Fanboys Anonymous

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:

New Release Dates

As is the case with 2020, when nothing happens in the world but people arguing with each other and pop culture going "Hold on a minute", we have updated release dates for films that should have come out already or were set to come out soon.

- Tenet was pushed back 2 weeks.

- Wonder Woman 1984, which at this point feels like it should have come out in 1984 with how many delays its had despite the film's plot apparently leaking online a while back and being SUPER underwhelming from my POV, is now set for October 2nd. Probably should've kept that November 2019 date you originally had, right?

- No Time to Die moved up a few days.

Inception 10th Anniversary Re-Release

The original date for Tenet, July 17th, will be replaced by an Inception re-release that will commemorate its 10th anniversary. Along with that, Warner Bros is having some sneak peak content for Tenet and some other projects including likely The Batman, The Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman, maybe Godzilla vs. Kong, etc.

Neat. I don't know how many people will actually be in theaters, but at least this makes sense to give someone a reason to go see Inception at a location other than their home. I think I would do the exact same move if I were an executive calling the shots.

10 Best Picture Nominees for Oscars

The Academy Awards are adjusting its strategy with Best Picture nominees by making it a guaranteed 10 entries, instead of the algorithm thing they've used recently where it could be any number between 5 and 10 based on a weighted system.

I'm of two opinions about this. I actually like weighted systems, to a certain extent. However, I think having more Best Picture nominees is potentially a good thing for opening some minds for the voters. We've seen decades upon decades of only the same type of movies being nominated by the same type of people, and I think lots of great films have been snubbed from being able to say they're a Best Picture nominee because of that. There's no reason The Dark Knight shouldn't have been nominated, for instance, just because it's about a superhero.

Having 10 films at least gives some of those movies more of a fighting chance. They might not win - and that's okay, too, so long as the films that do win aren't stunt votes based purely on politics and NOT the actual film itself - but at least they'll be able to say they were nominated.

Remember That Batman Game...

Every single year, constantly, there are reports that there's another Arkham game in the works. Every single event that revolves around video games, like E3 or whatever, is spoken of as when they'll reveal the new game. And it NEVER happens.

This is another year where that's happened again. I don't know why people bother to trust in these reports when this has been several years of these kind of promises and nothing happening.

This is a random topic that I've wanted to get around to since Avengers: Infinity War came out, but it still remains open for discussion: since Thor was given a hammer/axe combo that was dubbed Stormbreaker, what hammer should Beta Ray Bill use if he ever appears for the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

The way I see it, they have three options, with some variables within them.

Beta Ray Bill pictured with Stormbreaker, which looks nothing like the one in the MCU, of course.

Option 1 - Stormbreaker

The MCU is no stranger to changing comics continuity. Sometimes, it's for the better (in my opinion) with things like Tony Stark being the one to create Ultron. Other times, it's a mistake, like their first attempt at The Mandarin.

Some people are adamant that Beta Ray Bill still gets Stormbreaker, even though it wouldn't make a lot of sense for Thor to go back to "the little one" in Mjolnir for multiple reasons—not the least of which is that it was supposedly restored back to its original timeline by Captain America at the conclusion of Endgame.

But maybe Bill gets a version of Stormbreaker from another universe/dimension. It seems that's where a lot of these other movies are heading with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Wandavision, so what if that's their excuse?

Maybe he doesn't even have a name for his weapon and they play Bill off as goofy in a sense like they like to make most of their characters. After he hears that Thor calls his weapon that name, he likes the name and adopts it for himself, despite Thor protesting that he can't do that, as that's his axe's name.

Or maybe Thor ends up with another weapon and passes Stormbreaker onto Bill. I don't think that's the best option, but it could theoretically happen.

Option 2 - Jarnbjorn

Just as they took the name Stormbreaker and applied it to a different weapon, why not do the same with another?

Jarnbjorn is an axe Thor wields from time to time. It's purely an axe, though, without the hammer side.

Of course, that's just in the comics. But in the comics, Ghost isn't the daughter of Egghead and an Ant-Man villain, nor was Ego the Living Planet the father of Star-Lord. Things change.

The likelihood that they'll ever spend time having Chris Hemsworth as Thor wielding just a pure axe like Jarnbjorn is so low that they could get away with using that name for Beta Ray Bill's weapon and only the die-hard fans would notice. Casuals certainly wouldn't have an idea who Bill is to begin with, let alone the discrepancies about the weaponry. Hell, most people can't even pronounce Mjolnir and just call it "Thor's hammer" anyway.

Option 3 - Thunderstrike

One thing I'm disappointed in with the MCU is that they never utilized the Donald Blake pseudonym. In the first film, he could have easily used that moniker while he was walking around Earth and trying to be a normal person, but they tossed it aside as a different gag with Jane Foster's ex who is seemingly still out there somewhere.

Eric Masterson isn't going to be a thing, either. It's just not going to happen. So let's have Thor use that name as his pseudonym on Earth when he's trying to be a little inconspicuous.

Then, that frees up Thunderstrike to be used. Since it won't have to be a superhero name and it was both that and Masterson's weapon, how about giving that to Bill? For that matter, he could even use the mace instead of the hammer/axe combo to help differentiate it from Thor's Stormbreaker.

What would you like to see happen with Beta Ray Bill and his weapon, whatever its called, in the future of the MCU? Keep the discussion going in the comments section below!

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:

Evan Peters in Wandavision

Who is he playing? A new character, or is he playing Quicksilver? That would be pretty sweet as a sort of combination of the X-Men franchise and the Quicksilver we got from Age of Ultron. I liked the look and characterization of the Age of Ultron version more, but that sort of reference is too good to pass up.

Ryan Wilder is the Next Batwoman

With Ruby Rose leaving the Batwoman TV series, they're not going to recast the role. Instead, they're making a new Batwoman with a new character named Ryan Wilder.

*deep breath* LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Proposed Bane Film

After Joker was such a hit, one of the supposed ideas they were workshopping was a similar film revolving around Bane.

To be honest, that could work really well. Bane's a character that has enough sides to him that I could see him working as a protagonist despite still being ultimately on the bad side of the alignment.

A Black Sue Storm?

For Josh Trank's atrocious Fant4stic film, if you remember, Franklin Storm and Johnny Storm were portrayed by black actors, while Sue Storm was played by Kate Mara and was written as adopted to explain why she was white.

When the film came out, I wasn't a fan of the decision. Here I thought "Why don't they just make Sue black, too?"

Apparently, the reason (according to Trank) was because the studio wanted a bigger name to play Sue and didn't have any black actresses in mind they felt could pull that off for marketing purposes. That's a shame, for many reasons.

However...let's be honest. Even if Kate Mara wouldn't have been in the film and Meagan Good or Jurnee Smollett-Bell or whoever would have played the character, that wouldn't have saved the film from its 900 other problems. It still would have been an atrocious movie, just with one less issue.

