Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Friday, September 20, 2019
Welcome to the latest edition of Making the Grade—a review format segment here on Fanboys Anonymous where we break down the 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 the film Ad Astra.
Ad Astra—directed by James Gray; written by James Gray and Ethan Gross; starring Brad Pitt (Roy McBride), Liv Tyler (Eve McBride), Ruth Negga (Helen Lantos), Tommy Lee Jones (Clifford McBride), Anne McDaniels (Shunga Hologram) and Donald Sutherland (Colonel Pruitt).
WARNING - SPOILERS BELOW
STORYTELLING SUBJECTS
STORY: B+
This was simple, yet effective—a three-pronged story of someone dealing with the repressed feelings of losing his father, along with the search for life to justify our existence and the secrecy that goes along with how the government would handle these major issues.
As it isn't super complicated, this isn't something that I feel needs to be broken down and studied by every angle. If you like the sound of those themes, then you get what you're looking for.
CHARACTERS: C–
There really only is one character, who is essentially devoid of emotion. It's hard to really break down the cast that are there for just a handful of scenes. I did like the transition of Roy from entirely mute to someone who can feel again, but that isn't something I can give a B or anything to.
TONE / ATMOSPHERE: A–
ACTION: The lunar chase and other moments are tense (and I'm not a big fan of tension movies). This isn't an "action film" selling itself like a new Fast and Furious film, so this suffices.
COMEDY: There aren't really any jokes here, but it's not a comedy, so...
ROMANCE: For the most part, the "romance" of the film is an underlying soft one and not a focal point the way it normally would be in some other dramas. I think it's still very effective.
Basically, this is a drama that has a bit of mystery and philosophy intertwined, which is what I was looking for, based on the trailers.
TECHNICAL SUBJECTS
ACTING: B–
I bought it. Everyone felt like real people. There are no Oscar-guaranteed performances or anything, but rock solid performances to go around.
VISUALS (FX, MAKEUP, COSTUMES, SETS): A
Wonderful scenery that showed the vast emptiness of space and really made me uncomfortable, yet at the same time, in awe of its beauty. Equal to that, every set felt real and at no point were they on a different ship or in a room that didn't seem logical and functional.
AUDIO (MUSIC / SOUND): A–
Sound design in a space movie is all about using silence. They pulled it off super well.
EXTRA CREDIT
MARKETING / TRAILERS / POLITICS / SERIES DIRECTION / ETC:
Bonus points for the overall message. We may be alone in the universe (we may not, as only part of it was explored) but even if that's the case, it's not as if love and the human condition isn't already so wonderful that it can't be celebrated. There's something to be said about missing out on what's right in front of you while searching for more.
FINAL GRADE & ASSESSMENT
GRADE: B (Pass)
This is not at all the type of movie I will be begging to sit down and watch again, but that's because of how heavy it is. It's a one-time think piece that I'm very glad to have seen and would recommend to others, but only when they're in the mood for some existential exploration. I can't imagine someone trying to decide on a Saturday night whether they want to pop on an Avengers film, a Judd Apatow movie or Ad Astra, as it's an entirely different animal. But it was certainly good and if you're on the fence about it, check it out!
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE FILM?
LEAVE YOUR THOUGHTS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!
Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Monday, September 16, 2019
Welcome to another edition of Predicting the Plot wherein I try my best to guess how an upcoming movie is going to play out from start to finish with as many details as I can possibly give, based entirely on the previews and lead-up material I've seen.
I might be dead wrong. I may get some things right. In any way, I encourage you to give your predictions just the same in the comments below.
For this edition, I'll be tackling my fan theory of what Todd Phillips is bringing us with the upcoming movie Joker starring Joaquin Phoenix as the iconic Clown Prince of Crime...maybe.
It's important to note that I haven't seen The King of Comedy, which I feel this will take some inspiration from. I have seen Taxi Driver, though, many many moons ago.
So let's start with the synopsis we've been given:
Failed comedian Arthur Fleck encounters violent thugs while wandering the streets of Gotham City dressed as a clown. Disregarded by society, Fleck begins a slow dissent into madness as he transforms into the criminal mastermind known as the Joker.
The movie starts with Arthur as a boy. His mom Penny (Frances Conroy) and dad are weird, at best. They could be the argumentative type and his dad could be abusive. Or, perhaps they even skip that and show that he and his mom are alone because his dad left them. Remember this idea and keep in mind the concept of a stepfather.
Penny has ticks or is psychotic or schizophrenic or something that we can attribute to her genetics passing on a predisposition to Arthur that he's going to have to grow up with, and we can already tell that as a boy, he has his social problems and such. This could be when he first manifests his Pseudobulbar affect (ie, how he laughs uncontrollably at random times when stressed).
Arthur is fixated on comedians. That calms him down. One of them is his idol, Murray Franklin (Robert DeNiro).
Arthur wants to be a stand-up comic, but he sucks at it. He tries to go on stage, but gets heckled and possibly even abused in some fashion. We know at some point, he's dressed as a clown, spinning a sign and gets picked on and beaten up, so this seems to be a run of the mill type thing. He's a loser, and that's going to weigh on him.
Over the years, Penny got so bad that she had to be transferred to Arkham Asylum, and/or Arthur has to receive check-ups. I don't see a doctor on the cast list, so I don't think Arthur is seeing a physician for a bunch of times in the movie, but we do see "Arkham State Hospital Clerk" played by Brian Tyree Henry. He's a name, so that must mean he's in at least a handful of scenes and is probably the go-to person to talk to when Arthur visits his mom.
Somewhere along the way, Arthur starts flirting with Sophie Dumond (Zazie Beetz) even if she's not flirting back. Whether it's mutual and he screws it up or it's one-sided and she eventually has to tell him she's not interested, the point is that his love life goals will be shattered toward the breaking point.
