Category: Mainstream Entertainment

All posts relating to general happenings in mainstream entertainment, where it’d be movies, television, music, or other things that fall within that bubble.

Another Minecraft Movie Trailer

Listen, I’m not a Minecraft player. I know nothing about Minecraft. The appeal of Minecraft is not foreign to me, but it’s just not something that I ever found myself tempted to play. As such, I have no real interest in the Minecraft movie starring Jack Black as Puppet Steve.

That having been said… this looks like every comedy movie where kids get sucked into another reality and meet a kooky character to try and escape this world or learn to live with it. It’s nothing we haven’t seen done better or worse before. It looks like harmless fare that you take the kids who are more into Minecraft than you are to watch. If this popped up on Netflix somewhere and I had nothing better to do, I’d probably pop this up as background noise or something to keep me occupied or something.

Honestly, this looks like typical kids fare. Not much to say about that. I’ve seen worse video game movie outings. Hell, I’ve seen worse movie outings. This doesn’t look like any of that. It’ll either be a big hit or it’ll be quickly forgotten about save for the couple memes some moron on Twitter might pull out of it, but either way, it’s a thing that’s happening and then everyone moves on.

A Minecraft Movie hits theaters in April of this year.

How Do You Fix Joker 2? Don’t Make It…

Someone wondered how the flop sequel Joker: Folie A Doo-Doo could be fixed. Someone wrote an elaborate article on a website whose name I mention in the same cadence that Jim Carrey’s Riddler screams out “BRAIN DRAIN!” Someone had thought about all the fixes that could have fixed this somewhat ill-conceived movie. I’m sure they’ve given this issue a lot of thought on how this Joker sequel could have been salvaged.

I won’t bother with an overly long post on how to fix Joker 2. I’ll just tell you straight up how to fix the movie.

Don’t make it in the first place.

Joker (2019) didn’t need a sequel. Not everything needs a sequel. Sometimes, a sequel runs the risk of sullying the original and just adds nothing to the overall narrative. The guy who directed Joker didn’t want to make a sequel, but he was told to make a sequel, so he did everything he could to make a movie that was so vile, nobody would like it or pay money to see it in theaters.

That may or may not be the case, but if it is, it’s a brilliant strategy. Hopefully, it pays off and there won’t be a Joker 3.

Another Delay Due To Cold… Also Fully A Bore

Struck with a cold and haven’t gotten much done, so video has been delayed yet again. I swear this next review is cursed for many reasons and I blame Ernie Hudson’s kids.

In other news, the new Joker is out and people don’t like it. It apparently bombed at the box office and garnering rather negative reactions. I actually liked Joker for what it was and felt that it didn’t need a sequel. So when they announced a sequel, I was like… “why?”

But then word gets out that it’s not only a sequel nobody wanted, but it’s also going to be a musical. Well, that’s already two strikes against this thing in my book because I don’t care for musicals. Not my thing. So right there, whatever minor bits of curiosity may have lingered beforehand is all but extinguished and I’ve resolved not to see this film. Don’t care if it’s the greatest thing ever. I don’t care for musicals and a musical Joker… well, that makes no sense to me.

And then the reviews come in… apparently, people hated the movie because it does everything within its power to undo everything that was done in the first movie. Whatever you liked about the first movie… well, they did the opposite here. There’s a narrative they want you to follow that is contradicted by the existence of that first movie, which said everything that needed to be said and this exists for no reason other than… something or other?

That’s about it for me. I’m going to bed.

Your “Homework” For This Afternoon – The Eurocom Ernie Hudson Interview From 2008

Source: https://www.eurogamer.net/ghostbusters-ernie-hudson-interview

Today’s scheduled review (and everything else this week for that matter) has been pushed back a day due to technical issues on my end. To keep you busy, here’s the Eurogamer interview with Ernie Hudson from 2008 talking about the (at the time) new Ghostbusters video game. The byline should give you a clue as to what our next game is going to be.

Been There Done That

You know, I’ve seen a lot of Marvel movie trailers over the decades (yes, we’re getting there) and this… looks like another one of those. Same kind of editing, same kind of “ominous” music, same twist on a popular-ish song, and a couple jokes tossed in for good measure. And… yay? I guess… I suppose…

This will likely appease the Marvelites who consume this content like crack cocaine, but as for me… eh, I’d wait for home video if they still made those and video stores were still a thing that I can rent these things from, but since they don’t exist and honestly, I haven’t had much interest in anything MCU-ish since Endgame, I don’t think I’ll be missing much.

