Fanboys Anonymous

Welcome to another edition of the Fanboys Anonymous FanTracks podcast! For this episode, we'll be watching the latest film in the DC animated movie Tomorrowverse series, Green Lantern: Beware My Power.

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.

Green Lantern: Beware My Power

Release Date: July 26, 2022
Directed by Jeff Wamester
Written by Ernie Altbacker and John Semper
Starring Aldis Hodge (John Stewart), Jimmi Simpson (Oliver Queen / Green Arrow), Ike Amadi (J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter), Brian Bloom (Adam Strange), Jamie Gray Hyder (Hawkgirl), Rick D. Wasserman (Thaal Sinestro), Keeha Sharp (Vixen), Simon Templeman (Sardath / Console Voice), Mara Junot (Lyssa Drak / Banth Dar), Sunil Malhotra (Power Ring / Rannian Commander), Jason J. Lewis (Ganthet / Captain Kantus) and Nolan North (additional voices)

Recently discharged Marine sniper John Stewart is at a crossroads in his life, one which is only complicated by receiving an extraterrestrial ring which grants him the powers of the Green Lantern of Earth.

FanTracks Episode 57 hosted by Tony Mango along with Robert DeFelice

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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 taking focusing on my theory of what we're in store for with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

NOTE #1: It's important to state that this is not what I would do for the film, but what I think they've done in making the movie. I likely would have gone with some entirely different plot points, if not a wholly different film in general.

NOTE #2: I have stayed away from any spoilers. I won't be reading any comments, either, until after I've seen the movie.

The movie opens with Shuri as an ambassador for Wakanda currently in America, looking into Riri Williams (Ironheart) who is part of some scholarship program or whatever. This outreach idea that the first film ended with has been one of Shuri's primary focuses in the past few years (minus The Blip and everything surrounding that.)

Then, there is an attack on Wakanda from Atlantis. T'challa is killed in the battle. Shuri must return home to mourn and weigh in on the kingdom's status.

Mourning is simultaneously happening as they are deliberating what to do with this conflict and the lack of a Black Panther and king. Shuri is thrust into the role, despite not being capable of juggling either of them at the same time. I think it's a bit of a stretch for us to just assume Shuri's become a fantastic warrior and her whole character of "the smart one" has changed since we last saw her. She can be the queen of Wakanda, but I don't think her character can juggle that responsibility, being the smart one AND being the fighter in the costume. That's absurd.

Maybe there's a change to how things are done. Instead of one person taking on this responsibility, there can be a sort of committee. Okoye is the leader of the military force. M'Baku can don the Black Panther armor as its superhero protector representative. Nakia can be one of the governing leaders.

I struggle to think of how they might introduce someone like Kevin Cole as a new Black Panther, for instance, or how they can age up a child of T'challa to take on that role or anything of that sort, but maybe I'm missing some part of the plot that makes this all make sense.

Anyway, the Atlantis attack has Everett Ross talking about the feud between the kingdoms. Someone needs to settle this conflict.

This whole war has been orchestrated by Attuma. Namor has been falling for his influence this whole time and is a villain who sees the error of his ways and eventually sides with Wakanda to fight Attuma, ending the movie as an antihero, in a sense.

Adjustment Note: About 10 minutes after publishing, I did think of something that may put a wrinkle on this. M'Baku  wasn't a worshiper of Bast. Maybe he can't necessarily become Black Panther. Instead, maybe he is the king of Wakanda, and they really are going to just go with Shuri as Black Panther. While that's a stretch that she somehow becomes a fighter, it at least keeps the BP name within the family, and since Riri Williams is being introduced, she'll be a replacement of the "super intelligent young black girl" role that Shuri was filling. I'm starting to think this is actually what they'll do, rather than my suggestion above.

THE ORIGINAL IDEA:

What I assume we were originally going to get is similar in some respects, but also quite different in others.

The movie would have been largely about the differences between how T'challa rules Wakanda as its fighter/protector and king, versus Namor doing the same for Atlantis. I still think Attuma would have been the main villain they would team up to fight, and I still think it would be Wakanda vs. Atlantis for the most part.

Shuri probably would have only ever really dealt with Riri Williams and not had as much focus on her.

M'Baku and Okoye would just be on the warrior side of things in the fight against Atlantis.

The movie likely still would have ended with a truce between Wakanda and Atlantis, wherein we'd find out that Doctor Doom was orchestrating even Attuma as the bigger villain behind the plot, trying to get reserves of Vibranium and whatever Atlantis has to offer.

Until we get some teaser or trailer that can show us more, that's what I'm working with. When that happens, maybe I'll update this post with some new theories and a Take 2 prediction.

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!

On the latest edition of the Fanboys Anonymous REVIEWPOINT podcast, host Tony Mango breaks down the hits and misses of Marvel's Thor: Love and Thunder by discussing what worked, what didn't, and whether you should see it or skip it.

THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER (2022):

DIRECTED BY
Taika Waititi

WRITTEN BY
Taika Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson

STARRING:
Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Natalie Portman (Jane Foster), Christian Bale (Gorr), Tessa Thompson (King Valkyrie), Taika Waititi (Korg / Old Kronan God), Russell Crowe (Zeus), Jaimie Alexander (Sif), Chris Pratt (Peter Quill / Star-Lord), Dave Bautista (Drax), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Pom Klementieff (Mantis), Sean Gunn (Kraglin / On-Set Rocket), Vin Diesel (Groot), and Bradley Cooper (Rocket)

Thor embarks on a journey unlike anything he's ever faced -- a quest for inner peace. However, his retirement gets interrupted by Gorr the God Butcher, a galactic killer who seeks the extinction of the gods. To combat the threat, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie, Korg and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster, who -- to his surprise -- inexplicably wields his magical hammer. Together, they set out on a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher's vengeance.

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 the Fanboys Anonymous FanTracks podcast! For this episode, we'll be watching season 3 episode 1 of Spider-Man: The Animated Series entitled "Doctor Strange".

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 episode 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.

Spider-Man: The Animated Series
Season 3 - Episode 1 - "Doctor Strange"

Original Air Date: April 27, 1996
Directed by Bob Richardson
Written by John Semper Jr and Mark Hoffmeier
Starring Christopher Daniel Barnes (Peter Parker / Spider-Man), John Vernon (Doctor Stephen Strange), George Takei (Wong), Tony Jay (Baron Mordo), Ed Gilbert (Dormammu, Philip Watson), Sara Ballantine (Mary Jane Watson), Majel Barrett (Anna Watson), Gary Imhoff (Harry Osborn), Linda Gary (May Parker), Rodney Saulsberry (Joseph Robertson), Peter Mark Richman (Additional voices)

FanTracks Episode 56 hosted by Tony Mango along with Robert DeFelice .

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!

On the latest edition of the Fanboys Anonymous REVIEWPOINT podcast, the hits and misses of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness are broken down discussing what worked, what didn't, and whether you should see it or skip it.

DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS (2022):

DIRECTED BY
Sam Raimi

WRITTEN BY
Michael Waldron

STARRING:
Benedict Cumberbatch (Dr. Stephen Strange), Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Baron Karl Mordo), Benedict Wong (Wong), Xochitl Gomez (America Chavez), Rachel McAdams (Christine Palmer), Michael Stuhlbarg (Nicodemus West) and Patrick Stewart (Charles Xavier / Professor X)

Dr Stephen Strange casts a forbidden spell that opens a portal to the multiverse. However, a threat emerges that may be too big for his team to handle.

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 Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Is it as good of a video game film as the first one, or does it fail to match its predecessor?

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Directed by Jeff Fowler

Written by Pat Casey (screenplay and story), Josh Miller (screenplay and story), and John Whittington (screenplay)

Starring Ben Schwartz (Sonic), Jim Carrey (Dr. Robotnik), James Marsden (Tom Wachowski), Tika Sumpter (Maddie Wachowski), Natasha Rothwell (Rachel), Adam Pally (Wade Whipple), Shemar Moore (Randall), Lee Majdoub (Stone), Colleen O'Shaughnessey (Miles "Tails" Prower) and Idris Elba (Knuckles)

Synopsis: After settling in Green Hills, Sonic is eager to prove that he has what it takes to be a true hero. His test comes when Dr. Robotnik returns with a new partner, Knuckles, in search of a mystical emerald that has the power to destroy civilizations. Sonic teams up with his own sidekick, Tails, and together they embark on a globe-trotting journey to find the emerald before it falls into the wrong hands.

WARNING - SPOILERS BELOW

STORYTELLING SUBJECTS

STORY: B+

Picking up from the last film, this movie jumps straight into "How is Robotnik coming back to Earth?" He manages to get out of the mushroom planet with some help from Knuckles, who is searching for Sonic for reasons that, naturally, get explored as the film progresses. Long story short, the Echidna tribe that was hunting Sonic and Longclaw in the first film was doing so to obtain the Master Emerald. Longclaw was part of a group of owls feuding with the tribe Knuckles belongs to and has hidden it on Earth, which is why she suggested Sonic go there, so he could take on the burden of protecting it. Knuckles also thinks it is his destiny and responsibility to obtain it. Meanwhile, Robotnik is just looking for the power itself and revenge on Sonic, who is struggling with a sense of responsibility in a different right, wanting to be a vigilante ("Blue Justice") and needs to learn how to be a true hero, rather than just use his powers for kicks. Oh, and Tails is there to...well, cause it's Sonic 2 and you need Tails, so he just popped up, mostly. He's the second-weakest part of the film, with the worst being the side plot about Rachel's setup for a wedding to Randall—a government agent tasked to infiltrate the family to see what's going on with the Wachowskis and Sonic.

For the most part, I think this is rock solid. My only suggestions would have been to trim the entire bar sequence and dance number, as that just slowed the pacing down to a halt and achieved nothing that the Sonic/Tails relationship couldn't have accomplished elsewhere, and to outright nix the wedding subplot. I know that was likely cooked up in part to excuse why Tom and Maddie aren't going on the journey with Sonic from the start and to quite literally give Rachel "something to do", but nobody is going to this movie for that plot. In fact, in the theater I was watching it, someone outright booed one of the scenes.

