Donomark

Member
  • Posts

    3,502
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Donomark

  1. Yeahhh, she was Hank's mobster daughter girlfriend
  2. She's also been in the last couple seasons of Venture Bros and was really good.
  3. Mortal Kombat (2021): Was hyped for the movie based on the awesome trailer. This is one that comes down to a very bifurcated list. PROS: -The characters from the game are about as accurate as they could possibly get. Ludi Lin's Liu Kang was a highlight for me even though he cosplayed as Ryu from Street Fighter by the end. -There was a total abandonment of shame when it came to how weird and nonsensical the universe was. Everyone's abilities are present. -Sub-Zero was an unending threat. Every time he was on-screen you felt like someone was gonna die. His fighting style was also really cool. -Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion was awesome. -More violent than the 90s films CONS: -I like Lewis Tan quite a bit, but the script failed to present a need for him. He just got in the way and never earned the audience's engagement. -As a result, heavy hitter characters get jobbed -The script is too stiff and arch. Most of the dialogue reeks of feeling unnatural, with the exception of Kano. -There's not a ton of camaraderie established with the characters, especially compared to the '95 movie. -Abrupt ending, whereupon you realize we never actually start the Mortal Kombat tournament. Overall I enjoyed it, but despite itself. I hope it does well enough for a sequel, but it needs to shape up. This watched like a pretty good SyFy channel movie instead of a legit epic film.
  4. So I wasn't around when these were, but FWIW my first interaction with a Superhero Guide Sheet were the bio pages at the end of each issue from DC versus Marvel.
  5. The New Teen Titans: Terra Incognito and The Judas Contract Re-read these for an upcoming podcast discussion, largey owed to the recent discussion of Terra's relationship with Slade in the pages of The Other History of the DC Universe #3 which featured Katana. A few new observations this time 'round: 1) Terra's appropriately bad at lying about her origins to the Titans since she's a stupid 15 year old girl, but the Titans at the time are completely up their own ass with their emo drama. Dick is struggling to balance his college life, appearances alongside Batman, solo backup story adventures and leading the team. Donna is proposed to by fandom's most overratedly-hated character Terry Long, Wally is wanting to return to college and is both in love with and afraid of Raven. Vic is in his feelings over the news (lie) that his love interest Sarah Simms is engaged. Starfire is worried that Dick might not love her since her home planet encourages opening up about each other's problems. And Raven is on her usual Trigon BS, although she suspects Terra the most. The only one not having any problems is Gar, and even he questions Terra over her inconsistent backstory at times. But it made me wonder if the team were on their A-game, if Slade's plan would've been found out. 2) Speaking in terms of team members, I think Terra might be my favorite Teen Titan. She's unendingly entertaining, and it's amusing how she secretly hates the Titans but hides it under a veneer of someone who...openly disdains and dislikes the Titans and their do-gooder nature. Like, she couldn't be bothered to come up with a fake persona, she's basically playing herself, just less villianous.
  6. Was lucky enough to be a guest on their Die Hard episode, even luckier to have Derrick look at one of my Creative Writing stories back in college. He was always the most pleasant guy online, I don't think I ever saw him in any way mad. I'm really shocked by this.
  7. Sound of Music fo'sho What's the movie he replaced Kevin Spacey in? With Mark Wahlberg? For all the Money in the World?
  8. Third season is second best, absolutely. Episodes like Hydro-Man, the return of Venom and the Green Goblin sagas put it way over.
  9. Maybe I was distracted listening while driving, but with the "Richard Gere" clips this was finally the first HAA! episode where I had no idea what was going on
  10. The Death of Clark Kent: 90's era Superman story during the Triangle System that leads into Superman #100 and ends with Superman: Man of Tomorrow #1. Clark's old friend from Smallville High School Kenny Braverman is now a supervillain calling himself Conduit who wants revenge on Clark as his knowledge of Superman's identity makes him jealous. He sets out to ruin Clark's life by constantly targeting his friends and family. Lois, Jimmy, Maggie Sawyer and Dan Turpin, Perry White and his adopted son Keith, and most harshly Ma and Pa Kent are all targets that Clark runs around the country trying to protect. At one point Clark believes Lois, Jimmy and his parents to be dead and loudly gives up. That rang the hollowest, as it didn't seem he tried very hard to know for a fact whether or not they died. The second half I found less engaging than the first, which included Superman #100 with some kickass Dan Jurgens artwork. The ending to Conduit's storyline is a bit contrived as well. This story also goes a long way to show why Clark needs to maintain a secret identity, something that Bendis definitely did not read when blowing it in his Superman run last year. A fun 90s story that's pretty flawed but enjoyable all the same.