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:

Sonic the Hedgehog Officially Getting a Sequel

We all knew this HAD to happen, with the amount of money it made and the positive support from critics and fans. I'm 100% in support. I thought the movie was a lot of fun and I was pumped to see Tails at the end. In fact, I actually went ahead and did a post about my expectations and what I would like to see them do here. Give me Metal Sonic and Knuckles down the road!

DCU / HBO Max

Supposedly, Doom Patrol is being put on HBO Max, but not the other shows. Frankly, I think this is their attempt to slowly, but surely phase DCU into HBO Max and hope that people keep paying for both services for as long as possible. Once the well starts drying up, they'll just merge them.

In my opinion, what they should do is offer DCU and HBO Max as separate services, but put all the DC shows on HBO Max and DCU. Then, DCU should be at a lower price. If you just want the DC content, you can get the DCU stuff. If you don't need the comics, you can just get HBO.

Mr. Sinister Would've Been in Gambit

Original plans would have had Mr. Sinister pop up in the Gambit film Channing Tatum was working on.

To be honest...as much as I'm disappointed Tatum won't be Gambit, as I think he could have pulled the role off rather well, I'm glad Sinister wasn't wasted on that. I think he should be the primary villain for the next X-Men film (along with Magneto, naturally).

Mulan May Go to PVOD

As expected, there's a chance Disney puts Mulan on Premium Video on Demand instead of in theaters.

Since this isn't a guarantee and is just more of a discussion point right now, I'm not so sure I believe it. I still think Disney wants to see if they can get back to normal releases for the summer in a month or so and start things off with a bang with Mulan, which might not have been the biggest release in the world, but could get a considerable bump if its one of the few movies playing. That way, people that normally wouldn't be as into the idea of paying to see that movie might be inclined to go see it even more just because they want to get out of the house and experience some normalcy.

Of course, maybe this does end up following the Trolls technique, get released at home and sets an even bigger precedent for that becoming the new norm and AMC and other theaters having less negotiating tactics when it comes to being pissed about losing out on that money and refusing to show films from studios that do that.

Henry Cavill as Superman, aka Nick Fury

Supposedly, in the ever-evolving dirt sheet rumor mill that probably doesn't have a clue what is actually going on, Warner Bros are currently looking at Henry Cavill as returning as Superman, but not in a solo movie like Man of Steel 2. Instead, he'll be more of a Nick Fury in the MCU type by appearing in other characters' movies to help with the continuity.

You know what doesn't make sense about all that? Going further into connective tissues between these films while you abandoned that continuity and have a new Batman and still no name for this universe. My God, I cannot understand how DC is so frenetic about this stuff...but I do love Cavill as Superman, so I endorse him sticking around (ideally with a couple other characters recast, like Amy Adams no longer as Lois Lane, for one).

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:

Ruby Rose Leaving Batwoman TV Series

So one season into Batwoman, Ruby Rose is departing the show and the main character will be recast. No official reason has been given as to why. Could it be the injuries she suffered? Supposedly not. Some rumors say it was a mutual thing. But why would both sides want to stop and the show to continue? Was she a pain in the ass to work with and didn't want to be around everyone else? Curious.

I'll continue not watching the show, just like the rest of this series that I fell off from.

The Snyder Cut is Real

For years, we've been hearing about this elusive Zack Snyder cut of Justice League. Now, it's going to finally be released on HBO Max in 2021.

Wild. Insane. I'm very curious to see how they pull this off and I'll definitely check it out.

Some rumors say they're filming scenes that could set up sequels for Justice League 2 and Man of Steel 2. Others say that's completely fictitious.

Now, people are harping on #ReleaseTheAyerCut of Suicide Squad. I guess that's the next thing to champion.

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:

RIP Jerry Stiller

At age 92, the comedian and actor best known for his roles on Seinfeld and King of Queen has passed away. Awesome characters that were so, so funny (particularly Frank Costanza). RIP.

RIP Fred Willard

Stiller wasn't the only comedian to pass this week as Fred Willard, 86, also died. He was so good at playing a mild-mannered, polite type role in so many things. RIP.

The New Mutants Release Date

In what has to be the 20th change to this movie's release date, it's now set for August 28, 2020. I repeat, as I've repeated a million times now, WHY IS THIS BEING PUT IN THEATERS?! It's just going to be confusing for people, it can't possibly be that good, even if it is, it's not going to work to mix it with the MCU, and you're now in a perfect environment with this pandemic to release it on Hulu or something and boost your subscription rates!!

Uma Thurman and Jeremy Renner = Mad Max: Fury Road

Thurman for Furiosa and Renner for Max were possibilities in the casting process. For what it's worth, they might have done a good job, but I think Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron were the better options.

The Purge TV Series Cancelled

I literally just watched season 2 this week, and I was a big fan of how it changed up the formula and touched on the time then The Purge isn't happening. I'm disappointed to see it was cancelled. Then again, it's taken me months to even start season 2, so I get it. Plus, this seems like it would be better off on Netflix or HBO Max or something rather than USA, so they can do more brutal things. Maybe it'll get picked up on one of those networks.

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 Fury Files

A show coming to Disney+ is going to be an animated motion comic portfolio type of thing called Fury Files, diving deeper into characters. I feel like that's some easy content that they are doing in the lull, and it's not the most important thing in the world, but it's still kind of neat and it's good they're putting in that effort.

Elon Musk + Tom Cruise + Space = Movie???

Musk and Cruise are teaming up to film a movie in space. In space. IN SPACE. IN....SPACE.

Does Cruise think "Well, if I can't die from these Mission: Impossible movies, I might as well try space" or something?

This is pretty awesome, in some ways. I hope it happens and that it goes well.

Temuera Morrison Coming to The Mandalorian Season 2

Is he Rex, or is he Boba Fett, or is he both? That seems to possibly be the case. All three scenarios are quite awesome. It would be great to have some confirmation that Fett survived the Sarlacc Pit and that Rex was still kicking after Return of the Jedi

National Treasure
A third movie is still in the works, supposedly, as well as a Disney+ television series with a young cast that hasn't been confirmed to be a reboot, sequel or anything else in particular.

I liked those two films. They're silly, but they were fun. I'm definitely down for seeing a third and a possibly spin-off, if they can be done well. I'll at least check them out, for sure, so they have my endorsement at this level.

The Silence of the Lambs Sequel TV Show

They're making a TV series that's a sequel to The Silence of the Lambs (but not just an adaptation of Hannibal, I guess, nor a continuation of that series). I don't know. I have to assume this is going to fail, but I do like those movies, so I need to see something out of it before I fully judge it. After all, the last series with Mads was pretty great, for the most part. Maybe this will have its positives, too.

TOPIC

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As requested through our Patreon "Pick Your Poison" tier by Marco, Fanboys Anonymous is providing you with another edition of the FanTracks podcast, this time for Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut.