It's a logical progression to go for the Knuckles story and to, as Tom says it, give Sonic some friends he can identify with to round out this family. Since the first movie did the heavy lifting for a lot of the character-work, this one could simply hit the ground running. Overall, I enjoyed this story even more than the first.

And like everything that is mentioned here, keep in mind that this is not some Oscar-caliber film, but that's okay. A movie doesn't have to be in The Criterion Collection to still be a fun flick, especially when it's primarily for kids and fans of the franchise to just shut off their brains and have a good time. 

CHARACTERS: B

All the previous characters return in the same form as before. If you liked them the first time, you'll like them here. I do think Rachel's character was funnier the first time around, as she was written in a way most sequels suffer, wherein they amped up her "cooky factor" and went overboard, though.

Knuckles was a treat. Writing him as a super serious character to the point where he's almost dim from narrow-mindedness (lines like wondering what a baseball did to become his enemy and why he should hit it when they're just playing a game, for instance), was a lot of fun. His lines were easily my favorite of the movie.

Tails, unfortunately, was not. "Only Sonic the Hedgehog could (insert something normal)" Yeesh. I've always liked the Tails character in theory, but he definitely falls into the annoying kid sidekick trope in that practically everything he says or does comes off either too hokey or, well, childish. But hey, I'm in my 30s and this is a kids film, so maybe kids identify with him. He's supposed to be the younger brother archetype in a sense, who hero-worships Sonic, which is translated, but I just found the actual dialogue to be a little spotty.

As stated, the subplot of the wedding was a low point. Shemar Moore is great in a lot of things, but his whole "Actually, I might have fallen in love with Rachel on this assignment" trope was so eye-rolling Hallmark-esque bad. He served really no purpose and a tighter movie without that would have been better. I have some suggestions I'll get to later of how I would have potentially fixed this, with the benefit of hindsight.

TONE / ATMOSPHERE: B

ACTION: Solid action. Better than the first film, for sure.

DRAMA: The melodrama is still there, with lines coming across a bit too "after school special" in some ways, but for kids, it works.

COMEDY: This definitely isn't a movie that would make everyone laugh, and some jokes just fell entirely flat as they were purely "Hey, that's the thing!" type references, or just a little too juvenile for my tastes, but I did chuckle here and there.

ROMANCE: Nix the wedding angle, entirely. Other than that, there is no romance, but that's not what this film is going for, so that would have been okay to cut that and have zero romance angles.

TECHNICAL SUBJECTS

ACTING: C

Everyone is hamming it up. Some dialogue comes off stiff because of how Lifetime the melodrama can be. But everyone works to get the point across and Jim Carrey is the show-stealer once again.

Part of me thinks Jason Momoa, the original choice for Knuckles, would have been better. We'll see if he voices Shadow and if it doesn't sound like Idris Elba would have been better for that as a reversal.

VISUALS (FX, MAKEUP, COSTUMES, SETS): C+

Overall, the visuals are better this time than before, but there is still a bit of a disconnect for me with Sonic blending into the real world. Whenever he's interacting with something and they've made a CGI photo-realistic version of it (like the underwear in the first one), you can just tell something looks a little off.

AUDIO (MUSIC / SOUND): A–

So many missed opportunities. Tom Holkenborg has done some great stuff, but I would have loved to hear orchestral blends of previous tracks in the environments inspired by levels from the games. How is Sonic snowboarding and we're not hearing a symphony belt out Ice Cap Zone?!

EXTRA CREDIT

MARKETING / TRAILERS / POLITICS / SERIES DIRECTION / ETC: A

References are key here. We get Super Sonic, the Chaos Emeralds, the little hologram of Sonic makes the annoyed waiting animation, "Mean Bean" is the coffee shop as a reference to Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, Sonic drinking the air bubble under water, the red airplane, and so on. Those are the moments that made the dedicated fans pop with joy, and that's what this was all about.

MISSING ELEMENTS, ALTERNATIVE IDEAS & SONIC 3'S FUTURE

One thing that was missing from the film that I feel should have been in it is Casino Night Zone. Why not have Tom and Maddie go to Las Vegas, rather than Hawaii, and you could tie that into there? It's not as if that doesn't have famous architecture that would be interesting to see characters zip around. Maybe say that they "won" an all-expenses paid trip there, if you want to get them out of the film, and have it turn out the government set that up to try to spy on Sonic without their involvement. Hell, you could even still play into the idea of a government agent trying to work his way into learning something with the family by having him pose as a random person who bumps into Rachel and works his magic with her, and they have an impromptu Vegas wedding, if you want the gag with the rings. Just a thought.

No love for Marble Zone? Disappointing.

I've always been fond of Nack the Weasel (aka Fang the Sniper...not sure why he has two names, when they could have just called him Fang the Weasel if they didn't want "Sniper" to be part of it). Maybe he can pop up in #3?

I think they missed an opportunity to have a robotic Sonic created by Robotnik. Have it start off all silver and then look more like the Mecha/Metal versions that are more blue and such.