Meanwhile, Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen)—who, in this version, instead of being a humanitarian and younger, is an older Donald Trump type playboy asshole politician—is running for office and is all the talk. Arthur gets the idea in his mind that Wayne is his father. He even meets up with Young Bruce Wayne (Dante Pereira-Olson) and that's where we have that scene of the two at the gate of Wayne Manor. Arthur thinks Bruce is his younger brother.
He isn't. Thomas Wayne isn't his father. His mother just made that up to either give him a false sense of value, or she's so deluded that she believed it herself, but it isn't true. None of this is true. Arthur is just a failure and a mistake.
So he snaps. He becomes The Joker and gets on television and kills everyone. This incites revolution and everyone maybe even kills Thomas Wayne, if Arthur hasn't already done that. The end.
If there's anything after that, if we're lucky, it would be really cool for them to show someone in a Batman costume and Joker being arrested or something. Then, there's some sort of tease that none of this was real and he tosses out the line about how if he'd like to have a past, he'd like for it to be multiple choice, and the whole thing is basically bullshit because The Joker doesn't have an origin story and it wouldn't make any sense for him to be 30+ years older than Batman, nor for Bruce to have a father who is 63 around the time Thomas and Martha are killed as they're normally around 30-40 range...50 max.
Either the whole movie is meaningless, or it ends with him becoming The Joker in a metaphorical sense and not obviously actually the character that fights Batman, as there isn't a Batman, and it's just a film about the interesting villain without having to frame it in the context of what makes Joker who he is, similar to how if someone wrote a movie about Edward Nygma being into riddles and becoming a criminal that the GCPD try to stop, but can't, and there's no Batman. Or, if there was a movie about Doomsday destroying the world without a Superman (ie, any monster movie that has ever existed that ends in gloom).
That's what I'm expecting to happen, but what do you think?
Give your predictions and thoughts on my guesses in the comments below!
Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Saturday, September 14, 2019
Welcome to another edition of WEEK IN GEEK here at Fanboys Anonymous—a rundown of some of the events, news and stories that went down over the past few days in the geek culture spectrum.
Here are some of the topics I felt like voicing my opinions about:
Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop?
Rumor has it the new Hawkeye will be played by Hailee Steinfeld. I'm not really familiar with the Kate Bishop character to say anything about the personality or anything like that, but in theory, this seems like a good pick. Steinfeld is a talented actress, popular enough to bring attention to the role, and young enough to be worth investing in.
Face/Off Reboot
For some reason, they think it's a good idea to reboot Face/Off. I hate producers who get paid to say such simplistic ideas and not actually use their brains. Just because a movie has value to it doesn't mean you can copy and paste and make a billion dollars!
Face/Off is a cult classic because it's ridiculous. It can't work with two random other people than Nicolas Cage and John Travolta. It can't work in 2019. All this is going to be is like the Total Recall reboot, where nobody enjoys it and it doesn't work out well.
Young Avengers / Champions Coming to Disney+
Kate Bishop. Stature. Ms. Marvel. Yup, they're definitely gearing up for Young Avengers, and I'm curious who else they would put in the mix. They can't use Spider-Man. Maybe Shuri? Amadeus Cho? Could they pull something weird out of WandaVision by having Wiccan, Speed and Viv? Will what's his face from Iron Man 3 become Iron Lad or will they have Ironheart come into play here? Patriot could be someone who is inspired by Falcon/Cap. Hulkling probably wouldn't work.
Hayley Atwell Will Be Female Lead in Mission: Impossible 7 and 8
Rebecca Ferguson will be returning, I'm sure, so now I'm left to assume Atwell is actually playing the villain of the next two movies. That could be neat to see her play opposite of how we've seen her as Peggy Carter.
Movie Pass
After dying what seems to be nine different deaths or more, it seems as though Movie Pass is finally done. CEO Mitch Lowe gave what was essentially the "we'd like to continue, but we can't, so don't count us out entirely if you want to be part of this in the future, but yeah, we're suspending everything and going under" speech.
I guess the Director of Barketing didn't work out. Bad dog.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THESE TOPICS?
LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW!
Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Monday, September 9, 2019
Welcome to another edition of WEEK IN GEEK here at Fanboys Anonymous—a rundown of some of the events, news and stories that went down over the past few days in the geek culture spectrum.
Here are some of the topics I felt like voicing my opinions about:
Bad Boys for Life Trailer
This looks to be pretty much exactly what the other movies are, which is a good thing. That's what fans of the previous two films want to see, as opposed to something super different.
I'll probably check it out. Even though I've never been amazed by the previous ones, they were fine.
It Chapter Two Review
I'm not a big horror person, as I've mentioned many times in the past, but this story works well because it's more of a coming of age tale disguised as a horror flick, in a way. I enjoyed the 1990 cheesy TV version enough to want to see this remake and liked that, too, so I knew I would see this. Thankfully, it kept up its end of the bargain. I got out of it exactly what I was hoping to get and wasn't underwhelmed.
Awesome casting all around. Each actor really felt like the older version of the kids we had seen a few years back.
Possible Jim Gordons
The rumor mill says there are a few people who have met with Matt Reeves for the part of Commissioner Gordon. Mahershala Ali, Giancarlo Esposito and Jamie Foxx are the group. All three could play the role, but I think Ali has enough on his plate with Blade, Esposito seems a little too villainous for my tastes and Foxx I'm just not feeling as having the ability to tone down his coolness factor. Gordon shouldn't be the cool guy.
Slow News Week
Is it just me, or was nothing really going on this week, again? At least, there wasn't much I felt interested in talking about that I came across, that's for sure.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THESE TOPICS?
LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW!
Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Sunday, September 1, 2019
Welcome to another edition of 6 Flicks Picks, wherein I list all of the upcoming films that are scheduled to be released in the United States for the month which is about to begin and break down which ones I'll be watching in theaters, which ones I'll wait to rent at home, and which ones I'll be skipping out on entirely. After going through the list, I'll choose which six films stand out to me as the ones I want to see the most, even if there are more or less than six that interest me.