For copyright reasons, we cannot provide the movie itself, but after a short introduction, you will be told when to sync your copy of the film so you can following along with us and listen to our thoughts on the movie as we crack some jokes, expose plot holes, and discuss anything else that comes to our minds for commentary.

Make sure to subscribe/follow on whatever platform you're listening, leave your comments on the videos or this post, share this with your friends and geek out with us!

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 possibly the end of the DC Animated Movie Universe, entitled Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, based on The Darkseid War storyline. Is it worth the watch, or should it be skipped?

Justice League Dark: Apokolips War
Directed by Matt Peters and Christina Sotta
Written by Ernie Altbacker (screenplay) and Mairghread Scott (story)

STARRING: Jason O'Mara (Bruce Wayne / Batman), Matt Ryan (John Constantine), Jerry O'Connell (Kal-El / Clark Kent / Superman), Taissa Farmiga (Raven), Stuart Allan (Damian Wayne / Robin), Tony Todd (Darkseid), Rosario Dawson (Diana Prince / Wonder Woman), Shemar Moore (Victor Stone / Cyborg), Rebecca Romijn (Lois Lane), Rainn Wilson (Lex Luthor) with Nathan Fillion (Hal Jordan / Green Lantern), Sean Astin (Billy Batson / Shazam), Jon Bernthal (Trigon) and many, many more

STORY: C–

So here's the thing. There isn't all that much actual story here. It's just that everything went to hell and they have to reboot the universe.

With that being said, it's still fun and interesting to see a world where it all ends and they can reset those dead characters and such. We rarely get a chance to watch characters meet their maker and progress in different ways.

As a story itself, it's lackluster. As an end to this series, it's okay. As a one-shot story board, in some sense, it's lots of fun.

CHARACTERS: B–

Most characters are on-beat from what they should be. I'm a fan of Damian Wayne turning into the new Ra's al Ghul, for instance. Batman overcoming his corruption was another noteworthy touch that had to happen. Even the idea that Lex Luthor would be working both sides is the way to go.

But it was still odd to see how so many characters, for the purpose of this story, had to stop acting like themselves. That throws things off a bit. Lots of people who should have put up better fights were nerfed. For instance, why did the Green Lantern Corps take 2 years and an attack on Oa to get off their asses?

TONE / ATMOSPHERE: A–

ACTION: Rock solid. Much more brutal than I anticipated.

DRAMA: You can't go wrong with the end of the world as far as stakes go.

COMEDY: No real chuckles, but that's not supposed to be the case with this movie.

ROMANCE: Lois and Clark had the proper relationship going.


ACTING: B+

Tony Todd is an underwhelming Darkseid to say the least. That voice just doesn't suit that character for my tastes. Everyone else was pretty spot on.

VISUALS (FX, MAKEUP, COSTUMES, SETS): A

I'm a fan of this visual style. I've repeated that over and over again. No complaints.

AUDIO (MUSIC / SOUND): B

Nothing memorable. Nothing stood out as great or awful. It was what it was.

• Why is Batman in his blue cape and cowl?
• Doomsday/Parademon hybrids? Yeeeesh. Aquaman cut in half? Damn. Of course J'onn gets caught on fire. He always does. Cyborg always loses limbs, too. Didn't expect that with Diana's arm, though.
• Batman converted into a new Metron of sorts? Cool idea. Also glad they alluded to how Lex Luthor would've been another option.
• "Oh for fuck's sake." - Raven getting an F bomb. Wow.
• I guess Luthor is more of a Desaad?
• Some good cameos in the Stryker's Island fight scene.
• "King Shark is a shark." - Are you just trying to be Groot?

GRADE: B+ (Pass)

As stated above, this is far from the strongest movie by itself, but it was an interesting end to this series. I'm a big fan of how they ended it with a new Flashpoint, as these types of reboots should always end in a Crisis type Flash reset of sorts. That was a good nod. I'm excited to see what this team works on next, if they decide to keep making animated films outside of the same running continuity.

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:

Spy vs. Spy Movie in the Works

I've always said this property makes so much sense for a film. All you need to do is cast the right two leads and it is an easy pitch. Originally, I had thought they'd make one with Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller. Now, maybe it's Kevin Hart and The Rock?

No More Universal Films in AMC Theaters

AMC Theaters is so upset about how Universal decided to release Trolls 2 on VOD instead of in theaters that they're claiming it's not an empty threat that they will NO LONGER run ANY Universal films in ANY of their theaters.

C'mon. Of course you will. You're not going to lose out on all the money to be made from Fast and Furious, Jurassic World, and so on.

SPUMC

Sony's ability to use Spider-Man characters is apparently being referred to as a universe called Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters.

SPUMC. That's not catchy at all.

The Flash Recasting Iris West

Kiersey Clemons was Iris West in the original DC films continuity and should have been in the movie that has been pushed back like 20 times. Now, I guess they're looking to replace her.

That's a shame. She struck me as someone who had some serious potential to break out, as well as to be a good Iris. Hopefully, she'll be something else even better along the line.

The Man in the MCU

Becky Lynch from WWE is supposedly in the running to be cast in an upcoming MCU film. As you probably know, my other site Smark Out Moment revolves entirely around pro wrestling, so I spend more time talking about Becky than I do even the MCU (despite the latter being something I'm even more fond of...but hey, if you want to change that, donate to the Patreon and I'll do more Fanboys content as I'll have more time to dedicate to it!). Anyway, no indication of what role in what movie she'd be cast in, if that does come to pass, but I'm a fan of The Man and I'm up for seeing her try her hand in some acting if that's on the table. I can't imagine her being a headliner by any means, like how I couldn't see her being She-Hulk, but maybe there's a role in something like The Eternals where she could pop in for a scene or so.

100 Week in Geek Posts

This is the 100th edition of this segment on the site. It's worked okay, overall, fulfilling my original intention of just getting some quick content up here so that there's more regular posting, but I'll fully admit this is nowhere near anything what I wanted it to be. In my ideal version of the site, not only would there be a full staff of people writing articles round the clock and doing tons of podcasts of all sorts of varieties (news reports, Group Meeting once a week, tons of FanTracks and stuff like fan casting and a whole lineup of segments I haven't even debuted as well as ones I want to bring back) but Week in Geek would be a weekly roundup of news in podcast form like the Hot Tags on Smark Out Moment Smack Talk. Just keep in mind that while this has happened 100 times so far in this format, it's not even 1/10th of what I want it to be. Hopefully, things change to get more in that direction, but I wanted to thank everyone who does check this out on a weekly basis and shows their support even when its very generic. Thank you!

I've been a fan of the James Bond film franchise since I was around 10 years old. I got into it the way many people did from that age bracket—through GoldenEye—which was exposed to me by friends of mine who had played GoldenEye 007 for Nintendo 64 and wanted to know what that game was all about.

