Donomark

Since the New Year, I've started the anime Psycho Pass, and have killed seasons one and two. It's an engaging show that's pretty bingeable and sucks you right in, but it's also a thoroughly transparent anime in how it's constructed. I do enjoy it, but the sum of its parts leave me wishing it was better than it is. Still, I've the movie and season three to check out as well. Last week I watched the first season of "You", based on the novel by Caroline Kepnes. This was also a highly bingeable show, with only ten eps. I really dug it, but the ending kind of chafed me. Not that I disagreed with how things ended up, but the delivery was anti-climactic and not nearly as definitive as the book it's based on. That makes me more hesitant to start season 2, as it felt like the show did a bait-and-switch in how they were presenting their lead character. It's tough to talk about without spoilers, but I really did get hooked on the show all the way through up to the end.

The narrative that's is anything resembling a flop or box office bomb is exaggerating things, but what has not yet been disputed is its need to make $250-300 million to break even, which it still hasn't reached. It cost close to what Shazam cost to make, which was $80-$100 million including marketing and promotion. I think the most gracious statement to make is that it's slow at the box office, even with over two weeks out from its NA release. I think by the end of next month, with the best will in the world it'll land somewhere between Shazam and Justice League, which is $300 million and $600 million. But if it doesn't do beyond the $250-$300 million needed to return its basic budget, there's not gonna be justification enough for a sequel.

The Intruder: Dennis Quaid is crazy and stalks Meagan Good and Michael Ealy. Watchable, laughable bad movie made entertaining through Quaid acting like a straight-up coke addict.

Between the design of the insignia (with no little ears or a head for the bat), I'm thinking we might be getting a very "Bob Kane"-esque Golden Age Batman design. The cowl looks like it could scallop out to wide horns.

Birds of Prey (Harley Quinn): My thoughts can be found in both the latest eps of Questions: We Don't Have Answers and Comic Book Film Revue (put the QnoA ep on that feed), but TL;DR There's a lot of good and goodwill put into the movie, but I can't get past how they did Cassandra Cain, which veers into racist territory considering the larger context of the movie being a Harley Quinn vehicle. The whole thing is just tainted for me.

Connery for Highlander...2: The Quickening

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 4: The Tempest: After reading the LXG series a couple of years back, I was eager to dive back in for the final installment. I might've been less patient or disciplined in my reading for this, because for 85% I didn't know what the hell I was reading. It goes WAY out there. The most basic story beat I understood was that James Bond found the Fountain of Youth that Mina, Orlando and Emma Peel used, and with the help of the J-6 Team (assistants and hitmen all patterned just like Bonds Connery through Craig) is after them for revenge, or something. This was a relatively lighter book than vols.1, 2 Black Dossier and Century, which was nice to see as a change of pace. But no, I didn't know wtf was going on, there were so many twists of the comic form that in this reading at the moment I could not keep anything straight.

I've not seen a Saw film, but I think the casting of Rock and Jackson as leads in a serious horror film is supremely inspired. IDK if Rock can wholly pull off a role like this, not that he's never done serious acting but his voice doesn't fall in easily with gritty dialogue. But the visuals of him and Jackson being the leads in this kind of film really interests me. Seriously, as Jordan Peele has proven, the one surefire way to get me into seeing a horror film is just to have black leads.

Dan and I don’t always agree on everything (90s X-Men, Mark Hamill), but he word-for-word tracked my own thought process regarding “Where No One has Gone Before” I didn’t click that the Ferengi were expressing Jewish stereotypes, but I was laughing in a “this is embarrassing for everyone involved” kind of way. That whole episode was bullshit.

The Fate of the Furious is the funniest one. Referring to the cast/crew/team/family as such is almost as galling as the cast of Legends of Tomorrow randomly settling on calling themselves "The Legends". But that title reveal dropped at the end of that hilarious trailer and never looked back.

Ant Man is probably more consistent but I found Deadpool more entertaining. The flashbacks dragged to be sure, but everything with him just as Deadpool was gold.

Twitter spoiled the shit outta this one, but I was still enthralled when I watched it a few hours ago. This era (insofar that I've seen) has been pretty good with the surprises. I've been caught off guard constantly.

Parasite: The second Bong Joon Ho film I've seen after Snowpiercer, it's one of the most tonally elastic movies I've seen in recent memory. Wonderfully shot and excellently acted, I defy you to predict a single thing out of this movie.

