female character that will be added to the cast is going to serve as a romantic interest for Poe, so that woman will get involved somewhere along the way. Maybe something happens where Finn gets captured along with Poe's love interest, so Poe has to go to Ahch-To to retrieve Rey to get her help in breaking them out of captivity? That's retreading on some familiar plot points, so I hope it's more complicated than that, but it fits within Star Wars Ring Theory of the movies all having a rhythmic pattern, doesn't it?
One thing that I would love to see them incorporate is an explanation that Finn was able to undo his indoctrination of the Stormtrooper training because he's Force-sensitive. I want him to be a Jedi, damn it, and I want he and Rey to have super strong Skywalker babies for future films.
The Title
I don't think the naming conventions are carrying over as strongly as they did with the previous films, so this is a bit hard to predict. The Phantom Menace and A New Hope both were three-word titles that referred to a specific entity in a somewhat vague way, but The Force Awakens is an action. The action titles were reserved for the middle films before, with Attack of the Clones and The Empire Strikes Back obviously being built around verbs. Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi are obvious parallels talking about the establishment of a Force-based organization.
With the prequels and the original trilogy, there's an inversion. The prequels talk about an evil presence, a heroic action, and a villainous resurgence, while the originals are a heroic presence, an evil action, and a resurgence of good.
When it comes to Episode VIII, I don't think we'll be seeing an action-based title, as we saw that with The Force Awakens, which apparently was originally titled Shadow of the Empire—something that, albeit 4 words, fits in with the rhyme scheme. Because of that difference, I'm expecting to see this second film refer to an organization. That organization has to be either The Resistance or The First Order, although it's possible The Republic could be thrown in the mix.
Order is a word that has a lot of flexibility to it. There could be a play off "restoring order" with The First Order getting back into more power and The Republic/Resistance needing to repair themselves after the big loss of the Starkiller attack. They could even combine their efforts by naming it something like Star Wars: Episode VIII - Resistance of Order although that sounds pretty damn boring, doesn't it? Let's just hope it isn't "rise of" in any capacity.
Those are the ideas I have swimming around my mind right now, but what do you think we'll end up seeing? What are your thoughts on my suggestions above? Leave a comment below!