In fact, I distinctly remember a friend of mine talking in class one day about how he had seen Tomorrow Never Dies and that it was the coolest thing ever, and I had no idea what he was talking about, at first. Fast-forward a few months later, I'm in a group of friends (coincidentally, not including that one) who are so Bond-obsessed that we're trying to find the Parker Jotter pens and assigning ourselves 00 numbers as if we're some secret club.

I've had over 20 years to think about the franchise, grow up in the Pierce Brosnan era, remember what it was like to find out that Daniel Craig was cast and absolutely hate that he was blonde (so much so that I sent an email saying I'd spend the $10 on a bottle of hair dye if they were that cheap) and so on. I was excited for Marc Forster to direct Quantum of Solace, which was a title I wanted them to use forever, and I was so bummed when that became one of my least favorite films. So on and so forth.

With all this in mind, I've always wondered what would be my "perfect" James Bond film. If I could take elements from each movie and mix and match, what would I end up with? Would I take George Lazenby and put him against Gustav Graves with Stacy Sutton as the main Bond girl? You'd bet your ass I wouldn't!

In order to get to this endgame, we need the 7 essential parts of what makes up a 007 film: the Bond, the Tone, the Villains, the Allies, the Gadgets, the Action and the Title.

001. The Bond

Everyone has their favorite Bond, for whatever reason. Most tend to go with Sean Connery as the standard-bearer or Daniel Craig because he's the new guy and that's what they're most familiar with. A lot of it depends on your age, as I know people in their 50s who swear Roger Moore was the best.

I think they all bring something to the table, for the most part, and if we're merging things, we need to pick and choose certain traits from each one.

When it comes to physique, it's clearly Craig. He's the most muscular of the bunch and that makes him more believable to endure so much punishment and pull off as many stunts.

I enjoy his brutality, in a lot of ways, but I think that should be mixed a bit with Connery and Timothy Dalton—easily the most underrated Bond of all time, if not my overall favorite.

My perfect James Bond is a killer, for sure, but he's not crashing into walls like a "blunt instrument" like Craig. He can scrap with someone like Red Grant and has no issue doing something like lighting Franz Sanchez on fire, but he's not doing parkour. Maybe mix in a little Brosnan strictly from GoldenEye.

As far as the face goes, you have to go with Brosnan. For that matter, he's got the charm, too. I know some people think Brosnan is "too pretty" for the role, but I think that actually helps, in a way. Bond should be attractive enough that you can understand at a moment's notice why every woman falls for him and why he's so damn cocky. I don't get that impression with Moore, for instance.

My perfect Bond is suave, smooth, and can charm the pants off anyone without being creepy about it or too misogynistic. Yes, that used to be the way to go, but it doesn't age well, and toning it down a bit is better. I don't at all want my Bond to smack a woman around and forcefully kiss her like Connery used to do. I want a Bond who can get Dr. Molly Warmflash to medically clear him for field action through sex. I bet you didn't expect a Warmflash reference to be pulled out here, eh?

Still, Bond should be a dick. He's an asshole. He's a jerk. He says some things that are just rude, he's stubborn and his ego is a big part of his flaws. I like my Bond to take someone's car keys and mess it up like Craig does in Casino Royale, or for him to yell "Switch the bloody machine off!!" like Dalton in License to Kill.

All of them have had those moments. Moore knocks the guy off the roof and tells Andrea Anders that if Francisco Scaramanga used one of his bullets on her, it would be a shame, because the bullets are expensive! Goddamn! Elektra tells Bond that he wouldn't kill her because he'd miss her, he shoots her and Brosnan says "I never miss."

But he should still care. He's still a good person. Connery mostly seems to just shrug things off too much for my liking to be a perfect Bond amalgam. I do love Moore snapping back "That's enough" when Anya Amasova brings up Tracy, or when Dalton is heartbroken at catching Della's garter.

Last, but not least, is the humor. Bond shouldn't be goofy, but he should be witty. The best at this was probably Moore, although he did go too far into the extreme at times. Think more puns and clver wordplay than acting silly.

For example, Connery saying "positively shocking" after electrocuting guy is great, or handing Fiona Volpe just her slippers to wear is brilliant. Brosnan telling Xenia he "shoots in and out" is good. Craig didn't have enough of these, but he had a great moment in Casino Royale when he tried to pass off Vesper's cover identity as "Miss Stephanie Broadchest" for instance.

It's all about balance. Give me an action star who is tall dark and handsome, charming, a jerk with a heart of gold and can quip when he kills someone.

002. The Tone

All Bond films are similar to each other, yet each one of them is different. In some ways, if you showed someone a Roger Moore film and a Daniel Craig film, without context, they'd think it was a different series altogether.

A lot of that has to do with the Bond himself, but even within each actor's run, there are deviations. GoldenEye is gritty, while Die Another Day has Bond fighting people named Mr. Kill and bad CGI surfing on icebergs. From Russia with Love is a rather serious spy film, while Diamonds are Forever is goofy as hell and damn near a parody of the franchise.

The movie has to be funny at points, but not at all campy. I don't want Bond doing things that are too fantastical, yet I don't want it to be nothing but dry and dour for the entire time without a hint of levity.

GoldenEye is my favorite of the films in part because of its balance, so you're going to see a lot of references to that here and elsewhere. I think it's got enough grit and seriousness, but with enough things to smile about and not feel too tense and depressing like Skyfall, even though I love how earnest that one is, in some ways.

Some of the Connery films are boring. I can't sit through Dr. No, for instance. Yet, somehow, that's also laughable. Why does it start with the Three Blind Mice shtick? It's all over the place and not all that interesting to watch.

Die Another Day was too over the top, even though it was off to a great start. Once Bond shaves, it goes wacky.

The Man with the Golden Gun is a film that I think could have been infinitely better if it had a different tone. The plot itself of a top-notch assassin wanting to kill Bond is great. When you throw in Nick Nack, as much as I love the guy, it's too silly, especially when paired with J.W. Pepper and the slide whistle for the car sequence.

Likewise, one of my other absolute favorites, License to Kill, is great for a deviation, but I don't think that hyper-revenge story is the way to go for a "perfect" Bond film blueprint.

The movie should take itself seriously. There should be humor, but never laughing at the movie, just with the movie. It's not supposed to be a Fast and Furious action flick, nor should it be Schindler's List.

003. The Villains and Plot

There are a couple tropes for Bond villains, to varying extremes. Sometimes, they want to destroy the planet. Sometimes, they just want to steal a device.

Like with any balance, I want a mixture of villains and for none of it to be boring, nor silly. Don't give me the Blofeld clones in Diamonds are Forever, which is wacky. Don't try to tie the villain into a figure skater subplot like For Your Eyes Only, which is one of my least favorites. For that matter, I love The Living Daylights (one of my favorites) but I still don't know what the hell Koskov's plan is. Diamonds, drugs, weapons, defections, pigs, borscht, cake...there must be another way!