  11. I think it was public at some point, but I forget. However, Jameson's remained the publisher with Robbie Robertson the EIC ever since, that's not changed. Robbie's been running the Bugle for decades, and ever since Jonah got a heart attack and later became mayor for a while, he's not been at the Bugle for about ten years. BTW the 90s Spider-Man show rules but the first season is far and away the best. The animation is more consistent and great and Peter's sense of humor is super on point. He's such a huge smartass during the Spider Slayer story.
  12. Promising Young Woman: Dark "Comedy" (?) starring Carey Mulligan about a woman who purposefully fakes being inebriated at clubs to entice "nice guy" men into assaulting her, only for her to shock them with her total coherence and agency. That's the set-up in progress before the actual plot happens. I thought this was quite solid. It's a neat little done-in-one movie with a dark yet somewhat theatrical ending, but the writing was very good. Portrait of a Lady on Fire: French romance period film that was VERY slow, but quite artistically filmed. Godzilla vs. Kong: As someone who's not seen the 2014 Godzilla movie, King of all Monsters or Skull Island, this was never confusing for me. I understood characters like Kyle Chandler and Millie Bobby Brown came from previous movies, but I didn't really care about them so it never bothered me. This actually is one of those action movies that's weirdly kid-friendly. By that, I don't mean it's childish or kiddie, but it gets to the point so intently that there's no room for any other modern-day bullshit. It's like of the Michael Bay Transformers films' characters weren't obnoxious. And the action is really good, especially in the final act.
  13. I'll agree with that. Silas Stone's entire role in the movie was I think completely reshot. Not a single scene in either versions were the same, and as a result Ryan Choi - who has a decently meaty supporting appearance - was excised without a trace.
  14. Zack Snyder's Justice League: Directed by Zack Snyder It was alright.
  15. Ooh I'll have to re-listen to that to remember. Yeah, I enjoyed the 2017 Power Rangers movie. The whole revenge porn thing with Kimberly...I mean, that never bothered me. That seems to be everyone's go-to "And for This reason..." I liked all the characters. One Night in Miami: Directed by Regina King. Based on Kemp Powers 2013 play of the same name with him on screenplay, this story is about Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, Jim Brown and Cassius Clay discussing their careers and responsibilities as high profile black men in the 60s. Kemp Powers wrote "Soul" which I loved, so I was meaning to get to this sooner. I was with my girlfriend watching, and we distracted each other during the slow parts. It's almost two hours, so it takes its time getting to what is essentially a few arguments in a hotel room. I did enjoy it, but I wish I loved it. I may need to see it again though, undisturbed. I thought Malcolm X's actor was channeling Obama half the time, which was a choice.
  16. Mr. Mom is always one of those movies I know about but never have seen, but Pandy's rant was so funny I re-listened to it three times. And the main jingles at the front and end were terrific.
  17. I Care a Lot: Starring Rosamund Pike I can't shake the sense that this entire film was inspired and based around the final shot of Gone Girl with Pike looking all creepy and evil, because she does that all throughout this film. It's to the point that she's not just an anti-hero, or a villain protag. As a scam artist who essentially kidnaps elderly people, placing them in to Assisted Care and selling their valuables, she's a fucking monster. And we're beyond irony or subversion with this one, she's an actively horrific human being. The first act is nothing but her gleefully ruining people's lives just to make her lucrative scam keep making her more money. So when the movie pits her against gangster Peter Dinklage and it's a battle of wills until things get violent, I keep waiting for the rug to truly be pulled out from under me, because I'm not falling for any of this. Aside from possibly Isiah Whitlock Jr., there's not a single likable character in this entire movie. But it's so plainly apparent of the case, that I spent the whole time searching for the deeper meaning. But by the ending I think the filmmakers just wanted to swerve the audience and imagined the shenanigans that go on in the latter half erases your memories of the first half. Didn't work on me. Acting was good, but this was just repellent to watch.
  18. Judas and the Black Messiah: First time directing effort by one Shaka King, who does a very good job. It's an intense, moody presentation of the life and murder of Fred Hampton played wonderfully by Daniel Kaluuya. Lakeith Stanfield plays Bill O'Neal, and the film projects this as more his film, but the movie truly does belong to Kaluuya due to his awesome performance. He was nominated for an Oscar for Get Out, and with efforts like this it's only a matter of time before he clinches it. Honestly there's nothing wrong with the movie, it's only a mostly linear, one-way track to doom so there's little variance or surprises for me. It's a very solid 4/5 film, but I was hoping for a show-stopper.