People up in arms against AI for robbing creative people of work… but given the recent string of Hollywood content, it would’ve been nice if those creative people were actually involved in the making of these things instead of the same hacks who regurgitate the same drivel over and over again, but with slightly different skins to make it seem different and palettable enough to different groups of people – take your pick, that could apply to anybody these day.

Give me something engaging on a regular basis and I’ll champion the fight against AI. But at the moment, from what I’ve seen on the horizon, AI would be an improvement at this point.

Nope.

A certain documentary regarding a certain disgraced former wrestling promoter recently premiered on Netflix this past week. No doubt it was the talk of the town among all the wrestling circles hoping to get more out of the most enigmatic yet successful wrestling promoter of all time, as well as the mainstream media pundits who decided to put up with the wrestling nonsense so they can cover another sex scandal involving a rich old white dude.

The most I watched was the trailer and that’s it. By the time the series premiere, my Netflix subscription that I chose to not renew had expired and I was left out in the cold. Not that I was clamoring to watch this thing in the first place, but I figured that the documentary would touch on most of the bases (the rise, the controversies, the scandals, and some of the allegations), but honestly, I figured that while this wouldn’t be the usual WWE puff piece that the old McMahon DVD was, it wasn’t going to offer anything that anyone who has followed wrestling for decades didn’t already know already.

Apparently, that’s the general consensus of what I’ve heard. Wrestling fans won’t get much out of it unless they haven’t been in the news loop and those hoping for more juice on the current situation involving McMahon will not find any satisfaction there. I’d imagine that Vince’s attempt to distance himself from the documentary due to the skewed picture it paints probably did more to attract attention and viewers to the project, but the audience of Netflix is not the audience of WWE. The audience of Netflix is not putting Vince on a pedestal like much of the WWE fanbase would.

Documentaries are never entirely truthful. Some are more truthful than others, but almost all of them are usually built on a narrative and naturally, everything is skewered to fit that particular narrative. Do I expect this thing to be completely truthful? Not really considering the subject matter, but at the same time, this isn’t a WWE production… it’s most certainly not a Vince McMahon production, which means it’ll be more honest than most. It’s all sensationalism at the end of the day and the fact that it’s coming out at all despite the current situation (that’s my euphemism for that whole deal) is something to be… applauded, I guess?

So… yeah, my Netflix expired and I’m in no hurry to give this thing a watch any time soon. Not when I have so much other stuff to do in the interim… like watch that Grand Slam show from AEW featuring Desmond Wolfe vs. Lloyd Boner.

Terminator’s Future – Toss It All Out And Keep It Out

Source: https://bleedingcool.com/movies/terminator-james-cameron-has-a-plan-for-franchise/

James Cameron wants to make another Terminator movie… but this time, it’s going to be a reboot that’s not reliant on what came before. So, basically, tell the same story again, but with different characters and stuff. Isn’t that what they’ve done with all these other Terminator movies?

I suppose I should give Cameron credit for not making it another Terminator sequel. Honestly, it’s probably what they should have done with that Dark Fate movie that skipped over “some” of the movies, but not all of them. But even so… who the fuck is asking for a new Terminator movie these days? Every time they do another one, it’s a matter of dimishing returns. Each one not only sucked more than the last movie that came out, but it even made less money. You’ve got nothing left to say with these movies. They’re a product of their time and place. If you want to invent some new concept based on old ideas… THEN JUST MAKE THE NEW CONCEPT AND NOT USE AN OLD NAME.

Ah, but that’s the catch, isn’t it? Create something new and there’s no guarantee that it’ll be a success. Regardless of quality, there exists the possibility that it could be overlooked. But tying it to a legacy franchise? Calling it a new entry that continues the story or offers a new take? Now you’ve got some guaranteed money to work with. Now you’ve got the attention of those fans who should know better, but so desperately want their chosen love to be number one that they’ll stoop to any low to support this thing… and then it’ll come out and they’ll turn on it because it doesn’t respect the old material or whatever the case may be.

There are some franchises that can evolve and change with the times while still keeping the course tenants true. And then there are some franchises that, no matter how hard you try, are a relic of a bygone age. Terminator is one of the latter. We tried the reboot thing (twice) and it didn’t work. Nobody bit.