Shadow isn't a character I'm all that interested in. The same goes for Silver. That's all from a generation that is beyond me. I'm less excited about the third film than the second, but I'll still be seeing it.

By the way...what is up with those hunters? We didn't get any explanation for them that I missed, right? Weird. Maybe that should have tied more into the animated show's robots, instead.

FINAL GRADE & ASSESSMENT

GRADE: B+ (Pass)

You know what you're getting into with this movie. If you liked the first film, I can't imagine you're going to dislike this one. To be honest, I liked this one better, in a lot of ways. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in checking it out, as it is one of the best video game films out there. It's not going to win any Oscars, but that's okay; especially when you think about the last Academy Award winning movie that you truly wanted to watch a second time.

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE FILM?

LEAVE YOUR THOUGHTS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!

On the latest edition of the Fanboys Anonymous REVIEWPOINT podcast, hosts Tony Mango and Caroline Mango breaks down the hits and misses of Morbius by discussing what worked, what didn't, and whether you should see it or skip it.

MORBIUS (2021):

DIRECTED BY
Daniel Espinosa

WRITTEN BY
Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless

STARRING:
Jared Leto (Dr. Michael Morbius), Matt Smith (Milo), Adria Arjona (Dr. Martine Bancroft), Jared Harris (Dr. Emil Nicholas), Al Madrigal (Alberto "Al" Rodriguez), and Tyrese Gibson (Simon Stroud)

Biochemist Michael Morbius tries to cure himself of a rare blood disease, but when his experiment goes wrong, he inadvertently infects himself with a form of vampirism instead.

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!

As requested through our Patreon "Pick Your Poison" tier, Fanboys Anonymous is providing you with another edition of the FanTracks podcast, this time for The Man Who Knew Too Little.

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.

The Man Who Knew Too Little

Release Date: November 14, 1997
Directed by Jon Amiel
Written by Robert Farrar (novel and screenplay), Howard Franklin (screenplay)
Starring Billy Murray (Wallace Ritchie), Peter Gallagher (James Ritchie), Joanne Whalley (Lori), Alfred Molina (Boris "The Butcher" Blavasky), Richard Wilson (Sir Roger Daggenhurst), John Standing (Gilbert Embleton)

In London to celebrate his birthday with James (Peter Gallagher), his rich younger brother, hapless American Wallace Ritchie (Bill Murray) gets signed up to participate in an elaborate role-playing theater performance. However, when Wallace accidentally receives a call intended for an actual hit man, he gets caught in a web of intrigue, completely unaware that the action unfolding around him is real. Luckily, the lovely Lori (Joanne Whalley) is around to help the clueless guy out of tight spots.

FanTracks Episode 55 hosted by Tony Mango along with Robert DeFelice .

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!

The Marvel Cinematic Universe and the acting community as a whole lost William Hurt this week at the age of 71.

Within this geek culture living space, immediately, I saw the reaction of "What are they going to do about General Ross in the MCU? Is there still going to be a Thunderbolts without William Hurt? Will they recast?"

I am far from a Hulk specialist or an authority on comics, so take what I say with a grain of salt as someone who is more on the "above average, but not an expert" level, but here are my general thoughts of what I think should and will happen with the future of the MCU in regards to General Thunderbolt Ross.

Recast or Retire?

Whenever there is a situation like this, one question is always whether or not they should just recast the part. I'm of the opinion that there is no definitive yes/no that applies to all scenarios, and you have to take each one in a case-by-case basis.

If the actor is still around, I think it's almost a guarantee you should just recast. For instance, Edward Norton's replacement with Mark Ruffalo for Bruce Banner. If the actor has passed away, it's a little trickier.

It may be controversial, but I've always been an advocate of recasting T'challa for Black Panther, rather than trying to figure out a way around that. Then again, I'm not the type of person who should be passing judgment, for a multitude of reasons.

But in this scenario, I don't think Thunderbolt Ross should be recast. That's because it's much easier to retire the character than it is to change Black Panther and undo that character development.

With Ross, while he's integral to maintaining continuity in the MCU, I think his character has had enough growth and can be replaced with other similar parts.

How Do You Move On?

We don't know yet what capacity Ross figured into She-Hulk or any other projects going forward. Only Marvel knows that right now. So without knowing that information and having the benefit of hindsight, we can only speculate.

My prediction is that he was going to be in She-Hulk, but only as a minor character to be an overseer of the Hulk lineage in general. He has history with all parties and would be invested in the potential of a "new Hulk" being created.

I do not think he was going to be Red Hulk. We'll address that in a bit.

If this wasn't already the plan, I think part of the story for She-Hulk should be that people are experimenting on Banner's DNA and still not learning the lessons that attempting to recreate the Super Soldier serum is going to end in disaster. While something will happen to Jennifer Walters that will result in her getting a blood transfusion or whatever the case that triggers her transformation, plenty other people won't be as lucky.

Here's what I would do, and what I think (in some form) and what I hope Marvel is doing.

General Ross is an overseer of these projects on behalf of the government, but he's not directly-directly involved. As in, he's not in the same position he was in The Incredible Hulk, but he still has an investment, as the government will always want to have some sort of weapon like this in their control. His attempt was Blonsky, and we'll see Abomination. We might even see The Leader as a consultant. Hopefully, Rick Jones is there (and maybe even a primary love interest?) but that's deviating from the focus here of Ross.