  19. I've been watching old episodes of both the original Nickelodeon Doug series and the Disney's Doug seasons (as though there are new episodes of the franchise...). Some of the really older episodes from the Nick era are slow and staid, but once the show finds its feet with more energy, it really holds up. I never noticed as a kid how every episode included some moral, and it never comes off terribly preachy. Pretty subtle if you ask me. Doug also admits his crush to Patti twice, but nothing comes of it, as though she didn't hear him. Kind of odd... The Disney seasons gets a bad rap online, but I've always liked them. I like franchises that age up the characters, and I didn't ever think the show was all that different. That being said, those episodes do lean into comedy far more than straightforward storytelling. The music is also way less interesting, and the animation is lamer. But it has its pluses, and I like how, even though the characters still aren't teenagers yet, they go through problems afflicting older tweens so it's a more sophisticated feel. I mean, Nick's Doug is better, but Disney's Doug is still recognizably the same universe.
  20. Fightin' 5 #40, The Peacemaker #1 (1967), Peacemaker #1-#4 (1988): Read the first appearance, first of his brief ongoing and the Post-Crisis DC Comics revamp of the character The Peacemaker. Started out as a backup feature in the series Fightin' 5, Christopher Smith is a peaceful diplomat and "pacifist" who simultaneously dons a costume and array of gadgets and weapons whenever he deems there's no choice but to engage in violence with those who would do violence unto others. The artwork is reminiscent of Charlton era Ditko, but less good. The character himself is a screaming hypocrite, and therefore unlikable, although I find it interesting that he's explicitly an older character with Reed Richards hair. Then I read the 80s revamp after DC acquired the Charlton characters. This series dives into the maniacal hypocrisies of the character, maybe a bit too far. "He'll fight for peace, so much so that he's willing to kill for it!" was the mantra of the Charlton original (with "fight" in place of "kill"), and with this version he's regularly haunted by the spirit of his nazi father. This series knows that the character they're working with is insane, but it still posits him as a hero and doesn't do too much to interrogate his actions beyond a requisite "He's crazy! Anyway..." tone.
  21. Rocky IV: Showed this to Harry, generally my favorite Rocky film because it's so...what it is. The 90 minute runtime really made itself apparent this time around, with the severe padding during slow Rocky and Adrian scenes and let's see *counts on hand* FOUR montages and two musical numbers. Yeah there really isn't a lot of strict plot going on here. But the actors are so damn good. Apollo Creed get's wasted for the sake of the final fight, and he's really out of character blabbing vagaries about "THEM", but Carl Weathers is so damn likable you only sort of notice. Dolph Lundgren gives a perfect performance, underplaying what Harry postulated might've been an inspiration for Bane later on. My favorite character is Duke, who's in every Rocky-titled film and gives the best performance of the movie. I really wasn't around for the Cold War so all the cloak and dagger about surveillance reminded me of the Living Daylights. I still don't really connect with that sentiment of East vs West, but over 30 years later, it's still a mega-fun movie to watch because it's so shamelessly 80s and OTT. Also it has a robot. It's basically in the Kung Fury universe. Batman: Soul of the Dragon: Straight up 70s era Denny O'Neil who at the time was obsessed with Jame Bond in his stories, as well as a solid adaptation of the Richard Dragon Kung-Fu comic series. As others have said, this really is not a Batman movie at all. He only suits up twice and doesn't carry to POV for the audience. That's a good thing, after dozens of Bat-Films, I like that the filmmakers knowingly Trojan-Horsed this to be a Richard Dragon story. It's not brilliant, there's a little padding with the flashbacks and the animation was a bit choppy at times. But the three mains from the Kung Fu comic are excellent, with this being the best Shiva portrayal since Young Justice season 3. I also liked how it ended like a 70s movie by throwing caution to the wind and just going crazy. It's weirdly un-intense for an "R" rated film though. Even Bruce Timm was surprised as they didn't intend for it to be. Dark Knight Returns was more violent than this.
  22. So Close (2002): A Cory Yuen directed film about a pair of Hitwomen assassins and the genius cop trying to take them down. This is the same director of the Hey and Actor! classic, "Yes, Madam". It's more serious than that, but the action is completely bonkers. I loved it. Shu Qi is a goddess. Lionheart: Van Damne classic which as it winded down made me remember I probably saw the last act of this on TV once. Perfectly fine. Standard early 90s action fare that's pretty by the numbers. Fight scenes aren't spectacular, but the different arenas were pretty cool, like a Squash room or an empty pool.