James Cameron had the right idea in jettisoning what came before. Maybe after doing that, he can move on to something else.

I mean, if Ridley Scott can’t make a decent Alien movie these days…

By the way, this isn’t the first time I’ve touched on Terminator outliving its usefulness as a movie franchise. I’ve touched on this ages ago and you can read that here.

Yes, I Saw Deadpool & Wolverine.

I won’t go into the nitty-gritty of things because that involves touching on things that the rest of the internet might have spoiled, but I’d rather let those who haven’t spoiled discover the fun stuff for themselves. But I will say this much; it is very much a Deadpool movie with the usual Deadpool tropes mixed in with some bad cop/bad cop dynamics between Wade and Logan. Even though there’s some hints of MCU stuff that I don’t care for, they’re not the dominant aspects of this film. And thank fuck for that because I want to watch a movie that’s actually content at being a fun ride and not world-building nonsense for the next three series that I could possibly not give enough of a shit to watch.

And before anyone asks, no, I will not be watching. This is the first Marvel thing I’ve seen since Falcon/Winter Soldier. I’ve not touched anything else. I’m not inclined to watch anything else. Naturally, I was concerned that this would be tainted and toned down. It hasn’t; it’s still the same Deadpool goodness because Ryan Reynolds and friends give enough of a shit about this character to do him justice and continue to make him the best possible interpretation of the character in modern media.

This isn’t Marvel Jesus. This isn’t going to make me care about anything involving the other Marvel stuff or their Multiversal phasing stuff. I’m not exactly clamoring for any other potential projects that this might be teasing. And this sure as shit isn’t going to make the MCU great or even good again. It is, however, a largely fun and enjoyable movie that, if you can put up with a little crass humor and lots of gratuitous violence, is not a bad way to kill a couple hours at the movie house.

At the end of the day, I just want to have a good time at the movies. This gave me that. And if I had more movies like this, I’d spend more time and money at the movies. But I don’t have those. So I don’t go. And that’s fine. I’ve got other stuff to keep me entertained.

So yeah, if you liked the first two Deadpools, give this one a whirl. And if not… watch something else, instead.

RDJ as Dr. Doom… Meh…

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/robert-downey-jr-doctor-doom-marvel-rcna163991

So we had this guy who played Kang The Conqueror for a couple things here and there… and then it was discovered that he was involved in some heinous shit. Obviously, we can’t keep him around, but now we’re totally fucked because we have this whole movie built around this guy and now we’ve gotta find someone to replace him.

The solution? Replace Kang with Dr. Doom… and the guy playing Dr. Doom will be none other than Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr.

Because, sure… why the fuck not?

You want to know the funny thing about this whole deal? I read up on the news online, I assume it’s a bit of a joke, and then when I discover that this is an actual thing they’re doing, I just shrugged and moved on with my life. I had no real, tangible reaction to this piece of information. I was ambivalent. I simply didn’t care. I’m sure there are questions, but honestly… I’m in no hurry to get answers any time soon. I’m just like… “Whatever.”

I’ve said this before. I’ll say it again. My interest in the MCU narrative ended with Endgame. While I enjoyed one or two of these things (the Spider-Man team up movie and the Falcon/Winter Soldier series), I never bothered with the rest of it. I simply didn’t have any interest in anything they had going and also their dwelling into the multiverse for the story ideas feels like they’re just tossing shit to a wall and seeing what sticks.

The Deadpool/Wolverine movie, judging by box office results and audience reactions, seems to be the one thing sticking on that wall, which mean they’ll want to do more of that… except people assume that they want more of this multiverse garbage when the reality is that they just wanted to see this long-awaited team-up between our ol’ pal Wade and his frenemy Logan. And Deadpool works because the people behind Deadpool give enough of a shit about Deadpool to do the character justice. Otherwise, you get shit like X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which was awful.

If the MCU made more films like Deadpool – not so much the R-rated stuff or the fourth wall breaking stuff, but mostly just being fun little schlockfests – more people would be into it other than the diehards. But as it is, the only thing that this current MCU is capable of producing is more X-Men Origins: Wolverine. One of those is more than enough.

I haven’t even watched Dark Phoenix yet… but I’d much rather watch that than anything involving the MCU at this point.

That has been my Theodore Conversation.