His replacement as the true overseer of this project should be General John Ryker, who can be conducting experiments on a number of poor souls. Someone in the project should be Dr. Geoffrey Crawford (Ravage). Two unfortunate volunteers for the trials who end up failed monsters are Dennis Sykes and Private Benjamin "Benny" Tibbets, aka Flux.

But the ultimate goal is to get us to...

Red Hulk

Thunderbolt Ross doesn't need to be Red Hulk. I know he was in the comics, but he doesn't need to be in the MCU. Some elements of the MCU are just flat out different, for better or worse. I'm personally much more of a fan of Ultron being a Tony Stark invention than anything related to Hank Pym, and I hated the fake Mandarin twist, for examples of both scenarios.

Red Hulk can be a number of other people instead of Ross, but I think our best candidates are two-fold: General Robert L. Maverick and Glenn Talbot.

I'd lean more toward Maverick. He actually does go by Red Hulk in the comics and he's a new character that hasn't been brought into the mix. As a general, he can be "trusted" to undergo the procedure to become Red Hulk and work with the government, so that makes sense.

Talbot is an option, but he's a little trickier. We've seen him before in the Ang Lee film and in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which hasn't been canonized, but might be. I don't think it will, for the record. I think they'll write that off as being a variant universe where there could be crossovers and some of the same continuity might have happened, but the bulk of it isn't, so that the MCU proper isn't beholden to aspects of the show. We've seen a different Darkhold already, we'll see a different Ghost Rider and so on, but if they ever want to incorporate FitzSimmons to get the audience to pop, they can.

Talbot can work well if he's also tied to Walters in some fashion. He tends to work well as a character who can be a romantic rival of sorts, and since Bruce and Jennifer obviously are related and won't be having that kind of dynamic, Talbot could be more so a romantic interest for her who turns bad.

If not just because Maverick actually was Red Hulk in the comics, though, I'd go for him.

The Thunderbolts

Finally, at the end of this, we should end up with a Thunderbolts team and show or movie. But how does that happen without Thunderbolt Ross?

Simple. The team is named in honor of him, with him having started the project.

Think of it like S.H.I.E.L.D. being partially named in honor of Steve Rogers and the Captain America shield. It can be said that Ross was responsible for creating this division that would lead into this team, so they've decided to name them The Thunderbolts in his name after he's passed away.

Valentina Allegra de Fontaine should be the leader of this unit. She's already established as filling a similar role, the audience knows her, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a big name actress who can help draw attention to the show or film. She already has a history with John Walker, who should definitely be on the team, and it's the easiest transition possible.

RIP William Hurt

What do you think will happen with this character? What are your favorite moments from William Hurt's career in and out of the MCU? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!

On the latest edition of the Fanboys Anonymous REVIEWPOINT podcast, hosts Tony Mango and Caroline Mango breaks down the hits and misses of Matt Reeves' The Batman by discussing what worked, what didn't, and whether you should see it or skip it.

THE BATMAN (2021):

DIRECTED BY
Matt Reeves

WRITTEN BY
Matt Reeves and Peter Craig

STARRING:
Robert Pattinson (Bruce Wayne / Batman), Zoe Kravitz (Selina Kyle / Catwoman), Jeffrey Wright (Lt. James Gordon), Colin Farrell (Oz / The Penguin), Paul Dano (The Riddler), John Turturro (Carmine Falcone), Peter Sarsgaard (District Attorney Gil Colson), and Andy Serkis (Alfred Pennyworth)

Batman ventures into Gotham City's underworld when a sadistic killer leaves behind a trail of cryptic clues. As the evidence begins to lead closer to home and the scale of the perpetrator's plans become clear, he must forge new relationships, unmask the culprit and bring justice to the abuse of power and corruption that has long plagued the metropolis.

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 the Fanboys Anonymous FanTracks podcast! For this episode, we'll be watching the latest DC animated movie, Catwoman: Hunted.

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.

Catwoman: Hunted

Release Date: February 7, 2022
Directed by Shinsuke Terasawa
Written by Greg Weisman
Starring Elizabeth Gillies (Catwoman), Stephanie Beatriz (Batwoman), Lauren Cohan (Julia Pennyworth), Jonathan Banks (Black Mask), Kelly Hu (Cheshire), Keith David (Tobias Whale), Kirby Howell-Baptiste (Barbara Minerva / Cheetah), Jonathan Frakes (King Faraday / Boss Moxie), Jacqueline Obradors (La Dama), Ron Yuan (Doctor Tzin), Zehra Fazal (Talia al Ghul / Nosferata), Andrew Kishino (Mr. Yakuza / Domino 6), Eric Lopez (Domino 1) and Steve Blum (Solomon Grundy)

Catwoman's attempt to steal a priceless jewel puts her squarely in the cross-hairs of a powerful consortium of villains, Interpol and Batwoman.

FanTracks Episode 54 hosted by Tony Mango along with Robert DeFelice 

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 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 Wikipedia 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 January 2022?