Note: The list below is based primarily off the expanded nationwide USA release dates on IMDB as well as some other random outlets if possible, so some information may be different. If I am missing some of the limited releases or the dates conflict in some fashion, please let me know in the comments below and any adjustments and corrections will be made!
Without further ado, another new month means another new set of films, so what's coming soon to theaters in September 2019?
RELEASE DATE: September 6, 2019
It Chapter Two (2019)
Synopsis: Twenty-seven years after their first encounter with the terrifying Pennywise, the Losers Club have grown up and moved away, until a devastating phone call brings them back.
Will I watch? = Yes
Rapid Response (2019)
Synopsis: In 1966 Medical student and racing fan Stephen Olvey gets the opportunity of a lifetime when he is asked to volunteer at the Indianapolis 500 on their medical team. What started as fun insider view of a sport he loved quickly devolves before his eyes as he sees the level of medical support given to the drivers, whom he has befriended, is terrifyingly non-existent. After feeling helpless at the scene of what turns out to be a fatal accident. Dr. Olvey sets off on a mission to build a team to apply science to transform motorsports from the most fatal form of sport to one of the safest. Over the next 30 years they succeed and the science that they develop influences modern trauma medicine and the passenger cars we drive today. This is the story of the most fatal era in Motorsports and the Indy 500 doctors who pioneered safety and helped the drivers to cheat death.
Will I watch? = No
Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice (2019)
Synopsis: With one of the most memorably stunning voices that has ever hit the airwaves, Linda Ronstadt burst onto the 1960s folk rock music scene in her early twenties.
Will I watch? = No
Blink of an Eye (2019)
Synopsis: An inside look at 2001's Daytona 500 featuring Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Will I watch? = No
Night Hunter (2018)
Synopsis: A weathered Lieutenant, his police force, and a local vigilante are all caught up in a dangerous scheme involving a recently arrested, troubled man who's linked to years of female abductions and murders.
Will I watch? = No
RELEASE DATE: September 13, 2019
The Goldfinch (2019)
Synopsis: A boy in New York is taken in by a wealthy Upper East Side family after his mother is killed in a bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Will I watch? = No
Hustlers (2019)
Synopsis: Inspired by the viral New York Magazine article, Hustlers follows a crew of savvy former strip club employees who band together to turn the tables on their Wall Street clients.
Will I watch? = No
Monos (2019)
Synopsis: On a faraway mountaintop, eight kids with guns watch over a hostage and a conscripted milk cow.
Will I watch? = No
Depraved (2019)
Synopsis: A disillusioned field surgeon suffering from PTSD makes a man out of body parts and brings him to life in a Brooklyn loft.
Will I watch? = No
The Sound of Silence (2019)
Synopsis: A successful "house tuner" in New York City, who calibrates the sound in people's homes in order to adjust their moods, meets a client with a problem he can't solve.
Will I watch? = No
Liam: As It Was (2019)
Synopsis: Documentary following musician Liam Gallagher, as he attempts to make a solo comeback.
Will I watch? = No
RELEASE DATE: September 20, 2019
Downton Abbey (2019)
Synopsis: The continuing story of the Crawley family, wealthy owners of a large estate in the English countryside in the early 20th century.
Will I watch? = No
Rambo: Last Blood (2019)
Synopsis: Rambo must confront his past and unearth his ruthless combat skills to exact revenge in a final mission.
Will I watch? = No
Ad Astra (2019)
Synopsis: An astronaut travels to the outer edges of the solar system to find his father and unravel a mystery that threatens the survival of our planet. He uncovers secrets which challenge the nature of human existence and our place in the cosmos.
Will I watch? = Yes
3 from Hell (2019)
Synopsis: Sequel to The Devil's Rejects.
Will I watch? = No
Where's My Roy Cohn? (2019)
Synopsis: Roy Cohn personified the dark arts of American politics, turning empty vessels into dangerous demagogues - from Joseph McCarthy to his final project, Donald J. Trump. This thriller-like exposé connects the dots, revealing how a deeply troubled master manipulator shaped our current American nightmare.
Will I watch? = No
Diego Maradona (2019)
Synopsis: Constructed from over 500 hours of never-before-seen footage, this documentary centers on the career of celebrated football player Diego Armando Maradona, who played for S.S.C. Napoli in the 1980s.
Will I watch? = No
Midnight Traveler (2019)
Synopsis: When the Taliban puts a bounty on Afghan director Hassan Fazili's head, he is forced to flee with his wife and two young daughters. Capturing their uncertain journey, Fazili shows firsthand the dangers facing refugees seeking asylum and the love shared between a family on the run.
Will I watch? = No
Britt-Marie Was Here (2019)
Synopsis: Britt-Marie, 63 years old, has just left a 40 year old marriage and her long life as a house wife. Being told she is a nagging passive agressive aunt, the new, only job, in small town Borg will be quite challinging. Small town of Borg has no pride left exept the young soccer team, and Britt-Maries new job is to coach them. This is the start of a journery filled with struggles, challenges but also warmth and love.
Will I watch? = No
Promare (2019)
Synopsis: A futuristic firefighting mecha service is created to protect the world.
Will I watch? = No
RELEASE DATE: September 27, 2019
Abominable (2019)
Synopsis: A magical Yeti must return to his family.
Will I watch? = Maybe
21 Bridges (2019)
Synopsis: A disgraced detective in the NYPD is given a shot at redemption.
Will I watch? = Yes
The Hunt
Synopsis: Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don't know where they are, or how they got there. They don't know they've been chosen - for a very specific purpose - The Hunt.
Will I watch? = No
Judy (2019)
Synopsis: Legendary performer Judy Garland arrives in London in the winter of 1968 to perform a series of sold-out concerts.