Here's another great example: the beginning of Die Another Day with the hovercrafts floating over the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea is AMAZING and could have been the big plot of the film. However, having Colonel Moon do gene therapy to become Gustav Graves, create an Iron Man suit, smuggle diamonds and create a laser satellite weapon...stop throwing out tons of ideas that don't work together!

GoldenEye (surprise surprise) has perhaps my favorite balance of everything. It doesn't have everything I'm looking for in a villain plot, but it does check off a lot of the boxes by having Trevelyan, Xenia, Ourumov and Boris.

So here's my proposal of a breakdown of villains for a perfect Bond film:

Villain 1 = The Puppetmaster
- This person is manipulating people behind the scenes and acts as an evil M.
- You know who this is. It's Ernst Stavro Blofeld. He and S.P.E.C.T.R.E. are working with a #2 because they want something in return for offering their brilliance and resources.
- Blofeld needs to survive the film.

Villain 2 = The Warmonger / Warlord
- Ideally, this is a military general who is seeking power. They stand to gain something out of the evil plot, like becoming the ruler of their nation through a coupe or they're already in charge and want to invade another country. This person has his separatist brigade of followers who are goons that Bond can shoot at throughout the film. Ourumov is a great representation of this.
- If not that, they're a businessman like Hai Fat or Elliot Carver. The whole idea of this character is that they're the ones driving the plot forward from a face value level and they can be the "big bad" who dies.
- This is the bankroller in some situations if you don't have a Puppetmaster.

Villain 3 = The Evil Parallel
- A reflection of Bond. They know what he knows, so they can outsmart him or outmatch him in skills.
- This can be a former 00 agent like Silva or Trevelyan, an assassin like Scaramanga, a spy from another organization like Red Grant or some other variant like that.
- You may be able to merge this with the Warlord if you're trying to trim characters. The way to tweak that is that instead of a legit military guy, you make him a separatist random lunatic who has amassed a personal army by overthrowing someone or usurping some crappy little nation or whatever.

Villain 4 = The Femme Fatale
- The seductress who can get to Bond through one of his main weaknesses—the bedroom.
- Fiona Volpe and Xenia are great examples. Elektra King is another great one, but I think she's also a bit of the Warlord (Side note: I actually love her character and the Stockholm Syndrome angle of TWINE so much).
- Bond absolutely must have sex with her, and when she dies, he absolutely must say some kind of pun.

Villain 5 = The Heavy Henchman
- The physical threat. He is big, ideally has some kind of distinguishing feature (deformity, disfigurement or gimmick) and can nearly kill Bond with his fists.
- Jaws and Oddjob are templates for this.

Villain 6 = The Weasel / Tech Guy
- Someone who can be a pushover, but represents an intelligent side of the plan.
- Boris. Henry Gupta.

What is the overall goal and plot of the film, given these characters?

A very baseline idea would be that they've stolen some kind of weaponry and plan on using that to instigate a war they can profit from. In fact, keeping in mind that I'm repeating plot elements from movies we've seen already, I'll go full ham on this and toss this idea out there:

A rogue state that has seen a steady rise in power has stolen nuclear weaponry and assassinated several key figures of various nations. It's unknown what their connection is or what the plan is. Bond is sent to investigate based on the only evidence they have, which is some kind of diamonds smuggling operation used to fund these transactions, maybe. Diamonds are important to Bond films.

The terrorist leader of this separatist group is known by the codename Risico, who is the primary antagonist. He is a former 00 agent who was tasked to overthrow a dictator and create a military uprising in another country on behalf of MI6. However, he did his job too well. Over the years, the job turned him evil. The more death and destruction he saw and was directly responsible for, the more he became addicted to that thrill and became disgusted in bureaucracy and humans in general. He believes he's been righting the wrongs and he should be in control.

Risico started double-dipping, doing jobs for MI6 while also doing side gigs for S.P.E.C.T.R.E., who let him run around like a kid with a molotov cocktail. He does contract kills for them in exchange for amassing more power in this rogue nation that he's secretly been trying to build from the ground up like a slash and burn crop, while S.P.E.C.T.R.E. feels like they can kill him at any moment if he gets out of hand, but he's a great tool, for now.

Under Risico's command is a military general who is a pig of a human. Think General Medrano. He's clearly someone who provides the goons and is there to be the underling who thinks he's the right-hand man, but Risico just needs someone to boss around the mooks and do the dirty work.

Risico's trusty #2 for real is his femme fatale. She's the one he'll talk plans over with. Give her some sort of sexy name, but don't make it some obvious innuendo.

Risico's bodyguard is the heavy, and there's also his tech guy who can explain to him the bombs and such.

In the end, Blofeld is backing Risico because S.P.E.C.T.R.E. wants control over the land of this rogue nation (maybe the water/oil plot from Quantum of Solace) while the military general just wants a pure ego trip of power, Risico wants to watch the world burn, the bodyguard is just there for the hits and the femme fatale's motivations I'm not sure of. Tech guy is just thereto make money and push buttons and get killed in a humiliating fashion.

None of this factors in other elements of the plot, Bond's journey through the film and so on, of course, but that's your driving force as far as the villains go,

004. The Allies

So we've talked about the villains at length. Let's talk about the allies who will accompany Bond throughout this mission. These are actually a bit easier to decipher, as I'm just copying and pasting a lot of already great characters.

Ally 1 = M
- Judi Dench.
- She represents the motherly role in the film and is his stern boss who ultimately trusts him, even if she has to deride his decisions and chew him out here and there. They respect each other.
- Perhaps you even include the Defense Minister or someone breathing down M's back to explain why she's so harsh on Bond.

Ally 2 = Q
- Desmond Llewelyn mixed with Ben Whishaw
- The quartermaster who provides Bond with all his gadgets. He's on the meek side, will not be expected to do any action. He can literally just pop up in one scene to explain the gadgets and be there for levity.
- Bond respects him, but goofs off with him. Q finds 007 infuriating, but he likes him.

Ally 3 = Moneypenny
- I prefer Samantha Bond mixed with Lois Maxwell more so than Eve Moneypenny being some former field agent.
- I honestly don't think it's demeaning for there to be a female character who is a secretary of sorts. M could use a subordinate administrative assistant who has a flirtatious relationship with Bond to offset the motherly and stern woman in charge. They are in direct opposition of each other, which makes it fun.
- She doesn't go on the mission, just like Q doesn't. She helps with exposition and relaying information to Bond while flirting.

Ally 4 = Bill Tanner
- Someone for M to interact with and talk down to.
- Charles Robinson was awesome, but too cool for that spot. For that matter, I think Colin Salmon could've been a great 008. He was just too handsome and seemingly capable in his own right to be a Tanner.