RELEASE DATE: January 7, 2022

The 355

Will I watch? = Maybe

Amityville Karen

Will I watch? = I don't know enough about it to say

RELEASE DATE: January 14, 2022

Hotel Transylvania: Transformania

Will I watch? = No

Scream

Will I watch? = No

RELEASE DATE: January 21, 2022

Cyrano

Will I watch? = No

The King's Daughter

Will I watch? = No

Redeeming Love

Will I watch? = No

RELEASE DATE: January 28, 2022

Home Team

Will I watch? = No

The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild

Will I watch? = No

Morbius

Will I watch? = Yes

6 FLICKS PICKS

Which films make the cut?

6. The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild — A little hard to watch on eof these when you've not seen any of the other movies and never thought they looked good enough to justify checking out, right? But nothing's coming out this month. That's the name of this game and why it's so hard.

5. Hotel Transylvania: Transformania — I've not seen a single minute of these films, either, but this is the month we're dealing with.

4. Scream — I've never seen the other movies, but they have a level of cheese to them with their self-referential humor that there's more to this than many other options here.

3. Home Team — Maybe there's a good joke or two?

2. The 355 — This looks halfway decent. Maybe it's surprisingly good and just one of those generic action flicks that gets the job done. It certainly looks better than most things on this list.

1. Morbius — It's a Spider-Man entity, so even though I don't think it'll be anything great, of course I'll see it.

WHICH MOVIES ARE YOU INTERESTED IN CHECKING OUT?

TELL US IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!

Welcome to the annual New Year's edition of 6 Flicks Picks to ring in 2022!

This segment was absent for a good portion of 2020 as well as the entirety of 2021 after the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt on most movie premieres. Now that films are being released on a more regular basis, it's time to go back to breaking down the movies that are set to come out each particular month and settle on the six best options (from a personal perspective).

This particular post, though, switches up the formula just a tad by looking at the current overall release schedule from January 1st and asks the even more daunting question: If you could only watch six movies for the entire year, which ones would those be?

Obviously, not every film that will come out this year is currently announced, and I haven't seen trailers for the vast majority of them. That is part of the fun when you can look back and see which movies you enjoyed more and which ones were surprises.

Without further ado, let's take a look at what makes my cut for 2022!

6 FLICKS PICKS FOR 2022

As films still aren't being as widely released as they used to (STILL...ugh) and another variant is making things worse, some of these films have little to no information about them and many of them may even be pushed back to further release dates. But as far as January 1st is concerned, here are my top 30 picks.

Bottom Tier Honorable Mentions:

30. John Wick: Chapter 4 — I still haven't seen a single John Wick film. However, they look interesting. I'd like to get the time to binge the previous 3 before this comes out (if I like them, that is).

29. 65 — An astronaut crashes on a planet and finds out that he's not alone. That's all we know. It sounds interesting, but without seeing anything about the movie beyond that description and that Adam Driver is in it, it's hard to rank this higher.

28. Halloween Ends — Boy, that last film was pointless, wasn't it? Way to stretch out a story. But I'm curious how they plan on "finishing" this and I want to see if they stick the landing.

27. Turning Red — It's Pixar. While it doesn't come off to me as the most interesting concept, it's still Pixar, so I trust it'll be decent.

26. Deep Water — Virtually nothing about this movie has been released. The idea sounds intriguing. Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas are good actors, so they could pull it off, too.

25. Bullet Train — Show me a trailer. Sell me on this. The pitch sounds cool, but again, without seeing a single still image, I can't rank it high.

Low Tier Honorable Mentions:

24. Secret Headquarters — Is it a comedy? A drama? Both? Does it look cheesy and stupid, or is it going to be something right up my alley? Virtually no information about this one, too, so I'm flying blind.

23. Samaritan — Just the same as Secret Headquarters, but this seems to be set as a dramatic film. Maybe it's got the right level of grit, but maybe it's just something that frames itself as "a dark take on superheroes" and actually sucks. Without a trailer, it's impossible to know.

22. Uncharted — I never played the video games or had much interest in them. The trailer looks generic as all hell, but maybe it's a fun action flick to pass the time?

21. The 355 — Speaking of generic action flicks, that's what this could very well be. However, I do think it looks more interesting than Uncharted. I'd imagine this is the type of film I'd watch, go "that was alright" and then never really think about again. But the same could be said for other movies that surprised me.

20. Top Gun: Maverick — Top Gun's decent. It's not some movie I'd recommend to a lot of people, but for watching it just in the past few years for the first time ever and not when it had originally come out (where I'm sure I'd be more inclined to accept it for what it was), I enjoyed it enough to want to see this follow-up.

19. Jackass Forever — You know what you're getting with this.

Middle Tier Honorable Mentions:

18. The Black Phone — Cool concept. This is the only horror film on this list. My wife brought it to my attention and I normally don't find horror movies too up my alley, but this got my vote for a future ticket, for sure.