Will I watch? = No
First Love (2019)
Synopsis: A young boxer and a call girl get caught up in a drug-smuggling scheme over the course of one night in Tokyo.
Will I watch? = No
6 FLICKS PICKS
Which films make the cut?
6. The Goldfinch — This or Rambo for the last spot, and since I haven't seen the other Rambo movies, I'll just toss this out there, but I'm not actually going to see it.
5. The Hunt — Zero interest in seeing this, but it's a weak month, and I'd rather watch something that the government feels is bad than to watch just some movie about Judy Garland or whatever.
4. Abominable — It might be cute. What's up with all these yeti movies this year, though? This is the third. It's like the only two ideas Hollywood had heading into 2019 were "yeti" and "dog movie" since a new one comes out every other month.
3. 21 Bridges — This legitimately looks good.
2. Ad Astra — This legitimately looks good, too.
1. It: Chapter Two — I saw the Tim Curry edition and the first part of this reboot. Of course I'll see this.
WHICH MOVIES ARE YOU INTERESTED IN CHECKING OUT?
TELL US IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!
Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Friday, August 23, 2019
Welcome to another edition of WEEK IN GEEK here at Fanboys Anonymous—a rundown of some of the events, news and stories that went down over the past few days in the geek culture spectrum.
Here are some of the topics I felt like voicing my opinions about:
Sony and Disney No Longer Co-Producing Spider-Man Movies
So Disney wants a better deal and Sony says no, and now, Sony is going to try to make their own Spider-Man movies.
AWFUL. RIDICULOUS. TERRIBLE. Nothing at all good can come out of this.
This means the MCU is going to suffer from not having Spider-Man in the mix, along with his characters more available elsewhere, and the creative direction that the Spider-Man films have received with help from people who know what they're doing will go away.
I've remained firm that the worst aspects of these two Tom Holland films have been ideas I'm pretty sure are implemented from Sony, not Marvel, and with the way the past movies have gone and their atrocious ideas of spin-offs and everything, I'm SO not into this idea.
This is absolutely terrible and when the next movie ends up being a financial success based on the previous two films, but actually is panned by critics, then Sony will realize FOR THE UMPTEENTH TIME that they don't know what the hell they're doing.
I'm not in any way a fan of this.
Bond 25 = No Time to Die
I don't remember offhand if this is one of the titles that they had on the backburner like Risico or The Hildebrand Rarity, but I like it nevertheless. I've always been fond of the more flowery soap opera type Bond titles like Tomorrow Never Dies, For Your Eyes Only, From Russia with Love and The World is Not Enough. Thumbs up.
See, this is a good move from Sony...unlike this Spider-Man travesty.
The Matrix 4
Technically, isn't it kind of The Matrix 5 because of the animated film? Anyway, this movie happening strikes me as another example of people saying they can't figure out an original idea, so they just want to capitalize on nostalgia.
But hey, maybe they do have a good idea. I don't know how they can do another film with all the dead characters and all, though.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THESE TOPICS?
LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW!
Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Saturday, August 17, 2019
Welcome to another edition of WEEK IN GEEK here at Fanboys Anonymous—a rundown of some of the events, news and stories that went down over the past few days in the geek culture spectrum.
Here are some of the topics I felt like voicing my opinions about:
Amanda Seyfried Turned Down Role of Gamora for Guardians of the Galaxy
Hm. I think she would have probably played the part fine, because she's a solid actress, but there's something to Zoe Saldana that I really like as Gamora, and I don't think Seyfried would have been better.
Loot Crate Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Obviously, I don't know the ins and outs of this whole thing, nor am I a business major, so I can't speak on any specifics. But what I will say is that I feel like everyone I know stopped caring about things like Loot Crate over two years ago, and it seems as though that's when the financial problems started for them.
It's a combination of the high price and the high risk of getting things you don't actually like, which, after a while, makes it hard to justify the cost. If you've paid for 5 Loot Crate boxes in a row and you're not a fan of getting socks or a weird bumper sticker or something, are you going to pay a bunch of money the 6th month?
CBS Corp to Merge with Viacom
ViacomCBS (took you a long time to think of that one, didn't it?) TOTALLY is doing this to set up a more in-depth streaming service than just CBS All Access. This is the next step in the next era of each mega corporation having its own cable network system, essentially, with different "channels" like how Disney will have Hulu and ESPN.
Mark my words, once this is done and the proper time has passed for them to hammer out the details, you'll hear about some Viacom Go or something.
Obi-Wan Kenobi Series Confirmed
Deadline has confirmed that Ewan McGregor has signed on to do a Disney+ series about Kenobi. I really, really hope this matches its potential. McGregor was amazing and arguably the best part of the prequels, and Kenobi is a fascinating character that could have a fantastic story to tell between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.
Don't botch this like you've botched everything else with Star Wars...
Ludi Lin May Be Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat
Awesome. I like Ludi Lin and I feel like he has a lot to offer beyond even roles like this, but since he's more than capable of handling the physical aspect of this and looks the part, I see no reason why he wouldn't be perfect for the part.
Krypton Cancelled and Lobo Shelved
Saw that one coming from the description of the show before it even went into production, and once I saw the previews, I knew it wouldn't be good enough to last. I never bothered watching a single episode, because it just reeked of that half-assed attempt that we see from these television shows all the time. Gotham. Pennyworth. They're all just not what they could be.
And they wanted to do a Lobo spin-off with this? With that version of Lobo that I saw from the commercials? YIKES. That was AWFUL.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THESE TOPICS?
LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW!
Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Sunday, August 11, 2019
Welcome to another edition of WEEK IN GEEK here at Fanboys Anonymous—a rundown of some of the events, news and stories that went down over the past few days in the geek culture spectrum.