Ally 5 = Felix Leiter
- Bond's buddy from the CIA.
- Merge David Hedison with Jeffrey Wright to give me the best Felix, but maybe throw in a little Jack Lord and Rik Van Nutter for flair.
- No J.W. Pepper, which was just too silly.
- No Jack Wade. I enjoyed him, but he should have been Felix (outside of the whole LTK injuries).

Ally 6 = Sacrificial 00 Agent
- Another 00 who can die at the beginning of the film.
- Cannot be 008. You need to keep that mystery that 008 is the other "good" one along with 007.
- We haven't seen 001 in a movie yet, right? Let's kill him/her off.

Ally 7 = Sacrificial Helper Buddy Ol' Pal
- Someone who can help Bond and then die.
- Think Quarrel or Sharkey.

Ally 8 = Sacrificial Bond Girl
- A tragic loss of a beautiful woman.
- Maybe she's dating the main villain and gets offed by him to show how evil he is, like Paris Carver or Solange.

Ally 9 = The Main Bond Girl
- This is the one Bond ends up with in the end.
- She should have some sort of skills, training or specialties that are valuable for the plot and allow her to serve a purpose other than being eye candy.
- Absolutely not just a damsel in distress like Stacy Sutton!
- Think Dr. Holly Goodhead, Natalya Simonova, or Dr. Christmas Jones but without the bad writing/acting.

005. The Gadgets and Cars

The Daniel Craig Era is frustratingly against this aspect of the franchise, and I don't know why. While I fully understand the idea of making things a bit grittier and realistic than an invisible car and whatnot, I feel they went too far in the opposite direction by just eradicating them entirely. It's as if they decide it's all or nothing—fantastical, or no gadgets at all.

In fact, there's that scene in Skyfall where Q specifically turns its nose up at the exploding pen in GoldenEye, as if that's one of the more laughable ones. In fact, it's one of the more serious and iconic ones! If you're going to poke fun at something, poke fun at the stupid alligator submarine!

My philosophy on the car and the gadgets is that it should be something that looks normal, but has a different function to it. For example, I like how the cell phone in Tomorrow Never Dies has the taser and the lock pick. I dig the Dentonite toothpaste in License to Kill and the grapple belt in GoldenEye.

It should also be something that helps Bond, but doesn't immediately solve all the problems in a contrived way. He shouldn't be given a catch-all plot device that would only be useful in one random situation and he just so happens to have the perfect thing to save the day. I think it's better when Bond uses it for an advantage, but still has to get out of the situation by being innovative.

As time has gone on, the gadgets are harder to do. No longer is a homing beacon anything special, for instance. It used to be impressive if he had a camera that he could carry around. Now, phones do that and more.

So on the pure gadget side of things, I think he needs four that should go with every movie: a phone, a watch, a tracking beacon of sorts and "something extra".

The phone should have some bonus stuff to it other than just a modern phone. Maybe the fingerprint scanner from TND? That or the watch should be a bomb. I like the watch laser, too. The tracking signal is just smart for MI6 to be able to know where he is.

"Something extra", aka the fourth gadget, is the highlight thing of the film. It's the one that's featured similar to the attache case in From Russia with Love or the wrist dart gun in Moonraker.

When it comes to the car, we all know it should be a silver/gray Aston Martin.

Equip it with machine guns, missiles, a license plate that can be changed (LED screen instead of a revolving one to modernize it?), an ejector seat, bulletproof glass, and so on.

006. The Set Pieces

There are three things to break down here: action sequences, random things that need to happen throughout the film and locations to visit.

Action Sequences

1. Car chase.
2. Brawl in a tight space. = the train fight in From Russia With Love, for instance. Bonus points if you have Bond do that thing where he slams someone to the left and right side of an elevator at some point in the movie, too.)
3. Compound shooting spree = Bond is either breaking out after having been captured or he's attacking the villain's lair with the intent of blowing it up after extracting someone.
4. A ticking clock scene = Bond is defusing a bomb, stopping a missile launch, etc.
5. Bond has to sneak into somewhere. Stealth portion of the movie. Ideally at the halfway mark or so while Bond is still gathering information about the villain's plot so as to not halt the pace.
6. Ski chase.
7. Water = a boat, submarine or underwater scuffle, if you have the time. 

Absolutely no Quantum of Solace editing with all the jump cuts and frenetic pacing.

Random Other Sequences

1. A casino scene where Bond converses with a villain (femme fatale, ideally) and wins the card game.
2. The movie starts with the gun barrel, leads into an opening action set piece, goes to the film's title sequence, then moves on to set up the villain's goals. Tomorrow Never Dies is a great example. 
3. Bond pretends to be someone else and uses an alias.
4. Bond sleeps with the femme fatale, seduces at least one other woman and also sleeps with the main love interest. In one of these scenes, Bond should show a preference for a certain year of Bollinger champagne.
5. Obviously, Bond has to order a martini that's shaken, not stirred.
6. Again, obviously, Bond has to introduce himself at some point in the movie as "Bond...James Bond."
7. Bond checks his hotel room for bugs, webcams and such.

Locations

1. MI6 Headquarters = This includes either M's office that Judi Dench used, or the one with the red door from the classic films, Skyfall and Spectre.
2. Casino
3. Villain lair compound (high tech, secluded)
4. Some beach location (sexy, bright, colorful)
5. Some Middle Eastern location (oppressively hot and dry)
6. Snow.
7. European nation (France? Italy? etc)
8. Russia, China, North Korea or somewhere that plays like a stereotypical bad place you wouldn't want to be. Don't want to go to Siberia and risk not coming out, for instance!

That probably covers the blueprint ideas, but something else that needs to be mentioned is that all of this stuff should try to be original from one to the next, while still hitting the tropes.

For instance, both Goldfinger and The Living Daylights have car chases, but are very different from each other. The skiing sequence from A View to a Kill is very different from On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

007. The Title and Theme Song

The Title

I've tied these together because I think they counterbalance each other. It's hard to write a main theme for a film like Thunderball, because what the hell does that mean? But I think people approach the music in a film the same way they approach the title in that they can be memorable in their own right.

There are pretty much 2 ways to title a Bond film. Option A is something flowery and poetic (The World is Not Enough, From Russia with Love, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Quantum of Solace). Option B is to go with a single word that reflects the villain or something directly referenced in the plot (Goldfinger, GoldenEye, Moonraker).

I tend to like the more poetic titles. Diamonds are Forever, A View to a Kill, etc. But it shouldn't just be variations of Tomorrow Never Dies and Die Another Day and No Time to Die. Don't make the blueprint film Death Dies a Kill and think you mean any sense.

I do love Never Send Flowers, For Special Services, High Time to Kill, By Royal Command and so on, admittedly. Zero Minus Ten is cool, too. However, if we're going with Risico as our blueprint villain name, let's go with "risk" somewhere in the title, if possible.

For my money, the way around that isn't to make this movie "Calculated Risk" or "Life and Limb" or "Risky Business". Instead, I think an ideal title they're sleeping on using is Devil May Care.