17. Avatar 2 — Let's see what this shit's all about. Avatar didn't impress me all that much, to be honest. The visuals were great for its time, but the story itself wasn't something that made me want to see a sequel. After all these years James Cameron's been working on this as arguably his biggest passion project, I want to see what he was obsessed about. But it's still Avatar. There are much bigger fish to fry, so to speak.

16. DC League of Super-Pets — Krypto and all? Okay. This is the type of movie I'd have pitched to WB to make a long time ago, because it's such a softball move. You get the superhero crowd and the animated kid audience and the families.

15. Lightyear — This is so interesting. A prequel that doesn't even address Toy Story itself, but treats some of the backstory like a legit tall tale or something? The idea of casting Chris Evans and not just going with Tim Allen took me by surprise.

14. Morbius — Oh boy. This can't be good, right? But it's a Spider-Man property. I'll be seeing it even if the reviews come out that it's a 0/10 film.

13. Jurassic World: Dominion — These past two films weren't great by any stretch of the imagination, but I do want to see how this ends. Maybe they learned their lessons, too?

Top Tier Honorable Mentions:

12. Creed III — What's the story here? I still don't even know. But these past two films were rock solid and the Rocky franchise as a whole tends to have good stories, even if the execution per movie isn't particularly good.

11. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom — Superheroes. Even Aquaman. Cool.

10. The Flash — Michael Keaton's Batman is back?!

9. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — I'm still in the camp that I don't know how this movie is going to work without just recasting T'challa. I understand why they wouldn't want to, but how do you spend the last films building up that character and doing stories about unknown family members and resurrections and all, just to have the character die off and get replaced with someone new? I'm worried about it, but I loved the first film, so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt to have it this high up.

8. Mission: Impossible 7 — These movies keep getting better and better. By Rogue Nation, they sold me that I'm going to love the next installments, too. Opening night, for sure.

7. Black Adam — The Rock is so passionate about this that even I, who doesn't love the Shazam line and saw no reason for a Black Adam solo film, am being convinced that this is going to kick ass.

What Made the Final Cut:

6. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 — The first one was surprisingly really good. Now that we've seen the trailer for #2 and it not only includes Tails, but Knuckles, and seems to be following the most logical plotline, I'm confident this will be a success, too.

5. Mario — I'm so curious about this. The idea of Chris Pratt as Mario sounds so off, but for them to be making a movie after all these years is very cool to try. Since it's unknown, that's why it's slightly above Sonic 2.

4. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One) — The first one is SO good. There was no way this wasn't making the top 6. Give me everything Spider-Man, as it's my #2 favorite superhero character.

3. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — I almost had this at #2 because I'm fairly sure we're going to see some cameos from X-Men characters and variants and all sorts of crazy stuff. However, I ultimately chose to put it in the #3 spot because I'm not the biggest Doctor Strange fan, I don't care about America Chavez, and there's a chance this is less a buffet of amazing things and more just a collection of some appetizers. Still, after Spider-Man: No Way Home, I'm more excited than ever about this movie.

2. Thor: Love and Thunder — Ragnarok was a lot of fun and the MCU gets priority with these things due to my massive fandom and their impressive track record (outside of Eternals).

1. The Batman  — It's a Batman movie. Of course it's toward the top. Batman's my favorite fictional character ever created in any medium.

WHICH MOVIES ARE YOU INTERESTED IN CHECKING OUT?

TELL US IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!

Welcome to the fifth annual FANBOYS FILM AWARDS!

Last year was a mess with COVID-19 killing off most movie releases, so there wasn't much to talk about. This year, however, saw a bit of a return to normal with more films coming out, even though it was nowhere near the volume it normally would be in 2019 and beforehand.

Therefore, we're combining the way we did things last year and the years prior. This list will be half a general breakdown of the movies I've seen this year and half an actual awards competition.

I invite everyone to join in on the fun by leaving their own lists and thoughts in the comments below to tell us what you watched this year!

FILMS THAT CAME OUT IN 2021 THAT I WATCHED:

A Quiet Place II
Army of the Dead
Batman: Soul of the Dragon
Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One
Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two
Black Widow
Free Guy
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Godzilla vs. Kong
How It Ends
Injustice
Jungle Cruise
Justice Society: World War II
The King's Man
Last Night in Soho
Luca
Marvel's Eternals
The Matrix Resurrections - I haven't actually watched this yet as of publication
Mortal Kombat (2021)
Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms
No Time to Die
Nobody
Old
Red Dot
Red Notice
Ron's Gone Wrong
Rumble
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Space Jam: A New Legacy
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Stowaway
The Suicide Squad
The Tomorrow War
Things Heard & Seen
Vacation Friends
Venom: Let There Be Carnage
Zack Snyder's Justice League

FILMS THAT CAME OUT BEFORE 2021 THAT I WATCHED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 2021:

Fast Color (watched 12/5/2021)
Into the Wild (watched 11/29/2021)
Look Away (watched 11/27/2021)
Mulan (watched 1/21/2021)
No Holds Barred (watched 6/4/2021)
Run (watched 11/16/2021)
Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders (watched 5/8/2021)
Soul (watched 1/1/2021)
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (watched 7/12/2021)

BEST / FAVORITE MOVIES OF THE YEAR

Overall, I think the movie I'd rank the highest for "best" movie (not "favorite") would be either Shang-Chi, The Suicide Squad or Justice League. None of them are Oscar caliber material for Best Picture, mind you, but I didn't see any dramas that better suit that kind of category.