Here are some of the topics I felt like voicing my opinions about:
Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill to Play "Future Bruce Wayne / Joker" in Crisis on Infinite Earths
VERY cool. I haven't been interested in watching any of the shows and cut Flash off mid-way through the last season, but I'll watch the Crisis episodes, if not just for this. As far as I'm concerned, Conroy's voice is how I picture Batman, so this is neat to see him finally get to play a live action version of the character.
And Mark Hamill finally getting to play a live action version of The Joker? SIGN. ME. UP.
"Mostly New" Female Superhero Coming to ABC
Marvel is making a show for ABC that will feature a "mostly new" female lead. Uh....what does that mean? Either it's a new character or it isn't. Does this mean they're taking a character and IP name and then redoing everything with it to the point where it basically isn't the character at all, like having a She-Hulk thing where she's not Jennifer Walters, isn't green or strong, etc?
I keep hearing all this stuff about Ms. Marvel, and I wonder if maybe that's what this is about. Maybe they consider her "mostly new" because she's not had 40 years of being in the comics with this current version?
In any fashion, I don't have a lot of faith in this. It's ABC. The television side of Marvel has been problematic on all fronts, including even the Netflix shows, which were arguably the best. This is the same group of people who were involved in Marvel's Most Wanted, couldn't get Damage Control off the ground, Inhumans was a wreck, Agent Carter wasn't great, AOS has its problems, etc.
New Garfield / U.S. Acres Series in the Works
I loved that cartoon as a kid. Very cool that there might be some sort of spiritual successor of that series coming for today's kids. Here's hoping it's written as well and isn't some obnoxious thing wrapped in a name that people would know.
Bundle Pricing for Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu
$12.99 per month. Now that's a smart deal. All the more reason and proof that Disney is as big as it is because they're making smart decisions, rather than overpricing themselves out of the market.
This is how you get people to drop other services and sign up for your product to the point where they become used to the idea of spending that money, and not signing up for the Apple streaming service or other competitors.
Home Alone, Cheaper by the Dozen, Night at the Museum and Diary of a Wimpy Kid Reboots Coming
Damn it, Disney. I JUST called you smart in the previous paragraph. Why are you trying to reboot Home Alone when you know every film but the first two didn't work? I LOVE the first two. I watch them every Christmas. The only way you'll get people interested is if you have Culkin be the father of the kid, and even then, people will call it a lame cash grab. Why are you doing another Night at the Museum, which seems like it's already done what it can say? I wasn't the absolute biggest fan of those movies, but they were good enough that they stood on their own, and if you don't do a sequel, but a reboot, it will be another pointless thing that people will scoff at.
The other two, I haven't seen, but I have to imagine they're just as lame of an idea to try to reboot, rather than do a follow-up or just something brand new. What the hell? Stop being lazy.
Wonder Woman: Bloodlines Trailer
This just comes off as the Gal Gadot movie redone with a few extra villains tossed in for another action sequence or two. I'm not digging it from the trailer, but I'll check it out, per usual.
Moira MacTaggert is a Mutant
Now, it's been revealed in the comics that Moira has been a mutant all along, with the ability to reincarnate herself in utero after her death and retain her memories.
I like the concept, but I don't think Moira was the right choice for this. I don't necessarily know offhand who I would have chosen instead, as that would take time to look into the catalog of characters, but I always liked the idea of Moira being a non-mutant representative in the story.
Neat concept, though.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THESE TOPICS?
LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW!
Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Friday, August 9, 2019
GLOW is back for another run with season 3, which puts a smile on my face. As a wrestling fan with another whole site (Smark Out Moment) and job dedicated toward WWE, this show is one of those rare perfect crossovers between my two brands.
Still, I have my triggers that would stop me from liking this show, funny enough. I've never been an historian, as I not only find lots of period piece television and film to be more of a crutch than a benefit (just look at the X-Men series for an example of that), but I also can't get into wrestling past a certain decade. I was never interested in GLOW as a promotion, I have no plans to check out any of those old tapes, and I'm not even a big fan of campy material, so this Netflix series did have a barrier to break through.
Nevertheless, as you can tell from my reviews for season 1 and season 2 as well as the fact that I'm back for a third go-around, clearly, I enjoy the show. So how did this season play out, and did I think it was an upgrade, a downgrade, or a lateral move from what came before it?
GLOW (Season 3 - 2019)
SHOWRUNNERS: Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch
STARRING: Alison Brie (Ruth Wilder), Betty Gilpin (Debbie Eagan), Marc Maron (Sam Sylvia), Sydelle Noel (Cherry Bang), Kate Nash (Rhonda Richardson), Gayle Rankin (Sheila the She-Wolf), Chris Lowell (Bash Howard), Britney Young (Carmen Wade), Kia Stevens (Tammé Dawson), Jackie Tohn (Melanie Rosen), Ellen Wong (Jenny Chey), Shakira Barrera (Yolanda Rivas), Sunita Mani (Arthie Premkumar), Britt Baron (Justine Biagi), Rebekka Johnson (Dawn Rivecca), Kimmy Gatewood (Stacey Beswick), and Geena Davis (Sandy Deveraux St. Clair)
*WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS BELOW!*
The short answer is that I loved the majority of this season, and it might be my overall favorite, in a lot of ways. The long answer, I'll dive into.
Generally speaking, one of the things I like a lot about this show is how it's equal parts silly and very, very serious. I think a good comedy isn't always laughs, or it becomes obnoxious, and a good drama isn't always doom and gloom, as levity breaks up tension and allows for darker moments to really hit home. That's why I'm such a big fan of Scrubs and How I Met Your Mother.
This season has a lot of moments where something hilarious is wrapped in a dark package, or what would normally be grounds for tears being presented so you can smirk at it. Perhaps the best example of this is how this season starts with the tragedy of the Challenger explosion that is both addressed as a horrible incident and played for laughs with how awkward everyone deals with it.