Don't nobody pick Guardians over TKAMb

My head is spinning from the following: I don't know what any of that is about. I kinda wish they went with the title "Morbius: THE LIVING VAMPIRE" but I figure it's slightly cheesy. Honestly this does not look that bad as an adaptation of the character. Especially that shot of him all mutated. As a spin-off, I think this is more honest than a Spidey-less Venom movie.

Congratulations!

It's the whole tech-whiz business that started with Batman Begins. I liked it alright for those movies, but in order to wholesale steal it for the comics, it's sapped Lucius of all of his agency. For years he was the sharpest guy in Gotham who didn't have anything to do with Batman. He made Wayne Enterprises into of the the DCU's most powerful companies, and he had his own family and host of problems with them. Now he's this bow-tie wearing subservient one-dimensional character who'll do whatever Bruce needs of him, and now knows Batman's identity. I feel that it's a borderline offensive turn for what used to be a really good character, but DC Comics in general doesn't have the patience for nuance when it comes to their supporting characters anymore.

Immortal Hulk #26-#29: Still the best "superhero" comic out right now. I love a Bruce Banner that's arrogantly had it with humanity. Amazing Spider-Man #37 (2020): Spencer continues to deliver a solid Peter Parker. I was beginning to fade on the tie-in issues to all the Marvel stuff going on, especially the Doom stuff, but this is a back to basics in his story and I'm back in for it. Batman #86 (2020): Decent start to James Tynion IV's run, with some of the best Tony Daniel artwork I've seen in a while. He's a less engaging, B-grade Jim Lee for me, but he's still a solid artist. I don't like House Negro Lucius Fox tho, but Tynion didn't invent that. Batman and the Outsiders #9: I want to like Bryan Edward Hill as a writer more than I can, because he's a Cassandra Cain fan and his discussions about writing all seem well informed. But his output rarely goes above mediocre for me. It's hardly ever bad, but it still hovers around stock and archetypal. So this was decent, but I wish it were better. Young Justice #12 (2020): There's way too much dialogue in this issue to feel like you're drawn into caring what everyone is saying from panel to panel. It's ridiculous. I'm still digging this team but Bendis' infamous verbosity is swallowing this series whole. There's hardly a speck of space to breathe. Issues: 10

I dug it. It was definitely shaggy in spots and I agree with Mike in questioning the purpose of the two historical figures (unless they come back down the line), but the Doctor/Master dynamic was fun to watch and it just made Jodie Whitaker become more intense. Additionally, having fallen behind last season it's interesting to me that she still hasn't been totally forthright with her companions this far into their relationship. Is that a first? Speaking of them, I like their dynamic as a three-pronged effort team. They're very much human and vulnerable, but they pull it together when the Doctor's not present. Sometimes when the companions go without the Doctor they become a little too hyper-competent IMO. I agree that they should FAIAP "become the Doctor", but some of the characters like Clara just seemed to take on things with little fear and zero trepidation. I thought the three of "The Doc's" friends came off more believable in their fuddling around. I also agree with Mike that jumping back into a Gallifrey mystery this soon feels like a misstep, as it's clear no show runner has any idea how to deal with the Doctor's home planet. But I like that it gives the Doctor a personal investment in something to concern herself about at the same time. And the fact that the Master fucked up the planet himself was pretty cool to me.

Rocky is a must. Demolition Man for the wacky action lulz. Cop Land is the one movie beyond Rocky and First Blood franchises where Stallone was lauded for his acting chops.

Spongebob Narrator: "TWO DAYS LATER"

Ok, cool. The first episode of season 11 is all I've seen.

I missed out on most of season 11. Do I have to have seen it before jumping into Spyfall? I've got the season on DVD, just haven't had time to watch it yet.

Holy God that's crazy

Daredevil #16 (2020): Like he was with Spider-Man, Chip Zdarsky knows Daredevil in that real old school way. I've been digging his run consistently since it began. In this latest issue, there's a lot of the Netflix show in here, but with the circumstances of the storyline and the fact that the show ended a year ago, it's free from feeling forced or contrived. Jorge Fornes easily jumps from King's Batman to this book. Miles Morales Spider-Man ##14: This book is almost as fun but the dialogue is a bit more hit or miss. But I'm now used to an older Miles and I'm loving the balance between his crime fighting life and his student life. Issues: 2