Spider-Man had to be the movie I had the most overall fun with. However, I really enjoyed Vacation Friends for what it was worth, as one of the biggest surprises.

WORST / LEAST FAVORITE MOVIES OF THE YEAR

Talk about some awful movies. Yeesh. The absolute worst of the worst this year has to go to either How It Ends or Space Jam. Those are just two films I actively hated damn near every minute of.

Batman: Soul of the Dragon was very disappointing, but I had even higher hopes for Eternals and that was the biggest let down. I don't even know how they put out such a bad movie after having such a great track record with the MCU properties (minus the Disney+ shows, that I'm not as fond of; although, Hawkeye's been good).

Things like Jungle Cruise and The Tomorrow War fell flat. I was disappointed in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, but I didn't have high hopes based on the first film. Army of the Dead could have been a lot better.

BEST ACTOR

WINNER = Bob Odenkirk (Nobody)

EXPLANATION = Surprising pick? Shocked I didn't go with Daniel Craig? To be honest, I'm kind of shocked about it, too, but Odenkirk sold me on his character in a lot of ways.

HONORABLE MENTIONS = Simu Liu (Shang-Chi), Daniel Craig (No Time to Die), Tom Holland (Spider-Man: No Way Home), Ralph Fiennes (The King's Man)

BEST ACTRESS

WINNER = Millicent Simmonds (A Quiet Place II)

EXPLANATION = At no point was I taken out of her performance.

HONORABLE MENTIONS = Mckenna Grace (Ghostbusters: Afterlife), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Thomasin McKenzie (Last Night in Soho)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

WINNER = John Cena (The Suicide Squad)

EXPLANATION = Peacemaker was the best part of the movie and stole the show, to the point that he's getting his own show. Very very very very close second was Rhys Ifans as Rasputin in The King's Man, which was crazy awesome.

HONORABLE MENTIONS = Tony Leung Chiu-wai (Shang-Chi), Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man: No Way Home), David Dastmalchian (The Suicide Squad), David Harbour (Black Widow), Rhys Ifans (Grigori Rasputin)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

WINNER = Florence Pugh (Black Widow)

EXPLANATION = Yelena Belova was the best part of the movie in many ways. I went from being skeptical about a replacement Black Widow to being totally on board with her being our BW going forward in the MCU. Very close #2 to Ana de Armas for stealing the show with Paloma.

HONORABLE MENTIONS = Ana de Armas (No Time to Die)

BEST STORY

This is an alternative to Best Adapted/Original Screenplay where the execution of the overall product might not be the equivalent of Best Picture, but the idea was there.

WINNER = Ron's Gone Wrong

EXPLANATION = Ultimately, I think this one resonated the best with me as far as an overall tight story.

HONORABLE MENTIONS = Batman: The Long Halloween, Injustice, Shang-Chi, Nobody

MOST FAITHFUL ADAPTATION

Which movie felt like it was the most honorable to the source material it was trying to represent?

WINNER = Batman: The Long Halloween

EXPLANATION = This felt like picking up a comic book.

HONORABLE MENTIONS = The Suicide Squad, Zack Snyder's Justice League

BEST VISUALS

This covers special effects, cinematography, production design and even editing.

WINNER = Spider-Man: No Way Home

EXPLANATION = The Doctor Strange battle alone wins this, right?

HONORABLE MENTIONS = A Quiet Place II, Free Guy, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Godzilla vs. Kong (major shout out), Shang-Chi, Zack Snyder's Justice League (major shout out)

BEST ACTION SET PIECES

This honors the stunt work as well as the choreography and idea of an action sequence.

WINNER = The Suicide Squad

EXPLANATION = While the fight choreography was great in Shang-Chi and there were some grandiose sequences in Justice League, as well as the super fun finale of Spider-Man and the epic fights in Godzilla vs. Kong, I think Suicide Squad had the overall best action for nailing the most scenes.

HONORABLE MENTIONS = Godzilla vs. Kong, Injustice, Shang-Chi, Spider-Man, Justice League

BEST CHARACTER DESIGN

This combines makeup, costumes and the CGI build of characters.

WINNER = Spider-Man: No Way Home

EXPLANATION = Quantity. All those CGI characters and de-aging, and all of it looked great. Very close #2 would be The Suicide Squad

HONORABLE MENTIONS = Godzilla vs. Kong, Shang-Chi, Spider-Man, The Suicide Squad, Justice League, Eternals, The King's Man (for Rasputin)

BEST MUSIC

This category examines both the score and the soundtrack.

WINNER = No Time to Die

EXPLANATION = Using the music from On Her Majesty's Secret Service? Come on!! So good! The main theme is awesome. The iconic James Bond theme, of course, has always been amazing. Hans Zimmer even got some of his trademark flair in the end sequence.

HONORABLE MENTIONS = Zack Snyder's Justice League, Spider-Man: No Way Home, The King's Man

TELL US YOUR LIST IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!