But even though I had my share of laughs throughout these 10 episodes, I found myself gravitating more toward the darker themes this season dove into—and there were a ton of these going around, as nearly everything was touched upon, including but not limited to:
- Getting older (at 32...my age) and being concerned with your body to the point that bulimia feels like a good escape.
- Worrying about how having a child can ruin your career aspirations.
- Creepy producers who devalue women by treating them like they're just sex objects in an era that, despite it still existing today, was even more prevalent, because people were more accepting of that behavior.
- How jokes based on racial stereotypes can be both entertaining and legitimately funny, but also extremely hurtful, if you can't separate yourself from the horrors that come along with your people's struggles.
- The strain of a long-distance relationship and how that separation can really make it difficult for people to stay connected.
- The soul-crushing business of being a creative person who can't catch their break, feels overworked and underappreciated, and can't help but reflect that back on themselves that if they were truly good, they wouldn't be failing so much.
- Each person has so much pain behind them, which was demonstrated very well with Sandy's eulogy and how she wasn't able to speak at the actual funeral. Very sad character, wrapped up in the glitz and glamor of smiling all the time and pretending like you're not deeply depressed.
Sheila the She-Wolf might have actually been my standout character arc for this season, as her story of being comfortable in her own skin was taken to the next level. Her parallels with the new character of Bobby Barnes, a drag queen, were show-stealers and a great catalyst for her ditching the wolf attire and moving on after her "vision quest" of sorts.
My "in" for this show, though, has always been a healthy (or I guess, you could say unhealthy, given the circumstances) mix between Alison Brie's Ruth and Marc Maron's Sam. I can identify with a middleground between the two. I get Ruth's aspirations and self-delusion mixed with a hatred of her wide-eyed self when things come crashing down and it's too hard to stay optimistic. I get Sam's bitter cynicism toward the world.
Maron's Sam is so self-actualized, despite being so flawed, and I absolutely love it. He's definitely my favorite character, overall. I think they missed out on having more of his relationship with Justine, though. It was underwhelming that their storyline was only in a handful of episodes, rather than peppered more throughout. But I like how he was more relaxed this season because of his lack of pressure, until things got real and he crumbled.
There were some downsides, though. The time jump episode (#8) felt strange to me, like it was the obvious glue between 7 episodes of fun and a big switch to a different writer. Did Reggie have any sort of purpose for this season at all? No closure on the Russell situation, one way or another?
Some other quick notes and random tidbits I found interesting:
- Switching up the characters and having people play different parts was super fun!
- It was so refreshing that Debbie and Ruth weren't fighting this whole season.
- Big fan of them addressing wrestlers taking pain pills and wanting to tough out their injuries to keep working. Kia Stevens is such a treat. Every scene she's in, she's a gem who just nails whatever she's supposed to do. Awesome Kong is truly awesome.
- I don't think they handled Bash's story as well as it could have gone. In a season that leaned so heavily into the LGBTQ+ side of things, they really put him on the sidelines with that discussion until so late that it felt like it was a rushed "Oh, yeah, and he's gay, remember?" type of deal, rather than a natural progression of his marriage to Rhonda.
- Referring to Sandy as "the ghost of Christmas future" for Debbie and then wrapping up the season with that story was a nice touch. I liked how she was a parallel for Debbie's future, and I would have liked to see another scene or two between them for more interaction to see their similarities and differences with more of a spotlight.
- Melanie with the prostitute mix-up was funny.
- Refreshing for Keith to be the emotional one about wanting to start a family. For a supporting role, he's really a standout.
- I went from typing out "I like Tex. He seems like a stand-up guy" in my notes to "Uh oh, heel turn impending."
- "Mostly, I'm just staring down the barrel of life, wondering what I'm aiming at."
I binged this from 5am straight through, because I just wanted to keep watching it, and I'm really looking forward to season 4. Here's hoping our characters continue to evolve and when they have the creative freedom to make even more choices next season, it can push everyone in some very interesting scenarios. Keep it up, GLOW. This is an underrated series that deserves more attention.
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE SEASON?
LEAVE YOUR THOUGHTS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!
Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Saturday, August 3, 2019
Welcome to another edition of WEEK IN GEEK here at Fanboys Anonymous—a rundown of some of the events, news and stories that went down over the past few days in the geek culture spectrum.
Here are some of the topics I felt like voicing my opinions about:
It Chapter Two Run Time
This is the first I've heard of the film being 2 hours and 45 minutes, and that's great. The book apparently has a TON of stuff that they wouldn't have been able to get into if it weren't a longer movie, and I'm always of the philosophy that a movie can be longer if it's got the right content. If they watched this cut and they liked it, and it doesn't drag or anything, awesome.
Roger Stevens
So apparently, there's an old man at the funeral for Peggy Carter, and that's supposed to be Old Captain America. DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE.
If they actually went out of their way to add that in there, and it isn't a retcon in the sense of Peter Parker being the kid in Iron Man 2, or Rex being the bearded dude at the Battle of Endor in Return of the Jedi, then that's awesome that they thought of that so far in advance.
John David Washington for Harvey Dent in The Batman?
Rumor has it, he may be looked at for the role of Two-Face. I haven't seen any films he's been in, so I don't know how I feel about him as an actor, but as far as looks go, I could see him pulling it off, provided he shaves. Two-Face shouldn't have a beard. Get rid of that and I'm sold as far as him being a handsome guy who could be a politician/lawyer/DA with a dark side.
"As far as I'm concerned, that's America's ass."
They almost cut that line. Crazy. That was one of the biggest laughs of Endgame.
Some other random things...
So these aren't news stories or anything going on this week, but they've been on my mind, and I figured this would be the best spot to put them, rather than random short articles.
1) Can we all PLEASE stop saying "DCEU" and "DC Extended Universe"? That term has never been official and it never made any sense, either. It shouldn't have ever caught on to begin with, and once it was ruled invalid, it should have been stopped. Granted, DC hasn't done anything to make a different term to replace it, like the Worlds of DC should have been, but still. Let's just all collectively stop.