The Music

David Arnold does the score. He has a better track record than anyone and I absolutely love his recurring love theme. Massive credit to John Barry for setting the tone and for having some great things that go under the radar, like A View to a Kill, The Man with the Golden Gun and more. However, I'll pick David Arnold.

There should be a main theme, but also a secondary theme for the end credits. I love how The Living Daylights, License to Kill, GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies and The World is Not Enough all have two themes. For instance, "If There Was a Man" to parallel "The Living Daylights" and "The Experience of Love" for Tina Turner's "GoldenEye".

Ideally, one of them is a love song like Nobody Does it Better or All Time High and the other is more of a Goldfinger-esque theme.

I don't dig the rock stuff like You Know My Name and Another Way to Die. Granted, I do like those songs outside of the series, but I think Skyfall is infinitely better for a Bond film.

As far as who should sing the songs? One for a man, one for a woman. If I were to go with someone brand new, as opposed to bringing back Shirley Bassey or Adele, for instance, I think Sting would be a great choice for the male, with Lana Del Ray for the female.

Conclusion

There you go! That's how I think you should take all the staple ingredients of the Bond franchise, mix them all together, sift out the bad stuff, merge some concepts and come out with the best recipe for a perfect 007 movie.

How would you make this type of film, if given a chance? What aspects would you change from my blueprint? Keep the discussion going in the comments below!

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:

A Death is Coming to GOTG Vol 3

When asked on a Q&A about whether or not someone will die in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, James Gunn said "Yes."

Of course, it's guaranteed at least someone will die in the movie. There will be plenty of aliens and goons and random characters who will die. Hundreds upon thousands have died in both movies. But, naturally, people are speculating on whether or not this will be a main character, like Yondu in Vol. 2.

I don't necessarily think that will happen, but if someone from the core group does die, I think it'll be Nebula. She doesn't have too much of an arc at this point now that she and Gamora had made up and Thanos is dead...other than restoring Gamora to her true self from #2, right? Maybe she dies in a self-sacrifice to save Gamora and prove how sisterly they really did become?

DC Delayed Release Dates

The Batman is now October 1, 2021 (damn it)

The Flash is somehow moving up from July 1, 2022 to June 3, 2022. That makes no sense, especially with all the Ezra Miller stuff that happened recently.

Shazam 2 is now November 4, 2022 instead of April 1.

No Time to Die = James Bond's Head?

Cary Fukunaga toyed with the idea of having No Time to Die go back to the torture scene of Spectre and have it be that the end of that film and most of this film were all in Bond's head. I would have HATED that. Then again, I don't know what their plans are for this movie. It could be a better alternative to what we're getting.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage

That's the title or the new Venom 2 film. It's pretty much perfect, considering the main villain. "Venom: Carnage" would have been weird. "Venom: Maximum Carnage" would have been a tad lazy to just bite the other title, and it would have somehow confused people who would have thought it had to be an exact retelling of that story. I dig this.

Westworld Renewed for Season 4

I still haven't caught up on season 3 yet, but I'm a huge fan of this show. To be fair, I'm more of a fan of season 1 than I am of what they gave us in season 2 and so far in 3 from what I've seen, but unless this goes too far off the rails, I'm going to see it through to the end.

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:

Joss Whedon for Fantastic Four?

Rumor going around is that Joss Whedon may have something to do with Fantastic Four; he may possibly even helm the film.

Brad Pitt was almost Big Daddy

Apparently, the original intention for casting Big Daddy in Kick-Ass was to go with Brad Pitt, as opposed to Nicolas Cage. As much as I think Pitt is an awesome actor, I think it's actually better off with Cage. He brings a different type of feel to it that Pitt wouldn't have.

Also, people wanted to make Hit-Girl a 25-year-old??? The whole point of the character is how young she is!!!

San Diego Comic Con 2020 Cancelled

We all knew this was coming. I'm not in the slightest bit surprised. It blows, of course, even though I had no plans at all to attend. What I'd love to see is some sort of digital equivalent of it. They can do some live stream stuff, maybe.

Opening Up America Again: Phase One - Movie Theaters??

So the current game plan, which could change at any moment, of course, is to have gyms and movie theaters as part of the first phase of opening America back to public gatherings? Before schools and such? Look, I want movies back so, so much, but I don't know how you can justify that.

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:

PlayStation 5 DualSense Controller

I rarely talk about video games here, as I'm not a gamer and in no way someone you should listen to the opinions of. But I saw this controller for the new PS5. The design looks like it is probably comfortable and could very well be the best controller, in theory. I dig the color scheme for most things, but I'd rather have it be black instead of white, if given the choice.

If I got so lucky as to have the money and the free time to get a new console, I think it would be the PS5. Then again, I've told myself that same thing for years with the PS3, PS4 and so on, so I doubt that will come to pass. But overall, this looks pretty sweet.

Ezra Miller

Footage of Ezra Miller choking a fan and throwing her to the ground has surfaced. Yeah...not thinking that Flash movie is any closer to happening and should probably just be scrapped entirely at this point.

Laurence Fishburne = Luke Cage?

Apparently, Quentin Tarantino wanted to make a Luke Cage movie back in the day starring Laurence Fishburne. That's crazy in that it makes SO MUCH sense. One of the reasons it didn't happen was that his friends kept trying to convince him Wesley Snipes would be better for the part.

I agree with Tarantino. Fishburne would've been better than Snipes.

Nozuki

Toys for Godzilla vs. Kong have been revealed. There's Godzilla and King Kong, of course—otherwise, what would be the point? But there's also something new called Nozuki and there's "Mega Godzilla". Oddly enough, no Mechagodzilla or Mecha-Ghidorah. I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that's where they were going to go, in that Kong and Godzilla would have to team up to fight M-G in the end, so I'm curious if that just hasn't leaked and it's still the plan with this Nozuki thing being the villain for the first part of the film, or if they're actually not going in that direction, which would be very, very strange.

Modern Family Series Finale

It's always bittersweet to see a series end that has gone on as long as something like Modern Family. Funny enough, I came into this show very late. I think I started watching on season 8 or something and went back and watched the whole series from episode 1 until I caught up to the "new" episodes at the time. For years, I thought the show looked stupid, but I eventually caught a few glimpses, gave it a chance, and grew to love it.

What I wanted out of this finale was for nothing "bad" to happen and for it to call attention to how it's sad to see this go. They gave me that. There wasn't any jarring disappointment like How I Met Your Mother. I didn't feel like it was an empty non-episode like some other shows. It was just a means to an end, and since this is a story about family, families don't just stop. They change over time, yes, and there are big moments here and there, but nothing that just ends the tale like if some villain needed to be slain to save the day.

As far as the material itself goes, I like where each character is going, in most ways.