2) I rewatched Endgame. I cried again. The MCU is so good, despite some flaws here and there. It's like 90% genius.
3) I stopped watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. at episode 2 for this season, figuring I would catch up. I just realized how I haven't missed watching it at all, and I don't feel like I missed anything. Did I? Or am I right in thinking it's like Legends of Tomorrow, where they're just doing random things because they think it's quirky or interesting, and it has no bearing on anything that happens in the MCU, and nothing important or good is going on, and it would be a waste of my time to watch 13 hours of this?
Slow news week.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THESE TOPICS?
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Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Thursday, August 1, 2019
Welcome to another edition of 6 Flicks Picks, wherein I list all of the upcoming films that are scheduled to be released in the United States for the month which is about to begin and break down which ones I'll be watching in theaters, which ones I'll wait to rent at home, and which ones I'll be skipping out on entirely. After going through the list, I'll choose which six films stand out to me as the ones I want to see the most, even if there are more or less than six that interest me.
Note: The list below is based primarily off the expanded nationwide USA release dates on IMDB as well as some other random outlets if possible, so some information may be different. If I am missing some of the limited releases or the dates conflict in some fashion, please let me know in the comments below and any adjustments and corrections will be made!
Without further ado, another new month means another new set of films, so what's coming soon to theaters in August 2019?
RELEASE DATE: August 2, 2019
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw
Synopsis:Lawman Luke Hobbs and outcast Deckard Shaw form an unlikely alliance when a cyber-genetically enhanced villain threatens the future of humanity.
Will I watch? = Maybe
Luce
Synopsis:A married couple is forced to reckon with their idealized image of their son, adopted from war-torn Eritrea, after an alarming discovery by a devoted high school teacher threatens his status as an all-star student.
Will I watch? = No
Piranhas
Synopsis:A gang of teenage boys stalk the streets of Naples armed with hand guns and AK-47s to do their mob bosses' bidding.
Will I watch? = No
Them That Follow
Synopsis:Set deep in the wilds of Appalachia, where believers handle death-dealing snakes to prove themselves before God, Them That Follow tells the story of a pastor's daughter who holds a secret that threatens to tear her community apart.
Will I watch? = No
RELEASE DATE: August 9, 2019
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Synopsis:A group of teens face their fears in order to save their lives.
Will I watch? = No
The Kitchen
Synopsis:The wives of New York gangsters in Hell's Kitchen in the 1970s continue to operate their husbands' rackets after they're locked up in prison.
Will I watch? = Maybe
Dora and the Lost City of Gold
Synopsis:Dora, a teenage explorer, leads her friends on an adventure to save her parents and solve the mystery behind a lost city of gold.
Will I watch? = No
The Art of Racing in the Rain
Synopsis:A dog named Enzo recalls the life lessons he has learned from his race car driving owner, Denny.
Will I watch? = No
After the Wedding
Synopsis:A manager of an orphanage in Kolkata travels to New York to meet a benefactor.
Will I watch? = No
Brian Banks
Synopsis:A football player's dreams to play in the NFL are halted when he is wrongly convicted and sent to prison. Years later, he fights to clear his name within an unjust system.
Will I watch? = No
The Peanut Butter Falcon
Synopsis:Zak runs away from his care home to make his dream of becoming a wrestler come true.
Will I watch? = No
One Child Nation
Synopsis:After becoming a mother, a filmmaker uncovers the untold history of China's one-child policy and the generations of parents and children forever shaped by this social experiment.
Will I watch? = No
Corporate Animals
Synopsis:Lucy (Demi Moore) is the egotistical megalomaniac CEO of Incredible Edibles, America's premier provider of edible cutlery. In her infinite wisdom, Lucy leads her staff including her long-suffering assistants, Freddie (Karan Soni) and Jess (Jessica Williams), on a corporate team-building caving weekend to New Mexico. When disaster strikes, not even their useless guide, Brandon (Ed Helms), can save them. Trapped underground by a cave-in, this mismatched and disgruntled group must pull together in order to survive.
Will I watch? = No
RELEASE DATE: August 16, 2019
The Angry Birds Movie 2
Synopsis:The flightless birds and scheming green pigs take their beef to the next level.
Will I watch? = No
Good Boys
Synopsis:Three sixth grade boys ditch school and embark on an epic journey while carrying accidentally stolen drugs, being hunted by teenage girls, and trying to make their way home in time for a long-awaited party.
Will I watch? = No
The Informer
Synopsis:An ex-convict working undercover intentionally gets himself incarcerated again in order to infiltrate the mob at a maximum security prison.
Will I watch? = No
47 Meters Down: Uncaged
Synopsis:Four teen girls diving in a ruined underwater city quickly learn they've entered the territory of the deadliest shark species in the claustrophobic labyrinth of submerged caves.
Will I watch? = No
Playmobil: The Movie
Synopsis:Animated feature film inspired by the Playmobil brand toys.
Will I watch? = No
Blinded by the Light
Synopsis:In 1987 during the austere days of Thatcher's Britain, a teenager learns to live life, understand his family and find his own voice through the music of Bruce Springsteen.
Will I watch? = No
Where'd You Go, Bernadette
Synopsis:A loving mom becomes compelled to reconnect with her creative passions after years of sacrificing herself for her family. Her leap of faith takes her on an epic adventure that jump-starts her life and leads to her triumphant rediscovery.
Will I watch? = No
RELEASE DATE: August 23, 2019
Angel Has Fallen
Synopsis:Secret Service Agent Mike Banning is framed for the attempted assassination of the President and must evade his own agency and the FBI as he tries to uncover the real threat.
Will I watch? = No
Overcomer
Synopsis:This movie will unpack a pivotal issue in the life of students and adults alike.
Will I watch? = No
Ready or Not
Synopsis:A bride's wedding night takes a sinister turn when her eccentric new in-laws force her to take part in a terrifying game.
Will I watch? = No
Brittany Runs a Marathon
Synopsis:A woman living in New York takes control of her life- one block at a time.
Will I watch? = No
Jawline
Synopsis:The film follows 16-year-old Austyn Tester, a rising star in the live-broadcast ecosystem who built his following on wide-eyed optimism and teen girl lust, as he tries to escape a dead-end life in rural Tennessee.
Will I watch? = No
Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles
Synopsis:The origin story behind one of Broadway's most beloved musicals, Fiddler on The Roof, and its creative roots in early 1960s New York, when "tradition" was on the wane as gender roles, sexuality, race relations and religion were evolving.
Will I watch? = No
RELEASE DATE: August 30, 2019
My Boyfriend's Meds
Synopsis: A woman's island getaway with her boyfriend is thrown for a loop when he forgets to take his prescription medications along.
Will I watch? = No
6 FLICKS PICKS
Which films make the cut? Well, to be honest, I don't think I'm seeing a single one of these this month. This is a rough, rough month, and it may be the worst August that I can remember in YEARS. This is one of those loss months for AMC A-List in my mind, as I think I'm going to be spending $25 for absolutely nothing. Maybe I'll try to find the time to check out Once Upon a Time in Hollywood or another Spider-Man viewing to make up for it, if those are still playing.
6. Angel Has Fallen — I'm more inclined to see a generic action flick (even if I haven't seen the other two) than something like Dora.
5. The Informer — Weak month. This at least plays more to my likes and dislikes than some of the other things, even if I don't think it looks super engaging.
4. The Peanut Butter Falcon — Mick Foley and Jake Roberts are in this, so since my other site is about pro wrestling, I feel like this would be a work-related thing.
3. Good Boys — Purely on the strength of Superbad and, to a lesser extent, Neighbors.
2. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw — I still haven't seen a single one of these movies, but I'm tempted to binge them all and then watch this.
1. The Kitchen — This actually looks decent. I'm not particularly motivated to see it in theaters, but it's easily the one that catches my attention the most that I would risk sitting through.
WHICH MOVIES ARE YOU INTERESTED IN CHECKING OUT?
TELL US IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!
Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Sunday, July 28, 2019
Welcome to another edition of WEEK IN GEEK here at Fanboys Anonymous—a rundown of some of the events, news and stories that went down over the past few days in the geek culture spectrum.
Here are some of the topics I felt like voicing my opinions about:
Zombieland: Double Tap Trailer
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Zombieland, as I'm not fond of zombie movies. I'll be seeing this movie regardless of how it looks, but it's good to know that it looks funny. In particular, the thing that made me laugh was the copycat Jesse Eisenberg.
Westworld Season 3 Trailer
This looks interesting, but I really hope they've learned their lessons from the last season and don't want to purposely try to make this too complicated for the sake of it. Season 2 was so hard to follow and not as good overall compared to season 1. Let's go with more of season 1 material for season 3.
Lucifer Season 5 Expanded
The next season, which will be the last, will have 16 episodes instead of 10. I'm all for that. The 10-episode arc worked really well, but I'm also down for more episodes of a show that I love.
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood Trailer
Tom Hanks doesn't look 100% like Fred Rogers if you compare the two side by side, but if anybody was going to symbolize that wholesomeness, Hanks is probably the best one for the job.
Disney Breaks All-Time Global Ticket Sale Record
Five movies from Disney are billion dollar plus films (Avengers: Endgame, Captain Marvel, Aladdin, The Lion King and Toy Story). Already, they've beaten their 2016 record of $7.61 billion by grossing over $7.67 billion, and they still have some MAJOR heavy-hitter films coming out later this year in Maleficent 2, Frozen 2 and The Rise of Skywalker.
Good lord, all that money. Just give me a taste. A small taste. I can
RIP Russi Taylor
The voice actress who portrayed Martin Prince on The Simpsons has passed away at age 75. Obviously, that is very sad to hear, not just for her friends and family, but the Simpsons community as a whole, as it seems another iconic character will be retired.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THESE TOPICS?
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Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Monday, July 22, 2019
Welcome to another edition of WEEK IN GEEK here at Fanboys Anonymous—a rundown of some of the events, news and stories that went down over the past few days in the geek culture spectrum.
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!
Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Saturday, July 20, 2019
On the latest edition of the Fanboys Anonymous REVIEWPOINT podcast, host Tony Mango breaks down the hits and misses of Disney's The Lion King 2019 remake by discussing what worked, what didn't, and whether you should see it or skip it.
DISNEY'S THE LION KING (2019):
DIRECTED BY
Jon Favreau
WRITTEN BY
Jeff Nathanson (screenplay), Brenda Chapman (story), Irene Mecchi (characters), Jonathan Roberts (characters), Linda Woolverton (characters)
STARRING:
Donald Glover (Simba), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Scar), Beyoncé (Nala), John Oliver (Zazu), Seth Rogen (Pumbaa), Billy Eichner (Timon), John Kani (Rafiki), Alfre Woodard (Sarabi), Keegan-Michael Key (Kamari), Eric André (Azizi), Florence Kasumba (Shenzi), JD McCrary (Young Simba), Shahadi Wright Joseph (Young Nala), and James Earl Jones (Mufasa)
Simba idolizes his father, King Mufasa, and takes to heart his own royal destiny on the plains of Africa. But not everyone in the kingdom celebrates the new cub's arrival. Scar, Mufasa's brother -- and former heir to the throne -- has plans of his own. The battle for Pride Rock is soon ravaged with betrayal, tragedy and drama, ultimately resulting in Simba's exile. Now, with help from a curious pair of newfound friends, Simba must figure out how to grow up and take back what is rightfully his.
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