Jay learning Spanish was wonderful. Joe turning more into a little Jay is great. I do think Gloria being a real estate agent was an odd choice from the start, rather than finding some other kind of passion, so I think I'd have changed that idea from the get-go and not ended in this spot with her, but I do like her having more of a purpose beyond being a housewife who somewhat feels "only good for her looks" like at the start of the show. I don't feel a ton of closure with Manny, but I assume we're supposed to think he'll toughen up a bit and get his act together without losing himself in the process.

Phil and Claire are in a good spot. That whole side of the family is pretty solid. Alex has her career and love life going in the right direction, Luke's buckling down, I loved the touch of Haley taking over Mitch and Cam's old place, etc.

Speaking of Mitchell and Cam, Lily and the new baby...them moving and doing the opposite of what Cam did is kind of poetic. I don't think that would work out in the long run, but who's to say they don't do that for a year or two and then move back or something? We can make up our own endings. Life's weird, too, and that's been a running theme of the show. There's no formula.

We didn't get a reveal of how this show has been a documentary of sorts. I thought we'd get some kind of family photo album explanation or something, but that wasn't the case. Frankly, I'm okay with that. We can make up our own ideas for that, too. In my mind, since Jay has more narration voice than anyone, it's a project he got everyone to do and bankrolled from the start.

Amazing show. It'll go down as one of my favorite start-to-finish executions, for sure.

As requested through our Patreon "Pick Your Poison" tier by Guest Five, Fanboys Anonymous is providing you with another edition of the FanTracks podcast, this time for Pokémon The Movie 2000: The Power of One.

For copyright reasons, we cannot provide the movie itself, but after a short introduction, you will be told when to sync your copy of the film so you can following along with us and listen to our thoughts on the movie as we crack some jokes, expose plot holes, and discuss anything else that comes to our minds for commentary.

Make sure to subscribe/follow on whatever platform you're listening, leave your comments on the videos or this post, share this with your friends and geek out with us!

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:

MCU Films Get Delayed Releases

As expected, COVID-19 has pushed back the releases of Black Widow, Eternals, Shang-Chi and more.

I'm bummed, for sure, but I can't blame Disney for making this call. There's no telling when movie theaters will be up and running and fully functioning again, let alone how long it will take after that for the business to recalibrate itself.

This sucks. I want to be able to go to the movies and I want to see these things.

Click here for not only the updated release schedule, but also my rankings of all the films in the MCU so far.

Other Delayed Releases, Of Course

Everything. Everything is being delayed, for the most part. AMC theaters may go out of business, Shazam 2 may not start when expected, etc.

Top Gun: Maverick moves from June 24th to December 23rd.
A Quiet Place Part 2 goes from March 20th to September 4th.
Candyman moves from June 12 to September 25th.
Jungle Cruise gets moved a whole year from July 24, 2020 to July 30, 2021.
Mulan is now set for July 24th.
Artemis Fowl will go to Disney+.
Free Guy goes from July to December 11th.

Oddly enough, San Diego Comic-Con hasn't been delayed yet. It's still scheduled for July, at least for now.

I think Top Gun and A Quiet Place will benefit. Top Gun is a good "dad movie" for Christmas. A Quiet Place being closer to Halloween is good. The same goes for Candyman, which never made sense as a June summer film to me, anyway.

Oddly, I think Jungle Cruise would have been smart to set for August and take advantage of a lack of competition and people just wanting to go see something dumb and fun (assuming we can get to the movies, then).

The weirdest thing? They haven't said anything about New Mutants, which has been delayed what feels like 100 times. I still really, really think this is best suited for Hulu or Disney+ and I hope Disney makes that call.

Barbara Gordon Confirmed for Titans Season 3

Woooooo! Cinematographer Boris Mojsovski confirmed the rumors that Barbara Gordon, in wheelchair Oracle form, will be in the next season of Titans. That's awesome. I love the character and always felt that she should have been referenced in some fashion. Hopefully, they cast someone as good as some of the other people they've cast on this show so far.

Update on stuff happening here at Fanboys Anonymous

I've been swamped with WrestleMania coverage over on Smark Out Moment, so I've been unable to tap into Fanboys Anonymous as much as I've wanted to, during this pandemic. The crisis has been weighing on me in hundreds of ways, too, making my depression at a record high and energy at a record low, in a lot of ways.

However, I'm hoping that I can provide you with a lot of fun material in the coming weeks. I want to do some segments I've never had the time to do, tap into discussions I've been wanting to talk about, and write up some interesting posts and do some cool podcasts.

So stay tuned, and if you'd like to support Fanboys Anonymous and myself through my Patreon, I would be forever grateful.

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:

Hollywood Sound Stages Possibly Converted into Hospitals

In order to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems different sound stages may be converted into makeshift hospital locations in order to treat people away from others.

This is scary, heartwarming, awesome, horrendous...everything. It's great to see so many businesses looking to find ways to help and it's shameful to see those who aren't. I'll spare you my conspiracy theory thoughts about this whole situation and just say that it's great to see situations where humans are acting like humans.

Anya Taylor-Joy for Young Furiosa

Supposedly, George Miller is working on a film revolving around Furiosa's younger days prior to Mad Max: Fury Road and Anya Taylor-Joy may play the titular character.

I'm all for a film revolving around this character if there's a good enough idea. I don't know about Joy playing the role, but I can oddly see it, too. It might give her a chance to break out and do something different that she totally kills.

- Aaaand that's it? A few people have talked about how they're excited to do movies and TV shows coming up, whenever that will be. More things are cancelled or postponed. It's a ghost town. Or maybe I'm just not looking hard enough. As always, if there are things you want me to address, drop a comment below and I'll give you my thoughts.

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:

VOD and the Coronavirus

A lot of films are being bumped up on their release schedules because there's no reason not to. For instance, Frozen II and Sonic the Hedgehog, Onward, Bloodshot and more are all either currently on streaming platforms or will be very soon. That is because there is no alternative. All movie theaters are closed, so there's no chance of making any money through the remaining people checking them out in-person.

But a lot of people are discussing how this will impact the future. Is this going to make people feel like they need to have films released more at home rather than in theaters? I highly, highly doubt it. If anything, people are going to miss going to the theaters even more and when we can do that again, it'll be booming.

What I do think will happen, though, is this will give some studios some information on whether or not people are interested in seeing things bumped up in their schedules in general. For example, if the new Bond film No Time to Die comes out November 25th and the regularly scheduled VOD release would be April or May, maybe it'll be bumped up to March. That would make sense to me.

Rosario Dawson Cast as Ahsoka Tano in The Mandalorian Season 2

This is pretty cool. I'm not particularly fond of how Ahsoka's character is one of these super important pieces of the puzzle that the movies can easily get away with completely ignoring, as it exposes one of the fatal flaws of how Lucasfilm and Disney's story group has approached non-film media over the past bunch of years. However, she's a character that many people love and to see her brought into a live-action format played by someone as great as Rosario Dawson is pretty cool.